diff --git a/analyze.py b/analyze.py new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e3b09d3 --- /dev/null +++ b/analyze.py @@ -0,0 +1,88 @@ +import pickle +import re +from tabulate import tabulate +from save import merge_dictionaries + +word_pattern = re.compile('([\w\']*)') + +current_candidates = [ + 'Carson', 'Cruz', 'Kasich', 'Rubio', 'Trump', 'Sanders', 'Clinton'] + + +def get_candidate_vocabularies(location='downloads/data/master.pickle'): + ''' returns candidate_vocabularies in the form {candidate: {word: frequency}} + derived from candidate_remarks {candidate: [remarks]} dictionary + pickled at location + ''' + candidate_remarks = pickle.load(open(location, 'r')) + + candidate_vocabularies = {} # {cand: {word: freq}} + for candidate in [name.upper() for name in current_candidates]: + print 'processing {1} remarks from {0}...'.format( + candidate, len(candidate_remarks[candidate])) + + candidate_vocabulary = {} + + for remark in candidate_remarks[candidate]: + candidate_vocabulary[remark] = candidate_vocabulary.get( + remark, 0) + 1 + words = re.findall(word_pattern, remark) + for word in words: + if word != '': + candidate_vocabulary[word.lower()] = [ + candidate_vocabulary.get(word.lower(), 0) + 1 + ][0] + candidate_vocabularies[candidate] = candidate_vocabulary + + return candidate_vocabularies, candidate_remarks + + +def get_highlights(subject_VD, population_VD, proportion): + ''' returns the list of words most frequently used by the candidate, + but are also used only, or in large percentage (proportion) by + that candidate + ''' + uniques = [] + for word, frequency in subject_VD.items(): + if frequency > proportion * population_VD[word]: + uniques.append((word, frequency)) + items = [] + for word, frequency in sorted(uniques, key=lambda x: x[1])[-30:]: + items += [str(frequency) + ' ' * (5 - len(str(frequency))) + str(word)] + return items + + +def print_all_highlights(proportion=0.99, candidates=current_candidates): + ''' prints a table of most those words most frequently used which are also + used only (or primarily, controlled by proprotion) by each candidate + ''' + candidate_vocabularies = get_candidate_vocabularies()[0] + population_VD = merge_dictionaries( + [dict(vocabulary) for vocabulary in candidate_vocabularies.values()], + 0) + highlights = {} + for candidate in candidates: + candidate_VD = dict(candidate_vocabularies[candidate.upper()]) + highlights[candidate] = get_highlights( + candidate_VD, population_VD, proportion) + + # now we print... + print tabulate(highlights, headers='keys') + + +# def markov(): +# candies_vocab, candy_remarks = get_candidate_vocabularies() +# for candy_vocab in candies_vocab: +# candy_map = {} +# for word in candy_vocab: + +# pass + + +if __name__ == '__main__': + print_all_highlights(0.5) + # import doctest + # doctest.run_docstring_examples( + # markov, globals(), + # verbose=True, name="Jus' Testin'") + pass diff --git a/downloads/.DS_Store b/downloads/.DS_Store new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5d6b126 Binary files /dev/null and b/downloads/.DS_Store differ diff --git a/downloads/data/.DS_Store b/downloads/data/.DS_Store new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5008ddf Binary files /dev/null and b/downloads/data/.DS_Store differ diff --git a/downloads/data/master.pickle b/downloads/data/master.pickle new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e756d6e --- /dev/null +++ b/downloads/data/master.pickle @@ -0,0 +1,12374 @@ +(dp0 +VWEBB +p1 +(lp2 +VThank you. You know, people are disgusted with the way that money has corrupted our political process, intimidating incumbents and empowering Wall Street every day, the turnstile government that we see, and also the power of the financial sector in both parties. They're looking for a leader who understands how the system works, who has not been coopted by it, and also has a proven record of accomplishing different things. I have a record of working across the political aisle. I've also spent more than half of my professional life away from politics in the independent world of being an author, a journalist, and a sole proprietor. In government service, I've fought and bled for our country in Vietnam as a Marine. I spent years as Assistant Secretary of Defense, Secretary of the Navy \u2014 in the Reagan administration. In the senate, I spoke about economic fairness and social justice from day one. I also wrote and passed the best piece of veterans education legislation in history, the Post 9/11 G.I. Bill. I brought criminal justice reform out of the political shadows and into the national discussion. I led what later became called the Strategic Pivot to Asia two years before President Obama was elected. I know where my loyalties are. My mother grew up in the poverty of east Arkansas chopping cotton, picking strawberries. Three of her seven siblings died in childhood. My wife, Hong, came to this country as a refugee from war torn Vietnam \u2014 learned English, a language that was not spoken at home, and earned her way into Cornell Law School. I have five daughters. Amy works with disabled veterans, Sarah is an emergency room nurse, Julia is a massage therapist, Emily and Georgia are still in school. My son Jim fought as an infantry Marine on the bloody streets of Ramadi. You may be sure that in a Webb administration, the highest priority will be the working people who every day go out and make this country stronger at home, and who give us the right reputation and security overseas under a common sense foreign policy. +p3 +aVNo, actually I believe that I am where the Democratic Party traditionally has been. The Democratic Party, and the reason I've decided to run as a Democrat, has been the party that gives people who otherwise have no voice in the corridors of power a voice. And that is not determined by race. And as a clarification, I have always supported affirmative action for African Americans. That's the way the program was originally designed because of their unique history in this country, with slavery and the Jim Crow laws that followed. What I have discussed a number of times is the idea that when we create diversity programs that include everyone, quote, "of color," other than whites, struggling whites like the families in the Appalachian mountains, we're not being true to the Democratic Party principle of elevating the level of consciousness among our people about the hardships that a lot of people who happen to be have \u2014 by culture, by the way. +p4 +aVLook, there are two fundamental issues that are involved in this discussion. We need to pay respect to both of them. The first is the issue of who should be kept from having guns and using firearms. And we have done not a good job on that. A lot of them are criminals. And a lot of the people are getting killed are members of gangs inside our urban areas. And a lot of them are mentally incapacitated. And the shooting in Virginia Tech in '07, this individual had received medical care for mental illness from three different professionals who were not allowed to share the information. So we do need background checks. We need to keep the people who should not have guns away from them. But we have to respect the tradition in this country of people who want to defend themselves and their family from violence. +p5 +aVMay I? People are going back and forth here for 10 minutes here. There are people at high levels in this government who have bodyguards 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The average American does not have that, and deserves the right to be able to protect their family. +p6 +aVAnderson, can I come into this discussion at some point? +p7 +aVThank you. I've been standing over here for about ten minutes, trying. +p8 +aVIt's just \u2014 it's gone back and forth over there. +p9 +aVYou got the lucky . +p10 +aVLook, let's start \u2014 I've been trying to get in this conversation for about 10 minutes \u2014 let's start with why Russia is in Syria right now. There are three strategic failings that have allowed this to occur. The first was the invasion of Iraq, which destabilized ethnic elements in Iraq and empowered Iran. The second was the Arab Spring, which created huge vacuums in Libya and in Syria that allowed terrorist movements to move in there. And the third was the recent deal allowing Iran to move forward and eventually acquire a nuclear weapon, which sent bad signals, bad body language into the region about whether we are acquiescing in Iran becoming a stronger piece of the formula in that part of the world. Now, I say this as someone who spent five years in the Pentagon and who opposed the war in Iraq, whose son fought in Iraq, I've fought in Vietnam. But if you want a place where we need to be in terms of our national strategy, a focus, the greatest strategic threat that we have right now is resolving our relationship with China. And we need to do this because of their aggression in the region. We need to do it because of the way they treat their own people. +p11 +aVAnd I would say this. I've been waiting for 10 minutes. I will say this. +p12 +aVI will \u2014 well, you've let a lot of people go over their time. I would say this... +p13 +aV... to the unelected, authoritarian government of China: You do not own the South China Sea. You do not have the right to conduct cyber warfare against tens of millions of American citizens. And in a Webb administration, we will do something about that. +p14 +aVCan I... O' +p15 +aVThank you. +p16 +aVThis is not about Benghazi per se. To me it is the inevitability of something like Benghazi occurring in the way that we intervened in Libya. We had no treaties at risk. We had no Americans at risk. There was no threat of attack or imminent attack. There is plenty of time for a president to come to the Congress and request authority to use military force in that situation. I called for it on the Senate floor again and again. I called for it in Senate hearings. It is not a wise thing to do. And if people think it was a wise thing to do, try to get to the Tripoli airport today. You can't do it. +p17 +aVEverybody makes their decisions when the time there is conscription. And as long as they go through the legal process that our country requires, I respect that. And it would be for the voters to decide whether Senator Sanders or anyone else should be president. I will say this, coming from the position that I've come from, from a military family, with my brother a marine, my son was a marine in Iraq, I served as a marine, spending five years in the Pentagon, I am comfortable that I am the most qualified person standing up here today to be your commander-in-chief. +p18 +aVI believe that the signal that we sent to the region when the Iran nuclear deal was concluded was that we are accepting Iran's greater position on this very important balance of power, among our greatest ally Israel, and the Sunnis represented by the Saudi regime, and Iran. It was a position of weakness and I think it encouraged the acts that we've seen in the past several weeks. +p19 +aVOur greatest long-term strategic challenge is our relation with China. Our greatest day-to-day threat is cyber warfare against this country. Our greatest military-operational threat is resolving the situations in the Middle East. +p20 +aVI hope I can get that kind of time here. As a President of the United States, every life in this country matters. At the same time, I believe I can say to you, I have had a long history of working with the situation of African Americans. We're talking about criminal justice reform, I risked my political life raising the issue of criminal justice reform when I ran for the Senate in Virginia in 2006. I had democratic party political consultants telling me I was committing political suicide. We led that issue in the congress. We started a national debate on it. And it wasn't until then that the Republican Party started joining in. I also represented a so-called war criminal, an African American Marine who was wounded \u2014 who was convicted of murder in Vietnam, for six years. He took his life three years into this. I cleared his name after \u2014 after three years. +p21 +aVAnd I put the African American soldier on the Mall. I made that recommendation and fought for it. So, if you want someone who is \u2014 can stand up in front of you right now and say I have done the hard job, I have taken the risks, I am your person. +p22 +aVBernie, say my name so I can get into this. +p23 +aVOK. Thank you. +p24 +aVAnderson, I need to jump in (inaudible). +p25 +aVThere is a reality that I think we all need to recognize with respect to the power of the financial sector. And let me just go back a minute and say that on this +p26 +aVAll right. Well, I'm trying to set a mark here so maybe we can get into a little more later on. This hasn't been equal time. But if you want to look at what has happened, if we look at the facts in terms of how we're going to deal with this, since that crash, in the last 10 years, the amount of the world's capital economy that Wall Street manages has gone from 44 percent to 55 percent. That means the Wall Street money managers are not risking themselves as the same way the American people are when they're going to get their compensation. They're managing money from all over the world. We have to take that into consideration when we're looking at ways to regulate it. +p27 +aVI wouldn't have a problem with that. Let me start by saying my wife is an immigrant. She was a refugee, her family escaped from Vietnam on a boat-- her entire extended family, after the communists took over, when hundreds of thousands of people were out there and thousands of them were dying. Went to two refugee camps, she never spoke English in her home, and she ended, as I said, graduating from Cornell Law School. That's not only American dream, that's a value that we have with a good immigration system in place. No country has \u2014 is a country without defining its borders. We need to resolve this issue. I actually introduced an amendment in the 2007 immigration bill... +p28 +aV...Giving a pathway to citizenship to those people who had come here, and put down their roots, and met as a series of standards... +p29 +aV...lost (ph) \u2014 I introduced that in 2007 \u2014 We need a comprehensive reform, and we need to be able to define our borders. +p30 +aVI \u2014 well, I \u2014 I would leave his ultimate judgment to the legal system. Here's what I do believe. We have a serious problem in terms of the collection of personal information in this country. And one of the things that I did during the +p31 +aVI got a great deal of admiration and affection for Senator Sanders, but I \u2014 Bernie, I don't think the revolution's going to come. And I don't think the Congress is going to pay for a lot of this stuff. And if there would be a major difference between my administration and the Obama administration, it would be in the use of executive authority. I came up as a committee counsel in the Congress, used to put dozens of bills through the House floor every year as a committee counsel on the Veterans Committee. I have a very strong feeling about how our federal system works and how we need to lead and energize the congressional process instead of allowing these divisions to continue to paralyze what we're doing. So I would lead \u2014 working with both parties in the Congress and working through them in the traditional way that our Constitution sets (ph). +p32 +aVWell, the \u2014 the question really is how are we going to solve energy problems here and in the global environment if you really want to address climate change? And when I was in the Senate, I was an all-of-the-above energy voter. We introduced legislation to bring in alternate energy as well as nuclear power. I'm a strong proponent of nuclear power. It is safe, it is clean. And really, we are not going to solve climate change simply with the laws here. We've done a good job in this country since 1970. If you look at China and India, they're the greatest polluters in the world. Fifteen out of the 20 most polluted cities in the world are in one of those two countries. We need to solve this in a global way. It's a global problem and I have been very strong on \u2014 on doing that. The \u2014 the agreements \u2014 the so-called agreements that we have had with China are illusory in terms of the immediate requirements of the \u2014 of the Chinese government itself. So let's solve this problem in an international way, and then we really will have a \u2014 a way to address climate change. +p33 +aVI'd have to say the enemy soldier that threw the grenade that wounded me, but he's not around right now to talk to. +p34 +aVThank you. Ladies and gentlemen, it's been a pleasure to be with you tonight. You've heard a lot of promises up here; you've heard a lot of rhetoric. They all seem to happen during campaigns, and then once the election's over, people start from scratch again and try to get things done. One of the things I can promise you, if you look at my record, in and out of government, is that I've always been willing to take on a complicated, something unpopular issues, and work them through, the complex issues, and work them through in order to have the solution. We did it with criminal justice reform. We've had a lot of discussion here about criminal justice reform. We did it in other ways. We need a national political strategy for our economy, for our social policy, for social justice, and, by the way, for how you run and manage the most complex bureaucracy in the world, which is the federal government. I know how to lead. I did it in Vietnam, I did it in the Pentagon, I did it in the Senate, and if you will help me overcome this cavalcade of \u2014 of financial irregularities and money that is poisoning our political process, I am ready to do that for you in the White House. +p35 +asVCRAMER +p36 +(lp37 +VDr. Carson, in recent weeks, a number of pharmaceutical companies has been accused of profiteering, for dramatically raising the prices of life-saving drugs. You have spent a lifetime in medicine. Have these companies gone too far? Should the government be involved in controlling some of these price increases? +p38 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Governor Christie, there has been a lot of political rhetoric that some bank executives should have gone to jail for the 2008 financial crisis. But General Motors paid more than $1 billion in fines and settlements for its ignition switch defect. One hundred and twenty- four people died as a result of these faulty switches. No one went to jail. As a former prosecutor, do you believe the people responsible for the switch and the cover-up belong behind bars? +p39 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. +p40 +aVThank you. Governor Pataki, in the wake of the Sony hack last year, you said, quote, "at the very least, we should declare cyber-war on North Korea." What does a cyber-war look like? And if our companies are getting attacked by foreign governments, do we need a military response? +p41 +aVSenator Graham, you're a hawk. Was that tough enough? +p42 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Santorum. We know that a troubling amount of air pollution on the west coast comes from China. Should we enact a pollution tax on products imported from China and give our manufacturers a level playing field? +p43 +aVThank you, Senator. John? +p44 +asVPERRY +p45 +(lp46 +VI will tell you one thing: I would whole lot rather had Carly Fiorina over there doing our negotiation than John Kerry. Maybe we would've gotten a deal where we didn't give everything away. But the issue for us is to have a Congress that stands up and says not only no, but hell no, to this money going to a regime that is going to use it for terror... +p47 +aVIt's good to be with you. +p48 +aVAfter those four years of looking back and being prepared, the preparation to be the most powerful individual in the world requires an extraordinary amount of work: not just having been the governor of the 12th largest economy in the world, which I might add, we added 1.5 million jobs during that period of time over that 2007 through 2014 period, a period when America was going through the most deep recession it had been through since the Great Depression. I think Americans want someone to have a track record of showing them how to get this country back on record, someone who will stand up and every day project that best days of America are in front of us. And I will assure you, as the governor of the state of Texas, and as those last four years have shown me, the preparation to be ready to stand on this stage and talk about those monetary policies, those domestic policies, and those foreign policies, Americans are going to see that I am ready to be that individual. +p49 +aVWell, when you look at the celebrity of Donald Trump, then I think that says a lot about it. One thing I like to remind people is, back in 2007, Rudy Giuliani was leading the polls for almost a year. I'll suggest a part of that was his celebrity. Fred Thompson was the other one, a man who had spent a lot of time on that screen. I've had my issues with Donald Trump. I talked about Donald Trump from the standpoint of being an individual who was using his celebrity rather than his conservatism. How can you run for the Republican nomination and be for single- payer health care? I mean, I ask that with all due respect. And nobody, nobody on either one of these stages has done more than I've done and the people of the State of Texas to deal with securing that border. We sent our Texas ranger recon teams. We sent our parks and wildlife wardens. I deployed the National Guard after I stood on the ramp in Dallas, Texas and looked the president of the United States in the eye and said, "Mr. President, if you won't secure the border, Texas will," and that's exactly what we did. We need a president that doesn't just talk a game, but a president that's got real results. Mac +p50 +aVBill, here's the interesting position on this. Americans are tired of hearing this debate -- want to go to, what are you going to do about illegal immigration? For 30 years this country has been baited with that. All the way back to when Ronald Reagan signed a piece of legislation that basically allowed for amnesty for over 4 million people, and the border is still not secure. The American people are never going to trust Washington, D.C., and for good reason. We hear all this discussion about well, I would do this, or I would do that, when the fact is, the border is still porous. Until we have a president of the United States that gets up every day and goes to the Oval Office with the intent purpose of securing that border, and there's not anybody on either one of these stages that has the experience of dealing with this as I have for over 14 years with that 1200-mile border. We have to put the personnel on that border in the right places; you have to put the strategic fencing in place; and you have to have aviation assets that fly all the way from Tijuana to El Paso to Brownsville, Texas -- 1,933 miles looking down 24/7, with the technology to be able to identify what individuals are doing, and ID when they are in obviously illegal activities or suspicious activities, and quick response teams come. At that particular point in time, then Americans will believe that Washington is up to a conversation to deal with the millions of people that are here illegally, but not until. If you elect me president of the United States, I will secure that southern border. +p51 +aVWe need to be on the side that keeps Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. That's the side we need to be on, and that's the side of the bulk of the -- of the Middle East. We need to have some coalitions in that part of the world to go after +p52 +aVIt'll be a pretty busy day, but that Iran negotiation is going to be torn up on day one. We're going to start the process of securing that border. I'm also going to take a bottle of White-Out with me to get started on all those executive orders that Mr. Obama has put his name to. +p53 +aVIt will be a long day. +p54 +aVWell, let's go with three. Good at email. +p55 +aVWell, this is going to be a show me, don't tell me election. I think America is just a few good decisions and a leadership change at the top away from the best years we've ever had. And I think that the record of the governor of the last 14 years of the 12th largest economy in the world is just the medicine America is looking for. 1.5 million jobs created during the worst economic time this country has had since the Great Depression while the rest of the country lost 400,000 jobs. We're talking about a state that moved graduation rates forward from 27th in the nation to second-highest. As a matter of fact, if you're Hispanic or African-American in Texas, you have the number one high school graduation rates in America. Americans are looking for somebody that's going to give them, and there is a place in this country over the last eight years in particular that talked about hope every day, and they didn't just talk about it, they delivered it. And that was the state of Texas. And if we can do that in Texas, that 12th largest economy in the world, we can do it in America. Our best days are in front of us. We can reform those entitlements, we can change that corporate tax code and lower it. We can put America back on track on a growth level and a growth rate that we've never seen in the history of this country. Manufacturing will flow back into this country. It just needs a corporate executive type at the top that's done it before. And I will suggest to you nobody's done it like Rick Perry has done it over the last eight years. And if you elect me president, we will bring incredible growth back to this country. And as someone who's worn the uniform of the country, that's how we build our military back up. +p56 +asVLEMON +p57 +(lp58 +VAlright, Anderson, thank you very much. I'm not sure how to follow that, but this question is about something that has tripped some of the candidates up out on the campaign trail. Can you hear me? Can't hear me in the room. OK, here we go again, as I said... +p59 +aV...There we go... +p60 +aVAll right. This one is for Martin O'Malley. Anderson, Governor O'Malley, this is from Anna Bettis from Tempe, Arizona. Here it is. ( +p61 +aVSo, Governor O'Malley, please tell Anna how you would protect the environment better than all the other candidates up on that stage. O' +p62 +aVAlright, Anderson. This is for Senator Sanders, OK? This is from Carrie (ph) Kang (ph) from Manassas, Virginia, would like would like to ask the Senator, "President Obama has had a difficult time getting Republicans to compromise on just about every agenda. How will you approach this going forward, and will it be any different?" Senator? +p63 +asVRADDATZ +p64 +(lp65 +VGood evening to you all. The rules for tonight are very basic and have been agreed to by all three campaigns in advance. Candidates can take up to a minute-and-a-half to respond directly to a question. For a rebuttal, for a follow-up, 45 seconds will be allowed. There are green, yellow, and red lights that each candidate will see to signal when time is running out and when they're supposed to be finished with their answers. +p66 +aVThank you, Secretary Clinton. Governor O'Malley? O' +p67 +aVSecretary Clinton, in the wake of the San Bernardino attack, you all emphasized gun control. But our latest poll shows that more Americans believe arming people, not stricter gun laws, is the best defense against terrorism. Are they wrong? +p68 +aVSecretary Clinton, can we stick to gun control? +p69 +aVAre they wrong? +p70 +aVSenator Sanders -- wait just a moment, please, Governor O'Malley. Senator Sanders, we've seen those long lines of people buying guns in record numbers after the Paris attacks. Would you discourage people from buying a gun? +p71 +aVThank you, Senator Sanders. I think we're going to go on... O' +p72 +aVGovernor, now -- and let me stay with gun control for a minute, then. You talk about assault weapons. Even if you were able to ban the purchase of assault weapons tomorrow, Americans already own an estimated 7 to 10 million semi-automatic rifles. Would you make it illegal to own those weapons, force people to turn them in? And if not, how would banning the sales really make a difference? O' +p73 +aVBut, again, I'm not talking about buying. Would you have them confiscated? The ones that are already here? O' +p74 +aVI want to move to another... O' +p75 +aVNo, no, not yet, Governor O'Malley. O' +p76 +aVNo, not yet, Governor O'Malley. O' +p77 +aVI'll come to you when we call on you. Thank you very much. O' +p78 +aVYou'll be happy. I'll let -- I'll let you talk then. Secretary Clinton, I want to talk about a new terrorist tool used in the Paris attacks, encryption. FBI Director James Comey says terrorists can hold secret communications which law enforcement cannot get to, even with a court order. You've talked a lot about bringing tech leaders and government officials together, but Apple CEO Tim Cook said removing encryption tools from our products altogether would only hurt law-abiding citizens who rely on us to protect their data. So would you force him to give law enforcement a key to encrypted technology by making it law? +p79 +aVAnd Governor O'Malley, where do you draw the line between national security and personal security? O' +p80 +aVThank you, Governor O'Malley. +p81 +aVSenator Sanders -- Senator Sanders, we're going to move on. We're going to move on. +p82 +aVWe're going to move on to the fight against +p83 +aVOK. Let's keep going. Thank you. +p84 +aVThank you. I do want to move to the fight against +p85 +aVFor the people of New Hampshire, the brutality of +p86 +aVBut why Al Qaida, why not +p87 +aVThe administration has tried that over and over again. If it doesn't work and this threat is so great, what's your plan B? +p88 +aVSecretary Clinton, you too have ruled out a large U.S. combat force, yet you support sending in special operations forces to Syria, and sending those 100 to 200 troops to Iraq to do exploitation kill raids. We've already lost one Delta Force member in a raid. It has looked very much to me like we're already in ground combat on frequent trips I've made there. So, are you fooling Americans when you say, we're not putting American combat troops back into Syria or Iraq? No. Not at all. I think that what we're facing with +p89 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want -- I want to follow up on that. You do support sending special operations forces there. You support what the president has done already. One of the lessons people draw from Vietnam and war since is that a little force can turn into a little more and a little more. President Obama certainly didn't expect to be sending 30,000 additional troops into Afghanistan the first year of his presidency. Are you prepared to run the risk of a bigger war to achieve your goals to destroy +p90 +aVGovernor O'Malley. You've emphasized the need for more human intelligence on the ground. What is it our intelligence community is not doing now that needs to be done? O' +p91 +aVThank you. +p92 +aVSecretary Clinton, I'd like to go back to that if I could. +p93 +aVBut isn't that a decision you should make now, whether... +p94 +aV... if you're advocating this? +p95 +aVAnd we're going to move on to health care. Secretary Clinton, the Department of Health and Human Services says more than 17 million Americans who are not insured now have health coverage because of Obamacare. But for Americans who already had health insurance the cost has gone up 27 percent in the last five years while deductibles are up 67 percent, health care costs are rising faster than many Americans can manage. What's broken in Obamacare that needs to be fixed right now? And what would you do to fix it? +p96 +aVBut you did say those were glitches. +p97 +aVJust glitches? +p98 +aVTwenty-seven percent in the last five years, deductibles up 67 percent? +p99 +aVSenator Sanders, I want you to respond to what she was saying, but you're instead calling for single-payer health care. +p100 +aVYou note people won't have to pay deductibles or premiums but they will have to pay new taxes. Can you tell us specifically how much people will be expected to pay? +p101 +aVSenator Sanders, you didn't really tell us specifically how much people will be expected to pay... +p102 +aVBut you can't tell us this specifically, even if you were... +p103 +aVOK. Let's go to talk about the high cost of college education and for that we turn to the executive director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics, right here at Saint Anselm college, Neil Levesque. Neil? +p104 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to circle back to something that your opponents here have brought up. Libya is falling apart. The country is a haven for +p105 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to go back. That -- government lacked institutions and experience. It had been a family business for 40 years. On the security side, we offered only a modest training effort and a very limited arms buy-back program. Let me ask you the question again. How much responsibility do you bear for the chaos that followed those elections? +p106 +aVBut were mistakes made? +p107 +aVSenator Sanders. +p108 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p109 +aVQuick Governor O'Malley. O' +p110 +aVThank you very much. Thank you. We're going to move on here. Governor O'Malley, thank you very much for that. And we're going to make a very sharp turn as we wrap things up here. Secretary Clinton, first ladies, as you well know, have used their position to work on important causes like literacy and drug abuse. But they also supervise the menus, the flowers, the holiday ornaments and White House decor. I know you think you know where I'm going here. You have said that Bill Clinton is a great host and loves giving tours but may opt out of picking flower arrangements if you're elected. Bill Clinton aside, is it time to change the role of a president's spouse? +p111 +aVGovernor O'Malley? Martha, thank you. I want to thank all of the people who have tuned in tonight. I want to thank the great people of New Hampshire, where despite all of the cynicism about big money and big banks taking over our politics, here in New Hampshire, the individual matters. You know, my wife Katie and I have four terrific kids, and like you, there's probably nothing we wouldn't do to give them a future that's safer, that's healthier, where they have more opportunity than our parents and grandparents gave to us. Tonight, what you listened to was a healthy exchange of ideas about how we'd do that, that which we have always proven, the capacity to do better than any nation in the world, to take actions that include more of our people more fully in the economic, social and political life of our country. When you listened to the Republican debate the other night, you heard a lot of anger and you had a lot of fear. Well, they can have their anger and they can have their fear, but anger and fear never built America. We build our country by adopting wage and labor policies, including comprehensive immigration reform with a pathway of citizenship for all. We do it by investing in our country, by investing in infrastructure, by investing in the skills and the talents of our people with debt-free college, and we can do it again. And we also create a better future for our kids when we square our shoulders to the great challenges of our times, whether it's terror trying to undermine our values or Republican presidential candidates trying to get us to surrender our freedoms and our values in the face of this threat. The other big challenge we have is climate change. The greatest business opportunity to come to the United States of America in 100 years. We need to embrace this. I have put forward a plan that does this, that moves us to 100 percent clean electric grid by 2050. Join this campaign for the future. New leadership is what our country needs to move us out of these divided and polarized times. Thank you. +p112 +aVQuestions of leadership and character have dominated the news ever since the Iowa caucuses a few days ago. Here with us to question the candidates this evening are Josh McElveen from +p113 +aVDr. Ben Carson. +p114 +aVBusinessman Donald Trump. +p115 +aVFormer Florida Governor, Jeb Bush. +p116 +aVLadies and gentlemen, the Republican candidates. +p117 +aVAnd Donald Trump. +p118 +aVThe applause so loud you couldn't hear. We couldn't hear, either. That's a good sign for the excitement this evening. Gentlemen, thank you for being here tonight, just days before voters here in New Hampshire make their decisions. The rules are simple and have been agreed to by all the campaigns. There will be 60 seconds to answer and if another candidate is mentioned in that answer, that candidate will have 30 seconds to respond. There are green, yellow and red lights that each candidate will see to signal when time is up and they will also hear this sound. +p119 +aVSenator Cruz, you are a first term Senator as well. Your opponents say you, like Senator Rubio, are not prepared to be Commander in Chief. You have talked tough about threats we face in the Mid-East. It was reported just moments ago that the North Koreans test launched an intercontinental ballistic missile. North Korea has nuclear weapons, and conducted another nuclear test just last month. The missile that was launched is the kind the North Koreans hope could someday carry a nuclear weapon capable of reaching the United States. How would you respond if Commander in Chief to that launch? +p120 +aVWell, let me ask you this, if you were Commander in Chief tonight would you have order the U.S. military to destroy that missile preemptively on the launchpad to prevent North Korea from becoming an even graver threat? +p121 +aV... Senator Cruz, let me tell you this, you have talked tough about the Mid-East, you haven't gotten those intelligence briefings about that. Why not tell us whether you would preemptively strike a missile on a launchpad that threatens the U.S... +p122 +aVOkay. Senator Cruz, I will say that missile has been sitting there for quite some time, and they have had eyes on it. +p123 +aVSenator Rubio, I'm talking about a preemptive strike on the launch pad. +p124 +aVOK. Thank you, Senator Rubio. Governor Kasich, how would you respond to tonight's launch? +p125 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. Thank you \u2014 thank you... +p126 +aV... Governor Bush, I'll get to you in a moment. +p127 +aVThank you, Governor Bush. Mr. Trump, do you have a red line with North Korea? Would you consider military action? And how far would you let them go? +p128 +aVAnd I'd like him to finish the question, please. +p129 +aVSpecific \u2014 as to North Korea. +p130 +aVSenator Rubio, you were mentioned. +p131 +aVThank you very much, Senator Rubio. Governor Bush, another problem facing the commander-in-chief right now is that North Korea is currently detaining an American college student. What would you do to get that college student back home? +p132 +aVGovernor Christie, I want to go to you on the same question. +p133 +aVWould you negotiate with North Korea to... +p134 +aVThank you very much, Governor Christie. David? +p135 +aVSenator Cruz, to that point, Mr. Trump has said that your position on health care means that maybe you've got, quote, "no heart". There is a question here, though, about uncovered folks. You suggested repealing and replacing Obamacare. As we learned with President Obama's broken promise that everyone could keep their plan, any major plan \u2014 change in health care policy carries with it the risk that some people will lose their insurance coverage or have to change it. How do you reassure that those people that repealing and replacing Obamacare is still in their best interest? +p136 +aVSenator Cruz, you advocate what you call carpet bombing, or saturation bombing, to defeat +p137 +aVSenator Cruz, would you like to expand or loosen the rules of engagement? I was just over in a command center in Erbil and they said they thought the rules of engagement worked. Because you have so many civilians in those populated areas, they don't want to hit civilians. +p138 +aVSo, loosen the rules of engagement? +p139 +aVSenator Rubio, you said in the last debate that +p140 +aVAgain, Senator Rubio, you've already said +p141 +aVWell, what would you do \u2014 what would you do differently to try to get those Sunni forces? They have not been coming forward. +p142 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 thank you very much, Senator Rubio. Mr. Trump. You have said you will vigorously bomb +p143 +aVAnd \u2014 and what would you do in those cities, where there are people who we are trying to help, who +p144 +aVThank you very much, Mr. Trump. Let's turn to Libya. Governor Bush, it is a country in chaos. There is no government. This week, defense officials said there are now 5,000 +p145 +aVThank you very much, Governor Bush. Dr. Carson? +p146 +aVAnd would you support renewed airstrikes? +p147 +aVWe're going to move on. +p148 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. Thank you, Josh. Our partner in this debate, the Independent Journal Review, has collected questions from some prominent conservatives around the country. Here's a videotaped question from radio host Larry O'Connor. O' +p149 +aVMr. Trump, I'm going to give that question to you. You took it \u2014 you took it away anyway. +p150 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. I'm going to go to Senator Rubio on this. How would you change that narrative? +p151 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Dr. Carson, I want to go to you on Larry O' Connor's question. Would you change the narrative? +p152 +aVYes. +p153 +aVThank you very much Dr. Carson. I'm going to go back to David. +p154 +aVGovernor Christie, earlier this week, the World Health Organization declared the Zika virus a global emergency. The same kind of mosquitoes that carry the Zika virus in Latin America are found here in the United States, and the virus has been linked to severe birth defects. Governor Christie, at the peak of the Ebola outbreak in west Africa, you ordered an American nurse who landed at Newark Airport be detained and quarantined. As fear spreads now of the Zika virus and with the Rio Olympics just months away, is there a scenario where you would quarantine people traveling back from Brazil to prevent the spread in the United States? +p155 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you. I'm going to move to Dr. Carson, and go back to the Zika virus, is that going too far, quarantining? You're a doctor, what would you do? +p156 +aVThanks very much, Dr. Carson. I want to move on to the military. Senator Rubio, all restrictions on women in combat as long as they qualify. Positions including special operations forces, like Navy Seals. Just this week military leaders of the Army and Marine Corps said that they believed young women, just as young men are required to do, should sign up for Selective Service in case the Draft is reinstated. Many of you have young daughters. Senator Rubio, should young women be required to sign up for Selective Service in case of a national emergency? +p157 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Governor Bush, do you believe that young women... +p158 +aVDo you believe young women should sign up for Selective Service, be required to sign up... +p159 +aVTell me what you'd say to American people out there......who are sitting at home, who have daughters, who might worry about those answers, and might worry... +p160 +aV... if the Draft is reinstituted? +p161 +aV... Are you saying you'd do away with it? +p162 +aVYou register for the draft. +p163 +aVIf it's reinstituted. +p164 +aVThank you very much. +p165 +aVThank you very much, Governor Christie. +p166 +aVWe just covered \u2014 wait one second, Dr. Carson. +p167 +aVVery quickly. +p168 +aVThank you very much for bringing up that subject, Dr. Carson, of our veterans. And for another question about our veterans, we go back to Josh McElveen from +p169 +aVGovernor Christie. +p170 +aVDr. Carson. +p171 +aVSenator Cruz. +p172 +asVANNOUNCER +p173 +(lp174 +VHello from MinuteEarth. Fossil fuels have long kept our cars moving and our light bulbs lit. But we know that burning these fuels releases heat-trapping gases that are warming the planet, causing seas to rise and contributing to extreme weather events, like South Carolina's devastating flooding last year. Fighting human-caused climate change means giving up our global addiction to fossil fuels and shifting the bulk of the world's energy supply to alternative sources. Some countries have acted decisively to make this transition. But here at home, we still get a whooping 82 percent of our energy from coal, oil, and natural gas. In the U.S., political gridlock, pressure from industry lobbyists and insufficient R&D have made an already tough battle against climate change even tougher. +p175 +aVABC News coverage of the New Hampshire Democratic debate will continue in a moment. ( +p176 +asVUNKNOWN +p177 +(lp178 +VIf you're not going to have my back, I'm going to have my back. +p179 +aVA couple things here. First of all... +p180 +aVWe have grown \u2014 we have grown... +p181 +aVTrue. It's true. +p182 +aV...let me follow up that... +p183 +aV +p184 +aVOh, great. +p185 +aV...In 2011, you told Forbes Magazine this: "I've used the laws of the country to my advantage." But at the same time, financial experts involved in those bankruptcies say that lenders to your companies lost billions of dollars. Question sir, with that record, why should we trust you to run the nation's business? +p186 +aVI do. +p187 +aVThank you. +p188 +aVSecretive and untrustworthy. +p189 +aVNot me. +p190 +aVMaria... +p191 +aVYeah, but I want to talk about taxes. +p192 +asVIFILL +p193 +(lp194 +VWe want to also extend our warm thanks to Milwaukee Public Radio and Milwaukee Public Television, as well as all of our friends at the PBS member stations across the country tuning in tonight. This is the sixth time the Democrats have met face to face. Each time, we learn more about them and the presidents they say they want to be. You know you're watching \u2014 whether you're a Democrat, a Republican, or neither \u2014 because you believe the outcome of the election is important to you. And we believe that, too. With that, let's welcome the candidates to the stage. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. +p195 +aVWelcome to you both. +p196 +aVWith Iowa and New Hampshire behind us, we are now broadening the conversation to America's heartland and beyond, including here in Wisconsin. Now let's turn to the candidates for their opening statements. The order was decided by coin toss. And, Senator Sanders, you go first. +p197 +aVThank you, Senator Sanders. Thank you, Senator Sanders. Secretary Clinton. +p198 +aVFinal thought, Senator. +p199 +aVI'd like to move along. I'd like to move along. Secretary Clinton, you might \u2014 you also have proposed fairly expansive ideas about government. You may remember this pledge from a State of the Union Address at which I believe you were present, in which these words were said: "The era of big government is over." You may remember that. When asked your feelings about the federal government this week, 61 percent of New Hampshire Democrats told exit pollsters that they are angry or at least dissatisfied. Given what you and Senator Sanders are proposing, an expanding government in almost every area of our lives, is it fair for Americans who fear government to fear you? +p200 +aVBut I haven't heard either of you put a price tag on your \u2014 you say... +p201 +aVSenator? +p202 +aVSenator, do you worry at all that you will be the instrument of thwarting history, as Senator Clinton keeps claiming, that she might be the first woman president? +p203 +aVThank you both. We turn now to the first of several questions from our partners at Facebook. They were selected from a curated group of people we've been following of undecided voters. The first comes from Claudia Looze, a 54-year-old woman who works as a program manager at a public affairs cable network in Madison, Wisconsin. And she writes: "Wisconsin is number one in African-American male incarceration, according to a University of Wisconsin study. They found that Wisconsin's incarceration rate for black men, which is at 13 percent, was nearly double the country's rate. What can we do across the nation to address this?" Senator Sanders. +p204 +aVLet me turn this on its head, because when we talk about race in this country, we always talk about African-Americans, people of color. I want to talk about white people, OK? +p205 +aVI know. So many people will be surprised to find out that we are sitting in one of the most racially polarized metropolitan areas in the country. By the middle of this century, the nation is going to be majority nonwhite. Our public schools are already there. If working-class, white Americans are about to be outnumbered, are already underemployed in many cases, and one study found they are dying sooner, don't they have a reason to be resentful, Senator \u2014 Secretary Clinton? +p206 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, I want you to respond to that, but I also want you to \u2014 am I wrong? Is it even right to be describing this as a matter of race? +p207 +aVIf you would allow me now to move on, we've been talking about children. I want to talk about seniors. That takes us to our second Facebook question from Farheen Hakeem, who writes, "My father" \u2014 she's a 40-year-old woman who works for a nonprofit here in Milwaukee. And she writes, "My father gets just $16 in food assistance per month as part of Medicaid's family community program in Milwaukee County for low-income seniors. How will you as president work to ensure low-income seniors get their basic needs met?" Start with you, Senator Sanders. +p208 +aVSenator Sanders, are you saying... +p209 +aVThere's a lot more to come in just a few minutes. Stay with us for more of the PBS NewsHour Democratic Debate. +p210 +aVHow about you, Senator Clinton \u2014 Secretary Clinton? +p211 +aVWe spent the first part of this debate talking about domestic insecurity. The second part, we want to talk about our foreign policy insecurities. And we want to start with a question for you, Secretary Clinton, about America's role in the world. Americans are becoming increasingly worried that attacks abroad are coming home, that they already are, in fact, here. According to exit polls from last week, from earlier this week, more than two-thirds of Democrats in New Hampshire are concerned about sending their children to fight in wars they can't win. They fret that the next attack is just around the corner and we are not ready. Are we? +p212 +aVSenator Sanders... +p213 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p214 +aVLet me move on. You have both mentioned the humanitarian tragedies which have been an outgrowth in part of what has happened in Syria and in Libya. More than a million refugees entered Europe in 2015. Another 76,000 just last month, that is about 2,000 arrivals every day. Nearly 400 people have been lost at sea so far this year, crossing the Mediterranean. And there are reports that 10,000 children are missing. If we are leaders in this world, where should the U.S. be on this? What should the United States be doing, Secretary Clinton? +p215 +aVSenator, if you would like respond to \u2014 you may respond to that but it is time for closing statements and you can use your time for closing statements to do that. +p216 +aVThank you. Thank you Senator Clinton. Thank you, Senator Sanders. We also want to thank our partners at Facebook and our hosts here at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. +p217 +aVI'm going to remain here in Milwaukee tomorrow evening for a special edition of Washington Week here on PBS. +p218 +asVWOODRUFF +p219 +(lp220 +VGood evening, and thank you. We are happy to welcome you to Milwaukee for this Democratic debate. We are especially pleased to thank our partners at Facebook, who have helped us set up a vibrant conversation among voters who are undecided. And tonight you're going to hear some of their questions for the candidates. And you can follow along at home on the PBS NewsHour page on Facebook. We also want to thank our hosts, the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, on whose campus we meet, here in the beautiful Helen Bader Concert Hall. +p221 +aVWelcome, Senator, great to see you. And former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Very good to be here with you. +p222 +aVNow, a word about format. There will be two short breaks, and the rules are simple: 90 seconds for each answer and 30 seconds for the other candidate to respond. +p223 +aVThank you both. Thank you both. And we'll be right back after a short break to begin questions. +p224 +aVAnd, welcome back to this PBS Newshour debate, Democratic debate, here in Milwaukee. Let's get right to the questions. Senator Sanders, to you first. Coming off the results in Iowa and New Hampshire, there are many voters who are taking a closer look at you, and your ideas, and they're asking how big a role do you foresee for the federal government? It's already spending 21% of the entire U.S. economy. How much larger would government be in the lives of Americans under a Sanders presidency? +p225 +aVBut, my question is how big would government be? Would there be any limit on the size of the role of government... +p226 +aVNext, we're going to... +p227 +aVVery brief, thank you. +p228 +aVSecretary Clinton, your campaign \u2014 you and your campaign have made a clear appeal to women voters. You have talked repeatedly about the fact, we know you would be, if elected, the first woman president. But in New Hampshire 55 percent of the women voters supported and voted for Senator Sanders. What are women missing about you? +p229 +aVAs you know, just quickly, as you know, your strong supporter, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, said the other day that there's a special place in Hell for women who don't support other women. Do you agree with what she said? +p230 +aVSenator Sanders, you're in the minority, but we still want to hear from you. +p231 +aVFinal comment. +p232 +aVSecretary Clinton, I was talking recently with a 23 year old black woman who voted for President Obama because she said she thought relations between the races would get better under his leadership, and his example. Hardly anyone believes that they have. Why do you think race relations would be better under a Clinton presidency? What would you do that the nation's first African American has not been able to? +p233 +aVSenator Sanders? +p234 +aVSo race relation was be better under a Sanders presidency than they've been? +p235 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders, one of the causes of anxiety for working class Americans is connected to immigrants. President Obama, as you know, has issued executive actions to permit some 5 million undocumented immigrants who are living now in the United States to come out of the shadows without fear of deportation to get work permits. Would you go further than that? And if so, how specifically would you do it? Should an undocumented family watching this debate tonight, say, in Nevada, rest easy, not fear of further deportations under a Sanders presidency? +p236 +aVI'd like... +p237 +aVWe're going to move on. Secretary Clinton, your campaign has recently ramped up criticism of Senator Sanders for attending Democratic Party fundraisers from which you say he benefited. But nearly half of your financial sector donations appear to come from just two wealthy financiers, George Soros and Donald Sussman, for a total of about $10 million. You have said that there's no quid pro quo involved. Is that also true of the donations that wealthy Republicans give to Republican candidates, contributors including the Koch Brothers? +p238 +aVI'm asking if Democratic donors are different than Republican donors. +p239 +aVWe have to go to a break. We... +p240 +aVAll right. Thank you both. It is time for a break. And when we come back, we're going to turn to some new topics, including how these candidates will keep America safe. +p241 +aVWelcome back to the Democratic presidential debate. Before we return to our questions, we have a follow-up question from our Facebook group. And it is to Senator Sanders. Senator, it comes from Bill Corfield. He is a 55-year-old musician from Troy, Ohio. And he asks: "Are there any areas of government you would like to reduce?" +p242 +aVJust a final word. +p243 +aVSenator, let me \u2014 let me move on to another country with which the U.S. has a complicated relationship, Senator Sanders, and that's Russia. On the one hand, we're aware that Russia is a country that the United States needs to cooperate with. Just tonight, Secretary of State John Kerry has announced what appears to be an agreement with the Russians to lead \u2014 that could lead toward a ceasefire in Syria, would be the first cessation of conflict in that country, in that civil war in five years, but it comes at a very high price, because not only have all \u2014 have we seen the deaths, the removal of so many people, millions of people, we now see the Russians in the last few weeks have bombed in a way that benefits President Assad, has not gone after +p244 +aVAnd we have a final question from our Facebook family. And it goes to Senator Sanders. It comes from Robert Andrews. He's a 40-year-old stay-at-home dad in Dover, Massachusetts. He says, "The world has seen many great leaders in the course of human history. Can you name two leaders \u2014 one American and one foreign \u2014 who would influence your foreign policy decisions? And why do you see them as \u2014 why are they influential?" +p245 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p246 +aVAnd we want to thank our audience, our quiet audience here in Helen Bader Concert Hall, and to all of you watching at home. Thank you all. Stay tuned for analysis of the debate and the overall race for the Democratic nomination. That's coming up next here on PBS stations and online atPBS.org/NewsHour. +p247 +aVAnd I'm going to be returning to Washington. I hope you'll join us for the PBS NewsHour tomorrow and every night. That's it from all of us here in Milwaukee. We thank you. +p248 +asVCORDES +p249 +(lp250 +VJohn, thanks so much. We've learned a lot during the course of this campaign about the things that you'd like to do that you say would help the middle class, but we haven't heard quite as much about who would pick up the tab. So Secretary Clinton, first to you. You want to cap individuals' prescription drug costs at $250 a month. You want to make public college debt-free. You want community college to be free altogether. And you want mandatory paid family leave. So who pays for all that? Is it employers? Is it the taxpayers, and which taxpayers? +p251 +aVBut a quick follow-up on that $250-a-month cap. Wouldn't the pharmaceutical companies and the insurance companies just pass that cost on to the consumers in the form of higher premiums? +p252 +aVGovernor O'Malley, you also want to make public college debt-free. You want... O' +p253 +aV... states to freeze tuition. You've got your own family leave plan. How would you pay for it? In Maryland, you raised the sales tax, you raised the gas tax and you raised taxes on families making over $150,000 a year. Is that the blueprint? O' +p254 +aVSenator Sanders, you want to make public college free altogether. You want to increase Social Security benefits and you want to spend $1 trillion on infrastructure. So you said that to do some of these things, you'll impose a tax on top earners. How high would their rate go in a Sanders administration? +p255 +aVBut let's get specific. How high would you go? You have said before you would go above 50 percent. How high? +p256 +aVSecretary Clinton, Americans say that health care costs and wages are their top financial concerns. And health care deductibles, alone, have risen 67 percent over the past five years. Is this something that Obamacare was designed to address? And if not, why not? +p257 +aVIt is -- it is a worthy debate. Senator Sanders, a quick response, and then we'll get into health care again later. +p258 +aVThere was a lot of conversation on twitter about guns, but also about your conversation on campaign finance. And Secretary Clinton, one of the tweets we saw said this, "I've never seen a candidate invoke 9/11 to justify millions of Wall Street donations until now." The idea being, yes, you were a champion of the community after 9/11, but what does that have to do with taking big donations? +p259 +aVHold on. O' +p260 +aVSenator Sanders -- I'm sorry. Senator Sanders, but what is it in Secretary Clinton's record that shows you that she's been influenced by those donations? +p261 +aVBack to health care, by popular demand. First to you, Senator Sanders. You'd prefer to scrap Obamacare and move to a single-payer system, essentially Medicare for all. You say you want to put the private insurance companies out of business. Is it realistic to think that you can pull the plug on a $1 trillion industry? +p262 +aVSecretary Clinton, back in -- Secretary Clinton, back in 1994, you said that momentum for a single-payer system would sweep the country. That sounds Sanders-esque. But you don't feel that way anymore, why not? +p263 +asVKELLY +p264 +(lp265 +VWelcome to the first debate night of the 2016 presidential campaign, live from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. I'm Megyn Kelly... ... along with my co-moderators, Brett Baier and Chris Wallace. Tonight... Nice. Tonight, thousands of people here in the Q, along with millions of voters at home will get their very first chance to see the candidates face off in a debate, answering the questions you want answered. +p266 +aVAs for the candidates who will be answering those questions? Here they are. Positioned on the stage by how they stand in the polls, in the center of the stage tonight, businessman Donald Trump. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. +p267 +aVGentlemen, our first round of questions is on the subject of electability in the general election, and we start tonight with you, Dr. Carson. You are a successful neurosurgeon, but you admit that you have had to study up on foreign policy, saying there's a lot to learn. Your critics say that your inexperience shows. You've suggested that the Baltic States are not a part of +p268 +aVMr. Trump, one of the things people love about you is you speak your mind and you don't use a politician's filter. However, that is not without its downsides, in particular, when it comes to women. You've called women you don't like "fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals." Your Twitter account... +p269 +aVNo, it wasn't. Your Twitter account... +p270 +aVFor the record, it was well beyond Rosie O'Donnell. +p271 +aVYour Twitter account has several disparaging comments about women's looks. You once told a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice it would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees. Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president, and how will you answer the charge from Hillary Clinton, who was likely to be the Democratic nominee, that you are part of the war on women? +p272 +aVGovernor Walker, you've consistently said that you want to make abortion illegal even in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother. You recently signed an abortion law in Wisconsin that does have an exception for the mother's life, but you're on the record as having objected to it. Would you really let a mother die rather than have an abortion, and with 83 percent of the American public in favor of a life exception, are you too out of the mainstream on this issue to win the general election? +p273 +aVGovernor Kasich, You chose to expand Medicaid in your state, unlike several other governors on this stage tonight, and it is already over budget by some estimates costing taxpayers an additional $1.4 billion in just the first 18 months. You defended your Medicaid expansion by invoking God, saying to skeptics that when they arrive in heaven, Saint Peter isn't going to ask them how small they've kept government, but what they have done for the poor. Why should Republican voters, who generally want to shrink government, believe that you won't use your Saint Peter rationale to expand every government program? +p274 +aVAlright, gentlemen, we're gonna switch topics now and talk a bit about terror and national security. Governor Christie. You've said that Senator Paul's opposition to the NSA's collection of phone records has made the United States weaker and more vulnerable, even going so far as to say that he should be called before Congress to answer for it if we should be hit by another terrorist attack. Do you really believe you can assign blame to Senator Paul just for opposing the bulk collection of people's phone records in the event of a terrorist attack? +p275 +aVGo ahead, sir. +p276 +aVGovernor Christie, make your point. +p277 +aVGo ahead, governor. +p278 +aVAlright. +p279 +aVAlright, we've gotta cut it off there. We have plenty more we want to get to. That was an interesting exchange, thank you for that. +p280 +aVWell, I want to move on, because I have -- we're gonna get to you, governor, but I -- I really wanna get to a Facebook questioner. His name is Alex Chalgren, and he has the following question: +p281 +aVSenator Cruz, I wanna talk to you about this, because many of the Facebook users and -- and -- the -- the folks on Facebook wanted the candidates to speak to +p282 +aVYou don't see it as... ...an ideological problem -- an ideological problem in addition to a military one? +p283 +aVGovernor Bush, for days on end in this campaign, you struggled to answer a question about whether knowing what we know now... +p284 +aV...we would've invaded Iraq... +p285 +aVI remember it too, and +p286 +aVGovernor Walker, in February you said that we needed to gain partners in the Arab world. Which Arab country not already in the U.S. led coalition has potential to be our greatest partner? +p287 +aVDr. Carson, in one of his first acts as commander in chief, President Obama signed an executive order banning enhanced interrogation techniques in fighting terror. As president, would you bring back water boarding? +p288 +aVWe have a lot for you, don't worry. Fear not, you may rue that request. +p289 +aVIt's just before 10:00 p.m. on the East Coast. Welcome back to Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, and the very first Republican primary debate of the 2016 presidential campaign. Ten candidates on the stage, selected based on their standing in five national polls. And tonight they are facing off, answering the questions you want asked. We hope. +p290 +aV Sounds like somebody's a little R-rated. +p291 +aVWell, the first debate night of the 2016 presidential campaign continues from Cleveland after a short time-out. Stick around. Social issues, next. +p292 +aVSenator Rubio, you favor a rape and incest exception to abortion bans. Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York just said yesterday those exceptions are preposterous. He said they discriminate against an entire class of human beings. If you believe that life begins at conception, as you say you do, how do you justify ending a life just because it begins violently, through no fault of the baby? +p293 +aVYou don't favor a rape and incest exception? +p294 +aVMr. Trump, in 1999, you said you were, quote, "very pro- choice." Even supporting partial-birth abortion. You favored an assault weapons ban as well. In 2004, you said in most cases you identified as a Democrat. Even in this campaign, your critics say you often sound more like a Democrat than a Republican, calling several of your opponents on the stage things like clowns and puppets. When did you actually become a Republican? +p295 +aVGovernor Bush, I want to ask you, on the subject of name calling of your fellow candidates, a story appeared today quoting an anonymous GOP donor who said you called Mr. Trump a clown, a buffoon, something else that cannot be repeated on television. +p296 +aVIs it true? +p297 +aVMr. Trump, 30 seconds. +p298 +aVThe subject of gay marriage and religious liberty. Governor Kasich, if you had a son or daughter who was gay or lesbian, how would you explain to them your opposition to same-sex marriage? +p299 +aVHow would you -- how would you explain it to a child? +p300 +aVSenator Paul, in the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling on same sex marriage, Carol Fox on Facebook want to know the following. Quote: what will you do to ensure Christians are not prosecuted for speaking out against gay marriage and will Christians be forced to conduct business that conflicts with their religious beliefs? +p301 +aVGovernor Walker, many in the Black Lives Matter movement, and beyond, believe that overly-aggressive police officers targeting young African Americans is the civil rights issue of our time. Do you agree? And if so, how do you plan to address it? And if not, why not? +p302 +aVThank you. +p303 +aVWe have to stand you by, because after the break, we're going to let the candidates make their closing statements, their final thoughts, and . . . God. Stay tuned for that. +p304 +aVWelcome back. In our final moments here together, we're going to allow the candidates to offer their final thoughts. But first, we want to ask them an interesting closing question from Chase Norton on Facebook, who wants to know this of the candidates: "I want to know if any of them have received a word from God on what they should do and take care of first." Senator Cruz, start from you. Any word from God? +p305 +aVGovernor Kasich, same question. +p306 +aVGovernor Walker, same question. +p307 +aVSenator Rubio, I want to ask you the same question. But I do want to mention, a woman just came here to the stage and asked, what about the veterans? I want to hear more about what these candidates are going to do for our nation's veterans. So I put the question to you about God and the veterans, which you may find to be related. +p308 +aVDr. Carson, a question to you about God and his role, but also, one of the issues that the public was very interested in, and we touched on it earlier, is race relations in this country, and how divided we seem right now. And what, if anything, you can do -- you would do as the next president to help heal that divide. +p309 +aVGovernor Christie? +p310 +aVSenator Ted Cruz. +p311 +aVGovernor Scott Walker. +p312 +aVIt's over! +p313 +aVAre you relieved? You were nervous before, they -- they don't look relieved. They look "get me outta here." Thank you all very much, and that will do it for the first Republican primary debate night of the 2016 presidential race. Our thanks to the candidates, who will now be joined by their families on stage. +p314 +aVTonight, we are coming to you live from the Iowa Event Center in downtown Des Moines, in the shadow of the Iowa state capitol. In just four days, people here in the Hawkeye State will caucus and cast the first votes of the 2016 election. +p315 +aVSeven candidates are on that stage tonight, their position on the stage determined by their standing in the latest national polls, as well as polls in Iowa and New Hampshire. And here they are. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Florida Senator Marco Rubio. +p316 +aVWow. +p317 +aVSo let's get started. Senator Cruz, before we get to the issues, let's address the elephant not in the room tonight. Donald Trump has chosen not to attend this evening's presidential debate. What message do you think that sends to the voters of Iowa? +p318 +aVThe divide between you and Mr. Trump has turned into one of the biggest stories in the country. And for six months that \u2014 your campaign, during this campaign, you praised Mr. Trump as somebody who you thought was an effective voice against the Washington cartel. You said you were glad that he was running as a Republican. But when he started to criticize you, your message changed, and you suddenly started to portray him as the voice of the Washington cartel, and suggested he would do the Democrats' bidding. Which is it? +p319 +aVSenator Christie, you began this campaign touting your record as a Republican from a blue state who knows how to get things done and reach across the aisle. However, many Republicans feel that reaching across the aisle and getting things done isn't great if you get the wrong things done. And they prefer to stand on principle rather than compromise. Why are they wrong and you're right? +p320 +aVBut first, you can join tonight's conversation right from home. Go to google.com or open your Google search app and search Fox News debate to vote on which candidate you think has the best plan to defeat +p321 +aVWe have a lot \u2014 we have a lot to cover. But we want to \u2014 we want to turn the page to domestic... +p322 +aVNo, no. No. +p323 +aVNo no no, because we want to turn the page to domestic terror, and let me tell you why: we're partnering with Google on this debate, and they're telling us... +p324 +aV... that their search results have gone through the roof on \u2014 on people... +p325 +aV... you're a good man, Governor Kasich. +p326 +aVPeople \u2014 the search results \u2014 the searches for terror issues, for safety issues in America have gone through the roof, increased over 400 percent since 2008. People are worried. They're worried about what's happening in the country and about a domestic terror attack, as all of you know. Now, when combating this threat, Senator Rubio, you've advocated closing down mosques \u2014 we'll get back to you. Well, you have advocated closing down \u2014 closing down mosques, diners, any place where radicalization is occurring. You told me that. But the Supreme Court has made clear that hateful speech is generally protected by the First Amendment. In other words, radical Muslims have the right to be radical Muslims, unless they turn to terror. Doesn't your position run afoul of the First Amendment? +p327 +aVSenator Paul, do you agree with that? We're gonna close down mosques, we're gonna close down diners where we think radical thinking's occurring? +p328 +aVGovernor Christie, let's talk about profiling. In December... +p329 +aV... profiling. Profiling. In December, two radical Muslims killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California. Neighbors of the terrorists said that they did not report the couple to law enforcement prior to the crime, because they were afraid that they would be accused of profiling. Now, you have said that we should not profile. How do you square that with the San Bernardino case? +p330 +aVThey didn't know they were going to attack the country. +p331 +aVThat's not true. The neighbors said they saw men going in and out of the garage. They saw packages being delivered. They saw Muslims, and they did not think that was enough to call the cops. Do you? +p332 +aVDr. Carson, this week a female Muslim who served in the U.S. Air Force asked Hillary Clinton the question, she asked whether the United States is still the best place in which to raise her three Muslim children. Given what she perceives as a rise in Islamaphobia in this country. Do you think the GOP messaging on Muslims has stoked the flames of bias on this as the Democrats suggest, and how would you answer this veteran? +p333 +aVGovernor Kasich, stand back. You appear to back in another debate, a so-called back door to encrypted cell phone technology, which protects most smartphones that we all have from hacking. And it includes our phones and it also protects the cell phones of the terrorist. Now the tech companies and a group of MIT scientists, smart guys, right, warn that if they create a way for the FBI to have a back door into our encrypted communications, then the bad guys will exploit it too. And they say that this is going to cause more security problems than it would solve for everyday Americans. Are they wrong? +p334 +aVBut this is public testimony. +p335 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p336 +aVWelcome back, everybody. We are live in Des Moines, Iowa. And let's get right back to the questions \u2014 Bret. +p337 +aVAll right. We're going to move on. Because coming up, immigration, and something you've never seen before. Stay tuned, right after this break. +p338 +aVWelcome back everyone. Live, in Des Moines, Iowa. Now, we move onto the topic of immigration. Senator Rubio, we'll start with you. When you ran for Senate in 2010, you made clear that you opposed legalization and citizenship for illegal immigrants. You promised repeatedly that you would oppose it as a U.S. Senator as well. Here are just a few examples. Watch. +p339 +aVWithin two years of getting elected you were co-sponsoring legislation to create a path to citizenship, in your words, amnesty. Haven't you already proven that you cannot be trusted on this issue? +p340 +aV... But, you went on from there... +p341 +aV... You said more than that, Senator... +p342 +aV... You said earned path to citizenship is basically code for amnesty. You... +p343 +aV... supported earned path to citizenship... +p344 +aVGovernor Bush, do you agree Senator Rubio has not reversed himself on his immigration promise? +p345 +aVGo ahead, senator. +p346 +aVAll right. +p347 +aVAll right. This will be the last one. +p348 +aVOK. Let's move on. Senator Cruz, when Senator Rubio proposed that bill creating a path to citizenship, you proposed an amendment. It would have allowed for legalization but not citizenship. Yes, it would. Pressed last month on why you supported legalization, you claimed that you didn't. Right? Like you just did. Saw that. You argued that this was just a poison pill amendment, basically it's something designed to kill the bill and not actually get it through. But that is not, however, how it sounded at the time. Watch. +p349 +aVWas that all an act? It was pretty convincing. +p350 +aVBut the bill allowed both. The bill you were amending allowed citizenship and legalization. +p351 +aVOK, sir. +p352 +aVSenator Paul. You know how Washington works. Do you buy that? +p353 +aVGo ahead, sir. +p354 +aVSenator Rubio, even Chuck Schumer, your co-sponsor of that bill... +p355 +aV... agrees with Ted Cruz on this. +p356 +aVGo ahead, Senator Cruz. +p357 +aVAll right. +p358 +aVGo ahead, Governor Christie. +p359 +aVLet's go to a Youtube question. Let's get to a Youtube question. This is a question from a Youtube creator with over 2 million subscribers. Watch. +p360 +aVDr. Carson, that's one \u2014 that one's for you. +p361 +aVGo ahead. +p362 +aVAll right. +p363 +aVAll right. We're moving on. +p364 +aVGovernor bush, poll after poll shows you running among the worst in your party against Hillary Clinton. Even Mitt Romney said that a Bush v. Clinton head-to-head would be too easy for the Democrats. Yet still you and the super PACs supporting you continue to blanket the airwaves with cutting ads, not against Mrs. Clinton, but against your fellow Republicans, especially Senator Rubio. Do these attacks do more harm than good by targeting those candidates who appear to have the best chance of defeating Mrs. Clinton? +p365 +aVWelcome back, everybody. Let's get back to the questions. Chris? +p366 +aVSenator Paul, you have suggested that former President Bill Clinton's history with women is fair game in this campaign. How do you answer those who say you don't hold the sins of the husband against the wife? +p367 +aVOf her husband's? +p368 +aVWelcome back, everybody. And now, it is time for closing statements. The candidates each get 30 seconds. And we begin with Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. +p369 +aVOhio Governor Kasich. +p370 +aVFormer Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Governor. +p371 +aVTexas Senator, Ted Cruz. Senator. +p372 +aVGentlemen, thank you all so much for being here tonight. We appreciate it greatly. And that does it for the seventh Republican primary debate of the 2016 presidential race. But we're not done. The Kelly file starts in a moment and guess who is going to be there? Senator Ted Cruz. +p373 +asVRUBIO +p374 +(lp375 +VThank you Wolf. It's really amazing to be back in Las Vegas. I spent six years as a child growing not far from where we stand tonight. I use to sit on the porch of our home and listen to my grandfather tell stories as he smoked one of three daily cigars. One of the things my grandfather instilled in me, was that I was really blessed because I was a citizen of the greatest country in the history of our mankind. But there have always been people in American politics that wanted America to be more like the rest of the world. And In 2008, one of them was elected president of this country and the result has been a disaster. Today you have millions of Americans that feel left out and out of place in their own country, struggling to live paycheck to paycheck, called bigots because they hold on to traditional values. And around the world, America's influence has declined while this president has destroyed our military, our allies no longer trust us, and our adversaries no longer respect us. And that is why this election is so important. That is why I'm running for president. And that's why I'm going to ask you for your vote tonight. If you elect me president, we will have a president that believes America is the greatest country in the world and we will have a president that acts like it. +p376 +aVWell, I understand why they feel that way, because this president hasn't kept us safe. The problem is we had an attack in San Bernardino. And we were paying attention to the most important issue we have faced in a decade since 9/11, and then all the talk was about this proposal, which isn't going to happen. But this is what's important to do is we must deal frontally with this threat of radical Islamists, especially from +p377 +aVHe is and so are those that voted for it. There were some that voted for it because they wanted to keep it alive and they were afraid the whole program would expire. Here's the world we live in. This is a radical jihadist group that is increasingly sophisticated in its ability, for example, to radicalize American citizens, in its inability to exploit loopholes in our legal immigration system, in its ability to capture and hold territory in the Middle East, as I outlined earlier, in multiple countries. This is not just the most capable, it is the most sophisticated terror threat we have ever faced. We are now at a time when we need more tools, not less tools. And that took we lost, the metadata program, was a valuable tool that we no longer have at our disposal. +p378 +aVDana, may I interject here? +p379 +aVLet me be very careful when answering this, because I don't think national television in front of 15 million people is the place to discuss classified information. So let me just be very clear. There is nothing that we are allowed to do under this bill that we could not do before. This bill did, however, take away a valuable tool that allowed the National Security Agency and other law \u2014 and other intelligence agencies to quickly and rapidly access phone records and match them up with other phone records to see who terrorists have been calling. Because I promise you, the next time there is attack on \u2014 an attack on this country, the first thing people are going to want to know is, why didn't we know about it and why didn't we stop it? And the answer better not be because we didn't have access to records or information that would have allowed us to identify these killers before they attacked. +p380 +aVI want to thank Rand for another 30 seconds, because, number one, what he's pointing to is a bill last week that \u2014 amendment that he voted for that only 10 people voted for. You know why? Because it's not focused on terrorists. It would have banned anyone from coming here. Someone from Taiwan would not have been able to come here as a tourist. Number two, this program, this metadata program is actually more strict than what a regular law enforcement agency has now. If a regular law enforcement agency wants your phone records, all they have to do is issue a subpoena. But now the intelligence agency is not able to quickly gather records and look at them to see who these terrorists are calling. And the terrorists that attacked us in San Bernardino was an American citizen, born and raised in this country. And I bet you we wish we would have had access to five years of his records so we could see who he was working with... +p381 +aVDo I get another 30 seconds? He mentioned me. +p382 +aVWell, let me begin by saying that we have to understand who +p383 +aVThat is accurate. Three times he voted against the Defense Authorization Act, which is a bill that funds the troops. It also, by the way, funds the Iron Dome and other important programs. And I have to assume that if you vote against it in the Senate, you would also veto it as president. He has also supported, by the way, a budget that is called the containment budget. And it is a budget that would radically reduce the amount of money we spend on our military. You can't carpet bomb +p384 +aVYes, let me \u2014 three points of distinction. The first is, if you're an American citizen and you decide to join up with +p385 +aVWell, they most certainly will have to be worked on to provide more than what they are doing now. There's no doubt about it. And there's one \u2014 one major reason why they have not been willing to be a broader part of the coalition, and that is they have lost complete trust and confidence in this president. This president cut a deal with their moral enemy, the Shia, in Iran. And this is the reason why they no longer trust this president and are willing to work alongside them. But they have as much invested in this as we do. In fact, more so, for it is the king of Saudi Arabia they want to behead first. It's the king of Jordan that they want to dethrone. It's the \u2014 they want to go into Egypt the way they've already gone into Libya. And on another point that we need to talk about, Assad is one of the main reasons why +p386 +aVTo begin with, Moammar Gadhafi and the revolt against Gadhafi was not started by the United States. It was started by the Libyan people. And the reason why I argued we needed to get involved is because he was going to go one way or the other. And my argument then was proven true, and that is, the longer that civil war took, the more militias would be formed and the more unstable the country would be after the fact. As far as Moammar Gadhafi is concerned, by the way, Moammar Gadhafi is the man that killed those Americans over Lockerbie, Scotland. Moammar Gadhafi is also the man that bombed that cafe in Berlin and killed those Marines. And you want to know why Moammar Gadhafi started cooperating on his nuclear program? Because we got rid of Saddam Hussein. And so he got scared that he would be next, and that's why he started cooperating. Look, we will have to work around the world with less than ideal governments. The government in Saudi Arabia is not a democracy, but we will have to work with them. The government in Jordan is not perfect, but we will have to work with them. But anti-American dictators like Assad, who help Hezbollah, who helped get those IEDs into Iraq, if they go, I will not shed a tear. +p387 +aVYeah. Immigration is not an issue that I read about in the newspaper or watch a documentary on PBS or CNN. It's an issues I've lived around my whole life. My family are immigrants. My wife's family are immigrants. All of my neighbors are immigrants. I see every aspect of this problem. The good, the bad, and the ugly. And here's what we learned in 2013. The American people don't trust the Federal Government to enforce our immigration laws, and we will not be able to do anything on immigration until we first prove to the American people that illegal immigration is under control. And we can do that. We know what it takes to do that. It takes at least 20,000 more additional border agents. It takes completing those 700 miles of fencing. It takes a mandatory e-verify system and a mandatory entry/exit tracking system to prevent overstays. After we have done that, the second thing we have to do is reform and modernize the legal immigration system. And after we have done those two things, I think the American people are gonna be reasonable with what do you do with someone who has been in this country for 10 or 12 years who hasn't otherwise violated our laws \u2014 because if they're a criminal they can't stay. They'll have to undergo a background check, pay a fine, start paying taxes. And ultimately, they'll given a work permit and that's all they're gonna be allowed to have for at least 10 years. But you can't get to that third step until you have done the other two things, and that was the lesson we learned in 2013. There is no trust that the Federal Government will enforce the law. They will not support you until you see it done first. +p388 +aVBut I've answered that question repeatedly. I am personally open \u2014 after all that has happened and after ten years in that probationary status where all they have is a permit, I personally am open to allowing people to apply for a green card. That may not be a majority position in my party, but that's down the road. You can't even begin that process until you prove to people \u2014 not just pass a law that says you're gonna bring illegal immigration under control. You're gonna have to do it and prove to people that it's working. And that was the lesson of 2013. And it's more true today, than it was then. After a migratory crisis on the border with minors coming over that you're seeing start up again now, after all these executive orders the President has issued. More than ever we need to... +p389 +aV... prove to people that illegal immigration is under control. +p390 +aVYeah, a couple points. In 2013 we had never faced a crisis like the Syrian refugee crisis now. Up until that point, a refugee meant someone fleeing oppression, fleeing Communism like it is in my community. As far as Ted's record, I'm always puzzled by his attack on this issue. Ted, you support legalizing people who are in this country illegally. Ted Cruz supported a 500-percent increase in the number of H-1 visas, the guest workers that are allowed into this country, and Ted supports doubling the number of green cards. So I think what's important for us to understand and there is a way forward on this issue that we an bring our country together on. And while I'm president I will do it. And it will begin by bringing illegal immigration under control and proving to the American people. +p391 +aVNo, no, give him time. +p392 +aVTed, do you... +p393 +aVDid Ted Cruz fight to support legalizing people that are in this country illegally? +p394 +aVDoes Ted Cruz rule out ever legalizing people that are in this country now? +p395 +aVWould you rule it out? +p396 +aVWell, he's just admitted \u2014 as he's just admitted, the reason why those refugees were allowed in was because they messed up in how they used the actual database. They should have know. They didn't because they didn't run the actual law as it exists now. It didn't work well. As far as the refugees are concerned, it's not that America doesn't want to accept refugees, Wolf. It's that we may not be able to, because this is an issue we have to be 100 percent right on. If we allow 9,999 Syrian refugees into the United States, and all of them are good people, but we allow one person in who's an +p397 +aVI do. First, let's explain to people at home who the triad \u2014 what the triad is. Maybe a lot of people haven't heard that terminology before. The triad is our ability of the United States to conduct nuclear attacks using airplanes, using missiles launched from silos or from the ground, and also from our nuclear subs' ability to attack. And it's important \u2014 all three of them are critical. It gives us the ability at deterrence. Now, some have become more critical than others; for example, the submarines. And that's the Ohio Class submarine that needs to be modernized. The air component also needs to be modernized. The B-52, as someone earlier pointed out, is an outdated model that was flown by the grandparents of people that are flying it now. And we need a serious modernization program as well on our silo-launched missiles. All three are critical for the defense of the country. +p398 +aVThank you. As we near the end of this year, we enter one of the most important elections in a generation. For what's at stake in this election is not simply what party's going to be in charge. But our very identity as a people and as a nation. For over 200 years this has been a special country. A unique place where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything. But now millions of Americans feel like they're being left behind. Insecure in their future and unsafe in the face of terrorism. This election is about electing a president that will restore our economic vibrancy so that the American dream can expand to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And rebuild our Military and our intelligence programs so that we can remain the strongest nation on earth. Tonight I ask you for your vote. If you do this, we will rebuild this country, and together we will usher in a new American century \u2014 the greatest era in the history of this great land. +p399 +aVWell, let me begin by answering both the first question and this one, because they're related. As I've said many times before, my parents were never rich people. My father was a bartender. My mother was a maid. They worked for a living. But they were successful people, because, despite the fact that they weren't well educated and had those jobs, they made enough money to buy a home in a safe and stable neighborhood, retire with dignity, leave all four of their children better off than themselves. We call that the American dream, but in fact, it's a universal dream of a better life that people have all over the world. It is a reminder that every country in the world has rich people. What makes America special is that we have millions and millions of people that are not rich, that through hard work and perseverance are able to be successful. The problem is that today people are not successful working as hard as ever because the economy is not providing jobs that pay enough. If I thought that raising the minimum wage was the best way to help people increase their pay, I would be all for it, but it isn't. In the 20th century, it's a disaster. If you raise the minimum wage, you're going to make people more expensive than a machine. And that means all this automation that's replacing jobs and people right now is only going to be accelerated. Here's the best way to raise wages. Make America the best place in the world to start a business or expand an existing business, tax reform and regulatory reform, bring our debt under control, fully utilize our energy resources so we can reinvigorate manufacturing, repeal and replace Obamacare, and make higher education faster and easier to access, especially vocational training. For the life of me, I don't know why we have stigmatized vocational education. Welders make more money than philosophers. We need more welders and less philosophers. If we do that \u2014 and if we do this \u2014 if we do this, we will be able to increase wages for millions of Americans and we will be able to leave everyone better off without making anyone worse off. +p400 +aVWell, you know, that's an excellent question, because what we are going through in this country is not simply an economic downturn. We are living through a massive economic transformation. I mean, this economy is nothing like what it was like five years ago, not to mention 15 or 20 years ago. And it isn't just a different economy. It's changing faster than ever. You know, it took the telephone 75 years to reach 100 million users. It took Candy Crush one year to reach some 100 million users. So the world is changing faster than ever, and it is disruptive. Number one, we are in a global competition now, and several of the candidates have said that. There are now dozens of developed economies on this planet that we have to compete with. And we lose that competition because we have the highest business tax rate in the industrialized world, because we have regulations that continue to grow by the billions every single week, because we have a crazy health care law that discourages companies from hiring people, but because we're not fully utilizing our energy resources, that if we did, it would bring back all kinds of growth, especially in manufacturing, and because we have an outdated higher education system. Our higher education system is completely outdated. It is too expensive, too hard to access, and it doesn't teach 21st century skills. If we do what needs to be done \u2014 tax reform, regulatory reform, fully utilize our energy resources, repeal and replace Obamacare, and modernize higher education, then we can grasp the potential and the promise of this new economy. And we won't just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And then truly this new century can be a new American century. +p401 +aVThe most important job I'm ever going to have, the most important job anyone in this room will ever have, is the job of being a parent. Not the job of being president, or the job of being a senator, or the job of being a congressman. The most important job any of us will ever do is the job of being a president (sic), because the most important institution in society is the family. If the family breaks down, society breaks down. You can't have a strong nation without strong values, and no one is born with strong values. They have to be taught to you in strong families and reinforced in you in strong communities. And so when we set out to do tax reform, we endeavor to have a pro-family tax code, and we endeavor to do it because we know how difficult it is for families in the 21st century to afford the cost of living. It is expensive to raise children in the 21st century, and families that are raising children are raising the future taxpayers of the United States, and everything costs more. In 35 out of 50 states, child care costs more than college. There are millions of people watching this broadcast tonight that understand exactly what I'm talking about. They don't know how they're going to make that payment every month, and if they can't make it, they can't work, because someone needs to watch their kids during the day. They don't know how they're going to save for their kids' future, to go to college. And so, yes, I have a child tax credit increase, and I'm proud of it. I am proud that I have a pro-family tax code, because the pro- family tax plan I have will strengthen the most important institution in the \u2014 in the country, the family. +p402 +aVNow I get my 60 seconds to respond. He's talking about my tax plan. +p403 +aVSo let me begin with this. I actually believe \u2014 first of all, this is their money. They do pay. It is refundable, not just against the taxes they pay to the government, but also the \u2014 on their federal income tax, it's refundable against the payroll tax. Everyone pays payroll tax. This is their money. This is not our money. And here's what I don't understand \u2014 if you invest that money in a piece of equipment, if you invest that money in a business, you get to write it off your taxes. But if you invest it in your children, in the future of America and strengthening your family, we're not going to recognize that in our tax code? The family is the most important institution in society. And, yes... +p404 +aV... I do want to rebuild the American military. +p405 +aVI know that Rand is a committed isolationist. I'm not. I believe the world is a stronger and a better place, when the United States is the strongest military power in the world. +p406 +aVBecause... +p407 +aV...are you talking about the military, Rand? +p408 +aVWe can't even have an economy if we're not safe. There are radical jihadist in the Middle East beheading people and crucifying Christians. A radical Shia cleric in Iran trying to get a nuclear weapon, the Chinese taking over the South China Sea... ...Yes, I believe the world is a safer \u2014 no, no, I don't believe, I know that the world is a safer place when America is the strongest military power in the world. +p409 +aVYou know, if I may respond... +p410 +aVI need to add a couple of points to this. The first is, I've never met Vladimir Putin, but I know enough about him to know he is a gangster. He is basically an organized crime figure that runs a country, controls a $2 trillion economy. And is using to build up his military in a rapid way despite the fact his economy is a disaster. He understands only geopolitical strength. And every time he has acted anywhere in the world, whether it's in Ukraine or Georgia before that, or now in the Middle East, it's because he is trusting in weakness. His calculation in the Middle East is that he has seen what this president has done, which is nothing, the president has no strategy, our allies in the region do not trust us. For goodness sake, there is only one pro-American free enterprise democracy in the Middle East, it is the state of Israel. And we have a president that treats the prime minister of Israel with less respect than what he gives the ayatollah in Iran. And so our allies in the region don't trust us. Vladimir Putin is exploiting that weakness, for purposes of edging the Americans out as the most important geopolitical power broker in the region. And we do have a vested interest. And here's why. Because all those radical terrorist groups that, by the way, are not just in Syria and in Iraq, +p411 +aVCan I just add what \u2014 he's right on point there. Do you know why these banks are so big? The government made them big. The government made them big by adding thousands and thousands of pages of regulations. So the big banks, they have an army of lawyers, they have an army of compliance officers. They can deal with all these things. The small banks, like Governor Bush was saying, they can't deal with all these regulations. They can't deal with all \u2014 they cannot hire the fanciest law firm in Washington or the best lobbying firm to deal with all these regulations. And so the result is, the big banks get bigger, the small banks struggle to lend or even exist, and the result is what you have today. And in Dodd-Frank, you have actually codified too big to fail. We have actually created a category of systemically important institutions, and these banks go around bragging about it. You know what they say to people with a wink and a nod? We are so big, we are so important that if we get in trouble, the government has to bail us out. This is an outrage. We need to repeal Dodd-Frank as soon as possible. +p412 +aVWell, that's a great question, and let me begin by answering it. This election is about the future, about what kind of country this nation is gonna be in the 21st century. This next (ph) election is actually a generational choice. A choice about what kind of nation we will be in the 21st century. For over 2.5 centuries, America's been a special country, the one place on earth where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything, a nation that's been a force for good on this planet. But now, a growing number of Americans feel out of place in their own country. We have a society that stigmatizes those that hold cultural values that are traditional. We have a society where people \u2014 millions of people \u2014 are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, but they're living paycheck to paycheck because the economy has changed underneath their feet. We have young Americans who owe thousands of dollars in student loans for a degree that doesn't lead to a job. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses dying than starting, and around the world, every day brings news of a new humiliation for America \u2014 many the direct response \u2014 direct consequence of decisions made when Hillary Clinton was the secretary of the \u2014 of state. And so here's the truth: this election is about the future, and the Democratic Party, and the political left has no ideas about the future. All their ideas are the same, tired ideas of the past. More government, more spending. For every issue for America, their answer is a new tax on someone, and a new government program. This nation is going to turn the page, and that's what this election should be about, and, as I said at the first debate... ...If I am our nominee, they will be the party of the past, we will be the party of the 21st century. +p413 +aVOurs \u2014 the story of America is an extraordinary story. It is the story of a nation that for over two centuries each generation has left the next better off than themselves. But now, because Washington is out of touch, for the fault of both political parties, for the first time in our history, that is in doubt. And that is what this election must be about, because if the next four years are anything like the last eight years, our children will be the first Americans ever left worse off by their parents. This election is about making a different choice, about applying our principles of limited government and free enterprise to the unique issues of our time. And if we do, we will not just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And the 21st century can be a new American century. So tonight, I ask you for your vote and I ask you to join us at my website, marcorubio.com. +p414 +aVThank you for that question. I would begin by saying that I'm not sure it's a weakness, but I do believe that I share a sense of optimism for America's future that, today, is eroding from too many of our people. I think there's a sense in this country today that somehow our best days are behind us. And that doesn't have to be true. Our greatest days lie ahead if we are willing to do what it takes now. If we're willing to do what it takes now, the 21st century is going to be the new American century, greater than any other era we've had in the history of this great nation. +p415 +aVThat's an interesting question. That's exactly what the Republican establishment says too. Why don't you wait in line? Wait for what? This country is running out of time. We can't afford to have another four years like the last eight years. Watching this broadcast tonight are millions of people that are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, everything costs more, and they haven't had a raise in decades. You have small businesses in America that are struggling. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses closing than starting. We have a world that's out of control and has grown dangerous and a president that is weakening our military and making our foreign policy unstable and unreliable in the eyes of our allies. And our adversaries continue to grow stronger. We have a \u2014 they say there's no bipartisanship in Washington? We have a $19 trillion bipartisan debt and it continues to grow as we borrow money from countries that do not like us to pay for government we cannot afford. The time to act is now. The time to turn the page is now. If we \u2014 if we don't act now, we are going to be the first generation in American history that leaves our children worse off than ourselves. +p416 +aVLet me say, I read that editorial today with a great amusement. It's actually evidence of the bias that exists in the American media today. +p417 +aVLet me \u2014 let me answer your question on the Sun-Sentinel editorial today. Back in 2004, one of my predecessors to the Senate by the name of Bob Graham, a Democrat, ran for president missing over 30 percent of his votes. I don't recall them calling for his resignation \u2014 +p418 +aVLater that year, in 2004, John Kerry ran for president missing close to 60 to 70 percent of his votes. I don't recall the Sun \u2014 in fact, the Sun-Sentinel endorsed him. In 2008, Barack Obama missed 60 or 70 percent of his votes, and the same newspaper endorsed him again. So this is another example of the double standard that exists in this country between the mainstream media and the conservative movement. +p419 +aVI get to respond, right? +p420 +aVWell, it's interesting. Over the last few weeks, I've listened to Jeb as he walked around the country and said that you're modeling your campaign after John McCain, that you're going to launch a furious comeback the way he did, by fighting hard in New Hampshire and places like that, carrying your own bag at the airport. You know how many votes John McCain missed when he was carrying out that furious comeback that you're now modeling after? +p421 +aVNo Jeb, I don't remember \u2014 well, let me tell you. I don't remember you ever complaining about John McCain's vote record. The only reason why you're doing it now is because we're running for the same position, and someone has convinced you that attacking me is going to help you. +p422 +aVHere's the bottom line. I'm not \u2014 my campaign is going to be about the future of America, it's not going to be about attacking anyone else on this stage. I will continue to have tremendous admiration and respect for Governor Bush. I'm not running against Governor Bush, I'm not running against anyone on this stage. I'm running for president because there is no way we can elect Hillary Clinton to continue the policies of Barack Obama. +p423 +aVWell, you just \u2014 you just listed a litany of discredited attacks from Democrats and my political opponents, and I'm not gonna waste 60 seconds detailing them all. But I'm going to tell you the truth. Here's the truth. I didn't inherit any money. My dad was a bartender, my mother was a maid. They worked hard to provide us the chance at a better life. They didn't save enough money for us to go to school. I had to work my way through school. I had to borrow money to go to school. I tried (ph), early in my marriage, explaining to my wife why someone named Sallie Mae was taking $1,000 out of our bank account every month. I know what it's like to owe that money, and we've worked hard. We've worked hard our whole life to provide a better family \u2014 a better life for our family. We own a home four blocks away from the place that I grew up in. My four children have been able to receive a good Christian education, and I've been able to save for them to go to college so they never have to have the loans that I did. But I'm not worried about my finances, I'm worried about the finances of everyday Americans who today are struggling in an economy that is not producing good paying jobs while everything else costs more. And that's what this economy needs to \u2014 that's what this debate needs to be about. This debate needs to be about the men and women across this country that are struggling on a daily basis to provide for their families the better future that we've always said this country is all about. +p424 +aVAnd I used it to pay off my loans. And it's available on paperback, if you're interested in buying my book. +p425 +aVYeah, again, as I said, we're raising a family in the 21st century and it's one of the reasons why my tax plan is a pro- family tax plan. It increases the per child tax credit, because I didn't read about this in a book. I know for a fact how difficult it is to raise children, how expensive it's become for working families. And I make a lot more than the average American. Imagine how hard it is for these people out there that are making 40, 50, $60,000 a year, and they're trying to provide for their families at a time when this economy is not growing. We can't afford another four years of that. Which is what we're gonna get if we elect a big government liberal like Hillary Clinton to the White House. Thank you, senator. +p426 +aVWell, first of all, if a company gets caught doing that, they should never be able to use the program again. If you get caught abusing this program, you should never be able to use it again. The second thing I said is we need to add reforms, not just increase the numbers, but add reforms. For example, before you hire anyone from abroad, you should have to advertise that job for 180 days. You also have to prove that you're going to pay these people more than you would pay someone else, so that you're not undercutting it by bringing in cheap labor. But here's the best solution of all. We need to get back to training people in this country to do the jobs of the 21st century. Why, for the life of me, I do not understand why did we stop doing vocational education in America, people that can work with their hands; people you can train to do this work while they're still in high school so they can graduate ready to go work. But the best way to close this gap is to modernize higher education so Americans have the skills for those jobs. But in the interim, in the absence of that, what's happening is some of these tech companies are taking those \u2014 those centers (ph) to Canada because they can get people to go over there instead of here. But the ideal scenario is to train Americans to do the work so we don't have to rely on people from abroad. +p427 +aVWell, I believe that there are abuses, those companies should be permanently barred from ever using the program again and we should put strict standards in place to ensure that they're not being abused, like the prevailing wage requirement and like the advertising requirement. +p428 +aVSince I've been mentioned, can I respond? +p429 +aVOK. I know the Democrats have the ultimate SuperPac. It's called the mainstream media who every single day... ... and I'll tell you why. Last week, Hillary Clinton went before a committee. She admitted she had sent e-mails to her family saying, "Hey, this attack at Benghazi was caused by Al Qaida-like elements." She spent over a week telling the families of those victims and the American people that it was because of a video. And yet the mainstream media is going around saying it was the greatest week in Hillary Clinton's campaign. It was the week she got exposed as a liar. It was the week that she got exposed as a liar... But she has her super PAC helping her out, the American mainstream media. +p430 +aVNo, that's \u2014 you're wrong. In fact, the largest after- tax gains is for the people at the lower end of the tax spectrum under my plan. And there's a bunch of things my tax plan does to help them. Number one, you have people in this country that... +p431 +aV...you wrote a story on it, and you had to go back and correct it. +p432 +aVYou did. No, you did. +p433 +aVWell, you're talking about \u2014 yeah. +p434 +aVYeah, but that \u2014 because the math is, if you \u2014 5 percent of a million is a lot more than 5 percent of a thousand. So yeah, someone who makes more money... +p435 +aV...numerically, it's gonna be higher. But the greatest gains, percentage-wise, for people, are gonna be at the lower end of our plan, and here's why: because in addition to a general personal exemption, we are increasing the per-child tax credit for working families. We are lowering taxes on small business. You know, a lot of business activity in America is conducted like the guy that does my dry cleaning. He's an S corporation. He pays on his personal rate, and he is paying higher than the big dry-cleaning chain down the street, because he's paying at his personal rate. Under my plan, no business, big or small, will pay more than 25 percent flat rate on their business income. That is a dramatic tax decrease for hard-working people who run their own businesses. +p436 +aV...The other thing I'd like to make about our plan, one more point, it is the most pro growth tax plan that I can imagine because it doesn't tax investments at all. You know why? Because the more you tax something, the less of it you get. I want to be in \u2014 I want America to be the best... +p437 +aV...in the world for people... +p438 +aVI was mentioned in the question. +p439 +aVThank you. Well, I've learned the rules on this. Look, in addition to what Donald was saying is we also need to talk about the legal immigration system for permanent residents. Today, we have a legal immigration system for permanent residency that is largely based on whether or not you have a relative living here. And that's the way my parents came legally in 1956. But in 2015, we have a very different economy. Our legal immigration system from now on has to be merit-based. It has to be based on what skills you have, what you can contribute economically, and most important of all, on whether or not you're coming here to become an American, not just live in America, but be an American. +p440 +aVNo. No. What I said was that I think that Dr. Carson's ideas are good ideas. They're not my ideas, and I don't necessarily agree with all of them. But this is what you're seeing in the Republican debate that you didn't see in that Democrat debate. You didn't see it for a minute. You didn't see these kind of ideas being batted around, and being batted around in a way that's civil and smart and that's trying to help to inform the voter out there. What you saw was a parade of, "I'll give you this for free; I'll give you that for free." Let me tell you, everybody, when they say they want to give it to you for free, keep your hands on your wallets because they're coming to you to pay for it. And that's why I think these ideas up here are great, and that's what we should have is have more discussions like this and less gotcha. +p441 +aVI want to take off from that point and argue the same thing. And that is that one of the things you're watching tonight are 11 quality candidates debating an important issue. The Republican Party is blessed to have 11 good candidates, 10 good candidates. The Democrats can't even come up with one. And on this issue of the Medicare in particular, it's important because they're going to demagogue what we're saying here tonight. Everyone up here tonight that's talking about reforms, I think and I know for myself I speak to this, we're all talking about reforms for future generations. Nothing has to change for current beneficiaries. My mother is on Medicare and Social Security. I'm against anything that's bad for my mother. So, we're talking about \u2014 we're talking about reform for people like me and people like Senator Cruz, as he talked about earlier, who are years away from retirement that have a way to plan for these changes, and way that's very reasonable. And it's not too much to ask of our generation after everything our parents and our grandparents did for us. +p442 +aVYou know, America doesn't owe me anything. I have a debt to America I'll never repay. This isn't just the country I was born in, this is the nation that literally changed the history of my family. My parents in this country were able to give me the chance to do all the things they never did. We call that the American Dream, although, it's built on the universal dream of a better life. The fact that it's happened for so many people here throughout our history, that's what makes us special. But, now for millions of Americans, it's slipping away. And, we have a government and leaders in government that are completely out of touch, and that's why I'm running for president. Because we can't just save the American Dream, we can expand it to reach more people, and change more lives than ever before. And, that's why tonight I'm asking you for your vote. +p443 +aVThank you. My name is Marco Rubio. I'm from Florida. My wife Jeanette and I are the proud \u2014 we've been married 17 years, and we're the proud parents of four children, two of whom were able to join us here this evening. I'm honored to be here at the Reagan Library, at a place that honors the legacy of a man who inspired not just my interest in public service, but also our love for country. And I'm also aware that California has a drought, and so that's why I made sure I brought my own water. +p444 +aVWell, first of all, I have an understanding of exactly what it is Russia and Putin are doing, and it's pretty straightforward. He wants to reposition Russia, once again, as a geopolitical force. He himself said that the destruction of the Soviet Union \u2014 the fall of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century, and now he's trying to reverse that. He's trying to destroy +p445 +aVLet me tell you \u2014 I will tell you we have zero responsibility, because let's remember what the president said. He said the attack he would conduct would be a pinprick. Well, the United States military was not build to conduct pinprick attacks. If the United States military is going to be engaged by a commander-in-chief, it should only be engaged in an endeavor to win. And we're not going to authorize use of force if you're not put in a position where they can win. And quite frankly, people don't trust this president as commander-in-chief because of that. +p446 +aVHold on, a second, Jake, he asked me, as well. I'd like to actually... +p447 +aV... respond. I think I'm the first senator. The No. 1 test for use of military force should be the vital national security interest of the United States. The reason why I opposed President Obama bombing Syria, is because he couldn't answer the question what do you do if chemical weapons end up in the hands of radical Islamic terrorists like al-Nusra, like Al Qaida, like +p448 +aVIn the middle of negotiating this treaty, Khamenei led the assembled masses in chanting, death to America. I'm reminded of a great editorial cartoon. It shows the Ayatollah Khamenei saying, "Death to all Americans," and then it shows John Kerry coming back, saying, "Can we meet ya half way?" We need a commander-in-chief who will stand up and protect this country. And I'll tell you, I can't wait to stand on that debate stage with Hillary Clinton and to make abundantly clear if you vote for Hillary, you are voting for the Ayatollah Khomeini to possess a nuclear weapon and if you elect me as president, under no circumstances will a theocratic ayatollah who chants death to America ever be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon. +p449 +aVMs. Dana, I agree that English is the unifying language of our country, and everyone should learn to speak it. It's important. I want to tell you a story about someone that didn't speak English that well. It was my grandfather; he came to this country in the 1960s, as a \u2014 escaping Cuba. And he lived with us, growing up. And my grandfather loved America. He understood what was so special about this country. He loved Ronald Reagan; he would be very proud of the fact that we're here this evening. My grandfather instilled in me the belief that I was blessed to live in the one society in all of human history where even I, the son of a bartender and a maid, could aspire to have anything, and be anything that I was willing to work hard to achieve. But he taught me that in Spanish, because it was the language he was most comfortable in. And he became a conservative, even though he got his news in Spanish. And so, I do give interviews in Spanish, and here's why \u2014 because I believe that free enterprise and limited government is the best way to help people who are trying to achieve upward mobility. And if they get their news in Spanish, I want them to hear that directly from me. Not from a translator at Univision. +p450 +aVWell, let me say that legal immigration is not an issue I read about in the newspaper. Immigration, illegal immigration, all the good aspects of immigration and all the negative ones as well, I live with. My family's immigrants. My neighbors are all immigrants. My in-laws are all immigrants. So I've seen every aspect of it, and I can tell you America doesn't have one immigration problem, it has three. First, despite the fact that we are the most generous country in the history of the world in allowing people to come here legally, we have people still coming illegally. Second, we have a legal immigration system that no longer works. It primary is built on the basis of whether you have a relative living here instead of merit. And third, we have 11 million or 12 million people, many of whom have been here for longer than a decade who are already here illegally. And we must deal with all three of these problems. We cannot deal with all three of these problems in one massive piece of legislation. I learned that. We tried it that way. Here's the way forward: First, we must \u2014 we must secure our border, the physical border, with \u2014 with a wall, absolutely. But we also need to have an entry/exit tracking system. 40 percent of the people who come here illegally come legally, and then they overstay the visa. We also need a mandatory e-verify system. After we've done that, step two would be to modernize our legal immigration system so you come to America on the basis of what you can contribute economically, not whether or not simply you have a relative living here. And after we've done those two things, I believe the American people... +p451 +aV... will be very reasonable and responsible about what you do with someone who's been here and isn't a criminal. If you're a criminal, obviously, you will not be able to stay. +p452 +aVYes, well, it does. But it's in the following way, this is an important question. I think if you're running for president, these are important issues, because look at around the world today. There is a lunatic in North Korea with dozens of nuclear weapons and long-range rocket that can already hit the very place in which we stand tonight. The Chinese are rapidly expanding their military. They hack into our computers. They're building artificial islands in the South China Sea, the most important shipping lane in the world. A gangster in Moscow is not just threatening Europe, he's threatening to destroy and divide +p453 +aVWell, that's why we have a debate. I think that we should have a deeper debate about these issues, because there is no more important decision that a president will make. +p454 +aVWell, you should ask him questions in detail about the foreign policy issues our president will confront, because you had better be able to lead our country on the first day. Not six months from now, not a year from now, on the first day in office, our president could very well confront a national security crisis. You can't predict it. Sometimes you cannot control it. And it is the most \u2014 the federal government does all kinds of things it's not supposed to be doing. It regulates bathrooms. It regulates schools that belong to local communities. But the one thing that the federal government must do, the one thing that only the federal government can do is keep us safe. And a president better be up-to-date on those issues on his first day in office, on her first day in office. +p455 +aVTrust (ph) me, I get that. OK. +p456 +aVI never get to addressed, and... +p457 +aV...and when I do, I'm gonna jump in. +p458 +aVYeah. He did. Let me \u2014 I'm proud to serve in the United States Senate. You know, when I ran five years ago, the entire leadership of my party in Washington lined up against me. But I'm glad I won. And I'm glad that I ran, because this country's headed in the wrong direction. And if we keep electing the same people, nothing is going to change. And you're right, I have missed some votes, and I'll tell you why, Mr. Trump. Because in my years in the Senate, I've figured out very quickly that the political establishment in Washington, D.C. in both political parties is completely out of touch with the lives of our people. You have millions of people in this country living paycheck to paycheck, and nothing is being done about it. We are about to leave our children with $18 trillion in \u2014 in \u2014 in debt, and they're about to raise the debt limit again. We have a world that grows increasingly dangerous, and we are eviscerating our military spending and signing deals with Iran. And these \u2014 if this thing continues, we are going to be the first Americans to leave our children worse off than ourselves. That's why I'm missing votes. Because I am leaving the Senate, I'm not running for re-election, and I'm running for president because I know this: unless we have the right president, we cannot make America fulfill its potential, but with the right person in office, the 21st century can be the greatest era that our nation has ever known. +p459 +aVI want to go even deeper \u2014 and I want to go even deeper in that direction, because I think the belief that somehow by retreating, America makes the world safer has been disproven every single time it's ever been tried. Syria's a perfect example of it. The uprising in Syria was not started by the United States; it was started by the Syrian people. And I warned at the time \u2014 this was three and a half years ago \u2014 I openly and repeatedly warned that if we did not find moderate elements on the ground that we could equip and arm, that void would be filled by radical jihadists. Well, the president didn't listen, the administration didn't follow through, and that's exactly what happened. That is why +p460 +aV... as you asked earlier today. +p461 +aVBut radical terrorism cannot be solved by intellect. It cannot \u2014 they require \u2014 what they need, is they need an operating space. That's what Afghanistan was for Al Qaida. It was a vacuum that they filled, and they created an operating space. That's why they had to be drawn out of there. That's why they had to be destroyed. It is the reason why +p462 +aVThere's a broader issue here, Hugh. And there's a broader issue here as well. First of all, the only people that follow the law are law-abiding people. Criminals by definition ignore the law, so you can pass all the gun laws in the world, like the left wants. The criminals are going to ignore it because they are criminals. Here's the real issue. The real issue \u2014 the real issue is not what are people using to commit violence, but why are they committing the violence? And here's the truth: Because you cannot separate the social, moral wellbeing of your people from their economic and other wellbeing. You cannot separate it. You can't have a strong country without strong people, you cannot have strong people without strong values, and you cannot have strong values without strong families and the institutions in this country that defend and support those families. +p463 +aVWell, and today, we have a left-wing government under this president that is undermining all of the institutions and society that support the family and teach those values. +p464 +aVBecause we're not going to destroy our economy the way the left-wing government that we are under now wants to do. We're not going to... +p465 +aVWell, and I don't \u2014 he may have lined up with their positions on this issue. But here is the bottom line. Every proposal they put forward are going to be proposals that will make it harder to do business in America, that will make it harder to create jobs in America. Single parents are already struggling across this country to provide for their families. Maybe a billionaire here in California can afford an increase in their utility rates, but a working family in Tampa, Florida, or anywhere across this country cannot afford it. So we are not going to destroy our economy. We are not going to make America a harder place to create jobs in order to pursue policies that will do absolutely nothing, nothing to change our climate, to change our weather, because America is a lot of things, the greatest country in the world, absolutely. But America is not a planet. And we are not even the largest carbon producer anymore, China is. And they're drilling a hole and digging anywhere in the world that they can get a hold of. So the bottom line is, I am not in favor of any policies that make America a harder place for people to live, or to work, or to raise their families. +p466 +aVJake, you mentioned me and called me a denier. Let me say, climate change... +p467 +aVOK. A skeptic. You can measure the climate. You can measure it. That's not the issue we're discussing. Here is what I'm skeptical of. I'm skeptical of the decisions that the left wants us to make, because I know the impact those are going to have and they're all going to be on our economy. They will not do a thing to lower the rise of the sea. They will not do a thing to cure the drought here in California. But what they will do is they will make America a more expensive place to create jobs. And today with millions of people watching this broadcast that are struggling paycheck to paycheck that do not know how they're going to pay their bills at the end of this month, I'm not in favor of anything that is going to make it harder for them to raise their family. +p468 +aVSenator Rubio, you mean? +p469 +aVI know we all look alike. +p470 +aVThe \u2014 Rosa Parks, an everyday American that changed the course of history. +p471 +aVWell, there are some people in Florida upset at me over a joke I made about Florida State, but, what the heck, I want my codename to be Gator. +p472 +aVOne of the things that made Ronald Reagan a great president, is that he understood that America was a unique nation, like any other that had existed throughout human history. He knew it was founded on universal principles that were powerful, the dignity of all people, human rights, the rights of all to live in freedom and liberty, and choose their own path in life. He didn't just believe it, he acted on it. That's why bringing down communism was so important to him. If I'm honored with the opportunity to be president, I hope that our Air Force One will fly, first and foremost, to our allies; in Israel, in South Korea, and Japan. They know we stand with them. That America can be counted on. It would also fly to China, not just to meet with our enemies, not just to meet with those adversaries of ours that are there, but also to meet with those that aspire to freedom and liberty within China. I would even invite them to my inauguration. We would also fly into Moscow and into Russia. And not just meet with the leaders of Russia, but also meet with those who aspire to freedom and liberty in Russia. And ultimately, I hope that my Air Force One, if I become president, will one day land in a free Cuba, where its people can choose its leaders and its own destiny. +p473 +aVWell, thank you for the question, Chris, and it's great to be here tonight. Let me begin by saying this: I'm not new to the political process; I was making a contribution as the speaker of the third largest and most diverse state in the country well before I even got into the Senate. I would add to that that this election cannot be a resume competition. It's important to be qualified, but if this election is a resume competition, then Hillary Clinton's gonna be the next president, because she's been in office and in government longer than anybody else running here tonight. Here's what this election better be about: This election better be about the future, not the past. It better be about the issues our nation and the world is facing today, not simply the issues we once faced. This country is facing an economy that has been radically transformed. You know, the largest retailer in the country and the world today, Amazon, doesn't even own a single store? And these changes have been disruptive. They have changed people's lives. The jobs that once sustained our middle class, they either don't pay enough or they are gone, and we need someone that understands that as our nominee. If I'm our nominee, how is Hillary Clinton gonna lecture me about living paycheck to paycheck? I was raised paycheck to paycheck. How is she -- how is she gonna lecture me -- how is she gonna lecture me about student loans? I owed over $100,000 just four years ago. If I'm our nominee, we will be the party of the future. +p474 +aVLet me set the record straight on a couple of things. The first is, the evidence is now clear that the majority of people coming across the border are not from Mexico. They're coming from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras. Those countries are the source of the people that are now coming in its majority. I also believe we need a fence. The problem is if El Chapo builds a tunnel under the fence, we have to be able to deal with that too. And that's why you need an e-verify system and you need an entry-exit tracking system and all sorts of other things to prevent illegal immigration. But I agree with what Governor Kasich just said. People are frustrated. This is the most generous country in the world when it comes to immigration. There are a million people a year who legally immigrate to the United States, and people feel like we're being taken advantage of. We feel like despite our generosity, we're being taken advantage of. And let me tell you who never gets talked about in these debates. The people that call my office, who have been waiting for 15 years to come to the United States. And they've paid their fees, and they hired a lawyer, and they can't get in. And they're wondering, maybe they should come illegally. And so these are important issues, and we should address it. It's a serious problem that needs to be addressed, and otherwise we're going to keep talking about this for the next 30 years, like we have for the last 30 years. +p475 +aVNot me. +p476 +aVActually, to be clear......he supported Charlie Crist. +p477 +aVHey, Charlie... +p478 +aVWell, first off, I too believe in curriculum reform. It is critically important in the 21st Century. We do need curriculum reform. And it should happen at the state and local level. That's. . . that's. . . that is where educational policy belongs, because if a parent is unhappy with what their child is being taught in school, they can go to that local school board or their state legislature, or their governor and get it changed. Here's the problem with Common Core. The Department of Education, like every federal agency, will never be satisfied. They will not stop with it being a suggestion. They will turn it into a mandate. In fact, what they will begin to say to local communities is, you will not get federal money unless do you things the way we want you to do it. And they will use Common Core or any other requirements that exists nationally to force it down the throats of our people in our states. +p479 +aVThat's a great question. +p480 +aVThat's a great question. First of all, it begins by having leaders that recognize that the economy we live in today is dramatically different from the one we had five years ago. It's an economy that now has placed us in global competition with dozens of other countries around the world. Now, the big companies that have connections with Washington, they can affect policies to help them, but the small companies like the one Tania is talking about, they're the ones that are struggling. The first thing we need to do is we need to even out the tax code for small businesses so that we lower their tax rate to 25 percent, just as we need to lower it for all businesses. We need to have a regulatory budget in America that limits the amount of regulations on our economy. We need to repeal and replace Obamacare and we need to improve higher education so that people can have access to the skills they need for 21st century jobs. And last but not least, we need to repeal Dodd-Frank. It is eviscerating small businesses and small banks. 20 \u2014 over 40 percent of small and mid-size banks that loan money to small businesses have been wiped out over the \u2014 since Dodd-Frank has passed. We need to repeal and replace Dodd-Frank. We need to make America fair again for all businesses, but especially those being run by small business owners. +p481 +aVWell, Megyn, first of all, I'm not sure that that's a correct assessment of my record. I would go on to add that I believe all-- +p482 +aVI have never said that. And I have never advocated that. What I have advocated is that we pass law in this country that says all human life at every stage of its development is worthy of protection. In fact, I think that law already exists. It is called the Constitution of the United States. And let me go further. I believe that every single human being is entitled to the protection of our laws, whether they can vote or not. Whether they can speak or not. Whether they can hire a lawyer or not. Whether they have a birth certificate or not. And I think future generations will look back at this history of our country and call us barbarians for murdering millions of babies who we never gave them a chance to live. +p483 +aVWell, first, let me say I think God has blessed us. He has blessed the Republican Party with some very good candidates. The Democrats can't even find one. And I believe God has blessed our country. This country has been extraordinarily blessed. And we have honored that blessing. And that's why God has continued to bless us. And he has blessed us with young men and women willing to risk their lives and sometimes die in uniform for the safety and security of our people. Unfortunately today we have a VA that does not do enough for them. I am proud that last year we helped change the law. We changed the law to give the power to the VA secretary the ability to fire any executive that isn't doing their job. And it is outrageous they've only fired one person to date. When I'm president of the United States, we're going to have a VA that cares more about our veterans than about the bureaucrats who work at the VA. +p484 +aVThank you. You know, both of my parents were born into poor families on the island of Cuba. They came to America because it was the only place where people like them could have a chance. Here in this country, they never made it big, but the very purpose of their life was to give us the chance to do all the things they never could. My father was a bartender. And the journey from the back of that bar to this stage tonight, to me, that is the essence of the American dream. It is what makes our nation different. And I'm running for president because I want that to still be possible for the people trying to do that now. I run for president because I believe that we can't just save the American dream; we can expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And that's why I'm asking for your vote. So we can make America greater than it has ever been. And make of this century a new American century. +p485 +aVWell, let me first talk about Justice Scalia. His loss is tremendous, and obviously our hearts and prayers go out to his family. He will go down as one of the great justices in the history of this republic. You talk about someone who defended consistently the original meaning of the Constitution, who understood that the Constitution was not there to be interpreted based on the fads of the moment, but it was there to be interpreted according to its original meaning. Justice Scalia understood that better than anyone in the history of this republic. His dissent, for example, on the independent counsel case is a brilliant piece of jurist work. And, of course, his dissent on Obergefell as well. No. 2, I do not believe the president should appoint someone. And it's not unprecedented. In fact, it has been over 80 years since a lame duck president has appointed a Supreme Court justice. And it remind us of this, how important this election is. Someone on this stage will get to choose the balance of the Supreme Court, and it will begin by filling this vacancy that's there now. And we need to put people on the bench that understand that the Constitution is not a living and breathing document. It is to be interpreted as originally meant. +p486 +aVThat's not accurate. +p487 +aVNo, I've never \u2014 there has been, for example, today, according to the changes Harry Reid made, appellate judges can now be appointed by a simple majority, but not Supreme Court justices. And I think today you see the wisdom of why we don't want that to change. Because if that were the case and we were not in charge of the Senate, Harry Reid and Barack Obama would ram down our throat a liberal justice, like the ones Barack Obama has imposed on us already. +p488 +aVNo. I think there are three major threats that you want to immediately get on top of. No. 1 is, what are we doing in the Asia-Pacific region, where both North Korea and China pose threats to the national security of the United States. No. 2 is, what are we doing in the Middle East with the combination of the Sunni-Shia conflict driven by the Shia arc that Iran is now trying to establish in the Middle East, also the growing threat of +p489 +aVWell, let me tell you what has happened a couple of years ago. One of the hardest decisions you'll ever make in Congress is when you are asked by the president to authorize the use of force in a conflict, because you are now putting your name, on behalf of the people of your state, behind a military action, where Americans in uniform could lose their life. So, in 2014, Barack Obama said he would not take military action against Assad unless it was authorized by the Senate, beginning on the Committee of Foreign Relations, where I am one of its members. And it was hard because you looked at the pictures. I saw the same images people saw. I'm the father of children. I saw the images of these little children \u2014 been gassed and poisoned by their own leaders, and we were angry. Something had to happen, and there was the sense that we needed to seek retribution. And then I looked at Barack Obama's plan. Barack Obama's plan, which John Kerry later described as unbelievably small, and I concluded that that attack would not only not help the situation, it would make it actually worse. It would allow Assad to stand up to the United States of America, survive a strike, stay in power and actually strengthen his grip. So it was a difficult decision to make, and when we only had a few days to look at and make a decision on it, and I voted against Barack Obama's plan to use force, and it was the right decision. +p490 +aVI just want to say, at least on behalf of me and my family, I thank God all the time it was George W. Bush in the White House on 9/11 and not Al Gore. And you can \u2014 I think you can look back in hindsight and say a couple of things, but he kept us safe. And not only did he keep us safe, but no matter what you want to say about weapons of mass destruction, Saddam Hussein was in violation of U.N. resolutions, in open violation, and the world wouldn't do anything about it, and George W. Bush enforced what the international community refused to do. And again, he kept us safe, and I am forever grateful to what he did for this country. +p491 +aVThe World Trade Center came down because Bill Clinton didn't kill Osama bin Laden when he had the chance to kill him. +p492 +aVWell, because I'm influencing social policy \u2014 this is their money. This is the money of parents. You don't earn the tax credit unless you're working. That's your money, it doesn't belong to government. Here's what I don't understand. If a business takes their money and they invest in the piece of the equipment, they get to write off their taxes. But if a parent takes money that they have earned to work and invests in their children, they don't? This makes no sense. Parenting is the most important job any of us will ever have. Family formation is the most important thing in society. So what my tax plan does, is it does create, especially for working families, an additional Child Tax Credit. So that parents who are working get to keep more of their own money, not the government's money, to invest in their children to go to school, to go to a private school, to buy a new backpack. Let me tell you, if you're a parent that's struggling, then you know that $50 a month is the difference between a new pair of shoes this month or not getting a new pair of shoes for your kids. I'm going to have a tax plan that is pro-family, because the family is the most important institution in society. You cannot have a strong country without strong families. +p493 +aVWell, first of all, I think amnesty is the forgiveness of a wrongdoing without consequence and that \u2014 I've never supported that. I do not support that. I think there has to be consequences for violating our immigration laws. What I think is clear about this issue to begin with is we're not going to be able to make progress on illegal immigration until first, illegal immigration is brought under control. You go back to 1986, when they legalized three million people and they promised to secure the border. It didn't happen, and as a result, people have lost trust in the federal government. It is now clear that the only way to make progress on immigration is not just to pass a law that enforces the law, but actually prove to people that it's working. They want to see the wall built. They want to see the additional border agents. They want to see E-Verify. They want to see an entry-exit tracking system. Forty percent of the people in this country illegally are entering legally and overstaying visas. And only after all of that is in place, then we'll see what the American people are willing to support on this issue. I think the American people will be very reasonable, but responsible, about how you handle someone who has been here a long time, who can pass a background check, who pays a fine and starts paying taxes and all they want is a work permit. But you can't do any of that until you prove to people that illegal immigration is under control once and for all. +p494 +aVWe're going to have to do this again, O.K.? When that issue was being debated, Ted Cruz, at a committee hearing, very passionately said, I want immigration reform to pass, I want people to be able to come out of the shadows. And he proposed an amendment that would legalized people here. Not only that, he proposed doubling the number of green cards. He proposed a 500 percent increase on guest workers. Now his position is different. Now he is a passionate opponent of all those things. So he either wasn't telling the truth then or he isn't telling the truth now, but to argue he is a purist on immigration is just not true. +p495 +aVWell, first of all, I don't know how he knows what I said on Univision, because he doesn't speak Spanish. And second of all, the other point that I would make... +p496 +aVLook, this is a disturbing pattern now, because for a number of weeks now, Ted Cruz has just been telling lies. He lied about Ben Carson in Iowa. He lies about Planned Parenthood. He lies about marriage. He's lying about all sorts of things. And now he makes things up. The bottom line is this is a campaign and people are watching it. And they see the truth behind all these issues. And here is the truth, Ted Cruz supported legalizing people that were in this country... +p497 +aV... and only now does he say... +p498 +aVWell, we'll put on our website, marcorubio.com. We're going to... +p499 +aVOn anything I want? +p500 +aVWell, let me talk about poverty. +p501 +aVI do. +p502 +aVI had something important. +p503 +aVThe issue of poverty is critical, because for me, poverty is the \u2014 is \u2014 is free enterprise not reaching people. Today, we have antipoverty programs that don't cure poverty. We don't cure poverty in America. Our antipoverty programs have become, in some instances, a way of life, a lifestyle. Now, we do need antipoverty programs, you can't have free enterprise programs without them, but not as a way of life. And so I have a very specific proposal on this and I don't \u2014 in 60 seconds, I can't describe it all, but it basically turns the program over to states. It allows states to design innovative programs that cure poverty, because I think Nikki Haley will do a better job curing poverty than Barack Obama. +p504 +aVWell, no. It's not the case. It didn't pass, and we haven't solved immigration in this country. It's still a problem. It is worse today than it was three years ago, which is worse than it was five years ago. And it has to be confronted and solved. But the only way forward on this issue \u2014 you asked a question about flexibility. Let me tell you about that. One of the things that you need in leadership is the ability to understand that to get things done, you must figure out the way to get it done. You will not pass comprehensive immigration reform. People do not trust the federal government. They want to see the law being enforced. They want to see illegal immigration come under control. They want to see that wall. They want to see E-Verify. They want to see all of these things working, and then they will have a conversation with you about what do you do with people that have been here a long time that are otherwise, you know, not criminals. But they're not going to do it until you first enforce the law. +p505 +aVThirty seconds. +p506 +aVI speak fast. +p507 +aVWell, I think one of the presidents \u2014 well, the president I grew up under was Ronald Reagan. And Reagan had a vision for America's future. And if you think about what Ronald Reagan inherited, it's not unlike what the next president is going to inherit. This is the worst president we've had in 35 years, 35 years back would have made it Jimmy Carter. That's what Ronald Reagan inherited. And I think the question you would ask is, how did you inspire again the American people to believe in the future? How did you \u2014 what did it take to ensure that the American people, despite all of the difficulties of the time \u2014 you know, you look back at that time, the American military was in decline. Our standing in the world was in decline. We had hostages being held in Iran. Our economy was in bad shape. The American people were scared about the future. They were scared about what kind of country their children were going to live in and inherit. And yet somehow Ronald Reagan was able to instill in our nation and in our people a sense of optimism. And he turned America around because of that vision and ultimately because of that leadership. I wish Ronald Reagan was still around. This country needs someone just like that. And if our next president is even half the president Ronald Reagan was, America is going to be greater than it has ever been. +p508 +aVThank you, and thank you for watching tonight. This is a difficult time in our country. Our economy's flat, it's not creating the jobs it once did, and people struggle living paycheck to paycheck. Our culture's in trouble. Wrong is considered right and right is considered wrong. All the things that once held our families together are now under constant assault. And around the world, America's reputation is in decline. Our allies don't trust us, our adversaries don't fear us, Iran captures our sailors and parades them before the world on video. These are difficult times, but 2016 can be a turning point. That's why I'm running for president, and that's why I'm here today to ask you for your vote. If you elect me president, we are going to re-embrace free enterprise so that everyone can go as far as their talent and their work will take them. We are going to be a country that says that "life begins at conception and life is worthy of the protection of our laws." We're going to be a country that says "that marriage is between one man and one woman." We are going to be a country that says, "The constitution and the rights that it talks about do not come from our president, they come from our creator." We are going to be loyal to our allies like Israel, not enemies like Iran. And we will rebuild the U.S. military so no one will there test it. Vote for me. I will unify this party. I will grow it. We will win this election, and we will make the 21st century a new American century. +p509 +aVWell, let me say, from protecting the people of Florida from imminent domain abuse, to bringing accountability to the V.A., to the Girls Count Act, to sanctioning groups, I'm proud of my service in the United States Senate and before that, in the Florida legislature. I will say, if politics becomes and the presidency becomes about electing people who have been Congress or in the Senate the longest, we should all rally around Joe Biden. He's been around 1,000 years. He's passed hundreds of bills and I don't think any of us believe Joe Biden should be president of the United States. And let's dispel once and for all with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing. Barack Obama is undertaking a systematic effort to change this country, to make America more like the rest of the world. That's why he passed Obamacare and the stimulus and Dodd-Frank and the deal with Iran. It is a systematic effort to change America. When I'm president of the United States, we are going to re-embrace all the things that made America the greatest nation in the world and we are going to leave our children with what they deserve: the single greatest nation in the history of the world. +p510 +aVIf I may respond to that. +p511 +aVWell, I think the experience is not just what you did, but how it worked out. Under Chris Christie's governorship of New Jersey, they've been downgraded nine times in their credit rating. This country already has a debt problem, we don't need to add to it by electing someone who has experience at running up and destroying the credit rating of his state. But I would add this. Let's dispel with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing. He is trying to change this country. He wants America to become more like the rest of the world. We don't want to be like the rest of the world, we want to be the United States of America. And when I'm elected president, this will become once again, the single greatest nation in the history of the world, not the disaster Barack Obama has imposed upon us. +p512 +aVChris \u2014 Chris, your state got hit by a massive snowstorm two weeks ago. You didn't even want to go back. They had to shame you into going back. And then you stayed there for 36 hours and then he left and came back to campaign. Those are the facts. Here's the bottom line. This notion that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing is just not true. He knows exactly what he's doing. +p513 +aVWell, that's the \u2014 that's the reason why this campaign is so important. Because I think this notion \u2014 I think this is an important point. We have to understand what we're going through here. We are not facing a president that doesn't know what he's doing. He knows what he is doing. That's why he's done the things he's done. That's why we have a president that passed Obamacare and the stimulus. All this damage that he's done to America is deliberate. This is a president that's trying to redefine this country. That's why this election is truly a referendum on our identity as a nation, as a people. Our future is at stake. This election is not about the past. It is about what kind of country this is going to be in the 21st century, and if we elect someone like Barack Obama, a Hillary Clinton, a Bernie Sanders or anyone like that, our children are going to be the first Americans to inherit a diminishes country. That will not happen if I'm elected. +p514 +aVChris, you didn't want to go back. You didn't want to go back. +p515 +aVYou didn't want to go back, Chris. +p516 +aVChris, everybody \u2014 you said you weren't going to go back. He told everyone he wasn't going to go back. They had to shame him into going back. And when he decided to go back, he criticized the young lady, saying, what am I supposed to do, go back with a mop and clean up the flooding? +p517 +aV... It's your record, it's not a talking point... +p518 +aVBut Martha, just \u2014 Martha, just to clarify on that point, because he's right, and one more thing to point \u2014 it is standard procedure of the United States to shoot down those missiles once launched if they pose a threat to civilians, land and ships. +p519 +aVWell \u2014 no, I understand. And not \u2014 but \u2014 but I think it's important to note that it is \u2014 and Senator Cruz, I think, was alluding to this, as well \u2014 it is the standard procedure of the United States, if those missiles pose a threat to land, civilians, our allies or any of our assets, to shoot down that missile in mid-flight. I understand your question was about a preemptive strike, but my point is that there is in place now contingencies to avoid any sort of that strike from going errant and destroying any \u2014 any assets of the United States, or implicating or hurting any of our allies or any of our assets in the region. +p520 +aVYeah. I have a \u2014 I got mentioned, can I respond? +p521 +aVHere's the broader point, as well, and then I think it touches on what Donald just mentioned. Barack Obama views America as this arrogant global power that needed to be cut down to size. OK? This is a president that views this country as a country that's been too powerful in the world and we create problems around the world. For example, it's one of the reasons why he had betrayed Israel, because he believes that if we create separation from Israel, it will help our relations in the Islamic world. The same is happening in the Asia-Pacific region with accommodations to North Korea. North Korean should be back on that list of terrorist nations, as an example. And Donald's absolutely right. China does have a lot of influence over North Korea and he should be leveraging our relationship with the Chinese to ensure that North Korea no longer has access to the resources that have allowed them \u2014 a country that has no economy to develop long range missiles already capable of reaching the west coast of the United States potentially. +p522 +aVHere's the bottom line. We can't get that legislation passed. The American people will not support doing anything about people that are in this country illegally until the law is enforced first, and you prove it to them. This has been abundantly clear. Every effort over the last ten years to do those comprehensively has failed. And it has failed because the American people have zero trust that the federal government will enforce our laws. And that's why since then, I have said repeatedly, if you are serious about immigration reform, then the key that unlocks the door to being able to do that is not just to pass a law that says it is going to enforce the law, but to actually do it. To hire the 20,000 new border agents, to finish the fencing and walls, to put in place mandatory e-verify, to put in place an entry-exit tracking system to prevent visa overstays. And once that is in place and that's working, I believe the American people will support a very reasonable, but responsible approach to people that have been here a long time, who are not dangerous criminals, who pay taxes and pay fines for what they did. But until then, none of that is going to be possible. +p523 +aVWell, the legislation passed, but it has no support. In essence, it couldn't pass in the House, it will never pass in the United States until we secure the border, and it is not the way we're going to do when I'm president. When I'm president, we are going to enforce the law first, prove to people that illegal immigration is under control. And then we'll see what the American people are willing to support when it comes to people that are not criminals, who have been in the this country for a long time and who otherwise would like to stay. +p524 +aVLeadership is ultimately about solving the problem. And the approach that was tried and has been tried now repeatedly over ten years to do this comprehensively, all at once in a massive piece of legislation has no chance of passage. It is not leadership to continue to try something that has no chance of happening. I want to make progress on this issue. It has been discussed now for 30 years and nothing ever happens. And I am telling you that the only way forward on this issue that has any chance of happening, meaning gaining the support of the American people, you cannot do this without the support of the American people, is an approach that begins by proving that once and for all, illegal immigration is under control. +p525 +aVGood evening. +p526 +aVWell, I think conservatism is about three things and Donald touched on one of them, but it's about three things. The first is conservatism is about limited government, especially at the federal level. The federal government is a limited government, limited by the Constitution, which delineates its powers. If it's not in the Constitution, it does not belong to the federal government. It belongs to states, local communities and the private sector. It's about free enterprise, which is an economic model that allows everyone to rise without pulling anyone down. The reason why free enterprise is the greatest economic model in the history of the world is because it's the only economic model where you can make poor people richer without making rich people poor. And it's about a strong national defense. It's about believing, unlike Barack Obama, that the world is a safer and a better place when America is the strongest military and the strongest nation on this planet. That's conservatism. +p527 +aVNow, see, I was mentioned by Governor... +p528 +aVYeah. +p529 +aVOK, good, then I'll get to it . Here's the... +p530 +aVWell, no, sorry. Let me respond to that question. +p531 +aVWell, here's the response. I think anyone who believes that Barack Obama isn't doing what he's doing on purpose doesn't understand what we're dealing with here, OK? This is a president \u2014 this is a president who is trying to change this country. When he talked about change, he wasn't talking about dealing with our problems. Obamacare was not an accident. The undermining of the Second Amendment is not an accident. The gutting of our military is not an accident. The undermining of America on the global stage is not an accident. Barack Obama is, indeed, trying to redefine this country. We better understand what we're dealing with here, because that's what Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders want to double down on if they are elected. +p532 +aVNo. He talked about Barack Obama. +p533 +aVYeah. +p534 +aVI don't know of any problem in America that's going to be fixed with a tax increase. We have an economy today, an economy today that is not creating jobs that pay enough. And one of the reasons why is because we have one of the most expensive business tax rates on the planet. Our combined business rate puts us among the highest in the industrialized world. And then on top of that, we are the only one that has a worldwide system of taxation, where an American company who makes money abroad has to pay taxes where they made the money and then taxes a second time when they bring it back. The combination of these two things has stranded over $2 trillion, the equivalent of the size of the Russian economy, $2 trillion of American corporate money stranded overseas, combined with all of these inversions of companies leaving us. The solution to the problems we have today are not a tax increase. It is to lower our taxes on both people and on companies, so we can make America globally competitive again. +p535 +aVWell, first, we need to understand who they are. +p536 +aVBecause they currently occupy Sunni cities and villages. Sunni cities and villages can only truly be liberated and held by Sunnis themselves. If they are held by Shias it will trigger sectarian violence. The Kurds are incredible fighters and they will liberate the Kurdish areas, but Kurds can not and do not want to liberate and hold Sunni villages and towns. It will take Sunni fighters themselves in that region to take those villages and cities, and then to hold them and avoid the sort of sectarian violence that follows in the past. And why that is important is because if Sunnis are not able to govern themselves in these areas, you are going to have a successor group to +p537 +aVWell, the problem with the Sunni forces in the region is they don't trust this administration. This administration cut a deal with their mortal enemies, the Shia, in Iran. It poisoned the well with these countries. It makes it very difficult to cooperate with them as a result. They also, by the way, understand what real U.S. air power looks like. They saw the Iraq war. They saw, up close, also Afghanistan. They know what air power looks like when the United States is committed to the cause. And they see the airstrikes that are being conducted now, and they say to themselves, that's not real commitment. We know what real commitment looks like. The \u2014 the Jordanian king was in Washington three weeks ago. He told everyone who would listen that they have begged for permission from the coalition to target caravans. And the coalition \u2014 meaning U.S. leadership on the ground......would not allow them to proceed with those airstrikes. +p538 +aVWell, when people talk about interrogating terrorists, they're acting like this is some sort of law enforcement function. Law enforcement is about gathering evidence to take someone to trial, and convict them. Anti-terrorism is about finding out information to prevent a future attack so the same tactics do not apply. And, it is true, we should not be discussing in a wide spread way the exact tactics that we're going to use because that allows terrorist to know to practice how to evade us. But, here's the bigger problem with all this, we're not interrogating anybody right now. Guantanamo's being emptied by this president. We should be putting people into Guantanamo, not emptying it out, and we shouldn't be releasing these killers who are rejoining the battlefield against the United States. +p539 +aVI think it's already happening. Look at the turnout in Iowa. A historic number of people came out and voted in those caucuses. There are saying the same thing is going to happen here in New Hampshire. Look at the rallies that every single person on this stage is having. Much higher numbers than you used to see in the past and here is why. Because people are starting to understand, very clearly, that this election is going to be a turning point. That 2016 is not just a choice between Republican or Democrat. It is a referendum on our identity as a nation and as a people. So here is what Hillary Clinton needs to understand. We're going to have our primary, we're going to have our debates \u2014 which by the way, are twice as many as the Democrats have been willing to have themselves. But we're going to bring this party together and we are going to defeat Hillary Clinton, because she is unqualified to be the president of the United States of America. She put classified information on her computer because she thinks she's above the law and anyone who lies to the families of people who have lost their loved ones in the service of our country like she did in Benghazi, can never be the commander-in-chief of the United States of America. +p540 +aVI would. But that's not \u2014 the issue \u2014 my problem with what he did is he continues to put out this fiction that there's widespread systematic discrimination against Muslim Americans. First of all, let's recognize this. If you go to a national cemetery in this country, you will see stars of Davids and crosses, but you see crescent moons. There are brave men and women who happen to be Muslim Americans who are serving this country in uniform and who have died in the service of this country. And we recognize that and we honor that. But by the same token, we face a very significant threat of home grown violent extremism. We need to have strong, positive relationships in the Islamic communities in this country so they will identify and report this activity, especially mosques, for example, that are participating not just in hate speech, but inciting violence and taking acts against us. And I do believe it is important also to recognize, you want to talk about religious discrimination in America. Well, I don't think Barack Obama is being sued by any Islamic groups, but he is being sued by the Little Sisters of the Poor. We are facing in this country Christian groups and groups that hold traditional values who feel and in fact are being discriminated against by the laws of this country that try to force them to vie to violate their conscience. +p541 +aVFirst, let me say there are already women today serving in roles that are like combat. That, in fact, whose lives are in very serious danger, and so I have no problem whatsoever with people of either gender serving in combat so long as the minimum requirements necessary to do the job are not compromised. But, I support that, and obviously now that that is the case I do believe that Selective Service should be opened up for both men and women in case a Draft is ever instituted. I think the more fundamental challenge we're now facing is what's happening to the U.S. military \u2014 I've said this many times, and I think it's important to start paying attention to this. Our Air Force is about to be the smallest it's been in 100 years. I'm sorry, in our history. Our Army is set to be smaller than it's been since the second World War, and our Navy is about to be the smallest than it's been in 100 years. I think we need to begin to refocus on rebuilding our military because every time we have cut our military in the history of this country we have had to come back later and rebuild it, and it costs more, and it's a lot more chaotic and dangerous. When I'm president, we are rebuilding the U.S. military. +p542 +aVWell, my brother's a veteran. We're very proud of him in our family. He served as a green beret in the 7th Special Forces from 1968 through 1971. And as part of his training, he jumped out of an airplane and he lost his two front teeth. And for years, he's had to go to get these dental claims. And every times he goes to get one of these dental claims filled, the V.A. asks him, "well, how do we know you lost your teeth in the Army?" And he says, "well, it's the only time I ever jumped out of a plane." But he's had to fight through this process, and I've watched it firsthand. That's why I'm proud that I worked in a bipartisan way. We passed the V.A. Accountability bill that, for the first time, allows us to fire \u2014 allows the V.A. secretary to fire someone who's not doing a good job, who's a senior executive. And the governor's right. They've only fired three people up to now. More people will be fired if I'm president. But the portability part of it is incredibly important. Veterans should be able to take their V.A. benefits to any hospital or any doctor they want to go to. When I am president of the United States, veterans will be able to take their benefits to any hospital or doctor that they choose. +p543 +aVWell, first of all, I don't believe that believing in traditional marriage the way I do makes you a bigot or a hater. It means that you believe that this institution that's been around for millenial is an important cornerstone of society. I respect people that believe differently. But I believe deeply, that marriage should be between one man and one woman. On the issue of life, to me, the issue of life is not a political issue. It's a human rights issue and it's a difficult issue, because it puts in conflict two competing rights. On the one hand is the right of a woman to choose what to do with her body which is a real right. And on the other hand is the right of an unborn human child to live. And they're in conflict. And as a policy maker, I must choose which one of these two sides takes precedence. And I have chosen to err on the side of life. Here's what I find outrageous. There has been five Democratic debates. The media has not asked them a single question on abortion and on abortion, the Democrats are extremists. Why doesn't the media ask Hillary Clinton why she believes that all abortion should be legal, even on the due date of that unborn child. Why don't they ask Hillary Clinton why she believe that partial- birth abortion, which is a gruesome procedure that has been outlawed in this country, she thinks that's a fundamental right. They are the extremists......when it comes to the issue of abortion and I can't wait to expose them in a general election. HAM: Governor Bush? I want to come to you. Your allies have recently attacked Senator Rubio for being too pro-life to be elected in November. You made a similar charge stating it in an interview. This is a pro-life party. Do you stand behind that criticism? +p544 +aVI do support protection for the life of the mother because I'm pro-life. I just believe deeply that all human life is worthy of protection of our laws. If I'm president and there's a bill that's passed that saves lives but it has exceptions, I'll sign it. But I do believe deeply that all human life is worthy of the protection of laws. I've already said, for me, the issue of life is not a political issue and I want to be frank. I would rather lose an election than be wrong on the issue of life. HAM: Governor Christie. You too, have talked about Senator Rubio's position on the life issue. Some conservative activists have called this line of attack harmful to the pro-life cause. +p545 +aVWell, I was going for Peyton Manning, but now I'm rooting for Carolina. +p546 +aVThank you. You know, this week I had the great pleasure of having my kids join me on the campaign trail. I hadn't' seen them in a while, and it was great to have them alongside me, but the most important part of it is that it once again reminded me of what's at stake. Here in New Hampshire in less than 72 hours, we are literally deciding what kind of country we will be like when they are my age. What kind of country they will be able to raise their families in. And, that's why I'm asking you for your vote. You vote for me, and we will unite this party, we will grow the conservative movement, we will defeat Hillary Clinton, and we will leave our children what our parents left us. The single greatest nation in the history of all mankind. Thank you. +p547 +aVChris, let's begin by being clear what this campaign is about. It's not about Donald Trump. He's an entertaining guy. He's the greatest show on earth. This campaign is about the greatest country in the world and a president who has systematically destroyed many of the things that made America special. You see, we usually elect presidents in America that want to change the things that are wrong in America. Barack Obama wants to change America. Barack Obama wants America to be more like the rest of the world. We don't want to be like the rest of the world. We want to be the United States of America. That is why Hillary Clinton cannot win this election. Hillary Clinton this week said Barack Obama would make a great Supreme Court justice. The guy who systematically and habitually violates the constitution on the Supreme Court? I don't think so. If I'm our nominee, I will unite this party and we'll defeat Hillary Clinton and we will turn this country around once and for all, after seven years of the disaster that is Barack Obama. +p548 +aVI think, you know, Rand and I have some significant issues on policy, but I respect Rand. He believes everything he stands for. I do respect Rand. But I want to be frank about what I stand for. I believe the world is a safer and a better place when America is the strongest power in the world. And I believe only with a strong America will we defeat this radical group, this apocalyptic group called +p549 +aVWell, again, I mean, obviously, as already has been pointed out, the only budget that Ted has ever voted for is a budget that Rand Paul sponsored that brags about cutting defense spending. And I think that's a bad idea for the following reason. +p550 +aV... First of all \u2014 Let me go first, and then you can please recognize Rand after. First of all... +p551 +aV... do I go \u2014 let me go first, and then you can please recognize Rand after. But... ... first of all... +p552 +aV... first of all, I'm \u2014 don't worry, I'm not leaving the stage no matter what you ask me. +p553 +aVAnd second of all... ... and I think \u2014 you know, Governor \u2014 Jeb, you \u2014 the attack that \u2014 the authorization that Barack Obama asked for was not against +p554 +aVMegyn, that's the problem. Radical Muslims and radical Islam is not just hate talk. It's hate action. They blow people up. Look what they did in San Bernardino. Look at the attack they inspired in Philadelphia, that the White House still refuses to link to terror, where a guy basically shot a police officer three times. He told the police, "I did it because I was inspired by +p555 +aVMight I respond? The first thing \u2014 I don't know of anyone who's not in favor of fully vetting people that are trying to come into this country, other than perhaps Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. I think we all support that. Rand's amendment was not the right way to do it. I do believe that people who are trying to come to the United States \u2014 this country has a right to know who they are and why they are coming. And that's why I've been clear, when I am the president of the United States of America, we don't know who you are, and we don't know why you're trying to come to the United States, you are not going to get in, because the radical threat that we now face from +p556 +aVWell, Bret, first that's not entirely the story. At the time, the liberal governor of Florida, who claimed he was a Republican \u2014 his name was Charlie Crist \u2014 he wanted to impose cap-and-trade on Florida. And I opposed it. I was the first person out of the box that opposed him on it. And then we saw that the leading candidates for president at the time, both the Republican and the Democrats, all supported it. And what we said is, if they're going to impose this on us, we better prepare to protect the state from it. But I have never supported cap- and-trade and I never thought it was a good idea. And I was clear about that at the time. And I do not believe it's a good idea now. I do not believe that we have to destroy our economy in order to protect our environment. And especially what these programs are asking us to pass that will do nothing to help the environment, but will be devastating for our economy. When I am president of the United States of America, there will never be any cap-and-trade in the United States. +p557 +aVNever support. Never have and never will support any effort to grant blanket legalization amnesty to folks who have entered, or stayed in this country illegally. +p558 +aVFirst of all, earned path to citizenship is basically code for amnesty. It's what they call it. And, the reality of it is this, it is unfair to the people that have legally entered this country to create an alternative for individuals who entered illegally, and knowingly did so. +p559 +aVYou cannot grant amnesty. If the American people see us granting amnesty they will never again believe in legal immigration. They will never again support it, and that's wrong for our country, bad for our future. +p560 +aVNo, because if you look at the quote, and it's very specific. And, it says blanket amnesty, I do not support blanket amnesty... +p561 +aV... I do not support amnesty... +p562 +aV... No, I said I do not support blanket amnesty... +p563 +aV... It was... +p564 +aV... It absolutely has been, and at the time in the context of that was in 2009, and 2010, where the last effort for legalization was an effort done in the Senate. It was an effort led by several people that provided almost an instant path with very little obstacles moving forward. What I've always said is that this issue does need to be solved. They've been talking about this issue for 30 years, and nothing ever happens. And, I'm going to tell you exactly how we're going to deal with it when I am president. Number one, we're going to keep +p565 +aVMay I respond? +p566 +aVIt's interesting that Jeb mentions the book. That's the book where you changed your position on immigration because you used to support a path to citizenship. +p567 +aVWell, but you changed the \u2014 in the book... +p568 +aVYou wrote a book where you changed your position from a path of citizenship to a path of legalization. And the bottom line is this, we are not going to be able to do anything on this issue until we first bring illegal immigration under control. The American people have been told for 30 years they're going to enforce the border, they're going to build a wall and it never gets built and it never happens. It is very clear there will be no progress on this issue in any way, shape or form, until you prove to the people of this country that illegal immigration is under control. And when I'm president, we are going to bring it under control once and for all after 30 years of talking about it. +p569 +aVBut Megyn... +p570 +aVThere's not going to be consensus on this issue until we enforce our immigration laws. That is abundantly clear. You're not going to be able to ram down the throat of the American people your approach. The only way we're are going to be able to move forward after two migratory crises with minor, after two unconstitutional executive orders, the only way forward on this issue is to first bring illegal immigration under control. And until that happens there's not going to be consensus on this issue. +p571 +aVYeah, but let me respond... +p572 +aV... no, I understand, but let me respond. I was mentioned on this \u2014 in this answer, and so I'm going to respond this way. This is the lie that Ted's campaign is built on, and Rand touched upon it \u2014 that he's the most conservative guy, and everyone else is a \u2014 you know, everyone else is a rhino. The truth is, Ted, throughout this campaign, you've been willing to say or do anything in order to get votes. Ted, you worked for George W. Bush's campaign... You \u2014 you \u2014 you helped design George W. Bush's \u2014 you helped design George W. Bush's immigration policy. And then, when you got to the Senate, you did an interview with CBS News \u2014 I wasn't even part of the video \u2014 where you said, on the issue of people that are here illegally, "we can reach a compromise." And then in the committee, you said, "I want to bring people out of the shadows." Now you want to trump Trump on immigration. But you can't \u2014 we're not gonna beat Hillary Clinton with someone who's willing to say or do anything to win an election. +p573 +aVAnd I think that's the false choice... ... that's the \u2014 that's the false choice in this whole debate about immigration. Of course, we're going to be a nation of immigrants. By the way, no nation on earth is more generous than America is. Every single year close to a million people emigrate to the United States legally. There's no nation on earth that comes close to that number. I think the only argument is are we a sovereign country, are we not allowed to choose who comes in, when they come in and how they come in? And that's not what's happening now. +p574 +aVI think the other problem is we have a legal immigration system that's outdated, it's primarily based on whether you have family members living here. In the 21st century, it has to be more of a merit-based system, and that is why our legal immigration system is in need of modernization. And we will always celebrate legal immigration like Dulce's great story. +p575 +aVWell, I believe, and I know that if Iowa helps make me the Republican nominee, I will defeat Hillary Clinton. Hillary doesn't want to run against me, but I cannot wait to run against her. And I cannot wait to earn the opportunity to do it because she cannot be the president of the United States. She wants to put Barack Obama on the Supreme Court of the United States of America. She said that here in Iowa just two days ago. That would be a disaster for this country. So I hope and pray and cannot wait until this state and others give me an opportunity to serve this party as its nominee because I will defeat Hillary Clinton. +p576 +aVWell, let me be clear about one thing, there's only one savior and it's not me. It's Jesus Christ who came down to earth and died for our sins. And so \u2014 and I've always made that clear about that cover story. As far as the polls are concerned, Iowa, on Monday night you're going to go to a caucus site and you'll be the first Americans that vote in this election. You will be the first Americans that get to answer the fundamental question, what comes next for this country after seven disastrous years of Barack Obama? And let me tell you what the answer better not be. It better not be Bernie Sanders. Bernie Sanders is a socialist. I think Bernie Sanders is good candidate for president of Sweden. We don't want to be Sweden. We want to be the United States of America. And Hillary Clinton, Hillary Clinton is disqualified from being the commander-in-chief of the United States. In fact, one of her first acts as president may very well be to pardon herself because Hillary Clinton... Hillary Clinton stored classified information on her private server. And Hillary Clinton lied to the families of those four brave Americans who lost their life in Benghazi. And anyone who lies to the families of Americans who have died in the service of this country can never be commander-in-chief of the United States. +p577 +aVYeah, I would encourage people to go on my website, marcorubio.com, and we'll put all the facts up there so people can see it for themselves. But you've just asked a very fundamental question about the role of faith in our country. And I think this is an important question. I think if you do not understand that our Judeo-Christian values are one of the reasons why America is such a special country, you don't understand our history. You see, why are we one of the most generous people in the world \u2014 no, the most generous people in the world? Why do Americans contribute millions of dollars to charity? It is not because of the tax writeoff. It is because in this nation, we are influenced by Judeo-Christian values that teach us to care for the less fortunate, to reach out to the needy, to love our neighbor. This is what's made our nation so special. And you should hope that our next president is someone that is influence by their faith. Because if your faith causes you to care for the less fortunate, it is something you want to see in your public figures. And when I'm president, I can tell you this, my faith will not just influence the way I'll govern as president, it will influence the way I live my life. Because in the end, my goal is not simply to live on this earth for 80 years, but to live an eternity with my creator. And I will always allow my faith to influence everything I do. +p578 +aVWell, let me first describe Iran because they're not just a normal nation state. And we have no quarrel with the Iranian people. But the Iranian leader, their supreme leader is a radical Shia cleric who has an apocalyptic vision of the future. He views himself not simply as the leader of Iran, but as the leader of all Muslims \u2014 all Shia Muslims on the planet. And they have a desire not simply to conquer the Middle East and to become the dominant power in that region, but ultimately to be able to hold America hostage. That is why they're building an \u2014 right now, developing long- range missiles capable of reaching the United States, and that is why there's going \u2014 they're going to use those $100 billion to expand their conventional capabilities and to one day buy or build a nuclear weapon. We will \u2014 when I am president of the United States, on my first day in office, we are canceling the deal with Iran, and nations will have to make a choice. They can do business with Iran, or they can do business with America, and I am very confident they're going to choose America before they choose the Iranian economy. +p579 +aVThe bible commands us to let our light shine on the world. For over 200 years, America's light has been shining on the world and the world has never been the same again. But now, that light is dimming a little, after seven years of Barack Obama. And that's why Monday night, what will happen here in Iowa is so important. I'm asking you for your vote. Caucus for me on Monday night because if I am your nominee, I will unite this party and I will defeat Hillary Clinton and when I'm president, America's light will shine again and the 21 century will be a new American century. +p580 +aVYeah, I would go, first of all, one step further in this description of Hillary Clinton. She wouldn't just be a disaster, Hillary Clinton is disqualified from being commander in chief of the United States. Someone who cannot handle intelligence information appropriately cannot be commander in chief and someone who lies to the families of those four victims in Benghazi can never be president of the United States. Ever. On the issue of Barack Obama, Barack Obama does not believe that America is a great global power. Barack Obama believes that America is a arrogant global power that needs to be cut down to size. And that's how you get a foreign policy where we cut deals with our enemies like Iran and we betray our allies like Israel and we gut our military and we go around the world like he has done on 10 separate occasions and apologized for America. He doesn't understand the threat in +p581 +aVLet me . I was invoked in that question, so let me just say \u2014 in that answer \u2014 let me say, the real question here, I hate to interrupt this episode of Court TV. But the real \u2014 but I think we have to get back to what this election has to be about. OK? Listen, we \u2014 this is the greatest country in the history of mankind. But in 2008, we elected a president that didn't want to fix America. He wants to change America. We elected a president that doesn't believe in the Constitution. He undermines it. We elected a president that is weakening America on the global stage. We elected a president that doesn't believe in the free enterprise system. This election has to be about reversing all of that damage. That's why I'm running for office because when I become president of the United States, on my first day in office we are going to repeal every single one of his unconstitutional executive orders. When I'm president of the United States we are getting rid of Obamacare and we are rebuilding our military. And when I'm president, we're not just going to have a president that gives a State of the Union and says America is the greatest country in the world. When I'm president, we're going to have a president that acts like it. +p582 +aVYou know, as I said already twice in this , we have a very serious problem in this country. We have a president of the United States that is undermining this country's security and expanding the role of... +p583 +aVWell, I am going to answer your question, Neil. He is \u2014 this president is undermining the constitutional basis of this government. This president is undermining our military. He is undermining our standing in the world. I like Chris Christie, but we can not afford to have a president of the United States that supports Common Core. We can not afford to have a president of the United States that supports gun control. This president, this president is more interested in funding \u2014 less interested in funding the military, than he is in funding planned \u2014 he's more interested in funding Planned Parenthood than he is in funding the military. Chris Christie wrote a check to Planned Parenthood. All I'm saying is our next president has to be someone that undoes the damage Barack Obama has done to this country. It can not be someone that agrees with his agenda. Because the damage he has done to America is extraordinary. Let me tell you, if we don't get this election right, there may be no turning back for America. We're on the verge of being the first generation of Americans that leave our children worse off than ourselves. So I just truly, with all my heart belief, I like everybody on the stage. No one is a socialist. No one here is under FBI investigation. So we have a good group of people. +p584 +aVOur next president... +p585 +aVUnfortunately, Governor Christie has endorsed many of the ideas that Barack Obama supports, whether it is Common Core or gun control or the appointment of Sonia Sotomayor or the donation he made to Planned Parenthood. Our next president, and our Republican nominee can not be someone who supports those positions. +p586 +aVThat sounds like people are afraid the president's going to take their guns away. Look, the Second Amendment is not an option. It is not a suggestion. It is a constitutional right of every American to be able to protect themselves and their families. I am convinced that if this president could confiscate every gun in America, he would. I am convinced that this president, if he could get rid of the Second Amendment, he would. I am convinced because I see how he works with his attorney general, not to defend the Second Amendment, but to figure out ways to undermine it. I have seen him appoint people to our courts not to defend the Second Amendment, but to figure out ways to undermine it. Here's my second problem. None of these instances that the president points to as the reason why he's doing these things would have been preventive. You know why? Because criminals don't buy their guns from a gun show. They don't buy their guns from a collector. And they don't buy their guns from a gun store. They get \u2014 they steal them. They get them on the black market. And let me tell you, +p587 +aVAbout every two weeks, he holds a press conference talking about how he can't wait to restrict people's access to guns. He has never defended......I'll give you a fact. Well, let me tell you this. Do you remember when he ran for president of the United States, and he was a candidate, and he went and said, "These Americans with traditional values, they are bitter people, and they cling to their guns and to their religion." That tells you right away where he was headed on all of this. This president every chance he has ever gotten has tried to undermine the Second Amendment. He doesn't meet \u2014 here's the difference. When he meets with the attorney general in the White House, it's not "how can we protect the Second Amendment rights of Americans." It's "give me options on how I can make it harder for law-abiding people to buy guns." That will never happen when I am president of the United States. +p588 +aVWell, first of all, let's understand why we are even having this and why Donald tapped in to some of that anger that's out there about this whole issue. Because this president has consistently underestimated the threat of +p589 +aVBut on this point, if I may add something on this point. We are all frustrated with what China is doing. I think we need to be very careful with tariffs, and here's why. China doesn't pay the tariff, the buyer pays the tariff. If you send a tie or a shirt made in China into the United States and an American goes to buy it at the store and there's a tariff on it, it gets passed on in the price to price to the consumer. So I think the better approach, the best thing we can do to protect ourselves against China economically is to make our economy stronger, which means reversing course from all the damage Barack Obama is doing to this economy. It begins with tax reform. Let's not have the most expensive business tax rate in the world. Let's allow companies to immediately expense. It continues with regulatory reform. Regulations in this country are out of control, especially the Employment Prevention Agency, the EPA, and all of the rules they continue to impose on our economy and hurting us. How about Obamacare, a certified job killer? It needs to be repealed and replaced. And we need to bring our debt under control, make our economy stronger. That is the way to deal with China at the end of the day. +p590 +aVWell, first let me address the tax issue because it's related to the entitlement issue and I want to thank you for holding a substantive debates where we can have debates about these key issues on taxes. Here is the one thing I'm not going to do. I'm not going to have something that Ted described in his tax plan. It's called the value added tax. And it's a tax you find in many companies in Europe. Where basically, businesses now will have to pay a tax, both on the money they make, but they also have to pay taxes on the money that they pay their employees. And that's why they have it in Europe, because it is a way to blindfolded the people, that's what Ronald Reagan said. Ronald Regan opposed the value tax because he said it was a way to blindfold the people, so the true cost of government was not there there for them. Now, you can support one now that's very low. But what is to prevent a future liberal president or a liberal Congress from coming back and not just raising the income tax, but also raising that VAT tax, and that vat tax is really bad for seniors. Because seniors, if they are retired, are no longer earning an income from a job. And therefore, they don't get the income tax break, but their prices are going to be higher, because the vat tax is embedded in both the prices that business that are charging and in the wages they pay their employees. When I am president of the United States, I'm going to side with Ronald Regan on this and not Nancy Pelosi and we are not having a vat tax. +p591 +aVBut that's not an accurate description of the plan. Because, first of all, you may rename the IRS but you are not going to abolishes the IRS, because there has to be some agency that's going to collect your vat tax. Someone's going to be collecting this tax. In fact, Ronald Reagan's treasury, when Ronald Reagan's treasury looked at the vat tax, you know what they found? That they were going to have to hire 20,000 new IRS agencies to collect it. The second point, it does not eliminate the corporate tax or the payroll tax. Businesses will now have to pay 16 percent on the money they make. They will also have to pay 16 percent on the money they pay their employees. So there are people watching tonight in business. If you are now hit on a 60 percent tax on both your income and on the wages you pay your employees, where are you going to get that money from? You're going to get it by paying your employees less and charging your customers more, that is a tax, the difference is, you don't see it on the bill. And that's why Ronald Reagan said that it was a blindfold. You blindfold the American people so that they cannot see the true cost of government. Now 16 percent is what the rate Ted wants it at. But what happens if, God forbid, the next Barack Obama takes over, and the next Nancy Pelosi, and the next Harry Reid......and they decide, we're going to raise it to 30 percent, plus we're going to raise the income tax to 30 percent. Now, you've got Europe. +p592 +aVIf you'll answer the core question. +p593 +aVWell, first of all, this is an issue that's been debated now for 30 years. And for 30 years, the issue of immigration has been about someone who's in this country, maybe they're here illegally, but they're looking for a job. This issue is not about that anymore. First and foremost, this issue has to be now more than anything else about keeping America safe. And here's why. There is a radical jihadist group that is manipulating our immigration system. And not just green cards. They're looking \u2014 they're recruiting people that enter this country as doctors and engineers and even fiances. They understand the vulnerabilities we have on the southern border. They're looking \u2014 they're looking to manipulate our \u2014 the visa waiver countries to get people into the United States. So our number one priority must now become ensuring that +p594 +aVThe issue is a dramatically different issue than it was 24 months ago. Twenty-four months ago, 36 months ago, you did not have a group of radical crazies named +p595 +aVMaria, let me clear something up here. This is an interesting point when you talk about immigration. Ted Cruz, you used to say you supported doubling the number of green cards, now you say that you're against it. You used to support a 500 percent increase in the number of guest workers, now you say that you're against it. You used to support legalizing people that were here illegally, now you say you're against it. You used to say that you were in favor of birthright citizenship, now you say that you are against it. And by the way, it's not just on immigration, you used to support TPA, now you say you're against it. I saw you on the Senate floor flip your vote on crop insurance because they told you it would help you in Iowa, and last week, we all saw you flip your vote on ethanol in Iowa for the same reason. That is not consistent conservatism, that is political calculation. When I am president, I will work consistently every single day to keep this country safe, not call Edward Snowden, as you did, a great public servant. Edward Snowden is a traitor. And if I am president and we get our hands on him, he is standing trial for treason. And one more point, one more point. Every single time that there has been a Defense bill in the Senate, three people team up to vote against it. Bernie Sanders, Rand Paul and Ted Cruz. In fact, the only budget you have ever voted for, Ted, in your entire time in the Senate is a budget from Rand Paul that brags about how it cuts defense. Here's the bottom line, and I'll close with this. If I'm president of the United States and Congress tries to cut the military, I will veto that in a millisecond. +p596 +aVNo, it's your record. +p597 +aVYou know, 200 years ago, America was founded on this powerful principle that our rights don't come from government. Our rights come from God. That's why we embraced free enterprise, and it made us the most prosperous people in the history of the world. That's why we embraced individual liberty, and we became the freest people ever, and the result was the American miracle. But now as I travel the country, people say what I feel. This country is changing. It feels different. We feel like we're being left behind and left out. And the reason is simple: because in 2008, we elected as president someone who wasn't interested in fixing America. We elected someone as president who wants to change America, who wants to make it more like the rest of the world. And so he undermines the Constitution, and he undermines free enterprise by expanding government, and he betrays our allies and cuts deals with our enemies and guts our military. And that's why 2016 is a turning point in our history. If we elect Hillary Clinton, the next four years will be worse than the last eight, and our children will be the first Americans ever to inherit a diminished country. But if we elect the right person \u2014 if you elect me \u2014 we will turn this country around, we will reclaim the American dream and this nation will be stronger and greater than it has ever been. +p598 +asVKASICH +p599 +(lp600 +VThank you, Wolf. Just last weekend, just last week, a friend asked one of my daughters, "Do you like politics?" And my daughter said, "No, I don't. And the reason I don't like it is because there's too much fighting, too much yelling. It's so loud, I don't like it." You know, I turned to my friend and I said, "You know, she's really on to something." And when we think about our country and the big issues that we face in this country; creating jobs, making sure people can keep their jobs, the need for rising wages, whether our children when they graduate from college can find a job, protecting the homeland, destroying +p601 +aVWell, first of all, Wolf, I said last February that we needed to have people on the ground, troops on the ground in a coalition similar to what we had in the first Gulf War. I remember when the Egyptian ambassador to the United States stood in the Rose Garden and pledged Arab commitment to removing Saddam Hussein from Kuwait. Before we came out here tonight, I am told that the Saudis have organized 34 countries who want to join in the battle against terrorism. First and foremost, we need to go and destroy +p602 +aVNo, I don't think it is. And I want to go back to two other issues. One is the metadata. We know we have to hold this data for a longer period of time. And, you know, in a lot of ways, Chris is right. Look, what a president has to do is take a position. We don't want to err on the side of having less. We want to err on the side of having more. That's good for our families. In addition to that, Wolf, there is a big problem. It's called encryption. And the people in San Bernardino were communicating with people who the FBI had been watching. But because their phone was encrypted, because the intelligence officials could not see who they were talking to, it was lost. We have to solve the encryption problem. It is not easy. A president of the United States, again, has to bring people together, have a position. We need to be able to penetrate these people when they are involved in these plots and these plans. And we have to give the local authorities the ability to penetrate to disrupt. That's what we need to do. Encryption is a major problem, and Congress has got to deal with this and so does the president to keep us safe. +p603 +aVYeah, let me \u2014 let me just suggest to everybody, and I hear \u2014 last February, I said we needed to have people on the ground in a coalition with Europe and our allies. This is not going to get done just by working with the Sunnis. And it is not going to get done if we just embed a few people. We have to go massively, like we did in the first Gulf War where we destroyed Saddam's ability to take Kuwait. We need to have a coalition that will stand for nothing less than the total destruction of +p604 +aVI don't understand this thing about Assad. He has to go. Assad is aligned with Iran and Russia. The one thing we want to prevent is we want to prevent Iran being able to extend a Shia crescent all across the Middle East. Assad has got to go. And there are moderates there. There are moderates in Syria who we should be supporting. I do not support a civil war. I don't want to be policeman of the world. But we can't back off of this. And let me tell you, at the end, the Saudis have agreed to put together a coalition inside of Syria to stabilize that country. +p605 +aVHe must go. It will be a blow to Iran and Russia. +p606 +aVThe foreign policy, you have to know how to pick and choose. There's no way, if Saddam had not had weapons of mass destruction, I would have gone, because I don't believe that the U.S. should be involved directly in civil wars. I opposed the U.S. involvement in Lebanon. We ended up having to withdraw our marines after our barracks were blown up. There is a difference between Iraq, where you have Sunni, Shia, and Kurds put together after the First World War by the Western powers. It doesn't work. It needs to break up into three parts. And for the Russians, frankly, it's time that we punched the Russians in the nose. They've gotten away with too much in this world and we need to stand up against them, not just there, but also in Eastern Europe where they threaten some of our most precious allies. +p607 +aVIt sounds more and more what my daughter said that I said in the beginning, all the fighting and arguing is not advancing us. +p608 +aVIt is not the way we're going to strengthen our country. We will strengthen our country when we come together. And, look, you've got Rand Paul, you've got Ted Cruz, you've got Marco, you've got a lot of people on this stage that have studied these issues. You know what a leader does? A leader has a sound program, has a good policy, and then brings people together to solve problems. Guess what? Both in Congress in balancing the budget and in Ohio fixing the economy \u2014 and, by the way, we talk about the fence. The first thing we better get going is strengthening our economy, because if we don't have a strong economy, we can't pay for all of this. And the world wants us to be able to function from strength, believe it or not. Get our economy going, get these people together in a room. We can fix this, ladies and gentlemen. We don't have to fight all the time. It can be done, and we will be great... +p609 +aV... when we join together. Thank you, Hugh. +p610 +aVYou know, obviously, as president of the United States, we've got to keep the people safe. That's first and foremost. But as governor of Ohio, I have an obligation to keep the 11.5 million people in Ohio safe. And we have been very effective with our Joint Terrorism Task Force, being able to make busts. In fact, we just made one three-four weeks ago against a person who was favorable to +p611 +aVNo Republican has ever been elected president of the United States without winning Ohio. Let me give you a little tip on how you win Ohio, it's reform, it's hope, it's growth, it's opportunity, and it's security. The people of Ohio are the people of America. The people of America are reflected in Ohio. Our message has to be big, and bold, and positive, and connect, not just with people's heads but also connect with their hearts. If we do it, we will beat Hillary Clinton, and we will run the White House, and we will strengthen and fix America, I promise you. +p612 +aVFirst of all, let me just say that, in the state of Ohio \u2014 and I'm the only acting executive on \u2014 on this stage today \u2014 we do have a moderate increase in the minimum wage. And I got to tell you, my father carried mail on his back. His father was a coal miner. He died of black lung. He was losing his eyesight. My mother's mother lived with us. She could barely speak English. I come from a town where if the wind blew the wrong way, people found themselves out of work. An economic theory is fine, but you know what? People need help. Now, I have a plan that, in fact, would cut taxes, but not $11 trillion or $12 trillion that would put my children further in debt. I have a plan that would not only cut taxes, lower the income tax rate for individuals, lower the tax for businesses so businesses will compete here and not move operations overseas, and also a plan \u2014 the only plan of anybody standing on this stage to get us to a balanced budget by the end of a second term. And, you know, the simple fact of the matter is, we hear a lot of promises in this debate, a lot of promises about these tax cuts or tax schemes sometimes that I call them. Hillary and the Democrats promise everything on the spending side. We've got to be responsible about what we propose on the tax side. Yes, lower taxes, lower spending. My website, JohnKasich.com, will show you exactly how we balance the budget. I balanced the budget in Washington as a chief architect, and I have balanced it in Ohio for one reason. When you balance the budget and you cut taxes, people get work. And our most important moral purpose as leaders in the political system is to make sure we create an environment for job creation so people can live their dreams and realize their God-given potential. That's why it's so important. And for those at the bottom, we've got to do what we can to train them so they can move up. But to just look the other way is not acceptable, because, you know what, as the governor of Ohio I have to deal with real challenges, and we've gotten it done in our state, and I will do it for America. +p613 +aVSure. We would move the Medicare system from a 7 percent growth down to about a 5 percent growth. And I have a whole series of ways to do that. In Ohio, we reduced Medicaid funding for the poor from 10 percent to 2.5 percent, didn't cut one benefit or didn't take anybody off the rolls. Why? Because we're innovators. I've been an innovator my entire career. And I really don't care what special interests or lobbyists have to say. I have a job to do when I take over a public office. Now, we freeze non-defense discretionary for eight years. We also put an increase in defense spending. Our tax cuts balance out. And at the end of the day, we will get to a balanced budget. And I want everybody here to know, when I was Budget Committee chairman in Washington, I stepped on every toe in that town, and we got to a balanced budget, and we had enormous job growth. And as governor of Ohio, we went from 350,000 lost jobs to a gain of 347,000 jobs. +p614 +aVI'll do it in Washington. I've done it twice; I'll do it thrice for the United States of America. +p615 +aVExcuse me. +p616 +aVYeah, I would like to make a comment. +p617 +aVI appreciate it, Jeb. I'm all of you. But I want at some point to talk about a value-added tax and $11 trillion, $12 trillion tax cuts that will put our kids way deeper in the hole than they have been at this point. So I would like to talk about it at some point, because that's what leadership is. +p618 +aVMaria, can we comment on that? +p619 +aVCan we comment on that? +p620 +aVWell, look, in 1986 Ronald Reagan basically said the people who were here, if they were law-abiding, could stay. But, what didn't happen is we didn't build the walls effectively and we didn't control the border. We need to. We need to control our border just like people have to control who goes in and out of their house. But if people think that we are going to ship 11 million people who are law-abiding, who are in this country, and somehow pick them up at their house and ship them out of Mexico \u2014 to Mexico, think about the families. Think about the children. So, you know what the answer really is? If they have been law- abiding, they pay a penalty. They get to stay. We protect the wall. Anybody else comes over, they go back. But for the 11 million people, come on, folks. We all know you can't pick them up and ship them across, back across the border. It's a silly argument. It is not an adult argument. It makes no sense. +p621 +aVJerry, Gerald, it was an attack. +p622 +aVIn the state of Ohio, the state of Ohio, we have grown 347,000 jobs. Our unemployment is half of what it was. Our fracking industry, energy industry may have contributed 20,000, but if Mr. Trump understood that the real jobs come in the downstream, not in the upstream, but in the downstream. And that's where we're going to get our jobs. But Ohio is diversified. And little false little things, sir, they don't really work when it comes to the truth. So the fact is, all I'm suggesting, we can't ship 11 million people out of this country. Children would be terrified, and it will not work. +p623 +aV...Mr. Baker, everybody got to talk about taxes... +p624 +aV...I think you were coming to me and then... +p625 +aV...Look, I hate to crash the party to you, Mr. Baker, but, you know, what's fair... +p626 +aV...Yes, sir... +p627 +aVLet me tell you this, Mr. Baker, in terms of the cyber attacks, we have the capability to not only have a defensive posture, but it also to make it clear to people that if you attack us with cyber attacks, we will destroy the mechanisms that you are using to attack us. I want to give you a little trip around the world. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years. In the Ukraine, arm the people there so they can fight for themselves. In the eastern part of Europe, make sure that Finland and the Baltics know that if the Russians move, we move. In Syria, yes, a no-fly zone in the north on the Turkish border, a no-fly zone on the south on the Jordanian border. Anybody flies in the first time, maybe they can fly out. They fly in there a second time, they will not fly out. And it also becomes a sanctuary for the people to be. And it also sends many messages in the Middle East that we're still involved. Saudi Arabia, cut off the funding for the radical clerics, the ones that preach against us. But they're fundamentally our friends. Jordan, we want the king to reign for 1,000 years. Egypt, they have been our ally and a moderating force in the Middle East throughout their history. In the groups \u2014 in the countries of the Gulf states of Bahrain, the Cleveland Clinic is opening an operation. Clearly we see the same with them. And in Israel, we have no better ally in the world, and no more criticizing them in public, we should support them. And finally China, China doesn't own the South China Sea, and I give the president some credit for being able to move a naval force in there to let the Chinese know that we're not going to put up with it any more. And in the trade agreement, the TPP, it's critical to us, not only for economic reasons and for jobs, because there are so many people who are connected to getting jobs because of trade, but it allows us to create not only economy alliances, but also potentially strategic alliances against the Chinese. They are not our enemy, but they are certainly not our friend. And finally, I will say to everyone in this room, we have been talking about taxes and economics. When the fall comes, and we run against Hillary, which will be a disaster if she got elected. I have two 16-year-old girls, and I want this country to be strong. We make promises we can't keep under the bright light of the fall, we will have trouble. We must make sure that economic programs and our military programs are solid. I served in Washington as the chairman of the Budget Committee, and we got the budget balanced. And in Ohio, as the CEO, and guess what, we have got to have a CEO mentality and a way to beat Hillary Clinton and the Democracies in the fall. And our ideas have to add up. They have to be solid. And people have to know we have the confidence to lead America. And as president, I will lead this country, as I have before in Washington and in Ohio, and will return both on domestic and international affairs. And I appreciate the opportunity to speak this time, Gerry. +p628 +aVLet me \u2014 let me also say, Gary \u2014 Gary, let me also say, Jeb is \u2014 what Jeb is talking about with the big banks is to force them to reserve their capital, people who invest it and they hold their capital, so that if the bank goes down, the people who are invested in the bank are the ones that pay. That's what he's trying to say. Secondly, I'll tell you about Wall Street: There's too much greed. And the fact is, a free enterprise system is a system that's produced the greatest wealth for the world. But you know Michael Novak, the great Catholic theologian, says that a free enterprise system that is not underlaid with values \u2014 and we should all think about the way we conduct our lives \u2014 yes, free enterprise is great, profits are great, but there have to be some values that underlay it, and they need a good ethics lesson on Wall Street on a regular basis to keep them in check so we, the people, do not lose. +p629 +aVNeil, that's the difference of being an executive. And let me just explain: when a bank is ready to go under and depositors are getting ready to lose their life savings, you just don't say we believe in philosophical concerns. You know what an executive has to decide? When there's a water crisis, how do we get water to the city? When there's a school shooting, how do you get there and help heal a community? When there are financial crisis, or a crisis with ebola, you got to go there and try to fix it. Philosophy doesn't work when you run something. And I gotta tell you, on-the-job training for president of the United States doesn't work. We've done it for 8 years, \u2014 and almost 8 years now. It does not work. We need an executive who's been tried, has been tested, and judge the decisions that that executive makes. I don't like what the Fed is doing, but I'll tell you what worries me more than anything else: turning the Fed over to the Congress of the United States... +p630 +aV...so they can print the money. That would be a very bad approach. +p631 +aVI wouldn't. I wouldn't. +p632 +aVNo. No, I didn't say that. +p633 +aVThey were \u2014 they were talking about what you would do with depositors. Would you let these banks shut down? My argument is, going forward, the banks have to reserve the capital, so that the \u2014 so that the people who own the capital start pressuring the banks to not take these risky approaches, Ted. But at the end of the day... +p634 +aV... I'm gonna tell you this. Let me tell you this. If during \u2014 if during... +p635 +aV...because if during \u2014 well, I'll tell you what (ph). +p636 +aVAs an executive \u2014 no. As an executive, I would figure out how to separate those people who can afford it versus those people, or the hard-working folks who put those money in those institutions...... let me \u2014 no, no. Let me say another thing. Here's what I mean by that. Here's what I mean by that. +p637 +aVWhen you are faced \u2014 when you are faced, in the last financial crisis, with banks going under \u2014 with banks going under, and people, people who put their \u2014 their life savings in there, you got to deal with it. You can't turn a blind eye to it. Now, going forward, that's one thing. If you had another financial crisis, perhaps there would be an effort to make sure that we do (ph). +p638 +aVWell, ladies and gentlemen, if Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders were to win this election, my 16-year-olds, I \u2014 I worry about what their life is going to be like. You know, the conservative movement is all about opportunity. It is about lower taxes. It's about balanced budgets. It's about less regulation. And it's about sending power, money and influence back to where we live so we can run America from the bottom up. In addition to that, once we have the power and the money and the influence with programs we shift out, that each of us have a responsibility to reach out and to rebuild our families, make them stronger, and connect our neighborhoods. All that together \u2014 wealth, connection, family \u2014 America's greatest days are ahead. We must win this election. +p639 +aVGood question, but I want to tell you, my great concern is that we are on the verge, perhaps, of picking someone who cannot do this job. I've watched to see people say that we should dismantle Medicare and Medicaid and leave the senior citizens out \u2014 out in the \u2014 in the cold. I've heard them talk about deporting 10 or 11 \u2014 people here from this country out of this country, splitting families. I've heard about tax schemes that don't add up, that put our kids in \u2014 in a deeper hole than they are today. We need somebody who can lead. We need somebody who can balance budgets, cut taxes... +p640 +aVYou know, frankly, I did it in Washington, in Ohio, and I will do it again in Washington, if I'm president, to get this country moving again. +p641 +aVcountry moving again. +p642 +aVListen, I want to just comment. +p643 +aVWell I want to comment on this. This is the fantasy... +p644 +aVThis is the fantasy that I talked about in the beginning. +p645 +aVI'm the only person on this stage that actually was involved in the chief architect of balancing the Federal Budget. You can't do it with empty promised. You know, these plans would put us trillions and trillions of dollars in debt. I actually have a plan. I'm the only one on this stage that has a plan that would create jobs, cut taxes, balance the budget and can get it done because I'm realistic. You just don't make promises like this. Why don't we just give a chicken in every pot, while we're, you know, coming up \u2014 coming up with these fantasy tax schemes. We'll just clean it up. Where are you gonna clean it up? You have to deal with entitlements, you have to be in a position to control discretionary spending. You gotta be creative and imaginative. Now, let me just be clear, John. I went into Ohio where we had an $8 billion hole and now we have a $2 billion surplus. We're up 347,000 jobs. When I was in Washington, I fought to get the budget balanced. I was the architect. It was the first time we did it since man walked on the moon. We cut taxes and we had a $5 trillion projected surplus when I left. That's was hard work. Fiscal discipline, know what you're doing. Creativity. This stuff is fantasy. Just like getting rid of Medicare and Medicaid. Come on, that's just not \u2014 you scare senior citizens with that. It's not responsible. +p646 +aVWell, I mean right here. To talk about we're just gonna have a 10 percent tithe and that's how we're gonna fund the government? And we're going to just fix everything with waste, fraud, and abuse? Or that we're just going to be great? Or we're going to ship 10 million Americans \u2014 or 10 million people out of this country, leaving their children here in this country and dividing families? Folks, we've got to wake up. We cannot elect somebody that doesn't know how to do the job. You have got to pick somebody who has experience, somebody that has the know-how, the discipline. And I spent my entire lifetime balancing federal budgets, growing jobs, the same in Ohio. And I will go back to Washington with my plan. +p647 +aVAnd I will have done it within 100 days, and it will pass. And we will be strong again. Thank you. +p648 +aVLet me just \u2014 let me respond. First of all, Ohio does have an energy industry, but we're diversified. We're one of the fastest growing states in the country. We came back from the dead. And you know what? It works very, very well. And secondly, when you talk about me being on the board of Lehman Brothers, I wasn't on the board of Lehman Brothers. I was a banker and I was proud of it. And I traveled the country and learned how people made jobs. We ought to have politicians who not only have government experience but know how the CEOs and the job creators work. My state is doing great across the board. And guess what, in 2011, I got a deal... +p649 +aV... an agreement with the... +p650 +aV... that he tried to take credit for four years later. It's a joke. +p651 +aVJohn Harwood, there's a bigger issue here. +p652 +aVWell, first of all, when we talk about the Import Export Bank, it's time to clean up corporate welfare. If we're gonna reform welfare for poor people, we ought to reform it for rich people, as well. Secondly, in our state, we went from a loss of 350,000 jobs to, now, a gain of 347,000 jobs to the positive. Our wages are growing faster than the national average, and I've cut taxes more than any sitting governor in this state \u2014 $5 billion, including no taxes on small business and killing the death tax. I want to go back to what we were talking about earlier, this budget deal in Washington. This is the same old stuff since I left. You spend the money today and then you hope you're going to save money tomorrow. I don't know if people understand, but I spent a lifetime with my colleagues getting us to a federal balanced budget. We actually did it. And I have a road map and a plan right now to get us to balance. Reforming entitlements, cutting taxes. You see, because if you really want to get to a balanced budget, you need to reduce your expenses and you need to grow your economy. So what I will tell you about our incentives \u2014 our incentives are tight, and at the end of the day we make sure that we gain more from the creation of jobs than what we lose. And you know what? Ohio, one of the best growing places in the country \u2014 I not only did it in Washington, I did it in Ohio, and I'll go back to Washington, and there will be no more silly deals... +p653 +aV... If I become President because we'll have a Constitutional Amendment to require a federally balanced budget so they will do their job. +p654 +aVWell, first of all, we're running a $2 billion dollar surplus, we're not having a revenue problem right now. And, sending mixed signals to kids about drugs is a disaster. Drugs is one of the greatest scourge in this country, and I spent five years of my administration working with my team to do a whole sort of things to try to reign in the problem of overdoses, and it goes on and on. We could do a whole show on that. I want to go back for a second thought on this issue of income inequality. My program would move the 104 programs of the federal Department of Education into four block grants, and send them back to the states because income inequality is driven by a lack of skills when kids don't get what they need to be able to compete and win in this country. The fact is, in order to get this economy moving again, I call for freezing regulations for a year except for the problem of public safety. I believe that we need to cut these taxes down, we need to be on a roadmap to balancing the budget, and we need to send power, money, and influence, the welfare department, the education department, job training, infrastructure, Medicaid, all of that out of Washington back to the states so we can run these programs from where we live to the top, not a one size fits all mentality that they have in Washington. And, that will get to the nub of opportunity for our children, and an ability to see wages rise. Again... +p655 +aV...One more time, in Ohio, our wages are growing faster than the national average. We've cut taxes, balanced budgets, changed the regulatory environment. Folks, you want to \u2014 +p656 +aV\u2014 fix America, this is the formula. It worked for Reagan and it works for our team in Ohio. Thank you. +p657 +aVJohn. +p658 +aVI wanna tell you, in my state, we took Medicaid, the hardest program to control, and we took it from a 10 percent growth rate to 2.5 percent without taking one person off the rolls or cutting one single benefit. And so much of what we did \u2014 to force competition, to use technology, to stand down the special interest groups \u2014 can you imagine taking Medicaid from 10 to 2.5 percent? We can take many of those same procedures, we can apply it to Medicare. We can make a stronger program. But I agree with Jeb, you can't just do this by growing the economy. You can't grow your way out of demographics. But we can give people better health care. And finally, on health care, why don't we start treating \u2014 keep giving... +p659 +aV...incentives for people to keep people healthy, rather than giving the incentives to treat them when they're sick? +p660 +aVI was on morning Joe at a town hall and a young student stood up and said, "Can I still be idealistic?" I said, absolutely, you can still change the world. And, you know the old inscription, if you save one life, you've changed the world. Folks, we have a problem here with the leadership in Washington, but I'll tell you another problem. We need to rebuild our families. We need to have stronger families. We need to know who our neighbors are. We need to come together as a country because we have to realize that America is great, not from the top-down. Oh yeah, we want to elect a good president, but America is great from the bottom-up, and the bottom-up is us in our families, in our communities, in our neighborhoods. We will renew America if we work together, and I am totally confident that we will. And God bless America. +p661 +aVHello, I'm John Kasich, the Governor of Ohio. Emma, and Reese, my children, and Karen, love 'ya girls. Thanks for watching tonight. By the way, I think I actually flew on this plane with Ronald Reagan when I was a congressman, and his goals, and mine, really much \u2014 are pretty much the same. Lift Americans, unify, give hope, grow America, and restore it is to that great, shining city on a hill. Yes, he was a great one, and I learned much from watching him. The most important thing, hope to Americans, unify, lift everyone in America. +p662 +aVJake, Jake. +p663 +aVListen, you know, I \u2014 if I were sitting at home and watch thing back and forth, I would be inclined to turn it off. I mean, people at home want to know across this country, they want to know what we're going to do to fix this place, how we'll balance a budget, how we're going to create more economic growth, how we'll pay down the debt. What we're going to do to strengthen the military. So, we just spent 10 minutes here... +p664 +aVBut \u2014 but wait a minute. It's a lot of ad hogshead. Now, I know that it may be buzzing out there, but I think it's important we get to the issues, because that's what people want, and they don't want all this fighting. +p665 +aV...Yeah, well... +p666 +aVWell, let me just say this. First of all, I think it's a bad agreement, I would never have done it. But, you know, a lot of our problems in the world today is that we don't have the relationship with our allies. If we want to go everywhere alone, we will not have the strength as (ph) if we could rebuild with our allies. Now, this agreement, we don't know what's going to happen in 18 months. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years. I've seen lots of issues in foreign affairs, and foreign \u2014 in terms of global politics, you have to be steady. Now, here's the \u2014 if they cheat, we slap the sanctions back on. If they help Hamas, and Hezbollah, we slap the sanctions back on. And, if we find out that they may be developing a nuclear weapon, than the military option is on the table. We are stronger when we work with the Western civilization, our friends in Europe, and just doing it on our own I don't think is the right policy. +p667 +aVNo, no, no. I want to \u2014 I want to \u2014 I want to say something about what the senator just said. +p668 +aVNo one is \u2014 no \u2014 let me \u2014 let me suggest to you we believe that we operate better in the world when our allies work with us. President Bush did it in the Gulf War. We work better when we are unified. Secondly, nobody's trusting Iran. They violate the deal, we put on the sanctions, and we have the high moral ground to talk to our allies in Europe to get them to go with us. If they don't go with us, we slap the sanctions on anyway. If they fund these radical groups that threaten Israel and all of the West, then we should rip up the deal and put the sanctions back on. And let me make it clear \u2014 let me make it clear... +p669 +aV... if we think \u2014 if we think they're getting close to a \u2014 to developing a nuclear weapon and we get that information, you better believe that I would do everything in my power as the commander-in-chief to stop them having a nuclear weapon. +p670 +aVWe can have it, and we can have our allies, and we can be strong as a country, and we can project across this globe with unity, not just doing it alone. That is not what gets us where we want to get as a nation. +p671 +aVWell, I agree that we should defund Planned Parenthood. I don't know many people in America who don't think that we should, and in my state, we're trying to figure out how to get it done, because we are threatened with the federal government taking all of our Medicaid money away. I think there is a way to get this done by giving governors the ability to be able to act to defund Planned Parenthood. But when (ph) it comes to closing down the federal government, you gotta be very careful about that. When we shut the government down \u2014 if we have a chance at success and it's a great principle, yes. The president of the United States is not going to sign this, and all we're gonna do is shut the government down, and then we're gonna open up \u2014 open it up, and the American people are gonna shake their heads and say, "what's the story with these Republicans?" So I think there is a way to get to cutting off the funding for Planned Parenthood. I was in the Congress for 18 years, balanced the budget, cut taxes, got it done. Changed welfare, went around the president to get welfare reform done. There are ways to do it without having to shut the government down, but I'm sympathetic to the fact that we don't want this organization to get funding, and the money ought to be reprogrammed for family planning in other organizations that don't support this tactic. But I would not be for shutting the government down... +p672 +aV...because I don't think it's going to work out. +p673 +aVWe're not \u2014 what I can tell you is this. We didn't surrender in New Jersey, six years ago, as the brand new first ever pro-life governor of New Jersey since Roe versus Wade, I defended Planned Parenthood. And I've vetoed Planned Parenthood funding, now, eight times in New Jersey. Since the day I walked in as governor, Planned Parenthood has not been funded in New Jersey. We stood up and every one of those vetoes has been sustained. But here's the problem, we're \u2014 we're fighting with each other up here. We agree. Let's ask Hillary Clinton. She believes in the systematic murder of children in the womb to preserve their body parts... +p674 +aV...Dana, in a way that maximizes their value for sale for profit. It is disgusting, and the American people need to hear it... +p675 +aV...we shouldn't be fighting with each other. She's the real opponent, she's the real problem. +p676 +aVI'll tell you what \u2014 I'll tell you what I'd be willing to fight for. I'll tell you what I'd be willing to fight for. Why will (ph) we put tax reform on the president's desk, so we can simplify this tax system? +p677 +aVNo, no, it's really important, Dana. We got to talk about what we would be willing to shut down for. Why don't we put tax reform on this president's desk, and make him veto it if that's what he wants to do? Why haven't we repealed and replaced Obamacare? Make him veto if that's what he wants to do. +p678 +aVThere's a \u2014 +p679 +aVJake \u2014 +p680 +aVOK, Jake. +p681 +aVI don't at this point in terms of changing the incentives for investment and risk-taking. But let's just stop for a second. There's one person on this stage that does have a record. I'm the only person on the stage and one of the few people in this country that led the effort as the chief architect of the last time we balanced the federal budget. We also cut taxes. And when I left Washington in 2000, we had a $5 trillion surplus, and the economy was booming. I had spent 10 years of my life to get us to that point, went out in the private sector, was a great experience, and went into Ohio and took an $8 billion hole and turned it into a $2 billion surplus. We've had the largest amount of tax cuts of any sitting governor. We've grown well over 300,000 jobs. You see, I've done it in both places. I'm the only one here that has done it in both places. It took a lot to get us to a balanced budget. It was legitimate. It was real. And we negotiated it. A lot of what we're talking about here tonight as we take this position and that position, you know what? At the end of the day, America has got to work. We've got to figure out how we come together to deal with this \u2014 with our fiscal problems because when we deal with that, we create a stronger economy for everybody. People have a chance to rise. So, you know, when we think about how we make a choice, it's the person that lands that plane. It's not somebody that talks about it. It's about the person who has done it. And I've done it in... +p682 +aV... both places. And I did it including people in the other party. And that's how we were successful. +p683 +aVAnd that's how I will be president, using that experience to drive this country forward. Thank you. +p684 +aVWell, look, people still have to get to know me, so I want to spend my time talking about my experience reforming welfare, balancing budgets, cutting taxes, providing economic growth when I was in Washington, turning Ohio around. Eight billion in the hole, $2 billion surplus, up over 300,000 jobs, big tax cuts, strengthening our credit. All those things matter but, you know, as a young man in my first election in 1978, I defeated an incumbent Democrat. I defeated an incumbent Democrat in 1982; running on the Reagan program, I was the only Republican in America to defeat an incumbent Democrat that year. And then, when I won for election of governor, I was the first Republican to defeat an incumbent in 36 years, and the first person to have never run statewide out of politics for 10 years to beat an incumbent. That hadn't happened for 96 years. So, we'll get to the point where we'll talk about Hillary Clinton, or whoever the nominee is, record. But right now, I want to give people sense of hope, sense of purpose, a sense of unity, sense that we can do it. So... +p685 +aVYou know, at the end of the day, I'm going to continue to talk about my record, because there is, did you ever notice when people run for office, they run for president, they make a lot of promises, they don't keep them. +p686 +aVI don't intend to do that, and I going to be out there pushing it out \u2014 don't worry about me and Hillary. That will all work out, and I'm from Ohio. She will not beat me there, I can promise you that. +p687 +aVCan I just \u2014 can I \u2014 Jake, can I just make one point on this whole military discussion? +p688 +aVI called for boots on the ground many months ago in a coalition with our friends who share our interest. You know, you win a battle with the military, and when we go somewhere, we need to be mobile, and lethal. We need to take care of business, and we need to come home. But, we face, also, a bigger war \u2014 and you win the bigger war with the battle of ideas. You wonder why young people, and educated people, rich people, schooled people, have tried to join +p689 +aV...to make (ph) centers (ph) of justice so that we can battle the radicals, call them out for what they are, and make sure that all of our people feel fulfilled in living in Western civilization... +p690 +aV...This is a giant battle in the world today... +p691 +aVWell, it's probably not, maybe, legal, but, I would pick Mother Theresa, the lady that I had a chance to meet, a woman who lived a life so much bigger than her own. An inspiration to everyone when we think about our responsibility to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. +p692 +aVWell, I have one now \u2014 they (ph) call me, "Unit One". My wife says, "You'll never be Unite One, I'm Unite One. You're Unit Two." +p693 +aVWell, as president, I will make this a nation that will solve problems. And how? By having the elected officials and the leaders realize they're Americans before they're Republicans or Democrats. I did it in Washington. And I've done it in Ohio by having the elected officials realize that they're Ohioans before anything else. Secondly, I will rebuild the relationships and show the respect to our allies around the world. We have no choice but to do that. We will be stronger when we are unified. And we'll fight for freedom and for human rights. And finally, a little bit of what Carly said. The people that are out there listening, America was never great because we ran America from the top down. America is great because we have run America from the bottom up, where we all live in the neighborhoods. One more time in America, we need to revive the concept of citizenship, where everybody's actions make a huge difference in changing the world. We have a Holocaust memorial on our state house grounds. And there is one line on there that stands out all the time. "If you've saved one life, you've changed the world." We need to adopt that as citizens and rebuild and reinspire our country. Thank you. +p694 +aVWell, first of all... ...first of all, Megyn, you should know that -- that President Reagan expanded Medicaid three or four times. Secondly, I had an opportunity to bring resources back to Ohio to do what? To treat the mentally ill. Ten thousand of them sit in our prisons. It costs $22,500 a year... ...to keep them in prison. I'd rather get them their medication so they could lead a decent life. Secondly, we are rehabbing the drug-addicted. Eighty percent of the people in our prisons have addictions or problems. We now treat them in the prisons, release them in the community and the recidivism rate is 10 percent and everybody across this country knows that the tsunami of drugs is -- is threatening their very families. So we're treating them and getting them on their feet. And, finally, the working poor, instead of them having come into the emergency rooms where it costs more, where they're sicker and we end up paying, we brought a program in here to make sure that people could get on their feet. And do you know what? Everybody has a right to their God-given purpose. And finally, our Medicaid is growing at one of the lowest rates in the country. And, finally, we went from $8 billion in the hole to $2 billion in the black. We've cut $5 billion in taxes... ...and we've grown 350,000 jobs. +p695 +aVChris, first of all, I was just saying to Chris Christie, they say we're outspoken, we need to take lessons from Donald Trump if we're really going to learn it. Here is the thing about Donald Trump. Donald Trump is hitting a nerve in this country. He is. He's hitting a nerve. People are frustrated. They're fed up. They don't think the government is working for them. And for people who want to just tune him out, they're making a mistake. Now, he's got his solutions. Some of us have other solutions. You know, look, I balanced the federal budget as one of the chief architects when I was in Washington. Hasn't been done since. I was a military reformer. I took the state of Ohio from an $8 billion hole and a 350,000 job loss to a $2 billion surplus and a gain of 350,000 jobs. +p696 +aVBut the point is that we all have solutions. Mr. Trump is touching a nerve because people want the wall to be built. They want to see an end to illegal immigration. They want to see it, and we all do. But we all have different ways of getting there. And you're going to hear from all of us tonight about what our ideas are. +p697 +aVDonald, if you... +p698 +aV-- this campaign, I hope you will give to me. +p699 +aVOK. +p700 +aVLet's start off with my father being a mailman. So I understand the concerns of all the folks across this country, some of whom have trouble, you know, making ends meet. But I think she will come in a narrow way. The nominee of this party, if they're going to win, has got to come at it in a big way, which is pro-growth. Which is balancing budgets. You know, we were talking about it. People were saying, could we do it? I was the chairman of the Budget Committee and the lead architect the last time it happened in Washington, and when we did it we had great economic growth, we cut taxes, and we had a big surplus. Economic growth is the key. Economic growth is the key to everything. But once you have economic growth, it is important that we reach out to people who live in the shadows, the people who don't seem to ever think that they get a fair deal. And that includes people in our minority community; that includes people who feel as though they don't have a chance to move up. You know, America is a miracle country. And we have to restore the sense that the "Amiracle" will apply to you. Each and every one of the people in this country who's watching tonight, lift everybody, unite everybody and build a stronger United States of America again. It will be and can be done. +p701 +aVWell, look, I'm an old-fashioned person here, and I happen to believe in traditional marriage. But I've also said the court has ruled -- +p702 +aVWait, Megyn, the court has ruled, and I said we'll accept it. And guess what, I just went to a wedding of a friend of mine who happens to be gay. Because somebody doesn't think the way I do, doesn't mean that I can't care about them or can't love them. So if one of my daughters happened to be that, of course I would love them and I would accept them. Because you know what? That's what we're taught when we have strong faith. So the issues like that, issues like that are planted to divide us. I think the simple fact of the matter is, and this is where I would agree with Jeb, and I've been saying it all along, we need to give everybody a chance, treat everybody with respect, and let them share in this great American dream that we have, Megan. So, look, I'm going to love my daughters, I'm going to love them no matter what they do. Because, you know what, God gives me unconditional love. I'm going to give it to my family and my friends and the people around me. +p703 +aVWell, Megyn, my father was a mailman. His father was a coal miner. My mother's mother could barely speak English. And their son today stands on this podium in the great state of Ohio not only as the governor, but a candidate for president of the United States. I do believe in miracles. You know, I've had a lot of elections. But my elections are really not about campaigns. I tell my people that these are about a movement. And a movement to do what? To restore common sense. A movement to do things like provide economic growth. And a movement not to let anybody be behind. You know, today the country is divided. You asked a question about the police and the difficulty in communities. We've got to unite our country again, because we're stronger when we are united and we are weaker when we are divided. And we've got to listen to other people's voices, respect them, but keep in mind, and I believe in terms of the things that I've read in my lifetime, the Lord'is not picking us. But because of how we respect human rights, because that we are a good force in the world, he wants America to be strong. He wants America to succeed. And he wants America to lead. And nothing is more important to me than my family, my faith, and my friends. +p704 +aVYou know, tonight we hear about what people want to do. I want to tell you what I've done. I was a member of the Armed Services Committee for 18 years. I spent a big chunk of my life studying national security issues and our role in the world. No. 2. I was the chairman of the House Budget Committee and one of the chief architects the last time we balanced a budget, and it was the first time we had done it since man walked on the moon. We had a $5 trillion surplus and we cut taxes. I spent ten years in the private sector, actually learning how business works. And now I'm the governor of Ohio, and I inherited a state that was on the brink of dying. And we turned it all around with jobs and balanced budgets and rising credit and tax cuts, and the state is unified, and people have hope again in Ohio. +p705 +aVWell, John, first of all, if I were president, we wouldn't have the divisions in the country we have today. I do want to take a second as we reflected on Judge Scalia, it's amazing \u2014 it's not even two minutes after the death of Judge Scalia, nine children here today, their father didn't wake up. His wife, sad, but I just wish we hadn't run so fast into politics. Here's my concern about this. The country is so divided right now, and now we're going to see another partisan fight take place. I really wish the president would think about not nominating somebody. If you were to nominate somebody, let's have him pick somebody that's going to have unanimous approval, and such widespread approval across the country that this could happen without a lot of recrimination. I don't think that's going to happen, and I would like the president just to, for once here, put the country first. We're going to have an election for president very soon, and the people will understand what is at stake in that election. And so I believe the president should not move forward, and I think that we ought to let the next president of the United States decide who is going to run that Supreme Court with a vote by the people of the United......States of America. +p706 +aVFirst of all \u2014 yes. First of all, look, we have to make it clear to Russia what we expect. We don't have to declare an enemy, rattle a sword or threaten, but we need to make it clear what we expect. No. 1 is we will arm the folks in Ukraine who are fighting for their freedom. They deserve it. There will be no ifs, ands or buts about it. Secondly, an attack on +p707 +aVI've got to tell you, this is just crazy, huh? This is just nuts, O.K.? Jeez, oh, man. I'm sorry, John. +p708 +aVOh, well, listen, I think being in Iraq, look, we thought there were weapons of mass destruction. Colin Powell, who is one of the most distinguished generals in modern time, said there were weapons there. But, but, the fact is we got ourselves in the middle of a civil war. The Sunni, the Shia and the Kurds, never gotten along. In fact, that country was drawn \u2014 the borders of that country were drawn after World War I by Westerners that didn't understand what was happening there. The tragedy of it is that we're still embroiled. And, frankly, if there weren't weapons of mass destruction, we should never have gone. I don't believe the United States should involve itself in civil wars. Civil wars are not in our direct interest, and if you \u2014 and look, I served on a defense committee for 18 years and was called into the Pentagon after 9/11 by Secretary Rumsfeld to deal with some of the most serious problems that we faced. The fact is, is that we should go to war when it is our direct interest. We should not be policemen of the world, but when we go, we mean business. We'll do our job. We'll tell our soldiers, our people in the service, take care of your job and then come home once we've accomplished our goals. That's what we need to do. +p709 +aVYeah. Well, first of all, those numbers, incorrect. We are \u2014 our Medicaid programs are coming in below cost estimates, and our Medicaid program in the second year grew at 2.5 percent. And Kimberley, let me tell you, when we expand Medicaid and we treat the mentally ill, then they don't live under a bridge or live in a prison, where they cost $22,500 a year. When we take the drug addicted and we treat them in the prisons, we stop the revolving door of people in and out of prisons, and we save $22,500 a year. Guess what else? They get their lives back. And the working poor, they're now getting health care. And you know that about a third of the people who are now getting that health care are people who are suffering very serious illnesses, particularly cancer. So, what I would tell you is, we've gone from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. We've cut taxes by more than any governor in America by $5 billion. We have grown the number of jobs by 400,000 private-sector jobs since I've been governor. Our credit is strong. Our pensions are strong. And frankly, we leave no one behind. Economic growth is not an end unto itself. We want everyone to rise, and we will make them personally responsible for the help that they get. And that is exactly the program we're driving in Ohio. And, boy, people ought to look at Ohio, because it has got a good formula. +p710 +aVYeah, let me say a couple of things. First of all, when Jeb was governor, his first four years as governor, he expand \u2014 his Medicaid program grew twice as fast as mine. O.K.? It's just a fact. Now, with Obamacare, I've not only sued the administration, I did not set up an exchange. And he knows that I'm not for Obamacare, never have been. But here's what's interesting about Medicaid. You know who expanded Medicaid five times to try to help the folks and give them opportunity so that you could rise and get a job? President Ronald Reagan. Now, the fact of the matter is, we expanded to get people on their feet, and once they're on their feet, we are giving them the training and the efforts that they need to be able to get work and pull out of that situation. +p711 +aVThat's what we're doing in our state. +p712 +aVLet me \u2014 let's tell you... +p713 +aVMajor \u2014 Major, we can't \u2014 we've got to \u2014 look, I have got to correct the record. And the fact of the matter is, we went from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. We're up 400,000 jobs. Our credit is rock solid. And I don't know... +p714 +aVLook, the bottom line is the people of this \u2014 of this country and this state want to see everybody rise, and they want to see unity, and I don't want to get into all this fighting tonight, because people are frankly sick of the negative campaigning. +p715 +aVAnd I'm going to stay positive about what I want to do from the... +p716 +aVBefore I get to that, this is the ninth or 10th debate. What I've been watching here, this back and forth, and these attacks, some of them are personal. I think we're fixing to lose the election to Hillary Clinton if we don't stop this. I mean, the fact is \u2014 you know what? I would suggest, why don't we take off all the negative ads and all the negative comments down from television and let us just talk about what we're for, and let's sell that, and the Republican Party will be stronger as a result... +p717 +aV... First of all, I'm for sealing the border, O.K.? And then I'm for a guest worker program. People can come in, work and go back home. We haven't closed the border because special interests, I believe, blocked it. Then, we have 11 and a half million people here. If they have not committed a crime since they've been here, make them pay a fine and some back taxes, and give them a path to legalization, never to citizenship. It is not going to happen that we're going to run around and try to drag 11 and a half million people out of their homes. I'll tell you this. Within the first hundred days, I will send a plan like this to the Congress of the United States, and if I'm president, I'll bet you dollar to doughnuts right now, it will pass. That is a reasonable proposal that the people of this country, in my judgment, will support, and so will the bulk of the Congress of the United States. +p718 +aVYou know, John, I think all people are the same. Look, I did 106 town halls, and I've been doing them left and right here in South Carolina. The first thing we have to do is grow the economy, and I know the formula because I was chairman in Washington when we balanced the budget and created so many jobs, and the same that we've been able to do in Ohio. You need common-sense regulations so small business can flourish, you need lower taxes both on business and individuals, and you need a fiscal plan to be able to get ourselves in a situation where people can predict a little bit about the future when it comes to the fiscal issues. And when you have that formula, combined with work force that's trained, you can explode the economy and create many jobs. I have done it twice, and I want to go back to Washington and do it again. John, the thing is, is I think that there are people now, these blue-collar Democrats \u2014 my dad was a blue-collar Democrat \u2014 the Democratic Party has left them. When they're arguing about being socialists, they've left \u2014 they have lost those blue-collar Democrats. And you know what I think they get out of me \u2014 is my sense of what they get out of me, and it's embarrassment about campaigns, you brag about yourself. But I think I'm a uniter, I think people sense it. I think they know I have the experience, and that I'm a man that can give people hope and a sense that they have the opportunity rise. And I'll tell you, I love these blue-collar Democrats, because they're going to vote for us come next fall, promise you that. +p719 +aVWell, I want to thank the people of South Carolina. You've been fantastic. And look, what I want you to know is I'm going to send a lot of power, money and influence back to where we all live. But as I've traveled around South Carolina, I've noticed something. You know, it's that people have a sense that you're not going to wait on a president. You know, when I was a kid, we didn't wait on presidents to come to that little blue-collar town and fix things. You know, the Lord made all of us special. The Lord wants us to be connected. I believe we're part of a very big mosaic. And I'll send the power back. And whoever gets elected president here, hopefully will take care of the issue of jobs and wages and Social Security and the border. But the spirit of the America rests in all of us. It's in our guts. It's taking care of our children. It's taking care of the lady next door who just lost her husband. It's fixing the schools where we live and telling kids to stay off drugs. You see, I think what the Lord wants is for to us engage, and in America, the spirit of America doesn't come from the top down. The spirit of America rests in us. And I want to call on everyone in America to double down and realize that you were made special to heal this country and lift it for everyone. Thank you all very much. And I hope I can have your vote in South Carolina. +p720 +aVWell, we've got to to step up the pressure. And by the way, I've gotta say, after being here, every one of my 100 town hall meetings in New Hampshire were a lot more fun than what I saw here today, were so much more positive. Look, in terms of North Korea, Martha, we have to make sure that we intercept both the ships and their aircraft, because what they're trying to do is to proliferate this very dangerous material, along with the \u2014 with the technology, the instruments that can be used for mass destruction. That's what I worry about the most, frankly, is non-state actors, people who don't have a uniform, people don't have a country, who can spread this, who are not subject to the \u2014 to the mutual assured defense. In other words, you strike us, we strike you. Some of these radicals, they don't care about that. That's what I worry about, for my children, and for their children, going forward. So, we have to be very tough. And we should tell the Chinese, look, if you're not going to do this ballistic missile defense to the Koreans, ballistic missile defense to Japan \u2014 and by the way, we should impose the same kind of sanctions on North Korea that we imposed on Iran, because they're able to shift money. They're able to send money and receive money. We've gotta to be very tough on this. And frankly, I think we could have \u2014 I think we could have let the Japanese know that if you want to take action on that \u2014 on that missile that's rising, you want to take action \u2014 you will have our support, if that's what you think is the best thing to do. We cannot continue to be weak in the face of the North Koreans, or, frankly, in the entire rest of the world. Martha, this is \u2014 this is the \u2014 relates... +p721 +aVWell, you know, David, I \u2014 I've just spent a lot of time here in this state, as I mentioned earlier, and we have to have practical solutions, just like we were just talking about a few minutes ago on North Korea. Look, the situation is, we need to finish the border. It has to be completed. Just like we lock our doors at night, the country has to be able to lock its doors. And we can have a guest worker program, where people can come in and out in an orderly way. And then for the 11.5 million that are here, if they have not committed a crime since they've been here, I believe they ought to pay some back taxes, pay a fine, never get on the path to citizenship, but get legalization. It is not \u2014 I couldn't even imagine how we would even begin to think about taking a mom or a dad out of a house when they have not committed a crime since they've been here, leaving their children in the house. I mean, that is not, in my opinion, the kind of values that we believe in. And secondly, I think at the end of the day, that Americans would support a plan like this. I think Congress would pass a plan to finish the border, guest worker, pay a fine, a path to legalization, and not citizenship. And we've got to get this done. And I will tell you this, within the first 100 days that I am president, I will put that proposal to the Congress. And I will tell you, as a former Congressman, and an executive, in Ohio, I can promise you that I believe you'll get the votes to pass that, and we can move on with that issue and protect our border. That's what I think. +p722 +aVGood evening. +p723 +aVWell, first of all, look. As the New York Times said, he's certainly not a moderate, but he can bring people together to solve problems. The fact of the matter is I've cut taxes more than anybody in the country this year. I have balanced budgets, the federal budget, the state of Ohio budget, we're running a $2 billion dollar surplus, we're up 400,000 jobs, and in Washington we were able to have significant job growth whenever we balanced the budget of which I was the architect. But, here's the beauty of it, it's not just balancing a budget, it's about jobs. You know, when I was kid growing up in a neighborhood where Dad went home at night and said, "I lost my job today", it just killed the family. It just was a devastating effect. We have to have economic growth, but once we have economic growth I believe we have to reach out to people who live in the shadows. I believe we need to help the mentally ill, the drug addicted, the working poor. We need to help the developmentally disabled to rise, and we need to help our friends in the minority community develop entrepreneurship. In other words, in American, conservatism should mean not only that some rise with conservative principles, but everybody has a chance to rise regardless of who they are so they can live their God given purpose. That's what conservatism should be. +p724 +aVDavid? +p725 +aVLook, I'm \u2014 I'm not here \u2014 I like Chris. +p726 +aVLet \u2014 but let me \u2014 let me just tell you. First of all, we have the lowest number of state employees in 30 years. Secondly, we have grown government at the rate of inflation. And I went from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. And we've grown jobs by 400,000 \u2014 that's one of the fastest growing states in the country. Our pensions are secure and our credit is rock solid. Now, I've learned that, what makes things work, what gets the economy going, not just in Ohio, but in Washington \u2014 and it's three things. Common sense regulations, which we have, lower taxes, which we have, the lowest taxes, tax cuts in the country. And thirdly, a fiscal plan to balance the budget. When you go from $8 billion in the hole to $2 billion in the black, when you cut taxes by $5 billion and you grow over 400,000 jobs, that is a record that I can take to Washington, using the same formula that I used in Washington when I was part of the effort to balance the budget to give us a surplus and to create jobs. +p727 +aVThat's what I did and I'll do it again in the first 100 days. +p728 +aVWell, right now the deals \u2014 there's no leadership. I mean, a lot of the things that we're talking about here tonight, on the border, and so many of the things. What we should be doing on foreign policy, you know what the problem is, Mary Katharine? There's not a leader that gets somebody to rise up. You have to have a leader that can inspire, and actually some of what Donald was saying is true. Look, do you know how hard it was... +p729 +aV... to get the balance the federal budget balanced? You have to plead with people. To do what we've done in Ohio, you have to plead with people, then you go back down to Washington and do the same thing. You see, we have to remind people we're Americans before we're Republicans and Democrats, and when we wait, and when we delay what we end up doing, Mary Katharine, is we make the United States weaker. In fact, it's a foreign policy issue because people look at America not solving problems and they say what are they doing over there? So the point is you have to work with people. The problem with executive authority for the president, it's really bad news for this reason. Since he's given up on working with Congress, he thinks he can impose anything he wants. He's not a king. He's a president. An executive order should be used frankly in consolidation and with consulting with the leadership in the \u2014 in the Congress. I've done it in Ohio. I consult. I could use executive orders, but I don't trump the legislature, because if you do, you aggravate them, you anger them and then the long-term prospects get bleak. We have to solve problems in America by coming together, Republicans and Democrats, Americans first, party and ideology second \u2014 in the second back seat of this country. That's what we need to do. And we can do it. And we can do it. +p730 +aVMary Katherine, let me just say this to you. You must have an agenda that you are ready to move on in the first 100 days. Jeb is right. If you delay and you wait, the Washington operators will take you down. I can tell you this, in the first 100 days, I will have legislation to freeze federal regulations, have them reviewed by the vice president, reduce state taxes on individuals, reduce taxes on corporations, have a fiscal plan to balance the budget, get the border protected and begin to fix Social Security in the first 100 days. So, anybody who is here tonight, if I get elected president, head out tomorrow and buy a seat belt, because there's going to be so much happening in the first 100 days, it's going to make your head spin. We're going to move America forward. I promise you. We're going to move us forward. +p731 +aVJeb mentioned me. Time for me to go again. +p732 +aVHe says he didn't mention me the second time. I thought I heard it, Jeb. No. I'm just kidding. Thank you all very much for listening and being patient with all of us tonight. Thank you. +p733 +aVDavid, David... +p734 +aVI wanted \u2014 I wanted to say, look, this \u2014 there can be a win-win here. I have formed a collaborative between police and community leaders because people have to respect law enforcement. A family doesn't want dad or mom going home in a box. And for our community leaders, many of them think the system not only works \u2014 not only doesn't work for them, but it works against them. And I created a big collaborative in Ohio made up of law enforcement, community leaders, the head of my public safety and a former Democrat, liberal Senate senator Nina Turner, run it. They got together, they made recommendations on recruiting, on hiring, on the use of deadly force and what we're about to do is to bring community and police together so we can have a win-win. We need more win-wins in America and we don't have to pick one over another divide. We love the police, but we've got to be responsible to the people in the community. We have to do all of that. +p735 +aVJosh? +p736 +aVJosh, I mean, clearly, when a veteran comes home, they should get health care anywhere they want to go. In our state, which is what we should do in the country, you know, if they drive a truck from Kabul to Kandahar in Afghanistan, we say, you can drive a truck from Columbus to Cleveland, and you don't have to go get a license. We're going to hand you one. And if you've got expertise in the military, we're going to give you college credit or community college credit for the things that you did for our country. And in addition to that, I'll tell you, one of the biggest things I think has to be done \u2014 and I would do it as president \u2014 the Pentagon has got to work with the returning soldier, sailor, along with the family, and we \u2014 they're the most valuable employees in the country. I call them golden employees. Everybody wants to hire a veteran. But there is a disconnect between the job openings and the veteran when the veteran comes back. The veteran is a leader. The veteran is strong. The veteran is drug free. There should be no unemployment among veterans. And if the Pentagon will work with the veterans' services agencies all across this country, Josh, we can get people jobs and we can get them jobs quickly, get them their health care......get them their college education. Let's lift them. They're the greatest people defending the United States of America and we need to take care of them, and we will. We will. +p737 +aVCarolina's going to win that one. I hate to say it. But they're going to win that one. +p738 +aVWell, folks, I've done now over 100 town hall meetings and I've loved every second of it. It has been the greatest thing in the world. And I want you to know that you've changed me, because I've listened to your stories and I've had your hugs and I've seen your tears, and I've seen you walk away and say, I now have hope. You know, I've had a conservative message, but a positive message \u2014 not just a conservative message, but a positive message about how we can bring people together, how we can restore America's strength, lift everyone. New Hampshire, please give me a chance to carry this message forward to the United States of America. And then, I will come back. Thank you, loved it. And God bless you. +p739 +aVWell, first of all, I had a national reporter say, you know, there's three lanes. There's the establishment lane, the anti-establishment lane, and then there's the Kasich lane. And the reason is, is that I've been a reformer all of my career, fighting to reform welfare, fighting to reform the Pentagon, also being in a position to balance the budget, because that is very, very hard to do. And then in Ohio, of course, I had to bring about big reform, again, because we were so far in the hole and now we just found out we are up over 400,000 jobs since I took over as governor. You know, the situation is this. We cannot fix things in this country \u2014 the Social Security, the border, balancing the budget, getting wages to grow faster \u2014 unless we lead as conservatives, but we also invite people in from the other party. We have to come together as a country. And we have to stop all the divisions. And, you know, that's been my message in New Hampshire. And having been in New Hampshire and here in Iowa, but in New Hampshire, I just received the support of seven out of eight of the newspapers in that state because they see positive, they see unity, they see coming together, and they see a record of change and a record of accomplishment. And it isn't because I'm all that great. It's because I've been assembling a team of people who want to be involved in something that's a little bigger than themselves. I'll keep \u2014 I'll keep heading in that direction, believe me. +p740 +aVChris... ... there was a question about foreign policy, by the way, and experience. And I \u2014 I thought, if I didn't jump in, I might not be able to tell everybody this. I think they'd want to hear it. Look, I served on... +p741 +aV... but wait a minute... +p742 +aV...the only reason is \u2014 look... +p743 +aVOK. +p744 +aVI've always listened to you, Megyn. Go ahead. +p745 +aVYes \u2014 thank you. +p746 +aVWell, look the Joint Terrorism Task Force needs resources and tools. And those are made up of the FBI, state and local law enforcement. And Megyn, it's best not to talk anymore about back doors and encryption, it will get solved, but it needs to be solved in the situation of the White House with the technology folks. +p747 +aVBut I just have to tell you that it's best with some of these things not be said. Now I want to go back something. See, I was there when Reagan rebuilt the military. I was there in '89 when the wall came tumbling down because we were strong. And I was there when we went into the Gulf War. We didn't win that war just from the air, we won that war by assembling a group of Arab leaders who stood in the Rose Garden and stood with America. We want to destroy +p748 +aVBut we have a unique time in America to connect with people all around the world that understand that there's an existential threat against all of them, the Arabs, the Jordanians, the Saudis, the Egyptians, our friends in Europe, including the Turks. So we have a unique opportunity to bring everybody together. I saw Reagan do it, I've seen other presidents do it. And frankly, if you want to be commander in chief, you have to have the experience. At the same time we're doing all that, the Pentagon must be reformed so we get what we need for our men and women in uniform. All of that together, we're going to be just fine and America is going to continue to lead the world. +p749 +aVWell, you've got to be on top of it right away. And, you know, I don't know all the details of what Rick Snyder has done. I know there have been people who have been fired; people who are being held accountable. But the fact is, every single engine of government has to move when you see a crisis like that. And I've had many situations in the state of Ohio where we've had to move, whether it's storms, whether it was a horrible school shooting. There are many crises that come \u2014 a water crisis in Toledo. You've got to be on top of it. You've got to go the extra mile. You've got to work with local communities and you've got to work with the federal government. Because you realize that people depending on you. And so, you go the extra mile. But people have to be alert. They have to be alert to problems. And when you see a problem, you must act quickly to get on top of it. And people at home are saying they've got a problem, listen to them. Because most of the time, they're absolutely correct. So the fact is that we work for the people. The people don't work for us. And we have to have an attitude when we're in government of serving-hood. That's what really matters. We serve you. You don't serve us. We listen to you and \u2014 and then we act. +p750 +aVNo. You know, Chris, here's what happened with Medicaid in my state. We took the growth of Medicaid from over 10 percent in my second budget to 2.5 percent, without cutting off one person or cutting one benefit, because we \u2014 we innovated the government. And now mom and dad can stay in their own home, rather than being forced into a nursing home. And then we decided we could bring $14 billion of our money \u2014 I mean, Washington doesn't have any money. It was our money, and we brought them back to tend to the mentally ill. Because I don't think they ought to live in prison or live under a bridge; to treat the drug-addicted so they're not in an in-and-out-of-the-door policy out of the prisons; and to help the working poor so they don't live in emergency rooms. How has it worked? Well, we have treated the drug-addicted in our prisons and we released them in to the community, and our recidivism rate is less than 20 percent. That's basically bordering on a miracle because of our great prison director. The mentally ill? They've been stepped on for too long in this society, and we are beginning to treat them. In terms of my faith, look, all I say is that when I study scripture, I know that people who live in the shadows need to have a chance. But I'm not deciding that anybody's got to make these decisions the way that I do, on the basis of what I do. But what \u2014 I will tell you this. The time has come to stop ignoring the mentally ill in this country and begin to treat them and get them on their feet, along with, of course, with treating the drug-addicted. Because we don't want them in and out \u2014 we don't want them in and out of the prisons. Give people a chance. We talked about criminal justice reform. We've enacted it in our state. Look, the conservative message is economic growth and along with economic growth goes opportunity for everybody in America. Everybody ought to have a chance to be able to rise to their God-given purpose. And that is what we have done in Ohio. We're running surpluses. We're up 400,000 jobs. And guess what? The formula is working. I'd suggest people take a look at it. Thank you. +p751 +aVLook, we don't know what's going to happen in ten months. And if I were president of the United States right now, I'd be lining up our allies to say that, if one crossed T or one dotted I does not occur, they are \u2014 violate the agreement, we slap back on sanctions. We can slap on sanctions alone, on day one, but it's not gonna be anywhere near as effective. But the president needs to be laying the groundwork right now for the ability to slap those sanctions back on worldwide. And I'll tell you what I'm worried about \u2014 I'm worried about money. You read about all the companies now that are doing business \u2014 about to do business in Iran, and if we don't get this settled now, with other countries in the world, about sanctions, then Iran could violate that agreement, and we're the only ones putting the sanctions on. We need to move aggressively now. But I would say this to you, Bret. Number one, if they violate it, we need to move against them. And number two, if we find out they're developing a nuclear weapon and we know how to get to it, we're gonna go take it out. That is what we have to do. We cannot let things get farther down the road, like we did with North Korea. +p752 +aVThat's right. Yes. +p753 +aVI know, Bret. +p754 +aVBut Bret, here's the problem. You take a look at the \u2014 at Belgium. I talked to a diplomat from Belgium. I said, "how's it going?" He said, "we have the military in the streets right now. We never dreamt we'd ever see it." See, I think there is an opportunity to bring the world together. The Turks are being threatened. We know about the French. We know about the Belgians. We know about the Brits. Everybody is under fire and under attack, and we have to stand together as an alliance. So actually, the opportunity is there, because of the threat to all of these countries, to bring all of us together... ... and say there is something more important than money. It is the future of the world and the future of our children and grandchildren. That's the kind of leadership this country needs. It has not been in effect during the administration of Barack Obama. And that's only the beginning of the failures that they have committed, not only in the Middle East, but all over the world, including Russia and China. +p755 +aVYou know, one of our biggest national security issues is the world looks at us some time, and we look at each other and say, why can't we solve problems? Well, I've got news for you, we can. We can in fact create jobs and provide job security. We can create a situation where wages begin to rise. We can create a situation for our children to be able to get a decent job to pay down their college debt. We can re-assume our role in the world. But all of this has to come together when we have a positive attitude, an optimistic approach, an ability for us to set the tune as conservatives, to invite other people in to be part of that orchestra. You see, ladies and gentlemen, at the end of the day, I'm an optimist Because I've seen so many things get accomplished in my lifetime. And we can do it again together, all of us, to strengthen this country, work together. Thank you. +p756 +aVLook, it takes three things basically to grow jobs. And I've done it when I was in Washington when we had a balanced budget; had four years of balanced budgets; paid down a half-trillion of debt. And our economy was growing like crazy. It's the same thing that I did in Ohio. It's a simple formula: common sense regulations, which is why I think we should freeze all federal regulations for one year, except for health and safety. It requires tax cuts, because that sends a message to the job creators that things are headed the right way. And if you tax cuts \u2014 if you cut taxes for corporations, and you cut taxes for individuals, you're going to make things move, particularly the corporate tax, which is the highest, of course, in the \u2014 in the world. But in addition to that, we have to have fiscal discipline. We have to show that we can march to a balanced budget. And when you do that, when you're in a position of managing regulations; when you reduce taxes; and when you have fiscal discipline, you see the job creators begin to get very comfortable with the fact that they can invest. Right now, you don't have the \u2014 you have taxes that are too high. You have regulations \u2014 I mean, come on, they're affecting everybody here, particularly our small businesses. They are \u2014 they're in a position where they're smothering people. And I mean, are you kidding me? We're nowhere close to a balanced budget or fiscal discipline. Those three things put together are going to give confidence to job creators and you will begin to see wages rise. You will begin to see jobs created in a robust economy. And how do I know it? Because I've done it. I did it as the chairman of the Budget Committee, working with Senator Domenici. And I've done it in the state of Ohio as the chief executive. Our wages are growing faster than the national average. We're running surpluses. And we can take that message and that formula to Washington to lift every single American to a better life. +p757 +aVWell, if that's the case, we're going to win every state, if Bernie Sanders is the nominee. That's not even an issue. But look......and I know Bernie, and I can promise you he's not going to be president of the United States. So here's this \u2014 the situation, I think, Maria. And this is what we have to \u2014 I \u2014 I've got to tell you, when wages don't rise \u2014 and they haven't for a lot of families for a number of years \u2014 it's very, very difficult for them. Part of the reason why it hasn't risen because sometimes we're not giving people the skills they need. Sometimes it's because the Federal Reserve kept interest rates so low that the wealthy were able to invest in \u2014 in strong assets like the stock market when everybody else was left behind. People are upset about it. I'll tell you what else they're upset about: you're 50 or 51 years old, and some kid walks in and tells you you're out of work, and you don't know where to go and where to turn. Do we have answer for that? We do. There are ways to retrain the 50 and 51-year-olds, because they've got great value. I'll tell you what else people are concerned about. Their kids come out of college, they have high debt and they can't get a good job. We got to do a lot about the high cost of high \u2014 higher education, but we've got to make sure we're training people for jobs that exist, that are good jobs that can pay. Let me tell you that, in this country \u2014 in this country, people are concerned about their economic future. They're very concerned about it. And they wonder whether somebody is getting something to \u2014 keeping them from getting it. That's not the America that I've ever known. My father used to say, "Johnny, we never \u2014 we don't hate the rich. We just want to be the rich." And we just got to make sure that every American has the tools, in K-through-12 and in vocational education, in higher education. And we got to fight like crazy so people can think the American dream still exists, because it does, with rising wages, with full employment and with everybody in America \u2014 and I mean everybody in America \u2014 having an opportunity to realize the American dream of having a better life than their mother and their father. I'm president \u2014 look, I've done it once. I've done it once in Washington, with great jobs and lower taxes. The economy was really booming. And now in Ohio, with the same formula, wages higher than the \u2014 than the national average. A growth of 385,000 jobs. It's not that hard. Just know where you want to go, stick to your guts. Get it done, because our \u2014 our children and grandchildren are counting on us to get it done. And, folks, we will. You count on it. +p758 +aVWell, let me \u2014 let me first of all talk a little bit about my experience. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years, and by the way, one of the members of that committee was Senator Strom Thurmond from South Carolina. Let em also tell you......that after the 9/11 attacks, Secretary Rumsfeld invited me to the Pentagon with a meeting of the former secretaries of Defense. And in that meeting, I suggested we had a problem with technology, and that I wanted to take people from Silicon Valley into the Pentagon to solve our most significant problems. So I not only had the opportunity to go through the Cold War struggles in Central America, and even after 9/11 to be involved. With Saudi Arabia and oil production, first of all, it's so critical for us to be energy independent, and we're getting there because of fracking and we ought to explore because, see, energy independence gives us leverage and flexibility, and secondly, if you want to bring jobs back to the United States of America in industry, low prices make the difference. We're seeing it in my state and we'll see it in this country. And that's why we must make sure we continue to frack. In terms of Saudi Arabia, look, my biggest problem with them is they're funding radical clerics through their madrasses. That is a bad deal and an evil situation, and presidents have looked the other way. And I was going to tell you, whether I'm president or not, we better make it clear to the Saudis that we're going to support you, we're in relation with you just like we were in the first Gulf War, but you've got to knock off the funding and teaching of radical clerics who are the very people who try to destroy us and will turn around and destroy them. So look, in foreign policy \u2014 in foreign policy, it's strength, but you've got to be cool. You've got to have a clear vision of where you want to go. And I'm going to tell you, that it \u2014 I'm going to suggest to you here tonight, that you can't do on the job training. I've seen so much of it \u2013 a Soviet Union, the coming down of a wall, the issues that we saw around the world in Central America, the potential spread of communism, and 9/11 and Gulf War. You see what the Saudi's \u2014 deliver them a strong message but at the end of the day we have to keep our cool because most of the time they're going right with us. And they must be part of our coalition to destroy +p759 +aVI \u2014 I've been for pausing on admitting the Syrian refugees. And the reasons why I've done is I don't believe we have a good process of being able to vet them. But you know, we don't want to put everybody in the same category. And I'll go back to something that had been mentioned just a few minutes ago. If we're going to have a coalition, we're going to have to have a coalition not just of people in the western part of the world, our European allies, but we need the Saudis, we need the Egyptians, we need the Jordanians, we need the Gulf states. We need Jordan. We need all of them to be part of exactly what the first George Bush put together in the first Gulf War. It was a coalition made up of Arabs and Americans and westerners and we're going to need it again. And if we try to put everybody in the same \u2014 call everybody the same thing, we can't do it. And that's just not acceptable. But I think a pause on Syrian refugees has been exactly right for all the governors that have called for it, and also, of course, for me as the governor of Ohio. +p760 +aVNeil, Neil \u2014 can I say one thing about this. I'm a free trader. I support +p761 +aVFor too long \u2014 no, for too long, what happens is somebody dumps their product in our country and take our people's jobs, and then we go to an international court and it takes them like a year or two to figure out whether they were cheating us. And guess what? The worker's out of a job. So when they \u2014 be found against that country that's selling products in here lower than the cost of what it takes to produce them, then what do we tell the worker? Oh, well, you know, it just didn't work out for you. I think we should be for free trade but I think fair trade. And when countries violate trade agreements or dump product in this country, we need \u2014 we need to stand up against those countries that do that without making them into an enemy. And I want to just suggest to you. How do I know this? Because so many people in my family worked in steel mills, and they didn't work with a white collar, they worked in a blue collar. And the fact is those jobs are critical, they're hard working members of the middle class and they need to be paid attention to because they're Americans and they carry the load. So let's demand open trade but fair trade in this country. That's what I think we need to do. +p762 +aVWell, I created a task force well over a year ago and the purpose was to bring law enforcement, community people, clergy and the person that I named as one of the co-chair was a lady by the name of Nina Turner, a former State Senator, a liberal Democrat. She actually ran against one of my friends and our head of public safety. And they say down as a group trying to make sure that we can begin to heal some of these problems that we see between community and police. And they came back with 23 recommendations. One of them is a statewide use of deadly force. And it is now being put into place everyplace across the state of Ohio. Secondly, a policy on recruiting and hiring, and then more resources for \u2014 for training. But let me also tell you, one of the issues has got to be the integration of both community and police. Community has to understand that that police officer wants to get home at night, and not \u2014 not to lose their life. Their family is waiting for them. At the same time, law enforcement understands there are people in the community who not only think that the system doesn't work for them, but works against them. See, in Ohio, we've had some controversial decisions. But the leaders have come forward to realize that protest is fine, but violence is wrong. And it has been a remarkable situation in our state. And as president of the United States, it's all about communication, folks. It's all about getting people to listen to one another's problems. And when you do that, you will be amazed at how much progress you can make, and how much healing we can have. Because, folks, at the end of the day, the country needs healed. I've heard a lot of hot rhetoric here tonight, but I've got to tell you, as somebody that actually passed a budget; that paid down a half-a-trillion dollars of our national debt, you can't do it alone. You've got to bring people together. You've got to give people hope. And together, we can solve these problems that hurt us and heal America. And that is what's so critical for our neighborhoods, our families, our children, and our grandchildren. +p763 +aVYou know, in our country, there are a lot of people who feel as though they just don't have the power. You know, they feel like if they don't have a lobbyist, if they're not wealthy, that somehow they don't get to play. But all of my career, you know, having been raised in \u2014 by a mailman father whose father was a coal miner, who died of black lung and was losing his eyesight; or a mother whose mother could barely speak English. You see, all of my career, I've fought about giving voice to the people that I grew up with and voice to the people that elected me. Whether it's welfare reform and getting something back for the hard-earned taxpayers; whether it's engaging in Pentagon reform and taking on the big contractors that were charging thousands of dollars for hammers and screw drivers and ripping us off; or whether it's taking on the special interests in the nursing home industry in Ohio, so that mom and dad can have the ability to stay in their own home, rather than being forced into a nursing home. Look, that's who I stand up for. That's who's in my mind......And if you really want to believe that you can get your voice back, I will tell you, as I have all my career, I will continue to fight for you, because you're the ones that built this country, and will carry it into the future. Thank you. +p764 +asVQUICK +p765 +(lp766 +VGentlemen \u2014 we'll \u2014 we'll get back to this \u2014 just a minute \u2014 just a minute we're gonna continue this. I wanna talk taxes... +p767 +aVDr. Carson, let's talk about taxes. You have a flat tax plan of 10 percent flat taxes, and \u2014 I've looked at it \u2014 and this is something that is very appealing to a lot of voters, but I've had a really tough time trying to make the math work on this. If you were to took a 10 percent tax, with the numbers right now in total personal income, you're gonna come in with bring in $1.5 trillion. That is less than half of what we bring in right now. And by the way, it's gonna leave us in a $2 trillion hole. So what analysis got you to the point where you think this will work? +p768 +aVI \u2014 I understand that, but if you \u2014 if you look at the numbers you probably have to get to 28. +p769 +aV15 percent still leaves you with a $1.1 trillion hole. +p770 +aVYou'd have to cut \u2014 you'd have to cut government about 40 percent to make it work with a $1.1 trillion hole. +p771 +aVThat is true, I looked at the numbers. +p772 +aVDr. Carson, thank you. +p773 +aVGovernor... +p774 +aVDr. Carson, let me get 30 seconds with Dr. Carson... +p775 +aVThank you. +p776 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, thank you. +p777 +aVGentlemen, I'm sorry, we need to... +p778 +aVWe're going to move on. +p779 +aVThirty seconds. +p780 +aVWe'll get to everyone. Ms. Fiorina, I \u2014 I'd like to ask you a question. You are running for president of the United States because of your record running Hewlett-Packard. But the stock market is usually a fair indicator of the performance of a CEO, and the market was not kind to you. Someone who invested a dollar in your company the day you took office had lost half of the dollar by the day you left. Obviously, you've talked in the past about what a difficult time it was for technology companies, but anybody who was following the market knows that your stock was a much worse performer, if you looked at your competitors, if you looked at the overall market. I just wonder, in terms of all of that \u2014 you know, we look back, your board fired you. I just wondered why you think we should hire you now. +p781 +aVMrs. Fiorina, it's interesting that you bring up Mr. Perkins, because... ...he said a lot of very questionable things. Last year, in an interview, he said that he thinks wealthy people should get more votes than poor people. I think his quote was that, "if you pay zero dollars in taxes, you should get zero votes. If you pay a million dollars, you should get a million votes." Is this the type of person you want defending you? +p782 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p783 +aVThank you, we're out of time. Thank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Carl. +p784 +aVGovernor Christie, I'd like to a question next. Actually, I have a question for you . In your tell it like it is campaign, you've said a lot of tough things. You've said that we need to raise the retirement age for Social Security. You think that we need to cut benefits for people who make over $80,000 and eliminate them entirely for seniors who are making over $200,000. Governor Huckabee, who is here on the stage, has said that you and others who think this way are trying to rob seniors of the benefits that they've earned. It raises the question: When it is acceptable to break a social compact? +p785 +aV...Governor... +p786 +aV...Thank you. +p787 +aVWelcome back to the presidential debate for the Republicans. We are live in Boulder, Colorado, right here on +p788 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. +p789 +aVSenator Rubio, you yourself have said that you've had issues. You have a lack of bookkeeping skills. You accidentally inter-mingled campaign money with your personal money. You faced (ph) foreclosure on a second home that you bought. And just last year, you liquidated a $68,000 retirement fund. That's something that cost you thousands of dollars in taxes and penalties. In terms of all of that, it raises the question whether you have the maturity and wisdom to lead this $17 trillion economy. What do you say? +p790 +aVSenator, I understand all of that. I had a lot of student loans when I got out, too. But you've had a windfall that a lot of Americans haven't. You made over a million dollars on a book deal, and some of these problems came after that. +p791 +aVBut you \u2014 but you liquidated that retirement account after the fact, and that cost you about $24,000 out of that in taxes and feed. That \u2014 that was after you'd already come into that windfall. That's why I raised the question. +p792 +aVYes, thank you John. Senator Cruz, working women in this country still earn just 77 percent of what men earn. And I know that you've said you've been very sympathetic to our cause. But you've also you said that the Democrats' moves to try and change this are the political show votes. I just wonder what you would do as President to try and help in this cause? +p793 +aVMrs. Fiorina \u2014 +p794 +aVMrs. Fiorina, we will come back to you. +p795 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Carl? +p796 +aVMr. Trump, let's stay on this issue of immigration. You have been very critical of Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook who has wanted to increase the number of these H1Bs. +p797 +aVSo you're in favor of... +p798 +aVWhere did I read this and come up with this that you were... +p799 +aVYou know, Mr. \u2014 you know, Mr. Trump, if I may . You've been \u2014 you have been \u2014 you had talked a little bit about Marco Rubio. I think you called him Mark Zuckerberg's personal senator because he was in favor of the H1B. +p800 +aVSo this was an erroneous article the whole way around? +p801 +aVMy apologies. I'm sorry. +p802 +aVYes, you can. +p803 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you very much. I would like to introduce my colleague, Rick Santelli, he has some comments as well, sir. +p804 +aVRick, thank you very much. Governor Huckabee, you have railed against income inequality. You've said that some Wall Street executives should have gone to jail over the roles that they played during the financial crisis. Apart from your tax plan, are there specific steps you would require from corporate America to try and reduce the income inequality. +p805 +aVGovernor? +p806 +aVGovernor? +p807 +aVThank you. +p808 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee. +p809 +aVHow about 15 more seconds? +p810 +aVGovernor? +p811 +aVGovernor, I'm sorry... +p812 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p813 +aVGovernor, thank you. Appreciate it. John? +p814 +aVIt's at the moderator discretion. +p815 +aVWelcome back to the University of Colorado and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p816 +aVThank you, sir. +p817 +aVYou were. You get 30 seconds. +p818 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Carl? +p819 +aVHigher education is the example... +p820 +aVI want to go back, if I can, to the issue of... +p821 +aVI want to go back, if I may, to the... +p822 +aVSenator Paul, among the leading conservative opponents to the creation of Medicare back in the 1960s was Ronald Reagan. He warned that it would lead to socialism. Considering the mounting cost of Medicare, was he right to oppose it? +p823 +aVSenator, thank you. [ +p824 +aVWelcome back to Boulder, Colorado and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p825 +aVThank you, Governor. +p826 +aVGovernor. +p827 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Paul, let's go back to you. Do these solutions sound like they work? +p828 +aVDo these solutions sound like they would work? +p829 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Governor? +p830 +aVGood evening, everyone. I'm Becky Quick, along with my +p831 +aVGovernor Jindal, let's talk a little bit about the news of the day. Just a few hours ago, the Republicans and the Democrats in the House voted on a budget deal that will increase spending by about $80 billion dollars over the next two years. You, however, have called the Republicans who have been willing to work with the Democrats to do things like this the, "Surrender Party of the Republican caucus." Would you have shut the government down instead? +p832 +aV...But Governor... +p833 +aV...if you didn't have a choice, if you didn't control things in the house, would you take the choice of shutting things down, or would you go ahead and agree with them? +p834 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p835 +aVGovernor Pataki, let's get to your point. You wanted to make a comment on the budget. You want to get in on the idea, what would you do if you were in Washington? Would you compromise... +p836 +aVGovernor Pataki, thank you. John? +p837 +aVGovernor Pataki, let's talk a little bit about what's happened on Wall Street. Some of your colleagues in the Republican Party, including some of the people on this stage, have bashed Wall Street. They say that it was largely responsible for the financial crisis. You're a former governor of New York, and you relied very heavily on Wall Street for income. Do you think they've gone too far? +p838 +aVGovernor Pataki, thank you. +p839 +aVCarl? +p840 +aVWelcome back, everyone. This is the Republican Presidential Debate on +p841 +aVSenator, I'm sorry your minute is up. +p842 +aVThank you very much, Senator Santorum. +p843 +aVAnd Graham, Mr. Graham, yes, that was a question to you, too. +p844 +aVYou have 30 seconds. +p845 +aVSenator Graham, thank you. +p846 +aVI'm sorry. That's your 30 seconds... +p847 +aVSenator Graham... +p848 +aVThank you, Senator. +p849 +aVGentlemen, hold on a second. +p850 +aVGo ahead, +p851 +aVGovernor Pataki... +p852 +aV\u2014 I'm sorry, that was a... +p853 +aVGovernor Pataki... +p854 +aVI'm sorry to talk over you, sir. That was a minute. +p855 +aVThank you very much. +p856 +aVCarl? +p857 +aVYou guys are making this just like home. This is just like . +p858 +aVGovernor Jindal, I want to go back to something that you mentioned before with your tax plan. I know that you want to put a 2 percent tax on all families, just to make sure everyone has some skin in the game. But every working American pays 6.2 percent, when it comes to Social Security taxes. They pay another 1.45 percent of Medicare. Isn't that skin in the game? +p859 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p860 +aVWelcome back to Boulder, Colorado, and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p861 +aVNo, no. +p862 +aVI \u2014 I'm with you. I still have a BlackBerry, too. Senator \u2014 Senator Santorum, how about you? +p863 +aVThank you. Governor? +p864 +aVThank you. Senator Graham? +p865 +aVWe take your time back. Yes. +p866 +aVJohn? +p867 +asVGRAHAM +p868 +(lp869 +VThank you very much. I just returned from Iraq two weeks ago. It was my 36th trip to Iraq and Afghanistan in the last decade. Toward the end, I met a very impressive Special Forces sergeant. It was his job to train Iraqi Kurdish commandos. He was so proud of what he was doing and so proud of the people he was training. He was the replacement for Master Sergeant Wheeler, a Delta Force member who was killed two months ago in a raid against an +p870 +aVYou may think this makes us safe, but it doesn't. The good news for everybody in this room is, after 36 trips to Iraq and Afghanistan, most people over there, Wolf, are not buying what +p871 +aVI will support the Republican nominee, whoever he or she may be. Like Bob Dole, I may sleep late that day if it's Trump. But the bottom line, if it's Trump, so be it. That's who I'll support. Please understand we're in a war that we can't afford to lose, and what he said about banning Muslims coming here to America has made us all less safe, and it's the worst possible thing he could do in this war. He clearly doesn't understand this war and how to win it. For God's sakes, pick somebody who is worthy of the sacrifice of those who are fighting this war and who actually knows how to win, and I don't believe that's Mr. Trump, and I know it's not Hillary Clinton. +p872 +aVRick, please understand the only way we're gonna win the war against radical Islam is for the world to unite. Very few fathers and mothers want to turn their daughters and sons over to +p873 +aVWell, here's what I'm here to tell you, when I first started this process of running for president., I said, " if you didn't realize we need more America boots on the ground in Iraq and eventually in Syria as a part of the regional army - not ready to be commander in chief." Like nobody said a word, now everybody's on board except Senator Paul. Senator Paul and Senator Cruz, are isolationists. They both want to restrict the ability of the NSA to do the following; find out if somebody overseas is calling into America and if somebody is on the other end of the phone, don't you want to know who their talking to? IF a terrorist is calling into America and we can match up phone numbers we get a get a court order to find out what the content is. We're at war folks, they're not trying to steal your car, they're trying to kills us all. So yes, I would re-institute this program. There's four things you need to understand about this war, it's a religious war, them against the world, if you don't fight them over there, they're coming here. If you don't hit them first, they're going to hit us. If you're not determined to fight it as a ware, you're going to lose it. So if you're worried about somebody having your phone in the government, don't be. The only thing you need to worry about is if you're talking to terrorist and a judge gives an order to listen to what you're saying. That's all you need to worry about. +p874 +aVCan I say something? +p875 +aVYeah. There are at least 3,500 American muslims serving in the armed forces. Thank you for your service. You are not the enemy. Your religion is not the enemy. Let me make this real to you. I was at the second presidential election in Afghanistan. The guy guarding me was an American Muslim sergeant in the Army who grew up in Kabul, left when he was \u2014 graduated high school, joined the U.S. Army, went back to his high school where they were doing polling, people voting, he took me there and cried like a baby. I cried like a baby. He is the solution to this problem, folks. He is not the problem. Leave the faith alone. Go after the radicals that kill us all. +p876 +aVThank you. This is why I own a flip phone. You don't have to worry about all of this stuff. The bottom line is, we're at war. They're trying to come here to kill us all and it's up to the government to protect you within constitutional means. Any system that would allow a terrorist to communicate with somebody in our country and we can't find out what they're saying is stupid. If I'm president of the United States, and you join +p877 +aVWell, what you want to do is you want to knock them off line. How about this idea? If you pledge allegiance to al-Baghdadi, you can't get married in America? The bottom line is you have to go after them everywhere. The key to winning this war is to provide the capacity to those in the faith who reject the ideology. The key to fighting this war is to fight it in their backyard, not ours. Two years ago I came up with a plan that requires more American boots on the ground in Iraq. The first thing out of my mouth running for President was, if you don't understand we need 10,000 troops in Iraq, rather than 3,500, you're not ready. What would I do in Syria? I'd form a regional army of Arabs and Turkey. Ninety percent them, 10 percent us. Up to 10,000 U.S. forces to go in on the ground and destroy the caliphate and its roots. Take Raqqah away from +p878 +aVYeh, it's just you're not going to win that way, Rick. There's nobody left in Syria to train. Between the Russians and Assad, they have killed all the people we trained, and our President sat on the sidelines and watched people get killed that we enticed into the fight. There is nobody left to train. I would get the Arabs who are threatened by +p879 +aVWell, number one, dead men don't preach anything. If you don't understand we need a ground force to go into Syria, then you're not ready to destroy +p880 +aVYeah. I just don't make this up, Wolf. I talk to people who are combat trained who have won in Iraq who I trust. Here's what I want to tell the Arab world and Turkey. We're not going to send 100,000 troops. You're going to do the fighting this time and we're gonna help you. We paid for the last two wars, you're gonna pay for this one. And, by the way, they get it because +p881 +aVTwo years ago. +p882 +aVYes. +p883 +aVI think we need to have a military strategy regarding Libya. They've just take over Gaddafi's hometown called Sur. There's about 2000 of them. Here's what I've learned in my 36 visits, you can't deter these guys, they're ready to die, bring on the virgins. Dying is first place in their world. What we have to do is work with others over time to destroy to ideology. We have to offer a hopeful life to compete with the glory of this. Most young people folks want the same thing you do. They don't want to live in the 11th century. So yes, you have to destroy the caliphate. I want to work with Arabs and Turkey to do it, but here's the key is to not leave. If we left Germany and Japan only god knows what would've happened. If we have 10000 troops left in Iraq, there would be no +p884 +aVI want to talk to General Keane first. I want to find out, what do we need militarily to keep them contained and eventually destroy them in Libya. They're in nine countries. You want to deal with Libya, go to Iraq and Syria. You want to prevent another 9/11, take the caliphate headquarters away from +p885 +aVNo. What I would do is I would try to make friends throughout the world to destroy a common threat to the world. These people are religious Nazis. Most people in Islam don't buy what they're selling. I've told you a thousand times that I would partner with the Arabs in Turkey. But, the reason they don't partner with Obama is they just don't trust him. Do you think they would trust me? I know them all. I've been working for a decade to figure out how to win this war. To my good friend Ted Cruz, please ask him the following question, you say you would keep Assad in power, I will tell you that is the worst possible thing that could come out of an American leaders mouth. It would be disastrous. His favorite movie is, apparently, Princess Bride. Ted, getting in bed with Iran and Russia to save Assad is inconceivable. +p886 +aVPrincess Buttercup would not like this. +p887 +aV...I didn't get to say yes. Yes. +p888 +aVYeah, this is an important discussion. The American president is the strongest voice in the world \u2014 until Obama came along. Now, we're just one of many. When you ask people to help you, when you entice Syrians to join your cause, to take down the dictator they hate to destroy +p889 +aV...we'd better do something about it, and I have a plan. +p890 +aVI don't think it's necessary. If you don't want to be there, I don't want you to be there. I just retired after 33 years in the Air Force, 140 days on the ground as an Air Force Reservist. To those who are watching, thank you for your service. I've had a small walk in your shoes. We have the best military in the world. Obama has put it in a box. Let's take it out of the box and use it before we get attacked here. We don't need a draft, we need a commander in chief who knows what the hell they're doing. +p891 +aVAnd, I am that guy. +p892 +aVBut, the reason they don't partner with Obama is they just don't trust him. Do you think they would trust me? I know them all. I've been working for a decade to figure out how to win this war. To my good friend Ted Cruz, please ask him the following question, you say you would keep Assad in power, I will tell you that is the worst possible thing that could come out of an American leaders mouth. It would be disastrous. His favorite movie is, apparently, Princess Bride. Ted, getting in bed with Iran and Russia to save Assad is inconceivable. +p893 +aVPrincess Buttercup would not like this. +p894 +aV...I didn't get to say yes. Yes. +p895 +aVYeah, this is an important discussion. The American president is the strongest voice in the world \u2014 until Obama came along. Now, we're just one of many. When you ask people to help you, when you entice Syrians to join your cause, to take down the dictator they hate to destroy +p896 +aV...we'd better do something about it, and I have a plan. +p897 +aVI don't think it's necessary. If you don't want to be there, I don't want you to be there. I just retired after 33 years in the Air Force, 140 days on the ground as an Air Force Reservist. To those who are watching, thank you for your service. I've had a small walk in your shoes. We have the best military in the world. Obama has put it in a box. Let's take it out of the box and use it before we get attacked here. We don't need a draft, we need a commander in chief who knows what the hell they're doing. +p898 +aVAnd, I am that guy. +p899 +aVCan, can I... +p900 +aVThis is important. We're not fighting all the wars with our kids. If you've been to Iraq and Afghanistan and you made any friends, you've lots of bunch. Thousands have died in Iraq and Afghanistan fighting. +p901 +aVDon't belittle their sacrifice. +p902 +aVNo. +p903 +aVTo, to those the (well) times in the Army were a bigger problem than they are today. If you want to fix this, you get the Army to 500,000, not 420,000. You want to win this war, grow the Navy to 350 ships, not 275. Sequestration is Latin for doing really dumb things. We're going to have the smallest Navy since 1915, the smallest Army since 1940. I was yelling and screaming don't do sequestration. I was right. If I am President of the United States, Commander in Chief, we're going to rebuild our military without a draft... +p904 +aV...and we're going to go on the offense and they're ready to go. +p905 +aVThey are ready to go. They just need to be led. +p906 +aVWell I stand unique, having been a military lawyer for 33 years. I've been a defense attorney, a prosecutor, and a military judge. Mr. Trump, you don't have to speak about everything, that's not required. I would make sure that everybody had a fair trial. Does that make sense to you? We're at war folks and this stuff has to stop. It's bad for morale to hear somebody wanting to be Commander in Chief that would deny due process to somebody who's been charged in the military. For God's sakes Mr. Trump, you're asking to be the Commander in Chief , the leader of the free world, up your game. As to women, if you want to kill terrorists, I'm your guy. +p907 +aVWell, the first thing I would do is make adjustments to reality. I want to look and see if this was a terrorist arranged marriage between the couple in California. The fact that they met online accidentally is almost zero. So, no, I would have a time-out on Syrian refugees because you'd be crazy if you didn't after Paris. But, I've been to the refugee camps in Turkey, and Jordan. Trust me with your Christian \u2014 and I'm a lousy Christian saved by grace, but \u2014 this is important. We've got to stop this war. Do you realize that there are more Syrian refugees in Lebanon going to school than Lebanese children? Do you realize if this war goes for another year the King of Jordan could fall? Let's have a no-fly zone. +p908 +aVI would \u2014 make changes to that bill in light of what I know today. +p909 +aVThe next president is going to be a war-time president, whether they like it or not. I'm ready for that job. Two years ago isolationism led by Senator Paul and Cruz was white hot in our party. Now it is in retreat because events have proven me more right than wrong and has proven them to be wrong. In the first debate I called for American troops on the ground to protect our homeland. Nobody came forward. Now, most have. We've spent a lot of carnage to get them to where I have always been. Make me president, I will keep you and your family safe. +p910 +aVWell, number one, thank you for having me here tonight. How about a round of applause for Boulder, Colorado? This is a beautiful place. Looking at their academic standards, the only way I could have gotten into this university is to be invited to this debate tonight. But here's my take on things. Without national security, there is no economic security. Without the sacrifice of the veteran, all of our hopes and dreams are at risk. Just a few days ago, Hillary Clinton said that the problems with the V.A. are being exaggerated by Republicans. They are not, they are real. +p911 +aVWell, let me tell you what is real. The threat to our homeland. I've never seen so many threats to our homeland than I do today. Barack Obama is an incompetent Commander in Chief. There are more terrorist organizations with safe havens to attack the American homeland than anytime since 9/11. We're in the process of reducing our defense spending by half. I am looking at this budget with one view in mind, will it restore the ability to defend this nation. We're on track to have the smallest army since 1940, the smallest navy since 1915, this budget, if it is paid for, will put $40 billion dollars back in the defense department at a time we need it. The number one role of the federal government's to defend this nation, I intend to be a Commander in Chief that can win a war we cannot afford to lose. +p912 +aVHere's the problem. We're being walked all over because our commander in chief is weak in the eyes of our enemies. Do you think Putin would be in the Ukraine today if Ronald Reagan were president? Why are the Chinese stealing our intellectual property, hacking into our system? Why are they building islands over resource-rich waters? Because they can get away with it. At the end of the day, ladies and gentlemen, the foreign policy of Barack Obama needs to be replaced, and the last person you want to find to replace his foreign policy is his secretary of state. So to the Chinese, when it comes to dealing with me, you've got a clenched fist or an open hand. You pick. The party's over, to all the dictators. Make me commander-in-chief and this crap stops. +p913 +aVNo, I \u2014 I think I'm trying to solve problems that somebody had better solve. Now, you don't have to believe that climate change is real. I have been to the Antarctic. I've been to Alaska. I'm not a scientist, and I've got the grades to prove it. But I've talked to the climatologists of the world, and 90 percent of them are telling me that greenhouse gas effect is real. That we're heating up the planet. I just want a solution that would be good for the economy, that doesn't destroy it. I want to fix an immigration system. I'm not gonna tell you, if you like your doctor, you can keep it \u2014 keep him. Do you like your health care, you're gonna keep it. I'm tired of telling people things that they want to hear, that we know we're not gonna do. We're not gonna eliminate the corporate tax. But we can make it lower. We're going to fix immigration, only if we work together. I want to secure the border because, if we don't, we're going to get hurt and hit again. I want to fix a broken visa system. I want to increase legal immigration, because we're gonna have a shortage of workers over time. As to the 11 million, I want to talk about fixing the problem. We're not going to deport 11 million people and their legal citizen children. But we will deport felons. And those who stay will have to learn our language to stay, because I don't speak it well but look how far I've come. +p914 +aVAt the end of the day, folks, I am trying to solve a problem and win an election. I am tired of losing. Good God, look who we're running against. The number one candidate on the other side thought she was flat broke after her and her husband were in the White House for eight years. The number two guy went to the Soviet Union on his honeymoon and I don't think he ever came back. If we don't beat these people, who the hell are we going to beat? +p915 +aVThe first thing... +p916 +aV\u2014 that we have to do is come to grips with the reality that we're facing as Americans. In 1950, there were 16 workers for every Social Security recipient. Today, there's three. In 20 years, there are two. I want to make sure that no American company leaves America because you can't find a worker. American workers always get the first preference. But if you can't find an American worker, after you advertise at a competitive wage, I don't want you to be at a loss. Bring people in based on merit. Let's take a broken immigration... +p917 +aV\u2014 system... +p918 +aV\u2014 and make a merit-based immigration system that will help our economy. We're going to need workers in the future. +p919 +aVLet's just choose rationally. +p920 +aVWe owe to every businessperson and worker in America the best environment in the world to create a job. We owe that to American businesses. Thirty-five percent corporate tax rate is the second highest in the world. We need to lower it so they don't leave. The goal is to help the middle class. We can talk about corporations all day long but my goal is to help the middle class, somebody who makes too much to be on government assistance but still lives paycheck to paycheck. When the kid gets sick you don't go on vacation. +p921 +aVThat's the purpose of my presidency, to grow the economy here. And let me tell you, our Democratic friends have a list a mile long of more government. That's not going to grow the middle class, that's going to create a burden on your children, which they're already overburdened. The best way to grow the middle class is to make it a good place to create a job. You know why Boeing came to South Carolina when they could have gone anywhere to build the 787? Because we wanted them. We had a low-tax structure. +p922 +aVA permitting structure that allowed them to build the building even faster than they thought they could build it. We welcomed them there. I'm going to take the South Carolina attitude \u2014 +p923 +aVI think everybody owes an obligation to the country. The ones that I'm most worried about are the 1 percent of Americans in uniform, who have been fighting this war for 14 years. They need a commander in chief who knows what the hell they're doing. My first job as President of the United States is to rebuild the military and use it smartly. Admiral Mullen said the debt is a big threat to our national security. He's right. But people go where they're welcome when it comes to job creation. If I'm President of the United States you will be welcomed in America. +p924 +aVThis will be the place to come \u2014 +p925 +aVAnd if I'm president of the United States \u2014 +p926 +aV\u2014 our enemies \u2014 +p927 +aVWell, number one, Social Security is not just a concept to me. I know why it exists; 50 percent of today's seniors would be in poverty without a Social Security check. I promise you, if you make me your president, I will save Social Security because I know why it exists. Now, if you're looking for good beer policy, I'm your best bet. My dad owned a bar. I know beer. We grew up, my sister and myself, in the back of that bar in one room with my mom, my dad and my sister who's nine years younger. When I was 21, my mom was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease. Neither parent finished high school. She died within a year. We were wiped out from the medical bills. And if it wasn't for a Social Security survivor benefit check coming into my family, we wouldn't' have made it because my dad died 15 months later. So I... +p928 +aVWait a minute, please. I'm 22 and we're wiped out. I am 60. I'm not married. I have a military retirement. I'm in good shape. I would give up some of my benefits to help those who need it more than I do. To young people here, I will ask you to work a little bit longer because we have to. The purpose of my presidency is to save this country and to save Social Security by working across the aisle just like Ronald Reagan. This is the biggest issue facing this nation. +p929 +aVWell, number one, the only reason I have an iPhone is because I gave my number to Donald Trump. Don't do that. +p930 +aVDonald has done more to upgrade my technology than my whole staff. Number one, Fox News. Sorry about +p931 +aVWell, I think a national holiday would be the day that commander-in-chief Barack Obama doesn't have that job. But unlike these other three, I want to win New Hampshire. Go Tom Brady. Go Patriots. Sorry, Colorado is late in the... +p932 +aVSomebody said \u2014 or maybe I saw it on the bill of a cap \u2014 that let's make America great again. America is great. I intend to make America strong again. I'm going to be the champion of the middle class, where I came from. If you make me your president, our best days are ahead. I'm ready to be commander- in-chief, ladies and gentlemen, on day one. I intend to war \u2014 win a war that we cannot afford to lose. I will be a commander-in-chief worthy of the sacrifice of those brave Americans who have been defending our nation. They have had our back. God knows, they have had our back... +p933 +aV\u2014 and I intend to have their back as commander-in- chief. Make me commander-in-chief. +p934 +aVOne, thanks, CNN, for having people at this debate. I'm Lindsey Graham from South Carolina, in case you can't tell. I want to thank Ms. Reagan (ph) for inviting me. It means the world to me. I'm the only candidate tonight who served in the military while Ronald Reagan was our president and our commander in chief. It was one of the highlights of my life. I'm running for president to destroy radical Islam, to win the war on terror, to protect you and your family. And in that quest, I have an uncompromising determination to win this war, just like President Reagan had an uncompromising determination to destroy the evil empire, and win the Cold War. Above all others on both sides of the isle, I'm most qualified to be commander and chief on day one -- 33 years in the Air Force, 35 trips to Iraq and Afghanistan, I understand this war. I have a plan to win it, and I intend to win it. +p935 +aVWell, all I can say, if you looked at polling in 2012 and 2008 at this level, we'd have -- at this stage, we would have President Perry and President Giuliani. I have a long way to go. And here's what I'm going to try to do tonight -- convince you that I'm best qualified to be the commander-in-chief of the one percent who are doing the fighting for the rest of us. And we'll have a serious discussion tonight. All of us are going to say we want to destroy +p936 +aVWell, what I hope Republican voters, libertarian, vegetarians, Democrats, you name it, will look for somebody to lead us in a new direction, domestically, but particularly on the foreign policy front. President Obama is making a mess of the world. What I'm trying to tell you here tonight, that Syria is hell on Earth and it's not going to get fixed by insulting each other. I've been there 35 times to Iraq and Afghanistan. I am ready to be commander-in-chief on day one. I've been in the military 33 years, 140 days on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan. I am so ready to get on with winning a war that we can't afford to lose. I hope you believe that experience matters. It's an all- volunteer force of -- when you vote for commander-in-chief, they are stuck with your choice. We've had one novice being commander-in- chief. Let's don't replace one novice with another. And if I thought... +p937 +aV-- I could win this war without more American ground forces in Iraq and Syria, I would tell you, but we can't... +p938 +aV-- and if we don't get on with this, they are coming here. +p939 +aVThank you. +p940 +aVProbably for a good reason. +p941 +aVWell, let's talk about immigration. Number one, I like Rick. I don't remember the Santorum plan when I was in the Senate. The peanut gallery on this is interesting. I have been trying to solve this problem for a decade. There are no democrats here tonight. If you're here, raise your hand. You went to the wrong -- we'll, welcome. Thank you very much for coming. +p942 +aVThe bottom line, I'm trying to pitch the problem. We're not going to deport 11 million people here illegally, but we'll start with felons, and off they go. And, as to the rest, you can stay, but you got to learn our language. I don't speak it very well, well, look how far I've come? Speaking English is a good thing. You got to pay taxes, you got to pay a fine, you got to get in the back of the line. You've got to secure your border or they'll keep coming. If you don't control who gets a job that never ends -- so (ph) got two borders. One with Canadia -- Canada, one with Mexico. I never met an illegal Canadian. This is an economic problem, so, folks, let's solve it. Amnesty is doing nothing, and that's what we've been doing. As to birthright citizenship, once we clean up this mess, in the future, prospectively, I'm going to look at the following. There are people buying tourist visas that go to resorts with maternity wards with the expressed purpose of having a children here in America. There are rich Asians, there are rich people up in the Mid-East... +p943 +aV...That to me is bastardizing citizenship... +p944 +aV...Yeah, I'd like to stop that in the future... +p945 +aV...What do you do with the 11 million? +p946 +aV...What are you going to do with the 11 million? +p947 +aV...Well, what about the other half... +p948 +aV...How many democrats support yourplan... +p949 +aV...How many democrats did you have on your bill? +p950 +aV...I can tell you. None. +p951 +aV...That went nowhere. +p952 +aV...George W. Bush... +p953 +aV...Who won with hispanics. +p954 +aV...Compared to what we're doing... +p955 +aV...Hispanics... +p956 +aV...Are Americans... +p957 +aV...In my world, hispanics are Americans... +p958 +aV...I have a little different take on where the country is going on this issue. Number one, in 1950, there were 16 workers for every retiree. How many are there today? There's three. In 20 years, there's going to be two, and you're going to have 80 million baby boomers like me retiree in mass wanting a Social Security check, and their Medicare bills paid. We're going to need more legal immigration. Let's just make it logical. Let's pick people from all over the world on our terms, not just somebody from Mexico. Let's create a rational, legal immigration system because we have a declining workforce. +p959 +aV...Strom Thurmond had four kids after he was 67, if you're not willing to do that, we've got to come up with a new legal immigration system. +p960 +aVYes, number one, how does President Obama sleep at night? Look what you let happen on your watch. Your commanders told you, don't withdrawal from Iraq because we'll lose of our gains. Three years ago your entire national security team, Senator McCain and I begged you to do a no-fly zone and help the Free Syrian Army while it would matter. But you said no. I'm not blaming Bobby, I'm not blaming Rick, I'm not blaming anybody, I'm blaming Barack Obama for this mess. +p961 +aVRight. +p962 +aVI'm saying this, if they don't understand that Barack Obama's policies are not working, that we're not going to destroy +p963 +aV-- does that include American ground forces in Syria as part of a regional army? Are all of you willing to commit to American ground forces going into Syria as part of a regional army to destroy the caliphate and its headquarters? +p964 +aVWell, you know, Kim Davis, I'm not worried about her attacking me. I am worried about radical Islamic terrorists who are already here planning another 9/11. We're at war, folks. I'm not fighting a crime. I want to have a legal system that understands the difference between fighting a war and fighting a crime, and here's the reality. Young men from the Mid- East are different than Kim Davis. And we've got to understand that. +p965 +aVIslamic websites need to be monitored. +p966 +aVAnd if you are on one, I want to know what you're doing. +p967 +aVI wasn't the best law student. By the end of this debate, it would be the most time I've ever spent in any library. But on the first day in law school view (ph), it's called "Marbury v. Madison." The group in our constitutional democracy that interprets "The Constitution" as to what it means is the Supreme Court. In a 5-4 decision by the Supreme Court, they have ruled that same-sex marriage bans at the state level violate the Fourteenth Amendment to "The United States Constitution" equal protection clause. I don't agree with it, but that is the law of the land. But as president, what I want make sure of is that everybody in this room, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, whatever religion that you can practice your faith without government interference, you can marry people consistent with the tenets of your faith. That's the number one obligation of my presidency, is to protect religious people when they exercise their religious rights. But this decision is the law as it is of right now. And here's the one thing I want to tell you, Jake. +p968 +aVWait -- wait a minute. Whether you're the wedding cake baker or the gay couple or the Baptist preacher, radical Islam would kill you all if they could. +p969 +aVLet's don't lose sight of the big picture here. +p970 +aVHe's one of the most qualified men to ever come before the United States Senate and I don't agree with his decision, but 99 times out of 100, I will. To the Republicans, the biggest prize on the table in 2017 is the presidency. If it is Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders, they are going to pick people that we will disagree with all the time. Please understand, we have to win this election. The court's at stake. It is the most important reason for us to turn out, to make sure we don't lose the judiciary for decades to come. +p971 +aVI've been called a lot of things but never elite before. My dad owned a liquor store, a bar and a poolroom. So only in America can you go from the back of a liquor store to being an elite. +p972 +aVI introduced her at a conference about Africa. I thought Secretary Clinton did a good job when it came to dealing with our problems in Africa, particularly among women. George W. Bush set $40 billion aside and Rick Santorum helped him and President Bush wiped out an entire -- wiped out +p973 +aVWell, Ronald Reagan did a couple of really big things that we should all remember. He sat down with Tip O'Neill, the most liberal guy in the entire House. They started drinking together. That's the first thing I'm going to do as president. We're going to drink more. And what did this -- two great Irishmen do? They found a way to save Social Security from bankruptcy by adjusting the age of retirement from 65 to 67. So, yes, I will say nice things at times about Democrats. Yes, I will work them -- work with them. I will put the country ahead of party. Absolutely I want to work with them. At the end of the day, Hugh, I'm lucky to be standing here. I'm the first in my family to ever go to college. Neither one of my parents finished high school. Darline's here with me tonight. We owned a restaurant... +p974 +aVWell, wait a minute. We... +p975 +aVYou asked me a question. This is important. Republicans need to tell the American people we get it as to who you are. When my mom died, I was 21. When my dad died, when I was 22. We were wiped out financially. If it weren't for Social Security survivor benefit check coming into Darline, we wouldn't have made it. I don't need a lecture from Democrats about Social Security. +p976 +aVI want to save it, just like Ronald Reagan did. +p977 +aVIf you want to see manufacturing, come to South Carolina... +p978 +aV...We'll show 'ya. +p979 +aVWell, I know this. That when my mom and dad owned a restaurant, the bar, the pool room, that if you increased the minimum wage it'd been hard to hire more people. Hillary Clinton has a list a mile long to help the middle class. We're talking all around this. The middle class for the last six and a half years has been squeezed, and squeezed hard. To the middle class, I understand who you are. You're one broken down car from not going on vacation. You're from one sick child away from having to change your whole budget. Here's what I want to do as your president. I want to grow this economy. When Boeing came to South Carolina to build a 787, everybody paid more they would have lost their employees to Boeing. If you're a waitress out there wanting more money, I'm not going to increase the minimum wage, I'm going to try to create an environment where somebody else will open up a restaurant across the street to hire you away at a higher rate, or they'll have to pay you more to keep you. You got to borrow money to create jobs in this country. Banking is locked down because of Dodd-Frank. The tax code is a complete mess, but nobody's talked about the elephant in the room, which is debt. Not one more penny to the federal government until w2e come up with a plan to get out of debt. +p980 +aVIt's probably a small bit, but the ones that get it... +p981 +aVYeah, but I... +p982 +aV...Have you ever thought why all of us say that... +p983 +aVIf I believed they were trying to break out and get a bomb, absolutely. And here's the most important thing: they know I would if I had to. And none of us are going to be able to defend this country adequately until we rebuild our military. A weak economy, a military in decline, the world on fire, does that sound familiar to you? Michael, does that sound familiar to you? The first thing I'm going to do as commander in chief on day one is call the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and say, what do you need that you don't have? We're cutting our military; we're on track to have the smallest Army since 1940, the smallest Navy since 1915 and John Kasich says he wants to close more bases. I want to rebuild our military and I want the Iranians to know that, if I had to, I would use it. The worst nightmare in the world is a radical Islamic regime with a weapon of mass destruction. The only reason 3,000 of us died on 9/11 is not 3 million, not 3 million is because they couldn't get the weapons to kill us. They're on track to get a bomb even if they don't cheat. This deal is a nightmare for Israel. They are coming here if we don't watch it terrorism with a nuclear capability sponsored by Iran. So, yes, I would use military force to stop them. I would set this deal aside and I would get you a better deal. If you gave $100 billion, I could get almost anybody out of jail. We couldn't even get our hostages out of jail. +p984 +aVDo you think Putin would be in the Ukraine or Syria today if Ronald Reagan were president? No. This is what happens when you have a weak, unqualified commander- in-chief who doesn't understand the role America plays in the world. Why is it bad for you that Russia's helping Assad? He's the magnet for Sunni extremists. The Syrian people are not going to accept him as their legitimate leader. By Assad being helped by Russia, it means the war never ends. It means the next 9/11, which is most likely to occur from an attack from Syria. It's more likely. At the end of the day, if I'm president of the United States, I've told you what I'm going to do. There's nobody left in Syria to train. We're going to get a regional army who doesn't like +p985 +aV... and if the war in Syria continues, it is coming here. For God's sakes, let's get on with... +p986 +aV... with fixing the problem in Syria. +p987 +aVBobby, you were in the Congress, and all I can tell you, to everybody here, if you want to repeal Obamacare, get a new president. If you want to defund Planned Parenthood, elect a pro-life president, because that's the only way. If we pass the Cardin bill, Graham, Menendez, it would go to the president. He would veto it. 67 votes are required to override the veto. +p988 +aVWait a minute. Now, you asked me a question. So I don't want to take off the table the ability to slow down Obama in his last 13 to 14 months, because I want 60 votes to stop what I think he's going to do between now and January 2017. Five Republicans deflect -- leave -- we're in trouble. So folks, the world really is the way it is. President Obama is president. The goal is to get him out of there and pick somebody who would actually do something to repeal Obamacare, who would get you a better agreement. So Bobby, he would veto the bill, we don't have 67 votes, and you're giving away a defense against Obama for the rest of his presidency. No, I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to tell you things I can't do. I'm not going to tell you by shutting the government down, we're going to defund Obamacare as long as he's president. All that does is hurt us. I am trying to lead this party to winning. +p989 +aVAre you going to shut the government down? +p990 +aVAre you going to shut the government... +p991 +aVCan I just say something? You know, Bobby, we're running to be president of the United States, the most important job in the free world. With it comes a certain amount of honesty. I'm tired of telling people things they want to hear that I know we can't do. He is not going to sign a bill that would defund ObamaCare. If I am president of the United States, I wouldn't put one penny in -- in my budget for Planned Parenthood, not one penny. I'm as offended by these videos as you are. But the one thing I'm not going to do going into 2016 is shut the government down and tank our ability to win. What you're saying and what Senator Cruz is saying, I am really sick of hearing, trying to get the bottom... +p992 +aV-- the Republican Party in a position... +p993 +aV-- to win. That's what I'm trying to do. And that does matter to me ... +p994 +aVIt matters a lot. +p995 +aVWell, number one, I will win a war that we can't afford to lose. I have a plan to destroy radical Islam because it has to be. These are religious Nazis running while President Obama has made one mistake after another and it's caught up with us. What do I have to offer that's different? I get my foreign policy from being in on the ground. I've been to Iraq and Afghanistan in the Middle East 35 times in the last decade, trying to understand how we got in this mess. Our leading candidate gets his foreign policy from watching television. And what I heard last night is the Cartoon Network, oh, I'm big, I'm strong, we're going to hit them in the head. +p996 +aVThat's not foreign policy. That's a cartoon character. John Kasich, a good friend of mine, said in New Hampshire, we're going to close more bases on his watch. On my watch, we're going to open up more bases. The military is in decline, folks. We're going to have the smallest military in modern times, spending half of what we'd normally spend by the end of this decade. +p997 +aVWhat do I offer? What do I offer? To make your families safe and our country strong again, a vision and a determination to win a war that we cannot afford to lose. +p998 +aVYou can trust me to do the following: that when I get on change with Hillary Clinton, we won't be debating about the science, we'll be debating about the solutions. In her world, cap- and-trade would dominate, that we will destroy the economy in the name of helping the environment. In my world, we'll focus on energy independence and a clean environment. When it comes to fossil fuels, we're going to find more here and use less. Over time, we're going to become energy independent. I am tired of sending $300 billion overseas to buy oil from people who hate our guts. The choice between a weak economy and a strong environment is a false choice, that is not the choice I'll offer America. A healthy environment, a strong economy and energy independent America -- that would be the purpose of my presidency, is break the strangle hold that people enjoy on fossil fuels who hate our guts. +p999 +aVIf we don't stop them over there, they are coming here just as sure as I stand here in front of you. One thing I want to be clear about tonight. If you're running for president of the United States and you don't understand that we need more American ground forces in Iraq and that America has to be part of a regional ground force that will go into Syria and destroy +p1000 +aVRight. Mac +p1001 +aVI think America is dying to work, you just need to give them a chance. To all the Americans who want a better life, don't vote for Hillary Clinton. You're not going to get it. She's not going to repeal "Obamacare" and replace it. I will. She's not going to build the Keystone Pipeline. I will. She's not going to change Dodd-Frank. I will. Until you change the policies of Barack Obama, we're never going to grow this economy. Until you change the policies of Barack Obama, we're never going to be safe. She represents a third term of a failed presidency. I'm fluent in Clinton-speak; I've been dealing with this crowd for 20 years. You know, when Bill Clinton says it depends on what the meaning of is is, that means is is whatever Bill wants it to mean. When Hillary Clinton tells you I've given you all the emails you need, that means she hasn't. So to the people who are dying for a better America, you better change course, and she doesn't represent the change that we need. Do we all agree that +p1002 +aVI don't think it's a war on women for all of us as Americans to stand up and stop harvesting organs from little babies. Let's take the money that we would give to Planned Parenthood and put it in women's health care without having to harvest the organs of the unborn. The only way we're going to defund Planned Parenthood is have a pro-life president. You want to see a war on women? Come with me to Iraq and Afghanistan, folks. I've been there 35 times. I will show you what they do to women. These mythical Arab armies that my friends talk about that are going to protect us don't exist. If I am president of the United States, we're going to send soldiers back to Iraq, back to Syria, to keep us from being attacked here and keep soldiers in Afghanistan because we must. I cannot tell you how much our nation is threatened and how we need a commander in chief who understands the threats to this nation. If you're running for president of the United States and you do not understand that we cannot defend this nation without more of our soldiers over there, you are not ready for this job. +p1003 +aVChange the Mexico City policy, not take one dime of taxpayer money to fund abortion organizations overseas, and restore the NSA that's been gutted. We're going dark when it comes to detecting the next attack. We have gutted our ability to detect the next attack. And I would not stand for that as president of the United States. I would take the fight to these guys, whatever it took, as long as it took. +p1004 +aVThank you. First thing I'd tell the American people, whatever it takes to defend our nation, I would do. To the 1 percent who have been fighting this war for over a decade, I'd try my best to be a commander-in-chief worthy of your sacrifice. We're going to lose Social Security and Medicare if Republicans and Democrats do not come together and find a solution like Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neill. I will be the Ronald Reagan if I can find a Tip O'Neill. When I was 21, my mom died. When I was 22, my dad died. We owned a liquor store, restaurant, bar and we lived in the back. Every penny we needed from -- every penny we got from Social Security, because my sister was a minor, we needed. Today, I'm 60, I'm not married, I don't have any kids. I would give up some Social Security to save a system that Americans are going to depend on now and in the future. Half of American seniors would be in poverty without a Social Security check. If you make your president, I'm going to put the country ahead of the party. I'm going to do what it takes to defend this nation. This nation has been great to me, and that's the only way I know to pay you back. Mac +p1005 +aVNot the change we need at a time we need it. +p1006 +aVWe need somebody ready to be commander-in-chief on day one, who understands there are no moderates in Iran, they've been killed a long time ago. That the Ayatollah is a radical jihadist who really means it when he chants, "Death to America, death to Israel." And this deal is giving him a pathway to a bomb, a missile to deliver it, and money to pay for it all. We need a president who can solve our problems, bring us together. We're becoming Greece if we don't work together. At the end of the day, ladies and gentlemen, our best days are ahead of us only if we work together, and I intend to put this country on a path of success by working together and doing the hard things that should have been done a very long time ago. +p1007 +asVREGAN +p1008 +(lp1009 +VIn Tuesday's State of the Union Address, the president said that our economy is strong. He cited the significant decline we've seen in unemployment rate and the millions of jobs that have been created. What is your assessment of the economy right now? And I would like to hear from all of you on this one, beginning with Ms. Fiorina. +p1010 +aVThank you Governor Huckabee. Senator Santorum? +p1011 +aVThank you. Well, since we've been talking about the Middle East, Senator Santorum, conflicts between Saudi Arabia and Iran have certainly escalated, amid accusations that Saudi Arabia bombed the Iranian Embassy in Yemen after the Saudi Embassy in Tehran was attacked. As we confront an increasingly unstable Middle East, how will you, as president, navigate this administration's promises to Iran while standing by our historic allies in the region? +p1012 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p1013 +aVGovernor Huckabee, if I could just follow-up with that. Do we need to be in Afghanistan? +p1014 +aVThank you Governor Huckabee. Ms. Fiorina, nearly 600 women say they were attacked in a German city on New Year's Eve by men of Arab or North African descent and 45 percent of those alleged attacks were sexual assaults. Twenty-two of those 32 men arrested so far are asylum-seekers. Are you worried about similar problems in the United States? +p1015 +aVI want to stay with you on this. The world shares a common enemy right now in the way of +p1016 +aVMs. Fiorina, thank you. +p1017 +aVWelcome back, everyone, to the Republican presidential debate. On to the next round of questions \u2014 Sandra. +p1018 +aVMs. Fiorina, the president has just issued an executive order to expand the gun laws and background checks. And none of you on stage agree with this. But recent polls show the majority of Americans are in favor of universal background checks. +p1019 +aVIt's the poll data. +p1020 +aVSo tell me......why, in your view, is the president's proposal a problem? +p1021 +aVMs. Fiorina, you've said that was when you were CEO of HP, you actually worked with the government. +p1022 +aV\u2014 to try and combat some of these terrorist threats. +p1023 +aVWhat did you do? +p1024 +aVMs. Fiorina, thank you. +p1025 +aVGovernor Huckabee, an American in San Bernardino murdered 14 people while terrorists with Belgian and French passports murdered 130 people. Were facing a threat within our borders, and from outside the United States. Those European terrorists, they could have come here at any time given that we have a visa waiver program that enables people to travel back and forth. It exists within those countries, and 36 others. In countries around the world, including many in Europe, cannot ensure that their citizens are not jihadists, why are we waiving the visa requirement at all? +p1026 +aVIf you get the visa waiver program, does that shut down international commerce? +p1027 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p1028 +aVSenator Santorum, thank you. +p1029 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p1030 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from North Charleston. We want to jump right back in. Sandra is kicking it off. +p1031 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you know it used to be you could graduate from high school and get a pretty good job at the local factory, enough to take care of your family and yourself. Those days seem to be gone. It's pretty hard to do that nowadays. Businesses are increasingly turning to automation to increase their productivity levels. It's happening right here, in fact, at the Boeing factory in North Charleston. The president says automation threatens workers' ability to get higher wages. Do you agree with that? And if so, do you have a solution? +p1032 +aVThank you very much, Governor Huckabee. Senator Santorum, 40% of babies born today are born to single moms. That's twice as high as reported back in 1980, and it's 11 times as high as in 1940. Studies show that children are always better off economically, most often \u2014 and emotionally, with two parents in a household. From a policy perspective, should the government be doing anything to encourage family formation? +p1033 +aVThank you. +p1034 +aVCarly Fiorina? +p1035 +aVThank you to all the candidates. That does it, everyone for the first debate right here in North Charleston. +p1036 +aVGood evening, and welcome to the historic Milwaukee Theater. Tonight, you'll hear from 12 Republican candidates vying to become the next President of the United States. I'm Trish Regan, along with my co-moderators, Sandra Smith, and from the Wall Street Journal, Jerry Seib. +p1037 +aVLet's introduce them. New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie. Former Arkansas Governor, Mike Huckabee. Former Pennsylvania Senator, Rick Santorum. And, Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindal. +p1038 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p1039 +aVAll right, Governor Jindal, you have pushed Louisiana's energy resources as a means to grow jobs in your state. But as oil prices have plunged in recent months, so has jobs growth. Louisiana now has an unemployment rate above the national average. Will your energy-focused jobs plan for the country be subject to the same market ups and downs? +p1040 +aVAll right, Governor Jindal, thank you. Governor Christie, you have said that the Democrats' message is one of, quote, "free stuff." In contrast, Republicans want to reduce spending. How do you win a national election when the Democrats are offering free health care, a free or subsidized college education, and you're the party that is seemingly offering nothing in the way of immediate tangible benefits? +p1041 +aVSenator Santorum, a single mom with no job and two kids in New Hampshire, home of the first in the nation primary, is eligible for more than $30,000 a year in benefits. Even if she could find a job, she would need to find child care. And in many cases may conclude it's better for her to live off government benefits. Senator, how do you help and incentivize her to go to work? And if you're the one that's going to cut her benefits, why should she vote for you? +p1042 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you. All right, we are just getting started. Medicare, Social Security and the future of ObamaCare \u2014 that is all straight ahead, live from Milwaukee and the Republican presidential debate. +p1043 +aVWelcome back to the Milwaukee Theater, and the Republican Presidential Debate. On to the next round of questions, Gerry has the next question. +p1044 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you differ from many of your GOP opponents on the stage tonight over accepting Syrian refugees into this country. You have said, "We don't have an obligation to just open our doors." As the Islamic state continues to expand, slaughtering and crucifying Christians, including women and children, refugees continue to flee their land by the thousands. Should America open its doors to accept any refugees in this country? If so, how many? +p1045 +aVAlright, Governor Huckabee, thank you. +p1046 +aVNext question to you, Governor... +p1047 +aV...Next question to you, Governor... +p1048 +aV...let me get in......Let me get in here, because the next question, it's to you, and it's on Obamacare. It is still unpopular with the American people. You've seen the polls, they've shown nearly half the country still opposes this law. You have been critical of your GOP opponents, some of them standing on the stage tonight, others later. Notably, Ted Cruz, for not having comprehensive plans. You say you do. What specifically makes your plan to replace Obamacare better than the opponents, some of them standing next to you. +p1049 +aVGovernor Jindal, thank you. +p1050 +aVWe'll get to that. +p1051 +aVRonald Reagan did work with Tip O'Neill. Anyway, we are going to take a quick break. Coming up, one of the top issues for voters, how much you're paying in taxes. We are live from Milwaukee with the Republican presidential debate. See you right back here. +p1052 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate. We are live from Milwaukee. A top issue on the campaign trail, taxes and how much you pay. All right, I've got a question for all of you here. When looking at the federal income tax, state income tax and local tax, in some cases, combined, some Americans are paying over 50 percent of their paycheck to the government. What is the highest percentage, all in, in the way of taxes, that any American should have to pay and what is the lowest? I'd like to, again, to hear from each of you. And I want those two all in numbers. I'm going to start with you, Senator Santorum. +p1053 +aVAll in. OK, Governor Christie? +p1054 +aVAnd we'll get back to you. Governor Jindal? +p1055 +aVGovernor Huckabee, Americans, under your plan, would pay a tax on every single thing that they purchase. Given that consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of GDP, some economists worry that your tax plan would actually discourage spending, thereby slowing our economy. How do you respond? +p1056 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p1057 +aVSenator Santorum, you agree with Governor Christie. You also have said that the Fed should be audited. But many worry that given the Congressional challenges that they face, by having Congressional oversight of the Fed, which has been historically an independent body, you would be making the Fed much more political. How would you navigate that risk? +p1058 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee, both Senator Santorum and Governor Christie were boat \u2014 both critical of the Federal Reserve. Also, many have questioned whether Janet Yellen is the right person to be running the Fed. If elected president, would you keep Janet Yellen? +p1059 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee, thank you. All right, Senator Santorum, by the way, today is the 240th... +p1060 +aV\u2014 of the United States... +p1061 +aV\u2014 Marine Corps. Tomorrow is Veterans Day. We honor and recognize all those who have fought for, and served this great nation, Senator. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, meanwhile, which provides patient care, and federal benefits to those veterans, as well as their families, is beset by scandal. What new ideas do you have to fix the broken V.A. healthcare system? +p1062 +asVHEMMER +p1063 +(lp1064 +VSo, here we go. Ninety-seven hours before Iowa chooses, in fact the last two winners in this state are on this stage tonight. Governor Huckabee, in 2008, you won by nine points here, but this time your support seems to be going to Senator Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. Why, Governor, is your message not working this time? +p1065 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Santorum, four short years ago you won Iowa. You beat Mitt Romney, pretty much shocked the country. But, just the other day you talked about what is in the greater good for your campaign. Is Monday night your last stand? +p1066 +aVOK. +p1067 +aV... Senator, do you want to name... ... Senator, do you want to name that entertainer your refering to? +p1068 +aVBut senator, since you mentioned... +p1069 +aVSenator, quickly then, after this debate, you mentioned Donald trump's name. Immediately, you're going to event across town here in Des Moines as a guest of Donald Trump. +p1070 +aVSo are you laying the groundwork for maybe your future? Perhaps an endorsement of Mr. Trump? +p1071 +aVThank you, senator. One moment. We'll get to you in a moment, Governor. We have a few coming up. +p1072 +aVThank you. Governor Gilmore. As of one week ago, you have not held a single campaign event here in the state of Iowa. As of one week ago, in fact, you were the only one in the Republican field who had not made a campaign visit to this state. You know how it works here. You know how it's worked over time. Why should anyone caucus for you on Monday night? +p1073 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p1074 +aVMs. Fiorina, same topic. The president says that many are exaggerating the threat from +p1075 +aVThank you. +p1076 +aVGovernor Gilmore, some time this spring 34 more detainees are cleared from release from Gitmo. If you were president, as you say, this president wants to close it. As president, if Gitmo were closed and an enemy combatant were found or captured in the field of battle, perhaps Syria or Iraq or Libya, and you don't have Gitmo, where would you put them? +p1077 +aVGovernor, thank you for that. +p1078 +aVWelcome back to Des Moines on what will be a long night here. Let's get back to the questions. Let's get back to the questions with Martha. +p1079 +aVLet me stay with you, Ms. Fiorina. You've said you will shrink the federal government by 30 percent over the next two years, and those jobs will not be filled, and you'll do it through retirement. Your critics would argue that's exactly what you did at Hewlett Packard when 30,000 people lost their jobs. If it did not work at H.P., why would it work at the federal government? +p1080 +aVThank you. +p1081 +aVGovernor Huckabee, Nikki Haley, Republican governor from South Carolina, recently said... +p1082 +aVI did not, but we... +p1083 +aVWe have plenty for you -- you bet, Governor. We have a couple more in the hopper for you in a moment here. +p1084 +aVFirst, Governor -- Governor Huckabee, Nikki Haley warned about listening to "the siren call of the angriest voices," to which Donald Trump said he is "very, very angry." Who is right, Governor? +p1085 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1086 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you've mentioned the economy several times tonight. Let's go back to that for a moment because in America today 50% of the American workers are making less than $30,000 dollars a year. Let's talk about what you could do for them. The Conservative Club for Growth has had an issue with your policy on taxes for years. In fact, it called you, "Tax Hike Mike". And, the record shows state spending in Arkansas increased 54% when you were in charge, 94% if you include federal dollars during that same period. When it comes to helping people at the margins, $30,000, $32,000 dollars a year, what's better? A tax and spend approach, or shrinking government? +p1087 +aVGovernor Huckabee, thank you. Same issue, Senator Santorum. The President says criticism of his economic policy is political hot air. You consistently talk about manufacturing jobs leaving America. You support a flat tax of 20%. How would a flat tax bring back two million jobs to America? +p1088 +aVSenator, thank you. +p1089 +aVThank you Ms. Fiorina. Governor Gilmore. Who are the moderate Muslims do you seek advice and counsel from on how to deal with the threat from radical Islamic terrorism? +p1090 +aVThank you governor. Governor Huckabee. Here in Iowa 43 percent of Democratic caucus goers describe themselves as socialist. That's a higher number than those who say they are capitalist. I guess you could say, they're feeling the burn. This is a country rooted in capitalism, the United States of America. How did we get here? +p1091 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum, the president says politics in America have become meaner over the past several years with him in the White House. Two weeks ago at the State of the Union he said the following. "A president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide." Lincoln and Roosevelt, that's pretty good company. If he is right, do Republicans share some of the blame? +p1092 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1093 +aVIn the closing few moments, the candidates have an opportunity to make a closing statement, 30 seconds for each. And, we want to start tonight with the former Virginia Governor, Jim Gilmore. +p1094 +aV... Thank you, Governor. +p1095 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p1096 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1097 +aVThat concludes our debate tonight, but the night has just begun. +p1098 +aVThis is first official event in the campaign for the Republican nomination for president. Welcome to Cleveland Ohio. It is debate night. I'm Bill Hemmer. Mac +p1099 +aVSo you will hear from all 17 candidates tonight, and you'll meet seven of them right now, starting with three-time governor in the state of Texas, Rick Perry. Mac +p1100 +aVTwo-time. Two-time governor of the State of Louisiana, Acting Governor Bobby Jindal. So you will hear from all 17 candidates tonight, and you'll meet seven of them right now, starting with three-time governor in the state of Texas, Rick Perry. Mac +p1101 +aVTwo-time. Two-time governor of the State of Louisiana, Acting Governor Bobby Jindal. Mac +p1102 +aVThe senior senator from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham. Mac +p1103 +aVAnd former Virginia governor, Jim Gilmore. Mac +p1104 +aVGentle. Mac +p1105 +aVWait til you hear what the others are going to get later, huh? Mac +p1106 +aVOne year from now, a Republican nominee will be standing on this stage in this very same arena. That person is in Cleveland today. So let's get started. First topic, electability. First question to Governor Perry from Texas. Welcome, Governor. +p1107 +aVYou were in charge of the 12th largest economy in the world, and you recently said that four years ago, you weren't ready for this job. Why should someone vote for you now? +p1108 +aVThank you, Governor. Mac +p1109 +aVSenator Santorum, you won the Iowa caucus four years ago and 10 other states. But you failed to beat Mitt Romney for the nomination. And no one here tonight is going to question your conviction or your love for country. But has your moment passed, Senator? +p1110 +aVThank you, Senator. Mac +p1111 +aVSenator Lindsey Graham, you worked with Democrats and President Obama when it came to climate change, something you know is extremely unpopular with conservative Republicans. How can they trust you based on that record? +p1112 +aVThank you, Senator. Mac +p1113 +aVThank you, Governor. Mac +p1114 +aVThis Saturday, August 8th, two days from now marks one year since the strikes began against +p1115 +aVAnd the senator to your right has called for 20,000 American troops in Syria and Iraq so far today, Senator Graham, and I'll give this question to you. Why should the American people after two wars in Iraq sacrifice yet again on a third war? +p1116 +aVSenator, thank you. Mac +p1117 +aVIt is debate night, and welcome back to Cleveland, Ohio. Let's get back to the questions right now with Martha. Mac +p1118 +aVExcuse me, Martha. I have not heard the bell just yet, so you're all very well behaved so far. Governor Gilmore, 30 seconds. +p1119 +aVThank you, Governor. I've got to move on to immigration here. Senator Santorum, you would argue you have one of the tougher positions on illegal immigration in the entire 17 candidate field at the moment. We often talk about this issue on the abstract level in Washington, D.C., but you know how it's being talked about in states like Iowa and New Hampshire among illegals in our country today -- 11 million plus. And some are asking, what would you say to a child, born and raised in America, who could see their family broken apart by your policy? +p1120 +aVGovernor Perry, try and answer this question again. What do you say to the family of illegals? Are you going to break them apart? +p1121 +aVGovernor, thank you. Mac +p1122 +aVAnd so right now, we're 30 minutes in. Going to jump back into the topics and continue our discussion of national issues on the domestic level. The issue that is really number one on the minds of many voters, that's the economy and jobs. Mac +p1123 +aVThank you, Governor. Your last topic brings us to the state of Ohio. You know, the saying, right? No Republican wins the White House unless you win here in the Buckeye state. Well, here in the Buckeye state, the Governor John Kasich took the federal money for Medicaid expansion under Obamacare. And Governor Jindal of Louisiana, you passed on those tax dollars. Why do you think Governor Kasich got it wrong here? +p1124 +aVSo Governor Kasich was wrong, just to be clear. +p1125 +aVI didn't hear an answer regarding Governor Kasich, but for now I'll go to Governor Pataki. Yes or no? +p1126 +aVGovernor Pataki, three term governor of New York. Is he right, Governor Jindal from Louisiana? +p1127 +aVYes or no, would you have expanded Obamacare in the state of New York, had you been governor at that time? +p1128 +aVOK. +p1129 +aVThank you, Governor Pataki. In a moment here, we'll talk to the candidates about an issue today on Planned Parenthood, and also the U.S. Supreme Court. That's all next here in Cleveland. +p1130 +aVWelcome back to Cleveland, Ohio. Want to get back to the questions and the issues in this debate now, with my co-anchor, Martha. Mac +p1131 +aVNext question on the U.S. Supreme Court. It's been 42 years, Senator Santorum, since Roe v. Wade, and many consider, in this country, to be a case of settled law. Recently the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on same-sex marriage. Is that now settled law in America today? +p1132 +aVAlright, Senator, thank you. To Governor Gilmore. For years, presidential candidates have not said they would have a litmus test for justices nominated to the Supreme Court. Recently, Hillary Clinton broke that precedent. She said she would apply that on the case of Citizens United, which deals with campaign finance laws in America today. Is it time for conservatives to impose a litmus test on abortion? +p1133 +aVSo, no litmus test? +p1134 +aVThank you, governor. Mac +p1135 +aVAs the first debate of the nomination season continues, welcome back to Cleveland. Let's get back to the questions right now, and the issues here in the U.S. Martha? Mac +p1136 +aVThank you, Senator. Executive power. It appears that you all have a little bit of an issue with it at the moment. I want to move through this as quickly as I can, from stage left to stage right. On the second day of his presidency, January 22nd 2009, President Obama signed one of his first executive orders. That was close Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Still open today. What would be your first executive order? Governor Gilmore, start. +p1137 +aVSenator Graham. +p1138 +aVGovernor Jindal, your first executive order would be in the White House would be what? +p1139 +aVGovernor Perry. +p1140 +aVThat will be a long day. +p1141 +aVSenator Santorum? +p1142 +aVFirst order, Carly Fiorina? +p1143 +aVGovernor Pataki? +p1144 +aVThank you all. Mac +p1145 +aVThank you, senator. Mac +p1146 +aVThank you, Senator. I need a two-word answer to the following query. In 2008, then-Senator Barack Obama described Hillary Clinton as, quote, "likable enough," end quote. What two words would you use to describe the Democratic frontrunner? Governor Pataki to start. +p1147 +aVWow. Carly Fiorina. +p1148 +aVGovernor Jindal? +p1149 +aVGovernor? +p1150 +aVNot a lot of compliments. To be continued. Mac +p1151 +aVThank you Governor. Senator Santorum? +p1152 +aVAll right. Senator thank you. Mac +p1153 +aVCarly Fiorina, closing statement. +p1154 +aVThank you. Mac +p1155 +aVAnd to Governor Pataki, closing statement now. +p1156 +aVThank you, Governor. Mac +p1157 +aVThat concludes the first debate of the 2016 Republican primary. We would like to thank all seven of you for being here today. +p1158 +asVUNIDENTIFIED +p1159 +(lp1160 +VWhy don't, why don't we... +p1161 +asVBAIER +p1162 +(lp1163 +VLess than a year from now, in this very arena, one of these 10 candidates or one of the seven on the previous debate tonight will accept the Republican party's nomination. Tonight's candidates were selected based on an average of five national polls. Just a few hours ago, you heard from the candidates ranked 11th through 17. And now, the prime-time event, the top 10. +p1164 +aVNeurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Florida Senator Marco Rubio. +p1165 +aVIt might be. It might be. We'll see. [ +p1166 +aVIt might be. The rules for tonight are simple. One minute for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups. And if a candidate runs over, you'll hear this. Pleasant, no? We also have a big crowd here with us tonight in the home of the Cavaliers, as I mentioned. And while we expect them... ... we expect them to be enthusiastic, as you heard, we don't want to take anything away from the valuable time for the candidate. So, we're looking for somewhere between a reaction to a LeBron James dunk and the Cleveland Public Library across the street. Somewhere there, we'll find a balance tonight. Without further ado, let's begin. +p1167 +aVGentlemen, we know how much you love hand-raising questions. So we promise, this is the only one tonight: the only one. Is there anyone on stage, and can I see hands, who is unwilling tonight to pledge your support to the eventual nominee of the Republican party and pledge to not run an independent campaign against that person. Again, we're looking for you to raise your hand now -- raise your hand now if you won't make that pledge tonight. Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump to be clear, you're standing on a Republican primary debate stage. +p1168 +aVThe place where the RNC will give the nominee the nod. +p1169 +aVAnd that experts say an independent run would almost certainly hand the race over to Democrats and likely another Clinton. You can't say tonight that you can make that pledge? +p1170 +aVSo tonight, you can't say if another one of these... +p1171 +aVOK. +p1172 +aVDr. Paul. +p1173 +aVOK. +p1174 +aVJust to be clear, you can't make a -- we're gonna -- we're going to move on. You're not gonna make the pledge tonight? +p1175 +aVOK. Alright. +p1176 +aVGovernor Bush, you have insisted that you're your own man. You say you have a life experience uniquely your own. Not your father's, not your brother's. But there are several opponents on this stage who get big- applause lines in early voting states with this line: quote, "the last thing the country needs is another Bush in the Oval Office." So do you understand the real concern in this country about dynastic politics? +p1177 +aVGovernor Christie, you're not exactly the darling of conservatives. You tout your record as a Republican governor in a blue state. On Facebook, the most people talking about you, not surprisingly, come from your state of New Jersey, and one of the top issues they are talking about is the economy. This -- this may be why. Under your watch, New Jersey has undergone nine credit rating downgrades. The state's 44th in private sector growth. You face an employee pension crisis and the Garden State has the third highest foreclosure rate in the country. So why should voters believe that your management of the country's finances would be any different? +p1178 +aVSenator Paul, you recently blamed the rise of +p1179 +aVGentlemen, the next series of questions deals with ObamaCare and the role of the federal government. Mr. Trump, ObamaCare is one of the things you call a disaster. +p1180 +aVSaying it needs to be repealed and replaced. +p1181 +aVNow, 15 years ago, you called yourself a liberal on health care. You were for a single-payer system, a Canadian-style system. Why were you for that then and why aren't you for it now? +p1182 +aVBut on ObamaCare... +p1183 +aVMr. Trump, hold up one second. +p1184 +aVAll right, now, hold on, Senator Paul... +p1185 +aVOK. +p1186 +aVAll right, let me... Mr. Trump, it's not just your past support for single- payer health care. You've also supported a host of other liberal policies. Use -- you've also donated to several Democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton included, Nancy Pelosi. You explained away those donations saying you did that to get business-related favors. And you said recently, quote, "When you give, they do whatever the hell you want them to do." +p1187 +aVSo what specifically did... +p1188 +aV-- they do? +p1189 +aVHold on. We're going to -- we're going to move on. We'll come back to you, Governor Walker. +p1190 +aVWe have many questions to come. +p1191 +aVMany questions to come. Governor Huckabee, on Facebook, John Pietricone asked this, "Will you abolish or take away the powers and cut the size of the EPA, the IRS, the Department of Education?" Now, broadly... ...broadly, the size of government is a big concern for Facebook users, Facebook persons, as well as, obviously, conservatives. But year after year, decade after decade, there are promises from Republicans to shrink government. But year after year, decade after decade, it doesn't happen. In fact, it gets bigger, even under Republican politicians. So the question is, at this point, is the government simply too big for any one person, even a Republican, to shrink? +p1192 +aVDr. Carson... +p1193 +aVDr. Carson, do you agree with that? +p1194 +aVGovernor Bush? +p1195 +aVWe're going to come back to you, Dr. Carson. Governor Bush, you are one of the few people on the stage who advocates for Common Core education standards, reading and math. A lot of people on this stage vigorously oppose a federal involvement in education. They say it should all be handled locally. President Obama's secretary of education, Arnie Duncan, has said that most of the criticism of Common Core is due to a, quote, "fringe group of critics." Do you think that's accurate? +p1196 +aVSenator Rubio, why is Governor Bush wrong on Common Core? +p1197 +aVAnd do you agree with your old friend? +p1198 +aVWe have many more questions coming on a host of topics, here from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Stay with us. +p1199 +aVWe have many more questions coming on a host of topics. Here from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Stay with us. +p1200 +aVGentlemen, another question for a few of you. Yesterday, just yesterday, President Obama criticized Republican lawmakers trying to block the Iran deal, calling them knee-jerk partisans, adding that hardliners in Iran who chant "death to America" were, quote, "making common cause with the Republican caucus." Here's what two of your opponents on the 5 p.m. debate stage said about Iran. +p1201 +aVNow, I wanna ask a few of you this. First, Governor Walker. You've said that you would tear up the Iran deal on day one. If this deal is undone, what then? +p1202 +aVSenator Paul, would you tear up the deal on day one? +p1203 +aVGovernor Huckabee, what do you think about what Senator Paul just said? +p1204 +aVThank you, gentlemen. +p1205 +aVWelcome back to Cleveland. Our next topic is foreign policy. Candidates, you may not have seen the late developing news today our Fox Pentagon team broke earlier this evening about a top Iranian general traveling to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. His name is General Qassem Soleimani, he's blamed for hundreds of U.S. troop's deaths in Iraq, and Afghanistan. His trip to Russia appears to directly violate U.N. Security Council resolutions to confine him to Iran. So, Mr. Trump, if you were president, how would you respond to this? +p1206 +aVAnother new development today, Senior Defense officials tell Fox they strongly suspect Russia was behind the cyber attack on the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs office... +p1207 +aV...email. This comes in the wake of the Director of National Intelligence blaming the Chinese for the largest ever cyber attack, stealing personal data of tens of millions of Americans. Senator Cruz, in your view, have Russia and China committed acts of cyber war, and if you were president, what would you do about it? +p1208 +aVDr. Carson, in August of 2012 President Obama famously declared Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons, quote, "that's a redline for us," and that there would be enormous consequences. One year later, with overwhelming evidence the Assad had, in fact, used chemical weapons and crossed that red line, President Obama declined to use military force against the Assad regime. As president, would you have used military force there? +p1209 +aVGovernor Walker, as president, what would you do if Russian President Vladimir Putin started a campaign to destabilize +p1210 +aVGovernor -- Governor Huckabee, the culture of the American military is definitely changing. Women are moving into combat roles. Don't Ask, Don't Tell has obviously been dropped. And now Defense Secretary Ashton Carter recently directed the military to prepare for a moment when it is welcoming transgender persons to serve openly. As commander in chief, how would you handle that? +p1211 +aVSenator Paul, the first budget you proposed as senator cut all financial aid to Israel. You have since changed your view on that issue. What made you change your mind. +p1212 +aVOK. But you still say that Israel could be one of the countries that is cut from financial aid? +p1213 +aVGovernor Christie, what do you think of that answer? +p1214 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p1215 +aVSenator, we're going to finish up with some more questions, thank you. +p1216 +aVNow each candidate will make a closing statement. You'll all have 30 seconds to make a closing statement for this debate. We'll start with Ohio Governor John Kasich. +p1217 +aVSenator Marco Rubio. +p1218 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1219 +aVGovernor Mike Huckabee, closing statement. +p1220 +aVMr. Trump, closing statement, sir. +p1221 +aVGentlemen, thank you. +p1222 +aVThat's it. +p1223 +aVNine p.m. on the East Coast. Eight o'clock here in Des Moines, Iowa. Welcome to the seventh Republican presidential debate of the 2016 campaign. I'm Bret Baier, along with my comoderators Megyn Kelly and Chris Wallace. +p1224 +aVGoogle sees political searches spike during televised presidential debates \u2014 no surprise there. But they spike by more than 440 percent on average, as voters across America seek to learn more about what's happening on the live debate stage. +p1225 +aVOhio Governor John Kasich. And Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. +p1226 +aVTonight's rules are simple. Up to 60 seconds for each answer, 30 seconds for each follow-up response. And if a candidate goes over the allotted time, you will hear this. Double. +p1227 +aVI think the double is the one we want. Very pleasing. We have a crowd of about 1,600 here, and while they have agreed to respect the candidates and listen intently, we can tell you they are very excited to be here. Am I right? +p1228 +aVGovernor Bush, it's hard for anyone of your pedigree to avoid being called establishment. But isn't that part of the problem in this race, that three others on this stage are splitting the main stream Republican vote and there by possibly handing this nomination over to an anti-establishment candidate? +p1229 +aVThank you governor. +p1230 +aVSenator Paul, you are definitely not in the establishment category. But at the beginning of this campaign, you said you were your own man when asked about your father, former Texas Congressman and three-time presidential candidate Ron Paul. Senator Cruz's campaign is out with a video saying that Cruz is the intellectual and political heir to your father's 2012 campaign and the liberty movement. And your father now says it's realistic that Donald Trump will be your party's nominee. So did you make a mistake by not fully \u2014 more fully embracing your father politically at the beginning of this campaign? +p1231 +aVSenator Cruz, your response to that? +p1232 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1233 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1234 +aVWe'll come back to... +p1235 +aVOK. Go ahead, go ahead. +p1236 +aVWelcome back. Let's get right back to the questions. Chris. +p1237 +aVGovernor Bush, just today, a wounded warrior organization designed to help wounded veterans and their families is coming under fire for raising tens of millions of dollars, but spending almost half of that on travel and hotels and dinners and luxury, lavish conferences. So taking care of veterans is obviously a huge issue in the country that has asked so many to serve and sacrifice so much. If you were president. would you police these charity organizations that say they're helping vets? +p1238 +aVGovernor Bush, thank you. Speaking of veterans, we have a question from a veteran who is one of the top Youtube creators. Over the course of the evening, gentlemen, we will hear from some of Youtube's most followed stars. And here's one of them. +p1239 +aVSenator Paul, that question to you. +p1240 +aVSenator Paul, thank you. +p1241 +aVThank you, Megyn. Gentlemen, I'll ask you some questions about federal spending and the role of the federal government. Everybody always said they want to cut federal spending and usually they start by saying they'll cut waste, fraud, and abuse, but that really doesn't ever materialize. We all know that. Governor Christie, you talk a lot about entitlement reform and you say that that's where the federal government can get savings needed to balance the budget. But can you name even one thing that the federal government does now that it should not do at all? +p1242 +aVI want one. Yes. +p1243 +aVAnything bigger than that? +p1244 +aVAnd, Governor, I realize everyone on this stage opposes Obamacare and you're not alone. Google Data shows that in the last month when people searched "policy repeals," that there were a lot of them. Obamacare took the top two spots. But today there are millions of people who gained health insurance from Obamacare and they now rely on it. So the question, Senator Cruz, if you repeal Obamacare, as you say you will, will you be fine if millions of those people don't have health insurance? And what is your specific plan for covering the uninsured? +p1245 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. Governor Bush, you've advocated for statehood for Puerto Rico. The Puerto Rican economy is collapsing under unsustainable debt burden. Only about 1 million of its 4 million residents are currently employed. So should American citizens who you say are already overtaxed, bail out Puerto Rico as well? +p1246 +aVGovernor Kasich, you're one of two remaining sitting governors still in the race. Your colleague, Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan is under fire \u2014 he and his administration \u2014 for the Flint, Michigan water crisis and the botched response to it. How would you have handled that? +p1247 +aVSenator Rubio, on the issue of climate change, in 2008, you wanted Florida to get ahead of other states and establish a cap- and-trade system, a program for carbon emissions, which many Republicans thought at the time would hurt the Florida economy. Now, you're a skeptic of climate change science. And in fact, you warn that federal efforts to fight climate change will cost U.S. jobs and hurt the U.S. economy. So why the change? +p1248 +aVThanks, Senator. +p1249 +aVThank you. +p1250 +aVSenator Rubio, first before I ask you a question, any response to Governor Bush? +p1251 +aVNow let's talk about electability, Senator. +p1252 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1253 +aVMuch more to come, including where the candidates stand on foreign policy. And, once again, you can go to Google.com, or open your Google search app and search, "Fox News Debate" to vote on which candidate you think is winning the debate tonight. We'll be right back. +p1254 +aVGentlemen. I'd like to ask you a few questions about foreign policy broadly. Dr. Carson, many experts believe Russian leader Vladimir Putin has greater ideas, bigger designs for the region beyond Russia's actions inside Ukraine. Fast forward to February 2017 and it is President Carson, and Russian uniformed commandos cross the Estonian border and they occupy a city in Estonia. Estonia, a member of +p1255 +aVGentlemen, you've all said that the Iran nuclear deal is a bad one. Senator Rubio, you were among the candidates who've said you would tear it up on day one. But as you know, Iran has already received tens of millions of dollars \u2014 tens of billions of dollars in this deal and has quickly reestablished ties economically with Europe. The major concessions, in other words, are up front in this deal. So should you win by the time you take office, the remaining parts of the deal would be the constraints on Iran. So why blow up those constraints on day one, letting Iran off the hook? +p1256 +aVGovernor Kasich, you've said that Marco Rubio is wrong... ... that Senator Rubio is wrong with tearing it up on day one. +p1257 +aVBut Governor Kasich, you know that the most powerful sanctions are the multilateral ones. +p1258 +aVAnd these European countries are already reestablishing these ties. +p1259 +aVThey don't want... +p1260 +aVGovernor, thank you. Governor Christie... ... Libya is the newest base for +p1261 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1262 +aVWelcome back to Des Moines. Let's resume the debate. Megyn? +p1263 +aVComing up, closing statements from the candidates as our debate continues, live, from Des Moines, Iowa. +p1264 +aVNew Jersey governor, Chris Christie. +p1265 +aVThank you governor. +p1266 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. +p1267 +aVThank you senator. +p1268 +aVAnd we have you covered from Iowa, all the way to the conventions and on to the general election. Thanks again for joining us. For all of us here in Des Moines, have a great evening. +p1269 +asVMADDOW +p1270 +(lp1271 +VWe are super excited to be here at the University of New Hampshire. Tonight, this is the first time that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have squared off exactly like this. Face-to-face, just one-on-one, just the two of them. +p1272 +aVAnd we do hope that the candidates will take this opportunity to show us the distinctions\u2014show us the differences between them. That's the whole reason that we're here tonight. We're not here for talking points. We're to learn about the difference between the candidates. And with that, let's get going. Please join us in welcoming Secretary Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders. +p1273 +aVAnd with that, that's it. We're going to begin with 60- second opening statements from each of the candidates. And as agreed to in advance by the two campaigns, we're going to begin tonight with Senator Sanders. +p1274 +aVSecretary Clinton, Senator Sanders is campaigning against you now, at this point in the campaign, basically arguing that you are not progressive enough to be the Democratic nominee. He has said that if you voted for the Iraq war, if you are in favor of the death penalty, if you wobbled on things like the Keystone Pipeline or TPP, if you said single payer health care could never happen, then you're too far to the right of the Democratic Party to be the party's standard bearer. Given those policy positions, why should liberal Democrats support you and not Senator Sanders? +p1275 +aVSenator Sanders, have you established a list of what it means to be a progressive that is unrealistic? +p1276 +aVThank you Senator. +p1277 +aVSenator Sanders, as a Vermonter, you have almost a home state advantage here in New Hampshire. But back home across the border, you also have a long history of running against Democrats as a third-party candidate, for governor, Senate, for Congress. In 1988 your candidacy as a third-party candidate arguably cost the Democrats a congressional seat and sent a Republican instead. How can you lead the Democratic Party nationally when you have not been a member of the Democratic Party until very recently? +p1278 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p1279 +aVSo, Senator, to that point, Secretary Clinton is raising the issue of endorsements by your home state Democrats. She's implying that that says something about the people who know you best. +p1280 +aVHow do you see it? +p1281 +aVSecretary. +p1282 +aVSenator Sanders, you'll have 30 seconds to respond to that. +p1283 +aVSenator Sanders, Secretary Clinton, obviously we've touched a nerve. We're going to be back with more on this subject, and much more, right after this. Stay with us. +p1284 +aVSecretary Clinton, on the issue of Wall Street... +p1285 +aV... on the issue of Wall Street, when our reporters go out and talk to people on the ground in the early states, what they tell us over and over again when they find voters who are leaning toward Senator Sanders rather than yourself is that the most frequent area of concern that they hear from those voters is the issue of Wall Street and whether or not you are too close to Wall Street. Last night, when you were asked about speaking fees and the amount of speaking fees you got from Goldman Sachs speeches, you said that's what they offered. Have you been too dismissive of voters' concerns about this issue in your own campaign and your own career? +p1286 +aVSenator Sanders, you have been a critic of Secretary Clinton taking those speaking fees and having donations from Wall Street. What about her defense of her record? +p1287 +aVSenator Sanders, let me turn to, I think, where this direction is heading anyway, which is the broader issue of big business and power in our political system. You on the campaign trail have railed against big name American corporations like Boeing, and General Electric, and Wal Mart. But, some big businesses in this country have also been part of advancing progressive goals like that nationwide initiative to expand employment opportunities for veterans. That was all about cooperation between the Obama administration and some very big business. The Affordable Care Act, some of the thorniest problems in that bill were worked out in cooperation with big business in order to accomplish progressive goals. Could you work with them, or have you made enemies of big business in this country with the way you've approached them in this campaign? +p1288 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. And with that, we're going to take a break. +p1289 +aVWelcome back\u2014welcome back to the Democratic candidates' debate. We're going to be talking about America in the world, both in terms of some trade issues, but also national security. And Secretary Clinton, we're going to start with you. There are more than 4,000 American troops back in Iraq right now as part of the fight against +p1290 +aVTo be clear, to the specific question, if that strategic goal that you're describing requires considerably more of Americans\u2014an ever-increasing number of Americans in Iraq and maybe in Syria, are you OK with the numbers increasing? +p1291 +aVThank you, Madam Secretary. +p1292 +aVSecretary Clinton, at the\u2014at the last Democratic debate in Charleston\u2014I want to get specific here\u2014Senator Sanders called for moving as aggressively as we can to normalize relations with Iran. Your campaign has criticized him for saying that. Now that he's standing next to you here on this stage, can you explain why the U.S. shouldn't try to normalize relations in Iran in your view? +p1293 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to ask you about a national security issue that is closer to home. There are thousands of veterans, over 100,000 veterans living in the state of New Hampshire. If either one of you is nominated as the Democratic Party's nominee, you will likely face a Republican opponent in the general election who wants to privatize or even abolish big parts of the V.A. It's a newly popular idea in conservative politics. How will you win the argument on that issue given the problems that have been exposed at the V.A. in the last few years? What's your argument that the V.A. should still exist and should not be privatized? +p1294 +aVSenator Sanders, you, as a congressional leader on veterans issues and the Veterans Committee, you've worked in a very bipartisan way with Senator John McCain and others on veterans issues. Is the right contour of the fight, the way she's talking about this issue? +p1295 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Sanders, Secretary Clinton, we're going to take another break. We'll be talking about Social Security and some of those other issues when we come back. +p1296 +aVSenator\u2014Senator Sanders, in 1964... +p1297 +aVIn 1964, I heard that the Republicans nominated Barry Goldwater, who was the hero of the conservative movement. He was, however, far to the right of most of that party. In 1972, the Democrats nominated George McGovern, who was a hero of liberals in the antiwar movement, but he was to the left of his party's mainstream. Both of those nominees made activists very excited, and they both got destroyed in the general election. Even Democrats who love you worry about your fate in a general election. And I know you have good head-to-head polling numbers against Republican frontrunners right now. We know that. But do you have a general election strategy that is different than the way you're running right now to try to get the nomination? +p1298 +aVSecretary Clinton, your campaign surrogates, and people who have endorsed you, have suggested that or even said that if Senator Sanders is the nominee, that Democrats will suffer nationwide and the chances will go down of Democrats holding onto the White House. With him here standing next to you, can you tell us whether or not you believe he would win the general election if he were nominated? +p1299 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. Senator, in December, one of your campaign staffers was fired from your campaign for taking voter data essentially from the Clinton campaign. You apologized for that when the incident was made public. Your campaign has now been criticized for its operatives essentially impersonating culinary union members wearing union pins in Nevada, and the Nashua Telegraph has complained recently that you falsely implied in an advertisement that they had endorsed you when they did not. None of these issues obviously is the end of the world, but they all are of a piece. Are you in some sense losing control of your campaign? +p1300 +aVJust to follow up on that, the title of the ad in question was Endorsement. +p1301 +aVSecretary Clinton, do you want 30 seconds on that issue? +p1302 +aVAnd with that, we will . +p1303 +aVWelcome back to the University of New Hampshire, and the Democratic candidates' debate. Secretary Clinton, on the issue of the death penalty, here in New Hampshire, the one person who is on death row is there for killing a police officer. It's a crime that has caused anguish in this state, both among death penalty opponents and death penalty supporters. The last time I had the chance to talk with you on this issue, on the death penalty, you said that capital punishment has a place in a very few federal cases, but you also said you would breathe a sigh of relief if the Supreme Court abolished the death penalty nationwide. Tonight, do you still support capital punishment, even if you do so reluctantly? +p1304 +aVSenator Sanders, you have singled out the death penalty, and Senator Clinton's support for the death penalty, as an issue that makes it hard to consider as progressive in your mind... +p1305 +aVAnother issue related to the proper role of government, and in this case, specifically the role of government between the federal government and the states. I want to talk for a moment about the issue of Flint, Michigan. On the Flint lead poisoning disaster, you have both been highly critical of Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan, and how the state in Michigan both caused the lead poisoning problem, and has not acted fast enough to fix it. You have both been outspoken on that. The fact is that Michigan though has not fixed it. There is no door to door delivery of clean water in Flint even today. Not a single lead pipe has been replaced in Flint, even today. If the state is failing, would you, Secretary Clinton, would you as President order a federal response to get it right over and above the wishes of the state? +p1306 +aVSenator Sanders are there things the President could be doing? President Obama could be ordering, done, right now, in Flint, Michigan that are not being done that you as President would do? +p1307 +aVSenator, thank you. +p1308 +aVThe home stretch. +p1309 +aVSecretary Clinton, Republicans, particularly in campaign years, often talk about which departments of government\u2014which agencies of government they would get rid of if they were elected president. The EPA, the Department of Education, the Commerce Department, oops\u2014is\u2014is there a department of government that you would get rid of? Or is there a whole new one that you would create? +p1310 +aVThank you, Secretary Clinton. +p1311 +aVThank you very much. Thank you. +p1312 +aVWe also want to thank our host, the University of New Hampshire, and the people of New Hampshire. You guys get to vote in just five days. I can't wait to see how it turns out. Don't screw up. +p1313 +asVSEIB +p1314 +(lp1315 +VThis evening Fox Business is partnering with the Wall Street Journal to bring you the fourth republican presidential debate of the 2016 campaign. For the next hour, four of the candidates will be here answering the question voters want answered. +p1316 +aVSenator Santorum, you're all obviously highly critical of President Obama's economic record. But federal statistics show that payrolls have expanded by 8.7 million new jobs so far during his time in office. All the jobs lost in the recession were recovered by last year. And in October, the economy added jobs at the fastest rate since 2009. So what's wrong with the Obama jobs record? +p1317 +aVGovernor Jindal, Republicans have now 32 of the nation's 50 governor seats. But, even while you're doing very well at the state level, you keep falling short nationally. You've lost the popular vote in five of the last six presidential elections. Are Democrats simply putting forward a better national economic message than the one Republicans are offering? And what should Republicans do about it. +p1318 +aVSenator Santorum, we're in the Upper-Midwest, heart of the American auto industry. The Auto Alliance says the state of Wisconsin, where we are tonight, is home to 176 auto supplier companies. Back in 2008, you opposed the use of federal bailout funds for automakers as proposed then by the Bush administration. The automakers survived. In retrospect, do you still think that was the right position. +p1319 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p1320 +aVGovernor Jindal, there's a new trade deal the Obama administration has completed with 11 other Pacific nations. The U.S. Trade Representative's office says that deal will cut 18,000 different tariffs on American goods sent to the Pacific and will cut tariffs on goods made in your state of Louisiana by as much as 40 percent. Even a skeptical about \u2014 a skeptic about this deal, now that the details are public, are you going to be for it? +p1321 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1322 +aV...Guys... +p1323 +aVGovernor Christie... +p1324 +aV...last word, briefly +p1325 +aV...Thank you both, Governors. +p1326 +aV...No, no, Senator Santorum... +p1327 +aV...I have a question for you. Just about everybody agrees that the nation's infrastructure is in bad shape. Urban highway congestion costs the economy more than $100 billion dollars annually, nearly one in four bridges in the National Highway System is structurally deficient, or obsolete. Congress is working on a six year highway bill to try to fix this problem. It only funds it for about three years. Should Americans be asked to pay more in federal gas taxes in order to address this problem? +p1328 +aVSenator, I don't think we got to infrastructure, but I understand. +p1329 +aVNo, no. To do the things you're talking about, that you're all talking about, getting things done in Washington, you have to work with the other side. So a question, who in Congress do you most admire on the Democratic side? I need one name from each of you. And let's start with Governor Jindal. +p1330 +aVGovernor Huckabee? +p1331 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1332 +aVSenator Santorum? +p1333 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p1334 +aVGovernor Jindal, you've proposed something different. You've proposed eliminating the federal corporate income tax entirely. Why would have you wage-earners and investors pay an income tax but not a corporation? +p1335 +aVWelcome back to the Republican Presidential Debate live from Milwaukee's historic theater. Let's get back to the questions. Governor Christie, by keeping interest rates so low for so long, is the Fed creating a new financial bubble in real estate or stock as prices that will burst and create problems down the road, or has it been right to err on the side of trying to help the recovery through low rates? +p1336 +aVCandidates, it's time for closing statements, 30 seconds. Governor Jindal, we'll start with you. +p1337 +aVSenator Santorum. +p1338 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p1339 +aVGovernor Christie. +p1340 +asVTAPPER +p1341 +(lp1342 +VI'm Jake Tapper. We're live at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California for the main event. Round 2 of CNN's presidential debate starts now. The eleven leading Republican candidates for president are at their podiums. They are ready to face off, and if you've been watching this race, you know anything could happen over the next few hours. To viewers who are just joining us, welcome to the Air Force One Pavilion of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Our thanks to the staff here and especially to former first lady Nancy Reagan for this impressive setting with Ronald Reagan's presidential plane as our backdrop. This debate is airing on CNN networks in the United States and around the world. It's also being broadcast on the Salem Radio Network. I know everyone is very eager to get started. But first, I want to explain the ground rules tonight. My name is Jake Tapper. I'll be the moderator. I will be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt. He worked in the Reagan administration for six years. And by CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. I will ask follow-up questions, I will attempt to guide the discussion. Candidates, I will try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have one minute to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you've been singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. These 11 Republicans are positioned on the stage based on their ranking in recent national polls. Our goal for this evening is a debate. A true debate, with candidates addressing each other in areas where they differ. Where they disagree \u2014 on policy, on politics, on leadership. Now, let's begin. I'd like to invite each candidate to take 30 seconds to introduce him or herself to our audience. First to you, Senator Paul. +p1343 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1344 +aVThank you one and all for being here. There are many important policy issues facing our nation. We're going to get to many of them tonight, but I do want to start off with some current events in the news, and also some of the comments the candidates have recently made on the campaign trail. Mrs. Fiorina, I want to start with you. Fellow Republican candidate, and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, has suggested that your party's frontrunner, Mr. Donald Trump, would be dangerous as President. He said he wouldn't want, quote, "such a hot head with his finger on the nuclear codes." You, as well, have raised concerns about Mr. Trump's temperament. You've dismissed him as an entertainer. Would you feel comfortable with Donald trump's finger on the nuclear codes? +p1345 +aVYou didn't answer my question. Would you feel comfortable with Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear codes? It's an issue that one of your fellow candidates has raised. +p1346 +aVMr. Trump? +p1347 +aVMr. \u2014 Senator Paul, your name has been invoked. +p1348 +aVMr. Trump? +p1349 +aVI want to \u2014 I want to give Mr. Trump... +p1350 +aV... Mr. Trump, I want to give you another chance \u2014 Mr. Trump, I want to give you a chance to respond to something that your rival to your left, Governor Bush, said. Governor Bush told me last week when I read him the quote from Governor Jindal that he agrees you're not a serious candidate. Tell Governor Bush why you are a serious candidate and what your qualifications are to be commander-in-chief. +p1351 +aVGovernor Bush, would you feel comfortable with Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear codes? +p1352 +aVGovernor Walker? +p1353 +aVLet's move on. +p1354 +aVA phenomenon going on in the race right now is the political... OK, Governor Kasich, go ahead. +p1355 +aVWe have a lot of issues coming up, sir. +p1356 +aVWe are getting to the issues, sir. Phenomenon going on in the race is the political outsiders in the race, Dr. Carson, Donald Trump, Carly Fiorina, all together, have majority support in the polls. Governor Christie, I want to ask you about something that Dr. Carson said the other day. Dr. Carson said campaigning is easier for him, because he's not a politician. He can just tell the truth, therefore, while politicians, quote, "Have their finger in the air to see and do what is politically expedient." Governor Christie, tell Dr. Carson, is that a fair description of you? +p1357 +aVWell, let's find out. Thank you. +p1358 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. Dr. Carson, who were you thinking about on this stage when you said that? +p1359 +aVAnd more broadly, is experience in government not important for a president to have? +p1360 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1361 +aVThank you. +p1362 +aVThank you. Thank you Ms. Fiorina. Governor Bush, in addition to the fact that he's an outsider, one of the reasons Mr. Trump is a frontrunner, Republican voters say, is because they like the fact that he is not bought and paid for by wealthy donors. Mr. Trump has repeatedly said that the $100 million you've raised for your campaign makes you a puppet for your donors. Are you? +p1363 +aVIs there anything else you want to say about this? +p1364 +aVGovernor \u2014 +p1365 +aVSure Dr. Carson. +p1366 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Let's move to Russia if we could. Russia is sending troops and tanks into Syria right now to prop up a U.S. enemy, Bashar al-Assad. President Obama's incoming top general says, quote, "Russia presents the greatest threat to our national security." Mr. Trump, you say you can do business with President Vladimir Putin, you say you will get along, quote, "very well." What would you do right now if you were president, to get the Russians out of Syria? +p1367 +aVSo, you \u2014 just to clarify, the only answer I heard to the question I asked is that you would \u2014 you would reach out to Vladimir Putin, and you would do what? You would... +p1368 +aVSenator Rubio, you've taken a very different approach to the \u2014 the question of Russia. You've called Vladimir Putin a, quote, "gangster." Why would President Rubio's approach be more effective than President Trump's? +p1369 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. +p1370 +aVI want to bring in Carly Fiorina. +p1371 +aVMs. Fiorina, you have met... +p1372 +aV...yeah, you've met Vladimir Putin. Yes. +p1373 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p1374 +aVThank you. +p1375 +aVThank you. Thank you, Ms. Fiorina. While you're \u2014 while you brought up the subject of General Suleimani of the Quds forces from Iran, the next president, no matter who he or she may be, will inherit President Obama's Iran deal. Senator Cruz, Governor Kasich says that anyone who is promising to rip up the Iran deal on day one, as you have promised to do, is, quote, "inexperienced," and, quote, "playing to a crowd." Respond to Governor Kasich, please. +p1376 +aVWhy is that not, as Governor Kasich says, playing to the crowd and an example of you being inexperienced? +p1377 +aVGovernor Kasich... +p1378 +aV...Did Senator Cruz just play to the crowd? +p1379 +aV...Thank you, Governor. I want to go to Senator Paul. +p1380 +aVI want to go to Senator Paul. Senator Paul, the White House is rolling out the red carpet next week for the President of China, President Xi. Governor Walker says that President Obama should cancel the state dinner because of China's currency manipulation, and because of China's alleged cyber attacks against the United States. Is Governor Walker right? +p1381 +aVGovernor Walker, Senator Paul seemed to suggest... +p1382 +aV...that canceling the state dinner would be rash, and reckless. +p1383 +aV...Governor Bush... +p1384 +aVGovernor Bush, your father was the chief diplomatic envoy to China back when Nixon opened relations to China. Is Scott Walker's approach the right one, canceling the state dinner? +p1385 +aVI want to turn... +p1386 +aV...I want to turn to Governor Huckabee who has been very patient. Somebody had to be 11th, and he is, but, I do want to change the subject to the event that you had... +p1387 +aV... however you want, but I want to ask this question. +p1388 +aVAll right, sir, go ahead. +p1389 +aVOK. ( +p1390 +aVWe're going to turn now to Hugh Hewitt, from Salem Radio Network. +p1391 +aVThank you, Senator Paul. I want to turn now to my colleague Dana Bash. +p1392 +aVThat would be fair, you're right. You're the third senator. +p1393 +aVWe're going to go to Dana Bash... +p1394 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1395 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1396 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1397 +aVThank you, Senator. I want to... +p1398 +aV... turn back to Governor Huckabee... +p1399 +aVI want to turn back to Governor Huckabee. Governor Huckabee, last week, you held a rally for a county clerk in Kentucky who was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, as I don't need to tell you. You've called what happened to Kim Davis, that clerk, "an example of the criminalization of Christianity." There are several people on the stage who disagree with you. Governor Bush, for example, says that that clerk is sworn to uphold the law. Is Governor Bush on the wrong side of the criminalization of Christianity? +p1400 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1401 +aVWell, I'm not telling you that, Governor. But Governor Bush is, because he \u2014 because he disagrees. He thinks that Kim Davis swore to uphold the law. You disagree? You're not \u2014 you don't... +p1402 +aVOK. Please do. +p1403 +aVYou did... +p1404 +aVGovernor, you said, quote, "she is sworn to uphold the law." +p1405 +aVLet me go to my colleague Dana Bash, who has a question. +p1406 +aVDana, I want to continue on the subject. Governor Bush, you recently said while discussing Planned Parenthood, quote, you're "not sure we need a half billion for women's health issues." Now you've since said that you misspoke, you didn't mean to say "women's health issues." But Donald Trump said that quote, that comment, which Hillary Clinton did seize upon immediately, will haunt you the same way Mitt Romney's 47 percent video haunted him. Tell Donald Trump why he's wrong. +p1407 +aVThank you, Governor Bush. Donald Trump, let me just... +p1408 +aVThe quote was, "I'm not sure we need half a billion dollars for women's health issues." He said he misspoke. You said that that's going to haunt him. Why do you think that? +p1409 +aVGovernor Bush? +p1410 +aVI want to \u2014 we're going to get to \u2014 +p1411 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1412 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1413 +aVWe're going to \u2014 we're going to get to many of these issues. This \u2014 we're still in the first block, believe it or not. We're going to get to many of these issues, but before we end this block, Ms. Fiorina, I do want to ask you about this. In an interview last week in Rolling Stone magazine, Donald Trump said the following about you. Quote, "Look at that face. Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?" Mr. Trump later said he was talking about your persona, not your appearance. Please feel free to respond what you think about his persona. +p1414 +aVAll right. On that note, in less than two minutes \u2014 we're going to take a very quick break. In less than two minutes, the most contentious issue on the campaign trail. And the candidates on the stage are split over how to handle it. That's coming up next. Please give some applause to the candidates. +p1415 +aVWelcome to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate. No topic perhaps has been more combustible in this campaign than the issue of immigration. Mr. Trump, you have called for deporting every undocumented immigrant, Governor Christie has said, quote, "There are not enough law enforcement officers \u2014 local, county, state and federal combined \u2014 to forcibly deport 11 to 12 million people." Tell Governor Christie how much your plan will cost, and how you will get it done. +p1416 +aVGovernor Christie, you and I have talked about this in an interview. You say that his big wall, his plan to deport 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants, it sounds great, but it's never going to happen. Tell him why you're skeptical of his plans? +p1417 +aVThank you, Governor Christie... +p1418 +aVI want to bring in Dr. Carson because he too has been skeptical of your plan to immediately deport 11 to 12 million illegal immigrants. He said, quote, "People who say that have no idea what this entails." Why do you say that, Dr. Carson? +p1419 +aV...Dr. Carson... +p1420 +aVWith all due respect, you said about Donald Trump's plan to deport 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants, "People who say that have no idea what this entails." Why not? +p1421 +aV...let's continue the conversation about illegal immigration with Dana Bash. +p1422 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Senator Cruz \u2014 Senator Cruz, this week, we learned more about Dr. Carson's plan for the 11 million to 12 million undocumented immigrants in this country. Dr. Carson proposed giving these undocumented immigrants a six- month grace period to pay back taxes then to let them become guest workers and only to deport people who failed to do that. +p1423 +aVWell, how would you say it, sir? I was just reading the Wall Street Journal quote, but please tell us. +p1424 +aVOK, from the horse's mouth, Senator Cruz, does that fit your definition of amnesty? +p1425 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Rubio... +p1426 +aV... I'm not sure... +p1427 +aVWe'll come back to you \u2014 we'll come back to you in one second, sir. But Senator Rubio, I'm not sure exactly whose plan he's \u2014 he's saying is \u2014 constitutes amnesty, but I know he has said it about your plan in the past, so I want to give you a chance to respond, then, Dr. Carson, we'll come to you. +p1428 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1429 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator \u2014 Dr. Carson... ... I want to give you 30 seconds. I'd like you to answer the question. Senator Cruz describes plans such as yours as amnesty. Why is your plan not amnesty? +p1430 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. I want to talk about the issue of birthright citizenship, which \u2014 which has emerged since the first debate as \u2014 as an a \u2014 a major issue in this campaign. Mr. Trump, you say that babies born in the United States to undocumented immigrants should not any longer get automatic American citizenship. Ms. Fiorina says that you are pandering on this issue and acting like the politicians that you rail against. What's your message to Ms. Fiorina on birthright citizenship? +p1431 +aVMs. Fiorina, the vast majority of countries do not have birthright citizenship... ...Donald Trump is right about that. Why is it pandering when he's \u2014 he says this? +p1432 +aVMs. Fiorina... +p1433 +aVPlease. +p1434 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p1435 +aVThank you. +p1436 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Mr. Trump, I want to give you the chance to respond... +p1437 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. Senator Paul... +p1438 +aVSenator Paul, I want to bring you in. Where \u2014 where do you stand on the issue of birthright citizenship? +p1439 +aVAll right. Senator Paul, thank you so much. Let's turn to a new topic. We've received a lot of questions on social media about the economy and about jobs. We have two CEOs on stage right now. Ms. Fiorina, you were CEO of Hewlett Packard. Donald Trump says you, quote, "ran HP into the ground," you laid off tens of thousands of people, you got viciously fired. For voters looking to somebody with private-sector experience to create American jobs, why should they pick you and not Donald Trump? +p1440 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p1441 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p1442 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 Mr. Trump, why would you be better at creating jobs than Carly Fiorina? +p1443 +aVMs. Fiorina, I want to give you a chance to respond. +p1444 +aVMr. Trump. +p1445 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. +p1446 +aVGovernor Christie's name has been invoked. I'd like to give him a 30 second opportunity. +p1447 +aVMs. Fiorina, I want to give you +p1448 +aVGovernor Kasich, I'm coming to you next, but Ms. Fiorina's name was mentioned, and I have to give her the opportunity to respond if she wants it. +p1449 +aVThank you. +p1450 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Kasich, I want to come \u2014 I'm coming to you. I'm coming to you. Let me ask the question. You can use the time however you want. +p1451 +aVDonald Trump says that the hedge fund guys are getting away with murder by paying a lower tax rate. He wants to raise the taxes of hedge fund managers, as does Governor Bush. Do you agree? +p1452 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1453 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. +p1454 +aVGovernor Huckabee, I want to bring you in on the question of hedge fund managers and taxing them. You have said that you are bothered by the fact that hedge fund managers pay such a low tax rate and make 2,500 times what people who work for them make. Do you agree with what Donald Trump and Governor Bush have proposed, raising their tax rates? +p1455 +aVThank you, Governor. Dr. Carson, you support scrapping the entire tax code and replacing it with a flat tax based on the principal on tithing from the Bible. If you make $10 billion, you pay $1 billion in taxes, if you make $10, you pay $1 in taxes. Donald Trump believes in progressive taxation. He says it's not right that rich people pay the same as the poor. Tell Donald Trump why his ideas on taxes are wrong. +p1456 +aVMr. Trump... +p1457 +aV...What do you think of the flat tax? Do you think it's fair? +p1458 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. Senator Paul? +p1459 +aVGovernor Walker, I want to go to you. Dr. Carson wants to raise the Federal Minimum Wage, you have called it a lame idea. Why is raising the Federal Minimum Wage lame? +p1460 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1461 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1462 +aVDr. Carson, Governor Walker didn't really answer the question, but I'll let you respond. He called raising the Federal Minimum Wage lame, what do you think of that? +p1463 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson... +p1464 +aVLet me bring in our partner from Salem Radio Network, Hugh Hewitt. +p1465 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate. Let's turn to some issues now in foreign policy. Mr. Trump, Senator Rubio said it was, quote, "very concerning to him" that in a recent interview you didn't seem to know the details about some of the enemies the U.S. faces. Rubio said, if you don't know the answers to those questions, you will not be able to serve as commander-in-chief. Please respond to Senator Rubio. +p1466 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1467 +aVMr. Trump? Senator Rubio seemed to be suggesting that you don't know information that... +p1468 +aVAll right. Senator Rubio. +p1469 +aVBut are you saying that you have the knowledge to be the president that Mr. Trump does not have? +p1470 +aVMr. Trump? +p1471 +aVSenator Rubio, he did invoke your absentee record in the Senate. +p1472 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. I want to turn now to Hugh Hewitt. +p1473 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1474 +aVSenator... +p1475 +aVSenator Paul? +p1476 +aVSenator Paul... +p1477 +aVThank you, Senator Paul... +p1478 +aVThank you, Senator Paul... +p1479 +aVI understand that Governor Bush's name has been invoked, and then we can go to you, Senator Rubio. +p1480 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1481 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Rubio? +p1482 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1483 +aVDr. Carson? +p1484 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1485 +aVI mean, it is interesting that you say that, because I want to ask Governor Christie about something else that you have said. Governor Christie, we just marked the 14th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Now Dr. Carson has said that if he had been president at the time, the United States would not have gone to war in Afghanistan. What does that say to you about how Dr. Carson would respond as president if America were attacked again? +p1486 +aVDr. Carson? +p1487 +aV... Governor Christie. +p1488 +aVDr. Carson? +p1489 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1490 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1491 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee. +p1492 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1493 +aVThank you, governor, I want to turn to +p1494 +aVGovernor Walker, there is a big debate now, we have been talking about +p1495 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Paul, I want to go to you, because you have said that the boots on the ground to fight +p1496 +aVThank you, Senator. We're going to turn to some domestic issues now. I want to bring in my colleague, Dana Bash. +p1497 +aVSure.... +p1498 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1499 +aV...Thank you, Governor. Dana Bash... +p1500 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina... +p1501 +aV...Thank you, we're going to turn now to domestic issues with Dana Bash. +p1502 +aV...Dana Bash... +p1503 +aVThank you. Dana Bash? +p1504 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1505 +aV...Governor Bush... +p1506 +aV...I want to let you respond. +p1507 +aVThank you, Governor... ...And, that's what we should do, and I hope I'll be working members of the United States Senate to fight hard for the passage of people that have that kind of qualification. +p1508 +aVSenator Cruz, 30 seconds. +p1509 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1510 +aVThank you, Semator. +p1511 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee, I want to bring you in very quickly if you could. Will you have a litmus test when it comes to appointing Supreme Court nominees? +p1512 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1513 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1514 +aVThank you, Governor. We're going to take a quick break. Coming up, one of the hottest questions that you have been asking us via social media. We will pose it to the candidates. That's coming up right after this. +p1515 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican presidential debate at the Reagan Library here in Simi Valley \u2014 Simi Valley, California. Many people on social media wanted us to ask about marijuana legalization. Senator Paul, Governor Christie recently said, quote, "if you're getting high in Colorado today," where marijuana has been legalized, "enjoy it until January 2017, because I will enforce the federal laws against marijuana." Will you? +p1516 +aVI want to give that \u2014 I want to give the person that you called a hypocrite an opportunity to respond. Do you want to identify that person? +p1517 +aVIs there somebody you were specifically thinking of? +p1518 +aVThat's what I though, but I wanted to say it. +p1519 +aVOK. +p1520 +aVGovernor Bush, please. +p1521 +aVI want to go right now \u2014 I want to go right now... +p1522 +aVThat's true. Go ahead, Christie, please. +p1523 +aVYou may respond, and then I'll bring in you, Ms. Fiorina. +p1524 +aVYes, Senator Paul. +p1525 +aVI want to bring in Ms. Fiorina \u2014 I want to bring in Ms. Fiorina on this issue. +p1526 +aVHugh \u2014 Hugh, I'd like to... +p1527 +aVI'd like to turn it over \u2014 I'd like to turn to Dana Bush. +p1528 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1529 +aVI'm coming to you right now on a separate issue, sir. We received... ( +p1530 +aVWe received a lot of questions from social media about climate change. Senator Rubio, Ronald Reagan's secretary of state, George Shultz, reminds us that when Reagan was president he faced a similar situation to the one that we're facing now. There were dire warnings from the mass consensus of the scientific community about the ozone layer shrinking. Shultz says Ronald Reagan urged skeptics in industry to come up with a plan. He said, do it as an insurance policy in case the scientists are right. The scientists were right. Reagan and his approach worked. Secretary Shultz asks, why not take out an insurance policy and approach climate change the Reagan way? +p1531 +aVI'm citing George Shultz. +p1532 +aVGovernor Christie, you have said that climate change is real, and that humans help contribute to it. Without getting into the issue of China versus the United States, which I understand you've talked about before, what do you make of skeptics of climate change such as Senator Rubio? +p1533 +aVJust for the record, I was citing Secretary of State George Shultz, Ronald Reagan's secretary of state who I don't think anybody would call him left-wing. +p1534 +aVI called you a skeptic. +p1535 +aVI want to go another question right now. +p1536 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1537 +aVI'm turning to... +p1538 +aV...I'm turning to another \u2014 I'm turning to another issue right now. Senator Cruz. Well, I think we've heard from several this evening. A backlash against vaccines was blamed for a measles outbreak here in California. Dr. Carson, Donald Trump has publicly and repeatedly linked vaccines, childhood vaccines, to autism, which, as you know, the medical community adamantly disputes. You're a pediatric neurosurgeon. Should Mr. Trump stop saying this? +p1539 +aVShould he stop saying it? Should he stop saying that vaccines cause autism? +p1540 +aVMr. Trump, as president, you would... +p1541 +aVI'm going right to you. +p1542 +aVMr. Trump, as president, you would be in charge of the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health, both of which say you are wrong. How would you handle this as president? +p1543 +aVThank you. +p1544 +aVDr. \u2014 Dr. Carson? +p1545 +aVDr. Carson, you just heard his medical take. +p1546 +aVDr. Paul? Dr. Paul, I'd like to bring you in. +p1547 +aVAlright, thank you so much... +p1548 +aVComing up \u2014 I'm sorry, Governor Huckabee, please. +p1549 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1550 +aVWe have to take another quick break. Coming up, Ronald Reagan looming large over this debate. So how Reaganesque exactly are these Republicans? We will find out next. +p1551 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California. We have a few last questions for you. Two of them a little lighthearted, the other one more serious. We'll start with one of the more light questions. Senator Paul, I'm going to start with you and we're just going to go down the line. Earlier this year, the Treasury Department announced that a woman will appear on the $10 bill. What woman would you like to see on the $10 bill? +p1552 +aVGovernor Huckabee? +p1553 +aVSenator Paul (sic). +p1554 +aVI'm sorry. Senator Rubio? +p1555 +aVJust the senators. +p1556 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1557 +aVDr. Carson? +p1558 +aVMr. Trump. +p1559 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1560 +aVGovernor Walker. +p1561 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p1562 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1563 +aVGovernor Christie. +p1564 +aVAlright. Some good entries if anybody at the mint was listening. Here's the next lighthearted question, you all know that the United States Secret Service uses codenames for the president, and his family. Ronald Reagan's codename, for example, was, "Rawhide", an homage to his performances in Westerns. Nancy Reagan's was, "Rainbow". You don't have to come up the one for your spouse, but, what would you want, Governor Christie, I'll start with you, your Secret Service codename to be. +p1565 +aVGovernor Walker? +p1566 +aVMr. Trump? +p1567 +aVDr. Carson? +p1568 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1569 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1570 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p1571 +aVSenator Paul. +p1572 +aVThat's a mouthful, but OK. OK, here's the more serious question, Ronald Reagan, the 40th President, used the plane behind you to accomplish a great many things. Perhaps, most notably, to challenge Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the wall, and ultimately, to make peace with the +p1573 +aVThat concludes this Republican presidential debate. On behalf of everyone here at CNN, we want to thank the candidates, the Reagan Library, and the Republican National Committee. Thank you, also, to Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash. The next presidential debate will also be right here on CNN, among the Democratic candidates, who will face off for the first time on October the 13th. That debate, a partnership with Facebook, will be moderated by my colleague, Anderson Cooper. And Anderson picks up our coverage of tonight's debate right now. Before I throw to Anderson, let's have one final round of applause for the candidates. +p1574 +aVWe're live at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California for one of the most highly anticipated primary season debates ever. On this stage 15 candidates in two rounds of questioning with one goal, to show they have what it takes to be the Republican Presidential Nominee. Welcome to our viewers, I'm Jake Tapper. Tonight's debate is airing on CNN networks around the world, and, of course, here in the United States. It's also being broadcast across the country on the Salmen Radio Network. We want to thank our host, former First Lady Nancy Reagan, and the Reagan Library for this very impressive setting, the Air Force One pavilion. Behind me, you can see the actual plane... ...That Ronald Reagan flew in when he was president. Now, because the GOP field is so large, we have divided the candidates into two groups based on their rankings in recent national polls. Later this evening we will hear from the top 11 contenders. The other four candidates are taking part in the first round, and they are ready to join us now. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindal. The former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania, Rick Santorum. and former New York Governor, George Pataki. Ladies and gentleman, please welcome these Republican candidates for President of the United States. And, now, if you would, please rise for our national anthem performed by actress and singer, Natalie Hill. I'd like to ask the candidates to please take their podiums while I tell you a little more about how tonight debate will work. I'm Jake Tapper. I'll be the moderator. Joining me in the questioning, Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt; he worked in the Reagan administration for six years and CNN's chief political correspondent, Dana Bash. I will follow up and guide the discussion; candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have one minute to answer questions and 30 seconds for followups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you have been singled out for criticism. We have timing lights that are visible to the candidates. Those lights will warn them when their time is up. Our goal tonight is to have a true debate, candidates actually addressing each other in areas where they disagree, where they differ on policy, on politics and on leadership. Now that everyone is in place, it's time for the candidates to introduce themselves to our audience. Please keep it brief. Governor Pataki, you're first. +p1575 +aVThank you candidates. We're going to talk a lot about policy and your proposals this evening. But first, Governor Jindal, I want to start with you. You have said that the front runner, Donald Trump, is a, quote, "unstable, narcissistic, ego maniac." Now, we are in the house of Reagan, who made famous the so-called 11th Commandment, "Thou shalt not speak ill of thy fellow Republican." What drove you to violate that unofficial commandment? +p1576 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1577 +aVSenator Santorum, do you think Governor Jindal is wrong for attacking your party's front runner? +p1578 +aVThank you. Governor Jindal, do you want to respond to that? +p1579 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1580 +aVSenator Santorum, just to assure you, we will get to those issues. But just a couple more on this general subject. Senator Graham, you have called Donald Trump a, quote, "wrecking ball for the Republican party." Voters in your home state of South Carolina, in a recent poll, prefer Donald Trump 30 percent to your 4 percent. How do you explain why so many of your constituents would rather have Donald Trump as the Republican nominee than you? +p1581 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. We're going to bring in Hugh Hewitt now, who has a question for Governor Pataki. +p1582 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1583 +aVSenator Graham? One of the -- the reasons why Donald Trump, Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina are doing well is because they are political outsiders. In fact, that's one of the things -- in fact, there are two things that they have in common. They've never been elected to office before and they're doing better than all of you in the polls. The four of you have a combined seven decades in elected office. Senator Graham, in this election season, do Republican voters see your service in government as a liability and not an asset? +p1584 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1585 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1586 +aVThank you, Senator. Let's turn to the topic of immigration. For that, I want to bring in my colleague, Dana Bash. +p1587 +aVThank you, Governor. I -- I want to change the subject. We're staying on immigration, and I'm bringing you in, Governor Pataki... +p1588 +aV... and Senator Graham, I'm coming to you as well. +p1589 +aVGovernor Pataki, Republicans right now are -- are debating birthright citizenship, the policy of granting U.S. citizenship to every baby born in this country, even if they born to undocumented immigrants. Senator Graham wants to end the policy of birthright citizenship. Governor Pataki, you support keeping it. Tell him why he's wrong. +p1590 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1591 +aVGovernor... +p1592 +aVWhat I -- what I asked about was about birthright citizenship and why you think that we should preserve birthright... +p1593 +aVSenator Graham, most countries in the world do not have birthright citizenship. +p1594 +aVWhy do you think Governor Pataki is wrong? +p1595 +aVWas that a... +p1596 +aV...Thank you Senator... +p1597 +aV...Thank you Senator... +p1598 +aV...We'll come back to you Senator Santorum, I promise... +p1599 +aV...alright... +p1600 +aVThank you, Senator... +p1601 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Pataki, I want to let you have the final word here. +p1602 +aVGovernor Pataki? +p1603 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1604 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Graham, your response when it comes to Syrian refugees? +p1605 +aVThank you, Senator. I want to turn now -- +p1606 +aVWe're going to keep talking about the situation in the Middle East. Let me bring in my colleague, Dana Bash, again. +p1607 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1608 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1609 +aVThank you, thank you, Governor. +p1610 +aVGovernor Pataki -- +p1611 +aVThank you, Governor. Sorry. We have rules and timing. Governor Jindal, I do want to bring you in. I want to turn to a story in news in the story today. A 14-year-old Muslim high school student in Texas was arrested on Monday for bringing a homemade clock to school after it was mistaken for a fake bomb. Police released the young man after they determined it was, in fact, a clock. Today, President Obama invited that student to the White House. Governor Jindal, throughout your campaign, you've spoken many times about Muslim extremists in this country. How would you, as president, strike a balance between vigilance and discrimination? +p1612 +aVGovernor Jindal, I'm afraid you didn't answer the question. How do you strike the balance between vigilance and discrimination? Obviously, we know how you feel about the vigilance part of this. Do you ever see the discrimination part of it? +p1613 +aVThank you, Governor. We will get to that subject later in the debate. Senator Graham? +p1614 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1615 +aVGovernor Pataki? +p1616 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1617 +aVWe'll get to that subject in the next block. We're going to take a very quick break. When we come back, both Jeb Bush and Donald Trump agree on one thing when it comes to taxes. We'll see if any of the candidates on stage agree as well. +p1618 +aVThat's next. Stay with us. +p1619 +aVWelcome back to the CNN Republican Debate at the beautiful Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California. Before we took the break, you were all chomping at the bit to talk about Kim Davis, that Kentucky clerk. Governor Pataki said he would have fired Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk jailed for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses. Senator Santorum, do you agree with Governor Pataki? +p1620 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Pataki, your response? +p1621 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum? +p1622 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1623 +aVWe're coming to both of you. +p1624 +aVWhat... +p1625 +aVGovernor Jindal... +p1626 +aVSenator Graham, do you want to weigh in? +p1627 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1628 +aVSenator... +p1629 +aVThank you, Senator. I want to stay with the subject of Supreme Court judges -- justices. Governor Jindal, both Senators graham and Santorum voted to confirm chief justice of the United States, John Roberts, who has led with the majority twice to uphold ObamaCare. Do you think that Graham's and Santorum's votes to confirm John Roberts were a mistake? +p1630 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Graham, I want to give you an opportunity to respond -- -- I would note that Anthony Kennedy, was, of course, a Ronald Reagan appointee. Senator Graham, do you stand by your vote for John Roberts? +p1631 +aVSenator Santorum, do you stand by your vote for John Roberts? +p1632 +aVGovernor Jindal, I'm going to give you 30 seconds to respond. +p1633 +aVLet me bring back Hugh Hewitt. +p1634 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1635 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1636 +aV...I want to turn -- you're going to be involved in the next question... +p1637 +aV...Senator Graham... +p1638 +aV...Thank you, Senator... +p1639 +aV...Thank you Senator. Senator Graham, I want to turn to the minimum... +p1640 +aV...Well, let's talk about South Carolina... +p1641 +aV...Senator, let's turn to the minimum wage. Senator Santorum is the only person on the stage who has proposed increasing the federal minimum wage. How would that affect South Carolinians? Do you agree with Senator Santorum that the federal minimum wage should be increased? +p1642 +aVSenator Graham, thank you so much. Senator Santorum... Senator Graham is suggesting that your proposal would not allot South Carolinians to hire more workers. +p1643 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1644 +aVThank you, Senator. We have to take a quick break. When we come back, confrontation or negotiation? How will these candidates attempt to handle Russian President Vladimir Putin? That's next. +p1645 +aVAnd we're back at the CNN Republican Debate at the Reagan Library in beautiful Simi Valley, California. Let's turn now to some issues of foreign policy. Senator Graham, you all oppose the U.S. nuclear deal with Iran. Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton, a Republican, is pushing for a U.S. military strike against Iran, against its nuclear facilities. Senator Graham, would you authorize, as president, a nuclear strike against -- I mean, sorry -- a strike against Iran's nuclear facilities? +p1646 +aVGovernor -- -- Hugh -- I'm going to go to Hugh Hewitt for a question for Governor Pataki. +p1647 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1648 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Graham -- +p1649 +aVWe're bringing you in on this question as well. Senator Graham, Vladimir Putin in recent days has sent an estimated six more tanks, four helicopters and Russian ground troops into Syria to help support President Assad, an enemy of the United States. The Russian military is also buzzing American planes and Naval vessels around the world. Your front-runner, Donald Trump, says he can do details with President Putin, that the two of them will get along, quote, "very well." Why would your confrontational approach work better than Mr. Trump's negotiation? +p1650 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1651 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1652 +aVGovernor Jindal, how would President Jindal... ... get the Russians out of Syria? +p1653 +aV... +p1654 +aVWell... +p1655 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1656 +aVThank you, Senator... +p1657 +aVThank you, Senator. The final question... +p1658 +aVThe final questions for these four Republicans as the top contenders get ready to take their places on the debate stage when we come back right after this. Welcome back to the CNN Republican debates at the Reagan Library in beautiful Simi Valley, California. We have time for one more question for the candidates. Governor Pataki, let's start with you. You have all spent the last hour and a half debating each other. The other 11 candidates are on their way to the stage. What is the one thing as a candidate that you offer that no one at the next debate can offer? +p1659 +aVThank you, senator. +p1660 +aVThank you. +p1661 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum? +p1662 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1663 +aVThank you. +p1664 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1665 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Governor Jindal, what is something that you offer as a candidate that the other 11 candidates coming on stage in a few minutes cannot offer? +p1666 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Graham? +p1667 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1668 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. Our thanks to the candidates for a great debate. In just a moment, we're bringing the candidates from both of tonight's debates together for a group photo. That will be a first in this campaign. And then, of course, the main event, the top 11 candidates going head to head. I will be back as moderator. Right now, let's go to my colleague, Anderson Cooper. +p1669 +asVHARWOOD +p1670 +(lp1671 +VMr. Trump, you've done very well in this campaign so far by promising to build a wall and make another country pay for it. +p1672 +aVSend 11 million people out of the country. Cut taxes $10 trillion without increasing the deficit. +p1673 +aVAnd make Americans better off because your greatness would replace the stupidity and incompetence of others. +p1674 +aVLet's be honest. Is this a comic book version of a presidential campaign? +p1675 +aVWe're at the 60 seconds. +p1676 +aVWe're at 60 seconds, but I gotta ask you, you talked about your tax plan. You say that it would not increase the deficit because you cut taxes $10 trillion in the economy would take off like... +p1677 +aVHold on, hold on. The economy would take off like a rocket ship. +p1678 +aVI talked to economic advisers who have served presidents of both parties. They said that you have as chance of cutting taxes that much without increasing the deficit as you would of flying away from that podium by flapping your arms. +p1679 +aVThe Tax Foundation says \u2014 has looked at all of our plans and \u2014 and his creates, even with the dynamic effect, $8 trillion dollar deficit... +p1680 +aVGovernor Kasich, hold it, I'm coming to you right now. The... +p1681 +aVWell, I'm asking you about this. +p1682 +aVI'm about to ask you about this. That is, you had some very strong words to say yesterday about what's happening in your party and what you're hearing from the two gentlemen we've just heard from. Would you repeat it? +p1683 +aVWell, let's just get more pointed about it. You said yesterday that you were hearing proposals that were just crazy from your colleagues. Who were you talking about? +p1684 +aVHold on. I think there's a \u2014 I've got question for \u2014 +p1685 +aVHold on, Governor. I've got a question for Governor Bush. +p1686 +aVNo, we're moving to Governor Bush. Governor, the fact that you're at the fifth lectern tonight shows how far your stock has fallen in this race, despite the big investment your donors have made. You noted recently, after slashing your payroll, that you had better things to do than sit around and be demonized by other people. I wanted to ask you \u2014 +p1687 +aVOK. +p1688 +aVGot it. +p1689 +aVBut it's a \u2014 OK. It's a \u2014 it's a question about why you're having difficulty. I want to ask you in this context. Ben Bernanke, who was appointed Fed chairman by your brother, recently wrote a book in which he said he no longer considers himself a Republican because the Republican Party has given in to know- nothingism. Is that why you're having a difficult time in this race? +p1690 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1691 +aVWe're gonna get down the line. Becky's got a question. +p1692 +aVSenator Paul, I've got a question for you on the same subject. +p1693 +aVSenator Paul? +p1694 +aVYou used your time on something else. Senator Paul? +p1695 +aVSenator Paul, the budget deal crafted by Speaker Boehner and passed by the House today makes cuts in entitlement programs, Medicare and Social Security disability, which are the very programs conservatives say need cutting to shrink government and solve our country's long-term budget deficit. Do you oppose that budget deal because it doesn't cut those programs enough? +p1696 +aVSenator, if what you just said is true, why did Speaker Boehner craft this deal and why did Paul Ryan, who has a strong reputation for fiscal discipline, vote for it? +p1697 +aVThank you, Senator . +p1698 +aVJim, thanks. Governor Bush, in a debate like this four years ago, every Republican running for president pledged to oppose a budget deal containing any tax increase even if it had spending cuts ten times as large. A few months later, you told Congress, put me in, coach, you said you would take that deal. Still feel that way? +p1699 +aVBut to \u2014 to the point that you made to Congress, if you were president and you were offered a bipartisan deal that had one dollar... +p1700 +aV...one dollar of tax increases per ten dollars of spending cuts, would you take it? +p1701 +aVSo you don't want the coach to put you in any more? +p1702 +aVThank you, governor. Carl? +p1703 +aVGovernor John Kasich, you've called for abolishing the Export Import Bank, which provides subsidies to help American companies compete with overseas competitors. You call that corporate welfare. One of the largest newspapers in your state wrote an editorial, said they found that strange, writing, that if that's corporate welfare, what does Kasich call the millions of dollars in financial incentives doled out to attract or retain jobs by his development effort \u2014 jobs Ohio. If subsidies are good enough for Ohio companies, why aren't they good enough for companies trying to compete overseas? +p1704 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1705 +aVThank you, Governor. Thank you. +p1706 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate on +p1707 +aVIt sounds like you think Senator Sessions is wrong to believe there is enough abuse in that program that we shouldn't... +p1708 +aVThank you, Senator. Becky? +p1709 +aVGovernor Bush, the tax reform bill that Ronald Reagan signed in 1986 cut the top personal income tax rate to 28 percent \u2014 just like your plan does. But President Reagan taxed capital gains at the same rate, while you would tax them at just 20 percent. Given the problems we've been discussing, growing gap between rich and poor, why would you tax labor at a higher rate than income from investments? +p1710 +aVSenator Rubio, 30 seconds to you. The Tax Foundation, which was alluded to earlier, scored your tax plan and concluded that you give nearly twice as much of a gain in after-tax income to the top 1 percent as to people in the middle of the income scale. Since you're the champion of Americans living paycheck-to- paycheck, don't you have that backward? +p1711 +aVThe Tax Foundation \u2014 just to be clear, they said the... +p1712 +aVNo, I did not. +p1713 +aVSenator, the Tax Foundation said after-tax income for the top 1 percent under your plan would go up 27.9 percent. +p1714 +aVAnd people in the middle of the income spectrum, about 15 percent. +p1715 +aV +p1716 +aVSenator, thank you. +p1717 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you've written about the huge divide in values between middle America and the big coastal cities like New York and Los Angeles. As a preacher as well as a politician, you know that presidents need the moral authority to bring the entire country together. The leading Republican candidate, when you look at the average of national polls right now, is Donald Trump. When you look at him, do you see someone with the moral authority to unite the country? +p1718 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1719 +aVThank you, Governor. Don't forget my colleague, Sharon Epperson. +p1720 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said something that many in your party do not believe, which is that climate change is undeniable, that human activity contributes to it, and you said, quote: "The question is, what do we do to deal with it?". So what do we do? +p1721 +aVWhat should we do? +p1722 +aVYou mean government? +p1723 +aVThank you, Governor. Becky. +p1724 +aVGovernor Bush, Mr. Trump says that he is capable of growing the economy so much that Social Security and Medicare don't have to be touched. Do you want to explain how that is going to happen, Mr. Trump? +p1725 +aVHold on, Governor. I've got a question for \u2014 for Dr. Carson. +p1726 +aVYes. You've said that you would like to replace Medicare with a system of individual family savings accounts, so that families could cover their own expenses. Obviously, that would be a very controversial idea. Explain how that would work, exactly. +p1727 +aVGovernor, do you also think that... +p1728 +aV...that Dr. Carson's right, that we can replace Medicare with individual savings accounts? +p1729 +aVMrs. Fiorina, we're right at the end of our time. +p1730 +aVYou all wanted us to limit . All right. Go ahead. +p1731 +aVWe have now reached the point in the program where candidates are going to give their closing statements, 30 seconds apiece. We're going to go right to left and start with you, Senator Paul. +p1732 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1733 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Cruz? +p1734 +aVThank you, Senator. Mrs. Fiorina? +p1735 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Dr. Carson? +p1736 +aVMr. Trump? +p1737 +aVJust for the record, the debate was always going to be two hours. Senator Rubio? +p1738 +aVSenator Rubio. +p1739 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Bush? +p1740 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Huckabee. +p1741 +aVThank you... +p1742 +aVGovernor Kasich? +p1743 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1744 +aVWe're going to pose this question to all candidates and go left to right, starting with Governor Jindal. Governor, a majority of Republican voters at this point in the campaign have made clear that they prefer someone from outside the political system. In 30 seconds, tell us why your experience inside the system would be more valuable than the fresh eyes an outsider would bring. +p1745 +aVThanks, Governor Jindal. Senator Santorum? +p1746 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Pataki? +p1747 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Graham. +p1748 +aVSenator Graham, thank you very much. Becky? +p1749 +aVJust hold on, Governor Pataki, we're going to go to Senator Graham on this question because we believe you are likely to be the only person on this stage tonight who supports this budget deal. Now, you just heard Governor Jindal say that it's a phony deal, it doesn't do anything, and people like you are surrendering rather than fighting by supporting it. Why is he wrong? +p1750 +aVThank you, Senator Graham... +p1751 +aV...Governor, we're going to get to you in just a moment, we're going to try to keep this shorter... +p1752 +aVGovernor Jindal, a question about fiscal policy, especially since you noted that this deal doesn't solve the long-term debt situation. When you came into office with a budget surplus in the state of Louisiana, now, years later, the state legislature faced a $1.6 billion budget gap and the Republican state treasurer called one of your approaches to that problem "nonsense on a stick," quoting him. Are you going to do for the federal budget what you did for the Louisiana budget? +p1753 +aVBut Governor Jindal, as you know, many Republicans are opposed to the approach that you've taken in Louisiana. They complain that you have tried so hard to avoid anything that could be called a tax increase so that you could run for president saying you'd never raised taxes, David Vitter, the Republican who's now running to succeed you, has told voters, I won't be like Jindal, I'm not using the governorship as a stepping stone to higher office. +p1754 +aVGovernor Jindal, thank you. +p1755 +aVWe're going to take a quick break. The Republican presidential debate continues live from Boulder, Colorado in a moment. +p1756 +aVGovernor Jindal, Senator Santorum just raised the issue of corporate taxes, and cutting corporate taxes is very popular in your party because our rate, at 35 percent, is one of the highest in the world. But nobody has figured out how to identify a set of loopholes that would allow that tax rate to be lowered. So can you tell us specifically what loopholes you'd do away with? +p1757 +aVWe're talking corporate taxes. +p1758 +aVThanks, Governor. Becky? +p1759 +aVSo the tax credit right now that we have for domestic manufacturing, which manufacturers say is... +p1760 +aV...important, you would get rid of that? +p1761 +aVSenator Graham, Americans have gotten used to seeing headlines about more and more big corporations relocating overseas to cut their tax bill. Now, many in Washington think the way to stop that is to lower our corporate tax rate. But as we've seen, tax reform takes time. It hasn't happened yet. In the meantime, do you fault those companies for leaving? Do companies owe anything to their country, as well as their shareholders? +p1762 +aVSenator Graham. +p1763 +aVI want to remind candidates, you've got a one-minute limit on the \u2014 on the response. But I just want to follow up, Senator Graham. Four years ago, the nominee of your party said that corporations are people, too. If that is true, the question is, do they owe any obligation to the country? +p1764 +aVSenator Graham \u2014 +p1765 +aV\u2014 thank you very much. +p1766 +aVWe're moving on. +p1767 +aVSenator, we're moving on. I'd like to bring on my colleague, Rick Santelli \u2014 Rick. +p1768 +aVSenator, that \u2014 I mean, Governor, if that's true, why was our economy limping six years ago and now it's the strongest in the world? +p1769 +aVGovernor Pataki, you've indicated you believe climate change is real and caused at least in part by human activity. So, in 60 seconds, tell us what the federal government should do about it. +p1770 +aVIs there a role for government? +p1771 +aVSo, subsidies for those programs? For \u2014 for those alternative energy sources? +p1772 +aVThank you, Governor. Thank you, Governor. Carl? +p1773 +aVGovernor, if you cut spending and cut government so much, why did your legislature have such a big deficit? +p1774 +aVNo, we're going to move on. I'm going to bring on my colleague Sharon Epperson. +p1775 +aVAnd thank you, Sharon. This is the Republican Presidential Debate, live from Boulder, Colorado. We'll be right back. +p1776 +aVOK, now we're at the point of the evening where we're just about to give our candidates a holiday from this debate, but not before they tell us in 30 seconds their closing statements. Senator Graham, you're first. +p1777 +aVSenator Graham... +p1778 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. Governor Pataki? +p1779 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum? +p1780 +aVSenator Santorum, thank you. Governor Jindal? +p1781 +aVGovernor Jindal, thank you very much. Carl? +p1782 +asVQUESTION +p1783 +(lp1784 +VMy name is Ashley Tofil. Ms. Fiorina, in November, you said that you would not talk to Vladimir Putin after you were elected because you would be communicating from a position of weakness. Do you believe that it is feasible to not communicate with another world leader? And do you think that that also is a sign of weakness? +p1785 +aVMy name is Carla Hernandez. I'm from the University of Texas at Austin. And my question is directed to all the candidates. If the Bible clearly states that we need to embrace those in need and not fear, how can we justify not accepting refugees? +p1786 +aVPlease describe one action you would do to make the economic environment more favorable for small businesses and entrepreneurs and anyone dreaming of opening their own business. +p1787 +aVHi, I'm Adithya Sivakumar. I'm from Vanderbilt University. And I was wondering with U.S. designated state sponsors of terrorism such as Iran and other traditional U.S. enemies fighting +p1788 +aVNew Hampshire has been hard hit by the heroin epidemic, and we're on track to have twice as many overdose deaths this year as in 2013. What specifically would you do to address this crisis? +p1789 +aVAs a young person, I'm very concerned about climate change and how it will affect my future. As a presidential candidate, what will you do to address climate change? (END +p1790 +aVI'm Mark Watson. I'm known for my views on Youtube, but I'm also a veteran who served in the Army for eight years. As an African-American living near Ferguson, I've seen the strain between police officers and the communities they serve firsthand. Now, there are great tools like body cameras that \u2014 to protect both officers and citizens, but we all currently have better cameras in our pockets than in our precincts. Why aren't we using the technology available to better protect our communities? +p1791 +aVI'm Dulce Candy, a Youtube creator who immigrated to the United States from Mexico when I was a little girl. Since then, I am proud to say I served in the armed forces in Iraq, became a citizen and I am now an entrepreneur. There are many immigrants who contribute positively to the American economy, but some of the comments in the campaign make us question our place in this country. If America does not seem like a welcoming place for immigrant entrepreneurs, will the American economy suffer? +p1792 +aVI'm Nabela Noor. I'm a Muslim American born and raised in the U.S. who creates beauty and lifestyle videos on Youtube. In 2015, the number of hate crimes against Muslims in the U.S. has tripled, and on social media, where I spend a lot of time, I've seen many attacks directed towards fellow Muslims. This culture of hatred is only driving +p1793 +asVCAVUTO +p1794 +(lp1795 +VIt is 9:00 p.m. on the East Coast, 8:00 p.m. here inside the Milwaukee theater. Welcome to the Republican presidential debate here on the Fox Business Network. I'm Neil Cavuto, alongside my co-moderators, Maria Bartiromo, and the editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal, Gerard Baker. +p1796 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. +p1797 +aVIt sounds like a game show but it's not. Now I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the elephant in the room, and I'm not talking about your party's fine symbol. I'm talking about the purpose of tonight's debate. The economy and what each of you would do to improve it. No more, no less. We are focused on those issues, and what you have said on those issues in your words and what your opponents have said in their words about your words. That is the agenda tonight. How each of you plans to make America better tomorrow. And so we begin. Candidates, as we gather tonight in this very august theater, just outside and across the country, picketers are gathering as well. They're demanding an immediate hike in the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Just a few hours ago, near Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed doing the same for all state workers, the first governor to do so. Mr. Trump, as the leading presidential candidate on this stage and one whose tax plan exempts couples making up to $50,000 a year from paying any federal income taxes at all, are you sympathetic to the protesters cause since a $15 wage works out to about $31,000 a year? +p1798 +aVSo do not raise the minimum wage? +p1799 +aVDr. Carson, you have long bemoaned this lackluster recovery. And this Facebook map show Americans share your concern. The green represents how the jobs issue is resonating all across the nation, especially here in the state of Wisconsin. You suggested one minimum wage does not fit all, and that perhaps we should offer a lower or starter wage for young people. Those protesters outside are looking for $15 and nothing less. Where are you? +p1800 +aVSo, sir, just to be clear, you would not raise it? +p1801 +aVSenator Rubio, you called the recent Democratic debate in Las Vegas a night of giveaways, including free health care, free college and a host of other government-paid benefits. Since you aren't a fan of all they're giving away, tell us tonight what you would take back. +p1802 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. +p1803 +aVAll right. We're only just getting started. Coming up, your taxes. Stick around. You're watching FOX Business +p1804 +aVWelcome back to the Milwaukee Theater and the Republican presidential debate. Let's get right back to our questions. Dr. Carson, to you. You recently railed against the double- standard in the media, sir, that seems obsessed with inconsistencies and potential exaggerations in your life story, but looked the other way when it came to then-Senator Barack Obama's. Still, as a candidate whose brand has always been trust, are you worried your campaign \u2014 which you've always said, sir, is bigger than you \u2014 is now being hurt by you? +p1805 +aVI'll just forget that follow-up there. +p1806 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1807 +aVAlright, thank you. We're going to take a break here. Coming up, a big issue many Americans are facing, taxes. The Republican Presidential Debate continues now, live, from Milwaukee. +p1808 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from Milwaukee. Let's get back to the questions. And we want to touch on obviously one of the biggest of this issue in this year, taxes. And this will go to several of you. One of the biggest economic concerns of course in the country are taxes. Facebook data certainly backs that up. Once again the green on this map that we're going to see here shows how the conversation around taxes is resonating across the nation, especially here in Wisconsin. First off, Dr. Carson, to you. You say you are in favor of a tax system, I guess akin to tithing, sir, with a flat tax rate of up to 15 percent because you said, if everybody pays this, I think God is a pretty fair guy, so tithing is a pretty fair process. But Donald Trump says that is not fair. That wealthier taxpayers should pay a higher rate because it's a fair thing to do. So whose plan would God endorse then, Doctor? Yours or Mr. Trump's? +p1809 +aVRight. +p1810 +aVThank you very much. Senator Paul, you said you want to blow up the tax code and start over with an across-the-board 14.5 percent fair and flat tax. You happily offered that it is not revenue neutral and that's the idea. You want to choke off the amount of money coming into Washington. But don't you risk, sir, creating a near-term budget crisis just as your presidency would be beginning? +p1811 +aVThere are no deductions on your \u2014 under your plan? +p1812 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1813 +aVSenator Paul... Senator Paul, you have already said, sir, that that would be a mistake in not talking to Vladimir Putin, or to rule it out. You've argued that it's never a good idea to close down communication. With that in mind, do you think the same applies to administration efforts right now to include the Iranians in talks on Syria? +p1814 +aV...Well, then how would you respond? +p1815 +aVBut if you're not going to respond in a no-fly zone strategy, what would yours be? +p1816 +aVAll right. And look at the time, look at the time. You are watching FOX Business, we'll take a break. Stick around. +p1817 +aVSenator Cruz \u2014 and I will get to you \u2014 but, Senator Cruz, on that theme, Facebook data shows that over the last month alone, nearly 1 million people \u2014 nearly 1 million \u2014 have been concerned about reining in Wall Street, apparently believing that some have not been punished enough. So, as an accomplished litigator yourself and a former solicitor general, would you go after the very people who believe and fear that Wall Street has ignored, in other words, the crooks that Bernie Sanders say have gotten away with a financial murder? +p1818 +aVSenator......Senator, I really want to be clear here. Are you saying, sir, that if Bank of America were on the brink, you would let it fail? +p1819 +aVSir, I understand that. I just want to be clear, if you don't mind, that millions of depositors would be on the line with that decision. And I just want to be clear. If it were to happen again, for whatever the reason, you would let it go, you would let a Bank of America go? +p1820 +aVOK, I think it's fair to say you're not fans of Hillary Clinton's resume. Alright, Mr. Trump.... +p1821 +aVI had a feeling. Perhaps the most successful capitalist on this stage tonight, you've acknowledged that some give capitalism a bad name. You've been particularly critical of businesses that find all sorts of ways of paying their taxes by keeping money abroad, but your own plan includes an incentive to bring \u2014 that more the $2 trillion dollars home. Isn't that, like, a one-time bounty... +p1822 +aV...Some of the guys you all but call pirates, so they still keep the loot, and pay only a price to bring it back. +p1823 +aV...Alright, gentlemen, I know you want to \u2014 and I want to, be we also promised to get people home tonight, and we are going to take a quick break here. I think it is fair to say at this juncture that you can discuss these issues, and only business issues, but still keep it interesting. Stick around for these candidates closing statements. +p1824 +aVSenator Marco Rubio? +p1825 +aVDr. Ben Carson? +p1826 +aVDonald Trump? +p1827 +aVCandidates, we want to thank you all. We also appreciate your helping save time by talking over one another at times. That was welcomed. But by all means, it was a very riveting debate. Business issues can be \u2014 can be riveting, because it wasn't about us, it's about them. +p1828 +aVThat'll do it. Thank you for joining us. +p1829 +aVIt is 9:00 p.m. here at the North Charleston Coliseum and Performing Arts Center in South Carolina. Welcome to the sixth Republican presidential of the 2016 campaign, here on the Fox Business Network. I'm Neil Cavuto, alongside my friend and co-moderator Maria Bartiromo. +p1830 +aVNow, the seven candidates on the stage tonight were selected based on their standing in six national polls, as well as polls in the early-voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire, those standings determining the position on the stage of the candidates tonight. And here they are. Businessman Donald Trump. Texas senator Ted Cruz. Florida senator Marco Rubio. Neurosurgeon Ben Carson. New Jersey governor Chris Christie. Former Florida governor Jeb Bush. And Ohio governor John Kasich. +p1831 +aVGovernor Kasich, we are not even two weeks into this stock trading year, but investors already lost $1.6 trillion in market value. That makes it the worst start to a new year ever. Many worry that things will get even worse, and that banks and financial stocks are particularly vulnerable. Now, if this escalates, like it did back when Barack Obama first assumed the presidency, what actions would you take if this same thing happens all over again just as, in this example, you are taking over the presidency? +p1832 +aVGovernor Bush, the president just told the nation two nights ago that America is back and that the idea that our enemies are getting stronger or that this country is getting weaker, well, it's just rhetoric and hot air. Now other Democrats go even further, sir, saying Republicans even suggesting such comments actually embolden our enemies. I guess they would include you. What do you say? +p1833 +aVSo I take it from that you do not agree with the president. +p1834 +aVSenator Rubio, the president says that +p1835 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1836 +aVMr. Trump, at the State of the Union, the president pointed to a guest who was a Syrian refugee you might recall whose wife and daughter and other family members were killed in an air attack. Now he fled that country seeking asylum here, ultimately ended up in Detroit where he's now trying to start a new life. The president says that that doctor is the real face of these refugees and not the one that you and some of your colleagues on this stage are painting; that you prefer the face of fear and terror and that you would refuse to let in anyone into this country seeking legitimate asylum. How do you answer that? +p1837 +aVAll right. Welcome back to the Republican presidential , right here in North Charleston, South Carolina. Let's get right back to the questions. And I'll start with you, Senator Cruz. Now you are, of course, a strict constitutionalist \u2014 no one would doubt that. And as you know, the U.S. Constitution says only natural-born citizens are eligible for the office of president of the United States. Stop me if you've heard this before. Now, you were born...... you were born in Canada to an American mother. So you were and are considered an American citizen. But that fellow next to you, Donald Trump \u2014 and others \u2014 have said that being born in Canada means you are not natural-born, and that has raised questions about your eligibility. Do you want to try to close this topic once and for all tonight? +p1838 +aVMr. Trump......that you raised it because of his rising poll numbers. +p1839 +aVWhy are you saying this now \u2014 right now? Why are you raising this issue now? +p1840 +aVSenator, do you want to respond? +p1841 +aVMarco Rubio. I'm sorry, it's the time constraints. You and Governor Christie have been exchanging some fairly nasty words of late, and I will allow the governor to respond as well. The governor went so far to say, you won't be able to slime your way to the White House. He's referring to a series of ads done by a PAC, speaking on your behalf, that say quote,"One high tax, Common Core, liberal, energy-loving, Obamacare, Medicaid-expanding president is enough. You think you went too far on that and do you want to apologize to the governor? +p1842 +aVThat is not my question. +p1843 +aVIs he a liberal? +p1844 +aVIs he a liberal? +p1845 +aVGovernor? +p1846 +aVYou were? +p1847 +aVWell, we are not done. Coming up, one of the top things people are talking about on Facebook, guns. And you can join us live us on this stage in the conversation during this commercial break right from home. You can go to Facebook.com/. We will be streaming live and talking about how we think the is going so far. We're back in a moment in Charleston, South Carolina. +p1848 +aVSenator Rubio, you said that President Obama wants to take people's guns away. Yet under his presidency, gun sales have more than doubled. That doesn't sound like a White House unfriendly to gun owners. +p1849 +aVBut what fact can you point to, Senator \u2014 what fact can you point to that the president would take away everyone's gun? You don't think that's ? +p1850 +aVGovernor Christie, you, too, have criticized the president's recent executive action on gun control, saying it's unconstitutional, another step to bypass Congress. But hasn't your own position on guns evolved, sir? The New Jersey Star-Ledger reports that you signed several laws to regulate the possession of firearms, and that you argued back in August 2013, and I quote, "These common sense measures will strengthen New Jersey's already tough gun laws." So isn't that kind of what the president wants to do now? +p1851 +aVMaria... +p1852 +aVGovernor bush, for the third time in as many months, the Iranians have provoked us, detaining us, as we've been discussing, with these 10 Navy sailors Tehran had said strayed into their waters. The sailors were released, but only after shown on video apologizing for the incident. This occurring only weeks after Iran fired multiple rockets within 1,500 yards of a U.S. aircraft carrier and then continued to test medium range missiles. Now you've claimed that such actions indicate Tehran has little to fear from a President Obama. I wonder, sir, what would change if they continued doing this sort of thing under a President Jeb Bush? +p1853 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Kasich, while everyone has been focusing on Iran's provocations, I'm wondering what you make of what Saudi Arabia has been doing and its recent moves in the region, including its execution of a well-known Shi'ite cleric and its move to dramatically increase oil production, some say in an effort to drive down oil prices and force a lot of U.S. oil producers out of business. Sure enough, oil prices have tumbled. One brokerage house is predicting a third or more of American oil producers and those heavily invested in fracking will go bankrupt, and soon Saudi Arabia and +p1854 +aVThank you John. +p1855 +aVBut you said \u2014 you said that he made those comments and they represented him being unhinged after he made them. +p1856 +aVWell \u2014 well, after he made them......his poll numbers went up eight points in South Carolina. Now \u2014 now, wait... +p1857 +aVAre you \u2014 are you saying \u2014 are you saying that all those people who agree with Mr. Trump are unhinged? +p1858 +aVMr. Trump, sometimes maybe in the heat of the campaign, you say things and you have to dial them back. Last week, the New York Times editorial board quoted as saying that you would oppose, "up to 45 percent tariff on Chinese goods." +p1859 +aVWell... +p1860 +aVYou never said because they provided that... +p1861 +aVSo they've never said to put a tariff on their... +p1862 +aVI'm sorry, you lost me. +p1863 +aVThen I apologize. Then I want to understand, if you don't want a 45 percent tariff, say that wasn't the figure, would you be open \u2014 are you open to slapping a higher tariff on Chinese goods of any sort to go back at them? +p1864 +aVI know... +p1865 +aVSo you're open to a tariff? +p1866 +aVAll right. +p1867 +aVHe is right. If you put a tariff on a good, it's Americans who pay. +p1868 +aVGovernor Christie, going back to your U.S. Attorney days, you had been praised by both parties as certainly a tough law and order guy. So I wonder what you make of recent statistics that showed violent crimes that have been spiking sometimes by double digit ratings in 30 cities across the country. Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn said, "most local law enforcement officials feel abandoned by Washington." Former NYC Police Chief Ray Kelly, says that, "police are being less proactive because they're being overly scrutinized and second guessed and they're afraid of being sued or thrown in jail." What would you do as president to address this? +p1869 +aVThank you governor. Governor Kasich, as someone has to deal with controversial police shootings in your own state, what do you make of Chicago's move recently to sort of retrain police? Maybe make them not so quick to use their guns? +p1870 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1871 +aVGentlemen, gentlemen \u2014 +p1872 +aVVery quick, very quick. +p1873 +aVDo you think they like each other? +p1874 +aVAll right, gentlemen, we've got to stop. I know you are very passionate about that. Governor Bush, fears have gripped this country obviously, and you touched on it earlier since the San Bernardino attacks. Since our last , the national conversation has changed, according to Facebook data as well. Now this first graphic shows the issues that were most talked about right before those attacks and now after: the issues of Islam, homeland security and +p1875 +aVWould you answer this question? +p1876 +aVFair enough. So Tim Cook \u2014 so Tim Cook says he's going to keep it private. +p1877 +aVBut if Tim cook is telling you no, Mr. President. +p1878 +aVDo you ask or do you order? +p1879 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p1880 +aVGovernor Bush? +p1881 +aVDr. Ben Carson? +p1882 +aVSenator Ted Cruz? +p1883 +aVGentlemen, thank you all. All of you. That wraps up our debate. We went a little bit over here. But we wanted to make sure everyone was able to say their due. He's upset. All right. Thank you for joining us. Much more to come in the Spin Room ahead. +p1884 +asVBLITZER +p1885 +(lp1886 +VWelcome to the CNN-Facebook Republican presidential debate here at the Venetian Las Vegas. We have a very enthusiastic audience. Everyone is here. They're looking forward to a serious and spirited discussion about the security of this nation. I'm Wolf Blitzer, your moderator tonight. This debate is airing on CNN networks here in the United States and around the world, and on the Salem Radio Network. The nine leading candidates, they are here. Let's welcome them right now. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Businessman and real estate developer Donald Trump. Retired neurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. And Ohio Governor John Kasich. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome these Republican candidates for president of the United States. This is the final Republican debate before the election year begins, and we're taking a moment for the photographs of the candidates together on the stage. Now, everyone, please rise for the national anthem sung by Ayla Brown. +p1887 +aVI know everyone is eager to get started. So, candidates, please take your places while I explain the ground rules for tonight. As moderator, I'll guide the discussion, and I'll be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt and CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. We also asked Republicans and independents nationwide to share their questions for the candidates. We teamed up with Facebook to send a campaign camper across the country over the past several weeks. Thousands of people stepped inside and recorded their questions on video. Millions more have weighed in on Facebook. Candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have a minute and 15 seconds to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you're singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know that we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. And as the candidates requested, a bell will sound like this. We know you are all eager to jump in and debate these important issues, so, please, wait until you're called on. These nine Republicans are positioned on stage based on their ranking in the recent polls, so let's begin right now. I'd like to invite each candidate to introduce himself or herself to our audience. You'll have one minute. First to you, Senator Paul. +p1888 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p1889 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1890 +aVMs. Fiorina? +p1891 +aVGovernor Bush? +p1892 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1893 +aVSenator Cruz. +p1894 +aVDr. Carson. +p1895 +aVMr. Trump. +p1896 +aVThank you. Since you last debated, Americans have witnessed terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino. The FBI director says the country now faces the greatest terror threat since 9/11. You all have different approaches to keeping the country safe. And that will be the focus of tonight's debate. Mr. Trump, as you mentioned in your opening statement, part of your strategy is to focus in on America's borders. To keep the country safe, you say you want to temporarily ban non-American Muslims from coming to the United States; ban refugees fleeing +p1897 +aVGovernor Bush, you called Mr. Trump "unhinged" when he proposed banning non-American Muslims from the United States. Why is that unhinged? +p1898 +aVMr. Trump? +p1899 +aVSenator Rubio \u2014 I'm going to go to Senator Rubio and get his thoughts. You have said banning Muslims is unconstitutional. But according to a recent ABC News-Washington Post poll, a majority of Republicans support Mr. Trump's idea. Why are they wrong? +p1900 +aVHugh Hewitt, you have a question. +p1901 +aVGovernor Christie, Americans are clearly more afraid today than at any time since 9/11. As you mentioned in your opening statement, today in Los Angeles, 650 schoolchildren didn't go to \u2014 650,000 schoolchildren didn't go to school because of an e-mail threat, this two weeks after an attack killed 14 people in San Bernardino. Is this the new normal? And if so, what steps would you take as president of the United States to ensure that fear does not paralyze America? +p1902 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, one of the killers in San Bernardino was an American who was not on anyone's watch list. How are you going to find that radicalized person and stop another such attack? +p1903 +aVThank you. Dana Bash, you have the next question. +p1904 +aVThank you. Dr. Carson, you're in favor of monitoring mosques and schools where there is anti-America sentiment, what do you consider anti- America? +p1905 +aVDr. Carson, who was right in that little debate that we just heard between Senator Rubio and Senator Paul? +p1906 +aVHold on a sec, we have a lot more to come and everybody's going to have their full opportunity. Governor Bush, six days after 9/11 your brother visited a mosque and said quote, "Islam is peace." The conversation tonight is about banning Muslims and surveillance of mosques, are President Bush's words still relevant in today's Republican party? +p1907 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you pointed out you were a CEO in Silicon Valley on 9/11. Companies there, they say they won't help the FBI now crack encrypted communication from +p1908 +aVBut my question was: Should these Silicon Valley companies be forced to cooperate with the FBI? +p1909 +aVMr. Trump, you recently suggested closing that Internet up, those were your words, as a way to stop +p1910 +aVLet me follow up, Mr. Trump. So, are you open to closing parts of the Internet? +p1911 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, is shutting down any part of the Internet a good idea? +p1912 +aVThank you, Governor. The fight against radical Islamic terrorists and +p1913 +aVThank you. To be clear, Senator Cruz, would you carpet bomb Raqqa, the +p1914 +aVThank you. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you've been critical of Senator Cruz's strategy. You say his voting record doesn't match his rhetoric. Why? +p1915 +aVBecause I asked the question, Senator, because you said this. You said he, referring to Senator Cruz, voted against the Defense Authorization Act every year that it came up, and I assume that if he voted against it, he would veto it as president. That's the bill that funds our troops. +p1916 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1917 +aVSenator Rubio. +p1918 +aVWe are going to have much more on this... +p1919 +aVWe're going to have much more on this. But I want to move now back to Mr. Trump. +p1920 +aVHold on. Hold on. Hold on. +p1921 +aVWe have a lot... +p1922 +aVWe have a lot to discuss. I want to move to Mr. Trump right now. We have a question on this war against +p1923 +aVMr. Trump. +p1924 +aVGovernor Bush. Governor Bush. +p1925 +aVMr. Trump. +p1926 +aVJust one at a time, go ahead... +p1927 +aVGo ahead, Mr. Trump. +p1928 +aVGovernor Bush, please. +p1929 +aVOne at a time. +p1930 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1931 +aVThank you. +p1932 +aVAll right. Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash, Hugh, go ahead with the next question. +p1933 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Rubio? Let's continue this conversation. This is a critically important issue. +p1934 +aVWe will get to \u2014 we have a lot of time, Ms. Fiorina. I want to get to Senator Rubio right now. Let's talk about, one of the aspects of your strategy, you say the only way to defeat +p1935 +aVThank you, Senator. Stand by. Ms. Fiorina, the former defense secretary, Bob Gates, says the chances of getting Sunni-Arab forces on the ground to get the job done, his words, "chances very remote." What's your strategy? +p1936 +aVThank you. Governor Christie, what's your strategy? +p1937 +aVDr. Carson, what is your strategy? +p1938 +aVThank you. Everyone stand by. We're only just beginning. Coming up, which candidates on this stage tonight want to move foreign policy in a dramatically new direction? We'll be right back. +p1939 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate here at the Venetian, Las Vegas. The war against +p1940 +aVThank you. +p1941 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you supported the removal of Moammar Gadhafi in Libya. Now that country is in turmoil, as +p1942 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1943 +aVStandby. Everybody standby for a moment. Governor Kasich, go ahead. +p1944 +aVThank you. +p1945 +aVWe're going to talk about Assad in a moment. Mr. Trump, are Americans safer with dictators running the world in the Middle East? +p1946 +aVThank you. Mr. Trump? +p1947 +aVAll right. +p1948 +aVThank you. +p1949 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East... +p1950 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East better off with dictators? +p1951 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1952 +aVHold on Governor Bush., here's the question. You said, "getting rid of Saddam Hussein in your words was a pretty good deal." In light of what has happened in Iraq, do you still feel that way? +p1953 +aVSenator Paul, was getting rid of Saddam Hussein a pretty good deal? +p1954 +aVThank you. Hugh Hewitt, go ahead. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hugh. +p1955 +aVSenator, Senator, we're going to get to you. Wait your turn. We have two hours of debate. We'll have plenty of time. Let Hugh ask his question. +p1956 +aVSenator, please. +p1957 +aVSenator... +p1958 +aVYou'll have plenty of opportunity. Hugh, go ahead. +p1959 +aVThese are the rules all of you agreed to. Hugh, go ahead with your question. +p1960 +aVLet's continue with Russia right now. We have another question from Facebook. Listen and watch. +p1961 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you know, U.S. and Russian warplanes are flying all over Syria right now. With so many lives on the line, is this a good time for the United States not to talk to Putin? +p1962 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Christie, if the U.S. imposed a no-fly zone over Syria and a Russian plane encroached, invaded that no-fly zone, would you be prepared to shoot down that Russian plane and risk war with Russia? +p1963 +aVSenator Paul \u2014 Senator Paul, I want you to respond to what we just heard from Governor Christie. If there was a no-fly zone, you say that potentially could lead to World War III. Why? +p1964 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1965 +aVAll right, let's go back \u2014 Hugh and Dana? +p1966 +aVOne at a time. Hugh, go ahead. +p1967 +aVGovernor, thank you very much. So, Dr. Carson, you recently visited a refugee camp in Jordan and you deemed it your words, "really quite nice." Saying the people there didn't want to come to the United States. Do you think these camps are a long-term solution of the problem of Syrian refugees? +p1968 +aVSenator Paul, you oppose letting in Syrian refugees at this time into the United States. The U.S. has already accepted 2,000 Syrian refugees, including 13 living here in Las Vegas right now. Would you send them back? What would you do with these people? +p1969 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1970 +aVSenator Paul, you didn't answer the question about the 2,000 Syrian refugees who are already here in the United States. Will you send them back or let them stay? +p1971 +aVWe have another \u2014 we have another question. We have another question from Facebook. Let's listen. +p1972 +aVGovernor Christie, you say there should be a pause in allowing new refugees to come into the United States, including orphans under the age of five. What do you say to Carla? +p1973 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1974 +aVThank you, Governor. There is much more coming up. We are only just beginning. Coming up, what other global hot spots await the next president of the United States. +p1975 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate. We're here at the Venetian Las Vegas. Tonight we have been focusing on the Middle East, but let's turn to some other world threats that you will potentially face as Commander in Chief. Ms. Fiorina, candidates here have called the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un a maniac who is mentally unstable. Last week he said he now has a hydrogen bomb. If you were elected president, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p1976 +aVDr. Carson, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p1977 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Dana and Hugh you have questions as well. +p1978 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Some of you on this stage have questioned whether your opponents have temperament, the right temperament, to be in control of the nuclear codes. Dana, you have a question on this? +p1979 +aVThank you, senator. Thank you. +p1980 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1981 +aVThank you, Senator. We're a month and a half away now from the first real test who will be the Republican presidential nominee. Hugh, you have a question? +p1982 +aVAll right. Candidates, we have more coming up. When we come back, everyone will have an opportunity to explain why this particular candidate, each of you on the stage, believes he or she should be the Republican presidential nominee. +p1983 +aVNow it's time for the closing statements from the candidates. Each one has 30 seconds. Senator Paul. +p1984 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1985 +aVGovernor Christie. +p1986 +aVMs. Fiorina. +p1987 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1988 +aVSenator Rubio. +p1989 +aVSenator Cruz. +p1990 +aVDr. Carson. +p1991 +aVThanks to all the Republican presidential candidates. That does it for this Republican presidential debate. +p1992 +aVI'd now like to ask the candidates to please take your places while I tell you a little bit more about how tonight's debate will work. As the moderator, I'll guide the discussion asking questions and follow-ups, as will Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt. Candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have a minutes and 15 seconds to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you're singled out for criticism. We have timing lights that are visible to the candidates, those lights will warn you when your time is up. And as the candidates requested, a bell will sound like this. We know you're all eager to jump in and debate these important issues, but please wait until you're called on. Now that everyone is this place, it's time for the candidates to introduce themselves to our audience. You'll each have one minute. Senator Graham, you're first. +p1993 +aVGovernor Pataki. +p1994 +aVSenator Santorum. +p1995 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p1996 +aVLet's begin. The United States just suffered the worst terrorist attack since 9-11, the murder of 14 people by two terrorists, one of whom was an American citizen. In response, Republican frontrunner Donald Trump proposed a temporary ban on all Muslims coming into the United States until the government can figure out what is going on. Senator Graham, the polls show most Republicans do support Mr. Trump. What do you say to them? +p1997 +aVSenator Graham, you say you'd rather lose the election without Trump than try to win with him. Does that mean you'll be voting for the Democratic nominee if Donald Trump wins the presidential nomination? +p1998 +aVGovernor Pataki, you mentioned Donald Trump in your opening statement. You've also suggested Mr. Trump's plan is un-American and absurd. Why? +p1999 +aVSenator Santorum, you object to Mr. Trump's proposals on the grounds that it's unworkable. You've made religious liberty a hallmark of your career. Do you believe in religious liberty for Muslims as well as Christians? +p2000 +aVSenator Graham. +p2001 +aVSenator Santorum. +p2002 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you called Mr. Trump's plan to ban Muslims impossible and unconstitutional. But what is your specific plan to prevent would-be Jihadists from carrying out attacks against Americans? +p2003 +aVThe terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino have sparked a debate here in the United States about the balance between privacy and security. I want to bring in CNN's Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt for more on this. +p2004 +aVGovernor Pataki. +p2005 +aVThere are a lot of people who have been frustrated, especially Senator Graham, that law enforcement can't tap into information on terrorist cell phones. Senator Graham has called on companies in Silicon Valley to change their business models. As president of the United States, would you force these companies to change their models so the government can better monitor the traffic on these cell phones? +p2006 +aVSenator Graham? +p2007 +aVSenator Graham. +p2008 +aVHere is a question we have on the fight against +p2009 +aVGovernor Huckabee, how would you defeat +p2010 +aVSenator Graham, you have an aggressive military plan to try to defeat +p2011 +aVSenator Santorum, following up on what we just heard from Senator Graham, at least one U.S. intelligence report from the White House has concluded that, in order to defeat +p2012 +aVSenator Graham, you're shaking your head. +p2013 +aVI'm going to bring Governor Pataki in a minute, but go ahead and respond, Senator Graham. +p2014 +aVGovernor Pataki, should the U.S. send ground troops into Syria? +p2015 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you have not put a number of how many U.S. ground troops would be needed to combat +p2016 +aVSenator Graham, and I just want to remind our viewers, you want 10,000 U.S. ground troops in Iraq, and 10,000 in Syria? +p2017 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you have said as president you would tell +p2018 +aVSenator Samtorum? +p2019 +aVGovernor Pataki, you support ground troops - deploying grounds troops. +p2020 +aVThe U.S. Army's Former Cheif of Staff, General Raymond Odierno said that, and I'm quoting, "now +p2021 +aVBut how long would you be willing to commit U.S. troops to fight +p2022 +aVSenator Graham, you called for U.S. ground troops as we know in Iraq and Syria. +p2023 +aVAs you know, there's a growing +p2024 +aVAre you ready to deploy U.S. troops to Libya to try to defeat +p2025 +aVSenator? Senator, are you ready to commit U.S. ground troops to Libya? +p2026 +aVAlright, gentleman, standby. The fight against +p2027 +aVWe're live here at the Venetian in Las Vegas. Welcome back. As the U.S. fight against +p2028 +aVWe have a video question from Facebook. Let's watch. +p2029 +aVGovernor Pataki. +p2030 +aVHe says he was wondering with U.S. designated state sponsors of terrorism like Iran and other traditional U.S. enemies fighting +p2031 +aVHugh Hewitt and Dana Bash have questions. Hugh go ahead. +p2032 +aVGovernor Pataki, let me stick with you. Governor Pataki, a U.S. Army Sargent Bowe Bergdahl now facing a court marshall after leaving his base in Afghanistan, getting captured by the Taliban - Donald Trump, has called for his execution. The former house speak John Boehner says "he's innocent until proven guilty." Where do you stand? +p2033 +aVSenator Graham, where do you stand? +p2034 +aVGovernor Huckabee? Governor Huckbee, +p2035 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Pataki, speaking of those four Americans being held in Iran right now. Iran has suggested they might be willing to have a prisoner swap, release Iranian prisoners held in the United States, in exchange for those four Americans. Would you support that? +p2036 +aVWe have to take a quick break, but, Governor, Israel has exchanged a lot of the prisoners it was holding for Israeli soldiers who were being held by Hamas, for example. +p2037 +aVThank you. Let's take another quick break. The scramble, the scramble to protect Americans after +p2038 +aVWelcome back to the Republican Presidential Debate here at the Venetian in Las Vegas. Gentlemen, in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks, the Obama Administration policy of allowing Syrian refugees to come into the United States has come under fire. Senator Santorum, you say accepting Syrian refugees is dangerous. You say it just takes one Jihadist to destroy the world. Do you think there is any way to properly vet refugees coming into the United States? +p2039 +aVGovernor Pataki, you have said you wouldn't accept a single Syrian refugee. What should become of them? +p2040 +aVLet's go back to Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt for more questions. Dana? +p2041 +aVThank you, Senator. Gentlemen, standby, we are going to take another very quick break. Coming up, with America on edge, who has what it takes to be the next Commander in Chief? These candidates, they will make their case. +p2042 +aVWelcome back. We're live here at the Venetian Las Vegas. Gentlemen, it's time for your closing statements. Each candidate will have 30 seconds. Senator graham, you're first. +p2043 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Pataki. +p2044 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum. +p2045 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee. +p2046 +aVThank you. Thanks to all of the candidates for a very important discussion on critically important issues. This debate night is just getting started here at the Venetian Las Vegas. The top nine candidates, they are standing by for their turn on this stage in just a little while. I'll be back as the moderator. +p2047 +asVMODERATOR +p2048 +(lp2049 +VComing up more of our debate, including questions about President Obama's foreign policy and these guys and their better ideas. Coming up. +p2050 +asVFIORINA +p2051 +(lp2052 +VLike all of you I'm angry. I'm angry at what's happening to our nation. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. Bombastic insults wont take it back. Political rhetoric that promises a lot and delivers little, won't take it back. All of our problems can be solved. All of our wounds can be healed by a tested leader who is willing to fight for the character of our nation. I have been tested. I have beaten breast cancer. I have buried a child. I started as a secretary. I fought my way to the top of corporate America while being called every B word in the book. I fought my way into this election and on to this debate stage while all the political insiders and the pundits told, "it couldn't be done." I've been told, "no,: all my life. And all my life, I've refused to accept no as an answer. Citizens, it is time to take our country back from the political class, from the media, from the liberal elite. It can be done, it must be done, join me and we will get it done. +p2053 +aVWhat I think we need to stand for are solutions. I offer myself as a leader to the people of this country because I think they're looking for solutions, not lawyers arguing over laws or entertainers throwing out sound bites that draw media attention. We need to solve the problem. To solve the problem, we need to do something here at home and something over there in their caliphate. We need to deny them territory. But here at home, we need to do two fundamental things. Number one, we need to recognize that technology has moved on. The Patriot Act was signed in 2001, roughly. The iPhone was invented in 2007. The iPad was invented in 2011. Snapchat and Twitter, all the rest of it, have been around just for several years. Technology has moved on, and the terrorists have moved on with it. Let me tell you a story. Soon after 9/11, I got a phone call from the NSA. They needed help. I gave them help. I stopped a truckload of equipment. I had it turned around. It was escorted by the NSA into headquarters. We need the private sector's help, because government is not innovating. Technology is running ahead by leaps and bound. The private sector will help, just as I helped after 9/11. But they must be engaged, and they must be asked. I will ask them. I know them. +p2054 +aVYou know, listening to this conversation, let me just say, we have a lot of argument about laws but none of it solves the problem. Let's examine what happened, why did we miss the Tsarnaev brothers, why did we miss the San Bernardino couple? It wasn't because we had stopped collected metadata it was because, I think, as someone who comes from the technology world, we were using the wrong algorithms. This is a place where the private sector could be helpful because the government is woefully behind the technology curve. But secondly, the bureaucratic processes that have been in place since 9/11 are woefully inadequate as well. What do we now know? That DHS vets people by going into databases of known or suspected terrorists. And yet, we also know that +p2055 +aVThey do not need to be forced. They need to be asked to bring the best and brightest, the most recent technology to the table. I was asked as a CEO. I complied happily. And they will as well. But they have not been asked. That's why it cost billions of dollars to build an Obama website that failed because the private sector wasn't asked. +p2056 +aVI hope at some point you're going to ask me my strategy. +p2057 +aVWell, first I'll just point out that talking tough is not the same as being strong. And to wage war, we need a commander in chief who has made tough calls in tough times and stood up to be held accountable over and over, not first-term senators who've never made an executive decision in their life. One of the things I would immediately do, in addition to defeating them here at home, is bring back the warrior class \u2014 Petraeus, McChrystal, Mattis, Keane, Flynn. Every single one of these generals I know. Every one was retired early because they told President Obama things that he didn't want to hear. We must have Sunni-Arabs involved in this coalition. We must commit leadership, strength, support and resolve. I'll just add that Margaret Thatcher once said, "If you want something talked about, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman." +p2058 +aVThat is exactly what President Obama said. I'm amazed to hear that from a republican presidential candidate. But let's just start with, who got it wrong? Who really got it wrong? Hillary Clinton has gotten every foreign policy challenge wrong. Hitting the reset button with Vladimir Putin \u2013 recall that she called Bashar Al-Assad a positive reformer and then she opened an embassy and then later she said, over, and over, and over again, "Bashar Al-Assad must go." Although she wasn't prepared to do anything about it. Recall that Hillary Clinton was all for toppling Gadhafi then didn't listen to her own people on the ground. And then of course, when she lied about the terrorist attack in Benghazi, she invited more terrorist attacks. +p2059 +aVWe've mismanaged going into Iraq. +p2060 +aVWe've mismanaged going out of Iraq. +p2061 +aVWe actually... +p2062 +aVI didn't say I would cut off all communication with Putin. What I said was as president of the United States, now is not the time to talk with him. Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. There is a time and a place for everything. There is a time and a place for talk. And there is a time and a place for action. I know Vladimir Putin. He respects strength. He lied to our president's face; didn't both to tell him about warplanes and troops going into Syria. We need to speak to him from a position of strength. So as commander in chief, I will not speak to him until we've set up that no-fly zone; until we've gathered our Sunni-Arab allies and begun to deny +p2063 +aVThis doesn't do a thing to solve the problems...It doesn't do a thing to solve the problems. +p2064 +aVIt will not solve the problem. +p2065 +aVLadies and gentleman, this is why the American people are standing up. +p2066 +aVThis is why the nation is fed up... +p2067 +aVWe have been talking about this... +p2068 +aVSorry, but you haven't gotten to me. This is why... +p2069 +aVthe people are fed up with the political class. +p2070 +aVWell, first, Kim Jong-Un is a dangerous leader, without a doubt. And both Republican and Democrat administrations have been completely ineffective in dealing with him. So we must continue to isolate him. We will need China as part of that strategy. China is a rising adversary. So one of the things we have to do if we want China's support is to push back on China. They, too, recognize one thing \u2014 strength and their own economic interest. I have done business in China for 25 years, so I know that in order to get China to cooperate with us, we must first actually retaliate against their cyber-attacks so they know we're serious. We have to push back on their desire to control the trade route through the South China Sea through which flows $5 trillion worth of goods and services every year. We cannot let them control the disputed islands, and we must work with the Australians, the South Koreans, the Japanese and the Filipinos to contain China. And then we must ask for their support and their help with North Korea. Because believe it or not, China is as concerned about Kim Jong-Un as we are. +p2071 +aVI too remember September 11th. I remember immediately putting into place security procedures all throughout our company that did business in 170 countries where we thought corporate interests would be attacked next. To take our country back, to keep our nation safe, we have to begin by beating Hillary Clinton. We need to unify our party. We need to better than our government, which 75 percent of the American people now think is corrupt and incompetent. They're right. We need to better than our politics. 80 percent think we have a professional/political class of both parties that cares more about its power, position and privilege than actually on getting anything done. We need to unify our party, we need a real Conservative in the White House, and we need to beat Hillary Clinton to take our country back and keep our nation safe. I can. I am. And together, if you join me, we will take our country back. +p2072 +aVWell, first of all, I must say as I think about that question, I think about a woman I met the other day. I would guess she was 40 years old. She had several children. And she said to me, you know, Carly, I go to bed every night afraid for my children's future. And that really struck me. This is America. A mother is going to bed afraid for her children's future. And the reason she's afraid for her children's future is because we've had problems for a long time. Yes, problems have gotten much worse under Democrats. But the truth is, this government has been growing bigger and bigger, more corrupt, less effective, crushing the engine of economic growth for a very long time. This isn't about just replacing a Democrat with a Republican now. It's about actually challenging the status quo of big government. Big government has created a big business called politics. And there are lots of people invested in the status quo of that big business called politics. Specifically, we need actually to do five things to really get this economy going again. We need to go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dollar is being spent, we can challenge any dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. We need to actually reform the tax code. Go to a three-page tax code. Yes, there are plans that would reform our tax code to three pages. In addition to rolling back what President Obama has done, we need to do a top-to-bottom review of every single regulation on the books. That hasn't been done in 50 years. We need to pass the +p2073 +aVWell, first Obamacare has to be repealed because it's failing... ...it's failing the very people it was intended to help, but, also, it is croney-capitalism at its worst. Who helped write this bill? Drug companies, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, every single one of those kinds of companies are bulking up to deal with big government. See, that's what happens. As government gets bigger, and bigger \u2014 and it has been for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike \u2014 and business have to bulk up to deal with big government. So, we have to repeal it. It's tens of thousands of pages long, no one can possible understand it except the big companies, the lawyers, the accountants, the lobbyists that they hire to protect their interests. Then, we have to give back to states the responsibility to manage a high risk pool. We need to try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried. Health insurance has always been a cozy, little game between regulators and health insurance companies. We need to try the free market. The free market. Where people actually have to compete. And, we 'ought to have the government ensure that you must \u2014 and I don't use that term often, that government 'ought to do something, but every healthcare provider 'ought to publish its costs, its prices, its outcomes, because as patients we don't know what we're buying. Now, let me just say \u2014 let me just say, I know more about innovation and entrepreneurship than anyone on this panel because I have led innovative businesses in the most highly competitive industry in the world for decades. The truth is the secret sauce of America is innovation, and entrepreneurship, it is why we must cut our government down to size, and hold it accountable. It's why we have to take our government back, because innovation and entrepreneurship is crushed by the crushing load of a 73,000 page tax code. It is crushed... ...by regulatory thicket that is so vast we don't even know what's in it anymore. It is crushed as well by government bureaucrats who don't do their jobs very well, and who are not held accountable, which is why I've said we got to take our government back, and to do that, we have to know where every dollar being spent, and be able to move any dollar. We have to hack through this regulatory thicket, repeal so much, but, also, know what's in that regulatory thicket \u2014 we don't even know what regulations have been passed. Third, we need to build a meritocracy \u2014 Scott Walker, by the way, is trying now to do in Wisconsin... ...Finally, we need to get to a three page tax code, and, yes, that plan exists. +p2074 +aVSorry, I can't hear you. +p2075 +aV...Absolutely... +p2076 +aV...You need to give... +p2077 +aVThe alternative is to allow states to manage high risk pools for those who really need help. Look, I'm a cancer survivor, OK? I understand that you cannot have someone who's battled cancer just become known as a pre-existing condition. I understand that you cannot allow families to go bankrupt if they truly need help. But, I also understand that Obamacare isn't helping anyone. We're throwing more, and more people into Medicaid, and fewer, and fewer doctors are taking those payments. The point is Obamacare is crushing small businesses, it is not helping the families it was intended to help. So, let us allow states to manage high risk pools. Let us try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried, the free market. Let us ensure that as patients, and customers... +p2078 +aV...that we have information to shop wisely for our health care. +p2079 +aV...Yes, the middle ground is this... +p2080 +aV...This is why \u2014 this is why we must combine, actually, zero-based budgeting with tax reform because unless we can examine, and cut, and move, every single dollar of discretionary spending in the federal government, we cannot reform taxes and reduce spending at the same time. Ask yourself this question, how is it possible that the federal government gets more money each and every year, which the federal government has been doing, receiving more money every year for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike, and yet, never has enough money to do the important things? The answer? All the money's always spoken for. All the money's spoken for. So, we have to go to zero-based budgeting, which is a simple idea \u2014 by the way, there's been a bill for zeros-based (ph) budgeting... ...It exists, it can be voted on. Every dollar must be examined. Any dollar can be cut. Any dollar can be cut, any dollar can be moved. We have to go to a three page tax code. You lower every rate, you close every loophole, why? Because the government uses the tax code to decide winners, and losers. You have to strip the corruption out of the tax code to pay for it. You have to know where every single dollar is being spent... +p2081 +aV...Cut where you need to, and invest where you need to... +p2082 +aV...The two go hand in hand... +p2083 +aVYou know, Mr. Trump fancies himself a very good negotiator. And, I accept that he's done a lot of good deals, so, Mr. Trump 'ought to know that we should not speak to people from a position of weakness. Senator Paul should know that as well. One of the reasons I've said that I would not be talking to Vladimir Putin right now, although I have met him as well, not in a green room for a show, but in a private meeting. One of the reasons I've said I wouldn't be talking to Vladimir Putin right now is because we are speaking to him from a position of weakness brought on by this administration, so, I wouldn't talk to him for awhile, but, I would do this. I would start rebuilding the Sixth Fleet right under his nose, rebuilding the military \u2014 the missile defense program in Poland right under his nose. I would conduct very aggressive military exercises in the Baltic States so that he understood we would protect our +p2084 +aV...we have the strongest military on the face of the planet, and everyone has to know it. +p2085 +aV...Ronald Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. +p2086 +aV...he walked away, he quit talks... +p2087 +aV...when it was time to quit talking... +p2088 +aVCan I just \u2014 could I just say, as a chief executive who's had to make tough calls to save jobs and to grow jobs, I think what's interesting about Dodd-Frank is it's a great example of how socialism starts. Socialism starts when government creates a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. Government created the problem. Government created the problem of a real estate boom. How did we create it? Under Republican and Democrats alike, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, everybody gathered together, Republicans and Democrats, and said, "home ownership is part of the American dream. Let's create a bubble," and then government stepped in \u2014 by the way, under president George W. Bush, banks were told \u2014 encouraged \u2014 told, really \u2014 to buy other banks, to take money. And now what do we have with Dodd-Frank? The classic of crony capitalism. The big have gotten bigger, 1,590 community banks have gone out of business, and on top of all that, we've created something called the Consumer Financial Production Bureau, a vast bureaucracy with no congressional oversight that's digging through hundreds of millions of your credit records to detect fraud. This is how socialism starts, ladies and gentlemen. We must take our government back. +p2089 +aVImagine a Clinton presidency. Our military will continue to deteriorate. Our veterans will not be cared for. And, no, Mrs. Clinton, that situation is not exaggerated. The rich will get richer. The poor will get poorer. The middle class will continue to get crushed. And as bad as that picture is, what's even worse is that a Clinton presidency will corrode the character of this nation. Why? Because of the Clinton way: Say whatever you have to, lie as long as you can get away with it. We must beat Hillary Clinton. Carly Fiorina can beat Hillary Clinton. I will beat Hillary Clinton. And under a President Fiorina, we will restore the character of this nation, the security of this nation, the prosperity of this nation, because as citizens, we will take our government back. +p2090 +aVWell, gee, after the last debate, I was told that I didn't smile enough. +p2091 +aVBut I also think that these are very serious times; 75 percent of the American people think the federal government is corrupt. I agree with them. And this big powerful, corrupt bureaucracy works now only for the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected. Meantime, wages have stagnated for 40 years. We have more Americans out of work or just Americans who quit looking for work for 40 years. Ours was intended to be a citizen government. This is about more than replacing a D with an R. We need a leader who will help us take our government back. +p2092 +aVLet me just say on taxes, how long have we been talking about tax reform in Washington, D.C.? We have been talking about it for decades. We now have a 73,000-page tax code. There have been more than 4,000 changes to the tax plan since 2001 alone. There are loads of great ideas, great conservative ideas from wonderful think tanks about how to reform the tax code. The problem is we never get it done. We have talked about tax reform in every single election for decades. It never happens. And the politicians always say it is so complicated, nobody but a politician can figure it out. The truth is this, the big problem, we need a leader in Washington who understands how to get something done, not to talk about it, not to propose it, to get it done. +p2093 +aVThat's right, three pages. +p2094 +aVYou know why three? +p2095 +aVNo. You know why three? Because only if it's about three pages are you leveling the playing field between the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected who can hire the armies of lawyers and accountants and, yes, lobbyists to help them navigate their way through 73,000 pages. Three pages is about the maximum that a single business owner or a farmer or just a couple can understand without hiring somebody. Almost 60 percent of American people now need to hire an expert to understand their taxes. So yes, you're going to hear a lot of talk about tax reform \u2014 +p2096 +aV\u2014 the issue is who is going to get it done. +p2097 +aVYou know, the +p2098 +aVWell, this is one of the reasons why Tom Perkins and I had disagreements in the boardroom, Becky. Nevertheless, one of the things that I think people don't always understand is how accountable a CEO actually is. So you know, I had to report results every 90 days in excruciating detail. I had to answer every single question about every single result and every single projection in public until there were no more questions. And if I misrepresented those results or those projections in any way, I was held criminally liable. Imagine \u2014 imagine \u2014 if a politician were held to that standard of account. I will run on my record all day long. And I believe people need a leader who is prepared to make tough calls in tough times and stand up... +p2099 +aV...and be held accountable. +p2100 +aVYou know, I want to go back for a moment to what we were just talking about. Crony capitalism is alive and well, and has been so in Washington, D.C. for decades. What's crony capitalism? Crony capitalism is what happens when government gets so big and so powerful that only the big and the powerful can handle it. So why are the pharmaceutical companies consolidating? Why are there five even bigger Wall Street banks now, instead of the ten we used to have on Wall Street? Because when government gets big and powerful, the big feel like they need to get even bigger to deal with all that power, and meanwhile, the small and the powerless \u2014 in this case, 1,590 community banks \u2014 go out of business. You see, folks, this is how socialism starts. Government causes a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. This is why, fundamentally, we have to take our government back. The student loan problem has been created by government. Government trying to level the playing field between Internet and brick-and-mortar creates a problem. The FCC jumping in now and saying, "we're going to put 400 pages of regulation over the Internet," is going to create massive problems. But guess who pushed for that regulation? The big Internet companies. This is what's going on. Big and powerful use big and powerful government to their advantage. It's why you see Walgreens buying Rite Aid. It's why you see the pharmaceuticals getting together. It's you see the health insurance companies getting together. It's why you see the banks consolidating. And meanwhile, small businesses are getting crushed. Community- based businesses and farms are getting crushed. Community banks are going out of business. Big government favors the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected, and crushes the small and the powerless. +p2101 +aVIt is why we have to simplify. It is why we have to reduce the size and power of government. +p2102 +aVIt's the only way to level the playing field between big and powerful and small and powerless. +p2103 +aVBecky, it is the height of hypocrisy for Mrs. Clinton to talk about being the first woman President, when every single policy she espouses, and every single policy of President Obama has been demonstrably bad for women. 92 percent \u2014 92 percent of the jobs lost during Barack Obama's first term belonged to women. Senator Cruz is precisely right. Three million women have fallen into poverty under this administration. The number of women \u2014 +p2104 +aV\u2014 living in extreme poverty is the highest level on record. I am a conservative because I know our values, our principles and our policies \u2014 +p2105 +aV\u2014 work better to lift everyone up, men and women. +p2106 +aVNo, the Federal Government should not play a larger role. Look, every time the Federal Government gets engaged in something it gets worse. And then the Government steps in to try and solve the problem and we get a little further down to that progressive vision that Hillary Clinton is talking about. Companies should, if they want to attract the best workers, provide a good set of benefits. But honestly, if you're a small business owner today you are being crushed. We have 400,000 small businesses forming every year in this country. How great is that? They are employing themselves, they are potentially employing others. The bad news is, we have 470,000 going out of business every year. And why? They cite Obamacare. They are refusing to... +p2107 +aVI think it's a wonderful that that businesses start a 401(k). The point I'm making is this, the Federal Government should not be in a lot of things. There is no Constitutional role for the Federal Government in setting up \u2014 retirement plans. There is no Constitutional role for the Federal Government to be setting minimum wages... +p2108 +aV... The more the Government gets engaged in the economy, the slower the economy becomes. The more the Government gets engaged in the economy, it is demonstrably true... +p2109 +aV... The more the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected are advantaged. +p2110 +aVJohn, I \u2014 if I \u2014 a lot of people have jumped in here. I'd like to jump in. A lot of people have jumped in here. +p2111 +aVI understand. +p2112 +aVI would just say that... ... I would just say this, we've heard a lot of great ideas up here, and I agree with what Senator Rubio said. Every election we talk about this. Every election we talk about Medicare and Social Security reform. It never happens. I would like to start with a basic. Let us actually go to zero- based budgeting so we know where the money is being spent. It's kind of basic. There is a bill sitting in the House that would actually pass and have us go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dime of your money is being spent instead of only talking about how much more we're going to spend year after year after year. My point is this. While there are lots of good ideas for reform, we have never tackled the basics. And we finally need to tackle the basics to cut this government down to size and hold it accountable. So let's start by knowing where your money is being spent by the federal government. +p2113 +aVYou know, every election we hear a lot of talk. We hear a lot of good plans. We hear actually a lot of good intentions. But somehow for decades, nothing really has changed. What we need now is a proven leader who has produced results. That's how you go from secretary to CEO. You lead and you produce results. I will cut this government down to size and hold it accountable, simplify the tax code, roll back the regulations that have been spewing out of Washington, D.C. for 50 years. I may not be your dream candidate just yet, but I can assure you I am Hillary Clinton's worst nightmare. And in your heart of hearts, you cannot wait to see a debate between Hillary Clinton and Carly Fiorina. I will tell you this, I will beat Hillary Clinton. And with your vote and your support and your prayers, I will lead with the citizens of this great nation the resurgence of this great nation. +p2114 +aVGood evening. My story, from secretary to CEO, is only possible in this nation, and proves that everyone of us has potential. My husband, Frank, of 30 years, started out driving a tow truck for a family owned auto body shop. We have come to a pivotal point in our nation's history where this nation's possibilities and potential are being crushed by a government grown so big, so powerful, so inept, so corrupt, and a political class that refuses to do anything about it. I am prepared to lead the resurgence of this great nation. +p2115 +aVYou know, I think Mr. Trump is a wonderful entertainer. He's been terrific at that business. I also think that one of the benefits of a presidential campaign is the character and capability, judgment and temperament of every single one of us is revealed over time and under pressure. All of us will be revealed over time and under pressure. I look forward to a long race. +p2116 +aVThat's not for me to answer; it is for the voters of this country to answer, and I have a lot of faith in the common sense and good judgment of the voters of the United States of America. +p2117 +aVJake, I'll tell you \u2014 I'll tell you why people are supporting outsiders. It's because you know what happens if someone's been in the system their whole life, they don't know how broken the system is. A fish swims in water, it doesn't know it's water. It's not that politicians are bad people, it's that they've been in that system forever. The truth is 75 percent of the American people think the government is corrupt; 82 percent of the American people think these problems that have festered for 50 years in some cases, 25 years in other cases. The border's been insecure for 25 years; 307,000 veterans have died waiting for health care. These things have gone on for so long because no one will challenge the status quo. You know what a leader does? They challenge the status quo, they solve problems that have festered for a long time and they produce results. That is what my whole life has been about. People know this is about far more than replacing a D with an R \u2014 +p2118 +aV\u2014 this is about changing the system. +p2119 +aVHaving... +p2120 +aVHaving met Vladimir Putin, if I may... +p2121 +aVHaving met Vladimir Putin, I wouldn't talk to him at all. We've talked way too much to him. What I would do, immediately, is begin rebuilding the Sixth Fleet, I would begin rebuilding the missile defense program in Poland, I would conduct regular, aggressive military exercises in the Baltic states. I'd probably send a few thousand more troops into Germany. Vladimir Putin would get the message. By the way, the reason it is so critically important that every one of us know General Suleimani's name is because Russia is in Syria right now, because the head of the Quds force traveled to Russia and talked Vladimir Putin into aligning themselves with Iran and Syria to prop up Bashar al- Assad. Russia is a bad actor, but Vladimir Putin is someone we should not talk to, because the only way he will stop is to sense strength and resolve on the other side, and we have all of that within our control. We could rebuild the Sixth Fleet. I will. We haven't. We could rebuild the missile defense program. We haven't. I will. We could also, to Senator Rubio's point, give the Egyptians what they've asked for, which is intelligence. We could give the Jordanians what they've asked for... +p2122 +aV...bombs and materiel. We have not supplied it... +p2123 +aV...I will. We could arm the Kurds. They've been asking us for three years. All of this is within our control. +p2124 +aV...Jake... +p2125 +aV...Jake, ... +p2126 +aVAnd then it'll be my turn. +p2127 +aVJake? +p2128 +aVJake? +p2129 +aVDana, I'd like to... +p2130 +aVDana, I would like to link these two issues, both of which are incredibly important, Iran and Planned Parenthood. One has something to do with the defense of the security of this nation. The other has something to do with the defense of the character of this nation. You have not heard a plan about Iran from any politician up here, here is my plan. On day one in the Oval Office, I will make two phone calls, the first to my good friend to Bibi Netanyahu to reassure him we will stand with the state of Israel. The second, to the supreme leader, to tell him that unless and until he opens every military and every nuclear facility to real anytime, anywhere inspections by our people, not his, we, the United States of America, will make it as difficult as possible and move money around the global financial system. We can do that, we don't need anyone's cooperation to do it. And every ally and every adversary we have in this world will know that the United States in America is back in the leadership business, which is how we must stand with our allies. As regards Planned Parenthood, anyone who has watched this videotape, I dare Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama to watch these tapes. Watch a fully formed fetus on the table, it's heart beating, it's legs kicking while someone says we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain. This is about the character of our nation, and if we will not stand up in and force President Obama to veto this bill, shame on us. +p2131 +aVYou know, it's interesting to me, Mr. Trump said that he heard Mr. Bush very clearly and what Mr. Bush said. I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said. +p2132 +aVDana, with all being said to Mr. Trump... +p2133 +aVImmigration did not come up in 2016 because Mr. Trump brought it up. We talked about it in 2012, we talked about it in 2008. We talked about it in 2004. +p2134 +aVWe have been talking about it for 25 years. This is why people are tired of politicians. +p2135 +aVFirst let me say, We have just spent a good bit of time discussing, as Republicans, how to solve this problem. I would ask your audience at home to ask a very basic question. Why have Democrats not solved this problem? President Obama campaigned in 2007 and 2008 on solving the immigration problem. He entered Washington with majorities in the House and the Senate. He could have chosen to do anything to solve this pro \u2014 this problem. Instead, he chose to do nothing. Why? because the Democrats don't want this issue solved. +p2136 +aVThey want it to be an issue that they can use. As to birthright citizenship... +p2137 +aV...the truth is, you can't just wave your hands and say "the 14th Amendment is gonna go away." It will take an extremely arduous vote in Congress, followed by two-thirds of the states, and if that doesn't work to amend the Constitution, then it is a long, arduous process in court. And meanwhile, what will continue to go on is what has gone on for 25 years. With all due respect, Mr. Trump, we've been talking about illegal immigration for 25 years. San Francisco has been a sanctuary city since 1989. There are 300 of them. And meanwhile, what has happened? Nothing. The border remains insecure. The legal immigration system remains broken. Look, we know what it takes to secure a border. We've heard a lot of great ideas here. Money, manpower, technology... +p2138 +aV...mostly, apparently, leadership... +p2139 +aV...the kind of leadership that understands how to get results. +p2140 +aVBut you \u2014 you would stipulate, Mr. Trump, but not everyone agrees with you. +p2141 +aVOK. +p2142 +aVI led Hewlett Packard through a very difficult time, the worst technology recession in 25 years. The +p2143 +aV\u2014 out a full-page ad in the New York Times to say he was wrong, I was right. I was a terrific CEO, the board was dysfunctional. And he thinks I will make a magnificent president of the United States. +p2144 +aVYou know, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld is a well-known Clintonite and honestly had it out for me from the moment that I arrived at Hewlett Packard. But honestly, Mr. Trump, I find it quite rich that you would talk about this. You know, there are a lot of us Americans who believe that we are going to have trouble someday paying back the interest on our debt because politicians have run up mountains of debt using other people's money. That is in fact precisely the way you ran your casinos. You ran up mountains of debt, as well as losses, using other people's money, and you were forced to file for bankruptcy not once \u2014 +p2145 +aV\u2014 not twice, four times, a record four times. Why should we trust you to manage the finances \u2014 +p2146 +aV\u2014 of this nation any differently than you managed the finances \u2014 +p2147 +aV\u2014 of your casinos? +p2148 +aVWell \u2014 +p2149 +aVWell, Mr. Trump \u2014 +p2150 +aVA track record of leadership is not a game. It is the issue in this election. +p2151 +aVWell, I thought we had been hearing quite a bit about Govenor Christie's record as governor, actually. I think track records are very important. I completely agree that what's at stake here is the future of this nation, and the future of every American. But I do think that a track record of leadership is vital because in the end this election is about leadership. And let's talk about what leadership is. It's not about braggadocio, it is about challenging the status quo, solving problems, producing results. And the highest calling of leadership is to unlock potential in others. +p2152 +aVProblems have festered in Washington for too long. And the potential of this nation is being crushed. +p2153 +aVYou see, Governor Christie, people spend time talking about their track records, and Mr. Trump and I have every right to do the same. And Mrs. Clinton has to defend her track record. Her track record of lying about Benghazi, of lying about her e- mails, about lying about her servers. She does not have a track record of accomplishment. Like Mrs. Clinton, I, too, have travels hundreds of thousands of miles around the globe. But unlike Mrs. Clinton, I know flying is an activity, not an accomplishment. Mrs. Clinton \u2014 if you want to stump a Democrat, ask them to name a accomplishment of Mrs. Clinton's. +p2154 +aVWe just spent \u2014 we just spent the last 10 minutes... +p2155 +aV...Jake, since everyone has gotten to weigh in on this military issue, I'd like to be able to do the same. We have spent probably 12 minutes talking about the past. Let's talk about the future. We need the strongest military on the face of the planet, and everyone has to know it. And, specifically, what that means is we need about 50 Army brigades, we need about 36 Marine battalions, we need somewhere between 300, and 350 naval ships, we need to upgrade every leg of the nuclear triad... +p2156 +aV...we need to reform the Department of Defense, we need as well... +p2157 +aV...to invest in our military technology, and we need to care for our veterans so 307,000... +p2158 +aV...aren't dying waiting for health care. +p2159 +aVJake, may I just say... +p2160 +aVJake \u2014 Jake... +p2161 +aVI very much hope I am the only person on this stage who can say this, but I know there are millions of Americans out there who will say the same thing. My husband Frank and I buried a child to drug addiction. So, we must invest more in the treatment of drugs. +p2162 +aVI agree with Senator Paul. I agree with states' rights. But we are misleading young people when we tell them that marijuana is just like having a beer. It's not. And the marijuana that kids are smoking today is not the same as the marijuana that Jeb Bush smoked 40 years ago. We do \u2014 sorry, Barbara. We do need \u2014 we do need criminal justice reform. We have the highest incarceration rates in the world. Two-thirds of the people in our prisons are there for non-violent offenses, mostly drug related. It's clearly not working. But we need to tell young people the truth. Drug addiction is an epidemic, and it is taking too many of our young people. I know this sadly from personal experience. +p2163 +aVI wouldn't change the $10 bill, or the $20 bill. I think, honestly, it's a gesture. I don't think it helps to change our history. What I would think is that we ought to recognize that women are not a special interest group. Women are the majority of this nation. We are half the potential of this nation, and this nation will be better off when every woman has the opportunity to live the life she chooses. +p2164 +aVSecretariat. +p2165 +aVI think what this nation can be and must be is symbolized by Lady Liberty and Lady Justice. Lady Liberty stands tall and strong. She is clear-eyed and resolute. She doesn't shield her eyes from the realities of the world, but she faces outward into the world nevertheless, as we always must. And she holds her torch high, because she knows she is a beacon of hope in a very troubled world. And Lady Justice, Lady Justice holds a sword by her side, because she is a fighter, a warrior for the values and the principles that have made this nation great. She holds a scale in her other hand. And with that scale she says all of us are equal in the eyes of God. And so all of us must be equal in the eyes of the law and the government, powerful and powerless alike. And she wears a blindfold. And with that blindfold she is saying to us that it must be true, it can be true that in this country, in this century, it doesn't matter who you are, it doesn't matter what you look like, it doesn't matter how you start, it doesn't matter your circumstances, here in this nation, every American's life must be filled with the possibilities that come from their God-given gifts. One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. +p2166 +aVWhen America does not lead, the world is a dangerous and a tragic place. This is a bad deal. Obama broke every rule of negotiation. Yes, our allies are not perfect, but Iran is at the heart of most of the evil that is going on in the Middle East through their proxy. +p2167 +aVYou know, when I started my campaign on May 4th of last year, I was 17 out of 16 candidates. Nobody polled my name. Nobody had ever heard of me. Less than 4 percent of you had ever heard of me. The people in Iowa showed up and they are still showing up. Hundreds and hundreds of them at every event. I have done over 150 events in the state of Iowa and I have 15 more coming up. Now, by the way, I start there because someone asked me about midway through my campaign, what's the biggest surprise to you on the campaign trail? And I will tell you what the biggest surprise is: the chasm, the yawning chasm, between what the national media talks about and what the people of Iowa and the people of this great nation talk about. That's the biggest surprise. So guess what, Martha? Guess what, sorry. The people of Iowa never ask me about a crisis in the GOP, they never ask me about the polls. They never ask me about the other candidates. What they ask me about is Carly, tell us why zero based budgeting is so important. Tell us why you are a leader who is going to produce results. Tell us how you are going to defeat +p2168 +aVWell let me tell you this: news flash, President Obama, news flash, Mrs. Clinton -- climate change is not our most pressing national security threat. Actually -- actually, it is +p2169 +aVYou know, we have a professional, political class of both parties. We have been talking about the same issues for election cycle after election cycle. Yeah, government is big and out of control, and the only way to get it under control is to control the money. And the only way to control the money is to ask the federal government to budget the way you do, to examine every dollar, to cut any dollar to spend -- to move any dollar. The fancy word for that is zero-base budgeting. I call it common sense. That three-page tax code I talk about all the time here in Iowa? It's been around for 20 years. But politicians don't want to talk about it, and you bet the lobbyists don't want to talk about it. In fact, nobody wants to vote on a three-page tax code or zero- base budgeting, although they've both been around for a long time. You know why? Because if you get those two things done, you are goring everybody's ox. You are taking the political establishment apart. You are actually challenging the status quo, which is what we need in the Oval Office. So you know who I'm going to count on? The citizens of this great nation, because you have extraordinary power. But when you do not use it... ... you are losing it. So take out your smartphones, folks. The people of Iowa know what I'm talking about. You take out your smartphones. if you agree with me that three-page tax code needs to be passed, lobbyists aren't going to be in my office. If you agree we gotta finally pass zero-base budgeting, take out your smartphones. Press one for yes, ladies and gentlemen. Press two for no. Citizens, we must take our country back. +p2170 +aVWell, first of all, I haven't said that. What I have said is that in the process of examining every dollar, cutting any dollar and moving any dollar, we happen to know that in this vast federal bureaucracy we have about 260,000 federal government employees who are going to retire, and we shouldn't replace them. Secondly, at Hewlett Packard, as you know -- the people of Iowa know this -- we went through a tough time. The worst technology recession in 25 years -- a great company called Gateway used to do be right here in Iowa. But they didn't make the tough calls necessary to save all those jobs, and so they lost every one of those jobs. Yes, I've had to make some tough calls. We saved 80,000 jobs. We went on to grow to 160,000 jobs. And, frankly, I think the American people know we need a president who's going to make some tough calls. So let me tell you where I'm going to start. The American people got a bill passed through Congress that said we could fire the top 400 senior executives at the V.A. for dereliction of duty. When we know that 307,000 veterans have died waiting for health care and the V.A. handed out $142 million worth of bonuses for superb performance, I'm going to start by firing 400... ... senior executives at the V.A. +p2171 +aVHe is right there. He is right there. +p2172 +aVIt wasn't a personal attack. I was pointing out the fact that Hillary Clinton will do anything to gain and hang on to power, anything. Listen, if my husband did what Bill Clinton did, I would have left him long ago. So, here's the deal. Hillary Clinton has been climbing the ladder to try and get power and here now she is trying for the White House. She is probably more qualified for the big house, honestly. She has escaped prosecution more times than El Chapo, perhaps Sean Penn should interview her. The woman should be prosecuted. And while Mrs. Clinton has flown hundreds of thousands of world around the global, I have too. And I know flying is an activity not an accomplishment. While I know that she has held many positions and many titles she has not accomplished much of anything in her life. She has gotten every single foreign policy challenge wrong. She continues to lie to the American people. It's called the Clinton way. Both Bill and Hillary practice it, the Clinton way. Say whatever you have to say, do whatever you have to say. Lie as long as you can get away with it. Hillary Clinton cannot be the president of these United States. +p2173 +aVWell, you know, Hillary Clinton hasn't been indicted either. So that tells us a lot about our justice system in this country. But, look, the facts of Planned Parenthood have not changed, folks, and I will not be rendered silent on this issue or any other issue. And it doesn't matter what stage I'm on. Here are the facts. Planned Parenthood engages in partial birth abortion, in late-term abortion. They alter those abortion techniques to harvest and sell body parts. They have admitted that they are not going to accept compensation for this anymore. The reality is, most Americans find this practice horrific. Most Americans find horrific that Hillary Clinton's position on this is it's not a life until it's born. Most Americans find horrific Hillary Clinton's position or the Democrat party's position, that a young woman does not need her mother's permission to get an abortion. But if you are 13 years old, you can get an abortion, but you can't go to a tanning salon without your mother's permission. A president Fiorina -- in a president Fiorina budget, there will not be one dime for Planned Parenthood, although there would be a lot of money for women's health and we will finally pass the pain capable unborn child protection act. I will always stand for life and religious liberty... ... because this is about the character of our nation. +p2174 +aVMartha, can I just say we've been talking tonight about a lot of issues and we've also been talking about the fact that the game is rigged and frankly, the media has a lot to do with that. It is outrageous frankly, that Fox News, and you, would question the pro-life credentials of Rick Santorum. That is outrageous. +p2175 +aVIn over 150 events I have come to know and love the people of Iowa. And the people of Iowa know what the rest of Americans have figured out, this ain't working anymore. The government no longer works for those who pay for it. The professional political class says and does whatever they need to do to win, and then does whatever they please. We need to return to a citizen government. That is why I am running for President. The media, the establishment, they all want to tell you this elections over, they know who's going to win it, except that you haven't... ... cast a single vote yet. So, the people of Iowa, stand with me, fight with me. Caucus for me. It is time to take our country back. +p2176 +aVWell, thank you. Good evening. If I may begin by saying how honored I am to be standing here with two former Iowa Caucus winners. Governor, Senator. And how honored I am to be talking with all of you. You know, I'm not a political insider. I haven't spent my lifetime running for office. The truth is I have had and been blessed by a lot of opportunities to do a lot of things in my life. And unlike another woman in this race, I actually love spending time with my husband. I'm standing here because I think we have to restore a citizen government in this country. I think we have to end crony capitalism. The crony capitalism that starts with both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. You know, Hillary Clinton sits inside government and rakes in millions, handing out access and favors. And Donald Trump sits outside government and rakes in billions buying people like Hillary Clinton. The state of our economy is not strong. We have record numbers of men out of work. We have record numbers of women living in poverty. We have young people who no longer believe that the American dream applies to them. We have working families whose wages have stagnated for decades, all while the rich get richer, the powerful get more powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected get more connected. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. +p2177 +aVAmerica must lead because when we do not lead, when this exceptional nation does not lead, the world is more dangerous and a more tragic place. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, they all refuse to lead. Worse, they refuse to respond when this nation is provoked. Hillary Clinton famously asked what difference does it make how four Americans died in Benghazi? Mrs. Clinton, here's what difference it makes. When you do not stand up and say the truth, that this was a purposeful terrorist attack, when you do not say the United States of America will retaliate for that attack, terrorists assume it's open season. We have refused to respond to every provocation. The President wouldn't even mention the fact that Iran had taken two Navy boats and our sailors \u2014 hostage. He didn't mention the fact that they violated the Geneva convention. He didn't respond to the fact that Iran launched two ballistic missile just a short time ago, in direct violation of a deal they had just signed. We didn't respond to the fact that North Korea attacked Sony Pictures. When we refuse to respond over, and over to provocation and bad behavior, we will get more provocation and bad behavior. I know most of our allies personally. I have met many of our adversaries. I know our military and our intelligence capability, and I know this. When we will not stand with our allies, when we will not respond to our adversaries, when we do not lead in the world the world is a dangerous and tragic place. I will be a Commander in Chief who will lead. +p2178 +aVOf course I'm worried about similar problems in the United States. We can not allow refugees to enter this country unless we can adequately vet them and we know we can't. Therefore we should stop allowing refugees into this country. And by the way, we do not need to be lectured about why we're angry and frustrated and fearful because we've had an illegal immigration problem in this country for 25 years. And we have every right to be frustrated about the fact that politicians stand up in election after election after election and promise us to fix the problem and yet, it has never been fixed. I offer leadership that understands that actions speak louder than words, that results count. We must secure our border. We must fix our broken immigration system. We must enforce a pro-American immigration system that serves our interests, not the rest of the world. I understand what it takes to translate goals into results and that is what I will do as president of the United States. Of course, we should be worried, for heavens sakes. This administration has now told us they don't know who has overstayed a visa. This administration has told us they don't even bother to check Facebook or Twitter to find out who's pledging allegiance to jihadis. We can do better than this, citizens. We need to take our country back. +p2179 +aVWe need to be very clear-eyed now about who are our allies and who are our adversaries. In the fight against +p2180 +aVAnd we all believe the polling data all the time, don't we? +p2181 +aVOh, it's a problem for so many reasons. First of all, it is yet another lawless executive order. You see, he doesn't like the fact that Congress has rejected his ideas twice on a bipartisan basis, so he's decided he just gets to override them. Sorry, Mr. President, not the way "The Constitution" works. Secondly......secondly, he basically admitted in that speech that he hasn't been paying much attention to enforcing the laws we have. He said, gee, we need a few more FBI agents. That would have helped, perhaps, stop a tragedy here in South Carolina with Dylann Roof, a guy who clearly never should have been sold a gun. In other words, Mr. President, you're right, we need to enforce the laws we have. Let's enforce the laws we have. There are criminals running around with guns who shouldn't have them. We don't prosecute any of them. Less than 1 percent. But I want to go back to the technology issue for a moment, if I may, as well, because in this regard, I disagree with Senator Santorum. Look, I come from the technology industry and I can tell you there is one thing that bureaucracies don't know how to do. They do not know how to innovate. We have come seven generations of technology since 2011. We have bureaucracies that are incapable of bringing in that innovation. So, yes, there are some very specific things that we should ask the private sector to help us with, including making sure we have the latest and greatest in algorithms to search through all these databases so that we find terrorists before they attack us, not after it's too late. And, finally, when a president who understands technology in the Oval Office. Mrs. Clinton, actually, you cannot wipe a server with a towel. +p2182 +aVYes, and see... +p2183 +aVAs CEO of Hewlett Packard... +p2184 +aVAs CEO of Hewlett Packard, I was asked very specifically for some very real help. The help I was asked to provide, this is now public information. So I am not revealing what \u2014 something that was \u2014 was classified. We had a very large shipment of equipment, software and hardware, headed to a retail outlet. And I was called by the head of the NSA, who had an urgent need for that capability, to begin laying out a program to track terrorists. We turned that truck around on a highway and it was escorted to the headquarters in San Jose. In World War II, our government went to the private sector and said, help us do things that we cannot do. The private sector has capabilities that the government does not have. There are some legal authorities that are required. The Sony attack could have been detected and repelled, had legal authorities been passed in Congress allowing private networks and public networks to work together. Those legal authorities have not yet been passed. Yes, I was asked to help. I know the technology industry. They will help again. But they must be asked by a president who understands what they have. +p2185 +aVFor decades, the professional political class in both parties has been talking about the middle class. For decades, Republicans in particular have been talking about reducing the size and scope of government, spending less money, reducing the complexity. And yet, for 40 years, the government has gotten bigger and more expensive. We now have a 75,000 plus page tax code, although politicians have run for office for decades promising reform. And all the while, middle class incomes have stagnated. You see, when government gets bigger and bigger, more powerful, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer and the middle class gets squeezed. We need to understand who the job creators are in this country, because we need more jobs to grow the middle class and to grow the wages of the middle class. Who creates jobs? Small businesses, new businesses, family-owned businesses. They create two thirds of the new jobs in this country and they employ half the people. I started out typing for a nine person real estate firm. My husband Frank started out driving a tow truck for a family-owned auto body shop. And we are crushing small businesses and destroying the middle class. So here's my blueprint to take back America. Let us first actually reform the tax code from 73,000 pages down to three. There's a 20-year-old plan to do exactly that. And then let us begin piece by piece to focus on every single dollar the government spends, so that we will spend less overall and still have enough for our priorities. And that requires the government to budget the way you do at home \u2014 examine every dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. The fancy term for that is zero- based budgeting, but I call it common sense. Citizens, we've got to take our country back. +p2186 +aVMy husband Frank, that I mentioned, I love spending time with. He's down there. He was real excited the other day because in New Hampshire, he was introduced as my eye candy. You know, everybody out there watching knows this. You cannot wait to see the debate between me and Hillary Clinton. You would pay to see that fight. And that's because you know I will win. And that's important. We've got to start by beating Hillary Clinton. All of my life, I have been told to sit down and be quiet. Settle. Settle. Don't challenge the system. That's what the American people are being told now and we have been told that for way too long \u2014 sit down and be quiet about our God, about our guns, about the abortion industry, settle for illegal immigration that's been a problem for decades, as so many of our problems have festered for decades. Accept a system of government and politics that no longer works for us. I will not sit down and be quiet. And neither will you. So I ask you to stand with me, fight with me, vote for me, citizens. It is time to take our future back, time to take our politics back. It is time to take our government back. Citizens, it is time. We must take our country back. +p2187 +aVWell, I would begin by reminding people that at this point in previous presidential elections, Jimmy Carter couldn't win, Ronald Reagan couldn't win, Bill Clinton couldn't win, and neither could've Barack Obama. I started as a secretary and became ultimately the chief executive of the largest technology company in the world, almost $90 billion in over 150 countries. I know personally how extraordinary and unique this nation is. I think to be commander in chief in the 21st century requires someone who understands how the economy works, someone who understands how the world works and who's in it; I know more world leaders on the stage today than anyone running, with the possible exception of Hillary Clinton; understands bureaucracies, how to cut them down to size and hold them accountable; and understands technology, which is a tool, but it's also a weapon that's being used against us. Most importantly, I think I understand leadership, which sometimes requires a tough call in a tough time. But mostly, the highest calling of leadership is to challenge the status-quo and unlock the potential of others. We need a leader who will lead the resurgence of this great nation and unlock its potential once again. Thank you. +p2188 +aVWell, I don't know. I didn't get a phone call from Bill Clinton before I jumped in the race. Did any of you get a phone call from Bill Clinton? I didn't. Maybe it's because I hadn't given money to the foundation or donated to his wife's Senate campaign. Here's the thing that I would ask Donald Trump in all seriousness. He is the party's frontrunner right now, and good for him. I think he's tapped into an anger that people feel. They're sick of politics as usual. You know, whatever your issue, your cause, the festering problem you hoped would resolved, the political class has failed you. That's just a fact, and that's what Donald Trump taps into. I would also just say this. Since he has changed his mind on amnesty, on health care and on abortion, I would just ask, what are the principles by which he will govern? Mac +p2189 +aVLet me say first that it is disturbing that every time one of these home-grown terrorist attacks occurs, and, as your question points out, they are occurring with far too great frequency, it turns out we had warning signals. It turns out we knew something was wrong. It turns out some dot wasn't connected, and so the first thing we have to do is make sure that everyone and every responsible agency is attuned to all of these possibilities and symptoms. We even had warnings about the Boston Marathon bombers, and yet the dots weren't connected. So we need to get on a different mindset. Secondly, I certainly support that we need to tear down cyber walls, not on a mass basis, but on a targeted basis. But let me just say that we also need down -- to tear down the cyber walls that China is erecting, that Russia is erecting. We need to be very well aware of the fact that China and Russia are using technology to attack us, just as +p2190 +aVI absolutely would call on them to collaborate and cooperate, yes. +p2191 +aVYeah. Sometimes it's a complicated situation, but some things are black and white. On day one in the Oval Office, I would make two phone calls. The first one would be to my good friend, Bibi Netanyahu, to reassure him we will stand with the State of Israel. The second will be to the supreme leader of Iran. He might not take my phone call, but he would get the message, and the message is this: Until you open every nuclear and every military facility to full, open, anytime/anywhere, for real, inspections, we are going to make it as difficult as possible for you to move money around the global financial system. I hope Congress says no to this deal. But realistically, even if they do, the money is flowing. China and Russia have never been on our side of the table. The Europeans have moved on. We have to stop the money flow. And by the way, as important as those two phone calls are, they are also very important because they say this. America is back in the leadership business. And when America does not lead, the world is a dangerous and a tragic place. This is a bad deal. Obama broke every rule of negotiation. Yes, our allies are not perfect. But Iran is at the heart of most of the evil that is going on in the Middle East through their proxies. Mac +p2192 +aVLet me tell you what I would do immediately, day two in the Oval Office. I would hold a Camp David summit with our Arab allies, not to talk them into this lousy deal with Iran, but to say to them, "what is it that you need to defeat +p2193 +aVI agree with my colleagues. We need to begin by undoing -- I would begin by undoing a whole set of things that President Obama has done, whether it's illegal amnesty or this latest round of EPA regulations. But let me go back to something that's very important. We have been debating right here the core difference between conservatism and progressivism. Conservatives, I am a conservative because I believe no one of us is any better than any other one of us. Every one of us is gifted by God, whether it is those poor babies being picked over or it's someone whose life is tangled up in a web of dependence. Progressives don't believe that. They believe some are smarter than others, some are better than others, so some are going to need to take care of others. That is the fight we have to have, and we have to undo a whole set of things that President Obama has done that get at the heart of his disrespect and disregard for too many Americans. +p2194 +aVThis is a great nation. It is a unique nation in all of human history and on the face of the planet, because here, our founders believed that everyone has a right to fulfill their potential and that that right --they called it life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness -- comes from God and cannot be taken away by government. We have arrived at a point in our nation's history where the potential of this nation and too many Americans is being crushed by the weight, the power, the cost, the complexity, the ineptitude, the corruption of the federal government, and only someone who will challenge the status quo of Washington, D.C. can lead the resurgence of this great nation. I will do that. Mac +p2195 +aVNot trustworthy. No accomplishment. +p2196 +aVHillary Clinton lies about Benghazi, she lies about e- mails. She is still defending Planned Parenthood, and she is still her party's frontrunner. 2016 is going to be a fight between conservatism, and a Democrat party that is undermining the very character of this nation. We need a nominee who is going to throw every punch, not pull punches, and someone who cannot stumble before he even gets into the ring. I am not a member of the political class. I am a conservative; I can win this job, I can do this job, I need your help, I need your support. I will, with your help and support, lead the resurgence of this great nation. Thank you. +p2197 +asVBUSH +p2198 +(lp2199 +VOur freedom is under attack. Our economy is under water. The leading democrat is under investigation. And America is under the gun to lead the free world to protect our civilized way of life. Serious times require strong leadership, that's what at stake right now. Regarding national security, we need to restore the defense cuts of Barack Obama to rebuild our military, to destroy +p2200 +aVWell, first of all, we need to destroy +p2201 +aVLook, he mentioned me. I can bring \u2014 I can talk. This is \u2014 this is the problem. Banning all Muslims will make it harder for us to do exactly what we need to do, which is to destroy +p2202 +aVThey are relevant if we want to destroy +p2203 +aVDonald, this has got... +p2204 +aVThis is another example of the lack of seriousness. Look, this is \u2014 this is troubling because we're at war. They've declared war on us and we need to have a serious strategy to destroy +p2205 +aVYou said on September 30th that +p2206 +aVI'm talking right now. I'm talking. +p2207 +aVSeptember 30th you said... +p2208 +aVA little of your own medicine there, Donald. +p2209 +aVDonald, you're not going to be able to insult your way to the presidency. That's not going to happen. And I do have the strength. Leadership, leadership is not about attacking people and disparaging people. Leadership is about creating a serious strategy to deal with the threat of our time. And I laid out that strategy before the attacks in Paris and before the attacks in San Bernardino. And it is the way forward. We need to increase our military spending. We need to deal with a no- fly zone in Syria, a safe zone. We need to focus on building a military that is second-to-none... +p2210 +aV... so that we can destroy Islamic terrorism. +p2211 +aVI think we're focusing a whole... +p2212 +aVI do. I think the lesson's learned are that we have to have to have a strategy to get and a strategy to get out. Which means, that you create a stable situation. This president and this is what the focus ought to be, it's not the differences between us, it's Barack Obama does not believe America's leadership in the world is a force for good. He does not believe that our strength is a place where security can take place. He leads from behind. He creates an environment that now we're creating the most unstable situation we've had since the World War II era. The focus ought to be on the single fact that Hillary Clinton wants to double down on a failed foreign policy and we need to be united to defeat that because we're going to be in a place that is far less secure than it is today. Don't you all agree? +p2213 +aVBecause I \u2014 first of all, I know what I don't know. I know what I don't know. I would seek out, as I have, the best advice that exists. I won't get my information from the shows. I don't know if that's Saturday morning or Sunday morning. I don't know which one. I will seek out the best advice, and I will create a strategy and I will persuade the American people what the role of America should be. I've laid out a policy of rebuilding our military. All of the talk that we're seeing here \u2014 most of which I agree on, frankly \u2014 requires a much stronger military. We now have a lack of readiness that is quite scary. We have planes that were \u2014 that Harry Truman inaugurated, the B-52. We have \u2014 the Navy has been gutted and decimated. The readiness of the Marines is way down. If we're serious about America's leadership in the world, then we need to make sure that we have the back of the armed forces. The Armed Forces Radio is here listening to this today. I hope they know that if I'm president, I'll be a commander-in-chief, not an agitator- in-chief or a divider-in-chief, that I will lead this country in a way that will create greater security and greater safety. +p2214 +aVSo I was \u2014 I was \u2014 I was mentioned, so I can bring up something, I think, right? Look, the simple fact is, if you think this is tough you're not being treated fairly... +p2215 +aV... imagine what it's going to be like dealing with Putin or dealing with President Xi. +p2216 +aVOr dealing with the Islamic terrorism that exists. +p2217 +aVThis is a tough business to run for president. +p2218 +aVAnd it's \u2014 and we need...... to have a leader that is... +p2219 +aVYou're never going to be president of the United States by insulting your way to the presidency. +p2220 +aVDoesn't matter. Doesn't matter. +p2221 +aVYes. +p2222 +aVNo it isn't but it is an important subject to talk about for sure. And I think people have good ideas on this. Clearly, we need to secure the border. Coming here legally needs to be a lot easier than coming here illegally. If you don't have that, you don't have the rule of law. We now have a national security consideration, public health issues, we have an epidemic of heroine overdoses in all places in this country because of the ease of bringing heroine in. We have to secure the border. It is a serious undertaking and yes, we do need more fencing and we do need to use technology, and we do need more border control. And we need to have better cooperation by the way with local law enforcement. There are 800,000 cops on the beat, they ought to be trained to be the eyes and ears for law enforcement for the threat against terror as well as for immigration. This is a serious challenge and if we can get it right, yes, we'll start winning votes again. The real problem isn't anybody on this stage, the real problem is Barack Obama has had six years to advocate a position to fix this and he's done nothing. The congress has funded these programs of building more fencing and doing all this and he hasn't done it. He wants to maintain it as a wedge issue and so does Hillary Clinton. Republicans need to fix it and when we do, we'll be better off. +p2223 +aVI completely agree with Chris. And this administration has been so lax. Think about it. Hillary Clinton is using a private server for \u2014 where classified information go by. This is a \u2014 this is a serious administration? The president receives an inspector general's report that the Office of Personnel Management could be hacked into; they had antiquated firewalls; 23 million files have been \u2014 are in the hands of the Chinese allegedly, including, by the way, members of the press, it turns out, last week. Maybe that's the only part that's good news, so that you guys can get a feel for what it's like now to see this type of attack. This is something \u2014 we have to have the best defensive capabilities. We need to coordinate all of our efforts with the private sector. We need to give them liability relief so that we can do that. And offensively, we need to have capabilities second to none. We need to create a situation where they know that there will be adverse impacts if they continue to do what they're doing. They'll respect that. They'll respect a United States that is serious about protecting our \u2014 our infrastructure. If we don't do it, we'll continue to see what's \u2014 exactly what's happening, not just from the Chinese, by the way. The Russians and rogue actors, including +p2224 +aVAsk yourself, which candidate will keep you and our country safer, stronger and freer? Hillary Clinton has aligned herself with Barack Obama on +p2225 +aVYou've already made two comments, John. It's my turn. +p2226 +aVI got about four minutes in the last debate. I'm going to get my question right now. +p2227 +aVYes. +p2228 +aVFirst of all, we could get to 4 percent growth. The new normal of 2 percent puts huge demands on government. The reason why we have structural deficits is that more and more people are relying on government and the growth that we don't have makes \u2014 makes the deficit grow. A 4 percent growth strategy starts with tax reform. And the proposal that I've laid out is the one the Wall Street Journal editorial board has said is the most pro-growth of all the proposals out there. We cut the \u2014 we eliminate a lot of deductions and cut the rates down. A corporate rate of 20 percent, which puts us 5 percent above \u2014 below that of China, and allows us full expensing of investing. It would create an explosion of investment back into this country, creating higher-wage jobs, and so that's part of it. On the regulatory side I think we need to repeal every rule that Barack Obama has in terms of work in progress, every one of them. And start over. For those that are already in existence, the regulation of the Internet, we have to start over, but we ought to do that. The clean power act, we ought to repeal that and \u2014 and start over on that. The waters of the United States act, which is going to be devastating for agriculture and many industries, we should repeal that. We should repeal the rules because the economic costs of this far exceed the social benefit. And if we're serious about being serious about high growth, then we have to recognize that small businesses right now, more of them are closing than \u2014 than are \u2014 than are being set up. Hillary Clinton has said that Barack Obama's policies get an A. Really? One in 10 people right now aren't working or have given up altogether, as you said. That's not an A. One in seven people are living in poverty. That's not an A. One in five children are on food stamps. That is not an A. It may be the best that Hillary Clinton can do, but it's not the best America can do. +p2229 +aVThank you, Donald, for allowing me to speak at the debate. That's really nice of you. Really appreciate that. What a generous man you are. Twelve million illegal immigrants, to send them back, 500,000 a month, is just not \u2014 not possible. And it's not embracing American values. And it would tear communities apart. And it would send a signal that we're not the kind of country that I know America is. And even having this conversation sends a powerful signal \u2014 they're doing high-fives in the Clinton campaign right now when they hear this. That's the problem with this. We have to win the presidency. And the way you win the presidency is to have practical plans. Lay them out there. What we need to do is allow people to earn legal status where they pay a fine, where they work, where they don't commit crimes, where they learn English, and over an extended period of time, they earn legal status. That's the path \u2014 a proper path... +p2230 +aVI'm gonna fight as hard as I can to make sure that we shift power away from Washington, simplify the tax code, to spur economic activity in this country. Of course it's the highest priority. If we don't do that, we're stuck with the "new normal" of 2 percent growth. Hillary Clinton says, basically, we just gotta get used to it. Two percent growth means declining income for the middle class. It means more than 6 million people are stuck in poverty than the day that Barack Obama was inaugurated. It means \u2014 it means more demands on government \u2014 growing the economy is the first job, if we're going to be serious about dealing with the deficit and debt. And more importantly, people are really struggling right now. In this economy, the disposable income of the great middle is down 2,300 bucks. So yeah, we've created jobs, your \u2014 argue (ph) \u2014 brought that up early, and it was a good question. Jobs are being created, but they're lower-income jobs than the jobs that were lost. And the net effect of this is we need to jump-start the economy. I think of Jonathan (ph) and Reagan Love (ph), who are supporters of mine. Jonathan has been deployed by the National Guard, he is \u2014 he's in Oklahoma. Reagan Love \u2014 by the way, pretty great name, I think \u2014 is a teacher. When \u2014 if they had this tax cut, what they told me was that that $2,300 of money in their pocket \u2014 they would go back to South Carolina and start a business. Imagine what it would be like, instead of having more businesses closed than started, we had it the exact opposite. We would grow our economy, and the government would get the revenue necessary to make things \u2014 make things better. Hillary Clinton's approach to this is more top-down, more regulation, more taxes, more government, and it will destroy our economy. +p2231 +aVIt is \u2014 I'd say it is Islamic terrorism, and, back to the question of what we are dealing with in Iraq, when we pull back voids are filled. That's the lesson of history, and, sadly, this president does not believe in American leadership. He does not believe it, and the net result is that we have a caliphate the size of Indiana that gains energy each and everyday to recruit Americans in our own country, and the threat to the homeland relates to the fact that we have not dealt with this threat of terror in the Middle East. We should have a no fly zone in Syria. We should have a support for the remnants of the Syrian Free Army, and create safe zones. If you want to deal with the four million refugees that are leaving Syria because of the devastation there, then we 'ought to create safe zones for them to stay in the region rather than go to Europe. And, that requires American leadership. Without American leadership every other country in the neighborhood beings to change their priorities. It is tragic that you see Iraq, and other countries now talking to Russia. It wasn't that long ago that Russia had no influence in the region at all. And, so, the United States needs to lead across the board. This president, and Hillary Clinton both do not believe the United States has a leadership role to play, and we're now paying a price, and it will have a huge impact on the economy of this country if we don't deal with this. +p2232 +aV...They're not doing that... +p2233 +aV +p2234 +aVDonald \u2014 Donald's wrong on this. He is absolutely wrong on this. We're not going to be the world's policeman, but we sure as heck better be the world's leader. That's \u2014 there's a huge difference where, without us leading... ...voids are filled, and the idea that it's a good idea for Putin to be in Syria, let +p2235 +aVWe're not \u2014 we shouldn't have another financial crisis. What we ought to do is raise the capital requirements so banks aren't too big to fail. Dodd-Frank has actually done the opposite, totally the opposite, where banks now have higher concentration of risk in assets and the capital requirements aren't high enough. If we were serious about it, we would raise the capital requirements and lessen the load on the community banks and other financial institutions. This vast overreach has created a huge problem for our country, and Hillary Clinton wants to double down on that. I was in Washington, Iowa, about three months ago talking about how bad Washington, D.C., is. It was \u2014 get the \u2014 kind of the \u2014 anyway. We had... It \u2014 and I talked to a banker there. This is a bank that had $125 million of assets, four branches. Their compliance costs because of Dodd-Frank went from $100,000 to $600,000 in a two-year period. The net effect of that is \u2014 and they had \u2014 they had not one loan that went bad during the financial crisis. They knew \u2014 they knew their borrowers. They gave back to the community. They were engaged in the community. And imagine America without its community banks. Well, that's what's happening because of Dodd-Frank. That's \u2014 that's my worry. My worry is that the real economy has been hurt by the vast overreach of the Obama administration. And Hillary Clinton, she wants to double down on that. She wants to create even more so. She is a captive of the left of her party to the point now where she is \u2014 she was for the trade agreement in \u2014 the Pacific agreement. Now she's against it. She was \u2014 hinted she was for the XL pipeline. Now she's opposed to it. All the things that would create sustained economic growth she's now doubling down against it. +p2236 +aVYou could, if you were serious about... +p2237 +aVNo, I can't say that. But I can say, if you created higher capital requirements, that's the solution to this, not having concentration of assets. The bigger banks now have more and more control over \u2014 over the financial assets of this country. And that is the wrong approach to take. +p2238 +aVMaria? +p2239 +aV...We've had a 10% reduction in carbon emissions, and it isn't because of Solyndra. It isn't because of the central planners in Washington D.C. It's because we've had a great American success story, the explosion of natural gas. Taking two existing technologies, and applying it through innovation has created lower carbon emissions, lower energy costs \u2014 40% of all the economic activity in the age of Obama has come from the energy sector, and Hillary Clinton wants to suppress that. We \u2014 I think we ought to be expanding this. High growth is the path to lower carbon, and more jobs. I know for a fact, as Governor of the State of Florida, we created the largest land purchasing programs, and environment clean-up programs because we had a growing economy. Our revenues were growing at 4.4%. It allowed for resources to be able to protect the natural system. We got to get to a conservation... ...in environmental policy that goes beyond just carbon... +p2240 +aVJane Horton is sitting with my wife here today. Her husband, Chris, was killed in action in Afghanistan. And Jane spends her time now defending and fighting for military families. They're both heroes. I don't think we need an agitator-in-chief or a divider-in-chief. We need a commander-in-chief that will rebuild our military and restore respect to our veterans by revamping and fixing a broken Veterans Administration, That's my pledge to you. I ask for your support. Thank you. +p2241 +aVYou know, I am by my nature impatient. And this is not an endeavor that rewards that. You gotta be patient. You gotta be \u2014 stick with it, and all that. But also, I can't fake anger. I believe this is still the most extraordinary country on the face of the Earth. And it troubles me that people are rewarded for tearing down our country. It's never been that way in American politics before. I can't do it. I just don't believe that this country's days are going to be deeply \u2014 you know, going down. I think we're on the verge of the greatest time, and I want to fix the things to let people rise up. +p2242 +aVCould I \u2014 could I bring something up here, because I'm a constituent of the senator and I helped him and I expected that he would do constituent service, which means that he shows up to work. He got endorsed by the Sun-Sentinel because he was the most talented guy in the field. He's a gifted politician. But Marco, when you signed up for this, this was a six-year term, and you should be showing up to work. I mean, literally, the Senate \u2014 what is it, like a French work week? You get, like, three days where you have to show up? You can campaign, or just resign and let someone else take the job. There are a lot of people living paycheck to paycheck in Florida as well, they're looking for a senator that will fight for them each and every day. +p2243 +aVHe wasn't my senator. +p2244 +aVWell, I've been \u2014 +p2245 +aVNo, no. What I said was I don't believe that I would be president of the United States and have the same dysfunction that exists in Washington, D.C. now. +p2246 +aVDon't vote for me if you want to keep the gridlock in Washington, D.C. +p2247 +aVBut if you want someone who has a proven, effective leadership, that was a governor of a state, that transformed the culture there, elect me so I can fight for the American people and change the culture in Washington, D.C. +p2248 +aV, the great majority of Republicans and Americans believe in a hopeful future. They don't believe in building walls and a pessimistic view of the future. They're concerned that Washington is so dysfunctional it is holding them back. There are lids on people's aspirations. Think about it: six and a half million people working part-time. Workforce participation rates lower than they were in 1977. Six million more people living in poverty than the day that Barack Obama got elected president, and the left just wants more of the same. We have to offer a compelling alternative that is based on hope and optimism and grounded in serious policy, which I've laid out. And you can go get it at jeb2016.com. +p2249 +aVWell, the deal was done. Barack Obama got his massive tax increase, and there was no spending cuts. You just see the recent deal announced today or yesterday, more spending, more tax increasing, more regulation. And now we have to accept 2 percent, the new normal for economic growth. And the net result is the middle class has $2,300 less in their pockets than the day that Barack Obama got elected president. And now they see Hillary Clinton proposing a third term of economic policy for our country. We need to reverse that. And my record was one of cutting taxes each and every year. You don't have to guess about it, because I actually have a record. $19 billion of tax cuts, 1.3 million jobs created. We were one of two states to go to AAA bond rating, and our government spending was far less than the spending in people's income. +p2250 +aVYou find me... +p2251 +aVYou find me a Democrat \u2014 you find me a Democrat that will cut spending ten dollars? Heck, find me a Republican in Congress that would cut spending ten dollars. I'll talk to them. +p2252 +aVLook, the \u2014 the deal is already done. The biggest tax increase happened under the watch of Barack Obama, and spending's gone up. You find a Democrat that's for cutting taxes \u2014 cutting spending ten dollars, I'll give them a warm kiss. +p2253 +aVLook, the \u2014 the simple fact is that my plan actually gives the middle class the greatest break: $2,000 per family. And if you make $40,000 a year, a family of four, you don't pay any income tax at all. Simplifying the code and lowering rates, both for corporations and \u2014 and personal rates, is exactly what we need to do. You think about the regulatory cost and the tax cost \u2014 that's why small businesses are closing, rather than being formed in our country right now. The big corporations have the scale to deal with all of this. And what I think all of us are saying is, our monetary policy, our tax policy, regulatory policy needs to be radically changed so we can create high sustained growth for income to rise. The government has tried it their way. Under \u2014 under Barack Obama and the proposals of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and others, they've tried it their way, and it has failed miserably. We need to take a new approach of taxing \u2014 reforming how we tax, and reforming the regulations in our \u2014 in our country before it's too late. +p2254 +aVWe don't need the federal government to be involved in this at all. +p2255 +aVWe don't need the Federal Government to be involved in this, because when they do we create a $1.2 trillion debt. In Florida, we have the lowest in-state tuition of any state, because there's accountability, just as John said. Let the states do this. You'll create a much better graduation rate at a lower cost, and you won't in debt the next generation with recourse debt on their backs. It's always a solution of the left to create more Government from the Federal Government. It is broke, it is not working. +p2256 +aVWell, first of all, I'm 7 and 0 in my fantasy league. +p2257 +aVGronkowski is still going strong. I have Ryan Tannehill, Marco, as my quarterback, he was 18 for 19 last week. So I'm doing great. But we're not gambling. And I think this has become something that needs to be looked at in terms of regulation. Effectively it is day trading without any regulation at all. And when you have insider information, which apparently has been the case, where people use that information and use big data to try to take advantage of it, there has to be some regulation. If they can't regulate themselves, then the NFL needs to look at just, you know, moving away from them a little bit. And there should be some regulation. I have no clue whether the federal government is the proper place, my instinct is to say, hell no, just about everything about the federal government. +p2258 +aVBecky \u2014 +p2259 +aV\u2014 the governor's absolutely right. But we also need to reform Medicare and Social Security. We can't just allow it to continue on its current path the way that Hillary Clinton wants to do because there'll be major reductions in benefits in the next decade if we do nothing. I have a concrete plan to do just that, which allows people to keep HSAs to encourage savings, it allows for people that are retiring with Social Security to be able to get a minimum of 125 percent of the poverty level so that there is a baseline that in this generous country of ours no one goes below. +p2260 +aVYou have to reform Social Security, and the simple way to do it is to make sure that the wealthiest don't receive the same benefits as people that are lower-income. And make sure you enhance savings in the private market. The idea of 401(k)s. I have a small business that I set up. It took \u2014 it took an arm and a leg to be able to set up a 401(k). Because of all the federal mandates and federal laws, it was too expensive. We need to incent private savings and make sure that Social Security is protected for those that have it. +p2261 +aVBut the idea that you can't \u2014 that you're just gonna grow your way out of this \u2014 I have a plan to grow the economy at 4 percent, but you're gonna have to make adjustments for both Medicare and Social Security. [ +p2262 +aVAmerica's at a crossroads. The D.C. politicians continue to make things worse. I have a proven record of success, 32 years in business, and 8 years as Governor of the state of Florida. I will change the culture in Washington, just as I changed the culture in Tallahassee. I will do so in a way that will bring people together. We need a unifier, not a cynical divider in chief, and that's exactly what I will do. Imagine a country where people are lifted out of poverty again. Imagine a country where the middle class can get rising income again. I know we can do this because we're still the most extraordinary country on the face of the Earth. +p2263 +aVI'm Jeb Bush, and I believe America's on the verge of its greatest century, and I'm ready to lead. I'm a committed, conservative reformer that cut taxes, that balanced budgets, that took on the special interest in Florida, and we won. I look forward to talking tonight about how we can fix a broken Washington D.C., and create an environment where people can rise up again in this great country. Thank you. +p2264 +aVI think the voters will make that determination. But what I know to be true is that the next president of the United States is going to have to fix an extraordinary difficult situation. This administration, with President Obama and Hillary Clinton, has created insecurity the likes of which we never would've imagined. There's not a place in the world where we're better off today than six and a half years ago. And that requires a steadiness. That requires an understanding of how the world works. That requires an understanding and appreciation of American leadership in the world. You can't just, you know, talk about this stuff and insult leaders around the world and expect a good result. You have to do this with a steady hand, and I believe I have those skills. +p2265 +aVNo. Absolutely not. People are supporting me because I have a proven record of conservative leadership where I cut taxes $19 billion over eight years. We shrunk the state government workforce, we created a climate that led the nation in job growth seven out of eight years. We were one of two states to go to AAA bond rating. People know that we need principle-centered leadership, a disrupter to go to Washington, D.C. The one guy that had some special interests that I know of that tried to get me to change my views on something \u2014 that was generous and gave me money \u2014 was Donald Trump. He wanted casino gambling in Florida \u2014 +p2266 +aVYes you did. +p2267 +aVYou wanted it and you didn't get it because I was opposed to \u2014 +p2268 +aV\u2014 casino gambling before \u2014 +p2269 +aVduring and after. And that's not \u2014 I'm not going to be bought by anybody. +p2270 +aVNo way. Believe me. +p2271 +aVNot even possible. +p2272 +aVYou've got, according to your \u2014 to what you said on one of the talk shows, you got Hillary Clinton to go to your wedding \u2014 +p2273 +aV\u2014 because you gave her money. Maybe it works for Hillary Clinton \u2014 +p2274 +aV\u2014 it doesn't work for anybody on this \u2014 on stage. +p2275 +aVBut the simple fact is \u2014 +p2276 +aVNo. The simple fact is, Donald, you could not take \u2014 +p2277 +aVI was asked the question. +p2278 +aVSo he supports Pelosi, he supports Schumer, he supports Clinton \u2014 +p2279 +aVWhen he \u2014 and he \u2014 when he asked \u2014 when he asked Florida to have casino gambling, we said no. +p2280 +aVWe said no. And that's the simple fact. The simple fact is \u2014 +p2281 +aVDon't cut me off. +p2282 +aVNo, I don't think so, but we need to be strong against China. We should use offensive tactics as it relates to cyber security, send a deterrent signal to China. There should be super sanctions in what President Obama has proposed. There's many other tools that we have without canceling a dinner. That's not going to change anything, but we can be much stronger as it relates to that. As it relates to Iran, it's not a strategy to tear up an agreement. A strategy would be how do we confront Iran? And, the first thing that we need to do is to establish our commitment to Israel which has been altered by this administration. And, make sure that they have the most sophisticated weapons to send a signal to Iran that we have Israel's back. If we do that, it's going to create a healthier deterrent effect than anything else I can think of. +p2283 +aVI don't think \u2014 you're not stating my views right. +p2284 +aVI think there needs to be accommodation for someone acting on faith. Religious conscience is \u2014 is \u2014 is a first freedom. It's \u2014 it's a powerful part of our \u2014 of our Bill of Rights. And, in a big, tolerant country, we should respect the rule of law, allow people in \u2014 in \u2014 in this country \u2014 I'm a \u2014 I was opposed to the decision, but we \u2014 you can't just say, "well, they \u2014 gays can't get married now." But this woman, there should be some accommodation for her conscience, just as there should be for people that are florists that don't want to participate in weddings, or bakers. A great country like us should find a way to have accommodations for people so that we can solve the problem in the right way. This should be solved at the local level... +p2285 +aVAnd so we do agree, Mike. +p2286 +aVWell, he's wrong on a lot of things, but on this he's wrong because I'm the most pro-life governor on this stage. I got to act on my core beliefs. It's part of who I am. Life is a gift from God. And from beginning end we need to respect it and err on the side of life. And so I defunded Planned Parenthood. We created a climate where parental notification took place. We were the only state to fund crisis pregnancy centers with state moneys. We were totally focused on this. And I would bring that kind of philosophy to Washington, D.C. So here is a solution to this. Title X of the HHS funding, there is something that was the "Reagan Rule." It was passed in 1988. And in that rule it was defined, and the courts approved this, that a Planned Parenthood, you couldn't separate the money between the actual abortion procedures, and there are 330,000 abortions that take place in this clinic, and their promotion of it. He interpreted it the right way, the courts ruled in his favor, and Planned Parenthood did not get funding during that time until President Clinton came in. When I'm elected president, we will restore that interpretation of Title X. And this deal will be finished. +p2287 +aVThere are 13,000 community-based organizations that provide health services to women, 13,000 in this country. I don't believe that Planned Parenthood should get a penny from the federal government. Those organizations should get funding, just as I increased funding when I was governor of the state. That's the way you do this is you improve the condition for people. And, Donald, when I was governor, we also increased the opportunities for women. Women's income grew three times faster than the national average when I was governor. +p2288 +aVWe improved \u2014 we improved \u2014 +p2289 +aV\u2014 we increased child support \u2014 we increased child support with a broken system by 90 percent. +p2290 +aVI have a proven record. I have a proven record. +p2291 +aVHe did, he did. You're proud of your family, just as I am. +p2292 +aVTo subject my wife into the middle of a raucous political conversation was completely inappropriate, and I hope you apologize for that, Donald. +p2293 +aVShe is. She's fantastic. +p2294 +aVShe is absolutely the love of my life, and she's right here... +p2295 +aVAnd why don't you apologize to her right now. +p2296 +aVYeah. +p2297 +aVSo, here's the deal. My wife is a Mexican-American. She's an American by choice. She loves this country as much as anybody in this room, and she wants a secure border. But she wants to embrace the traditional American values that make us special and make us unique. We're at a crossroads right now. Are we going to take the Reagan approach, the hopeful optimistic approach, the approach that says that, you come to our country legally, you pursue your dreams with a vengeance, you create opportunities for all of us? Or the Donald Trump approach? The approach that says that everything is bad, that everything is coming to an end. I... +p2298 +aVI'm on the Reagan side of this. +p2299 +aVLook, first of all, I wrote a book about this, three \u2014 four years ago, now. And I laid out a comprehensive, conservative approach for immigration reform. And it does require securing the border. No one disagrees with that. But to build a wall, and to deport people \u2014 half a million a month \u2014 would cost hundreds of billions of dollars, Donald. Hundreds of billions of dollars. It would destroy community life, it would tear families apart. And it would send a signal to the rest of the world that the United States values that are so important for our long-term success no longer matter in this country. +p2300 +aVWell, I've been speaking English here tonight, and I'll keep speaking English. But the simple fact is, if a high school kid asks me a question in Spanish, a school \u2014 by the way, a voucher program that was created under my watch, the largest voucher program in the country, where kids can go to a Christian school, and they ask me a question in Spanish, I'm going to show respect and answer that question in Spanish. Even though they do speak English, and even though they embrace American values. +p2301 +aVYeah. +p2302 +aVWell, first of all, Hugh, if you're looking at Republican advisers, you have to go to the last two administrations. That happened to be 41 and 43. So just by definition, if you're \u2014 and many of the people here that are seeking advice from the foreign policy experts in the Republican side, they \u2014 they served in my dad's administration, my brother's administration. Of course that's the case. But I'm my own man. I'm going to create a strategy that is based on the simple fact that the United States needs to lead the world. The first thing that we need to do is to stop the craziness of the sequester. Rebuild our military so that our \u2014 so that we don't deploy people over and over again without the necessary equipment to keep them safe, to send a signal to the world that we're serious. If we're going to lead the world, then we need to have the strongest military possible. We need to rebuild our counterintelligence and intelligence capabilities. We need to focus on the fact that the next president is going to start in 2017, not in 1990 \u2014 you know, 30 years ago, or when my brother started. The world is dramatically different. And I believe that we need to restore America's presence and leadership in the world. Name a country where our relationship is better today than it was the \u2014 the day that Barack Obama got elected president. Under Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama, we have seen a weakness that now creates huge problems for the next president of the United States. So I'll have a team that will be \u2014 that will be following the doctrine I set up, and it will be peace through strength. We're sitting here in this library, which is a wonderful place to talk about this, because that's exactly what happened in the 1980s, and the world was a lot safer because of... +p2303 +aVThe leadership of Ronald Reagan and my... +p2304 +aVSo you \u2014 the \u2014 the first chance... +p2305 +aVRight after me, and then I'll \u2014 I'll yield \u2014 yield the floor. What do you guys say in the Senate when you're talking and debating? +p2306 +aVHere's the facts: When Donald Trump talks about judgment, what was his position on who would've been the best negotiator to deal with Iran? It wasn't a Republican; it was Hillary Clinton. That's what you believe. I mean, the lack of judgment and the lack of understanding about how the world works is really dangerous in this kind of time that we're saying. So is that the judgment that you bring to the table, that Hillary Clinton... +p2307 +aV... is a great negotiator, that she could bring about a better deal on Iran? +p2308 +aVYou know what? As it relates to my brother, there's one thing I know for sure. He kept us safe. I don't know if you remember... ... Donald... ... you remember the \u2014 the rumble? You remember the fire fighter with his arms around it? He sent a clear signal that the United States would be strong and fight Islamic terrorism, and he did keep us safe. +p2309 +aVThat's \u2014 that's my brother. +p2310 +aVHere's the lessons of history: When we \u2014 we pull back, voids are created. We left Iraq. We should've had a \u2014 a forces agreement to stay there with a small force, and instead of that, we politically and militarily pulled back, and now we have the creation of +p2311 +aV... because of what President Obama's done by pulling back. +p2312 +aVWell, I'm surprised Senator Cruz would say that since he was as strong supporter of John Roberts at the time. I will talk about what I will do as it relates to appointing Supreme Court Justices. We need to make sure that we have justices that, with a proven experienced record of respect for upholding the constitution. That is what we need. We can't have \u2014 the history in recent past is appoint people that have no experience so that you can't get attacked. And, that makes it harder for people to have confidence that they won't veer off... +p2313 +aVJohn Roberts has made some really good decisions, for sure, but he did not have a proven, extensive record that would have made the clarity the important thing, and that's what we need to do. And, I'm willing to fight for those nominees to make sure that they get passed. You can't do it the politically expedient way anymore. This is the culture in Washington. You have to fight hard for these appointments. This is perhaps the most important thing that the next president will do. +p2314 +aVWell, first of all, he, as I said, supported John Roberts. He supported him, publicly. So, you can rewrite history, I guess, Ted, but the simple fact is that you supported him because he had all the criteria that you would have thought would have made a great justice. And, I think he is doing a good job. But, the simple fact is that going forward, what we need to do is to have someone that has a long standing set of rulings that consistently makes it clear that he is a focused, exclusively on upholding the Constitution of the United States so they won't try to use the bench as a means to which legislate. +p2315 +aVHe was talking about me. +p2316 +aVWell, I \u2014 I wanted to \u2014 be \u2014 make it easier for him. +p2317 +aVAnd I just did. +p2318 +aVSo, 40 years ago, I smoked marijuana, and I admit it. I'm sure that other people might have done it and may not want to say it in front of 25 million people. My mom's not happy that I just did. That's true. And here's the deal. Here's the deal. We have \u2014 we have a serious epidemic of drugs that goes way beyond marijuana. What goes on in Colorado, as far as I'm concerned, that should be a state decision. But if you look at the problem of drugs in this \u2014 in this society today, it's a serious problem. Rand, you know this because you're campaigning in New Hampshire like all of us, and you see the epidemic of heroin, the overdoses of heroin that's taking place. People's families are \u2014 are being torn apart. It is appropriate for the government to play a consistent role to be able to provide more treatment, more prevention \u2014 we're the state that has the most drug courts across every circuit in \u2014 in \u2014 in Florida, there are drug courts to give people a second chance. That's the best way to do this. +p2319 +aVNo, you're wrong \u2014 you're wrong about this. +p2320 +aVI don't want to put poor people in jail, Randy. +p2321 +aVHere's the deal. No, I did not oppose when the legislature passed the bill to deal with that very issue. That's the way to solve this problem. Medical marijuana on the ballot was opened up, there was a huge loophole, it was the first step to getting to a place. And as a citizen of Florida, I voted no. +p2322 +aVNot very far. I think we need to do this state by state. There are places that get this right, and we need to make sure that we protect the privacy laws. This is a complicated place. But I do think the natural impulse on the left \u2014 Hillary Clinton, immediately after one of these horrific violent acts took place, immediately said we need to have federal gun laws. President Obama almost reflexively always says the same thing. And the net result is, you're going to take away rights of \u2014 of law-abiding citizens, the 99.999 percent of the people that are law- abiding citizens. That's not the right approach to do it. In Florida, we have a background check. We have concealed-weapon permit holders, and in fact, there's 1,200,000 of them. We have a reduction in violent crime because we put people behind bars when they use a gun in the commission of the crime. That's the better approach. But we're living in a society today where despair kind of grows in isolation. +p2323 +aVI \u2014 I think there needs to be a hearing, but the fact is, we need to encourage that kind of involvement. That's \u2014 that's exactly what we need to do. +p2324 +aVI would go with Ronald Reagan's partner, Margaret Thatcher. Probably illegal, but what the heck? Since it's not going to happen. A strong leader is what we need in the White House, and she certainly was a strong leader that restored the United Kingdom into greatness. +p2325 +aVEver Ready, it's very high energy, Donald. +p2326 +aVSix million more people are living in poverty than the day that Barack Obama got elected president. Six million more people. The middle class has had declining income, workforce participation rates are lower than they were in 1977. For the first time in modern history, more businesses are failing than are being created. That is what the next president will have to deal with. And I believe we can reverse course by creating a strategy of high sustained economic growth, not the new normal of 2 percent that all the left says we just have to get used to, but a 4 percent growth strategy where we reform how we tax, fix the broken regulatory system, embrace the energy revolution in our midst, fix the immigration system so we can turn it into an economic driver, deal with the structural fiscal problems that exist because of our entitlement problems that will overwhelm and create way too much debt. If we grow at 4 percent, people are going to be lifted out of poverty. The great middle that defines our country will have a chance to be able to pursue their dreams as they see fit. That should be the great challenge and the great opportunity for the next president of the United States, to forge consensus to go back to a high-growth strategy. And then we'll be able to lead the world. Without a high-growth strategy, our country will never have the resources or the optimism to be able to lead the world, which the world desperately needs our leadership. +p2327 +aVAbsolutely, I do, and I'm gonna run hard, run with heart, and run to win. I'm gonna have to earn this. Maybe the barrier -- the bar's even higher for me. That's fine. I've got a record in Florida. I'm proud of my dad, and I'm certainly proud of my brother. In Florida, they called me Jeb, because I earned it. I cut taxes every year, totaling $19 billion. We were -- we had -- we balanced every budget. We went from $1 billion of reserves to $9 billion of reserves. We were one of two states that went to AAA bond rating. They keep -- they called me Veto Corleone. Because I vetoed 2,500 separate line-items in the budget. I am my own man. I governed as a conservative, and I govern effectively. And the net effect was, during my eight years, 1.3 million jobs were created. We left the state better off because I applied conservative principles in a purple state the right way, and people rose up. +p2328 +aVI do. I believe that the great majority of people coming here illegally have no other option. They want to provide for their family. But we need to control our border. It's not -- it's our responsibility to pick and choose who comes in. So I -- I've written a book about this and yet this week, I did come up with a comprehensive strategy that -- that really mirrored what we said in the book, which is that we need to deal with E-Verify, we need to deal with people that come with a legal visa and overstay. We need to be much more strategic on how we deal with border enforcement, border security. We need to eliminate the sanctuary cities in this country. It is ridiculous and tragic......that people are dying because of the fact that -- that local governments are not following the federal law. There's much to do. And I think rather than talking about this as a wedge issue, which Barack Obama has done now for six long years, the next president -- and I hope to be that president -- will fix this once and for all so that we can turn this into a driver for high sustained economic growth. And there should be a path to earned legal status... ...for those that are here. Not -- not amnesty, earned legal status, which means you pay a fine and do many things over an extended period of time. +p2329 +aV...I remember... +p2330 +aV...I remember, Megyn. +p2331 +aVKnowing what we know now, with faulty intelligence, and not having security be the first priority when -- when we invaded, it was a mistake. I wouldn't have gone in, however, for the people that did lose their lives, and the families that suffer because of it -- I know this full well because as governor of the state of Florida, I called every one of them. Every one of them that I could find to tell them that I was praying for them, that I cared about them, and it was really hard to do. And, every one of them said that their child did not die in vain, or their wife, of their husband did not die in vain. So, why it was difficult for me to do it was based on that. Here's the lesson that we should take from this, which relates to this whole subject. Barack Obama became president, and he abandoned Iraq. He left, and when he left Al Qaida was done for. +p2332 +aVNo, I don't. And I don't believe the federal government should be involved in the creation of standards directly or indirectly, the creation of curriculum or content. It is clearly a state responsibility. I'm for higher standards... ...measured in an intellectually honest way, with abundant school choice, ending social promotion. And I know how to do this because as governor of the state of Florida I created the first statewide voucher program in the country, the second statewide voucher program, in the country and the third statewide voucher program in the country. And we had rising student achievement across the board, because high standards, robust accountability, ending social promotion in third grade, real school choice across the board, challenging the teachers union and beating them is the way to go. And Florida's low income kids had the greatest gains inside the country. Our graduation rate improved by 50 percent. That's what I'm for. +p2333 +aVHe is definitely my friend. And I think the states ought to create these standards. And if states want to opt out of Common Core, fine. Just make sure your standards are high. Because today in America, a third of our kids, after we spend more per student than any country in the world other than a couple rounding errors, to be honest with you, 30 percent are college- and/or career-ready. If we are going to compete in this world we're in today, there is no possible way we can do it with lowering expectations and dumbing down everything. Children are going to suffer and families' hearts are going to be broken that their kids won't be able to get a job in the 21st Century. +p2334 +aVWe've done it 27 times since World War II. I think we need to lift our spirits and have high, lofty expectations for this great country of ours. The new normal of two percent that the left is saying you can't do anything about is so dangerous for our country. There's 6 million people living in poverty today, more than when Barack Obama got elected. 6.5 million people are working part-time, most of whom want to work full-time. We've created rules and taxes on top of every aspiration of people, and the net result is we're not growing fast, income's not growing. A four percent growth strategy means you fix a convoluted tax code. You get in and you change every aspect of regulations that are job killers. You get rid of Obamacare and replace it with something that doesn't suppress wages and kill jobs. You embrace the energy revolution in our country. This president and Hillary Clinton, who can't even say she's for the XL pipeline even after she's left? Give me a break. Of course we're for it. We should be for these things to create high sustained economic growth. And frankly, fixing our immigration system and turning it into an economic driver is part of this as well. We can do this. +p2335 +aVNone of which is true. +p2336 +aVNo. It's not true. But I have said that Mr. Trump's language is divisive. I want to win. I want one of these people here or the ones at 5:00, to be the next president of the United States. We're not going on win by doing what Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton do each and every day. Dividing the country. Saying, creating a grievance kind of environment. We're going to win when we unite people with a hopeful, optimistic message. I have that message because I was a governor of a state that saw people lifted up, because we had high sustained economic growth. Our economy grew at double the rate of the nation. We created 1.3 million jobs. We led the nation seven out of those eight years. We were only one of two states that went to AAA bond rating. I cut taxes, $19 billion. If you do that and apply conservative principles the right way, you create an environment where everybody rises up. That's how we're going to win. Campaigning in places to give people hope that their life is better because too many people are suffering today in America. +p2337 +aVHere's what I believe. I believe we're at the verge of the greatest time to be alive in this world. But Washington is holding us back. How we tax, how we regulate. We're not embracing the energy revolution in our midst, a broken immigration system that has been politicized rather than turning it into an economic driver. We're not protecting and preserving our entitlement system or reforming for the next generation. All these things languish while we have politicians in Washington using these as wedge issues. Here's my commitment to you, because I did it as Florida. We can fix these things. We can grow economically and restore America's leadership in the world, so that everybody has a chance to rise up. I humbly ask for your vote, whenever you're gonna get to vote, whenever the primary is. Thank you all very much. +p2338 +aVRight. +p2339 +aVNot on specific issues, not at all. I think the next president \u2014 if I'm president, I will appoint people \u2014 I'll nominate people that have a proven record in the judiciary. The problem in the past has been we have appointed people thinking you can get it through the Senate because they didn't have a record. And the problem is that sometimes we're surprised. The simple fact is the next president needs to appoint someone with a proven conservative record, similar to Justice Scalia, that is a lover of liberty, that believes in limited government, that consistently applied that kind of philosophy, that didn't try to legislator from the bench, that was respectful of the Constitution. And then fight and fight, and fight for that nomination to make sure that that nomination passes. Of course, the president, by the way, has every right to nominate Supreme Court justices. I'm an Article II guy in the Constitution. We're running for the president of the United States. We want a strong executive for sure. But in return for that, there should be a consensus orientation on that nomination, and there's no doubt in my mind that Barack Obama will not have a consensus pick when he submits that person to the Senate. +p2340 +aVYes. +p2341 +aVNo, it doesn't, and that's the problem. The lack of leadership in this country by Barack Obama, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, thinking that this is a policy that works, this policy of containment with +p2342 +aVThe very basic fact is that Vladimir Putin is not going to be an ally of the United States. The whole world knows this. It's a simple, basic fact. They're not taking out \u2014 they're not even attempting to take out +p2343 +aV... Let me finish... +p2344 +aV... This is ridiculous... +p2345 +aV... This is coming from a guy who gets his foreign policy from the shows. +p2346 +aV... This is a guy who thinks that Hillary Clinton is a great negotiator in Iran... +p2347 +aV... This is a man who insults his way to the nomination... +p2348 +aVI think it's my turn, isn't it? +p2349 +aVI've got about five or six... +p2350 +aVDo I get to do it five or six times or just once, responding to that? +p2351 +aVSo here's the deal. I'm sick and tired of Barack Obama blaming my brother for all of the problems that he has had. And, frankly, I could care less about the insults that Donald Trump gives to me. It's blood sport for him. He enjoys it. And I'm glad he's happy about it. But I am sick and tired... +p2352 +aVI am sick and tired of him going after my family. My dad is the greatest man alive in my mind. And while Donald Trump was building a reality TV show, my brother was building a security apparatus to keep us safe. And I'm proud of what he did. And he has had the gall to go after my brother. +p2353 +aVHe has had the gall to go after my mother. Hold on. Let me finish. He has had the gall to go after my mother. +p2354 +aVLook, I won the lottery when I was born 63 years ago, looked up, and I saw my mom. My mom is the strongest woman I know. +p2355 +aVThis is not about my family or his family. This is about the South Carolina families that need someone to be a commander in chief that can lead. I'm that person. +p2356 +aVCan I just... +p2357 +aVI'm not going to invite Donald Trump to the rally in Charleston on Monday afternoon when my brother is coming to speak. +p2358 +aVI'm rescinding the invitation. I thought you might want to come, but I guess not. +p2359 +aVI'd like \u2014 can I \u2014 can I... +p2360 +aVLook, I admire the fact that Governor Kasich is supporting spending more money on drug treatment and mental health. I think that's a high priority all across this country, but expanding Obamacare is what we're talking about, and Obamacare's expansion, even though the federal government is paying for the great majority of it, is creating further debt on the backs of our children and grandchildren. We should be fighting Obamacare, repealing Obamacare, replacing it with something totally different. When I was \u2014 as a private citizen, Florida was confronted with the choice. The governor was supportive of doing what John did. So was the Florida Senate. A committed speaker of the House asked me to go as a private citizen to make the case against the expansion. I did, and it wasn't expanded there, just as it wasn't expanded in South Carolina under Governor Haley. +p2361 +aVSouth Carolina \u2014 South Carolinians need to know this, because the Cato Institute, which grades governors based on their spending, rank him right at the bottom. +p2362 +aVAnd Governor Haley is ranked at the top. +p2363 +aVNo. He mentioned my name. +p2364 +aVLet me finish, though. No, no, no \u2014 hey, wait, wait, wait. Just hold, Major, hold, Major. Hold on, Major. +p2365 +aVSouth Carolinians want to make that, they elect the most conservative governor or candidate that can win. +p2366 +aVOf course not. It won't have an impact on hedge funds managers paying ordinary income. In fact, it's not just hedge fund people, but people that are doing \u2014 they're in the business of investing other people's money, getting capital gains treatment is not appropriate. They should be paying ordinary income. That's their business. They're grateful to be able to make a lot of money, I'm sure. And what we do is lower the rates. It's not the end of the world that private equity people and hedge fund folks that are, right now, getting capital gains treatment for the income they earn, pay ordinary income like everybody else in this room. That's not a problem at all. What we need to do is reform the tax code to simplify the rates, to shift power away from Washington, D.C. That's what I did as governor of the state of Florida, $19 billion dollars of tax cuts, and it stimulated seven out of the eight years. Florida led the nation in job growth. +p2367 +aVThank you. +p2368 +aVGreat question. I feel like I have to get into my inner Chris Christie, and point out that the reason why I should be president is listening to two senators talk about arcane amendments to bills that didn't pass. This is \u2014 this is the problem. We need a leader to fix this problem. And I have a detailed plan to do just that, including controlling the border, dealing with the visa over-stayers, making sure that we have a path to legal status, not to citizenship, for those that come out from the shadows and pay a fine, learn English, don't commit crimes, work and pay taxes. That is the better approach. +p2369 +aVThe great majority of people that come to this country come because they have no other choice. They want to come to provide for their families. That doesn't mean it's right. That doesn't mean it's right. We should pick who comes to our country. We should control our border. Coming here legally should be a lot easier than coming here illegally. But the motivation, they're not all rapists, as you-know-who said. They're not that. These are people that are coming to provide for their families. And we should show a little more respect for the fact that they're struggling. It doesn't mean we shouldn't be controlling the border. That's exactly what we should be doing. +p2370 +aV... So, you know......This is the standard operating procedure, to disparage me. That's fine... +p2371 +aV... But, if you want to talk about weakness, you want to talk about weakness? It's weak to disparage women. +p2372 +aVIt's weak to denigrate the disabled. And,it's really weak to call John McCain a loser because he was a... +p2373 +aV... That is outrageous. The guy's an American hero. +p2374 +aV... The simple fact is I've also laid out my plans on immigration... +p2375 +aV Just, for the record make sure my mother's listening, if she's watching the debate. I didn't say that I was going to moon somebody... +p2376 +aVSo, there \u2014 so, there is all sorts of intrigue about where I disagree with my brother, there would be one right there. You should not use eminent domain for private purposes. A baseball stadium or a parking lot for a limo... +p2377 +aVIt's very different. Transmission lines, pipe lines, bridges and highways. All of that is proper use of imminent domain. Not to take an elderly woman's home to build a parking lot so that high-rollers can come from New York City to build casinos in Atlantic City. +p2378 +aVMy name was mentioned twice. +p2379 +aVHe called me a liar. +p2380 +aVAlso, he talked about one of my heroes, Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan was a liberal maybe in the 1950s. He was a conservative reformed governor for eight years before he became president, and no one should suggest he made an evolution for political purposes. He was a conservative, and he didn't tear down people like Donald Trump is. He tore down the Berlin Wall. +p2381 +aVHe was a great guy. +p2382 +aVThat was me. +p2383 +aVYeah, well, I have got to respond to this. +p2384 +aVSounds like a good plan. +p2385 +aVOr you could ask me two questions, so I could get two minutes instead of one. +p2386 +aVI think the dysfunction in Washington is really dangerous, that's what I think. And we need a proven leader that has a record of solving problems, someone who doesn't cut and run; someone who could be a commander in chief to unite our country around common purposes; someone who doesn't disparage people. Someone that doesn't brag, for example, that he has been bankrupt four times and it was great, because he could use the legal system. Someone... +p2387 +aVWe need someone with a proven record to be able to forge consensus to solve problems. And right now, both Republicans and Democrats in Washington don't get it. People are struggling \u2014 63 percent of Americans can't make a $500 car payment. Most Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. And we need someone has a proven record of growing the economy, reforming the things that are broken. And I'm that person. +p2388 +aVYeah... +p2389 +aVYeah. +p2390 +aVHere we go. +p2391 +aVHere's the record. Here's the record. We led the nation in job growth seven out of eight years. When I left there was $9 billion of reserves, 35 percent of general revenue. No state came close to that. +p2392 +aVWhen I \u2014 during my time, we were one of the two states to go to AAA bond rating. We didn't go bankrupt like Trump did and call it success when people are laid off, when vendors don't get paid. That's not success. What we did was create an environment where people had a chance to have income. Personal income during my time went up by 4.4 percent. +p2393 +aVThe government grew by... +p2394 +aV... half of that. +p2395 +aVThank you all very much. The next president is going to be confronted with an unforeseen challenge. That's almost certain. It could be a pandemic, a major natural disaster or an attack on our country. The question for South Carolinians and Americans is who do you want to have sitting behind the big desk in the Oval Office? Because that's the question. It's not the things we're talking about today. It's the great challenge that may happen. I believe I will have a steady hand as commander in chief and president of the United States. I will unite this country around common purposes because I did it as governor of the state of Florida. When I was governor, we had eight hurricanes and four tropical storms in 16 months. Our state was on its back. We recovered far faster than what people thought because we led. We want to challenge rather than cutting and running. That's what we need in Washington, D.C. We need someone with a servant's heart that has a backbone, that isn't going to focus on polls and focus groups. The focus will be on the American people to keep them safe and secure. I ask for your vote next Saturday. +p2396 +aVChris, why don't you mention my name so I can get into this. +p2397 +aV... I appreciate that, I really do, thank you. +p2398 +aVWell, first of all he said the exact same thing about me, that I would make a great Vice Presidential nominee when Mitt Romney was considering. I said the same thing about Marco. I think we were both right at the time, and Mitt picked somebody else. So, let's move on to the 2016 race. Who has the leadership skills... ...who has the leadership skills to lead? And, I'm proud of the fact that I have 12 Medal of Honor recipients, over 30 admirals and generals that believe that I would be a steady hand as Commander in Chief. That I serve as Governor of the state of Florida where we cut taxes and reduced government. I took on very powerful interests, forged consensus, fought for my beliefs, implemented them and the state was better off. We had eight hurricanes and four tropical storms in 16 months. The whole state was turned upside down. It required a steady hand. Leadership. You learn this, you learn it by doing it. It's not something that you just go up, and on the job do it. It's not the same. Look, let's be clear. Marco Rubio is a gifted, gifted politician, and he may have the skills to be a President of the United States, but we've tried it the old way with Barack Obama, with soaring eloquence and we got \u2014 we didn't get a leader we got someone who wants to divide the country up. The next President......going to have to forge consensus to bring about a set of common purposes so that we can move forward again in this country... +p2399 +aV... this relates to strategic patience. +p2400 +aVThis relates to the strategic patience of the Obama administration. They come up with these great marketing terms, and what they do is they pull back, and voids are filled, and they're now filled by asymmetric threats of terror, as well as nation-states on the run. The next president of the United States is gonna have to get the United States back in the game, and if a preemptive strike is necessary to keep us safe, then we should do it. +p2401 +aVWell, first of all, it's interesting that that happened literally days when this hostage release took place in Iran. A day or two days afterwards, North Korea took a \u2014 held an American student hostage. I think it's when we send a signal of weakness, when we are negotiating to release people that committed crimes in our country for people that didn't commit crimes that are held hostage in Iran. We saw the shameful treatment of our sailors, that this creates weakness \u2014 sends a signal of weakness around the world. The next president of the United States is going to have to get back in the game. Where the United States' word matters. Where we back up our allies, where we don't send signals of weakness. We need to use every \u2014 every influence possible to get this student back. And I think John is right about this, there are crippling sanctions that are available, as it relates to the two or three banks that North Korea uses to \u2014 to \u2014 use it \u2014 illicit trade. We ought to re-establish sanctions, not just because of the student, but because of their actions that they're taking right now, as it relates to building this missile capability. +p2402 +aVGood evening. HAM: Mr. Trump. +p2403 +aVThe difference \u2014 the difference between eminent domain for public purpose \u2014 as Donald said, roads and infrastructure, pipelines and all that \u2014 that's for public purpose. But what Donald Trump did was use eminent domain to try to take the property of an elderly woman on the strip in Atlantic City. That is not public purpose, that is down right wrong. And here's the problem with that. The problem was, it was to tear down \u2014 it was to tear down \u2014 it was to tear down the house... +p2404 +aVAnd the net result was \u2014 you tried. +p2405 +aVAnd you lost in the court. +p2406 +aVThat is not true. And the simple fact is to turn this into a limousine parking lot for his casinos is a not public use. And in Florida, based on what we did, we made that impossible. It is part of our Constitution. That's the better approach. That is the conservative approach. +p2407 +aVHow tough it is to take away property from an elderly woman? +p2408 +aVHow tough it is to take away a property from an elderly woman? +p2409 +aVI consider it a public use. +p2410 +aVIt's a public use. It's a public use. +p2411 +aVIt's a public use. +p2412 +aVYeah. +p2413 +aVIt's a public use. +p2414 +aVEstablished by the courts \u2014 federal, state courts. +p2415 +aVI would like to see more millionaires. I think we need to grow more millionaires, we need create a prosperity society where people can rise up. This notion that somehow we're undertaxed as a nation is just fool hearty, when we have entitlements growing far faster than our ability to pay for it. A conservative, because that's the point of this, believes in limited government, believes in a entrepreneurial capitalism and a strong national defense. But it also has to be, we need to reform things. In my town hall meetings, I went to a place where a woman described her neighbor, who has a better economic deal by not working than her struggling to make ends meet. We need to be on the side of working people. And you know, the problem with the left is, another tax, another regulation, another mandate makes it harder for them to rise up. Everything that we should do should be focused on high, sustained economic growth, where the middle class gets a raise for the first time, and where people are rewarded for work, rather than non-work. And I know how to do this. And if people are interested in the specifics of this, they ought to go to jeb2016.com. +p2416 +aVMartha \u2014 Martha, if I... +p2417 +aVI would. And I would do it in concert, again, with our Arab allies and with Europe, most particularly in this case. This is the lesson learned: in history, if you bomb something and not do anything as it relates to deal with the aftermath of this, if you don't have a stable government, you get what we have in Libya. And this is not \u2014 leading from behind is not an effective policy. We have to lead. Without the United States, nothing seems to work. Europe doesn't have the ability to \u2014 to \u2014 to lead \u2014 forward lead in this regard. And so dealing with the caliphate is important, because it now has spawned other areas. There have been 70-plus attacks in 17 countries, either inspired by +p2418 +aVMartha and David, I just... +p2419 +aVMartha and David... +p2420 +aVNo, no, I wouldn't. No, I wouldn't. And it was used sparingly, Congress has changed the laws and I \u2014 and I think where we stand is the appropriate place. But what we need to do is to make sure that we expand our intelligence capabilities. The idea that we're going to solve this fight with predator drones, killing people somehow is a \u2014 is more acceptable than capturing them, securing the information. This is why closing Guantanamo is a complete disaster. What we need to do is make sure that we are kept safe......by having intelligence capabilities, both human and technological intelligence capabilities far superior than what we have today. That's how you get a more safe place is by making sure that we're fully engaged. And right now, this administration doesn't do that. +p2421 +aVThis is a \u2014 this is an important subject. I agree with everything that's been said here about repealing unconstitutional rules and rules that are creating real burdens for investing that creating jobs. But we also ought to get back to being a Tenth Amendment country, as well, a country that respects the states to be able to make more decisions. And in the Bush administration, we would shift transportation dollars back to the states. I trust Kasich and Christie to build the roads and the infrastructure of their states than Washington, D.C. EPA delegated authority, back to the states. Education dollars, back to the states. I would like to see reform take place all across the country, where there's more vouchers, more freedom. If we did that, we would shrink government's power in Washington, D.C. and we would have a much more effective government, where people would begin to trust our government again, because now, no one believes it works. +p2422 +aVYou mentioned me. He mentioned me. One other thing that I think we ought to do, along with repealing Obamacare, we need to shift all of this power of healthcare, which is the most egregious form of federal power that is suppressing wages and incomes, and allow governors to have the Medicaid plans so that they can create 21st century Medicaid insurance for people that are stuck in poverty. There's so much that can be done, but I don't trust Washington to do it. I trust the state capitals to be the place \u2014 to be the source of innovation and reform in this country. HAM: Thank you, governors. Martha and David, back to you. +p2423 +aVI didn't mention him the second time. +p2424 +aV... Say it again? +p2425 +aV... I do, and I do think that we should not impose any kind of political agenda on the military. There should be \u2014 if women can meet the requirements, the minimum requirements for combat service they ought to have the right to do it. For sure. It ought to be focused on the morale as well. We got to make sure that we have readiness much higher than we do today. We need to eliminate the sequester which is devastating our military. We can't be focusing on the political side of this, we need to realize that our military force is how we project our word in the world. When we're weak militarily it doesn't matter what we say. We can talk about red lines, and +p2426 +aV... Why would they worry about it... +p2427 +aV... Well, the Draft's not going to be reinstituted, but why \u2014 if women are accessing... +p2428 +aVNo. I didn't say that. You \u2014 you asked a question not about the draft, you asked about registering. And if women are going to be... +p2429 +aVIf \u2014 but... +p2430 +aV... we don't have a draft. I'm not suggesting we have a draft. What I'm suggesting is that we ought to have readiness being the first priority of our military, and secondly, that we make sure that the morale is high. And right now, neither one of those are acceptable because we've been gutting the military budget. We also need to reform our procurement process. We need to make sure there are more men and women in uniform than people \u2014 than civilians in our Defense Department. There's a lot of things that we need to reform to bring our defense capabilities into the 21st century and I'm the guy that could do that. That's why I have the support of generals, of admirals, of 12 Medal of Honor recipients and many other people that know that I would be a steady commander-in-chief and rebuild our military. +p2431 +aVI totally agree that we need to give veterans more choices. A veterans card to be able to go to a private provider will enhance the quality of the service inside the Department of Veterans Affairs. We need career civil service reform. Only three people were fired after waiting lists were dropped where veterans didn't get care and people died. It is outrageous. And Hillary Clinton says that that's acceptable? Because she is captive of the public service uniforms. Career civil service reform would allow the next president to fire people that are \u2014 that are showing sheer incompetence. At a town hall meeting today, someone came \u2014 told a story of their father who looked like he was 85. He had \u2014 he got a bill eight years later from an operation he had, eight years it took. They couldn't resolve the dispute and then he was told that he died. Literally, the Veterans Administration sent a death certificate to this guy and it took nine months to clarify the guy \u2014 I met him. He's voting for me. And he is \u2014 likely to be alive. This is \u2014 this is outrageous. It is completely outrageous. So, giving veterans more choices, creating centers of excellence, focusing on the true problems that exist. Dr. Carson is completely right. We need to start focusing on this earlier, before they become veterans so that there's a customized plan so people don't fall through the cracks. We can do this, but it's going to require someone who has proven leadership skills to make it happen. +p2432 +aVLook, I'm pro-life. In fact, on this stage, I'm the most pro-life person because I've acted on it for eight years as governor of the state of Florida. Where we abolished partial-birth abortion, where parents have the right to be notified when their teenage child is having an abortion. We were the first state to do a choose life license plate to raise money for adoption. We were the first state to have state monies go to crisis pregnancy centers, which recently was just increased to $4 million a year. We created greater regulation on abortion clinics, where there were horrific procedures. So I'm pro life, but I believe there should be exceptions: rape, incest and when the life of the mother is in danger. And so, that belief, and my consistency on this, makes me, I think, poised to be in the right place, the sweet spot for a Republican nominee. And others may have a different view and I respect it. +p2433 +aVPeyton Manning is supporting me. And I'm for Denver. +p2434 +aVI want to thank the people of New Hampshire, and I want to celebrate the birthday of a great president, Ronald Reagan would have been 105 today. President Reagan believed in the future of our country, believed in its greatness, had a hopeful, optimistic message. Drew people towards our cause. We need someone who has a proven record to take our case to the American people because our philosophy is by far the best one. Limited government, entrepreneurial capitalism, of peace through strength. I believe I have the skills to take our party to victory in November. I ask for your support on Tuesday to keep America, and make America a safer, stronger, and freer. Thank you all very much. +p2435 +aVBret, we're just starting. The first vote hasn't been counted. Why don't we let the process work. I trust Iowans, Granite staters, people in South Carolina, people in Nevada, to start this process out. I kind of miss Donald Trump. He was a little teddy bear to me. We always had such a loving relationship in these debates and in between and the tweets. I kind of miss him. I wish he was here. Everybody else was in the witness protection program when I went after him on behalf of what the Republican cause should be: conservative principles, believing in limited government, believing in accountability. Leading by fixing the things that are broken. Look, I am in the establishment because my dad, the greatest man alive was president of the United States and my brother, who I adore as well as fantastic brother was president. Fine, I'll take it. I guess I'm part of the establishment Barbara Bush is my mom. I'll take that, too. But this election is not about our pedigree, this is an election about people that are really hurting. We need a leader that will fix things and have a proven record to do it. And we need someone who will take on Hillary Clinton in November. Someone who has a proven record, who has been tested, who is totally transparent. I released 34 years of tax returns... ... and 300,000 e-mails in my government record. To get the information from Hillary Clinton, you need to get a subpoena from the FBI. +p2436 +aVNo, you weren't. Your name wasn't mentioned, Ted. +p2437 +aV... Chris, keep it coming... +p2438 +aV... Thank you Chris... +p2439 +aVWell, first, I was critical of the Senators not giving the authorization for the use of military force. They should have made it more open ended for the next president. We shouldn't have the war fighters have their arms tied behind their back as President Obama wanted to do, but they had a chance to show support and it wasn't popular at the time. It became popular after the attack in Paris, and San Bernardino. Now we hear the tough talk. Prior to that, in the Reagan Library, I gave a detailed plan. Exactly what to do as it relates to +p2440 +aVOf course. And there's all sorts of ways that can be done at the state, local and federal level to do that. But the first duty of the next president of the United States is to fix the mess at the Department of Veterans Affairs. That's his first responsibility. Look, we have waiting lists for veterans that are \u2014 that are leaving because of the sequester where we're gutting the military. More and more military personnel are leaving becoming veterans, and the waiting list grows. They've given out $140 million of bonuses to Veterans Department employees, including reducing the waiting lists, without giving veterans care. People died, and only three people have been fired. I will make sure that we fire the sheer incompetence inside the Department of Veterans Affairs and then we'll give veterans a choice card so that they don't have to travel hours and hours to get care if they want to go to their private provider. You want to make the Veterans Administration do a better job, give them \u2014 give veterans choices and you'll get a much better result. And as it relates to all the other organizations, let me give you a good example. In Houston, Texas, there's an organization in place because someone acted on their heart, wanted to make sure that there's no homeless veterans in Houston. And they've come pretty close to that without federal government assistance. We need to mobilize the entire country to treat our veterans and treat them with much more respect than they get today. +p2441 +aVNo, they shouldn't. And I believe that Puerto Rico ought to have the right of self-determination. If I was a Puerto Rican, I'd vote for statehood so that they have full citizenship. They serve in the military. They would have to pay federal taxes. They would \u2014 they would accept the responsibilities of full U.S. citizenship. But they should have the right of determine \u2014 self-determination. Before you get to that, though, Puerto Rico is going to have to deal with the structural problems they face. You know, it's \u2014 it's a fact that if you can pay for a $79 one-way ticket to Orlando, and you can escape the challenges of a declining economy and high crime rates, you move to Orlando. And a lot of people are doing that. And the spiraling out-of- control requires Puerto Rico to make structural reforms. The federal government can play a role in allowing them to do that, but they should not \u2014 the process of statehood or the status of Puerto Rico won't be solved until we get to the bigger issue of how you deal with the structural economic problems they're facing right now. +p2442 +aVWell, I'm kind of confused because he was the sponsor of the Gang of Eight bill that did require a bunch of thresholds but ultimately allowed for citizenship over an extended period of time. I mean, that's a fact. And he asked me to support that. And I \u2014 I supported him because I think people, when you're elected, you need to do things. And he led the charge to finally fix this immigration problem that has existed now for, as Marco says, for 30 years. And then he cut and run because it wasn't popular amongst conservatives, I guess. Here's what I believe. And I wrote a book about this called Immigration Wars. You can get it at $2.99 on Amazon. It's not a bestseller. I can promise you. There won't be any \u2014 you can get it. It's affordable for everybody. We should have a path to legal status for the 12 million people that are here illegally. It means, come out from the shadows, pay a fine, earn legal status by working, by paying taxes, learning English. Not committing crimes and earn legal status where you're not cutting in front of the line for people that are patiently waiting outside. I think that is the \u2014 I think that's the conservative consensus pragmatic approach to how to solve this problem. +p2443 +aVSo did you. +p2444 +aVYeah. So did you, Marco. +p2445 +aVMarco, Marco \u2014 he brought up my name. I have supported a consensus approach to solving this problem wherever it came up. and in 2007 it almost passed when my brother was president of the United States. A bipartisan approach got close. Barack Obama actually had the poison pill to stop it then. And when you led the charge with the Gang of Eight, I supported it because you asked me to. I think it's important for people in elected office to try to forge consensus to solve problems. There's never going do be perfect bill. +p2446 +aVBut when you didn't do that and you ask people to support, you shouldn't cut and run. +p2447 +aVYou should stick with it and that's exactly what happened. He cut and run. And that's a tragedy because now... ... it's harder and harder to actually solve this problem. +p2448 +aVCan I \u2014 can I \u2014 I just... +p2449 +aVThat beautiful young woman who's an entrepreneur who served in the military, first of all, is deserving of our respect for service in the military and the fact that she's an entrepreneur. And we should be a welcoming nation. Our identity is not based on race or ethnicity, it's based on a set of shared values. That's American citizenship. And Dulce Candy \u2014 a pretty cool name, actually \u2014 that is now an entrepreneur over Youtube is part of that American spirit, and we should celebrate it as conservatives. That's what we believe in. You can \u2014 you can deal with the threat of terror and also recognize that this country should be aspirational across the board. +p2450 +aVWell, first of all, I've seen polls where I'm beating Hillary Clinton pretty regularly. And I believe I can, because I have a proven record, a record of accomplishment, a record of cutting taxes, of shrinking the government, of reforming education, of challenging the status quo, eliminating career civil service protections, shrinking the government workforce by 11 percent, but leading the nation in job growth. That's the record of accomplishment that should be taken to Hillary Clinton, who has no record of accomplishment. So I'm confident if I win this nomination, I will aggressively go against her and beat her. As it relates to the super PACs, I have no control over that. And this is beanbag compared to what the Clinton hit machine is going to do to the Republican nominee. The simple fact is, we all have a record. It all will be scrutinized. There's give and take. It's called the politics. And that's the way it is. I'm running hard and I believe I'll be the Republican nominee and I'll be the one best suited to beat Hillary Clinton, who should not be president of the United States. +p2451 +aVWell first of all, I think it's important that when we're running for the highest office in the land that we recognize that we're living in dangerous times and we have to be serious about it, that our words have consequences. Donald Trump, for example \u2014 I'm glad \u2014 I mentioned his name again just if anybody was missing him... ... Mr. Trump believed that in reaction to people's fears that we should ban all Muslims. Well, that creates an environment that's toxic in our own country. Nobela is a rising entrepreneur. She wants to pursue the American dream. She's an American citizen. She should not feel uncomfortable about her citizenship. She's not the threat. The threat is Islamic terrorism. We need to focus our energies there, not these broad, blanket, kind of statements that will make it harder for us to deal with +p2452 +aVWe desperately need a conservative leader as president of the United States. I have a proven record as governor of the state of Florida, as a conservative leader. And I also have detailed plans to fix the mess in Washington, D.C. As president I will restore and rebuild our military, restore the alliances and keep us safe. And as our party's nominee, I will defeat Hillary Clinton in November. I ask for your support on the caucuses come Monday night and I will make you proud as our party's nominee. Thank you very much. +p2453 +aVWell first of all, the idea that somehow we're better off today than the day that Barack Obama was inaugurated president of the United States is totally an alternative universe. The simple fact is that the world has been torn asunder. Think about it. With grandiose language, the president talks about red lines and nothing to follow it up; talks about +p2454 +aVNo. And worse \u2014 worse yet, to be honest with you, Hillary Clinton would be a national security disaster. Think about it. She wants to continue down the path of Iran, Benghazi, the Russian reset, Dodd-Frank, all the things that have \u2014 that have gone wrong in this country, she would be a national security mess. And that is wrong. And you know what? Here's the problem. If she gets elected, she's under investigation with the FBI right now. If she gets elected, her first 100 days, instead of setting an agenda, she might be going back and forth between the White House and the courthouse. We need to stop that. +p2455 +aVNeil, my name was mentioned here. Neil, my name was mentioned as well. Here's the deal, Chris is totally right. He's been a good governor, and he's a heck of a lot better than his predecessor that would have bankrupted New Jersey. Everybody on this stage is better than Hillary Clinton. And I think the focus ought to be on making sure that we leave this nomination process, as wild and woolly as it's going to be \u2014 this is not being bad. These attack ads are going to be part of life. Everybody just needs to get used to it. Everybody's record's going to be scrutinized, and at the end of the day we need to unite behind the winner so we can defeat Hillary Clinton, because she is a disaster. Our country rise up again, but we need to have a compelling conservative agenda that we present to the American people in a way that doesn't disparage people, that unites us around our common purpose. And so everybody needs to discount some of the things you're going to hear in these ads, and discount the \u2014 the back-and-forth here, because every person here is better than Hillary Clinton. +p2456 +aVFirst of all, I'd like to recognize Governor Haley for her incredible leadership in the aftermath of the \u2014 \u2014 the Emanuel AME church killings. And I also want to recognize the people in that church that showed the grace of God and the grace of forgiveness and the mercy that they showed. I don't know if any of us could have done what they did, one after another, within 48 hours of that tragedy taking place. Look, here's the deal, in this particular case, the FBI made a mistake. The law itself requires a background check, but that didn't fulfill their part of the bargain within the time that they were supposed to do. We don't need to add new rules, we need to make sure the FBI does its job. Because that person should not have gotten a gun, should not \u2014 would not have passed a background check. The first impulse of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton is to take rights away from law- abiding citizens. That's what they do, whether it's the San Bernardino attack or if it's these tragedies that take place, I think we need to focus on what the bigger issue is. It isn't law-abiding gun owners. Look, I have an A plus rating in the NRA and we also have a reduction in gun violence because in Florida, if you commit a crime with a gun, you're going away. You're going away for a long, long while. And that's what we should focus on is the violence in our communities. Target the efforts for people that are committing crimes with guns, and if you do that, and get it right, you're going to be much better off than creating a political argument where there's a big divide. The other issue is mental health. That's a serious issue that we could work on. Republicans and Democrats alike believe this. The president's first impulse is do this by executive order, power he doesn't have. Why not go to Congress and in a bipartisan way, begin to deal with the process of mental health issues so that people that are spiraling out of control because of mental health challenges don't have access to guns. +p2457 +aVWell, first of all, under President Jeb Bush, we would restore the strength of the military. Last week, Secretary Carter announced that the Navy's going to be cut again. It's now half the size of what it was prior to Operation Desert Storm. The deployments are too high for the military personnel. We don't have procurement being done for refreshing the equipment. The B-52 is still operational as the long range bomber; it was inaugurated in the age of Harry Truman. The planes are older than the pilots. We're gutting our military, and so the Iranians and the Chinese and the Russians and many other countries look at the United States not as serious as we once were. We have to eliminate the sequester, rebuild our military in a way that makes it clear that we're back in the game. Secondly, as it relates to Iran, we need to confront their ambitions across the board. We should reimpose sanctions, they've already violated sanctions after this agreement was signed by testing medium-range missiles. Thirdly, we need to move our embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem to send a serious signal that we're back in the game with Israel......and sign an agreement that makes sure that the world knows that they will have technological superiority. We need to get back in the game as it relates to our Arab nations. The rest of the world is moving away from us towards other alliances because we are weak. This president and John Kerry and Hillary Clinton all have made it harder for the next president to act, but he must act to confront the ambitions of Iran. We can get back in the game to restore order and security for our own country. +p2458 +aVDonald, Donald \u2014 can I \u2014 I hope you reconsider this, because this policy is a policy that makes it impossible to build the coalition necessary to take out +p2459 +aVYeah, they are unhinged. +p2460 +aVNo, not at all, absolutely not. I can see why people are angry and scared, because this president has created a condition where our national security has weakened dramatically. I totally get that. But we're running for the presidency of the United States here. This isn't \u2014 this isn't, you know, a different kind of job. You have to lead. You cannot make rash statements and expect the rest of the world to respond as though, well, it's just politics. Every time we send signals like this, we send a signal of weakness, not strength. And so it was his statement, which is why I'm asking him to consider changing his views. +p2461 +aVSo, are we going to ban Muslims from India, from Indonesia, from countries that are strong allies \u2014 that we need to build better relationships with? Of course not. What we need to do is destroy +p2462 +aVAbsolutely. +p2463 +aVYeah. +p2464 +aVHere's \u2014 apart from the \u2014 apart from the higher prices on consumers and people are living paycheck to paycheck, apart from that, there will be retaliation. +p2465 +aVSo they soybean sales from Iowa, entire soybean production goes \u2014 the equivalent of it goes to China. Or how about Boeing right here within a mile? Do you think that the Chinese, if they had a 45 percent tariff imposed on all their imports wouldn't retaliate and start buying Airbus? Of course, they would. This would be devastating for the economy. We need someone with a steady hand being president of the United States. +p2466 +aVThey're a mile away from here. +p2467 +aVMy name was mentioned. My name was mentioned here. The simple fact is that the plane that's being build here is being sold to China. You can \u2014 if you \u2014 you flew in with your 767, didn't you? Right there, right next to the plant. +p2468 +aVWhen you head back to airport tonight, go check and see what the... +p2469 +aVCheck it out. +p2470 +aVThere's \u2014 look, there's \u2014 +p2471 +aVI would try to convince him otherwise, but this last back and forth between two senators \u2014 back bench senators, you know, explains why we have the mess in Washington, D.C. We need a president that will fix our immigration laws and stick with it, not bend with the wind. The simple fact is one of the ways, Maria, to solve the problem you described is narrow the number of people coming by family petitioning to what every other country has so that we have the best and the brightest that come to our country. We need to control the border, we need to do all of this in a comprehensive way, not just going back and forth and talking about stuff \u2014 +p2472 +aVOh, I'll talk about that, too. But you haven't asked me a question in a while, Neil, so I thought I'd get that off my chest if you don't mind. +p2473 +aVI got that. And the problem today is there's no confidence in Washington, D.C. There needs to be more than one meeting, there needs to complete dialogue with the large technology companies. They understand that there's a national security risk. We ought to give them a little bit of a liability release so that they share data amongst themselves and share data with the federal government, they're not fearful of a lawsuit. We need to make sure that we keep the country safe. This is the first priority. The cybersecurity challenges that we face, this administration failed us completely, completely. Not just the hacking of OPM, but that is \u2014 that is just shameful. 23 million files in the hands of the Chinese? So it's not just the government \u2014 the private sector companies, it's also our own government that needs to raise the level of our game. We should put the NSA in charge of the civilian side of this as well. That expertise needs to spread all across the government and there needs to be much more cooperation with our private sector. +p2474 +aVYou've got to keep asking. You've got to keep asking because this is a hugely important issue. If you can encrypt messages, +p2475 +aVWell, if the law would change, yeah. But I think there has to be recognition that if we \u2014 if we are too punitive, then you'll go to other \u2014 other technology companies outside the United States. And what we want to do is to control this. We also want to dominate this from a commercial side. So there's a lot of balanced interests. But the president leads in this regard. That's what we need. We need leadership, someone who has a backbone and sticks with things, rather than just talks about them as though anything matters when you're talking about amendments that don't even actually are part of a bill that ever passed. +p2476 +aVWho can you count on to keep us safer, stronger and freer? Results count, and as governor, I pushed Florida up to the top in terms of jobs, income and small business growth. Detailed plans count, and I believe that the plan I've laid out to destroy +p2477 +asVSTRASSEL +p2478 +(lp2479 +VMr. Trump. +p2480 +aVYou have made a lot of promises and you have also \u2014 you're the only candidate who has said he would not touch entitlements. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has estimated that your ideas would cost an additional $12 trillion to $15 trillion over the next 10 years and that we would have to have annual economic growth of anywhere from 7.7 percent to 9 percent annually to pay for them. Are you proposing more than you can actually deliver, at least not without big deficits? +p2481 +aVBut in terms of... +p2482 +aVO.K. But how would you actually do that? Can I ask you? Because right now, Social Security and Medicare... +p2483 +aVThey take up two-thirds of the federal budget, and they're growing. +p2484 +aVO.K., I have a question, a related tax question. Senator Rubio, you have the highest tax rate of anyone up on the stage in terms of the top tax rates, 35 percent. Some economists say, "It would limit its potential to boost economic growth." You do that so that you will have more revenue to pay for a tripling of the Child Tax Credit. Normally, it's liberals who like to use the tax code to insert social policy. Why should conservatives who want to tax adopt the other side's approach? +p2485 +aVGovernor Kasich, this on is on size of government. In 2013, you pushed through a Medicaid reform in your state over the rejections of many of the Republicans in your state. Total enrollment and overall cost of program have gone well beyond what anyone had expected, including yourself. How can you argue that this overall growth fits in with conservative ambition to significantly cut back on the size of federal welfare programs? +p2486 +aVSenator Cruz. Senator Cruz, you have promised to deport illegal aliens. You have also promised to reverse President Obama's executive action that gives temporary amnesty to illegals brought here by their parent as children. As president, you would have the names and addresses of the some 800,000 of those that have registered under that action. Now, you have said that in this country, we shouldn't go door to door, look for illegals, but in this case you would have a list. Would you use it? +p2487 +aVSo would you \u2014 would you use the addresses? +p2488 +aVWould you pick them up? +p2489 +aVSenator Rubio, your reply. +p2490 +aVAll right. Senator Cruz. Your response, Senator Cruz. +p2491 +aV... O.K.... +p2492 +aVMoving subjects. Dr. Carson, this week Morgan Stanley agreed to pay a $3.2 billion fine to state and federal authorities for contributing to the mortgage crisis. You have a lot of Democrats out saying that we should be jailing more executives, so two questions. Should financial executives be held legally responsible for financial crisis, and do you think fines like these are an effective way to deter companies from future behavior like that? +p2493 +aVSenator Cruz, you were mentioned in the mix here, your response? +p2494 +aVAnd now, Marco Rubio. +p2495 +aVWe'll be back with a few final thoughts in a moment. +p2496 +asVFRANTA +p2497 +(lp2498 +VHi, I'm Connor Franta, I'm 23 and my audience is around the same age. Getting my generation to vote should be a priority for any presidential candidate. Now I know Senator Sanders is pretty popular among my peers, but what I want to know is, how are all of you planning on engaging us further in this election? +p2499 +asVWALKER +p2500 +(lp2501 +VGood evening, I'm Scott Walker, and tonight, I want to thank and Mrs. Reagan, and the Reagan Library for hosting us. You see, in my lifetime, the greatest president was a governor from California. Ronald Reagan knew how to go big, and go bold. He understood the essence of moving this country forward, and that's what I did when I took on the status quo in my state, and the Washington based special interest. Now, more than ever, America needs a leader who will go big and bold again. Someone who's been tested. I'm ready to be that leader. Thank you. +p2502 +aVBut Jake, Jake, Jake, Jake... +p2503 +aVBut Jake, this \u2014 this is \u2014 this... +p2504 +aVJake, this is \u2014 this is \u2014 this is... +p2505 +aVThis is actually what's wrong \u2014 this is what's wrong with this debate. We're not talking about real issues. And Mr. Trump, we don't need an apprentice in the White House. We don't need an apprentice in the White House. We have one right now. He told us all the things we wanted to hear back in 2008. We don't know who you are or where you're going. We need someone who can actually get the job done. And you talked about business. +p2506 +aVYou \u2014 you \u2014 let me finish... +p2507 +aVNo, no... +p2508 +aVYou're using the talking... +p2509 +aVMr. Trump, you're using the talking points of the Democrats... +p2510 +aV... and as we all know... +p2511 +aV... that failed three times in four and a half years when I got elected, because it is working. We balanced a budget. You want to talk about balanced budgets? You took four major projects into bankruptcy over and over and over again. You can't take America into bankruptcy. That's what's wrong with the politicians in Washington right now. They think we can take a country into bankruptcy. +p2512 +aVJake, yeah, absolutely, I'll take this on, because this is an issue that's important in this race. Just because he says it doesn't make it true. The facts are the facts. We balanced a $3.6 billion budget deficit, we did it by cutting taxes \u2014 $4.7 billion to help working families, family farmers, small business owners and senior citizens. And it's about time people in America stand up and take note of this. If you want someone that can actually take on the special interest of Washington, which you yourself said you were part of, using the system, we need somebody that will stand up and fight for average Americans to put them back in charge of their government. I'm the one who is taking that on. I'll do that as your next president. +p2513 +aVTwo parts to that, one on China, one back for a second on Iran. When it comes to China, why would we be giving an official state visit to a country that's been involved in a massive cyber attack against the United States? That's not just a visit, that's a 21 gun salute on the South Lawn of the White House. It just doesn't make any sense. If we're ever going to send a message to them, wouldn't this be the time, when they've issued this, sort of, massive attack against us? And, Jake, for the question, I was one of the first ones to call for terminating the bad deal with Iran on day one. The President came after me and said I need to bone up. You know, the President who called +p2514 +aVJake, just one more moment. This is \u2014 there's something bigger to this. Now, I \u2014 like so many other governors here, I defunded Planned Parenthood four-and-a-half years ago, in a Blue State. But it's bigger than that. We did that in a Blue State, we took the money and put it into women's health, so we did exactly what we're talking about here. But I think the bigger issue here is we should be able to do this nationally, and this is precisely why so many Republicans are upset with Washington. They see the House and they see the Senate and they say why can't we pass this. Why can't we defund Planned \u2014 put it in a spending bill. Forget about the 60-vote rule, there's no reason \u2014 and the Constitution doesn't call for 60 votes. Pass it with 51 votes, put it on the desk of the president \u2014 +p2515 +aV\u2014 and go forward and actually make a point. This is why \u2014 +p2516 +aV\u2014 people are upset with Washington. +p2517 +aVSo, the best way to help people see their wages go up is to get them the education, the skill they need, to take on careers that pay more than minimum wage. And, it's why we talk about it, it's all about jobs. You want to help actually get jobs, it's why on that last question we were trying to jump in on taxes. To me, it's not just about taxes, cutting taxes. I've done it as much as anyone has. I've cut income taxes, I've cut property taxes. In fact, property taxes are lower today in my state than they were before we took office. The real issues about jobs. Ronald Reagan, our plan is based on the Ronald Reagan tax cuts of 1986. That brought about one of the longest sustained periods of economic growth in American history. All the things we should be talking about tonight are about how do we create jobs, helping people get the skills and the education qualifications they need to succeed. That's the way you help people create jobs. It's part of our large plan to reform the tax code, to cut taxes, to put in place an education system that gives people the skills and education that they need. To put in place all the above energy policy, but you start on day one with repealing Obamacare. I'm the only one on this stage that's actually got a plan, introduced an actual plan to repeal Obamacare on day one. I'll send a bill up to Congress, and to make sure enact it... +p2518 +aV...I'm going to sign an order that makes the Congress live by the same rules as everybody else. +p2519 +aV...That will ensure they repeal Obamacare... +p2520 +aV...Jake, Jake, Jake, I just want to address that issue because you said I didn't answer, and I did. I said, to me, I think the real focus shouldn't be \u2014 you know, Hillary Clinton talks about the minimum wage. That's her answer to grow the economy. The answer is to give people the skills and the education so they make far more than minimum wage. I don't want to argue about how low things are going to be, I want to talk about how do we lift everyone up in America. That's what Reagan talked about. It wasn't how bad things were, it was how to make it better for everyone. That's what we've done in Wisconsin, that's exactly what we'd do as... +p2521 +aV... the key issue here is talking about leadership. Now, there's a lot of greater people up here, and you've heard a lot of great ideas out there. But I would ask the American people, look at who's been tested. When there were 100,000 protesters in my capital, I didn't back down, when they issued death threats against me and threats against my family, I didn't back down, when they tried to recall me, I didn't back down, and when they made me the \u2014 one of their number-one targets last year, I didn't back down. Give me the chance to be your president. +p2522 +aVI won't back down... +p2523 +aV... on any of these issues. +p2524 +aVTo be clear, what I said the other day was that we need to lift the political restrictions that are already in play. Barack Obama's administration has put political restrictions on the military personnel already in Iraq. We need to lift those and then we need to listen to our military experts, not the political forces in the White House, but our military experts about how many more we sent in. And we certainly shouldn't have a commander-in-chief who sends a message to our adversaries as to how far we're going to go, and how far we're willing to fight, so I'm not putting a troop number. What I'm saying is lift the political restrictions. When you do that, you empower our military personnel already there to work with the Kurd and the Sunni allies, to reclaim the territory taken by +p2525 +aV... a lot of those people, though, and I'm going to echo what Senator Rubio just said. This is an issue where, we're talking about my state, it's thousands of manufacturing jobs. Thousands of manufacturing jobs for a rule the Obama administration, own EPA has said will have a marginal impact on climate change. So we're going to put thousands and thousands of jobs in my state, I think it's something like 30,000 in Ohio, other states across this country, we're going to put people \u2014 manufacturing jobs, the kind of jobs that are far greater than minimum wage, this administration is willing to put at risk for something its own EPA says is marginal (ph)... +p2526 +aVFirst of all, I got to say to Carson, Huckabee, thanks a lot for making the rest of us look like chumps up here, but, I'd pick Clara Barton. I once worked for the American Red Cross, she was a great founder of the Red Cross. +p2527 +aVHarley. I love riding Harley's. +p2528 +aVWell, I turned 13 years old two days before Ronald Reagan was first elected. A lot of people forget this, but just a few days before that election 1980, he was behind in the polls. And I think what changed things was people in America realized they didn't want to hear what was bad about America, they wanted to know how it was going to be better. Ronald Reagan wasn't just a conservative Republican, he was an eternal optimist in the American people. And I am too. So here's what I think will make America better. We need to live in a world where our children are free, are free from the threats of radical Islamic terrorism. We need to live in an America where we have an economy, where everyone can live their piece of the American dream, no matter what that dream is. And we need to live in an America where we have a federal government that is not too big to fail, but ultimately small enough to succeed, where we send powers back to the states and back to the people. That's what I did in Wisconsin. We took on the big government union bosses, the big government special interests, many of whom came in from Washington, to spend millions of dollars to try and take me out because we stood up to them, we didn't back down in any of those instances. If you give me the chance as your next president, I won't back down any day, anyway, anyhow. I'll fight and win for you and your families every single day I'm in office. +p2529 +aVWell, I'm pro-life, I've always been pro-life, and I've got a position that I think is consistent with many Americans out there in that... ...in that I believe that that is an unborn child that's in need of protection out there, and I've said many a time that that unborn child can be protected, and there are many other alternatives that can also protect the life of that mother. That's been consistently proven. Unlike Hillary Clinton, who has a radical position in terms of support for Planned Parenthood, I defunded Planned Parenthood more than four years ago, long before any of these videos came out... ...I've got a position that's in line with everyday America. +p2530 +aVChris, I actually said that on your show earlier this year. I acknowledged that. I said I actually listened to the American people. And I think people across America want a leader who's actually going to listen to them. I talked to border state governors and other elected officials. I look at how this president, particularly through last November, messed up the immigration system in this country. Most importantly, I listened to the people of America. I believe we need to secure the border. I've been to the border with Governor Abbott in Texas and others, seeing the problems that they have there. There is international criminal organizations penetrating our southern based borders, and we need to do something about it. Secure the border, enforce the law, no amnesty, and go forward with the legal immigration system that gives priority to American working families and wages. +p2531 +aVI don't know about additional ones. We need to focus on the ones we have. You look at Egypt, probably the best relationship we've had in Israel, at least in my lifetime, incredibly important. You look at the Saudis -- in fact, earlier this year, I met with Saudi leaders, and leaders from the United Arab Emirates, and I asked them what's the greatest challenge in the world today? Set aside the Iran deal. They said it's the disengagement of America. We are leading from behind under the Obama-Clinton doctrine -- America's a great country. We need to stand up and start leading again, and we need to have allies, not just in Israel, but throughout the Persian Gulf. +p2532 +aVJust one second on this, though. We -- we spent a lot of time talking about Hillary Clinton and ---and pitting us back and forth. Let's be clear, we should be talking about Hillary Clinton on that last subject, because everywhere in the world that Hillary Clinton touched is more messed up today than before she and the president . +p2533 +aVIt's true. +p2534 +aVWell, the voters in Wisconsin elected me last year for the third time because they wanted someone who aimed high, not aimed low. Before I came in, the unemployment rate was over eight percent. It's now down to 4.6 percent. We've more than made up for the jobs that were lost during the recession. And the rate in which people are working is almost five points higher than it is nationally. You know, people like Hillary Clinton think you grow the economy by growing Washington. One report last year showed that six of the top 10 wealthiest counties in America were in or around Washington, D.C.. I think most of us in America understand that people, not the government creates jobs. And one of the best things we can do is get the government out of the way, repeal Obamacare, put in -- reign in all the out of control regulations, put in place an all of the above energy policy, give people the education, the skills that the need to succeed, and lower the tax rate and reform the tax code. That's what I'll do as president, just like I did in Wisconsin. +p2535 +aVWell, first off, let's remember. I still remember, as a kid, tying a yellow ribbon around a tree in front of my house during the 444 days that Iran held 52 Americans hostage. Iran is not a place we should be doing business with. To me, you terminate the deal on day one, you reinstate the sanctions authorized by Congress, you go to Congress and put in place even more crippling sanctions in place, and then you convince our allies to do the same. This is not just bad with Iran, this is bad with +p2536 +aVWell, I think the most important thing we can do when it comes to policing -- it's something you've had a guest on who's a friend of mine Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clark, who's talked to me about this many times in the past -- it's about training. It's about making sure that law enforcement professionals, not only in the way in to their positions but all the way through their time, have the proper training, particularly when it comes to the use of force. And that we protect and stand up and support those men and women who are doing their jobs in law enforcement. And for the very few that don't, that there are consequences to show that we treat everyone the same here in America. +p2537 +aVWell first off, for the cyber attack with Russia the other day, it's sad to think right now, but probably the Russian and Chinese government know more about Hillary Clinton's e-mail server than do the members of the United States Congress. And -- and that has put our national security at risk. If I am president, he won't think about that. You know, Putin believes in the old Lenin adage: you probe with bayonets. When you find mush, you push. When you find steel, you stop. Under Obama and Clinton, we found a lot of mush over the last two years. We need to have a national security that puts steel in front of our enemies. I would send weapons to Ukraine. I would work with +p2538 +aVWell, thanks, Megyn. I'm certainly an imperfect man. And it's only by the blood of Jesus Christ that I've been redeemed from my sins. So I know that God doesn't call me to do a specific thing, God hasn't given me a list, a Ten Commandments, if you will, of things to act on the first day. What God calls us to do is follow his will. And ultimately that's what I'm going to try to do. And I hope people've seen it in my state, even in the big challenges I took on when I had over 100,000 protesters in and around our capital, trying to do what I thought was the right thing. It wasn't just how I took on those political battles. It was ultimately how I acted. Not responding in kind. Not lashing out. But just being decent going forward and living my life in a way that would be a testimony to him and our faith. +p2539 +aVThanks. I'm guy with a wife and two kids, and Harley. One article called me "aggressively normal." I ran for governor because I was worried about my kids' future. Then, I took on the big government union bosses, and we won. They tried to recall me, and we won. They target us again, and we won. We balanced the budget, cut taxes, and turned our state around with big, bold reforms. It wasn't too late for Wisconsin, and it's not too late for America. That's why I ask for your vote. +p2540 +asVMALE +p2541 +(lp2542 +VThat's a good one. +p2543 +aV +p2544 +asVMITCHELL +p2545 +(lp2546 +VThank you, Lester. Secretary Clinton, Senator Sanders favors what he calls "Medicare for all." Now, you said that what he is proposing would tear up Obamacare and replace it. Secretary Clinton, is it fair to say to say that Bernie Sanders wants to kill Obamacare? +p2547 +aVSenator Sanders? +p2548 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor Sanders... +p2549 +aVSenator Sanders, let me ask you this, though... +p2550 +aV... you've talked about Medicare for all... +p2551 +aV.. and tonight you've released a very detailed plan, just two... +p2552 +aV... well, two hours before the debate, you did. +p2553 +aVBut let me ask you about Vermont. Because in Vermont \u2014 you tried in the state of Vermont, and Vermont walked away from this kind of idea, of \u2014 of Medicare for all, single-payer, because they concluded it would require major tax increases... +p2554 +aV... and by some estimates, it would double the budget. If you couldn't sell it in Vermont, Senator... +p2555 +aV... how can you sell it to the country? +p2556 +aVSenator Sanders \u2014 Senator Sanders, you've talked a lot about things you want to do. You want free education for everyone, you want the Federal Minimum Wage raised to $15 an hour. You want to expand Social Security... +p2557 +aV... benefits. You've been specific about what you want, but let's talk about how to pay for all this. You now said that you would raise taxes today, two hours or so ago, you said you would raise taxes to pay for your health care plan. You haven't been specific about how to pay for the other things... +p2558 +aV... Will you tell us tonight? +p2559 +aV... OK... O' +p2560 +aV... Secretary Clinton, you mentioned earlier \u2014 Secretary Clinton, do you want to respond? +p2561 +aVOK, we're out of time. Senator Sanders, +p2562 +aVSenator Sanders... +p2563 +aV... Senator Sanders, let me ask you a question about taxes. +p2564 +aVThe most googled political issue... +p2565 +aVIn the last month was taxes. Now, in your healthcare plan, the plan you released tonight, you would not only raise taxes on the wealthy, but the details you released indicate you would raise taxes on the middle class also. Is that correct? +p2566 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, let me just follow up on that. +p2567 +aVOn Meet the Press on December 20th, you said that you would only raise taxes on the middle class to pay for family leave. And, having said that, now you say you're going to raise middle class taxes to pay for healthcare as well. Is that breaking your word? +p2568 +aVThank you Lester. Senator Sanders, the nuclear deal is now enforced. Iran is getting it's billions of dollars, several Americans who have been held are now going to be heading home. The president said today, "it's a good day. It's a good day for diplomacy. It's a time now to restore diplomatic relations for the first time since 1979 and actually re- opened a U.S. Embassy in Tehran." +p2569 +aVYour response Secretary Clinton? +p2570 +aVYou mentioned Syria. Let me ask you about Syria, all of you. Let's turn to Syria and the civil war that has been raging there. Are there any circumstances in which you could see deploying significant numbers of ground forces in Syria, not just specials forces but significant ground forces to combat +p2571 +aVSenator Sanders, ground forces yes or no? +p2572 +aVGovernor O'Malley? +p2573 +aVGovernor O'Malley. O' +p2574 +aVI have a question. I have a question for Senator Sanders. Did the policies of the Obama administration, in which Secretary Clinton of course was a part, create a vacuum in Iraq and Syria that helped +p2575 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to talk to you about red lines, because former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in a recent interview that President Obama's decision to stand down on planned missile strikes against Damascus after Assad had used chemical weapons hurt the president's credibility. Should the president have stuck to his red line once he drew it? +p2576 +aVBut should he \u2014 should he have stuck to his... +p2577 +aV... line? Did it hurt U.S. credibility? +p2578 +aVYour time is up. +p2579 +aVSenator.... +p2580 +aVYou're out of time. +p2581 +aVSenator Sanders. +p2582 +aVYour time is us. Lester. +p2583 +aVJust a \u2014 just a quick follow-up, though, Secretary Clinton. Just a moment, Governor. O' +p2584 +aVBut \u2014 but \u2014 Secretary Clinton, you said that the leaders from the intelligence community went to Silicon Valley, they were flatly turned down. They got nowhere. +p2585 +aVSenator Sanders, let me ask you a question. You called Bill Clinton's past transgressions, quote, "totally, totally, totally disgraceful and unacceptable." Senator, do you regret saying that? +p2586 +aV...too long. O' +p2587 +asVGARRETT +p2588 +(lp2589 +VSenator Cruz. John mentioned this is about dollars and incentives. We also want to talk about economic growth engagements. You have proposed a consumption tax, you called it the "back tax." Some analysts compare it more to an attributed "value-added tax." From the perspective from economic growth in building wages, how does that work, and how would you address those longstanding conservative concerns that something approaching the "value-added tax" would be used to constantly increase those rates to pay for future government spending and become an escalator of taxation, not of growth? +p2590 +aVNow, the question \u2014 conservatives have sort of this idea conceptually for a long time, but especially on this consumption value-added tax system. In Europe, where it exists, it has become an escalator of taxation to feed government spending, and that's why conservatives have long resisted it. Why and what would you do as president to make sure that doesn't happen? +p2591 +aVGovernor Bush, a question for you \u2014 but if you want to jump in, please. +p2592 +aVJump in, and then I've got a question for you. +p2593 +aVReal quickly, jump in, because I have got a question for Governor Bush, but jump in. +p2594 +aVUnderstood, Governor Kasich. +p2595 +aVYeah, Governor Bush, fine. +p2596 +aVLet me get in a question from... +p2597 +aVI understand, I understand. +p2598 +aVI have a question on economic growth, Governor Bush. +p2599 +aVA , Governor. +p2600 +aVI know, understood. Governor Bush. +p2601 +aVGovernor Bush, from the perspective, economic growth \u2014 viewed from this perspective of economic growth, you have proposed a tax on hedge fund managers. The Americans for Tax Reform, a conservative tax group you're probably aware of, has said no Republican should be for higher taxes on capital gains. And many conservatives wonder if this proposal of yours would undermine not only that philosophy, but undercut your projection of 4 percent economic growth annually under your presidency? +p2602 +aV... Dr. Carson... +p2603 +aVSenator Rubio... For the purposes of the lines \u2014 lines you would draw legislatively as a president on immigration reform, define amnesty. +p2604 +aVVery quickly, Senator Cruz. +p2605 +aVGovernor Bush, I want to bring this out to a little wider philosophical aspect, if you will. +p2606 +aVYou have said illegal immigrants, quote, "broke the law, but it's not a felony," still quoting you, "it's an act of love, it's an act of commitment to your family." Mr. Trump has, as you are well aware, denounced that statement over and over. Do you still believe it? What does that mean to you? And how does that inform your approach to immigration reform? +p2607 +aVFundamentally, do you believe this rhetoric is insufficiently compassionate to this issue? +p2608 +aVMr. Trump... +p2609 +aV... Governor Kasich, here in South Carolina earlier this week, you said the idea, the concept of deporting 11 million undocumented workers... +p2610 +aV... We will leave the moon metaphors to be adjudicated later, I assure you. Governor Kasich, you said earlier this week in South Carolina, the concept, the idea of deporting 11 million undocumented workers in this country is nuts. Why is it you are so opposed to that idea? Senator Cruz has said it's a simple application of existing law. The application of that is not inhumane, it is just. Why do you disagree? +p2611 +aV... What are you for on immigration? +p2612 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 Mr. Trump. I was with you in Pendleton, South Carolina, earlier this week at the Rodeo Arena. It was a bit chilly there. You promised the crowd, and they rose to their feet, that if Ford or a company like were to move a factory to Mexico, you would try to stop it or threaten them with a 35 percent tax or tariff on every car sold. +p2613 +aVRight. So my question is, based on your understanding of the presidency, where do you derive that power? Would you need the consent of Congress to go along? And do you see the presidency as a perch from which you can cajole and/or threaten private industry to do something you think is better for the U.S. economy? +p2614 +aVThank you, governor. +p2615 +asVHEWITT +p2616 +(lp2617 +VSenator Cruz, you've said you disagree with Mr. Trump's policy. I don't want a cage match; you've tweeted you don't want a cage match. But Republican primary voters deserve to know, with the kind of specificity and responsiveness you delivered in your nine Supreme Court arguments, how you disagree with Mr. Trump. Would you spell that out with us? +p2618 +aVSo you're saying you disagree because he's too broad and you have a narrower focus? Why do you disagree with him? +p2619 +aVCarly Fiorina... ... this is the Christmas dinner debate. This will be the debate that Americans talk about at Christmas. And thus far, in the first 10 minutes, we haven't heard a lot about Ronald Reagan's city on a hill. We've heard a lot about keeping Americans out or keeping Americans safe and everyone else out. Is this what you want the party to stand for? +p2620 +aVDr. Carson...... you mentioned in your opening remarks that you're a pediatric neurologist surgeon... +p2621 +aVNeurosurgeon. And people admire and respect and are inspired by your life story, your kindness, your evangelical core support. We're talking about ruthless things tonight \u2014 carpet bombing, toughness, war. And people wonder, could you do that? Could you order air strikes that would kill innocent children by not the scores, but the hundreds and the thousands? Could you wage war as a commander-in-chief? +p2622 +aVSo you are OK with the deaths of thousands of innocent children and civilian? It's like... +p2623 +aVThat is what war \u2014 can you be as ruthless as Churchill was in prosecuting the war against the Nazis? +p2624 +aVMr. Trump, we are talking about the most important thing, that's why it's heated. And it's, you are OK with Mr. Assad staying in power, but you are also in favor of winning. If he stays in power, Iran is winning, Hezbollah is winning. Iran is winning in Yemen. They are winning everywhere. If they are winning how can we be winning? +p2625 +aVGovernor Christie, is he right? Because if we step back, Iran goes nuclear. Is Donald Trump right? +p2626 +aVSenator Paul, let me ask you, you heard Governor Kasich say Assad must go. Do you agree? +p2627 +aVGovernor Bush, a commander-in-chief question. You've said that Mr. Trump is not qualified to be president because he's not qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin. Why are you better qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin than Mr. Trump? +p2628 +aVMr. Trump? +p2629 +aVBut, Mr. Trump, it's not CNN \u2014 I was on CNN last night... +p2630 +aV... watching... +p2631 +aVBut it wasn't \u2014 it wasn't CNN. It was me. I watched you last night for 16 minutes. It's not CNN. +p2632 +aVIt's not CNN. It's America's watching you. +p2633 +aVIt's America's watching. +p2634 +aVGovernor \u2014 thank you, Governor. +p2635 +aVDr. Carson, commander-in-chief question again. You've been the head of neurosurgery for a big hospital. You're on a lot of boards of a lot of companies. You've traveled the world. You're going traveling again next week. But does that prepare you to command troops from Djibouti to Japan, troops from Afghanistan to Iraq to be in charge of the men and women watching on Armed Services Network tonight? +p2636 +aVMr. Trump...... Dr. Carson just referenced the single most important job of the president, the command, the control and the care of our nuclear forces. And he mentioned the triad. The B-52s are older than I am. The missiles are old. The submarines are aging out. It's an executive order. It's a commander-in-chief decision. What's your priority among our nuclear triad? +p2637 +aVOf the three legs of the triad, though, do you have a priority? I want to go to Senator Rubio after that and ask him. +p2638 +aVSenator Rubio, do you have a response? +p2639 +aVMy listeners tell me again and again they are worried that Hillary Clinton will win the White House because you'll run as an independent. Are you ready to assure Republicans tonight that you will run as a Republican and abide by the decision of the Republicans? +p2640 +aVDr. Carson, last week... +p2641 +aVPlease. +p2642 +aVDr. Carson, Mr. Trump just committed to stay the distance regardless of the result. How about you? +p2643 +aVThank you, Jake. Mr. Trump, two years ago, President Obama drew a red line that the Syrian dictator Bashar Assad crossed, President Obama threatened to strike. He did not, his knees buckled. We now have 4 million refugees, Syria is a living hell, and he turned to the Congress for the authority to back him up. You have three senators to your right that said, no. Do they bear responsibility for this refugee crisis, and what would you have done when Bashar Assad crossed the line? +p2644 +aVHow much responsibility, Mr. Trump, do the senators hold? +p2645 +aVSenator Rubio... +p2646 +aVSenator Paul? +p2647 +aVI'd like to talk about winning because I think all of you are more qualified than former Secretary of State Clinton, and as were the people in the first debate, but there are different styles, and Carly Fiorina, Governor Kasich, you're conveniently located next to each other, and you have different styles. Governor Kasich, you've been on my show a lot. You refused to attack Hillary Clinton, you just don't want to go there, you want to do the up with people. Go, Ohio, OK, and I like that. Carly Fiorina, I don't have to bring up the Secretary of State \u2014 you bring her up, so . Which one of you is wrong? Governor Kasich? +p2648 +aVGovernor. +p2649 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2650 +aVCarly Fiorina, your style? +p2651 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Christie, your name was mentioned. I want to give you a chance to respond. +p2652 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2653 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. There is a lot more coming up. Ahead, a world of trouble. The challenges that one of these candidates may face in the Oval Office, and how he or she will handle it. Stay with us. +p2654 +aVOh, you're the best interview in America. +p2655 +aV... makes an interesting case (ph) here (ph). +p2656 +aVThank you, Jake. I've done a lot of great interviews with all of you, but, Governor Bush, I talked to you in February about the biggest elephant in a room full of elephants, which is your last name. And you said you would not be burdened either by your brother or your father's legacy in the Middle East. And then, a week later, you rolled out your list of foreign policy advisers, and it was a lot of the band getting back together again. So on behalf of the military that is watching... +p2657 +aV...OK, the active duty military that are at the end of the sphere (ph), what kind of a commander in chief is Jeb Bush going to be, and who are the advisers that are new to your team? +p2658 +aVMr. \u2014 Mr. Trump. +p2659 +aVI want to ask you a question, though, you promised us great leaders. And I believe that. But Jeb Bush has laid out 20 different people that have experience around the world. There are 190 countries, you can't run the world by yourself. When are we going to get some names on your military and your foreign policy advisers? +p2660 +aVThank you, Jake. Tomorrow is \u2014 Republicans know this \u2014 tomorrow is Constitution Day. We've been talking about the 10th Amendment. Let's talk about the Second Amendment. Governor Bush, one of the things the Supreme Court has gotten right is that it's an individual right and it's protected for individuals to hold it. Last week, you said the next step in gun issues is to make sure they're not in the hands of mentally ill. In this state, there's a controversial law that allows guns to be taken away from people without a hearing. Where does it go \u2014 and the problem of violence is endemic, but where does it go from what you said last week, how far into people's lives to take guns away from them? +p2661 +aVIf a family member calls and says, "My child, my brother, my sister is disturbed," ought the state be able to go and get their weapon without a hearing? +p2662 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2663 +aVSenator Cruz, I want to go to you. Your constitutional litigant (ph), are you afraid of the next- step theory of what happens to Second Amendment rights? +p2664 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2665 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2666 +aVThank you, senator. +p2667 +aVWait, let's pursue that in fact Governor Pataki? +p2668 +aVYou called for following and finding those Imams who are preaching violence in mosques. How exactly would you do that and what Mosques would you shut down? How extensive of a surveillance program are you proposing? +p2669 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p2670 +aVGovernor Huckabee... ...As Governor Pataki noted earlier, we have a history of religious intoleration in this country. About the American Muslims who would be subject to this kind of surveillance, does it violate their First Amendment rights? +p2671 +aVSenator Santorum... ...I want to start then, not on the First Amendment, but on the Second Amendment. There is a terror watchlist. You can legally purchase a gun in the United States if you're on that watchlist. Your old colleague, Peter King in the House, wants to change that law. Do you agree with him? +p2672 +aVGovernor... +p2673 +aVGovernor, back to you. Your response? +p2674 +aVSenator Graham, are you trying to get in? +p2675 +aVThank you, Wolf. Governor Huckabee, ten minutes ago you blasted President Obama for destabilizing Iraq. You hit former Secretary of State Clinton for supporting the Muslim brotherhood in Egypt. But you have said recently you would sanction countries that don't join the fight aggressively against +p2676 +aVWhich country? +p2677 +aVWhich countries are those, governor, that you would sanction? +p2678 +aVThat's an easy, give. Are you going to sanction any of our allies who say, no this isn't our fight we're gonna let you do this. Are you going to leave our allies alone? For example, Indonesia and Malaysia \u2014 other Muslim countries \u2014 will you leave them alone? +p2679 +aVSenator Graham, I just named two Islamic countries... ...Senator Graham, I just named two Islamic countries that are allies that he suggested we sanction. Is that the appropriate approach to this war? +p2680 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you... +p2681 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you, the opposite of getting into bed is shooting down the prince's plane. Senator Santorum has \u2014 Senator Graham has said he would shoot down Russian planes bombing Syrian fighters on our side. Would you shoot down a Russian plane bombing American allied fighters in Syria? +p2682 +aVWhat \u2014 if they fly into it, would you shoot it down? +p2683 +aVThe consequences would be war with Russia. Would you risk... +p2684 +aVSenator Graham, do you agree? +p2685 +aVOK, we know you agree, Senator Graham. How about you, Governor Pataki, would you shoot down Russian planes? +p2686 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you... +p2687 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you, the opposite of getting into bed is shooting down the prince's plane. Senator Santorum has \u2014 Senator Graham has said he would shoot down Russian planes bombing Syrian fighters on our side. Would you shoot down a Russian plane bombing American allied fighters in Syria? +p2688 +aVWhat \u2014 if they fly into it, would you shoot it down? +p2689 +aVThe consequences would be war with Russia. Would you risk... +p2690 +aVSenator Graham, do you agree? +p2691 +aVOK, we know you agree, Senator Graham. How about you, Governor Pataki, would you shoot down Russian planes? +p2692 +aVSenator Graham, in 2013 you were part of the leadership that pushed through immigration reform, comprehensive immigration reform in the Senate of the United States. It died in the House. Many accused you of amnesty, and may have undermined your ability to get your message out on the war. Would you sign that bill again today? Would you \u2014 sponsor that bill again today? +p2693 +aVBut, Senator, I misunderstand, did you... +p2694 +aVSenator Santorum, is that sufficient for you? +p2695 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2696 +aVYep. Governor Huckabee, you have said that children of immigrants who came here illegally should not be punished by their parents actions. As president, would you continue President Obama's policy, vis-a-vis, the Dreamers? +p2697 +aVSenator... +p2698 +aVSenator Santorum, you... ...Your position on that policy, assuming that it was passed constitutionally, would you allow this, would you support such an act? +p2699 +aVThank you, Jake. Governor, you signed the pledge to support the Republican nominee and you promptly broke it. By doing so, by Tweeting out that you would not support Donald Trump, have you released Donald Trump to be a free agent again or anyone else in the field? +p2700 +aVGovernor... +p2701 +aV-- you said on Twitter that you would not support Donald Trump. If he's the nominee... +p2702 +aV-- will you support him? +p2703 +aVWould you really vote for Hillary Clinton... +p2704 +aV-- or vote for Donald Trump if he's the nominee? +p2705 +aVGovernor Jindal, Senator Graham just said it's all about winning and, in fact, if former Secretary of State Clinton is the successor to President Obama, none of this matters and all this conversation is beside the point. In the Washington elite, they have a habit of saying nice things about each other until election time. Senator Graham has praised Secretary of State Clinton as a great choice to be the secretary of state, as a national treasure. Can anyone from inside of Washington win this election cycle, having praised Secretary of State Clinton that way? +p2706 +aVSenator Graham, took a shot at there and you're having a good debate but there is this problem of Washington elites and saying wonderful things about each other. +p2707 +aVIs that responsive to calling Hillary Clinton a national treasure, Senator? +p2708 +aVBut Senator, can you go back and forth that way, and expect to have an argument with the American people to persuade them about that? +p2709 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2710 +aVThank you, senator. +p2711 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2712 +aVLet's talk about the economy, if We could. Governor Pataki. +p2713 +aVJeb Bush and Donald Trump are both proposing raising taxes on hedge fund managers who pay at a lower rate. Governor Pataki, you were the governor of New York, home of Wall Street. Do you agree that hedge fund managers need to be paying a higher rate? +p2714 +aVSo you are with Jeb Bush and Donald Trump on the hedge fund? +p2715 +aVGovernor Jindal -- Governor Jindal, that's three Republicans running for president who support hedge fund managers paying a higher rate. Are you the fourth? +p2716 +aVLet's stay on the topic of taxes. +p2717 +aVI want to bring in my colleague, Dana Bash. +p2718 +aVThere are other ways, Governor, than bombing Iran. I want to quote Rick Santorum. "We should send a very clear message that If you are a scientist and you're going to work on a nuclear program to develop a bomb for Iran, you are not safe." Does that message work? Is anything that works on the table? +p2719 +aVSenator Santorum, stay on that: any means necessary? Is that what you meant to say? Is that what's still on this table after this, what many of us believe is a catastrophic deal? +p2720 +asVJINDAL +p2721 +(lp2722 +V...Thank you. +p2723 +aVA couple of things. In Louisiana, we're actually a top 10 state for job growth. As we sit here today, we have more people working in Louisiana than ever before, earning a higher income than ever before. We've had 60 months in a row of consecutive job growth in our state. So the reality is, we have diversified our economy. Yes, I've got an interview plan that says all of the above, that creates good manufacturing jobs in America. We've also got one of the fastest growing IT sectors by percentage. We are growing Louisiana's economy. But let me get to the point that is, I think, the most important issue here tonight. You're going to have several hours of debate on the economy and we're going to have a great discussion about energy plans and tax rates. And that's all great. The most important thing we have to do, we have a fundamental choice to make, folks. Are we willing to cut the government economy so we can grow the American economy? That is the most fundamental question we've got to answer. We are on the path to socialism right now. These are mutually exclusive. The hour is late, but it is not too late for America. Though under President Obama, you asked about his economy. We've got record dependents, a record number of Americans on food stamps, record low participation rate in the work force. This is a fundamental choice. Sending a big government Republican to DC is not enough to fix this problem. It's not enough just to beat Hillary Clinton. We've got to change the direction of our country. What that means is let's shrink the government, not slow its growth rate, but actually shrink the government so we can grow the American economy. That is the fundamental issue we should be debating here tonight. +p2724 +aVNo, I think right now there's not much difference between the two parties. The reason we keep losing nationally is we try to be cheaper versions of the Democratic party. What if the Republicans, what if Republicans actually embraced our own principles? So I earlier said if you want bigger paychecks, you want more jobs, you want less government dependence, you're going to have to cut government spending. Here's the dirty little secret. You're going to hear a lot of Republicans tonight in this debate and the next one talk about cutting government spending. It's going to sound great. There's only one of us that's actually cut government spending. Not two, there's one, and you're looking at him. We've got four senators running. They've never cut anything in D.C. They give these long speeches called filibusters, they pat themselves on the back, nothing changes. When they go to relieve themselves their cause and the toilet get flushed at the same time, and the American people lose. We've got a bunch of governors running, we've got seven current former governors running. I'm the only one that has cut government spending. Everybody else can talk about it. If they haven't done it in their state capitals, what makes them thank that \u2014 what makes us think they'll do it if we send them to D.C. Look, when politicians talk, we need to look at what they have done, not what they have said. Otherwise, it's a bunch of hot air. We've cut our budget 26 percent. Record number of Louisianans working. If Republicans want to win national elections, let's be conservatives, let's be Republicans, let's not be a second version of the liberal party, let's cut government spending and grow the American economy. +p2725 +aVWait, wait, wait. I want to respond. He has criticized something I said. I want to respond to that. Mike, with all due respect, I admire your social views, I share many of those views, your record as Governor tells a different story. Was \u2014 your time as Governor spending in Arkansas went up 65 percent, number of state workers went up 20 percent, the taxes for the average citizen went up 47 percent. That's not a record of cutting. I'm saying we've actually cut. We reduced the size of our budget. So wanting to cut is one thing, actually cutting is a different thing. Facts don't lie. +p2726 +aVI was absolutely a skeptic of giving this president more power. He negotiated a bad deal with Iran. He breaks the law routinely. I don't know why Congress would want to concede more authority to him. Look, this trade deal is 6,000 pages long. Unlike ObamaCare, I think we should read it before we decide whether we would vote for it or not vote for it. I am for trade deals, but I want to make sure they are fair trade deals. I want to come back to something that Chris had said earlier. Look, I absolutely agree we've got to beat Hillary Clinton. But just sending any Republican is not good enough. We've had a Republican majority in the Senate and the House. What has changed? If we send another big government Republican to the White House, we will not do enough to fix what is wrong in this country. Chris, I think records matter. I think the way we govern matter. Under your leadership in New Jersey, your budget has gone up 15 percent. It's gone down 26 percent in Louisiana. It has gone up $5 million in New Jersey. It's gone down $9 billion in Louisiana. In New Jersey, you've had nine credit downgrades, setting a record. We've had eight credit upgrades in Louisiana. My point is this. If politicians say they're going to be conservative, they say they're going to cut spending but they don't do it, why should we send them to DC? It gets harder, not easier, when we send them to DC. Let's not be a second liberal party. Let's actually cut government spending. Let's grow the American economy. Let's not just beat Hillary, let's elect a conservative to the White House, not just any Republican. +p2727 +aVBut wait a minute, records matter. Records \u2014 records matter. Yes, we've got to... +p2728 +aV\u2014 beat Hillary Clinton. But Chris, it's also true that you expanded food stamps at a time that we've got record numbers of Americans on food stamps. It's also true you caved into ObamaCare. You expanded Medicaid. We've got a choice in front of us. This is an important debate. This is not about comparing Louisiana to New Jersey or Bobby to Chris. This is an important debate for the American people. This is supposed to be an economics debate. Let's have a debate. Do we want to grow government or do we want to grow the American economy? Do we want to grow dependence on government, or do we want to grow good paying jobs in the private sector... +p2729 +aV...you don't grow the economy by putting more people on food stamps, more people in Medicaid, you grow the economy by cutting government, cutting spending. That's what we've done in Louisiana, you haven't done that in New Jersey... +p2730 +aV...We need a conservative, not a big government republican in D.C. +p2731 +aV...This is how we.... +p2732 +aV...This is how we move our country forward, look, this is not about between me and Chris... +p2733 +aV...This is about......are we going to be the party... +p2734 +aVWell, look, only one other opponent, actually, one other candidate, actually, has a plan. That's Jeb Bush, and he creates a new entitlement program. My plan actually gets rid of all of Obamacare, it's great that Senator Cruz will shut down the government over Obamacare, but he still hasn't given us his plan to get rid of it. It's great that other republicans talk about getting rid of it. You go to a town hall in Iowa, or New Hampshire, ask them how they're actually going to get rid of it \u2014 my plan has been online for over a year. It gets rid of all of Obamacare, it reduces the cost. It actually puts Americans, their patients, their doctors back in control. And, it actually helps those that really need this help \u2014 but, this is one of the most critical issues we face domestically. I think I \u2014 look, right now, I think I am the only candidate running that refused to expand Medicaid. I'm the only one that turned down \u2014 that did what we could to fight Obamacare. This is an important point, and, look, I appreciate Chris's nice compliments to me. And, Chris, you look to me very well, I love Mary-pat, but this isn't about me and Chris. This is about the country, and this is about what direction \u2014 this is the most important election in our lifetimes. Folks, a couple of years ago they told us give them the republican majorities in the House and the Senate, they'd stop Obamacare, and amnesty, and the bad Iran deal \u2014 nothing changed. If they fooled us once, shame on them. If they fooled us twice, shame on us. Don't let them fool us again. Chris, look, I'll give you your ribbon for participation, and a juicebox, but in the real world, it's about results......but, in the real world it's about results. It's about actually cutting government spending, not just talking about cutting government spending. +p2735 +aVWe can waste our time. And I think this is why people were so frustrated with the last debate with these kinds of silly questions. We've only got a certain amount of time to talk about the economy. Let me use my time to say this. I want to fire everybody in D.C. in both parties. I think they all \u2014 we need term limits, get rid of them all, make them live under the same rules they passed on the rest of us. +p2736 +aVSo under our tax plan, look, the top rate is 25 percent, 10 percent, 2 percent. That 2 percent is the most important. I think everybody should pay something. I think everybody should have skin in the game. We shouldn't be creating one group of Americans that's dependent on government, another group that's paying taxes. I want to come back to an earlier point though, that Chris said. Look, we all agree Hillary Clinton is bad. We all agree we need to beat her. But let's not pretend that out-of-control government spending is only a Democratic issue. This is a bipartisan issue, and just sending another big government Republican to D.C. is not good enough. We need to actually cut government spending. We need to cut \u2014 and we're not going to do it just by sending any Republican. I'm glad he's vetoed taxes. The Tax Foundation graded New Jersey the 50th worst business climate due to taxes, high taxes in the state of New Jersey. +p2737 +aVWell, a couple of reasons. Look, we know big companies don't pay those taxes today. They hire lobbyists and accountants and lawyers. It's the small businesses that get hit. I want to get rid of the corporate tax, I want to bring the jobs and investment back to America. Make the CEOs pay the same rates as everybody else. Get rid of all the corporate welfare as well. Like I said, make everybody pay something, earned success is so much better than unearned success. And let's actually shrink the size of government. My plan purposely does that. Look, we can talk all night about tax plans, energy plans, I think you will find a lot of agreement among all the Republicans. We all want to get rid of the death tax, the marriage penalty. We all want lower, fewer brackets. We want to downsize, take away power from the IRS. What we really need to be talking about is this, these last seven years, we've had more government spending, more government dependence. Poverty has gone up. Inequality has gone up. Only the top 10 percent have seen their incomes go up \u2014 their median incomes go up. We actually have more inequality thanks to what we have seen, the largest most expensive experiment in progressive government. We can't keep spending money we don't have. And the reality is, the last couple of years it hasn't mattered whether Republicans or Democrats were in control. We keep stealing from our children. That is immoral. It is wrong. And we're creating more government dependence. If we really want to grow the economy, yes, you need a rational energy plan, and you've got to rein in the EPA, and you've got to repeal Obamacare, and you've got to cut taxes. But none of that will be enough if we're not serious about cutting government spending. We cannot afford to elect a big- government Republican. We need somebody. This is the most important election. Hillary Clinton is gift-wrapping this election to us. Let's not waste this opportunity to apply conservative principles and cut the size of government. +p2738 +aVWell, a couple things, first, I want to echo what others have said and thank those veterans that run towards danger, not away from it, so we can live in the greatest country in the history of the world. I think every veteran should get that card, and they should be allowed to get that health care wherever they want in the private sector. But, I also think \u2014 or the public sector, I also think we need to fire some of the V.A. bureaucrats. Somebody should go to jail over these scandals, and it is a crime that it has not happened. When it comes \u2014 when it comes to uniting the American people, one of the things we've done to honor our veterans in Louisiana, we've given thousands \u2014 and I've hand delivered these, to veterans \u2014 medals to veterans to thank them for their service. I'll just give you one quick example, I know my time is out, but, we've had Vietnam war veterans with tears in their eyes saying nobody has ever thanked them before. We've had World War II veterans, children, who said they never heard the stories of their parents heroic sacrifice. Whatever conflict, whenever they served, one of the things we can do is to teach our children we do live in the greatest country in the history of the world. We got a president who doesn't believe in American exceptionalism, but we still do, and it's because of those men and women in uniform. We should thank them everyday, not just veterans day. +p2739 +aVYou know, I have spent a lot of time tonight talking about the need to cut the size of government. The reason I'm doing that \u2014 it's not just about balancing the budget, or balancing a bunch of numbers. Because I believe in the American dream. I think President Obama's done a lot of damage to our country. I think that one of the worst things he has done is try to change the idea of America to be one of dependence. There are a lot of politicians that talk about cutting government spending, I'm the only one that's actually done it that's running for President. The rest of them, it's a lot of hot air. If you want your paychecks to go up, if you want more good paying jobs, if you want the government out of your lives, we've got to cut the size of government. It's not enough just to elect any republican, we've seen that. We've got to elect a republican that will take on the establishment in both parties. I'm asking for your support. Thank you. +p2740 +aVI think the reason voters are so frustrated is nothing seems to change in D.C. Look, over the next several hours, you're going to hear several Republicans all tell you they want to shrink the size of government and grow the American economy and it sounds great and we've got to do it. Here's the truth \u2014 of all these folks talking, I'm the only one that has cut the size of government. There's not two of us, there's one of us. The rest of it is all just hot air. When politicians talk, we need to pay attention to what they do, not what they say. I'm the only one that's reduced the size of government. Let's shrink the government economy. Let's grow the American economy. +p2741 +aVWell, look, I think that's a false choice. I think this is a very bad deal. Whenever they tell us in D.C. they're going to cut tomorrow, that means they're never going to cut. Tomorrow never seems to happen. Instead, why don't we actually follow our conservative principles? Why not insist on structural reforms? Why not cut spending? I don't mean strength (ph) the growth rate, I mean, actually spend less. Why not a balanced budget in the amendment \u2014 an amendment to the Constitution? Why not a super-majority vote before they grow our taxes, before they grow the government faster than the economy? Let's be honest, $18 trillion dollars of debt. Record low participation rate in the workforce, record number of Americans on food stamps. We are going the way of Europe. The left is trying to turn the American Dream into the European Nightmare. If you're a Republican... +p2742 +aV... willing to stand up and fight... +p2743 +aVI think that's a false choice. If I were \u2014 I were to lead, we would pass a conservative budget, challenge the President to do the right thing. And, here's the problem, the Republicans never want to fight. Give Pelosi and Reed credit, they forced Obamacare and socialism down our throats, why won't the Republicans fight half as hard for freedom and opportunity. This was a bad budget. +p2744 +aVAbsolutely, Jhon. And what we did is we cut state spending. We've cut our budget 26 percent, according to Cato and other analysis, the only candidate that's actually reduced government spending. Look, the left always complains there's not enough money for government. We have 30,000 fewer state employees than the day I took office, eight credit upgrades, we're a top 10 state for private sector job creation. We've got a choice. You grow the government economy or the American economy. When I became governor, we had 25 years in a row of outmigration. We were coming back from Katrina. The question many were asking, will Louisiana rebuild, should Louisiana rebuild? Seven years in a row, more people moving into the state than were leaving the state. We now have more people working than ever before, erg a higher income than ever before. Yes, we've reduced the size of government. That's exactly what we need to do in DC. In DC, the Republicans slowed the growth rate, they claimed victory. That's not enough. Let's be honest with where we are today. We are running off of a cliff. Look, we'll be the next Greece and we can talk and we can rearrange the chairs. Over over $18 trillion of debt, no wonder our economy has been stagnant. We haven't had real growth. If you're a young student here, you've not seen a robust American economy. +p2745 +aVWell, Jhon, a couple of things. Not only did we not raise taxes, we did the largest income tax cut in the state's history. And I'm proud of that record. I think that's the kind of leadership voters want in DC. Look, if you want a Republican that's going go grow government spending, if you want a \u2014 a president or if you want a candidate who's going to income taxes, I'm not your guy. If you want somebody that's going to do and say the things that can't be said, can't be done, I'm asking a vote for me to join my cause. That's how dangerous these times are. This is \u2014 this is a \u2014 this is \u2014 these are dangerous times for America. I think we have a chance to rescue the idea of America, but if we don't do it now, four years will be too late from now. So, yes, I'm proud we cut taxes, we cut spending, 30,000 fewer state government bureaucrats than the day I took office. I absolutely will do that in DC. +p2746 +aVThank you. +p2747 +aVAbsolutely, John. I'd go further. My tax plan, like everybody's, like a lot of Republicans' \u2014 look, I'd get rid of the death penalty and the marriage penalty, and I'd simplify the brackets to 25 percent, 10 percent, 2 percent, so that an average middle-class family \u2014 a teacher marries a law enforcement official (ph)... +p2748 +aV...I \u2014 I'm gonna get that. Pays 25 percent today, would pay 10 percent under my plan. But my plan does three things different from other people's plans. One \u2014 remember, I said 2 percent. I think everybody should pay something, even if it's only 2 percent. That's the most important 2 percent in my plan. I know a lot of Republicans brag \u2014 y'all can clap, it doesn't scare me. Go ahead. I heard some people. There are millions of \u2014 there are millions of folks that wouldn't pay taxes in Jeb's plan and Trump's plan. I think that's a mistake. In terms of the corporate tax, secondly, I'd get rid of the corporate tax. We do have the highest corporate tax rate in the developed world. I'd get rid of it. I'd get rid of all the corporate welfare. Make the CEOs pay their same tax rates the way the rest of us do. And third, I'd purposely shrink the size of government. You know, that is a \u2014 that is an intentional feature of my plan. We've got a choice: do we grow government \u2014 the government economy, or the American economy? So I say get rid of the corporate tax, bring those jobs and investment here to the United States, stop sending jobs and investment overseas. +p2749 +aVLook, I think the government should work to change that, but that doesn't \u2014 does not mean I'm for the government mandating that. We already have too many government mandates out of DC. Do I want people to have paid leave? Sure. Do I want people to earn higher wages? Sure. Do I want them to have better benefits? Sure. The government can't wave a magic wand and make that happen. Here's the problem. The last seven years, President Obama has tried to teach the American people that government is the answer to all of our problems. Where has that gotten us? We're on a path toward socialism. The way that folks can get better paying jobs with better benefits is if we have a growing economy. That means to repeal all of ObamaCare, a lower flatter tax code. That means that we have an energy plan that makes sense. That means that we embrace an all of the above approach to energy. Those are good paying jobs \u2014 $50,000, $70,000, $90,000 a year jobs with benefits. But this president won't let us produce more energy on our domestic federal lands and waters. He won't allow the Canadians to build the Keystone Pipeline. He's got an EPA that's doing everything they can to kill private sector jobs in America. So, yes, I want families to have better paying jobs and better benefits, but we're not going to get that with a government mandate, we're going to get that with a growing economy. +p2750 +aVA couple things. You're talking about payroll taxes that fund programs. People pay for their Medicare, they pay for their Social Security. I want every American to worry and care about how those folks in D.C. are spending our money. If $18 trillion of debt \u2014 they're misspending our money. Earned success is so much more fulfilling than unearned success. I don't want us to continue to create one class of Americans that pays income taxes, that pays for government, another class of Americans that's growing more and more dependent on government. That's what we have today. Socialism is bad, not only for taxpayers, but people that they say they're trying to help. There's dignity in work, dignity in self-sufficiency. I wanna quote you a president. Our previous president said this: he said, "the problem is, is that tax rates are too high, government income revenues are too low." He said, "paradoxically, lowering tax rates now is the best way to produce higher government revenues later." No, that wasn't President Reagan, as many are probably guessing at home. That was President Kennedy. I see you know the answer. That was President Kennedy. Imagine if he were alive today \u2014 and if he was at that last Democratic debate, imagine if you tried to say that in a party that's veering towards socialism. That wouldn't be welcome in today's Democratic party. +p2751 +aVWell, thank you. Look, if Senator Santorum wants to concede the tax cut wing of the Republican Party, I'm happy to fight for that side of the Republican Party. He's exactly right. I explicitly want to shrink the size of government; 22 percent over 10 years is not too much. We cut our state budget 26 percent in eight years. This is a fundamental choice. We mustn't become a cheaper version of the Democratic Party, a second liberal party. We need to proudly say we're willing to cut taxes, shrink government, grow the American economy. President Kennedy said it to the Democratic Party. Why can't we say it in the Republican Party in 2015, let's cut taxes. +p2752 +aVJohn, our budget is balanced. We balanced our budget every year for eight years. Yeah, we've had to cut spending. You know what? We privatized or closed nine of our 10 charity hospitals. We did statewide school choice; $1.6 billion (ph) budget cut. You're quoting an old number from the beginning of the year. We closed that gap. What they talk about, just like D.C., government's the only place where you give them less money than they wanted, they count it as a cut. They take last year's budget. They add inflation. They call it a baseline. We need to do zero-based budgets. We need to say just because you got money last year, you don't have it this year. Let me close, though. We balanced our budget. We didn't raise taxes. In eight years, we never raised taxes. We cut taxes. Our \u2014 our taxpayers, our families have been better off for it. +p2753 +aV absolutely they should be accountable. They should be accountable to their students through the market. Look, you either trust the American people to make their own choices or you don't. I know the Left thinks we need to be protected from ourselves. President Obama is trying to limit competition to the higher education market. As a result, you're going to see tuition prices continue to go up. We've had $1 trillion of student debt and counting. And he wants to exempt certain schools from the same oversight he wants to apply only to the for-profit market. For some reason, the private sector is a bad word to this president. It's not in the real world. In Louisiana, we fought so that the dollars follow the child and so the child following the dollar. What that means, from K-12, what that means is that parents and their families can decide what's the best way for their children to be educated. Higher education, we have a +p2754 +aVI was just saying to my colleagues, I may be the last person in this audience without an iPhone. I'm actually one of the last folks \u2014 I still have a BlackBerry in my pocket. And I basically use it for scheduling. I use it to keep up when my wife is here and my three kids at home. The only games on that phone are Bricklayer. I use it to keep up with the news through the Internet. I may be the last American out there without an iPhone. +p2755 +aVMy apologies. +p2756 +aVWell, absolutely, when the Saints go back to repeat, we were talking about beer sales earlier, all those folks from being hung over in Louisiana from drinking to celebrate Drew Brees winning this, I think it would be a great day to take off. No, look, on a serious note, I do want to say this about the Super Bowl and our athletes. They can be great role models for our children and I'm obviously a Saints fan. Drew Brees and his wife great role models, great Christians. So, yes, it should be a holiday. +p2757 +aVMy message is to conservatives, this is our hour. Thanks to the insanity, the incompetence of the Democratic party, the American people are ready to turn our government over to us. It's not enough to let just any Republican, however. The reality is the idea of America is slipping away. As Christians, we believe that the tomb is empty. As Americans, we believe that our best days are always ahead of us, and they can be again. We must win this election. We cannot allow Hillary Clinton to take us down this path towards socialism \u2014 further down this path. I've got the courage to apply our conservative principles. I can't do it alone. With your help, with God's grace, we can save the idea of America before it's too late. +p2758 +aVHi, I'm Bobby Jindal. Now, look, I don't have a famous last name. My daddy didn't run for president. I don't have a reality TV show. I'll tell you what I do have, I've got the backbone, I've got the bandwidth, I've got the experience to get us through these tough times, to make sure that we don't turn the American dream into the European nightmare. Thank you for having me today. +p2759 +aVWell, Jake, I'm in compliance with the 11th Commandment, and I would tell my fellow Republicans, let's stop treating Donald Trump like a Republican. If he were really a conservative... If he were really a conservative and 30 points ahead, I would endorse him. He's not a conservative. He's not a liberal. He's not a Democrat. He's not a Republican. He's not an independent. He believes in Donald Trump. Here is the reality, the idea of America is slipping away. Eighteen trillion dollars of debt, Planned Parenthood selling baby parts across our country. Our government is creating a new entitlement program, when we can't afford the government we've got today. We've got a president who won't even say the words radical Islamic terrorism. He has declared war on trans fats and a truce with Iran. Think about that. He's more worried about Twinkies than he is about the ayatollahs having a nuclear weapon. That's what is happening, the idea of America is slipping away. We must not let that happen on our watch. We have a once in a lifetime opportunity to rescue the idea of America, the choice for conservatives. Do we depend on proven conservative principles like Ronald Reagan did, or do we turn this over to a narcissist who only believes in himself... +p2760 +aVThank you, Jake. +p2761 +aVAbsolutely. Look, the reality is, Hillary Clinton is gift-wrapping this election to us. They are running their weakest candidate. They have got a socialist that is gaining on Hillary Clinton. Folks, you can't make that up. A socialist is doing well in the Democratic primary. The best way for us to give this election back would be to nominate a Donald Trump. He'll implode in the general election, or if, God forbid, if he were in the White House, we have no idea what he would do. You can't just attack him on policy. He doesn't care about policy. It's not enough to say he was for socialized medicine or higher taxes... +p2762 +aVHe's not serious. +p2763 +aVYeah, I wanted to clarify -- I want to make very clear that everybody understands my position is, we need to secure the border, period. Any talk of doing any more -- we don't need a comprehensive plan, don't need an 1,000-page bill, like the Gang of Eight. We don't need amnesty. Everybody in D.C. talks about it. We need to get it done. As president, I'll get it done in six months. It won't be perfect, but we can get it done. I'm not for amnesty. We do need to secure the border. A smart immigration makes our -- our country stronger. Right now, we've got a weak one. One of the things I've said -- I know the left -- I know Hillary didn't like this -- immigration without assimilation is invasion. We need to insist the people who come here come here legally, learn English, adopt our values, roll up their sleeves and get to work. We do need to secure the border. +p2764 +aVDana, that's not right. What I've said consistently is secure the border. I've said after that is done, the American people will deal with the folks that are here pragmatically and compassionately. Now, Rick, if he wants to say that Rubio, Senator Rubio, or Jeb or others are for amnesty, that's his right. I'm not for amnesty. I've never been for amnesty, will never be for amnesty. Secure the border. We don't need to do that as a comprehensive -- I've also said we need to put an end to sanctuary cities. It's not enough to defund them; I think we need to criminalize, accuse and jail those mayors and councilman as accessories... ( +p2765 +aV... for the crimes committed by people who shouldn't be here in the first place. +p2766 +aVJake, look, America's the most compassionate country in the entire world. We do more for folks around this world, and that's the nature of the American people. Two things. One, let us draw line, a direct line, between this refugee crisis, and this president's failed foreign policy. Jake, look, America is the most compassionate country in the entire world. We do more for folks around this world. And that's the nature of the American people. Two things: one, let us draw a line, a direct line between this refugee crisis and this president's failed foreign policy. He drew a red line in Syria and did not enforce it and now we're seeing millions of refugees potentially, hundreds of thousands going into Europe. The answer is not to put a Band-aid on this and allow even more people to come into America. We should not short-circuit; we have got a vetting process, we've got a normal refugee process. Simply allowing more into our country doesn't solve this problem. The way to solve this problem is for us to be clear to our friends and allies that we're going to replace Assad, we're going to hunt down and destroy +p2767 +aVWe -- it is important we insist on that in immigration going -- +p2768 +aVLook, absolutely. We need to do whatever is necessary to hunt down and kill these radical Islamic terrorists but this president has helped -- his policies have helped to contribute to this problem. He went to the Pentagon the same week they announced they were cutting back the number of troops in the Army to say that we're not going to win this through guns, it's going to be a change of hearts and minds. This will be a generational conflict, that is nonsense. These are barbarians. They are burning, crucifying people alive, Christians and other Muslims. We need to hunt them down and -- +p2769 +aV-- by having a president willing to -- +p2770 +aV-- Islamic -- +p2771 +aVWell, Jake, look, I think the American people -- we don't discriminate anybody based on the color of their skin or their creed. I think the way you strike that balance, you say to Muslim leaders, they have got two responsibilities. One, it's not enough to denounce just simply generic acts of violence. They have got to denounce the individuals by name, and say these are not martyrs. These terrorists are not martyrs; rather, they are going straight to hell. They are not going to enjoy a reward in their afterlife. Secondly, they have to explicitly embrace the same freedoms for everybody else they want for themselves. Look, I know it's politically incorrect to say this, the president says Fort Hood was an issue of workplace violence. We are at war with radical Islam. Our president loves to apologize for America, he goes to the National Prayer Breakfast, brings up the Crusades, criticizes Christians. We're at war today with radical Islamic extremists. It's not politically correct to say that, but the way you strike that balance, you say to Muslim leaders, denounce these fools, these radical terrorists by name, say they are not martyrs. +p2772 +aVSure, I don't think a 14-year-old should ever get arrested for bringing a clock to school. So, if you're asking me I'm glad he wasn't -- he was released. I'm glad that police are careful. I'm glad they are worried about security and safety issues. Look, in America we don't tolerate them. The biggest discrimination is going on against Christian business owners and individuals who believe in traditional forms of marriage. They are throwing this woman in jail in Kentucky. Let's talk about that. Let's talk about the Christian florist, the caterer, the musician, who simply want to say, don't arrest us for having -- or don't discriminate against us, don't shut down our businesses, don't fine us thousands of dollars for believing marriage is between a man and a woman. Lets talk about not discriminating against Christians. +p2773 +aVJake -- Jake... +p2774 +aVJake, I've got a practical question. +p2775 +aVI've got a practical question. I'd like the left to give us a list of jobs that Christians aren't allowed to have. If we're not allowed to be clerks, bakers, musicians, caterers, are we allowed to be pastors ? +p2776 +aVWe're not allowed to be elected officials. I firmly -- this is an important point. The First Amendment rights, the right to religious freedom is in the First Amendment of "The Constitution." It isn't breaking the law to exercise our constitutional rights. America did not create religious liberty, religious liberty created the United States of America. It is the reason we're here today. +p2777 +aVI think actually putting Roberts, I think putting Kennedy, I think putting -- before them, I think putting Souter on the bench was a mistake. But look, I think the -- the first responsibility starts in the White House. The reality is conservatives have not been willing to stand up for our beliefs, unlike the liberals -- look, you never worry about where the Democratic judges are going to vote, it's always the conservatives. You've never had a Democratic judge wake up and say, surprise, I've evolved, I've become a conservative. It's always the Republicans, because we have presidents that try to find judges with no records, no rulings, no writings. I'll tell you, I am going to have a litmus test. For judges, I'm going to find judges that are conservative, judges that are going to be pro-life, judges that are going to follow "The Constitution," judges, by the way, that are going to follow the American law, not international law. They're not appointed there to interpret international law, they're there to apply "The United States Constitution." Judges understand, their job is not to write law. If they want to write law, they should run for the Senate or the House. It's time for a Republican president as the next commander in chief, I will do as the Democrats have done. I will appoint bold judges that are actually consistent with my values that will be conservatives and enforce the Senate -- +p2778 +aVThank you, Jake. But look, it's not a minor ruling. Justice Roberts twice rewrote the law to save ObamaCare, the biggest expansion of government, creating a new entitlement when we can't afford the government we've got today, an expansion of socialism in our country. It's not that he got a minor ruling wrong. This is twice he rewrote the law. Now, look, I have a lot of respect for these senators that have big bladders. They give great speeches in the Senate. And I respect that. I've actually signed the executive order. I've actually signed a law protecting religious liberty in the state of Louisiana. It's not 99-1. The one that he got wrong was a big one. Twice he bent over backwards to save ObamaCare. If the Republicans had voted the way that we should -- they should have, we would still have our 19th Amendment rights and ObamaCare would not be the law of the land. +p2779 +aVNo. And it's not only whether they can win. They shouldn't win this election cycle. One of the things I do agree -- and I want to thank Donald Trump after I've criticized him for everything from being a narcissist to an egomaniac -- one of the things he was right about was to say nonsense to the D.C. establishment. It is time to fire all of them. You've got a choice between honest Socialists on the Left, like Bernie Sanders, and lying conservatives on the Right. We have got the majority; what good has it done us? See, they said they were going to stop amnesty. They said they were going to repeal ObamaCare. They didn't do either. Now they're not even willing to fight to defund Planned Parenthood. They've already -- McConnell has already waved the white flag of defeat. They are not willing to stand up to fight for the issues that count. I think it is time to have term limits. I think it's time to have part-time citizen legislators. Let's pay them a per diem instead of a six-figure salary, stop them from being seven-figure lobbyists. Let's also pay them a per diem for every day they don't go to D.C. Let's keep them out of D.C., working in the real -- -- let's make them live under the same rules and laws they apply to the rest of us. Not only shouldn't they be elected, they can't be elected. Let's fire all of them from their current positions. +p2780 +aVTwo things, Jake. One, I'm absolutely for all of these carve-outs and loopholes and special interests for as -- they get lobbyists. They get sweetheart deals you and I and the rest of this audience couldn't get. So as part of an overall comprehensive tax reform that has a lower, flatter tax code, sure. As a single, I am just to raise taxes, no. I don't want to give the government more money. The government has grown over this president where now, it's going to overwhelm the American economy. We've got to cut the size of the government economy. Nobody else running for president has done that. I'm the only candidate. I've cut my state budget 26 percent. Everybody else talks about it, we have done it. So, there's a part of overall tax reform that cuts rates, flattens and lowers the tax code, sure. But I'm not for raising taxes on anybody. We already have too much money going to D.C. +p2781 +aVJake, I'd like to answer that question. +p2782 +aVWell, Jake, I want to answer that question. I want to go back to Iran. I didn't get a chance to answer that as well. Look, on Russia, across the world, dictators walk all over this president. He treats our friends like dirt. He lets our enemies walk all over us. The only group he's able to out-negotiate are the Senate Republicans. They never should've passed this bad Corker bill. Instead of a two-thirds vote to reject -- to approve the Iran deal, now it takes a two-thirds vote to reject the Iran deal. I want to ask Lindsey a question. Will the Senate Republicans -- they still have time -- are they willing to use the nuclear option, meaning get rid of the filibusters, stop Iran from becoming a nuclear power? Now is the time for the Senate Republicans to stand up and fight. We are tired of the establishment saying there's nothing we can do. All night tonight, we've heard Republicans say things like, "Well, if the Supreme Court's ruled, there's nothing I can do about religious liberty," you know. "The president did this. There's nothing we can do about it for two more years." There is something we can do. We won the Senate. We won the House. What was the point of winning those chambers if we're not going to do anything with them? You're going back tonight. You still have time before the Thursday deadline. Will y'all use the nuclear option to stop Iran from becoming a nuclear power? +p2783 +aVLindsey... +p2784 +aVLindsey, well, that's my frustration. Listen to what you've heard. You -- you basically heard a Senate Republican say, "We can't defund Planned Parenthood, despite these barbaric videos." +p2785 +aV"We can't -- we can't..." +p2786 +aV"... we can't get rid of Obamacare" -- Lindsey, let me answer this question now. I wish the Senate Republicans had half the fight in them the Senate Democrats did. Look, President Obama didn't give up on Obamacare when they lost the Senate election in Massachusetts. I want my side to follow the Constitution. They broke the Constitution, they broke the law, but they forced Obamacare down our throats, even when they didn't have 60 votes. I wish Republicans in D.C. had half the fight of the Senate Democrats to get rid of Obamacare, to defund Planned Parenthood. If we can't defund Planned Parenthood now, if we can't stand for innocent human life after these barbaric videos, it is time to be done with the Republican Party. We defunded them in Louisiana. Let's defund them in D.C. If we can't win... +p2787 +aV-- on that issue, there is no point for being cheaper Democrats, no point grabbing a second liberal party. It is time to get rid of the Republican Party, start over with a new one that's at least conservative. Give Harry Reid and Pelosi credit. At least they fight for what they believe in. I want senators and House members in DC to fight for what we believe in, as well. It's time to have Republican... +p2788 +aV-- with a backbone in DC. +p2789 +aVJake, I'm a doer, not a talker. Look, the idea of America is slipping away from us. If you want somebody who is going to manage the slow decline of this country, makes incremental changes, vote for somebody else. If you want to vote for somebody who understands what is at stake -- Planned Parenthood is selling baby parts across this country, and the Senate Republicans have already given up, even without a fight. I am tired of this surrender (ph) caucus, I am angrier at the Republicans in D.C. than I am at the president. The president is a socialist. At least he fights for what we believe in. We don't need to just send any Republican to the White House. We need to sent somebody who understands that it's time to make big changes. It's time to take on the establishment, it's time to take on the D.C. permanent governing class. Every Republican says they will shrink the size of the government. I'm the only one that has done it. Cut our budget 26 percent. If you want somebody that's going to make incremental change, vote for somebody else. It's time to get the idea of America back. At some point, we're going to be held -- we'll be asked, what did you do when the idea of America was slipping away? I'll promise you this. I will give every ounce of blood, energy, sweat I've got to save the idea of America, the greatest country in the history of the world. +p2790 +aVWell, first of all, thank you all for having us. You know, I won two record elections. Last time I was elected governor, won a record margin in my state. Martha, we got a lot of politicians that will kiss babies, cut ribbons, do whatever it takes to be popular. That's not why I ran for office. I ran for office to make the generational changes in Louisiana. We've cut 26 percent of our budget. We have 30,000 fewer state bureaucrats than the day I took office. I don't think anybody has cut that much government anywhere, at any time. As a result, eight credit upgrades; as a result, a top ten state for private sector job creation. And we fought for statewide school choice, where the dollars follow the child, instead of the child following the dollars. We've been the most pro-life state six years in a row. My point is this: I won two landslide elections, I made big changes. I think our country is tired of the politicians who simply read the polls and fail to lead. Both Democrats and Republicans have gotten us in the mess we're in -- $18 trillion of debt, a bad deal with Iran, we're not staying with Israel. I think the American people are look for real leadership. That's what I've done in Louisiana, that's what I'll do in America. +p2791 +aVWell, to start with, unlike President Obama, I'll actually name the enemy that we confront. We've got a president who cannot bring himself to say the words "radical Islamic terrorism." Now, Bill, he loves to criticize America, apologize for us, criticize medieval Christians. How can we beat an enemy if our commander-in-chief doesn't have the moral honesty and clarity to say that Islam has a problem, and that problem is radical Islam, to say they've got to condemn not generic acts of violence, but the individual murderers who are committing these acts of violence. We've got a president who instead says, we're going to change hearts and minds. Well, you know what? Sometimes you win a war by killing murderous, evil terrorists. We're going to take the political handcuffs off the military. We will arm and train the Kurds. We will work with our Sunni allies. They know we will be committed to victory. We had this failed red line with Assad and it discouraged folks that want to help us on the ground. Finally, we'll take off the political handcuffs. We'll go to the Congress. This president has gone to Congress and said give me a three-year deadline, give me a ban on ground troops. I'm going to go to the commanders and say give me a plan to win. You can't send your troops into harm's way unless you give them every opportunity to be successful. +p2792 +aVWell, this goes to the question you were just asking. Look, under President Obama and Secretary Clinton, they're working hard to change the American dream into the European nightmare. They do celebrate more dependence on the government. Give Bernie Sanders credit. At least he's honest enough to call himself a socialist. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, they're no better. If we were to expand Medicaid, for every uninsured person we would cover, we'd kick more than one person out of private insurance or remove their opportunity to get private insurance. We're going to have too many people in the cart rather than pulling the cart. This isn't free money. I know some people like to say, "well, this is free money." We pay federal taxes. We are borrowing money from China today. Yesterday, the president stunningly admitted this. He said, "we don't have leverage with China to get a better deal on Iran because we need them to lend us money to continue operating our government." The president of the United States admitting that he's weakening our government's position, our foreign policy standing, because he can't control spending in D.C.. There is a better way to provide health care. The Oregon study showed this. Simply expanding Medicaid does not improve health care outcomes. In Louisiana, instead we're helping people getting better paying jobs so they can provide for their own health care. +p2793 +aVI don't -- look, I don't think anybody should be expanding Medicaid. I think it's a mistake to create new and more expensive entitlement programs when we can't afford the ones we've got today. We've got to stop this culture of government dependence. +p2794 +aVI'll say this. I don't think anybody should expand Medicaid. I think it was a mistake to expand Medicaid everywhere in Ohio and across the country. +p2795 +aVWell, a couple of things. Planned Parenthood had better hope that Hillary Clinton wins this election, because I guarantee under President Jindal, January 2017, the Department of Justice and the IRS and everybody else that we can send from the federal government will be going in to Planned Parenthood. This is absolutely disgusting, and revolts the conscience of the nation. Absolutely, we need to defund Planned Parenthood. In my own state, for example, we launched an investigation, asked the FBI to cooperate. We just, earlier this week, kicked them out of Medicaid in Louisiana as well, canceled their provider contract. They don't provide any abortions in Louisiana. But in terms of shutting down the government, I don't think President Obama should choose to shut down the government simply to send taxpayer dollars to this group that has been caught, I believe, breaking the law, but also offending our values and our ethics. It is time for Republicans in D.C. to fight. Too often, they give up, they negotiate with themselves. They said they would get rid of the unconstitutional amnesty. They didn't do that. They said they would repeal Obamacare if we gave them the majority. They didn't do that either. They said they'd shrink and balance the budget. They haven't done that. Absolutely, they should fight to fund -- defund Planned Parenthood, and I don't think the president should shut down the government simply to send our taxpayer dollars to this group. Mac +p2796 +aVTo repeal these unconstitutional illegal orders, whether it's amnesty or whether it's this president going around the Congress, whether it's in Obamacare, to restore the rule of law. I'd also go after these sanctuary cities, do everything we can to make sure that we are not -- that we are actually prosecuting and cutting off funding for cities that are harboring illegal aliens, and then finally making sure the IRS is not going after conservative or religious groups. I would sign an executive order protecting religious liberty, our first amendment rights, so Christian business owners and individuals don't face discrimination for having a traditional view of marriage. +p2797 +aVSocialist and government dependent. +p2798 +aVYou know, we've got a lot of great talkers running for president. We've already got a great talker in the White House. We cannot afford four more years of on the job training. We need a doer, not a talker. We also need a nominee, a candidate who will endorse our own principles. Jeb Bush says we've got to be willing to lose the primary in order to win the general. Let me translate that for you. That's the establishment telling us to hide our conservative principles to get the left and the media to like us. That never works. If we do that again, we will lose again, we will deserve to lose again. One principle, for example, we've got to embrace is on immigration. We must insist on assimilation -- immigration without assimilation is an invasion. We need to tell folks who want to come here, they need to come here legally. They need to learn English, adopt our values, roll up their sleeves and get to work. I'm tired of the hyphenated Americans and the division. I've got the backbone, I've got the band width, I've got the experience to get us through this. I'm asking folks not just to join my campaign, but join a cause. It is time to believe in America again. Mac +p2799 +asVMUIR +p2800 +(lp2801 +VWe will be tackling many critical issues right here tonight, and we begin with opening statements, in alphabetical order, and Secretary Clinton. +p2802 +aVSenator Sanders. +p2803 +aVSenator Sanders thank you and thank you all. We do have a lot of important issues to get here tonight and we want to address the controversy of the last 24 hours right off the top because we heard some of the most heated rhetoric of the campaign so far between two of the campaigns on this stage tonight. Senator Sanders, you fired a campaign staffer you have sued the Democratic National Committee; all of this after your campaign acknowledge that some of your staffers quote, "irresponsibly accessed data from another campaign." The Clinton campaign called this a very egregious breech of data of ethics and said, quote, "our data was stolen." Did they overstate this or were your staffers essentially stealing part of the Clinton playbook? +p2804 +aVBut Senator, you do mention the DNC -- the vender. But you said of your staff that they did the wrong thing. +p2805 +aVSo, does Secretary Clinton deserve an apology tonight? +p2806 +aVSecretary Clinton... +p2807 +aVSecretary Clinton, he has apologized. How do your react? +p2808 +aV(?): All three candidates are weighing in. +p2809 +aVGood let's move on -- Senator Sanders, let's move on right to some of those issues. It is just six days before Christmas, as we all know in this country. It's typically a joyful time, as it is this year, as well. But it's also an anxious time. President Obama has acknowledged that what we saw in San Bernardino was an act of terrorism. But we remember the president said, right before Thanksgiving, there is no known specific and credible intelligence indicating a plot on the homeland. We now know that this couple had assembled an arsenal. They were not on law enforcement's radar. They were completely undetected. So as we approach another holiday, with the president again saying, late this week, no credible threat, Secretary Clinton, how confident should the American people be, that there aren't others like that couple right now in the U.S. going undetected? And what would you do as president to find them? +p2810 +aV(inaudible) thank you. I am the very first post-9/11 mayor and the very first post-9/11 governor. I understand, from the ground up, that when attacks like San Bernardino happen, when attacks like the attacks of 9/11 happen, that when people call 911, the first people to show up are the local first responders. Many of the things Secretary Clinton said are absolutely true, but they underscore a lack of investment that we have, as a nation, failed to make over these last 15 years in intelligence gathering, intelligence analysis, intelligence sharing. Not only in theater, in Syria and Iraq and other places where we embalk ourselves in toppling dictators without having any idea what comes next, but here in the homeland, as we protect people from this threat of the lone wolves and these changing tactics and strategies. I believe that what's happened here is that the president had us on the right course, but it's a lack of battle tempo. We have to increase the battle tempo, we have to bring a modern way of getting things done and forcing the sharing of information and do a much better job of acting on it in order to prevent these sorts of attacks in the future. +p2811 +aVAnd we're going to break down these issues tonight, but I do want to go to Senator Sanders because the concern going into Christmas is significant, as you know. A new ABC News poll shows 77 percent of Americans have little or no confidence in the government's ability to prevent a lone wolf attack. How would you specifically find would-be terrorist who are going undetected? +p2812 +aVSenator, thank you. +p2813 +aVGovernor, we have to abide the rules here, we'll call on you here shortly, but... O' +p2814 +aVBut I do want pick up on something... O' +p2815 +aVWe will. +p2816 +aVBut let me just establish that for you, senator. Really quickly governor, we are going to call on you tonight and it's very clear you have a lot to say but please wait until you're called upon. And senator, he invoked your record and I'll let you respond. +p2817 +aVI'll let you respond. +p2818 +aVAnd you will get some to as well. +p2819 +aVSenator, thank you. I want to move on here. Secretary Clinton, you brought up Donald Trump a short time ago. +p2820 +aVSecretary Clinton, thank you. We're going to move on from guns here and go back to something you mentioned a short time ago. You brought up Donald Trump first here this evening. We've now seen the polling done well after his proposed ban on Muslims coming to America. Thirty-six percent of Americans, more than a third, agree with him. You have weighed in already on Donald Trump. You've weighed in on the proposed ban. But what would you say to the millions of Americans watching tonight who agree with him? Are they wrong? +p2821 +aVSecretary, thank you. Senator Sanders, I did want to ask you about a neighbor in San Bernardino who reportedly witnessed packages being delivered to that couple's home, that it set off red flags, but they didn't report it because they were afraid to profile. What would you say to Americans afraid to profile? Is it ever acceptable? +p2822 +aVBut I'm asking about -- I'm asking about profiling. Because a lot of people are afraid of that. +p2823 +aVSenator, thank you. +p2824 +aVMartha, we're going to turn now to refugees coming to America. And on the subject of refugees, more than half of all Americans now say they oppose taking in refugees from Syria and across the Middle East. Secretary Clinton, you have said that it would undermine who we are as Americans, shutting our doors. But New Hampshire's governor, where we are right here tonight, a democrat and a supporter of yours, is among more than 30 governors who are now concerned. Governor Maggie Hassan says, "we should halt acceptance of Syrian refugees until U.S. authorities can assure the vetting process, halt Syrian refugees." Is she wrong? +p2825 +aVBut a halt? +p2826 +aVGovernor O'Malley, obviously you were governor yourself at one time. What would you say to New Hampshire's governor tonight? Is she wrong on this? O' +p2827 +aVSo the idea of a halt or a pause? O' +p2828 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p2829 +aVI want to take this to Senator -- I'm going to take this to Senator Sanders next, because I think there... +p2830 +aVSenator, thank you. +p2831 +aVYeah, but, Secretary Clinton -- Secretary Clinton... +p2832 +aVSenator Sanders, Senator Sanders, hold on. One moment, please. I'm going to ask the secretary here, because there does appear to be some daylight here between the policies, at least in respect to when you take out Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Right now or do you wait? Do you tackle +p2833 +aVBut that's what he's saying, we should put that aside for now and go after +p2834 +aVShe says we have to proceed on both fronts at once. +p2835 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. O' +p2836 +aVGovernor O'Malley? O' +p2837 +aVBut -- you criticized -- you criticized Secretary Clinton for what came next. What's your proposal for what comes after Assad? O' +p2838 +aVSenator Sanders, please. Go ahead. Senator Sanders, a last word on this. +p2839 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. When we come back here tonight, the other major issues of this election: jobs, the economy, health care. Which candidates will make the best case for the middle class, as our coverage of the Democratic debate, here in New Hampshire, continues right after this on ABC. +p2840 +aVWelcome back tonight. As you can see, we have a packed audience here in New Hampshire and we're going to continue. We've already had a spirited conversation here at the top of the broadcast about +p2841 +aVWe're going to continue here, and Secretary, you'll get a chance on this too. But as I pointed out the CEO pay, 200 percent of their time -- for that family of just 2 percent. You've all said, "you would raise the minimum wage." But Senator Sanders what else - speak to that household tonight. 20 years, just a 2 percent raise, how as president would you get them a raise right away? +p2842 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. Governor O'Malley, what would propose that would be different, how would you get the middle class a raise and without waiting another 20 years for another 2 percent. O' +p2843 +aVGovernor, thank you. Secretary Clinton... As you were walking in, I was talking about the median American household getting a two percent raise over the last 20 years, that CEO pay in that same time frame has gone up 200 percent. So for those families watching tonight, how do you get them a raise if you're president? +p2844 +aVSecretary... +p2845 +aVSecretary, thank you. +p2846 +aVWe're going to -- we're going to... +p2847 +aVAnd we're going to talk about college education in a moment. But Secretary Clinton, I did want to ask you, the last time you ran for president, Fortune Magazine put you on its cover with the headline Business Loves Hillary, pointing out your support for many CEOs in corporate America. I'm curious, eight years later, should corporate America love Hillary Clinton? +p2848 +aVSecretary, thank you. Senator Sanders... I want to stay on this and ask you how big a role does corporate America play in a healthy economy and will corporate America love a President Sanders? +p2849 +aVSenator, thank you. I want to... Governor, let me just ask you, though, because it is an important question, how important a role do you think corporate America plays in a healthy economy here in the U.S.? O' +p2850 +aVGovernor O'Malley, thank you. I do want to ask you, Secretary Clinton. Let me just ask you... +p2851 +aVWe did -- we did -- Secretary Clinton, let me just ask you... +p2852 +aVAnd in particular... +p2853 +aVSecretary Clinton, thank you. +p2854 +aVSenator? +p2855 +aVSenator Sanders... +p2856 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2857 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p2858 +aVWe're going to get right into this Senator but I want to ask about taxes next. This is included. +p2859 +aVShe was asking about that... +p2860 +aVAre we back on health care - Secretary Clinton hold one moment. Senator Sanders... +p2861 +aVSecretary Clinton, please. +p2862 +aVSo let's ask about it. Secretary Clinton, let's turn to the taxes. +p2863 +aVThis is where we are going next, we are going next to taxes here... +p2864 +aVThis is fun. applause]This is democracy at work. Secretary Clinton, let me ask you about your tax plan because from the crushing cost of college education, the next question most families have; is will my taxes go up under the next president? You have said it's your goal not to raise taxes on families making under $200,000 a year a goal. But can you say that's a promise as you stand here tonight? +p2865 +aVA promise? +p2866 +aVSecretary Clinton... +p2867 +aVPlease. +p2868 +aVSenator, thank you. Let me bring in Governor O'Malley... +p2869 +aVYou've heard... +p2870 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p2871 +aVThank you. I want to bring in Governor O'Malley on this. We heard the promise from Secretary Clinton because people want to know about their taxes, will they go up. She has now promised here tonight not to raise them on families making $250,000 or less. Can you make that same promise if you're elected? O' +p2872 +aVGovernor O'Malley, thank you. A spirited debate on taxes. And there will be more with the Democratic debate in New Hampshire, when we come back right here on ABC. More in a moment. ( +p2873 +aVWelcome back tonight to New Hampshire. The Democratic debate continues here on ABC. And Secretary Clinton, we want to turn to race, now, in America. There is a real concern in this country from Black Lives Matter and from other community groups that we're just now seeing, with smartphones and cell phones, what many have been dealing with for years when they come in contact with police. But you also have many in law enforcement who now say there has been a so-called Ferguson effect, police holding back because they're afraid of backlash. +p2874 +aVIn fact, the FBI director is calling it a chill wind blowing through American law enforcement. So, if elected president, how would you bridge the divide between the two? +p2875 +aVSecretary, thank you. +p2876 +aVGovernor O'Malley, how would you bridge the divide? O' +p2877 +aVGovernor, thank you. And Senator Sanders, when you hear the FBI director calling it a chill wind blowing through American law enforcement, does that concern you as well when you -- +p2878 +aVSenator, thank you. We want to turn now to an issue. This next issue has destroyed so many families across the country, and in particular right here in New Hampshire, heroin. And there's a stunning new figure out. A recent poll -- 48 percent here, in this state alone, say they know someone who has abused heroin. We're going to turn tonight to Dan Tuohy of the New Hampshire Union Leader who has this question. +p2879 +aVSenator Sanders, I'm going to take this to you first because you've seen what's happened with heroin right on the border in your own state. +p2880 +aVSenator, thank you. Secretary Clinton? +p2881 +aVSecretary, thank you. O' +p2882 +aVGovernor O'Malley, thank you. Martha? +p2883 +aVI do want to follow up here for each of you. And a similar line of questioning. Senator Sanders, your wife Jane shares an office at your campaign headquarters in Burlington. We've seen the pictures, the desks right next to each other. Would she have a desk close by in the west wing? +p2884 +aVSenator, thank you. Governor O'Malley -- Governor O'Malley, you have talked about your wife, Katie, here tonight. She's a district court judge. And the question for you is, would she have to give that up as first lady, or will she share an office in the west wing as well? O' +p2885 +aVGovernor O'Malley, thank you, (inaudible). O' +p2886 +aVGovernor, thank you. We'll be back with much more from New Hampshire. The Democratic debate continues right after this. ( +p2887 +aVWelcome back tonight. It's been an evening of lively discussion among the candidates and it's time for closing statements. We began in alphabetical order, so we'll reverse the order at the end and begin with you, Senator Sanders. +p2888 +aVGovernor, thank you. Secretary Clinton? +p2889 +aVGood evening, again, everyone. This is the first time since Iowa and the only time before the New Hampshire primary that the Republican candidates will have the opportunity to face each other. The people of Iowa have been heard. Now it's New Hampshire's turn. In just three days, voters here will decide who they think should be the Republican nominee for president. +p2890 +aVSo let's welcome the candidates for the Republican nomination for president. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. +p2891 +aVTexas Senator Ted Cruz. +p2892 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. +p2893 +aVAnd Ohio Governor John Kasich. +p2894 +aVAnd Dr. Ben Carson, please come out on the stage. He's standing there, as well. Dr. Carson. +p2895 +aVAnd lastly, we welcome back to the debate stage, Donald Trump. +p2896 +aVIt was so noisy in here. Yes. Yes. We're going to introduce Ohio Governor John kasich. The applause so loud here in the hall. +p2897 +aVSo let's get started. We welcome you all to the debate stage here tonight. We're going to tackle the issues Americans are most concerned about, the economy, +p2898 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. I want to bring this to Senator Cruz, then. Because Senator, you did said of Trump's behavior this week, that's not the temperament of a leader to keep this country safe. Why not? +p2899 +aVSenator Cruz, I did ask about Mr. Trump. You said he doesn't have the temperament to be commander-in-chief. Do you stand by those words? +p2900 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. We're going to continue on this notion of readiness and experience. I'm going to come back. +p2901 +aVIf you would like to respond, Mr. Trump. +p2902 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. And we're going to continue on this notion of readiness and on experience, but I want to ask about a headline that was back in the papers again this morning. Dr. Carson, on the day of the Iowa caucuses, the Cruz campaign sent out messages and voicemails saying, quote, "Breaking news. Dr. Ben Carson will be planning to suspend his campaign following tonight's caucuses. Please inform any Carson caucus-goers of this news." But as we can all see, you are still standing here tonight. Late this week, your campaign sent this e-mail, quote, "This kind of deceitful behavior is why the American people don't trust politicians. If Senator Cruz does not act, then he clearly represents D.C. values." What kind of action do you think Senator Cruz should take? +p2903 +aVSenator Cruz. Dr. Carson, thank you. Senator Cruz, you have said that Dr. Carson and his wife have become friends of yours. I'm curious as why you didn't call ahead of time to either the doctor or his wife or have your campaign check in with the other campaign before sending out those messages. +p2904 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. We're going to move on here. Back to the issues... +p2905 +aVDr. Carson, please. +p2906 +aVDr. Carson, thank you. Thank you, doctor. Senator Rubio. I want to stay on the issue of readiness to be president and experience and questions about you being a first-term senator. Governor Christie warning voters here in New Hampshire against voting for another first-term senator as America did with Barack Obama in 2008. Arguing that you are, quote, " not ready to be president of the United States." And Senator Santorum, who we all know, dropped out of the race and endorsed you, had a hard time when asked on national television, listing your accomplishments as senator. Tonight, what are your accomplishments in the Senate that demonstrate you are ready to be president of the United States? +p2907 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I do want to ask Governor Christie, Governor Christie, you said fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me when it comes to electing a first-term senator. You heard Senator Rubio make the case that he does have the experience. Your response? +p2908 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Rubio? +p2909 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I want to bring in governor bush on this, because you... +p2910 +aV... have made this... +p2911 +aVIf you'd like to respond to economic... +p2912 +aVSenator Rubio? +p2913 +aVGovernor Christie, we will \u2014 we will... +p2914 +aVGovernor Christie \u2014 thank you, Governor. I will mention \u2014 listen... +p2915 +aV... Listen, people... Governor Bush, I'll mention your name so that you can come in on this... +p2916 +aVI want to bring you in on this because you've made this central to your campaign right here in New Hampshire in the last couple of days. Four Years ago you said of Senator Rubio, he was ready to be Vice President. You spoke of his experience as well. You said he has the fortitude to be a good President, but just this week you said Senator Rubio accomplished, quote, "nothing" in the Senate. How do you square the two? +p2917 +aV... We're going to continue with leadership now. Martha? +p2918 +aVMartha, we're going to turn to immigration now. And I want to bring in Governor Kasich because you told us in an ABC interview, Governor, quote, "It is completely ridiculous to think we are going to go into neighborhoods, grab people out of their homes and ship people back to Mexico." Adding, quote, "That's not where the party is. The party is not for departing 11.5 million people." But Mr. Trump and Senator Cruz, who have made deportation central to their campaigns, top the national polls. So, my question for you, are you not where the voters are? +p2919 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. I want to bring this next to Senator Cruz. You heard what the governor said. He said, "We need practical solutions." And you've said, "I don't intend to send jack boots to knock on doors. That's not how we enforce the law for any crime." So, what is your plan? How will you deport 11.5 million undocumented people? And be specific. How would you do it? +p2920 +aVLet me just ask you this, though, because Governor Kasich was talking about the families and what you do with the families that you would have to send home. Can you tell the American people tonight how you would do that? +p2921 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. I want to bring in Senator Rubio. This question is about immigration, it is also about leadership. You're aware of the criticism from many candidates on this stage tonight that you co-authored the so-called Gang of Eight bill that would have created a path to citizenship for people here illegally. Governor Christie has said of you, as soon as you felt the heat, you turned tail and run. Governor Bush has said, "I don't think we need people cutting and running anymore." Did you fight for your own legislation, Senator, or did you run from it? +p2922 +aVBut I'm asking, did you fight for the legislation at the time or did you run from it as you're... +p2923 +aVGovernor Christie? +p2924 +aVGovernor thank you. Senator Rubio? +p2925 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. We want to turn to health care in this country, and for that, author and commentator, Mary Katherine Ham tonight. HAM: Thanks, David. Good evening, guys. +p2926 +aVMary Katherine, thank you. We want to turn now to the issue of eminent domain, which is being debated right here in New Hampshire. And Josh McElveen is the political director and the anchor of +p2927 +aVJosh, thank you. When we come back here tonight, jobs, +p2928 +aVAnd, we welcome you back to the Republican debate from New Hampshire tonight here on ABC. We're going to turn now to what it means to be a conservative, and I want to turn to Governor Kasich. Governor, while campaigning here in New Hampshire, you were already asked about groans from some conservatives after your endorsements from the New York Times, and the Boston Globe. You said, quote, "What conservatives have to know is they have to say, look isn't it nice to have a conservative like me liked? And, maybe the ought to think about it because if I get elected president, the Republican party and the definition of conservatism is going to change." How would you change conservatism? +p2929 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. Mr. Trump, you've heard the argument from many of the candidates on this stage that you're not a true conservative. Tell the voters watching tonight why you are. +p2930 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. Senator Rubio, you have said yourself that you don't think Donald Trump is running as a conservative. Did he convince you? +p2931 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I want to turn this discussion to the economy now. And Mr. Trump, Governor Christie has said, "I tell everybody who goes to a Donald Trump event, if you get to ask a question, just ask him how." Christie said, "I don't care which of the things he talks about, just ask him how." You have said that you'd be the greatest jobs president God ever created. Tell Americans watching tonight how many jobs you would create in the first term and how. +p2932 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. There are a lot of governors on this stage tonight and Governor Christie, Governor Kasich said of you, quote, "In Ohio, we balanced a budget. They don't have one over in New Jersey. Our credit has been strengthened. Their credit has been downgraded. We've got more jobs." How important are those metrics in choosing the next president? And is his job \u2014 is his record on jobs, I should say, actually stronger than yours? +p2933 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Kasich? +p2934 +aVHe didn't say your record was better than his. +p2935 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. +p2936 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. I do want to turn from jobs to taxes. +p2937 +aVIf you would like to respond to the governor, you can. +p2938 +aVI'm coming to you next with a question, anyway. You can respond to that question. +p2939 +aVWe're going from jobs to taxes, and here's the... +p2940 +aVTo the Gang of Eight bill first? +p2941 +aVThe governor wasn't talking about the president, he was talking about the Gang of Eight bill. +p2942 +aVSo, let me ask you about taxes, Senator Rubio. +p2943 +aVA recent poll, 68 percent of Americans favor raising taxes on people making more than $1 million a year. Are they wrong? +p2944 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I want to bring in Governor Bush. And Governor, I just want to repeat that number for you \u2014 68 percent of Americans favor raising taxes on people making more than a million. What do you say to the people who believe that tonight? +p2945 +aVKnew that was coming. Governor, thank you. +p2946 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you. Martha? +p2947 +aVMartha, thank you. We're just going to \u2014 we're going to stay on +p2948 +aVIf elected president, would you bring it back? +p2949 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. Mr. Trump, you said not only does it work, but that you'd bring it back. +p2950 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. Governor Bush, you have said that you won't rule waterboarding out. Congress has passed laws banning the use of waterboarding by the military and the CIA, as you know. Would you want Congress to change that if you're elected president? +p2951 +aVGovernor Bush, thank you. Senator Rubio, I do want to ask you, you have said that you do not want to telegraph to the enemy what you would do as commander in chief. But for the American people watching tonight who want to know where the next president will stand, do you believe waterboarding is torture? +p2952 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. We want to turn now to the topic of executive orders, and for that, we're going to turn back to Mary Katharine Ham. Mary Katharine? HAM: Thanks, David. Senator Cruz, on the campaign trail you've promised voters a lot, in fact if you're elected president you'd say you end Common Core immediately, abolish the IRS, and do away with sanctuary cities. You've also been a persistent critic of President Obama's executive overreach, going it alone, not working with Congress. How do you intend to implement this aggressive agenda within your Constitutional authority, especially given that it would require working with Congress and Washington players with whom you're happy to say you have a strained relationship? +p2953 +aVMary Katherine, thank you. We want to turn to something the governor of New Hampshire said... +p2954 +aVA connection here on the stage. We're going to move on to what the governor of New Hampshire said just this week, and that is that heroin overdose is not the second-leading cause of death in this state. You don't need me to tell you that. But there's another number, 48 percent of the people here in this state knows someone who has abused heroin. Josh, who covers this for +p2955 +aVMartha? +p2956 +aVGovernor, well come to you in the next segment. When we come back, questions about race, about our veterans and social issues what younger conservative voters are now saying as we continue with New Hampshire with the Republican debate, right here on ABC. +p2957 +aVWelcome back to New Hampshire, ABC News coverage of the Republican debate, and it's great to have you back at the podiums, and we want to turn to race in America. And Mr. Trump, there are many who argue cell phones and smartphones are just now exposing what's been happening in this country for years. Cases of excessive force against minorities. As you know, Mr. Trump, on the other side, the FBI director recently said there's a chill wind blowing through law enforcement because of increased scrutiny. You have said police are the most mistreated people in America. As president, how do you bridge the divide? +p2958 +aVGreat. Mr. Trump, I did ask about bridging the divide though as president. So what would you say to the American families who say we have lived through this, we have seen excessive force? What would you say to those people? +p2959 +aVI do want to ask \u2014 Governor Kasich? +p2960 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Rubio, I want to ask you next, President Obama visited a mosque this week in America for the first time in his presidency. President George W. Bush visited a mosque after September 11th. You said of President Obama, quote, "he's always pitting people against each other." So I'm curious, how are the two visits different, and would you visit a mosque as president? +p2961 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. Martha? +p2962 +aVJosh, thank you. I want to turn to a family that New Hampshire voters know quite well, and Senator Cruz, the issue of hostages has been a very real and painful one here in this state. As we all know, James Foley was killed. His mother, Diane, said our government should be willing to negotiate, arguing that families should also be allowed to raise money for ransom. What would you say to Diane Foley tonight? Should families be allowed to raise money for ransom for their loved ones? +p2963 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. Mr. Trump, what would you say to Diane Foley? Should families be allowed to raise money for ransom? +p2964 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. We want to turn now to social issues and young voters and for the question, from Mary Katherine. HAM: Thank you David. Senator Rubio. One of the lazier pieces of political conventional wisdom is that so-called social issues are hurting Republicans with young people. But on the two most prominent social issues, polling with millennials actually moves in different directions. On one hand, it is clear, young people across the political spectrum increasingly favor same sex marriage. However young voters have not moved to the left on abortion. In fact, large numbers of them favor at least some modest restrictions that conservatives have supported. How do you speak to millennials on both these issues, while Democrats will inevitable charge intolerance and extremism? +p2965 +aVMary Katherine, thank you. We're going to have closing statements here in just a moment, but before we go, quick lightning round. Come November, two battle-ground states, but they face off tomorrow in the Super Bowl. Governor Kasich, who wins? +p2966 +aVGovernor Bush? +p2967 +aVSenator Rubio? +p2968 +aV Mr. Trump? +p2969 +aVAll right, Dr. Carson? +p2970 +aVYeah. Governor Christie, the last word? +p2971 +aVDenver. Thank you so much, gentlemen. Closing statements in just a moment, right here, as the ABC News Republican debate continues from New Hampshire, right after this. +p2972 +aVWe welcome you back. The New Hampshire primary, of course, is Tuesday, but time now for closing statements. And we begin tonight with Governor Kasich. +p2973 +aVGovernor Bush. +p2974 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Senator Rubio. +p2975 +aVThank you. Mr. Trump. +p2976 +asVWALLACE +p2977 +(lp2978 +VAlso of note, Fox News is partnering for tonight's debate with Facebook. For the past several weeks, we've been asking you for questions for the candidates on Facebook. Nearly 6 million of you, 6 million, viewed the debate videos on our site, and more than 40,000 of you submitted questions: some of which you will hear us asking the candidates tonight. +p2979 +aVKentucky Senator Rand Paul. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. And your very own governor of Ohio... ... John Kasich. +p2980 +aVBrett -- Brett, I think you would call that a home field advantage. +p2981 +aVSenator Rubio, when Jeb Bush announced his candidacy for presidency, he said this: "There's no passing off responsibility when you're a governor, no blending into the legislative crowd." Could you please address Governor Bush across the stage here, and explain to him why you, someone who has never held executive office, are better prepared to be president than he is, a man who you say did a great job running your state of Florida for eight years. +p2982 +aVSenator Cruz, your colleague, Senator Paul, right there next to you, said a few months ago he agrees with you on a number of issues, but he says you do nothing to grow the party. He says you feed red meat to the base, but you don't reach out to minorities. You have a toxic relationship with GOP leaders in Congress. You even called the Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell a liar recently. How can you win in 2016 when you're such a divisive figure? +p2983 +aVGovernor Huckabee, like Governor Walker, you have staked out strong positions on social issues. You favor a constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage. You favor a constitutional amendment banning abortions, except for the life of the mother. Millions of people in this country agree with you, but according to the polls, and again this an electability question, according to the polls, more people don't, so how do you persuade enough Independents and Democrats to get elected in 2016? +p2984 +aVGentlemen, we're turning to a new subject that all of you have been talking about and some of you have been disagreeing about, and that is the issue of immigration. Governor Bush, you released a new plan this week on illegal immigration focusing on enforcement, which some suggest is your effort to show that you're not soft on that issue. I want to ask you about a statement that you made last year about illegal immigrants. And here's what you said. "They broke the law, but it's not a felony, it's an act of love. It's an act of commitment to your family." Do you stand by that statement and do you stand by your support for earned legal status? +p2985 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, it has not escaped anybody's notice that you say that the Mexican government, the Mexican government is sending criminals -- rapists, drug dealers, across the border. Governor Bush has called those remarks, quote, "extraordinarily ugly." I'd like you -- you're right next to him -- tell us -- talk to him directly and say how you respond to that and -- and you have repeatedly said that you have evidence that the Mexican government is doing this, but you have evidence you have refused or declined to share. Why not use this first Republican presidential debate to share your proof with the American people? +p2986 +aVMr. Trump, I'll give you 30 seconds -- I'll give you 30 seconds to answer my question, which was, what evidence do you have, specific evidence that the Mexican government is sending criminals across the border? Thirty seconds. +p2987 +aVAll right. Obviously there's a lot more to talk about this. We're going to have more questions for the candidates on illegal immigration, plus other key topics including your questions on Facebook. +p2988 +aVWelcome back to FOX News/Facebook Republican Debate Night. We're going to continue the questions now on illegal immigration. We kind of ended with a cliffhanger there. So let's continue the conversation. Governor Kasich, I know you don't like to talk about Donald Trump. But I do want to ask you about the merit of what he just said. When you say that the American government is stupid, that the Mexican government is sending criminals, that we're being bamboozled, is that an adequate response to the question of illegal immigration? +p2989 +aVRespectfully, can we talk about illegal immigration? +p2990 +aVAll right, well, Senator Rubio, let me see if I can do better with you. Is it as simple as our leaders are stupid, their leaders are smart, and all of these illegals coming over are criminals? +p2991 +aVGovernor Walker. Governor Walker, from 2002 until as recently as 2013, just two years ago, you supported comprehensive immigration reform, including a path to citizenship. Now you say that was a quick reaction to something you hadn't really thought about, and that you've changed your mind. Other than politics, could you explain why in the last two years you've changed your position on a path to citizenship, and are there other past positions that we shouldn't hold you to? +p2992 +aVSenator Cruz, some 1,400 people submitted questions on this very hot topic of illegal immigration on Facebook, and a number of them were about the murder of Kate Steinle in San Francisco, allegedly shot down by an illegal. Doug Bettencourt sent this question, "will you support Kate Steinle's Law," which would impose a mandatory five-year prison term for an illegal who is deported and then returns to this country? "And will you defund sanctuary cities for violating federal law?" +p2993 +aVGentlemen, we're obviously digging into some subjects in depth, but we're also going to change it up every once in a while throughout the next hour and have many rounds where we ask, you are not going to like it, only a couple of candidates questions on those subjects. This is the first of the many rounds, and it's about somebody whose name probably hasn't been mentioned enough so far tonight. Governor Kasich, let me start with you. Whoever the Republican nominee -- Whoever the Republican nominee is, it looks at least for now like whoever that nominee is, he or she, will be facing off against Hillary Clinton. You know how she will come after whoever the Republican nominee is. She will say that you, whoever it is, support the rich while she supports the middle class. That you want to suppress the rights of women and minorities. She wants to move the country forward while you, the Republicans, want to take the country back to the past. How will you, if you're the nominee, how will you answer that and take Hillary Clinton on? +p2994 +aVI know that all of you would like to answer this question, but we're only going to ask one other candidate before we move on to a different subject, Dr. Carson. Basically, same question to you. If Hillary Clinton is the nominee and she comes at you with that kind of line of attack, how will you take Iraq? +p2995 +aVGentlemen, we're going to turn now to the subject of the economy, jobs and money and the government. And Governor Bush, I'm going to start with you. You have made a bold promise in your announcement. You have promised four percent economic growth and 19 million new jobs if you are fortunate enough to serve two terms as president. That many jobs, 19 million, would be triple what your father and your brother accomplished together. And four percent growth, the last president to average that was Lyndon Johnson during the height of the Vietnam War. So question, how on Earth specifically would you pull that off? +p2996 +aVGovernor Walker. Governor Walker, when you ran for governor of Wisconsin back in 2010, you promised that you would create 250,000 jobs in your first term, first four years. In fact, Wisconsin added barely half that and ranked 35th in the country in job growth. Now you're running for president, and you're promising an economic plan in which everyone will earn a piece of the American dream. Given your record in Wisconsin, why should voters believe you? +p2997 +aVGovernor Christie, I want to engage you and Governor Huckabee in a subject that is a big issue in both of your campaigns, and that is entitlement reform. You say that you -- to save the system that you want to raise the retirement age -- have to raise the retirement age, and to cut benefits for Social Security and Medicare, and you say that some of the candidates here on the stage are lying. Governor Huckabee says he can save Social Security and Medicare without doing any of that. Is he lying? +p2998 +aVGovernor Huckabee? You say that changing entitlements, the kind of thing that Governor Christie is talking about, would be breaking a promise to the American people, and you say that you can keep those programs, save Social Security, save Medicare, without those kinds of reforms through a FairTax, which is a broad tax on consumption. Please explain to Governor Christie how that would work, and how you could save these programs without the kind of painful reforms he says we need? +p2999 +aV...Thirty seconds. +p3000 +aV...Alright, this is it. Thirty Seconds, finally. +p3001 +aVAll right. Enough. Mr. Trump. +p3002 +aVMr. Trump, you talk a lot about how you are the person on this stage to grow the economy, I want to ask you about your business records. From corporations, Trump corporations, casinos and hotels, have declared bankruptcy four times over the last quarter-century. +p3003 +aVNo, but the concept sir... +p3004 +aV... that's your line, but your companies have gone bankrupt. +p3005 +aVWell sir, let's just talk about the latest example......which is Trump Entertainment Resorts, which went bankrupt in 2009. In that case alone, lenders to your company lost over $1 billion and more than 1,100 people were laid off. +p3006 +aVIs that the way that you'd run the country? +p3007 +aVSo... +p3008 +aVSenator Rubio. Senator Rubio, more than 3,000 people sent us questions about the economy and jobs on Facebook. And here is a video question from Tania Cioloko from Philadelphia. Here she is. +p3009 +aVSenator, how do you answer Tania? +p3010 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. +p3011 +aVSenator Paul, closing statement. +p3012 +aVDr. Carson, closing statement. +p3013 +aVGovernor Bush, closing statement, sir. +p3014 +aVTonight, we're partnering with Google for an exclusive second-screen experience. Search Fox News debate on Google any time in the next two hours to access exclusive content. You can see the campaigns respond to the debate in real time, and you can weigh in by voting on the topics being discussed. Just go to google.com or open your Google search app and type in Fox News debate. +p3015 +aVNeurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. +p3016 +aVApparently Iowa's near Kentucky. +p3017 +aVSenator Rubio, I want to explore this sort of larger issue. The campaign has in a sense turned into a battle for the soul of the Republican party: establishment versus grassroots, pragmatic versus principle. You say that you can unite all of the factions inside the GOP. How? +p3018 +aVGovernor Kasich, I want to get back to this question of where conservatives are this year. You call yourself a, quote, "inside-outside guy, a reformer who knows how to get things done," but you reject the establishment label. First question is why do you reject it? And secondly, what do you say to Republican voters this year who view practical government experience as a liability and not an asset? +p3019 +aVDr. Carson, I want to pick up on that with you. Governor Kasich likes to say he knows how to land the plane. You've landed a lot of planes in the O.R. But what about the idea of running for president with no experience in government at all? +p3020 +aVGentlemen, we're now going to start to drill down into specific issues that are on voters' minds. I'm going to start with one of the biggest ones, which is foreign terror. According to Google, +p3021 +aVSenator Rubio, does Senator Cruz's record match his rhetoric? +p3022 +aVSenator Cruz, you've got 30 seconds. You were mentioned. +p3023 +aVGentlemen. +p3024 +aVMay I \u2014 may I just say, we are going to continue the questions about foreign terror, gentlemen, right after this break. +p3025 +aVThank you. Governor Christie, you have compared both Senators Cruz and Rubio to Barack Obama, saying that we cannot afford another inexperienced President. You've also said that Senator Cruz's vote to curtail the NSA surveillance program made America less safe. Is either of them ready to be Commander in Chief? +p3026 +aVGovernor Bush... +p3027 +aV... I don't think that your name was mentioned... +p3028 +aV... Sir, I think \u2014 I think the question was... +p3029 +aV... It's not my question that you get a chance to respond to, it's his answer. You don't get 30 seconds to respond to me... +p3030 +aV... You don't get 30 seconds to respond to me... +p3031 +aV... If I could go on. Sir, I know you like to argue about the rules, but we're going to conduct a debate... +p3032 +aV... Governor Bush... +p3033 +aVGovernor Bush, here's the question \u2014 I'm going to ask Governor Bush the question. You criticized several candidates in this field on this stage for what you call unrealistic ideas about how to fight terrorists, including Rubio, and Cruz on the issue of their refusing to give the President authority to enforce the redline in Syria. But, given the fact that your brother got us into two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that have still not ended. That have still not ended, what lessons have you learned from his mistakes, sir? +p3034 +aVSenator Cruz, now you get a chance to respond. +p3035 +aV... It is a debate, sir. +p3036 +aVI think the questions were about issues. Senator Rubio, what would you like to respond sir... +p3037 +aVThank you. +p3038 +aVGood. +p3039 +aVSenator Paul, go ahead. +p3040 +aVWell... ... we'll be talking about foreign policy a little bit later. We're going to talk... +p3041 +aVThis debate is just getting started. Coming up, the role of the federal government. But first, join tonight's conversation right from your home. Go to google.com or open your Google search app and search Fox News Debate to vote on which issue is most important to you in this election. More from the Iowa Events Center and the Republican presidential debate in a moment. +p3042 +aVGentlemen, we're going to turn now to what we call electability, issues that you're either facing in the primaries or issues that you're certainly going to face in a general election. So you may not be altogether unhappy if you're not included in this round. Senator Cruz, you pride yourself on standing up to the D.C. cartel, but as we've seen to a certain degree tonight, there's a price for standing up to the D.C. cartel. Thirteen Republican senators have endorsed other candidates, none have endorsed you. You \u2014 twice last year, you asked for a colleague to second a motion, a routine courtesy on the Senate floor, and no senator would do it. Top GOP officials worry that if you're at the top of the ticket \u2014 some officials \u2014 that not only will you lose the White House, but it will tank the ticket all the way down the line. The question is does your style sometimes get in the way of your ability to get things done, sir? +p3043 +aVGovernor Christie, two of your former top aides go on trial in May for fraud and conspiracy in the "Bridge-gate" case, the politically motivated closure of lanes to the George Washington Bridge. Another former aide who has already pleaded guilty and will likely testify for the government, as you know, says that you knew about this whole deal. Can the GOP take the chance of nominating you with this scandal still out there, sir? +p3044 +aVGentlemen, almost 60% of Republican caucus-goers identify themselves as Evangelicals, so I'd like to spend a few minutes exploring social issues. Governor Kasich, you talk a good deal about your faith. In fact, you say it played a role in your decision to expand Medicaid, and you say that when you meet Saint Peter at the Pearly Gates, he's going to ask what you did for the poor, not what you did to keep government small. Senator Cruz is on the opposite side of this issue from you, so does that mean that you're getting in and he isn't? +p3045 +aVGentlemen, we had a case study on religious liberty just this last summer. A county clerk in Kentucky named Kim Davis refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples after the Supreme Court ruling, saying that it violated her religious beliefs. Governor Christie, you said that she must follow the law or be moved to another job that would be in keeping with her conscience. But some conservatives say that that violates her religious liberty. +p3046 +aVThank you, sir. Senator Rubio, during the last debate, you said Governor Christie had changed his position and his mind on gun control, on common core, and backing President Obama's nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. He said you're wrong on the facts and you can't, quote, "slime your way to the White House." I assume in the last two weeks, you've done some fact-checking. Do you want to take anything back? +p3047 +aVThank you, senator. Senator Paul, in May on the campaign trail you, said you didn't get into politics to fight about abortion. You said you were more concerned about the national debt. Your answer is to turn abortion back to the states the way it was before Roe v. Wade. Does that mean that if a liberal state, let's say, wants to make abortion legal, that you're okay with that and what do you say to conservative voters who believe deeply that abortion is murder? +p3048 +aVSir, just 30 seconds to answer my specific... Just 30 seconds to answer my specific question. Do you favor the idea that abortion should be a states' rights issue and if a liberal state wants to make it legal, that that's their choice? Yes or no? +p3049 +aVThank you, sir. +p3050 +aVWe're not finished yet. More to come from the presidential debate, live from Des Moines, Iowa, next. And remember, to see how the campaigns are responding to the debate in real time, go togoogle.com or open your Google search app and search Fox News debate, and please stay with us. +p3051 +aVWe have another question from one of Youtube's top creators. Here it is. +p3052 +aVGovernor Bush, how do you answer Nabela? +p3053 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Cruz, change of subject. You called for an end to the renewable fuel standards which mandate that refineries blend biofuels, including ethanol into gasoline. As you well know, ethanol's a big industry in this state, $10 billion dollars a year. Last week, Terry Branstad, the popular Governor of Iowa... ... Who is in the hall tonight, said that you're bankrolled by big oil, and that Iowa voters would be making a mistake supporting you. Why should those voters side with you over the six- term governor of the state, sir? +p3054 +aVDr. Carson, I'd like to ask you about exactly that issue. Where are you on the mandatory ethanol standard, and precisely this question. Should government be in the business of picking winners and losers, or should it be left to the market place? +p3055 +aVDoctor, thank you. +p3056 +aVDr. Ben Carson. +p3057 +aVAnd don't forget, after all the talk, the first voting of the 2016 campaign happens in just four days. The first Americans to vote, the Iowa caucuses are Monday and Fox News will have complete coverage. +p3058 +asVSMITH +p3059 +(lp3060 +VGovernor Huckabee, same question to you. Where do you see the country right now? +p3061 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Thank you, candidates. Moving to the world stage. The middle east is on the brink of chaos. Iran continues to provoke the United States, North Korea claims it's tested a hydrogen bomb, and Afghanistan is in danger of falling back into Taliban hands. Critics of the administration say it's all due to lack of U.S. leadership. To you, Mrs. Fiorina, how do you see America's role in the world today? +p3062 +aVGovernor Huckabee, in Afghanistan, the Taliban is strengthening. Attacks are on the rise and thousands more civilians have been wounded or killed. Much of the Taliban surge can be attributed to the withdrawal of U.S. forces there. You have expressed skepticism with the war there, saying you see no end game in sight. What, then, is your solution to the growing conflict there? +p3063 +aVAll right, thank you, candidates. We're just getting started. Jobs, Homeland Security, gun rights, all those issues are coming up straight ahead. We're live from North Charleston and the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back. +p3064 +aVAll right, let's get started. Senator Santorum, to you first. President Obama has urged technology leaders to make it hard for terrorists to use technology to escape from justice. Hillary Clinton says social media companies can help by swiftly shutting down terrorist accounts. The companies say that they're already working with law enforcement and any proposed legislation would do more harm than good. Should companies like Facebook and Twitter be required by law to more actively \u2014 be more actively engaged in fighting terror? +p3065 +aVSenator, would you \u2014 would you require anything of those companies like Facebook and Twitter if you were president? +p3066 +aVThank you, Senator. +p3067 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee, you called President Obama's executive orders on gun control unconstitutional and completely insane. +p3068 +aVYou even told gun store owners to ignore the President's orders. Yet, innocent people are dying from gun violence in cities like Detroit, Chicago, and Charleston everyday. Is there anything that can be done at the federal level to prevent guns from falling into the hands of criminals? +p3069 +aV +p3070 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p3071 +aVSenator Santorum, many of our military leaders believe America's critical infrastructure is vulnerable to a terrorist attack. This is the power in our homes, the water we drink, the Internet and phone systems by which we stay connected. If attacked, these essential services that underpin American society could come to a grinding halt. Do you have a specific plan to protect us from this type of attack? +p3072 +aVSenator Santorum, I want to stay with you on this, moving to jobs and the economy. In his State of the Union Address the other night, President Obama touted his record on jobs, citing more than 14 million new jobs and boasted of nearly 900,000 manufacturing jobs added in the past six years. Do you dispute his track record of creating jobs? +p3073 +aVGovernor Huckabee, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mike Mullen, has said the greatest threat to our security is our national debt. Our national debt is now on pace to top $19 trillion. Yet, you as well as Ms. Fiorina have laid forward no plan to reform entitlements. How can you say you're going to pay down our country's debt without cutting Social Security or Medicare? +p3074 +aVOK. We're going to continue this conversation. We're taking a quick break and then coming up, the candidates' plans for strengthening the middle class. We're live in North Charleston with the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back. +p3075 +aVAll right, thanks, Trish. Well, let's get started with Ms. Fiorina. Today, the middle class represents about 50 percent of the U.S. population, down from about 61 percent back in 1971. That's according to Pew Research. The same research revealed a widening income gap in America. The rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. What will you do to strengthen a middle class that is no longer the majority? +p3076 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p3077 +aVThank you, Senator. We're not finished yet. More Republican Presidential Debate in North Charleston after this. +p3078 +aVWelcome back, it's time for the closing statements. Candidates will each get one minute, starting with Senator Santorum. Thank you very much, I want to thank the people of Charleston, which has become a little bit of a second home to me, because I am very privileged to have two young men who go to the Citadel here and they're here tonight, my son John and my son Daniel. +p3079 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Governor Mike Huckabee. +p3080 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3081 +aVAlright, this debate will last one hour. Each candidate will have up to 90 seconds to respond to each question. One minute for each follow up. When your time is up, you're going to hear this bell. Alright, that's it, so let's begin with Governor Christie. Governor, economically, our country is struggling with some of the anemic growth we have seen on record. More than 90 million Americans are unemployed, or they are not in the workforce altogether. The number of people now willing, able, and wanting to go to work is at a level that has fallen to a level we have not been since the 1970's. For those that are working, wages aren't budging while other things, costs, like housing, remain high. As President, what concrete steps will you take to get America back to work. +p3082 +aVThank you. Governor Huckabee, we're here Wisconsin, a state that has seen the biggest decline in middle-class households of any American state. With more than 120,000 manufacturing jobs being lost in the last 15 years. As we move away from a manufacturing economy to a services based, technological economy, how are you going to help the millions of Americans that are stuck in this transition? +p3083 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee, you have characterized entitlement reform as both political and economic suicide. Taxpayers currently spend more than $600 billion per year on social welfare programs, with the intended goal of getting people back on their feet and working again. Today a record number of Americans aren't even looking for work. Are our social welfare programs, while well-intended, creating a culture of dependency? If so, how will you fix it? +p3084 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3085 +aVDo you have something to add, Governor? +p3086 +aVAll right. Let's, let's bring Governor Christie in next. +p3087 +aVAll right. Well, let's get the \u2014 let's keep the conversation going. Let's bring Governor Christie in here because we're talking about national debt, climbing toward $19 trillion, Governor. Our federal government employed nearly three million workers, our tax code is more than 74,000 pages long. If you're elected President, Governor Christie, what concrete steps would you take to reduce the size of the federal government? +p3088 +aVGovernor Christie, China is stealing our technology. China is pirating our intellectual property, and China's hacking into our computers, spying on American corporations, and spying on our citizens. China also slaps tariffs on U.S. goods, making it harder for us to sell our products. How are you going to stop them? +p3089 +aV...Alright... +p3090 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p3091 +aVAll right. Governor Jindal, thank you. All right. Well, we are not finished yet. More from the Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee, next. +p3092 +aVSo would you change leadership at the Fed? +p3093 +aVSenator Santorum, thank you. I have a question for all of you. Americans connection to the military has been increasingly fading. As a society, how do we restore that sense of duty, that sense of pride, that was the hallmark of the greatest generation. Again, I'd like to ask each of you, 30 seconds each, beginning with Governor Jindal. +p3094 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p3095 +aVGovernor Christie. +p3096 +aVSenator Santorum. +p3097 +aVAlright, thank you gentlemen. That does it, everyone, for the first debate here in Milwaukee. In just about one hour from now, at 9:00PM Eastern, eight more candidates are going to be taking to the stage. Right now though, special coverage of the Republican Presidential Debate, live from Milwaukee, continues right here on Fox Business. +p3098 +asVBAKER +p3099 +(lp3100 +VThe candidates on stage tonight were selected based on their standing in an average of four national polls. Those standings determining their position on the stage. And here they are. At center stage, businessman Donald Trump. Neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson. +p3101 +aVTonight's rules are simple. Up to 90 second for each answer. One minute for each follow-up response. And if a candidate goes over their allotted time, you'll here this. +p3102 +aVMs. Fiorina, while you've all pointed out how weak the current recovery has been and how disappointing by any historical standards, in the general election, the Democrats will inevitably ask you and voters to compare the recent president's jobs performance. Now, in seven years under President Obama, the U.S. has added an average of 107,000 jobs a month. Under President Clinton, the economy added about 240,000 jobs a month. Under George W. Bush, it was only 13,000 a month. If you win the nomination, you'll probably be facing a Democrat named Clinton. How are you going to respond to the claim that Democratic presidents are better at creating jobs than Republicans? +p3103 +aVThank you. Thank you. Senator Paul, income inequality has been rising in the United States. Fifty years ago, for example, the average CEO of a big corporation in this country earned 20 times the average salary of one of his or her workers. Today, that CEO earns about 300 times the average salary of a worker. Does it matter at all that the gap between the rich and everyone else is widening? +p3104 +aVThank you, Senator. +p3105 +aVSenator Rubio... +p3106 +aVYes, one quick comment, yes. +p3107 +aVGovernor Bush... +p3108 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor, you...You should let Jeb speak. +p3109 +aVMr. Trump, Mr. Trump, you yourself \u2014 you yourself said let Governor Bush speak. Governor Bush? +p3110 +aVSenator Rubio? Senator... +p3111 +aVSenator Rubio, Senator Rubio, let me \u2014 let me take you to a question that I think gets to the root of a lot of the anxiety that people have in this country. The economy is undergoing a transformation through information technology. Americans are anxious that the new economy isn't producing higher-paying jobs. Many are concerned that the new wealth seems to be going mainly to innovators and investors. Meanwhile, with factories run by robots and shopping done increasingly on smartphones, many traditional jobs are just going away. How do you reassure American workers that their jobs are not being steadily replaced by machines? +p3112 +aVThank you. Senator Cruz \u2014 Senator Cruz, entitlements. You've argued for raising the retirement age and reducing benefits for future retirees, but reducing any sort of benefits for the elderly has always been notoriously hard to do politically. When Speaker Paul Ryan proposed replacing traditional Medicare with federally funded private plans a few years ago, a liberal group responded with a commercial that featured a granny being pushed off a cliff. What's going to be different this time? +p3113 +aV...I said for future retirees was your statement... +p3114 +aVSenator Rubio. Can I just come to Senator Rubio? We're coming to you, Mr. Trump, in one second. I \u2014 I promise. +p3115 +aVSenator Rubio, your tax plan includes a large expansion of child tax credits to raise off (ph) the tax incomes for low-income parents. A similar tax credit that you previously proposed in the Senate was estimated to cost as much as $170 billion a year, according to the Tax Foundation. Isn't \u2014 isn't there a risk you're just adding another expensive entitle program to an already overburdened federal budget? +p3116 +aVGovernor Kasich? Let me come to Governor Kasich. +p3117 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p3118 +aVVery quickly, Senator. +p3119 +aVPlease. +p3120 +aV...Gentleman, we need to move on... +p3121 +aV...We need to move... +p3122 +aV...We need too... +p3123 +aV...We do need to move on. Mr. Trump... +p3124 +aV...Very quick. +p3125 +aVLet's talk about \u2014 No, no, Governor, I really must move on. I really want to move on. Mr. Trump, let's talk about the international economy... +p3126 +aV...We really need to move on... +p3127 +aV...No, governor, I promise I will come to you... +p3128 +aV...Listen... +p3129 +aV...Mr. Trump, can I ask you about... +p3130 +aV...the U.S. just concluded an international trade agreement with 11 countries in the Pacific. You've said that you'd rather have no deal... +p3131 +aV...than sign the one that's on the table... +p3132 +aV...Most economists \u2014 most economists say that trade is boosted growth, and every single post war president has supported the expansion of international trade, including the last three republican presidents. Why would you reverse more than 50 years of U.S. trade policy? +p3133 +aVThe \u2014 the deal, as you say, the terms of the deal were published \u2014 were published just last week, the details, 5,000 pages of it, and 80 percent of U.S. trade with countries in the Pacific, these countries, these 11 countries, is actually tariff-free, and these \u2014 the trade deal only affects the other 20 percent. Which \u2014 are there particular parts of the deal that you think were badly negotiated? +p3134 +aVThere was a separate \u2014 separate... +p3135 +aVBut isn't that \u2014 isn't that part of the problem? When I say, Senator, that if \u2014 if this deal is not ratified by \u2014 by the U.S. \u2014 by the Senate, then it would actually give China an opportunity to grow its economic leadership, which it's been seeking to do? And if the U.S. is unable to take part in this trade deal with these countries in Asia, China will take the lead? +p3136 +aVThank you. Thanks, Senator. +p3137 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich, I want to ask you about China, in particular hundreds of American companies have been subjected to cyber attacks from the Chinese military, yet state-backed Chinese companies, growing their presence in the United States, Chinese investments in U.S., which were nearly nonexistent a few years ago, are now over $50 billion. And as my newspaper recently reported, Chinese companies are planning to bid for one of the largest hotel chains in the United States, what would be the largest ever Chinese takeover of a U.S. company. Would you stop them? +p3138 +aVThank you, Governor. Plenty of opportunities. Thank you. Neil? +p3139 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate, live from Milwaukee. Now let's get straight back to the questions, and Governor Bush. Governor, Hillary Clinton recently said that if we had another financial crisis like the one in 2008, she wouldn't bail out the banks. Would you? +p3140 +aVBut, Governor, but can I just quickly \u2014 did \u2014 you can't seriously guarantee that there won't be another financial crisis, can you? +p3141 +aVEver? There will never be another financial crisis? +p3142 +aVDr. Carson, if I may, just on that point, despite measures taken, as the governor says, since the crisis to make the financial system safer, the major banks in the U.S., many of them are actually bigger than ever. Asset held by JPMorgan Chase, for example, the very largest bank, have increased by nearly 40 percent to over $2.6 trillion. Do you think JPMorgan and the other big banks should be broken up? +p3143 +aVBut just to be clear, just \u2014 just to be clear, then, you wouldn't \u2014 you wouldn't favor breaking up the big banks? You think they're big enough \u2014 they're OK as they are, as big as they are? +p3144 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p3145 +aVThank you. +p3146 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate. And now, candidates, it's time for your closing statements. You get 30 seconds each, and, Senator Paul, we will begin with you. +p3147 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p3148 +asVHOLT +p3149 +(lp3150 +VGood evening and welcome to the NBC News Youtube Democratic candidate's debate. After all the campaigning, soon, Americans will have their say with the first votes of the 2016 campaign just 15 days away in Iowa. And New Hampshire not far behind. Tonight will be the final opportunity to see these candidates face to face before the voting begins. Our purpose here tonight is to highlight and examine the differences among the three Democratic candidates. So let's get started. Please welcome Secretary Hillary Clinton, Senator Bernie Sanders and Governor Martin O'Malley. Well, welcome to all of you. Hope you're excited, we're excited. We want to thank our hosts, the Congressional Black Caucus Institute. I'm joined by my colleague Andrea Mitchell tonight. The rules are simple. Sixty seconds for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups or rebuttals. I know you'll all keep exactly to time, so our job should be pretty easy here tonight. We'll have questions from the Youtube community throughout the debate. This is a critical point in the race. You've been defining your differences with each other especially vigorously in the last week on the campaign trail. We're here to facilitate this conversation on behalf of the voters so that they know exactly where you stand as you face off tonight. Let's have a great debate. We'll begin with 45 second opening statements from each candidate, starting with Secretary Clinton. +p3151 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders, your opening statement, sir. +p3152 +aVSenator, thank you. And Governor O'Malley, your opening statement, sir. O' +p3153 +aVAll right. And Governor, thank you. All right, to our first question, now. The first question, I'll be addressing to all of the candidates. President Obama came to office determined to swing for the fences on health care reform. Voters want to know how you would define your presidency? How would you think big? So complete this sentence: in my first 100 days in office, my top three priorities will be \u2014 fill in the blank. Senator Sanders. +p3154 +aVSecretary Clinton, same question, my first 100 days in office, my top three priorities will be. +p3155 +aVGovernor O'Malley, same question. O' +p3156 +aVThank you. You've all... O' +p3157 +aVAll right governor thank you. We've all laid out large visions and we're going to cover a lot of the ground you talked about as we continue in the evening. The last couple of weeks of this campaign have featured some of the sharpest exchanges in the race. Let's start with one of them, the issue of guns. Senator Sanders, last week Secretary Clinton called you quote, "a pretty reliable vote for the gun lobby." Right before the debate you changed your position on immunity from lawsuits for gun manufacturers, can you tell us why? +p3158 +aVSenator, but you didn't answer the question that you did change your position on immunity from gun manufacturers. So can you... +p3159 +aVSecretary Clinton, would you like to respond to Senator Sanders. +p3160 +aVAll right, Governor O'Malley, you signed tough gun control measures as governor of Maryland and there are a lot Democrats in the audience here in South Carolina who own guns. This conversation might be worrying many of them. They may be hearing, "you want to take my guns. What would you say to them? O' +p3161 +aVAlright, Governor, thank you. Secretary Clinton, this is a community that has suffered a lot of heartache in the last year. Of course, as you mentioned, the church shootings. We won't forget the video of Walter Scott being shot in the back while running from police. We understand that a jury will decide whether that police officer was justified, but it plays straight to the fears of many African American men that their lives are cheap. Is that perception, or in your view, is it reality? +p3162 +aVYou time is up. Senator Sanders, my next question is... +p3163 +aV... It's actually \u2014 actually my next question is to you... +p3164 +aVSenator Sanders... +p3165 +aVSenator. Senator Sanders... +p3166 +aV... Just over a week ago the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus endorsed Secretary Clinton, not you. He said that choosing her over you was not a hard decision. In fact, our polling shows she's beating you more than two to one among minority voters. How can you be the nominee if you don't have that support? +p3167 +aVGovernor, I'm going to come to you in a second. Google searches for the words, "Black Lives Matter" surpassed, "civil rights movement". And, here in South Carolina, "black lives matter" was the number one trending political issue. +p3168 +aVAll right. Let's talk... O' +p3169 +aVLet's talk more about policing and the criminal justice system. Senator Sanders, a few times tonight we're going to hear from some of the most prominent voices on YouTube, starting with Franchesca Ramsey, who tackles racial stereotypes through her videos. Let's watch. +p3170 +aVSenator Sanders. +p3171 +aVWould you like me to read it back to you? +p3172 +aVProsecutors \u2014 "I believe there's a huge conflict of interest when local prosecutors investigate cases of police violence within their communities. Most recently, we saw this with a non- indictment of the officers involved in the case of 12-year-old Tamir Rice. How would you presidency ensure incidents of police violence are investigated and prosecuted fairly?" +p3173 +aVSecretary Clinton, this question is for you. Tonight parts of America are in the grip of a deadly heroin epidemic, spanning race and class, hitting small towns and cities alike. It has become a major issue in this race. In a lot of places where you've been campaigning, despite an estimated trillion dollars spent, many say the war on drugs has failed. So what would you do? +p3174 +aVAnd that's time. +p3175 +aVSenator... +p3176 +aVSenator Sanders, would you like to respond? +p3177 +aVThat's... +p3178 +aV... time. +p3179 +aVWe're going to get into all that coming up. O' +p3180 +aVBut we're going to take a break and we need to take a break... O' +p3181 +aV... and when we come back, the anger brewing in America. +p3182 +aVWelcome back to Charleston. Let's turn to another area where there has been fierce disagreement \u2014 that would be health care. Senator Sanders and Secretary Clinton, you both mentioned it in your 100-day priorities. Let's turn to my colleague, Andrea Mitchell now to lead that questioning. +p3183 +aVAnd that's time. We're gonna take a turn now. Secretary Clinton, in his final State of the Union address, President Obama said his biggest regret was his inability to bring the country together. If President Obama couldn't do it, how will you? O' +p3184 +aVThat's time. Senator Sanders, response. +p3185 +aVThat's time. But let me continue with the... +p3186 +aVSenator Sanders, let me continue, you call yourself a Democratic socialist... +p3187 +aVAnd throughout your career in politics, you've been critical of the Democratic party, you've been saying in a book you wrote, quote, "There wasn't a hell of a big difference between the the two major parties." How would you will a general election... +p3188 +aVHow will you win a general election labeling yourself a democratic socialist? +p3189 +aVYes, but senator, you can... +p3190 +aVAnd that is right. +p3191 +aVSecretary Clinton, our next question is for you. Here's another quantitative problem. +p3192 +aVAnd we're going to get into that coming up. But Secretary Clinton, here's a question from YouTube. It's from a young video blogger who has over 5 million subscribers. He has a question about the importance of younger voters. +p3193 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p3194 +aVThat's time... +p3195 +aVA quick follow up \u2014 a thirty second follow up. Why is Senator Sanders beating you to 2 to 1 among younger votes? +p3196 +aVWe're going to take... +p3197 +aVWe're going to take a break. When we come back; big banks, big business and big differences among the three candidates on the American Economy. We'll be right back. +p3198 +aVWelcome back from Charleston. Let's turn now to the economy. Senator Sanders, you released a tough new ad last week in which without mentioning Secretary Clinton by name, you talk about two Democratic visions for regulating Wall Street. "One says it's OK to take millions from big banks and tell them what to do. My plan, break up the big banks, close the tax loopholes and make them pay their fair share." What do you see as the difference between what you would do about the banks and what Secretary Clinton would do? +p3199 +aVSecretary Clinton, help the voter understand the daylight between the two of you here. +p3200 +aVSenator Sanders, your response. +p3201 +aVThat's time. Governor O'Malley... +p3202 +aVI have a question for you... +p3203 +aVThirty-second response. +p3204 +aVGovernor O'Malley. O' +p3205 +aVSecretary Clinton, 30-second response. +p3206 +aVThat's time. Andrea. +p3207 +aV... Senator... +p3208 +aVWe have got a lot to ground to cover here. Many Democratic voters are passionate about the need to do something to combat the threat of climate change, including the team of scientists from Youtube's MinuteEarth channel. Here's their take. +p3209 +aVSenator Sanders, Americans love their SUVs, which spiked in sales last year as gas prices plummeted. How do you convince Americans that the problem of climate change is so urgent that they need to change their behavior? +p3210 +aVGovernor O'Malley, 30 seconds. O' +p3211 +aVThat's time. We're going to take a break. +p3212 +aVWhen we return, the late-breaking developments regarding Iran. The threat of +p3213 +aVCharleston, Andrea Mitchell has questions now starting with Iran. +p3214 +aVSenator Sanders mentioned Russia a moment ago. Secretary Clinton, you famously handed Russia's foreign minister a reset button in 2009. Since then, Russia has annexed Crimea, fomented a war in Ukraine, provided weapons that downed an airliner and launched operations, as we just did discuss, to support Assad in Syria. As president, would you hand Vladimir Putin a reset button? +p3215 +aVWhat's your relationship with him? +p3216 +aVWe to want turn right now to the issue of balancing national security concerns with the privacy rights of Americans. That brings us to YouTube and this question. +p3217 +aVSo, Governor O'Malley. O' +p3218 +aVThat's time. You have all talked about what you would do fighting +p3219 +aVThat's a question to Senator Sanders. I wasn't clear, I apologize. +p3220 +aVBut in terms of lone wolves, the threat, how would you do it? +p3221 +aVWe have to go to a \u2014 we have to go to a break, and when we come back, we're going to get to some of the burning questions these candidates have yet to answer and are totally eager to talk about. +p3222 +aVAnd welcome back to Charleston. As we were going to a break, Secretary Clinton, I cut you off. I'll give you 30 seconds to respond on the issue of lone wolves. O' +p3223 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p3224 +aVAnd Andrea has a follow-up. O' +p3225 +aVAll right, that's time, and \u2014 and we do......we do have to move on. Secretary Clinton, this is the first time... +p3226 +aVThirty \u2014 30 \u2014 30 seconds, Senator. +p3227 +aVAll right. Secretary Clinton......this is the first time that a spouse of a former president could be elected president. You have said that President Clinton would advise you on economic issues, but be specific, if you can. Are you talking about a kitchen-table role on economics, or will he have a real policy role? +p3228 +aVSenator sanders, a 30 second response, sir. +p3229 +aVWe will take a break. We'll continue from Charleston right after this. +p3230 +aVWelcome back everybody. Finally, before we go tonight, we set out here to understand points of differences between you. We believe we've learned a lot here, but before we leave, is there anything that you really wanted to say tonight that you haven't gotten a chance to say. And, we'll start with Governor O'Malley. Didn't see that coming, did you? O' +p3231 +aVSixty seconds, we'd appreciate it. O' +p3232 +aVAnd that's time. O' +p3233 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p3234 +aVAnd that's time. +p3235 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders? +p3236 +asVCHAFEE +p3237 +(lp3238 +VThank you, Anderson. Thank you, CNN, and thank you Facebook for organizing this debate. Not only will Americans be electing a new president next year, we also will be electing a world leader. Voters should assess the candidate's experience, character and vision for the future as they make this important decision. I'm the only one running for president that has been a mayor, a United States senator, and a governor. As mayor, I brought labor peace to my city and kept taxes down. I was reelected three times. As a senator, I earned a reputation for courageous votes against the Bush-Cheney tax cuts the favored the wealthy, against the tragedy of the Iraq war, for environmental stewardship, for protection of our civil liberties. I served on the Foreign Relations Committee and I chaired the Middle East Subcommittee for four years. As governor, I came in at the depths of the recession and we turned my state around. Rhode Island had the biggest drop of the unemployment rate over my four budgets of all but one state. It happens to be Nevada, where we're having this debate. I'm very proud that over my almost 30 years of public service, I have had no scandals. I've always been honest. I have the courage to take the long-term view, and I've shown good judgment. I have high ethical standards. As we look to the future, I want to address the income inequality, close the gap between the haves and the have-nots. I want to address climate change, a real threat to our planet. And I believe in prosperity through peace. I want to end these wars. I look forward to the discussion ahead. Thank you +p3239 +aVAnderson, you're looking at a block of granite when it comes to the issues. Whether it's... +p3240 +aVDid you hear what I said? On the issues. I have not changed on the issues. I was a liberal Republican, then I was an independent, and now I'm a proud Democrat. But I have not changed on the issues. And I open my record to scrutiny. Whether it's on the environment, a woman's right to choose, gay marriage, fiscal responsibility, aversion to foreign entanglements, using the tools of government to help the less fortunate. Time and time again, I have never changed. You're looking at a block of granite when it comes to the issues. So I have not changed. +p3241 +aVThe party left me. There's no doubt about that. There was no room for a liberal moderate Republican in that party. I even had a primary for my reelection in 2006. I won it. But the money poured in to defeat me in Rhode Island as a Republican. That's what we were up against. +p3242 +aVYes, I have a good record of voting for gun commonsense safety legislation, but the reality is, despite these tragedies that happen time and time again, when legislators step up to pass commonsense gun safety legislation, the gun lobby moves in and tells the people they're coming to take away your guns. And, they're successful at it, in Colorado and others states, the legislators that vote for commonsense gun safety measures then get defeated. I even saw in Rhode Island. So, I would bring the gun lobby in and say we've got to change this. Where can we find common ground? Wayne Lapierre from the NRA, whoever it is, the leaders. Come one, we've go to change this. We're not coming to take away your guns, we believe in the Second Amendment, but let's find common ground here. +p3243 +aVWell, we just heard Senator Sanders say that it's the worst decision in American history. That's very significant, the worst decision in American history, I just heard from Senator Sanders. So, as we look ahead, if you're going to make those poor judgment calls, a critical time in our history, we just finished with the Vietnam era, getting back into another quagmire \u2014 if you're looking ahead, and you're looking at someone who made that poor decision in 2002 to go into Iraq when there was no real evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq \u2014 I know because I did my homework, and, so, that's an indication of how someone will perform in the future. And that's what's important. +p3244 +aVOK. I just have to answer one thing that Senator Webb said about the Iran deal, because I'm a strong proponent of what President Obama \u2014 and he said that because of that the Iran deal that enabled Russia to come in. No, that's not true, Senator Webb. I respect your foreign policy chops. But Russia is aligned with Iran and with Assad and the Alawite Shias in Syria. So that Iran deal did not allow Russia to come in. +p3245 +aVIt's certainly the chaos in the Middle East. There's no doubt about it. +p3246 +aVAnd it all started with the Iraq invasion. +p3247 +aVAbsolutely. We have to repair American credibility after we told the world that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, which he didn't. So there's an issue of American credibility out there. So any time someone is running to be our leader, and a world leader, which the American president is, credibility is an issue out there with the world. And we have repair work to be done. I think we need someone that has the best in ethical standards as our next president. That's how I feel. +p3248 +aVThe Glass-Steagall was my very first vote, I'd just arrived, my dad had died in office, I was appointed to the office, it was my very first vote. +p3249 +aVI'd just arrived at the Senate. I think we'd get some takeovers, and that was one. It was my very first vote, and it was 92-5. It was the... +p3250 +aVBut let me just say... +p3251 +aVI think you're being a little rough. I'd just arrived at the United States Senate. I'd been mayor of my city. My dad had died. I'd been appointed by the governor. It was the first vote and it was 90-5, because it was a conference report. But let me just say about income inequality. We've had a lot of talk over the last few minutes, hours, or tens of minutes, but no one is saying how we're going to fix it. And it all started with the Bush tax cuts that favored the wealthy. So let's go back to the tax code. And 0.6 percent of Americans are at the top echelon, over 464,000, 0.6 Americans. That's less than 1 percent. But they generate 30 percent of the revenue. And they're doing fine. +p3252 +aVSo there's still a lot more money to be had from this top echelon. I'm saying let's have another tier and put that back into the tax bracket. And that will generate $42 billion. +p3253 +aVAnd then we can help the middle class and hard-earning Americans \u2014 hard-working Americans. +p3254 +aVNo, that was another 99 to one vote for the Patriot Act, and it was seen as at the time modernizing our ability to do what we've always done to tap phones which always required a warrant. And I voted for that. +p3255 +aVNo, no. As long as you're getting a warrant, I believe that under the Fourth Amendment, you should be able to do surveillance, but you need a warrant. That's what the Fourth Amendment says. And in the Patriot Act, section 215 started to get broadened too far. So I would be in favor of addressing and reforming section 215 of the Patriot Act. +p3256 +aVNo, I would bring him home. The courts have ruled that what he did \u2014 what he did was say the American... +p3257 +aV... the American government was acting illegally. That's what the federal courts have said; what Snowden did showed that the American government was acting illegally for the Fourth Amendment. So I would bring him home. +p3258 +aVCertainly, ending the wars. We've got to stop these wars. You have to have a new dynamic, a new paradigm. We just spent a half-billion dollars arming and training soldiers, the rebel soldiers in Syria. They quickly join the other side. We bombed the... +p3259 +aVI'd like to finish my question \u2014 my answer. And also we just bombed a hospital. We've had drone strikes that hit civilian weddings. So I would change how we \u2014 our approach to the Middle East. We need a new paradigm in the Middle East. +p3260 +aVI guess the coal lobby. I've worked hard for climate change and I want to work with the coal lobby. But in my time in the Senate, tried to bring them to the table so that we could address carbon dioxide. I'm proud to be at odds with the coal lobby. +p3261 +aVThank you, Anderson. Thank you, CNN. And thank you, Facebook, for sponsoring this debate. America has many challenges confronting us \u2014 ending the perpetual wars, addressing climate change, addressing income inequality, funding education, funding infrastructure, funding healthcare, helping black Americans, helping Native Americans. We have many challenges. Who is best able to confront these challenges? I've served in government at many levels. I know what it's like to solve problems at the local level because I did it as mayor. I know how to get legislation passed through Congress because I did it as a senator. I know how to turn around a state because I did as governor of Rhode Island. But what I'm most proud of is that in 30 years of public service, I have had no scandals. I have high ethical standards. And what I'm most proud of is my judgment, particularly in the Iraq war vote. There was a lot of pressure \u2014 political pressure, public pressure. But I did my homework and I did not believe that the evidence was there that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. And we live now with the consequences. So that kind of judgment is what we want in a president going forward. And I'm running for president to end the wars. I want to be the peacemaker. I am a proven peacemaker. Please go to Chafee 2016 to learn more about me. Thank you. +p3262 +asVBROWNLEE +p3263 +(lp3264 +VHi, my name Marques Brownlee, and I've been making YouTube videos about electronics and gadgets for the past seven years. I think America's future success is tied to getting all kinds of tech right. Tech companies are responsible for the encryption technology to protect personal data, but the government wants a back door into that information. So do you think it's possible to find common ground? And where do you stand on privacy versus security? +p3265 +asVCOOPER +p3266 +(lp3267 +VI'm Anderson Cooper. Thanks for joining us. We've already welcomed the candidates on stage. They are in place at their podiums. Before we dive into the issues, I want to quickly explain some of the groundrules tonight. As the moderator, I'll ask questions, followups and guide the discussion. I'll be joined in the questioning by CNN's Juan Carlos Lopez and Dana Bash, a well as Don Lemon who will share questions from Democrats around the country. Each candidate will get one minute to answer questions, and 30 seconds for followups and rebuttals. I'll give candidates time to respond if they have been singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know that we have lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. I want the candidates to be able to introduce themselves to our audience. Each candidate will have two minutes to introduce themselves. Let's begin with Governor Chafee. Governor? +p3268 +aVThank you very much, Governor. Senator Webb, you have two minutes. +p3269 +aVGovernor O'Malley, you have two minutes. O' +p3270 +aVGovernor O'Malley, thank you very much. Senator Sanders. +p3271 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p3272 +aVThank you, all. It is time to start the debate. Are you all ready? All right. Let's begin. We're going to be discussing a lot of the issues, many of the issues, important issues that you have brought up. But I want to begin with concerns that voters have about each of the candidates here on this stage that they have about each of you. Secretary Clinton, I want to start with you. Plenty of politicians evolve on issues, but even some Democrats believe you change your positions based on political expediency. You were against same-sex marriage. Now you're for it. You defended President Obama's immigration policies. Now you say they're too harsh. You supported his trade deal dozen of times. You even called it the "gold standard". Now, suddenly, last week, you're against it. Will you say anything to get elected? +p3273 +aVSecretary Clinton, though, with all due respect, the question is really about political expediency. Just in July, New Hampshire, you told the crowd you'd, quote, "take a back seat to no one when it comes to progressive values." Last month in Ohio, you said you plead guilty to, quote, "being kind of moderate and center." Do you change your political identity based on who you're talking to? +p3274 +aVJust for the record, are you a progressive, or are you a moderate? +p3275 +aVSecretary... +p3276 +aV...thank you... +p3277 +aV...Senator... +p3278 +aVSenator Sanders. A Gallup poll says half the country would not put a socialist in the White House. You call yourself a democratic socialist. How can any kind of socialist win a general election in the United States? +p3279 +aVDenmark is a country that has a population \u2014 Denmark is a country that has a population of 5.6 million people. The question is really about electability here, and that's what I'm trying to get at. You \u2014 the \u2014 the Republican attack ad against you in a general election \u2014 it writes itself. You supported the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. You honeymooned in the Soviet Union. And just this weekend, you said you're not a capitalist. Doesn't \u2014 doesn't that ad write itself? +p3280 +aVYou don't consider yourself a capitalist, though? +p3281 +aVJust let me just be clear. Is there anybody else on the stage who is not a capitalist? +p3282 +aVSenator Sanders? +p3283 +aVWe're going to get... +p3284 +aVWe're going to have a lot more on these issues. But I do want to just quickly get everybody in on the question of electability. Governor Chafee, you've been everything but a socialist. When you were senator from Rhode Island, you were a Republican. When you were elected governor, you were an independent. You've only been a Democrat for little more than two years. Why should Democratic voters trust you won't change again? +p3285 +aVIt seems like pretty soft granite. I mean, you've been a Republican, you've been an independent. +p3286 +aVThen why change labels? +p3287 +aVGovernor O'Malley, the concern of voters about you is that you tout our record as Baltimore's mayor. As we all know, we all saw it. That city exploded in riots and violence in April. The current top prosecutor in Baltimore, also a Democrat, blames your zero tolerance policies for sowing the seeds of unrest. Why should Americans trust you with the country when they see what's going on in the city that you ran for more than seven years? O' +p3288 +aVShe actually \u2014 just for the record, when she was asked which policies, to name two, she said zero tolerance. I mean, there's a number of old policies that we're seeing the results of. That distress of communities, where communities don't want to step forward and say who killed a 3-year-old, it's a direct result of these failed policies. O' +p3289 +aVIn one year alone, though, 100,000 arrests were made in your city, a city of 640,000 people. The +p3290 +aVThank you, Governor. O' +p3291 +aVSenator Webb, in 2006, you called affirmative action "state-sponsored racism." In 2010, you wrote an op/ed saying it discriminates against whites. Given that nearly half the Democratic Party is non-white, aren't you out of step with where the Democratic Party is now? +p3292 +aVSenator Webb, thank you very much. Let's move on to some of the most pressing issues facing our country right now, some of the biggest issues right now in the headlines today. We're going to start with guns. The shooting in Oregon earlier this month, once again it brought the issue of guns into the national conversation. Over the last week, guns have been the most discussed political topic on Facebook by two to one. Senator Sanders, you voted against the Brady bill that mandated background checks and a waiting period. You also supported allowing riders to bring guns in checked bags on Amtrak trains. For a decade, you said that holding gun manufacturers legally responsible for mass shootings is a bad idea. Now, you say you're reconsidering that. Which is it: shield the gun companies from lawsuits or not? +p3293 +aVDo you want to shield gun companies from lawsuits? +p3294 +aVSecretary Clinton, is Bernie Sanders tough enough on guns? +p3295 +aVWe're going to bring you all in on this. But, Senator Sanders, you have to give a response. +p3296 +aVGovernor O'Malley, you passed gun legislation as governor of Maryland, but you had a Democratic-controlled legislature. President Obama couldn't convince Congress to pass gun legislation after the massacres in Aurora, in Newtown, and Charleston. How can you? O' +p3297 +aVSenator Sanders, I want you to be able to respond, 30 seconds. +p3298 +aVLet me bring in somebody who has a different viewpoint. Senator Webb, your rating from the NRA, you once had an A rating from the NRA. You've said gun violence goes down when more people are allowed to carry guns. Would encouraging more people to be armed be part of your response to a mass shooting? +p3299 +aVSenator... +p3300 +aVSenator \u2014 Governor Chafee, you have an F rating from the NRA, what do you think about what Senator Webb just said? +p3301 +aVI want to... O' +p3302 +aV...I want to move on to another issue, which is in the headlines right now, another crisis making headlines. Secretary Clinton, Russia, they're challenging the U.S. in Syria. According to U.S. intelligence, they've lied about who they're bombing. You spearheaded the reset with Russia. Did you underestimate the Russians, and as president, what would your response to Vladimir Putin be right now in Syria? +p3303 +aVSenator Sanders, what would you do differently. +p3304 +aVOn this issue of foreign policy, I want to go to... +p3305 +aVI want to go to Dana Bash. Dana? +p3306 +aVBut, Senator Sanders, you didn't answer the question. Under what \u2014 under what circumstances would you actually use force? +p3307 +aVI'm gonna bring you all in on this. Governor \u2014 Governor O'Malley, Secretary Clinton... +p3308 +aVSecretary Clinton voted to authorize military force in Iraq, supported more troops in Afghanistan. As Secretary of State, she wanted to arm Syrian rebels and push for the bombing of Libya. Is she too quick to use military force? O' +p3309 +aVDoes she \u2014 does she want to use military force too rapidly? O' +p3310 +aVGovernor O'Malley, just for the record, on the campaign trail, you've been saying that Secretary Clinton is always quick for the \u2014 for the military intervention. Senator \u2014 Secretary Clinton, you can respond. +p3311 +aVWell \u2014 yes, you'll be coming in next, but she was directly quoted, Senator. +p3312 +aVOK. +p3313 +aVSecretary? +p3314 +aVThank you. +p3315 +aVThank you, Secretary. +p3316 +aVSenator Webb, you said as president you would never have used military force in Libya and that the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi was, in your words, "inevitable." Should Secretary Clinton have seen that attack coming? +p3317 +aVSenator... +p3318 +aVYou're over your time as of now. +p3319 +aVYou agreed to these debate rules. +p3320 +aVSenator Sanders, I want you to be able to respond. +p3321 +aVI'd like you to be able to respond and get in on this. +p3322 +aVHe doesn't seem to be the type of guy to regret a lot. +p3323 +aVSecretary Clinton, on the campaign trail, Governor Webb has said that he would never have used military force in Libya and that the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi was inevitable. Should you have seen that attack coming? +p3324 +aVBut American citizens did lose their lives in Benghazi. +p3325 +aVGovernor O'Malley? +p3326 +aVSenator Webb, I want you to be able to respond. +p3327 +aVSenator Webb? +p3328 +aVSecretary (sic) Webb, you served in Vietnam. You're a marine. Once a marine, always a marine. You served as a marine in Vietnam. You're a decorated war hero. You eventually became secretary of the navy. During the Vietnam War, the man standing next to you, Senator Sanders, applied for status as a conscientious objector. Given his history, can he serve as a credible commander-in-chief? +p3329 +aVSenator Sanders, tell an American soldier who is watching right now tonight in Afghanistan why you can be commander-in- chief given that you applied for conscientious objector status. +p3330 +aVVery quickly, 30 seconds for each of you. Governor Chafee, who or what is the greatest national security threat to the United States? I want to go down the line. +p3331 +aVOK. Senator, I can give you 30 seconds to respond. +p3332 +aVThirty seconds for each of you. Governor Chafee, what is the greatest national security threat to the United States? +p3333 +aVOK. +p3334 +aVGovernor O'Malley? O' +p3335 +aVSecretary Clinton, the greatest national security threat? +p3336 +aVSenator Sanders, greatest national security threat? +p3337 +aVSenator Webb? +p3338 +aVAll right. We're going to take a short break. Do these candidates see eye to eye on an issue that is driving a big wedge between Republicans? That is next. We'll be right back. +p3339 +aVAnd welcome back. We are live in Nevada, in Las Vegas, at the Wynn Resort for the first Democratic presidential debate. The questions continue. We begin with Secretary Clinton. Secretary Clinton, you are going to be testifying before Congress next week about your e-mails. For the last eight months, you haven't been able to put this issue behind you. You dismissed it; you joked about it; you called it a mistake. What does that say about your ability to handle far more challenging crises as president? +p3340 +aVSecretary... +p3341 +aVSecretary Clinton, Secretary Clinton, with all due respect, it's a little hard \u2014 I mean, isn't it a little bit hard to call this just a partisan issue? There's an FBI investigation, and President Obama himself just two days ago said this is a legitimate issue. +p3342 +aVThank you. +p3343 +aVSenator Sanders? +p3344 +aVIt's obviously very popular in this crowd, and it's \u2014 hold on. I know that plays well in this room. But I got to be honest, Governor Chafee, for the record, on the campaign trail, you've said a different thing. You said this is a huge issue. Standing here in front of Secretary Clinton, are you willing to say that to her face? +p3345 +aVSecretary Clinton, do you want to respond? +p3346 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor... Governor O'Malley... Governor, it's popular in the room, but a lot of people do want to know these answers. Governor O'Malley, you expressed concern on the campaign trail that the Democratic Party is, and I quote, "being defined by Hillary Clinton's email scandal." You heard her answer, do you still feel that way tonight? O' +p3347 +aV...Thank you, governor. O' +p3348 +aVI want to talk about issues of race in America, for that I want to start of with Don Lemon. +p3349 +aVThe question from Arthur... +p3350 +aV...Do black lives matter, or do all lives matter? Let's put that question to Senator Sanders. +p3351 +aVGovernor O'Malley, the question from Arthur was do black lives matter, or do all lives matter? O' +p3352 +aVSecretary Clinton, what would you do for African Americans in this country that President Obama couldn't? +p3353 +aV...Thank you, Senator... +p3354 +aVSenator... +p3355 +aVSenator Webb? +p3356 +aVThanks, sir. +p3357 +aVSenator Sanders, let's talk about income inequality. Wages and incomes are flat. You've argued that the gap between rich and poor is wider than at any time since the 1920s. We've had a Democratic president for seven years. What are you going to be able to do that President Obama didn't? +p3358 +aVSecretary Clinton... +p3359 +aVI'll let you jump in a moment. Everybody will get in on this in a moment. Secretary Clinton, how would you address this issue? In all candor, you and your husband are part of the one percent. How can you credibly represent the views of the middle class? +p3360 +aVGovernor O'Malley, (inaudible). O' +p3361 +aVJust for viewers at home who may not be reading up on this, Glass-Steagall is the Depression-era banking law repealed in 1999 that prevented commercial banks from engaging in investment banking and insurance activities. Secretary Clinton, he raises a fundamental difference on this stage. Senator Sanders wants to break up the big Wall Street banks. You don't. You say charge the banks more, continue to monitor them. Why is your plan better? +p3362 +aVSenator Sanders, Secretary Clinton just said that her policy is tougher than yours. +p3363 +aVWhy? +p3364 +aVSenator... +p3365 +aVSecretary Clinton, you have to be able to respond. He brought you up. +p3366 +aV +p3367 +aVThank you. Thank you. Senator Sanders... +p3368 +aVGovernor O'Malley? Where do you stand? +p3369 +aVSecretary Clinton... O' +p3370 +aVI have to let you respond. +p3371 +aVThank you. +p3372 +aVThank... +p3373 +aVSenator Sanders... Senator Sanders, in 2008, congressional leaders were told, without the 2008 bailout, the U.S. was possibly days away from a complete meltdown. Despite that, you still voted against it. As president, would you stand by your principles if it risked the country's financial stability? +p3374 +aVWe're going to talk about that in a minute. But, Senator Webb, I want to get you in. You have said neither party has the guts to take on Wall Street. Is the system rigged? +p3375 +aVYou agreed to these rules and you're wasting time. So if you would finish your answer, we'll move on. +p3376 +aVGovernor Chafee, you have attacked Secretary Clinton for being too close to Wall Street banks. In 1999 you voted for the very bill that made banks bigger. +p3377 +aVAre you saying you didn't know what you were voting for? +p3378 +aVWell, with all due respect, Governor... +p3379 +aV... what does that say about you that you're casting a vote for something you weren't really sure about? +p3380 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3381 +aVI want to bring in Dana Bash. +p3382 +aVDana? +p3383 +aVSenator Sanders, I want to bring it over to Juan Carlos Lopez from CNN en Espanol. We're obviously in Nevada. It's had the highest percentage of undocumented immigrants of any state in the country as of last year. Juan Carlos? +p3384 +aVSenator Webb... O' +p3385 +aV...Thank you, Senator. +p3386 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p3387 +aV...Secretary... +p3388 +aVSecretary Clinton, let me ask you. Two of your rivals from your left, Governor O'Malley, and Senator Sanders, want to provide instate college tuition to undocumented immigrants. Where do you stand on that? +p3389 +aVSo, on the record, you believe that undocumented immigrants should get instate college tuition. +p3390 +aVGovernor O'Malley? O' +p3391 +aV...Senator... O' +p3392 +aVSenator Sanders, you talked about your record on the Veteran affairs committee. You served on that committee for the last eight years, including two years as its chairman while veterans died waiting for health care. You and Senator McCain ultimately addressed the issue with bi-partisan legislation. Why did it take 18 Inspector General reports, and a CNN investigation, and others, before you and your colleagues took action? +p3393 +aVGovernor Chafee, you and Hillary Clinton both voted for the Patriot Act which created the NSA surveillance program. You've emphasized civil liberties, privacy during your campaign. Aren't these two things in conflict? +p3394 +aVDo you regret that vote? +p3395 +aVSecretary Clinton, do you regret your vote on the Patriot Act? +p3396 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator Sanders, you're the only one on this stage who voted against the Patriot Act in 2001... +p3397 +aV... and the reauthorization votes. Let me ask you, if elected, would you shut down the NSA surveillance program? +p3398 +aVWould you shut down the NSA surveillance program? +p3399 +aVYou would, point blank. +p3400 +aVGovernor Chafee, Edward Snowden, is he a traitor or a hero? +p3401 +aVBring him home, no jail time? +p3402 +aVSecretary Clinton, hero or traitor? +p3403 +aVShould he do jail time? Cl +p3404 +aVGovernor O'Malley, Snowden? O' +p3405 +aVSenator Sanders, Edward Snowden? +p3406 +aVIs he a hero? +p3407 +aVSenator Webb, Edward Snowden? +p3408 +aVAnother \u2014 another question for each of you, starting with Governor Chafee. Name the one thing \u2014 the one way that your administration would not be a third term of President Obama. +p3409 +aVPresident Obama's generals right now are suggesting keeping troops in Afghanistan after the time he wanted them pulled out. Would you keep them there? +p3410 +aVGovernor O'Malley, how would you be different than President Obama's administration? O' +p3411 +aVSecretary Clinton, how would you not be a third term of President Obama? +p3412 +aVIs there a policy difference? +p3413 +aVSenator Sanders? +p3414 +aVSenator Webb, how would you not be a third term for Obama? +p3415 +aVSenator Sanders, he cited you. You don't hear a lot of Democratic presidential candidates talking about revolution. What do you mean? +p3416 +aVAnd we want to \u2014 and we're going to talk more about climate change and environmental issues coming up. Some of the candidates have tried marijuana, as have pretty much \u2014 probably everybody in this room. ( +p3417 +aVAnd welcome back to this CNN Democratic presidential debate. It has been quite a night so far. We are in the final block of this debate. All the candidates are back, which I'm very happy to see. ( +p3418 +aVIt's a long story. Let's continue, shall we? Secretary Clinton, welcome back. +p3419 +aVThat's right. Secretary Clinton, Governor O'Malley says the presidency is not a crown to be passed back and forth between two royal families. This year has been the year of the outsider in politics, just ask Bernie Sanders. Why should Democrats embrace an insider like yourself? +p3420 +aVGovernor O'Malley, do you want to tell Secretary Clinton why she shouldn't get the crown? O' +p3421 +aVSecretary Clinton, you have to be able to respond, if you want. +p3422 +aV(inaudible). Senator Sanders, does she have the right stuff? +p3423 +aVwe've got \u2014 we \u2014 a lot of questions we've got about climate change, and we're gonna go to Don Lemon. Don? +p3424 +aVGovernor... O' +p3425 +aV...Governor O'Malley, thank you very much. Senator Webb, you have a very different view than just about anybody else on this stage, and unlike a lot of Democrats. You're pro-coal, you're pro-offshore drilling, you're pro-Keystone pipeline. Are \u2014 again, are you \u2014 the question is, are you out of step with the Democratic party? +p3426 +aVSenator Sanders, are you tougher on \u2014 on climate change than Secretary Clinton? +p3427 +aVSenator \u2014 thank you, Senator. +p3428 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want you to be able to respond, then I'm gonna go to (ph) (inaudible). +p3429 +aVThank you. +p3430 +aVDana Bash? +p3431 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders? +p3432 +aVGovernor O'Malley? O' +p3433 +aVGovernor, thank you. The issue now, particularly in this state, is recreational marijuana. I want to go to Juan Carlos Lopez. +p3434 +aVSecretary Clinton, thank you. I want to go to Don Lemon with another Facebook question. +p3435 +aVWe're going to hear from all the candidates coming up. We're going to take a short break. More from the candidates in a moment. +p3436 +aVAnd welcome back to the final round of the CNN Democratic presidential debate. This is a question to each of you. Each of you, by the way, are going to have closing statements to make. Each of you will have 90 seconds. But a final question to each of you. If you can, just try to \u2014 15 seconds if you can. Governor Chafee, Franklin Delano Roosevelt once said, "I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made." You've all made a few people upset over your political careers. Which enemy are you most proud of? +p3437 +aVGovernor O'Malley? O' +p3438 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p3439 +aVSenator Sanders? +p3440 +aVSenator Webb? +p3441 +aVAll right. Time for closing statements. Each of you will have 90 seconds. Governor Chafee, let's begin with you. +p3442 +aVGovernor Chafee, thank you very much. Senator Webb, your final statement for 90 seconds. +p3443 +aVSenator Webb, thank you very much. Governor O'Malley, you have 90 seconds. O' +p3444 +aVGovernor O'Malley, thank you very much. Senator Sanders, final, closing thoughts, 90 seconds. +p3445 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p3446 +asVHUCKABEE +p3447 +(lp3448 +VWell, John, I don't really have any weaknesses that I can think of. But my wife is down here in the front, and I'm sure, if you'd like to talk to her later, she can give you more than you'll ever be able to take care of. If I have a weakness, it's that I try to live by the rules. I try to live by the rules, no matter what they are, and I was brought up that way as a kid. Play by the rules. And I'll tell you what a weakness is of this country: there are a lot of people who are sick and tired because Washington does not play by the same rules that the American people have to play by. +p3449 +aVWell, I would really appreciate that. First of all, yes, we've stolen. Yes, we've lied to the American people about Social Security, and Medicare. But, you know what we're not telling them? It's their money. This isn't the governments money. This is not entitlement, it's not welfare. This is money that people have confiscated out of their paychecks. Everytime they got a paycheck, the government reached in and took something out of it before they ever saw it. Now, we're going to blame the people. Today congress decided to take another $150 billion dollars away from Social Security so they can borrow more money. That makes no sense to everybody. And, they're always going to say, "Well, we're going to fix this one day." No their not. It's like a 400 pound man saying, "I'm going to go on a diet, but I'm eating a sack of Krispy Kremes before I do." And, people are sick of believing that the government is never going to really address this. But, let me tell you who not to blame. Let's quit blaming the people on Social Security. Let's quit making it a problem for them. It's like them getting mugged, and then us saying, well, we're going to mug you some more. You ought to just be able to get over it, get used to it... +p3450 +aV...No, sir... +p3451 +aV...we need to honor our promises... +p3452 +aV...before I go. This is the only time I've had a chance, let me finish. +p3453 +aV...This is a matter not of math, this is a matter of morality. If this country that does not keep its promise to seniors then what promise can this country hope to be trusted to keep? And, the fact is, none of them. [ +p3454 +aVAnd, the only way \u2014 no... +p3455 +aV...Chris... +p3456 +aV...Chris... +p3457 +aVSince he brought me up, do I not get to respond? +p3458 +aVJohn, listen, let's keep in mind that for one-third of the 60 million Americans on Social Security it represents 90 percent of their income. And, when I hear people talking about means testing, let's just remember what that means. If we means test Social Security, it means that the government decides whether or not I deserve it. If a person lives in a seven room house, does the government get to say you don't need seven rooms, we're going to take two of them away? Folks, the government has no business stealing even more from the people who have paid this in. I just want to remind you, people paid their money. They expect to have it. And, if this government doesn't pay it, than tell me what's different between the government and Bernie Madolf, who sits in prison today for doing less than what the government has done to the people on social security and Medicare in this country. +p3459 +aVI don't think it's so much about when the government orders a corporation to do something. In fact, that's part of the problem. If you saw that blimp that got cut loose from Maryland today, it's a perfect example of government. I mean, what we had was something the government made \u2014 basically a bag of gas \u2014 that cut loose, destroyed everything in its path, left thousands of people powerless, but they couldn't get rid of it because we had too much money invested in it, so we had to keep it. That is our government today. We saw it in the blimp. That's exactly what we saw. So look, corporations ought to exercise some responsibility. When CEO income has risen 90 percent above the average worker, when the bottom 90 percent of this country's economy has had stagnant wages for the past 40 years, somebody is taking it in the teeth. And it's not the folks on Wall Street. I'm not anti-Wall Street, but I don't believe the government ought to wear a team jersey, pick winners and losers. +p3460 +aVThe government ought to wear a striped shirt and just make sure the game... +p3461 +aV...is paid \u2014 played fairly. +p3462 +aVNow, everybody else has fudged their time and gone over, so please, don't cut me off too quick, Becky. +p3463 +aVLet me just close it out this way. +p3464 +aVWe need to be focusing on what fixes this country. And I'll tell you one thing that we never talk about \u2014 we haven't talked about it tonight. Why aren't we talking about \u2014 instead of cutting benefits for old people, cutting benefits for sick people \u2014 why don't we say, "let's cure the four big cost-driving diseases... +p3465 +aV..."diabetes, heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer's?" +p3466 +aVIf you do that, you don't just change the economy, you transform the lives of millions of hurting Americans. +p3467 +aVGosh, I'd love for us to talk about something like that. Thank you. +p3468 +aVYou know, of the few questions I've got, the last one I need is to give him some more time. I love Donald Trump. He is a good man. I'm wearing a Trump tie tonight. Get over that one, OK? [ +p3469 +aVI don't know. [ +p3470 +aVI have no idea. +p3471 +aVYou're welcome. Let me tell you, Donald Trump would be a president every day of the week and twice on Sunday, rather than Hillary. I've spent a lifetime in politics fighting the Clinton machine. You want to talk about what we're going to be up against next year? I'm the only guy on this stage \u2014 you know, everybody has an "only guy" \u2014 "I'm the only guy this; I'm the only guy that." Well, let me tell you one thing that I am the only guy: The only guy that has consistently fought the Clinton machine every election I was ever in over the past 26 years. And not only did I fight them, but I beat them. Somebody says "I'm a fighter." Well, I want to know, did you win? Well, I did. And not only did I fight them and win, I lived to tell about it and I'm standing on this stage tonight as evidence of that. And I think that ought to be worth something. +p3472 +aVWell, and specifically to Medicare, Becky, because 85 percent of the cost of Medicare is chronic disease. The fact is if we don't address what's costing so much, we can't throw enough money at this. And it's why I've continued to focus on the fact that we need to declare war on the four big cost drivers because 80 percent of all medical costs in this country are chronic disease. We don't have a health care crisis in America, we have a health crisis. And until we deal with the health of Americans and do what we did with polio \u2014 when I was a little kid, we eradicated it. You know how much money we spent on polio last year in America? We didn't spend any. We've saved billions of dollars. You want to fix Medicare? Focus on the diseases that are costing us the trillions of dollars. Alzheimers, diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Eradicate those and you fix Medicare and you've fixed America, its economy and you've made people's lives a heck of a lot better. +p3473 +aVYou know, I know to a lot of people in the media, this is just a great big game, and we're the players. And, we come out here, and we do our thing. And, sometimes we're held up in contempt by people who write columns, but, I guarantee you to every person on this stage there's something deep inside of us that would cause us to give up our livelihoods and step out on this stage and fight for the people of America. I've got five grandkids. I do not want to walk my five grandkids through the charred remains of a once great country called America, and say, "Here you go, $20 trillion dollars of debt. Good luck making something out of this mess." And, for those of us who are serious enough to run for president, think long and hard why we're here, and hopefully you'll know we're not here for ourselves. We honest to god are here to get this country back on track. I know this, I certainly am. +p3474 +aV...Thank you. +p3475 +aVI'm Mike Huckabee. I'm delighted to be on this stage with some remarkable fellow Republicans. None of us are a self-professed socialist. None of us on this state are under investigation by the FBI because we destroyed government records, or because we leaked secrets. I know that there are some in the Wall-Street-to-Washington axis of power who speak of all of us contemptuously. But I'm here to say that I think we are, in fact, the A team. We have some remarkable people, and, in fact, not only are we the A team; we even have our own Mr. T, who doesn't mind saying about others, "you're a fool." And I'm delighted to be here with all of these guys, and would put any of them in an administration that I led. Thank you very much. +p3476 +aVI would certainly love to get in on this, because I think the single... +p3477 +aVI've been patiently waiting, and I'm going to just say this about Iran. +p3478 +aVBecause I think it is incredibly important. This is really about the survival of Western civilization. This is not just a little conflict with a Middle Eastern country that we've just now given over $100 billion to, the equivalent in U.S. terms is $5 trillion. This threatens Israel immediately, this threatens the entire Middle East, but it threatens the United States of America. And we can't treat a nuclear Iranian government as if it is just some government that would like to have power. This is a government for 36 years has killed Americans, they kidnapped Americans, they have maimed Americans. They have sponsored terrorist groups, Hamas and Hezbollah, and they threaten the very essence of Western civilization. To give them this agreement, that the president treats like the Magna Carta, but Iranians treat it like it's toilet paper, and we must, simply, make it very clear that the next president, one of us on this stage, will absolutely not honor that agreement, and will destroy it and will be tough with Iran, because otherwise, we put every person in this world in a very dangerous place. +p3479 +aVNo, I don't think he's on the wrong side of such an issue. Jeb is a friend. I'm not up here to fight with Jeb or to fight with anybody else. But I am here to fight for somebody who is a county clerk elected under the Kentucky constitution that 75 percent of the people of that state had voted for that said that marriage was between a man and a woman. The Supreme Court in a very, very divided decision decided out of thin air that they were just going to redefine marriage. It's a decision that the other justices in dissent said they didn't have and there wasn't a constitutional shred of capacity for them to do it. I thought that everybody here passed ninth-grade civics. The courts cannot legislate. That's what Roberts said. But heck, it's what we learned in civics. The courts can't make a law. They can interpret one. They can review one. They can't implement it. They can't force it. But here's what happened: Because the courts just decided that something was going to be and people relinquished it and the other two branches of government sat by silently \u2014 I thought we had three branches of government, they were all equal to each other, we have separation of powers, and we have checks and balances. If the court can just make a decision and we just all surrender to it, we have what Jefferson said was judicial tyranny. The reason that this is a real issue that we need to think about... +p3480 +aVNo, no. Let me finish this one thought, Jake. I haven't gotten that much time, so I'm going to take just what little I can here. We made accommodation to the Fort Hood shooter to let him grow a beard. We made accommodations to the detainees at Gitmo \u2014 I've been to Gitmo, and I've seen the accommodations that we made to the Muslim detainees who killed Americans. You're telling me that you cannot make an accommodation for an elected Democrat county clerk from Rowan County, Kentucky? What else is it other than the criminalization of her faith and the exaltation of the faith of everyone else who might be a Fort Hood shooter or a detainee at Gitmo? +p3481 +aVI have a different idea. I think we ought to get rid of all the taxes on people who produce. Why should we penalize productivity? And it's why I'm an unabashed supporter of the "fair tax," which would be a tax on our consumption, rather than a tax on our productivity. In other words, you're not going to tax anybody for what they earn, whether it's worker whose working by the hour or whether it's a hedge fund manager. If they can produce something and bring capital and labor to create jobs, we need some jobs. And I think the "fair tax" makes more sense. Now, Jake, I've been listening to everybody on the stage and there is a lot of back and forth about I'm the only one who has done this, the only one who has done that, I've done great things. We've all done great things or we wouldn't be on this stage. But it occurs to me as we're sitting here in the Reagan Library that most of us would like to pay tribute to a guy who, when he got elected, didn't get elected telling everybody how great he was. He got elected telling everybody how great the American people were. And he empowered them to live their dreams, which is what I'd love to see us do by no longer penalizing the people who are out there working because they are taking a gut punch right now. +p3482 +aV...You don't want me operating on you, I assure you. +p3483 +aVJust today \u2014 just today, there was a new report that 50 different intelligence analysts have said that what they sent up the ladder was doctored by senior officials, so that they could give some happy talk to the situation that we face. I love the idea of a good intellectual capacity to deal with our enemies, but the fact is, if you don't have good intelligence that is reliable and honest, you won't have good intelligence and you cannot make good decisions. The next president is primarily elected not just to know things, but to know what to do with the things that he knows. And the most dangerous person in any room is the person who doesn't know what he doesn't know. +p3484 +aVAnd the reason Barack Obama has been dangerous to this country and we better elect someone who had some executive experience, is because we cannot afford another eight years having a person in the office who doesn't know what he does not know. +p3485 +aVYou better believe I will, because I'm tired of liberals always having a litmus test and conservatives are supposed to pretend we don't. Well let me tell you what mine would be. Number one, I'd ask do you think that the unborn child is a human being or is it just a blob of tissue? I'd want to know the answer to that. I'd want to know do you believe in the First Amendment, do you believe that religious liberty is the fundamental liberty around which all the other freedoms of this country are based? And I'd want to know do you really believe in the Second Amendment, do you believe that we have an individual right to bear arms to protect ourselves and our family and to protect our country? And do you believe in the Fifth and the 14th Amendment? Do you believe that a person, before they're deprived of life and liberty, should in fact have due process and equal protection under the law? Because if you do, you're going to do more than defund Planned Parenthood. +p3486 +aVOne final thing. I'd make darn sure that we absolutely believe the 10th Amendment. Every governor on this stage would share this much with you. Every one of us \u2014 our biggest fight wasn't always with the legislature or even with the Democrats. My gosh, half the time, it was with the federal government who apparently never understood \u2014 +p3487 +aV\u2014 that if it's not reserved in the Constitution, then the 10th Amendment says it's left to the states. But somebody forgot to send a memo to Washington. +p3488 +aVJake? Jake? +p3489 +aVI think we need to remember that there are maybe some controversies about autism, but there is no controversy about the things that are really driving the medical costs in this country. And I would really believe that the next president ought to declare a war on cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer's, because those are the four things that are causing the greatest level of cost. John Kennedy said, "we'll go to the moon in a decade and bring a man back," and we did it. I grew up in the '50s. I remember the polio vaccine. We saved billions of dollars since that time, because we haven't had to treat for polio. Why doesn't this country focus on cures rather than treatment? Why don't we put a definitive focus scientifically on finding the cure for cancer, for heart disease, for diabetes and for Alzheimer's, a disease alone that will cost us \u2014 +p3490 +aV$1.1 trillion by the year 2050. We change the economy and the country. +p3491 +aVThat's an easy one. I'd put my wife on there. I've been married to her 41 years. She's fought cancer and lived through it. She's raised three kids, five great grandkids, and she's put up with me. I mean, who else could possibly be on that money other than my wife. And that way, she could spend her own money with her face. +p3492 +aVI'd go with Duck Hunter. +p3493 +aVAt the end of my presidency I would like to believe that the world would be a safe place, and there wouldn't be the threats. not only to the U.S., but to Israel and our allies, because we would have the most incredible well-trained, well-equipped, well- prepared military in the history of mankind. And they would know that the commander-in-chief would never send them to a mission without all the resources necessary, but people wouldn't bully us anymore. Because they would know that that would be an invitation to their destruction. Domestically, we would be operating under a tax system that eliminated the IRS. People wouldn't be punished for their work, and for what they produced. And life would be really deemed precious. Abortion would be no more. It would be as much of a scourge in our past as slavery is. And we would have a peaceful country, where people respected each other and people respected law enforcement. And we would focus on cures. And we would make this country not only safe from our enemies without, but safe from the enemies within. And it would be a good place to raise our kids and our grandkids. +p3494 +aVChris, I disagree with the idea that the real issue is a constitutional amendment. That's a long and difficult process. I've actually taken the position that's bolder than that. A lot of people are talking about defunding planned parenthood, as if that's a huge game changer. I think it's time to do something even more bold. I think the next president ought to invoke the Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the constitution now that we clearly know that that baby inside the mother's womb is a person at the moment of conception. The reason we know that it is is because of the DNA schedule that we now have clear scientific evidence on. And, this notion that we just continue to ignore the personhood of the individual is a violation of that unborn child's Fifth and 14th Amendment rights for due process and equal protection under the law. It's time that we recognize the Supreme Court is not the Supreme Being, and we change the policy to be pro-life and protect children instead of rip up their body parts and sell them like they're parts to a Buick. +p3495 +aVNot me. But you're welcome to give me a check, Donald if you'd like. +p3496 +aVIt's not too big to shrink. But the problem is we have a Wall Street-to-Washington axis of power that has controlled the political climate. The donor class feeds the political class who does the dance that the donor class wants. And the result is federal government keeps getting bigger. Every person on this stage who has been a governor will tell that you the biggest fight they had was not the other party. Wasn't even the legislature. It was the federal government, who continually put mandates on the states that we had to suck up and pay for. And the fact is there are a lot of things happening at the federal level that are absolutely beyond the jurisdiction of the Constitution. This is power that should be shifted back to the states, whether it's the EPA, there is no role at the federal level for the Department of Education. And I'm still one who says that we can get rid of the Internal Revenue Service if we would pass the FairTax, which is a tax on consumption rather than a tax on people's income, and move power back where the founders believed it should have been all along. +p3497 +aVWell, let's all be reminded, 60 million Americans are on Social Security, 60 million. A third of those people depend on 90% of their income from Social Security. Nobody in this country is on Social Security because they made the decision when they were starting work at 14 that they wanted to trust some of their money with the government. The government took it out of their check whether they wanted them to or not. And, if person goes to 65, they're going to spend 51 years with the government reaching into their pocket at every paycheck. Now, here's the point, whose fault is it that the system is screwed up? Is it the recipients, or is it the government? And, if Congress wants to mess with the retirement program, why don't we let them start by changing their retirement program, and not have one, instead of talking about getting rid of Social Security and Medicare that was robbed $700 billion dollars to pay for Obamacare. It's always that the government figures that they can do this off the backs of people, many of whom are poor, and depend on that money, and I just think it's fundamentally lying to the people and stealing from them, and we shouldn't be doing it. +p3498 +aVWell, you ask about how we fund it. One of the reasons that Social Security is in so much trouble is that the only funding stream comes from people who get a wage. The people who get wages is declining dramatically. Most of the income in this country is made by people at the top who get dividends and -- and capital gains. The FairTax transforms the process by which we fund Social Security and Medicare because the money paid in consumption is paid by everybody, including illegals, prostitutes, pimps, drug dealers, all the people that are freeloading off the system now. That's why it ought to be a transformed system. +p3499 +aVRonald Reagan said "trust, but verify." President Obama is "trust, but vilify." He trusts our enemies and vilifies everyone who disagrees with him. And the reason we disagree with him has nothing to do with party. +p3500 +aVIt has to do with the incredibly dangerous place that this world is gonna be as a result of a deal in which we got nothing. We didn't even get four hostages out. We got nothing, and Iran gets everything they want. We said we would have anywhere, anytime negotiations and inspections, we gave that up. We said that we would make sure that they didn't have any nuclear capacity, we gave that up. The president can't tell us what we got. I'll tell you what the world got. The world has a burgeoning nuclear power that didn't, as the Soviets, say "we might defend ourselves in a war." What the Iranians have said is, "we will wipe Israel off the face of the map, and we will bring death to America." When someone points a gun at your head and loads it, by God, you ought to take them seriously, and we need to take that seriously. +p3501 +aVThe military is not a social experiment. The purpose of the military is kill people and break things. It's not to transform the culture by trying out some ideas that some people think would make us a different country and more diverse. The purpose is to protect America. I'm not sure how paying for transgender surgery for soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines makes our country safer. We've reduced the military by 25 percent... ... under President Obama. The disaster is that we've forgotten why we have a military. The purpose of it is to make sure that we protect every American, wherever that American is, and if an American is calling out for help, whether it's in Benghazi or at the border, then we ought to be able to answer it. We've not done that because we've decimated our military. We're flying B-52s. The most recent one that was put in service was November of 1962. A lot of the B-52s we're flying, we've only got 44 that are in service combat ready, and the fact is, most of them are older than me. And that's pretty scary. +p3502 +aVIt seems like this election has been a whole lot about a person who's very high in the polls, that doesn't have a clue about how to govern. A person who has been filled with scandals, and who could not lead, and, of course, I'm talking about Hillary Clinton. I think America... +p3503 +aV...is in trouble, but it's not beyond repair. But it's going to take leadership who sees the greatness of this country, and who believes that once again we can be one nation, under God. I'll be my best to do that, and thank you for your support. +p3504 +aVI don't think it's that the message isn't working, I think it's the message isn't getting out because the message that I have this time, Bill, it's exactly what I said eight years ago. I talked about people who are standing on their feet on factory floors, people who lift heavy things, who sweat through their clothes, they're getting gut punched. They are not having a fair shake in this economy. I talked about that eight years ago, and I'm talking about it now. I talked about the importance of preserving life, of not just saying we're going to defund Planned Parenthood, but let's do something bolder. Let's get rid of abortion once and for all by applying the Fifth, and Fourteenth amendment to every person from conception because that means that we recognize that no person can be deprived of life or liberty unless they have due process. And, that's not happening in our country. And, I believe, and continue to practice that we need the Fair Tax to revive our economy. To make it so that people are able to be rewarded for their work rather than punished for it. +p3505 +aVYou know, I -- I would leave that to other people. I'm not going to get into an argument with all the New Yorkers, because there's a lot of them. This much I will tell you. I wish that some of those New Yorkers had funded as much of my campaign as they did the corporately funded candidates, but they didn't. And to be honest with you, when I say I'm -- wish they had, I'm glad they didn't. I'm not a New York-funded campaign. I'm not bankrolled by the corporatists, I'm not bankrolled by Goldman Sachs and Citibank and AIG and all the big brokers -- brokerage houses and the billionaires. I'm sponsored by people like Thomas, a part-time Uber driver in Pennsylvania who sent me $25 this week. He's between jobs. He's driving an Uber car. But he believed in what I'm talking about enough that, even on a limited, part-time income, he sent me $25 to help in my campaign. I'll stand with the Thomases of the world any day. I'll leave all the discussion of the big financiers to other candidates. But there's only a few of us in the entire Republican process who are not corporately funded by the same group. And let me just finish by saying, you want to know why things never change depending on whether Democrats or Republicans are in power, and why Republicans in Iowa and the rest of the country are so frustrated? The reason is, is because if you follow the money, the same folks who finance the Democrats finance the Republicans, and no matter what the speeches and the ads, they get the same results. If you want a different result, I'm available. +p3506 +aVWell, I don't trust him. I've never said I trusted him. But if somebody is willing to take a shot at the people we are taking shots at, I'm more than willing to let them use their own bullets to do it. But let's be very clear about how we take out +p3507 +aVNo, I don't think that it's impossible, but we're not going to do it by doing the same things we've been doing for all these many years. And, we've lost five million manufacturing jobs just since the year 2000. The other day I was in Newton, Iowa. It used to be a vibrant place where Maytag washers and dryers were built. Went out of business in 2007, all those shops went to Mexico. All those people lost their jobs. There was a guy in my forum that day, he lost his job. He still has never found an employment that got anywhere near the job that he had. Let me ask you, how many people do you think living around the Beltway know a guy like that? Care about a guy like that? Not many. And, that's because they're six of the ten richest counties in America that surround Washington D.C. People who live in the bubbles of the high finance world of New York, the government world of Washington, the entertainment world of Hollywood, don't have a clue about how hard people out here in Iowa are working every single day. And, I believe one of the values of campaigning in Iowa, you can't win unless you go out and talk to farmers and housewives -- and welders, and unemployed truck drivers, and I hate... ... That a president could become president who never met people who have to struggle to make a living and put food on the table. +p3508 +aVA lot of Americans are angry. And I think it's important to understand why they are mad. They are mad because they see a government that continues to do fine. They see people at the top. They are doing fine. But that person you asked Rick about a moment ago, that lady that's making 10,000 bucks a year, do you know what our poverty programs do to people? They keep them in poverty. They keep them in poverty because we have these arbitrary thresholds... ... that mean that if you go to work, you lose all the benefits for your kids, Medicaid, WIC, Section 8 housing, food stamps, and then your kids go hungry. I know a little about poverty. My sister is here tonight. Now both of us could tell you we did not grow up rich. My mother grew up in a house, oldest of seven kids. She had lived in a house that didn't have floors. Just dirt. No electricity. No running water. I resent it when people say, oh, people are poor because they want to be. No, they are not. Nobody wants to be poor. And that's a stupid, foolish thing, mean thing to say. People are poor because they don't know how to get out of the hole. And government shouldn't push them back in the hole which is what our policies do when they punish people who want to go to work and don't let them out. We can fix that, but it takes some leadership to get it done. +p3509 +aVWell, I didn't have a tax and spend approach. You got to understand where the Club for Growth comes from, a bunch of rich guys sitting around writing checks to go after people they don't like. And, they don't like me sometimes because I was fighting for the guys at the bottom, not just the guys at the top. I cut 94 taxes in a state that had never had a general major tax decrease in its history. I also was able to see per capita income growth in my state go up by 50%. I think that's a pretty darn good record. Look at the overall record and it was fine. But, it's not about stats from when I was governor. Look, one of the reasons I support the Fairtax is because it's the one thing, Bill, that would truly empower people at the bottom of the economy by no longer punishing them for their work. If a guy works an hourly job, and he works eight hours, gets paid for it, terrific. But, if he works 16 hours, he doesn't get a double paycheck because he's going to be bumped up into a new tax bracket, and the government will get more of his second shift than he will. So, we've actually punished him for being industrious, hardworking, and that is a foolish economic policy... ... that's hurting Americans about as much as anything. +p3510 +aVI honestly don't understand how anybody with IQ above plant life would honestly think... ... that we would be better off if we let the government have all of the private property and that the government would dole out what they thought we should have. I'm not "feeling the Bern," Bill. I'm not feeling it. And when Bernie Sanders promises these kids free college, I'm telling them, because I get asked, what about free college? I said, look, if we give you free college when you are 20, pal, you are going to be paying for it when you are 30, when you are 40, and when you are 50. There is no such thing as the government giving you anything. They will definitely make a mess of it. And I just think there are a lot of people who have never understood the basic understanding of economics, that you do not make people rich by tearing down those who are you providing jobs, and you don't help poor people by taking away. You give them jobs. Let them work. Let them earn. And then you let them keep the money that they earned. That's how we build a great economy. +p3511 +aVWell, this week there was a little dust up about a video we put together with the music of Adele, so I thought it'd be appropriate for me to begin tonight by saying, "Hello, Iowa. It's me." +p3512 +aVAnd, you know me. You gave me the largest number of votes in the history of the Iowa caucus eight years ago, and I think you did it because you trusted me, you believed that I had your best interest at heart. When I was governor I had a little plaque in my office in the Governor's office, and it simply said this. Come, let us reason together. I believe the next President needs to put that plaque in the oval office, and needs to lead this country by saying, "Come, let us reason together." God bless you, and thank you for your support. +p3513 +aVI wish I saw the country in the same place that the president presented it to be the other night in the State of the Union. He talked about how great the economy was doing. And I guess for the people he hangs out with, it's probably doing great. But the president should've stood in the line at the layaway counter at Walmart just before Christmas. He would have heard a very different story about the economy of America. I wish I could introduce him the lady who cleans the building where our campaign headquarters is located in Little Rock. Her name is Kathleen. She works all day at a local hospital cleaning, and then she goes to the building where a bank, and our headquarters, and other offices are she spends another seven hours. She works 15 hours a day. I guarantee you she's not working 15 hours a day because she loves scrubbing toilets, and sweeping floors. She's working that many hours because that's what it takes for her to make it work. And, she's not alone. There are people all over this country who are working like that. Many of them working two jobs \u2014 and they used to have one job, and that would take care of them. But, because of wage stagnation, which we've had for 40 years, because the fact that they're punished for working harder if they work that many hours. The government gets more of their second shift than they do. And, as a result there are a lot of people who are hurting today. I wish the President knew more of them. He might make a change in the economy and the way he's managing it. +p3514 +aVLet me put that in context. When I went to Afghanistan, I saw a land that looked like the land of the Flintstones. It was desolate. It was barren. It was primitive. And it's been that way for thousands of years. They want to take the world back to be just like that. We don't. We need to make a clear goal as to why we want to be anywhere in the Middle East, and I'll tell you why we want to be and need to be, is to destroy radical Islam and everything that threatens civilization. It's not just a threat......to Israel or to America, it's a threat to every civilized person on this Earth. And we need to be equipping not only the Kurds in Iraq, we need to be making sure that those who are willing to fight radical Muslims will do it, but we need to never ever spend a drop of American blood unless there is a clearly defined goal and we can't make sure we win unless we have a military that's the strongest in the history of mankind. We've got to rebuild our navy. It's the smallest navy we've had since 1915, when my grandfather got on a destroyer in World War I when he was in the U.S. Navy. We've got young men in Air Force B-52s, one in particular, he's flying a B-52 that his father flew in the '80s and his grandfather flew in the '50s. Those planes are older than me. We've got to have a military that the world is afraid of, use it sparingly, but when we do, the whole world will know that America is on their tail and they will be on their tail on the ground, never ever to rise up again. +p3515 +aVOnly if there is a concerted effort to destroy the advance of radical Islamists who are against us. As far as what are we going to make it look like. Frankly, I don't know what we can make it look like. You can't create for other people a desire for freedom and democracy. And frankly, that is not the role of the United States. The role of the United States military is not to build schools, it is not to build bridges, it is not to go around and pass out food packets. It is to kill and destroy our enemy and make America safe and that is the purpose we should be there if we're going to be there. +p3516 +aV Yes, I did. +p3517 +aVWell, why don't we start by making sure the Justice Department never does an idiotic program like Fast and Furious where the U.S. Government put guns......in the hands of Mexican drug lords......and end up killing one of our border agents. You know, they want to talk about law abiding citizens, I just find it amazing the President keeps saying the gun show loophole. There is no gun show loophole. I promise you I've been to more gun shows than President Obama. +p3518 +aVAnd, I've bought more weapons at them, and you fill out forms. The President also says things that it's easier to get a gun now than it is to grow trees. Again, I purchase guns, and I can assure you that it is much more difficult to purchase a firearm than it is to get the ingredients of a salad at the supermarket. What the President keeps pushing are ideas that have never worked. Ideas that would not have stopped San Bernadino, Sandy Hook, Aurora, and at some point you wonder if you keep retrying things that don't work, maybe we should just see if we could resell all those used lottery tickets that didn't work real well because that's the logic of just keep doing the same thing, but something that has failed. Of course, we want to stop gun violence, but the one common thing that has happened in most mass shootings is that they happened in gun- free zones where people who would have been law abiding citizens, who could have stood up and at least tried to stop it and we're not allowed to under the law. +p3519 +aVWell, we shouldn't be and that's one of the reasons that I think there a lot of voices in our country who are saying it's time to relook at the visa program. The European Union is a failure, it's not allowed for even the economic goals that they were trying to achieve. But, what we're not seeing is that it's making Europe less safe, and it's proven not to be exactly what they all thought it was going to be. Our first and foremost responsibility in this country, and the first responsibility of the President of the United States is protect America, and protect Americans. We have a President who seems to be more interested in protecting the reputation and image of Islam than he is protecting us. And, I want to be very clear......that this President. Makes comments like he did the other night, that we have to be so careful because we don't want to offend Muslims. He needs to read his own FBI crime stats from last year which would show him that of the hate crimes in the country, over 5,500, about 1,100 were religious hate crimes. And, of those, 58% were directed toward Jews. Only 16% directed toward Muslims. Maybe what the President should have talked about the other night is how we ought to be more careful in the anti-semitic comments that are going toward American Jews than toward Muslims because by three times as many......they're being targeted for religious hate crime. +p3520 +aVIt does not shut down international commerce, but it may slow it down. And, you don't want to slowdown commerce that is making us safer. It's worth it. This lady who came and joined with the San Bernardino killer had passed three background checks, and that's why a lot of Americans didn't buy it when the President said we'll bring in Syrian refugees, but don't worry we'll check them out. We have a lot of confidence in a president who told us that we could keep our doctor, we could keep our health insurance, and cost us less, and now the latest is if you like your gun you can keep it too, and frankly, we don't buy it. We don't believe it. He's lost his credibility, and his inept... ...inability to work with Congress and pass legislation has led him to do what I never even imagined doing as a governor, and that's just going and doing it my own way. That's why we elect a president, is to lead, is to be able to shepherd things through. And if I can do it with a 90 percent Democrat legislature in Arkansas, there is no excuse for any president not being able to lead in Washington if he knows what the heck he is doing when he gets there. +p3521 +aVWell, first of all, let's just remember that Social Security is not the government's money, it belongs to the people who had it taken out of their checks involuntarily their entire working lives. For the government to say, well it is fault of working people that we have a Social Security problem, no. It is the fault of a government that used those people's money for something other than protecting those people's accounts. So let's not blame them and punish them. But here is a fact, and I sometimes hear Republicans say well, we're going to have to cut this and extend the age. You know what I think a lot of times when I hear people say, well, let's make people work to their 70. That sounds great for white-collar people who sat at a desk most of their lives. You ever talk to somebody that stood on concrete floor for the first 40 years of their working life? Do you think they can stand another five years or 10 years, many of them will retired virtually crippled because they worked hard. And we're going to punish them some more? I don't think so. Here's the fact. Four percent economic growth, we fully fund Social Security and Medicare. Our problem is not that Social Security is just too generous to seniors. It isn't. Our problem is that our politicians have not created the kind of policies that would bring economic growth. And I still support strongly that we get rid of the 77,000 pages of the monstrous tax code......pass the fair tax, supercharge this economy with the rocket fuel that happens with the consumption tax and we don't have to cut Social Security to any senior who has worked their lifetime for it. +p3522 +aVLet me go back to the reason so many people are having a hard time getting ahead. The tax system punishes them. Think about this. If you work really hard and you start moving up the economic ladder, you get bumped into a different tax bracket. So the government thinks it deserves more of your hard work than you do. And it's one of the reasons that no matter how many different reforms you have to a tax on people's productivity, you're still taxing their work, their savings. You're taxing their capital gains, inheritance, dividends, you're taxing everything that produces something. And it's way I really believe it's time to do something bold, not something minute. This is no time for a tap of the hammer, a twist of the screwdriver. It's time for something big. That's why the fair tax transforms our economy. And we don't punish workers. It's the only way we're going to get middle class people moving ahead again, because the harder they work, the more they keep. No payroll tax deducted from their checks. They get their entire paycheck. And, one of the most important parts, it's built on the common sense with which we raised our kids, and trained dogs. You reward behavior you want more of. And, you punish behavior you want less of. That's how I raise kids, it's how I trained our dogs, and folks, it's not that difficult. We now punish the behavior we say we want more of by taxing it, and we reward the behavior that we say we want less of, so if you make a good investment, we punish you with a tax. If you make a bad investment you can write that off and the rest of the taxpayers will help subsidize you, and bail you out. +p3523 +aVWell, Rick, I'm pretty sure I did also fight the Clinton machine because every election I was ever in in Arkansas, I assure you, they were behind it, helping finance and campaign for every opponent. And I share with you the understanding that it's going to be a tough battle. But I spent the first half of my adult life in the private and nonprofit sector, raising a family, understanding how tough it is for people to make it. And that first half of my life is what led me to believe that America needs a different kind of leadership, not people who spent their whole life running from one office to the next, and living off the government dime. And I got involved because I got sick of what I saw. I also believe that there's got to be some leadership that not only addresses the monetary and military issues of this country, but the moral issues of this country. At the end of every political speech, most of us say, God bless America. But how can he do that when we continue to slaughter 4,000 babies a day? And I want to be the president that treats every person, including the unborn, as a person. And protect them under the 5th and 14th amendments of the constitution. I close with this word from a gentleman in East Texas named Butel Lucre. He's 100 years old and I met him down in East Texas. And he said this to me. "I sure wish, Mike, we had the days when The Ten Commandments were in all of our capitals and in every school, and we prayed again. You know, he may be 100 years old, but I believe some of those old ideas to get this country back where we unapologetically get on our knees before we get on our feet might be the best solutions we've ever sought as a country. And I ask for your support and your vote. Thank you. +p3524 +aVWolf, I want to say thanks to you and CNN for giving us the opportunity especially to focus on national security issues at a time when Americans are not only angry \u2014 angry at their government that they feel like has failed them, been indifferent to them, cost them their livelihoods \u2014 but they're in addition to angry, they're just plain scared. They're scared when they thing that they go to a Christmas party and get shot at by somebody who sat and had lunch with them an hour earlier. They're scared when they realize that our government, who promises that it can vet people and is begging us to approve bringing 10,000 Syrian refugees into this country, can't even catch somebody after a third background check, who had posted things on social media clearly indicating she wanted to kill Americans. And we couldn't catch that. We've lost confidence in our government. And when Americans lose confidence in their government, we're in a dangerous place. We're in danger because we have an enemy that is out to kill us, and we have a government that we don't trust any more. This election is about going back to having a government we can trust with leaders who have the courage and conviction to actually lead and not follow. +p3525 +aVWell, let me begin by saying I'm not that afraid of Donald Trump. And, in the sense that I'd rather him be President than I had Hillary be president any day. And so if he becomes president, I think he will do a whole lot more to protect us than Hillary will. And a whole lot more than Barack Obama has done in his eight years. So I want to make it very clear that when I was making that comment, I was simply speaking that I'm not sure that you can have a religious test per se. And it's very impractical because if somebody comes to our borders and says I'd like to come in. They say are you a Muslim? Well, they're \u2014 if they're going to come in here to kill us, they're not gonna say yeah, and I'm coming to kill you. They're going to lie about it. Anybody that will kill you, for God's sake, will lie to you. So that's why I say it's impractical. But what he has done, and I don't think a lot of people understand, he has touched a nerve because people are angry and afraid that we are facing an enemy that this administration refuses to acknowledge, refuses to want to go fight. And our only answer is to go after +p3526 +aVNo. I'm not taking it away, I just want to make sure that everything we use is going to be effective. We're spending billions of dollars, let's make sure it's effective. Let's use every tool, but let's also check out the Facebook posts, let's look at Twitter accounts. My gosh, we were told we couldn't do it because it might invade somebody's privacy. This lady who came over here and shot up San Bernardino was posting things on Facebook, yet, we were restricted from looking. Every college kid who goes to a frat party gets drunk and puts his picture on Facebook is going to have a potential employer looking at that photo before he gets hired. Why should we have more attention? I mean, for heaven's sake, towards some college kid who wants to one day ten years from to get a job, then we're going after who wants to come in with a semi automatic weapon or a pipe bomb and blow up a bunch of Americans. This is what I think a lot of Americans are frustrated with, it's the duplicity of our policy that is illogical and irrational. Our goal ought to be, "protect Americans and put Americans first not last," which is what I think this administration has done. +p3527 +aVNo, it does not violate their First Amendment rights to have someone go and listen to the sermons. You can go to any church in America, it's a public place, you can listen, and \u2014 you know, if you go to my church, you'll probably get a real blessing. Heck, it'll be a wonderful experience. You go to some people's church, you may go to sleep, I don't know what happens in every church, but, the point is that these are public places, and folks are invited to come. So, if it's a public place, and people are invited to come, how does it violate anybody's First Amendment rights that somebody shows up because they might want to just listen in and see is there something that is a little nefarious? And, if there is, then you take the second step of getting a search warrant, you do whatever you have to do. That's all protected under the constitution. So, Huge, I hear people act like there's something that is terrible about going and sitting in and listening to the sermons of a mosque. If Islam is as wonderful, and peaceful as its adherents say, shouldn't they be begging us to all come in and listen to these peaceful sermons? Shouldn't they be begging us all to come, and listen, and bring the FBI so we'd all want to convert to Islam? +p3528 +aVI don't disagree. I don't disagree with anything that the Senator just said because that's exactly right. But, I just want to go back to the point that when people say we can't go into the mosque, we can't listen. That's utter nonsense. Of course we can. And, if we can't, if there's something so secretive going on in there that somebody isn't allowed to go and hear it, maybe we do need for sure to send somebody in there and gather the intelligence. And, that's all to the world I'm saying, I think it stands to be true. +p3529 +aVThe way we defeat them ideologically is that we remind people that what their intent is is to kill us, and that it is our intent to use every means possible to get to them before they get to us. We are pretending that this is a war that is not that significant. We have a president who called it the JV team, said we had contained it. Nine hours after he said we contained it, there was a massacre in Paris. We've got to make it so untenable for somebody to join +p3530 +aVWolf, it may be sufficient, but rather than put a number \u2014 and I'm comfortable that we say 10,000, 20,000 \u2014 look, I think we make a mistake when we start telling the enemy what our limitations are. I think we make a huge mistake when we say we're gonna do up to this. I think what we say is, we're gonna do whatever it takes. If it's 10,000, if it's 100,000, if it's 3,000 sorties a day, if it's 5,000 sorties a day. We never tell our enemy what our limitations are, what we are willing and what we're unwilling to do. And that's one of the mistakes I believe that we're making militarily. But the biggest mistake we've made militarily is letting Barack Obama cut our defense forces by 25 percent and leaving us at the least prepared position we've been in since before World War II. We have to get our Military rebuilt from the ground up. And all over America I hear young people say, would you tell me what you're going to do? Would you give me free college? Will you make sure that I can have medical marijuana? You know what we ought to tell young people? We aren't going to give you anything. We're give you the opportunity to get off your butt and go serve your country and secure your freedom. Because if you don't, nobody else is. +p3531 +aVI'd sure want them to think we would. And I'd want to make sure that we did everything we could. But we can't do it with our current Military strength. We've got to build up and have the most robust, well trained, well equipped, well prepared and ample Military force in the history of the world because we're not fighting just a known enemy in one place. We're fighting people all over the world who can go anywhere. And the reason I say that is because if we tried to win this war on the cheap or we try to do it with the, "light footprint," we're making a huge mistake. When all of us were in grade school, one thing we all knew, the bully never picked on the kid except for the weak one. When all of us were in grade school, one thing we all knew, the bully never picked on the kid, except for the weak one. He never picked on the kid he knew, he'd whip him. We need to make to sure that we have the kind of military that +p3532 +aVWell, I want to be real clear, I don't trust Putin, I don't trust Assad. I'm not saying that I would endorse him for his reelection bid. The man is a tyrant, he's killed lots of people, but he wasn't killing Americans. And, the thing that I'm concerned about is that we have seen a complete destabilization, not only of Syria, but we've seen it in Yemen, that the President pronouncing great shape just before it collapsed. +p3533 +aVWell what we have done, and we created an impossible atmosphere. This administration has put more pressure on Israel to stop building bedrooms in Judea and Samaria than they've put on Iranians to stop building a nuclear bomb. And I'm just simply pointing out the obvious, that we need to recognize who our friends are, who our enemies are... +p3534 +aV... but I'm convinced... +p3535 +aVWell, first of all, it would be the Iranians. I would have never entered into this deal. I don't know why on God's earth that the senators gave it so that it was easier for Obama to have the agreement than it would be to make it a treaty. +p3536 +aVI would make sure that there was economic pressure put on them. Why not? Why should we fund every single battle against radical Islam? Why should we stand back and watch Israel get targeted, the United States get targeted and we watch with people with their hands in their pocket, and their hands in our pocket because we're getting them a lot of money. And let's say your hands can be in your pocket, you can stand still, but your hands aren't going to be in our pockets anymore. We're not going to give you another dime unless you engage the battle with us. We are not sending our sons and daughters, and grandsons and granddaughters to war to fight for your interest. You either get in with us or be on your own. But we're not gonna fight the battle for you. +p3537 +aVI wouldn't reinstate a draft, but, I think it's noteworthy that we are fighting all the battles we have with less than one percent of the American population. +p3538 +aVI wouldn't reinstate a draft, but, I think it's noteworthy that we are fighting all the battles we have with less than one percent of the American population. We have the lowest level of percentage of population participating in the military than ever. And they're over-deployed, they're over used, especially among our reserves and Guard troops. Any governor will tell you. +p3539 +aVWell, I would say that, if you want a college education, let's go back and reinstate the full-blown G.I. bill. You give something to your country; your country gives something back to you. We need to ask young people to step up and buy their own freedom because there's not going to be enough people left at less than one percent. And as my good friend Ken Howard, former Dean of the War College, has often said, we're fighting all the wars with other people's kids. And that's one of the things that's making us much less safe, is because we don't have enough Americans truly invested in the process of defeating our enemies. Therefore, I do think without a draft we do need to ask people to recognize we are at war. +p3540 +aVI'm not belittling their sacrifice, Lindsey, but I'm just making note that on the part of Americans we have sent National Guard troops over for an 18-month em \u2014 18-month deployment. They come back for five, they go back for another 18. We're wearing these guys out. They agreed to be citizen soldiers. We turned them into full time soldiers because we've not kept up the pace by recruiting enough people in the military to fully fill these forces, and that's what we need to be doing. +p3541 +aVThe horrors that those families have to go through, if that were my son, my daughter, I'd give my last drop of blood to get them back. You bet I would. Is it a good policy? No. It's a terrible policy because once we do it, we're only going to invite more and more hostages, more and more ransoms, and the diasters gets even worse. But I don't blame any of these families. You know who I blame? I blame a policy in our government that has made it so that families are so desperate that they're willing to pay ransom to terrorists organizations because they don't believe our government will fight the fight for them and they think they're out there on their own. My goodness people, this is America. When did we have to start telling people that you've got to bake your own bread in order to fight the battles? That's what we have a government for, it's what we pay taxes for. And I believe, those families ought to have a better expectation of what this government will do. We should never has sat at the table with the Iranians as long Sayed Abadnini is sitting in an Iranian prison. As long as the Washington Post report is over there. Until the four hostages of America were on an airplane safely out of Tehran. We should've told them, " we won't even walk into the room with you much less sit down and negotiate with you." That's what we ought to be doing. +p3542 +aVWe just need to take a real pause and all the people that coming here and we don't know who they are or what their affiliations are. What George just said is right. We can't take the risk. And why should we take the risk? And if it's such a doggone good idea to bring people here that we really don't know who they are and Obama thinks that we're being un-Christian to not do it, I've got a suggestion. Let's send the first wave of them to Chappaqua, Martha's Vineyard and the upper east side of Manhattan and to the south lawn of the White House where we'll set up a camp. Let's see how that works out. And if they behave wonderfully, that's fine. I want to say, I don't want someone lecturing me about what it means to be a Christian that I should invite a potential terrorist into my backyard. On one hand, the left says separation of church and state. Let's not have any discussion of religion, and then the left wants to tell me what it means to be a Christian. They need to figure out if they know more about being a Christian than I do, then tell me... On one hand, the left says separation of church and state. Let's not have any discussion of religion, and then the left wants to tell me what it means to be a Christian. They need to figure out if they know more about being a Christian than I do \u2014 then tell me. They are no longer going to say separation of church and state, but, we have the most fundamental right above everything else \u2014 is not to protect the reputation of Islam. It is to protect Americans first and foremost. That is our job. +p3543 +aVNo, because he did it unconstitutionally. Twenty-three times he's said he couldn't do it, and then one day he woke up and he found he had a pen in one hand, and a phone in another, and wow. That Constitution didn't mean much anymore. Look, President's can't just do what they want to do. That's the purpose of getting elected and working with other people who got elected, is that our system was designed to function with the power of persuasion, it's really what you elect a president to do. +p3544 +aV...Let me finish, Hugh. You elect him to lead which means that if you think it's a good idea to not punish the children for something their parents did, then you go to the members of Congress and you persuade them. And, you persuade the American people. You don't just jump up and shove it up the nostrils of Congress, and the American people because you think you have a superior intellect, and a superior will, and a superior theology than everybody else. Our system is not a system of tyranny. We don't elect kings, we elect servants. If I'm elected president, I don't consider myself to be elected to be the king of the country, but the servant of the country to work with other people who are elected to get things done that need to be done. +p3545 +aVThe terrorists don't win just because they kill us. The terrorists win when they make us change everything we do in our daily lives and alter our routines. And they're doing that, from getting on a plane to going in a building. And it is high time that we recognize that we have to take them out, not a little bit, but totally, because I want my grandkids to grow up not in fear, but in faith and in freedom. And if you give me the opportunity to be president of the United States, I will fight for your grandkids as much as I will for mine. Thank you and God bless you. +p3546 +aVWell, first of all, Trish, I don't know why we have to move away from manufacturing. The only reason we have is because... ...we have a tax code that has punished manufacturing. I hear a lot of people talk about the plans to simplify the tax code. I've got one better than any of the simplifications, it's called a, "Fair Tax", and it eliminates all of the taxes on our productivity. Here's what would happen. We'd get rid of taxes on people's work, so, we wouldn't punish people for working anymore. Yeah, we've lost five million manufacturing jobs just since the year 2000 \u2014 160,000 manufacturing plants have close in this country, which means a lot of people \u2014 that the governors talking about, he's exactly right. They don't have jobs anymore. And the reason they don't have jobs is because their jobs are in Mexico, they're in China, they're in Indonesia. Bring the jobs back. And with the fair tax, you do that, because you don't tax capital and labor and you bring a real sense of equity to the opportunity so that people will not only make it easier to function, they'll get the manufacturing jobs back. And here's the best part. We don't reduce the IRS, we get rid of the IRS. We completely eliminate them......because the government has no business knowing how much money we make and how we made it. It's none of their business. And that's why I believe that manufacturing is critical. If we can't feed ourselves, fuel ourselves and fight for ourselves, we can't be free. And by the way, fighting for ourselves means manufacturing our own weapons of self-defense. +p3547 +aVWell, Sandra, first of all, let me mention the fact that I think there's a big difference between welfare programs and what some people call entitlements. Namely, Social Security and Medicare. I just want to remind everybody out there who has ever had a paycheck, the government didn't ask you if you wanted them to take money out of your check for Social Security and Medicare. They did that involuntarily. Those are not entitlements and that's not welfare. That's an earned benefit. And by gosh, you paid for it. And if the government screwed it up, you shouldn't have to pay the penalty because of an incompetent government. That's different than the social programs that we've spent $2 trillion on since the War on Poverty began exactly 50 years ago this year. Now the reason we still have so much poverty is because it was never designed to get people out of poverty. It was designed to make sure that there was an industry of poverty, so that the people in the poverty industry would have a lot of jobs. But the people who are poor haven't been benefited. Having grown up poor, I know a little something about it. Nobody who is poor wants to be. That's a nonsense statement and I hear it all the time. Well, poor people ought to work harder. They're working as hard as they can, for gosh sake. But the problem is the system keeps pushing them down because, if they work, then they get punished. They lose all the benefits. When we did welfare reform in the '90s, you know what we did? We said you're not going to lose everything at once. There's not an arbitrary threshold. So as you move up the ladder from work and training, you'll actually always be better off than you were before. That's the American way. +p3548 +aVWell, I'd just like to respond, with all due respect to, to the Governor, to the state just south of me, I would say that a lot of us have cut things. And during the recession of 2001 to 2003, when 91 percent of our state budget was basically three things, educate, medicate and incarcerate, we ended up cutting 11 percent out of the state budget through that recession so we didn't have to go in and raise a bunch of taxes, and there were people who thought we should. So it's just not accurate to say that nobody else up here has ever cut. I believe every governor has probably had to make tough decisions. I'm, I'm guessing my colleague Governor Christie has, as I'm tossing him the ball like Arkansas did to Ol' Miss the other day. +p3549 +aVSandra, before we get too far away, he specifically brought out some things about the record that I need to correct. +p3550 +aVSandra, I've been concerned that this administration has not done anything to help stop the slaughter of Christians. We didn't help the Kurds, we said we would. But, the idea that we're just going to open our doors, and we have no idea who these people are \u2014 what we do know is that only one out of five of the so called, "Syrian Refugees", who went into Europe were actually Syrian. Many of them, we had no idea who they were. They weren't Syrian. Are we going to open the doors so that the +p3551 +aV...I'd like to get that opportunity to go... +p3552 +aVWell, since we're not going to answer the question, let me just remind everybody, tomorrow is Veterans Day. And here's what I would like to remind everybody. The VA has been a disaster in large part because the people in Congress have never bothered to fix it, and this president has certainly not... +p3553 +aVLet me finish, please. I'm going to ask you just this, what would happen if the Congress and the president had to get their health care from the VA? We would fix the problem and we would fix Congress. +p3554 +aVWell, thank you very much. I still want to go back to the fact that if we got rid of all the taxes on our work, got rid of the taxes on our savings, investments, capital gains, and inheritance, and made a zero tax, we'd pay at the point of consumption. Because why should we punish people for their productivity? And the fair tax doesn't punish people for doing well and building the economy. There's $31 trillion parked offshore. What happens if that money comes back to America? You'd think it'd goose the economy? I guarantee you it would. And that's why the fair tax is the best solution we have for economic growth in this country. +p3555 +aVWell, first of all, do you know an American that will just stop spending? I don't. No, that's not going to be the problem. Look, Americans will go to the marketplace with more money they've ever had. For the first time they'll be having their whole paycheck. You see, most people don't understand that when you buy something that is made in America, 22 percent of the cost of it is the embedded tax they never even know they paid. It's why China has beaten the daylights out of us, they can build stuff that we can't because they're not taxing it, when they don't tax capital and labor and we do. They bring something over here, it's automatically cheaper even without the regulatory environment because they're not embedding the taxes, we are. Take the embedded taxes out. Give a person his whole paycheck because every American would no longer have a payroll tax taken out. It means they'd see their real paycheck for the first time. When they go to spend that money, they'll actually have it. And they only pay taxes on the stuff that's new. So a lot of Americans will buy used stuff. Look, here's the point, Americans are not going to quit shopping. Americans are not going to quit buying. But it would be nice if Americans could control how much they paid in tax, rather than having the government reach into their pockets and take it out before they ever had a chance to even see it, much less spend it. And that's why the fair tax makes a heck of a lot more sense than punishing productivity and rewarding irresponsibility. +p3556 +aVWell, my wife's name is Janet and when you say Janet Yelling, I'm very familiar with what you mean. But, look, I think the Fed is in a big trouble because they haven't addressed the number one issue that's hurting Americans and that's the fact that wages for the bottom 90 percent of the economy have been stagnant for 40 years. In the 25 years after World War II, up to 1971, wages grew by 85 percent in this country. People were \u2014 were moving up in the middle class. There was a middle class. That's not happening any more, and in large measure, the Fed has manipulated the dollar so it doesn't have a standard. Tie the dollar to something fixed and if it's not going to be gold, make it the commodity basket. But here's what we've got to do. We absolutely have to get it where the people who go out there and work get something in return. And if the dollar keeps fluctuating, and this is as crazy as \u2014 as is the price of bread, well, the fact is, people can't get ahead then. +p3557 +aVAbsolutely. Absolutely, because what we need to is to make sure that they tie the monetary standard to something that makes sense, rather than to their own whims, because who's getting gut punched? It ain't the people in Wall Street, it's the folks on Main Street. They're the ones who's wages have been stagnant for 40 years. And the average American today has a total savings of 1,000 bucks. One root canal and they're in trouble. And if their car breaks down the same week......they're out of business. +p3558 +aVWell, I think thanking our veterans is a wonderful thing to do, but, they sure appreciate a better paycheck. They'd appreciate the fact that we kept our promises to them. The men and women in uniform put on the uniform of our nation, they went halfway around the world, they face dangers on our behalf, and we promised them if they did that, when they came home we'd take care of their medical care, we'd make is possible for their kids to go to college, and they'd be able to bind to a home. They kept their promises to us. We have not kept our promises to them, and today, less than one percent of Americans go to the military for service. We're fighting wars with other people's kids in large measure because we've not taken seriously the moral, not the monetary, the moral obligation to take care of the veterans and to keep America's promise to the ones who kept their promise to America. +p3559 +aVIn many ways, I feel like I'm the luckiest guy on Earth. I really do. It's a long way from a little brick rent house on second street in Hope, Arkansas to this stage where I'm running for President of the United States. It's not about me, not about these guys \u2014 'ought to be about you, and I've never been the favorite of the people who have the most money. But, I want to be the favorite of the people who still want to believe the American dream can work for them. Today in our office, I got a letter from a third grader in North Dakota, her name is Reese. She sent $6 dollars from her allowance, and said, "I want to help you be president." You know, I'm going to keep standing on this stage, and keep fighting for one reason, because somewhere out there in North Dakota, and all over America, there are kids like Reese who need a president who will never forget where they came from, and I promise I won't. +p3560 +asVCRUZ +p3561 +(lp3562 +VThank you, Wolf. America is at war. Our enemy is not violent extremism. It is not some unnamed malevolent force. It is radical Islamic terrorist. We have a president who is unwilling to utter its name. The men and women on this stage, every one of us, is better prepared to keep this nation safe than is Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. We need a president who understands the first obligation of the commander-in-chief is to keep America safe. If I am elected president, we will hunt down and kill the terrorists. We will utterly destroy +p3563 +aVWell, listen, Hugh, everyone understands why Donald has suggested what he has. We're looking at a president who's engaged in this double-speak where he doesn't call radical Islamic terrorism by its name. Indeed, he gives a speech after the San Bernardino attack where his approach is to try to go after the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens rather than to keep us safe. And even worse, President Obama and Hillary Clinton are proposing bringing tens of thousands of Syrian refugees to this country when the head of the FBI has told Congress they cannot vet those refugees. I understand why Donald made that proposal. I introduced legislation in the Senate that I believe is more narrowly focused at the actual threat, which is radical Islamic terrorism, and what my legislation would do is suspend all refugees for three years from countries where +p3564 +aVWell, you know, I'm reminded of what FDR's grandfather said. He said, "All horse-thieves are Democrats, but not all Democrats are horse-thieves." In this instance, there are millions of peaceful Muslims across the world, in countries like India, where there is not the problems we are seeing in nations that are controlled \u2014 have territory controlled by Al Qaida or +p3565 +aVWell, Dana, the premise of your question is not accurate. I'm very proud to have joined with conservatives in both the Senate and the House to reform how we target bad guys. And what the USA Freedom Act did is it did two things. Number one, it ended the federal government's bulk collection of phone metadata of millions of law-abiding citizens. But number two in the second half of it that is critical. It strengthened the tools of national security and law enforcement to go after terrorists. It gave us greater tools and we are seeing those tools work right now in San Bernardino. And in particular, what it did is the prior program only covered a relatively narrow slice of phone calls. When you had a terrorist, you could only search a relatively narrow slice of numbers, primarily land lines. The USA Freedom Act expands that so now we have cell phones, now we have Internet phones, now we have the phones that terrorists are likely to use and the focus of law enforcement is on targeting the bad guys. You know what the Obama administration keeps getting wrong is whenever anything bad happens they focus on law-abiding citizens instead of focusing on the bad guys. We need to focus on radical Islamic terrorists and we need to stop them before they carry out acts of terror. +p3566 +aVWell, you know, I would note that Marco knows what he's saying isn't true. You know, Mark Levin wrote a column last week that says that the attack ads his Super PAC is running that are saying the same thing, that they are knowingly false and they are, in fact, Alinsky-like attacks like Barack Obama. And the reason is simple. What he knows is that the old program covered 20 percent to 30 percent of phone numbers to search for terrorists. The new program covers nearly 100 percent. That gives us greater ability to stop acts of terrorism, and he knows that that's the case. +p3567 +aVWhat it means is using overwhelming air power to utterly and completely destroy +p3568 +aVYou would carpet bomb where +p3569 +aVWell, you know, Marco has continued these attacks, and he knows they're not true. Yes, it is true that I voted against the National Defense Authorization Act, because when I campaigned in Texas I told voters in Texas that I would oppose the federal government having the authority to detain U.S. citizens permanently with no due process. I have repeatedly supported an effort to take that out of that bill, and I honored that campaign commitment. +p3570 +aVBut more broadly, you know, the notion Marco is suggesting, that somehow \u2014 he also has tossed more than a few insults this direction \u2014 let's be absolutely clear. +p3571 +aVWolf, I believe in a America first foreign policy, that far too often President Obama and Hillary Clinton \u2014 and, unfortunately, more than a few Republicans \u2014 have gotten distracted from the central focus of keeping this country safe. So let's go back to the beginning of the Obama administration, when Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama led +p3572 +aV... we ought to hunt down our enemies and kill +p3573 +aVWell, it's more than not shedding a tear. It's actively getting involved to topple a government. And we keep hearing from President Obama and Hillary Clinton and Washington Republicans that they're searching for these mythical moderate rebels. It's like a purple unicorn. They never exist. These moderate rebels end up being jihadists. And I'll tell you whose view on Assad is the same as mine. It's Prime Minister Netanyahu. Prime Minister Netanyahu has said Israel doesn't have a dog in that fight because Assad is a puppet of Iran, a Shia radical Islamic terrorist, but at the same time, Prime Minister Netanyahu doesn't want to see Syria governed by +p3574 +aVThe question of whether we should toppling dictatorships is asking the wrong question. We should be defeating our enemies. So the problem with defeating... +p3575 +aVWell, but let me explain, the focus should be... +p3576 +aV... on defeating our enemies. So, for example... +p3577 +aV... a regime we should change is Iran... +p3578 +aV... because Iran has declared war on us. But we shouldn't be toppling regimes...... that are fighting radical Islamic terrorists that are helping... +p3579 +aVWell, he \u2014 he has attempted to muddy the waters, but I think that anyone who watched the battle that we had. You know, there was a time for choosing as Reagan put it. Where there was a battle over amnesty and some chose, like Senator Rubio to stand with Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer and support a massive amnesty plan. Others chose to stand with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and the American people and secure the border. And let me mention, this issue is actually directly connected to what we've been talking about. Because the front line with +p3580 +aVLook, I understand Marco wants to raise confusion, it is not accurate what he just said that I supported legalization. Indeed, I led the fight against his legalization and amnesty. And you know, there was one commentator that put it this way that, for Marco to suggest our record's the same is like suggesting "the fireman and the arsonist because they are both at the scene of the fire." He was fighting to grant amnesty and not to secure the border, I was fighting to secure the border. And this also goes to trust, listening on to campaign trails. Candidates all the time make promises. You know, Marco said," he learned that the American people didn't trust the federal government." +p3581 +aVIn Florida promising to... +p3582 +aVgo in the fight against amnesty... +p3583 +aVHe campaigned promising to lead the fight against amnesty. +p3584 +aVI have never supported a legalization... +p3585 +aVI have never supported legalization, and I do not intend to support legalization. Let me tell you how you do this, what you do is you enforce the law... +p3586 +aVWatt you do is enforcement the law... +p3587 +aVWhat you do... +p3588 +aVWhat you do is you enforce the law. I've laid out a very, very detailed immigration plan on my website, tedcruz.org. It's 11 pages of existing federal law and in particular the question of what to do with people who are here now? You enforce the law. That means you stop the Obama administration's policy of releasing criminal illegal aliens. Do you know how many aliens Bill Clinton deported? 12 million. Do you know how many illegal aliens, George W. Bush deported? 10 million. We can enforce the laws and if we secure the border, that solves the problem. And as president I will solve this problem and secure the border. +p3589 +aVDana, what I said in private is exactly what I'll say here, which is that the judgment that every voter is making of every one of us up here is who has the experience, who has the vision, who has the judgment to be commander in chief. That is the most important decision for the voters to make. That's a standard I'm held to. And it's a standard everyone else is held to. And I will note, you know, in the whole course of this discussion about our foreign policy threats, it actually illustrates the need for clarity of focus. You know, my daughters, Caroline and Catherine, came tonight. They're 7 and 5. And you think about the Los Angeles schools canceling their schools today. And every parent is wondering, how do we keep our kids safe? We need a commander in chief who does what Ronald Reagan did with communism, which is he set out a global strategy to defeat Soviet communism. And he directed all of his... I'm answering the question, Dana. He directed all of his forces to defeating communism. One of the things we've seen here is how easy it is for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to get distracted from dealing with radical Islamic terrorism. They won't even call it by its name. We need a president who stands up, number one, and says, we will defeat +p3590 +aVAnd we need to be focused on defeating... +p3591 +aV... defeating radical Islamic terrorists. +p3592 +aVWhat I'm saying, Dana, is that is a judgment for every voter to make. What I can tell you is all nine of the people here would make an infinitely better commander in chief than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. +p3593 +aVAnd there is a real danger, Dana, when people get distracted. I'm answering the question, Wolf. There's a real danger when people get distracted by peripheral issues. They get distracted by democracy building. They get distracted about military conflicts. We need to focus on defeating jihadism. +p3594 +aVAnd I will do everything necessary to keep our children safe. +p3595 +aVJudgment, strength, clarity and trust. Barack Obama has said he doesn't believe in American leadership or America winning \u2014 he is wrong. America can win again and we will win again. Ronald Reagan reignited the American economy, rebuilt the Military, bankrupted the Soviet Union and defeated Soviet Communism. I will do the same thing. Cutting taxes, cutting regulation, unleashing small businesses and rebuilding the Military to defeat radical Islamic terrorism \u2014 our strategy is simple. We win, they lose. We've done it before and we can do it again. +p3596 +aVWell, Maria, it's great to be with you. It's great to be here in Milwaukee. You know, the question you asked really I think is the most important question any of us can have \u2014 face, which is, how do we get the economy growing? How do we bring back economic growth? Because economic growth, it's foundational to every other challenge we have. As you rightly noted, from 2008 to today, our economy has grown 1.2 percent a year on average. The Obama economy is a disaster, and the IMF is telling us this is a new normal. It doesn't have to be. If you look at the history of America, there are three levers that government has had to facilitate economic growth. The first is tax reform. And as you noted, I have rolled out a bold and simple flat tax: 10 percent for every American that would produce booming growth and 4.9 million new jobs within a decade. The second element is regulatory reform, pulling back the armies of regulators that have descended like locusts on small businesses. And the third element is sound money. Every time we've pursued all three of those \u2014 whether in the 1920s with Calvin Coolidge or the 1960s with JFK or the 1980s with Ronald Reagan \u2014 the result has been incredible economic growth. We have done it before, and with leadership, we can do it again. +p3597 +aVWell, my Mom is here, so I don't think we should be pushing any grannies off cliffs. And, you miss-stated what I've said on entitlement reform. What I've said is for seniors we should make no changes whatsoever, for younger workers we should gradually raise the retirement age, we should have benefits grow more slowly, and we should allow them to keep a portion of their taxes in a personal account that they control, and can pass on to their kids... +p3598 +aVI want to go back to the discussion we had a minute ago because, you know, what was said was right. The democrats are laughing \u2014 because if republicans join democrats as the party of amnesty, we will lose. And, you know, I understand that when the mainstream media covers immigration, it doesn't often see it as an economic issue. But, I can tell you for millions \u2014 of Americans at home watching this, it is a very personal economic issue. And, I will say the politics of it will be very, very different if a bunch of lawyers or bankers were crossing the Rio Grande. Or if a bunch of people with journalism degrees were coming over and driving down the wages in the press. Then, we would see stories about the economic calamity that is befalling our nation. And, I will say for those of us who believe people 'ought to come to this country legally, and we should enforce the law, we're tired of being told it's anti-immigrant. It's offensive. I am the son of an immigrant who came legally from Cuba... ...to seek the American dream. And, we can embrace legal immigration while believing in the rule of law \u2014 and I would note, try going illegally to another country. Try going to China, or Japan. Try going to Mexico. See what they do. Every sovereign nation secures its borders, and it is not compassionate to say we're not going to enforce the laws... ...And we're going to drive down the wages for millions of hardworking men and women. That is abandoning the working... +p3599 +aVWell, sure, you put your finger on what the problem is. The current system isn't fair. Washington is fundamentally corrupt. There are more words in the IRS code than there are in the Bible \u2014 and \u2014 and not a one of them is as good. Every one of them reflects a carve-out or a subsidy, and it's all about empowering the Washington cartel. My simple Flat Tax says that, for a family of four, for the first $36,000 you earn, you pay no taxes whatsoever. No income taxes, no payroll taxes, no nothing. Above that, every American pays 10 percent across the board \u2014 a flat, fair tax. Which means that no longer do you have hedge-fund billionaires paying a lower tax rate than their secretaries. On the business side, I've got a business flat tax of 16 percent \u2014 again, that applies across the board. Right now, with our corporate income tax, giant corporations with armies of accountants regularly are paying little to no taxes while small businesses are getting hammered. This is fair and across-the-board. Now, you ask, how do the numbers add up? I would encourage folks, if you go to our website, tedcruz.org, we have the specific numbers on the website. This plan eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax, eliminates the corporate income tax, and it abolishes the IRS. And the effect of that is incredible economic growth. It means every income group will see double-digit increases, from the very poorest to the very weakest, of at least 14 percent. So if you're a single mom, if you're making $40,000 a year, what that means is an extra about $5,000 in your pocket to provide for your kids, to make ends meet. It has a powerful, powerful effect. And there's one other really powerful feature of my plan, which is that it's border-adjustable. Which means, if you're an exporter \u2014 if you're a farmer, if you're a rancher, if you're a manufacturer, you don't pay the businesses flat tax. Exports are free of that tax, but all imports pay that 16 percent business flat tax, which means this tax plan would cause jobs to boom, and it would let America compete with China and the world on a level playing field. +p3600 +aVWell, the numbers the Tax Foundation had put out is that the static cost of the plan is $3.6 trillion over 10 years, but the dynamic cost of the plan, which \u2014 which is the cost that factors in growth, is about $768 billion. It is less than a trillion. It costs less than virtually every other plan people have put up here, and yet it produces more growth and it's one of the very few plans that abolishes the IRS. But on top of that, today, we rolled out a spending plan. $500 billion in specific cuts \u2014 five major agencies that I would eliminate. The IRS, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Energy, the Department of Commerce, and HUD \u2014 and then 25 specific programs. Again, that's on our website at tedcruz.org. You want to look at specificity? It's easy for everyone to say, "cut spending". It's much harder and riskier to put out, chapter and verse, specifically the programs you would cut to stop bankrupting our kids and grandkids. +p3601 +aV...Middle ground that brings both of these together... +p3602 +aV...Exactly right, that we have to defend this nation. You think defending this nation is expensive, try not defending it. That's a lot more expensive. But, you can do that, and pay for it. You can do that, and also be fiscally responsible. You know, I mention that the 25 programs that I put today, that I would eliminate them. Among them are corporate welfare, like sugar subsidies. Let's take that as an example. Sugar subsidies. Sugar farmers farm under... ...under roughly 0.2% of the farmland in America, and yet they give 40% of the lobbying money. That sort of corporate welfare is why we're bankrupting our kids, and grandkids. I would end those subsidies to pay for defending this nation... +p3603 +aVAbsolutely yes. You know, I have spent much of my adult life enforcing the law and defending the Constitution. And the problem that underlies all of this is the cronyism and corruption of Washington. You know, the opening question Jerry asked, would you bail out the big banks again? Nobody gave you an answer to that. I'll give you an answer. Absolutely not. And what we have right now is we have Washington \u2014 as government gets bigger and bigger, you know, the biggest lie in all of Washington and in all of politics is that Republicans are the party of the rich. The truth is, the rich do great with big government. They get in bed with big government. The big banks get bigger and bigger and bigger under Dodd-Frank and community banks are going out of business. And, by the way, the consequence of that is small businesses can't get business loans, and it is that fundamental corruption that is why six of the 10 wealthiest counties in America are in and around Washington, D.C. And let me give you a contrast to Washington cronyism. Some weeks ago, a woman named Sabina Loving testified at a hearing that I chaired in the Senate. Sabina Loving is an African-American single mom who started a tax preparation business in the south side of Chicago. She found a store front, she wanted to have her own business. She started a business. But then the IRS promulgated new regulations targeting tax preparers. They did it under a more than 100-year-old statute called the Dead Horse Act. Now, this statute and the IRS in classic Washington crony fashion had exemptions for lawyers and big fancy accountants, but Sabina had to pay $1,000 an employee. It would have driven her out of business, and Ms. Loving sued the IRS. She took the Obama IRS to court, and she won, and they struck down the rule for picking the big guys over the little guys. +p3604 +aVYes. Now, let's be clear, there is a role for the Federal Reserve \u2014 what the Fed is doing now is it is a series of philosopher- kings trying to guess what's happening with the economy. You look at the Fed, one of the reasons we had the financial crash is throughout the 2000s, we had loose money, we had an asset bubble, it drove up the price of real estate, drove up the price of commodities, and then in the third quarter of 2008, the Fed tightened the money and crashed those asset prices, which caused a cascading collapse. That's why I am supporting getting back to rules-based monetary system not with a bunch of philosopher-kings deciding, but tied... +p3605 +aVSo let me be clear. I would not bail them out, but instead of adjusting monetary policy according to whims and getting it wrong over and over again and causing booms and busts, what the Fed should be doing is, number one, keeping our money tied to a stable level of gold, and, number two, serving as a lender of last resort. That's what central banks do. So if you have a run on the bank, the Fed can serve as a lender of last resort, but it's not a bailout. It is a loan at higher interest rates. That's how central banks have worked. And I'll point out \u2014 look, we had a gold standard under Bretton Woods, we had it for about 170 years of our nation's history, and enjoyed booming economic growth and lower inflation than we have had with the Fed now. We need to get back to sound money, which helps, in particular, working men and women. What Washington does \u2014 the people who are doing well in the Obama economy are those with power and influence in the Obama government. The people who working men and women... +p3606 +aVSo, Governor Kasich... +p3607 +aV...why would you then bail out rich Wall Street banks, but not Main street, not Mom and Pop, not Sabina Loving? +p3608 +aVBut you just said an executive... +p3609 +aV...knows to step in and bail out a bank. +p3610 +aVSo you said you'd abandon philosophy and abandon principle... +p3611 +aV...but what would you do if the bank was failing? +p3612 +aVSo you \u2014 you would bail them out. +p3613 +aVAnd, Maria, I will note, she's got a lot of experience, but her policies have proven disastrous. If you look at foreign policy, every region in the world has gotten worse. Under her leadership, we abandon the nation of Israel. Under her leadership, radical Islamic terrorism has been on to the rise. Under her leadership, and Obama's leadership, Iran is getting $100 billion dollars, and on the verge of getting a nuclear weapon. Everything she's put her hand to, or has touched \u2014 and when we talk about the cronyism of Washington, Hillary Clinton embodies the cronyism... ...of Washington. And, I'll give you an example of that, which is the Congressional exemption from Obamacare, which is fundamentally wrong, and I'll tell you this, if I'm elected president, I will veto any statute that exempts members of congress. The law should apply evenly to every American. +p3614 +aVMaria, critically, when it comes to climate change... +p3615 +aV...Our \u2014 our... +p3616 +aVFifty-eight years ago, my father fled Cuba. As he stood on the deck of that ferryboat with the wind and salt air blowing, he looked back at the oppression and torture he was escaping. And yet he looked forward to the promise of America. His story is our story. What ties Americans together is we are all the children of those who risked everything for freedom. America is in crisis now. I believe in America. And if we get back to the free market principles and constitutional liberties that built this country, we can turn this country around. I believe that 2016 will be an election like 1980, that we will win by following Reagan's admonition to paint in bold colors, not pale pastels. We're building a grassroots army. I ask you to join us at tedcruz.org. And we, the people, can turn this nation around. +p3617 +aVI'm too agreeable, easy going. You know, I think my biggest weakness is exactly the opposite. I'm a fighter. I am passionate about what I believe. I've been passionate my whole life about the Constitution. And, you know, for six-and-a-half years, we've had a gigantic party. If you want someone to grab a beer with, I may not be that guy. But if you want someone to drive you home, I will get the job done and I will get you home. +p3618 +aVBecky, if you want a 10 percent flat tax where the numbers add up, I rolled out my tax plan today, you can find it on line at tedcruz.org. It is a simple flat tax where for individuals, a family of four pays nothing on the first $36,000. After that you pay 10 percent as a flat tax going up. The billionaire and the working man, no hedge fund manager pays less than his secretary. On top of that, there is a business flat tax of 16 percent. Now that applies universally to giant corporations that with lobbyists right now are not paying taxes, and as small business. And you wanted to know the numbers, the Tax Foundation, which has scored every one of our plans, shows that this plan will allow the economy to generate 4.9 million jobs, to raise wages over 12 percent, and to generate 14 percent growth. And it costs, with dynamic scoring, less than a trillion dollars. Those are the hard numbers. And every single income decile sees a double-digit increase in after-tax income. +p3619 +aVGrowth is the answer. And as Reagan demonstrated, if we cut taxes, we can bring back growth. +p3620 +aVYou know, let me say something at the outset. The questions that have been asked so far in this debate illustrate why the American people don't trust the media. This is not a cage match. And, you look at the questions \u2014 "Donald Trump, are you a comic-book villain?" "Ben Carson, can you do math?" "John Kasich, will you insult two people over here?" "Marco Rubio, why don't you resign?" "Jeb Bush, why have your numbers fallen?" How about talking about the substantive issues the people care about? +p3621 +aVAnd Carl \u2014 Carl, I'm not finished yet. The contrast with the Democratic debate, where every fawning question from the media was, "Which of you is more handsome and why?" And let me be clear. +p3622 +aVLet me be clear. The men and women on this stage have more ideas, more experience, more common sense than every participant in the Democratic debate. That debate reflected a debate between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. And nobody watching at home believed that any of the moderators had any intention of voting in a Republican primary. The questions that are being asked shouldn't be trying to get people to tear into each other. It should be what are your substantive positions... +p3623 +aVYou want me to answer that question? I'm happy to answer the question... +p3624 +aVLet me tell you how that question... +p3625 +aVLet me tell you how that question... +p3626 +aV... so you don't actually want to hear the answer, John? +p3627 +aVYou don't want to hear the answer. You just want to... +p3628 +aVYou're not interested in an answer. +p3629 +aV...Then I'll buy you a tequila... +p3630 +aV...Or, even some famous Colorado brownies. +p3631 +aVWell, sure. This deal in Washington is an example of why Washington's broken. Republican leadership joined with every single Democrat, add $80 trillion to our debt to do nothing to fix the problems. And, let me now on Social Security because we were getting into a good substantive exchange, and I want to say I think both Chris, and Mike are right. Governor Huckabee's exactly right, we need to honor the promises made to our seniors, but for younger workers \u2014 look. I'm 44 years old. It is hard to find someone in my generation that thinks Social Security will be there for us. We can save and preserve and strengthen Social Security by making no changes for seniors, but for younger workers gradually increasing the retirement age, changing the rate of growth so that it matches inflation, and critically allowing younger workers to keep a portion of our tax payments in a personal account that we own, we control them, we can pass on to our kids. +p3632 +aVWell, we've gotta turn the economy around for people who are struggling. The Democrats' answer to everything is more government control over wages, and more empowering trial lawyers to file lawsuits. You know, you look at women working. I'll tell you, in my family there are a lot of single moms in my family. My sister was a single mom, both of my aunts who were a single moms. My mom who's here today, was a single mom when my father left us when I was 3 years old. Now, thank God, my father was invited to a Bible study and became born again and he came back to my mom and me and we were raised together. But I \u2014 the struggle of single moms is extraordinary. And you know, when you see Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and all the Democrats talking about wanting to address the plight of working women, not a one of them mentioned the fact that under Barack Obama, 3.7 million women have entered poverty. Not a one of them mentioned the fact that under Barack Obama and the big government economy, the median wage for women has dropped $733. The the truth of the matter is, big government benefits the wealthy, it benefits the lobbyists, it benefits the giant corporations. And the people who are getting hammered are small businesses, it's single moms, it's Hispanics. That is who I'm fighting for. The people that Washington leaves behind. +p3633 +aVWell, Rick, it's a very important question. I have got deep concerns about the Fed. The first thing I think we need to do is audit the Fed. And I am an original co-sponsor of Rand Paul's audit the Fed legislation. The second thing we need to do is I think we need to bring together a bipartisan commission to look at getting back to rules- based monetary policy, end this star chamber that has been engaging in this incredible experiment of quantitative easing, QE1, QE2, QE3, QE- infinity. And the people who are being impacted, you know, a question that was asked earlier, Becky asked, was about working women. You know, it's interesting, you look at on Wall Street, the Fed is doing great. It's driving up stock prices. Wall Street is doing great. You know, today, the top 1 percent earn a higher share of our income than any year since 1928. But if you look at working men and women. If you look at a single mom buying groceries, she sees hamburger prices have gone up nearly 40 percent. She sees her cost of electricity going up. She sees her health insurance going up. And loose money is one of the major problems. We need sound money. And I think the Fed should get out of the business of trying to juice our economy and simply be focused on sound money and monetary stability, ideally tied to gold. +p3634 +aVLet me say on that... +p3635 +aV...Rand is exactly right. His plan is a good plan, and I will note that my 10% plan also eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax, +p3636 +aV...eliminates the business... [ +p3637 +aV...income tax... [ +p3638 +aV...10% flat rate... +p3639 +aV...is the lowest personal rate any candidate up here has, and what it would also enable us to do is for every citizen to fill out their taxes on a postcard so we can eliminate the IRS. +p3640 +aVYou know, everyone here talks about the need to take on Washington. The natural next question is who actually has done so. Who actually has stood up not just to Democrats, but to leaders in our own party? When millions of Americans rose up against Obamacare, I was proud to lead that fight. When millions of Americans rose up against amnesty, I was proud to lead that fight. When millions of Americans rose up against Planned Parenthood, I was proud to lead that fight. If people are promising they're going to take on Washington and cronyism, you need to look to who has been doing it. In my family, my dad fled oppression in Cuba to come to America. Freedom is personal for me, and I will always keep my word and fight for freedom. +p3641 +aVI'm Ted Cruz. I am the son of an Irish-Italian mom and a Cuban immigrant dad who fled oppression and came to America seeking freedom. I'm a husband to my best friend, Heidi, who's here tonight. I'm a dad to two little girls who are the loves of my life, Caroline and Catherine. If you're fed up with Washington, if you're looking for someone to stand up to career politicians in both parties, I'm the only one on this stage who has done that over and over again, and if we stand together, we can bring America back. +p3642 +aVWell, let me tell you, Jake, the single biggest national security threat facing America right now is the threat of a nuclear Iran. We've seen six and a half years of President Obama leading from behind. Weakness is provocative, and this Iranian nuclear deal is nothing short of catastrophic. This deal, on its face, will send over $100 billion to the Ayatollah Khamenei, making the Obama administration the world's leading financier of radical Islamic terrorism. +p3643 +aVThis deal abandons four American hostages in Iran, and this deal will only accelerate Iran's acquiring nuclear weapons. You'd better believe it. If I am elected president, on the very first day in office, I will rip to shreds this catastrophic Iranian nuclear deal. +p3644 +aVWell, let's be clear when it comes to experience. What President Obama wants to do is he's run to the United Nations, and he wants to use the United Nations to bind the United States, and take away our sovereignty. Well, I spent five and a half years as a Solicitor General of Texas, the lead lawyer for the state, in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, and I went in front of the Supreme Court, and took on the world court of the United Nations in a case called Medellin v. Texas, and we won a historic victory saying the World Court, and the U.N., has no power to bind the United States, and no President of the United States, Republican or Democrat, has the authority to give away our sovereignty. And, so, if there's anyone up here who would be bound by this catastrophic deal with Iran, they're giving up the core responsibility of commander in chief, and as president, I would never do that. +p3645 +aVJake, Jake... +p3646 +aVJake, there is no more important topic in 2016 than this topic right here, and I've listened to several folks saying, "Well, gosh, if they cheat, we'll act." We won't know under this agreement \u2014 there are several facilities in Iran they designate as military facilities that are off limit all together. Beyond that, the other facilities, we give them 24 days notice before inspecting them. That is designed to allow them to hide the evidence. And most astonishingly, this agreement trusts the Iranians to inspect themselves. That makes no sense whatsoever. And let me know \u2014 President Obama is violating federal law... +p3647 +aV... by not handing over the side deals, and we ought to see the United States Congress... +p3648 +aV... stand up together and say, "Hand over this treaty, and protect this country." +p3649 +aVWell, let me tell you, Dana, number one, I'm proud to stand for life. These Planned Parenthood videos are horrifying. I would encourage every American to watch the videos. See \u2014 seeing your Planned Parenthood officials callously, heartlessly bartering and selling the body parts of human beings, and then ask yourself, "are these my values?" These are horrifying. On these videos, Planned Parenthood also essentially confesses to multiple felonies. It is a felony with ten years' jail term to sell the body parts of unborn children for profit. That's what these videos show Planned Parenthood doing. Absolutely we shouldn't be sending $500 million of taxpayer money to funding an ongoing criminal enterprise, and I'll tell you, the fact that Republican leadership in both houses has begun this discussion by preemptively surrendering to Barack Obama and saying, "we'll give in because Obama threatens a veto." You know, Obama's committed to his principles. His liberal principles, he will fight for them. He says... +p3650 +aVI will veto any budget that doesn't fund Planned Parenthood, and Republicans surrender. We need to stop surrendering and start standing... +p3651 +aV...for our principles. +p3652 +aVWell, Jake, you know, I'm \u2014 I'm very glad that Donald Trump's being in this race has forced the mainstream media finally to talk about illegal immigration. I think that's very important. I like and respect Ben Carson. I'll let him talk about his own plans. But I will say this: The natural next question that primary voters are asking, after we focus on illegal immigration is, okay, what are the records of the various candidates? And this is an issue on which there are stark differences. A majority of the men and women on this stage have previously and publicly embraced amnesty. I am the only candidate on this stage who has never supported amnesty and, in fact, who helped lead the fight to stop a massive amnesty plan. In 2013, when Barack Obama and Harry Reid joined the Washington Republicans in a massive, I stood shoulder to shoulder with Jeff Sessions helping lead the fight. You know, folks here have talked about, how do you secure the borders? Well, I've been leading the fight in the Senate to triple the Border Patrol, to put in place fencings and walls, to put in place a strong biometric exit/entry system... +p3653 +aVWell, Dana, I've known John Roberts for 20 years, he's amazingly talented lawyer, but, yes, it was a mistake when he was appointed to the Supreme Court. He's a good enough lawyer that he knows in these Obamacare cases he changed the statute, he changed the law in order to force that failed law on millions of Americans for a political outcome. And, you know, we're frustrated as conservatives. We keep winning elections, and then we don't get the outcome we want. And, let me focus on two moments in time. Number one, in 1990, in one room was David Souter, and in another room was Edith Jones, the rock ribbed (ph) conservative on the fifth circuit court of appeals. George Herbert Walker Bush appointed David Souter. And then in 2005, in one room was John Roberts, in another room was my former boss, Mike Luttig, the rock ribbed (ph) conservative on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals... +p3654 +aV...George W. Bush appointed John Roberts, and let me give you the consequences of that. If, instead, the President Bush had appointed Edith Jones, and Mike Luttig, which is who I would have appointed, Obamacare would have been struck down three years ago, and the marriage laws of all 50 states would be on the books. These matter, and I fought to defend the constitution my whole life... +p3655 +aV...and I will as president as well. +p3656 +aVIt is true that after George W. Bush nominated John Roberts, I supported his confirmation. That was a mistake and I regret that. I wouldn't have nominated John Roberts, and indeed, Governor Bush pointed out why. It wasn't that the President Bushes wanted to appoint a liberal to the court, it's that it was the easier choice. Both David Souter and John Roberts, they didn't have a long paper trail. If you had nominated Edith Jones or Mike Ludig (ph) you would have had a bloody fight and they weren't willing to spend political capital to put a strong judicial conservative on the court. I have spent my entire life, starting from clerking for Chief Justice William Rehnquist on the United States Supreme Court, one of the most principled jurists. We have an out-of-control Court, and I give you my word, if I'm elected president, every single Supreme Court justice will faithfully follow the law and will not act like philosopher kings \u2014 +p3657 +aV\u2014 imposing their liberal policies on millions of Americans \u2014 +p3658 +aV\u2014 who need to be trusted to govern ourselves. +p3659 +aVI \u2014 I am not, and \u2014 and you mentioned that the U.S. Supreme Court had rightly upheld the individual right to keep and bear arms. I was proud to lead 31 states before the U.S. Supreme Court defending the Second Amendment, and we won that landmark victory. And indeed, just a couple of years ago, when Harry Reid and Barack Obama came after the right to keep and bear arms of millions of Americans, I was proud to lead the fight in the United States Senate to protect our right to keep and bear arms, and for that reason... +p3660 +aV... I was honored to be endorsed by Gun Owners of America... +p3661 +aV... as the strongest supporter of the Second Amendment on this stage today, and I will... +p3662 +aV... fight every day to defend the Bill of Rights. +p3663 +aVWell, I wouldn't change the $10 bill, I'd change the $20. I'd take Jackson off and I'd leave Alexander Hamilton right where he is as one of our Founding Fathers. And I very much agree with Marco that it should be Rosa Parks. She was a principled pioneer that helped change this country, helped remedy racial injustice, and that would be an honor that would be entirely appropriate. +p3664 +aVYou know, as a Cuban, I might go with Cohiba (ph), and I'll tell you, I'd go with, for Heidi, Angel, because she is my angel. +p3665 +aVRonald Reagan believed in America. If I'm elected president our friends and allies across the globe will know that we stand with them. the bust of Winston Churchill will be back in the Oval Office, and the American embassy in Israel will be in Jerusalem. Enemies across this world will know the United States is not to be trifled with. +p3666 +aVChris, I believe the American people are looking for someone to speak the truth. If you're looking for someone to go to Washington, to go along to get along, to get -- to agree with the career politicians in both parties who get in bed with the lobbyists and special interests, then I ain't your guy. There is a reason... .... that we have $18 trillion in debt. Because as conservatives, as Republicans, we keep winning elections. We got a Republican House, we've got a Republican Senate, and we don't have leaders who honor their commitments. I will always tell the truth and do what I said I would do. +p3667 +aVChris, absolutely yes. And not only will I support it......I have authored Kate's law in the United States Senate and filed that legislation. I tried to get the Senate to vote to pass Kate's law on the floor of the Senate just one week ago, and the leader of our own party blocked a vote on Kate's law. You know, there was reference made to our leaders being stupid. It's not a question of stupidity. It's that they don't want to enforce the immigration laws. That there are far too many in the Washington cartel that support amnesty. President Obama has talked about fundamentally transforming this country. There's 7 billion people across the face of the globe, many of whom want to come to this country. If they come legally, great. But if they come illegally and they get amnesty, that is how we fundamentally change this country, and it really is striking. A majority of the candidates on this stage have supported amnesty. I have never supported amnesty, and I led the fight against Chuck Schumer's gang of eight amnesty legislation in the Senate. +p3668 +aVMegyn, we need a commander in chief that speaks the truth. We will not defeat radical Islamic terrorism so long as we have a president unwilling to utter the words, "radical Islamic terrorism". When I asked General Dempsey, the chairman of the joint chiefs, what would be required militarily to destroy +p3669 +aVMegyn, of course it's an ideological problem, that's one of the reasons I introduce the Expatriate Terrorist Act in the Senate that said if any American travels to the Middle East and joining +p3670 +aVWell, Bret, of course they have, and over the last six and a half years we've seen the consequences of the Obama-Clinton foreign policy. Leading from behind is a disaster. We have abandoned and alienated our friends and allies, and our enemies are stronger. Radical Islam is on the rise, Iran's on the verge of acquiring a nuclear weapon, China is waging cyber warfare against America, Russia -- General Soleimani, you just mentioned, the Iranian general is the head of the al Quds forces. He's directly responsible for the murder of over 500 American servicemen in Iraq, and part of this Iranian deal was lifting the international sanctions on General Soleimani. The day General Soleimani flew back from Moscow to Iran was the day we believed that Russia used cyber warfare against the Joint Chiefs. We need a new commander in chief that will stand up to our enemies, and that will have credibility... It is worth emphasizing that Iran released our hostages in 1981 the day Ronald Reagan was sworn into office. +p3671 +aVBrett, can I -- Brett, can I jump in on this one? +p3672 +aVWell, I am blessed to receive a word from God every day in receiving the scriptures and reading the scriptures. And God speaks through the Bible. I'm the son of a pastor and evangelist and I've described many times how my father, when I was a child, was an alcoholic. He wasn't a Christian. And my father left my mother and left me when I was just three years old. And someone invited him to Clay Road Baptist Church. And he gave his heart to Jesus and it turned him around. And he got on a plane and he flew back to my mother and me. I would also note that the scripture tells us, "you shall know them by their fruit." We see lots of "campaign conservatives." But if we're going to win in 2016, we need a consistent conservative, someone who has been a fiscal conservative, a social conservative, a national security conservative. There are real differences among the candidates on issues like amnesty, like Obamacare, like religious liberty, like life and marriage. And I have been proud to fight and stand for religious liberty, to stand against Planned Parenthood, to defend life for my entire career. And I will be proud to continue to do so as president of the United States. +p3673 +aVIf I'm elected president, let me tell you about my first day in office. The first thing I intend to do is to rescind every illegal and unconstitutional executive action taken by Barack Obama. The next thing I intend to do is instruct the Department of Justice to open an investigation into these videos and to prosecute Planned Parenthood for any criminal violations. The next thing I intend to do is instruct the Department of Justice and the IRS to start (sic) persecuting religious liberty, and then intend to cancel the Iran deal, and finally move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. I will keep my word. My father fled Cuba, and I will fight to defend liberty because my family knows what it's like to lose it. +p3674 +aVWell, we have 80 years of precedent of not confirming Supreme Court justices in an election year. And let me say, Justice Scalia... +p3675 +aVEighty years of not confirming. For example, L.B.J. nominated Abe Fortas. Fortas did not get confirmed. He was defeated. +p3676 +aVNo, Kennedy was confirmed in '87... +p3677 +aVHe was appointed in... +p3678 +aVIn this case it's both. But if I could answer the question... +p3679 +aVJustice Scalia was a legal giant. He was somebody that I knew for 20 years. He was a brilliant man. He was faithful to the Constitution. He changed the arc of American legal history. And I'll tell you, his passing tonight, our prayers are with his family, with his wife, Maureen, who he adored, his nine children, his 36 grandkids. But it underscores the stakes of this election. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that will strike down every restriction on abortion adopted by the states. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that will reverse the Heller decision, one of Justice Scalia's seminal decisions, that upheld the Second Amendment right to keep and to bear arms. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that would undermine the religious liberty of millions of Americans \u2014 and the stakes of this election, for this year, for the Senate, the Senate needs to stand strong and say, "We're not going to give up the U.S. Supreme Court for a generation by allowing Barack Obama to make one more liberal appointee." And then for the state of South Carolina, one of the most important judgments for the men and women of South Carolina to make is who on this stage has the background, the principle, the character, the judgment and the strength of resolve to nominate and confirm principled constitutionalists to the court? That will be what I will do if I'm elected president. +p3680 +aVWell, we need to focus on what the objective is, you know? Your question about the first three questions you would ask in this Situation Room. I think it is a problem if the president, commander in chief, we've elected does not have the experience and background to understand the threats facing this country coming in on Day 1. If you look at the threats facing this country, the single gravest threat, national security threat, is the threat of a nuclear Iran. That's why I've pledged on Day 1 to rip to shreds this Iranian nuclear deal, and anyone that thinks you can negotiate Khamenei does not understand the nature of Khamenei. When it comes to +p3681 +aVWe have Kurds in both Iraq and Syria. They are fighting +p3682 +aVWell, let me say it at the outset that everyone here understands \u2014 everyone understands that how \u2014 that the middle class has been left behind in the last seven years of the Obama economy, and we've got to bring jobs back. We've got to get people back to work. We've got to get wages going up again. We've got to get people moving from part-time work to full-time work. We all agree on that, but it's not going to be solved with magic pixie dust. It's just going to be solved by declaring into the air, "Let there be jobs." We actually have to understand the principles that made America great in the first place. Now, where do you get economic growth? If you look at cause and effect over our nation's history, every time we lessen the burden of Washington on small-business owners, on job creators, we see incredible economic growth. You do that through tax reform and regulatory reform. My tax plan \u2014 typical family of four, first $36,000 you earn, you pay nothing in taxes \u2014 no income taxes, no payroll taxes, no nothing. Above 10 percent, everyone pays the same simple, flat 10 percent income rate. It's flat and fair. You can fill out your taxes on a postcard, and we abolish the I.R.S. If you want to see the postcard, I've got it on my website. +p3683 +aVNow, Major, the business flat tax that is in my tax plan is not a VAT. A VAT in Europe is a sales tax. The business flat tax is not a sales tax, it is a tax of 16 percent opposed fairly and evenly across the board on all business. One of the things that's critical is we're doing that in conjunction with abolishing the corporate income tax, with abolishing the Obamacare taxes, with abolishing the payroll taxes, which are the biggest taxes paid by most working Americans, and with abolishing the death tax, which is cruel and unfair. And you asked about economic growth \u2014 the nonpartisan Tax Foundation estimated a simple flat tax that would produce 4.9 million new jobs, it would increase capital investment by 44 percent and would lift everyone's income by double digits. That's how you turn the country around, not just hoping and praying for it, but implementing policies that work. +p3684 +aVWell, you know, your question highlights a sharp difference on immigration on this stage. You know, in a Republican primary, everyone talks tough on immigration. Everyone is against illegal immigration in a Republican primary. But as voters, we've been burned over and over again by people that give us a great campaign speech and they don't walk the walk. There are sharp differences on amnesty. If you look at the folks on this stage, when Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer and establishment Republicans were leading the fight to pass a massive amnesty plan, I stood with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and the American people and led the fight to defeat that amnesty plan. +p3685 +aVNow, that moment... +p3686 +aVThat moment was what Reagan would call "a time for choosing." When it comes to deciding which side of the line you're on, the Rubio-Schumer amnesty plan......apparently supported by the donor class, which is why Washington supported it. The Rubio-Schumer amnesty plan passed the Senate, and it was on the verge of passing the House. House leadership intended to take it up and pass it with the Democrats overruling most of the Republicans. And the question for anyone on illegal immigration is, where were you in that fight? Where did you stand? You are right. There is a difference between Senator Rubio and me on this question. +p3687 +aVMajor, I get a response to that. +p3688 +aVYou know, the lines are very, very clear. Marco right now supports citizenship for 12 million people here illegally. I oppose citizenship. Marco stood on the debate stage and said that. But I would note not only that \u2014 Marco has a long record when it comes to amnesty. In the state of Florida, as speaker of the house, he supported in-state tuition for illegal immigrants. In addition to that, Marco went on Univision in Spanish and said he would not rescind President Obama's illegal executive amnesty on his first day in office. I have promised to rescind every single illegal executive action, including that one. And on the question... +p3689 +aV. +p3690 +aVThat is simply... +p3691 +aVThat is absolutely false. What he said is knowingly false. And I would note, if you want to assess \u2014 if you want to assess... +p3692 +aV... who is telling the truth... If you want to assess who is telling the truth......then you should look to Jeff Sessions, who said, without Ted Cruz the Rubio-Schumer amnesty bill would have passed, and Ted was responsible. You should look to Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin, that said... +p3693 +aVI think it is a very important question because the people who have been hurt the most in the Obama economy had been the most vulnerable. It's been young people. It's been Hispanics. It's been African-Americans. It's been single moms. We have the lowest percentage of Americans working today in any year since 1977. And the sad reality is big government, massive taxes, massive regulation, doesn't work. What we need to do instead is bring back booming economic growth, let \u2014 small businesses are the heart of the economy. Two-thirds of all new jobs come from small businesses. If we want to lift people out of poverty \u2014 you know, I think of these issues from the perspective of my dad. My dad fled Cuba in 1957. He was just 18. He couldn't speak English. He had nothing. He had $100 in his underwear. And he washed dishes making 50 cents an hour and paid his way through school. Today, my dad is a pastor. He travels the country preaching the gospel. Now, I think about all of these issues. How would it impact my dad when he was washing dishes? If we had Obamacare in place right now, the odds are very high my father would have been laid off, because it's teenaged kids like my dad who have gotten laid off. If he didn't get laid off, the odds are high he would have had his hours forcibly reduced to 28, 29 hours a week. We need to lift the burdens on small businesses so you have jobs, and we need welfare reform that gets people off of welfare and back to work. +p3694 +aVYou know, flexibility is a good thing, but it shouldn't \u2014 you shouldn't be flexible on core principles. I like Donald, he is an amazing entertainer, but his policies for most of his life... +p3695 +aVFor most of his life, his policies have been very, very liberal. For most of his life, he has described himself as very pro- choice and as a supporter of partial birth abortion. Right now, today, as a candidate, he supports federal taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood. I disagree with him on that. That's a matter of principle, and I'll tell you... +p3696 +aVDon, I need to go on... +p3697 +aVI will say, it is fairly remarkable to see Donald defending Ben after he called, "pathological," and compared him to a child molester. Both of which were offensive and wrong. But let me say this \u2014 you notice Donald didn't disagree with the substance that he supports taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood. And Donald has this weird pattern, when you point to his own record, he screams, "Liar, liar, liar." You want to go... +p3698 +aVYou want to go... +p3699 +aVIf you want to watch the video, go to our website at Tedcruz.org. +p3700 +aVYou can see it out of Donald's own mouth. +p3701 +aVYou supported it when we were battling over defunding Planned Parenthood. You went on... +p3702 +aVYou said, "Planned Parenthood does wonderful things and we should not defund it." +p3703 +aVSo I'll tell you what... +p3704 +aVYou see, you and I... +p3705 +aVDon, the reasoned principle matters. The reasoned principle matters, sadly was illustrated by the first questions today. The next president is going to appoint one, two, three, four Supreme Court justices. If Donald Trump is president, he will appoint liberals. If Donald Trump is president, your Second Amendment will gone... +p3706 +aVYou know how I know that? +p3707 +aVI did not nominate John Roberts. I would not have nominated John Roberts. +p3708 +aVI supported... +p3709 +aVYou need to learn to not interrupt people. +p3710 +aVDonald, adults learn... +p3711 +aVAdults learn not to interrupt people. +p3712 +aVI did not nominate him. I would not have nominated him. I would've nominated my former boss Liberman, who was Justice Scalia's first law clerk. And you know how I know that Donald's Supreme Court justices will be liberals? Because his entire life, he support liberals from Jimmy Carter, to Hillary Clinton, to John Kerry. In 2004, he contributed to John Kerry. Nobody who cares about judges would contribute to John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid. +p3713 +aVThat's what Donald Trump does. +p3714 +aVSouth Carolina, you have a critical choice to make. Our country literally hangs in the balance. Do you want another Washington deal maker who will do business as usual, cut deals with the Democrats, grow government, grow debt and give up our fundamental liberties? Or do you want a conservative, a proven conservative that will stand and fight with you each and every day? Listen, repealing Obamacare is not going to be easy. Passing a simple flat tax that abolishes the I.R.S. is not going to be easy, but if we stand with the American people, we can do it. And today, we saw just how great the stakes are. Two branches of government hang in the balance. Not just the presidency but the Supreme Court. If we get this wrong, if we nominate the wrong candidates, the Second Amendment, life, marriage, religious liberty \u2014 every one of those hangs in the balance. My little girls are here. I don't want to look my daughters in the eyes and say, "We lost their liberties." Who do you know will defend the Constitution and Bill of Rights? And as a commander in chief, who do you know will stand up to our enemies as the clam, steady, deliberate, strength to defeat our enemies, to secure our borders and to keep America safe. +p3715 +aVWell, you know, David, the assessment the voters are making here in New Hampshire and across the country is they are evaluating each and every one of us. They are looking to our experience. They are looking to our knowledge. They are looking to our temperament and judgment. They are looking to our clarity of vision and our strength of resolve. The world is getting much more dangerous. We've had seven years with Barack Obama in the oval office, a commander-in-chief that is unwilling even to acknowledge the enemy we're facing. This is a president who, in the wake of Paris, in the wake of San Bernardino, will not even use the words radical Islamic terrorism, much less focus on defeating the enemy. I am convinced every individual standing on this stage, would make a much better commander-in-chief than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders. And the primary voters are making the assessment for each of us, who is best prepared to keep this country safe, to rebuild the military, to rebuild our Navy, our Air Force, our Army, our Marines, and to ensure that we keep America safe. +p3716 +aVI think that is an assessment the voters are going to make. And they are going to make it of each and everyone of us. They are going to assess who is level-headed, who has clear vision, who has judgment, who can confront our enemies, who can confront the threats we face in this country, and who can have the judgment when to engage and when not to engage \u2014 both are incredibly important for a commander-in-chief, knowing how to go after our enemies. In the case of Iran, for example, who has the clarity of vision to understand that the Ayatollah Khamenei, when he chants, "Death to America," he means it. We need a president with the judgment and resolve to keep this country safe from radical Islamic terrorists. +p3717 +aVBen is a good and honorable man and Ben and Candy have become friends. He has an amazing life story that has inspired millions, including me. When this transpired, I apologized to him then and I do so now. Ben, I'm sorry. Let me tell you the facts of what occurred for those who are interested in knowing. On Monday night, about 6:30 p.m., CNN reported that Ben was not going from Iowa to New Hampshire or South Carolina. Rather, he was, quote, "Taking a break from campaigning." They reported that on television, CNN's political anchors, Jake Tapper and Dana Bash and Wolf Blitzer, said it was highly unusual and highly significant. My political team saw CNN's report breaking news and they forwarded that news to our volunteers, it was being covered on live television. Now, at the time, I was at the caucuses, I was getting ready to speak at the caucuses just like Ben was, just like everyone else was. I knew nothing about this. A couple hours later, I found out about it. I was told that Ben was unhappy. I called him that evening because I respect him very, very highly. I didn't reach him that evening. I reached him the next day and apologized. He asked me then, he said, Ted, would you make this apologize in public? I said, yes, I will. And I did so. I regret that subsequently, CNN reported on that \u2014 they didn't correct that story until 9:15 that night. So from 6:30 p.m. to 9:15, that's what CNN was reporting. Subsequent to that initial report, Ben's campaign put out a statement saying that he was not suspending his campaign. I wish that our campaign staff had forwarded that statement. They were unaware of it, I wish that they had, that's why I apologized. +p3718 +aVWell, I would note, initially the fact that we're seeing the launch, and we're seeing the launch from a nuclear North Korea is the direct result of the failures of the first Clinton administration. The Clinton administration led the world in relaxing sanctions against North Korea. Billions of dollars flowed into North Korea in exchange for promises not to build nuclear weapons. They took those billions and built nuclear weapons. And, I would note also the lead negotiator in that failed North Korea sanctions deal was a woman named Wendy Sherman who Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton promptly recruited to come back to be the lead negotiator with Iran. So, what we are seeing with North Korea is foreshadowing of where we will be with Iran. With respect to North Korea and what we should do now, one of the first things we should do is expand our missile defense capacity. We ought to put missile defense interceptors in South Korea. South Korea wants them. One of the real risks of this launch, North Korea wants to launch a satellite, and one of the greatest risks of the satellite is they would place a nuclear device in the satellite. As it would orbit around the Earth, and as it got over the United States they would detonate that nuclear weapon and set of what's called an EMP, and electromagnetic pulse which could take down the entire electrical grid on the Eastern seaboard, potentially killing millions. We need to harden the grid to defend ourselves, and we need missile defense to protect ourselves against North Korea. +p3719 +aVYou know, at this point I'm not going to speculate on that without the intelligence briefing that any Commander in Chief would have, knowing what exactly is there. One of the real problems... +p3720 +aV... Actually, with respect, I have gotten the intelligence briefings on the Mid-East. Those have been going on for many years. I haven't gotten the intelligence briefing tonight on what North Korea's doing because I'm here in new Hampshire. When you're responding to an immediate incident, you need to know the intelligence of what's occurring. But what I was saying \u2014 look, it is qualitatively different dealing with a country once they have nuclear weapons. It's why you prevent them from getting nuclear weapons in the first place \u2014 because your hands are somewhat tied once they have nukes. It's why this Iranian nuclear deal is so catastrophic, and it's why I've pledged, on the very first day in office, to rip to shreds this Iranian nuclear deal so we're not sitting here in five years, wondering what to do about an Iranian missile launch when they have nuclear weapons. The stakes are too high for that. +p3721 +aVSo, in terms of a practical solution, I've laid out the most detailed plan for solving illegal immigration. It's 11 pages, single-spaced, chapter and verse. It's on our website, tedcruz.org. In short, we're going to do, we're going to build a wall. We're going to triple the border patrol. We're going to increase \u2014 and actually, since Donald enjoyed that, I will simply say, I've got somebody in mind to build it. We're going to increase four-fold, the fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft, so that you have technology monitoring an attempted incursion to direct the boots on the ground where they're occurring. We're going to put in place a strong e-verify system in the workplace, so you can't get a job without proving you are here legally. We'll put in place a biometric exit-entry system on visas, because 40 percent of illegal immigration comes not over the border illegally, but people coming on visas and overstaying. We will end sanctuary cities by cutting off taxpayer dollars to any jurisdiction that defies federal immigration law. And we will end welfare benefits for those here illegally. +p3722 +aVWhat you do is, you enforce the law. You know, under the Constitution, the president has an obligation to, quote, "Take care that the laws be faithfully executed." Federal immigration law provides, if someone is here illegally and is apprehended, they are to be deported. We saw just this past week the head of the border patrol union testify before Congress that President Obama had given the order to the border patrol to stand down, not to enforce the law. That is wrong. I will enforce the law, and for everyone who says, you can't possibly do that, I would note that in eight years, Bill Clinton deported 12 million people. In eight years, George W. Bush deported 10 million people. Enforcing the law \u2014 we can do it. What is missing is the political will. And when they were deporting the people, the border wasn't secure, so they'd come right back. Once you secure the border, enforcing the law will solve this problem and that will benefit American workers. +p3723 +aVGood evening. +p3724 +aVWell, let me take two different parts of that. Let me start with socialized medicine. Socialized medicine is a disaster. It does not work. If you look at the countries that have imposed socialized medicine, that have put the government in charge of providing medicine, what inevitably happens is rationing. You have a scarcity of doctors. You have rationing. And that means the elderly are told, we're going to ration a hip replacement, we're going to ration a knee replacement. We're going to ration end- of-life care. We're right now heading into a medical system with about a 90,000-doctor shortage in America and socialized medicine; whether proposed by the Democrats or proposed by a Republican would hurt the people of this country. What should we do on health care? If I'm elected president, we will repeal every word of Obamacare. And once we do that, we will adopt common sense reforms, number one, we'll allow people to purchase health insurance across state lines that will drive down prices and expand the availability of low cost catastrophic insurance. We'll expand health savings accounts; and we will de-link health insurance from employment so that you don't lose your health insurance when you lose your job, and that way health insurance can be personal, portable and affordable and we keep government from getting in between us and our doctors. HAM: Dr. Carson, you have some experience with this matter. In the past, you have said that Obamacare should be replaced before it's repealed. How and why? +p3725 +aVWell, sure. It starts with a commander-in-chief that sets the objective. And the objective has to be utterly and completely destroying +p3726 +aVMartha, I will tell you, I have visited with active duty military, with veterans over and over and over again in town halls all over the state of New Hampshire. What we are doing to our sons and daughters, it is immoral. We are sending them into fight with their arms tied behind their back. They cannot defend themselves. And it is wrong. And I will tell you this. Look. America has always been reluctant to use military force. It's the last step we take. But if and when we use it when it comes to defeating +p3727 +aVAbsolutely, yes. +p3728 +aVWell, under the definition of torture, no, it's not. Under the law, torture is excruciating pain that is equivalent to losing organs and systems, so under the definition of torture, it is not. It is enhanced interrogation, it is vigorous interrogation, but it does not meet the generally recognized definition of torture. +p3729 +aVI would not bring it back in any sort of widespread use. And indeed, I joined with Senator McCain in legislation that would prohibit line officers from employing it because I think bad things happen when enhanced interrogation is employed at lower levels. But when it comes to keeping this country safe, the commander in chief has inherent constitutional authority to keep this country safe. And so, if it were necessary to, say, prevent a city from facing an imminent terrorist attack, you can rest assured that as commander in chief, I would use whatever enhanced interrogation methods we could to keep this country safe. +p3730 +aVWell, thank you for that question. You know, there are three avenues of presidential authority to change the direction of this country. The first is executive power, the second is foreign policy, and the third is legislation. Executive power, as we all know, has been the preferred vehicle of President Obama, abusing his authority, abusing his constitutional authority. Now, the silver lining of that is everything done with executive power can be undone with executive power, so I have pledged on day one I will rescind every single illegal and unconstitutional executive action Barack Obama has done. That means on day one his efforts to restrict the Second Amendment go away with the strike of a pen. That means on day one his illegal executive amnesty goes away with the strike of a pen. The reason I can end Common Core at the federal level is because Obama is abusing executive power using Race to the Top funds in the Department of Education to force it on the states. That's one avenue. The second avenue of change is foreign policy, and foreign policy can change the fastest. It's worth remembering that Iran released our hostages the day Reagan......was sworn in. And, the third is legislation, and that can only be done with the people behind you, which is why the two big legislative initiatives I'm campaigning on are repealing Obamacare, and adopting a simple flat tax to abolish the IRS. HAM: Mr. Trump, Senator Cruz is known for opposing deals, you literally wrote the book on making them. Senator Cruz has mentioned that on the trail. What would you say to those conservatives that are concerned that a deal maker will just perpetuate the same deals in Washington and the way that things run now ... +p3731 +aVWell, Josh, as you noted, this is a problem that, for me, I understand first-hand. My older sister, Myriam, who was my half- sister, struggled her whole life with drug and alcohol addiction. My father and her mom divorced when she was a little girl and she was angry her whole life, and she ended up marrying a man who had been in and out of jail. She then became a single mom and she herself went to jail several times and she ended up spending some time in a crack house. I still remember my father and me driving up to get Myriam out of that crack house to try to convince her she needed to be a mom to \u2014 to my nephew Joey. She wasn't willing to listen. She was not willing to change the path she was on. She was angry. I was \u2014 had just gotten my first job coming out of law school. I took a $20,000 loan on a credit card to put my nephew, Joey, in Valley Forge Military Academy \u2014 he was in sixth grade at the time, to pay his way through that. And about five, six years ago, Miriam died of an overdose. It was \u2014 the coroner ruled it accidental. We don't know. She went to one night, had taken too many pills, and Joey walked in and found her dead. This is an absolute epidemic. We need leadership to solve it. Solving it has to occur at the state and local level with programs like A.A., and counseling, and churches and charities. But it also has to be securing the borders, because you have got Mexican cartels that are smuggling vast amounts of heroin into this country. We know how to secure the borders. What is missing is the political will to do it. And as president, I will secure the border, we will end this deluge of drugs that is flowing over our southern border and that is killing Americans across this country. +p3732 +aVWell, look, I recognize it is an agonizing experience when anyone is facing a loved \u2014 loved member who's been kidnapped. But at the same time, putting in place legal regimes that encourage the payment of ransom has the effect of putting a bounty on other Americans. There is a reason it has been longstanding U.S. policy that we don't negotiate with terrorists, we don't pay ransoms. If you look at what President Obama has done over and over again, whether it was the James Bergdahl deal, which was absolutely shameful, releasing five senior Taliban terrorists to bring Bergdahl back, or whether it was this recent deal with Iran, where, again, up to 21 terrorists or potential terrorists were \u2014 were released or not prosecuted in order to bring back four Americans, what that does \u2014 does is it effectively puts a bounty on American servicemen and women serving abroad, on American tourists traveling abroad. And the proper approach......is a president and commander in chief that defends this country and that goes after \u2014 goes after the terrorists, rather than showing them weakness and encouraging them to target more Americans. +p3733 +aVWith an eye to February 20th, Carolina. +p3734 +aVYou know, every candidate running for president says they will stand up to Washington. The natural follow up question is when have you ever stood up to Washington. Last week we saw a powerful illustration of that. I campaigned in the state of Iowa four-square against the ethanol mandate, something everyone said was political suicide. My two leading competitors both attacked me for it. The governor of the state said vote for anyone but Cruz, and lobbyists spent millions of dollars in attack ads, but I stood and said we should have no mandates, a level playing field, and the people of Iowa put country and our children above the cronyism and corporate welfare...... We can turn this country around if we get back to the Constitution. And, I will always stand with the American people against the bipartisan corruption of Washington. +p3735 +aVWell, Megyn, let me say at the outset to the men and women of Iowa, thank you for the incredible hospitality over this past year. By Monday, you will have welcomed me into all 99 counties in Iowa. You will have welcomed my dad to preach at your churches. You will have welcomed Heidi and our girls, Caroline and Catherine, into your homes. And I'm so grateful for the diligence, for the seriousness with which the men and women of Iowa approach this process. If I am elected president, keep an eye on the tarmac, because I'll be back, because Iowa in 2017 will not be fly-over country. It will be fly-to country. Now, secondly, let me say I'm a maniac and everyone on this stage is stupid, fat, and ugly. And Ben, you're a terrible surgeon. Now that we've gotten the Donald Trump portion out of the way... I want to thank everyone here for showing the men and women of Iowa the respect to show up and make the case to the people of this state and the people of the country why each of us believe we would make the best commander in chief. +p3736 +aVWell, let me be clear, if Donald engages in insults or anybody else, I don't intend to reciprocate. I have not insulted Donald personally and I don't intend to. I am glad Donald is running. I'm glad he has produced enormous enthusiasm, and, every Donald Trump voter or potential voter, I hope to earn your support. I know everyone else on this stage hopes to earn your support. Now, there is a difference between personal insults and attacks \u2014 between going into the mud with ad hominems and focusing on issues and substance. +p3737 +aVWell, I agree with Rand that I very much respect Ron Paul and that I think anyone who is able to win in the Republican Party has to be able to bring together the disparate elements of the Reagan coalition. You've got to be able to bring together conservatives and evangelicals and libertarians, and stitch together a winning majority. When it comes to the audit the Fed bill, as Rand knows well, I was an original sponsor of the bill, I'm strongly supportive of it. It didn't have the votes to pass. And I had commitments to be at a town hall in New Hampshire. But I look forward to signing that bill into law as president and auditing the Fed and providing needed accountability at the Federal Reserve. +p3738 +aVWell, Chris, I will apologize to nobody for the vigorousness with which I will fight terrorism, go after +p3739 +aVChris, in 1981, when Ronald Reagan came to the Oval Office, he encountered a military that had been debilitated just as the current military has, just like Jimmy Carter weakened our readiness, undermined our ability to defend this country, so too has Barack Obama. Just as morale in the military has plummeted in the last seven, so it had then. What Reagan did is he began with tax reform and regulatory reform, unleashing the engine of the American free enterprise system. It brought booming economic growth and that growth fueled rebuilding the military. I intend to do the exact same thing to defeat radical Islamic terrorism \u2014 +p3740 +aV... and to devote the resources from the booming economy to rebuilding our Navy, rebuilding our Air Force, rebuilding our Army and ensuring we have the capacity to keep this country safe. +p3741 +aVChris? Chris I was mentioned in that question. +p3742 +aV... Actually, I was... +p3743 +aV... Chris, your questions that you... +p3744 +aV... What was your question... +p3745 +aV... Your question was you have disagreed... +p3746 +aV... opening statement. +p3747 +aV... This entire question was an attack, but that's +p3748 +aVChris, I would note that that the last four questions have been, "Rand, please attack Ted. Marco, please attack Ted. Chris, please attack Ted. Jeb, please attack Ted..." Let me just say this... +p3749 +aV... Well, no, no. A debate actually is a policy issue, but I will say this. Gosh, if you guys ask one more mean question I may have to leave the stage. Chris, the most important determination any voter is going to make in this election is who's best prepared to be Commander in Chief. Who has the experience, who has the knowledge, who has the judgement, who has the clarity, and vision and strength of resolve to keep this country safe. That is what this debate is all about, and I would suggest let's stay focused on those issues \u2014 rather than just attacks directed at each other. +p3750 +aVSure. Well, let's take it one at a time. First of all, we have seen now in six years of Obamacare that it has been a disaster. It is the biggest job-killer in this country. Millions of Americans have lost their jobs, have been forced into part-time work, have lost their health insurance, have lost their doctors, have seen their premiums skyrocket. If I'm elected president, we will repeal every word of Obamacare. Now, once that is done, everyone agrees we need healthcare reform. It should follow the principles of expanding competition, empowering patients, and keeping government from getting in between us and our doctors. Three specific reforms that reflect those principles. Number one, we should allow people to purchase health insurance across state lines. That will create a true 50-state national marketplace which will drive down the cost of low-cost, catastrophic health insurance. Number two, we should expand health savings accounts so people can save in a tax-advantaged way for more routine healthcare needs. And number three, we should work to de-link health insurance from employment so if you lose your job, your health insurance goes with you and it is personal, portable and affordable. And I'll tell you, Bret, I think that's a much more attractive vision for healthcare than the Washington-drive, top-down Obamacare that is causing so many millions of people to hurt. +p3751 +aVI want this bill to be voted down. I don't want immigration reform to fail. I want immigration reform to pass. I believe if this amendment were to pass, the chances of this bill passing into law would increase dramatically. I believe if the amendments I introduced were adopted, that the bill would pass. And my effort in introducing them was to find a solution that reflected common ground and that fixed the problem. If the proponents of this bill actually demonstrate a commitment not to politics, not to campaigning all the time, but to actually fixing this problem, to finding a middle ground. That would fix the problem, and also allow, for those 11 million people who are here illegally, a legal status, with citizenship off the table. +p3752 +aVYou know, the amendment you're talking about is one sentence \u2014 it's 38 words. Anyone can go online at tedcruz.org and read exactly what it said. In those 38 words, it said anyone here illegally is permanently ineligible for citizenship. It didn't say a word about legalization. I introduced... +p3753 +aVBut \u2014 but Megyn, the bill was 1,000 pages. I introduced a series of amendments, each designed to fix problems in the bill. The fact that each amendment didn't fix every problem didn't mean that I supported the rest of the bill. And I'll tell you who supported my amendment \u2014 Jeff Sessions, the strongest opponent of amnesty in the United States Congress. And he did so because taking citizenship off the table was important, and it revealed the hypocrisy of the proponents of this bill, who were looking for votes. Listen, we can solve immigration. We just heard an argument back and forth that we can't solve immigration. I have a detailed immigration plan that is on my website, tedcruz.org. It was designed with Iowa's own Congressman Steve King and Jeff Sessions, and... ... we have the tools in federal law to do this now. We can build the fence. We can triple the border patrol. We can end sanctuary cities by cutting off... ... funding to them. We can end welfare for those here illegally. And what is missing is the political will, because too many Democrats and, sadly, too many Republicans don't want to solve this problem. If I am elected president... ... we will secure the border... +p3754 +aV... and we will end the illegal immigration. +p3755 +aVYou know, John Adams famously said, "facts are are stubborn things." The facts are are very, very simple. When that battle was waged, my friend Senator Rubio chose to stand with Barack Obama and Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer and support amnesty. And I stood alongside Jeff Sessions and Steve King, and we led the fight against amnesty. And if you want to know who's telling the truth, you should look and ask people like Jeff Sessions and Steve King and Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin, all of whom say, as Jeff Sessions said, responding to these false attacks just recently in Alabama \u2014 he said, "if it wasn't for Ted Cruz, the Gang of Eight Rubio/Schumer bill would have passed. But because Ted stood up and helped lead the effort, millions rose up to kill it. +p3756 +aVYou know, I like Marco. He's very charming. He's very smooth. But the facts are simple. When he ran for election in the state of Florida, he told the people of Florida, "if you elect me, I will lead the fight against amnesty." When I ran in Texas, I told the people of Texas, "if you elect me, I will lead the fight against amnesty." We both made the identical promises. But when we came to Washington, we made a different choice. Marco made the choice to go the direction of the major donors \u2014 to support amnesty because he thought it was politically advantageous. I honored my commitments, and as president, I will honor every commitment that I make to the men and women of this country. +p3757 +aVWell, Chris, you are exactly right that I am not the candidate of career politicians in Washington. And I'll tell you the endorsements that I am proud of are the over 200,000 volunteers across this country who have signed up to volunteer for our campaign. The endorsements that I am proud of are leading conservatives like Iowa's own Congressman Steve King, who is a national co-chairman of my campaign. The endorsements that I'm proud of are conservative leaders like Dr. James Dobson, and over 700,000 contributions nationwide, people going to our Web site, tedcruz.org. This is a grassroots campaign and, you know, when I ran for senate in Texas, I told the people of Texas that I'm not going there to go along to get along. Washington is broken. And the people I have been accountable to every single day in the Senate are the 27 million Texans who I represent and I made a promise to them that I make to you today, which is, if I am elected, every single day I will do two things: tell the truth, and do what I said I would do. +p3758 +aVWell, Chris, I'm glad to discuss my views on ethanol and energy. I think God has blessed this country with enormous natural resources, and we should pursue all of the above. We should be developing oil, and gas, and coal, and nuclear, and wind, and solar, and ethanol, and biofuels. But, I don't believe that Washington should be picking winners and losers. And, I think there should be no mandates, and no subsidies whatsoever. And, indeed, my tax plan that I've introduced, it's available on our website. It's a simple flat tax for everyone. It'll produce enormous economic growth, and it eliminates every mandate, every subsidy, so there's no subsidies for oil and gas, no subsidies for anyone. Now, it is true that there are a bunch of lobbyists, and a bunch of Democrats in this state spending millions of dollars trying to convince the people of Iowa that I somehow oppose ethanol. It's not true. I have introduced legislation that would phase out the ethanol mandate over five years, but that is in the context of having no mandates whatsoever for anyone. And, I would not that there's a much more important government regulation to ethanol, and that's the EPA's blend wall that makes it illegal to sell mid-level blends of ethanol in gasoline. I will... ... Tear down the EPA's blend wall which will enable ethanol to expand its market share by up to 60%, all without mandates. All without any government mandates whatsoever through the marketplace. And, I'll note finally, Chris, there is a reason that Iowa's Congressman Steve King, perhaps the fiercest defender of farmers in this state, is sharing my campaign. Because he understands that I'm committed to a fair, and level playing field for every energy source without lobbyists, and without Washington picking winners and losers. +p3759 +aVNinety-three hours. The media noise will soon be over and it's now for the men and women of Iowa to decide. Our country is in crisis. We're worried the future of our children and we've have been burned over and over again. The central question in this race is trust. Who do you know will kill the terrorists, defend the constitution and repeal Obamacare? Who do you know will stop amnesty and secure the borders? Who do you know will defend life, marriage and religious liberty? Examine our records, pray on it and I will be honored if you and your family will come caucus for us on Monday night. +p3760 +aVWell, Maria, thank you for that question, and let me say thank you to the state of South Carolina for welcoming us. Let me start \u2014 I want to get to the substance of the question on jobs, but I want to start with something. Today, many of us picked up our newspapers, and we were horrified to see the sight of 10 American sailors on their knees, with their hands on their heads. In that State of the Union, President Obama didn't so much as mention the 10 sailors that had been captured by Iran. President Obama's preparing to send $100 billion or more to the Ayatollah Khamenei. And I'll tell you, it was heartbreaking. But the good news is the next commander-in-chief is standing on this stage. And I give you my word, if I am elected president, no service man or service woman will be forced to be on their knees, and any nation that captures our fighting men will feel the full force and fury of the United States of America. Now, on to your substantive question. The president tried to paint a rosy picture of jobs. And you know, he's right. If you're a Washington lobbyist, if you make your money in and around Washington, things are doing great. The millionaires and billionaires are doing great under Obama. But we have the lowest percentage of Americans working today of any year since 1977. Median wages have stagnated. And the Obama-Clinton economy has left behind the working men and women of this country. The reason all of us are here is we believe we should be fighting for the working men and women of this country, and not Washington, D.C. +p3761 +aVWell Maria, thank you for passing on that hit piece in the front page of the New York Times. You know the nice thing about the mainstream media, they don't hide their views. The New York Times a few weeks back had a columnist who wrote a column saying, "Anybody But Cruz." Had that actually \u2014 that same columnist wrote a column comparing me to an evil demonic spirit from the move, "It Follows" that jumps apparently from body to body possessing people. So you know the New York Times and I don't have exactly have the warmest of relationships. Now in terms of their really stunning hit piece, what they mentioned is when I was running for senate \u2014 unlike Hillary Clinton, I don't have masses of money in the bank, hundreds of millions of dollars. When I was running for senate just about every lobbyist, just about all of the establishment opposed me in the senate race in Texas and my opponent in that race was worth over 200 million dollars. He put a 25 million dollar check up from his own pocket to fund that campaign and my wife Heidi and I, we ended up investing everything we owned. We took a loan against our assets to invest it in that campaign to defend ourselves against those attacks. And the entire New York times attack \u2014 is that I disclosed that loan on one filing with the United States Senate, that was a public filing. But it was not on a second filing with +p3762 +aVWell, Neil, I'm glad we're focusing on the important topics of the evening. You know, back in September, my friend Donald said that he had had his lawyers look at this from every which way, and there was no issue there. There was nothing to this birther issue. Now, since September, the Constitution hasn't changed. But the poll numbers have. And I recognize \u2014 I recognize that Donald is dismayed that his poll numbers are falling in Iowa. But the facts and the law here are really quite clear. Under longstanding U.S. law, the child of a U.S. citizen born abroad is a natural-born citizen. If a soldier has a child abroad, that child is a natural-born citizen. That's why John McCain, even though he was born in Panama, was eligible to run for president. If an American missionary has a child abroad, that child is a natural-born citizen. That's why George Romney, Mitt's dad, was eligible to run for president, even though he was born in Mexico. At the end of the day, the legal issue is quite straightforward, but I would note that the birther theories that Donald has been relying on \u2014 some of the more extreme ones insist that you must not only be born on U.S. soil, but have two parents born on U.S. soil. Under that theory, not only would I be disqualified, Marco Rubio would be disqualified, Bobby Jindal would be disqualified and, interestingly enough, Donald J. Trump would be disqualified. +p3763 +aVBecause \u2014 because Donald's mother was born in Scotland. She was naturalized. Now, Donald... +p3764 +aV... on the issue \u2014 on the issue of citizenship, Donald... +p3765 +aV... on the issue of citizenship, Donald, I'm not going to use your mother's birth against you. +p3766 +aVYou're an American, as is everybody else on this stage, and I would suggest we focus on who's best prepared to be commander- in-chief, because that's the most important question facing the country. +p3767 +aVNeil... +p3768 +aVWell, listen, I've spent my entire life defending the Constitution before the U.S. Supreme Court. And I'll tell you, I'm not going to be taking legal advice from Donald Trump. +p3769 +aVThe chances of any litigation proceeding and succeeding on this are zero. And Mr. Trump is very focused... +p3770 +aV... on Larry Tribe. Let me tell you who Larry Tribe is. He's a left-wing judicial activist, Harvard Law professor who was Al Gore's lawyer in Bush versus Gore. He's a major Hillary Clinton supporter. And there's a reason why Hillary's supporters are echoing Donald's attacks on me, because Hillary... +p3771 +aV... wants to face Donald Trump in the general election. +p3772 +aVAnd I'll tell you what, Donald, you \u2014 you very kindly just a moment ago offered me the V.P. slot. I'll tell you what. If this all works out, I'm happy to consider naming you as V.P. So if you happen to be right, you could get the top job at the end of the day. +p3773 +aVActually, I'd love to get you to build a wall. +p3774 +aVThe answer is simple. Your prosecute criminals. You target the bad guys. You know, a minute ago, Neil asked: What has President Obama do \u2014 done to illustrate that he wants to go after guns? Well, he appointed Eric Holder as attorney general. Eric Holder said he viewed his mission as brainwashing the American people against guns. He appointed Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, someone who has been a radical against the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. He launched Fast and Furious, illegally selling guns to Mexican drug lords that were then used to shoot law enforcement officials. And I'll tell you what Hillary Clinton has said: Hillary Clinton says she agrees with the dissenters \u2014 the Supreme Court dissenters in the Heller case. There were four dissenters, and they said that they believe the Second Amendment protects no individual right to keep and bear arms whatsoever, which means, if their view prevailed and the next president's going to get one, two, three, maybe four Supreme Court justices, the court will rule that not a single person in this room has any right under the Second Amendment and the government could confiscate your guns. And I'll note that California senator \u2014 Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein said, if she could say to Mr. America and Mrs. America, "give me your guns, I'm rounding them up," she would. And let me make a final point on this. Listen, in any Republican primary, everyone is going to say they support the Second Amendment. Unless you are clinically insane......that's what you say in a primary. But the voters are savvier than that. They recognize that people's actions don't always match their words. I've got a proven record fighting to defend the Second Amendment. There's a reason Gun Owners of America has endorsed me in this race. There's a reason the NRA gave me their Carter Knight Freedom Fund award......and there's a reason, when Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer came after our right to keep and bear arms, that I led the opposition, along with millions of Americans \u2014 we defeated that gun control legislation. And I would note the other individuals on this stage were nowhere to be found in that fight. +p3775 +aVYou know, I think most people know exactly what New York values are. +p3776 +aVWhat \u2014 what \u2014 you're from New York? So you might not. But I promise you, in the state of South Carolina, they do. And listen, there are many, many wonderful, wonderful working men and women in the state of New York. But everyone understands that the values in New York City are socially liberal or pro-abortion or pro- gay-marriage, focus around money and the media. And \u2014 and I would note indeed, the reason I said that is I was asked \u2014 my friend Donald has taken to it as advance playing Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA", and I was asked what I thought of that. And I said, "well, if he wanted to play a song, maybe he could play, 'New York, New York'?" And \u2014 and \u2014 you know, the concept of New York values is not that complicated to figure out. Not too many years ago, Donald did a long interview with Tim Russert. And in that interview, he explained his views on a whole host of issues that were very, very different from the views he's describing now. And his explanation \u2014 he said, "look, I'm from New York, that's what we believe in New York. Those aren't Iowa values, but this is what we believe in New York." And so that was his explanation. And \u2014 and I guess I can \u2014 can frame it another way. Not a lot of conservatives come out of Manhattan. I'm just saying. +p3777 +aVYou know I understand why Donald made the comments he did and I understand why Americans are feeling frustrated and scared and angry when we have a president who refuses to acknowledge the threat we face and even worse, who acts as an apologist for radical Islamic terrorism. I think what we need is a commander in chief who is focused like a laser on keeping this country safe and on defeating radical Islamic terrorism. What should we do? First, we should pass the Expatriate Terrorist Act, legislation I've introduced that says if an American goes and joins +p3778 +aVThanks for coming back to me, Maria. Both Donald and Jeb have good points, and there is a middle ground. Donald is right that China is running over President Obama like he is a child, President Obama is not protecting American workers and we are getting hammered. You know, I sat down with the senior leadership of John Deere. They discussed how \u2014 how hard it is to sell tractors in China, because all the regulatory barriers. They're protectionist. But Jeb is also right that, if we just impose a tariff, they'll put reciprocal tariffs, which will hurt Iowa farmers and South Carolina producers and 20 percent of the American jobs that depend on exports. So the way you do it is you pass a tax plan like the tax plan I've introduced: a simple flat tax, 10 percent for individuals, and a 16 percent business flat tax, you abolish the IRS......and here's the critical point, Maria \u2014 the business flat tax enables us to abolish the corporate income tax, the death tax, the Obamacare taxes, the payroll taxes, and they're border-adjustable, so every export pays no taxes whatsoever. It's tax-free \u2014 a huge advantage for our farmers and ranchers and manufacturers \u2014 and every import pays the 16 percent business flat tax. It's like a tariff, but here's the difference: if we impose a tariff, China responds. The business flat tax, they already impose their taxes on us, so there's no reciprocal......tariffs that come against us. It puts us on a level, even playing field, which brings jobs here at home... +p3779 +aV... and as president, I'm going to fight for the working men and women. +p3780 +aVMaria, I assume that I can respond to that. +p3781 +aVWell, Marco has been floating this attack for a few weeks now, but the problem is, the business flat tax in my proposal is not a vat. A vat is imposed as a sales tax when you buy a good. This is a business flat tax. It is imposed on business and a critical piece that Marco seems to be missing is that this 16 percent business flat tax enables us to eliminate the corporate income tax. It goes away. It enables us to eliminate the death tax. If you're a farmer, if you're a rancher, if you are small business owner, the death tax is gone. We eliminate the payroll tax, we eliminate the Obamacare taxes. And listen, there is a real difference between Marco's tax plan and mine. Mine gives every American a simple, flat tax of 10 percent. Marco's top tax rate is 35 percent. My tax plan enables you to fill out your taxes on a postcard so we can abolish the IRS. Marco leaves the IRS code in with all of the complexity. We need to break the Washington cartel, and the only way to do it is to end all the subsidies and all......the mandates and have a simple flat tax. The final observation, invoked Ronald Reagan. I would note that Art Laffer, Ronald Reagan's chief economic adviser, has written publicly, that my simple flat tax is the best tax plan of any of the individuals on this stage cause it produces economic growth, it raises wages and it helps everyone from the very poorest to the very richest. +p3782 +aVMaria... +p3783 +aVMaria, I'd just like to say... +p3784 +aVBut Maria, radical Islamic terrorism was not invented 24 months ago; 24 months ago, we had Al Qaida. We had Boko Haram. We had Hamas. We had Hezbollah. We had Iran putting operatives in South America and Central America. It's the reason why I stood with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and led the fight to stop the Gang of Eight amnesty bill, because it was clear then, like it's clear now, that border security is national security. +p3785 +aVIt is also the case that that Rubio-Schumer amnesty bill, one of the things it did is it expanded Barack Obama's power to let in Syrian refugees. It enabled him \u2014 the president to certify them en masse without mandating meaningful background checks. I think that's a mistake. That's why I've been leading the fight to stop it. And I would note the Senate just a few weeks ago voted to suspend refugees from Middle Eastern countries. I voted yes to suspend that. Marco voted on the other side. So you don't get to say we need to secure the borders, and at the same time try to give Barack Obama more authority to allow Middle Eastern refugees coming in, when the head of the FBI tells us they cannot vet them to determine if they are +p3786 +aVI'm going to get a response to that, Neil. There's no way he launches 11 attack \u2014 +p3787 +aVI'm going to \u2014 he had no fewer than 11 attacks there. I appreciate your dumping your research folder on the stage. +p3788 +aVBut I will say \u2014 +p3789 +aV\u2014 at least half of the things Marco said are flat-out false. They're absolutely false. +p3790 +aVSo let's start \u2014 let's start with immigration. Let's start with immigration and have a little bit of clarity. Marco stood with Chuck Schumer and Barack Obama on amnesty. I stood with Jeff Sessions and Steve King. Marco stood today, standing on this stage Marco supports legalization and citizenship for 12 million illegals. I opposed and oppose legalization and citizenship. And by the way, the attack he keeps throwing out on the military budget, Marco knows full well I voted for his amendment to increase military spending to $697 billion. What he said, and he said it in the last, it's simply not true. And as president, I will rebuild the military and keep this country safe. +p3791 +aV"13 Hours" \u2014 tomorrow morning, a new movie will debut about the incredible bravery of the men fighting for their lives in Benghazi and the politicians that abandoned them. I want to speak to all our fighting men and women. I want to speak to all the moms and dads whose sons and daughters are fighting for this country, and the incredible sense of betrayal when you have a commander-in-chief who will not even speak the name of our enemy, radical Islamic terrorism, when you have a commander-in- chief who sends $150 billion to the Ayatollah Khamenei, who's responsible for murdering hundreds of our servicemen and women. I want to speak to all of those maddened by political correctness, where Hillary Clinton apologizes for saying all lives matter. This will end. It will end on January 2017. And if I am elected president, to every soldier and sailor and airman and marine, and to every police officer and firefighter and first responder who risk their lives to keep us safe, I will have your back. +p3792 +asVSANTORUM +p3793 +(lp3794 +VYou know, listening to what your network was talking about prior to this race, this debate, reminded me of the coverage that many on this floor are getting. This race, this debate, was called the, "Undercard Debate". The undercard debate. It wasn't advertised significantly. In fact, the entire hour lead up to this there was no conversation about any of the four people on this debate stage, and that is the chronic situation. In fact, they listed -- they put a poll up from Wall Street Journal/NBC News, they listed the candidates, and they failed to mention I wasn't listed. I got zero, why? Because they -- NBC, Wall Street Journal poll never includes my name on the list. This is what the media has been doing over the past year, and trying to segregate, and take Iowans out of the process. What Iowans deserve... ... is to hear from every candidate on equal footing. Had they applied the same rules four years ago, I would have been in the undercard debate. The guy who won the Iowa Caucuses would have been in the undercard debate, not talked about. We would have been talking about, maybe, an entertainer that may have been trying to run. Ladies and gentlemen, you have a chance on Monday to put the record straight about who you want, not who will entertain you. +p3795 +aVBut, who will fight for what you believe in, and I hope you do... +p3796 +aVWell, look. The entire lead up to this debate was talking about whether Donald Trump is going to show up for the next debate. The people of Iowa, who I know pretty darn well, care a lot about the issues. They care about who is going to be the leader of the free world. Who is going to be able to take on +p3797 +aVAnd we are not hearing any of those things. We are hearing about whether someone is going to show up for the next debate or not. +p3798 +aVYes, I am. +p3799 +aVYou know, this, again, more of the politics of trying to get people to throw stuff at each other. I'm not going to throw mud at anybody on this stage tonight. I'm not going to throw mud at anybody on the stage later. I'm not going to attack Donald Trump. What I'm -- Mike Huckabee and I were asked to come to an event where money was going to be raise to do help our veterans. You know, I thought about it. And I thought about. I said well, wait a minute, now, if there were no political considerations and I had some time because I'm not doing anything at 9:00 tonight. And so if I had some time, would I go... ... if I could help raise money for veterans? And the answer was yes, I would. And so I'm going. +p3800 +aVThank you for the question, Martha. We have to have an honest discussion with the American people about the nature of the threat that we confront. This president says that +p3801 +aVWhat I would say is that we have to create jobs that give people wages and benefits that can help them provide for themselves and their families. And that's why I announced from a factory floor in western Pennsylvania, I pledge to make America the number one manufacturing nation, again, in the world. And we can do it. China is starting to reorient itself away from a manufacturing economy that's dumping products on the -- overseas to providing more services to their people. This is an opportunity for America. It's an opportunity for us to get those jobs back. And by the way, do you want to solve global climate change? Take 2 million jobs from China in manufacturing and moving them back here to the United States, where we produce one-fifth the CO2 when we make things. We can help -- we can do every -- we can do it all. We can take care of the environment. We can create more jobs here. Seventy-four percent of Americans don't have a college degree. And unfortunately most folks who, in the Republican Party, don't talk about what we're going to do to create jobs for people who feel like neither political party cares about them. When you elect me, we'll create opportunities for working men and women in this country -- all over this country. +p3802 +aVWell, in fact, the plan that I put forward is scored by the Tax Foundation as bringing three and a half million jobs into this country, and we have provisions in the flat tax for the corporate side that actually has a phase in of manufacturing. Manufacturers initially don't pay any income tax. Ten percent the next year, and 20. We're going to also have a repatriation provision which says that if you have money overseas, and you're Apple, and you got a couple hundred billion dollars there, bring it back. The most you'll be taxed 10%, invest it here in America. Create jobs here in America with all that money that's sitting overseas. We also -- it's not just taxes. It's regulation. I've pledged to cut every single Obamacare -- I mean, excuse me, Obama regulation, including Obamacare, and remove those regulations that cost more than a hundred million dollars in the economy. That will liberate -- and that includes waters of the U.S., and the ozone regulations, they -- the mercury regulations. All of these just crush our manufactures and don't create an opportunity for us to survive. And, remember, China produces five times as much CO2 and other pollutants per dollar of GDP as we do. You want to help the environment? Bring jobs back to America. +p3803 +aVWell, I've been to the March for Life for about 25 years and I thought -- I think that's a pretty good record. Spoken at it a few times and I have shepherded every single piece of pro-life piece of legislation that's passed over the last 20 years. I've either authored it or shepherded it through the United States Congress and I'm pretty proud of that record too. But we have an election going on and there was some snow coming. So I decided that maybe it would be better for me to get out and do some campaigning and not be stuck as my wife and kids were for a week, piling out of two and a half feet of snow. So, here's what I would say. If you want someone that is going to talk a good game, there are a lot of folks on this stage that have talked a good game on the issue of life. Not only have I talked a good game on life and I've done some things. But I've also lived it. You know, one of the things Saint Francis said was, you know, if you preach the gospel, then if you have to, speak. The bottom line is, that twice in my life, we were counseled to have an abortion, one with our son Gabriel and one with our little girl Bella. And neither time did Karen and I for a moment think about it because we know that life begins at conception. We know the dignity of every human life and we know the potential of every child, no matter how long that life lives. And that is a message that can come across to all Americans and without having to say a word and defend the institution of life and the dignity of life in this country. +p3804 +aVThe president of the United States has been the most divisive president in -- certainly in my lifetime. This is a man who constantly... He is not trustworthy. You can't sit down and negotiate with him. He won't keep a deal. We have heard that over and over again. And here is what he does that really, really creates the friction in Washington. He personally attacks people. He ascribes motives to them that aren't true and then he tears them down. How are you going to work with someone if you don't treat them decently, honestly, and respectfully? I was a tough fighter when I was in Washington. I had very sharp elbows. I fought. I went there and joined a game named Jim Nussle here from Iowa with the "gang of seven." And we, in four years' time, took a Congress that had been controlled by Democrats for 40 years, and brought in the first Republican majority because we fought and we fought tough. But you know what? I was able to then work with those same people that we fought with and able to pass welfare reform. Unborn Victims of Violence Act. Pro-life bills. Health savings accounts. A whole laundry list of things not because I was mean, but because I was able to be respectful in the disagreements. And that's what we need in Washington, someone who can be respectful and still unite this country. +p3805 +aVI just want to thank the people of Iowa. Over the last five years I've done 700 speeches and town hall meetings all throughout the state of Iowa, and it has been an incredible right. Thank you. I want to thank all the wonderful folks like Pastor Carey Gordon who gave me a smooth stone and said you go slay Goliaths. Someone like Jim and Janet Cook who over this past Christmas gave up Christmas presents for their kids, and they have more than I do, just they can help me and my campaign. That's the kind of people... ... in Iowa. And, here's what I'm asking you to do. You're good people. You know good leaders. Lead. Pick the right person, not what the polls say. Not who the money give people to. Pick the leader you know is best for this country. Thank you. +p3806 +aVWell, all he has to do is listen to the Democratic debate and find out how bad the economy is. All they do is complain about the hollowing out of the middle of America, and how America is struggling so badly, and have to make these radical changes in Washington. But they've been in control for the last seven years, and what have we seen? The most important jobs, I believe, in this country are the ones that fill the middle. For the 74% of Americans who don't have a college degree between the age of 25 and 65 are manufacturing jobs. Your governor, and your legislature, and your team here have done an amazing job of bringing manufacturing jobs back to South Carolina. Right here. Right here in Charleston, right down in the street in Boeing. You've done a great job, and what's happened? You've grown this economy, you've strengthened the center of your state, the middle. That's because you know that if you're really going to create wealth and opportunity, you got to get jobs, and good paying jobs for everybody. And, so what's happened? Two million jobs, manufacturing jobs, have left this country because of Barack Obama. Regulations, EPA, workplace regulations, things driving people off-shore all because of his number one priority, global climate change. Well, let me tell you this, Mr. President. For every dollar of GDP, China creates five times as much pollution as we do here. You want to \u2014 lower global climate change, bring those jobs back to America and let American workers do that job with less pollution. +p3807 +aVWell, the historic promises that we have made to \u2014 to Iran in this agreement need to be torn up on the first day in office of the next president. And let me tell you why, because Iran has already torn it up. Iran has not approved the agreement that President Obama has said that they have approved. They have approved a different agreement in their parliament. The fact of the matter is they have violated this agreement. Carly just mentioned some of those violations. They have launched ballistic missiles, tested them, in clear violation. And here's the pathetic part. The president announced that they were going to impose sanctions. And then President Rouhani went on Twitter and said there would be retaliation. And what did we do? We backed down. Ladies and gentlemen, there are 50 some Citadel cadets in this audience tonight. I would ask them to stand up if they will. And here's what I want to tell each and every one of them, as you stand. Here's what I want to tell them. Whether it's you're watching that movie this weekend that just came out when we abandoned our men and women in Benghazi, or whether it's we treat Iran, that gave courtesies to our sailors, as they made them record a hostage video, let me tell you this, if you choose to serve this country, I will have your back. I will not let America be trampled upon anymore by these radical jihadists. +p3808 +aVI would just say that if we were doing a better job within the government, we wouldn't need the private sector to do the things that we're asking them to do. I've had a little experience in this in the private sector myself. And what I found was a government with layers and layers of bureaucracy, of people who had some technical expertise but they had no authority, number one. And one of the things I found out about in the bureaucracy is if a lot of people have authority, nobody has authority, number one. And number two, that if you don't do anything, you don't get fired. It's only when you do something and something goes wrong, you get fired. So they do nothing. And that's what is happening in our Defense Department right now. We have a capability that they're trying to develop to play defense. We have a lot of technologists that are very skilled. And they're trying to figure out how to play defense. But what we don't have is we don't have folks who are thinking about offense. We don't have war-fighters. We have technologists. Technologists are not war-fighters. Technologists are thinking, how do I protect cyber-security, how do I secure, how do I protect? And we need to have a much more dynamic, how do we \u2014 how do we go after them? How do we respond? And we need leadership that's willing to make sure that when someone attacks us \u2014 and ladies and gentlemen, they're attacking us as we speak. They're attacking us all day every day, not just the government, but they're attacking private sector companies all day every day. They have to learn that we're going to pay \u2014 they're going to pay a price when they do so. And then right now, just like in every other aspect of our national security, people who attack us are not paying a price. We need a leader who will make sure that they know when they mess with America, they're going to pay a price. +p3809 +aVLook, Facebook and Twitter can teach us things. We can cooperate with them. We can share ideas and information. But this is a \u2014 and this is a very dicey area for the government to go in and require the industry to do its job. It needs to develop that capability. We need to be \u2014 have responsible dialogue, but I don't think requirements are the order of the day. +p3810 +aVWell, the most devastating attack that could occur is an electromagnetic pulse attack, and that would be an attack that would be triggered by a nuclear explosion in the upper atmosphere of our country. The best way to stop that from happening is to make sure that those who contemplating and actually war-gaming and talking about using it, Iran, doesn't get a nuclear weapon so they can't explode that device. And the president of the United States has put Iran on a path to a nuclear weapon. And we have done nothing to do anything to harden our grid. There is actually a bill in Congress that would put money forward to try to put redundancy and harden our electric grid so it could actually survive an EMP. An EMP is a devastating explosion that sends a pulse that knocks out all electric, everything, everything that is connected to any kind \u2014 that is wired, that has a circuit board gets fried out. Everything is gone. Cars stop. Planes fall out of the sky. This is a devastating attack. And this president has done nothing, number one, to take the most probable person to \u2014 probable country to launch an attack and stop them, and has done nothing to try to defend us, particularly our electric grid. The bottom line is, I put the original sanctions on the Iranian nuclear program when I was in the United States Senate. I've been fighting for 12 years with one thing in mind, that we must stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. And......because they're different than every other country. They do not want a nuclear weapon to defend themselves. They want a nuclear weapon to have theological ends to bring about their mahdi so they can control the world. And that is the most serious threat facing this country right now. +p3811 +aVWell, the numbers just don't add up. I mean, they have not added manufacturing jobs. Manufacturing jobs have been lost in this country, 2 million of them. The bottom line is that this president has done more to take jobs away from the hard-working people who are struggling the most. And that's folks who are, as I said, the 74 percent of Americans who don't have a college degree. And they're out there talking about, well, we're going to provide free college for everybody. Well, who is going to pay for it? The 74 percent that don't have a college degree. They're not \u2014 nobody is focused. Let's just be honest, nobody is focused on the people who are struggling the most in America today. We talk about immigration. Talk about the president's immigration plan. He wants to bring in more and more people into this country. Let people who are here illegally stay in this country. Almost all of the people who are here illegally, and most of the people who came here legally over the last 20 years, they're working in wage-earning jobs. That is why wages have flat-lined. And we have unfortunately two political parties with most of the candidates in this field for some form of amnesty, some form of allowing people to stay here even though they're here illegally and for increasing levels of legal immigration. I'm someone who believes that we need to be the party that stands for the American worker. And when we say we need to send people back, I mean we send people back. And let me just make one point. I was in Storm Lake, Iowa, the other day, near a Tyson's plant, 91 percent of the kids that go to the elementary school there are minority kids. And they said, well, what are you going to do with all of these people, their families, they've lived here for a long time? I said, I'm going to give them a gift. I'm going to give them a gift of being able to help the country they were born in. And I'm going to export America, the education they were able to see. They learned English language. They learned about capitalism. They learned about democracy. You want to stop flow of immigrants? Let's send six million Mexicans, Hondurans, Guatemalans, El Savadorians......back into their country, so they can start a renaissance in their country so they won't be coming over here anymore. +p3812 +aVYou know, we've had this debate about the economy, and we haven't talked the one issue now increasingly even the right, and even the are coming to agreement. I've run around doing 300 town hall meetings talking about a book written by a liberal Harvard sociologist, not a normal thing for me to be talking about, but I now name Robert Putnam who wrote a book called, "Our Kids". And, he wrote this book, I think, ostensibly to support the Democratic argument that the middle of America's hollowing out, and income gap is widening, and rich are getting richer. When he studied all the information as to what was going on, he realized that the biggest reason that we're seeing the hollowing out of the middle of America is the breakdown of the American family. The reality is that if you're a single parent \u2014 a child of a single parent, and you grew up in a single parent family neighborhood, you went to that single parent family school, the chance of you ever, ever reaching the top 20% of income earners is 3% in America. At least \u2014 I don't know about you, but that's not good enough. And, we have been too politically correct in this country because we don't want to offend anybody to fight for the lives of our children. You want \u2014 You want to be shocked? You read the first few chapters of Mr. \u2014 Dr. Putnam' book. He talks about Port Clinton, Ohio and growing up there in the 1950's, and how poor kids actually survived and did well, even though they were poor and disadvantaged. But, then he goes to the towns today and these kids are failing, and failing miserably. They don't even have a shot, and we won't even have the courage to have leadership at the federal level \u2014 not with legislation, but the most powerful tool a president have, the bully pulpit to encourage each and everyone of you, churches and businesses, and educators, and community leaders to let's have a national campaign to rebuild the American family, and give every child its birthright which is a Mom and a Dad who loves them. That will change this economy. +p3813 +aVLadies and gentlemen, America is frustrated and angry and looking for someone who's a fighter, but I also think they're looking for someone who's a winner. Somebody who can go out there and take on the establishment and make a difference. And take on someone who's going to be the person who's going to be between a Republican holding the presidency and that's Hillary Clinton. And there's one person on this stage, one person in the race who's done it and done it repeatedly. I've taken on Hillary Clinton on the issues you care about. Partial-birth abortion. Go and google Rick Santorum and Hillary Clinton and there you'll see a five-minute debate. I'll let you decide who won the debate. I'll tell you who won, because we passed the bill and I know I'm out of time but I'm going to take some of Rand Paul's time here for a second. If you're looking for someone who fought Hillary Clinton on Iran's sanctions, she was one of four who voted \u2014 who's deciding vote who voted against Iran's sanctions, so we didn't get it in place as earlier as we should have. I've fought battles against her. In 1994, I ran against the Clinton machine. James Carville and Paul Begala, ran the race against me when I took on the author of Hillary care. And each one of those battles, I won. You want a fighter, you want a winner, I'd appreciate your vote. Thank you. +p3814 +aVThank you, Wolf. It's great to be here in Las Vegas. And I just want to thank everybody for the opportunity to be here. This is an important time in our country's history. We have entered World War III. World War III has begun and we have a leader who refuses to identify it and be truthful to the American people to the stakes that are involved, in part, because his policies have led us here. His policy toward Iran lit the fuse of a nuclear Iran. Just a few weeks ago the International Atomic Agency reported that Iran has had a nuclear program, but they don't know if it's continuing because they refuse to share any information about the current status. And this President marches on, forgiving them hundreds of billions of dollars to allow them to not just reconstitute their robust nuclear program, pursue their missile program, but also to foment terror around the world. And then his policies in the Middle East with Iraq create +p3815 +aVOf course I do. But what Donald Trump was saying was nothing against Muslims. His comment was against this administration who doesn't have a policy to properly vet people coming into this country. Let's just be honest about what's \u2014 what's being talked about here. And I know people will pile on because it makes sense to pile on, maybe from the polls. But he brings up a legitimate issue. The fact of the matter is not all Muslims are Jihadists and no one, including I suspect, Donald Trump would say that. But the reality is, all Jihadists are Muslims. That's a reality. And we have \u2014 we have to stop worrying about offending some people and start defending all Americans. Because we're not right now. +p3816 +aVI would agree \u2014 I would agree that Donald Trump's proposal was not the right proposal. But he brings up a very important issue that I think we've been ignoring for far too long in this country. The reality is that, yes, we need to get reformist Muslims to join us. We need to get those who are being persecuted and killed within the Middle East to join us. But we also have to protect this country from those who want to harm us and we have to defeat those who are radicalized in the Middle East and wherever we find them around the world. +p3817 +aVJust because it couldn't have prevented San Bernardino doesn't mean that we shouldn't have all tools available to us that doesn't impinge upon people's privacy. This sort of data collection is not collecting people's phones calls, their voices; they're not collecting information that's personal. There's no names attached to these numbers. They're simply numbers and times and relationships that throughout algorithms that computer technology can be able to sort through relationship about what numbers are calling what numbers and be able to track those down to see if there's any leakage's between someone who's potentially a terrorist. That is to me just fundamental that we have to have this type of data to be able to not impinge upon people's privacy. In fact, I would make the argument that the more data we can collect that's anonymous that we can through, through using algorithms, the less we need to involve people in and imposing themselves in people's privacy. +p3818 +aVLook, I agree with Governor Huckabee, that we should in fact be looking at people's social media posts. That's just common sense. But we've defunded and tied the hands behind the backs of our intelligence agencies because of political correctness. We're not allowed to ask any questions or really pursue, whether there's any mosque that they're attending that could be spreading Jihadism, and we know that in this country there are Imams that are doing that. But we're not allowed to ask those questions, we're not allowed to pursue to those things because we have a president who denies the reality of the enemy we confront. +p3819 +aVI don't. I don't think we should be able to deny someone's constitutional rights based on a list kept by the government that nobody knows how they get on it, or how they get off of it. If you're going to make that list public, if you're going to put criteria out there as to how you're going to get on it, if you're going to deny someone's constitutional right, than I think there has to be more transparency. Let's just be honest, when someone applies for a gun, you do a background check. And, if you're on the terrorist watch list, guess what very well may happen? You may get denied that. That's a discretion of the people \u2014 of the ATF in making that kind of decision. I want to leave that discretion \u2014 as long as this list is not well known, as long as it's not transparent, we have to leave that discretion. I want to make a comment about what Mike said, and George said, about mus \u2014 Islam. The fact of the matter is, Islam is different. I know this is going to come as a shock to a lot of people, and I mean the sincerely. Islam is not just a religion. It is also a political governing structure. The fact of the matter is, Islam is a religion, but it is also Sharia law, it is also a civil government, it is also a form of government. And, so, the idea that that is protected under the First Amendment is wrong. And, in fact, that political structure is what is the big problem. The imposition of Sharia law adherence to fundamental Islam as it was practiced in the Seventh Century... +p3820 +aV...There has to be a line drawn. +p3821 +aVWell, there's all sorts of theological reasons why we may not want to go into Syria right now to take +p3822 +aVI would have no problem with Sy \u2014 with boots on the ground in Syria in a training capacity. I do not want American troops on the front line in Syria because I don't believe that that would serve to the interest. Again, understanding what +p3823 +aVNo look, I'm committed to whatever is necessary understanding the nature of the enemy. The enemy is a theocracy and their allure is their theocracy. It's their doctrine and so we have to understand that doctrine. That's why, I love the fact that people are angry and outraged in Washington and want someone new and fresh. But we need someone who understands and has knowledge and experience in these areas. And I can see that you know, Senator Graham has that experience and we have a little difference of opinion. But frankly, it's not that big of difference in our opinion, we both want to defeat +p3824 +aVAnd the fact that we have a nuclear treaty with the Shiites in Iran, that we have now partnered with the Russians and appearing to allow Assad to stay, which is a satellite Alawites, very interrelated to the Shiites, this looks to +p3825 +aVWell, I would establish a no-fly zone. And, I think we just... +p3826 +aVWell \u2014 the first thing you have to do is establish a no-fly zone, and you don't do that by just sort of declaring it. You work through the process of making sure you work with people who, hopefully, have the same objective that you do. And, if they don't, then you establish the no-fly zone, and you take the consequences of whatever \u2014 who violates that law. +p3827 +aV...I don't think it's a war with Russia anymore than Turkey went to war with Russia when Turkey shot down a plane... +p3828 +aVThese are \u2014 these are incidents not something that we're threatening the motherland. This is a tactical decision within an area that we have an obligation for the refugees, for providing stability to the rebels, and an opportunity for the rebels to reconstitute. And, making sure that we stop the flow of refugees into Europe, and into the United States to establish a no-fly zone. And, Russia either is going to comply with it or not, and if they don't, I think it can be contained to that region. +p3829 +aVWell, I would establish a no-fly zone. And, I think we just... +p3830 +aVWell \u2014 the first thing you have to do is establish a no-fly zone, and you don't do that by just sort of declaring it. You work through the process of making sure you work with people who, hopefully, have the same objective that you do. And, if they don't, then you establish the no-fly zone, and you take the consequences of whatever \u2014 who violates that law. +p3831 +aV...I don't think it's a war with Russia anymore than Turkey went to war with Russia when Turkey shot down a plane... +p3832 +aVThese are \u2014 these are incidents not something that we're threatening the motherland. This is a tactical decision within an area that we have an obligation for the refugees, for providing stability to the rebels, and an opportunity for the rebels to reconstitute. And, making sure that we stop the flow of refugees into Europe, and into the United States to establish a no-fly zone. And, Russia either is going to comply with it or not, and if they don't, I think it can be contained to that region. +p3833 +aVI would use the studies that were done that were ignored by this military that there were certain positions that frankly were not suitable. And they pushed a political agenda above what is in the best interest of the safety, security, and effective of our, of our fighting units. So I would go back to using what we should be doing. Which is putting forth people on those front line positions who are best prepared to do the job, survive the job, and come back home safely. +p3834 +aVI would change the policy to reflect what is the best interest of the people that we're asking. I've got a son who's going, who's going into the Air Force right now, and I, as a father, I want to make sure that, if he's out there on the front line \u2014 and he may be a pilot flying an airplane \u2014 I want to make sure that the person who's responsible for, for his wing has the ability to do the job they're doing. And if they don't have that ability to do the job, if we're doing a social promotion as opposed to what's best for the efficacy of our fighting force and for the survivability of our men and women, I'll change that policy. +p3835 +aVSo what you just said is you agree with me. Because that's exactly what I said. +p3836 +aVI said if you can't do the job, you shouldn't be able to...you shouldn't have the position. +p3837 +aVNo, I did not say that, George. I mean, you may, you may have heard that, but I didn't say that. What I said was, if they can in fact do the job that any, any other person can do, I will allow them to do so. +p3838 +aVBut if they cannot, I would reverse the policy. And what happened here is there were many studies done, particularly in the Marine Corps, which begged this President not to move forward with this because people are going to get killed as a result of it. The President went forward anyway. +p3839 +aVOf course there is a proper way to vet refugees coming into the United States. But not from the +p3840 +aVLindsay says this is a real war, until it comes to immigration. And, then, all of a sudden it's not such a real war. The reality is that we've seen since the events of 9/11, the president talks about how he's worried about discrimination and acts against Muslims. There's four times as many acts of violence against Jews than there are against Muslims. I never hear the president talk about that. The reality is that under this president, since 9/11, this anti-Muslim United States of America has doubled the rate of Muslim immigration. Since 9/11. That's what we've done. So, the idea that we have an immigration system that is working... +p3841 +aVIs not \u2014 and, I'm out of time. +p3842 +aVHere's the problem. I was with, in fact, one my guests here today is the Sheriff in Cochise County, down on the border in Arizona. And, he talked with me last night when I was with him about all of the children coming across. All of the children, why? Because we've created a magnet. These children are not coming over, and in great shape, not coming over \u2014 and not in harms way, and \u2014 going through difficult times. We're attracting people. He's also the Sheriff that caught Syrian's at the border. We have through the policies supported by almost everybody in this field......A policy that says amnesty. The world hears this, and knows that if they can come across this border, by and large, they're going to be able to stay. That has to change. +p3843 +aVBarack Obama has not kept this country safe. Hillary Clinton will not keep this country safe. We need to nominate someone who America knows will keep this country safe. Ten years ago I put the sanctions on Iran's nuclear program. Before that, I gave speech after speech, including to President Bush, to identify the enemy and call these radical Islamists who they are. Ladies and gentlemen, this week +p3844 +aVThe middle of America is hollowing out. All you have to do is listen to the last Democratic debate and you would think there was a Republican president in office the way they complained about how bad things are in America and how the middle \u2014 the middle of America is hollowing out. I agree with Mike Huckabee. I spent this morning in Chicago at Fabtech, which is a sheet manufac \u2014 a sheet metal fabricators conference. Thousands of people there explained the latest and newest technologies. You know what I was told? I was told when I went to booth after booth that there are 250,000 welder jobs open in America \u2014 250,000 welder jobs paying anywhere from $50,000 to $70,000 a year, and if you want to weld pipe on a, you know, for oil and gas pipelines, you can make $100,000 a year. Every manufacturer \u2014 I go to one every single week. In fact, I have with me in the \u2014 in the crowd here today a gentleman who is a supporter of mine from Rockwall, Texas, Ed Grand-Lienard. He runs Special Products. And he tells me he has jobs open in every skill that he \u2014 he \u2014 he could possibly hire for in Rockwall, Texas, but he can't find people. So the issue is, yes, we need a tax code. I \u2014 I propose a 20 percent flat tax \u2014 20 percent on corporations, 20 percent on \u2014 on individuals, full expensing, which will be powerful for manufacturing, a 0 percent rate, initially, for manufacturers. We're going to have a very powerful tax code. We're going to do something about regulation. We're going to suspected every single ObamaCare regu \u2014 Obama regulation that cost over $100,000 to the economy. But we have to start doing something about training and employing people who are sitting on the sidelines because they don't see a path. And we have a \u2014 a bureaucracy in Washington and a president in Washington \u2014 and even among Republicans who think everybody has to go to college. People need to go to work and we need to provide......opportunities for them to go to work out of high school. +p3845 +aVWell, the answer is first that we need to do something about a tax code that doesn't penalize. One thing that I'm excited about our tax code, proposed changes, is it's very pro-family. You have a $2,700 tax credit, period, for every person in that family, so that family, you know, would have about an $8,000 tax credit, which would be refundable. So every dollar she works, she's still only losing 20 cents. The problem with the tax code today, because of all the different provisions, you're right, you go back to work, you lose welfare benefits, you're losing money. Throw on top of that the \u2014 even a bigger problem, over 50 percent of children being raised in a home today of a single mom are raised in a home where the father is born \u2014 father is (sic) living at the child \u2014 the time the child is born. Now what does that mean? That means we have incentivized people not to marry. We've incentivized people to cohabitate instead of not marry, why? Because mom will lose welfare benefits if she marries father. It's not just mom going back to work, but it's mother and father marrying to form a more stable family for that child to be raised in a two-parent family. So we've got all sorts of really corrupt incentives that were put in place, well meaning by the left. But we need to remove those. We need to remove those incentives. We need to adopt a tax code that says we're going to be pro-family and pro-work. And that's what we'll do. +p3846 +aVAbsolutely. I'm a capitalist, not a corporatist. I'm not someone who believes we should be bailing out corporations whether their auto industries, or banks. And, it is simply a matter that there's auto industry \u2014 the auto industry would have survived, it would have survived through a bankruptcy process of \u2014 instead of Washington picking a winner and a loser. And, in this case, the losers are the bondholders, and the winners were the unions. That's fine. They did it, the unions \u2014 the unions survived. We \u2014 we have not survived in continuing to grow manufacturing jobs. We have a \u2014 we have a president, and an economy right now, that is killing \u2014 choking our ability to be able to compete. I'm one of the few people up here who actually believes that we need a level playing field when it comes to manufacturing. That means a good tax code, a good regulatory environment, low energy prices, better opportunities for workers to get training, and, also, I'm \u2014 a supporter of the +p3847 +aV...Let me settle this argument... +p3848 +aV...Well... +p3849 +aVI'll answer that in a second, but, I want to answer this other problem because this is a real legitimate debate between Chris and Bobby, and if somebody says we need someone who can win in a blue state, and Bobby says we need a real principled conservative. Ninety-two percent conservative voting record, unlike some of the other senators that Bobby mentioned who hasn't done anything to cut federal spending, I was actually the author of welfare reform, which is the only time we've ever seen a federal entitlement actually cut. We cut it. Senate did exactly what every conservative says they want to do. We took the program, we eliminated the federal entitlement, we blocked (ph) to the state, we capped the amount of money, cut it by about 10%, and then put two requirements, work, and time limits. We need to do that with the rest of the \u2014 means (ph) tested federal entitlements. I've done it. And I did it with a bipartisan support in the House and Senate, and after fighting two presidential vetoes by Bill Clinton. So I had a democratic president we had to get this through. No record of accomplishment. I agree with the folks who are from the Congress in this race. I have a record of accomplishment of being a conservative on everything. National security, on moral and cultural issues, on the economy, and twice won a blue state. The first time I beat the author of Hillarycare. I had Bill and Hillary in my state, James Carville managed the race against me, a state with a million more Democrats than Republicans. And I ran on health savings accounts, on private sector health care, as a conservative, pro-life, pro-family, and I won. And then in 2000, I was the only senator to win a state as a conservative that George Bush lost. You want someone who can win Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, with a conservative message, I'm your guy. +p3850 +aVI'll be happy to answer that if you give me more time. +p3851 +aVI'm going to answer two questions for the price of one. The infrastructure question, the answer is... We need to get the federal government out of this infrastructure business, other than vital economic highways. It has been said that if we cut the gas tax to 3 to 5 cents and send the rest back to the states, and just take care of the federal infrastructure that's vital for our economy, let the \u2014 we don't need the federal government and the road business that it is today. Number one. Number two, you know who I respect in the Democratic Party? You know why I respect them? Because they fight! Because they're not willing to back down, and they're willing to stand up and fight and win. And so I respect them because they are willing to take it to us. +p3852 +aVWell, I'll tell you, I have a 20 percent flat tax. That's one all income \u2014 so capital gains, corporations, individuals, 20 percent. I think that's a fair number, one out of five, to be able to \u2014 to help support the federal government. By the way it also approximates, if you take out some of the deductions, it approximates how much the federal government is, on average, spent of GDP, which is about 18 to 19 percent of GDP. So it actually fits with shrinking the size of government down to more like post-World War II levels. So the second thing we do is I don't allow for deductibility of state and local taxes, which will require state and local taxes to go down in order to be treated for their \u2014 for their people to be treated fairly. So the answer is, 20 percent and probably 33 percent overall. +p3853 +aVWell, I don't \u2014 I agree with Governor Christie, I don't think you can make it any more political than it's been. They \u2014 they are protecting a president that is over-taxing and over- regulating, shutting down this economy. And he \u2014 and they're keeping it up like Atlas, trying to hold up the Earth by \u2014 by these ridiculously low interest rates. And it's hurting American seniors, who are seeing no Social Security increases, seeing no \u2014 no savings. They're \u2014 they're putting their money aside. They're getting nothing in their deposit accounts. This is hurting the people who have acted responsibly, all in favor of those who, um, you know, are \u2014 are speculators and \u2014 and those on Wall Street. It's not a good deal for \u2014 for the vast majority of responsible Americans. The other thing we have with the Fed is they've been given way too much authority. Under Dodd-Frank, they've been given this enormous new authority. I mean they \u2014 they now have almost become the most powerful entity in Washington, DC. We need to repeal Dodd-Frank, get away that authority from the Fed and put them under more \u2014 more scrutiny. That's only part of the problem. I understand the Fed is interesting for a business channel, but I think for most Americans, the most important business is the family. And we haven't really talked much about the importance of the family to the economy. And \u2014 and ladies and gentlemen, every single book, from left to right, that's been written over the last couple of years has said the biggest problem in America today at the hollowing out of the middle of America is the breakdown of the nuclear family in America. We'd better be the party that's out there talking about this issue and what we're going to do to help strengthen marriage and return dads into homes in all communities. You want to talk about the communities that are hurting the most, the ones you see the protests in......there are no dads. And we need to do something about it. +p3854 +aVHappy Birthday. +p3855 +aV\u2014 States Marine Corps. +p3856 +aVThat's very personal to me. I grew up on a V.A. grounds. I lived in apartments on V.A. grounds my entire childhood. Both my Mom and Dad, after World War II, marry \u2014 met at a V.A., married, and that's where I lived. Kitchen table discussion was, particularly when I was growing up in the 1960's and 1970's, was the decline of the V.A. When they joined in the early 1950's, the V.A. was the top. They were the best, they were the best and brightest coming in after the war. And, we believed in the cause that we fought, and we invested in our hospitals to make sure that our veterans who left World War II were taken care of. But, after Vietnam, and during Vietnam, that began to change, and it really hasn't recovered since. The bottom line is the V.A. is antiquated. There's no need for a V.A. healthcare system as it existed after World War \u2014 why? Because we have the best private healthcare system in the world, we didn't need \u2014 we needed it in 1950's, hospitals were not particularly advanced, so, we built the best. We didn't maintain the best. Government didn't keep its promises to its veterans. So, what we need to do is two things. Number one, we need to allow veterans to go to private sector hospitals for their routine and ordinary care to get the best care in their community possible. And, there is a place for the Veterans Administration. There are injuries, and there are \u2014 things like +p3857 +aVIt should come as no surprise to Chris, or anybody else, that Barack Obama doesn't stand behind our men and women in uniform here at home because he hasn't stood behind them overseas. The rules of engagement that we've allowed our soldiers to go and fight against have put them in harm's way for political purposes. This has been the most politicized wars that we've ever seen under this administration. He gets in, and gets out, based upon what the polls are saying, what pressure he's getting from groups. Talk about a Commander in Chief. We need a commander in chief who has a vision and plan of how we're going to execute the national security of our country. Commander in chief is not an entry level position. Experience matters, and that's why I would ask for your support as a Commander in Chief, because I have the experience against the enemy......to confront to do the job. +p3858 +aVI announced from a factory floor in Western Pennsylvania. This campaign has all been about two words for me, working families. Working. Getting people the opportunity to see those wages rise, to be on the side of the American workers so they can get good paying jobs, and that means we have to start making things in America again. We need a president who's going to not just put policies in place, but is going to stand up at the bully pulpit and talk about the dignity of being a welder. The dignity of being a carpenter, about going to work and earning success. And, also, the importance of families, the importance of families and fathers, and mothers raising their children, and committing to that so that they can give children in our country the best opportunity to success. Working families is the key for us to win this election. +p3859 +aVYes, I think it's one thing to shrink the size of a state government but it's another thing to actually get something accomplished in Washington. It's a much tougher field. And I'm the one in the \u2014 on this stage and, frankly, on both stages that has actually gone to Washington, said we would shrink government, said we would shake things up and actually delivered for the conservative cause, everything from welfare reform, which was the largest, most significant accomplishment in the last 25 years for conservatism. I authored the bill when I was in the House of Representatives; I managed the bill on the floor of the United States Senate. You need a conservative who can deliver and that's what I bring to the table. +p3860 +aVWell, if you look at my flat tax, it actually takes the best of what Steve Forbes, Art Laffer, many have been advocating for a long time, which is a very strong pro-growth tax code \u2014 very simple. And, it adjusts it to make sure that it is not regressive. We have a $2,750 per person tax credit \u2014 that's $2,750 off the taxes due, not a deduction, a credit. And, we think \u2014 in fact, if you run the numbers, no American who's going to be paying more taxes under our proposal, so, we've accomplished both. We have a system that has a low single rate, but we take care of American families. I'm talking about $2,750 per person. That means a family four, that's $11,000 dollar tax credit. That's a very, very strong pro-family \u2014 and if you looked at the Wall Street Journal today, and so many of the publications that have been out there, they've talked about how the biggest problem of the hollowing out of the middle of this country. For workers to be able to raise is actually, the breakdown of the American family. William Galston, a liberal, said that on the pages of the Wall Street Journal today that the key to poverty is families. So, we put forth a pro-growth \u2014 Steve Forbes plan, combined it with a pro- family plan, and that's why I think it's going to work out, and work effectively. +p3861 +aVWhat we should be \u2014 we shouldn't be putting tariffs on anything. That hurts working men and women in this country. What we should be doing is making our manufacturing more competitive. One of the reasons I introduced the 20/20 plan, a 20 percent flat tax on corporations, as well as on individuals, is so we can be competitive, so we can bring those manufacturing jobs back. You want to talk about cutting pollution? You do a little back- of-the-envelope. We \u2014 we produce, per dollar of GDP, about one-fifth of the CO2 and other pollutants that China produces. So we're five times more efficient in producing goods here, as far as the environment \u2014 environment is concerned. Why don't we \u2014 if we really want to tackle environmental problems, global warming, what we need to do is take those jobs from China and bring them back here to the United States, employ workers in this country. We've lost two million jobs \u2014 two million jobs \u2014 under this administration in manufacturing \u2014 15,000 manufacturers have left this country. Why? Because of bad tax policy, bad regulatory policy and, yes, bad trade policy. We need to have a president that's going to pledge, as I have \u2014 I'm going to make America the number-one manufacturer so working men and women can have good paying jobs again in America. +p3862 +aV\u2014 with competition... +p3863 +aV\u2014 for low wage workers. +p3864 +aV and I... +p3865 +aVThat's not what's happening. +p3866 +aVA true conservative wants to create a level playing field. That's what \u2014 that's what we're \u2014 that's what government is supposed to do. They're not supposed to favor one group over another. And when it comes to our manufacturers, the level playing field is not in the United States. It's international. And so the federal government should have laws, tax laws, regulatory laws and, yes, finance laws. There's 60 other ex-im banks all over \u2014 all over the world. Every major competitor for the United States' manufacturing dollar has one of those banks. And guess what? They use those banks a heck of a lot more than their \u2014 than the United States of America does, number one. So in order to have a level playing field, which is what conservatives talk about all the time, level playing field, then we have to have export financing and here's why.Because export financing doesn't help Boeing, or G.E. G.E. just lost a contract, you know what they did? They went to . They got the X.M. (ph) bank in France to support it, and what did they do? They moved manufacturing out of South Carolina, out of Texas, moved to \u2014 Hungary, and to France. G.E. is still making money. G.E. is still doing well, but American workers are out of jobs. That's why we have to have this level playing field so we can compete with the rest of the world. +p3867 +aVWell, first, since you mention Colorado, I want to thank the people of Colorado because four years ago you \u2014 gave me the honor of winning the nomination out here in the state of Colorado. On a night we won three states, and it catapulted us to win 11 states ultimately, so, I just want to thank you very, very much for that support, and \u2014 in response to that, I do drink a lot of Coors beer, so... I try to help. The answer is pretty simple. The answer is simple. There are no shortage of breweries around the United States of America. I \u2014 I do \u2014 as I travel around the country, I do pints and politics, and I go to breweries all over the place, and there \u2014 there's almost no town in America anymore that doesn't have a brewery, so I don't think we need to worry too much. They're obviously \u2014 if there's \u2014 if there's some anti- competitive issues, you know, we have agencies to look at that. But, no, I'm not \u2014 I'm not concerned that Americans are not going to have choices in beer. +p3868 +aVAnd I care about, by the way. I care about choices. +p3869 +aVWell, I \u2014 I would say this, that what you're seeing is \u2014 in health care, you're seeing a lot of consolidation, and that consolidation is occurring because of Obamacare. You're seeing it particularly in an area that I am concerned about, and that's in insurance \u2014 health insurance. You're seeing the big health insurance companies fold up. You've seen Obama try to seed health insurance companies, and they've all failed, I think, except one. Why? Because we have a system of Obamacare with minimum loss ratios that make it virtually impossible for a small insurer to operate effectively. And this was the motive behind Obamacare. This wasn't incidental. This was deliberate, to make it so impossible for small insurers to survive... +p3870 +aV...that they consolidate into a small group. Then the left can say, "there is no competition, we need a single payer." That's why we have to repeal Obamacare. +p3871 +aVThank you. Can I just say something about that? +p3872 +aVWell, if you look at our plan that I introduced, the 2020 Clear Vision for America, we increase growth by 10 percent, 1 percent a year. So we go from 2.3 to 3.3, in repealing Obamacare, it's another .7. So you're looking at 4 percent growth, according to the Tax Foundation. And unlike Donald Trump and Bobby Jindal, we don't add $10 trillion to the deficit. In fact, our plan, while it creates as many jobs as their plan does and grows the economy as much as theirs does, we are a revenue-neutral plan because I believe that we need to reduce the size of government, yes, but we also need to reduce our deficit, and we need to get our budget balanced so we can start paying down this debt. And adding a trillion dollars with a tax cut and getting no more growth is not the way to do it. But that's only half of it. The word "economy" comes from the Greek "euthokis" (ph) which means family. The family is the first economy. And the one thing that we do not talk about enough is how stable families are vitally important for the middle of America to be prosperous and to grow and be safe. And I will have policies, not just tax policies, but others that will make sure that families are strong again in America. +p3873 +aVMLB, NHL, so I'm a big sports fan. And "The Wall Street Journal." Those are the three apps I use the most. +p3874 +aVWell, since we're usually in the Super Bowl at the Pittsburgh Steelers... Steeler nation, anybody? +p3875 +aVNo. I was in......was in Kansas City over the weekend to watch the Steeler game and about a third of the crowd were Steeler fans. So I'm usually not alone when I call on Steeler Nation. But we are used to being in the Super Bowl, so actually, it is in Pennsylvania already. +p3876 +aVI grew up in a steel town of Western Pennsylvania, outside of Pittsburgh, and when I announced for president, I announced from the factory floor. When I talk about making America the number one manufacturer again in the world, it's not just talk. When I talk about having the opportunity for people to rise again, it's not just because it polls well. I represented the old steel valley of Pittsburgh. I represented a 70% Democratic district, and won with 60% of the vote. Why? Because I aligned myself with working men and women who feel that neither party, and certainly not Washington D.C. cares about them. You elect me, we will get American workers on the side of the Republican party, and we can not be stopped if we do. +p3877 +aVHi, I'm Rick Santorum. Some of you may know me because I led the fight to end partial birth abortion. Some of you may know me because the I led the fight to end welfare as we know it, put people back to work, reduce poverty and reduce the federal budget. Some of you may know me because I successfully put sanctions on the Iranian nuclear program in Congress, over opposition of both parties initially. But hopefully, most of you know me most because I'm the proud father of seven children with particularly a special little disabled girl, who is the heart and core of my heart and married to a wonderful woman named Karen for 25 years, who is the love of my life. +p3878 +aVI think personal attacks, just please one person, Hillary Clinton. And all we do when we go after each other -- and we've seen a bunch of it, from people up on this stage, people who are going to be on the stage afterwards, who go after and make personal attacks on people. There are plenty of policy differences between the candidates up here and the candidates later. Donald Trump has ever right to run for president as a Republican, as anybody else in this audience, and he may have positions I disagree with, but he has the right to do that and the people should be given the benefit of the doubt for people to see through these things. I don't think it helps when Republicans attack Republicans personally. I'll say some things tonight which will be very big differences. The issue of immigration is one that there are huge differences in this field, and I will be out there talking about how we have to control immigration. How we have to look after the American worker. The focus of this debate should be on how we're going to win this election and help improve the quality of life for American workers, and we aren't doing that, when we're out there picking at each other and calling each other names. The name we should call out is, what are we going to do for average Americans losing ground in America today. And that should be our focus. +p3879 +aVWell, in fact, just about everybody in this field supports some pathway to citizenship. There are just a few, Governor Jindal, Senator Cruz, Senator Rubio, Jeb Bush, a lot of others, Senator Graham, all support some sort of amnesty at some point in time or another. And this is really the interesting thing about this whole debate. This debate should not be about what we're going to do with someone who's here illegally. This debate should not be about what we're going to do with someone who's here illegally; This debate should be about what -- what every other debate on every other policy issue is in America. What's in the best interest of hardworking Americans? What's in the best interest of our country. We've had to focus because the other side has set up for us, here is who we have to be concerned about on the issue of immigration, someone who's here illegally and their family, and what are we going to do about it? A greater leader will see that the objection of every law in America is to do what's in the best interest of America. And what's in the best interest of America right now is to look at wages, look at employment among wager earners. 70 to 90 percent of people who've come into this country, 35 million over the last 20 years, are wage earners that are holding wages down, taking jobs away from America. +p3880 +aVWell, just because you don't call it amnesty doesn't mean that what -- what almost everybody in this field is for is allowing people who are in this country illegally, people who broke the law to come into this country, people who came here legally and overstayed, to stay in -- in America. Again, we have 35 million -- we have the highest percentage of -- of -- of immigrants in this country, as far as numbers ever, as far as percentage, the -- the highest in 105 years. Wages are flatlining. The reason that you're seeing the angst and the anger out there and the reason this issue has taken off is because workers in America know that their wages are being undermined. If you look at, from the year 2000 to the year 2014, there're 5.7 million net new jobs created. What percentage of those jobs are held by people who weren't born here? The answer is all of them. The fact is, American workers are -- are getting hurt by immigration... +p3881 +aV... and that's why they're upset. +p3882 +aV...Hold on, hold on, hold on... +p3883 +aV...He mentioned my name, and that i didn't have a plan. And, the fact of the matter is... +p3884 +aV...that I did have a plan back in 2006. I introduced a plan called, A Comprehensive Border Security Bill, which did, in fact, put the resources to build the fencing, and deploy the troops, and the technology necessary which... +p3885 +aVAs you know, Lindsay... +p3886 +aV...As you know, 40 to 60 percent of the 11 million are here on visa overstays. We know exactly who they are, we should know where they are, but we have a government that doesn't tell them to return home. You can solve half of the problem of the 11 million... +p3887 +aV...by simply telling the 11 million that they have to return to their country of origin, so, that's half your problem... +p3888 +aV...Now, it's not 11 million... +p3889 +aVI don't know how many democrats I had on my bill... +p3890 +aVBut, the point is -- the point is is that I had a bill... +p3891 +aVWell, you're right, Lindsay, it went no where because we had a president back then who was for more comprehensive immigration reform... +p3892 +aV...That's right... +p3893 +aVYou know what we need to do... +p3894 +aVLindsay, is we need to win -- we need to win fighting for Americans. We need to win fighting for the workers in this country... +p3895 +aV...who are hurting, including including hispanics... +p3896 +aV...the people who are hurt the most by illegal immigration are hispanics. +p3897 +aV...The folks -- the folks who are -- hurt the worst are recent immigrants. By illegal immigrants coming to this country last year alone, 700,000 illegal immigrants came into this country. Who do you think are most impacted? It's the folks who came into this country, played by the rules, did what they were supposed to do. Came here, and went to work, and now they're finding themselves out of work because someone illegally is willing to come in and work for less... +p3898 +aVI just want to say -- I just want to say, I have seven kids, I've done my part. +p3899 +aVI have proposed 10,000 troops, I did so about six or seven months ago, that we needed to deploy additional troops to do exactly what Lindsey said, arm the Kurds, arm -- +p3900 +aVI've said -- I've said 10,000 and, if more is necessary, look, the answer is this, once +p3901 +aV16 years ago, this country was tremendously inspired by a young woman who faced a gunman in Columbine and was challenged about her faith and she refused to deny God. We saw her as a hero. Today, someone who refuses to defy (sic) a judge's unconstitutional verdict is ridiculed and criticized, chastised because she's standing up and denying -- not denying her God and her faith. That is a huge difference in 16 years. People have a fundamental right in the First Amendment. There's no more important right. It is the right that is the trunk that all other rights come from, and that's the freedom of conscience. And when we say in America that we have no room -- how many bakers, how many florists, how many pastors, how many clerks are we going to throw in jail because they stand up and say, "I cannot violate what my faith says is against its teachings"? Is there not room in America? I believe there has to be room. First, I believe we have to pass the First Amendment Defense Act, which provides that room for government officials and others who do not want to be complicit in what they believe is against their faith. Second, we need as a president who's going to fight a court that is abusive, that has superseded their authority. Judicial supremacy is not in the Constitution, and we need a president and a Congress to stand up to a court when it exceeds its constitutional authority. +p3902 +aVI hope so. If they're wrong. +p3903 +aVNo, what you have is judicial supremacy. You don't have a rule of law when the court has the final say on everything. +p3904 +aVMartin Luther King wrote a letter from the Birmingham jail. And he said in that letter that there are just laws and there are unjust laws. And we have no obligation to -- to condone and accept unjust laws. And he -- and they -- then he followed up and said what's an unjust law? An unjust law is a job that -- a law that go against the moral code or God's law or the natural law. I would argue that what the Supreme Court did is against the natural law, it's against God's law and we have every obligation to stand in opposition to it. +p3905 +aVWell, contrary to what Governor Jindal said, Governor -- Justice Roberts had a long record and it was a long, good record. And so he made a bad decision on -- a couple of bad decisions on ObamaCare but he's made a lot of great decisions, too. And so I don't -- I don't regret at all standing up for John Roberts but, you know, it's easy to sit out in Louisiana and talk about how, you know, well, I'd be tougher. I fought when I was in the United States Senate. We fought, for the first time, to defeat justices and judges that Bill Clinton nominated and I fought with President Bush to defend his nominees, to push even a filibuster, breaking the filibuster. I led that fight against someone who didn't want to end the filibuster in order for us to get good, conservative justices. So I have been there on the front line, fighting for judges and conservative justices and I will do so as president like none other. +p3906 +aVActually, I'm going to be proposing a plan, I call it the 20/20 perfect vision for America as flat tax, a 20 percent flat tax on income, 20 percent flat tax on capital gains and on corporations. We eliminate all the deductions, special interest provisions and corporations. We deal with the carried interest issue, because everybody pays the same 20 percent. So, there's no advantage as to how you take your income. That will create growth. We're going to allow expensing for corporations. For manufacturing, again, I print -- I pledged, when I announced that I was going to run for president on the factory floor that I would make America the number one manufacturer in the world. Why? Because we need to put Americans back to work. Hard working Americans, who are not doing well in this economy, and we start creating jobs here, and manufacturing. These people from all skill levels are going to be able to work. We put a 20 percent rate on corporations, we're competitive with almost every country in the world. We allow for expensing, we have a three year phase in. We start at zero for manufacturers, phase it up to 20. You're going to see an enormous investment of capital, and equipment. You're going to see people -- you're going to have problems finding folks are going to be able to work in manufacturing. That's how many jobs we're going to create. So, the answer is, you know, we're going to lower, and flatten taxes. We're going to put government on a -- on a budget. A 10 percent across the board cut... +p3907 +aV...employment. We've got a lot of plans. +p3908 +aV...Let me just... +p3909 +aV...He talked about manufacturing, and the fact is that we have a zero percent rate that faces the 20, we'd have a seven percent repatriation, so money -- about two trillion dollars over seas... +p3910 +aV...Would come back, and be invested in equipment here. We will create more jobs with this plan, than any plan out... +p3911 +aVLindsay, what percentage of American workers make the minimum wage right now? +p3912 +aVIt's less than one percent. +p3913 +aV...So, what you're saying, what every Republican's up here saying is we're against the minimum wage because, if you're not for increasing it, than whoevers making the minimum wage right now... +p3914 +aV...The answer is Republicans don't believe in a floor wage in America. Fine, you go ahead and make that case to the American public, I'm not going to. Not from a party that supported bailouts. I didn't, but this party did. +p3915 +aVNot from a party that supports special interest tax provisions for a whole bunch of other businesses, and, but, when it comes to hardworking Americans who are at the bottom of the income scale, we can't provide some level of income support? What I've proposed is not anything but the (ph) presidents (ph) proposed (ph) I believe that would be harmful to the American public, but a $.50 cents an hour increase over three years, which is what I'm proposing. So we would have a minimum wage which would be roughly in the area of what it's been historically, about 5 percent of wages. To me, if you're going to talk to 90 percent of American workers -- by the way, 90 percent of American workers don't own a bar. They don't own a business. They work for a living. They're wage -- most of them are wage earners. And Republicans are losing elections because we're not talking about them. All we want to talk about is, what happened to our business? There are people who work in that business. I was at a -- I was at the convention four years ago, and on the signs -- on all of the seats the night I spoke was a sign that said, "We built that," because Barack Obama had talked about how businesses didn't build their own businesses. Then we trotted out one small-business person after another for almost an hour that night talking about how they built their businesses. And that's wonderful. But you know what we didn't do? We didn't bring one worker on that stage. How are you going to win, ladies and gentlemen? How are we going to win if 90 percent of Americans don't think we care at all... +p3916 +aV... about them and their chance to rise... +p3917 +aVAs you know, Hugh, 12 years ago I authored the Iran Freedom Support Act, which put sanctions on the Iran nuclear program as we came within four votes of passing a very strong version of that. The four people who opposed on the floor: Joe Biden, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. And we came four votes short. But for 12 years, I have been laser-beam focused on the issue of Iran with a nuclear weapon. Why? Because I understand who they are. Yes, they are radical Islamists, that's true. But their particular version of it, which is an apocalyptic version, which is a death cult, they believe in bringing about the end of the -- end of the world. If you -- if you poll Iranians and Iraqis, Shiites in the region, more than two-thirds of them believe that the end of the world is going to come within their lifetime. Why? Because their regime preaches it. They believe in bringing about the end of times. That's their theological goal and we are in the process of giving them a nuclear weapon to do just that. That's why, on day one, I would say to the Iranian government, you open up all of these facilities for inspection, you make them available to the U.N. and to the U.S., everything, we can go everywhere or else we will take out those facilities. And when people say, you're going to start a war -- +p3918 +aV-- my response is, no, I'm going to stop a war because a nuclear Iran is the end. +p3919 +aVI came to Washington in the most unlikely way. I defeated a 14-year incumbent, a 60 percent Democratic district. I went to Washington thinking I was only going to be there for one term, and so I just shook things up. We sent the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee to jail. We ended 40 years, 40 years of Democratic control of the Congress. And I led that fight with reforms, substantive reforms, welfare reform. I led the charge -- I wrote the bill when I was in the House. I led the charge in the United States Senate. Partial-birth abortion -- in fact, three pro-life bills, bipartisan pro-life bills. I mentioned the Iran bill. We also passed one on Syria. Health savings accounts, as many of you know, I authored the original bill on health savings accounts, pushed that through the Congress for private sector health care reform. An outsider who came to Washington from the tough state of Pennsylvania, and we got conservative things done. I made things happen in a town where things don't happen very much. Now, after 10 years of seeing the mess, the retreat that we see in the Republican party in Washington, D.C., it's time to get someone who is an outsider. +p3920 +aVWho can go to Washington, D.C., and get things done. You know what, you have a lot of folks who will tell you a lot of things. Look at their record. I went to Washington as an outsider. +p3921 +aVShook things up, got things done. +p3922 +aVAnd that's why you can trust me to do it again. +p3923 +aVI would say the message that got us the win in Iowa and 10 other states against pretty overwhelming odds, is the message that's going to deliver us in this election. You know, we didn't start out four years ago at the top of the heap. We were behind where we were today. But we stuck to our message. We stuck to the fact that Americans are tired of Washington corporate interests and Democrats who are interested in just politics and power and they're looking for someone who's going to fight for them; looking for someone who's going to grow manufacturing sector of our economy, so those 74 percent of Americans who don't have a college degree have a chance to rise again. Someone who's going to stand up, and be very clear with our enemies as to the lines their going to draw and stand with them. I've got a track record. The reason I did so well last time is not just because of the vision, it's because I have a track record in Washington, D.C. of getting things done. Iran sanctions -- the Iran sanctions that brought them to the table, those are sanctions that we put in place when I was in the United States Senate, and a whole host of other things that put me in a position of saying, I not only have a great vision, but I can govern effectively in Washington. +p3924 +aVMy father was born in Italy, and shortly after he was born my grandfather immigrated to this country. And under the laws of this country, he wasn't allowed to be with his father for seven years. Spent the first seven years of his life in Fascist Italy, under Benito Mussolini. Not a very pleasant place to be. I asked my dad after -- obviously, when I found out about this. And I said, "Didn't you resent America for not letting you be with your father in those formative and very threatening years?" You know what he said to me? "America was worth the wait." We're a country of laws, Bill. We're a country of laws, not of men, not of people who do whatever they want to do. I know we have a president who wants to do whatever he wants to do, and take his pen and his phone and just tell everybody what he thinks is best. But the reason America is a great country, the reason is because our compassion is in our laws. And when we live by those laws and we treat everybody equally under the law, that's when people feel good about being Americans. And I put forth an immigration policy that is as strong in favor of the folks who are struggling in America the most than anybody else. It's the strongest pro-worker immigration plan. It says that after 35 million people have come here over the last 20 years, almost all of whom are unskilled workers, flattening wages, creating horrible opportunity -- a lack of opportunities for unskilled workers, we're going to do something about reducing the level of immigration by 25 percent. We're going to be tough at the border, we're going to be tough on all of the illegal immigrants that everybody else in this field -- we're going to be different. We're going to be actually out there trying to create a better life for hard-working Americans. +p3925 +aVI think it's -- yeah, I think it's a one-two punch. Number one, we have to create better paying jobs. I mean, that's just the bottom line. We haven't. And that's the reason that I've said under my presidency, we'll create jobs and make American the number one manufacturing country in the world. If we want to create jobs for the folks that you're talking about, who are having trouble getting off government benefits, primarily because of their low skill level, there is no better way -- it's worked for 100 years in America -- putting people back to work in manufacturing is it. I'm going to be introducing a plan which I call the 2020 Perfect Vision for America. It's a 20 percent flat rate tax, it'll take a blowtorch to the -- to the IRS. It will create a manufacturing juggernaut in this country. And you combine that with reforms of our welfare system. You're looking at the -- at the man who introduced and fought on the floor as a freshman senator and passed the Welfare Reform Act of 1996 over two President Clinton vetoes. Got 70 votes in the United States Senate. Bipartisan issue. And I ended a federal entitlement. Never been done before, never been done since. What we need to do is take the rest of the federal entitlements, not just welfare, but food stamps and Medicaid and housing programs and do the same thing we did with welfare. Work requirements and time limits. That will change everything. Mac +p3926 +aVIt is not any more than Dred Scott was settled law to Abraham Lincoln, who, in his first inaugural address, said "it won't stand." And they went ahead and passed laws in direct contravention to a rogue Supreme Court. This is a rogue Supreme Court decision, just like Justice Roberts said. There is no constitutional basis for the Supreme Court's decision, and I know something about this. The -- one of the times the Supreme Court spoke that I thought they were acting outside of their authority was in a partial-birth abortion case. You know, these Planned Parenthood tapes, what they're showing are partial-birth abortions. Abortions being done where the baby's being delivered first, to preserve those organs, and then they crush the skull. Well, the Supreme Court found a bill that I was the author of unconstitutional. What did I do? I didn't stop. I didn't say "oh, well we lost. It's the law of the land." We worked together. The House and Senate, under my leadership, and we passed a bill, and we said, "Supreme Court, you're wrong." We're a coequal branch of the government. We have every right to be able to stand up and say what is constitutional. We passed a bill, bipartisan support, and the Supreme Court, they -- they sided with us. Sometimes it just takes someone to lead and stand up to the court. +p3927 +aVJust ditto to that. We're going to suspend -- I've -- I've said this for four years. We're going to suspend and repeal every executive order, every regulation that cost American jobs and is -- is -- is impacting our freedom. And second, the First Amendment Defense Act, which is protecting religious liberty, if it's not passed by then, which I suspect it won't, because the president will veto it, I will institute an executive order to make sure that people of faith are not being -- not being harassed and persecuted by the federal government for standing up for the religious beliefs. +p3928 +aVI came to Washington, D.C. in 1990. That sounds like a long time ago. It was. It was 25 years ago, and I came by defeating the Democratic incumbent. I came as a reformer. I started the Gang of Seven, and it led to the overtaking of the 40-year Democratic rule of Congress, because I didn't -- I stood up to the old-boy network in Washington, D.C. because I believed that Washington was not the solution, that Washington was the problem, just like Ronald Reagan said. I was a child of Ronald Reagan. And I went there, and for 16 years, I fought the insiders and was able to get things done. That's the difference. We need to elect someone who will stand with the American people, who understands its greatness, who understands what an open economy and freedom is all about, but at the same time, has a record of being able to get things done in Washington like we've never seen before. Reforms, everything from moral and cultural issues to economic issues. Those of you health savings accounts. Health savings accounts are something that we introduced. It's a private-sector solution that believes in freedom, not Obamacare that believes in government control. Those are the things we brought, and we were able to get things done. If you want someone who's not going to divide Washington, but gets things done, then you should make me your president. +p3929 +aVI'll tell you how optimistic I am about America. Karen and I have seven children. You don't have seven children and bring them into this world if you're not optimistic about the future of this country. I am, but people are upset, and they're upset for a reason about the future of this country. Donald Trump actually seized on it when he talked about immigration. And I think the reason he did is because immigration is sort of an example of what's broken and what's wrong in Washington, D..C. You see, you have one side, the Democrats, and with immigration, all they care about is votes. They don't care about American workers, they just care about bringing as many people in so they can get as many votes as they can. ON the other side, you have so many Republicans, and what do they care about? Helping business make profits. There's nobody out there looking out for the American worker. I'm looking out for the American worker. I'm the only one on this stage who has a plan that's actually reduced -- actually going to reduce immigration. Actually going to do something to help the American worker. And you combine that with a plan to make manufacturing -- this country number one in manufacturing, you've got someone who's going to help revitalize and give hope to America, the place -- the place is that is the most hopeless today. That's why I ask for your support for president. +p3930 +asVTODD +p3931 +(lp3932 +VGood evening, and welcome to the +p3933 +aVAnd neither party has seen this yet. These candidates are both running for the Democratic nomination, but they are very different from each other when it comes to what matters most and how they would go about the job of being president. Our job tonight is to draw out those differences so you, the voters, can understand them and be fully informed. +p3934 +aVFirst, I want to say a special thanks to the New Hampshire Union Leader for helping make this debate possible, and the readers, who helped provide some of the questions and topics that we'll be addressing tonight. The rules tonight, by the way, are simple: 90 seconds for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. +p3935 +aVThank you, Senator. Secretary Clinton. +p3936 +aVAll right. Let's get started. Secretary Clinton, last night you cited the Concord Monitor when you said of Senator Sanders that, quote, "It's very hard to see how any of his proposals could ever be achievable." So please tell us why you think if he's elected president on a platform of promising things like free public college and universal healthcare, that he cannot achieve those things. +p3937 +aVThank you, Secretary. Senator Sanders, so just explain how you spent nearly two decades in Congress and haven't gotten any of these things passed. Why do you think as president you'll be able to achieve big, big new programs like this? +p3938 +aVGo. +p3939 +aVYes, go ahead. +p3940 +aVAll right, thank you both. Rachel. +p3941 +aVI'd like to follow up on a comment that Secretary Clinton said, Senator. President Obama has not called for abolishing the death penalty. President Obama is for the big Asian trade deal known as TPP, and just yesterday you said you can't be both a moderate or a progressive, but you can't be both. Is President Obama, in your judgment, based on these policies positions, a progressive? +p3942 +aV...Secretary Clinton, go ahead... +p3943 +aV 30 seconds, and then we'll move. +p3944 +aVThank you. +p3945 +aV... Secretary, we're gonna... +p3946 +aVThirty seconds. +p3947 +aVThank you both. +p3948 +aVAll right, welcome back. Let's get right to it. Senator Sanders, you were talking about all of your campaign contributions and campaign finance reform. You rail against big money in politics. But do you realize there is one public financing system that we do have in place, and it is\u2014it is in place to run for president. Why aren't you walking the walk on that? Why aren't you participating in the presidential public financing system which is designed to essentially keep big money out of presidential politics? +p3949 +aVWell, going on that then, why criticize her on Super PACs, and you got\u2014and all this when it is\u2014you know, that's the system? I mean, you could be participating in a publicly-financing\u2014public financing system... +p3950 +aV... and being able to set\u2014being able to set an example. +p3951 +aV... she has had more people praise her plan than yours. +p3952 +aVThank you both. Let me move on to our next question here, and in fact it comes to us through New England Cable News. Secretary Clinton, it's addressed to you, and it's about this issue of the speeches, particularly to Goldman Sachs. This is what the questioner wrote verbatim. "I am concerned with the abuses of Wall Street has taken with the American taxpayers money," and then she asks whether you would release the transcripts of your Goldman Sachs speeches, and then added, "Don't you think the voting public has a right to know what was said?" But, let's make that bigger. Are you willing to release the transcripts of all your paid speeches? We do know through reporting that there were transcription services for all of those paid speeches. In full disclosure, would you release all of them? +p3953 +aVSenator, you sound like you want to respond. Go ahead. +p3954 +aVWe'll be right back. And we're going to get to trade and a lot of other issues. +p3955 +aVGo ahead, Senator Sanders\u201430 seconds, your response. +p3956 +aVAll right. Senator, I want to stay, though... +p3957 +aVGo ahead. 30 seconds. +p3958 +aVLet me\u2014let\u2014we're gonna\u2014we're staying\u2014we're staying basically on this topic. Obviously you've been emphasizing this difference on the Iraq war, but one place where you do agree, and one place where you voted to authorize the use of force, was in favor of the war in Afghanistan. Right now, it is possible President Obama is going to be leaving the next president, perhaps President Sanders, at least 10,000 troops in Afghanistan. How long will those troops be in Afghanistan under President Sanders? +p3959 +aVCan you address a question on Afghanistan? How long are these troops going to be there? If President Obama leaves you 10,000 troops, how long do you think they're going to be there? +p3960 +aVSecretary Clinton, 30 seconds: How long are these troops going to be in Afghanistan? We have more American troops in Afghanistan than what we were talking about with Iraq. +p3961 +aVYou know, Senator Sanders, nobody knows who your foreign policy advisers are. You haven't given a major foreign policy speech. And it doesn't sound like all the time that foreign policy is a priority, other than when you're asked about it, and you say you're going to crush +p3962 +aVAll right, Senator, 30 seconds. +p3963 +aV30 seconds, madam secretary. +p3964 +aVAlright, as Commander in Chief, Senator Sanders, you've got to prioritize potential threats to the United States. Three countries, North Korea, Iran, Russia. How would you rank them in order of their threat to America's security right now... +p3965 +aV... Starting with the biggest threat. +p3966 +aV... I didn't say that... +p3967 +aV... No... +p3968 +aV... We already had that. I'm talking about these three countries. How would you orient our national security, our national defense posture. +p3969 +aVSecretary of Defense Ash Carter this week picked one of those three, and he has said Russia is, basically, the most important national security threat. Sort of reorienting the defense and the challenges to that. Do you agree with his decisions... +p3970 +aVSecretary Clinton, what do you think of Secretary of Defense Ash Carter. He's basically putting Russia above Iran, above North Korea, as sort of the chief national security challenge right now. +p3971 +aVThank you both, Rachel? +p3972 +aVAnd we are back. We're gonna get into a little bit of election politics, electability, in a little bit. Senator Sanders, The Iowa Democratic Party has declared Hillary Clinton the winner of Monday's Iowa caucuses\u2014narrowest of margins. Today, the Des Moines Register has an editorial that calls for the audit of the results, saying, quote, "what happened Monday night at the Democratic caucuses was a debacle, period. The results were too close not to do a complete audit." Senator Sanders, do you accept the idea that Hillary Clinton won Iowa? And do you\u2014or do you believe the caucuses are still an open question? +p3973 +aVSecretary Clinton, will you participate in some sort of audit, if that's what the party wants to do? You good with that? +p3974 +aVThat's fair enough. OK. +p3975 +aVGood, we move on. We're happy with that. We have more questions. +p3976 +aVWe'll stay on this issue. We'll stay on this topic. Secretary Clinton, just like there are some Democrats that question Senator Sanders' ability in the general election, many Democratic voters that our reporters have been running into in Iowa and New Hampshire, they tell our reporters over and over again they're worried about the emails issue, not because they don't believe your explanation, but because it's a drip-drip, because the cloud is hanging over your head and that it will impact the general election. They see your numbers right now and they think it's the email issue as to why you're not polling very well. So can you reassure these Democrats that somehow the email issue isn't going to blow up your candidacy if you're the nominee? +p3977 +aVAll right, Madam Secretary, there is an open\u2014there is an open FBI investigation into this matter about how you may have handled classified material. Are you 100 percent confident that nothing is going to come of this FBI investigation? +p3978 +aVWell, Senator sanders, you famously at the first debate said you didn't give a darn about her emails; I think you used another . +p3979 +aVYou're right. I'm trying to\u2014it's a\u2014it's a family hour still right now. After 11:00, I'll say it the other way. And you mostly have refrained from commenting on it, but recently you called it a very serious issue, and then the other day you said well she's getting slapped with the email controversy. Are you\u2014how are you feeling about these darn emails now? +p3980 +aVOK. Senator Sanders, thank you. +p3981 +aVSecretary Clinton, let me turn to the issue of trade. In the '90s you supported +p3982 +aVWell, Senator Sanders, I know you want to respond on this, you have never supported a trade deal since you've been in Congress. +p3983 +aVBut if you do that as president... If you do that as president, how are you not essentially letting China, who will do all of these deals around the world, how are you going to prevent China from essentially setting the rules of trade for the world? +p3984 +aVAll right. Thank you both. We're going to sneak in one more break here, and when we come back we'll squeeze as many questions as we can before we end this thing. We'll be right back. +p3985 +aVAll right. Welcome back here in the final minutes. +p3986 +aVThe home stretch of this only Democratic debate in the final week before the primary. Let me start with you, Secretary Clinton, on this question. Obviously, President Obama got a lot of ambitious stuff done in his first year and a half. You're going to have to make choices. And there's a lot of heavy lifts. And he made choices. He did healthcare and it came at the expense, arguably, of immigration reform. Had he put immigration reform first, perhaps that gets done and healthcare doesn't. So there are three big lifts that you've talked about: immigration, gun reform, climate change. What do you do first? Because you know the first one is the one you have the best shot at getting done. +p3987 +aVAll right, but Senator Sanders......you've still got to do something first. As you know, history said\u2014shows what you pick first is your best shot at getting, and how you prioritize things. +p3988 +aVImmigration reform, for instance, fell by the wayside in the first term because of this. +p3989 +aVOK. Thank you. +p3990 +aVAll right, before we go, I want to ask each one of these. Secretary Clinton, you've made it clear when you look at Senator Sanders, you do not see a president, but do you see\u2014 +p3991 +aVBut do you see\u2014do you see a vice president? +p3992 +aVWould you unite the party by trying to pick Senator Sanders as your running mate? +p3993 +aVSenator, would you consider the secretary? +p3994 +aVSecretary Clinton, closing statements. You are first. +p3995 +aVThank you, Madam Secretary. Senator Sanders. +p3996 +aVWell, there you have it. I promise you, Rachel and I have a lot more questions, but we just don't have any more time, unless we could a third hour, but I don't think so. Our debate coverage\u2014 debate coverage will continue in just a moment with our colleague . And we want to thank all of you for being here, and we want to thank the two candidates for taking part in this important event. +p3997 +aVWe'll see you in a few minutes. Thank you. +p3998 +asVLEVESQUE +p3999 +(lp4000 +VHere to New Hampshire again. As you know, this auditorium is filled with many Saint Anselm college students. They know the outstanding student debt right now in America is $1.3 trillion. That private education costs have gone up in the last decade 26 percent, and 40 percent for public education. So knowing that, we know you want to make public education more affordable but how do you really lower the cost? Senator Sanders, you mentioned a few minutes ago that you want free tuition for public colleges. +p4001 +aVHow does that really lower the cost other than just shifting the cost to taxpayers? +p4002 +aVGovernor O'Malley, how do you propose -- Governor O'Malley, how do you propose lowering some of these costs associated with higher education? O' +p4003 +asVSANTELLI +p4004 +(lp4005 +VSenator Cruz, let's focus on our central bank, the Federal Reserve. You've been a fierce critic of the Fed, arguing for more transparency. Where do you want to take that? Do you want to get Congress involved in monetary policy, or is it time to slap the Fed back and downsize them completely? What are your thoughts? What do you believe? +p4006 +aVSenator Paul, the same question to you. +p4007 +aVThank you, Senator. Dr. Carson, you told The Des Moines Register that you don't like government subsidies, it interferes with the free market. But you've also said that you're in favor of taking oil subsidies and putting them towards ethanol processing. Isn't that just swapping one subsidy for another, Doctor? +p4008 +aVThank you, Doctor. Becky? +p4009 +aVThanks, John. Governor Pataki. +p4010 +aVHow are you doing tonight? +p4011 +aVListen, America's central bank, the Federal Reserve, they've kept interest rates near zero since the 2008 financial crisis. And, by the way, they had a meeting today, you think they raised rates? No. Shocking, isn't it? +p4012 +aVListen, it's been a rough ride for American savers and retirees, they really rely on this interest income. And it's been a bonanza for the stock market, a bonanza. And for investors that like the little bit more risk, it's been a bonanza for them as well. So I guess what I'm asking is, do you think this policy is fair and do you support it? +p4013 +aVThanks, Governor. Senator Santorum, in the 2012 presidential debate, you were for the export-import bank, which facilitates government funding for U.S. exports. American companies like GE and Boeing are among the beneficiaries. But you said that killing the bank here \u2014 and I'm going to quote you \u2014 "is the last thing a true conservative should be doing." I don't know, government-backed funding isn't normally what I hear from true conservatives. So why is this situation different? +p4014 +asVPAUL +p4015 +(lp4016 +VThe question is, how do we keep America safe from terrorism? Trump says we ought to close that Internet thing. The question really is, what does he mean by that? Like they do in North Korea? Like they do in China? Rubio says we should collect all Americans' records all of the time. The Constitution says otherwise. I think they're both wrong. I think we defeat terrorism by showing them that we do not fear them. I think if we ban certain religions, if we censor the Internet, I think that at that point the terrorists will have won. Regime change hasn't won. Toppling secular dictators in the Middle East has only led to chaos and the rise of radical Islam. I think if we want to defeat terrorism, I think if we truly are sincere about defeating terrorism, we need to quit arming the allies of +p4017 +aVYou know, I think Marco gets it completely wrong. We are not any safer through the bulk collection of all Americans' records. In fact, I think we're less safe. We get so distracted by all of the information, we're not spending enough time getting specific immigration \u2014 specific information on terrorists. The other thing is, is the one thing that might have stopped San Bernardino, that might have stopped 9/11 would have been stricter controls on those who came here. And Marco has opposed at every point increased security \u2014 border security for those who come to our country. On his Gang of Eight bill, he would have liberalized immigration, but he did not \u2014 and he steadfastly opposed any new border security requirements for refugees or students. Last week, I introduced another bill saying we need more security, we need more scrutiny. Once again, Marco opposed this. So Marco can't have it both ways. He thinks he wants to be this, "Oh, I'm great and strong on national defense." But he's the weakest of all the candidates on immigration. He is the one for an open border that is leaving us defenseless. If we want to defend the country, we have to defend against who's coming in, and Marco is \u2014 has more of an allegiance to Chuck Schumer and to the liberals than he does to conservative policy. +p4018 +aVIf I was mentioned in the question, can I respond? +p4019 +aVMarco still misunderstands the immigration issue. What I put forward was an amendment that would have temporarily halted immigration from high-risk terrorist countries, but would have started it up, but I wanted them to go through Global Entry, which is a program where we do background checks. The thing is, is that every terrorist attack we've had since 9/11 has been legal immigration. Marco wants to expand that. I want more rules, more scrutiny, and to defend the country, you have to defend the border. +p4020 +aVWolf... +p4021 +aVWolf, this legislation... +p4022 +aVThis legislation on indefinite detention... +p4023 +aV... I think deserves a little more attention. +p4024 +aVI think that by arming the allies of +p4025 +aVI think that if you believe in regime change, you're mistaken. In 2013, we put 600 tons of weapons \u2014 us, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar \u2014 into the war against Assad. By pushing Assad back, we did create a safe space. We had people coming to our Foreign Relations Committee and saying, "Oh, we need to arm the allies of Al Qaida." They are still saying this. It is a crazy notion. This is the biggest debate we should be having tonight is is regime change a good idea; has it been a good idea. There are still people \u2014 the majority on the stage, they want to topple Assad. And then there will be chaos, and I think +p4026 +aVThese are the fundamental questions of our time, these foreign policy questions, whether or not regime change is a good idea or a bad idea. I don't think because I think the regime change was a bad idea it means that Hussein was necessarily a good idea. There is often variations of evil on both sides of the war. What we have to decide is whether or not regime change is a good idea. It's what the neoconservatives have wanted. It's what the vast majority of those on the stage want. They still want regime change. They want it in Syria. They wanted it in Iraq. They want it in Libya. It has not worked. Out of regime change you get chaos. From the chaos you have seen repeatedly the rise of radical Islam. So we get this profession of, oh, my goodness, they want to do something about terrorism and yet they're the problem because they allow terrorism to arise out of that chaos. +p4027 +aVNo, I think it's a huge mistake. I think regime change in Syria, and this is what \u2014 I've been saying this for several years now. In 2013 when we first went in, I said, you are going to give arms to the allies of al Qaida, to radical jihadists? That's crazy. But the other thing I said is the great irony is you will be back fighting against your own weapons. Had Assad been bombed when he used chemical weapons two years ago, +p4028 +aVWell, I think if you're in favor of World War III, you have your candidate. You know, here's...... the thing. My goodness, what we want in a leader is someone with judgment, not someone who is so reckless as to stand on the stage and say, "Yes, I'm jumping up and down; I'm going to shoot down Russian planes." Russia already flies in that airspace. It may not be something we're in love with the fact that they're there, but they were invited by Iraq and by Syria to fly in that airspace. And so if we announce we're going to have a no-fly zone, and others have said this. Hillary Clinton is also for it. It is a recipe for disaster. It's a recipe for World War III. We need to confront Russia from a position of strength, but we don't need to confront Russia from a point of recklessness that would lead to war. This is something \u2014 this type of judgment, you know, it's having that kind of judgment; who you would appoint and how you're going to conduct affairs, that is incredibly important. I mean, I think when we think about the judgment of someone who might want World War III, we might think about someone who might shut down a bridge because they don't like their friends; they don't want to \u2014 you know, they want to a Democrat. So I think we need to be very careful. +p4029 +aVYou know, I think we need to set the record straight on this, because I think Marco misspoke about the bill. On the Gang of Eight bill, there was no provisions really for extra scrutiny or safety for refugees. At the time the bill came up, two Iraqi refugees came to my home town, Bowling Green, Kentucky. Their fingerprints were on a bomb from Iraq. They were in the database, but we didn't pick them up. We relocated them here, put them in government housing, got them on food stamps. And we began providing for them, but we didn't have adequate security. On the Gang of Eight bill, on Marco's bill, we had an opportunity. There was a conservative consensus for an amendment I put forward called Trust, But Verify that would have strengthened border security on both refugees, students and those coming here. And Marco sided and I guess was more sympathetic to Chuck Schumer and to the president than he was to conservative principles. But this goes directly to national defense. And if he wants to run as a national \u2014 national defense conservative, he's got to explain why he hasn't stepped up to support border security. +p4030 +aVWhat my bill would do would be only for refugees going forward. So I haven't taken a position on sending anyone home. But I have taken the position that we have a lot of problems here in our country. And that one of the things that we do \u2014 charity is about giving your own money. Charity isn't giving someone else's money. To put everyone in government housing and food stamps and bring them in from around the world I think is a mistake. To give of your own money, I've given to my church. My church has helped people that came from Bosnia. That's a good thing. But we shouldn't have a program where we just say that we're going to take care of the world's refugees. Nobody in the Middle East is doing anything. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait \u2014 all the Gulf nations are doing nothing. They need to step up and take... +p4031 +aVThe greatest threat to our national security is our debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. And whose fault is it? Well, frankly, it's both parties' fault. You have those on the right who clamor and say, oh, we will spend anything on the military, and those on the left who say the same for domestic welfare. But what most Americans don't realize is there is an unholy alliance. They come together. There's a secret handshake. We spend more money on everything. And we are not stronger nation if we go further into debt. We are not projecting power from bankruptcy court. To me, there is no greater threat than our debt. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage because I'm willing to hold the line on all spending. I hope you will consider me in the election. Thank you very much. +p4032 +aVAbsolutely. And I think that we ought to look where income inequality seems to be the worst. It seems to be worst in cities run by Democrats, governors of... States run by Democrats and countries currently run by Democrats. So the thing is, let's look for root causes. But I would also say \u2014 lay some blame at the \u2014 the feet of the Federal Reserve. I think the Federal Reserve has made this problem worse. By artificially keeping interest rates below the market rate, average ordinary citizens have a tough time earning interest, have a tough time making money. They're actually talking now about negative interest. The money as it's created through quantitative easing or other means tends to start out in the big banks in New York. And because we're now paying interest for them to keep the money there, much of that money has not filtered out into the economy. So what we're finding is there is increasing income disparity and income inequality. We also find that as the Federal Reserve destroys the value of the currency, what you're finding is that, if you're poor, if you make $20,000 a year and you have three or four kids, and you're trying to get by, as your prices rise or as the value of the dollar shrinks, these are the people that are hurt the worst. So really we need to reexamine whether we not \u2014 we want a Federal Reserve that's involved so much in determining interest rates. We also need to look at root causes as to what caused the housing boom and the housing collapse. But the bottom line is, if you want less income inequality, move to a city with a Republican mayor or a state with a Republican governor. +p4033 +aVWell, it's a great question, Neil, and thanks for including me in the tax debate. I think what's important about the tax debate is, is that we have to ask the question, where is money best spent, in the private sector or in the government sector? I want a government really, really small, so small you can barely see it. So I want lower taxes and much more money in the private sector. My tax plan, however, is the only tax plan among any of the candidates on the stage that is part of a balanced budget plan. I put forward three plans that actually balance the budget over a five-year period. Each of these plans have details on exactly where we would cut. The question came up earlier, where would you cut? Nobody likes to say where they would cut. I've put pencil to paper and done three budgets that actually balance. I'm also in favor of a plan called the penny plan where we'd just cut 1 percent across the board and the budget actually balances in less than five years. So I think what is extraordinary about my tax plan is it is in the context of balancing the budget. What is also extraordinary about my tax plan is it gets rid of the payroll tax. Democrats demagogue this issue to death, and when they do they say, oh, a millionaire would get a bigger tax cut than someone making $10,000. That's proportionality, as Ben is trying to explain to folks. But the thing is, is if we get rid of the payroll tax, everybody is going to get a tax cut. And this is something that I think the public at large will support and could win an election. +p4034 +aVOurs is 14.5 percent for corporations, 14.5 percent for individuals. No payroll tax for the employee. The business tax pays for social security, and there would be two remaining deductions \u2014 home mortgage and charity. +p4035 +aVThank you. +p4036 +aVNeil, there's a point I'd like to make here... ....Neil, a point that I'd like to make about the tax credits. We have to decide what is conservative and what isn't conservative. Is it fiscally conservative to have a trillion-dollar expenditure? We're not talking about giving people back their tax money. He's talking about giving people money they didn't pay. It's a welfare transfer payment. So here's what we have. Is it conservative to have $1 trillion in transfer payments \u2014 a new welfare program that's a refundable tax credit? Add that to Marco's plan for $1 trillion in new military spending, and you get something that looks, to me, not very conservative. Thank you. +p4037 +aVNevertheless, it's not very conservative, Marco. +p4038 +aVHow is it conservative? +p4039 +aVYeah, but, Marco! Marco! How is it conservative, how is it conservative to add a trillion-dollar expenditure for the federal government that you're not paying for? +p4040 +aVHow is it conservative? +p4041 +aVHow is it conservative to add a trillion dollars in military expenditures? You can not be a conservative if you're going to keep promoting new programs that you're not going to pay for. +p4042 +aVNo. I don't think we're any safer \u2014 I do not think we are any safer from bankruptcy court. As we go further, and further into debt, we become less, and less safe. This is the most important thing we're going to talk about tonight. Can you be a conservative, and be liberal on military spending? Can you be for unlimited military spending, and say, Oh, I'm going to make the country safe? No, we need a safe country, but, you know, we spend more on our military than the next ten countries combined? I want a strong national defense, but I don't want us to be bankrupt. +p4043 +aVHey, Gerard, you know, we might want to point out China is not part of this deal. +p4044 +aVBefore we get a little bit off-kilter here... +p4045 +aVThere is an argument that China doesn't like the deal, because in us doing the deal, we'll be trading with their competitors. You're exactly right. But I think we've sort of missed the point a little bit here. There is an important point, though, about how we discuss these trade treaties that I do agree with Mr. Trump on. We should negotiate from a position of strength. And we also should negotiate using the full force and the constitutional power that was given to us. I think it's a mistake that we give up power to the presidency on these trade deals. We give up the power to filibuster, and I'm kind of fond of that power. We give up the power to amend. And I think, really, one of the big problems we have in our country is, over the last century, really, so much power has gravitated to the executive branch. Really, Congress is kind of a bystander. We don't write the rules. We don't make the laws. The executive branch does. So even in trade \u2014 and I am for trade \u2014 I think we should be careful about giving so much power to the presidency. +p4046 +aVI'd like first to respond to the acquisition, we should \u2014 I think it's particularly naive, particularly foolish to think that we're not going to talk to Russia. The idea of a no fly zone, realize that this is also something that Hillary Clinton agrees with several on our side with, you're asking for a no fly zone in an area in which Russia already flies. Russia flies in that zone at the invitation of Iraq. I'm not saying it's a good thing, but you better know at least what we're getting into. So, when you think it's going to be a good idea to have a no fly zone over Iraq, realize that means you are saying we are going to shoot down Russian planes. If you're ready for that, be ready to send your sons and daughters to another war in Iraq. I don't want to see that happen. I think the first war in Iraq was a mistake... You can be strong without being involved in every civil war around the war... +p4047 +aVRonald Reagan was strong, but Ronald Reagan didn't... +p4048 +aV...send troops into the Middle East... +p4049 +aV...Can I finish... +p4050 +aV...Can I finish my time? Could I finish with my time? +p4051 +aVYes, I would like to finish my response, basically. +p4052 +aVThis is an important question. This is an incredibly important question. And the question goes to be, who do we want to be our commander-in-chief? Do you want a commander-in-chief who says something that we never did throughout the entire Cold War, to discontinue having conversations with the Russians? I am not happy about them flying over there. But I'm not naive enough to say, well, Iraq has them flying over their airspace, we're just going to announce that we're shooting them down? That is naive to the point of being something you might hear in junior high. But it's scary... +p4053 +aVThe first thing I would do is I wouldn't arm our enemies. I wouldn't arm +p4054 +aVGerard, can I comment... +p4055 +aVThe first thing I would do as president is repeal the regulations that are hampering our energy that the President has put in place. Including the Clean Power Act. While I do think that man may have a role in our climate, I think nature also has a role. The planet's 4.5 billion years old, we've been through geologic age after geologic age. We've had times when the temperatures been warmer, we've had times when the temperatures been colder. We've had times when the carbon in the atmosphere's been higher. So, I think before we \u2014 we need to look before we leap. President's often fond of saying he wants a balance solution, but, really we do need to balance both keeping the environment clean, and we will have some rules for that. We got to balance that with the economy. He's devastated my state. I say the President's not only destroying Kentucky, he's destroying the democrat party down there because nobody wants to associate with him. So, what we really need is somebody that understands that we do need energy of all forms, and that means we will have solar, and wind, and hydro, but we will still have coal, and we still will have natural gas. And, we've got to have an all of the above policy. But, it would be a mistake to shut down all of our industries in the coal fields, and shut down the coal power plants. If we did so we're going to have a day where we wake up and some of our big cities are either very cold, or very hot. So, I think it's a big danger, and we shouldn't do it. And, what we should do is say we want all of the above... ...We want to free up the energy sector, and let people produce, let them drill, let them explore. +p4056 +aVWe're the richest, freest, most humanitarian nation in the history of mankind. But we also borrow a million dollars a minute. And the question I have for all Americans is, think about it, can you be a fiscal conservative if you don't conserve all of the money? If you're a profligate spender, you spend money in an unlimited fashion for the military, is that a conservative notion? We have to be conservative with all spending, domestic spending and welfare spending. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage. +p4057 +aVYou know, I left my medical practice and ran for office because I was concerned about an $18 trillion debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. Now, on the floor of the Congress, the Washington establishment from both parties puts forward a bill that will explode the deficit. It allows President Obama to borrow unlimited amounts of money. I will stand firm. I will spend every ounce of energy to stop it. I will begin tomorrow to filibuster it. And I ask everyone in America to call Congress tomorrow and say enough is enough; no more debt. +p4058 +aVNo, I oppose it because you're taking money from the entitlement and then spending it immediately on other items. That's what they're doing. They're taking money from Social Security and they're going to spend it on the military and they're going to spend it on domestic spending. Here's the thing. When you look at raising the debt limit, it should be leverage to try to reform government. In 2011, the sequester was passed as a reform to slow down the rate of government. Instead, the Washington establishment raised both. We raised the military spending, took from entitlements, and raised domestic spending and the deficit will explode under this. This is the unholy alliance that people need to know about between right and left. Right and left are spending us into oblivion. We should use the debt ceiling, as precisely to Don, to force upon them budgetary reforms. +p4059 +aVWell, that's a real question. Is there going to be any change in the House with new leadership? I frankly don't think there will be much change because I think what's going to happen is you're going to get more of the same. People in Washington think they were sent there to be adults and govern and do all this. Well, you know what I'm worried about? Not keeping the government open. I'm worried about bankrupting the American people. We're borrowing a million dollars a minute. That is important. And that's what we have to contrast. Keeping the government open and continuing to borrow a million dollars a minute. +p4060 +aVWell, thank you very much. I would like to thank Ted for co-sponsoring my bill, audit the Fed. And I think it's precisely because of the arrogance of someone like Ben Bernanke, who now calls us all know-nothings, that is precisely why we need audit the Fed. I think it is really very much a huge problem that an organization as powerful as the Fed comes in, lobbies against them being audited on the Hill. I would prevent them lobbying Congress. I don't think the Fed should be involved with lobbying us. I think we should examine how the Fed has really been part of the problem. You want to study income inequality, let's bring the Fed forward and talk about Fed policy and how it causes income inequality. Let's also bring the Fed forward and have them explain how they caused the housing boom and the crisis, and what they've done to make us better or worse. I think the Fed has been a great problem in our society. What you need to do is free up interest rates. Interest rates are the price of money, and we shouldn't have price controls on the price of money. +p4061 +aV...John... +p4062 +aVJohn, I'd like to address this? John, could I follow up on this? +p4063 +aVWhat are the rules on who gets to follow up. How do we decide on who gets to follow up? I've seen plenty of other people follow up? +p4064 +aVI'd like to just mention something about my tax plan, and how it relates to the discussion... +p4065 +aVAlright. Much of the discussion is centered over whether or not the different tax plans help, or affect the middle class. In fact, it's the chief argument by democrats against many of the different flat tax proposals. Mine is unique in the sense that my tax plan actually gets rid of the payroll tax as well. It shifts it to the business, and it would allow middle class people to get a tax cut. If you just cut their income tax, there isn't much income tax to cut. Mine actually cuts the payroll tax, and I think it would spread the tax cut across all socioeconomic levels, and would allow then it to be something that would be broadly supported by the public in an election. +p4066 +aVThe question always is, what works better, the private marketplace or government? And what distributes goods better? It always seems to be the private marketplace does a better job. Is there an area for a safety net? Can you have Medicare or Social Security? Yes. But you ought to acknowledge the government doesn't do a very good job at it. The main problem with Medicare right now is that the average person pays in taxes over their whole lifetime about $100,000. But the average person takes out about $350,000. We have this enormous mismatch because we have smaller and smaller families. When people ask me, whose fault is it? Whose fault is it that Medicare is broken, out of money, that Social Security is broken, out of money? And I say, look, it's not Republicans' fault, it's not Democrats' fault, it's your grandparents' fault for having too many damn kids. After the war we had all of these kids, Baby Boomers. Now we're having smaller families. We used to have 16 workers for one retiree, now you have three workers for one retiree. It's not working. I have a bill to fix Medicare. I've a bill to fix Social Security. For both of them you have to gradually raise the age. If you're not willing to do that, nobody wants to do it, but if you're not willing to gradually raise the age, you're not serious about fixing either one of them. +p4067 +aVSay again? +p4068 +aVYou can't do nothing. And that's what I hear from some people, "we'll do nothing and it will just be fixed." That's absurd, and I think people who don't want to fix it, really, or unwilling to take the chance to say, "something has to change," are missing the boat here. The age will have to gradually rise, there is no question. It's the only way you fix Medicare, the only way you fix Social Security. You will also have to means-test the benefits and declare there's not enough money. It isn't "I put money in, I'm getting it back." There is no money, it's a stack of paper. There is no money in the Social Security account. There is no money in the Medicare account. There's only a promise to pay by the next generation, and the next generation's not big enough to pay it. [ +p4069 +aVLiberty thrives when government is small. I want a government so small I can barely see it. I want a government so small that the individual has a chance to thrive and prosper. I think, though, government is too big now. And what you're going to see in Washington this week is establishment Republicans have made an agreement with the president to raise the debt ceiling in an unlimited fashion; no limit to the debt ceiling raise. This is extraordinary. It's extraordinarily wrong. You'll see me on the floor of the Senate tomorrow filibustering this and saying enough is enough, no more debt. +p4070 +aVGood evening, everyone. I'm an eye surgeon from Bowling Green, Kentucky. My wife, Kelly, and I have been married for nearly 25 years, and I spend my days defending the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I think there's nothing more important than understanding that the Constitution restrains government, not the people. Thank you. +p4071 +aVI kind of have to laugh when I think of, "Mmm, sounds like a non sequitur." He was asked whether or not he would be capable and it would be in good hands to be in charge of the nuclear weapons, and all of a sudden, there's a sideways attack at me. I think that really goes to really the judgment. Do we want someone with that kind of character, that kind of careless language to be negotiating with Putin? Do we want someone like that to be negotiating with Iran? I think really there's a sophomoric quality that is entertaining about Mr. Trump, but I am worried. I'm very concerned about him \u2014 having him in charge of the nuclear weapons, because I think his response, his \u2014 his visceral response to attack people on their appearance \u2014 short, tall, fat, ugly \u2014 my goodness, that happened in junior high. Are we not way above that? Would we not all be worried to have someone like that in charge of the nuclear arsenal? +p4072 +aVI think this goes back to essentially what we've been saying for the last two or three questions. Carly Fiorina also said we're not going to talk with Putin. Well, think if Reagan had said that during the Cold War? We continued to talk with the Russians throughout the Cold War which is much more significant that where we are now. Should we continue to talk with Iran? Yes. Should we cut up the agreement immediately? That's absurd. Wouldn't you want to know if they complied? Now, I'm going to vote against the agreement because I don't think there's significant leverage, but it doesn't mean that I would immediately not look at the agreement, and cut it up without looking to see if whether or not Iran has complied. The same goes with China. I don't think we need to be rash, I don't think we need to be reckless, and I think need to leave lines of communication open. Often we talk about whether we should be engaged in the world, or disengaged in the world, and I think this is an example of some who want to isolate us, actually, and not be engaged. We do need to be engaged with Russia. It doesn't mean we give them a free pass, or China a free pass, but, to be engaged, to continue to talk. We did throughout the Cold War, and it would be a big mistake not to do it here. +p4073 +aVI think this gets to the point of wisdom on when to intervene and when we shouldn't. Had we bombed Assad at the time, like President Obama wanted, and like Hillary Clinton wanted and many Republicans wanted, I think +p4074 +aVWell, I hate to say it, but Donald Trump has a bit of a point here. The case that was decided around 1900 was, people had a green card, were here legally, and they said that their children were citizens. There's never been a direct Supreme Court case on people who were here illegally, whether or not their kids are citizens. So it hasn't really been completely adjudicated. The 14th Amendment says that "those who are here and under the jurisdiction." The original author of the \u2014 of the 14th Amendment said on the Senate floor that this was applying to slaves, and did not specifically apply to others. +p4075 +aVWell, I'm glad we're having a discussion about taxes because everybody laments that we lose jobs overseas, we have. Our companies, and our jobs are being chased overseas by a 70,000 page tax code, so, that's why I've chosen to get rid of the whole thing, and have one single rate, 14 and a-half percent for everybody, business, and for corporate income, and personal income. But, we also get rid of the payroll tax, so the working class would get a tax break as well. So, I think a flat tax, eliminating the tax code, getting rid of all the loopholes, is the way to go, and it's the way we get America going again. +p4076 +aVHugh, can I \u2014 can I make a response to that? +p4077 +aVCan I make a response to that? +p4078 +aVMay I make a response to that? +p4079 +aVHe's referred to me. +p4080 +aVHe's referred to me... +p4081 +aV... in his remarks. May I make a response? +p4082 +aVAbsolutely. Go ahead. +p4083 +aVMay I respond? +p4084 +aVThe remark was made that there hadn't been anyone else on the podium opposed to the Iraq War. I've made my career as being an opponent of the Iraq War. I was opposed to the Syria war. I was opposed to arming people who are our enemies. Iran is now stronger because Hussein is gone. Hussein was the great bulwark and counterbalance to the Iranians. So when we complain about the Iranians, you need to remember that the Iraq War made it worse. Originally, Governor Bush was asked, was the Iraq War a mistake, and he said, "No. We'd do it again." We have to learn sometimes the interventions backfire. The Iraq War backfired and did not help us. We're still paying the repercussions of a bad decision. +p4085 +aVWe have make the decision now in Syria, should we topple Assad? Many up here wanted to topple Assad, and it's like \u2014 I said no, because if you do... +p4086 +aV... +p4087 +aVIf you want boots on the ground, and you want them to be our sons and daughters, you got 14 other choices. There will always be a Bush or Clinton for you, if you want to go back to war in Iraq. But the thing is, the first war was a mistake. And I'm not sending our sons and our daughters back to Iraq. The war didn't work. We can amplify those who live there. The Kurds deserve to be armed and I'll arm them. We can use our Air Force to amplify the forces there. But the boots on the ground need to be the people who live there. My goodness, I'm still upset with the Saudi Arabians for everything they do over there. They've funded the arms that went to the jihadists. They're not accepting any of the people, any of the migrants that have been \u2014 the refugees that are being pushed out of Syria. Saudi Arabia is not accepting one. Why are we always the world's patsies that we have to go over there and fight their wars for them? They need to fight their wars, we need to defend American interests, but it is not in America's national security interests to have another war in Iraq. +p4088 +aVI think one of the great problems, and what American people don't like about politics, is hypocrisy. People have one standard for others and not for them \u2014 for themselves. There is at least one prominent example on the stage of someone who says they smoked pot in high school, and yet the people going to \u2014 to jail for this are poor people, often African-Americans and often Hispanics, and yet the rich kids who use drugs aren't. I personally think that this is a crime for which the only victim is the individual, and I think that America has to take a different attitude. I would like to see more rehabilitation and less incarceration. I'm a fan of the drug courts which try to direct you back towards work and less time in jail. But the bottom line is the states. We say we like the 10th Amendment, until we start talking about this. And I think the federal government has gone too far, I think that the war on drugs has had a racial outcome, and really has been something that has really damaged our inner cities. Not only do the drugs damage them, we damage them again by incarcerating them and then preventing them from getting employment over time. So I don't think that the federal government should override the states. I believe in the 10th Amendment and I really will say that the states are left to themselves. +p4089 +aVWell, I think if we left it open, we could see how many people smoked pot in high school. +p4090 +aVWell, you know, the thing is that... +p4091 +aVYeah, I was talking about \u2014 well, let me... +p4092 +aVBut let me respond. The thing is, is that in Florida, Governor Bush campaigned against medical marijuana. That means that a small child like Morgan Hintz (ph) that has seizures is day, is failing on non-traditional medications, is not allowed to use cannabis oil. And if they do that in Florida, they will take the child away, they will put the parents in jail. And that's what that means if you're against allowing people use medical marijuana, you'll actually put them in jail. +p4093 +aVAnd actually, under the current circumstances, kids who had privilege like you do, don't go to jail, but the poor kids in our inner cities go to jail. I don't think that's fair. And I think we need to acknowledge it, and it is hypocritical to still want to put poor people in jail... +p4094 +aVWell, you vote \u2014 you oppose medical marijuana... +p4095 +aVBut that means you'll put people in jail. +p4096 +aVMay I respond? +p4097 +aVUnderstand what they're saying. if they're going to say we are going to enforce the federal law against what the state law is, they aren't really believing in the Tenth Amendment. Governor Christie would go into Colorado, and if you're breaking any federal law on marijuana, even though the state law allows it, he would put you in jail. If a young mother is trying to give her child cannabis oil for medical marijuana for seizure treatment, he would put her in jail, if it violates federal law. I would let Colorado do what the Tenth Amendment says. This power \u2014 we were never intended to have crime dealing at the federal level. Crime was supposed to be left to the states. Colorado has made their decision. And I don't want the federal government interfering and putting moms in jail, who are trying to get medicine for their kid... +p4098 +aVMay I respond? May I respond? +p4099 +aVHere is the thing, he doesn't want to make it about medical marijuana, but what if New Jersey's medical marijuana contradicts the federal law? He's saying he'll send the federal government in, and he will enforce the federal law. That's not consistent with the Tenth Amendment. It is not consistent with states' rights. And it is not consistent with the conservative vision for the country. I don't think we should be sending the federal police in to arrest a mother and separate them from their child for giving a medicine to their child for seizures. +p4100 +aVIf you want a skeptic \u2014 if you want a skeptic, Jake, I will happily jump into that briar patch. If you want a real... +p4101 +aVA second opinion? One of the greatest \u2014 one of the greatest medical discoveries of all times was \u2014 were the vaccines, particularly for smallpox. And if you want to read a story, it's called The Speckled Monster, it's an amazing story, it was all done voluntary. But people came in by the droves. George Washington wouldn't let his wife visit until she got vaccinated. So I'm all for vaccines. But I'm also for freedom. I'm also a little concerned about how they're bunched up. My kids had all of their vaccines, and even if the science doesn't say bunching them up is a problem, I ought to have the right to spread out my vaccines out a little bit at the very least. +p4102 +aVOoh, that's a tough one. You know, I'm big on \u2014 that we were \u2014 and I love what Carly said about women's suffrage. I think Susan B. Anthony might be a good choice. +p4103 +aVJustice Never Sleeps. +p4104 +aVI met Ronald Reagan as a teenager, and my family, we're big supporters of him when he ran against Gerald Ford. It was a big deal because he was the grassroots, running against the establishment, and I'll never forget that. And, how he stood up and said, you know what, this is something new that our country needs, and our party needs. If I were president, I would try to be one who says, you know what, I'm a Reagan Conservative. I'm someone who believes in peace through strength, and I would try to lead the country in that way knowing that our goal is peace, and that war is the last resort, not the first resort. And, that when we go to war, we go to war in a constitutional way, which means that we have to vote on it, that war is initiated by congress, not by the president, that we go to war electively (ph). That when we go to war, we don't fight with one arm tied behind our back, we fight all out to win, but then we come home. +p4105 +aVThis is what's wrong! +p4106 +aVI mean, this is what's wrong. He buys and sells politicians of all stripes, he's already... +p4107 +aVHey, look, look! He's already hedging his bet on the Clintons, OK? So if he doesn't run as a Republican, maybe he supports Clinton, or maybe he runs as an independent... +p4108 +aV...but I'd say that he's already hedging his bets because he's used to buying politicians. +p4109 +aVFirst of all, only +p4110 +aVMegyn, may I respond? May I respond? +p4111 +aVI want to collect more records from terrorists, but less records from innocent Americans. The Fourth Amendment was what we fought the Revolution over! John Adams said it was the spark that led to our war for independence, and I'm proud of standing for the Bill of Rights, and I will continue to stand for the Bill of Rights. +p4112 +aVUse the Fourth Amendment! +p4113 +aVUse the Fourth Amendment! +p4114 +aVGet a warrant! +p4115 +aVGet a judge to sign the warrant! +p4116 +aVSee, here's the problem. +p4117 +aVHere's the problem, governor. Here's the problem, governor. You fundamentally misunderstand the Bill of Rights. Every time you did a case, you got a warrant from a judge. I'm talking about searches without warrants... +p4118 +aV...indiscriminately, of all Americans' records, and that's what I fought to end. I don't trust President Obama with our records. I know you gave him a big hug, and if you want to give him a big hug again, go right ahead. +p4119 +aVI've got a news flash... +p4120 +aVNews flash, the Republican Party's been fighting against a single-payer system... +p4121 +aV-- for a decade. So I think you're on the wrong side of this if you're still arguing for a single-payer system. +p4122 +aVI oppose the Iranian deal, and will vote against it. I don't think that the president negotiated from a position of strength, but I don't immediately discount negotiations. I'm a Reagan conservative. Reagan did negotiate with the Soviets. But you have to negotiate from a position of strength, and I think President Obama gave away too much, too early. If there's going to be a negotiation, you're going to have to believe somehow that the Iranians are going to comply. And I asked this question to John Kerry, I said "do you believe they're trustworthy?" and he said "No." And I said, "well, how are we gonna get them to comply?" I would have never released the sanctions before there was consistent evidence of compliance. +p4123 +aVLook, I don't want my marriage or my guns registered in Washington. And if people have an opinion, it's a religious opinion that is heartly felt, obviously they should be allowed to practice that and no government should interfere with them. One of the things, one of the things that really got to me was the thing in Houston where you had the government, the mayor actually, trying to get the sermons of ministers. When the government tries to invade the church to enforce its own opinion on marriage, that's when it's time to resist. +p4124 +aVWell, let's be clear, I'm the only one on the stage who actually has a five-year budget that balances. I've put pencil to paper... +p4125 +aV... and I've said -- and I've said I would cut spending, and I've said exactly where. Each one of my budgets has taken a meat axe to foreign aid, because I think we ought to quit sending it to countries that hate us. I think we ought to quit sending it to countries that burn our flag. Israel is not one of those. But even Benjamin Netanyahu said that ultimately, they will be stronger when they're independent. My position is exactly the same. We shouldn't borrow money from China to send it anywhere, but why don't we start with eliminating aid to our enemies. +p4126 +aVI still say exactly what my original opinion is. Do you borrow money from China to send it to anyone? Out of your surplus, you can help your allies, and Israel is a great ally. And this is no particular animus of Israel, but what I will say, and I will say over and over again, we cannot give away money we don't have. We do not project power from bankruptcy court. We're borrowing a million dollars a minute. It's got to stop somewhere. +p4127 +aVI'm a different kind of Republican. I've introduced a five-year balanced budget. I've introduced the largest tax cut in our history. I stood for ten and a half hours on the Senate floor to defend your right to be left alone. But I've also gone to Chicago. I've gone to Detroit. I've been to Ferguson, I've been to Baltimore, because I want our party to be bigger, better and bolder, and I'm the only one that leads Hillary Clinton in five states that were won by President Obama. I'm a different kind of Republican. +p4128 +aVYou know, I've always had a great deal of respect. There's probably no person I respect more in the country or in recent history than my father. I think he was probably the most honest man in politics that we've ever seen in a generation. And so in no way have I ever said that I don't embrace my father or love my father or appreciate everything that he has done for the country. I think what's interesting about where that liberty vote goes that my father brought to the Republican Party is, I don't think they're necessarily going to go for Ted. You know, Ted didn't show up. We had an audit-the-Fed vote, which was the biggest thing my dad had been advocating for, for 30 years, Ted didn't have time to show up. He was the only Republican that didn't show up for it. And so I think really that vote is going to stay in the Paul household. I think more of it is coming and it's going to grow. The NSA is another big issue. Ted said he was for NSA reform, but then he told Marco Rubio, no, no, no, I voted for the bill because I'm for the government collecting 100 percent of your cell phone records. I don't think Ted can have it both ways. They want to say they're getting some of the liberty vote. But we don't see it happening at all. We think we're going to do very well in Iowa with the liberty vote. +p4129 +aVMay I respond? +p4130 +aVWell, I mean, I was talked about in the question. +p4131 +aVJust very quickly, I would like to respond. The bulk collection of your phone data, the invasion of your privacy did not stop one terrorist attack. I don't think you have to give up your liberty for a false sense of security. When we look at this bulk collection, the court has looked at this. Even the court declared it to be illegal. If we want to collect the records of terrorists, let's do it the old fashioned way. Let's use the Fourth Amendment. Let's put a name on a warrant, let's ask a judge for it. Let's respect the history of our country. John Adams said that we fought a War for Independence because we wanted to fight against generalized warrants. Let's don't forget that. +p4132 +aVMy budget was mentioned. My budget was mentioned. +p4133 +aV... Senator Cruz, I'd like to respond... +p4134 +aV... and I'd like to respond. +p4135 +aVThank you, Marco. +p4136 +aVThank you. The issue in Syria's a very important one, and it's one we need to get right. The question is, should we be bombing both sides of the war? Some want to topple Assad. In fact, they want to bomb +p4137 +aV. +p4138 +aVYeah, no, I think that's a \u2014 that's a huge mistake, to be closing down mosques. But I would say that if you want to defend the country, it begins with border security. And this is where I've had my disagreement with Senator Rubio. When he brought forward the "Gang of Eight" bill to give citizenship to those who came here illegally, I put forward an amendment that says we should have more scrutiny on those who are coming as students, those who are coming as immigrants, those who are coming as refugees, because we had two refugees come to my town in Bowling Green and try to attack us. Marco opposed this because they made a deal. He made a deal with Chuck Schumer that he would oppose any conservative amendments. And I think that's a mistake, and I just don't think Marco can have it both ways. You can't be in favor of defend us... ... against Islam \u2014 radical Islam \u2014 if you're not for border security. +p4139 +aVYou know, I've supported legislation to allow body cameras. I've been to Ferguson, I've been trying to look for solutions to our criminal justice problem. One thing I discovered in Ferguson was that a third of the budget for the city of Ferguson was being reaped by civil fines. People were just being fined to death. Now you and I and many of the people in this audience, if we get a $100 fine, we can survive it. If you're living on the edge of poverty and you get a $100 fine or your car towed, a lot of times you lose your job. I also think the war on drugs has disproportionately affected our African-American community, and what we need to do is make sure that the war on drugs is equal protection under the law and that we don't unfairly incarcerate another generation of young African-American males. In Ferguson, for every 100 African-American women, there are only 60 African-American men. Drug use is about equal between white and black, but our prisons \u2014 three out of four people in prison are black or brown. I think something has to change. I think it's a big thing that our party needs to be part of, and I've been a leader in Congress on trying to bring about criminal justice reform. +p4140 +aVI was there and I saw the debate. I saw Ted Cruz say, "we'll take citizenship off the table, and then the bill will pass, and I'm for the bill." The bill would involve legalization. He can't have it both ways. But what is particularly insulting, though, is that he is the king of saying, "you're for amnesty." Everybody's for amnesty except for Ted Cruz. But it's a falseness, and that's an authenticity problem \u2014 that everybody he knows is not as perfect as him because we're all for amnesty. I was for legalization. I think, frankly, if you have border security, you can have legalization. So was Ted, but now he says it wasn't so. That's not true. +p4141 +aVYou know, I think abortion is always wrong. I've supported a variety of solutions, both state as well as federal. In fact, just last week, I introduced the Life at Conception act, which would say that the 14th amendment would defend an individual even in the womb. But I think on the broader question of religion and politics, you know, I think liberty, itself requires a virtue \u2014 requires a virtuous people. In fact, Washington said that democracy requires a virtuous people. Oz Guinness, the theologian, said that liberty requires restraint but the only restraint consistent with liberty is self-restraint. There's a lot packed into that statement. But the bottom line is we must have virtue, we must have a religious bearing as a nation. The government is not always going to save us and it's not always going to come from government. But if we don't know right and wrong, I think we have lost our way. I think we become unmoored and I think without the religious foundation that guides us all, I think we have a great risk of going horribly in the wrong direction. +p4142 +aVBoth. No, both the federal and a state approach. I have said that we could leave it to the states but I've also introduced a federal solution as well. So the federal solution would be the Life at Conception act which is an act that would federalize the issue. But I've also said for the most part, these issues would be left back to the states. So there might be an occasion if we did overturn Roe v. Wade \u2014 Roe v. Wade nationalized the issue. If you had the court reverse Roe v. Wade, it would become a state issue once again. I think it would be better the more \u2014 the less abortions we have, so the more states that we have that made abortion illegal, the better, as far as trying to save and preserve lives. +p4143 +aVYou know, I've never really brought this up unless asked the question, but I have responded to the question. I don't blame Hillary Clinton at all for this. I don't think she's responsible for his behavior. But I do think that her position as promoting women's rights and fairness to women in the workplace, that if what Bill Clinton did any CEO in our country did with an intern, with a 22-year- old, 21-year-old intern in their office, they would be fired. They would never be hired again. Fired, never hired again and probably shunned in their community. And the thing is, she can't be a champion of women's rights at the same time she's got this that is always lurking out there, this type of behavior. So it is difficult. +p4144 +aVYeah. But I combine this also with the millions upon millions of dollars they've taken from regimes in the Middle East who treat women like cattle. +p4145 +aVWell, thanks for having me. It's great to be back. I'm an eye surgeon from Bowling Green, Kentucky, I miss doing eye surgery, still get to do a little bit. Did a couple of cataract surgeries over Christmas holidays. Got to go to Haiti last year. I've gotten to do some incredible things. Got to be on the floor of the Senate. And it has been amazing to me. But the thing that is most important to me and caused me to run for office is I'm worried about the country and how much debt we're adding. And I am the one true fiscal conservative who will look at all spending. And that's the only way we'll ever balance our budget. Thank you. +p4146 +asVBASH +p4147 +(lp4148 +VA crucial question is how to balance surveillance with privacy and keeping Americans safe. Senator Cruz, you voted for a bill that President Obama signed into law just this past June that made it harder for the government to access Americans' phone records. In light of the San Bernardino attack, was your vote a mistake? +p4149 +aVThank you. Senator Rubio, Senator Cruz is right there was bipartisan support for that. But you voted against it. So, is Senator Cruz wrong? +p4150 +aVSenator Cruz? +p4151 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator \u2014 Senator Rubio, please respond. +p4152 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I know this is \u2014 this has been a very big issue for you. You hear many of your colleagues are calling for increased surveillance by law enforcement. You call that hogwash. Why is that hogwash? +p4153 +aVSenator Rubio? +p4154 +aVGovernor Christie, Governor Christie... ...Governor Christie, I'll come to you in a minute. Go ahead, Senator Paul. +p4155 +aVGo ahead, please. +p4156 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about immigration in a while. But, Governor Christie, just listening to this... +p4157 +aVListening to this, you talked \u2014 you heard Senator Paul, Senator Cruz talk about how important it is to protect Americans' privacy, even in a time of grave danger. Why \u2014 what's wrong with that? +p4158 +aVSenator Paul, you said +p4159 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I want to go back to my initial question, which is you saying that +p4160 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about regime change in a bit. But Governor Kasich, would you like to respond to Senator Paul? +p4161 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. We've been talking tonight about programs and policy proposals that you all have to keep Americans safe and it's a big discussion on the campaign trail. Also about border security and immigration. So let's talk about immigration. Senator Rubio. You co-authored a bill with Democrats two years ago that allowed a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Do you still support that path to citizenship, which means giving those immigrants rights, like the right to vote? +p4162 +aVSenator, you haven't answered the question. You described a very long path but does that path end at citizenship? +p4163 +aVThank you, senator. +p4164 +aVThank you, senator. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, on the campaign trail, Senator Rubio has said that his immigration plan is not that different from yours. Is that true? +p4165 +aVSenator Rubio, please. +p4166 +aVSenator Cruz? +p4167 +aVSenator Cruz? +p4168 +aVSenator Cruz, can you answer that question please? +p4169 +aVSenator Cruz? +p4170 +aVOne at a time please. +p4171 +aVMs. Fiorina, please wait your turn, we're going to get to you. +p4172 +aVSenator Cruz go ahead. +p4173 +aVMr. Trump, you like to say that you restarted this conversation in the campaign. +p4174 +aVSo who do you side with? Who do you side with in this, Senator Rubio or Senator Cruz? +p4175 +aVThank you. Governor Bush? +p4176 +aVListening to this, do you think this is the tone \u2014 this immigration debate that republicans need to take to win back Hispanics into our party especially states like where we are in Nevada that has a pretty Hispanic community? +p4177 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said if China launches a cyber- attack against the U.S. on your watch, "they're going to see cyber- warfare like they have never seen before." What exactly would that response look like? +p4178 +aVGovernor Bush, what you just heard from Governor Christie, are you concerned that that could really escalate with China, that they would retaliate? And, for example, as the NSA has said, attack the U.S. and maybe it's power grid, which the Chinese have the capability to do? +p4179 +aVMr. Trump, just this weekend you said Senator Cruz is not qualified to be president because he doesn't have the right temperament and acted like a maniac when he arrived in the Senate. But last month you said you were open to naming Senator Cruz as your running mate. +p4180 +aVSo why would you be willing to put somebody who's a maniac one heartbeat away from the presidency? +p4181 +aVOkay. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, you have not been willing to attack Mr. Trump in public. +p4182 +aVBut you did question his judgment in having control of American's nuclear arsenal during a private meeting with supporters. Why are you willing to say things about him in private and not in public? +p4183 +aVSenator, senator, I just... +p4184 +aVSenator, a lot of people have seen... +p4185 +aV... a lot of people have seen these comments you made in private. I just want to clarify what you're saying right now is you do believe Mr. Trump has the judgment to be commander in chief? +p4186 +aVGovernor Kasich, Senator Cruz is so committed to stripping federal funds from Planned Parenthood that it could result in shutting down the federal government in just about two weeks. Do you agree with Senator Cruz's tactic? +p4187 +aVThank you. +p4188 +aVThank you. Senator Cruz, I would just add that, on this stage not that long ago, Senator Graham said that this tactic that you're pushing would tank the Republicans' ability to win in 2016. +p4189 +aVThank you, senator. +p4190 +aVThank you... +p4191 +aVGovernor \u2014 governor, I want to go to you. Is it what Senator Cruz says, a surrender by Republicans? +p4192 +aVBut... +p4193 +aVBut is it... +p4194 +aVBut, governor, the \u2014 but, governor, the reality is, in just two weeks' time... ...we are going to be facing a question about whether or not it's enough to shut down the government to make that statement, because there is still a Democrat in the White House. Do you oppose it or support it? +p4195 +aVYes or no, do you support this shutdown? +p4196 +aVWe're talking about Planned Parenthood right now. +p4197 +aVCan you answer yes or no? +p4198 +aVOne more time. I'm sorry, I just want to get the answer. +p4199 +aVSo you would support a shutdown. +p4200 +aVGovernor Bush, Mr. Trump has suggested that your views on immigration are influenced by your Mexican born wife. He said that, quote, "If my wife were from Mexico, I think I would have a soft spot for people from Mexico." Did Mr. Trump go to far in invoking your wife? +p4201 +aVMr. Trump? +p4202 +aVMr. Trump... +p4203 +aVGo ahead. +p4204 +aVMs. Fiorina \u2014 Ms. Fiorina, we're going to come to you, we're going to come to you. I just want to give Governor Bush a chance to respond to what Mr. Trump said. +p4205 +aVOK, on that note, you have criticized Governor Bush for speaking Spanish on the campaign trail. You said, quote, "He should really set an example by speaking English in the United States." What's wrong with speaking Spanish? +p4206 +aVThank you. +p4207 +aV...Thank you.... +p4208 +aVGovernor Bush, let's talk about the issue that's very important to Republican voters, and that's the Supreme Court. After Chief Justice John Roberts voted to uphold Obamacare twice, Senator Cruz criticized your brother for appointing John Roberts to the Supreme Court. Looking back on it, did your brother make a mistake? +p4209 +aV...Is John Roberts one of those people? +p4210 +aVDo you like what you just heard, Senator Cruz? +p4211 +aVMr. Trump, you have said once or twice that you are really rich, and you are by far the richest person on this stage. Chris Christie says billionaires like you and even people who make and earn far less should no longer get Social Security, or at least there should be limits based on \u2014 on their income. You think he's wrong, and if so, why? +p4212 +aVWhat about the country as a \u2014 as a policy? +p4213 +aVSo is a voluntary program the way to get the Social Security system solvent again like that. +p4214 +aVSenator Santorum, you want to give the intelligence community more power to collect American's phone data. But the government had this ability until just days before the San Bernardino attack. If it couldn't prevent San Bernardino, why will it protect America? +p4215 +aVSenator Graham, when this program was exposed, you said, " you have nothing to worry about if you're not talking to terrorist." Do you understand why though some Americans are concerned that the government is keeping tabs on them in any way? +p4216 +aVThank you. Governor Huckabee, you said, "not one terrorist plot has been foiled by the NSA's collection of American's phone records. The director of the CIA says,. "not having these programs makes it ability to find terrorists, quote, "much more challenging."" Are you taking a potential tool to fight terrorists? +p4217 +aVSenator Santorum? +p4218 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator Graham... +p4219 +aVSenator Graham... +p4220 +aVSenator Graham, we've heard here tonight a lot about the fact that you want to send U.S. troops, ground troops, into Iraq, and Syria to defeat +p4221 +aVGovernor Huckabee... +p4222 +aVGovernor Huckabee, would you reinstate the draft? +p4223 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator Graham... +p4224 +aVSenator Graham... +p4225 +aVSenator Graham, we've heard here tonight a lot about the fact that you want to send U.S. troops, ground troops, into Iraq, and Syria to defeat +p4226 +aVGovernor Huckabee... +p4227 +aVGovernor Huckabee, would you reinstate the draft? +p4228 +aVSo what would you do about it? +p4229 +aVSenator... +p4230 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. +p4231 +aVSenator Graham. +p4232 +aVSenator Graham, quick response. +p4233 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. +p4234 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. +p4235 +aVSenator Santorum, earlier this month the Pentagon opened all U.S. military combat positions to women. You previously opposed allowing women in combat roles. As President, would you change the Pentagon's new policy? +p4236 +aVSo, just to be clear, you're saying, yes, you would change the policy back? +p4237 +aVGovernor Pataki, as you mentioned earlier, you have two sons who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Would you maintain this new policy as President, or do you agree with Senator Santorum. +p4238 +aVSenator Santorum. +p4239 +aVNow Governor Pataki, do you a final response? +p4240 +aVGovernor Huckabee, the U.S. has a program that allows visitors from America's closest allies to travel to the U.S. without obtaining a visa. But new legislation in Congress says that privilege should not apply to those who have visited is hot spots like Iraq and Syria in the last five years. You say that legislation doesn't go far enough. Why? +p4241 +aVSenator Santorum, Governor Jindal has supported a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants once the border is secure. Why do you disagree with that? +p4242 +aVSenator, your time's up. I want to get the governor to respond to that. +p4243 +aVSenator -- Senator Santorum, do you buy that, that the governor's not for amnesty? +p4244 +aVSenator, your time is up... +p4245 +aVYour time is up. And Governor, I'm sorry. Just -- you -- you really need to clarify your position, because you say you're not for amnesty, but you have been for a path to citizenship... +p4246 +aVThank you. Senator Graham, you mentioned this earlier; you are calling for an additional 20,000 U.S. ground forces to fight +p4247 +aVNo one on this stage has gone that far. So are you saying, for Iraq and Syria, are you saying that everybody to your right is not fit for the Oval Office? +p4248 +aVSenator -- +p4249 +aV-- Senator Santorum, I know you're raising your hand. You're committing to this number of troops, both in Iraq and on the ground in Syria? +p4250 +aVAnd he's saying 20,000. Would you...? +p4251 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Jindal? +p4252 +aVSenator Santorum, you just heard Governor Jindal and Governor Pataki talk about tax reform. Jeb Bush has proposed a tax reform plan, and in it, he limits deductions, including the popular home mortgage deduction. Would you do the same as president? +p4253 +aV...times up, Senator. +p4254 +aV...OK, times up, Senator. Governor, just to bring you back into this, you said that you would be OK with what is effectively raising taxes on hedge fund managers as part of a tax reform plan. Would you aslo be for doing away with people's deductions for their mortgages. +p4255 +aVGovernor Chafee, you were the only Republican in the Senate to vote against the Iraq war. You say Secretary Clinton should be disqualified from the presidency because she voted in favor of using force in Iraq. She has since said that her vote was a mistake. Why isn't that good enough? +p4256 +aVSecretary Clinton, he's questioning your judgment. +p4257 +aVSenator Sanders \u2014 Senator Sanders, I want to bring you in here. My question for you is, as a congressman, you voted against the Iraq War. You voted against the Gulf War. You're just talking about Syria, but under what circumstances would a President Sanders actually use force? +p4258 +aVAll right. +p4259 +aVThank you. CNN visited college campuses, along with Facebook. And not surprisingly college affordability was among the most pressing issue. Senator Sanders, you've mentioned a couple of times you do have a plan to make public colleges free for everyone. Secretary Clinton has criticized that in saying she's not in favor of making a college free for Donald Trump's kids. Do you think taxpayers should pick up the tab for wealthy children? +p4260 +aVAnd, Secretary Clinton, it's not just college tuition that Senator Sanders is talking about, expanding Social Security and giving all Americans Medicare. What's wrong with that? +p4261 +aVSecretary Clinton... +p4262 +aVCan you answer the... +p4263 +aVSecretary Clinton, the question was not just about tuition, though. It was about Senator Sanders' plan to expand Social Security, to make Medicare available to all Americans. Is that something that you would support? And if not, why not? +p4264 +aVDo you want to expand it? +p4265 +aVSecretary Clinton, you now support mandated paid family leave. +p4266 +aVCarly Fiorina, the first female CEO of a Fortune 50 company, argues, if the government requires paid leave, it will force small businesses to, quote, "hire fewer people and create fewer jobs." What do you say not only to Carly Fiorina, but also a small-business owner out there who says, you know, I like this idea, but I just can't afford it? +p4267 +aVIt's on the federal level. +p4268 +aVBut Secretary \u2014 Secretary Clinton, even many people who agree with you might say, look, this is very hard to do, especially in today's day and age. There are so many people who say, "Really? Another government program? Is that what you're proposing? And at the expense of taxpayer money?" +p4269 +asVEPPERSON +p4270 +(lp4271 +VThank you, John. Mrs. Fiorina, you were the CEO of a large corporation that offers a 401(k) to its employees. But more than half of American have no access to an employer sponsored retirement plan. That includes the workers at small businesses, and the growing ranks of Uber drivers and other part-timers in the freelance economy. Should the Federal Government play a larger role in helping to set up retirement plans for these workers? +p4272 +aVSo you wouldn't agree \u2014 you wouldn't agree with a start for 401(k) for businesses or anything like that? +p4273 +aVThank you very much. +p4274 +aVThank you, the rules say one minute. +p4275 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. We appreciate it. Thank you, thank you. I want to turn my attention now, to you now, Governor Kasich. Most people can't get a college degree without going into debt. Over 40 million Americans have student loans and many of them cannot pay them back. This country has over $100 billion in student loan defaults. That's billion with a b. What will you do to make sure that students, their families, taxpayers, won't feel the economic impact of this burden for generations? Well, first of all, in Ohio we're changing the whole system. Universities will not get paid one dime unless the student graduates or \u2014 graduates or completes a course. Secondly, you can be in high school and complete almost an entire first year before you go to college and get credit to do that. And, of course, in addition to that, we are working now to go after the cost drivers in our universities. And let me give you an example. Universities today have so many non-academic assets. At Ohio State they sold the parking garage and the parking lot, and they got $500 million because they shouldn't be in the parking lot business. They shouldn't be in the ding business, they shouldn't be in the dorm business. And, of course, we need to take advantage of on-line education to reduce these costs and begin to dis-intermediate the cost of four years. Now, for those who that have these big high costs, I think we can seriously look at an idea of where you can do public service. I mean legitimate, public service and begin to pay off some of that debt through the public service that you do. And in the meantime, it may inspire us to care more about our country, more about ourselves. This is a big moral issue in America. Living a life bigger than yourself, and being a center of healing and justice. And people can learn it through public service. +p4276 +aVThank you, thank you. +p4277 +aVThank you, John. Senator Graham, one in every four workers has saved less than $1,000 for retirement. Millions of Americans rely on their Social Security benefits for the majority of their retirement income. Now, you called for reforms to Social Security, but what would you do to fix the other part of the problem for future retirees and get people to save more? +p4278 +aVBut Senator Graham... +p4279 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. Thank you, Senator Graham. Governor Jindal, you've been a strong supporter of for-profit colleges. These are institutions that educate many veterans, minorities and working class Americans. They make up about 11 percent of the college population at these schools, but they account for 44 percent of student loan defaults. Should for-profit schools be held accountable when they take taxpayer money and leave students deep in debt? +p4280 +asVSANDERS +p4281 +(lp4282 +VWell, Gwen and Judy, thank you very much for hosting this event. And, PBS, thank you. Nine months ago, our campaign began. And when it began, we had no political organization, no money, and not much name recognition outside of the state of Vermont. A lot has happened in nine months. And what has happened is, I think, the American people have responded to a series of basic truths, and that is that we have today a campaign finance system which is corrupt, which is undermining American democracy, which allows Wall Street and billionaires to pour huge sums of money into the political process to elect the candidates of their choice. And aligned with a corrupt campaign finance system is a rigged economy. And that's an economy where ordinary Americans are working longer hours for low wagers. They are worried to death about the future of their kids. And yet they are seeing almost all new income and all new wealth going to the top 1 percent. And then in addition to that, the American people are looking around and they see a broken criminal justice system. They see more people in jail in the United States of America than any other country on earth, 2.2 million. We're spending $80 billion a year locking up fellow Americans. They see kids getting arrested for marijuana, getting in prison, getting a criminal record, while they see executives on Wall Street who pay billions of dollars in settlements and get no prosecution at all. No criminal records for them. I think what our campaign is indicating is that the American people are tired of establishment politics, tired of establishment economics. They want a political revolution in which millions of Americans stand up, come together, not let the Trumps of the world divide us, and say, you know what, in this great country, we need a government that represents all of us, not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors. Thank you. +p4283 +aVWell, to put that in a context, Judy, I think we have to understand that in the last 30 years in this country there has been a massive transfer of wealth going from the hands of working families into the top one-tenth of 1% whose percentage of wealth has doubled. In other words, the very rich are getting richer, almost everybody is going \u2014 getting poorer. What I believe is the United States, in fact, should join the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee healthcare to all people. Our Medicare for all single-payer proposal will save the average middle class family $5,000 a year. I do believe that in the year 2016 we have to look in terms of public education as colleges as part of public education making public colleges and universities tuition free. I believe that when real unemployment is close to 10%, and when our infrastructure, our roads, our bridges, our water systems, Flint, Michigan comes to mind. Our waste water plants, our rail, our airports, in many places are disintegrating. Yeah, we can create 13 million jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure at a cost of a trillion dollars. +p4284 +aV... Of course there will be a limit, but when today you have massive levels of income and wealth inequality, when the middle class is disappearing, you have the highest rate of child poverty of almost any major country on Earth. Yes, in my view, the government of a democratic society has a moral responsibility to play a vital role in making sure all of our people have a decent standard of living. +p4285 +aVWell, let us level with the American people. Secretary Clinton has been going around the country saying Bernie Sanders wants to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, people are going to lose their MedicAid, they're going to lose their +p4286 +aVThat is absolutely inaccurate. Look, here is the reality, folks. There is one major country on Earth that does not guarantee health care to all people. There is one major country \u2014 the United States \u2014 which ends up spending almost three times per capita what they do in the U.K. guaranteeing health care to all people, 50 percent more than they do in France guaranteeing health care to all people, far more than our Canadian neighbors, who guarantee health care to all people. Please do not tell me that in this country, if \u2014 and here's the if \u2014 we have the courage to take on the drug companies, and have the courage to take on the insurance companies, and the medical equipment suppliers, if we do that, yes, we can guarantee health care to all people in a much more cost effective way. +p4287 +aVWell, Secretary Clinton, you're not in the White House yet. And let us be clear that every proposal that I have introduced has been paid for. For example, all right, who in America denies that we have an infrastructure that is crumbling? Roads, bridges, water systems, wastewater plants, who denies that? Who denies that real unemployment today, including those who have given up looking for work and are working part-time is close to 10 percent? Who denies that African-American youth unemployment, real, is over 50 percent. We need to create jobs. So yes, I will do away with the outrageous loopholes that allow profitable multinational corporations to stash billions of dollars in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda and in a given year pay zero, zero in federal income tax. Yes, I'm going to do away with that. We will use those proceeds, a hundred billion a year, to invest in rebuilding our infrastructure. Yes, I believe that as a result of the illegal behavior on Wall Street, that they are a Wall Street that drove this country into the worst economic downturn since the Great Recession \u2014 Great Depression. Yes, I do believe that now after the American people bailed Wall Street out, yes, they should pay a Wall Street speculation tax so that we can make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We bailed them out. Now it is their time to help the middle class. +p4288 +aVA brief response. +p4289 +aVHere is where we are with public education. A 100, 150 years ago incredibly brave Americans said, you know what, working class kids, low income kids should not have to work in factories or on the farms. Like rich kids, they deserve to get a free education. And that free education of extraordinary accomplishment was from first grade to 12th grade. The world has changed. This is 2016. In many ways, a college degree today is equivalent to what a high school degree was 50, 60 years ago. So, yes, I do believe that when we talk about public education in America, today, in a rapidly changing world, we should have free tuition at public colleges and universities. That should be a right of all Americans regardless of the income of their families. +p4290 +aVLook, we are fighting for every vote that we can get from women, from men, straight, gay, African-Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans. We are trying to bring America together around an agenda that works for working families and the middle class. I am very proud, if my memory is not correct \u2014 I think I am \u2014 that I have a lifetime \u2014 and I've been in Congress a few years \u2014 a lifetime 100 percent pro-choice voting record. I am very proud that over the years we have had the support in my state of Vermont from very significant majorities of women. I'm very proud that I support legislation that is currently in the Congress, got support of almost all progressive Democrats in the House and Senate, which says we will end the absurdity of women today making 79 cents on the dollar compared to men. And we will join the rest of the other \u2014 the industrialized world in saying that paid family and medical leave should be a right of all working families. +p4291 +aVWell, you know, I think, from a historical point of view, somebody with my background, somebody with my views, somebody who has spent his entire life taking on the big money interests, I think a Sanders victory would be of some historical accomplishment, as well. +p4292 +aVLet me concur with the secretary, no question women's rights are under fierce attack all over this country. And I will tell you something that really galls me. I will not shock anybody to suggest that in politics there is occasionally a little bit of hypocrisy. Just a little bit. All over this country we have Republican candidates for president saying we hate the government. Government is the enemy. We're going to cut Social Security to help you. We're going to cut Medicare and Medicaid, federal aid to education to help you, because the government is so terrible. But, by the way, when it comes to a woman having to make a very personal choice, ah, in that case, my Republican colleagues love the government and want the government to make that choice for every woman in America. If that's not hypocrisy, I don't know what hypocrisy is. +p4293 +aVThis is one of the great tragedies in our country today. And we can no longer continue to sweep it under the rug. It has to be dealt with. Today a male African-American baby born today stands a one-in-four chance of ending up in jail. That is beyond unspeakable. So what we have to do is the radical reform of a broken criminal justice system. What we have to do is end over-policing in African-American neighborhoods. The reality is that both the African-American community and the white community do marijuana at about equal rates. The reality is four times as many blacks get arrested for marijuana. Truth is that far more blacks get stopped for traffic violations. The truth is that sentencing for blacks is higher than for whites. We need fundamental police reform, clearly, clearly, when we talk about a criminal justice system. I would hope that we could all agree that we are sick and tired of seeing videos on television of unarmed people, often African-Americans, shot by police officers. What we have got to do is make it clear that any police officer who breaks the law will, in fact, be held accountable. +p4294 +aVNothing that Secretary Clinton said do I disagree with. This mandatory sentencing, a very bad idea. It takes away discretion from judges. We have got to demilitarize local police departments so they do not look like occupying armies. We have got to make sure that local police departments look like the communities they serve in their diversity. And, where we are failing abysmally is in the very high rate of recidivism we see. People are being released from jail without the education, without the job training, without the resources that they need to get their lives together, then they end up \u2014 we're shocked that they end up back in jail again. So, we have a lot of work to do. But, here is a pledge I've made throughout this campaign, and it's really not a very radical pledge. When we have more people in jail, disproportionately African American and Latino, than China does, a communist authoritarian society four times our size. Here's my promise, at the end of my first term as president we will not have more people in jail than any other country. We will invest in education, and jobs for our kids, not incarceration and more jails. +p4295 +aVWell, I think, Judy, what has to be appreciated is that, as a result of the disastrous and illegal behavior on Wall Street, millions of lives were hurt. People lost their jobs, their homes, their life savings. Turns out that the African-American community and the Latino community were hit especially hard. As I understand it, the African-American community lost half of their wealth as a result of the Wall Street collapse. So when you have childhood African-American poverty rates of 35 percent, when you have youth unemployment at 51 percent, when you have unbelievable rates of incarceration \u2014 which, by the way, leaves the children back home without a dad or even a mother \u2014 clearly, we are looking at institutional racism. We are looking at an economy in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. And sadly, in America today, in our economy, a whole lot of those poor people are African-American. +p4296 +aVAbsolutely, because what we will do is say, instead of giving tax breaks to billionaires, we are going to create millions of jobs for low-income kids so they're not hanging out on street corners. We're going to make sure that those kids stay in school or are able to get a college education. And I think when you give low-income kids \u2014 African-American, white, Latino kids \u2014 the opportunities to get their lives together, they are not going to end up in jail. They're going to end up in the productive economy, which is where we want them. +p4297 +aVWhite people? +p4298 +aVYeah, you can, because African-Americans and Latinos not only face the general economic crises of low wages, and high unemployment, and poor educational opportunities, but they face other problems, as well. So, yes, we can talk about it as a racial issue. But it is a general economic issue. And here's what the economic issue is. The wages that high school graduates receive today are significantly less, whether you are white or black, than they used to be. Why is that? Because of a series of disastrous trade policies which have allowed corporate America through +p4299 +aVThe answer is yes. We've got 11 million undocumented people in this country. I have talked to some of the young kids with tears rolling down their cheeks, are scared to death that today they may or their parents may be deported. I believe that we have got to pass comprehensive immigration reform, something that I strongly supported. I believe that we have got to move toward a path toward citizenship. I agree with President Obama who used executive orders to protect families because the Congress, the House was unable or refused to act. And in fact I would go further. What would motivate me and what would be the guiding light for me in terms of immigration reform, Judy, is to bring families together, not divide them up. And let me say this also. Somebody who is very fond of the president, agrees with him most of the time, I disagree with his recent deportation policies. And I would not support those. Bottom line is a path towards citizenship for 11 million undocumented people, if Congress doesn't do the right thing, we use the executive orders of the president. +p4300 +aVSecretary Clinton, I do have a disagreement here. If my memory is correct, I think when we saw children coming from these horrendous, horrendously violent areas of Honduras and neighboring countries, people who are fleeing drug violence and cartel violence, I thought it was a good idea to allow those children to stay in this country. That was not, as I understand it, the secretary's position. In terms of 2007 immigration reform, yeah, I did vote against it. I voted against it because the Southern Poverty Law Center, among other groups, said that the guest-worker programs that were embedded in this agreement were akin to slavery. Akin to slavery, where people came into this country to do guest work were abused, were exploited, and if they stood up for their rights, they'd be thrown out of this country. So it wasn't just me who opposed it. It was +p4301 +aVWell, let me just respond. I worked with Ted Kennedy. He was the chairman of my committee. And I loved Ted Kennedy. But on this issue, when you have one of the large Latino organizations in America saying vote no, and you have the AFL-CIO saying vote no, and you have leading progressive Democrats, in fact, voting no, I don't apologize for that vote. But in terms of the children, I don't know to whom you're sending a message. Who are you sending a message to? These are children who are leaving countries and neighborhoods where their lives are at stake. That was the fact. I don't think we use them to send a message. I think we welcome them into this country and do the best we can to help them get their lives together. +p4302 +aVOK. You know, you judge a nation not by the number of millionaires and billionaires it has, but by how you treat, we treat, the most vulnerable and fragile people in our nation. And by those standards, we're not doing particularly well. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty among almost any major country on Earth. And in terms of seniors, there are millions of seniors \u2014 and I've talked to them in my state of Vermont and all over this country \u2014 who are trying to get by on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year Social Security. And you know what? You do the arithmetic. You can't get by on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year. And here's an area where Secretary Clinton and I believe we have a difference. I have long supported the proposition that we should lift the cap on taxable income coming into the Social Security Trust Fund, starting at $250,000. And when we \u2014 and when we do that, we don't do what the Republicans want, which is to cut Social Security. We do what the American people want, to expand Social Security by $1,300 a year for people under $16,000, and we extend the life of Social Security for 58 years. Yes, the wealthiest people, the top 1.5 percent, will pay more in taxes. But a great nation like ours should not be in a position where elderly people are cutting their pills in half, where they don't have decent nutrition, where they can't heat their homes in the wintertime. That is not what America should be about. If elected president, I will do everything I can to expand Social Security benefits, not just for seniors, but for disabled veterans, as well. +p4303 +aVIn all due respect......In all due respect, Secretary Clinton, a lot of the progressive groups, the online groups have really asked you a simple question. Are you coming onboard a proposal? And what is that proposal? Now, the proposal that I have outlined, you know, should be familiar to you, because it is what essentially Barack Obama campaigned on in 2008. You opposed him then. I would hope that you would come onboard and say that this is the simple and straightforward thing to do. We're asking the top 1.5 percent, including passive income, to start paying a little bit more so that the elderly and disabled vets in this country can live with security and dignity. I hope you will make a decision soon on this. +p4304 +aVThat's my bill. Check it out. +p4305 +aVWhat we are talking about in reality is a corrupt campaign finance system, that's what we're talking about. We have to be honest about it. It is undermining American democracy. When extraordinarily wealthy people make very large contributions to Super PACs, and in many cases in this campaign, Super PACs have raised more money than individual candidates have, OK? We had a decision to make early on, do we do a Super PAC? And, we said no. We don't represent Wall Street, we don't represent the billionaire class, so it ends up I'm the only candidate up here of the many candidates who has no Super PAC. But, what we did is we said to the working families of this country, look, we know things are tough, but if you want to help us go beyond establishment politics, and establishment economics, send us something. And, it turns out that up until \u2014 and this has blown me away, never in a million years would I have believed that I would be standing here tonight telling you that we have received three and a half million individual contributions from well over a million people. Now, Secretary Clinton's Super PAC, as I understand it, received $25 million dollars last reporting period, $15 million dollars from Wall Street. Our average contribution is $27 dollars, I'm very proud of that. +p4306 +aVThe people aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street... But let's not \u2014 but let's not \u2014 let's not insult \u2014 let's not insult the intelligence of the American people. People aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street make huge campaign contributions? I guess just for the fun of it; they want to throw money around. Why does the pharmaceutical industry make huge campaign contributions? Any connection maybe to the fact that our people pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs? Why does the fossil fuel industry pay \u2014 spend huge amounts of money on campaign contributions? Any connection to the fact that not one Republican candidate for president thinks and agrees with the scientific community that climate change is real and that we have got to transform our energy system? And when we talk about Wall Street, let's talk about Wall Street. I voted for Dodd-Frank, got an important amendment in it. In my view, it doesn't go anywhere near far enough. But when we talk about Wall Street, you have Wall Street and major banks have paid $200 billion in fines since the great crash. No Wall Street executive has been prosecuted. +p4307 +aVLet me, you know, again, respectfully disagree with Secretary Clinton here. When you have three out of the four largest financial institutions in this country bigger today than they were when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, when you have six financial institutions having assets equivalent to 58 percent of the GDP of America, while issuing two-thirds of the credit cards and a third of the mortgages, look, I think if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, that great trust-buster would have said break them up. I think he would have been right. I think he would have said bring back a 21st-century Glass-Steagall legislation. I think that would have been right, as well. That's my view. +p4308 +aVHey, I'm in the United States Senate, and anyone who doesn't think that there is an enormous amount of waste and inefficiency and bureaucracy throughout government would be very, very mistaken. I believe in government, but I believe in efficient government, not wasteful government. +p4309 +aVIf I could just answer that, we have also got to take a look at the waste and inefficiencies in the Department of Defense, which is the one major agency of government that has not been able to be audited. And I have the feeling you're going to find a lot of cost overruns there and a lot of waste and duplicative activities. +p4310 +aVLet me \u2014 let me just say this. What a President of the United States has got to do and what is his or her major, I think, responsibility is to, a, make certain that we keep our people safe, that we work with allies around the world to protect democratic values, that we do all that we can to create a world of peace and prosperity. I voted against the war in Iraq because I listened very carefully to what President Bush and Vice President Cheney had to say and I didn't believe them. And if you go to my Web site,berniesanders.com, what you find is not only going to help lead the opposition to that war, but much of what I feared would happen when I spoke on the floor of the House, in fact, did happen in terms of the instability that occurred. Now I think an area in kind of a vague way, or not so vague, where Secretary Clinton and I disagree is the area of regime change. Look, the truth is that a powerful nation like the United States, certainly working with our allies, we can overthrow dictators all over the world. And God only knows Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator. We could overthrow Assad tomorrow if we wanted to. We got rid of Gadhafi. But the point about foreign policy is not just to know that you can overthrow a terrible dictator, it's to understand what happens the day after. And in Libya, for example, the United States, Secretary Clinton, as secretary of state, working with some other countries, did get rid of a terrible dictator named Gadhafi. But what happened is a political vacuum developed. +p4311 +aVJudy, if I can, there is no question, Secretary Clinton and I are friends, and I have a lot of respect for her, that she has enormous experience in foreign affairs. Secretary of state for four years. You've got a bit of experience, I would imagine. But judgment matters as well. Judgment matters as well. And she and I looked at the same evidence coming from the Bush administration regarding Iraq. I lead the opposition against it. She voted for it. But more importantly, in terms of this Libya resolution that you have noted before, this was a virtually unanimous consent. Everybody voted for it wanting to see Libya move toward democracy, of course we all wanted to do that. That is very different than talking about specific action for regime change, which I did not support. +p4312 +aVJudy, one area very briefly... +p4313 +aVWhere the secretary and I have a very profound difference, in the last debate \u2014 and I believe in her book \u2014 very good book, by the way \u2014 in her book and in this last debate, she talked about getting the approval or the support or the mentoring of Henry Kissinger. Now, I find it rather amazing, because I happen to believe that Henry Kissinger was one of the most destructive secretaries of state in the modern history of this country. I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend. I will not take advice from Henry Kissinger. And in fact, Kissinger's actions in Cambodia, when the United States bombed that country, overthrew Prince Sihanouk, created the instability for Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge to come in, who then butchered some 3 million innocent people, one of the worst genocides in the history of the world. So count me in as somebody who will not be listening to Henry Kissinger. +p4314 +aVWell, it ain't Henry Kissinger. That's for sure. +p4315 +aVIt is. +p4316 +aVI find \u2014 I mean, it's just a very different, you know, historical perspective here. Kissinger was one of those people during the Vietnam era who talked about the domino theory. Not everybody remembers that. You do. I do. The domino theory, you know, if Vietnam goes, China, da, da, da, da, da, da, da. That's what he talked about, the great threat of China. And then, after the war, this is the guy who, in fact, yes, you're right, he opened up relations with China, and now pushed various type of trade agreements, resulting in American workers losing their jobs as corporations moved to China. The terrible, authoritarian, Communist dictatorship he warned us about, now he's urging companies to shut down and move to China. Not my kind of guy. +p4317 +aVWell, this is what I would say. It is a complicated relationship. I congratulate Secretary of State John Kerry and the president for working on this agreement. As you've indicated, what is happening in Syria, the number of people, the hundreds of thousands of people who have been killed \u2014 men, women, 20,000 children, the people who are forced to flee their own country \u2014 their own country \u2014 it is unspeakable. It is a real horror. Now, what I think is that right now we have got to do our best in developing positive relations with Russia. But let's be clear: Russia's aggressive actions in the Crimea and in Ukraine have brought about a situation where President Obama and +p4318 +aVLet me just \u2014 just say this. For a start, the secretary and I disagree \u2014 and I think the president does not agree with her \u2014 in terms of the concept of a no-fly zone in Syria. I think you do have a humanitarian tragedy there, as I mentioned a moment ago. I applaud Secretary Kerry and the president for trying to put together this agreement. Let's hope that it holds. But furthermore, what we have got to do, I'm sorry, yes, I do believe that we have got to do everything that we can, and it will not happen tomorrow. But I do hope that in years to come, just as occurred with Cuba, 10, 20 years ago, people would say, reach normalized relations with Cuba. And by the way, I hope we can end the trade embargo with Cuba as well. But the idea that we some day maybe have decent relations with Iran, maybe put pressure on them so they end their support for terrorism around the world, yes, that is something I want to achieve. And I believe that the best way to do that is to be aggressive, to be principled, but to have the goal of trying to improve relations. That's how you make peace in the world. You sit down and you work with people, you make demands of people, in this case demanding Iran stop the support of international terrorism. +p4319 +aVWe have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of work to do. But I recall when Secretary Clinton ran against then-Senator Obama, she was critical of him for suggesting that maybe you want to talk to Iran, that you want to talk to our enemies. I have no illusion. Of course you are right. Iran is sponsoring terrorism in many parts of the world, destabilizing areas. Everybody knows that. But our goal is, in fact, to try over a period of time to, in fact, deal with our enemies, not just ignore that reality. +p4320 +aVNo, I think the idea was that president \u2014 then-Senator Obama was wrong for suggesting that it is a good idea to talk to your opponents. It's easier to talk to your friends. It's harder to talk to your enemies. I think we should do both. +p4321 +aVA couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to go on a congressional delegation. And I went to one of these Turkish refugee camps right on the border of Syria. And what a sad sight that was: Men, women, children forced out of their homes. And Turkey, by the way, did a very decent thing, providing what was reasonable housing and conditions for those people. It seems to me that given our history as a nation that has been a beacon of hope for the oppressed, for the downtrodden, that I very strongly disagree with those Republican candidates who say, you know what, we've got to turn our backs on women and children who left their home with nothing, nothing at all. That is not what America is supposed to be about. So I believe that working with Europe \u2014 and, by the way, you know, we've got some very wealthy countries there in that part of the world. You got Kuwait and you got Qatar and you got Saudi Arabia. They have a responsibility, as well. But I think this is a worldwide \u2014 that the entire world needs to come together to deal with this horrific refugee crisis we're seeing from Syria and Afghanistan, as well. +p4322 +aVYou know, Franklin Delano Roosevelt took the oath of office in 1933 at a time when 25 percent of the American people were unemployed, country was in incredible despair. And he stood before the American people and he said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself," a profound statement that gave the American people the courage to believe that, yes, we could get out of that terrible depression. And then what he did is redefine the role of government. You know, you had Herbert Hoover before that saying, no, we got to only worry about the deficit. So what if mass unemployment exists? So what if children are going hungry? That's not the role of the government. And when FDR said, "Yeah, it is," that we're going to use all of the resources that we have to create jobs, to build homes, to feed people, to protect the farmers, we are a nation which if we come together there is nothing that we could not accomplish. And kind of \u2014 that's what I see our campaign is about right now. In this particular moment of serious crises, saying to the American people don't give up on the political process. don't listen to the Trumps of the world and allowing them to divide us. If we reengage and get involved, yeah, we can have health care for all people, we can make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We do not have to have massive levels of income and wealth inequality. In the same light, as the foreign leader, Winston Churchill's politics were not my politics. He was kind of a conservative guy in many respects. But nobody can deny that as a wartime leader, he rallied the British people when they stood virtually alone against the Nazi juggernaut and rallied them and eventually won an extraordinary victory. Those are two leaders that I admire very much. +p4323 +aVThat is......Madam Secretary, that is a low blow. I have worked with President Obama for the last seven years. When President Obama came into office we were losing 800,000 jobs a month, 800,000 jobs a month. We had a $1.4 trillion deficit. And the world's financial system is on the verge of collapse. As a result of his efforts and the efforts of Joe Biden against unprecedented, I was there in the Senate, unprecedented Republican obstructionism, we have made enormous progress. But you know what? Last I heard we lived in a democratic society. Last I heard, a United States senator had the right to disagree with the president, including a president who has done such an extraordinary job. So I have voiced criticisms. You're right. Maybe you haven't. I have. But I think to suggest that I have voiced criticism, this blurb that you talk about, you know what the blurb said? The blurb said that the next president of the United States has got to be aggressive in bringing people into the political process. That's what I said. That is what I believe. President Obama and I are friends. As you know, he came to Vermont to campaign for me when he was a senator. I have worked for his re-election. His first election and his re-election. But I think it is really unfair to suggest that I have not been supportive of the president. I have been a strong ally with him on virtually every issue. Do senators have the right to disagree with the president? Have you ever disagreed with a president? I suspect you may have. +p4324 +aVWell, one of us ran against Barack Obama. I was not that candidate. All right, look, this has been a great debate. A lot of interesting issues have come together. Let me conclude by just saying this. There is no president, in my view, not Hillary Clinton, not Bernie Sanders, who has the capability or the power to take on Wall Street, large campaign donors, the corporate media, the big money interests in this country alone. This campaign is not just about electing a president. What this campaign is about is creating a process for a political revolution in which millions of Americans, working people who have given up on the political process, they don't think anybody hears their pains or their concerns. Young people for whom getting involved in politics is as, you know, it's like going to the moon. It ain't going to happen. Low income people who are not involved in the political process. What this campaign is not only about electing someone who has the most progressive agenda, it is about bringing tens of millions of people together to demand that we have a government that represents all of us and not just the 1 percent, who today have so much economic and political power. Thank you all very much. +p4325 +aVRachel, thank you very much. Millions of Americans are giving up on the political process. And they're giving up on the political process because they understand the economy is rigged. They are working longer hours for low wages. They're worried about the future of their kids, and yet almost all new income and wealth is going to the top 1 percent. Not what America is supposed to be about. Not the fairness that we grew up believing that America was about. And then sustaining that rigged economy is a corrupt campaign finance system undermining American democracy, where billionaire, Wall Street, corporate America can contribute unlimited sums of money into super PACs and into candidates. Our job, together, is to end a rigged economy, create an economy that works for all, and absolutely overturn Citizens United. One person, one vote. That's what American democracy is about. +p4326 +aVWell, I haven't quite run for president before. Let's deal with some of the comments that Secretary Clinton made. And by the way, you know, sometimes there's a lot of drama here. I have known Secretary Clinton for 25 years and respect her very much. Here is the issue. Every major country on earth, whether it's the U.K., whether it's France, whether it's Canada, has managed to provide healthcare to all people as a right and they are spending significantly less per capita on health care than we are. So I do not accept the belief that the United States of America can't do that. I do not accept the belief that the United States of America and our government can't stand up to the ripoffs of the pharmaceutical industry which charge us by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. Number two, in the economy today, everybody understands that we need a well educated workforce. This is 2016. When we talk about public education, it can no longer be K through 12th grade. I do believe that public colleges and universities should be tuition free. Well, how do we pay for that? It's an expensive proposition. I do believe that we should substantially lower student debt in this country, which is crushing millions of people. We pay for it, in my view, by a tax on Wall Street speculation. The middle class bailed out Wall Street in their time of need. Now, it is Wall Street's time to help the middle class. +p4327 +aVLet me... +p4328 +aV... this is a good discussion here. +p4329 +aVAnd let me just say this. As Secretary Clinton may know, I am on the Health Education Labor Committee. That committee wrote the Affordable Care Act. The idea I would dismantle health care in America while we're waiting to pass a Medicare for all is just not accurate. The Affordable Care Act has clearly, as Secretary Clinton made the point, done a lot of good things, but, what it has not done is dealt with the fact we have 29 million people today who have zero health insurance, we have even more who are underinsured with large deductibles and copayments and prescription drug prices are off the wall. So I do believe that in the future, not by dismantling what we have here\u2014I helped write that bill\u2014but by moving forward, rallying the American people, I do believe we should have health care for all. +p4330 +aVNo, not at all. Here's the reality of American economic life today. The reality is that we have one of lowest voter turnouts of any major country on earth because so many people have given up on the political process. The reality is that there has been trillions of dollars of wealth going from the middle class in the last 30 years to the top 1/10th of 1 percent. The reality is we that have a corrupt campaign finance system which separates the American people's needs and desires from what Congress is doing. So to my mind, what we have got to do is wage a political revolution where millions of people have given up on the political process, stand up and fight back, demand the government that represents us and not just a handful of campaign contribution\u2014contributors. Now all of the ideas that I'm talking about, they are not radical ideas. Making public colleges and universities tuition free, that exists in countries all over the world, used to exist in the United States. Rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, and creating 13 million jobs by doing away with tax loopholes that large corporations now enjoy by putting their money into the Cayman Islands and other tax havens. That is not a radical idea. What we need to do is to stand up to the big money interests, and the campaign contributors. When we do that, we can, in fact, transform America. +p4331 +aVLet me just pick up on this point. This whole discussion began because I commented, not making overall evaluation about the Secretary. She was in Ohio, I think, in September or November and she got up and said something like, I have been\u2014I'm paraphrasing, I have been criticized because people think I'm a moderate. Well, I am a moderate. That's where this came from. It wasn't me paraphrasing her. It is what she said, and all that I said was there's nothing wrong with being a moderate. But, you can't be a moderate, you can't a progressive. In terms of President Obama, I think if we remember where this country was seven years ago, 800,000 jobs being lost every month, $1.4 trillion dollar deficit. The world's financial system on the verge of collapse. I think that President Obama, Vice President Biden, and the Democratic leadership in the House and the Senate have done a fantastic job. We are in much better shape than we were seven years ago, although my Republican colleagues seem to have forgotten where we were seven years ago. That's the fact, but, we still have a very long way to go. Do I think President Obama is a progressive? Yes, I do. I disagree with him on a number of issues including the trade agreement. But, yes, I think he has done an excellent job. +p4332 +aVThat's right, I mean, instead of arguing about definitions, let's talk about... +p4333 +aV... What we should do, and one of the things we should do is not only talk the talk, but walk the walk. I am very proud to be the only candidate up here who does not have a Super PAC, who's not raising huge sums of money from Wall Street...... And special interests. I am enormously proud. Never believed it would happen that we have raised 3.5 million individual contributions, averaging $27 dollars a piece. That is what the political revolution means. +p4334 +aVWell, Rachel, actually, that wasn't accurate. In 1988 the Republican did win, I believe, by 3 points. I came in second. It was 34-31, I think, 19 for the Democrat. In that race the Democrat was the spoiler, not me. And it is true......it is true, it's not to be denied, I am the longest- serving independent in the history of the United States Congress. People of Vermont sent me to Washington as an independent. That is true. But on the other hand, I have\u2014when I was in the House for 16 years, I caucused with the Democrats. In the Senate for nine years caucused with the Democrats, of course. And I was elected by the Democrats to be chair of the Veterans Committee three years ago, which I'm very proud of. And now am the rankings member on the Budget Committee, leader of the Democrats in opposition to the majority Republicans. I am running for president as a Democrat. And if elected, not only do I hope to bring forth a major change in national priorities, but let me be frank, I do want to see major changes in the Democratic Party. I want to see working people and young people come into the party in a way that doesn't exist now. And you know what, I want a 50-state strategy so the Democratic Party is not just the party of 25 states. +p4335 +aVWell, I don't see it quite like that. +p4336 +aVI am\u2014will absolutely admit that Secretary Clinton has the support of far more governors, mayors, members of the House. She has the entire establishment or almost the entire establishment behind her. That's a fact. I don't deny it. But I am pretty proud that we have over a million people who have contributed to our campaign averaging 27 bucks apiece. That we have had meetings where 25,000-30,000 people have come out. That our campaign is a campaign of the people, by the people, and for the people. So, Rachel, yes, Secretary Clinton does represent the establishment. I represent, I hope, ordinary Americans, and by the way, who are not all that enamored with the establishment, but I am very proud to have people like Keith Ellison and Raul Grijalva in the House, the co-chairmen of the House Progressive Caucus. +p4337 +aVWhat being part of the establishment is, is, in the last quarter, having a super PAC that raised $15 million from Wall Street, that throughout one's life raised a whole lot of money from the drug companies and other special interests. To my mind, if we do not get a handle on money in politics and the degree to which big money controls the political process in this country, nobody is going to bring about the changes that is needed in this country for the middle class and working families. +p4338 +aVWhat... +p4339 +aV... you know... +p4340 +aV. +p4341 +aVLet's talk about\u2014OK, let's talk... +p4342 +aV... let us talk about issues. +p4343 +aVLet's talk about issues. +p4344 +aVLet's... +p4345 +aV... let's\u2014let's\u2014let's talk about issues. +p4346 +aVLet's talk\u2014let's talk about issues, all right? Let's talk about why, in the 1990s, Wall Street got deregulated. Did it have anything to do with the fact that Wall Street provided\u2014spent billions of dollars on lobbying and campaign contributions? Well, some people might think, yeah, that had some influence. Let's ask why it is that we pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, and your medicine can be doubled tomorrow, and there's nothing that the government can do to stop it. You think it has anything to do with the huge amounts of campaign contributions and lobbying from the fossil fuel industry? Let's talk about climate change. Do you think there's a reason why not one Republican has the guts to recognize that climate change is real, and that we need to transform our energy system? Do you think it has anything to do with the Koch brothers and ExxonMobil pouring huge amounts of money into the political system? That is what goes on in America. I am not\u2014I like......there is a reason. You know, there is a reason why these people are putting huge amounts of money into our political system. And in my view, it is undermining American democracy and it is allowing Congress to represent wealthy campaign contributors and not the working families of this country. +p4347 +aVI think as Secretary Clinton knows, there is nobody who fought harder. I was on the House Financial Committee at that time. I heard the arguments coming from Democrats and Republicans\u2014Robert Rubin, Alan Greenspan\u2014about great an idea it would be if we did away with Glass-Steagall and if we allowed investor banks and commercial banks and big insurance companies to merge. Go to YouTube today. Look up Greenspan-Sanders. Listen to what I told them then. I helped lead the effort against deregulation. Unfortunately, we lost that. The result is\u2014was the worst financial disaster since the Great Depression. +p4348 +aVChuck, actually we looked at it, but it turns out to be a disaster. The way it is structured right now, if you make it all the way to California, you could do pretty well. But in terms of the early states\u2014Iowa, New Hampshire, the other states\u2014it just doesn't work. Your point is well taken. I believe in public funding of elections, absolutely. But this system is\u2014I don't know if the secretary would agree\u2014is currently very antiquated and no longer applies to modern day politics. +p4349 +aVBut if the... +p4350 +aVLet me just say this. Wall Street is perhaps the most powerful economic and political force in this country. You have companies like Goldman Sachs, who just recently paid a settlement fine with the federal government for $5 billion for defrauding investors. Goldman Sachs was one of those companies whose illegal activity helped destroy our economy and ruin the lives of millions of Americans. But this is what a rigged economy and a corrupt campaign finance system and a broken criminal justice is about. These guys are so powerful that not one of the executives on Wall Street has been charged with anything after paying, in this case of Goldman Sachs, a $5 billion fine. Kid gets caught with marijuana, that kid has a police record. A Wall Street executive destroys the economy, $5 billion settlement with the government, no criminal record. That is what power is about. That is what corruption is about. And that is what has to change in the United States of America. +p4351 +aVI would say that\u2014that folks who have looked at this issue for a long time, whether it's Elizabeth Warren or many other economists, will tell you that right now, yes, we do need a 21st century Glass-Steagall legislation. And I would tell you also that when you have three out of the four largest banks in America today, bigger than they were\u2014significantly bigger than when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, I think if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, a good Republican by the way, what he would say is: Break them up; they are too powerful economically; they are too powerful politically. And that is what I believe and many economists believe. Time to break them up. +p4352 +aVWell, we've had a number of economists supporting our legislation. And here's where we are. The American people can judge. Six largest financial institutions in America today have assets of roughly $10 trillion; equivalent to 58 percent of the GDP of the United States of America. That is a lot of money. They issue two thirds of the credit cards, and by the way they're ripping off a whole lot of people with high interest rates on the credit cards, and they write about one third of the mortgages. That is a lot of power for six financial institutions. That's it. I think it is too much power. Too much economic power, too much political power, and the economists that I talk to say we should break them up. +p4353 +aVYeah, I do. I agree with much of what the Secretary said, but, madam Secretary, it is not one streak. Wall Street is an entity of unbelievable economic and political power. That's a fact. And, I want to say something, and it may sound harsh, not to you, but to the American people. In a sense, in my view, the business model of Wall Street is fraud. It's fraud. I believe that corruption is rampant, and the fact that major bank after major bank has reached multi billion dollar settlements with the United States government when we have a weak regulator system tells me that not only did we have to bail them out once, if we don't start breaking them up, we're going to have to bail them out again, and I do not want to see that happen... +p4354 +aVOf course I can work with them, but let's be clear. When I talked about Boeing and I talked about General Electric, what I was referring to is an outrage. I suspect the secretary agrees request me. Right now you have a loophole such that these guys are putting their profits, multi-billion dollar profitable corporations putting billions of dollars into the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, and other tax havens. And in a given year, Rachel, after making billions of dollars in profit, do you know how much they're paying in taxes to the United States government in a given year? Zero. Now explain to me how that makes any sense at all. So what I have said with regard to Boeing and GE and other multinationals that pay zero taxes, you know what we're going to do? We're going to end that loophole. They are going to pay their fair share of taxes. We're going to use that money to rebuild our infrastructure and create up to 13 million jobs. Can I work with corporations? Are there good corporations doing incredible cutting edge research and development? Absolutely they are. And we should be proud of them. But on the other hand, there are many corporations who have turned their backs on the American worker, who have said, if I can make another nickel in profit by going to China and shutting down in the United States of America, that's what I will do. I will do my best to transform our trade policy and take on these corporations who want to invest in low-income countries around the world rather than in the United States of America. +p4355 +aVOK. Let me agree with much of what the secretary said, but where we have a different background on this issue is we differ on the war in Iraq, which created barbaric organizations like +p4356 +aVWell, I think our great task is to make certain that our young men and women in the military do not get sucked into never- ending, perpetual warfare within the quagmire of Syria and Iraq. And I will do my very best to make sure that that doesn't happen. I agree with the secretary that I think what has to happen\u2014and let me just mention what King Abdullah of Jordan said. I think he hit the nail on the head. And what he said is essentially the war against +p4357 +aVWell, you can't simply withdraw tomorrow. Wish we could, and allow, you know, the Taliban or anybody else to reclaim that country. But what we must do, and what we have seen in recent months, is some progress in Iraq, where finally the Iraqi army, which has not been a particularly effective fighting force, retook Ramadi. +p4358 +aVWell, that's not quite accurate. I did give a speech at Georgetown where I talked about democratic socialism and foreign policy. Maybe I shouldn't have combined the two in the same speech, because the foreign policy part of it didn't get much attention. So, let me take this opportunity to give you a very short speech here on the issue. I think, while it is true that the secretary and I voted differently on the war in Iraq, what is important is that we learn the lesson of the war in Iraq. And that lesson is intrinsic to my foreign policy if elected president, is the United States cannot do it alone. We cannot be the policeman of the world. We are now spending more I believe than the next eight countries on defense. We have got to work in strong coalition with the major powers of the world and with those Muslim countries that are prepared to stand up and take on terrorism. So I would say that the key doctrine of the Sanders administration would be no, we cannot continue to do it alone; we need to work in coalition. +p4359 +aV I fully, fully concede that Secretary Clinton, who was secretary of State for four years, has more experience\u2014hat is not arguable\u2014in foreign affairs. But experience is not the only point, judgment is. And once again, back in 2002, when we both looked at the same evidence about the wisdom of the war in Iraq, one of us voted the right way and one of us didn't. In terms of Iran and in terms of Saudi Arabia, of course they hate each other. That's no great secret. But John Kerry, who is I think doing a very good job, has tried to at least get these people in the room together because both of them are being threatened by +p4360 +aVWell... +p4361 +aVWho said That think we should normalize relations with Iran tomorrow? I never said that. I think we should move forward as quickly as we can. And you're right. They are a sponsor of terrorism around the world and we have to address that. But you know, a number of years ago, people were saying normal relationship with Cuba, what a bad and silly idea. They're Communists, they are our enemy. Well guess what? Change has come. So please don't suggest that I think we normalize relations with Tehran tomorrow. We don't. But I would like to see us move forward, and hopefully some day that will happen. And I would say if I might, Madam Secretary\u2014and you can correct me if I'm wrong. When you ran against Senator Obama you thought him naive because he thought it was a good idea to talk to our enemies. I think those are exactly the people you have to talk to and you have to negotiate with. +p4362 +aVOK. +p4363 +aVI think President Obama had the right idea, and the bottom line is that of course there have to be conditions. But, of course it doesn't do us any good to not talk with our adversaries... +p4364 +aVJust to set the record straight, I very strongly supported the agreement which makes certain that Iran does not get a nuclear weapon. +p4365 +aV... +p4366 +aV +p4367 +aV... No, no... +p4368 +aV... +p4369 +aVClearly North Korea is a very strange situation because it is such an isolated country run by a handful of dictators, or maybe just one, who seems to be somewhat paranoid. And, who had nuclear weapons. And, our goal there, in my view, is to work and lean strongly on China to put as much pressure. China is one of the few major countries in the world that has significant support for North Korea, and I think we got to do everything we can to put pressure on China. I worry very much about an isolated, paranoid country with atomic bombs. I think, clearly, we got to work closely with China to resolve the serious problems we have, and I worry about Putin and his military adventurism in the Crimea and the Ukraine. +p4370 +aV... No, I don't. I worry very, very much about an isolated country. That's what makes me nervous. Russia lives in the world. China lives in the world. North Korea is a very, very strange country because it is so isolated, and I do feel that a nation with nuclear weapons, they have got to be dealt with. Dealt with effectively. +p4371 +aVLet me agree. You know, as the secretary knows, I chaired\u2014I had the privilege and the honor of chairing the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs. And it is interesting to me, you know, Republicans give a lot of speeches about how much they love veterans. I work with the American Legion, the VFW, the DAV, the Vietnam Vets, and virtually every veterans organization to put together the most comprehensive piece of the veterans legislation in the modern history of America. That's what I did. And I brought it to the floor of the Senate. Every Democrat voted for it, I got two Republicans. We ended up with 56 votes and I couldn't get the 60 votes that I needed. That is pathetic. This was legislation supported by all of the veterans organizations, addressing many of the serious problems that veterans face in health care and in how we deliver benefits to them. So Republicans talk a good game about veterans, but when it came to put money on the line to protect our veterans, frankly, they were not there. What I did next, Rachel, is I had to retreat a little bit, I had to compromise. I did work with John McCain. I did work with Jeff Miller over in the House. And we put together not the bill that I wanted, but probably the most comprehensive V.A. health care bill in the modern history of this country. Secretary Clinton is absolutely right, there are people, Koch brothers among others, who have a group called Concerned Veterans of America, funded by the Koch brothers. The Koch brothers, by the way, want to destroy Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, every governmental program passed since the 1930s. Yes, there are people out there who want to privatize it. The last point that I'd make. I had a hearing. I had all of the veterans groups in front of me. And I said to them, tell me when a veteran gets in to the V.A., understanding there are waiting lines and real problems, when a veteran gets into the system, is the quality of care good? Without exception, what they said, good, excellent, very good. We've got to strengthen the V.A. We do not privatize the V.A. +p4372 +aVWell, I agree with the Des Moines Register, but let's not blow this out of proportion. This is not a\u2014this is not, like, a winner-take-all thing. I think where we now stand\u2014correct me if I'm wrong\u2014you have 22 delegates, I have 20 delegates. We need 2,500 delegates to win the nomination. You know, so this is not\u2014this is not the biggest deal in the world. We think, by the way, based on talking to our precinct captains, we may have at least two more delegates. What the Des Moines Register said\u2014you know, there were coin\u2014I think there were half a dozen coin flips\u2014a fairly chaotic type situation. At the end of the day, no matter how it's recounted, it will break roughly even. And by the way, I love and respect the caucus process in Iowa. See, and I don't have to say it, because they voted already. And I love New Hampshire, too, because you haven't voted, but......but, look, I think people are blowing this up out of proportion. But I think we need improvements in the process by which results are determined. +p4373 +aVOh . See, when you are old, then they go back all these years. All right. What have you got? +p4374 +aVWell, you know, a general election is different than a primary and caucus process. But let me just say this. In terms of where we are right now, as you mention, Rachel, in a number of national and state, including New Hampshire. For example, the last poll I saw\u2014there may have been a new one\u2014last one I saw here in New Hampshire, a battleground state, had me defeating Trump by 19; the secretary defeating him by one. There were also pretty large margins in Iowa and Wisconsin. These are polls. Polls go up. Polls go down. But here's why I think I will be, if nominated, the strongest candidate. Democrats win when there is a large voter turnout; when people are excited; when working people, middle class people and young people are prepared to engage in the political process. Republicans win when people are demoralized and you have a small voter turnout, which by the way is why they love voter suppression. I believe that our campaign up to now has shown that we can create an enormous amount of enthusiasm from working people, from young people, who will get involved in the political process and which will drive us to a very large voter turnout. If there is a large voter turnout, not only do we retain the White House, but I think we regain the Senate. We win governors' chairs up and down the line. So I believe if you want to retain the White House, if you want to see Democrats do well across the board, I think our campaign is the one that creates the large voter turnout and helps us win. +p4375 +aV +p4376 +aVI am feeling exactly the way I felt at the first debate. There's a process under way. I will not politicize it. +p4377 +aVAnd by the way\u2014and by the way, if I may, the secretary probably doesn't know that there's not a day that goes by when I am not asked to attack her on that issue, and I have refrained from doing that and I will continue to refrain from doing that. +p4378 +aVNot losing control of our campaign. You know, we have hired a whole lot of people in a rapid way and I am familiar with the first two instances and they are unacceptable, and we have apologized and dealt with that. In terms of the last one, as I understand it, we did not suggest that we had the endorsement of a newspaper. Newspapers who make endorsements also say positive things about other candidates, and to the best of my knowledge, that is what we did. So we never said, never said that somebody, a newspaper endorsed us that did not. What we did say is blah blah blah blah was said by the newspaper. +p4379 +aVBut that was only for\u2014that was not to be on television. That's an important point. That was just something\u2014as the secretary knows, you put titles on ads and you send them out, but there was no word in that ad, none, that said that those newspapers had endorsed us. +p4380 +aV... Look, I hear what the Secretary said, and I understand, but look, there are\u2014all of us know that we have seen in recent years horrible, horrible crimes. It's hard to imagine how people can do, bomb, and kill 168 people in Oklahoma City, or do the Boston Marathon bombing, but this is what I believe, and for a couple of reasons. Number one, too many innocent people, including minorities, African Americans, have been executed when they were not guilty. That's number one. We have to be very careful about making sure about that. But, second of all, and maybe, in a deeper reason, of course there are barbaric acts out there. But, in a world of so much violence and killing, I just don't believe that government itself should be part of the killing. So, when somebody commits......somebody commits any of these terrible crimes that we have seen, you lock them up, and you toss away the key. They're never going to get out. But, I just don't' want to see government be part of killing. That's all. +p4381 +aVAbsolutely. I think the Secretary described the situation appropriately. You know, I don't go around asking for governor's resignations every day. In fact, I think I never have in my life. But I did ask for the resignation of Governor Snyder because his irresponsibility......was so outrageous. What we are talking about are children being poisoned. That's what we're talking about. We don't know, no one knows for sure because they haven't done the appropriate studies, but there's no question that kids' intellectual development may have been impacted. We don't know how many thousands. The idea that there has not been a dramatic response is beyond comprehension. And when you have one of the, I think, significant public health crises of recent years, of course the federal government comes in. And of course the federal government says, you're not going to be poisoning little kids and impacting their entire lives. Last point on this. And I suspect the secretary agrees. One wonders if this were a white suburban community what kind of response there would have been. Flint, Michigan, is a poor community. It is disproportionately African-American and minority. And what has happened there is absolutely unacceptable. +p4382 +aVAbsolutely right. +p4383 +aVChuck, I believe in trade, but I do not believe in unfettered free trade. I believe in fair trade which works for the middle class and working families of this country and not just large multinational corporations. I was not only in opposition to +p4384 +aVNo, let... +p4385 +aV... I am absolutely supportive of comprehensive immigration reform and a path towards citizenship for 11 million people today who are living in the shadows. All right? We got to do that. But you miss\u2014when you looked at the issues, you missed two of the most important. And that is you're not going to accomplish what has to be done for working families and the middle class unless there is campaign finance reform. So long as big money interests control the United States Congress, it is gonna be very hard to do what has to be done for working families. So let me be very clear. No nominee of mine, if I'm elected president, to the United States Supreme Court will get that nomination unless he or she is loud and clear, and says they will vote to overturn Citizens United. Second point\u2014second point is that the only way we make change in terms of health care, in terms of dealing with a broken criminal justice system which, today, allows us to have more people in jail than any other country\u2014largely African-American and Latino\u2014the only way we create millions of jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure or have a tax system that says to the wealthy that they are going to pay their fair share, is when millions of people become involved in the political process. No, you just can't negotiate with Mitch McConnell. Mitch is gonna have to look out the window and see a whole lot of people saying, "Mitch, stop representing the billionaire class. Start listening to working families." And as president, that's what I will work hard on. +p4386 +aVI agree with what the secretary said. We shouldn't be getting ahead of ourselves. And as I have said many times, you know, sometimes in these campaigns, things get a little bit out of hand. I happen to respect the secretary very much, I hope it's mutual. And on our worst days, I think it is fair to say we are 100 times better than any Republican candidate. +p4387 +aVI\u2014my dad came to this country at the age of 17 from Poland. Didn't have any money, couldn't speak English, he died pretty young, and I think it would have been beyond his wildest dreams to see his son up here on this stage today running for president. I love this country and my dad loved this country, and he was the most proud American because of what it gave him in terms of raising his family, even though we never had much money. But today in America, we are the only major country on earth that doesn't guarantee health care to all people, that doesn't guarantee paid family and medical leave. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth. We are seeing millions of families unable to send their kids to college in the United States of America. I'm running for president because I believe it is just too late for establishment politics and establishment economics. I do believe we need a political revolution where millions of people stand up and say loudly and clearly that our government belongs to all of us and not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors. Thank you all. +p4388 +aVThank you. As we honor the extraordinary life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., it's important not only that we remember what he stood for, but that we pledge to continue his vision to transform our country. As we look out at our country today, what the American people understand is we have an economy that's rigged, that ordinary Americans are working longer hours for lower wages, 47 million people living in poverty, and almost all of the new income and wealth going to the top one percent. And then, to make a bad situation worse, we have a corrupt campaign finance system where millionaires and billionaires are spending extraordinary amounts of money to buy elections. This campaign is about a political revolution to not only elect the president, but to transform this country. +p4389 +aVWell, that's what our campaign is about. It is thinking big. It is understanding that in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, we should have health care for every man, woman, and child as a right that we should raise the minimum wage to at least $15 an hour; that we have got to create millions of decent- paying jobs by rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure. So, what my first days are about is bringing America together, to end the decline of the middle class, to tell the wealthiest people in this country that yes, they are going to start paying their fair share of taxes, and that we are going to have a government that works for all of us, and not just big campaign contributors. +p4390 +aVWell, I think Secretary Clinton knows that what she says is very disingenuous. I have a D-minus voting record from the NRA. I was in 1988, there were three candidates running for congress in the state of Vermont, I stood up to the gun lobby and came out and maintained the position that in this country we should not be selling military style assault weapons. I have supported from day one and instant background check to make certain that people who should have guns do not have guns. And that includes people of criminal backgrounds, people who are mentally unstable. I support what President Obama is doing in terms of trying to close the gun show loop holes and I think it should be a federal crime if people act as dormant. We have seen in this city a horrendous tragedy of a crazed person praying with people in the coming up and shooting nine people. This should not be a political issue. What we should be doing is working together. And by the way, as a senator from a rural state that has virtually no gun control, I believe that I am in an excellent position to bring people together to fight the sensible... +p4391 +aVWhat I have said, is that gun manufacturer's liability bill has some good provisions among other things, we've prohibited ammunition that would've killed cops who had protection on. We have child safety protection work on guns in that legislation. And what we also said, "is a small mom and pop gun shop who sells a gun legally to somebody should not be held liable if somebody does something terrible with that gun." So what I said is, " I would re-look at it." We are going to re- look at it and I will support stronger provisions. +p4392 +aV...Well, I \u2014 look... +p4393 +aV... Let me respond to what the secretary said. We have a criminal justice system which is broken. Who in America is satisfied that we have more people in jail than any other country on Earth, including China? Disproportionately African American, and Latino. Who is satisfied that 51% of African American young people are either unemployed, or underemployed? Who is satisfied that millions of people have police records for possessing marijuana when the CEO's of Wall Street companies who destroyed our economy have no police records. +p4394 +aV... We need to take a very hard look at our... +p4395 +aV... criminal justice system, investing in jobs, and education not in jails and incarceration . +p4396 +aVWell, let me talk about polling. As Secretary Clinton well knows, when this campaign began she was 50 points ahead of me. We were all of three percentage points. Guess what? In Iowa, New Hampshire, the race is very, very close. Maybe we're ahead New Hampshire. In terms of polling, guess what? We are running ahead of Secretary Clinton. In terms of taking on my taking on my good friend, Donald Trump, beating him by 19 points in New Hampshire, 13 points in the last national poll that we saw. To answer your question. When the African American community becomes familiar with my Congressional record and with our agenda, and with our views on the economy, and criminal justice \u2014 just as the general population has become more supportive, so will the African American community, so will the Latino community. We have the momentum, we're on a path to a victory. O' +p4397 +aVI apologize for not hearing all of that question. +p4398 +aVYes. +p4399 +aVAbsolutely. This is a responsibility for the U.S. Justice Department to get involved. Whenever anybody in this country is killed while in police custody, it should automatically trigger a U.S. attorney general's investigation. Second of all, and I speak as a mayor who worked very closely and well with police officers, the vast majority of whom are honest, hard- working people trying to do a difficult job, but let us be clear. If a police officer breaks the law, like any public official, that officer must be held accountable. And thirdly, we have got to de-militarize our police departments so they don't look like occupying armies. We've got to move toward community policing. And fourthly, we have got to make our police departments look like the communities they serve in their diversity. +p4400 +aVSure. I agree... I agree with everything the Secretary said, but let me just add this, there is a responsibility on the part of the pharmaceutical industry and the drug companies who are producing all of these drugs and not looking at the consequence of it. And second of all, when we talk about addiction being a disease, the Secretary is right, what that means is we need a revolution in this country in terms of mental health treatment. People should be able to get the treatment that they need when they need it, not two months from now, which is why I believe in universal... +p4401 +aV... healthcare with mental health... +p4402 +aV... a part of that. +p4403 +aVOK. +p4404 +aVSecretary \u2014 Secretary Clinton didn't answer your question. Because what her campaign was saying \u2014 Bernie Sanders, who has fought for universal health care for my entire life, he wants to end Medicare, end Medicaid, end the children's health insurance program. That is nonsense. What a Medicare-for-all program does is finally provide in this country health care for every man, woman and child as a right. Now, the truth is, that Frank Delano Roosevelt, Harry Truman, do you know what they believed in? They believed that health care should be available to all of our people. I'm on the committee that wrote the Affordable Care Act. I made the Affordable Care Act along with Jim Clyburn a better piece of legislation. I voted for it, but right now, what we have to deal with is the fact that 29 million people still have no health insurance. We are paying the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, getting ripped off. And here's the important point, we are spending far more per person on health care than the people of any other country. My proposal, provide health care to all people, get private insurance out of health insurance, lower the cost of health care for middle class families by 5,000 bucks. That's the vision we need to take. +p4405 +aVBut \u2014 what if we have... +p4406 +aVIt is \u2014 it is absolutely inaccurate. O' +p4407 +aVNo one is tearing this up, we're going to go forward. But with the secretary neglected to mention, not just the 29 million still have no health insurance, that even more are underinsured with huge copayments and deductibles. Tell me why we are spending almost three times more than the British, who guarantee health care to all of their people? Fifty percent more than the French, more than the Canadians. The vision from FDR and Harry Truman was health care for all people as a right in a cost-effective way. We're not going to tear up the Affordable Care Act. I helped write it. But we are going to move on top of that to a Medicaid-for-all system. O' +p4408 +aVYeah. +p4409 +aVYes. +p4410 +aVNot all that detailed. +p4411 +aVWell. +p4412 +aVWell, that's \u2014 you might want to ask... +p4413 +aVAndrea, let me just say this. +p4414 +aVLet me just say that you might want to ask the governor of the state of Vermont why he could not do it. I'm not the governor. I'm the senator from the state of Vermont. But second of all \u2014 second of all...... here is what the real point is, in terms of all of the issues you've raised \u2014 the good questions you've raised. You know what it all comes down to? Do you know why we can't do what every other country \u2014 major country on Earth is doing? It's because we have a campaign finance system that is corrupt, we have super PACs, we have the pharmaceutical industry pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into campaign contributions and lobbying, and the private insurance companies as well. What this is really about is not the rational way to go forward \u2014 it's Medicare for all \u2014 it is whether we have the guts to stand up to the private insurance companies and all of their money, and the pharmaceutical industry. That's what this debate should be about. +p4415 +aVA couple of years ago, when we understood that veterans were not getting the quality care they needed in the timely manner, I worked with folks like John McCain and others to pass the most comprehensive veteran's health care legislation in modern history. But let me rephrase your question because I think, in all do respect, you're expression. In all do respect, you're missing the main point. And the main point in the Congress, it's not the Republicans and Democrats hate each other. That's a mythology from the media. The real issue is that Congress is owned by big money and refuses to do what the American people want them to do. The real issue is that in area after area, raising the minimum wage to $15 bucks an hour. The American people want it. Rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, creating 13 million jobs, the American people want it. The pay equity for women, the American people want it. Demanding that the wealthy start paying their fair share of taxes. The American people want it. +p4416 +aVThe point is, we have to make Congress respond to the needs of the people, not big money. +p4417 +aVI do. +p4418 +aVDid I say that? +p4419 +aVBecause of what I believe in what I was just saying. The Democratic party needs major reform. To those of you in South Carolina, you know what, in Mississippi, we need a 50-state strategy so that people in South Carolina and Mississippi can get the resources that they need. Instead of being dependent on super PACs, what we need is to be dependent on small, individual campaign contributors. We need an agenda that speaks to the needs of working families and low-income people. Not wealthy campaign contributors. +p4420 +aVWe need to expand what the input into the Democratic party. I am very proud that in this campaign, we have seen an enormous amount of excitement from young people, from working people. We have received more individual contributions than any candidate in the history of this country up to this point. O' +p4421 +aVAnd I respectfully disagree. +p4422 +aVAnd I respectfully disagree with my friend over here. And that is, you are right. All of us have denounced Trump's attempts to divide this country: the anti-Latino rhetoric, the racist rhetoric, he anti-Muslim rhetoric. But where I disagree with you, Governor O'Malley, is I do believe we have to deal with the fundamental issues of a handful of billionaires... O' +p4423 +aV... who control economic and political life of this country. O' +p4424 +aVNothing real will get happened. Unless we have a political revolution. Where millions of people finally stand up. +p4425 +aVIs that your strategy... +p4426 +aVWell, the first difference is I don't take money from big banks. I don't get personal speaking fees from Goldman Sachs. What I would do... What I would do is understand that when you have three out of the four largest banks today, bigger than they were when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, when you have the six largest financial institutions having assets of 60 percent of the GDP of America, it is very clear to me what you have to do. You've got to bring back the 21st century Glass-Steagall legislation and you've got to break up these huge financial institutions. They have too much economic power and they have too much financial power over our entire economy. If Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, the old Republican trust buster, what he would say is these guys are too powerful. Break them up. I believe that's what the American people to want see. That's my view. +p4427 +aVOK. First of all... +p4428 +aVSet the record right. In 2006 when I ran for the Senate, Senator Barack Obama was kind enough to campaign for me, 2008, I did my best to see that he was elected and in 2012, I worked as hard as I could to see that he was reelected. He and I are friends. We've worked together on many issues. We have some differences of opinion. But here is the issue, Secretary touched on it, can you really reform Wall Street when they are spending millions and millions of dollars on campaign contributions and when they are providing speaker fees to individuals? So it's easy to say, well, I'm going to do this and do that, but I have doubts when people receive huge amounts of money from Wall Street. I am very proud, I do not have a super PAC. I do not want Wall Street's money. I'll rely on the middle class and working families... +p4429 +aV... campaign contributions. +p4430 +aVLet me give you an example of how corrupt \u2014 how corrupt this system is. Goldman Sachs recently fined $5 billion. Goldman Sachs has given this country two secretaries of treasury, one on the Republicans, one under Democrats. O' +p4431 +aVThe leader of Goldman Sachs is a billionaire who comes to Congress and tells us we should cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Secretary Clinton \u2014 and you're not the only one, so I don't mean to just point the finger at you, you've received over $600,000 in speaking fees from Goldman Sachs in one year. I find it very strange that a major financial institution that pays $5 billion in fines for breaking the law, not one of their executives is prosecuted, while kids who smoke marijuana get a jail sentence. +p4432 +aVIf you want to... +p4433 +aVAnyone who wants to check my record in taking on Wall Street, in fighting against the deregulation of Wall Street when Wall Street put billions of dollars in lobbying, in campaign contributions to get the government off their backs. They got the government off their backs. Turns out that they were crooks, and they destroyed our economy. I think it's time to put the government back on their backs. +p4434 +aV... Yeah... +p4435 +aV... That's true. +p4436 +aVGood. You're right. I want to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, create 13 million jobs. We do that by doing away with the absurd loophole that now allows major profitable corporations to stash their money in the Cayman Islands, and not in some years, pay a nickel in taxes. Yes, I do. I plead guilty. I want every kid in this country who has the ability to be able to go to a public college, or university, tuition free. And, by the way, I want to substantially lower student debt interest rates in this country as well. How do I pay for it? I pay for it through a tax on Wall Street speculation. This country, and the middle class, bailed out Wall Street. Now, it is Wall Street's time to help the middle class. In fact... O' +p4437 +aV... we have documented, unlike Secretary Clinton, I have documented exactly how I would pay for our ambitious agenda. O' +p4438 +aV... Here is the main two points... +p4439 +aVYeah. +p4440 +aV... I got it. +p4441 +aVWhat is correct, and I'm disappointed that Secretary Clinton's campaign has made this criticism. It's a Republican criticism. Secretary Clinton does know a lot about healthcare, and she understands, I believe, that a medicare for all, single payer program will substantially lower the cost of healthcare for middle class families. So, what we have got to acknowledge, and I hope the Secretary does, is we are doing away with private health insurance premiums. So, instead of paying $10,000 dollars to Blue Cross, or Blue Shield, yes, some middle class families would be paying slightly more in taxes, but the result would be that that middle class family would be saving some $5,000 dollars in healthcare costs. A little bit more in taxes, do away with private health insurance premiums. It's a pretty good deal. +p4442 +aVYeah. +p4443 +aVNo, it is not breaking my word. When you are \u2014 it's one thing to say I'm raising taxes, it's another thing to say that we are doing away with private health insurance premiums. So, if I save you $10,000 in private health insurance, and you pay a little bit more in taxes in total, there are huge savings in what your family is spending. O' +p4444 +aVI was mayor for eight years, I did that as well. O' +p4445 +aVI think we already are. Younger generation understands it instinctively. I was home in Burlington, Vermont, on Christmas Eve, the temperature was 65 degrees. People in Vermont know what's going on. People who did ice fishing, where their ice is no longer there on the lake understand what's going on. I'm on both the Environmental and Energy Committees. The debate is over. Climate change is real. It is already causing major problems. And if we do not act boldly and decisively, a bad situation will become worse. It is amazing to me, and I think we'll have agreement on this up here, that we have a major party, called the Republican Party that is so owned by the fossil fuel industry and their campaign contributions that they don't even have the courage, the decency to listen to the scientists. It is beyond my comprehension how we can elect a president of the United States, somebody like Trump, who believes that climate change is a hoax invented by the Chinese. Bottom line is, we need to be bold and decisive, we can create millions of jobs. We must, for the sake of our kids and grandchildren, transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energy. I've got the most comprehensive legislation in the Senate to do that. And as president, I will fight to make that happen. +p4446 +aVI think what we've got to do is move as aggressively as we can to normalize relations with Iran. Understanding that Iran's behavior in so many ways is something that we disagree with; their support terrorism, the anti-American rhetoric that we're hearing from of their leadership is something that is not acceptable. On the other hand, the fact that we've managed to reach an agreement, something that I've very strongly supported that prevents Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and we did that without going to war. And that I believe we're seeing a fall in our relationships with Iran is a very positive step. So if your question is, do I want to see that relationship become more positive in the future? Yes. Can I tell that we should open an embassy in Tehran tomorrow? No, I don't think we should. But I think the goal has go to be as we've done with Cuba, to move in warm relations with a very powerful and important country in this world. +p4447 +aVAs everybody you know, this is incredibly complicated and difficult issue and I applaud. I know President Obama's been getting a lot of criticism on this. I think he is doing the right thing. What the nightmare is, which many of my Republican colleagues appear to want is to not have learned the lesson of Iraq. To get American young men and women involved in perpetual warfare in the quagmire of Syria and the Middle East would be an unmitigated disaster that as president, I will do everything in my power to avoid. O' +p4448 +aVWe should \u2014 we should learn \u2014 we should learn from King Abdullah of Jordan, one of the few heroes in a very unheroic place. And what Abdullah said is this is a war with a soul of Islam and that Muslim troops should be on the ground with our support and the support of other major countries. That is how we destroy +p4449 +aVNo. I think the vacuum was created by the disastrous war in Iraq, which I vigorously opposed. Not only did I vote against it, I helped lead the opposition. And what happened there is yes, it's easy to get rid of a two-bit dictator like Saddam Hussein, but there wasn't the kind of thought as to what happens the day after you get him and what kind of political vacuum occurs. And who rises up? Groups like +p4450 +aVLet me just... +p4451 +aVOK. Let me suggest... +p4452 +aVWhere Secretary Clinton and I think, I agree with most of what she said. But where I think we do have an honest disagreement, is that in the incredible quagmire of Syria, where it's hard to know who's fighting who and if you give arms to this guy, it may end up in +p4453 +aVOK. I just wanted to add, in the previous question, I voted against the USA Patriot Act for many of the reasons that Governor O'Malley mentioned. But it is not only the government that we have to worry about, it is private corporations. You would all be amazed, or maybe not, about the amount of information private companies and the government has in terms of the Web sites that you access, the products that you buy, where you are this very moment. And it is very clear to me that public policy has not caught up with the explosion of technology. So yes, we have to work with Silicon Valley to make sure that we do not allow +p4454 +aVRight. What we have got to do there is, among other things, as I was just saying, have Silicon Valley help us to make sure that information being transmitted through the Internet or in other ways by +p4455 +aVCan I get 50 seconds? +p4456 +aVCan I get a \u2014 can I just get a very brief response? Very brief. +p4457 +aVOK. One \u2014 and I agree with what the secretary said, and what Governor O'Malley said. But here's an issue that we also should talk about. We have a $600 billion military budget. It is a budget larger than the next eight countries'. Unfortunately, much of that budget continues to fight the old Cold War with the Soviet Union. Very little of that budget \u2014 less than 10 percent \u2014 actually goes into fighting +p4458 +aVGreat ideas, Governor O'Malley, Secretary Clinton, but here's the truth. If you have an administration stacked with Wall Street appointees, it ain't going to accomplish very much. So here's a promise that I make \u2014 and I mentioned a moment ago how corrupt the system is \u2014 Goldman Sachs, paying a $5 billion fine, gives this country, in recent history, a Republican secretary of treasury, a Democratic secretary of treasury. Here's a promise. If elected president, Goldman Sachs is not going to have \u2014 bring forth a secretary of treasury for a Sanders administration. +p4459 +aVI was asked a question. You know, one of the things, Andrea, and I \u2014 that question annoys me. I cannot walk down the street \u2014 Secretary Clinton knows this \u2014 without being told how much I have to attack secretary Clinton, want to get me on the front pages of the paper, I'd make some vicious attack. I have avoided doing that. Trying to run an issue-oriented campaign. +p4460 +aVI was asked a question. +p4461 +aVWell \u2014 then if I don't answer it, then there's another front page, so it's yes. And I mean this seriously. You know that. We've been through this. Yes, his behavior was deplorable. Have I ever once said a word about that issue? No, I have not. I'm going to debate Secretary Clinton, Governor O'Malley, on the issues facing the American people, not Bill Clinton's personal behavior. +p4462 +aVWell, Secretary Clinton was right and what I did which I think is also right, is demanded the resignation of governor. A man who acts that irresponsibly should not stay in power. Now, we are a great nation \u2014 and we've heard a lot of great ideas here tonight. Let's be honest and let's be truthful. Very little is going to be done to transform our economy and to create the kind of middle class we need unless we end a corrupt campaign finance system which is undermining American democracy. We've got to get rid of Super PACs, we've got to get rid of Citizens' United and what we've got to do is create a political revolution which revitalizes American democracy; which brings millions of young people and working people into the political process. To say loudly and clearly," that the government of the United States of America belongs to all of us and not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors." +p4463 +aVGood evening. I am running for president of the United States because it is too late for establishment politics and establishment economics. I'm running for president because our economy is rigged because working people are working longer hours for lower wages and almost all of new wealth and income being created is going to the top one percent. I'm running for president because I'm going to create an economy that works for working families not just billionaires. I'm running for president because we have a campaign finance system which is corrupt, where billionaires are spending hundreds of millionaires of dollars to buy candidates who will represent their interests rather than the middle class and working families. I'm running because we need to address the planetary crisis of climate change and take on the fossil fuel industry and transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energy. I'm running for president because I want a new foreign policy; one that takes on Isis, one that destroys +p4464 +aVDavid, let me give you a little bit of background here. The DNC has hired vendors. On two occasions, there were breeches in information two months ago. Our staff found information on our computers from the Clinton campaign. And when our staffers said, "whoa, what's going here?" They went to the DNC quietly. They went to the vendor and said, "hey, something is wrong," and that was quietly dealt with. None of that information was looked at. Our staffer at that point did exactly the right thing. A few days ago a similar incident happened. There was a breach because the DNC vendor screwed up, information came to our campaign. In this case, our staff did the wrong thing -- they looked at that information. As soon as we learned that they looked at that information - we fired that person. We are now doing an independent internal investigation to see who else was involved. Thirdly, what I have a really problem, and as you mentioned - this is a problem, I recognize it as a problem. But what the DNC did arbitrarily without discussing it with us is shut off our access to our information crippling our campaign. That is an egregious act. I'm glad that late last night, that was resolved. +p4465 +aVFourthly, I work -- look forward to working with Secretary Clinton for an investigation, an independent investigation, about all of the breaches that have occurred from day one in this campaign, because I am not convinced that information from our campaign may not have ended up in her campaign. Don't know that. But we need an independent investigation, and I hope Secretary Clinton will agree with me for the need of that. Last point. When we saw the breach two months, we didn't go running to the media and make a big deal about it. And it bothers me very much that, rather than working on this issue to resolve it, it has become many press releases from the Clinton campaign later. +p4466 +aVAbsolutely. +p4467 +aVYes, I apologize. +p4468 +aVNot only -- not only do I apologize to Secretary Clinton -- and I hope we can work together on an independent investigation from day one -- I want to apologize to my supporters. This is not the type of campaign that we run. And if I find anybody else involved in this, they will also be fired. +p4469 +aVLet me agree with Governor O'Malley and let me agree with Secretary Clinton. You know, we had this incident before, Secretary, with your famous e-mails. Right? And what I said and I think what Governor O'Malley is saying, and I hope you say, is when the middle class of this country is disappearing, when we have massive income and wealth inequality, when we're the only major country on earth not guaranteeing health care to all people, all the issues that the governor talked about, the secretary talked about, those are the issues. Media notwithstanding. Those are the issues that the American people want discussed. I hope those are the issues we'll discuss. +p4470 +aVI'm one of the 77 percent. I think this is a very difficult issue. Let me agree with much of what the secretary and the governor have said. Let me tell you what I think we have got to do. I think it's a two-pronged issue. Number one, our goal is to crush and destroy +p4471 +aVIt's a country in which people choose to buy guns. I think half of the -- more than half of the people in my own state of Vermont, my guess here in New Hampshire, are gun owners. That's the right of people. But this is what I do believe. I believe that when we have some 300 million guns in this country, I believe that when we have seen these horrific mass killings, not only in San Bernardino, but in Colorado and movie theaters in Colorado, I think we have got to bring together the vast majority of the people who do in fact believe in sensible gun safety regulations. For example, talking about polls, a poll recently came out, overwhelming majority of the American people say we should strengthen the instant background check. Who denies that it is crazy... Who denies that it is crazy to allow people to own guns who are criminals or are mentally unstable? We've got to eliminate the gun show loophole. In my view, we have got to see that weapons designed by the military to kill people are not in the hands of civilians. I think there is a consensus. I think -- I'm not going to say that everybody is in agreement. It's a divided country on guns. But there is a broad consensus on sensible gun safety regulations that I, coming from a state that has virtually no gun control, will do my best to bring together. O' +p4472 +aVWhoa, whoa, whoa. Let's calm down a little bit, Martin. +p4473 +aVFirst of all, let's have some rules here, commentators. +p4474 +aVAll right. +p4475 +aVHe sure did. +p4476 +aVSure did. All right. First off, we can do all the great speeches we want but you're not going to succeed unless there is a consensus. In 1988, just to set the record straight governor, I ran for the U.S. House. We have one House member from Vermont, three candidates in the race. One candidate said, you know what, I don't think it's a great idea that we sell automatic weapons in this country that are used by the military to kill people very rapidly. Gun people said, there were three candidates in the race, you vote for one of the others, but not Bernie Sanders. I lost that election by three percentage points. Quite likely, for that reason. So please, do not explain to me, coming from a state where democratic governors and republican governors have supported virtually no gun control. Excuse me. Do not tell me that I have not shown courage in standing up to the gun people, in voting to ban assault weapons, voting for instant background checks, voting to end the gun show loop hole and now we're in a position to create a consensus in America on gun safety. +p4477 +aVWell, the answer is, obviously, if you see suspicious activity, you report it. That's kind of a no-brainer. You know, somebody is loading guns and ammunition into a house, I think it's a good idea to call 911. Do it. +p4478 +aVBut I want to talk -- I want to talk about something else, because Secretary Clinton I think made some interesting and good points. What you have now is a very dangerous moment in American history. The secretary is right: Our people are fearful. They are anxious on a number of levels. They are anxious about international terrorism and the possibility of another attack on America. We all understand that. But you know what else they're anxious about? They're anxious about the fact that they are working incredibly long hours, they're worried about their kids, and they're seeing all the new income and wealth -- virtually all of it -- going to the top 1 percent. And they're looking around them, and they're looking at Washington, and they're saying the rich are getting much richer, I'm getting poorer, what are you going to do about it? What are you going to do for my kids? And somebody like a Trump comes along and says, "I know the answers. The answer is that all of the Mexicans, they're criminals and rapists, we've got to hate the Mexicans. Those are your enemies. We hate all the Muslims, because all of the Muslims are terrorists. We've got to hate the Muslims." Meanwhile, the rich get richer. So what I say to those people who go to Donald Trump's rallies, understand: He thinks a low minimum wage in America is a good idea. He thinks low wages are a good idea. I believe we stand together to address the real issues facing this country, not allow them to divide us by race or where we come from. Let's create an America that works for all of us, not the handful on top. +p4479 +aVExcuse me. May I have a chance to respond to this issue? +p4480 +aVYeah, but the rule includes equal -- got it. All right. +p4481 +aVAll right. Let's keep going. OK. +p4482 +aVYeah. +p4483 +aVAnd I also voted and helped lead the effort against the war in Iraq, which will go down in history as one of the worst foreign blunders -- foreign policy blunders in the history of our country. I voted against the first Gulf War, which set the stage, I believe, for the second Iraq war. And what I believe right now, and I believe this is terribly important, is the United States of America cannot succeed, or be thought of as the policeman of the world, that when there's an international crisis all over the world, in France and in the U.K. Or -- hey, just call up the American military and the American taxpayers, they're going to send the troops. And if they have to be in the Middle East for 20 or 30 years no problem. +p4484 +aVI have a problem with that, Martha. What I believe has got to happen is there must be an international coalition, including Russia, a well-coordinated effort. But I agree, as I mentioned a moment ago, with King Abdullah. This is a war for the soul of Islam. The troops on the ground should not be American troops. They should be Muslim troops. I believe that countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar have got to step up to the plate, have got to contribute the money that we need, and the troops that we need, to destroy +p4485 +aVMy plan is to make it work, to tell Saudi Arabia that instead of going to war in Yemen, they, one of the wealthiest countries on Earth, are going to have to go to war against +p4486 +aVI have a difference of opinion with Secretary Clinton on this. Our differences are fairly deep on this issue. We disagreed on the war in Iraq. We both listened to the information from Bush and Cheney. I voted against the war. But I think -- and I say this with due respect -- that I worry too much that Secretary Clinton is too much into regime change and a little bit too aggressive without knowing what the unintended consequences might be. Yes, we could get rid of Saddam Hussein, but that destabilized the entire region. Yes, we could get rid of Gadhafi, a terrible dictator, but that created a vacuum for +p4487 +aVI was not the secretary of state... +p4488 +aVI happen to think... O' +p4489 +aVSecretary Clinton is right. This is a complicated issue. I don't think anyone has a magical solution. But this is what I do believe. Yes, of course Assad is a terrible dictator. But I think we have got to get our foreign policies and priorities right. The immediate -- it is not Assad who is attacking the United States. It is +p4490 +aVDavid... +p4491 +aVCould I just say -- just say this... +p4492 +aVCan I just say this... +p4493 +aVOf course the United States must lead. But the United States is not the policeman of the world. The United States must not be involved in perpetual warfare in the Middle East. The United States, at the same time, cannot successfully fight Assad and +p4494 +aVFirst of all, we recognize that we have a rigged economy, as you've indicated. Middle class in this country for the last 40 years has been disappearing; are we better off today than we were when Bush left office? Absolutely. But as you've indicated for millions of American workers, people in New Hampshire -- all over America, they're working longer hours for lower wages deeply worried about their kids. So what do we do? First statement is, we tell the billionaire class, "they cannot have it all." For a start, they're going to start to pay their fair share of taxes. Second of all what we do, is you raise the minimum wage to living wage, 15 bucks an hour over the next several years. Next thing we do, pay equity for women workers. Women should not be making 79 cents on the dollar compared to that. Next thing that we do, real unemployment -- official unemployment, 5 percent, real employment 10 percent, youth unemployment, off the charts. We rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, our roads our bridges, our rail systems, we create 13 million jobs with a trillion-dollar investment. Furthermore, in a competitive global economy, it is imperative that we have the best educated workforce in the world. That is why I'm going to have a tax on Wall Street speculation to make certain that public colleges and universities in America are tuition free. +p4495 +aVNo, I think they won't. So Hillary and I have a difference. The CEOs of large multinationals may like Hillary. They ain't going to like me and Wall Street is going to like me even less. And the reason for that is we've got to deal with the elephant in the room, which is the greed, recklessness and illegal behavior on Wall Street. When you have six financial institutions in this country that issue two-thirds of the credit cards and one-third of the mortgages, when three out of four of them are larger today than when we bailed them out because they are too big to fail, we've got to re- establish Glass-Steagall, we have got to break the large financial institutions up. +p4496 +aVSo I don't think... ... having said that, I don't think I'm going to get a whole lot of campaign contributions from Wall Street. I don't have a super PAC. I don't want campaign contributions from corporate America. And let me be clear: While there are some great corporations creating jobs and trying to do the right thing, in my view -- and I say this very seriously -- the greed of the billionaire class, the greed of Wall Street is destroying this economy and is destroying the lives of millions of Americans. We need an economy that works for the middle class, not just a handful of billionaires, and I will fight and lead to make that happen. +p4497 +aVLet me just -- let me just... +p4498 +aVLet me just jump in. My name was invoked. +p4499 +aVSo with that invocation, let me say a few words. Secretary Clinton, I don't have a super PAC. I don't get any money from Wall Street. You have gotten a whole lot of money over the years from Wall Street. But most importantly, when you look at what happened in the 1990s, go to berniesanders.com. I'll advertise my Web site as well. And what you'll find is that I led -- helped lead the effort as a member of the House financial committee against Alan Greenspan, against a guy named Bill Clinton, maybe you know him, maybe you don't. Against the Republican leadership, who all thought it would be a great idea to merge investor banks and commercial banks and large insurance companies. What a brilliant idea that would be. Go to YouTube. Find out what I said to Greenspan. At the end of the day, if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, and the governor makes a good point about trade, anti-trade, anti-monopoly activities. Wall Street today has too much political power. It has too much economic power. To get deregulated -- listen to this, they spent $5 billion in lobbying and campaign contributions over a 10-year period. +p4500 +aVWall Street is a threat to the economy. They've got to be broken up. +p4501 +aVYes, exactly, exactly. +p4502 +aVYes, well, roughly. Let me say this. As a member of the Health Education Committee that helped write the Affordable Care Act, much of what Secretary Clinton said about what we have done, among other things, ending the obscenity of this pre-existing situation is a step forward. Seventeen more million more people have health care. It is a step forward. A step forward. But this is what we also have to say. Not only are deductibles rising, 29 million Americans still have no health insurance and millions of people can't afford to go to the doctor. Major crisis and primary health care. Here is the bottom line. Why is it that the United States of America today is the only major country on earth that does not guarantee health care to all people as a right? Why is it... +p4503 +aVWhy is it that we are -- why is it that we spend almost three times per capita as to what they spend in the U.K., 50 percent more than what they pay in France, countries that guarantee health care to all of their people and in many cases, have better health care outcomes. Bottom line. This ties into campaign finance reform. The insurance companies, the drug companies are bribing the United States Congress. We need to pass a Medicare for all single payer system. It will lower the cost of health care for a middle-class family by thousands of dollars a year. +p4504 +aVBut they will not be paying, Martha, any private insurance. So it's unfair to say in total... +p4505 +aVI can tell you that adding up the fact you're not paying any private insurance, businesses are not paying any private insurance. The average middle-class family will be saving thousands of dollars a year. +p4506 +aVAnd universities. +p4507 +aVWell, Neil, I think we've got to work on a two-pronged approach. And your point is absolutely well taken. The cost of college education is escalating a lot faster than the cost of inflation. There are a lot of factors involved in that. And that is that we have some colleges and universities that are spending a huge amount of money on fancy dormitories and on giant football stadiums. Maybe we should focus on quality education with well-paid faculty members. But... +p4508 +aVAnd I understand in many universities a heck of a lot of vice presidents who earn a big salary. But, bottom line is this is the year 2015. If we are going to be competitive in the global economy we need the best educated workforce. It is insane to my mind, hundreds of thousands of young people today, bright qualified people, cannot go to college because they cannot afford -- their families cannot afford to send them. Millions coming out of school as you indicated, deeply in debt. What do we do? My proposal is to put a speculation tax on wall street, raise very substantial sums of money, not only make public colleges and universities tuition-free, but also substantially lower interest rates on student debt. You have families out there paying 6 percent, 8 percent, 10 percent on student debt; refinance their homes at 3 percent. What sense is that? So I think we need radical changes in the funding of higher education. We should look at college today the way high school was looked at 60 years ago. All young people who have the ability should be able to get a college education. ( +p4509 +aVMay I respond to the critique on the ... +p4510 +aVI would just... +p4511 +aVBut Secretary Clinton is wrong. As you know, because I know you know a lot about health care. You know that the United States per capita pays far and away more than other country. And it is unfair simply to say how much more the program will cost without making sure that people know that, we are doing away with cost of private insurance and that the middle class will be paying substantially less for health care on the single payer than on the Secretary's Clinton proposal. +p4512 +aVNow, this is getting to be fun. +p4513 +aVLet me respond to... +p4514 +aVLet me respond to... +p4515 +aVNumber one, most important economic reality of today is that over the last 30 years, there has been a transfer of trillions of dollars from the middle class to the top one-tenth of one percent who are seeing a doubling of the percentage of wealth that they own. Now, when Secretary Clinton says, "I'm not going raise taxes on the middle class," let me tell you what she is saying. She is disagreeing with FDR on Social Security, LBJ on Medicare and with the vast majority of progressive Democrats in the House and the Senate, who today are fighting to end the disgrace of the United States being the only major country on Earth that doesn't provide paid family and medical leave. What the legislation is is $1.61 a week. Now, you can say that's a tax on the middle class. It will provide three months paid family and medical leave for the working families of this country. I think, Secretary Clinton, $1.61 a week is a pretty good investment. +p4516 +aVDavid, thank you. +p4517 +aVThen (inaudible)... +p4518 +aVEvery (inaudible) Democrat and senator in support of this proposal introduced by your good friend and my good friend, Kirsten Gillibrand, Rosa DeLauro, that is the legislation out there that will finally provide family and medical leave. +p4519 +aVWell, this whole issue concerns me. And I agree with much of what the secretary and the governor have said. But let's be clear. Today in America we have more people in jail than any other country on earth, 2.2 million people. Predominantly African-American and Hispanic. We are spending $80 billion a year locking up our fellow Americans. I think, and this is not easy, but I think we need to make wage a major effort, to come together as a country and end institutional racism. We need major, major reforms of a very broken criminal justice system. Now, what does that mean? Well, for a start it means that police officers should not be shooting unarmed people, predominantly African-Americans. +p4520 +aVIt means that we have to rethink the so-called war on drugs which has destroyed the lives of millions of people, which is why I have taken marijuana out of the Controlled Substance Act. So that it will not be a federal crime. +p4521 +aVThat is why we need to make... That is why we need to make police -- and I speak as a former mayor. I was a mayor for eight years, worked very closely with a great police department. And what we did is try to move that department toward community policing, so that the police officers become part of the community and not, as we see, in some cities an oppressive force. We need to make police departments look like the communities they serve in terms of diversity. We need to end minimal sentencing. We need, basically, to pledge that we're going to invest in this country, in jobs and education, not more jails and incarceration. +p4522 +aVYes. Look, this is a tragedy for New Hampshire. It is a tragedy for my state of Vermont. It is a tragedy all over this country. The number of heroin deaths are growing very, very significantly. What do we do? Well, for a start, this may seem like a radical idea, but I think we have got to tell the medical profession and doctors who are prescribing opiates and the pharmaceutical industry that they have got to start getting their act together, we cannot have this huge number of opiates out there throughout this country, where young people are taking them, getting hooked, and then going to heroin. Second of all, and the reason I believe in a health care for all program, we need to understand that addiction is a disease, not a criminal activity. And that means -- and that means radically changing the way we deal with mental health and addiction issues. When somebody is addicted and seeking help, they should not have to wait three, four months in order to get that help. They should be able to walk in the door tomorrow and get a variety of treatments that work for them. So those are some of the areas that I think we've got to move on. +p4523 +aVBut what... +p4524 +aVLook, the secretary is right. This is a terribly complicated issue. There are no simple solutions. But where we have a disagreement is that I think if you look at the history of regime changes, you go back to Mossadegh in Iran, you go back to Salvador Allende who we overthrew in Chile, you go back to overthrowing Saddam Hussein in Iraq, you go back to where we are today in Syria with a dictator named Assad. The truth is it is relatively easy for a powerful nation like America to overthrow a dictator but it is very hard to predict the unintended consequences and the turmoil and the instability that follows after you overthrow that dictator. So I think Secretary Clinton and I have a fundamental disagreement. I'm not quite the fan of regime change that I believe she is. O' +p4525 +aVGiven the fact that she's a lot smarter than me, yes, she would. And let me, by the way, take this moment to congratulate Hillary Clinton, who I thought not only did an outstanding job as our first lady, but redefined what that role could be. So, I thank you very much for that. My wife, Jane, has been -- way back when before I knew her, a foster parent. Many, many kids came into her home and received the kind of love that they desperately needed. And she turned around many lives. She is the best parent and grandmother that I know. She has devoted her life, when I was mayor of the city of Burlington, actually when I first met her, we started a youth office, which started a after-school programs for kids, started a child care center, started a youth newspaper. We got the kids involved in a whole lot of issues. She led that effort. So I think, at a time when so many of our kids are desperately looking for constructive activity, where too many of our kids are hanging around on street corners, potentially getting into trouble, I think we need a forceful advocate for the children, for teenagers, for the little children, to deal with the dysfunctional child care system, and I think my wife would do a great job in helping me accomplish those goals. +p4526 +aVWell, thank you very much for hosting this debate, and let me applaud my colleagues up here. Because I think frankly, maybe I'm wrong, but on our worst day, I think we have a lot more to offer the American people than the right wing's extremists. +p4527 +aVBut what my parents did accomplish is they were able to send both of their sons to college. We were the first in the family. So I know something about economic anxiety and living in a family does not have sufficient income. And that is why I am pledged, if elected president of the United States, to bring about a political revolution where millions of people begin to stand up and finally say enough is enough, this great country and our government belong to all of us, not just a handful of billionaires. Thank you very much. +p4528 +aVWell, John, let me concur with you and with all Americans who are shocked and disgusted by what we saw in Paris yesterday. Together, leading the world, this country will rid our planet of this barbarous organization called +p4529 +aVAbsolutely. In fact, climate change is directly related to the growth of terrorism. And if we do not get our act together and listen to what the scientists say, you're going to see countries all over the world -- this is what the CIA says -- they're going to be struggling over limited amounts of water, limited amounts of land to grow their crops ask you're going to see all kinds of international conflict. But, of course, international terrorism is a major issue that we have got to address today. And I agree with much of what the Secretary and the Governor have said. But let me have one area of disagreement with the Secretary. I think she said something like the bulk of the responsibility is not ours. Well, in fact, I would argue that the disastrous invasion of Iraq, something that I strongly opposed, has unraveled the region completely and led to the rise of al-Qaeda and to +p4530 +aVI don't think any -- I don't think any sensible person would disagree that the invasion of Iraq led to the massive level of instability we are seeing right now. I think that was one of the worst foreign policy blunders in the more than history of the United States. +p4531 +aVI think we have a disagreement, and the disagreement is that not only did I vote against the war in Iraq. If you look at history, John, you will find that regime change -- whether it was in the early '50s in Iran, whether it was toppling Salvador Allende in Chile, whether it is overthrowing the government of Guatemala way back when -- these invasions, these toppling of governments, regime changes have unintended consequences. I would say that on this issue, I'm a little bit more conservative than the Secretary... +p4532 +aV... And that I am not a great fan of regime change. +p4533 +aVThe Secretary's obviously right. It is enormously complicated. But here's something that I believe we have to do as we put together an international coalition, and that is we have to understand that the Muslim nations in the region -- Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, Jordan -- all of these nations, they're going to have to get their hands dirty, their boots on the ground. They are going to have to take on +p4534 +aVWhen you talk about the long-term consequences of war, let's talk about the men and women who came home from war. The 500,000 who came home with +p4535 +aVI don't think the term is what's important. What is important to understand is we have organizations, whether it is +p4536 +aVLet me do that but let me pick up on an issue, a very important issue that we have not yet discussed. This nation is the most powerful military in the world. We're spending over $600 billion a year on the military and yet, significantly less than 10 percent of that money is used to be fighting international terrorism. We are spending hundreds of billions of dollars maintaining 5,000 nuclear weapons. I think we need major reform in the military, making it more cost effective, but also focusing on the real crisis that faces us. The Cold War is over. And our focus has got to be on intelligence, increased manpower, fighting internationally targets. So, in terms of refugees, I believe that the United States has the moral responsibility with Europe, with Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia to make sure that when people leave countries like Afghanistan and Syria with nothing more than the clothing on their back that, of course, we reach out. Now, what the magic number is, I don't know, because we don't know the extent of the problem. But I certainly think that the United States should take its full responsibility in helping those people. +p4537 +aVLet me put those proposals-- and you're absolutely right. That is what I want to do. That is what is going to have to happen, if we want to revitalize and rebuild the crumbling middle class. In the last 30 years, there has been a massive redistribution of wealth. And I know that term gets my Republican friends nervous. The problem is, this redistribution has gone in the wrong direction. Trillions of dollars have gone from the middle class and working families to the top one-tenth of one percent who have doubled the percentage of wealth they now own. Yes, I do believe that we must end corporate loopholes, such that major corporations year after year pay virtually zero in federal income tax, because they're stashing the money in the Cayman Islands. Yes, I do believe there must be a tax on Wall Street speculation. We bailed out Wall Street. It's their time to bail out the middle class, help our kids be able to go to college tuition-free. So we pay for this by do demanding that the wealthiest people and the largest corporations, who have gotten away with murder for years, start paying their fair share. +p4538 +aVWe haven't come up with an exact number yet, but it will not be as high as the number under Dwight D. Eisenhower, which was 90 percent. But it will be... I'm not that much of a socialist compared to Eisenhower. But -- but we are going to end the absurdity, as Warren Buffet often remind us. O' +p4539 +aVThat billionaires pay an effective tax rate lower than nurses or truck drivers. That makes no sense at all. There has to be real tax reform, and the wealthiest and large corporations will pay when I'm president. O' +p4540 +aVI am on the committee that helped write the Affordable Care Act. We have made some good progress. Now what we have to take on is the pharmaceutical industry that is ripping off the American people every single day. I am proud that I was the first member of Congress to take Americans over the Canadian border to buy breast cancer drugs for one-tenth the price they were paying in the United States. But at the end of the day, no doubt, the Affordable Care Act is a step forward. I think we all support it. I believe we've got to go further. I want to end the international embarrassment of the United States of America being the only major country on earth that doesn't guarantee health care to all people as a right, not a privilege. And also -- also, what we should be clear about is we end up spending -- and I think the secretary knows this -- far more per capita on health care than any other major country, and our outcomes, health care outcomes are not necessarily that good. O' +p4541 +aVKathie, let me say this. You know, no public policy doesn't have, in some cases, negative consequences. But at the end of the day, what you have right now are millions of Americans working two or three jobs because their wages that they are earning are just too low. Real inflation accounted for wages has declined precipitously over the years. So I believe that, in fact, this country needs to move towards a living wage. It is not a radical idea to say that if somebody works 40 hours a week, that person should not be living in poverty. It is not a radical idea to say that a single mom should be earning enough money to take care of her kids. So I believe that over the next few years, not tomorrow, but over the next few years, we have got to move the minimum wage to a living wage, 15 bucks an hour. And I apologize to nobody for that. +p4542 +aVThis is what I think -- this is what many economists believe that one of the reasons that real unemployment in this country is 10 percent, one of the reasons that African American youth unemployment and underemployment is 51 percent is the average worker in America doesn't have any disposable income. You have no disposable income when you are make 10, 12 bucks an hour. When we put money into the hands of working people, they're going to go out and buy goods, they're going to buy services and they're going to create jobs in doing that. Kathie, that is the kind of economy I believe, put money in the hands of working people, raise the minimum wage to 15 buck an hour. O' +p4543 +aVLet me just... +p4544 +aVLet me just add to that. Just because this is not an esoteric argument. You're seeing cities like Seattle. You're seeing cities like San Francisco, cities like Los Angeles doing it, and they are doing it well and workers are able to have more disposable income. +p4545 +aVNot good enough. Here's the story. I mean, you know, let's not be naive about it. Why do -- why, over her political career has Wall Street been a major -- the major campaign contributor to Hillary Clinton? You know, maybe they're dumb and they don't know what they're going to get, but I don't think so. Here is the major issue when we talk about Wall Street. It ain't complicated. You have six financial institutions today that have assets of 56 percent, equivalent to 56 percent of the GDP In America. They issue two-thirds of the credit cards and one-third of the mortgages. If Teddy Roosevelt, a good Republican, were alive today, you know what he'd say? "Break them up." Reestablish Glass-Steagall. And Teddy Roosevelt is right. That is the issue. Now I am the only candidate up here that doesn't have a super PAC. I am not asking Wall Street or the billionaires for money. I will break up these banks. Support community banks and credit unions. That's the future of banking in America. +p4546 +aVI have never heard a candidate never, who has received huge amounts of money from oil, from coal, from Wall Street, from the military industrial complex, not one candidate say, oh, these campaign contributions will not influence me. I'm going to be independent. Well, why do they make millions of dollars of campaign contributions? they expect to get something. Everybody knows that. Once again, I am running a campaign differently than any other candidate. We are relying on small campaign donors, 750,000 of them, 30 bucks a piece. That's who I'm indebted to. +p4547 +aVNo, I have not. +p4548 +aVSo was I, John. Let me get a chance to respond. This issue touches on two broad issues. It's not just Wall Street. It's campaign -- a corrupt campaign finance system. And it is easy to talk the talk about ending Citizens United, but what I think we need to do is show by example that we are prepared to not rely on large corporations and Wall Street for campaign contributions, and that's what I'm doing. In terms of Wall Street, I respectfully disagree with you, madam secretary, in the sense that the issue here is when you have such incredible power and such incredible wealth. When you have Wall Street spending $5 billion over a 10-year period to get -- to get deregulated, the only answer they know is break them up, reestablish Glass-Stegall. +p4549 +aVThe big banks-- +p4550 +aVLook-- +p4551 +aVI don't know and with all due respect to the secretary, Wall Street played by the rules? Who are we kidding? The business model of Wall Street is fraud. That's what it is. And we have -- and let me make this promise. One of the problems we have had -- I think all Americans understand this, is whether it's Republican administrations or Democratic administrations, we have seen Wall Street and Goldman Sachs dominate administrations. Here's my promise-- Wall Street representatives will not be in my cabinet. +p4552 +aVLet's do more -- let's do more than reverse the immunity. Let's... +p4553 +aVLet me hear if there's any difference between the Secretary and myself. I have voted time and again to -- for -- for the background check, and I want to see it improved and expanded. I want to see us do away with the gun show loophole. In 1988, I lost an election because I said we should not have assault weapons on the streets of America. We have to do away with the strawman proposal. We need radical changes in mental health in America so somebody who is suicidal or homicidal can get the emergency care they need. We have -- I don't know that there's any disagreement here... O' +p4554 +aVWe have got to come forward with a consensus that in fact will work. +p4555 +aVThere were parts of that bill which agree with parts -- I disagree. I am certainly, absolutely, willing to look at that bill again and make sure there's a stronger bill. +p4556 +aVWith all -- with all due respect... I think it's fair to say that Baltimore is not now one of the safest cities in America, but the issue is... O' +p4557 +aVThe issue is -- I believe, and I believe this honestly, and I don't know that there's much difference on guns between us. But I believe coming from a state that has virtually no gun control, I believe that I am in position to reach out to the 60 or 70 percent of the American people who agree with us on those issues. The problem is... +p4558 +aV... people all over this country -- not you, Secretary Clinton -- are shouting at each other. And what we need to do is bring people together to work on the agreement where there is broad consensus and that's what I intend to do. O' +p4559 +aVAbsolutely. +p4560 +aVYes. +p4561 +aVYes. +p4562 +aVYes, I agree. +p4563 +aVWell, I -- if I might. I think the issue here is -- and I applaud Secretary Clinton. She did. She's the senator from New York. She worked -- and many of us supported you -- in trying to rebuild that devastation. But at the end of the day, Wall Street today has enormous economic and political power. Their business model is greed and fraud. And for the sake of our economy, they must -- the major banks must be broken up. +p4564 +aVWell, (inaudible) the major issue right now is whether or not we reestablish Glass-Steagall. I led the effort, unfortunately unsuccessfully, against deregulation because I knew when you merge large insurance companies and investment banks and commercial banks it was not going to be good. The issue now is do we break them ?up do we reestablish Glass-Steagall. And Secretary Clinton, unfortunately, is on the wrong side. +p4565 +aVLet me... O' +p4566 +aVThank you. Looking forward to it. +p4567 +aVYes. +p4568 +aVRight. +p4569 +aVAnd we are going to do a political revolution, which brings working people, young people, senior citizens, minorities together. Because every issue that I am talking about-- paid family and medical leave, breaking up the banks on Wall Street, asking the wealth to pay their fair share of taxes, rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, raising the minimum wage to 15 bucks an hour -- every one of those issues is supported by a significant majority of the American people. The problem is, that as a result of a corrupt campaign finance system, Congress is not listening to the American people. Its listening to the big money interest. What the political revolution is about is bringing people together to finally say, enough is enough. This government belongs to us. Not just the billionaires. +p4570 +aVYes. +p4571 +aVYes. +p4572 +aVYeah. +p4573 +aVWhat we need is leadership in this country which revitalizes American democracy, and makes people understand that if they stand up and fight back and take on the billionaire class, we can bring about the change that we need. If we are not successful, if we continue the same old, same old of Washington being run by corporate lobbyists and big-money interests, nothing changes. What I am very happy in this campaign that we have had rallies with tens of thousands of people, mostly young people. What the polls are showing is that we are actually defeating the secretary among younger people. We're giving young people and working people hope that real change can take place in America. That's what the political revolution is about. +p4574 +aVNo. That's just media stuff. I was sick and tired of Hillary Clinton's e-mail. I am still sick and tired of Hillary Clinton's e-mails. And the issue is, the problem is, the front pages every day were dealing with it. I didn't know I had so much power. But after I said that, we're not hearing so much about Hillary Clinton's e-mails. What I would like for the media now is for us to be talking about why the middle class is disappearing, why we have more people in jail than any other country, why we have massive levels of income and wealth inequality, and we're the only major country on Earth without paid family and medical leave. We've gotten off the Hillary's e-mails, good. Let's go to the major issues facing America. +p4575 +aVWell, this is what I would say, and the Congressman was right. According to the statistics that I'm familiar with, a black male baby born today stands a one in four chance of ending up in the criminal justice system. Fifty-one percent of high school African-American graduates are unemployed or underemployed. We have more people in jail today than any other country on earth. We're spending $80 billion locking people up, disproportionately Latino and African American. We need, very clearly, major, major reform in a broken criminal justice system. From top to bottom. And that means when police officers out in a community do illegal activity -- kill people who are unarmed who should not be killed, they must be held accountable. It means that we end minimum sentencing for those people arrested. It means that we take marijuana out of the federal law as a crime and give states the freedom to go forward with legalizing marijuana. +p4576 +aVNo, it is not throwing -- it is an extraordinary investment for this country. Germany, many other countries do it already. In fact, if you remember, 50, 60 years ago, the University of California, City University of New York were virtually tuition-free. Here is the story -- it's not just the college graduates should be $50,000 or $100,000 in debt. More importantly, I want kids in Burlington, Vermont, or Baltimore, Maryland, who are in the sixth grade or the eighth grade, who don't have a lot of money, whose parents -- like my parents -- may never have gone to college. Do you know where I'm going, Kevin? I want those kids to know that if they study hard, they do their homework, regardless of the income of their families, they will in fact be able to get a college education because we are going to make public colleges and universities tuition-free. This is revolutionary for education in America. It will give hope to millions of young people. +p4577 +aVYes. +p4578 +aVWell, I think that they're be pretty smart, because I think a lot of the states will do the right thing, and I think those states that don't will pay a heavy penalty. Bottom line here is, in the year 2015, we should look at a college degree the same way we looked at a high school degree 50 or 60 years ago. If you want to make it into the middle class -- I'm not saying in all cases -- we need plumbers, and we need carpenters, and electricians, that's for sure, and they should get help as well. But bottom line now, is in America, in the year 2015, any person who has the ability and the desire should be able to get an education, college education, regardless of the income of his or her family. And we must substantially lower, as my legislation does, interest rates on student debt. +p4579 +aVIt's not going to happen tomorrow. And it's probably not going to happen until we have real campaign finance reform and get rid of all these superpacs, and the power of the insurance companies and the drug companies. But at the end of the day, Nancy, here is the question -- in this great country of ours, with so much intelligence and so much capability, why do we remain the only major country on earth that does not guarantee health care to all people as a right? Why do we continue to get ripped off by the drug companies who can charge us any prices they want? Why is it that we are spending per capita far, far more than Canada, which is 100 miles away from my door, that guarantees health care to all people? It will not happen tomorrow. But when millions of people stand up and are prepared to take on the insurance companies and the drug companies, it will happen, and I will lead that effort. Medicare for all, single-payer system is the way we should go. +p4580 +aVWell, let me just say something. +p4581 +aVWe don't eliminate Medicare. We expand Medicare to all people. And we will not, under this proposal, have a situation that we have right now with the Affordable Care Act where you have states like South Carolina, and many other Republican states, that because of their right wing political ideology, are denying millions of people the expansion of Medicaid that we passed in the Affordable Care Act. Ultimately, we have got to say as a nation, Secretary Clinton, is health care a right of all people or is it not? I believe it is a right. O' +p4582 +aVJohn, I had the honor of being chairman of the U.S. Senate committee on Veterans' Affairs for two years. And in that capacity, I met with just an extraordinary group of people from World War II, from korea, vietnam, all of the wars. People came back from Iraq and Afghanistan without legs, without arms. And I was determined to do everything that I could to make VA health care the best in the world, to expand benefits to the men and women who put their lives on the line to defending. We brought together legislation supported by the American Legion, the VFW, the DOD, Vietnam Vets, all of the veterans organizations, which was comprehensive. Clearly the best piece of veterans' legislation brought forth in decades. I could only get two Republican votes on that. We ended up with 56 votes. We needed 60. So what I had to do then is go back and start working on a bill that wasn't the bill that I wanted. Sit down with people like John Mccain. Sit down with people like Jeff Miller, the Republican chairman of the house, and work on a bill. It wasn't the bill that I wanted, but yet it turned out to be one of the more significant pieces of veterans' legislation passed in recent history. So the crisis was I lost what I wanted. But I had to stand up and come back and get the best that we could. +p4583 +aVJohn -- John, this country today has more income and wealth inequality than any major country on Earth. We have a corrupt campaign finance system dominated by Super PACs. We are the only major country on Earth that doesn't guarantee healthcare to all people. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty, and we're the only country in the world -- virtually the only country that doesn't guarantee paid family and medical leave. That's not the America that I think we should be. But in order to bring about the changes that we need, we need a political revolution. Millions of people are going to have to stand up, turn off the TV, get involved in the political process and tell the big- money interest that we are taking back our country. Please go to berniesanders.com. Please become part of the political revolution. Thank you. +p4584 +aVAnderson, thank you very much. I think most Americans understand that our country today faces a series of unprecedented crises. The middle class of this country for the last 40 years has been disappearing. Millions of Americans are working longer hours for lower wages, and yet almost all of the new income and wealth being created is going to the top one percent. As a result of this disastrous Citizens United Supreme Court decision, our campaign finance system is corrupt and is undermining American democracy. Millionaires and billionaires are pouring unbelievable sums of money into the political process in order to fund super PACs and to elect candidates who represent their interests, not the interests of working people. Today, the scientific community is virtually unanimous: climate change is real, it is caused by human activity, and we have a moral responsibility to transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energy and leave this planet a habitable planet for our children and our grandchildren. Today in America, we have more people in jail than any other country on Earth. African-American youth unemployment is 51 percent. Hispanic youth unemployment is 36 percent. It seems to me that instead of building more jails and providing more incarceration, maybe \u2014 just maybe \u2014 we should be putting money into education and jobs for our kids. What this campaign is about is whether we can mobilize our people to take back our government from a handful of billionaires and create the vibrant democracy we know we can and should have. Thank you. +p4585 +aVWell, we're gonna win because first, we're gonna explain what democratic socialism is. And what democratic socialism is about is saying that it is immoral and wrong that the top one-tenth of 1 percent in this country own almost 90 percent \u2014 almost \u2014 own almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent. That it is wrong, today, in a rigged economy, that 57 percent of all new income is going to the top 1 percent. That when you look around the world, you see every other major country providing health care to all people as a right, except the United States. You see every other major country saying to moms that, when you have a baby, we're not gonna separate you from your newborn baby, because we are going to have \u2014 we are gonna have medical and family paid leave, like every other country on Earth. Those are some of the principles that I believe in, and I think we should look to countries like Denmark, like Sweden and Norway, and learn from what they have accomplished for their working people. +p4586 +aVWell, first of all, let's look at the facts. The facts that are very simple. Republicans win when there is a low voter turnout, and that is what happened last November. Sixty-three percent of the American people didn't vote, Anderson. Eighty percent of young people didn't vote. We are bringing out huge turnouts, and creating excitement all over this country. Democrats at the White House on down will win, when there is excitement and a large voter turnout, and that is what this campaign is doing. +p4587 +aVDo I consider myself part of the casino capitalist process by which so few have so much and so many have so little by which Wall Street's greed and recklessness wrecked this economy? No, I don't. I believe in a society where all people do well. Not just a handful of billionaires. +p4588 +aVI think everybody is in agreement that we are a great entrepreneurial nation. We have got to encourage that. Of course, we have to support small and medium-sized businesses. But you can have all of the growth that you want and it doesn't mean anything if all of the new income and wealth is going to the top 1 percent. So what we need to do is support small and medium-sized businesses, the backbone of our economy, but we have to make sure that every family in this country gets a fair shake... +p4589 +aV... not just for billionaires. +p4590 +aVLet's begin, Anderson, by understanding that Bernie Sanders has a D-minus voting rating (ph) from the NRA. Let's also understand that back in 1988 when I first ran for the United States Congress, way back then, I told the gun owners of the state of Vermont and I told the people of the state of Vermont, a state which has virtually no gun control, that I supported a ban on assault weapons. And over the years, I have strongly avoided instant background checks, doing away with this terrible gun show loophole. And I think we've got to move aggressively at the federal level in dealing with the straw man purchasers. Also I believe, and I've fought for, to understand that there are thousands of people in this country today who are suicidal, who are homicidal, but can't get the healthcare that they need, the mental healthcare, because they don't have insurance or they're too poor. I believe that everybody in this country who has a mental crisis has got to get mental health counseling immediately. +p4591 +aVOf course not. This was a large and complicated bill. There were provisions in it that I think made sense. For example, do I think that a gun shop in the state of Vermont that sells legally a gun to somebody, and that somebody goes out and does something crazy, that that gun shop owner should be held responsible? I don't. On the other hand, where you have manufacturers and where you have gun shops knowingly giving guns to criminals or aiding and abetting that, of course we should take action. +p4592 +aVAs a senator from a rural state, what I can tell Secretary Clinton, that all the shouting in the world is not going to do what I would hope all of us want, and that is keep guns out of the hands of people who should not have those guns and end this horrible violence that we are seeing. I believe that there is a consensus in this country. A consensus has said we need to strengthen and expand instant background checks, do away with this gun show loophole, that we have to address the issue of mental health, that we have to deal with the strawman purchasing issue, and that when we develop that consensus, we can finally, finally do something to address this issue. +p4593 +aVI think the governor gave a very good example about the weaknesses in that law and I think we have to take another look at it. But here is the point, Governor. We can raise our voices, but I come from a rural state, and the views on gun control in rural states are different than in urban states, whether we like it or not. Our job is to bring people together around strong, commonsense gun legislation. I think there is a vast majority in this country who want to do the right thing, and I intend to lead the country in bringing our people together. O' +p4594 +aVIt's exactly about rural. O' +p4595 +aVGovernor... O' +p4596 +aVWell, as somebody who has a D-minus voting record... O' +p4597 +aVI don't think I am pandering. But you have not been in the United States Congress. O' +p4598 +aVAnd when you want to, check it out. And if you think \u2014 if you think that we can simply go forward and pass something tomorrow without bringing people together, you are sorely mistaken. +p4599 +aV...Excuse me... O' +p4600 +aV...I want to make... O' +p4601 +aVWell, let's understand that when we talk about Syria, you're talking about a quagmire in a quagmire. You're talking about groups of people trying to overthrow Assad, other groups of people fighting +p4602 +aVLet me just respond to something the secretary said. First of all, she is talking about, as I understand it, a no-fly zone in Syria, which I think is a very dangerous situation. Could lead to real problems. Second of all, I heard the same evidence from President Bush and Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld about why we should overthrow Saddam Hussein and get involved in the \u2014 I would urge people to go to berniesanders.com, hear what I said in 2002. And I say, without any joy in my heart, that much of what I thought would happen about the destabilization, in fact, did happen. So I think... +p4603 +aVI think the president is trying very hard to thread a tough needle here, and that is to support those people who are against Assad, against +p4604 +aVWell, obviously, I voted, when President Clinton said, "let's stop ethnic cleansing in Kosovo," I voted for that. I voted to make sure that Osama bin Laden was held accountable in Afghanistan. When our country is threatened, or when our allies are threatened, I believe that we need coalitions to come together to address the major crises of this country. I do not support the United States getting involved in unilateral action. ( +p4605 +aVI don't believe that any... +p4606 +aVPardon me? +p4607 +aVWell, I think Mr. Putin is going to regret what he is doing. I think that when he gets into that... +p4608 +aVWell, I think he's already regretting what he did in Crimea and what he is doing in the Ukraine. I think he is really regretting the decline of his economy. And I think what he is trying to do now is save some face. But I think when Russians get killed in Syria and when he gets bogged down, I think the Russian people are going to give him a message that maybe they should come home, maybe they should start working with the United States to rectify the situation now. +p4609 +aVWell, first of all, let me applaud my good friend Jim Webb for his service to this country in so many ways. Jim and I, under Jim's leadership, as he indicated, passed the most significant veterans education bill in recent history. We followed suit with a few years later passing, under my leadership, the most significant veterans' health care legislation in the modern history of this country. When I was a young man \u2014 I'm not a young man today. When I was a young man, I strongly opposed the war in Vietnam. Not the brave men like Jim who fought in that war, but the policy which got us involved in that war. That was my view then. I am not a pacifist, Anderson. I supported the war in Afghanistan. I supported President Clinton's effort to deal with ethnic cleansing in Kosovo. I support air strikes in Syria and what the president is trying to do. Yes, I happen to believe from the bottom of my heart that war should be the last resort that we have got to exercise diplomacy. But yes, I am prepared to take this country into war if that is necessary. +p4610 +aVThe scientific community is telling us that if we do not address the global crisis of climate change, transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to sustainable energy, the planet that we're going to be leaving our kids and our grandchildren may well not be habitable. That is a major crisis. +p4611 +aVLet me say this. Let me say \u2014 let me say something that may not be great politics. But I think the secretary is right, and that is that the American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn e-mails. +p4612 +aVYou know? The middle class \u2014 Anderson, and let me say something about the media, as well. I go around the country, talk to a whole lot of people. Middle class in this country is collapsing. We have 27 million people living in poverty. We have massive wealth and income inequality. Our trade policies have cost us millions of decent jobs. The American people want to know whether we're going to have a democracy or an oligarchy as a result of Citizens Union. Enough of the e-mails. Let's talk about the real issues facing America. +p4613 +aVBlack lives matter. And the reason \u2014 the reason those words matter is the African American community knows that on any given day some innocent person like Sandra Bland can get into a car, and then three days later she's going to end up dead in jail, or their kids... ...are going to get shot. We need to combat institutional racism from top to bottom, and we need major, major reforms in a broken criminal justice system... ...In which we have more people in jail than China. And, I intended to tackle that issue. To make sure that our people have education and jobs rather than jail cells. +p4614 +aVWell, first of all, let's remember where we were when Bush left office. We were losing 800,000 jobs a month. And I know my Republican friends seem to have some amnesia on this issue, but the world's financial crisis was on \u2014 the world's financial markets system was on the verge of collapse. That's where we were. Are we better off today than we were then? Absolutely. But the truth is that for the 40 years, the great middle class of this country has been disappearing. And in my view what we need to do is create millions of jobs by rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure; raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour; pay equity for women workers; and our disastrous trade policies, which have cost us millions of jobs; and make every public college and university in this country tuition free. +p4615 +aVWell, that's not true. +p4616 +aVLet us be clear that the greed and recklessness and illegal behavior of Wall Street, where fraud is a business model, helped to destroy this economy and the lives of millions of people. Check the record. In the 1990s \u2014 and all due respect \u2014 in the 1990s, when I had the Republican leadership and Wall Street spending billions of dollars in lobbying, when the Clinton administration, when Alan Greenspan said, "what a great idea it would be to allow these huge banks to merge," Bernie Sanders fought them, and helped lead the opposition to deregulation. Today, it is my view that when you have the three... +p4617 +aV...largest banks in America \u2014 are much bigger than they were when we bailed them out for being too big to fail, we have got to break them up. +p4618 +aVI will, just a second. +p4619 +aVI'll tell him. In my view, Secretary Clinton, you do not \u2014 Congress does not regulate Wall Street. Wall Street regulates Congress. And we have gotta break off these banks. Going to them... +p4620 +aV...and saying, "please, do the right thing"... +p4621 +aV...is kind of naive. +p4622 +aVWell, I remember that meeting very well. I remember it like it was yesterday. Hank Paulson, Bernanke came in, and they say, "guys, the economy is going to collapse because Wall Street is going under. It's gonna take the economy with them." And you know what I said to Hank Paulson? I said, "Hank, your guys \u2014 you come from Goldman Sachs. Your millionaire and billionaire friends caused this problem. How about your millionaire and billionaire friends paying for the bailout, not working families in this country?" So to answer your question, no, I would not have let the economy collapse. But it was wrong to ask the middle class to bail out Wall Street. And by the way, I want Wall Street now to help kids in this country go to college, public colleges and universities, free with a Wall Street speculation tax. +p4623 +aVWell, let me tell you, Donald Trump and his billionaire friends under my policies are going to pay a hell of a lot more in taxes today \u2014 taxes in the future than they're paying today. But in terms of education, this is what I think. This is the year 2015. A college degree today, Dana, is the equivalent of what a high school degree was 50 years ago. And what we said 50 years ago and a hundred years ago is that every kid in this country should be able to get a high school education regardless of the income of their family. I think we have to say that is true for everybody going to college. I think we don't need a complicated system, which the secretary is talking about, the income goes down, the income goes down, if you're poor you have to work, and so forth and so on. I pay for my program, by the way, through a tax on Wall Street speculation, which will not only make public colleges and universities tuition-free, it will substantially lower interest rates on college debt, a major crisis in this country. +p4624 +aV... in order to make it possible for them to afford their education. And I want colleges to get their costs down. They are outrageously high in what they're charging. +p4625 +aVWhen the Republicans \u2014 when the Republicans in the Congress and some Democrats were talking about cutting Social Security and benefits for disabled veterans, for the so-called chained CPI, I founded a caucus called the Defending Social Security Caucus. My view is that when you have millions of seniors in this country trying to get by \u2014 and I don't know how they do on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year \u2014 you don't cut Social Security, you expand it. And the way you expand it is by lifting the cap on taxable incomes so that you do away with the absurdity of a millionaire paying the same amount into the system as somebody making $118,000. You do that, Social Security is solvent until 2061 and you can expand benefits. +p4626 +aVI didn't leave anybody at the altar. I voted against that piece of legislation because it had guest-worker provisions in it which the Southern Poverty Law Center talked about being semi-slavery. Guest workers are coming in, they're working under terrible conditions, but if they stand up for their rights, they're thrown out of the country. I was not the only progressive to vote against that legislation for that reason. Tom Harkin, a very good friend of Hillary Clinton's and mine, one of the leading labor advocates, also voted against that. +p4627 +aVI know that. But point being is that progressives did vote against that for that reason. My view right now \u2014 and always has been \u2014 is that when you have 11 million undocumented people in this country, we need comprehensive immigration reform, we need a path toward citizenship, we need to take people out of the shadows. O' +p4628 +aVWell, I was chairman for two years, and when I was chairman we did take action. What we did is pass a $15 billion dollar piece of legislation which brought in many, many new doctors, and nurses into the V.A. so that veterans in this country could get the health care when they needed it, and not be on long waiting lines. And, the other part of that legislation said that if a veteran is living more than 40 miles away from a V.A. facility, that veteran could get health care from the community health center, or the private sector. As a result of that legislation, we went further in than any time in recent history in improving health care for the men and women of this country who put their lives on the line to defend them. +p4629 +aVIt was 99 to one and I was maybe the one. I don't know. +p4630 +aVI'm sorry? +p4631 +aVAbsolutely. Of course. +p4632 +aVWell, I would shut down \u2014 make \u2014 I'd shut down what exists right now is that virtually every telephone call in this country ends up in a file at the NSA. That is unacceptable to me. But it's not just government surveillance. I think the government is involved in our e-mails; is involved in our websites. Corporate America is doing it as well. If we are a free country, we have the right to be free. Yes, we have to defend ourselves against terrorism, but there are ways to do that without impinging on our constitutional rights and our privacy rights. O' +p4633 +aVI think Snowden played a very important role in educating the American people to the degree in which our civil liberties and our constitutional rights are being undermined. +p4634 +aVHe did \u2014 he did break the law, and I think there should be a penalty to that. But I think what he did in educating us should be taken into consideration before he is (inaudible). +p4635 +aVI have a lot of respect for president Obama. I have worked with him time and time again on many, many issues. But here's where I do disagree. I believe that the power of corporate America, the power of Wall Street, the power of the drug companies, the power of the corporate media is so great that the only way we really transform America and do the things that the middle class and working class desperately need is through a political revolution when millions of people begin to come together and stand up and say: Our government is going to work for all of us, not just a handful of billionaires. +p4636 +aVWhat I mean is that we need to have one of the larger voter turnouts in the world, not one of the lowest. We need to raise public consciousness. We need the American people to know what's going on in Washington in a way that today they do not know. And when people come together in a way that does not exist now and are prepared to take on the big money interest, then we could bring the kind of change we need. O' +p4637 +aVI think \u2014 I think that there is profound frustration all over this country with establishment politics. I am the only candidate running for president who is not a billionaire, who has raised substantial sums of money, and I do not have a super PAC. I am not raising money from millionaires and billionaires, and in fact, tonight, in terms of what a political revolution is about, there are 4,000 house parties \u2014 100,000 people in this country \u2014 watching this debate tonight who want real change in this country. +p4638 +aVWell, I will tell you this. I believe \u2014 and Pope Francis made this point. This is a moral issue. The scientists are telling us that we need to move extremely boldly. I am proud that, along with Senator Barbara Boxer, a few years ago, we introduced the first piece of climate change legislation which called for a tax on carbon. And let me also tell you that nothing is gonna happen unless we are prepared to deal with campaign finance reform, because the fossil fuel industry is funding the Republican Party, which denies the reality of climate change... ...and certainly is not prepared to go forward aggressively. This is a moral issue. We have got to be extremely aggressive in working with China, India, Russia. +p4639 +aVThe planet \u2014 the future of the planet is at stake. +p4640 +aVYeah, Dana, here's the point: Every other major country on Earth, every one, including some small countries, say that when a mother has a baby, she should stay home with that baby. We are the only major country. That is an international embarrassment that we do not provide family \u2014 paid family and medical leave. Second of all, the secretary is right. Republicans tell us we can't do anything except give tax breaks to billionaires and cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. That's not what the American people want. +p4641 +aVI suspect I would vote yes. And I would vote yes because I am seeing in this country too many lives being destroyed for non-violent offenses. We have a criminal justice system that lets CEOs on Wall Street walk away, and yet we are imprisoning or giving jail sentences to young people who are smoking marijuana. I think we have to think through this war on drugs... ...which has done an enormous amount of damage. We need to rethink our criminal justice system, we we've got a lot of work to do in that area. O' +p4642 +aVThe Republican party, since I've been in the Senate, and since President Obama has been in office, has played a terrible, terrible role of being total obstructionists. Every effort that he has made, that some of us have made, they have said no, no, no. Now, in my view, the only way we can take on the right wing republicans who are, by the way, I hope will not continue to control the Senate and the House when one of us elected President... ...But the only way we can get things done is by having millions of people coming together. If we want free tuition at public colleges and universities, millions of young people are going to have to demand it, and give the Republicans an offer they can't refuse. If we want to raise the minimum wage to $15 bucks an hour, workers are going to have to come together and look the Republicans in the eye, and say, "We know what's going on. You vote against us, you are out of your job." +p4643 +aVAs someone who has taken on probably every special interest that there is in Washington, I would lump Wall Street and the pharmaceutical industry at the top of my life of people who do not like me. +p4644 +aVThis is a great country, but we have many, many serious problems. We should not be the country that has the highest rate of childhood poverty of any major country and more wealth and income inequality than any other country. We should not be the only major country on Earth that does not guarantee health care to all of our people as a right of citizenship and we should not be the only major country that does not provide medical and \u2014 and parental leave \u2014 family and parental leave to all of our families. Now, at the end of our day, here is the truth that very few candidates will say, is that nobody up here, certainly no Republican, can address the major crises facing our country unless millions of people begin to stand up to the billionaire class that has so much power over our economy and our political life. Jim Webb is right: Money is pouring in to this campaign through super PACs. We are doing it the old-fashioned way: 650,000 individual contributions. And if people want to help us out, BernieSanders.com. We are averaging $30 bucks apiece. We would appreciate your help. +p4645 +asVBARTIROMO +p4646 +(lp4647 +VTonight we're partnering with the Wall Street Journal to ask questions on the economy that voters want answered. We're also working with Facebook, who tells us that since the first Republican debate, more than 58 million people have joined the political conversation online. More than 9 million are talking specifically about the economy. +p4648 +aVBusinesswoman Carly Fiorina. Ohio Governor John Kasich. And Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. +p4649 +aVWe've asked people on Facebook to submit their questions for the candidates. Seth Bell wrote, "We are approaching $20 trillion in national debt. Specifically, what plans do you have to cut federal spending?" Governor Kasich, you have spoken much about your success in balancing the budget under President Clinton. Today the national debt is at record highs and growing unsustainably. Interest will be the fastest-growing part of the federal budget, tripling over the next 10 years. Social Security, the lifeline of millions of American seniors, is rushing toward insolvency. With all of the tax plans presented tonight, estimated to cost anywhere between $2 trillion and $12 trillion over a decade, what specific steps will you take to balance the budget? +p4650 +aVDid you want to name any specific steps, sir? +p4651 +aVThank you, sir. +p4652 +aVSenator Cruz, the International Monetary Fund recently cut its expectations for economic growth. Many economists expect a recession to hit the U.S. within the next year due to the weakening of manufacturing. The next president will have to deal with it. You say tax reform is a powerful lever to spur economic expansion. You're calling for a 10 percent income tax and a 16 percent business tax. What other elements do you need in this plan to actually create jobs? +p4653 +aVThank you, sir. +p4654 +aVGovernor Bush... +p4655 +aVWe have more questions for you, Governor Kasich, coming up. We have more questions for you, Governor Kasich. +p4656 +aVWe will \u2014 we will certainly get to that. Governor Bush? +p4657 +aVAlmost 40 percent of Americans are without a job and are not looking. Many have given up. That's what the participation rate tells us. You've said your policies will drive the economy back to 4 percent growth, which we haven't seen since the year 2000. What specific regulations would you change? And how will that lead to jobs and growth? +p4658 +aVThank you, sir. +p4659 +aVMr. Trump, a federal appeals court just dealt a blow to the Obama administration's plan to prevent the deportation of 5 million people living in this country illegally. The White House is appealing to the Supreme Court. At the heart of this issue is the effect that illegal immigrants are having on our economy, what will you do about it? +p4660 +aVCan we just send 5 million people back with no effect on economy? +p4661 +aVSo what will you do? +p4662 +aVThank you, sir. +p4663 +aVWe go back to Facebook. Dewayne Wesley Cato asks on Facebook, how do we get rid of regulations choking our businesses? Ms. Fiorina? Specifically, under the president's Affordable Care Act, employers with 50 or more employees are required to offer health insurance, or be fined. Many are opting to pay the fine. Others are cutting back employee hours to duck the law altogether. What specific ways will you alleviate the pressure on small business? +p4664 +aVJust to be clear, you want to repeal Obamacare... ..but, what's the alternative? +p4665 +aVJust to be clear, you say you would repeal Obamacare... +p4666 +aV...But, what is the alternative... +p4667 +aV...and how does that help small business... +p4668 +aV...Thank you... +p4669 +aVSenator Cruz, there isn't anyone in this audience or watching at home tonight who would not like to pay less in taxes. Most people just want a fair shake, and they don't want their money to be wasted. But explain how your plan works. How can you cut taxes as much as you propose without running up debt and deficits? +p4670 +aVBut you haven't told us how to pay for it. +p4671 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Bush, Republican primary voters say tax reform should be a priority for Congress and the administration. But, Governor Bush, how important is tax reform in your domestic policy agenda? Will you guarantee it in the first year of your presidency? +p4672 +aVThank you, Governor. +p4673 +aVThat's right. That's right. +p4674 +aVComing up, the biggest threats facing the next commander-in-chief. You're watching the Republican presidential debate, live tonight from Milwaukee. We'll be right back. +p4675 +aVWelcome back. Welcome back to the Republican presidential debate. The candidates taking the questions you want answered. Also tonight, you can see what America is saying about the debate. Go to Facebook and type #gopdebate into the search box. Now, back to the questions. Americans face security threats at home and abroad. Last year, terrorist attacks rose 61 percent, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace, with the most deaths occurring in just five countries, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Syria. Dr. Carson, you were against putting troops on the ground in Iraq and against a large military force in Afghanistan. Do you support the president's decision to now put 50 special ops forces in Syria and leave 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan? +p4676 +aVWe asked Facebook to take a look at some of the major issues we're talking about, and tackling in this debate tonight. This word cloud shows what people are focusing on the most. The bigger the word, the more the talk. One of the most discussed issues in the last month, homeland security. Governor Bush, what is the biggest threat facing America today? +p4677 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, in 2012 debate, President Obama mocked Mitt Romney's assertion that Russia was the top geopolitical challenge facing the United States, saying he was a Cold War dinosaur. Now, Russia has invaded Ukraine, and has put troops in Syria. You have said you will have a good relationship with Mr. Putin. So, what does President Trump do in response to Russia's aggression? +p4678 +aVThank you, sir. +p4679 +aVThank you, governor. +p4680 +aVSenator Rubio. +p4681 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. +p4682 +aVMore questions \u2014 more questions coming up, when the Republican presidential debate comes right back, live from Milwaukee. Stay with us. +p4683 +aVWelcome back to the fourth Republican presidential debate. Senator Rubio, Hillary Clinton is the clear front runner for the Democratic nomination. If she is indeed the nominee, you will be facing a candidate with an impressive resume. She was the first lady of the United States, a U.S. senator from New York, and secretary of state under Barack Obama. She has arguably more experience, certainly more time in government than almost all of you on stage tonight. Why should the American people trust you to lead this country, even though she has been so much closer to the office? +p4684 +aVSenator Paul, you were one of 15 republicans to vote for an amendment which states that human activity contributed to climate change. President Obama has announced an aggressive plan to cut carbon emissions. At the same time, energy production in America has boomed. Is it possible to continue this boom, and move toward energy self-sufficiency, while at the same time pursuing a meaningful climate change program? +p4685 +aVCarly Fiorina? +p4686 +aVFormer Governor Jeb Bush? +p4687 +aVSenator Ted Cruz? +p4688 +aVHe's funny. +p4689 +aVThank you. +p4690 +aVTonight we are working with Facebook to ask the candidates the questions voters want answered. And according to Facebook, the U.S. election has dominated the global conversation, with 131 million people talking about the 2016 race. That makes it the number one issue talked about on Facebook last year worldwide. +p4691 +aVTonight's rules are simple: up to 90 seconds for each answer, one minute for each follow-up response. And if a candidate goes over the allotted time, you'll hear this. So let's get started. Candidates, jobs and growth \u2014 two of the biggest issues facing the country right now. In his State of the Union address earlier this week, the president said, quote, "we have the strongest, most durable economy in the world." And according to our Facebook research, jobs is one of the biggest issues resonating across the country, including here in South Carolina. The president is touting 14 million new jobs and an unemployment rate cut in half. The president said that anyone who claims America's economy is in decline is peddling fiction. Senator Cruz, what do you see that he doesn't? +p4692 +aVThank you, sir. +p4693 +aVWe know that recent global events have many people worried \u2014 Iran detaining American sailors, forcing them to apologize; North Korea and its nuclear ambitions; an aggressive China; and a Middle East that continues to deteriorate, not to mention +p4694 +aVJust to be clear Governor, where and when would you use military action? +p4695 +aVDr. Carson, the president says he does not want to treat +p4696 +aVSenator Cruz, the New York Times is reporting that you failed to properly disclose a million dollars in loans from Goldman Sachs and CitiBank. During your senate race, your campaign said, "it was inadvertent." A million dollars is inadvertent? +p4697 +aVThank you. +p4698 +aVThank you, senator. Mr. Trump, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley in her response to the State of the Union address......appeared to choose sides within the party, saying Republicans should resist, quote, "the siren call of the angriest voices". She confirmed, she was referring to you among others. Was she out of line? And, how would a President Trump unite the party? +p4699 +aVBut what are you going to do about it? +p4700 +aVGovernor Kasich...... Governor Kasich, Hillary Clinton is getting some serious competition from Senator Bernie Sanders. He's now at 41 percent in the latest CBS/New York Times poll. Vice President Biden sang his praises, saying Bernie is speaking to a yearning that is deep and real, and he has credibility on it. So what does it say about our country that a candidate who is a self-avowed socialist and who doesn't think a 90 percent tax rate is too high could be the Democratic nominee? +p4701 +aVDr. Carson, one of the other candidates on this stage has brought Bill Clinton's past indiscretions. Is that a legitimate topic in this election? And what do you think of the notion that Hillary Clinton is an enabler of sexual misconduct? +p4702 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debates, right here in North Charleston. Let's get right back to the questions. Governor Bush, gun rights, one of the top issues seen on Facebook with close to 3 million people talking about it in the past month. Right here in Charleston, Dylann Roof, who has been accused of killing nine people in a nearby church, reportedly had not passed his background check when he got his gun. What is the harm in tightening standards for not only who buys guns, but those who sell them? +p4703 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, are there any circumstances that you think we should be limiting gun sales of any kind in America? +p4704 +aVThank you sir. +p4705 +aVThank you, sir. +p4706 +aVSo what is the answer, Senator Cruz, to stop mass shootings and violent crime, up in 30 cities across the country? +p4707 +aVSenator...... let me follow up and switch gears. Senator Cruz, you suggested Mr. Trump, quote, "embodies New York values." Could you explain what you mean by that? +p4708 +aVI am from New York. I don't. +p4709 +aVAre you sure about that? +p4710 +aVThere's much more ahead including the fight against +p4711 +aVWe welcome back to the Republican Presidential , right back to the questions. Candidates, the man who made fighting +p4712 +aVThe air-strikes. +p4713 +aVNow in their 16th month are ineffective. Dr. Carson, do you think Senator Graham is right in wanting to send 20,000 troops \u2014 ground troops to Iraq and Syria to take out +p4714 +aVThank you, sir. Senator Graham has also said that the U.S. will find Arab support for its coalition if it removes Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. And I quote, "The now king of Saudi Arabia told us, 'you can have our army, you just got to deal with Assad.' "The emir of Qatar said, 'I'll pay for the operation, but they are not going to fight +p4715 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump \u2014 Mr. Trump, your comments about banning Muslims from entering the country created a firestorm. According to Facebook, it was the most-talked-about moment online of your entire campaign, with more than 10 million people talking about the issue. Is there anything you've heard that makes you want to rethink this position? +p4716 +aVWe \u2014 we want to hear from all of you on this. According to Pew Research, the U.S. admits more than 100,000 Muslim immigrants every single year on a permanent lifetime basis. I want to ask the rest of you to comment on this. Do you agree that we should pause Muslim immigration until we get a better handle on our homeland security situation, as Mr. Trump has said? Beginning with you, Governor Kasich. +p4717 +aVThank you, sir, we want to hear from the rest of you, Governor Christie, your take. +p4718 +aVSenator Rubio, where do you stand? +p4719 +aVSenator Cruz, where do you stand? Senator Cruz? +p4720 +aVDr. Carson, where do you stand? Do you agree with Mr. Trump? +p4721 +aVSo, to be clear, the both of you do not agree with Mr. Trump? +p4722 +aVThank you governor. +p4723 +aVWe're getting... +p4724 +aVPrices go higher for... +p4725 +aVYeah. +p4726 +aVReal quick, Senator \u2014 go ahead, Senator Cruz. And then we have to get to tax reform. +p4727 +aVThank you, Governor Bush. Thank you, Mr. Trump. Very briefly. +p4728 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. +p4729 +aVThank you, Mr. Trmup. Thank you, Governor. +p4730 +aVSenator briefly. +p4731 +aVWe've got to get to tax reform, gentlemen. We've got to get to tax reform, and we've got to get to the... +p4732 +aV... we've got to get to the national debt as well. Coming up next, the growing national debt, the war on crime, tax reform. More from North Charleston, South Carolina, when we come right back. +p4733 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential here in North Charleston. Right back to the questions. Governor Christie, we have spoken much about cutting spending, given the $19 trillion debt. But according to one report, America needs $3.6 trillion in infrastructure spending by 2020. Here in South Carolina, 11 percent of bridges are considered structurally deficient, costing drivers a billion dollars a year in auto repairs. What is your plan to fix the ailing roads and bridges without breaking the bank? +p4734 +aVThank you, sir. Dr. Carson......it is true U.S. companies have $2 trillion in cash sitting overseas right now. That could be used for investment and jobs in America. Also, several companies right now are pursuing mergers to move their corporate headquarters abroad, and take advantage of much lower taxes. What will you do to stop the flow of companies building cash away from America, and those leaving America altogether? +p4735 +aVThank you, sir. Senator Rubio... +p4736 +aVWhich is why we raised it. Senator Rubio? Thank you, Mr. Trump. +p4737 +aVOne of the biggest fiscal challenges is our entitlement programs, particularly Social Security and Medicare. What policies will you put forward to make sure these programs are more financially secure? +p4738 +aVThank you senator. +p4739 +aVSenator Cruz, yes. You were meant to. Yes, of course. +p4740 +aVThank you senator. +p4741 +aVThank you senator. I have to get to a question for Mr. Trump. +p4742 +aVYes. +p4743 +aVThank you, Governor. Thank you, Governor. +p4744 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Coming up, how would the candidates protect America, and another terror attack, if we were to see it. But first, you can join us live on stage during the commercial break right from home. Go to facebook.com/foxbusiness. We'll be streaming live and answering your questions during this break next. More from South Carolina coming up. Stay with us. +p4745 +aVMr. Trump, your net worth is in the multi-billions of dollars and have an ongoing thriving hotel and real estate business. Are you planning on putting your assets in a blind trust should you become president? With such vast wealth, how difficult will it be for you to disentangle yourself from your business and your money and prioritize America's interest first? +p4746 +aVSo you'll put your assets in a blind trust? +p4747 +aVThank you sir. +p4748 +aVSenator Rubio? Under current law, the U.S. is on track to issue more new permanent immigrants on green cards over the next five years than the entire population of South Carolina. The CBO says your 2013 immigration bill would have increased green cardholders by another 10 million over 10 years. Why are you so interested in opening up borders to foreigners when American workers have a hard enough time finding work? +p4749 +aVSo your thinking has changed? +p4750 +aVThank you, Senator. +p4751 +aVThank you, Senator. +p4752 +aVWhen we come right back, closing statements. Stay with us. +p4753 +aVWelcome back. Candidates, it is time for your closing statements. You get 60 seconds each. Governor John Kasich, we begin with you. +p4754 +aVGovernor Chris Christie? +p4755 +aVSenator Marco Rubio? +p4756 +aVMr. Donald Trump? +p4757 +aVCandidates, thank you. +p4758 +asVCLINTON +p4759 +(lp4760 +VThank you. +p4761 +aVI'm running for president to knock down all the barriers that are holding Americans back, and to rebuild the ladders of opportunity that will give every American a chance to advance, especially those who have been left out and left behind. I know a lot of Americans are angry about the economy. And for good cause. Americans haven't had a raise in 15 years. There aren't enough good-paying jobs, especially for young people. And yes, the economy is rigged in favor of those at the top. We both agree that we have to get unaccountable money out of our political system and that we have to do much more to ensure that Wall Street never wrecks main street again. But I want to go further. I want to tackle those barriers that stand in the way of too many Americans right now. African-Americans who face discrimination in the job market, education, housing, and the criminal justice system. Hardworking immigrant families living in fear, who should be brought out of the shadows so they and their children can have a better future. Guaranteeing that women's work finally gets the pay, the equal pay that we deserve. I think America can only live up to its potential when we make sure that every American has a chance to live up to his or her potential. That will be my mission as president. And I think together we will make progress. +p4762 +aVJudy, I think that the best analysis that I've seen based on Senator Sanders plans is that it would probably increase the size of the federal government by about 40%, but what is most concerning to me is that in looking at the plans \u2014 let's take healthcare for example. Last week in a CNN town hall, the Senator told a questioner that the questioner would spend about $500 dollars in taxes to get about $5,000 dollars in healthcare. Every progressive economist who has analyzed that says that the numbers don't add up, and that's a promise that cannot be kept, and it's really important now that we are getting into the rest of the country that both of us are held to account for explaining what we are proposing because, especially with healthcare, this is not about math. This is about people's lives, and we should level with the American people about what we can do to make sure they get quality affordable healthcare. +p4763 +aVI can only say that we both share the goal of universal health care coverage. You know, before it was called Obamacare, it was called Hillarycare. And I took on the drug companies and I took on the insurance companies to try to get us universal health care coverage. And why I am a staunch supporter of President Obama's principal accomplishment \u2014 namely the Affordable Care Act \u2014 is because I know how hard it was to get that done. We are at 90 percent coverage. We have to get the remaining 10. I've set forth very specific plans about how to get costs down, especially prescription drug costs. And it is difficult to in any way argue with the goal that we both share. But I think the American people deserve to know specifically how this would work. If it's Medicare for all, then you no longer have the Affordable Care Act, because the Affordable Care Act, as you know very well, is based on the insurance system, based on exchanges, based on a subsidy system. The Children's Health Insurance Program, which I helped to create, which covers 8 million kids, is also a different kind of program. So if you're having Medicare for all, single-payer, you need to level with people about what they will have at the end of the process you are proposing. And based on every analysis that I can find by people who are sympathetic to the goal, the numbers don't add up, and many people will actually be worse off than they are right now. +p4764 +aVWell, let me just \u2014 let me just say, once again......that, having been in the trenches fighting for this, I believe strongly we have to guarantee health care. I believe we are on the path to doing that. The last thing we need is to throw our country into a contentious debate about health care again. And we are not England. We are not France. We inherited a system that was set up during World War II; 170 million Americans get health insurance right now through their employers. So what we have tried to do and what President Obama succeeded in doing was to build on the health care system we have, get us to 90 percent coverage. We have to get the other 10 percent of the way to 100. I far prefer that and the chances we have to be successful there than trying to start all over again, gridlocking our system, and trying to get from zero to 100 percent. +p4765 +aVNo. But it is absolutely fair and necessary for Americans to vet both of our proposals, to ask the really hard questions about, what is it we think we can accomplish, why do we believe that, and what would be the results for the average American family? In my case, whether it's health care, or getting us to debt-free tuition, or moving us toward paid family leave, I have been very specific about where I would raise the money, how much it would cost, and how I would move this agenda forward. I've tried to be as specific to answer questions so that my proposals can be vetted, because I feel like we have to level with people for the very reason, Gwen, that you are mentioning. There is a great deal of skepticism about the federal government. I'm aware of that. It comes from the right, from the left, from people on all sides of the political spectrum. So we have a special obligation to make clear what we stand for, which is why I think we should not make promises we can't keep, because that will further, I think, alienate Americans from understanding and believing we can together make some real changes in people's lives. +p4766 +aVI will put a price tag. My price tag is about $100 billion a year. And again, paid for. And what I have said is I will not throw us further into debt. I believe I can get the money that I need by taxing the wealthy, by closing loopholes, the things that we are way overdue for doing. And I think once I'm in the White House we will have enough political capital to be able to do that. But I am conscious of the fact that we have to also be very clear, especially with young people, about what kind of government is going to do what for them and what it will cost. +p4767 +aVYou know, I think, again, both of us share the goal of trying to make college affordable for all young Americans. And I have set forth a compact that would do just that for debt-free tuition. We differ, however, on a couple of key points. One of them being that if you don't have some agreement within the system from states and from families and from students, it's hard to get to where we need to go. And Senator Sanders's plan really rests on making sure that governors like Scott Walker contribute $23 billion on the first day to make college free. I am a little skeptical about your governor actually caring enough about higher education to make any kind of commitment like that. +p4768 +aVWell, first, Judy, I have spent my entire adult life working toward making sure that women are empowered to make their own choices, even if that choice is not to vote for me. I believe that it's most important that we unleash the full potential of women and girls in our society. And I feel very strongly that I have an agenda, I have a record that really does respond to a lot of the specific needs that the women in our country face. So I'm going to keep making that case. I'm going to keep making sure that everything I've done, everything that I stand for is going to be well known. But I have no argument with anyone making up her mind about who to support. I just hope that by the end of this campaign there will be a lot more supporting me. That's what I'm working towards. +p4769 +aVWell, look, I think that she's been saying that for as long as I've known her, which is about 25 years. But it doesn't change my view that we need to empower everyone, women and men, to make the best decisions in their minds that they can make. That's what I've always stood for. And when it comes to the issues that are really on the front lines as to whether we're going to have equal pay, paid family leave, some opportunity for, you know, women to go as far as their hard work and talent take them, I think that we still have some barriers to knock down, which is why that's at the core of my campaign. I would note, just for a historic aside, somebody told me earlier today we've had like 200 presidential primary debates, and this is the first time there have been a majority of women on the stage. So, you know, we'll take our progress wherever we can find it. +p4770 +aVYou know, I have said \u2014 I have said many times, you know, I'm not asking people to support me because I'm a woman. I'm asking people to support me because I think I'm the most qualified, experienced, and ready person to be the president and the commander-in-chief. And I appreciate greatly Senator Sanders' voting record. And I was very proud to get the endorsement of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, because I've been a leader on these issues. I have gone time and time again to take on the vested interests who would keep women's health care decisions the province of the government instead of women ourselves. I'm very proud that +p4771 +aVYou know, I completely agree with Senator Sanders. The first speech I gave in this campaign back in April was about criminal justice reform and ending the era of mass incarceration. The statistics from Wisconsin are particularly troubling, because it is the highest rate of incarceration for African-Americans in our nation, twice the national average. And we know of the tragic, terrible event that lead to the death of Dontre Hamilton right here in Milwaukee, a young man unarmed, who should still be with us. His family certainly believes that. And so do I. So we have work to do. There have been some good recommendations about what needs to happen. President Obama's policing commission came out with some. I have fully endorsed those. But we have to restore policing that will actually protect the communities that police officers are sworn to protect. And, then we have to go after sentencing, and that's one of the problems here in Wisconsin because so much of what happened in the criminal justice system doesn't happen at the federal level, it happens at the state and local level. But, I would also add this. There are other racial discrepancies. Really systemic racism in this state, as in others, education, in employment, in the kinds of factors that too often lead from a position where young people, particularly young men, are pushed out of school early, are denied employment opportunities. So, when we talk about criminal justice reform, and ending the era of mass incarceration, we also have to talk about jobs, education, housing, and other ways of helping communities. +p4772 +aVWell, I'm just not sure I agree completely with that assessment. I think under President Obama we have seen a lot of advances, the Affordable Care Act has helped more African Americans than any other group to get insurance, to be taken care of, but we also know a lot more than we did. We have a lot more social media, we have everybody with a cellphone. So, we are seeing the dark side of the remaining systemic racism that we have to root out in our society. I think President Obama has set a great example. I think he has addressed a lot of these issues that have been quite difficult, but he has gone forward. Now, what we have to do is to build on an honest conversation about where we go next. We now have much more information about what must be done to fix our criminal justice system. We now have some good models about how better to provide employment, housing and education. I think what President Obama did was to exemplify the importance of this issue as our first African American president, and to address it both from the President's office, and through his advocacy, such as working with young men, and Mrs. Obama's work with young women. But, we can't rest. We have work to do, and we now know a lot more than we ever did before. So, it's going to be my responsibility to make sure we move forward to solve these problems that are now out in the open. Nobody can deny them. To use the Justice Department, as we just saw, they have said they are going to sue Ferguson, that entered into a consent agreement, and then tried to back out. So, we're going to enforce the law, we're going to change policing practices, we're going to change incarceration practices, but we're also going to emphasize education, jobs, and housing. +p4773 +aVLook, I am deeply concerned about what's happening in every community in America, and that includes white communities, where we are seeing an increase in alcoholism, addiction, earlier deaths. People with a high school education or less are not even living as long as their parents lived. This is a remarkable and horrifying fact. And that's why I've come forward with, for example, a plan to revitalize coal country, the coalfield communities that have been so hard hit by the changing economy, by the reduction in the use of coal. You know, coal miners and their families who helped turn on the lights and power our factories for generations are now wondering, has our country forgotten us? Do people not care about all of our sacrifice? And I'm going to do everything I can to address distressed communities, whether they are communities of color, whether they are white communities, whether they are in any part of our country. I particularly appreciate the proposal that Congressman Jim Clyburn has \u2014 the 10-20-30 proposal \u2014 to try to spend more federal dollars in communities with persistent generational poverty. And you know what? If you look at the numbers, there are actually as many, if not more white communities that are truly being left behind and left out. So, yes, I do think it would be a terrible oversight not to try to address the very real problems that white Americans \u2014 particularly those without a lot of education whose jobs have \u2014 you know, no longer provided them or even no longer present in their communities, because we have to focus where the real hurt is. And that's why, as president, I will look at communities that need special help and try to deliver that. +p4774 +aVI strongly support the president's executive actions. I hope the Supreme Court upholds them. I think there is constitutional and legal authority for the president to have done what he did. I am against the raids. I'm against the kind of inhumane treatment that is now being visited upon families, waking them up in the middle of the night, rounding them up. We should be deporting criminals, not hardworking immigrant families who do the very best they can and often are keeping economies going in many places in our country. I'm a strong supporter of comprehensive immigration reform. Have been ever since I was in the Senate. I was one of the original sponsors of the +p4775 +aVTwo quick responses. One, with respect to the Central American children, I made it very clear that those children needed to be processed appropriately, but we also had to send a message to families and communities in Central America not to send their children on this dangerous journey in the hands of smugglers. I've also called for the end of family detention, for the end of privately-run detention centers, along with private prisons, which I think are really against the common good and the rule of law. And with respect to the 2007 bill, this was Ted Kennedy's bill. And I think Ted Kennedy had a very clear idea about what needed to be done. And I was proud to stand with him and support it. +p4776 +aVWell, that just wasn't \u2014 that just wasn't the fact, Senator. The fact is that there was a great effort made by the Obama administration and others to really send a clear message, because we knew that so many of these children were being abused, being treated terribly while they tried to get to our border. So we have a disagreement on this. I think now what I've called for is counsel for every child so that no child has to face any kind of process without someone who speaks and advocates for that child so that the right decision hopefully can be made. +p4777 +aVI think \u2014 I think it's fair to say we don't have a disagreement. We both believe there has to be more money going into the Social Security system. I've said I'm looking at a couple of different ways, one which you mentioned, Senator, but also trying to expand the existing tax to passive income that wealthy people have so that we do get more revenue into the Social Security Trust Fund. I have a slightly different approach, though, about what we should do with that initially. First, rather than expand benefits for everyone, I do want to take care of low-income seniors who worked at low-wage jobs. I want to take care of women. When the Social Security program was started in the 1930s, not very many women worked. And women have been disadvantaged ever since. They do not get any credit for their care-taking responsibilities. And the people who are often the most hard-hit are widows, because when their spouse dies, they can lose up to one-half of their Social Security monthly payment. So we have no disagreement about the need to buttress Social Security, get more revenue into the program. But I want to start by helping those people who are most at risk, the ones who, yes, are cutting their pills in half, who don't believe they can make the rent, who are worried about what comes next for them. +p4778 +aVWell, Senator, look, I think we're in vigorous agreement here. We both want to get more revenue in. I have yet to see a proposal that you're describing that the \u2014 raising the cap would apply to passive income. That has not been... +p4779 +aVWell, that has not been a part of most of the proposals that I've seen. I'm interested in making sure we get the maximum amount of revenue from those who can well afford to provide it. So I'm going to come up with the best way forward. We're going to end up in the same place. We're going to get more revenue. I'm going to prioritize those recipients who need the most help first. +p4780 +aVI can't speak for the Koch Brothers, you're referring to a Super PAC that we don't coordinate with, that was set up to support President Obama, that has now decided that they want to support me. They are the ones who should respond to any questions. Let's talk about our campaigns. I'm very proud of the fact that we have more than 750 thousand donors, and the vast majority of them are giving small contributions. So, I'm proud of Senator Sanders, and his supporters. I think it's great that Senator Sanders, President Obama and I have more donors than any three people who have every run, certainly on the Democratic side. That's the way it should be, and I'm going to continue to reach out to thank all my online contributors for everything they are doing for me, to encourage them and help me do more just as Senator Sanders is. I think that is the real key here. We both have a lot of small donors. I think that sets us apart from a lot of what's happening right now on the Republican side. The Koch Brothers have a very clear political agenda. It is an agenda, in my view, that would do great harm to our country. We're going to fight it as hard as we can, and we're going to fight whoever the Republicans nominate who will depend on the Koch Brothers, and others. +p4781 +aVWe are mixing apples and oranges. My 750,000 donors have contributed more than a million and a half donations. I'm very proud. That, I think, between the two of us demonstrates the strength of the support we have among people who want to see change in our country. But, the real issue, I think, that the Senator is injecting into this is that if you had a Super PAC, like President Obama has, which now says it wants to support me. It's not my PAC. If you take donations from Wall Street, you can't be independent. I would just say, I debated then Senator Obama numerous times on stages like this, and he was the recipient of the largest number of Wall Street donations of anybody running on the Democratic side ever. Now, when it mattered, he stood up and took on Wall Street. He pushed through, and he passed the Dodd-Frank regulation, the toughest regulations since the 1930's. So, let's not in anyway imply here that either President Obama or myself, would in anyway not take on any vested interested, whether it's Wall Street, or drug companies, or insurance companies, or frankly, the gun lobby to stand up to do what's best for the American people. +p4782 +aVWell, let's just \u2014 let's just follow up on this, because, you know, I've made it very clear that no bank is too big to fail, no executive too powerful to jail, and because of Dodd-Frank, we now have in law a process that the president, the Federal Reserve, and others can use if any bank poses a systemic risk. I think that's a major accomplishment. I agree, however, it doesn't go far enough, because what it focuses on are the big banks, which Senator Sanders has talked about a lot, for good reason. I go further in the plan that I've proposed, which has been called the toughest, most effective, comprehensive plan for reining in the other risks that the financial system could face. It was an investment bank, Lehman Brothers, that contributed to our collapse. It was a big insurance company, AIG. It was Countrywide Mortgage. My plan would sweep all of them into a regulatory framework so we can try to get ahead of what the next problems might be. And I believe that not only Barney Frank, Paul Krugman, and others, have said that what I have proposed is the most effective. It goes in the right direction. We have Dodd-Frank. We can use it to break up the banks, if that's appropriate. But let's not kid ourselves. As we speak, there are new problems on the horizon. I want to get ahead of those, and that's why I've proposed a much more comprehensive approach to deal with all of these... +p4783 +aVAbsolutely. And, you know, there are a number of programs that I think are duplicative and redundant and not producing the results that people deserve. There are a lot of training programs and education programs that I think can be streamlined and put into a much better format so that if we do continue them they can be more useful, in public schools, community colleges, and colleges and universities. I would like to take a hard look at every part of the federal government and really do the kind of analysis that would rebuild some confidence in people that we're taking a hard look about what we have, you know, and what we don't need anymore. And that's what I intend to do. +p4784 +aVLook, I think we are readier than we used to be, but it's a constant effort that has to be undertaken to make sure we are as ready as we need to be. We have made a lot of improvements in our domestic security since 9/11, and we have been able to foil and prevent attacks, yet we see the terrible attack in San Bernardino and know that we haven't done enough. So we have to go after this both abroad and at home. We have to go after terrorist networks, predominantly +p4785 +aVIf I could just respond. Two points. One, Senator Sanders voted in 1998 on what I think is fair to call a regime change resolution with respect to Iraq, calling for the end of Saddam Hussein's regime. He voted in favor of regime change with Libya, voted in favor of the Security Council being an active participate in setting the parameters for what we would do, which of course we followed through on. I do not believe a vote in 2002 is a plan to defeat +p4786 +aVYou did support a U.N. Security Council approach, which we did follow up on. And, look, I think it's important to look at what the most important counterterrorism judgment of the first four years of the Obama administration was, and that was the very difficult decision as to whether or not to advise the president to go after bin Laden. I looked at the evidence. I looked at the intelligence. I got the briefings. I recommended that the president go forward. It was a hard choice. Not all of his top national security advisors agreed with that. And at the end of the day, it was the president's decision. So he had to leave the Situation Room after hearing from the small group advising him and he had to make that decision. I'm proud that I gave him that advice. And I'm very grateful to the brave Navy +p4787 +aVWell, I know journalists have asked who you do listen to on foreign policy, and we have yet to know who that is. +p4788 +aVThat's fine. That's fine. You know, I listen to a wide variety of voices that have expertise in various areas. I think it is fair to say, whatever the complaints that you want to make about him are, that with respect to China, one of the most challenging relationships we have, his opening up China and his ongoing relationships with the leaders of China is an incredibly useful relationship for the United States of America. So if we want to pick and choose \u2014 and I certainly do \u2014 people I listen to, people I don't listen to, people I listen to for certain areas, then I think we have to be fair and look at the entire world, because it's a big, complicated world out there. +p4789 +aVAnd, yes, people we may disagree with on a number of things may have some insight, may have some relationships that are important for the president to understand in order to best protect the United States. +p4790 +aVWell, with respect to Syria, I really do appreciate the efforts that Secretary Kerry has made. The agreement on humanitarian relief now needs to be implemented, because there are enclaves that are literally filled with starving people throughout Syria. The agreement on a cease-fire, though, is something that has to be implemented more quickly than the schedule that the Russians agreed to. You know, the Russians wanted to buy time. Are they buying time to continue their bombardment on behalf of the Assad regime to further decimate what's left of the opposition, which would be a grave disservice to any kind of eventual cease-fire? So I know Secretary Kerry is working extremely hard to try to move that cease-fire up as quickly as possible. But I would add this. You know, the Security Council finally got around to adopting a resolution. At the core of that resolution is an agreement I negotiated in June of 2012 in Geneva, which set forth a cease-fire and moving toward a political resolution, trying to bring the parties at stake in Syria together. This is incredibly complicated, because we've got Iran as a big player, in addition to Russia. We have Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and others who have very important interests in their view. This is one of the areas I've disagreed with Senator Sanders on, who has called for Iranian troops trying to end civil war in Syria, which I think would be a grave mistake. Putting Iranian troops right on the border of the Golan right next to Israel would be a nonstarter for me. Trying to get Iran and Saudi Arabia to work together, as he has suggested in the past, is equally a nonstarter. So let's support what Secretary Kerry and the president are doing, but let's hope that we can accelerate the cease-fire, because I fear that the Russians will continue their bombing, try to do everything they can to destroy what's left of the opposition. And remember, the Russians have not gone after +p4791 +aVWell, I respectfully disagree. I think we have achieved a great deal with the Iranian nuclear agreement to put a lid on the Iranian nuclear weapons program. That has to be enforced absolutely with consequences for Iran at the slightest deviation from their requirements under the agreement. I do not think we should promise or even look toward normalizing relations because we have a lot of other business to get done with Iran. Yes, they have to stop being the main state sponsor of terrorism. Yes, they have to stop trying to destabilize the Middle East, causing even more chaos. Yes, they've got to get out of Syria. They've got to quit sponsoring Hezbollah and Hamas. They have got to quit trying to ship rockets into Gaza that can be used against Israel. We have a lot of work to do with Iran before we ever say that they could move toward normalized relations with us. +p4792 +aV... Senator Sanders, from a debate in 2008, quote what I said. The question was, would you meet with an adversary without conditions? I said no. And in fact, in Obama administration, we did not meet with anybody without conditions. That is the appropriate approach in order to get the results that you are seeking. +p4793 +aVWell, I was pleased that +p4794 +aVI certainly agree with FDR for all the reasons Senator Sanders said. And I agree about the role that he played both in war and in peace on the economy and defeating fascism around the world. I would choose Nelson Mandela for his generosity of heart, his understanding of the need for reconciliation. But I want to \u2014 I want to follow up on something having to do with leadership, because, you know, today Senator Sanders said that President Obama failed the presidential leadership test. And this is not the first time that he has criticized President Obama. In the past he has called him weak. He has called him a disappointment. He wrote a forward for a book that basically argued voters should have buyers' remorse when it comes to President Obama's leadership and legacy. And I just couldn't agree \u2014 disagree more with those kinds of comments. You know, from my perspective, maybe because I understand what President Obama inherited, not only the worst financial crisis but the antipathy of the Republicans in Congress, I don't think he gets the credit he deserves for being a president......who got us out of that......put us on firm ground, and has sent us into the future. And it is a \u2014 the kind of criticism that we've heard from Senator Sanders about our president I expect from Republicans. I do not expect from someone running for the Democratic nomination to succeed President Obama. +p4795 +aVYou know, Senator, what I am concerned about, is not disagreement on issues, saying that this is what I would rather do, I don't agree with the president on that, calling the president weak, calling him a disappointment, calling several times that he should have a primary opponent when he ran for re-election in 2012, you know, I think that goes further than saying we have our disagreements. As a senator, yes, I was a senator. I understand we can disagree on the path forward. But those kinds of personal assessments and charges are ones that I find particularly troubling. +p4796 +aVYou know, we \u2014 we agree that we've got to get unaccountable money out of politics. We agree that Wall Street should never be allowed to wreck Main Street again. But here's the point I want to make tonight. I am not a single-issue candidate, and I do not believe we live in a single-issue country. I think that a lot of what we have to overcome to break down the barriers that are holding people back, whether it's poison in the water of the children of Flint, or whether it's the poor miners who are being left out and left behind in coal country, or whether it is any other American today who feels somehow put down and oppressed by racism, by sexism, by discrimination against the +p4797 +aVWell, I'm happy to be here in New Hampshire for this debate, as we move toward the primary on Tuesday. I believe that America has the opportunity to once again live by our values, live up to our values in the 21st century, but I think that America can only do that if Americans can succeed. And there are lots of reasons why Americans today are feeling left out and left behind. Yes, of course, the economy has not been working for most Americans. Yes, of course, we have special interests that are unfortunately doing too much to rig the game. But there's also the continuing challenges of racism, of sexism, of discrimination against the +p4798 +aVWell, let me start by saying that Senator Sanders and I share some very big progressive goals. I've been fighting for universal healthcare for many years, and we're now on the path to achieving it. I don't want us to start over again. I think that would be a great mistake, to once again plunge our country into a contentious debate about whether we should have and what kind of system we should have for healthcare. I want to build on the progress we've made; got from 90 percent coverage to 100 percent coverage. And I don't want to rip away the security that people finally have; 18 million people now have healthcare; preexisting conditions are no longer a bar. So we have a difference. I also believe in affordable college, but I don't believe in free college, because every expert that I have talked to says, look, how will you ever control the costs. What I want to do is make sure middle class kids, not Donald Trump's kids, get to be able to afford college. I want to get the economy going again. It's not just enough about what we're against, as important as that is. I have a plan to create new jobs, manufacturing, infrastructure, clean energy jobs that will make us the 21st century clean energy super power. I also want to make sure small businesses can start and grow again. And of course, I believe in raising the minimum wage and equal pay for work. But the numbers just don't add up, from what Senator Sanders has been proposing. That's why all of the independent experts, all of the editorial boards that have vetted both of us have concluded that it is just not achievable. Let's go down a path where we can actually tell people what we will do. A progressive is someone who makes progress. That's what I intend to do. +p4799 +aVIf I could just follow up on that. There is no disagreement between us on universal coverage for health care, the disagreement is where do we start from and where do we end up. The Republicans want to repeal the Affordable Care Act, I want to improve it. I want to build on it, get the costs down, get prescription drug costs down. Senator Sanders wants us to start all over again. This was a major achievement of President Obama, of our country. It is helping people right now. I am not going to wait and have us plunge back into a contentious national debate that has very little chance of succeeding. Let's make the Affordable Care Act work for everybody. +p4800 +aVWell because I am a progressive who gets things done. And the root of that word, progressive, is progress. But I've heard Senator Sanders comments, and it's really caused me to wonder who's left in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Under his definition, President Obama is not progressive because he took donations from Wall Street; Vice President Biden is not progressive because she supported Keystone; Senator Shaheen is not progressive because she supports the trade pact. Even the late, great Senator Paul Wellstone would not fit this definition because he voted for +p4801 +aVWell, Chuck... +p4802 +aV... If I could, you know, in the very first debate I was asked am I a moderate or a progressive and I said I'm a progressive who likes to get things done. Cherry picking a quote here or there doesn't change my record of having fought for racial justice, having fought for kids rights, having fought the kind of inequities that fueled my interest in service in the first place going back to my days in the Children's Defense Fund. It certainly didn't stop me from taking on the drug companies and the insurance companies. Before it was called Hillarycare\u2014I mean, before it was called ObamaCare it was called Hillarycare because we took them on, and we weren't successful, but we kept fighting and we got the children's health insurance program. Every step along the way I have stood up, and fought, and have the scars to prove it. So, again......I think it's important that, look, I understand Senator Sanders really trying to distinguish himself. I understand that, that's what you do in campaigns, but at the same time let's not be\u2014in, I think an unfair way, making an accusation, or making an attack about where I stand and about where I've always stood. It is fair to say, Senator, that in your definition, as you being the self-proclaimed gatekeeper for progressivism, I don't know anyone else who fits that definition, but I know a lot of really hard fighting progressives in the Democratic party who have stood up time, and time again against special interests, against the powerful on behalf of those who are left behind and left out. And, that's what we ought to be celebrating. Let's talk about what we would do as President, and Commander in Chief to make sure the progress continues into the future. +p4803 +aV... Well, you began it yesterday with your comments... +p4804 +aVYou know, the person who first put out the idea of a 50-state party strategy is former Governor Howard Dean, who is with us tonight. And I'm very proud and grateful to have the support of so many elected Vermonters and former officials. Two former governors, the current governor, the current other senator. I really appreciate that. And I think it's because they've worked with me, they've seen what I do. They know what kind of a colleague I am. They want me as their partner in the White House. And that's exactly what I will do. We'll get things done together. Democrats, Republicans, independents, we're going to make progress together when I'm president. +p4805 +aVWell, look, I've got to just jump in here because, honestly, Senator Sanders is the only person who I think would characterize me, a woman running to be the first woman president, as exemplifying the establishment. And I've got to tell you that it is......it is really quite amusing to me. People support me because they know me. They know my life's work. They have worked with me and many have also worked with Senator Sanders. And at the end of the day they endorse me because they know I can get things done. I am not going to make promises I can't keep. I am not going to talk about big ideas like single-payer and then not level with people about how much it will cost. A respected health economist said that these plans would cost a trillion dollars more a year. I'm not going to tell people that I will raise your incomes and not your taxes, and not mean it, because I don't want to see the kind of struggle that the middle class is going through exemplified by these promises that would raise taxes and make it much more difficult for many, many Americans to get ahead and stay ahead. That is not my agenda. +p4806 +aVYeah, but I\u2014I think it's fair to really ask what's behind that comment. You know, Senator Sanders has said he wants to run a positive campaign. I've tried to keep my disagreements over issues, as it should be. But time and time again, by innuendo, by insinuation, there is this attack that he is putting forth, which really comes down to\u2014you know, anybody who ever took donations or speaking fees from any interest group has to be bought. And I just absolutely reject that, Senator. And I really don't think these kinds of attacks by insinuation are worthy of you. And enough is enough. If you've got something to say, say it directly. But you will not find that I ever changed a view or a vote because of any donation that I ever received. +p4807 +aVAnd I have stood up and I have represented my constituents to the best of my abilities, and I'm very proud of that. +p4808 +aVSo I think it's time to end the very artful smear that you and your campaign have been carrying out... +p4809 +aV... in recent weeks, and let's talk......let's talk about about the issues. Let's talk about the issues that divide us. +p4810 +aVAnd let's\u2014let's... +p4811 +aV... we both agree with campaign finance reform. +p4812 +aVI\u2014I worked hard for McCain-Feingold. +p4813 +aVI want to reverse Citizens United. +p4814 +aVAnd so\u2014let's talk about issues. +p4815 +aVWell, you know, Senator, I don't think\u2014I don't... +p4816 +aV... I don't think you could find any person in political life today who has been subjected to more attacks and had more money spent against her by special interests, among whom you have named a few, than I. And I'm proud of that. You know, when I took on the drug companies and the insurance companies for universal health care coverage, they went after me with a vengeance. Today, you've got hedge fund billionaires aligned with Karl Rove, running ads against me to try to get Democrats to vote for you. I know this game. I'm going to stop this game. But while we're talking about votes, you're the one who voted to deregulate swaps and derivatives in 2000, which contributed to the over-leveraging of Lehman Brothers, which was one of the culprits that brought down the economy. So I don't know\u2014I'm not impugning your motive because you voted to deregulate swaps and derivatives. People make mistakes and I'm certainly not saying you did it for any kind of financial advantage. What we've got to do as Democrats\u2014what we've got to do as Democrats is to be united to actually solve these problems. And what I believe is that I have a better track record and a better opportunity to actually get that job done. That's what this election should be about. +p4817 +aVOn the issue of Wall Street. +p4818 +aVWell you know, Rachel, I think I may not have done the job I should in explaining my record. You know, I did\u2014when I left the secretary of State's office, like so many former officials, military leaders, journalists, others, I did go on the speaking circuit. I spoke to heart doctors, I spoke to the American Camping Association, I spoke to auto dealers, and yes, I spoke to firms on Wall Street. They wanted me to talk about the world, what my experience had been as secretary of State. But what I want people to know is I went to Wall Street before the crash. I was the one saying you're going to wreck the economy because of these shenanigans with mortgages. I called to end the carried interest loophole that hedge fund managers enjoy. I proposed changes in CEO compensation. I called for a consumer protection financial bureau before it was created. And I think the best evidence that the Wall Street people at least know where I stand and where I have always stood is because they are trying to beat me in this primary. They have collected and spent as much as $6 million on these ads. Hedge fund billionaires, Karl Rove, another billionaire, jumped in. And why are they doing that? These are guys who try to make smart investments. They know my record, they know me, they know that I say what I believe and I will do it. And I also have a pretty good understanding about how to stop them. So I do want people to know that, and I think it's important for everybody to understand I have a record, I have stood firm and I will be the person who prevents them from ever wrecking the economy again. +p4819 +aVIf I could, let me just say that of course it has to change. It has to change. And that's why I have put forward a plan to do just that. And it's been judged to be the toughest, most effective and comprehensive one. I have great respect for Senator Sanders's commitment to try to restore Glass-Steagall. But I do not believe that that is enough. And in fact, I don't believe it really addresses a lot of the biggest issues we have. You know, we now have power under the Dodd-Frank legislation to break up banks. And I've said I will use that power if they pose a systemic risk. But I want to go further, because it was investment banks, it was insurance companies, it was mortgage companies, all of which contributed. So let's not just be narrowly focused on one part of the problem. We have a lot of issues with corporate power that have to be addressed. My plan takes us further and it would do the job. +p4820 +aVLook we have a law\u2014look, you know, I\u2014I appreciate the senator's advocacy. We have a law. It was passed. It was signed by President Obama. It lays out a process that you go through to determine whether a systemic risk is posed. And by the way, President Obama signed that, pushed it through, even though he took donations from Wall Street, because he's a responsible president. So we have a law in place. If the circumstances warrant it, I will certainly use it. And from what you say, I know you will as well. But that is not enough. And I keep going back to this because part of the reason the Wall Street guys are trying so hard to stop me\u2014the hedge fund guys, the shadow banking guys\u2014is because I've got their number on all of that. And my plan goes so much further to try to prevent the problems of the future. You know, we can't just fight the last war. We've got to be prepared to stop these guys if they ever try to use their economic power once again, to hurt the economy, and to hurt so many Americans. And my plan, Paul Krugman, Barney Frank, a lot of experts who understand what the new challenges might be, have said I am exactly on point, and the Wall Street guys actually know that. +p4821 +aVI will look into it. I don't know the status, but I will certainly look into it. But, I can only repeat what is the fact that I spoke to a lot of different groups with a lot of different constituents, a lot of different kinds of members about issues that had to do with world affairs. I probably described more times than I can remember how stressful it was advising the President about going after Bin Laden. My view on this is look at my record. Look at what I am proposing, and\u2014we have a vigorous agreement here. We both want to reign in the excesses of Wall Street. I also want to reign in the excesses of Johnson Controls that we bailed out when they were an autoparts company, and we saved the auto industry, and now they want to avoid paying taxes. I want to go after the pharmaceutical companies like Valeant, and Turns that are increasing prices without any regard to the impact on people's health. Now, if all we're going to talk about is one part of our economy, and indeed one streak in our economy, we're missing the big oil companies. We're missing other big energy companies. We're missing the big picture, and I have a record of trying to go at the problems that actually exist, and I will continue to do that. +p4822 +aV... Well, Senator, no one wants to see that happen. I mean, look, I care deeply about this because just like you I have met so many people who had their life savings wiped out, who lost their homes, who are barely back with their heads above water. This was a disaster for our country, and we can never let that happen again. We have no disagreement about this. But, I think it's a broader target list than just Wall Street, and I believe that we have to be very focused on how we try to take back the power and increase the empowerment of the American people. And, I think I have that kind of experience, maybe because they've beat me up for so many years, and I know exactly how to handle them because I've been in the arena with them time and time again. +p4823 +aVWell, I think what the president understands, and what he's trying to do, is that we have to support the Arab and Kurdish fighters on the ground who are actually doing the fighting. I agree with the president. I've said myself, we will not send American combat troops back to either Syria or Iraq\u2014that is off the table. But we do have special forces, we do have trainers, we do have the military personnel who are helping with the airstrikes that the United States is leading so that we can try to take out +p4824 +aVNo. I mean, of course that's a theoretical question, and we don't know what it would be for, and we don't know how many numbers there are. I am against American combat troops being in Syria and Iraq. I support special forces. I support trainers. I support the air campaign. And I think we're making some progress. I want to continue to intensify that, and that's exactly what the president is doing. +p4825 +aVIf I could\u2014if I could... +p4826 +aV... respectfully add\u2014look, we did differ. A vote in 2002 is not a plan to defeat +p4827 +aVOh, absolutely. The president decided to leave more troops than he had originally planned in Afghanistan. We have a very cooperative government there, with Ashraf Ghani and his top\u2014his top partner, Abdullah. And they are doing their very best. And the Afghan army is actually fighting. The Afghan army is taking heavy losses defending Afghan territory. And I would have to make an evaluation based on the circumstances at the time I took office as to how much help they continue to need. Because it's not just the Taliban. We now are seeing outposts of, you know, fighters claiming to be affiliated with +p4828 +aVA group of national security experts, military intelligence experts, issued a very concerning statement about Senator Sanders's views on foreign policy and national security, pointing out some of the comments he has made on these issues, such as inviting Iranian troops into Syria to try to resolve the conflict there; putting them right at the doorstep of Israel. Asking Saudi Arabia and Iran to work together, when they can't stand each other and are engaged in a proxy battle right at this moment. So I do think questions have been raised and questions have to be answered because when New Hampshire voters go on Tuesday to cast your vote, you are voting both for a president and a commander in chief. And there is no way to predict what comes in the door of that White House from day to day that can pose a threat to the United States or one of our friends and allies, and I think this is a big part of the job interview that we are all conducting with the voters here. +p4829 +aVWell, let me just add that, you know, I've said this before and I'm very proud of it, that when it comes to judgment, having run a hard race against Senator Obama at the time, he turned to me to be secretary of State. And when it comes to the biggest counterterrorism issues that we faced in this administration, namely whether or not to go after bin Laden, I was at that table, I was exercising my judgment to advise the president on what to do, on that, on Iran, on Russia on China, on a whole raft of issues. Because I know from my own experience that you've got to be ready on day one. There is just too much unpredictable threat and danger in the world today, you know, to try to just say wait, I'll get to that when I can. That is just not an acceptable approach. +p4830 +aVAbsolutely. You know, I did put together the coalition to impose sanctions. I actually started the negotiations that led to the nuclear agreement, sending some much my closest aides to begin the conversations with the Iranians. I'm very pleased we got that nuclear agreement. It puts a lid on the nuclear weapons program. We have to enforce it, there have to be consequences attached to it. But that is not our only problem with Iran. We have to figure out how to deal with Iran as the principal state sponsor of terrorism in the world. They are destabilizing governments in the region. They continue to support Hezbollah and Hamas in Lebanon against Israel. A lot of work that we have do is going to be incredibly hard. I'm prepared to do that work, but I believe, just as I did with imposing the sanctions, you have to get action for action. If we were to normalize relations right now, we would remove one of the biggest pieces of leverage we have to try to influence and change Iranian behavior. The president doesn't think we should. I certainly don't think we should. I believe we have to take this step by step to try to reign in Iranian aggression, their support for terrorism and the other bad behavior that can come back and haunt us. +p4831 +aVWell Senator, let me just correct the record if I can. You know\u2014let me correct the record. +p4832 +aVAs I\u2014as I certainly recall, the question was to meet with without conditions. And you're right, I was against that. I was against it then I would be against it now. +p4833 +aVPart of diplomacy, the hard work of diplomacy is trying to extract whatever concessions you can get, and giving something the other side wants. Of course you've got to try to make peace with, and work with those who are your adversaries, but you don't just rush in, open the door, and say, "Here I am. Let's talk and make a deal." That's not the way it works. +p4834 +aV... Well, we set conditions on Iran. We worked hard to get them established, and to be enforced, and then we talked. That's exactly the right......and, that's what I did with the President, so he and I are on the very same page. +p4835 +aVI haven't talked to Secretary Carter, but here's what I would think he's planning. We do have the nuclear weapons agreement with Iran, that's an enforcement consequence, action for action, follow on. We have a plan, we will watch them, we will be vigilant. We do have to worry about North Korea. They continue to develop their nuclear weapons capability, and they're working very hard on their ballistic missile capability. And, I know that some of those plans could very well lead to a missile that might reach Hawaii, if not the West Coast. We do have to try to get the countries in the region to work with us to do everything we can to confine, and constrain them. But, what Secretary Carter is looking at is the constant pressure that Russia's putting on our European allies. The way that Russia is trying to move the boundaries of the post-World War II Europe. The way that he is trying to set European countries against one another, seizing territory, holding it in Crimea. Beginning to explore whether they could make some inroads in the Baltics. We know that they are deeply engaged in supporting Assad because they want to have a place in the Middle East. They have a naval base, they have an air base in Syria. They want to hang on to that. I think what Secretary Carter is seeing, and I'm glad he is, is that we got to get +p4836 +aVWell, first of all, I'm absolutely against privatizing the V.A. And I am going do everything I can to build on the reforms that Senator Sanders and others in Congress have passed to try to fix what's wrong with the V.A. There are a lot of issues about wait times and services that have to be fixed because our veterans deserve nothing but the best. But you're absolutely right, you know, Rachel, this is another part of the Koch brothers agenda. They've actually formed an organization to try to begin to convince Americans we should no longer have guaranteed health care, specialized care for our veterans. I will fight that as hard as I can. I think there's where we can enlist the veterans service organizations, the veterans of America, because, yes, let's fix the V.A., but we will never let it be privatized, and that is a promise. +p4837 +aVWhatever they decide to do, that's fine. +p4838 +aVAll right. +p4839 +aVI can only tell you what I believe, and that is that I am the strongest candidate to take it to the Republicans and win in November. And I say that with great\u2014with great respect for the campaign that Senator Sanders has been running. I personally am thrilled at the numbers of people, and particularly young people who are coming to support your campaign. I hope that I will be able to earn their support. They may not support me now, but I support them and we'll work together. But what I'm concerned about is the views of many Democrats who know their states, who know how hard it is to win a general election. And it also will push whoever the nominee is into the spotlight. I've been vetted. There's hardly anything you don't know about me. And I think it's fair to say that whoever is in that position, Senator Sanders or anyone else who might have run, will face the most withering onslaught. So, I think that I am the person who can do all aspects of the job. I think I'm the person best prepared to take the case to the Republicans. And I think that at the end of the day, it's not so much electability. It is who the American people can believe can keep them safe, can get the economy moving again, can get incomes rising, can build on the progressive accomplishments of President Obama. And I think that the coalition that President Obama put together to win twice is a coalition that I can put together and add to. And that's what I'm prepared to... +p4840 +aVAbsolutely I can. You know, before it was emails, it was Benghazi, and the Republicans were stirring up so much controversy about that. And I testified for 11 hours, answered their questions. They basically said yeah, didn't get her. We tried. That was all a political ploy. Now, we had a development in the email matter today when it came out that Secretary Powell and close aides to Former Secretary Rice used private e-mail accounts. and now you have these people in the government who are doing the same thing to Secretary Powell and Secretary Rice's aide they've been doing to me, which is that I never sent or received any classified material. They are retroactively classifying it. I agree completely with Secretary Powell, who said today this is an absurdity. And so I think the American people will know it's an absurdity. I have absolutely no concerns about it whatsoever. +p4841 +aVI am 100 percent confident. This is a security review that was requested. It is being carried out. It will be resolved. But I have to add if there's going to be a security review about me, there's going to have to be security reviews about a lot of other people, including Republican office holders, because we've got this absurd situation of retroactive classifications. Honest to goodness, this is\u2014this just beggars the imagination. So I have absolutely no concerns about it, but we've got to get to the bottom of what's really going on here, and I hope that will happen. +p4842 +aVNo. +p4843 +aVYes, I do. And\u2014you know, what I hope the Supreme Court will do is make it absolutely clear that any state that continues capital punishment either must meet the highest standards of evidentiary proof of effective assistance of counsel or they cannot continue it because that, to me, is the real dividing line. I have much more confidence in the federal system, and I do reserve it for particularly heinous crimes in the federal system, like terrorism. I have strong feelings about that. I thought it was appropriate after a very thorough trial that Timothy McVeigh received the death penalty for blowing up the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people, including 19 children in a daycare center. I do for very limited, particularly heinous crimes believe it is an appropriate punishment, but I deeply disagree with the way that too many states are still implementing it. If it were possible to separate the federal from the state system by the Supreme Court, that would, I think, be an appropriate outcome. +p4844 +aVAbsolutely. Absolutely. You know, Rachel, you and I have talked about this before. I thank you for going to Flint to hold that town hall. I will be in Flint at the Mayor's invitation on Sunday to get an in depth briefing about what is, and is not happening. This is an emergency. Everyday that goes by that these people, particularly the children, are not tested so we can know what steps must be taken to try to remediate the effects of the poisoning that they have been living with is a day lost in a child's life. I know from the work that I've done over so many years, lead, the toxic nature of lead can affect you brain development, your body development, your behavior. I absolutely believe that what is being done is not sufficient. We need to be absolutely clear about everything that should be done from today to tomorrow, into the future to try to remedy the terrible burden that the people of Flint are barring. That includes fixing their pipes, it includes guaranteeing whatever healthcare and educational embellishments they may need going forward, and I think the federal government has way where it can bill the state of Michigan. If Michigan won't do it, there have to be ways that we can begin to move, and then make them pay for it, and hold them accountable. +p4845 +aVYou know, Chuck, I've only had responsibility for voting for trade agreements as a senator. And I voted a multinational trade agreement when I was senator, the +p4846 +aVWell, I\u2014I don't accept that premise, Chuck. I think that we've got so much business we have to do. We've talked a lot tonight about what we're against\u2014we're against income inequality. We're against the abuses of powerful interests. We're against a lot of things. I'm for a lot of things. I don't want to just stop bad things from happening, I want to start good things from happening. And I believe, if I'm so fortunate to get the nomination, I will begin to work immediately on putting together an agenda, beginning to talk with members of Congress and others about how we can push forward. I want to have half a billion more solar panels deployed, the first four years. I want to have enough clean energy to power every home the next four years. I want us to keep working on the Affordable Care Act, to get not only to 100 percent coverage, but bring down the costs of prescription drugs and out-of-pocket costs. I want to move forward on paid family leave, on early childhood education, I want us to do more for small businesses. Small businesses have to create most of the jobs, and we're not creating and growing small businesses. I think, if you have a smart agenda, you pick the committees that you know have to begin to work on these various pieces\u2014because that's the way Congress is set up. You go through different committees, and you really make a big push in the beginning. Immigration reform, economic revitalization with manufacturing, with infrastructure\u2014we put it out there, and we begin to work on an ambitious, big, bold agenda that will actually produce the results that I want to see for our country. +p4847 +aVThe answer to both of those is no. I'm interested in making what we have work better. I want to streamline programs that are duplicative and redundant. I want to have a top-to-bottom review about what works and what doesn't work, and be absolutely clear we're getting rid of what doesn't work. I have had the opportunity to run a big agency. I was very flattered when Henry Kissinger said I ran the State Department better\u2014better than anybody had run it in a long time. So I have an idea of what it's going to take to make our government work more efficiently. And when you put together a budget, you have to make a lot of hard decisions, but I think it's not appropriate to say "I'm going to get rid of this, get rid of that" until you have a very good process that gives you the information about what to do. But I want to add something else, you know, because look, we have so much work to do in our country, and I think it's the greatest work that Americans will be called to do. And of course, we have to have people in every community involved in it. We have to have the political voice, the political grassroots speaking up and speaking out about what we have to try to accomplish in Washington. But we also need to have a very clear set of goals that we are going to achieve, and we need to level with the American people about what they are, what they will cost, what will be expected of our citizenry. So I see as president having a constant dialogue with Americans here's what we're trying to get done, here's why I need your help, here's why you may think comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship isn't something you care about, but I'm telling you it will help fix the labor market, it will bring people out of the shadows\u2014 +p4848 +aVI never said that. +p4849 +aVLook... +p4850 +aVWell, I'm certainly going to unite the party, but I'm not\u2014I'm not getting ahead of myself. I think that would be a little bit presumptuous. If I'm so fortunate as to be the nominee, the first person I will call to talk to about where we go and how we get it done will be Senator Sanders. +p4851 +aVThat's true. That's true. +p4852 +aVWell first, thanks to +p4853 +aVWell, good evening. And I want to thank the Congressional Black Caucus Institute and the people of Charleston for hosting us here on the eve of Martin Luther King Day tomorrow. You know, I remember well when my youth minister took me to hear Dr. King. I was a teenager. And his moral clarity, the message that he conveyed that evening really stayed with me and helped to set me on a path to service. I also remember that he spent the last day of his life in Memphis, fighting for dignity and higher pay for working people. And that is our fight still. We have to get the economy working and incomes rising for everyone, including those who have been left out and left behind. We have to keep our communities and our country safe. We need a president who can do all aspects of the job. I understand that this is the hardest job in the world. I'm prepared and ready to take it on and I hope to earn your support to be the nominee of the Democratic Party and the next president of the United States. +p4854 +aVI would work quickly to present to the Congress my plans for creating more good jobs in manufacturing, infrastructure, clean and renewable energy, raising the minimum wage, and guaranteeing, finally, equal pay for women's work. I would also......I would also be presenting my plans to build on the Affordable Care Act and to improve it by decreasing the out-of-pocket costs by putting a cap on prescription drug costs; by looking for ways that we can put the prescription drug business and the health insurance company business on a more stable platform that doesn't take too much money out of the pockets of hard-working Americans. And third, I would be working, in every way that I knew, to bring our country together. We do have too much division, too much mean- spiritedness. There's a lot we have to do on immigration reform, on voting rights, on campaign finance reform, but we need to do it together. That's how we'll have the kind of country for the 21st century that we know will guarantee our children and grandchildren the kind of future they deserve. +p4855 +aVYes look, I have made it clear based on Senator Sanders' own record that he has voted with the NRA, with the gun lobby numerous times. He voted against the Brady Bill five times. He voted for what we call, the Charleston Loophole. He voted for immunity from gunmakers and sellers which the NRA said, "was the most important piece of gun legislation in 20 years. " He voted to let guns go onto the Amtrak, guns go into National Parks. He voted against doing research to figure out how we can save lives. Let's not forget what this is about, 90 people a day die from gun violence in our country. That's 33,000 people a year. One of the most horrific examples not a block from here where we had nine people murdered. Now, I am pleased to hear that Senator Sanders has reversed his position on immunity and I look forward to him joining with those members of congress who have already introduced legislation. There is no other industry in America that was given the total pass that the gun makers and dealers were and that needs to be reversed. +p4856 +aVWell, sadly it's reality, and it has been heartbreaking, and incredibly outraging to see the constant stories of young men like Walter Scott, as you said, who have been killed by police officers. Their needs to be a concerted effort to address the systemic racism in our criminal justice system. And, that requires a very clear, agenda for retraining police officers, looking at ways to end racial profiling, finding more ways to really bring the disparities that stalk our country into high relief. One out of three African American men may well end up going to prison. That's the statistic. I want people hear to think what we would be doing if it was one out of three white men, and very often, the black men are arrested, convicted and incarcerated ......for offensive that do not lead to the same results for white men. So, we have a very serious problem that we can no longer ignore. +p4857 +aVWell, Lester, you're right. Everywhere I go to campaign, I'm meeting families who are affected by the drug problem that mostly is opioids and heroin now, and lives are being lost and children are being orphaned. And I've met a lot of grandparents who are now taking care of grandchildren. So I have tried to come out with a comprehensive approach that, number one, does tell the states that we will work with you from the federal government putting more money, about a billion dollars a year, to help states have a different approach to dealing with this epidemic. The policing needs to change. Police officers must be equipped with the antidote to a heroin overdose or an opioid overdose, known as Narcan. They should be able to administer it. So should firefighters and others. We have to move away from treating the use of drugs as a crime and instead, move it to where it belongs, as a health issue. And we need to divert more people from the criminal justice system into drug courts, into treatment, and recovery. +p4858 +aVSo this is the kind of approach that we should take in dealing with what is now... +p4859 +aV... a growing epidemic. +p4860 +aVWell, Andrea, I am absolutely committed to universal health care. I have worked on this for a long time, people may remember that I took on the health insurance industry back in the '90s, and I didn't quit until we got the children's health insurance program that ensures eight million kids. And I certainly respect Senator Sanders' intentions, but when you're talking about health care, the details really matter. And therefore, we have been raising questions about the nine bills that he introduced over 20 years, as to how they would work and what would be the impact on people's health care? He didn't like that, his campaign didn't like it either. And tonight, he's come out with a new health care plan. And again, we need to get into the details. But here's what I believe, the Democratic Party and the United States worked since Harry Truman to get the Affordable Care Act passed. We finally have a path to universal health care. We have accomplished so much already. I do not to want see the Republicans repeal it, and I don't to want see us start over again with a contentious debate. I want us to defend and build on the Affordable Care Act and improve it. +p4861 +aVBut \u2014 Senator Sanders, if I can... You know, I have to say I'm not sure whether we're talking about the plan you just introduced tonight, or we're talking about the plan you introduced nine times in the Congress. But the fact is, we have the Affordable Care Act. That is one of the greatest accomplishments of President Obama, of the Democratic Party, and of our country. And we have already seen 19 million Americans get insurance. We have seen the end of pre-existing conditions keeping people from getting insurance. We have seen women no longer paying more for our insurance than men. And we have seen young people, up to the age of 26, being able to stay on their parent's policy. +p4862 +aVNow, there are things we can do to improve it, but to tear it up and start over again, pushing our country back into that kind of a contentious debate, I think is the wrong direction. +p4863 +aVAnd that's exactly what we are able to do based on the foundation of the Affordable Care Act \u2014 what Governor O'Malley just said is one of the models that we will be looking at to make sure we do get costs down, we do limit a lot of the unnecessary costs that we still have in the system. But, with all due respect, to start over again with a whole new debate is something that I think would set us back. The Republicans just voted last week to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and thank goodness, President Obama vetoed it and saved Obamacare for the American people. +p4864 +aVWell, as someone who \u2014 as someone who has a little bit of experience standing up to the health insurance industry, that spent, you know......many, many millions of dollars attacking me, and probably will so again, because of what I believe we can do building on the Affordable Care Act, I think it's important to point out that there are a lot of reasons we have the health care system we have today. I know how much money influences the political decision-making. That's why I'm for huge campaign finance reform. However, we started a system that had private health insurance. And even during the Affordable Care Act debate, there was an opportunity to vote for what was called the public option. In other words, people could buy in to Medicare, and even when the Democrats were in charge of the Congress, we couldn't get the votes for that. So, what I'm saying is really simple. This has been the fight of the Democratic Party for decades. We have the Affordable Care Act. Let's make it work. Let's take the models that states are doing. We now have driven costs down to the lowest they've been in 50 years. Now we've got to get individual costs down. That's what I'm planning to do. +p4865 +aVWell, I think it's an important point the president made in his State of the Union. And here's what I would say. I will go anywhere, to meet with anyone, at any time to find common ground. That's what I did as a first lady, when I worked with both Democrats and Republicans to get the Children's Health Insurance Program, when I worked with Tom DeLay, one of the most partisan of Republicans, to reform the adoption and foster care system. What I did, working in the Senate, where I crossed the aisle often, working even with the senator from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham, to get Tricare for national guardsmen and women. And it's what I did as Secretary of State, on numerous occasions, and most particularly, rounding up two-thirds votes in order to pass a treaty that lowered the nuclear weapons in both Russia and the United States. So I know it's hard, but I also know you've got to work at it every single day. I look out here, I see a lot of my friends from the Congress. And I know that they work at it every single day. Because maybe you can't only find a little sliver of common ground to cooperate with somebody from the other party, but who knows. If you're successful there, maybe you can build even more. That's what I would do. +p4866 +aVWell thanks for the question and congratulations on five million viewers on YouTube, that's quite an accomplishment. Look, this election is mostly about the future and therefore it is of greatest urgency for young people. I've laid out my ideas about what we can do to make college affordable; how we can help people pay off their student debts and save thousands of dollars, how we can create more good jobs because a lot of the young people that I talk with are pretty disappointed the economic prospects they feel their facing. So making community college free, making it possible to attend a public college or university with debt free tuition, looking for ways to protect our rights especially from the concerted Republican assault; on voting rights, on women's rights, on gay rights, on civil rights, on workers rights. And I know how much young people value their independence, their autonomy, and their rights. So I think this is an election where we have to pull young people and older people together to have a strategy about how we're going to encourage even more American's to vote because it absolutely clear to me... +p4867 +aVThat turning over our White House to the Republicans would be bad for everybody especially young people. +p4868 +aVLook, I have the greatest respect for Senator Sanders and for his supports and I'm going to keep working as hard as I can to reach as many people of all ages about what I will do, what the experience and the ideas that I have that I will bring to the White House and I hope to have their support when I'm the Democratic nominee. +p4869 +aVWell, there's no daylight on the basic premise that there should be no bank too big to fail and no individual too powerful to jail. We agree on that. But where we disagree is the comments that Senator Sanders has made that don't just affect me, I can take that, but he's criticized President Obama for taking donations from Wall Street, and President Obama has led our country out of the great recession. Senator Sanders called him weak, disappointing. He even, in 2011, publicly sought someone to run in a primary against President Obama. Now, I personally believe that President Obama's work to push through the Dodd-Frank... The Dodd-Frank bill and then to sign it was one of the most important regulatory schemes we've had since the 1930s. So I'm going to defend Dodd-Frank and I'm going to defend President Obama for taking on Wall Street, taking on the financial industry and getting results. +p4870 +aVYou know, I think since \u2014 since Senator Standers followed up on this... +p4871 +aVYour profusion of comments about your feelings towards President Obama are a little strange given what you said about him in 2011. But look, I have a plan that most commentators have said is tougher, more effective, and more comprehensive. O' +p4872 +aVIt builds on the Dodd-Frank \u2014 yes, it is. It builds on the Dodd-Frank, regulatory scheme... O' +p4873 +aV... but it goes much further, because... O' +p4874 +aV... both the governor and the senator have focused only on the big banks. Lehman Brothers, AIG, the shadow banking sector were as big a problem in what caused the Great Recession, I go after them. And I can tell you that the hedge fund billionaires who are running ads against me right now, and Karl Rove, who started running an ad against me right now, funded by money from the financial services sector, sure thing, I'm the one they don't want to be up against. +p4875 +aVYes, well, first of all \u2014 first of all, Paul Krugman, Barney Frank, others have all endorsed my plan. Secondly, we have Dodd-Frank. It gives us the authority already to break up big banks that pose... O' +p4876 +aVThat pose a risk to the financial sector. I want to go further and add to that. And, you know, Governor, you have raised money on Wall Street. You raised a lot of money on Wall Street when you were the head of the Democratic Governor's Association... O' +p4877 +aVAnd you were... O' +p4878 +aVYes, well, the point is that if we're going to be serious about this and not just try to score political points, we should know what's in Dodd-Frank, and what's in Dodd-Frank already gives the president the authority......with his regulators to make those decisions. +p4879 +aVWell, the last point on this is, Senator Sanders, you're the only one on this stage that voted to deregulate the financial market in 2000, to take the cops off the street, to use Governor O'Malley's phrase, to make the SEC and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission no longer able to regulate swaps and derivatives, which were one of the main cause of the collapse in '08. So there's plenty... +p4880 +aVThere's plenty of problems that we all have to face together. And the final thing I would say, we're at least having a vigorous debate about reining in Wall Street... +p4881 +aV... The Republicans want to give them more power, and repeal Dodd-Frank. That's what we need to stop... +p4882 +aVWell, I have actually documented every way that I'm going to pay for what I'm doing because I think the American public deserves to know. And, you can go to my website and actually see that. But, there are serious questions about how we're going to pay for what we want to see our country do. And, I'm the only candidate standing here tonight who has said I will not raise taxes on the middle class. I want to raise incomes, not taxes, and I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that the wealthy pay for debt free tuition, for child care, for paid family leave. To help us bring down student debt we're going to refinance that student debt, saving kids thousands of dollars. Yeah, and that will also come out of the \u2014 some of the pockets of people in the financial services industry... +p4883 +aVBut I will tell you exactly how I pay for everything I've proposed... +p4884 +aVAnd let me... +p4885 +aVWell, I'm very proud of the Iran Nuclear Agreement. I was very pleased to be part of what the president put into action when he took office. I was responsible for getting those sanctions imposed which put the pressure on Iran. It brought them to the negotiating table which resulted in this agreement. And so, they have been so far, following their requirements under the agreement. But I think we still have to carefully watch them. We've had one good day over 36 year and I think we need more good days before we move more rapidly toward any kind of normalization. And we have to be sure that they are truly going to implement the agreement. And then, we have to go after them on a lot of their other bad behavior in the region which is causing enormous problems in Syria, Yemen, Iraq and elsewhere. +p4886 +aVAbsolutely not. I have a three point plan that does not include American Ground forces. It includes the United States leading an air coalition which is what we're doing, supporting fighters on the ground; the Iraqi Army which is beginning to show more ability, the Sunni fighters that we are now helping to reconstitute and Kurdish on both sides of the border. I think we also have try to disrupt their supply chain of foreign fighters and foreign money and we do have to contest them in online space. So I'm very committed to both going after +p4887 +aVLook, I think that the president's decision to go after the chemical weapons once there was a potential opportunity to build on when the Russians opened that door resulted in a very positive outcome. We were able to get the chemical weapons out. I know from my own experience as secretary of State that we were deeply worried about Assad's forces using chemical weapons because it would have had not only a horrific affect on people in Syria, but it could very well have affected the surrounding states, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Turkey. So getting those chemical weapons out was a big deal, but... +p4888 +aVWell \u2014 but \u2014 but... +p4889 +aVI think, as commander in chief, you've got to constantly be evaluating the decisions you have to make. I know a little bit about this, having spent many hours in the situation room, advising President Obama. And I want to just add to something that Senator Sanders said, the United States had a very big interest in trying to help stabilize the region. If there is any blame to be spread around, it starts with the prime minister of Iraq, who sectarianized his military, setting Shia against Sunni. It is amplified by Assad, who has waged one of the bloodiest, most terrible attacks on his own people: 250,000-plus dead, millions fleeing. Causing this vacuum that has been filled unfortunately, by terrorist groups, including +p4890 +aV... and go after +p4891 +aVBut overall, a lot of the forces at work in the region are ones that we cannot directly influence, but we can... +p4892 +aVWell, it would depend on what I got for it and I can tell you what we got in the first term, we got a new start treaty to reduce nuclear weapons between the United States and Russia. We got permission to resupply our troops in Afghanistan by traveling across Russia. We got Russia to sign on to our sanctions against Iran and other very important commitments. So look, in diplomacy, you are always trying to see how you can figure out the interest of the other to see if there isn't some way you can advance your security and your values. When Putin came back in the fall of 2011, it was very clear he came back with a mission. And I began speaking out as soon as that happened because there were some fraudulent elections held, and Russians poured out into the streets to demand their freedom, and he cracked down. And in fact, accused me of fomenting it. So we now know that he has a mixed record to say the least and we have to figure out how to deal with him. +p4893 +aVWell, my relationship with him, it's \u2014 it's interesting. It's one, I think, of respect. We've had some very tough dealings with one another. And I know that he's someone that you have to continuingly stand up to because, like many bullies, he is somebody who will take as much as he possibly can unless you do. And we need to get the Europeans to be more willing to stand up, I was pleased they put sanctions on after Crimea and eastern Ukraine and the downing of the airliner, but we've got to be more united in preventing Putin from taking a more aggressive stance in Europe and the Middle East. +p4894 +aVOh, we're breaking? OK. +p4895 +aVWell, I wanted to say, and I'll do it quickly, I was very pleased that leaders of President Obama's administration went out to Silicon Valley last week and began exactly this conversation about what we can do, consistent with privacy and security. We need better intelligence cooperation, we need to be sure that we are getting the best intelligence that we can from friends and allies around the world. And then, we've got to recognize our first line of defense against lone wolf attacks is among Muslim Americans. And it is not only shameful, it is dangerous for the kinds of comments you're hearing from the Republican side. We need to be reaching out and unifying our country against terrorist attacks and lone wolves, and working with Muslim Americans. +p4896 +aVThat is not what I've heard. Let me leave it at that. O' +p4897 +aVWell, it'll start at the kitchen table, we'll see how it goes from there. And I......I'm going to have the very best advisers that I can possibly have, and when it comes to the economy and what was accomplished under my husband's leadership and the '90s \u2014 especially when it came to raising incomes for everybody and lifting more people out of poverty than at any time in recent history \u2014 you bet. I'm going to ask for his ideas, I'm going ask for his advice, and I'm going use him as a goodwill emissary to go around the country to find the best ideas we've got, because I do believe, as he said, everything that's wrong with America has been solved somewhere in America. We just have to do more of it, and we have to reach out, especially into poor communities and communities of color, to give more people their own chance to get ahead. +p4898 +aVWell Lester, I spent a lot of time last week being outraged by what's happening in Flint, Michigan and I think every single American should be outraged. We've had a city in the United States of America where the population which is poor in many ways and majority African American has been drinking and bathing in lead contaminated water. And the governor of that state acted as though he didn't really care. He had request for help and he had basically stone walled. I'll tell you what, if the kids in a rich suburb of Detroit had been drinking contaminated water and being bathed in it, there would've been action. So I sent my top campaign aide down there to talk to the mayor of Flint to see what I could to help. I issued a statement about what we needed to do and then I went on a T.V. show and I said, "it was outrageous that the governor hadn't acted and within two hours he had." +p4899 +aVI want to be a president who takes care of the big problems and the problems that are affecting the people of our country everyday. +p4900 +aVWell, thank you. And I'm delighted to be here in New Hampshire for this debate. You know, the American president has to both keep our families safe and make the economy grow in a way that helps everyone, not just those at the top. That's the job. I have a strategy to combat and defeat +p4901 +aVI very much appreciate that comment, Bernie. It really is important that we go forward on this. I know that you now have your data back, and that there has been an agreement for an independent inquiry into what did happen. Obviously, we were distressed when we learned of it, because we have worked very hard -- I said in the beginning of this campaign, we want to reach as many voters as possible, and we have tens of thousands of volunteers doing that, and entering data all the time to keep up with what people are telling us. And so, now that, I think, you know, we have resolved your data, we have agreed on an independent inquiry, we should move on. Because I don't think the American people are all that interested in this. I think they're more interested in what we have to say about all the big issues facing us. O' +p4902 +aVWell, first, the most important job of being president is obviously to keep our country safe and to keep the families of America safe. I have a plan that I've put forward to go after +p4903 +aVWell, I think you have to look at both the terrorism challenge that we face abroad and certainly at home and the role that guns play in delivering the violence that stalks us. Clearly, we have to have a very specific set of actions to take. You know, when Senator Sanders talks about a coalition, I agree with him about that. We've got to build a coalition abroad. We also have to build a coalition at home. Abroad, we need a coalition that is going to take on +p4904 +aVYes, I'm getting... +p4905 +aV... I'm getting to that. Because I think if you only think about the coalition abroad you're missing the main point, which is we need a coalition here at home. Guns, in and of themselves, in my opinion, will not make Americans safer. We lose 33,000 people a year already to gun violence, arming more people to do what I think is not the appropriate response to terrorism. I think what is... Is creating much deeper, closer relations and, yes, coalitions within our own country. The first line of defense against radicalization is in Muslim-American community. People who we should be welcoming and working with. I worry greatly that the rhetoric coming from the Republicans, particularly Donald Trump, is sending a message to Muslims here in the United States and literally around the world that there is a "clash of civilizations," that there is some kind of Western plot or even "war against Islam," which then I believe fans the flames of radicalization. So guns have to be looked at as its own problem, but we also have to figure out how we're going to deal with the radicalization here in the United States. +p4906 +aVYes, let's tell the truth, Martin. O' +p4907 +aVHe invoked mine as well. +p4908 +aVI do and this is an important issue and I know we'll get to a lot of other critical ones as well. I actually agree with Governor O'Malley about the need for common sense gun safety measures. And I applaud his record in Maryland. I just wish he wouldn't misrepresent mine. I have been for the Brady bill, I have been against assault weapons. I have voted not to give gun makers and sellers immunity. And I also know that -- and I'm glad to see this -- Senator Sanders has really moved in face of the facts about what we're confronting in our country. I know that he has said in the two previous that he wants to take on this immunity issue because we need to send a strong message to the gun manufacturers, to the sellers, to the gun lobby. And I would hope, Senator Sanders, that you would join the Democrats who are trying to close the Charleston loophole, that you would sponsor or co-sponsor legislation to remove the absolute immunity. We need to move on this consensus that exists in the country. It's no longer enough just to say the vast majority of Americans want common sense gun safety measures including gun owners. We need, and only the three of us will do this, nobody on the Republican side will even admit there's a problem. And in whatever way the three of us can we need to move this agenda forward and begin to deal with the gun lobby and the intimidation that they present. +p4909 +aVWell I think a lot of people are understandably reacting out of fear and anxiety about what they're seeing. First what they saw in Paris, now what they have seen in San Bernardino. And Mr. Trump has a great capacity to use bluster and bigotry to inflame people and to make think there are easy answers to very complex questions. So what I would say is, number one, we need to be united against the threats that we face. We need to have everybody in our country focused on watching what happens and reporting it if it's suspicious, reporting what you hear. Making sure that Muslim Americans don't feel left out or marginalized at the very moment when we need their help. +p4910 +aVYou know, I was a senator from New York after 9/11, and we spent countless hours trying to figure out how to protect the city and the state from perhaps additional attacks. One of the best things that was done, and George W. Bush did this and I give him credit, was to reach out to Muslim Americans and say, we're in this together. You are not our adversary, you are our partner. And we also need to make sure that the really discriminatory messages that Trump is sending around the world don't fall on receptive ears. He is becoming +p4911 +aVI would not want to go to that point. I would hope that, given the extraordinary capacities that the tech community has and the legitimate needs and questions from law enforcement, that there could be a Manhattan-like project, something that would bring the government and the tech communities together to see they're not adversaries, they've got to be partners. It doesn't do anybody any good if terrorists can move toward encrypted communication that no law enforcement agency can break into before or after. There must be some way. I don't know enough about the technology, Martha, to be able to say what it is, but I have a lot of confidence in our tech experts. And maybe the back door is the wrong door, and I understand what Apple and others are saying about that. But I also understand, when a law enforcement official charged with the responsibility of preventing attacks -- to go back to our early questions, how do we prevent attacks -- well, if we can't know what someone is planning, we are going to have to rely on the neighbor or, you know, the member of the mosque or the teacher, somebody to see something. +p4912 +aVI just think there's got to be a way, and I would hope that our tech companies would work with government to figure that out. Otherwise, law enforcement is blind -- blind before, blind during, and, unfortunately, in many instances, blind after. So we always have to balance liberty and security, privacy and safety, but I know that law enforcement needs the tools to keep us safe. And that's what I hope, there can be some understanding and cooperation to achieve. +p4913 +aVWell, I agree that we have to have the toughest screening and vetting... +p4914 +aVI don't think a halt is necessary. What we have to do is put all of our resources through the Department of Homeland Security, through the State Department, through our intelligence agencies, and we have to have an increased vetting and screening. Now, this takes, David, 18 months to 24 months, two years. So I know it's not going to happen overnight and everything that can be done should be done. But the process should move forward while we are also taking on +p4915 +aVSo, I think it's absolutely wrong policy for us to be even imagining we're going end up putting tens of thousands of American troops into Syria and Iraq to fight +p4916 +aVWell, I just think you're asking a question with a false choice. I believe if we lead an air coalition, which we are now in the position of doing and intensify it, if we continue to build back up the Iraqi army, which has had some recent success in Ramadi, as you know, if we get back talking to the tribal sheiks in Anbar to try to rebuild those relationships, which were very successful, in going after Al Qaida in Iraq, if we get the Turks to pay more attention to +p4917 +aVWell, I just want to quickly add... +p4918 +aVMartha, that -- you know, one of the reasons why I have advocated for a no-fly zone is in order to create those safe refuges within Syria, to try to protect people on the ground both from Assad's forces, who are continuing to drop barrel bombs, and from +p4919 +aVI do not think it would come to that. We are already de-conflicting air space. We know... +p4920 +aVNo, I don't think so. I am advocating... +p4921 +aVI am advocating the no-fly zone both because I think it would help us on the ground to protect Syrians; I'm also advocating it because I think it gives us some leverage in our conversations with Russia. Now that Russia has joined us in the Security Council, has adopted an agreement that we hashed out a long day in Geneva three years ago, now I think we can have those conversations. The no-fly zone, I would hope, would be also shared by Russia. If they will begin to turn their military attention away from going after the adversaries of Assad toward +p4922 +aVThat is exactly... +p4923 +aVThat is exactly what I just said and what I just described. +p4924 +aVAnd that is important, because now we have a U.N. Security Council that will enable us to do that. And, you know, with all due respect, Senator, you voted for regime change with respect to Libya. You joined the Senate in voting to get rid of Gadhafi, and you asked that there be a Security Council validation of that with a resolution. All of these are very difficult issues. I know that; I've been dealing with them for a long time. And, of course, we have to continue to do what is necessary when someone like Gadhafi, a despot with American blood on his hands, is overturned. But I'll tell you what would have happened, if we had not joined with our European partners and our Arab partners to assist the people in Libya, you would be looking at Syria. Now the Libyans are turning their attention to try to dislodge +p4925 +aVI think we're missing the point here. We are doing both at the same time. +p4926 +aVWell, I don't agree with that, because we will not get the support on the ground in Syria to dislodge +p4927 +aVSince he has been making all kinds of comments. I think it's fair to say, Assad has killed, by last count, about 250,000 Syrians. The reason we are in the mess we're in, that +p4928 +aVAnd we finally have a U.N. Security Council Resolution bringing the world together to go after a political transition in Syria. +p4929 +aVIf the United States does not lead, there is not another leader. There is a vacuum. +p4930 +aVAnd we have to lead, if we're going to be successful. +p4931 +aVSorry. +p4932 +aVWell, I've been talking to a lot of these families, and this is such an outrage, both because it's bad for our economy, we're a 70 percent consumption economy, people need to feel optimistic and confident, they need to believe their hard work is going to be rewarded, and it's bad for our democracy. It's absolutely the case that if people feel that the game is rigged, that has consequences. I think it's great standing up here with the senator and the governor talking about these issues, because you're not going to hear anything like this from any of the Republicans who are running for president. They don't want to raise the minimum wage; they don't want to do anything to increase incomes. At the center of my economic policy is raising incomes, because people haven't been able to get ahead, and the cost of everything, from college tuition to prescription drugs, has gone up. Of course we have to raise the minimum wage. Of course we have to do more to incentivize profit sharing, like we see with Market Basket right here in New Hampshire and New England, where all of the employees get a chance to share in the profits. And we've got to do more on equal pay for equal work. That means pass the Paycheck Fairness Act so we have transparency about how much people are making. That's the way to get women's wages up, and that's good for them and good for their families and good for our communities. And there is a lot we can do in college affordability. I have debt-free tuition plans, free community college plans, getting student debt down. I also am very committed to getting the price of drugs down. And there's a lot. You can go to my website... +p4933 +aV... hillaryclinton.com, and read about it. But I guess the final thing that -- that I would say is this is the kind of debate we need to take to the Republicans in the fall. +p4934 +aVThis is the election... +p4935 +aV... issues they have to respond to. +p4936 +aVEverybody should. Look, I have said I want to be the president for the struggling, the striving and the successful. I want to make sure the wealthy pay their fair share, which they have not been doing. I want the Buffett Rule to be in effect, where millionaires have to pay 30 percent tax rates instead of 10 percent to nothing in some cases. I want to make sure we rein in the excessive use of political power to feather the nest and support the super wealthy. But I also want to create jobs and I want to be a partner with the private sector. I'm particularly keen on creating jobs in small business. My dad was a small businessman, a really small business. I want to do more to help incentivize and create more small businesses. So if -- if people who are in the private sector know what I stand for, it's what I fought for as a senator, it's what I will do as president, and they want to be part of once again building our economy so it works for everybody, more power to them, because they are the kind of business leaders who understand that if we don't get the American economy moving and growing, we're not going to recognize our country and we're not going to give our kids the same opportunities that we had. +p4937 +aVOK... +p4938 +aVLet me respond... +p4939 +aVUnder the rules, I have been -- I have been invoked, David, so let me respond very quickly. Number one... +p4940 +aVNumber one, there are currently two hedge fund billionaires running ads against me here in New Hampshire. They started in Iowa. Now, you'd have to ask yourself, why are they running ads against me? And the answer is: Because they know I will go right after them, that I will not let their agenda be America's agenda. Secondly, I think it's important to point out that about 3 percent of my donations come from people in the finance and investment world. You can go to opensecrets.org and check that. I have more donations from students and teachers than I do from people associated with Wall Street. Now, number three -- and let me say this -- when Governor O'Malley was heading the Democratic Governors Association, he had no trouble at all going to Wall Street to raise money to run campaigns for Democratic governors. And he also had no trouble appointing an investment banker to be in charge of his consumer protection bureau when he was governor. So, you know, again, the difference between us and the Republicans is night and day. And there is only one person on this stage who voted to take away authority from the SEC and the Commodities Future Trading Commission that they could no longer regulate what are called swaps and derivatives, which actually contributed to the collapse of Lehman Brothers, and that was Senator Sanders. So if we're going to be talking like this, we can -- and maybe we can score some political points -- but the fact is: Every one of us stands for the kind of economy that will work better for every American. And if that means taking on Wall Street, I have a plan that is tough and comprehensive and praised by a lot of folks who say it goes further than what both Senator Sanders and Governor O'Malley are proposing. +p4941 +aVWell, I would certainly build on the successes of the Affordable Care Act and work to fix some of the glitches that you just referenced. Number one, we do have more people who have access to health care. We have ended the terrible situation that people with pre- existing conditions were faced with where they couldn't find at any affordable price health care. Women are not charged more than men any longer for our health insurance. And we keep young people on our policies until they turn 26. Those are all really positive developments. But out-of-pocket costs have gone up too much and prescription drug costs have gone through the roof. And so what I have proposed, number one, is a $5,000 tax credit to help people who have very large out-of-pocket costs be able to afford those. Number two, I want Medicare to be able to negotiate for lower drug prices just like they negotiate with other countries' health systems. We end up paying the highest prices in the world. And I want us to be absolutely clear about making sure the insurance companies in the private employer policy arena as well as in the Affordable Care exchanges are properly regulated so that we are not being gamed. And I think that's an important point to make because I'm going through and analyzing the points you were making, Martha. We don't have enough competition and we don't have enough oversight of what the insurance companies are charging everybody right now. +p4942 +aVYes. +p4943 +aVWell, they're glitches because... +p4944 +aVIt is. Because part of this is the startup challenges that this system is facing. We have fought, as Democrats, for decades to get a health care plan. I know. I've got the scars to show from the effort back in the early '90s. We want to build on it and fix it. And I'm confident we can do that. And it will have effects in the private market. And one of the reasons in some states why the percentage cost has gone up so much is because governors there would not extend Medicaid. And so people are still going to get health care, thankfully, in emergency rooms, in hospitals. Those costs are then added to the overall cost, which does increase the insurance premiums for people in the private system. +p4945 +aVRight. +p4946 +aVWell, I have what I call the new college compact. Because I think everybody has to have some skin in this game, you know. Number one, States have been dis-investing in higher education. In fact, I think New Hampshire, in state tuition for public colleges and universities, is among the highest if not the highest in the country. So states over a period of decades have put their money elsewhere; into prisons, into highways, into things other than higher education. So under my compact, the federal government will match money that the states begin to put back in to the higher education system. Secondly, I don't believe in free tuition for everybody. I believe we should focus on middle-class families, working families, and poor kids who have the ambition and the talent to go to college and get ahead. So I have proposed debt free tuition, which I think is affordable and I would move a lot of the Pell Grant and other aid into the arena where it could be used for living expense. So I put all of this together, again, on my website and I've gotten such a good response. But I want to quickly say, one of the areas that Senator Sanders touched on in talking about education and certainly talking about health care is his commitment to really changing the systems. Free college, a single payer system for health--and it's been estimated we're looking at 18 to $20 trillion, about a 40 percent in the federal budget. And I have looked at his proposed plans for health care for example, and it really does transfer every bit of our health care system including private health care, to the states to have the states run. And I think we've got to be really thoughtful about how we're going to afford what we proposed, which is why everything that I have proposed I will tell you exactly how I'm going to pay for it; including college. +p4947 +aVWell, the only thing - the only thing I can go on Senator Sanders... +p4948 +aVYour proposal is to go and send the health care system to the state. +p4949 +aVAnd my analysis is that you are going to get more taxes out of middle class families. I'm the only person... +p4950 +aV... saying, no middle class tax raises. That's off the table... +p4951 +aVThat is a pledge that I'm making. I made it when I ran in 2008. +p4952 +aVYes, and it was the same one that President Obama made. Because I don't think we should be imposing new big programs that are going to raise middle class families' taxes. We just heard that most families haven't had a wage increase since 2001. Since, you know, the end of the last Clinton administration when incomes did go up for everybody. And we've got to get back to where people can save money again, where they can invest in their families, and I don't think a middle-class tax should be part of anybody's plan right now. +p4953 +aVSenator, I have been -- I have been fighting for paid... +p4954 +aV... family leave for a very long time... +p4955 +aVI have a way to pay for it that actually makes the wealthiest pay for it... +p4956 +aV... not everybody else. +p4957 +aVWell, David, I think this is one of the most important challenges facing not just our next president but our country. We have systemic racism and injustice and inequities in our country and in particular, in our justice system that must be addressed and must be ended. I feel very strongly that we have to reform our criminal justice system and we have to find ways to try to bring law enforcement together again with the communities that they are sworn to protect. Trust has been totally lost in a lot of places. At the same time, we know that in many parts of our country police officers are bridging those divides and they're acting heroically. The young officer who was killed responding to the Planned Parenthood murders. The officer who told the victims of the San Bernardino killings that he would take a bullet before them. So I think that we need to build on the work of the policing commissioner that President Obama impaneled. We need to get a bipartisan commitment to work together on this. And we need to hear the voices of those men and women and boys and girls who feel like strangers in their own country and do whatever is necessary to not only deal with the immediate problems within the criminal justice system, but more opportunities, more jobs, better education so that we can begin to rebuild that very valuable asset known as trust. +p4958 +aVYou know, on my very first visit to New Hampshire in this campaign, I was in Keene, and I was asked, "what are you going to do about the heroin epidemic?" And all over New Hampshire, I met grandmothers who are raising children because they lost the father or the mother to an overdose. I met young people who are desperately trying to get clean and have nowhere to go, because there are not enough facilities. So this is a major epidemic, and it has hit New Hampshire and Vermont particularly hard. I've had had two town halls, one in Keene, one in Laconia, dedicated exclusively to talking about what we can do. And I've heard some great ideas about how law enforcement is changing its behavior, how the recovery community is reaching out. And I was proud to get the endorsement of Mayor Walsh of Boston, who has made his struggle with alcoholism a real clarion call for action in this arena. So, I've laid out a five-point plan about what we can do together. I would like the federal government to offer $10 billion over ten years to work with states, and I really applaud Governor Hassan for taking up this challenge and working with the legislature here to come up with a plan. We need to do more on the prescribing end of it. There are too many opioids being prescribed, and that leads directly now to heroin addiction. And we need to change the way we do law enforcement, and of course, we need more programs and facilities, so when somebody is ready to get help, there's a place for them to go. And every law enforcement should carry the antidote to overdose, Naloxone, so that they can save lives that are on the brink of expiring. +p4959 +aVWell, first, let's remember why we became part of a coalition to stop Gadhafi from committing massacres against his people. The United States was asked to support the Europeans and the Arab partners that we had and we did a lot of due diligence about whether we should or not, and eventually, yes, I recommended and the president decided that we would support the action to protect civilians on the ground and that led to the overthrow of Gadhafi. I think that what Libya then did by having a full free election, which elected moderates, was an indication of their crying need and desire to get on the right path. Now, the whole region has been rendered unstable, in part because of the aftermath of the Arab Spring, in part because of the very effective outreach and propagandizing that +p4960 +aVMartha, we offered a lot more than they were willing to take. We offered a lot more. We also got rid of their chemical weapons, which was a big help, and we also went after a lot of the shoulder-fired missiles to round them up. You know, we can't -- if we're not going to send American troops, which there was never any idea of doing that, then to try to send trainers, to try to send experts, is something we offered, Europeans offered, the U.N. offered, and there wasn't a lot of responsiveness at first. I think a lot of the Libyans who had been forced out of their country by Gadhafi who came back to try to be part of a new government, believed they knew what to do and it turned out that they were no match for some of the, you know, militaristic forces inside that country. But I'm not giving up on Libya and I don't think anybody should. We've been at this a couple of years. +p4961 +aVWell, there's always a retrospective to say what mistakes were made. But I know that we offered a lot of help and I know it was difficult for the Libyans to accept help. What we could have done if they had said yes would have been a lot more than what we were able to have done. +p4962 +aVWell, I would just repeat that. +p4963 +aVWait a minute. I think it's only fair to put on the record, Senator Sanders voted in the Senate for a resolution calling for ending the Gadhafi regime and asking that the U.N. be brought in, either a congressional vote or a U.N. Security Council vote. We got a U.N. Security council vote. Now, I understand that this is very difficult. And I'm not standing here today and saying that Libya is as far along as Tunisia. We saw what happened in Egypt. I cautioned about a quick overthrow of Mubarak, and we now are back with basically an army dictatorship. This is a part of the world where the United States has tried to play two different approaches. One, work with the tough men, the dictators, for our own benefit and promote democracy. That's a hard road to walk. But I think it's the right road for us to try to travel. O' +p4964 +aVWell, the role has been defined by each person who's held it. And I am very grateful for all my predecessors and my successors because each of them not only did what she could to support her husband and our country but often chose to work on important issues that were of particular concern. Obviously, Mrs. Obama has been a terrific leader when it comes to young people's health, particularly nutrition and exercise. And I think has had a big impact. So whoever is part of the family of a president has an extraordinary privilege of not only having a front row seat on history but making her or maybe his contribution. And with respect to my own husband, I am probably still going to pick the flowers and the china for state dinners and stuff like that. But I will certainly turn to him as prior presidents have for special missions, for advice, and in particular, how we're going to get the economy working again for everybody, which he knows a little bit about. +p4965 +aVOn January 20th, 2017, the next president of the United States will walk into the White House. If, heaven forbid, that next president is a Republican, I think it's pretty clear we know what will happen. A lot of the rights that have been won over years, from women's rights to voter rights to gay rights to worker rights, will be at risk. Social Security, which Republicans call a Ponzi scheme, may face privatization. Our vets may see the V.A. hospital that needs to be improved and made better for them turned over to privatization. Planned Parenthood will be defunded. The list goes on because the differences are so stark. You know, everybody says every election's important, and there's truth to that. This is a watershed election. I know how important it is that we have a Democrat succeed President Obama in the White House. And I will do all that I can in this campaign to reach out and explain what I stand for and what I will do as president. You know, I became a grandmother 15 months ago, and so I spent a lot of time thinking about my granddaughter's future. But as president, I will spend even more time thinking about the futures of all the kids and the grandchildren in this country because I want to make sure every single child has a chance to live up to his or her God-given potential. If you will join me in this campaign, we will make that a mission. Thank you, good night and may the force be with you. +p4966 +aVWell, our prayers are with the people of France tonight, but that is not enough. We need to have a resolve that will bring the world together to root out the kind of radical jihadist ideology that motivates organizations like +p4967 +aVWell, John, I think that we have to look at +p4968 +aVWell, John, look, I think that what happened when we abided by the agreement that George W. Bush made with the Iraqis to leave by 2011, is that an Iraqi army was left that had been trained and that was prepared to defend Iraq. Unfortunately, Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister, set about decimating it. And then, with the revolution against Assad -- and I did early on say we needed to try to find a way to train and equip moderates very early so that we would have a better idea of how to deal with Assad because I thought there would be extremist groups filling the vacuum. So, yes, this has developed. I think that there are many other reasons why it has in addition to what happened in the region, but I don't think that the United States has the bulk of the responsibility. I really put that on Assad and on the Iraqis and on the region itself. +p4969 +aVThank you, John. Well, thank you, John. I think it's important we put this in historic context. The United States has, unfortunately, been victimized by terrorism going back decades. In the 1980s, it was in Beirut, Lebanon, under President Reagan's administration, and 258 Americans, marines, embassy personnel, and others were murdered. We also had attacks on two of our embassies in Tanzania, Kenya, when my husband was president. Again, Americans murdered. And then, of course, 9/11 happened, which happened before there was an invasion of Iraq. I have said the invasion of Iraq was a mistake. But I think if we're ever going to really tackle the problems posed by jihadi extreme terrorism, we need to understand it and realize that it has antecedents to what happened in Iraq and we have to continue to be vigilant about it. +p4970 +aVWell, of course, each of these cases needs to be looked at individually and analyzed. Part of the problem that we have currently in the Middle East is that Assad has hung on to power with the very strong support of Russia and Iran and with the proxy of Hezbollah being there basically fighting his battles. So I don't think you can paint with a broad brush. This is an incredibly complicated region of the world. It's become more complicated. And many of the fights that are going on are not ones that the United States has either started or have a role in. The Shi'a-Sunni split. The dictatorships have suppressed people's aspirations. The increasing globalization without any real safety valve for people to have a better life. We saw that in Egypt. We saw a dictator overthrown. We saw a Muslim brotherhood president installed, and then we saw him ousted and the army back. So, I think we've got to understand the complexity of the world that we are facing and no place is more so than in the Middle East. +p4971 +aVWell, I think -- I think that is very unfair to a few you mentioned, most particularly Jordan, which has put a lot on the line for the United States, has also taken in hundreds of thousands of refugees from Syria, and has been, therefore, subjected to threats and attacks by extremists themselves. I do agree that in particular, Turkey and the Gulf nations have got to make up their minds. Are they going to stand with us against this kind of jihadi radicalism or not? And there are many ways of doing it. They can provide forces. They can provide resources. But they need to be absolutely clear about where they stand. +p4972 +aVWell, we did have a plan, and I think it's fair to say that of all of the Arab leaders, Gaddafi probably had more blood on his hands of Americans than anybody else. And when he moved on his own people, threatening a massacre, genocide, the Europeans and the Arabs, our allies and partners, did ask for American help and we provided it. And we didn't put a single boot on the ground, and Gaddafi was deposed. The Libyans turned out for one of the most successful, fairest elections that any Arab country has had. They elected moderate leaders. Now, there has been a lot of turmoil and trouble as they have tried to deal with these radical elements which you find in this arc of instability, from north Africa to Afghanistan. And it is imperative that we do more not only to help our friends and partners protect themselves and protect our own homeland, but also to work to try to deal with this arc of instability, which does have a lot of impact on what happens in a country like Libya. +p4973 +aVWell, I think it's perfectly fair to say that we invested quite a bit in development aid. Some of the bravest people that I had the privilege of working with as secretary of state were our development professionals who went sometimes alone, sometimes with our military, into very dangerous places in Iraq, in Afghanistan, elsewhere. So, there does need to be a whole of government approach, but just because we're involved and we have a strategy doesn't mean we're going to be able to dictate the outcome. These are often very long- term kinds of investments that have to be made. +p4974 +aVI don't think we're at war with Islam. I don't think we're at war with all Muslims. I think we're at war with jihadists who have -- +p4975 +aVI think +p4976 +aVI think with this kind of barbarism and nihilism, it's very hard to understand, other than the lust for power, the rejection of modernity, the total disregard for human rights, freedom, or any other value that we know and respect. Historically, it is important to try to understand your adversary in order to figure out how they are thinking, what they will be doing, how they will react. I plead that it's very difficult when you deal with +p4977 +aVYes. +p4978 +aVWell, we have an authorization to use military force against terrorists. We passed it after 9/11. +p4979 +aVIt certainly does cover it. I would like to see it updated. +p4980 +aVNo, it would have to go through the Congress, and I know the White House has actually been working with members of Congress. Maybe now we can get it moving again so that we can upgrade it so that it does include all the tools and everything in our arsenal that we can use to try to work with our allies and our friends, come up with better intelligence. You know, it is difficult finding intelligence that is actionable in a lot of these places, but we have to keep trying. And we have to do more to prevent the flood of foreign fighters that have gone to Syria, especially the ones with western passports, that come back. So there's a lot of work we need to do and I want to be sure what's called the +p4981 +aVI think that is the number one requirement. I also said that we should take increased numbers of refugees. The administration originally said 10. I said we should go to 65, but only if we have as careful a screening and vetting process as we can imagine, whatever resources it takes because I do not want us to, in any way, inadvertently allow people who wish us harm to come into our country. But I want to say a quick word about what Senator Sanders and then Governor O'Malley said. We do have to take a hard look at the defense budget and we do have to figure out how we get ready to fight the adversaries of the future, not the past. But we have to also be very clear that we do have some continuing challenges. We've got challenges in the South China Sea because of what China is doing in building up these military installations. We have problems with Russia. Just the other day, Russia allowed a television camera to see the plans for a drone submarine that could carry a tactical nuclear weapon. So we've got to look at the full range and then come to some smart decisions about having more streamlined and focused approach. +p4982 +aVWell, first of all, it isn't the middle class. I have made very clear that hardworking, middle-class families need a raise, not a tax increase. In fact, wages adjusted for inflation haven't risen since the turn of the last century, after my husband's administration. So we have a lot of work to do to get jobs going again, get incomes rising again. And I have laid out specific plans -- you can go to my web site, hillaryclinton.com, and read the details. And I will pay for it by, yes, taxing the wealthy more, closing corporate loopholes, deductions, and other kinds of favorable treatment. And I can do it without raising the debt, without raising taxes on the middle class and making it reasonably manageable within our budget so that we can be fiscally responsible at the same time. +p4983 +aVWell, we're going to have to redo the way the prescription drug industry does business. For example, it is outrageous that we don't have an opportunity for Medicare to negotiate for lower prices. In fact, American consumers pay the highest prices in the world for drugs that we help to be developed through the National Institute of Health and that we then tested through the FDA. So there's more to my plan than just the cap. We have to go after price gouging and monopolistic practices and get Medicare the authority to negotiate. +p4984 +aVWell, look, I believe that we've made great progress as a country with the Affordable Care Act. We've been struggling to get this done since Harry Truman. And it was not only a great accomplishment of the Democratic Party, but of President Obama. I do think that it's important to defend it. The Republicans have voted to repeal it nearly 60 times. They would like to rip it up and start all over again, throw our nation back into this really contentious debate that we've had about health care for quite some time now. I want to build on and improve the Affordable Care Act. I would certainly tackle the cost issues, because I think that once the foundation was laid with a system to try to get as many people as possible into it, to end insurance discrimination against people with preexisting conditions or women, for example, that, yes, we were going to have to figure out how to get more competition in the insurance market, how to get the costs of -- particularly, prescription drugs, but other out-of-pocket expenses down. But I think it's important to understand there's a significant difference that I have with Senator Sanders about how best to provide quality, affordable health care for everyone. And it's-- it's a worthy debate. It's an important one that we should be engaged in. +p4985 +aVWell, first of all, I know that the President has appealed the decision to the Supreme Court. And my reading of the law and the Constitution convinces me that the President has the authority that he is attempting to exercise with respect to dreamers and their parents, because I think all of us on this stage agree that we need comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship. Border security has always been a part of that debate. And it is a fact that the net immigration from Mexico and South has basically zeroed out. So, what we want to do is to say, look, we have 11 million people who have been here, many of them for decades. They have children who are doing so well, I've met and worked with dreamers. I think any parent would be so proud of them. So let's move toward what we should be doing as a nation and follow the values of our immigration history and begin to make it possible for them to come out of the shadows and to have a future that gives them a full chance of citizenship. +p4986 +aVKathie, I think -- Kathie the... +p4987 +aVBut I do take what Alan Krueger said seriously. He is the foremost expert in our country on the minimum wage, and what its effects are. And the overall message is that it doesn't result in job loss. However, what Alan Krueger said in the piece you're referring to is that if we went to $15, there are no international comparisons. That is why I support a $12 national federal minimum wage. That is what the Democrats in the Senate have put forward as a proposal. But I do believe that is a minimum. And places like Seattle, like Los Angeles, like New York City, they can go higher. It's what happened in Governor O'Malley's state. There was a minimum wage at the state level, and some places went higher. I think that is... O' +p4988 +aVI think that is the smartest way to be able to move forward because if you go to $12 it would be the highest historical average we've ever had. O' +p4989 +aVBut you would index it -- you would index it to the median wage. Of course, you would. Do the $12 and you would index it. But I... O' +p4990 +aVHe's not wall street. O' +p4991 +aVThat's not fair. He's a progressive economist. +p4992 +aVWell, I think it's pretty clear that they know that I will. You have two billionaire hedge fund managers who started a super PAC and they're advertising against me in Iowa as we speak. So they clearly think I'm going to do what I say I will do and you can look at what I did in the Senate. I did introduce legislation to reign in compensation. I looked at ways that the shareholders would have more control over what was going on in that arena. And specifically said to Wall Street, that what they were doing in the mortgage market was bringing our country down. I've laid out a very aggressive plan to reign in Wall Street -- not just the big banks. That's a part of the problem and I am going right at them. I have a comprehensive, tough plan. But I went further than that. We have to go after what is called the shadow banking industry. Those hedge funds. Look at what happened in '08, AIG, a big insurance company, Lehman Brothers, an investment bank helped to bring our economy down. So, I want to look at the whole problem and that's why my proposal is much more comprehensive than anything else that's been put forth. +p4993 +aVWell John, wait a minute. Wait a minute, he has basically used his answer to impune my integrity. Let's be frank here. +p4994 +aVOh, wait a minute, senator. You know, not only do I have hundreds of thousands of donors, most of them small. And I'm very proud that for the first time a majority of my donors are women, 60 percent. So, I represented New York, and I represented New York on 9/11 when we were attacked. Where were we attacked? We were attacked in downtown Manhattan where Wall Street is. I did spend a whole lot of time and effort helping them rebuild. That was good for New York. It was good for the economy and it was a way to rebuke the terrorists who had attacked our country. So, you know, it's fine for you to say what you're going to say, but I looked very carefully at your proposal. Reinstating Glass- Steagall is a part of what very well could help, but it is nowhere near enough. My proposal is tougher, more effective, and more comprehensive because I go after all of Wall Street not just the big banks. O' +p4995 +aVWell, you know, governor, I know that when you had a chance to appoint a commissioner for financial regulation, you chose an investment banker in 2010. So for me, it is looking at what works and what we need to do to try to move past what happened in '08. And I will go back and say again, AIG was not a big bank. It had to be bailed out and it nearly destroyed us. Lehman Brothers was not a big bank. It was an investment bank. And its bankruptcy and its failure nearly destroyed us. So I've said, if the big banks don't play by the rules, I will break them up. +p4996 +aVAnd I will also go after executives who are responsible for the decisions that have such bad consequences for our country. +p4997 +aVWell, I think that there are different records. I -- you know, know that Senator Sanders had a different vote than I did when it came to giving immunity to gun makers and sellers. That was a terrible mistake. It basically gave the gun lobby even more power to intimidate legislators, not just in Washington but across the country. But just think about this-- since we last debated in Las Vegas, nearly 3,000 people have been killed by guns. Twenty-one mass shootings, including one last weekend in Des Moins where three were murdered. Two hundred children have been killed. This is an emergency. There are a lot of things we've got to do in our country, reigning in Wall Street is certainly one of them. I agree with that. That's why I've got such a good plan. But we have to also go after the gun lobby and 92 percent of Americans agree we should have universal background checks. Close the gun show loophole, close the online loophole and... +p4998 +aVI will do everything I can as president to get that accomplished. +p4999 +aVI -- I said I made a mistake on Iraq, and I would love to see Senator Sanders join with some of my colleague in addition the Senate that I see in the audience. Let's reverse the immunity. Let's put the gun makers and sellers on notice that they're not going to get away with it. +p5000 +aVBut wait, I just want to say this Senator. There is broad consensus, 92 percent in the most recently poll of Americans want gun safety measures... +p5001 +aV... and 85 percent of gun owners agree. +p5002 +aVWe've got the consensus, what we're lacking is political leadership... +p5003 +aV... and that's what you and others can start providing in the Senate. +p5004 +aVWell, I'm sorry that whoever tweeted that had that impression because I worked closely with New Yorkers after 9/11 for my entire first term to rebuild. So, yes, I did know people. I've had a lot of folks give me donations from all kinds of backgrounds say, I don't agree with you on everything, but I like what you do. I like how you stand up. I'm going to support you, and I think that is absolutely appropriate. +p5005 +aVWell, I'll tell you who is on my side. Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize winning economist, who said my plan for what we should do to reign in Wall Street was more comprehensive and better. Paul Volcker, one of the leading lights of trying to reign in the excesses, has also said he does not support reinstating Glass-Steagall. So, I mean this may seem like a bit of an arcane discussion. I have nothing against the passion that my two friends here have about reinstating Glass-Steagall. I just don't think it would get the job done. I'm all about making sure we actually get results for whatever we do. +p5006 +aVI agree completely. I couldn't have said it better myself. But I did want to -- I wanted to follow up. Look, we need more Americans to be involved in the political process. And I give Senator Sanders a lot of credit for really lighting a fire under many people -- young, old, everybody -- who sees a chance to be involved and have their voice heard. Look at what's happening with the Republicans. They are doing everything they can to prevent the voices of Americans to be heard. They're trying to prevent people from registering to vote. So, we do need to take on the Republicans very clearly and directly. But the other thing I just wanted quickly to say is, I think President Obama deserves more credit than he gets for what he got done in Washington, despite the Republican obstructionists. +p5007 +aVI think after 11 hours, that's pretty clear, yes. And, you know, I do think it's important to do exactly what Senator Sanders said, and that is to start talking about the issues that the American people really care about, and that they talk to each of us about. And to contrast, even -- there are differences among us. You've heard some of those tonight. I still want to get back to health care, because I think that's a worthy topic to explore. But the differences among us pale compared to what's happening on the Republican side. And if you listen to what they say -- and I had a chance over those 11 hours to watch and listen, as well as what I see in their debates -- they are putting forth alarming plans. I mean, all of us support funding Planned Parenthood. All of us believe climate change is real. All of us want equal pay for equal work. They don't believe in any of that. So let's focus on what this election is really going to be about. +p5008 +aVWell, John, I come from the '60s, a long time ago. There was a lot of activism on campus -- Civil Rights activism, antiwar activism, women's rights activism -- and I do appreciate the way young people are standing up and speaking out. Obviously, I believe that on a college campus, there should be enough respect so people hear each other. But what happened at the university there, what's happening at other universities, I think reflects the deep sense of, you know, concern, even despair that so many young people, particularly of color, have... You know, I recently met with a group of mothers who lost their children to either killings by police or random killings in their neighborhoods, and hearing their stories was so incredibly, profoundly heartbreaking. Each one of them, you know, described their child, had a picture. You know, the mother of the young man with his friends in the car who was playing loud music and, you know, some older white man pulled out a gun and shot him because they wouldn't turn the radio down. Or a young woman who had been performing at President Obama's second inauguration coming home, absolutely stellar young woman, hanging out with her friends in a park getting shot by a gang member. And, of course, I met the mothers of Eric Garner and Tamir Rice, and Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin and so many of them who have lost their children. So, your original question is the right question. And it's not just a question for parents and grandparents to answer. It's really a question for all of us to answer, every single one of our children deserves the chance to live up to his or her god-given potential. And that's what we need to be doing to the best of our ability in our country. +p5009 +aVKevin, if I could just jump in. I -- I believe that we should make community college free. We should have debt-free college if you go to a public college or university. You should not have to borrow a dime to pay tuition. I want to use pell grants to help defray the living expenses that often make a difference, whether a young person can stay in school or not. I disagree with free college for everybody. I don't think taxpayers should be paying to send Donald Trump's kids to college. I think it ought to be a compact -- families contribute, kids contribute. And together we make it possible for a new generation of young people to refinance their debt and not come out with debt in the future. +p5010 +aVNo. Revolution never came. I waited and I got the scars to show for it. We now have this great accomplishment known as the Affordable Care Act, and I don't think we should have to be defending it among Democrats. We ought to be working to improve it and prevent Republicans from both underming it and even repealing it. I have looked at -- I have looked at the legislation that Senator Sanders has proposed, and basically, he does eliminate the Affordable Care Act, eliminates private insurance, eliminates Medicare, eliminates Medicaid, Tricare, children's health insurance program -- puts it all together in a big program which he then hands over to the states to administer. And I have to tell you, I would not want -- if I lived in Iowa, Terry Branstad administering my health care. I -- I think -- I think as Democrats we ought to proudly support the Affordable Care Act, improve it, and make it the model that we know it can be. +p5011 +aVWell, there are so many, I don't know where to start. I guess the one I -- I would pick is the fact that I was part of a very small group that had to advise the president about whether or not to go after Bin Laden. I spent a lot of time in the situation room as secretary of state and there were many very difficult choices presented to us. But probably that was the most challenging because there was no certainty attached to it. The intelligence was by no means absolute. We had all kinds of questions that we discussed and, you know, at the end, I recommended to the president that we take the chance to do what we could to find out whether that was bin Laden and to finally bring him to justice. It was an excruciating experience. I couldn't talk to anybody about it. In fact, after it happened, the president called my husband -- he called all the former presidents and he said to Bill, "Well I assume Hillary has told you about this." And Bill said, "No, no, she hasn't." There was nobody to talk to and it really did give me an insight into the very difficult problems presidents face. +p5012 +aVWell, thank you very much to CBS and everyone here this evening for giving us another chance to appear before you. I've heard a lot about me in this debate, and I'm going to keep talking and thinking about all of you because ultimately, I think the president's job is to do everything possible, everything that she can do to lift up the people of this country. Starting with our children and moving forward. I've spent my entire life, since I started as a young lawyer for the Children's Defense Fund, trying to figure out how we can even the odds for so many people in America, this great country of ours, who are behind, who don't have a chance. And that's what I will do as your president. I will work my heart out. I need your help. All of you in Iowa, I need you to caucus for me. Please go to hillaryclinton.com and be part of making this country what we know it can and should be. +p5013 +aVWell, thank you, and thanks to everyone for hosting this first of the Democratic debates. I'm Hillary Clinton. I have been proud and privileged to serve as first lady, as a senator from New York, and as secretary of state. I'm the granddaughter of a factory worker and the grandmother of a wonderful one-year-old child. And every day, I think about what we need to do to make sure that opportunity is available not just for her, but for all of our children. I have spent a very long time \u2014 my entire adult life \u2014 looking for ways to even the odds to help people have a chance to get ahead, and, in particular, to find the ways for each child to live up to his or her God-given potential. I've traveled across our country over the last months listening and learning, and I've put forward specific plans about how we're going to create more good-paying jobs: by investing in infrastructure and clean energy, by making it possible once again to invest in science and research, and taking the opportunity posed by climate change to grow our economy. At the center of my campaign is how we're going to raise wages. Yes, of course, raise the minimum wage, but we have to do so much more, including finding ways so that companies share profits with the workers who helped to make them. And then we have to figure out how we're going to make the tax system a fairer one. Right now, the wealthy pay too little and the middle class pays too much. So I have specific recommendations about how we're going to close those loopholes, make it clear that the wealthy will have to pay their fair share, and have a series of tax cuts for middle-class families. And I want to do more to help us balance family and work. I believe in equal pay for equal work for women, but I also believe it's about time we had paid family leave for American families and join the rest of the world. During the course of the evening tonight, I'll have a chance to lay out all of my plans and the work that I've done behind them. But for me, this is about bringing our country together again. And I will do everything I can to heal the divides \u2014 the divides economically, because there's too much inequality; the racial divides; the continuing discrimination against the +p5014 +aVWell, actually, I have been very consistent. Over the course of my entire life, I have always fought for the same values and principles, but, like most human beings \u2014 including those of us who run for office \u2014 I do absorb new information. I do look at what's happening in the world. You know, take the trade deal. I did say, when I was secretary of state, three years ago, that I hoped it would be the gold standard. It was just finally negotiated last week, and in looking at it, it didn't meet my standards. My standards for more new, good jobs for Americans, for raising wages for Americans. And I want to make sure that I can look into the eyes of any middle-class American and say, "this will help raise your wages." And I concluded I could not. +p5015 +aVNo. I think that, like most people that I know, I have a range of views, but they are rooted in my values and my experience. And I don't take a back seat to anyone when it comes to progressive experience and progressive commitment. You know, when I left law school, my first job was with the Children's Defense Fund, and for all the years since, I have been focused on how we're going to un-stack the deck, and how we're gonna make it possible for more people to have the experience I had. You know, to be able to come from a grandfather who was a factory worker, a father who was a small business person, and now asking the people of America to elect me president. +p5016 +aVI'm a progressive. But I'm a progressive who likes to get things done. And I know... ...how to find common ground, and I know how to stand my ground, and I have proved that in every position that I've had, even dealing with Republicans who never had a good word to say about me, honestly. But we found ways to work together on everything from... +p5017 +aV...reforming foster care and adoption to the Children's Health Insurance Program, which insures... +p5018 +aV...8 million kids. So I have a long history of getting things done, rooted in the same values... +p5019 +aV...I've always had. +p5020 +aVWell, let me just follow-up on that, Anderson, because when I think about capitalism, I think about all the small businesses that were started because we have the opportunity and the freedom in our country for people to do that and to make a good living for themselves and their families. And I don't think we should confuse what we have to do every so often in America, which is save capitalism from itself. And I think what Senator Sanders is saying certainly makes sense in the terms of the inequality that we have. But we are not Denmark. I love Denmark. We are the United States of America. And it's our job to rein in the excesses of capitalism so that it doesn't run amok and doesn't cause the kind of inequities we're seeing in our economic system. But we would be making a grave mistake to turn our backs on what built the greatest middle class in the history... +p5021 +aV... of the world. +p5022 +aVNo, not at all. I think that we have to look at the fact that we lose 90 people a day from gun violence. This has gone on too long and it's time the entire country stood up against the NRA. The majority of our country... ... supports background checks, and even the majority of gun owners do. Senator Sanders did vote five times against the Brady bill. Since it was passed, more than 2 million prohibited purchases have been prevented. He also did vote, as he said, for this immunity provision. I voted against it. I was in the Senate at the same time. It wasn't that complicated to me. It was pretty straightforward to me that he was going to give immunity to the only industry in America. Everybody else has to be accountable, but not the gun manufacturers. And we need to stand up and say: Enough of that. We're not going to let it continue. +p5023 +aVWell, first of all, we got a lot of business done with the Russians when Medvedev was the president, and not Putin. We got a nuclear arms deal, we got the Iranian sanctions, we got an ability to bring important material and equipment to our soldiers in Afghanistan. There's no doubt that when Putin came back in and said he was going to be President, that did change the relationship. We have to stand up to his bullying, and specifically in Syria, it is important \u2014 and I applaud the administration because they are engaged in talks right now with the Russians to make it clear that they've got to be part of the solution to try to end that bloody conflict. And, to \u2014 provide safe zones so that people are not going to have to be flooding out of Syria at the rate they are. And, I think it's important too that the United States make it very clear to Putin that it's not acceptable for him to be in Syria creating more chaos, bombing people on behalf of Assad, and we can't do that if we don't take more of a leadership position, which is what I'm advocating. +p5024 +aV...Well, nobody does. Nobody does, Senator Sanders. +p5025 +aVWell, I recall very well being on a debate stage, I think, about 25 times with then Senator Obama, debating this very issue. After the election, he asked me to become Secretary of State. He valued my judgment, and I spent a lot of time with him... ...in the Situation Room, going over some very difficult issues. You know, I \u2014 I agree completely. We don't want American troops on the ground in Syria. I never said that. What I said was we had to put together a coalition \u2014 in fact, something that I worked on before I left the State Department \u2014 to do, and yes, that it should include Arabs, people in the region. Because what I worry about is what will happen with +p5026 +aVWell, first of all, I... +p5027 +aVWell, I am in the middle, here, and... Lots of things coming from all directions. +p5028 +aVYou know, I have to say, I was very pleased when Governor O'Malley endorsed me for president in 2008, and I enjoyed his strong support in that campaign. And I consider him, obviously, a friend. Let me say \u2014 because there's a lot of loose talk going on here \u2014 we are already flying in Syria just as we are flying in Iraq. The president has made a very tough decision. What I believe and why I have advocated that the no-fly zone \u2014 which of course would be in a coalition \u2014 be put on the table is because I'm trying to figure out what leverage we have to get Russia to the table. You know, diplomacy is not about getting to the perfect solution. It's about how you balance the risks. +p5029 +aVAnd I think we have an opportunity here \u2014 and I know that inside the administration this is being hotly debated \u2014 to get that leverage to try to get the Russians to have to deal with everybody in the region and begin to move toward a political, diplomatic solution in Syria. +p5030 +aVWell, let's remember what was going on. We had a murderous dictator, Gadhafi, who had American blood on his hands, as I'm sure you remember, threatening to massacre large numbers of the Libyan people. We had our closest allies in Europe burning up the phone lines begging us to help them try to prevent what they saw as a mass genocide, in their words. And we had the Arabs standing by our side saying, "We want you to help us deal with Gadhafi." Our response, which I think was smart power at its best, is that the United States will not lead this. We will provide essential, unique capabilities that we have, but the Europeans and the Arabs had to be first over the line. We did not put one single American soldier on the ground in Libya. And I'll say this for the Libyan people... +p5031 +aVBut let \u2014 I'll get to that. But I think it's important, since I understand Senator Webb's very strong feelings about this, to explain where we were then and to point out that I think President Obama made the right decision at the time. And the Libyan people had a free election the first time since 1951. And you know what, they voted for moderates, they voted with the hope of democracy. Because of the Arab Spring, because of a lot of other things, there was turmoil to be followed. But unless you believe the United States should not send diplomats to any place that is dangerous, which I do not, then when we send them forth, there is always the potential for danger and risk. +p5032 +aVI \u2014 I think it has to be continued threat from the spread of nuclear weapons, nuclear material that can fall into the wrong hands. I know the terrorists are constantly seeking it, and that's why we have to stay vigilant, but also united around the world to prevent that. +p5033 +aVWell, I've taken responsibility for it. I did say it was a mistake. What I did was allowed by the State Department, but it wasn't the best choice. And I have been as transparent as I know to be, turning over 55,000 pages of my e-mails, asking that they be made public. And you're right. I am going to be testifying. I've been asking to testify for some time and to do it in public, which was not originally agreed to. But let's just take a minute here and point out that this committee is basically an arm of the Republican National Committee. It is a partisan vehicle, as admitted by the House Republican majority leader, Mr. McCarthy, to drive down my poll numbers. Big surprise. And that's what they have attempted to do. I am still standing. I am happy to be part of this debate. And I intend to keep talking about the issues that matter to the American people. You know, I believe strongly that we need to be talking about what people talk to me about, like how are we going to make college affordable? How are we going to pay down student debt? +p5034 +aVHow are we going to get health care for everybody... +p5035 +aVWell, I never said it wasn't legitimate. I said that I have answered all the questions and I will certainly be doing so again before this committee. But I think it would be really unfair not to look at the entire picture. This committee has spent $4.5 million of taxpayer money, and they said that they were trying to figure out what we could do better to protect our diplomats so that something like Benghazi wouldn't happen again. There were already seven committee reports about what to do. So I think it's pretty clear what their obvious goal is. +p5036 +aVBut I'll be there. I'll answer their questions. But tonight, I want to talk not about my e-mails, but about what the American people want from the next president of the United States. +p5037 +aVThank you. Me, too. Me, too. +p5038 +aVThank you, Bernie. Thank you. +p5039 +aVNo. +p5040 +aVWell, I think that President Obama has been a great moral leader on these issues, and has laid out an agenda that has been obstructed by the Republicans at every turn, so... ...So, what we need to be doing is not only reforming criminal justice \u2014 I have talked about that at some length, including things like body cameras, but we also need to be following the recommendations of the commissioner that President Obama empanelled on policing. There is an agenda there that we need to be following up on. Similarly, we need to tackle mass incarceration, and this may be the only bi-partisan issue in the congress this year. We actually have people on both sides of the aisle who have reached the same conclusion, that we can not keep imprisoning more people than anybody else in the world. But, I believe that the debate, and the discussion has to go further, Anderson, because we've got to do more about the lives of these children. That's why I started off by saying we need to be committed to making it possible for every child to live up to his or her god given potential. That is... +p5041 +aV...really hard to do if you don't have early childhood education... +p5042 +aV...if you don't have schools that are able to meet the needs of the people, or good housing, there's a long list... ...We need a new New Deal for communities of color... +p5043 +aVWell, you know, both Bill and I have been very blessed. Neither of us came from wealthy families and we've worked really hard our entire lives. And I want to make sure every single person in this country has the same opportunities that he and I have had, to make the most of their God-given potential and to have the chances that they should have in America for a good education, good job training, and then good jobs. I have a five point economic plan, because this inequality challenge we face, we have faced it at other points. It's absolutely right. It hasn't been this bad since the 1920s. But if you look at the Republicans versus the Democrats when it comes to economic policy, there is no comparison. The economy does better when you have a Democrat in the White House and that's why we need to have a Democrat in the White House in January 2017. +p5044 +aVWell, my plan is more comprehensive. And frankly, it's tougher because of course we have to deal with the problem that the banks are still too big to fail. We can never let the American taxpayer and middle class families ever have to bail out the kind of speculative behavior that we saw. But we also have to worry about some of the other players \u2014 AIG, a big insurance company; Lehman Brothers, an investment bank. There's this whole area called "shadow banking." That's where the experts tell me the next potential problem could come from. +p5045 +aVSo I'm with both Senator Sanders and Governor O'Malley in putting a lot of attention onto the banks. And the plan that I have put forward would actually empower regulators to break up big banks if we thought they posed a risk. But I want to make sure we're going to cover everybody, not what caused the problem last time, but what could cause it next time. +p5046 +aVYeah. You know, I \u2014 I respect the passion an intensity. I represented Wall Street, as a senator from New York, and I went to Wall Street in December of 2007 \u2014 before the big crash that we had \u2014 and I basically said, "cut it out! Quit foreclosing on homes! Quit engaging in these kinds of speculative behaviors." I took on the Bush administration for the same thing. So I have thought deeply and long about what we're gonna do to do exactly what I think both the senator and the governor want, which is to rein in and stop this risk. And my plan would have the potential of actually sending the executives to jail. Nobody went to jail after $100 billion in fines were paid... +p5047 +aV...and would give regulators the authority to go after the big banks. +p5048 +aVBut I'm telling you \u2014 I will say it tonight. If only you look at the big banks, you may be missing the forest for the trees. +p5049 +aVSo... +p5050 +aV...no, that's not what... +p5051 +aV...that \u2014 I think Dodd-Frank was a very... +p5052 +aV...good start, and I think that we have to implement it. We have to prevent the Republicans from ripping it apart. We have to save the Consumer Financial Protection board, which is finally beginning to act to protect consumers. We have work to do. You've got no argument from me. But I know, if we don't come in with a very tough and comprehensive approach, like the plan I'm recommending, we're gonna be behind instead of ahead... +p5053 +aV...on what the next crisis could be. O' +p5054 +aVWell, you know, everybody on this stage has changed a position or two. We've been around a cumulative quite some period of time. You know, we know that if you are learning, you're gonna change your position. I never took a position on Keystone until I took a position on Keystone. But I have been on the forefront of dealing with climate change, starting in 2009, when President Obama and I crashed (ph) a meeting with the Chinese and got them to sign up to the first international agreement to combat climate change that they'd ever joined. So I'm... +p5055 +aV...not taking a back seat to anybody on my values... +p5056 +aV...my principles and the results that I get. +p5057 +aVWell, let me address college affordability, because I have a plan that I think will really zero in on what the problems are. First, all the 40 million Americans who currently have student debt will be able to refinance their debt to a low interest rate. That will save thousands of dollars for people who are now struggling under this cumbersome, burdensome college debt. As a young student in Nevada said to me, the hardest thing about going to college should not be paying for it. So then we have to make it more affordable. How do we make it more affordable? My plan would enable anyone to go to a public college or university tuition free. You would not have to borrow money for tuition. But I do believe \u2014 and maybe it's because I worked when I went through college; I worked when I went through law school \u2014 I think it's important for everybody to have some part of getting this accomplished. That's why I call it a compact. +p5058 +aVBut, yes, I would like students to work 10 hours a week... +p5059 +aVWell, I fully support Social Security. And the most important fight we're going to have is defending it against continuing Republican efforts to privatize it. +p5060 +aVI want to enhance the benefits for the poorest recipients of Social Security. We have a lot of women on Social Security, particularly widowed and single women who didn't make a lot of money during their careers, and they are impoverished, and they need more help from the Social Security system. And I will focus \u2014 I will focus on helping those people who need it the most. And of course I'm going to defend Social Security. I'm going to look for ways to try to make sure it's solvent into the future. And we also need to talk about health care at some time, because we agree on the goals, we just disagree on the means. +p5061 +aVWell, first of all, I want to make sure every child gets health care. That's why I helped to create the Children's Health Insurance Program, and I want to support states that are expanding health care and including undocumented children and others. I want to open up the opportunity for immigrants to be able to buy in to the exchanges under the Affordable Care Act. I think to go beyond that, as I understand what Governor O'Malley has recommended, so that they would get the same subsidies. I think that is \u2014 it raises so many issues. It would be very difficult to administer, it needs to be part of a comprehensive immigration reform, when we finally do get to it. +p5062 +aVI want to follow up because I think underneath Juan Carlos' important questions, there is such a difference between everything you're hearing here on this stage, and what we hear from the Republicans. O' +p5063 +aVDemonize hard-working immigrants who have insulted them. You know, I came to Las Vegas in, I think, May. Early may. Met with a group of +p5064 +aV...than even the executive orders that President Obama has signed when I'm president. ( +p5065 +aVMy plan would support any state that takes that position, and would work with those states and encourage more states to do the same thing. +p5066 +aVIf their states agree, then we want more states to do the same thing. +p5067 +aVNo, I don't. I think that it was necessary to make sure that we were able after 9/11 to put in place the security that we needed. And it is true that it did require that there be a process. What happened, however, is that the Bush administration began to chip away at that process. And I began to speak out about their use of warrantless surveillance and the other behavior that they engaged in. We always have to keep the balance of civil liberties, privacy and security. It's not easy in a democracy, but we have to keep it in mind. +p5068 +aVHe broke the laws of the United States. He could have been a whistleblower. He could have gotten all of the protections of being a whistleblower. He could have raised all the issues that he has raised. And I think there would have been a positive response to that. +p5069 +aVWell, I think that's pretty obvious. I think being the first woman president would be quite a change from the presidents we've had up until this point, including President Obama. +p5070 +aVWell, there's a lot that I would like to do to build on the successes of President Obama, but also, as I'm laying out, to go beyond. And that's in my economic plans, how I would deal with the prescription drug companies, how I would deal with college, how I would deal with a full range of issues that I've been talking about throughout this campaign to go further. +p5071 +aVWell, thank you. ( +p5072 +aVYou know, it does take me a little longer. That's all I can say. +p5073 +aVWell, I can't think of anything more of an outsider than electing the first woman president, but I'm not just running because I would be the first woman president. +p5074 +aVI'm running because I have a lifetime of experience in getting results and fighting for people, fighting for kids, for women, for families, fighting to even the odds. And I know what it takes to get things done. I know how to find common ground and I know how to stand my ground. And I think we're going to need both of those in Washington to get anything that we're talking about up here accomplished. So I'm very happy that I have both the commitment of a lifetime and the experience of a lifetime to bring together to offer the American people. +p5075 +aVWell, I would not ask anyone to vote for me based on my last name. I would ask them to listen to what I'm proposing, look at what I've accomplished in the Senate, as secretary of of state, and then draw your own conclusion. I certainly am not campaigning to become president because my last name is Clinton. I'm campaigning because I think I have the right combination of what the country needs, at this point, and I think I can take the fight to the Republicans, because we cannot afford a Republican to succeed Barack Obama as president of the United States. +p5076 +aVWell, that \u2014 that's exactly what I've been doing. When we met in Copenhagen in 2009 and, literally, President Obama and I were hunting for the Chinese, going throughout this huge convention center, because we knew we had to get them to agree to something. Because there will be no effective efforts against climate change unless China and India join with the rest of the world. They told us they'd left for the airport; we found out they were having a secret meeting. We marched up, we broke in, we said, "We've been looking all over for you. Let's sit down and talk about what we need to do." And we did come up with the first international agreement that China has signed. Thanks to President Obama's leadership, it's now gone much further. +p5077 +aVAnd I do think that the bilateral agreement that President Obama made with the Chinese was significant. Now, it needs to go further, and there will be an international meeting at the end of this year, and we must get verifiable commitments to fight climate change from every country gathered there. +p5078 +aVMm-hmm. +p5079 +aVWell, I'm surprised she says that, because California has had a paid leave program for a number of years. And it's... +p5080 +aVWell, but all \u2014 well, on a state level, a state as big as many countries in the world. And it has not had the ill effects that the Republicans are always saying it will have. And I think this is \u2014 this is typical Republican scare tactics. We can design a system and pay for it that does not put the burden on small businesses. I remember as a young mother, you know, having a baby wake up who was sick and I'm supposed to be in court, because I was practicing law. I know what it's like. And I think we need to recognize the incredible challenges that so many parents face, particularly working moms. I see my good friend, Senator Gillibrand, in the front row. She's been a champion of this. We need to get a consensus through this campaign, which is why I'm talking about it everywhere I go, and we need to join the rest of the advanced world in having it. +p5081 +aVWell, look, you know, when people say that \u2014 it's always the Republicans or their sympathizers who say, "You can't have paid leave, you can't provide health care." They don't mind having big government to interfere with a woman's right to choose and to try to take down Planned Parenthood. They're fine with big government when it comes to that. I'm sick of it. You know, we can do these things. We should not be paralyzed \u2014 we should not be paralyzed by the Republicans and their constant refrain, "big government this, big government that," that except for what they want to impose on the American people. I know we can afford it, because we're going to make the wealthy pay for it. That is the way to get it done. +p5082 +aVNo. I think that we have the opportunity through the states that are pursuing recreational marijuana to find out a lot more than we know today. I do support the use of medical marijuana, and I think even there we need to do a lot more research so that we know exactly how we're going to help people for whom medical marijuana provides relief. So, I think we're just at the beginning, but I agree completely with the idea that we have got to stop imprisoning people who use marijuana. Therefore, we need more states, cities, and the federal government to begin to address this so that we don't have this terrible result that Senator Sanders was talking about where we have a huge population in our prisons for nonviolent, low-level offenses that are primarily due to marijuana. +p5083 +aVWell, in addition to the NRA, the health insurance companies, the drug companies, the Iranians. Probably the Republicans. +p5084 +aVThank you very much, Anderson. And thanks to all the viewers who tuned in tonight. I think what you did see is that, in this debate, we tried to deal with some of the very tough issues facing our country. That's in stark contrast to the Republicans who are currently running for president. What you have to ask yourself is: Who amongst us has the vision for actually making the changes that are going to improve the lives of the American people? Who has the tenacity and the ability and the proven track record of getting that done? Now, I revere my late mother, and she gave me a lot of good advice. But one of the best pieces of advice she gave me was, you know, the issue is not whether or not you get knocked down. It's whether you get back up. America's been knocked down. That Great Recession, 9 million people lost their jobs, 5 million lost their homes, $13 trillion in wealth disappeared. And although we've made progress, we're standing but not running the way America needs to. My mission as president will be to raise incomes for hard-working middle-class families and to make sure that we get back to the basic bargain I was raised with: If you work hard and you do your part, you should be able to get ahead and stay ahead. Please join me in this campaign. Please come and make it clear that America's best days are still ahead. Thank you very much. +p5085 +asVTRUMP +p5086 +(lp5087 +VThank you. I began this journey six months ago. My total focus was on building up our military, building up our strength, building up our borders, making sure that China, Japan, Mexico, both at the border and in trade, no longer takes advantage of our country. Certainly would never have made that horrible, disgusting, absolutely incompetent deal with Iran where they get $150 billion. They're a terrorist nation. But I began it talking about other things. And those things are things that I'm very good at and maybe that's why I'm center stage. People saw it. People liked it. People respected it. A month ago things changed. Radical Islamic terrorism came into effect even more so than it has been in the past. People like what I say. People respect what I say. And we've opened up a very big discussion that needed to be opened up. Thank you very much. +p5088 +aVWe are not talking about isolation. We're talking about security. We're not talking about religion. We're talking about security. Our country is out of control. People are pouring across the southern border. I will build a wall. It will be a great wall. People will not come in unless they come in legally. Drugs will not pour through that wall. As far as other people like in the migration, where they're going, tens of thousands of people having cell phones with +p5089 +aVJeb doesn't really believe I'm unhinged. He said that very simply because he has failed in this campaign. It's been a total disaster. Nobody cares. And frankly, I'm the most solid person up here. I built a tremendous company and all I want to do is make America great again. I don't want our country to be taken away from us, and that's what's happening. The policies that we've suffered under other presidents have been a disaster for our country. We want to make America great again. And Jeb, in all fairness, he doesn't believe that. +p5090 +aVWell, look, this is so easy to answer. +p5091 +aVI would certainly be open to closing areas where we are at war with somebody. I sure as hell don't want to let people that want to kill us and kill our nation use our Internet. Yes, sir, I am. +p5092 +aVWe have to be much tougher. We have to be much stronger than we've been. We have people that know what is going on. You take a look at just the attack in California the other day. There were numerous people, including the mother, that knew what was going on. They saw a pipe bomb sitting all over the floor. They saw ammunition all over the place. They knew exactly what was going on. When you had the World Trade Center go, people were put into planes that were friends, family, girlfriends, and they were put into planes and they were sent back, for the most part, to Saudi Arabia. They knew what was going on. They went home and they wanted to watch their boyfriends on television. I would be very, very firm with families. Frankly, that will make people think because they may not care much about their lives, but they do care, believe it or not, about their families' lives. +p5093 +aVLook, the problem is we need toughness. Honestly, I think Jeb is a very nice person. He's a very nice person. But we need tough people. We need toughness. We need intelligence and we need tough. Jeb said when they come across the southern border they come as an act of love. +p5094 +aVAm I talking or are you talking, Jeb? +p5095 +aVYou can go back. You're not talking. You interrupted me. +p5096 +aVAre you going to apologize, Jeb? No. Am I allowed to finish? +p5097 +aVExcuse me, am I allowed to finish? +p5098 +aVSo... +p5099 +aV... again... +p5100 +aVI know you're trying to build up your energy, Jeb, but it's not working very well. +p5101 +aVLook, look, look. We need a toughness. We need strength. We're not respected, you know, as a nation anymore. We don't have that level of respect that we need. And if we don't get it back fast, we're just going to go weaker, weaker and just disintegrate. We can't allow that to happen. We need strength. We don't have it. When Jeb comes out and he talks about the border, and I saw it and I was witness to it, and so was everyone else, and I was standing there, "they come across as an act of love," he's saying the same thing right now with radical Islam. And we can't have that in our country. It just won't work. We need strength. +p5102 +aVWith Jeb's attitude, we will never be great again, that I can tell you. We will never be great again. +p5103 +aVSo, they can kill us, but we can't kill them? That's what you're saying. And as far as the Internet is concerned, we're not talking about closing the Internet. I'm talking about parts of Syria, parts of Iraq, where +p5104 +aVIn my opinion, we've spent $4 trillion trying to topple various people that frankly, if they were there and if we could've spent that $4 trillion in the United States to fix our roads, our bridges, and all of the other problems; our airports and all of the other problems we've had, we would've been a lot better off. I can tell you that right now. We have done a tremendous disservice, not only to Middle East, we've done a tremendous disservice to humanity. The people that have been killed, the people that have wiped away, and for what? It's not like we had victory. It's a mess. The Middle East is totally destabilized. A total and complete mess. I wish we had the $4 trillion or $5 trillion. I wish it were spent right here in the United States, on our schools, hospitals, roads, airports, and everything else that are all falling apart. +p5105 +aVWell, there's nothing to respond to. Well, people feel differently. I mean, the fact is Benghazi was a disaster because of Libya, everything just fell into place. It could not have been worse. What do we have now? We have nothing. We've spent $3 trillion and probably much more \u2013 I have no idea what we've spent. Thousands and thousands of lives, we have nothing. Wounded warriors all over the place who I love, we have nothing for it. And by the way \u2013 and Ben said incorrectly \u2013 and I'm not saying this as a knock \u2013 he's one of finest men. You're not going to find a finer men. But I've been talking about oil for three years. I've been saying,, "take the oil, take the oil." I didn't say, "just bomb it," I said," take it and use it and distribute it so that the wounded warriors -" People, I've been saying this now for many years. +p5106 +aVNow, all of a sudden everybody's saying, "take the oil." It wasn't so fashionable to take the oil six months ago. I've been saying it for years. +p5107 +aVI think Assad is a bad guy, a very bad guy, all right? Lots of people killed. I think we are backing people we have no idea who they are. The rebels, we call them the rebels, the patriotic rebels. We have no idea. A lot of people think, Hugh, that they are +p5108 +aVI think it's very sad that CNN leads Jeb Bush, Governor Bush, down a road by starting off virtually all the questions, "Mr. Trump this, Mister" \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched the first debate, and the first long number of questions were, "Mr. Trump said this, Mr. Trump said that. Mr. Trump" \u2014 these poor guys \u2014 although, I must tell you, Santorum, good guy. Governor Huckabee, good guy. They were very nice, and I respect them greatly. But I thought it was very unfair that virtually the entire early portion of the debate was Trump this, Trump that, in order to get ratings, I guess. In order to get ratings, I guess. +p5109 +aVI just think it's very \u2014 excuse me. +p5110 +aVExcuse me. I think it's very unprofessional. +p5111 +aVWell, I think it's very unprofessional. +p5112 +aVOK, fine. +p5113 +aVThis isn't tough and easy. I wish it... +p5114 +aVI wish it was always this easy as you, Jeb. +p5115 +aVOh, yeah. +p5116 +aVOh, I know. You're a tough guy, Jeb. I know. +p5117 +aVYou're tough. +p5118 +aVWell, let's see. I'm at 42, and you're at 3. So, so far, I'm doing better. +p5119 +aVSo far, I'm doing better. You know, you started off over here, Jeb. You're moving over further and further. Pretty soon you're going to be off the end... +p5120 +aVI believe I did. +p5121 +aVI have a very hardline position, we have a country or we don't have a country. People that have come into our country illegally, they have to go. They have to come back into through a legal process. I want a strong border. I do want a wall. Walls do work, you just have to speak to the folks in Israel. Walls work if they're properly constructed. I know how to build, believe me, I know how to build. I feel a very, very strong bind, and really I'm bound to this country, we either have a border or we don't. People can come into the country, we welcome people to come but they have to come in legally. +p5122 +aVWell, first of all, I think we need somebody absolutely that we can trust, who is totally responsible; who really knows what he or she is doing. That is so powerful and so important. And one of the things that I'm frankly most proud of is that in 2003, 2004, I was totally against going into Iraq because you're going to destabilize the Middle East. I called it. I called it very strongly. And it was very important. But we have to be extremely vigilant and extremely careful when it comes to nuclear. Nuclear changes the whole ball game. Frankly, I would have said get out of Syria; get out \u2014 if we didn't have the power of weaponry today. The power is so massive that we can't just leave areas that 50 years ago or 75 years ago we wouldn't care. It was hand-to-hand combat. The biggest problem this world has today is not President Obama with global warming, which is inconceivable, this is what he's saying. The biggest problem we have is nuclear \u2014 nuclear proliferation and having some maniac, having some madman go out and get a nuclear weapon. That's in my opinion, that is the single biggest problem that our country faces right now. +p5123 +aVI think \u2014 I think, for me, nuclear is just the power, the devastation is very important to me. +p5124 +aVI did. +p5125 +aVLet me just say that I have gotten to know him over the last three or four days. He has a wonderful temperament. He's just fine. Don't worry about it. +p5126 +aVYou better not attack... +p5127 +aVI really am. I'll be honest, I really am. I mean, the people have been putting me... I really am. +p5128 +aVLet me just. Can I just finish my... +p5129 +aVI've gained great respect for the Republican leadership. I've gained great respect for many \u2014 and I'm going to even say \u2014 I mean, in different forms for the people on the dais, in different forms. In different forms. But I have great respect for the people I have met through this process. I've never done this process before. I've never been a politician. I mean, for the last six months I've been a politician. But I will tell you, I am totally committed to the Republican Party. I feel very honored to be the front runner. And I think I'll do very well if I'm chosen. If I'm so fortunate to be chosen, I think I'll do very well. Polls have come out recently saying I would beat Hillary. I will do everything in my power to beat Hillary Clinton, I promise you. +p5130 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We don't win on trade. We don't win on the military. We can't defeat +p5131 +aVI can't be Neil. And the and the reason I can't be is that we are a country that is being beaten on every front economically, militarily. There is nothing that we do now to win. We don't win anymore. Our taxes are too high. I've come up with a tax plan that many, many people like very much. It's going to be a tremendous plan. I think it'll make our country and our economy very dynamic. But, taxes too high, wages too high, we're not going to be able to compete against the world. I hate to say it, but we have to leave it the way it is. People have to go out, they have to work really hard and have to get into that upper stratum. But we can not do this if we are going to compete with the rest of the world. We just can't do it. +p5132 +aVI would not do it. +p5133 +aVI was so happy yesterday when I saw that decision come down. That was an unbelievable decision. And we don't have enough of those decisions coming down. He of the executive order, because nobody wants to listen to him, including the Democrats, so he just goes around signing executive orders. That was a great day. And, frankly, we have to stop illegal immigration. It's hurting us economically. It's hurting us from every standpoint. It's causing tremendous difficulty with respect to drugs and what that does to many of our inner cities in particular. And it really is \u2014 was such an unbelievable moment because the courts have not been ruling in our favor. And it was a 2-1 decision. And it was a terrific thing that happened. And I will tell you, we are a country of laws. We need borders. We will have a wall. The wall will be built. The wall will be successful. And if you think walls don't work, all you have to do is ask Israel. The wall works, believe me. Properly done. Believe me. +p5134 +aVYou are going to have to bring people \u2014 you are going to have to send people out. Look, we're a country... +p5135 +aVMaria, we're a country of laws. We either have a country or we don't have a country. We are a country of laws. Going to have to go out and they will come back but they are going to have to go out and hopefully they get back. But we have no choice if we're going to run our country properly and if we're going to be a country. +p5136 +aVAll I can say is, you're lucky in Ohio that you struck oil. That is for one thing. Let me just tell you that Dwight Eisenhower, good president, great president, people liked him. "I like Ike," right? The expression. "I like Ike." Moved a 1.5 million illegal immigrants out of this country, moved them just beyond the border. They came back. Moved them again beyond the border, they came back. Didn't like it. Moved them way south. They never came back. Dwight Eisenhower. You don't get nicer. You don't get friendlier. They moved a 1.5 million out. We have no choice. We have no choice. +p5137 +aVNo, it's unfair. +p5138 +aV... built an unbelievable company worth billions and billions of dollars. I don't have to hear from this man, believe me. I don't have to hear from him. +p5139 +aVWe have millions of people right now on line trying to come into this country. Very, very unfair to the people that want to come into our country legally. They've gone through the process. They're on line. They're waiting. Very, very unfair to them. That I can tell you. +p5140 +aVYes. +p5141 +aVNo, I'm sorry. No, excuse me. I was there. +p5142 +aVPlease, if I could just... +p5143 +aVWe have to make our military bigger, better, stronger than ever before so that nobody messes with us, and a long run, it's going to save us. I agree with Marco, I agree with Ted, we have no choice. And, I can tell you this with certainty. We all have a different tax plan. Some I don't totally agree with. One thing we understand, each one of those tax plans is better than the mess that we have right now. +p5144 +aV...Yes... +p5145 +aV...Yeah... +p5146 +aV...It's a horrible deal... +p5147 +aVThe TPP is horrible deal. It is a deal that is going to lead to nothing but trouble. It's a deal that was designed for China to come in, as they always do, through the back door and totally take advantage of everyone. It's 5,600 pages long. So complex that nobodies read it. It's like Obamacare; nobody ever read it. They passed it; nobody read it. And look at mess we have right now. And it will be repealed. But this is one of the worst trade deals. And I would, yes, rather not have it. With all of these countries, and all of the bad ones getting advantage and taking advantage of what the good ones would normally get, I'd rather make individual deals with individual countries. We will do much better. We lose a fortune on trade. The United States loses with everybody. We're losing now over $500 billion in terms of imbalance with China, $75 billion a year imbalance with Japan. By the way, Mexico, $50 billion a year imbalance. So I must say, Gerard, I just think it's a terrible deal. I love trade. I'm a free trader, 100 percent. But we need smart people making the deals, and we don't have smart people making the deals. +p5148 +aVYes. Well, the currency manipulation they don't discuss in the agreement, which is a disaster. If you look at the way China and India and almost everybody takes advantage of the United States \u2014 China in particular, because they're so good. It's the number-one abuser of this country. And if you look at the way they take advantage, it's through currency manipulation. It's not even discussed in the almost 6,000-page agreement. It's not even discussed. +p5149 +aVAnd as you understand, I mean, you understand very well from the Wall Street Journal, currency manipulation is the single great weapon people have. They don't even discuss it in this agreement. So I say, it's a very bad deal, should not be approved. If it is approved, it will just be more bad trade deals, more loss of jobs for our country. We are losing jobs like nobody's ever lost jobs before. I want to bring jobs back into this country. +p5150 +aVWell, first of all, it's not only Russia. We have problems with North Korea where they actually have nuclear weapons. You know, nobody talks about it, we talk about Iran, and that's one of the worst deals ever made. One of the worst contracts ever signed, ever, in anything, and it's a disgrace. But, we have somebody over there, a madman, who already has nuclear weapons we don't talk about that. That's a problem. China is a problem, both economically in what they're doing in the South China Sea, I mean, they are becoming a very, very major force. So, we have more than just Russia. But, as far as the Ukraine is concerned, and you could Syria \u2014 as far as Syria, I like \u2014 if Putin wants to go in, and I got to know him very well because we were both on 60 Minutes, we were stablemates, and we did very well that night. But, you know that. But, if Putin wants to go and knocked the hell out of +p5151 +aV...They blew up \u2014 hold it.... +p5152 +aV...They blew up, wait a minute... ...They blew up a Russian airplane. He cannot be in love with these people. He's going in, and we can go in, and everybody should go in. As far as the Ukraine is concerned, we have a group of people, and a group of countries, including Germany \u2014 tremendous economic behemoth \u2014 why are we always doing the work? We are \u2014 I'm all for protecting Ukraine and working \u2014 but, we have countries that are surrounding the Ukraine that aren't doing anything. They say, "Keep going, keep going, you dummies, keep going. Protect us..." ...And we have to get smart. We can't continue to be the policeman of the world. We are $19 trillion dollars, we have a country that's going to hell, we have an infrastructure that's falling apart. Our roads, our bridges, our schools, our airports, and we have to start investing money in our country. +p5153 +aVAssad is a bad guy, but we have no idea who the so-called rebels \u2014 I read about the rebels, nobody even knows who they are. I spoke to a general two weeks ago, he said \u2014 he was very up on exactly what we're talking about. He said, "You know, Mr. Trump? We're giving hundreds of millions of dollars of equipment to these people, we have no idea who they are." So, I don't like Assad. Who's going to like Assad? But, we have no idea who these people, and what they're going to be, and what they're going to represent. They may be far worse than Assad. Look at Libya. Look at Iraq. Look at the mess we have after spending $2 trillion dollars, thousands of lives, wounded warriors all over the place \u2014 who I love, OK? All over. We have nothing. And, I said, keep the oil. And we should have kept the oil, believe me. We should have kept the oil. And, you know what? We should have given the oil... ..We should've given big chunks to the people that lost their arms, their legs, and their families, and their sons, and daughters, because right now, you know who has a lot of that oil? Iran, and +p5154 +aVWhy does she keep interrupting everybody? Terrible. +p5155 +aVWe are not. +p5156 +aV...No, no, no... +p5157 +aVWell, what's happening right now, Neil, is something that not been a subject of conversation by politicians. As primarily the only politician, I guess other than Carly on the stage, they haven't talked about a corporate inversion. A corporate inversion \u2014 companies are leaving. You know, we used to leave New York to go to Florida. We got better taxes, we got, maybe, something else. Now, they're the United States to go to other countries. They have trillions of dollars in those other countries. They're going for two reasons, they can't get their money back in. It's something where the democrats and the republicans both agree, it's the only thing I can think of. They both agree, let the money come back in. Three and a half years, they still can't make a deal. They can't get the money in. It's probably two and a half trillion, but, I think it's much more than that. All of that money could become \u2014 could come right in and be used to rebuild our country, and investments in our country. They can't do it. What we have to do, and what I've done, is made the tax rate \u2014 and one of the reasons they don't the taxes so obnoxious, they can't do it. Where, I made it a 10% number, as you know. I've been very highly praised for it. A lot of money's going to come back in, we're going to get rid of the bureaucratic problems, and roadblocks, because that's also a problem. And, we're going to have all of this money pour back into the United States. It's going to be used to build businesses, for jobs, and everything else. And, as I say, my expression is, let's make America great again. +p5158 +aVThank you. Over the years, I've created tens of thousands of jobs and a great company. It's a company I'm very proud of. Some of the most iconic assets anywhere in the world. And I will tell you, I don't have to give you a website because I'm self-funding my campaign. I'm putting up my own money. I want to do something really special. I want to make our country greater than it's ever been. I think we have that potential. We cannot lose this election. We cannot let Hillary Clinton, who is the worst secretary of state in the history of our country, win this election. We will fight. We will win. And we truly will make this even more special. We have to make it better than ever before. And I will tell you, the United States can actually be better than ever before. Thank you. +p5159 +aVI think maybe my greatest weakness is that I trust people too much. I'm too trusting. And when they let me down, if they let me down, I never forgive. I find it very, very hard to forgive people that deceived me. So I don't know if you would call that a weakness, but my wife said "let up." +p5160 +aVRight. +p5161 +aVRight. +p5162 +aVThat's right. +p5163 +aVNo, not a comic book, and it's not a very nicely asked question the way you say that. Larry Kudlow is an example, who I have a lot of respect for, who loves my tax plan. We're reducing taxes to 15 percent. We're bringing corporate taxes down, bringing money back in, corporate inversions. We have $2.5 trillion outside of the United States which we want to bring back in. As far as the wall is concerned, we're going to build a wall. We're going to create a border. We're going to let people in, but they're going to come in legally. They're going to come in legally. And it's something that can be done, and I get questioned about that. They built the great wall of China. That's 13,000 miles. Here, we actually need 1,000 because we have natural barriers. So we need 1,000. We can do a wall. We're going to have a big, fat beautiful door right in the middle of the wall. We're going to have people come in, but they're coming in legally. And Mexico's going to pay for the wall because Mexico \u2014 I love the Mexican people; I respect the Mexican leaders \u2014 but the leaders are much sharper, smarter and more cunning than our leaders. And just to finish, people say, how will you get Mexico to pay? A politician other than the people in the states \u2014 I don't want to \u2014 a politician cannot get them to pay. I can. We lose, we have a trade imbalance... Excuse me, John. ... of $50 billion... +p5164 +aV... believe me the world is peanuts by comparison. +p5165 +aVRight. Dynamically. +p5166 +aVThen you have to get rid of Larry Kudlow, who sits on your panel, who's a great guy, who came out the other day and said, I love Trump's tax plan. +p5167 +aVFirst of all, John got lucky with a thing called fracking, OK? He hit oil. He got lucky with fracking. Believe me, that is why Ohio is doing well. Number \u2014 and that is important for you to know. Number two, this was the man that was a managing general partner at Lehman Brothers when it went down the tubes and almost took every one of us with it, including Ben and myself, because I was there and I watched what happened. And Lehman Brothers started it all. He was on the board. And he was a managing general partner. And just thirdly, he was so nice. He was such a nice guy. And he said, oh, I'm never going to attack. But then his poll numbers tanked. He has got \u2014 that is why he is on the end. And he got nasty. And he got nasty. So you know what? You can have him. +p5168 +aVI think you're \u2014 +p5169 +aVWell, first of all, like many other very big businessmen, I could name them here, but I'm not going to do that for a lot of obvious reasons, but the biggest, and almost all of them, they've all used the chapter laws, the bankruptcy laws to their own benefit. Before this, I was a very successful person as a developer and as a businessman. Atlantic City has gone bad. I mean, Chris will know about that. I'm not blaming Chris, by the way, but he will know about that. Caesar's \u2014 excuse me \u2014 Caesar's, the Rolls-Royce, as you know, is in bankruptcy. Almost every hotel in Atlantic City has either been in bankruptcy or will be in bankruptcy \u2014 the biggest. But also the biggest people (ph) \u2014 now I've used that to my advantage as a business man, for my family, for myself. I never filed for bankruptcy. But many, many people did. What happened with Atlantic City is very, very disgraceful. Now hundreds of companies I've opened. I've used it three times, maybe four times. Came out great. But I guess I'm supposed to come out great. That is what I could do for the country. We owe $19 trillion, boy am I good at solving debt problems. Nobody can solve it like me. But I will tell you this, Atlantic City, you're using that, hundreds of companies that I have opened have thrived. I built a net worth of way over $10 billion, and I have done it four times out of hundreds. And I'm glad I did it. I used the laws of the country to my benefit, I'm sorry. +p5170 +aVThank you. +p5171 +aVI was not at all critical of him. I was not at all. In fact, frankly, he's complaining about the fact that we're losing some of the most talented people. They go to Harvard. They go to Yale. They go to Princeton. They come from another country and they're immediately sent out. I am all in favor of keeping these talented people here so they can go to work in Silicon Valley. +p5172 +aVSo I have nothing at all critical of him. +p5173 +aVProbably, I don't know \u2014 you people write the stuff. I don't know where you... And if I could say just one thing. I am the only person in either campaign that's self-funding. I'm putting up 100 percent of my own money. And right now, I will be putting up a tremendous \u2014 so far, I've put up less than anybody and I have the best results. Wouldn't that be nice if the country could do that? But I will be putting \u2014 I will be putting up, you know, tremendous amounts of money. SuperPacs are a disaster. They're a scam. They cause dishonesty. And you better get rid of them because they are causing a lot of bad decisions to be made by some very good people. And I'm not blaming these folks \u2014 well, I guess I could. Very good people are making very bad decisions right now. And if anything comes out of this whole thing with some of these nasty and ridiculous questions, I will tell you, you better get rid of the SuperPacs because they causing a big problem with this country, not only in dishonesty and what's going on, but also in a lot of bad decisions that have been made for the benefit of lobbyists and special interests. +p5174 +aVI never said that. I never said that. +p5175 +aVYou've got another gentleman in Florida, who happens to be a very nice guy, but not... +p5176 +aV... he's really doing some bad... +p5177 +aVI'm in favor of people coming into this country legally. And you know what? They can have it anyway you want. You can call it visas, you can call it work permits, you can call it anything you want. I've created tens of thousands of jobs, and in all due respect \u2014 and actually some of these folks I really like a lot \u2014 but I'm the only one that can say that. I have created tens of thousands of jobs, and I'll be creating many millions of jobs if I'm given \u2014 if I'm given the opportunity to be president. As far as Mark is concerned, as far as the visas are concerned, if we need people, they have \u2014 it's fine. They have to come into this country legally. We have a country of borders. We have a country of laws. We have to obey the laws. It's fine if they come in, but they have to come in legally. +p5178 +aVYes. +p5179 +aVOr somebody else. Right. +p5180 +aVYes, I might feel more comfortable. I would say that I would and I have a permit, which is very unusual in New York \u2014 a permit to carry. And I do carry on occasion, sometimes a lot. But I like to be unpredictable so that people don't know exactly... +p5181 +aVBy the way, unlike our country where we're totally predictable and the enemy, whether it's +p5182 +aVI would change them. I would change them. +p5183 +aVSuch a nasty \u2014 such a nasty question, but thank you, Governor. +p5184 +aVYes, it's very simple. We're going to make a really dynamic economy from what we have right now, which is not at all dynamic. We're going to bring jobs back from Japan, we're going to bring jobs back from China, we're going to bring, frankly, jobs back from Mexico where, as you probably saw, Nabisco is leaving Chicago with one of their biggest plants, and they're moving it to Mexico. We're going to bring jobs and manufacturing back. We're going to cut costs. We're going to save Social Security, and we're going to save Medicare. [ +p5185 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We used to win, we don't win anymore. We lose on trade. We lose with +p5186 +aVAnd, I'll do that with the country. We will make America great again. And, thank you everybody. Just for the record. +p5187 +aVThat's not right. That is absolutely not right. You know that. That is not right. [ +p5188 +aVI'm Donald Trump. I wrote "The Art of the Deal". I say not in a braggadocious way, I've made billions and billions of dollars dealing with people all over the world, and I want to put whatever that talent is to work for this country so we have great trade deals, we make our country rich again, we make it great again. We build our military, we take care of our vets, we get rid of Obamacare, and we have a great life altogether. Thank you. Thank you. +p5189 +aVWell, first of all, Rand Paul shouldn't even be on this stage. He's number 11, he's got 1 percent in the polls, and how he got up here, there's far too many people anyway. As far as temperament \u2014 and we all know that \u2014 as far as temperament, I think I have a great temperament. I built a phenomenal business with incredible, iconic assets, one of the really truly great real-estate businesses. And I may be an entertainer, because I've had tremendous success with number-one bestsellers all over the place, with "The Apprentice" and everything else I've done. But I will tell you this: What I am far and away greater than an entertainer is a businessman, and that's the kind of mindset this country needs to bring it back, because we owe $19 trillion right now, $19 trillion, and you need this kind of thinking to bring our country back. And believe me, my temperament is very good, very calm. But we will be respected outside of this country. We are not respected now. +p5190 +aVI never attacked him on his look, and believe me, there's plenty of subject matter right there. That I can tell you. +p5191 +aVI've actually been in politics all my life, although I've been on that side as opposed to this side. I'm now a politician for about three months. Obviously, I'm doing pretty well. I'm number one in every poll by a lot. But the qualification is that I've dealt with people all over the world, been successful all over the world. Everything I've done virtually has been a tremendous success. When markets changed, when things turned, I heard Governor Pataki, who, by the way, was a failed governor in New York, a very seriously failed \u2014 he wouldn't be elected dog catcher right now. I heard what he had to say. And I will tell you this: Atlantic City, I've made a tremendous amount of money in Atlantic City. I left seven years ago, I've gotten great credit for my timing, and that's what I'm all about. I'm a businessman, did really well, really well, and Jeb, what I want to do is put that ability into this country to make our country rich again. And I can do that, and I'm not sure that anybody else in the group will be able to do that. +p5192 +aVBut I have to say... +p5193 +aVWell, in Wisconsin... +p5194 +aVExcuse me. +p5195 +aVIn Wisconsin, you're losing $2.2 billion right now. +p5196 +aVI would do so much better than that. +p5197 +aVNo. +p5198 +aVI'm using facts. +p5199 +aVEvery major business leader has used the \u2014 I never went bankrupt, by the way, as you know, everybody knows. But we \u2014 hundreds of companies, hundreds of deals, I've used ???: ... into bankruptcy. That's what's wrong with politicians in Washington right now. They think we can take a country into bankruptcy. +p5200 +aVEvery major business leader, has used the \u2014 I never went bank bankrupt, by the way, as you know, everybody knows. But \u2014 hundreds of companies, hundreds of deals, I used the law four times and made a tremendous thing. I'm in business. I did a very good job. But I will say this, and people are very, very impressed with what I've done, the business people. But when the folks of Iowa found out the true facts of the job that you've done in Wisconsin, all of a sudden you, tubed (ph), he was No. 1 and now he's No. 6 or seven in the polls. So, look, we brought it out, you were supposed to make a billion dollars in the state. You lost 2.2 \u2014 you have right now, a huge budget deficit. That's not a Democratic point. That's a point. That's a fact. And when the people of Iowa found that out, I went to No. 1 and you went down the tubes. +p5201 +aVI didn't \u2014 +p5202 +aVTotally false. +p5203 +aVI would have gotten it. +p5204 +aVI promise I would have gotten it. +p5205 +aVI promise if I wanted it, I would have gotten it. +p5206 +aVI know my people. +p5207 +aVI know my people. +p5208 +aVNo. I just will tell you that, you know, Jeb made the statement. I'm not only referring to him. I \u2014 a lot of money was raised by a lot of different people that are standing up here. And the donors, the special interests, the lobbyists have very strong power over these people. I'm spending all of my money, I'm not spending \u2014 I'm not getting any \u2014 I turned down \u2014 I turn down so much, I could have right now from special interests and donors, I could have double and triple what he's got. I've turned it down. I turned down last week $5 million from somebody. So I will tell you I understand the game, I've been on the other side all of my life. And they have a lot of control over our politicians. And I don't say that favorably, and I'm not sure if there's another system, but I say this. I am not accepting any money from anybody. Nobody has control of me other than the people of this country. I'm going to do the right thing. +p5209 +aVThat's true. That's true. +p5210 +aVI was \u2014 excuse me, Jeb. +p5211 +aVI was a businessman, I got along with Clinton, I got along with everybody. That was my job, to get along with people. +p5212 +aVI didn't want to \u2014 excuse me. One second. +p5213 +aVOK, more energy tonight. I like that. Look \u2014 +p5214 +aVI didn't want \u2014 it was my obligation as a businessman to my family, to my company, to my employees, to get along with all politicians. I get along with all of them, and I did a damn good job in doing it. Go ahead. +p5215 +aVGot along with everybody. +p5216 +aVWrong. +p5217 +aVDon't make things up. Jeb, don't make things up. Come on. +p5218 +aVDon't make things up. +p5219 +aVSo, number one, they have to respect you. He has absolutely no respect for President Obama. Zero. Syria's a mess. You look at what's going on with +p5220 +aVI believe that I will get along \u2014 we will do \u2014 between that, Ukraine, all of the other problems, we won't have the kind of problems that our country has right now with Russia and many other nations. +p5221 +aVI wouldn't have drawn the line, but once he drew it, he had no choice but to go across. They do bear some responsibility, but I think he probably didn't do it, not for that reason. Somehow, he just doesn't have courage. There is something missing from our president. Had he crossed the line and really gone in with force, done something to Assad \u2014 if he had gone in with tremendous force, you wouldn't have millions of people displaced all over the world. +p5222 +aVThey had a responsibility, absolutely. I think we have three of them here... +p5223 +aVI think they had a responsibility, yes. +p5224 +aVJeb, just... +p5225 +aVI think it will haunt him. I think it's a terrible. I think it's going to haunt him absolutely. He came back later and he said he misspoke. There was no question because I heard when he said the statement. I was watching and he said the statement. And I said, wow, I can't believe it. I will take care of women. I respect women. I will take care of women. One thing we will say and I would like to get back to the Iran situation. We're talking about Iran. The agreement was terrible. It was incompetent. I've never seen anything like it. One of the worst contracts of any kind I've ever seen. And nobody ever mentions North Korea where you have this maniac sitting there and he actually has nuclear weapons and somebody better start thinking about North Korea and perhaps a couple of other places. But certainly North Korea. And Ted and I have spoken. We've \u2014 a lot of us have spoken. We're talking about Iran. They are bad actors, bad things are going to happen. But in the meantime, you have somebody right now in North Korea who has got nuclear weapons and who is saying almost every other week, I'm ready to use them. And we don't even mention it. +p5226 +aVSo why didn't you say it? Why didn't you say it? +p5227 +aVI know, but why did you say it? I heard it myself. Why did you say it? +p5228 +aVYou said you're going to cut funding for women's health. You said it. +p5229 +aVYou said it. +p5230 +aVI think she's got a beautiful face, and I think she's a beautiful woman. +p5231 +aVCorrect. First of all, I want to build a wall, a wall that works. So important, and it's a big part of it. Second of all, we have a lot of really bad dudes in this country from outside, and I think Chris knows that, maybe as well as anybody. They go, if I get elected, first day they're gone. Gangs all over the place. Chicago, Baltimore, no matter where you look. We have a country based on laws. I will make sure that those laws are adhered to. These are illegal immigrants. I don't think you'd even be asking this question if I didn't run because when I ran, and I brought this up, my opening remarks at Trump Tower, I took heat like nobody has taken heat in a long time. And, then they found out with the killing of Katie, from San Francisco, and so many other crimes, they found out that I was right. And, most people, many people, apologized to me. I don't think you'd even be talking about illegal immigration if it weren't for me. So, we have a country of laws, they're going to go out, and they'll come back if they deserve to come back. If they've had a bad record, if they've been arrested, if they've been in jail, they're never coming back. We're going to have a country again. Right now, we don't have a country, we don't have a border, and we're going to do something about it, and it can be done with proper management, and it can be done with heart. +p5232 +aV...By the way, I agree with \u2014 with what Chris is saying, but, I will say this. Illegal immigration is costing us more than $200 billion dollars a year just to maintain what we have. +p5233 +aVCorrect. +p5234 +aVWell, I have to tell you, I hear phenomenal things. I hear your wife is a lovely woman... +p5235 +aVI don't know her, and this is a total mischaracterization... +p5236 +aVGood. +p5237 +aVNo, I won't do that, because I've said nothing wrong. +p5238 +aVBut I do hear she's a lovely woman. +p5239 +aVJeb said... +p5240 +aV... that they come into our country as an act of love. With all of the problems we that we have, in so many instances \u2014 we have wonderful people coming in. But with all of the problems \u2014 this is not an act of love. He's weak on immigration \u2014 by the way, in favor of Common Core, which is also a disaster, but weak on immigration. He doesn't get my vote. +p5241 +aVNot with this intensity. +p5242 +aVAs I said, we are spending $200 billion \u2014 we are spending $200 billion a year on maintaining what we have. We will move them out. The great ones will come back, the good ones will come back. They'll be expedited, they'll be back, they'll come back legally. We'll have a country \u2014 they'll come back, legally. +p5243 +aVWell, I think it's wonderful and all, but I did it a little bit half-heartedly, but I do mean it to a large extent. We have a country, where, to assimilate, you have to speak English. And I think that where he was, and the way it came out didn't sound right to me. We have to have assimilation \u2014 to have a country, we have to have assimilation. I'm not the first one to say this, Dana. We've had many people over the years, for many, many years, saying the same thing. This is a country where we speak English, not Spanish. +p5244 +aVThis is a reporter, not a high school kid. +p5245 +aVWell, first of all, the \u2014 the 14th Amendment says very, very clearly to a lot of great legal scholars \u2014 not television scholars, but legal scholars \u2014 that it is wrong. It can be corrected with an act of Congress, probably doesn't even need that. A woman gets pregnant. She's nine months, she walks across the border, she has the baby in the United States, and we take care of the baby for 85 years. I don't think so. And by the way, Mexico and almost every other country anywhere in the world doesn't have that. We're the only ones dumb enough, stupid enough to have it. And people \u2014 and by the way, this is not just with respect to Mexico. They are coming from Asia to have babies here, and all of a sudden, we have to take care of the babies for the life of the baby. The 14th Amendment, it reads properly, you can go and \u2014 it's probably going to be have to be check \u2014 go through a process of court, probably ends up at the Supreme Court, but there are a lot of great legal scholars that say that is not correct. And in my opinion, it makes absolutely no \u2014 we're the only \u2014 one of the only countries, we're going to take care of those babies for 70, 75, 80, 90 years? I don't think so. +p5246 +aVI agree 100 percent, by the way, with Carly on the fact that the Democrats do not want to solve this problem, for the obvious reasons, but they do not. But I believe that a reading of the 14th Amendment allows you to have an interpretation where this is not legal and where it can't be done. I've seen both sides, but some of the greatest scholars agree with me, without having to go through Congress. If you do go through Congress, you can absolutely solve the problem. +p5247 +aVThat's true, sure. +p5248 +aVWell \u2014 +p5249 +aV\u2014 let me \u2014 well, let me just explain. The head of the Yale Business School, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, wrote a paper recently, one of the worst tenures for a CEO that he has ever seen, ranked one of the top 20 in the history of business. The company is a disaster and continues to be a disaster. They still haven't recovered. In fact, today, on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, they fired another 25 or 30,000 people saying we still haven't recovered from the catastrophe. When Carly says the revenues went up, that's because she bought Compaq, it was a terrible deal, and it really led to the destruction of the company. Now one other company before that was Lucent. Carly was at Lucent before that. And Lucent turned out to be a catastrophe also. So I only say this. She can't run any of my companies. That I can tell you. +p5250 +aVI never filed for bankruptcy. +p5251 +aVI'll tell you why; it's very simple. +p5252 +aVI'll tell you. I was running \u2014 +p5253 +aV\u2014 Carly, Carly \u2014 +p5254 +aV\u2014 I've made over $10 billion. I had a casino company \u2014 Caesars just filed for bankruptcy. Chris will tell you \u2014 it's not Chris' fault either \u2014 but almost everybody in Atlantic City is either in trouble or filed for \u2014 maybe I'll blame Chris. +p5255 +aVBut Atlantic City is a disaster \u2014 +p5256 +aVWait a minute, Carly. Wait. I let you speak. Atlantic City is a disaster, and I did great in Atlantic City. I knew when to get out. My timing was great. And I got a lot of credit for it. Many of the great business people that you know \u2014 and Carl Icon (ph) is going to work with me on making great deals for this country. But whether it's Carl or so many others that we read about all the time \u2014 +p5257 +aV\u2014 they have used the laws of the land, which is the \u2014 +p5258 +aV...Well, I'd like to respond, I'd like to respond... +p5259 +aVWell, I think the thing about the flat tax, I know it very well. What I don't like is that if you make $200 million a year, you pay ten percent, you're paying very little relatively to somebody that's making $50,000 a year, and has to hire H&R Block to do the \u2014 because it's so complicated. One thing I'll say to Ben is that we've had a graduated tax system for many years, so it's not a socialistic thing. What I'd like to do, and I'll be putting in the plan in about two weeks, and I think people are going to like it, it's a major reduction in taxes. It's a major reduction for the middle class. The hedge fund guys won't like me as much as they like me right now. I know them all, but they'll pay more. I know people that are making a tremendous amount of money and paying virtually no tax, and I think it's unfair. +p5260 +aVWell, I heard Hugh Hewitt, a nice man, he apologized because he actually said that we had a misunderstanding. And he said today that Donald Trump is maybe the best interview there is anywhere that he has ever done. Now unless he was just saying that on CNN to be nice, but he did say that... +p5261 +aVAnd we had a legitimate misunderstanding in terms of his pronunciation of a word. But I would say just... +p5262 +aVWell, I think it was. And he actually said that. Did you say that? +p5263 +aVOK. So I will say this, though, Hugh was giving me name after name, Arab name, Arab name, and there are few people anywhere, anywhere that would have known those names. I think he was reading them off a sheet. And frankly I will have \u2014 and I told him, I will have the finest team that anybody has put together and we will solve a lot of problems. You know, right now they know a lot and look at what is happening. The world is blowing up around us. We will have great teams and great people. +p5264 +aVI hope that answers your question. I mean, you are in the Senate, but I hope that answers your question. +p5265 +aVNo, I don't think he's suggesting that at all. I mean... +p5266 +aVI don't think he's suggesting that at all. +p5267 +aVWell, you have to understand, I am not sitting in the United States Senate with, by the way, the worst voting record there is today. Number one. I am not sitting in the United States Senate. I'm a businessman doing business transactions. +p5268 +aVI am doing business transactions. I will know more about this \u2014 and, as you said, that was very acceptable, and when you listen to that whole interview, it's a great interview, you said it, I didn't. Well, now I did. But... +p5269 +aVListen, just one second. Just one second. +p5270 +aVI will know... +p5271 +aV...I will know more about the problems of this world by the time I sit, and you look at what's going in this world right now by people that supposedly know, this world is a mess. +p5272 +aV +p5273 +aV I'm \u2014 and I'm meeting with people that are terrific people, but I have to say something because it's about judgment. I am the only person on this dais \u2014 the only person \u2014 that fought very, very hard against us (ph), and I wasn't a sitting politician going into Iraq, because I said going into Iraq \u2014 that was in 2003, you can check it out, check out \u2014 I'll give you 25 different stories. In fact, a delegation was sent to my office to see me because I was so vocal about it. I'm a very militaristic person, but you have to know when to use the military. I'm the only person up here that fought against going into Iraq. +p5274 +aVJust excuse me, one second, Rand... +p5275 +aVIf you don't mind, Rand \u2014 you know, you are on last \u2014 you do have your 1 percent. I would like \u2014 and I think it's very important. I think it's important, because it's about judgment. It's about judgment. I didn't want to go into Iraq, and I fought it, because what I said \u2014 what I said... +p5276 +aV... was you're going to \u2014 you're going to destabilize... +p5277 +aV... the Middle East, and that's what happened. +p5278 +aVIf you think about it... +p5279 +aVYour brother \u2014 and your brother's administration gave us Barack Obama, because it was such a disaster, those last three months, that Abraham Lincoln couldn't have been elected. +p5280 +aVI don't know. You feel safe right now? I don't feel so safe. +p5281 +aVOr the collapse of the economy. +p5282 +aVSpeaking for myself, I'm OK with it. I think there's a certain truth to it. I know people that, frankly, it has no impact on their life whatsoever. There are many people. I would almost say leave it up to them, but I would be willing to check it off, and say I will not get Social Security. I do not... +p5283 +aVAs a policy, I would almost leave it up to the people. Don't forget they pay in and they pay in, and maybe they do well, and maybe some people want it. But the fact is that there are people that truly don't need it, and there are many people that do need it very, very badly. And I would be willing to write mine off 100 percent, Dana. +p5284 +aVWell, I \u2014 I \u2014 I'd like to respond. +p5285 +aVI'd like to respond. +p5286 +aVAutism has become an epidemic. Twenty-five years ago, 35 years ago, you look at the statistics, not even close. It has gotten totally out of control. I am totally in favor of vaccines. But I want smaller doses over a longer period of time. Because you take a baby in \u2014 and I've seen it \u2014 and I've seen it, and I had my children taken care of over a long period of time, over a two or three year period of time. Same exact amount, but you take this little beautiful baby, and you pump \u2014 I mean, it looks just like it's meant for a horse, not for a child, and we've had so many instances, people that work for me. Just the other day, two years old, two and a half years old, a child, a beautiful child went to have the vaccine, and came back, and a week later got a tremendous fever, got very, very sick, now is autistic. I only say it's not \u2014 I'm in favor of vaccines, do them over a longer period of time, same amount. +p5287 +aVBut just in \u2014 in little sections. +p5288 +aVI think \u2014 and I think you're going to have \u2014 I think you're going to see a big impact on autism. +p5289 +aVAnd that's all I'm saying, Jake. That's all I'm saying. +p5290 +aVWell, because she's been sitting for three hours, I think my daughter, Ivanka, who's right here. +p5291 +aVOther than that we'll go with Rosa Parks. I like that. +p5292 +aVHumble. +p5293 +aVIf I become president, we will do something really special. We will make this country greater than ever before. We'll have more jobs. We'll have more of everything. We were discussing disease, we were discussing all sorts of things tonight, many of which will just be words, it will just pass on. I don't want to say politicians, all talk, no action. But a lot of what we talked about is words and it will be forgotten very quickly. If I'm president, many of the things that we discussed tonight will not be forgotten. We'll find solutions. And the world will respect us. They will respect us like never before. And it will be actually a friendlier world. And I have to say, it is a great honor to be here tonight. +p5294 +aVI fully understand. +p5295 +aVI fully understand. +p5296 +aVI cannot say. I have to respect the person that, if it's not me, the person that wins, if I do win, and I'm leading by quite a bit, that's what I want to do. I can totally make that pledge. If I'm the nominee, I will pledge I will not run as an independent. But -- and I am discussing it with everybody, but I'm, you know, talking about a lot of leverage. We want to win, and we will win. But I want to win as the Republican. I want to run as the Republican nominee. +p5297 +aVWell, I've given him plenty of money. +p5298 +aVI will not make the pledge at this time. +p5299 +aVOnly Rosie O'Donnell. +p5300 +aVThank you. +p5301 +aVYes, I'm sure it was. +p5302 +aVI think the big problem this country has is being politically correct. I've been challenged by so many people, and I don't frankly have time for total political correctness. And to be honest with you, this country doesn't have time either. This country is in big trouble. We don't win anymore. We lose to China. We lose to Mexico both in trade and at the border. We lose to everybody. And frankly, what I say, and oftentimes it's fun, it's kidding. We have a good time. What I say is what I say. And honestly Megyn, if you don't like it, I'm sorry. I've been very nice to you, although I could probably maybe not be, based on the way you have treated me. But I wouldn't do that. But you know what, we -- we need strength, we need energy, we need quickness and we need brain in this country to turn it around. That, I can tell you right now. +p5303 +aVSo, if it weren't for me, you wouldn't even be talking about illegal immigration, Chris. You wouldn't even be talking about it. This was not a subject that was on anybody's mind until I brought it up at my announcement. And I said, Mexico is sending. Except the reporters, because they're a very dishonest lot, generally speaking, in the world of politics, they didn't cover my statement the way I said it. The fact is, since then, many killings ,murders, crime, drugs pouring across the border, are money going out and the drugs coming in. And I said we need to build a wall, and it has to be built quickly. And I don't mind having a big beautiful door in that wall so that people can come into this country legally. But we need, Jeb, to build a wall, we need to keep illegals out. +p5304 +aVBorder Patrol, I was at the border last week. Border Patrol, people that I deal with, that I talk to, they say this is what's happening. Because our leaders are stupid. Our politicians are stupid. And the Mexican government is much smarter, much sharper, much more cunning. And they send the bad ones over because they don't want to pay for them. They don't want to take care of them. Why should they when the stupid leaders of the United States will do it for them? And that's what is happening whether you like it or not. +p5305 +aVA complete disaster, yes. +p5306 +aVCorrect. +p5307 +aVFirst of all, I'd like to just go back to one. In July of 2004, I came out strongly against the war with Iraq, because it was going to destabilize the Middle East. And I'm the only one on this stage that knew that and had the vision to say it. And that's exactly what happened. +p5308 +aVAnd the Middle East became totally destabilized. So I just want to say. As far as single payer, it works in Canada. It works incredibly well in Scotland. It could have worked in a different age, which is the age you're talking about here. What I'd like to see is a private system without the artificial lines around every state. I have a big company with thousands and thousands of employees. And if I'm negotiating in New York or in New Jersey or in California, I have like one bidder. Nobody can bid. You know why? Because the insurance companies are making a fortune because they have control of the politicians, of course, with the exception of the politicians on this stage. But they have total control of the politicians. They're making a fortune. Get rid of the artificial lines and you will have......yourself great plans. And then we have to take care of the people that can't take care of themselves. And I will do that through a different system. +p5309 +aVI'm not -- I'm not are -- I don't think you heard me. You're having a hard time tonight. +p5310 +aVYou'd better believe it. +p5311 +aVIf I ask them, if I need them, you know, most of the people on this stage I've given to, just so you understand, a lot of money. +p5312 +aVMany of them. +p5313 +aVNot much. +p5314 +aVBut I... +p5315 +aVI have good... +p5316 +aVGood. +p5317 +aVSounds good. Sounds good to me, Governor. I will tell you that our system is broken. I gave to many people, before this, before two months ago, I was a businessman. I give to everybody. When they call, I give. And do you know what? When I need something from them two years later, three years later, I call them, they are there for me. +p5318 +aVAnd that's a broken system. +p5319 +aVWell, I'll tell you what, with Hillary Clinton, I said be at my wedding and she came to my wedding. You know why? She didn't have a choice because I gave. I gave to a foundation that, frankly, that foundation is supposed to do good. I didn't know her money would be used on private jets going all over the world. It was. But... +p5320 +aVBecause I have used the laws of this country just like the greatest people that you read about every day in business have used the laws of this country, the chapter laws, to do a great job for my company, for myself, for my employees, for my family, et cetera. I have never gone bankrupt, by the way. I have never. But out of hundreds of deals... +p5321 +aVExcuse me. Excuse me. +p5322 +aVExcuse me, what am I saying? Out of hundreds of deals that I've done, hundreds, on four occasions I've taken advantage of the laws of this country, like other people. I'm not going to name their names because I'm not going to embarrass, but virtually every person that you read about on the front page of the business sections, they've used the law. The difference is, when somebody else uses those laws, nobody writes about it. When I use it, they say, "Trump, Trump, Trump." The fact is, I built a net worth of more than $10 billion. I have a great, great company. I employ thousands of people. And I'm very proud of the job I did. Again Chris, hundreds and hundreds of deals. Four times, I've taken advantage of the laws. And frankly, so has everybody else in my position. +p5323 +aVWell, I... +p5324 +aVLet me just tell you about the lenders. First of all, these lenders aren't babies. These are total killers. These are not the nice, sweet little people that you think, OK? You know, I mean you're living in a world of the make-believe, Chris, you want to know the truth. And I had the good sense to leave Atlantic City, which by the way, Caesars just went bankrupt. Every company, Chris can tell you, every company virtually in Atlantic City went bankrupt. Every company. And let me just tell you. I had the good sense, and I've gotten a lot of credit in the financial pages, seven years ago I left Atlantic City before it totally cratered, and I made a lot of money in Atlantic City, and I'm very proud of it. I want to tell you that. Very, very proud of it. +p5325 +aVAnd by the way, this country right now owes $19 trillion. And they need somebody like me to straighten out that mess. +p5326 +aVI don't think they like me very much. I'll tell you what. I've evolved on many issues over the years. And you know who else has? Is Ronald Reagan evolved on many issues. And I am pro-life. And if you look at the question, I was in business. They asked me a question as to pro-life or choice. And I said if you let it run, that I hate the concept of abortion. I hate the concept of abortion. And then since then, I've very much evolved. And what happened is friends of mine years ago were going to have a child, and it was going to be aborted. And it wasn't aborted. And that child today is a total superstar, a great, great child. And I saw that. And I saw other instances. And I am very, very proud to say that I am pro-life. As far as being a Republican is concerned, I come from a place, New York City, which is virtually, I mean, it is almost exclusively Democrat. And I have really started to see some of the negatives -- as an example, and I have a lot of liking for this man, but the last number of months of his brother's administration were a catastrophe. And unfortunately, those few months gave us President Obama. And you can't be happy about that. +p5327 +aVFirst of all, Jeb, I am very happy that you denied that, and I appreciate that very much. He is a true gentleman. He really is. One thing he did say, and I mean that. The one thing he did say about me, however, was my tone. And I also understand that. But when you have people that are cutting Christians' heads off, when you have a world that the border and at so many places, that it is medieval times, we've never -- it almost has to be as bad as it ever was in terms of the violence and the horror, we don't have time for tone. We have to go out and get the job done. +p5328 +aVI would be so different from what you have right now. Like, the polar opposite. We have a president who doesn't have a clue. I would say he's incompetent, but I don't want to do that because that's not nice. But if you look at the deals we make, whether it's the nuclear deal with 24 hour periods -- and by the way, before you get to the 24 hours, you have to go through a system. You look at Sgt. Bergdahl, we get Bergdahl, a traitor, and they get five of the big, great killers leaders that they want. We have people in Washington that don't know what they're doing. Now... I agree. Now, with Iran, we're making a deal, you would say, we want him. We want out our prisoners. We want all these things, and we don't get anything. We're giving them $150 billion dollars plus, they are going to be -- I'll tell you what, if Iran was a stock, you folks should go out and buy it right now because you'll quadruple -- this, what's happening in Iran, is a disgrace, and it's going to lead to destruction in large portions of the world. +p5329 +aVOur country is in serious trouble. We don't win anymore. We don't beat China in trade. We don't beat Japan, with their millions and millions of cars coming into this country, in trade. We can't beat Mexico, at the border or in trade. We can't do anything right. Our military has to be strengthened. Our vets have to be taken care of. We have to end Obamacare, and we have to make our country great again, and I will do that. Thank you. +p5330 +aVWell, I can say this. If the president, and if I were president now, I would certainly want to try and nominate a justice. I'm sure that, frankly, I'm absolutely sure that President Obama will try and do it. I hope that our Senate is going to be able \u2014 Mitch, and the entire group, is going to be able to do something about it. In times of delay, we could have a Diane Sykes, or you could have a Bill Pryor \u2014 we have some fantastic people. But this is a tremendous blow to conservatism. It's a tremendous blow, frankly, to our country. +p5331 +aV... I think he's going to do it whether or I'm O.K. with it or not. I think it's up to Mitch McConnell and everybody else to stop it. It's called delay, delay, delay. +p5332 +aVWhat we want to do, when we want to do it, and how hard do we want to hit? Because we are going to have to hit very, very hard to knock out +p5333 +aV... called me a genius, I like him so far, I have to tell you. Let me just tell you this. Jeb is so wrong. Jeb is absolutely self \u2014 just so you understand, you know what that is? That's Jeb's special interest and lobbyist talking. Look, let me just tell you something, Jeb \u2014 Jeb is so wrong. You got to fight +p5334 +aV... You'll end up with World War III... +p5335 +aV... We're supporting troops... +p5336 +aV... that we don't even know who they are. +p5337 +aV... We're supporting troops that we don't even know who they are... +p5338 +aVWe have no idea who they are. +p5339 +aV... Oh, yeah, yeah... +p5340 +aV... Let 44 million in New Hampshire, it was practically ... +p5341 +aV... 44 million \u2014 give me a break. +p5342 +aVFirst of all, I have to say, as a businessman, I get along with everybody. I have business all over the world. I know so many of the people in the audience. And by the way, I'm a self-funder. I don't have \u2014 I have my wife and I have my son. That's all I have. I don't have this. So let me just tell you, I get along with everybody, which is my obligation to my company, to myself, et cetera. Obviously, the war in Iraq was a big, fat mistake. All right? Now, you can take it any way you want, and it took \u2014 it took Jeb Bush, if you remember at the beginning of his announcement, when he announced for president, it took him five days. He went back, it was a mistake, it wasn't a mistake. It took him five days before his people told him what to say, and he ultimately said, "It was a mistake." The war in Iraq, we spent $2 trillion, thousands of lives, we don't even have it. Iran has taken over Iraq, with the second-largest oil reserves in the world. Obviously, it was a mistake. +p5343 +aVGeorge Bush made a mistake. We can make mistakes. But that one was a beauty. We should have never been in Iraq. We have destabilized the Middle East. +p5344 +aVYou do whatever you want. You call it whatever you want. I want to tell you. They lied. They said there were weapons of mass destruction, there were none. And they knew there were none. There were no weapons of mass destruction. +p5345 +aVI'm being nice. +p5346 +aVHe spent $22 million in... +p5347 +aVThe World Trade Center came down during your brother's reign, remember that. +p5348 +aVThat's not keeping us safe. +p5349 +aVShe should be running. +p5350 +aVHow did he keep us safe when the World Trade Center \u2014 the World \u2014 excuse me. I lost hundreds of friends. The World Trade Center came down during the reign of George Bush. He kept us safe? That is not safe. That is not safe, Marco. That is not safe. +p5351 +aVAnd George Bush \u2014 by the way, George Bush had the chance, also, and he didn't listen to the advice of his C.I.A. +p5352 +aVI don't want to go. +p5353 +aVYes. +p5354 +aVFirst of all, the \u2014 when you say I'm the only candidate, if you listen to the Democrats, they want to do many things to Social Security, and I want to do them on its own merit. You listen to them, what they want to do to Social Security, none of these folks are getting elected, O.K., whether they can do it or not. I'm going to save Social Security. I'm going to bring jobs back from China. I'm going to bring jobs back from Mexico and from Japan, where they're all \u2014 every country throughout the world \u2014 now Vietnam, that's the new one. They are taking our jobs. They are taking our wealth. They are taking our base. And you and I have had this discussion. We're going to make our economy strong again. I'm lowering taxes. We have $2.5 trillion offshore. We have 2.5 trillion that I think is actually five trillion because the government has no idea when they say 2.5, they have no idea what they're doing or saying, as they've proven very well. We're going to bring that money back. You take a look at what happened just this week. China bought the Chicago Stock Exchange, China, a Chinese company. Carrier is moving to Mexico, air conditioning company. Not only the ones I talk about all the time, Nabisco and Ford and \u2014 they're all moving out. We have an economy that last quarter, G.D.P. didn't grow. It was flat. We have to make our economy grow again. We're dying. This country is dying. And our workers are losing their jobs, and you're going... +p5355 +aVI'm the only one who is going to save Social Security, believe me. +p5356 +aVBecause you have tremendous waste. I'll tell you... +p5357 +aVYou have tremendous waste, fraud and abuse. That we're taking care of. That we're taking care of. It's tremendous. We have in Social Security right now thousands and thousands of people that are over 106 years old. Now, you know they don't exist. They don't exist. There's tremendous waste, fraud and abuse, and we're going to get it. But we're not going to hurt the people who have been paying into Social Security their whole life and then all of a sudden they're supposed to get less. We're bringing our jobs back. We're going to make our economy great again. +p5358 +aVI want everybody taken care of, but we have to take care of our people in this country. We're not taking care of our people. We have no border. We have no control. People are flooding across. We can't have it. We either have a border, and I'm very strongly \u2014 I'm not proposing. I will build a wall. I will build a wall. Remember this, the wall will be paid for by Mexico. We are not being treated right. We are not being treated properly. If we don't have borders, if we don't have strength, we don't have a country. People are flowing across. We have to take care of our people. Believe me. +p5359 +aVLook......When I announced that I was running for president on June 16th, illegal immigration wasn't even a subject. If I didn't bring it up, we wouldn't even be talking. Now, I don't often agree with Marco, and I don't often agree with Ted, but I can in this case. The weakest person on this stage by far on illegal immigration is Jeb Bush. They come out of an act of love, whether you like it or not. He is so weak on illegal immigration it's laughable, and everybody knows it. +p5360 +aV... Spend a little more money on the commercials... +p5361 +aV. I don't know what you're talking about. +p5362 +aV... I never called him \u2014 I don't call him.. +p5363 +aVHe also said about language... +p5364 +aV... Language. Two days ago he said he would take his pants off and moon everybody, and that's fine. Nobody reports that. He gets up and says that, and then he tells me, oh, my language was a little bit rough... +p5365 +aV... My language. Give me a break... +p5366 +aV... You did say it, you did say it. Been reported in 10 different news... +p5367 +aVOr a tax. +p5368 +aVI would build consensus with Congress, and Congress would agree with me. I'll give you an example, because I don't like the idea of using executive orders like our president. It is a disaster what he's doing. I would build consensus, but consensus means you have to work hard. You have to cajole. You have to get them into the Oval Office and get them all together, and you have to make deals. Let me just tell you, I mentioned before, China \u2014 big Chinese company bought the Chicago Exchange. Kerry is moving \u2014 and if you saw the people, because they have a video of the announcement that Carrier is moving to Mexico, O.K.? Well, I'll tell you what. I would go right now to Carrier and I would say I am going to work awfully hard. You're going to make air conditioners now in Mexico. You're going to get all of these 1,400 people that are being laid off \u2014 they're laid off. They were crying. They were \u2014 it was a very sad situation. You're going to go to Mexico. You're going to make air conditioners in Mexico, you're going to put them across our border with no tax. I'm going to tell them right now, I am going to get consensus from Congress and we're going to tax you when those air conditioners come. So stay where you are or build in the United States, because we are killing ourselves with trade pacts that are no good for us and no good for our workers. +p5369 +aVJohn, in life you have flexibility. You do have flexibility. When you're fighting wars, you're going one way, you have a plan. It's a beautiful plan. It can't lose. The enemy makes a change, and all of a sudden you have to change. You have to have flexibility. In Ronald Reagan, though, in terms of what we're talking about, was the great example. He was a somewhat liberal Democrat who became a somewhat, pretty strong conservative. He became \u2014 most importantly, he became a great president. He made many of the changes that I've made \u2014 I mean, I've seen as I grew up, I've seen, and as I get older and wiser, and I feel that I am a conservative. Now, I also feel I'm a common-sense conservative, because some of the views I don't agree with. And I think a lot of people agree with me, obviously, based on what's happening. +p5370 +aVWell, I think these people always hit me with eminent domain, and frankly, I'm not in love with eminent domain. But eminent domain is something you need very strongly. When Jeb had said, "You used eminent domain privately for a parking lot." It wasn't for a parking lot. The state of New Jersey \u2014 too bad Chris Christie is not here, he could tell you \u2014 the state of New Jersey went to build a very large tower that was going to employ thousands of people. I mean, it was going to really do a big job in terms of economic development. Now, just so you understand, I got hit very hard. It's private, it's private eminent domain. You understand that they took over a stadium in Texas, and they used private eminent domain, but he just found that out after he made the charge. +p5371 +aVYeah. Well, Jeb wouldn't have known about it. +p5372 +aVYou shouldn't have used it then, Jeb. +p5373 +aVThank you very much, I appreciate it. +p5374 +aVYou probably are worse than Jeb Bush. You are single biggest liar. This guy's lied \u2014 let me just tell you, this guy lied about Ben Carson when he took votes away from Ben Carson in Iowa, and he just continues. Today, we had robo-calls saying, "Donald Trump is not going to run in South Carolina," where I'm leading by a lot. I'm not going to vote for Ted Cruz. This is the same thing he did to Ben Carson. This guy will say anything, nasty guy. Now I know why he doesn't have one endorsement from any of his colleagues. +p5375 +aVHe's a nasty guy. +p5376 +aVWhere did I support it? Where did I... +p5377 +aVAgain, where did I support it? +p5378 +aVHey Ted, where I support it? +p5379 +aVWhere did I support? +p5380 +aVThat's a lot of lies. +p5381 +aVIt does do wonderful things, but not as it relates to abortion. +p5382 +aVExcuse me. Excuse me, there are wonderful things having to do with women's health. +p5383 +aVBut not when it comes to abortion. +p5384 +aVHold on... +p5385 +aVTed Cruz told your brother that he wanted John Roberts to be on the United States Supreme Court. They both pushed him, he twice approved Obamacare. +p5386 +aVO.K., governor. +p5387 +aVYou pushed him. You pushed him. +p5388 +aVYou worked with him and you pushed him. Why do you lie? +p5389 +aVWhy do you lie? +p5390 +aVYou pushed him. +p5391 +aVYeah, yeah, I know, you're an adult. +p5392 +aVWell, I would say my wife tells me I'm wrong all the time. And I listen. +p5393 +aVOh, let me just say \u2014 look, I am very open \u2014 I hired top people. I've had great success. I built a great, great company. I don't need to do this. I'm self-funding. I'm spending a lot of money. I've spent \u2014 like in New Hampshire, I spent $3 million. Jeb bush spent $44 million. He came in five, and I came in No. 1. That's what the country needs, folks. I spent 3, he spends 42 of their money, of special interest money. And it's just \u2014 this is not going to make \u2014 excuse me. This is not going to make our country great again. This is not what we need in our country. We need people that know what the hell they're doing. And politicians, they're all talk, they're no action. And that's why people are supporting me. I do listen to people. I hire experts. I hire top, top people. And I do listen. And you know what? Sometimes they're wrong. You have to know what to do, when to do it. But sometimes they're wrong. +p5394 +aVWell, I'll tell you \u2014 over the years, I've made many speeches. People have asked me, big companies have asked me to make speeches, and friends of mine that run big companies on success. And occasion, in order to sort of really highlight something, I'll use a profanity. One of the profanities that I got credited with using, that I didn't use, was a very bad word, two weeks ago, that I never used. I said, "You." And everybody said "Oh, he didn't say anything wrong." But you bleeped it, so everyone thinks I said the \u2014 I didn't say anything. I never said the word. It is very unfair, that criticism. Now, I will say this, with all of that being said, I have said I will not do it at all, because if I say a word that's a little bit off color, a little bit, it ends up being a headline. I will not do it again. I was a very good student at a great school not using \u2014 by the way \u2014 not using profanity is very easy. +p5395 +aVThat's not \u2014 let me respond. That's another lie. I never went bankrupt! +p5396 +aVNo, but it's another lie. +p5397 +aVNo, but it's another lie. This guy doesn't know what he's talking about. Just a lie. +p5398 +aVLet me just tell you. Jeb goes around saying, just like the biggest business leaders in this country, I've used the laws of the land to chapter \u2014 I bought a company, I threw it immediately into a chapter, I made a great deal. I uses the laws to my benefit, because I run a company. +p5399 +aVExcuse me, Jeb! +p5400 +aVI never went bankrupt, never. Now \u2014 but you don't want to say that. Now, let me just say, I've used it, just like the biggest leaders in the country. Let me tell you something \u2014 Florida. Florida, he put so much debt on Florida. You know, we keep saying he's a wonderful governor, wonderful governor. He put so much debt on Florida, and he increased spending so much that as soon as he got out of office, Florida crashed. I happened to be there. It's my second home. Florida crashed. He didn't do a good job as governor. +p5401 +aVAnd you haven't \u2014 excuse me, you haven't heard that. You listen to the good record in Florida. You take a look at what happened, as soon as that year ended he got out, Florida crashed. Too much debt. He loaded it up with debt, and his spending went through the roof. +p5402 +aVBy the way... +p5403 +aV... he was not a good governor. +p5404 +aVTake a look at your numbers. +p5405 +aVFlorida went down the tubes right after he got out of office. +p5406 +aVWent right down because of what he did to it. +p5407 +aVThank you. Politicians are all talk, no action. You've seen where they've take you to. We are 19 trillion dollars right now. It's going to be increased with that horrible budget from a month ago that was just approved by politicians. We need a change. We need a very big change. We're going to make our country great again. I say this every night, every day, every afternoon, and it's so true \u2014 we don't win anymore. We don't win with health care, we don't win with +p5408 +aVI actually think I have the best temperament. I built a massive corporation. I employ thousands and thousands of people. I've gotten along with people for years and years, have tremendous relationships with many people, including politicians on both sides. And no matter how you cut it, when I \u2014 when I came out, I hit immigration, I hit it very hard. Everybody said, "Oh, the temperament," because I talked about illegal immigration. Now, everybody's coming to me, they're all trying to say, well, he's right, we have to come to him. I hit other things. I talked about Muslims. We have a problem. Nobody else wanted to mention the problem, I brought it up. I took a lot of heat. We have to have a temporary something, because there's something going on that's not good. And remember this, I'm the only one up here, when the war of Iraq \u2014 in Iraq, I was the one that said, "Don't go, don't do it, you're going to destabilize the Middle East." So, I'm not one with a trigger. I'm not one with a trigger. Other people up here, believe me, would be a lot faster. But I'll build the mill arbitrary stronger, bigger, better than anybody up here, and nobody is going to mess with us. That, I can tell you. +p5409 +aVAm I allowed to respond? I have to respond. +p5410 +aVFirst of all, I respect what Ted just said, but if you noticed, he didn't answer your question. And that's what's going to happen \u2014 OK. That's what's going to happen with our enemies and the people we compete against. We're going to win with Trump. We're going to win. We don't win anymore. Our country doesn't win anymore. We're going to win with Trump. And people back down with Trump. And that's what I like and that's what the country is going to like. +p5411 +aVWell, let me say a couple of things. First of all, Marco said earlier on that President Obama knows exactly what he's doing, like we have this president that really knows. I disagree, respectfully, with Marco. I think we have a president who, as a president, is totally incompetent, and he doesn't know what he's doing. I think he has no idea what he's doing. And our country is going to hell. So, I just want to say, we disagree on that. Is that okay? +p5412 +aVGood. +p5413 +aVAs to North Korea? +p5414 +aVWe have \u2014 tremendous \u2014 has been just sucked out of our country by China. China says they don't have that good of control over North Korea. They have tremendous control. I deal with the Chinese all of the time. I do tremendous \u2014 the largest bank in the world is in one of my buildings in Manhattan. I deal with them. They tell me. They have total, absolute control, practically, of North Korea. They are sucking trillions of dollars out of our country \u2014 they're rebuilding China with the money they take out of our country. I would get on with China, let China solve that problem. They can do it quickly and surgically. That's what we should do with North Korea. +p5415 +aVGood evening. +p5416 +aVYes. HAM: In the Democratic primary, Hillary Clinton has criticized Bernie Sanders' plan for single payer government health care, noting it would require big, across the board tax increases for Americans. In doing so, she's doubling down on Obamacare, despite its persistent unpopularity. Mr. Trump, you have said you want to appeal Obamacare. You have also said, quote, "Everybody's got to be covered," adding, quote, "The government's going to pay for it." Are you closer to Bernie Sanders' vision for health care than Hillary Clinton's? +p5417 +aVI don't think I am. I think I'm closer to common sense. We are going to repeal Obamacare. We're going to repeal Obamacare. We are going to replace Obamacare with something so much better. And there are so many examples of it. And I will tell you, part of the reason we have some people laughing, because you have insurance people that take care of everybody up here. I am self-funded. The only one they're not taking care of is me. We have our lines around each state. The insurance companies are getting rich on Obamacare. The insurance companies are getting rich on health care and health services and everything having to do with health. We are going to end that. We're going to take out the artificial boundaries, the artificial lines. We're going to get a plan where people compete, free enterprise. They compete. So much better. In addition to that, you have the health care savings plans, which are excellent. What I do say is, there will be a certain number of people that will be on the street dying and as a Republican, I don't want that to happen. We're going to take care of people that are dying on the street because there will be a group of people that are not going to be able to even think in terms of private or anything else and we're going to take care of those people. And I think everybody on this stage would have to agree......you're not going to let people die, sitting in the middle of a street in any city in this country. +p5418 +aVWell, let me just tell you about eminent domain because almost all of these people actually criticize it, but so many people have hit me with commercials and other things about eminent domain. Eminent domain is an absolute necessity for a country, for our country. Without it, you wouldn't have roads, you wouldn't have hospitals, you wouldn't have anything. You wouldn't have schools, you wouldn't have bridges. You need eminent domain. And a lot of the big conservatives that tell me how conservative they are \u2014 I think I'm more than they are \u2014 they tell me, oh \u2014 well, they all want the Keystone Pipeline. The Keystone Pipeline, without eminent domain, it wouldn't go 10 feet, OK? You need eminent domain. And eminent domain is a good thing, not a bad thing. And what a lot of people don't know because they were all saying, oh, you're going to take their property. When somebody \u2014 when eminent domain is used on somebody's property, that person gets a fortune. They get at least fair market value, and if they are smart, they'll get two or three times the value of their property. But without eminent domain, you don't have roads, highways, schools, bridges or anything. So eminent domain \u2014 it's not that I love it, but eminent domain is absolutely \u2014 it's a necessity for a country. And certainly it's a necessity for our country. +p5419 +aVYes. +p5420 +aVJeb wants to be \u2014 he wants to be a tough guy tonight. I didn't take the property. +p5421 +aVI didn't take the property. +p5422 +aVThe woman ultimately didn't want to do that. I walked away. +p5423 +aVWell, let me just \u2014 you know, he wants to be a tough guy. A lot of times, you'll have \u2014 you'll have \u2014 and it didn't work very well. +p5424 +aVA lot of time \u2014 let me talk. Quiet. A lot of times \u2014 a lot of times... +p5425 +aV... you \u2014 let me talk. Let me talk. Quiet. A lot of times......that's all of his donors and special interests out there. So \u2014 it's what it is. That's what \u2014 and by the way, let me just tell you, we needed tickets. You can't get them. You know who has the tickets for the \u2014 I'm talking about, to the television audience? Donors, special interests, the people that are putting up the money. That's who it is. The RNC told us. We have all donors in the audience. And the reason they're not loving me......the reason they're not \u2014 excuse me. The reason they're not loving me is, I don't want their money. I'm going to do the right thing for the American public. I don't want their money. I don't need their money. And I'm the only one up here that can say that. Eminent domain, the Keystone pipeline \u2014 do you consider that a private job? Do you \u2014 do you consider that... +p5426 +aVNo \u2014 no, let me ask you, Jeb. Do you consider the Keystone pipeline private? +p5427 +aVIs it public or private? +p5428 +aVReal \u2014 a public use? +p5429 +aVNo, it's a private job. +p5430 +aVIt's a private job. +p5431 +aVYou wouldn't have the Keystone pipeline that you want so badly without eminent domain. +p5432 +aVYou wouldn't have massive \u2014 excuse me, Josh \u2014 you wouldn't have massive factories without eminent domain. +p5433 +aVWell, I think I am, and to me, I view the word conservative as a derivative I \u2014 of \u2014 of the word conserve. We want to converse our money. We want to conserve our wealth. We want to conserve. We want to be smart. We want to be smart where we go, where we spend, how we spend. We want to conserve our country. We want to save our country. And we have people that have no idea how to do that and they are not doing it, and it's a very important word and it's something I believe in very, very strongly. +p5434 +aVWell, before I go there, I will tell you, I will bring jobs back from China. I will bring jobs back from Japan. I will bring jobs back from Mexico, where New Hampshire, by the way, has been virtually wiped out. They've lost so many businesses going to Mexico because of horrible trade deals. And now we're about to sign another trade deal, TPP, which is going to be a disaster for this country because they don't talk about monetary manipulation. It is going to be a disaster. I'm going to bring jobs back and I'll start bringing them back very fast. Under my tax plan \u2014 right now, we're the highest taxed country in the world. Under my plan, we cut not only taxes for the middle class, but we cut taxes for corporations. We will bring back trillions of dollars that's offshore. Right now, they have $2.5 trillion, and in my opinion, it's much more than that. That's what the government says. All of that money is going to come back. And we're not going to lose Pfizer, which is now leaving, and other great companies, which is now leaving. And they're all leaving. We have many, many companies that are leaving this country. We're not going to lose them anymore because we're going to have a tax structure that is going to keep them in our country. +p5435 +aVWell, four years ago, I said, bomb the oil and take the oil. And if we did that, they wouldn't have the wealth they have right now. Now, I still say the same thing, because we're doing little pinpricks. We're not even bombing \u2014 if somebody's driving a truck, they give notice to the person driving the truck, "we're going to bomb." If they don't get out of the truck, the truck sails away with the oil. We actually have a case where we don't want to bomb the oil, because we don't want to hurt \u2014 pollute the atmosphere. Can you imagine General Douglas MacArthur or General Patton saying we can't bomb because we're gonna hurt the atmosphere? You have to knock the hell out of the oil. You have to take the oil. And you have also back channels of banking. You have people that you think are our great allies, our friends, in the Middle East, that are paying tremendous numbers of \u2014 tremendous amounts of money to +p5436 +aVYou have to go in \u2014 first of all, when you take away their money, when you take away their wealth, that'll very much weaken \u2014 and it will happen fairly fast. They'll last for about a year, based on all of the wealth they've accumulated. But when you stop the banking channels and when you stop the oil and take the oil \u2014 not just bomb it, take it \u2014 when you do that, it's going to dry up very quickly. They're going to become a very weakened power, quickly. Thank you. +p5437 +aVWell, I'll tell you what. In the Middle East, we have people chopping the heads off Christians, we have people chopping the heads off many other people. We have things that we have never seen before \u2014 as a group, we have never seen before, what's happening right now. The medieval times \u2014 I mean, we studied medieval times \u2014 not since medieval times have people seen what's going on. I would bring back waterboarding and I'd bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding. +p5438 +aV... No, a good deal maker will make great deals, but we'll do it the way our founders thought it should be done. People get together, they make deals. Ronald Reagan did it with Tip O'Neil very successfully, you didn't hear so much about executive orders, if you heard about it at all. You have to be able to get a consensus. Now, the real person like it was mentioned about the deal with Iran, how bad a deal is that? It doesn't get any more amateurish than that. A good deal maker would never make a deal like that. With Congress, you have to get everybody in a room, and you have to get them to agree. But, you have to get them to agree what you want, and that's part of being a deal maker. You can't leave the White House, go to Hawaii and play golf for three weeks and be a real deal maker. It doesn't work that way. You have to get people in, grab them, hug them, kiss them, and get the deal done. But, it's got to be the deal that you want. HAM: Governor Kasich, is the problem with Washington that there are too many deals, or too few? +p5439 +aVSome? +p5440 +aVWell... +p5441 +aVYes. OK, good. It looked like he was looking right at me, right there. I think that \u2014 I look at what's going on, I look at all of the polls, I do very, very well against Hillary Clinton. I can tell you, I'm the last person that she wants to run against. And I think you can see what we've done in terms of galvanizing. I've been all over the country. We're \u2014 last night, I was in South Carolina, we had 12,000 people. It set up in about four days. We have galvanized and we've created a movement. A lot of it has to do with \u2014 as an example, Josh's question on drugs. I'm the first person that said, "Build a wall." But I mean, a real wall, not a toy wall like they have right now. A real wall. And you'll solve lots of problems. But we will galvanize the people of this country, and we will beat Hillary Clinton. Because \u2014 assuming that she runs, by the way, how she gets away with the e-mail stuff is hard to believe. So, I don't know that she's going to be running. But on the assumption she runs... I mean, look. And speaking of that, if she runs, she's running for one reason. She's going to be able to run for one reason, and that's because the Democrats are protecting her. Because so many people have done so much less than her, and they were absolutely \u2014 their lives have been destroyed. But on the assumption they do protect her, I will win the election and we will win it by a lot. We will win it handily. We cannot have another four years of essentially Barack Obama. +p5442 +aVWell, there is a divide, but I have to say that the police are absolutely mistreated and misunderstood, and if there is an incident, whether it's an incident done purposely \u2014 which is a horror, and you should really take very strong action \u2014 or if it is a mistake, it's on your news casts all night, all week, all month, and it never ends. The police in this country have done an unbelievable job of keeping law and order, and they're afraid for their jobs, they're afraid of the mistreatment they get, and I'm telling you that not only, me speaking, minorities all over the country, they respect the police of this country and we have to give them more respect. They can't act. They can't act. They're afraid for losing their pension, their job. They don't know what to do. And I deal with them all the time. We have to give great respect, far greater than we are right now, to our really fantastic police. +p5443 +aVWell, they do. And, you know, they sue. Everybody sues, right? They see excessive \u2014 I mean, they go out, they sue. We have so much litigation \u2014 I see the courts, I see what they're doing. They sue, and you know what? We don't want excessive force. But at what point \u2014 you know, either you're going to have a police force that can do its job... I was just up in Manchester, I met with the police officers yesterday. Tremendous people. They love the area, they love the people, they love all the people. They want to do their job. And you're going to have abuse and you're going to have problems, and you've got to solve the problems and you have to weed out the problems. But the police in this country are absolutely amazing people. +p5444 +aVWell, I \u2014 I know Diane Foley very well. Her husband and \u2014 these are tremendous people. I spoke for them, I raised a lot of money for the foundation. I fully understand, James, one of \u2014 that was really the first that we saw, really visually saw \u2014 it was so horrible. And I will tell you, though, with all of that being said, you can not negotiate this way with terrorists. If you do, you are going to have many, many more James Foleys. James Foley was a great young man. His parents are incredible people. They've done such a good job, since his \u2014 since his death. But you just cannot negotiate that way with terrorists, or you're gonna have so many other James Foleys. And one thing on the vets \u2014 during the last debate, I raised $6 million for the vets, and I will tell you something......I will tell you that I think nobody here, nobody on this stage, gets along with the veterans groups in New Hampshire better than I do without ball (ph) to sarel (ph) and all of the people that I deal with and these are great people. The one thing that we're not mentioning, there's tremendous fraud, waste and abuse in the Veterans Administration and if I'm running things, that's going to disappear......and it's going to disappear quickly. +p5445 +aVCarolina. +p5446 +aVThat's because he got Ben Carson's votes, by the way, but we won't . Our country that we love so much doesn't win anymore. We don't win with the military, we don't' win on the border. You look at New Hampshire with the tremendous problem we have with heroin. Number one thing I hear from the people of New Hampshire, who I love, and developed such relationships, we don't win with healthcare. We don't win with trade. You look at what other countries are doing to us. China. Everyone, they're killing us on trade. If I'm elected president, we will win, and we will win, and we will win. Thank you, thank you very much. +p5447 +aVIt's not fear and terror, it's reality. You just have to look today at Indonesia, bombings all over. You look at California, you look, frankly, at Paris where there's a \u2014 the strictest no-gun policy of any city anywhere in the world, and you see what happens: 130 people dead with many to follow. They're very, very badly wounded. They will \u2014 some will follow. And you look around, and you see what's happening, and this is not the case when he introduced the doctor \u2014 very nice, everything perfect but that is not representative of what you have in that line of migration. That could be the great Trojan Horse. It could be people that are going to do great, great destruction. When I look at the migration, I looked at the line, I said it actually on your show recently, where are the women? It looked like very few women. Very few children. Strong, powerful men, young and people are looking at that and they're saying what's going on? You look at the kind of damage that two people that two people that got married, they were radicalized \u2014 they got married, they killed 15 people in actually 15 \u2014 going to be probably 16 but you look at that and you take a look \u2014 a good strong look and that's what we have. We are nineteen trillion dollars \u2014 our country's a mess and we can't let all these people come into our country and break our borders. We can't do it. +p5448 +aVBut I was born here. +p5449 +aV. Big difference. +p5450 +aVOK, good. Because it wouldn't work. +p5451 +aV... first of all, let me just tell you something \u2014 and you know, because you just saw the numbers yourself \u2014 NBC Wall Street Journal just came out with a poll \u2014 headline: Trump way up, Cruz going down. I mean, so don't \u2014 so you can't \u2014 you can't......they don't like the Wall Street Journal. They don't like NBC, but I like the poll. And frankly, it just came out, and in Iowa now, as you know, Ted, in the last three polls, I'm beating you. So \u2014 you know, you shouldn't misrepresent how well you're doing with the polls. You don't have to say that. In fact, I was all for you until you started doing that, because that's a misrepresentation, number one. Number two, this isn't me saying it. I don't care. I think I'm going to win fair and square to win this way. Thank you. Lawrence Tribe and from Harvard \u2014 of Harvard, said that there is a serious question as to whether or not Ted can do this. OK? There are other attorneys that feel, and very, very fine constitutional attorneys, that feel that because he was not born on the land, he cannot run for office. Here's the problem. We're running. We're running. He does great. I win. I choose him as my vice presidential candidate, and the Democrats sue because we can't take him along for the ride. I don't like that. OK? The fact is \u2014 and if for some reason he beats the rest of the field, he beats the rest of the field . See, they don't like that. They don't like that. No, they don't like he beats the rest of the field, because they want me. But \u2014 if for some reason, Neil, he beats the rest of the field, I already know the Democrats are going to be bringing a suit. You have a big lawsuit over your head while you're running. And if you become the nominee, who the hell knows if you can even serve in office? So you should go out, get a declaratory judgment, let the courts decide. And you shouldn't have mentioned the polls because I would have been much... +p5452 +aVBecause now he's going a little bit better. No, I didn't care . It's true. No, it's true. Hey look, he never had a chance. Now, he's doing better. He's got probably a four or five percent chance. +p5453 +aVThe fact is, there is a big overhang. There's a big question mark on your head. And you can't do that to the party. You really can't. You can't do that to the party. You have to have certainty. Even if it was a one percent chance, and it's far greater than one percent because . I mean, you have great constitutional lawyers that say you can't run. If there was a \u2014 and you know I'm not bringing a suit. I promise. But the Democrats are going to bring a lawsuit, and you have to have certainty. You can't have a question. I can agree with you or not, but you can't have a question over your head. +p5454 +aVYou don't have to. Take it from Lawrence Tribe. Take it from your professors... +p5455 +aVHe's wrong. He's wrong. +p5456 +aVHe is not the only one. +p5457 +aVThere are many lawyers. +p5458 +aVNo \u2014 no...... I think if it doesn't... I like that. I like it. I'd consider it. But I think I'll go back to building buildings if it doesn't work out. +p5459 +aVI have a feeling it's going to work out, actually. +p5460 +aVOkay. First of all, Nikki this afternoon said I'm a friend of hers. Actually a close friend. And wherever you are sitting Nikki, I'm a friend. We're friends. That's good. But she did say there was anger. And I could say, oh, I'm not angry. I'm very angry because our country is being run horribly and I will gladly accept the mantle of anger. Our military is a disaster. Our healthcare is a horror show. Obamacare, we're going to repeal it and replace it. We have no borders. Our vets are being treated horribly. Illegal immigration is beyond belief. Our country is being run by incompetent people. And yes, I am angry. And I won't be angry when we fix it, but until we fix it, I'm very, very angry. And I say that to Nikki. So when Nikki said that, I wasn't offended. She said the truth. One of your colleagues interviewed me. And said, well, she said you were angry and I said to myself, huh, she's right. I'm not fighting that. I didn't find it offensive at all. I'm angry because our country is a mess. +p5461 +aVNo. I am a 2nd amendment person. If we had guns in California on the other side where the bullets went in the different direction, you wouldn't have 14 or 15 people dead right now. If even in Paris, if they had guns on the other side, going in the opposite direction, you wouldn't have 130 people plus dead. So the answer is no and what Jeb said is absolutely correct. We have a huge mental health problem in this country. We're closing hospitals, we're closing wards, we're closing so many because the states want to save money. We have to get back into looking at what's causing it. The guns don't pull the trigger. It's the people that pull the trigger and we have to find out what is going on. We have to protect our 2nd amendment and you cannot do this and certainly what Barack Obama was doing with the executive order. He doesn't want to get people together, the old-fashioned way, where you get Congress. You get the Congress, you get the Senate, you get together, you do legislation. He just writes out an executive order. Not supposed to happen that way. +p5462 +aVYou get the Congress. You get the Senate. You get together. You do legislation. He just writes out an order, executive order. It's not supposed to happen that way. +p5463 +aVSo conservatives actually do come out of Manhattan, including William F. Buckley and others, just so you understand. And just so \u2014 if I could, because he insulted a lot of people. I've had more calls on that statement that Ted made \u2014 New York is a great place. It's got great people, it's got loving people, wonderful people. When the World Trade Center came down, I saw something that no place on Earth could have handled more beautifully, more humanely than New York. You had two one hundred... ...you had two 110-story buildings come crashing down. I saw them come down. Thousands of people killed, and the cleanup started the next day, and it was the most horrific cleanup, probably in the history of doing this, and in construction. I was down there, and I've never seen anything like it. And the people in New York fought and fought and fought, and we saw more death, and even the smell of death \u2014 nobody understood it. And it was with us for months, the smell, the air. And we rebuilt downtown Manhattan, and everybody in the world watched and everybody in the world loved New York and loved New Yorkers. And I have to tell you, that was a very insulting statement that Ted made. +p5464 +aVNo. No. Look, we have to stop with political correctness. We have to get down to creating a country that's not going to have the kind of problems that we've had with people flying planes into the World Trade Centers, with the \u2014 with the shootings in California, with all the problems all over the world. I just left Indonesia \u2014 bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb. We have to find out what's going on. I said temporarily. I didn't say permanently. I said temporarily. And I have many great Muslim friends. And some of them, I will say, not all, have called me and said, "Donald, thank you very much; you're exposing an unbelievable problem and we have to get to the bottom of it." And unlike President Obama, where he refuses even to use the term of what's going on, he can't use the term for whatever reason. And if you can't use the term, you're never going to solve the problem. My Muslim friends, some, said, "thank you very much; we'll get to the bottom of it." But we have a serious problem. And we can't be the stupid country any more. We're laughed at all over the world. +p5465 +aVEleven points, to be exact. +p5466 +aVI want security for this country. OK? I want security. I'm tired of seeing what's going on, between the border where the people flow over; people come in; they live; they shoot. I want security for this country. We have a serious problem with, as you know, with radical Islam. We have a tremendous problem. It's not only a problem here. It's a problem all over the world. I want to find out why those two young people \u2014 those two horrible young people in California when they shot the 14 people, killed them \u2014 people they knew, people that held the wedding reception for them. I want to find out \u2014 many people saw pipe bombs and all sorts of things all over their apartment. Why weren't they vigilant? Why didn't they call? Why didn't they call the police? And by the way, the police are the most mistreated people in this country. I will tell you that. The most mistreated people. In fact, we need to \u2014 wait a minute \u2014 we need vigilance. We have to find out \u2014 many people knew about what was going on. Why didn't they turn those two people in so that you wouldn't have had all the death? There's something going on and it's bad. And I'm saying we have to get to the bottom of it. That's all I'm saying. We need security. +p5467 +aVThat's wrong. They were wrong. It's the New York Times, they are always wrong. +p5468 +aVThey were wrong. +p5469 +aVNo, I said, " I would use \u2014 " they were asking me what to do about North Korea. China, they don't like to tell us but they have total control \u2014 just about, of North Korea. They can solve the problem of North Korea if they wanted to but they taunt us. They say, " well, we don't really have control." Without China, North Korea doesn't even eat. China is ripping us on trade. They're devaluing their currency and they're killing our companies. Thousands of thousands \u2014 you look at the number of companies and the number in terms of manufacturing of plans that we've lost \u2014 50,000 because of China. +p5470 +aVWe've lost anywhere between four and seven million jobs because of China. What I said then was, "we have very unfair trade with China. We're going to have a trade deficit of 505 billion dollars this year with China." A lot of that is because they devalue their currency. What I said to the New York Times, is that, "we have great power, economic power over China and if we wanted to use that and the amount \u2014 where the 45 percent comes in, that would be the amount they saw their devaluations that we should get." That we should get. What I'm saying is this, I'm saying that we do it but if they don't start treating us fairly and stop devaluing and let their currency rise so that our companies can compete and we don't lose all of these millions of jobs that we're losing, I would certainly start taxing goods that come in from China. Who the hell has to lose 505 billion dollars a year? +p5471 +aVIt's not that complicated actually. +p5472 +aVOK, just so you understand \u2014 I know so much about trading about with China. Carl Icahn today as you know endorsed. Many businessmen want to endorse me. +p5473 +aVCarl said, "no, no \u2014 " but he's somebody \u2014 these are the kind of people that we should use to negotiate and not the China people that we have who are political hacks who don't know what they're doing and we have problems like this. If these are the kinds of people \u2014 we should use our best and our finest. Now, on that tariff \u2014 here's what I'm saying, China \u2014 they send their goods and we don't tax it \u2014 they do whatever they want to do. They do whatever what they do, OK. When we do business with China, they tax us. You don't know it, they tax us. I have many friends that deal with China. They can't \u2014 when they order the product and when they finally get the product it is taxed. If you looking at what happened with Boeing and if you look at what happened with so many companies that deal \u2014 so we don't have an equal playing field. I'm saying, absolutely, we don't have to continue to lose 505 billion dollars as a trade deficit for the privilege of dealing with China. I'm a free trader. I believe in it but we have to be smart and we have to use smart people to negotiate. I have the largest bank in the world as a tenant of mine. I sell tens' of millions of . I love China. I love the Chinese people but they laugh themselves, they can't believe how stupid the American leadership is. +p5474 +aVI'm totally open to a tariff. If they don't treat us fairly, hey, their whole trade is tariffed. You can't deal in China without tariffs. They do it to us, we don't it. It's not fair trade. +p5475 +aVI'm happy to have him tonight... +p5476 +aVNeil, the problem... +p5477 +aV... with what Marco is saying is that it takes too long, they're sucking us dry and it takes too long. It would just \u2014 you absolutely have to get involved with China, they are taking so much of what we have in terms of jobs in terms of money. We just can't do it any longer. +p5478 +aVYou looking at me? +p5479 +aVCan I tell you what? It will never happen because they'll let their currency go up. They're never going to let it happen. Japan, the same thing. They are devaluing \u2014 it's so impossible for \u2014 you look at Caterpillar Tractor and what's happening with Caterpillar and Kamatsu. Kamatsu is a tractor company in Japan. Friends of mine are ordering Kamatsu tractors now because they've de-valued the yen to such an extent that you can't buy a Caterpillar tractor. And we're letting them get away with it and we can't let them get away with it. And that's why we have to use Carl and we have to use our great businesspeople and not political hacks to negotiate with these guys. +p5480 +aVAnd we don't need a weak person being president of the United State, OK? Because that's what we'd get if it were Jeb \u2014 I tell you what, we don't need that. +p5481 +aVWe don't need that. That's essentially what we have now, and we don't need that. And that's why we're in the trouble that we're in now. And by the way, Jeb you mentioned Boeing, take a look. They order planes, they make Boeing build their plant in China. They don't want them made here. They want those planes made in China. +p5482 +aVThat's not the way the game is supposed to be played. +p5483 +aVNo, the new planes. I'm not talking about now, I'm talking about in the future they're building massive plants in China because China does not want Boeing building their planes here, they want them built in China, because China happens to be smart the way they do it, not the way we do it. +p5484 +aVI'll check for you. +p5485 +aVMaria \u2014 Maria, what you were talking about just now is called corporate inversion. It's one of the biggest problems our country has. Right now, corporations, by the thousands, are thinking of leaving our country with the jobs \u2014 leave them behind. They're leaving because of taxes, but they are also leaving because they can't get their money back and everybody agrees, Democrats and Republicans, that is should come back in. But they can't get along. They can't even make a deal. Here is the case, they both agree, they can't make a deal. We have to do something. Corporate inversion is one of the biggest problems we have. So many companies are going to leave our country. +p5486 +aVThank you. +p5487 +aVWell, it's an interesting question because I'm very proud of my company. As you too know, I know I built a very great company. But if I become president, I couldn't care less about my company. It's peanuts. I want to use that same up here, whatever it may be to make America rich again and to make America great again. I have Ivanka, and Eric and Don sitting there. Run the company kids, have a good time. I'm going to do it for America. So I would \u2014 I would be willing to do that. +p5488 +aVI would put it in a blind trust. Well, I don't know if it's a blind trust if Ivanka, Don and Eric run it. If that's a blind trust, I don't know. But I would probably have my children run it with my executives and I wouldn't ever be involved because I wouldn't care about anything but our country, anything. +p5489 +aVThank you. +p5490 +aVI stood yesterday with 75 construction workers. They're tough, they're strong, they're great people. Half of them had tears pouring down their face. They were watching the humiliation of our young ten sailors, sitting on the floor with their knees in a begging position, their hands up. And Iranian wise guys having guns to their heads. It was a terrible sight. A terrible sight. And the only reason we got them back is because we owed them with a stupid deal, $150 billion. If I'm president, there won't be stupid deals anymore. We will make America great again. We will win on everything we do. Thank you. +p5491 +asVPATAKI +p5492 +(lp5493 +VThank you, Wolf. I want to speak to you this evening not as a Republican or a presidential candidate, but as an American. As we saw today in L.A., we are at a crisis in our country. Radical Islam poses a threat to our safety not just overseas, but literally in every community in America. And yet at a time when we should be united, we have a president who has divided us, who refuses to call radical Islam what it is, let alone have a coherent strategy to defeat it. The leading Democrat, Hillary Clinton, won't call +p5494 +aVAbsolutely. It's one of many absurd things this President has said. To target a religion and say that regardless of whether you're an American soldier who has fought on our side or allies we have overseas, simply because of your religion we're going to ban you is un-American, it is unconstitutional and it is wrong. And by the way, Wolf, now there was a group that tried to do that 150 to 160 years ago, they were called the Know-Nothing Party. They wanted to ban Catholics. They thought they were going to destroy America. Well, Donald Trump is the Know-Nothing candidate of the 21st century and cannot be our nominee. By the way, though. I fault Hillary and Obama as well because by not distinguishing between Muslims and radicalized Jihadists, by refusing to acknowledge that it's radical Muslim, radical Islamists who are carrying out these attacks against America \u2014 they let Americans who are confused and angry lump everyone together. We have to embrace the Muslims who embrace our freedom and living and safety. We have to destroy those who embrace Jihad and want to engage in violence against us here or abroad. +p5495 +aVYes. +p5496 +aVYou know, I think it's very important that we do everything in our power to prevent radicalization of Americans right here. And it is happening, not just overseas, but it's happening here from Mosques on social media. And truth \u2014 interaction and community meetings. New York police department had a very active group, aggressively monitoring and using intelligence to \u2014 in certain Muslim communities, consistent with our constitution, consistent of our civil rights, so they could have the intelligence as to where these sermons are being given, and who is being radicalized. And, they stopped and prevented dozens, and dozens of attacks in New York. You know, I'm a great believer in the First Amendment, of Freedom of Speech. I wish we had more of it on our college campuses, but you can't shout fire in a crowded theater. Calling on Americans to engage in violence against their fellow Americans in the name of jihad is crying fire in a crowded theater. It is not constitutionally protected speech, it should be shut down. And, by the way, the two murders who went to Garland, Texas to massacre many Americans before the Texas police officer courageously killed them, had been radicalized here. Getting to that metadata question, one of those terrorists, the day before the attacks, had sent......109 message to a known terrorist overseas. We could not read those messages, we can not read those today... +p5497 +aV...We have got to do far better. +p5498 +aVYes, Wolf. +p5499 +aVI would pass a law requiring them to do that. Let me just give you one example. I mentioned in Garland, Texas, where that murderer, that terrorist, the day before sent 109 messages overseas to a known terrorist. But they were encrypted. So to this date we don't know what that said. Companies are entitled to encrypt and protect their knowledge and their intelligence. But what we need is a back door for law enforcement to be able, when they can establish that that communication poses a risk to our safety and engages in terrorism, to get a court order and go in and access those communications. Allow the companies to continue encryption, provide an entry way for law enforcement when they can prove to a court that there is a sufficient risk of an attack upon us that they have the right to look at those messages. +p5500 +aVAnd just one more thing, Wolf. When that murderer came from Pakistan to San Bernardino and committed those atrocious crimes just a few weeks ago, she applied for a visa. She had posted on social media jihadist messages. Because this administration is so politically correct, they have a rule that they cannot look at social media postings of people applying to come to the United States. That is utterly absurd. One of the things we must do, the next president must do is get rid of that law and make sure we do everything in our power to find out if someone poses a threat to our existence here. +p5501 +aVWolf, I think the answer is we have to send troops with allies and supporters. Wherever it is necessary to destroy the training centers, recruitment centers, planning hubs of +p5502 +aVYes. +p5503 +aVYou know, I don't think it's a function of years of going after +p5504 +aVYou know, I don't want to see us occupy a country. I've been to Iraq a couple of times and Afghanistan. The first time I went, I had an uneasy feeling that when we went there we were liberators. But as we stayed ,we became occupiers. I saw American troops move into some of Saddam's old hideous marble palaces. And I thought that was exactly the wrong message. We do not have to occupy. We do not have to nation build and try to create a democracy where one hasn't existed. WE have to destroy +p5505 +aVI'm not sure \u2014 ally with which groups? I didn't quite catch that. +p5506 +aVNot at all. Iran is our enemy. They are the number one sponsor of state terror. The Iranian Deal is a disaster. And by the way, I don't think the next president has to aggregate it. It was never ratified by the Iranians. They have tested long-range ballistic missiles in violation of U.N. resolutions. They have broken the agreement. It is void. They can never have a nuclear weapon and should not get relief. With respect to the other groups, like Hezbollah, of course we should not work with them. I'll tell you who we should work with in Syria. There are two groups. One are the PYD, the \u2014 the Kurds in Syria who led the defense of Kobani, and are in northern and eastern Syria and anti- +p5507 +aVI could create... +p5508 +aVI would create the no-fly zone, and let me tell you, something very simply. Putin is a bully, and the most important and effective thing you can do to a bully is punch him in the face. Create a no-fly zone. If Russian planes violate that space, either us, or the Turks, should shoot them down to keep our word. And, I guarantee you that Putin would back off. Bullies, when you stand up to them, back down. We have had, under Obama, and under Hillary as Secretary of State, nothing but weakness in the face of Russia, whether it was in the Crimea, whether it was in Ukraine, or now in the Middle East. I would give the Ukrainians lethal weapons so they could defend themselves. I would create the no-fly zone, and if Russian planes flew into it in violation of what we have declared, yes. +p5509 +aVI could create... +p5510 +aVI would create the no-fly zone, and let me tell you, something very simply. Putin is a bully, and the most important and effective thing you can do to a bully is punch him in the face. Create a no-fly zone. If Russian planes violate that space, either us, or the Turks, should shoot them down to keep our word. And, I guarantee you that Putin would back off. Bullies, when you stand up to them, back down. We have had, under Obama, and under Hillary as Secretary of State, nothing but weakness in the face of Russia, whether it was in the Crimea, whether it was in Ukraine, or now in the Middle East. I would give the Ukrainians lethal weapons so they could defend themselves. I would create the no-fly zone, and if Russian planes flew into it in violation of what we have declared, yes. +p5511 +aVNo, I completely disagree with Rick. This is America. And we've made enormous progress. And I don't care if you're a man or a woman. I care if you're good and capable of doing the job. If you can do the job \u2014 don't lower standards, don't lower the criteria \u2014 but if a woman is capable of doing these jobs, there is no reason why we should deny a patriot who wants to serve and help defend our country that right. +p5512 +aVIt's not. +p5513 +aVNo, you said you would reverse the policy which excluded women from those jobs whether or not they were able to do that. That is wrong. +p5514 +aVAh. +p5515 +aVYes, I think what Rick said is very different from what he said initially which was that, "he would reverse the policy that gave woman not the right but the opportunity to serve in combat." They can only do it if they're fit and capable and meet the same standards as men. And so, to reverse that policy and deny a woman who is prepared to risk her life to defend our freedom and is capable of doing everything a man could do is not the right thing for America in the 21st century. By the way, you see in Iraq, the Peshmerga, the Kurds ,many of their top fighters are women. This is the 21st century. We're not radical Islam. We want to give women the opportunity to do whatever they are capable of achieving in this country. +p5516 +aVOf course he's innocent until proven guilty. I happen to believe he's guilty. The military did a very clear and long study as to whether or not he deserted in the face of enemy and they are not court marshalling him. I don't think he should executed. I do think he will have a fair military trial, not a civilian trial, at which time, assuming he's found guilty as I think he would, he will be sentenced appropriately. But there's a bigger issue here, this administration has failed to protect us because they have treated radical Islamists as Americans who should be tried in civil court. That is ridiculous. They are enemy aliens engaged in terror against Americans. And by the way, the fact that this president is now threatening to close Guantanamo Bay when we know that time after time, terrorists he released are involved in a high level capacity helping +p5517 +aVYou know, again, it comes down to something that, as Mike said, breaks your heart. We clearly want to get them back. But the idea that by taking a journalist, for example, and holding him hostage in Iran, they're going to be able to get some of their terrorist leaders back, is simply bad policy. Israel has shown the way on this in rejecting hostage exchanges such as this and then not paying ransom. But, by the way, Mike is absolutely right. We have to do more to protect our people overseas, but then we also have to do more to help our veterans when they come back here today. We haven't talked about that. But more talking about defeating terrorism, one of the things we have to do is give our veterans the support and help that they require. What has happened at the VA is a disgrace. Give our veterans a medical card that they can use to get the best quality care anywhere, including outside of the VA system. +p5518 +aVAnd that \u2014 but that was involved in combat, where they were actually involved in a war against each other and exchanged prisoners. We have not been in a war with Iran. They have taken civilians as hostages. It's a totally different situation. And we cannot encourage them to do any more of that. +p5519 +aVYou know, I think what I said earlier is that I would create a no-fly zone in Syria. Turkey just agreed to take 3 million more Syrian refugees. The EU just came up with a funding program to provide camps for Syrian refugees, but I would also create that no-fly zone where refugees can be there. I have to say I agree with Rick, because this President is talking about taking 10,000 people from Syria, who we cannot vet. This administration, allegedly, vetted the woman who carried out the attacks in San Bernardino and never found out that she had a false address and was on social media talking about radical Jihad. Coming from Syria, it's impossible to do that check. And we know, by the way, that +p5520 +aVThank you. This debate has been about terrorism and appropriately so. I'm proud to have been governor of New York on September 11th and have led our state through and during the aftermath of that horrible attack. I vowed then that if I ever had the chance to lead this country, I would do everything in my power to make sure that Americans were safe. But I also saw a positive from that. New Yorkers and the American people came together and vowed that we weren't just going to defend ourselves. We were not going to live in fear. We were going to rise to new heights and celebrate our freedom. Come to Lower Manhattan today. You will see a magnificent tribute to those who died, the memorial and the museum. You will also see a new tower soaring 1,776 feet tall, the Freedom Tower, a symbol of our freedom, a symbol of our belief that as a free people we can soar to new heights. Give us the chance to unite Americans, not just Republicans. And this country's future is unlimited. +p5521 +aVWe need an outsider to run our party and to win the next election. Washington has become a corrupt insider game and everybody talks about how they're going to change the taxes, grow the economy. Nothing seems to change. But, by the way, Bobby, I shrunk the size of New York State's government when I left. We had reduced the employment by over 25,000 and cut taxes. But I understand that to change Washington you have to understand government as well. You can't just be an outsider. You can't just be someone who throws stones at Washington. You have to be someone who can actually bring people together across party lines. I can do that, I will do that if I have the chance to lead this party. +p5522 +aVBecky, can I comment on this question? +p5523 +aV...John, can I quickly comment on this one... +p5524 +aV...But, I want to speak on this issue... +p5525 +aV...I think it was a bad deal, but I would have voted for it for a very simple reason. Barack Obama is the first president in American history to hold our military hostage. He knew that we needed funding for overseas contingency operations, $40 million dollars that would go to support our troops. And, he was prepared, and had vetoed it, unless this deal went through. I have two sons, they both served overseas. One in Iraq, and one in Afghanistan, and I understand that we have got to do far more to help our military, help our veterans, and help protect our security. This is a bad deal, but to protect our military, I would have signed it. Uh, it's not going to be the case, if I have a chance to lead this country, we're going to reduce the deficit, shrink the government, lower the tax burden and grow the private sector because that's how you solve deficits. +p5526 +aVThank you. +p5527 +aVNo, I don't think we need a military response, but we need a coordinated response. And I have to say that I think the Obama administration has been completely lax, to say the least, in dealing with these cyber-attacks, not just by governments like North Korea, but by, particularly, Chinese and other companies. And what I would do is put in place a policy where if we know a company, say, a Chinese company, is hacking into American companies, stealing trade secrets, as we know they do every day, we will retaliate against that company and say that that company's not going to be allowed to continue to do trade with the United States. I would also look at what we're doing at the federal level and put in place what Israel has done: a \u2014 one federal agency dealing with cybersecurity and charged with working across silos to make sure we have the best technology. And, Jim, I've gotta tell you something, talking about cybersecurity. Hillary Clinton put a server, an unsecure server, in her home as secretary of state. We have no doubt that that was hacked, and that state secrets are out there to the Iranians, the Russians, the Chinese and others. That alone should disqualify her from being president of the United States. +p5528 +aVI think they have gone too far. I think we've seen Wall Street really blossom and do very well while the rest of the country is struggling, and it's because we have this corrupt connection between Wall Street and Washington. And, John, you were just talking about what loopholes would you get rid of. I would get rid of virtually every single one of them. They cost American taxpayers $1.4 trillion a year. I would throw them all out. +p5529 +aVNo, I wouldn't. I was going to say... +p5530 +aV...no, I would keep \u2014 first, yes, but what I would do is ii would lower the tax on manufacturing to the lowest in the developed world \u2014 12 percent. We all have plans. I have a plan. We all have plans. My plan, the Tax Foundation said, would create five and a half million new jobs over the next decade. The difference, though, is I will get my plan enacted because, when I was governor of New York, I passed sweeping tax code \u2014 cuts in a Democratic state with a Democratic legislature. I \u2014 you know, Bobby, you're talking about your tax cuts? I cut taxes more than everybody on this stage, more than everybody on the next stage, combined. By more than the other 49 states, in New York state. I don't just have a plan. I will enact tax cuts, get rid of those loopholes and make the system fairer for all Americans. +p5531 +aVThank you. +p5532 +aVLet me \u2014 let me try to get a word in edgewise. +p5533 +aVIn Washington, they talk over each other... +p5534 +aVYes. Very simply, you guys talk over each other in Washington all the time. I'm not used to that. I listen when people talk. We have a skills gap. You mentioned the construction company. The construction industry says one of their biggest problems are they can't find the craftsmen to do the work. What we have to... +p5535 +aV\u2014 do in America is honor blue collar work again. We have to honor the carpenter, the plumber, the electrician, who can actually build something and instead of just saying that a college degree live \u2014 delivers prestige, let's celebrate those who do things with their hands and elevate their skills using training in high school and community... +p5536 +aV\u2014 colleges so that we can... +p5537 +aV\u2014 have a better quality workforce that we honor... +p5538 +aV\u2014 as they build America's future. +p5539 +aVThank you. +p5540 +aVThank you. +p5541 +aVHey, Rick. +p5542 +aVI'm doing great. +p5543 +aVNot at all. +p5544 +aVNo, I don't support it. But let me go back a little bit here. We need to grow our economy faster. We've had the worst economic recovery since the Great Depression. And it's because of policy in Washington and policy at the Fed. And let me go back to Washington. In 2009 \u2014 +p5545 +aVJohn, no question Barack Obama inherited a economic disaster in 2009. But what did he do? Instead of focusing on pro-growth policies in the economy, he rammed through ObamaCare, the worst law of my lifetime, that hurt small businesses, hurt companies, raised taxes and almost completely eliminated one industry because of its taxes. The Fed had to act. And the Fed did act and appropriately in reducing interest rates but they've reduced them now for seven straight years, that's never happened before. They've been zero for way too long. They should raise the rates; the Fed should get out of manipulating the market and the Fed also, by the way, should reduce its balance sheet, $2.7 trillion. Let some of those bonds mature and put the money back in the banking system so our economy can grow. +p5546 +aVYeah, absolutely. I \u2014 one of the things that troubles me about the Republican Party is too often we question science that everyone accepts. I mean, it's ridiculous that, in the 21st century, we're questioning whether or not vaccines are the appropriate way to go. Of course they are. And it's also not appropriate to think that human activity, putting CO2 into the atmosphere, doesn't make the earth warmer. All things being equal, it does. It's uncontroverted. I think part of the problem is that Republicans think about climate change, say, "oh my God, we're gonna have higher taxes, more Obama, more big government, the EPA shutting down factories." That's not the solution that I see. I want Republicans to embrace innovation and technology. You know, there's one country in the world that has fewer greenhouse gas emissions than the rest of \u2014 of the world. You know what that is? The United States. Our emissions are lower than they were in 1995. Not because of a \u2014 of a government program, but because of fracking, private sector creation... +p5547 +aV...replace coal plants \u2014 government's roles \u2014 is to incentivize innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit in America. We could have far more clean energy. We could have next-generation nuclear, thorium reactors that have no risk of meltdown. We could have solar panels on every home that are four times more efficient than today. +p5548 +aVR&D \u2014 R&D credits. Let the private sector do this, develop this innovation. And not only would we solve our problems, we would have clean energy, cheaper energy here. We could export those technologies to places like China and like India so we would grow our economy, have a far greater impact globally, have a secure domestic source of energy, and cleaner, healthier air. That's the solution. Embrace science, embrace innovation and change. +p5549 +aVThe one I use the most is Uber. You know, I used to get driven......when I was governor, I had a driver. I don't anymore, but.... And it's an example of what millennials are doing to change America for the better. And I tweet a lot, too. So Uber, Tweet \u2014 Twitter and then I communicate with my family. +p5550 +aVI \u2014 I am a long suffering Jets fan. So my answer is obviously no, there's no reason to take off the day after the Super Bowl. But let me just add this. The Mets are going to win tonight. Let's go, Mets. +p5551 +aVThank you for the opportunity to be with this great audience tonight. I'm a limited government conservative and I mean by that that not just when it comes to economic issues leaving them to the state, but social issues, as well. And in that I differ from every single other candidate seeking the Republican nomination. I take the Tenth Amendment very, very seriously. I'm a Republican who embraces science and understands we have to work with the next generation of millennials to have the innovation and technology so that we can grow a 21st century economy. And I'm a Republican who understands in Washington, when you're a leader, you have to put aside partisan politics to do what's right for the people. We are one America. If we work together across party lines, there's no problem we can't solve and the 21st century will be America's greatest century. Thank you very much. +p5552 +aVThank you, Jake. Hi, I'm George Pataki, and I am honored to be here this afternoon with all of you at the Reagan Library. You know, when I think of Ronald Reagan, I think of his tremendous smile, a smile that reflected his optimism and his unending belief and faith in America and in Americans. And it was that belief in America that led to a great presidency, a presidency that led to decades of safety, security and prosperity for America. That's exactly the type of leadership we need in Washington today and that's why I'm running for President of the United States. Thank you. +p5553 +aVNo. Hugh, not at all. I have not broken the pledge because Donald Trump is not going to be the Republican nominee, period, flat out, I guarantee you that. I would vote... +p5554 +aV-- for the Republican nominee... +p5555 +aVHe's not going to be the nominee. +p5556 +aVHe's not going to be the nominee, Hugh. And let me just say one word here. This is an important election with an enormous number of challenges facing the American people. And the first four questions are about Donald Trump. +p5557 +aVNo, I would not vote for Hillary Clinton. +p5558 +aVNo, I will vote for the Republican nominee. But let me say this flat out, Donald Trump is unfit to be president of the United States or the Republican Party's nominee. Look at what he did in Atlantic City. He says he's going to make America great again? He invested four casinos in Atlantic City and he said, essentially, I'm going to make Atlantic City great again. Every one of those casinos went bankrupt. Over 5,000 Americans lost their job. And you know people who, in this difficult economic time, have lost their job and the pain that causes. He didn't lose anything, 5,000 lost their jobs. He will do for America what he did for Atlantic City and that is not someone we will nominate. +p5559 +aVThank you. +p5560 +aVOK. All right. Thank you. +p5561 +aVYeah, it's a small part of a very important issue, and let me comment on what my colleagues were saying here. We all agree you have to secure the border. We have to make sure that people come to America legally. That has got to be step one. Step two is, we have to stop releasing criminals into the communities. If you are charged with a crime as an illegal alien, you should either be in jail or be deported. You should not released, as the Obama administration has done. Of course, we should outlaw sanctuary cities and hold them responsible. But we can't ignore 11 million people who are here. What are we going to do? We're not going to send them back, despite somebody saying we're going to drag kids out of classrooms and send them back. But we have to send a message that we are a nation that depends on the rule of law, and when your first act is to break the law, there has to be a consequence. So what I would do is require those who want to have legal status, not citizenship, come forward, acknowledge they broke the law, and if they do it again, they can be immediately deported, and then do what we do in communities across America when we want to sanction someone... +p5562 +aV... and that is community service -- 200 hours working in a hospital... +p5563 +aV... working in a school, and then they could have legal... +p5564 +aVI don't -- I don't think that we should tell that child born in America that we're going to send them back. The way to avoid that is to have an intelligent immigration policy where we know who is coming here, why they are coming here, so we don't have this flood of people coming here for the wrong reasons. +p5565 +aVWe have to deal with the people who are here illegally. We can't just ignore them, or send them back. I think my policy would work to give them legal status, make them a part of an economy that will grow, and help America. +p5566 +aVLindsey, let me comment on this. Last week was the anniversary of September 11th and I was governor of New York on September 11th and led us through that horrible day. And I learned that we cannot assume that because radical Islam is a continent away, it doesn't pose a threat to us here in America. It did then, and today, I think, we are at greater risk of an attack than at any time since. We have got to destroy +p5567 +aVJake... +p5568 +aVJake, if I can comment on this. Yes, Kim Davis is different from Islamist radicalists from the Middle East. But on the other hand, we have run rule in America, an elected official can't say I'm not going to follow that law if it conflicts with my beliefs. I think she should have been fired and if she worked for me, I would have fired her. We have to uphold the rule of law. +p5569 +aVImagine one minute -- Jake, imagine one minute that was a Muslim who said I don't believe in gay marriage, and refused to perform that wedding. We wouldn't have had that outrage. There's a place where religion supersedes the rule of law. It's called Iran. It shouldn't be the United States. +p5570 +aVMy response is kind of, "Wow." You know, we're going to have a president who defies the Supreme Court because they don't agree? +p5571 +aVThen you don't have the rule of law... +p5572 +aVThe -- the elected representatives of the people always have the opportunity to change that law. The Supreme Court makes a determination, but it's ultimately the elected officials who decide whether or not that would be accepted. By the way, if I have a chance to lead this country, I will appoint judges who understand their role. They're not going to be making the law; they're going to be interpreting law that the elected officials passed. +p5573 +aVBut there's a huge difference between an individual standing up and saying I am going to stand for my religious freedom and my religious rights. I applaud that. This is America. You should be able to engage in your religious belief in the way you see fit. But when you are an elected official and you take an oath of office to uphold the law, all the laws, you cannot pick and choose or you no longer have a society that depends on the rule of law. +p5574 +aVYes, I -- I didn't agree with the Supreme Court's decision, but it is the law of this land. And I am a great admirer of Martin Luther King. And he was prepared to break the law. But it wasn't in an office of political power. It was civil disobedience, where what he was willing to do is voluntarily go to jail with his followers to send a message to the elected representatives that these laws were wrong and had to be changed. And because of his courage, we didn't ignore the courts, we changed the laws and made America a better place. That's the way to do it. +p5575 +aVYes? +p5576 +aVI would throw out the entire corrupt tax code. It's a symbol of the corruption and the power of the lobbyists and the special interests in Washington. It is 74,000 pages of incomprehensible gobbledygook. What I would do is get rid of the 1.4 million every year in exemptions and loopholes, dramatically lower the rates. The normal American person is paying higher taxes than they should because of loopholes, and one of them is that carried interest loophole. I would tax that income the same as ordinary income. I'd lower the rate to 24 percent for all Americans, but I would not give a special break to the Wall Street fat caps -- fat cats. +p5577 +aVIt's hard for me to say I'm with Donald trump on anything, but on this issue, I agree with him. But let me just make one other point. It's not just throwing out the tax code to break the back of the special interests that control Washington. It's other reforms. I would propose a law -- right now there are over 400 former members of the House and Senate who are registered lobbyists in Washington. I would propose a law on day one, you serve one day in the House or Senate, there's a lifetime ban on you ever being a lobbyist in Washington, D.C. You get elected, you go back home. You don't stay and support the special interests. +p5578 +aVCan I just... +p5579 +aVNo, I would not. I would keep that deduction. I would lower the rates dramatically, so, yes, that root that has a special carve out would pay more, but everybody else is going to pay less. I would keep the home mortgage deduction, the charitable deduction, and others. And, by the way, you know, I agree with Rick on manufacturing, but my approach is different. I would pass a rate on manufacturing of 12 percent, the lowest in the developed world so we can make this America again. I know how important those jobs are. When I work -- went through college, Christmas and summer vacations, I worked in a factory. My grandparents worked in a factory. We have the opportunity now with lower energy costs, with the world labor cost getting higher, to make things in America so we don't have to worry about China. Lower the tax burden on manufacturing, improve the work skills... +p5580 +aV...of Americans. Get rid of job killing regulations. If we're going to... +p5581 +aV...If we're going to make this America... +p5582 +aVNot on the table but I think there's a lot that does work. And that is to have a strong America, a strong military and a resolve where the Iranians know that not only are we going to reject this deal on day one and reimpose sanctions but, if they move forward with the nuclear program, their safety for those facilities will be at risk. I'll tell you a couple of things I'd do. I'd give the Israelis bombs called MOPs, massive ordnance penetrators. Give them to Israel. Let the Iranians know we're prepared to work with Israel to make sure they never have a nuclear weapon. And let me point out that Hillary Clinton, supporting this deal, she was the senator from New York on September 11th, she saw what happened at the hands of radical Islam. This is the senator who did the reset program with Russia, who allowed the Middle East to deteriorate to flames, who has lied about Benghazi and is now supporting the Iranian deal. That's the opponent we're going to have next November. We have got to win this election. Everything we say is wonderful. But we have to win and, once we win, we have to actually do what we say. I can do this. +p5583 +aVI think there are two things, Jake. Two things that we need as Republicans. First, we have to win the election. You're going to hear a lot of great ideas, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that. None of it matters unless you win the election. And the second is, once you win, you have to be able to govern successfully. You've heard a lot of fighting back and forth, you didn't get this done, you didn't get that done. That's the way Washington is today. You have to have a leader, a president, who will actually get a conservative agenda through. I'm running because I have done both those things, and I did them in one of the most liberal states in America. I got elected three times in the state of New York. Twice by the largest pluralities ever for a Republican. I ran as a Republican conservative. If I get the nomination, I will be able to get broad support and win this election, and take the White House back for our party. But more importantly, once I've won, I will put in place a sweeping conservative agenda. I did that in New York. Over $143 billion in tax cuts. More than the other 49 states combined. Taking one million people off welfare and putting them into jobs, in a state where the Democrats control the state assembly. +p5584 +aV103-47. I got them to support a conservative agenda. If I get elected president, I will make things work in Washington. +p5585 +aVFor the Republican party and for the United States. +p5586 +aVI think he means somebody who hasn't been a career politician, and who's been out of office for awhile. I think the last eight years in the private sector have allowed me to see government from the outside, and I think that is a positive thing. Yes, I thought about running four years ago. I was ready to lead, but I wasn't ready to run. But I look at this country today, and I look at how divided we are, I look at how politicians are always posturing and issuing sound bites but never solving problems. What I did in New York was bring people together, an overwhelmingly Democratic state. But I was able to get Democrats to support the most conservative sweeping policy changes in any state in America. And when I look at Washington today, we need to bring us together. We need to solve problems, we need to rebuild our military so we can stand up to radical Islam, we need to get our economy growing much faster by throwing out the corrupt tax code and lowering the rates. We have to end crony capitalism in Washington, where the lobbyists and the powerful can get tax breaks and tax credits, and the American people don't get laws in their interest. I can do that. And I can do it regardless of what the makeup of Congress is because I did it in New York state. So we need new leadership -- yes. I will be that new leader. Mac +p5587 +aVMartha, religious liberty doesn't include encouraging a fellow American to engage in violent jihad and kill an American here. That is not protected free speech. That is not protected religious belief. That is like shouting "fire" in a crowded theater, and that is illegal, and I would do everything in our power not just to go after those who are here who we know who are here, before they can radicalize other Americans to carry out attacks, and it's not just the ones they've arrested. Think back to Garland, Texas. But for that Texas police officer, we could have had a mass murder. We have to shut down their internet capability. We have to shut down, whether or not they're in prisons preaching or on -- in mosques preaching. No radical Islam that is allowed to engage in encouraging violence against Americans, that is not protected speech. Let me just add one thing about +p5588 +aVI think he is right. I don't think you expand entitlements when so many people are dependent on government and when the money the federal government is offering is going to be taken away from you after just a couple of years. But getting back to Martha's question about how we end dependency, do we have to have a cultural change? The answer is no. And I know this, because when I ran for governor of New York, one in 11 of every man, woman, and child in the state of New York was on welfare. On welfare. Think about that. And people said "you can't win, you can't change the culture." But I knew that good people who wanted to be a part of the American dream have become trapped in dependency because the federal government and the state government had made it in their economic interest not to take a job because the benefits that they didn't work were better. I changed that. We put in place mandatory work fair (ph). But we allowed people to keep health care. We put in place child care support. +p5589 +aVNo, it should be repealed. And by the way, when I left, there were over 1 million fewer people on welfare in New York state than when I took office... +p5590 +aV... replacing dependency with opportunity. +p5591 +aVYes. Mac +p5592 +aVMy heart has not changed, because I've always been appalled by abortion. I'm a Catholic, I believe life begins at conception. But as Bill said earlier, Roe v. Wade, it's has been the law for 42 years, and I don't think we should continue to try to change it. But we can do is defund Planned Parenthood, and by the way, put in place an absolute permanent ban on any taxpayer dollars ever being used to fund abortions. Also, when you look at these videos, they are horrific and show just a hideous disrespect for life. What else we can do is that we should believe in science. You know, Hillary Clinton's always saying how Republicans don't follow science? Well, they're the ones not listening to the scientists today, because doctors say that at 20 weeks that is a viable life inside the womb. And at that point, it's a life that we have the right to protect, and I think we should protect. So, I would pass legislation outlawing abortion after 20 weeks. It is Hillary, it is Biden, it is the others who insist on allowing abortion well into viable (inaudible) wrong, and that should be stopped. Mac +p5593 +aVBill, I defeated Mario Cuomo. In the first day in office, my first executive order, I revoked every one of the executive orders that he had -- he had enacted over the prior 12 years. I would do that to Barack Obama's executive orders. But I'd sign a second one, as I did in New York, as well, having a hard hiring freeze on adding new employees except for the military or defense-related positions. I'd sign that executive order. When I left the workforce, New York State had been reduced by over 15 percent. We can do that in Washington. I will do that in Washington. +p5594 +aVDivisive and with no vision. No vision at all. +p5595 +aVWith all the candidates, why me? My background is different. I look at Washington, and I hear the talk, and I see the promises and it seems nothing ever changes. Washington gets bigger, taxes get higher, and the American people feel more distance from our government. I have the opportunity not just to run, but to win in the deep blue state of New York three times. And not only did I win, but I then worked with a Democratic legislature to put in place the most sweeping conservative reforms of any state in America, taking us from the most dangerous state in America to the fourth safest; reducing our welfare rolls by over 1 million, and replacing over 700,000 private sector jobs. I can govern by bringing people together. And also, I've been tested in a way no one else has. I was governor on September 11th, and I'm proud of my leadership in bringing New York through that time. And when I left, we were stronger, we were safer, and we were more united than at any time in my lifetime. We need to bring people together in Washington. The talk has got to stop, the action has got to begin. People can promise you something, I delivered in the blue state of New York. I will deliver for the American people if I have the privilege of leading this country. +p5596 +asVCHRISTIE +p5597 +(lp5598 +VThank you Wolf. America has been betrayed. We've been betrayed by the leadership that Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton have provided to this country over the last number of years. Think about just what's happened today. The second largest school district in America in Los Angeles closed based on a threat. Think about the effect that, that's going to have on those children when they go back to school tomorrow wondering filled with anxiety to whether they're really going to be safe. Think about the mothers who will take those children tomorrow morning to the bus stop wondering whether their children will arrive back on that bus safe and sound. Think about the fathers of Los Angeles, who tomorrow will head off to work and wonder about the safety of their wives and their children. What is Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton done to this country? That the most basic responsibility of an administration is to protect the safety and security of the American people. I will tell you this, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I've fought terrorists and won and when we get back in the White House we will fight terrorists and win again and America will be safe. +p5599 +aVWolf, unfortunately, it's the new normal under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The fact is that if you listen to Hillary Clinton the other day, what she said to the American people was, as regards to +p5600 +aVListen, I want to talk to the audience at home for a second. If your eyes are glazing over like mine, this is what it's like to be on the floor of the United States Senate. I mean, endless debates about how many angels on the head of a pin from people who've never had to make a consequential decision in an executive position. The fact is, for seven years, I had to make these decisions after 9/11, make a decision about how to proceed forward with an investigation or how to pull back, whether you use certain actionable intelligence or whether not to. And yet they continue to debate about this bill and in the subcommittee and what \u2014 nobody in America cares about that. What they care about is, are we going to have a president who actually knows what they're doing to make these decisions? And for the seven years afterwards, New Jersey was threatened like no other region in this country and what we did was we took action within the constitution to make sure that law enforcement had all the information they needed. We prosecuted two of the biggest terrorism cases in the world and stopped Fort Dix from being attacked by six American radicalized Muslims from a Mosque in New Jersey because we worked with the Muslim American community to get intelligence and we used the Patriot Act to get other intelligence to make sure we did those cases. This is the difference between actually been a federal prosecutor, actually doing something, and not just spending your life as one of hundred debating it. Let's talk about how we do this, not about which bill, which one these guys like more. The American people don't care about that. +p5601 +aVWolf, you sit up here and you listen to this stuff, and you think that so many of these people have had so much to do in this national debate, they talk like they were bystanders. You know, we talk about our military being degraded over time, and yet we've had folks on this stage who've been a part of Congress who have participated in sequester; who participated in the degrading of this military over time. And that's why I think people get so frustrated with Washington, D.C. now. That's why they're so angry with the \u2014 the electorate is so angry with everybody who is involved in government in Washington, D.C. Because if you listen to the folks up here, you think that they weren't even there; they had nothing to do with this. This is a difference between being a governor and being in a legislature. See, because when something doesn't work in New Jersey, they look at me, say: "Why didn't it get done? Why didn't you do it?" You have to be responsible and accountable. And so on +p5602 +aVWell, I think we have to focus, Hugh, on exactly what the priorities are. And to me, what I've always said is that the president has set up an awful situation through his deal with Iran, because what his deal with Iran has done is empower them and enrich them. And that's the way +p5603 +aVNot only would I be prepared to do it, I would do it. A no-fly zone means a no-fly zone, Wolf. That's what it means. See, maybe \u2014 maybe because I'm from New Jersey, I just have this kind of plain language hangup. But I would make very clear \u2014 I would not talk to Vladimir Putin. In fact, I would talk to Vladimir Putin a lot. But I'd say to him, "Listen, Mr. President, there's a no-fly zone in Syria; you fly in, it applies to you." And yes, we would shoot down the planes of Russian pilots if in fact they were stupid enough to think that this president was the same feckless weakling that the president we have in the Oval Office is right now. +p5604 +aVWell, Wolf, I'll tell you what reckless is. What reckless is is calling Assad a reformer. What reckless is allowing Russia to come into Crimea and Ukraine. What reckless is is inviting Russia into Syria to team with Iran. That is reckless. And the reckless people are the folks in the White House right now. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are the reckless people. And if you think that a no-fly zone is a reckless policy, you're welcome to your opinion. But how is it working so far? As we have 250,000 Syrians murdered, slaughtered; millions running around the world, running for their lives. It's not working. We need to try something else. And that is not reckless. +p5605 +aVWhat I say to Carla is that the first job of the president of the United States is to protect your safety and your security and the security and safety of your family. And this debate stops with me in the discussions with the FBI director. Now, listen, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I know Jim Comey. We've worked together. He was the U.S. attorney in Manhattan when I was a U.S. attorney in New Jersey. And when Jim Comey gets up before Congress and says, we cannot effectively vet these people, for me as president, that's the end of the conversation. We have to put America's security first. The American people \u2014 we on this stage need to open our ears. We need to open our ears. The American people are not whispering to us. They are screaming to us. And they're screaming to us that it's our job to actually make this government work. It's so dysfunctional under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. It's so ineffective. It's so ineffectual that the American people say, we don't trust them to do anything anymore. So I'm not going to let Syrian refugees, any Syrian refugees in this country. And it was widows and orphans, by the way, and we now know from watching the San Bernardino attack that women can commit heinous, heinous acts against humanity just the same as men can do it. And so I don't back away from that position for a minute. When the FBI director tells me that he can vet those people, then we'll consider it and not a moment before because your safety and security is what's most important to me. +p5606 +aVWell, what it would like is, we have one of the great advantages of America being the open society that we are. It is, we are not hiding things from the American people, but China everyday is conducting business in a way that hides things from their people. So if they want to come in and attack all the personnel records in the federal government, which they've done, and which \u2014 they now have my Social Security number and my fingerprints, as well as maybe some other folks' who are on this stage. The fact is, they need to be fought back on. And what we need to do is go at the things that they are most sensitive and most embarrassing to them; that they're hiding; get that information and put it out in public. Let the Chinese people start to digest how corrupt the Chinese government is; how they steal from the Chinese people; and how they're enriching oligarchs all throughout China. They need to understand that. And we need to take those type of steps. This president has seen personnel records of people who have sacrificed for the American people and for the federal government stolen by the Chinese and he's done nothing in return. This is why \u2014 this is what I said at the beginning that this administration, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton through their foreign policy, have betrayed the American people, because the weakness they've displayed has led to Putin's incursions in the Middle East and in eastern Europe, and has led \u2014 has led to significant problems in the Middle East as well, and the death and murder of lots of folks. +p5607 +aVOn September 10th, 2001, I was named chief federal prosecutor in New Jersey and on September 11th, 2001, my wife and my brother who are in the audience tonight went through the World Trade Center and to their offices just blocks away from the Trade Center. I lost touch with them for six hours that day and prayed that they were alive. Luckily, they were sent home. But many of our friends and others in our neighborhood lost their lives that day. Terrorism \u2014 radical jihadist terrorism is not theoretical to me. It's real. And for seven years, I spent my life protecting our country against another one of those attacks. You won't have to worry when I'm President of the Untied States whether that can be done because I've already done it. I want the chance to do it again to protect you, your children and your families. If you give me the chance and give me your vote I will protect America from the wars that are being brought to our door step. +p5608 +aVI don't see a lot of weakness on this stage, quite frankly. Where I see the weakness is in those three people that are left on the Democratic stage. You know, I see a socialist, an isolationist and a pessimist. And for the sake of me, I can't figure out which one is which. But I will \u2014 but I will tell you this, the socialist says they're going to pay for everything and give you everything for free, except they don't say they're going to raise it through taxes to 90 percent to do it. The isolationist is the one who wants to continue to follow a foreign policy that has fewer democracies today than when Barack Obama came into office around the world. But I know who the pessimist is. It's Hillary Clinton. And you put me on that stage against her next September, she won't get within 10 miles of the White House. Take it to the bank. +p5609 +aVWell, I wish you would have asked that question years ago when they broke it. I mean, let me be honest with the people who are watching at home. The government has lied to you and they have stolen from you. They told you that your Social Security money is in a trust fund. All that's in that trust fund is a pile of IOUs for money they spent on something else a long time ago. And they've stolen from you because now they know they cannot pay these benefits and Social Security is going to be insolvent in seven to eight years. We're sitting up here talking about all these other things; 71 percent of federal spending today is on entitlements, and debt service. And, that's with zero percent interest rates. Now, I'm the only person that's put out a detailed plan on how to deal with entitlements. And we'll save a trillion dollars over the next 10 years. And, here's the difference between me and Hillary Clinton. What Hillary Clinton's going to say, and has said before is, she wants to raise Social Security taxes. Now, let me ask you a question everybody, and, this is for the guy, you know, who owns a landscaping business out there. If somebody's already stolen money from you, are you going to give them more? Or, are you going to deal with the problem by saying, I'm going to give people who've done well in this country less benefit on the backend. We need to get realistic about this. We're not \u2014 the American people \u2014 forget about anything else, they've already been lied to and stolen from. And... +p5610 +aV...I'm going to go to Washington to stop it... +p5611 +aV...The only way we're going to be morale, the only way we're going to keep our promise to seniors is start by following the first rule we should all follow, which is to look at them, treat them like adults, and tell them the truth. It isn't there anymore, Mike. They stole it. It got stolen from them. It's not theirs anymore. The government stole it, and spent it a long time ago... +p5612 +aVSo, let's stop fooling around about this, let's tell people the truth. For once, let's do that, and stop trying to give them some kind of fantasy that's never going to come true. +p5613 +aVYou bet they do. And if I were the prosecutor, that is exactly where they would be. The fact is that this Justice Department under this president has been a political Justice Department. It has been a Justice Department that decided that they want to pick who the winners and losers are. They like General Motors, so they give them a pass. They don't like somebody else like David Petraeus, they prosecute them and send a decorated general on to disgrace. It's a political Justice Department. And, Jim, you know full well that in the seven years I was U.S. attorney we went after pharmaceutical companies. We went after companies that were ripping off shareholders. We went after companies that were doing things that were against the law. And to expand on Mr. Carson's \u2014 or Dr. Carson's question, let's face it, we have laws already. We don't need newer (ph) laws. We don't need Hillary Clinton's price controls for \u2014 again, does anybody out there think that giving Washington, D.C., the opportunity to run the pharmaceutical industry is a good idea, given how well they have done running the government? So what we do, though, is, if there is somebody who is price- gouging, we have laws for prosecutors to take that on. Let's let a Justice Department \u2014 and I will make an attorney general who will enforce the law and make justice more than just a word. It will be a way of life. +p5614 +aVJohn, I'll tell you something. You want to talk about moral authority. Let's talk about something that happened this week in the news. You know, the FBI director, the president's appointed FBI director has said this week that because of a lack of support from politicians like the president of the United States, that police officers are afraid to get out of their cars; that they're afraid to enforce the law. And he says, the president's appointee, that crime is going up because of this. And when the president of the United States gets out to speak about it, does he support police officers? Does he stand up for law enforcement? No, he doesn't. I'll tell you this, the number one job of the president of the United States is to protect the safety and security of the American people. This president has failed, and when I'm in the Oval Office, police officers will know that they will have the support of the president of the Untied States. That's real moral authority that we need in the Oval Office. +p5615 +aVCarl, are we really talking about getting government involved in fantasy football? We have \u2014 wait a second, we have $19 trillion in debt. We have people out of work. We have +p5616 +aVWell, first off, what we don't do is do what Hillary Clinton and John Kerry and Barack Obama want us to do, which is their solution for everything, put more taxes on it, give more money to Washington, D.C., and then they will fix it. Well, there is no evidence that they can fix anything in Washington, D.C. +p5617 +aVWhat we should do is to be investing in all types of energy, John, all types of energy. I've laid out... +p5618 +aVNo, John. John, do you want me to answer or do you want to answer? How are we going to do this? Because, I've got to tell you the truth, even in New Jersey what you're doing is called rude. So... We've laid out a national energy plan that says that we should invest in all types of energy. I will tell you, you could win a bet at a bar tonight, since we're talking about fantasy football, if you ask who the top three states in America are that produce solar energy: California and Arizona are easy, but number three is New Jersey. Why? Because we work with the private sector to make solar energy affordable and available to businesses and individuals in our state. We need to make sure that we do everything across all kinds of energy: natural gas, oil, absolutely. But also where it's affordable, solar, wind in Iowa has become very affordable and it makes sense. That is the way we deal with global warming, climate change, or any of those problems, not through government intervention, not through government taxes, and for God's sake, don't send Washington another dime until they stop wasting the money they're already sending there. +p5619 +aVAnd \u2014 and \u2014 and I \u2014 you know, Ben is absolutely right in saying that what we don't need to do is to send more money to Washington, D.C. to fix this problem. And that's what you'll hear from Hillary Clinton \u2014 and I've already heard from her \u2014 is that, send more money in Social Security, send more money in Medicare taxes, send more money for Medicaid, and that's gonna solve the problem. What we know is we're living longer. That's a blessing. It's a blessing that we're living longer, so we have to increase the retirement age to reflect that blessing. We need to make sure that people understand, as Jeb said before, that if you've done extraordinarily well in this country, do you want them to take more out of your taxes now and think they're gonna give it back to you later? Or would you rather take less later on? +p5620 +aVI want to talk to the folks at home. I want to ask you: Are you fed up with how Washington taxes you? Are you fed up with how Washington wastes your money? Are you concerned like I am that the debt and deficits of Washington, D.C. are endangering America's future? I've got one more question for you then. Are you serious about this election? Because if you are, you need to elect someone who's deadly serious about changing this culture. I am deadly serious about changing this culture. I changed it in New Jersey. I'm deadly serious about doing this job the right way. I'm prepared. I'm tested. I'm ready. And I want to make this our government. For the people who say we can't do it, I say hell no, we can do it together. +p5621 +aVHi, my name is Chris Christie, and I'd like to you take the camera off me and put it on the audience because I'd like to ask all of you, how many of you, raise your hand, believe that in today's Barak Obama America your children will have a better life than you've had? You see? That's why I'm running for President. because leadership is not about me, it's about our country. And, what we talk about tonight, it's not about us, it's about the people in the audience tonight, because in seven short years this president has stripped away their trust, and their faith, and their belief that the next generation will have a better life. He's stolen that from us, and when I'm president, I'm going to take it back. +p5622 +aVWell, I know Ben wasn't talking about me, I'm sure he was talking about one of the other guys, not me. As far as being an outsider is concerned \u2014 as far as being an outsider is concerned, let me tell you this, Jake, I'm a Republican in New Jersey. I wake up every morning as an outsider. I wake up every morning with a Democratic legislature who trying to beat my head in and fight me because I'm trying to bring conservative change to a state that needed it desperately. And so, everyone can talk us here about their credentials. But the bottom line is, every morning I get up, I veto 400 bills from a crazy liberal Democratic legislature, not one of them has been overridden. I've vetoed more tax increases than any governor in American history, according to Americans for Tax Reform. What folks want in this country is somebody to go down there and get the job done. And that's exactly what I'll do. So, I know this much, that what the American people want to hire right now is somebody who believes in them. And believes that they are the ones who can fix our country. I will be the vessel through which they can fix this country, but it's not about me. It's about all of you. And getting this government off your back and out of your way, and letting you succeed. I know Ben wasn't talking about me. +p5623 +aVLook at him smiling at me right now. I know Ben didn't mean it about me. One of these other guys, I'm sure. +p5624 +aVBe honest, Ben, be honest. +p5625 +aVSee, Jake, it wasn't me. +p5626 +aVI was \u2014 +p5627 +aVShe is, and so if she, based on conscience, can't sign that \u2014 that marriage license, then there should be someone in her office to be able to do it, and if the law needs to be changed in the state of Kentucky, which is what she's advocating, it should be changed. +p5628 +aVAnd why don't we do the same thing with Planned Parenthood? +p5629 +aVWe elected a Republican Congress to do this. And they should be doing it, and they're not. And they're giving the president a pass. +p5630 +aVI put it in the list, Dana. We should be doing these things and forcing the president to take action. +p5631 +aVLet's force him to do what he says he's going to do. Now I don't know whether he'll do it or not, but let's force him to do it. +p5632 +aVFirst of, Jake, I don't yield to anybody on how to enforce the law. I'm the only person on this stage who spent seven years as a United States Attorney after September 11th, and I know how to do this. The fact is though that for 15,000 people a day to be deported every day for two years is an undertaking that almost none of us could accomplish given the current levels of funding, and the current number of law enforcement officers. Here's what we need to do, and I think this is where Donald is absolutely right. What we need to do is to secure our border, and we need to do it with more than just a wall. We need to use electronics, we need to use drones, we need to use FBI, DEA, and ATF, and yes, we need to take the fingerprint of every person who comes into this country on a visa, and when they overstay their visa, we need to tap them on the shoulder, and say, "You have overstayed your welcome, you're taking advantage of the American people. It's time for you to go." If we had that kind of system in place, we wouldn't have the 11 million people we have now. +p5633 +aVJake listen. While I'm as entertained as anyone by this personal back-and-forth about the history of Donald and Carly's career, for the 55-year-old construction worker out in that audience tonight who doesn't have a job, who can't fund his child's education, I've got to tell you the truth. They could care less about your careers, they care about theirs. Let's start talking about that on this stage and stop playing \u2014 and stop playing the games. Stop playing \u2014 +p5634 +aVJohn \u2014 I'm not done yet, John. +p5635 +aVStop \u2014 and stop playing \u2014 and Carly \u2014 Carly, listen. You can interrupt everybody else on this stage, you're not going to interrupt me, OK? The fact is that we don't want to hear about your careers, back and forth and volleying back and forth about who did well and who did poorly. You're both successful people. Congratulations. You know who's not successful? The middle class in this country who's getting plowed over by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Let's start talking about those issues tonight and stop this childish back-and-forth between the two of you. +p5636 +aVListen, you know, Hugh, it's an important point. And the question is, who is going to prosecute Hillary Clinton? The Obama White House seems to have in interest, the Justice Department seems to have no interest. I think it's time to put a former federal prosecutor on the same stage as Hillary Clinton. And I will prosecute her during those debates on that stage for the record we're talking about here. The fact she had a private email server in her basement, using national security secrets running through it, could have been hacked by the Russians, the Chinese, or two 18-year-olds on a toot (ph) wanting to have some fun. No one is answering that question from the Hillary Clinton campaign... +p5637 +aVYou know why? Because she knows she's wrong, and she cannot look in the mirror at herself, and she cannot tell the American people the truth. +p5638 +aVWell, Jake, I was named U.S. attorney by President Bush on September 10th, 2001. And that next day my wife Mary Pat did what she did every day, she traveled through the World Trade Center and went to her office two blocks from the World Trade Center. And after those planes hit, for five-and-a-half-hours after that, I couldn't reach her, didn't know whether she was dead or alive, and we had three children at the time, 8, 5 and 1. And I had to confront what so many thousands of others in my region had to confront, the idea I might become a single parent, the idea that my life and my children's life might be changed forever. We lost friends that day. We went to the funerals. And I will tell you that what those people wanted and what they deserved was for America to answer back against what had been done to them. And I support what President Bush did at that time, going into Afghanistan, hunting al Qaeda and its leaders, getting its sanctuary out of place, and making it as difficult around the world for them to move people and money. And then he went to prosecutors like us, and he said, never again. Don't prosecute these people after the crime is committed. Intervene before the crime happens. I absolutely believe that what the president did at the time was right. And I am proud to have been one of the people on the stage who was part of making sure that what Governor Bush said before was the truth. America was safe for those seven years and Barack Obama has taken that safety away from us. +p5639 +aVLet me say this, Jake, is that while that may have been a fine idea that Dr. Carson had, these people were out to kill us. I stood in that region with my family, and every time a plane went overhead in the weeks after that, people's heads jerked to the sky because they thought it was happening again. You do not need to go through subtle diplomacy at that point. That could be handled later on. What you need is a strong American leader who will take the steps that are necessary to protect our nation. That's what I would do as commander-in-chief in this circumstance. And that's what President George W. Bush did in 2001. +p5640 +aVJake, you brought my issue up. +p5641 +aVYou know, I enjoy the interplay. Thank you, gentlemen. I'll just say this, first off, New Jersey is the first state in the nation that now says if you are non-violent, non-dealing drug user, that you don't go to jail for your first offense. You go to mandatory treatment. You see, Jake, I'm pro-life. And I think you need to be pro-life for more than just the time in the womb. It gets tougher when they get out of the womb. And when they're the 16-year-old drug addict in the Florida county lockup, that life is just as precious as the life in the womb. And so, that's why I'm for rehabilitation, why I think the war on drugs has been a failure. But I'll end with this. That doesn't mean we should be legalizing gate way drugs. And if Senator Paul thinks that the only victim is the person, look at the decrease in productivity, look at the way people get used and move on to other drugs when they use marijuana as a gateway drug, it is not them that are the only victims. Their families are the victims too, their children are the victims too, and their employers are the victims also. That's why I'll enforce the federal law, while you can still put an emphasis on rehabilitation, which we've done in New Jersey. +p5642 +aVAnd Senator Paul knows that that's simply not the truth. In New Jersey, we have medical marijuana laws, which I supported and implemented. This is not medical marijuana. There's goes as much \u2014 a further step beyond. This is recreational use of marijuana. This is much different. And so, while he would like to use a sympathetic story to back up his point, it doesn't work. I'm not against medical marijuana. We do it in New Jersey. But I'm against the recreational use against marijuana. If he wants to change the federal law, get Congress to pass the law to change it, and get a president to sign it. +p5643 +aVNo, it's not. But with Donald, it's a good start. That's really good. No, listen. This is an issue that \u2014 that we've gotta talk about, and we haven't talked about yet. 71 percent of all federal spending is on entitlements and debt service. When John Kennedy was elected president in 1960, it was 26 percent. Harvard and Dartmouth says that Social Security's going to go insolvent in seven to eight years. So what I say is very simple. We need to save this program for the good people out there who have paid into the system and need it. And if that means making sure that folks like Donald and many of us on the stage don't get it, that's the right thing to do because here's what Hillary Clinton is going to want to do. She's going to want to put more money into a system that has already lied to us and stolen from us. This government doesn't need more money to make Social Security solvent. We need to be not paying out benefits to people who don't really need it. We need to protect the people who Social Security means the difference between picking between heat and rent and food. That's why I put out the proposal and that's the people I'm trying to... +p5644 +aVI don't think Senator Rubio is a skeptic of climate change. I think what Senator Rubio said I agree with. That in fact we don't need this massive government intervention to deal with the problem. Look at what we have done in New Jersey. We have already reached our clean air goals for 2020. And when I was governor, I pulled out of the regional cap and trade deal, the only state in the Northeast that did that. And we still reached our goals. Why? Because 53 percent of our electricity comes from nuclear. We use natural gas. We use solar power. We're the third-highest- using solar power state. You know why? Because we made all of those things economically feasible. I agree with Marco. We shouldn't be destroying our economy in order to chase some wild left-wing idea that somehow us by ourselves is going to fix the climate. We can contribute to that and be economically sound. We have proven we can do that in New Jersey. Nuclear needs to be back on the table in a significant way in this country if we want to go after this problem. +p5645 +aVI understand. No, no, listen, everybody makes a mistake every once in a while, Jake, even George Shultz. And if that's truly a representation of what he believes we should be doing, then with all due respect to the former secretary of state, I disagree with him. +p5646 +aVI think the Adams family has been shorted in the currency business. Our country wouldn't be here without John Adams, and he would not have been able to do it without Abigal Adams, so, I'd put Abigail Adams on the bill. +p5647 +aVYou know, I've been called a lot of names by a lot of different people, and now I got to get called by names by the Secret Service? I would just say True Heart. +p5648 +aVI turned 18 in 1980, and my first vote was for Ronald Reagan. Boy, am I glad I did it. And I think the country is, too. A Christie presidency won't be about me. It will be about you. Tonight, you sit at home in your living room, frustrated that you play by the rules, you pay the taxes, you do the hard things to raise your family, yet you feel like America's generosity is being taken advantage of. That you've been \u2014 system is being gamed, and that you're turning out to fall further and further behind. Our presidency \u2014 our presidency \u2014 will be about ending that, about enforcing the law, level the playing field for everybody, and once again reward those folks who play by the rules, and think that justice means more than just the word. But it means a way of life. And I will tell you this, around the world, I will not shake hands with, I will not meet with, and I will not agree to anything with a country that says death to us and death to Israel and holds our hostages while we sign agreements with them. It will be an America that be strong and resolute, and will once again be able to stick out its chest and say, "we truly are the greatest nation in the world, because we live our lives that way, each and every day." +p5649 +aVIf you think it's bad now, you should've seen it when I got there. The fact is -- the fact is, in the eight years before I became governor, taxes and fees were raised at the state level 115 times. In the eight years before I became governor, spending was increased 56 percent. And in the eight years before I become governor, taxes and fees were raised at the state level 115 times. In the eight years before I became Governor, spending was increased 56 percent, and in the eight years before I became governor, there was zero net private sector job growth in New Jersey. Zero. For eight years. So, what did we do? We came in, we balanced an $11 billion deficit on a $29 billion budget by cutting over 800 programs in the state budget. We brought the budget into balance with no tax increases. In fact, we vetoed five income tax increases during my time as governor. We cut business taxes $2.3 billion, and we cut regulation by one-third of what my predecessor put in place. And, what's happened since? A hundred ninety-two thousand private sector jobs in the five and a half years I've been governor. We have a lot of work to do in New Jersey, but I am darn proud we've brought our state back. +p5650 +aVYes, I do. And I'll tell you why: because I'm the only person on this stage who's actually filed applications under the Patriot Act, who has gone before the federal -- the Foreign Intelligence Service court, who has prosecuted and investigated and jailed terrorists in this country after September 11th. I was appointed U.S. attorney by President Bush on September 10th, 2001, and the world changed enormously the next day, and that happened in my state. This is not theoretical to me. I went to the funerals. We lost friends of ours in the Trade Center that day. My own wife was two blocks from the Trade Center that day, at her office, having gone through it that morning. When you actually have to be responsible for doing this, you can do it, and we did it, for seven years in my office, respecting civil liberties and protecting the homeland. And I will make no apologies, ever, for protecting the lives and the safety of the American people. We have to give more tools to our folks to be able to do that, not fewer, and then trust those people and oversee them to do it the right way. As president, that is exactly what I'll do. +p5651 +aVAnd -- and, Megyn? Megyn, that's a -- that, you know, that's a completely ridiculous answer. "I want to collect more records from terrorists, but less records from other people." How are you supposed to know, Megyn? +p5652 +aVWhat are you supposed to... +p5653 +aV...how are you supposed to -- no, I'll tell you how you, look... +p5654 +aVLet me tell you something, you go... +p5655 +aVWhen you -- you know, senator... +p5656 +aVListen, senator, you know, when you're sitting in a subcommittee, just blowing hot air about this, you can say things like that. When you're responsible for protecting the lives of the American people, then what you need to do is to make sure... +p5657 +aV...is to make sure that you use the system the way it's supposed to work. +p5658 +aVThere is no... +p5659 +aVAnd you know -- you know, Senator Paul? Senator Paul, you know, the hugs that I remember are the hugs that I gave to the families who lost their people on September 11th. Those are the hugs I remember, and those had nothing to do -- and those had nothing to do with politics, unlike what you're doing by cutting speeches on the floor of the Senate, then putting them on the Internet within half an hour to raise money for your campaign... +p5660 +aV...and while still putting our country at risk. +p5661 +aVYou know what, Megyn, can I... +p5662 +aVNo, he's not lying, he's just wrong. I mean, so, there's a difference -- I'm the only guy on this stage who's put out a detailed, 12 point plan on entitlement reform and here's why -- because 71% of federal spending right now is on entitlements, and debt service, 71%. And we have spent the last hour and five minutes talking about the other 29%, and no time on the 71%, and that makes no sense. Now, let me tell you exactly what we would do on Social Security. Yes, we'd raise the retirement age two years, and phase it in over 25 years, that means we'd raise it one month a year for 25 years when we're all living longer, and living better lives. Secondly, we would means test Social Security for those who are making over $200,000 dollars a year in retirement income, and have $4 to $5 million dollars in liquid assets saved. They don't need that Social Security check. Social Security is meant to be -- to make sure that no one who's worked hard, and played by the rules, and paid into the system grows old in poverty in America. If we don't deal with this problem, it will bankrupt our country, or lead to massive tax increases, neither one that we want in this country. +p5663 +aVChris... +p5664 +aVYeah, sure. And, I don't disagree with ending Congress' retirement program. I'm a governor, I don't have a retirement program in my state, and I don't disagree with that. But, here's the news to the American people, he's complaining about the lying and stealing. The lying and stealing has already occurred. The trust fund is filled with IOU's. We can't fix the problem just by ending Congress's retirement, that's worth about, "this" much. We need to go at the fundamental problem, and the fundamental problem is that this system is broken. It has been stolen from. We have been lied to, and we need a strong leader to tell the truth and fix... +p5665 +aVWell, listen. You know, if we want to deal with these issues, we have to deal with them in a way that makes sense. I agree with what Dr. Carson said earlier. The first thing we need to do to make America stronger is to strengthen our military, and I put out a really specific plan: no less than 500,000 active duty soldiers in the Army. No less than 185,000 active duty marines in the Marine Corps. Bring us to a 350 ship Navy again, and modernize the Ohio class of submarines, and bring our Air Force back to 2,600 aircraft that are ready to go. Those are the kind of things that are going to send a clear message around the world. Those are the things that we need to start working on immediately to make our country stronger and make it better. Those are the things that we need to be able to be doing. And as we move towards dealing with foreign aid, I don't disagree with Senator Paul's position that we shouldn't be funding our enemies. But I absolutely believe that Israel is a priority to be able to fund and keep them strong and safe after eight years of this administration. +p5666 +aVWell, thank you, Megyn. Listen, I was born into a middle class family in New Jersey. My dad came home from serving in the Army after having lost his father, worked in the Breyers ice cream plant in Newark, New Jersey. Was the first person to graduate from college. He put himself through college at night. My mom was a secretary. I was appointed United States attorney on September 10, 2001. And I spent the next seven years of my career fighting terrorism and putting terrorists in jail. I'm a conservative, pro-life governor in a state where it is really tough to be both. A state like New Jersey, with lots of Democrats, but still we cut taxes, we balanced budgets. We fought the teacher's union. This president has had weak leadership, which has led to bad choices. We have got to stop worrying about being loved and start worrying about being respected. And that's exactly how I'll lead our country. +p5667 +aVWell, first I want to share a story with you that relates to your question. I was in New Hampshire last week, and a woman approached me after the town hall meeting and she said to me, "Governor, I'm really concerned." I said, "What are your concerns?" And, she said, "I don't quite how to describe it," she said. "But, every month when my bills come in, I feel this awful anxiety in the pit of my stomach that I'm not going to have enough to pay them that month." There are tens of millions of Americans living that way after the worst recovery from an economic recession since World War II. And, let's be clear, if we do not change course, if we follow the President's lead, and that's exactly what Secretary Clinton will do, we're going to be in the same circumstance \u2014 with government picking the winners and losers. So, let me be clear about what we'll do. First, Make the tax code fairer, flatter, and simplier. Get rid of all the special interest deductions. You know, the American people feel like the tax code is rigged for the rich, and you know why they feel that way? Because it is. We'll get rid of all those special interest deductions except for the home mortgage interest deduction, and the charitable contribution deduction. Everyone will get lower rates, keep more of their own money, be able to file their tax returns in 15 minutes, and, by the way, the good thing, I'll be able to fire a whole bunch of IRS agents once we do that. And, in addition, we need to get the government off of our backs. Dodd-Frank, all the different regulations, 81,000 pages of new regulation by this administration just last year \u2014 it is suffocating small business, it is suffocating the folks who are trying to make a living. I will do what I did in New Jersey......lift if off their backs. +p5668 +aVYes, sure. If anybody believes the stuff they heard from that Democratic debate a few weeks ago, there's nothing for free. What they forgot to tell was that they're going to raise your tax rates to 70 or 80 percent in order to provide all of that stuff. But let me ask the folks at home one very simple question, do you want to give Washington more control over your life? Do you think they're doing such a great job that now let's have them control what our corporations pay their employees? Let's have them control every aspect of our economy? Is Washington doing that good a job for you right now? And the fact is that if you listen to Hillary Clinton, she has made it very clear, she believes that she can make decisions for you better than you can make them for yourself. She believes that Washington, D.C., should pick the winners and losers in our economy, and in our life. And here's what I believe as a Republican, I believe the greatness of America is not in its government. The greatness of America is in the American people. And what we need to do is get the government the hell out of the way and let the American people win once again. +p5669 +aVFirst off, let me, let me just say this in response to this back and forth. For the people who are out there right now, I want to guarantee you one thing real clearly. If you think that Mike Huckabee won't be the kind of President who will cut back spending, or Chris Christie, or John Kasich, wait 'til you see what Hillary Clinton will do to this country and how she will drown us in debt. She is the real adversary tonight and we'd better stay focused as Republicans on her. Now I've forward, I put forward an entitlement reform plan. We spend 71 cents of every dollar in America on entitlements and debt service, and if \u2014 you know, Willy Sutton used to say, when they asked him why he robbed banks, he said that's 'cause that's where the money is, OK? And where the money is in the federal government are these entitlement programs and debt service. What I've said is we need to get a hold of that. We cannot continue to go down the $19 trillion in debt. So our plan will save over $1 trillion over the next 10 years and make sure that Social Security and Medicare are there for those who truly need it and also make sure that we have money to be able to reduce taxes and spend on the things we need to spend. I will also, on my first day as \u2014 as president, sign a executive order that says no more regulation for the next 120 days by any government agency or department. We are drowning in regulations. Stop and then we'll go out there and we'll cut and reduce regulation that small business owners across this country want us to do. You'll grow the economy then. More money will come into the system and we'll get more closer to balance. But the bottom line is, believe me, Hillary Clinton's coming for your wallet, everybody. Don't worry about Huckabee or Jindal, worry about her. +p5670 +aVWell, let's start with this, remember why we're in the position we're in with China, because an absolutely weak and feckless foreign policy that was engineered by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. That's why we're in the position we're in......because the Chinese......the Chinese don't take us seriously and why should they? Why should they? They hacked into the American government's personnel file and took millions of records in cyberwarfare against this country. I'm one of the victims of that hack. They took my Social Security number, my fingerprints as a former United States attorney that was on file in there. And what has this president done? Not one thing. Let me be really clear about what I would do. If the Chinese commit cyberwarfare against us, they are going to see cyberwarfare like they have never seen before. And that is a closed society in China......where they're hiding information from their own people. The information we take, we'll make sure all the Chinese people see it. Then they'll have some real fun in Beijing when we start showing them how they're spending their money in China. And one last thing. One last thing. I will tell you this, they're building those artificial islands in the South China Sea and the president won't \u2014 up until recently, wouldn't sail a ship within 12 miles or fly a plane over it. I'll tell you this, the first thing I'll do with the Chinese is I'll throw \u2014 I'll fly Air Force One over those islands. They'll know we mean business. +p5671 +aVI'll tell you, Gerry, it's interesting, if you go to New Jersey, they'll call me lots of different things. A liberal is not one of them. Um, and......I would say this. I have great respect for Bobby's record in Louisiana. I think he's been a wonderful governor and I think he's provided outstanding leadership for that state and I respect him for what he's done. And I think that all of us deserve that same level of respect. And my point is this. You know, the differences between me and Bobby Jindal, we can talk about those, and obviously, Bobby wants to spent a lot of time tonight talking about that. I'll tell you what I want to talk about. I want to talk about what's going to happen to this country if we have another four years of Barack Obama's policies. And by the way, it will be even worse, because Hillary Clinton is running so far to the left to treaty to catch up to her socialist opponent, Bernie Sanders, it's hard to even see her anymore. The fact is \u2014 the fact is that we'd better be focused on it. And I'll tell you what I'll bring to the table, the fact that I've won in a blue state, that I've won in a state that has 750,000 more Democrats than Republicans......that I won in a state for reelection after governing as a pro-life conservative......and got 61 percent of the vote. That's the person you want on the stage prosecuting the case against Hillary Clinton. +p5672 +aVI don't... +p5673 +aV..Let me... +p5674 +aV...Let me just... +p5675 +aV...Sure. It's interesting. I complimented Bobby, imagine how much time he'd want if I actually criticized him. You know, the fact is, he's done \u2014 done a nice job down in Louisiana, and I don't have any problem with the job he's done. I've cut spending $2 billion dollars, except for our pension and health care in New Jersey, which was driven predominantly by Obamacare. We have reduce the number of employees we have on the state payroll by 15%, but, you know what? The people out there don't care about any of that. You know what they care about? They care about who's going to be able to beat Hillary Clinton......Who's going to keep their eye on the ball? I'm going to keep my eye on the ball. +p5676 +aVYeah, listen. We stopped Obamacare in New Jersey because we refused to participate in the federal exchange. But, here's the bigger issue. What do you think's going to happen when Hillary Clinton's elected president of the United States? The woman who tried to impose healthcare on this country over 20 years ago? And, she was stopped then by a strong group of republicans, and an American public that said, "No, thank you." What she will do \u2014 what she will do is move us towards a single payer system. She will completely nationalize the federal health care system. That's what she wanted to do 20 years ago, and I guarantee you that's what she'll do if you give her the keys to the White House one more time. The fact is we need someone who knows how to beat democrats, who knows how to beat democrats in a democratic area. I've done it twice as governor of New Jersey, and Hillary Clinton doesn't want one minute on that stage with me next September when I'm debating her, and prosecuting her for her vision for America... +p5677 +aVI'll continue in the pattern and just say... And just say this to everybody, since it seems to be an open question. I'll tell you the thing that disturbs me the most about what's going on with the Democratic Party in Washington, that they're not standing behind our police officers across this country. That they're allowing lawlessness... That they're allowing lawlessness to reign in this country. I spent seven years of my life in law enforcement, here's what every law enforcement, 700,000, should know tonight. When President Christie is in the Oval Office, I'll have your back. +p5678 +aVYes. You know, our tax plan puts forward a highest rate of 28 percent for those who are doing the most and making the most in this country and 8 percent on the low end. And I agree with Senator Santorum, we get rid of all of the deductions and loopholes, except for the home mortgage interest deduction and the charitable contribution deduction. That means getting rid of the state and local income tax deduction, as well, because that will put more pressure on governors and on local officials not to keep raising those taxes, saying we can deduct them. And so ours will be 28 on the high end, 8 on the low end. And I will tell you one other thing. Americans for Tax Reform came out with a report six weeks ago and said I vetoed more tax increases than any governor in American history. I will do exactly the same thing as president of the United States. +p5679 +aVGerry, this has been the most political Federal Reserve I've seen in my lifetime. Now, when they first cut interest rates during the economic recession and the crisis, that was the right thing to do. But they've kept those interest rates artificially low for one reason, and one reason only. Because they're trying to politically support Barack Obama and his agenda. And it's been wrong. And what it's done, in an administration where the President has talked about income inequality, he's had more income inequality in this administration than any previous administration. The middle class is doing worse than it's ever done before. And the investor class, the wealthy, are doing even better because of this cheap money from the Fed. And here's the worst part, we had one and a half percent GDP growth last quarter. If we slide back towards a recession, you cannot lower interest rates below zero. Where are we going to go if we need help if the economy slides back into recession? And with this government- controlled economy that Barack Obama, we're moving right towards it. The Fed should be audited and the Fed should stop playing politics with our money supply. That's what they've done. It's been the wrong thing to do. It's hurting the American economy. And......let me......let me add one other thing on this. Be very aware now, because what Hillary Clinton is talking about doing, if she's president of the United States, is to make sure that the government gets even more involved in the economy, even more involved in making choices for everybody. You do not want that to happen. You need someone who's going to stand up on that stage and prosecute the case against her and prosecute it strong. That's what I'll do. +p5680 +aVThe way to reconnect Americans to the men and women in uniform is to first, and foremost, give them a Commander in Chief who respects the military, and respects everyone who wears the uniform. Starts at the top there... And Secretary Clinton says, there's no crisis at the V.A.. That send a long, and hard message to our veterans that she doesn't get it, and she doesn't respect their service. When the President of the United States doesn't back up law enforcement officers in uniform, he loses the moral authority to any man or woman who is uniform. I spent seven years in law enforcement......I respect these folks, and I will do so as Commander in Chief of the military. +p5681 +aVI want to tell the American people who are watching tonight the truth. I saw the most disgraceful thing I've seen in this entire campaign a few weeks ago. Hillary Clinton was asked the enemy she's most proud of, and she said, "Republicans". In a world where we have Al-Qaeda, and +p5682 +aVWhat about Kasich? Can I introduce Kasich? +p5683 +aVSure. First, let's remember something. Every morning when a United States senator wakes up, they think about what kind of speech can I give or what kind of bill can I drop? Every morning, when I wake up, I think about what kind of problem do I need to solve for the people who actually elected me? It's a different experience, it's a much different experience. And the fact is, Marco, you shouldn't compare yourself to Joe Biden and you shouldn't say that that's what we're doing. Here is exactly what we're doing. You have not be involved in a consequential decision where you had to be held accountable. You just simply haven't. And the fact is \u2014 the fact when you talk about the Hezbollah Sanctions Act that you list as one of your accomplishments you just did, you weren't even there to vote for it. That's not leadership, that's truancy. And the fact is that what we need to do \u2014 what we need to have in this country is not to make the same mistake we made eight years ago. The fact is it does matter when you have to make decisions and be held accountable for them. It does matter when the challenges don't come on a list of a piece of paper of what to vote yes or no every day, but when the problems come in from the people that you serve. I like Marco Rubio, and he's a smart person and a good guy, but he simply does not have the experience to be president of the United States and make these decisions. We've watched it happen, everybody. For the last seven years, the people of New Hampshire are smart. Do not make the same mistake again. +p5684 +aVHold on one second. +p5685 +aVExcuse me... +p5686 +aVI think he mentioned me and my record in there, so I think I get a chance to respond. You see, everybody, I want the people at home to think about this. That's what Washington, D.C. Does. The drive-by shot at the beginning with incorrect and incomplete information and then the memorized 25-second speech that is exactly what his advisers gave him. See Marco \u2014 Marco, the thing is this. When you're president of the United States, when you're a governor of a state, the memorized 30-second speech where you talk about how great America is at the end of it doesn't solve one problem for one person. They expect you to plow the snow. They expect you to get the schools open. And when the worst natural disaster in your state's history hits you, they expect you to rebuild their state, which is what I've done. None of that stuff happens on the floor of the United States Senate. It's a fine job, I'm glad you ran for it, but it does not prepare you for president of the United States. +p5687 +aVThere it is. There it is. The memorized 25-second speech. There it is, everybody. +p5688 +aVYou know what the shame is \u2014 you know what the shame is, Marco? The shame is that you would actually criticize somebody for showing up to work, plowing the streets, getting the trains running back on time when you've never been responsible for that in your entire life. +p5689 +aVAnd the fact is, I went back, it got done and here's... +p5690 +aVOh, so \u2014 wait a second. Is that one of the skills you get as a United States senator ESP also? Because I don't think it is. +p5691 +aVIt gets very unruly when he gets off his talking points. +p5692 +aVLet's get something... +p5693 +aVNo. Let's make something very clear. I learned seven years as a federal prosecutor in dealing with types of situations like we're talking about in North Korea, where criminals take people hostage. You never pay ransom to the criminals. Ever. You never pay ransom to the criminals. Everyone out at home watching tonight understands that principle. And so, what you need to do is to engage in a much different way with these folks. They do not understand anything but toughness and strength, and we need to engage the Chinese to deal with the North Koreans, but we also need to make sure that they understand there's a commander-in-chief who will not pay ransom for any hostage. This president and his former secretary of State are for paying ransom for hostages. When do that, you endanger even more Americans around the world to be the subject of this type of hostage taking and illegal detention. You need a strong commander-in-chief who will look these folks in the eye and say, we will not put up with this and we will take whatever actions we need to take, not only to get our people home safely, but to swiftly and surely punish those who believe they can violate the law and violate American's sovereign rights to travel the world freely and safely. This is unacceptable. And this is why this president is so weak and why the secretary of State, who is embracing a third Barack Obama term, would be even weaker. +p5694 +aVYeah, David, I would just like you to listen, again, everybody. This is the difference between being a governor who actually has to be responsible for problems and not answering a question. The question was, "Did he fight for his legislation?" It's abundantly clear that he didn't. It's abundantly clear that he didn't fight for the legislation. When the teachers unions attacked me with $20 million of ads because I wanted to reform teacher tenure, I fought them and fought them and fought them and I won. When they didn't want \u2014 when people wanted to raise taxes in my state at Democratic legislature and threatened to close down the government, I told them, fine. Close down the government. I'll get in my cars, head to the governor's mansion, order a pizza, open a beer and watch the Mets. You can call me when the government reopens. And guess what they didn't do? They didn't pass a tax increase, because I vetoed it and they never closed the government because they knew I would fight for what I believed in. The fact of the matter is, a leader must fight for what they believe in. Not handicap it and say, well maybe since I can't win this one, I'll run. That's not what leadership is. That's what Congress is. +p5695 +aVGood evening. +p5696 +aVWell, he deserves credit for his record on jobs. He's done a very good job as governor of Ohio. Never said that John hasn't. He's done a very good job. But \u2014 but unfortunately, John's been so busy doing over stuff, he's using old statistics. That's OK. New Jersey had its best year of job growth in the last 15 years under five different governors this year in New Jersey. New Jersey cut spending over $2.3 billion and we have 10,000 fewer employees than we had when I walked in the door. John has a bigger government now and more employees than he had when he walked in the door. But all that doesn't matter. What really matters is this, that executive experience really matters. You heard this on the stage tonight. We've heard it said on the stage that President Obama knows exactly what he's doing. I'd like to ask all the veterans listening out there tonight, who are waiting in line for healthcare, who are literally dying because the Veterans Administration doesn't work, do you think Barack Obama knows what he's doing? I don't. And I'll tell you something. Anybody who evaluates him is knowing what he's doing and managing the government doesn't know how to manage a government themselves. And one last thing, David, which I think is really important. I listened to Senator Rubio's answer on his bill. He said his bill couldn't pass on the gang of eight. He acted as if he was somehow disembodied from the bill. It was his bill. He said this idea doesn't work. It was his idea. See, when you're a governor, you have to take responsibility for these things. You can't just act as if it happened out of nowhere. We have to take responsibility as executives. I take responsibility for my record in New Jersey. We've rebuilt the economy and rebuilt after the second-worst natural disaster in American history. I'm proud of my record. And by the way, I like Kasich's record, too. He's a good governor. +p5697 +aVDavid? Hey, David? David? Hey, David? I actually have experience with raising taxes on millionaires in my state. It was done. It was done by my predecessor. And I want everybody in the public who is in that 68 percent, I want to tell you the truth. You're wrong. And here is why you're wrong. After New Jersey raised taxes on millionaires, we lost, in the next four years, $70 billion in wealth left our state. It left our state to go where it would be treated more kindly. If the United States raised taxes any further, that money will leave the United States, as well. We won't have better jobs. Let New Jersey be the canary in the coal mine. It is a failed idea and a failed policy, it's class warfare. It happened in my state. I've stopped it from happening again. But we cannot do it. The 68 percent of the people are wrong about that, it will hurt the American economy. We tried it in New Jersey. Come take a look \u2014 it did not work. +p5698 +aVOf course I would. As a former United States attorney who spent seven years of my life fighting this on the streets of my state, I would do that. But we need to do more. And let me tell you what we've done in New Jersey, Josh. We are working with the folks in New Hampshire in their legislature right now to show them how we're helping to solve this problem in New Jersey. Not just for this campaign \u2014 three years ago, I proposed a law that we signed into effect, which said that anyone who was a non- violent, non-dealing, first-time drug offender no longer goes to prison in New Jersey. They go to mandatory, in-patient drug treatment. What has happened is, crime has gone down 20 percent in those years. The prison population has gone down 10 percent. We've now closed the state prison \u2014 closed a state prison, and we're turning it into a drug rehabilitation facility, so people can get the tools they need. Listen, everyone out there knows this in New Hampshire. This is a disease. It's not a moral failing, it's a disease. And we need to get people the treatment they need. And let me tell you why. Because I'm pro-life. And I'm pro life not just for the nine months in the womb, I'm pro-life for when they get out and it's a lot more complicated. Sixteen-year-old, heroin-addicted drug girl on the floor of the county lockup, I'm pro-life for her life. The 42-year-old lawyer who is taking Oxycontin and can't get out of bed and support his family \u2014 I'm pro-life for his life. Everyone of those lives is an individual gift from God. And the last thing is this. These efforts we've taken over the last three years, 2015 in New Jersey, for the first time in four years, drug overdose deaths have gone down, not up. I'll bring the same solutions to the country. +p5699 +aVYou bet I would. And the fact is that because I took strong action to make sure that anyone who was showing symptoms \u2014 remember what happened with that nurse. She was showing symptoms and coming back from a place that had the ebola virus active and she had been treating patients. This was not just some \u2014 like, we picked up her just for the heck of it, alright? We did it because she was showing symptoms, and the fact is that's the way we should make these decision. You make these decisions based upon the symptoms, the medicine, and the law. We quarantined her, she turned out to test negative ultimately after 48 hours, and we released her back to the State of Maine. But, I want to add something on the issue of mosques. Now, I'm the only one up here who's had a law enforcement background as a U.S. Attorney after September 11th. I went to mosques throughout my state to build bridges. To build bridges between our community in law enforcement so we can get intelligence and information from these folks. I've had the experience of working with them as Governor of New Jersey as well. We cannot mix the radical Islamic jihadist with everyday Muslim-Americans. New Jersey is the second largest Muslim- American population in America, of any state. These are good, law abiding, hard working people. What they need is our cooperation, and our understanding. They do not just need broadsides against them because of the religious faith they practice. +p5700 +aVMartha? +p5701 +aVCan I \u2014 can I be really \u2014 can I be really clear on this, because I am the father of two daughters. One of them is here tonight. What my wife and I have taught our daughters right from the beginning, that their sense of self-worth, their sense of value, their sense of what they want to do with their life comes not from the outside, but comes from within. And if a young woman in this country wants to go and fight to defend their country, she should be permitted to do so. Part of that also needs to be part of a greater effort in this country, and so there's no reason why one \u2014 young women should be discriminated against from registering for the selective service. The fact is, we need to be a party and a people that makes sure that our women in this country understand anything they can dream, anything that they want to aspire to, they can do. That's the way we raised our daughters and that's what we should aspire to as president for all of the women in our country. +p5702 +aVWell, I've been pretty helpful to the pro-life cause in one of the most pro-choice states in the union. I've stood up for the first time and now for the last six years we've de-funded Planned Parenthood, not talked about it like they do in Washington D.C. But for six years as governor, Planned Parenthood does not receive that funding from the state budget anymore; over $50 million worth of money that's been saved now, that is not going to do exactly what Hillary Clinton wants to have done and has advocated for. She believes that organization, which engages in the systematic murder of children in the womb, in order to maximize the value of their body parts for sale on the open market, is an acceptable position. Let me tell you something, I don't care if you are a millennial or whether you are in your 90s, no one is for that type of activity, unless you are the most radical type of extremist on this issue, like Senator Clinton and her party is on this issue. I'll say one other thing. The fact is, that I believe that if a woman has been raped, that is a birth and a pregnancy that she should be able to terminate. If she is the victim of incest \u2014 this is not a woman's choice. This is a woman being violated. And the fact is that we have always has believed, as has Ronald Reagan, that we have self-defense for women who have been raped and impregnated because of it, or the subject of incest and been impregnated for it. That woman should not have to deliver that child if they believe that violation is now an act of self-defense by terminating that pregnancy. HAM: Thank you, all. Back to you, David and Martha. +p5703 +aVDenver. +p5704 +aVThank you. I've spent the last 13 years of my life focused on one thing: serving the people who have given me the opportunity to serve them. Not about politics, not about partisanship, but putting the people of my state and our country first. I'm proud to have rebuild my state after Hurricane Sandy, and I'm incredibly proud to be on this stage tonight with these men asking for your vote. New Hampshire, I spent 70 days here with you. You've gotten to know my heart. My heart is to help you solve the problems of your state......and the problems of our nation. If you give me your vote on Tuesday I will do just that. +p5705 +aVThey're not wrong. But what's wrong is your premise in the question. You can do both. There is no reason why you can't stand for principles, go and fight for them and be able also, to have to get things done in government. You know, what people are frustrated about in Washington, D.C.., and I know the folks out there tonight are incredibly frustrated because what they see is a government that doesn't work for them. You know, for the 45-year-old construction worker out there, who is having a hard time making things meet. He's lost $4,000 in the last seven years in his income because of this administration. He doesn't want to hear the talk about politics Megyn and who is establishment and who is grassroots. And who's compromised and who is principled. What he wants is something to get done. And that's the difference between being a governor and having done that for the last six years in New Jersey and being someone who has never had to be responsible for any of those decisions. Barack Obama was never responsible for those decisions. Hillary Clinton has never been responsible for those kind of decisions where they were held accountable. I've been held accountable for six years as the governor of New Jersey and with a Democratic legislature, I've gotten conservative things done. That's exactly what I'll do as president of the United States. +p5706 +aVWell, let me say that I do believe that the vote on NSA made the country less safe. Well, let me tell you what the country should really be worried about. I watched that town hall meeting with the Democrats the other night, and I heard Hillary Clinton asked a direct question by an Iowan, and that's what Iowans like to do. They like to ask direct questions. And, they asked about her email situation. And, here's what she said to the American people. She did it for convenience. For her convenience. She put America's secrets at risk for her convenience. She put American intelligence officers at risk for her convenience. She put American strategy at risk for her convenience. Let me tell you who's not qualified to be President of the United States, Chris. Hillary Rodham Clinton did that to our country. She is not qualified to be President of the United States. The fact is what we need is someone on that stage who has been tested, who has been through it, who has made decisions, who has sit in the chair of consequence and can prosecute the case against Hillary Clinton on... ... that stage, and that is exactly what I am ready to do. +p5707 +aVTalk about what? I... +p5708 +aVWell, because you can do it without profiling, Megyn, when you do it on the facts. What those facts knew was that these folks had weapons. They knew that they were talking about trying to take our country and attack it. That's not profiling, that's law enforcement. And that's the difference between somebody who knows how to do this and somebody who's never done it before. +p5709 +aVThey knew they were talking about the issues of attacking people, Megyn. They knew that. +p5710 +aVListen, I think that what people should do is use their common sense. And the fact is, let law enforcement make those decisions. I've told people that from the time I was U.S. attorney 13 years ago. It's not for them to make those decisions about whether or not something is legal or illegal, or profiling or not. You see something that's suspicious, you call law enforcement and let law enforcement make those decisions. That's what should be done. That can be done. That can be done without profiling people. What that is, is just common sense. They thought something was wrong. And here's the problem in this country right now. The problem is that Barack Obama has made law enforcement the enemy, Hillary Clinton has made law enforcement the enemy. They're not supporting our law enforcement officers, it's making everybody nervous to get out of their cars, if you're a law enforcement officer. It's making... ... everybody nervous to get out of their cars if you're a law enforcement officer. It's making people in neighborhoods nervous to go to law enforcement. As president, I will support law enforcement and we'll stop radical terrorist attacks in this country by supporting our intelligence community and law enforcement community. +p5711 +aVYes. You want one? +p5712 +aVHow about one that I've done in New Jersey for the last six years. That's get rid of Planned Parenthood funding from the United States of America. +p5713 +aVBigger than that? Let me tell you something, when you see thousands upon thousands upon thousands of children being murdered in the womb, I can't think of anything better than that. +p5714 +aVMegyn? +p5715 +aVI want to ask the people of the audience. Like, I'm standing here, I \u2014 I watched the video of Senator Cruz. I watched the video of Senator Rubio. I heard what they said. And this is why you need to send someone from outside of Washington to Washington. I feel like... ... I feel like I need \u2014 I feel like I need a Washington to English dictionary converter, right? I mean, I heard what they both said, I saw it on the video. And the fact is this is what makes a difference when you're a governor. You can change your mind. Ted can change his mind. Marco can change his mind. It's perfectly legal in this country to change your mind. But when you're a governor, you have to admit it. You can't hide behind parliamentary tricks. That's the difference, and that's the kind of leader we need in the White House. Stop the Washington bull and let's get things done. +p5716 +aVSure, because there has been three different investigations and proven that I knew nothing. And the fact is that what I did do, what I did do from the beginning, Chris, as soon as I found out about it, I fired the people who were responsible. And that's what you expect from a leader. And, I'll tell you something else. I inherited a state in New Jersey that was downtrodden, and beaten by liberal democratic policies, high taxation, high regulation. And, this year, in 2015, New Jersey's had the best year of job growth that our state has ever had in the last 15 years. That's because we've put conservative policies in place. And, I'll tell you one other thing, you know why the Republican party will want to take a chance on me? Because they know that Hillary Clinton will never be prosecuted by this justice department, and they're going to want to put a former federal prosecutor on the stage to prosecute her next September. And, there is no one on this stage better prepared to prosecute the case against Hillary Clinton than I am. I will be ready. I will take her on, and when I take her on I guarantee you one thing, she will never get within 10 miles of the White House. The days for the Clintons in public housing are over. +p5717 +aVNo, what I said, Chris, was that the law needs to be followed. And that someone in that office has to do their job. So if Ms. Davis wanted to step aside and get rid of her ability to be able to do that, there should be someone else in that office who it didn't violate their conscience so they could follow the law of the state of Kentucky. I never said that Ms. Davis should either lose her job or that she had to do it. But what I did say was that the person who came in for the license needed to get it. And so if there's someone in that organization, and it turns out there was, who was willing to be able to do that, that's what we should do. But just as importantly, and I agree with what John said. You know, we all have our own individual interpretations of our faith. And here's the problem with what's going on around the world. The radical Islamic jihadists, what they want to do is impose their faith upon each and every one of us \u2014 every one of us. And the reason why this war against them is so important is that very basis of religious liberty. They want everyone in this country to follow their religious beliefs the way they do. They do not want us to exercise religious liberty. That's why as commander in chief, I will take on +p5718 +aVBret, let me tell you, this is another one of those places where Hillary Clinton has so much to answer for, and why she is completely unqualified to be commander in chief. In a previous Democratic debate, Martha Raddatz, three times, asked Hillary Clinton about the failure in Libya, a policy that she took credit for, and said, "what is your measure of responsibility, Madam Secretary, for the failure in Libya?" Three times, she refused to answer the question, because she refuses to be held accountable for anything that goes wrong. If it had gone right, believe me, she would have been running around to be able to take credit for it. Here's what I'd do. This is about the bigger, broader war against +p5719 +aVOn September 11, my wife was two blocks from the World Trade Center. When those buildings came down, she was trapped in her building and I didn't hear from her over six hours. We have three children, eight, five and one. And I had to confront the possibility of being a single parent. Terrorism in this country scares everyone. And the fact is that we need a commander-in- chief who not only understands how to protect us, but feels in here what it means to face the possibility of loss. I've faced it. I've prosecuted terrorists. I have made the decisions that need to be made as a governor to protect us and as president of the United States, no one will keep this country safer than I will. +p5720 +aVWell, Maria, I'm glad to have heard from you in the summary of that question about what's going on in the world. Because Tuesday night, I watched story time with Barack Obama. And I've got to tell you, it sounded like everything in the world was going amazing, you know? The fact is, there's a number of things that the next president is going to have to do to clean up this mess. The first thing is we have to strengthen our alliances around the world. And the best way to do that is to start talking to our allies again and having them be able to count on our word. Lots of people will say lots of different things about me in this campaign and others, but the one thing they've never said about me is that I'm misunderstood. And so when we talk to our allies and we give them our word, in a Christie administration, they know we're going to keep it. Next, we have to talk to our adversaries, and we have to make sure they understand the limits of our patience. And this president, given what Ted said right at the beginning, he's absolutely right. It's a \u2014 it's absolutely disgraceful that Secretary Kerry and others said in their response to what's going on in Iran that this was a good thing; it showed how the relationship was getting better. The president doesn't understand \u2014 and by the way, neither does Secretary Clinton \u2014 and here's my warning to everybody out in the audience tonight. If you're worried about the world being on fire, you're worried about how we're going to use our military, you're worried about strengthening our military and you're worried most of all about keeping your homes and your families safe and secure, you cannot give Hillary Clinton a third term of Barack Obama's leadership. I will not do that. If I'm the nominee, she won't get within 10 miles of the White House. +p5721 +aVMIlitary action, Maria, would be used when it was absolutely necessary to protect American lives and protect American interests around the world. We are not the world's policeman, but we need to stand up and be ready. And the problem, Maria, is that the military is not ready, either. We need to rebuild our military, and this president has let it diminish to a point where tinpot dictators like the mullahs in Iran are taking our Navy ships. It is disgraceful, and in a Christie administration, they would know much, much better than to do that. +p5722 +aVI stood on the stage and watched Marco in rather indignantly, look at Governor Bush and say, someone told you that because we're running for the same office, that criticizing me will get you to that office. It appears that the same someone who has been whispering in old Marco's ear too. So the indignation that you carry on, some of the stuff, you have to also own then. So let's set the facts straight. First of all, I didn't support Sonia Sotomayor. Secondly, I never wrote a check to Planned Parenthood. Third, if you look at my record as governor of New Jersey, I have vetoed a 50-caliber rifle ban. I have vetoed a reduction this clip size. I vetoed a statewide I.D. system for gun owners and I pardoned, six out-of-state folks who came through our state and were arrested for owning a gun legally in another state so they never have to face charges. And on Common Core, Common Core has been eliminated in New Jersey. So listen, this is the difference between being a governor and a senator. See when you're a senator, what you get to do is just talk and talk and talk. And you talk so much that nobody can ever keep up with what you're saying is accurate or not. When you're a governor, you're held accountable for everything you do. And the people of New Jersey, I've seen it. +p5723 +aVAnd the last piece is this. I like Marco too, and two years ago, he called me a conservative reformer that New Jersey needed. That was before he was running against me. Now that he is, he's changed his tune. I'm never going to change my tune. I like Marco Rubio. He's a good guy, a smart guy, and he would be a heck of a lot better president than Hillary Rodham Clinton would ever be. +p5724 +aVNo, absolutely not. The president wants to do things without working with his Congress, without working with the legislature, and without getting the consent of the American people. And the fact is that that's not a democracy. That's a dictatorship. And we need to very, very concerned about that. See, here's the thing. I don't think the founders put the Second Amendment as number two by accident. I don't think they dropped all the amendments into a hat and picked them out of a hat. I think they made the Second Amendment the second amendment because they thought it was just that important. The fact is in New Jersey, what we have done is to make it easier now to get a conceal and carry permit. We have made it easier to do that, not harder. And the way we've done it properly through regulatory action, not by signing unconstitutional executive orders. This guy is a petulant child. That's what he is. I mean, you know...... the fact is, Neil, let's think about \u2014 let's think about \u2014 and I want to maybe \u2014 I hope the president is watching tonight, because here's what I'd like to tell him. Mr. President, we're not against you. We're against your policies. When you became president, you had a Democratic Congress and a filibuster-proof Democratic Senate. You had only 21 Republican governors in this country. And now after seven years of your policies, we have the biggest majority we've had since the 1920s in the House; a Republican majority in the Senate; and 31 out of 50 Republican governors. The American people have rejected your agenda and now you're trying to go around it. That's not right. It's not constitutional. And we are going to kick your rear end out of the White House come this fall. +p5725 +aVMaria, you look at what this president and his secretary of state, Secretary of State Clinton, has done to get us in this spot. You think about it \u2014 this is the president who said, along with his secretary of state \u2014 drew a red line in Syria, said, if Assad uses chemical weapons against his people, that we're going to attack. He used chemical weapons, he's killed, now, over a quarter of a million of his own people, and this president has done nothing. In fact, he's done worse than nothing. This president \u2014 and, by the way, Secretary Clinton, who called Assad a reformer \u2014 she called Assad a reformer. Now, the fact is, what this president has done is invited Russia to play an even bigger role, bring in Vladimir Putin to negotiate getting those chemical weapons back from Assad, yet what do we have today? We have the Russians and the Iranians working together, not to fight +p5726 +aVNow Maria, listen. I said right from the beginning that we should take no Syrian refugees of any kind. And the reason I said that is because the FBI director told the American people, told Congress, that he could not guarantee he could vet them and it would be safe. That's the end of the conversation. I can tell you, after spending seven years as a former federal prosecutor, right after 9/11, dealing with this issue. Here's the way you need to deal with it. You can't just ban all Muslims. You have to ban radical Islamic jihadists. You have to ban the people who are trying to hurt us. The only way to figure that out is to go back to getting the intelligence community the funding and the tools that it needs to be able to keep America safe. And this summer, we didn't do that. We took it away from the NSA, it was a bad decision by the president. Bad by those in the Senate who voted for it and if I'm president, we'll make our intelligence community strong, and won't have to keep everybody out, we're just going to keep the bad folk out and make sure they don't harm us. +p5727 +aVWell, I'm glad you asked that, Maria. Here's \u2014 here's our plan. We've all been talking about tax reforms tonight, and paying for infrastructure is caught right up in tax reform. If you reform the corporate tax system in this country, which, as was mentioned before, is the highest rate in the world \u2014 and we double tax, as you know. And what that's led to over $2 trillion of American companies' monies that are being kept offshore, because they don't want to pay the second tax. And who can blame them? They pay tax once overseas. They don't want to pay 35 percent tax on the way back. So beside reforming that tax code, bringing it down to 25 percent and eliminating those special-interest loopholes that the lobbyists and the lawyers and the accountants have given \u2014 bring that rate down to 25 percent, but also, a one-time repatriation of that money. Bring the money \u2014 the $2 trillion \u2014 back to the United States. We'll tax it, that one time, at 8.75 percent, because 35 percent of zero is zero, but 8.75 percent of $2 trillion is a lot of money. And I would then dedicate that money to rebuilding infrastructure here in this country. It would not necessitate us raising any taxes. It would bring the money back into the United States to help build jobs by American companies and get our economy moving again, and growing as a higher rate, and it would rebuild those roads and bridges and tunnels that you were talking about. And \u2014 and \u2014 and the last piece of this, Maria, is this. You know, the fact is that this president has penalized corporations in America. He's penalized \u2014 and doesn't understand. In fact, what that hurts is hurt hardworking taxpayers. You've seen middle-class wages go backwards $3,700 during the Obama administration. That's wrong for hardworking taxpayers in this country. We'd rebuild infrastructure that would also create jobs in this country, and we'd work with the states to do it the right way, to do it more efficiently and more effectively. And remember this \u2014 I'm credible on this for this reason: Americans for Tax Reform says that I've vetoed more tax increases than any governor in American history. We don't need to raise taxes to get this done. We need to make the government run smarter and better, and reform this corporate tax system, bring that money back to the United States to build jobs and rebuild our infrastructure, and we need to use it also to protect our grid from terrorists. All of those things are important, and all those things would happen in a Christie administration. +p5728 +aVMaria, I'd like to interrupt this on the floor of the Senate to actually answer the question you asked, which was on entitlements. Do you remember that, everybody? This was a question on entitlements. And the reason \u2014 and the reason......no, you already had your chance, Marco, and you blew it. Here's the thing. The fact is, the reason why... +p5729 +aV... the fact is \u2014 the fact is the reason why that no one wants to answer entitlements up here is because it's hard. It's a hard problem. And I'm the only one up on this stage who back in April put forward a detailed entitlement reform plan that will save over $1 trillion, save Social Security, save Medicare, and avoid this \u2014 avoid what Hillary Rodham Clinton will do to you. Because what she will do is come in and she will raise Social Security taxes. Bernie Sanders has already said it. And she is just one or two more poll drops down from even moving further left than she's moved already to get to the left of Bernie on this. We have seniors out there who are scared to death because this Congress \u2014 this one that we have right now, just stole $150 billion from the Social Security retirement fund to give it to the Social Security disability fund. A Republican Congress did that. And the fact is it was wrong. And they consorted with Barack Obama to steal from Social Security. We need to reform Social Security. Mine is the only plan that saves over $1 trillion and that's why I'm answering your question. +p5730 +aVWell, first off, let's face it, the FBI director James Comey was a friend of mine who I worked with as U.S. Attorney of New Jersey. He was the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan. He said, "there's a chill wind blowing through law enforcement in this country." Here's why, the president of the United States and both his attorney's general, they give the benefit of the doubt to the criminal, not to the police officers. That's the truth of the matter and you see it every time with this president. Every time he's got a chance, going all the way back to \u2014 remember that Great Beer Summit he had after he messed up that time. This is a guy who just believes that law enforcement are the bad guys. Now, I for seven years was the U.S. Attorney of New Jersey. I worked hard with not only federal agents but with police officers and here's the problem, sanctuary cities is part of the problem in this country. That's where crime is happening in these cities where they don't enforce the immigration laws. And this president turns his back \u2014 this president doesn't enforce the marijuana laws in this country because he doesn't agree with them. And he allows states to go ahead and do whatever they want on a substance that's illegal. This president allows lawlessness throughout this country. Here's what I would do Neil, I would appoint an Attorney General and I would have one very brief conversation with that Attorney General. I'd say, "General, enforce the law against everyone justly, fairly, and aggressively. Make our streets safe again. Make our police officers proud of what they do but more important than that, let them know how proud we are of them." We do that, this country would be safe and secure again not only from criminals but from the terrorist who threaten us as well. I'm the only person on this stage who's done that and we will get it done as President of the United States. +p5731 +aVMaria, Neil, thank you for a great tonight. When I think about the folks who are out there at home tonight watching, and I think about what they had to watch this week \u2014 the spectacle they had to watch on the floor of the House of Representatives, with the president of the United States, who talked a fantasy land about the way they're feeling. They know that this country is not respected around the world anymore. They know that this country is pushing the middle class, the hardworking taxpayers, backwards, and they saw a president who doesn't understand their pain, and doesn't have any plan for getting away from it. I love this country. It's the most exceptional country the world has ever known. We need someone to fight for the people. We need a fighter for this country again. I've lived my whole life fighting \u2014 fighting for things that I believe in, fighting for justice and to protect people from crime and terrorism, fighting to stand up for folks who have not had enough and need an opportunity to get more, and to stand up and fight against the special interests. But here's the best way that we're going to make America much more exceptional: it is to make sure we put someone on that stage in September who will fight Hillary Clinton and make sure she never, ever gets in the White House again. I am the man who can bring us together to do that, and I ask for your vote. +p5732 +asVWILKINS +p5733 +(lp5734 +V...law school. My question for the candidates is, do black lives matter, or do all lives matter? +p5735 +asVCARSON +p5736 +(lp5737 +VThank you, Wolf. Please join me for a moment of silence and remembrance of the San Bernardino victims. Thank you. You know, our country since its inception has been at war, every 15 or 20 years. But the war that we are fighting now against radical Islamist jihadists is one that we must win. Our very existence is dependent upon that. You know, as a pediatric neurosurgeon, I frequently faced life and death situations, and had to come up with the right diagnosis, the right plan, and execute that plan frequently with other colleagues. Right now, the United States of America is the patient. And the patient is in critical condition and will not be cured by political correctness and will not be cured by timidity. And I am asking the Congress, which represents the people, to declare a war on +p5738 +aVFirst of all, let me just complain a little bit. This is the first time I've spoken and several people have had multiple questions so please try to pay attention to that. Now, as far as monitoring is concerned, what my point is, we need to make sure that any place \u2013 I don't care whether it's a mosque, a school, a supermarket, a theater, you know it doesn't matter. If there are a lot of people getting there and engaging in radicalizing activities then we need to be suspicious of it. We have to get rid of all this PC stuff. And people are worried about if somebody's going to say that I'm Islamophobic or what have you. This is craziness because we are at war. That's why I asked congress, go ahead and declare the war . We need to be on a war footing. We need to understand that our nation is in grave danger. You know, what the Muslim Brotherhood said in the explanatory memorandum that was discovered during the Holy Land Foundation Trial was that, "they will take advantage of our PC attitude to get us. :" We have to be better than this. We have to be smarter than they are. +p5739 +aVI think you have to ask them about that. I don't want to get in between them. Let them fight. +p5740 +aVNeurosurgeon. +p5741 +aVWell, interestingly enough, you should see the eyes of some of those children when I say to them we're going to have to open your head up and take out this tumor. They're not happy about it, believe me. And they don't like me very much at that point. But later on, they love me. Sometimes you \u2014 I sound like him. You know, later on, you know, they really realize what's going on. And by the same token, you have to be able to look at the big picture and understand that it's actually merciful if you go ahead and finish the job, rather than death by 1,000 pricks. +p5742 +aVYou got it. You got it. +p5743 +aVRuthless is not necessarily the word I would use, but tough, resolute, understanding what the problems are, and understanding that the job of the president of the United States is to protect the people of this country and to do what is necessary in order to get it done. +p5744 +aVFirst of all, I've been talking about this for over a year. We have to destroy their caliphate because that gives them legitimacy to go ahead with the global Jihad. We have to take their energy because they are \u2014 +p5745 +aVNo one is ever better off with dictators but there comes a time you know, when you're on an airplane, they always say, "in case of an emergency oxygen masks will drop down. Put yours on first and then administer help to your neighbor." We need oxygen right now. And we need to start thinking about the needs of the American people before we go and solve everybody else's problems. The fact of the matter is, is that the Middle East has been in turmoil for thousands of years. For us to think that we're going to in there and fix that with a couple of little bombs and a few little decorations is relatively foolish. +p5746 +aVWell, you know, there's a false narrative that only the political class has the wisdom and the ability to be commander-in- chief. But if you go back and you study the design of our country, it was really designed for the citizen statesman. And we need to be talking about where does your experience come from? You know, and I've had a lot of experience building things, organizing things, you know, a national scholarship program. One of the things that you'll notice if you look through my life is that I don't do a lot of talking. I do a lot of doing. And really, it says more about a person than how much they talk. And then some people say you're weak because, you know, you're not loud and you're not boisterous and you're not rude. But the fact of the matter is, look and see what I've done. And that speaks volumes about strength. +p5747 +aVWell, it was very interesting having an opportunity to talk to the Syrians themselves. And I asked them: What do you want? What is your supreme desire? Their supreme desire was to be settled back in their own country. I said, "What can Americans and other countries do?" They said, "Support the efforts of those who are trying to provide safety for us, including the Jordanians." Of course, they had a brand new hospital, for instance, that was unstaffed because there wasn't enough money to do it. But here's what's really neat. If you go into Hasakah province in northeast Syria, that's an area that's as big as Lebanon. It's controlled by the Kurds, the Christians and the moderate Sunnis. And there are airstrips and hotels. You could settle a lot of people there. All we would have to do is be willing to provide them with some weaponry, some defensive weaponry. And we seem to be afraid to give the Kurds weaponry. We like to send it for some strange reason through Baghdad, and then they only get a tenth of it. And if we would support them, we'd have a perfect ideal there. We don't need to set this up as we either take a bunch of refugees who will be infiltrated with terrorists, I guarantee you. For them not to be would be terrorist malpractice. And we need to \u2014 to choose the right choice, not these false choices. +p5748 +aVWell, I definitely believe that he is unstable, and I do, in fact, believe that China has a lot more influence with him than we do. But we also recognize that North Korea is in severe financial straits, and they have decided to use their resources to build their military, rather than to feed their people and to take care of the various humanitarian responsibilities that they have. We can capitalize upon that. You know, we should use our economic power in lots of different ways. I think we can use that in order to keep Putin contained, because he is a one-horse show. Energy. And we have an abundance of energy, but we have archaic energy exportation rules. We need to get rid of those, allow ourselves to really make Europe dependent on us and other parts of the world dependent on us for energy. Put him back in his little box where he belongs. And, you know, we need to be doing lots of other things with the resources that we have. So economic power works just as well as military power, perhaps even better. And speaking of that, our Military needs to be upgraded. You know, you look at things like our Ohio Class submarines, they're 25 years old. Our minuteman 3 missiles \u2014 they are 34 years old. Our B-52 bombers \u2014 50 years old. You know, if we don't get the military right nothing else matters. +p5749 +aVWell, you know, the statement that I made last week, that I would leave the party was contingent upon whether in fact the party acts like they have in the past with a lot of subterfuge and dishonesty, or like they're going act now because I spike to Reince Priebus, and he assured me that the Washington Post writer had it all wrong, and that they're not be engaging in anything to thwart the will of the people. That's why I got into this race, as a member of we the people, to try bring some honesty and integrity back to the process. +p5750 +aVI've been fortunate enough to travel to 58 different countries and I thank God everyday that I was born in this country. The most exceptional country that the world has ever known. And I want to make sure that we preserve that exceptionalism for the next generation. My mother told me if I work hard and I really believed in American principles and I believed in God, anything is possible. I believe that is true, and that's why I'm not anxious to give away American values and principles for the sake of political correctness. +p5751 +aVWell, first of all, delighted to be here. My family's here, and my little granddaughter, who's three years old, said she wanted to come to the debate. So this is very cool. As far as the minimum wage is concerned, people need to be educated on the minimum wage. Every time we raise the minimum wage, the number of jobless people increases. It's particularly a problem in the black community. Only 19.8 percent of black teenagers have a job, who are looking for one. You know, that \u2014 and that's because of those high wages. If you lower those wages, that comes down. You know, I can remember, as a youngster \u2014 you know, my first job working in a laboratory as a lab assistant, and multiple other jobs. But I would not have gotten those jobs if someone had to pay me a large amount of money. But what I did gain from those jobs is a tremendous amount of experience, and how to operate in the world and how to relate to different people, and how to become a responsible individual. And that's what gave me what I needed to ascend the ladder of opportunity in this country. That's what we need to be thinking about. How do we allow people to ascend the ladder of opportunity, rather than how do we give them everything and keep them dependent? +p5752 +aVI would not raise it. I would not raise it, specifically because I'm interested in making sure that people are able to enter the job market and take advantage of opportunities. +p5753 +aVWell, first of all, thank you not asking me what I said in the 10th grade. I appreciate that. +p5754 +aVThe fact of the matter is, you know, what \u2014 we should vet all candidates. I have no problem with being vetted. What I do have a problem with is being lied about and then putting that out there as truth. And I don't even mind that so much, if they do it about \u2014 with everybody, like people on the other side. But, you know, when I look at somebody like Hillary Clinton, who sits there and tells her daughter and a government official that no, this was a terrorist attack, and then tells everybody else that it was a video. Where I came from, they call that a lie. And... I think that's very different from, you know, somebody misinterpreting, when I said that I was offered a scholarship to West Point, that is the words that they used. But, I've had many people come and say the same thing to me. That is what people do in those situations. We have to start treating people the same, and finding out what people really think and what they're made of. People who know me know that I'm an honest person. +p5755 +aVWell, you know, when I say tithing, I'm talking about the concept of proportionality. +p5756 +aVEverybody should pay the same proportion of what they make. You make $10 billion, you pay a billion. You make $10, you pay one. You get same rights and privileges. I don't see how anything gets a whole lot fairer than that. But you also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes because that is the thing that tilts it in one direction or another. And you have to set the rate at an appropriate level. Now I will say that, there are a lot of people who say, if you get rid of the deductions, you ruin the American dream because, you know, home mortgage deduction. But the fact of the matter is, people had homes before 1913 when we introduced the federal income tax, and later after that started deductions. And they say there will be no more charitable giving. We had churches before that and charitable organizations before that. The fact of the matter is, I believe if you put more money in people's pockets that they will actually be more generous rather than less generous. And it's... ... the money that they earned. And, the other thing is, I do care about the poor people. And in the system that we're putting together, there will be a rebate for people at the poverty level. But I also want to emphasize the fact that as we get the economy moving, and I hope I get a question about how do we get the economy moving, there will be a lot more opportunities for poor people not to be poor people because this is America. This is the land of dreams. And our policies should be aimed at allowing people to realize that dream. +p5757 +aVWell, putting the special ops people in there is better than not having them there, because they \u2014 that's why they're called special ops, they're actually able to guide some of the other things that we're doing there. And what we have to recognize is that Putin is trying to really spread his influence throughout the Middle East. This is going to be his base. And we have to oppose him there in an effective way. We also must recognize that it's a very complex place. You know, the Chinese are there, as well as the Russians, and you have all kinds of factions there. What we've been doing so far is very ineffective, but we can't give up ground right there. But we have to look at this on a much more global scale. We're talking about global jihadists. And their desire is to destroy us and to destroy our way of life. So we have to be saying, how do we make them look like losers? Because that's the way that they're able to gather a lot of influence. And I think in order to make them look like losers, we have to destroy their caliphate. And you look for the easiest place to do that? It would be in Iraq. And if \u2014 outside of Anbar in Iraq, there's a big energy field. Take that from them. Take all of that land from them. We could do that, I believe, fairly easily, I've learned from talking to several generals, and then you move on from there. But you have to continue to face them, because our goal is not to contain them, but to destroy them before they destroy us. +p5758 +aVWell, I think we should have policies that don't allow them to just enlarge themselves at the expense of smaller entities. And certainly some of the policies, some of the monetary and Fed policies that we're using makes it very easy for them, makes it very easy for the big corporations, quite frankly, at these very low interest rates to buy back their stock and to drive the price of that up artificially. Those are the kinds of things that led to the problem in the first place. And I think this all really gets back to this whole regulation issue which is creating a very abnormal situation. This country was \u2014 declared its independence in 1776. In less than 100 years, it was the number-one economic power in the world. And the reason was because we had an atmosphere that encouraged entrepreneurial risk- taking and capital investment. Those are the fuels that drive it. And what we've done now is let the creep of regulation turn into a stampede of regulations, which is involved in every aspect of our lives. If we can get that out, it makes a big difference. And even for the average person, every single regulation costs money. And it's shifted to the individual. So \u2014 and it hurts the poor and the middle class much more than it does the rich. They go into the store and they buy a bar of soap, it costs 10 cents more, they notice it. And the middle class, when they come to the cash register, have a whole cart full of things that cost 5, 10 or 15 cents more, they notice it. It is hurting the poor. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton won't tell you that that's the thing that's really hurting middle class in the core. They'll say it's the rich, take their money, but that won't help. You can take all of the rich's money and it won't make a dent in the problem that we're having. We have to come back to the fundamental principles that made America great. +p5759 +aVI would have policies that wouldn't allow that to occur. I don't want to go in and tear anybody down. I mean, that doesn't help us. But what does help us is stop tinkering around the edges and fix the actual problems that exist that are creating the problem in the first place. +p5760 +aVIn the two hours of this \u2014 of this debate, five people have died from drug-related deaths, $100 million has been added to our national debt, 200 babies have been killed by abortionists, and two veterans have taken their lives out of despair. This is a narrative that we can change, not we the Democrats, not we the Republicans, but we the people of America, because there is something special about this nation, and we must embrace it and be proud of it and never give it away for the sake of political correctness. +p5761 +aVProbably in terms of the applying for the job of president, a weakness would be not really seeing myself in that position until hundreds of thousands of people began to tell me that I needed to do it. I do, however, believe in Reagan's 11th commandment, and will not be engaging in awful things about my compatriots here. And recognizing that it's so important, this election, because we're talking about America for the people versus America for the government. +p5762 +aVWell, first of all, I didn't say that the rate would be 10 percent. I used the tithing analogy. +p5763 +aVThe rate \u2014 the rate \u2014 the rate is gonna be much closer to 15 percent. +p5764 +aVYou also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes. You also have to some strategically cutting in several places. Remember, we have 645 federal agencies and sub-agencies. Anybody who tells me that we need every penny and every one of those is in a fantasy world. So, also, we can stimulate the economy. That's gonna be the real growth engine. Stimulating the economy \u2014 because it's tethered down right now with so many regulations... +p5765 +aVThat's not true. +p5766 +aVWhen \u2014 when we put all the facts down, you'll be able to see that it's not true, it works out very well. +p5767 +aVSince I was attacked too. +p5768 +aVLet me just say, if you're talking about an $18 trillion economy, you're talking about a 15 percent tax on your gross domestic product. You're talking about $2.7 trillion. We have a budget closer to $3.5 trillion. But if you also apply that same 15 percent to several other things, including corporate taxes, and including the capital gains taxes, you make that amount up pretty quickly. So that is not by any stretch a pie in the sky. +p5769 +aVWell, there is no question that some people go overboard when it comes to trying to make profits, and they don't take into consideration the American people. What we have to start thinking about, as leaders, particularly in government, is what can we do for the average American? And you think about the reasons that we're having such difficulty right now with our job market. Well, the average small manufacturer, whatever they're manufacturing, drugs or anything, if they have less than 50 employees, the average cost in terms of regulations is $34,000 per employee. Makes it a whole lot easier for them to want to go somewhere else. So what we're going to have to start doing instead of, you know, picking on this group or this group, is we're going to have to have a major reduction in the regulatory influence that is going on. The government is not supposed to be in every part of our lives, and that is what is causing the problem. +p5770 +aVWell, obviously, you don't understand my views on homosexuality. I believe that our Constitution protects everybody, regardless of their sexual orientation or any other aspect. I also believe that marriage is between one man and one woman. And there is no reason that you can't be perfectly fair to the gay community. They shouldn't automatically assume that because you believe that marriage is between one man and one woman that you are a homophobe. And this is one of the myths that the left perpetrates on our society, and this is how they frighten people and get people to shut up. You know, that's what the PC culture is all about, and it's destroying this nation. The fact of the matter is we the American people are not each other's enemies, it's those people who are trying to divide us who are the enemies. And we need to make that very clear to everybody. +p5771 +aVWell, that's easy to answer. I didn't have an involvement with them. That is total propaganda, and this is what happens in our society. Total propaganda. I did a couple of speeches for them, I do speeches for other people. They were paid speeches. It is absolutely absurd to say that I had any kind of a relationship with them. Do I take the product? Yes. I think it's a good product. +p5772 +aVIf somebody put me on their homepage, they did it without my permission. +p5773 +aVNo, it speaks to the fact that I don't know those \u2014 See? They know. +p5774 +aVWell, first of all, I was wrong about taking the oil subsidy. I have studied that issue in great detail. And what I have concluded is that the best policy is to get rid of all government subsidies, and get the government out of our lives, and let people rise and fall based on how good they are. And \u2014 you know, all of this too big to fail stuff and picking and choosing winners and losers \u2014 this is a bunch of crap, and it is really causing a great deal of \u2014 great deal of problems for our society right now. And \u2014 and \u2014 you know, it goes back to the whole concept of regulations, which are in everything. The reason that I \u2014 I hate them so much is because every single regulation costs in terms of goods and services. That cost gets passed on to the people. Now, who are the people who are hurt by that? It's poor people and middle class. Doesn't hurt rich people if their bar of soap goes up ten cents, but it hurts the poor and the middle class. And Bernie Sanders will tell them that it's because of the rich. Well, I'll tell you something: you can take everything from the top 1 percent, and you apply it to our fiscal gap, and you won't even make a dent in it. +p5775 +aVAbout Medicare? +p5776 +aVWell, first of all the \u2014 the plan gives people the option of \u2014 of opting out. But I think they will see a very good option here. You know, the annual Medicare budget is over $600 billion. And there are 48 million people involved \u2014 40 million, 65 and over, and 8 million other. Divide that out. That comes out to $12,500 for each one. Now, I can tell you there are a lot of private-sector things that you could do with $12,500, which will get you a lot more than you get from this government program. And that's really a theme of a lot of the things that I'm talking about. How do we utilize our intellect rather than allowing the government to use its, quote, "intellect," in order to help us to be able to live healthier and better lives? It was never intended that the government should be in every aspect of our lives. This is a country that is of, for and by the people. +p5777 +aVI just want to thank all my colleagues here for being civil, and not falling for the traps. And, I also just want to thank the audience for being attentive, and noticing the questions, and the noticing the answers. And, this is what I am finding throughout America. People are waking up because it is going to be us who will determine the direction of our country. And, it was made for we the people, we are the ones who decide who we are, and we should never give away the values and principles that made America into a great nation for the sake of political correctness. +p5778 +aVHi, I'm Ben Carson, and I'm a retired pediatric neurosurgeon. I'm here with my wife, Candy, of 40 years, and two of my sons, and their wives. I stress the pediatric part of my career because the reason that I've gotten involved in this race is because I'm very concerned about the future of our children, and the direction of our country is one that does not portend well, unless we, the people, intervene and retake our rightful place at the pinnacle. +p5779 +aVTypically, politicians do things that are politically expedient. And they are looking for whatever their particular goal is. That is not the reason that I have gotten into this thing. I'm extraordinary concerned about the direction of this country, the divisiveness that is going on, fiscal irresponsibility, the failure to take a leadership position in the world. All of those things will lead to a situation where the next generation will not have a chance that we've had now. So I don't \u2014 I don't want to really get into describing who's a politician and who's not a politician, but I think the people have kind of made that decision for themselves already, and will continue to do so as time goes on. +p5780 +aVJake, can I say something about that? +p5781 +aVYou know, when I entered this race, all the political pundits said it's impossible; you can't do it because you're not connected with the money. And there's no way that you can raise what you need in order to compete successfully. I in no way am willing to get in the bed with special interest group or lick the boots of billionaires. I have said to the people if they want me to do this, please get involved. And we now have over 500,000 donations, and the money is coming in. But the pundits forgot about one thing, and that is the people. And they are really in charge. +p5782 +aVWell, first of all, I recognize that we have an incredible illegal immigration problem. I was down in Arizona a few weeks ago at the border. I mean, the fences that were there were not manned, and those are the kind of fences when I was a kid that would barely slow us down. So, I don't see any purpose in having that. Now, what we need to do is look at something that actually works. Yuma County, Arizona. They stop 97 percent of the illegal immigrants through there. They put in a double fence with a road so that there was quick access by the enforcement people. If we don't seal the border, the rest of this stuff clearly doesn't matter. It's kind of ridiculous all the other things we talk about. We have the ability to do it, we don't have the will to do it. There was one area where they had cut a hole in the fence, and to repair it, they put a few strands of barb wire across. Well, the photographers who were there with us, they wanted to photograph us from the side of the Mexicans, and they went through there, and they were not physically fit people, and they took their cameras and things with them, and shot us from the other side. That's how easy it is to get across. And, the drugs, I mean, it goes on, and on, and on. ICE tells them to release these people, 67,000 criminals released... +p5783 +aV...on to our property, it's ridiculous. +p5784 +aVWell, I have also said, if anybody knows how to do that, that I would be willing to listen. And, if they can, you know, specify exactly how that's going to be done, and what the cost, and it sounds reasonable, then I think it's worth discussing... +p5785 +aVNot exactly what I said. +p5786 +aVWell, what I said, after we seal the borders, after we turn off the spigot that dispenses all the goodies so we don't have people coming in here, including employment, that people who had a pristine record, we should consider allowing them to become guest workers, primarily in the agricultural sphere, because that's the place where Americans don't seem to want to work. That's what I said. And they have a six-month period to do that. If they don't do it within that time period, then they become illegal, and as illegals, they will be treated as such. +p5787 +aVCan I \u2014 can I \u2014 can I just... +p5788 +aVCan I correct... +p5789 +aVOK. +p5790 +aVMy plan is not amnesty for a number of reasons. Number one, you know, I've talked to farmers, and they said they cannot hire Americans to do the kind of job that I'm talking about. And the second reason is because the individuals who register as guest workers, they don't get to vote, they are not American citizens, and they don't get the rights and privileges of American citizens. So that's key. But the other thing that I want to bring up is, I mentioned something earlier. I think it was just sort of glossed over. I talked about the success in Yuma County, I mean, incredible success, and the Department of Justice said, "No, we don't want to do that. That's too successful." We don't have to keep reinventing the wheel. All we have to do is look at things that work. All we have to do is use a little common sense. +p5791 +aVIt's all about America. You know, the people who say the guy who paid a billion dollars because he had 10, he has still got $9 billion left, that's not fair, we need to take more of his money. That's called socialism. That doesn't work so well. What made America into a great nation was the fact that we said, that guy just put in $1 billion, let's create an environment that's even more conducive to his success so that next year he can put in $2 billion. And that's the kind of thing that helps us to grow. We can't grow by continuing to take a piece of pie, and dividing it, and redistributing it. But, I'm also looking at what doctor \u2014 at what Governor Huckabee talked about... +p5792 +aVThe Fair Tax. Looking at both of them, and evaluating them both, and I'm talking to the American people because one of the things we must recognize is that this country is of, for, and by the people. And, it's really time that the government get out of the way, and let the people be the ones who decide how they want to run their country. +p5793 +aVWell, first of all, let me say what I actually said about raising the minimum wage. I was asked should it be raised, I said, probably, or possibly. But, what I added, which I think is the most important thing, so, I said we need to get both sides of this issue to sit down, and talk about it. Negotiate a reasonable minimum wage, and index that so that we never have to have this conversation again in the history of America. I think we also have to have two minimum wages, a starter, and a sustaining because how are young people ever going to get a job if you have such a high minimum wage that it makes it impractical to hire them... +p5794 +aVJake, Jake... +p5795 +aVI haven't had an opportunity to weigh in on foreign policy, and I just want to mention that when the war, when the issue occurred in 2003, I suggested to President Bush that he not go to war? OK. So I just want that on the record. And, you know, a lot of people are very much against us getting involved right now with global jihadism. And they refer back to our invasion of Iraq. And they seem to think that that was what caused it. What caused it was withdrawing from there and creating a vacuum which allowed this terrible situation to occur. But it is very different from what is going on today. We're talking about global jihadists who actually want to destroy us. They are an existential threat to our nation. And we have to be mature enough to recognize that our children will have no future if we put our heads in the sand. We have to recognize we have two choices. We either allow them the continue to progress and appear to be the winners, or we use every resource available to us to destroy... +p5796 +aV... them first. +p5797 +aVWell, recognize that, you know, President George W. Bush is a great friend of ours, and we spent many wonderful days at the White House. I haven't been there in the last seven years. I probably have to have a food-tester. But at any rate, I didn't suggest that nothing be done. What I suggested to President Bush is to be Kennedy-esque, in the sense that when the Russians got ahead of us in the space race, what we did is use the bully pulpit to galvanize everybody, business, industry, academia behind a national goal to put a man on the moon and bring him back safely. I said, you can do the same kind of thing. Declare that within five to 10 years we will become petroleum independent. The moderate Arab states would have been so concerned about that, they would have turned over Osama bin Laden and anybody else you wanted on a silver platter within two weeks. There are smart ways to do things and there are muscular ways to do things. And sometimes you have to look at both of those to come up with the right solution. +p5798 +aVI have no argument with having a strong leader, and to be aggressive where aggression is needed. But it is not needed in every circumstance. There is a time when you can use your intellect to come up with other ways to do things. And I think that's what we have to start thinking about. There is no question that a lot of these problems that we have been talking about in terms of the international situation is because we are weak. It is because our Navy is so small. It is because our Air Force is incapable of doing the same things that it did a few years ago. It's because our Marines Corps is not ready to be deployed. +p5799 +aVThere are a lot of problems that are going on, and we need to solve those problems, we need to build up our military... +p5800 +aVWell, let me put it this way, there has \u2014 there have been numerous studies, and they have not demonstrated that there is any correlation between vaccinations and autism. This was something that was spread widely 15 or 20 years ago, and it has not been adequately, you know, revealed to the public what's actually going on. Vaccines are very important. Certain ones. The ones that would prevent death or crippling. There are others, there are a multitude of vaccines which probably don't fit in that category, and there should be some discretion in those cases. But, you know, a lot of this is \u2014 is \u2014 is pushed by big government. And I think that's one of the things that people so vehemently want to get rid of, big government. You know, we have 4.1 million federal employees. Six hundred and fifty federal agencies and department (sic). That's why they have to take so much of our taxes. +p5801 +aVWell, you know, I've just explained it to him. He can read about it if he wants to. I think he's an intelligent man and will make the correct decision after getting the real facts. +p5802 +aVHe's an OK doctor. But, you know, the fact of the matter is, we have extremely well-documented proof that there's no autism associated with vaccinations. But it is true that we are probably giving way too many in too short a period of time. And a lot of pediatricians now recognize that, and, I think, are cutting down on the number and the proximity in which those are done, and I think that's appropriate. +p5803 +aVI'd put my mother on there. You know, she was one of 24 children, got married at age 13, had only a third grade education, had to raise two sons by herself, refused to be a victim. Wouldn't let us be victims, and has been an inspiration to many people. +p5804 +aVOne Nation. +p5805 +aVWell, you know, I was a radical Democrat before I started listening to Ronald Reagan. And he didn't sound like what they said Republicans were. He sounded logical. And I hope that I sound logical also. Because when I look at what is going on with the United States of America, I see a lot of things that are not logical. I see us allowing people to divide us, when in fact our strength is in our unity. I see people exercising the most irresponsible fiscal habits that anyone could possibly do. And hiding it from the American people, so that the majority of people have no idea what our financial situation is. So, when someone comes along and says, free college, free phones, free this and that, and the other, they say, "wow, that's nice," having no idea that they're destabilizing our position. And I think also that Ronald Reagan was a master at understanding that a pinnacle nation has to be a nation that leads. If we learn to lead in the Middle East right now, a coalition will form behind us, but never they do it if we just sit there and talk about it. Real leadership is what I would hopefully bring to America. +p5806 +aVWell, I could take issue with -- with all of those things, but we don't have time. But I will say, we have a debate here tonight, and we will have an opportunity to explore those areas, and I'm looking very much forward to demonstrating that, in fact, the thing that is probably most important is having a brain, and to be able to figure things out and learn things very rapidly. So, you know, experience comes from a large number of different arenas, and America became a great nation early on not because it was flooded with politicians, but because it was flooded with people who understood the value of personal responsibility, hard work, creativity, innovation, and that's what will get us on the right track now, as well. +p5807 +aVWell, thank you, Megyn, I wasn't sure I was going to get to talk again. +p5808 +aVAlright. You know, what we do in order to get the information that we need is our business, and I wouldn't necessarily be broadcasting what we're going to do. We. . .uh. . .we've gotten into this -- this mindset of fighting politically correct wars. There is no such thing as a politically correct war. And, the left, of course, will say Carson doesn't believe in the Geneva Convention. Carson doesn't believe in fighting stupid wars. And -- and what we have to remember is we want to utilize the tremendous intellect that we have in the military to win wars. And I've talked to a lot of the generals, a lot of our advanced people. And believe me, if we gave them the mission, which is what the commander-in-chief does, they would be able to carry it out. And if we don't tie their hands behind their back, they will do it......extremely effectively. +p5809 +aVWhat I agree with is that we need a significantly changed taxation system. And the one that I've advocated is based on tithing, because I think God is a pretty fair guy. And he said, you know, if you give me a tithe, it doesn't matter how much you made. If you've had a bumper crop, you don't owe me triple tithes. And if you've had no crops at all, you don't owe me no tithes. So there must be something inherently fair about that. And that's why I've advocated a proportional tax system. You make $10 billion, you pay a billion. You make $10, you pay one. And everybody gets treated the same way. And you get rid of the deductions, you get rid of all the loopholes, and... +p5810 +aVAnd I have a lot more to say about it. +p5811 +aVIf Hillary is the candidate, which I doubt, that would be a dream come true. But you know, the fact of the matter is, she is the epitome of the progressive -- the secular progressive movement. And she counts on the fact that people are uninformed, the Alinsky Model, taking advantage of useful idiots. Well, I just happen to believe that people are not stupid. And the way I will come at it is to educate people, help people to actually understand that it is that progressive movement that is causing them the problems. You know, you look at the -- the national debt and how it's being driven up. If I was trying to destroy this country, what I would do is find a way to drive wedges between all the people, drive the debt to an unsustainable level, and then step off the stage as a world leader and let our enemies increase while we decreased our capacity as a military person. And that's what she's doing. +p5812 +aVWell, what we have to stop and think about is that we have weakened ourselves militarily to such an extent that if affects all of our military policies. Our Navy is at its smallest size since 1917; our Air Force, since 1940. In recent testimony, the commandant of the Marine Corps said half of the non-deployed units were not ready and you know, the sequester is cutting the heart out of our personnel. Our generals are retiring because they don't want to be part of this, and at the same time, our enemies are increasing. Our -- our friends can't trust us anymore. You know, Ukraine was a nuclear-armed state. They gave away their nuclear arms with the understanding that we would protect them. We won't even give them offensive weapons. You know, we turned our back on Israel, our ally. You know, in a situation like that, of course Obama's not going to be able to do anything. I would shore up our military first, because if you don't get the military right, nothing else is going to work. +p5813 +aVWell, I think the bully pulpit is a wonderful place to start healing that divide. You know, we have the purveyors of hatred who take every single incident between people of two races and try to make a race war out of it, and drive wedges into people. And this does not need to be done. What we need to think about instead -- you know, I was asked by an NPR reporter once, why don't I talk about race that often. I said it's because I'm a neurosurgeon. And she thought that was a strange response. And you say -- I said, you see, when I take someone to the operating room, I'm actually operating on the thing that makes them who they are. The skin doesn't make them who they are. The hair doesn't make them who they are. And it's time for us to move beyond that. Because......our strength as a nation comes in our unity. We are the United States of America, not the divided states. And those who want to destroy us are trying to divide us, and we shouldn't let them do it. +p5814 +aVWell, I haven't said anything about me being the only one to do anything, so let me try that. I'm the only one to separate Siamese twins... The -- the only one to operate on babies while they were still in mother's womb, the only one to take out half of a brain, although you would think, if you go to Washington, that someone had beat me to it. But I -- but I'm very hopeful that I'm not the only one who's willing to pick up the baton of freedom, because freedom is not free, and we must fight for it every day. Every one of us must fight for it, because we're fighting for our children and the next generation. +p5815 +aVWell, the current Constitution actually doesn't address that particular situation, but the fact of the matter is the Supreme Court, obviously, is a very important part of our governmental system. And when our Constitution was put in place, the average age of death was under 50, and therefore the whole concept of lifetime appointments for Supreme Court judges and federal judges was not considered to be a big deal. Obviously, that has changed, and it's something that probably needs to be looked at pretty carefully at some point. But, we need to start thinking about the divisiveness that is going on in our country. I looked at some of the remarks that people made after finding out that Justice Scalia had died, and they were truly nasty remarks. And that we have managed to get to that position in our country is truly a shame. And we should be thinking about how we could create some healing in this land. But, right now, we're not going to get healing with President Obama. That's very United Nations clear. So, I...... fully agree that we should not allow a judge to be appointed during his time. +p5816 +aVNo, it isn't. First of all, let me go back to your first question for me. It wasn't phrased as who gets to nominate Supreme Court appointees. Of course that's the president. So I know that there are some left-wing media who would try to make hay on that. Secondly, thank you for including me in the debate. Two questions already. This is great. Now, as far......as far as those 2 a.m. phone calls are concerned, judgment is what is required. And the kinds of things that you come up with are sometimes very, very difficult and very unique. One of the things that I was known for is doing things that have not been done before. So no amount of experience really prepares you to do something that has never been done before. That's where judgment comes in. And that, I think, is a situation that we're in right now, a situation that we have never been in before with the kinds of threats that pose real danger to our nation, and it comes in very handy in those situations. +p5817 +aVWell, first of all, let me just address the Iraq question. You know, I was not particularly in favor of us going to war in Iraq, primarily because I have studied, you know, the Middle East, recognizing that those are nations that are ruled by dictators and have been for thousands of years. And when you go in and you remove one of those dictators, unless you have an appropriate plan for replacing them, you're going to have chaos. Now, fortunately, we were able to stabilize the situation, and it was the current administration that turned tail and ran and destabilized the situation. Now, having said that, in terms of the rules of engagement, I was talking about, you know, Obama has said, you know, we shouldn't bomb tankers, you know, coming out of refineries because there may be people in there, or because the environment may be hurt. You know, that's just asinine thinking. And the fact of the matter is... You know, we \u2014 obviously, you're not going to accomplish all of your goals without some collateral damage. You have to be able to assess what is acceptable and what is not. +p5818 +aVWell, first of all, let me just mention on the tax issue. Bencarson.com, go read about it, because my tax plan has been praised by Cato, by Wall Street Journal. Forbes said it is the best, the most pro-growth tax plan, and it's based on real fairness for everybody. Starts at the 150 percent poverty level, but even the people below that have to pay something, because everybody has to have skin in the game, and the millions of people can't, you know, talk about what other people have to pay and have no skin in the game. And it deals with corporate tax rate, and makes it the same as everybody else......everybody pays exactly the same. +p5819 +aV... And, as far as Medicare and Medicaid, my main goal is to get rid of Obamacare and put the care back in the hands of ... +p5820 +aVWell, first of all, please go to my website, bencarson.com, and read my immigration policy, O.K.? Because it actually makes sense. Now, the \u2014 as far as these fines are concerned, you know? Here's the big problem. We've got all these government regulators, and all they're doing is running around looking for people to fine. And we've got 645 different federal agencies and sub-agencies. Way, way too many, and they don't have anything else to do. I think what we really need to do is start trimming the regulatory agencies rather than going after the people who are trying to increase the viability, economic viability of our society. Now, that doesn't mean there aren't some people out there who are doing bad things. But I'm not sure that the way to solve that problem is by increasing all the regulatory burden. You know, when you consider how much regulations cost us each year, you know? $2 trillion dollars per family, $24,000 per family, that happens to be the same level as the poverty level...... for a family of four. If you want to get rid of poverty, get rid of all the regulations. +p5821 +aVBefore you ask the question, can I respond to the \u2014 you know, they mentioned my name a couple of times. +p5822 +aVAll right. Well, first of all, you know, so many people have said to me, "You need to scream and jump and down \u2014 jump up and down like everybody else." Is that really what you want? What we just saw? I don't think so. And you know, I \u2014 when I got into this race, I decided to look under the hood of the engine of what runs Washington, D.C., and my first inclination was to run away, but I didn't do it because I'm thinking about our children and the fact that we are the United States of America. And anybody up here is going to be much better than what's going to come on the other side. And what happened tonight with \u2014 with Justice Scalia tells you that we cannot afford to lose this election, and we cannot be tearing each other down. +p5823 +aVWell, first of all, I'm not a politician, so I'm never going to become a politician. But here's what \u2014 here's what people need to know. People need to know that free college is not \u2014 it's a non-starter. You know, you have to look at our economic situation. We're on the verge of economic collapse and, you know, we're \u2014 it's not just the $19 trillion, but it's also the $200 trillion in unfunded liabilities. What we need to think about is, what does that do to the average person? When we have a debt of that nature, it causes the Fed to change their policy, it causes the central bank to keep the \u2014 the rates low, and who does does that affect? Mr. Average, who used to go to the bank every Friday and put part of his check in the bank and watch it grow over three decades and be able to retire with a nice nest egg, that's gone. That part of the American dream is gone. All of these things are disappearing, and Bernie Sanders and people like Hillary Clinton blame it on the rich. They say those evil rich people, if we take their money we can solve the problem. It's not the evil rich people. It's the irresponsible, evil government. +p5824 +aVThis is the first generation not expected to do better than their parents. Some people say it's the new normal, but there's nothing normal about it in an exceptional American. I, like you, am a member of we, the people, and we know that our country is heading off the cliff. Joseph Stalin said if you want to bring America down you, have to undermine three things: our spiritual life, our patriotism and our morality. We, the people, can stop that decline, starting right here in South Carolina. If all the people who say, "I love Ben Carson and his policies, but he can't win," vote for me, not only can we win, but we can turn this thing around. You know, we have this manipulation by the political class and by the media telling us who we're supposed to pick and how we're supposed to live. We, the people, are the only people who will determine that. And if you elect me as your next president, I promise you that you will get somebody who is accountable to everybody and beholden to no one. Thank you. +p5825 +aVWell, you know, when I wasn't introduced No. 2, as was the plan, I thought maybe he thought I already had dropped out. But... But you know, today is the 105th anniversary, or \u2014 105th birthday of Ronald Reagan. His 11 Commandment was not to speak ill of another Republican. So, I'm not going to use this opportunity to savage the reputation of Senator Cruz. But I will say \u2014 I will say \u2014 I will say that I was very disappointed that members of his team thought so little of me that they thought that after having hundreds, if not thousands of volunteers and college students who sacrificed their time and were dedicated to the cause \u2014 one even died \u2014 to think that I would just walk away ten minutes before the caucus and say, "Forget about you guys." I mean, who would do something like that? Now, I don't think anyone on this stage would do something like that. And to assume that someone would, what does that tell you? So, unfortunately, it did happen. It gives us a very good example of certain types of Washington ethics. Washington ethics. Washington ethics basically says, if it's legal, you do what you need to do in order to win. That's not my ethics. My ethics is, you do what's right. +p5826 +aVSince I was mentioned... +p5827 +aVThis is great you guys. I want you all to mention me when you say something. In fact, the time line indicates that initial tweet from CNN was followed by another one within one minute that clarified that I was not dropping out. So, what happened to that one, it is unclear. But the bottom line is, we can see what happened, everybody can see what happened and you can make your own judgment. +p5828 +aVGood evening. +p5829 +aVWell, thank you. You know, I was hoping to get a chance to talk about North Korea. I was the only one who didn't get to do that, and I've got stuff to say about it, let me tell you. But at any rate, you have to replace it with something that makes sense. It doesn't make sense. And the reason that I dislike Obamacare is because the government comes in and tells the people \u2014 which the nation is supposed to be centered on \u2014 that we don't care what you think, this is what we're doing. And if you don't like it, too bad. That's a problem. And we can't afford to do that because that will fundamentally change America. I have proposed a health empowerment account system. Everybody gets a health empowerment account the day they are born, they keep it until they die. They can pass it on. We pay for it with the same dollars that we pay for traditional health care with, recognizing that we spend twice as much as many countries per capita and health care and don't have as such access. We give people the ability to shift money within their health empowerment account so that each family basically becomes its own insurance company without a middleman; that saves you a awful lot of money. And that will lower the cost of your catastrophic insurance tremendously, because the only thing coming out of that is catastrophic health care. And then in terms of taking care of the indigent, we have another whole system, and I can go ahead and explain it, but I don't have the time, but I'd be happy to if you give me some more time. But go to my website bencarson.com, read about it. You can read about everything that's been discussed here in great detail. HAM: Thank you, Dr. Carson. David, Martha, back to you. +p5830 +aVI want to say something about this, because I'm not here just to add beauty to the stage. You know, I've been talking about Libya for quite a long time. I think I was the first one to start talking about it because I say we have to have a proactive foreign policy strategy. And of course, the next place that +p5831 +aVI would support the possibility of renewed airstrikes if in conjunction with our Joint Chiefs and our military people they felt that was an appropriate strategy. The fact of the matter is none of us up here is a military expert, and we sometimes act like we are, but we're not. And if we actually sit down and talk with them and get them to understand our plan and their impression of what needs to be done, I think we're going to make a lot more progress. +p5832 +aVIt's the same question? +p5833 +aVYes. Well, first of all, I think it would be a pretty easy contrast, quite frankly, between myself and Hillary Clinton. In one case, you have someone who is known as a deceitful individual. An individual who at Benghazi, which I will never let go, quite frankly, because I think of those two men who went up there on the top of that compound with machine guns, firing away, allowing their colleagues to escape. And I'm sure, in the back of their mind, they were just saying, if we can just hold on, help is on the way. But help was not on the way. When did we in the United States not send people to help our own people? You know, this is not who we are. And \u2014 I would simply make it a referendum on honesty and integrity versus deceit and the Washington way. +p5834 +aVWell, you know, it's not a simple issue, and now, you know, we've gotten evidence that there can been active viruses in other bodily fluids like saliva and urine. So, this is going to be, obviously, a big deal. Do we quarantine people? If we have evidence that they are infected, and that there is evidence that that infection can spread by something that they're doing, yes. But, just willy-nilly going out and quarantining a bunch of people because they've been to Brazil, I don't believe that that's going to work. What we really need to be thinking about is how do we get this disease under control? And this is where we need rapid response. We need a rapid response for ebola, we need rapid response for Zika, there will be other things that will come up. These are the kinds of things that the NIH, the CDC, can be very effective in. We need to give the the appropriate support for those kind of things. +p5835 +aVCan I say something... +p5836 +aVSomething about the draft. Very quickly. +p5837 +aVYou know, 14 percent decrease in the number of people applying for voluntary military service, and I think part of it is because of the way that we treat our veterans. You know, we wouldn't be a free country if it wasn't for them, and we have 22 veterans per day committing suicide. So, I think what we should do is have an external support system for people once they volunteer and it should follow them throughout their career, should follow them for three years, five years afterwards, a year before they get out, should be working on integrating them back into society, so that they quit on Friday and they start their new job. They should have health empowerment accounts that are subsidized so they can go to any medical facility and be taken care of. They can go to a V.A. if they want to. But if we start taking care of our veterans the right way, we won't have to ever worry about a draft again. +p5838 +aVWith 100 percent certainly, I will predict the winner \u2014 it will either be Denver or Carolina. +p5839 +aVFor many months, the political class, pundits, the media, have tried to ignore or bury me. They say that politics is too complex, and too sleazy. You can't survive. Well, guess what? I'm still here, and I'm not going any place either. And, I believe there is still a place in our country for faith, integrity, and common sense. Hundreds of thousands of you drafted me to run for president...... And, I am going to with the help of God, and you, once again place the American people at the pinnacle with the government there to serve it. +p5840 +aVWell, I will gladly confess that I'm the only one on this stage with no political title. You're not going to hear a lot of polished political speech from me, but you will hear the truth. And I don't think you have to be a politician to tell the truth. In fact, sometimes it's not that way... ... and I've had more two a.m. phone calls than everybody here put together, making life and death decisions, put together very complex teams to accomplish things that have never been done before. And we are in a situation right now in our country that we have never been in before. We need people who think out of the box and can solve problems; can utilize the resources around them; very smart people, to focus on the problem and solve the problem. The American people are terrified. That's why we have this abnormal situation going on right now. We don't need more of the same solutions. We need different solutions to solve the problems and to save our nation. +p5841 +aVWell, I don't know about the GOP messaging, but I can tell you about my messaging. You know, need to stop allowing political correctness to dictate our policies, because it's going to kill us if we don't. And in the Holy Land Foundation trial in 2006 in Texas, they had a memorandum, an explanatory memorandum that talked about the fact that Americans would be easy to overcome and to commit civilization jihad because they were going to be trying to protect the rights of the very people who were trying to subvert them. But I believe in the Teddy Roosevelt philosophy. Teddy Roosevelt said, we are a nation of immigrants. As such, everybody is welcome from any race, any country, any religion, if they want to be Americans. If they want to accept our values and our laws. If not, they can stay where they are. +p5842 +aVOh, great. As I said before, we are a land of immigrants, but we have to be intelligent about the way that we form our immigration policies, and that's one of the reasons that I have called on us to declare war on the Islamic State because we need to reorient our immigration policies and our visa policies for people who are coming into this country because there are many people out there who want to destroy us. Now, I recognize that the vast majority of people coming in here probably are not those kinds of people, but that's not good enough. If you've got 10 people coming to your house and you know one of them is a terrorist, you're probably going to keep them all out. You know, we probably have to figure out a way to make sure that we keep America safe. +p5843 +aVLook, first of all, I recognize that Vladimir Putin is an opportunist and he's a bully, and we have to face him down. And I would \u2014 first of all, face him down in that whole region, the whole Baltic region. I think we need to put in some armored brigades there. We only have one or two. We need much more than that. We need to be doing military exercises if not only Estonia but Latvia and Lithuania. They're terrified by the saber rattling. I think we ought to put in our missile defense system. I think we ought to give Ukraine offensive weapons and I think we ought to fight them on the economic basis because Putin is a one- horse country: oil and energy. And we ought to fight them on that level. We ought to be helping in terms of the technology for fracking, keeping the price low, quite frankly, because that's what's keeping him contained. So, yes, I'd absolutely would go in if he attacked. I think on Article IV of +p5844 +aVWell, as anyone knows who's been listening to me, you know? I'm very much against the government being involved in every aspect of our lives, you know? We last year there was an additional 81,000 pages of government regulations. If you stack that up it would be a three-story building. This is absolutely absurd. And, they've insinuated themselves into everything. Now, as far as the renewable fuel standard is concerned, certain promises were made, certain government contracts were issued which extend all the way into the year 2022, and I believe that it's probably unfair to withdraw the rug because people have invested money. People have invested a lot of energy into that. But, you know, we are blessed with tremendous energy in this nation, and we need to be talking for new sources of energy. Seventy percent of our population lives by costly. What about hydroelectric power? We can develop that, you know? We have so much natural gas now, and we can liquify it, and we can transfer it across the sea so we can make Europe dependent on us instead of Putin \u2014 put him back in his little box where he belongs. Those are the kinds of things that we ought to be doing. And, you know, take advantage of the tremendous opportunities in energy that God has given us, not get involved in these little petty arguments. And we can get a lot of them out if we get the government out of our lives. +p5845 +aVI want to thank the people of Iowa for being so welcoming to me. Please think of our founding fathers as you listen. We the people of the United States in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the benefits of liberty to ourselves and our prosperity, do ordain and establish this constitution of the United States of America. Folks, it's not too late. Enough said. +p5846 +aVWell, I'm very happy to get a question this early on. I was going to ask you to wake me up when that time came. You know, I find it really quite fascinating some of the president's proclamations. The fact of the matter is he doesn't realize that we now live in the 21st century, and that war is very different than it used to be before. Not armies massively marching on each other and air forces, but now we have dirty bombs and we have cyber attacks and we have people who will be attacking our electrical grid. And, you know, we have a whole variety of things that they can do and they can do these things simultaneously. And we have enemies who are obtaining nuclear weapons that they can explode in our exoatmosphere and destroy our electric grid. I mean, just think about a scenario like that. They explode the bomb, we have an electromagnetic pulse. They hit us with a cyberattack simultaneously and dirty bombs. Can you imagine the chaos that would ensue at that point? He needs to recognize that those kinds of things are in fact an existential threat to us. But here's the real key. We have the world's best military, even though he's done everything he can to diminish it. And the fact of the matter is if we give them a mission and we don't tie their hands behind their back, they can get it accomplished. +p5847 +aVNeil, I was mentioned too. +p5848 +aVYeah, he said everybody. And \u2014 and I just want to take this opportunity to say, you know, in the 2012 election, you know, we \u2014 and when I say we, Republicans \u2014 tore themselves apart. You know, we have to stop this because, you know, if we manage to damage ourselves, and we lose the next election, and a progressive gets in there and they get two or three Supreme Court picks, this nation is over as we know it. And we got to look at the big picture here. +p5849 +aVWell, there's not question that we should be able to look at past president whether they're married to somebody who's running for president or not in terms of their past behavior and what it means. But you know, here's the real issue, is this America anymore? Do we still have standards? Do we still have values and principles? You know, you look at what's going on, you see all the divisiveness and the hatred that goes on in our society. You know, we have a war on virtual everything \u2014 race wars, gender wars, income wars, religious wars, age wars. Every war you can imaging, we have people at each other's throat and our strength is actually in our unity. You know, you go to the internet, you start reading an article and you go to the comments section \u2014 you cannot go five comments down before people are calling each all manner of names. Where did that spirit come from in America? It did not come from our Judeo-Christian roots, I can tell you that. And wherever it came from we need to start once again recognizing that there is such a thing as right and wrong. And let's not let the secular progressives drive that out of us. The majority of people in American actually have values and principles and they believe in the very things that made America great. They've been beaten into submission. It's time for us to stand up for what we believe in. +p5850 +aVWait a minute, who in their 16th month? +p5851 +aVOK. +p5852 +aVWell, there's no question that +p5853 +aVWell, first of all, recognize it is a substantial problem. But like all of our problems, there isn't a single one that can't be solved with common sense if you remove the ego and the politics. And clearly, what we need to do is get a group of experts together, including people from other countries, some of our friends from Israel, who have had experience screening these people and come up with new guidelines for immigration, and for visas, for people who are coming into this country. That is the thing that obviously makes sense, we can do that. And as far as the Syrians are concerned, Al-Hasakah province, perfect place. They have infrastructure. All we need to do is protect them, they will be in their own country. And that is what they told me when I was in Jordan in November. Let's listen to them and let's not listen to our politicians. +p5854 +aVWell, I would suggest a fair tax system, and that's what we have proposed. A flat tax for everybody \u2014 no exemptions, no deductions, no shelters, because some people have a better capability of taking advantage of those than others. You know, and then the other thing we have to do is stop spending so much money. You know, I \u2014 my \u2014 my mother taught me this. You know, she only had a third-grade education, but \u2014 you know, she knew how to stretch a dollar. I mean, she would drive a car until it wouldn't make a sound, and then gather up all her coins and buy a new car. In fact, if my mother were secretary of treasury, we would not be in a deficit situation. But...... you know, the \u2014 the \u2014 the fact of the matter is \u2014 you know, if we fix the taxation system, make it absolutely fair, and get rid of the incredible regulations \u2014 because every regulation is a tax, it's a \u2014 on goods and services. And it's the most regressive tax there is. You know, when you go into the store and buy a box of laundry detergent, and the price has up \u2014 you know, 50 cents because of regulations, a poor person notices that. A rich person does not. Middle class may notice it when they get to the cash register. And everything is costing more money, and we are killing our \u2014 our \u2014 our people like this. And Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton will say it's those evil rich people. It's not the evil rich people. It's the evil government that is \u2014 that is putting all these regulations on us so that we can't survive. +p5855 +aVCan I just add one very quick thing? And I just want to say, you know, last week we released our tax plan. And multiple reputable journals, including The Wall Street Journal, said ours is the best. Just want to get that out there, just saying. +p5856 +aVYou know, in recent travels around this country, I've encountered so many Americans who are discouraged and angry as they watch our freedom, our security and the American dream slipping away under an unresponsive government that is populated by bureaucrats and special interest groups. We're not going to solve this problem with traditional politics. The only way we're going to solve this problem is with we, the people. And I ask you to join me in truth and honesty and integrity. Bencarson.com \u2014 we will heal, inspire and revive America for our children. +p5857 +asVQUINTANILLA +p5858 +(lp5859 +VGood evening, I'm Carl Quintanilla, with my colleagues Becky Quick and John Harwood. We'll be joined tonight by some of +p5860 +aVGovernor? +p5861 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p5862 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Bush. +p5863 +aVSenator Rubio. +p5864 +aVMr. Trump? +p5865 +aVDr. Carson? +p5866 +aVMrs. Fiorina? +p5867 +aVFixed it. +p5868 +aVSenator Cruz? +p5869 +aVGovernor Christie? +p5870 +aVSenator Paul? +p5871 +aVThanks to all the candidates. John? +p5872 +aVHold it. We'll cut it back to you in just a minute. Becky's moving on. +p5873 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor. thank you, Governor. +p5874 +aVMr. Trump, 30 seconds. +p5875 +aVThank you, Governor. +p5876 +aVWe're going to try to move on. +p5877 +aVYou want to bring 70,000 pages to three? +p5878 +aVIs that using really small type? +p5879 +aVIs that using really small type? +p5880 +aVMrs. Fiorina \u2014 +p5881 +aVWe're going to \u2014 +p5882 +aVWe will come around the bend, i promise. This one is for Senator Rubio. You've been a young man in a hurry ever since you won your first election in your 20s. You've had a big accomplishment in the Senate, an immigration bill providing a path to citizenship the conservatives in your party hate, and even you don't support anymore. Now, you're skipping more votes than any senator to run for president. Why not slow down, get a few more things done first or least finish what you start? +p5883 +aVSo when the Sun-Sentinel says Rubio should resign, not rip us off, when they say Floridians sent you to Washington to do a job, when they say you act like you hate your job, do you? +p5884 +aVWell, do you hate your job? +p5885 +aVIs that the standard? +p5886 +aVSenator, thank you. John. +p5887 +aVThank you, Senator. +p5888 +aVSenator Cruz. Congressional Republicans, Democrats and the White House are about to strike a compromise that would raise the debt limit, prevent a government shutdown and calm financial markets that fear of \u2014 another Washington-created crisis is on the way. Does your opposition to it show that you're not the kind of problem-solver American voters want? +p5889 +aV do we get credit ? +p5890 +aVSo, this is a question about , which you have 30 seconds left to answer, should you choose to do so. +p5891 +aVOK. I asked you about the debt limit and I got no answer. +p5892 +aVWe promised we would get to everyone this block. Governor Huckabee, I'm going to give you 60 seconds on this. +p5893 +aV...Governor... +p5894 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p5895 +aV...Senator Cruz... +p5896 +aVOK, alright. +p5897 +aVSenator Cruz... +p5898 +aV...Before we go to break, we're clearly not having that beer you mentioned, but I'll give you 30 more seconds... +p5899 +aVOK. +p5900 +aVI'll give you 30 seconds to respond... +p5901 +aVRespond on the debt limit, or an answer to the governor, which ever you choose. +p5902 +aV30 seconds, Governor Huckabee. +p5903 +aVGovernor, thank you. We will take a break. The Republican Presidential debate, live from Boulder, Colorado, coming back after a break on +p5904 +aVMrs. Fiorina, in 2010, while running for Senate in Tech Ridge (ph), California, you called an Internet sales tax a bad idea. Traditional brick and mortar stores obviously disagree. Now that the Internet shopping playing field has matured, what would be a fair plan to even that playing field? +p5905 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p5906 +aVOK. +p5907 +aVThank you very much. +p5908 +aVDr. Carson, we know you as a physician, but we wanted to ask you about your involvement on some corporate boards, including Costco's. Last year, a marketing study called the warehouse retailer the number one gay-friendly brand in America, partly because of its domestic partner benefits. Why would you serve on a company whose policies seem to run counter to your views on homosexuality? +p5909 +aVOne more question. This is a company called Mannatech, a maker of nutritional supplements, with which you had a 10-year relationship. They offered claims that they could cure autism, cancer, they paid $7 million to settle a deceptive marketing lawsuit in Texas, and yet you're involvement continued. Why? +p5910 +aVTo be fair, you were on the homepage of their website with the logo over your shoulder \u2014 +p5911 +aVDoes that not speak to your vetting process or judgment in any way. +p5912 +aVApparently. We will take a break. We'll be back in Boulder in just a minute. +p5913 +aV...We'll come back around. I want to get to governor Kasich. +p5914 +aVGovernor Kasich, let's talk ... +p5915 +aV...about Marijuana, Governor Kasich... +p5916 +aVAlright, but 30 seconds, you made a case. Sure, 30 seconds. +p5917 +aVSenator, thank you. +p5918 +aVOh, no, no, no... +p5919 +aV...Ok... +p5920 +aV...We're going to go to... +p5921 +aVOK. Thank you, Senator. Governor Kasich, let's talk about marijuana. We're broadcasting from Colorado which has seen $150 million in new revenue for the state since legalizing last year. Governor Hickenlooper is not a big fan of legalization, but he's said the people who used to be smoking it are still smoking it, they're just now paying taxes. Given the budget pressures in Ohio, and other states, is this a revenue stream you'd like to have? +p5922 +aVThank you, Governor. +p5923 +aVThank you. We'll be back from Boulder, Colorado in just a moment. +p5924 +aVMr. Trump, you've said you have a special permit to carry a gun in New York. +p5925 +aVAfter the Oregon mass shooting on October 1st, you said, "By the way, it was a gun-free zone. If you had a couple of teachers with guns, you would have been a hell of a lot better off." +p5926 +aVWould you feel more comfortable if your employees brought guns to work? +p5927 +aVAre you carrying one now? +p5928 +aVWe called a few Trump resorts, a few Trump properties that \u2014 that do not allow guns with or without a permit. Would you change those policies? +p5929 +aVOK. All right. Thank you. John? +p5930 +aVGovernor Bush, daily fantasy sports has become a phenomenon in this country, will award billions of dollars in prize money this year. But to play you have to assess your odds, put money at risk, wait for an outcome that's out of your control. Isn't that the definition of gambling, and should the Federal Government treat it as such? +p5931 +aVI had a feeling you were going to brag about that. +p5932 +aVThis is the\u2014 well, we're going to take a break. We want to save time for closing statements after the break. So this is the Republican presidential debate in Boulder, and we'll be right back. +p5933 +aVSenator Rubio... +p5934 +aV...yeah, I just wanted . +p5935 +aVI want to give you 30 seconds here. +p5936 +aVThat concludes tonight's debate. On behalf of my colleagues Becky Quick, John Harwood, Sharon Epperson, Rick Santelli and Jim Cramer, we'd like to our host, the University of Colorado at Boulder, the Republican National Committee, the candidates and, of course, tonight's audience. +p5937 +aV...Question, in the meantime, for Senator Santorum. You have advocated a flat tax, so we'd like to ask you about fairness. Why is it fair to tax all Americans at the same rate, as opposed to taxing more affluent Americans at higher rates? +p5938 +aVSenator, thank you. John \u2014 Becky? +p5939 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live in boulder, Colorado, on cNBC. We resume our questions now with Jim Cramer, the host of +p5940 +aVSenator Graham. You have said you believe that climate change is real. You've said you accept tax increases as part of a budget deal with Democrats. You've co-sponsored a Senate immigration bill providing a path to citizenship for those in the country illegally. Are you in the wrong party's debate? +p5941 +aVMy question for Governor Jindal, Paul Ryan says he would take the speaker job if it did not take away from his family time. The Department of Labor says 13 percent of American workers are eligible for paid family leave and the U.S. is the only developed nation in the world not to have guaranteed paid maternity leave for new moms. Should the government work to change that? +p5942 +aVGovernor, thank you. John? +p5943 +ag4367 +aVWelcome back to the University of Colorado, and the Republican Presidential Debate on +p5944 +aVWell, let's get to that. I mean, another example, for example, is Walgreens. +p5945 +aVI'm sure you do. Walgreens/Rite Aid. Big deal, consolidation in drug stores, semiconductors, food. What is the line at which something becomes anti-competitive in your view? +p5946 +aVSenator. +p5947 +aVThank you. Becky. +p5948 +aVQuestion for Senator Santorum. +p5949 +aVAfter this question maybe. The 2015 Nobel Prize winner for economics argues that slow growth causes poverty, and that leads to inequality. What would you do to ease inequality? And what would you do solve poverty? By the way, thanks to Larry Kudlow, +p5950 +aVGovernor Jindal, I'll give you 30 seconds on this. +p5951 +aVWe've got one more. One more lightning round. Governor Jindal, should the day after the Super Bowl be a national holiday? +p5952 +aVSenator? +p5953 +aVGovernor? +p5954 +aVFinally, Senator? +p5955 +aVThat concludes our first part of the evening. +p5956 +asVAUDIENCE +p5957 +(lp5958 +VBoo. +p5959 +aVBoo. +p5960 +asVOBRADOVICH +p5961 +(lp5962 +VSenator Sanders, you've actually talked about immigration as being a wage issue in the United States. And I want to actually go directly to the wage issue now. You called for raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour everywhere in the country. But the President's former chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, Alan Krueger, has said a national increase of $15 could lead to undesirable and unintended consequences of job loss. What level of job loss would you consider unacceptable? +p5963 +aVYou said there are consequences... You said there are consequences for -- for any policy. Do you think job losses are a consequence that are... +p5964 +aVYou're calling for a $15 an hour wage now but why did you stop at $10.10 in your state? O' +p5965 +aVYes, Senator Sanders, you famously said in the last debate that you were sick and tired of hearing about your damn e- mails. But then you told the Wall Street Journal that the question about whether or not Secretary Clinton's e-mails compromised classified information were valid questions. So which is it? Is it an issue or is it not? +p5966 +aVI'm sorry, I couldn't hear you. Secretary Clinton, your response. +p5967 +asVGILMORE +p5968 +(lp5969 +VWell, Bill, can I first... +p5970 +aVWell, first of all, Bill, let me say one thing, I have been in Iowa. But this is not the place where I'm choosing to begin my campaign. I am beginning my campaign in New Hampshire and I decided to do that based upon the process that is in place in Iowa and the primary that's in place in New Hampshire. But never mind that, I want to return to something. I'm the only veteran, Bill and Martha in this race. And I'm not going to any Donald Trump event over across town on some sort of faux veteran sort of issue. I'm going to speak to you tonight about the issue that really confronts veterans. I'm going to talk to you about the concerns that they have got with the veterans administration. The lousy appeals process that they have got. The fact that sometimes they get good service at the V.A. and sometimes they don't and the fact that post traumatic stress syndrome is not properly recognized. That psychology positions are unavailable in the Veterans Administration. And I will say this to you -- as the only veteran in -- in this race, when I become president of the United States, the veterans are going to be treated with respect and competently in success in the Veterans' Administration in this country. +p5971 +aVFirst of all, Bill, I think that Gitmo ought to remain open. But I also want to point out to you that what you are saying is the exact right topic to all of these other candidates. And that's this international challenge that we are facing, the international war that America is in, even to this day. And I'm the candidate who is best qualified to deal with this issue. A degree in foreign policy in Russian area studies. I'm the only United States Army veteran having gone to Europe during the Cold War as United States Army Intelligence agent, the governor during the 9/11 attack, the chairman of the National Commission on Homeland Security for the United States for five years. And this is what I will do. If I become the president, I'm going to rebuild the United States military. We're going to take the sequester off the defense budget. Give the Navy the ships it needs. Refit the United States Army. Refit the United States Marine Corps. And on this international guerrilla war, we need to recognize our Special Forces, our intelligence community, and the people that we need in order to really protect us. And finally, this war of ideas, we must win this. We must say to the world that radical Islamism is the threat. It isn't just confined to +p5972 +aVHey, did you miss me? Did you skip me? +p5973 +aVI'm going to have something to say about this, but you just keep going. +p5974 +aVYes, I'll be there. +p5975 +aVYou know, Martha, it may be out of the barn in that the Iranians may be moving towards a nuclear program, because this nuclear deal actually gives them a time frame up the road when they are going to be able to do that kind of program. And that's very dangerous because it means people in the Middle East have to begin to react to that right now. The United States, I think, has to continue to exercise its influence in the Middle East, stay active, and not do this pull-back type of program that we are seeing all over the place with President Obama, which is creating this kind of danger. The world is a more dangerous place now than when I was an intelligence agent. We have not only this international guerrilla war but also these challenges from these other countries as well. But, Martha, I want to say one more thing to you and Bill. I disagree with Carly Fiorina when she says that it's just a political class in Washington. The truth is that the country has changed. And there are powerful forces at this point that are really controlling our lives. And that's why people are so angry. One of those is government, which is regulating everything through the Environmental Protection Agency, through other places. But the biggest one is the organized establishment media. And I just noticed just now you gave Carly Fiorina two one-minute answers in a row. This media across the country is manipulating and shaping and framing this campaign and has been for at least a year now in order to get the kind of choices that people are going to have an opportunity to see. This is wrong. It has to change. And when I'm president, it's going to change. +p5976 +aVI'll take it. +p5977 +aVMartha, I just visited a community mental health clinic in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, just three days ago, as a matter of fact. And when I was governor of Virginia, I tried to move more of those resources into the community, which will give us the facilities and the abilities to begin to identify people who actually might be dangerous and who abuse Second Amendment rights. But I do believe this is one of the really principle issues in this campaign. The president and Hillary Clinton are working very hard to change the culture of this country in order to put us in a position where we can't exercise Second Amendment rights. That's wrong. I am a board member of the National Rifle Association. The reason I'm a board member is because I believe that individuals in this country can be trusted to exercise their rights under the Second Amendment and under the Bill of Rights. To take away people's Second Amendment rights is to redefine the individual in the society, and I'm not going to put up with it. As President of the United States, when Jim Gilmore's President of the United States, I can tell you this. Gun control is not going to be an issue. If gun control... ... comes to the President's desk when I'm president, I'll veto it as fast as it takes Hillary Clinton to eliminate her emails. +p5978 +aVYou know Bill, that raises, I think, the question of the future of the Republican party. The question is -- first of all, I stand second to no one in standing up to radical Islamism. I understand that +p5979 +aVWell, thank you very much, Bill. And, thank you, and Fox and Google for including me in this debate tonight. I think it's been a wonderful opportunity. I'm the son of a meat cutter. My father worked for Safeway stores for 45 years. My mother was a secretary, she ended her career as the Secretary for the Methodist Bishop. I didn't have a father that could give me a million dollar loan to start my business. But, my father did talk character, and he provided for his family, and he was a wonderful example. And, I'm not about to go across town tonight to carry the coat for some billionaire. Instead, I intend to run for President of the United States, speak to the issue of this international war, and challenge that we're in. This issue of veterans rights, and the issue of Second Amendment rights, and I ask for your support... +p5980 +aVI think the times are different now. I think the times are much more serious. Because Obama and Clinton policies, the United States is moving further and further into a decline. I want to reverse that decline. That's why I've entered this race, and I think I have the experience to do it. Former elected prosecutor, attorney general, governor, I was elected to all of those offices. A person who, in fact, has a long experience in foreign-policy issues, which is different from many of the other governors and prospective governors who are running. I was an Army intelligence agent and a veteran during the Cold War, assigned to West Germany. I was the chairman of the National Commission on Homeland Security and Terrorism for the United States for five years. I was a person who has dealt extensively with these homeland security issues. I was a governor during the 9/11 attack. I understand both of these issues, how to build the economy and doing that as a governor who'd built jobs, had cut taxes and also a governor who understands foreign-policy, and that's why I entered this race. +p5981 +aVWell, yes, indeed. I chaired the National Commission on Homeland Security Committee for United States. We warned about the 9/11 attack before the 9/11 attack occurred. I was the governor during the 9/11 attack when the Pentagon was struck. And I'm going to tell you this, we need to use the benefit of our law enforcement people across this country, combined with our intelligence people across this country. We need to use our technological advantages, because what we've warned of is an international guerrilla movement that threatens this country. It's going to happen in this country, there are going to be further attacks. We have to be prepared to defend the American people, prepare them for a long war, stand up for the defense of this country, and stand up for the values of this country... +p5982 +aVI'll tell them that we're going to grow the economy so that we can give people better opportunities so they don't have to rely exclusively on benefit types of programs. Some do, but many Americans are dying to have an opportunity to grow and to create something inside this economy. And I'm glad that I have a chance to answer this question. I've had the growth code (ph) there for about five years, and it's this specific program. We're going to do a tax cut for all Americans. We're going to have a three-bracket tax code, 10, 15 and 25 percent. We're going to combine all commercial activity in business into one place in the tax code and charge it 15 percent, which is going to suddenly make us competitive with the rest of the world. And we're going to eliminate the death tax. With a couple of additional tweaks, we know what this will do. It will cause the economy to grow, to explode, to create more jobs. And first of all, we've got to recognize that there is problem that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have caused. And that problem is too big regulations like the EPA, too much new taxes on business that we have seen and "Obamacare." These are drags on the economy, it's a deliberate drag. I propose to reverse that and get this economy moving again. +p5983 +aVWell, as you know, I'm a former elected prosecutor, a former elected attorney general, trained at the University of Virginia in constitutional law, and I don't believe in litmus tests except this. I believe we should be appointing Supreme Court justices who will follow the law and not try to make the law. Now, the challenge we're seeing today is that the Supreme Court is being converted into some type of political body. They have to have some legal basis and precedence for being able to follow the law instead of making the law up, and my goal is -- in appointing Supreme Court justices, would be to point -- to appoint justices who would follow the law. Bill, I want to say one more thing about... +p5984 +aVNot -- not on that, no. But let me say one more thing. I want to -- before my time runs out I want to get back to this issue of +p5985 +aVWell, it's not a matter of what the first executive order would be, Bill. The matter is what orders exist now that shouldn't exist? The president has done an executive order with respect to illegal immigration that is illegal. Illegal. And it creates a -- a contempt for the law, for the rule of law. If i were the president of the United States, I would go and look at every executive order that exists right now and determine which ones want to be voided, because the president shouldn't be legislating: not through that vehicle or any other. We should be relying upon the leadership of the Congress to pass the laws. +p5986 +aVProfessional politician that can't be trusted. +p5987 +aVWell, I was a conservative governor of Virginia, I governed that way, and that's my track record. But the key thing that we're seeing now is serious challenges to this country that must change, the direction of this nation must change. And that's why I've offered a specific program to the people of America tonight to address the fundamental problem of getting our country growing again, getting our economy growing, wages up, opportunities for people. And second, the international crisis we are facing is most dreadful and most dangerous. I have the experience as a prosecutor, attorney general, governor, United States Army intelligence veteran, governor during the 9/11 attack, chairman of the Terrorism Commission for this country. It's time for real substance and real experience. And that's what I'll offer to the people of the United States in this candidacy for the presidency. Mac +p5988 +asVCOONEY +p5989 +(lp5990 +VThanks, John. Candidates, we've already heard your answers on what you would do with Syrian refugees, but a crucial part of the immigration debate here at home is control of our own borders. Republicans say the borders -- securing borders is a top priority. Democrats say they want to plan for comprehensive immigration reform. So, Governor O'Malley, are you willing to compromise on this particular issue to focus on border security first in favor of keeping the country safe? O' +p5991 +aVThank you. Now, Secretary Clinton said you would go further than the President when it comes to taking executive action to implement immigration reforms. But the President's already facing legal trouble on this. We've seen it more just in the past week. Realistically, how could you go further with executive action? +p5992 +aVKathie. +p5993 +aVSenator -- Senator Sanders, we've heard a lot about this, your offer -- you want to offer free tuition to public universities and colleges. A couple of questions about this. 63 percent of those who enroll graduate. First question, isn't this throwing a lot of money away if we're looking at a third of these people are not going to complete college? +p5994 +aVWell, one of the things you want to do is to have the states pay for about a third of this $70 billion plan, correct? +p5995 +aVThere are 16 states that are running budget deficits right now. Where are are they expected to come up with this? +p5996 +aVGovernor O'Malley, jump in now. O' +p5997 +aVAll right, Nancy Cordes has a question. +p5998 +asVMACCALLUM +p5999 +(lp6000 +VSo it will come as no surprise that there is an idea out there that there is a civil war brewing within the GOP over the meaning of conservative and the question of who is electable. There are some in the GOP who are so outraged by Trump and Cruz that they say they would actually rather have Hillary Clinton in the White House. So, Carly Fiorina, I ask you this. Is your party in crisis? +p6001 +aVGovernor Huckabee, word is that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is considering getting into this race. If he does, that would make four New Yorkers, including Sanders, Clinton, and Trump. One candidate in this race has criticized so-called "New York values". So tell me, in your opinion, are New York values different than Iowa values? +p6002 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum, according to Google, the Paris terror attacks were the largest story that was searched in 2015, with nearly 1 billion searches of that story worldwide. There have been at 18 terror attacks so far this year -- in just January alone, in 2016, and it will likely, as we all know, get worse. But what can an American president do to stop these terrifying killings? +p6003 +aVThank you, Senator. +p6004 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you have said when it comes to +p6005 +aVThank you. +p6006 +aVComing up, we're going to have more on the top issues in this campaign, and you can engage in tonight's conversation right from home. Go to google.com, search "FOX News debate." You can vote on which candidate you think is winning so far in tonight's debate. And you can check results after the debate is over. We are back in a moment live from the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. +p6007 +aVAlright, Governor Huckabee, government grows and grows. In fact, neighborhoods in and around the Beltway get richer and richer all the time while our manufacturing towns are disappearing. Still Republicans from Reagan to Bush have bowed to shrink the size of government, but it never works. Is this Presidency, and presidency, simply too small a David to slay the Goliath of government? +p6008 +aVAlright, Carly Fiorina, you've said that you can get the tax code down to three short simple pages. But, when lobbyists who have twisted the arms of members of Congress come sit with you in the Oval Office and say, "Madam President, sorry, I cannot be with you on this one," you may understand what previous presidents have gone through. No? +p6009 +aVSenator Santorum, Bernie Sanders asked a woman in Iowa what it's like to live in poverty. She broke down in tears, saying that she lives on less than $10,000 a year and that she is ashamed every day. She leans on her parents for help. She says she can't buy presents for her children. We are all sympathetic to this woman's plight. On the other hand, the G.O.P. is supposed to be the party of smaller government. So what would you look her in the eye and say? +p6010 +aVThank you, Senator. +p6011 +aVGovernor Gilmore, thanks to the Iranian nuclear deal, President Rouhani is currently on a tour of Europe meeting with our closest allies in France and Italy. In fact, he has already landed some 50 to 85 billion are the estimates in deals with those countries, with our allies. More on the way. You and others say that you would rip up that deal. But, really, by the time the next president is in office, won't that horse be well out of the barn? +p6012 +aVWe have another question for you, Governor Gilmore, back to back, here we go. According to Google... +p6013 +aVYou got it. According to Google, gun control is the most searched issue last month, making up nearly 80 percent of all the U.S. searches. People are looking for information on guns. When it comes to the tragic mass killings that we have seen in this country, Donald Trump says that what we need to do is build quote "more institutions for people who are sickos." Charles Krauthammer also says that in some cases involuntary commitment would help. And you have agreed with that. Given that institutions would be extraordinarily expensive to begin building, how much is too much to ask on this from the American taxpayer? +p6014 +aVThank you, Governor Gilmore. +p6015 +aVStill more to come from the Republican Presidential debate tonight. And, see how the campaigns are responding to the debate in realtime, go to Google.com and open your google search app. Type in, "Fox News Debate". We'll see you, just a moment -- back. +p6016 +aVWe are back live at the Iowa events center and this question goes to Carly Fiorina. In the last debate you said as part of your introduction, quote, " And unlike the other woman candidate in this case I actually love spending time with my husband." +p6017 +aVBut back in September in an interview you said that you would stick only to the record, your record versus Hillary Clinton's record. And never resort to personal attacks. So what changed? +p6018 +aVAll right. Carly, I want to stay with you on this next question as well. You waded into the Planned Parenthood early on. You took some heat for it. Now the people who shot that undercover video are the ones who got indicted and Planned Parenthood is untouched. Hillary Clinton has been crowing about this. Any regrets about this? +p6019 +aVThank you Carly Fiorina. Let me just ask a quick question here to Senator Santorum. Carly Fiorina was the only one of the GOP candidates to attend the March for Life in Washington last week. Where were you. +p6020 +aVAll right. Coming up, we will have the closing statements from our candidates tonight as we continue live from the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. We'll be right back. +p6021 +aVAlright, let's go now to Senator Rick Santorum. +p6022 +aV +p6023 +aVCarly Fiorina. +p6024 +aVThank you, Carly. +p6025 +aVIn one hour, seven more candidates take the stage for a debate hosted by Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly, and Chris Wallace. But, up next, the O'Reilly Factor. Good night everybody. +p6026 +asVMCELVEEN +p6027 +(lp6028 +VSecretary Clinton, how does your plan differentiate from your opponents? +p6029 +aVThank you Secretary Clinton, thank you. +p6030 +aVBack to you David. +p6031 +aVThank you, David. And good evening, candidates. Mr. Trump, you have said, quote, "I love eminent domain" which is the seizure of private property for the sake of the greater good theoretically. You tried to use the measure in business endeavors, you've said you'd support its use for the Keystone Pipeline project. Here in New Hampshire, a project, though, known as the Northern pass would bring hydro-electric power from Canada into the Northeastern grid. Do you see eminent domain as an appropriate tool to get that done? +p6032 +aVSo would that be yes on the Northern Pass project? +p6033 +aVMr. Trump, take 30 seconds. +p6034 +aVAll right, gentlemen... +p6035 +aVGentlemen, we do have to move forward. Dave, Martha, back to you. +p6036 +aVYou're all aware, candidates, this is a major problem here in New Hampshire. It's a very deadly problem as well. Last month, New Hampshire senators Kelly Ayotte, Republican, and Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat, they went down to Washington, along with the police chief of the state's largest city to testify before the Judiciary Committee in D.C. Senator Cruz, you're a member of that committee. Your campaign schedule didn't allow you to attend this. Even so, the police chief called your absence outrageous, given the severity of the problem. Last week, though, you told a personal story of a close family member's struggle with addiction. What can you say to law enforcement right now to convince them that you understand the severity of this problem and you're not just saying what people want to hear days before the primary? +p6037 +aVAnd Governor Christie, you have talked a lot about this issue here in New Hampshire. State reforms, criminal justice reforms, access to treatment. To Senator Cruz's point, let's take it a step further. Would you be willing to engage in cross-border enforcement into Mexico, a place where law enforcement in New Hampshire has traced at lot of this supply back to. Would you engage in cross-border enforcement without the cooperation without the Mexican government? +p6038 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you very much. David, Martha, back to you. +p6039 +aVThank you, Martha. None of you on stage tonight have ever worn a uniform as a member of the armed services. That's the reality of it. But as commander-in-chief, you'll also be charged with the care of 23 million active duty service members and veterans in this country. Some have suggested privatizing the V.A. as a way to enhance care and increase the quality of the care and access. Others say that veterans should carry I.D. cards that allow them access to any hospital or health care provider. Governor Bush, what specifically would you do to ensure that those who have sacrificed for us are cared for? +p6040 +aVGovernor Kasich, do you have a favored approach? +p6041 +aVSenator Rubio, go ahead? +p6042 +aVSenator Rubio, thanks very much. Going to move forward now. David, Martha, back to you. +p6043 +asVLOPEZ +p6044 +(lp6045 +VGracias, Anderson. Senator Sanders, in 2013, you voted for immigration reform. But in 2007, when Democrats controlled Congress and the Bush White House was onboard, you voted against it. Why should Latino voters trust you now when you left them at the altar at the moment when reform was very close? +p6046 +aVTom Harkin isn't running for president. You are. +p6047 +aVSecretary Clinton \u2014 Secretary Clinton, Governor O'Malley wants to open up Obamacare to millions of undocumented immigrants and their children, including almost 90,000 people right here in Nevada. Do you? +p6048 +aVGovernor O'Malley? O' +p6049 +aVSenator Webb, do you support the undocumented immigrants getting Obamacare? +p6050 +aV...Thank you, Senator. +p6051 +aVThank you, Anderson. Senator Sanders, right here in Nevada, there will be a measure to legalize recreational marijuana on the 2016 ballot. You've said you smoked marijuana twice; it didn't quite work for you. If you were a Nevada resident, how would you vote? +p6052 +aVSecretary Clinton, you told Christiane Amanpour you didn't smoke pot when you were young, and you're not going to start now. When asked about legalizing recreational marijuana, you told her let's wait and see how it plays out in Colorado and Washington. It's been more than a year since you've said that. Are you ready to take a position tonight? +p6053 +asVDICKERSON +p6054 +(lp6055 +VBefore we start the debate here are the rules. The candidates have one minute to respond to our questions and 30 seconds to respond to our follow-up. Any candidate who is attacked by another candidate gets 30 seconds for rebuttal. Here's how we'll keep time, after a question is asked the green light goes on. When there are 15 seconds left the candidate gets a yellow warning light. And when time's up the light turns red. That means stop talking. Those are the rules. So let's get started. You will each have one minute for an opening statement to share your thoughts about the attacks in your Paris and lay out your visions for America. First, Senator Sanders. +p6056 +aVAll right, Senator Sanders. Secretary Clinton. +p6057 +aVGovernor O'Malley. O' +p6058 +aVAll right, thank you, Governor. Thank all of you. The terror attacks last night underscore biggest challenge facing the next president of the United States. At a time of crisis, the country and the world look to the president for leadership and for answers. So, Secretary Clinton, I'd like to start with you. Hours before the attacks, President Obama said, "I don't think +p6059 +aVBut as -- Secretary Clinton, the question was about, was +p6060 +aVOkay, Governor O'Malley, would you critique the administration's response to +p6061 +aVSenator Sanders, you said you want to rid the planet of +p6062 +aVQuickly, just let me ask you a follow-up on that, Senator Sanders. When you say the disastrous vote on Iraq, let's just be clear about what you're saying. You're saying Secretary Clinton, who was then Senator Clinton, voted for the Iraq war. And are you making a direct link between her vote for that or and what's happening now for +p6063 +aVAlright. Let's let Secretary Clinton respond to that. +p6064 +aVSenator Sanders let me just follow this line of thinking. You criticized then, Senator Clinton's vote. Do you have anything to criticize in the way she performed as Secretary of State? +p6065 +aVAlright. +p6066 +aVSenator let me... O' +p6067 +aVAll right, Secretary Clinton. +p6068 +aVI understand. Quickly, Senator. +p6069 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p6070 +aVLet me ask you, Secretary Clinton, a question about leadership. We're talking about what role does America take? Let me ask you about Libya. So Libya is a country in which +p6071 +aVGovernor O' Malley I want to ask you a question and you can add whatever you'd like to. But let me ask you, is the world too dangerous a place for a governor who has no foreign policy experience? O' +p6072 +aVSecretary Clinton, you mentioned radical jihadists. Marco Rubio, also running for president, said that this attack showed and the attack in Paris showed that we are at war with radical Islam. Do you agree with that characterization, radical Islam? +p6073 +aVJust to interrupt. He didn't say all Muslims. He just said radical Islam. Is that a phrase you don't... +p6074 +aVThe reason I ask is you gave a speech at Georgetown University in which you said, that it was important to show, quote, "respect, even for one's enemies. Trying to understand and in so far as psychologically possible, empathize with their perspective and point of view." Can you explain what that means in the context of this kind of barbarism? +p6075 +aVJust quickly, do either of you, radical Islam, do either of you use that phrase? +p6076 +aVGovernor O' Malley, you have been making the case when you talk about lack of forward vision, you're essentially saying that Secretary Clinton lacks that vision and this critique matches up with this discussion of language. The critique is that the softness of language betrays a softness of approach. So if this language -- if you don't call it by what it is, how can your approach be effective to the cause? that's the critique. O' +p6077 +aVSecretary Clinton, the French president has called this attack an act of war. +p6078 +aVA couple of days ago you were asked if you would declare war on +p6079 +aVAnd you think that covers all of this? +p6080 +aVIf you were in the Senate, would you be okay with the commander in chief doing that without it coming back to you? +p6081 +aVSenator, let me just -- let's add to whatever you've got to say. Refugees. You've been a little vague on what you would do about the Syrian refugees. What's your view on them now? +p6082 +aVGovernor O'Malley, you have a magic number. I think it's 65,000. Does that number go up or down based on what happened yesterday? O' +p6083 +aVJust very quickly, 65,000, the number stays? O' +p6084 +aVBut for you, what would you want? O' +p6085 +aVSecretary Clinton, let me ask you a question from twitter which has come in and this is a question on this issue of refugees. The question is, with the U.S. preparing to absorb Syrian refugees, how do you propose we screen those coming in to keep citizens safe? +p6086 +aVAlright. Senator Sanders, I'm sorry. We're going to have to take a break now. We will have more of the Democratic debate here from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. +p6087 +aVWant to turn now from terrorism to another important issue for many Americans, the financial squeeze on the the middle class. For that, we go to my CBS News Colleague, Nancy Cordes. Nancy? +p6088 +aVAll right, I am sorry, Governor, we're going to have to go, I apologize. O' +p6089 +aVGovernor -- Governor, you're breaking the rules. I'm sorry, we're going to have to cut for a commercial. We'll be right back here from Drake University here in Des Moines, Iowa. O' +p6090 +aVThere is a lot of presidential history here in Iowa. It hosted the first in the nation caucuses. Herbert Hoover was born in West Branch, and tonight, we are in Polk County, named for our 11th president, with three people who hope to be number 45. Joining my now to question them are Iowans Kevin Cooney of +p6091 +aVYou have -- you have given me the perfect segue. We are going to talk about Wall Street, but now we've got to go do a commercial. We're coming to the end of the first hour. But there's another hour behind it and we're going to talk about Wall Street so hang with us. +p6092 +aVGood evening again, as we begin the second half of the debate. Joining me in the questioning are the candidates -- of the candidates are CBS news congressional correspondent Nancy Cordes, Kevin Cooney of CBS Des Moines affiliate +p6093 +aVSenator Sanders you said that the donations to Secretary Clinton are compromising. So what did you think of her answer? +p6094 +aVGreat follow up because you -- and Secretary Clinton, you will get a chance to respond. You said they know what they're going to get. What are they going to get? +p6095 +aVHold on. He was attacked. O' +p6096 +aVHold on, he was attacked. Glass-Steagall... +p6097 +aVAll right. Senator, we have to get Governor O' Malley in. Governor, along with your answer, how many Wall Street veterans would you have in your administration? O' +p6098 +aVAnyone from Wall Street? O' +p6099 +aVHold on. +p6100 +aVAll right, I want to switch to the -- switch to the issue of guns here. Secretary Clinton, you said that Senator Sanders is not tough enough on guns, but basically he now supports roughly the same things you do. So can tell us what the exact difference is going forward between the two of you on the issue of gun control? +p6101 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to... +p6102 +aVSecretary Clinton, just a quick follow-up. You say that Senator Sanders took a vote that -- on immunity that you don't like. So if he can be tattooed by a single vote and that ruins all future opinions by him on this issue, why then isn't he right when he says your wrong vote on Iraq tattoos you forever in your judgment? +p6103 +aVBut was that a mistake, Senator? +p6104 +aVSenator, a mistake or not, your immunity vote? Quickly, before I go to... +p6105 +aVSo not a mistake? O' +p6106 +aVHold on. +p6107 +aVSorry. I'm going to bring in Nancy Cordes with a question from twitter about this exchange. +p6108 +aVFinal word. Final word, Governor O'Malley, before we go to commercial. O' +p6109 +aVWe have to -- we have to go for a commercial, Senator. I'm sorry. We have to go for a commercial here. We'll be right back with the Democratic debate here in Des Moines, Iowa on CBS. +p6110 +aVBack now in Des Moines with the candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination. Senator Sanders, I want to start with you. Let's say you're elected president. Congratulations. +p6111 +aVYou've said you'll have a revolution. +p6112 +aVBut there's a conservative revolution going on in America right now. As John Boehner knows and as Democrats know, who have lost in state houses across the country. +p6113 +aVThose conservatives are watching tonight and probably shaking their heads. So how do you deal with that part of the country? The revolution's already happening, but on the other side? +p6114 +aVSenator, as a 30-second follow-up, we've heard already tonight this figure, 92 percent of support for background checks. Let's look at that as an example. There was something 92 percent of the public was for. There had been these mass shootings. There was emotional support behind it. +p6115 +aVBipartisan support. +p6116 +aVThe president, the full force of his office. +p6117 +aVIt went nowhere. That's the model you're talking about. Nothing happened. +p6118 +aVA question from Kathie Obradovich. +p6119 +aVSecretary Clinton, just one more question on the e- mail question. For Democrats, there's an FBI investigation going on. Can you satisfy Democrats, who might worry about an another shoe dropping, that you and your staff have been totally truthful to them, and that another shoe is not going to drop? +p6120 +aVRace relations is another issue everyone cares about, and we're going to switch to that now. Governor O'Malley, let me ask you a question. The head of the FBI recently said it might be possible that some police forces are not enforcing the law, because they're worried about being caught on camera. The acting head of the drug enforcement administration said a similar thing. Where are you on this question? And what would do you if you were president, and two top members of your administration were floating that idea? O' +p6121 +aVAll right, Governor... Senator Sanders, one of your former colleagues, an African- American member of Congress, said to me recently that a young African- American man had asked him where to find hope in life. And he said, "I just don't know what to tell him about being young and black in America today." What would you tell that young African-American man? +p6122 +aVSecretary Clinton, you told some Black Lives Matter activists recently that there's a difference between rhetoric in activism and what you were trying to do, was -- get laws passed that would help what they were pushing for. But recently, at the University of Missouri, that activism was very, very effective. So would you suggest that kind of activism take place at other universities across the country? +p6123 +aVAll right, over to Kevin Cooney. +p6124 +aVThirty seconds. +p6125 +aVI'm sorry, governor. We've got to take a break or the machine breaks down. You're watching the Democratic debate here on CBS. +p6126 +aVWe begin the final segment of this debate with something none of you saw coming. Something quite unexpected. Soon after your inauguration, you will face a crisis. All presidents do. What crisis you have experienced in your life that suggests you've been testd and can face that inevitable challenge? Secretary Clinton, you first. +p6127 +aVGovernor O' Malley, what crisis proves that you're tested? O' +p6128 +aVSenator Sanders what, experience would you draw on in a crisis? +p6129 +aVAll right, Senator Sanders... We've ended the evening on crisis, which underscores and reminds us again of what happened last night. Now, let's move to closing statements. Governor O'Malley, you're first. O' +p6130 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p6131 +aVSenator Sanders? +p6132 +aVGood evening. I'm John Dickerson. This holiday weekend, as America honors our first president, we're about to hear from six men who hope to be the 45th. The candidates for the Republican nomination are here in South Carolina for their ninth debate, one week before this state holds the first-in-the-South primary. George Washington wrote that the truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains taken to bring it to light. We hope to shed some light on the candidates' positions tonight to help voters make up their minds. So gentlemen, please join us on stage. With us tonight \u2014 with us tonight are retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson of Florida, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Businessman Donald Trump of New York. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Former Governor Jeb Bush of Florida. And Governor John Kasich of Ohio. Now, as most of you have heard by now, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died today at the age of 79. He was the longest-serving member of the court, appointed by President Reagan in 1986. Justice Scalia was the court's leading conservative, and even those who disagreed with his opinions regarded him as a brilliant legal scholar. Please join us and the candidates on our stage in a moment of silence for Justice Antonin Scalia. Thank you. We will talk to the candidates about Justice Scalia and the road ahead when the debate begins in a moment. +p6133 +aVBefore we get started, candidates, here are the rules. When we ask you a question, you will have one minute to answer, and 30 seconds more if we ask a follow-up. If you're attacked by another candidate, you get 30 seconds to respond. And here's how we keep time. After we ask a question, you'll get a green light. The yellow light means you have 30 seconds left to finish your answer, and when time is up, the light turns red. That means please stop talking. If you keep talking, you'll hear this. You don't want to hear that. Joining me in the questioning tonight, my CBS News colleague, chief White House correspondent Major Garrett, and Kimberley Strassel, who is on the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal. And you can participate in the debate through our partnership with Twitter. Tweet us your questions and comments using the hashtag "# +p6134 +aVSo, just to be clear on this, Mr. Trump, you're O.K. with the president nominating somebody ... +p6135 +aVGovernor Kasich, I want to get your thoughts on this. Justice Scalia was a real believer, obviously, in the strict word of the Constitution. Now, Harry Reid says that a failure to fill his vacancy would be, quote, "shameful abdication of one of the Senate's most essential constitutional responsibilities." Where do you come down on this? +p6136 +aVDr. Carson. Dr. Carson, you, like others, put out a statement after the death was announced, and you said the president should delay. You've written a book on the Constitution recently. What does the Constitution say about whose duty it is here to act in this kind of a situation? +p6137 +aVSenator Rubio, you're a... Senator Rubio, you're a lawyer. Quickly, can you address the issue of whether the Constitution tells us who has the power to appoint Supreme Court justices? And then, also, the Senate Republicans last year floated an idea of removing the filibuster for Senate \u2014 excuse me, for Supreme Court nominations. You seemed open to that. What's your feeling on that now? +p6138 +aVQuickly, though, on this question... Very quickly, Senator, on this specific question, though. You were once in favor of dropping the threshold... +p6139 +aV... majority \u2014 you were never in favor of that? +p6140 +aVO.K. Thank you, Senator. Governor Bush, I would like to ask you, conservatives for a long time have felt like that their Republican presidents have picked justices that didn't turn out to be real conservatives. +p6141 +aVBernie Sanders has said he would have a litmus test. He would make sure that he appointed a justice who was going to overturn Citizens United. If they can have a litmus test for a nominee, what about you? Would you have a litmus test for a nominee? And what would it be? +p6142 +aVRight, so, Senator Cruz, the Constitution... So, Senator Cruz, the Constitution says the president "shall appoint with advice and consent from the Senate," just to clear that up. So he has the constitutional power. But you don't think he should. Where do you set that date if you're president? Does it begin in election year, in December, November, September? And once you set the date, when you're president, will you abide by that date? +p6143 +aVJust can I \u2014 I'm sorry to interrupt, were any appointed in an election year, or is that just there were 80 years... +p6144 +aVBut Kennedy was confirmed in '88. +p6145 +aVHe was appointed in '87. +p6146 +aV... confirmed in '88. That's the question, is it appointing or confirming, what's the difference? +p6147 +aVSorry, I just want to get the facts straight for the audience. But I apologize. +p6148 +aVAll right. Thank you, Senator Cruz. All right, we're going to move on to national security here, and we are going to \u2014 I want to read a quote from Secretary Robert Gates, former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who served for eight year \u2014 under eight presidents. And this is what he said about Republican candidates, quote, "Part of the concern that I have with the campaign is that the solutions being offered are so simplistic and so at odds with the way the world really works." So, in that spirit, we're going to work tonight to be more specific. Mr. Trump, I want to start with you. You have said as president, you'll get up to speed very quickly. You'll know more quickly as president than any of the experts. So, you've been elected president. It's your first day in the Situation Room. What three questions do you ask your national security experts about the world? +p6149 +aVSenator Rubio \u2014 just 30 seconds on this question, Senator Rubio. Are those the questions you would ask? +p6150 +aVLet me ask you a follow-up, a full, proper question, then. Violent extremists are operating or active in 40 countries. Some 80 countries are in different degrees of instability. And so, that's just the crises overseas. Barack Obama walked into an economic collapse when he came into office. We face international health crises, from Ebola to Zika. So, there is a lot of opportunity for crisis, as you have talked about. What would you point to in your past to show voters that you've been in a crisis and that you've been tested when that inevitable crisis comes when you're president? +p6151 +aVDr. Carson, I want to ask you a question... Dr. Carson, you said you've had more 2 a.m. \u2014 2 a.m. phone calls than anybody up on this stage. But when those 2 a.m. phone calls came, you operated on a foundation of all of that amazing medical work that you did, all of that learning. So if you were to be president, though, you wouldn't have the political foundation that hones those instincts when the 2 a.m. phone call comes. So isn't that a liability? +p6152 +aVGovernor Kasich, Russia is being credited......Russia is being credited with bombing U.S.-backed rebels on behalf of Assad in Aleppo and Syria. They've also moved into the Crimea, eastern Ukraine. You've said you want to punch them in the nose. What does that mean? What are you going to do? +p6153 +aVGovernor......Governor Bush. +p6154 +aVYou said defeating +p6155 +aVMr. Trump, you're......Mr. Trump, you were mentioned here. You did say that you could get along very well with Vladimir Putin. You did at one point say let Russia take care of +p6156 +aV... All right... +p6157 +aV... All right, Governor Bush, please respond. +p6158 +aV... O.K., settle... +p6159 +aV... All right, Mr. Trump, all right... +p6160 +aVGentleman, I think we're going to leave that there. I've got a question for Senator... +p6161 +aV... All right, all right, gentlemen, gentlemen, let's leave it there so I can ask a question of Senator Cruz, who's also running for president. Senator Cruz, you talked about the first Gulf War as being a kind of model for your focused and determined effort to go after +p6162 +aVVery quickly, 30-second follow-up. You've said that, essentially, the Kurds would be the American ground forces in there. The criticism that experts have on that is that the Kurds only can work within their territory. If they take larger amounts of territory, you have an ethnic war with the Arabs. So the Kurds can't really do as much as you seem to be putting on their backs. +p6163 +aVAll right. Mr. Trump......On Monday, George W. Bush will campaign in South Carolina for his brother. As you've said tonight, and you've often said, the Iraq war and your opposition to it was a sign of your good judgment. In 2008, in an interview with Wolf Blitzer, talking about President George W. Bush's conduct of the war, you said you were surprised that Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi didn't try to impeach him. You said, quote: "Which, personally, I think would have been a wonderful thing." When you were asked what you meant by that and you said: "For the war, for the war, he lied, he got us into the war with lies." Do you still believe President Bush should have been impeached? +p6164 +aVSo... +p6165 +aVBut so I'm going to \u2014 so you still think he should be impeached? +p6166 +aVAll right. O.K. All right. Governor Bush \u2014 when a member on the stage's brother gets attacked... +p6167 +aV... the brother gets to respond. +p6168 +aVGovernor Kasich, would you weigh in on......Governor Kasich, please weigh in. +p6169 +aVWhy is it nuts? Talk about it. Give us your sense of... +p6170 +aVThirty seconds, Senator Rubio. +p6171 +aVAll right, Dr. Carson, we have a cleansing... +p6172 +aVWe have a cleansing... +p6173 +aVAll right. Well, Dr. Carson, I have got a question now for you. A moment of pause here. You have said, Dr. Carson, that \u2014 referring to yourself, that people bought into the idea that, quote, "A nice person can't be tough on terrorists." You have called for loosening the rules of engagement for the military, which could lead to more civilian casualties. So, explain why those casualties would be acceptable in the fight against +p6174 +aVAll right, thank you, Dr. Carson. We're going to have to take a commercial break here. Thank you to all the candidates. We'll be right back with CBS News's 2016 debate in Greenville, South Carolina. +p6175 +aVWe're back with the Republicans who could be president. The topic now is money and how the candidates would spend it. We'll turn the questioning over to Kimberley Strassel of The Wall Street Journal and Major Garrett of CBS News. Kim? +p6176 +aVDr. Carson, before we go to break, could you give us your sense of this conversation about either Medicaid or economic growth through taxation? +p6177 +aVDoctor... +p6178 +aV... Dr. Carson, I'm sorry, we have to go to a commercial. The free market wants what it wants. Back soon with the 2016 Republican debate in Greenville, South Carolina. +p6179 +aVWelcome back. We'll begin the second half of the debate with one of the hottest issues in the Republican campaign, immigration. But before I turn it back to Major Garrett and Kim Strassel, I have one question for Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump, in the Republican National Committee's Spanish-language response to the State of the Union, Congressman Diaz-Balart said, quote, "It's essential that we find a legislative solution," talking about immigration, "to offer a permanent and humane solution to those who live in the shadows. What does that mean to you, "a humane solution to those who live in the shadows"? +p6180 +aVSenator Cruz, I have a question for you. Speaker Paul Ryan has made a big commitment to trying to lift the 50 million poor out of poverty. Arthur Brooks, who is the president of the American Enterprise Institute, says, quote, "If we are not warriors for the poor every day, free enterprise has no matter." How you have been, in your campaign, a warrior for the poor? +p6181 +aVAll right. Mr. Trump, thank you so much. We're going to take a break for a moment. We'll be back in a moment with the CBS News Republican debate. +p6182 +aVWe're back now from Greenville, South Carolina, with the candidates for the Republican presidential nomination. Mr. Trump, I have a question for you. Presidents have to, on the one hand, be firm, but also be flexible. You have been flexible and changed your opinion on a number of things, from abortion to Hillary Clinton. But you have said, rightly, that it's just like Ronald Reagan, who changed his mind on things. But at the same time, you're criticizing Senator Cruz for what you say is a change on immigration. He disputes that, of course. So, why is your change of opinion make you like Reagan, and when he changes his opinion, it's a huge character flaw? +p6183 +aVWhich conservative idea don't you agree with? +p6184 +aVAll right. Governor Bush, I think by "they," he is referring to your brother, these on the hook for your brother. +p6185 +aVBut that was his brother. +p6186 +aVHold on, gentleman, I'm going to turn this car around. +p6187 +aVAll right, gentlemen. +p6188 +aVWell, hold on. We're going to \u2014 gentlemen, we're in danger of driving this into the dirt. Senator Rubio, I'd like you to jump in here... +p6189 +aVI understand, you're on deck, governor. +p6190 +aVSenator Cruz, 30 seconds on this one. +p6191 +aVWe're going to switch... +p6192 +aVWe're going to switch here to Senator Marco Rubio. Senator Marco Rubio, please weigh in. +p6193 +aVI thought you had a point? +p6194 +aVI thought you had a point you wanted to make. +p6195 +aVYou're on deck, sir. +p6196 +aVSenator, I wanted to ask you, just going back to immigration, in the last debate, you listed your series of accomplishments in the Senate. One thing you left off was \u2014 was immigration reform. Is it the case that in your list of accomplishments you can't mention that? +p6197 +aVDr. Carson, I have......Dr. Carson, I have a question for you. Candidates are... +p6198 +aVAll right. You have 30 seconds, Doctor. +p6199 +aVDr. Carson, I \u2014 let me ask you a different question. When you were \u2014 you were the first one, really, to talk about political correctness. Everybody now talks about it, but that was really what sparked your \u2014 your rise. Politicians are often accused of glossing over any hard choices people have to make, just always selling happy, nice things. So in the \u2014 in the spirit of saying something that might be politically incorrect, tell the voters something that they need to hear but that might be politically incorrect? +p6200 +aVGovernor Kasich. Governor Kasich, you've been described as the Democrats' favorite Republican. You talked about in New Hampshire, Democrats would come up to you and say, "I hope you win." Why will that help you win a Republican nomination? +p6201 +aVMr. Trump, let me ask you a question. Presidents in both parties say that the one thing you need in your administration is somebody who can tell you you're wrong. You don't necessarily seem like somebody who has somebody who tells you you're wrong a lot. Can you tell us of an instance where somebody has said, "Donald Trump, you're wrong," and you listened to them? +p6202 +aVAbout what? +p6203 +aVLet me \u2014 something, in talking to voters that they wish somebody would tell you to cut it out is the profanity. What's your reaction to that? +p6204 +aVAll right. O.K. Governor Bush, I'd like to ask you... +p6205 +aVWell, can I \u2014 how about you respond, and then you can answer the question I'm about to ask you. +p6206 +aVIt'll be... +p6207 +aVIf we adjudicate this, the night will be over. Governor, in 2012, you said that your father and Ronald Reagan would have a hard time in today's Republican Party, based on their records of trying to find accommodation and finding some degree of common ground. Do you still feel that way? +p6208 +aVHold on, Mr. Trump. +p6209 +aVHold on, Mr. Trump. +p6210 +aVO.K., Mr. Trump, your response. +p6211 +aVThe bells are ringing, sir. +p6212 +aVAll right. Thank you. Senator Rubio, I want to ask you a 30-second question, no president can... +p6213 +aVNo \u2014 well, I'll ask the question, you do what you want. +p6214 +aVNo president can know everything, right? So a smart leader knows how to ask questions. So if you could talk to any previous president, what's the smart question you would ask about that job that you would want to know? +p6215 +aVAll right. That's going to have to be it there, Senator Rubio. We have got to go to a break. We will be right back with the CBS News Republican debate in Greenville, South Carolina. +p6216 +aVTime now for closing statements. You will each have one minute, and we'll begin with Governor Kasich. +p6217 +aVDr. Carson \u2014 Dr. Carson, you're next. +p6218 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor Bush. +p6219 +aVSenator Cruz? Senator Cruz, your closing statement? +p6220 +aVMr. Trump, your closing statements? +p6221 +as. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/downloads/data/script0.pickle b/downloads/data/script0.pickle new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0dd63c0 --- /dev/null +++ b/downloads/data/script0.pickle @@ -0,0 +1,278 @@ +(dp0 +VCLINTON +p1 +(lp2 +VThank you. +p3 +aVI'm running for president to knock down all the barriers that are holding Americans back, and to rebuild the ladders of opportunity that will give every American a chance to advance, especially those who have been left out and left behind. I know a lot of Americans are angry about the economy. And for good cause. Americans haven't had a raise in 15 years. There aren't enough good-paying jobs, especially for young people. And yes, the economy is rigged in favor of those at the top. We both agree that we have to get unaccountable money out of our political system and that we have to do much more to ensure that Wall Street never wrecks main street again. But I want to go further. I want to tackle those barriers that stand in the way of too many Americans right now. African-Americans who face discrimination in the job market, education, housing, and the criminal justice system. Hardworking immigrant families living in fear, who should be brought out of the shadows so they and their children can have a better future. Guaranteeing that women's work finally gets the pay, the equal pay that we deserve. I think America can only live up to its potential when we make sure that every American has a chance to live up to his or her potential. That will be my mission as president. And I think together we will make progress. +p4 +aVJudy, I think that the best analysis that I've seen based on Senator Sanders plans is that it would probably increase the size of the federal government by about 40%, but what is most concerning to me is that in looking at the plans \u2014 let's take healthcare for example. Last week in a CNN town hall, the Senator told a questioner that the questioner would spend about $500 dollars in taxes to get about $5,000 dollars in healthcare. Every progressive economist who has analyzed that says that the numbers don't add up, and that's a promise that cannot be kept, and it's really important now that we are getting into the rest of the country that both of us are held to account for explaining what we are proposing because, especially with healthcare, this is not about math. This is about people's lives, and we should level with the American people about what we can do to make sure they get quality affordable healthcare. +p5 +aVI can only say that we both share the goal of universal health care coverage. You know, before it was called Obamacare, it was called Hillarycare. And I took on the drug companies and I took on the insurance companies to try to get us universal health care coverage. And why I am a staunch supporter of President Obama's principal accomplishment \u2014 namely the Affordable Care Act \u2014 is because I know how hard it was to get that done. We are at 90 percent coverage. We have to get the remaining 10. I've set forth very specific plans about how to get costs down, especially prescription drug costs. And it is difficult to in any way argue with the goal that we both share. But I think the American people deserve to know specifically how this would work. If it's Medicare for all, then you no longer have the Affordable Care Act, because the Affordable Care Act, as you know very well, is based on the insurance system, based on exchanges, based on a subsidy system. The Children's Health Insurance Program, which I helped to create, which covers 8 million kids, is also a different kind of program. So if you're having Medicare for all, single-payer, you need to level with people about what they will have at the end of the process you are proposing. And based on every analysis that I can find by people who are sympathetic to the goal, the numbers don't add up, and many people will actually be worse off than they are right now. +p6 +aVWell, let me just \u2014 let me just say, once again......that, having been in the trenches fighting for this, I believe strongly we have to guarantee health care. I believe we are on the path to doing that. The last thing we need is to throw our country into a contentious debate about health care again. And we are not England. We are not France. We inherited a system that was set up during World War II; 170 million Americans get health insurance right now through their employers. So what we have tried to do and what President Obama succeeded in doing was to build on the health care system we have, get us to 90 percent coverage. We have to get the other 10 percent of the way to 100. I far prefer that and the chances we have to be successful there than trying to start all over again, gridlocking our system, and trying to get from zero to 100 percent. +p7 +aVNo. But it is absolutely fair and necessary for Americans to vet both of our proposals, to ask the really hard questions about, what is it we think we can accomplish, why do we believe that, and what would be the results for the average American family? In my case, whether it's health care, or getting us to debt-free tuition, or moving us toward paid family leave, I have been very specific about where I would raise the money, how much it would cost, and how I would move this agenda forward. I've tried to be as specific to answer questions so that my proposals can be vetted, because I feel like we have to level with people for the very reason, Gwen, that you are mentioning. There is a great deal of skepticism about the federal government. I'm aware of that. It comes from the right, from the left, from people on all sides of the political spectrum. So we have a special obligation to make clear what we stand for, which is why I think we should not make promises we can't keep, because that will further, I think, alienate Americans from understanding and believing we can together make some real changes in people's lives. +p8 +aVI will put a price tag. My price tag is about $100 billion a year. And again, paid for. And what I have said is I will not throw us further into debt. I believe I can get the money that I need by taxing the wealthy, by closing loopholes, the things that we are way overdue for doing. And I think once I'm in the White House we will have enough political capital to be able to do that. But I am conscious of the fact that we have to also be very clear, especially with young people, about what kind of government is going to do what for them and what it will cost. +p9 +aVYou know, I think, again, both of us share the goal of trying to make college affordable for all young Americans. And I have set forth a compact that would do just that for debt-free tuition. We differ, however, on a couple of key points. One of them being that if you don't have some agreement within the system from states and from families and from students, it's hard to get to where we need to go. And Senator Sanders's plan really rests on making sure that governors like Scott Walker contribute $23 billion on the first day to make college free. I am a little skeptical about your governor actually caring enough about higher education to make any kind of commitment like that. +p10 +aVWell, first, Judy, I have spent my entire adult life working toward making sure that women are empowered to make their own choices, even if that choice is not to vote for me. I believe that it's most important that we unleash the full potential of women and girls in our society. And I feel very strongly that I have an agenda, I have a record that really does respond to a lot of the specific needs that the women in our country face. So I'm going to keep making that case. I'm going to keep making sure that everything I've done, everything that I stand for is going to be well known. But I have no argument with anyone making up her mind about who to support. I just hope that by the end of this campaign there will be a lot more supporting me. That's what I'm working towards. +p11 +aVWell, look, I think that she's been saying that for as long as I've known her, which is about 25 years. But it doesn't change my view that we need to empower everyone, women and men, to make the best decisions in their minds that they can make. That's what I've always stood for. And when it comes to the issues that are really on the front lines as to whether we're going to have equal pay, paid family leave, some opportunity for, you know, women to go as far as their hard work and talent take them, I think that we still have some barriers to knock down, which is why that's at the core of my campaign. I would note, just for a historic aside, somebody told me earlier today we've had like 200 presidential primary debates, and this is the first time there have been a majority of women on the stage. So, you know, we'll take our progress wherever we can find it. +p12 +aVYou know, I have said \u2014 I have said many times, you know, I'm not asking people to support me because I'm a woman. I'm asking people to support me because I think I'm the most qualified, experienced, and ready person to be the president and the commander-in-chief. And I appreciate greatly Senator Sanders' voting record. And I was very proud to get the endorsement of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, because I've been a leader on these issues. I have gone time and time again to take on the vested interests who would keep women's health care decisions the province of the government instead of women ourselves. I'm very proud that +p13 +aVYou know, I completely agree with Senator Sanders. The first speech I gave in this campaign back in April was about criminal justice reform and ending the era of mass incarceration. The statistics from Wisconsin are particularly troubling, because it is the highest rate of incarceration for African-Americans in our nation, twice the national average. And we know of the tragic, terrible event that lead to the death of Dontre Hamilton right here in Milwaukee, a young man unarmed, who should still be with us. His family certainly believes that. And so do I. So we have work to do. There have been some good recommendations about what needs to happen. President Obama's policing commission came out with some. I have fully endorsed those. But we have to restore policing that will actually protect the communities that police officers are sworn to protect. And, then we have to go after sentencing, and that's one of the problems here in Wisconsin because so much of what happened in the criminal justice system doesn't happen at the federal level, it happens at the state and local level. But, I would also add this. There are other racial discrepancies. Really systemic racism in this state, as in others, education, in employment, in the kinds of factors that too often lead from a position where young people, particularly young men, are pushed out of school early, are denied employment opportunities. So, when we talk about criminal justice reform, and ending the era of mass incarceration, we also have to talk about jobs, education, housing, and other ways of helping communities. +p14 +aVWell, I'm just not sure I agree completely with that assessment. I think under President Obama we have seen a lot of advances, the Affordable Care Act has helped more African Americans than any other group to get insurance, to be taken care of, but we also know a lot more than we did. We have a lot more social media, we have everybody with a cellphone. So, we are seeing the dark side of the remaining systemic racism that we have to root out in our society. I think President Obama has set a great example. I think he has addressed a lot of these issues that have been quite difficult, but he has gone forward. Now, what we have to do is to build on an honest conversation about where we go next. We now have much more information about what must be done to fix our criminal justice system. We now have some good models about how better to provide employment, housing and education. I think what President Obama did was to exemplify the importance of this issue as our first African American president, and to address it both from the President's office, and through his advocacy, such as working with young men, and Mrs. Obama's work with young women. But, we can't rest. We have work to do, and we now know a lot more than we ever did before. So, it's going to be my responsibility to make sure we move forward to solve these problems that are now out in the open. Nobody can deny them. To use the Justice Department, as we just saw, they have said they are going to sue Ferguson, that entered into a consent agreement, and then tried to back out. So, we're going to enforce the law, we're going to change policing practices, we're going to change incarceration practices, but we're also going to emphasize education, jobs, and housing. +p15 +aVLook, I am deeply concerned about what's happening in every community in America, and that includes white communities, where we are seeing an increase in alcoholism, addiction, earlier deaths. People with a high school education or less are not even living as long as their parents lived. This is a remarkable and horrifying fact. And that's why I've come forward with, for example, a plan to revitalize coal country, the coalfield communities that have been so hard hit by the changing economy, by the reduction in the use of coal. You know, coal miners and their families who helped turn on the lights and power our factories for generations are now wondering, has our country forgotten us? Do people not care about all of our sacrifice? And I'm going to do everything I can to address distressed communities, whether they are communities of color, whether they are white communities, whether they are in any part of our country. I particularly appreciate the proposal that Congressman Jim Clyburn has \u2014 the 10-20-30 proposal \u2014 to try to spend more federal dollars in communities with persistent generational poverty. And you know what? If you look at the numbers, there are actually as many, if not more white communities that are truly being left behind and left out. So, yes, I do think it would be a terrible oversight not to try to address the very real problems that white Americans \u2014 particularly those without a lot of education whose jobs have \u2014 you know, no longer provided them or even no longer present in their communities, because we have to focus where the real hurt is. And that's why, as president, I will look at communities that need special help and try to deliver that. +p16 +aVI strongly support the president's executive actions. I hope the Supreme Court upholds them. I think there is constitutional and legal authority for the president to have done what he did. I am against the raids. I'm against the kind of inhumane treatment that is now being visited upon families, waking them up in the middle of the night, rounding them up. We should be deporting criminals, not hardworking immigrant families who do the very best they can and often are keeping economies going in many places in our country. I'm a strong supporter of comprehensive immigration reform. Have been ever since I was in the Senate. I was one of the original sponsors of the +p17 +aVTwo quick responses. One, with respect to the Central American children, I made it very clear that those children needed to be processed appropriately, but we also had to send a message to families and communities in Central America not to send their children on this dangerous journey in the hands of smugglers. I've also called for the end of family detention, for the end of privately-run detention centers, along with private prisons, which I think are really against the common good and the rule of law. And with respect to the 2007 bill, this was Ted Kennedy's bill. And I think Ted Kennedy had a very clear idea about what needed to be done. And I was proud to stand with him and support it. +p18 +aVWell, that just wasn't \u2014 that just wasn't the fact, Senator. The fact is that there was a great effort made by the Obama administration and others to really send a clear message, because we knew that so many of these children were being abused, being treated terribly while they tried to get to our border. So we have a disagreement on this. I think now what I've called for is counsel for every child so that no child has to face any kind of process without someone who speaks and advocates for that child so that the right decision hopefully can be made. +p19 +aVI think \u2014 I think it's fair to say we don't have a disagreement. We both believe there has to be more money going into the Social Security system. I've said I'm looking at a couple of different ways, one which you mentioned, Senator, but also trying to expand the existing tax to passive income that wealthy people have so that we do get more revenue into the Social Security Trust Fund. I have a slightly different approach, though, about what we should do with that initially. First, rather than expand benefits for everyone, I do want to take care of low-income seniors who worked at low-wage jobs. I want to take care of women. When the Social Security program was started in the 1930s, not very many women worked. And women have been disadvantaged ever since. They do not get any credit for their care-taking responsibilities. And the people who are often the most hard-hit are widows, because when their spouse dies, they can lose up to one-half of their Social Security monthly payment. So we have no disagreement about the need to buttress Social Security, get more revenue into the program. But I want to start by helping those people who are most at risk, the ones who, yes, are cutting their pills in half, who don't believe they can make the rent, who are worried about what comes next for them. +p20 +aVWell, Senator, look, I think we're in vigorous agreement here. We both want to get more revenue in. I have yet to see a proposal that you're describing that the \u2014 raising the cap would apply to passive income. That has not been... +p21 +aVWell, that has not been a part of most of the proposals that I've seen. I'm interested in making sure we get the maximum amount of revenue from those who can well afford to provide it. So I'm going to come up with the best way forward. We're going to end up in the same place. We're going to get more revenue. I'm going to prioritize those recipients who need the most help first. +p22 +aVI can't speak for the Koch Brothers, you're referring to a Super PAC that we don't coordinate with, that was set up to support President Obama, that has now decided that they want to support me. They are the ones who should respond to any questions. Let's talk about our campaigns. I'm very proud of the fact that we have more than 750 thousand donors, and the vast majority of them are giving small contributions. So, I'm proud of Senator Sanders, and his supporters. I think it's great that Senator Sanders, President Obama and I have more donors than any three people who have every run, certainly on the Democratic side. That's the way it should be, and I'm going to continue to reach out to thank all my online contributors for everything they are doing for me, to encourage them and help me do more just as Senator Sanders is. I think that is the real key here. We both have a lot of small donors. I think that sets us apart from a lot of what's happening right now on the Republican side. The Koch Brothers have a very clear political agenda. It is an agenda, in my view, that would do great harm to our country. We're going to fight it as hard as we can, and we're going to fight whoever the Republicans nominate who will depend on the Koch Brothers, and others. +p23 +aVWe are mixing apples and oranges. My 750,000 donors have contributed more than a million and a half donations. I'm very proud. That, I think, between the two of us demonstrates the strength of the support we have among people who want to see change in our country. But, the real issue, I think, that the Senator is injecting into this is that if you had a Super PAC, like President Obama has, which now says it wants to support me. It's not my PAC. If you take donations from Wall Street, you can't be independent. I would just say, I debated then Senator Obama numerous times on stages like this, and he was the recipient of the largest number of Wall Street donations of anybody running on the Democratic side ever. Now, when it mattered, he stood up and took on Wall Street. He pushed through, and he passed the Dodd-Frank regulation, the toughest regulations since the 1930's. So, let's not in anyway imply here that either President Obama or myself, would in anyway not take on any vested interested, whether it's Wall Street, or drug companies, or insurance companies, or frankly, the gun lobby to stand up to do what's best for the American people. +p24 +aVWell, let's just \u2014 let's just follow up on this, because, you know, I've made it very clear that no bank is too big to fail, no executive too powerful to jail, and because of Dodd-Frank, we now have in law a process that the president, the Federal Reserve, and others can use if any bank poses a systemic risk. I think that's a major accomplishment. I agree, however, it doesn't go far enough, because what it focuses on are the big banks, which Senator Sanders has talked about a lot, for good reason. I go further in the plan that I've proposed, which has been called the toughest, most effective, comprehensive plan for reining in the other risks that the financial system could face. It was an investment bank, Lehman Brothers, that contributed to our collapse. It was a big insurance company, AIG. It was Countrywide Mortgage. My plan would sweep all of them into a regulatory framework so we can try to get ahead of what the next problems might be. And I believe that not only Barney Frank, Paul Krugman, and others, have said that what I have proposed is the most effective. It goes in the right direction. We have Dodd-Frank. We can use it to break up the banks, if that's appropriate. But let's not kid ourselves. As we speak, there are new problems on the horizon. I want to get ahead of those, and that's why I've proposed a much more comprehensive approach to deal with all of these... +p25 +aVAbsolutely. And, you know, there are a number of programs that I think are duplicative and redundant and not producing the results that people deserve. There are a lot of training programs and education programs that I think can be streamlined and put into a much better format so that if we do continue them they can be more useful, in public schools, community colleges, and colleges and universities. I would like to take a hard look at every part of the federal government and really do the kind of analysis that would rebuild some confidence in people that we're taking a hard look about what we have, you know, and what we don't need anymore. And that's what I intend to do. +p26 +aVLook, I think we are readier than we used to be, but it's a constant effort that has to be undertaken to make sure we are as ready as we need to be. We have made a lot of improvements in our domestic security since 9/11, and we have been able to foil and prevent attacks, yet we see the terrible attack in San Bernardino and know that we haven't done enough. So we have to go after this both abroad and at home. We have to go after terrorist networks, predominantly +p27 +aVIf I could just respond. Two points. One, Senator Sanders voted in 1998 on what I think is fair to call a regime change resolution with respect to Iraq, calling for the end of Saddam Hussein's regime. He voted in favor of regime change with Libya, voted in favor of the Security Council being an active participate in setting the parameters for what we would do, which of course we followed through on. I do not believe a vote in 2002 is a plan to defeat +p28 +aVYou did support a U.N. Security Council approach, which we did follow up on. And, look, I think it's important to look at what the most important counterterrorism judgment of the first four years of the Obama administration was, and that was the very difficult decision as to whether or not to advise the president to go after bin Laden. I looked at the evidence. I looked at the intelligence. I got the briefings. I recommended that the president go forward. It was a hard choice. Not all of his top national security advisors agreed with that. And at the end of the day, it was the president's decision. So he had to leave the Situation Room after hearing from the small group advising him and he had to make that decision. I'm proud that I gave him that advice. And I'm very grateful to the brave Navy +p29 +aVWell, I know journalists have asked who you do listen to on foreign policy, and we have yet to know who that is. +p30 +aVThat's fine. That's fine. You know, I listen to a wide variety of voices that have expertise in various areas. I think it is fair to say, whatever the complaints that you want to make about him are, that with respect to China, one of the most challenging relationships we have, his opening up China and his ongoing relationships with the leaders of China is an incredibly useful relationship for the United States of America. So if we want to pick and choose \u2014 and I certainly do \u2014 people I listen to, people I don't listen to, people I listen to for certain areas, then I think we have to be fair and look at the entire world, because it's a big, complicated world out there. +p31 +aVAnd, yes, people we may disagree with on a number of things may have some insight, may have some relationships that are important for the president to understand in order to best protect the United States. +p32 +aVWell, with respect to Syria, I really do appreciate the efforts that Secretary Kerry has made. The agreement on humanitarian relief now needs to be implemented, because there are enclaves that are literally filled with starving people throughout Syria. The agreement on a cease-fire, though, is something that has to be implemented more quickly than the schedule that the Russians agreed to. You know, the Russians wanted to buy time. Are they buying time to continue their bombardment on behalf of the Assad regime to further decimate what's left of the opposition, which would be a grave disservice to any kind of eventual cease-fire? So I know Secretary Kerry is working extremely hard to try to move that cease-fire up as quickly as possible. But I would add this. You know, the Security Council finally got around to adopting a resolution. At the core of that resolution is an agreement I negotiated in June of 2012 in Geneva, which set forth a cease-fire and moving toward a political resolution, trying to bring the parties at stake in Syria together. This is incredibly complicated, because we've got Iran as a big player, in addition to Russia. We have Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and others who have very important interests in their view. This is one of the areas I've disagreed with Senator Sanders on, who has called for Iranian troops trying to end civil war in Syria, which I think would be a grave mistake. Putting Iranian troops right on the border of the Golan right next to Israel would be a nonstarter for me. Trying to get Iran and Saudi Arabia to work together, as he has suggested in the past, is equally a nonstarter. So let's support what Secretary Kerry and the president are doing, but let's hope that we can accelerate the cease-fire, because I fear that the Russians will continue their bombing, try to do everything they can to destroy what's left of the opposition. And remember, the Russians have not gone after +p33 +aVWell, I respectfully disagree. I think we have achieved a great deal with the Iranian nuclear agreement to put a lid on the Iranian nuclear weapons program. That has to be enforced absolutely with consequences for Iran at the slightest deviation from their requirements under the agreement. I do not think we should promise or even look toward normalizing relations because we have a lot of other business to get done with Iran. Yes, they have to stop being the main state sponsor of terrorism. Yes, they have to stop trying to destabilize the Middle East, causing even more chaos. Yes, they've got to get out of Syria. They've got to quit sponsoring Hezbollah and Hamas. They have got to quit trying to ship rockets into Gaza that can be used against Israel. We have a lot of work to do with Iran before we ever say that they could move toward normalized relations with us. +p34 +aV... Senator Sanders, from a debate in 2008, quote what I said. The question was, would you meet with an adversary without conditions? I said no. And in fact, in Obama administration, we did not meet with anybody without conditions. That is the appropriate approach in order to get the results that you are seeking. +p35 +aVWell, I was pleased that +p36 +aVI certainly agree with FDR for all the reasons Senator Sanders said. And I agree about the role that he played both in war and in peace on the economy and defeating fascism around the world. I would choose Nelson Mandela for his generosity of heart, his understanding of the need for reconciliation. But I want to \u2014 I want to follow up on something having to do with leadership, because, you know, today Senator Sanders said that President Obama failed the presidential leadership test. And this is not the first time that he has criticized President Obama. In the past he has called him weak. He has called him a disappointment. He wrote a forward for a book that basically argued voters should have buyers' remorse when it comes to President Obama's leadership and legacy. And I just couldn't agree \u2014 disagree more with those kinds of comments. You know, from my perspective, maybe because I understand what President Obama inherited, not only the worst financial crisis but the antipathy of the Republicans in Congress, I don't think he gets the credit he deserves for being a president......who got us out of that......put us on firm ground, and has sent us into the future. And it is a \u2014 the kind of criticism that we've heard from Senator Sanders about our president I expect from Republicans. I do not expect from someone running for the Democratic nomination to succeed President Obama. +p37 +aVYou know, Senator, what I am concerned about, is not disagreement on issues, saying that this is what I would rather do, I don't agree with the president on that, calling the president weak, calling him a disappointment, calling several times that he should have a primary opponent when he ran for re-election in 2012, you know, I think that goes further than saying we have our disagreements. As a senator, yes, I was a senator. I understand we can disagree on the path forward. But those kinds of personal assessments and charges are ones that I find particularly troubling. +p38 +aVYou know, we \u2014 we agree that we've got to get unaccountable money out of politics. We agree that Wall Street should never be allowed to wreck Main Street again. But here's the point I want to make tonight. I am not a single-issue candidate, and I do not believe we live in a single-issue country. I think that a lot of what we have to overcome to break down the barriers that are holding people back, whether it's poison in the water of the children of Flint, or whether it's the poor miners who are being left out and left behind in coal country, or whether it is any other American today who feels somehow put down and oppressed by racism, by sexism, by discrimination against the +p39 +asVIFILL +p40 +(lp41 +VWe want to also extend our warm thanks to Milwaukee Public Radio and Milwaukee Public Television, as well as all of our friends at the PBS member stations across the country tuning in tonight. This is the sixth time the Democrats have met face to face. Each time, we learn more about them and the presidents they say they want to be. You know you're watching \u2014 whether you're a Democrat, a Republican, or neither \u2014 because you believe the outcome of the election is important to you. And we believe that, too. With that, let's welcome the candidates to the stage. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. +p42 +aVWelcome to you both. +p43 +aVWith Iowa and New Hampshire behind us, we are now broadening the conversation to America's heartland and beyond, including here in Wisconsin. Now let's turn to the candidates for their opening statements. The order was decided by coin toss. And, Senator Sanders, you go first. +p44 +aVThank you, Senator Sanders. Thank you, Senator Sanders. Secretary Clinton. +p45 +aVFinal thought, Senator. +p46 +aVI'd like to move along. I'd like to move along. Secretary Clinton, you might \u2014 you also have proposed fairly expansive ideas about government. You may remember this pledge from a State of the Union Address at which I believe you were present, in which these words were said: "The era of big government is over." You may remember that. When asked your feelings about the federal government this week, 61 percent of New Hampshire Democrats told exit pollsters that they are angry or at least dissatisfied. Given what you and Senator Sanders are proposing, an expanding government in almost every area of our lives, is it fair for Americans who fear government to fear you? +p47 +aVBut I haven't heard either of you put a price tag on your \u2014 you say... +p48 +aVSenator? +p49 +aVSenator, do you worry at all that you will be the instrument of thwarting history, as Senator Clinton keeps claiming, that she might be the first woman president? +p50 +aVThank you both. We turn now to the first of several questions from our partners at Facebook. They were selected from a curated group of people we've been following of undecided voters. The first comes from Claudia Looze, a 54-year-old woman who works as a program manager at a public affairs cable network in Madison, Wisconsin. And she writes: "Wisconsin is number one in African-American male incarceration, according to a University of Wisconsin study. They found that Wisconsin's incarceration rate for black men, which is at 13 percent, was nearly double the country's rate. What can we do across the nation to address this?" Senator Sanders. +p51 +aVLet me turn this on its head, because when we talk about race in this country, we always talk about African-Americans, people of color. I want to talk about white people, OK? +p52 +aVI know. So many people will be surprised to find out that we are sitting in one of the most racially polarized metropolitan areas in the country. By the middle of this century, the nation is going to be majority nonwhite. Our public schools are already there. If working-class, white Americans are about to be outnumbered, are already underemployed in many cases, and one study found they are dying sooner, don't they have a reason to be resentful, Senator \u2014 Secretary Clinton? +p53 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, I want you to respond to that, but I also want you to \u2014 am I wrong? Is it even right to be describing this as a matter of race? +p54 +aVIf you would allow me now to move on, we've been talking about children. I want to talk about seniors. That takes us to our second Facebook question from Farheen Hakeem, who writes, "My father" \u2014 she's a 40-year-old woman who works for a nonprofit here in Milwaukee. And she writes, "My father gets just $16 in food assistance per month as part of Medicaid's family community program in Milwaukee County for low-income seniors. How will you as president work to ensure low-income seniors get their basic needs met?" Start with you, Senator Sanders. +p55 +aVSenator Sanders, are you saying... +p56 +aVThere's a lot more to come in just a few minutes. Stay with us for more of the PBS NewsHour Democratic Debate. +p57 +aVHow about you, Senator Clinton \u2014 Secretary Clinton? +p58 +aVWe spent the first part of this debate talking about domestic insecurity. The second part, we want to talk about our foreign policy insecurities. And we want to start with a question for you, Secretary Clinton, about America's role in the world. Americans are becoming increasingly worried that attacks abroad are coming home, that they already are, in fact, here. According to exit polls from last week, from earlier this week, more than two-thirds of Democrats in New Hampshire are concerned about sending their children to fight in wars they can't win. They fret that the next attack is just around the corner and we are not ready. Are we? +p59 +aVSenator Sanders... +p60 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p61 +aVLet me move on. You have both mentioned the humanitarian tragedies which have been an outgrowth in part of what has happened in Syria and in Libya. More than a million refugees entered Europe in 2015. Another 76,000 just last month, that is about 2,000 arrivals every day. Nearly 400 people have been lost at sea so far this year, crossing the Mediterranean. And there are reports that 10,000 children are missing. If we are leaders in this world, where should the U.S. be on this? What should the United States be doing, Secretary Clinton? +p62 +aVSenator, if you would like respond to \u2014 you may respond to that but it is time for closing statements and you can use your time for closing statements to do that. +p63 +aVThank you. Thank you Senator Clinton. Thank you, Senator Sanders. We also want to thank our partners at Facebook and our hosts here at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. +p64 +aVI'm going to remain here in Milwaukee tomorrow evening for a special edition of Washington Week here on PBS. +p65 +asVWOODRUFF +p66 +(lp67 +VGood evening, and thank you. We are happy to welcome you to Milwaukee for this Democratic debate. We are especially pleased to thank our partners at Facebook, who have helped us set up a vibrant conversation among voters who are undecided. And tonight you're going to hear some of their questions for the candidates. And you can follow along at home on the PBS NewsHour page on Facebook. We also want to thank our hosts, the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, on whose campus we meet, here in the beautiful Helen Bader Concert Hall. +p68 +aVWelcome, Senator, great to see you. And former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Very good to be here with you. +p69 +aVNow, a word about format. There will be two short breaks, and the rules are simple: 90 seconds for each answer and 30 seconds for the other candidate to respond. +p70 +aVThank you both. Thank you both. And we'll be right back after a short break to begin questions. +p71 +aVAnd, welcome back to this PBS Newshour debate, Democratic debate, here in Milwaukee. Let's get right to the questions. Senator Sanders, to you first. Coming off the results in Iowa and New Hampshire, there are many voters who are taking a closer look at you, and your ideas, and they're asking how big a role do you foresee for the federal government? It's already spending 21% of the entire U.S. economy. How much larger would government be in the lives of Americans under a Sanders presidency? +p72 +aVBut, my question is how big would government be? Would there be any limit on the size of the role of government... +p73 +aVNext, we're going to... +p74 +aVVery brief, thank you. +p75 +aVSecretary Clinton, your campaign \u2014 you and your campaign have made a clear appeal to women voters. You have talked repeatedly about the fact, we know you would be, if elected, the first woman president. But in New Hampshire 55 percent of the women voters supported and voted for Senator Sanders. What are women missing about you? +p76 +aVAs you know, just quickly, as you know, your strong supporter, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, said the other day that there's a special place in Hell for women who don't support other women. Do you agree with what she said? +p77 +aVSenator Sanders, you're in the minority, but we still want to hear from you. +p78 +aVFinal comment. +p79 +aVSecretary Clinton, I was talking recently with a 23 year old black woman who voted for President Obama because she said she thought relations between the races would get better under his leadership, and his example. Hardly anyone believes that they have. Why do you think race relations would be better under a Clinton presidency? What would you do that the nation's first African American has not been able to? +p80 +aVSenator Sanders? +p81 +aVSo race relation was be better under a Sanders presidency than they've been? +p82 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders, one of the causes of anxiety for working class Americans is connected to immigrants. President Obama, as you know, has issued executive actions to permit some 5 million undocumented immigrants who are living now in the United States to come out of the shadows without fear of deportation to get work permits. Would you go further than that? And if so, how specifically would you do it? Should an undocumented family watching this debate tonight, say, in Nevada, rest easy, not fear of further deportations under a Sanders presidency? +p83 +aVI'd like... +p84 +aVWe're going to move on. Secretary Clinton, your campaign has recently ramped up criticism of Senator Sanders for attending Democratic Party fundraisers from which you say he benefited. But nearly half of your financial sector donations appear to come from just two wealthy financiers, George Soros and Donald Sussman, for a total of about $10 million. You have said that there's no quid pro quo involved. Is that also true of the donations that wealthy Republicans give to Republican candidates, contributors including the Koch Brothers? +p85 +aVI'm asking if Democratic donors are different than Republican donors. +p86 +aVWe have to go to a break. We... +p87 +aVAll right. Thank you both. It is time for a break. And when we come back, we're going to turn to some new topics, including how these candidates will keep America safe. +p88 +aVWelcome back to the Democratic presidential debate. Before we return to our questions, we have a follow-up question from our Facebook group. And it is to Senator Sanders. Senator, it comes from Bill Corfield. He is a 55-year-old musician from Troy, Ohio. And he asks: "Are there any areas of government you would like to reduce?" +p89 +aVJust a final word. +p90 +aVSenator, let me \u2014 let me move on to another country with which the U.S. has a complicated relationship, Senator Sanders, and that's Russia. On the one hand, we're aware that Russia is a country that the United States needs to cooperate with. Just tonight, Secretary of State John Kerry has announced what appears to be an agreement with the Russians to lead \u2014 that could lead toward a ceasefire in Syria, would be the first cessation of conflict in that country, in that civil war in five years, but it comes at a very high price, because not only have all \u2014 have we seen the deaths, the removal of so many people, millions of people, we now see the Russians in the last few weeks have bombed in a way that benefits President Assad, has not gone after +p91 +aVAnd we have a final question from our Facebook family. And it goes to Senator Sanders. It comes from Robert Andrews. He's a 40-year-old stay-at-home dad in Dover, Massachusetts. He says, "The world has seen many great leaders in the course of human history. Can you name two leaders \u2014 one American and one foreign \u2014 who would influence your foreign policy decisions? And why do you see them as \u2014 why are they influential?" +p92 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p93 +aVAnd we want to thank our audience, our quiet audience here in Helen Bader Concert Hall, and to all of you watching at home. Thank you all. Stay tuned for analysis of the debate and the overall race for the Democratic nomination. That's coming up next here on PBS stations and online atPBS.org/NewsHour. +p94 +aVAnd I'm going to be returning to Washington. I hope you'll join us for the PBS NewsHour tomorrow and every night. That's it from all of us here in Milwaukee. We thank you. +p95 +asVSANDERS +p96 +(lp97 +VWell, Gwen and Judy, thank you very much for hosting this event. And, PBS, thank you. Nine months ago, our campaign began. And when it began, we had no political organization, no money, and not much name recognition outside of the state of Vermont. A lot has happened in nine months. And what has happened is, I think, the American people have responded to a series of basic truths, and that is that we have today a campaign finance system which is corrupt, which is undermining American democracy, which allows Wall Street and billionaires to pour huge sums of money into the political process to elect the candidates of their choice. And aligned with a corrupt campaign finance system is a rigged economy. And that's an economy where ordinary Americans are working longer hours for low wagers. They are worried to death about the future of their kids. And yet they are seeing almost all new income and all new wealth going to the top 1 percent. And then in addition to that, the American people are looking around and they see a broken criminal justice system. They see more people in jail in the United States of America than any other country on earth, 2.2 million. We're spending $80 billion a year locking up fellow Americans. They see kids getting arrested for marijuana, getting in prison, getting a criminal record, while they see executives on Wall Street who pay billions of dollars in settlements and get no prosecution at all. No criminal records for them. I think what our campaign is indicating is that the American people are tired of establishment politics, tired of establishment economics. They want a political revolution in which millions of Americans stand up, come together, not let the Trumps of the world divide us, and say, you know what, in this great country, we need a government that represents all of us, not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors. Thank you. +p98 +aVWell, to put that in a context, Judy, I think we have to understand that in the last 30 years in this country there has been a massive transfer of wealth going from the hands of working families into the top one-tenth of 1% whose percentage of wealth has doubled. In other words, the very rich are getting richer, almost everybody is going \u2014 getting poorer. What I believe is the United States, in fact, should join the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee healthcare to all people. Our Medicare for all single-payer proposal will save the average middle class family $5,000 a year. I do believe that in the year 2016 we have to look in terms of public education as colleges as part of public education making public colleges and universities tuition free. I believe that when real unemployment is close to 10%, and when our infrastructure, our roads, our bridges, our water systems, Flint, Michigan comes to mind. Our waste water plants, our rail, our airports, in many places are disintegrating. Yeah, we can create 13 million jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure at a cost of a trillion dollars. +p99 +aV... Of course there will be a limit, but when today you have massive levels of income and wealth inequality, when the middle class is disappearing, you have the highest rate of child poverty of almost any major country on Earth. Yes, in my view, the government of a democratic society has a moral responsibility to play a vital role in making sure all of our people have a decent standard of living. +p100 +aVWell, let us level with the American people. Secretary Clinton has been going around the country saying Bernie Sanders wants to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, people are going to lose their MedicAid, they're going to lose their +p101 +aVThat is absolutely inaccurate. Look, here is the reality, folks. There is one major country on Earth that does not guarantee health care to all people. There is one major country \u2014 the United States \u2014 which ends up spending almost three times per capita what they do in the U.K. guaranteeing health care to all people, 50 percent more than they do in France guaranteeing health care to all people, far more than our Canadian neighbors, who guarantee health care to all people. Please do not tell me that in this country, if \u2014 and here's the if \u2014 we have the courage to take on the drug companies, and have the courage to take on the insurance companies, and the medical equipment suppliers, if we do that, yes, we can guarantee health care to all people in a much more cost effective way. +p102 +aVWell, Secretary Clinton, you're not in the White House yet. And let us be clear that every proposal that I have introduced has been paid for. For example, all right, who in America denies that we have an infrastructure that is crumbling? Roads, bridges, water systems, wastewater plants, who denies that? Who denies that real unemployment today, including those who have given up looking for work and are working part-time is close to 10 percent? Who denies that African-American youth unemployment, real, is over 50 percent. We need to create jobs. So yes, I will do away with the outrageous loopholes that allow profitable multinational corporations to stash billions of dollars in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda and in a given year pay zero, zero in federal income tax. Yes, I'm going to do away with that. We will use those proceeds, a hundred billion a year, to invest in rebuilding our infrastructure. Yes, I believe that as a result of the illegal behavior on Wall Street, that they are a Wall Street that drove this country into the worst economic downturn since the Great Recession \u2014 Great Depression. Yes, I do believe that now after the American people bailed Wall Street out, yes, they should pay a Wall Street speculation tax so that we can make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We bailed them out. Now it is their time to help the middle class. +p103 +aVA brief response. +p104 +aVHere is where we are with public education. A 100, 150 years ago incredibly brave Americans said, you know what, working class kids, low income kids should not have to work in factories or on the farms. Like rich kids, they deserve to get a free education. And that free education of extraordinary accomplishment was from first grade to 12th grade. The world has changed. This is 2016. In many ways, a college degree today is equivalent to what a high school degree was 50, 60 years ago. So, yes, I do believe that when we talk about public education in America, today, in a rapidly changing world, we should have free tuition at public colleges and universities. That should be a right of all Americans regardless of the income of their families. +p105 +aVLook, we are fighting for every vote that we can get from women, from men, straight, gay, African-Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans. We are trying to bring America together around an agenda that works for working families and the middle class. I am very proud, if my memory is not correct \u2014 I think I am \u2014 that I have a lifetime \u2014 and I've been in Congress a few years \u2014 a lifetime 100 percent pro-choice voting record. I am very proud that over the years we have had the support in my state of Vermont from very significant majorities of women. I'm very proud that I support legislation that is currently in the Congress, got support of almost all progressive Democrats in the House and Senate, which says we will end the absurdity of women today making 79 cents on the dollar compared to men. And we will join the rest of the other \u2014 the industrialized world in saying that paid family and medical leave should be a right of all working families. +p106 +aVWell, you know, I think, from a historical point of view, somebody with my background, somebody with my views, somebody who has spent his entire life taking on the big money interests, I think a Sanders victory would be of some historical accomplishment, as well. +p107 +aVLet me concur with the secretary, no question women's rights are under fierce attack all over this country. And I will tell you something that really galls me. I will not shock anybody to suggest that in politics there is occasionally a little bit of hypocrisy. Just a little bit. All over this country we have Republican candidates for president saying we hate the government. Government is the enemy. We're going to cut Social Security to help you. We're going to cut Medicare and Medicaid, federal aid to education to help you, because the government is so terrible. But, by the way, when it comes to a woman having to make a very personal choice, ah, in that case, my Republican colleagues love the government and want the government to make that choice for every woman in America. If that's not hypocrisy, I don't know what hypocrisy is. +p108 +aVThis is one of the great tragedies in our country today. And we can no longer continue to sweep it under the rug. It has to be dealt with. Today a male African-American baby born today stands a one-in-four chance of ending up in jail. That is beyond unspeakable. So what we have to do is the radical reform of a broken criminal justice system. What we have to do is end over-policing in African-American neighborhoods. The reality is that both the African-American community and the white community do marijuana at about equal rates. The reality is four times as many blacks get arrested for marijuana. Truth is that far more blacks get stopped for traffic violations. The truth is that sentencing for blacks is higher than for whites. We need fundamental police reform, clearly, clearly, when we talk about a criminal justice system. I would hope that we could all agree that we are sick and tired of seeing videos on television of unarmed people, often African-Americans, shot by police officers. What we have got to do is make it clear that any police officer who breaks the law will, in fact, be held accountable. +p109 +aVNothing that Secretary Clinton said do I disagree with. This mandatory sentencing, a very bad idea. It takes away discretion from judges. We have got to demilitarize local police departments so they do not look like occupying armies. We have got to make sure that local police departments look like the communities they serve in their diversity. And, where we are failing abysmally is in the very high rate of recidivism we see. People are being released from jail without the education, without the job training, without the resources that they need to get their lives together, then they end up \u2014 we're shocked that they end up back in jail again. So, we have a lot of work to do. But, here is a pledge I've made throughout this campaign, and it's really not a very radical pledge. When we have more people in jail, disproportionately African American and Latino, than China does, a communist authoritarian society four times our size. Here's my promise, at the end of my first term as president we will not have more people in jail than any other country. We will invest in education, and jobs for our kids, not incarceration and more jails. +p110 +aVWell, I think, Judy, what has to be appreciated is that, as a result of the disastrous and illegal behavior on Wall Street, millions of lives were hurt. People lost their jobs, their homes, their life savings. Turns out that the African-American community and the Latino community were hit especially hard. As I understand it, the African-American community lost half of their wealth as a result of the Wall Street collapse. So when you have childhood African-American poverty rates of 35 percent, when you have youth unemployment at 51 percent, when you have unbelievable rates of incarceration \u2014 which, by the way, leaves the children back home without a dad or even a mother \u2014 clearly, we are looking at institutional racism. We are looking at an economy in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. And sadly, in America today, in our economy, a whole lot of those poor people are African-American. +p111 +aVAbsolutely, because what we will do is say, instead of giving tax breaks to billionaires, we are going to create millions of jobs for low-income kids so they're not hanging out on street corners. We're going to make sure that those kids stay in school or are able to get a college education. And I think when you give low-income kids \u2014 African-American, white, Latino kids \u2014 the opportunities to get their lives together, they are not going to end up in jail. They're going to end up in the productive economy, which is where we want them. +p112 +aVWhite people? +p113 +aVYeah, you can, because African-Americans and Latinos not only face the general economic crises of low wages, and high unemployment, and poor educational opportunities, but they face other problems, as well. So, yes, we can talk about it as a racial issue. But it is a general economic issue. And here's what the economic issue is. The wages that high school graduates receive today are significantly less, whether you are white or black, than they used to be. Why is that? Because of a series of disastrous trade policies which have allowed corporate America through +p114 +aVThe answer is yes. We've got 11 million undocumented people in this country. I have talked to some of the young kids with tears rolling down their cheeks, are scared to death that today they may or their parents may be deported. I believe that we have got to pass comprehensive immigration reform, something that I strongly supported. I believe that we have got to move toward a path toward citizenship. I agree with President Obama who used executive orders to protect families because the Congress, the House was unable or refused to act. And in fact I would go further. What would motivate me and what would be the guiding light for me in terms of immigration reform, Judy, is to bring families together, not divide them up. And let me say this also. Somebody who is very fond of the president, agrees with him most of the time, I disagree with his recent deportation policies. And I would not support those. Bottom line is a path towards citizenship for 11 million undocumented people, if Congress doesn't do the right thing, we use the executive orders of the president. +p115 +aVSecretary Clinton, I do have a disagreement here. If my memory is correct, I think when we saw children coming from these horrendous, horrendously violent areas of Honduras and neighboring countries, people who are fleeing drug violence and cartel violence, I thought it was a good idea to allow those children to stay in this country. That was not, as I understand it, the secretary's position. In terms of 2007 immigration reform, yeah, I did vote against it. I voted against it because the Southern Poverty Law Center, among other groups, said that the guest-worker programs that were embedded in this agreement were akin to slavery. Akin to slavery, where people came into this country to do guest work were abused, were exploited, and if they stood up for their rights, they'd be thrown out of this country. So it wasn't just me who opposed it. It was +p116 +aVWell, let me just respond. I worked with Ted Kennedy. He was the chairman of my committee. And I loved Ted Kennedy. But on this issue, when you have one of the large Latino organizations in America saying vote no, and you have the AFL-CIO saying vote no, and you have leading progressive Democrats, in fact, voting no, I don't apologize for that vote. But in terms of the children, I don't know to whom you're sending a message. Who are you sending a message to? These are children who are leaving countries and neighborhoods where their lives are at stake. That was the fact. I don't think we use them to send a message. I think we welcome them into this country and do the best we can to help them get their lives together. +p117 +aVOK. You know, you judge a nation not by the number of millionaires and billionaires it has, but by how you treat, we treat, the most vulnerable and fragile people in our nation. And by those standards, we're not doing particularly well. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty among almost any major country on Earth. And in terms of seniors, there are millions of seniors \u2014 and I've talked to them in my state of Vermont and all over this country \u2014 who are trying to get by on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year Social Security. And you know what? You do the arithmetic. You can't get by on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year. And here's an area where Secretary Clinton and I believe we have a difference. I have long supported the proposition that we should lift the cap on taxable income coming into the Social Security Trust Fund, starting at $250,000. And when we \u2014 and when we do that, we don't do what the Republicans want, which is to cut Social Security. We do what the American people want, to expand Social Security by $1,300 a year for people under $16,000, and we extend the life of Social Security for 58 years. Yes, the wealthiest people, the top 1.5 percent, will pay more in taxes. But a great nation like ours should not be in a position where elderly people are cutting their pills in half, where they don't have decent nutrition, where they can't heat their homes in the wintertime. That is not what America should be about. If elected president, I will do everything I can to expand Social Security benefits, not just for seniors, but for disabled veterans, as well. +p118 +aVIn all due respect......In all due respect, Secretary Clinton, a lot of the progressive groups, the online groups have really asked you a simple question. Are you coming onboard a proposal? And what is that proposal? Now, the proposal that I have outlined, you know, should be familiar to you, because it is what essentially Barack Obama campaigned on in 2008. You opposed him then. I would hope that you would come onboard and say that this is the simple and straightforward thing to do. We're asking the top 1.5 percent, including passive income, to start paying a little bit more so that the elderly and disabled vets in this country can live with security and dignity. I hope you will make a decision soon on this. +p119 +aVThat's my bill. Check it out. +p120 +aVWhat we are talking about in reality is a corrupt campaign finance system, that's what we're talking about. We have to be honest about it. It is undermining American democracy. When extraordinarily wealthy people make very large contributions to Super PACs, and in many cases in this campaign, Super PACs have raised more money than individual candidates have, OK? We had a decision to make early on, do we do a Super PAC? And, we said no. We don't represent Wall Street, we don't represent the billionaire class, so it ends up I'm the only candidate up here of the many candidates who has no Super PAC. But, what we did is we said to the working families of this country, look, we know things are tough, but if you want to help us go beyond establishment politics, and establishment economics, send us something. And, it turns out that up until \u2014 and this has blown me away, never in a million years would I have believed that I would be standing here tonight telling you that we have received three and a half million individual contributions from well over a million people. Now, Secretary Clinton's Super PAC, as I understand it, received $25 million dollars last reporting period, $15 million dollars from Wall Street. Our average contribution is $27 dollars, I'm very proud of that. +p121 +aVThe people aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street... But let's not \u2014 but let's not \u2014 let's not insult \u2014 let's not insult the intelligence of the American people. People aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street make huge campaign contributions? I guess just for the fun of it; they want to throw money around. Why does the pharmaceutical industry make huge campaign contributions? Any connection maybe to the fact that our people pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs? Why does the fossil fuel industry pay \u2014 spend huge amounts of money on campaign contributions? Any connection to the fact that not one Republican candidate for president thinks and agrees with the scientific community that climate change is real and that we have got to transform our energy system? And when we talk about Wall Street, let's talk about Wall Street. I voted for Dodd-Frank, got an important amendment in it. In my view, it doesn't go anywhere near far enough. But when we talk about Wall Street, you have Wall Street and major banks have paid $200 billion in fines since the great crash. No Wall Street executive has been prosecuted. +p122 +aVLet me, you know, again, respectfully disagree with Secretary Clinton here. When you have three out of the four largest financial institutions in this country bigger today than they were when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, when you have six financial institutions having assets equivalent to 58 percent of the GDP of America, while issuing two-thirds of the credit cards and a third of the mortgages, look, I think if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, that great trust-buster would have said break them up. I think he would have been right. I think he would have said bring back a 21st-century Glass-Steagall legislation. I think that would have been right, as well. That's my view. +p123 +aVHey, I'm in the United States Senate, and anyone who doesn't think that there is an enormous amount of waste and inefficiency and bureaucracy throughout government would be very, very mistaken. I believe in government, but I believe in efficient government, not wasteful government. +p124 +aVIf I could just answer that, we have also got to take a look at the waste and inefficiencies in the Department of Defense, which is the one major agency of government that has not been able to be audited. And I have the feeling you're going to find a lot of cost overruns there and a lot of waste and duplicative activities. +p125 +aVLet me \u2014 let me just say this. What a President of the United States has got to do and what is his or her major, I think, responsibility is to, a, make certain that we keep our people safe, that we work with allies around the world to protect democratic values, that we do all that we can to create a world of peace and prosperity. I voted against the war in Iraq because I listened very carefully to what President Bush and Vice President Cheney had to say and I didn't believe them. And if you go to my Web site,berniesanders.com, what you find is not only going to help lead the opposition to that war, but much of what I feared would happen when I spoke on the floor of the House, in fact, did happen in terms of the instability that occurred. Now I think an area in kind of a vague way, or not so vague, where Secretary Clinton and I disagree is the area of regime change. Look, the truth is that a powerful nation like the United States, certainly working with our allies, we can overthrow dictators all over the world. And God only knows Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator. We could overthrow Assad tomorrow if we wanted to. We got rid of Gadhafi. But the point about foreign policy is not just to know that you can overthrow a terrible dictator, it's to understand what happens the day after. And in Libya, for example, the United States, Secretary Clinton, as secretary of state, working with some other countries, did get rid of a terrible dictator named Gadhafi. But what happened is a political vacuum developed. +p126 +aVJudy, if I can, there is no question, Secretary Clinton and I are friends, and I have a lot of respect for her, that she has enormous experience in foreign affairs. Secretary of state for four years. You've got a bit of experience, I would imagine. But judgment matters as well. Judgment matters as well. And she and I looked at the same evidence coming from the Bush administration regarding Iraq. I lead the opposition against it. She voted for it. But more importantly, in terms of this Libya resolution that you have noted before, this was a virtually unanimous consent. Everybody voted for it wanting to see Libya move toward democracy, of course we all wanted to do that. That is very different than talking about specific action for regime change, which I did not support. +p127 +aVJudy, one area very briefly... +p128 +aVWhere the secretary and I have a very profound difference, in the last debate \u2014 and I believe in her book \u2014 very good book, by the way \u2014 in her book and in this last debate, she talked about getting the approval or the support or the mentoring of Henry Kissinger. Now, I find it rather amazing, because I happen to believe that Henry Kissinger was one of the most destructive secretaries of state in the modern history of this country. I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend. I will not take advice from Henry Kissinger. And in fact, Kissinger's actions in Cambodia, when the United States bombed that country, overthrew Prince Sihanouk, created the instability for Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge to come in, who then butchered some 3 million innocent people, one of the worst genocides in the history of the world. So count me in as somebody who will not be listening to Henry Kissinger. +p129 +aVWell, it ain't Henry Kissinger. That's for sure. +p130 +aVIt is. +p131 +aVI find \u2014 I mean, it's just a very different, you know, historical perspective here. Kissinger was one of those people during the Vietnam era who talked about the domino theory. Not everybody remembers that. You do. I do. The domino theory, you know, if Vietnam goes, China, da, da, da, da, da, da, da. That's what he talked about, the great threat of China. And then, after the war, this is the guy who, in fact, yes, you're right, he opened up relations with China, and now pushed various type of trade agreements, resulting in American workers losing their jobs as corporations moved to China. The terrible, authoritarian, Communist dictatorship he warned us about, now he's urging companies to shut down and move to China. Not my kind of guy. +p132 +aVWell, this is what I would say. It is a complicated relationship. I congratulate Secretary of State John Kerry and the president for working on this agreement. As you've indicated, what is happening in Syria, the number of people, the hundreds of thousands of people who have been killed \u2014 men, women, 20,000 children, the people who are forced to flee their own country \u2014 their own country \u2014 it is unspeakable. It is a real horror. Now, what I think is that right now we have got to do our best in developing positive relations with Russia. But let's be clear: Russia's aggressive actions in the Crimea and in Ukraine have brought about a situation where President Obama and +p133 +aVLet me just \u2014 just say this. For a start, the secretary and I disagree \u2014 and I think the president does not agree with her \u2014 in terms of the concept of a no-fly zone in Syria. I think you do have a humanitarian tragedy there, as I mentioned a moment ago. I applaud Secretary Kerry and the president for trying to put together this agreement. Let's hope that it holds. But furthermore, what we have got to do, I'm sorry, yes, I do believe that we have got to do everything that we can, and it will not happen tomorrow. But I do hope that in years to come, just as occurred with Cuba, 10, 20 years ago, people would say, reach normalized relations with Cuba. And by the way, I hope we can end the trade embargo with Cuba as well. But the idea that we some day maybe have decent relations with Iran, maybe put pressure on them so they end their support for terrorism around the world, yes, that is something I want to achieve. And I believe that the best way to do that is to be aggressive, to be principled, but to have the goal of trying to improve relations. That's how you make peace in the world. You sit down and you work with people, you make demands of people, in this case demanding Iran stop the support of international terrorism. +p134 +aVWe have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of work to do. But I recall when Secretary Clinton ran against then-Senator Obama, she was critical of him for suggesting that maybe you want to talk to Iran, that you want to talk to our enemies. I have no illusion. Of course you are right. Iran is sponsoring terrorism in many parts of the world, destabilizing areas. Everybody knows that. But our goal is, in fact, to try over a period of time to, in fact, deal with our enemies, not just ignore that reality. +p135 +aVNo, I think the idea was that president \u2014 then-Senator Obama was wrong for suggesting that it is a good idea to talk to your opponents. It's easier to talk to your friends. It's harder to talk to your enemies. I think we should do both. +p136 +aVA couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to go on a congressional delegation. And I went to one of these Turkish refugee camps right on the border of Syria. And what a sad sight that was: Men, women, children forced out of their homes. And Turkey, by the way, did a very decent thing, providing what was reasonable housing and conditions for those people. It seems to me that given our history as a nation that has been a beacon of hope for the oppressed, for the downtrodden, that I very strongly disagree with those Republican candidates who say, you know what, we've got to turn our backs on women and children who left their home with nothing, nothing at all. That is not what America is supposed to be about. So I believe that working with Europe \u2014 and, by the way, you know, we've got some very wealthy countries there in that part of the world. You got Kuwait and you got Qatar and you got Saudi Arabia. They have a responsibility, as well. But I think this is a worldwide \u2014 that the entire world needs to come together to deal with this horrific refugee crisis we're seeing from Syria and Afghanistan, as well. +p137 +aVYou know, Franklin Delano Roosevelt took the oath of office in 1933 at a time when 25 percent of the American people were unemployed, country was in incredible despair. And he stood before the American people and he said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself," a profound statement that gave the American people the courage to believe that, yes, we could get out of that terrible depression. And then what he did is redefine the role of government. You know, you had Herbert Hoover before that saying, no, we got to only worry about the deficit. So what if mass unemployment exists? So what if children are going hungry? That's not the role of the government. And when FDR said, "Yeah, it is," that we're going to use all of the resources that we have to create jobs, to build homes, to feed people, to protect the farmers, we are a nation which if we come together there is nothing that we could not accomplish. And kind of \u2014 that's what I see our campaign is about right now. In this particular moment of serious crises, saying to the American people don't give up on the political process. don't listen to the Trumps of the world and allowing them to divide us. If we reengage and get involved, yeah, we can have health care for all people, we can make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We do not have to have massive levels of income and wealth inequality. In the same light, as the foreign leader, Winston Churchill's politics were not my politics. He was kind of a conservative guy in many respects. But nobody can deny that as a wartime leader, he rallied the British people when they stood virtually alone against the Nazi juggernaut and rallied them and eventually won an extraordinary victory. Those are two leaders that I admire very much. +p138 +aVThat is......Madam Secretary, that is a low blow. I have worked with President Obama for the last seven years. When President Obama came into office we were losing 800,000 jobs a month, 800,000 jobs a month. We had a $1.4 trillion deficit. And the world's financial system is on the verge of collapse. As a result of his efforts and the efforts of Joe Biden against unprecedented, I was there in the Senate, unprecedented Republican obstructionism, we have made enormous progress. But you know what? Last I heard we lived in a democratic society. Last I heard, a United States senator had the right to disagree with the president, including a president who has done such an extraordinary job. So I have voiced criticisms. You're right. Maybe you haven't. I have. But I think to suggest that I have voiced criticism, this blurb that you talk about, you know what the blurb said? The blurb said that the next president of the United States has got to be aggressive in bringing people into the political process. That's what I said. That is what I believe. President Obama and I are friends. As you know, he came to Vermont to campaign for me when he was a senator. I have worked for his re-election. His first election and his re-election. But I think it is really unfair to suggest that I have not been supportive of the president. I have been a strong ally with him on virtually every issue. Do senators have the right to disagree with the president? Have you ever disagreed with a president? I suspect you may have. +p139 +aVWell, one of us ran against Barack Obama. I was not that candidate. All right, look, this has been a great debate. A lot of interesting issues have come together. Let me conclude by just saying this. There is no president, in my view, not Hillary Clinton, not Bernie Sanders, who has the capability or the power to take on Wall Street, large campaign donors, the corporate media, the big money interests in this country alone. This campaign is not just about electing a president. What this campaign is about is creating a process for a political revolution in which millions of Americans, working people who have given up on the political process, they don't think anybody hears their pains or their concerns. Young people for whom getting involved in politics is as, you know, it's like going to the moon. It ain't going to happen. Low income people who are not involved in the political process. What this campaign is not only about electing someone who has the most progressive agenda, it is about bringing tens of millions of people together to demand that we have a government that represents all of us and not just the 1 percent, who today have so much economic and political power. Thank you all very much. +p140 +as. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/downloads/data/script1.pickle b/downloads/data/script1.pickle new file mode 100644 index 0000000..89b36aa --- /dev/null +++ b/downloads/data/script1.pickle @@ -0,0 +1,738 @@ +(dp0 +VSANDERS +p1 +(lp2 +VWell, Gwen and Judy, thank you very much for hosting this event. And, PBS, thank you. Nine months ago, our campaign began. And when it began, we had no political organization, no money, and not much name recognition outside of the state of Vermont. A lot has happened in nine months. And what has happened is, I think, the American people have responded to a series of basic truths, and that is that we have today a campaign finance system which is corrupt, which is undermining American democracy, which allows Wall Street and billionaires to pour huge sums of money into the political process to elect the candidates of their choice. And aligned with a corrupt campaign finance system is a rigged economy. And that's an economy where ordinary Americans are working longer hours for low wagers. They are worried to death about the future of their kids. And yet they are seeing almost all new income and all new wealth going to the top 1 percent. And then in addition to that, the American people are looking around and they see a broken criminal justice system. They see more people in jail in the United States of America than any other country on earth, 2.2 million. We're spending $80 billion a year locking up fellow Americans. They see kids getting arrested for marijuana, getting in prison, getting a criminal record, while they see executives on Wall Street who pay billions of dollars in settlements and get no prosecution at all. No criminal records for them. I think what our campaign is indicating is that the American people are tired of establishment politics, tired of establishment economics. They want a political revolution in which millions of Americans stand up, come together, not let the Trumps of the world divide us, and say, you know what, in this great country, we need a government that represents all of us, not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors. Thank you. +p3 +aVWell, to put that in a context, Judy, I think we have to understand that in the last 30 years in this country there has been a massive transfer of wealth going from the hands of working families into the top one-tenth of 1% whose percentage of wealth has doubled. In other words, the very rich are getting richer, almost everybody is going \u2014 getting poorer. What I believe is the United States, in fact, should join the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee healthcare to all people. Our Medicare for all single-payer proposal will save the average middle class family $5,000 a year. I do believe that in the year 2016 we have to look in terms of public education as colleges as part of public education making public colleges and universities tuition free. I believe that when real unemployment is close to 10%, and when our infrastructure, our roads, our bridges, our water systems, Flint, Michigan comes to mind. Our waste water plants, our rail, our airports, in many places are disintegrating. Yeah, we can create 13 million jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure at a cost of a trillion dollars. +p4 +aV... Of course there will be a limit, but when today you have massive levels of income and wealth inequality, when the middle class is disappearing, you have the highest rate of child poverty of almost any major country on Earth. Yes, in my view, the government of a democratic society has a moral responsibility to play a vital role in making sure all of our people have a decent standard of living. +p5 +aVWell, let us level with the American people. Secretary Clinton has been going around the country saying Bernie Sanders wants to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, people are going to lose their MedicAid, they're going to lose their +p6 +aVThat is absolutely inaccurate. Look, here is the reality, folks. There is one major country on Earth that does not guarantee health care to all people. There is one major country \u2014 the United States \u2014 which ends up spending almost three times per capita what they do in the U.K. guaranteeing health care to all people, 50 percent more than they do in France guaranteeing health care to all people, far more than our Canadian neighbors, who guarantee health care to all people. Please do not tell me that in this country, if \u2014 and here's the if \u2014 we have the courage to take on the drug companies, and have the courage to take on the insurance companies, and the medical equipment suppliers, if we do that, yes, we can guarantee health care to all people in a much more cost effective way. +p7 +aVWell, Secretary Clinton, you're not in the White House yet. And let us be clear that every proposal that I have introduced has been paid for. For example, all right, who in America denies that we have an infrastructure that is crumbling? Roads, bridges, water systems, wastewater plants, who denies that? Who denies that real unemployment today, including those who have given up looking for work and are working part-time is close to 10 percent? Who denies that African-American youth unemployment, real, is over 50 percent. We need to create jobs. So yes, I will do away with the outrageous loopholes that allow profitable multinational corporations to stash billions of dollars in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda and in a given year pay zero, zero in federal income tax. Yes, I'm going to do away with that. We will use those proceeds, a hundred billion a year, to invest in rebuilding our infrastructure. Yes, I believe that as a result of the illegal behavior on Wall Street, that they are a Wall Street that drove this country into the worst economic downturn since the Great Recession \u2014 Great Depression. Yes, I do believe that now after the American people bailed Wall Street out, yes, they should pay a Wall Street speculation tax so that we can make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We bailed them out. Now it is their time to help the middle class. +p8 +aVA brief response. +p9 +aVHere is where we are with public education. A 100, 150 years ago incredibly brave Americans said, you know what, working class kids, low income kids should not have to work in factories or on the farms. Like rich kids, they deserve to get a free education. And that free education of extraordinary accomplishment was from first grade to 12th grade. The world has changed. This is 2016. In many ways, a college degree today is equivalent to what a high school degree was 50, 60 years ago. So, yes, I do believe that when we talk about public education in America, today, in a rapidly changing world, we should have free tuition at public colleges and universities. That should be a right of all Americans regardless of the income of their families. +p10 +aVLook, we are fighting for every vote that we can get from women, from men, straight, gay, African-Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans. We are trying to bring America together around an agenda that works for working families and the middle class. I am very proud, if my memory is not correct \u2014 I think I am \u2014 that I have a lifetime \u2014 and I've been in Congress a few years \u2014 a lifetime 100 percent pro-choice voting record. I am very proud that over the years we have had the support in my state of Vermont from very significant majorities of women. I'm very proud that I support legislation that is currently in the Congress, got support of almost all progressive Democrats in the House and Senate, which says we will end the absurdity of women today making 79 cents on the dollar compared to men. And we will join the rest of the other \u2014 the industrialized world in saying that paid family and medical leave should be a right of all working families. +p11 +aVWell, you know, I think, from a historical point of view, somebody with my background, somebody with my views, somebody who has spent his entire life taking on the big money interests, I think a Sanders victory would be of some historical accomplishment, as well. +p12 +aVLet me concur with the secretary, no question women's rights are under fierce attack all over this country. And I will tell you something that really galls me. I will not shock anybody to suggest that in politics there is occasionally a little bit of hypocrisy. Just a little bit. All over this country we have Republican candidates for president saying we hate the government. Government is the enemy. We're going to cut Social Security to help you. We're going to cut Medicare and Medicaid, federal aid to education to help you, because the government is so terrible. But, by the way, when it comes to a woman having to make a very personal choice, ah, in that case, my Republican colleagues love the government and want the government to make that choice for every woman in America. If that's not hypocrisy, I don't know what hypocrisy is. +p13 +aVThis is one of the great tragedies in our country today. And we can no longer continue to sweep it under the rug. It has to be dealt with. Today a male African-American baby born today stands a one-in-four chance of ending up in jail. That is beyond unspeakable. So what we have to do is the radical reform of a broken criminal justice system. What we have to do is end over-policing in African-American neighborhoods. The reality is that both the African-American community and the white community do marijuana at about equal rates. The reality is four times as many blacks get arrested for marijuana. Truth is that far more blacks get stopped for traffic violations. The truth is that sentencing for blacks is higher than for whites. We need fundamental police reform, clearly, clearly, when we talk about a criminal justice system. I would hope that we could all agree that we are sick and tired of seeing videos on television of unarmed people, often African-Americans, shot by police officers. What we have got to do is make it clear that any police officer who breaks the law will, in fact, be held accountable. +p14 +aVNothing that Secretary Clinton said do I disagree with. This mandatory sentencing, a very bad idea. It takes away discretion from judges. We have got to demilitarize local police departments so they do not look like occupying armies. We have got to make sure that local police departments look like the communities they serve in their diversity. And, where we are failing abysmally is in the very high rate of recidivism we see. People are being released from jail without the education, without the job training, without the resources that they need to get their lives together, then they end up \u2014 we're shocked that they end up back in jail again. So, we have a lot of work to do. But, here is a pledge I've made throughout this campaign, and it's really not a very radical pledge. When we have more people in jail, disproportionately African American and Latino, than China does, a communist authoritarian society four times our size. Here's my promise, at the end of my first term as president we will not have more people in jail than any other country. We will invest in education, and jobs for our kids, not incarceration and more jails. +p15 +aVWell, I think, Judy, what has to be appreciated is that, as a result of the disastrous and illegal behavior on Wall Street, millions of lives were hurt. People lost their jobs, their homes, their life savings. Turns out that the African-American community and the Latino community were hit especially hard. As I understand it, the African-American community lost half of their wealth as a result of the Wall Street collapse. So when you have childhood African-American poverty rates of 35 percent, when you have youth unemployment at 51 percent, when you have unbelievable rates of incarceration \u2014 which, by the way, leaves the children back home without a dad or even a mother \u2014 clearly, we are looking at institutional racism. We are looking at an economy in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. And sadly, in America today, in our economy, a whole lot of those poor people are African-American. +p16 +aVAbsolutely, because what we will do is say, instead of giving tax breaks to billionaires, we are going to create millions of jobs for low-income kids so they're not hanging out on street corners. We're going to make sure that those kids stay in school or are able to get a college education. And I think when you give low-income kids \u2014 African-American, white, Latino kids \u2014 the opportunities to get their lives together, they are not going to end up in jail. They're going to end up in the productive economy, which is where we want them. +p17 +aVWhite people? +p18 +aVYeah, you can, because African-Americans and Latinos not only face the general economic crises of low wages, and high unemployment, and poor educational opportunities, but they face other problems, as well. So, yes, we can talk about it as a racial issue. But it is a general economic issue. And here's what the economic issue is. The wages that high school graduates receive today are significantly less, whether you are white or black, than they used to be. Why is that? Because of a series of disastrous trade policies which have allowed corporate America through +p19 +aVThe answer is yes. We've got 11 million undocumented people in this country. I have talked to some of the young kids with tears rolling down their cheeks, are scared to death that today they may or their parents may be deported. I believe that we have got to pass comprehensive immigration reform, something that I strongly supported. I believe that we have got to move toward a path toward citizenship. I agree with President Obama who used executive orders to protect families because the Congress, the House was unable or refused to act. And in fact I would go further. What would motivate me and what would be the guiding light for me in terms of immigration reform, Judy, is to bring families together, not divide them up. And let me say this also. Somebody who is very fond of the president, agrees with him most of the time, I disagree with his recent deportation policies. And I would not support those. Bottom line is a path towards citizenship for 11 million undocumented people, if Congress doesn't do the right thing, we use the executive orders of the president. +p20 +aVSecretary Clinton, I do have a disagreement here. If my memory is correct, I think when we saw children coming from these horrendous, horrendously violent areas of Honduras and neighboring countries, people who are fleeing drug violence and cartel violence, I thought it was a good idea to allow those children to stay in this country. That was not, as I understand it, the secretary's position. In terms of 2007 immigration reform, yeah, I did vote against it. I voted against it because the Southern Poverty Law Center, among other groups, said that the guest-worker programs that were embedded in this agreement were akin to slavery. Akin to slavery, where people came into this country to do guest work were abused, were exploited, and if they stood up for their rights, they'd be thrown out of this country. So it wasn't just me who opposed it. It was +p21 +aVWell, let me just respond. I worked with Ted Kennedy. He was the chairman of my committee. And I loved Ted Kennedy. But on this issue, when you have one of the large Latino organizations in America saying vote no, and you have the AFL-CIO saying vote no, and you have leading progressive Democrats, in fact, voting no, I don't apologize for that vote. But in terms of the children, I don't know to whom you're sending a message. Who are you sending a message to? These are children who are leaving countries and neighborhoods where their lives are at stake. That was the fact. I don't think we use them to send a message. I think we welcome them into this country and do the best we can to help them get their lives together. +p22 +aVOK. You know, you judge a nation not by the number of millionaires and billionaires it has, but by how you treat, we treat, the most vulnerable and fragile people in our nation. And by those standards, we're not doing particularly well. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty among almost any major country on Earth. And in terms of seniors, there are millions of seniors \u2014 and I've talked to them in my state of Vermont and all over this country \u2014 who are trying to get by on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year Social Security. And you know what? You do the arithmetic. You can't get by on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year. And here's an area where Secretary Clinton and I believe we have a difference. I have long supported the proposition that we should lift the cap on taxable income coming into the Social Security Trust Fund, starting at $250,000. And when we \u2014 and when we do that, we don't do what the Republicans want, which is to cut Social Security. We do what the American people want, to expand Social Security by $1,300 a year for people under $16,000, and we extend the life of Social Security for 58 years. Yes, the wealthiest people, the top 1.5 percent, will pay more in taxes. But a great nation like ours should not be in a position where elderly people are cutting their pills in half, where they don't have decent nutrition, where they can't heat their homes in the wintertime. That is not what America should be about. If elected president, I will do everything I can to expand Social Security benefits, not just for seniors, but for disabled veterans, as well. +p23 +aVIn all due respect......In all due respect, Secretary Clinton, a lot of the progressive groups, the online groups have really asked you a simple question. Are you coming onboard a proposal? And what is that proposal? Now, the proposal that I have outlined, you know, should be familiar to you, because it is what essentially Barack Obama campaigned on in 2008. You opposed him then. I would hope that you would come onboard and say that this is the simple and straightforward thing to do. We're asking the top 1.5 percent, including passive income, to start paying a little bit more so that the elderly and disabled vets in this country can live with security and dignity. I hope you will make a decision soon on this. +p24 +aVThat's my bill. Check it out. +p25 +aVWhat we are talking about in reality is a corrupt campaign finance system, that's what we're talking about. We have to be honest about it. It is undermining American democracy. When extraordinarily wealthy people make very large contributions to Super PACs, and in many cases in this campaign, Super PACs have raised more money than individual candidates have, OK? We had a decision to make early on, do we do a Super PAC? And, we said no. We don't represent Wall Street, we don't represent the billionaire class, so it ends up I'm the only candidate up here of the many candidates who has no Super PAC. But, what we did is we said to the working families of this country, look, we know things are tough, but if you want to help us go beyond establishment politics, and establishment economics, send us something. And, it turns out that up until \u2014 and this has blown me away, never in a million years would I have believed that I would be standing here tonight telling you that we have received three and a half million individual contributions from well over a million people. Now, Secretary Clinton's Super PAC, as I understand it, received $25 million dollars last reporting period, $15 million dollars from Wall Street. Our average contribution is $27 dollars, I'm very proud of that. +p26 +aVThe people aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street... But let's not \u2014 but let's not \u2014 let's not insult \u2014 let's not insult the intelligence of the American people. People aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street make huge campaign contributions? I guess just for the fun of it; they want to throw money around. Why does the pharmaceutical industry make huge campaign contributions? Any connection maybe to the fact that our people pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs? Why does the fossil fuel industry pay \u2014 spend huge amounts of money on campaign contributions? Any connection to the fact that not one Republican candidate for president thinks and agrees with the scientific community that climate change is real and that we have got to transform our energy system? And when we talk about Wall Street, let's talk about Wall Street. I voted for Dodd-Frank, got an important amendment in it. In my view, it doesn't go anywhere near far enough. But when we talk about Wall Street, you have Wall Street and major banks have paid $200 billion in fines since the great crash. No Wall Street executive has been prosecuted. +p27 +aVLet me, you know, again, respectfully disagree with Secretary Clinton here. When you have three out of the four largest financial institutions in this country bigger today than they were when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, when you have six financial institutions having assets equivalent to 58 percent of the GDP of America, while issuing two-thirds of the credit cards and a third of the mortgages, look, I think if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, that great trust-buster would have said break them up. I think he would have been right. I think he would have said bring back a 21st-century Glass-Steagall legislation. I think that would have been right, as well. That's my view. +p28 +aVHey, I'm in the United States Senate, and anyone who doesn't think that there is an enormous amount of waste and inefficiency and bureaucracy throughout government would be very, very mistaken. I believe in government, but I believe in efficient government, not wasteful government. +p29 +aVIf I could just answer that, we have also got to take a look at the waste and inefficiencies in the Department of Defense, which is the one major agency of government that has not been able to be audited. And I have the feeling you're going to find a lot of cost overruns there and a lot of waste and duplicative activities. +p30 +aVLet me \u2014 let me just say this. What a President of the United States has got to do and what is his or her major, I think, responsibility is to, a, make certain that we keep our people safe, that we work with allies around the world to protect democratic values, that we do all that we can to create a world of peace and prosperity. I voted against the war in Iraq because I listened very carefully to what President Bush and Vice President Cheney had to say and I didn't believe them. And if you go to my Web site,berniesanders.com, what you find is not only going to help lead the opposition to that war, but much of what I feared would happen when I spoke on the floor of the House, in fact, did happen in terms of the instability that occurred. Now I think an area in kind of a vague way, or not so vague, where Secretary Clinton and I disagree is the area of regime change. Look, the truth is that a powerful nation like the United States, certainly working with our allies, we can overthrow dictators all over the world. And God only knows Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator. We could overthrow Assad tomorrow if we wanted to. We got rid of Gadhafi. But the point about foreign policy is not just to know that you can overthrow a terrible dictator, it's to understand what happens the day after. And in Libya, for example, the United States, Secretary Clinton, as secretary of state, working with some other countries, did get rid of a terrible dictator named Gadhafi. But what happened is a political vacuum developed. +p31 +aVJudy, if I can, there is no question, Secretary Clinton and I are friends, and I have a lot of respect for her, that she has enormous experience in foreign affairs. Secretary of state for four years. You've got a bit of experience, I would imagine. But judgment matters as well. Judgment matters as well. And she and I looked at the same evidence coming from the Bush administration regarding Iraq. I lead the opposition against it. She voted for it. But more importantly, in terms of this Libya resolution that you have noted before, this was a virtually unanimous consent. Everybody voted for it wanting to see Libya move toward democracy, of course we all wanted to do that. That is very different than talking about specific action for regime change, which I did not support. +p32 +aVJudy, one area very briefly... +p33 +aVWhere the secretary and I have a very profound difference, in the last debate \u2014 and I believe in her book \u2014 very good book, by the way \u2014 in her book and in this last debate, she talked about getting the approval or the support or the mentoring of Henry Kissinger. Now, I find it rather amazing, because I happen to believe that Henry Kissinger was one of the most destructive secretaries of state in the modern history of this country. I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend. I will not take advice from Henry Kissinger. And in fact, Kissinger's actions in Cambodia, when the United States bombed that country, overthrew Prince Sihanouk, created the instability for Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge to come in, who then butchered some 3 million innocent people, one of the worst genocides in the history of the world. So count me in as somebody who will not be listening to Henry Kissinger. +p34 +aVWell, it ain't Henry Kissinger. That's for sure. +p35 +aVIt is. +p36 +aVI find \u2014 I mean, it's just a very different, you know, historical perspective here. Kissinger was one of those people during the Vietnam era who talked about the domino theory. Not everybody remembers that. You do. I do. The domino theory, you know, if Vietnam goes, China, da, da, da, da, da, da, da. That's what he talked about, the great threat of China. And then, after the war, this is the guy who, in fact, yes, you're right, he opened up relations with China, and now pushed various type of trade agreements, resulting in American workers losing their jobs as corporations moved to China. The terrible, authoritarian, Communist dictatorship he warned us about, now he's urging companies to shut down and move to China. Not my kind of guy. +p37 +aVWell, this is what I would say. It is a complicated relationship. I congratulate Secretary of State John Kerry and the president for working on this agreement. As you've indicated, what is happening in Syria, the number of people, the hundreds of thousands of people who have been killed \u2014 men, women, 20,000 children, the people who are forced to flee their own country \u2014 their own country \u2014 it is unspeakable. It is a real horror. Now, what I think is that right now we have got to do our best in developing positive relations with Russia. But let's be clear: Russia's aggressive actions in the Crimea and in Ukraine have brought about a situation where President Obama and +p38 +aVLet me just \u2014 just say this. For a start, the secretary and I disagree \u2014 and I think the president does not agree with her \u2014 in terms of the concept of a no-fly zone in Syria. I think you do have a humanitarian tragedy there, as I mentioned a moment ago. I applaud Secretary Kerry and the president for trying to put together this agreement. Let's hope that it holds. But furthermore, what we have got to do, I'm sorry, yes, I do believe that we have got to do everything that we can, and it will not happen tomorrow. But I do hope that in years to come, just as occurred with Cuba, 10, 20 years ago, people would say, reach normalized relations with Cuba. And by the way, I hope we can end the trade embargo with Cuba as well. But the idea that we some day maybe have decent relations with Iran, maybe put pressure on them so they end their support for terrorism around the world, yes, that is something I want to achieve. And I believe that the best way to do that is to be aggressive, to be principled, but to have the goal of trying to improve relations. That's how you make peace in the world. You sit down and you work with people, you make demands of people, in this case demanding Iran stop the support of international terrorism. +p39 +aVWe have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of work to do. But I recall when Secretary Clinton ran against then-Senator Obama, she was critical of him for suggesting that maybe you want to talk to Iran, that you want to talk to our enemies. I have no illusion. Of course you are right. Iran is sponsoring terrorism in many parts of the world, destabilizing areas. Everybody knows that. But our goal is, in fact, to try over a period of time to, in fact, deal with our enemies, not just ignore that reality. +p40 +aVNo, I think the idea was that president \u2014 then-Senator Obama was wrong for suggesting that it is a good idea to talk to your opponents. It's easier to talk to your friends. It's harder to talk to your enemies. I think we should do both. +p41 +aVA couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to go on a congressional delegation. And I went to one of these Turkish refugee camps right on the border of Syria. And what a sad sight that was: Men, women, children forced out of their homes. And Turkey, by the way, did a very decent thing, providing what was reasonable housing and conditions for those people. It seems to me that given our history as a nation that has been a beacon of hope for the oppressed, for the downtrodden, that I very strongly disagree with those Republican candidates who say, you know what, we've got to turn our backs on women and children who left their home with nothing, nothing at all. That is not what America is supposed to be about. So I believe that working with Europe \u2014 and, by the way, you know, we've got some very wealthy countries there in that part of the world. You got Kuwait and you got Qatar and you got Saudi Arabia. They have a responsibility, as well. But I think this is a worldwide \u2014 that the entire world needs to come together to deal with this horrific refugee crisis we're seeing from Syria and Afghanistan, as well. +p42 +aVYou know, Franklin Delano Roosevelt took the oath of office in 1933 at a time when 25 percent of the American people were unemployed, country was in incredible despair. And he stood before the American people and he said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself," a profound statement that gave the American people the courage to believe that, yes, we could get out of that terrible depression. And then what he did is redefine the role of government. You know, you had Herbert Hoover before that saying, no, we got to only worry about the deficit. So what if mass unemployment exists? So what if children are going hungry? That's not the role of the government. And when FDR said, "Yeah, it is," that we're going to use all of the resources that we have to create jobs, to build homes, to feed people, to protect the farmers, we are a nation which if we come together there is nothing that we could not accomplish. And kind of \u2014 that's what I see our campaign is about right now. In this particular moment of serious crises, saying to the American people don't give up on the political process. don't listen to the Trumps of the world and allowing them to divide us. If we reengage and get involved, yeah, we can have health care for all people, we can make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We do not have to have massive levels of income and wealth inequality. In the same light, as the foreign leader, Winston Churchill's politics were not my politics. He was kind of a conservative guy in many respects. But nobody can deny that as a wartime leader, he rallied the British people when they stood virtually alone against the Nazi juggernaut and rallied them and eventually won an extraordinary victory. Those are two leaders that I admire very much. +p43 +aVThat is......Madam Secretary, that is a low blow. I have worked with President Obama for the last seven years. When President Obama came into office we were losing 800,000 jobs a month, 800,000 jobs a month. We had a $1.4 trillion deficit. And the world's financial system is on the verge of collapse. As a result of his efforts and the efforts of Joe Biden against unprecedented, I was there in the Senate, unprecedented Republican obstructionism, we have made enormous progress. But you know what? Last I heard we lived in a democratic society. Last I heard, a United States senator had the right to disagree with the president, including a president who has done such an extraordinary job. So I have voiced criticisms. You're right. Maybe you haven't. I have. But I think to suggest that I have voiced criticism, this blurb that you talk about, you know what the blurb said? The blurb said that the next president of the United States has got to be aggressive in bringing people into the political process. That's what I said. That is what I believe. President Obama and I are friends. As you know, he came to Vermont to campaign for me when he was a senator. I have worked for his re-election. His first election and his re-election. But I think it is really unfair to suggest that I have not been supportive of the president. I have been a strong ally with him on virtually every issue. Do senators have the right to disagree with the president? Have you ever disagreed with a president? I suspect you may have. +p44 +aVWell, one of us ran against Barack Obama. I was not that candidate. All right, look, this has been a great debate. A lot of interesting issues have come together. Let me conclude by just saying this. There is no president, in my view, not Hillary Clinton, not Bernie Sanders, who has the capability or the power to take on Wall Street, large campaign donors, the corporate media, the big money interests in this country alone. This campaign is not just about electing a president. What this campaign is about is creating a process for a political revolution in which millions of Americans, working people who have given up on the political process, they don't think anybody hears their pains or their concerns. Young people for whom getting involved in politics is as, you know, it's like going to the moon. It ain't going to happen. Low income people who are not involved in the political process. What this campaign is not only about electing someone who has the most progressive agenda, it is about bringing tens of millions of people together to demand that we have a government that represents all of us and not just the 1 percent, who today have so much economic and political power. Thank you all very much. +p45 +aVRachel, thank you very much. Millions of Americans are giving up on the political process. And they're giving up on the political process because they understand the economy is rigged. They are working longer hours for low wages. They're worried about the future of their kids, and yet almost all new income and wealth is going to the top 1 percent. Not what America is supposed to be about. Not the fairness that we grew up believing that America was about. And then sustaining that rigged economy is a corrupt campaign finance system undermining American democracy, where billionaire, Wall Street, corporate America can contribute unlimited sums of money into super PACs and into candidates. Our job, together, is to end a rigged economy, create an economy that works for all, and absolutely overturn Citizens United. One person, one vote. That's what American democracy is about. +p46 +aVWell, I haven't quite run for president before. Let's deal with some of the comments that Secretary Clinton made. And by the way, you know, sometimes there's a lot of drama here. I have known Secretary Clinton for 25 years and respect her very much. Here is the issue. Every major country on earth, whether it's the U.K., whether it's France, whether it's Canada, has managed to provide healthcare to all people as a right and they are spending significantly less per capita on health care than we are. So I do not accept the belief that the United States of America can't do that. I do not accept the belief that the United States of America and our government can't stand up to the ripoffs of the pharmaceutical industry which charge us by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. Number two, in the economy today, everybody understands that we need a well educated workforce. This is 2016. When we talk about public education, it can no longer be K through 12th grade. I do believe that public colleges and universities should be tuition free. Well, how do we pay for that? It's an expensive proposition. I do believe that we should substantially lower student debt in this country, which is crushing millions of people. We pay for it, in my view, by a tax on Wall Street speculation. The middle class bailed out Wall Street in their time of need. Now, it is Wall Street's time to help the middle class. +p47 +aVLet me... +p48 +aV... this is a good discussion here. +p49 +aVAnd let me just say this. As Secretary Clinton may know, I am on the Health Education Labor Committee. That committee wrote the Affordable Care Act. The idea I would dismantle health care in America while we're waiting to pass a Medicare for all is just not accurate. The Affordable Care Act has clearly, as Secretary Clinton made the point, done a lot of good things, but, what it has not done is dealt with the fact we have 29 million people today who have zero health insurance, we have even more who are underinsured with large deductibles and copayments and prescription drug prices are off the wall. So I do believe that in the future, not by dismantling what we have here\u2014I helped write that bill\u2014but by moving forward, rallying the American people, I do believe we should have health care for all. +p50 +aVNo, not at all. Here's the reality of American economic life today. The reality is that we have one of lowest voter turnouts of any major country on earth because so many people have given up on the political process. The reality is that there has been trillions of dollars of wealth going from the middle class in the last 30 years to the top 1/10th of 1 percent. The reality is we that have a corrupt campaign finance system which separates the American people's needs and desires from what Congress is doing. So to my mind, what we have got to do is wage a political revolution where millions of people have given up on the political process, stand up and fight back, demand the government that represents us and not just a handful of campaign contribution\u2014contributors. Now all of the ideas that I'm talking about, they are not radical ideas. Making public colleges and universities tuition free, that exists in countries all over the world, used to exist in the United States. Rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, and creating 13 million jobs by doing away with tax loopholes that large corporations now enjoy by putting their money into the Cayman Islands and other tax havens. That is not a radical idea. What we need to do is to stand up to the big money interests, and the campaign contributors. When we do that, we can, in fact, transform America. +p51 +aVLet me just pick up on this point. This whole discussion began because I commented, not making overall evaluation about the Secretary. She was in Ohio, I think, in September or November and she got up and said something like, I have been\u2014I'm paraphrasing, I have been criticized because people think I'm a moderate. Well, I am a moderate. That's where this came from. It wasn't me paraphrasing her. It is what she said, and all that I said was there's nothing wrong with being a moderate. But, you can't be a moderate, you can't a progressive. In terms of President Obama, I think if we remember where this country was seven years ago, 800,000 jobs being lost every month, $1.4 trillion dollar deficit. The world's financial system on the verge of collapse. I think that President Obama, Vice President Biden, and the Democratic leadership in the House and the Senate have done a fantastic job. We are in much better shape than we were seven years ago, although my Republican colleagues seem to have forgotten where we were seven years ago. That's the fact, but, we still have a very long way to go. Do I think President Obama is a progressive? Yes, I do. I disagree with him on a number of issues including the trade agreement. But, yes, I think he has done an excellent job. +p52 +aVThat's right, I mean, instead of arguing about definitions, let's talk about... +p53 +aV... What we should do, and one of the things we should do is not only talk the talk, but walk the walk. I am very proud to be the only candidate up here who does not have a Super PAC, who's not raising huge sums of money from Wall Street...... And special interests. I am enormously proud. Never believed it would happen that we have raised 3.5 million individual contributions, averaging $27 dollars a piece. That is what the political revolution means. +p54 +aVWell, Rachel, actually, that wasn't accurate. In 1988 the Republican did win, I believe, by 3 points. I came in second. It was 34-31, I think, 19 for the Democrat. In that race the Democrat was the spoiler, not me. And it is true......it is true, it's not to be denied, I am the longest- serving independent in the history of the United States Congress. People of Vermont sent me to Washington as an independent. That is true. But on the other hand, I have\u2014when I was in the House for 16 years, I caucused with the Democrats. In the Senate for nine years caucused with the Democrats, of course. And I was elected by the Democrats to be chair of the Veterans Committee three years ago, which I'm very proud of. And now am the rankings member on the Budget Committee, leader of the Democrats in opposition to the majority Republicans. I am running for president as a Democrat. And if elected, not only do I hope to bring forth a major change in national priorities, but let me be frank, I do want to see major changes in the Democratic Party. I want to see working people and young people come into the party in a way that doesn't exist now. And you know what, I want a 50-state strategy so the Democratic Party is not just the party of 25 states. +p55 +aVWell, I don't see it quite like that. +p56 +aVI am\u2014will absolutely admit that Secretary Clinton has the support of far more governors, mayors, members of the House. She has the entire establishment or almost the entire establishment behind her. That's a fact. I don't deny it. But I am pretty proud that we have over a million people who have contributed to our campaign averaging 27 bucks apiece. That we have had meetings where 25,000-30,000 people have come out. That our campaign is a campaign of the people, by the people, and for the people. So, Rachel, yes, Secretary Clinton does represent the establishment. I represent, I hope, ordinary Americans, and by the way, who are not all that enamored with the establishment, but I am very proud to have people like Keith Ellison and Raul Grijalva in the House, the co-chairmen of the House Progressive Caucus. +p57 +aVWhat being part of the establishment is, is, in the last quarter, having a super PAC that raised $15 million from Wall Street, that throughout one's life raised a whole lot of money from the drug companies and other special interests. To my mind, if we do not get a handle on money in politics and the degree to which big money controls the political process in this country, nobody is going to bring about the changes that is needed in this country for the middle class and working families. +p58 +aVWhat... +p59 +aV... you know... +p60 +aV. +p61 +aVLet's talk about\u2014OK, let's talk... +p62 +aV... let us talk about issues. +p63 +aVLet's talk about issues. +p64 +aVLet's... +p65 +aV... let's\u2014let's\u2014let's talk about issues. +p66 +aVLet's talk\u2014let's talk about issues, all right? Let's talk about why, in the 1990s, Wall Street got deregulated. Did it have anything to do with the fact that Wall Street provided\u2014spent billions of dollars on lobbying and campaign contributions? Well, some people might think, yeah, that had some influence. Let's ask why it is that we pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, and your medicine can be doubled tomorrow, and there's nothing that the government can do to stop it. You think it has anything to do with the huge amounts of campaign contributions and lobbying from the fossil fuel industry? Let's talk about climate change. Do you think there's a reason why not one Republican has the guts to recognize that climate change is real, and that we need to transform our energy system? Do you think it has anything to do with the Koch brothers and ExxonMobil pouring huge amounts of money into the political system? That is what goes on in America. I am not\u2014I like......there is a reason. You know, there is a reason why these people are putting huge amounts of money into our political system. And in my view, it is undermining American democracy and it is allowing Congress to represent wealthy campaign contributors and not the working families of this country. +p67 +aVI think as Secretary Clinton knows, there is nobody who fought harder. I was on the House Financial Committee at that time. I heard the arguments coming from Democrats and Republicans\u2014Robert Rubin, Alan Greenspan\u2014about great an idea it would be if we did away with Glass-Steagall and if we allowed investor banks and commercial banks and big insurance companies to merge. Go to YouTube today. Look up Greenspan-Sanders. Listen to what I told them then. I helped lead the effort against deregulation. Unfortunately, we lost that. The result is\u2014was the worst financial disaster since the Great Depression. +p68 +aVChuck, actually we looked at it, but it turns out to be a disaster. The way it is structured right now, if you make it all the way to California, you could do pretty well. But in terms of the early states\u2014Iowa, New Hampshire, the other states\u2014it just doesn't work. Your point is well taken. I believe in public funding of elections, absolutely. But this system is\u2014I don't know if the secretary would agree\u2014is currently very antiquated and no longer applies to modern day politics. +p69 +aVBut if the... +p70 +aVLet me just say this. Wall Street is perhaps the most powerful economic and political force in this country. You have companies like Goldman Sachs, who just recently paid a settlement fine with the federal government for $5 billion for defrauding investors. Goldman Sachs was one of those companies whose illegal activity helped destroy our economy and ruin the lives of millions of Americans. But this is what a rigged economy and a corrupt campaign finance system and a broken criminal justice is about. These guys are so powerful that not one of the executives on Wall Street has been charged with anything after paying, in this case of Goldman Sachs, a $5 billion fine. Kid gets caught with marijuana, that kid has a police record. A Wall Street executive destroys the economy, $5 billion settlement with the government, no criminal record. That is what power is about. That is what corruption is about. And that is what has to change in the United States of America. +p71 +aVI would say that\u2014that folks who have looked at this issue for a long time, whether it's Elizabeth Warren or many other economists, will tell you that right now, yes, we do need a 21st century Glass-Steagall legislation. And I would tell you also that when you have three out of the four largest banks in America today, bigger than they were\u2014significantly bigger than when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, I think if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, a good Republican by the way, what he would say is: Break them up; they are too powerful economically; they are too powerful politically. And that is what I believe and many economists believe. Time to break them up. +p72 +aVWell, we've had a number of economists supporting our legislation. And here's where we are. The American people can judge. Six largest financial institutions in America today have assets of roughly $10 trillion; equivalent to 58 percent of the GDP of the United States of America. That is a lot of money. They issue two thirds of the credit cards, and by the way they're ripping off a whole lot of people with high interest rates on the credit cards, and they write about one third of the mortgages. That is a lot of power for six financial institutions. That's it. I think it is too much power. Too much economic power, too much political power, and the economists that I talk to say we should break them up. +p73 +aVYeah, I do. I agree with much of what the Secretary said, but, madam Secretary, it is not one streak. Wall Street is an entity of unbelievable economic and political power. That's a fact. And, I want to say something, and it may sound harsh, not to you, but to the American people. In a sense, in my view, the business model of Wall Street is fraud. It's fraud. I believe that corruption is rampant, and the fact that major bank after major bank has reached multi billion dollar settlements with the United States government when we have a weak regulator system tells me that not only did we have to bail them out once, if we don't start breaking them up, we're going to have to bail them out again, and I do not want to see that happen... +p74 +aVOf course I can work with them, but let's be clear. When I talked about Boeing and I talked about General Electric, what I was referring to is an outrage. I suspect the secretary agrees request me. Right now you have a loophole such that these guys are putting their profits, multi-billion dollar profitable corporations putting billions of dollars into the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, and other tax havens. And in a given year, Rachel, after making billions of dollars in profit, do you know how much they're paying in taxes to the United States government in a given year? Zero. Now explain to me how that makes any sense at all. So what I have said with regard to Boeing and GE and other multinationals that pay zero taxes, you know what we're going to do? We're going to end that loophole. They are going to pay their fair share of taxes. We're going to use that money to rebuild our infrastructure and create up to 13 million jobs. Can I work with corporations? Are there good corporations doing incredible cutting edge research and development? Absolutely they are. And we should be proud of them. But on the other hand, there are many corporations who have turned their backs on the American worker, who have said, if I can make another nickel in profit by going to China and shutting down in the United States of America, that's what I will do. I will do my best to transform our trade policy and take on these corporations who want to invest in low-income countries around the world rather than in the United States of America. +p75 +aVOK. Let me agree with much of what the secretary said, but where we have a different background on this issue is we differ on the war in Iraq, which created barbaric organizations like +p76 +aVWell, I think our great task is to make certain that our young men and women in the military do not get sucked into never- ending, perpetual warfare within the quagmire of Syria and Iraq. And I will do my very best to make sure that that doesn't happen. I agree with the secretary that I think what has to happen\u2014and let me just mention what King Abdullah of Jordan said. I think he hit the nail on the head. And what he said is essentially the war against +p77 +aVWell, you can't simply withdraw tomorrow. Wish we could, and allow, you know, the Taliban or anybody else to reclaim that country. But what we must do, and what we have seen in recent months, is some progress in Iraq, where finally the Iraqi army, which has not been a particularly effective fighting force, retook Ramadi. +p78 +aVWell, that's not quite accurate. I did give a speech at Georgetown where I talked about democratic socialism and foreign policy. Maybe I shouldn't have combined the two in the same speech, because the foreign policy part of it didn't get much attention. So, let me take this opportunity to give you a very short speech here on the issue. I think, while it is true that the secretary and I voted differently on the war in Iraq, what is important is that we learn the lesson of the war in Iraq. And that lesson is intrinsic to my foreign policy if elected president, is the United States cannot do it alone. We cannot be the policeman of the world. We are now spending more I believe than the next eight countries on defense. We have got to work in strong coalition with the major powers of the world and with those Muslim countries that are prepared to stand up and take on terrorism. So I would say that the key doctrine of the Sanders administration would be no, we cannot continue to do it alone; we need to work in coalition. +p79 +aV I fully, fully concede that Secretary Clinton, who was secretary of State for four years, has more experience\u2014hat is not arguable\u2014in foreign affairs. But experience is not the only point, judgment is. And once again, back in 2002, when we both looked at the same evidence about the wisdom of the war in Iraq, one of us voted the right way and one of us didn't. In terms of Iran and in terms of Saudi Arabia, of course they hate each other. That's no great secret. But John Kerry, who is I think doing a very good job, has tried to at least get these people in the room together because both of them are being threatened by +p80 +aVWell... +p81 +aVWho said That think we should normalize relations with Iran tomorrow? I never said that. I think we should move forward as quickly as we can. And you're right. They are a sponsor of terrorism around the world and we have to address that. But you know, a number of years ago, people were saying normal relationship with Cuba, what a bad and silly idea. They're Communists, they are our enemy. Well guess what? Change has come. So please don't suggest that I think we normalize relations with Tehran tomorrow. We don't. But I would like to see us move forward, and hopefully some day that will happen. And I would say if I might, Madam Secretary\u2014and you can correct me if I'm wrong. When you ran against Senator Obama you thought him naive because he thought it was a good idea to talk to our enemies. I think those are exactly the people you have to talk to and you have to negotiate with. +p82 +aVOK. +p83 +aVI think President Obama had the right idea, and the bottom line is that of course there have to be conditions. But, of course it doesn't do us any good to not talk with our adversaries... +p84 +aVJust to set the record straight, I very strongly supported the agreement which makes certain that Iran does not get a nuclear weapon. +p85 +aV... +p86 +aV +p87 +aV... No, no... +p88 +aV... +p89 +aVClearly North Korea is a very strange situation because it is such an isolated country run by a handful of dictators, or maybe just one, who seems to be somewhat paranoid. And, who had nuclear weapons. And, our goal there, in my view, is to work and lean strongly on China to put as much pressure. China is one of the few major countries in the world that has significant support for North Korea, and I think we got to do everything we can to put pressure on China. I worry very much about an isolated, paranoid country with atomic bombs. I think, clearly, we got to work closely with China to resolve the serious problems we have, and I worry about Putin and his military adventurism in the Crimea and the Ukraine. +p90 +aV... No, I don't. I worry very, very much about an isolated country. That's what makes me nervous. Russia lives in the world. China lives in the world. North Korea is a very, very strange country because it is so isolated, and I do feel that a nation with nuclear weapons, they have got to be dealt with. Dealt with effectively. +p91 +aVLet me agree. You know, as the secretary knows, I chaired\u2014I had the privilege and the honor of chairing the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs. And it is interesting to me, you know, Republicans give a lot of speeches about how much they love veterans. I work with the American Legion, the VFW, the DAV, the Vietnam Vets, and virtually every veterans organization to put together the most comprehensive piece of the veterans legislation in the modern history of America. That's what I did. And I brought it to the floor of the Senate. Every Democrat voted for it, I got two Republicans. We ended up with 56 votes and I couldn't get the 60 votes that I needed. That is pathetic. This was legislation supported by all of the veterans organizations, addressing many of the serious problems that veterans face in health care and in how we deliver benefits to them. So Republicans talk a good game about veterans, but when it came to put money on the line to protect our veterans, frankly, they were not there. What I did next, Rachel, is I had to retreat a little bit, I had to compromise. I did work with John McCain. I did work with Jeff Miller over in the House. And we put together not the bill that I wanted, but probably the most comprehensive V.A. health care bill in the modern history of this country. Secretary Clinton is absolutely right, there are people, Koch brothers among others, who have a group called Concerned Veterans of America, funded by the Koch brothers. The Koch brothers, by the way, want to destroy Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, every governmental program passed since the 1930s. Yes, there are people out there who want to privatize it. The last point that I'd make. I had a hearing. I had all of the veterans groups in front of me. And I said to them, tell me when a veteran gets in to the V.A., understanding there are waiting lines and real problems, when a veteran gets into the system, is the quality of care good? Without exception, what they said, good, excellent, very good. We've got to strengthen the V.A. We do not privatize the V.A. +p92 +aVWell, I agree with the Des Moines Register, but let's not blow this out of proportion. This is not a\u2014this is not, like, a winner-take-all thing. I think where we now stand\u2014correct me if I'm wrong\u2014you have 22 delegates, I have 20 delegates. We need 2,500 delegates to win the nomination. You know, so this is not\u2014this is not the biggest deal in the world. We think, by the way, based on talking to our precinct captains, we may have at least two more delegates. What the Des Moines Register said\u2014you know, there were coin\u2014I think there were half a dozen coin flips\u2014a fairly chaotic type situation. At the end of the day, no matter how it's recounted, it will break roughly even. And by the way, I love and respect the caucus process in Iowa. See, and I don't have to say it, because they voted already. And I love New Hampshire, too, because you haven't voted, but......but, look, I think people are blowing this up out of proportion. But I think we need improvements in the process by which results are determined. +p93 +aVOh . See, when you are old, then they go back all these years. All right. What have you got? +p94 +aVWell, you know, a general election is different than a primary and caucus process. But let me just say this. In terms of where we are right now, as you mention, Rachel, in a number of national and state, including New Hampshire. For example, the last poll I saw\u2014there may have been a new one\u2014last one I saw here in New Hampshire, a battleground state, had me defeating Trump by 19; the secretary defeating him by one. There were also pretty large margins in Iowa and Wisconsin. These are polls. Polls go up. Polls go down. But here's why I think I will be, if nominated, the strongest candidate. Democrats win when there is a large voter turnout; when people are excited; when working people, middle class people and young people are prepared to engage in the political process. Republicans win when people are demoralized and you have a small voter turnout, which by the way is why they love voter suppression. I believe that our campaign up to now has shown that we can create an enormous amount of enthusiasm from working people, from young people, who will get involved in the political process and which will drive us to a very large voter turnout. If there is a large voter turnout, not only do we retain the White House, but I think we regain the Senate. We win governors' chairs up and down the line. So I believe if you want to retain the White House, if you want to see Democrats do well across the board, I think our campaign is the one that creates the large voter turnout and helps us win. +p95 +aV +p96 +aVI am feeling exactly the way I felt at the first debate. There's a process under way. I will not politicize it. +p97 +aVAnd by the way\u2014and by the way, if I may, the secretary probably doesn't know that there's not a day that goes by when I am not asked to attack her on that issue, and I have refrained from doing that and I will continue to refrain from doing that. +p98 +aVNot losing control of our campaign. You know, we have hired a whole lot of people in a rapid way and I am familiar with the first two instances and they are unacceptable, and we have apologized and dealt with that. In terms of the last one, as I understand it, we did not suggest that we had the endorsement of a newspaper. Newspapers who make endorsements also say positive things about other candidates, and to the best of my knowledge, that is what we did. So we never said, never said that somebody, a newspaper endorsed us that did not. What we did say is blah blah blah blah was said by the newspaper. +p99 +aVBut that was only for\u2014that was not to be on television. That's an important point. That was just something\u2014as the secretary knows, you put titles on ads and you send them out, but there was no word in that ad, none, that said that those newspapers had endorsed us. +p100 +aV... Look, I hear what the Secretary said, and I understand, but look, there are\u2014all of us know that we have seen in recent years horrible, horrible crimes. It's hard to imagine how people can do, bomb, and kill 168 people in Oklahoma City, or do the Boston Marathon bombing, but this is what I believe, and for a couple of reasons. Number one, too many innocent people, including minorities, African Americans, have been executed when they were not guilty. That's number one. We have to be very careful about making sure about that. But, second of all, and maybe, in a deeper reason, of course there are barbaric acts out there. But, in a world of so much violence and killing, I just don't believe that government itself should be part of the killing. So, when somebody commits......somebody commits any of these terrible crimes that we have seen, you lock them up, and you toss away the key. They're never going to get out. But, I just don't' want to see government be part of killing. That's all. +p101 +aVAbsolutely. I think the Secretary described the situation appropriately. You know, I don't go around asking for governor's resignations every day. In fact, I think I never have in my life. But I did ask for the resignation of Governor Snyder because his irresponsibility......was so outrageous. What we are talking about are children being poisoned. That's what we're talking about. We don't know, no one knows for sure because they haven't done the appropriate studies, but there's no question that kids' intellectual development may have been impacted. We don't know how many thousands. The idea that there has not been a dramatic response is beyond comprehension. And when you have one of the, I think, significant public health crises of recent years, of course the federal government comes in. And of course the federal government says, you're not going to be poisoning little kids and impacting their entire lives. Last point on this. And I suspect the secretary agrees. One wonders if this were a white suburban community what kind of response there would have been. Flint, Michigan, is a poor community. It is disproportionately African-American and minority. And what has happened there is absolutely unacceptable. +p102 +aVAbsolutely right. +p103 +aVChuck, I believe in trade, but I do not believe in unfettered free trade. I believe in fair trade which works for the middle class and working families of this country and not just large multinational corporations. I was not only in opposition to +p104 +aVNo, let... +p105 +aV... I am absolutely supportive of comprehensive immigration reform and a path towards citizenship for 11 million people today who are living in the shadows. All right? We got to do that. But you miss\u2014when you looked at the issues, you missed two of the most important. And that is you're not going to accomplish what has to be done for working families and the middle class unless there is campaign finance reform. So long as big money interests control the United States Congress, it is gonna be very hard to do what has to be done for working families. So let me be very clear. No nominee of mine, if I'm elected president, to the United States Supreme Court will get that nomination unless he or she is loud and clear, and says they will vote to overturn Citizens United. Second point\u2014second point is that the only way we make change in terms of health care, in terms of dealing with a broken criminal justice system which, today, allows us to have more people in jail than any other country\u2014largely African-American and Latino\u2014the only way we create millions of jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure or have a tax system that says to the wealthy that they are going to pay their fair share, is when millions of people become involved in the political process. No, you just can't negotiate with Mitch McConnell. Mitch is gonna have to look out the window and see a whole lot of people saying, "Mitch, stop representing the billionaire class. Start listening to working families." And as president, that's what I will work hard on. +p106 +aVI agree with what the secretary said. We shouldn't be getting ahead of ourselves. And as I have said many times, you know, sometimes in these campaigns, things get a little bit out of hand. I happen to respect the secretary very much, I hope it's mutual. And on our worst days, I think it is fair to say we are 100 times better than any Republican candidate. +p107 +aVI\u2014my dad came to this country at the age of 17 from Poland. Didn't have any money, couldn't speak English, he died pretty young, and I think it would have been beyond his wildest dreams to see his son up here on this stage today running for president. I love this country and my dad loved this country, and he was the most proud American because of what it gave him in terms of raising his family, even though we never had much money. But today in America, we are the only major country on earth that doesn't guarantee health care to all people, that doesn't guarantee paid family and medical leave. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth. We are seeing millions of families unable to send their kids to college in the United States of America. I'm running for president because I believe it is just too late for establishment politics and establishment economics. I do believe we need a political revolution where millions of people stand up and say loudly and clearly that our government belongs to all of us and not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors. Thank you all. +p108 +asVCLINTON +p109 +(lp110 +VThank you. +p111 +aVI'm running for president to knock down all the barriers that are holding Americans back, and to rebuild the ladders of opportunity that will give every American a chance to advance, especially those who have been left out and left behind. I know a lot of Americans are angry about the economy. And for good cause. Americans haven't had a raise in 15 years. There aren't enough good-paying jobs, especially for young people. And yes, the economy is rigged in favor of those at the top. We both agree that we have to get unaccountable money out of our political system and that we have to do much more to ensure that Wall Street never wrecks main street again. But I want to go further. I want to tackle those barriers that stand in the way of too many Americans right now. African-Americans who face discrimination in the job market, education, housing, and the criminal justice system. Hardworking immigrant families living in fear, who should be brought out of the shadows so they and their children can have a better future. Guaranteeing that women's work finally gets the pay, the equal pay that we deserve. I think America can only live up to its potential when we make sure that every American has a chance to live up to his or her potential. That will be my mission as president. And I think together we will make progress. +p112 +aVJudy, I think that the best analysis that I've seen based on Senator Sanders plans is that it would probably increase the size of the federal government by about 40%, but what is most concerning to me is that in looking at the plans \u2014 let's take healthcare for example. Last week in a CNN town hall, the Senator told a questioner that the questioner would spend about $500 dollars in taxes to get about $5,000 dollars in healthcare. Every progressive economist who has analyzed that says that the numbers don't add up, and that's a promise that cannot be kept, and it's really important now that we are getting into the rest of the country that both of us are held to account for explaining what we are proposing because, especially with healthcare, this is not about math. This is about people's lives, and we should level with the American people about what we can do to make sure they get quality affordable healthcare. +p113 +aVI can only say that we both share the goal of universal health care coverage. You know, before it was called Obamacare, it was called Hillarycare. And I took on the drug companies and I took on the insurance companies to try to get us universal health care coverage. And why I am a staunch supporter of President Obama's principal accomplishment \u2014 namely the Affordable Care Act \u2014 is because I know how hard it was to get that done. We are at 90 percent coverage. We have to get the remaining 10. I've set forth very specific plans about how to get costs down, especially prescription drug costs. And it is difficult to in any way argue with the goal that we both share. But I think the American people deserve to know specifically how this would work. If it's Medicare for all, then you no longer have the Affordable Care Act, because the Affordable Care Act, as you know very well, is based on the insurance system, based on exchanges, based on a subsidy system. The Children's Health Insurance Program, which I helped to create, which covers 8 million kids, is also a different kind of program. So if you're having Medicare for all, single-payer, you need to level with people about what they will have at the end of the process you are proposing. And based on every analysis that I can find by people who are sympathetic to the goal, the numbers don't add up, and many people will actually be worse off than they are right now. +p114 +aVWell, let me just \u2014 let me just say, once again......that, having been in the trenches fighting for this, I believe strongly we have to guarantee health care. I believe we are on the path to doing that. The last thing we need is to throw our country into a contentious debate about health care again. And we are not England. We are not France. We inherited a system that was set up during World War II; 170 million Americans get health insurance right now through their employers. So what we have tried to do and what President Obama succeeded in doing was to build on the health care system we have, get us to 90 percent coverage. We have to get the other 10 percent of the way to 100. I far prefer that and the chances we have to be successful there than trying to start all over again, gridlocking our system, and trying to get from zero to 100 percent. +p115 +aVNo. But it is absolutely fair and necessary for Americans to vet both of our proposals, to ask the really hard questions about, what is it we think we can accomplish, why do we believe that, and what would be the results for the average American family? In my case, whether it's health care, or getting us to debt-free tuition, or moving us toward paid family leave, I have been very specific about where I would raise the money, how much it would cost, and how I would move this agenda forward. I've tried to be as specific to answer questions so that my proposals can be vetted, because I feel like we have to level with people for the very reason, Gwen, that you are mentioning. There is a great deal of skepticism about the federal government. I'm aware of that. It comes from the right, from the left, from people on all sides of the political spectrum. So we have a special obligation to make clear what we stand for, which is why I think we should not make promises we can't keep, because that will further, I think, alienate Americans from understanding and believing we can together make some real changes in people's lives. +p116 +aVI will put a price tag. My price tag is about $100 billion a year. And again, paid for. And what I have said is I will not throw us further into debt. I believe I can get the money that I need by taxing the wealthy, by closing loopholes, the things that we are way overdue for doing. And I think once I'm in the White House we will have enough political capital to be able to do that. But I am conscious of the fact that we have to also be very clear, especially with young people, about what kind of government is going to do what for them and what it will cost. +p117 +aVYou know, I think, again, both of us share the goal of trying to make college affordable for all young Americans. And I have set forth a compact that would do just that for debt-free tuition. We differ, however, on a couple of key points. One of them being that if you don't have some agreement within the system from states and from families and from students, it's hard to get to where we need to go. And Senator Sanders's plan really rests on making sure that governors like Scott Walker contribute $23 billion on the first day to make college free. I am a little skeptical about your governor actually caring enough about higher education to make any kind of commitment like that. +p118 +aVWell, first, Judy, I have spent my entire adult life working toward making sure that women are empowered to make their own choices, even if that choice is not to vote for me. I believe that it's most important that we unleash the full potential of women and girls in our society. And I feel very strongly that I have an agenda, I have a record that really does respond to a lot of the specific needs that the women in our country face. So I'm going to keep making that case. I'm going to keep making sure that everything I've done, everything that I stand for is going to be well known. But I have no argument with anyone making up her mind about who to support. I just hope that by the end of this campaign there will be a lot more supporting me. That's what I'm working towards. +p119 +aVWell, look, I think that she's been saying that for as long as I've known her, which is about 25 years. But it doesn't change my view that we need to empower everyone, women and men, to make the best decisions in their minds that they can make. That's what I've always stood for. And when it comes to the issues that are really on the front lines as to whether we're going to have equal pay, paid family leave, some opportunity for, you know, women to go as far as their hard work and talent take them, I think that we still have some barriers to knock down, which is why that's at the core of my campaign. I would note, just for a historic aside, somebody told me earlier today we've had like 200 presidential primary debates, and this is the first time there have been a majority of women on the stage. So, you know, we'll take our progress wherever we can find it. +p120 +aVYou know, I have said \u2014 I have said many times, you know, I'm not asking people to support me because I'm a woman. I'm asking people to support me because I think I'm the most qualified, experienced, and ready person to be the president and the commander-in-chief. And I appreciate greatly Senator Sanders' voting record. And I was very proud to get the endorsement of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, because I've been a leader on these issues. I have gone time and time again to take on the vested interests who would keep women's health care decisions the province of the government instead of women ourselves. I'm very proud that +p121 +aVYou know, I completely agree with Senator Sanders. The first speech I gave in this campaign back in April was about criminal justice reform and ending the era of mass incarceration. The statistics from Wisconsin are particularly troubling, because it is the highest rate of incarceration for African-Americans in our nation, twice the national average. And we know of the tragic, terrible event that lead to the death of Dontre Hamilton right here in Milwaukee, a young man unarmed, who should still be with us. His family certainly believes that. And so do I. So we have work to do. There have been some good recommendations about what needs to happen. President Obama's policing commission came out with some. I have fully endorsed those. But we have to restore policing that will actually protect the communities that police officers are sworn to protect. And, then we have to go after sentencing, and that's one of the problems here in Wisconsin because so much of what happened in the criminal justice system doesn't happen at the federal level, it happens at the state and local level. But, I would also add this. There are other racial discrepancies. Really systemic racism in this state, as in others, education, in employment, in the kinds of factors that too often lead from a position where young people, particularly young men, are pushed out of school early, are denied employment opportunities. So, when we talk about criminal justice reform, and ending the era of mass incarceration, we also have to talk about jobs, education, housing, and other ways of helping communities. +p122 +aVWell, I'm just not sure I agree completely with that assessment. I think under President Obama we have seen a lot of advances, the Affordable Care Act has helped more African Americans than any other group to get insurance, to be taken care of, but we also know a lot more than we did. We have a lot more social media, we have everybody with a cellphone. So, we are seeing the dark side of the remaining systemic racism that we have to root out in our society. I think President Obama has set a great example. I think he has addressed a lot of these issues that have been quite difficult, but he has gone forward. Now, what we have to do is to build on an honest conversation about where we go next. We now have much more information about what must be done to fix our criminal justice system. We now have some good models about how better to provide employment, housing and education. I think what President Obama did was to exemplify the importance of this issue as our first African American president, and to address it both from the President's office, and through his advocacy, such as working with young men, and Mrs. Obama's work with young women. But, we can't rest. We have work to do, and we now know a lot more than we ever did before. So, it's going to be my responsibility to make sure we move forward to solve these problems that are now out in the open. Nobody can deny them. To use the Justice Department, as we just saw, they have said they are going to sue Ferguson, that entered into a consent agreement, and then tried to back out. So, we're going to enforce the law, we're going to change policing practices, we're going to change incarceration practices, but we're also going to emphasize education, jobs, and housing. +p123 +aVLook, I am deeply concerned about what's happening in every community in America, and that includes white communities, where we are seeing an increase in alcoholism, addiction, earlier deaths. People with a high school education or less are not even living as long as their parents lived. This is a remarkable and horrifying fact. And that's why I've come forward with, for example, a plan to revitalize coal country, the coalfield communities that have been so hard hit by the changing economy, by the reduction in the use of coal. You know, coal miners and their families who helped turn on the lights and power our factories for generations are now wondering, has our country forgotten us? Do people not care about all of our sacrifice? And I'm going to do everything I can to address distressed communities, whether they are communities of color, whether they are white communities, whether they are in any part of our country. I particularly appreciate the proposal that Congressman Jim Clyburn has \u2014 the 10-20-30 proposal \u2014 to try to spend more federal dollars in communities with persistent generational poverty. And you know what? If you look at the numbers, there are actually as many, if not more white communities that are truly being left behind and left out. So, yes, I do think it would be a terrible oversight not to try to address the very real problems that white Americans \u2014 particularly those without a lot of education whose jobs have \u2014 you know, no longer provided them or even no longer present in their communities, because we have to focus where the real hurt is. And that's why, as president, I will look at communities that need special help and try to deliver that. +p124 +aVI strongly support the president's executive actions. I hope the Supreme Court upholds them. I think there is constitutional and legal authority for the president to have done what he did. I am against the raids. I'm against the kind of inhumane treatment that is now being visited upon families, waking them up in the middle of the night, rounding them up. We should be deporting criminals, not hardworking immigrant families who do the very best they can and often are keeping economies going in many places in our country. I'm a strong supporter of comprehensive immigration reform. Have been ever since I was in the Senate. I was one of the original sponsors of the +p125 +aVTwo quick responses. One, with respect to the Central American children, I made it very clear that those children needed to be processed appropriately, but we also had to send a message to families and communities in Central America not to send their children on this dangerous journey in the hands of smugglers. I've also called for the end of family detention, for the end of privately-run detention centers, along with private prisons, which I think are really against the common good and the rule of law. And with respect to the 2007 bill, this was Ted Kennedy's bill. And I think Ted Kennedy had a very clear idea about what needed to be done. And I was proud to stand with him and support it. +p126 +aVWell, that just wasn't \u2014 that just wasn't the fact, Senator. The fact is that there was a great effort made by the Obama administration and others to really send a clear message, because we knew that so many of these children were being abused, being treated terribly while they tried to get to our border. So we have a disagreement on this. I think now what I've called for is counsel for every child so that no child has to face any kind of process without someone who speaks and advocates for that child so that the right decision hopefully can be made. +p127 +aVI think \u2014 I think it's fair to say we don't have a disagreement. We both believe there has to be more money going into the Social Security system. I've said I'm looking at a couple of different ways, one which you mentioned, Senator, but also trying to expand the existing tax to passive income that wealthy people have so that we do get more revenue into the Social Security Trust Fund. I have a slightly different approach, though, about what we should do with that initially. First, rather than expand benefits for everyone, I do want to take care of low-income seniors who worked at low-wage jobs. I want to take care of women. When the Social Security program was started in the 1930s, not very many women worked. And women have been disadvantaged ever since. They do not get any credit for their care-taking responsibilities. And the people who are often the most hard-hit are widows, because when their spouse dies, they can lose up to one-half of their Social Security monthly payment. So we have no disagreement about the need to buttress Social Security, get more revenue into the program. But I want to start by helping those people who are most at risk, the ones who, yes, are cutting their pills in half, who don't believe they can make the rent, who are worried about what comes next for them. +p128 +aVWell, Senator, look, I think we're in vigorous agreement here. We both want to get more revenue in. I have yet to see a proposal that you're describing that the \u2014 raising the cap would apply to passive income. That has not been... +p129 +aVWell, that has not been a part of most of the proposals that I've seen. I'm interested in making sure we get the maximum amount of revenue from those who can well afford to provide it. So I'm going to come up with the best way forward. We're going to end up in the same place. We're going to get more revenue. I'm going to prioritize those recipients who need the most help first. +p130 +aVI can't speak for the Koch Brothers, you're referring to a Super PAC that we don't coordinate with, that was set up to support President Obama, that has now decided that they want to support me. They are the ones who should respond to any questions. Let's talk about our campaigns. I'm very proud of the fact that we have more than 750 thousand donors, and the vast majority of them are giving small contributions. So, I'm proud of Senator Sanders, and his supporters. I think it's great that Senator Sanders, President Obama and I have more donors than any three people who have every run, certainly on the Democratic side. That's the way it should be, and I'm going to continue to reach out to thank all my online contributors for everything they are doing for me, to encourage them and help me do more just as Senator Sanders is. I think that is the real key here. We both have a lot of small donors. I think that sets us apart from a lot of what's happening right now on the Republican side. The Koch Brothers have a very clear political agenda. It is an agenda, in my view, that would do great harm to our country. We're going to fight it as hard as we can, and we're going to fight whoever the Republicans nominate who will depend on the Koch Brothers, and others. +p131 +aVWe are mixing apples and oranges. My 750,000 donors have contributed more than a million and a half donations. I'm very proud. That, I think, between the two of us demonstrates the strength of the support we have among people who want to see change in our country. But, the real issue, I think, that the Senator is injecting into this is that if you had a Super PAC, like President Obama has, which now says it wants to support me. It's not my PAC. If you take donations from Wall Street, you can't be independent. I would just say, I debated then Senator Obama numerous times on stages like this, and he was the recipient of the largest number of Wall Street donations of anybody running on the Democratic side ever. Now, when it mattered, he stood up and took on Wall Street. He pushed through, and he passed the Dodd-Frank regulation, the toughest regulations since the 1930's. So, let's not in anyway imply here that either President Obama or myself, would in anyway not take on any vested interested, whether it's Wall Street, or drug companies, or insurance companies, or frankly, the gun lobby to stand up to do what's best for the American people. +p132 +aVWell, let's just \u2014 let's just follow up on this, because, you know, I've made it very clear that no bank is too big to fail, no executive too powerful to jail, and because of Dodd-Frank, we now have in law a process that the president, the Federal Reserve, and others can use if any bank poses a systemic risk. I think that's a major accomplishment. I agree, however, it doesn't go far enough, because what it focuses on are the big banks, which Senator Sanders has talked about a lot, for good reason. I go further in the plan that I've proposed, which has been called the toughest, most effective, comprehensive plan for reining in the other risks that the financial system could face. It was an investment bank, Lehman Brothers, that contributed to our collapse. It was a big insurance company, AIG. It was Countrywide Mortgage. My plan would sweep all of them into a regulatory framework so we can try to get ahead of what the next problems might be. And I believe that not only Barney Frank, Paul Krugman, and others, have said that what I have proposed is the most effective. It goes in the right direction. We have Dodd-Frank. We can use it to break up the banks, if that's appropriate. But let's not kid ourselves. As we speak, there are new problems on the horizon. I want to get ahead of those, and that's why I've proposed a much more comprehensive approach to deal with all of these... +p133 +aVAbsolutely. And, you know, there are a number of programs that I think are duplicative and redundant and not producing the results that people deserve. There are a lot of training programs and education programs that I think can be streamlined and put into a much better format so that if we do continue them they can be more useful, in public schools, community colleges, and colleges and universities. I would like to take a hard look at every part of the federal government and really do the kind of analysis that would rebuild some confidence in people that we're taking a hard look about what we have, you know, and what we don't need anymore. And that's what I intend to do. +p134 +aVLook, I think we are readier than we used to be, but it's a constant effort that has to be undertaken to make sure we are as ready as we need to be. We have made a lot of improvements in our domestic security since 9/11, and we have been able to foil and prevent attacks, yet we see the terrible attack in San Bernardino and know that we haven't done enough. So we have to go after this both abroad and at home. We have to go after terrorist networks, predominantly +p135 +aVIf I could just respond. Two points. One, Senator Sanders voted in 1998 on what I think is fair to call a regime change resolution with respect to Iraq, calling for the end of Saddam Hussein's regime. He voted in favor of regime change with Libya, voted in favor of the Security Council being an active participate in setting the parameters for what we would do, which of course we followed through on. I do not believe a vote in 2002 is a plan to defeat +p136 +aVYou did support a U.N. Security Council approach, which we did follow up on. And, look, I think it's important to look at what the most important counterterrorism judgment of the first four years of the Obama administration was, and that was the very difficult decision as to whether or not to advise the president to go after bin Laden. I looked at the evidence. I looked at the intelligence. I got the briefings. I recommended that the president go forward. It was a hard choice. Not all of his top national security advisors agreed with that. And at the end of the day, it was the president's decision. So he had to leave the Situation Room after hearing from the small group advising him and he had to make that decision. I'm proud that I gave him that advice. And I'm very grateful to the brave Navy +p137 +aVWell, I know journalists have asked who you do listen to on foreign policy, and we have yet to know who that is. +p138 +aVThat's fine. That's fine. You know, I listen to a wide variety of voices that have expertise in various areas. I think it is fair to say, whatever the complaints that you want to make about him are, that with respect to China, one of the most challenging relationships we have, his opening up China and his ongoing relationships with the leaders of China is an incredibly useful relationship for the United States of America. So if we want to pick and choose \u2014 and I certainly do \u2014 people I listen to, people I don't listen to, people I listen to for certain areas, then I think we have to be fair and look at the entire world, because it's a big, complicated world out there. +p139 +aVAnd, yes, people we may disagree with on a number of things may have some insight, may have some relationships that are important for the president to understand in order to best protect the United States. +p140 +aVWell, with respect to Syria, I really do appreciate the efforts that Secretary Kerry has made. The agreement on humanitarian relief now needs to be implemented, because there are enclaves that are literally filled with starving people throughout Syria. The agreement on a cease-fire, though, is something that has to be implemented more quickly than the schedule that the Russians agreed to. You know, the Russians wanted to buy time. Are they buying time to continue their bombardment on behalf of the Assad regime to further decimate what's left of the opposition, which would be a grave disservice to any kind of eventual cease-fire? So I know Secretary Kerry is working extremely hard to try to move that cease-fire up as quickly as possible. But I would add this. You know, the Security Council finally got around to adopting a resolution. At the core of that resolution is an agreement I negotiated in June of 2012 in Geneva, which set forth a cease-fire and moving toward a political resolution, trying to bring the parties at stake in Syria together. This is incredibly complicated, because we've got Iran as a big player, in addition to Russia. We have Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and others who have very important interests in their view. This is one of the areas I've disagreed with Senator Sanders on, who has called for Iranian troops trying to end civil war in Syria, which I think would be a grave mistake. Putting Iranian troops right on the border of the Golan right next to Israel would be a nonstarter for me. Trying to get Iran and Saudi Arabia to work together, as he has suggested in the past, is equally a nonstarter. So let's support what Secretary Kerry and the president are doing, but let's hope that we can accelerate the cease-fire, because I fear that the Russians will continue their bombing, try to do everything they can to destroy what's left of the opposition. And remember, the Russians have not gone after +p141 +aVWell, I respectfully disagree. I think we have achieved a great deal with the Iranian nuclear agreement to put a lid on the Iranian nuclear weapons program. That has to be enforced absolutely with consequences for Iran at the slightest deviation from their requirements under the agreement. I do not think we should promise or even look toward normalizing relations because we have a lot of other business to get done with Iran. Yes, they have to stop being the main state sponsor of terrorism. Yes, they have to stop trying to destabilize the Middle East, causing even more chaos. Yes, they've got to get out of Syria. They've got to quit sponsoring Hezbollah and Hamas. They have got to quit trying to ship rockets into Gaza that can be used against Israel. We have a lot of work to do with Iran before we ever say that they could move toward normalized relations with us. +p142 +aV... Senator Sanders, from a debate in 2008, quote what I said. The question was, would you meet with an adversary without conditions? I said no. And in fact, in Obama administration, we did not meet with anybody without conditions. That is the appropriate approach in order to get the results that you are seeking. +p143 +aVWell, I was pleased that +p144 +aVI certainly agree with FDR for all the reasons Senator Sanders said. And I agree about the role that he played both in war and in peace on the economy and defeating fascism around the world. I would choose Nelson Mandela for his generosity of heart, his understanding of the need for reconciliation. But I want to \u2014 I want to follow up on something having to do with leadership, because, you know, today Senator Sanders said that President Obama failed the presidential leadership test. And this is not the first time that he has criticized President Obama. In the past he has called him weak. He has called him a disappointment. He wrote a forward for a book that basically argued voters should have buyers' remorse when it comes to President Obama's leadership and legacy. And I just couldn't agree \u2014 disagree more with those kinds of comments. You know, from my perspective, maybe because I understand what President Obama inherited, not only the worst financial crisis but the antipathy of the Republicans in Congress, I don't think he gets the credit he deserves for being a president......who got us out of that......put us on firm ground, and has sent us into the future. And it is a \u2014 the kind of criticism that we've heard from Senator Sanders about our president I expect from Republicans. I do not expect from someone running for the Democratic nomination to succeed President Obama. +p145 +aVYou know, Senator, what I am concerned about, is not disagreement on issues, saying that this is what I would rather do, I don't agree with the president on that, calling the president weak, calling him a disappointment, calling several times that he should have a primary opponent when he ran for re-election in 2012, you know, I think that goes further than saying we have our disagreements. As a senator, yes, I was a senator. I understand we can disagree on the path forward. But those kinds of personal assessments and charges are ones that I find particularly troubling. +p146 +aVYou know, we \u2014 we agree that we've got to get unaccountable money out of politics. We agree that Wall Street should never be allowed to wreck Main Street again. But here's the point I want to make tonight. I am not a single-issue candidate, and I do not believe we live in a single-issue country. I think that a lot of what we have to overcome to break down the barriers that are holding people back, whether it's poison in the water of the children of Flint, or whether it's the poor miners who are being left out and left behind in coal country, or whether it is any other American today who feels somehow put down and oppressed by racism, by sexism, by discrimination against the +p147 +aVWell, I'm happy to be here in New Hampshire for this debate, as we move toward the primary on Tuesday. I believe that America has the opportunity to once again live by our values, live up to our values in the 21st century, but I think that America can only do that if Americans can succeed. And there are lots of reasons why Americans today are feeling left out and left behind. Yes, of course, the economy has not been working for most Americans. Yes, of course, we have special interests that are unfortunately doing too much to rig the game. But there's also the continuing challenges of racism, of sexism, of discrimination against the +p148 +aVWell, let me start by saying that Senator Sanders and I share some very big progressive goals. I've been fighting for universal healthcare for many years, and we're now on the path to achieving it. I don't want us to start over again. I think that would be a great mistake, to once again plunge our country into a contentious debate about whether we should have and what kind of system we should have for healthcare. I want to build on the progress we've made; got from 90 percent coverage to 100 percent coverage. And I don't want to rip away the security that people finally have; 18 million people now have healthcare; preexisting conditions are no longer a bar. So we have a difference. I also believe in affordable college, but I don't believe in free college, because every expert that I have talked to says, look, how will you ever control the costs. What I want to do is make sure middle class kids, not Donald Trump's kids, get to be able to afford college. I want to get the economy going again. It's not just enough about what we're against, as important as that is. I have a plan to create new jobs, manufacturing, infrastructure, clean energy jobs that will make us the 21st century clean energy super power. I also want to make sure small businesses can start and grow again. And of course, I believe in raising the minimum wage and equal pay for work. But the numbers just don't add up, from what Senator Sanders has been proposing. That's why all of the independent experts, all of the editorial boards that have vetted both of us have concluded that it is just not achievable. Let's go down a path where we can actually tell people what we will do. A progressive is someone who makes progress. That's what I intend to do. +p149 +aVIf I could just follow up on that. There is no disagreement between us on universal coverage for health care, the disagreement is where do we start from and where do we end up. The Republicans want to repeal the Affordable Care Act, I want to improve it. I want to build on it, get the costs down, get prescription drug costs down. Senator Sanders wants us to start all over again. This was a major achievement of President Obama, of our country. It is helping people right now. I am not going to wait and have us plunge back into a contentious national debate that has very little chance of succeeding. Let's make the Affordable Care Act work for everybody. +p150 +aVWell because I am a progressive who gets things done. And the root of that word, progressive, is progress. But I've heard Senator Sanders comments, and it's really caused me to wonder who's left in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Under his definition, President Obama is not progressive because he took donations from Wall Street; Vice President Biden is not progressive because she supported Keystone; Senator Shaheen is not progressive because she supports the trade pact. Even the late, great Senator Paul Wellstone would not fit this definition because he voted for +p151 +aVWell, Chuck... +p152 +aV... If I could, you know, in the very first debate I was asked am I a moderate or a progressive and I said I'm a progressive who likes to get things done. Cherry picking a quote here or there doesn't change my record of having fought for racial justice, having fought for kids rights, having fought the kind of inequities that fueled my interest in service in the first place going back to my days in the Children's Defense Fund. It certainly didn't stop me from taking on the drug companies and the insurance companies. Before it was called Hillarycare\u2014I mean, before it was called ObamaCare it was called Hillarycare because we took them on, and we weren't successful, but we kept fighting and we got the children's health insurance program. Every step along the way I have stood up, and fought, and have the scars to prove it. So, again......I think it's important that, look, I understand Senator Sanders really trying to distinguish himself. I understand that, that's what you do in campaigns, but at the same time let's not be\u2014in, I think an unfair way, making an accusation, or making an attack about where I stand and about where I've always stood. It is fair to say, Senator, that in your definition, as you being the self-proclaimed gatekeeper for progressivism, I don't know anyone else who fits that definition, but I know a lot of really hard fighting progressives in the Democratic party who have stood up time, and time again against special interests, against the powerful on behalf of those who are left behind and left out. And, that's what we ought to be celebrating. Let's talk about what we would do as President, and Commander in Chief to make sure the progress continues into the future. +p153 +aV... Well, you began it yesterday with your comments... +p154 +aVYou know, the person who first put out the idea of a 50-state party strategy is former Governor Howard Dean, who is with us tonight. And I'm very proud and grateful to have the support of so many elected Vermonters and former officials. Two former governors, the current governor, the current other senator. I really appreciate that. And I think it's because they've worked with me, they've seen what I do. They know what kind of a colleague I am. They want me as their partner in the White House. And that's exactly what I will do. We'll get things done together. Democrats, Republicans, independents, we're going to make progress together when I'm president. +p155 +aVWell, look, I've got to just jump in here because, honestly, Senator Sanders is the only person who I think would characterize me, a woman running to be the first woman president, as exemplifying the establishment. And I've got to tell you that it is......it is really quite amusing to me. People support me because they know me. They know my life's work. They have worked with me and many have also worked with Senator Sanders. And at the end of the day they endorse me because they know I can get things done. I am not going to make promises I can't keep. I am not going to talk about big ideas like single-payer and then not level with people about how much it will cost. A respected health economist said that these plans would cost a trillion dollars more a year. I'm not going to tell people that I will raise your incomes and not your taxes, and not mean it, because I don't want to see the kind of struggle that the middle class is going through exemplified by these promises that would raise taxes and make it much more difficult for many, many Americans to get ahead and stay ahead. That is not my agenda. +p156 +aVYeah, but I\u2014I think it's fair to really ask what's behind that comment. You know, Senator Sanders has said he wants to run a positive campaign. I've tried to keep my disagreements over issues, as it should be. But time and time again, by innuendo, by insinuation, there is this attack that he is putting forth, which really comes down to\u2014you know, anybody who ever took donations or speaking fees from any interest group has to be bought. And I just absolutely reject that, Senator. And I really don't think these kinds of attacks by insinuation are worthy of you. And enough is enough. If you've got something to say, say it directly. But you will not find that I ever changed a view or a vote because of any donation that I ever received. +p157 +aVAnd I have stood up and I have represented my constituents to the best of my abilities, and I'm very proud of that. +p158 +aVSo I think it's time to end the very artful smear that you and your campaign have been carrying out... +p159 +aV... in recent weeks, and let's talk......let's talk about about the issues. Let's talk about the issues that divide us. +p160 +aVAnd let's\u2014let's... +p161 +aV... we both agree with campaign finance reform. +p162 +aVI\u2014I worked hard for McCain-Feingold. +p163 +aVI want to reverse Citizens United. +p164 +aVAnd so\u2014let's talk about issues. +p165 +aVWell, you know, Senator, I don't think\u2014I don't... +p166 +aV... I don't think you could find any person in political life today who has been subjected to more attacks and had more money spent against her by special interests, among whom you have named a few, than I. And I'm proud of that. You know, when I took on the drug companies and the insurance companies for universal health care coverage, they went after me with a vengeance. Today, you've got hedge fund billionaires aligned with Karl Rove, running ads against me to try to get Democrats to vote for you. I know this game. I'm going to stop this game. But while we're talking about votes, you're the one who voted to deregulate swaps and derivatives in 2000, which contributed to the over-leveraging of Lehman Brothers, which was one of the culprits that brought down the economy. So I don't know\u2014I'm not impugning your motive because you voted to deregulate swaps and derivatives. People make mistakes and I'm certainly not saying you did it for any kind of financial advantage. What we've got to do as Democrats\u2014what we've got to do as Democrats is to be united to actually solve these problems. And what I believe is that I have a better track record and a better opportunity to actually get that job done. That's what this election should be about. +p167 +aVOn the issue of Wall Street. +p168 +aVWell you know, Rachel, I think I may not have done the job I should in explaining my record. You know, I did\u2014when I left the secretary of State's office, like so many former officials, military leaders, journalists, others, I did go on the speaking circuit. I spoke to heart doctors, I spoke to the American Camping Association, I spoke to auto dealers, and yes, I spoke to firms on Wall Street. They wanted me to talk about the world, what my experience had been as secretary of State. But what I want people to know is I went to Wall Street before the crash. I was the one saying you're going to wreck the economy because of these shenanigans with mortgages. I called to end the carried interest loophole that hedge fund managers enjoy. I proposed changes in CEO compensation. I called for a consumer protection financial bureau before it was created. And I think the best evidence that the Wall Street people at least know where I stand and where I have always stood is because they are trying to beat me in this primary. They have collected and spent as much as $6 million on these ads. Hedge fund billionaires, Karl Rove, another billionaire, jumped in. And why are they doing that? These are guys who try to make smart investments. They know my record, they know me, they know that I say what I believe and I will do it. And I also have a pretty good understanding about how to stop them. So I do want people to know that, and I think it's important for everybody to understand I have a record, I have stood firm and I will be the person who prevents them from ever wrecking the economy again. +p169 +aVIf I could, let me just say that of course it has to change. It has to change. And that's why I have put forward a plan to do just that. And it's been judged to be the toughest, most effective and comprehensive one. I have great respect for Senator Sanders's commitment to try to restore Glass-Steagall. But I do not believe that that is enough. And in fact, I don't believe it really addresses a lot of the biggest issues we have. You know, we now have power under the Dodd-Frank legislation to break up banks. And I've said I will use that power if they pose a systemic risk. But I want to go further, because it was investment banks, it was insurance companies, it was mortgage companies, all of which contributed. So let's not just be narrowly focused on one part of the problem. We have a lot of issues with corporate power that have to be addressed. My plan takes us further and it would do the job. +p170 +aVLook we have a law\u2014look, you know, I\u2014I appreciate the senator's advocacy. We have a law. It was passed. It was signed by President Obama. It lays out a process that you go through to determine whether a systemic risk is posed. And by the way, President Obama signed that, pushed it through, even though he took donations from Wall Street, because he's a responsible president. So we have a law in place. If the circumstances warrant it, I will certainly use it. And from what you say, I know you will as well. But that is not enough. And I keep going back to this because part of the reason the Wall Street guys are trying so hard to stop me\u2014the hedge fund guys, the shadow banking guys\u2014is because I've got their number on all of that. And my plan goes so much further to try to prevent the problems of the future. You know, we can't just fight the last war. We've got to be prepared to stop these guys if they ever try to use their economic power once again, to hurt the economy, and to hurt so many Americans. And my plan, Paul Krugman, Barney Frank, a lot of experts who understand what the new challenges might be, have said I am exactly on point, and the Wall Street guys actually know that. +p171 +aVI will look into it. I don't know the status, but I will certainly look into it. But, I can only repeat what is the fact that I spoke to a lot of different groups with a lot of different constituents, a lot of different kinds of members about issues that had to do with world affairs. I probably described more times than I can remember how stressful it was advising the President about going after Bin Laden. My view on this is look at my record. Look at what I am proposing, and\u2014we have a vigorous agreement here. We both want to reign in the excesses of Wall Street. I also want to reign in the excesses of Johnson Controls that we bailed out when they were an autoparts company, and we saved the auto industry, and now they want to avoid paying taxes. I want to go after the pharmaceutical companies like Valeant, and Turns that are increasing prices without any regard to the impact on people's health. Now, if all we're going to talk about is one part of our economy, and indeed one streak in our economy, we're missing the big oil companies. We're missing other big energy companies. We're missing the big picture, and I have a record of trying to go at the problems that actually exist, and I will continue to do that. +p172 +aV... Well, Senator, no one wants to see that happen. I mean, look, I care deeply about this because just like you I have met so many people who had their life savings wiped out, who lost their homes, who are barely back with their heads above water. This was a disaster for our country, and we can never let that happen again. We have no disagreement about this. But, I think it's a broader target list than just Wall Street, and I believe that we have to be very focused on how we try to take back the power and increase the empowerment of the American people. And, I think I have that kind of experience, maybe because they've beat me up for so many years, and I know exactly how to handle them because I've been in the arena with them time and time again. +p173 +aVWell, I think what the president understands, and what he's trying to do, is that we have to support the Arab and Kurdish fighters on the ground who are actually doing the fighting. I agree with the president. I've said myself, we will not send American combat troops back to either Syria or Iraq\u2014that is off the table. But we do have special forces, we do have trainers, we do have the military personnel who are helping with the airstrikes that the United States is leading so that we can try to take out +p174 +aVNo. I mean, of course that's a theoretical question, and we don't know what it would be for, and we don't know how many numbers there are. I am against American combat troops being in Syria and Iraq. I support special forces. I support trainers. I support the air campaign. And I think we're making some progress. I want to continue to intensify that, and that's exactly what the president is doing. +p175 +aVIf I could\u2014if I could... +p176 +aV... respectfully add\u2014look, we did differ. A vote in 2002 is not a plan to defeat +p177 +aVOh, absolutely. The president decided to leave more troops than he had originally planned in Afghanistan. We have a very cooperative government there, with Ashraf Ghani and his top\u2014his top partner, Abdullah. And they are doing their very best. And the Afghan army is actually fighting. The Afghan army is taking heavy losses defending Afghan territory. And I would have to make an evaluation based on the circumstances at the time I took office as to how much help they continue to need. Because it's not just the Taliban. We now are seeing outposts of, you know, fighters claiming to be affiliated with +p178 +aVA group of national security experts, military intelligence experts, issued a very concerning statement about Senator Sanders's views on foreign policy and national security, pointing out some of the comments he has made on these issues, such as inviting Iranian troops into Syria to try to resolve the conflict there; putting them right at the doorstep of Israel. Asking Saudi Arabia and Iran to work together, when they can't stand each other and are engaged in a proxy battle right at this moment. So I do think questions have been raised and questions have to be answered because when New Hampshire voters go on Tuesday to cast your vote, you are voting both for a president and a commander in chief. And there is no way to predict what comes in the door of that White House from day to day that can pose a threat to the United States or one of our friends and allies, and I think this is a big part of the job interview that we are all conducting with the voters here. +p179 +aVWell, let me just add that, you know, I've said this before and I'm very proud of it, that when it comes to judgment, having run a hard race against Senator Obama at the time, he turned to me to be secretary of State. And when it comes to the biggest counterterrorism issues that we faced in this administration, namely whether or not to go after bin Laden, I was at that table, I was exercising my judgment to advise the president on what to do, on that, on Iran, on Russia on China, on a whole raft of issues. Because I know from my own experience that you've got to be ready on day one. There is just too much unpredictable threat and danger in the world today, you know, to try to just say wait, I'll get to that when I can. That is just not an acceptable approach. +p180 +aVAbsolutely. You know, I did put together the coalition to impose sanctions. I actually started the negotiations that led to the nuclear agreement, sending some much my closest aides to begin the conversations with the Iranians. I'm very pleased we got that nuclear agreement. It puts a lid on the nuclear weapons program. We have to enforce it, there have to be consequences attached to it. But that is not our only problem with Iran. We have to figure out how to deal with Iran as the principal state sponsor of terrorism in the world. They are destabilizing governments in the region. They continue to support Hezbollah and Hamas in Lebanon against Israel. A lot of work that we have do is going to be incredibly hard. I'm prepared to do that work, but I believe, just as I did with imposing the sanctions, you have to get action for action. If we were to normalize relations right now, we would remove one of the biggest pieces of leverage we have to try to influence and change Iranian behavior. The president doesn't think we should. I certainly don't think we should. I believe we have to take this step by step to try to reign in Iranian aggression, their support for terrorism and the other bad behavior that can come back and haunt us. +p181 +aVWell Senator, let me just correct the record if I can. You know\u2014let me correct the record. +p182 +aVAs I\u2014as I certainly recall, the question was to meet with without conditions. And you're right, I was against that. I was against it then I would be against it now. +p183 +aVPart of diplomacy, the hard work of diplomacy is trying to extract whatever concessions you can get, and giving something the other side wants. Of course you've got to try to make peace with, and work with those who are your adversaries, but you don't just rush in, open the door, and say, "Here I am. Let's talk and make a deal." That's not the way it works. +p184 +aV... Well, we set conditions on Iran. We worked hard to get them established, and to be enforced, and then we talked. That's exactly the right......and, that's what I did with the President, so he and I are on the very same page. +p185 +aVI haven't talked to Secretary Carter, but here's what I would think he's planning. We do have the nuclear weapons agreement with Iran, that's an enforcement consequence, action for action, follow on. We have a plan, we will watch them, we will be vigilant. We do have to worry about North Korea. They continue to develop their nuclear weapons capability, and they're working very hard on their ballistic missile capability. And, I know that some of those plans could very well lead to a missile that might reach Hawaii, if not the West Coast. We do have to try to get the countries in the region to work with us to do everything we can to confine, and constrain them. But, what Secretary Carter is looking at is the constant pressure that Russia's putting on our European allies. The way that Russia is trying to move the boundaries of the post-World War II Europe. The way that he is trying to set European countries against one another, seizing territory, holding it in Crimea. Beginning to explore whether they could make some inroads in the Baltics. We know that they are deeply engaged in supporting Assad because they want to have a place in the Middle East. They have a naval base, they have an air base in Syria. They want to hang on to that. I think what Secretary Carter is seeing, and I'm glad he is, is that we got to get +p186 +aVWell, first of all, I'm absolutely against privatizing the V.A. And I am going do everything I can to build on the reforms that Senator Sanders and others in Congress have passed to try to fix what's wrong with the V.A. There are a lot of issues about wait times and services that have to be fixed because our veterans deserve nothing but the best. But you're absolutely right, you know, Rachel, this is another part of the Koch brothers agenda. They've actually formed an organization to try to begin to convince Americans we should no longer have guaranteed health care, specialized care for our veterans. I will fight that as hard as I can. I think there's where we can enlist the veterans service organizations, the veterans of America, because, yes, let's fix the V.A., but we will never let it be privatized, and that is a promise. +p187 +aVWhatever they decide to do, that's fine. +p188 +aVAll right. +p189 +aVI can only tell you what I believe, and that is that I am the strongest candidate to take it to the Republicans and win in November. And I say that with great\u2014with great respect for the campaign that Senator Sanders has been running. I personally am thrilled at the numbers of people, and particularly young people who are coming to support your campaign. I hope that I will be able to earn their support. They may not support me now, but I support them and we'll work together. But what I'm concerned about is the views of many Democrats who know their states, who know how hard it is to win a general election. And it also will push whoever the nominee is into the spotlight. I've been vetted. There's hardly anything you don't know about me. And I think it's fair to say that whoever is in that position, Senator Sanders or anyone else who might have run, will face the most withering onslaught. So, I think that I am the person who can do all aspects of the job. I think I'm the person best prepared to take the case to the Republicans. And I think that at the end of the day, it's not so much electability. It is who the American people can believe can keep them safe, can get the economy moving again, can get incomes rising, can build on the progressive accomplishments of President Obama. And I think that the coalition that President Obama put together to win twice is a coalition that I can put together and add to. And that's what I'm prepared to... +p190 +aVAbsolutely I can. You know, before it was emails, it was Benghazi, and the Republicans were stirring up so much controversy about that. And I testified for 11 hours, answered their questions. They basically said yeah, didn't get her. We tried. That was all a political ploy. Now, we had a development in the email matter today when it came out that Secretary Powell and close aides to Former Secretary Rice used private e-mail accounts. and now you have these people in the government who are doing the same thing to Secretary Powell and Secretary Rice's aide they've been doing to me, which is that I never sent or received any classified material. They are retroactively classifying it. I agree completely with Secretary Powell, who said today this is an absurdity. And so I think the American people will know it's an absurdity. I have absolutely no concerns about it whatsoever. +p191 +aVI am 100 percent confident. This is a security review that was requested. It is being carried out. It will be resolved. But I have to add if there's going to be a security review about me, there's going to have to be security reviews about a lot of other people, including Republican office holders, because we've got this absurd situation of retroactive classifications. Honest to goodness, this is\u2014this just beggars the imagination. So I have absolutely no concerns about it, but we've got to get to the bottom of what's really going on here, and I hope that will happen. +p192 +aVNo. +p193 +aVYes, I do. And\u2014you know, what I hope the Supreme Court will do is make it absolutely clear that any state that continues capital punishment either must meet the highest standards of evidentiary proof of effective assistance of counsel or they cannot continue it because that, to me, is the real dividing line. I have much more confidence in the federal system, and I do reserve it for particularly heinous crimes in the federal system, like terrorism. I have strong feelings about that. I thought it was appropriate after a very thorough trial that Timothy McVeigh received the death penalty for blowing up the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people, including 19 children in a daycare center. I do for very limited, particularly heinous crimes believe it is an appropriate punishment, but I deeply disagree with the way that too many states are still implementing it. If it were possible to separate the federal from the state system by the Supreme Court, that would, I think, be an appropriate outcome. +p194 +aVAbsolutely. Absolutely. You know, Rachel, you and I have talked about this before. I thank you for going to Flint to hold that town hall. I will be in Flint at the Mayor's invitation on Sunday to get an in depth briefing about what is, and is not happening. This is an emergency. Everyday that goes by that these people, particularly the children, are not tested so we can know what steps must be taken to try to remediate the effects of the poisoning that they have been living with is a day lost in a child's life. I know from the work that I've done over so many years, lead, the toxic nature of lead can affect you brain development, your body development, your behavior. I absolutely believe that what is being done is not sufficient. We need to be absolutely clear about everything that should be done from today to tomorrow, into the future to try to remedy the terrible burden that the people of Flint are barring. That includes fixing their pipes, it includes guaranteeing whatever healthcare and educational embellishments they may need going forward, and I think the federal government has way where it can bill the state of Michigan. If Michigan won't do it, there have to be ways that we can begin to move, and then make them pay for it, and hold them accountable. +p195 +aVYou know, Chuck, I've only had responsibility for voting for trade agreements as a senator. And I voted a multinational trade agreement when I was senator, the +p196 +aVWell, I\u2014I don't accept that premise, Chuck. I think that we've got so much business we have to do. We've talked a lot tonight about what we're against\u2014we're against income inequality. We're against the abuses of powerful interests. We're against a lot of things. I'm for a lot of things. I don't want to just stop bad things from happening, I want to start good things from happening. And I believe, if I'm so fortunate to get the nomination, I will begin to work immediately on putting together an agenda, beginning to talk with members of Congress and others about how we can push forward. I want to have half a billion more solar panels deployed, the first four years. I want to have enough clean energy to power every home the next four years. I want us to keep working on the Affordable Care Act, to get not only to 100 percent coverage, but bring down the costs of prescription drugs and out-of-pocket costs. I want to move forward on paid family leave, on early childhood education, I want us to do more for small businesses. Small businesses have to create most of the jobs, and we're not creating and growing small businesses. I think, if you have a smart agenda, you pick the committees that you know have to begin to work on these various pieces\u2014because that's the way Congress is set up. You go through different committees, and you really make a big push in the beginning. Immigration reform, economic revitalization with manufacturing, with infrastructure\u2014we put it out there, and we begin to work on an ambitious, big, bold agenda that will actually produce the results that I want to see for our country. +p197 +aVThe answer to both of those is no. I'm interested in making what we have work better. I want to streamline programs that are duplicative and redundant. I want to have a top-to-bottom review about what works and what doesn't work, and be absolutely clear we're getting rid of what doesn't work. I have had the opportunity to run a big agency. I was very flattered when Henry Kissinger said I ran the State Department better\u2014better than anybody had run it in a long time. So I have an idea of what it's going to take to make our government work more efficiently. And when you put together a budget, you have to make a lot of hard decisions, but I think it's not appropriate to say "I'm going to get rid of this, get rid of that" until you have a very good process that gives you the information about what to do. But I want to add something else, you know, because look, we have so much work to do in our country, and I think it's the greatest work that Americans will be called to do. And of course, we have to have people in every community involved in it. We have to have the political voice, the political grassroots speaking up and speaking out about what we have to try to accomplish in Washington. But we also need to have a very clear set of goals that we are going to achieve, and we need to level with the American people about what they are, what they will cost, what will be expected of our citizenry. So I see as president having a constant dialogue with Americans here's what we're trying to get done, here's why I need your help, here's why you may think comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship isn't something you care about, but I'm telling you it will help fix the labor market, it will bring people out of the shadows\u2014 +p198 +aVI never said that. +p199 +aVLook... +p200 +aVWell, I'm certainly going to unite the party, but I'm not\u2014I'm not getting ahead of myself. I think that would be a little bit presumptuous. If I'm so fortunate as to be the nominee, the first person I will call to talk to about where we go and how we get it done will be Senator Sanders. +p201 +aVThat's true. That's true. +p202 +aVWell first, thanks to +p203 +asVMADDOW +p204 +(lp205 +VWe are super excited to be here at the University of New Hampshire. Tonight, this is the first time that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have squared off exactly like this. Face-to-face, just one-on-one, just the two of them. +p206 +aVAnd we do hope that the candidates will take this opportunity to show us the distinctions\u2014show us the differences between them. That's the whole reason that we're here tonight. We're not here for talking points. We're to learn about the difference between the candidates. And with that, let's get going. Please join us in welcoming Secretary Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders. +p207 +aVAnd with that, that's it. We're going to begin with 60- second opening statements from each of the candidates. And as agreed to in advance by the two campaigns, we're going to begin tonight with Senator Sanders. +p208 +aVSecretary Clinton, Senator Sanders is campaigning against you now, at this point in the campaign, basically arguing that you are not progressive enough to be the Democratic nominee. He has said that if you voted for the Iraq war, if you are in favor of the death penalty, if you wobbled on things like the Keystone Pipeline or TPP, if you said single payer health care could never happen, then you're too far to the right of the Democratic Party to be the party's standard bearer. Given those policy positions, why should liberal Democrats support you and not Senator Sanders? +p209 +aVSenator Sanders, have you established a list of what it means to be a progressive that is unrealistic? +p210 +aVThank you Senator. +p211 +aVSenator Sanders, as a Vermonter, you have almost a home state advantage here in New Hampshire. But back home across the border, you also have a long history of running against Democrats as a third-party candidate, for governor, Senate, for Congress. In 1988 your candidacy as a third-party candidate arguably cost the Democrats a congressional seat and sent a Republican instead. How can you lead the Democratic Party nationally when you have not been a member of the Democratic Party until very recently? +p212 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p213 +aVSo, Senator, to that point, Secretary Clinton is raising the issue of endorsements by your home state Democrats. She's implying that that says something about the people who know you best. +p214 +aVHow do you see it? +p215 +aVSecretary. +p216 +aVSenator Sanders, you'll have 30 seconds to respond to that. +p217 +aVSenator Sanders, Secretary Clinton, obviously we've touched a nerve. We're going to be back with more on this subject, and much more, right after this. Stay with us. +p218 +aVSecretary Clinton, on the issue of Wall Street... +p219 +aV... on the issue of Wall Street, when our reporters go out and talk to people on the ground in the early states, what they tell us over and over again when they find voters who are leaning toward Senator Sanders rather than yourself is that the most frequent area of concern that they hear from those voters is the issue of Wall Street and whether or not you are too close to Wall Street. Last night, when you were asked about speaking fees and the amount of speaking fees you got from Goldman Sachs speeches, you said that's what they offered. Have you been too dismissive of voters' concerns about this issue in your own campaign and your own career? +p220 +aVSenator Sanders, you have been a critic of Secretary Clinton taking those speaking fees and having donations from Wall Street. What about her defense of her record? +p221 +aVSenator Sanders, let me turn to, I think, where this direction is heading anyway, which is the broader issue of big business and power in our political system. You on the campaign trail have railed against big name American corporations like Boeing, and General Electric, and Wal Mart. But, some big businesses in this country have also been part of advancing progressive goals like that nationwide initiative to expand employment opportunities for veterans. That was all about cooperation between the Obama administration and some very big business. The Affordable Care Act, some of the thorniest problems in that bill were worked out in cooperation with big business in order to accomplish progressive goals. Could you work with them, or have you made enemies of big business in this country with the way you've approached them in this campaign? +p222 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. And with that, we're going to take a break. +p223 +aVWelcome back\u2014welcome back to the Democratic candidates' debate. We're going to be talking about America in the world, both in terms of some trade issues, but also national security. And Secretary Clinton, we're going to start with you. There are more than 4,000 American troops back in Iraq right now as part of the fight against +p224 +aVTo be clear, to the specific question, if that strategic goal that you're describing requires considerably more of Americans\u2014an ever-increasing number of Americans in Iraq and maybe in Syria, are you OK with the numbers increasing? +p225 +aVThank you, Madam Secretary. +p226 +aVSecretary Clinton, at the\u2014at the last Democratic debate in Charleston\u2014I want to get specific here\u2014Senator Sanders called for moving as aggressively as we can to normalize relations with Iran. Your campaign has criticized him for saying that. Now that he's standing next to you here on this stage, can you explain why the U.S. shouldn't try to normalize relations in Iran in your view? +p227 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to ask you about a national security issue that is closer to home. There are thousands of veterans, over 100,000 veterans living in the state of New Hampshire. If either one of you is nominated as the Democratic Party's nominee, you will likely face a Republican opponent in the general election who wants to privatize or even abolish big parts of the V.A. It's a newly popular idea in conservative politics. How will you win the argument on that issue given the problems that have been exposed at the V.A. in the last few years? What's your argument that the V.A. should still exist and should not be privatized? +p228 +aVSenator Sanders, you, as a congressional leader on veterans issues and the Veterans Committee, you've worked in a very bipartisan way with Senator John McCain and others on veterans issues. Is the right contour of the fight, the way she's talking about this issue? +p229 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Sanders, Secretary Clinton, we're going to take another break. We'll be talking about Social Security and some of those other issues when we come back. +p230 +aVSenator\u2014Senator Sanders, in 1964... +p231 +aVIn 1964, I heard that the Republicans nominated Barry Goldwater, who was the hero of the conservative movement. He was, however, far to the right of most of that party. In 1972, the Democrats nominated George McGovern, who was a hero of liberals in the antiwar movement, but he was to the left of his party's mainstream. Both of those nominees made activists very excited, and they both got destroyed in the general election. Even Democrats who love you worry about your fate in a general election. And I know you have good head-to-head polling numbers against Republican frontrunners right now. We know that. But do you have a general election strategy that is different than the way you're running right now to try to get the nomination? +p232 +aVSecretary Clinton, your campaign surrogates, and people who have endorsed you, have suggested that or even said that if Senator Sanders is the nominee, that Democrats will suffer nationwide and the chances will go down of Democrats holding onto the White House. With him here standing next to you, can you tell us whether or not you believe he would win the general election if he were nominated? +p233 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. Senator, in December, one of your campaign staffers was fired from your campaign for taking voter data essentially from the Clinton campaign. You apologized for that when the incident was made public. Your campaign has now been criticized for its operatives essentially impersonating culinary union members wearing union pins in Nevada, and the Nashua Telegraph has complained recently that you falsely implied in an advertisement that they had endorsed you when they did not. None of these issues obviously is the end of the world, but they all are of a piece. Are you in some sense losing control of your campaign? +p234 +aVJust to follow up on that, the title of the ad in question was Endorsement. +p235 +aVSecretary Clinton, do you want 30 seconds on that issue? +p236 +aVAnd with that, we will . +p237 +aVWelcome back to the University of New Hampshire, and the Democratic candidates' debate. Secretary Clinton, on the issue of the death penalty, here in New Hampshire, the one person who is on death row is there for killing a police officer. It's a crime that has caused anguish in this state, both among death penalty opponents and death penalty supporters. The last time I had the chance to talk with you on this issue, on the death penalty, you said that capital punishment has a place in a very few federal cases, but you also said you would breathe a sigh of relief if the Supreme Court abolished the death penalty nationwide. Tonight, do you still support capital punishment, even if you do so reluctantly? +p238 +aVSenator Sanders, you have singled out the death penalty, and Senator Clinton's support for the death penalty, as an issue that makes it hard to consider as progressive in your mind... +p239 +aVAnother issue related to the proper role of government, and in this case, specifically the role of government between the federal government and the states. I want to talk for a moment about the issue of Flint, Michigan. On the Flint lead poisoning disaster, you have both been highly critical of Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan, and how the state in Michigan both caused the lead poisoning problem, and has not acted fast enough to fix it. You have both been outspoken on that. The fact is that Michigan though has not fixed it. There is no door to door delivery of clean water in Flint even today. Not a single lead pipe has been replaced in Flint, even today. If the state is failing, would you, Secretary Clinton, would you as President order a federal response to get it right over and above the wishes of the state? +p240 +aVSenator Sanders are there things the President could be doing? President Obama could be ordering, done, right now, in Flint, Michigan that are not being done that you as President would do? +p241 +aVSenator, thank you. +p242 +aVThe home stretch. +p243 +aVSecretary Clinton, Republicans, particularly in campaign years, often talk about which departments of government\u2014which agencies of government they would get rid of if they were elected president. The EPA, the Department of Education, the Commerce Department, oops\u2014is\u2014is there a department of government that you would get rid of? Or is there a whole new one that you would create? +p244 +aVThank you, Secretary Clinton. +p245 +aVThank you very much. Thank you. +p246 +aVWe also want to thank our host, the University of New Hampshire, and the people of New Hampshire. You guys get to vote in just five days. I can't wait to see how it turns out. Don't screw up. +p247 +asVIFILL +p248 +(lp249 +VWe want to also extend our warm thanks to Milwaukee Public Radio and Milwaukee Public Television, as well as all of our friends at the PBS member stations across the country tuning in tonight. This is the sixth time the Democrats have met face to face. Each time, we learn more about them and the presidents they say they want to be. You know you're watching \u2014 whether you're a Democrat, a Republican, or neither \u2014 because you believe the outcome of the election is important to you. And we believe that, too. With that, let's welcome the candidates to the stage. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. +p250 +aVWelcome to you both. +p251 +aVWith Iowa and New Hampshire behind us, we are now broadening the conversation to America's heartland and beyond, including here in Wisconsin. Now let's turn to the candidates for their opening statements. The order was decided by coin toss. And, Senator Sanders, you go first. +p252 +aVThank you, Senator Sanders. Thank you, Senator Sanders. Secretary Clinton. +p253 +aVFinal thought, Senator. +p254 +aVI'd like to move along. I'd like to move along. Secretary Clinton, you might \u2014 you also have proposed fairly expansive ideas about government. You may remember this pledge from a State of the Union Address at which I believe you were present, in which these words were said: "The era of big government is over." You may remember that. When asked your feelings about the federal government this week, 61 percent of New Hampshire Democrats told exit pollsters that they are angry or at least dissatisfied. Given what you and Senator Sanders are proposing, an expanding government in almost every area of our lives, is it fair for Americans who fear government to fear you? +p255 +aVBut I haven't heard either of you put a price tag on your \u2014 you say... +p256 +aVSenator? +p257 +aVSenator, do you worry at all that you will be the instrument of thwarting history, as Senator Clinton keeps claiming, that she might be the first woman president? +p258 +aVThank you both. We turn now to the first of several questions from our partners at Facebook. They were selected from a curated group of people we've been following of undecided voters. The first comes from Claudia Looze, a 54-year-old woman who works as a program manager at a public affairs cable network in Madison, Wisconsin. And she writes: "Wisconsin is number one in African-American male incarceration, according to a University of Wisconsin study. They found that Wisconsin's incarceration rate for black men, which is at 13 percent, was nearly double the country's rate. What can we do across the nation to address this?" Senator Sanders. +p259 +aVLet me turn this on its head, because when we talk about race in this country, we always talk about African-Americans, people of color. I want to talk about white people, OK? +p260 +aVI know. So many people will be surprised to find out that we are sitting in one of the most racially polarized metropolitan areas in the country. By the middle of this century, the nation is going to be majority nonwhite. Our public schools are already there. If working-class, white Americans are about to be outnumbered, are already underemployed in many cases, and one study found they are dying sooner, don't they have a reason to be resentful, Senator \u2014 Secretary Clinton? +p261 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, I want you to respond to that, but I also want you to \u2014 am I wrong? Is it even right to be describing this as a matter of race? +p262 +aVIf you would allow me now to move on, we've been talking about children. I want to talk about seniors. That takes us to our second Facebook question from Farheen Hakeem, who writes, "My father" \u2014 she's a 40-year-old woman who works for a nonprofit here in Milwaukee. And she writes, "My father gets just $16 in food assistance per month as part of Medicaid's family community program in Milwaukee County for low-income seniors. How will you as president work to ensure low-income seniors get their basic needs met?" Start with you, Senator Sanders. +p263 +aVSenator Sanders, are you saying... +p264 +aVThere's a lot more to come in just a few minutes. Stay with us for more of the PBS NewsHour Democratic Debate. +p265 +aVHow about you, Senator Clinton \u2014 Secretary Clinton? +p266 +aVWe spent the first part of this debate talking about domestic insecurity. The second part, we want to talk about our foreign policy insecurities. And we want to start with a question for you, Secretary Clinton, about America's role in the world. Americans are becoming increasingly worried that attacks abroad are coming home, that they already are, in fact, here. According to exit polls from last week, from earlier this week, more than two-thirds of Democrats in New Hampshire are concerned about sending their children to fight in wars they can't win. They fret that the next attack is just around the corner and we are not ready. Are we? +p267 +aVSenator Sanders... +p268 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p269 +aVLet me move on. You have both mentioned the humanitarian tragedies which have been an outgrowth in part of what has happened in Syria and in Libya. More than a million refugees entered Europe in 2015. Another 76,000 just last month, that is about 2,000 arrivals every day. Nearly 400 people have been lost at sea so far this year, crossing the Mediterranean. And there are reports that 10,000 children are missing. If we are leaders in this world, where should the U.S. be on this? What should the United States be doing, Secretary Clinton? +p270 +aVSenator, if you would like respond to \u2014 you may respond to that but it is time for closing statements and you can use your time for closing statements to do that. +p271 +aVThank you. Thank you Senator Clinton. Thank you, Senator Sanders. We also want to thank our partners at Facebook and our hosts here at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. +p272 +aVI'm going to remain here in Milwaukee tomorrow evening for a special edition of Washington Week here on PBS. +p273 +asVWOODRUFF +p274 +(lp275 +VGood evening, and thank you. We are happy to welcome you to Milwaukee for this Democratic debate. We are especially pleased to thank our partners at Facebook, who have helped us set up a vibrant conversation among voters who are undecided. And tonight you're going to hear some of their questions for the candidates. And you can follow along at home on the PBS NewsHour page on Facebook. We also want to thank our hosts, the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, on whose campus we meet, here in the beautiful Helen Bader Concert Hall. +p276 +aVWelcome, Senator, great to see you. And former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Very good to be here with you. +p277 +aVNow, a word about format. There will be two short breaks, and the rules are simple: 90 seconds for each answer and 30 seconds for the other candidate to respond. +p278 +aVThank you both. Thank you both. And we'll be right back after a short break to begin questions. +p279 +aVAnd, welcome back to this PBS Newshour debate, Democratic debate, here in Milwaukee. Let's get right to the questions. Senator Sanders, to you first. Coming off the results in Iowa and New Hampshire, there are many voters who are taking a closer look at you, and your ideas, and they're asking how big a role do you foresee for the federal government? It's already spending 21% of the entire U.S. economy. How much larger would government be in the lives of Americans under a Sanders presidency? +p280 +aVBut, my question is how big would government be? Would there be any limit on the size of the role of government... +p281 +aVNext, we're going to... +p282 +aVVery brief, thank you. +p283 +aVSecretary Clinton, your campaign \u2014 you and your campaign have made a clear appeal to women voters. You have talked repeatedly about the fact, we know you would be, if elected, the first woman president. But in New Hampshire 55 percent of the women voters supported and voted for Senator Sanders. What are women missing about you? +p284 +aVAs you know, just quickly, as you know, your strong supporter, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, said the other day that there's a special place in Hell for women who don't support other women. Do you agree with what she said? +p285 +aVSenator Sanders, you're in the minority, but we still want to hear from you. +p286 +aVFinal comment. +p287 +aVSecretary Clinton, I was talking recently with a 23 year old black woman who voted for President Obama because she said she thought relations between the races would get better under his leadership, and his example. Hardly anyone believes that they have. Why do you think race relations would be better under a Clinton presidency? What would you do that the nation's first African American has not been able to? +p288 +aVSenator Sanders? +p289 +aVSo race relation was be better under a Sanders presidency than they've been? +p290 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders, one of the causes of anxiety for working class Americans is connected to immigrants. President Obama, as you know, has issued executive actions to permit some 5 million undocumented immigrants who are living now in the United States to come out of the shadows without fear of deportation to get work permits. Would you go further than that? And if so, how specifically would you do it? Should an undocumented family watching this debate tonight, say, in Nevada, rest easy, not fear of further deportations under a Sanders presidency? +p291 +aVI'd like... +p292 +aVWe're going to move on. Secretary Clinton, your campaign has recently ramped up criticism of Senator Sanders for attending Democratic Party fundraisers from which you say he benefited. But nearly half of your financial sector donations appear to come from just two wealthy financiers, George Soros and Donald Sussman, for a total of about $10 million. You have said that there's no quid pro quo involved. Is that also true of the donations that wealthy Republicans give to Republican candidates, contributors including the Koch Brothers? +p293 +aVI'm asking if Democratic donors are different than Republican donors. +p294 +aVWe have to go to a break. We... +p295 +aVAll right. Thank you both. It is time for a break. And when we come back, we're going to turn to some new topics, including how these candidates will keep America safe. +p296 +aVWelcome back to the Democratic presidential debate. Before we return to our questions, we have a follow-up question from our Facebook group. And it is to Senator Sanders. Senator, it comes from Bill Corfield. He is a 55-year-old musician from Troy, Ohio. And he asks: "Are there any areas of government you would like to reduce?" +p297 +aVJust a final word. +p298 +aVSenator, let me \u2014 let me move on to another country with which the U.S. has a complicated relationship, Senator Sanders, and that's Russia. On the one hand, we're aware that Russia is a country that the United States needs to cooperate with. Just tonight, Secretary of State John Kerry has announced what appears to be an agreement with the Russians to lead \u2014 that could lead toward a ceasefire in Syria, would be the first cessation of conflict in that country, in that civil war in five years, but it comes at a very high price, because not only have all \u2014 have we seen the deaths, the removal of so many people, millions of people, we now see the Russians in the last few weeks have bombed in a way that benefits President Assad, has not gone after +p299 +aVAnd we have a final question from our Facebook family. And it goes to Senator Sanders. It comes from Robert Andrews. He's a 40-year-old stay-at-home dad in Dover, Massachusetts. He says, "The world has seen many great leaders in the course of human history. Can you name two leaders \u2014 one American and one foreign \u2014 who would influence your foreign policy decisions? And why do you see them as \u2014 why are they influential?" +p300 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p301 +aVAnd we want to thank our audience, our quiet audience here in Helen Bader Concert Hall, and to all of you watching at home. Thank you all. Stay tuned for analysis of the debate and the overall race for the Democratic nomination. That's coming up next here on PBS stations and online atPBS.org/NewsHour. +p302 +aVAnd I'm going to be returning to Washington. I hope you'll join us for the PBS NewsHour tomorrow and every night. That's it from all of us here in Milwaukee. We thank you. +p303 +asVTODD +p304 +(lp305 +VGood evening, and welcome to the +p306 +aVAnd neither party has seen this yet. These candidates are both running for the Democratic nomination, but they are very different from each other when it comes to what matters most and how they would go about the job of being president. Our job tonight is to draw out those differences so you, the voters, can understand them and be fully informed. +p307 +aVFirst, I want to say a special thanks to the New Hampshire Union Leader for helping make this debate possible, and the readers, who helped provide some of the questions and topics that we'll be addressing tonight. The rules tonight, by the way, are simple: 90 seconds for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. +p308 +aVThank you, Senator. Secretary Clinton. +p309 +aVAll right. Let's get started. Secretary Clinton, last night you cited the Concord Monitor when you said of Senator Sanders that, quote, "It's very hard to see how any of his proposals could ever be achievable." So please tell us why you think if he's elected president on a platform of promising things like free public college and universal healthcare, that he cannot achieve those things. +p310 +aVThank you, Secretary. Senator Sanders, so just explain how you spent nearly two decades in Congress and haven't gotten any of these things passed. Why do you think as president you'll be able to achieve big, big new programs like this? +p311 +aVGo. +p312 +aVYes, go ahead. +p313 +aVAll right, thank you both. Rachel. +p314 +aVI'd like to follow up on a comment that Secretary Clinton said, Senator. President Obama has not called for abolishing the death penalty. President Obama is for the big Asian trade deal known as TPP, and just yesterday you said you can't be both a moderate or a progressive, but you can't be both. Is President Obama, in your judgment, based on these policies positions, a progressive? +p315 +aV...Secretary Clinton, go ahead... +p316 +aV 30 seconds, and then we'll move. +p317 +aVThank you. +p318 +aV... Secretary, we're gonna... +p319 +aVThirty seconds. +p320 +aVThank you both. +p321 +aVAll right, welcome back. Let's get right to it. Senator Sanders, you were talking about all of your campaign contributions and campaign finance reform. You rail against big money in politics. But do you realize there is one public financing system that we do have in place, and it is\u2014it is in place to run for president. Why aren't you walking the walk on that? Why aren't you participating in the presidential public financing system which is designed to essentially keep big money out of presidential politics? +p322 +aVWell, going on that then, why criticize her on Super PACs, and you got\u2014and all this when it is\u2014you know, that's the system? I mean, you could be participating in a publicly-financing\u2014public financing system... +p323 +aV... and being able to set\u2014being able to set an example. +p324 +aV... she has had more people praise her plan than yours. +p325 +aVThank you both. Let me move on to our next question here, and in fact it comes to us through New England Cable News. Secretary Clinton, it's addressed to you, and it's about this issue of the speeches, particularly to Goldman Sachs. This is what the questioner wrote verbatim. "I am concerned with the abuses of Wall Street has taken with the American taxpayers money," and then she asks whether you would release the transcripts of your Goldman Sachs speeches, and then added, "Don't you think the voting public has a right to know what was said?" But, let's make that bigger. Are you willing to release the transcripts of all your paid speeches? We do know through reporting that there were transcription services for all of those paid speeches. In full disclosure, would you release all of them? +p326 +aVSenator, you sound like you want to respond. Go ahead. +p327 +aVWe'll be right back. And we're going to get to trade and a lot of other issues. +p328 +aVGo ahead, Senator Sanders\u201430 seconds, your response. +p329 +aVAll right. Senator, I want to stay, though... +p330 +aVGo ahead. 30 seconds. +p331 +aVLet me\u2014let\u2014we're gonna\u2014we're staying\u2014we're staying basically on this topic. Obviously you've been emphasizing this difference on the Iraq war, but one place where you do agree, and one place where you voted to authorize the use of force, was in favor of the war in Afghanistan. Right now, it is possible President Obama is going to be leaving the next president, perhaps President Sanders, at least 10,000 troops in Afghanistan. How long will those troops be in Afghanistan under President Sanders? +p332 +aVCan you address a question on Afghanistan? How long are these troops going to be there? If President Obama leaves you 10,000 troops, how long do you think they're going to be there? +p333 +aVSecretary Clinton, 30 seconds: How long are these troops going to be in Afghanistan? We have more American troops in Afghanistan than what we were talking about with Iraq. +p334 +aVYou know, Senator Sanders, nobody knows who your foreign policy advisers are. You haven't given a major foreign policy speech. And it doesn't sound like all the time that foreign policy is a priority, other than when you're asked about it, and you say you're going to crush +p335 +aVAll right, Senator, 30 seconds. +p336 +aV30 seconds, madam secretary. +p337 +aVAlright, as Commander in Chief, Senator Sanders, you've got to prioritize potential threats to the United States. Three countries, North Korea, Iran, Russia. How would you rank them in order of their threat to America's security right now... +p338 +aV... Starting with the biggest threat. +p339 +aV... I didn't say that... +p340 +aV... No... +p341 +aV... We already had that. I'm talking about these three countries. How would you orient our national security, our national defense posture. +p342 +aVSecretary of Defense Ash Carter this week picked one of those three, and he has said Russia is, basically, the most important national security threat. Sort of reorienting the defense and the challenges to that. Do you agree with his decisions... +p343 +aVSecretary Clinton, what do you think of Secretary of Defense Ash Carter. He's basically putting Russia above Iran, above North Korea, as sort of the chief national security challenge right now. +p344 +aVThank you both, Rachel? +p345 +aVAnd we are back. We're gonna get into a little bit of election politics, electability, in a little bit. Senator Sanders, The Iowa Democratic Party has declared Hillary Clinton the winner of Monday's Iowa caucuses\u2014narrowest of margins. Today, the Des Moines Register has an editorial that calls for the audit of the results, saying, quote, "what happened Monday night at the Democratic caucuses was a debacle, period. The results were too close not to do a complete audit." Senator Sanders, do you accept the idea that Hillary Clinton won Iowa? And do you\u2014or do you believe the caucuses are still an open question? +p346 +aVSecretary Clinton, will you participate in some sort of audit, if that's what the party wants to do? You good with that? +p347 +aVThat's fair enough. OK. +p348 +aVGood, we move on. We're happy with that. We have more questions. +p349 +aVWe'll stay on this issue. We'll stay on this topic. Secretary Clinton, just like there are some Democrats that question Senator Sanders' ability in the general election, many Democratic voters that our reporters have been running into in Iowa and New Hampshire, they tell our reporters over and over again they're worried about the emails issue, not because they don't believe your explanation, but because it's a drip-drip, because the cloud is hanging over your head and that it will impact the general election. They see your numbers right now and they think it's the email issue as to why you're not polling very well. So can you reassure these Democrats that somehow the email issue isn't going to blow up your candidacy if you're the nominee? +p350 +aVAll right, Madam Secretary, there is an open\u2014there is an open FBI investigation into this matter about how you may have handled classified material. Are you 100 percent confident that nothing is going to come of this FBI investigation? +p351 +aVWell, Senator sanders, you famously at the first debate said you didn't give a darn about her emails; I think you used another . +p352 +aVYou're right. I'm trying to\u2014it's a\u2014it's a family hour still right now. After 11:00, I'll say it the other way. And you mostly have refrained from commenting on it, but recently you called it a very serious issue, and then the other day you said well she's getting slapped with the email controversy. Are you\u2014how are you feeling about these darn emails now? +p353 +aVOK. Senator Sanders, thank you. +p354 +aVSecretary Clinton, let me turn to the issue of trade. In the '90s you supported +p355 +aVWell, Senator Sanders, I know you want to respond on this, you have never supported a trade deal since you've been in Congress. +p356 +aVBut if you do that as president... If you do that as president, how are you not essentially letting China, who will do all of these deals around the world, how are you going to prevent China from essentially setting the rules of trade for the world? +p357 +aVAll right. Thank you both. We're going to sneak in one more break here, and when we come back we'll squeeze as many questions as we can before we end this thing. We'll be right back. +p358 +aVAll right. Welcome back here in the final minutes. +p359 +aVThe home stretch of this only Democratic debate in the final week before the primary. Let me start with you, Secretary Clinton, on this question. Obviously, President Obama got a lot of ambitious stuff done in his first year and a half. You're going to have to make choices. And there's a lot of heavy lifts. And he made choices. He did healthcare and it came at the expense, arguably, of immigration reform. Had he put immigration reform first, perhaps that gets done and healthcare doesn't. So there are three big lifts that you've talked about: immigration, gun reform, climate change. What do you do first? Because you know the first one is the one you have the best shot at getting done. +p360 +aVAll right, but Senator Sanders......you've still got to do something first. As you know, history said\u2014shows what you pick first is your best shot at getting, and how you prioritize things. +p361 +aVImmigration reform, for instance, fell by the wayside in the first term because of this. +p362 +aVOK. Thank you. +p363 +aVAll right, before we go, I want to ask each one of these. Secretary Clinton, you've made it clear when you look at Senator Sanders, you do not see a president, but do you see\u2014 +p364 +aVBut do you see\u2014do you see a vice president? +p365 +aVWould you unite the party by trying to pick Senator Sanders as your running mate? +p366 +aVSenator, would you consider the secretary? +p367 +aVSecretary Clinton, closing statements. You are first. +p368 +aVThank you, Madam Secretary. Senator Sanders. +p369 +aVWell, there you have it. I promise you, Rachel and I have a lot more questions, but we just don't have any more time, unless we could a third hour, but I don't think so. Our debate coverage\u2014 debate coverage will continue in just a moment with our colleague . And we want to thank all of you for being here, and we want to thank the two candidates for taking part in this important event. +p370 +aVWe'll see you in a few minutes. Thank you. +p371 +as. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/downloads/data/script10.pickle b/downloads/data/script10.pickle new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c72c34b --- /dev/null +++ b/downloads/data/script10.pickle @@ -0,0 +1,6251 @@ +(dp0 +VCRAMER +p1 +(lp2 +VDr. Carson, in recent weeks, a number of pharmaceutical companies has been accused of profiteering, for dramatically raising the prices of life-saving drugs. You have spent a lifetime in medicine. Have these companies gone too far? Should the government be involved in controlling some of these price increases? +p3 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Governor Christie, there has been a lot of political rhetoric that some bank executives should have gone to jail for the 2008 financial crisis. But General Motors paid more than $1 billion in fines and settlements for its ignition switch defect. One hundred and twenty- four people died as a result of these faulty switches. No one went to jail. As a former prosecutor, do you believe the people responsible for the switch and the cover-up belong behind bars? +p4 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. +p5 +asVPERRY +p6 +(lp7 +VI will tell you one thing: I would whole lot rather had Carly Fiorina over there doing our negotiation than John Kerry. Maybe we would've gotten a deal where we didn't give everything away. But the issue for us is to have a Congress that stands up and says not only no, but hell no, to this money going to a regime that is going to use it for terror... +p8 +asVUNKNOWN +p9 +(lp10 +VIf you're not going to have my back, I'm going to have my back. +p11 +aVA couple things here. First of all... +p12 +aVWe have grown \u2014 we have grown... +p13 +aVTrue. It's true. +p14 +aV...let me follow up that... +p15 +aV +p16 +aVOh, great. +p17 +aV...In 2011, you told Forbes Magazine this: "I've used the laws of the country to my advantage." But at the same time, financial experts involved in those bankruptcies say that lenders to your companies lost billions of dollars. Question sir, with that record, why should we trust you to run the nation's business? +p18 +aVI do. +p19 +aVThank you. +p20 +asVIFILL +p21 +(lp22 +VWe want to also extend our warm thanks to Milwaukee Public Radio and Milwaukee Public Television, as well as all of our friends at the PBS member stations across the country tuning in tonight. This is the sixth time the Democrats have met face to face. Each time, we learn more about them and the presidents they say they want to be. You know you're watching \u2014 whether you're a Democrat, a Republican, or neither \u2014 because you believe the outcome of the election is important to you. And we believe that, too. With that, let's welcome the candidates to the stage. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. +p23 +aVWelcome to you both. +p24 +aVWith Iowa and New Hampshire behind us, we are now broadening the conversation to America's heartland and beyond, including here in Wisconsin. Now let's turn to the candidates for their opening statements. The order was decided by coin toss. And, Senator Sanders, you go first. +p25 +aVThank you, Senator Sanders. Thank you, Senator Sanders. Secretary Clinton. +p26 +aVFinal thought, Senator. +p27 +aVI'd like to move along. I'd like to move along. Secretary Clinton, you might \u2014 you also have proposed fairly expansive ideas about government. You may remember this pledge from a State of the Union Address at which I believe you were present, in which these words were said: "The era of big government is over." You may remember that. When asked your feelings about the federal government this week, 61 percent of New Hampshire Democrats told exit pollsters that they are angry or at least dissatisfied. Given what you and Senator Sanders are proposing, an expanding government in almost every area of our lives, is it fair for Americans who fear government to fear you? +p28 +aVBut I haven't heard either of you put a price tag on your \u2014 you say... +p29 +aVSenator? +p30 +aVSenator, do you worry at all that you will be the instrument of thwarting history, as Senator Clinton keeps claiming, that she might be the first woman president? +p31 +aVThank you both. We turn now to the first of several questions from our partners at Facebook. They were selected from a curated group of people we've been following of undecided voters. The first comes from Claudia Looze, a 54-year-old woman who works as a program manager at a public affairs cable network in Madison, Wisconsin. And she writes: "Wisconsin is number one in African-American male incarceration, according to a University of Wisconsin study. They found that Wisconsin's incarceration rate for black men, which is at 13 percent, was nearly double the country's rate. What can we do across the nation to address this?" Senator Sanders. +p32 +aVLet me turn this on its head, because when we talk about race in this country, we always talk about African-Americans, people of color. I want to talk about white people, OK? +p33 +aVI know. So many people will be surprised to find out that we are sitting in one of the most racially polarized metropolitan areas in the country. By the middle of this century, the nation is going to be majority nonwhite. Our public schools are already there. If working-class, white Americans are about to be outnumbered, are already underemployed in many cases, and one study found they are dying sooner, don't they have a reason to be resentful, Senator \u2014 Secretary Clinton? +p34 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, I want you to respond to that, but I also want you to \u2014 am I wrong? Is it even right to be describing this as a matter of race? +p35 +aVIf you would allow me now to move on, we've been talking about children. I want to talk about seniors. That takes us to our second Facebook question from Farheen Hakeem, who writes, "My father" \u2014 she's a 40-year-old woman who works for a nonprofit here in Milwaukee. And she writes, "My father gets just $16 in food assistance per month as part of Medicaid's family community program in Milwaukee County for low-income seniors. How will you as president work to ensure low-income seniors get their basic needs met?" Start with you, Senator Sanders. +p36 +aVSenator Sanders, are you saying... +p37 +aVThere's a lot more to come in just a few minutes. Stay with us for more of the PBS NewsHour Democratic Debate. +p38 +aVHow about you, Senator Clinton \u2014 Secretary Clinton? +p39 +aVWe spent the first part of this debate talking about domestic insecurity. The second part, we want to talk about our foreign policy insecurities. And we want to start with a question for you, Secretary Clinton, about America's role in the world. Americans are becoming increasingly worried that attacks abroad are coming home, that they already are, in fact, here. According to exit polls from last week, from earlier this week, more than two-thirds of Democrats in New Hampshire are concerned about sending their children to fight in wars they can't win. They fret that the next attack is just around the corner and we are not ready. Are we? +p40 +aVSenator Sanders... +p41 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p42 +aVLet me move on. You have both mentioned the humanitarian tragedies which have been an outgrowth in part of what has happened in Syria and in Libya. More than a million refugees entered Europe in 2015. Another 76,000 just last month, that is about 2,000 arrivals every day. Nearly 400 people have been lost at sea so far this year, crossing the Mediterranean. And there are reports that 10,000 children are missing. If we are leaders in this world, where should the U.S. be on this? What should the United States be doing, Secretary Clinton? +p43 +aVSenator, if you would like respond to \u2014 you may respond to that but it is time for closing statements and you can use your time for closing statements to do that. +p44 +aVThank you. Thank you Senator Clinton. Thank you, Senator Sanders. We also want to thank our partners at Facebook and our hosts here at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. +p45 +aVI'm going to remain here in Milwaukee tomorrow evening for a special edition of Washington Week here on PBS. +p46 +asVWOODRUFF +p47 +(lp48 +VGood evening, and thank you. We are happy to welcome you to Milwaukee for this Democratic debate. We are especially pleased to thank our partners at Facebook, who have helped us set up a vibrant conversation among voters who are undecided. And tonight you're going to hear some of their questions for the candidates. And you can follow along at home on the PBS NewsHour page on Facebook. We also want to thank our hosts, the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, on whose campus we meet, here in the beautiful Helen Bader Concert Hall. +p49 +aVWelcome, Senator, great to see you. And former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Very good to be here with you. +p50 +aVNow, a word about format. There will be two short breaks, and the rules are simple: 90 seconds for each answer and 30 seconds for the other candidate to respond. +p51 +aVThank you both. Thank you both. And we'll be right back after a short break to begin questions. +p52 +aVAnd, welcome back to this PBS Newshour debate, Democratic debate, here in Milwaukee. Let's get right to the questions. Senator Sanders, to you first. Coming off the results in Iowa and New Hampshire, there are many voters who are taking a closer look at you, and your ideas, and they're asking how big a role do you foresee for the federal government? It's already spending 21% of the entire U.S. economy. How much larger would government be in the lives of Americans under a Sanders presidency? +p53 +aVBut, my question is how big would government be? Would there be any limit on the size of the role of government... +p54 +aVNext, we're going to... +p55 +aVVery brief, thank you. +p56 +aVSecretary Clinton, your campaign \u2014 you and your campaign have made a clear appeal to women voters. You have talked repeatedly about the fact, we know you would be, if elected, the first woman president. But in New Hampshire 55 percent of the women voters supported and voted for Senator Sanders. What are women missing about you? +p57 +aVAs you know, just quickly, as you know, your strong supporter, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, said the other day that there's a special place in Hell for women who don't support other women. Do you agree with what she said? +p58 +aVSenator Sanders, you're in the minority, but we still want to hear from you. +p59 +aVFinal comment. +p60 +aVSecretary Clinton, I was talking recently with a 23 year old black woman who voted for President Obama because she said she thought relations between the races would get better under his leadership, and his example. Hardly anyone believes that they have. Why do you think race relations would be better under a Clinton presidency? What would you do that the nation's first African American has not been able to? +p61 +aVSenator Sanders? +p62 +aVSo race relation was be better under a Sanders presidency than they've been? +p63 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders, one of the causes of anxiety for working class Americans is connected to immigrants. President Obama, as you know, has issued executive actions to permit some 5 million undocumented immigrants who are living now in the United States to come out of the shadows without fear of deportation to get work permits. Would you go further than that? And if so, how specifically would you do it? Should an undocumented family watching this debate tonight, say, in Nevada, rest easy, not fear of further deportations under a Sanders presidency? +p64 +aVI'd like... +p65 +aVWe're going to move on. Secretary Clinton, your campaign has recently ramped up criticism of Senator Sanders for attending Democratic Party fundraisers from which you say he benefited. But nearly half of your financial sector donations appear to come from just two wealthy financiers, George Soros and Donald Sussman, for a total of about $10 million. You have said that there's no quid pro quo involved. Is that also true of the donations that wealthy Republicans give to Republican candidates, contributors including the Koch Brothers? +p66 +aVI'm asking if Democratic donors are different than Republican donors. +p67 +aVWe have to go to a break. We... +p68 +aVAll right. Thank you both. It is time for a break. And when we come back, we're going to turn to some new topics, including how these candidates will keep America safe. +p69 +aVWelcome back to the Democratic presidential debate. Before we return to our questions, we have a follow-up question from our Facebook group. And it is to Senator Sanders. Senator, it comes from Bill Corfield. He is a 55-year-old musician from Troy, Ohio. And he asks: "Are there any areas of government you would like to reduce?" +p70 +aVJust a final word. +p71 +aVSenator, let me \u2014 let me move on to another country with which the U.S. has a complicated relationship, Senator Sanders, and that's Russia. On the one hand, we're aware that Russia is a country that the United States needs to cooperate with. Just tonight, Secretary of State John Kerry has announced what appears to be an agreement with the Russians to lead \u2014 that could lead toward a ceasefire in Syria, would be the first cessation of conflict in that country, in that civil war in five years, but it comes at a very high price, because not only have all \u2014 have we seen the deaths, the removal of so many people, millions of people, we now see the Russians in the last few weeks have bombed in a way that benefits President Assad, has not gone after +p72 +aVAnd we have a final question from our Facebook family. And it goes to Senator Sanders. It comes from Robert Andrews. He's a 40-year-old stay-at-home dad in Dover, Massachusetts. He says, "The world has seen many great leaders in the course of human history. Can you name two leaders \u2014 one American and one foreign \u2014 who would influence your foreign policy decisions? And why do you see them as \u2014 why are they influential?" +p73 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p74 +aVAnd we want to thank our audience, our quiet audience here in Helen Bader Concert Hall, and to all of you watching at home. Thank you all. Stay tuned for analysis of the debate and the overall race for the Democratic nomination. That's coming up next here on PBS stations and online atPBS.org/NewsHour. +p75 +aVAnd I'm going to be returning to Washington. I hope you'll join us for the PBS NewsHour tomorrow and every night. That's it from all of us here in Milwaukee. We thank you. +p76 +asVKELLY +p77 +(lp78 +VWelcome to the first debate night of the 2016 presidential campaign, live from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. I'm Megyn Kelly... ... along with my co-moderators, Brett Baier and Chris Wallace. Tonight... Nice. Tonight, thousands of people here in the Q, along with millions of voters at home will get their very first chance to see the candidates face off in a debate, answering the questions you want answered. +p79 +aVAs for the candidates who will be answering those questions? Here they are. Positioned on the stage by how they stand in the polls, in the center of the stage tonight, businessman Donald Trump. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. +p80 +aVGentlemen, our first round of questions is on the subject of electability in the general election, and we start tonight with you, Dr. Carson. You are a successful neurosurgeon, but you admit that you have had to study up on foreign policy, saying there's a lot to learn. Your critics say that your inexperience shows. You've suggested that the Baltic States are not a part of +p81 +aVMr. Trump, one of the things people love about you is you speak your mind and you don't use a politician's filter. However, that is not without its downsides, in particular, when it comes to women. You've called women you don't like "fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals." Your Twitter account... +p82 +aVNo, it wasn't. Your Twitter account... +p83 +aVFor the record, it was well beyond Rosie O'Donnell. +p84 +aVYour Twitter account has several disparaging comments about women's looks. You once told a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice it would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees. Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president, and how will you answer the charge from Hillary Clinton, who was likely to be the Democratic nominee, that you are part of the war on women? +p85 +aVGovernor Walker, you've consistently said that you want to make abortion illegal even in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother. You recently signed an abortion law in Wisconsin that does have an exception for the mother's life, but you're on the record as having objected to it. Would you really let a mother die rather than have an abortion, and with 83 percent of the American public in favor of a life exception, are you too out of the mainstream on this issue to win the general election? +p86 +aVGovernor Kasich, You chose to expand Medicaid in your state, unlike several other governors on this stage tonight, and it is already over budget by some estimates costing taxpayers an additional $1.4 billion in just the first 18 months. You defended your Medicaid expansion by invoking God, saying to skeptics that when they arrive in heaven, Saint Peter isn't going to ask them how small they've kept government, but what they have done for the poor. Why should Republican voters, who generally want to shrink government, believe that you won't use your Saint Peter rationale to expand every government program? +p87 +aVAlright, gentlemen, we're gonna switch topics now and talk a bit about terror and national security. Governor Christie. You've said that Senator Paul's opposition to the NSA's collection of phone records has made the United States weaker and more vulnerable, even going so far as to say that he should be called before Congress to answer for it if we should be hit by another terrorist attack. Do you really believe you can assign blame to Senator Paul just for opposing the bulk collection of people's phone records in the event of a terrorist attack? +p88 +aVGo ahead, sir. +p89 +aVGovernor Christie, make your point. +p90 +aVGo ahead, governor. +p91 +aVAlright. +p92 +aVAlright, we've gotta cut it off there. We have plenty more we want to get to. That was an interesting exchange, thank you for that. +p93 +aVWell, I want to move on, because I have -- we're gonna get to you, governor, but I -- I really wanna get to a Facebook questioner. His name is Alex Chalgren, and he has the following question: +p94 +aVSenator Cruz, I wanna talk to you about this, because many of the Facebook users and -- and -- the -- the folks on Facebook wanted the candidates to speak to +p95 +aVYou don't see it as... ...an ideological problem -- an ideological problem in addition to a military one? +p96 +aVGovernor Bush, for days on end in this campaign, you struggled to answer a question about whether knowing what we know now... +p97 +aV...we would've invaded Iraq... +p98 +aVI remember it too, and +p99 +aVGovernor Walker, in February you said that we needed to gain partners in the Arab world. Which Arab country not already in the U.S. led coalition has potential to be our greatest partner? +p100 +aVDr. Carson, in one of his first acts as commander in chief, President Obama signed an executive order banning enhanced interrogation techniques in fighting terror. As president, would you bring back water boarding? +p101 +aVWe have a lot for you, don't worry. Fear not, you may rue that request. +p102 +aVIt's just before 10:00 p.m. on the East Coast. Welcome back to Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, and the very first Republican primary debate of the 2016 presidential campaign. Ten candidates on the stage, selected based on their standing in five national polls. And tonight they are facing off, answering the questions you want asked. We hope. +p103 +aV Sounds like somebody's a little R-rated. +p104 +aVWell, the first debate night of the 2016 presidential campaign continues from Cleveland after a short time-out. Stick around. Social issues, next. +p105 +aVSenator Rubio, you favor a rape and incest exception to abortion bans. Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York just said yesterday those exceptions are preposterous. He said they discriminate against an entire class of human beings. If you believe that life begins at conception, as you say you do, how do you justify ending a life just because it begins violently, through no fault of the baby? +p106 +aVYou don't favor a rape and incest exception? +p107 +aVMr. Trump, in 1999, you said you were, quote, "very pro- choice." Even supporting partial-birth abortion. You favored an assault weapons ban as well. In 2004, you said in most cases you identified as a Democrat. Even in this campaign, your critics say you often sound more like a Democrat than a Republican, calling several of your opponents on the stage things like clowns and puppets. When did you actually become a Republican? +p108 +aVGovernor Bush, I want to ask you, on the subject of name calling of your fellow candidates, a story appeared today quoting an anonymous GOP donor who said you called Mr. Trump a clown, a buffoon, something else that cannot be repeated on television. +p109 +aVIs it true? +p110 +aVMr. Trump, 30 seconds. +p111 +aVThe subject of gay marriage and religious liberty. Governor Kasich, if you had a son or daughter who was gay or lesbian, how would you explain to them your opposition to same-sex marriage? +p112 +aVHow would you -- how would you explain it to a child? +p113 +aVSenator Paul, in the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling on same sex marriage, Carol Fox on Facebook want to know the following. Quote: what will you do to ensure Christians are not prosecuted for speaking out against gay marriage and will Christians be forced to conduct business that conflicts with their religious beliefs? +p114 +aVGovernor Walker, many in the Black Lives Matter movement, and beyond, believe that overly-aggressive police officers targeting young African Americans is the civil rights issue of our time. Do you agree? And if so, how do you plan to address it? And if not, why not? +p115 +aVThank you. +p116 +aVWe have to stand you by, because after the break, we're going to let the candidates make their closing statements, their final thoughts, and . . . God. Stay tuned for that. +p117 +aVWelcome back. In our final moments here together, we're going to allow the candidates to offer their final thoughts. But first, we want to ask them an interesting closing question from Chase Norton on Facebook, who wants to know this of the candidates: "I want to know if any of them have received a word from God on what they should do and take care of first." Senator Cruz, start from you. Any word from God? +p118 +aVGovernor Kasich, same question. +p119 +aVGovernor Walker, same question. +p120 +aVSenator Rubio, I want to ask you the same question. But I do want to mention, a woman just came here to the stage and asked, what about the veterans? I want to hear more about what these candidates are going to do for our nation's veterans. So I put the question to you about God and the veterans, which you may find to be related. +p121 +aVDr. Carson, a question to you about God and his role, but also, one of the issues that the public was very interested in, and we touched on it earlier, is race relations in this country, and how divided we seem right now. And what, if anything, you can do -- you would do as the next president to help heal that divide. +p122 +aVGovernor Christie? +p123 +aVSenator Ted Cruz. +p124 +aVGovernor Scott Walker. +p125 +aVIt's over! +p126 +aVAre you relieved? You were nervous before, they -- they don't look relieved. They look "get me outta here." Thank you all very much, and that will do it for the first Republican primary debate night of the 2016 presidential race. Our thanks to the candidates, who will now be joined by their families on stage. +p127 +asVRUBIO +p128 +(lp129 +VThank you Wolf. It's really amazing to be back in Las Vegas. I spent six years as a child growing not far from where we stand tonight. I use to sit on the porch of our home and listen to my grandfather tell stories as he smoked one of three daily cigars. One of the things my grandfather instilled in me, was that I was really blessed because I was a citizen of the greatest country in the history of our mankind. But there have always been people in American politics that wanted America to be more like the rest of the world. And In 2008, one of them was elected president of this country and the result has been a disaster. Today you have millions of Americans that feel left out and out of place in their own country, struggling to live paycheck to paycheck, called bigots because they hold on to traditional values. And around the world, America's influence has declined while this president has destroyed our military, our allies no longer trust us, and our adversaries no longer respect us. And that is why this election is so important. That is why I'm running for president. And that's why I'm going to ask you for your vote tonight. If you elect me president, we will have a president that believes America is the greatest country in the world and we will have a president that acts like it. +p130 +aVWell, I understand why they feel that way, because this president hasn't kept us safe. The problem is we had an attack in San Bernardino. And we were paying attention to the most important issue we have faced in a decade since 9/11, and then all the talk was about this proposal, which isn't going to happen. But this is what's important to do is we must deal frontally with this threat of radical Islamists, especially from +p131 +aVHe is and so are those that voted for it. There were some that voted for it because they wanted to keep it alive and they were afraid the whole program would expire. Here's the world we live in. This is a radical jihadist group that is increasingly sophisticated in its ability, for example, to radicalize American citizens, in its inability to exploit loopholes in our legal immigration system, in its ability to capture and hold territory in the Middle East, as I outlined earlier, in multiple countries. This is not just the most capable, it is the most sophisticated terror threat we have ever faced. We are now at a time when we need more tools, not less tools. And that took we lost, the metadata program, was a valuable tool that we no longer have at our disposal. +p132 +aVDana, may I interject here? +p133 +aVLet me be very careful when answering this, because I don't think national television in front of 15 million people is the place to discuss classified information. So let me just be very clear. There is nothing that we are allowed to do under this bill that we could not do before. This bill did, however, take away a valuable tool that allowed the National Security Agency and other law \u2014 and other intelligence agencies to quickly and rapidly access phone records and match them up with other phone records to see who terrorists have been calling. Because I promise you, the next time there is attack on \u2014 an attack on this country, the first thing people are going to want to know is, why didn't we know about it and why didn't we stop it? And the answer better not be because we didn't have access to records or information that would have allowed us to identify these killers before they attacked. +p134 +aVI want to thank Rand for another 30 seconds, because, number one, what he's pointing to is a bill last week that \u2014 amendment that he voted for that only 10 people voted for. You know why? Because it's not focused on terrorists. It would have banned anyone from coming here. Someone from Taiwan would not have been able to come here as a tourist. Number two, this program, this metadata program is actually more strict than what a regular law enforcement agency has now. If a regular law enforcement agency wants your phone records, all they have to do is issue a subpoena. But now the intelligence agency is not able to quickly gather records and look at them to see who these terrorists are calling. And the terrorists that attacked us in San Bernardino was an American citizen, born and raised in this country. And I bet you we wish we would have had access to five years of his records so we could see who he was working with... +p135 +aVDo I get another 30 seconds? He mentioned me. +p136 +aVWell, let me begin by saying that we have to understand who +p137 +aVThat is accurate. Three times he voted against the Defense Authorization Act, which is a bill that funds the troops. It also, by the way, funds the Iron Dome and other important programs. And I have to assume that if you vote against it in the Senate, you would also veto it as president. He has also supported, by the way, a budget that is called the containment budget. And it is a budget that would radically reduce the amount of money we spend on our military. You can't carpet bomb +p138 +aVYes, let me \u2014 three points of distinction. The first is, if you're an American citizen and you decide to join up with +p139 +aVWell, they most certainly will have to be worked on to provide more than what they are doing now. There's no doubt about it. And there's one \u2014 one major reason why they have not been willing to be a broader part of the coalition, and that is they have lost complete trust and confidence in this president. This president cut a deal with their moral enemy, the Shia, in Iran. And this is the reason why they no longer trust this president and are willing to work alongside them. But they have as much invested in this as we do. In fact, more so, for it is the king of Saudi Arabia they want to behead first. It's the king of Jordan that they want to dethrone. It's the \u2014 they want to go into Egypt the way they've already gone into Libya. And on another point that we need to talk about, Assad is one of the main reasons why +p140 +aVTo begin with, Moammar Gadhafi and the revolt against Gadhafi was not started by the United States. It was started by the Libyan people. And the reason why I argued we needed to get involved is because he was going to go one way or the other. And my argument then was proven true, and that is, the longer that civil war took, the more militias would be formed and the more unstable the country would be after the fact. As far as Moammar Gadhafi is concerned, by the way, Moammar Gadhafi is the man that killed those Americans over Lockerbie, Scotland. Moammar Gadhafi is also the man that bombed that cafe in Berlin and killed those Marines. And you want to know why Moammar Gadhafi started cooperating on his nuclear program? Because we got rid of Saddam Hussein. And so he got scared that he would be next, and that's why he started cooperating. Look, we will have to work around the world with less than ideal governments. The government in Saudi Arabia is not a democracy, but we will have to work with them. The government in Jordan is not perfect, but we will have to work with them. But anti-American dictators like Assad, who help Hezbollah, who helped get those IEDs into Iraq, if they go, I will not shed a tear. +p141 +aVYeah. Immigration is not an issue that I read about in the newspaper or watch a documentary on PBS or CNN. It's an issues I've lived around my whole life. My family are immigrants. My wife's family are immigrants. All of my neighbors are immigrants. I see every aspect of this problem. The good, the bad, and the ugly. And here's what we learned in 2013. The American people don't trust the Federal Government to enforce our immigration laws, and we will not be able to do anything on immigration until we first prove to the American people that illegal immigration is under control. And we can do that. We know what it takes to do that. It takes at least 20,000 more additional border agents. It takes completing those 700 miles of fencing. It takes a mandatory e-verify system and a mandatory entry/exit tracking system to prevent overstays. After we have done that, the second thing we have to do is reform and modernize the legal immigration system. And after we have done those two things, I think the American people are gonna be reasonable with what do you do with someone who has been in this country for 10 or 12 years who hasn't otherwise violated our laws \u2014 because if they're a criminal they can't stay. They'll have to undergo a background check, pay a fine, start paying taxes. And ultimately, they'll given a work permit and that's all they're gonna be allowed to have for at least 10 years. But you can't get to that third step until you have done the other two things, and that was the lesson we learned in 2013. There is no trust that the Federal Government will enforce the law. They will not support you until you see it done first. +p142 +aVBut I've answered that question repeatedly. I am personally open \u2014 after all that has happened and after ten years in that probationary status where all they have is a permit, I personally am open to allowing people to apply for a green card. That may not be a majority position in my party, but that's down the road. You can't even begin that process until you prove to people \u2014 not just pass a law that says you're gonna bring illegal immigration under control. You're gonna have to do it and prove to people that it's working. And that was the lesson of 2013. And it's more true today, than it was then. After a migratory crisis on the border with minors coming over that you're seeing start up again now, after all these executive orders the President has issued. More than ever we need to... +p143 +aV... prove to people that illegal immigration is under control. +p144 +aVYeah, a couple points. In 2013 we had never faced a crisis like the Syrian refugee crisis now. Up until that point, a refugee meant someone fleeing oppression, fleeing Communism like it is in my community. As far as Ted's record, I'm always puzzled by his attack on this issue. Ted, you support legalizing people who are in this country illegally. Ted Cruz supported a 500-percent increase in the number of H-1 visas, the guest workers that are allowed into this country, and Ted supports doubling the number of green cards. So I think what's important for us to understand and there is a way forward on this issue that we an bring our country together on. And while I'm president I will do it. And it will begin by bringing illegal immigration under control and proving to the American people. +p145 +aVNo, no, give him time. +p146 +aVTed, do you... +p147 +aVDid Ted Cruz fight to support legalizing people that are in this country illegally? +p148 +aVDoes Ted Cruz rule out ever legalizing people that are in this country now? +p149 +aVWould you rule it out? +p150 +aVWell, he's just admitted \u2014 as he's just admitted, the reason why those refugees were allowed in was because they messed up in how they used the actual database. They should have know. They didn't because they didn't run the actual law as it exists now. It didn't work well. As far as the refugees are concerned, it's not that America doesn't want to accept refugees, Wolf. It's that we may not be able to, because this is an issue we have to be 100 percent right on. If we allow 9,999 Syrian refugees into the United States, and all of them are good people, but we allow one person in who's an +p151 +aVI do. First, let's explain to people at home who the triad \u2014 what the triad is. Maybe a lot of people haven't heard that terminology before. The triad is our ability of the United States to conduct nuclear attacks using airplanes, using missiles launched from silos or from the ground, and also from our nuclear subs' ability to attack. And it's important \u2014 all three of them are critical. It gives us the ability at deterrence. Now, some have become more critical than others; for example, the submarines. And that's the Ohio Class submarine that needs to be modernized. The air component also needs to be modernized. The B-52, as someone earlier pointed out, is an outdated model that was flown by the grandparents of people that are flying it now. And we need a serious modernization program as well on our silo-launched missiles. All three are critical for the defense of the country. +p152 +aVThank you. As we near the end of this year, we enter one of the most important elections in a generation. For what's at stake in this election is not simply what party's going to be in charge. But our very identity as a people and as a nation. For over 200 years this has been a special country. A unique place where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything. But now millions of Americans feel like they're being left behind. Insecure in their future and unsafe in the face of terrorism. This election is about electing a president that will restore our economic vibrancy so that the American dream can expand to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And rebuild our Military and our intelligence programs so that we can remain the strongest nation on earth. Tonight I ask you for your vote. If you do this, we will rebuild this country, and together we will usher in a new American century \u2014 the greatest era in the history of this great land. +p153 +aVWell, let me begin by answering both the first question and this one, because they're related. As I've said many times before, my parents were never rich people. My father was a bartender. My mother was a maid. They worked for a living. But they were successful people, because, despite the fact that they weren't well educated and had those jobs, they made enough money to buy a home in a safe and stable neighborhood, retire with dignity, leave all four of their children better off than themselves. We call that the American dream, but in fact, it's a universal dream of a better life that people have all over the world. It is a reminder that every country in the world has rich people. What makes America special is that we have millions and millions of people that are not rich, that through hard work and perseverance are able to be successful. The problem is that today people are not successful working as hard as ever because the economy is not providing jobs that pay enough. If I thought that raising the minimum wage was the best way to help people increase their pay, I would be all for it, but it isn't. In the 20th century, it's a disaster. If you raise the minimum wage, you're going to make people more expensive than a machine. And that means all this automation that's replacing jobs and people right now is only going to be accelerated. Here's the best way to raise wages. Make America the best place in the world to start a business or expand an existing business, tax reform and regulatory reform, bring our debt under control, fully utilize our energy resources so we can reinvigorate manufacturing, repeal and replace Obamacare, and make higher education faster and easier to access, especially vocational training. For the life of me, I don't know why we have stigmatized vocational education. Welders make more money than philosophers. We need more welders and less philosophers. If we do that \u2014 and if we do this \u2014 if we do this, we will be able to increase wages for millions of Americans and we will be able to leave everyone better off without making anyone worse off. +p154 +aVWell, you know, that's an excellent question, because what we are going through in this country is not simply an economic downturn. We are living through a massive economic transformation. I mean, this economy is nothing like what it was like five years ago, not to mention 15 or 20 years ago. And it isn't just a different economy. It's changing faster than ever. You know, it took the telephone 75 years to reach 100 million users. It took Candy Crush one year to reach some 100 million users. So the world is changing faster than ever, and it is disruptive. Number one, we are in a global competition now, and several of the candidates have said that. There are now dozens of developed economies on this planet that we have to compete with. And we lose that competition because we have the highest business tax rate in the industrialized world, because we have regulations that continue to grow by the billions every single week, because we have a crazy health care law that discourages companies from hiring people, but because we're not fully utilizing our energy resources, that if we did, it would bring back all kinds of growth, especially in manufacturing, and because we have an outdated higher education system. Our higher education system is completely outdated. It is too expensive, too hard to access, and it doesn't teach 21st century skills. If we do what needs to be done \u2014 tax reform, regulatory reform, fully utilize our energy resources, repeal and replace Obamacare, and modernize higher education, then we can grasp the potential and the promise of this new economy. And we won't just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And then truly this new century can be a new American century. +p155 +aVThe most important job I'm ever going to have, the most important job anyone in this room will ever have, is the job of being a parent. Not the job of being president, or the job of being a senator, or the job of being a congressman. The most important job any of us will ever do is the job of being a president (sic), because the most important institution in society is the family. If the family breaks down, society breaks down. You can't have a strong nation without strong values, and no one is born with strong values. They have to be taught to you in strong families and reinforced in you in strong communities. And so when we set out to do tax reform, we endeavor to have a pro-family tax code, and we endeavor to do it because we know how difficult it is for families in the 21st century to afford the cost of living. It is expensive to raise children in the 21st century, and families that are raising children are raising the future taxpayers of the United States, and everything costs more. In 35 out of 50 states, child care costs more than college. There are millions of people watching this broadcast tonight that understand exactly what I'm talking about. They don't know how they're going to make that payment every month, and if they can't make it, they can't work, because someone needs to watch their kids during the day. They don't know how they're going to save for their kids' future, to go to college. And so, yes, I have a child tax credit increase, and I'm proud of it. I am proud that I have a pro-family tax code, because the pro- family tax plan I have will strengthen the most important institution in the \u2014 in the country, the family. +p156 +aVNow I get my 60 seconds to respond. He's talking about my tax plan. +p157 +aVSo let me begin with this. I actually believe \u2014 first of all, this is their money. They do pay. It is refundable, not just against the taxes they pay to the government, but also the \u2014 on their federal income tax, it's refundable against the payroll tax. Everyone pays payroll tax. This is their money. This is not our money. And here's what I don't understand \u2014 if you invest that money in a piece of equipment, if you invest that money in a business, you get to write it off your taxes. But if you invest it in your children, in the future of America and strengthening your family, we're not going to recognize that in our tax code? The family is the most important institution in society. And, yes... +p158 +aV... I do want to rebuild the American military. +p159 +aVI know that Rand is a committed isolationist. I'm not. I believe the world is a stronger and a better place, when the United States is the strongest military power in the world. +p160 +aVBecause... +p161 +aV...are you talking about the military, Rand? +p162 +aVWe can't even have an economy if we're not safe. There are radical jihadist in the Middle East beheading people and crucifying Christians. A radical Shia cleric in Iran trying to get a nuclear weapon, the Chinese taking over the South China Sea... ...Yes, I believe the world is a safer \u2014 no, no, I don't believe, I know that the world is a safer place when America is the strongest military power in the world. +p163 +aVYou know, if I may respond... +p164 +aVI need to add a couple of points to this. The first is, I've never met Vladimir Putin, but I know enough about him to know he is a gangster. He is basically an organized crime figure that runs a country, controls a $2 trillion economy. And is using to build up his military in a rapid way despite the fact his economy is a disaster. He understands only geopolitical strength. And every time he has acted anywhere in the world, whether it's in Ukraine or Georgia before that, or now in the Middle East, it's because he is trusting in weakness. His calculation in the Middle East is that he has seen what this president has done, which is nothing, the president has no strategy, our allies in the region do not trust us. For goodness sake, there is only one pro-American free enterprise democracy in the Middle East, it is the state of Israel. And we have a president that treats the prime minister of Israel with less respect than what he gives the ayatollah in Iran. And so our allies in the region don't trust us. Vladimir Putin is exploiting that weakness, for purposes of edging the Americans out as the most important geopolitical power broker in the region. And we do have a vested interest. And here's why. Because all those radical terrorist groups that, by the way, are not just in Syria and in Iraq, +p165 +aVCan I just add what \u2014 he's right on point there. Do you know why these banks are so big? The government made them big. The government made them big by adding thousands and thousands of pages of regulations. So the big banks, they have an army of lawyers, they have an army of compliance officers. They can deal with all these things. The small banks, like Governor Bush was saying, they can't deal with all these regulations. They can't deal with all \u2014 they cannot hire the fanciest law firm in Washington or the best lobbying firm to deal with all these regulations. And so the result is, the big banks get bigger, the small banks struggle to lend or even exist, and the result is what you have today. And in Dodd-Frank, you have actually codified too big to fail. We have actually created a category of systemically important institutions, and these banks go around bragging about it. You know what they say to people with a wink and a nod? We are so big, we are so important that if we get in trouble, the government has to bail us out. This is an outrage. We need to repeal Dodd-Frank as soon as possible. +p166 +aVWell, that's a great question, and let me begin by answering it. This election is about the future, about what kind of country this nation is gonna be in the 21st century. This next (ph) election is actually a generational choice. A choice about what kind of nation we will be in the 21st century. For over 2.5 centuries, America's been a special country, the one place on earth where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything, a nation that's been a force for good on this planet. But now, a growing number of Americans feel out of place in their own country. We have a society that stigmatizes those that hold cultural values that are traditional. We have a society where people \u2014 millions of people \u2014 are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, but they're living paycheck to paycheck because the economy has changed underneath their feet. We have young Americans who owe thousands of dollars in student loans for a degree that doesn't lead to a job. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses dying than starting, and around the world, every day brings news of a new humiliation for America \u2014 many the direct response \u2014 direct consequence of decisions made when Hillary Clinton was the secretary of the \u2014 of state. And so here's the truth: this election is about the future, and the Democratic Party, and the political left has no ideas about the future. All their ideas are the same, tired ideas of the past. More government, more spending. For every issue for America, their answer is a new tax on someone, and a new government program. This nation is going to turn the page, and that's what this election should be about, and, as I said at the first debate... ...If I am our nominee, they will be the party of the past, we will be the party of the 21st century. +p167 +aVOurs \u2014 the story of America is an extraordinary story. It is the story of a nation that for over two centuries each generation has left the next better off than themselves. But now, because Washington is out of touch, for the fault of both political parties, for the first time in our history, that is in doubt. And that is what this election must be about, because if the next four years are anything like the last eight years, our children will be the first Americans ever left worse off by their parents. This election is about making a different choice, about applying our principles of limited government and free enterprise to the unique issues of our time. And if we do, we will not just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And the 21st century can be a new American century. So tonight, I ask you for your vote and I ask you to join us at my website, marcorubio.com. +p168 +aVThank you for that question. I would begin by saying that I'm not sure it's a weakness, but I do believe that I share a sense of optimism for America's future that, today, is eroding from too many of our people. I think there's a sense in this country today that somehow our best days are behind us. And that doesn't have to be true. Our greatest days lie ahead if we are willing to do what it takes now. If we're willing to do what it takes now, the 21st century is going to be the new American century, greater than any other era we've had in the history of this great nation. +p169 +aVThat's an interesting question. That's exactly what the Republican establishment says too. Why don't you wait in line? Wait for what? This country is running out of time. We can't afford to have another four years like the last eight years. Watching this broadcast tonight are millions of people that are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, everything costs more, and they haven't had a raise in decades. You have small businesses in America that are struggling. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses closing than starting. We have a world that's out of control and has grown dangerous and a president that is weakening our military and making our foreign policy unstable and unreliable in the eyes of our allies. And our adversaries continue to grow stronger. We have a \u2014 they say there's no bipartisanship in Washington? We have a $19 trillion bipartisan debt and it continues to grow as we borrow money from countries that do not like us to pay for government we cannot afford. The time to act is now. The time to turn the page is now. If we \u2014 if we don't act now, we are going to be the first generation in American history that leaves our children worse off than ourselves. +p170 +aVLet me say, I read that editorial today with a great amusement. It's actually evidence of the bias that exists in the American media today. +p171 +aVLet me \u2014 let me answer your question on the Sun-Sentinel editorial today. Back in 2004, one of my predecessors to the Senate by the name of Bob Graham, a Democrat, ran for president missing over 30 percent of his votes. I don't recall them calling for his resignation \u2014 +p172 +aVLater that year, in 2004, John Kerry ran for president missing close to 60 to 70 percent of his votes. I don't recall the Sun \u2014 in fact, the Sun-Sentinel endorsed him. In 2008, Barack Obama missed 60 or 70 percent of his votes, and the same newspaper endorsed him again. So this is another example of the double standard that exists in this country between the mainstream media and the conservative movement. +p173 +aVI get to respond, right? +p174 +aVWell, it's interesting. Over the last few weeks, I've listened to Jeb as he walked around the country and said that you're modeling your campaign after John McCain, that you're going to launch a furious comeback the way he did, by fighting hard in New Hampshire and places like that, carrying your own bag at the airport. You know how many votes John McCain missed when he was carrying out that furious comeback that you're now modeling after? +p175 +aVNo Jeb, I don't remember \u2014 well, let me tell you. I don't remember you ever complaining about John McCain's vote record. The only reason why you're doing it now is because we're running for the same position, and someone has convinced you that attacking me is going to help you. +p176 +aVHere's the bottom line. I'm not \u2014 my campaign is going to be about the future of America, it's not going to be about attacking anyone else on this stage. I will continue to have tremendous admiration and respect for Governor Bush. I'm not running against Governor Bush, I'm not running against anyone on this stage. I'm running for president because there is no way we can elect Hillary Clinton to continue the policies of Barack Obama. +p177 +aVWell, you just \u2014 you just listed a litany of discredited attacks from Democrats and my political opponents, and I'm not gonna waste 60 seconds detailing them all. But I'm going to tell you the truth. Here's the truth. I didn't inherit any money. My dad was a bartender, my mother was a maid. They worked hard to provide us the chance at a better life. They didn't save enough money for us to go to school. I had to work my way through school. I had to borrow money to go to school. I tried (ph), early in my marriage, explaining to my wife why someone named Sallie Mae was taking $1,000 out of our bank account every month. I know what it's like to owe that money, and we've worked hard. We've worked hard our whole life to provide a better family \u2014 a better life for our family. We own a home four blocks away from the place that I grew up in. My four children have been able to receive a good Christian education, and I've been able to save for them to go to college so they never have to have the loans that I did. But I'm not worried about my finances, I'm worried about the finances of everyday Americans who today are struggling in an economy that is not producing good paying jobs while everything else costs more. And that's what this economy needs to \u2014 that's what this debate needs to be about. This debate needs to be about the men and women across this country that are struggling on a daily basis to provide for their families the better future that we've always said this country is all about. +p178 +aVAnd I used it to pay off my loans. And it's available on paperback, if you're interested in buying my book. +p179 +aVYeah, again, as I said, we're raising a family in the 21st century and it's one of the reasons why my tax plan is a pro- family tax plan. It increases the per child tax credit, because I didn't read about this in a book. I know for a fact how difficult it is to raise children, how expensive it's become for working families. And I make a lot more than the average American. Imagine how hard it is for these people out there that are making 40, 50, $60,000 a year, and they're trying to provide for their families at a time when this economy is not growing. We can't afford another four years of that. Which is what we're gonna get if we elect a big government liberal like Hillary Clinton to the White House. Thank you, senator. +p180 +aVWell, first of all, if a company gets caught doing that, they should never be able to use the program again. If you get caught abusing this program, you should never be able to use it again. The second thing I said is we need to add reforms, not just increase the numbers, but add reforms. For example, before you hire anyone from abroad, you should have to advertise that job for 180 days. You also have to prove that you're going to pay these people more than you would pay someone else, so that you're not undercutting it by bringing in cheap labor. But here's the best solution of all. We need to get back to training people in this country to do the jobs of the 21st century. Why, for the life of me, I do not understand why did we stop doing vocational education in America, people that can work with their hands; people you can train to do this work while they're still in high school so they can graduate ready to go work. But the best way to close this gap is to modernize higher education so Americans have the skills for those jobs. But in the interim, in the absence of that, what's happening is some of these tech companies are taking those \u2014 those centers (ph) to Canada because they can get people to go over there instead of here. But the ideal scenario is to train Americans to do the work so we don't have to rely on people from abroad. +p181 +aVWell, I believe that there are abuses, those companies should be permanently barred from ever using the program again and we should put strict standards in place to ensure that they're not being abused, like the prevailing wage requirement and like the advertising requirement. +p182 +aVSince I've been mentioned, can I respond? +p183 +aVOK. I know the Democrats have the ultimate SuperPac. It's called the mainstream media who every single day... ... and I'll tell you why. Last week, Hillary Clinton went before a committee. She admitted she had sent e-mails to her family saying, "Hey, this attack at Benghazi was caused by Al Qaida-like elements." She spent over a week telling the families of those victims and the American people that it was because of a video. And yet the mainstream media is going around saying it was the greatest week in Hillary Clinton's campaign. It was the week she got exposed as a liar. It was the week that she got exposed as a liar... But she has her super PAC helping her out, the American mainstream media. +p184 +aVNo, that's \u2014 you're wrong. In fact, the largest after- tax gains is for the people at the lower end of the tax spectrum under my plan. And there's a bunch of things my tax plan does to help them. Number one, you have people in this country that... +p185 +aV...you wrote a story on it, and you had to go back and correct it. +p186 +aVYou did. No, you did. +p187 +aVWell, you're talking about \u2014 yeah. +p188 +aVYeah, but that \u2014 because the math is, if you \u2014 5 percent of a million is a lot more than 5 percent of a thousand. So yeah, someone who makes more money... +p189 +aV...numerically, it's gonna be higher. But the greatest gains, percentage-wise, for people, are gonna be at the lower end of our plan, and here's why: because in addition to a general personal exemption, we are increasing the per-child tax credit for working families. We are lowering taxes on small business. You know, a lot of business activity in America is conducted like the guy that does my dry cleaning. He's an S corporation. He pays on his personal rate, and he is paying higher than the big dry-cleaning chain down the street, because he's paying at his personal rate. Under my plan, no business, big or small, will pay more than 25 percent flat rate on their business income. That is a dramatic tax decrease for hard-working people who run their own businesses. +p190 +aV...The other thing I'd like to make about our plan, one more point, it is the most pro growth tax plan that I can imagine because it doesn't tax investments at all. You know why? Because the more you tax something, the less of it you get. I want to be in \u2014 I want America to be the best... +p191 +aV...in the world for people... +p192 +aVI was mentioned in the question. +p193 +aVThank you. Well, I've learned the rules on this. Look, in addition to what Donald was saying is we also need to talk about the legal immigration system for permanent residents. Today, we have a legal immigration system for permanent residency that is largely based on whether or not you have a relative living here. And that's the way my parents came legally in 1956. But in 2015, we have a very different economy. Our legal immigration system from now on has to be merit-based. It has to be based on what skills you have, what you can contribute economically, and most important of all, on whether or not you're coming here to become an American, not just live in America, but be an American. +p194 +aVNo. No. What I said was that I think that Dr. Carson's ideas are good ideas. They're not my ideas, and I don't necessarily agree with all of them. But this is what you're seeing in the Republican debate that you didn't see in that Democrat debate. You didn't see it for a minute. You didn't see these kind of ideas being batted around, and being batted around in a way that's civil and smart and that's trying to help to inform the voter out there. What you saw was a parade of, "I'll give you this for free; I'll give you that for free." Let me tell you, everybody, when they say they want to give it to you for free, keep your hands on your wallets because they're coming to you to pay for it. And that's why I think these ideas up here are great, and that's what we should have is have more discussions like this and less gotcha. +p195 +aVI want to take off from that point and argue the same thing. And that is that one of the things you're watching tonight are 11 quality candidates debating an important issue. The Republican Party is blessed to have 11 good candidates, 10 good candidates. The Democrats can't even come up with one. And on this issue of the Medicare in particular, it's important because they're going to demagogue what we're saying here tonight. Everyone up here tonight that's talking about reforms, I think and I know for myself I speak to this, we're all talking about reforms for future generations. Nothing has to change for current beneficiaries. My mother is on Medicare and Social Security. I'm against anything that's bad for my mother. So, we're talking about \u2014 we're talking about reform for people like me and people like Senator Cruz, as he talked about earlier, who are years away from retirement that have a way to plan for these changes, and way that's very reasonable. And it's not too much to ask of our generation after everything our parents and our grandparents did for us. +p196 +aVYou know, America doesn't owe me anything. I have a debt to America I'll never repay. This isn't just the country I was born in, this is the nation that literally changed the history of my family. My parents in this country were able to give me the chance to do all the things they never did. We call that the American Dream, although, it's built on the universal dream of a better life. The fact that it's happened for so many people here throughout our history, that's what makes us special. But, now for millions of Americans, it's slipping away. And, we have a government and leaders in government that are completely out of touch, and that's why I'm running for president. Because we can't just save the American Dream, we can expand it to reach more people, and change more lives than ever before. And, that's why tonight I'm asking you for your vote. +p197 +aVThank you. My name is Marco Rubio. I'm from Florida. My wife Jeanette and I are the proud \u2014 we've been married 17 years, and we're the proud parents of four children, two of whom were able to join us here this evening. I'm honored to be here at the Reagan Library, at a place that honors the legacy of a man who inspired not just my interest in public service, but also our love for country. And I'm also aware that California has a drought, and so that's why I made sure I brought my own water. +p198 +aVWell, first of all, I have an understanding of exactly what it is Russia and Putin are doing, and it's pretty straightforward. He wants to reposition Russia, once again, as a geopolitical force. He himself said that the destruction of the Soviet Union \u2014 the fall of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century, and now he's trying to reverse that. He's trying to destroy +p199 +aVLet me tell you \u2014 I will tell you we have zero responsibility, because let's remember what the president said. He said the attack he would conduct would be a pinprick. Well, the United States military was not build to conduct pinprick attacks. If the United States military is going to be engaged by a commander-in-chief, it should only be engaged in an endeavor to win. And we're not going to authorize use of force if you're not put in a position where they can win. And quite frankly, people don't trust this president as commander-in-chief because of that. +p200 +aVHold on, a second, Jake, he asked me, as well. I'd like to actually... +p201 +aV... respond. I think I'm the first senator. The No. 1 test for use of military force should be the vital national security interest of the United States. The reason why I opposed President Obama bombing Syria, is because he couldn't answer the question what do you do if chemical weapons end up in the hands of radical Islamic terrorists like al-Nusra, like Al Qaida, like +p202 +aVIn the middle of negotiating this treaty, Khamenei led the assembled masses in chanting, death to America. I'm reminded of a great editorial cartoon. It shows the Ayatollah Khamenei saying, "Death to all Americans," and then it shows John Kerry coming back, saying, "Can we meet ya half way?" We need a commander-in-chief who will stand up and protect this country. And I'll tell you, I can't wait to stand on that debate stage with Hillary Clinton and to make abundantly clear if you vote for Hillary, you are voting for the Ayatollah Khomeini to possess a nuclear weapon and if you elect me as president, under no circumstances will a theocratic ayatollah who chants death to America ever be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon. +p203 +aVMs. Dana, I agree that English is the unifying language of our country, and everyone should learn to speak it. It's important. I want to tell you a story about someone that didn't speak English that well. It was my grandfather; he came to this country in the 1960s, as a \u2014 escaping Cuba. And he lived with us, growing up. And my grandfather loved America. He understood what was so special about this country. He loved Ronald Reagan; he would be very proud of the fact that we're here this evening. My grandfather instilled in me the belief that I was blessed to live in the one society in all of human history where even I, the son of a bartender and a maid, could aspire to have anything, and be anything that I was willing to work hard to achieve. But he taught me that in Spanish, because it was the language he was most comfortable in. And he became a conservative, even though he got his news in Spanish. And so, I do give interviews in Spanish, and here's why \u2014 because I believe that free enterprise and limited government is the best way to help people who are trying to achieve upward mobility. And if they get their news in Spanish, I want them to hear that directly from me. Not from a translator at Univision. +p204 +aVWell, let me say that legal immigration is not an issue I read about in the newspaper. Immigration, illegal immigration, all the good aspects of immigration and all the negative ones as well, I live with. My family's immigrants. My neighbors are all immigrants. My in-laws are all immigrants. So I've seen every aspect of it, and I can tell you America doesn't have one immigration problem, it has three. First, despite the fact that we are the most generous country in the history of the world in allowing people to come here legally, we have people still coming illegally. Second, we have a legal immigration system that no longer works. It primary is built on the basis of whether you have a relative living here instead of merit. And third, we have 11 million or 12 million people, many of whom have been here for longer than a decade who are already here illegally. And we must deal with all three of these problems. We cannot deal with all three of these problems in one massive piece of legislation. I learned that. We tried it that way. Here's the way forward: First, we must \u2014 we must secure our border, the physical border, with \u2014 with a wall, absolutely. But we also need to have an entry/exit tracking system. 40 percent of the people who come here illegally come legally, and then they overstay the visa. We also need a mandatory e-verify system. After we've done that, step two would be to modernize our legal immigration system so you come to America on the basis of what you can contribute economically, not whether or not simply you have a relative living here. And after we've done those two things, I believe the American people... +p205 +aV... will be very reasonable and responsible about what you do with someone who's been here and isn't a criminal. If you're a criminal, obviously, you will not be able to stay. +p206 +aVYes, well, it does. But it's in the following way, this is an important question. I think if you're running for president, these are important issues, because look at around the world today. There is a lunatic in North Korea with dozens of nuclear weapons and long-range rocket that can already hit the very place in which we stand tonight. The Chinese are rapidly expanding their military. They hack into our computers. They're building artificial islands in the South China Sea, the most important shipping lane in the world. A gangster in Moscow is not just threatening Europe, he's threatening to destroy and divide +p207 +aVWell, that's why we have a debate. I think that we should have a deeper debate about these issues, because there is no more important decision that a president will make. +p208 +aVWell, you should ask him questions in detail about the foreign policy issues our president will confront, because you had better be able to lead our country on the first day. Not six months from now, not a year from now, on the first day in office, our president could very well confront a national security crisis. You can't predict it. Sometimes you cannot control it. And it is the most \u2014 the federal government does all kinds of things it's not supposed to be doing. It regulates bathrooms. It regulates schools that belong to local communities. But the one thing that the federal government must do, the one thing that only the federal government can do is keep us safe. And a president better be up-to-date on those issues on his first day in office, on her first day in office. +p209 +aVTrust (ph) me, I get that. OK. +p210 +aVI never get to addressed, and... +p211 +aV...and when I do, I'm gonna jump in. +p212 +aVYeah. He did. Let me \u2014 I'm proud to serve in the United States Senate. You know, when I ran five years ago, the entire leadership of my party in Washington lined up against me. But I'm glad I won. And I'm glad that I ran, because this country's headed in the wrong direction. And if we keep electing the same people, nothing is going to change. And you're right, I have missed some votes, and I'll tell you why, Mr. Trump. Because in my years in the Senate, I've figured out very quickly that the political establishment in Washington, D.C. in both political parties is completely out of touch with the lives of our people. You have millions of people in this country living paycheck to paycheck, and nothing is being done about it. We are about to leave our children with $18 trillion in \u2014 in \u2014 in debt, and they're about to raise the debt limit again. We have a world that grows increasingly dangerous, and we are eviscerating our military spending and signing deals with Iran. And these \u2014 if this thing continues, we are going to be the first Americans to leave our children worse off than ourselves. That's why I'm missing votes. Because I am leaving the Senate, I'm not running for re-election, and I'm running for president because I know this: unless we have the right president, we cannot make America fulfill its potential, but with the right person in office, the 21st century can be the greatest era that our nation has ever known. +p213 +aVI want to go even deeper \u2014 and I want to go even deeper in that direction, because I think the belief that somehow by retreating, America makes the world safer has been disproven every single time it's ever been tried. Syria's a perfect example of it. The uprising in Syria was not started by the United States; it was started by the Syrian people. And I warned at the time \u2014 this was three and a half years ago \u2014 I openly and repeatedly warned that if we did not find moderate elements on the ground that we could equip and arm, that void would be filled by radical jihadists. Well, the president didn't listen, the administration didn't follow through, and that's exactly what happened. That is why +p214 +aV... as you asked earlier today. +p215 +aVBut radical terrorism cannot be solved by intellect. It cannot \u2014 they require \u2014 what they need, is they need an operating space. That's what Afghanistan was for Al Qaida. It was a vacuum that they filled, and they created an operating space. That's why they had to be drawn out of there. That's why they had to be destroyed. It is the reason why +p216 +aVThere's a broader issue here, Hugh. And there's a broader issue here as well. First of all, the only people that follow the law are law-abiding people. Criminals by definition ignore the law, so you can pass all the gun laws in the world, like the left wants. The criminals are going to ignore it because they are criminals. Here's the real issue. The real issue \u2014 the real issue is not what are people using to commit violence, but why are they committing the violence? And here's the truth: Because you cannot separate the social, moral wellbeing of your people from their economic and other wellbeing. You cannot separate it. You can't have a strong country without strong people, you cannot have strong people without strong values, and you cannot have strong values without strong families and the institutions in this country that defend and support those families. +p217 +aVWell, and today, we have a left-wing government under this president that is undermining all of the institutions and society that support the family and teach those values. +p218 +aVBecause we're not going to destroy our economy the way the left-wing government that we are under now wants to do. We're not going to... +p219 +aVWell, and I don't \u2014 he may have lined up with their positions on this issue. But here is the bottom line. Every proposal they put forward are going to be proposals that will make it harder to do business in America, that will make it harder to create jobs in America. Single parents are already struggling across this country to provide for their families. Maybe a billionaire here in California can afford an increase in their utility rates, but a working family in Tampa, Florida, or anywhere across this country cannot afford it. So we are not going to destroy our economy. We are not going to make America a harder place to create jobs in order to pursue policies that will do absolutely nothing, nothing to change our climate, to change our weather, because America is a lot of things, the greatest country in the world, absolutely. But America is not a planet. And we are not even the largest carbon producer anymore, China is. And they're drilling a hole and digging anywhere in the world that they can get a hold of. So the bottom line is, I am not in favor of any policies that make America a harder place for people to live, or to work, or to raise their families. +p220 +aVJake, you mentioned me and called me a denier. Let me say, climate change... +p221 +aVOK. A skeptic. You can measure the climate. You can measure it. That's not the issue we're discussing. Here is what I'm skeptical of. I'm skeptical of the decisions that the left wants us to make, because I know the impact those are going to have and they're all going to be on our economy. They will not do a thing to lower the rise of the sea. They will not do a thing to cure the drought here in California. But what they will do is they will make America a more expensive place to create jobs. And today with millions of people watching this broadcast that are struggling paycheck to paycheck that do not know how they're going to pay their bills at the end of this month, I'm not in favor of anything that is going to make it harder for them to raise their family. +p222 +aVSenator Rubio, you mean? +p223 +aVI know we all look alike. +p224 +aVThe \u2014 Rosa Parks, an everyday American that changed the course of history. +p225 +aVWell, there are some people in Florida upset at me over a joke I made about Florida State, but, what the heck, I want my codename to be Gator. +p226 +aVOne of the things that made Ronald Reagan a great president, is that he understood that America was a unique nation, like any other that had existed throughout human history. He knew it was founded on universal principles that were powerful, the dignity of all people, human rights, the rights of all to live in freedom and liberty, and choose their own path in life. He didn't just believe it, he acted on it. That's why bringing down communism was so important to him. If I'm honored with the opportunity to be president, I hope that our Air Force One will fly, first and foremost, to our allies; in Israel, in South Korea, and Japan. They know we stand with them. That America can be counted on. It would also fly to China, not just to meet with our enemies, not just to meet with those adversaries of ours that are there, but also to meet with those that aspire to freedom and liberty within China. I would even invite them to my inauguration. We would also fly into Moscow and into Russia. And not just meet with the leaders of Russia, but also meet with those who aspire to freedom and liberty in Russia. And ultimately, I hope that my Air Force One, if I become president, will one day land in a free Cuba, where its people can choose its leaders and its own destiny. +p227 +aVWell, thank you for the question, Chris, and it's great to be here tonight. Let me begin by saying this: I'm not new to the political process; I was making a contribution as the speaker of the third largest and most diverse state in the country well before I even got into the Senate. I would add to that that this election cannot be a resume competition. It's important to be qualified, but if this election is a resume competition, then Hillary Clinton's gonna be the next president, because she's been in office and in government longer than anybody else running here tonight. Here's what this election better be about: This election better be about the future, not the past. It better be about the issues our nation and the world is facing today, not simply the issues we once faced. This country is facing an economy that has been radically transformed. You know, the largest retailer in the country and the world today, Amazon, doesn't even own a single store? And these changes have been disruptive. They have changed people's lives. The jobs that once sustained our middle class, they either don't pay enough or they are gone, and we need someone that understands that as our nominee. If I'm our nominee, how is Hillary Clinton gonna lecture me about living paycheck to paycheck? I was raised paycheck to paycheck. How is she -- how is she gonna lecture me -- how is she gonna lecture me about student loans? I owed over $100,000 just four years ago. If I'm our nominee, we will be the party of the future. +p228 +aVLet me set the record straight on a couple of things. The first is, the evidence is now clear that the majority of people coming across the border are not from Mexico. They're coming from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras. Those countries are the source of the people that are now coming in its majority. I also believe we need a fence. The problem is if El Chapo builds a tunnel under the fence, we have to be able to deal with that too. And that's why you need an e-verify system and you need an entry-exit tracking system and all sorts of other things to prevent illegal immigration. But I agree with what Governor Kasich just said. People are frustrated. This is the most generous country in the world when it comes to immigration. There are a million people a year who legally immigrate to the United States, and people feel like we're being taken advantage of. We feel like despite our generosity, we're being taken advantage of. And let me tell you who never gets talked about in these debates. The people that call my office, who have been waiting for 15 years to come to the United States. And they've paid their fees, and they hired a lawyer, and they can't get in. And they're wondering, maybe they should come illegally. And so these are important issues, and we should address it. It's a serious problem that needs to be addressed, and otherwise we're going to keep talking about this for the next 30 years, like we have for the last 30 years. +p229 +aVNot me. +p230 +aVActually, to be clear......he supported Charlie Crist. +p231 +aVHey, Charlie... +p232 +aVWell, first off, I too believe in curriculum reform. It is critically important in the 21st Century. We do need curriculum reform. And it should happen at the state and local level. That's. . . that's. . . that is where educational policy belongs, because if a parent is unhappy with what their child is being taught in school, they can go to that local school board or their state legislature, or their governor and get it changed. Here's the problem with Common Core. The Department of Education, like every federal agency, will never be satisfied. They will not stop with it being a suggestion. They will turn it into a mandate. In fact, what they will begin to say to local communities is, you will not get federal money unless do you things the way we want you to do it. And they will use Common Core or any other requirements that exists nationally to force it down the throats of our people in our states. +p233 +aVThat's a great question. +p234 +aVThat's a great question. First of all, it begins by having leaders that recognize that the economy we live in today is dramatically different from the one we had five years ago. It's an economy that now has placed us in global competition with dozens of other countries around the world. Now, the big companies that have connections with Washington, they can affect policies to help them, but the small companies like the one Tania is talking about, they're the ones that are struggling. The first thing we need to do is we need to even out the tax code for small businesses so that we lower their tax rate to 25 percent, just as we need to lower it for all businesses. We need to have a regulatory budget in America that limits the amount of regulations on our economy. We need to repeal and replace Obamacare and we need to improve higher education so that people can have access to the skills they need for 21st century jobs. And last but not least, we need to repeal Dodd-Frank. It is eviscerating small businesses and small banks. 20 \u2014 over 40 percent of small and mid-size banks that loan money to small businesses have been wiped out over the \u2014 since Dodd-Frank has passed. We need to repeal and replace Dodd-Frank. We need to make America fair again for all businesses, but especially those being run by small business owners. +p235 +aVWell, Megyn, first of all, I'm not sure that that's a correct assessment of my record. I would go on to add that I believe all-- +p236 +aVI have never said that. And I have never advocated that. What I have advocated is that we pass law in this country that says all human life at every stage of its development is worthy of protection. In fact, I think that law already exists. It is called the Constitution of the United States. And let me go further. I believe that every single human being is entitled to the protection of our laws, whether they can vote or not. Whether they can speak or not. Whether they can hire a lawyer or not. Whether they have a birth certificate or not. And I think future generations will look back at this history of our country and call us barbarians for murdering millions of babies who we never gave them a chance to live. +p237 +aVWell, first, let me say I think God has blessed us. He has blessed the Republican Party with some very good candidates. The Democrats can't even find one. And I believe God has blessed our country. This country has been extraordinarily blessed. And we have honored that blessing. And that's why God has continued to bless us. And he has blessed us with young men and women willing to risk their lives and sometimes die in uniform for the safety and security of our people. Unfortunately today we have a VA that does not do enough for them. I am proud that last year we helped change the law. We changed the law to give the power to the VA secretary the ability to fire any executive that isn't doing their job. And it is outrageous they've only fired one person to date. When I'm president of the United States, we're going to have a VA that cares more about our veterans than about the bureaucrats who work at the VA. +p238 +aVThank you. You know, both of my parents were born into poor families on the island of Cuba. They came to America because it was the only place where people like them could have a chance. Here in this country, they never made it big, but the very purpose of their life was to give us the chance to do all the things they never could. My father was a bartender. And the journey from the back of that bar to this stage tonight, to me, that is the essence of the American dream. It is what makes our nation different. And I'm running for president because I want that to still be possible for the people trying to do that now. I run for president because I believe that we can't just save the American dream; we can expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And that's why I'm asking for your vote. So we can make America greater than it has ever been. And make of this century a new American century. +p239 +asVKASICH +p240 +(lp241 +VThank you, Wolf. Just last weekend, just last week, a friend asked one of my daughters, "Do you like politics?" And my daughter said, "No, I don't. And the reason I don't like it is because there's too much fighting, too much yelling. It's so loud, I don't like it." You know, I turned to my friend and I said, "You know, she's really on to something." And when we think about our country and the big issues that we face in this country; creating jobs, making sure people can keep their jobs, the need for rising wages, whether our children when they graduate from college can find a job, protecting the homeland, destroying +p242 +aVWell, first of all, Wolf, I said last February that we needed to have people on the ground, troops on the ground in a coalition similar to what we had in the first Gulf War. I remember when the Egyptian ambassador to the United States stood in the Rose Garden and pledged Arab commitment to removing Saddam Hussein from Kuwait. Before we came out here tonight, I am told that the Saudis have organized 34 countries who want to join in the battle against terrorism. First and foremost, we need to go and destroy +p243 +aVNo, I don't think it is. And I want to go back to two other issues. One is the metadata. We know we have to hold this data for a longer period of time. And, you know, in a lot of ways, Chris is right. Look, what a president has to do is take a position. We don't want to err on the side of having less. We want to err on the side of having more. That's good for our families. In addition to that, Wolf, there is a big problem. It's called encryption. And the people in San Bernardino were communicating with people who the FBI had been watching. But because their phone was encrypted, because the intelligence officials could not see who they were talking to, it was lost. We have to solve the encryption problem. It is not easy. A president of the United States, again, has to bring people together, have a position. We need to be able to penetrate these people when they are involved in these plots and these plans. And we have to give the local authorities the ability to penetrate to disrupt. That's what we need to do. Encryption is a major problem, and Congress has got to deal with this and so does the president to keep us safe. +p244 +aVYeah, let me \u2014 let me just suggest to everybody, and I hear \u2014 last February, I said we needed to have people on the ground in a coalition with Europe and our allies. This is not going to get done just by working with the Sunnis. And it is not going to get done if we just embed a few people. We have to go massively, like we did in the first Gulf War where we destroyed Saddam's ability to take Kuwait. We need to have a coalition that will stand for nothing less than the total destruction of +p245 +aVI don't understand this thing about Assad. He has to go. Assad is aligned with Iran and Russia. The one thing we want to prevent is we want to prevent Iran being able to extend a Shia crescent all across the Middle East. Assad has got to go. And there are moderates there. There are moderates in Syria who we should be supporting. I do not support a civil war. I don't want to be policeman of the world. But we can't back off of this. And let me tell you, at the end, the Saudis have agreed to put together a coalition inside of Syria to stabilize that country. +p246 +aVHe must go. It will be a blow to Iran and Russia. +p247 +aVThe foreign policy, you have to know how to pick and choose. There's no way, if Saddam had not had weapons of mass destruction, I would have gone, because I don't believe that the U.S. should be involved directly in civil wars. I opposed the U.S. involvement in Lebanon. We ended up having to withdraw our marines after our barracks were blown up. There is a difference between Iraq, where you have Sunni, Shia, and Kurds put together after the First World War by the Western powers. It doesn't work. It needs to break up into three parts. And for the Russians, frankly, it's time that we punched the Russians in the nose. They've gotten away with too much in this world and we need to stand up against them, not just there, but also in Eastern Europe where they threaten some of our most precious allies. +p248 +aVIt sounds more and more what my daughter said that I said in the beginning, all the fighting and arguing is not advancing us. +p249 +aVIt is not the way we're going to strengthen our country. We will strengthen our country when we come together. And, look, you've got Rand Paul, you've got Ted Cruz, you've got Marco, you've got a lot of people on this stage that have studied these issues. You know what a leader does? A leader has a sound program, has a good policy, and then brings people together to solve problems. Guess what? Both in Congress in balancing the budget and in Ohio fixing the economy \u2014 and, by the way, we talk about the fence. The first thing we better get going is strengthening our economy, because if we don't have a strong economy, we can't pay for all of this. And the world wants us to be able to function from strength, believe it or not. Get our economy going, get these people together in a room. We can fix this, ladies and gentlemen. We don't have to fight all the time. It can be done, and we will be great... +p250 +aV... when we join together. Thank you, Hugh. +p251 +aVYou know, obviously, as president of the United States, we've got to keep the people safe. That's first and foremost. But as governor of Ohio, I have an obligation to keep the 11.5 million people in Ohio safe. And we have been very effective with our Joint Terrorism Task Force, being able to make busts. In fact, we just made one three-four weeks ago against a person who was favorable to +p252 +aVNo Republican has ever been elected president of the United States without winning Ohio. Let me give you a little tip on how you win Ohio, it's reform, it's hope, it's growth, it's opportunity, and it's security. The people of Ohio are the people of America. The people of America are reflected in Ohio. Our message has to be big, and bold, and positive, and connect, not just with people's heads but also connect with their hearts. If we do it, we will beat Hillary Clinton, and we will run the White House, and we will strengthen and fix America, I promise you. +p253 +aVFirst of all, let me just say that, in the state of Ohio \u2014 and I'm the only acting executive on \u2014 on this stage today \u2014 we do have a moderate increase in the minimum wage. And I got to tell you, my father carried mail on his back. His father was a coal miner. He died of black lung. He was losing his eyesight. My mother's mother lived with us. She could barely speak English. I come from a town where if the wind blew the wrong way, people found themselves out of work. An economic theory is fine, but you know what? People need help. Now, I have a plan that, in fact, would cut taxes, but not $11 trillion or $12 trillion that would put my children further in debt. I have a plan that would not only cut taxes, lower the income tax rate for individuals, lower the tax for businesses so businesses will compete here and not move operations overseas, and also a plan \u2014 the only plan of anybody standing on this stage to get us to a balanced budget by the end of a second term. And, you know, the simple fact of the matter is, we hear a lot of promises in this debate, a lot of promises about these tax cuts or tax schemes sometimes that I call them. Hillary and the Democrats promise everything on the spending side. We've got to be responsible about what we propose on the tax side. Yes, lower taxes, lower spending. My website, JohnKasich.com, will show you exactly how we balance the budget. I balanced the budget in Washington as a chief architect, and I have balanced it in Ohio for one reason. When you balance the budget and you cut taxes, people get work. And our most important moral purpose as leaders in the political system is to make sure we create an environment for job creation so people can live their dreams and realize their God-given potential. That's why it's so important. And for those at the bottom, we've got to do what we can to train them so they can move up. But to just look the other way is not acceptable, because, you know what, as the governor of Ohio I have to deal with real challenges, and we've gotten it done in our state, and I will do it for America. +p254 +aVSure. We would move the Medicare system from a 7 percent growth down to about a 5 percent growth. And I have a whole series of ways to do that. In Ohio, we reduced Medicaid funding for the poor from 10 percent to 2.5 percent, didn't cut one benefit or didn't take anybody off the rolls. Why? Because we're innovators. I've been an innovator my entire career. And I really don't care what special interests or lobbyists have to say. I have a job to do when I take over a public office. Now, we freeze non-defense discretionary for eight years. We also put an increase in defense spending. Our tax cuts balance out. And at the end of the day, we will get to a balanced budget. And I want everybody here to know, when I was Budget Committee chairman in Washington, I stepped on every toe in that town, and we got to a balanced budget, and we had enormous job growth. And as governor of Ohio, we went from 350,000 lost jobs to a gain of 347,000 jobs. +p255 +aVI'll do it in Washington. I've done it twice; I'll do it thrice for the United States of America. +p256 +aVExcuse me. +p257 +aVYeah, I would like to make a comment. +p258 +aVI appreciate it, Jeb. I'm all of you. But I want at some point to talk about a value-added tax and $11 trillion, $12 trillion tax cuts that will put our kids way deeper in the hole than they have been at this point. So I would like to talk about it at some point, because that's what leadership is. +p259 +aVMaria, can we comment on that? +p260 +aVCan we comment on that? +p261 +aVWell, look, in 1986 Ronald Reagan basically said the people who were here, if they were law-abiding, could stay. But, what didn't happen is we didn't build the walls effectively and we didn't control the border. We need to. We need to control our border just like people have to control who goes in and out of their house. But if people think that we are going to ship 11 million people who are law-abiding, who are in this country, and somehow pick them up at their house and ship them out of Mexico \u2014 to Mexico, think about the families. Think about the children. So, you know what the answer really is? If they have been law- abiding, they pay a penalty. They get to stay. We protect the wall. Anybody else comes over, they go back. But for the 11 million people, come on, folks. We all know you can't pick them up and ship them across, back across the border. It's a silly argument. It is not an adult argument. It makes no sense. +p262 +aVJerry, Gerald, it was an attack. +p263 +aVIn the state of Ohio, the state of Ohio, we have grown 347,000 jobs. Our unemployment is half of what it was. Our fracking industry, energy industry may have contributed 20,000, but if Mr. Trump understood that the real jobs come in the downstream, not in the upstream, but in the downstream. And that's where we're going to get our jobs. But Ohio is diversified. And little false little things, sir, they don't really work when it comes to the truth. So the fact is, all I'm suggesting, we can't ship 11 million people out of this country. Children would be terrified, and it will not work. +p264 +aV...Mr. Baker, everybody got to talk about taxes... +p265 +aV...I think you were coming to me and then... +p266 +aV...Look, I hate to crash the party to you, Mr. Baker, but, you know, what's fair... +p267 +aV...Yes, sir... +p268 +aVLet me tell you this, Mr. Baker, in terms of the cyber attacks, we have the capability to not only have a defensive posture, but it also to make it clear to people that if you attack us with cyber attacks, we will destroy the mechanisms that you are using to attack us. I want to give you a little trip around the world. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years. In the Ukraine, arm the people there so they can fight for themselves. In the eastern part of Europe, make sure that Finland and the Baltics know that if the Russians move, we move. In Syria, yes, a no-fly zone in the north on the Turkish border, a no-fly zone on the south on the Jordanian border. Anybody flies in the first time, maybe they can fly out. They fly in there a second time, they will not fly out. And it also becomes a sanctuary for the people to be. And it also sends many messages in the Middle East that we're still involved. Saudi Arabia, cut off the funding for the radical clerics, the ones that preach against us. But they're fundamentally our friends. Jordan, we want the king to reign for 1,000 years. Egypt, they have been our ally and a moderating force in the Middle East throughout their history. In the groups \u2014 in the countries of the Gulf states of Bahrain, the Cleveland Clinic is opening an operation. Clearly we see the same with them. And in Israel, we have no better ally in the world, and no more criticizing them in public, we should support them. And finally China, China doesn't own the South China Sea, and I give the president some credit for being able to move a naval force in there to let the Chinese know that we're not going to put up with it any more. And in the trade agreement, the TPP, it's critical to us, not only for economic reasons and for jobs, because there are so many people who are connected to getting jobs because of trade, but it allows us to create not only economy alliances, but also potentially strategic alliances against the Chinese. They are not our enemy, but they are certainly not our friend. And finally, I will say to everyone in this room, we have been talking about taxes and economics. When the fall comes, and we run against Hillary, which will be a disaster if she got elected. I have two 16-year-old girls, and I want this country to be strong. We make promises we can't keep under the bright light of the fall, we will have trouble. We must make sure that economic programs and our military programs are solid. I served in Washington as the chairman of the Budget Committee, and we got the budget balanced. And in Ohio, as the CEO, and guess what, we have got to have a CEO mentality and a way to beat Hillary Clinton and the Democracies in the fall. And our ideas have to add up. They have to be solid. And people have to know we have the confidence to lead America. And as president, I will lead this country, as I have before in Washington and in Ohio, and will return both on domestic and international affairs. And I appreciate the opportunity to speak this time, Gerry. +p269 +aVLet me \u2014 let me also say, Gary \u2014 Gary, let me also say, Jeb is \u2014 what Jeb is talking about with the big banks is to force them to reserve their capital, people who invest it and they hold their capital, so that if the bank goes down, the people who are invested in the bank are the ones that pay. That's what he's trying to say. Secondly, I'll tell you about Wall Street: There's too much greed. And the fact is, a free enterprise system is a system that's produced the greatest wealth for the world. But you know Michael Novak, the great Catholic theologian, says that a free enterprise system that is not underlaid with values \u2014 and we should all think about the way we conduct our lives \u2014 yes, free enterprise is great, profits are great, but there have to be some values that underlay it, and they need a good ethics lesson on Wall Street on a regular basis to keep them in check so we, the people, do not lose. +p270 +aVNeil, that's the difference of being an executive. And let me just explain: when a bank is ready to go under and depositors are getting ready to lose their life savings, you just don't say we believe in philosophical concerns. You know what an executive has to decide? When there's a water crisis, how do we get water to the city? When there's a school shooting, how do you get there and help heal a community? When there are financial crisis, or a crisis with ebola, you got to go there and try to fix it. Philosophy doesn't work when you run something. And I gotta tell you, on-the-job training for president of the United States doesn't work. We've done it for 8 years, \u2014 and almost 8 years now. It does not work. We need an executive who's been tried, has been tested, and judge the decisions that that executive makes. I don't like what the Fed is doing, but I'll tell you what worries me more than anything else: turning the Fed over to the Congress of the United States... +p271 +aV...so they can print the money. That would be a very bad approach. +p272 +aVI wouldn't. I wouldn't. +p273 +aVNo. No, I didn't say that. +p274 +aVThey were \u2014 they were talking about what you would do with depositors. Would you let these banks shut down? My argument is, going forward, the banks have to reserve the capital, so that the \u2014 so that the people who own the capital start pressuring the banks to not take these risky approaches, Ted. But at the end of the day... +p275 +aV... I'm gonna tell you this. Let me tell you this. If during \u2014 if during... +p276 +aV...because if during \u2014 well, I'll tell you what (ph). +p277 +aVAs an executive \u2014 no. As an executive, I would figure out how to separate those people who can afford it versus those people, or the hard-working folks who put those money in those institutions...... let me \u2014 no, no. Let me say another thing. Here's what I mean by that. Here's what I mean by that. +p278 +aVWhen you are faced \u2014 when you are faced, in the last financial crisis, with banks going under \u2014 with banks going under, and people, people who put their \u2014 their life savings in there, you got to deal with it. You can't turn a blind eye to it. Now, going forward, that's one thing. If you had another financial crisis, perhaps there would be an effort to make sure that we do (ph). +p279 +aVWell, ladies and gentlemen, if Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders were to win this election, my 16-year-olds, I \u2014 I worry about what their life is going to be like. You know, the conservative movement is all about opportunity. It is about lower taxes. It's about balanced budgets. It's about less regulation. And it's about sending power, money and influence back to where we live so we can run America from the bottom up. In addition to that, once we have the power and the money and the influence with programs we shift out, that each of us have a responsibility to reach out and to rebuild our families, make them stronger, and connect our neighborhoods. All that together \u2014 wealth, connection, family \u2014 America's greatest days are ahead. We must win this election. +p280 +aVGood question, but I want to tell you, my great concern is that we are on the verge, perhaps, of picking someone who cannot do this job. I've watched to see people say that we should dismantle Medicare and Medicaid and leave the senior citizens out \u2014 out in the \u2014 in the cold. I've heard them talk about deporting 10 or 11 \u2014 people here from this country out of this country, splitting families. I've heard about tax schemes that don't add up, that put our kids in \u2014 in a deeper hole than they are today. We need somebody who can lead. We need somebody who can balance budgets, cut taxes... +p281 +aVYou know, frankly, I did it in Washington, in Ohio, and I will do it again in Washington, if I'm president, to get this country moving again. +p282 +aVcountry moving again. +p283 +aVListen, I want to just comment. +p284 +aVWell I want to comment on this. This is the fantasy... +p285 +aVThis is the fantasy that I talked about in the beginning. +p286 +aVI'm the only person on this stage that actually was involved in the chief architect of balancing the Federal Budget. You can't do it with empty promised. You know, these plans would put us trillions and trillions of dollars in debt. I actually have a plan. I'm the only one on this stage that has a plan that would create jobs, cut taxes, balance the budget and can get it done because I'm realistic. You just don't make promises like this. Why don't we just give a chicken in every pot, while we're, you know, coming up \u2014 coming up with these fantasy tax schemes. We'll just clean it up. Where are you gonna clean it up? You have to deal with entitlements, you have to be in a position to control discretionary spending. You gotta be creative and imaginative. Now, let me just be clear, John. I went into Ohio where we had an $8 billion hole and now we have a $2 billion surplus. We're up 347,000 jobs. When I was in Washington, I fought to get the budget balanced. I was the architect. It was the first time we did it since man walked on the moon. We cut taxes and we had a $5 trillion projected surplus when I left. That's was hard work. Fiscal discipline, know what you're doing. Creativity. This stuff is fantasy. Just like getting rid of Medicare and Medicaid. Come on, that's just not \u2014 you scare senior citizens with that. It's not responsible. +p287 +aVWell, I mean right here. To talk about we're just gonna have a 10 percent tithe and that's how we're gonna fund the government? And we're going to just fix everything with waste, fraud, and abuse? Or that we're just going to be great? Or we're going to ship 10 million Americans \u2014 or 10 million people out of this country, leaving their children here in this country and dividing families? Folks, we've got to wake up. We cannot elect somebody that doesn't know how to do the job. You have got to pick somebody who has experience, somebody that has the know-how, the discipline. And I spent my entire lifetime balancing federal budgets, growing jobs, the same in Ohio. And I will go back to Washington with my plan. +p288 +aVAnd I will have done it within 100 days, and it will pass. And we will be strong again. Thank you. +p289 +aVLet me just \u2014 let me respond. First of all, Ohio does have an energy industry, but we're diversified. We're one of the fastest growing states in the country. We came back from the dead. And you know what? It works very, very well. And secondly, when you talk about me being on the board of Lehman Brothers, I wasn't on the board of Lehman Brothers. I was a banker and I was proud of it. And I traveled the country and learned how people made jobs. We ought to have politicians who not only have government experience but know how the CEOs and the job creators work. My state is doing great across the board. And guess what, in 2011, I got a deal... +p290 +aV... an agreement with the... +p291 +aV... that he tried to take credit for four years later. It's a joke. +p292 +aVJohn Harwood, there's a bigger issue here. +p293 +aVWell, first of all, when we talk about the Import Export Bank, it's time to clean up corporate welfare. If we're gonna reform welfare for poor people, we ought to reform it for rich people, as well. Secondly, in our state, we went from a loss of 350,000 jobs to, now, a gain of 347,000 jobs to the positive. Our wages are growing faster than the national average, and I've cut taxes more than any sitting governor in this state \u2014 $5 billion, including no taxes on small business and killing the death tax. I want to go back to what we were talking about earlier, this budget deal in Washington. This is the same old stuff since I left. You spend the money today and then you hope you're going to save money tomorrow. I don't know if people understand, but I spent a lifetime with my colleagues getting us to a federal balanced budget. We actually did it. And I have a road map and a plan right now to get us to balance. Reforming entitlements, cutting taxes. You see, because if you really want to get to a balanced budget, you need to reduce your expenses and you need to grow your economy. So what I will tell you about our incentives \u2014 our incentives are tight, and at the end of the day we make sure that we gain more from the creation of jobs than what we lose. And you know what? Ohio, one of the best growing places in the country \u2014 I not only did it in Washington, I did it in Ohio, and I'll go back to Washington, and there will be no more silly deals... +p294 +aV... If I become President because we'll have a Constitutional Amendment to require a federally balanced budget so they will do their job. +p295 +aVWell, first of all, we're running a $2 billion dollar surplus, we're not having a revenue problem right now. And, sending mixed signals to kids about drugs is a disaster. Drugs is one of the greatest scourge in this country, and I spent five years of my administration working with my team to do a whole sort of things to try to reign in the problem of overdoses, and it goes on and on. We could do a whole show on that. I want to go back for a second thought on this issue of income inequality. My program would move the 104 programs of the federal Department of Education into four block grants, and send them back to the states because income inequality is driven by a lack of skills when kids don't get what they need to be able to compete and win in this country. The fact is, in order to get this economy moving again, I call for freezing regulations for a year except for the problem of public safety. I believe that we need to cut these taxes down, we need to be on a roadmap to balancing the budget, and we need to send power, money, and influence, the welfare department, the education department, job training, infrastructure, Medicaid, all of that out of Washington back to the states so we can run these programs from where we live to the top, not a one size fits all mentality that they have in Washington. And, that will get to the nub of opportunity for our children, and an ability to see wages rise. Again... +p296 +aV...One more time, in Ohio, our wages are growing faster than the national average. We've cut taxes, balanced budgets, changed the regulatory environment. Folks, you want to \u2014 +p297 +aV\u2014 fix America, this is the formula. It worked for Reagan and it works for our team in Ohio. Thank you. +p298 +aVJohn. +p299 +aVI wanna tell you, in my state, we took Medicaid, the hardest program to control, and we took it from a 10 percent growth rate to 2.5 percent without taking one person off the rolls or cutting one single benefit. And so much of what we did \u2014 to force competition, to use technology, to stand down the special interest groups \u2014 can you imagine taking Medicaid from 10 to 2.5 percent? We can take many of those same procedures, we can apply it to Medicare. We can make a stronger program. But I agree with Jeb, you can't just do this by growing the economy. You can't grow your way out of demographics. But we can give people better health care. And finally, on health care, why don't we start treating \u2014 keep giving... +p300 +aV...incentives for people to keep people healthy, rather than giving the incentives to treat them when they're sick? +p301 +aVI was on morning Joe at a town hall and a young student stood up and said, "Can I still be idealistic?" I said, absolutely, you can still change the world. And, you know the old inscription, if you save one life, you've changed the world. Folks, we have a problem here with the leadership in Washington, but I'll tell you another problem. We need to rebuild our families. We need to have stronger families. We need to know who our neighbors are. We need to come together as a country because we have to realize that America is great, not from the top-down. Oh yeah, we want to elect a good president, but America is great from the bottom-up, and the bottom-up is us in our families, in our communities, in our neighborhoods. We will renew America if we work together, and I am totally confident that we will. And God bless America. +p302 +aVHello, I'm John Kasich, the Governor of Ohio. Emma, and Reese, my children, and Karen, love 'ya girls. Thanks for watching tonight. By the way, I think I actually flew on this plane with Ronald Reagan when I was a congressman, and his goals, and mine, really much \u2014 are pretty much the same. Lift Americans, unify, give hope, grow America, and restore it is to that great, shining city on a hill. Yes, he was a great one, and I learned much from watching him. The most important thing, hope to Americans, unify, lift everyone in America. +p303 +aVJake, Jake. +p304 +aVListen, you know, I \u2014 if I were sitting at home and watch thing back and forth, I would be inclined to turn it off. I mean, people at home want to know across this country, they want to know what we're going to do to fix this place, how we'll balance a budget, how we're going to create more economic growth, how we'll pay down the debt. What we're going to do to strengthen the military. So, we just spent 10 minutes here... +p305 +aVBut \u2014 but wait a minute. It's a lot of ad hogshead. Now, I know that it may be buzzing out there, but I think it's important we get to the issues, because that's what people want, and they don't want all this fighting. +p306 +aV...Yeah, well... +p307 +aVWell, let me just say this. First of all, I think it's a bad agreement, I would never have done it. But, you know, a lot of our problems in the world today is that we don't have the relationship with our allies. If we want to go everywhere alone, we will not have the strength as (ph) if we could rebuild with our allies. Now, this agreement, we don't know what's going to happen in 18 months. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years. I've seen lots of issues in foreign affairs, and foreign \u2014 in terms of global politics, you have to be steady. Now, here's the \u2014 if they cheat, we slap the sanctions back on. If they help Hamas, and Hezbollah, we slap the sanctions back on. And, if we find out that they may be developing a nuclear weapon, than the military option is on the table. We are stronger when we work with the Western civilization, our friends in Europe, and just doing it on our own I don't think is the right policy. +p308 +aVNo, no, no. I want to \u2014 I want to \u2014 I want to say something about what the senator just said. +p309 +aVNo one is \u2014 no \u2014 let me \u2014 let me suggest to you we believe that we operate better in the world when our allies work with us. President Bush did it in the Gulf War. We work better when we are unified. Secondly, nobody's trusting Iran. They violate the deal, we put on the sanctions, and we have the high moral ground to talk to our allies in Europe to get them to go with us. If they don't go with us, we slap the sanctions on anyway. If they fund these radical groups that threaten Israel and all of the West, then we should rip up the deal and put the sanctions back on. And let me make it clear \u2014 let me make it clear... +p310 +aV... if we think \u2014 if we think they're getting close to a \u2014 to developing a nuclear weapon and we get that information, you better believe that I would do everything in my power as the commander-in-chief to stop them having a nuclear weapon. +p311 +aVWe can have it, and we can have our allies, and we can be strong as a country, and we can project across this globe with unity, not just doing it alone. That is not what gets us where we want to get as a nation. +p312 +aVWell, I agree that we should defund Planned Parenthood. I don't know many people in America who don't think that we should, and in my state, we're trying to figure out how to get it done, because we are threatened with the federal government taking all of our Medicaid money away. I think there is a way to get this done by giving governors the ability to be able to act to defund Planned Parenthood. But when (ph) it comes to closing down the federal government, you gotta be very careful about that. When we shut the government down \u2014 if we have a chance at success and it's a great principle, yes. The president of the United States is not going to sign this, and all we're gonna do is shut the government down, and then we're gonna open up \u2014 open it up, and the American people are gonna shake their heads and say, "what's the story with these Republicans?" So I think there is a way to get to cutting off the funding for Planned Parenthood. I was in the Congress for 18 years, balanced the budget, cut taxes, got it done. Changed welfare, went around the president to get welfare reform done. There are ways to do it without having to shut the government down, but I'm sympathetic to the fact that we don't want this organization to get funding, and the money ought to be reprogrammed for family planning in other organizations that don't support this tactic. But I would not be for shutting the government down... +p313 +aV...because I don't think it's going to work out. +p314 +aVWe're not \u2014 what I can tell you is this. We didn't surrender in New Jersey, six years ago, as the brand new first ever pro-life governor of New Jersey since Roe versus Wade, I defended Planned Parenthood. And I've vetoed Planned Parenthood funding, now, eight times in New Jersey. Since the day I walked in as governor, Planned Parenthood has not been funded in New Jersey. We stood up and every one of those vetoes has been sustained. But here's the problem, we're \u2014 we're fighting with each other up here. We agree. Let's ask Hillary Clinton. She believes in the systematic murder of children in the womb to preserve their body parts... +p315 +aV...Dana, in a way that maximizes their value for sale for profit. It is disgusting, and the American people need to hear it... +p316 +aV...we shouldn't be fighting with each other. She's the real opponent, she's the real problem. +p317 +aVI'll tell you what \u2014 I'll tell you what I'd be willing to fight for. I'll tell you what I'd be willing to fight for. Why will (ph) we put tax reform on the president's desk, so we can simplify this tax system? +p318 +aVNo, no, it's really important, Dana. We got to talk about what we would be willing to shut down for. Why don't we put tax reform on this president's desk, and make him veto it if that's what he wants to do? Why haven't we repealed and replaced Obamacare? Make him veto if that's what he wants to do. +p319 +aVThere's a \u2014 +p320 +aVJake \u2014 +p321 +aVOK, Jake. +p322 +aVI don't at this point in terms of changing the incentives for investment and risk-taking. But let's just stop for a second. There's one person on this stage that does have a record. I'm the only person on the stage and one of the few people in this country that led the effort as the chief architect of the last time we balanced the federal budget. We also cut taxes. And when I left Washington in 2000, we had a $5 trillion surplus, and the economy was booming. I had spent 10 years of my life to get us to that point, went out in the private sector, was a great experience, and went into Ohio and took an $8 billion hole and turned it into a $2 billion surplus. We've had the largest amount of tax cuts of any sitting governor. We've grown well over 300,000 jobs. You see, I've done it in both places. I'm the only one here that has done it in both places. It took a lot to get us to a balanced budget. It was legitimate. It was real. And we negotiated it. A lot of what we're talking about here tonight as we take this position and that position, you know what? At the end of the day, America has got to work. We've got to figure out how we come together to deal with this \u2014 with our fiscal problems because when we deal with that, we create a stronger economy for everybody. People have a chance to rise. So, you know, when we think about how we make a choice, it's the person that lands that plane. It's not somebody that talks about it. It's about the person who has done it. And I've done it in... +p323 +aV... both places. And I did it including people in the other party. And that's how we were successful. +p324 +aVAnd that's how I will be president, using that experience to drive this country forward. Thank you. +p325 +aVWell, look, people still have to get to know me, so I want to spend my time talking about my experience reforming welfare, balancing budgets, cutting taxes, providing economic growth when I was in Washington, turning Ohio around. Eight billion in the hole, $2 billion surplus, up over 300,000 jobs, big tax cuts, strengthening our credit. All those things matter but, you know, as a young man in my first election in 1978, I defeated an incumbent Democrat. I defeated an incumbent Democrat in 1982; running on the Reagan program, I was the only Republican in America to defeat an incumbent Democrat that year. And then, when I won for election of governor, I was the first Republican to defeat an incumbent in 36 years, and the first person to have never run statewide out of politics for 10 years to beat an incumbent. That hadn't happened for 96 years. So, we'll get to the point where we'll talk about Hillary Clinton, or whoever the nominee is, record. But right now, I want to give people sense of hope, sense of purpose, a sense of unity, sense that we can do it. So... +p326 +aVYou know, at the end of the day, I'm going to continue to talk about my record, because there is, did you ever notice when people run for office, they run for president, they make a lot of promises, they don't keep them. +p327 +aVI don't intend to do that, and I going to be out there pushing it out \u2014 don't worry about me and Hillary. That will all work out, and I'm from Ohio. She will not beat me there, I can promise you that. +p328 +aVCan I just \u2014 can I \u2014 Jake, can I just make one point on this whole military discussion? +p329 +aVI called for boots on the ground many months ago in a coalition with our friends who share our interest. You know, you win a battle with the military, and when we go somewhere, we need to be mobile, and lethal. We need to take care of business, and we need to come home. But, we face, also, a bigger war \u2014 and you win the bigger war with the battle of ideas. You wonder why young people, and educated people, rich people, schooled people, have tried to join +p330 +aV...to make (ph) centers (ph) of justice so that we can battle the radicals, call them out for what they are, and make sure that all of our people feel fulfilled in living in Western civilization... +p331 +aV...This is a giant battle in the world today... +p332 +aVWell, it's probably not, maybe, legal, but, I would pick Mother Theresa, the lady that I had a chance to meet, a woman who lived a life so much bigger than her own. An inspiration to everyone when we think about our responsibility to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. +p333 +aVWell, I have one now \u2014 they (ph) call me, "Unit One". My wife says, "You'll never be Unite One, I'm Unite One. You're Unit Two." +p334 +aVWell, as president, I will make this a nation that will solve problems. And how? By having the elected officials and the leaders realize they're Americans before they're Republicans or Democrats. I did it in Washington. And I've done it in Ohio by having the elected officials realize that they're Ohioans before anything else. Secondly, I will rebuild the relationships and show the respect to our allies around the world. We have no choice but to do that. We will be stronger when we are unified. And we'll fight for freedom and for human rights. And finally, a little bit of what Carly said. The people that are out there listening, America was never great because we ran America from the top down. America is great because we have run America from the bottom up, where we all live in the neighborhoods. One more time in America, we need to revive the concept of citizenship, where everybody's actions make a huge difference in changing the world. We have a Holocaust memorial on our state house grounds. And there is one line on there that stands out all the time. "If you've saved one life, you've changed the world." We need to adopt that as citizens and rebuild and reinspire our country. Thank you. +p335 +aVWell, first of all... ...first of all, Megyn, you should know that -- that President Reagan expanded Medicaid three or four times. Secondly, I had an opportunity to bring resources back to Ohio to do what? To treat the mentally ill. Ten thousand of them sit in our prisons. It costs $22,500 a year... ...to keep them in prison. I'd rather get them their medication so they could lead a decent life. Secondly, we are rehabbing the drug-addicted. Eighty percent of the people in our prisons have addictions or problems. We now treat them in the prisons, release them in the community and the recidivism rate is 10 percent and everybody across this country knows that the tsunami of drugs is -- is threatening their very families. So we're treating them and getting them on their feet. And, finally, the working poor, instead of them having come into the emergency rooms where it costs more, where they're sicker and we end up paying, we brought a program in here to make sure that people could get on their feet. And do you know what? Everybody has a right to their God-given purpose. And finally, our Medicaid is growing at one of the lowest rates in the country. And, finally, we went from $8 billion in the hole to $2 billion in the black. We've cut $5 billion in taxes... ...and we've grown 350,000 jobs. +p336 +aVChris, first of all, I was just saying to Chris Christie, they say we're outspoken, we need to take lessons from Donald Trump if we're really going to learn it. Here is the thing about Donald Trump. Donald Trump is hitting a nerve in this country. He is. He's hitting a nerve. People are frustrated. They're fed up. They don't think the government is working for them. And for people who want to just tune him out, they're making a mistake. Now, he's got his solutions. Some of us have other solutions. You know, look, I balanced the federal budget as one of the chief architects when I was in Washington. Hasn't been done since. I was a military reformer. I took the state of Ohio from an $8 billion hole and a 350,000 job loss to a $2 billion surplus and a gain of 350,000 jobs. +p337 +aVBut the point is that we all have solutions. Mr. Trump is touching a nerve because people want the wall to be built. They want to see an end to illegal immigration. They want to see it, and we all do. But we all have different ways of getting there. And you're going to hear from all of us tonight about what our ideas are. +p338 +aVDonald, if you... +p339 +aV-- this campaign, I hope you will give to me. +p340 +aVOK. +p341 +aVLet's start off with my father being a mailman. So I understand the concerns of all the folks across this country, some of whom have trouble, you know, making ends meet. But I think she will come in a narrow way. The nominee of this party, if they're going to win, has got to come at it in a big way, which is pro-growth. Which is balancing budgets. You know, we were talking about it. People were saying, could we do it? I was the chairman of the Budget Committee and the lead architect the last time it happened in Washington, and when we did it we had great economic growth, we cut taxes, and we had a big surplus. Economic growth is the key. Economic growth is the key to everything. But once you have economic growth, it is important that we reach out to people who live in the shadows, the people who don't seem to ever think that they get a fair deal. And that includes people in our minority community; that includes people who feel as though they don't have a chance to move up. You know, America is a miracle country. And we have to restore the sense that the "Amiracle" will apply to you. Each and every one of the people in this country who's watching tonight, lift everybody, unite everybody and build a stronger United States of America again. It will be and can be done. +p342 +aVWell, look, I'm an old-fashioned person here, and I happen to believe in traditional marriage. But I've also said the court has ruled -- +p343 +aVWait, Megyn, the court has ruled, and I said we'll accept it. And guess what, I just went to a wedding of a friend of mine who happens to be gay. Because somebody doesn't think the way I do, doesn't mean that I can't care about them or can't love them. So if one of my daughters happened to be that, of course I would love them and I would accept them. Because you know what? That's what we're taught when we have strong faith. So the issues like that, issues like that are planted to divide us. I think the simple fact of the matter is, and this is where I would agree with Jeb, and I've been saying it all along, we need to give everybody a chance, treat everybody with respect, and let them share in this great American dream that we have, Megan. So, look, I'm going to love my daughters, I'm going to love them no matter what they do. Because, you know what, God gives me unconditional love. I'm going to give it to my family and my friends and the people around me. +p344 +aVWell, Megyn, my father was a mailman. His father was a coal miner. My mother's mother could barely speak English. And their son today stands on this podium in the great state of Ohio not only as the governor, but a candidate for president of the United States. I do believe in miracles. You know, I've had a lot of elections. But my elections are really not about campaigns. I tell my people that these are about a movement. And a movement to do what? To restore common sense. A movement to do things like provide economic growth. And a movement not to let anybody be behind. You know, today the country is divided. You asked a question about the police and the difficulty in communities. We've got to unite our country again, because we're stronger when we are united and we are weaker when we are divided. And we've got to listen to other people's voices, respect them, but keep in mind, and I believe in terms of the things that I've read in my lifetime, the Lord'is not picking us. But because of how we respect human rights, because that we are a good force in the world, he wants America to be strong. He wants America to succeed. And he wants America to lead. And nothing is more important to me than my family, my faith, and my friends. +p345 +aVYou know, tonight we hear about what people want to do. I want to tell you what I've done. I was a member of the Armed Services Committee for 18 years. I spent a big chunk of my life studying national security issues and our role in the world. No. 2. I was the chairman of the House Budget Committee and one of the chief architects the last time we balanced a budget, and it was the first time we had done it since man walked on the moon. We had a $5 trillion surplus and we cut taxes. I spent ten years in the private sector, actually learning how business works. And now I'm the governor of Ohio, and I inherited a state that was on the brink of dying. And we turned it all around with jobs and balanced budgets and rising credit and tax cuts, and the state is unified, and people have hope again in Ohio. +p346 +asVQUICK +p347 +(lp348 +VGentlemen \u2014 we'll \u2014 we'll get back to this \u2014 just a minute \u2014 just a minute we're gonna continue this. I wanna talk taxes... +p349 +aVDr. Carson, let's talk about taxes. You have a flat tax plan of 10 percent flat taxes, and \u2014 I've looked at it \u2014 and this is something that is very appealing to a lot of voters, but I've had a really tough time trying to make the math work on this. If you were to took a 10 percent tax, with the numbers right now in total personal income, you're gonna come in with bring in $1.5 trillion. That is less than half of what we bring in right now. And by the way, it's gonna leave us in a $2 trillion hole. So what analysis got you to the point where you think this will work? +p350 +aVI \u2014 I understand that, but if you \u2014 if you look at the numbers you probably have to get to 28. +p351 +aV15 percent still leaves you with a $1.1 trillion hole. +p352 +aVYou'd have to cut \u2014 you'd have to cut government about 40 percent to make it work with a $1.1 trillion hole. +p353 +aVThat is true, I looked at the numbers. +p354 +aVDr. Carson, thank you. +p355 +aVGovernor... +p356 +aVDr. Carson, let me get 30 seconds with Dr. Carson... +p357 +aVThank you. +p358 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, thank you. +p359 +aVGentlemen, I'm sorry, we need to... +p360 +aVWe're going to move on. +p361 +aVThirty seconds. +p362 +aVWe'll get to everyone. Ms. Fiorina, I \u2014 I'd like to ask you a question. You are running for president of the United States because of your record running Hewlett-Packard. But the stock market is usually a fair indicator of the performance of a CEO, and the market was not kind to you. Someone who invested a dollar in your company the day you took office had lost half of the dollar by the day you left. Obviously, you've talked in the past about what a difficult time it was for technology companies, but anybody who was following the market knows that your stock was a much worse performer, if you looked at your competitors, if you looked at the overall market. I just wonder, in terms of all of that \u2014 you know, we look back, your board fired you. I just wondered why you think we should hire you now. +p363 +aVMrs. Fiorina, it's interesting that you bring up Mr. Perkins, because... ...he said a lot of very questionable things. Last year, in an interview, he said that he thinks wealthy people should get more votes than poor people. I think his quote was that, "if you pay zero dollars in taxes, you should get zero votes. If you pay a million dollars, you should get a million votes." Is this the type of person you want defending you? +p364 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p365 +aVThank you, we're out of time. Thank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Carl. +p366 +aVGovernor Christie, I'd like to a question next. Actually, I have a question for you . In your tell it like it is campaign, you've said a lot of tough things. You've said that we need to raise the retirement age for Social Security. You think that we need to cut benefits for people who make over $80,000 and eliminate them entirely for seniors who are making over $200,000. Governor Huckabee, who is here on the stage, has said that you and others who think this way are trying to rob seniors of the benefits that they've earned. It raises the question: When it is acceptable to break a social compact? +p367 +aV...Governor... +p368 +aV...Thank you. +p369 +aVWelcome back to the presidential debate for the Republicans. We are live in Boulder, Colorado, right here on +p370 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. +p371 +aVSenator Rubio, you yourself have said that you've had issues. You have a lack of bookkeeping skills. You accidentally inter-mingled campaign money with your personal money. You faced (ph) foreclosure on a second home that you bought. And just last year, you liquidated a $68,000 retirement fund. That's something that cost you thousands of dollars in taxes and penalties. In terms of all of that, it raises the question whether you have the maturity and wisdom to lead this $17 trillion economy. What do you say? +p372 +aVSenator, I understand all of that. I had a lot of student loans when I got out, too. But you've had a windfall that a lot of Americans haven't. You made over a million dollars on a book deal, and some of these problems came after that. +p373 +aVBut you \u2014 but you liquidated that retirement account after the fact, and that cost you about $24,000 out of that in taxes and feed. That \u2014 that was after you'd already come into that windfall. That's why I raised the question. +p374 +aVYes, thank you John. Senator Cruz, working women in this country still earn just 77 percent of what men earn. And I know that you've said you've been very sympathetic to our cause. But you've also you said that the Democrats' moves to try and change this are the political show votes. I just wonder what you would do as President to try and help in this cause? +p375 +aVMrs. Fiorina \u2014 +p376 +aVMrs. Fiorina, we will come back to you. +p377 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Carl? +p378 +aVMr. Trump, let's stay on this issue of immigration. You have been very critical of Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook who has wanted to increase the number of these H1Bs. +p379 +aVSo you're in favor of... +p380 +aVWhere did I read this and come up with this that you were... +p381 +aVYou know, Mr. \u2014 you know, Mr. Trump, if I may . You've been \u2014 you have been \u2014 you had talked a little bit about Marco Rubio. I think you called him Mark Zuckerberg's personal senator because he was in favor of the H1B. +p382 +aVSo this was an erroneous article the whole way around? +p383 +aVMy apologies. I'm sorry. +p384 +aVYes, you can. +p385 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you very much. I would like to introduce my colleague, Rick Santelli, he has some comments as well, sir. +p386 +aVRick, thank you very much. Governor Huckabee, you have railed against income inequality. You've said that some Wall Street executives should have gone to jail over the roles that they played during the financial crisis. Apart from your tax plan, are there specific steps you would require from corporate America to try and reduce the income inequality. +p387 +aVGovernor? +p388 +aVGovernor? +p389 +aVThank you. +p390 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee. +p391 +aVHow about 15 more seconds? +p392 +aVGovernor? +p393 +aVGovernor, I'm sorry... +p394 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p395 +aVGovernor, thank you. Appreciate it. John? +p396 +aVIt's at the moderator discretion. +p397 +aVWelcome back to the University of Colorado and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p398 +aVThank you, sir. +p399 +aVYou were. You get 30 seconds. +p400 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Carl? +p401 +aVHigher education is the example... +p402 +aVI want to go back, if I can, to the issue of... +p403 +aVI want to go back, if I may, to the... +p404 +aVSenator Paul, among the leading conservative opponents to the creation of Medicare back in the 1960s was Ronald Reagan. He warned that it would lead to socialism. Considering the mounting cost of Medicare, was he right to oppose it? +p405 +aVSenator, thank you. [ +p406 +aVWelcome back to Boulder, Colorado and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p407 +aVThank you, Governor. +p408 +aVGovernor. +p409 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Paul, let's go back to you. Do these solutions sound like they work? +p410 +aVDo these solutions sound like they would work? +p411 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Governor? +p412 +asVGRAHAM +p413 +(lp414 +VThank you very much. I just returned from Iraq two weeks ago. It was my 36th trip to Iraq and Afghanistan in the last decade. Toward the end, I met a very impressive Special Forces sergeant. It was his job to train Iraqi Kurdish commandos. He was so proud of what he was doing and so proud of the people he was training. He was the replacement for Master Sergeant Wheeler, a Delta Force member who was killed two months ago in a raid against an +p415 +aVYou may think this makes us safe, but it doesn't. The good news for everybody in this room is, after 36 trips to Iraq and Afghanistan, most people over there, Wolf, are not buying what +p416 +aVI will support the Republican nominee, whoever he or she may be. Like Bob Dole, I may sleep late that day if it's Trump. But the bottom line, if it's Trump, so be it. That's who I'll support. Please understand we're in a war that we can't afford to lose, and what he said about banning Muslims coming here to America has made us all less safe, and it's the worst possible thing he could do in this war. He clearly doesn't understand this war and how to win it. For God's sakes, pick somebody who is worthy of the sacrifice of those who are fighting this war and who actually knows how to win, and I don't believe that's Mr. Trump, and I know it's not Hillary Clinton. +p417 +aVRick, please understand the only way we're gonna win the war against radical Islam is for the world to unite. Very few fathers and mothers want to turn their daughters and sons over to +p418 +aVWell, here's what I'm here to tell you, when I first started this process of running for president., I said, " if you didn't realize we need more America boots on the ground in Iraq and eventually in Syria as a part of the regional army - not ready to be commander in chief." Like nobody said a word, now everybody's on board except Senator Paul. Senator Paul and Senator Cruz, are isolationists. They both want to restrict the ability of the NSA to do the following; find out if somebody overseas is calling into America and if somebody is on the other end of the phone, don't you want to know who their talking to? IF a terrorist is calling into America and we can match up phone numbers we get a get a court order to find out what the content is. We're at war folks, they're not trying to steal your car, they're trying to kills us all. So yes, I would re-institute this program. There's four things you need to understand about this war, it's a religious war, them against the world, if you don't fight them over there, they're coming here. If you don't hit them first, they're going to hit us. If you're not determined to fight it as a ware, you're going to lose it. So if you're worried about somebody having your phone in the government, don't be. The only thing you need to worry about is if you're talking to terrorist and a judge gives an order to listen to what you're saying. That's all you need to worry about. +p419 +aVCan I say something? +p420 +aVYeah. There are at least 3,500 American muslims serving in the armed forces. Thank you for your service. You are not the enemy. Your religion is not the enemy. Let me make this real to you. I was at the second presidential election in Afghanistan. The guy guarding me was an American Muslim sergeant in the Army who grew up in Kabul, left when he was \u2014 graduated high school, joined the U.S. Army, went back to his high school where they were doing polling, people voting, he took me there and cried like a baby. I cried like a baby. He is the solution to this problem, folks. He is not the problem. Leave the faith alone. Go after the radicals that kill us all. +p421 +aVThank you. This is why I own a flip phone. You don't have to worry about all of this stuff. The bottom line is, we're at war. They're trying to come here to kill us all and it's up to the government to protect you within constitutional means. Any system that would allow a terrorist to communicate with somebody in our country and we can't find out what they're saying is stupid. If I'm president of the United States, and you join +p422 +aVWell, what you want to do is you want to knock them off line. How about this idea? If you pledge allegiance to al-Baghdadi, you can't get married in America? The bottom line is you have to go after them everywhere. The key to winning this war is to provide the capacity to those in the faith who reject the ideology. The key to fighting this war is to fight it in their backyard, not ours. Two years ago I came up with a plan that requires more American boots on the ground in Iraq. The first thing out of my mouth running for President was, if you don't understand we need 10,000 troops in Iraq, rather than 3,500, you're not ready. What would I do in Syria? I'd form a regional army of Arabs and Turkey. Ninety percent them, 10 percent us. Up to 10,000 U.S. forces to go in on the ground and destroy the caliphate and its roots. Take Raqqah away from +p423 +aVYeh, it's just you're not going to win that way, Rick. There's nobody left in Syria to train. Between the Russians and Assad, they have killed all the people we trained, and our President sat on the sidelines and watched people get killed that we enticed into the fight. There is nobody left to train. I would get the Arabs who are threatened by +p424 +aVWell, number one, dead men don't preach anything. If you don't understand we need a ground force to go into Syria, then you're not ready to destroy +p425 +aVYeah. I just don't make this up, Wolf. I talk to people who are combat trained who have won in Iraq who I trust. Here's what I want to tell the Arab world and Turkey. We're not going to send 100,000 troops. You're going to do the fighting this time and we're gonna help you. We paid for the last two wars, you're gonna pay for this one. And, by the way, they get it because +p426 +aVTwo years ago. +p427 +aVYes. +p428 +aVI think we need to have a military strategy regarding Libya. They've just take over Gaddafi's hometown called Sur. There's about 2000 of them. Here's what I've learned in my 36 visits, you can't deter these guys, they're ready to die, bring on the virgins. Dying is first place in their world. What we have to do is work with others over time to destroy to ideology. We have to offer a hopeful life to compete with the glory of this. Most young people folks want the same thing you do. They don't want to live in the 11th century. So yes, you have to destroy the caliphate. I want to work with Arabs and Turkey to do it, but here's the key is to not leave. If we left Germany and Japan only god knows what would've happened. If we have 10000 troops left in Iraq, there would be no +p429 +aVI want to talk to General Keane first. I want to find out, what do we need militarily to keep them contained and eventually destroy them in Libya. They're in nine countries. You want to deal with Libya, go to Iraq and Syria. You want to prevent another 9/11, take the caliphate headquarters away from +p430 +aVNo. What I would do is I would try to make friends throughout the world to destroy a common threat to the world. These people are religious Nazis. Most people in Islam don't buy what they're selling. I've told you a thousand times that I would partner with the Arabs in Turkey. But, the reason they don't partner with Obama is they just don't trust him. Do you think they would trust me? I know them all. I've been working for a decade to figure out how to win this war. To my good friend Ted Cruz, please ask him the following question, you say you would keep Assad in power, I will tell you that is the worst possible thing that could come out of an American leaders mouth. It would be disastrous. His favorite movie is, apparently, Princess Bride. Ted, getting in bed with Iran and Russia to save Assad is inconceivable. +p431 +aVPrincess Buttercup would not like this. +p432 +aV...I didn't get to say yes. Yes. +p433 +aVYeah, this is an important discussion. The American president is the strongest voice in the world \u2014 until Obama came along. Now, we're just one of many. When you ask people to help you, when you entice Syrians to join your cause, to take down the dictator they hate to destroy +p434 +aV...we'd better do something about it, and I have a plan. +p435 +aVI don't think it's necessary. If you don't want to be there, I don't want you to be there. I just retired after 33 years in the Air Force, 140 days on the ground as an Air Force Reservist. To those who are watching, thank you for your service. I've had a small walk in your shoes. We have the best military in the world. Obama has put it in a box. Let's take it out of the box and use it before we get attacked here. We don't need a draft, we need a commander in chief who knows what the hell they're doing. +p436 +aVAnd, I am that guy. +p437 +aVBut, the reason they don't partner with Obama is they just don't trust him. Do you think they would trust me? I know them all. I've been working for a decade to figure out how to win this war. To my good friend Ted Cruz, please ask him the following question, you say you would keep Assad in power, I will tell you that is the worst possible thing that could come out of an American leaders mouth. It would be disastrous. His favorite movie is, apparently, Princess Bride. Ted, getting in bed with Iran and Russia to save Assad is inconceivable. +p438 +aVPrincess Buttercup would not like this. +p439 +aV...I didn't get to say yes. Yes. +p440 +aVYeah, this is an important discussion. The American president is the strongest voice in the world \u2014 until Obama came along. Now, we're just one of many. When you ask people to help you, when you entice Syrians to join your cause, to take down the dictator they hate to destroy +p441 +aV...we'd better do something about it, and I have a plan. +p442 +aVI don't think it's necessary. If you don't want to be there, I don't want you to be there. I just retired after 33 years in the Air Force, 140 days on the ground as an Air Force Reservist. To those who are watching, thank you for your service. I've had a small walk in your shoes. We have the best military in the world. Obama has put it in a box. Let's take it out of the box and use it before we get attacked here. We don't need a draft, we need a commander in chief who knows what the hell they're doing. +p443 +aVAnd, I am that guy. +p444 +aVCan, can I... +p445 +aVThis is important. We're not fighting all the wars with our kids. If you've been to Iraq and Afghanistan and you made any friends, you've lots of bunch. Thousands have died in Iraq and Afghanistan fighting. +p446 +aVDon't belittle their sacrifice. +p447 +aVNo. +p448 +aVTo, to those the (well) times in the Army were a bigger problem than they are today. If you want to fix this, you get the Army to 500,000, not 420,000. You want to win this war, grow the Navy to 350 ships, not 275. Sequestration is Latin for doing really dumb things. We're going to have the smallest Navy since 1915, the smallest Army since 1940. I was yelling and screaming don't do sequestration. I was right. If I am President of the United States, Commander in Chief, we're going to rebuild our military without a draft... +p449 +aV...and we're going to go on the offense and they're ready to go. +p450 +aVThey are ready to go. They just need to be led. +p451 +aVWell I stand unique, having been a military lawyer for 33 years. I've been a defense attorney, a prosecutor, and a military judge. Mr. Trump, you don't have to speak about everything, that's not required. I would make sure that everybody had a fair trial. Does that make sense to you? We're at war folks and this stuff has to stop. It's bad for morale to hear somebody wanting to be Commander in Chief that would deny due process to somebody who's been charged in the military. For God's sakes Mr. Trump, you're asking to be the Commander in Chief , the leader of the free world, up your game. As to women, if you want to kill terrorists, I'm your guy. +p452 +aVWell, the first thing I would do is make adjustments to reality. I want to look and see if this was a terrorist arranged marriage between the couple in California. The fact that they met online accidentally is almost zero. So, no, I would have a time-out on Syrian refugees because you'd be crazy if you didn't after Paris. But, I've been to the refugee camps in Turkey, and Jordan. Trust me with your Christian \u2014 and I'm a lousy Christian saved by grace, but \u2014 this is important. We've got to stop this war. Do you realize that there are more Syrian refugees in Lebanon going to school than Lebanese children? Do you realize if this war goes for another year the King of Jordan could fall? Let's have a no-fly zone. +p453 +aVI would \u2014 make changes to that bill in light of what I know today. +p454 +aVThe next president is going to be a war-time president, whether they like it or not. I'm ready for that job. Two years ago isolationism led by Senator Paul and Cruz was white hot in our party. Now it is in retreat because events have proven me more right than wrong and has proven them to be wrong. In the first debate I called for American troops on the ground to protect our homeland. Nobody came forward. Now, most have. We've spent a lot of carnage to get them to where I have always been. Make me president, I will keep you and your family safe. +p455 +asVREGAN +p456 +(lp457 +VIn Tuesday's State of the Union Address, the president said that our economy is strong. He cited the significant decline we've seen in unemployment rate and the millions of jobs that have been created. What is your assessment of the economy right now? And I would like to hear from all of you on this one, beginning with Ms. Fiorina. +p458 +aVThank you Governor Huckabee. Senator Santorum? +p459 +aVThank you. Well, since we've been talking about the Middle East, Senator Santorum, conflicts between Saudi Arabia and Iran have certainly escalated, amid accusations that Saudi Arabia bombed the Iranian Embassy in Yemen after the Saudi Embassy in Tehran was attacked. As we confront an increasingly unstable Middle East, how will you, as president, navigate this administration's promises to Iran while standing by our historic allies in the region? +p460 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p461 +aVGovernor Huckabee, if I could just follow-up with that. Do we need to be in Afghanistan? +p462 +aVThank you Governor Huckabee. Ms. Fiorina, nearly 600 women say they were attacked in a German city on New Year's Eve by men of Arab or North African descent and 45 percent of those alleged attacks were sexual assaults. Twenty-two of those 32 men arrested so far are asylum-seekers. Are you worried about similar problems in the United States? +p463 +aVI want to stay with you on this. The world shares a common enemy right now in the way of +p464 +aVMs. Fiorina, thank you. +p465 +aVWelcome back, everyone, to the Republican presidential debate. On to the next round of questions \u2014 Sandra. +p466 +aVMs. Fiorina, the president has just issued an executive order to expand the gun laws and background checks. And none of you on stage agree with this. But recent polls show the majority of Americans are in favor of universal background checks. +p467 +aVIt's the poll data. +p468 +aVSo tell me......why, in your view, is the president's proposal a problem? +p469 +aVMs. Fiorina, you've said that was when you were CEO of HP, you actually worked with the government. +p470 +aV\u2014 to try and combat some of these terrorist threats. +p471 +aVWhat did you do? +p472 +aVMs. Fiorina, thank you. +p473 +aVGovernor Huckabee, an American in San Bernardino murdered 14 people while terrorists with Belgian and French passports murdered 130 people. Were facing a threat within our borders, and from outside the United States. Those European terrorists, they could have come here at any time given that we have a visa waiver program that enables people to travel back and forth. It exists within those countries, and 36 others. In countries around the world, including many in Europe, cannot ensure that their citizens are not jihadists, why are we waiving the visa requirement at all? +p474 +aVIf you get the visa waiver program, does that shut down international commerce? +p475 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p476 +aVSenator Santorum, thank you. +p477 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p478 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from North Charleston. We want to jump right back in. Sandra is kicking it off. +p479 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you know it used to be you could graduate from high school and get a pretty good job at the local factory, enough to take care of your family and yourself. Those days seem to be gone. It's pretty hard to do that nowadays. Businesses are increasingly turning to automation to increase their productivity levels. It's happening right here, in fact, at the Boeing factory in North Charleston. The president says automation threatens workers' ability to get higher wages. Do you agree with that? And if so, do you have a solution? +p480 +aVThank you very much, Governor Huckabee. Senator Santorum, 40% of babies born today are born to single moms. That's twice as high as reported back in 1980, and it's 11 times as high as in 1940. Studies show that children are always better off economically, most often \u2014 and emotionally, with two parents in a household. From a policy perspective, should the government be doing anything to encourage family formation? +p481 +aVThank you. +p482 +aVCarly Fiorina? +p483 +aVThank you to all the candidates. That does it, everyone for the first debate right here in North Charleston. +p484 +aVGood evening, and welcome to the historic Milwaukee Theater. Tonight, you'll hear from 12 Republican candidates vying to become the next President of the United States. I'm Trish Regan, along with my co-moderators, Sandra Smith, and from the Wall Street Journal, Jerry Seib. +p485 +aVLet's introduce them. New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie. Former Arkansas Governor, Mike Huckabee. Former Pennsylvania Senator, Rick Santorum. And, Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindal. +p486 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p487 +aVAll right, Governor Jindal, you have pushed Louisiana's energy resources as a means to grow jobs in your state. But as oil prices have plunged in recent months, so has jobs growth. Louisiana now has an unemployment rate above the national average. Will your energy-focused jobs plan for the country be subject to the same market ups and downs? +p488 +aVAll right, Governor Jindal, thank you. Governor Christie, you have said that the Democrats' message is one of, quote, "free stuff." In contrast, Republicans want to reduce spending. How do you win a national election when the Democrats are offering free health care, a free or subsidized college education, and you're the party that is seemingly offering nothing in the way of immediate tangible benefits? +p489 +aVSenator Santorum, a single mom with no job and two kids in New Hampshire, home of the first in the nation primary, is eligible for more than $30,000 a year in benefits. Even if she could find a job, she would need to find child care. And in many cases may conclude it's better for her to live off government benefits. Senator, how do you help and incentivize her to go to work? And if you're the one that's going to cut her benefits, why should she vote for you? +p490 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you. All right, we are just getting started. Medicare, Social Security and the future of ObamaCare \u2014 that is all straight ahead, live from Milwaukee and the Republican presidential debate. +p491 +aVWelcome back to the Milwaukee Theater, and the Republican Presidential Debate. On to the next round of questions, Gerry has the next question. +p492 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you differ from many of your GOP opponents on the stage tonight over accepting Syrian refugees into this country. You have said, "We don't have an obligation to just open our doors." As the Islamic state continues to expand, slaughtering and crucifying Christians, including women and children, refugees continue to flee their land by the thousands. Should America open its doors to accept any refugees in this country? If so, how many? +p493 +aVAlright, Governor Huckabee, thank you. +p494 +aVNext question to you, Governor... +p495 +aV...Next question to you, Governor... +p496 +aV...let me get in......Let me get in here, because the next question, it's to you, and it's on Obamacare. It is still unpopular with the American people. You've seen the polls, they've shown nearly half the country still opposes this law. You have been critical of your GOP opponents, some of them standing on the stage tonight, others later. Notably, Ted Cruz, for not having comprehensive plans. You say you do. What specifically makes your plan to replace Obamacare better than the opponents, some of them standing next to you. +p497 +aVGovernor Jindal, thank you. +p498 +aVWe'll get to that. +p499 +aVRonald Reagan did work with Tip O'Neill. Anyway, we are going to take a quick break. Coming up, one of the top issues for voters, how much you're paying in taxes. We are live from Milwaukee with the Republican presidential debate. See you right back here. +p500 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate. We are live from Milwaukee. A top issue on the campaign trail, taxes and how much you pay. All right, I've got a question for all of you here. When looking at the federal income tax, state income tax and local tax, in some cases, combined, some Americans are paying over 50 percent of their paycheck to the government. What is the highest percentage, all in, in the way of taxes, that any American should have to pay and what is the lowest? I'd like to, again, to hear from each of you. And I want those two all in numbers. I'm going to start with you, Senator Santorum. +p501 +aVAll in. OK, Governor Christie? +p502 +aVAnd we'll get back to you. Governor Jindal? +p503 +aVGovernor Huckabee, Americans, under your plan, would pay a tax on every single thing that they purchase. Given that consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of GDP, some economists worry that your tax plan would actually discourage spending, thereby slowing our economy. How do you respond? +p504 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p505 +aVSenator Santorum, you agree with Governor Christie. You also have said that the Fed should be audited. But many worry that given the Congressional challenges that they face, by having Congressional oversight of the Fed, which has been historically an independent body, you would be making the Fed much more political. How would you navigate that risk? +p506 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee, both Senator Santorum and Governor Christie were boat \u2014 both critical of the Federal Reserve. Also, many have questioned whether Janet Yellen is the right person to be running the Fed. If elected president, would you keep Janet Yellen? +p507 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee, thank you. All right, Senator Santorum, by the way, today is the 240th... +p508 +aV\u2014 of the United States... +p509 +aV\u2014 Marine Corps. Tomorrow is Veterans Day. We honor and recognize all those who have fought for, and served this great nation, Senator. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, meanwhile, which provides patient care, and federal benefits to those veterans, as well as their families, is beset by scandal. What new ideas do you have to fix the broken V.A. healthcare system? +p510 +asVHEMMER +p511 +(lp512 +VSo, here we go. Ninety-seven hours before Iowa chooses, in fact the last two winners in this state are on this stage tonight. Governor Huckabee, in 2008, you won by nine points here, but this time your support seems to be going to Senator Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. Why, Governor, is your message not working this time? +p513 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Santorum, four short years ago you won Iowa. You beat Mitt Romney, pretty much shocked the country. But, just the other day you talked about what is in the greater good for your campaign. Is Monday night your last stand? +p514 +aVOK. +p515 +aV... Senator, do you want to name... ... Senator, do you want to name that entertainer your refering to? +p516 +aVBut senator, since you mentioned... +p517 +aVSenator, quickly then, after this debate, you mentioned Donald trump's name. Immediately, you're going to event across town here in Des Moines as a guest of Donald Trump. +p518 +aVSo are you laying the groundwork for maybe your future? Perhaps an endorsement of Mr. Trump? +p519 +aVThank you, senator. One moment. We'll get to you in a moment, Governor. We have a few coming up. +p520 +aVThank you. Governor Gilmore. As of one week ago, you have not held a single campaign event here in the state of Iowa. As of one week ago, in fact, you were the only one in the Republican field who had not made a campaign visit to this state. You know how it works here. You know how it's worked over time. Why should anyone caucus for you on Monday night? +p521 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p522 +aVMs. Fiorina, same topic. The president says that many are exaggerating the threat from +p523 +aVThank you. +p524 +aVGovernor Gilmore, some time this spring 34 more detainees are cleared from release from Gitmo. If you were president, as you say, this president wants to close it. As president, if Gitmo were closed and an enemy combatant were found or captured in the field of battle, perhaps Syria or Iraq or Libya, and you don't have Gitmo, where would you put them? +p525 +aVGovernor, thank you for that. +p526 +aVWelcome back to Des Moines on what will be a long night here. Let's get back to the questions. Let's get back to the questions with Martha. +p527 +aVLet me stay with you, Ms. Fiorina. You've said you will shrink the federal government by 30 percent over the next two years, and those jobs will not be filled, and you'll do it through retirement. Your critics would argue that's exactly what you did at Hewlett Packard when 30,000 people lost their jobs. If it did not work at H.P., why would it work at the federal government? +p528 +aVThank you. +p529 +aVGovernor Huckabee, Nikki Haley, Republican governor from South Carolina, recently said... +p530 +aVI did not, but we... +p531 +aVWe have plenty for you -- you bet, Governor. We have a couple more in the hopper for you in a moment here. +p532 +aVFirst, Governor -- Governor Huckabee, Nikki Haley warned about listening to "the siren call of the angriest voices," to which Donald Trump said he is "very, very angry." Who is right, Governor? +p533 +aVThank you, Governor. +p534 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you've mentioned the economy several times tonight. Let's go back to that for a moment because in America today 50% of the American workers are making less than $30,000 dollars a year. Let's talk about what you could do for them. The Conservative Club for Growth has had an issue with your policy on taxes for years. In fact, it called you, "Tax Hike Mike". And, the record shows state spending in Arkansas increased 54% when you were in charge, 94% if you include federal dollars during that same period. When it comes to helping people at the margins, $30,000, $32,000 dollars a year, what's better? A tax and spend approach, or shrinking government? +p535 +aVGovernor Huckabee, thank you. Same issue, Senator Santorum. The President says criticism of his economic policy is political hot air. You consistently talk about manufacturing jobs leaving America. You support a flat tax of 20%. How would a flat tax bring back two million jobs to America? +p536 +aVSenator, thank you. +p537 +aVThank you Ms. Fiorina. Governor Gilmore. Who are the moderate Muslims do you seek advice and counsel from on how to deal with the threat from radical Islamic terrorism? +p538 +aVThank you governor. Governor Huckabee. Here in Iowa 43 percent of Democratic caucus goers describe themselves as socialist. That's a higher number than those who say they are capitalist. I guess you could say, they're feeling the burn. This is a country rooted in capitalism, the United States of America. How did we get here? +p539 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum, the president says politics in America have become meaner over the past several years with him in the White House. Two weeks ago at the State of the Union he said the following. "A president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide." Lincoln and Roosevelt, that's pretty good company. If he is right, do Republicans share some of the blame? +p540 +aVThank you, Senator. +p541 +aVIn the closing few moments, the candidates have an opportunity to make a closing statement, 30 seconds for each. And, we want to start tonight with the former Virginia Governor, Jim Gilmore. +p542 +aV... Thank you, Governor. +p543 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p544 +aVThank you, Governor. +p545 +aVThat concludes our debate tonight, but the night has just begun. +p546 +asVUNIDENTIFIED +p547 +(lp548 +VWhy don't, why don't we... +p549 +asVBAIER +p550 +(lp551 +VLess than a year from now, in this very arena, one of these 10 candidates or one of the seven on the previous debate tonight will accept the Republican party's nomination. Tonight's candidates were selected based on an average of five national polls. Just a few hours ago, you heard from the candidates ranked 11th through 17. And now, the prime-time event, the top 10. +p552 +aVNeurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Florida Senator Marco Rubio. +p553 +aVIt might be. It might be. We'll see. [ +p554 +aVIt might be. The rules for tonight are simple. One minute for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups. And if a candidate runs over, you'll hear this. Pleasant, no? We also have a big crowd here with us tonight in the home of the Cavaliers, as I mentioned. And while we expect them... ... we expect them to be enthusiastic, as you heard, we don't want to take anything away from the valuable time for the candidate. So, we're looking for somewhere between a reaction to a LeBron James dunk and the Cleveland Public Library across the street. Somewhere there, we'll find a balance tonight. Without further ado, let's begin. +p555 +aVGentlemen, we know how much you love hand-raising questions. So we promise, this is the only one tonight: the only one. Is there anyone on stage, and can I see hands, who is unwilling tonight to pledge your support to the eventual nominee of the Republican party and pledge to not run an independent campaign against that person. Again, we're looking for you to raise your hand now -- raise your hand now if you won't make that pledge tonight. Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump to be clear, you're standing on a Republican primary debate stage. +p556 +aVThe place where the RNC will give the nominee the nod. +p557 +aVAnd that experts say an independent run would almost certainly hand the race over to Democrats and likely another Clinton. You can't say tonight that you can make that pledge? +p558 +aVSo tonight, you can't say if another one of these... +p559 +aVOK. +p560 +aVDr. Paul. +p561 +aVOK. +p562 +aVJust to be clear, you can't make a -- we're gonna -- we're going to move on. You're not gonna make the pledge tonight? +p563 +aVOK. Alright. +p564 +aVGovernor Bush, you have insisted that you're your own man. You say you have a life experience uniquely your own. Not your father's, not your brother's. But there are several opponents on this stage who get big- applause lines in early voting states with this line: quote, "the last thing the country needs is another Bush in the Oval Office." So do you understand the real concern in this country about dynastic politics? +p565 +aVGovernor Christie, you're not exactly the darling of conservatives. You tout your record as a Republican governor in a blue state. On Facebook, the most people talking about you, not surprisingly, come from your state of New Jersey, and one of the top issues they are talking about is the economy. This -- this may be why. Under your watch, New Jersey has undergone nine credit rating downgrades. The state's 44th in private sector growth. You face an employee pension crisis and the Garden State has the third highest foreclosure rate in the country. So why should voters believe that your management of the country's finances would be any different? +p566 +aVSenator Paul, you recently blamed the rise of +p567 +aVGentlemen, the next series of questions deals with ObamaCare and the role of the federal government. Mr. Trump, ObamaCare is one of the things you call a disaster. +p568 +aVSaying it needs to be repealed and replaced. +p569 +aVNow, 15 years ago, you called yourself a liberal on health care. You were for a single-payer system, a Canadian-style system. Why were you for that then and why aren't you for it now? +p570 +aVBut on ObamaCare... +p571 +aVMr. Trump, hold up one second. +p572 +aVAll right, now, hold on, Senator Paul... +p573 +aVOK. +p574 +aVAll right, let me... Mr. Trump, it's not just your past support for single- payer health care. You've also supported a host of other liberal policies. Use -- you've also donated to several Democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton included, Nancy Pelosi. You explained away those donations saying you did that to get business-related favors. And you said recently, quote, "When you give, they do whatever the hell you want them to do." +p575 +aVSo what specifically did... +p576 +aV-- they do? +p577 +aVHold on. We're going to -- we're going to move on. We'll come back to you, Governor Walker. +p578 +aVWe have many questions to come. +p579 +aVMany questions to come. Governor Huckabee, on Facebook, John Pietricone asked this, "Will you abolish or take away the powers and cut the size of the EPA, the IRS, the Department of Education?" Now, broadly... ...broadly, the size of government is a big concern for Facebook users, Facebook persons, as well as, obviously, conservatives. But year after year, decade after decade, there are promises from Republicans to shrink government. But year after year, decade after decade, it doesn't happen. In fact, it gets bigger, even under Republican politicians. So the question is, at this point, is the government simply too big for any one person, even a Republican, to shrink? +p580 +aVDr. Carson... +p581 +aVDr. Carson, do you agree with that? +p582 +aVGovernor Bush? +p583 +aVWe're going to come back to you, Dr. Carson. Governor Bush, you are one of the few people on the stage who advocates for Common Core education standards, reading and math. A lot of people on this stage vigorously oppose a federal involvement in education. They say it should all be handled locally. President Obama's secretary of education, Arnie Duncan, has said that most of the criticism of Common Core is due to a, quote, "fringe group of critics." Do you think that's accurate? +p584 +aVSenator Rubio, why is Governor Bush wrong on Common Core? +p585 +aVAnd do you agree with your old friend? +p586 +aVWe have many more questions coming on a host of topics, here from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Stay with us. +p587 +aVWe have many more questions coming on a host of topics. Here from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Stay with us. +p588 +aVGentlemen, another question for a few of you. Yesterday, just yesterday, President Obama criticized Republican lawmakers trying to block the Iran deal, calling them knee-jerk partisans, adding that hardliners in Iran who chant "death to America" were, quote, "making common cause with the Republican caucus." Here's what two of your opponents on the 5 p.m. debate stage said about Iran. +p589 +aVNow, I wanna ask a few of you this. First, Governor Walker. You've said that you would tear up the Iran deal on day one. If this deal is undone, what then? +p590 +aVSenator Paul, would you tear up the deal on day one? +p591 +aVGovernor Huckabee, what do you think about what Senator Paul just said? +p592 +aVThank you, gentlemen. +p593 +aVWelcome back to Cleveland. Our next topic is foreign policy. Candidates, you may not have seen the late developing news today our Fox Pentagon team broke earlier this evening about a top Iranian general traveling to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. His name is General Qassem Soleimani, he's blamed for hundreds of U.S. troop's deaths in Iraq, and Afghanistan. His trip to Russia appears to directly violate U.N. Security Council resolutions to confine him to Iran. So, Mr. Trump, if you were president, how would you respond to this? +p594 +aVAnother new development today, Senior Defense officials tell Fox they strongly suspect Russia was behind the cyber attack on the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs office... +p595 +aV...email. This comes in the wake of the Director of National Intelligence blaming the Chinese for the largest ever cyber attack, stealing personal data of tens of millions of Americans. Senator Cruz, in your view, have Russia and China committed acts of cyber war, and if you were president, what would you do about it? +p596 +aVDr. Carson, in August of 2012 President Obama famously declared Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons, quote, "that's a redline for us," and that there would be enormous consequences. One year later, with overwhelming evidence the Assad had, in fact, used chemical weapons and crossed that red line, President Obama declined to use military force against the Assad regime. As president, would you have used military force there? +p597 +aVGovernor Walker, as president, what would you do if Russian President Vladimir Putin started a campaign to destabilize +p598 +aVGovernor -- Governor Huckabee, the culture of the American military is definitely changing. Women are moving into combat roles. Don't Ask, Don't Tell has obviously been dropped. And now Defense Secretary Ashton Carter recently directed the military to prepare for a moment when it is welcoming transgender persons to serve openly. As commander in chief, how would you handle that? +p599 +aVSenator Paul, the first budget you proposed as senator cut all financial aid to Israel. You have since changed your view on that issue. What made you change your mind. +p600 +aVOK. But you still say that Israel could be one of the countries that is cut from financial aid? +p601 +aVGovernor Christie, what do you think of that answer? +p602 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p603 +aVSenator, we're going to finish up with some more questions, thank you. +p604 +aVNow each candidate will make a closing statement. You'll all have 30 seconds to make a closing statement for this debate. We'll start with Ohio Governor John Kasich. +p605 +aVSenator Marco Rubio. +p606 +aVThank you, Senator. +p607 +aVGovernor Mike Huckabee, closing statement. +p608 +aVMr. Trump, closing statement, sir. +p609 +aVGentlemen, thank you. +p610 +aVThat's it. +p611 +asVMADDOW +p612 +(lp613 +VWe are super excited to be here at the University of New Hampshire. Tonight, this is the first time that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have squared off exactly like this. Face-to-face, just one-on-one, just the two of them. +p614 +aVAnd we do hope that the candidates will take this opportunity to show us the distinctions\u2014show us the differences between them. That's the whole reason that we're here tonight. We're not here for talking points. We're to learn about the difference between the candidates. And with that, let's get going. Please join us in welcoming Secretary Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders. +p615 +aVAnd with that, that's it. We're going to begin with 60- second opening statements from each of the candidates. And as agreed to in advance by the two campaigns, we're going to begin tonight with Senator Sanders. +p616 +aVSecretary Clinton, Senator Sanders is campaigning against you now, at this point in the campaign, basically arguing that you are not progressive enough to be the Democratic nominee. He has said that if you voted for the Iraq war, if you are in favor of the death penalty, if you wobbled on things like the Keystone Pipeline or TPP, if you said single payer health care could never happen, then you're too far to the right of the Democratic Party to be the party's standard bearer. Given those policy positions, why should liberal Democrats support you and not Senator Sanders? +p617 +aVSenator Sanders, have you established a list of what it means to be a progressive that is unrealistic? +p618 +aVThank you Senator. +p619 +aVSenator Sanders, as a Vermonter, you have almost a home state advantage here in New Hampshire. But back home across the border, you also have a long history of running against Democrats as a third-party candidate, for governor, Senate, for Congress. In 1988 your candidacy as a third-party candidate arguably cost the Democrats a congressional seat and sent a Republican instead. How can you lead the Democratic Party nationally when you have not been a member of the Democratic Party until very recently? +p620 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p621 +aVSo, Senator, to that point, Secretary Clinton is raising the issue of endorsements by your home state Democrats. She's implying that that says something about the people who know you best. +p622 +aVHow do you see it? +p623 +aVSecretary. +p624 +aVSenator Sanders, you'll have 30 seconds to respond to that. +p625 +aVSenator Sanders, Secretary Clinton, obviously we've touched a nerve. We're going to be back with more on this subject, and much more, right after this. Stay with us. +p626 +aVSecretary Clinton, on the issue of Wall Street... +p627 +aV... on the issue of Wall Street, when our reporters go out and talk to people on the ground in the early states, what they tell us over and over again when they find voters who are leaning toward Senator Sanders rather than yourself is that the most frequent area of concern that they hear from those voters is the issue of Wall Street and whether or not you are too close to Wall Street. Last night, when you were asked about speaking fees and the amount of speaking fees you got from Goldman Sachs speeches, you said that's what they offered. Have you been too dismissive of voters' concerns about this issue in your own campaign and your own career? +p628 +aVSenator Sanders, you have been a critic of Secretary Clinton taking those speaking fees and having donations from Wall Street. What about her defense of her record? +p629 +aVSenator Sanders, let me turn to, I think, where this direction is heading anyway, which is the broader issue of big business and power in our political system. You on the campaign trail have railed against big name American corporations like Boeing, and General Electric, and Wal Mart. But, some big businesses in this country have also been part of advancing progressive goals like that nationwide initiative to expand employment opportunities for veterans. That was all about cooperation between the Obama administration and some very big business. The Affordable Care Act, some of the thorniest problems in that bill were worked out in cooperation with big business in order to accomplish progressive goals. Could you work with them, or have you made enemies of big business in this country with the way you've approached them in this campaign? +p630 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. And with that, we're going to take a break. +p631 +aVWelcome back\u2014welcome back to the Democratic candidates' debate. We're going to be talking about America in the world, both in terms of some trade issues, but also national security. And Secretary Clinton, we're going to start with you. There are more than 4,000 American troops back in Iraq right now as part of the fight against +p632 +aVTo be clear, to the specific question, if that strategic goal that you're describing requires considerably more of Americans\u2014an ever-increasing number of Americans in Iraq and maybe in Syria, are you OK with the numbers increasing? +p633 +aVThank you, Madam Secretary. +p634 +aVSecretary Clinton, at the\u2014at the last Democratic debate in Charleston\u2014I want to get specific here\u2014Senator Sanders called for moving as aggressively as we can to normalize relations with Iran. Your campaign has criticized him for saying that. Now that he's standing next to you here on this stage, can you explain why the U.S. shouldn't try to normalize relations in Iran in your view? +p635 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to ask you about a national security issue that is closer to home. There are thousands of veterans, over 100,000 veterans living in the state of New Hampshire. If either one of you is nominated as the Democratic Party's nominee, you will likely face a Republican opponent in the general election who wants to privatize or even abolish big parts of the V.A. It's a newly popular idea in conservative politics. How will you win the argument on that issue given the problems that have been exposed at the V.A. in the last few years? What's your argument that the V.A. should still exist and should not be privatized? +p636 +aVSenator Sanders, you, as a congressional leader on veterans issues and the Veterans Committee, you've worked in a very bipartisan way with Senator John McCain and others on veterans issues. Is the right contour of the fight, the way she's talking about this issue? +p637 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Sanders, Secretary Clinton, we're going to take another break. We'll be talking about Social Security and some of those other issues when we come back. +p638 +aVSenator\u2014Senator Sanders, in 1964... +p639 +aVIn 1964, I heard that the Republicans nominated Barry Goldwater, who was the hero of the conservative movement. He was, however, far to the right of most of that party. In 1972, the Democrats nominated George McGovern, who was a hero of liberals in the antiwar movement, but he was to the left of his party's mainstream. Both of those nominees made activists very excited, and they both got destroyed in the general election. Even Democrats who love you worry about your fate in a general election. And I know you have good head-to-head polling numbers against Republican frontrunners right now. We know that. But do you have a general election strategy that is different than the way you're running right now to try to get the nomination? +p640 +aVSecretary Clinton, your campaign surrogates, and people who have endorsed you, have suggested that or even said that if Senator Sanders is the nominee, that Democrats will suffer nationwide and the chances will go down of Democrats holding onto the White House. With him here standing next to you, can you tell us whether or not you believe he would win the general election if he were nominated? +p641 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. Senator, in December, one of your campaign staffers was fired from your campaign for taking voter data essentially from the Clinton campaign. You apologized for that when the incident was made public. Your campaign has now been criticized for its operatives essentially impersonating culinary union members wearing union pins in Nevada, and the Nashua Telegraph has complained recently that you falsely implied in an advertisement that they had endorsed you when they did not. None of these issues obviously is the end of the world, but they all are of a piece. Are you in some sense losing control of your campaign? +p642 +aVJust to follow up on that, the title of the ad in question was Endorsement. +p643 +aVSecretary Clinton, do you want 30 seconds on that issue? +p644 +aVAnd with that, we will . +p645 +aVWelcome back to the University of New Hampshire, and the Democratic candidates' debate. Secretary Clinton, on the issue of the death penalty, here in New Hampshire, the one person who is on death row is there for killing a police officer. It's a crime that has caused anguish in this state, both among death penalty opponents and death penalty supporters. The last time I had the chance to talk with you on this issue, on the death penalty, you said that capital punishment has a place in a very few federal cases, but you also said you would breathe a sigh of relief if the Supreme Court abolished the death penalty nationwide. Tonight, do you still support capital punishment, even if you do so reluctantly? +p646 +aVSenator Sanders, you have singled out the death penalty, and Senator Clinton's support for the death penalty, as an issue that makes it hard to consider as progressive in your mind... +p647 +aVAnother issue related to the proper role of government, and in this case, specifically the role of government between the federal government and the states. I want to talk for a moment about the issue of Flint, Michigan. On the Flint lead poisoning disaster, you have both been highly critical of Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan, and how the state in Michigan both caused the lead poisoning problem, and has not acted fast enough to fix it. You have both been outspoken on that. The fact is that Michigan though has not fixed it. There is no door to door delivery of clean water in Flint even today. Not a single lead pipe has been replaced in Flint, even today. If the state is failing, would you, Secretary Clinton, would you as President order a federal response to get it right over and above the wishes of the state? +p648 +aVSenator Sanders are there things the President could be doing? President Obama could be ordering, done, right now, in Flint, Michigan that are not being done that you as President would do? +p649 +aVSenator, thank you. +p650 +aVThe home stretch. +p651 +aVSecretary Clinton, Republicans, particularly in campaign years, often talk about which departments of government\u2014which agencies of government they would get rid of if they were elected president. The EPA, the Department of Education, the Commerce Department, oops\u2014is\u2014is there a department of government that you would get rid of? Or is there a whole new one that you would create? +p652 +aVThank you, Secretary Clinton. +p653 +aVThank you very much. Thank you. +p654 +aVWe also want to thank our host, the University of New Hampshire, and the people of New Hampshire. You guys get to vote in just five days. I can't wait to see how it turns out. Don't screw up. +p655 +asVSEIB +p656 +(lp657 +VThis evening Fox Business is partnering with the Wall Street Journal to bring you the fourth republican presidential debate of the 2016 campaign. For the next hour, four of the candidates will be here answering the question voters want answered. +p658 +aVSenator Santorum, you're all obviously highly critical of President Obama's economic record. But federal statistics show that payrolls have expanded by 8.7 million new jobs so far during his time in office. All the jobs lost in the recession were recovered by last year. And in October, the economy added jobs at the fastest rate since 2009. So what's wrong with the Obama jobs record? +p659 +aVGovernor Jindal, Republicans have now 32 of the nation's 50 governor seats. But, even while you're doing very well at the state level, you keep falling short nationally. You've lost the popular vote in five of the last six presidential elections. Are Democrats simply putting forward a better national economic message than the one Republicans are offering? And what should Republicans do about it. +p660 +aVSenator Santorum, we're in the Upper-Midwest, heart of the American auto industry. The Auto Alliance says the state of Wisconsin, where we are tonight, is home to 176 auto supplier companies. Back in 2008, you opposed the use of federal bailout funds for automakers as proposed then by the Bush administration. The automakers survived. In retrospect, do you still think that was the right position. +p661 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p662 +aVGovernor Jindal, there's a new trade deal the Obama administration has completed with 11 other Pacific nations. The U.S. Trade Representative's office says that deal will cut 18,000 different tariffs on American goods sent to the Pacific and will cut tariffs on goods made in your state of Louisiana by as much as 40 percent. Even a skeptical about \u2014 a skeptic about this deal, now that the details are public, are you going to be for it? +p663 +aVGovernor Christie? +p664 +aV...Guys... +p665 +aVGovernor Christie... +p666 +aV...last word, briefly +p667 +aV...Thank you both, Governors. +p668 +aV...No, no, Senator Santorum... +p669 +aV...I have a question for you. Just about everybody agrees that the nation's infrastructure is in bad shape. Urban highway congestion costs the economy more than $100 billion dollars annually, nearly one in four bridges in the National Highway System is structurally deficient, or obsolete. Congress is working on a six year highway bill to try to fix this problem. It only funds it for about three years. Should Americans be asked to pay more in federal gas taxes in order to address this problem? +p670 +aVSenator, I don't think we got to infrastructure, but I understand. +p671 +aVNo, no. To do the things you're talking about, that you're all talking about, getting things done in Washington, you have to work with the other side. So a question, who in Congress do you most admire on the Democratic side? I need one name from each of you. And let's start with Governor Jindal. +p672 +aVGovernor Huckabee? +p673 +aVGovernor Christie? +p674 +aVSenator Santorum? +p675 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p676 +aVGovernor Jindal, you've proposed something different. You've proposed eliminating the federal corporate income tax entirely. Why would have you wage-earners and investors pay an income tax but not a corporation? +p677 +aVWelcome back to the Republican Presidential Debate live from Milwaukee's historic theater. Let's get back to the questions. Governor Christie, by keeping interest rates so low for so long, is the Fed creating a new financial bubble in real estate or stock as prices that will burst and create problems down the road, or has it been right to err on the side of trying to help the recovery through low rates? +p678 +aVCandidates, it's time for closing statements, 30 seconds. Governor Jindal, we'll start with you. +p679 +aVSenator Santorum. +p680 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p681 +aVGovernor Christie. +p682 +asVTAPPER +p683 +(lp684 +VI'm Jake Tapper. We're live at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California for the main event. Round 2 of CNN's presidential debate starts now. The eleven leading Republican candidates for president are at their podiums. They are ready to face off, and if you've been watching this race, you know anything could happen over the next few hours. To viewers who are just joining us, welcome to the Air Force One Pavilion of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Our thanks to the staff here and especially to former first lady Nancy Reagan for this impressive setting with Ronald Reagan's presidential plane as our backdrop. This debate is airing on CNN networks in the United States and around the world. It's also being broadcast on the Salem Radio Network. I know everyone is very eager to get started. But first, I want to explain the ground rules tonight. My name is Jake Tapper. I'll be the moderator. I will be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt. He worked in the Reagan administration for six years. And by CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. I will ask follow-up questions, I will attempt to guide the discussion. Candidates, I will try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have one minute to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you've been singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. These 11 Republicans are positioned on the stage based on their ranking in recent national polls. Our goal for this evening is a debate. A true debate, with candidates addressing each other in areas where they differ. Where they disagree \u2014 on policy, on politics, on leadership. Now, let's begin. I'd like to invite each candidate to take 30 seconds to introduce him or herself to our audience. First to you, Senator Paul. +p685 +aVSenator Cruz? +p686 +aVThank you one and all for being here. There are many important policy issues facing our nation. We're going to get to many of them tonight, but I do want to start off with some current events in the news, and also some of the comments the candidates have recently made on the campaign trail. Mrs. Fiorina, I want to start with you. Fellow Republican candidate, and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, has suggested that your party's frontrunner, Mr. Donald Trump, would be dangerous as President. He said he wouldn't want, quote, "such a hot head with his finger on the nuclear codes." You, as well, have raised concerns about Mr. Trump's temperament. You've dismissed him as an entertainer. Would you feel comfortable with Donald trump's finger on the nuclear codes? +p687 +aVYou didn't answer my question. Would you feel comfortable with Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear codes? It's an issue that one of your fellow candidates has raised. +p688 +aVMr. Trump? +p689 +aVMr. \u2014 Senator Paul, your name has been invoked. +p690 +aVMr. Trump? +p691 +aVI want to \u2014 I want to give Mr. Trump... +p692 +aV... Mr. Trump, I want to give you another chance \u2014 Mr. Trump, I want to give you a chance to respond to something that your rival to your left, Governor Bush, said. Governor Bush told me last week when I read him the quote from Governor Jindal that he agrees you're not a serious candidate. Tell Governor Bush why you are a serious candidate and what your qualifications are to be commander-in-chief. +p693 +aVGovernor Bush, would you feel comfortable with Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear codes? +p694 +aVGovernor Walker? +p695 +aVLet's move on. +p696 +aVA phenomenon going on in the race right now is the political... OK, Governor Kasich, go ahead. +p697 +aVWe have a lot of issues coming up, sir. +p698 +aVWe are getting to the issues, sir. Phenomenon going on in the race is the political outsiders in the race, Dr. Carson, Donald Trump, Carly Fiorina, all together, have majority support in the polls. Governor Christie, I want to ask you about something that Dr. Carson said the other day. Dr. Carson said campaigning is easier for him, because he's not a politician. He can just tell the truth, therefore, while politicians, quote, "Have their finger in the air to see and do what is politically expedient." Governor Christie, tell Dr. Carson, is that a fair description of you? +p699 +aVWell, let's find out. Thank you. +p700 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. Dr. Carson, who were you thinking about on this stage when you said that? +p701 +aVAnd more broadly, is experience in government not important for a president to have? +p702 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p703 +aVThank you. +p704 +aVThank you. Thank you Ms. Fiorina. Governor Bush, in addition to the fact that he's an outsider, one of the reasons Mr. Trump is a frontrunner, Republican voters say, is because they like the fact that he is not bought and paid for by wealthy donors. Mr. Trump has repeatedly said that the $100 million you've raised for your campaign makes you a puppet for your donors. Are you? +p705 +aVIs there anything else you want to say about this? +p706 +aVGovernor \u2014 +p707 +aVSure Dr. Carson. +p708 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Let's move to Russia if we could. Russia is sending troops and tanks into Syria right now to prop up a U.S. enemy, Bashar al-Assad. President Obama's incoming top general says, quote, "Russia presents the greatest threat to our national security." Mr. Trump, you say you can do business with President Vladimir Putin, you say you will get along, quote, "very well." What would you do right now if you were president, to get the Russians out of Syria? +p709 +aVSo, you \u2014 just to clarify, the only answer I heard to the question I asked is that you would \u2014 you would reach out to Vladimir Putin, and you would do what? You would... +p710 +aVSenator Rubio, you've taken a very different approach to the \u2014 the question of Russia. You've called Vladimir Putin a, quote, "gangster." Why would President Rubio's approach be more effective than President Trump's? +p711 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. +p712 +aVI want to bring in Carly Fiorina. +p713 +aVMs. Fiorina, you have met... +p714 +aV...yeah, you've met Vladimir Putin. Yes. +p715 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p716 +aVThank you. +p717 +aVThank you. Thank you, Ms. Fiorina. While you're \u2014 while you brought up the subject of General Suleimani of the Quds forces from Iran, the next president, no matter who he or she may be, will inherit President Obama's Iran deal. Senator Cruz, Governor Kasich says that anyone who is promising to rip up the Iran deal on day one, as you have promised to do, is, quote, "inexperienced," and, quote, "playing to a crowd." Respond to Governor Kasich, please. +p718 +aVWhy is that not, as Governor Kasich says, playing to the crowd and an example of you being inexperienced? +p719 +aVGovernor Kasich... +p720 +aV...Did Senator Cruz just play to the crowd? +p721 +aV...Thank you, Governor. I want to go to Senator Paul. +p722 +aVI want to go to Senator Paul. Senator Paul, the White House is rolling out the red carpet next week for the President of China, President Xi. Governor Walker says that President Obama should cancel the state dinner because of China's currency manipulation, and because of China's alleged cyber attacks against the United States. Is Governor Walker right? +p723 +aVGovernor Walker, Senator Paul seemed to suggest... +p724 +aV...that canceling the state dinner would be rash, and reckless. +p725 +aV...Governor Bush... +p726 +aVGovernor Bush, your father was the chief diplomatic envoy to China back when Nixon opened relations to China. Is Scott Walker's approach the right one, canceling the state dinner? +p727 +aVI want to turn... +p728 +aV...I want to turn to Governor Huckabee who has been very patient. Somebody had to be 11th, and he is, but, I do want to change the subject to the event that you had... +p729 +aV... however you want, but I want to ask this question. +p730 +aVAll right, sir, go ahead. +p731 +aVOK. ( +p732 +aVWe're going to turn now to Hugh Hewitt, from Salem Radio Network. +p733 +aVThank you, Senator Paul. I want to turn now to my colleague Dana Bash. +p734 +aVThat would be fair, you're right. You're the third senator. +p735 +aVWe're going to go to Dana Bash... +p736 +aVSenator Cruz? +p737 +aVThank you, Senator. +p738 +aVThank you, Senator. +p739 +aVThank you, Senator. I want to... +p740 +aV... turn back to Governor Huckabee... +p741 +aVI want to turn back to Governor Huckabee. Governor Huckabee, last week, you held a rally for a county clerk in Kentucky who was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, as I don't need to tell you. You've called what happened to Kim Davis, that clerk, "an example of the criminalization of Christianity." There are several people on the stage who disagree with you. Governor Bush, for example, says that that clerk is sworn to uphold the law. Is Governor Bush on the wrong side of the criminalization of Christianity? +p742 +aVThank you, Governor. +p743 +aVWell, I'm not telling you that, Governor. But Governor Bush is, because he \u2014 because he disagrees. He thinks that Kim Davis swore to uphold the law. You disagree? You're not \u2014 you don't... +p744 +aVOK. Please do. +p745 +aVYou did... +p746 +aVGovernor, you said, quote, "she is sworn to uphold the law." +p747 +aVLet me go to my colleague Dana Bash, who has a question. +p748 +aVDana, I want to continue on the subject. Governor Bush, you recently said while discussing Planned Parenthood, quote, you're "not sure we need a half billion for women's health issues." Now you've since said that you misspoke, you didn't mean to say "women's health issues." But Donald Trump said that quote, that comment, which Hillary Clinton did seize upon immediately, will haunt you the same way Mitt Romney's 47 percent video haunted him. Tell Donald Trump why he's wrong. +p749 +aVThank you, Governor Bush. Donald Trump, let me just... +p750 +aVThe quote was, "I'm not sure we need half a billion dollars for women's health issues." He said he misspoke. You said that that's going to haunt him. Why do you think that? +p751 +aVGovernor Bush? +p752 +aVI want to \u2014 we're going to get to \u2014 +p753 +aVThank you, Governor. +p754 +aVThank you, Governor. +p755 +aVWe're going to \u2014 we're going to get to many of these issues. This \u2014 we're still in the first block, believe it or not. We're going to get to many of these issues, but before we end this block, Ms. Fiorina, I do want to ask you about this. In an interview last week in Rolling Stone magazine, Donald Trump said the following about you. Quote, "Look at that face. Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?" Mr. Trump later said he was talking about your persona, not your appearance. Please feel free to respond what you think about his persona. +p756 +aVAll right. On that note, in less than two minutes \u2014 we're going to take a very quick break. In less than two minutes, the most contentious issue on the campaign trail. And the candidates on the stage are split over how to handle it. That's coming up next. Please give some applause to the candidates. +p757 +aVWelcome to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate. No topic perhaps has been more combustible in this campaign than the issue of immigration. Mr. Trump, you have called for deporting every undocumented immigrant, Governor Christie has said, quote, "There are not enough law enforcement officers \u2014 local, county, state and federal combined \u2014 to forcibly deport 11 to 12 million people." Tell Governor Christie how much your plan will cost, and how you will get it done. +p758 +aVGovernor Christie, you and I have talked about this in an interview. You say that his big wall, his plan to deport 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants, it sounds great, but it's never going to happen. Tell him why you're skeptical of his plans? +p759 +aVThank you, Governor Christie... +p760 +aVI want to bring in Dr. Carson because he too has been skeptical of your plan to immediately deport 11 to 12 million illegal immigrants. He said, quote, "People who say that have no idea what this entails." Why do you say that, Dr. Carson? +p761 +aV...Dr. Carson... +p762 +aVWith all due respect, you said about Donald Trump's plan to deport 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants, "People who say that have no idea what this entails." Why not? +p763 +aV...let's continue the conversation about illegal immigration with Dana Bash. +p764 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Senator Cruz \u2014 Senator Cruz, this week, we learned more about Dr. Carson's plan for the 11 million to 12 million undocumented immigrants in this country. Dr. Carson proposed giving these undocumented immigrants a six- month grace period to pay back taxes then to let them become guest workers and only to deport people who failed to do that. +p765 +aVWell, how would you say it, sir? I was just reading the Wall Street Journal quote, but please tell us. +p766 +aVOK, from the horse's mouth, Senator Cruz, does that fit your definition of amnesty? +p767 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Rubio... +p768 +aV... I'm not sure... +p769 +aVWe'll come back to you \u2014 we'll come back to you in one second, sir. But Senator Rubio, I'm not sure exactly whose plan he's \u2014 he's saying is \u2014 constitutes amnesty, but I know he has said it about your plan in the past, so I want to give you a chance to respond, then, Dr. Carson, we'll come to you. +p770 +aVThank you, Senator. +p771 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator \u2014 Dr. Carson... ... I want to give you 30 seconds. I'd like you to answer the question. Senator Cruz describes plans such as yours as amnesty. Why is your plan not amnesty? +p772 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. I want to talk about the issue of birthright citizenship, which \u2014 which has emerged since the first debate as \u2014 as an a \u2014 a major issue in this campaign. Mr. Trump, you say that babies born in the United States to undocumented immigrants should not any longer get automatic American citizenship. Ms. Fiorina says that you are pandering on this issue and acting like the politicians that you rail against. What's your message to Ms. Fiorina on birthright citizenship? +p773 +aVMs. Fiorina, the vast majority of countries do not have birthright citizenship... ...Donald Trump is right about that. Why is it pandering when he's \u2014 he says this? +p774 +aVMs. Fiorina... +p775 +aVPlease. +p776 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p777 +aVThank you. +p778 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Mr. Trump, I want to give you the chance to respond... +p779 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. Senator Paul... +p780 +aVSenator Paul, I want to bring you in. Where \u2014 where do you stand on the issue of birthright citizenship? +p781 +aVAll right. Senator Paul, thank you so much. Let's turn to a new topic. We've received a lot of questions on social media about the economy and about jobs. We have two CEOs on stage right now. Ms. Fiorina, you were CEO of Hewlett Packard. Donald Trump says you, quote, "ran HP into the ground," you laid off tens of thousands of people, you got viciously fired. For voters looking to somebody with private-sector experience to create American jobs, why should they pick you and not Donald Trump? +p782 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p783 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p784 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 Mr. Trump, why would you be better at creating jobs than Carly Fiorina? +p785 +aVMs. Fiorina, I want to give you a chance to respond. +p786 +aVMr. Trump. +p787 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. +p788 +aVGovernor Christie's name has been invoked. I'd like to give him a 30 second opportunity. +p789 +aVMs. Fiorina, I want to give you +p790 +aVGovernor Kasich, I'm coming to you next, but Ms. Fiorina's name was mentioned, and I have to give her the opportunity to respond if she wants it. +p791 +aVThank you. +p792 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Kasich, I want to come \u2014 I'm coming to you. I'm coming to you. Let me ask the question. You can use the time however you want. +p793 +aVDonald Trump says that the hedge fund guys are getting away with murder by paying a lower tax rate. He wants to raise the taxes of hedge fund managers, as does Governor Bush. Do you agree? +p794 +aVThank you, Governor. +p795 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. +p796 +aVGovernor Huckabee, I want to bring you in on the question of hedge fund managers and taxing them. You have said that you are bothered by the fact that hedge fund managers pay such a low tax rate and make 2,500 times what people who work for them make. Do you agree with what Donald Trump and Governor Bush have proposed, raising their tax rates? +p797 +aVThank you, Governor. Dr. Carson, you support scrapping the entire tax code and replacing it with a flat tax based on the principal on tithing from the Bible. If you make $10 billion, you pay $1 billion in taxes, if you make $10, you pay $1 in taxes. Donald Trump believes in progressive taxation. He says it's not right that rich people pay the same as the poor. Tell Donald Trump why his ideas on taxes are wrong. +p798 +aVMr. Trump... +p799 +aV...What do you think of the flat tax? Do you think it's fair? +p800 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. Senator Paul? +p801 +aVGovernor Walker, I want to go to you. Dr. Carson wants to raise the Federal Minimum Wage, you have called it a lame idea. Why is raising the Federal Minimum Wage lame? +p802 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p803 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p804 +aVDr. Carson, Governor Walker didn't really answer the question, but I'll let you respond. He called raising the Federal Minimum Wage lame, what do you think of that? +p805 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson... +p806 +aVLet me bring in our partner from Salem Radio Network, Hugh Hewitt. +p807 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate. Let's turn to some issues now in foreign policy. Mr. Trump, Senator Rubio said it was, quote, "very concerning to him" that in a recent interview you didn't seem to know the details about some of the enemies the U.S. faces. Rubio said, if you don't know the answers to those questions, you will not be able to serve as commander-in-chief. Please respond to Senator Rubio. +p808 +aVSenator Rubio? +p809 +aVMr. Trump? Senator Rubio seemed to be suggesting that you don't know information that... +p810 +aVAll right. Senator Rubio. +p811 +aVBut are you saying that you have the knowledge to be the president that Mr. Trump does not have? +p812 +aVMr. Trump? +p813 +aVSenator Rubio, he did invoke your absentee record in the Senate. +p814 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. I want to turn now to Hugh Hewitt. +p815 +aVThank you, Governor. +p816 +aVSenator... +p817 +aVSenator Paul? +p818 +aVSenator Paul... +p819 +aVThank you, Senator Paul... +p820 +aVThank you, Senator Paul... +p821 +aVI understand that Governor Bush's name has been invoked, and then we can go to you, Senator Rubio. +p822 +aVThank you, Governor. +p823 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Rubio? +p824 +aVThank you, Senator. +p825 +aVDr. Carson? +p826 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p827 +aVI mean, it is interesting that you say that, because I want to ask Governor Christie about something else that you have said. Governor Christie, we just marked the 14th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Now Dr. Carson has said that if he had been president at the time, the United States would not have gone to war in Afghanistan. What does that say to you about how Dr. Carson would respond as president if America were attacked again? +p828 +aVDr. Carson? +p829 +aV... Governor Christie. +p830 +aVDr. Carson? +p831 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p832 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p833 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee. +p834 +aVThank you, Governor. +p835 +aVThank you, governor, I want to turn to +p836 +aVGovernor Walker, there is a big debate now, we have been talking about +p837 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Paul, I want to go to you, because you have said that the boots on the ground to fight +p838 +aVThank you, Senator. We're going to turn to some domestic issues now. I want to bring in my colleague, Dana Bash. +p839 +aVSure.... +p840 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p841 +aV...Thank you, Governor. Dana Bash... +p842 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina... +p843 +aV...Thank you, we're going to turn now to domestic issues with Dana Bash. +p844 +aV...Dana Bash... +p845 +aVThank you. Dana Bash? +p846 +aVThank you, Senator. +p847 +aV...Governor Bush... +p848 +aV...I want to let you respond. +p849 +aVThank you, Governor... ...And, that's what we should do, and I hope I'll be working members of the United States Senate to fight hard for the passage of people that have that kind of qualification. +p850 +aVSenator Cruz, 30 seconds. +p851 +aVThank you, Senator. +p852 +aVThank you, Semator. +p853 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee, I want to bring you in very quickly if you could. Will you have a litmus test when it comes to appointing Supreme Court nominees? +p854 +aVThank you, Governor. +p855 +aVThank you, Governor. +p856 +aVThank you, Governor. We're going to take a quick break. Coming up, one of the hottest questions that you have been asking us via social media. We will pose it to the candidates. That's coming up right after this. +p857 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican presidential debate at the Reagan Library here in Simi Valley \u2014 Simi Valley, California. Many people on social media wanted us to ask about marijuana legalization. Senator Paul, Governor Christie recently said, quote, "if you're getting high in Colorado today," where marijuana has been legalized, "enjoy it until January 2017, because I will enforce the federal laws against marijuana." Will you? +p858 +aVI want to give that \u2014 I want to give the person that you called a hypocrite an opportunity to respond. Do you want to identify that person? +p859 +aVIs there somebody you were specifically thinking of? +p860 +aVThat's what I though, but I wanted to say it. +p861 +aVOK. +p862 +aVGovernor Bush, please. +p863 +aVI want to go right now \u2014 I want to go right now... +p864 +aVThat's true. Go ahead, Christie, please. +p865 +aVYou may respond, and then I'll bring in you, Ms. Fiorina. +p866 +aVYes, Senator Paul. +p867 +aVI want to bring in Ms. Fiorina \u2014 I want to bring in Ms. Fiorina on this issue. +p868 +aVHugh \u2014 Hugh, I'd like to... +p869 +aVI'd like to turn it over \u2014 I'd like to turn to Dana Bush. +p870 +aVThank you, Governor. +p871 +aVI'm coming to you right now on a separate issue, sir. We received... ( +p872 +aVWe received a lot of questions from social media about climate change. Senator Rubio, Ronald Reagan's secretary of state, George Shultz, reminds us that when Reagan was president he faced a similar situation to the one that we're facing now. There were dire warnings from the mass consensus of the scientific community about the ozone layer shrinking. Shultz says Ronald Reagan urged skeptics in industry to come up with a plan. He said, do it as an insurance policy in case the scientists are right. The scientists were right. Reagan and his approach worked. Secretary Shultz asks, why not take out an insurance policy and approach climate change the Reagan way? +p873 +aVI'm citing George Shultz. +p874 +aVGovernor Christie, you have said that climate change is real, and that humans help contribute to it. Without getting into the issue of China versus the United States, which I understand you've talked about before, what do you make of skeptics of climate change such as Senator Rubio? +p875 +aVJust for the record, I was citing Secretary of State George Shultz, Ronald Reagan's secretary of state who I don't think anybody would call him left-wing. +p876 +aVI called you a skeptic. +p877 +aVI want to go another question right now. +p878 +aVThank you, Governor. +p879 +aVI'm turning to... +p880 +aV...I'm turning to another \u2014 I'm turning to another issue right now. Senator Cruz. Well, I think we've heard from several this evening. A backlash against vaccines was blamed for a measles outbreak here in California. Dr. Carson, Donald Trump has publicly and repeatedly linked vaccines, childhood vaccines, to autism, which, as you know, the medical community adamantly disputes. You're a pediatric neurosurgeon. Should Mr. Trump stop saying this? +p881 +aVShould he stop saying it? Should he stop saying that vaccines cause autism? +p882 +aVMr. Trump, as president, you would... +p883 +aVI'm going right to you. +p884 +aVMr. Trump, as president, you would be in charge of the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health, both of which say you are wrong. How would you handle this as president? +p885 +aVThank you. +p886 +aVDr. \u2014 Dr. Carson? +p887 +aVDr. Carson, you just heard his medical take. +p888 +aVDr. Paul? Dr. Paul, I'd like to bring you in. +p889 +aVAlright, thank you so much... +p890 +aVComing up \u2014 I'm sorry, Governor Huckabee, please. +p891 +aVThank you, Governor. +p892 +aVWe have to take another quick break. Coming up, Ronald Reagan looming large over this debate. So how Reaganesque exactly are these Republicans? We will find out next. +p893 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California. We have a few last questions for you. Two of them a little lighthearted, the other one more serious. We'll start with one of the more light questions. Senator Paul, I'm going to start with you and we're just going to go down the line. Earlier this year, the Treasury Department announced that a woman will appear on the $10 bill. What woman would you like to see on the $10 bill? +p894 +aVGovernor Huckabee? +p895 +aVSenator Paul (sic). +p896 +aVI'm sorry. Senator Rubio? +p897 +aVJust the senators. +p898 +aVSenator Cruz? +p899 +aVDr. Carson? +p900 +aVMr. Trump. +p901 +aVGovernor Bush. +p902 +aVGovernor Walker. +p903 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p904 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p905 +aVGovernor Christie. +p906 +aVAlright. Some good entries if anybody at the mint was listening. Here's the next lighthearted question, you all know that the United States Secret Service uses codenames for the president, and his family. Ronald Reagan's codename, for example, was, "Rawhide", an homage to his performances in Westerns. Nancy Reagan's was, "Rainbow". You don't have to come up the one for your spouse, but, what would you want, Governor Christie, I'll start with you, your Secret Service codename to be. +p907 +aVGovernor Walker? +p908 +aVMr. Trump? +p909 +aVDr. Carson? +p910 +aVSenator Cruz? +p911 +aVSenator Rubio? +p912 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p913 +aVSenator Paul. +p914 +aVThat's a mouthful, but OK. OK, here's the more serious question, Ronald Reagan, the 40th President, used the plane behind you to accomplish a great many things. Perhaps, most notably, to challenge Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the wall, and ultimately, to make peace with the +p915 +aVThat concludes this Republican presidential debate. On behalf of everyone here at CNN, we want to thank the candidates, the Reagan Library, and the Republican National Committee. Thank you, also, to Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash. The next presidential debate will also be right here on CNN, among the Democratic candidates, who will face off for the first time on October the 13th. That debate, a partnership with Facebook, will be moderated by my colleague, Anderson Cooper. And Anderson picks up our coverage of tonight's debate right now. Before I throw to Anderson, let's have one final round of applause for the candidates. +p916 +asVSANTORUM +p917 +(lp918 +VYou know, listening to what your network was talking about prior to this race, this debate, reminded me of the coverage that many on this floor are getting. This race, this debate, was called the, "Undercard Debate". The undercard debate. It wasn't advertised significantly. In fact, the entire hour lead up to this there was no conversation about any of the four people on this debate stage, and that is the chronic situation. In fact, they listed -- they put a poll up from Wall Street Journal/NBC News, they listed the candidates, and they failed to mention I wasn't listed. I got zero, why? Because they -- NBC, Wall Street Journal poll never includes my name on the list. This is what the media has been doing over the past year, and trying to segregate, and take Iowans out of the process. What Iowans deserve... ... is to hear from every candidate on equal footing. Had they applied the same rules four years ago, I would have been in the undercard debate. The guy who won the Iowa Caucuses would have been in the undercard debate, not talked about. We would have been talking about, maybe, an entertainer that may have been trying to run. Ladies and gentlemen, you have a chance on Monday to put the record straight about who you want, not who will entertain you. +p919 +aVBut, who will fight for what you believe in, and I hope you do... +p920 +aVWell, look. The entire lead up to this debate was talking about whether Donald Trump is going to show up for the next debate. The people of Iowa, who I know pretty darn well, care a lot about the issues. They care about who is going to be the leader of the free world. Who is going to be able to take on +p921 +aVAnd we are not hearing any of those things. We are hearing about whether someone is going to show up for the next debate or not. +p922 +aVYes, I am. +p923 +aVYou know, this, again, more of the politics of trying to get people to throw stuff at each other. I'm not going to throw mud at anybody on this stage tonight. I'm not going to throw mud at anybody on the stage later. I'm not going to attack Donald Trump. What I'm -- Mike Huckabee and I were asked to come to an event where money was going to be raise to do help our veterans. You know, I thought about it. And I thought about. I said well, wait a minute, now, if there were no political considerations and I had some time because I'm not doing anything at 9:00 tonight. And so if I had some time, would I go... ... if I could help raise money for veterans? And the answer was yes, I would. And so I'm going. +p924 +aVThank you for the question, Martha. We have to have an honest discussion with the American people about the nature of the threat that we confront. This president says that +p925 +aVWhat I would say is that we have to create jobs that give people wages and benefits that can help them provide for themselves and their families. And that's why I announced from a factory floor in western Pennsylvania, I pledge to make America the number one manufacturing nation, again, in the world. And we can do it. China is starting to reorient itself away from a manufacturing economy that's dumping products on the -- overseas to providing more services to their people. This is an opportunity for America. It's an opportunity for us to get those jobs back. And by the way, do you want to solve global climate change? Take 2 million jobs from China in manufacturing and moving them back here to the United States, where we produce one-fifth the CO2 when we make things. We can help -- we can do every -- we can do it all. We can take care of the environment. We can create more jobs here. Seventy-four percent of Americans don't have a college degree. And unfortunately most folks who, in the Republican Party, don't talk about what we're going to do to create jobs for people who feel like neither political party cares about them. When you elect me, we'll create opportunities for working men and women in this country -- all over this country. +p926 +aVWell, in fact, the plan that I put forward is scored by the Tax Foundation as bringing three and a half million jobs into this country, and we have provisions in the flat tax for the corporate side that actually has a phase in of manufacturing. Manufacturers initially don't pay any income tax. Ten percent the next year, and 20. We're going to also have a repatriation provision which says that if you have money overseas, and you're Apple, and you got a couple hundred billion dollars there, bring it back. The most you'll be taxed 10%, invest it here in America. Create jobs here in America with all that money that's sitting overseas. We also -- it's not just taxes. It's regulation. I've pledged to cut every single Obamacare -- I mean, excuse me, Obama regulation, including Obamacare, and remove those regulations that cost more than a hundred million dollars in the economy. That will liberate -- and that includes waters of the U.S., and the ozone regulations, they -- the mercury regulations. All of these just crush our manufactures and don't create an opportunity for us to survive. And, remember, China produces five times as much CO2 and other pollutants per dollar of GDP as we do. You want to help the environment? Bring jobs back to America. +p927 +aVWell, I've been to the March for Life for about 25 years and I thought -- I think that's a pretty good record. Spoken at it a few times and I have shepherded every single piece of pro-life piece of legislation that's passed over the last 20 years. I've either authored it or shepherded it through the United States Congress and I'm pretty proud of that record too. But we have an election going on and there was some snow coming. So I decided that maybe it would be better for me to get out and do some campaigning and not be stuck as my wife and kids were for a week, piling out of two and a half feet of snow. So, here's what I would say. If you want someone that is going to talk a good game, there are a lot of folks on this stage that have talked a good game on the issue of life. Not only have I talked a good game on life and I've done some things. But I've also lived it. You know, one of the things Saint Francis said was, you know, if you preach the gospel, then if you have to, speak. The bottom line is, that twice in my life, we were counseled to have an abortion, one with our son Gabriel and one with our little girl Bella. And neither time did Karen and I for a moment think about it because we know that life begins at conception. We know the dignity of every human life and we know the potential of every child, no matter how long that life lives. And that is a message that can come across to all Americans and without having to say a word and defend the institution of life and the dignity of life in this country. +p928 +aVThe president of the United States has been the most divisive president in -- certainly in my lifetime. This is a man who constantly... He is not trustworthy. You can't sit down and negotiate with him. He won't keep a deal. We have heard that over and over again. And here is what he does that really, really creates the friction in Washington. He personally attacks people. He ascribes motives to them that aren't true and then he tears them down. How are you going to work with someone if you don't treat them decently, honestly, and respectfully? I was a tough fighter when I was in Washington. I had very sharp elbows. I fought. I went there and joined a game named Jim Nussle here from Iowa with the "gang of seven." And we, in four years' time, took a Congress that had been controlled by Democrats for 40 years, and brought in the first Republican majority because we fought and we fought tough. But you know what? I was able to then work with those same people that we fought with and able to pass welfare reform. Unborn Victims of Violence Act. Pro-life bills. Health savings accounts. A whole laundry list of things not because I was mean, but because I was able to be respectful in the disagreements. And that's what we need in Washington, someone who can be respectful and still unite this country. +p929 +aVI just want to thank the people of Iowa. Over the last five years I've done 700 speeches and town hall meetings all throughout the state of Iowa, and it has been an incredible right. Thank you. I want to thank all the wonderful folks like Pastor Carey Gordon who gave me a smooth stone and said you go slay Goliaths. Someone like Jim and Janet Cook who over this past Christmas gave up Christmas presents for their kids, and they have more than I do, just they can help me and my campaign. That's the kind of people... ... in Iowa. And, here's what I'm asking you to do. You're good people. You know good leaders. Lead. Pick the right person, not what the polls say. Not who the money give people to. Pick the leader you know is best for this country. Thank you. +p930 +aVWell, all he has to do is listen to the Democratic debate and find out how bad the economy is. All they do is complain about the hollowing out of the middle of America, and how America is struggling so badly, and have to make these radical changes in Washington. But they've been in control for the last seven years, and what have we seen? The most important jobs, I believe, in this country are the ones that fill the middle. For the 74% of Americans who don't have a college degree between the age of 25 and 65 are manufacturing jobs. Your governor, and your legislature, and your team here have done an amazing job of bringing manufacturing jobs back to South Carolina. Right here. Right here in Charleston, right down in the street in Boeing. You've done a great job, and what's happened? You've grown this economy, you've strengthened the center of your state, the middle. That's because you know that if you're really going to create wealth and opportunity, you got to get jobs, and good paying jobs for everybody. And, so what's happened? Two million jobs, manufacturing jobs, have left this country because of Barack Obama. Regulations, EPA, workplace regulations, things driving people off-shore all because of his number one priority, global climate change. Well, let me tell you this, Mr. President. For every dollar of GDP, China creates five times as much pollution as we do here. You want to \u2014 lower global climate change, bring those jobs back to America and let American workers do that job with less pollution. +p931 +aVWell, the historic promises that we have made to \u2014 to Iran in this agreement need to be torn up on the first day in office of the next president. And let me tell you why, because Iran has already torn it up. Iran has not approved the agreement that President Obama has said that they have approved. They have approved a different agreement in their parliament. The fact of the matter is they have violated this agreement. Carly just mentioned some of those violations. They have launched ballistic missiles, tested them, in clear violation. And here's the pathetic part. The president announced that they were going to impose sanctions. And then President Rouhani went on Twitter and said there would be retaliation. And what did we do? We backed down. Ladies and gentlemen, there are 50 some Citadel cadets in this audience tonight. I would ask them to stand up if they will. And here's what I want to tell each and every one of them, as you stand. Here's what I want to tell them. Whether it's you're watching that movie this weekend that just came out when we abandoned our men and women in Benghazi, or whether it's we treat Iran, that gave courtesies to our sailors, as they made them record a hostage video, let me tell you this, if you choose to serve this country, I will have your back. I will not let America be trampled upon anymore by these radical jihadists. +p932 +aVI would just say that if we were doing a better job within the government, we wouldn't need the private sector to do the things that we're asking them to do. I've had a little experience in this in the private sector myself. And what I found was a government with layers and layers of bureaucracy, of people who had some technical expertise but they had no authority, number one. And one of the things I found out about in the bureaucracy is if a lot of people have authority, nobody has authority, number one. And number two, that if you don't do anything, you don't get fired. It's only when you do something and something goes wrong, you get fired. So they do nothing. And that's what is happening in our Defense Department right now. We have a capability that they're trying to develop to play defense. We have a lot of technologists that are very skilled. And they're trying to figure out how to play defense. But what we don't have is we don't have folks who are thinking about offense. We don't have war-fighters. We have technologists. Technologists are not war-fighters. Technologists are thinking, how do I protect cyber-security, how do I secure, how do I protect? And we need to have a much more dynamic, how do we \u2014 how do we go after them? How do we respond? And we need leadership that's willing to make sure that when someone attacks us \u2014 and ladies and gentlemen, they're attacking us as we speak. They're attacking us all day every day, not just the government, but they're attacking private sector companies all day every day. They have to learn that we're going to pay \u2014 they're going to pay a price when they do so. And then right now, just like in every other aspect of our national security, people who attack us are not paying a price. We need a leader who will make sure that they know when they mess with America, they're going to pay a price. +p933 +aVLook, Facebook and Twitter can teach us things. We can cooperate with them. We can share ideas and information. But this is a \u2014 and this is a very dicey area for the government to go in and require the industry to do its job. It needs to develop that capability. We need to be \u2014 have responsible dialogue, but I don't think requirements are the order of the day. +p934 +aVWell, the most devastating attack that could occur is an electromagnetic pulse attack, and that would be an attack that would be triggered by a nuclear explosion in the upper atmosphere of our country. The best way to stop that from happening is to make sure that those who contemplating and actually war-gaming and talking about using it, Iran, doesn't get a nuclear weapon so they can't explode that device. And the president of the United States has put Iran on a path to a nuclear weapon. And we have done nothing to do anything to harden our grid. There is actually a bill in Congress that would put money forward to try to put redundancy and harden our electric grid so it could actually survive an EMP. An EMP is a devastating explosion that sends a pulse that knocks out all electric, everything, everything that is connected to any kind \u2014 that is wired, that has a circuit board gets fried out. Everything is gone. Cars stop. Planes fall out of the sky. This is a devastating attack. And this president has done nothing, number one, to take the most probable person to \u2014 probable country to launch an attack and stop them, and has done nothing to try to defend us, particularly our electric grid. The bottom line is, I put the original sanctions on the Iranian nuclear program when I was in the United States Senate. I've been fighting for 12 years with one thing in mind, that we must stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. And......because they're different than every other country. They do not want a nuclear weapon to defend themselves. They want a nuclear weapon to have theological ends to bring about their mahdi so they can control the world. And that is the most serious threat facing this country right now. +p935 +aVWell, the numbers just don't add up. I mean, they have not added manufacturing jobs. Manufacturing jobs have been lost in this country, 2 million of them. The bottom line is that this president has done more to take jobs away from the hard-working people who are struggling the most. And that's folks who are, as I said, the 74 percent of Americans who don't have a college degree. And they're out there talking about, well, we're going to provide free college for everybody. Well, who is going to pay for it? The 74 percent that don't have a college degree. They're not \u2014 nobody is focused. Let's just be honest, nobody is focused on the people who are struggling the most in America today. We talk about immigration. Talk about the president's immigration plan. He wants to bring in more and more people into this country. Let people who are here illegally stay in this country. Almost all of the people who are here illegally, and most of the people who came here legally over the last 20 years, they're working in wage-earning jobs. That is why wages have flat-lined. And we have unfortunately two political parties with most of the candidates in this field for some form of amnesty, some form of allowing people to stay here even though they're here illegally and for increasing levels of legal immigration. I'm someone who believes that we need to be the party that stands for the American worker. And when we say we need to send people back, I mean we send people back. And let me just make one point. I was in Storm Lake, Iowa, the other day, near a Tyson's plant, 91 percent of the kids that go to the elementary school there are minority kids. And they said, well, what are you going to do with all of these people, their families, they've lived here for a long time? I said, I'm going to give them a gift. I'm going to give them a gift of being able to help the country they were born in. And I'm going to export America, the education they were able to see. They learned English language. They learned about capitalism. They learned about democracy. You want to stop flow of immigrants? Let's send six million Mexicans, Hondurans, Guatemalans, El Savadorians......back into their country, so they can start a renaissance in their country so they won't be coming over here anymore. +p936 +aVYou know, we've had this debate about the economy, and we haven't talked the one issue now increasingly even the right, and even the are coming to agreement. I've run around doing 300 town hall meetings talking about a book written by a liberal Harvard sociologist, not a normal thing for me to be talking about, but I now name Robert Putnam who wrote a book called, "Our Kids". And, he wrote this book, I think, ostensibly to support the Democratic argument that the middle of America's hollowing out, and income gap is widening, and rich are getting richer. When he studied all the information as to what was going on, he realized that the biggest reason that we're seeing the hollowing out of the middle of America is the breakdown of the American family. The reality is that if you're a single parent \u2014 a child of a single parent, and you grew up in a single parent family neighborhood, you went to that single parent family school, the chance of you ever, ever reaching the top 20% of income earners is 3% in America. At least \u2014 I don't know about you, but that's not good enough. And, we have been too politically correct in this country because we don't want to offend anybody to fight for the lives of our children. You want \u2014 You want to be shocked? You read the first few chapters of Mr. \u2014 Dr. Putnam' book. He talks about Port Clinton, Ohio and growing up there in the 1950's, and how poor kids actually survived and did well, even though they were poor and disadvantaged. But, then he goes to the towns today and these kids are failing, and failing miserably. They don't even have a shot, and we won't even have the courage to have leadership at the federal level \u2014 not with legislation, but the most powerful tool a president have, the bully pulpit to encourage each and everyone of you, churches and businesses, and educators, and community leaders to let's have a national campaign to rebuild the American family, and give every child its birthright which is a Mom and a Dad who loves them. That will change this economy. +p937 +aVLadies and gentlemen, America is frustrated and angry and looking for someone who's a fighter, but I also think they're looking for someone who's a winner. Somebody who can go out there and take on the establishment and make a difference. And take on someone who's going to be the person who's going to be between a Republican holding the presidency and that's Hillary Clinton. And there's one person on this stage, one person in the race who's done it and done it repeatedly. I've taken on Hillary Clinton on the issues you care about. Partial-birth abortion. Go and google Rick Santorum and Hillary Clinton and there you'll see a five-minute debate. I'll let you decide who won the debate. I'll tell you who won, because we passed the bill and I know I'm out of time but I'm going to take some of Rand Paul's time here for a second. If you're looking for someone who fought Hillary Clinton on Iran's sanctions, she was one of four who voted \u2014 who's deciding vote who voted against Iran's sanctions, so we didn't get it in place as earlier as we should have. I've fought battles against her. In 1994, I ran against the Clinton machine. James Carville and Paul Begala, ran the race against me when I took on the author of Hillary care. And each one of those battles, I won. You want a fighter, you want a winner, I'd appreciate your vote. Thank you. +p938 +aVThank you, Wolf. It's great to be here in Las Vegas. And I just want to thank everybody for the opportunity to be here. This is an important time in our country's history. We have entered World War III. World War III has begun and we have a leader who refuses to identify it and be truthful to the American people to the stakes that are involved, in part, because his policies have led us here. His policy toward Iran lit the fuse of a nuclear Iran. Just a few weeks ago the International Atomic Agency reported that Iran has had a nuclear program, but they don't know if it's continuing because they refuse to share any information about the current status. And this President marches on, forgiving them hundreds of billions of dollars to allow them to not just reconstitute their robust nuclear program, pursue their missile program, but also to foment terror around the world. And then his policies in the Middle East with Iraq create +p939 +aVOf course I do. But what Donald Trump was saying was nothing against Muslims. His comment was against this administration who doesn't have a policy to properly vet people coming into this country. Let's just be honest about what's \u2014 what's being talked about here. And I know people will pile on because it makes sense to pile on, maybe from the polls. But he brings up a legitimate issue. The fact of the matter is not all Muslims are Jihadists and no one, including I suspect, Donald Trump would say that. But the reality is, all Jihadists are Muslims. That's a reality. And we have \u2014 we have to stop worrying about offending some people and start defending all Americans. Because we're not right now. +p940 +aVI would agree \u2014 I would agree that Donald Trump's proposal was not the right proposal. But he brings up a very important issue that I think we've been ignoring for far too long in this country. The reality is that, yes, we need to get reformist Muslims to join us. We need to get those who are being persecuted and killed within the Middle East to join us. But we also have to protect this country from those who want to harm us and we have to defeat those who are radicalized in the Middle East and wherever we find them around the world. +p941 +aVJust because it couldn't have prevented San Bernardino doesn't mean that we shouldn't have all tools available to us that doesn't impinge upon people's privacy. This sort of data collection is not collecting people's phones calls, their voices; they're not collecting information that's personal. There's no names attached to these numbers. They're simply numbers and times and relationships that throughout algorithms that computer technology can be able to sort through relationship about what numbers are calling what numbers and be able to track those down to see if there's any leakage's between someone who's potentially a terrorist. That is to me just fundamental that we have to have this type of data to be able to not impinge upon people's privacy. In fact, I would make the argument that the more data we can collect that's anonymous that we can through, through using algorithms, the less we need to involve people in and imposing themselves in people's privacy. +p942 +aVLook, I agree with Governor Huckabee, that we should in fact be looking at people's social media posts. That's just common sense. But we've defunded and tied the hands behind the backs of our intelligence agencies because of political correctness. We're not allowed to ask any questions or really pursue, whether there's any mosque that they're attending that could be spreading Jihadism, and we know that in this country there are Imams that are doing that. But we're not allowed to ask those questions, we're not allowed to pursue to those things because we have a president who denies the reality of the enemy we confront. +p943 +aVI don't. I don't think we should be able to deny someone's constitutional rights based on a list kept by the government that nobody knows how they get on it, or how they get off of it. If you're going to make that list public, if you're going to put criteria out there as to how you're going to get on it, if you're going to deny someone's constitutional right, than I think there has to be more transparency. Let's just be honest, when someone applies for a gun, you do a background check. And, if you're on the terrorist watch list, guess what very well may happen? You may get denied that. That's a discretion of the people \u2014 of the ATF in making that kind of decision. I want to leave that discretion \u2014 as long as this list is not well known, as long as it's not transparent, we have to leave that discretion. I want to make a comment about what Mike said, and George said, about mus \u2014 Islam. The fact of the matter is, Islam is different. I know this is going to come as a shock to a lot of people, and I mean the sincerely. Islam is not just a religion. It is also a political governing structure. The fact of the matter is, Islam is a religion, but it is also Sharia law, it is also a civil government, it is also a form of government. And, so, the idea that that is protected under the First Amendment is wrong. And, in fact, that political structure is what is the big problem. The imposition of Sharia law adherence to fundamental Islam as it was practiced in the Seventh Century... +p944 +aV...There has to be a line drawn. +p945 +aVWell, there's all sorts of theological reasons why we may not want to go into Syria right now to take +p946 +aVI would have no problem with Sy \u2014 with boots on the ground in Syria in a training capacity. I do not want American troops on the front line in Syria because I don't believe that that would serve to the interest. Again, understanding what +p947 +aVNo look, I'm committed to whatever is necessary understanding the nature of the enemy. The enemy is a theocracy and their allure is their theocracy. It's their doctrine and so we have to understand that doctrine. That's why, I love the fact that people are angry and outraged in Washington and want someone new and fresh. But we need someone who understands and has knowledge and experience in these areas. And I can see that you know, Senator Graham has that experience and we have a little difference of opinion. But frankly, it's not that big of difference in our opinion, we both want to defeat +p948 +aVAnd the fact that we have a nuclear treaty with the Shiites in Iran, that we have now partnered with the Russians and appearing to allow Assad to stay, which is a satellite Alawites, very interrelated to the Shiites, this looks to +p949 +aVWell, I would establish a no-fly zone. And, I think we just... +p950 +aVWell \u2014 the first thing you have to do is establish a no-fly zone, and you don't do that by just sort of declaring it. You work through the process of making sure you work with people who, hopefully, have the same objective that you do. And, if they don't, then you establish the no-fly zone, and you take the consequences of whatever \u2014 who violates that law. +p951 +aV...I don't think it's a war with Russia anymore than Turkey went to war with Russia when Turkey shot down a plane... +p952 +aVThese are \u2014 these are incidents not something that we're threatening the motherland. This is a tactical decision within an area that we have an obligation for the refugees, for providing stability to the rebels, and an opportunity for the rebels to reconstitute. And, making sure that we stop the flow of refugees into Europe, and into the United States to establish a no-fly zone. And, Russia either is going to comply with it or not, and if they don't, I think it can be contained to that region. +p953 +aVWell, I would establish a no-fly zone. And, I think we just... +p954 +aVWell \u2014 the first thing you have to do is establish a no-fly zone, and you don't do that by just sort of declaring it. You work through the process of making sure you work with people who, hopefully, have the same objective that you do. And, if they don't, then you establish the no-fly zone, and you take the consequences of whatever \u2014 who violates that law. +p955 +aV...I don't think it's a war with Russia anymore than Turkey went to war with Russia when Turkey shot down a plane... +p956 +aVThese are \u2014 these are incidents not something that we're threatening the motherland. This is a tactical decision within an area that we have an obligation for the refugees, for providing stability to the rebels, and an opportunity for the rebels to reconstitute. And, making sure that we stop the flow of refugees into Europe, and into the United States to establish a no-fly zone. And, Russia either is going to comply with it or not, and if they don't, I think it can be contained to that region. +p957 +aVI would use the studies that were done that were ignored by this military that there were certain positions that frankly were not suitable. And they pushed a political agenda above what is in the best interest of the safety, security, and effective of our, of our fighting units. So I would go back to using what we should be doing. Which is putting forth people on those front line positions who are best prepared to do the job, survive the job, and come back home safely. +p958 +aVI would change the policy to reflect what is the best interest of the people that we're asking. I've got a son who's going, who's going into the Air Force right now, and I, as a father, I want to make sure that, if he's out there on the front line \u2014 and he may be a pilot flying an airplane \u2014 I want to make sure that the person who's responsible for, for his wing has the ability to do the job they're doing. And if they don't have that ability to do the job, if we're doing a social promotion as opposed to what's best for the efficacy of our fighting force and for the survivability of our men and women, I'll change that policy. +p959 +aVSo what you just said is you agree with me. Because that's exactly what I said. +p960 +aVI said if you can't do the job, you shouldn't be able to...you shouldn't have the position. +p961 +aVNo, I did not say that, George. I mean, you may, you may have heard that, but I didn't say that. What I said was, if they can in fact do the job that any, any other person can do, I will allow them to do so. +p962 +aVBut if they cannot, I would reverse the policy. And what happened here is there were many studies done, particularly in the Marine Corps, which begged this President not to move forward with this because people are going to get killed as a result of it. The President went forward anyway. +p963 +aVOf course there is a proper way to vet refugees coming into the United States. But not from the +p964 +aVLindsay says this is a real war, until it comes to immigration. And, then, all of a sudden it's not such a real war. The reality is that we've seen since the events of 9/11, the president talks about how he's worried about discrimination and acts against Muslims. There's four times as many acts of violence against Jews than there are against Muslims. I never hear the president talk about that. The reality is that under this president, since 9/11, this anti-Muslim United States of America has doubled the rate of Muslim immigration. Since 9/11. That's what we've done. So, the idea that we have an immigration system that is working... +p965 +aVIs not \u2014 and, I'm out of time. +p966 +aVHere's the problem. I was with, in fact, one my guests here today is the Sheriff in Cochise County, down on the border in Arizona. And, he talked with me last night when I was with him about all of the children coming across. All of the children, why? Because we've created a magnet. These children are not coming over, and in great shape, not coming over \u2014 and not in harms way, and \u2014 going through difficult times. We're attracting people. He's also the Sheriff that caught Syrian's at the border. We have through the policies supported by almost everybody in this field......A policy that says amnesty. The world hears this, and knows that if they can come across this border, by and large, they're going to be able to stay. That has to change. +p967 +aVBarack Obama has not kept this country safe. Hillary Clinton will not keep this country safe. We need to nominate someone who America knows will keep this country safe. Ten years ago I put the sanctions on Iran's nuclear program. Before that, I gave speech after speech, including to President Bush, to identify the enemy and call these radical Islamists who they are. Ladies and gentlemen, this week +p968 +aVThe middle of America is hollowing out. All you have to do is listen to the last Democratic debate and you would think there was a Republican president in office the way they complained about how bad things are in America and how the middle \u2014 the middle of America is hollowing out. I agree with Mike Huckabee. I spent this morning in Chicago at Fabtech, which is a sheet manufac \u2014 a sheet metal fabricators conference. Thousands of people there explained the latest and newest technologies. You know what I was told? I was told when I went to booth after booth that there are 250,000 welder jobs open in America \u2014 250,000 welder jobs paying anywhere from $50,000 to $70,000 a year, and if you want to weld pipe on a, you know, for oil and gas pipelines, you can make $100,000 a year. Every manufacturer \u2014 I go to one every single week. In fact, I have with me in the \u2014 in the crowd here today a gentleman who is a supporter of mine from Rockwall, Texas, Ed Grand-Lienard. He runs Special Products. And he tells me he has jobs open in every skill that he \u2014 he \u2014 he could possibly hire for in Rockwall, Texas, but he can't find people. So the issue is, yes, we need a tax code. I \u2014 I propose a 20 percent flat tax \u2014 20 percent on corporations, 20 percent on \u2014 on individuals, full expensing, which will be powerful for manufacturing, a 0 percent rate, initially, for manufacturers. We're going to have a very powerful tax code. We're going to do something about regulation. We're going to suspected every single ObamaCare regu \u2014 Obama regulation that cost over $100,000 to the economy. But we have to start doing something about training and employing people who are sitting on the sidelines because they don't see a path. And we have a \u2014 a bureaucracy in Washington and a president in Washington \u2014 and even among Republicans who think everybody has to go to college. People need to go to work and we need to provide......opportunities for them to go to work out of high school. +p969 +aVWell, the answer is first that we need to do something about a tax code that doesn't penalize. One thing that I'm excited about our tax code, proposed changes, is it's very pro-family. You have a $2,700 tax credit, period, for every person in that family, so that family, you know, would have about an $8,000 tax credit, which would be refundable. So every dollar she works, she's still only losing 20 cents. The problem with the tax code today, because of all the different provisions, you're right, you go back to work, you lose welfare benefits, you're losing money. Throw on top of that the \u2014 even a bigger problem, over 50 percent of children being raised in a home today of a single mom are raised in a home where the father is born \u2014 father is (sic) living at the child \u2014 the time the child is born. Now what does that mean? That means we have incentivized people not to marry. We've incentivized people to cohabitate instead of not marry, why? Because mom will lose welfare benefits if she marries father. It's not just mom going back to work, but it's mother and father marrying to form a more stable family for that child to be raised in a two-parent family. So we've got all sorts of really corrupt incentives that were put in place, well meaning by the left. But we need to remove those. We need to remove those incentives. We need to adopt a tax code that says we're going to be pro-family and pro-work. And that's what we'll do. +p970 +aVAbsolutely. I'm a capitalist, not a corporatist. I'm not someone who believes we should be bailing out corporations whether their auto industries, or banks. And, it is simply a matter that there's auto industry \u2014 the auto industry would have survived, it would have survived through a bankruptcy process of \u2014 instead of Washington picking a winner and a loser. And, in this case, the losers are the bondholders, and the winners were the unions. That's fine. They did it, the unions \u2014 the unions survived. We \u2014 we have not survived in continuing to grow manufacturing jobs. We have a \u2014 we have a president, and an economy right now, that is killing \u2014 choking our ability to be able to compete. I'm one of the few people up here who actually believes that we need a level playing field when it comes to manufacturing. That means a good tax code, a good regulatory environment, low energy prices, better opportunities for workers to get training, and, also, I'm \u2014 a supporter of the +p971 +aV...Let me settle this argument... +p972 +aV...Well... +p973 +aVI'll answer that in a second, but, I want to answer this other problem because this is a real legitimate debate between Chris and Bobby, and if somebody says we need someone who can win in a blue state, and Bobby says we need a real principled conservative. Ninety-two percent conservative voting record, unlike some of the other senators that Bobby mentioned who hasn't done anything to cut federal spending, I was actually the author of welfare reform, which is the only time we've ever seen a federal entitlement actually cut. We cut it. Senate did exactly what every conservative says they want to do. We took the program, we eliminated the federal entitlement, we blocked (ph) to the state, we capped the amount of money, cut it by about 10%, and then put two requirements, work, and time limits. We need to do that with the rest of the \u2014 means (ph) tested federal entitlements. I've done it. And I did it with a bipartisan support in the House and Senate, and after fighting two presidential vetoes by Bill Clinton. So I had a democratic president we had to get this through. No record of accomplishment. I agree with the folks who are from the Congress in this race. I have a record of accomplishment of being a conservative on everything. National security, on moral and cultural issues, on the economy, and twice won a blue state. The first time I beat the author of Hillarycare. I had Bill and Hillary in my state, James Carville managed the race against me, a state with a million more Democrats than Republicans. And I ran on health savings accounts, on private sector health care, as a conservative, pro-life, pro-family, and I won. And then in 2000, I was the only senator to win a state as a conservative that George Bush lost. You want someone who can win Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, with a conservative message, I'm your guy. +p974 +aVI'll be happy to answer that if you give me more time. +p975 +aVI'm going to answer two questions for the price of one. The infrastructure question, the answer is... We need to get the federal government out of this infrastructure business, other than vital economic highways. It has been said that if we cut the gas tax to 3 to 5 cents and send the rest back to the states, and just take care of the federal infrastructure that's vital for our economy, let the \u2014 we don't need the federal government and the road business that it is today. Number one. Number two, you know who I respect in the Democratic Party? You know why I respect them? Because they fight! Because they're not willing to back down, and they're willing to stand up and fight and win. And so I respect them because they are willing to take it to us. +p976 +aVWell, I'll tell you, I have a 20 percent flat tax. That's one all income \u2014 so capital gains, corporations, individuals, 20 percent. I think that's a fair number, one out of five, to be able to \u2014 to help support the federal government. By the way it also approximates, if you take out some of the deductions, it approximates how much the federal government is, on average, spent of GDP, which is about 18 to 19 percent of GDP. So it actually fits with shrinking the size of government down to more like post-World War II levels. So the second thing we do is I don't allow for deductibility of state and local taxes, which will require state and local taxes to go down in order to be treated for their \u2014 for their people to be treated fairly. So the answer is, 20 percent and probably 33 percent overall. +p977 +aVWell, I don't \u2014 I agree with Governor Christie, I don't think you can make it any more political than it's been. They \u2014 they are protecting a president that is over-taxing and over- regulating, shutting down this economy. And he \u2014 and they're keeping it up like Atlas, trying to hold up the Earth by \u2014 by these ridiculously low interest rates. And it's hurting American seniors, who are seeing no Social Security increases, seeing no \u2014 no savings. They're \u2014 they're putting their money aside. They're getting nothing in their deposit accounts. This is hurting the people who have acted responsibly, all in favor of those who, um, you know, are \u2014 are speculators and \u2014 and those on Wall Street. It's not a good deal for \u2014 for the vast majority of responsible Americans. The other thing we have with the Fed is they've been given way too much authority. Under Dodd-Frank, they've been given this enormous new authority. I mean they \u2014 they now have almost become the most powerful entity in Washington, DC. We need to repeal Dodd-Frank, get away that authority from the Fed and put them under more \u2014 more scrutiny. That's only part of the problem. I understand the Fed is interesting for a business channel, but I think for most Americans, the most important business is the family. And we haven't really talked much about the importance of the family to the economy. And \u2014 and ladies and gentlemen, every single book, from left to right, that's been written over the last couple of years has said the biggest problem in America today at the hollowing out of the middle of America is the breakdown of the nuclear family in America. We'd better be the party that's out there talking about this issue and what we're going to do to help strengthen marriage and return dads into homes in all communities. You want to talk about the communities that are hurting the most, the ones you see the protests in......there are no dads. And we need to do something about it. +p978 +aVHappy Birthday. +p979 +aV\u2014 States Marine Corps. +p980 +aVThat's very personal to me. I grew up on a V.A. grounds. I lived in apartments on V.A. grounds my entire childhood. Both my Mom and Dad, after World War II, marry \u2014 met at a V.A., married, and that's where I lived. Kitchen table discussion was, particularly when I was growing up in the 1960's and 1970's, was the decline of the V.A. When they joined in the early 1950's, the V.A. was the top. They were the best, they were the best and brightest coming in after the war. And, we believed in the cause that we fought, and we invested in our hospitals to make sure that our veterans who left World War II were taken care of. But, after Vietnam, and during Vietnam, that began to change, and it really hasn't recovered since. The bottom line is the V.A. is antiquated. There's no need for a V.A. healthcare system as it existed after World War \u2014 why? Because we have the best private healthcare system in the world, we didn't need \u2014 we needed it in 1950's, hospitals were not particularly advanced, so, we built the best. We didn't maintain the best. Government didn't keep its promises to its veterans. So, what we need to do is two things. Number one, we need to allow veterans to go to private sector hospitals for their routine and ordinary care to get the best care in their community possible. And, there is a place for the Veterans Administration. There are injuries, and there are \u2014 things like +p981 +aVIt should come as no surprise to Chris, or anybody else, that Barack Obama doesn't stand behind our men and women in uniform here at home because he hasn't stood behind them overseas. The rules of engagement that we've allowed our soldiers to go and fight against have put them in harm's way for political purposes. This has been the most politicized wars that we've ever seen under this administration. He gets in, and gets out, based upon what the polls are saying, what pressure he's getting from groups. Talk about a Commander in Chief. We need a commander in chief who has a vision and plan of how we're going to execute the national security of our country. Commander in chief is not an entry level position. Experience matters, and that's why I would ask for your support as a Commander in Chief, because I have the experience against the enemy......to confront to do the job. +p982 +aVI announced from a factory floor in Western Pennsylvania. This campaign has all been about two words for me, working families. Working. Getting people the opportunity to see those wages rise, to be on the side of the American workers so they can get good paying jobs, and that means we have to start making things in America again. We need a president who's going to not just put policies in place, but is going to stand up at the bully pulpit and talk about the dignity of being a welder. The dignity of being a carpenter, about going to work and earning success. And, also, the importance of families, the importance of families and fathers, and mothers raising their children, and committing to that so that they can give children in our country the best opportunity to success. Working families is the key for us to win this election. +p983 +asVQUESTION +p984 +(lp985 +VMy name is Ashley Tofil. Ms. Fiorina, in November, you said that you would not talk to Vladimir Putin after you were elected because you would be communicating from a position of weakness. Do you believe that it is feasible to not communicate with another world leader? And do you think that that also is a sign of weakness? +p986 +aVMy name is Carla Hernandez. I'm from the University of Texas at Austin. And my question is directed to all the candidates. If the Bible clearly states that we need to embrace those in need and not fear, how can we justify not accepting refugees? +p987 +aVPlease describe one action you would do to make the economic environment more favorable for small businesses and entrepreneurs and anyone dreaming of opening their own business. +p988 +aVHi, I'm Adithya Sivakumar. I'm from Vanderbilt University. And I was wondering with U.S. designated state sponsors of terrorism such as Iran and other traditional U.S. enemies fighting +p989 +asVCAVUTO +p990 +(lp991 +VIt is 9:00 p.m. on the East Coast, 8:00 p.m. here inside the Milwaukee theater. Welcome to the Republican presidential debate here on the Fox Business Network. I'm Neil Cavuto, alongside my co-moderators, Maria Bartiromo, and the editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal, Gerard Baker. +p992 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. +p993 +aVIt sounds like a game show but it's not. Now I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the elephant in the room, and I'm not talking about your party's fine symbol. I'm talking about the purpose of tonight's debate. The economy and what each of you would do to improve it. No more, no less. We are focused on those issues, and what you have said on those issues in your words and what your opponents have said in their words about your words. That is the agenda tonight. How each of you plans to make America better tomorrow. And so we begin. Candidates, as we gather tonight in this very august theater, just outside and across the country, picketers are gathering as well. They're demanding an immediate hike in the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Just a few hours ago, near Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed doing the same for all state workers, the first governor to do so. Mr. Trump, as the leading presidential candidate on this stage and one whose tax plan exempts couples making up to $50,000 a year from paying any federal income taxes at all, are you sympathetic to the protesters cause since a $15 wage works out to about $31,000 a year? +p994 +aVSo do not raise the minimum wage? +p995 +aVDr. Carson, you have long bemoaned this lackluster recovery. And this Facebook map show Americans share your concern. The green represents how the jobs issue is resonating all across the nation, especially here in the state of Wisconsin. You suggested one minimum wage does not fit all, and that perhaps we should offer a lower or starter wage for young people. Those protesters outside are looking for $15 and nothing less. Where are you? +p996 +aVSo, sir, just to be clear, you would not raise it? +p997 +aVSenator Rubio, you called the recent Democratic debate in Las Vegas a night of giveaways, including free health care, free college and a host of other government-paid benefits. Since you aren't a fan of all they're giving away, tell us tonight what you would take back. +p998 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. +p999 +aVAll right. We're only just getting started. Coming up, your taxes. Stick around. You're watching FOX Business +p1000 +aVWelcome back to the Milwaukee Theater and the Republican presidential debate. Let's get right back to our questions. Dr. Carson, to you. You recently railed against the double- standard in the media, sir, that seems obsessed with inconsistencies and potential exaggerations in your life story, but looked the other way when it came to then-Senator Barack Obama's. Still, as a candidate whose brand has always been trust, are you worried your campaign \u2014 which you've always said, sir, is bigger than you \u2014 is now being hurt by you? +p1001 +aVI'll just forget that follow-up there. +p1002 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1003 +aVAlright, thank you. We're going to take a break here. Coming up, a big issue many Americans are facing, taxes. The Republican Presidential Debate continues now, live, from Milwaukee. +p1004 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from Milwaukee. Let's get back to the questions. And we want to touch on obviously one of the biggest of this issue in this year, taxes. And this will go to several of you. One of the biggest economic concerns of course in the country are taxes. Facebook data certainly backs that up. Once again the green on this map that we're going to see here shows how the conversation around taxes is resonating across the nation, especially here in Wisconsin. First off, Dr. Carson, to you. You say you are in favor of a tax system, I guess akin to tithing, sir, with a flat tax rate of up to 15 percent because you said, if everybody pays this, I think God is a pretty fair guy, so tithing is a pretty fair process. But Donald Trump says that is not fair. That wealthier taxpayers should pay a higher rate because it's a fair thing to do. So whose plan would God endorse then, Doctor? Yours or Mr. Trump's? +p1005 +aVRight. +p1006 +aVThank you very much. Senator Paul, you said you want to blow up the tax code and start over with an across-the-board 14.5 percent fair and flat tax. You happily offered that it is not revenue neutral and that's the idea. You want to choke off the amount of money coming into Washington. But don't you risk, sir, creating a near-term budget crisis just as your presidency would be beginning? +p1007 +aVThere are no deductions on your \u2014 under your plan? +p1008 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1009 +aVSenator Paul... Senator Paul, you have already said, sir, that that would be a mistake in not talking to Vladimir Putin, or to rule it out. You've argued that it's never a good idea to close down communication. With that in mind, do you think the same applies to administration efforts right now to include the Iranians in talks on Syria? +p1010 +aV...Well, then how would you respond? +p1011 +aVBut if you're not going to respond in a no-fly zone strategy, what would yours be? +p1012 +aVAll right. And look at the time, look at the time. You are watching FOX Business, we'll take a break. Stick around. +p1013 +aVSenator Cruz \u2014 and I will get to you \u2014 but, Senator Cruz, on that theme, Facebook data shows that over the last month alone, nearly 1 million people \u2014 nearly 1 million \u2014 have been concerned about reining in Wall Street, apparently believing that some have not been punished enough. So, as an accomplished litigator yourself and a former solicitor general, would you go after the very people who believe and fear that Wall Street has ignored, in other words, the crooks that Bernie Sanders say have gotten away with a financial murder? +p1014 +aVSenator......Senator, I really want to be clear here. Are you saying, sir, that if Bank of America were on the brink, you would let it fail? +p1015 +aVSir, I understand that. I just want to be clear, if you don't mind, that millions of depositors would be on the line with that decision. And I just want to be clear. If it were to happen again, for whatever the reason, you would let it go, you would let a Bank of America go? +p1016 +aVOK, I think it's fair to say you're not fans of Hillary Clinton's resume. Alright, Mr. Trump.... +p1017 +aVI had a feeling. Perhaps the most successful capitalist on this stage tonight, you've acknowledged that some give capitalism a bad name. You've been particularly critical of businesses that find all sorts of ways of paying their taxes by keeping money abroad, but your own plan includes an incentive to bring \u2014 that more the $2 trillion dollars home. Isn't that, like, a one-time bounty... +p1018 +aV...Some of the guys you all but call pirates, so they still keep the loot, and pay only a price to bring it back. +p1019 +aV...Alright, gentlemen, I know you want to \u2014 and I want to, be we also promised to get people home tonight, and we are going to take a quick break here. I think it is fair to say at this juncture that you can discuss these issues, and only business issues, but still keep it interesting. Stick around for these candidates closing statements. +p1020 +aVSenator Marco Rubio? +p1021 +aVDr. Ben Carson? +p1022 +aVDonald Trump? +p1023 +aVCandidates, we want to thank you all. We also appreciate your helping save time by talking over one another at times. That was welcomed. But by all means, it was a very riveting debate. Business issues can be \u2014 can be riveting, because it wasn't about us, it's about them. +p1024 +aVThat'll do it. Thank you for joining us. +p1025 +asVBLITZER +p1026 +(lp1027 +VWelcome to the CNN-Facebook Republican presidential debate here at the Venetian Las Vegas. We have a very enthusiastic audience. Everyone is here. They're looking forward to a serious and spirited discussion about the security of this nation. I'm Wolf Blitzer, your moderator tonight. This debate is airing on CNN networks here in the United States and around the world, and on the Salem Radio Network. The nine leading candidates, they are here. Let's welcome them right now. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Businessman and real estate developer Donald Trump. Retired neurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. And Ohio Governor John Kasich. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome these Republican candidates for president of the United States. This is the final Republican debate before the election year begins, and we're taking a moment for the photographs of the candidates together on the stage. Now, everyone, please rise for the national anthem sung by Ayla Brown. +p1028 +aVI know everyone is eager to get started. So, candidates, please take your places while I explain the ground rules for tonight. As moderator, I'll guide the discussion, and I'll be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt and CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. We also asked Republicans and independents nationwide to share their questions for the candidates. We teamed up with Facebook to send a campaign camper across the country over the past several weeks. Thousands of people stepped inside and recorded their questions on video. Millions more have weighed in on Facebook. Candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have a minute and 15 seconds to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you're singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know that we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. And as the candidates requested, a bell will sound like this. We know you are all eager to jump in and debate these important issues, so, please, wait until you're called on. These nine Republicans are positioned on stage based on their ranking in the recent polls, so let's begin right now. I'd like to invite each candidate to introduce himself or herself to our audience. You'll have one minute. First to you, Senator Paul. +p1029 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p1030 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1031 +aVMs. Fiorina? +p1032 +aVGovernor Bush? +p1033 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1034 +aVSenator Cruz. +p1035 +aVDr. Carson. +p1036 +aVMr. Trump. +p1037 +aVThank you. Since you last debated, Americans have witnessed terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino. The FBI director says the country now faces the greatest terror threat since 9/11. You all have different approaches to keeping the country safe. And that will be the focus of tonight's debate. Mr. Trump, as you mentioned in your opening statement, part of your strategy is to focus in on America's borders. To keep the country safe, you say you want to temporarily ban non-American Muslims from coming to the United States; ban refugees fleeing +p1038 +aVGovernor Bush, you called Mr. Trump "unhinged" when he proposed banning non-American Muslims from the United States. Why is that unhinged? +p1039 +aVMr. Trump? +p1040 +aVSenator Rubio \u2014 I'm going to go to Senator Rubio and get his thoughts. You have said banning Muslims is unconstitutional. But according to a recent ABC News-Washington Post poll, a majority of Republicans support Mr. Trump's idea. Why are they wrong? +p1041 +aVHugh Hewitt, you have a question. +p1042 +aVGovernor Christie, Americans are clearly more afraid today than at any time since 9/11. As you mentioned in your opening statement, today in Los Angeles, 650 schoolchildren didn't go to \u2014 650,000 schoolchildren didn't go to school because of an e-mail threat, this two weeks after an attack killed 14 people in San Bernardino. Is this the new normal? And if so, what steps would you take as president of the United States to ensure that fear does not paralyze America? +p1043 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, one of the killers in San Bernardino was an American who was not on anyone's watch list. How are you going to find that radicalized person and stop another such attack? +p1044 +aVThank you. Dana Bash, you have the next question. +p1045 +aVThank you. Dr. Carson, you're in favor of monitoring mosques and schools where there is anti-America sentiment, what do you consider anti- America? +p1046 +aVDr. Carson, who was right in that little debate that we just heard between Senator Rubio and Senator Paul? +p1047 +aVHold on a sec, we have a lot more to come and everybody's going to have their full opportunity. Governor Bush, six days after 9/11 your brother visited a mosque and said quote, "Islam is peace." The conversation tonight is about banning Muslims and surveillance of mosques, are President Bush's words still relevant in today's Republican party? +p1048 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you pointed out you were a CEO in Silicon Valley on 9/11. Companies there, they say they won't help the FBI now crack encrypted communication from +p1049 +aVBut my question was: Should these Silicon Valley companies be forced to cooperate with the FBI? +p1050 +aVMr. Trump, you recently suggested closing that Internet up, those were your words, as a way to stop +p1051 +aVLet me follow up, Mr. Trump. So, are you open to closing parts of the Internet? +p1052 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, is shutting down any part of the Internet a good idea? +p1053 +aVThank you, Governor. The fight against radical Islamic terrorists and +p1054 +aVThank you. To be clear, Senator Cruz, would you carpet bomb Raqqa, the +p1055 +aVThank you. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you've been critical of Senator Cruz's strategy. You say his voting record doesn't match his rhetoric. Why? +p1056 +aVBecause I asked the question, Senator, because you said this. You said he, referring to Senator Cruz, voted against the Defense Authorization Act every year that it came up, and I assume that if he voted against it, he would veto it as president. That's the bill that funds our troops. +p1057 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1058 +aVSenator Rubio. +p1059 +aVWe are going to have much more on this... +p1060 +aVWe're going to have much more on this. But I want to move now back to Mr. Trump. +p1061 +aVHold on. Hold on. Hold on. +p1062 +aVWe have a lot... +p1063 +aVWe have a lot to discuss. I want to move to Mr. Trump right now. We have a question on this war against +p1064 +aVMr. Trump. +p1065 +aVGovernor Bush. Governor Bush. +p1066 +aVMr. Trump. +p1067 +aVJust one at a time, go ahead... +p1068 +aVGo ahead, Mr. Trump. +p1069 +aVGovernor Bush, please. +p1070 +aVOne at a time. +p1071 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1072 +aVThank you. +p1073 +aVAll right. Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash, Hugh, go ahead with the next question. +p1074 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Rubio? Let's continue this conversation. This is a critically important issue. +p1075 +aVWe will get to \u2014 we have a lot of time, Ms. Fiorina. I want to get to Senator Rubio right now. Let's talk about, one of the aspects of your strategy, you say the only way to defeat +p1076 +aVThank you, Senator. Stand by. Ms. Fiorina, the former defense secretary, Bob Gates, says the chances of getting Sunni-Arab forces on the ground to get the job done, his words, "chances very remote." What's your strategy? +p1077 +aVThank you. Governor Christie, what's your strategy? +p1078 +aVDr. Carson, what is your strategy? +p1079 +aVThank you. Everyone stand by. We're only just beginning. Coming up, which candidates on this stage tonight want to move foreign policy in a dramatically new direction? We'll be right back. +p1080 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate here at the Venetian, Las Vegas. The war against +p1081 +aVThank you. +p1082 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you supported the removal of Moammar Gadhafi in Libya. Now that country is in turmoil, as +p1083 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1084 +aVStandby. Everybody standby for a moment. Governor Kasich, go ahead. +p1085 +aVThank you. +p1086 +aVWe're going to talk about Assad in a moment. Mr. Trump, are Americans safer with dictators running the world in the Middle East? +p1087 +aVThank you. Mr. Trump? +p1088 +aVAll right. +p1089 +aVThank you. +p1090 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East... +p1091 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East better off with dictators? +p1092 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1093 +aVHold on Governor Bush., here's the question. You said, "getting rid of Saddam Hussein in your words was a pretty good deal." In light of what has happened in Iraq, do you still feel that way? +p1094 +aVSenator Paul, was getting rid of Saddam Hussein a pretty good deal? +p1095 +aVThank you. Hugh Hewitt, go ahead. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hugh. +p1096 +aVSenator, Senator, we're going to get to you. Wait your turn. We have two hours of debate. We'll have plenty of time. Let Hugh ask his question. +p1097 +aVSenator, please. +p1098 +aVSenator... +p1099 +aVYou'll have plenty of opportunity. Hugh, go ahead. +p1100 +aVThese are the rules all of you agreed to. Hugh, go ahead with your question. +p1101 +aVLet's continue with Russia right now. We have another question from Facebook. Listen and watch. +p1102 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you know, U.S. and Russian warplanes are flying all over Syria right now. With so many lives on the line, is this a good time for the United States not to talk to Putin? +p1103 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Christie, if the U.S. imposed a no-fly zone over Syria and a Russian plane encroached, invaded that no-fly zone, would you be prepared to shoot down that Russian plane and risk war with Russia? +p1104 +aVSenator Paul \u2014 Senator Paul, I want you to respond to what we just heard from Governor Christie. If there was a no-fly zone, you say that potentially could lead to World War III. Why? +p1105 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1106 +aVAll right, let's go back \u2014 Hugh and Dana? +p1107 +aVOne at a time. Hugh, go ahead. +p1108 +aVGovernor, thank you very much. So, Dr. Carson, you recently visited a refugee camp in Jordan and you deemed it your words, "really quite nice." Saying the people there didn't want to come to the United States. Do you think these camps are a long-term solution of the problem of Syrian refugees? +p1109 +aVSenator Paul, you oppose letting in Syrian refugees at this time into the United States. The U.S. has already accepted 2,000 Syrian refugees, including 13 living here in Las Vegas right now. Would you send them back? What would you do with these people? +p1110 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1111 +aVSenator Paul, you didn't answer the question about the 2,000 Syrian refugees who are already here in the United States. Will you send them back or let them stay? +p1112 +aVWe have another \u2014 we have another question. We have another question from Facebook. Let's listen. +p1113 +aVGovernor Christie, you say there should be a pause in allowing new refugees to come into the United States, including orphans under the age of five. What do you say to Carla? +p1114 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1115 +aVThank you, Governor. There is much more coming up. We are only just beginning. Coming up, what other global hot spots await the next president of the United States. +p1116 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate. We're here at the Venetian Las Vegas. Tonight we have been focusing on the Middle East, but let's turn to some other world threats that you will potentially face as Commander in Chief. Ms. Fiorina, candidates here have called the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un a maniac who is mentally unstable. Last week he said he now has a hydrogen bomb. If you were elected president, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p1117 +aVDr. Carson, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p1118 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Dana and Hugh you have questions as well. +p1119 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Some of you on this stage have questioned whether your opponents have temperament, the right temperament, to be in control of the nuclear codes. Dana, you have a question on this? +p1120 +aVThank you, senator. Thank you. +p1121 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1122 +aVThank you, Senator. We're a month and a half away now from the first real test who will be the Republican presidential nominee. Hugh, you have a question? +p1123 +aVAll right. Candidates, we have more coming up. When we come back, everyone will have an opportunity to explain why this particular candidate, each of you on the stage, believes he or she should be the Republican presidential nominee. +p1124 +aVNow it's time for the closing statements from the candidates. Each one has 30 seconds. Senator Paul. +p1125 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1126 +aVGovernor Christie. +p1127 +aVMs. Fiorina. +p1128 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1129 +aVSenator Rubio. +p1130 +aVSenator Cruz. +p1131 +aVDr. Carson. +p1132 +aVThanks to all the Republican presidential candidates. That does it for this Republican presidential debate. +p1133 +aVI'd now like to ask the candidates to please take your places while I tell you a little bit more about how tonight's debate will work. As the moderator, I'll guide the discussion asking questions and follow-ups, as will Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt. Candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have a minutes and 15 seconds to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you're singled out for criticism. We have timing lights that are visible to the candidates, those lights will warn you when your time is up. And as the candidates requested, a bell will sound like this. We know you're all eager to jump in and debate these important issues, but please wait until you're called on. Now that everyone is this place, it's time for the candidates to introduce themselves to our audience. You'll each have one minute. Senator Graham, you're first. +p1134 +aVGovernor Pataki. +p1135 +aVSenator Santorum. +p1136 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p1137 +aVLet's begin. The United States just suffered the worst terrorist attack since 9-11, the murder of 14 people by two terrorists, one of whom was an American citizen. In response, Republican frontrunner Donald Trump proposed a temporary ban on all Muslims coming into the United States until the government can figure out what is going on. Senator Graham, the polls show most Republicans do support Mr. Trump. What do you say to them? +p1138 +aVSenator Graham, you say you'd rather lose the election without Trump than try to win with him. Does that mean you'll be voting for the Democratic nominee if Donald Trump wins the presidential nomination? +p1139 +aVGovernor Pataki, you mentioned Donald Trump in your opening statement. You've also suggested Mr. Trump's plan is un-American and absurd. Why? +p1140 +aVSenator Santorum, you object to Mr. Trump's proposals on the grounds that it's unworkable. You've made religious liberty a hallmark of your career. Do you believe in religious liberty for Muslims as well as Christians? +p1141 +aVSenator Graham. +p1142 +aVSenator Santorum. +p1143 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you called Mr. Trump's plan to ban Muslims impossible and unconstitutional. But what is your specific plan to prevent would-be Jihadists from carrying out attacks against Americans? +p1144 +aVThe terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino have sparked a debate here in the United States about the balance between privacy and security. I want to bring in CNN's Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt for more on this. +p1145 +aVGovernor Pataki. +p1146 +aVThere are a lot of people who have been frustrated, especially Senator Graham, that law enforcement can't tap into information on terrorist cell phones. Senator Graham has called on companies in Silicon Valley to change their business models. As president of the United States, would you force these companies to change their models so the government can better monitor the traffic on these cell phones? +p1147 +aVSenator Graham? +p1148 +aVSenator Graham. +p1149 +aVHere is a question we have on the fight against +p1150 +aVGovernor Huckabee, how would you defeat +p1151 +aVSenator Graham, you have an aggressive military plan to try to defeat +p1152 +aVSenator Santorum, following up on what we just heard from Senator Graham, at least one U.S. intelligence report from the White House has concluded that, in order to defeat +p1153 +aVSenator Graham, you're shaking your head. +p1154 +aVI'm going to bring Governor Pataki in a minute, but go ahead and respond, Senator Graham. +p1155 +aVGovernor Pataki, should the U.S. send ground troops into Syria? +p1156 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you have not put a number of how many U.S. ground troops would be needed to combat +p1157 +aVSenator Graham, and I just want to remind our viewers, you want 10,000 U.S. ground troops in Iraq, and 10,000 in Syria? +p1158 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you have said as president you would tell +p1159 +aVSenator Samtorum? +p1160 +aVGovernor Pataki, you support ground troops - deploying grounds troops. +p1161 +aVThe U.S. Army's Former Cheif of Staff, General Raymond Odierno said that, and I'm quoting, "now +p1162 +aVBut how long would you be willing to commit U.S. troops to fight +p1163 +aVSenator Graham, you called for U.S. ground troops as we know in Iraq and Syria. +p1164 +aVAs you know, there's a growing +p1165 +aVAre you ready to deploy U.S. troops to Libya to try to defeat +p1166 +aVSenator? Senator, are you ready to commit U.S. ground troops to Libya? +p1167 +aVAlright, gentleman, standby. The fight against +p1168 +aVWe're live here at the Venetian in Las Vegas. Welcome back. As the U.S. fight against +p1169 +aVWe have a video question from Facebook. Let's watch. +p1170 +aVGovernor Pataki. +p1171 +aVHe says he was wondering with U.S. designated state sponsors of terrorism like Iran and other traditional U.S. enemies fighting +p1172 +aVHugh Hewitt and Dana Bash have questions. Hugh go ahead. +p1173 +aVGovernor Pataki, let me stick with you. Governor Pataki, a U.S. Army Sargent Bowe Bergdahl now facing a court marshall after leaving his base in Afghanistan, getting captured by the Taliban - Donald Trump, has called for his execution. The former house speak John Boehner says "he's innocent until proven guilty." Where do you stand? +p1174 +aVSenator Graham, where do you stand? +p1175 +aVGovernor Huckabee? Governor Huckbee, +p1176 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Pataki, speaking of those four Americans being held in Iran right now. Iran has suggested they might be willing to have a prisoner swap, release Iranian prisoners held in the United States, in exchange for those four Americans. Would you support that? +p1177 +aVWe have to take a quick break, but, Governor, Israel has exchanged a lot of the prisoners it was holding for Israeli soldiers who were being held by Hamas, for example. +p1178 +aVThank you. Let's take another quick break. The scramble, the scramble to protect Americans after +p1179 +aVWelcome back to the Republican Presidential Debate here at the Venetian in Las Vegas. Gentlemen, in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks, the Obama Administration policy of allowing Syrian refugees to come into the United States has come under fire. Senator Santorum, you say accepting Syrian refugees is dangerous. You say it just takes one Jihadist to destroy the world. Do you think there is any way to properly vet refugees coming into the United States? +p1180 +aVGovernor Pataki, you have said you wouldn't accept a single Syrian refugee. What should become of them? +p1181 +aVLet's go back to Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt for more questions. Dana? +p1182 +aVThank you, Senator. Gentlemen, standby, we are going to take another very quick break. Coming up, with America on edge, who has what it takes to be the next Commander in Chief? These candidates, they will make their case. +p1183 +aVWelcome back. We're live here at the Venetian Las Vegas. Gentlemen, it's time for your closing statements. Each candidate will have 30 seconds. Senator graham, you're first. +p1184 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Pataki. +p1185 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum. +p1186 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee. +p1187 +aVThank you. Thanks to all of the candidates for a very important discussion on critically important issues. This debate night is just getting started here at the Venetian Las Vegas. The top nine candidates, they are standing by for their turn on this stage in just a little while. I'll be back as the moderator. +p1188 +asVMODERATOR +p1189 +(lp1190 +VComing up more of our debate, including questions about President Obama's foreign policy and these guys and their better ideas. Coming up. +p1191 +asVFIORINA +p1192 +(lp1193 +VLike all of you I'm angry. I'm angry at what's happening to our nation. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. Bombastic insults wont take it back. Political rhetoric that promises a lot and delivers little, won't take it back. All of our problems can be solved. All of our wounds can be healed by a tested leader who is willing to fight for the character of our nation. I have been tested. I have beaten breast cancer. I have buried a child. I started as a secretary. I fought my way to the top of corporate America while being called every B word in the book. I fought my way into this election and on to this debate stage while all the political insiders and the pundits told, "it couldn't be done." I've been told, "no,: all my life. And all my life, I've refused to accept no as an answer. Citizens, it is time to take our country back from the political class, from the media, from the liberal elite. It can be done, it must be done, join me and we will get it done. +p1194 +aVWhat I think we need to stand for are solutions. I offer myself as a leader to the people of this country because I think they're looking for solutions, not lawyers arguing over laws or entertainers throwing out sound bites that draw media attention. We need to solve the problem. To solve the problem, we need to do something here at home and something over there in their caliphate. We need to deny them territory. But here at home, we need to do two fundamental things. Number one, we need to recognize that technology has moved on. The Patriot Act was signed in 2001, roughly. The iPhone was invented in 2007. The iPad was invented in 2011. Snapchat and Twitter, all the rest of it, have been around just for several years. Technology has moved on, and the terrorists have moved on with it. Let me tell you a story. Soon after 9/11, I got a phone call from the NSA. They needed help. I gave them help. I stopped a truckload of equipment. I had it turned around. It was escorted by the NSA into headquarters. We need the private sector's help, because government is not innovating. Technology is running ahead by leaps and bound. The private sector will help, just as I helped after 9/11. But they must be engaged, and they must be asked. I will ask them. I know them. +p1195 +aVYou know, listening to this conversation, let me just say, we have a lot of argument about laws but none of it solves the problem. Let's examine what happened, why did we miss the Tsarnaev brothers, why did we miss the San Bernardino couple? It wasn't because we had stopped collected metadata it was because, I think, as someone who comes from the technology world, we were using the wrong algorithms. This is a place where the private sector could be helpful because the government is woefully behind the technology curve. But secondly, the bureaucratic processes that have been in place since 9/11 are woefully inadequate as well. What do we now know? That DHS vets people by going into databases of known or suspected terrorists. And yet, we also know that +p1196 +aVThey do not need to be forced. They need to be asked to bring the best and brightest, the most recent technology to the table. I was asked as a CEO. I complied happily. And they will as well. But they have not been asked. That's why it cost billions of dollars to build an Obama website that failed because the private sector wasn't asked. +p1197 +aVI hope at some point you're going to ask me my strategy. +p1198 +aVWell, first I'll just point out that talking tough is not the same as being strong. And to wage war, we need a commander in chief who has made tough calls in tough times and stood up to be held accountable over and over, not first-term senators who've never made an executive decision in their life. One of the things I would immediately do, in addition to defeating them here at home, is bring back the warrior class \u2014 Petraeus, McChrystal, Mattis, Keane, Flynn. Every single one of these generals I know. Every one was retired early because they told President Obama things that he didn't want to hear. We must have Sunni-Arabs involved in this coalition. We must commit leadership, strength, support and resolve. I'll just add that Margaret Thatcher once said, "If you want something talked about, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman." +p1199 +aVThat is exactly what President Obama said. I'm amazed to hear that from a republican presidential candidate. But let's just start with, who got it wrong? Who really got it wrong? Hillary Clinton has gotten every foreign policy challenge wrong. Hitting the reset button with Vladimir Putin \u2013 recall that she called Bashar Al-Assad a positive reformer and then she opened an embassy and then later she said, over, and over, and over again, "Bashar Al-Assad must go." Although she wasn't prepared to do anything about it. Recall that Hillary Clinton was all for toppling Gadhafi then didn't listen to her own people on the ground. And then of course, when she lied about the terrorist attack in Benghazi, she invited more terrorist attacks. +p1200 +aVWe've mismanaged going into Iraq. +p1201 +aVWe've mismanaged going out of Iraq. +p1202 +aVWe actually... +p1203 +aVI didn't say I would cut off all communication with Putin. What I said was as president of the United States, now is not the time to talk with him. Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. There is a time and a place for everything. There is a time and a place for talk. And there is a time and a place for action. I know Vladimir Putin. He respects strength. He lied to our president's face; didn't both to tell him about warplanes and troops going into Syria. We need to speak to him from a position of strength. So as commander in chief, I will not speak to him until we've set up that no-fly zone; until we've gathered our Sunni-Arab allies and begun to deny +p1204 +aVThis doesn't do a thing to solve the problems...It doesn't do a thing to solve the problems. +p1205 +aVIt will not solve the problem. +p1206 +aVLadies and gentleman, this is why the American people are standing up. +p1207 +aVThis is why the nation is fed up... +p1208 +aVWe have been talking about this... +p1209 +aVSorry, but you haven't gotten to me. This is why... +p1210 +aVthe people are fed up with the political class. +p1211 +aVWell, first, Kim Jong-Un is a dangerous leader, without a doubt. And both Republican and Democrat administrations have been completely ineffective in dealing with him. So we must continue to isolate him. We will need China as part of that strategy. China is a rising adversary. So one of the things we have to do if we want China's support is to push back on China. They, too, recognize one thing \u2014 strength and their own economic interest. I have done business in China for 25 years, so I know that in order to get China to cooperate with us, we must first actually retaliate against their cyber-attacks so they know we're serious. We have to push back on their desire to control the trade route through the South China Sea through which flows $5 trillion worth of goods and services every year. We cannot let them control the disputed islands, and we must work with the Australians, the South Koreans, the Japanese and the Filipinos to contain China. And then we must ask for their support and their help with North Korea. Because believe it or not, China is as concerned about Kim Jong-Un as we are. +p1212 +aVI too remember September 11th. I remember immediately putting into place security procedures all throughout our company that did business in 170 countries where we thought corporate interests would be attacked next. To take our country back, to keep our nation safe, we have to begin by beating Hillary Clinton. We need to unify our party. We need to better than our government, which 75 percent of the American people now think is corrupt and incompetent. They're right. We need to better than our politics. 80 percent think we have a professional/political class of both parties that cares more about its power, position and privilege than actually on getting anything done. We need to unify our party, we need a real Conservative in the White House, and we need to beat Hillary Clinton to take our country back and keep our nation safe. I can. I am. And together, if you join me, we will take our country back. +p1213 +aVWell, first of all, I must say as I think about that question, I think about a woman I met the other day. I would guess she was 40 years old. She had several children. And she said to me, you know, Carly, I go to bed every night afraid for my children's future. And that really struck me. This is America. A mother is going to bed afraid for her children's future. And the reason she's afraid for her children's future is because we've had problems for a long time. Yes, problems have gotten much worse under Democrats. But the truth is, this government has been growing bigger and bigger, more corrupt, less effective, crushing the engine of economic growth for a very long time. This isn't about just replacing a Democrat with a Republican now. It's about actually challenging the status quo of big government. Big government has created a big business called politics. And there are lots of people invested in the status quo of that big business called politics. Specifically, we need actually to do five things to really get this economy going again. We need to go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dollar is being spent, we can challenge any dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. We need to actually reform the tax code. Go to a three-page tax code. Yes, there are plans that would reform our tax code to three pages. In addition to rolling back what President Obama has done, we need to do a top-to-bottom review of every single regulation on the books. That hasn't been done in 50 years. We need to pass the +p1214 +aVWell, first Obamacare has to be repealed because it's failing... ...it's failing the very people it was intended to help, but, also, it is croney-capitalism at its worst. Who helped write this bill? Drug companies, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, every single one of those kinds of companies are bulking up to deal with big government. See, that's what happens. As government gets bigger, and bigger \u2014 and it has been for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike \u2014 and business have to bulk up to deal with big government. So, we have to repeal it. It's tens of thousands of pages long, no one can possible understand it except the big companies, the lawyers, the accountants, the lobbyists that they hire to protect their interests. Then, we have to give back to states the responsibility to manage a high risk pool. We need to try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried. Health insurance has always been a cozy, little game between regulators and health insurance companies. We need to try the free market. The free market. Where people actually have to compete. And, we 'ought to have the government ensure that you must \u2014 and I don't use that term often, that government 'ought to do something, but every healthcare provider 'ought to publish its costs, its prices, its outcomes, because as patients we don't know what we're buying. Now, let me just say \u2014 let me just say, I know more about innovation and entrepreneurship than anyone on this panel because I have led innovative businesses in the most highly competitive industry in the world for decades. The truth is the secret sauce of America is innovation, and entrepreneurship, it is why we must cut our government down to size, and hold it accountable. It's why we have to take our government back, because innovation and entrepreneurship is crushed by the crushing load of a 73,000 page tax code. It is crushed... ...by regulatory thicket that is so vast we don't even know what's in it anymore. It is crushed as well by government bureaucrats who don't do their jobs very well, and who are not held accountable, which is why I've said we got to take our government back, and to do that, we have to know where every dollar being spent, and be able to move any dollar. We have to hack through this regulatory thicket, repeal so much, but, also, know what's in that regulatory thicket \u2014 we don't even know what regulations have been passed. Third, we need to build a meritocracy \u2014 Scott Walker, by the way, is trying now to do in Wisconsin... ...Finally, we need to get to a three page tax code, and, yes, that plan exists. +p1215 +aVSorry, I can't hear you. +p1216 +aV...Absolutely... +p1217 +aV...You need to give... +p1218 +aVThe alternative is to allow states to manage high risk pools for those who really need help. Look, I'm a cancer survivor, OK? I understand that you cannot have someone who's battled cancer just become known as a pre-existing condition. I understand that you cannot allow families to go bankrupt if they truly need help. But, I also understand that Obamacare isn't helping anyone. We're throwing more, and more people into Medicaid, and fewer, and fewer doctors are taking those payments. The point is Obamacare is crushing small businesses, it is not helping the families it was intended to help. So, let us allow states to manage high risk pools. Let us try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried, the free market. Let us ensure that as patients, and customers... +p1219 +aV...that we have information to shop wisely for our health care. +p1220 +aV...Yes, the middle ground is this... +p1221 +aV...This is why \u2014 this is why we must combine, actually, zero-based budgeting with tax reform because unless we can examine, and cut, and move, every single dollar of discretionary spending in the federal government, we cannot reform taxes and reduce spending at the same time. Ask yourself this question, how is it possible that the federal government gets more money each and every year, which the federal government has been doing, receiving more money every year for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike, and yet, never has enough money to do the important things? The answer? All the money's always spoken for. All the money's spoken for. So, we have to go to zero-based budgeting, which is a simple idea \u2014 by the way, there's been a bill for zeros-based (ph) budgeting... ...It exists, it can be voted on. Every dollar must be examined. Any dollar can be cut. Any dollar can be cut, any dollar can be moved. We have to go to a three page tax code. You lower every rate, you close every loophole, why? Because the government uses the tax code to decide winners, and losers. You have to strip the corruption out of the tax code to pay for it. You have to know where every single dollar is being spent... +p1222 +aV...Cut where you need to, and invest where you need to... +p1223 +aV...The two go hand in hand... +p1224 +aVYou know, Mr. Trump fancies himself a very good negotiator. And, I accept that he's done a lot of good deals, so, Mr. Trump 'ought to know that we should not speak to people from a position of weakness. Senator Paul should know that as well. One of the reasons I've said that I would not be talking to Vladimir Putin right now, although I have met him as well, not in a green room for a show, but in a private meeting. One of the reasons I've said I wouldn't be talking to Vladimir Putin right now is because we are speaking to him from a position of weakness brought on by this administration, so, I wouldn't talk to him for awhile, but, I would do this. I would start rebuilding the Sixth Fleet right under his nose, rebuilding the military \u2014 the missile defense program in Poland right under his nose. I would conduct very aggressive military exercises in the Baltic States so that he understood we would protect our +p1225 +aV...we have the strongest military on the face of the planet, and everyone has to know it. +p1226 +aV...Ronald Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. +p1227 +aV...he walked away, he quit talks... +p1228 +aV...when it was time to quit talking... +p1229 +aVCan I just \u2014 could I just say, as a chief executive who's had to make tough calls to save jobs and to grow jobs, I think what's interesting about Dodd-Frank is it's a great example of how socialism starts. Socialism starts when government creates a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. Government created the problem. Government created the problem of a real estate boom. How did we create it? Under Republican and Democrats alike, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, everybody gathered together, Republicans and Democrats, and said, "home ownership is part of the American dream. Let's create a bubble," and then government stepped in \u2014 by the way, under president George W. Bush, banks were told \u2014 encouraged \u2014 told, really \u2014 to buy other banks, to take money. And now what do we have with Dodd-Frank? The classic of crony capitalism. The big have gotten bigger, 1,590 community banks have gone out of business, and on top of all that, we've created something called the Consumer Financial Production Bureau, a vast bureaucracy with no congressional oversight that's digging through hundreds of millions of your credit records to detect fraud. This is how socialism starts, ladies and gentlemen. We must take our government back. +p1230 +aVImagine a Clinton presidency. Our military will continue to deteriorate. Our veterans will not be cared for. And, no, Mrs. Clinton, that situation is not exaggerated. The rich will get richer. The poor will get poorer. The middle class will continue to get crushed. And as bad as that picture is, what's even worse is that a Clinton presidency will corrode the character of this nation. Why? Because of the Clinton way: Say whatever you have to, lie as long as you can get away with it. We must beat Hillary Clinton. Carly Fiorina can beat Hillary Clinton. I will beat Hillary Clinton. And under a President Fiorina, we will restore the character of this nation, the security of this nation, the prosperity of this nation, because as citizens, we will take our government back. +p1231 +aVWell, gee, after the last debate, I was told that I didn't smile enough. +p1232 +aVBut I also think that these are very serious times; 75 percent of the American people think the federal government is corrupt. I agree with them. And this big powerful, corrupt bureaucracy works now only for the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected. Meantime, wages have stagnated for 40 years. We have more Americans out of work or just Americans who quit looking for work for 40 years. Ours was intended to be a citizen government. This is about more than replacing a D with an R. We need a leader who will help us take our government back. +p1233 +aVLet me just say on taxes, how long have we been talking about tax reform in Washington, D.C.? We have been talking about it for decades. We now have a 73,000-page tax code. There have been more than 4,000 changes to the tax plan since 2001 alone. There are loads of great ideas, great conservative ideas from wonderful think tanks about how to reform the tax code. The problem is we never get it done. We have talked about tax reform in every single election for decades. It never happens. And the politicians always say it is so complicated, nobody but a politician can figure it out. The truth is this, the big problem, we need a leader in Washington who understands how to get something done, not to talk about it, not to propose it, to get it done. +p1234 +aVThat's right, three pages. +p1235 +aVYou know why three? +p1236 +aVNo. You know why three? Because only if it's about three pages are you leveling the playing field between the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected who can hire the armies of lawyers and accountants and, yes, lobbyists to help them navigate their way through 73,000 pages. Three pages is about the maximum that a single business owner or a farmer or just a couple can understand without hiring somebody. Almost 60 percent of American people now need to hire an expert to understand their taxes. So yes, you're going to hear a lot of talk about tax reform \u2014 +p1237 +aV\u2014 the issue is who is going to get it done. +p1238 +aVYou know, the +p1239 +aVWell, this is one of the reasons why Tom Perkins and I had disagreements in the boardroom, Becky. Nevertheless, one of the things that I think people don't always understand is how accountable a CEO actually is. So you know, I had to report results every 90 days in excruciating detail. I had to answer every single question about every single result and every single projection in public until there were no more questions. And if I misrepresented those results or those projections in any way, I was held criminally liable. Imagine \u2014 imagine \u2014 if a politician were held to that standard of account. I will run on my record all day long. And I believe people need a leader who is prepared to make tough calls in tough times and stand up... +p1240 +aV...and be held accountable. +p1241 +aVYou know, I want to go back for a moment to what we were just talking about. Crony capitalism is alive and well, and has been so in Washington, D.C. for decades. What's crony capitalism? Crony capitalism is what happens when government gets so big and so powerful that only the big and the powerful can handle it. So why are the pharmaceutical companies consolidating? Why are there five even bigger Wall Street banks now, instead of the ten we used to have on Wall Street? Because when government gets big and powerful, the big feel like they need to get even bigger to deal with all that power, and meanwhile, the small and the powerless \u2014 in this case, 1,590 community banks \u2014 go out of business. You see, folks, this is how socialism starts. Government causes a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. This is why, fundamentally, we have to take our government back. The student loan problem has been created by government. Government trying to level the playing field between Internet and brick-and-mortar creates a problem. The FCC jumping in now and saying, "we're going to put 400 pages of regulation over the Internet," is going to create massive problems. But guess who pushed for that regulation? The big Internet companies. This is what's going on. Big and powerful use big and powerful government to their advantage. It's why you see Walgreens buying Rite Aid. It's why you see the pharmaceuticals getting together. It's you see the health insurance companies getting together. It's why you see the banks consolidating. And meanwhile, small businesses are getting crushed. Community- based businesses and farms are getting crushed. Community banks are going out of business. Big government favors the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected, and crushes the small and the powerless. +p1242 +aVIt is why we have to simplify. It is why we have to reduce the size and power of government. +p1243 +aVIt's the only way to level the playing field between big and powerful and small and powerless. +p1244 +aVBecky, it is the height of hypocrisy for Mrs. Clinton to talk about being the first woman President, when every single policy she espouses, and every single policy of President Obama has been demonstrably bad for women. 92 percent \u2014 92 percent of the jobs lost during Barack Obama's first term belonged to women. Senator Cruz is precisely right. Three million women have fallen into poverty under this administration. The number of women \u2014 +p1245 +aV\u2014 living in extreme poverty is the highest level on record. I am a conservative because I know our values, our principles and our policies \u2014 +p1246 +aV\u2014 work better to lift everyone up, men and women. +p1247 +aVNo, the Federal Government should not play a larger role. Look, every time the Federal Government gets engaged in something it gets worse. And then the Government steps in to try and solve the problem and we get a little further down to that progressive vision that Hillary Clinton is talking about. Companies should, if they want to attract the best workers, provide a good set of benefits. But honestly, if you're a small business owner today you are being crushed. We have 400,000 small businesses forming every year in this country. How great is that? They are employing themselves, they are potentially employing others. The bad news is, we have 470,000 going out of business every year. And why? They cite Obamacare. They are refusing to... +p1248 +aVI think it's a wonderful that that businesses start a 401(k). The point I'm making is this, the Federal Government should not be in a lot of things. There is no Constitutional role for the Federal Government in setting up \u2014 retirement plans. There is no Constitutional role for the Federal Government to be setting minimum wages... +p1249 +aV... The more the Government gets engaged in the economy, the slower the economy becomes. The more the Government gets engaged in the economy, it is demonstrably true... +p1250 +aV... The more the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected are advantaged. +p1251 +aVJohn, I \u2014 if I \u2014 a lot of people have jumped in here. I'd like to jump in. A lot of people have jumped in here. +p1252 +aVI understand. +p1253 +aVI would just say that... ... I would just say this, we've heard a lot of great ideas up here, and I agree with what Senator Rubio said. Every election we talk about this. Every election we talk about Medicare and Social Security reform. It never happens. I would like to start with a basic. Let us actually go to zero- based budgeting so we know where the money is being spent. It's kind of basic. There is a bill sitting in the House that would actually pass and have us go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dime of your money is being spent instead of only talking about how much more we're going to spend year after year after year. My point is this. While there are lots of good ideas for reform, we have never tackled the basics. And we finally need to tackle the basics to cut this government down to size and hold it accountable. So let's start by knowing where your money is being spent by the federal government. +p1254 +aVYou know, every election we hear a lot of talk. We hear a lot of good plans. We hear actually a lot of good intentions. But somehow for decades, nothing really has changed. What we need now is a proven leader who has produced results. That's how you go from secretary to CEO. You lead and you produce results. I will cut this government down to size and hold it accountable, simplify the tax code, roll back the regulations that have been spewing out of Washington, D.C. for 50 years. I may not be your dream candidate just yet, but I can assure you I am Hillary Clinton's worst nightmare. And in your heart of hearts, you cannot wait to see a debate between Hillary Clinton and Carly Fiorina. I will tell you this, I will beat Hillary Clinton. And with your vote and your support and your prayers, I will lead with the citizens of this great nation the resurgence of this great nation. +p1255 +aVGood evening. My story, from secretary to CEO, is only possible in this nation, and proves that everyone of us has potential. My husband, Frank, of 30 years, started out driving a tow truck for a family owned auto body shop. We have come to a pivotal point in our nation's history where this nation's possibilities and potential are being crushed by a government grown so big, so powerful, so inept, so corrupt, and a political class that refuses to do anything about it. I am prepared to lead the resurgence of this great nation. +p1256 +aVYou know, I think Mr. Trump is a wonderful entertainer. He's been terrific at that business. I also think that one of the benefits of a presidential campaign is the character and capability, judgment and temperament of every single one of us is revealed over time and under pressure. All of us will be revealed over time and under pressure. I look forward to a long race. +p1257 +aVThat's not for me to answer; it is for the voters of this country to answer, and I have a lot of faith in the common sense and good judgment of the voters of the United States of America. +p1258 +aVJake, I'll tell you \u2014 I'll tell you why people are supporting outsiders. It's because you know what happens if someone's been in the system their whole life, they don't know how broken the system is. A fish swims in water, it doesn't know it's water. It's not that politicians are bad people, it's that they've been in that system forever. The truth is 75 percent of the American people think the government is corrupt; 82 percent of the American people think these problems that have festered for 50 years in some cases, 25 years in other cases. The border's been insecure for 25 years; 307,000 veterans have died waiting for health care. These things have gone on for so long because no one will challenge the status quo. You know what a leader does? They challenge the status quo, they solve problems that have festered for a long time and they produce results. That is what my whole life has been about. People know this is about far more than replacing a D with an R \u2014 +p1259 +aV\u2014 this is about changing the system. +p1260 +aVHaving... +p1261 +aVHaving met Vladimir Putin, if I may... +p1262 +aVHaving met Vladimir Putin, I wouldn't talk to him at all. We've talked way too much to him. What I would do, immediately, is begin rebuilding the Sixth Fleet, I would begin rebuilding the missile defense program in Poland, I would conduct regular, aggressive military exercises in the Baltic states. I'd probably send a few thousand more troops into Germany. Vladimir Putin would get the message. By the way, the reason it is so critically important that every one of us know General Suleimani's name is because Russia is in Syria right now, because the head of the Quds force traveled to Russia and talked Vladimir Putin into aligning themselves with Iran and Syria to prop up Bashar al- Assad. Russia is a bad actor, but Vladimir Putin is someone we should not talk to, because the only way he will stop is to sense strength and resolve on the other side, and we have all of that within our control. We could rebuild the Sixth Fleet. I will. We haven't. We could rebuild the missile defense program. We haven't. I will. We could also, to Senator Rubio's point, give the Egyptians what they've asked for, which is intelligence. We could give the Jordanians what they've asked for... +p1263 +aV...bombs and materiel. We have not supplied it... +p1264 +aV...I will. We could arm the Kurds. They've been asking us for three years. All of this is within our control. +p1265 +aV...Jake... +p1266 +aV...Jake, ... +p1267 +aVAnd then it'll be my turn. +p1268 +aVJake? +p1269 +aVJake? +p1270 +aVDana, I'd like to... +p1271 +aVDana, I would like to link these two issues, both of which are incredibly important, Iran and Planned Parenthood. One has something to do with the defense of the security of this nation. The other has something to do with the defense of the character of this nation. You have not heard a plan about Iran from any politician up here, here is my plan. On day one in the Oval Office, I will make two phone calls, the first to my good friend to Bibi Netanyahu to reassure him we will stand with the state of Israel. The second, to the supreme leader, to tell him that unless and until he opens every military and every nuclear facility to real anytime, anywhere inspections by our people, not his, we, the United States of America, will make it as difficult as possible and move money around the global financial system. We can do that, we don't need anyone's cooperation to do it. And every ally and every adversary we have in this world will know that the United States in America is back in the leadership business, which is how we must stand with our allies. As regards Planned Parenthood, anyone who has watched this videotape, I dare Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama to watch these tapes. Watch a fully formed fetus on the table, it's heart beating, it's legs kicking while someone says we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain. This is about the character of our nation, and if we will not stand up in and force President Obama to veto this bill, shame on us. +p1272 +aVYou know, it's interesting to me, Mr. Trump said that he heard Mr. Bush very clearly and what Mr. Bush said. I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said. +p1273 +aVDana, with all being said to Mr. Trump... +p1274 +aVImmigration did not come up in 2016 because Mr. Trump brought it up. We talked about it in 2012, we talked about it in 2008. We talked about it in 2004. +p1275 +aVWe have been talking about it for 25 years. This is why people are tired of politicians. +p1276 +aVFirst let me say, We have just spent a good bit of time discussing, as Republicans, how to solve this problem. I would ask your audience at home to ask a very basic question. Why have Democrats not solved this problem? President Obama campaigned in 2007 and 2008 on solving the immigration problem. He entered Washington with majorities in the House and the Senate. He could have chosen to do anything to solve this pro \u2014 this problem. Instead, he chose to do nothing. Why? because the Democrats don't want this issue solved. +p1277 +aVThey want it to be an issue that they can use. As to birthright citizenship... +p1278 +aV...the truth is, you can't just wave your hands and say "the 14th Amendment is gonna go away." It will take an extremely arduous vote in Congress, followed by two-thirds of the states, and if that doesn't work to amend the Constitution, then it is a long, arduous process in court. And meanwhile, what will continue to go on is what has gone on for 25 years. With all due respect, Mr. Trump, we've been talking about illegal immigration for 25 years. San Francisco has been a sanctuary city since 1989. There are 300 of them. And meanwhile, what has happened? Nothing. The border remains insecure. The legal immigration system remains broken. Look, we know what it takes to secure a border. We've heard a lot of great ideas here. Money, manpower, technology... +p1279 +aV...mostly, apparently, leadership... +p1280 +aV...the kind of leadership that understands how to get results. +p1281 +aVBut you \u2014 you would stipulate, Mr. Trump, but not everyone agrees with you. +p1282 +aVOK. +p1283 +aVI led Hewlett Packard through a very difficult time, the worst technology recession in 25 years. The +p1284 +aV\u2014 out a full-page ad in the New York Times to say he was wrong, I was right. I was a terrific CEO, the board was dysfunctional. And he thinks I will make a magnificent president of the United States. +p1285 +aVYou know, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld is a well-known Clintonite and honestly had it out for me from the moment that I arrived at Hewlett Packard. But honestly, Mr. Trump, I find it quite rich that you would talk about this. You know, there are a lot of us Americans who believe that we are going to have trouble someday paying back the interest on our debt because politicians have run up mountains of debt using other people's money. That is in fact precisely the way you ran your casinos. You ran up mountains of debt, as well as losses, using other people's money, and you were forced to file for bankruptcy not once \u2014 +p1286 +aV\u2014 not twice, four times, a record four times. Why should we trust you to manage the finances \u2014 +p1287 +aV\u2014 of this nation any differently than you managed the finances \u2014 +p1288 +aV\u2014 of your casinos? +p1289 +aVWell \u2014 +p1290 +aVWell, Mr. Trump \u2014 +p1291 +aVA track record of leadership is not a game. It is the issue in this election. +p1292 +aVWell, I thought we had been hearing quite a bit about Govenor Christie's record as governor, actually. I think track records are very important. I completely agree that what's at stake here is the future of this nation, and the future of every American. But I do think that a track record of leadership is vital because in the end this election is about leadership. And let's talk about what leadership is. It's not about braggadocio, it is about challenging the status quo, solving problems, producing results. And the highest calling of leadership is to unlock potential in others. +p1293 +aVProblems have festered in Washington for too long. And the potential of this nation is being crushed. +p1294 +aVYou see, Governor Christie, people spend time talking about their track records, and Mr. Trump and I have every right to do the same. And Mrs. Clinton has to defend her track record. Her track record of lying about Benghazi, of lying about her e- mails, about lying about her servers. She does not have a track record of accomplishment. Like Mrs. Clinton, I, too, have travels hundreds of thousands of miles around the globe. But unlike Mrs. Clinton, I know flying is an activity, not an accomplishment. Mrs. Clinton \u2014 if you want to stump a Democrat, ask them to name a accomplishment of Mrs. Clinton's. +p1295 +aVWe just spent \u2014 we just spent the last 10 minutes... +p1296 +aV...Jake, since everyone has gotten to weigh in on this military issue, I'd like to be able to do the same. We have spent probably 12 minutes talking about the past. Let's talk about the future. We need the strongest military on the face of the planet, and everyone has to know it. And, specifically, what that means is we need about 50 Army brigades, we need about 36 Marine battalions, we need somewhere between 300, and 350 naval ships, we need to upgrade every leg of the nuclear triad... +p1297 +aV...we need to reform the Department of Defense, we need as well... +p1298 +aV...to invest in our military technology, and we need to care for our veterans so 307,000... +p1299 +aV...aren't dying waiting for health care. +p1300 +aVJake, may I just say... +p1301 +aVJake \u2014 Jake... +p1302 +aVI very much hope I am the only person on this stage who can say this, but I know there are millions of Americans out there who will say the same thing. My husband Frank and I buried a child to drug addiction. So, we must invest more in the treatment of drugs. +p1303 +aVI agree with Senator Paul. I agree with states' rights. But we are misleading young people when we tell them that marijuana is just like having a beer. It's not. And the marijuana that kids are smoking today is not the same as the marijuana that Jeb Bush smoked 40 years ago. We do \u2014 sorry, Barbara. We do need \u2014 we do need criminal justice reform. We have the highest incarceration rates in the world. Two-thirds of the people in our prisons are there for non-violent offenses, mostly drug related. It's clearly not working. But we need to tell young people the truth. Drug addiction is an epidemic, and it is taking too many of our young people. I know this sadly from personal experience. +p1304 +aVI wouldn't change the $10 bill, or the $20 bill. I think, honestly, it's a gesture. I don't think it helps to change our history. What I would think is that we ought to recognize that women are not a special interest group. Women are the majority of this nation. We are half the potential of this nation, and this nation will be better off when every woman has the opportunity to live the life she chooses. +p1305 +aVSecretariat. +p1306 +aVI think what this nation can be and must be is symbolized by Lady Liberty and Lady Justice. Lady Liberty stands tall and strong. She is clear-eyed and resolute. She doesn't shield her eyes from the realities of the world, but she faces outward into the world nevertheless, as we always must. And she holds her torch high, because she knows she is a beacon of hope in a very troubled world. And Lady Justice, Lady Justice holds a sword by her side, because she is a fighter, a warrior for the values and the principles that have made this nation great. She holds a scale in her other hand. And with that scale she says all of us are equal in the eyes of God. And so all of us must be equal in the eyes of the law and the government, powerful and powerless alike. And she wears a blindfold. And with that blindfold she is saying to us that it must be true, it can be true that in this country, in this century, it doesn't matter who you are, it doesn't matter what you look like, it doesn't matter how you start, it doesn't matter your circumstances, here in this nation, every American's life must be filled with the possibilities that come from their God-given gifts. One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. +p1307 +aVWhen America does not lead, the world is a dangerous and a tragic place. This is a bad deal. Obama broke every rule of negotiation. Yes, our allies are not perfect, but Iran is at the heart of most of the evil that is going on in the Middle East through their proxy. +p1308 +aVYou know, when I started my campaign on May 4th of last year, I was 17 out of 16 candidates. Nobody polled my name. Nobody had ever heard of me. Less than 4 percent of you had ever heard of me. The people in Iowa showed up and they are still showing up. Hundreds and hundreds of them at every event. I have done over 150 events in the state of Iowa and I have 15 more coming up. Now, by the way, I start there because someone asked me about midway through my campaign, what's the biggest surprise to you on the campaign trail? And I will tell you what the biggest surprise is: the chasm, the yawning chasm, between what the national media talks about and what the people of Iowa and the people of this great nation talk about. That's the biggest surprise. So guess what, Martha? Guess what, sorry. The people of Iowa never ask me about a crisis in the GOP, they never ask me about the polls. They never ask me about the other candidates. What they ask me about is Carly, tell us why zero based budgeting is so important. Tell us why you are a leader who is going to produce results. Tell us how you are going to defeat +p1309 +aVWell let me tell you this: news flash, President Obama, news flash, Mrs. Clinton -- climate change is not our most pressing national security threat. Actually -- actually, it is +p1310 +aVYou know, we have a professional, political class of both parties. We have been talking about the same issues for election cycle after election cycle. Yeah, government is big and out of control, and the only way to get it under control is to control the money. And the only way to control the money is to ask the federal government to budget the way you do, to examine every dollar, to cut any dollar to spend -- to move any dollar. The fancy word for that is zero-base budgeting. I call it common sense. That three-page tax code I talk about all the time here in Iowa? It's been around for 20 years. But politicians don't want to talk about it, and you bet the lobbyists don't want to talk about it. In fact, nobody wants to vote on a three-page tax code or zero- base budgeting, although they've both been around for a long time. You know why? Because if you get those two things done, you are goring everybody's ox. You are taking the political establishment apart. You are actually challenging the status quo, which is what we need in the Oval Office. So you know who I'm going to count on? The citizens of this great nation, because you have extraordinary power. But when you do not use it... ... you are losing it. So take out your smartphones, folks. The people of Iowa know what I'm talking about. You take out your smartphones. if you agree with me that three-page tax code needs to be passed, lobbyists aren't going to be in my office. If you agree we gotta finally pass zero-base budgeting, take out your smartphones. Press one for yes, ladies and gentlemen. Press two for no. Citizens, we must take our country back. +p1311 +aVWell, first of all, I haven't said that. What I have said is that in the process of examining every dollar, cutting any dollar and moving any dollar, we happen to know that in this vast federal bureaucracy we have about 260,000 federal government employees who are going to retire, and we shouldn't replace them. Secondly, at Hewlett Packard, as you know -- the people of Iowa know this -- we went through a tough time. The worst technology recession in 25 years -- a great company called Gateway used to do be right here in Iowa. But they didn't make the tough calls necessary to save all those jobs, and so they lost every one of those jobs. Yes, I've had to make some tough calls. We saved 80,000 jobs. We went on to grow to 160,000 jobs. And, frankly, I think the American people know we need a president who's going to make some tough calls. So let me tell you where I'm going to start. The American people got a bill passed through Congress that said we could fire the top 400 senior executives at the V.A. for dereliction of duty. When we know that 307,000 veterans have died waiting for health care and the V.A. handed out $142 million worth of bonuses for superb performance, I'm going to start by firing 400... ... senior executives at the V.A. +p1312 +aVHe is right there. He is right there. +p1313 +aVIt wasn't a personal attack. I was pointing out the fact that Hillary Clinton will do anything to gain and hang on to power, anything. Listen, if my husband did what Bill Clinton did, I would have left him long ago. So, here's the deal. Hillary Clinton has been climbing the ladder to try and get power and here now she is trying for the White House. She is probably more qualified for the big house, honestly. She has escaped prosecution more times than El Chapo, perhaps Sean Penn should interview her. The woman should be prosecuted. And while Mrs. Clinton has flown hundreds of thousands of world around the global, I have too. And I know flying is an activity not an accomplishment. While I know that she has held many positions and many titles she has not accomplished much of anything in her life. She has gotten every single foreign policy challenge wrong. She continues to lie to the American people. It's called the Clinton way. Both Bill and Hillary practice it, the Clinton way. Say whatever you have to say, do whatever you have to say. Lie as long as you can get away with it. Hillary Clinton cannot be the president of these United States. +p1314 +aVWell, you know, Hillary Clinton hasn't been indicted either. So that tells us a lot about our justice system in this country. But, look, the facts of Planned Parenthood have not changed, folks, and I will not be rendered silent on this issue or any other issue. And it doesn't matter what stage I'm on. Here are the facts. Planned Parenthood engages in partial birth abortion, in late-term abortion. They alter those abortion techniques to harvest and sell body parts. They have admitted that they are not going to accept compensation for this anymore. The reality is, most Americans find this practice horrific. Most Americans find horrific that Hillary Clinton's position on this is it's not a life until it's born. Most Americans find horrific Hillary Clinton's position or the Democrat party's position, that a young woman does not need her mother's permission to get an abortion. But if you are 13 years old, you can get an abortion, but you can't go to a tanning salon without your mother's permission. A president Fiorina -- in a president Fiorina budget, there will not be one dime for Planned Parenthood, although there would be a lot of money for women's health and we will finally pass the pain capable unborn child protection act. I will always stand for life and religious liberty... ... because this is about the character of our nation. +p1315 +aVMartha, can I just say we've been talking tonight about a lot of issues and we've also been talking about the fact that the game is rigged and frankly, the media has a lot to do with that. It is outrageous frankly, that Fox News, and you, would question the pro-life credentials of Rick Santorum. That is outrageous. +p1316 +aVIn over 150 events I have come to know and love the people of Iowa. And the people of Iowa know what the rest of Americans have figured out, this ain't working anymore. The government no longer works for those who pay for it. The professional political class says and does whatever they need to do to win, and then does whatever they please. We need to return to a citizen government. That is why I am running for President. The media, the establishment, they all want to tell you this elections over, they know who's going to win it, except that you haven't... ... cast a single vote yet. So, the people of Iowa, stand with me, fight with me. Caucus for me. It is time to take our country back. +p1317 +aVWell, thank you. Good evening. If I may begin by saying how honored I am to be standing here with two former Iowa Caucus winners. Governor, Senator. And how honored I am to be talking with all of you. You know, I'm not a political insider. I haven't spent my lifetime running for office. The truth is I have had and been blessed by a lot of opportunities to do a lot of things in my life. And unlike another woman in this race, I actually love spending time with my husband. I'm standing here because I think we have to restore a citizen government in this country. I think we have to end crony capitalism. The crony capitalism that starts with both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. You know, Hillary Clinton sits inside government and rakes in millions, handing out access and favors. And Donald Trump sits outside government and rakes in billions buying people like Hillary Clinton. The state of our economy is not strong. We have record numbers of men out of work. We have record numbers of women living in poverty. We have young people who no longer believe that the American dream applies to them. We have working families whose wages have stagnated for decades, all while the rich get richer, the powerful get more powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected get more connected. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. +p1318 +aVAmerica must lead because when we do not lead, when this exceptional nation does not lead, the world is more dangerous and a more tragic place. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, they all refuse to lead. Worse, they refuse to respond when this nation is provoked. Hillary Clinton famously asked what difference does it make how four Americans died in Benghazi? Mrs. Clinton, here's what difference it makes. When you do not stand up and say the truth, that this was a purposeful terrorist attack, when you do not say the United States of America will retaliate for that attack, terrorists assume it's open season. We have refused to respond to every provocation. The President wouldn't even mention the fact that Iran had taken two Navy boats and our sailors \u2014 hostage. He didn't mention the fact that they violated the Geneva convention. He didn't respond to the fact that Iran launched two ballistic missile just a short time ago, in direct violation of a deal they had just signed. We didn't respond to the fact that North Korea attacked Sony Pictures. When we refuse to respond over, and over to provocation and bad behavior, we will get more provocation and bad behavior. I know most of our allies personally. I have met many of our adversaries. I know our military and our intelligence capability, and I know this. When we will not stand with our allies, when we will not respond to our adversaries, when we do not lead in the world the world is a dangerous and tragic place. I will be a Commander in Chief who will lead. +p1319 +aVOf course I'm worried about similar problems in the United States. We can not allow refugees to enter this country unless we can adequately vet them and we know we can't. Therefore we should stop allowing refugees into this country. And by the way, we do not need to be lectured about why we're angry and frustrated and fearful because we've had an illegal immigration problem in this country for 25 years. And we have every right to be frustrated about the fact that politicians stand up in election after election after election and promise us to fix the problem and yet, it has never been fixed. I offer leadership that understands that actions speak louder than words, that results count. We must secure our border. We must fix our broken immigration system. We must enforce a pro-American immigration system that serves our interests, not the rest of the world. I understand what it takes to translate goals into results and that is what I will do as president of the United States. Of course, we should be worried, for heavens sakes. This administration has now told us they don't know who has overstayed a visa. This administration has told us they don't even bother to check Facebook or Twitter to find out who's pledging allegiance to jihadis. We can do better than this, citizens. We need to take our country back. +p1320 +aVWe need to be very clear-eyed now about who are our allies and who are our adversaries. In the fight against +p1321 +aVAnd we all believe the polling data all the time, don't we? +p1322 +aVOh, it's a problem for so many reasons. First of all, it is yet another lawless executive order. You see, he doesn't like the fact that Congress has rejected his ideas twice on a bipartisan basis, so he's decided he just gets to override them. Sorry, Mr. President, not the way "The Constitution" works. Secondly......secondly, he basically admitted in that speech that he hasn't been paying much attention to enforcing the laws we have. He said, gee, we need a few more FBI agents. That would have helped, perhaps, stop a tragedy here in South Carolina with Dylann Roof, a guy who clearly never should have been sold a gun. In other words, Mr. President, you're right, we need to enforce the laws we have. Let's enforce the laws we have. There are criminals running around with guns who shouldn't have them. We don't prosecute any of them. Less than 1 percent. But I want to go back to the technology issue for a moment, if I may, as well, because in this regard, I disagree with Senator Santorum. Look, I come from the technology industry and I can tell you there is one thing that bureaucracies don't know how to do. They do not know how to innovate. We have come seven generations of technology since 2011. We have bureaucracies that are incapable of bringing in that innovation. So, yes, there are some very specific things that we should ask the private sector to help us with, including making sure we have the latest and greatest in algorithms to search through all these databases so that we find terrorists before they attack us, not after it's too late. And, finally, when a president who understands technology in the Oval Office. Mrs. Clinton, actually, you cannot wipe a server with a towel. +p1323 +aVYes, and see... +p1324 +aVAs CEO of Hewlett Packard... +p1325 +aVAs CEO of Hewlett Packard, I was asked very specifically for some very real help. The help I was asked to provide, this is now public information. So I am not revealing what \u2014 something that was \u2014 was classified. We had a very large shipment of equipment, software and hardware, headed to a retail outlet. And I was called by the head of the NSA, who had an urgent need for that capability, to begin laying out a program to track terrorists. We turned that truck around on a highway and it was escorted to the headquarters in San Jose. In World War II, our government went to the private sector and said, help us do things that we cannot do. The private sector has capabilities that the government does not have. There are some legal authorities that are required. The Sony attack could have been detected and repelled, had legal authorities been passed in Congress allowing private networks and public networks to work together. Those legal authorities have not yet been passed. Yes, I was asked to help. I know the technology industry. They will help again. But they must be asked by a president who understands what they have. +p1326 +aVFor decades, the professional political class in both parties has been talking about the middle class. For decades, Republicans in particular have been talking about reducing the size and scope of government, spending less money, reducing the complexity. And yet, for 40 years, the government has gotten bigger and more expensive. We now have a 75,000 plus page tax code, although politicians have run for office for decades promising reform. And all the while, middle class incomes have stagnated. You see, when government gets bigger and bigger, more powerful, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer and the middle class gets squeezed. We need to understand who the job creators are in this country, because we need more jobs to grow the middle class and to grow the wages of the middle class. Who creates jobs? Small businesses, new businesses, family-owned businesses. They create two thirds of the new jobs in this country and they employ half the people. I started out typing for a nine person real estate firm. My husband Frank started out driving a tow truck for a family-owned auto body shop. And we are crushing small businesses and destroying the middle class. So here's my blueprint to take back America. Let us first actually reform the tax code from 73,000 pages down to three. There's a 20-year-old plan to do exactly that. And then let us begin piece by piece to focus on every single dollar the government spends, so that we will spend less overall and still have enough for our priorities. And that requires the government to budget the way you do at home \u2014 examine every dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. The fancy term for that is zero- based budgeting, but I call it common sense. Citizens, we've got to take our country back. +p1327 +aVMy husband Frank, that I mentioned, I love spending time with. He's down there. He was real excited the other day because in New Hampshire, he was introduced as my eye candy. You know, everybody out there watching knows this. You cannot wait to see the debate between me and Hillary Clinton. You would pay to see that fight. And that's because you know I will win. And that's important. We've got to start by beating Hillary Clinton. All of my life, I have been told to sit down and be quiet. Settle. Settle. Don't challenge the system. That's what the American people are being told now and we have been told that for way too long \u2014 sit down and be quiet about our God, about our guns, about the abortion industry, settle for illegal immigration that's been a problem for decades, as so many of our problems have festered for decades. Accept a system of government and politics that no longer works for us. I will not sit down and be quiet. And neither will you. So I ask you to stand with me, fight with me, vote for me, citizens. It is time to take our future back, time to take our politics back. It is time to take our government back. Citizens, it is time. We must take our country back. +p1328 +asVBUSH +p1329 +(lp1330 +VOur freedom is under attack. Our economy is under water. The leading democrat is under investigation. And America is under the gun to lead the free world to protect our civilized way of life. Serious times require strong leadership, that's what at stake right now. Regarding national security, we need to restore the defense cuts of Barack Obama to rebuild our military, to destroy +p1331 +aVWell, first of all, we need to destroy +p1332 +aVLook, he mentioned me. I can bring \u2014 I can talk. This is \u2014 this is the problem. Banning all Muslims will make it harder for us to do exactly what we need to do, which is to destroy +p1333 +aVThey are relevant if we want to destroy +p1334 +aVDonald, this has got... +p1335 +aVThis is another example of the lack of seriousness. Look, this is \u2014 this is troubling because we're at war. They've declared war on us and we need to have a serious strategy to destroy +p1336 +aVYou said on September 30th that +p1337 +aVI'm talking right now. I'm talking. +p1338 +aVSeptember 30th you said... +p1339 +aVA little of your own medicine there, Donald. +p1340 +aVDonald, you're not going to be able to insult your way to the presidency. That's not going to happen. And I do have the strength. Leadership, leadership is not about attacking people and disparaging people. Leadership is about creating a serious strategy to deal with the threat of our time. And I laid out that strategy before the attacks in Paris and before the attacks in San Bernardino. And it is the way forward. We need to increase our military spending. We need to deal with a no- fly zone in Syria, a safe zone. We need to focus on building a military that is second-to-none... +p1341 +aV... so that we can destroy Islamic terrorism. +p1342 +aVI think we're focusing a whole... +p1343 +aVI do. I think the lesson's learned are that we have to have to have a strategy to get and a strategy to get out. Which means, that you create a stable situation. This president and this is what the focus ought to be, it's not the differences between us, it's Barack Obama does not believe America's leadership in the world is a force for good. He does not believe that our strength is a place where security can take place. He leads from behind. He creates an environment that now we're creating the most unstable situation we've had since the World War II era. The focus ought to be on the single fact that Hillary Clinton wants to double down on a failed foreign policy and we need to be united to defeat that because we're going to be in a place that is far less secure than it is today. Don't you all agree? +p1344 +aVBecause I \u2014 first of all, I know what I don't know. I know what I don't know. I would seek out, as I have, the best advice that exists. I won't get my information from the shows. I don't know if that's Saturday morning or Sunday morning. I don't know which one. I will seek out the best advice, and I will create a strategy and I will persuade the American people what the role of America should be. I've laid out a policy of rebuilding our military. All of the talk that we're seeing here \u2014 most of which I agree on, frankly \u2014 requires a much stronger military. We now have a lack of readiness that is quite scary. We have planes that were \u2014 that Harry Truman inaugurated, the B-52. We have \u2014 the Navy has been gutted and decimated. The readiness of the Marines is way down. If we're serious about America's leadership in the world, then we need to make sure that we have the back of the armed forces. The Armed Forces Radio is here listening to this today. I hope they know that if I'm president, I'll be a commander-in-chief, not an agitator- in-chief or a divider-in-chief, that I will lead this country in a way that will create greater security and greater safety. +p1345 +aVSo I was \u2014 I was \u2014 I was mentioned, so I can bring up something, I think, right? Look, the simple fact is, if you think this is tough you're not being treated fairly... +p1346 +aV... imagine what it's going to be like dealing with Putin or dealing with President Xi. +p1347 +aVOr dealing with the Islamic terrorism that exists. +p1348 +aVThis is a tough business to run for president. +p1349 +aVAnd it's \u2014 and we need...... to have a leader that is... +p1350 +aVYou're never going to be president of the United States by insulting your way to the presidency. +p1351 +aVDoesn't matter. Doesn't matter. +p1352 +aVYes. +p1353 +aVNo it isn't but it is an important subject to talk about for sure. And I think people have good ideas on this. Clearly, we need to secure the border. Coming here legally needs to be a lot easier than coming here illegally. If you don't have that, you don't have the rule of law. We now have a national security consideration, public health issues, we have an epidemic of heroine overdoses in all places in this country because of the ease of bringing heroine in. We have to secure the border. It is a serious undertaking and yes, we do need more fencing and we do need to use technology, and we do need more border control. And we need to have better cooperation by the way with local law enforcement. There are 800,000 cops on the beat, they ought to be trained to be the eyes and ears for law enforcement for the threat against terror as well as for immigration. This is a serious challenge and if we can get it right, yes, we'll start winning votes again. The real problem isn't anybody on this stage, the real problem is Barack Obama has had six years to advocate a position to fix this and he's done nothing. The congress has funded these programs of building more fencing and doing all this and he hasn't done it. He wants to maintain it as a wedge issue and so does Hillary Clinton. Republicans need to fix it and when we do, we'll be better off. +p1354 +aVI completely agree with Chris. And this administration has been so lax. Think about it. Hillary Clinton is using a private server for \u2014 where classified information go by. This is a \u2014 this is a serious administration? The president receives an inspector general's report that the Office of Personnel Management could be hacked into; they had antiquated firewalls; 23 million files have been \u2014 are in the hands of the Chinese allegedly, including, by the way, members of the press, it turns out, last week. Maybe that's the only part that's good news, so that you guys can get a feel for what it's like now to see this type of attack. This is something \u2014 we have to have the best defensive capabilities. We need to coordinate all of our efforts with the private sector. We need to give them liability relief so that we can do that. And offensively, we need to have capabilities second to none. We need to create a situation where they know that there will be adverse impacts if they continue to do what they're doing. They'll respect that. They'll respect a United States that is serious about protecting our \u2014 our infrastructure. If we don't do it, we'll continue to see what's \u2014 exactly what's happening, not just from the Chinese, by the way. The Russians and rogue actors, including +p1355 +aVAsk yourself, which candidate will keep you and our country safer, stronger and freer? Hillary Clinton has aligned herself with Barack Obama on +p1356 +aVYou've already made two comments, John. It's my turn. +p1357 +aVI got about four minutes in the last debate. I'm going to get my question right now. +p1358 +aVYes. +p1359 +aVFirst of all, we could get to 4 percent growth. The new normal of 2 percent puts huge demands on government. The reason why we have structural deficits is that more and more people are relying on government and the growth that we don't have makes \u2014 makes the deficit grow. A 4 percent growth strategy starts with tax reform. And the proposal that I've laid out is the one the Wall Street Journal editorial board has said is the most pro-growth of all the proposals out there. We cut the \u2014 we eliminate a lot of deductions and cut the rates down. A corporate rate of 20 percent, which puts us 5 percent above \u2014 below that of China, and allows us full expensing of investing. It would create an explosion of investment back into this country, creating higher-wage jobs, and so that's part of it. On the regulatory side I think we need to repeal every rule that Barack Obama has in terms of work in progress, every one of them. And start over. For those that are already in existence, the regulation of the Internet, we have to start over, but we ought to do that. The clean power act, we ought to repeal that and \u2014 and start over on that. The waters of the United States act, which is going to be devastating for agriculture and many industries, we should repeal that. We should repeal the rules because the economic costs of this far exceed the social benefit. And if we're serious about being serious about high growth, then we have to recognize that small businesses right now, more of them are closing than \u2014 than are \u2014 than are being set up. Hillary Clinton has said that Barack Obama's policies get an A. Really? One in 10 people right now aren't working or have given up altogether, as you said. That's not an A. One in seven people are living in poverty. That's not an A. One in five children are on food stamps. That is not an A. It may be the best that Hillary Clinton can do, but it's not the best America can do. +p1360 +aVThank you, Donald, for allowing me to speak at the debate. That's really nice of you. Really appreciate that. What a generous man you are. Twelve million illegal immigrants, to send them back, 500,000 a month, is just not \u2014 not possible. And it's not embracing American values. And it would tear communities apart. And it would send a signal that we're not the kind of country that I know America is. And even having this conversation sends a powerful signal \u2014 they're doing high-fives in the Clinton campaign right now when they hear this. That's the problem with this. We have to win the presidency. And the way you win the presidency is to have practical plans. Lay them out there. What we need to do is allow people to earn legal status where they pay a fine, where they work, where they don't commit crimes, where they learn English, and over an extended period of time, they earn legal status. That's the path \u2014 a proper path... +p1361 +aVI'm gonna fight as hard as I can to make sure that we shift power away from Washington, simplify the tax code, to spur economic activity in this country. Of course it's the highest priority. If we don't do that, we're stuck with the "new normal" of 2 percent growth. Hillary Clinton says, basically, we just gotta get used to it. Two percent growth means declining income for the middle class. It means more than 6 million people are stuck in poverty than the day that Barack Obama was inaugurated. It means \u2014 it means more demands on government \u2014 growing the economy is the first job, if we're going to be serious about dealing with the deficit and debt. And more importantly, people are really struggling right now. In this economy, the disposable income of the great middle is down 2,300 bucks. So yeah, we've created jobs, your \u2014 argue (ph) \u2014 brought that up early, and it was a good question. Jobs are being created, but they're lower-income jobs than the jobs that were lost. And the net effect of this is we need to jump-start the economy. I think of Jonathan (ph) and Reagan Love (ph), who are supporters of mine. Jonathan has been deployed by the National Guard, he is \u2014 he's in Oklahoma. Reagan Love \u2014 by the way, pretty great name, I think \u2014 is a teacher. When \u2014 if they had this tax cut, what they told me was that that $2,300 of money in their pocket \u2014 they would go back to South Carolina and start a business. Imagine what it would be like, instead of having more businesses closed than started, we had it the exact opposite. We would grow our economy, and the government would get the revenue necessary to make things \u2014 make things better. Hillary Clinton's approach to this is more top-down, more regulation, more taxes, more government, and it will destroy our economy. +p1362 +aVIt is \u2014 I'd say it is Islamic terrorism, and, back to the question of what we are dealing with in Iraq, when we pull back voids are filled. That's the lesson of history, and, sadly, this president does not believe in American leadership. He does not believe it, and the net result is that we have a caliphate the size of Indiana that gains energy each and everyday to recruit Americans in our own country, and the threat to the homeland relates to the fact that we have not dealt with this threat of terror in the Middle East. We should have a no fly zone in Syria. We should have a support for the remnants of the Syrian Free Army, and create safe zones. If you want to deal with the four million refugees that are leaving Syria because of the devastation there, then we 'ought to create safe zones for them to stay in the region rather than go to Europe. And, that requires American leadership. Without American leadership every other country in the neighborhood beings to change their priorities. It is tragic that you see Iraq, and other countries now talking to Russia. It wasn't that long ago that Russia had no influence in the region at all. And, so, the United States needs to lead across the board. This president, and Hillary Clinton both do not believe the United States has a leadership role to play, and we're now paying a price, and it will have a huge impact on the economy of this country if we don't deal with this. +p1363 +aV...They're not doing that... +p1364 +aV +p1365 +aVDonald \u2014 Donald's wrong on this. He is absolutely wrong on this. We're not going to be the world's policeman, but we sure as heck better be the world's leader. That's \u2014 there's a huge difference where, without us leading... ...voids are filled, and the idea that it's a good idea for Putin to be in Syria, let +p1366 +aVWe're not \u2014 we shouldn't have another financial crisis. What we ought to do is raise the capital requirements so banks aren't too big to fail. Dodd-Frank has actually done the opposite, totally the opposite, where banks now have higher concentration of risk in assets and the capital requirements aren't high enough. If we were serious about it, we would raise the capital requirements and lessen the load on the community banks and other financial institutions. This vast overreach has created a huge problem for our country, and Hillary Clinton wants to double down on that. I was in Washington, Iowa, about three months ago talking about how bad Washington, D.C., is. It was \u2014 get the \u2014 kind of the \u2014 anyway. We had... It \u2014 and I talked to a banker there. This is a bank that had $125 million of assets, four branches. Their compliance costs because of Dodd-Frank went from $100,000 to $600,000 in a two-year period. The net effect of that is \u2014 and they had \u2014 they had not one loan that went bad during the financial crisis. They knew \u2014 they knew their borrowers. They gave back to the community. They were engaged in the community. And imagine America without its community banks. Well, that's what's happening because of Dodd-Frank. That's \u2014 that's my worry. My worry is that the real economy has been hurt by the vast overreach of the Obama administration. And Hillary Clinton, she wants to double down on that. She wants to create even more so. She is a captive of the left of her party to the point now where she is \u2014 she was for the trade agreement in \u2014 the Pacific agreement. Now she's against it. She was \u2014 hinted she was for the XL pipeline. Now she's opposed to it. All the things that would create sustained economic growth she's now doubling down against it. +p1367 +aVYou could, if you were serious about... +p1368 +aVNo, I can't say that. But I can say, if you created higher capital requirements, that's the solution to this, not having concentration of assets. The bigger banks now have more and more control over \u2014 over the financial assets of this country. And that is the wrong approach to take. +p1369 +aVMaria? +p1370 +aV...We've had a 10% reduction in carbon emissions, and it isn't because of Solyndra. It isn't because of the central planners in Washington D.C. It's because we've had a great American success story, the explosion of natural gas. Taking two existing technologies, and applying it through innovation has created lower carbon emissions, lower energy costs \u2014 40% of all the economic activity in the age of Obama has come from the energy sector, and Hillary Clinton wants to suppress that. We \u2014 I think we ought to be expanding this. High growth is the path to lower carbon, and more jobs. I know for a fact, as Governor of the State of Florida, we created the largest land purchasing programs, and environment clean-up programs because we had a growing economy. Our revenues were growing at 4.4%. It allowed for resources to be able to protect the natural system. We got to get to a conservation... ...in environmental policy that goes beyond just carbon... +p1371 +aVJane Horton is sitting with my wife here today. Her husband, Chris, was killed in action in Afghanistan. And Jane spends her time now defending and fighting for military families. They're both heroes. I don't think we need an agitator-in-chief or a divider-in-chief. We need a commander-in-chief that will rebuild our military and restore respect to our veterans by revamping and fixing a broken Veterans Administration, That's my pledge to you. I ask for your support. Thank you. +p1372 +aVYou know, I am by my nature impatient. And this is not an endeavor that rewards that. You gotta be patient. You gotta be \u2014 stick with it, and all that. But also, I can't fake anger. I believe this is still the most extraordinary country on the face of the Earth. And it troubles me that people are rewarded for tearing down our country. It's never been that way in American politics before. I can't do it. I just don't believe that this country's days are going to be deeply \u2014 you know, going down. I think we're on the verge of the greatest time, and I want to fix the things to let people rise up. +p1373 +aVCould I \u2014 could I bring something up here, because I'm a constituent of the senator and I helped him and I expected that he would do constituent service, which means that he shows up to work. He got endorsed by the Sun-Sentinel because he was the most talented guy in the field. He's a gifted politician. But Marco, when you signed up for this, this was a six-year term, and you should be showing up to work. I mean, literally, the Senate \u2014 what is it, like a French work week? You get, like, three days where you have to show up? You can campaign, or just resign and let someone else take the job. There are a lot of people living paycheck to paycheck in Florida as well, they're looking for a senator that will fight for them each and every day. +p1374 +aVHe wasn't my senator. +p1375 +aVWell, I've been \u2014 +p1376 +aVNo, no. What I said was I don't believe that I would be president of the United States and have the same dysfunction that exists in Washington, D.C. now. +p1377 +aVDon't vote for me if you want to keep the gridlock in Washington, D.C. +p1378 +aVBut if you want someone who has a proven, effective leadership, that was a governor of a state, that transformed the culture there, elect me so I can fight for the American people and change the culture in Washington, D.C. +p1379 +aV, the great majority of Republicans and Americans believe in a hopeful future. They don't believe in building walls and a pessimistic view of the future. They're concerned that Washington is so dysfunctional it is holding them back. There are lids on people's aspirations. Think about it: six and a half million people working part-time. Workforce participation rates lower than they were in 1977. Six million more people living in poverty than the day that Barack Obama got elected president, and the left just wants more of the same. We have to offer a compelling alternative that is based on hope and optimism and grounded in serious policy, which I've laid out. And you can go get it at jeb2016.com. +p1380 +aVWell, the deal was done. Barack Obama got his massive tax increase, and there was no spending cuts. You just see the recent deal announced today or yesterday, more spending, more tax increasing, more regulation. And now we have to accept 2 percent, the new normal for economic growth. And the net result is the middle class has $2,300 less in their pockets than the day that Barack Obama got elected president. And now they see Hillary Clinton proposing a third term of economic policy for our country. We need to reverse that. And my record was one of cutting taxes each and every year. You don't have to guess about it, because I actually have a record. $19 billion of tax cuts, 1.3 million jobs created. We were one of two states to go to AAA bond rating, and our government spending was far less than the spending in people's income. +p1381 +aVYou find me... +p1382 +aVYou find me a Democrat \u2014 you find me a Democrat that will cut spending ten dollars? Heck, find me a Republican in Congress that would cut spending ten dollars. I'll talk to them. +p1383 +aVLook, the \u2014 the deal is already done. The biggest tax increase happened under the watch of Barack Obama, and spending's gone up. You find a Democrat that's for cutting taxes \u2014 cutting spending ten dollars, I'll give them a warm kiss. +p1384 +aVLook, the \u2014 the simple fact is that my plan actually gives the middle class the greatest break: $2,000 per family. And if you make $40,000 a year, a family of four, you don't pay any income tax at all. Simplifying the code and lowering rates, both for corporations and \u2014 and personal rates, is exactly what we need to do. You think about the regulatory cost and the tax cost \u2014 that's why small businesses are closing, rather than being formed in our country right now. The big corporations have the scale to deal with all of this. And what I think all of us are saying is, our monetary policy, our tax policy, regulatory policy needs to be radically changed so we can create high sustained growth for income to rise. The government has tried it their way. Under \u2014 under Barack Obama and the proposals of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and others, they've tried it their way, and it has failed miserably. We need to take a new approach of taxing \u2014 reforming how we tax, and reforming the regulations in our \u2014 in our country before it's too late. +p1385 +aVWe don't need the federal government to be involved in this at all. +p1386 +aVWe don't need the Federal Government to be involved in this, because when they do we create a $1.2 trillion debt. In Florida, we have the lowest in-state tuition of any state, because there's accountability, just as John said. Let the states do this. You'll create a much better graduation rate at a lower cost, and you won't in debt the next generation with recourse debt on their backs. It's always a solution of the left to create more Government from the Federal Government. It is broke, it is not working. +p1387 +aVWell, first of all, I'm 7 and 0 in my fantasy league. +p1388 +aVGronkowski is still going strong. I have Ryan Tannehill, Marco, as my quarterback, he was 18 for 19 last week. So I'm doing great. But we're not gambling. And I think this has become something that needs to be looked at in terms of regulation. Effectively it is day trading without any regulation at all. And when you have insider information, which apparently has been the case, where people use that information and use big data to try to take advantage of it, there has to be some regulation. If they can't regulate themselves, then the NFL needs to look at just, you know, moving away from them a little bit. And there should be some regulation. I have no clue whether the federal government is the proper place, my instinct is to say, hell no, just about everything about the federal government. +p1389 +aVBecky \u2014 +p1390 +aV\u2014 the governor's absolutely right. But we also need to reform Medicare and Social Security. We can't just allow it to continue on its current path the way that Hillary Clinton wants to do because there'll be major reductions in benefits in the next decade if we do nothing. I have a concrete plan to do just that, which allows people to keep HSAs to encourage savings, it allows for people that are retiring with Social Security to be able to get a minimum of 125 percent of the poverty level so that there is a baseline that in this generous country of ours no one goes below. +p1391 +aVYou have to reform Social Security, and the simple way to do it is to make sure that the wealthiest don't receive the same benefits as people that are lower-income. And make sure you enhance savings in the private market. The idea of 401(k)s. I have a small business that I set up. It took \u2014 it took an arm and a leg to be able to set up a 401(k). Because of all the federal mandates and federal laws, it was too expensive. We need to incent private savings and make sure that Social Security is protected for those that have it. +p1392 +aVBut the idea that you can't \u2014 that you're just gonna grow your way out of this \u2014 I have a plan to grow the economy at 4 percent, but you're gonna have to make adjustments for both Medicare and Social Security. [ +p1393 +aVAmerica's at a crossroads. The D.C. politicians continue to make things worse. I have a proven record of success, 32 years in business, and 8 years as Governor of the state of Florida. I will change the culture in Washington, just as I changed the culture in Tallahassee. I will do so in a way that will bring people together. We need a unifier, not a cynical divider in chief, and that's exactly what I will do. Imagine a country where people are lifted out of poverty again. Imagine a country where the middle class can get rising income again. I know we can do this because we're still the most extraordinary country on the face of the Earth. +p1394 +aVI'm Jeb Bush, and I believe America's on the verge of its greatest century, and I'm ready to lead. I'm a committed, conservative reformer that cut taxes, that balanced budgets, that took on the special interest in Florida, and we won. I look forward to talking tonight about how we can fix a broken Washington D.C., and create an environment where people can rise up again in this great country. Thank you. +p1395 +aVI think the voters will make that determination. But what I know to be true is that the next president of the United States is going to have to fix an extraordinary difficult situation. This administration, with President Obama and Hillary Clinton, has created insecurity the likes of which we never would've imagined. There's not a place in the world where we're better off today than six and a half years ago. And that requires a steadiness. That requires an understanding of how the world works. That requires an understanding and appreciation of American leadership in the world. You can't just, you know, talk about this stuff and insult leaders around the world and expect a good result. You have to do this with a steady hand, and I believe I have those skills. +p1396 +aVNo. Absolutely not. People are supporting me because I have a proven record of conservative leadership where I cut taxes $19 billion over eight years. We shrunk the state government workforce, we created a climate that led the nation in job growth seven out of eight years. We were one of two states to go to AAA bond rating. People know that we need principle-centered leadership, a disrupter to go to Washington, D.C. The one guy that had some special interests that I know of that tried to get me to change my views on something \u2014 that was generous and gave me money \u2014 was Donald Trump. He wanted casino gambling in Florida \u2014 +p1397 +aVYes you did. +p1398 +aVYou wanted it and you didn't get it because I was opposed to \u2014 +p1399 +aV\u2014 casino gambling before \u2014 +p1400 +aVduring and after. And that's not \u2014 I'm not going to be bought by anybody. +p1401 +aVNo way. Believe me. +p1402 +aVNot even possible. +p1403 +aVYou've got, according to your \u2014 to what you said on one of the talk shows, you got Hillary Clinton to go to your wedding \u2014 +p1404 +aV\u2014 because you gave her money. Maybe it works for Hillary Clinton \u2014 +p1405 +aV\u2014 it doesn't work for anybody on this \u2014 on stage. +p1406 +aVBut the simple fact is \u2014 +p1407 +aVNo. The simple fact is, Donald, you could not take \u2014 +p1408 +aVI was asked the question. +p1409 +aVSo he supports Pelosi, he supports Schumer, he supports Clinton \u2014 +p1410 +aVWhen he \u2014 and he \u2014 when he asked \u2014 when he asked Florida to have casino gambling, we said no. +p1411 +aVWe said no. And that's the simple fact. The simple fact is \u2014 +p1412 +aVDon't cut me off. +p1413 +aVNo, I don't think so, but we need to be strong against China. We should use offensive tactics as it relates to cyber security, send a deterrent signal to China. There should be super sanctions in what President Obama has proposed. There's many other tools that we have without canceling a dinner. That's not going to change anything, but we can be much stronger as it relates to that. As it relates to Iran, it's not a strategy to tear up an agreement. A strategy would be how do we confront Iran? And, the first thing that we need to do is to establish our commitment to Israel which has been altered by this administration. And, make sure that they have the most sophisticated weapons to send a signal to Iran that we have Israel's back. If we do that, it's going to create a healthier deterrent effect than anything else I can think of. +p1414 +aVI don't think \u2014 you're not stating my views right. +p1415 +aVI think there needs to be accommodation for someone acting on faith. Religious conscience is \u2014 is \u2014 is a first freedom. It's \u2014 it's a powerful part of our \u2014 of our Bill of Rights. And, in a big, tolerant country, we should respect the rule of law, allow people in \u2014 in \u2014 in this country \u2014 I'm a \u2014 I was opposed to the decision, but we \u2014 you can't just say, "well, they \u2014 gays can't get married now." But this woman, there should be some accommodation for her conscience, just as there should be for people that are florists that don't want to participate in weddings, or bakers. A great country like us should find a way to have accommodations for people so that we can solve the problem in the right way. This should be solved at the local level... +p1416 +aVAnd so we do agree, Mike. +p1417 +aVWell, he's wrong on a lot of things, but on this he's wrong because I'm the most pro-life governor on this stage. I got to act on my core beliefs. It's part of who I am. Life is a gift from God. And from beginning end we need to respect it and err on the side of life. And so I defunded Planned Parenthood. We created a climate where parental notification took place. We were the only state to fund crisis pregnancy centers with state moneys. We were totally focused on this. And I would bring that kind of philosophy to Washington, D.C. So here is a solution to this. Title X of the HHS funding, there is something that was the "Reagan Rule." It was passed in 1988. And in that rule it was defined, and the courts approved this, that a Planned Parenthood, you couldn't separate the money between the actual abortion procedures, and there are 330,000 abortions that take place in this clinic, and their promotion of it. He interpreted it the right way, the courts ruled in his favor, and Planned Parenthood did not get funding during that time until President Clinton came in. When I'm elected president, we will restore that interpretation of Title X. And this deal will be finished. +p1418 +aVThere are 13,000 community-based organizations that provide health services to women, 13,000 in this country. I don't believe that Planned Parenthood should get a penny from the federal government. Those organizations should get funding, just as I increased funding when I was governor of the state. That's the way you do this is you improve the condition for people. And, Donald, when I was governor, we also increased the opportunities for women. Women's income grew three times faster than the national average when I was governor. +p1419 +aVWe improved \u2014 we improved \u2014 +p1420 +aV\u2014 we increased child support \u2014 we increased child support with a broken system by 90 percent. +p1421 +aVI have a proven record. I have a proven record. +p1422 +aVHe did, he did. You're proud of your family, just as I am. +p1423 +aVTo subject my wife into the middle of a raucous political conversation was completely inappropriate, and I hope you apologize for that, Donald. +p1424 +aVShe is. She's fantastic. +p1425 +aVShe is absolutely the love of my life, and she's right here... +p1426 +aVAnd why don't you apologize to her right now. +p1427 +aVYeah. +p1428 +aVSo, here's the deal. My wife is a Mexican-American. She's an American by choice. She loves this country as much as anybody in this room, and she wants a secure border. But she wants to embrace the traditional American values that make us special and make us unique. We're at a crossroads right now. Are we going to take the Reagan approach, the hopeful optimistic approach, the approach that says that, you come to our country legally, you pursue your dreams with a vengeance, you create opportunities for all of us? Or the Donald Trump approach? The approach that says that everything is bad, that everything is coming to an end. I... +p1429 +aVI'm on the Reagan side of this. +p1430 +aVLook, first of all, I wrote a book about this, three \u2014 four years ago, now. And I laid out a comprehensive, conservative approach for immigration reform. And it does require securing the border. No one disagrees with that. But to build a wall, and to deport people \u2014 half a million a month \u2014 would cost hundreds of billions of dollars, Donald. Hundreds of billions of dollars. It would destroy community life, it would tear families apart. And it would send a signal to the rest of the world that the United States values that are so important for our long-term success no longer matter in this country. +p1431 +aVWell, I've been speaking English here tonight, and I'll keep speaking English. But the simple fact is, if a high school kid asks me a question in Spanish, a school \u2014 by the way, a voucher program that was created under my watch, the largest voucher program in the country, where kids can go to a Christian school, and they ask me a question in Spanish, I'm going to show respect and answer that question in Spanish. Even though they do speak English, and even though they embrace American values. +p1432 +aVYeah. +p1433 +aVWell, first of all, Hugh, if you're looking at Republican advisers, you have to go to the last two administrations. That happened to be 41 and 43. So just by definition, if you're \u2014 and many of the people here that are seeking advice from the foreign policy experts in the Republican side, they \u2014 they served in my dad's administration, my brother's administration. Of course that's the case. But I'm my own man. I'm going to create a strategy that is based on the simple fact that the United States needs to lead the world. The first thing that we need to do is to stop the craziness of the sequester. Rebuild our military so that our \u2014 so that we don't deploy people over and over again without the necessary equipment to keep them safe, to send a signal to the world that we're serious. If we're going to lead the world, then we need to have the strongest military possible. We need to rebuild our counterintelligence and intelligence capabilities. We need to focus on the fact that the next president is going to start in 2017, not in 1990 \u2014 you know, 30 years ago, or when my brother started. The world is dramatically different. And I believe that we need to restore America's presence and leadership in the world. Name a country where our relationship is better today than it was the \u2014 the day that Barack Obama got elected president. Under Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama, we have seen a weakness that now creates huge problems for the next president of the United States. So I'll have a team that will be \u2014 that will be following the doctrine I set up, and it will be peace through strength. We're sitting here in this library, which is a wonderful place to talk about this, because that's exactly what happened in the 1980s, and the world was a lot safer because of... +p1434 +aVThe leadership of Ronald Reagan and my... +p1435 +aVSo you \u2014 the \u2014 the first chance... +p1436 +aVRight after me, and then I'll \u2014 I'll yield \u2014 yield the floor. What do you guys say in the Senate when you're talking and debating? +p1437 +aVHere's the facts: When Donald Trump talks about judgment, what was his position on who would've been the best negotiator to deal with Iran? It wasn't a Republican; it was Hillary Clinton. That's what you believe. I mean, the lack of judgment and the lack of understanding about how the world works is really dangerous in this kind of time that we're saying. So is that the judgment that you bring to the table, that Hillary Clinton... +p1438 +aV... is a great negotiator, that she could bring about a better deal on Iran? +p1439 +aVYou know what? As it relates to my brother, there's one thing I know for sure. He kept us safe. I don't know if you remember... ... Donald... ... you remember the \u2014 the rumble? You remember the fire fighter with his arms around it? He sent a clear signal that the United States would be strong and fight Islamic terrorism, and he did keep us safe. +p1440 +aVThat's \u2014 that's my brother. +p1441 +aVHere's the lessons of history: When we \u2014 we pull back, voids are created. We left Iraq. We should've had a \u2014 a forces agreement to stay there with a small force, and instead of that, we politically and militarily pulled back, and now we have the creation of +p1442 +aV... because of what President Obama's done by pulling back. +p1443 +aVWell, I'm surprised Senator Cruz would say that since he was as strong supporter of John Roberts at the time. I will talk about what I will do as it relates to appointing Supreme Court Justices. We need to make sure that we have justices that, with a proven experienced record of respect for upholding the constitution. That is what we need. We can't have \u2014 the history in recent past is appoint people that have no experience so that you can't get attacked. And, that makes it harder for people to have confidence that they won't veer off... +p1444 +aVJohn Roberts has made some really good decisions, for sure, but he did not have a proven, extensive record that would have made the clarity the important thing, and that's what we need to do. And, I'm willing to fight for those nominees to make sure that they get passed. You can't do it the politically expedient way anymore. This is the culture in Washington. You have to fight hard for these appointments. This is perhaps the most important thing that the next president will do. +p1445 +aVWell, first of all, he, as I said, supported John Roberts. He supported him, publicly. So, you can rewrite history, I guess, Ted, but the simple fact is that you supported him because he had all the criteria that you would have thought would have made a great justice. And, I think he is doing a good job. But, the simple fact is that going forward, what we need to do is to have someone that has a long standing set of rulings that consistently makes it clear that he is a focused, exclusively on upholding the Constitution of the United States so they won't try to use the bench as a means to which legislate. +p1446 +aVHe was talking about me. +p1447 +aVWell, I \u2014 I wanted to \u2014 be \u2014 make it easier for him. +p1448 +aVAnd I just did. +p1449 +aVSo, 40 years ago, I smoked marijuana, and I admit it. I'm sure that other people might have done it and may not want to say it in front of 25 million people. My mom's not happy that I just did. That's true. And here's the deal. Here's the deal. We have \u2014 we have a serious epidemic of drugs that goes way beyond marijuana. What goes on in Colorado, as far as I'm concerned, that should be a state decision. But if you look at the problem of drugs in this \u2014 in this society today, it's a serious problem. Rand, you know this because you're campaigning in New Hampshire like all of us, and you see the epidemic of heroin, the overdoses of heroin that's taking place. People's families are \u2014 are being torn apart. It is appropriate for the government to play a consistent role to be able to provide more treatment, more prevention \u2014 we're the state that has the most drug courts across every circuit in \u2014 in \u2014 in Florida, there are drug courts to give people a second chance. That's the best way to do this. +p1450 +aVNo, you're wrong \u2014 you're wrong about this. +p1451 +aVI don't want to put poor people in jail, Randy. +p1452 +aVHere's the deal. No, I did not oppose when the legislature passed the bill to deal with that very issue. That's the way to solve this problem. Medical marijuana on the ballot was opened up, there was a huge loophole, it was the first step to getting to a place. And as a citizen of Florida, I voted no. +p1453 +aVNot very far. I think we need to do this state by state. There are places that get this right, and we need to make sure that we protect the privacy laws. This is a complicated place. But I do think the natural impulse on the left \u2014 Hillary Clinton, immediately after one of these horrific violent acts took place, immediately said we need to have federal gun laws. President Obama almost reflexively always says the same thing. And the net result is, you're going to take away rights of \u2014 of law-abiding citizens, the 99.999 percent of the people that are law- abiding citizens. That's not the right approach to do it. In Florida, we have a background check. We have concealed-weapon permit holders, and in fact, there's 1,200,000 of them. We have a reduction in violent crime because we put people behind bars when they use a gun in the commission of the crime. That's the better approach. But we're living in a society today where despair kind of grows in isolation. +p1454 +aVI \u2014 I think there needs to be a hearing, but the fact is, we need to encourage that kind of involvement. That's \u2014 that's exactly what we need to do. +p1455 +aVI would go with Ronald Reagan's partner, Margaret Thatcher. Probably illegal, but what the heck? Since it's not going to happen. A strong leader is what we need in the White House, and she certainly was a strong leader that restored the United Kingdom into greatness. +p1456 +aVEver Ready, it's very high energy, Donald. +p1457 +aVSix million more people are living in poverty than the day that Barack Obama got elected president. Six million more people. The middle class has had declining income, workforce participation rates are lower than they were in 1977. For the first time in modern history, more businesses are failing than are being created. That is what the next president will have to deal with. And I believe we can reverse course by creating a strategy of high sustained economic growth, not the new normal of 2 percent that all the left says we just have to get used to, but a 4 percent growth strategy where we reform how we tax, fix the broken regulatory system, embrace the energy revolution in our midst, fix the immigration system so we can turn it into an economic driver, deal with the structural fiscal problems that exist because of our entitlement problems that will overwhelm and create way too much debt. If we grow at 4 percent, people are going to be lifted out of poverty. The great middle that defines our country will have a chance to be able to pursue their dreams as they see fit. That should be the great challenge and the great opportunity for the next president of the United States, to forge consensus to go back to a high-growth strategy. And then we'll be able to lead the world. Without a high-growth strategy, our country will never have the resources or the optimism to be able to lead the world, which the world desperately needs our leadership. +p1458 +aVAbsolutely, I do, and I'm gonna run hard, run with heart, and run to win. I'm gonna have to earn this. Maybe the barrier -- the bar's even higher for me. That's fine. I've got a record in Florida. I'm proud of my dad, and I'm certainly proud of my brother. In Florida, they called me Jeb, because I earned it. I cut taxes every year, totaling $19 billion. We were -- we had -- we balanced every budget. We went from $1 billion of reserves to $9 billion of reserves. We were one of two states that went to AAA bond rating. They keep -- they called me Veto Corleone. Because I vetoed 2,500 separate line-items in the budget. I am my own man. I governed as a conservative, and I govern effectively. And the net effect was, during my eight years, 1.3 million jobs were created. We left the state better off because I applied conservative principles in a purple state the right way, and people rose up. +p1459 +aVI do. I believe that the great majority of people coming here illegally have no other option. They want to provide for their family. But we need to control our border. It's not -- it's our responsibility to pick and choose who comes in. So I -- I've written a book about this and yet this week, I did come up with a comprehensive strategy that -- that really mirrored what we said in the book, which is that we need to deal with E-Verify, we need to deal with people that come with a legal visa and overstay. We need to be much more strategic on how we deal with border enforcement, border security. We need to eliminate the sanctuary cities in this country. It is ridiculous and tragic......that people are dying because of the fact that -- that local governments are not following the federal law. There's much to do. And I think rather than talking about this as a wedge issue, which Barack Obama has done now for six long years, the next president -- and I hope to be that president -- will fix this once and for all so that we can turn this into a driver for high sustained economic growth. And there should be a path to earned legal status... ...for those that are here. Not -- not amnesty, earned legal status, which means you pay a fine and do many things over an extended period of time. +p1460 +aV...I remember... +p1461 +aV...I remember, Megyn. +p1462 +aVKnowing what we know now, with faulty intelligence, and not having security be the first priority when -- when we invaded, it was a mistake. I wouldn't have gone in, however, for the people that did lose their lives, and the families that suffer because of it -- I know this full well because as governor of the state of Florida, I called every one of them. Every one of them that I could find to tell them that I was praying for them, that I cared about them, and it was really hard to do. And, every one of them said that their child did not die in vain, or their wife, of their husband did not die in vain. So, why it was difficult for me to do it was based on that. Here's the lesson that we should take from this, which relates to this whole subject. Barack Obama became president, and he abandoned Iraq. He left, and when he left Al Qaida was done for. +p1463 +aVNo, I don't. And I don't believe the federal government should be involved in the creation of standards directly or indirectly, the creation of curriculum or content. It is clearly a state responsibility. I'm for higher standards... ...measured in an intellectually honest way, with abundant school choice, ending social promotion. And I know how to do this because as governor of the state of Florida I created the first statewide voucher program in the country, the second statewide voucher program, in the country and the third statewide voucher program in the country. And we had rising student achievement across the board, because high standards, robust accountability, ending social promotion in third grade, real school choice across the board, challenging the teachers union and beating them is the way to go. And Florida's low income kids had the greatest gains inside the country. Our graduation rate improved by 50 percent. That's what I'm for. +p1464 +aVHe is definitely my friend. And I think the states ought to create these standards. And if states want to opt out of Common Core, fine. Just make sure your standards are high. Because today in America, a third of our kids, after we spend more per student than any country in the world other than a couple rounding errors, to be honest with you, 30 percent are college- and/or career-ready. If we are going to compete in this world we're in today, there is no possible way we can do it with lowering expectations and dumbing down everything. Children are going to suffer and families' hearts are going to be broken that their kids won't be able to get a job in the 21st Century. +p1465 +aVWe've done it 27 times since World War II. I think we need to lift our spirits and have high, lofty expectations for this great country of ours. The new normal of two percent that the left is saying you can't do anything about is so dangerous for our country. There's 6 million people living in poverty today, more than when Barack Obama got elected. 6.5 million people are working part-time, most of whom want to work full-time. We've created rules and taxes on top of every aspiration of people, and the net result is we're not growing fast, income's not growing. A four percent growth strategy means you fix a convoluted tax code. You get in and you change every aspect of regulations that are job killers. You get rid of Obamacare and replace it with something that doesn't suppress wages and kill jobs. You embrace the energy revolution in our country. This president and Hillary Clinton, who can't even say she's for the XL pipeline even after she's left? Give me a break. Of course we're for it. We should be for these things to create high sustained economic growth. And frankly, fixing our immigration system and turning it into an economic driver is part of this as well. We can do this. +p1466 +aVNone of which is true. +p1467 +aVNo. It's not true. But I have said that Mr. Trump's language is divisive. I want to win. I want one of these people here or the ones at 5:00, to be the next president of the United States. We're not going on win by doing what Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton do each and every day. Dividing the country. Saying, creating a grievance kind of environment. We're going to win when we unite people with a hopeful, optimistic message. I have that message because I was a governor of a state that saw people lifted up, because we had high sustained economic growth. Our economy grew at double the rate of the nation. We created 1.3 million jobs. We led the nation seven out of those eight years. We were only one of two states that went to AAA bond rating. I cut taxes, $19 billion. If you do that and apply conservative principles the right way, you create an environment where everybody rises up. That's how we're going to win. Campaigning in places to give people hope that their life is better because too many people are suffering today in America. +p1468 +aVHere's what I believe. I believe we're at the verge of the greatest time to be alive in this world. But Washington is holding us back. How we tax, how we regulate. We're not embracing the energy revolution in our midst, a broken immigration system that has been politicized rather than turning it into an economic driver. We're not protecting and preserving our entitlement system or reforming for the next generation. All these things languish while we have politicians in Washington using these as wedge issues. Here's my commitment to you, because I did it as Florida. We can fix these things. We can grow economically and restore America's leadership in the world, so that everybody has a chance to rise up. I humbly ask for your vote, whenever you're gonna get to vote, whenever the primary is. Thank you all very much. +p1469 +asVWALKER +p1470 +(lp1471 +VGood evening, I'm Scott Walker, and tonight, I want to thank and Mrs. Reagan, and the Reagan Library for hosting us. You see, in my lifetime, the greatest president was a governor from California. Ronald Reagan knew how to go big, and go bold. He understood the essence of moving this country forward, and that's what I did when I took on the status quo in my state, and the Washington based special interest. Now, more than ever, America needs a leader who will go big and bold again. Someone who's been tested. I'm ready to be that leader. Thank you. +p1472 +aVBut Jake, Jake, Jake, Jake... +p1473 +aVBut Jake, this \u2014 this is \u2014 this... +p1474 +aVJake, this is \u2014 this is \u2014 this is... +p1475 +aVThis is actually what's wrong \u2014 this is what's wrong with this debate. We're not talking about real issues. And Mr. Trump, we don't need an apprentice in the White House. We don't need an apprentice in the White House. We have one right now. He told us all the things we wanted to hear back in 2008. We don't know who you are or where you're going. We need someone who can actually get the job done. And you talked about business. +p1476 +aVYou \u2014 you \u2014 let me finish... +p1477 +aVNo, no... +p1478 +aVYou're using the talking... +p1479 +aVMr. Trump, you're using the talking points of the Democrats... +p1480 +aV... and as we all know... +p1481 +aV... that failed three times in four and a half years when I got elected, because it is working. We balanced a budget. You want to talk about balanced budgets? You took four major projects into bankruptcy over and over and over again. You can't take America into bankruptcy. That's what's wrong with the politicians in Washington right now. They think we can take a country into bankruptcy. +p1482 +aVJake, yeah, absolutely, I'll take this on, because this is an issue that's important in this race. Just because he says it doesn't make it true. The facts are the facts. We balanced a $3.6 billion budget deficit, we did it by cutting taxes \u2014 $4.7 billion to help working families, family farmers, small business owners and senior citizens. And it's about time people in America stand up and take note of this. If you want someone that can actually take on the special interest of Washington, which you yourself said you were part of, using the system, we need somebody that will stand up and fight for average Americans to put them back in charge of their government. I'm the one who is taking that on. I'll do that as your next president. +p1483 +aVTwo parts to that, one on China, one back for a second on Iran. When it comes to China, why would we be giving an official state visit to a country that's been involved in a massive cyber attack against the United States? That's not just a visit, that's a 21 gun salute on the South Lawn of the White House. It just doesn't make any sense. If we're ever going to send a message to them, wouldn't this be the time, when they've issued this, sort of, massive attack against us? And, Jake, for the question, I was one of the first ones to call for terminating the bad deal with Iran on day one. The President came after me and said I need to bone up. You know, the President who called +p1484 +aVJake, just one more moment. This is \u2014 there's something bigger to this. Now, I \u2014 like so many other governors here, I defunded Planned Parenthood four-and-a-half years ago, in a Blue State. But it's bigger than that. We did that in a Blue State, we took the money and put it into women's health, so we did exactly what we're talking about here. But I think the bigger issue here is we should be able to do this nationally, and this is precisely why so many Republicans are upset with Washington. They see the House and they see the Senate and they say why can't we pass this. Why can't we defund Planned \u2014 put it in a spending bill. Forget about the 60-vote rule, there's no reason \u2014 and the Constitution doesn't call for 60 votes. Pass it with 51 votes, put it on the desk of the president \u2014 +p1485 +aV\u2014 and go forward and actually make a point. This is why \u2014 +p1486 +aV\u2014 people are upset with Washington. +p1487 +aVSo, the best way to help people see their wages go up is to get them the education, the skill they need, to take on careers that pay more than minimum wage. And, it's why we talk about it, it's all about jobs. You want to help actually get jobs, it's why on that last question we were trying to jump in on taxes. To me, it's not just about taxes, cutting taxes. I've done it as much as anyone has. I've cut income taxes, I've cut property taxes. In fact, property taxes are lower today in my state than they were before we took office. The real issues about jobs. Ronald Reagan, our plan is based on the Ronald Reagan tax cuts of 1986. That brought about one of the longest sustained periods of economic growth in American history. All the things we should be talking about tonight are about how do we create jobs, helping people get the skills and the education qualifications they need to succeed. That's the way you help people create jobs. It's part of our large plan to reform the tax code, to cut taxes, to put in place an education system that gives people the skills and education that they need. To put in place all the above energy policy, but you start on day one with repealing Obamacare. I'm the only one on this stage that's actually got a plan, introduced an actual plan to repeal Obamacare on day one. I'll send a bill up to Congress, and to make sure enact it... +p1488 +aV...I'm going to sign an order that makes the Congress live by the same rules as everybody else. +p1489 +aV...That will ensure they repeal Obamacare... +p1490 +aV...Jake, Jake, Jake, I just want to address that issue because you said I didn't answer, and I did. I said, to me, I think the real focus shouldn't be \u2014 you know, Hillary Clinton talks about the minimum wage. That's her answer to grow the economy. The answer is to give people the skills and the education so they make far more than minimum wage. I don't want to argue about how low things are going to be, I want to talk about how do we lift everyone up in America. That's what Reagan talked about. It wasn't how bad things were, it was how to make it better for everyone. That's what we've done in Wisconsin, that's exactly what we'd do as... +p1491 +aV... the key issue here is talking about leadership. Now, there's a lot of greater people up here, and you've heard a lot of great ideas out there. But I would ask the American people, look at who's been tested. When there were 100,000 protesters in my capital, I didn't back down, when they issued death threats against me and threats against my family, I didn't back down, when they tried to recall me, I didn't back down, and when they made me the \u2014 one of their number-one targets last year, I didn't back down. Give me the chance to be your president. +p1492 +aVI won't back down... +p1493 +aV... on any of these issues. +p1494 +aVTo be clear, what I said the other day was that we need to lift the political restrictions that are already in play. Barack Obama's administration has put political restrictions on the military personnel already in Iraq. We need to lift those and then we need to listen to our military experts, not the political forces in the White House, but our military experts about how many more we sent in. And we certainly shouldn't have a commander-in-chief who sends a message to our adversaries as to how far we're going to go, and how far we're willing to fight, so I'm not putting a troop number. What I'm saying is lift the political restrictions. When you do that, you empower our military personnel already there to work with the Kurd and the Sunni allies, to reclaim the territory taken by +p1495 +aV... a lot of those people, though, and I'm going to echo what Senator Rubio just said. This is an issue where, we're talking about my state, it's thousands of manufacturing jobs. Thousands of manufacturing jobs for a rule the Obama administration, own EPA has said will have a marginal impact on climate change. So we're going to put thousands and thousands of jobs in my state, I think it's something like 30,000 in Ohio, other states across this country, we're going to put people \u2014 manufacturing jobs, the kind of jobs that are far greater than minimum wage, this administration is willing to put at risk for something its own EPA says is marginal (ph)... +p1496 +aVFirst of all, I got to say to Carson, Huckabee, thanks a lot for making the rest of us look like chumps up here, but, I'd pick Clara Barton. I once worked for the American Red Cross, she was a great founder of the Red Cross. +p1497 +aVHarley. I love riding Harley's. +p1498 +aVWell, I turned 13 years old two days before Ronald Reagan was first elected. A lot of people forget this, but just a few days before that election 1980, he was behind in the polls. And I think what changed things was people in America realized they didn't want to hear what was bad about America, they wanted to know how it was going to be better. Ronald Reagan wasn't just a conservative Republican, he was an eternal optimist in the American people. And I am too. So here's what I think will make America better. We need to live in a world where our children are free, are free from the threats of radical Islamic terrorism. We need to live in an America where we have an economy, where everyone can live their piece of the American dream, no matter what that dream is. And we need to live in an America where we have a federal government that is not too big to fail, but ultimately small enough to succeed, where we send powers back to the states and back to the people. That's what I did in Wisconsin. We took on the big government union bosses, the big government special interests, many of whom came in from Washington, to spend millions of dollars to try and take me out because we stood up to them, we didn't back down in any of those instances. If you give me the chance as your next president, I won't back down any day, anyway, anyhow. I'll fight and win for you and your families every single day I'm in office. +p1499 +aVWell, I'm pro-life, I've always been pro-life, and I've got a position that I think is consistent with many Americans out there in that... ...in that I believe that that is an unborn child that's in need of protection out there, and I've said many a time that that unborn child can be protected, and there are many other alternatives that can also protect the life of that mother. That's been consistently proven. Unlike Hillary Clinton, who has a radical position in terms of support for Planned Parenthood, I defunded Planned Parenthood more than four years ago, long before any of these videos came out... ...I've got a position that's in line with everyday America. +p1500 +aVChris, I actually said that on your show earlier this year. I acknowledged that. I said I actually listened to the American people. And I think people across America want a leader who's actually going to listen to them. I talked to border state governors and other elected officials. I look at how this president, particularly through last November, messed up the immigration system in this country. Most importantly, I listened to the people of America. I believe we need to secure the border. I've been to the border with Governor Abbott in Texas and others, seeing the problems that they have there. There is international criminal organizations penetrating our southern based borders, and we need to do something about it. Secure the border, enforce the law, no amnesty, and go forward with the legal immigration system that gives priority to American working families and wages. +p1501 +aVI don't know about additional ones. We need to focus on the ones we have. You look at Egypt, probably the best relationship we've had in Israel, at least in my lifetime, incredibly important. You look at the Saudis -- in fact, earlier this year, I met with Saudi leaders, and leaders from the United Arab Emirates, and I asked them what's the greatest challenge in the world today? Set aside the Iran deal. They said it's the disengagement of America. We are leading from behind under the Obama-Clinton doctrine -- America's a great country. We need to stand up and start leading again, and we need to have allies, not just in Israel, but throughout the Persian Gulf. +p1502 +aVJust one second on this, though. We -- we spent a lot of time talking about Hillary Clinton and ---and pitting us back and forth. Let's be clear, we should be talking about Hillary Clinton on that last subject, because everywhere in the world that Hillary Clinton touched is more messed up today than before she and the president . +p1503 +aVIt's true. +p1504 +aVWell, the voters in Wisconsin elected me last year for the third time because they wanted someone who aimed high, not aimed low. Before I came in, the unemployment rate was over eight percent. It's now down to 4.6 percent. We've more than made up for the jobs that were lost during the recession. And the rate in which people are working is almost five points higher than it is nationally. You know, people like Hillary Clinton think you grow the economy by growing Washington. One report last year showed that six of the top 10 wealthiest counties in America were in or around Washington, D.C.. I think most of us in America understand that people, not the government creates jobs. And one of the best things we can do is get the government out of the way, repeal Obamacare, put in -- reign in all the out of control regulations, put in place an all of the above energy policy, give people the education, the skills that the need to succeed, and lower the tax rate and reform the tax code. That's what I'll do as president, just like I did in Wisconsin. +p1505 +aVWell, first off, let's remember. I still remember, as a kid, tying a yellow ribbon around a tree in front of my house during the 444 days that Iran held 52 Americans hostage. Iran is not a place we should be doing business with. To me, you terminate the deal on day one, you reinstate the sanctions authorized by Congress, you go to Congress and put in place even more crippling sanctions in place, and then you convince our allies to do the same. This is not just bad with Iran, this is bad with +p1506 +aVWell, I think the most important thing we can do when it comes to policing -- it's something you've had a guest on who's a friend of mine Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clark, who's talked to me about this many times in the past -- it's about training. It's about making sure that law enforcement professionals, not only in the way in to their positions but all the way through their time, have the proper training, particularly when it comes to the use of force. And that we protect and stand up and support those men and women who are doing their jobs in law enforcement. And for the very few that don't, that there are consequences to show that we treat everyone the same here in America. +p1507 +aVWell first off, for the cyber attack with Russia the other day, it's sad to think right now, but probably the Russian and Chinese government know more about Hillary Clinton's e-mail server than do the members of the United States Congress. And -- and that has put our national security at risk. If I am president, he won't think about that. You know, Putin believes in the old Lenin adage: you probe with bayonets. When you find mush, you push. When you find steel, you stop. Under Obama and Clinton, we found a lot of mush over the last two years. We need to have a national security that puts steel in front of our enemies. I would send weapons to Ukraine. I would work with +p1508 +aVWell, thanks, Megyn. I'm certainly an imperfect man. And it's only by the blood of Jesus Christ that I've been redeemed from my sins. So I know that God doesn't call me to do a specific thing, God hasn't given me a list, a Ten Commandments, if you will, of things to act on the first day. What God calls us to do is follow his will. And ultimately that's what I'm going to try to do. And I hope people've seen it in my state, even in the big challenges I took on when I had over 100,000 protesters in and around our capital, trying to do what I thought was the right thing. It wasn't just how I took on those political battles. It was ultimately how I acted. Not responding in kind. Not lashing out. But just being decent going forward and living my life in a way that would be a testimony to him and our faith. +p1509 +aVThanks. I'm guy with a wife and two kids, and Harley. One article called me "aggressively normal." I ran for governor because I was worried about my kids' future. Then, I took on the big government union bosses, and we won. They tried to recall me, and we won. They target us again, and we won. We balanced the budget, cut taxes, and turned our state around with big, bold reforms. It wasn't too late for Wisconsin, and it's not too late for America. That's why I ask for your vote. +p1510 +asVMALE +p1511 +(lp1512 +VThat's a good one. +p1513 +asVHEWITT +p1514 +(lp1515 +VSenator Cruz, you've said you disagree with Mr. Trump's policy. I don't want a cage match; you've tweeted you don't want a cage match. But Republican primary voters deserve to know, with the kind of specificity and responsiveness you delivered in your nine Supreme Court arguments, how you disagree with Mr. Trump. Would you spell that out with us? +p1516 +aVSo you're saying you disagree because he's too broad and you have a narrower focus? Why do you disagree with him? +p1517 +aVCarly Fiorina... ... this is the Christmas dinner debate. This will be the debate that Americans talk about at Christmas. And thus far, in the first 10 minutes, we haven't heard a lot about Ronald Reagan's city on a hill. We've heard a lot about keeping Americans out or keeping Americans safe and everyone else out. Is this what you want the party to stand for? +p1518 +aVDr. Carson...... you mentioned in your opening remarks that you're a pediatric neurologist surgeon... +p1519 +aVNeurosurgeon. And people admire and respect and are inspired by your life story, your kindness, your evangelical core support. We're talking about ruthless things tonight \u2014 carpet bombing, toughness, war. And people wonder, could you do that? Could you order air strikes that would kill innocent children by not the scores, but the hundreds and the thousands? Could you wage war as a commander-in-chief? +p1520 +aVSo you are OK with the deaths of thousands of innocent children and civilian? It's like... +p1521 +aVThat is what war \u2014 can you be as ruthless as Churchill was in prosecuting the war against the Nazis? +p1522 +aVMr. Trump, we are talking about the most important thing, that's why it's heated. And it's, you are OK with Mr. Assad staying in power, but you are also in favor of winning. If he stays in power, Iran is winning, Hezbollah is winning. Iran is winning in Yemen. They are winning everywhere. If they are winning how can we be winning? +p1523 +aVGovernor Christie, is he right? Because if we step back, Iran goes nuclear. Is Donald Trump right? +p1524 +aVSenator Paul, let me ask you, you heard Governor Kasich say Assad must go. Do you agree? +p1525 +aVGovernor Bush, a commander-in-chief question. You've said that Mr. Trump is not qualified to be president because he's not qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin. Why are you better qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin than Mr. Trump? +p1526 +aVMr. Trump? +p1527 +aVBut, Mr. Trump, it's not CNN \u2014 I was on CNN last night... +p1528 +aV... watching... +p1529 +aVBut it wasn't \u2014 it wasn't CNN. It was me. I watched you last night for 16 minutes. It's not CNN. +p1530 +aVIt's not CNN. It's America's watching you. +p1531 +aVIt's America's watching. +p1532 +aVGovernor \u2014 thank you, Governor. +p1533 +aVDr. Carson, commander-in-chief question again. You've been the head of neurosurgery for a big hospital. You're on a lot of boards of a lot of companies. You've traveled the world. You're going traveling again next week. But does that prepare you to command troops from Djibouti to Japan, troops from Afghanistan to Iraq to be in charge of the men and women watching on Armed Services Network tonight? +p1534 +aVMr. Trump...... Dr. Carson just referenced the single most important job of the president, the command, the control and the care of our nuclear forces. And he mentioned the triad. The B-52s are older than I am. The missiles are old. The submarines are aging out. It's an executive order. It's a commander-in-chief decision. What's your priority among our nuclear triad? +p1535 +aVOf the three legs of the triad, though, do you have a priority? I want to go to Senator Rubio after that and ask him. +p1536 +aVSenator Rubio, do you have a response? +p1537 +aVMy listeners tell me again and again they are worried that Hillary Clinton will win the White House because you'll run as an independent. Are you ready to assure Republicans tonight that you will run as a Republican and abide by the decision of the Republicans? +p1538 +aVDr. Carson, last week... +p1539 +aVPlease. +p1540 +aVDr. Carson, Mr. Trump just committed to stay the distance regardless of the result. How about you? +p1541 +aVThank you, Jake. Mr. Trump, two years ago, President Obama drew a red line that the Syrian dictator Bashar Assad crossed, President Obama threatened to strike. He did not, his knees buckled. We now have 4 million refugees, Syria is a living hell, and he turned to the Congress for the authority to back him up. You have three senators to your right that said, no. Do they bear responsibility for this refugee crisis, and what would you have done when Bashar Assad crossed the line? +p1542 +aVHow much responsibility, Mr. Trump, do the senators hold? +p1543 +aVSenator Rubio... +p1544 +aVSenator Paul? +p1545 +aVI'd like to talk about winning because I think all of you are more qualified than former Secretary of State Clinton, and as were the people in the first debate, but there are different styles, and Carly Fiorina, Governor Kasich, you're conveniently located next to each other, and you have different styles. Governor Kasich, you've been on my show a lot. You refused to attack Hillary Clinton, you just don't want to go there, you want to do the up with people. Go, Ohio, OK, and I like that. Carly Fiorina, I don't have to bring up the Secretary of State \u2014 you bring her up, so . Which one of you is wrong? Governor Kasich? +p1546 +aVGovernor. +p1547 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1548 +aVCarly Fiorina, your style? +p1549 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Christie, your name was mentioned. I want to give you a chance to respond. +p1550 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1551 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. There is a lot more coming up. Ahead, a world of trouble. The challenges that one of these candidates may face in the Oval Office, and how he or she will handle it. Stay with us. +p1552 +aVOh, you're the best interview in America. +p1553 +aV... makes an interesting case (ph) here (ph). +p1554 +aVThank you, Jake. I've done a lot of great interviews with all of you, but, Governor Bush, I talked to you in February about the biggest elephant in a room full of elephants, which is your last name. And you said you would not be burdened either by your brother or your father's legacy in the Middle East. And then, a week later, you rolled out your list of foreign policy advisers, and it was a lot of the band getting back together again. So on behalf of the military that is watching... +p1555 +aV...OK, the active duty military that are at the end of the sphere (ph), what kind of a commander in chief is Jeb Bush going to be, and who are the advisers that are new to your team? +p1556 +aVMr. \u2014 Mr. Trump. +p1557 +aVI want to ask you a question, though, you promised us great leaders. And I believe that. But Jeb Bush has laid out 20 different people that have experience around the world. There are 190 countries, you can't run the world by yourself. When are we going to get some names on your military and your foreign policy advisers? +p1558 +aVThank you, Jake. Tomorrow is \u2014 Republicans know this \u2014 tomorrow is Constitution Day. We've been talking about the 10th Amendment. Let's talk about the Second Amendment. Governor Bush, one of the things the Supreme Court has gotten right is that it's an individual right and it's protected for individuals to hold it. Last week, you said the next step in gun issues is to make sure they're not in the hands of mentally ill. In this state, there's a controversial law that allows guns to be taken away from people without a hearing. Where does it go \u2014 and the problem of violence is endemic, but where does it go from what you said last week, how far into people's lives to take guns away from them? +p1559 +aVIf a family member calls and says, "My child, my brother, my sister is disturbed," ought the state be able to go and get their weapon without a hearing? +p1560 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1561 +aVSenator Cruz, I want to go to you. Your constitutional litigant (ph), are you afraid of the next- step theory of what happens to Second Amendment rights? +p1562 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1563 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1564 +aVThank you, senator. +p1565 +aVWait, let's pursue that in fact Governor Pataki? +p1566 +aVYou called for following and finding those Imams who are preaching violence in mosques. How exactly would you do that and what Mosques would you shut down? How extensive of a surveillance program are you proposing? +p1567 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1568 +aVGovernor Huckabee... ...As Governor Pataki noted earlier, we have a history of religious intoleration in this country. About the American Muslims who would be subject to this kind of surveillance, does it violate their First Amendment rights? +p1569 +aVSenator Santorum... ...I want to start then, not on the First Amendment, but on the Second Amendment. There is a terror watchlist. You can legally purchase a gun in the United States if you're on that watchlist. Your old colleague, Peter King in the House, wants to change that law. Do you agree with him? +p1570 +aVGovernor... +p1571 +aVGovernor, back to you. Your response? +p1572 +aVSenator Graham, are you trying to get in? +p1573 +aVThank you, Wolf. Governor Huckabee, ten minutes ago you blasted President Obama for destabilizing Iraq. You hit former Secretary of State Clinton for supporting the Muslim brotherhood in Egypt. But you have said recently you would sanction countries that don't join the fight aggressively against +p1574 +aVWhich country? +p1575 +aVWhich countries are those, governor, that you would sanction? +p1576 +aVThat's an easy, give. Are you going to sanction any of our allies who say, no this isn't our fight we're gonna let you do this. Are you going to leave our allies alone? For example, Indonesia and Malaysia \u2014 other Muslim countries \u2014 will you leave them alone? +p1577 +aVSenator Graham, I just named two Islamic countries... ...Senator Graham, I just named two Islamic countries that are allies that he suggested we sanction. Is that the appropriate approach to this war? +p1578 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you... +p1579 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you, the opposite of getting into bed is shooting down the prince's plane. Senator Santorum has \u2014 Senator Graham has said he would shoot down Russian planes bombing Syrian fighters on our side. Would you shoot down a Russian plane bombing American allied fighters in Syria? +p1580 +aVWhat \u2014 if they fly into it, would you shoot it down? +p1581 +aVThe consequences would be war with Russia. Would you risk... +p1582 +aVSenator Graham, do you agree? +p1583 +aVOK, we know you agree, Senator Graham. How about you, Governor Pataki, would you shoot down Russian planes? +p1584 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you... +p1585 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you, the opposite of getting into bed is shooting down the prince's plane. Senator Santorum has \u2014 Senator Graham has said he would shoot down Russian planes bombing Syrian fighters on our side. Would you shoot down a Russian plane bombing American allied fighters in Syria? +p1586 +aVWhat \u2014 if they fly into it, would you shoot it down? +p1587 +aVThe consequences would be war with Russia. Would you risk... +p1588 +aVSenator Graham, do you agree? +p1589 +aVOK, we know you agree, Senator Graham. How about you, Governor Pataki, would you shoot down Russian planes? +p1590 +aVSenator Graham, in 2013 you were part of the leadership that pushed through immigration reform, comprehensive immigration reform in the Senate of the United States. It died in the House. Many accused you of amnesty, and may have undermined your ability to get your message out on the war. Would you sign that bill again today? Would you \u2014 sponsor that bill again today? +p1591 +aVBut, Senator, I misunderstand, did you... +p1592 +aVSenator Santorum, is that sufficient for you? +p1593 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1594 +aVYep. Governor Huckabee, you have said that children of immigrants who came here illegally should not be punished by their parents actions. As president, would you continue President Obama's policy, vis-a-vis, the Dreamers? +p1595 +aVSenator... +p1596 +aVSenator Santorum, you... ...Your position on that policy, assuming that it was passed constitutionally, would you allow this, would you support such an act? +p1597 +asVJINDAL +p1598 +(lp1599 +V...Thank you. +p1600 +aVA couple of things. In Louisiana, we're actually a top 10 state for job growth. As we sit here today, we have more people working in Louisiana than ever before, earning a higher income than ever before. We've had 60 months in a row of consecutive job growth in our state. So the reality is, we have diversified our economy. Yes, I've got an interview plan that says all of the above, that creates good manufacturing jobs in America. We've also got one of the fastest growing IT sectors by percentage. We are growing Louisiana's economy. But let me get to the point that is, I think, the most important issue here tonight. You're going to have several hours of debate on the economy and we're going to have a great discussion about energy plans and tax rates. And that's all great. The most important thing we have to do, we have a fundamental choice to make, folks. Are we willing to cut the government economy so we can grow the American economy? That is the most fundamental question we've got to answer. We are on the path to socialism right now. These are mutually exclusive. The hour is late, but it is not too late for America. Though under President Obama, you asked about his economy. We've got record dependents, a record number of Americans on food stamps, record low participation rate in the work force. This is a fundamental choice. Sending a big government Republican to DC is not enough to fix this problem. It's not enough just to beat Hillary Clinton. We've got to change the direction of our country. What that means is let's shrink the government, not slow its growth rate, but actually shrink the government so we can grow the American economy. That is the fundamental issue we should be debating here tonight. +p1601 +aVNo, I think right now there's not much difference between the two parties. The reason we keep losing nationally is we try to be cheaper versions of the Democratic party. What if the Republicans, what if Republicans actually embraced our own principles? So I earlier said if you want bigger paychecks, you want more jobs, you want less government dependence, you're going to have to cut government spending. Here's the dirty little secret. You're going to hear a lot of Republicans tonight in this debate and the next one talk about cutting government spending. It's going to sound great. There's only one of us that's actually cut government spending. Not two, there's one, and you're looking at him. We've got four senators running. They've never cut anything in D.C. They give these long speeches called filibusters, they pat themselves on the back, nothing changes. When they go to relieve themselves their cause and the toilet get flushed at the same time, and the American people lose. We've got a bunch of governors running, we've got seven current former governors running. I'm the only one that has cut government spending. Everybody else can talk about it. If they haven't done it in their state capitals, what makes them thank that \u2014 what makes us think they'll do it if we send them to D.C. Look, when politicians talk, we need to look at what they have done, not what they have said. Otherwise, it's a bunch of hot air. We've cut our budget 26 percent. Record number of Louisianans working. If Republicans want to win national elections, let's be conservatives, let's be Republicans, let's not be a second version of the liberal party, let's cut government spending and grow the American economy. +p1602 +aVWait, wait, wait. I want to respond. He has criticized something I said. I want to respond to that. Mike, with all due respect, I admire your social views, I share many of those views, your record as Governor tells a different story. Was \u2014 your time as Governor spending in Arkansas went up 65 percent, number of state workers went up 20 percent, the taxes for the average citizen went up 47 percent. That's not a record of cutting. I'm saying we've actually cut. We reduced the size of our budget. So wanting to cut is one thing, actually cutting is a different thing. Facts don't lie. +p1603 +aVI was absolutely a skeptic of giving this president more power. He negotiated a bad deal with Iran. He breaks the law routinely. I don't know why Congress would want to concede more authority to him. Look, this trade deal is 6,000 pages long. Unlike ObamaCare, I think we should read it before we decide whether we would vote for it or not vote for it. I am for trade deals, but I want to make sure they are fair trade deals. I want to come back to something that Chris had said earlier. Look, I absolutely agree we've got to beat Hillary Clinton. But just sending any Republican is not good enough. We've had a Republican majority in the Senate and the House. What has changed? If we send another big government Republican to the White House, we will not do enough to fix what is wrong in this country. Chris, I think records matter. I think the way we govern matter. Under your leadership in New Jersey, your budget has gone up 15 percent. It's gone down 26 percent in Louisiana. It has gone up $5 million in New Jersey. It's gone down $9 billion in Louisiana. In New Jersey, you've had nine credit downgrades, setting a record. We've had eight credit upgrades in Louisiana. My point is this. If politicians say they're going to be conservative, they say they're going to cut spending but they don't do it, why should we send them to DC? It gets harder, not easier, when we send them to DC. Let's not be a second liberal party. Let's actually cut government spending. Let's grow the American economy. Let's not just beat Hillary, let's elect a conservative to the White House, not just any Republican. +p1604 +aVBut wait a minute, records matter. Records \u2014 records matter. Yes, we've got to... +p1605 +aV\u2014 beat Hillary Clinton. But Chris, it's also true that you expanded food stamps at a time that we've got record numbers of Americans on food stamps. It's also true you caved into ObamaCare. You expanded Medicaid. We've got a choice in front of us. This is an important debate. This is not about comparing Louisiana to New Jersey or Bobby to Chris. This is an important debate for the American people. This is supposed to be an economics debate. Let's have a debate. Do we want to grow government or do we want to grow the American economy? Do we want to grow dependence on government, or do we want to grow good paying jobs in the private sector... +p1606 +aV...you don't grow the economy by putting more people on food stamps, more people in Medicaid, you grow the economy by cutting government, cutting spending. That's what we've done in Louisiana, you haven't done that in New Jersey... +p1607 +aV...We need a conservative, not a big government republican in D.C. +p1608 +aV...This is how we.... +p1609 +aV...This is how we move our country forward, look, this is not about between me and Chris... +p1610 +aV...This is about......are we going to be the party... +p1611 +aVWell, look, only one other opponent, actually, one other candidate, actually, has a plan. That's Jeb Bush, and he creates a new entitlement program. My plan actually gets rid of all of Obamacare, it's great that Senator Cruz will shut down the government over Obamacare, but he still hasn't given us his plan to get rid of it. It's great that other republicans talk about getting rid of it. You go to a town hall in Iowa, or New Hampshire, ask them how they're actually going to get rid of it \u2014 my plan has been online for over a year. It gets rid of all of Obamacare, it reduces the cost. It actually puts Americans, their patients, their doctors back in control. And, it actually helps those that really need this help \u2014 but, this is one of the most critical issues we face domestically. I think I \u2014 look, right now, I think I am the only candidate running that refused to expand Medicaid. I'm the only one that turned down \u2014 that did what we could to fight Obamacare. This is an important point, and, look, I appreciate Chris's nice compliments to me. And, Chris, you look to me very well, I love Mary-pat, but this isn't about me and Chris. This is about the country, and this is about what direction \u2014 this is the most important election in our lifetimes. Folks, a couple of years ago they told us give them the republican majorities in the House and the Senate, they'd stop Obamacare, and amnesty, and the bad Iran deal \u2014 nothing changed. If they fooled us once, shame on them. If they fooled us twice, shame on us. Don't let them fool us again. Chris, look, I'll give you your ribbon for participation, and a juicebox, but in the real world, it's about results......but, in the real world it's about results. It's about actually cutting government spending, not just talking about cutting government spending. +p1612 +aVWe can waste our time. And I think this is why people were so frustrated with the last debate with these kinds of silly questions. We've only got a certain amount of time to talk about the economy. Let me use my time to say this. I want to fire everybody in D.C. in both parties. I think they all \u2014 we need term limits, get rid of them all, make them live under the same rules they passed on the rest of us. +p1613 +aVSo under our tax plan, look, the top rate is 25 percent, 10 percent, 2 percent. That 2 percent is the most important. I think everybody should pay something. I think everybody should have skin in the game. We shouldn't be creating one group of Americans that's dependent on government, another group that's paying taxes. I want to come back to an earlier point though, that Chris said. Look, we all agree Hillary Clinton is bad. We all agree we need to beat her. But let's not pretend that out-of-control government spending is only a Democratic issue. This is a bipartisan issue, and just sending another big government Republican to D.C. is not good enough. We need to actually cut government spending. We need to cut \u2014 and we're not going to do it just by sending any Republican. I'm glad he's vetoed taxes. The Tax Foundation graded New Jersey the 50th worst business climate due to taxes, high taxes in the state of New Jersey. +p1614 +aVWell, a couple of reasons. Look, we know big companies don't pay those taxes today. They hire lobbyists and accountants and lawyers. It's the small businesses that get hit. I want to get rid of the corporate tax, I want to bring the jobs and investment back to America. Make the CEOs pay the same rates as everybody else. Get rid of all the corporate welfare as well. Like I said, make everybody pay something, earned success is so much better than unearned success. And let's actually shrink the size of government. My plan purposely does that. Look, we can talk all night about tax plans, energy plans, I think you will find a lot of agreement among all the Republicans. We all want to get rid of the death tax, the marriage penalty. We all want lower, fewer brackets. We want to downsize, take away power from the IRS. What we really need to be talking about is this, these last seven years, we've had more government spending, more government dependence. Poverty has gone up. Inequality has gone up. Only the top 10 percent have seen their incomes go up \u2014 their median incomes go up. We actually have more inequality thanks to what we have seen, the largest most expensive experiment in progressive government. We can't keep spending money we don't have. And the reality is, the last couple of years it hasn't mattered whether Republicans or Democrats were in control. We keep stealing from our children. That is immoral. It is wrong. And we're creating more government dependence. If we really want to grow the economy, yes, you need a rational energy plan, and you've got to rein in the EPA, and you've got to repeal Obamacare, and you've got to cut taxes. But none of that will be enough if we're not serious about cutting government spending. We cannot afford to elect a big- government Republican. We need somebody. This is the most important election. Hillary Clinton is gift-wrapping this election to us. Let's not waste this opportunity to apply conservative principles and cut the size of government. +p1615 +aVWell, a couple things, first, I want to echo what others have said and thank those veterans that run towards danger, not away from it, so we can live in the greatest country in the history of the world. I think every veteran should get that card, and they should be allowed to get that health care wherever they want in the private sector. But, I also think \u2014 or the public sector, I also think we need to fire some of the V.A. bureaucrats. Somebody should go to jail over these scandals, and it is a crime that it has not happened. When it comes \u2014 when it comes to uniting the American people, one of the things we've done to honor our veterans in Louisiana, we've given thousands \u2014 and I've hand delivered these, to veterans \u2014 medals to veterans to thank them for their service. I'll just give you one quick example, I know my time is out, but, we've had Vietnam war veterans with tears in their eyes saying nobody has ever thanked them before. We've had World War II veterans, children, who said they never heard the stories of their parents heroic sacrifice. Whatever conflict, whenever they served, one of the things we can do is to teach our children we do live in the greatest country in the history of the world. We got a president who doesn't believe in American exceptionalism, but we still do, and it's because of those men and women in uniform. We should thank them everyday, not just veterans day. +p1616 +aVYou know, I have spent a lot of time tonight talking about the need to cut the size of government. The reason I'm doing that \u2014 it's not just about balancing the budget, or balancing a bunch of numbers. Because I believe in the American dream. I think President Obama's done a lot of damage to our country. I think that one of the worst things he has done is try to change the idea of America to be one of dependence. There are a lot of politicians that talk about cutting government spending, I'm the only one that's actually done it that's running for President. The rest of them, it's a lot of hot air. If you want your paychecks to go up, if you want more good paying jobs, if you want the government out of your lives, we've got to cut the size of government. It's not enough just to elect any republican, we've seen that. We've got to elect a republican that will take on the establishment in both parties. I'm asking for your support. Thank you. +p1617 +asVWALLACE +p1618 +(lp1619 +VAlso of note, Fox News is partnering for tonight's debate with Facebook. For the past several weeks, we've been asking you for questions for the candidates on Facebook. Nearly 6 million of you, 6 million, viewed the debate videos on our site, and more than 40,000 of you submitted questions: some of which you will hear us asking the candidates tonight. +p1620 +aVKentucky Senator Rand Paul. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. And your very own governor of Ohio... ... John Kasich. +p1621 +aVBrett -- Brett, I think you would call that a home field advantage. +p1622 +aVSenator Rubio, when Jeb Bush announced his candidacy for presidency, he said this: "There's no passing off responsibility when you're a governor, no blending into the legislative crowd." Could you please address Governor Bush across the stage here, and explain to him why you, someone who has never held executive office, are better prepared to be president than he is, a man who you say did a great job running your state of Florida for eight years. +p1623 +aVSenator Cruz, your colleague, Senator Paul, right there next to you, said a few months ago he agrees with you on a number of issues, but he says you do nothing to grow the party. He says you feed red meat to the base, but you don't reach out to minorities. You have a toxic relationship with GOP leaders in Congress. You even called the Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell a liar recently. How can you win in 2016 when you're such a divisive figure? +p1624 +aVGovernor Huckabee, like Governor Walker, you have staked out strong positions on social issues. You favor a constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage. You favor a constitutional amendment banning abortions, except for the life of the mother. Millions of people in this country agree with you, but according to the polls, and again this an electability question, according to the polls, more people don't, so how do you persuade enough Independents and Democrats to get elected in 2016? +p1625 +aVGentlemen, we're turning to a new subject that all of you have been talking about and some of you have been disagreeing about, and that is the issue of immigration. Governor Bush, you released a new plan this week on illegal immigration focusing on enforcement, which some suggest is your effort to show that you're not soft on that issue. I want to ask you about a statement that you made last year about illegal immigrants. And here's what you said. "They broke the law, but it's not a felony, it's an act of love. It's an act of commitment to your family." Do you stand by that statement and do you stand by your support for earned legal status? +p1626 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, it has not escaped anybody's notice that you say that the Mexican government, the Mexican government is sending criminals -- rapists, drug dealers, across the border. Governor Bush has called those remarks, quote, "extraordinarily ugly." I'd like you -- you're right next to him -- tell us -- talk to him directly and say how you respond to that and -- and you have repeatedly said that you have evidence that the Mexican government is doing this, but you have evidence you have refused or declined to share. Why not use this first Republican presidential debate to share your proof with the American people? +p1627 +aVMr. Trump, I'll give you 30 seconds -- I'll give you 30 seconds to answer my question, which was, what evidence do you have, specific evidence that the Mexican government is sending criminals across the border? Thirty seconds. +p1628 +aVAll right. Obviously there's a lot more to talk about this. We're going to have more questions for the candidates on illegal immigration, plus other key topics including your questions on Facebook. +p1629 +aVWelcome back to FOX News/Facebook Republican Debate Night. We're going to continue the questions now on illegal immigration. We kind of ended with a cliffhanger there. So let's continue the conversation. Governor Kasich, I know you don't like to talk about Donald Trump. But I do want to ask you about the merit of what he just said. When you say that the American government is stupid, that the Mexican government is sending criminals, that we're being bamboozled, is that an adequate response to the question of illegal immigration? +p1630 +aVRespectfully, can we talk about illegal immigration? +p1631 +aVAll right, well, Senator Rubio, let me see if I can do better with you. Is it as simple as our leaders are stupid, their leaders are smart, and all of these illegals coming over are criminals? +p1632 +aVGovernor Walker. Governor Walker, from 2002 until as recently as 2013, just two years ago, you supported comprehensive immigration reform, including a path to citizenship. Now you say that was a quick reaction to something you hadn't really thought about, and that you've changed your mind. Other than politics, could you explain why in the last two years you've changed your position on a path to citizenship, and are there other past positions that we shouldn't hold you to? +p1633 +aVSenator Cruz, some 1,400 people submitted questions on this very hot topic of illegal immigration on Facebook, and a number of them were about the murder of Kate Steinle in San Francisco, allegedly shot down by an illegal. Doug Bettencourt sent this question, "will you support Kate Steinle's Law," which would impose a mandatory five-year prison term for an illegal who is deported and then returns to this country? "And will you defund sanctuary cities for violating federal law?" +p1634 +aVGentlemen, we're obviously digging into some subjects in depth, but we're also going to change it up every once in a while throughout the next hour and have many rounds where we ask, you are not going to like it, only a couple of candidates questions on those subjects. This is the first of the many rounds, and it's about somebody whose name probably hasn't been mentioned enough so far tonight. Governor Kasich, let me start with you. Whoever the Republican nominee -- Whoever the Republican nominee is, it looks at least for now like whoever that nominee is, he or she, will be facing off against Hillary Clinton. You know how she will come after whoever the Republican nominee is. She will say that you, whoever it is, support the rich while she supports the middle class. That you want to suppress the rights of women and minorities. She wants to move the country forward while you, the Republicans, want to take the country back to the past. How will you, if you're the nominee, how will you answer that and take Hillary Clinton on? +p1635 +aVI know that all of you would like to answer this question, but we're only going to ask one other candidate before we move on to a different subject, Dr. Carson. Basically, same question to you. If Hillary Clinton is the nominee and she comes at you with that kind of line of attack, how will you take Iraq? +p1636 +aVGentlemen, we're going to turn now to the subject of the economy, jobs and money and the government. And Governor Bush, I'm going to start with you. You have made a bold promise in your announcement. You have promised four percent economic growth and 19 million new jobs if you are fortunate enough to serve two terms as president. That many jobs, 19 million, would be triple what your father and your brother accomplished together. And four percent growth, the last president to average that was Lyndon Johnson during the height of the Vietnam War. So question, how on Earth specifically would you pull that off? +p1637 +aVGovernor Walker. Governor Walker, when you ran for governor of Wisconsin back in 2010, you promised that you would create 250,000 jobs in your first term, first four years. In fact, Wisconsin added barely half that and ranked 35th in the country in job growth. Now you're running for president, and you're promising an economic plan in which everyone will earn a piece of the American dream. Given your record in Wisconsin, why should voters believe you? +p1638 +aVGovernor Christie, I want to engage you and Governor Huckabee in a subject that is a big issue in both of your campaigns, and that is entitlement reform. You say that you -- to save the system that you want to raise the retirement age -- have to raise the retirement age, and to cut benefits for Social Security and Medicare, and you say that some of the candidates here on the stage are lying. Governor Huckabee says he can save Social Security and Medicare without doing any of that. Is he lying? +p1639 +aVGovernor Huckabee? You say that changing entitlements, the kind of thing that Governor Christie is talking about, would be breaking a promise to the American people, and you say that you can keep those programs, save Social Security, save Medicare, without those kinds of reforms through a FairTax, which is a broad tax on consumption. Please explain to Governor Christie how that would work, and how you could save these programs without the kind of painful reforms he says we need? +p1640 +aV...Thirty seconds. +p1641 +aV...Alright, this is it. Thirty Seconds, finally. +p1642 +aVAll right. Enough. Mr. Trump. +p1643 +aVMr. Trump, you talk a lot about how you are the person on this stage to grow the economy, I want to ask you about your business records. From corporations, Trump corporations, casinos and hotels, have declared bankruptcy four times over the last quarter-century. +p1644 +aVNo, but the concept sir... +p1645 +aV... that's your line, but your companies have gone bankrupt. +p1646 +aVWell sir, let's just talk about the latest example......which is Trump Entertainment Resorts, which went bankrupt in 2009. In that case alone, lenders to your company lost over $1 billion and more than 1,100 people were laid off. +p1647 +aVIs that the way that you'd run the country? +p1648 +aVSo... +p1649 +aVSenator Rubio. Senator Rubio, more than 3,000 people sent us questions about the economy and jobs on Facebook. And here is a video question from Tania Cioloko from Philadelphia. Here she is. +p1650 +aVSenator, how do you answer Tania? +p1651 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. +p1652 +aVSenator Paul, closing statement. +p1653 +aVDr. Carson, closing statement. +p1654 +aVGovernor Bush, closing statement, sir. +p1655 +asVSMITH +p1656 +(lp1657 +VGovernor Huckabee, same question to you. Where do you see the country right now? +p1658 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Thank you, candidates. Moving to the world stage. The middle east is on the brink of chaos. Iran continues to provoke the United States, North Korea claims it's tested a hydrogen bomb, and Afghanistan is in danger of falling back into Taliban hands. Critics of the administration say it's all due to lack of U.S. leadership. To you, Mrs. Fiorina, how do you see America's role in the world today? +p1659 +aVGovernor Huckabee, in Afghanistan, the Taliban is strengthening. Attacks are on the rise and thousands more civilians have been wounded or killed. Much of the Taliban surge can be attributed to the withdrawal of U.S. forces there. You have expressed skepticism with the war there, saying you see no end game in sight. What, then, is your solution to the growing conflict there? +p1660 +aVAll right, thank you, candidates. We're just getting started. Jobs, Homeland Security, gun rights, all those issues are coming up straight ahead. We're live from North Charleston and the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back. +p1661 +aVAll right, let's get started. Senator Santorum, to you first. President Obama has urged technology leaders to make it hard for terrorists to use technology to escape from justice. Hillary Clinton says social media companies can help by swiftly shutting down terrorist accounts. The companies say that they're already working with law enforcement and any proposed legislation would do more harm than good. Should companies like Facebook and Twitter be required by law to more actively \u2014 be more actively engaged in fighting terror? +p1662 +aVSenator, would you \u2014 would you require anything of those companies like Facebook and Twitter if you were president? +p1663 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1664 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee, you called President Obama's executive orders on gun control unconstitutional and completely insane. +p1665 +aVYou even told gun store owners to ignore the President's orders. Yet, innocent people are dying from gun violence in cities like Detroit, Chicago, and Charleston everyday. Is there anything that can be done at the federal level to prevent guns from falling into the hands of criminals? +p1666 +aV +p1667 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p1668 +aVSenator Santorum, many of our military leaders believe America's critical infrastructure is vulnerable to a terrorist attack. This is the power in our homes, the water we drink, the Internet and phone systems by which we stay connected. If attacked, these essential services that underpin American society could come to a grinding halt. Do you have a specific plan to protect us from this type of attack? +p1669 +aVSenator Santorum, I want to stay with you on this, moving to jobs and the economy. In his State of the Union Address the other night, President Obama touted his record on jobs, citing more than 14 million new jobs and boasted of nearly 900,000 manufacturing jobs added in the past six years. Do you dispute his track record of creating jobs? +p1670 +aVGovernor Huckabee, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mike Mullen, has said the greatest threat to our security is our national debt. Our national debt is now on pace to top $19 trillion. Yet, you as well as Ms. Fiorina have laid forward no plan to reform entitlements. How can you say you're going to pay down our country's debt without cutting Social Security or Medicare? +p1671 +aVOK. We're going to continue this conversation. We're taking a quick break and then coming up, the candidates' plans for strengthening the middle class. We're live in North Charleston with the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back. +p1672 +aVAll right, thanks, Trish. Well, let's get started with Ms. Fiorina. Today, the middle class represents about 50 percent of the U.S. population, down from about 61 percent back in 1971. That's according to Pew Research. The same research revealed a widening income gap in America. The rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. What will you do to strengthen a middle class that is no longer the majority? +p1673 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p1674 +aVThank you, Senator. We're not finished yet. More Republican Presidential Debate in North Charleston after this. +p1675 +aVWelcome back, it's time for the closing statements. Candidates will each get one minute, starting with Senator Santorum. Thank you very much, I want to thank the people of Charleston, which has become a little bit of a second home to me, because I am very privileged to have two young men who go to the Citadel here and they're here tonight, my son John and my son Daniel. +p1676 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Governor Mike Huckabee. +p1677 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1678 +aVAlright, this debate will last one hour. Each candidate will have up to 90 seconds to respond to each question. One minute for each follow up. When your time is up, you're going to hear this bell. Alright, that's it, so let's begin with Governor Christie. Governor, economically, our country is struggling with some of the anemic growth we have seen on record. More than 90 million Americans are unemployed, or they are not in the workforce altogether. The number of people now willing, able, and wanting to go to work is at a level that has fallen to a level we have not been since the 1970's. For those that are working, wages aren't budging while other things, costs, like housing, remain high. As President, what concrete steps will you take to get America back to work. +p1679 +aVThank you. Governor Huckabee, we're here Wisconsin, a state that has seen the biggest decline in middle-class households of any American state. With more than 120,000 manufacturing jobs being lost in the last 15 years. As we move away from a manufacturing economy to a services based, technological economy, how are you going to help the millions of Americans that are stuck in this transition? +p1680 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee, you have characterized entitlement reform as both political and economic suicide. Taxpayers currently spend more than $600 billion per year on social welfare programs, with the intended goal of getting people back on their feet and working again. Today a record number of Americans aren't even looking for work. Are our social welfare programs, while well-intended, creating a culture of dependency? If so, how will you fix it? +p1681 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1682 +aVDo you have something to add, Governor? +p1683 +aVAll right. Let's, let's bring Governor Christie in next. +p1684 +aVAll right. Well, let's get the \u2014 let's keep the conversation going. Let's bring Governor Christie in here because we're talking about national debt, climbing toward $19 trillion, Governor. Our federal government employed nearly three million workers, our tax code is more than 74,000 pages long. If you're elected President, Governor Christie, what concrete steps would you take to reduce the size of the federal government? +p1685 +aVGovernor Christie, China is stealing our technology. China is pirating our intellectual property, and China's hacking into our computers, spying on American corporations, and spying on our citizens. China also slaps tariffs on U.S. goods, making it harder for us to sell our products. How are you going to stop them? +p1686 +aV...Alright... +p1687 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p1688 +aVAll right. Governor Jindal, thank you. All right. Well, we are not finished yet. More from the Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee, next. +p1689 +aVSo would you change leadership at the Fed? +p1690 +aVSenator Santorum, thank you. I have a question for all of you. Americans connection to the military has been increasingly fading. As a society, how do we restore that sense of duty, that sense of pride, that was the hallmark of the greatest generation. Again, I'd like to ask each of you, 30 seconds each, beginning with Governor Jindal. +p1691 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p1692 +aVGovernor Christie. +p1693 +aVSenator Santorum. +p1694 +aVAlright, thank you gentlemen. That does it, everyone, for the first debate here in Milwaukee. In just about one hour from now, at 9:00PM Eastern, eight more candidates are going to be taking to the stage. Right now though, special coverage of the Republican Presidential Debate, live from Milwaukee, continues right here on Fox Business. +p1695 +asVBAKER +p1696 +(lp1697 +VThe candidates on stage tonight were selected based on their standing in an average of four national polls. Those standings determining their position on the stage. And here they are. At center stage, businessman Donald Trump. Neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson. +p1698 +aVTonight's rules are simple. Up to 90 second for each answer. One minute for each follow-up response. And if a candidate goes over their allotted time, you'll here this. +p1699 +aVMs. Fiorina, while you've all pointed out how weak the current recovery has been and how disappointing by any historical standards, in the general election, the Democrats will inevitably ask you and voters to compare the recent president's jobs performance. Now, in seven years under President Obama, the U.S. has added an average of 107,000 jobs a month. Under President Clinton, the economy added about 240,000 jobs a month. Under George W. Bush, it was only 13,000 a month. If you win the nomination, you'll probably be facing a Democrat named Clinton. How are you going to respond to the claim that Democratic presidents are better at creating jobs than Republicans? +p1700 +aVThank you. Thank you. Senator Paul, income inequality has been rising in the United States. Fifty years ago, for example, the average CEO of a big corporation in this country earned 20 times the average salary of one of his or her workers. Today, that CEO earns about 300 times the average salary of a worker. Does it matter at all that the gap between the rich and everyone else is widening? +p1701 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1702 +aVSenator Rubio... +p1703 +aVYes, one quick comment, yes. +p1704 +aVGovernor Bush... +p1705 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor, you...You should let Jeb speak. +p1706 +aVMr. Trump, Mr. Trump, you yourself \u2014 you yourself said let Governor Bush speak. Governor Bush? +p1707 +aVSenator Rubio? Senator... +p1708 +aVSenator Rubio, Senator Rubio, let me \u2014 let me take you to a question that I think gets to the root of a lot of the anxiety that people have in this country. The economy is undergoing a transformation through information technology. Americans are anxious that the new economy isn't producing higher-paying jobs. Many are concerned that the new wealth seems to be going mainly to innovators and investors. Meanwhile, with factories run by robots and shopping done increasingly on smartphones, many traditional jobs are just going away. How do you reassure American workers that their jobs are not being steadily replaced by machines? +p1709 +aVThank you. Senator Cruz \u2014 Senator Cruz, entitlements. You've argued for raising the retirement age and reducing benefits for future retirees, but reducing any sort of benefits for the elderly has always been notoriously hard to do politically. When Speaker Paul Ryan proposed replacing traditional Medicare with federally funded private plans a few years ago, a liberal group responded with a commercial that featured a granny being pushed off a cliff. What's going to be different this time? +p1710 +aV...I said for future retirees was your statement... +p1711 +aVSenator Rubio. Can I just come to Senator Rubio? We're coming to you, Mr. Trump, in one second. I \u2014 I promise. +p1712 +aVSenator Rubio, your tax plan includes a large expansion of child tax credits to raise off (ph) the tax incomes for low-income parents. A similar tax credit that you previously proposed in the Senate was estimated to cost as much as $170 billion a year, according to the Tax Foundation. Isn't \u2014 isn't there a risk you're just adding another expensive entitle program to an already overburdened federal budget? +p1713 +aVGovernor Kasich? Let me come to Governor Kasich. +p1714 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1715 +aVVery quickly, Senator. +p1716 +aVPlease. +p1717 +aV...Gentleman, we need to move on... +p1718 +aV...We need to move... +p1719 +aV...We need too... +p1720 +aV...We do need to move on. Mr. Trump... +p1721 +aV...Very quick. +p1722 +aVLet's talk about \u2014 No, no, Governor, I really must move on. I really want to move on. Mr. Trump, let's talk about the international economy... +p1723 +aV...We really need to move on... +p1724 +aV...No, governor, I promise I will come to you... +p1725 +aV...Listen... +p1726 +aV...Mr. Trump, can I ask you about... +p1727 +aV...the U.S. just concluded an international trade agreement with 11 countries in the Pacific. You've said that you'd rather have no deal... +p1728 +aV...than sign the one that's on the table... +p1729 +aV...Most economists \u2014 most economists say that trade is boosted growth, and every single post war president has supported the expansion of international trade, including the last three republican presidents. Why would you reverse more than 50 years of U.S. trade policy? +p1730 +aVThe \u2014 the deal, as you say, the terms of the deal were published \u2014 were published just last week, the details, 5,000 pages of it, and 80 percent of U.S. trade with countries in the Pacific, these countries, these 11 countries, is actually tariff-free, and these \u2014 the trade deal only affects the other 20 percent. Which \u2014 are there particular parts of the deal that you think were badly negotiated? +p1731 +aVThere was a separate \u2014 separate... +p1732 +aVBut isn't that \u2014 isn't that part of the problem? When I say, Senator, that if \u2014 if this deal is not ratified by \u2014 by the U.S. \u2014 by the Senate, then it would actually give China an opportunity to grow its economic leadership, which it's been seeking to do? And if the U.S. is unable to take part in this trade deal with these countries in Asia, China will take the lead? +p1733 +aVThank you. Thanks, Senator. +p1734 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich, I want to ask you about China, in particular hundreds of American companies have been subjected to cyber attacks from the Chinese military, yet state-backed Chinese companies, growing their presence in the United States, Chinese investments in U.S., which were nearly nonexistent a few years ago, are now over $50 billion. And as my newspaper recently reported, Chinese companies are planning to bid for one of the largest hotel chains in the United States, what would be the largest ever Chinese takeover of a U.S. company. Would you stop them? +p1735 +aVThank you, Governor. Plenty of opportunities. Thank you. Neil? +p1736 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate, live from Milwaukee. Now let's get straight back to the questions, and Governor Bush. Governor, Hillary Clinton recently said that if we had another financial crisis like the one in 2008, she wouldn't bail out the banks. Would you? +p1737 +aVBut, Governor, but can I just quickly \u2014 did \u2014 you can't seriously guarantee that there won't be another financial crisis, can you? +p1738 +aVEver? There will never be another financial crisis? +p1739 +aVDr. Carson, if I may, just on that point, despite measures taken, as the governor says, since the crisis to make the financial system safer, the major banks in the U.S., many of them are actually bigger than ever. Asset held by JPMorgan Chase, for example, the very largest bank, have increased by nearly 40 percent to over $2.6 trillion. Do you think JPMorgan and the other big banks should be broken up? +p1740 +aVBut just to be clear, just \u2014 just to be clear, then, you wouldn't \u2014 you wouldn't favor breaking up the big banks? You think they're big enough \u2014 they're OK as they are, as big as they are? +p1741 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1742 +aVThank you. +p1743 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate. And now, candidates, it's time for your closing statements. You get 30 seconds each, and, Senator Paul, we will begin with you. +p1744 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p1745 +asVHUCKABEE +p1746 +(lp1747 +VWell, John, I don't really have any weaknesses that I can think of. But my wife is down here in the front, and I'm sure, if you'd like to talk to her later, she can give you more than you'll ever be able to take care of. If I have a weakness, it's that I try to live by the rules. I try to live by the rules, no matter what they are, and I was brought up that way as a kid. Play by the rules. And I'll tell you what a weakness is of this country: there are a lot of people who are sick and tired because Washington does not play by the same rules that the American people have to play by. +p1748 +aVWell, I would really appreciate that. First of all, yes, we've stolen. Yes, we've lied to the American people about Social Security, and Medicare. But, you know what we're not telling them? It's their money. This isn't the governments money. This is not entitlement, it's not welfare. This is money that people have confiscated out of their paychecks. Everytime they got a paycheck, the government reached in and took something out of it before they ever saw it. Now, we're going to blame the people. Today congress decided to take another $150 billion dollars away from Social Security so they can borrow more money. That makes no sense to everybody. And, they're always going to say, "Well, we're going to fix this one day." No their not. It's like a 400 pound man saying, "I'm going to go on a diet, but I'm eating a sack of Krispy Kremes before I do." And, people are sick of believing that the government is never going to really address this. But, let me tell you who not to blame. Let's quit blaming the people on Social Security. Let's quit making it a problem for them. It's like them getting mugged, and then us saying, well, we're going to mug you some more. You ought to just be able to get over it, get used to it... +p1749 +aV...No, sir... +p1750 +aV...we need to honor our promises... +p1751 +aV...before I go. This is the only time I've had a chance, let me finish. +p1752 +aV...This is a matter not of math, this is a matter of morality. If this country that does not keep its promise to seniors then what promise can this country hope to be trusted to keep? And, the fact is, none of them. [ +p1753 +aVAnd, the only way \u2014 no... +p1754 +aV...Chris... +p1755 +aV...Chris... +p1756 +aVSince he brought me up, do I not get to respond? +p1757 +aVJohn, listen, let's keep in mind that for one-third of the 60 million Americans on Social Security it represents 90 percent of their income. And, when I hear people talking about means testing, let's just remember what that means. If we means test Social Security, it means that the government decides whether or not I deserve it. If a person lives in a seven room house, does the government get to say you don't need seven rooms, we're going to take two of them away? Folks, the government has no business stealing even more from the people who have paid this in. I just want to remind you, people paid their money. They expect to have it. And, if this government doesn't pay it, than tell me what's different between the government and Bernie Madolf, who sits in prison today for doing less than what the government has done to the people on social security and Medicare in this country. +p1758 +aVI don't think it's so much about when the government orders a corporation to do something. In fact, that's part of the problem. If you saw that blimp that got cut loose from Maryland today, it's a perfect example of government. I mean, what we had was something the government made \u2014 basically a bag of gas \u2014 that cut loose, destroyed everything in its path, left thousands of people powerless, but they couldn't get rid of it because we had too much money invested in it, so we had to keep it. That is our government today. We saw it in the blimp. That's exactly what we saw. So look, corporations ought to exercise some responsibility. When CEO income has risen 90 percent above the average worker, when the bottom 90 percent of this country's economy has had stagnant wages for the past 40 years, somebody is taking it in the teeth. And it's not the folks on Wall Street. I'm not anti-Wall Street, but I don't believe the government ought to wear a team jersey, pick winners and losers. +p1759 +aVThe government ought to wear a striped shirt and just make sure the game... +p1760 +aV...is paid \u2014 played fairly. +p1761 +aVNow, everybody else has fudged their time and gone over, so please, don't cut me off too quick, Becky. +p1762 +aVLet me just close it out this way. +p1763 +aVWe need to be focusing on what fixes this country. And I'll tell you one thing that we never talk about \u2014 we haven't talked about it tonight. Why aren't we talking about \u2014 instead of cutting benefits for old people, cutting benefits for sick people \u2014 why don't we say, "let's cure the four big cost-driving diseases... +p1764 +aV..."diabetes, heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer's?" +p1765 +aVIf you do that, you don't just change the economy, you transform the lives of millions of hurting Americans. +p1766 +aVGosh, I'd love for us to talk about something like that. Thank you. +p1767 +aVYou know, of the few questions I've got, the last one I need is to give him some more time. I love Donald Trump. He is a good man. I'm wearing a Trump tie tonight. Get over that one, OK? [ +p1768 +aVI don't know. [ +p1769 +aVI have no idea. +p1770 +aVYou're welcome. Let me tell you, Donald Trump would be a president every day of the week and twice on Sunday, rather than Hillary. I've spent a lifetime in politics fighting the Clinton machine. You want to talk about what we're going to be up against next year? I'm the only guy on this stage \u2014 you know, everybody has an "only guy" \u2014 "I'm the only guy this; I'm the only guy that." Well, let me tell you one thing that I am the only guy: The only guy that has consistently fought the Clinton machine every election I was ever in over the past 26 years. And not only did I fight them, but I beat them. Somebody says "I'm a fighter." Well, I want to know, did you win? Well, I did. And not only did I fight them and win, I lived to tell about it and I'm standing on this stage tonight as evidence of that. And I think that ought to be worth something. +p1771 +aVWell, and specifically to Medicare, Becky, because 85 percent of the cost of Medicare is chronic disease. The fact is if we don't address what's costing so much, we can't throw enough money at this. And it's why I've continued to focus on the fact that we need to declare war on the four big cost drivers because 80 percent of all medical costs in this country are chronic disease. We don't have a health care crisis in America, we have a health crisis. And until we deal with the health of Americans and do what we did with polio \u2014 when I was a little kid, we eradicated it. You know how much money we spent on polio last year in America? We didn't spend any. We've saved billions of dollars. You want to fix Medicare? Focus on the diseases that are costing us the trillions of dollars. Alzheimers, diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Eradicate those and you fix Medicare and you've fixed America, its economy and you've made people's lives a heck of a lot better. +p1772 +aVYou know, I know to a lot of people in the media, this is just a great big game, and we're the players. And, we come out here, and we do our thing. And, sometimes we're held up in contempt by people who write columns, but, I guarantee you to every person on this stage there's something deep inside of us that would cause us to give up our livelihoods and step out on this stage and fight for the people of America. I've got five grandkids. I do not want to walk my five grandkids through the charred remains of a once great country called America, and say, "Here you go, $20 trillion dollars of debt. Good luck making something out of this mess." And, for those of us who are serious enough to run for president, think long and hard why we're here, and hopefully you'll know we're not here for ourselves. We honest to god are here to get this country back on track. I know this, I certainly am. +p1773 +aV...Thank you. +p1774 +aVI'm Mike Huckabee. I'm delighted to be on this stage with some remarkable fellow Republicans. None of us are a self-professed socialist. None of us on this state are under investigation by the FBI because we destroyed government records, or because we leaked secrets. I know that there are some in the Wall-Street-to-Washington axis of power who speak of all of us contemptuously. But I'm here to say that I think we are, in fact, the A team. We have some remarkable people, and, in fact, not only are we the A team; we even have our own Mr. T, who doesn't mind saying about others, "you're a fool." And I'm delighted to be here with all of these guys, and would put any of them in an administration that I led. Thank you very much. +p1775 +aVI would certainly love to get in on this, because I think the single... +p1776 +aVI've been patiently waiting, and I'm going to just say this about Iran. +p1777 +aVBecause I think it is incredibly important. This is really about the survival of Western civilization. This is not just a little conflict with a Middle Eastern country that we've just now given over $100 billion to, the equivalent in U.S. terms is $5 trillion. This threatens Israel immediately, this threatens the entire Middle East, but it threatens the United States of America. And we can't treat a nuclear Iranian government as if it is just some government that would like to have power. This is a government for 36 years has killed Americans, they kidnapped Americans, they have maimed Americans. They have sponsored terrorist groups, Hamas and Hezbollah, and they threaten the very essence of Western civilization. To give them this agreement, that the president treats like the Magna Carta, but Iranians treat it like it's toilet paper, and we must, simply, make it very clear that the next president, one of us on this stage, will absolutely not honor that agreement, and will destroy it and will be tough with Iran, because otherwise, we put every person in this world in a very dangerous place. +p1778 +aVNo, I don't think he's on the wrong side of such an issue. Jeb is a friend. I'm not up here to fight with Jeb or to fight with anybody else. But I am here to fight for somebody who is a county clerk elected under the Kentucky constitution that 75 percent of the people of that state had voted for that said that marriage was between a man and a woman. The Supreme Court in a very, very divided decision decided out of thin air that they were just going to redefine marriage. It's a decision that the other justices in dissent said they didn't have and there wasn't a constitutional shred of capacity for them to do it. I thought that everybody here passed ninth-grade civics. The courts cannot legislate. That's what Roberts said. But heck, it's what we learned in civics. The courts can't make a law. They can interpret one. They can review one. They can't implement it. They can't force it. But here's what happened: Because the courts just decided that something was going to be and people relinquished it and the other two branches of government sat by silently \u2014 I thought we had three branches of government, they were all equal to each other, we have separation of powers, and we have checks and balances. If the court can just make a decision and we just all surrender to it, we have what Jefferson said was judicial tyranny. The reason that this is a real issue that we need to think about... +p1779 +aVNo, no. Let me finish this one thought, Jake. I haven't gotten that much time, so I'm going to take just what little I can here. We made accommodation to the Fort Hood shooter to let him grow a beard. We made accommodations to the detainees at Gitmo \u2014 I've been to Gitmo, and I've seen the accommodations that we made to the Muslim detainees who killed Americans. You're telling me that you cannot make an accommodation for an elected Democrat county clerk from Rowan County, Kentucky? What else is it other than the criminalization of her faith and the exaltation of the faith of everyone else who might be a Fort Hood shooter or a detainee at Gitmo? +p1780 +aVI have a different idea. I think we ought to get rid of all the taxes on people who produce. Why should we penalize productivity? And it's why I'm an unabashed supporter of the "fair tax," which would be a tax on our consumption, rather than a tax on our productivity. In other words, you're not going to tax anybody for what they earn, whether it's worker whose working by the hour or whether it's a hedge fund manager. If they can produce something and bring capital and labor to create jobs, we need some jobs. And I think the "fair tax" makes more sense. Now, Jake, I've been listening to everybody on the stage and there is a lot of back and forth about I'm the only one who has done this, the only one who has done that, I've done great things. We've all done great things or we wouldn't be on this stage. But it occurs to me as we're sitting here in the Reagan Library that most of us would like to pay tribute to a guy who, when he got elected, didn't get elected telling everybody how great he was. He got elected telling everybody how great the American people were. And he empowered them to live their dreams, which is what I'd love to see us do by no longer penalizing the people who are out there working because they are taking a gut punch right now. +p1781 +aV...You don't want me operating on you, I assure you. +p1782 +aVJust today \u2014 just today, there was a new report that 50 different intelligence analysts have said that what they sent up the ladder was doctored by senior officials, so that they could give some happy talk to the situation that we face. I love the idea of a good intellectual capacity to deal with our enemies, but the fact is, if you don't have good intelligence that is reliable and honest, you won't have good intelligence and you cannot make good decisions. The next president is primarily elected not just to know things, but to know what to do with the things that he knows. And the most dangerous person in any room is the person who doesn't know what he doesn't know. +p1783 +aVAnd the reason Barack Obama has been dangerous to this country and we better elect someone who had some executive experience, is because we cannot afford another eight years having a person in the office who doesn't know what he does not know. +p1784 +aVYou better believe I will, because I'm tired of liberals always having a litmus test and conservatives are supposed to pretend we don't. Well let me tell you what mine would be. Number one, I'd ask do you think that the unborn child is a human being or is it just a blob of tissue? I'd want to know the answer to that. I'd want to know do you believe in the First Amendment, do you believe that religious liberty is the fundamental liberty around which all the other freedoms of this country are based? And I'd want to know do you really believe in the Second Amendment, do you believe that we have an individual right to bear arms to protect ourselves and our family and to protect our country? And do you believe in the Fifth and the 14th Amendment? Do you believe that a person, before they're deprived of life and liberty, should in fact have due process and equal protection under the law? Because if you do, you're going to do more than defund Planned Parenthood. +p1785 +aVOne final thing. I'd make darn sure that we absolutely believe the 10th Amendment. Every governor on this stage would share this much with you. Every one of us \u2014 our biggest fight wasn't always with the legislature or even with the Democrats. My gosh, half the time, it was with the federal government who apparently never understood \u2014 +p1786 +aV\u2014 that if it's not reserved in the Constitution, then the 10th Amendment says it's left to the states. But somebody forgot to send a memo to Washington. +p1787 +aVJake? Jake? +p1788 +aVI think we need to remember that there are maybe some controversies about autism, but there is no controversy about the things that are really driving the medical costs in this country. And I would really believe that the next president ought to declare a war on cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer's, because those are the four things that are causing the greatest level of cost. John Kennedy said, "we'll go to the moon in a decade and bring a man back," and we did it. I grew up in the '50s. I remember the polio vaccine. We saved billions of dollars since that time, because we haven't had to treat for polio. Why doesn't this country focus on cures rather than treatment? Why don't we put a definitive focus scientifically on finding the cure for cancer, for heart disease, for diabetes and for Alzheimer's, a disease alone that will cost us \u2014 +p1789 +aV$1.1 trillion by the year 2050. We change the economy and the country. +p1790 +aVThat's an easy one. I'd put my wife on there. I've been married to her 41 years. She's fought cancer and lived through it. She's raised three kids, five great grandkids, and she's put up with me. I mean, who else could possibly be on that money other than my wife. And that way, she could spend her own money with her face. +p1791 +aVI'd go with Duck Hunter. +p1792 +aVAt the end of my presidency I would like to believe that the world would be a safe place, and there wouldn't be the threats. not only to the U.S., but to Israel and our allies, because we would have the most incredible well-trained, well-equipped, well- prepared military in the history of mankind. And they would know that the commander-in-chief would never send them to a mission without all the resources necessary, but people wouldn't bully us anymore. Because they would know that that would be an invitation to their destruction. Domestically, we would be operating under a tax system that eliminated the IRS. People wouldn't be punished for their work, and for what they produced. And life would be really deemed precious. Abortion would be no more. It would be as much of a scourge in our past as slavery is. And we would have a peaceful country, where people respected each other and people respected law enforcement. And we would focus on cures. And we would make this country not only safe from our enemies without, but safe from the enemies within. And it would be a good place to raise our kids and our grandkids. +p1793 +aVChris, I disagree with the idea that the real issue is a constitutional amendment. That's a long and difficult process. I've actually taken the position that's bolder than that. A lot of people are talking about defunding planned parenthood, as if that's a huge game changer. I think it's time to do something even more bold. I think the next president ought to invoke the Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the constitution now that we clearly know that that baby inside the mother's womb is a person at the moment of conception. The reason we know that it is is because of the DNA schedule that we now have clear scientific evidence on. And, this notion that we just continue to ignore the personhood of the individual is a violation of that unborn child's Fifth and 14th Amendment rights for due process and equal protection under the law. It's time that we recognize the Supreme Court is not the Supreme Being, and we change the policy to be pro-life and protect children instead of rip up their body parts and sell them like they're parts to a Buick. +p1794 +aVNot me. But you're welcome to give me a check, Donald if you'd like. +p1795 +aVIt's not too big to shrink. But the problem is we have a Wall Street-to-Washington axis of power that has controlled the political climate. The donor class feeds the political class who does the dance that the donor class wants. And the result is federal government keeps getting bigger. Every person on this stage who has been a governor will tell that you the biggest fight they had was not the other party. Wasn't even the legislature. It was the federal government, who continually put mandates on the states that we had to suck up and pay for. And the fact is there are a lot of things happening at the federal level that are absolutely beyond the jurisdiction of the Constitution. This is power that should be shifted back to the states, whether it's the EPA, there is no role at the federal level for the Department of Education. And I'm still one who says that we can get rid of the Internal Revenue Service if we would pass the FairTax, which is a tax on consumption rather than a tax on people's income, and move power back where the founders believed it should have been all along. +p1796 +aVWell, let's all be reminded, 60 million Americans are on Social Security, 60 million. A third of those people depend on 90% of their income from Social Security. Nobody in this country is on Social Security because they made the decision when they were starting work at 14 that they wanted to trust some of their money with the government. The government took it out of their check whether they wanted them to or not. And, if person goes to 65, they're going to spend 51 years with the government reaching into their pocket at every paycheck. Now, here's the point, whose fault is it that the system is screwed up? Is it the recipients, or is it the government? And, if Congress wants to mess with the retirement program, why don't we let them start by changing their retirement program, and not have one, instead of talking about getting rid of Social Security and Medicare that was robbed $700 billion dollars to pay for Obamacare. It's always that the government figures that they can do this off the backs of people, many of whom are poor, and depend on that money, and I just think it's fundamentally lying to the people and stealing from them, and we shouldn't be doing it. +p1797 +aVWell, you ask about how we fund it. One of the reasons that Social Security is in so much trouble is that the only funding stream comes from people who get a wage. The people who get wages is declining dramatically. Most of the income in this country is made by people at the top who get dividends and -- and capital gains. The FairTax transforms the process by which we fund Social Security and Medicare because the money paid in consumption is paid by everybody, including illegals, prostitutes, pimps, drug dealers, all the people that are freeloading off the system now. That's why it ought to be a transformed system. +p1798 +aVRonald Reagan said "trust, but verify." President Obama is "trust, but vilify." He trusts our enemies and vilifies everyone who disagrees with him. And the reason we disagree with him has nothing to do with party. +p1799 +aVIt has to do with the incredibly dangerous place that this world is gonna be as a result of a deal in which we got nothing. We didn't even get four hostages out. We got nothing, and Iran gets everything they want. We said we would have anywhere, anytime negotiations and inspections, we gave that up. We said that we would make sure that they didn't have any nuclear capacity, we gave that up. The president can't tell us what we got. I'll tell you what the world got. The world has a burgeoning nuclear power that didn't, as the Soviets, say "we might defend ourselves in a war." What the Iranians have said is, "we will wipe Israel off the face of the map, and we will bring death to America." When someone points a gun at your head and loads it, by God, you ought to take them seriously, and we need to take that seriously. +p1800 +aVThe military is not a social experiment. The purpose of the military is kill people and break things. It's not to transform the culture by trying out some ideas that some people think would make us a different country and more diverse. The purpose is to protect America. I'm not sure how paying for transgender surgery for soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines makes our country safer. We've reduced the military by 25 percent... ... under President Obama. The disaster is that we've forgotten why we have a military. The purpose of it is to make sure that we protect every American, wherever that American is, and if an American is calling out for help, whether it's in Benghazi or at the border, then we ought to be able to answer it. We've not done that because we've decimated our military. We're flying B-52s. The most recent one that was put in service was November of 1962. A lot of the B-52s we're flying, we've only got 44 that are in service combat ready, and the fact is, most of them are older than me. And that's pretty scary. +p1801 +aVIt seems like this election has been a whole lot about a person who's very high in the polls, that doesn't have a clue about how to govern. A person who has been filled with scandals, and who could not lead, and, of course, I'm talking about Hillary Clinton. I think America... +p1802 +aV...is in trouble, but it's not beyond repair. But it's going to take leadership who sees the greatness of this country, and who believes that once again we can be one nation, under God. I'll be my best to do that, and thank you for your support. +p1803 +aVI don't think it's that the message isn't working, I think it's the message isn't getting out because the message that I have this time, Bill, it's exactly what I said eight years ago. I talked about people who are standing on their feet on factory floors, people who lift heavy things, who sweat through their clothes, they're getting gut punched. They are not having a fair shake in this economy. I talked about that eight years ago, and I'm talking about it now. I talked about the importance of preserving life, of not just saying we're going to defund Planned Parenthood, but let's do something bolder. Let's get rid of abortion once and for all by applying the Fifth, and Fourteenth amendment to every person from conception because that means that we recognize that no person can be deprived of life or liberty unless they have due process. And, that's not happening in our country. And, I believe, and continue to practice that we need the Fair Tax to revive our economy. To make it so that people are able to be rewarded for their work rather than punished for it. +p1804 +aVYou know, I -- I would leave that to other people. I'm not going to get into an argument with all the New Yorkers, because there's a lot of them. This much I will tell you. I wish that some of those New Yorkers had funded as much of my campaign as they did the corporately funded candidates, but they didn't. And to be honest with you, when I say I'm -- wish they had, I'm glad they didn't. I'm not a New York-funded campaign. I'm not bankrolled by the corporatists, I'm not bankrolled by Goldman Sachs and Citibank and AIG and all the big brokers -- brokerage houses and the billionaires. I'm sponsored by people like Thomas, a part-time Uber driver in Pennsylvania who sent me $25 this week. He's between jobs. He's driving an Uber car. But he believed in what I'm talking about enough that, even on a limited, part-time income, he sent me $25 to help in my campaign. I'll stand with the Thomases of the world any day. I'll leave all the discussion of the big financiers to other candidates. But there's only a few of us in the entire Republican process who are not corporately funded by the same group. And let me just finish by saying, you want to know why things never change depending on whether Democrats or Republicans are in power, and why Republicans in Iowa and the rest of the country are so frustrated? The reason is, is because if you follow the money, the same folks who finance the Democrats finance the Republicans, and no matter what the speeches and the ads, they get the same results. If you want a different result, I'm available. +p1805 +aVWell, I don't trust him. I've never said I trusted him. But if somebody is willing to take a shot at the people we are taking shots at, I'm more than willing to let them use their own bullets to do it. But let's be very clear about how we take out +p1806 +aVNo, I don't think that it's impossible, but we're not going to do it by doing the same things we've been doing for all these many years. And, we've lost five million manufacturing jobs just since the year 2000. The other day I was in Newton, Iowa. It used to be a vibrant place where Maytag washers and dryers were built. Went out of business in 2007, all those shops went to Mexico. All those people lost their jobs. There was a guy in my forum that day, he lost his job. He still has never found an employment that got anywhere near the job that he had. Let me ask you, how many people do you think living around the Beltway know a guy like that? Care about a guy like that? Not many. And, that's because they're six of the ten richest counties in America that surround Washington D.C. People who live in the bubbles of the high finance world of New York, the government world of Washington, the entertainment world of Hollywood, don't have a clue about how hard people out here in Iowa are working every single day. And, I believe one of the values of campaigning in Iowa, you can't win unless you go out and talk to farmers and housewives -- and welders, and unemployed truck drivers, and I hate... ... That a president could become president who never met people who have to struggle to make a living and put food on the table. +p1807 +aVA lot of Americans are angry. And I think it's important to understand why they are mad. They are mad because they see a government that continues to do fine. They see people at the top. They are doing fine. But that person you asked Rick about a moment ago, that lady that's making 10,000 bucks a year, do you know what our poverty programs do to people? They keep them in poverty. They keep them in poverty because we have these arbitrary thresholds... ... that mean that if you go to work, you lose all the benefits for your kids, Medicaid, WIC, Section 8 housing, food stamps, and then your kids go hungry. I know a little about poverty. My sister is here tonight. Now both of us could tell you we did not grow up rich. My mother grew up in a house, oldest of seven kids. She had lived in a house that didn't have floors. Just dirt. No electricity. No running water. I resent it when people say, oh, people are poor because they want to be. No, they are not. Nobody wants to be poor. And that's a stupid, foolish thing, mean thing to say. People are poor because they don't know how to get out of the hole. And government shouldn't push them back in the hole which is what our policies do when they punish people who want to go to work and don't let them out. We can fix that, but it takes some leadership to get it done. +p1808 +aVWell, I didn't have a tax and spend approach. You got to understand where the Club for Growth comes from, a bunch of rich guys sitting around writing checks to go after people they don't like. And, they don't like me sometimes because I was fighting for the guys at the bottom, not just the guys at the top. I cut 94 taxes in a state that had never had a general major tax decrease in its history. I also was able to see per capita income growth in my state go up by 50%. I think that's a pretty darn good record. Look at the overall record and it was fine. But, it's not about stats from when I was governor. Look, one of the reasons I support the Fairtax is because it's the one thing, Bill, that would truly empower people at the bottom of the economy by no longer punishing them for their work. If a guy works an hourly job, and he works eight hours, gets paid for it, terrific. But, if he works 16 hours, he doesn't get a double paycheck because he's going to be bumped up into a new tax bracket, and the government will get more of his second shift than he will. So, we've actually punished him for being industrious, hardworking, and that is a foolish economic policy... ... that's hurting Americans about as much as anything. +p1809 +aVI honestly don't understand how anybody with IQ above plant life would honestly think... ... that we would be better off if we let the government have all of the private property and that the government would dole out what they thought we should have. I'm not "feeling the Bern," Bill. I'm not feeling it. And when Bernie Sanders promises these kids free college, I'm telling them, because I get asked, what about free college? I said, look, if we give you free college when you are 20, pal, you are going to be paying for it when you are 30, when you are 40, and when you are 50. There is no such thing as the government giving you anything. They will definitely make a mess of it. And I just think there are a lot of people who have never understood the basic understanding of economics, that you do not make people rich by tearing down those who are you providing jobs, and you don't help poor people by taking away. You give them jobs. Let them work. Let them earn. And then you let them keep the money that they earned. That's how we build a great economy. +p1810 +aVWell, this week there was a little dust up about a video we put together with the music of Adele, so I thought it'd be appropriate for me to begin tonight by saying, "Hello, Iowa. It's me." +p1811 +aVAnd, you know me. You gave me the largest number of votes in the history of the Iowa caucus eight years ago, and I think you did it because you trusted me, you believed that I had your best interest at heart. When I was governor I had a little plaque in my office in the Governor's office, and it simply said this. Come, let us reason together. I believe the next President needs to put that plaque in the oval office, and needs to lead this country by saying, "Come, let us reason together." God bless you, and thank you for your support. +p1812 +aVI wish I saw the country in the same place that the president presented it to be the other night in the State of the Union. He talked about how great the economy was doing. And I guess for the people he hangs out with, it's probably doing great. But the president should've stood in the line at the layaway counter at Walmart just before Christmas. He would have heard a very different story about the economy of America. I wish I could introduce him the lady who cleans the building where our campaign headquarters is located in Little Rock. Her name is Kathleen. She works all day at a local hospital cleaning, and then she goes to the building where a bank, and our headquarters, and other offices are she spends another seven hours. She works 15 hours a day. I guarantee you she's not working 15 hours a day because she loves scrubbing toilets, and sweeping floors. She's working that many hours because that's what it takes for her to make it work. And, she's not alone. There are people all over this country who are working like that. Many of them working two jobs \u2014 and they used to have one job, and that would take care of them. But, because of wage stagnation, which we've had for 40 years, because the fact that they're punished for working harder if they work that many hours. The government gets more of their second shift than they do. And, as a result there are a lot of people who are hurting today. I wish the President knew more of them. He might make a change in the economy and the way he's managing it. +p1813 +aVLet me put that in context. When I went to Afghanistan, I saw a land that looked like the land of the Flintstones. It was desolate. It was barren. It was primitive. And it's been that way for thousands of years. They want to take the world back to be just like that. We don't. We need to make a clear goal as to why we want to be anywhere in the Middle East, and I'll tell you why we want to be and need to be, is to destroy radical Islam and everything that threatens civilization. It's not just a threat......to Israel or to America, it's a threat to every civilized person on this Earth. And we need to be equipping not only the Kurds in Iraq, we need to be making sure that those who are willing to fight radical Muslims will do it, but we need to never ever spend a drop of American blood unless there is a clearly defined goal and we can't make sure we win unless we have a military that's the strongest in the history of mankind. We've got to rebuild our navy. It's the smallest navy we've had since 1915, when my grandfather got on a destroyer in World War I when he was in the U.S. Navy. We've got young men in Air Force B-52s, one in particular, he's flying a B-52 that his father flew in the '80s and his grandfather flew in the '50s. Those planes are older than me. We've got to have a military that the world is afraid of, use it sparingly, but when we do, the whole world will know that America is on their tail and they will be on their tail on the ground, never ever to rise up again. +p1814 +aVOnly if there is a concerted effort to destroy the advance of radical Islamists who are against us. As far as what are we going to make it look like. Frankly, I don't know what we can make it look like. You can't create for other people a desire for freedom and democracy. And frankly, that is not the role of the United States. The role of the United States military is not to build schools, it is not to build bridges, it is not to go around and pass out food packets. It is to kill and destroy our enemy and make America safe and that is the purpose we should be there if we're going to be there. +p1815 +aV Yes, I did. +p1816 +aVWell, why don't we start by making sure the Justice Department never does an idiotic program like Fast and Furious where the U.S. Government put guns......in the hands of Mexican drug lords......and end up killing one of our border agents. You know, they want to talk about law abiding citizens, I just find it amazing the President keeps saying the gun show loophole. There is no gun show loophole. I promise you I've been to more gun shows than President Obama. +p1817 +aVAnd, I've bought more weapons at them, and you fill out forms. The President also says things that it's easier to get a gun now than it is to grow trees. Again, I purchase guns, and I can assure you that it is much more difficult to purchase a firearm than it is to get the ingredients of a salad at the supermarket. What the President keeps pushing are ideas that have never worked. Ideas that would not have stopped San Bernadino, Sandy Hook, Aurora, and at some point you wonder if you keep retrying things that don't work, maybe we should just see if we could resell all those used lottery tickets that didn't work real well because that's the logic of just keep doing the same thing, but something that has failed. Of course, we want to stop gun violence, but the one common thing that has happened in most mass shootings is that they happened in gun- free zones where people who would have been law abiding citizens, who could have stood up and at least tried to stop it and we're not allowed to under the law. +p1818 +aVWell, we shouldn't be and that's one of the reasons that I think there a lot of voices in our country who are saying it's time to relook at the visa program. The European Union is a failure, it's not allowed for even the economic goals that they were trying to achieve. But, what we're not seeing is that it's making Europe less safe, and it's proven not to be exactly what they all thought it was going to be. Our first and foremost responsibility in this country, and the first responsibility of the President of the United States is protect America, and protect Americans. We have a President who seems to be more interested in protecting the reputation and image of Islam than he is protecting us. And, I want to be very clear......that this President. Makes comments like he did the other night, that we have to be so careful because we don't want to offend Muslims. He needs to read his own FBI crime stats from last year which would show him that of the hate crimes in the country, over 5,500, about 1,100 were religious hate crimes. And, of those, 58% were directed toward Jews. Only 16% directed toward Muslims. Maybe what the President should have talked about the other night is how we ought to be more careful in the anti-semitic comments that are going toward American Jews than toward Muslims because by three times as many......they're being targeted for religious hate crime. +p1819 +aVIt does not shut down international commerce, but it may slow it down. And, you don't want to slowdown commerce that is making us safer. It's worth it. This lady who came and joined with the San Bernardino killer had passed three background checks, and that's why a lot of Americans didn't buy it when the President said we'll bring in Syrian refugees, but don't worry we'll check them out. We have a lot of confidence in a president who told us that we could keep our doctor, we could keep our health insurance, and cost us less, and now the latest is if you like your gun you can keep it too, and frankly, we don't buy it. We don't believe it. He's lost his credibility, and his inept... ...inability to work with Congress and pass legislation has led him to do what I never even imagined doing as a governor, and that's just going and doing it my own way. That's why we elect a president, is to lead, is to be able to shepherd things through. And if I can do it with a 90 percent Democrat legislature in Arkansas, there is no excuse for any president not being able to lead in Washington if he knows what the heck he is doing when he gets there. +p1820 +aVWell, first of all, let's just remember that Social Security is not the government's money, it belongs to the people who had it taken out of their checks involuntarily their entire working lives. For the government to say, well it is fault of working people that we have a Social Security problem, no. It is the fault of a government that used those people's money for something other than protecting those people's accounts. So let's not blame them and punish them. But here is a fact, and I sometimes hear Republicans say well, we're going to have to cut this and extend the age. You know what I think a lot of times when I hear people say, well, let's make people work to their 70. That sounds great for white-collar people who sat at a desk most of their lives. You ever talk to somebody that stood on concrete floor for the first 40 years of their working life? Do you think they can stand another five years or 10 years, many of them will retired virtually crippled because they worked hard. And we're going to punish them some more? I don't think so. Here's the fact. Four percent economic growth, we fully fund Social Security and Medicare. Our problem is not that Social Security is just too generous to seniors. It isn't. Our problem is that our politicians have not created the kind of policies that would bring economic growth. And I still support strongly that we get rid of the 77,000 pages of the monstrous tax code......pass the fair tax, supercharge this economy with the rocket fuel that happens with the consumption tax and we don't have to cut Social Security to any senior who has worked their lifetime for it. +p1821 +aVLet me go back to the reason so many people are having a hard time getting ahead. The tax system punishes them. Think about this. If you work really hard and you start moving up the economic ladder, you get bumped into a different tax bracket. So the government thinks it deserves more of your hard work than you do. And it's one of the reasons that no matter how many different reforms you have to a tax on people's productivity, you're still taxing their work, their savings. You're taxing their capital gains, inheritance, dividends, you're taxing everything that produces something. And it's way I really believe it's time to do something bold, not something minute. This is no time for a tap of the hammer, a twist of the screwdriver. It's time for something big. That's why the fair tax transforms our economy. And we don't punish workers. It's the only way we're going to get middle class people moving ahead again, because the harder they work, the more they keep. No payroll tax deducted from their checks. They get their entire paycheck. And, one of the most important parts, it's built on the common sense with which we raised our kids, and trained dogs. You reward behavior you want more of. And, you punish behavior you want less of. That's how I raise kids, it's how I trained our dogs, and folks, it's not that difficult. We now punish the behavior we say we want more of by taxing it, and we reward the behavior that we say we want less of, so if you make a good investment, we punish you with a tax. If you make a bad investment you can write that off and the rest of the taxpayers will help subsidize you, and bail you out. +p1822 +aVWell, Rick, I'm pretty sure I did also fight the Clinton machine because every election I was ever in in Arkansas, I assure you, they were behind it, helping finance and campaign for every opponent. And I share with you the understanding that it's going to be a tough battle. But I spent the first half of my adult life in the private and nonprofit sector, raising a family, understanding how tough it is for people to make it. And that first half of my life is what led me to believe that America needs a different kind of leadership, not people who spent their whole life running from one office to the next, and living off the government dime. And I got involved because I got sick of what I saw. I also believe that there's got to be some leadership that not only addresses the monetary and military issues of this country, but the moral issues of this country. At the end of every political speech, most of us say, God bless America. But how can he do that when we continue to slaughter 4,000 babies a day? And I want to be the president that treats every person, including the unborn, as a person. And protect them under the 5th and 14th amendments of the constitution. I close with this word from a gentleman in East Texas named Butel Lucre. He's 100 years old and I met him down in East Texas. And he said this to me. "I sure wish, Mike, we had the days when The Ten Commandments were in all of our capitals and in every school, and we prayed again. You know, he may be 100 years old, but I believe some of those old ideas to get this country back where we unapologetically get on our knees before we get on our feet might be the best solutions we've ever sought as a country. And I ask for your support and your vote. Thank you. +p1823 +aVWolf, I want to say thanks to you and CNN for giving us the opportunity especially to focus on national security issues at a time when Americans are not only angry \u2014 angry at their government that they feel like has failed them, been indifferent to them, cost them their livelihoods \u2014 but they're in addition to angry, they're just plain scared. They're scared when they thing that they go to a Christmas party and get shot at by somebody who sat and had lunch with them an hour earlier. They're scared when they realize that our government, who promises that it can vet people and is begging us to approve bringing 10,000 Syrian refugees into this country, can't even catch somebody after a third background check, who had posted things on social media clearly indicating she wanted to kill Americans. And we couldn't catch that. We've lost confidence in our government. And when Americans lose confidence in their government, we're in a dangerous place. We're in danger because we have an enemy that is out to kill us, and we have a government that we don't trust any more. This election is about going back to having a government we can trust with leaders who have the courage and conviction to actually lead and not follow. +p1824 +aVWell, let me begin by saying I'm not that afraid of Donald Trump. And, in the sense that I'd rather him be President than I had Hillary be president any day. And so if he becomes president, I think he will do a whole lot more to protect us than Hillary will. And a whole lot more than Barack Obama has done in his eight years. So I want to make it very clear that when I was making that comment, I was simply speaking that I'm not sure that you can have a religious test per se. And it's very impractical because if somebody comes to our borders and says I'd like to come in. They say are you a Muslim? Well, they're \u2014 if they're going to come in here to kill us, they're not gonna say yeah, and I'm coming to kill you. They're going to lie about it. Anybody that will kill you, for God's sake, will lie to you. So that's why I say it's impractical. But what he has done, and I don't think a lot of people understand, he has touched a nerve because people are angry and afraid that we are facing an enemy that this administration refuses to acknowledge, refuses to want to go fight. And our only answer is to go after +p1825 +aVNo. I'm not taking it away, I just want to make sure that everything we use is going to be effective. We're spending billions of dollars, let's make sure it's effective. Let's use every tool, but let's also check out the Facebook posts, let's look at Twitter accounts. My gosh, we were told we couldn't do it because it might invade somebody's privacy. This lady who came over here and shot up San Bernardino was posting things on Facebook, yet, we were restricted from looking. Every college kid who goes to a frat party gets drunk and puts his picture on Facebook is going to have a potential employer looking at that photo before he gets hired. Why should we have more attention? I mean, for heaven's sake, towards some college kid who wants to one day ten years from to get a job, then we're going after who wants to come in with a semi automatic weapon or a pipe bomb and blow up a bunch of Americans. This is what I think a lot of Americans are frustrated with, it's the duplicity of our policy that is illogical and irrational. Our goal ought to be, "protect Americans and put Americans first not last," which is what I think this administration has done. +p1826 +aVNo, it does not violate their First Amendment rights to have someone go and listen to the sermons. You can go to any church in America, it's a public place, you can listen, and \u2014 you know, if you go to my church, you'll probably get a real blessing. Heck, it'll be a wonderful experience. You go to some people's church, you may go to sleep, I don't know what happens in every church, but, the point is that these are public places, and folks are invited to come. So, if it's a public place, and people are invited to come, how does it violate anybody's First Amendment rights that somebody shows up because they might want to just listen in and see is there something that is a little nefarious? And, if there is, then you take the second step of getting a search warrant, you do whatever you have to do. That's all protected under the constitution. So, Huge, I hear people act like there's something that is terrible about going and sitting in and listening to the sermons of a mosque. If Islam is as wonderful, and peaceful as its adherents say, shouldn't they be begging us to all come in and listen to these peaceful sermons? Shouldn't they be begging us all to come, and listen, and bring the FBI so we'd all want to convert to Islam? +p1827 +aVI don't disagree. I don't disagree with anything that the Senator just said because that's exactly right. But, I just want to go back to the point that when people say we can't go into the mosque, we can't listen. That's utter nonsense. Of course we can. And, if we can't, if there's something so secretive going on in there that somebody isn't allowed to go and hear it, maybe we do need for sure to send somebody in there and gather the intelligence. And, that's all to the world I'm saying, I think it stands to be true. +p1828 +aVThe way we defeat them ideologically is that we remind people that what their intent is is to kill us, and that it is our intent to use every means possible to get to them before they get to us. We are pretending that this is a war that is not that significant. We have a president who called it the JV team, said we had contained it. Nine hours after he said we contained it, there was a massacre in Paris. We've got to make it so untenable for somebody to join +p1829 +aVWolf, it may be sufficient, but rather than put a number \u2014 and I'm comfortable that we say 10,000, 20,000 \u2014 look, I think we make a mistake when we start telling the enemy what our limitations are. I think we make a huge mistake when we say we're gonna do up to this. I think what we say is, we're gonna do whatever it takes. If it's 10,000, if it's 100,000, if it's 3,000 sorties a day, if it's 5,000 sorties a day. We never tell our enemy what our limitations are, what we are willing and what we're unwilling to do. And that's one of the mistakes I believe that we're making militarily. But the biggest mistake we've made militarily is letting Barack Obama cut our defense forces by 25 percent and leaving us at the least prepared position we've been in since before World War II. We have to get our Military rebuilt from the ground up. And all over America I hear young people say, would you tell me what you're going to do? Would you give me free college? Will you make sure that I can have medical marijuana? You know what we ought to tell young people? We aren't going to give you anything. We're give you the opportunity to get off your butt and go serve your country and secure your freedom. Because if you don't, nobody else is. +p1830 +aVI'd sure want them to think we would. And I'd want to make sure that we did everything we could. But we can't do it with our current Military strength. We've got to build up and have the most robust, well trained, well equipped, well prepared and ample Military force in the history of the world because we're not fighting just a known enemy in one place. We're fighting people all over the world who can go anywhere. And the reason I say that is because if we tried to win this war on the cheap or we try to do it with the, "light footprint," we're making a huge mistake. When all of us were in grade school, one thing we all knew, the bully never picked on the kid except for the weak one. When all of us were in grade school, one thing we all knew, the bully never picked on the kid, except for the weak one. He never picked on the kid he knew, he'd whip him. We need to make to sure that we have the kind of military that +p1831 +aVWell, I want to be real clear, I don't trust Putin, I don't trust Assad. I'm not saying that I would endorse him for his reelection bid. The man is a tyrant, he's killed lots of people, but he wasn't killing Americans. And, the thing that I'm concerned about is that we have seen a complete destabilization, not only of Syria, but we've seen it in Yemen, that the President pronouncing great shape just before it collapsed. +p1832 +aVWell what we have done, and we created an impossible atmosphere. This administration has put more pressure on Israel to stop building bedrooms in Judea and Samaria than they've put on Iranians to stop building a nuclear bomb. And I'm just simply pointing out the obvious, that we need to recognize who our friends are, who our enemies are... +p1833 +aV... but I'm convinced... +p1834 +aVWell, first of all, it would be the Iranians. I would have never entered into this deal. I don't know why on God's earth that the senators gave it so that it was easier for Obama to have the agreement than it would be to make it a treaty. +p1835 +aVI would make sure that there was economic pressure put on them. Why not? Why should we fund every single battle against radical Islam? Why should we stand back and watch Israel get targeted, the United States get targeted and we watch with people with their hands in their pocket, and their hands in our pocket because we're getting them a lot of money. And let's say your hands can be in your pocket, you can stand still, but your hands aren't going to be in our pockets anymore. We're not going to give you another dime unless you engage the battle with us. We are not sending our sons and daughters, and grandsons and granddaughters to war to fight for your interest. You either get in with us or be on your own. But we're not gonna fight the battle for you. +p1836 +aVI wouldn't reinstate a draft, but, I think it's noteworthy that we are fighting all the battles we have with less than one percent of the American population. +p1837 +aVI wouldn't reinstate a draft, but, I think it's noteworthy that we are fighting all the battles we have with less than one percent of the American population. We have the lowest level of percentage of population participating in the military than ever. And they're over-deployed, they're over used, especially among our reserves and Guard troops. Any governor will tell you. +p1838 +aVWell, I would say that, if you want a college education, let's go back and reinstate the full-blown G.I. bill. You give something to your country; your country gives something back to you. We need to ask young people to step up and buy their own freedom because there's not going to be enough people left at less than one percent. And as my good friend Ken Howard, former Dean of the War College, has often said, we're fighting all the wars with other people's kids. And that's one of the things that's making us much less safe, is because we don't have enough Americans truly invested in the process of defeating our enemies. Therefore, I do think without a draft we do need to ask people to recognize we are at war. +p1839 +aVI'm not belittling their sacrifice, Lindsey, but I'm just making note that on the part of Americans we have sent National Guard troops over for an 18-month em \u2014 18-month deployment. They come back for five, they go back for another 18. We're wearing these guys out. They agreed to be citizen soldiers. We turned them into full time soldiers because we've not kept up the pace by recruiting enough people in the military to fully fill these forces, and that's what we need to be doing. +p1840 +aVThe horrors that those families have to go through, if that were my son, my daughter, I'd give my last drop of blood to get them back. You bet I would. Is it a good policy? No. It's a terrible policy because once we do it, we're only going to invite more and more hostages, more and more ransoms, and the diasters gets even worse. But I don't blame any of these families. You know who I blame? I blame a policy in our government that has made it so that families are so desperate that they're willing to pay ransom to terrorists organizations because they don't believe our government will fight the fight for them and they think they're out there on their own. My goodness people, this is America. When did we have to start telling people that you've got to bake your own bread in order to fight the battles? That's what we have a government for, it's what we pay taxes for. And I believe, those families ought to have a better expectation of what this government will do. We should never has sat at the table with the Iranians as long Sayed Abadnini is sitting in an Iranian prison. As long as the Washington Post report is over there. Until the four hostages of America were on an airplane safely out of Tehran. We should've told them, " we won't even walk into the room with you much less sit down and negotiate with you." That's what we ought to be doing. +p1841 +aVWe just need to take a real pause and all the people that coming here and we don't know who they are or what their affiliations are. What George just said is right. We can't take the risk. And why should we take the risk? And if it's such a doggone good idea to bring people here that we really don't know who they are and Obama thinks that we're being un-Christian to not do it, I've got a suggestion. Let's send the first wave of them to Chappaqua, Martha's Vineyard and the upper east side of Manhattan and to the south lawn of the White House where we'll set up a camp. Let's see how that works out. And if they behave wonderfully, that's fine. I want to say, I don't want someone lecturing me about what it means to be a Christian that I should invite a potential terrorist into my backyard. On one hand, the left says separation of church and state. Let's not have any discussion of religion, and then the left wants to tell me what it means to be a Christian. They need to figure out if they know more about being a Christian than I do, then tell me... On one hand, the left says separation of church and state. Let's not have any discussion of religion, and then the left wants to tell me what it means to be a Christian. They need to figure out if they know more about being a Christian than I do \u2014 then tell me. They are no longer going to say separation of church and state, but, we have the most fundamental right above everything else \u2014 is not to protect the reputation of Islam. It is to protect Americans first and foremost. That is our job. +p1842 +aVNo, because he did it unconstitutionally. Twenty-three times he's said he couldn't do it, and then one day he woke up and he found he had a pen in one hand, and a phone in another, and wow. That Constitution didn't mean much anymore. Look, President's can't just do what they want to do. That's the purpose of getting elected and working with other people who got elected, is that our system was designed to function with the power of persuasion, it's really what you elect a president to do. +p1843 +aV...Let me finish, Hugh. You elect him to lead which means that if you think it's a good idea to not punish the children for something their parents did, then you go to the members of Congress and you persuade them. And, you persuade the American people. You don't just jump up and shove it up the nostrils of Congress, and the American people because you think you have a superior intellect, and a superior will, and a superior theology than everybody else. Our system is not a system of tyranny. We don't elect kings, we elect servants. If I'm elected president, I don't consider myself to be elected to be the king of the country, but the servant of the country to work with other people who are elected to get things done that need to be done. +p1844 +aVThe terrorists don't win just because they kill us. The terrorists win when they make us change everything we do in our daily lives and alter our routines. And they're doing that, from getting on a plane to going in a building. And it is high time that we recognize that we have to take them out, not a little bit, but totally, because I want my grandkids to grow up not in fear, but in faith and in freedom. And if you give me the opportunity to be president of the United States, I will fight for your grandkids as much as I will for mine. Thank you and God bless you. +p1845 +aVWell, first of all, Trish, I don't know why we have to move away from manufacturing. The only reason we have is because... ...we have a tax code that has punished manufacturing. I hear a lot of people talk about the plans to simplify the tax code. I've got one better than any of the simplifications, it's called a, "Fair Tax", and it eliminates all of the taxes on our productivity. Here's what would happen. We'd get rid of taxes on people's work, so, we wouldn't punish people for working anymore. Yeah, we've lost five million manufacturing jobs just since the year 2000 \u2014 160,000 manufacturing plants have close in this country, which means a lot of people \u2014 that the governors talking about, he's exactly right. They don't have jobs anymore. And the reason they don't have jobs is because their jobs are in Mexico, they're in China, they're in Indonesia. Bring the jobs back. And with the fair tax, you do that, because you don't tax capital and labor and you bring a real sense of equity to the opportunity so that people will not only make it easier to function, they'll get the manufacturing jobs back. And here's the best part. We don't reduce the IRS, we get rid of the IRS. We completely eliminate them......because the government has no business knowing how much money we make and how we made it. It's none of their business. And that's why I believe that manufacturing is critical. If we can't feed ourselves, fuel ourselves and fight for ourselves, we can't be free. And by the way, fighting for ourselves means manufacturing our own weapons of self-defense. +p1846 +aVWell, Sandra, first of all, let me mention the fact that I think there's a big difference between welfare programs and what some people call entitlements. Namely, Social Security and Medicare. I just want to remind everybody out there who has ever had a paycheck, the government didn't ask you if you wanted them to take money out of your check for Social Security and Medicare. They did that involuntarily. Those are not entitlements and that's not welfare. That's an earned benefit. And by gosh, you paid for it. And if the government screwed it up, you shouldn't have to pay the penalty because of an incompetent government. That's different than the social programs that we've spent $2 trillion on since the War on Poverty began exactly 50 years ago this year. Now the reason we still have so much poverty is because it was never designed to get people out of poverty. It was designed to make sure that there was an industry of poverty, so that the people in the poverty industry would have a lot of jobs. But the people who are poor haven't been benefited. Having grown up poor, I know a little something about it. Nobody who is poor wants to be. That's a nonsense statement and I hear it all the time. Well, poor people ought to work harder. They're working as hard as they can, for gosh sake. But the problem is the system keeps pushing them down because, if they work, then they get punished. They lose all the benefits. When we did welfare reform in the '90s, you know what we did? We said you're not going to lose everything at once. There's not an arbitrary threshold. So as you move up the ladder from work and training, you'll actually always be better off than you were before. That's the American way. +p1847 +aVWell, I'd just like to respond, with all due respect to, to the Governor, to the state just south of me, I would say that a lot of us have cut things. And during the recession of 2001 to 2003, when 91 percent of our state budget was basically three things, educate, medicate and incarcerate, we ended up cutting 11 percent out of the state budget through that recession so we didn't have to go in and raise a bunch of taxes, and there were people who thought we should. So it's just not accurate to say that nobody else up here has ever cut. I believe every governor has probably had to make tough decisions. I'm, I'm guessing my colleague Governor Christie has, as I'm tossing him the ball like Arkansas did to Ol' Miss the other day. +p1848 +aVSandra, before we get too far away, he specifically brought out some things about the record that I need to correct. +p1849 +aVSandra, I've been concerned that this administration has not done anything to help stop the slaughter of Christians. We didn't help the Kurds, we said we would. But, the idea that we're just going to open our doors, and we have no idea who these people are \u2014 what we do know is that only one out of five of the so called, "Syrian Refugees", who went into Europe were actually Syrian. Many of them, we had no idea who they were. They weren't Syrian. Are we going to open the doors so that the +p1850 +aV...I'd like to get that opportunity to go... +p1851 +aVWell, since we're not going to answer the question, let me just remind everybody, tomorrow is Veterans Day. And here's what I would like to remind everybody. The VA has been a disaster in large part because the people in Congress have never bothered to fix it, and this president has certainly not... +p1852 +aVLet me finish, please. I'm going to ask you just this, what would happen if the Congress and the president had to get their health care from the VA? We would fix the problem and we would fix Congress. +p1853 +aVWell, thank you very much. I still want to go back to the fact that if we got rid of all the taxes on our work, got rid of the taxes on our savings, investments, capital gains, and inheritance, and made a zero tax, we'd pay at the point of consumption. Because why should we punish people for their productivity? And the fair tax doesn't punish people for doing well and building the economy. There's $31 trillion parked offshore. What happens if that money comes back to America? You'd think it'd goose the economy? I guarantee you it would. And that's why the fair tax is the best solution we have for economic growth in this country. +p1854 +aVWell, first of all, do you know an American that will just stop spending? I don't. No, that's not going to be the problem. Look, Americans will go to the marketplace with more money they've ever had. For the first time they'll be having their whole paycheck. You see, most people don't understand that when you buy something that is made in America, 22 percent of the cost of it is the embedded tax they never even know they paid. It's why China has beaten the daylights out of us, they can build stuff that we can't because they're not taxing it, when they don't tax capital and labor and we do. They bring something over here, it's automatically cheaper even without the regulatory environment because they're not embedding the taxes, we are. Take the embedded taxes out. Give a person his whole paycheck because every American would no longer have a payroll tax taken out. It means they'd see their real paycheck for the first time. When they go to spend that money, they'll actually have it. And they only pay taxes on the stuff that's new. So a lot of Americans will buy used stuff. Look, here's the point, Americans are not going to quit shopping. Americans are not going to quit buying. But it would be nice if Americans could control how much they paid in tax, rather than having the government reach into their pockets and take it out before they ever had a chance to even see it, much less spend it. And that's why the fair tax makes a heck of a lot more sense than punishing productivity and rewarding irresponsibility. +p1855 +aVWell, my wife's name is Janet and when you say Janet Yelling, I'm very familiar with what you mean. But, look, I think the Fed is in a big trouble because they haven't addressed the number one issue that's hurting Americans and that's the fact that wages for the bottom 90 percent of the economy have been stagnant for 40 years. In the 25 years after World War II, up to 1971, wages grew by 85 percent in this country. People were \u2014 were moving up in the middle class. There was a middle class. That's not happening any more, and in large measure, the Fed has manipulated the dollar so it doesn't have a standard. Tie the dollar to something fixed and if it's not going to be gold, make it the commodity basket. But here's what we've got to do. We absolutely have to get it where the people who go out there and work get something in return. And if the dollar keeps fluctuating, and this is as crazy as \u2014 as is the price of bread, well, the fact is, people can't get ahead then. +p1856 +aVAbsolutely. Absolutely, because what we need to is to make sure that they tie the monetary standard to something that makes sense, rather than to their own whims, because who's getting gut punched? It ain't the people in Wall Street, it's the folks on Main Street. They're the ones who's wages have been stagnant for 40 years. And the average American today has a total savings of 1,000 bucks. One root canal and they're in trouble. And if their car breaks down the same week......they're out of business. +p1857 +aVWell, I think thanking our veterans is a wonderful thing to do, but, they sure appreciate a better paycheck. They'd appreciate the fact that we kept our promises to them. The men and women in uniform put on the uniform of our nation, they went halfway around the world, they face dangers on our behalf, and we promised them if they did that, when they came home we'd take care of their medical care, we'd make is possible for their kids to go to college, and they'd be able to bind to a home. They kept their promises to us. We have not kept our promises to them, and today, less than one percent of Americans go to the military for service. We're fighting wars with other people's kids in large measure because we've not taken seriously the moral, not the monetary, the moral obligation to take care of the veterans and to keep America's promise to the ones who kept their promise to America. +p1858 +aVIn many ways, I feel like I'm the luckiest guy on Earth. I really do. It's a long way from a little brick rent house on second street in Hope, Arkansas to this stage where I'm running for President of the United States. It's not about me, not about these guys \u2014 'ought to be about you, and I've never been the favorite of the people who have the most money. But, I want to be the favorite of the people who still want to believe the American dream can work for them. Today in our office, I got a letter from a third grader in North Dakota, her name is Reese. She sent $6 dollars from her allowance, and said, "I want to help you be president." You know, I'm going to keep standing on this stage, and keep fighting for one reason, because somewhere out there in North Dakota, and all over America, there are kids like Reese who need a president who will never forget where they came from, and I promise I won't. +p1859 +asVCRUZ +p1860 +(lp1861 +VThank you, Wolf. America is at war. Our enemy is not violent extremism. It is not some unnamed malevolent force. It is radical Islamic terrorist. We have a president who is unwilling to utter its name. The men and women on this stage, every one of us, is better prepared to keep this nation safe than is Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. We need a president who understands the first obligation of the commander-in-chief is to keep America safe. If I am elected president, we will hunt down and kill the terrorists. We will utterly destroy +p1862 +aVWell, listen, Hugh, everyone understands why Donald has suggested what he has. We're looking at a president who's engaged in this double-speak where he doesn't call radical Islamic terrorism by its name. Indeed, he gives a speech after the San Bernardino attack where his approach is to try to go after the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens rather than to keep us safe. And even worse, President Obama and Hillary Clinton are proposing bringing tens of thousands of Syrian refugees to this country when the head of the FBI has told Congress they cannot vet those refugees. I understand why Donald made that proposal. I introduced legislation in the Senate that I believe is more narrowly focused at the actual threat, which is radical Islamic terrorism, and what my legislation would do is suspend all refugees for three years from countries where +p1863 +aVWell, you know, I'm reminded of what FDR's grandfather said. He said, "All horse-thieves are Democrats, but not all Democrats are horse-thieves." In this instance, there are millions of peaceful Muslims across the world, in countries like India, where there is not the problems we are seeing in nations that are controlled \u2014 have territory controlled by Al Qaida or +p1864 +aVWell, Dana, the premise of your question is not accurate. I'm very proud to have joined with conservatives in both the Senate and the House to reform how we target bad guys. And what the USA Freedom Act did is it did two things. Number one, it ended the federal government's bulk collection of phone metadata of millions of law-abiding citizens. But number two in the second half of it that is critical. It strengthened the tools of national security and law enforcement to go after terrorists. It gave us greater tools and we are seeing those tools work right now in San Bernardino. And in particular, what it did is the prior program only covered a relatively narrow slice of phone calls. When you had a terrorist, you could only search a relatively narrow slice of numbers, primarily land lines. The USA Freedom Act expands that so now we have cell phones, now we have Internet phones, now we have the phones that terrorists are likely to use and the focus of law enforcement is on targeting the bad guys. You know what the Obama administration keeps getting wrong is whenever anything bad happens they focus on law-abiding citizens instead of focusing on the bad guys. We need to focus on radical Islamic terrorists and we need to stop them before they carry out acts of terror. +p1865 +aVWell, you know, I would note that Marco knows what he's saying isn't true. You know, Mark Levin wrote a column last week that says that the attack ads his Super PAC is running that are saying the same thing, that they are knowingly false and they are, in fact, Alinsky-like attacks like Barack Obama. And the reason is simple. What he knows is that the old program covered 20 percent to 30 percent of phone numbers to search for terrorists. The new program covers nearly 100 percent. That gives us greater ability to stop acts of terrorism, and he knows that that's the case. +p1866 +aVWhat it means is using overwhelming air power to utterly and completely destroy +p1867 +aVYou would carpet bomb where +p1868 +aVWell, you know, Marco has continued these attacks, and he knows they're not true. Yes, it is true that I voted against the National Defense Authorization Act, because when I campaigned in Texas I told voters in Texas that I would oppose the federal government having the authority to detain U.S. citizens permanently with no due process. I have repeatedly supported an effort to take that out of that bill, and I honored that campaign commitment. +p1869 +aVBut more broadly, you know, the notion Marco is suggesting, that somehow \u2014 he also has tossed more than a few insults this direction \u2014 let's be absolutely clear. +p1870 +aVWolf, I believe in a America first foreign policy, that far too often President Obama and Hillary Clinton \u2014 and, unfortunately, more than a few Republicans \u2014 have gotten distracted from the central focus of keeping this country safe. So let's go back to the beginning of the Obama administration, when Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama led +p1871 +aV... we ought to hunt down our enemies and kill +p1872 +aVWell, it's more than not shedding a tear. It's actively getting involved to topple a government. And we keep hearing from President Obama and Hillary Clinton and Washington Republicans that they're searching for these mythical moderate rebels. It's like a purple unicorn. They never exist. These moderate rebels end up being jihadists. And I'll tell you whose view on Assad is the same as mine. It's Prime Minister Netanyahu. Prime Minister Netanyahu has said Israel doesn't have a dog in that fight because Assad is a puppet of Iran, a Shia radical Islamic terrorist, but at the same time, Prime Minister Netanyahu doesn't want to see Syria governed by +p1873 +aVThe question of whether we should toppling dictatorships is asking the wrong question. We should be defeating our enemies. So the problem with defeating... +p1874 +aVWell, but let me explain, the focus should be... +p1875 +aV... on defeating our enemies. So, for example... +p1876 +aV... a regime we should change is Iran... +p1877 +aV... because Iran has declared war on us. But we shouldn't be toppling regimes...... that are fighting radical Islamic terrorists that are helping... +p1878 +aVWell, he \u2014 he has attempted to muddy the waters, but I think that anyone who watched the battle that we had. You know, there was a time for choosing as Reagan put it. Where there was a battle over amnesty and some chose, like Senator Rubio to stand with Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer and support a massive amnesty plan. Others chose to stand with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and the American people and secure the border. And let me mention, this issue is actually directly connected to what we've been talking about. Because the front line with +p1879 +aVLook, I understand Marco wants to raise confusion, it is not accurate what he just said that I supported legalization. Indeed, I led the fight against his legalization and amnesty. And you know, there was one commentator that put it this way that, for Marco to suggest our record's the same is like suggesting "the fireman and the arsonist because they are both at the scene of the fire." He was fighting to grant amnesty and not to secure the border, I was fighting to secure the border. And this also goes to trust, listening on to campaign trails. Candidates all the time make promises. You know, Marco said," he learned that the American people didn't trust the federal government." +p1880 +aVIn Florida promising to... +p1881 +aVgo in the fight against amnesty... +p1882 +aVHe campaigned promising to lead the fight against amnesty. +p1883 +aVI have never supported a legalization... +p1884 +aVI have never supported legalization, and I do not intend to support legalization. Let me tell you how you do this, what you do is you enforce the law... +p1885 +aVWatt you do is enforcement the law... +p1886 +aVWhat you do... +p1887 +aVWhat you do is you enforce the law. I've laid out a very, very detailed immigration plan on my website, tedcruz.org. It's 11 pages of existing federal law and in particular the question of what to do with people who are here now? You enforce the law. That means you stop the Obama administration's policy of releasing criminal illegal aliens. Do you know how many aliens Bill Clinton deported? 12 million. Do you know how many illegal aliens, George W. Bush deported? 10 million. We can enforce the laws and if we secure the border, that solves the problem. And as president I will solve this problem and secure the border. +p1888 +aVDana, what I said in private is exactly what I'll say here, which is that the judgment that every voter is making of every one of us up here is who has the experience, who has the vision, who has the judgment to be commander in chief. That is the most important decision for the voters to make. That's a standard I'm held to. And it's a standard everyone else is held to. And I will note, you know, in the whole course of this discussion about our foreign policy threats, it actually illustrates the need for clarity of focus. You know, my daughters, Caroline and Catherine, came tonight. They're 7 and 5. And you think about the Los Angeles schools canceling their schools today. And every parent is wondering, how do we keep our kids safe? We need a commander in chief who does what Ronald Reagan did with communism, which is he set out a global strategy to defeat Soviet communism. And he directed all of his... I'm answering the question, Dana. He directed all of his forces to defeating communism. One of the things we've seen here is how easy it is for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to get distracted from dealing with radical Islamic terrorism. They won't even call it by its name. We need a president who stands up, number one, and says, we will defeat +p1889 +aVAnd we need to be focused on defeating... +p1890 +aV... defeating radical Islamic terrorists. +p1891 +aVWhat I'm saying, Dana, is that is a judgment for every voter to make. What I can tell you is all nine of the people here would make an infinitely better commander in chief than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. +p1892 +aVAnd there is a real danger, Dana, when people get distracted. I'm answering the question, Wolf. There's a real danger when people get distracted by peripheral issues. They get distracted by democracy building. They get distracted about military conflicts. We need to focus on defeating jihadism. +p1893 +aVAnd I will do everything necessary to keep our children safe. +p1894 +aVJudgment, strength, clarity and trust. Barack Obama has said he doesn't believe in American leadership or America winning \u2014 he is wrong. America can win again and we will win again. Ronald Reagan reignited the American economy, rebuilt the Military, bankrupted the Soviet Union and defeated Soviet Communism. I will do the same thing. Cutting taxes, cutting regulation, unleashing small businesses and rebuilding the Military to defeat radical Islamic terrorism \u2014 our strategy is simple. We win, they lose. We've done it before and we can do it again. +p1895 +aVWell, Maria, it's great to be with you. It's great to be here in Milwaukee. You know, the question you asked really I think is the most important question any of us can have \u2014 face, which is, how do we get the economy growing? How do we bring back economic growth? Because economic growth, it's foundational to every other challenge we have. As you rightly noted, from 2008 to today, our economy has grown 1.2 percent a year on average. The Obama economy is a disaster, and the IMF is telling us this is a new normal. It doesn't have to be. If you look at the history of America, there are three levers that government has had to facilitate economic growth. The first is tax reform. And as you noted, I have rolled out a bold and simple flat tax: 10 percent for every American that would produce booming growth and 4.9 million new jobs within a decade. The second element is regulatory reform, pulling back the armies of regulators that have descended like locusts on small businesses. And the third element is sound money. Every time we've pursued all three of those \u2014 whether in the 1920s with Calvin Coolidge or the 1960s with JFK or the 1980s with Ronald Reagan \u2014 the result has been incredible economic growth. We have done it before, and with leadership, we can do it again. +p1896 +aVWell, my Mom is here, so I don't think we should be pushing any grannies off cliffs. And, you miss-stated what I've said on entitlement reform. What I've said is for seniors we should make no changes whatsoever, for younger workers we should gradually raise the retirement age, we should have benefits grow more slowly, and we should allow them to keep a portion of their taxes in a personal account that they control, and can pass on to their kids... +p1897 +aVI want to go back to the discussion we had a minute ago because, you know, what was said was right. The democrats are laughing \u2014 because if republicans join democrats as the party of amnesty, we will lose. And, you know, I understand that when the mainstream media covers immigration, it doesn't often see it as an economic issue. But, I can tell you for millions \u2014 of Americans at home watching this, it is a very personal economic issue. And, I will say the politics of it will be very, very different if a bunch of lawyers or bankers were crossing the Rio Grande. Or if a bunch of people with journalism degrees were coming over and driving down the wages in the press. Then, we would see stories about the economic calamity that is befalling our nation. And, I will say for those of us who believe people 'ought to come to this country legally, and we should enforce the law, we're tired of being told it's anti-immigrant. It's offensive. I am the son of an immigrant who came legally from Cuba... ...to seek the American dream. And, we can embrace legal immigration while believing in the rule of law \u2014 and I would note, try going illegally to another country. Try going to China, or Japan. Try going to Mexico. See what they do. Every sovereign nation secures its borders, and it is not compassionate to say we're not going to enforce the laws... ...And we're going to drive down the wages for millions of hardworking men and women. That is abandoning the working... +p1898 +aVWell, sure, you put your finger on what the problem is. The current system isn't fair. Washington is fundamentally corrupt. There are more words in the IRS code than there are in the Bible \u2014 and \u2014 and not a one of them is as good. Every one of them reflects a carve-out or a subsidy, and it's all about empowering the Washington cartel. My simple Flat Tax says that, for a family of four, for the first $36,000 you earn, you pay no taxes whatsoever. No income taxes, no payroll taxes, no nothing. Above that, every American pays 10 percent across the board \u2014 a flat, fair tax. Which means that no longer do you have hedge-fund billionaires paying a lower tax rate than their secretaries. On the business side, I've got a business flat tax of 16 percent \u2014 again, that applies across the board. Right now, with our corporate income tax, giant corporations with armies of accountants regularly are paying little to no taxes while small businesses are getting hammered. This is fair and across-the-board. Now, you ask, how do the numbers add up? I would encourage folks, if you go to our website, tedcruz.org, we have the specific numbers on the website. This plan eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax, eliminates the corporate income tax, and it abolishes the IRS. And the effect of that is incredible economic growth. It means every income group will see double-digit increases, from the very poorest to the very weakest, of at least 14 percent. So if you're a single mom, if you're making $40,000 a year, what that means is an extra about $5,000 in your pocket to provide for your kids, to make ends meet. It has a powerful, powerful effect. And there's one other really powerful feature of my plan, which is that it's border-adjustable. Which means, if you're an exporter \u2014 if you're a farmer, if you're a rancher, if you're a manufacturer, you don't pay the businesses flat tax. Exports are free of that tax, but all imports pay that 16 percent business flat tax, which means this tax plan would cause jobs to boom, and it would let America compete with China and the world on a level playing field. +p1899 +aVWell, the numbers the Tax Foundation had put out is that the static cost of the plan is $3.6 trillion over 10 years, but the dynamic cost of the plan, which \u2014 which is the cost that factors in growth, is about $768 billion. It is less than a trillion. It costs less than virtually every other plan people have put up here, and yet it produces more growth and it's one of the very few plans that abolishes the IRS. But on top of that, today, we rolled out a spending plan. $500 billion in specific cuts \u2014 five major agencies that I would eliminate. The IRS, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Energy, the Department of Commerce, and HUD \u2014 and then 25 specific programs. Again, that's on our website at tedcruz.org. You want to look at specificity? It's easy for everyone to say, "cut spending". It's much harder and riskier to put out, chapter and verse, specifically the programs you would cut to stop bankrupting our kids and grandkids. +p1900 +aV...Middle ground that brings both of these together... +p1901 +aV...Exactly right, that we have to defend this nation. You think defending this nation is expensive, try not defending it. That's a lot more expensive. But, you can do that, and pay for it. You can do that, and also be fiscally responsible. You know, I mention that the 25 programs that I put today, that I would eliminate them. Among them are corporate welfare, like sugar subsidies. Let's take that as an example. Sugar subsidies. Sugar farmers farm under... ...under roughly 0.2% of the farmland in America, and yet they give 40% of the lobbying money. That sort of corporate welfare is why we're bankrupting our kids, and grandkids. I would end those subsidies to pay for defending this nation... +p1902 +aVAbsolutely yes. You know, I have spent much of my adult life enforcing the law and defending the Constitution. And the problem that underlies all of this is the cronyism and corruption of Washington. You know, the opening question Jerry asked, would you bail out the big banks again? Nobody gave you an answer to that. I'll give you an answer. Absolutely not. And what we have right now is we have Washington \u2014 as government gets bigger and bigger, you know, the biggest lie in all of Washington and in all of politics is that Republicans are the party of the rich. The truth is, the rich do great with big government. They get in bed with big government. The big banks get bigger and bigger and bigger under Dodd-Frank and community banks are going out of business. And, by the way, the consequence of that is small businesses can't get business loans, and it is that fundamental corruption that is why six of the 10 wealthiest counties in America are in and around Washington, D.C. And let me give you a contrast to Washington cronyism. Some weeks ago, a woman named Sabina Loving testified at a hearing that I chaired in the Senate. Sabina Loving is an African-American single mom who started a tax preparation business in the south side of Chicago. She found a store front, she wanted to have her own business. She started a business. But then the IRS promulgated new regulations targeting tax preparers. They did it under a more than 100-year-old statute called the Dead Horse Act. Now, this statute and the IRS in classic Washington crony fashion had exemptions for lawyers and big fancy accountants, but Sabina had to pay $1,000 an employee. It would have driven her out of business, and Ms. Loving sued the IRS. She took the Obama IRS to court, and she won, and they struck down the rule for picking the big guys over the little guys. +p1903 +aVYes. Now, let's be clear, there is a role for the Federal Reserve \u2014 what the Fed is doing now is it is a series of philosopher- kings trying to guess what's happening with the economy. You look at the Fed, one of the reasons we had the financial crash is throughout the 2000s, we had loose money, we had an asset bubble, it drove up the price of real estate, drove up the price of commodities, and then in the third quarter of 2008, the Fed tightened the money and crashed those asset prices, which caused a cascading collapse. That's why I am supporting getting back to rules-based monetary system not with a bunch of philosopher-kings deciding, but tied... +p1904 +aVSo let me be clear. I would not bail them out, but instead of adjusting monetary policy according to whims and getting it wrong over and over again and causing booms and busts, what the Fed should be doing is, number one, keeping our money tied to a stable level of gold, and, number two, serving as a lender of last resort. That's what central banks do. So if you have a run on the bank, the Fed can serve as a lender of last resort, but it's not a bailout. It is a loan at higher interest rates. That's how central banks have worked. And I'll point out \u2014 look, we had a gold standard under Bretton Woods, we had it for about 170 years of our nation's history, and enjoyed booming economic growth and lower inflation than we have had with the Fed now. We need to get back to sound money, which helps, in particular, working men and women. What Washington does \u2014 the people who are doing well in the Obama economy are those with power and influence in the Obama government. The people who working men and women... +p1905 +aVSo, Governor Kasich... +p1906 +aV...why would you then bail out rich Wall Street banks, but not Main street, not Mom and Pop, not Sabina Loving? +p1907 +aVBut you just said an executive... +p1908 +aV...knows to step in and bail out a bank. +p1909 +aVSo you said you'd abandon philosophy and abandon principle... +p1910 +aV...but what would you do if the bank was failing? +p1911 +aVSo you \u2014 you would bail them out. +p1912 +aVAnd, Maria, I will note, she's got a lot of experience, but her policies have proven disastrous. If you look at foreign policy, every region in the world has gotten worse. Under her leadership, we abandon the nation of Israel. Under her leadership, radical Islamic terrorism has been on to the rise. Under her leadership, and Obama's leadership, Iran is getting $100 billion dollars, and on the verge of getting a nuclear weapon. Everything she's put her hand to, or has touched \u2014 and when we talk about the cronyism of Washington, Hillary Clinton embodies the cronyism... ...of Washington. And, I'll give you an example of that, which is the Congressional exemption from Obamacare, which is fundamentally wrong, and I'll tell you this, if I'm elected president, I will veto any statute that exempts members of congress. The law should apply evenly to every American. +p1913 +aVMaria, critically, when it comes to climate change... +p1914 +aV...Our \u2014 our... +p1915 +aVFifty-eight years ago, my father fled Cuba. As he stood on the deck of that ferryboat with the wind and salt air blowing, he looked back at the oppression and torture he was escaping. And yet he looked forward to the promise of America. His story is our story. What ties Americans together is we are all the children of those who risked everything for freedom. America is in crisis now. I believe in America. And if we get back to the free market principles and constitutional liberties that built this country, we can turn this country around. I believe that 2016 will be an election like 1980, that we will win by following Reagan's admonition to paint in bold colors, not pale pastels. We're building a grassroots army. I ask you to join us at tedcruz.org. And we, the people, can turn this nation around. +p1916 +aVI'm too agreeable, easy going. You know, I think my biggest weakness is exactly the opposite. I'm a fighter. I am passionate about what I believe. I've been passionate my whole life about the Constitution. And, you know, for six-and-a-half years, we've had a gigantic party. If you want someone to grab a beer with, I may not be that guy. But if you want someone to drive you home, I will get the job done and I will get you home. +p1917 +aVBecky, if you want a 10 percent flat tax where the numbers add up, I rolled out my tax plan today, you can find it on line at tedcruz.org. It is a simple flat tax where for individuals, a family of four pays nothing on the first $36,000. After that you pay 10 percent as a flat tax going up. The billionaire and the working man, no hedge fund manager pays less than his secretary. On top of that, there is a business flat tax of 16 percent. Now that applies universally to giant corporations that with lobbyists right now are not paying taxes, and as small business. And you wanted to know the numbers, the Tax Foundation, which has scored every one of our plans, shows that this plan will allow the economy to generate 4.9 million jobs, to raise wages over 12 percent, and to generate 14 percent growth. And it costs, with dynamic scoring, less than a trillion dollars. Those are the hard numbers. And every single income decile sees a double-digit increase in after-tax income. +p1918 +aVGrowth is the answer. And as Reagan demonstrated, if we cut taxes, we can bring back growth. +p1919 +aVYou know, let me say something at the outset. The questions that have been asked so far in this debate illustrate why the American people don't trust the media. This is not a cage match. And, you look at the questions \u2014 "Donald Trump, are you a comic-book villain?" "Ben Carson, can you do math?" "John Kasich, will you insult two people over here?" "Marco Rubio, why don't you resign?" "Jeb Bush, why have your numbers fallen?" How about talking about the substantive issues the people care about? +p1920 +aVAnd Carl \u2014 Carl, I'm not finished yet. The contrast with the Democratic debate, where every fawning question from the media was, "Which of you is more handsome and why?" And let me be clear. +p1921 +aVLet me be clear. The men and women on this stage have more ideas, more experience, more common sense than every participant in the Democratic debate. That debate reflected a debate between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. And nobody watching at home believed that any of the moderators had any intention of voting in a Republican primary. The questions that are being asked shouldn't be trying to get people to tear into each other. It should be what are your substantive positions... +p1922 +aVYou want me to answer that question? I'm happy to answer the question... +p1923 +aVLet me tell you how that question... +p1924 +aVLet me tell you how that question... +p1925 +aV... so you don't actually want to hear the answer, John? +p1926 +aVYou don't want to hear the answer. You just want to... +p1927 +aVYou're not interested in an answer. +p1928 +aV...Then I'll buy you a tequila... +p1929 +aV...Or, even some famous Colorado brownies. +p1930 +aVWell, sure. This deal in Washington is an example of why Washington's broken. Republican leadership joined with every single Democrat, add $80 trillion to our debt to do nothing to fix the problems. And, let me now on Social Security because we were getting into a good substantive exchange, and I want to say I think both Chris, and Mike are right. Governor Huckabee's exactly right, we need to honor the promises made to our seniors, but for younger workers \u2014 look. I'm 44 years old. It is hard to find someone in my generation that thinks Social Security will be there for us. We can save and preserve and strengthen Social Security by making no changes for seniors, but for younger workers gradually increasing the retirement age, changing the rate of growth so that it matches inflation, and critically allowing younger workers to keep a portion of our tax payments in a personal account that we own, we control them, we can pass on to our kids. +p1931 +aVWell, we've gotta turn the economy around for people who are struggling. The Democrats' answer to everything is more government control over wages, and more empowering trial lawyers to file lawsuits. You know, you look at women working. I'll tell you, in my family there are a lot of single moms in my family. My sister was a single mom, both of my aunts who were a single moms. My mom who's here today, was a single mom when my father left us when I was 3 years old. Now, thank God, my father was invited to a Bible study and became born again and he came back to my mom and me and we were raised together. But I \u2014 the struggle of single moms is extraordinary. And you know, when you see Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and all the Democrats talking about wanting to address the plight of working women, not a one of them mentioned the fact that under Barack Obama, 3.7 million women have entered poverty. Not a one of them mentioned the fact that under Barack Obama and the big government economy, the median wage for women has dropped $733. The the truth of the matter is, big government benefits the wealthy, it benefits the lobbyists, it benefits the giant corporations. And the people who are getting hammered are small businesses, it's single moms, it's Hispanics. That is who I'm fighting for. The people that Washington leaves behind. +p1932 +aVWell, Rick, it's a very important question. I have got deep concerns about the Fed. The first thing I think we need to do is audit the Fed. And I am an original co-sponsor of Rand Paul's audit the Fed legislation. The second thing we need to do is I think we need to bring together a bipartisan commission to look at getting back to rules- based monetary policy, end this star chamber that has been engaging in this incredible experiment of quantitative easing, QE1, QE2, QE3, QE- infinity. And the people who are being impacted, you know, a question that was asked earlier, Becky asked, was about working women. You know, it's interesting, you look at on Wall Street, the Fed is doing great. It's driving up stock prices. Wall Street is doing great. You know, today, the top 1 percent earn a higher share of our income than any year since 1928. But if you look at working men and women. If you look at a single mom buying groceries, she sees hamburger prices have gone up nearly 40 percent. She sees her cost of electricity going up. She sees her health insurance going up. And loose money is one of the major problems. We need sound money. And I think the Fed should get out of the business of trying to juice our economy and simply be focused on sound money and monetary stability, ideally tied to gold. +p1933 +aVLet me say on that... +p1934 +aV...Rand is exactly right. His plan is a good plan, and I will note that my 10% plan also eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax, +p1935 +aV...eliminates the business... [ +p1936 +aV...income tax... [ +p1937 +aV...10% flat rate... +p1938 +aV...is the lowest personal rate any candidate up here has, and what it would also enable us to do is for every citizen to fill out their taxes on a postcard so we can eliminate the IRS. +p1939 +aVYou know, everyone here talks about the need to take on Washington. The natural next question is who actually has done so. Who actually has stood up not just to Democrats, but to leaders in our own party? When millions of Americans rose up against Obamacare, I was proud to lead that fight. When millions of Americans rose up against amnesty, I was proud to lead that fight. When millions of Americans rose up against Planned Parenthood, I was proud to lead that fight. If people are promising they're going to take on Washington and cronyism, you need to look to who has been doing it. In my family, my dad fled oppression in Cuba to come to America. Freedom is personal for me, and I will always keep my word and fight for freedom. +p1940 +aVI'm Ted Cruz. I am the son of an Irish-Italian mom and a Cuban immigrant dad who fled oppression and came to America seeking freedom. I'm a husband to my best friend, Heidi, who's here tonight. I'm a dad to two little girls who are the loves of my life, Caroline and Catherine. If you're fed up with Washington, if you're looking for someone to stand up to career politicians in both parties, I'm the only one on this stage who has done that over and over again, and if we stand together, we can bring America back. +p1941 +aVWell, let me tell you, Jake, the single biggest national security threat facing America right now is the threat of a nuclear Iran. We've seen six and a half years of President Obama leading from behind. Weakness is provocative, and this Iranian nuclear deal is nothing short of catastrophic. This deal, on its face, will send over $100 billion to the Ayatollah Khamenei, making the Obama administration the world's leading financier of radical Islamic terrorism. +p1942 +aVThis deal abandons four American hostages in Iran, and this deal will only accelerate Iran's acquiring nuclear weapons. You'd better believe it. If I am elected president, on the very first day in office, I will rip to shreds this catastrophic Iranian nuclear deal. +p1943 +aVWell, let's be clear when it comes to experience. What President Obama wants to do is he's run to the United Nations, and he wants to use the United Nations to bind the United States, and take away our sovereignty. Well, I spent five and a half years as a Solicitor General of Texas, the lead lawyer for the state, in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, and I went in front of the Supreme Court, and took on the world court of the United Nations in a case called Medellin v. Texas, and we won a historic victory saying the World Court, and the U.N., has no power to bind the United States, and no President of the United States, Republican or Democrat, has the authority to give away our sovereignty. And, so, if there's anyone up here who would be bound by this catastrophic deal with Iran, they're giving up the core responsibility of commander in chief, and as president, I would never do that. +p1944 +aVJake, Jake... +p1945 +aVJake, there is no more important topic in 2016 than this topic right here, and I've listened to several folks saying, "Well, gosh, if they cheat, we'll act." We won't know under this agreement \u2014 there are several facilities in Iran they designate as military facilities that are off limit all together. Beyond that, the other facilities, we give them 24 days notice before inspecting them. That is designed to allow them to hide the evidence. And most astonishingly, this agreement trusts the Iranians to inspect themselves. That makes no sense whatsoever. And let me know \u2014 President Obama is violating federal law... +p1946 +aV... by not handing over the side deals, and we ought to see the United States Congress... +p1947 +aV... stand up together and say, "Hand over this treaty, and protect this country." +p1948 +aVWell, let me tell you, Dana, number one, I'm proud to stand for life. These Planned Parenthood videos are horrifying. I would encourage every American to watch the videos. See \u2014 seeing your Planned Parenthood officials callously, heartlessly bartering and selling the body parts of human beings, and then ask yourself, "are these my values?" These are horrifying. On these videos, Planned Parenthood also essentially confesses to multiple felonies. It is a felony with ten years' jail term to sell the body parts of unborn children for profit. That's what these videos show Planned Parenthood doing. Absolutely we shouldn't be sending $500 million of taxpayer money to funding an ongoing criminal enterprise, and I'll tell you, the fact that Republican leadership in both houses has begun this discussion by preemptively surrendering to Barack Obama and saying, "we'll give in because Obama threatens a veto." You know, Obama's committed to his principles. His liberal principles, he will fight for them. He says... +p1949 +aVI will veto any budget that doesn't fund Planned Parenthood, and Republicans surrender. We need to stop surrendering and start standing... +p1950 +aV...for our principles. +p1951 +aVWell, Jake, you know, I'm \u2014 I'm very glad that Donald Trump's being in this race has forced the mainstream media finally to talk about illegal immigration. I think that's very important. I like and respect Ben Carson. I'll let him talk about his own plans. But I will say this: The natural next question that primary voters are asking, after we focus on illegal immigration is, okay, what are the records of the various candidates? And this is an issue on which there are stark differences. A majority of the men and women on this stage have previously and publicly embraced amnesty. I am the only candidate on this stage who has never supported amnesty and, in fact, who helped lead the fight to stop a massive amnesty plan. In 2013, when Barack Obama and Harry Reid joined the Washington Republicans in a massive, I stood shoulder to shoulder with Jeff Sessions helping lead the fight. You know, folks here have talked about, how do you secure the borders? Well, I've been leading the fight in the Senate to triple the Border Patrol, to put in place fencings and walls, to put in place a strong biometric exit/entry system... +p1952 +aVWell, Dana, I've known John Roberts for 20 years, he's amazingly talented lawyer, but, yes, it was a mistake when he was appointed to the Supreme Court. He's a good enough lawyer that he knows in these Obamacare cases he changed the statute, he changed the law in order to force that failed law on millions of Americans for a political outcome. And, you know, we're frustrated as conservatives. We keep winning elections, and then we don't get the outcome we want. And, let me focus on two moments in time. Number one, in 1990, in one room was David Souter, and in another room was Edith Jones, the rock ribbed (ph) conservative on the fifth circuit court of appeals. George Herbert Walker Bush appointed David Souter. And then in 2005, in one room was John Roberts, in another room was my former boss, Mike Luttig, the rock ribbed (ph) conservative on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals... +p1953 +aV...George W. Bush appointed John Roberts, and let me give you the consequences of that. If, instead, the President Bush had appointed Edith Jones, and Mike Luttig, which is who I would have appointed, Obamacare would have been struck down three years ago, and the marriage laws of all 50 states would be on the books. These matter, and I fought to defend the constitution my whole life... +p1954 +aV...and I will as president as well. +p1955 +aVIt is true that after George W. Bush nominated John Roberts, I supported his confirmation. That was a mistake and I regret that. I wouldn't have nominated John Roberts, and indeed, Governor Bush pointed out why. It wasn't that the President Bushes wanted to appoint a liberal to the court, it's that it was the easier choice. Both David Souter and John Roberts, they didn't have a long paper trail. If you had nominated Edith Jones or Mike Ludig (ph) you would have had a bloody fight and they weren't willing to spend political capital to put a strong judicial conservative on the court. I have spent my entire life, starting from clerking for Chief Justice William Rehnquist on the United States Supreme Court, one of the most principled jurists. We have an out-of-control Court, and I give you my word, if I'm elected president, every single Supreme Court justice will faithfully follow the law and will not act like philosopher kings \u2014 +p1956 +aV\u2014 imposing their liberal policies on millions of Americans \u2014 +p1957 +aV\u2014 who need to be trusted to govern ourselves. +p1958 +aVI \u2014 I am not, and \u2014 and you mentioned that the U.S. Supreme Court had rightly upheld the individual right to keep and bear arms. I was proud to lead 31 states before the U.S. Supreme Court defending the Second Amendment, and we won that landmark victory. And indeed, just a couple of years ago, when Harry Reid and Barack Obama came after the right to keep and bear arms of millions of Americans, I was proud to lead the fight in the United States Senate to protect our right to keep and bear arms, and for that reason... +p1959 +aV... I was honored to be endorsed by Gun Owners of America... +p1960 +aV... as the strongest supporter of the Second Amendment on this stage today, and I will... +p1961 +aV... fight every day to defend the Bill of Rights. +p1962 +aVWell, I wouldn't change the $10 bill, I'd change the $20. I'd take Jackson off and I'd leave Alexander Hamilton right where he is as one of our Founding Fathers. And I very much agree with Marco that it should be Rosa Parks. She was a principled pioneer that helped change this country, helped remedy racial injustice, and that would be an honor that would be entirely appropriate. +p1963 +aVYou know, as a Cuban, I might go with Cohiba (ph), and I'll tell you, I'd go with, for Heidi, Angel, because she is my angel. +p1964 +aVRonald Reagan believed in America. If I'm elected president our friends and allies across the globe will know that we stand with them. the bust of Winston Churchill will be back in the Oval Office, and the American embassy in Israel will be in Jerusalem. Enemies across this world will know the United States is not to be trifled with. +p1965 +aVChris, I believe the American people are looking for someone to speak the truth. If you're looking for someone to go to Washington, to go along to get along, to get -- to agree with the career politicians in both parties who get in bed with the lobbyists and special interests, then I ain't your guy. There is a reason... .... that we have $18 trillion in debt. Because as conservatives, as Republicans, we keep winning elections. We got a Republican House, we've got a Republican Senate, and we don't have leaders who honor their commitments. I will always tell the truth and do what I said I would do. +p1966 +aVChris, absolutely yes. And not only will I support it......I have authored Kate's law in the United States Senate and filed that legislation. I tried to get the Senate to vote to pass Kate's law on the floor of the Senate just one week ago, and the leader of our own party blocked a vote on Kate's law. You know, there was reference made to our leaders being stupid. It's not a question of stupidity. It's that they don't want to enforce the immigration laws. That there are far too many in the Washington cartel that support amnesty. President Obama has talked about fundamentally transforming this country. There's 7 billion people across the face of the globe, many of whom want to come to this country. If they come legally, great. But if they come illegally and they get amnesty, that is how we fundamentally change this country, and it really is striking. A majority of the candidates on this stage have supported amnesty. I have never supported amnesty, and I led the fight against Chuck Schumer's gang of eight amnesty legislation in the Senate. +p1967 +aVMegyn, we need a commander in chief that speaks the truth. We will not defeat radical Islamic terrorism so long as we have a president unwilling to utter the words, "radical Islamic terrorism". When I asked General Dempsey, the chairman of the joint chiefs, what would be required militarily to destroy +p1968 +aVMegyn, of course it's an ideological problem, that's one of the reasons I introduce the Expatriate Terrorist Act in the Senate that said if any American travels to the Middle East and joining +p1969 +aVWell, Bret, of course they have, and over the last six and a half years we've seen the consequences of the Obama-Clinton foreign policy. Leading from behind is a disaster. We have abandoned and alienated our friends and allies, and our enemies are stronger. Radical Islam is on the rise, Iran's on the verge of acquiring a nuclear weapon, China is waging cyber warfare against America, Russia -- General Soleimani, you just mentioned, the Iranian general is the head of the al Quds forces. He's directly responsible for the murder of over 500 American servicemen in Iraq, and part of this Iranian deal was lifting the international sanctions on General Soleimani. The day General Soleimani flew back from Moscow to Iran was the day we believed that Russia used cyber warfare against the Joint Chiefs. We need a new commander in chief that will stand up to our enemies, and that will have credibility... It is worth emphasizing that Iran released our hostages in 1981 the day Ronald Reagan was sworn into office. +p1970 +aVBrett, can I -- Brett, can I jump in on this one? +p1971 +aVWell, I am blessed to receive a word from God every day in receiving the scriptures and reading the scriptures. And God speaks through the Bible. I'm the son of a pastor and evangelist and I've described many times how my father, when I was a child, was an alcoholic. He wasn't a Christian. And my father left my mother and left me when I was just three years old. And someone invited him to Clay Road Baptist Church. And he gave his heart to Jesus and it turned him around. And he got on a plane and he flew back to my mother and me. I would also note that the scripture tells us, "you shall know them by their fruit." We see lots of "campaign conservatives." But if we're going to win in 2016, we need a consistent conservative, someone who has been a fiscal conservative, a social conservative, a national security conservative. There are real differences among the candidates on issues like amnesty, like Obamacare, like religious liberty, like life and marriage. And I have been proud to fight and stand for religious liberty, to stand against Planned Parenthood, to defend life for my entire career. And I will be proud to continue to do so as president of the United States. +p1972 +aVIf I'm elected president, let me tell you about my first day in office. The first thing I intend to do is to rescind every illegal and unconstitutional executive action taken by Barack Obama. The next thing I intend to do is instruct the Department of Justice to open an investigation into these videos and to prosecute Planned Parenthood for any criminal violations. The next thing I intend to do is instruct the Department of Justice and the IRS to start (sic) persecuting religious liberty, and then intend to cancel the Iran deal, and finally move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. I will keep my word. My father fled Cuba, and I will fight to defend liberty because my family knows what it's like to lose it. +p1973 +asVTODD +p1974 +(lp1975 +VGood evening, and welcome to the +p1976 +aVAnd neither party has seen this yet. These candidates are both running for the Democratic nomination, but they are very different from each other when it comes to what matters most and how they would go about the job of being president. Our job tonight is to draw out those differences so you, the voters, can understand them and be fully informed. +p1977 +aVFirst, I want to say a special thanks to the New Hampshire Union Leader for helping make this debate possible, and the readers, who helped provide some of the questions and topics that we'll be addressing tonight. The rules tonight, by the way, are simple: 90 seconds for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. +p1978 +aVThank you, Senator. Secretary Clinton. +p1979 +aVAll right. Let's get started. Secretary Clinton, last night you cited the Concord Monitor when you said of Senator Sanders that, quote, "It's very hard to see how any of his proposals could ever be achievable." So please tell us why you think if he's elected president on a platform of promising things like free public college and universal healthcare, that he cannot achieve those things. +p1980 +aVThank you, Secretary. Senator Sanders, so just explain how you spent nearly two decades in Congress and haven't gotten any of these things passed. Why do you think as president you'll be able to achieve big, big new programs like this? +p1981 +aVGo. +p1982 +aVYes, go ahead. +p1983 +aVAll right, thank you both. Rachel. +p1984 +aVI'd like to follow up on a comment that Secretary Clinton said, Senator. President Obama has not called for abolishing the death penalty. President Obama is for the big Asian trade deal known as TPP, and just yesterday you said you can't be both a moderate or a progressive, but you can't be both. Is President Obama, in your judgment, based on these policies positions, a progressive? +p1985 +aV...Secretary Clinton, go ahead... +p1986 +aV 30 seconds, and then we'll move. +p1987 +aVThank you. +p1988 +aV... Secretary, we're gonna... +p1989 +aVThirty seconds. +p1990 +aVThank you both. +p1991 +aVAll right, welcome back. Let's get right to it. Senator Sanders, you were talking about all of your campaign contributions and campaign finance reform. You rail against big money in politics. But do you realize there is one public financing system that we do have in place, and it is\u2014it is in place to run for president. Why aren't you walking the walk on that? Why aren't you participating in the presidential public financing system which is designed to essentially keep big money out of presidential politics? +p1992 +aVWell, going on that then, why criticize her on Super PACs, and you got\u2014and all this when it is\u2014you know, that's the system? I mean, you could be participating in a publicly-financing\u2014public financing system... +p1993 +aV... and being able to set\u2014being able to set an example. +p1994 +aV... she has had more people praise her plan than yours. +p1995 +aVThank you both. Let me move on to our next question here, and in fact it comes to us through New England Cable News. Secretary Clinton, it's addressed to you, and it's about this issue of the speeches, particularly to Goldman Sachs. This is what the questioner wrote verbatim. "I am concerned with the abuses of Wall Street has taken with the American taxpayers money," and then she asks whether you would release the transcripts of your Goldman Sachs speeches, and then added, "Don't you think the voting public has a right to know what was said?" But, let's make that bigger. Are you willing to release the transcripts of all your paid speeches? We do know through reporting that there were transcription services for all of those paid speeches. In full disclosure, would you release all of them? +p1996 +aVSenator, you sound like you want to respond. Go ahead. +p1997 +aVWe'll be right back. And we're going to get to trade and a lot of other issues. +p1998 +aVGo ahead, Senator Sanders\u201430 seconds, your response. +p1999 +aVAll right. Senator, I want to stay, though... +p2000 +aVGo ahead. 30 seconds. +p2001 +aVLet me\u2014let\u2014we're gonna\u2014we're staying\u2014we're staying basically on this topic. Obviously you've been emphasizing this difference on the Iraq war, but one place where you do agree, and one place where you voted to authorize the use of force, was in favor of the war in Afghanistan. Right now, it is possible President Obama is going to be leaving the next president, perhaps President Sanders, at least 10,000 troops in Afghanistan. How long will those troops be in Afghanistan under President Sanders? +p2002 +aVCan you address a question on Afghanistan? How long are these troops going to be there? If President Obama leaves you 10,000 troops, how long do you think they're going to be there? +p2003 +aVSecretary Clinton, 30 seconds: How long are these troops going to be in Afghanistan? We have more American troops in Afghanistan than what we were talking about with Iraq. +p2004 +aVYou know, Senator Sanders, nobody knows who your foreign policy advisers are. You haven't given a major foreign policy speech. And it doesn't sound like all the time that foreign policy is a priority, other than when you're asked about it, and you say you're going to crush +p2005 +aVAll right, Senator, 30 seconds. +p2006 +aV30 seconds, madam secretary. +p2007 +aVAlright, as Commander in Chief, Senator Sanders, you've got to prioritize potential threats to the United States. Three countries, North Korea, Iran, Russia. How would you rank them in order of their threat to America's security right now... +p2008 +aV... Starting with the biggest threat. +p2009 +aV... I didn't say that... +p2010 +aV... No... +p2011 +aV... We already had that. I'm talking about these three countries. How would you orient our national security, our national defense posture. +p2012 +aVSecretary of Defense Ash Carter this week picked one of those three, and he has said Russia is, basically, the most important national security threat. Sort of reorienting the defense and the challenges to that. Do you agree with his decisions... +p2013 +aVSecretary Clinton, what do you think of Secretary of Defense Ash Carter. He's basically putting Russia above Iran, above North Korea, as sort of the chief national security challenge right now. +p2014 +aVThank you both, Rachel? +p2015 +aVAnd we are back. We're gonna get into a little bit of election politics, electability, in a little bit. Senator Sanders, The Iowa Democratic Party has declared Hillary Clinton the winner of Monday's Iowa caucuses\u2014narrowest of margins. Today, the Des Moines Register has an editorial that calls for the audit of the results, saying, quote, "what happened Monday night at the Democratic caucuses was a debacle, period. The results were too close not to do a complete audit." Senator Sanders, do you accept the idea that Hillary Clinton won Iowa? And do you\u2014or do you believe the caucuses are still an open question? +p2016 +aVSecretary Clinton, will you participate in some sort of audit, if that's what the party wants to do? You good with that? +p2017 +aVThat's fair enough. OK. +p2018 +aVGood, we move on. We're happy with that. We have more questions. +p2019 +aVWe'll stay on this issue. We'll stay on this topic. Secretary Clinton, just like there are some Democrats that question Senator Sanders' ability in the general election, many Democratic voters that our reporters have been running into in Iowa and New Hampshire, they tell our reporters over and over again they're worried about the emails issue, not because they don't believe your explanation, but because it's a drip-drip, because the cloud is hanging over your head and that it will impact the general election. They see your numbers right now and they think it's the email issue as to why you're not polling very well. So can you reassure these Democrats that somehow the email issue isn't going to blow up your candidacy if you're the nominee? +p2020 +aVAll right, Madam Secretary, there is an open\u2014there is an open FBI investigation into this matter about how you may have handled classified material. Are you 100 percent confident that nothing is going to come of this FBI investigation? +p2021 +aVWell, Senator sanders, you famously at the first debate said you didn't give a darn about her emails; I think you used another . +p2022 +aVYou're right. I'm trying to\u2014it's a\u2014it's a family hour still right now. After 11:00, I'll say it the other way. And you mostly have refrained from commenting on it, but recently you called it a very serious issue, and then the other day you said well she's getting slapped with the email controversy. Are you\u2014how are you feeling about these darn emails now? +p2023 +aVOK. Senator Sanders, thank you. +p2024 +aVSecretary Clinton, let me turn to the issue of trade. In the '90s you supported +p2025 +aVWell, Senator Sanders, I know you want to respond on this, you have never supported a trade deal since you've been in Congress. +p2026 +aVBut if you do that as president... If you do that as president, how are you not essentially letting China, who will do all of these deals around the world, how are you going to prevent China from essentially setting the rules of trade for the world? +p2027 +aVAll right. Thank you both. We're going to sneak in one more break here, and when we come back we'll squeeze as many questions as we can before we end this thing. We'll be right back. +p2028 +aVAll right. Welcome back here in the final minutes. +p2029 +aVThe home stretch of this only Democratic debate in the final week before the primary. Let me start with you, Secretary Clinton, on this question. Obviously, President Obama got a lot of ambitious stuff done in his first year and a half. You're going to have to make choices. And there's a lot of heavy lifts. And he made choices. He did healthcare and it came at the expense, arguably, of immigration reform. Had he put immigration reform first, perhaps that gets done and healthcare doesn't. So there are three big lifts that you've talked about: immigration, gun reform, climate change. What do you do first? Because you know the first one is the one you have the best shot at getting done. +p2030 +aVAll right, but Senator Sanders......you've still got to do something first. As you know, history said\u2014shows what you pick first is your best shot at getting, and how you prioritize things. +p2031 +aVImmigration reform, for instance, fell by the wayside in the first term because of this. +p2032 +aVOK. Thank you. +p2033 +aVAll right, before we go, I want to ask each one of these. Secretary Clinton, you've made it clear when you look at Senator Sanders, you do not see a president, but do you see\u2014 +p2034 +aVBut do you see\u2014do you see a vice president? +p2035 +aVWould you unite the party by trying to pick Senator Sanders as your running mate? +p2036 +aVSenator, would you consider the secretary? +p2037 +aVSecretary Clinton, closing statements. You are first. +p2038 +aVThank you, Madam Secretary. Senator Sanders. +p2039 +aVWell, there you have it. I promise you, Rachel and I have a lot more questions, but we just don't have any more time, unless we could a third hour, but I don't think so. Our debate coverage\u2014 debate coverage will continue in just a moment with our colleague . And we want to thank all of you for being here, and we want to thank the two candidates for taking part in this important event. +p2040 +aVWe'll see you in a few minutes. Thank you. +p2041 +asVHARWOOD +p2042 +(lp2043 +VMr. Trump, you've done very well in this campaign so far by promising to build a wall and make another country pay for it. +p2044 +aVSend 11 million people out of the country. Cut taxes $10 trillion without increasing the deficit. +p2045 +aVAnd make Americans better off because your greatness would replace the stupidity and incompetence of others. +p2046 +aVLet's be honest. Is this a comic book version of a presidential campaign? +p2047 +aVWe're at the 60 seconds. +p2048 +aVWe're at 60 seconds, but I gotta ask you, you talked about your tax plan. You say that it would not increase the deficit because you cut taxes $10 trillion in the economy would take off like... +p2049 +aVHold on, hold on. The economy would take off like a rocket ship. +p2050 +aVI talked to economic advisers who have served presidents of both parties. They said that you have as chance of cutting taxes that much without increasing the deficit as you would of flying away from that podium by flapping your arms. +p2051 +aVThe Tax Foundation says \u2014 has looked at all of our plans and \u2014 and his creates, even with the dynamic effect, $8 trillion dollar deficit... +p2052 +aVGovernor Kasich, hold it, I'm coming to you right now. The... +p2053 +aVWell, I'm asking you about this. +p2054 +aVI'm about to ask you about this. That is, you had some very strong words to say yesterday about what's happening in your party and what you're hearing from the two gentlemen we've just heard from. Would you repeat it? +p2055 +aVWell, let's just get more pointed about it. You said yesterday that you were hearing proposals that were just crazy from your colleagues. Who were you talking about? +p2056 +aVHold on. I think there's a \u2014 I've got question for \u2014 +p2057 +aVHold on, Governor. I've got a question for Governor Bush. +p2058 +aVNo, we're moving to Governor Bush. Governor, the fact that you're at the fifth lectern tonight shows how far your stock has fallen in this race, despite the big investment your donors have made. You noted recently, after slashing your payroll, that you had better things to do than sit around and be demonized by other people. I wanted to ask you \u2014 +p2059 +aVOK. +p2060 +aVGot it. +p2061 +aVBut it's a \u2014 OK. It's a \u2014 it's a question about why you're having difficulty. I want to ask you in this context. Ben Bernanke, who was appointed Fed chairman by your brother, recently wrote a book in which he said he no longer considers himself a Republican because the Republican Party has given in to know- nothingism. Is that why you're having a difficult time in this race? +p2062 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2063 +aVWe're gonna get down the line. Becky's got a question. +p2064 +aVSenator Paul, I've got a question for you on the same subject. +p2065 +aVSenator Paul? +p2066 +aVYou used your time on something else. Senator Paul? +p2067 +aVSenator Paul, the budget deal crafted by Speaker Boehner and passed by the House today makes cuts in entitlement programs, Medicare and Social Security disability, which are the very programs conservatives say need cutting to shrink government and solve our country's long-term budget deficit. Do you oppose that budget deal because it doesn't cut those programs enough? +p2068 +aVSenator, if what you just said is true, why did Speaker Boehner craft this deal and why did Paul Ryan, who has a strong reputation for fiscal discipline, vote for it? +p2069 +aVThank you, Senator . +p2070 +aVJim, thanks. Governor Bush, in a debate like this four years ago, every Republican running for president pledged to oppose a budget deal containing any tax increase even if it had spending cuts ten times as large. A few months later, you told Congress, put me in, coach, you said you would take that deal. Still feel that way? +p2071 +aVBut to \u2014 to the point that you made to Congress, if you were president and you were offered a bipartisan deal that had one dollar... +p2072 +aV...one dollar of tax increases per ten dollars of spending cuts, would you take it? +p2073 +aVSo you don't want the coach to put you in any more? +p2074 +aVThank you, governor. Carl? +p2075 +aVGovernor John Kasich, you've called for abolishing the Export Import Bank, which provides subsidies to help American companies compete with overseas competitors. You call that corporate welfare. One of the largest newspapers in your state wrote an editorial, said they found that strange, writing, that if that's corporate welfare, what does Kasich call the millions of dollars in financial incentives doled out to attract or retain jobs by his development effort \u2014 jobs Ohio. If subsidies are good enough for Ohio companies, why aren't they good enough for companies trying to compete overseas? +p2076 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2077 +aVThank you, Governor. Thank you. +p2078 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate on +p2079 +aVIt sounds like you think Senator Sessions is wrong to believe there is enough abuse in that program that we shouldn't... +p2080 +aVThank you, Senator. Becky? +p2081 +aVGovernor Bush, the tax reform bill that Ronald Reagan signed in 1986 cut the top personal income tax rate to 28 percent \u2014 just like your plan does. But President Reagan taxed capital gains at the same rate, while you would tax them at just 20 percent. Given the problems we've been discussing, growing gap between rich and poor, why would you tax labor at a higher rate than income from investments? +p2082 +aVSenator Rubio, 30 seconds to you. The Tax Foundation, which was alluded to earlier, scored your tax plan and concluded that you give nearly twice as much of a gain in after-tax income to the top 1 percent as to people in the middle of the income scale. Since you're the champion of Americans living paycheck-to- paycheck, don't you have that backward? +p2083 +aVThe Tax Foundation \u2014 just to be clear, they said the... +p2084 +aVNo, I did not. +p2085 +aVSenator, the Tax Foundation said after-tax income for the top 1 percent under your plan would go up 27.9 percent. +p2086 +aVAnd people in the middle of the income spectrum, about 15 percent. +p2087 +aV +p2088 +aVSenator, thank you. +p2089 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you've written about the huge divide in values between middle America and the big coastal cities like New York and Los Angeles. As a preacher as well as a politician, you know that presidents need the moral authority to bring the entire country together. The leading Republican candidate, when you look at the average of national polls right now, is Donald Trump. When you look at him, do you see someone with the moral authority to unite the country? +p2090 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2091 +aVThank you, Governor. Don't forget my colleague, Sharon Epperson. +p2092 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said something that many in your party do not believe, which is that climate change is undeniable, that human activity contributes to it, and you said, quote: "The question is, what do we do to deal with it?". So what do we do? +p2093 +aVWhat should we do? +p2094 +aVYou mean government? +p2095 +aVThank you, Governor. Becky. +p2096 +aVGovernor Bush, Mr. Trump says that he is capable of growing the economy so much that Social Security and Medicare don't have to be touched. Do you want to explain how that is going to happen, Mr. Trump? +p2097 +aVHold on, Governor. I've got a question for \u2014 for Dr. Carson. +p2098 +aVYes. You've said that you would like to replace Medicare with a system of individual family savings accounts, so that families could cover their own expenses. Obviously, that would be a very controversial idea. Explain how that would work, exactly. +p2099 +aVGovernor, do you also think that... +p2100 +aV...that Dr. Carson's right, that we can replace Medicare with individual savings accounts? +p2101 +aVMrs. Fiorina, we're right at the end of our time. +p2102 +aVYou all wanted us to limit . All right. Go ahead. +p2103 +aVWe have now reached the point in the program where candidates are going to give their closing statements, 30 seconds apiece. We're going to go right to left and start with you, Senator Paul. +p2104 +aVGovernor Christie? +p2105 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Cruz? +p2106 +aVThank you, Senator. Mrs. Fiorina? +p2107 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Dr. Carson? +p2108 +aVMr. Trump? +p2109 +aVJust for the record, the debate was always going to be two hours. Senator Rubio? +p2110 +aVSenator Rubio. +p2111 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Bush? +p2112 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Huckabee. +p2113 +aVThank you... +p2114 +aVGovernor Kasich? +p2115 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2116 +asVPAUL +p2117 +(lp2118 +VThe question is, how do we keep America safe from terrorism? Trump says we ought to close that Internet thing. The question really is, what does he mean by that? Like they do in North Korea? Like they do in China? Rubio says we should collect all Americans' records all of the time. The Constitution says otherwise. I think they're both wrong. I think we defeat terrorism by showing them that we do not fear them. I think if we ban certain religions, if we censor the Internet, I think that at that point the terrorists will have won. Regime change hasn't won. Toppling secular dictators in the Middle East has only led to chaos and the rise of radical Islam. I think if we want to defeat terrorism, I think if we truly are sincere about defeating terrorism, we need to quit arming the allies of +p2119 +aVYou know, I think Marco gets it completely wrong. We are not any safer through the bulk collection of all Americans' records. In fact, I think we're less safe. We get so distracted by all of the information, we're not spending enough time getting specific immigration \u2014 specific information on terrorists. The other thing is, is the one thing that might have stopped San Bernardino, that might have stopped 9/11 would have been stricter controls on those who came here. And Marco has opposed at every point increased security \u2014 border security for those who come to our country. On his Gang of Eight bill, he would have liberalized immigration, but he did not \u2014 and he steadfastly opposed any new border security requirements for refugees or students. Last week, I introduced another bill saying we need more security, we need more scrutiny. Once again, Marco opposed this. So Marco can't have it both ways. He thinks he wants to be this, "Oh, I'm great and strong on national defense." But he's the weakest of all the candidates on immigration. He is the one for an open border that is leaving us defenseless. If we want to defend the country, we have to defend against who's coming in, and Marco is \u2014 has more of an allegiance to Chuck Schumer and to the liberals than he does to conservative policy. +p2120 +aVIf I was mentioned in the question, can I respond? +p2121 +aVMarco still misunderstands the immigration issue. What I put forward was an amendment that would have temporarily halted immigration from high-risk terrorist countries, but would have started it up, but I wanted them to go through Global Entry, which is a program where we do background checks. The thing is, is that every terrorist attack we've had since 9/11 has been legal immigration. Marco wants to expand that. I want more rules, more scrutiny, and to defend the country, you have to defend the border. +p2122 +aVWolf... +p2123 +aVWolf, this legislation... +p2124 +aVThis legislation on indefinite detention... +p2125 +aV... I think deserves a little more attention. +p2126 +aVI think that by arming the allies of +p2127 +aVI think that if you believe in regime change, you're mistaken. In 2013, we put 600 tons of weapons \u2014 us, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar \u2014 into the war against Assad. By pushing Assad back, we did create a safe space. We had people coming to our Foreign Relations Committee and saying, "Oh, we need to arm the allies of Al Qaida." They are still saying this. It is a crazy notion. This is the biggest debate we should be having tonight is is regime change a good idea; has it been a good idea. There are still people \u2014 the majority on the stage, they want to topple Assad. And then there will be chaos, and I think +p2128 +aVThese are the fundamental questions of our time, these foreign policy questions, whether or not regime change is a good idea or a bad idea. I don't think because I think the regime change was a bad idea it means that Hussein was necessarily a good idea. There is often variations of evil on both sides of the war. What we have to decide is whether or not regime change is a good idea. It's what the neoconservatives have wanted. It's what the vast majority of those on the stage want. They still want regime change. They want it in Syria. They wanted it in Iraq. They want it in Libya. It has not worked. Out of regime change you get chaos. From the chaos you have seen repeatedly the rise of radical Islam. So we get this profession of, oh, my goodness, they want to do something about terrorism and yet they're the problem because they allow terrorism to arise out of that chaos. +p2129 +aVNo, I think it's a huge mistake. I think regime change in Syria, and this is what \u2014 I've been saying this for several years now. In 2013 when we first went in, I said, you are going to give arms to the allies of al Qaida, to radical jihadists? That's crazy. But the other thing I said is the great irony is you will be back fighting against your own weapons. Had Assad been bombed when he used chemical weapons two years ago, +p2130 +aVWell, I think if you're in favor of World War III, you have your candidate. You know, here's...... the thing. My goodness, what we want in a leader is someone with judgment, not someone who is so reckless as to stand on the stage and say, "Yes, I'm jumping up and down; I'm going to shoot down Russian planes." Russia already flies in that airspace. It may not be something we're in love with the fact that they're there, but they were invited by Iraq and by Syria to fly in that airspace. And so if we announce we're going to have a no-fly zone, and others have said this. Hillary Clinton is also for it. It is a recipe for disaster. It's a recipe for World War III. We need to confront Russia from a position of strength, but we don't need to confront Russia from a point of recklessness that would lead to war. This is something \u2014 this type of judgment, you know, it's having that kind of judgment; who you would appoint and how you're going to conduct affairs, that is incredibly important. I mean, I think when we think about the judgment of someone who might want World War III, we might think about someone who might shut down a bridge because they don't like their friends; they don't want to \u2014 you know, they want to a Democrat. So I think we need to be very careful. +p2131 +aVYou know, I think we need to set the record straight on this, because I think Marco misspoke about the bill. On the Gang of Eight bill, there was no provisions really for extra scrutiny or safety for refugees. At the time the bill came up, two Iraqi refugees came to my home town, Bowling Green, Kentucky. Their fingerprints were on a bomb from Iraq. They were in the database, but we didn't pick them up. We relocated them here, put them in government housing, got them on food stamps. And we began providing for them, but we didn't have adequate security. On the Gang of Eight bill, on Marco's bill, we had an opportunity. There was a conservative consensus for an amendment I put forward called Trust, But Verify that would have strengthened border security on both refugees, students and those coming here. And Marco sided and I guess was more sympathetic to Chuck Schumer and to the president than he was to conservative principles. But this goes directly to national defense. And if he wants to run as a national \u2014 national defense conservative, he's got to explain why he hasn't stepped up to support border security. +p2132 +aVWhat my bill would do would be only for refugees going forward. So I haven't taken a position on sending anyone home. But I have taken the position that we have a lot of problems here in our country. And that one of the things that we do \u2014 charity is about giving your own money. Charity isn't giving someone else's money. To put everyone in government housing and food stamps and bring them in from around the world I think is a mistake. To give of your own money, I've given to my church. My church has helped people that came from Bosnia. That's a good thing. But we shouldn't have a program where we just say that we're going to take care of the world's refugees. Nobody in the Middle East is doing anything. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait \u2014 all the Gulf nations are doing nothing. They need to step up and take... +p2133 +aVThe greatest threat to our national security is our debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. And whose fault is it? Well, frankly, it's both parties' fault. You have those on the right who clamor and say, oh, we will spend anything on the military, and those on the left who say the same for domestic welfare. But what most Americans don't realize is there is an unholy alliance. They come together. There's a secret handshake. We spend more money on everything. And we are not stronger nation if we go further into debt. We are not projecting power from bankruptcy court. To me, there is no greater threat than our debt. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage because I'm willing to hold the line on all spending. I hope you will consider me in the election. Thank you very much. +p2134 +aVAbsolutely. And I think that we ought to look where income inequality seems to be the worst. It seems to be worst in cities run by Democrats, governors of... States run by Democrats and countries currently run by Democrats. So the thing is, let's look for root causes. But I would also say \u2014 lay some blame at the \u2014 the feet of the Federal Reserve. I think the Federal Reserve has made this problem worse. By artificially keeping interest rates below the market rate, average ordinary citizens have a tough time earning interest, have a tough time making money. They're actually talking now about negative interest. The money as it's created through quantitative easing or other means tends to start out in the big banks in New York. And because we're now paying interest for them to keep the money there, much of that money has not filtered out into the economy. So what we're finding is there is increasing income disparity and income inequality. We also find that as the Federal Reserve destroys the value of the currency, what you're finding is that, if you're poor, if you make $20,000 a year and you have three or four kids, and you're trying to get by, as your prices rise or as the value of the dollar shrinks, these are the people that are hurt the worst. So really we need to reexamine whether we not \u2014 we want a Federal Reserve that's involved so much in determining interest rates. We also need to look at root causes as to what caused the housing boom and the housing collapse. But the bottom line is, if you want less income inequality, move to a city with a Republican mayor or a state with a Republican governor. +p2135 +aVWell, it's a great question, Neil, and thanks for including me in the tax debate. I think what's important about the tax debate is, is that we have to ask the question, where is money best spent, in the private sector or in the government sector? I want a government really, really small, so small you can barely see it. So I want lower taxes and much more money in the private sector. My tax plan, however, is the only tax plan among any of the candidates on the stage that is part of a balanced budget plan. I put forward three plans that actually balance the budget over a five-year period. Each of these plans have details on exactly where we would cut. The question came up earlier, where would you cut? Nobody likes to say where they would cut. I've put pencil to paper and done three budgets that actually balance. I'm also in favor of a plan called the penny plan where we'd just cut 1 percent across the board and the budget actually balances in less than five years. So I think what is extraordinary about my tax plan is it is in the context of balancing the budget. What is also extraordinary about my tax plan is it gets rid of the payroll tax. Democrats demagogue this issue to death, and when they do they say, oh, a millionaire would get a bigger tax cut than someone making $10,000. That's proportionality, as Ben is trying to explain to folks. But the thing is, is if we get rid of the payroll tax, everybody is going to get a tax cut. And this is something that I think the public at large will support and could win an election. +p2136 +aVOurs is 14.5 percent for corporations, 14.5 percent for individuals. No payroll tax for the employee. The business tax pays for social security, and there would be two remaining deductions \u2014 home mortgage and charity. +p2137 +aVThank you. +p2138 +aVNeil, there's a point I'd like to make here... ....Neil, a point that I'd like to make about the tax credits. We have to decide what is conservative and what isn't conservative. Is it fiscally conservative to have a trillion-dollar expenditure? We're not talking about giving people back their tax money. He's talking about giving people money they didn't pay. It's a welfare transfer payment. So here's what we have. Is it conservative to have $1 trillion in transfer payments \u2014 a new welfare program that's a refundable tax credit? Add that to Marco's plan for $1 trillion in new military spending, and you get something that looks, to me, not very conservative. Thank you. +p2139 +aVNevertheless, it's not very conservative, Marco. +p2140 +aVHow is it conservative? +p2141 +aVYeah, but, Marco! Marco! How is it conservative, how is it conservative to add a trillion-dollar expenditure for the federal government that you're not paying for? +p2142 +aVHow is it conservative? +p2143 +aVHow is it conservative to add a trillion dollars in military expenditures? You can not be a conservative if you're going to keep promoting new programs that you're not going to pay for. +p2144 +aVNo. I don't think we're any safer \u2014 I do not think we are any safer from bankruptcy court. As we go further, and further into debt, we become less, and less safe. This is the most important thing we're going to talk about tonight. Can you be a conservative, and be liberal on military spending? Can you be for unlimited military spending, and say, Oh, I'm going to make the country safe? No, we need a safe country, but, you know, we spend more on our military than the next ten countries combined? I want a strong national defense, but I don't want us to be bankrupt. +p2145 +aVHey, Gerard, you know, we might want to point out China is not part of this deal. +p2146 +aVBefore we get a little bit off-kilter here... +p2147 +aVThere is an argument that China doesn't like the deal, because in us doing the deal, we'll be trading with their competitors. You're exactly right. But I think we've sort of missed the point a little bit here. There is an important point, though, about how we discuss these trade treaties that I do agree with Mr. Trump on. We should negotiate from a position of strength. And we also should negotiate using the full force and the constitutional power that was given to us. I think it's a mistake that we give up power to the presidency on these trade deals. We give up the power to filibuster, and I'm kind of fond of that power. We give up the power to amend. And I think, really, one of the big problems we have in our country is, over the last century, really, so much power has gravitated to the executive branch. Really, Congress is kind of a bystander. We don't write the rules. We don't make the laws. The executive branch does. So even in trade \u2014 and I am for trade \u2014 I think we should be careful about giving so much power to the presidency. +p2148 +aVI'd like first to respond to the acquisition, we should \u2014 I think it's particularly naive, particularly foolish to think that we're not going to talk to Russia. The idea of a no fly zone, realize that this is also something that Hillary Clinton agrees with several on our side with, you're asking for a no fly zone in an area in which Russia already flies. Russia flies in that zone at the invitation of Iraq. I'm not saying it's a good thing, but you better know at least what we're getting into. So, when you think it's going to be a good idea to have a no fly zone over Iraq, realize that means you are saying we are going to shoot down Russian planes. If you're ready for that, be ready to send your sons and daughters to another war in Iraq. I don't want to see that happen. I think the first war in Iraq was a mistake... You can be strong without being involved in every civil war around the war... +p2149 +aVRonald Reagan was strong, but Ronald Reagan didn't... +p2150 +aV...send troops into the Middle East... +p2151 +aV...Can I finish... +p2152 +aV...Can I finish my time? Could I finish with my time? +p2153 +aVYes, I would like to finish my response, basically. +p2154 +aVThis is an important question. This is an incredibly important question. And the question goes to be, who do we want to be our commander-in-chief? Do you want a commander-in-chief who says something that we never did throughout the entire Cold War, to discontinue having conversations with the Russians? I am not happy about them flying over there. But I'm not naive enough to say, well, Iraq has them flying over their airspace, we're just going to announce that we're shooting them down? That is naive to the point of being something you might hear in junior high. But it's scary... +p2155 +aVThe first thing I would do is I wouldn't arm our enemies. I wouldn't arm +p2156 +aVGerard, can I comment... +p2157 +aVThe first thing I would do as president is repeal the regulations that are hampering our energy that the President has put in place. Including the Clean Power Act. While I do think that man may have a role in our climate, I think nature also has a role. The planet's 4.5 billion years old, we've been through geologic age after geologic age. We've had times when the temperatures been warmer, we've had times when the temperatures been colder. We've had times when the carbon in the atmosphere's been higher. So, I think before we \u2014 we need to look before we leap. President's often fond of saying he wants a balance solution, but, really we do need to balance both keeping the environment clean, and we will have some rules for that. We got to balance that with the economy. He's devastated my state. I say the President's not only destroying Kentucky, he's destroying the democrat party down there because nobody wants to associate with him. So, what we really need is somebody that understands that we do need energy of all forms, and that means we will have solar, and wind, and hydro, but we will still have coal, and we still will have natural gas. And, we've got to have an all of the above policy. But, it would be a mistake to shut down all of our industries in the coal fields, and shut down the coal power plants. If we did so we're going to have a day where we wake up and some of our big cities are either very cold, or very hot. So, I think it's a big danger, and we shouldn't do it. And, what we should do is say we want all of the above... ...We want to free up the energy sector, and let people produce, let them drill, let them explore. +p2158 +aVWe're the richest, freest, most humanitarian nation in the history of mankind. But we also borrow a million dollars a minute. And the question I have for all Americans is, think about it, can you be a fiscal conservative if you don't conserve all of the money? If you're a profligate spender, you spend money in an unlimited fashion for the military, is that a conservative notion? We have to be conservative with all spending, domestic spending and welfare spending. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage. +p2159 +aVYou know, I left my medical practice and ran for office because I was concerned about an $18 trillion debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. Now, on the floor of the Congress, the Washington establishment from both parties puts forward a bill that will explode the deficit. It allows President Obama to borrow unlimited amounts of money. I will stand firm. I will spend every ounce of energy to stop it. I will begin tomorrow to filibuster it. And I ask everyone in America to call Congress tomorrow and say enough is enough; no more debt. +p2160 +aVNo, I oppose it because you're taking money from the entitlement and then spending it immediately on other items. That's what they're doing. They're taking money from Social Security and they're going to spend it on the military and they're going to spend it on domestic spending. Here's the thing. When you look at raising the debt limit, it should be leverage to try to reform government. In 2011, the sequester was passed as a reform to slow down the rate of government. Instead, the Washington establishment raised both. We raised the military spending, took from entitlements, and raised domestic spending and the deficit will explode under this. This is the unholy alliance that people need to know about between right and left. Right and left are spending us into oblivion. We should use the debt ceiling, as precisely to Don, to force upon them budgetary reforms. +p2161 +aVWell, that's a real question. Is there going to be any change in the House with new leadership? I frankly don't think there will be much change because I think what's going to happen is you're going to get more of the same. People in Washington think they were sent there to be adults and govern and do all this. Well, you know what I'm worried about? Not keeping the government open. I'm worried about bankrupting the American people. We're borrowing a million dollars a minute. That is important. And that's what we have to contrast. Keeping the government open and continuing to borrow a million dollars a minute. +p2162 +aVWell, thank you very much. I would like to thank Ted for co-sponsoring my bill, audit the Fed. And I think it's precisely because of the arrogance of someone like Ben Bernanke, who now calls us all know-nothings, that is precisely why we need audit the Fed. I think it is really very much a huge problem that an organization as powerful as the Fed comes in, lobbies against them being audited on the Hill. I would prevent them lobbying Congress. I don't think the Fed should be involved with lobbying us. I think we should examine how the Fed has really been part of the problem. You want to study income inequality, let's bring the Fed forward and talk about Fed policy and how it causes income inequality. Let's also bring the Fed forward and have them explain how they caused the housing boom and the crisis, and what they've done to make us better or worse. I think the Fed has been a great problem in our society. What you need to do is free up interest rates. Interest rates are the price of money, and we shouldn't have price controls on the price of money. +p2163 +aV...John... +p2164 +aVJohn, I'd like to address this? John, could I follow up on this? +p2165 +aVWhat are the rules on who gets to follow up. How do we decide on who gets to follow up? I've seen plenty of other people follow up? +p2166 +aVI'd like to just mention something about my tax plan, and how it relates to the discussion... +p2167 +aVAlright. Much of the discussion is centered over whether or not the different tax plans help, or affect the middle class. In fact, it's the chief argument by democrats against many of the different flat tax proposals. Mine is unique in the sense that my tax plan actually gets rid of the payroll tax as well. It shifts it to the business, and it would allow middle class people to get a tax cut. If you just cut their income tax, there isn't much income tax to cut. Mine actually cuts the payroll tax, and I think it would spread the tax cut across all socioeconomic levels, and would allow then it to be something that would be broadly supported by the public in an election. +p2168 +aVThe question always is, what works better, the private marketplace or government? And what distributes goods better? It always seems to be the private marketplace does a better job. Is there an area for a safety net? Can you have Medicare or Social Security? Yes. But you ought to acknowledge the government doesn't do a very good job at it. The main problem with Medicare right now is that the average person pays in taxes over their whole lifetime about $100,000. But the average person takes out about $350,000. We have this enormous mismatch because we have smaller and smaller families. When people ask me, whose fault is it? Whose fault is it that Medicare is broken, out of money, that Social Security is broken, out of money? And I say, look, it's not Republicans' fault, it's not Democrats' fault, it's your grandparents' fault for having too many damn kids. After the war we had all of these kids, Baby Boomers. Now we're having smaller families. We used to have 16 workers for one retiree, now you have three workers for one retiree. It's not working. I have a bill to fix Medicare. I've a bill to fix Social Security. For both of them you have to gradually raise the age. If you're not willing to do that, nobody wants to do it, but if you're not willing to gradually raise the age, you're not serious about fixing either one of them. +p2169 +aVSay again? +p2170 +aVYou can't do nothing. And that's what I hear from some people, "we'll do nothing and it will just be fixed." That's absurd, and I think people who don't want to fix it, really, or unwilling to take the chance to say, "something has to change," are missing the boat here. The age will have to gradually rise, there is no question. It's the only way you fix Medicare, the only way you fix Social Security. You will also have to means-test the benefits and declare there's not enough money. It isn't "I put money in, I'm getting it back." There is no money, it's a stack of paper. There is no money in the Social Security account. There is no money in the Medicare account. There's only a promise to pay by the next generation, and the next generation's not big enough to pay it. [ +p2171 +aVLiberty thrives when government is small. I want a government so small I can barely see it. I want a government so small that the individual has a chance to thrive and prosper. I think, though, government is too big now. And what you're going to see in Washington this week is establishment Republicans have made an agreement with the president to raise the debt ceiling in an unlimited fashion; no limit to the debt ceiling raise. This is extraordinary. It's extraordinarily wrong. You'll see me on the floor of the Senate tomorrow filibustering this and saying enough is enough, no more debt. +p2172 +aVGood evening, everyone. I'm an eye surgeon from Bowling Green, Kentucky. My wife, Kelly, and I have been married for nearly 25 years, and I spend my days defending the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I think there's nothing more important than understanding that the Constitution restrains government, not the people. Thank you. +p2173 +aVI kind of have to laugh when I think of, "Mmm, sounds like a non sequitur." He was asked whether or not he would be capable and it would be in good hands to be in charge of the nuclear weapons, and all of a sudden, there's a sideways attack at me. I think that really goes to really the judgment. Do we want someone with that kind of character, that kind of careless language to be negotiating with Putin? Do we want someone like that to be negotiating with Iran? I think really there's a sophomoric quality that is entertaining about Mr. Trump, but I am worried. I'm very concerned about him \u2014 having him in charge of the nuclear weapons, because I think his response, his \u2014 his visceral response to attack people on their appearance \u2014 short, tall, fat, ugly \u2014 my goodness, that happened in junior high. Are we not way above that? Would we not all be worried to have someone like that in charge of the nuclear arsenal? +p2174 +aVI think this goes back to essentially what we've been saying for the last two or three questions. Carly Fiorina also said we're not going to talk with Putin. Well, think if Reagan had said that during the Cold War? We continued to talk with the Russians throughout the Cold War which is much more significant that where we are now. Should we continue to talk with Iran? Yes. Should we cut up the agreement immediately? That's absurd. Wouldn't you want to know if they complied? Now, I'm going to vote against the agreement because I don't think there's significant leverage, but it doesn't mean that I would immediately not look at the agreement, and cut it up without looking to see if whether or not Iran has complied. The same goes with China. I don't think we need to be rash, I don't think we need to be reckless, and I think need to leave lines of communication open. Often we talk about whether we should be engaged in the world, or disengaged in the world, and I think this is an example of some who want to isolate us, actually, and not be engaged. We do need to be engaged with Russia. It doesn't mean we give them a free pass, or China a free pass, but, to be engaged, to continue to talk. We did throughout the Cold War, and it would be a big mistake not to do it here. +p2175 +aVI think this gets to the point of wisdom on when to intervene and when we shouldn't. Had we bombed Assad at the time, like President Obama wanted, and like Hillary Clinton wanted and many Republicans wanted, I think +p2176 +aVWell, I hate to say it, but Donald Trump has a bit of a point here. The case that was decided around 1900 was, people had a green card, were here legally, and they said that their children were citizens. There's never been a direct Supreme Court case on people who were here illegally, whether or not their kids are citizens. So it hasn't really been completely adjudicated. The 14th Amendment says that "those who are here and under the jurisdiction." The original author of the \u2014 of the 14th Amendment said on the Senate floor that this was applying to slaves, and did not specifically apply to others. +p2177 +aVWell, I'm glad we're having a discussion about taxes because everybody laments that we lose jobs overseas, we have. Our companies, and our jobs are being chased overseas by a 70,000 page tax code, so, that's why I've chosen to get rid of the whole thing, and have one single rate, 14 and a-half percent for everybody, business, and for corporate income, and personal income. But, we also get rid of the payroll tax, so the working class would get a tax break as well. So, I think a flat tax, eliminating the tax code, getting rid of all the loopholes, is the way to go, and it's the way we get America going again. +p2178 +aVHugh, can I \u2014 can I make a response to that? +p2179 +aVCan I make a response to that? +p2180 +aVMay I make a response to that? +p2181 +aVHe's referred to me. +p2182 +aVHe's referred to me... +p2183 +aV... in his remarks. May I make a response? +p2184 +aVAbsolutely. Go ahead. +p2185 +aVMay I respond? +p2186 +aVThe remark was made that there hadn't been anyone else on the podium opposed to the Iraq War. I've made my career as being an opponent of the Iraq War. I was opposed to the Syria war. I was opposed to arming people who are our enemies. Iran is now stronger because Hussein is gone. Hussein was the great bulwark and counterbalance to the Iranians. So when we complain about the Iranians, you need to remember that the Iraq War made it worse. Originally, Governor Bush was asked, was the Iraq War a mistake, and he said, "No. We'd do it again." We have to learn sometimes the interventions backfire. The Iraq War backfired and did not help us. We're still paying the repercussions of a bad decision. +p2187 +aVWe have make the decision now in Syria, should we topple Assad? Many up here wanted to topple Assad, and it's like \u2014 I said no, because if you do... +p2188 +aV... +p2189 +aVIf you want boots on the ground, and you want them to be our sons and daughters, you got 14 other choices. There will always be a Bush or Clinton for you, if you want to go back to war in Iraq. But the thing is, the first war was a mistake. And I'm not sending our sons and our daughters back to Iraq. The war didn't work. We can amplify those who live there. The Kurds deserve to be armed and I'll arm them. We can use our Air Force to amplify the forces there. But the boots on the ground need to be the people who live there. My goodness, I'm still upset with the Saudi Arabians for everything they do over there. They've funded the arms that went to the jihadists. They're not accepting any of the people, any of the migrants that have been \u2014 the refugees that are being pushed out of Syria. Saudi Arabia is not accepting one. Why are we always the world's patsies that we have to go over there and fight their wars for them? They need to fight their wars, we need to defend American interests, but it is not in America's national security interests to have another war in Iraq. +p2190 +aVI think one of the great problems, and what American people don't like about politics, is hypocrisy. People have one standard for others and not for them \u2014 for themselves. There is at least one prominent example on the stage of someone who says they smoked pot in high school, and yet the people going to \u2014 to jail for this are poor people, often African-Americans and often Hispanics, and yet the rich kids who use drugs aren't. I personally think that this is a crime for which the only victim is the individual, and I think that America has to take a different attitude. I would like to see more rehabilitation and less incarceration. I'm a fan of the drug courts which try to direct you back towards work and less time in jail. But the bottom line is the states. We say we like the 10th Amendment, until we start talking about this. And I think the federal government has gone too far, I think that the war on drugs has had a racial outcome, and really has been something that has really damaged our inner cities. Not only do the drugs damage them, we damage them again by incarcerating them and then preventing them from getting employment over time. So I don't think that the federal government should override the states. I believe in the 10th Amendment and I really will say that the states are left to themselves. +p2191 +aVWell, I think if we left it open, we could see how many people smoked pot in high school. +p2192 +aVWell, you know, the thing is that... +p2193 +aVYeah, I was talking about \u2014 well, let me... +p2194 +aVBut let me respond. The thing is, is that in Florida, Governor Bush campaigned against medical marijuana. That means that a small child like Morgan Hintz (ph) that has seizures is day, is failing on non-traditional medications, is not allowed to use cannabis oil. And if they do that in Florida, they will take the child away, they will put the parents in jail. And that's what that means if you're against allowing people use medical marijuana, you'll actually put them in jail. +p2195 +aVAnd actually, under the current circumstances, kids who had privilege like you do, don't go to jail, but the poor kids in our inner cities go to jail. I don't think that's fair. And I think we need to acknowledge it, and it is hypocritical to still want to put poor people in jail... +p2196 +aVWell, you vote \u2014 you oppose medical marijuana... +p2197 +aVBut that means you'll put people in jail. +p2198 +aVMay I respond? +p2199 +aVUnderstand what they're saying. if they're going to say we are going to enforce the federal law against what the state law is, they aren't really believing in the Tenth Amendment. Governor Christie would go into Colorado, and if you're breaking any federal law on marijuana, even though the state law allows it, he would put you in jail. If a young mother is trying to give her child cannabis oil for medical marijuana for seizure treatment, he would put her in jail, if it violates federal law. I would let Colorado do what the Tenth Amendment says. This power \u2014 we were never intended to have crime dealing at the federal level. Crime was supposed to be left to the states. Colorado has made their decision. And I don't want the federal government interfering and putting moms in jail, who are trying to get medicine for their kid... +p2200 +aVMay I respond? May I respond? +p2201 +aVHere is the thing, he doesn't want to make it about medical marijuana, but what if New Jersey's medical marijuana contradicts the federal law? He's saying he'll send the federal government in, and he will enforce the federal law. That's not consistent with the Tenth Amendment. It is not consistent with states' rights. And it is not consistent with the conservative vision for the country. I don't think we should be sending the federal police in to arrest a mother and separate them from their child for giving a medicine to their child for seizures. +p2202 +aVIf you want a skeptic \u2014 if you want a skeptic, Jake, I will happily jump into that briar patch. If you want a real... +p2203 +aVA second opinion? One of the greatest \u2014 one of the greatest medical discoveries of all times was \u2014 were the vaccines, particularly for smallpox. And if you want to read a story, it's called The Speckled Monster, it's an amazing story, it was all done voluntary. But people came in by the droves. George Washington wouldn't let his wife visit until she got vaccinated. So I'm all for vaccines. But I'm also for freedom. I'm also a little concerned about how they're bunched up. My kids had all of their vaccines, and even if the science doesn't say bunching them up is a problem, I ought to have the right to spread out my vaccines out a little bit at the very least. +p2204 +aVOoh, that's a tough one. You know, I'm big on \u2014 that we were \u2014 and I love what Carly said about women's suffrage. I think Susan B. Anthony might be a good choice. +p2205 +aVJustice Never Sleeps. +p2206 +aVI met Ronald Reagan as a teenager, and my family, we're big supporters of him when he ran against Gerald Ford. It was a big deal because he was the grassroots, running against the establishment, and I'll never forget that. And, how he stood up and said, you know what, this is something new that our country needs, and our party needs. If I were president, I would try to be one who says, you know what, I'm a Reagan Conservative. I'm someone who believes in peace through strength, and I would try to lead the country in that way knowing that our goal is peace, and that war is the last resort, not the first resort. And, that when we go to war, we go to war in a constitutional way, which means that we have to vote on it, that war is initiated by congress, not by the president, that we go to war electively (ph). That when we go to war, we don't fight with one arm tied behind our back, we fight all out to win, but then we come home. +p2207 +aVThis is what's wrong! +p2208 +aVI mean, this is what's wrong. He buys and sells politicians of all stripes, he's already... +p2209 +aVHey, look, look! He's already hedging his bet on the Clintons, OK? So if he doesn't run as a Republican, maybe he supports Clinton, or maybe he runs as an independent... +p2210 +aV...but I'd say that he's already hedging his bets because he's used to buying politicians. +p2211 +aVFirst of all, only +p2212 +aVMegyn, may I respond? May I respond? +p2213 +aVI want to collect more records from terrorists, but less records from innocent Americans. The Fourth Amendment was what we fought the Revolution over! John Adams said it was the spark that led to our war for independence, and I'm proud of standing for the Bill of Rights, and I will continue to stand for the Bill of Rights. +p2214 +aVUse the Fourth Amendment! +p2215 +aVUse the Fourth Amendment! +p2216 +aVGet a warrant! +p2217 +aVGet a judge to sign the warrant! +p2218 +aVSee, here's the problem. +p2219 +aVHere's the problem, governor. Here's the problem, governor. You fundamentally misunderstand the Bill of Rights. Every time you did a case, you got a warrant from a judge. I'm talking about searches without warrants... +p2220 +aV...indiscriminately, of all Americans' records, and that's what I fought to end. I don't trust President Obama with our records. I know you gave him a big hug, and if you want to give him a big hug again, go right ahead. +p2221 +aVI've got a news flash... +p2222 +aVNews flash, the Republican Party's been fighting against a single-payer system... +p2223 +aV-- for a decade. So I think you're on the wrong side of this if you're still arguing for a single-payer system. +p2224 +aVI oppose the Iranian deal, and will vote against it. I don't think that the president negotiated from a position of strength, but I don't immediately discount negotiations. I'm a Reagan conservative. Reagan did negotiate with the Soviets. But you have to negotiate from a position of strength, and I think President Obama gave away too much, too early. If there's going to be a negotiation, you're going to have to believe somehow that the Iranians are going to comply. And I asked this question to John Kerry, I said "do you believe they're trustworthy?" and he said "No." And I said, "well, how are we gonna get them to comply?" I would have never released the sanctions before there was consistent evidence of compliance. +p2225 +aVLook, I don't want my marriage or my guns registered in Washington. And if people have an opinion, it's a religious opinion that is heartly felt, obviously they should be allowed to practice that and no government should interfere with them. One of the things, one of the things that really got to me was the thing in Houston where you had the government, the mayor actually, trying to get the sermons of ministers. When the government tries to invade the church to enforce its own opinion on marriage, that's when it's time to resist. +p2226 +aVWell, let's be clear, I'm the only one on the stage who actually has a five-year budget that balances. I've put pencil to paper... +p2227 +aV... and I've said -- and I've said I would cut spending, and I've said exactly where. Each one of my budgets has taken a meat axe to foreign aid, because I think we ought to quit sending it to countries that hate us. I think we ought to quit sending it to countries that burn our flag. Israel is not one of those. But even Benjamin Netanyahu said that ultimately, they will be stronger when they're independent. My position is exactly the same. We shouldn't borrow money from China to send it anywhere, but why don't we start with eliminating aid to our enemies. +p2228 +aVI still say exactly what my original opinion is. Do you borrow money from China to send it to anyone? Out of your surplus, you can help your allies, and Israel is a great ally. And this is no particular animus of Israel, but what I will say, and I will say over and over again, we cannot give away money we don't have. We do not project power from bankruptcy court. We're borrowing a million dollars a minute. It's got to stop somewhere. +p2229 +aVI'm a different kind of Republican. I've introduced a five-year balanced budget. I've introduced the largest tax cut in our history. I stood for ten and a half hours on the Senate floor to defend your right to be left alone. But I've also gone to Chicago. I've gone to Detroit. I've been to Ferguson, I've been to Baltimore, because I want our party to be bigger, better and bolder, and I'm the only one that leads Hillary Clinton in five states that were won by President Obama. I'm a different kind of Republican. +p2230 +asVBASH +p2231 +(lp2232 +VA crucial question is how to balance surveillance with privacy and keeping Americans safe. Senator Cruz, you voted for a bill that President Obama signed into law just this past June that made it harder for the government to access Americans' phone records. In light of the San Bernardino attack, was your vote a mistake? +p2233 +aVThank you. Senator Rubio, Senator Cruz is right there was bipartisan support for that. But you voted against it. So, is Senator Cruz wrong? +p2234 +aVSenator Cruz? +p2235 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator \u2014 Senator Rubio, please respond. +p2236 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I know this is \u2014 this has been a very big issue for you. You hear many of your colleagues are calling for increased surveillance by law enforcement. You call that hogwash. Why is that hogwash? +p2237 +aVSenator Rubio? +p2238 +aVGovernor Christie, Governor Christie... ...Governor Christie, I'll come to you in a minute. Go ahead, Senator Paul. +p2239 +aVGo ahead, please. +p2240 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about immigration in a while. But, Governor Christie, just listening to this... +p2241 +aVListening to this, you talked \u2014 you heard Senator Paul, Senator Cruz talk about how important it is to protect Americans' privacy, even in a time of grave danger. Why \u2014 what's wrong with that? +p2242 +aVSenator Paul, you said +p2243 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I want to go back to my initial question, which is you saying that +p2244 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about regime change in a bit. But Governor Kasich, would you like to respond to Senator Paul? +p2245 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. We've been talking tonight about programs and policy proposals that you all have to keep Americans safe and it's a big discussion on the campaign trail. Also about border security and immigration. So let's talk about immigration. Senator Rubio. You co-authored a bill with Democrats two years ago that allowed a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Do you still support that path to citizenship, which means giving those immigrants rights, like the right to vote? +p2246 +aVSenator, you haven't answered the question. You described a very long path but does that path end at citizenship? +p2247 +aVThank you, senator. +p2248 +aVThank you, senator. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, on the campaign trail, Senator Rubio has said that his immigration plan is not that different from yours. Is that true? +p2249 +aVSenator Rubio, please. +p2250 +aVSenator Cruz? +p2251 +aVSenator Cruz? +p2252 +aVSenator Cruz, can you answer that question please? +p2253 +aVSenator Cruz? +p2254 +aVOne at a time please. +p2255 +aVMs. Fiorina, please wait your turn, we're going to get to you. +p2256 +aVSenator Cruz go ahead. +p2257 +aVMr. Trump, you like to say that you restarted this conversation in the campaign. +p2258 +aVSo who do you side with? Who do you side with in this, Senator Rubio or Senator Cruz? +p2259 +aVThank you. Governor Bush? +p2260 +aVListening to this, do you think this is the tone \u2014 this immigration debate that republicans need to take to win back Hispanics into our party especially states like where we are in Nevada that has a pretty Hispanic community? +p2261 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said if China launches a cyber- attack against the U.S. on your watch, "they're going to see cyber- warfare like they have never seen before." What exactly would that response look like? +p2262 +aVGovernor Bush, what you just heard from Governor Christie, are you concerned that that could really escalate with China, that they would retaliate? And, for example, as the NSA has said, attack the U.S. and maybe it's power grid, which the Chinese have the capability to do? +p2263 +aVMr. Trump, just this weekend you said Senator Cruz is not qualified to be president because he doesn't have the right temperament and acted like a maniac when he arrived in the Senate. But last month you said you were open to naming Senator Cruz as your running mate. +p2264 +aVSo why would you be willing to put somebody who's a maniac one heartbeat away from the presidency? +p2265 +aVOkay. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, you have not been willing to attack Mr. Trump in public. +p2266 +aVBut you did question his judgment in having control of American's nuclear arsenal during a private meeting with supporters. Why are you willing to say things about him in private and not in public? +p2267 +aVSenator, senator, I just... +p2268 +aVSenator, a lot of people have seen... +p2269 +aV... a lot of people have seen these comments you made in private. I just want to clarify what you're saying right now is you do believe Mr. Trump has the judgment to be commander in chief? +p2270 +aVGovernor Kasich, Senator Cruz is so committed to stripping federal funds from Planned Parenthood that it could result in shutting down the federal government in just about two weeks. Do you agree with Senator Cruz's tactic? +p2271 +aVThank you. +p2272 +aVThank you. Senator Cruz, I would just add that, on this stage not that long ago, Senator Graham said that this tactic that you're pushing would tank the Republicans' ability to win in 2016. +p2273 +aVThank you, senator. +p2274 +aVThank you... +p2275 +aVGovernor \u2014 governor, I want to go to you. Is it what Senator Cruz says, a surrender by Republicans? +p2276 +aVBut... +p2277 +aVBut is it... +p2278 +aVBut, governor, the \u2014 but, governor, the reality is, in just two weeks' time... ...we are going to be facing a question about whether or not it's enough to shut down the government to make that statement, because there is still a Democrat in the White House. Do you oppose it or support it? +p2279 +aVYes or no, do you support this shutdown? +p2280 +aVWe're talking about Planned Parenthood right now. +p2281 +aVCan you answer yes or no? +p2282 +aVOne more time. I'm sorry, I just want to get the answer. +p2283 +aVSo you would support a shutdown. +p2284 +aVGovernor Bush, Mr. Trump has suggested that your views on immigration are influenced by your Mexican born wife. He said that, quote, "If my wife were from Mexico, I think I would have a soft spot for people from Mexico." Did Mr. Trump go to far in invoking your wife? +p2285 +aVMr. Trump? +p2286 +aVMr. Trump... +p2287 +aVGo ahead. +p2288 +aVMs. Fiorina \u2014 Ms. Fiorina, we're going to come to you, we're going to come to you. I just want to give Governor Bush a chance to respond to what Mr. Trump said. +p2289 +aVOK, on that note, you have criticized Governor Bush for speaking Spanish on the campaign trail. You said, quote, "He should really set an example by speaking English in the United States." What's wrong with speaking Spanish? +p2290 +aVThank you. +p2291 +aV...Thank you.... +p2292 +aVGovernor Bush, let's talk about the issue that's very important to Republican voters, and that's the Supreme Court. After Chief Justice John Roberts voted to uphold Obamacare twice, Senator Cruz criticized your brother for appointing John Roberts to the Supreme Court. Looking back on it, did your brother make a mistake? +p2293 +aV...Is John Roberts one of those people? +p2294 +aVDo you like what you just heard, Senator Cruz? +p2295 +aVMr. Trump, you have said once or twice that you are really rich, and you are by far the richest person on this stage. Chris Christie says billionaires like you and even people who make and earn far less should no longer get Social Security, or at least there should be limits based on \u2014 on their income. You think he's wrong, and if so, why? +p2296 +aVWhat about the country as a \u2014 as a policy? +p2297 +aVSo is a voluntary program the way to get the Social Security system solvent again like that. +p2298 +aVSenator Santorum, you want to give the intelligence community more power to collect American's phone data. But the government had this ability until just days before the San Bernardino attack. If it couldn't prevent San Bernardino, why will it protect America? +p2299 +aVSenator Graham, when this program was exposed, you said, " you have nothing to worry about if you're not talking to terrorist." Do you understand why though some Americans are concerned that the government is keeping tabs on them in any way? +p2300 +aVThank you. Governor Huckabee, you said, "not one terrorist plot has been foiled by the NSA's collection of American's phone records. The director of the CIA says,. "not having these programs makes it ability to find terrorists, quote, "much more challenging."" Are you taking a potential tool to fight terrorists? +p2301 +aVSenator Santorum? +p2302 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator Graham... +p2303 +aVSenator Graham... +p2304 +aVSenator Graham, we've heard here tonight a lot about the fact that you want to send U.S. troops, ground troops, into Iraq, and Syria to defeat +p2305 +aVGovernor Huckabee... +p2306 +aVGovernor Huckabee, would you reinstate the draft? +p2307 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator Graham... +p2308 +aVSenator Graham... +p2309 +aVSenator Graham, we've heard here tonight a lot about the fact that you want to send U.S. troops, ground troops, into Iraq, and Syria to defeat +p2310 +aVGovernor Huckabee... +p2311 +aVGovernor Huckabee, would you reinstate the draft? +p2312 +aVSo what would you do about it? +p2313 +aVSenator... +p2314 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. +p2315 +aVSenator Graham. +p2316 +aVSenator Graham, quick response. +p2317 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. +p2318 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. +p2319 +aVSenator Santorum, earlier this month the Pentagon opened all U.S. military combat positions to women. You previously opposed allowing women in combat roles. As President, would you change the Pentagon's new policy? +p2320 +aVSo, just to be clear, you're saying, yes, you would change the policy back? +p2321 +aVGovernor Pataki, as you mentioned earlier, you have two sons who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Would you maintain this new policy as President, or do you agree with Senator Santorum. +p2322 +aVSenator Santorum. +p2323 +aVNow Governor Pataki, do you a final response? +p2324 +aVGovernor Huckabee, the U.S. has a program that allows visitors from America's closest allies to travel to the U.S. without obtaining a visa. But new legislation in Congress says that privilege should not apply to those who have visited is hot spots like Iraq and Syria in the last five years. You say that legislation doesn't go far enough. Why? +p2325 +asVEPPERSON +p2326 +(lp2327 +VThank you, John. Mrs. Fiorina, you were the CEO of a large corporation that offers a 401(k) to its employees. But more than half of American have no access to an employer sponsored retirement plan. That includes the workers at small businesses, and the growing ranks of Uber drivers and other part-timers in the freelance economy. Should the Federal Government play a larger role in helping to set up retirement plans for these workers? +p2328 +aVSo you wouldn't agree \u2014 you wouldn't agree with a start for 401(k) for businesses or anything like that? +p2329 +aVThank you very much. +p2330 +aVThank you, the rules say one minute. +p2331 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. We appreciate it. Thank you, thank you. I want to turn my attention now, to you now, Governor Kasich. Most people can't get a college degree without going into debt. Over 40 million Americans have student loans and many of them cannot pay them back. This country has over $100 billion in student loan defaults. That's billion with a b. What will you do to make sure that students, their families, taxpayers, won't feel the economic impact of this burden for generations? Well, first of all, in Ohio we're changing the whole system. Universities will not get paid one dime unless the student graduates or \u2014 graduates or completes a course. Secondly, you can be in high school and complete almost an entire first year before you go to college and get credit to do that. And, of course, in addition to that, we are working now to go after the cost drivers in our universities. And let me give you an example. Universities today have so many non-academic assets. At Ohio State they sold the parking garage and the parking lot, and they got $500 million because they shouldn't be in the parking lot business. They shouldn't be in the ding business, they shouldn't be in the dorm business. And, of course, we need to take advantage of on-line education to reduce these costs and begin to dis-intermediate the cost of four years. Now, for those who that have these big high costs, I think we can seriously look at an idea of where you can do public service. I mean legitimate, public service and begin to pay off some of that debt through the public service that you do. And in the meantime, it may inspire us to care more about our country, more about ourselves. This is a big moral issue in America. Living a life bigger than yourself, and being a center of healing and justice. And people can learn it through public service. +p2332 +aVThank you, thank you. +p2333 +asVSANDERS +p2334 +(lp2335 +VWell, Gwen and Judy, thank you very much for hosting this event. And, PBS, thank you. Nine months ago, our campaign began. And when it began, we had no political organization, no money, and not much name recognition outside of the state of Vermont. A lot has happened in nine months. And what has happened is, I think, the American people have responded to a series of basic truths, and that is that we have today a campaign finance system which is corrupt, which is undermining American democracy, which allows Wall Street and billionaires to pour huge sums of money into the political process to elect the candidates of their choice. And aligned with a corrupt campaign finance system is a rigged economy. And that's an economy where ordinary Americans are working longer hours for low wagers. They are worried to death about the future of their kids. And yet they are seeing almost all new income and all new wealth going to the top 1 percent. And then in addition to that, the American people are looking around and they see a broken criminal justice system. They see more people in jail in the United States of America than any other country on earth, 2.2 million. We're spending $80 billion a year locking up fellow Americans. They see kids getting arrested for marijuana, getting in prison, getting a criminal record, while they see executives on Wall Street who pay billions of dollars in settlements and get no prosecution at all. No criminal records for them. I think what our campaign is indicating is that the American people are tired of establishment politics, tired of establishment economics. They want a political revolution in which millions of Americans stand up, come together, not let the Trumps of the world divide us, and say, you know what, in this great country, we need a government that represents all of us, not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors. Thank you. +p2336 +aVWell, to put that in a context, Judy, I think we have to understand that in the last 30 years in this country there has been a massive transfer of wealth going from the hands of working families into the top one-tenth of 1% whose percentage of wealth has doubled. In other words, the very rich are getting richer, almost everybody is going \u2014 getting poorer. What I believe is the United States, in fact, should join the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee healthcare to all people. Our Medicare for all single-payer proposal will save the average middle class family $5,000 a year. I do believe that in the year 2016 we have to look in terms of public education as colleges as part of public education making public colleges and universities tuition free. I believe that when real unemployment is close to 10%, and when our infrastructure, our roads, our bridges, our water systems, Flint, Michigan comes to mind. Our waste water plants, our rail, our airports, in many places are disintegrating. Yeah, we can create 13 million jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure at a cost of a trillion dollars. +p2337 +aV... Of course there will be a limit, but when today you have massive levels of income and wealth inequality, when the middle class is disappearing, you have the highest rate of child poverty of almost any major country on Earth. Yes, in my view, the government of a democratic society has a moral responsibility to play a vital role in making sure all of our people have a decent standard of living. +p2338 +aVWell, let us level with the American people. Secretary Clinton has been going around the country saying Bernie Sanders wants to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, people are going to lose their MedicAid, they're going to lose their +p2339 +aVThat is absolutely inaccurate. Look, here is the reality, folks. There is one major country on Earth that does not guarantee health care to all people. There is one major country \u2014 the United States \u2014 which ends up spending almost three times per capita what they do in the U.K. guaranteeing health care to all people, 50 percent more than they do in France guaranteeing health care to all people, far more than our Canadian neighbors, who guarantee health care to all people. Please do not tell me that in this country, if \u2014 and here's the if \u2014 we have the courage to take on the drug companies, and have the courage to take on the insurance companies, and the medical equipment suppliers, if we do that, yes, we can guarantee health care to all people in a much more cost effective way. +p2340 +aVWell, Secretary Clinton, you're not in the White House yet. And let us be clear that every proposal that I have introduced has been paid for. For example, all right, who in America denies that we have an infrastructure that is crumbling? Roads, bridges, water systems, wastewater plants, who denies that? Who denies that real unemployment today, including those who have given up looking for work and are working part-time is close to 10 percent? Who denies that African-American youth unemployment, real, is over 50 percent. We need to create jobs. So yes, I will do away with the outrageous loopholes that allow profitable multinational corporations to stash billions of dollars in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda and in a given year pay zero, zero in federal income tax. Yes, I'm going to do away with that. We will use those proceeds, a hundred billion a year, to invest in rebuilding our infrastructure. Yes, I believe that as a result of the illegal behavior on Wall Street, that they are a Wall Street that drove this country into the worst economic downturn since the Great Recession \u2014 Great Depression. Yes, I do believe that now after the American people bailed Wall Street out, yes, they should pay a Wall Street speculation tax so that we can make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We bailed them out. Now it is their time to help the middle class. +p2341 +aVA brief response. +p2342 +aVHere is where we are with public education. A 100, 150 years ago incredibly brave Americans said, you know what, working class kids, low income kids should not have to work in factories or on the farms. Like rich kids, they deserve to get a free education. And that free education of extraordinary accomplishment was from first grade to 12th grade. The world has changed. This is 2016. In many ways, a college degree today is equivalent to what a high school degree was 50, 60 years ago. So, yes, I do believe that when we talk about public education in America, today, in a rapidly changing world, we should have free tuition at public colleges and universities. That should be a right of all Americans regardless of the income of their families. +p2343 +aVLook, we are fighting for every vote that we can get from women, from men, straight, gay, African-Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans. We are trying to bring America together around an agenda that works for working families and the middle class. I am very proud, if my memory is not correct \u2014 I think I am \u2014 that I have a lifetime \u2014 and I've been in Congress a few years \u2014 a lifetime 100 percent pro-choice voting record. I am very proud that over the years we have had the support in my state of Vermont from very significant majorities of women. I'm very proud that I support legislation that is currently in the Congress, got support of almost all progressive Democrats in the House and Senate, which says we will end the absurdity of women today making 79 cents on the dollar compared to men. And we will join the rest of the other \u2014 the industrialized world in saying that paid family and medical leave should be a right of all working families. +p2344 +aVWell, you know, I think, from a historical point of view, somebody with my background, somebody with my views, somebody who has spent his entire life taking on the big money interests, I think a Sanders victory would be of some historical accomplishment, as well. +p2345 +aVLet me concur with the secretary, no question women's rights are under fierce attack all over this country. And I will tell you something that really galls me. I will not shock anybody to suggest that in politics there is occasionally a little bit of hypocrisy. Just a little bit. All over this country we have Republican candidates for president saying we hate the government. Government is the enemy. We're going to cut Social Security to help you. We're going to cut Medicare and Medicaid, federal aid to education to help you, because the government is so terrible. But, by the way, when it comes to a woman having to make a very personal choice, ah, in that case, my Republican colleagues love the government and want the government to make that choice for every woman in America. If that's not hypocrisy, I don't know what hypocrisy is. +p2346 +aVThis is one of the great tragedies in our country today. And we can no longer continue to sweep it under the rug. It has to be dealt with. Today a male African-American baby born today stands a one-in-four chance of ending up in jail. That is beyond unspeakable. So what we have to do is the radical reform of a broken criminal justice system. What we have to do is end over-policing in African-American neighborhoods. The reality is that both the African-American community and the white community do marijuana at about equal rates. The reality is four times as many blacks get arrested for marijuana. Truth is that far more blacks get stopped for traffic violations. The truth is that sentencing for blacks is higher than for whites. We need fundamental police reform, clearly, clearly, when we talk about a criminal justice system. I would hope that we could all agree that we are sick and tired of seeing videos on television of unarmed people, often African-Americans, shot by police officers. What we have got to do is make it clear that any police officer who breaks the law will, in fact, be held accountable. +p2347 +aVNothing that Secretary Clinton said do I disagree with. This mandatory sentencing, a very bad idea. It takes away discretion from judges. We have got to demilitarize local police departments so they do not look like occupying armies. We have got to make sure that local police departments look like the communities they serve in their diversity. And, where we are failing abysmally is in the very high rate of recidivism we see. People are being released from jail without the education, without the job training, without the resources that they need to get their lives together, then they end up \u2014 we're shocked that they end up back in jail again. So, we have a lot of work to do. But, here is a pledge I've made throughout this campaign, and it's really not a very radical pledge. When we have more people in jail, disproportionately African American and Latino, than China does, a communist authoritarian society four times our size. Here's my promise, at the end of my first term as president we will not have more people in jail than any other country. We will invest in education, and jobs for our kids, not incarceration and more jails. +p2348 +aVWell, I think, Judy, what has to be appreciated is that, as a result of the disastrous and illegal behavior on Wall Street, millions of lives were hurt. People lost their jobs, their homes, their life savings. Turns out that the African-American community and the Latino community were hit especially hard. As I understand it, the African-American community lost half of their wealth as a result of the Wall Street collapse. So when you have childhood African-American poverty rates of 35 percent, when you have youth unemployment at 51 percent, when you have unbelievable rates of incarceration \u2014 which, by the way, leaves the children back home without a dad or even a mother \u2014 clearly, we are looking at institutional racism. We are looking at an economy in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. And sadly, in America today, in our economy, a whole lot of those poor people are African-American. +p2349 +aVAbsolutely, because what we will do is say, instead of giving tax breaks to billionaires, we are going to create millions of jobs for low-income kids so they're not hanging out on street corners. We're going to make sure that those kids stay in school or are able to get a college education. And I think when you give low-income kids \u2014 African-American, white, Latino kids \u2014 the opportunities to get their lives together, they are not going to end up in jail. They're going to end up in the productive economy, which is where we want them. +p2350 +aVWhite people? +p2351 +aVYeah, you can, because African-Americans and Latinos not only face the general economic crises of low wages, and high unemployment, and poor educational opportunities, but they face other problems, as well. So, yes, we can talk about it as a racial issue. But it is a general economic issue. And here's what the economic issue is. The wages that high school graduates receive today are significantly less, whether you are white or black, than they used to be. Why is that? Because of a series of disastrous trade policies which have allowed corporate America through +p2352 +aVThe answer is yes. We've got 11 million undocumented people in this country. I have talked to some of the young kids with tears rolling down their cheeks, are scared to death that today they may or their parents may be deported. I believe that we have got to pass comprehensive immigration reform, something that I strongly supported. I believe that we have got to move toward a path toward citizenship. I agree with President Obama who used executive orders to protect families because the Congress, the House was unable or refused to act. And in fact I would go further. What would motivate me and what would be the guiding light for me in terms of immigration reform, Judy, is to bring families together, not divide them up. And let me say this also. Somebody who is very fond of the president, agrees with him most of the time, I disagree with his recent deportation policies. And I would not support those. Bottom line is a path towards citizenship for 11 million undocumented people, if Congress doesn't do the right thing, we use the executive orders of the president. +p2353 +aVSecretary Clinton, I do have a disagreement here. If my memory is correct, I think when we saw children coming from these horrendous, horrendously violent areas of Honduras and neighboring countries, people who are fleeing drug violence and cartel violence, I thought it was a good idea to allow those children to stay in this country. That was not, as I understand it, the secretary's position. In terms of 2007 immigration reform, yeah, I did vote against it. I voted against it because the Southern Poverty Law Center, among other groups, said that the guest-worker programs that were embedded in this agreement were akin to slavery. Akin to slavery, where people came into this country to do guest work were abused, were exploited, and if they stood up for their rights, they'd be thrown out of this country. So it wasn't just me who opposed it. It was +p2354 +aVWell, let me just respond. I worked with Ted Kennedy. He was the chairman of my committee. And I loved Ted Kennedy. But on this issue, when you have one of the large Latino organizations in America saying vote no, and you have the AFL-CIO saying vote no, and you have leading progressive Democrats, in fact, voting no, I don't apologize for that vote. But in terms of the children, I don't know to whom you're sending a message. Who are you sending a message to? These are children who are leaving countries and neighborhoods where their lives are at stake. That was the fact. I don't think we use them to send a message. I think we welcome them into this country and do the best we can to help them get their lives together. +p2355 +aVOK. You know, you judge a nation not by the number of millionaires and billionaires it has, but by how you treat, we treat, the most vulnerable and fragile people in our nation. And by those standards, we're not doing particularly well. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty among almost any major country on Earth. And in terms of seniors, there are millions of seniors \u2014 and I've talked to them in my state of Vermont and all over this country \u2014 who are trying to get by on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year Social Security. And you know what? You do the arithmetic. You can't get by on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year. And here's an area where Secretary Clinton and I believe we have a difference. I have long supported the proposition that we should lift the cap on taxable income coming into the Social Security Trust Fund, starting at $250,000. And when we \u2014 and when we do that, we don't do what the Republicans want, which is to cut Social Security. We do what the American people want, to expand Social Security by $1,300 a year for people under $16,000, and we extend the life of Social Security for 58 years. Yes, the wealthiest people, the top 1.5 percent, will pay more in taxes. But a great nation like ours should not be in a position where elderly people are cutting their pills in half, where they don't have decent nutrition, where they can't heat their homes in the wintertime. That is not what America should be about. If elected president, I will do everything I can to expand Social Security benefits, not just for seniors, but for disabled veterans, as well. +p2356 +aVIn all due respect......In all due respect, Secretary Clinton, a lot of the progressive groups, the online groups have really asked you a simple question. Are you coming onboard a proposal? And what is that proposal? Now, the proposal that I have outlined, you know, should be familiar to you, because it is what essentially Barack Obama campaigned on in 2008. You opposed him then. I would hope that you would come onboard and say that this is the simple and straightforward thing to do. We're asking the top 1.5 percent, including passive income, to start paying a little bit more so that the elderly and disabled vets in this country can live with security and dignity. I hope you will make a decision soon on this. +p2357 +aVThat's my bill. Check it out. +p2358 +aVWhat we are talking about in reality is a corrupt campaign finance system, that's what we're talking about. We have to be honest about it. It is undermining American democracy. When extraordinarily wealthy people make very large contributions to Super PACs, and in many cases in this campaign, Super PACs have raised more money than individual candidates have, OK? We had a decision to make early on, do we do a Super PAC? And, we said no. We don't represent Wall Street, we don't represent the billionaire class, so it ends up I'm the only candidate up here of the many candidates who has no Super PAC. But, what we did is we said to the working families of this country, look, we know things are tough, but if you want to help us go beyond establishment politics, and establishment economics, send us something. And, it turns out that up until \u2014 and this has blown me away, never in a million years would I have believed that I would be standing here tonight telling you that we have received three and a half million individual contributions from well over a million people. Now, Secretary Clinton's Super PAC, as I understand it, received $25 million dollars last reporting period, $15 million dollars from Wall Street. Our average contribution is $27 dollars, I'm very proud of that. +p2359 +aVThe people aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street... But let's not \u2014 but let's not \u2014 let's not insult \u2014 let's not insult the intelligence of the American people. People aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street make huge campaign contributions? I guess just for the fun of it; they want to throw money around. Why does the pharmaceutical industry make huge campaign contributions? Any connection maybe to the fact that our people pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs? Why does the fossil fuel industry pay \u2014 spend huge amounts of money on campaign contributions? Any connection to the fact that not one Republican candidate for president thinks and agrees with the scientific community that climate change is real and that we have got to transform our energy system? And when we talk about Wall Street, let's talk about Wall Street. I voted for Dodd-Frank, got an important amendment in it. In my view, it doesn't go anywhere near far enough. But when we talk about Wall Street, you have Wall Street and major banks have paid $200 billion in fines since the great crash. No Wall Street executive has been prosecuted. +p2360 +aVLet me, you know, again, respectfully disagree with Secretary Clinton here. When you have three out of the four largest financial institutions in this country bigger today than they were when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, when you have six financial institutions having assets equivalent to 58 percent of the GDP of America, while issuing two-thirds of the credit cards and a third of the mortgages, look, I think if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, that great trust-buster would have said break them up. I think he would have been right. I think he would have said bring back a 21st-century Glass-Steagall legislation. I think that would have been right, as well. That's my view. +p2361 +aVHey, I'm in the United States Senate, and anyone who doesn't think that there is an enormous amount of waste and inefficiency and bureaucracy throughout government would be very, very mistaken. I believe in government, but I believe in efficient government, not wasteful government. +p2362 +aVIf I could just answer that, we have also got to take a look at the waste and inefficiencies in the Department of Defense, which is the one major agency of government that has not been able to be audited. And I have the feeling you're going to find a lot of cost overruns there and a lot of waste and duplicative activities. +p2363 +aVLet me \u2014 let me just say this. What a President of the United States has got to do and what is his or her major, I think, responsibility is to, a, make certain that we keep our people safe, that we work with allies around the world to protect democratic values, that we do all that we can to create a world of peace and prosperity. I voted against the war in Iraq because I listened very carefully to what President Bush and Vice President Cheney had to say and I didn't believe them. And if you go to my Web site,berniesanders.com, what you find is not only going to help lead the opposition to that war, but much of what I feared would happen when I spoke on the floor of the House, in fact, did happen in terms of the instability that occurred. Now I think an area in kind of a vague way, or not so vague, where Secretary Clinton and I disagree is the area of regime change. Look, the truth is that a powerful nation like the United States, certainly working with our allies, we can overthrow dictators all over the world. And God only knows Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator. We could overthrow Assad tomorrow if we wanted to. We got rid of Gadhafi. But the point about foreign policy is not just to know that you can overthrow a terrible dictator, it's to understand what happens the day after. And in Libya, for example, the United States, Secretary Clinton, as secretary of state, working with some other countries, did get rid of a terrible dictator named Gadhafi. But what happened is a political vacuum developed. +p2364 +aVJudy, if I can, there is no question, Secretary Clinton and I are friends, and I have a lot of respect for her, that she has enormous experience in foreign affairs. Secretary of state for four years. You've got a bit of experience, I would imagine. But judgment matters as well. Judgment matters as well. And she and I looked at the same evidence coming from the Bush administration regarding Iraq. I lead the opposition against it. She voted for it. But more importantly, in terms of this Libya resolution that you have noted before, this was a virtually unanimous consent. Everybody voted for it wanting to see Libya move toward democracy, of course we all wanted to do that. That is very different than talking about specific action for regime change, which I did not support. +p2365 +aVJudy, one area very briefly... +p2366 +aVWhere the secretary and I have a very profound difference, in the last debate \u2014 and I believe in her book \u2014 very good book, by the way \u2014 in her book and in this last debate, she talked about getting the approval or the support or the mentoring of Henry Kissinger. Now, I find it rather amazing, because I happen to believe that Henry Kissinger was one of the most destructive secretaries of state in the modern history of this country. I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend. I will not take advice from Henry Kissinger. And in fact, Kissinger's actions in Cambodia, when the United States bombed that country, overthrew Prince Sihanouk, created the instability for Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge to come in, who then butchered some 3 million innocent people, one of the worst genocides in the history of the world. So count me in as somebody who will not be listening to Henry Kissinger. +p2367 +aVWell, it ain't Henry Kissinger. That's for sure. +p2368 +aVIt is. +p2369 +aVI find \u2014 I mean, it's just a very different, you know, historical perspective here. Kissinger was one of those people during the Vietnam era who talked about the domino theory. Not everybody remembers that. You do. I do. The domino theory, you know, if Vietnam goes, China, da, da, da, da, da, da, da. That's what he talked about, the great threat of China. And then, after the war, this is the guy who, in fact, yes, you're right, he opened up relations with China, and now pushed various type of trade agreements, resulting in American workers losing their jobs as corporations moved to China. The terrible, authoritarian, Communist dictatorship he warned us about, now he's urging companies to shut down and move to China. Not my kind of guy. +p2370 +aVWell, this is what I would say. It is a complicated relationship. I congratulate Secretary of State John Kerry and the president for working on this agreement. As you've indicated, what is happening in Syria, the number of people, the hundreds of thousands of people who have been killed \u2014 men, women, 20,000 children, the people who are forced to flee their own country \u2014 their own country \u2014 it is unspeakable. It is a real horror. Now, what I think is that right now we have got to do our best in developing positive relations with Russia. But let's be clear: Russia's aggressive actions in the Crimea and in Ukraine have brought about a situation where President Obama and +p2371 +aVLet me just \u2014 just say this. For a start, the secretary and I disagree \u2014 and I think the president does not agree with her \u2014 in terms of the concept of a no-fly zone in Syria. I think you do have a humanitarian tragedy there, as I mentioned a moment ago. I applaud Secretary Kerry and the president for trying to put together this agreement. Let's hope that it holds. But furthermore, what we have got to do, I'm sorry, yes, I do believe that we have got to do everything that we can, and it will not happen tomorrow. But I do hope that in years to come, just as occurred with Cuba, 10, 20 years ago, people would say, reach normalized relations with Cuba. And by the way, I hope we can end the trade embargo with Cuba as well. But the idea that we some day maybe have decent relations with Iran, maybe put pressure on them so they end their support for terrorism around the world, yes, that is something I want to achieve. And I believe that the best way to do that is to be aggressive, to be principled, but to have the goal of trying to improve relations. That's how you make peace in the world. You sit down and you work with people, you make demands of people, in this case demanding Iran stop the support of international terrorism. +p2372 +aVWe have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of work to do. But I recall when Secretary Clinton ran against then-Senator Obama, she was critical of him for suggesting that maybe you want to talk to Iran, that you want to talk to our enemies. I have no illusion. Of course you are right. Iran is sponsoring terrorism in many parts of the world, destabilizing areas. Everybody knows that. But our goal is, in fact, to try over a period of time to, in fact, deal with our enemies, not just ignore that reality. +p2373 +aVNo, I think the idea was that president \u2014 then-Senator Obama was wrong for suggesting that it is a good idea to talk to your opponents. It's easier to talk to your friends. It's harder to talk to your enemies. I think we should do both. +p2374 +aVA couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to go on a congressional delegation. And I went to one of these Turkish refugee camps right on the border of Syria. And what a sad sight that was: Men, women, children forced out of their homes. And Turkey, by the way, did a very decent thing, providing what was reasonable housing and conditions for those people. It seems to me that given our history as a nation that has been a beacon of hope for the oppressed, for the downtrodden, that I very strongly disagree with those Republican candidates who say, you know what, we've got to turn our backs on women and children who left their home with nothing, nothing at all. That is not what America is supposed to be about. So I believe that working with Europe \u2014 and, by the way, you know, we've got some very wealthy countries there in that part of the world. You got Kuwait and you got Qatar and you got Saudi Arabia. They have a responsibility, as well. But I think this is a worldwide \u2014 that the entire world needs to come together to deal with this horrific refugee crisis we're seeing from Syria and Afghanistan, as well. +p2375 +aVYou know, Franklin Delano Roosevelt took the oath of office in 1933 at a time when 25 percent of the American people were unemployed, country was in incredible despair. And he stood before the American people and he said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself," a profound statement that gave the American people the courage to believe that, yes, we could get out of that terrible depression. And then what he did is redefine the role of government. You know, you had Herbert Hoover before that saying, no, we got to only worry about the deficit. So what if mass unemployment exists? So what if children are going hungry? That's not the role of the government. And when FDR said, "Yeah, it is," that we're going to use all of the resources that we have to create jobs, to build homes, to feed people, to protect the farmers, we are a nation which if we come together there is nothing that we could not accomplish. And kind of \u2014 that's what I see our campaign is about right now. In this particular moment of serious crises, saying to the American people don't give up on the political process. don't listen to the Trumps of the world and allowing them to divide us. If we reengage and get involved, yeah, we can have health care for all people, we can make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We do not have to have massive levels of income and wealth inequality. In the same light, as the foreign leader, Winston Churchill's politics were not my politics. He was kind of a conservative guy in many respects. But nobody can deny that as a wartime leader, he rallied the British people when they stood virtually alone against the Nazi juggernaut and rallied them and eventually won an extraordinary victory. Those are two leaders that I admire very much. +p2376 +aVThat is......Madam Secretary, that is a low blow. I have worked with President Obama for the last seven years. When President Obama came into office we were losing 800,000 jobs a month, 800,000 jobs a month. We had a $1.4 trillion deficit. And the world's financial system is on the verge of collapse. As a result of his efforts and the efforts of Joe Biden against unprecedented, I was there in the Senate, unprecedented Republican obstructionism, we have made enormous progress. But you know what? Last I heard we lived in a democratic society. Last I heard, a United States senator had the right to disagree with the president, including a president who has done such an extraordinary job. So I have voiced criticisms. You're right. Maybe you haven't. I have. But I think to suggest that I have voiced criticism, this blurb that you talk about, you know what the blurb said? The blurb said that the next president of the United States has got to be aggressive in bringing people into the political process. That's what I said. That is what I believe. President Obama and I are friends. As you know, he came to Vermont to campaign for me when he was a senator. I have worked for his re-election. His first election and his re-election. But I think it is really unfair to suggest that I have not been supportive of the president. I have been a strong ally with him on virtually every issue. Do senators have the right to disagree with the president? Have you ever disagreed with a president? I suspect you may have. +p2377 +aVWell, one of us ran against Barack Obama. I was not that candidate. All right, look, this has been a great debate. A lot of interesting issues have come together. Let me conclude by just saying this. There is no president, in my view, not Hillary Clinton, not Bernie Sanders, who has the capability or the power to take on Wall Street, large campaign donors, the corporate media, the big money interests in this country alone. This campaign is not just about electing a president. What this campaign is about is creating a process for a political revolution in which millions of Americans, working people who have given up on the political process, they don't think anybody hears their pains or their concerns. Young people for whom getting involved in politics is as, you know, it's like going to the moon. It ain't going to happen. Low income people who are not involved in the political process. What this campaign is not only about electing someone who has the most progressive agenda, it is about bringing tens of millions of people together to demand that we have a government that represents all of us and not just the 1 percent, who today have so much economic and political power. Thank you all very much. +p2378 +aVRachel, thank you very much. Millions of Americans are giving up on the political process. And they're giving up on the political process because they understand the economy is rigged. They are working longer hours for low wages. They're worried about the future of their kids, and yet almost all new income and wealth is going to the top 1 percent. Not what America is supposed to be about. Not the fairness that we grew up believing that America was about. And then sustaining that rigged economy is a corrupt campaign finance system undermining American democracy, where billionaire, Wall Street, corporate America can contribute unlimited sums of money into super PACs and into candidates. Our job, together, is to end a rigged economy, create an economy that works for all, and absolutely overturn Citizens United. One person, one vote. That's what American democracy is about. +p2379 +aVWell, I haven't quite run for president before. Let's deal with some of the comments that Secretary Clinton made. And by the way, you know, sometimes there's a lot of drama here. I have known Secretary Clinton for 25 years and respect her very much. Here is the issue. Every major country on earth, whether it's the U.K., whether it's France, whether it's Canada, has managed to provide healthcare to all people as a right and they are spending significantly less per capita on health care than we are. So I do not accept the belief that the United States of America can't do that. I do not accept the belief that the United States of America and our government can't stand up to the ripoffs of the pharmaceutical industry which charge us by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. Number two, in the economy today, everybody understands that we need a well educated workforce. This is 2016. When we talk about public education, it can no longer be K through 12th grade. I do believe that public colleges and universities should be tuition free. Well, how do we pay for that? It's an expensive proposition. I do believe that we should substantially lower student debt in this country, which is crushing millions of people. We pay for it, in my view, by a tax on Wall Street speculation. The middle class bailed out Wall Street in their time of need. Now, it is Wall Street's time to help the middle class. +p2380 +aVLet me... +p2381 +aV... this is a good discussion here. +p2382 +aVAnd let me just say this. As Secretary Clinton may know, I am on the Health Education Labor Committee. That committee wrote the Affordable Care Act. The idea I would dismantle health care in America while we're waiting to pass a Medicare for all is just not accurate. The Affordable Care Act has clearly, as Secretary Clinton made the point, done a lot of good things, but, what it has not done is dealt with the fact we have 29 million people today who have zero health insurance, we have even more who are underinsured with large deductibles and copayments and prescription drug prices are off the wall. So I do believe that in the future, not by dismantling what we have here\u2014I helped write that bill\u2014but by moving forward, rallying the American people, I do believe we should have health care for all. +p2383 +aVNo, not at all. Here's the reality of American economic life today. The reality is that we have one of lowest voter turnouts of any major country on earth because so many people have given up on the political process. The reality is that there has been trillions of dollars of wealth going from the middle class in the last 30 years to the top 1/10th of 1 percent. The reality is we that have a corrupt campaign finance system which separates the American people's needs and desires from what Congress is doing. So to my mind, what we have got to do is wage a political revolution where millions of people have given up on the political process, stand up and fight back, demand the government that represents us and not just a handful of campaign contribution\u2014contributors. Now all of the ideas that I'm talking about, they are not radical ideas. Making public colleges and universities tuition free, that exists in countries all over the world, used to exist in the United States. Rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, and creating 13 million jobs by doing away with tax loopholes that large corporations now enjoy by putting their money into the Cayman Islands and other tax havens. That is not a radical idea. What we need to do is to stand up to the big money interests, and the campaign contributors. When we do that, we can, in fact, transform America. +p2384 +aVLet me just pick up on this point. This whole discussion began because I commented, not making overall evaluation about the Secretary. She was in Ohio, I think, in September or November and she got up and said something like, I have been\u2014I'm paraphrasing, I have been criticized because people think I'm a moderate. Well, I am a moderate. That's where this came from. It wasn't me paraphrasing her. It is what she said, and all that I said was there's nothing wrong with being a moderate. But, you can't be a moderate, you can't a progressive. In terms of President Obama, I think if we remember where this country was seven years ago, 800,000 jobs being lost every month, $1.4 trillion dollar deficit. The world's financial system on the verge of collapse. I think that President Obama, Vice President Biden, and the Democratic leadership in the House and the Senate have done a fantastic job. We are in much better shape than we were seven years ago, although my Republican colleagues seem to have forgotten where we were seven years ago. That's the fact, but, we still have a very long way to go. Do I think President Obama is a progressive? Yes, I do. I disagree with him on a number of issues including the trade agreement. But, yes, I think he has done an excellent job. +p2385 +aVThat's right, I mean, instead of arguing about definitions, let's talk about... +p2386 +aV... What we should do, and one of the things we should do is not only talk the talk, but walk the walk. I am very proud to be the only candidate up here who does not have a Super PAC, who's not raising huge sums of money from Wall Street...... And special interests. I am enormously proud. Never believed it would happen that we have raised 3.5 million individual contributions, averaging $27 dollars a piece. That is what the political revolution means. +p2387 +aVWell, Rachel, actually, that wasn't accurate. In 1988 the Republican did win, I believe, by 3 points. I came in second. It was 34-31, I think, 19 for the Democrat. In that race the Democrat was the spoiler, not me. And it is true......it is true, it's not to be denied, I am the longest- serving independent in the history of the United States Congress. People of Vermont sent me to Washington as an independent. That is true. But on the other hand, I have\u2014when I was in the House for 16 years, I caucused with the Democrats. In the Senate for nine years caucused with the Democrats, of course. And I was elected by the Democrats to be chair of the Veterans Committee three years ago, which I'm very proud of. And now am the rankings member on the Budget Committee, leader of the Democrats in opposition to the majority Republicans. I am running for president as a Democrat. And if elected, not only do I hope to bring forth a major change in national priorities, but let me be frank, I do want to see major changes in the Democratic Party. I want to see working people and young people come into the party in a way that doesn't exist now. And you know what, I want a 50-state strategy so the Democratic Party is not just the party of 25 states. +p2388 +aVWell, I don't see it quite like that. +p2389 +aVI am\u2014will absolutely admit that Secretary Clinton has the support of far more governors, mayors, members of the House. She has the entire establishment or almost the entire establishment behind her. That's a fact. I don't deny it. But I am pretty proud that we have over a million people who have contributed to our campaign averaging 27 bucks apiece. That we have had meetings where 25,000-30,000 people have come out. That our campaign is a campaign of the people, by the people, and for the people. So, Rachel, yes, Secretary Clinton does represent the establishment. I represent, I hope, ordinary Americans, and by the way, who are not all that enamored with the establishment, but I am very proud to have people like Keith Ellison and Raul Grijalva in the House, the co-chairmen of the House Progressive Caucus. +p2390 +aVWhat being part of the establishment is, is, in the last quarter, having a super PAC that raised $15 million from Wall Street, that throughout one's life raised a whole lot of money from the drug companies and other special interests. To my mind, if we do not get a handle on money in politics and the degree to which big money controls the political process in this country, nobody is going to bring about the changes that is needed in this country for the middle class and working families. +p2391 +aVWhat... +p2392 +aV... you know... +p2393 +aV. +p2394 +aVLet's talk about\u2014OK, let's talk... +p2395 +aV... let us talk about issues. +p2396 +aVLet's talk about issues. +p2397 +aVLet's... +p2398 +aV... let's\u2014let's\u2014let's talk about issues. +p2399 +aVLet's talk\u2014let's talk about issues, all right? Let's talk about why, in the 1990s, Wall Street got deregulated. Did it have anything to do with the fact that Wall Street provided\u2014spent billions of dollars on lobbying and campaign contributions? Well, some people might think, yeah, that had some influence. Let's ask why it is that we pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, and your medicine can be doubled tomorrow, and there's nothing that the government can do to stop it. You think it has anything to do with the huge amounts of campaign contributions and lobbying from the fossil fuel industry? Let's talk about climate change. Do you think there's a reason why not one Republican has the guts to recognize that climate change is real, and that we need to transform our energy system? Do you think it has anything to do with the Koch brothers and ExxonMobil pouring huge amounts of money into the political system? That is what goes on in America. I am not\u2014I like......there is a reason. You know, there is a reason why these people are putting huge amounts of money into our political system. And in my view, it is undermining American democracy and it is allowing Congress to represent wealthy campaign contributors and not the working families of this country. +p2400 +aVI think as Secretary Clinton knows, there is nobody who fought harder. I was on the House Financial Committee at that time. I heard the arguments coming from Democrats and Republicans\u2014Robert Rubin, Alan Greenspan\u2014about great an idea it would be if we did away with Glass-Steagall and if we allowed investor banks and commercial banks and big insurance companies to merge. Go to YouTube today. Look up Greenspan-Sanders. Listen to what I told them then. I helped lead the effort against deregulation. Unfortunately, we lost that. The result is\u2014was the worst financial disaster since the Great Depression. +p2401 +aVChuck, actually we looked at it, but it turns out to be a disaster. The way it is structured right now, if you make it all the way to California, you could do pretty well. But in terms of the early states\u2014Iowa, New Hampshire, the other states\u2014it just doesn't work. Your point is well taken. I believe in public funding of elections, absolutely. But this system is\u2014I don't know if the secretary would agree\u2014is currently very antiquated and no longer applies to modern day politics. +p2402 +aVBut if the... +p2403 +aVLet me just say this. Wall Street is perhaps the most powerful economic and political force in this country. You have companies like Goldman Sachs, who just recently paid a settlement fine with the federal government for $5 billion for defrauding investors. Goldman Sachs was one of those companies whose illegal activity helped destroy our economy and ruin the lives of millions of Americans. But this is what a rigged economy and a corrupt campaign finance system and a broken criminal justice is about. These guys are so powerful that not one of the executives on Wall Street has been charged with anything after paying, in this case of Goldman Sachs, a $5 billion fine. Kid gets caught with marijuana, that kid has a police record. A Wall Street executive destroys the economy, $5 billion settlement with the government, no criminal record. That is what power is about. That is what corruption is about. And that is what has to change in the United States of America. +p2404 +aVI would say that\u2014that folks who have looked at this issue for a long time, whether it's Elizabeth Warren or many other economists, will tell you that right now, yes, we do need a 21st century Glass-Steagall legislation. And I would tell you also that when you have three out of the four largest banks in America today, bigger than they were\u2014significantly bigger than when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, I think if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, a good Republican by the way, what he would say is: Break them up; they are too powerful economically; they are too powerful politically. And that is what I believe and many economists believe. Time to break them up. +p2405 +aVWell, we've had a number of economists supporting our legislation. And here's where we are. The American people can judge. Six largest financial institutions in America today have assets of roughly $10 trillion; equivalent to 58 percent of the GDP of the United States of America. That is a lot of money. They issue two thirds of the credit cards, and by the way they're ripping off a whole lot of people with high interest rates on the credit cards, and they write about one third of the mortgages. That is a lot of power for six financial institutions. That's it. I think it is too much power. Too much economic power, too much political power, and the economists that I talk to say we should break them up. +p2406 +aVYeah, I do. I agree with much of what the Secretary said, but, madam Secretary, it is not one streak. Wall Street is an entity of unbelievable economic and political power. That's a fact. And, I want to say something, and it may sound harsh, not to you, but to the American people. In a sense, in my view, the business model of Wall Street is fraud. It's fraud. I believe that corruption is rampant, and the fact that major bank after major bank has reached multi billion dollar settlements with the United States government when we have a weak regulator system tells me that not only did we have to bail them out once, if we don't start breaking them up, we're going to have to bail them out again, and I do not want to see that happen... +p2407 +aVOf course I can work with them, but let's be clear. When I talked about Boeing and I talked about General Electric, what I was referring to is an outrage. I suspect the secretary agrees request me. Right now you have a loophole such that these guys are putting their profits, multi-billion dollar profitable corporations putting billions of dollars into the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, and other tax havens. And in a given year, Rachel, after making billions of dollars in profit, do you know how much they're paying in taxes to the United States government in a given year? Zero. Now explain to me how that makes any sense at all. So what I have said with regard to Boeing and GE and other multinationals that pay zero taxes, you know what we're going to do? We're going to end that loophole. They are going to pay their fair share of taxes. We're going to use that money to rebuild our infrastructure and create up to 13 million jobs. Can I work with corporations? Are there good corporations doing incredible cutting edge research and development? Absolutely they are. And we should be proud of them. But on the other hand, there are many corporations who have turned their backs on the American worker, who have said, if I can make another nickel in profit by going to China and shutting down in the United States of America, that's what I will do. I will do my best to transform our trade policy and take on these corporations who want to invest in low-income countries around the world rather than in the United States of America. +p2408 +aVOK. Let me agree with much of what the secretary said, but where we have a different background on this issue is we differ on the war in Iraq, which created barbaric organizations like +p2409 +aVWell, I think our great task is to make certain that our young men and women in the military do not get sucked into never- ending, perpetual warfare within the quagmire of Syria and Iraq. And I will do my very best to make sure that that doesn't happen. I agree with the secretary that I think what has to happen\u2014and let me just mention what King Abdullah of Jordan said. I think he hit the nail on the head. And what he said is essentially the war against +p2410 +aVWell, you can't simply withdraw tomorrow. Wish we could, and allow, you know, the Taliban or anybody else to reclaim that country. But what we must do, and what we have seen in recent months, is some progress in Iraq, where finally the Iraqi army, which has not been a particularly effective fighting force, retook Ramadi. +p2411 +aVWell, that's not quite accurate. I did give a speech at Georgetown where I talked about democratic socialism and foreign policy. Maybe I shouldn't have combined the two in the same speech, because the foreign policy part of it didn't get much attention. So, let me take this opportunity to give you a very short speech here on the issue. I think, while it is true that the secretary and I voted differently on the war in Iraq, what is important is that we learn the lesson of the war in Iraq. And that lesson is intrinsic to my foreign policy if elected president, is the United States cannot do it alone. We cannot be the policeman of the world. We are now spending more I believe than the next eight countries on defense. We have got to work in strong coalition with the major powers of the world and with those Muslim countries that are prepared to stand up and take on terrorism. So I would say that the key doctrine of the Sanders administration would be no, we cannot continue to do it alone; we need to work in coalition. +p2412 +aV I fully, fully concede that Secretary Clinton, who was secretary of State for four years, has more experience\u2014hat is not arguable\u2014in foreign affairs. But experience is not the only point, judgment is. And once again, back in 2002, when we both looked at the same evidence about the wisdom of the war in Iraq, one of us voted the right way and one of us didn't. In terms of Iran and in terms of Saudi Arabia, of course they hate each other. That's no great secret. But John Kerry, who is I think doing a very good job, has tried to at least get these people in the room together because both of them are being threatened by +p2413 +aVWell... +p2414 +aVWho said That think we should normalize relations with Iran tomorrow? I never said that. I think we should move forward as quickly as we can. And you're right. They are a sponsor of terrorism around the world and we have to address that. But you know, a number of years ago, people were saying normal relationship with Cuba, what a bad and silly idea. They're Communists, they are our enemy. Well guess what? Change has come. So please don't suggest that I think we normalize relations with Tehran tomorrow. We don't. But I would like to see us move forward, and hopefully some day that will happen. And I would say if I might, Madam Secretary\u2014and you can correct me if I'm wrong. When you ran against Senator Obama you thought him naive because he thought it was a good idea to talk to our enemies. I think those are exactly the people you have to talk to and you have to negotiate with. +p2415 +aVOK. +p2416 +aVI think President Obama had the right idea, and the bottom line is that of course there have to be conditions. But, of course it doesn't do us any good to not talk with our adversaries... +p2417 +aVJust to set the record straight, I very strongly supported the agreement which makes certain that Iran does not get a nuclear weapon. +p2418 +aV... +p2419 +aV +p2420 +aV... No, no... +p2421 +aV... +p2422 +aVClearly North Korea is a very strange situation because it is such an isolated country run by a handful of dictators, or maybe just one, who seems to be somewhat paranoid. And, who had nuclear weapons. And, our goal there, in my view, is to work and lean strongly on China to put as much pressure. China is one of the few major countries in the world that has significant support for North Korea, and I think we got to do everything we can to put pressure on China. I worry very much about an isolated, paranoid country with atomic bombs. I think, clearly, we got to work closely with China to resolve the serious problems we have, and I worry about Putin and his military adventurism in the Crimea and the Ukraine. +p2423 +aV... No, I don't. I worry very, very much about an isolated country. That's what makes me nervous. Russia lives in the world. China lives in the world. North Korea is a very, very strange country because it is so isolated, and I do feel that a nation with nuclear weapons, they have got to be dealt with. Dealt with effectively. +p2424 +aVLet me agree. You know, as the secretary knows, I chaired\u2014I had the privilege and the honor of chairing the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs. And it is interesting to me, you know, Republicans give a lot of speeches about how much they love veterans. I work with the American Legion, the VFW, the DAV, the Vietnam Vets, and virtually every veterans organization to put together the most comprehensive piece of the veterans legislation in the modern history of America. That's what I did. And I brought it to the floor of the Senate. Every Democrat voted for it, I got two Republicans. We ended up with 56 votes and I couldn't get the 60 votes that I needed. That is pathetic. This was legislation supported by all of the veterans organizations, addressing many of the serious problems that veterans face in health care and in how we deliver benefits to them. So Republicans talk a good game about veterans, but when it came to put money on the line to protect our veterans, frankly, they were not there. What I did next, Rachel, is I had to retreat a little bit, I had to compromise. I did work with John McCain. I did work with Jeff Miller over in the House. And we put together not the bill that I wanted, but probably the most comprehensive V.A. health care bill in the modern history of this country. Secretary Clinton is absolutely right, there are people, Koch brothers among others, who have a group called Concerned Veterans of America, funded by the Koch brothers. The Koch brothers, by the way, want to destroy Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, every governmental program passed since the 1930s. Yes, there are people out there who want to privatize it. The last point that I'd make. I had a hearing. I had all of the veterans groups in front of me. And I said to them, tell me when a veteran gets in to the V.A., understanding there are waiting lines and real problems, when a veteran gets into the system, is the quality of care good? Without exception, what they said, good, excellent, very good. We've got to strengthen the V.A. We do not privatize the V.A. +p2425 +aVWell, I agree with the Des Moines Register, but let's not blow this out of proportion. This is not a\u2014this is not, like, a winner-take-all thing. I think where we now stand\u2014correct me if I'm wrong\u2014you have 22 delegates, I have 20 delegates. We need 2,500 delegates to win the nomination. You know, so this is not\u2014this is not the biggest deal in the world. We think, by the way, based on talking to our precinct captains, we may have at least two more delegates. What the Des Moines Register said\u2014you know, there were coin\u2014I think there were half a dozen coin flips\u2014a fairly chaotic type situation. At the end of the day, no matter how it's recounted, it will break roughly even. And by the way, I love and respect the caucus process in Iowa. See, and I don't have to say it, because they voted already. And I love New Hampshire, too, because you haven't voted, but......but, look, I think people are blowing this up out of proportion. But I think we need improvements in the process by which results are determined. +p2426 +aVOh . See, when you are old, then they go back all these years. All right. What have you got? +p2427 +aVWell, you know, a general election is different than a primary and caucus process. But let me just say this. In terms of where we are right now, as you mention, Rachel, in a number of national and state, including New Hampshire. For example, the last poll I saw\u2014there may have been a new one\u2014last one I saw here in New Hampshire, a battleground state, had me defeating Trump by 19; the secretary defeating him by one. There were also pretty large margins in Iowa and Wisconsin. These are polls. Polls go up. Polls go down. But here's why I think I will be, if nominated, the strongest candidate. Democrats win when there is a large voter turnout; when people are excited; when working people, middle class people and young people are prepared to engage in the political process. Republicans win when people are demoralized and you have a small voter turnout, which by the way is why they love voter suppression. I believe that our campaign up to now has shown that we can create an enormous amount of enthusiasm from working people, from young people, who will get involved in the political process and which will drive us to a very large voter turnout. If there is a large voter turnout, not only do we retain the White House, but I think we regain the Senate. We win governors' chairs up and down the line. So I believe if you want to retain the White House, if you want to see Democrats do well across the board, I think our campaign is the one that creates the large voter turnout and helps us win. +p2428 +aV +p2429 +aVI am feeling exactly the way I felt at the first debate. There's a process under way. I will not politicize it. +p2430 +aVAnd by the way\u2014and by the way, if I may, the secretary probably doesn't know that there's not a day that goes by when I am not asked to attack her on that issue, and I have refrained from doing that and I will continue to refrain from doing that. +p2431 +aVNot losing control of our campaign. You know, we have hired a whole lot of people in a rapid way and I am familiar with the first two instances and they are unacceptable, and we have apologized and dealt with that. In terms of the last one, as I understand it, we did not suggest that we had the endorsement of a newspaper. Newspapers who make endorsements also say positive things about other candidates, and to the best of my knowledge, that is what we did. So we never said, never said that somebody, a newspaper endorsed us that did not. What we did say is blah blah blah blah was said by the newspaper. +p2432 +aVBut that was only for\u2014that was not to be on television. That's an important point. That was just something\u2014as the secretary knows, you put titles on ads and you send them out, but there was no word in that ad, none, that said that those newspapers had endorsed us. +p2433 +aV... Look, I hear what the Secretary said, and I understand, but look, there are\u2014all of us know that we have seen in recent years horrible, horrible crimes. It's hard to imagine how people can do, bomb, and kill 168 people in Oklahoma City, or do the Boston Marathon bombing, but this is what I believe, and for a couple of reasons. Number one, too many innocent people, including minorities, African Americans, have been executed when they were not guilty. That's number one. We have to be very careful about making sure about that. But, second of all, and maybe, in a deeper reason, of course there are barbaric acts out there. But, in a world of so much violence and killing, I just don't believe that government itself should be part of the killing. So, when somebody commits......somebody commits any of these terrible crimes that we have seen, you lock them up, and you toss away the key. They're never going to get out. But, I just don't' want to see government be part of killing. That's all. +p2434 +aVAbsolutely. I think the Secretary described the situation appropriately. You know, I don't go around asking for governor's resignations every day. In fact, I think I never have in my life. But I did ask for the resignation of Governor Snyder because his irresponsibility......was so outrageous. What we are talking about are children being poisoned. That's what we're talking about. We don't know, no one knows for sure because they haven't done the appropriate studies, but there's no question that kids' intellectual development may have been impacted. We don't know how many thousands. The idea that there has not been a dramatic response is beyond comprehension. And when you have one of the, I think, significant public health crises of recent years, of course the federal government comes in. And of course the federal government says, you're not going to be poisoning little kids and impacting their entire lives. Last point on this. And I suspect the secretary agrees. One wonders if this were a white suburban community what kind of response there would have been. Flint, Michigan, is a poor community. It is disproportionately African-American and minority. And what has happened there is absolutely unacceptable. +p2435 +aVAbsolutely right. +p2436 +aVChuck, I believe in trade, but I do not believe in unfettered free trade. I believe in fair trade which works for the middle class and working families of this country and not just large multinational corporations. I was not only in opposition to +p2437 +aVNo, let... +p2438 +aV... I am absolutely supportive of comprehensive immigration reform and a path towards citizenship for 11 million people today who are living in the shadows. All right? We got to do that. But you miss\u2014when you looked at the issues, you missed two of the most important. And that is you're not going to accomplish what has to be done for working families and the middle class unless there is campaign finance reform. So long as big money interests control the United States Congress, it is gonna be very hard to do what has to be done for working families. So let me be very clear. No nominee of mine, if I'm elected president, to the United States Supreme Court will get that nomination unless he or she is loud and clear, and says they will vote to overturn Citizens United. Second point\u2014second point is that the only way we make change in terms of health care, in terms of dealing with a broken criminal justice system which, today, allows us to have more people in jail than any other country\u2014largely African-American and Latino\u2014the only way we create millions of jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure or have a tax system that says to the wealthy that they are going to pay their fair share, is when millions of people become involved in the political process. No, you just can't negotiate with Mitch McConnell. Mitch is gonna have to look out the window and see a whole lot of people saying, "Mitch, stop representing the billionaire class. Start listening to working families." And as president, that's what I will work hard on. +p2439 +aVI agree with what the secretary said. We shouldn't be getting ahead of ourselves. And as I have said many times, you know, sometimes in these campaigns, things get a little bit out of hand. I happen to respect the secretary very much, I hope it's mutual. And on our worst days, I think it is fair to say we are 100 times better than any Republican candidate. +p2440 +aVI\u2014my dad came to this country at the age of 17 from Poland. Didn't have any money, couldn't speak English, he died pretty young, and I think it would have been beyond his wildest dreams to see his son up here on this stage today running for president. I love this country and my dad loved this country, and he was the most proud American because of what it gave him in terms of raising his family, even though we never had much money. But today in America, we are the only major country on earth that doesn't guarantee health care to all people, that doesn't guarantee paid family and medical leave. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth. We are seeing millions of families unable to send their kids to college in the United States of America. I'm running for president because I believe it is just too late for establishment politics and establishment economics. I do believe we need a political revolution where millions of people stand up and say loudly and clearly that our government belongs to all of us and not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors. Thank you all. +p2441 +asVBARTIROMO +p2442 +(lp2443 +VTonight we're partnering with the Wall Street Journal to ask questions on the economy that voters want answered. We're also working with Facebook, who tells us that since the first Republican debate, more than 58 million people have joined the political conversation online. More than 9 million are talking specifically about the economy. +p2444 +aVBusinesswoman Carly Fiorina. Ohio Governor John Kasich. And Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. +p2445 +aVWe've asked people on Facebook to submit their questions for the candidates. Seth Bell wrote, "We are approaching $20 trillion in national debt. Specifically, what plans do you have to cut federal spending?" Governor Kasich, you have spoken much about your success in balancing the budget under President Clinton. Today the national debt is at record highs and growing unsustainably. Interest will be the fastest-growing part of the federal budget, tripling over the next 10 years. Social Security, the lifeline of millions of American seniors, is rushing toward insolvency. With all of the tax plans presented tonight, estimated to cost anywhere between $2 trillion and $12 trillion over a decade, what specific steps will you take to balance the budget? +p2446 +aVDid you want to name any specific steps, sir? +p2447 +aVThank you, sir. +p2448 +aVSenator Cruz, the International Monetary Fund recently cut its expectations for economic growth. Many economists expect a recession to hit the U.S. within the next year due to the weakening of manufacturing. The next president will have to deal with it. You say tax reform is a powerful lever to spur economic expansion. You're calling for a 10 percent income tax and a 16 percent business tax. What other elements do you need in this plan to actually create jobs? +p2449 +aVThank you, sir. +p2450 +aVGovernor Bush... +p2451 +aVWe have more questions for you, Governor Kasich, coming up. We have more questions for you, Governor Kasich. +p2452 +aVWe will \u2014 we will certainly get to that. Governor Bush? +p2453 +aVAlmost 40 percent of Americans are without a job and are not looking. Many have given up. That's what the participation rate tells us. You've said your policies will drive the economy back to 4 percent growth, which we haven't seen since the year 2000. What specific regulations would you change? And how will that lead to jobs and growth? +p2454 +aVThank you, sir. +p2455 +aVMr. Trump, a federal appeals court just dealt a blow to the Obama administration's plan to prevent the deportation of 5 million people living in this country illegally. The White House is appealing to the Supreme Court. At the heart of this issue is the effect that illegal immigrants are having on our economy, what will you do about it? +p2456 +aVCan we just send 5 million people back with no effect on economy? +p2457 +aVSo what will you do? +p2458 +aVThank you, sir. +p2459 +aVWe go back to Facebook. Dewayne Wesley Cato asks on Facebook, how do we get rid of regulations choking our businesses? Ms. Fiorina? Specifically, under the president's Affordable Care Act, employers with 50 or more employees are required to offer health insurance, or be fined. Many are opting to pay the fine. Others are cutting back employee hours to duck the law altogether. What specific ways will you alleviate the pressure on small business? +p2460 +aVJust to be clear, you want to repeal Obamacare... ..but, what's the alternative? +p2461 +aVJust to be clear, you say you would repeal Obamacare... +p2462 +aV...But, what is the alternative... +p2463 +aV...and how does that help small business... +p2464 +aV...Thank you... +p2465 +aVSenator Cruz, there isn't anyone in this audience or watching at home tonight who would not like to pay less in taxes. Most people just want a fair shake, and they don't want their money to be wasted. But explain how your plan works. How can you cut taxes as much as you propose without running up debt and deficits? +p2466 +aVBut you haven't told us how to pay for it. +p2467 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Bush, Republican primary voters say tax reform should be a priority for Congress and the administration. But, Governor Bush, how important is tax reform in your domestic policy agenda? Will you guarantee it in the first year of your presidency? +p2468 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2469 +aVThat's right. That's right. +p2470 +aVComing up, the biggest threats facing the next commander-in-chief. You're watching the Republican presidential debate, live tonight from Milwaukee. We'll be right back. +p2471 +aVWelcome back. Welcome back to the Republican presidential debate. The candidates taking the questions you want answered. Also tonight, you can see what America is saying about the debate. Go to Facebook and type #gopdebate into the search box. Now, back to the questions. Americans face security threats at home and abroad. Last year, terrorist attacks rose 61 percent, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace, with the most deaths occurring in just five countries, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Syria. Dr. Carson, you were against putting troops on the ground in Iraq and against a large military force in Afghanistan. Do you support the president's decision to now put 50 special ops forces in Syria and leave 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan? +p2472 +aVWe asked Facebook to take a look at some of the major issues we're talking about, and tackling in this debate tonight. This word cloud shows what people are focusing on the most. The bigger the word, the more the talk. One of the most discussed issues in the last month, homeland security. Governor Bush, what is the biggest threat facing America today? +p2473 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, in 2012 debate, President Obama mocked Mitt Romney's assertion that Russia was the top geopolitical challenge facing the United States, saying he was a Cold War dinosaur. Now, Russia has invaded Ukraine, and has put troops in Syria. You have said you will have a good relationship with Mr. Putin. So, what does President Trump do in response to Russia's aggression? +p2474 +aVThank you, sir. +p2475 +aVThank you, governor. +p2476 +aVSenator Rubio. +p2477 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. +p2478 +aVMore questions \u2014 more questions coming up, when the Republican presidential debate comes right back, live from Milwaukee. Stay with us. +p2479 +aVWelcome back to the fourth Republican presidential debate. Senator Rubio, Hillary Clinton is the clear front runner for the Democratic nomination. If she is indeed the nominee, you will be facing a candidate with an impressive resume. She was the first lady of the United States, a U.S. senator from New York, and secretary of state under Barack Obama. She has arguably more experience, certainly more time in government than almost all of you on stage tonight. Why should the American people trust you to lead this country, even though she has been so much closer to the office? +p2480 +aVSenator Paul, you were one of 15 republicans to vote for an amendment which states that human activity contributed to climate change. President Obama has announced an aggressive plan to cut carbon emissions. At the same time, energy production in America has boomed. Is it possible to continue this boom, and move toward energy self-sufficiency, while at the same time pursuing a meaningful climate change program? +p2481 +aVCarly Fiorina? +p2482 +aVFormer Governor Jeb Bush? +p2483 +aVSenator Ted Cruz? +p2484 +aVHe's funny. +p2485 +aVThank you. +p2486 +asVCLINTON +p2487 +(lp2488 +VThank you. +p2489 +aVI'm running for president to knock down all the barriers that are holding Americans back, and to rebuild the ladders of opportunity that will give every American a chance to advance, especially those who have been left out and left behind. I know a lot of Americans are angry about the economy. And for good cause. Americans haven't had a raise in 15 years. There aren't enough good-paying jobs, especially for young people. And yes, the economy is rigged in favor of those at the top. We both agree that we have to get unaccountable money out of our political system and that we have to do much more to ensure that Wall Street never wrecks main street again. But I want to go further. I want to tackle those barriers that stand in the way of too many Americans right now. African-Americans who face discrimination in the job market, education, housing, and the criminal justice system. Hardworking immigrant families living in fear, who should be brought out of the shadows so they and their children can have a better future. Guaranteeing that women's work finally gets the pay, the equal pay that we deserve. I think America can only live up to its potential when we make sure that every American has a chance to live up to his or her potential. That will be my mission as president. And I think together we will make progress. +p2490 +aVJudy, I think that the best analysis that I've seen based on Senator Sanders plans is that it would probably increase the size of the federal government by about 40%, but what is most concerning to me is that in looking at the plans \u2014 let's take healthcare for example. Last week in a CNN town hall, the Senator told a questioner that the questioner would spend about $500 dollars in taxes to get about $5,000 dollars in healthcare. Every progressive economist who has analyzed that says that the numbers don't add up, and that's a promise that cannot be kept, and it's really important now that we are getting into the rest of the country that both of us are held to account for explaining what we are proposing because, especially with healthcare, this is not about math. This is about people's lives, and we should level with the American people about what we can do to make sure they get quality affordable healthcare. +p2491 +aVI can only say that we both share the goal of universal health care coverage. You know, before it was called Obamacare, it was called Hillarycare. And I took on the drug companies and I took on the insurance companies to try to get us universal health care coverage. And why I am a staunch supporter of President Obama's principal accomplishment \u2014 namely the Affordable Care Act \u2014 is because I know how hard it was to get that done. We are at 90 percent coverage. We have to get the remaining 10. I've set forth very specific plans about how to get costs down, especially prescription drug costs. And it is difficult to in any way argue with the goal that we both share. But I think the American people deserve to know specifically how this would work. If it's Medicare for all, then you no longer have the Affordable Care Act, because the Affordable Care Act, as you know very well, is based on the insurance system, based on exchanges, based on a subsidy system. The Children's Health Insurance Program, which I helped to create, which covers 8 million kids, is also a different kind of program. So if you're having Medicare for all, single-payer, you need to level with people about what they will have at the end of the process you are proposing. And based on every analysis that I can find by people who are sympathetic to the goal, the numbers don't add up, and many people will actually be worse off than they are right now. +p2492 +aVWell, let me just \u2014 let me just say, once again......that, having been in the trenches fighting for this, I believe strongly we have to guarantee health care. I believe we are on the path to doing that. The last thing we need is to throw our country into a contentious debate about health care again. And we are not England. We are not France. We inherited a system that was set up during World War II; 170 million Americans get health insurance right now through their employers. So what we have tried to do and what President Obama succeeded in doing was to build on the health care system we have, get us to 90 percent coverage. We have to get the other 10 percent of the way to 100. I far prefer that and the chances we have to be successful there than trying to start all over again, gridlocking our system, and trying to get from zero to 100 percent. +p2493 +aVNo. But it is absolutely fair and necessary for Americans to vet both of our proposals, to ask the really hard questions about, what is it we think we can accomplish, why do we believe that, and what would be the results for the average American family? In my case, whether it's health care, or getting us to debt-free tuition, or moving us toward paid family leave, I have been very specific about where I would raise the money, how much it would cost, and how I would move this agenda forward. I've tried to be as specific to answer questions so that my proposals can be vetted, because I feel like we have to level with people for the very reason, Gwen, that you are mentioning. There is a great deal of skepticism about the federal government. I'm aware of that. It comes from the right, from the left, from people on all sides of the political spectrum. So we have a special obligation to make clear what we stand for, which is why I think we should not make promises we can't keep, because that will further, I think, alienate Americans from understanding and believing we can together make some real changes in people's lives. +p2494 +aVI will put a price tag. My price tag is about $100 billion a year. And again, paid for. And what I have said is I will not throw us further into debt. I believe I can get the money that I need by taxing the wealthy, by closing loopholes, the things that we are way overdue for doing. And I think once I'm in the White House we will have enough political capital to be able to do that. But I am conscious of the fact that we have to also be very clear, especially with young people, about what kind of government is going to do what for them and what it will cost. +p2495 +aVYou know, I think, again, both of us share the goal of trying to make college affordable for all young Americans. And I have set forth a compact that would do just that for debt-free tuition. We differ, however, on a couple of key points. One of them being that if you don't have some agreement within the system from states and from families and from students, it's hard to get to where we need to go. And Senator Sanders's plan really rests on making sure that governors like Scott Walker contribute $23 billion on the first day to make college free. I am a little skeptical about your governor actually caring enough about higher education to make any kind of commitment like that. +p2496 +aVWell, first, Judy, I have spent my entire adult life working toward making sure that women are empowered to make their own choices, even if that choice is not to vote for me. I believe that it's most important that we unleash the full potential of women and girls in our society. And I feel very strongly that I have an agenda, I have a record that really does respond to a lot of the specific needs that the women in our country face. So I'm going to keep making that case. I'm going to keep making sure that everything I've done, everything that I stand for is going to be well known. But I have no argument with anyone making up her mind about who to support. I just hope that by the end of this campaign there will be a lot more supporting me. That's what I'm working towards. +p2497 +aVWell, look, I think that she's been saying that for as long as I've known her, which is about 25 years. But it doesn't change my view that we need to empower everyone, women and men, to make the best decisions in their minds that they can make. That's what I've always stood for. And when it comes to the issues that are really on the front lines as to whether we're going to have equal pay, paid family leave, some opportunity for, you know, women to go as far as their hard work and talent take them, I think that we still have some barriers to knock down, which is why that's at the core of my campaign. I would note, just for a historic aside, somebody told me earlier today we've had like 200 presidential primary debates, and this is the first time there have been a majority of women on the stage. So, you know, we'll take our progress wherever we can find it. +p2498 +aVYou know, I have said \u2014 I have said many times, you know, I'm not asking people to support me because I'm a woman. I'm asking people to support me because I think I'm the most qualified, experienced, and ready person to be the president and the commander-in-chief. And I appreciate greatly Senator Sanders' voting record. And I was very proud to get the endorsement of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, because I've been a leader on these issues. I have gone time and time again to take on the vested interests who would keep women's health care decisions the province of the government instead of women ourselves. I'm very proud that +p2499 +aVYou know, I completely agree with Senator Sanders. The first speech I gave in this campaign back in April was about criminal justice reform and ending the era of mass incarceration. The statistics from Wisconsin are particularly troubling, because it is the highest rate of incarceration for African-Americans in our nation, twice the national average. And we know of the tragic, terrible event that lead to the death of Dontre Hamilton right here in Milwaukee, a young man unarmed, who should still be with us. His family certainly believes that. And so do I. So we have work to do. There have been some good recommendations about what needs to happen. President Obama's policing commission came out with some. I have fully endorsed those. But we have to restore policing that will actually protect the communities that police officers are sworn to protect. And, then we have to go after sentencing, and that's one of the problems here in Wisconsin because so much of what happened in the criminal justice system doesn't happen at the federal level, it happens at the state and local level. But, I would also add this. There are other racial discrepancies. Really systemic racism in this state, as in others, education, in employment, in the kinds of factors that too often lead from a position where young people, particularly young men, are pushed out of school early, are denied employment opportunities. So, when we talk about criminal justice reform, and ending the era of mass incarceration, we also have to talk about jobs, education, housing, and other ways of helping communities. +p2500 +aVWell, I'm just not sure I agree completely with that assessment. I think under President Obama we have seen a lot of advances, the Affordable Care Act has helped more African Americans than any other group to get insurance, to be taken care of, but we also know a lot more than we did. We have a lot more social media, we have everybody with a cellphone. So, we are seeing the dark side of the remaining systemic racism that we have to root out in our society. I think President Obama has set a great example. I think he has addressed a lot of these issues that have been quite difficult, but he has gone forward. Now, what we have to do is to build on an honest conversation about where we go next. We now have much more information about what must be done to fix our criminal justice system. We now have some good models about how better to provide employment, housing and education. I think what President Obama did was to exemplify the importance of this issue as our first African American president, and to address it both from the President's office, and through his advocacy, such as working with young men, and Mrs. Obama's work with young women. But, we can't rest. We have work to do, and we now know a lot more than we ever did before. So, it's going to be my responsibility to make sure we move forward to solve these problems that are now out in the open. Nobody can deny them. To use the Justice Department, as we just saw, they have said they are going to sue Ferguson, that entered into a consent agreement, and then tried to back out. So, we're going to enforce the law, we're going to change policing practices, we're going to change incarceration practices, but we're also going to emphasize education, jobs, and housing. +p2501 +aVLook, I am deeply concerned about what's happening in every community in America, and that includes white communities, where we are seeing an increase in alcoholism, addiction, earlier deaths. People with a high school education or less are not even living as long as their parents lived. This is a remarkable and horrifying fact. And that's why I've come forward with, for example, a plan to revitalize coal country, the coalfield communities that have been so hard hit by the changing economy, by the reduction in the use of coal. You know, coal miners and their families who helped turn on the lights and power our factories for generations are now wondering, has our country forgotten us? Do people not care about all of our sacrifice? And I'm going to do everything I can to address distressed communities, whether they are communities of color, whether they are white communities, whether they are in any part of our country. I particularly appreciate the proposal that Congressman Jim Clyburn has \u2014 the 10-20-30 proposal \u2014 to try to spend more federal dollars in communities with persistent generational poverty. And you know what? If you look at the numbers, there are actually as many, if not more white communities that are truly being left behind and left out. So, yes, I do think it would be a terrible oversight not to try to address the very real problems that white Americans \u2014 particularly those without a lot of education whose jobs have \u2014 you know, no longer provided them or even no longer present in their communities, because we have to focus where the real hurt is. And that's why, as president, I will look at communities that need special help and try to deliver that. +p2502 +aVI strongly support the president's executive actions. I hope the Supreme Court upholds them. I think there is constitutional and legal authority for the president to have done what he did. I am against the raids. I'm against the kind of inhumane treatment that is now being visited upon families, waking them up in the middle of the night, rounding them up. We should be deporting criminals, not hardworking immigrant families who do the very best they can and often are keeping economies going in many places in our country. I'm a strong supporter of comprehensive immigration reform. Have been ever since I was in the Senate. I was one of the original sponsors of the +p2503 +aVTwo quick responses. One, with respect to the Central American children, I made it very clear that those children needed to be processed appropriately, but we also had to send a message to families and communities in Central America not to send their children on this dangerous journey in the hands of smugglers. I've also called for the end of family detention, for the end of privately-run detention centers, along with private prisons, which I think are really against the common good and the rule of law. And with respect to the 2007 bill, this was Ted Kennedy's bill. And I think Ted Kennedy had a very clear idea about what needed to be done. And I was proud to stand with him and support it. +p2504 +aVWell, that just wasn't \u2014 that just wasn't the fact, Senator. The fact is that there was a great effort made by the Obama administration and others to really send a clear message, because we knew that so many of these children were being abused, being treated terribly while they tried to get to our border. So we have a disagreement on this. I think now what I've called for is counsel for every child so that no child has to face any kind of process without someone who speaks and advocates for that child so that the right decision hopefully can be made. +p2505 +aVI think \u2014 I think it's fair to say we don't have a disagreement. We both believe there has to be more money going into the Social Security system. I've said I'm looking at a couple of different ways, one which you mentioned, Senator, but also trying to expand the existing tax to passive income that wealthy people have so that we do get more revenue into the Social Security Trust Fund. I have a slightly different approach, though, about what we should do with that initially. First, rather than expand benefits for everyone, I do want to take care of low-income seniors who worked at low-wage jobs. I want to take care of women. When the Social Security program was started in the 1930s, not very many women worked. And women have been disadvantaged ever since. They do not get any credit for their care-taking responsibilities. And the people who are often the most hard-hit are widows, because when their spouse dies, they can lose up to one-half of their Social Security monthly payment. So we have no disagreement about the need to buttress Social Security, get more revenue into the program. But I want to start by helping those people who are most at risk, the ones who, yes, are cutting their pills in half, who don't believe they can make the rent, who are worried about what comes next for them. +p2506 +aVWell, Senator, look, I think we're in vigorous agreement here. We both want to get more revenue in. I have yet to see a proposal that you're describing that the \u2014 raising the cap would apply to passive income. That has not been... +p2507 +aVWell, that has not been a part of most of the proposals that I've seen. I'm interested in making sure we get the maximum amount of revenue from those who can well afford to provide it. So I'm going to come up with the best way forward. We're going to end up in the same place. We're going to get more revenue. I'm going to prioritize those recipients who need the most help first. +p2508 +aVI can't speak for the Koch Brothers, you're referring to a Super PAC that we don't coordinate with, that was set up to support President Obama, that has now decided that they want to support me. They are the ones who should respond to any questions. Let's talk about our campaigns. I'm very proud of the fact that we have more than 750 thousand donors, and the vast majority of them are giving small contributions. So, I'm proud of Senator Sanders, and his supporters. I think it's great that Senator Sanders, President Obama and I have more donors than any three people who have every run, certainly on the Democratic side. That's the way it should be, and I'm going to continue to reach out to thank all my online contributors for everything they are doing for me, to encourage them and help me do more just as Senator Sanders is. I think that is the real key here. We both have a lot of small donors. I think that sets us apart from a lot of what's happening right now on the Republican side. The Koch Brothers have a very clear political agenda. It is an agenda, in my view, that would do great harm to our country. We're going to fight it as hard as we can, and we're going to fight whoever the Republicans nominate who will depend on the Koch Brothers, and others. +p2509 +aVWe are mixing apples and oranges. My 750,000 donors have contributed more than a million and a half donations. I'm very proud. That, I think, between the two of us demonstrates the strength of the support we have among people who want to see change in our country. But, the real issue, I think, that the Senator is injecting into this is that if you had a Super PAC, like President Obama has, which now says it wants to support me. It's not my PAC. If you take donations from Wall Street, you can't be independent. I would just say, I debated then Senator Obama numerous times on stages like this, and he was the recipient of the largest number of Wall Street donations of anybody running on the Democratic side ever. Now, when it mattered, he stood up and took on Wall Street. He pushed through, and he passed the Dodd-Frank regulation, the toughest regulations since the 1930's. So, let's not in anyway imply here that either President Obama or myself, would in anyway not take on any vested interested, whether it's Wall Street, or drug companies, or insurance companies, or frankly, the gun lobby to stand up to do what's best for the American people. +p2510 +aVWell, let's just \u2014 let's just follow up on this, because, you know, I've made it very clear that no bank is too big to fail, no executive too powerful to jail, and because of Dodd-Frank, we now have in law a process that the president, the Federal Reserve, and others can use if any bank poses a systemic risk. I think that's a major accomplishment. I agree, however, it doesn't go far enough, because what it focuses on are the big banks, which Senator Sanders has talked about a lot, for good reason. I go further in the plan that I've proposed, which has been called the toughest, most effective, comprehensive plan for reining in the other risks that the financial system could face. It was an investment bank, Lehman Brothers, that contributed to our collapse. It was a big insurance company, AIG. It was Countrywide Mortgage. My plan would sweep all of them into a regulatory framework so we can try to get ahead of what the next problems might be. And I believe that not only Barney Frank, Paul Krugman, and others, have said that what I have proposed is the most effective. It goes in the right direction. We have Dodd-Frank. We can use it to break up the banks, if that's appropriate. But let's not kid ourselves. As we speak, there are new problems on the horizon. I want to get ahead of those, and that's why I've proposed a much more comprehensive approach to deal with all of these... +p2511 +aVAbsolutely. And, you know, there are a number of programs that I think are duplicative and redundant and not producing the results that people deserve. There are a lot of training programs and education programs that I think can be streamlined and put into a much better format so that if we do continue them they can be more useful, in public schools, community colleges, and colleges and universities. I would like to take a hard look at every part of the federal government and really do the kind of analysis that would rebuild some confidence in people that we're taking a hard look about what we have, you know, and what we don't need anymore. And that's what I intend to do. +p2512 +aVLook, I think we are readier than we used to be, but it's a constant effort that has to be undertaken to make sure we are as ready as we need to be. We have made a lot of improvements in our domestic security since 9/11, and we have been able to foil and prevent attacks, yet we see the terrible attack in San Bernardino and know that we haven't done enough. So we have to go after this both abroad and at home. We have to go after terrorist networks, predominantly +p2513 +aVIf I could just respond. Two points. One, Senator Sanders voted in 1998 on what I think is fair to call a regime change resolution with respect to Iraq, calling for the end of Saddam Hussein's regime. He voted in favor of regime change with Libya, voted in favor of the Security Council being an active participate in setting the parameters for what we would do, which of course we followed through on. I do not believe a vote in 2002 is a plan to defeat +p2514 +aVYou did support a U.N. Security Council approach, which we did follow up on. And, look, I think it's important to look at what the most important counterterrorism judgment of the first four years of the Obama administration was, and that was the very difficult decision as to whether or not to advise the president to go after bin Laden. I looked at the evidence. I looked at the intelligence. I got the briefings. I recommended that the president go forward. It was a hard choice. Not all of his top national security advisors agreed with that. And at the end of the day, it was the president's decision. So he had to leave the Situation Room after hearing from the small group advising him and he had to make that decision. I'm proud that I gave him that advice. And I'm very grateful to the brave Navy +p2515 +aVWell, I know journalists have asked who you do listen to on foreign policy, and we have yet to know who that is. +p2516 +aVThat's fine. That's fine. You know, I listen to a wide variety of voices that have expertise in various areas. I think it is fair to say, whatever the complaints that you want to make about him are, that with respect to China, one of the most challenging relationships we have, his opening up China and his ongoing relationships with the leaders of China is an incredibly useful relationship for the United States of America. So if we want to pick and choose \u2014 and I certainly do \u2014 people I listen to, people I don't listen to, people I listen to for certain areas, then I think we have to be fair and look at the entire world, because it's a big, complicated world out there. +p2517 +aVAnd, yes, people we may disagree with on a number of things may have some insight, may have some relationships that are important for the president to understand in order to best protect the United States. +p2518 +aVWell, with respect to Syria, I really do appreciate the efforts that Secretary Kerry has made. The agreement on humanitarian relief now needs to be implemented, because there are enclaves that are literally filled with starving people throughout Syria. The agreement on a cease-fire, though, is something that has to be implemented more quickly than the schedule that the Russians agreed to. You know, the Russians wanted to buy time. Are they buying time to continue their bombardment on behalf of the Assad regime to further decimate what's left of the opposition, which would be a grave disservice to any kind of eventual cease-fire? So I know Secretary Kerry is working extremely hard to try to move that cease-fire up as quickly as possible. But I would add this. You know, the Security Council finally got around to adopting a resolution. At the core of that resolution is an agreement I negotiated in June of 2012 in Geneva, which set forth a cease-fire and moving toward a political resolution, trying to bring the parties at stake in Syria together. This is incredibly complicated, because we've got Iran as a big player, in addition to Russia. We have Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and others who have very important interests in their view. This is one of the areas I've disagreed with Senator Sanders on, who has called for Iranian troops trying to end civil war in Syria, which I think would be a grave mistake. Putting Iranian troops right on the border of the Golan right next to Israel would be a nonstarter for me. Trying to get Iran and Saudi Arabia to work together, as he has suggested in the past, is equally a nonstarter. So let's support what Secretary Kerry and the president are doing, but let's hope that we can accelerate the cease-fire, because I fear that the Russians will continue their bombing, try to do everything they can to destroy what's left of the opposition. And remember, the Russians have not gone after +p2519 +aVWell, I respectfully disagree. I think we have achieved a great deal with the Iranian nuclear agreement to put a lid on the Iranian nuclear weapons program. That has to be enforced absolutely with consequences for Iran at the slightest deviation from their requirements under the agreement. I do not think we should promise or even look toward normalizing relations because we have a lot of other business to get done with Iran. Yes, they have to stop being the main state sponsor of terrorism. Yes, they have to stop trying to destabilize the Middle East, causing even more chaos. Yes, they've got to get out of Syria. They've got to quit sponsoring Hezbollah and Hamas. They have got to quit trying to ship rockets into Gaza that can be used against Israel. We have a lot of work to do with Iran before we ever say that they could move toward normalized relations with us. +p2520 +aV... Senator Sanders, from a debate in 2008, quote what I said. The question was, would you meet with an adversary without conditions? I said no. And in fact, in Obama administration, we did not meet with anybody without conditions. That is the appropriate approach in order to get the results that you are seeking. +p2521 +aVWell, I was pleased that +p2522 +aVI certainly agree with FDR for all the reasons Senator Sanders said. And I agree about the role that he played both in war and in peace on the economy and defeating fascism around the world. I would choose Nelson Mandela for his generosity of heart, his understanding of the need for reconciliation. But I want to \u2014 I want to follow up on something having to do with leadership, because, you know, today Senator Sanders said that President Obama failed the presidential leadership test. And this is not the first time that he has criticized President Obama. In the past he has called him weak. He has called him a disappointment. He wrote a forward for a book that basically argued voters should have buyers' remorse when it comes to President Obama's leadership and legacy. And I just couldn't agree \u2014 disagree more with those kinds of comments. You know, from my perspective, maybe because I understand what President Obama inherited, not only the worst financial crisis but the antipathy of the Republicans in Congress, I don't think he gets the credit he deserves for being a president......who got us out of that......put us on firm ground, and has sent us into the future. And it is a \u2014 the kind of criticism that we've heard from Senator Sanders about our president I expect from Republicans. I do not expect from someone running for the Democratic nomination to succeed President Obama. +p2523 +aVYou know, Senator, what I am concerned about, is not disagreement on issues, saying that this is what I would rather do, I don't agree with the president on that, calling the president weak, calling him a disappointment, calling several times that he should have a primary opponent when he ran for re-election in 2012, you know, I think that goes further than saying we have our disagreements. As a senator, yes, I was a senator. I understand we can disagree on the path forward. But those kinds of personal assessments and charges are ones that I find particularly troubling. +p2524 +aVYou know, we \u2014 we agree that we've got to get unaccountable money out of politics. We agree that Wall Street should never be allowed to wreck Main Street again. But here's the point I want to make tonight. I am not a single-issue candidate, and I do not believe we live in a single-issue country. I think that a lot of what we have to overcome to break down the barriers that are holding people back, whether it's poison in the water of the children of Flint, or whether it's the poor miners who are being left out and left behind in coal country, or whether it is any other American today who feels somehow put down and oppressed by racism, by sexism, by discrimination against the +p2525 +aVWell, I'm happy to be here in New Hampshire for this debate, as we move toward the primary on Tuesday. I believe that America has the opportunity to once again live by our values, live up to our values in the 21st century, but I think that America can only do that if Americans can succeed. And there are lots of reasons why Americans today are feeling left out and left behind. Yes, of course, the economy has not been working for most Americans. Yes, of course, we have special interests that are unfortunately doing too much to rig the game. But there's also the continuing challenges of racism, of sexism, of discrimination against the +p2526 +aVWell, let me start by saying that Senator Sanders and I share some very big progressive goals. I've been fighting for universal healthcare for many years, and we're now on the path to achieving it. I don't want us to start over again. I think that would be a great mistake, to once again plunge our country into a contentious debate about whether we should have and what kind of system we should have for healthcare. I want to build on the progress we've made; got from 90 percent coverage to 100 percent coverage. And I don't want to rip away the security that people finally have; 18 million people now have healthcare; preexisting conditions are no longer a bar. So we have a difference. I also believe in affordable college, but I don't believe in free college, because every expert that I have talked to says, look, how will you ever control the costs. What I want to do is make sure middle class kids, not Donald Trump's kids, get to be able to afford college. I want to get the economy going again. It's not just enough about what we're against, as important as that is. I have a plan to create new jobs, manufacturing, infrastructure, clean energy jobs that will make us the 21st century clean energy super power. I also want to make sure small businesses can start and grow again. And of course, I believe in raising the minimum wage and equal pay for work. But the numbers just don't add up, from what Senator Sanders has been proposing. That's why all of the independent experts, all of the editorial boards that have vetted both of us have concluded that it is just not achievable. Let's go down a path where we can actually tell people what we will do. A progressive is someone who makes progress. That's what I intend to do. +p2527 +aVIf I could just follow up on that. There is no disagreement between us on universal coverage for health care, the disagreement is where do we start from and where do we end up. The Republicans want to repeal the Affordable Care Act, I want to improve it. I want to build on it, get the costs down, get prescription drug costs down. Senator Sanders wants us to start all over again. This was a major achievement of President Obama, of our country. It is helping people right now. I am not going to wait and have us plunge back into a contentious national debate that has very little chance of succeeding. Let's make the Affordable Care Act work for everybody. +p2528 +aVWell because I am a progressive who gets things done. And the root of that word, progressive, is progress. But I've heard Senator Sanders comments, and it's really caused me to wonder who's left in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Under his definition, President Obama is not progressive because he took donations from Wall Street; Vice President Biden is not progressive because she supported Keystone; Senator Shaheen is not progressive because she supports the trade pact. Even the late, great Senator Paul Wellstone would not fit this definition because he voted for +p2529 +aVWell, Chuck... +p2530 +aV... If I could, you know, in the very first debate I was asked am I a moderate or a progressive and I said I'm a progressive who likes to get things done. Cherry picking a quote here or there doesn't change my record of having fought for racial justice, having fought for kids rights, having fought the kind of inequities that fueled my interest in service in the first place going back to my days in the Children's Defense Fund. It certainly didn't stop me from taking on the drug companies and the insurance companies. Before it was called Hillarycare\u2014I mean, before it was called ObamaCare it was called Hillarycare because we took them on, and we weren't successful, but we kept fighting and we got the children's health insurance program. Every step along the way I have stood up, and fought, and have the scars to prove it. So, again......I think it's important that, look, I understand Senator Sanders really trying to distinguish himself. I understand that, that's what you do in campaigns, but at the same time let's not be\u2014in, I think an unfair way, making an accusation, or making an attack about where I stand and about where I've always stood. It is fair to say, Senator, that in your definition, as you being the self-proclaimed gatekeeper for progressivism, I don't know anyone else who fits that definition, but I know a lot of really hard fighting progressives in the Democratic party who have stood up time, and time again against special interests, against the powerful on behalf of those who are left behind and left out. And, that's what we ought to be celebrating. Let's talk about what we would do as President, and Commander in Chief to make sure the progress continues into the future. +p2531 +aV... Well, you began it yesterday with your comments... +p2532 +aVYou know, the person who first put out the idea of a 50-state party strategy is former Governor Howard Dean, who is with us tonight. And I'm very proud and grateful to have the support of so many elected Vermonters and former officials. Two former governors, the current governor, the current other senator. I really appreciate that. And I think it's because they've worked with me, they've seen what I do. They know what kind of a colleague I am. They want me as their partner in the White House. And that's exactly what I will do. We'll get things done together. Democrats, Republicans, independents, we're going to make progress together when I'm president. +p2533 +aVWell, look, I've got to just jump in here because, honestly, Senator Sanders is the only person who I think would characterize me, a woman running to be the first woman president, as exemplifying the establishment. And I've got to tell you that it is......it is really quite amusing to me. People support me because they know me. They know my life's work. They have worked with me and many have also worked with Senator Sanders. And at the end of the day they endorse me because they know I can get things done. I am not going to make promises I can't keep. I am not going to talk about big ideas like single-payer and then not level with people about how much it will cost. A respected health economist said that these plans would cost a trillion dollars more a year. I'm not going to tell people that I will raise your incomes and not your taxes, and not mean it, because I don't want to see the kind of struggle that the middle class is going through exemplified by these promises that would raise taxes and make it much more difficult for many, many Americans to get ahead and stay ahead. That is not my agenda. +p2534 +aVYeah, but I\u2014I think it's fair to really ask what's behind that comment. You know, Senator Sanders has said he wants to run a positive campaign. I've tried to keep my disagreements over issues, as it should be. But time and time again, by innuendo, by insinuation, there is this attack that he is putting forth, which really comes down to\u2014you know, anybody who ever took donations or speaking fees from any interest group has to be bought. And I just absolutely reject that, Senator. And I really don't think these kinds of attacks by insinuation are worthy of you. And enough is enough. If you've got something to say, say it directly. But you will not find that I ever changed a view or a vote because of any donation that I ever received. +p2535 +aVAnd I have stood up and I have represented my constituents to the best of my abilities, and I'm very proud of that. +p2536 +aVSo I think it's time to end the very artful smear that you and your campaign have been carrying out... +p2537 +aV... in recent weeks, and let's talk......let's talk about about the issues. Let's talk about the issues that divide us. +p2538 +aVAnd let's\u2014let's... +p2539 +aV... we both agree with campaign finance reform. +p2540 +aVI\u2014I worked hard for McCain-Feingold. +p2541 +aVI want to reverse Citizens United. +p2542 +aVAnd so\u2014let's talk about issues. +p2543 +aVWell, you know, Senator, I don't think\u2014I don't... +p2544 +aV... I don't think you could find any person in political life today who has been subjected to more attacks and had more money spent against her by special interests, among whom you have named a few, than I. And I'm proud of that. You know, when I took on the drug companies and the insurance companies for universal health care coverage, they went after me with a vengeance. Today, you've got hedge fund billionaires aligned with Karl Rove, running ads against me to try to get Democrats to vote for you. I know this game. I'm going to stop this game. But while we're talking about votes, you're the one who voted to deregulate swaps and derivatives in 2000, which contributed to the over-leveraging of Lehman Brothers, which was one of the culprits that brought down the economy. So I don't know\u2014I'm not impugning your motive because you voted to deregulate swaps and derivatives. People make mistakes and I'm certainly not saying you did it for any kind of financial advantage. What we've got to do as Democrats\u2014what we've got to do as Democrats is to be united to actually solve these problems. And what I believe is that I have a better track record and a better opportunity to actually get that job done. That's what this election should be about. +p2545 +aVOn the issue of Wall Street. +p2546 +aVWell you know, Rachel, I think I may not have done the job I should in explaining my record. You know, I did\u2014when I left the secretary of State's office, like so many former officials, military leaders, journalists, others, I did go on the speaking circuit. I spoke to heart doctors, I spoke to the American Camping Association, I spoke to auto dealers, and yes, I spoke to firms on Wall Street. They wanted me to talk about the world, what my experience had been as secretary of State. But what I want people to know is I went to Wall Street before the crash. I was the one saying you're going to wreck the economy because of these shenanigans with mortgages. I called to end the carried interest loophole that hedge fund managers enjoy. I proposed changes in CEO compensation. I called for a consumer protection financial bureau before it was created. And I think the best evidence that the Wall Street people at least know where I stand and where I have always stood is because they are trying to beat me in this primary. They have collected and spent as much as $6 million on these ads. Hedge fund billionaires, Karl Rove, another billionaire, jumped in. And why are they doing that? These are guys who try to make smart investments. They know my record, they know me, they know that I say what I believe and I will do it. And I also have a pretty good understanding about how to stop them. So I do want people to know that, and I think it's important for everybody to understand I have a record, I have stood firm and I will be the person who prevents them from ever wrecking the economy again. +p2547 +aVIf I could, let me just say that of course it has to change. It has to change. And that's why I have put forward a plan to do just that. And it's been judged to be the toughest, most effective and comprehensive one. I have great respect for Senator Sanders's commitment to try to restore Glass-Steagall. But I do not believe that that is enough. And in fact, I don't believe it really addresses a lot of the biggest issues we have. You know, we now have power under the Dodd-Frank legislation to break up banks. And I've said I will use that power if they pose a systemic risk. But I want to go further, because it was investment banks, it was insurance companies, it was mortgage companies, all of which contributed. So let's not just be narrowly focused on one part of the problem. We have a lot of issues with corporate power that have to be addressed. My plan takes us further and it would do the job. +p2548 +aVLook we have a law\u2014look, you know, I\u2014I appreciate the senator's advocacy. We have a law. It was passed. It was signed by President Obama. It lays out a process that you go through to determine whether a systemic risk is posed. And by the way, President Obama signed that, pushed it through, even though he took donations from Wall Street, because he's a responsible president. So we have a law in place. If the circumstances warrant it, I will certainly use it. And from what you say, I know you will as well. But that is not enough. And I keep going back to this because part of the reason the Wall Street guys are trying so hard to stop me\u2014the hedge fund guys, the shadow banking guys\u2014is because I've got their number on all of that. And my plan goes so much further to try to prevent the problems of the future. You know, we can't just fight the last war. We've got to be prepared to stop these guys if they ever try to use their economic power once again, to hurt the economy, and to hurt so many Americans. And my plan, Paul Krugman, Barney Frank, a lot of experts who understand what the new challenges might be, have said I am exactly on point, and the Wall Street guys actually know that. +p2549 +aVI will look into it. I don't know the status, but I will certainly look into it. But, I can only repeat what is the fact that I spoke to a lot of different groups with a lot of different constituents, a lot of different kinds of members about issues that had to do with world affairs. I probably described more times than I can remember how stressful it was advising the President about going after Bin Laden. My view on this is look at my record. Look at what I am proposing, and\u2014we have a vigorous agreement here. We both want to reign in the excesses of Wall Street. I also want to reign in the excesses of Johnson Controls that we bailed out when they were an autoparts company, and we saved the auto industry, and now they want to avoid paying taxes. I want to go after the pharmaceutical companies like Valeant, and Turns that are increasing prices without any regard to the impact on people's health. Now, if all we're going to talk about is one part of our economy, and indeed one streak in our economy, we're missing the big oil companies. We're missing other big energy companies. We're missing the big picture, and I have a record of trying to go at the problems that actually exist, and I will continue to do that. +p2550 +aV... Well, Senator, no one wants to see that happen. I mean, look, I care deeply about this because just like you I have met so many people who had their life savings wiped out, who lost their homes, who are barely back with their heads above water. This was a disaster for our country, and we can never let that happen again. We have no disagreement about this. But, I think it's a broader target list than just Wall Street, and I believe that we have to be very focused on how we try to take back the power and increase the empowerment of the American people. And, I think I have that kind of experience, maybe because they've beat me up for so many years, and I know exactly how to handle them because I've been in the arena with them time and time again. +p2551 +aVWell, I think what the president understands, and what he's trying to do, is that we have to support the Arab and Kurdish fighters on the ground who are actually doing the fighting. I agree with the president. I've said myself, we will not send American combat troops back to either Syria or Iraq\u2014that is off the table. But we do have special forces, we do have trainers, we do have the military personnel who are helping with the airstrikes that the United States is leading so that we can try to take out +p2552 +aVNo. I mean, of course that's a theoretical question, and we don't know what it would be for, and we don't know how many numbers there are. I am against American combat troops being in Syria and Iraq. I support special forces. I support trainers. I support the air campaign. And I think we're making some progress. I want to continue to intensify that, and that's exactly what the president is doing. +p2553 +aVIf I could\u2014if I could... +p2554 +aV... respectfully add\u2014look, we did differ. A vote in 2002 is not a plan to defeat +p2555 +aVOh, absolutely. The president decided to leave more troops than he had originally planned in Afghanistan. We have a very cooperative government there, with Ashraf Ghani and his top\u2014his top partner, Abdullah. And they are doing their very best. And the Afghan army is actually fighting. The Afghan army is taking heavy losses defending Afghan territory. And I would have to make an evaluation based on the circumstances at the time I took office as to how much help they continue to need. Because it's not just the Taliban. We now are seeing outposts of, you know, fighters claiming to be affiliated with +p2556 +aVA group of national security experts, military intelligence experts, issued a very concerning statement about Senator Sanders's views on foreign policy and national security, pointing out some of the comments he has made on these issues, such as inviting Iranian troops into Syria to try to resolve the conflict there; putting them right at the doorstep of Israel. Asking Saudi Arabia and Iran to work together, when they can't stand each other and are engaged in a proxy battle right at this moment. So I do think questions have been raised and questions have to be answered because when New Hampshire voters go on Tuesday to cast your vote, you are voting both for a president and a commander in chief. And there is no way to predict what comes in the door of that White House from day to day that can pose a threat to the United States or one of our friends and allies, and I think this is a big part of the job interview that we are all conducting with the voters here. +p2557 +aVWell, let me just add that, you know, I've said this before and I'm very proud of it, that when it comes to judgment, having run a hard race against Senator Obama at the time, he turned to me to be secretary of State. And when it comes to the biggest counterterrorism issues that we faced in this administration, namely whether or not to go after bin Laden, I was at that table, I was exercising my judgment to advise the president on what to do, on that, on Iran, on Russia on China, on a whole raft of issues. Because I know from my own experience that you've got to be ready on day one. There is just too much unpredictable threat and danger in the world today, you know, to try to just say wait, I'll get to that when I can. That is just not an acceptable approach. +p2558 +aVAbsolutely. You know, I did put together the coalition to impose sanctions. I actually started the negotiations that led to the nuclear agreement, sending some much my closest aides to begin the conversations with the Iranians. I'm very pleased we got that nuclear agreement. It puts a lid on the nuclear weapons program. We have to enforce it, there have to be consequences attached to it. But that is not our only problem with Iran. We have to figure out how to deal with Iran as the principal state sponsor of terrorism in the world. They are destabilizing governments in the region. They continue to support Hezbollah and Hamas in Lebanon against Israel. A lot of work that we have do is going to be incredibly hard. I'm prepared to do that work, but I believe, just as I did with imposing the sanctions, you have to get action for action. If we were to normalize relations right now, we would remove one of the biggest pieces of leverage we have to try to influence and change Iranian behavior. The president doesn't think we should. I certainly don't think we should. I believe we have to take this step by step to try to reign in Iranian aggression, their support for terrorism and the other bad behavior that can come back and haunt us. +p2559 +aVWell Senator, let me just correct the record if I can. You know\u2014let me correct the record. +p2560 +aVAs I\u2014as I certainly recall, the question was to meet with without conditions. And you're right, I was against that. I was against it then I would be against it now. +p2561 +aVPart of diplomacy, the hard work of diplomacy is trying to extract whatever concessions you can get, and giving something the other side wants. Of course you've got to try to make peace with, and work with those who are your adversaries, but you don't just rush in, open the door, and say, "Here I am. Let's talk and make a deal." That's not the way it works. +p2562 +aV... Well, we set conditions on Iran. We worked hard to get them established, and to be enforced, and then we talked. That's exactly the right......and, that's what I did with the President, so he and I are on the very same page. +p2563 +aVI haven't talked to Secretary Carter, but here's what I would think he's planning. We do have the nuclear weapons agreement with Iran, that's an enforcement consequence, action for action, follow on. We have a plan, we will watch them, we will be vigilant. We do have to worry about North Korea. They continue to develop their nuclear weapons capability, and they're working very hard on their ballistic missile capability. And, I know that some of those plans could very well lead to a missile that might reach Hawaii, if not the West Coast. We do have to try to get the countries in the region to work with us to do everything we can to confine, and constrain them. But, what Secretary Carter is looking at is the constant pressure that Russia's putting on our European allies. The way that Russia is trying to move the boundaries of the post-World War II Europe. The way that he is trying to set European countries against one another, seizing territory, holding it in Crimea. Beginning to explore whether they could make some inroads in the Baltics. We know that they are deeply engaged in supporting Assad because they want to have a place in the Middle East. They have a naval base, they have an air base in Syria. They want to hang on to that. I think what Secretary Carter is seeing, and I'm glad he is, is that we got to get +p2564 +aVWell, first of all, I'm absolutely against privatizing the V.A. And I am going do everything I can to build on the reforms that Senator Sanders and others in Congress have passed to try to fix what's wrong with the V.A. There are a lot of issues about wait times and services that have to be fixed because our veterans deserve nothing but the best. But you're absolutely right, you know, Rachel, this is another part of the Koch brothers agenda. They've actually formed an organization to try to begin to convince Americans we should no longer have guaranteed health care, specialized care for our veterans. I will fight that as hard as I can. I think there's where we can enlist the veterans service organizations, the veterans of America, because, yes, let's fix the V.A., but we will never let it be privatized, and that is a promise. +p2565 +aVWhatever they decide to do, that's fine. +p2566 +aVAll right. +p2567 +aVI can only tell you what I believe, and that is that I am the strongest candidate to take it to the Republicans and win in November. And I say that with great\u2014with great respect for the campaign that Senator Sanders has been running. I personally am thrilled at the numbers of people, and particularly young people who are coming to support your campaign. I hope that I will be able to earn their support. They may not support me now, but I support them and we'll work together. But what I'm concerned about is the views of many Democrats who know their states, who know how hard it is to win a general election. And it also will push whoever the nominee is into the spotlight. I've been vetted. There's hardly anything you don't know about me. And I think it's fair to say that whoever is in that position, Senator Sanders or anyone else who might have run, will face the most withering onslaught. So, I think that I am the person who can do all aspects of the job. I think I'm the person best prepared to take the case to the Republicans. And I think that at the end of the day, it's not so much electability. It is who the American people can believe can keep them safe, can get the economy moving again, can get incomes rising, can build on the progressive accomplishments of President Obama. And I think that the coalition that President Obama put together to win twice is a coalition that I can put together and add to. And that's what I'm prepared to... +p2568 +aVAbsolutely I can. You know, before it was emails, it was Benghazi, and the Republicans were stirring up so much controversy about that. And I testified for 11 hours, answered their questions. They basically said yeah, didn't get her. We tried. That was all a political ploy. Now, we had a development in the email matter today when it came out that Secretary Powell and close aides to Former Secretary Rice used private e-mail accounts. and now you have these people in the government who are doing the same thing to Secretary Powell and Secretary Rice's aide they've been doing to me, which is that I never sent or received any classified material. They are retroactively classifying it. I agree completely with Secretary Powell, who said today this is an absurdity. And so I think the American people will know it's an absurdity. I have absolutely no concerns about it whatsoever. +p2569 +aVI am 100 percent confident. This is a security review that was requested. It is being carried out. It will be resolved. But I have to add if there's going to be a security review about me, there's going to have to be security reviews about a lot of other people, including Republican office holders, because we've got this absurd situation of retroactive classifications. Honest to goodness, this is\u2014this just beggars the imagination. So I have absolutely no concerns about it, but we've got to get to the bottom of what's really going on here, and I hope that will happen. +p2570 +aVNo. +p2571 +aVYes, I do. And\u2014you know, what I hope the Supreme Court will do is make it absolutely clear that any state that continues capital punishment either must meet the highest standards of evidentiary proof of effective assistance of counsel or they cannot continue it because that, to me, is the real dividing line. I have much more confidence in the federal system, and I do reserve it for particularly heinous crimes in the federal system, like terrorism. I have strong feelings about that. I thought it was appropriate after a very thorough trial that Timothy McVeigh received the death penalty for blowing up the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people, including 19 children in a daycare center. I do for very limited, particularly heinous crimes believe it is an appropriate punishment, but I deeply disagree with the way that too many states are still implementing it. If it were possible to separate the federal from the state system by the Supreme Court, that would, I think, be an appropriate outcome. +p2572 +aVAbsolutely. Absolutely. You know, Rachel, you and I have talked about this before. I thank you for going to Flint to hold that town hall. I will be in Flint at the Mayor's invitation on Sunday to get an in depth briefing about what is, and is not happening. This is an emergency. Everyday that goes by that these people, particularly the children, are not tested so we can know what steps must be taken to try to remediate the effects of the poisoning that they have been living with is a day lost in a child's life. I know from the work that I've done over so many years, lead, the toxic nature of lead can affect you brain development, your body development, your behavior. I absolutely believe that what is being done is not sufficient. We need to be absolutely clear about everything that should be done from today to tomorrow, into the future to try to remedy the terrible burden that the people of Flint are barring. That includes fixing their pipes, it includes guaranteeing whatever healthcare and educational embellishments they may need going forward, and I think the federal government has way where it can bill the state of Michigan. If Michigan won't do it, there have to be ways that we can begin to move, and then make them pay for it, and hold them accountable. +p2573 +aVYou know, Chuck, I've only had responsibility for voting for trade agreements as a senator. And I voted a multinational trade agreement when I was senator, the +p2574 +aVWell, I\u2014I don't accept that premise, Chuck. I think that we've got so much business we have to do. We've talked a lot tonight about what we're against\u2014we're against income inequality. We're against the abuses of powerful interests. We're against a lot of things. I'm for a lot of things. I don't want to just stop bad things from happening, I want to start good things from happening. And I believe, if I'm so fortunate to get the nomination, I will begin to work immediately on putting together an agenda, beginning to talk with members of Congress and others about how we can push forward. I want to have half a billion more solar panels deployed, the first four years. I want to have enough clean energy to power every home the next four years. I want us to keep working on the Affordable Care Act, to get not only to 100 percent coverage, but bring down the costs of prescription drugs and out-of-pocket costs. I want to move forward on paid family leave, on early childhood education, I want us to do more for small businesses. Small businesses have to create most of the jobs, and we're not creating and growing small businesses. I think, if you have a smart agenda, you pick the committees that you know have to begin to work on these various pieces\u2014because that's the way Congress is set up. You go through different committees, and you really make a big push in the beginning. Immigration reform, economic revitalization with manufacturing, with infrastructure\u2014we put it out there, and we begin to work on an ambitious, big, bold agenda that will actually produce the results that I want to see for our country. +p2575 +aVThe answer to both of those is no. I'm interested in making what we have work better. I want to streamline programs that are duplicative and redundant. I want to have a top-to-bottom review about what works and what doesn't work, and be absolutely clear we're getting rid of what doesn't work. I have had the opportunity to run a big agency. I was very flattered when Henry Kissinger said I ran the State Department better\u2014better than anybody had run it in a long time. So I have an idea of what it's going to take to make our government work more efficiently. And when you put together a budget, you have to make a lot of hard decisions, but I think it's not appropriate to say "I'm going to get rid of this, get rid of that" until you have a very good process that gives you the information about what to do. But I want to add something else, you know, because look, we have so much work to do in our country, and I think it's the greatest work that Americans will be called to do. And of course, we have to have people in every community involved in it. We have to have the political voice, the political grassroots speaking up and speaking out about what we have to try to accomplish in Washington. But we also need to have a very clear set of goals that we are going to achieve, and we need to level with the American people about what they are, what they will cost, what will be expected of our citizenry. So I see as president having a constant dialogue with Americans here's what we're trying to get done, here's why I need your help, here's why you may think comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship isn't something you care about, but I'm telling you it will help fix the labor market, it will bring people out of the shadows\u2014 +p2576 +aVI never said that. +p2577 +aVLook... +p2578 +aVWell, I'm certainly going to unite the party, but I'm not\u2014I'm not getting ahead of myself. I think that would be a little bit presumptuous. If I'm so fortunate as to be the nominee, the first person I will call to talk to about where we go and how we get it done will be Senator Sanders. +p2579 +aVThat's true. That's true. +p2580 +aVWell first, thanks to +p2581 +asVTRUMP +p2582 +(lp2583 +VThank you. I began this journey six months ago. My total focus was on building up our military, building up our strength, building up our borders, making sure that China, Japan, Mexico, both at the border and in trade, no longer takes advantage of our country. Certainly would never have made that horrible, disgusting, absolutely incompetent deal with Iran where they get $150 billion. They're a terrorist nation. But I began it talking about other things. And those things are things that I'm very good at and maybe that's why I'm center stage. People saw it. People liked it. People respected it. A month ago things changed. Radical Islamic terrorism came into effect even more so than it has been in the past. People like what I say. People respect what I say. And we've opened up a very big discussion that needed to be opened up. Thank you very much. +p2584 +aVWe are not talking about isolation. We're talking about security. We're not talking about religion. We're talking about security. Our country is out of control. People are pouring across the southern border. I will build a wall. It will be a great wall. People will not come in unless they come in legally. Drugs will not pour through that wall. As far as other people like in the migration, where they're going, tens of thousands of people having cell phones with +p2585 +aVJeb doesn't really believe I'm unhinged. He said that very simply because he has failed in this campaign. It's been a total disaster. Nobody cares. And frankly, I'm the most solid person up here. I built a tremendous company and all I want to do is make America great again. I don't want our country to be taken away from us, and that's what's happening. The policies that we've suffered under other presidents have been a disaster for our country. We want to make America great again. And Jeb, in all fairness, he doesn't believe that. +p2586 +aVWell, look, this is so easy to answer. +p2587 +aVI would certainly be open to closing areas where we are at war with somebody. I sure as hell don't want to let people that want to kill us and kill our nation use our Internet. Yes, sir, I am. +p2588 +aVWe have to be much tougher. We have to be much stronger than we've been. We have people that know what is going on. You take a look at just the attack in California the other day. There were numerous people, including the mother, that knew what was going on. They saw a pipe bomb sitting all over the floor. They saw ammunition all over the place. They knew exactly what was going on. When you had the World Trade Center go, people were put into planes that were friends, family, girlfriends, and they were put into planes and they were sent back, for the most part, to Saudi Arabia. They knew what was going on. They went home and they wanted to watch their boyfriends on television. I would be very, very firm with families. Frankly, that will make people think because they may not care much about their lives, but they do care, believe it or not, about their families' lives. +p2589 +aVLook, the problem is we need toughness. Honestly, I think Jeb is a very nice person. He's a very nice person. But we need tough people. We need toughness. We need intelligence and we need tough. Jeb said when they come across the southern border they come as an act of love. +p2590 +aVAm I talking or are you talking, Jeb? +p2591 +aVYou can go back. You're not talking. You interrupted me. +p2592 +aVAre you going to apologize, Jeb? No. Am I allowed to finish? +p2593 +aVExcuse me, am I allowed to finish? +p2594 +aVSo... +p2595 +aV... again... +p2596 +aVI know you're trying to build up your energy, Jeb, but it's not working very well. +p2597 +aVLook, look, look. We need a toughness. We need strength. We're not respected, you know, as a nation anymore. We don't have that level of respect that we need. And if we don't get it back fast, we're just going to go weaker, weaker and just disintegrate. We can't allow that to happen. We need strength. We don't have it. When Jeb comes out and he talks about the border, and I saw it and I was witness to it, and so was everyone else, and I was standing there, "they come across as an act of love," he's saying the same thing right now with radical Islam. And we can't have that in our country. It just won't work. We need strength. +p2598 +aVWith Jeb's attitude, we will never be great again, that I can tell you. We will never be great again. +p2599 +aVSo, they can kill us, but we can't kill them? That's what you're saying. And as far as the Internet is concerned, we're not talking about closing the Internet. I'm talking about parts of Syria, parts of Iraq, where +p2600 +aVIn my opinion, we've spent $4 trillion trying to topple various people that frankly, if they were there and if we could've spent that $4 trillion in the United States to fix our roads, our bridges, and all of the other problems; our airports and all of the other problems we've had, we would've been a lot better off. I can tell you that right now. We have done a tremendous disservice, not only to Middle East, we've done a tremendous disservice to humanity. The people that have been killed, the people that have wiped away, and for what? It's not like we had victory. It's a mess. The Middle East is totally destabilized. A total and complete mess. I wish we had the $4 trillion or $5 trillion. I wish it were spent right here in the United States, on our schools, hospitals, roads, airports, and everything else that are all falling apart. +p2601 +aVWell, there's nothing to respond to. Well, people feel differently. I mean, the fact is Benghazi was a disaster because of Libya, everything just fell into place. It could not have been worse. What do we have now? We have nothing. We've spent $3 trillion and probably much more \u2013 I have no idea what we've spent. Thousands and thousands of lives, we have nothing. Wounded warriors all over the place who I love, we have nothing for it. And by the way \u2013 and Ben said incorrectly \u2013 and I'm not saying this as a knock \u2013 he's one of finest men. You're not going to find a finer men. But I've been talking about oil for three years. I've been saying,, "take the oil, take the oil." I didn't say, "just bomb it," I said," take it and use it and distribute it so that the wounded warriors -" People, I've been saying this now for many years. +p2602 +aVNow, all of a sudden everybody's saying, "take the oil." It wasn't so fashionable to take the oil six months ago. I've been saying it for years. +p2603 +aVI think Assad is a bad guy, a very bad guy, all right? Lots of people killed. I think we are backing people we have no idea who they are. The rebels, we call them the rebels, the patriotic rebels. We have no idea. A lot of people think, Hugh, that they are +p2604 +aVI think it's very sad that CNN leads Jeb Bush, Governor Bush, down a road by starting off virtually all the questions, "Mr. Trump this, Mister" \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched the first debate, and the first long number of questions were, "Mr. Trump said this, Mr. Trump said that. Mr. Trump" \u2014 these poor guys \u2014 although, I must tell you, Santorum, good guy. Governor Huckabee, good guy. They were very nice, and I respect them greatly. But I thought it was very unfair that virtually the entire early portion of the debate was Trump this, Trump that, in order to get ratings, I guess. In order to get ratings, I guess. +p2605 +aVI just think it's very \u2014 excuse me. +p2606 +aVExcuse me. I think it's very unprofessional. +p2607 +aVWell, I think it's very unprofessional. +p2608 +aVOK, fine. +p2609 +aVThis isn't tough and easy. I wish it... +p2610 +aVI wish it was always this easy as you, Jeb. +p2611 +aVOh, yeah. +p2612 +aVOh, I know. You're a tough guy, Jeb. I know. +p2613 +aVYou're tough. +p2614 +aVWell, let's see. I'm at 42, and you're at 3. So, so far, I'm doing better. +p2615 +aVSo far, I'm doing better. You know, you started off over here, Jeb. You're moving over further and further. Pretty soon you're going to be off the end... +p2616 +aVI believe I did. +p2617 +aVI have a very hardline position, we have a country or we don't have a country. People that have come into our country illegally, they have to go. They have to come back into through a legal process. I want a strong border. I do want a wall. Walls do work, you just have to speak to the folks in Israel. Walls work if they're properly constructed. I know how to build, believe me, I know how to build. I feel a very, very strong bind, and really I'm bound to this country, we either have a border or we don't. People can come into the country, we welcome people to come but they have to come in legally. +p2618 +aVWell, first of all, I think we need somebody absolutely that we can trust, who is totally responsible; who really knows what he or she is doing. That is so powerful and so important. And one of the things that I'm frankly most proud of is that in 2003, 2004, I was totally against going into Iraq because you're going to destabilize the Middle East. I called it. I called it very strongly. And it was very important. But we have to be extremely vigilant and extremely careful when it comes to nuclear. Nuclear changes the whole ball game. Frankly, I would have said get out of Syria; get out \u2014 if we didn't have the power of weaponry today. The power is so massive that we can't just leave areas that 50 years ago or 75 years ago we wouldn't care. It was hand-to-hand combat. The biggest problem this world has today is not President Obama with global warming, which is inconceivable, this is what he's saying. The biggest problem we have is nuclear \u2014 nuclear proliferation and having some maniac, having some madman go out and get a nuclear weapon. That's in my opinion, that is the single biggest problem that our country faces right now. +p2619 +aVI think \u2014 I think, for me, nuclear is just the power, the devastation is very important to me. +p2620 +aVI did. +p2621 +aVLet me just say that I have gotten to know him over the last three or four days. He has a wonderful temperament. He's just fine. Don't worry about it. +p2622 +aVYou better not attack... +p2623 +aVI really am. I'll be honest, I really am. I mean, the people have been putting me... I really am. +p2624 +aVLet me just. Can I just finish my... +p2625 +aVI've gained great respect for the Republican leadership. I've gained great respect for many \u2014 and I'm going to even say \u2014 I mean, in different forms for the people on the dais, in different forms. In different forms. But I have great respect for the people I have met through this process. I've never done this process before. I've never been a politician. I mean, for the last six months I've been a politician. But I will tell you, I am totally committed to the Republican Party. I feel very honored to be the front runner. And I think I'll do very well if I'm chosen. If I'm so fortunate to be chosen, I think I'll do very well. Polls have come out recently saying I would beat Hillary. I will do everything in my power to beat Hillary Clinton, I promise you. +p2626 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We don't win on trade. We don't win on the military. We can't defeat +p2627 +aVI can't be Neil. And the and the reason I can't be is that we are a country that is being beaten on every front economically, militarily. There is nothing that we do now to win. We don't win anymore. Our taxes are too high. I've come up with a tax plan that many, many people like very much. It's going to be a tremendous plan. I think it'll make our country and our economy very dynamic. But, taxes too high, wages too high, we're not going to be able to compete against the world. I hate to say it, but we have to leave it the way it is. People have to go out, they have to work really hard and have to get into that upper stratum. But we can not do this if we are going to compete with the rest of the world. We just can't do it. +p2628 +aVI would not do it. +p2629 +aVI was so happy yesterday when I saw that decision come down. That was an unbelievable decision. And we don't have enough of those decisions coming down. He of the executive order, because nobody wants to listen to him, including the Democrats, so he just goes around signing executive orders. That was a great day. And, frankly, we have to stop illegal immigration. It's hurting us economically. It's hurting us from every standpoint. It's causing tremendous difficulty with respect to drugs and what that does to many of our inner cities in particular. And it really is \u2014 was such an unbelievable moment because the courts have not been ruling in our favor. And it was a 2-1 decision. And it was a terrific thing that happened. And I will tell you, we are a country of laws. We need borders. We will have a wall. The wall will be built. The wall will be successful. And if you think walls don't work, all you have to do is ask Israel. The wall works, believe me. Properly done. Believe me. +p2630 +aVYou are going to have to bring people \u2014 you are going to have to send people out. Look, we're a country... +p2631 +aVMaria, we're a country of laws. We either have a country or we don't have a country. We are a country of laws. Going to have to go out and they will come back but they are going to have to go out and hopefully they get back. But we have no choice if we're going to run our country properly and if we're going to be a country. +p2632 +aVAll I can say is, you're lucky in Ohio that you struck oil. That is for one thing. Let me just tell you that Dwight Eisenhower, good president, great president, people liked him. "I like Ike," right? The expression. "I like Ike." Moved a 1.5 million illegal immigrants out of this country, moved them just beyond the border. They came back. Moved them again beyond the border, they came back. Didn't like it. Moved them way south. They never came back. Dwight Eisenhower. You don't get nicer. You don't get friendlier. They moved a 1.5 million out. We have no choice. We have no choice. +p2633 +aVNo, it's unfair. +p2634 +aV... built an unbelievable company worth billions and billions of dollars. I don't have to hear from this man, believe me. I don't have to hear from him. +p2635 +aVWe have millions of people right now on line trying to come into this country. Very, very unfair to the people that want to come into our country legally. They've gone through the process. They're on line. They're waiting. Very, very unfair to them. That I can tell you. +p2636 +aVYes. +p2637 +aVNo, I'm sorry. No, excuse me. I was there. +p2638 +aVPlease, if I could just... +p2639 +aVWe have to make our military bigger, better, stronger than ever before so that nobody messes with us, and a long run, it's going to save us. I agree with Marco, I agree with Ted, we have no choice. And, I can tell you this with certainty. We all have a different tax plan. Some I don't totally agree with. One thing we understand, each one of those tax plans is better than the mess that we have right now. +p2640 +aV...Yes... +p2641 +aV...Yeah... +p2642 +aV...It's a horrible deal... +p2643 +aVThe TPP is horrible deal. It is a deal that is going to lead to nothing but trouble. It's a deal that was designed for China to come in, as they always do, through the back door and totally take advantage of everyone. It's 5,600 pages long. So complex that nobodies read it. It's like Obamacare; nobody ever read it. They passed it; nobody read it. And look at mess we have right now. And it will be repealed. But this is one of the worst trade deals. And I would, yes, rather not have it. With all of these countries, and all of the bad ones getting advantage and taking advantage of what the good ones would normally get, I'd rather make individual deals with individual countries. We will do much better. We lose a fortune on trade. The United States loses with everybody. We're losing now over $500 billion in terms of imbalance with China, $75 billion a year imbalance with Japan. By the way, Mexico, $50 billion a year imbalance. So I must say, Gerard, I just think it's a terrible deal. I love trade. I'm a free trader, 100 percent. But we need smart people making the deals, and we don't have smart people making the deals. +p2644 +aVYes. Well, the currency manipulation they don't discuss in the agreement, which is a disaster. If you look at the way China and India and almost everybody takes advantage of the United States \u2014 China in particular, because they're so good. It's the number-one abuser of this country. And if you look at the way they take advantage, it's through currency manipulation. It's not even discussed in the almost 6,000-page agreement. It's not even discussed. +p2645 +aVAnd as you understand, I mean, you understand very well from the Wall Street Journal, currency manipulation is the single great weapon people have. They don't even discuss it in this agreement. So I say, it's a very bad deal, should not be approved. If it is approved, it will just be more bad trade deals, more loss of jobs for our country. We are losing jobs like nobody's ever lost jobs before. I want to bring jobs back into this country. +p2646 +aVWell, first of all, it's not only Russia. We have problems with North Korea where they actually have nuclear weapons. You know, nobody talks about it, we talk about Iran, and that's one of the worst deals ever made. One of the worst contracts ever signed, ever, in anything, and it's a disgrace. But, we have somebody over there, a madman, who already has nuclear weapons we don't talk about that. That's a problem. China is a problem, both economically in what they're doing in the South China Sea, I mean, they are becoming a very, very major force. So, we have more than just Russia. But, as far as the Ukraine is concerned, and you could Syria \u2014 as far as Syria, I like \u2014 if Putin wants to go in, and I got to know him very well because we were both on 60 Minutes, we were stablemates, and we did very well that night. But, you know that. But, if Putin wants to go and knocked the hell out of +p2647 +aV...They blew up \u2014 hold it.... +p2648 +aV...They blew up, wait a minute... ...They blew up a Russian airplane. He cannot be in love with these people. He's going in, and we can go in, and everybody should go in. As far as the Ukraine is concerned, we have a group of people, and a group of countries, including Germany \u2014 tremendous economic behemoth \u2014 why are we always doing the work? We are \u2014 I'm all for protecting Ukraine and working \u2014 but, we have countries that are surrounding the Ukraine that aren't doing anything. They say, "Keep going, keep going, you dummies, keep going. Protect us..." ...And we have to get smart. We can't continue to be the policeman of the world. We are $19 trillion dollars, we have a country that's going to hell, we have an infrastructure that's falling apart. Our roads, our bridges, our schools, our airports, and we have to start investing money in our country. +p2649 +aVAssad is a bad guy, but we have no idea who the so-called rebels \u2014 I read about the rebels, nobody even knows who they are. I spoke to a general two weeks ago, he said \u2014 he was very up on exactly what we're talking about. He said, "You know, Mr. Trump? We're giving hundreds of millions of dollars of equipment to these people, we have no idea who they are." So, I don't like Assad. Who's going to like Assad? But, we have no idea who these people, and what they're going to be, and what they're going to represent. They may be far worse than Assad. Look at Libya. Look at Iraq. Look at the mess we have after spending $2 trillion dollars, thousands of lives, wounded warriors all over the place \u2014 who I love, OK? All over. We have nothing. And, I said, keep the oil. And we should have kept the oil, believe me. We should have kept the oil. And, you know what? We should have given the oil... ..We should've given big chunks to the people that lost their arms, their legs, and their families, and their sons, and daughters, because right now, you know who has a lot of that oil? Iran, and +p2650 +aVWhy does she keep interrupting everybody? Terrible. +p2651 +aVWe are not. +p2652 +aV...No, no, no... +p2653 +aVWell, what's happening right now, Neil, is something that not been a subject of conversation by politicians. As primarily the only politician, I guess other than Carly on the stage, they haven't talked about a corporate inversion. A corporate inversion \u2014 companies are leaving. You know, we used to leave New York to go to Florida. We got better taxes, we got, maybe, something else. Now, they're the United States to go to other countries. They have trillions of dollars in those other countries. They're going for two reasons, they can't get their money back in. It's something where the democrats and the republicans both agree, it's the only thing I can think of. They both agree, let the money come back in. Three and a half years, they still can't make a deal. They can't get the money in. It's probably two and a half trillion, but, I think it's much more than that. All of that money could become \u2014 could come right in and be used to rebuild our country, and investments in our country. They can't do it. What we have to do, and what I've done, is made the tax rate \u2014 and one of the reasons they don't the taxes so obnoxious, they can't do it. Where, I made it a 10% number, as you know. I've been very highly praised for it. A lot of money's going to come back in, we're going to get rid of the bureaucratic problems, and roadblocks, because that's also a problem. And, we're going to have all of this money pour back into the United States. It's going to be used to build businesses, for jobs, and everything else. And, as I say, my expression is, let's make America great again. +p2654 +aVThank you. Over the years, I've created tens of thousands of jobs and a great company. It's a company I'm very proud of. Some of the most iconic assets anywhere in the world. And I will tell you, I don't have to give you a website because I'm self-funding my campaign. I'm putting up my own money. I want to do something really special. I want to make our country greater than it's ever been. I think we have that potential. We cannot lose this election. We cannot let Hillary Clinton, who is the worst secretary of state in the history of our country, win this election. We will fight. We will win. And we truly will make this even more special. We have to make it better than ever before. And I will tell you, the United States can actually be better than ever before. Thank you. +p2655 +aVI think maybe my greatest weakness is that I trust people too much. I'm too trusting. And when they let me down, if they let me down, I never forgive. I find it very, very hard to forgive people that deceived me. So I don't know if you would call that a weakness, but my wife said "let up." +p2656 +aVRight. +p2657 +aVRight. +p2658 +aVThat's right. +p2659 +aVNo, not a comic book, and it's not a very nicely asked question the way you say that. Larry Kudlow is an example, who I have a lot of respect for, who loves my tax plan. We're reducing taxes to 15 percent. We're bringing corporate taxes down, bringing money back in, corporate inversions. We have $2.5 trillion outside of the United States which we want to bring back in. As far as the wall is concerned, we're going to build a wall. We're going to create a border. We're going to let people in, but they're going to come in legally. They're going to come in legally. And it's something that can be done, and I get questioned about that. They built the great wall of China. That's 13,000 miles. Here, we actually need 1,000 because we have natural barriers. So we need 1,000. We can do a wall. We're going to have a big, fat beautiful door right in the middle of the wall. We're going to have people come in, but they're coming in legally. And Mexico's going to pay for the wall because Mexico \u2014 I love the Mexican people; I respect the Mexican leaders \u2014 but the leaders are much sharper, smarter and more cunning than our leaders. And just to finish, people say, how will you get Mexico to pay? A politician other than the people in the states \u2014 I don't want to \u2014 a politician cannot get them to pay. I can. We lose, we have a trade imbalance... Excuse me, John. ... of $50 billion... +p2660 +aV... believe me the world is peanuts by comparison. +p2661 +aVRight. Dynamically. +p2662 +aVThen you have to get rid of Larry Kudlow, who sits on your panel, who's a great guy, who came out the other day and said, I love Trump's tax plan. +p2663 +aVFirst of all, John got lucky with a thing called fracking, OK? He hit oil. He got lucky with fracking. Believe me, that is why Ohio is doing well. Number \u2014 and that is important for you to know. Number two, this was the man that was a managing general partner at Lehman Brothers when it went down the tubes and almost took every one of us with it, including Ben and myself, because I was there and I watched what happened. And Lehman Brothers started it all. He was on the board. And he was a managing general partner. And just thirdly, he was so nice. He was such a nice guy. And he said, oh, I'm never going to attack. But then his poll numbers tanked. He has got \u2014 that is why he is on the end. And he got nasty. And he got nasty. So you know what? You can have him. +p2664 +aVI think you're \u2014 +p2665 +aVWell, first of all, like many other very big businessmen, I could name them here, but I'm not going to do that for a lot of obvious reasons, but the biggest, and almost all of them, they've all used the chapter laws, the bankruptcy laws to their own benefit. Before this, I was a very successful person as a developer and as a businessman. Atlantic City has gone bad. I mean, Chris will know about that. I'm not blaming Chris, by the way, but he will know about that. Caesar's \u2014 excuse me \u2014 Caesar's, the Rolls-Royce, as you know, is in bankruptcy. Almost every hotel in Atlantic City has either been in bankruptcy or will be in bankruptcy \u2014 the biggest. But also the biggest people (ph) \u2014 now I've used that to my advantage as a business man, for my family, for myself. I never filed for bankruptcy. But many, many people did. What happened with Atlantic City is very, very disgraceful. Now hundreds of companies I've opened. I've used it three times, maybe four times. Came out great. But I guess I'm supposed to come out great. That is what I could do for the country. We owe $19 trillion, boy am I good at solving debt problems. Nobody can solve it like me. But I will tell you this, Atlantic City, you're using that, hundreds of companies that I have opened have thrived. I built a net worth of way over $10 billion, and I have done it four times out of hundreds. And I'm glad I did it. I used the laws of the country to my benefit, I'm sorry. +p2666 +aVThank you. +p2667 +aVI was not at all critical of him. I was not at all. In fact, frankly, he's complaining about the fact that we're losing some of the most talented people. They go to Harvard. They go to Yale. They go to Princeton. They come from another country and they're immediately sent out. I am all in favor of keeping these talented people here so they can go to work in Silicon Valley. +p2668 +aVSo I have nothing at all critical of him. +p2669 +aVProbably, I don't know \u2014 you people write the stuff. I don't know where you... And if I could say just one thing. I am the only person in either campaign that's self-funding. I'm putting up 100 percent of my own money. And right now, I will be putting up a tremendous \u2014 so far, I've put up less than anybody and I have the best results. Wouldn't that be nice if the country could do that? But I will be putting \u2014 I will be putting up, you know, tremendous amounts of money. SuperPacs are a disaster. They're a scam. They cause dishonesty. And you better get rid of them because they are causing a lot of bad decisions to be made by some very good people. And I'm not blaming these folks \u2014 well, I guess I could. Very good people are making very bad decisions right now. And if anything comes out of this whole thing with some of these nasty and ridiculous questions, I will tell you, you better get rid of the SuperPacs because they causing a big problem with this country, not only in dishonesty and what's going on, but also in a lot of bad decisions that have been made for the benefit of lobbyists and special interests. +p2670 +aVI never said that. I never said that. +p2671 +aVYou've got another gentleman in Florida, who happens to be a very nice guy, but not... +p2672 +aV... he's really doing some bad... +p2673 +aVI'm in favor of people coming into this country legally. And you know what? They can have it anyway you want. You can call it visas, you can call it work permits, you can call it anything you want. I've created tens of thousands of jobs, and in all due respect \u2014 and actually some of these folks I really like a lot \u2014 but I'm the only one that can say that. I have created tens of thousands of jobs, and I'll be creating many millions of jobs if I'm given \u2014 if I'm given the opportunity to be president. As far as Mark is concerned, as far as the visas are concerned, if we need people, they have \u2014 it's fine. They have to come into this country legally. We have a country of borders. We have a country of laws. We have to obey the laws. It's fine if they come in, but they have to come in legally. +p2674 +aVYes. +p2675 +aVOr somebody else. Right. +p2676 +aVYes, I might feel more comfortable. I would say that I would and I have a permit, which is very unusual in New York \u2014 a permit to carry. And I do carry on occasion, sometimes a lot. But I like to be unpredictable so that people don't know exactly... +p2677 +aVBy the way, unlike our country where we're totally predictable and the enemy, whether it's +p2678 +aVI would change them. I would change them. +p2679 +aVSuch a nasty \u2014 such a nasty question, but thank you, Governor. +p2680 +aVYes, it's very simple. We're going to make a really dynamic economy from what we have right now, which is not at all dynamic. We're going to bring jobs back from Japan, we're going to bring jobs back from China, we're going to bring, frankly, jobs back from Mexico where, as you probably saw, Nabisco is leaving Chicago with one of their biggest plants, and they're moving it to Mexico. We're going to bring jobs and manufacturing back. We're going to cut costs. We're going to save Social Security, and we're going to save Medicare. [ +p2681 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We used to win, we don't win anymore. We lose on trade. We lose with +p2682 +aVAnd, I'll do that with the country. We will make America great again. And, thank you everybody. Just for the record. +p2683 +aVThat's not right. That is absolutely not right. You know that. That is not right. [ +p2684 +aVI'm Donald Trump. I wrote "The Art of the Deal". I say not in a braggadocious way, I've made billions and billions of dollars dealing with people all over the world, and I want to put whatever that talent is to work for this country so we have great trade deals, we make our country rich again, we make it great again. We build our military, we take care of our vets, we get rid of Obamacare, and we have a great life altogether. Thank you. Thank you. +p2685 +aVWell, first of all, Rand Paul shouldn't even be on this stage. He's number 11, he's got 1 percent in the polls, and how he got up here, there's far too many people anyway. As far as temperament \u2014 and we all know that \u2014 as far as temperament, I think I have a great temperament. I built a phenomenal business with incredible, iconic assets, one of the really truly great real-estate businesses. And I may be an entertainer, because I've had tremendous success with number-one bestsellers all over the place, with "The Apprentice" and everything else I've done. But I will tell you this: What I am far and away greater than an entertainer is a businessman, and that's the kind of mindset this country needs to bring it back, because we owe $19 trillion right now, $19 trillion, and you need this kind of thinking to bring our country back. And believe me, my temperament is very good, very calm. But we will be respected outside of this country. We are not respected now. +p2686 +aVI never attacked him on his look, and believe me, there's plenty of subject matter right there. That I can tell you. +p2687 +aVI've actually been in politics all my life, although I've been on that side as opposed to this side. I'm now a politician for about three months. Obviously, I'm doing pretty well. I'm number one in every poll by a lot. But the qualification is that I've dealt with people all over the world, been successful all over the world. Everything I've done virtually has been a tremendous success. When markets changed, when things turned, I heard Governor Pataki, who, by the way, was a failed governor in New York, a very seriously failed \u2014 he wouldn't be elected dog catcher right now. I heard what he had to say. And I will tell you this: Atlantic City, I've made a tremendous amount of money in Atlantic City. I left seven years ago, I've gotten great credit for my timing, and that's what I'm all about. I'm a businessman, did really well, really well, and Jeb, what I want to do is put that ability into this country to make our country rich again. And I can do that, and I'm not sure that anybody else in the group will be able to do that. +p2688 +aVBut I have to say... +p2689 +aVWell, in Wisconsin... +p2690 +aVExcuse me. +p2691 +aVIn Wisconsin, you're losing $2.2 billion right now. +p2692 +aVI would do so much better than that. +p2693 +aVNo. +p2694 +aVI'm using facts. +p2695 +aVEvery major business leader has used the \u2014 I never went bankrupt, by the way, as you know, everybody knows. But we \u2014 hundreds of companies, hundreds of deals, I've used ???: ... into bankruptcy. That's what's wrong with politicians in Washington right now. They think we can take a country into bankruptcy. +p2696 +aVEvery major business leader, has used the \u2014 I never went bank bankrupt, by the way, as you know, everybody knows. But \u2014 hundreds of companies, hundreds of deals, I used the law four times and made a tremendous thing. I'm in business. I did a very good job. But I will say this, and people are very, very impressed with what I've done, the business people. But when the folks of Iowa found out the true facts of the job that you've done in Wisconsin, all of a sudden you, tubed (ph), he was No. 1 and now he's No. 6 or seven in the polls. So, look, we brought it out, you were supposed to make a billion dollars in the state. You lost 2.2 \u2014 you have right now, a huge budget deficit. That's not a Democratic point. That's a point. That's a fact. And when the people of Iowa found that out, I went to No. 1 and you went down the tubes. +p2697 +aVI didn't \u2014 +p2698 +aVTotally false. +p2699 +aVI would have gotten it. +p2700 +aVI promise I would have gotten it. +p2701 +aVI promise if I wanted it, I would have gotten it. +p2702 +aVI know my people. +p2703 +aVI know my people. +p2704 +aVNo. I just will tell you that, you know, Jeb made the statement. I'm not only referring to him. I \u2014 a lot of money was raised by a lot of different people that are standing up here. And the donors, the special interests, the lobbyists have very strong power over these people. I'm spending all of my money, I'm not spending \u2014 I'm not getting any \u2014 I turned down \u2014 I turn down so much, I could have right now from special interests and donors, I could have double and triple what he's got. I've turned it down. I turned down last week $5 million from somebody. So I will tell you I understand the game, I've been on the other side all of my life. And they have a lot of control over our politicians. And I don't say that favorably, and I'm not sure if there's another system, but I say this. I am not accepting any money from anybody. Nobody has control of me other than the people of this country. I'm going to do the right thing. +p2705 +aVThat's true. That's true. +p2706 +aVI was \u2014 excuse me, Jeb. +p2707 +aVI was a businessman, I got along with Clinton, I got along with everybody. That was my job, to get along with people. +p2708 +aVI didn't want to \u2014 excuse me. One second. +p2709 +aVOK, more energy tonight. I like that. Look \u2014 +p2710 +aVI didn't want \u2014 it was my obligation as a businessman to my family, to my company, to my employees, to get along with all politicians. I get along with all of them, and I did a damn good job in doing it. Go ahead. +p2711 +aVGot along with everybody. +p2712 +aVWrong. +p2713 +aVDon't make things up. Jeb, don't make things up. Come on. +p2714 +aVDon't make things up. +p2715 +aVSo, number one, they have to respect you. He has absolutely no respect for President Obama. Zero. Syria's a mess. You look at what's going on with +p2716 +aVI believe that I will get along \u2014 we will do \u2014 between that, Ukraine, all of the other problems, we won't have the kind of problems that our country has right now with Russia and many other nations. +p2717 +aVI wouldn't have drawn the line, but once he drew it, he had no choice but to go across. They do bear some responsibility, but I think he probably didn't do it, not for that reason. Somehow, he just doesn't have courage. There is something missing from our president. Had he crossed the line and really gone in with force, done something to Assad \u2014 if he had gone in with tremendous force, you wouldn't have millions of people displaced all over the world. +p2718 +aVThey had a responsibility, absolutely. I think we have three of them here... +p2719 +aVI think they had a responsibility, yes. +p2720 +aVJeb, just... +p2721 +aVI think it will haunt him. I think it's a terrible. I think it's going to haunt him absolutely. He came back later and he said he misspoke. There was no question because I heard when he said the statement. I was watching and he said the statement. And I said, wow, I can't believe it. I will take care of women. I respect women. I will take care of women. One thing we will say and I would like to get back to the Iran situation. We're talking about Iran. The agreement was terrible. It was incompetent. I've never seen anything like it. One of the worst contracts of any kind I've ever seen. And nobody ever mentions North Korea where you have this maniac sitting there and he actually has nuclear weapons and somebody better start thinking about North Korea and perhaps a couple of other places. But certainly North Korea. And Ted and I have spoken. We've \u2014 a lot of us have spoken. We're talking about Iran. They are bad actors, bad things are going to happen. But in the meantime, you have somebody right now in North Korea who has got nuclear weapons and who is saying almost every other week, I'm ready to use them. And we don't even mention it. +p2722 +aVSo why didn't you say it? Why didn't you say it? +p2723 +aVI know, but why did you say it? I heard it myself. Why did you say it? +p2724 +aVYou said you're going to cut funding for women's health. You said it. +p2725 +aVYou said it. +p2726 +aVI think she's got a beautiful face, and I think she's a beautiful woman. +p2727 +aVCorrect. First of all, I want to build a wall, a wall that works. So important, and it's a big part of it. Second of all, we have a lot of really bad dudes in this country from outside, and I think Chris knows that, maybe as well as anybody. They go, if I get elected, first day they're gone. Gangs all over the place. Chicago, Baltimore, no matter where you look. We have a country based on laws. I will make sure that those laws are adhered to. These are illegal immigrants. I don't think you'd even be asking this question if I didn't run because when I ran, and I brought this up, my opening remarks at Trump Tower, I took heat like nobody has taken heat in a long time. And, then they found out with the killing of Katie, from San Francisco, and so many other crimes, they found out that I was right. And, most people, many people, apologized to me. I don't think you'd even be talking about illegal immigration if it weren't for me. So, we have a country of laws, they're going to go out, and they'll come back if they deserve to come back. If they've had a bad record, if they've been arrested, if they've been in jail, they're never coming back. We're going to have a country again. Right now, we don't have a country, we don't have a border, and we're going to do something about it, and it can be done with proper management, and it can be done with heart. +p2728 +aV...By the way, I agree with \u2014 with what Chris is saying, but, I will say this. Illegal immigration is costing us more than $200 billion dollars a year just to maintain what we have. +p2729 +aVCorrect. +p2730 +aVWell, I have to tell you, I hear phenomenal things. I hear your wife is a lovely woman... +p2731 +aVI don't know her, and this is a total mischaracterization... +p2732 +aVGood. +p2733 +aVNo, I won't do that, because I've said nothing wrong. +p2734 +aVBut I do hear she's a lovely woman. +p2735 +aVJeb said... +p2736 +aV... that they come into our country as an act of love. With all of the problems we that we have, in so many instances \u2014 we have wonderful people coming in. But with all of the problems \u2014 this is not an act of love. He's weak on immigration \u2014 by the way, in favor of Common Core, which is also a disaster, but weak on immigration. He doesn't get my vote. +p2737 +aVNot with this intensity. +p2738 +aVAs I said, we are spending $200 billion \u2014 we are spending $200 billion a year on maintaining what we have. We will move them out. The great ones will come back, the good ones will come back. They'll be expedited, they'll be back, they'll come back legally. We'll have a country \u2014 they'll come back, legally. +p2739 +aVWell, I think it's wonderful and all, but I did it a little bit half-heartedly, but I do mean it to a large extent. We have a country, where, to assimilate, you have to speak English. And I think that where he was, and the way it came out didn't sound right to me. We have to have assimilation \u2014 to have a country, we have to have assimilation. I'm not the first one to say this, Dana. We've had many people over the years, for many, many years, saying the same thing. This is a country where we speak English, not Spanish. +p2740 +aVThis is a reporter, not a high school kid. +p2741 +aVWell, first of all, the \u2014 the 14th Amendment says very, very clearly to a lot of great legal scholars \u2014 not television scholars, but legal scholars \u2014 that it is wrong. It can be corrected with an act of Congress, probably doesn't even need that. A woman gets pregnant. She's nine months, she walks across the border, she has the baby in the United States, and we take care of the baby for 85 years. I don't think so. And by the way, Mexico and almost every other country anywhere in the world doesn't have that. We're the only ones dumb enough, stupid enough to have it. And people \u2014 and by the way, this is not just with respect to Mexico. They are coming from Asia to have babies here, and all of a sudden, we have to take care of the babies for the life of the baby. The 14th Amendment, it reads properly, you can go and \u2014 it's probably going to be have to be check \u2014 go through a process of court, probably ends up at the Supreme Court, but there are a lot of great legal scholars that say that is not correct. And in my opinion, it makes absolutely no \u2014 we're the only \u2014 one of the only countries, we're going to take care of those babies for 70, 75, 80, 90 years? I don't think so. +p2742 +aVI agree 100 percent, by the way, with Carly on the fact that the Democrats do not want to solve this problem, for the obvious reasons, but they do not. But I believe that a reading of the 14th Amendment allows you to have an interpretation where this is not legal and where it can't be done. I've seen both sides, but some of the greatest scholars agree with me, without having to go through Congress. If you do go through Congress, you can absolutely solve the problem. +p2743 +aVThat's true, sure. +p2744 +aVWell \u2014 +p2745 +aV\u2014 let me \u2014 well, let me just explain. The head of the Yale Business School, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, wrote a paper recently, one of the worst tenures for a CEO that he has ever seen, ranked one of the top 20 in the history of business. The company is a disaster and continues to be a disaster. They still haven't recovered. In fact, today, on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, they fired another 25 or 30,000 people saying we still haven't recovered from the catastrophe. When Carly says the revenues went up, that's because she bought Compaq, it was a terrible deal, and it really led to the destruction of the company. Now one other company before that was Lucent. Carly was at Lucent before that. And Lucent turned out to be a catastrophe also. So I only say this. She can't run any of my companies. That I can tell you. +p2746 +aVI never filed for bankruptcy. +p2747 +aVI'll tell you why; it's very simple. +p2748 +aVI'll tell you. I was running \u2014 +p2749 +aV\u2014 Carly, Carly \u2014 +p2750 +aV\u2014 I've made over $10 billion. I had a casino company \u2014 Caesars just filed for bankruptcy. Chris will tell you \u2014 it's not Chris' fault either \u2014 but almost everybody in Atlantic City is either in trouble or filed for \u2014 maybe I'll blame Chris. +p2751 +aVBut Atlantic City is a disaster \u2014 +p2752 +aVWait a minute, Carly. Wait. I let you speak. Atlantic City is a disaster, and I did great in Atlantic City. I knew when to get out. My timing was great. And I got a lot of credit for it. Many of the great business people that you know \u2014 and Carl Icon (ph) is going to work with me on making great deals for this country. But whether it's Carl or so many others that we read about all the time \u2014 +p2753 +aV\u2014 they have used the laws of the land, which is the \u2014 +p2754 +aV...Well, I'd like to respond, I'd like to respond... +p2755 +aVWell, I think the thing about the flat tax, I know it very well. What I don't like is that if you make $200 million a year, you pay ten percent, you're paying very little relatively to somebody that's making $50,000 a year, and has to hire H&R Block to do the \u2014 because it's so complicated. One thing I'll say to Ben is that we've had a graduated tax system for many years, so it's not a socialistic thing. What I'd like to do, and I'll be putting in the plan in about two weeks, and I think people are going to like it, it's a major reduction in taxes. It's a major reduction for the middle class. The hedge fund guys won't like me as much as they like me right now. I know them all, but they'll pay more. I know people that are making a tremendous amount of money and paying virtually no tax, and I think it's unfair. +p2756 +aVWell, I heard Hugh Hewitt, a nice man, he apologized because he actually said that we had a misunderstanding. And he said today that Donald Trump is maybe the best interview there is anywhere that he has ever done. Now unless he was just saying that on CNN to be nice, but he did say that... +p2757 +aVAnd we had a legitimate misunderstanding in terms of his pronunciation of a word. But I would say just... +p2758 +aVWell, I think it was. And he actually said that. Did you say that? +p2759 +aVOK. So I will say this, though, Hugh was giving me name after name, Arab name, Arab name, and there are few people anywhere, anywhere that would have known those names. I think he was reading them off a sheet. And frankly I will have \u2014 and I told him, I will have the finest team that anybody has put together and we will solve a lot of problems. You know, right now they know a lot and look at what is happening. The world is blowing up around us. We will have great teams and great people. +p2760 +aVI hope that answers your question. I mean, you are in the Senate, but I hope that answers your question. +p2761 +aVNo, I don't think he's suggesting that at all. I mean... +p2762 +aVI don't think he's suggesting that at all. +p2763 +aVWell, you have to understand, I am not sitting in the United States Senate with, by the way, the worst voting record there is today. Number one. I am not sitting in the United States Senate. I'm a businessman doing business transactions. +p2764 +aVI am doing business transactions. I will know more about this \u2014 and, as you said, that was very acceptable, and when you listen to that whole interview, it's a great interview, you said it, I didn't. Well, now I did. But... +p2765 +aVListen, just one second. Just one second. +p2766 +aVI will know... +p2767 +aV...I will know more about the problems of this world by the time I sit, and you look at what's going in this world right now by people that supposedly know, this world is a mess. +p2768 +aV +p2769 +aV I'm \u2014 and I'm meeting with people that are terrific people, but I have to say something because it's about judgment. I am the only person on this dais \u2014 the only person \u2014 that fought very, very hard against us (ph), and I wasn't a sitting politician going into Iraq, because I said going into Iraq \u2014 that was in 2003, you can check it out, check out \u2014 I'll give you 25 different stories. In fact, a delegation was sent to my office to see me because I was so vocal about it. I'm a very militaristic person, but you have to know when to use the military. I'm the only person up here that fought against going into Iraq. +p2770 +aVJust excuse me, one second, Rand... +p2771 +aVIf you don't mind, Rand \u2014 you know, you are on last \u2014 you do have your 1 percent. I would like \u2014 and I think it's very important. I think it's important, because it's about judgment. It's about judgment. I didn't want to go into Iraq, and I fought it, because what I said \u2014 what I said... +p2772 +aV... was you're going to \u2014 you're going to destabilize... +p2773 +aV... the Middle East, and that's what happened. +p2774 +aVIf you think about it... +p2775 +aVYour brother \u2014 and your brother's administration gave us Barack Obama, because it was such a disaster, those last three months, that Abraham Lincoln couldn't have been elected. +p2776 +aVI don't know. You feel safe right now? I don't feel so safe. +p2777 +aVOr the collapse of the economy. +p2778 +aVSpeaking for myself, I'm OK with it. I think there's a certain truth to it. I know people that, frankly, it has no impact on their life whatsoever. There are many people. I would almost say leave it up to them, but I would be willing to check it off, and say I will not get Social Security. I do not... +p2779 +aVAs a policy, I would almost leave it up to the people. Don't forget they pay in and they pay in, and maybe they do well, and maybe some people want it. But the fact is that there are people that truly don't need it, and there are many people that do need it very, very badly. And I would be willing to write mine off 100 percent, Dana. +p2780 +aVWell, I \u2014 I \u2014 I'd like to respond. +p2781 +aVI'd like to respond. +p2782 +aVAutism has become an epidemic. Twenty-five years ago, 35 years ago, you look at the statistics, not even close. It has gotten totally out of control. I am totally in favor of vaccines. But I want smaller doses over a longer period of time. Because you take a baby in \u2014 and I've seen it \u2014 and I've seen it, and I had my children taken care of over a long period of time, over a two or three year period of time. Same exact amount, but you take this little beautiful baby, and you pump \u2014 I mean, it looks just like it's meant for a horse, not for a child, and we've had so many instances, people that work for me. Just the other day, two years old, two and a half years old, a child, a beautiful child went to have the vaccine, and came back, and a week later got a tremendous fever, got very, very sick, now is autistic. I only say it's not \u2014 I'm in favor of vaccines, do them over a longer period of time, same amount. +p2783 +aVBut just in \u2014 in little sections. +p2784 +aVI think \u2014 and I think you're going to have \u2014 I think you're going to see a big impact on autism. +p2785 +aVAnd that's all I'm saying, Jake. That's all I'm saying. +p2786 +aVWell, because she's been sitting for three hours, I think my daughter, Ivanka, who's right here. +p2787 +aVOther than that we'll go with Rosa Parks. I like that. +p2788 +aVHumble. +p2789 +aVIf I become president, we will do something really special. We will make this country greater than ever before. We'll have more jobs. We'll have more of everything. We were discussing disease, we were discussing all sorts of things tonight, many of which will just be words, it will just pass on. I don't want to say politicians, all talk, no action. But a lot of what we talked about is words and it will be forgotten very quickly. If I'm president, many of the things that we discussed tonight will not be forgotten. We'll find solutions. And the world will respect us. They will respect us like never before. And it will be actually a friendlier world. And I have to say, it is a great honor to be here tonight. +p2790 +aVI fully understand. +p2791 +aVI fully understand. +p2792 +aVI cannot say. I have to respect the person that, if it's not me, the person that wins, if I do win, and I'm leading by quite a bit, that's what I want to do. I can totally make that pledge. If I'm the nominee, I will pledge I will not run as an independent. But -- and I am discussing it with everybody, but I'm, you know, talking about a lot of leverage. We want to win, and we will win. But I want to win as the Republican. I want to run as the Republican nominee. +p2793 +aVWell, I've given him plenty of money. +p2794 +aVI will not make the pledge at this time. +p2795 +aVOnly Rosie O'Donnell. +p2796 +aVThank you. +p2797 +aVYes, I'm sure it was. +p2798 +aVI think the big problem this country has is being politically correct. I've been challenged by so many people, and I don't frankly have time for total political correctness. And to be honest with you, this country doesn't have time either. This country is in big trouble. We don't win anymore. We lose to China. We lose to Mexico both in trade and at the border. We lose to everybody. And frankly, what I say, and oftentimes it's fun, it's kidding. We have a good time. What I say is what I say. And honestly Megyn, if you don't like it, I'm sorry. I've been very nice to you, although I could probably maybe not be, based on the way you have treated me. But I wouldn't do that. But you know what, we -- we need strength, we need energy, we need quickness and we need brain in this country to turn it around. That, I can tell you right now. +p2799 +aVSo, if it weren't for me, you wouldn't even be talking about illegal immigration, Chris. You wouldn't even be talking about it. This was not a subject that was on anybody's mind until I brought it up at my announcement. And I said, Mexico is sending. Except the reporters, because they're a very dishonest lot, generally speaking, in the world of politics, they didn't cover my statement the way I said it. The fact is, since then, many killings ,murders, crime, drugs pouring across the border, are money going out and the drugs coming in. And I said we need to build a wall, and it has to be built quickly. And I don't mind having a big beautiful door in that wall so that people can come into this country legally. But we need, Jeb, to build a wall, we need to keep illegals out. +p2800 +aVBorder Patrol, I was at the border last week. Border Patrol, people that I deal with, that I talk to, they say this is what's happening. Because our leaders are stupid. Our politicians are stupid. And the Mexican government is much smarter, much sharper, much more cunning. And they send the bad ones over because they don't want to pay for them. They don't want to take care of them. Why should they when the stupid leaders of the United States will do it for them? And that's what is happening whether you like it or not. +p2801 +aVA complete disaster, yes. +p2802 +aVCorrect. +p2803 +aVFirst of all, I'd like to just go back to one. In July of 2004, I came out strongly against the war with Iraq, because it was going to destabilize the Middle East. And I'm the only one on this stage that knew that and had the vision to say it. And that's exactly what happened. +p2804 +aVAnd the Middle East became totally destabilized. So I just want to say. As far as single payer, it works in Canada. It works incredibly well in Scotland. It could have worked in a different age, which is the age you're talking about here. What I'd like to see is a private system without the artificial lines around every state. I have a big company with thousands and thousands of employees. And if I'm negotiating in New York or in New Jersey or in California, I have like one bidder. Nobody can bid. You know why? Because the insurance companies are making a fortune because they have control of the politicians, of course, with the exception of the politicians on this stage. But they have total control of the politicians. They're making a fortune. Get rid of the artificial lines and you will have......yourself great plans. And then we have to take care of the people that can't take care of themselves. And I will do that through a different system. +p2805 +aVI'm not -- I'm not are -- I don't think you heard me. You're having a hard time tonight. +p2806 +aVYou'd better believe it. +p2807 +aVIf I ask them, if I need them, you know, most of the people on this stage I've given to, just so you understand, a lot of money. +p2808 +aVMany of them. +p2809 +aVNot much. +p2810 +aVBut I... +p2811 +aVI have good... +p2812 +aVGood. +p2813 +aVSounds good. Sounds good to me, Governor. I will tell you that our system is broken. I gave to many people, before this, before two months ago, I was a businessman. I give to everybody. When they call, I give. And do you know what? When I need something from them two years later, three years later, I call them, they are there for me. +p2814 +aVAnd that's a broken system. +p2815 +aVWell, I'll tell you what, with Hillary Clinton, I said be at my wedding and she came to my wedding. You know why? She didn't have a choice because I gave. I gave to a foundation that, frankly, that foundation is supposed to do good. I didn't know her money would be used on private jets going all over the world. It was. But... +p2816 +aVBecause I have used the laws of this country just like the greatest people that you read about every day in business have used the laws of this country, the chapter laws, to do a great job for my company, for myself, for my employees, for my family, et cetera. I have never gone bankrupt, by the way. I have never. But out of hundreds of deals... +p2817 +aVExcuse me. Excuse me. +p2818 +aVExcuse me, what am I saying? Out of hundreds of deals that I've done, hundreds, on four occasions I've taken advantage of the laws of this country, like other people. I'm not going to name their names because I'm not going to embarrass, but virtually every person that you read about on the front page of the business sections, they've used the law. The difference is, when somebody else uses those laws, nobody writes about it. When I use it, they say, "Trump, Trump, Trump." The fact is, I built a net worth of more than $10 billion. I have a great, great company. I employ thousands of people. And I'm very proud of the job I did. Again Chris, hundreds and hundreds of deals. Four times, I've taken advantage of the laws. And frankly, so has everybody else in my position. +p2819 +aVWell, I... +p2820 +aVLet me just tell you about the lenders. First of all, these lenders aren't babies. These are total killers. These are not the nice, sweet little people that you think, OK? You know, I mean you're living in a world of the make-believe, Chris, you want to know the truth. And I had the good sense to leave Atlantic City, which by the way, Caesars just went bankrupt. Every company, Chris can tell you, every company virtually in Atlantic City went bankrupt. Every company. And let me just tell you. I had the good sense, and I've gotten a lot of credit in the financial pages, seven years ago I left Atlantic City before it totally cratered, and I made a lot of money in Atlantic City, and I'm very proud of it. I want to tell you that. Very, very proud of it. +p2821 +aVAnd by the way, this country right now owes $19 trillion. And they need somebody like me to straighten out that mess. +p2822 +aVI don't think they like me very much. I'll tell you what. I've evolved on many issues over the years. And you know who else has? Is Ronald Reagan evolved on many issues. And I am pro-life. And if you look at the question, I was in business. They asked me a question as to pro-life or choice. And I said if you let it run, that I hate the concept of abortion. I hate the concept of abortion. And then since then, I've very much evolved. And what happened is friends of mine years ago were going to have a child, and it was going to be aborted. And it wasn't aborted. And that child today is a total superstar, a great, great child. And I saw that. And I saw other instances. And I am very, very proud to say that I am pro-life. As far as being a Republican is concerned, I come from a place, New York City, which is virtually, I mean, it is almost exclusively Democrat. And I have really started to see some of the negatives -- as an example, and I have a lot of liking for this man, but the last number of months of his brother's administration were a catastrophe. And unfortunately, those few months gave us President Obama. And you can't be happy about that. +p2823 +aVFirst of all, Jeb, I am very happy that you denied that, and I appreciate that very much. He is a true gentleman. He really is. One thing he did say, and I mean that. The one thing he did say about me, however, was my tone. And I also understand that. But when you have people that are cutting Christians' heads off, when you have a world that the border and at so many places, that it is medieval times, we've never -- it almost has to be as bad as it ever was in terms of the violence and the horror, we don't have time for tone. We have to go out and get the job done. +p2824 +aVI would be so different from what you have right now. Like, the polar opposite. We have a president who doesn't have a clue. I would say he's incompetent, but I don't want to do that because that's not nice. But if you look at the deals we make, whether it's the nuclear deal with 24 hour periods -- and by the way, before you get to the 24 hours, you have to go through a system. You look at Sgt. Bergdahl, we get Bergdahl, a traitor, and they get five of the big, great killers leaders that they want. We have people in Washington that don't know what they're doing. Now... I agree. Now, with Iran, we're making a deal, you would say, we want him. We want out our prisoners. We want all these things, and we don't get anything. We're giving them $150 billion dollars plus, they are going to be -- I'll tell you what, if Iran was a stock, you folks should go out and buy it right now because you'll quadruple -- this, what's happening in Iran, is a disgrace, and it's going to lead to destruction in large portions of the world. +p2825 +aVOur country is in serious trouble. We don't win anymore. We don't beat China in trade. We don't beat Japan, with their millions and millions of cars coming into this country, in trade. We can't beat Mexico, at the border or in trade. We can't do anything right. Our military has to be strengthened. Our vets have to be taken care of. We have to end Obamacare, and we have to make our country great again, and I will do that. Thank you. +p2826 +asVPATAKI +p2827 +(lp2828 +VThank you, Wolf. I want to speak to you this evening not as a Republican or a presidential candidate, but as an American. As we saw today in L.A., we are at a crisis in our country. Radical Islam poses a threat to our safety not just overseas, but literally in every community in America. And yet at a time when we should be united, we have a president who has divided us, who refuses to call radical Islam what it is, let alone have a coherent strategy to defeat it. The leading Democrat, Hillary Clinton, won't call +p2829 +aVAbsolutely. It's one of many absurd things this President has said. To target a religion and say that regardless of whether you're an American soldier who has fought on our side or allies we have overseas, simply because of your religion we're going to ban you is un-American, it is unconstitutional and it is wrong. And by the way, Wolf, now there was a group that tried to do that 150 to 160 years ago, they were called the Know-Nothing Party. They wanted to ban Catholics. They thought they were going to destroy America. Well, Donald Trump is the Know-Nothing candidate of the 21st century and cannot be our nominee. By the way, though. I fault Hillary and Obama as well because by not distinguishing between Muslims and radicalized Jihadists, by refusing to acknowledge that it's radical Muslim, radical Islamists who are carrying out these attacks against America \u2014 they let Americans who are confused and angry lump everyone together. We have to embrace the Muslims who embrace our freedom and living and safety. We have to destroy those who embrace Jihad and want to engage in violence against us here or abroad. +p2830 +aVYes. +p2831 +aVYou know, I think it's very important that we do everything in our power to prevent radicalization of Americans right here. And it is happening, not just overseas, but it's happening here from Mosques on social media. And truth \u2014 interaction and community meetings. New York police department had a very active group, aggressively monitoring and using intelligence to \u2014 in certain Muslim communities, consistent with our constitution, consistent of our civil rights, so they could have the intelligence as to where these sermons are being given, and who is being radicalized. And, they stopped and prevented dozens, and dozens of attacks in New York. You know, I'm a great believer in the First Amendment, of Freedom of Speech. I wish we had more of it on our college campuses, but you can't shout fire in a crowded theater. Calling on Americans to engage in violence against their fellow Americans in the name of jihad is crying fire in a crowded theater. It is not constitutionally protected speech, it should be shut down. And, by the way, the two murders who went to Garland, Texas to massacre many Americans before the Texas police officer courageously killed them, had been radicalized here. Getting to that metadata question, one of those terrorists, the day before the attacks, had sent......109 message to a known terrorist overseas. We could not read those messages, we can not read those today... +p2832 +aV...We have got to do far better. +p2833 +aVYes, Wolf. +p2834 +aVI would pass a law requiring them to do that. Let me just give you one example. I mentioned in Garland, Texas, where that murderer, that terrorist, the day before sent 109 messages overseas to a known terrorist. But they were encrypted. So to this date we don't know what that said. Companies are entitled to encrypt and protect their knowledge and their intelligence. But what we need is a back door for law enforcement to be able, when they can establish that that communication poses a risk to our safety and engages in terrorism, to get a court order and go in and access those communications. Allow the companies to continue encryption, provide an entry way for law enforcement when they can prove to a court that there is a sufficient risk of an attack upon us that they have the right to look at those messages. +p2835 +aVAnd just one more thing, Wolf. When that murderer came from Pakistan to San Bernardino and committed those atrocious crimes just a few weeks ago, she applied for a visa. She had posted on social media jihadist messages. Because this administration is so politically correct, they have a rule that they cannot look at social media postings of people applying to come to the United States. That is utterly absurd. One of the things we must do, the next president must do is get rid of that law and make sure we do everything in our power to find out if someone poses a threat to our existence here. +p2836 +aVWolf, I think the answer is we have to send troops with allies and supporters. Wherever it is necessary to destroy the training centers, recruitment centers, planning hubs of +p2837 +aVYes. +p2838 +aVYou know, I don't think it's a function of years of going after +p2839 +aVYou know, I don't want to see us occupy a country. I've been to Iraq a couple of times and Afghanistan. The first time I went, I had an uneasy feeling that when we went there we were liberators. But as we stayed ,we became occupiers. I saw American troops move into some of Saddam's old hideous marble palaces. And I thought that was exactly the wrong message. We do not have to occupy. We do not have to nation build and try to create a democracy where one hasn't existed. WE have to destroy +p2840 +aVI'm not sure \u2014 ally with which groups? I didn't quite catch that. +p2841 +aVNot at all. Iran is our enemy. They are the number one sponsor of state terror. The Iranian Deal is a disaster. And by the way, I don't think the next president has to aggregate it. It was never ratified by the Iranians. They have tested long-range ballistic missiles in violation of U.N. resolutions. They have broken the agreement. It is void. They can never have a nuclear weapon and should not get relief. With respect to the other groups, like Hezbollah, of course we should not work with them. I'll tell you who we should work with in Syria. There are two groups. One are the PYD, the \u2014 the Kurds in Syria who led the defense of Kobani, and are in northern and eastern Syria and anti- +p2842 +aVI could create... +p2843 +aVI would create the no-fly zone, and let me tell you, something very simply. Putin is a bully, and the most important and effective thing you can do to a bully is punch him in the face. Create a no-fly zone. If Russian planes violate that space, either us, or the Turks, should shoot them down to keep our word. And, I guarantee you that Putin would back off. Bullies, when you stand up to them, back down. We have had, under Obama, and under Hillary as Secretary of State, nothing but weakness in the face of Russia, whether it was in the Crimea, whether it was in Ukraine, or now in the Middle East. I would give the Ukrainians lethal weapons so they could defend themselves. I would create the no-fly zone, and if Russian planes flew into it in violation of what we have declared, yes. +p2844 +aVI could create... +p2845 +aVI would create the no-fly zone, and let me tell you, something very simply. Putin is a bully, and the most important and effective thing you can do to a bully is punch him in the face. Create a no-fly zone. If Russian planes violate that space, either us, or the Turks, should shoot them down to keep our word. And, I guarantee you that Putin would back off. Bullies, when you stand up to them, back down. We have had, under Obama, and under Hillary as Secretary of State, nothing but weakness in the face of Russia, whether it was in the Crimea, whether it was in Ukraine, or now in the Middle East. I would give the Ukrainians lethal weapons so they could defend themselves. I would create the no-fly zone, and if Russian planes flew into it in violation of what we have declared, yes. +p2846 +aVNo, I completely disagree with Rick. This is America. And we've made enormous progress. And I don't care if you're a man or a woman. I care if you're good and capable of doing the job. If you can do the job \u2014 don't lower standards, don't lower the criteria \u2014 but if a woman is capable of doing these jobs, there is no reason why we should deny a patriot who wants to serve and help defend our country that right. +p2847 +aVIt's not. +p2848 +aVNo, you said you would reverse the policy which excluded women from those jobs whether or not they were able to do that. That is wrong. +p2849 +aVAh. +p2850 +aVYes, I think what Rick said is very different from what he said initially which was that, "he would reverse the policy that gave woman not the right but the opportunity to serve in combat." They can only do it if they're fit and capable and meet the same standards as men. And so, to reverse that policy and deny a woman who is prepared to risk her life to defend our freedom and is capable of doing everything a man could do is not the right thing for America in the 21st century. By the way, you see in Iraq, the Peshmerga, the Kurds ,many of their top fighters are women. This is the 21st century. We're not radical Islam. We want to give women the opportunity to do whatever they are capable of achieving in this country. +p2851 +aVOf course he's innocent until proven guilty. I happen to believe he's guilty. The military did a very clear and long study as to whether or not he deserted in the face of enemy and they are not court marshalling him. I don't think he should executed. I do think he will have a fair military trial, not a civilian trial, at which time, assuming he's found guilty as I think he would, he will be sentenced appropriately. But there's a bigger issue here, this administration has failed to protect us because they have treated radical Islamists as Americans who should be tried in civil court. That is ridiculous. They are enemy aliens engaged in terror against Americans. And by the way, the fact that this president is now threatening to close Guantanamo Bay when we know that time after time, terrorists he released are involved in a high level capacity helping +p2852 +aVYou know, again, it comes down to something that, as Mike said, breaks your heart. We clearly want to get them back. But the idea that by taking a journalist, for example, and holding him hostage in Iran, they're going to be able to get some of their terrorist leaders back, is simply bad policy. Israel has shown the way on this in rejecting hostage exchanges such as this and then not paying ransom. But, by the way, Mike is absolutely right. We have to do more to protect our people overseas, but then we also have to do more to help our veterans when they come back here today. We haven't talked about that. But more talking about defeating terrorism, one of the things we have to do is give our veterans the support and help that they require. What has happened at the VA is a disgrace. Give our veterans a medical card that they can use to get the best quality care anywhere, including outside of the VA system. +p2853 +aVAnd that \u2014 but that was involved in combat, where they were actually involved in a war against each other and exchanged prisoners. We have not been in a war with Iran. They have taken civilians as hostages. It's a totally different situation. And we cannot encourage them to do any more of that. +p2854 +aVYou know, I think what I said earlier is that I would create a no-fly zone in Syria. Turkey just agreed to take 3 million more Syrian refugees. The EU just came up with a funding program to provide camps for Syrian refugees, but I would also create that no-fly zone where refugees can be there. I have to say I agree with Rick, because this President is talking about taking 10,000 people from Syria, who we cannot vet. This administration, allegedly, vetted the woman who carried out the attacks in San Bernardino and never found out that she had a false address and was on social media talking about radical Jihad. Coming from Syria, it's impossible to do that check. And we know, by the way, that +p2855 +aVThank you. This debate has been about terrorism and appropriately so. I'm proud to have been governor of New York on September 11th and have led our state through and during the aftermath of that horrible attack. I vowed then that if I ever had the chance to lead this country, I would do everything in my power to make sure that Americans were safe. But I also saw a positive from that. New Yorkers and the American people came together and vowed that we weren't just going to defend ourselves. We were not going to live in fear. We were going to rise to new heights and celebrate our freedom. Come to Lower Manhattan today. You will see a magnificent tribute to those who died, the memorial and the museum. You will also see a new tower soaring 1,776 feet tall, the Freedom Tower, a symbol of our freedom, a symbol of our belief that as a free people we can soar to new heights. Give us the chance to unite Americans, not just Republicans. And this country's future is unlimited. +p2856 +asVCHRISTIE +p2857 +(lp2858 +VThank you Wolf. America has been betrayed. We've been betrayed by the leadership that Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton have provided to this country over the last number of years. Think about just what's happened today. The second largest school district in America in Los Angeles closed based on a threat. Think about the effect that, that's going to have on those children when they go back to school tomorrow wondering filled with anxiety to whether they're really going to be safe. Think about the mothers who will take those children tomorrow morning to the bus stop wondering whether their children will arrive back on that bus safe and sound. Think about the fathers of Los Angeles, who tomorrow will head off to work and wonder about the safety of their wives and their children. What is Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton done to this country? That the most basic responsibility of an administration is to protect the safety and security of the American people. I will tell you this, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I've fought terrorists and won and when we get back in the White House we will fight terrorists and win again and America will be safe. +p2859 +aVWolf, unfortunately, it's the new normal under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The fact is that if you listen to Hillary Clinton the other day, what she said to the American people was, as regards to +p2860 +aVListen, I want to talk to the audience at home for a second. If your eyes are glazing over like mine, this is what it's like to be on the floor of the United States Senate. I mean, endless debates about how many angels on the head of a pin from people who've never had to make a consequential decision in an executive position. The fact is, for seven years, I had to make these decisions after 9/11, make a decision about how to proceed forward with an investigation or how to pull back, whether you use certain actionable intelligence or whether not to. And yet they continue to debate about this bill and in the subcommittee and what \u2014 nobody in America cares about that. What they care about is, are we going to have a president who actually knows what they're doing to make these decisions? And for the seven years afterwards, New Jersey was threatened like no other region in this country and what we did was we took action within the constitution to make sure that law enforcement had all the information they needed. We prosecuted two of the biggest terrorism cases in the world and stopped Fort Dix from being attacked by six American radicalized Muslims from a Mosque in New Jersey because we worked with the Muslim American community to get intelligence and we used the Patriot Act to get other intelligence to make sure we did those cases. This is the difference between actually been a federal prosecutor, actually doing something, and not just spending your life as one of hundred debating it. Let's talk about how we do this, not about which bill, which one these guys like more. The American people don't care about that. +p2861 +aVWolf, you sit up here and you listen to this stuff, and you think that so many of these people have had so much to do in this national debate, they talk like they were bystanders. You know, we talk about our military being degraded over time, and yet we've had folks on this stage who've been a part of Congress who have participated in sequester; who participated in the degrading of this military over time. And that's why I think people get so frustrated with Washington, D.C. now. That's why they're so angry with the \u2014 the electorate is so angry with everybody who is involved in government in Washington, D.C. Because if you listen to the folks up here, you think that they weren't even there; they had nothing to do with this. This is a difference between being a governor and being in a legislature. See, because when something doesn't work in New Jersey, they look at me, say: "Why didn't it get done? Why didn't you do it?" You have to be responsible and accountable. And so on +p2862 +aVWell, I think we have to focus, Hugh, on exactly what the priorities are. And to me, what I've always said is that the president has set up an awful situation through his deal with Iran, because what his deal with Iran has done is empower them and enrich them. And that's the way +p2863 +aVNot only would I be prepared to do it, I would do it. A no-fly zone means a no-fly zone, Wolf. That's what it means. See, maybe \u2014 maybe because I'm from New Jersey, I just have this kind of plain language hangup. But I would make very clear \u2014 I would not talk to Vladimir Putin. In fact, I would talk to Vladimir Putin a lot. But I'd say to him, "Listen, Mr. President, there's a no-fly zone in Syria; you fly in, it applies to you." And yes, we would shoot down the planes of Russian pilots if in fact they were stupid enough to think that this president was the same feckless weakling that the president we have in the Oval Office is right now. +p2864 +aVWell, Wolf, I'll tell you what reckless is. What reckless is is calling Assad a reformer. What reckless is allowing Russia to come into Crimea and Ukraine. What reckless is is inviting Russia into Syria to team with Iran. That is reckless. And the reckless people are the folks in the White House right now. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are the reckless people. And if you think that a no-fly zone is a reckless policy, you're welcome to your opinion. But how is it working so far? As we have 250,000 Syrians murdered, slaughtered; millions running around the world, running for their lives. It's not working. We need to try something else. And that is not reckless. +p2865 +aVWhat I say to Carla is that the first job of the president of the United States is to protect your safety and your security and the security and safety of your family. And this debate stops with me in the discussions with the FBI director. Now, listen, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I know Jim Comey. We've worked together. He was the U.S. attorney in Manhattan when I was a U.S. attorney in New Jersey. And when Jim Comey gets up before Congress and says, we cannot effectively vet these people, for me as president, that's the end of the conversation. We have to put America's security first. The American people \u2014 we on this stage need to open our ears. We need to open our ears. The American people are not whispering to us. They are screaming to us. And they're screaming to us that it's our job to actually make this government work. It's so dysfunctional under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. It's so ineffective. It's so ineffectual that the American people say, we don't trust them to do anything anymore. So I'm not going to let Syrian refugees, any Syrian refugees in this country. And it was widows and orphans, by the way, and we now know from watching the San Bernardino attack that women can commit heinous, heinous acts against humanity just the same as men can do it. And so I don't back away from that position for a minute. When the FBI director tells me that he can vet those people, then we'll consider it and not a moment before because your safety and security is what's most important to me. +p2866 +aVWell, what it would like is, we have one of the great advantages of America being the open society that we are. It is, we are not hiding things from the American people, but China everyday is conducting business in a way that hides things from their people. So if they want to come in and attack all the personnel records in the federal government, which they've done, and which \u2014 they now have my Social Security number and my fingerprints, as well as maybe some other folks' who are on this stage. The fact is, they need to be fought back on. And what we need to do is go at the things that they are most sensitive and most embarrassing to them; that they're hiding; get that information and put it out in public. Let the Chinese people start to digest how corrupt the Chinese government is; how they steal from the Chinese people; and how they're enriching oligarchs all throughout China. They need to understand that. And we need to take those type of steps. This president has seen personnel records of people who have sacrificed for the American people and for the federal government stolen by the Chinese and he's done nothing in return. This is why \u2014 this is what I said at the beginning that this administration, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton through their foreign policy, have betrayed the American people, because the weakness they've displayed has led to Putin's incursions in the Middle East and in eastern Europe, and has led \u2014 has led to significant problems in the Middle East as well, and the death and murder of lots of folks. +p2867 +aVOn September 10th, 2001, I was named chief federal prosecutor in New Jersey and on September 11th, 2001, my wife and my brother who are in the audience tonight went through the World Trade Center and to their offices just blocks away from the Trade Center. I lost touch with them for six hours that day and prayed that they were alive. Luckily, they were sent home. But many of our friends and others in our neighborhood lost their lives that day. Terrorism \u2014 radical jihadist terrorism is not theoretical to me. It's real. And for seven years, I spent my life protecting our country against another one of those attacks. You won't have to worry when I'm President of the Untied States whether that can be done because I've already done it. I want the chance to do it again to protect you, your children and your families. If you give me the chance and give me your vote I will protect America from the wars that are being brought to our door step. +p2868 +aVI don't see a lot of weakness on this stage, quite frankly. Where I see the weakness is in those three people that are left on the Democratic stage. You know, I see a socialist, an isolationist and a pessimist. And for the sake of me, I can't figure out which one is which. But I will \u2014 but I will tell you this, the socialist says they're going to pay for everything and give you everything for free, except they don't say they're going to raise it through taxes to 90 percent to do it. The isolationist is the one who wants to continue to follow a foreign policy that has fewer democracies today than when Barack Obama came into office around the world. But I know who the pessimist is. It's Hillary Clinton. And you put me on that stage against her next September, she won't get within 10 miles of the White House. Take it to the bank. +p2869 +aVWell, I wish you would have asked that question years ago when they broke it. I mean, let me be honest with the people who are watching at home. The government has lied to you and they have stolen from you. They told you that your Social Security money is in a trust fund. All that's in that trust fund is a pile of IOUs for money they spent on something else a long time ago. And they've stolen from you because now they know they cannot pay these benefits and Social Security is going to be insolvent in seven to eight years. We're sitting up here talking about all these other things; 71 percent of federal spending today is on entitlements, and debt service. And, that's with zero percent interest rates. Now, I'm the only person that's put out a detailed plan on how to deal with entitlements. And we'll save a trillion dollars over the next 10 years. And, here's the difference between me and Hillary Clinton. What Hillary Clinton's going to say, and has said before is, she wants to raise Social Security taxes. Now, let me ask you a question everybody, and, this is for the guy, you know, who owns a landscaping business out there. If somebody's already stolen money from you, are you going to give them more? Or, are you going to deal with the problem by saying, I'm going to give people who've done well in this country less benefit on the backend. We need to get realistic about this. We're not \u2014 the American people \u2014 forget about anything else, they've already been lied to and stolen from. And... +p2870 +aV...I'm going to go to Washington to stop it... +p2871 +aV...The only way we're going to be morale, the only way we're going to keep our promise to seniors is start by following the first rule we should all follow, which is to look at them, treat them like adults, and tell them the truth. It isn't there anymore, Mike. They stole it. It got stolen from them. It's not theirs anymore. The government stole it, and spent it a long time ago... +p2872 +aVSo, let's stop fooling around about this, let's tell people the truth. For once, let's do that, and stop trying to give them some kind of fantasy that's never going to come true. +p2873 +aVYou bet they do. And if I were the prosecutor, that is exactly where they would be. The fact is that this Justice Department under this president has been a political Justice Department. It has been a Justice Department that decided that they want to pick who the winners and losers are. They like General Motors, so they give them a pass. They don't like somebody else like David Petraeus, they prosecute them and send a decorated general on to disgrace. It's a political Justice Department. And, Jim, you know full well that in the seven years I was U.S. attorney we went after pharmaceutical companies. We went after companies that were ripping off shareholders. We went after companies that were doing things that were against the law. And to expand on Mr. Carson's \u2014 or Dr. Carson's question, let's face it, we have laws already. We don't need newer (ph) laws. We don't need Hillary Clinton's price controls for \u2014 again, does anybody out there think that giving Washington, D.C., the opportunity to run the pharmaceutical industry is a good idea, given how well they have done running the government? So what we do, though, is, if there is somebody who is price- gouging, we have laws for prosecutors to take that on. Let's let a Justice Department \u2014 and I will make an attorney general who will enforce the law and make justice more than just a word. It will be a way of life. +p2874 +aVJohn, I'll tell you something. You want to talk about moral authority. Let's talk about something that happened this week in the news. You know, the FBI director, the president's appointed FBI director has said this week that because of a lack of support from politicians like the president of the United States, that police officers are afraid to get out of their cars; that they're afraid to enforce the law. And he says, the president's appointee, that crime is going up because of this. And when the president of the United States gets out to speak about it, does he support police officers? Does he stand up for law enforcement? No, he doesn't. I'll tell you this, the number one job of the president of the United States is to protect the safety and security of the American people. This president has failed, and when I'm in the Oval Office, police officers will know that they will have the support of the president of the Untied States. That's real moral authority that we need in the Oval Office. +p2875 +aVCarl, are we really talking about getting government involved in fantasy football? We have \u2014 wait a second, we have $19 trillion in debt. We have people out of work. We have +p2876 +aVWell, first off, what we don't do is do what Hillary Clinton and John Kerry and Barack Obama want us to do, which is their solution for everything, put more taxes on it, give more money to Washington, D.C., and then they will fix it. Well, there is no evidence that they can fix anything in Washington, D.C. +p2877 +aVWhat we should do is to be investing in all types of energy, John, all types of energy. I've laid out... +p2878 +aVNo, John. John, do you want me to answer or do you want to answer? How are we going to do this? Because, I've got to tell you the truth, even in New Jersey what you're doing is called rude. So... We've laid out a national energy plan that says that we should invest in all types of energy. I will tell you, you could win a bet at a bar tonight, since we're talking about fantasy football, if you ask who the top three states in America are that produce solar energy: California and Arizona are easy, but number three is New Jersey. Why? Because we work with the private sector to make solar energy affordable and available to businesses and individuals in our state. We need to make sure that we do everything across all kinds of energy: natural gas, oil, absolutely. But also where it's affordable, solar, wind in Iowa has become very affordable and it makes sense. That is the way we deal with global warming, climate change, or any of those problems, not through government intervention, not through government taxes, and for God's sake, don't send Washington another dime until they stop wasting the money they're already sending there. +p2879 +aVAnd \u2014 and \u2014 and I \u2014 you know, Ben is absolutely right in saying that what we don't need to do is to send more money to Washington, D.C. to fix this problem. And that's what you'll hear from Hillary Clinton \u2014 and I've already heard from her \u2014 is that, send more money in Social Security, send more money in Medicare taxes, send more money for Medicaid, and that's gonna solve the problem. What we know is we're living longer. That's a blessing. It's a blessing that we're living longer, so we have to increase the retirement age to reflect that blessing. We need to make sure that people understand, as Jeb said before, that if you've done extraordinarily well in this country, do you want them to take more out of your taxes now and think they're gonna give it back to you later? Or would you rather take less later on? +p2880 +aVI want to talk to the folks at home. I want to ask you: Are you fed up with how Washington taxes you? Are you fed up with how Washington wastes your money? Are you concerned like I am that the debt and deficits of Washington, D.C. are endangering America's future? I've got one more question for you then. Are you serious about this election? Because if you are, you need to elect someone who's deadly serious about changing this culture. I am deadly serious about changing this culture. I changed it in New Jersey. I'm deadly serious about doing this job the right way. I'm prepared. I'm tested. I'm ready. And I want to make this our government. For the people who say we can't do it, I say hell no, we can do it together. +p2881 +aVHi, my name is Chris Christie, and I'd like to you take the camera off me and put it on the audience because I'd like to ask all of you, how many of you, raise your hand, believe that in today's Barak Obama America your children will have a better life than you've had? You see? That's why I'm running for President. because leadership is not about me, it's about our country. And, what we talk about tonight, it's not about us, it's about the people in the audience tonight, because in seven short years this president has stripped away their trust, and their faith, and their belief that the next generation will have a better life. He's stolen that from us, and when I'm president, I'm going to take it back. +p2882 +aVWell, I know Ben wasn't talking about me, I'm sure he was talking about one of the other guys, not me. As far as being an outsider is concerned \u2014 as far as being an outsider is concerned, let me tell you this, Jake, I'm a Republican in New Jersey. I wake up every morning as an outsider. I wake up every morning with a Democratic legislature who trying to beat my head in and fight me because I'm trying to bring conservative change to a state that needed it desperately. And so, everyone can talk us here about their credentials. But the bottom line is, every morning I get up, I veto 400 bills from a crazy liberal Democratic legislature, not one of them has been overridden. I've vetoed more tax increases than any governor in American history, according to Americans for Tax Reform. What folks want in this country is somebody to go down there and get the job done. And that's exactly what I'll do. So, I know this much, that what the American people want to hire right now is somebody who believes in them. And believes that they are the ones who can fix our country. I will be the vessel through which they can fix this country, but it's not about me. It's about all of you. And getting this government off your back and out of your way, and letting you succeed. I know Ben wasn't talking about me. +p2883 +aVLook at him smiling at me right now. I know Ben didn't mean it about me. One of these other guys, I'm sure. +p2884 +aVBe honest, Ben, be honest. +p2885 +aVSee, Jake, it wasn't me. +p2886 +aVI was \u2014 +p2887 +aVShe is, and so if she, based on conscience, can't sign that \u2014 that marriage license, then there should be someone in her office to be able to do it, and if the law needs to be changed in the state of Kentucky, which is what she's advocating, it should be changed. +p2888 +aVAnd why don't we do the same thing with Planned Parenthood? +p2889 +aVWe elected a Republican Congress to do this. And they should be doing it, and they're not. And they're giving the president a pass. +p2890 +aVI put it in the list, Dana. We should be doing these things and forcing the president to take action. +p2891 +aVLet's force him to do what he says he's going to do. Now I don't know whether he'll do it or not, but let's force him to do it. +p2892 +aVFirst of, Jake, I don't yield to anybody on how to enforce the law. I'm the only person on this stage who spent seven years as a United States Attorney after September 11th, and I know how to do this. The fact is though that for 15,000 people a day to be deported every day for two years is an undertaking that almost none of us could accomplish given the current levels of funding, and the current number of law enforcement officers. Here's what we need to do, and I think this is where Donald is absolutely right. What we need to do is to secure our border, and we need to do it with more than just a wall. We need to use electronics, we need to use drones, we need to use FBI, DEA, and ATF, and yes, we need to take the fingerprint of every person who comes into this country on a visa, and when they overstay their visa, we need to tap them on the shoulder, and say, "You have overstayed your welcome, you're taking advantage of the American people. It's time for you to go." If we had that kind of system in place, we wouldn't have the 11 million people we have now. +p2893 +aVJake listen. While I'm as entertained as anyone by this personal back-and-forth about the history of Donald and Carly's career, for the 55-year-old construction worker out in that audience tonight who doesn't have a job, who can't fund his child's education, I've got to tell you the truth. They could care less about your careers, they care about theirs. Let's start talking about that on this stage and stop playing \u2014 and stop playing the games. Stop playing \u2014 +p2894 +aVJohn \u2014 I'm not done yet, John. +p2895 +aVStop \u2014 and stop playing \u2014 and Carly \u2014 Carly, listen. You can interrupt everybody else on this stage, you're not going to interrupt me, OK? The fact is that we don't want to hear about your careers, back and forth and volleying back and forth about who did well and who did poorly. You're both successful people. Congratulations. You know who's not successful? The middle class in this country who's getting plowed over by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Let's start talking about those issues tonight and stop this childish back-and-forth between the two of you. +p2896 +aVListen, you know, Hugh, it's an important point. And the question is, who is going to prosecute Hillary Clinton? The Obama White House seems to have in interest, the Justice Department seems to have no interest. I think it's time to put a former federal prosecutor on the same stage as Hillary Clinton. And I will prosecute her during those debates on that stage for the record we're talking about here. The fact she had a private email server in her basement, using national security secrets running through it, could have been hacked by the Russians, the Chinese, or two 18-year-olds on a toot (ph) wanting to have some fun. No one is answering that question from the Hillary Clinton campaign... +p2897 +aVYou know why? Because she knows she's wrong, and she cannot look in the mirror at herself, and she cannot tell the American people the truth. +p2898 +aVWell, Jake, I was named U.S. attorney by President Bush on September 10th, 2001. And that next day my wife Mary Pat did what she did every day, she traveled through the World Trade Center and went to her office two blocks from the World Trade Center. And after those planes hit, for five-and-a-half-hours after that, I couldn't reach her, didn't know whether she was dead or alive, and we had three children at the time, 8, 5 and 1. And I had to confront what so many thousands of others in my region had to confront, the idea I might become a single parent, the idea that my life and my children's life might be changed forever. We lost friends that day. We went to the funerals. And I will tell you that what those people wanted and what they deserved was for America to answer back against what had been done to them. And I support what President Bush did at that time, going into Afghanistan, hunting al Qaeda and its leaders, getting its sanctuary out of place, and making it as difficult around the world for them to move people and money. And then he went to prosecutors like us, and he said, never again. Don't prosecute these people after the crime is committed. Intervene before the crime happens. I absolutely believe that what the president did at the time was right. And I am proud to have been one of the people on the stage who was part of making sure that what Governor Bush said before was the truth. America was safe for those seven years and Barack Obama has taken that safety away from us. +p2899 +aVLet me say this, Jake, is that while that may have been a fine idea that Dr. Carson had, these people were out to kill us. I stood in that region with my family, and every time a plane went overhead in the weeks after that, people's heads jerked to the sky because they thought it was happening again. You do not need to go through subtle diplomacy at that point. That could be handled later on. What you need is a strong American leader who will take the steps that are necessary to protect our nation. That's what I would do as commander-in-chief in this circumstance. And that's what President George W. Bush did in 2001. +p2900 +aVJake, you brought my issue up. +p2901 +aVYou know, I enjoy the interplay. Thank you, gentlemen. I'll just say this, first off, New Jersey is the first state in the nation that now says if you are non-violent, non-dealing drug user, that you don't go to jail for your first offense. You go to mandatory treatment. You see, Jake, I'm pro-life. And I think you need to be pro-life for more than just the time in the womb. It gets tougher when they get out of the womb. And when they're the 16-year-old drug addict in the Florida county lockup, that life is just as precious as the life in the womb. And so, that's why I'm for rehabilitation, why I think the war on drugs has been a failure. But I'll end with this. That doesn't mean we should be legalizing gate way drugs. And if Senator Paul thinks that the only victim is the person, look at the decrease in productivity, look at the way people get used and move on to other drugs when they use marijuana as a gateway drug, it is not them that are the only victims. Their families are the victims too, their children are the victims too, and their employers are the victims also. That's why I'll enforce the federal law, while you can still put an emphasis on rehabilitation, which we've done in New Jersey. +p2902 +aVAnd Senator Paul knows that that's simply not the truth. In New Jersey, we have medical marijuana laws, which I supported and implemented. This is not medical marijuana. There's goes as much \u2014 a further step beyond. This is recreational use of marijuana. This is much different. And so, while he would like to use a sympathetic story to back up his point, it doesn't work. I'm not against medical marijuana. We do it in New Jersey. But I'm against the recreational use against marijuana. If he wants to change the federal law, get Congress to pass the law to change it, and get a president to sign it. +p2903 +aVNo, it's not. But with Donald, it's a good start. That's really good. No, listen. This is an issue that \u2014 that we've gotta talk about, and we haven't talked about yet. 71 percent of all federal spending is on entitlements and debt service. When John Kennedy was elected president in 1960, it was 26 percent. Harvard and Dartmouth says that Social Security's going to go insolvent in seven to eight years. So what I say is very simple. We need to save this program for the good people out there who have paid into the system and need it. And if that means making sure that folks like Donald and many of us on the stage don't get it, that's the right thing to do because here's what Hillary Clinton is going to want to do. She's going to want to put more money into a system that has already lied to us and stolen from us. This government doesn't need more money to make Social Security solvent. We need to be not paying out benefits to people who don't really need it. We need to protect the people who Social Security means the difference between picking between heat and rent and food. That's why I put out the proposal and that's the people I'm trying to... +p2904 +aVI don't think Senator Rubio is a skeptic of climate change. I think what Senator Rubio said I agree with. That in fact we don't need this massive government intervention to deal with the problem. Look at what we have done in New Jersey. We have already reached our clean air goals for 2020. And when I was governor, I pulled out of the regional cap and trade deal, the only state in the Northeast that did that. And we still reached our goals. Why? Because 53 percent of our electricity comes from nuclear. We use natural gas. We use solar power. We're the third-highest- using solar power state. You know why? Because we made all of those things economically feasible. I agree with Marco. We shouldn't be destroying our economy in order to chase some wild left-wing idea that somehow us by ourselves is going to fix the climate. We can contribute to that and be economically sound. We have proven we can do that in New Jersey. Nuclear needs to be back on the table in a significant way in this country if we want to go after this problem. +p2905 +aVI understand. No, no, listen, everybody makes a mistake every once in a while, Jake, even George Shultz. And if that's truly a representation of what he believes we should be doing, then with all due respect to the former secretary of state, I disagree with him. +p2906 +aVI think the Adams family has been shorted in the currency business. Our country wouldn't be here without John Adams, and he would not have been able to do it without Abigal Adams, so, I'd put Abigail Adams on the bill. +p2907 +aVYou know, I've been called a lot of names by a lot of different people, and now I got to get called by names by the Secret Service? I would just say True Heart. +p2908 +aVI turned 18 in 1980, and my first vote was for Ronald Reagan. Boy, am I glad I did it. And I think the country is, too. A Christie presidency won't be about me. It will be about you. Tonight, you sit at home in your living room, frustrated that you play by the rules, you pay the taxes, you do the hard things to raise your family, yet you feel like America's generosity is being taken advantage of. That you've been \u2014 system is being gamed, and that you're turning out to fall further and further behind. Our presidency \u2014 our presidency \u2014 will be about ending that, about enforcing the law, level the playing field for everybody, and once again reward those folks who play by the rules, and think that justice means more than just the word. But it means a way of life. And I will tell you this, around the world, I will not shake hands with, I will not meet with, and I will not agree to anything with a country that says death to us and death to Israel and holds our hostages while we sign agreements with them. It will be an America that be strong and resolute, and will once again be able to stick out its chest and say, "we truly are the greatest nation in the world, because we live our lives that way, each and every day." +p2909 +aVIf you think it's bad now, you should've seen it when I got there. The fact is -- the fact is, in the eight years before I became governor, taxes and fees were raised at the state level 115 times. In the eight years before I became governor, spending was increased 56 percent. And in the eight years before I become governor, taxes and fees were raised at the state level 115 times. In the eight years before I became Governor, spending was increased 56 percent, and in the eight years before I became governor, there was zero net private sector job growth in New Jersey. Zero. For eight years. So, what did we do? We came in, we balanced an $11 billion deficit on a $29 billion budget by cutting over 800 programs in the state budget. We brought the budget into balance with no tax increases. In fact, we vetoed five income tax increases during my time as governor. We cut business taxes $2.3 billion, and we cut regulation by one-third of what my predecessor put in place. And, what's happened since? A hundred ninety-two thousand private sector jobs in the five and a half years I've been governor. We have a lot of work to do in New Jersey, but I am darn proud we've brought our state back. +p2910 +aVYes, I do. And I'll tell you why: because I'm the only person on this stage who's actually filed applications under the Patriot Act, who has gone before the federal -- the Foreign Intelligence Service court, who has prosecuted and investigated and jailed terrorists in this country after September 11th. I was appointed U.S. attorney by President Bush on September 10th, 2001, and the world changed enormously the next day, and that happened in my state. This is not theoretical to me. I went to the funerals. We lost friends of ours in the Trade Center that day. My own wife was two blocks from the Trade Center that day, at her office, having gone through it that morning. When you actually have to be responsible for doing this, you can do it, and we did it, for seven years in my office, respecting civil liberties and protecting the homeland. And I will make no apologies, ever, for protecting the lives and the safety of the American people. We have to give more tools to our folks to be able to do that, not fewer, and then trust those people and oversee them to do it the right way. As president, that is exactly what I'll do. +p2911 +aVAnd -- and, Megyn? Megyn, that's a -- that, you know, that's a completely ridiculous answer. "I want to collect more records from terrorists, but less records from other people." How are you supposed to know, Megyn? +p2912 +aVWhat are you supposed to... +p2913 +aV...how are you supposed to -- no, I'll tell you how you, look... +p2914 +aVLet me tell you something, you go... +p2915 +aVWhen you -- you know, senator... +p2916 +aVListen, senator, you know, when you're sitting in a subcommittee, just blowing hot air about this, you can say things like that. When you're responsible for protecting the lives of the American people, then what you need to do is to make sure... +p2917 +aV...is to make sure that you use the system the way it's supposed to work. +p2918 +aVThere is no... +p2919 +aVAnd you know -- you know, Senator Paul? Senator Paul, you know, the hugs that I remember are the hugs that I gave to the families who lost their people on September 11th. Those are the hugs I remember, and those had nothing to do -- and those had nothing to do with politics, unlike what you're doing by cutting speeches on the floor of the Senate, then putting them on the Internet within half an hour to raise money for your campaign... +p2920 +aV...and while still putting our country at risk. +p2921 +aVYou know what, Megyn, can I... +p2922 +aVNo, he's not lying, he's just wrong. I mean, so, there's a difference -- I'm the only guy on this stage who's put out a detailed, 12 point plan on entitlement reform and here's why -- because 71% of federal spending right now is on entitlements, and debt service, 71%. And we have spent the last hour and five minutes talking about the other 29%, and no time on the 71%, and that makes no sense. Now, let me tell you exactly what we would do on Social Security. Yes, we'd raise the retirement age two years, and phase it in over 25 years, that means we'd raise it one month a year for 25 years when we're all living longer, and living better lives. Secondly, we would means test Social Security for those who are making over $200,000 dollars a year in retirement income, and have $4 to $5 million dollars in liquid assets saved. They don't need that Social Security check. Social Security is meant to be -- to make sure that no one who's worked hard, and played by the rules, and paid into the system grows old in poverty in America. If we don't deal with this problem, it will bankrupt our country, or lead to massive tax increases, neither one that we want in this country. +p2923 +aVChris... +p2924 +aVYeah, sure. And, I don't disagree with ending Congress' retirement program. I'm a governor, I don't have a retirement program in my state, and I don't disagree with that. But, here's the news to the American people, he's complaining about the lying and stealing. The lying and stealing has already occurred. The trust fund is filled with IOU's. We can't fix the problem just by ending Congress's retirement, that's worth about, "this" much. We need to go at the fundamental problem, and the fundamental problem is that this system is broken. It has been stolen from. We have been lied to, and we need a strong leader to tell the truth and fix... +p2925 +aVWell, listen. You know, if we want to deal with these issues, we have to deal with them in a way that makes sense. I agree with what Dr. Carson said earlier. The first thing we need to do to make America stronger is to strengthen our military, and I put out a really specific plan: no less than 500,000 active duty soldiers in the Army. No less than 185,000 active duty marines in the Marine Corps. Bring us to a 350 ship Navy again, and modernize the Ohio class of submarines, and bring our Air Force back to 2,600 aircraft that are ready to go. Those are the kind of things that are going to send a clear message around the world. Those are the things that we need to start working on immediately to make our country stronger and make it better. Those are the things that we need to be able to be doing. And as we move towards dealing with foreign aid, I don't disagree with Senator Paul's position that we shouldn't be funding our enemies. But I absolutely believe that Israel is a priority to be able to fund and keep them strong and safe after eight years of this administration. +p2926 +aVWell, thank you, Megyn. Listen, I was born into a middle class family in New Jersey. My dad came home from serving in the Army after having lost his father, worked in the Breyers ice cream plant in Newark, New Jersey. Was the first person to graduate from college. He put himself through college at night. My mom was a secretary. I was appointed United States attorney on September 10, 2001. And I spent the next seven years of my career fighting terrorism and putting terrorists in jail. I'm a conservative, pro-life governor in a state where it is really tough to be both. A state like New Jersey, with lots of Democrats, but still we cut taxes, we balanced budgets. We fought the teacher's union. This president has had weak leadership, which has led to bad choices. We have got to stop worrying about being loved and start worrying about being respected. And that's exactly how I'll lead our country. +p2927 +aVWell, first I want to share a story with you that relates to your question. I was in New Hampshire last week, and a woman approached me after the town hall meeting and she said to me, "Governor, I'm really concerned." I said, "What are your concerns?" And, she said, "I don't quite how to describe it," she said. "But, every month when my bills come in, I feel this awful anxiety in the pit of my stomach that I'm not going to have enough to pay them that month." There are tens of millions of Americans living that way after the worst recovery from an economic recession since World War II. And, let's be clear, if we do not change course, if we follow the President's lead, and that's exactly what Secretary Clinton will do, we're going to be in the same circumstance \u2014 with government picking the winners and losers. So, let me be clear about what we'll do. First, Make the tax code fairer, flatter, and simplier. Get rid of all the special interest deductions. You know, the American people feel like the tax code is rigged for the rich, and you know why they feel that way? Because it is. We'll get rid of all those special interest deductions except for the home mortgage interest deduction, and the charitable contribution deduction. Everyone will get lower rates, keep more of their own money, be able to file their tax returns in 15 minutes, and, by the way, the good thing, I'll be able to fire a whole bunch of IRS agents once we do that. And, in addition, we need to get the government off of our backs. Dodd-Frank, all the different regulations, 81,000 pages of new regulation by this administration just last year \u2014 it is suffocating small business, it is suffocating the folks who are trying to make a living. I will do what I did in New Jersey......lift if off their backs. +p2928 +aVYes, sure. If anybody believes the stuff they heard from that Democratic debate a few weeks ago, there's nothing for free. What they forgot to tell was that they're going to raise your tax rates to 70 or 80 percent in order to provide all of that stuff. But let me ask the folks at home one very simple question, do you want to give Washington more control over your life? Do you think they're doing such a great job that now let's have them control what our corporations pay their employees? Let's have them control every aspect of our economy? Is Washington doing that good a job for you right now? And the fact is that if you listen to Hillary Clinton, she has made it very clear, she believes that she can make decisions for you better than you can make them for yourself. She believes that Washington, D.C., should pick the winners and losers in our economy, and in our life. And here's what I believe as a Republican, I believe the greatness of America is not in its government. The greatness of America is in the American people. And what we need to do is get the government the hell out of the way and let the American people win once again. +p2929 +aVFirst off, let me, let me just say this in response to this back and forth. For the people who are out there right now, I want to guarantee you one thing real clearly. If you think that Mike Huckabee won't be the kind of President who will cut back spending, or Chris Christie, or John Kasich, wait 'til you see what Hillary Clinton will do to this country and how she will drown us in debt. She is the real adversary tonight and we'd better stay focused as Republicans on her. Now I've forward, I put forward an entitlement reform plan. We spend 71 cents of every dollar in America on entitlements and debt service, and if \u2014 you know, Willy Sutton used to say, when they asked him why he robbed banks, he said that's 'cause that's where the money is, OK? And where the money is in the federal government are these entitlement programs and debt service. What I've said is we need to get a hold of that. We cannot continue to go down the $19 trillion in debt. So our plan will save over $1 trillion over the next 10 years and make sure that Social Security and Medicare are there for those who truly need it and also make sure that we have money to be able to reduce taxes and spend on the things we need to spend. I will also, on my first day as \u2014 as president, sign a executive order that says no more regulation for the next 120 days by any government agency or department. We are drowning in regulations. Stop and then we'll go out there and we'll cut and reduce regulation that small business owners across this country want us to do. You'll grow the economy then. More money will come into the system and we'll get more closer to balance. But the bottom line is, believe me, Hillary Clinton's coming for your wallet, everybody. Don't worry about Huckabee or Jindal, worry about her. +p2930 +aVWell, let's start with this, remember why we're in the position we're in with China, because an absolutely weak and feckless foreign policy that was engineered by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. That's why we're in the position we're in......because the Chinese......the Chinese don't take us seriously and why should they? Why should they? They hacked into the American government's personnel file and took millions of records in cyberwarfare against this country. I'm one of the victims of that hack. They took my Social Security number, my fingerprints as a former United States attorney that was on file in there. And what has this president done? Not one thing. Let me be really clear about what I would do. If the Chinese commit cyberwarfare against us, they are going to see cyberwarfare like they have never seen before. And that is a closed society in China......where they're hiding information from their own people. The information we take, we'll make sure all the Chinese people see it. Then they'll have some real fun in Beijing when we start showing them how they're spending their money in China. And one last thing. One last thing. I will tell you this, they're building those artificial islands in the South China Sea and the president won't \u2014 up until recently, wouldn't sail a ship within 12 miles or fly a plane over it. I'll tell you this, the first thing I'll do with the Chinese is I'll throw \u2014 I'll fly Air Force One over those islands. They'll know we mean business. +p2931 +aVI'll tell you, Gerry, it's interesting, if you go to New Jersey, they'll call me lots of different things. A liberal is not one of them. Um, and......I would say this. I have great respect for Bobby's record in Louisiana. I think he's been a wonderful governor and I think he's provided outstanding leadership for that state and I respect him for what he's done. And I think that all of us deserve that same level of respect. And my point is this. You know, the differences between me and Bobby Jindal, we can talk about those, and obviously, Bobby wants to spent a lot of time tonight talking about that. I'll tell you what I want to talk about. I want to talk about what's going to happen to this country if we have another four years of Barack Obama's policies. And by the way, it will be even worse, because Hillary Clinton is running so far to the left to treaty to catch up to her socialist opponent, Bernie Sanders, it's hard to even see her anymore. The fact is \u2014 the fact is that we'd better be focused on it. And I'll tell you what I'll bring to the table, the fact that I've won in a blue state, that I've won in a state that has 750,000 more Democrats than Republicans......that I won in a state for reelection after governing as a pro-life conservative......and got 61 percent of the vote. That's the person you want on the stage prosecuting the case against Hillary Clinton. +p2932 +aVI don't... +p2933 +aV..Let me... +p2934 +aV...Let me just... +p2935 +aV...Sure. It's interesting. I complimented Bobby, imagine how much time he'd want if I actually criticized him. You know, the fact is, he's done \u2014 done a nice job down in Louisiana, and I don't have any problem with the job he's done. I've cut spending $2 billion dollars, except for our pension and health care in New Jersey, which was driven predominantly by Obamacare. We have reduce the number of employees we have on the state payroll by 15%, but, you know what? The people out there don't care about any of that. You know what they care about? They care about who's going to be able to beat Hillary Clinton......Who's going to keep their eye on the ball? I'm going to keep my eye on the ball. +p2936 +aVYeah, listen. We stopped Obamacare in New Jersey because we refused to participate in the federal exchange. But, here's the bigger issue. What do you think's going to happen when Hillary Clinton's elected president of the United States? The woman who tried to impose healthcare on this country over 20 years ago? And, she was stopped then by a strong group of republicans, and an American public that said, "No, thank you." What she will do \u2014 what she will do is move us towards a single payer system. She will completely nationalize the federal health care system. That's what she wanted to do 20 years ago, and I guarantee you that's what she'll do if you give her the keys to the White House one more time. The fact is we need someone who knows how to beat democrats, who knows how to beat democrats in a democratic area. I've done it twice as governor of New Jersey, and Hillary Clinton doesn't want one minute on that stage with me next September when I'm debating her, and prosecuting her for her vision for America... +p2937 +aVI'll continue in the pattern and just say... And just say this to everybody, since it seems to be an open question. I'll tell you the thing that disturbs me the most about what's going on with the Democratic Party in Washington, that they're not standing behind our police officers across this country. That they're allowing lawlessness... That they're allowing lawlessness to reign in this country. I spent seven years of my life in law enforcement, here's what every law enforcement, 700,000, should know tonight. When President Christie is in the Oval Office, I'll have your back. +p2938 +aVYes. You know, our tax plan puts forward a highest rate of 28 percent for those who are doing the most and making the most in this country and 8 percent on the low end. And I agree with Senator Santorum, we get rid of all of the deductions and loopholes, except for the home mortgage interest deduction and the charitable contribution deduction. That means getting rid of the state and local income tax deduction, as well, because that will put more pressure on governors and on local officials not to keep raising those taxes, saying we can deduct them. And so ours will be 28 on the high end, 8 on the low end. And I will tell you one other thing. Americans for Tax Reform came out with a report six weeks ago and said I vetoed more tax increases than any governor in American history. I will do exactly the same thing as president of the United States. +p2939 +aVGerry, this has been the most political Federal Reserve I've seen in my lifetime. Now, when they first cut interest rates during the economic recession and the crisis, that was the right thing to do. But they've kept those interest rates artificially low for one reason, and one reason only. Because they're trying to politically support Barack Obama and his agenda. And it's been wrong. And what it's done, in an administration where the President has talked about income inequality, he's had more income inequality in this administration than any previous administration. The middle class is doing worse than it's ever done before. And the investor class, the wealthy, are doing even better because of this cheap money from the Fed. And here's the worst part, we had one and a half percent GDP growth last quarter. If we slide back towards a recession, you cannot lower interest rates below zero. Where are we going to go if we need help if the economy slides back into recession? And with this government- controlled economy that Barack Obama, we're moving right towards it. The Fed should be audited and the Fed should stop playing politics with our money supply. That's what they've done. It's been the wrong thing to do. It's hurting the American economy. And......let me......let me add one other thing on this. Be very aware now, because what Hillary Clinton is talking about doing, if she's president of the United States, is to make sure that the government gets even more involved in the economy, even more involved in making choices for everybody. You do not want that to happen. You need someone who's going to stand up on that stage and prosecute the case against her and prosecute it strong. That's what I'll do. +p2940 +aVThe way to reconnect Americans to the men and women in uniform is to first, and foremost, give them a Commander in Chief who respects the military, and respects everyone who wears the uniform. Starts at the top there... And Secretary Clinton says, there's no crisis at the V.A.. That send a long, and hard message to our veterans that she doesn't get it, and she doesn't respect their service. When the President of the United States doesn't back up law enforcement officers in uniform, he loses the moral authority to any man or woman who is uniform. I spent seven years in law enforcement......I respect these folks, and I will do so as Commander in Chief of the military. +p2941 +aVI want to tell the American people who are watching tonight the truth. I saw the most disgraceful thing I've seen in this entire campaign a few weeks ago. Hillary Clinton was asked the enemy she's most proud of, and she said, "Republicans". In a world where we have Al-Qaeda, and +p2942 +asVCARSON +p2943 +(lp2944 +VThank you, Wolf. Please join me for a moment of silence and remembrance of the San Bernardino victims. Thank you. You know, our country since its inception has been at war, every 15 or 20 years. But the war that we are fighting now against radical Islamist jihadists is one that we must win. Our very existence is dependent upon that. You know, as a pediatric neurosurgeon, I frequently faced life and death situations, and had to come up with the right diagnosis, the right plan, and execute that plan frequently with other colleagues. Right now, the United States of America is the patient. And the patient is in critical condition and will not be cured by political correctness and will not be cured by timidity. And I am asking the Congress, which represents the people, to declare a war on +p2945 +aVFirst of all, let me just complain a little bit. This is the first time I've spoken and several people have had multiple questions so please try to pay attention to that. Now, as far as monitoring is concerned, what my point is, we need to make sure that any place \u2013 I don't care whether it's a mosque, a school, a supermarket, a theater, you know it doesn't matter. If there are a lot of people getting there and engaging in radicalizing activities then we need to be suspicious of it. We have to get rid of all this PC stuff. And people are worried about if somebody's going to say that I'm Islamophobic or what have you. This is craziness because we are at war. That's why I asked congress, go ahead and declare the war . We need to be on a war footing. We need to understand that our nation is in grave danger. You know, what the Muslim Brotherhood said in the explanatory memorandum that was discovered during the Holy Land Foundation Trial was that, "they will take advantage of our PC attitude to get us. :" We have to be better than this. We have to be smarter than they are. +p2946 +aVI think you have to ask them about that. I don't want to get in between them. Let them fight. +p2947 +aVNeurosurgeon. +p2948 +aVWell, interestingly enough, you should see the eyes of some of those children when I say to them we're going to have to open your head up and take out this tumor. They're not happy about it, believe me. And they don't like me very much at that point. But later on, they love me. Sometimes you \u2014 I sound like him. You know, later on, you know, they really realize what's going on. And by the same token, you have to be able to look at the big picture and understand that it's actually merciful if you go ahead and finish the job, rather than death by 1,000 pricks. +p2949 +aVYou got it. You got it. +p2950 +aVRuthless is not necessarily the word I would use, but tough, resolute, understanding what the problems are, and understanding that the job of the president of the United States is to protect the people of this country and to do what is necessary in order to get it done. +p2951 +aVFirst of all, I've been talking about this for over a year. We have to destroy their caliphate because that gives them legitimacy to go ahead with the global Jihad. We have to take their energy because they are \u2014 +p2952 +aVNo one is ever better off with dictators but there comes a time you know, when you're on an airplane, they always say, "in case of an emergency oxygen masks will drop down. Put yours on first and then administer help to your neighbor." We need oxygen right now. And we need to start thinking about the needs of the American people before we go and solve everybody else's problems. The fact of the matter is, is that the Middle East has been in turmoil for thousands of years. For us to think that we're going to in there and fix that with a couple of little bombs and a few little decorations is relatively foolish. +p2953 +aVWell, you know, there's a false narrative that only the political class has the wisdom and the ability to be commander-in- chief. But if you go back and you study the design of our country, it was really designed for the citizen statesman. And we need to be talking about where does your experience come from? You know, and I've had a lot of experience building things, organizing things, you know, a national scholarship program. One of the things that you'll notice if you look through my life is that I don't do a lot of talking. I do a lot of doing. And really, it says more about a person than how much they talk. And then some people say you're weak because, you know, you're not loud and you're not boisterous and you're not rude. But the fact of the matter is, look and see what I've done. And that speaks volumes about strength. +p2954 +aVWell, it was very interesting having an opportunity to talk to the Syrians themselves. And I asked them: What do you want? What is your supreme desire? Their supreme desire was to be settled back in their own country. I said, "What can Americans and other countries do?" They said, "Support the efforts of those who are trying to provide safety for us, including the Jordanians." Of course, they had a brand new hospital, for instance, that was unstaffed because there wasn't enough money to do it. But here's what's really neat. If you go into Hasakah province in northeast Syria, that's an area that's as big as Lebanon. It's controlled by the Kurds, the Christians and the moderate Sunnis. And there are airstrips and hotels. You could settle a lot of people there. All we would have to do is be willing to provide them with some weaponry, some defensive weaponry. And we seem to be afraid to give the Kurds weaponry. We like to send it for some strange reason through Baghdad, and then they only get a tenth of it. And if we would support them, we'd have a perfect ideal there. We don't need to set this up as we either take a bunch of refugees who will be infiltrated with terrorists, I guarantee you. For them not to be would be terrorist malpractice. And we need to \u2014 to choose the right choice, not these false choices. +p2955 +aVWell, I definitely believe that he is unstable, and I do, in fact, believe that China has a lot more influence with him than we do. But we also recognize that North Korea is in severe financial straits, and they have decided to use their resources to build their military, rather than to feed their people and to take care of the various humanitarian responsibilities that they have. We can capitalize upon that. You know, we should use our economic power in lots of different ways. I think we can use that in order to keep Putin contained, because he is a one-horse show. Energy. And we have an abundance of energy, but we have archaic energy exportation rules. We need to get rid of those, allow ourselves to really make Europe dependent on us and other parts of the world dependent on us for energy. Put him back in his little box where he belongs. And, you know, we need to be doing lots of other things with the resources that we have. So economic power works just as well as military power, perhaps even better. And speaking of that, our Military needs to be upgraded. You know, you look at things like our Ohio Class submarines, they're 25 years old. Our minuteman 3 missiles \u2014 they are 34 years old. Our B-52 bombers \u2014 50 years old. You know, if we don't get the military right nothing else matters. +p2956 +aVWell, you know, the statement that I made last week, that I would leave the party was contingent upon whether in fact the party acts like they have in the past with a lot of subterfuge and dishonesty, or like they're going act now because I spike to Reince Priebus, and he assured me that the Washington Post writer had it all wrong, and that they're not be engaging in anything to thwart the will of the people. That's why I got into this race, as a member of we the people, to try bring some honesty and integrity back to the process. +p2957 +aVI've been fortunate enough to travel to 58 different countries and I thank God everyday that I was born in this country. The most exceptional country that the world has ever known. And I want to make sure that we preserve that exceptionalism for the next generation. My mother told me if I work hard and I really believed in American principles and I believed in God, anything is possible. I believe that is true, and that's why I'm not anxious to give away American values and principles for the sake of political correctness. +p2958 +aVWell, first of all, delighted to be here. My family's here, and my little granddaughter, who's three years old, said she wanted to come to the debate. So this is very cool. As far as the minimum wage is concerned, people need to be educated on the minimum wage. Every time we raise the minimum wage, the number of jobless people increases. It's particularly a problem in the black community. Only 19.8 percent of black teenagers have a job, who are looking for one. You know, that \u2014 and that's because of those high wages. If you lower those wages, that comes down. You know, I can remember, as a youngster \u2014 you know, my first job working in a laboratory as a lab assistant, and multiple other jobs. But I would not have gotten those jobs if someone had to pay me a large amount of money. But what I did gain from those jobs is a tremendous amount of experience, and how to operate in the world and how to relate to different people, and how to become a responsible individual. And that's what gave me what I needed to ascend the ladder of opportunity in this country. That's what we need to be thinking about. How do we allow people to ascend the ladder of opportunity, rather than how do we give them everything and keep them dependent? +p2959 +aVI would not raise it. I would not raise it, specifically because I'm interested in making sure that people are able to enter the job market and take advantage of opportunities. +p2960 +aVWell, first of all, thank you not asking me what I said in the 10th grade. I appreciate that. +p2961 +aVThe fact of the matter is, you know, what \u2014 we should vet all candidates. I have no problem with being vetted. What I do have a problem with is being lied about and then putting that out there as truth. And I don't even mind that so much, if they do it about \u2014 with everybody, like people on the other side. But, you know, when I look at somebody like Hillary Clinton, who sits there and tells her daughter and a government official that no, this was a terrorist attack, and then tells everybody else that it was a video. Where I came from, they call that a lie. And... I think that's very different from, you know, somebody misinterpreting, when I said that I was offered a scholarship to West Point, that is the words that they used. But, I've had many people come and say the same thing to me. That is what people do in those situations. We have to start treating people the same, and finding out what people really think and what they're made of. People who know me know that I'm an honest person. +p2962 +aVWell, you know, when I say tithing, I'm talking about the concept of proportionality. +p2963 +aVEverybody should pay the same proportion of what they make. You make $10 billion, you pay a billion. You make $10, you pay one. You get same rights and privileges. I don't see how anything gets a whole lot fairer than that. But you also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes because that is the thing that tilts it in one direction or another. And you have to set the rate at an appropriate level. Now I will say that, there are a lot of people who say, if you get rid of the deductions, you ruin the American dream because, you know, home mortgage deduction. But the fact of the matter is, people had homes before 1913 when we introduced the federal income tax, and later after that started deductions. And they say there will be no more charitable giving. We had churches before that and charitable organizations before that. The fact of the matter is, I believe if you put more money in people's pockets that they will actually be more generous rather than less generous. And it's... ... the money that they earned. And, the other thing is, I do care about the poor people. And in the system that we're putting together, there will be a rebate for people at the poverty level. But I also want to emphasize the fact that as we get the economy moving, and I hope I get a question about how do we get the economy moving, there will be a lot more opportunities for poor people not to be poor people because this is America. This is the land of dreams. And our policies should be aimed at allowing people to realize that dream. +p2964 +aVWell, putting the special ops people in there is better than not having them there, because they \u2014 that's why they're called special ops, they're actually able to guide some of the other things that we're doing there. And what we have to recognize is that Putin is trying to really spread his influence throughout the Middle East. This is going to be his base. And we have to oppose him there in an effective way. We also must recognize that it's a very complex place. You know, the Chinese are there, as well as the Russians, and you have all kinds of factions there. What we've been doing so far is very ineffective, but we can't give up ground right there. But we have to look at this on a much more global scale. We're talking about global jihadists. And their desire is to destroy us and to destroy our way of life. So we have to be saying, how do we make them look like losers? Because that's the way that they're able to gather a lot of influence. And I think in order to make them look like losers, we have to destroy their caliphate. And you look for the easiest place to do that? It would be in Iraq. And if \u2014 outside of Anbar in Iraq, there's a big energy field. Take that from them. Take all of that land from them. We could do that, I believe, fairly easily, I've learned from talking to several generals, and then you move on from there. But you have to continue to face them, because our goal is not to contain them, but to destroy them before they destroy us. +p2965 +aVWell, I think we should have policies that don't allow them to just enlarge themselves at the expense of smaller entities. And certainly some of the policies, some of the monetary and Fed policies that we're using makes it very easy for them, makes it very easy for the big corporations, quite frankly, at these very low interest rates to buy back their stock and to drive the price of that up artificially. Those are the kinds of things that led to the problem in the first place. And I think this all really gets back to this whole regulation issue which is creating a very abnormal situation. This country was \u2014 declared its independence in 1776. In less than 100 years, it was the number-one economic power in the world. And the reason was because we had an atmosphere that encouraged entrepreneurial risk- taking and capital investment. Those are the fuels that drive it. And what we've done now is let the creep of regulation turn into a stampede of regulations, which is involved in every aspect of our lives. If we can get that out, it makes a big difference. And even for the average person, every single regulation costs money. And it's shifted to the individual. So \u2014 and it hurts the poor and the middle class much more than it does the rich. They go into the store and they buy a bar of soap, it costs 10 cents more, they notice it. And the middle class, when they come to the cash register, have a whole cart full of things that cost 5, 10 or 15 cents more, they notice it. It is hurting the poor. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton won't tell you that that's the thing that's really hurting middle class in the core. They'll say it's the rich, take their money, but that won't help. You can take all of the rich's money and it won't make a dent in the problem that we're having. We have to come back to the fundamental principles that made America great. +p2966 +aVI would have policies that wouldn't allow that to occur. I don't want to go in and tear anybody down. I mean, that doesn't help us. But what does help us is stop tinkering around the edges and fix the actual problems that exist that are creating the problem in the first place. +p2967 +aVIn the two hours of this \u2014 of this debate, five people have died from drug-related deaths, $100 million has been added to our national debt, 200 babies have been killed by abortionists, and two veterans have taken their lives out of despair. This is a narrative that we can change, not we the Democrats, not we the Republicans, but we the people of America, because there is something special about this nation, and we must embrace it and be proud of it and never give it away for the sake of political correctness. +p2968 +aVProbably in terms of the applying for the job of president, a weakness would be not really seeing myself in that position until hundreds of thousands of people began to tell me that I needed to do it. I do, however, believe in Reagan's 11th commandment, and will not be engaging in awful things about my compatriots here. And recognizing that it's so important, this election, because we're talking about America for the people versus America for the government. +p2969 +aVWell, first of all, I didn't say that the rate would be 10 percent. I used the tithing analogy. +p2970 +aVThe rate \u2014 the rate \u2014 the rate is gonna be much closer to 15 percent. +p2971 +aVYou also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes. You also have to some strategically cutting in several places. Remember, we have 645 federal agencies and sub-agencies. Anybody who tells me that we need every penny and every one of those is in a fantasy world. So, also, we can stimulate the economy. That's gonna be the real growth engine. Stimulating the economy \u2014 because it's tethered down right now with so many regulations... +p2972 +aVThat's not true. +p2973 +aVWhen \u2014 when we put all the facts down, you'll be able to see that it's not true, it works out very well. +p2974 +aVSince I was attacked too. +p2975 +aVLet me just say, if you're talking about an $18 trillion economy, you're talking about a 15 percent tax on your gross domestic product. You're talking about $2.7 trillion. We have a budget closer to $3.5 trillion. But if you also apply that same 15 percent to several other things, including corporate taxes, and including the capital gains taxes, you make that amount up pretty quickly. So that is not by any stretch a pie in the sky. +p2976 +aVWell, there is no question that some people go overboard when it comes to trying to make profits, and they don't take into consideration the American people. What we have to start thinking about, as leaders, particularly in government, is what can we do for the average American? And you think about the reasons that we're having such difficulty right now with our job market. Well, the average small manufacturer, whatever they're manufacturing, drugs or anything, if they have less than 50 employees, the average cost in terms of regulations is $34,000 per employee. Makes it a whole lot easier for them to want to go somewhere else. So what we're going to have to start doing instead of, you know, picking on this group or this group, is we're going to have to have a major reduction in the regulatory influence that is going on. The government is not supposed to be in every part of our lives, and that is what is causing the problem. +p2977 +aVWell, obviously, you don't understand my views on homosexuality. I believe that our Constitution protects everybody, regardless of their sexual orientation or any other aspect. I also believe that marriage is between one man and one woman. And there is no reason that you can't be perfectly fair to the gay community. They shouldn't automatically assume that because you believe that marriage is between one man and one woman that you are a homophobe. And this is one of the myths that the left perpetrates on our society, and this is how they frighten people and get people to shut up. You know, that's what the PC culture is all about, and it's destroying this nation. The fact of the matter is we the American people are not each other's enemies, it's those people who are trying to divide us who are the enemies. And we need to make that very clear to everybody. +p2978 +aVWell, that's easy to answer. I didn't have an involvement with them. That is total propaganda, and this is what happens in our society. Total propaganda. I did a couple of speeches for them, I do speeches for other people. They were paid speeches. It is absolutely absurd to say that I had any kind of a relationship with them. Do I take the product? Yes. I think it's a good product. +p2979 +aVIf somebody put me on their homepage, they did it without my permission. +p2980 +aVNo, it speaks to the fact that I don't know those \u2014 See? They know. +p2981 +aVWell, first of all, I was wrong about taking the oil subsidy. I have studied that issue in great detail. And what I have concluded is that the best policy is to get rid of all government subsidies, and get the government out of our lives, and let people rise and fall based on how good they are. And \u2014 you know, all of this too big to fail stuff and picking and choosing winners and losers \u2014 this is a bunch of crap, and it is really causing a great deal of \u2014 great deal of problems for our society right now. And \u2014 and \u2014 you know, it goes back to the whole concept of regulations, which are in everything. The reason that I \u2014 I hate them so much is because every single regulation costs in terms of goods and services. That cost gets passed on to the people. Now, who are the people who are hurt by that? It's poor people and middle class. Doesn't hurt rich people if their bar of soap goes up ten cents, but it hurts the poor and the middle class. And Bernie Sanders will tell them that it's because of the rich. Well, I'll tell you something: you can take everything from the top 1 percent, and you apply it to our fiscal gap, and you won't even make a dent in it. +p2982 +aVAbout Medicare? +p2983 +aVWell, first of all the \u2014 the plan gives people the option of \u2014 of opting out. But I think they will see a very good option here. You know, the annual Medicare budget is over $600 billion. And there are 48 million people involved \u2014 40 million, 65 and over, and 8 million other. Divide that out. That comes out to $12,500 for each one. Now, I can tell you there are a lot of private-sector things that you could do with $12,500, which will get you a lot more than you get from this government program. And that's really a theme of a lot of the things that I'm talking about. How do we utilize our intellect rather than allowing the government to use its, quote, "intellect," in order to help us to be able to live healthier and better lives? It was never intended that the government should be in every aspect of our lives. This is a country that is of, for and by the people. +p2984 +aVI just want to thank all my colleagues here for being civil, and not falling for the traps. And, I also just want to thank the audience for being attentive, and noticing the questions, and the noticing the answers. And, this is what I am finding throughout America. People are waking up because it is going to be us who will determine the direction of our country. And, it was made for we the people, we are the ones who decide who we are, and we should never give away the values and principles that made America into a great nation for the sake of political correctness. +p2985 +aVHi, I'm Ben Carson, and I'm a retired pediatric neurosurgeon. I'm here with my wife, Candy, of 40 years, and two of my sons, and their wives. I stress the pediatric part of my career because the reason that I've gotten involved in this race is because I'm very concerned about the future of our children, and the direction of our country is one that does not portend well, unless we, the people, intervene and retake our rightful place at the pinnacle. +p2986 +aVTypically, politicians do things that are politically expedient. And they are looking for whatever their particular goal is. That is not the reason that I have gotten into this thing. I'm extraordinary concerned about the direction of this country, the divisiveness that is going on, fiscal irresponsibility, the failure to take a leadership position in the world. All of those things will lead to a situation where the next generation will not have a chance that we've had now. So I don't \u2014 I don't want to really get into describing who's a politician and who's not a politician, but I think the people have kind of made that decision for themselves already, and will continue to do so as time goes on. +p2987 +aVJake, can I say something about that? +p2988 +aVYou know, when I entered this race, all the political pundits said it's impossible; you can't do it because you're not connected with the money. And there's no way that you can raise what you need in order to compete successfully. I in no way am willing to get in the bed with special interest group or lick the boots of billionaires. I have said to the people if they want me to do this, please get involved. And we now have over 500,000 donations, and the money is coming in. But the pundits forgot about one thing, and that is the people. And they are really in charge. +p2989 +aVWell, first of all, I recognize that we have an incredible illegal immigration problem. I was down in Arizona a few weeks ago at the border. I mean, the fences that were there were not manned, and those are the kind of fences when I was a kid that would barely slow us down. So, I don't see any purpose in having that. Now, what we need to do is look at something that actually works. Yuma County, Arizona. They stop 97 percent of the illegal immigrants through there. They put in a double fence with a road so that there was quick access by the enforcement people. If we don't seal the border, the rest of this stuff clearly doesn't matter. It's kind of ridiculous all the other things we talk about. We have the ability to do it, we don't have the will to do it. There was one area where they had cut a hole in the fence, and to repair it, they put a few strands of barb wire across. Well, the photographers who were there with us, they wanted to photograph us from the side of the Mexicans, and they went through there, and they were not physically fit people, and they took their cameras and things with them, and shot us from the other side. That's how easy it is to get across. And, the drugs, I mean, it goes on, and on, and on. ICE tells them to release these people, 67,000 criminals released... +p2990 +aV...on to our property, it's ridiculous. +p2991 +aVWell, I have also said, if anybody knows how to do that, that I would be willing to listen. And, if they can, you know, specify exactly how that's going to be done, and what the cost, and it sounds reasonable, then I think it's worth discussing... +p2992 +aVNot exactly what I said. +p2993 +aVWell, what I said, after we seal the borders, after we turn off the spigot that dispenses all the goodies so we don't have people coming in here, including employment, that people who had a pristine record, we should consider allowing them to become guest workers, primarily in the agricultural sphere, because that's the place where Americans don't seem to want to work. That's what I said. And they have a six-month period to do that. If they don't do it within that time period, then they become illegal, and as illegals, they will be treated as such. +p2994 +aVCan I \u2014 can I \u2014 can I just... +p2995 +aVCan I correct... +p2996 +aVOK. +p2997 +aVMy plan is not amnesty for a number of reasons. Number one, you know, I've talked to farmers, and they said they cannot hire Americans to do the kind of job that I'm talking about. And the second reason is because the individuals who register as guest workers, they don't get to vote, they are not American citizens, and they don't get the rights and privileges of American citizens. So that's key. But the other thing that I want to bring up is, I mentioned something earlier. I think it was just sort of glossed over. I talked about the success in Yuma County, I mean, incredible success, and the Department of Justice said, "No, we don't want to do that. That's too successful." We don't have to keep reinventing the wheel. All we have to do is look at things that work. All we have to do is use a little common sense. +p2998 +aVIt's all about America. You know, the people who say the guy who paid a billion dollars because he had 10, he has still got $9 billion left, that's not fair, we need to take more of his money. That's called socialism. That doesn't work so well. What made America into a great nation was the fact that we said, that guy just put in $1 billion, let's create an environment that's even more conducive to his success so that next year he can put in $2 billion. And that's the kind of thing that helps us to grow. We can't grow by continuing to take a piece of pie, and dividing it, and redistributing it. But, I'm also looking at what doctor \u2014 at what Governor Huckabee talked about... +p2999 +aVThe Fair Tax. Looking at both of them, and evaluating them both, and I'm talking to the American people because one of the things we must recognize is that this country is of, for, and by the people. And, it's really time that the government get out of the way, and let the people be the ones who decide how they want to run their country. +p3000 +aVWell, first of all, let me say what I actually said about raising the minimum wage. I was asked should it be raised, I said, probably, or possibly. But, what I added, which I think is the most important thing, so, I said we need to get both sides of this issue to sit down, and talk about it. Negotiate a reasonable minimum wage, and index that so that we never have to have this conversation again in the history of America. I think we also have to have two minimum wages, a starter, and a sustaining because how are young people ever going to get a job if you have such a high minimum wage that it makes it impractical to hire them... +p3001 +aVJake, Jake... +p3002 +aVI haven't had an opportunity to weigh in on foreign policy, and I just want to mention that when the war, when the issue occurred in 2003, I suggested to President Bush that he not go to war? OK. So I just want that on the record. And, you know, a lot of people are very much against us getting involved right now with global jihadism. And they refer back to our invasion of Iraq. And they seem to think that that was what caused it. What caused it was withdrawing from there and creating a vacuum which allowed this terrible situation to occur. But it is very different from what is going on today. We're talking about global jihadists who actually want to destroy us. They are an existential threat to our nation. And we have to be mature enough to recognize that our children will have no future if we put our heads in the sand. We have to recognize we have two choices. We either allow them the continue to progress and appear to be the winners, or we use every resource available to us to destroy... +p3003 +aV... them first. +p3004 +aVWell, recognize that, you know, President George W. Bush is a great friend of ours, and we spent many wonderful days at the White House. I haven't been there in the last seven years. I probably have to have a food-tester. But at any rate, I didn't suggest that nothing be done. What I suggested to President Bush is to be Kennedy-esque, in the sense that when the Russians got ahead of us in the space race, what we did is use the bully pulpit to galvanize everybody, business, industry, academia behind a national goal to put a man on the moon and bring him back safely. I said, you can do the same kind of thing. Declare that within five to 10 years we will become petroleum independent. The moderate Arab states would have been so concerned about that, they would have turned over Osama bin Laden and anybody else you wanted on a silver platter within two weeks. There are smart ways to do things and there are muscular ways to do things. And sometimes you have to look at both of those to come up with the right solution. +p3005 +aVI have no argument with having a strong leader, and to be aggressive where aggression is needed. But it is not needed in every circumstance. There is a time when you can use your intellect to come up with other ways to do things. And I think that's what we have to start thinking about. There is no question that a lot of these problems that we have been talking about in terms of the international situation is because we are weak. It is because our Navy is so small. It is because our Air Force is incapable of doing the same things that it did a few years ago. It's because our Marines Corps is not ready to be deployed. +p3006 +aVThere are a lot of problems that are going on, and we need to solve those problems, we need to build up our military... +p3007 +aVWell, let me put it this way, there has \u2014 there have been numerous studies, and they have not demonstrated that there is any correlation between vaccinations and autism. This was something that was spread widely 15 or 20 years ago, and it has not been adequately, you know, revealed to the public what's actually going on. Vaccines are very important. Certain ones. The ones that would prevent death or crippling. There are others, there are a multitude of vaccines which probably don't fit in that category, and there should be some discretion in those cases. But, you know, a lot of this is \u2014 is \u2014 is pushed by big government. And I think that's one of the things that people so vehemently want to get rid of, big government. You know, we have 4.1 million federal employees. Six hundred and fifty federal agencies and department (sic). That's why they have to take so much of our taxes. +p3008 +aVWell, you know, I've just explained it to him. He can read about it if he wants to. I think he's an intelligent man and will make the correct decision after getting the real facts. +p3009 +aVHe's an OK doctor. But, you know, the fact of the matter is, we have extremely well-documented proof that there's no autism associated with vaccinations. But it is true that we are probably giving way too many in too short a period of time. And a lot of pediatricians now recognize that, and, I think, are cutting down on the number and the proximity in which those are done, and I think that's appropriate. +p3010 +aVI'd put my mother on there. You know, she was one of 24 children, got married at age 13, had only a third grade education, had to raise two sons by herself, refused to be a victim. Wouldn't let us be victims, and has been an inspiration to many people. +p3011 +aVOne Nation. +p3012 +aVWell, you know, I was a radical Democrat before I started listening to Ronald Reagan. And he didn't sound like what they said Republicans were. He sounded logical. And I hope that I sound logical also. Because when I look at what is going on with the United States of America, I see a lot of things that are not logical. I see us allowing people to divide us, when in fact our strength is in our unity. I see people exercising the most irresponsible fiscal habits that anyone could possibly do. And hiding it from the American people, so that the majority of people have no idea what our financial situation is. So, when someone comes along and says, free college, free phones, free this and that, and the other, they say, "wow, that's nice," having no idea that they're destabilizing our position. And I think also that Ronald Reagan was a master at understanding that a pinnacle nation has to be a nation that leads. If we learn to lead in the Middle East right now, a coalition will form behind us, but never they do it if we just sit there and talk about it. Real leadership is what I would hopefully bring to America. +p3013 +aVWell, I could take issue with -- with all of those things, but we don't have time. But I will say, we have a debate here tonight, and we will have an opportunity to explore those areas, and I'm looking very much forward to demonstrating that, in fact, the thing that is probably most important is having a brain, and to be able to figure things out and learn things very rapidly. So, you know, experience comes from a large number of different arenas, and America became a great nation early on not because it was flooded with politicians, but because it was flooded with people who understood the value of personal responsibility, hard work, creativity, innovation, and that's what will get us on the right track now, as well. +p3014 +aVWell, thank you, Megyn, I wasn't sure I was going to get to talk again. +p3015 +aVAlright. You know, what we do in order to get the information that we need is our business, and I wouldn't necessarily be broadcasting what we're going to do. We. . .uh. . .we've gotten into this -- this mindset of fighting politically correct wars. There is no such thing as a politically correct war. And, the left, of course, will say Carson doesn't believe in the Geneva Convention. Carson doesn't believe in fighting stupid wars. And -- and what we have to remember is we want to utilize the tremendous intellect that we have in the military to win wars. And I've talked to a lot of the generals, a lot of our advanced people. And believe me, if we gave them the mission, which is what the commander-in-chief does, they would be able to carry it out. And if we don't tie their hands behind their back, they will do it......extremely effectively. +p3016 +aVWhat I agree with is that we need a significantly changed taxation system. And the one that I've advocated is based on tithing, because I think God is a pretty fair guy. And he said, you know, if you give me a tithe, it doesn't matter how much you made. If you've had a bumper crop, you don't owe me triple tithes. And if you've had no crops at all, you don't owe me no tithes. So there must be something inherently fair about that. And that's why I've advocated a proportional tax system. You make $10 billion, you pay a billion. You make $10, you pay one. And everybody gets treated the same way. And you get rid of the deductions, you get rid of all the loopholes, and... +p3017 +aVAnd I have a lot more to say about it. +p3018 +aVIf Hillary is the candidate, which I doubt, that would be a dream come true. But you know, the fact of the matter is, she is the epitome of the progressive -- the secular progressive movement. And she counts on the fact that people are uninformed, the Alinsky Model, taking advantage of useful idiots. Well, I just happen to believe that people are not stupid. And the way I will come at it is to educate people, help people to actually understand that it is that progressive movement that is causing them the problems. You know, you look at the -- the national debt and how it's being driven up. If I was trying to destroy this country, what I would do is find a way to drive wedges between all the people, drive the debt to an unsustainable level, and then step off the stage as a world leader and let our enemies increase while we decreased our capacity as a military person. And that's what she's doing. +p3019 +aVWell, what we have to stop and think about is that we have weakened ourselves militarily to such an extent that if affects all of our military policies. Our Navy is at its smallest size since 1917; our Air Force, since 1940. In recent testimony, the commandant of the Marine Corps said half of the non-deployed units were not ready and you know, the sequester is cutting the heart out of our personnel. Our generals are retiring because they don't want to be part of this, and at the same time, our enemies are increasing. Our -- our friends can't trust us anymore. You know, Ukraine was a nuclear-armed state. They gave away their nuclear arms with the understanding that we would protect them. We won't even give them offensive weapons. You know, we turned our back on Israel, our ally. You know, in a situation like that, of course Obama's not going to be able to do anything. I would shore up our military first, because if you don't get the military right, nothing else is going to work. +p3020 +aVWell, I think the bully pulpit is a wonderful place to start healing that divide. You know, we have the purveyors of hatred who take every single incident between people of two races and try to make a race war out of it, and drive wedges into people. And this does not need to be done. What we need to think about instead -- you know, I was asked by an NPR reporter once, why don't I talk about race that often. I said it's because I'm a neurosurgeon. And she thought that was a strange response. And you say -- I said, you see, when I take someone to the operating room, I'm actually operating on the thing that makes them who they are. The skin doesn't make them who they are. The hair doesn't make them who they are. And it's time for us to move beyond that. Because......our strength as a nation comes in our unity. We are the United States of America, not the divided states. And those who want to destroy us are trying to divide us, and we shouldn't let them do it. +p3021 +aVWell, I haven't said anything about me being the only one to do anything, so let me try that. I'm the only one to separate Siamese twins... The -- the only one to operate on babies while they were still in mother's womb, the only one to take out half of a brain, although you would think, if you go to Washington, that someone had beat me to it. But I -- but I'm very hopeful that I'm not the only one who's willing to pick up the baton of freedom, because freedom is not free, and we must fight for it every day. Every one of us must fight for it, because we're fighting for our children and the next generation. +p3022 +asVQUINTANILLA +p3023 +(lp3024 +VGood evening, I'm Carl Quintanilla, with my colleagues Becky Quick and John Harwood. We'll be joined tonight by some of +p3025 +aVGovernor? +p3026 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p3027 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Bush. +p3028 +aVSenator Rubio. +p3029 +aVMr. Trump? +p3030 +aVDr. Carson? +p3031 +aVMrs. Fiorina? +p3032 +aVFixed it. +p3033 +aVSenator Cruz? +p3034 +aVGovernor Christie? +p3035 +aVSenator Paul? +p3036 +aVThanks to all the candidates. John? +p3037 +aVHold it. We'll cut it back to you in just a minute. Becky's moving on. +p3038 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor. thank you, Governor. +p3039 +aVMr. Trump, 30 seconds. +p3040 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3041 +aVWe're going to try to move on. +p3042 +aVYou want to bring 70,000 pages to three? +p3043 +aVIs that using really small type? +p3044 +aVIs that using really small type? +p3045 +aVMrs. Fiorina \u2014 +p3046 +aVWe're going to \u2014 +p3047 +aVWe will come around the bend, i promise. This one is for Senator Rubio. You've been a young man in a hurry ever since you won your first election in your 20s. You've had a big accomplishment in the Senate, an immigration bill providing a path to citizenship the conservatives in your party hate, and even you don't support anymore. Now, you're skipping more votes than any senator to run for president. Why not slow down, get a few more things done first or least finish what you start? +p3048 +aVSo when the Sun-Sentinel says Rubio should resign, not rip us off, when they say Floridians sent you to Washington to do a job, when they say you act like you hate your job, do you? +p3049 +aVWell, do you hate your job? +p3050 +aVIs that the standard? +p3051 +aVSenator, thank you. John. +p3052 +aVThank you, Senator. +p3053 +aVSenator Cruz. Congressional Republicans, Democrats and the White House are about to strike a compromise that would raise the debt limit, prevent a government shutdown and calm financial markets that fear of \u2014 another Washington-created crisis is on the way. Does your opposition to it show that you're not the kind of problem-solver American voters want? +p3054 +aV do we get credit ? +p3055 +aVSo, this is a question about , which you have 30 seconds left to answer, should you choose to do so. +p3056 +aVOK. I asked you about the debt limit and I got no answer. +p3057 +aVWe promised we would get to everyone this block. Governor Huckabee, I'm going to give you 60 seconds on this. +p3058 +aV...Governor... +p3059 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p3060 +aV...Senator Cruz... +p3061 +aVOK, alright. +p3062 +aVSenator Cruz... +p3063 +aV...Before we go to break, we're clearly not having that beer you mentioned, but I'll give you 30 more seconds... +p3064 +aVOK. +p3065 +aVI'll give you 30 seconds to respond... +p3066 +aVRespond on the debt limit, or an answer to the governor, which ever you choose. +p3067 +aV30 seconds, Governor Huckabee. +p3068 +aVGovernor, thank you. We will take a break. The Republican Presidential debate, live from Boulder, Colorado, coming back after a break on +p3069 +aVMrs. Fiorina, in 2010, while running for Senate in Tech Ridge (ph), California, you called an Internet sales tax a bad idea. Traditional brick and mortar stores obviously disagree. Now that the Internet shopping playing field has matured, what would be a fair plan to even that playing field? +p3070 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p3071 +aVOK. +p3072 +aVThank you very much. +p3073 +aVDr. Carson, we know you as a physician, but we wanted to ask you about your involvement on some corporate boards, including Costco's. Last year, a marketing study called the warehouse retailer the number one gay-friendly brand in America, partly because of its domestic partner benefits. Why would you serve on a company whose policies seem to run counter to your views on homosexuality? +p3074 +aVOne more question. This is a company called Mannatech, a maker of nutritional supplements, with which you had a 10-year relationship. They offered claims that they could cure autism, cancer, they paid $7 million to settle a deceptive marketing lawsuit in Texas, and yet you're involvement continued. Why? +p3075 +aVTo be fair, you were on the homepage of their website with the logo over your shoulder \u2014 +p3076 +aVDoes that not speak to your vetting process or judgment in any way. +p3077 +aVApparently. We will take a break. We'll be back in Boulder in just a minute. +p3078 +aV...We'll come back around. I want to get to governor Kasich. +p3079 +aVGovernor Kasich, let's talk ... +p3080 +aV...about Marijuana, Governor Kasich... +p3081 +aVAlright, but 30 seconds, you made a case. Sure, 30 seconds. +p3082 +aVSenator, thank you. +p3083 +aVOh, no, no, no... +p3084 +aV...Ok... +p3085 +aV...We're going to go to... +p3086 +aVOK. Thank you, Senator. Governor Kasich, let's talk about marijuana. We're broadcasting from Colorado which has seen $150 million in new revenue for the state since legalizing last year. Governor Hickenlooper is not a big fan of legalization, but he's said the people who used to be smoking it are still smoking it, they're just now paying taxes. Given the budget pressures in Ohio, and other states, is this a revenue stream you'd like to have? +p3087 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3088 +aVThank you. We'll be back from Boulder, Colorado in just a moment. +p3089 +aVMr. Trump, you've said you have a special permit to carry a gun in New York. +p3090 +aVAfter the Oregon mass shooting on October 1st, you said, "By the way, it was a gun-free zone. If you had a couple of teachers with guns, you would have been a hell of a lot better off." +p3091 +aVWould you feel more comfortable if your employees brought guns to work? +p3092 +aVAre you carrying one now? +p3093 +aVWe called a few Trump resorts, a few Trump properties that \u2014 that do not allow guns with or without a permit. Would you change those policies? +p3094 +aVOK. All right. Thank you. John? +p3095 +aVGovernor Bush, daily fantasy sports has become a phenomenon in this country, will award billions of dollars in prize money this year. But to play you have to assess your odds, put money at risk, wait for an outcome that's out of your control. Isn't that the definition of gambling, and should the Federal Government treat it as such? +p3096 +aVI had a feeling you were going to brag about that. +p3097 +aVThis is the\u2014 well, we're going to take a break. We want to save time for closing statements after the break. So this is the Republican presidential debate in Boulder, and we'll be right back. +p3098 +aVSenator Rubio... +p3099 +aV...yeah, I just wanted . +p3100 +aVI want to give you 30 seconds here. +p3101 +aVThat concludes tonight's debate. On behalf of my colleagues Becky Quick, John Harwood, Sharon Epperson, Rick Santelli and Jim Cramer, we'd like to our host, the University of Colorado at Boulder, the Republican National Committee, the candidates and, of course, tonight's audience. +p3102 +asVGILMORE +p3103 +(lp3104 +VWell, Bill, can I first... +p3105 +aVWell, first of all, Bill, let me say one thing, I have been in Iowa. But this is not the place where I'm choosing to begin my campaign. I am beginning my campaign in New Hampshire and I decided to do that based upon the process that is in place in Iowa and the primary that's in place in New Hampshire. But never mind that, I want to return to something. I'm the only veteran, Bill and Martha in this race. And I'm not going to any Donald Trump event over across town on some sort of faux veteran sort of issue. I'm going to speak to you tonight about the issue that really confronts veterans. I'm going to talk to you about the concerns that they have got with the veterans administration. The lousy appeals process that they have got. The fact that sometimes they get good service at the V.A. and sometimes they don't and the fact that post traumatic stress syndrome is not properly recognized. That psychology positions are unavailable in the Veterans Administration. And I will say this to you -- as the only veteran in -- in this race, when I become president of the United States, the veterans are going to be treated with respect and competently in success in the Veterans' Administration in this country. +p3106 +aVFirst of all, Bill, I think that Gitmo ought to remain open. But I also want to point out to you that what you are saying is the exact right topic to all of these other candidates. And that's this international challenge that we are facing, the international war that America is in, even to this day. And I'm the candidate who is best qualified to deal with this issue. A degree in foreign policy in Russian area studies. I'm the only United States Army veteran having gone to Europe during the Cold War as United States Army Intelligence agent, the governor during the 9/11 attack, the chairman of the National Commission on Homeland Security for the United States for five years. And this is what I will do. If I become the president, I'm going to rebuild the United States military. We're going to take the sequester off the defense budget. Give the Navy the ships it needs. Refit the United States Army. Refit the United States Marine Corps. And on this international guerrilla war, we need to recognize our Special Forces, our intelligence community, and the people that we need in order to really protect us. And finally, this war of ideas, we must win this. We must say to the world that radical Islamism is the threat. It isn't just confined to +p3107 +aVHey, did you miss me? Did you skip me? +p3108 +aVI'm going to have something to say about this, but you just keep going. +p3109 +aVYes, I'll be there. +p3110 +aVYou know, Martha, it may be out of the barn in that the Iranians may be moving towards a nuclear program, because this nuclear deal actually gives them a time frame up the road when they are going to be able to do that kind of program. And that's very dangerous because it means people in the Middle East have to begin to react to that right now. The United States, I think, has to continue to exercise its influence in the Middle East, stay active, and not do this pull-back type of program that we are seeing all over the place with President Obama, which is creating this kind of danger. The world is a more dangerous place now than when I was an intelligence agent. We have not only this international guerrilla war but also these challenges from these other countries as well. But, Martha, I want to say one more thing to you and Bill. I disagree with Carly Fiorina when she says that it's just a political class in Washington. The truth is that the country has changed. And there are powerful forces at this point that are really controlling our lives. And that's why people are so angry. One of those is government, which is regulating everything through the Environmental Protection Agency, through other places. But the biggest one is the organized establishment media. And I just noticed just now you gave Carly Fiorina two one-minute answers in a row. This media across the country is manipulating and shaping and framing this campaign and has been for at least a year now in order to get the kind of choices that people are going to have an opportunity to see. This is wrong. It has to change. And when I'm president, it's going to change. +p3111 +aVI'll take it. +p3112 +aVMartha, I just visited a community mental health clinic in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, just three days ago, as a matter of fact. And when I was governor of Virginia, I tried to move more of those resources into the community, which will give us the facilities and the abilities to begin to identify people who actually might be dangerous and who abuse Second Amendment rights. But I do believe this is one of the really principle issues in this campaign. The president and Hillary Clinton are working very hard to change the culture of this country in order to put us in a position where we can't exercise Second Amendment rights. That's wrong. I am a board member of the National Rifle Association. The reason I'm a board member is because I believe that individuals in this country can be trusted to exercise their rights under the Second Amendment and under the Bill of Rights. To take away people's Second Amendment rights is to redefine the individual in the society, and I'm not going to put up with it. As President of the United States, when Jim Gilmore's President of the United States, I can tell you this. Gun control is not going to be an issue. If gun control... ... comes to the President's desk when I'm president, I'll veto it as fast as it takes Hillary Clinton to eliminate her emails. +p3113 +aVYou know Bill, that raises, I think, the question of the future of the Republican party. The question is -- first of all, I stand second to no one in standing up to radical Islamism. I understand that +p3114 +aVWell, thank you very much, Bill. And, thank you, and Fox and Google for including me in this debate tonight. I think it's been a wonderful opportunity. I'm the son of a meat cutter. My father worked for Safeway stores for 45 years. My mother was a secretary, she ended her career as the Secretary for the Methodist Bishop. I didn't have a father that could give me a million dollar loan to start my business. But, my father did talk character, and he provided for his family, and he was a wonderful example. And, I'm not about to go across town tonight to carry the coat for some billionaire. Instead, I intend to run for President of the United States, speak to the issue of this international war, and challenge that we're in. This issue of veterans rights, and the issue of Second Amendment rights, and I ask for your support... +p3115 +asVSANTELLI +p3116 +(lp3117 +VSenator Cruz, let's focus on our central bank, the Federal Reserve. You've been a fierce critic of the Fed, arguing for more transparency. Where do you want to take that? Do you want to get Congress involved in monetary policy, or is it time to slap the Fed back and downsize them completely? What are your thoughts? What do you believe? +p3118 +aVSenator Paul, the same question to you. +p3119 +aVThank you, Senator. Dr. Carson, you told The Des Moines Register that you don't like government subsidies, it interferes with the free market. But you've also said that you're in favor of taking oil subsidies and putting them towards ethanol processing. Isn't that just swapping one subsidy for another, Doctor? +p3120 +aVThank you, Doctor. Becky? +p3121 +asVMACCALLUM +p3122 +(lp3123 +VSo it will come as no surprise that there is an idea out there that there is a civil war brewing within the GOP over the meaning of conservative and the question of who is electable. There are some in the GOP who are so outraged by Trump and Cruz that they say they would actually rather have Hillary Clinton in the White House. So, Carly Fiorina, I ask you this. Is your party in crisis? +p3124 +aVGovernor Huckabee, word is that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is considering getting into this race. If he does, that would make four New Yorkers, including Sanders, Clinton, and Trump. One candidate in this race has criticized so-called "New York values". So tell me, in your opinion, are New York values different than Iowa values? +p3125 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum, according to Google, the Paris terror attacks were the largest story that was searched in 2015, with nearly 1 billion searches of that story worldwide. There have been at 18 terror attacks so far this year -- in just January alone, in 2016, and it will likely, as we all know, get worse. But what can an American president do to stop these terrifying killings? +p3126 +aVThank you, Senator. +p3127 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you have said when it comes to +p3128 +aVThank you. +p3129 +aVComing up, we're going to have more on the top issues in this campaign, and you can engage in tonight's conversation right from home. Go to google.com, search "FOX News debate." You can vote on which candidate you think is winning so far in tonight's debate. And you can check results after the debate is over. We are back in a moment live from the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. +p3130 +aVAlright, Governor Huckabee, government grows and grows. In fact, neighborhoods in and around the Beltway get richer and richer all the time while our manufacturing towns are disappearing. Still Republicans from Reagan to Bush have bowed to shrink the size of government, but it never works. Is this Presidency, and presidency, simply too small a David to slay the Goliath of government? +p3131 +aVAlright, Carly Fiorina, you've said that you can get the tax code down to three short simple pages. But, when lobbyists who have twisted the arms of members of Congress come sit with you in the Oval Office and say, "Madam President, sorry, I cannot be with you on this one," you may understand what previous presidents have gone through. No? +p3132 +aVSenator Santorum, Bernie Sanders asked a woman in Iowa what it's like to live in poverty. She broke down in tears, saying that she lives on less than $10,000 a year and that she is ashamed every day. She leans on her parents for help. She says she can't buy presents for her children. We are all sympathetic to this woman's plight. On the other hand, the G.O.P. is supposed to be the party of smaller government. So what would you look her in the eye and say? +p3133 +aVThank you, Senator. +p3134 +aVGovernor Gilmore, thanks to the Iranian nuclear deal, President Rouhani is currently on a tour of Europe meeting with our closest allies in France and Italy. In fact, he has already landed some 50 to 85 billion are the estimates in deals with those countries, with our allies. More on the way. You and others say that you would rip up that deal. But, really, by the time the next president is in office, won't that horse be well out of the barn? +p3135 +aVWe have another question for you, Governor Gilmore, back to back, here we go. According to Google... +p3136 +aVYou got it. According to Google, gun control is the most searched issue last month, making up nearly 80 percent of all the U.S. searches. People are looking for information on guns. When it comes to the tragic mass killings that we have seen in this country, Donald Trump says that what we need to do is build quote "more institutions for people who are sickos." Charles Krauthammer also says that in some cases involuntary commitment would help. And you have agreed with that. Given that institutions would be extraordinarily expensive to begin building, how much is too much to ask on this from the American taxpayer? +p3137 +aVThank you, Governor Gilmore. +p3138 +aVStill more to come from the Republican Presidential debate tonight. And, see how the campaigns are responding to the debate in realtime, go to Google.com and open your google search app. Type in, "Fox News Debate". We'll see you, just a moment -- back. +p3139 +aVWe are back live at the Iowa events center and this question goes to Carly Fiorina. In the last debate you said as part of your introduction, quote, " And unlike the other woman candidate in this case I actually love spending time with my husband." +p3140 +aVBut back in September in an interview you said that you would stick only to the record, your record versus Hillary Clinton's record. And never resort to personal attacks. So what changed? +p3141 +aVAll right. Carly, I want to stay with you on this next question as well. You waded into the Planned Parenthood early on. You took some heat for it. Now the people who shot that undercover video are the ones who got indicted and Planned Parenthood is untouched. Hillary Clinton has been crowing about this. Any regrets about this? +p3142 +aVThank you Carly Fiorina. Let me just ask a quick question here to Senator Santorum. Carly Fiorina was the only one of the GOP candidates to attend the March for Life in Washington last week. Where were you. +p3143 +aVAll right. Coming up, we will have the closing statements from our candidates tonight as we continue live from the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. We'll be right back. +p3144 +aVAlright, let's go now to Senator Rick Santorum. +p3145 +aV +p3146 +aVCarly Fiorina. +p3147 +aVThank you, Carly. +p3148 +aVIn one hour, seven more candidates take the stage for a debate hosted by Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly, and Chris Wallace. But, up next, the O'Reilly Factor. Good night everybody. +p3149 +as. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/downloads/data/script11.pickle b/downloads/data/script11.pickle new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c9ef1ba --- /dev/null +++ b/downloads/data/script11.pickle @@ -0,0 +1,6646 @@ +(dp0 +VCRAMER +p1 +(lp2 +VDr. Carson, in recent weeks, a number of pharmaceutical companies has been accused of profiteering, for dramatically raising the prices of life-saving drugs. You have spent a lifetime in medicine. Have these companies gone too far? Should the government be involved in controlling some of these price increases? +p3 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Governor Christie, there has been a lot of political rhetoric that some bank executives should have gone to jail for the 2008 financial crisis. But General Motors paid more than $1 billion in fines and settlements for its ignition switch defect. One hundred and twenty- four people died as a result of these faulty switches. No one went to jail. As a former prosecutor, do you believe the people responsible for the switch and the cover-up belong behind bars? +p4 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. +p5 +aVThank you. Governor Pataki, in the wake of the Sony hack last year, you said, quote, "at the very least, we should declare cyber-war on North Korea." What does a cyber-war look like? And if our companies are getting attacked by foreign governments, do we need a military response? +p6 +aVSenator Graham, you're a hawk. Was that tough enough? +p7 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Santorum. We know that a troubling amount of air pollution on the west coast comes from China. Should we enact a pollution tax on products imported from China and give our manufacturers a level playing field? +p8 +aVThank you, Senator. John? +p9 +asVPERRY +p10 +(lp11 +VI will tell you one thing: I would whole lot rather had Carly Fiorina over there doing our negotiation than John Kerry. Maybe we would've gotten a deal where we didn't give everything away. But the issue for us is to have a Congress that stands up and says not only no, but hell no, to this money going to a regime that is going to use it for terror... +p12 +asVUNKNOWN +p13 +(lp14 +VIf you're not going to have my back, I'm going to have my back. +p15 +aVA couple things here. First of all... +p16 +aVWe have grown \u2014 we have grown... +p17 +aVTrue. It's true. +p18 +aV...let me follow up that... +p19 +aV +p20 +aVOh, great. +p21 +aV...In 2011, you told Forbes Magazine this: "I've used the laws of the country to my advantage." But at the same time, financial experts involved in those bankruptcies say that lenders to your companies lost billions of dollars. Question sir, with that record, why should we trust you to run the nation's business? +p22 +aVI do. +p23 +aVThank you. +p24 +asVIFILL +p25 +(lp26 +VWe want to also extend our warm thanks to Milwaukee Public Radio and Milwaukee Public Television, as well as all of our friends at the PBS member stations across the country tuning in tonight. This is the sixth time the Democrats have met face to face. Each time, we learn more about them and the presidents they say they want to be. You know you're watching \u2014 whether you're a Democrat, a Republican, or neither \u2014 because you believe the outcome of the election is important to you. And we believe that, too. With that, let's welcome the candidates to the stage. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. +p27 +aVWelcome to you both. +p28 +aVWith Iowa and New Hampshire behind us, we are now broadening the conversation to America's heartland and beyond, including here in Wisconsin. Now let's turn to the candidates for their opening statements. The order was decided by coin toss. And, Senator Sanders, you go first. +p29 +aVThank you, Senator Sanders. Thank you, Senator Sanders. Secretary Clinton. +p30 +aVFinal thought, Senator. +p31 +aVI'd like to move along. I'd like to move along. Secretary Clinton, you might \u2014 you also have proposed fairly expansive ideas about government. You may remember this pledge from a State of the Union Address at which I believe you were present, in which these words were said: "The era of big government is over." You may remember that. When asked your feelings about the federal government this week, 61 percent of New Hampshire Democrats told exit pollsters that they are angry or at least dissatisfied. Given what you and Senator Sanders are proposing, an expanding government in almost every area of our lives, is it fair for Americans who fear government to fear you? +p32 +aVBut I haven't heard either of you put a price tag on your \u2014 you say... +p33 +aVSenator? +p34 +aVSenator, do you worry at all that you will be the instrument of thwarting history, as Senator Clinton keeps claiming, that she might be the first woman president? +p35 +aVThank you both. We turn now to the first of several questions from our partners at Facebook. They were selected from a curated group of people we've been following of undecided voters. The first comes from Claudia Looze, a 54-year-old woman who works as a program manager at a public affairs cable network in Madison, Wisconsin. And she writes: "Wisconsin is number one in African-American male incarceration, according to a University of Wisconsin study. They found that Wisconsin's incarceration rate for black men, which is at 13 percent, was nearly double the country's rate. What can we do across the nation to address this?" Senator Sanders. +p36 +aVLet me turn this on its head, because when we talk about race in this country, we always talk about African-Americans, people of color. I want to talk about white people, OK? +p37 +aVI know. So many people will be surprised to find out that we are sitting in one of the most racially polarized metropolitan areas in the country. By the middle of this century, the nation is going to be majority nonwhite. Our public schools are already there. If working-class, white Americans are about to be outnumbered, are already underemployed in many cases, and one study found they are dying sooner, don't they have a reason to be resentful, Senator \u2014 Secretary Clinton? +p38 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, I want you to respond to that, but I also want you to \u2014 am I wrong? Is it even right to be describing this as a matter of race? +p39 +aVIf you would allow me now to move on, we've been talking about children. I want to talk about seniors. That takes us to our second Facebook question from Farheen Hakeem, who writes, "My father" \u2014 she's a 40-year-old woman who works for a nonprofit here in Milwaukee. And she writes, "My father gets just $16 in food assistance per month as part of Medicaid's family community program in Milwaukee County for low-income seniors. How will you as president work to ensure low-income seniors get their basic needs met?" Start with you, Senator Sanders. +p40 +aVSenator Sanders, are you saying... +p41 +aVThere's a lot more to come in just a few minutes. Stay with us for more of the PBS NewsHour Democratic Debate. +p42 +aVHow about you, Senator Clinton \u2014 Secretary Clinton? +p43 +aVWe spent the first part of this debate talking about domestic insecurity. The second part, we want to talk about our foreign policy insecurities. And we want to start with a question for you, Secretary Clinton, about America's role in the world. Americans are becoming increasingly worried that attacks abroad are coming home, that they already are, in fact, here. According to exit polls from last week, from earlier this week, more than two-thirds of Democrats in New Hampshire are concerned about sending their children to fight in wars they can't win. They fret that the next attack is just around the corner and we are not ready. Are we? +p44 +aVSenator Sanders... +p45 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p46 +aVLet me move on. You have both mentioned the humanitarian tragedies which have been an outgrowth in part of what has happened in Syria and in Libya. More than a million refugees entered Europe in 2015. Another 76,000 just last month, that is about 2,000 arrivals every day. Nearly 400 people have been lost at sea so far this year, crossing the Mediterranean. And there are reports that 10,000 children are missing. If we are leaders in this world, where should the U.S. be on this? What should the United States be doing, Secretary Clinton? +p47 +aVSenator, if you would like respond to \u2014 you may respond to that but it is time for closing statements and you can use your time for closing statements to do that. +p48 +aVThank you. Thank you Senator Clinton. Thank you, Senator Sanders. We also want to thank our partners at Facebook and our hosts here at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. +p49 +aVI'm going to remain here in Milwaukee tomorrow evening for a special edition of Washington Week here on PBS. +p50 +asVWOODRUFF +p51 +(lp52 +VGood evening, and thank you. We are happy to welcome you to Milwaukee for this Democratic debate. We are especially pleased to thank our partners at Facebook, who have helped us set up a vibrant conversation among voters who are undecided. And tonight you're going to hear some of their questions for the candidates. And you can follow along at home on the PBS NewsHour page on Facebook. We also want to thank our hosts, the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, on whose campus we meet, here in the beautiful Helen Bader Concert Hall. +p53 +aVWelcome, Senator, great to see you. And former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Very good to be here with you. +p54 +aVNow, a word about format. There will be two short breaks, and the rules are simple: 90 seconds for each answer and 30 seconds for the other candidate to respond. +p55 +aVThank you both. Thank you both. And we'll be right back after a short break to begin questions. +p56 +aVAnd, welcome back to this PBS Newshour debate, Democratic debate, here in Milwaukee. Let's get right to the questions. Senator Sanders, to you first. Coming off the results in Iowa and New Hampshire, there are many voters who are taking a closer look at you, and your ideas, and they're asking how big a role do you foresee for the federal government? It's already spending 21% of the entire U.S. economy. How much larger would government be in the lives of Americans under a Sanders presidency? +p57 +aVBut, my question is how big would government be? Would there be any limit on the size of the role of government... +p58 +aVNext, we're going to... +p59 +aVVery brief, thank you. +p60 +aVSecretary Clinton, your campaign \u2014 you and your campaign have made a clear appeal to women voters. You have talked repeatedly about the fact, we know you would be, if elected, the first woman president. But in New Hampshire 55 percent of the women voters supported and voted for Senator Sanders. What are women missing about you? +p61 +aVAs you know, just quickly, as you know, your strong supporter, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, said the other day that there's a special place in Hell for women who don't support other women. Do you agree with what she said? +p62 +aVSenator Sanders, you're in the minority, but we still want to hear from you. +p63 +aVFinal comment. +p64 +aVSecretary Clinton, I was talking recently with a 23 year old black woman who voted for President Obama because she said she thought relations between the races would get better under his leadership, and his example. Hardly anyone believes that they have. Why do you think race relations would be better under a Clinton presidency? What would you do that the nation's first African American has not been able to? +p65 +aVSenator Sanders? +p66 +aVSo race relation was be better under a Sanders presidency than they've been? +p67 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders, one of the causes of anxiety for working class Americans is connected to immigrants. President Obama, as you know, has issued executive actions to permit some 5 million undocumented immigrants who are living now in the United States to come out of the shadows without fear of deportation to get work permits. Would you go further than that? And if so, how specifically would you do it? Should an undocumented family watching this debate tonight, say, in Nevada, rest easy, not fear of further deportations under a Sanders presidency? +p68 +aVI'd like... +p69 +aVWe're going to move on. Secretary Clinton, your campaign has recently ramped up criticism of Senator Sanders for attending Democratic Party fundraisers from which you say he benefited. But nearly half of your financial sector donations appear to come from just two wealthy financiers, George Soros and Donald Sussman, for a total of about $10 million. You have said that there's no quid pro quo involved. Is that also true of the donations that wealthy Republicans give to Republican candidates, contributors including the Koch Brothers? +p70 +aVI'm asking if Democratic donors are different than Republican donors. +p71 +aVWe have to go to a break. We... +p72 +aVAll right. Thank you both. It is time for a break. And when we come back, we're going to turn to some new topics, including how these candidates will keep America safe. +p73 +aVWelcome back to the Democratic presidential debate. Before we return to our questions, we have a follow-up question from our Facebook group. And it is to Senator Sanders. Senator, it comes from Bill Corfield. He is a 55-year-old musician from Troy, Ohio. And he asks: "Are there any areas of government you would like to reduce?" +p74 +aVJust a final word. +p75 +aVSenator, let me \u2014 let me move on to another country with which the U.S. has a complicated relationship, Senator Sanders, and that's Russia. On the one hand, we're aware that Russia is a country that the United States needs to cooperate with. Just tonight, Secretary of State John Kerry has announced what appears to be an agreement with the Russians to lead \u2014 that could lead toward a ceasefire in Syria, would be the first cessation of conflict in that country, in that civil war in five years, but it comes at a very high price, because not only have all \u2014 have we seen the deaths, the removal of so many people, millions of people, we now see the Russians in the last few weeks have bombed in a way that benefits President Assad, has not gone after +p76 +aVAnd we have a final question from our Facebook family. And it goes to Senator Sanders. It comes from Robert Andrews. He's a 40-year-old stay-at-home dad in Dover, Massachusetts. He says, "The world has seen many great leaders in the course of human history. Can you name two leaders \u2014 one American and one foreign \u2014 who would influence your foreign policy decisions? And why do you see them as \u2014 why are they influential?" +p77 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p78 +aVAnd we want to thank our audience, our quiet audience here in Helen Bader Concert Hall, and to all of you watching at home. Thank you all. Stay tuned for analysis of the debate and the overall race for the Democratic nomination. That's coming up next here on PBS stations and online atPBS.org/NewsHour. +p79 +aVAnd I'm going to be returning to Washington. I hope you'll join us for the PBS NewsHour tomorrow and every night. That's it from all of us here in Milwaukee. We thank you. +p80 +asVKELLY +p81 +(lp82 +VWelcome to the first debate night of the 2016 presidential campaign, live from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. I'm Megyn Kelly... ... along with my co-moderators, Brett Baier and Chris Wallace. Tonight... Nice. Tonight, thousands of people here in the Q, along with millions of voters at home will get their very first chance to see the candidates face off in a debate, answering the questions you want answered. +p83 +aVAs for the candidates who will be answering those questions? Here they are. Positioned on the stage by how they stand in the polls, in the center of the stage tonight, businessman Donald Trump. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. +p84 +aVGentlemen, our first round of questions is on the subject of electability in the general election, and we start tonight with you, Dr. Carson. You are a successful neurosurgeon, but you admit that you have had to study up on foreign policy, saying there's a lot to learn. Your critics say that your inexperience shows. You've suggested that the Baltic States are not a part of +p85 +aVMr. Trump, one of the things people love about you is you speak your mind and you don't use a politician's filter. However, that is not without its downsides, in particular, when it comes to women. You've called women you don't like "fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals." Your Twitter account... +p86 +aVNo, it wasn't. Your Twitter account... +p87 +aVFor the record, it was well beyond Rosie O'Donnell. +p88 +aVYour Twitter account has several disparaging comments about women's looks. You once told a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice it would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees. Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president, and how will you answer the charge from Hillary Clinton, who was likely to be the Democratic nominee, that you are part of the war on women? +p89 +aVGovernor Walker, you've consistently said that you want to make abortion illegal even in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother. You recently signed an abortion law in Wisconsin that does have an exception for the mother's life, but you're on the record as having objected to it. Would you really let a mother die rather than have an abortion, and with 83 percent of the American public in favor of a life exception, are you too out of the mainstream on this issue to win the general election? +p90 +aVGovernor Kasich, You chose to expand Medicaid in your state, unlike several other governors on this stage tonight, and it is already over budget by some estimates costing taxpayers an additional $1.4 billion in just the first 18 months. You defended your Medicaid expansion by invoking God, saying to skeptics that when they arrive in heaven, Saint Peter isn't going to ask them how small they've kept government, but what they have done for the poor. Why should Republican voters, who generally want to shrink government, believe that you won't use your Saint Peter rationale to expand every government program? +p91 +aVAlright, gentlemen, we're gonna switch topics now and talk a bit about terror and national security. Governor Christie. You've said that Senator Paul's opposition to the NSA's collection of phone records has made the United States weaker and more vulnerable, even going so far as to say that he should be called before Congress to answer for it if we should be hit by another terrorist attack. Do you really believe you can assign blame to Senator Paul just for opposing the bulk collection of people's phone records in the event of a terrorist attack? +p92 +aVGo ahead, sir. +p93 +aVGovernor Christie, make your point. +p94 +aVGo ahead, governor. +p95 +aVAlright. +p96 +aVAlright, we've gotta cut it off there. We have plenty more we want to get to. That was an interesting exchange, thank you for that. +p97 +aVWell, I want to move on, because I have -- we're gonna get to you, governor, but I -- I really wanna get to a Facebook questioner. His name is Alex Chalgren, and he has the following question: +p98 +aVSenator Cruz, I wanna talk to you about this, because many of the Facebook users and -- and -- the -- the folks on Facebook wanted the candidates to speak to +p99 +aVYou don't see it as... ...an ideological problem -- an ideological problem in addition to a military one? +p100 +aVGovernor Bush, for days on end in this campaign, you struggled to answer a question about whether knowing what we know now... +p101 +aV...we would've invaded Iraq... +p102 +aVI remember it too, and +p103 +aVGovernor Walker, in February you said that we needed to gain partners in the Arab world. Which Arab country not already in the U.S. led coalition has potential to be our greatest partner? +p104 +aVDr. Carson, in one of his first acts as commander in chief, President Obama signed an executive order banning enhanced interrogation techniques in fighting terror. As president, would you bring back water boarding? +p105 +aVWe have a lot for you, don't worry. Fear not, you may rue that request. +p106 +aVIt's just before 10:00 p.m. on the East Coast. Welcome back to Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, and the very first Republican primary debate of the 2016 presidential campaign. Ten candidates on the stage, selected based on their standing in five national polls. And tonight they are facing off, answering the questions you want asked. We hope. +p107 +aV Sounds like somebody's a little R-rated. +p108 +aVWell, the first debate night of the 2016 presidential campaign continues from Cleveland after a short time-out. Stick around. Social issues, next. +p109 +aVSenator Rubio, you favor a rape and incest exception to abortion bans. Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York just said yesterday those exceptions are preposterous. He said they discriminate against an entire class of human beings. If you believe that life begins at conception, as you say you do, how do you justify ending a life just because it begins violently, through no fault of the baby? +p110 +aVYou don't favor a rape and incest exception? +p111 +aVMr. Trump, in 1999, you said you were, quote, "very pro- choice." Even supporting partial-birth abortion. You favored an assault weapons ban as well. In 2004, you said in most cases you identified as a Democrat. Even in this campaign, your critics say you often sound more like a Democrat than a Republican, calling several of your opponents on the stage things like clowns and puppets. When did you actually become a Republican? +p112 +aVGovernor Bush, I want to ask you, on the subject of name calling of your fellow candidates, a story appeared today quoting an anonymous GOP donor who said you called Mr. Trump a clown, a buffoon, something else that cannot be repeated on television. +p113 +aVIs it true? +p114 +aVMr. Trump, 30 seconds. +p115 +aVThe subject of gay marriage and religious liberty. Governor Kasich, if you had a son or daughter who was gay or lesbian, how would you explain to them your opposition to same-sex marriage? +p116 +aVHow would you -- how would you explain it to a child? +p117 +aVSenator Paul, in the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling on same sex marriage, Carol Fox on Facebook want to know the following. Quote: what will you do to ensure Christians are not prosecuted for speaking out against gay marriage and will Christians be forced to conduct business that conflicts with their religious beliefs? +p118 +aVGovernor Walker, many in the Black Lives Matter movement, and beyond, believe that overly-aggressive police officers targeting young African Americans is the civil rights issue of our time. Do you agree? And if so, how do you plan to address it? And if not, why not? +p119 +aVThank you. +p120 +aVWe have to stand you by, because after the break, we're going to let the candidates make their closing statements, their final thoughts, and . . . God. Stay tuned for that. +p121 +aVWelcome back. In our final moments here together, we're going to allow the candidates to offer their final thoughts. But first, we want to ask them an interesting closing question from Chase Norton on Facebook, who wants to know this of the candidates: "I want to know if any of them have received a word from God on what they should do and take care of first." Senator Cruz, start from you. Any word from God? +p122 +aVGovernor Kasich, same question. +p123 +aVGovernor Walker, same question. +p124 +aVSenator Rubio, I want to ask you the same question. But I do want to mention, a woman just came here to the stage and asked, what about the veterans? I want to hear more about what these candidates are going to do for our nation's veterans. So I put the question to you about God and the veterans, which you may find to be related. +p125 +aVDr. Carson, a question to you about God and his role, but also, one of the issues that the public was very interested in, and we touched on it earlier, is race relations in this country, and how divided we seem right now. And what, if anything, you can do -- you would do as the next president to help heal that divide. +p126 +aVGovernor Christie? +p127 +aVSenator Ted Cruz. +p128 +aVGovernor Scott Walker. +p129 +aVIt's over! +p130 +aVAre you relieved? You were nervous before, they -- they don't look relieved. They look "get me outta here." Thank you all very much, and that will do it for the first Republican primary debate night of the 2016 presidential race. Our thanks to the candidates, who will now be joined by their families on stage. +p131 +asVRUBIO +p132 +(lp133 +VThank you Wolf. It's really amazing to be back in Las Vegas. I spent six years as a child growing not far from where we stand tonight. I use to sit on the porch of our home and listen to my grandfather tell stories as he smoked one of three daily cigars. One of the things my grandfather instilled in me, was that I was really blessed because I was a citizen of the greatest country in the history of our mankind. But there have always been people in American politics that wanted America to be more like the rest of the world. And In 2008, one of them was elected president of this country and the result has been a disaster. Today you have millions of Americans that feel left out and out of place in their own country, struggling to live paycheck to paycheck, called bigots because they hold on to traditional values. And around the world, America's influence has declined while this president has destroyed our military, our allies no longer trust us, and our adversaries no longer respect us. And that is why this election is so important. That is why I'm running for president. And that's why I'm going to ask you for your vote tonight. If you elect me president, we will have a president that believes America is the greatest country in the world and we will have a president that acts like it. +p134 +aVWell, I understand why they feel that way, because this president hasn't kept us safe. The problem is we had an attack in San Bernardino. And we were paying attention to the most important issue we have faced in a decade since 9/11, and then all the talk was about this proposal, which isn't going to happen. But this is what's important to do is we must deal frontally with this threat of radical Islamists, especially from +p135 +aVHe is and so are those that voted for it. There were some that voted for it because they wanted to keep it alive and they were afraid the whole program would expire. Here's the world we live in. This is a radical jihadist group that is increasingly sophisticated in its ability, for example, to radicalize American citizens, in its inability to exploit loopholes in our legal immigration system, in its ability to capture and hold territory in the Middle East, as I outlined earlier, in multiple countries. This is not just the most capable, it is the most sophisticated terror threat we have ever faced. We are now at a time when we need more tools, not less tools. And that took we lost, the metadata program, was a valuable tool that we no longer have at our disposal. +p136 +aVDana, may I interject here? +p137 +aVLet me be very careful when answering this, because I don't think national television in front of 15 million people is the place to discuss classified information. So let me just be very clear. There is nothing that we are allowed to do under this bill that we could not do before. This bill did, however, take away a valuable tool that allowed the National Security Agency and other law \u2014 and other intelligence agencies to quickly and rapidly access phone records and match them up with other phone records to see who terrorists have been calling. Because I promise you, the next time there is attack on \u2014 an attack on this country, the first thing people are going to want to know is, why didn't we know about it and why didn't we stop it? And the answer better not be because we didn't have access to records or information that would have allowed us to identify these killers before they attacked. +p138 +aVI want to thank Rand for another 30 seconds, because, number one, what he's pointing to is a bill last week that \u2014 amendment that he voted for that only 10 people voted for. You know why? Because it's not focused on terrorists. It would have banned anyone from coming here. Someone from Taiwan would not have been able to come here as a tourist. Number two, this program, this metadata program is actually more strict than what a regular law enforcement agency has now. If a regular law enforcement agency wants your phone records, all they have to do is issue a subpoena. But now the intelligence agency is not able to quickly gather records and look at them to see who these terrorists are calling. And the terrorists that attacked us in San Bernardino was an American citizen, born and raised in this country. And I bet you we wish we would have had access to five years of his records so we could see who he was working with... +p139 +aVDo I get another 30 seconds? He mentioned me. +p140 +aVWell, let me begin by saying that we have to understand who +p141 +aVThat is accurate. Three times he voted against the Defense Authorization Act, which is a bill that funds the troops. It also, by the way, funds the Iron Dome and other important programs. And I have to assume that if you vote against it in the Senate, you would also veto it as president. He has also supported, by the way, a budget that is called the containment budget. And it is a budget that would radically reduce the amount of money we spend on our military. You can't carpet bomb +p142 +aVYes, let me \u2014 three points of distinction. The first is, if you're an American citizen and you decide to join up with +p143 +aVWell, they most certainly will have to be worked on to provide more than what they are doing now. There's no doubt about it. And there's one \u2014 one major reason why they have not been willing to be a broader part of the coalition, and that is they have lost complete trust and confidence in this president. This president cut a deal with their moral enemy, the Shia, in Iran. And this is the reason why they no longer trust this president and are willing to work alongside them. But they have as much invested in this as we do. In fact, more so, for it is the king of Saudi Arabia they want to behead first. It's the king of Jordan that they want to dethrone. It's the \u2014 they want to go into Egypt the way they've already gone into Libya. And on another point that we need to talk about, Assad is one of the main reasons why +p144 +aVTo begin with, Moammar Gadhafi and the revolt against Gadhafi was not started by the United States. It was started by the Libyan people. And the reason why I argued we needed to get involved is because he was going to go one way or the other. And my argument then was proven true, and that is, the longer that civil war took, the more militias would be formed and the more unstable the country would be after the fact. As far as Moammar Gadhafi is concerned, by the way, Moammar Gadhafi is the man that killed those Americans over Lockerbie, Scotland. Moammar Gadhafi is also the man that bombed that cafe in Berlin and killed those Marines. And you want to know why Moammar Gadhafi started cooperating on his nuclear program? Because we got rid of Saddam Hussein. And so he got scared that he would be next, and that's why he started cooperating. Look, we will have to work around the world with less than ideal governments. The government in Saudi Arabia is not a democracy, but we will have to work with them. The government in Jordan is not perfect, but we will have to work with them. But anti-American dictators like Assad, who help Hezbollah, who helped get those IEDs into Iraq, if they go, I will not shed a tear. +p145 +aVYeah. Immigration is not an issue that I read about in the newspaper or watch a documentary on PBS or CNN. It's an issues I've lived around my whole life. My family are immigrants. My wife's family are immigrants. All of my neighbors are immigrants. I see every aspect of this problem. The good, the bad, and the ugly. And here's what we learned in 2013. The American people don't trust the Federal Government to enforce our immigration laws, and we will not be able to do anything on immigration until we first prove to the American people that illegal immigration is under control. And we can do that. We know what it takes to do that. It takes at least 20,000 more additional border agents. It takes completing those 700 miles of fencing. It takes a mandatory e-verify system and a mandatory entry/exit tracking system to prevent overstays. After we have done that, the second thing we have to do is reform and modernize the legal immigration system. And after we have done those two things, I think the American people are gonna be reasonable with what do you do with someone who has been in this country for 10 or 12 years who hasn't otherwise violated our laws \u2014 because if they're a criminal they can't stay. They'll have to undergo a background check, pay a fine, start paying taxes. And ultimately, they'll given a work permit and that's all they're gonna be allowed to have for at least 10 years. But you can't get to that third step until you have done the other two things, and that was the lesson we learned in 2013. There is no trust that the Federal Government will enforce the law. They will not support you until you see it done first. +p146 +aVBut I've answered that question repeatedly. I am personally open \u2014 after all that has happened and after ten years in that probationary status where all they have is a permit, I personally am open to allowing people to apply for a green card. That may not be a majority position in my party, but that's down the road. You can't even begin that process until you prove to people \u2014 not just pass a law that says you're gonna bring illegal immigration under control. You're gonna have to do it and prove to people that it's working. And that was the lesson of 2013. And it's more true today, than it was then. After a migratory crisis on the border with minors coming over that you're seeing start up again now, after all these executive orders the President has issued. More than ever we need to... +p147 +aV... prove to people that illegal immigration is under control. +p148 +aVYeah, a couple points. In 2013 we had never faced a crisis like the Syrian refugee crisis now. Up until that point, a refugee meant someone fleeing oppression, fleeing Communism like it is in my community. As far as Ted's record, I'm always puzzled by his attack on this issue. Ted, you support legalizing people who are in this country illegally. Ted Cruz supported a 500-percent increase in the number of H-1 visas, the guest workers that are allowed into this country, and Ted supports doubling the number of green cards. So I think what's important for us to understand and there is a way forward on this issue that we an bring our country together on. And while I'm president I will do it. And it will begin by bringing illegal immigration under control and proving to the American people. +p149 +aVNo, no, give him time. +p150 +aVTed, do you... +p151 +aVDid Ted Cruz fight to support legalizing people that are in this country illegally? +p152 +aVDoes Ted Cruz rule out ever legalizing people that are in this country now? +p153 +aVWould you rule it out? +p154 +aVWell, he's just admitted \u2014 as he's just admitted, the reason why those refugees were allowed in was because they messed up in how they used the actual database. They should have know. They didn't because they didn't run the actual law as it exists now. It didn't work well. As far as the refugees are concerned, it's not that America doesn't want to accept refugees, Wolf. It's that we may not be able to, because this is an issue we have to be 100 percent right on. If we allow 9,999 Syrian refugees into the United States, and all of them are good people, but we allow one person in who's an +p155 +aVI do. First, let's explain to people at home who the triad \u2014 what the triad is. Maybe a lot of people haven't heard that terminology before. The triad is our ability of the United States to conduct nuclear attacks using airplanes, using missiles launched from silos or from the ground, and also from our nuclear subs' ability to attack. And it's important \u2014 all three of them are critical. It gives us the ability at deterrence. Now, some have become more critical than others; for example, the submarines. And that's the Ohio Class submarine that needs to be modernized. The air component also needs to be modernized. The B-52, as someone earlier pointed out, is an outdated model that was flown by the grandparents of people that are flying it now. And we need a serious modernization program as well on our silo-launched missiles. All three are critical for the defense of the country. +p156 +aVThank you. As we near the end of this year, we enter one of the most important elections in a generation. For what's at stake in this election is not simply what party's going to be in charge. But our very identity as a people and as a nation. For over 200 years this has been a special country. A unique place where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything. But now millions of Americans feel like they're being left behind. Insecure in their future and unsafe in the face of terrorism. This election is about electing a president that will restore our economic vibrancy so that the American dream can expand to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And rebuild our Military and our intelligence programs so that we can remain the strongest nation on earth. Tonight I ask you for your vote. If you do this, we will rebuild this country, and together we will usher in a new American century \u2014 the greatest era in the history of this great land. +p157 +aVWell, let me begin by answering both the first question and this one, because they're related. As I've said many times before, my parents were never rich people. My father was a bartender. My mother was a maid. They worked for a living. But they were successful people, because, despite the fact that they weren't well educated and had those jobs, they made enough money to buy a home in a safe and stable neighborhood, retire with dignity, leave all four of their children better off than themselves. We call that the American dream, but in fact, it's a universal dream of a better life that people have all over the world. It is a reminder that every country in the world has rich people. What makes America special is that we have millions and millions of people that are not rich, that through hard work and perseverance are able to be successful. The problem is that today people are not successful working as hard as ever because the economy is not providing jobs that pay enough. If I thought that raising the minimum wage was the best way to help people increase their pay, I would be all for it, but it isn't. In the 20th century, it's a disaster. If you raise the minimum wage, you're going to make people more expensive than a machine. And that means all this automation that's replacing jobs and people right now is only going to be accelerated. Here's the best way to raise wages. Make America the best place in the world to start a business or expand an existing business, tax reform and regulatory reform, bring our debt under control, fully utilize our energy resources so we can reinvigorate manufacturing, repeal and replace Obamacare, and make higher education faster and easier to access, especially vocational training. For the life of me, I don't know why we have stigmatized vocational education. Welders make more money than philosophers. We need more welders and less philosophers. If we do that \u2014 and if we do this \u2014 if we do this, we will be able to increase wages for millions of Americans and we will be able to leave everyone better off without making anyone worse off. +p158 +aVWell, you know, that's an excellent question, because what we are going through in this country is not simply an economic downturn. We are living through a massive economic transformation. I mean, this economy is nothing like what it was like five years ago, not to mention 15 or 20 years ago. And it isn't just a different economy. It's changing faster than ever. You know, it took the telephone 75 years to reach 100 million users. It took Candy Crush one year to reach some 100 million users. So the world is changing faster than ever, and it is disruptive. Number one, we are in a global competition now, and several of the candidates have said that. There are now dozens of developed economies on this planet that we have to compete with. And we lose that competition because we have the highest business tax rate in the industrialized world, because we have regulations that continue to grow by the billions every single week, because we have a crazy health care law that discourages companies from hiring people, but because we're not fully utilizing our energy resources, that if we did, it would bring back all kinds of growth, especially in manufacturing, and because we have an outdated higher education system. Our higher education system is completely outdated. It is too expensive, too hard to access, and it doesn't teach 21st century skills. If we do what needs to be done \u2014 tax reform, regulatory reform, fully utilize our energy resources, repeal and replace Obamacare, and modernize higher education, then we can grasp the potential and the promise of this new economy. And we won't just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And then truly this new century can be a new American century. +p159 +aVThe most important job I'm ever going to have, the most important job anyone in this room will ever have, is the job of being a parent. Not the job of being president, or the job of being a senator, or the job of being a congressman. The most important job any of us will ever do is the job of being a president (sic), because the most important institution in society is the family. If the family breaks down, society breaks down. You can't have a strong nation without strong values, and no one is born with strong values. They have to be taught to you in strong families and reinforced in you in strong communities. And so when we set out to do tax reform, we endeavor to have a pro-family tax code, and we endeavor to do it because we know how difficult it is for families in the 21st century to afford the cost of living. It is expensive to raise children in the 21st century, and families that are raising children are raising the future taxpayers of the United States, and everything costs more. In 35 out of 50 states, child care costs more than college. There are millions of people watching this broadcast tonight that understand exactly what I'm talking about. They don't know how they're going to make that payment every month, and if they can't make it, they can't work, because someone needs to watch their kids during the day. They don't know how they're going to save for their kids' future, to go to college. And so, yes, I have a child tax credit increase, and I'm proud of it. I am proud that I have a pro-family tax code, because the pro- family tax plan I have will strengthen the most important institution in the \u2014 in the country, the family. +p160 +aVNow I get my 60 seconds to respond. He's talking about my tax plan. +p161 +aVSo let me begin with this. I actually believe \u2014 first of all, this is their money. They do pay. It is refundable, not just against the taxes they pay to the government, but also the \u2014 on their federal income tax, it's refundable against the payroll tax. Everyone pays payroll tax. This is their money. This is not our money. And here's what I don't understand \u2014 if you invest that money in a piece of equipment, if you invest that money in a business, you get to write it off your taxes. But if you invest it in your children, in the future of America and strengthening your family, we're not going to recognize that in our tax code? The family is the most important institution in society. And, yes... +p162 +aV... I do want to rebuild the American military. +p163 +aVI know that Rand is a committed isolationist. I'm not. I believe the world is a stronger and a better place, when the United States is the strongest military power in the world. +p164 +aVBecause... +p165 +aV...are you talking about the military, Rand? +p166 +aVWe can't even have an economy if we're not safe. There are radical jihadist in the Middle East beheading people and crucifying Christians. A radical Shia cleric in Iran trying to get a nuclear weapon, the Chinese taking over the South China Sea... ...Yes, I believe the world is a safer \u2014 no, no, I don't believe, I know that the world is a safer place when America is the strongest military power in the world. +p167 +aVYou know, if I may respond... +p168 +aVI need to add a couple of points to this. The first is, I've never met Vladimir Putin, but I know enough about him to know he is a gangster. He is basically an organized crime figure that runs a country, controls a $2 trillion economy. And is using to build up his military in a rapid way despite the fact his economy is a disaster. He understands only geopolitical strength. And every time he has acted anywhere in the world, whether it's in Ukraine or Georgia before that, or now in the Middle East, it's because he is trusting in weakness. His calculation in the Middle East is that he has seen what this president has done, which is nothing, the president has no strategy, our allies in the region do not trust us. For goodness sake, there is only one pro-American free enterprise democracy in the Middle East, it is the state of Israel. And we have a president that treats the prime minister of Israel with less respect than what he gives the ayatollah in Iran. And so our allies in the region don't trust us. Vladimir Putin is exploiting that weakness, for purposes of edging the Americans out as the most important geopolitical power broker in the region. And we do have a vested interest. And here's why. Because all those radical terrorist groups that, by the way, are not just in Syria and in Iraq, +p169 +aVCan I just add what \u2014 he's right on point there. Do you know why these banks are so big? The government made them big. The government made them big by adding thousands and thousands of pages of regulations. So the big banks, they have an army of lawyers, they have an army of compliance officers. They can deal with all these things. The small banks, like Governor Bush was saying, they can't deal with all these regulations. They can't deal with all \u2014 they cannot hire the fanciest law firm in Washington or the best lobbying firm to deal with all these regulations. And so the result is, the big banks get bigger, the small banks struggle to lend or even exist, and the result is what you have today. And in Dodd-Frank, you have actually codified too big to fail. We have actually created a category of systemically important institutions, and these banks go around bragging about it. You know what they say to people with a wink and a nod? We are so big, we are so important that if we get in trouble, the government has to bail us out. This is an outrage. We need to repeal Dodd-Frank as soon as possible. +p170 +aVWell, that's a great question, and let me begin by answering it. This election is about the future, about what kind of country this nation is gonna be in the 21st century. This next (ph) election is actually a generational choice. A choice about what kind of nation we will be in the 21st century. For over 2.5 centuries, America's been a special country, the one place on earth where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything, a nation that's been a force for good on this planet. But now, a growing number of Americans feel out of place in their own country. We have a society that stigmatizes those that hold cultural values that are traditional. We have a society where people \u2014 millions of people \u2014 are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, but they're living paycheck to paycheck because the economy has changed underneath their feet. We have young Americans who owe thousands of dollars in student loans for a degree that doesn't lead to a job. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses dying than starting, and around the world, every day brings news of a new humiliation for America \u2014 many the direct response \u2014 direct consequence of decisions made when Hillary Clinton was the secretary of the \u2014 of state. And so here's the truth: this election is about the future, and the Democratic Party, and the political left has no ideas about the future. All their ideas are the same, tired ideas of the past. More government, more spending. For every issue for America, their answer is a new tax on someone, and a new government program. This nation is going to turn the page, and that's what this election should be about, and, as I said at the first debate... ...If I am our nominee, they will be the party of the past, we will be the party of the 21st century. +p171 +aVOurs \u2014 the story of America is an extraordinary story. It is the story of a nation that for over two centuries each generation has left the next better off than themselves. But now, because Washington is out of touch, for the fault of both political parties, for the first time in our history, that is in doubt. And that is what this election must be about, because if the next four years are anything like the last eight years, our children will be the first Americans ever left worse off by their parents. This election is about making a different choice, about applying our principles of limited government and free enterprise to the unique issues of our time. And if we do, we will not just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And the 21st century can be a new American century. So tonight, I ask you for your vote and I ask you to join us at my website, marcorubio.com. +p172 +aVThank you for that question. I would begin by saying that I'm not sure it's a weakness, but I do believe that I share a sense of optimism for America's future that, today, is eroding from too many of our people. I think there's a sense in this country today that somehow our best days are behind us. And that doesn't have to be true. Our greatest days lie ahead if we are willing to do what it takes now. If we're willing to do what it takes now, the 21st century is going to be the new American century, greater than any other era we've had in the history of this great nation. +p173 +aVThat's an interesting question. That's exactly what the Republican establishment says too. Why don't you wait in line? Wait for what? This country is running out of time. We can't afford to have another four years like the last eight years. Watching this broadcast tonight are millions of people that are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, everything costs more, and they haven't had a raise in decades. You have small businesses in America that are struggling. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses closing than starting. We have a world that's out of control and has grown dangerous and a president that is weakening our military and making our foreign policy unstable and unreliable in the eyes of our allies. And our adversaries continue to grow stronger. We have a \u2014 they say there's no bipartisanship in Washington? We have a $19 trillion bipartisan debt and it continues to grow as we borrow money from countries that do not like us to pay for government we cannot afford. The time to act is now. The time to turn the page is now. If we \u2014 if we don't act now, we are going to be the first generation in American history that leaves our children worse off than ourselves. +p174 +aVLet me say, I read that editorial today with a great amusement. It's actually evidence of the bias that exists in the American media today. +p175 +aVLet me \u2014 let me answer your question on the Sun-Sentinel editorial today. Back in 2004, one of my predecessors to the Senate by the name of Bob Graham, a Democrat, ran for president missing over 30 percent of his votes. I don't recall them calling for his resignation \u2014 +p176 +aVLater that year, in 2004, John Kerry ran for president missing close to 60 to 70 percent of his votes. I don't recall the Sun \u2014 in fact, the Sun-Sentinel endorsed him. In 2008, Barack Obama missed 60 or 70 percent of his votes, and the same newspaper endorsed him again. So this is another example of the double standard that exists in this country between the mainstream media and the conservative movement. +p177 +aVI get to respond, right? +p178 +aVWell, it's interesting. Over the last few weeks, I've listened to Jeb as he walked around the country and said that you're modeling your campaign after John McCain, that you're going to launch a furious comeback the way he did, by fighting hard in New Hampshire and places like that, carrying your own bag at the airport. You know how many votes John McCain missed when he was carrying out that furious comeback that you're now modeling after? +p179 +aVNo Jeb, I don't remember \u2014 well, let me tell you. I don't remember you ever complaining about John McCain's vote record. The only reason why you're doing it now is because we're running for the same position, and someone has convinced you that attacking me is going to help you. +p180 +aVHere's the bottom line. I'm not \u2014 my campaign is going to be about the future of America, it's not going to be about attacking anyone else on this stage. I will continue to have tremendous admiration and respect for Governor Bush. I'm not running against Governor Bush, I'm not running against anyone on this stage. I'm running for president because there is no way we can elect Hillary Clinton to continue the policies of Barack Obama. +p181 +aVWell, you just \u2014 you just listed a litany of discredited attacks from Democrats and my political opponents, and I'm not gonna waste 60 seconds detailing them all. But I'm going to tell you the truth. Here's the truth. I didn't inherit any money. My dad was a bartender, my mother was a maid. They worked hard to provide us the chance at a better life. They didn't save enough money for us to go to school. I had to work my way through school. I had to borrow money to go to school. I tried (ph), early in my marriage, explaining to my wife why someone named Sallie Mae was taking $1,000 out of our bank account every month. I know what it's like to owe that money, and we've worked hard. We've worked hard our whole life to provide a better family \u2014 a better life for our family. We own a home four blocks away from the place that I grew up in. My four children have been able to receive a good Christian education, and I've been able to save for them to go to college so they never have to have the loans that I did. But I'm not worried about my finances, I'm worried about the finances of everyday Americans who today are struggling in an economy that is not producing good paying jobs while everything else costs more. And that's what this economy needs to \u2014 that's what this debate needs to be about. This debate needs to be about the men and women across this country that are struggling on a daily basis to provide for their families the better future that we've always said this country is all about. +p182 +aVAnd I used it to pay off my loans. And it's available on paperback, if you're interested in buying my book. +p183 +aVYeah, again, as I said, we're raising a family in the 21st century and it's one of the reasons why my tax plan is a pro- family tax plan. It increases the per child tax credit, because I didn't read about this in a book. I know for a fact how difficult it is to raise children, how expensive it's become for working families. And I make a lot more than the average American. Imagine how hard it is for these people out there that are making 40, 50, $60,000 a year, and they're trying to provide for their families at a time when this economy is not growing. We can't afford another four years of that. Which is what we're gonna get if we elect a big government liberal like Hillary Clinton to the White House. Thank you, senator. +p184 +aVWell, first of all, if a company gets caught doing that, they should never be able to use the program again. If you get caught abusing this program, you should never be able to use it again. The second thing I said is we need to add reforms, not just increase the numbers, but add reforms. For example, before you hire anyone from abroad, you should have to advertise that job for 180 days. You also have to prove that you're going to pay these people more than you would pay someone else, so that you're not undercutting it by bringing in cheap labor. But here's the best solution of all. We need to get back to training people in this country to do the jobs of the 21st century. Why, for the life of me, I do not understand why did we stop doing vocational education in America, people that can work with their hands; people you can train to do this work while they're still in high school so they can graduate ready to go work. But the best way to close this gap is to modernize higher education so Americans have the skills for those jobs. But in the interim, in the absence of that, what's happening is some of these tech companies are taking those \u2014 those centers (ph) to Canada because they can get people to go over there instead of here. But the ideal scenario is to train Americans to do the work so we don't have to rely on people from abroad. +p185 +aVWell, I believe that there are abuses, those companies should be permanently barred from ever using the program again and we should put strict standards in place to ensure that they're not being abused, like the prevailing wage requirement and like the advertising requirement. +p186 +aVSince I've been mentioned, can I respond? +p187 +aVOK. I know the Democrats have the ultimate SuperPac. It's called the mainstream media who every single day... ... and I'll tell you why. Last week, Hillary Clinton went before a committee. She admitted she had sent e-mails to her family saying, "Hey, this attack at Benghazi was caused by Al Qaida-like elements." She spent over a week telling the families of those victims and the American people that it was because of a video. And yet the mainstream media is going around saying it was the greatest week in Hillary Clinton's campaign. It was the week she got exposed as a liar. It was the week that she got exposed as a liar... But she has her super PAC helping her out, the American mainstream media. +p188 +aVNo, that's \u2014 you're wrong. In fact, the largest after- tax gains is for the people at the lower end of the tax spectrum under my plan. And there's a bunch of things my tax plan does to help them. Number one, you have people in this country that... +p189 +aV...you wrote a story on it, and you had to go back and correct it. +p190 +aVYou did. No, you did. +p191 +aVWell, you're talking about \u2014 yeah. +p192 +aVYeah, but that \u2014 because the math is, if you \u2014 5 percent of a million is a lot more than 5 percent of a thousand. So yeah, someone who makes more money... +p193 +aV...numerically, it's gonna be higher. But the greatest gains, percentage-wise, for people, are gonna be at the lower end of our plan, and here's why: because in addition to a general personal exemption, we are increasing the per-child tax credit for working families. We are lowering taxes on small business. You know, a lot of business activity in America is conducted like the guy that does my dry cleaning. He's an S corporation. He pays on his personal rate, and he is paying higher than the big dry-cleaning chain down the street, because he's paying at his personal rate. Under my plan, no business, big or small, will pay more than 25 percent flat rate on their business income. That is a dramatic tax decrease for hard-working people who run their own businesses. +p194 +aV...The other thing I'd like to make about our plan, one more point, it is the most pro growth tax plan that I can imagine because it doesn't tax investments at all. You know why? Because the more you tax something, the less of it you get. I want to be in \u2014 I want America to be the best... +p195 +aV...in the world for people... +p196 +aVI was mentioned in the question. +p197 +aVThank you. Well, I've learned the rules on this. Look, in addition to what Donald was saying is we also need to talk about the legal immigration system for permanent residents. Today, we have a legal immigration system for permanent residency that is largely based on whether or not you have a relative living here. And that's the way my parents came legally in 1956. But in 2015, we have a very different economy. Our legal immigration system from now on has to be merit-based. It has to be based on what skills you have, what you can contribute economically, and most important of all, on whether or not you're coming here to become an American, not just live in America, but be an American. +p198 +aVNo. No. What I said was that I think that Dr. Carson's ideas are good ideas. They're not my ideas, and I don't necessarily agree with all of them. But this is what you're seeing in the Republican debate that you didn't see in that Democrat debate. You didn't see it for a minute. You didn't see these kind of ideas being batted around, and being batted around in a way that's civil and smart and that's trying to help to inform the voter out there. What you saw was a parade of, "I'll give you this for free; I'll give you that for free." Let me tell you, everybody, when they say they want to give it to you for free, keep your hands on your wallets because they're coming to you to pay for it. And that's why I think these ideas up here are great, and that's what we should have is have more discussions like this and less gotcha. +p199 +aVI want to take off from that point and argue the same thing. And that is that one of the things you're watching tonight are 11 quality candidates debating an important issue. The Republican Party is blessed to have 11 good candidates, 10 good candidates. The Democrats can't even come up with one. And on this issue of the Medicare in particular, it's important because they're going to demagogue what we're saying here tonight. Everyone up here tonight that's talking about reforms, I think and I know for myself I speak to this, we're all talking about reforms for future generations. Nothing has to change for current beneficiaries. My mother is on Medicare and Social Security. I'm against anything that's bad for my mother. So, we're talking about \u2014 we're talking about reform for people like me and people like Senator Cruz, as he talked about earlier, who are years away from retirement that have a way to plan for these changes, and way that's very reasonable. And it's not too much to ask of our generation after everything our parents and our grandparents did for us. +p200 +aVYou know, America doesn't owe me anything. I have a debt to America I'll never repay. This isn't just the country I was born in, this is the nation that literally changed the history of my family. My parents in this country were able to give me the chance to do all the things they never did. We call that the American Dream, although, it's built on the universal dream of a better life. The fact that it's happened for so many people here throughout our history, that's what makes us special. But, now for millions of Americans, it's slipping away. And, we have a government and leaders in government that are completely out of touch, and that's why I'm running for president. Because we can't just save the American Dream, we can expand it to reach more people, and change more lives than ever before. And, that's why tonight I'm asking you for your vote. +p201 +aVThank you. My name is Marco Rubio. I'm from Florida. My wife Jeanette and I are the proud \u2014 we've been married 17 years, and we're the proud parents of four children, two of whom were able to join us here this evening. I'm honored to be here at the Reagan Library, at a place that honors the legacy of a man who inspired not just my interest in public service, but also our love for country. And I'm also aware that California has a drought, and so that's why I made sure I brought my own water. +p202 +aVWell, first of all, I have an understanding of exactly what it is Russia and Putin are doing, and it's pretty straightforward. He wants to reposition Russia, once again, as a geopolitical force. He himself said that the destruction of the Soviet Union \u2014 the fall of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century, and now he's trying to reverse that. He's trying to destroy +p203 +aVLet me tell you \u2014 I will tell you we have zero responsibility, because let's remember what the president said. He said the attack he would conduct would be a pinprick. Well, the United States military was not build to conduct pinprick attacks. If the United States military is going to be engaged by a commander-in-chief, it should only be engaged in an endeavor to win. And we're not going to authorize use of force if you're not put in a position where they can win. And quite frankly, people don't trust this president as commander-in-chief because of that. +p204 +aVHold on, a second, Jake, he asked me, as well. I'd like to actually... +p205 +aV... respond. I think I'm the first senator. The No. 1 test for use of military force should be the vital national security interest of the United States. The reason why I opposed President Obama bombing Syria, is because he couldn't answer the question what do you do if chemical weapons end up in the hands of radical Islamic terrorists like al-Nusra, like Al Qaida, like +p206 +aVIn the middle of negotiating this treaty, Khamenei led the assembled masses in chanting, death to America. I'm reminded of a great editorial cartoon. It shows the Ayatollah Khamenei saying, "Death to all Americans," and then it shows John Kerry coming back, saying, "Can we meet ya half way?" We need a commander-in-chief who will stand up and protect this country. And I'll tell you, I can't wait to stand on that debate stage with Hillary Clinton and to make abundantly clear if you vote for Hillary, you are voting for the Ayatollah Khomeini to possess a nuclear weapon and if you elect me as president, under no circumstances will a theocratic ayatollah who chants death to America ever be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon. +p207 +aVMs. Dana, I agree that English is the unifying language of our country, and everyone should learn to speak it. It's important. I want to tell you a story about someone that didn't speak English that well. It was my grandfather; he came to this country in the 1960s, as a \u2014 escaping Cuba. And he lived with us, growing up. And my grandfather loved America. He understood what was so special about this country. He loved Ronald Reagan; he would be very proud of the fact that we're here this evening. My grandfather instilled in me the belief that I was blessed to live in the one society in all of human history where even I, the son of a bartender and a maid, could aspire to have anything, and be anything that I was willing to work hard to achieve. But he taught me that in Spanish, because it was the language he was most comfortable in. And he became a conservative, even though he got his news in Spanish. And so, I do give interviews in Spanish, and here's why \u2014 because I believe that free enterprise and limited government is the best way to help people who are trying to achieve upward mobility. And if they get their news in Spanish, I want them to hear that directly from me. Not from a translator at Univision. +p208 +aVWell, let me say that legal immigration is not an issue I read about in the newspaper. Immigration, illegal immigration, all the good aspects of immigration and all the negative ones as well, I live with. My family's immigrants. My neighbors are all immigrants. My in-laws are all immigrants. So I've seen every aspect of it, and I can tell you America doesn't have one immigration problem, it has three. First, despite the fact that we are the most generous country in the history of the world in allowing people to come here legally, we have people still coming illegally. Second, we have a legal immigration system that no longer works. It primary is built on the basis of whether you have a relative living here instead of merit. And third, we have 11 million or 12 million people, many of whom have been here for longer than a decade who are already here illegally. And we must deal with all three of these problems. We cannot deal with all three of these problems in one massive piece of legislation. I learned that. We tried it that way. Here's the way forward: First, we must \u2014 we must secure our border, the physical border, with \u2014 with a wall, absolutely. But we also need to have an entry/exit tracking system. 40 percent of the people who come here illegally come legally, and then they overstay the visa. We also need a mandatory e-verify system. After we've done that, step two would be to modernize our legal immigration system so you come to America on the basis of what you can contribute economically, not whether or not simply you have a relative living here. And after we've done those two things, I believe the American people... +p209 +aV... will be very reasonable and responsible about what you do with someone who's been here and isn't a criminal. If you're a criminal, obviously, you will not be able to stay. +p210 +aVYes, well, it does. But it's in the following way, this is an important question. I think if you're running for president, these are important issues, because look at around the world today. There is a lunatic in North Korea with dozens of nuclear weapons and long-range rocket that can already hit the very place in which we stand tonight. The Chinese are rapidly expanding their military. They hack into our computers. They're building artificial islands in the South China Sea, the most important shipping lane in the world. A gangster in Moscow is not just threatening Europe, he's threatening to destroy and divide +p211 +aVWell, that's why we have a debate. I think that we should have a deeper debate about these issues, because there is no more important decision that a president will make. +p212 +aVWell, you should ask him questions in detail about the foreign policy issues our president will confront, because you had better be able to lead our country on the first day. Not six months from now, not a year from now, on the first day in office, our president could very well confront a national security crisis. You can't predict it. Sometimes you cannot control it. And it is the most \u2014 the federal government does all kinds of things it's not supposed to be doing. It regulates bathrooms. It regulates schools that belong to local communities. But the one thing that the federal government must do, the one thing that only the federal government can do is keep us safe. And a president better be up-to-date on those issues on his first day in office, on her first day in office. +p213 +aVTrust (ph) me, I get that. OK. +p214 +aVI never get to addressed, and... +p215 +aV...and when I do, I'm gonna jump in. +p216 +aVYeah. He did. Let me \u2014 I'm proud to serve in the United States Senate. You know, when I ran five years ago, the entire leadership of my party in Washington lined up against me. But I'm glad I won. And I'm glad that I ran, because this country's headed in the wrong direction. And if we keep electing the same people, nothing is going to change. And you're right, I have missed some votes, and I'll tell you why, Mr. Trump. Because in my years in the Senate, I've figured out very quickly that the political establishment in Washington, D.C. in both political parties is completely out of touch with the lives of our people. You have millions of people in this country living paycheck to paycheck, and nothing is being done about it. We are about to leave our children with $18 trillion in \u2014 in \u2014 in debt, and they're about to raise the debt limit again. We have a world that grows increasingly dangerous, and we are eviscerating our military spending and signing deals with Iran. And these \u2014 if this thing continues, we are going to be the first Americans to leave our children worse off than ourselves. That's why I'm missing votes. Because I am leaving the Senate, I'm not running for re-election, and I'm running for president because I know this: unless we have the right president, we cannot make America fulfill its potential, but with the right person in office, the 21st century can be the greatest era that our nation has ever known. +p217 +aVI want to go even deeper \u2014 and I want to go even deeper in that direction, because I think the belief that somehow by retreating, America makes the world safer has been disproven every single time it's ever been tried. Syria's a perfect example of it. The uprising in Syria was not started by the United States; it was started by the Syrian people. And I warned at the time \u2014 this was three and a half years ago \u2014 I openly and repeatedly warned that if we did not find moderate elements on the ground that we could equip and arm, that void would be filled by radical jihadists. Well, the president didn't listen, the administration didn't follow through, and that's exactly what happened. That is why +p218 +aV... as you asked earlier today. +p219 +aVBut radical terrorism cannot be solved by intellect. It cannot \u2014 they require \u2014 what they need, is they need an operating space. That's what Afghanistan was for Al Qaida. It was a vacuum that they filled, and they created an operating space. That's why they had to be drawn out of there. That's why they had to be destroyed. It is the reason why +p220 +aVThere's a broader issue here, Hugh. And there's a broader issue here as well. First of all, the only people that follow the law are law-abiding people. Criminals by definition ignore the law, so you can pass all the gun laws in the world, like the left wants. The criminals are going to ignore it because they are criminals. Here's the real issue. The real issue \u2014 the real issue is not what are people using to commit violence, but why are they committing the violence? And here's the truth: Because you cannot separate the social, moral wellbeing of your people from their economic and other wellbeing. You cannot separate it. You can't have a strong country without strong people, you cannot have strong people without strong values, and you cannot have strong values without strong families and the institutions in this country that defend and support those families. +p221 +aVWell, and today, we have a left-wing government under this president that is undermining all of the institutions and society that support the family and teach those values. +p222 +aVBecause we're not going to destroy our economy the way the left-wing government that we are under now wants to do. We're not going to... +p223 +aVWell, and I don't \u2014 he may have lined up with their positions on this issue. But here is the bottom line. Every proposal they put forward are going to be proposals that will make it harder to do business in America, that will make it harder to create jobs in America. Single parents are already struggling across this country to provide for their families. Maybe a billionaire here in California can afford an increase in their utility rates, but a working family in Tampa, Florida, or anywhere across this country cannot afford it. So we are not going to destroy our economy. We are not going to make America a harder place to create jobs in order to pursue policies that will do absolutely nothing, nothing to change our climate, to change our weather, because America is a lot of things, the greatest country in the world, absolutely. But America is not a planet. And we are not even the largest carbon producer anymore, China is. And they're drilling a hole and digging anywhere in the world that they can get a hold of. So the bottom line is, I am not in favor of any policies that make America a harder place for people to live, or to work, or to raise their families. +p224 +aVJake, you mentioned me and called me a denier. Let me say, climate change... +p225 +aVOK. A skeptic. You can measure the climate. You can measure it. That's not the issue we're discussing. Here is what I'm skeptical of. I'm skeptical of the decisions that the left wants us to make, because I know the impact those are going to have and they're all going to be on our economy. They will not do a thing to lower the rise of the sea. They will not do a thing to cure the drought here in California. But what they will do is they will make America a more expensive place to create jobs. And today with millions of people watching this broadcast that are struggling paycheck to paycheck that do not know how they're going to pay their bills at the end of this month, I'm not in favor of anything that is going to make it harder for them to raise their family. +p226 +aVSenator Rubio, you mean? +p227 +aVI know we all look alike. +p228 +aVThe \u2014 Rosa Parks, an everyday American that changed the course of history. +p229 +aVWell, there are some people in Florida upset at me over a joke I made about Florida State, but, what the heck, I want my codename to be Gator. +p230 +aVOne of the things that made Ronald Reagan a great president, is that he understood that America was a unique nation, like any other that had existed throughout human history. He knew it was founded on universal principles that were powerful, the dignity of all people, human rights, the rights of all to live in freedom and liberty, and choose their own path in life. He didn't just believe it, he acted on it. That's why bringing down communism was so important to him. If I'm honored with the opportunity to be president, I hope that our Air Force One will fly, first and foremost, to our allies; in Israel, in South Korea, and Japan. They know we stand with them. That America can be counted on. It would also fly to China, not just to meet with our enemies, not just to meet with those adversaries of ours that are there, but also to meet with those that aspire to freedom and liberty within China. I would even invite them to my inauguration. We would also fly into Moscow and into Russia. And not just meet with the leaders of Russia, but also meet with those who aspire to freedom and liberty in Russia. And ultimately, I hope that my Air Force One, if I become president, will one day land in a free Cuba, where its people can choose its leaders and its own destiny. +p231 +aVWell, thank you for the question, Chris, and it's great to be here tonight. Let me begin by saying this: I'm not new to the political process; I was making a contribution as the speaker of the third largest and most diverse state in the country well before I even got into the Senate. I would add to that that this election cannot be a resume competition. It's important to be qualified, but if this election is a resume competition, then Hillary Clinton's gonna be the next president, because she's been in office and in government longer than anybody else running here tonight. Here's what this election better be about: This election better be about the future, not the past. It better be about the issues our nation and the world is facing today, not simply the issues we once faced. This country is facing an economy that has been radically transformed. You know, the largest retailer in the country and the world today, Amazon, doesn't even own a single store? And these changes have been disruptive. They have changed people's lives. The jobs that once sustained our middle class, they either don't pay enough or they are gone, and we need someone that understands that as our nominee. If I'm our nominee, how is Hillary Clinton gonna lecture me about living paycheck to paycheck? I was raised paycheck to paycheck. How is she -- how is she gonna lecture me -- how is she gonna lecture me about student loans? I owed over $100,000 just four years ago. If I'm our nominee, we will be the party of the future. +p232 +aVLet me set the record straight on a couple of things. The first is, the evidence is now clear that the majority of people coming across the border are not from Mexico. They're coming from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras. Those countries are the source of the people that are now coming in its majority. I also believe we need a fence. The problem is if El Chapo builds a tunnel under the fence, we have to be able to deal with that too. And that's why you need an e-verify system and you need an entry-exit tracking system and all sorts of other things to prevent illegal immigration. But I agree with what Governor Kasich just said. People are frustrated. This is the most generous country in the world when it comes to immigration. There are a million people a year who legally immigrate to the United States, and people feel like we're being taken advantage of. We feel like despite our generosity, we're being taken advantage of. And let me tell you who never gets talked about in these debates. The people that call my office, who have been waiting for 15 years to come to the United States. And they've paid their fees, and they hired a lawyer, and they can't get in. And they're wondering, maybe they should come illegally. And so these are important issues, and we should address it. It's a serious problem that needs to be addressed, and otherwise we're going to keep talking about this for the next 30 years, like we have for the last 30 years. +p233 +aVNot me. +p234 +aVActually, to be clear......he supported Charlie Crist. +p235 +aVHey, Charlie... +p236 +aVWell, first off, I too believe in curriculum reform. It is critically important in the 21st Century. We do need curriculum reform. And it should happen at the state and local level. That's. . . that's. . . that is where educational policy belongs, because if a parent is unhappy with what their child is being taught in school, they can go to that local school board or their state legislature, or their governor and get it changed. Here's the problem with Common Core. The Department of Education, like every federal agency, will never be satisfied. They will not stop with it being a suggestion. They will turn it into a mandate. In fact, what they will begin to say to local communities is, you will not get federal money unless do you things the way we want you to do it. And they will use Common Core or any other requirements that exists nationally to force it down the throats of our people in our states. +p237 +aVThat's a great question. +p238 +aVThat's a great question. First of all, it begins by having leaders that recognize that the economy we live in today is dramatically different from the one we had five years ago. It's an economy that now has placed us in global competition with dozens of other countries around the world. Now, the big companies that have connections with Washington, they can affect policies to help them, but the small companies like the one Tania is talking about, they're the ones that are struggling. The first thing we need to do is we need to even out the tax code for small businesses so that we lower their tax rate to 25 percent, just as we need to lower it for all businesses. We need to have a regulatory budget in America that limits the amount of regulations on our economy. We need to repeal and replace Obamacare and we need to improve higher education so that people can have access to the skills they need for 21st century jobs. And last but not least, we need to repeal Dodd-Frank. It is eviscerating small businesses and small banks. 20 \u2014 over 40 percent of small and mid-size banks that loan money to small businesses have been wiped out over the \u2014 since Dodd-Frank has passed. We need to repeal and replace Dodd-Frank. We need to make America fair again for all businesses, but especially those being run by small business owners. +p239 +aVWell, Megyn, first of all, I'm not sure that that's a correct assessment of my record. I would go on to add that I believe all-- +p240 +aVI have never said that. And I have never advocated that. What I have advocated is that we pass law in this country that says all human life at every stage of its development is worthy of protection. In fact, I think that law already exists. It is called the Constitution of the United States. And let me go further. I believe that every single human being is entitled to the protection of our laws, whether they can vote or not. Whether they can speak or not. Whether they can hire a lawyer or not. Whether they have a birth certificate or not. And I think future generations will look back at this history of our country and call us barbarians for murdering millions of babies who we never gave them a chance to live. +p241 +aVWell, first, let me say I think God has blessed us. He has blessed the Republican Party with some very good candidates. The Democrats can't even find one. And I believe God has blessed our country. This country has been extraordinarily blessed. And we have honored that blessing. And that's why God has continued to bless us. And he has blessed us with young men and women willing to risk their lives and sometimes die in uniform for the safety and security of our people. Unfortunately today we have a VA that does not do enough for them. I am proud that last year we helped change the law. We changed the law to give the power to the VA secretary the ability to fire any executive that isn't doing their job. And it is outrageous they've only fired one person to date. When I'm president of the United States, we're going to have a VA that cares more about our veterans than about the bureaucrats who work at the VA. +p242 +aVThank you. You know, both of my parents were born into poor families on the island of Cuba. They came to America because it was the only place where people like them could have a chance. Here in this country, they never made it big, but the very purpose of their life was to give us the chance to do all the things they never could. My father was a bartender. And the journey from the back of that bar to this stage tonight, to me, that is the essence of the American dream. It is what makes our nation different. And I'm running for president because I want that to still be possible for the people trying to do that now. I run for president because I believe that we can't just save the American dream; we can expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And that's why I'm asking for your vote. So we can make America greater than it has ever been. And make of this century a new American century. +p243 +asVKASICH +p244 +(lp245 +VThank you, Wolf. Just last weekend, just last week, a friend asked one of my daughters, "Do you like politics?" And my daughter said, "No, I don't. And the reason I don't like it is because there's too much fighting, too much yelling. It's so loud, I don't like it." You know, I turned to my friend and I said, "You know, she's really on to something." And when we think about our country and the big issues that we face in this country; creating jobs, making sure people can keep their jobs, the need for rising wages, whether our children when they graduate from college can find a job, protecting the homeland, destroying +p246 +aVWell, first of all, Wolf, I said last February that we needed to have people on the ground, troops on the ground in a coalition similar to what we had in the first Gulf War. I remember when the Egyptian ambassador to the United States stood in the Rose Garden and pledged Arab commitment to removing Saddam Hussein from Kuwait. Before we came out here tonight, I am told that the Saudis have organized 34 countries who want to join in the battle against terrorism. First and foremost, we need to go and destroy +p247 +aVNo, I don't think it is. And I want to go back to two other issues. One is the metadata. We know we have to hold this data for a longer period of time. And, you know, in a lot of ways, Chris is right. Look, what a president has to do is take a position. We don't want to err on the side of having less. We want to err on the side of having more. That's good for our families. In addition to that, Wolf, there is a big problem. It's called encryption. And the people in San Bernardino were communicating with people who the FBI had been watching. But because their phone was encrypted, because the intelligence officials could not see who they were talking to, it was lost. We have to solve the encryption problem. It is not easy. A president of the United States, again, has to bring people together, have a position. We need to be able to penetrate these people when they are involved in these plots and these plans. And we have to give the local authorities the ability to penetrate to disrupt. That's what we need to do. Encryption is a major problem, and Congress has got to deal with this and so does the president to keep us safe. +p248 +aVYeah, let me \u2014 let me just suggest to everybody, and I hear \u2014 last February, I said we needed to have people on the ground in a coalition with Europe and our allies. This is not going to get done just by working with the Sunnis. And it is not going to get done if we just embed a few people. We have to go massively, like we did in the first Gulf War where we destroyed Saddam's ability to take Kuwait. We need to have a coalition that will stand for nothing less than the total destruction of +p249 +aVI don't understand this thing about Assad. He has to go. Assad is aligned with Iran and Russia. The one thing we want to prevent is we want to prevent Iran being able to extend a Shia crescent all across the Middle East. Assad has got to go. And there are moderates there. There are moderates in Syria who we should be supporting. I do not support a civil war. I don't want to be policeman of the world. But we can't back off of this. And let me tell you, at the end, the Saudis have agreed to put together a coalition inside of Syria to stabilize that country. +p250 +aVHe must go. It will be a blow to Iran and Russia. +p251 +aVThe foreign policy, you have to know how to pick and choose. There's no way, if Saddam had not had weapons of mass destruction, I would have gone, because I don't believe that the U.S. should be involved directly in civil wars. I opposed the U.S. involvement in Lebanon. We ended up having to withdraw our marines after our barracks were blown up. There is a difference between Iraq, where you have Sunni, Shia, and Kurds put together after the First World War by the Western powers. It doesn't work. It needs to break up into three parts. And for the Russians, frankly, it's time that we punched the Russians in the nose. They've gotten away with too much in this world and we need to stand up against them, not just there, but also in Eastern Europe where they threaten some of our most precious allies. +p252 +aVIt sounds more and more what my daughter said that I said in the beginning, all the fighting and arguing is not advancing us. +p253 +aVIt is not the way we're going to strengthen our country. We will strengthen our country when we come together. And, look, you've got Rand Paul, you've got Ted Cruz, you've got Marco, you've got a lot of people on this stage that have studied these issues. You know what a leader does? A leader has a sound program, has a good policy, and then brings people together to solve problems. Guess what? Both in Congress in balancing the budget and in Ohio fixing the economy \u2014 and, by the way, we talk about the fence. The first thing we better get going is strengthening our economy, because if we don't have a strong economy, we can't pay for all of this. And the world wants us to be able to function from strength, believe it or not. Get our economy going, get these people together in a room. We can fix this, ladies and gentlemen. We don't have to fight all the time. It can be done, and we will be great... +p254 +aV... when we join together. Thank you, Hugh. +p255 +aVYou know, obviously, as president of the United States, we've got to keep the people safe. That's first and foremost. But as governor of Ohio, I have an obligation to keep the 11.5 million people in Ohio safe. And we have been very effective with our Joint Terrorism Task Force, being able to make busts. In fact, we just made one three-four weeks ago against a person who was favorable to +p256 +aVNo Republican has ever been elected president of the United States without winning Ohio. Let me give you a little tip on how you win Ohio, it's reform, it's hope, it's growth, it's opportunity, and it's security. The people of Ohio are the people of America. The people of America are reflected in Ohio. Our message has to be big, and bold, and positive, and connect, not just with people's heads but also connect with their hearts. If we do it, we will beat Hillary Clinton, and we will run the White House, and we will strengthen and fix America, I promise you. +p257 +aVFirst of all, let me just say that, in the state of Ohio \u2014 and I'm the only acting executive on \u2014 on this stage today \u2014 we do have a moderate increase in the minimum wage. And I got to tell you, my father carried mail on his back. His father was a coal miner. He died of black lung. He was losing his eyesight. My mother's mother lived with us. She could barely speak English. I come from a town where if the wind blew the wrong way, people found themselves out of work. An economic theory is fine, but you know what? People need help. Now, I have a plan that, in fact, would cut taxes, but not $11 trillion or $12 trillion that would put my children further in debt. I have a plan that would not only cut taxes, lower the income tax rate for individuals, lower the tax for businesses so businesses will compete here and not move operations overseas, and also a plan \u2014 the only plan of anybody standing on this stage to get us to a balanced budget by the end of a second term. And, you know, the simple fact of the matter is, we hear a lot of promises in this debate, a lot of promises about these tax cuts or tax schemes sometimes that I call them. Hillary and the Democrats promise everything on the spending side. We've got to be responsible about what we propose on the tax side. Yes, lower taxes, lower spending. My website, JohnKasich.com, will show you exactly how we balance the budget. I balanced the budget in Washington as a chief architect, and I have balanced it in Ohio for one reason. When you balance the budget and you cut taxes, people get work. And our most important moral purpose as leaders in the political system is to make sure we create an environment for job creation so people can live their dreams and realize their God-given potential. That's why it's so important. And for those at the bottom, we've got to do what we can to train them so they can move up. But to just look the other way is not acceptable, because, you know what, as the governor of Ohio I have to deal with real challenges, and we've gotten it done in our state, and I will do it for America. +p258 +aVSure. We would move the Medicare system from a 7 percent growth down to about a 5 percent growth. And I have a whole series of ways to do that. In Ohio, we reduced Medicaid funding for the poor from 10 percent to 2.5 percent, didn't cut one benefit or didn't take anybody off the rolls. Why? Because we're innovators. I've been an innovator my entire career. And I really don't care what special interests or lobbyists have to say. I have a job to do when I take over a public office. Now, we freeze non-defense discretionary for eight years. We also put an increase in defense spending. Our tax cuts balance out. And at the end of the day, we will get to a balanced budget. And I want everybody here to know, when I was Budget Committee chairman in Washington, I stepped on every toe in that town, and we got to a balanced budget, and we had enormous job growth. And as governor of Ohio, we went from 350,000 lost jobs to a gain of 347,000 jobs. +p259 +aVI'll do it in Washington. I've done it twice; I'll do it thrice for the United States of America. +p260 +aVExcuse me. +p261 +aVYeah, I would like to make a comment. +p262 +aVI appreciate it, Jeb. I'm all of you. But I want at some point to talk about a value-added tax and $11 trillion, $12 trillion tax cuts that will put our kids way deeper in the hole than they have been at this point. So I would like to talk about it at some point, because that's what leadership is. +p263 +aVMaria, can we comment on that? +p264 +aVCan we comment on that? +p265 +aVWell, look, in 1986 Ronald Reagan basically said the people who were here, if they were law-abiding, could stay. But, what didn't happen is we didn't build the walls effectively and we didn't control the border. We need to. We need to control our border just like people have to control who goes in and out of their house. But if people think that we are going to ship 11 million people who are law-abiding, who are in this country, and somehow pick them up at their house and ship them out of Mexico \u2014 to Mexico, think about the families. Think about the children. So, you know what the answer really is? If they have been law- abiding, they pay a penalty. They get to stay. We protect the wall. Anybody else comes over, they go back. But for the 11 million people, come on, folks. We all know you can't pick them up and ship them across, back across the border. It's a silly argument. It is not an adult argument. It makes no sense. +p266 +aVJerry, Gerald, it was an attack. +p267 +aVIn the state of Ohio, the state of Ohio, we have grown 347,000 jobs. Our unemployment is half of what it was. Our fracking industry, energy industry may have contributed 20,000, but if Mr. Trump understood that the real jobs come in the downstream, not in the upstream, but in the downstream. And that's where we're going to get our jobs. But Ohio is diversified. And little false little things, sir, they don't really work when it comes to the truth. So the fact is, all I'm suggesting, we can't ship 11 million people out of this country. Children would be terrified, and it will not work. +p268 +aV...Mr. Baker, everybody got to talk about taxes... +p269 +aV...I think you were coming to me and then... +p270 +aV...Look, I hate to crash the party to you, Mr. Baker, but, you know, what's fair... +p271 +aV...Yes, sir... +p272 +aVLet me tell you this, Mr. Baker, in terms of the cyber attacks, we have the capability to not only have a defensive posture, but it also to make it clear to people that if you attack us with cyber attacks, we will destroy the mechanisms that you are using to attack us. I want to give you a little trip around the world. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years. In the Ukraine, arm the people there so they can fight for themselves. In the eastern part of Europe, make sure that Finland and the Baltics know that if the Russians move, we move. In Syria, yes, a no-fly zone in the north on the Turkish border, a no-fly zone on the south on the Jordanian border. Anybody flies in the first time, maybe they can fly out. They fly in there a second time, they will not fly out. And it also becomes a sanctuary for the people to be. And it also sends many messages in the Middle East that we're still involved. Saudi Arabia, cut off the funding for the radical clerics, the ones that preach against us. But they're fundamentally our friends. Jordan, we want the king to reign for 1,000 years. Egypt, they have been our ally and a moderating force in the Middle East throughout their history. In the groups \u2014 in the countries of the Gulf states of Bahrain, the Cleveland Clinic is opening an operation. Clearly we see the same with them. And in Israel, we have no better ally in the world, and no more criticizing them in public, we should support them. And finally China, China doesn't own the South China Sea, and I give the president some credit for being able to move a naval force in there to let the Chinese know that we're not going to put up with it any more. And in the trade agreement, the TPP, it's critical to us, not only for economic reasons and for jobs, because there are so many people who are connected to getting jobs because of trade, but it allows us to create not only economy alliances, but also potentially strategic alliances against the Chinese. They are not our enemy, but they are certainly not our friend. And finally, I will say to everyone in this room, we have been talking about taxes and economics. When the fall comes, and we run against Hillary, which will be a disaster if she got elected. I have two 16-year-old girls, and I want this country to be strong. We make promises we can't keep under the bright light of the fall, we will have trouble. We must make sure that economic programs and our military programs are solid. I served in Washington as the chairman of the Budget Committee, and we got the budget balanced. And in Ohio, as the CEO, and guess what, we have got to have a CEO mentality and a way to beat Hillary Clinton and the Democracies in the fall. And our ideas have to add up. They have to be solid. And people have to know we have the confidence to lead America. And as president, I will lead this country, as I have before in Washington and in Ohio, and will return both on domestic and international affairs. And I appreciate the opportunity to speak this time, Gerry. +p273 +aVLet me \u2014 let me also say, Gary \u2014 Gary, let me also say, Jeb is \u2014 what Jeb is talking about with the big banks is to force them to reserve their capital, people who invest it and they hold their capital, so that if the bank goes down, the people who are invested in the bank are the ones that pay. That's what he's trying to say. Secondly, I'll tell you about Wall Street: There's too much greed. And the fact is, a free enterprise system is a system that's produced the greatest wealth for the world. But you know Michael Novak, the great Catholic theologian, says that a free enterprise system that is not underlaid with values \u2014 and we should all think about the way we conduct our lives \u2014 yes, free enterprise is great, profits are great, but there have to be some values that underlay it, and they need a good ethics lesson on Wall Street on a regular basis to keep them in check so we, the people, do not lose. +p274 +aVNeil, that's the difference of being an executive. And let me just explain: when a bank is ready to go under and depositors are getting ready to lose their life savings, you just don't say we believe in philosophical concerns. You know what an executive has to decide? When there's a water crisis, how do we get water to the city? When there's a school shooting, how do you get there and help heal a community? When there are financial crisis, or a crisis with ebola, you got to go there and try to fix it. Philosophy doesn't work when you run something. And I gotta tell you, on-the-job training for president of the United States doesn't work. We've done it for 8 years, \u2014 and almost 8 years now. It does not work. We need an executive who's been tried, has been tested, and judge the decisions that that executive makes. I don't like what the Fed is doing, but I'll tell you what worries me more than anything else: turning the Fed over to the Congress of the United States... +p275 +aV...so they can print the money. That would be a very bad approach. +p276 +aVI wouldn't. I wouldn't. +p277 +aVNo. No, I didn't say that. +p278 +aVThey were \u2014 they were talking about what you would do with depositors. Would you let these banks shut down? My argument is, going forward, the banks have to reserve the capital, so that the \u2014 so that the people who own the capital start pressuring the banks to not take these risky approaches, Ted. But at the end of the day... +p279 +aV... I'm gonna tell you this. Let me tell you this. If during \u2014 if during... +p280 +aV...because if during \u2014 well, I'll tell you what (ph). +p281 +aVAs an executive \u2014 no. As an executive, I would figure out how to separate those people who can afford it versus those people, or the hard-working folks who put those money in those institutions...... let me \u2014 no, no. Let me say another thing. Here's what I mean by that. Here's what I mean by that. +p282 +aVWhen you are faced \u2014 when you are faced, in the last financial crisis, with banks going under \u2014 with banks going under, and people, people who put their \u2014 their life savings in there, you got to deal with it. You can't turn a blind eye to it. Now, going forward, that's one thing. If you had another financial crisis, perhaps there would be an effort to make sure that we do (ph). +p283 +aVWell, ladies and gentlemen, if Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders were to win this election, my 16-year-olds, I \u2014 I worry about what their life is going to be like. You know, the conservative movement is all about opportunity. It is about lower taxes. It's about balanced budgets. It's about less regulation. And it's about sending power, money and influence back to where we live so we can run America from the bottom up. In addition to that, once we have the power and the money and the influence with programs we shift out, that each of us have a responsibility to reach out and to rebuild our families, make them stronger, and connect our neighborhoods. All that together \u2014 wealth, connection, family \u2014 America's greatest days are ahead. We must win this election. +p284 +aVGood question, but I want to tell you, my great concern is that we are on the verge, perhaps, of picking someone who cannot do this job. I've watched to see people say that we should dismantle Medicare and Medicaid and leave the senior citizens out \u2014 out in the \u2014 in the cold. I've heard them talk about deporting 10 or 11 \u2014 people here from this country out of this country, splitting families. I've heard about tax schemes that don't add up, that put our kids in \u2014 in a deeper hole than they are today. We need somebody who can lead. We need somebody who can balance budgets, cut taxes... +p285 +aVYou know, frankly, I did it in Washington, in Ohio, and I will do it again in Washington, if I'm president, to get this country moving again. +p286 +aVcountry moving again. +p287 +aVListen, I want to just comment. +p288 +aVWell I want to comment on this. This is the fantasy... +p289 +aVThis is the fantasy that I talked about in the beginning. +p290 +aVI'm the only person on this stage that actually was involved in the chief architect of balancing the Federal Budget. You can't do it with empty promised. You know, these plans would put us trillions and trillions of dollars in debt. I actually have a plan. I'm the only one on this stage that has a plan that would create jobs, cut taxes, balance the budget and can get it done because I'm realistic. You just don't make promises like this. Why don't we just give a chicken in every pot, while we're, you know, coming up \u2014 coming up with these fantasy tax schemes. We'll just clean it up. Where are you gonna clean it up? You have to deal with entitlements, you have to be in a position to control discretionary spending. You gotta be creative and imaginative. Now, let me just be clear, John. I went into Ohio where we had an $8 billion hole and now we have a $2 billion surplus. We're up 347,000 jobs. When I was in Washington, I fought to get the budget balanced. I was the architect. It was the first time we did it since man walked on the moon. We cut taxes and we had a $5 trillion projected surplus when I left. That's was hard work. Fiscal discipline, know what you're doing. Creativity. This stuff is fantasy. Just like getting rid of Medicare and Medicaid. Come on, that's just not \u2014 you scare senior citizens with that. It's not responsible. +p291 +aVWell, I mean right here. To talk about we're just gonna have a 10 percent tithe and that's how we're gonna fund the government? And we're going to just fix everything with waste, fraud, and abuse? Or that we're just going to be great? Or we're going to ship 10 million Americans \u2014 or 10 million people out of this country, leaving their children here in this country and dividing families? Folks, we've got to wake up. We cannot elect somebody that doesn't know how to do the job. You have got to pick somebody who has experience, somebody that has the know-how, the discipline. And I spent my entire lifetime balancing federal budgets, growing jobs, the same in Ohio. And I will go back to Washington with my plan. +p292 +aVAnd I will have done it within 100 days, and it will pass. And we will be strong again. Thank you. +p293 +aVLet me just \u2014 let me respond. First of all, Ohio does have an energy industry, but we're diversified. We're one of the fastest growing states in the country. We came back from the dead. And you know what? It works very, very well. And secondly, when you talk about me being on the board of Lehman Brothers, I wasn't on the board of Lehman Brothers. I was a banker and I was proud of it. And I traveled the country and learned how people made jobs. We ought to have politicians who not only have government experience but know how the CEOs and the job creators work. My state is doing great across the board. And guess what, in 2011, I got a deal... +p294 +aV... an agreement with the... +p295 +aV... that he tried to take credit for four years later. It's a joke. +p296 +aVJohn Harwood, there's a bigger issue here. +p297 +aVWell, first of all, when we talk about the Import Export Bank, it's time to clean up corporate welfare. If we're gonna reform welfare for poor people, we ought to reform it for rich people, as well. Secondly, in our state, we went from a loss of 350,000 jobs to, now, a gain of 347,000 jobs to the positive. Our wages are growing faster than the national average, and I've cut taxes more than any sitting governor in this state \u2014 $5 billion, including no taxes on small business and killing the death tax. I want to go back to what we were talking about earlier, this budget deal in Washington. This is the same old stuff since I left. You spend the money today and then you hope you're going to save money tomorrow. I don't know if people understand, but I spent a lifetime with my colleagues getting us to a federal balanced budget. We actually did it. And I have a road map and a plan right now to get us to balance. Reforming entitlements, cutting taxes. You see, because if you really want to get to a balanced budget, you need to reduce your expenses and you need to grow your economy. So what I will tell you about our incentives \u2014 our incentives are tight, and at the end of the day we make sure that we gain more from the creation of jobs than what we lose. And you know what? Ohio, one of the best growing places in the country \u2014 I not only did it in Washington, I did it in Ohio, and I'll go back to Washington, and there will be no more silly deals... +p298 +aV... If I become President because we'll have a Constitutional Amendment to require a federally balanced budget so they will do their job. +p299 +aVWell, first of all, we're running a $2 billion dollar surplus, we're not having a revenue problem right now. And, sending mixed signals to kids about drugs is a disaster. Drugs is one of the greatest scourge in this country, and I spent five years of my administration working with my team to do a whole sort of things to try to reign in the problem of overdoses, and it goes on and on. We could do a whole show on that. I want to go back for a second thought on this issue of income inequality. My program would move the 104 programs of the federal Department of Education into four block grants, and send them back to the states because income inequality is driven by a lack of skills when kids don't get what they need to be able to compete and win in this country. The fact is, in order to get this economy moving again, I call for freezing regulations for a year except for the problem of public safety. I believe that we need to cut these taxes down, we need to be on a roadmap to balancing the budget, and we need to send power, money, and influence, the welfare department, the education department, job training, infrastructure, Medicaid, all of that out of Washington back to the states so we can run these programs from where we live to the top, not a one size fits all mentality that they have in Washington. And, that will get to the nub of opportunity for our children, and an ability to see wages rise. Again... +p300 +aV...One more time, in Ohio, our wages are growing faster than the national average. We've cut taxes, balanced budgets, changed the regulatory environment. Folks, you want to \u2014 +p301 +aV\u2014 fix America, this is the formula. It worked for Reagan and it works for our team in Ohio. Thank you. +p302 +aVJohn. +p303 +aVI wanna tell you, in my state, we took Medicaid, the hardest program to control, and we took it from a 10 percent growth rate to 2.5 percent without taking one person off the rolls or cutting one single benefit. And so much of what we did \u2014 to force competition, to use technology, to stand down the special interest groups \u2014 can you imagine taking Medicaid from 10 to 2.5 percent? We can take many of those same procedures, we can apply it to Medicare. We can make a stronger program. But I agree with Jeb, you can't just do this by growing the economy. You can't grow your way out of demographics. But we can give people better health care. And finally, on health care, why don't we start treating \u2014 keep giving... +p304 +aV...incentives for people to keep people healthy, rather than giving the incentives to treat them when they're sick? +p305 +aVI was on morning Joe at a town hall and a young student stood up and said, "Can I still be idealistic?" I said, absolutely, you can still change the world. And, you know the old inscription, if you save one life, you've changed the world. Folks, we have a problem here with the leadership in Washington, but I'll tell you another problem. We need to rebuild our families. We need to have stronger families. We need to know who our neighbors are. We need to come together as a country because we have to realize that America is great, not from the top-down. Oh yeah, we want to elect a good president, but America is great from the bottom-up, and the bottom-up is us in our families, in our communities, in our neighborhoods. We will renew America if we work together, and I am totally confident that we will. And God bless America. +p306 +aVHello, I'm John Kasich, the Governor of Ohio. Emma, and Reese, my children, and Karen, love 'ya girls. Thanks for watching tonight. By the way, I think I actually flew on this plane with Ronald Reagan when I was a congressman, and his goals, and mine, really much \u2014 are pretty much the same. Lift Americans, unify, give hope, grow America, and restore it is to that great, shining city on a hill. Yes, he was a great one, and I learned much from watching him. The most important thing, hope to Americans, unify, lift everyone in America. +p307 +aVJake, Jake. +p308 +aVListen, you know, I \u2014 if I were sitting at home and watch thing back and forth, I would be inclined to turn it off. I mean, people at home want to know across this country, they want to know what we're going to do to fix this place, how we'll balance a budget, how we're going to create more economic growth, how we'll pay down the debt. What we're going to do to strengthen the military. So, we just spent 10 minutes here... +p309 +aVBut \u2014 but wait a minute. It's a lot of ad hogshead. Now, I know that it may be buzzing out there, but I think it's important we get to the issues, because that's what people want, and they don't want all this fighting. +p310 +aV...Yeah, well... +p311 +aVWell, let me just say this. First of all, I think it's a bad agreement, I would never have done it. But, you know, a lot of our problems in the world today is that we don't have the relationship with our allies. If we want to go everywhere alone, we will not have the strength as (ph) if we could rebuild with our allies. Now, this agreement, we don't know what's going to happen in 18 months. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years. I've seen lots of issues in foreign affairs, and foreign \u2014 in terms of global politics, you have to be steady. Now, here's the \u2014 if they cheat, we slap the sanctions back on. If they help Hamas, and Hezbollah, we slap the sanctions back on. And, if we find out that they may be developing a nuclear weapon, than the military option is on the table. We are stronger when we work with the Western civilization, our friends in Europe, and just doing it on our own I don't think is the right policy. +p312 +aVNo, no, no. I want to \u2014 I want to \u2014 I want to say something about what the senator just said. +p313 +aVNo one is \u2014 no \u2014 let me \u2014 let me suggest to you we believe that we operate better in the world when our allies work with us. President Bush did it in the Gulf War. We work better when we are unified. Secondly, nobody's trusting Iran. They violate the deal, we put on the sanctions, and we have the high moral ground to talk to our allies in Europe to get them to go with us. If they don't go with us, we slap the sanctions on anyway. If they fund these radical groups that threaten Israel and all of the West, then we should rip up the deal and put the sanctions back on. And let me make it clear \u2014 let me make it clear... +p314 +aV... if we think \u2014 if we think they're getting close to a \u2014 to developing a nuclear weapon and we get that information, you better believe that I would do everything in my power as the commander-in-chief to stop them having a nuclear weapon. +p315 +aVWe can have it, and we can have our allies, and we can be strong as a country, and we can project across this globe with unity, not just doing it alone. That is not what gets us where we want to get as a nation. +p316 +aVWell, I agree that we should defund Planned Parenthood. I don't know many people in America who don't think that we should, and in my state, we're trying to figure out how to get it done, because we are threatened with the federal government taking all of our Medicaid money away. I think there is a way to get this done by giving governors the ability to be able to act to defund Planned Parenthood. But when (ph) it comes to closing down the federal government, you gotta be very careful about that. When we shut the government down \u2014 if we have a chance at success and it's a great principle, yes. The president of the United States is not going to sign this, and all we're gonna do is shut the government down, and then we're gonna open up \u2014 open it up, and the American people are gonna shake their heads and say, "what's the story with these Republicans?" So I think there is a way to get to cutting off the funding for Planned Parenthood. I was in the Congress for 18 years, balanced the budget, cut taxes, got it done. Changed welfare, went around the president to get welfare reform done. There are ways to do it without having to shut the government down, but I'm sympathetic to the fact that we don't want this organization to get funding, and the money ought to be reprogrammed for family planning in other organizations that don't support this tactic. But I would not be for shutting the government down... +p317 +aV...because I don't think it's going to work out. +p318 +aVWe're not \u2014 what I can tell you is this. We didn't surrender in New Jersey, six years ago, as the brand new first ever pro-life governor of New Jersey since Roe versus Wade, I defended Planned Parenthood. And I've vetoed Planned Parenthood funding, now, eight times in New Jersey. Since the day I walked in as governor, Planned Parenthood has not been funded in New Jersey. We stood up and every one of those vetoes has been sustained. But here's the problem, we're \u2014 we're fighting with each other up here. We agree. Let's ask Hillary Clinton. She believes in the systematic murder of children in the womb to preserve their body parts... +p319 +aV...Dana, in a way that maximizes their value for sale for profit. It is disgusting, and the American people need to hear it... +p320 +aV...we shouldn't be fighting with each other. She's the real opponent, she's the real problem. +p321 +aVI'll tell you what \u2014 I'll tell you what I'd be willing to fight for. I'll tell you what I'd be willing to fight for. Why will (ph) we put tax reform on the president's desk, so we can simplify this tax system? +p322 +aVNo, no, it's really important, Dana. We got to talk about what we would be willing to shut down for. Why don't we put tax reform on this president's desk, and make him veto it if that's what he wants to do? Why haven't we repealed and replaced Obamacare? Make him veto if that's what he wants to do. +p323 +aVThere's a \u2014 +p324 +aVJake \u2014 +p325 +aVOK, Jake. +p326 +aVI don't at this point in terms of changing the incentives for investment and risk-taking. But let's just stop for a second. There's one person on this stage that does have a record. I'm the only person on the stage and one of the few people in this country that led the effort as the chief architect of the last time we balanced the federal budget. We also cut taxes. And when I left Washington in 2000, we had a $5 trillion surplus, and the economy was booming. I had spent 10 years of my life to get us to that point, went out in the private sector, was a great experience, and went into Ohio and took an $8 billion hole and turned it into a $2 billion surplus. We've had the largest amount of tax cuts of any sitting governor. We've grown well over 300,000 jobs. You see, I've done it in both places. I'm the only one here that has done it in both places. It took a lot to get us to a balanced budget. It was legitimate. It was real. And we negotiated it. A lot of what we're talking about here tonight as we take this position and that position, you know what? At the end of the day, America has got to work. We've got to figure out how we come together to deal with this \u2014 with our fiscal problems because when we deal with that, we create a stronger economy for everybody. People have a chance to rise. So, you know, when we think about how we make a choice, it's the person that lands that plane. It's not somebody that talks about it. It's about the person who has done it. And I've done it in... +p327 +aV... both places. And I did it including people in the other party. And that's how we were successful. +p328 +aVAnd that's how I will be president, using that experience to drive this country forward. Thank you. +p329 +aVWell, look, people still have to get to know me, so I want to spend my time talking about my experience reforming welfare, balancing budgets, cutting taxes, providing economic growth when I was in Washington, turning Ohio around. Eight billion in the hole, $2 billion surplus, up over 300,000 jobs, big tax cuts, strengthening our credit. All those things matter but, you know, as a young man in my first election in 1978, I defeated an incumbent Democrat. I defeated an incumbent Democrat in 1982; running on the Reagan program, I was the only Republican in America to defeat an incumbent Democrat that year. And then, when I won for election of governor, I was the first Republican to defeat an incumbent in 36 years, and the first person to have never run statewide out of politics for 10 years to beat an incumbent. That hadn't happened for 96 years. So, we'll get to the point where we'll talk about Hillary Clinton, or whoever the nominee is, record. But right now, I want to give people sense of hope, sense of purpose, a sense of unity, sense that we can do it. So... +p330 +aVYou know, at the end of the day, I'm going to continue to talk about my record, because there is, did you ever notice when people run for office, they run for president, they make a lot of promises, they don't keep them. +p331 +aVI don't intend to do that, and I going to be out there pushing it out \u2014 don't worry about me and Hillary. That will all work out, and I'm from Ohio. She will not beat me there, I can promise you that. +p332 +aVCan I just \u2014 can I \u2014 Jake, can I just make one point on this whole military discussion? +p333 +aVI called for boots on the ground many months ago in a coalition with our friends who share our interest. You know, you win a battle with the military, and when we go somewhere, we need to be mobile, and lethal. We need to take care of business, and we need to come home. But, we face, also, a bigger war \u2014 and you win the bigger war with the battle of ideas. You wonder why young people, and educated people, rich people, schooled people, have tried to join +p334 +aV...to make (ph) centers (ph) of justice so that we can battle the radicals, call them out for what they are, and make sure that all of our people feel fulfilled in living in Western civilization... +p335 +aV...This is a giant battle in the world today... +p336 +aVWell, it's probably not, maybe, legal, but, I would pick Mother Theresa, the lady that I had a chance to meet, a woman who lived a life so much bigger than her own. An inspiration to everyone when we think about our responsibility to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. +p337 +aVWell, I have one now \u2014 they (ph) call me, "Unit One". My wife says, "You'll never be Unite One, I'm Unite One. You're Unit Two." +p338 +aVWell, as president, I will make this a nation that will solve problems. And how? By having the elected officials and the leaders realize they're Americans before they're Republicans or Democrats. I did it in Washington. And I've done it in Ohio by having the elected officials realize that they're Ohioans before anything else. Secondly, I will rebuild the relationships and show the respect to our allies around the world. We have no choice but to do that. We will be stronger when we are unified. And we'll fight for freedom and for human rights. And finally, a little bit of what Carly said. The people that are out there listening, America was never great because we ran America from the top down. America is great because we have run America from the bottom up, where we all live in the neighborhoods. One more time in America, we need to revive the concept of citizenship, where everybody's actions make a huge difference in changing the world. We have a Holocaust memorial on our state house grounds. And there is one line on there that stands out all the time. "If you've saved one life, you've changed the world." We need to adopt that as citizens and rebuild and reinspire our country. Thank you. +p339 +aVWell, first of all... ...first of all, Megyn, you should know that -- that President Reagan expanded Medicaid three or four times. Secondly, I had an opportunity to bring resources back to Ohio to do what? To treat the mentally ill. Ten thousand of them sit in our prisons. It costs $22,500 a year... ...to keep them in prison. I'd rather get them their medication so they could lead a decent life. Secondly, we are rehabbing the drug-addicted. Eighty percent of the people in our prisons have addictions or problems. We now treat them in the prisons, release them in the community and the recidivism rate is 10 percent and everybody across this country knows that the tsunami of drugs is -- is threatening their very families. So we're treating them and getting them on their feet. And, finally, the working poor, instead of them having come into the emergency rooms where it costs more, where they're sicker and we end up paying, we brought a program in here to make sure that people could get on their feet. And do you know what? Everybody has a right to their God-given purpose. And finally, our Medicaid is growing at one of the lowest rates in the country. And, finally, we went from $8 billion in the hole to $2 billion in the black. We've cut $5 billion in taxes... ...and we've grown 350,000 jobs. +p340 +aVChris, first of all, I was just saying to Chris Christie, they say we're outspoken, we need to take lessons from Donald Trump if we're really going to learn it. Here is the thing about Donald Trump. Donald Trump is hitting a nerve in this country. He is. He's hitting a nerve. People are frustrated. They're fed up. They don't think the government is working for them. And for people who want to just tune him out, they're making a mistake. Now, he's got his solutions. Some of us have other solutions. You know, look, I balanced the federal budget as one of the chief architects when I was in Washington. Hasn't been done since. I was a military reformer. I took the state of Ohio from an $8 billion hole and a 350,000 job loss to a $2 billion surplus and a gain of 350,000 jobs. +p341 +aVBut the point is that we all have solutions. Mr. Trump is touching a nerve because people want the wall to be built. They want to see an end to illegal immigration. They want to see it, and we all do. But we all have different ways of getting there. And you're going to hear from all of us tonight about what our ideas are. +p342 +aVDonald, if you... +p343 +aV-- this campaign, I hope you will give to me. +p344 +aVOK. +p345 +aVLet's start off with my father being a mailman. So I understand the concerns of all the folks across this country, some of whom have trouble, you know, making ends meet. But I think she will come in a narrow way. The nominee of this party, if they're going to win, has got to come at it in a big way, which is pro-growth. Which is balancing budgets. You know, we were talking about it. People were saying, could we do it? I was the chairman of the Budget Committee and the lead architect the last time it happened in Washington, and when we did it we had great economic growth, we cut taxes, and we had a big surplus. Economic growth is the key. Economic growth is the key to everything. But once you have economic growth, it is important that we reach out to people who live in the shadows, the people who don't seem to ever think that they get a fair deal. And that includes people in our minority community; that includes people who feel as though they don't have a chance to move up. You know, America is a miracle country. And we have to restore the sense that the "Amiracle" will apply to you. Each and every one of the people in this country who's watching tonight, lift everybody, unite everybody and build a stronger United States of America again. It will be and can be done. +p346 +aVWell, look, I'm an old-fashioned person here, and I happen to believe in traditional marriage. But I've also said the court has ruled -- +p347 +aVWait, Megyn, the court has ruled, and I said we'll accept it. And guess what, I just went to a wedding of a friend of mine who happens to be gay. Because somebody doesn't think the way I do, doesn't mean that I can't care about them or can't love them. So if one of my daughters happened to be that, of course I would love them and I would accept them. Because you know what? That's what we're taught when we have strong faith. So the issues like that, issues like that are planted to divide us. I think the simple fact of the matter is, and this is where I would agree with Jeb, and I've been saying it all along, we need to give everybody a chance, treat everybody with respect, and let them share in this great American dream that we have, Megan. So, look, I'm going to love my daughters, I'm going to love them no matter what they do. Because, you know what, God gives me unconditional love. I'm going to give it to my family and my friends and the people around me. +p348 +aVWell, Megyn, my father was a mailman. His father was a coal miner. My mother's mother could barely speak English. And their son today stands on this podium in the great state of Ohio not only as the governor, but a candidate for president of the United States. I do believe in miracles. You know, I've had a lot of elections. But my elections are really not about campaigns. I tell my people that these are about a movement. And a movement to do what? To restore common sense. A movement to do things like provide economic growth. And a movement not to let anybody be behind. You know, today the country is divided. You asked a question about the police and the difficulty in communities. We've got to unite our country again, because we're stronger when we are united and we are weaker when we are divided. And we've got to listen to other people's voices, respect them, but keep in mind, and I believe in terms of the things that I've read in my lifetime, the Lord'is not picking us. But because of how we respect human rights, because that we are a good force in the world, he wants America to be strong. He wants America to succeed. And he wants America to lead. And nothing is more important to me than my family, my faith, and my friends. +p349 +aVYou know, tonight we hear about what people want to do. I want to tell you what I've done. I was a member of the Armed Services Committee for 18 years. I spent a big chunk of my life studying national security issues and our role in the world. No. 2. I was the chairman of the House Budget Committee and one of the chief architects the last time we balanced a budget, and it was the first time we had done it since man walked on the moon. We had a $5 trillion surplus and we cut taxes. I spent ten years in the private sector, actually learning how business works. And now I'm the governor of Ohio, and I inherited a state that was on the brink of dying. And we turned it all around with jobs and balanced budgets and rising credit and tax cuts, and the state is unified, and people have hope again in Ohio. +p350 +asVQUICK +p351 +(lp352 +VGentlemen \u2014 we'll \u2014 we'll get back to this \u2014 just a minute \u2014 just a minute we're gonna continue this. I wanna talk taxes... +p353 +aVDr. Carson, let's talk about taxes. You have a flat tax plan of 10 percent flat taxes, and \u2014 I've looked at it \u2014 and this is something that is very appealing to a lot of voters, but I've had a really tough time trying to make the math work on this. If you were to took a 10 percent tax, with the numbers right now in total personal income, you're gonna come in with bring in $1.5 trillion. That is less than half of what we bring in right now. And by the way, it's gonna leave us in a $2 trillion hole. So what analysis got you to the point where you think this will work? +p354 +aVI \u2014 I understand that, but if you \u2014 if you look at the numbers you probably have to get to 28. +p355 +aV15 percent still leaves you with a $1.1 trillion hole. +p356 +aVYou'd have to cut \u2014 you'd have to cut government about 40 percent to make it work with a $1.1 trillion hole. +p357 +aVThat is true, I looked at the numbers. +p358 +aVDr. Carson, thank you. +p359 +aVGovernor... +p360 +aVDr. Carson, let me get 30 seconds with Dr. Carson... +p361 +aVThank you. +p362 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, thank you. +p363 +aVGentlemen, I'm sorry, we need to... +p364 +aVWe're going to move on. +p365 +aVThirty seconds. +p366 +aVWe'll get to everyone. Ms. Fiorina, I \u2014 I'd like to ask you a question. You are running for president of the United States because of your record running Hewlett-Packard. But the stock market is usually a fair indicator of the performance of a CEO, and the market was not kind to you. Someone who invested a dollar in your company the day you took office had lost half of the dollar by the day you left. Obviously, you've talked in the past about what a difficult time it was for technology companies, but anybody who was following the market knows that your stock was a much worse performer, if you looked at your competitors, if you looked at the overall market. I just wonder, in terms of all of that \u2014 you know, we look back, your board fired you. I just wondered why you think we should hire you now. +p367 +aVMrs. Fiorina, it's interesting that you bring up Mr. Perkins, because... ...he said a lot of very questionable things. Last year, in an interview, he said that he thinks wealthy people should get more votes than poor people. I think his quote was that, "if you pay zero dollars in taxes, you should get zero votes. If you pay a million dollars, you should get a million votes." Is this the type of person you want defending you? +p368 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p369 +aVThank you, we're out of time. Thank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Carl. +p370 +aVGovernor Christie, I'd like to a question next. Actually, I have a question for you . In your tell it like it is campaign, you've said a lot of tough things. You've said that we need to raise the retirement age for Social Security. You think that we need to cut benefits for people who make over $80,000 and eliminate them entirely for seniors who are making over $200,000. Governor Huckabee, who is here on the stage, has said that you and others who think this way are trying to rob seniors of the benefits that they've earned. It raises the question: When it is acceptable to break a social compact? +p371 +aV...Governor... +p372 +aV...Thank you. +p373 +aVWelcome back to the presidential debate for the Republicans. We are live in Boulder, Colorado, right here on +p374 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. +p375 +aVSenator Rubio, you yourself have said that you've had issues. You have a lack of bookkeeping skills. You accidentally inter-mingled campaign money with your personal money. You faced (ph) foreclosure on a second home that you bought. And just last year, you liquidated a $68,000 retirement fund. That's something that cost you thousands of dollars in taxes and penalties. In terms of all of that, it raises the question whether you have the maturity and wisdom to lead this $17 trillion economy. What do you say? +p376 +aVSenator, I understand all of that. I had a lot of student loans when I got out, too. But you've had a windfall that a lot of Americans haven't. You made over a million dollars on a book deal, and some of these problems came after that. +p377 +aVBut you \u2014 but you liquidated that retirement account after the fact, and that cost you about $24,000 out of that in taxes and feed. That \u2014 that was after you'd already come into that windfall. That's why I raised the question. +p378 +aVYes, thank you John. Senator Cruz, working women in this country still earn just 77 percent of what men earn. And I know that you've said you've been very sympathetic to our cause. But you've also you said that the Democrats' moves to try and change this are the political show votes. I just wonder what you would do as President to try and help in this cause? +p379 +aVMrs. Fiorina \u2014 +p380 +aVMrs. Fiorina, we will come back to you. +p381 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Carl? +p382 +aVMr. Trump, let's stay on this issue of immigration. You have been very critical of Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook who has wanted to increase the number of these H1Bs. +p383 +aVSo you're in favor of... +p384 +aVWhere did I read this and come up with this that you were... +p385 +aVYou know, Mr. \u2014 you know, Mr. Trump, if I may . You've been \u2014 you have been \u2014 you had talked a little bit about Marco Rubio. I think you called him Mark Zuckerberg's personal senator because he was in favor of the H1B. +p386 +aVSo this was an erroneous article the whole way around? +p387 +aVMy apologies. I'm sorry. +p388 +aVYes, you can. +p389 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you very much. I would like to introduce my colleague, Rick Santelli, he has some comments as well, sir. +p390 +aVRick, thank you very much. Governor Huckabee, you have railed against income inequality. You've said that some Wall Street executives should have gone to jail over the roles that they played during the financial crisis. Apart from your tax plan, are there specific steps you would require from corporate America to try and reduce the income inequality. +p391 +aVGovernor? +p392 +aVGovernor? +p393 +aVThank you. +p394 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee. +p395 +aVHow about 15 more seconds? +p396 +aVGovernor? +p397 +aVGovernor, I'm sorry... +p398 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p399 +aVGovernor, thank you. Appreciate it. John? +p400 +aVIt's at the moderator discretion. +p401 +aVWelcome back to the University of Colorado and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p402 +aVThank you, sir. +p403 +aVYou were. You get 30 seconds. +p404 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Carl? +p405 +aVHigher education is the example... +p406 +aVI want to go back, if I can, to the issue of... +p407 +aVI want to go back, if I may, to the... +p408 +aVSenator Paul, among the leading conservative opponents to the creation of Medicare back in the 1960s was Ronald Reagan. He warned that it would lead to socialism. Considering the mounting cost of Medicare, was he right to oppose it? +p409 +aVSenator, thank you. [ +p410 +aVWelcome back to Boulder, Colorado and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p411 +aVThank you, Governor. +p412 +aVGovernor. +p413 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Paul, let's go back to you. Do these solutions sound like they work? +p414 +aVDo these solutions sound like they would work? +p415 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Governor? +p416 +aVGood evening, everyone. I'm Becky Quick, along with my +p417 +aVGovernor Jindal, let's talk a little bit about the news of the day. Just a few hours ago, the Republicans and the Democrats in the House voted on a budget deal that will increase spending by about $80 billion dollars over the next two years. You, however, have called the Republicans who have been willing to work with the Democrats to do things like this the, "Surrender Party of the Republican caucus." Would you have shut the government down instead? +p418 +aV...But Governor... +p419 +aV...if you didn't have a choice, if you didn't control things in the house, would you take the choice of shutting things down, or would you go ahead and agree with them? +p420 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p421 +aVGovernor Pataki, let's get to your point. You wanted to make a comment on the budget. You want to get in on the idea, what would you do if you were in Washington? Would you compromise... +p422 +aVGovernor Pataki, thank you. John? +p423 +aVGovernor Pataki, let's talk a little bit about what's happened on Wall Street. Some of your colleagues in the Republican Party, including some of the people on this stage, have bashed Wall Street. They say that it was largely responsible for the financial crisis. You're a former governor of New York, and you relied very heavily on Wall Street for income. Do you think they've gone too far? +p424 +aVGovernor Pataki, thank you. +p425 +aVCarl? +p426 +aVWelcome back, everyone. This is the Republican Presidential Debate on +p427 +aVSenator, I'm sorry your minute is up. +p428 +aVThank you very much, Senator Santorum. +p429 +aVAnd Graham, Mr. Graham, yes, that was a question to you, too. +p430 +aVYou have 30 seconds. +p431 +aVSenator Graham, thank you. +p432 +aVI'm sorry. That's your 30 seconds... +p433 +aVSenator Graham... +p434 +aVThank you, Senator. +p435 +aVGentlemen, hold on a second. +p436 +aVGo ahead, +p437 +aVGovernor Pataki... +p438 +aV\u2014 I'm sorry, that was a... +p439 +aVGovernor Pataki... +p440 +aVI'm sorry to talk over you, sir. That was a minute. +p441 +aVThank you very much. +p442 +aVCarl? +p443 +aVYou guys are making this just like home. This is just like . +p444 +aVGovernor Jindal, I want to go back to something that you mentioned before with your tax plan. I know that you want to put a 2 percent tax on all families, just to make sure everyone has some skin in the game. But every working American pays 6.2 percent, when it comes to Social Security taxes. They pay another 1.45 percent of Medicare. Isn't that skin in the game? +p445 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p446 +aVWelcome back to Boulder, Colorado, and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p447 +aVNo, no. +p448 +aVI \u2014 I'm with you. I still have a BlackBerry, too. Senator \u2014 Senator Santorum, how about you? +p449 +aVThank you. Governor? +p450 +aVThank you. Senator Graham? +p451 +aVWe take your time back. Yes. +p452 +aVJohn? +p453 +asVGRAHAM +p454 +(lp455 +VThank you very much. I just returned from Iraq two weeks ago. It was my 36th trip to Iraq and Afghanistan in the last decade. Toward the end, I met a very impressive Special Forces sergeant. It was his job to train Iraqi Kurdish commandos. He was so proud of what he was doing and so proud of the people he was training. He was the replacement for Master Sergeant Wheeler, a Delta Force member who was killed two months ago in a raid against an +p456 +aVYou may think this makes us safe, but it doesn't. The good news for everybody in this room is, after 36 trips to Iraq and Afghanistan, most people over there, Wolf, are not buying what +p457 +aVI will support the Republican nominee, whoever he or she may be. Like Bob Dole, I may sleep late that day if it's Trump. But the bottom line, if it's Trump, so be it. That's who I'll support. Please understand we're in a war that we can't afford to lose, and what he said about banning Muslims coming here to America has made us all less safe, and it's the worst possible thing he could do in this war. He clearly doesn't understand this war and how to win it. For God's sakes, pick somebody who is worthy of the sacrifice of those who are fighting this war and who actually knows how to win, and I don't believe that's Mr. Trump, and I know it's not Hillary Clinton. +p458 +aVRick, please understand the only way we're gonna win the war against radical Islam is for the world to unite. Very few fathers and mothers want to turn their daughters and sons over to +p459 +aVWell, here's what I'm here to tell you, when I first started this process of running for president., I said, " if you didn't realize we need more America boots on the ground in Iraq and eventually in Syria as a part of the regional army - not ready to be commander in chief." Like nobody said a word, now everybody's on board except Senator Paul. Senator Paul and Senator Cruz, are isolationists. They both want to restrict the ability of the NSA to do the following; find out if somebody overseas is calling into America and if somebody is on the other end of the phone, don't you want to know who their talking to? IF a terrorist is calling into America and we can match up phone numbers we get a get a court order to find out what the content is. We're at war folks, they're not trying to steal your car, they're trying to kills us all. So yes, I would re-institute this program. There's four things you need to understand about this war, it's a religious war, them against the world, if you don't fight them over there, they're coming here. If you don't hit them first, they're going to hit us. If you're not determined to fight it as a ware, you're going to lose it. So if you're worried about somebody having your phone in the government, don't be. The only thing you need to worry about is if you're talking to terrorist and a judge gives an order to listen to what you're saying. That's all you need to worry about. +p460 +aVCan I say something? +p461 +aVYeah. There are at least 3,500 American muslims serving in the armed forces. Thank you for your service. You are not the enemy. Your religion is not the enemy. Let me make this real to you. I was at the second presidential election in Afghanistan. The guy guarding me was an American Muslim sergeant in the Army who grew up in Kabul, left when he was \u2014 graduated high school, joined the U.S. Army, went back to his high school where they were doing polling, people voting, he took me there and cried like a baby. I cried like a baby. He is the solution to this problem, folks. He is not the problem. Leave the faith alone. Go after the radicals that kill us all. +p462 +aVThank you. This is why I own a flip phone. You don't have to worry about all of this stuff. The bottom line is, we're at war. They're trying to come here to kill us all and it's up to the government to protect you within constitutional means. Any system that would allow a terrorist to communicate with somebody in our country and we can't find out what they're saying is stupid. If I'm president of the United States, and you join +p463 +aVWell, what you want to do is you want to knock them off line. How about this idea? If you pledge allegiance to al-Baghdadi, you can't get married in America? The bottom line is you have to go after them everywhere. The key to winning this war is to provide the capacity to those in the faith who reject the ideology. The key to fighting this war is to fight it in their backyard, not ours. Two years ago I came up with a plan that requires more American boots on the ground in Iraq. The first thing out of my mouth running for President was, if you don't understand we need 10,000 troops in Iraq, rather than 3,500, you're not ready. What would I do in Syria? I'd form a regional army of Arabs and Turkey. Ninety percent them, 10 percent us. Up to 10,000 U.S. forces to go in on the ground and destroy the caliphate and its roots. Take Raqqah away from +p464 +aVYeh, it's just you're not going to win that way, Rick. There's nobody left in Syria to train. Between the Russians and Assad, they have killed all the people we trained, and our President sat on the sidelines and watched people get killed that we enticed into the fight. There is nobody left to train. I would get the Arabs who are threatened by +p465 +aVWell, number one, dead men don't preach anything. If you don't understand we need a ground force to go into Syria, then you're not ready to destroy +p466 +aVYeah. I just don't make this up, Wolf. I talk to people who are combat trained who have won in Iraq who I trust. Here's what I want to tell the Arab world and Turkey. We're not going to send 100,000 troops. You're going to do the fighting this time and we're gonna help you. We paid for the last two wars, you're gonna pay for this one. And, by the way, they get it because +p467 +aVTwo years ago. +p468 +aVYes. +p469 +aVI think we need to have a military strategy regarding Libya. They've just take over Gaddafi's hometown called Sur. There's about 2000 of them. Here's what I've learned in my 36 visits, you can't deter these guys, they're ready to die, bring on the virgins. Dying is first place in their world. What we have to do is work with others over time to destroy to ideology. We have to offer a hopeful life to compete with the glory of this. Most young people folks want the same thing you do. They don't want to live in the 11th century. So yes, you have to destroy the caliphate. I want to work with Arabs and Turkey to do it, but here's the key is to not leave. If we left Germany and Japan only god knows what would've happened. If we have 10000 troops left in Iraq, there would be no +p470 +aVI want to talk to General Keane first. I want to find out, what do we need militarily to keep them contained and eventually destroy them in Libya. They're in nine countries. You want to deal with Libya, go to Iraq and Syria. You want to prevent another 9/11, take the caliphate headquarters away from +p471 +aVNo. What I would do is I would try to make friends throughout the world to destroy a common threat to the world. These people are religious Nazis. Most people in Islam don't buy what they're selling. I've told you a thousand times that I would partner with the Arabs in Turkey. But, the reason they don't partner with Obama is they just don't trust him. Do you think they would trust me? I know them all. I've been working for a decade to figure out how to win this war. To my good friend Ted Cruz, please ask him the following question, you say you would keep Assad in power, I will tell you that is the worst possible thing that could come out of an American leaders mouth. It would be disastrous. His favorite movie is, apparently, Princess Bride. Ted, getting in bed with Iran and Russia to save Assad is inconceivable. +p472 +aVPrincess Buttercup would not like this. +p473 +aV...I didn't get to say yes. Yes. +p474 +aVYeah, this is an important discussion. The American president is the strongest voice in the world \u2014 until Obama came along. Now, we're just one of many. When you ask people to help you, when you entice Syrians to join your cause, to take down the dictator they hate to destroy +p475 +aV...we'd better do something about it, and I have a plan. +p476 +aVI don't think it's necessary. If you don't want to be there, I don't want you to be there. I just retired after 33 years in the Air Force, 140 days on the ground as an Air Force Reservist. To those who are watching, thank you for your service. I've had a small walk in your shoes. We have the best military in the world. Obama has put it in a box. Let's take it out of the box and use it before we get attacked here. We don't need a draft, we need a commander in chief who knows what the hell they're doing. +p477 +aVAnd, I am that guy. +p478 +aVBut, the reason they don't partner with Obama is they just don't trust him. Do you think they would trust me? I know them all. I've been working for a decade to figure out how to win this war. To my good friend Ted Cruz, please ask him the following question, you say you would keep Assad in power, I will tell you that is the worst possible thing that could come out of an American leaders mouth. It would be disastrous. His favorite movie is, apparently, Princess Bride. Ted, getting in bed with Iran and Russia to save Assad is inconceivable. +p479 +aVPrincess Buttercup would not like this. +p480 +aV...I didn't get to say yes. Yes. +p481 +aVYeah, this is an important discussion. The American president is the strongest voice in the world \u2014 until Obama came along. Now, we're just one of many. When you ask people to help you, when you entice Syrians to join your cause, to take down the dictator they hate to destroy +p482 +aV...we'd better do something about it, and I have a plan. +p483 +aVI don't think it's necessary. If you don't want to be there, I don't want you to be there. I just retired after 33 years in the Air Force, 140 days on the ground as an Air Force Reservist. To those who are watching, thank you for your service. I've had a small walk in your shoes. We have the best military in the world. Obama has put it in a box. Let's take it out of the box and use it before we get attacked here. We don't need a draft, we need a commander in chief who knows what the hell they're doing. +p484 +aVAnd, I am that guy. +p485 +aVCan, can I... +p486 +aVThis is important. We're not fighting all the wars with our kids. If you've been to Iraq and Afghanistan and you made any friends, you've lots of bunch. Thousands have died in Iraq and Afghanistan fighting. +p487 +aVDon't belittle their sacrifice. +p488 +aVNo. +p489 +aVTo, to those the (well) times in the Army were a bigger problem than they are today. If you want to fix this, you get the Army to 500,000, not 420,000. You want to win this war, grow the Navy to 350 ships, not 275. Sequestration is Latin for doing really dumb things. We're going to have the smallest Navy since 1915, the smallest Army since 1940. I was yelling and screaming don't do sequestration. I was right. If I am President of the United States, Commander in Chief, we're going to rebuild our military without a draft... +p490 +aV...and we're going to go on the offense and they're ready to go. +p491 +aVThey are ready to go. They just need to be led. +p492 +aVWell I stand unique, having been a military lawyer for 33 years. I've been a defense attorney, a prosecutor, and a military judge. Mr. Trump, you don't have to speak about everything, that's not required. I would make sure that everybody had a fair trial. Does that make sense to you? We're at war folks and this stuff has to stop. It's bad for morale to hear somebody wanting to be Commander in Chief that would deny due process to somebody who's been charged in the military. For God's sakes Mr. Trump, you're asking to be the Commander in Chief , the leader of the free world, up your game. As to women, if you want to kill terrorists, I'm your guy. +p493 +aVWell, the first thing I would do is make adjustments to reality. I want to look and see if this was a terrorist arranged marriage between the couple in California. The fact that they met online accidentally is almost zero. So, no, I would have a time-out on Syrian refugees because you'd be crazy if you didn't after Paris. But, I've been to the refugee camps in Turkey, and Jordan. Trust me with your Christian \u2014 and I'm a lousy Christian saved by grace, but \u2014 this is important. We've got to stop this war. Do you realize that there are more Syrian refugees in Lebanon going to school than Lebanese children? Do you realize if this war goes for another year the King of Jordan could fall? Let's have a no-fly zone. +p494 +aVI would \u2014 make changes to that bill in light of what I know today. +p495 +aVThe next president is going to be a war-time president, whether they like it or not. I'm ready for that job. Two years ago isolationism led by Senator Paul and Cruz was white hot in our party. Now it is in retreat because events have proven me more right than wrong and has proven them to be wrong. In the first debate I called for American troops on the ground to protect our homeland. Nobody came forward. Now, most have. We've spent a lot of carnage to get them to where I have always been. Make me president, I will keep you and your family safe. +p496 +aVWell, number one, thank you for having me here tonight. How about a round of applause for Boulder, Colorado? This is a beautiful place. Looking at their academic standards, the only way I could have gotten into this university is to be invited to this debate tonight. But here's my take on things. Without national security, there is no economic security. Without the sacrifice of the veteran, all of our hopes and dreams are at risk. Just a few days ago, Hillary Clinton said that the problems with the V.A. are being exaggerated by Republicans. They are not, they are real. +p497 +aVWell, let me tell you what is real. The threat to our homeland. I've never seen so many threats to our homeland than I do today. Barack Obama is an incompetent Commander in Chief. There are more terrorist organizations with safe havens to attack the American homeland than anytime since 9/11. We're in the process of reducing our defense spending by half. I am looking at this budget with one view in mind, will it restore the ability to defend this nation. We're on track to have the smallest army since 1940, the smallest navy since 1915, this budget, if it is paid for, will put $40 billion dollars back in the defense department at a time we need it. The number one role of the federal government's to defend this nation, I intend to be a Commander in Chief that can win a war we cannot afford to lose. +p498 +aVHere's the problem. We're being walked all over because our commander in chief is weak in the eyes of our enemies. Do you think Putin would be in the Ukraine today if Ronald Reagan were president? Why are the Chinese stealing our intellectual property, hacking into our system? Why are they building islands over resource-rich waters? Because they can get away with it. At the end of the day, ladies and gentlemen, the foreign policy of Barack Obama needs to be replaced, and the last person you want to find to replace his foreign policy is his secretary of state. So to the Chinese, when it comes to dealing with me, you've got a clenched fist or an open hand. You pick. The party's over, to all the dictators. Make me commander-in-chief and this crap stops. +p499 +aVNo, I \u2014 I think I'm trying to solve problems that somebody had better solve. Now, you don't have to believe that climate change is real. I have been to the Antarctic. I've been to Alaska. I'm not a scientist, and I've got the grades to prove it. But I've talked to the climatologists of the world, and 90 percent of them are telling me that greenhouse gas effect is real. That we're heating up the planet. I just want a solution that would be good for the economy, that doesn't destroy it. I want to fix an immigration system. I'm not gonna tell you, if you like your doctor, you can keep it \u2014 keep him. Do you like your health care, you're gonna keep it. I'm tired of telling people things that they want to hear, that we know we're not gonna do. We're not gonna eliminate the corporate tax. But we can make it lower. We're going to fix immigration, only if we work together. I want to secure the border because, if we don't, we're going to get hurt and hit again. I want to fix a broken visa system. I want to increase legal immigration, because we're gonna have a shortage of workers over time. As to the 11 million, I want to talk about fixing the problem. We're not going to deport 11 million people and their legal citizen children. But we will deport felons. And those who stay will have to learn our language to stay, because I don't speak it well but look how far I've come. +p500 +aVAt the end of the day, folks, I am trying to solve a problem and win an election. I am tired of losing. Good God, look who we're running against. The number one candidate on the other side thought she was flat broke after her and her husband were in the White House for eight years. The number two guy went to the Soviet Union on his honeymoon and I don't think he ever came back. If we don't beat these people, who the hell are we going to beat? +p501 +aVThe first thing... +p502 +aV\u2014 that we have to do is come to grips with the reality that we're facing as Americans. In 1950, there were 16 workers for every Social Security recipient. Today, there's three. In 20 years, there are two. I want to make sure that no American company leaves America because you can't find a worker. American workers always get the first preference. But if you can't find an American worker, after you advertise at a competitive wage, I don't want you to be at a loss. Bring people in based on merit. Let's take a broken immigration... +p503 +aV\u2014 system... +p504 +aV\u2014 and make a merit-based immigration system that will help our economy. We're going to need workers in the future. +p505 +aVLet's just choose rationally. +p506 +aVWe owe to every businessperson and worker in America the best environment in the world to create a job. We owe that to American businesses. Thirty-five percent corporate tax rate is the second highest in the world. We need to lower it so they don't leave. The goal is to help the middle class. We can talk about corporations all day long but my goal is to help the middle class, somebody who makes too much to be on government assistance but still lives paycheck to paycheck. When the kid gets sick you don't go on vacation. +p507 +aVThat's the purpose of my presidency, to grow the economy here. And let me tell you, our Democratic friends have a list a mile long of more government. That's not going to grow the middle class, that's going to create a burden on your children, which they're already overburdened. The best way to grow the middle class is to make it a good place to create a job. You know why Boeing came to South Carolina when they could have gone anywhere to build the 787? Because we wanted them. We had a low-tax structure. +p508 +aVA permitting structure that allowed them to build the building even faster than they thought they could build it. We welcomed them there. I'm going to take the South Carolina attitude \u2014 +p509 +aVI think everybody owes an obligation to the country. The ones that I'm most worried about are the 1 percent of Americans in uniform, who have been fighting this war for 14 years. They need a commander in chief who knows what the hell they're doing. My first job as President of the United States is to rebuild the military and use it smartly. Admiral Mullen said the debt is a big threat to our national security. He's right. But people go where they're welcome when it comes to job creation. If I'm President of the United States you will be welcomed in America. +p510 +aVThis will be the place to come \u2014 +p511 +aVAnd if I'm president of the United States \u2014 +p512 +aV\u2014 our enemies \u2014 +p513 +aVWell, number one, Social Security is not just a concept to me. I know why it exists; 50 percent of today's seniors would be in poverty without a Social Security check. I promise you, if you make me your president, I will save Social Security because I know why it exists. Now, if you're looking for good beer policy, I'm your best bet. My dad owned a bar. I know beer. We grew up, my sister and myself, in the back of that bar in one room with my mom, my dad and my sister who's nine years younger. When I was 21, my mom was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease. Neither parent finished high school. She died within a year. We were wiped out from the medical bills. And if it wasn't for a Social Security survivor benefit check coming into my family, we wouldn't' have made it because my dad died 15 months later. So I... +p514 +aVWait a minute, please. I'm 22 and we're wiped out. I am 60. I'm not married. I have a military retirement. I'm in good shape. I would give up some of my benefits to help those who need it more than I do. To young people here, I will ask you to work a little bit longer because we have to. The purpose of my presidency is to save this country and to save Social Security by working across the aisle just like Ronald Reagan. This is the biggest issue facing this nation. +p515 +aVWell, number one, the only reason I have an iPhone is because I gave my number to Donald Trump. Don't do that. +p516 +aVDonald has done more to upgrade my technology than my whole staff. Number one, Fox News. Sorry about +p517 +aVWell, I think a national holiday would be the day that commander-in-chief Barack Obama doesn't have that job. But unlike these other three, I want to win New Hampshire. Go Tom Brady. Go Patriots. Sorry, Colorado is late in the... +p518 +aVSomebody said \u2014 or maybe I saw it on the bill of a cap \u2014 that let's make America great again. America is great. I intend to make America strong again. I'm going to be the champion of the middle class, where I came from. If you make me your president, our best days are ahead. I'm ready to be commander- in-chief, ladies and gentlemen, on day one. I intend to war \u2014 win a war that we cannot afford to lose. I will be a commander-in-chief worthy of the sacrifice of those brave Americans who have been defending our nation. They have had our back. God knows, they have had our back... +p519 +aV\u2014 and I intend to have their back as commander-in- chief. Make me commander-in-chief. +p520 +asVREGAN +p521 +(lp522 +VIn Tuesday's State of the Union Address, the president said that our economy is strong. He cited the significant decline we've seen in unemployment rate and the millions of jobs that have been created. What is your assessment of the economy right now? And I would like to hear from all of you on this one, beginning with Ms. Fiorina. +p523 +aVThank you Governor Huckabee. Senator Santorum? +p524 +aVThank you. Well, since we've been talking about the Middle East, Senator Santorum, conflicts between Saudi Arabia and Iran have certainly escalated, amid accusations that Saudi Arabia bombed the Iranian Embassy in Yemen after the Saudi Embassy in Tehran was attacked. As we confront an increasingly unstable Middle East, how will you, as president, navigate this administration's promises to Iran while standing by our historic allies in the region? +p525 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p526 +aVGovernor Huckabee, if I could just follow-up with that. Do we need to be in Afghanistan? +p527 +aVThank you Governor Huckabee. Ms. Fiorina, nearly 600 women say they were attacked in a German city on New Year's Eve by men of Arab or North African descent and 45 percent of those alleged attacks were sexual assaults. Twenty-two of those 32 men arrested so far are asylum-seekers. Are you worried about similar problems in the United States? +p528 +aVI want to stay with you on this. The world shares a common enemy right now in the way of +p529 +aVMs. Fiorina, thank you. +p530 +aVWelcome back, everyone, to the Republican presidential debate. On to the next round of questions \u2014 Sandra. +p531 +aVMs. Fiorina, the president has just issued an executive order to expand the gun laws and background checks. And none of you on stage agree with this. But recent polls show the majority of Americans are in favor of universal background checks. +p532 +aVIt's the poll data. +p533 +aVSo tell me......why, in your view, is the president's proposal a problem? +p534 +aVMs. Fiorina, you've said that was when you were CEO of HP, you actually worked with the government. +p535 +aV\u2014 to try and combat some of these terrorist threats. +p536 +aVWhat did you do? +p537 +aVMs. Fiorina, thank you. +p538 +aVGovernor Huckabee, an American in San Bernardino murdered 14 people while terrorists with Belgian and French passports murdered 130 people. Were facing a threat within our borders, and from outside the United States. Those European terrorists, they could have come here at any time given that we have a visa waiver program that enables people to travel back and forth. It exists within those countries, and 36 others. In countries around the world, including many in Europe, cannot ensure that their citizens are not jihadists, why are we waiving the visa requirement at all? +p539 +aVIf you get the visa waiver program, does that shut down international commerce? +p540 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p541 +aVSenator Santorum, thank you. +p542 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p543 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from North Charleston. We want to jump right back in. Sandra is kicking it off. +p544 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you know it used to be you could graduate from high school and get a pretty good job at the local factory, enough to take care of your family and yourself. Those days seem to be gone. It's pretty hard to do that nowadays. Businesses are increasingly turning to automation to increase their productivity levels. It's happening right here, in fact, at the Boeing factory in North Charleston. The president says automation threatens workers' ability to get higher wages. Do you agree with that? And if so, do you have a solution? +p545 +aVThank you very much, Governor Huckabee. Senator Santorum, 40% of babies born today are born to single moms. That's twice as high as reported back in 1980, and it's 11 times as high as in 1940. Studies show that children are always better off economically, most often \u2014 and emotionally, with two parents in a household. From a policy perspective, should the government be doing anything to encourage family formation? +p546 +aVThank you. +p547 +aVCarly Fiorina? +p548 +aVThank you to all the candidates. That does it, everyone for the first debate right here in North Charleston. +p549 +aVGood evening, and welcome to the historic Milwaukee Theater. Tonight, you'll hear from 12 Republican candidates vying to become the next President of the United States. I'm Trish Regan, along with my co-moderators, Sandra Smith, and from the Wall Street Journal, Jerry Seib. +p550 +aVLet's introduce them. New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie. Former Arkansas Governor, Mike Huckabee. Former Pennsylvania Senator, Rick Santorum. And, Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindal. +p551 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p552 +aVAll right, Governor Jindal, you have pushed Louisiana's energy resources as a means to grow jobs in your state. But as oil prices have plunged in recent months, so has jobs growth. Louisiana now has an unemployment rate above the national average. Will your energy-focused jobs plan for the country be subject to the same market ups and downs? +p553 +aVAll right, Governor Jindal, thank you. Governor Christie, you have said that the Democrats' message is one of, quote, "free stuff." In contrast, Republicans want to reduce spending. How do you win a national election when the Democrats are offering free health care, a free or subsidized college education, and you're the party that is seemingly offering nothing in the way of immediate tangible benefits? +p554 +aVSenator Santorum, a single mom with no job and two kids in New Hampshire, home of the first in the nation primary, is eligible for more than $30,000 a year in benefits. Even if she could find a job, she would need to find child care. And in many cases may conclude it's better for her to live off government benefits. Senator, how do you help and incentivize her to go to work? And if you're the one that's going to cut her benefits, why should she vote for you? +p555 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you. All right, we are just getting started. Medicare, Social Security and the future of ObamaCare \u2014 that is all straight ahead, live from Milwaukee and the Republican presidential debate. +p556 +aVWelcome back to the Milwaukee Theater, and the Republican Presidential Debate. On to the next round of questions, Gerry has the next question. +p557 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you differ from many of your GOP opponents on the stage tonight over accepting Syrian refugees into this country. You have said, "We don't have an obligation to just open our doors." As the Islamic state continues to expand, slaughtering and crucifying Christians, including women and children, refugees continue to flee their land by the thousands. Should America open its doors to accept any refugees in this country? If so, how many? +p558 +aVAlright, Governor Huckabee, thank you. +p559 +aVNext question to you, Governor... +p560 +aV...Next question to you, Governor... +p561 +aV...let me get in......Let me get in here, because the next question, it's to you, and it's on Obamacare. It is still unpopular with the American people. You've seen the polls, they've shown nearly half the country still opposes this law. You have been critical of your GOP opponents, some of them standing on the stage tonight, others later. Notably, Ted Cruz, for not having comprehensive plans. You say you do. What specifically makes your plan to replace Obamacare better than the opponents, some of them standing next to you. +p562 +aVGovernor Jindal, thank you. +p563 +aVWe'll get to that. +p564 +aVRonald Reagan did work with Tip O'Neill. Anyway, we are going to take a quick break. Coming up, one of the top issues for voters, how much you're paying in taxes. We are live from Milwaukee with the Republican presidential debate. See you right back here. +p565 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate. We are live from Milwaukee. A top issue on the campaign trail, taxes and how much you pay. All right, I've got a question for all of you here. When looking at the federal income tax, state income tax and local tax, in some cases, combined, some Americans are paying over 50 percent of their paycheck to the government. What is the highest percentage, all in, in the way of taxes, that any American should have to pay and what is the lowest? I'd like to, again, to hear from each of you. And I want those two all in numbers. I'm going to start with you, Senator Santorum. +p566 +aVAll in. OK, Governor Christie? +p567 +aVAnd we'll get back to you. Governor Jindal? +p568 +aVGovernor Huckabee, Americans, under your plan, would pay a tax on every single thing that they purchase. Given that consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of GDP, some economists worry that your tax plan would actually discourage spending, thereby slowing our economy. How do you respond? +p569 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p570 +aVSenator Santorum, you agree with Governor Christie. You also have said that the Fed should be audited. But many worry that given the Congressional challenges that they face, by having Congressional oversight of the Fed, which has been historically an independent body, you would be making the Fed much more political. How would you navigate that risk? +p571 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee, both Senator Santorum and Governor Christie were boat \u2014 both critical of the Federal Reserve. Also, many have questioned whether Janet Yellen is the right person to be running the Fed. If elected president, would you keep Janet Yellen? +p572 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee, thank you. All right, Senator Santorum, by the way, today is the 240th... +p573 +aV\u2014 of the United States... +p574 +aV\u2014 Marine Corps. Tomorrow is Veterans Day. We honor and recognize all those who have fought for, and served this great nation, Senator. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, meanwhile, which provides patient care, and federal benefits to those veterans, as well as their families, is beset by scandal. What new ideas do you have to fix the broken V.A. healthcare system? +p575 +asVHEMMER +p576 +(lp577 +VSo, here we go. Ninety-seven hours before Iowa chooses, in fact the last two winners in this state are on this stage tonight. Governor Huckabee, in 2008, you won by nine points here, but this time your support seems to be going to Senator Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. Why, Governor, is your message not working this time? +p578 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Santorum, four short years ago you won Iowa. You beat Mitt Romney, pretty much shocked the country. But, just the other day you talked about what is in the greater good for your campaign. Is Monday night your last stand? +p579 +aVOK. +p580 +aV... Senator, do you want to name... ... Senator, do you want to name that entertainer your refering to? +p581 +aVBut senator, since you mentioned... +p582 +aVSenator, quickly then, after this debate, you mentioned Donald trump's name. Immediately, you're going to event across town here in Des Moines as a guest of Donald Trump. +p583 +aVSo are you laying the groundwork for maybe your future? Perhaps an endorsement of Mr. Trump? +p584 +aVThank you, senator. One moment. We'll get to you in a moment, Governor. We have a few coming up. +p585 +aVThank you. Governor Gilmore. As of one week ago, you have not held a single campaign event here in the state of Iowa. As of one week ago, in fact, you were the only one in the Republican field who had not made a campaign visit to this state. You know how it works here. You know how it's worked over time. Why should anyone caucus for you on Monday night? +p586 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p587 +aVMs. Fiorina, same topic. The president says that many are exaggerating the threat from +p588 +aVThank you. +p589 +aVGovernor Gilmore, some time this spring 34 more detainees are cleared from release from Gitmo. If you were president, as you say, this president wants to close it. As president, if Gitmo were closed and an enemy combatant were found or captured in the field of battle, perhaps Syria or Iraq or Libya, and you don't have Gitmo, where would you put them? +p590 +aVGovernor, thank you for that. +p591 +aVWelcome back to Des Moines on what will be a long night here. Let's get back to the questions. Let's get back to the questions with Martha. +p592 +aVLet me stay with you, Ms. Fiorina. You've said you will shrink the federal government by 30 percent over the next two years, and those jobs will not be filled, and you'll do it through retirement. Your critics would argue that's exactly what you did at Hewlett Packard when 30,000 people lost their jobs. If it did not work at H.P., why would it work at the federal government? +p593 +aVThank you. +p594 +aVGovernor Huckabee, Nikki Haley, Republican governor from South Carolina, recently said... +p595 +aVI did not, but we... +p596 +aVWe have plenty for you -- you bet, Governor. We have a couple more in the hopper for you in a moment here. +p597 +aVFirst, Governor -- Governor Huckabee, Nikki Haley warned about listening to "the siren call of the angriest voices," to which Donald Trump said he is "very, very angry." Who is right, Governor? +p598 +aVThank you, Governor. +p599 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you've mentioned the economy several times tonight. Let's go back to that for a moment because in America today 50% of the American workers are making less than $30,000 dollars a year. Let's talk about what you could do for them. The Conservative Club for Growth has had an issue with your policy on taxes for years. In fact, it called you, "Tax Hike Mike". And, the record shows state spending in Arkansas increased 54% when you were in charge, 94% if you include federal dollars during that same period. When it comes to helping people at the margins, $30,000, $32,000 dollars a year, what's better? A tax and spend approach, or shrinking government? +p600 +aVGovernor Huckabee, thank you. Same issue, Senator Santorum. The President says criticism of his economic policy is political hot air. You consistently talk about manufacturing jobs leaving America. You support a flat tax of 20%. How would a flat tax bring back two million jobs to America? +p601 +aVSenator, thank you. +p602 +aVThank you Ms. Fiorina. Governor Gilmore. Who are the moderate Muslims do you seek advice and counsel from on how to deal with the threat from radical Islamic terrorism? +p603 +aVThank you governor. Governor Huckabee. Here in Iowa 43 percent of Democratic caucus goers describe themselves as socialist. That's a higher number than those who say they are capitalist. I guess you could say, they're feeling the burn. This is a country rooted in capitalism, the United States of America. How did we get here? +p604 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum, the president says politics in America have become meaner over the past several years with him in the White House. Two weeks ago at the State of the Union he said the following. "A president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide." Lincoln and Roosevelt, that's pretty good company. If he is right, do Republicans share some of the blame? +p605 +aVThank you, Senator. +p606 +aVIn the closing few moments, the candidates have an opportunity to make a closing statement, 30 seconds for each. And, we want to start tonight with the former Virginia Governor, Jim Gilmore. +p607 +aV... Thank you, Governor. +p608 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p609 +aVThank you, Governor. +p610 +aVThat concludes our debate tonight, but the night has just begun. +p611 +asVUNIDENTIFIED +p612 +(lp613 +VWhy don't, why don't we... +p614 +asVBAIER +p615 +(lp616 +VLess than a year from now, in this very arena, one of these 10 candidates or one of the seven on the previous debate tonight will accept the Republican party's nomination. Tonight's candidates were selected based on an average of five national polls. Just a few hours ago, you heard from the candidates ranked 11th through 17. And now, the prime-time event, the top 10. +p617 +aVNeurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Florida Senator Marco Rubio. +p618 +aVIt might be. It might be. We'll see. [ +p619 +aVIt might be. The rules for tonight are simple. One minute for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups. And if a candidate runs over, you'll hear this. Pleasant, no? We also have a big crowd here with us tonight in the home of the Cavaliers, as I mentioned. And while we expect them... ... we expect them to be enthusiastic, as you heard, we don't want to take anything away from the valuable time for the candidate. So, we're looking for somewhere between a reaction to a LeBron James dunk and the Cleveland Public Library across the street. Somewhere there, we'll find a balance tonight. Without further ado, let's begin. +p620 +aVGentlemen, we know how much you love hand-raising questions. So we promise, this is the only one tonight: the only one. Is there anyone on stage, and can I see hands, who is unwilling tonight to pledge your support to the eventual nominee of the Republican party and pledge to not run an independent campaign against that person. Again, we're looking for you to raise your hand now -- raise your hand now if you won't make that pledge tonight. Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump to be clear, you're standing on a Republican primary debate stage. +p621 +aVThe place where the RNC will give the nominee the nod. +p622 +aVAnd that experts say an independent run would almost certainly hand the race over to Democrats and likely another Clinton. You can't say tonight that you can make that pledge? +p623 +aVSo tonight, you can't say if another one of these... +p624 +aVOK. +p625 +aVDr. Paul. +p626 +aVOK. +p627 +aVJust to be clear, you can't make a -- we're gonna -- we're going to move on. You're not gonna make the pledge tonight? +p628 +aVOK. Alright. +p629 +aVGovernor Bush, you have insisted that you're your own man. You say you have a life experience uniquely your own. Not your father's, not your brother's. But there are several opponents on this stage who get big- applause lines in early voting states with this line: quote, "the last thing the country needs is another Bush in the Oval Office." So do you understand the real concern in this country about dynastic politics? +p630 +aVGovernor Christie, you're not exactly the darling of conservatives. You tout your record as a Republican governor in a blue state. On Facebook, the most people talking about you, not surprisingly, come from your state of New Jersey, and one of the top issues they are talking about is the economy. This -- this may be why. Under your watch, New Jersey has undergone nine credit rating downgrades. The state's 44th in private sector growth. You face an employee pension crisis and the Garden State has the third highest foreclosure rate in the country. So why should voters believe that your management of the country's finances would be any different? +p631 +aVSenator Paul, you recently blamed the rise of +p632 +aVGentlemen, the next series of questions deals with ObamaCare and the role of the federal government. Mr. Trump, ObamaCare is one of the things you call a disaster. +p633 +aVSaying it needs to be repealed and replaced. +p634 +aVNow, 15 years ago, you called yourself a liberal on health care. You were for a single-payer system, a Canadian-style system. Why were you for that then and why aren't you for it now? +p635 +aVBut on ObamaCare... +p636 +aVMr. Trump, hold up one second. +p637 +aVAll right, now, hold on, Senator Paul... +p638 +aVOK. +p639 +aVAll right, let me... Mr. Trump, it's not just your past support for single- payer health care. You've also supported a host of other liberal policies. Use -- you've also donated to several Democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton included, Nancy Pelosi. You explained away those donations saying you did that to get business-related favors. And you said recently, quote, "When you give, they do whatever the hell you want them to do." +p640 +aVSo what specifically did... +p641 +aV-- they do? +p642 +aVHold on. We're going to -- we're going to move on. We'll come back to you, Governor Walker. +p643 +aVWe have many questions to come. +p644 +aVMany questions to come. Governor Huckabee, on Facebook, John Pietricone asked this, "Will you abolish or take away the powers and cut the size of the EPA, the IRS, the Department of Education?" Now, broadly... ...broadly, the size of government is a big concern for Facebook users, Facebook persons, as well as, obviously, conservatives. But year after year, decade after decade, there are promises from Republicans to shrink government. But year after year, decade after decade, it doesn't happen. In fact, it gets bigger, even under Republican politicians. So the question is, at this point, is the government simply too big for any one person, even a Republican, to shrink? +p645 +aVDr. Carson... +p646 +aVDr. Carson, do you agree with that? +p647 +aVGovernor Bush? +p648 +aVWe're going to come back to you, Dr. Carson. Governor Bush, you are one of the few people on the stage who advocates for Common Core education standards, reading and math. A lot of people on this stage vigorously oppose a federal involvement in education. They say it should all be handled locally. President Obama's secretary of education, Arnie Duncan, has said that most of the criticism of Common Core is due to a, quote, "fringe group of critics." Do you think that's accurate? +p649 +aVSenator Rubio, why is Governor Bush wrong on Common Core? +p650 +aVAnd do you agree with your old friend? +p651 +aVWe have many more questions coming on a host of topics, here from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Stay with us. +p652 +aVWe have many more questions coming on a host of topics. Here from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Stay with us. +p653 +aVGentlemen, another question for a few of you. Yesterday, just yesterday, President Obama criticized Republican lawmakers trying to block the Iran deal, calling them knee-jerk partisans, adding that hardliners in Iran who chant "death to America" were, quote, "making common cause with the Republican caucus." Here's what two of your opponents on the 5 p.m. debate stage said about Iran. +p654 +aVNow, I wanna ask a few of you this. First, Governor Walker. You've said that you would tear up the Iran deal on day one. If this deal is undone, what then? +p655 +aVSenator Paul, would you tear up the deal on day one? +p656 +aVGovernor Huckabee, what do you think about what Senator Paul just said? +p657 +aVThank you, gentlemen. +p658 +aVWelcome back to Cleveland. Our next topic is foreign policy. Candidates, you may not have seen the late developing news today our Fox Pentagon team broke earlier this evening about a top Iranian general traveling to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. His name is General Qassem Soleimani, he's blamed for hundreds of U.S. troop's deaths in Iraq, and Afghanistan. His trip to Russia appears to directly violate U.N. Security Council resolutions to confine him to Iran. So, Mr. Trump, if you were president, how would you respond to this? +p659 +aVAnother new development today, Senior Defense officials tell Fox they strongly suspect Russia was behind the cyber attack on the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs office... +p660 +aV...email. This comes in the wake of the Director of National Intelligence blaming the Chinese for the largest ever cyber attack, stealing personal data of tens of millions of Americans. Senator Cruz, in your view, have Russia and China committed acts of cyber war, and if you were president, what would you do about it? +p661 +aVDr. Carson, in August of 2012 President Obama famously declared Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons, quote, "that's a redline for us," and that there would be enormous consequences. One year later, with overwhelming evidence the Assad had, in fact, used chemical weapons and crossed that red line, President Obama declined to use military force against the Assad regime. As president, would you have used military force there? +p662 +aVGovernor Walker, as president, what would you do if Russian President Vladimir Putin started a campaign to destabilize +p663 +aVGovernor -- Governor Huckabee, the culture of the American military is definitely changing. Women are moving into combat roles. Don't Ask, Don't Tell has obviously been dropped. And now Defense Secretary Ashton Carter recently directed the military to prepare for a moment when it is welcoming transgender persons to serve openly. As commander in chief, how would you handle that? +p664 +aVSenator Paul, the first budget you proposed as senator cut all financial aid to Israel. You have since changed your view on that issue. What made you change your mind. +p665 +aVOK. But you still say that Israel could be one of the countries that is cut from financial aid? +p666 +aVGovernor Christie, what do you think of that answer? +p667 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p668 +aVSenator, we're going to finish up with some more questions, thank you. +p669 +aVNow each candidate will make a closing statement. You'll all have 30 seconds to make a closing statement for this debate. We'll start with Ohio Governor John Kasich. +p670 +aVSenator Marco Rubio. +p671 +aVThank you, Senator. +p672 +aVGovernor Mike Huckabee, closing statement. +p673 +aVMr. Trump, closing statement, sir. +p674 +aVGentlemen, thank you. +p675 +aVThat's it. +p676 +asVMADDOW +p677 +(lp678 +VWe are super excited to be here at the University of New Hampshire. Tonight, this is the first time that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have squared off exactly like this. Face-to-face, just one-on-one, just the two of them. +p679 +aVAnd we do hope that the candidates will take this opportunity to show us the distinctions\u2014show us the differences between them. That's the whole reason that we're here tonight. We're not here for talking points. We're to learn about the difference between the candidates. And with that, let's get going. Please join us in welcoming Secretary Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders. +p680 +aVAnd with that, that's it. We're going to begin with 60- second opening statements from each of the candidates. And as agreed to in advance by the two campaigns, we're going to begin tonight with Senator Sanders. +p681 +aVSecretary Clinton, Senator Sanders is campaigning against you now, at this point in the campaign, basically arguing that you are not progressive enough to be the Democratic nominee. He has said that if you voted for the Iraq war, if you are in favor of the death penalty, if you wobbled on things like the Keystone Pipeline or TPP, if you said single payer health care could never happen, then you're too far to the right of the Democratic Party to be the party's standard bearer. Given those policy positions, why should liberal Democrats support you and not Senator Sanders? +p682 +aVSenator Sanders, have you established a list of what it means to be a progressive that is unrealistic? +p683 +aVThank you Senator. +p684 +aVSenator Sanders, as a Vermonter, you have almost a home state advantage here in New Hampshire. But back home across the border, you also have a long history of running against Democrats as a third-party candidate, for governor, Senate, for Congress. In 1988 your candidacy as a third-party candidate arguably cost the Democrats a congressional seat and sent a Republican instead. How can you lead the Democratic Party nationally when you have not been a member of the Democratic Party until very recently? +p685 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p686 +aVSo, Senator, to that point, Secretary Clinton is raising the issue of endorsements by your home state Democrats. She's implying that that says something about the people who know you best. +p687 +aVHow do you see it? +p688 +aVSecretary. +p689 +aVSenator Sanders, you'll have 30 seconds to respond to that. +p690 +aVSenator Sanders, Secretary Clinton, obviously we've touched a nerve. We're going to be back with more on this subject, and much more, right after this. Stay with us. +p691 +aVSecretary Clinton, on the issue of Wall Street... +p692 +aV... on the issue of Wall Street, when our reporters go out and talk to people on the ground in the early states, what they tell us over and over again when they find voters who are leaning toward Senator Sanders rather than yourself is that the most frequent area of concern that they hear from those voters is the issue of Wall Street and whether or not you are too close to Wall Street. Last night, when you were asked about speaking fees and the amount of speaking fees you got from Goldman Sachs speeches, you said that's what they offered. Have you been too dismissive of voters' concerns about this issue in your own campaign and your own career? +p693 +aVSenator Sanders, you have been a critic of Secretary Clinton taking those speaking fees and having donations from Wall Street. What about her defense of her record? +p694 +aVSenator Sanders, let me turn to, I think, where this direction is heading anyway, which is the broader issue of big business and power in our political system. You on the campaign trail have railed against big name American corporations like Boeing, and General Electric, and Wal Mart. But, some big businesses in this country have also been part of advancing progressive goals like that nationwide initiative to expand employment opportunities for veterans. That was all about cooperation between the Obama administration and some very big business. The Affordable Care Act, some of the thorniest problems in that bill were worked out in cooperation with big business in order to accomplish progressive goals. Could you work with them, or have you made enemies of big business in this country with the way you've approached them in this campaign? +p695 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. And with that, we're going to take a break. +p696 +aVWelcome back\u2014welcome back to the Democratic candidates' debate. We're going to be talking about America in the world, both in terms of some trade issues, but also national security. And Secretary Clinton, we're going to start with you. There are more than 4,000 American troops back in Iraq right now as part of the fight against +p697 +aVTo be clear, to the specific question, if that strategic goal that you're describing requires considerably more of Americans\u2014an ever-increasing number of Americans in Iraq and maybe in Syria, are you OK with the numbers increasing? +p698 +aVThank you, Madam Secretary. +p699 +aVSecretary Clinton, at the\u2014at the last Democratic debate in Charleston\u2014I want to get specific here\u2014Senator Sanders called for moving as aggressively as we can to normalize relations with Iran. Your campaign has criticized him for saying that. Now that he's standing next to you here on this stage, can you explain why the U.S. shouldn't try to normalize relations in Iran in your view? +p700 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to ask you about a national security issue that is closer to home. There are thousands of veterans, over 100,000 veterans living in the state of New Hampshire. If either one of you is nominated as the Democratic Party's nominee, you will likely face a Republican opponent in the general election who wants to privatize or even abolish big parts of the V.A. It's a newly popular idea in conservative politics. How will you win the argument on that issue given the problems that have been exposed at the V.A. in the last few years? What's your argument that the V.A. should still exist and should not be privatized? +p701 +aVSenator Sanders, you, as a congressional leader on veterans issues and the Veterans Committee, you've worked in a very bipartisan way with Senator John McCain and others on veterans issues. Is the right contour of the fight, the way she's talking about this issue? +p702 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Sanders, Secretary Clinton, we're going to take another break. We'll be talking about Social Security and some of those other issues when we come back. +p703 +aVSenator\u2014Senator Sanders, in 1964... +p704 +aVIn 1964, I heard that the Republicans nominated Barry Goldwater, who was the hero of the conservative movement. He was, however, far to the right of most of that party. In 1972, the Democrats nominated George McGovern, who was a hero of liberals in the antiwar movement, but he was to the left of his party's mainstream. Both of those nominees made activists very excited, and they both got destroyed in the general election. Even Democrats who love you worry about your fate in a general election. And I know you have good head-to-head polling numbers against Republican frontrunners right now. We know that. But do you have a general election strategy that is different than the way you're running right now to try to get the nomination? +p705 +aVSecretary Clinton, your campaign surrogates, and people who have endorsed you, have suggested that or even said that if Senator Sanders is the nominee, that Democrats will suffer nationwide and the chances will go down of Democrats holding onto the White House. With him here standing next to you, can you tell us whether or not you believe he would win the general election if he were nominated? +p706 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. Senator, in December, one of your campaign staffers was fired from your campaign for taking voter data essentially from the Clinton campaign. You apologized for that when the incident was made public. Your campaign has now been criticized for its operatives essentially impersonating culinary union members wearing union pins in Nevada, and the Nashua Telegraph has complained recently that you falsely implied in an advertisement that they had endorsed you when they did not. None of these issues obviously is the end of the world, but they all are of a piece. Are you in some sense losing control of your campaign? +p707 +aVJust to follow up on that, the title of the ad in question was Endorsement. +p708 +aVSecretary Clinton, do you want 30 seconds on that issue? +p709 +aVAnd with that, we will . +p710 +aVWelcome back to the University of New Hampshire, and the Democratic candidates' debate. Secretary Clinton, on the issue of the death penalty, here in New Hampshire, the one person who is on death row is there for killing a police officer. It's a crime that has caused anguish in this state, both among death penalty opponents and death penalty supporters. The last time I had the chance to talk with you on this issue, on the death penalty, you said that capital punishment has a place in a very few federal cases, but you also said you would breathe a sigh of relief if the Supreme Court abolished the death penalty nationwide. Tonight, do you still support capital punishment, even if you do so reluctantly? +p711 +aVSenator Sanders, you have singled out the death penalty, and Senator Clinton's support for the death penalty, as an issue that makes it hard to consider as progressive in your mind... +p712 +aVAnother issue related to the proper role of government, and in this case, specifically the role of government between the federal government and the states. I want to talk for a moment about the issue of Flint, Michigan. On the Flint lead poisoning disaster, you have both been highly critical of Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan, and how the state in Michigan both caused the lead poisoning problem, and has not acted fast enough to fix it. You have both been outspoken on that. The fact is that Michigan though has not fixed it. There is no door to door delivery of clean water in Flint even today. Not a single lead pipe has been replaced in Flint, even today. If the state is failing, would you, Secretary Clinton, would you as President order a federal response to get it right over and above the wishes of the state? +p713 +aVSenator Sanders are there things the President could be doing? President Obama could be ordering, done, right now, in Flint, Michigan that are not being done that you as President would do? +p714 +aVSenator, thank you. +p715 +aVThe home stretch. +p716 +aVSecretary Clinton, Republicans, particularly in campaign years, often talk about which departments of government\u2014which agencies of government they would get rid of if they were elected president. The EPA, the Department of Education, the Commerce Department, oops\u2014is\u2014is there a department of government that you would get rid of? Or is there a whole new one that you would create? +p717 +aVThank you, Secretary Clinton. +p718 +aVThank you very much. Thank you. +p719 +aVWe also want to thank our host, the University of New Hampshire, and the people of New Hampshire. You guys get to vote in just five days. I can't wait to see how it turns out. Don't screw up. +p720 +asVSEIB +p721 +(lp722 +VThis evening Fox Business is partnering with the Wall Street Journal to bring you the fourth republican presidential debate of the 2016 campaign. For the next hour, four of the candidates will be here answering the question voters want answered. +p723 +aVSenator Santorum, you're all obviously highly critical of President Obama's economic record. But federal statistics show that payrolls have expanded by 8.7 million new jobs so far during his time in office. All the jobs lost in the recession were recovered by last year. And in October, the economy added jobs at the fastest rate since 2009. So what's wrong with the Obama jobs record? +p724 +aVGovernor Jindal, Republicans have now 32 of the nation's 50 governor seats. But, even while you're doing very well at the state level, you keep falling short nationally. You've lost the popular vote in five of the last six presidential elections. Are Democrats simply putting forward a better national economic message than the one Republicans are offering? And what should Republicans do about it. +p725 +aVSenator Santorum, we're in the Upper-Midwest, heart of the American auto industry. The Auto Alliance says the state of Wisconsin, where we are tonight, is home to 176 auto supplier companies. Back in 2008, you opposed the use of federal bailout funds for automakers as proposed then by the Bush administration. The automakers survived. In retrospect, do you still think that was the right position. +p726 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p727 +aVGovernor Jindal, there's a new trade deal the Obama administration has completed with 11 other Pacific nations. The U.S. Trade Representative's office says that deal will cut 18,000 different tariffs on American goods sent to the Pacific and will cut tariffs on goods made in your state of Louisiana by as much as 40 percent. Even a skeptical about \u2014 a skeptic about this deal, now that the details are public, are you going to be for it? +p728 +aVGovernor Christie? +p729 +aV...Guys... +p730 +aVGovernor Christie... +p731 +aV...last word, briefly +p732 +aV...Thank you both, Governors. +p733 +aV...No, no, Senator Santorum... +p734 +aV...I have a question for you. Just about everybody agrees that the nation's infrastructure is in bad shape. Urban highway congestion costs the economy more than $100 billion dollars annually, nearly one in four bridges in the National Highway System is structurally deficient, or obsolete. Congress is working on a six year highway bill to try to fix this problem. It only funds it for about three years. Should Americans be asked to pay more in federal gas taxes in order to address this problem? +p735 +aVSenator, I don't think we got to infrastructure, but I understand. +p736 +aVNo, no. To do the things you're talking about, that you're all talking about, getting things done in Washington, you have to work with the other side. So a question, who in Congress do you most admire on the Democratic side? I need one name from each of you. And let's start with Governor Jindal. +p737 +aVGovernor Huckabee? +p738 +aVGovernor Christie? +p739 +aVSenator Santorum? +p740 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p741 +aVGovernor Jindal, you've proposed something different. You've proposed eliminating the federal corporate income tax entirely. Why would have you wage-earners and investors pay an income tax but not a corporation? +p742 +aVWelcome back to the Republican Presidential Debate live from Milwaukee's historic theater. Let's get back to the questions. Governor Christie, by keeping interest rates so low for so long, is the Fed creating a new financial bubble in real estate or stock as prices that will burst and create problems down the road, or has it been right to err on the side of trying to help the recovery through low rates? +p743 +aVCandidates, it's time for closing statements, 30 seconds. Governor Jindal, we'll start with you. +p744 +aVSenator Santorum. +p745 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p746 +aVGovernor Christie. +p747 +asVTAPPER +p748 +(lp749 +VI'm Jake Tapper. We're live at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California for the main event. Round 2 of CNN's presidential debate starts now. The eleven leading Republican candidates for president are at their podiums. They are ready to face off, and if you've been watching this race, you know anything could happen over the next few hours. To viewers who are just joining us, welcome to the Air Force One Pavilion of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Our thanks to the staff here and especially to former first lady Nancy Reagan for this impressive setting with Ronald Reagan's presidential plane as our backdrop. This debate is airing on CNN networks in the United States and around the world. It's also being broadcast on the Salem Radio Network. I know everyone is very eager to get started. But first, I want to explain the ground rules tonight. My name is Jake Tapper. I'll be the moderator. I will be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt. He worked in the Reagan administration for six years. And by CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. I will ask follow-up questions, I will attempt to guide the discussion. Candidates, I will try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have one minute to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you've been singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. These 11 Republicans are positioned on the stage based on their ranking in recent national polls. Our goal for this evening is a debate. A true debate, with candidates addressing each other in areas where they differ. Where they disagree \u2014 on policy, on politics, on leadership. Now, let's begin. I'd like to invite each candidate to take 30 seconds to introduce him or herself to our audience. First to you, Senator Paul. +p750 +aVSenator Cruz? +p751 +aVThank you one and all for being here. There are many important policy issues facing our nation. We're going to get to many of them tonight, but I do want to start off with some current events in the news, and also some of the comments the candidates have recently made on the campaign trail. Mrs. Fiorina, I want to start with you. Fellow Republican candidate, and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, has suggested that your party's frontrunner, Mr. Donald Trump, would be dangerous as President. He said he wouldn't want, quote, "such a hot head with his finger on the nuclear codes." You, as well, have raised concerns about Mr. Trump's temperament. You've dismissed him as an entertainer. Would you feel comfortable with Donald trump's finger on the nuclear codes? +p752 +aVYou didn't answer my question. Would you feel comfortable with Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear codes? It's an issue that one of your fellow candidates has raised. +p753 +aVMr. Trump? +p754 +aVMr. \u2014 Senator Paul, your name has been invoked. +p755 +aVMr. Trump? +p756 +aVI want to \u2014 I want to give Mr. Trump... +p757 +aV... Mr. Trump, I want to give you another chance \u2014 Mr. Trump, I want to give you a chance to respond to something that your rival to your left, Governor Bush, said. Governor Bush told me last week when I read him the quote from Governor Jindal that he agrees you're not a serious candidate. Tell Governor Bush why you are a serious candidate and what your qualifications are to be commander-in-chief. +p758 +aVGovernor Bush, would you feel comfortable with Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear codes? +p759 +aVGovernor Walker? +p760 +aVLet's move on. +p761 +aVA phenomenon going on in the race right now is the political... OK, Governor Kasich, go ahead. +p762 +aVWe have a lot of issues coming up, sir. +p763 +aVWe are getting to the issues, sir. Phenomenon going on in the race is the political outsiders in the race, Dr. Carson, Donald Trump, Carly Fiorina, all together, have majority support in the polls. Governor Christie, I want to ask you about something that Dr. Carson said the other day. Dr. Carson said campaigning is easier for him, because he's not a politician. He can just tell the truth, therefore, while politicians, quote, "Have their finger in the air to see and do what is politically expedient." Governor Christie, tell Dr. Carson, is that a fair description of you? +p764 +aVWell, let's find out. Thank you. +p765 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. Dr. Carson, who were you thinking about on this stage when you said that? +p766 +aVAnd more broadly, is experience in government not important for a president to have? +p767 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p768 +aVThank you. +p769 +aVThank you. Thank you Ms. Fiorina. Governor Bush, in addition to the fact that he's an outsider, one of the reasons Mr. Trump is a frontrunner, Republican voters say, is because they like the fact that he is not bought and paid for by wealthy donors. Mr. Trump has repeatedly said that the $100 million you've raised for your campaign makes you a puppet for your donors. Are you? +p770 +aVIs there anything else you want to say about this? +p771 +aVGovernor \u2014 +p772 +aVSure Dr. Carson. +p773 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Let's move to Russia if we could. Russia is sending troops and tanks into Syria right now to prop up a U.S. enemy, Bashar al-Assad. President Obama's incoming top general says, quote, "Russia presents the greatest threat to our national security." Mr. Trump, you say you can do business with President Vladimir Putin, you say you will get along, quote, "very well." What would you do right now if you were president, to get the Russians out of Syria? +p774 +aVSo, you \u2014 just to clarify, the only answer I heard to the question I asked is that you would \u2014 you would reach out to Vladimir Putin, and you would do what? You would... +p775 +aVSenator Rubio, you've taken a very different approach to the \u2014 the question of Russia. You've called Vladimir Putin a, quote, "gangster." Why would President Rubio's approach be more effective than President Trump's? +p776 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. +p777 +aVI want to bring in Carly Fiorina. +p778 +aVMs. Fiorina, you have met... +p779 +aV...yeah, you've met Vladimir Putin. Yes. +p780 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p781 +aVThank you. +p782 +aVThank you. Thank you, Ms. Fiorina. While you're \u2014 while you brought up the subject of General Suleimani of the Quds forces from Iran, the next president, no matter who he or she may be, will inherit President Obama's Iran deal. Senator Cruz, Governor Kasich says that anyone who is promising to rip up the Iran deal on day one, as you have promised to do, is, quote, "inexperienced," and, quote, "playing to a crowd." Respond to Governor Kasich, please. +p783 +aVWhy is that not, as Governor Kasich says, playing to the crowd and an example of you being inexperienced? +p784 +aVGovernor Kasich... +p785 +aV...Did Senator Cruz just play to the crowd? +p786 +aV...Thank you, Governor. I want to go to Senator Paul. +p787 +aVI want to go to Senator Paul. Senator Paul, the White House is rolling out the red carpet next week for the President of China, President Xi. Governor Walker says that President Obama should cancel the state dinner because of China's currency manipulation, and because of China's alleged cyber attacks against the United States. Is Governor Walker right? +p788 +aVGovernor Walker, Senator Paul seemed to suggest... +p789 +aV...that canceling the state dinner would be rash, and reckless. +p790 +aV...Governor Bush... +p791 +aVGovernor Bush, your father was the chief diplomatic envoy to China back when Nixon opened relations to China. Is Scott Walker's approach the right one, canceling the state dinner? +p792 +aVI want to turn... +p793 +aV...I want to turn to Governor Huckabee who has been very patient. Somebody had to be 11th, and he is, but, I do want to change the subject to the event that you had... +p794 +aV... however you want, but I want to ask this question. +p795 +aVAll right, sir, go ahead. +p796 +aVOK. ( +p797 +aVWe're going to turn now to Hugh Hewitt, from Salem Radio Network. +p798 +aVThank you, Senator Paul. I want to turn now to my colleague Dana Bash. +p799 +aVThat would be fair, you're right. You're the third senator. +p800 +aVWe're going to go to Dana Bash... +p801 +aVSenator Cruz? +p802 +aVThank you, Senator. +p803 +aVThank you, Senator. +p804 +aVThank you, Senator. I want to... +p805 +aV... turn back to Governor Huckabee... +p806 +aVI want to turn back to Governor Huckabee. Governor Huckabee, last week, you held a rally for a county clerk in Kentucky who was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, as I don't need to tell you. You've called what happened to Kim Davis, that clerk, "an example of the criminalization of Christianity." There are several people on the stage who disagree with you. Governor Bush, for example, says that that clerk is sworn to uphold the law. Is Governor Bush on the wrong side of the criminalization of Christianity? +p807 +aVThank you, Governor. +p808 +aVWell, I'm not telling you that, Governor. But Governor Bush is, because he \u2014 because he disagrees. He thinks that Kim Davis swore to uphold the law. You disagree? You're not \u2014 you don't... +p809 +aVOK. Please do. +p810 +aVYou did... +p811 +aVGovernor, you said, quote, "she is sworn to uphold the law." +p812 +aVLet me go to my colleague Dana Bash, who has a question. +p813 +aVDana, I want to continue on the subject. Governor Bush, you recently said while discussing Planned Parenthood, quote, you're "not sure we need a half billion for women's health issues." Now you've since said that you misspoke, you didn't mean to say "women's health issues." But Donald Trump said that quote, that comment, which Hillary Clinton did seize upon immediately, will haunt you the same way Mitt Romney's 47 percent video haunted him. Tell Donald Trump why he's wrong. +p814 +aVThank you, Governor Bush. Donald Trump, let me just... +p815 +aVThe quote was, "I'm not sure we need half a billion dollars for women's health issues." He said he misspoke. You said that that's going to haunt him. Why do you think that? +p816 +aVGovernor Bush? +p817 +aVI want to \u2014 we're going to get to \u2014 +p818 +aVThank you, Governor. +p819 +aVThank you, Governor. +p820 +aVWe're going to \u2014 we're going to get to many of these issues. This \u2014 we're still in the first block, believe it or not. We're going to get to many of these issues, but before we end this block, Ms. Fiorina, I do want to ask you about this. In an interview last week in Rolling Stone magazine, Donald Trump said the following about you. Quote, "Look at that face. Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?" Mr. Trump later said he was talking about your persona, not your appearance. Please feel free to respond what you think about his persona. +p821 +aVAll right. On that note, in less than two minutes \u2014 we're going to take a very quick break. In less than two minutes, the most contentious issue on the campaign trail. And the candidates on the stage are split over how to handle it. That's coming up next. Please give some applause to the candidates. +p822 +aVWelcome to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate. No topic perhaps has been more combustible in this campaign than the issue of immigration. Mr. Trump, you have called for deporting every undocumented immigrant, Governor Christie has said, quote, "There are not enough law enforcement officers \u2014 local, county, state and federal combined \u2014 to forcibly deport 11 to 12 million people." Tell Governor Christie how much your plan will cost, and how you will get it done. +p823 +aVGovernor Christie, you and I have talked about this in an interview. You say that his big wall, his plan to deport 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants, it sounds great, but it's never going to happen. Tell him why you're skeptical of his plans? +p824 +aVThank you, Governor Christie... +p825 +aVI want to bring in Dr. Carson because he too has been skeptical of your plan to immediately deport 11 to 12 million illegal immigrants. He said, quote, "People who say that have no idea what this entails." Why do you say that, Dr. Carson? +p826 +aV...Dr. Carson... +p827 +aVWith all due respect, you said about Donald Trump's plan to deport 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants, "People who say that have no idea what this entails." Why not? +p828 +aV...let's continue the conversation about illegal immigration with Dana Bash. +p829 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Senator Cruz \u2014 Senator Cruz, this week, we learned more about Dr. Carson's plan for the 11 million to 12 million undocumented immigrants in this country. Dr. Carson proposed giving these undocumented immigrants a six- month grace period to pay back taxes then to let them become guest workers and only to deport people who failed to do that. +p830 +aVWell, how would you say it, sir? I was just reading the Wall Street Journal quote, but please tell us. +p831 +aVOK, from the horse's mouth, Senator Cruz, does that fit your definition of amnesty? +p832 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Rubio... +p833 +aV... I'm not sure... +p834 +aVWe'll come back to you \u2014 we'll come back to you in one second, sir. But Senator Rubio, I'm not sure exactly whose plan he's \u2014 he's saying is \u2014 constitutes amnesty, but I know he has said it about your plan in the past, so I want to give you a chance to respond, then, Dr. Carson, we'll come to you. +p835 +aVThank you, Senator. +p836 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator \u2014 Dr. Carson... ... I want to give you 30 seconds. I'd like you to answer the question. Senator Cruz describes plans such as yours as amnesty. Why is your plan not amnesty? +p837 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. I want to talk about the issue of birthright citizenship, which \u2014 which has emerged since the first debate as \u2014 as an a \u2014 a major issue in this campaign. Mr. Trump, you say that babies born in the United States to undocumented immigrants should not any longer get automatic American citizenship. Ms. Fiorina says that you are pandering on this issue and acting like the politicians that you rail against. What's your message to Ms. Fiorina on birthright citizenship? +p838 +aVMs. Fiorina, the vast majority of countries do not have birthright citizenship... ...Donald Trump is right about that. Why is it pandering when he's \u2014 he says this? +p839 +aVMs. Fiorina... +p840 +aVPlease. +p841 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p842 +aVThank you. +p843 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Mr. Trump, I want to give you the chance to respond... +p844 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. Senator Paul... +p845 +aVSenator Paul, I want to bring you in. Where \u2014 where do you stand on the issue of birthright citizenship? +p846 +aVAll right. Senator Paul, thank you so much. Let's turn to a new topic. We've received a lot of questions on social media about the economy and about jobs. We have two CEOs on stage right now. Ms. Fiorina, you were CEO of Hewlett Packard. Donald Trump says you, quote, "ran HP into the ground," you laid off tens of thousands of people, you got viciously fired. For voters looking to somebody with private-sector experience to create American jobs, why should they pick you and not Donald Trump? +p847 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p848 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p849 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 Mr. Trump, why would you be better at creating jobs than Carly Fiorina? +p850 +aVMs. Fiorina, I want to give you a chance to respond. +p851 +aVMr. Trump. +p852 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. +p853 +aVGovernor Christie's name has been invoked. I'd like to give him a 30 second opportunity. +p854 +aVMs. Fiorina, I want to give you +p855 +aVGovernor Kasich, I'm coming to you next, but Ms. Fiorina's name was mentioned, and I have to give her the opportunity to respond if she wants it. +p856 +aVThank you. +p857 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Kasich, I want to come \u2014 I'm coming to you. I'm coming to you. Let me ask the question. You can use the time however you want. +p858 +aVDonald Trump says that the hedge fund guys are getting away with murder by paying a lower tax rate. He wants to raise the taxes of hedge fund managers, as does Governor Bush. Do you agree? +p859 +aVThank you, Governor. +p860 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. +p861 +aVGovernor Huckabee, I want to bring you in on the question of hedge fund managers and taxing them. You have said that you are bothered by the fact that hedge fund managers pay such a low tax rate and make 2,500 times what people who work for them make. Do you agree with what Donald Trump and Governor Bush have proposed, raising their tax rates? +p862 +aVThank you, Governor. Dr. Carson, you support scrapping the entire tax code and replacing it with a flat tax based on the principal on tithing from the Bible. If you make $10 billion, you pay $1 billion in taxes, if you make $10, you pay $1 in taxes. Donald Trump believes in progressive taxation. He says it's not right that rich people pay the same as the poor. Tell Donald Trump why his ideas on taxes are wrong. +p863 +aVMr. Trump... +p864 +aV...What do you think of the flat tax? Do you think it's fair? +p865 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. Senator Paul? +p866 +aVGovernor Walker, I want to go to you. Dr. Carson wants to raise the Federal Minimum Wage, you have called it a lame idea. Why is raising the Federal Minimum Wage lame? +p867 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p868 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p869 +aVDr. Carson, Governor Walker didn't really answer the question, but I'll let you respond. He called raising the Federal Minimum Wage lame, what do you think of that? +p870 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson... +p871 +aVLet me bring in our partner from Salem Radio Network, Hugh Hewitt. +p872 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate. Let's turn to some issues now in foreign policy. Mr. Trump, Senator Rubio said it was, quote, "very concerning to him" that in a recent interview you didn't seem to know the details about some of the enemies the U.S. faces. Rubio said, if you don't know the answers to those questions, you will not be able to serve as commander-in-chief. Please respond to Senator Rubio. +p873 +aVSenator Rubio? +p874 +aVMr. Trump? Senator Rubio seemed to be suggesting that you don't know information that... +p875 +aVAll right. Senator Rubio. +p876 +aVBut are you saying that you have the knowledge to be the president that Mr. Trump does not have? +p877 +aVMr. Trump? +p878 +aVSenator Rubio, he did invoke your absentee record in the Senate. +p879 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. I want to turn now to Hugh Hewitt. +p880 +aVThank you, Governor. +p881 +aVSenator... +p882 +aVSenator Paul? +p883 +aVSenator Paul... +p884 +aVThank you, Senator Paul... +p885 +aVThank you, Senator Paul... +p886 +aVI understand that Governor Bush's name has been invoked, and then we can go to you, Senator Rubio. +p887 +aVThank you, Governor. +p888 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Rubio? +p889 +aVThank you, Senator. +p890 +aVDr. Carson? +p891 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p892 +aVI mean, it is interesting that you say that, because I want to ask Governor Christie about something else that you have said. Governor Christie, we just marked the 14th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Now Dr. Carson has said that if he had been president at the time, the United States would not have gone to war in Afghanistan. What does that say to you about how Dr. Carson would respond as president if America were attacked again? +p893 +aVDr. Carson? +p894 +aV... Governor Christie. +p895 +aVDr. Carson? +p896 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p897 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p898 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee. +p899 +aVThank you, Governor. +p900 +aVThank you, governor, I want to turn to +p901 +aVGovernor Walker, there is a big debate now, we have been talking about +p902 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Paul, I want to go to you, because you have said that the boots on the ground to fight +p903 +aVThank you, Senator. We're going to turn to some domestic issues now. I want to bring in my colleague, Dana Bash. +p904 +aVSure.... +p905 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p906 +aV...Thank you, Governor. Dana Bash... +p907 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina... +p908 +aV...Thank you, we're going to turn now to domestic issues with Dana Bash. +p909 +aV...Dana Bash... +p910 +aVThank you. Dana Bash? +p911 +aVThank you, Senator. +p912 +aV...Governor Bush... +p913 +aV...I want to let you respond. +p914 +aVThank you, Governor... ...And, that's what we should do, and I hope I'll be working members of the United States Senate to fight hard for the passage of people that have that kind of qualification. +p915 +aVSenator Cruz, 30 seconds. +p916 +aVThank you, Senator. +p917 +aVThank you, Semator. +p918 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee, I want to bring you in very quickly if you could. Will you have a litmus test when it comes to appointing Supreme Court nominees? +p919 +aVThank you, Governor. +p920 +aVThank you, Governor. +p921 +aVThank you, Governor. We're going to take a quick break. Coming up, one of the hottest questions that you have been asking us via social media. We will pose it to the candidates. That's coming up right after this. +p922 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican presidential debate at the Reagan Library here in Simi Valley \u2014 Simi Valley, California. Many people on social media wanted us to ask about marijuana legalization. Senator Paul, Governor Christie recently said, quote, "if you're getting high in Colorado today," where marijuana has been legalized, "enjoy it until January 2017, because I will enforce the federal laws against marijuana." Will you? +p923 +aVI want to give that \u2014 I want to give the person that you called a hypocrite an opportunity to respond. Do you want to identify that person? +p924 +aVIs there somebody you were specifically thinking of? +p925 +aVThat's what I though, but I wanted to say it. +p926 +aVOK. +p927 +aVGovernor Bush, please. +p928 +aVI want to go right now \u2014 I want to go right now... +p929 +aVThat's true. Go ahead, Christie, please. +p930 +aVYou may respond, and then I'll bring in you, Ms. Fiorina. +p931 +aVYes, Senator Paul. +p932 +aVI want to bring in Ms. Fiorina \u2014 I want to bring in Ms. Fiorina on this issue. +p933 +aVHugh \u2014 Hugh, I'd like to... +p934 +aVI'd like to turn it over \u2014 I'd like to turn to Dana Bush. +p935 +aVThank you, Governor. +p936 +aVI'm coming to you right now on a separate issue, sir. We received... ( +p937 +aVWe received a lot of questions from social media about climate change. Senator Rubio, Ronald Reagan's secretary of state, George Shultz, reminds us that when Reagan was president he faced a similar situation to the one that we're facing now. There were dire warnings from the mass consensus of the scientific community about the ozone layer shrinking. Shultz says Ronald Reagan urged skeptics in industry to come up with a plan. He said, do it as an insurance policy in case the scientists are right. The scientists were right. Reagan and his approach worked. Secretary Shultz asks, why not take out an insurance policy and approach climate change the Reagan way? +p938 +aVI'm citing George Shultz. +p939 +aVGovernor Christie, you have said that climate change is real, and that humans help contribute to it. Without getting into the issue of China versus the United States, which I understand you've talked about before, what do you make of skeptics of climate change such as Senator Rubio? +p940 +aVJust for the record, I was citing Secretary of State George Shultz, Ronald Reagan's secretary of state who I don't think anybody would call him left-wing. +p941 +aVI called you a skeptic. +p942 +aVI want to go another question right now. +p943 +aVThank you, Governor. +p944 +aVI'm turning to... +p945 +aV...I'm turning to another \u2014 I'm turning to another issue right now. Senator Cruz. Well, I think we've heard from several this evening. A backlash against vaccines was blamed for a measles outbreak here in California. Dr. Carson, Donald Trump has publicly and repeatedly linked vaccines, childhood vaccines, to autism, which, as you know, the medical community adamantly disputes. You're a pediatric neurosurgeon. Should Mr. Trump stop saying this? +p946 +aVShould he stop saying it? Should he stop saying that vaccines cause autism? +p947 +aVMr. Trump, as president, you would... +p948 +aVI'm going right to you. +p949 +aVMr. Trump, as president, you would be in charge of the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health, both of which say you are wrong. How would you handle this as president? +p950 +aVThank you. +p951 +aVDr. \u2014 Dr. Carson? +p952 +aVDr. Carson, you just heard his medical take. +p953 +aVDr. Paul? Dr. Paul, I'd like to bring you in. +p954 +aVAlright, thank you so much... +p955 +aVComing up \u2014 I'm sorry, Governor Huckabee, please. +p956 +aVThank you, Governor. +p957 +aVWe have to take another quick break. Coming up, Ronald Reagan looming large over this debate. So how Reaganesque exactly are these Republicans? We will find out next. +p958 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California. We have a few last questions for you. Two of them a little lighthearted, the other one more serious. We'll start with one of the more light questions. Senator Paul, I'm going to start with you and we're just going to go down the line. Earlier this year, the Treasury Department announced that a woman will appear on the $10 bill. What woman would you like to see on the $10 bill? +p959 +aVGovernor Huckabee? +p960 +aVSenator Paul (sic). +p961 +aVI'm sorry. Senator Rubio? +p962 +aVJust the senators. +p963 +aVSenator Cruz? +p964 +aVDr. Carson? +p965 +aVMr. Trump. +p966 +aVGovernor Bush. +p967 +aVGovernor Walker. +p968 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p969 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p970 +aVGovernor Christie. +p971 +aVAlright. Some good entries if anybody at the mint was listening. Here's the next lighthearted question, you all know that the United States Secret Service uses codenames for the president, and his family. Ronald Reagan's codename, for example, was, "Rawhide", an homage to his performances in Westerns. Nancy Reagan's was, "Rainbow". You don't have to come up the one for your spouse, but, what would you want, Governor Christie, I'll start with you, your Secret Service codename to be. +p972 +aVGovernor Walker? +p973 +aVMr. Trump? +p974 +aVDr. Carson? +p975 +aVSenator Cruz? +p976 +aVSenator Rubio? +p977 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p978 +aVSenator Paul. +p979 +aVThat's a mouthful, but OK. OK, here's the more serious question, Ronald Reagan, the 40th President, used the plane behind you to accomplish a great many things. Perhaps, most notably, to challenge Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the wall, and ultimately, to make peace with the +p980 +aVThat concludes this Republican presidential debate. On behalf of everyone here at CNN, we want to thank the candidates, the Reagan Library, and the Republican National Committee. Thank you, also, to Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash. The next presidential debate will also be right here on CNN, among the Democratic candidates, who will face off for the first time on October the 13th. That debate, a partnership with Facebook, will be moderated by my colleague, Anderson Cooper. And Anderson picks up our coverage of tonight's debate right now. Before I throw to Anderson, let's have one final round of applause for the candidates. +p981 +asVSANTORUM +p982 +(lp983 +VYou know, listening to what your network was talking about prior to this race, this debate, reminded me of the coverage that many on this floor are getting. This race, this debate, was called the, "Undercard Debate". The undercard debate. It wasn't advertised significantly. In fact, the entire hour lead up to this there was no conversation about any of the four people on this debate stage, and that is the chronic situation. In fact, they listed -- they put a poll up from Wall Street Journal/NBC News, they listed the candidates, and they failed to mention I wasn't listed. I got zero, why? Because they -- NBC, Wall Street Journal poll never includes my name on the list. This is what the media has been doing over the past year, and trying to segregate, and take Iowans out of the process. What Iowans deserve... ... is to hear from every candidate on equal footing. Had they applied the same rules four years ago, I would have been in the undercard debate. The guy who won the Iowa Caucuses would have been in the undercard debate, not talked about. We would have been talking about, maybe, an entertainer that may have been trying to run. Ladies and gentlemen, you have a chance on Monday to put the record straight about who you want, not who will entertain you. +p984 +aVBut, who will fight for what you believe in, and I hope you do... +p985 +aVWell, look. The entire lead up to this debate was talking about whether Donald Trump is going to show up for the next debate. The people of Iowa, who I know pretty darn well, care a lot about the issues. They care about who is going to be the leader of the free world. Who is going to be able to take on +p986 +aVAnd we are not hearing any of those things. We are hearing about whether someone is going to show up for the next debate or not. +p987 +aVYes, I am. +p988 +aVYou know, this, again, more of the politics of trying to get people to throw stuff at each other. I'm not going to throw mud at anybody on this stage tonight. I'm not going to throw mud at anybody on the stage later. I'm not going to attack Donald Trump. What I'm -- Mike Huckabee and I were asked to come to an event where money was going to be raise to do help our veterans. You know, I thought about it. And I thought about. I said well, wait a minute, now, if there were no political considerations and I had some time because I'm not doing anything at 9:00 tonight. And so if I had some time, would I go... ... if I could help raise money for veterans? And the answer was yes, I would. And so I'm going. +p989 +aVThank you for the question, Martha. We have to have an honest discussion with the American people about the nature of the threat that we confront. This president says that +p990 +aVWhat I would say is that we have to create jobs that give people wages and benefits that can help them provide for themselves and their families. And that's why I announced from a factory floor in western Pennsylvania, I pledge to make America the number one manufacturing nation, again, in the world. And we can do it. China is starting to reorient itself away from a manufacturing economy that's dumping products on the -- overseas to providing more services to their people. This is an opportunity for America. It's an opportunity for us to get those jobs back. And by the way, do you want to solve global climate change? Take 2 million jobs from China in manufacturing and moving them back here to the United States, where we produce one-fifth the CO2 when we make things. We can help -- we can do every -- we can do it all. We can take care of the environment. We can create more jobs here. Seventy-four percent of Americans don't have a college degree. And unfortunately most folks who, in the Republican Party, don't talk about what we're going to do to create jobs for people who feel like neither political party cares about them. When you elect me, we'll create opportunities for working men and women in this country -- all over this country. +p991 +aVWell, in fact, the plan that I put forward is scored by the Tax Foundation as bringing three and a half million jobs into this country, and we have provisions in the flat tax for the corporate side that actually has a phase in of manufacturing. Manufacturers initially don't pay any income tax. Ten percent the next year, and 20. We're going to also have a repatriation provision which says that if you have money overseas, and you're Apple, and you got a couple hundred billion dollars there, bring it back. The most you'll be taxed 10%, invest it here in America. Create jobs here in America with all that money that's sitting overseas. We also -- it's not just taxes. It's regulation. I've pledged to cut every single Obamacare -- I mean, excuse me, Obama regulation, including Obamacare, and remove those regulations that cost more than a hundred million dollars in the economy. That will liberate -- and that includes waters of the U.S., and the ozone regulations, they -- the mercury regulations. All of these just crush our manufactures and don't create an opportunity for us to survive. And, remember, China produces five times as much CO2 and other pollutants per dollar of GDP as we do. You want to help the environment? Bring jobs back to America. +p992 +aVWell, I've been to the March for Life for about 25 years and I thought -- I think that's a pretty good record. Spoken at it a few times and I have shepherded every single piece of pro-life piece of legislation that's passed over the last 20 years. I've either authored it or shepherded it through the United States Congress and I'm pretty proud of that record too. But we have an election going on and there was some snow coming. So I decided that maybe it would be better for me to get out and do some campaigning and not be stuck as my wife and kids were for a week, piling out of two and a half feet of snow. So, here's what I would say. If you want someone that is going to talk a good game, there are a lot of folks on this stage that have talked a good game on the issue of life. Not only have I talked a good game on life and I've done some things. But I've also lived it. You know, one of the things Saint Francis said was, you know, if you preach the gospel, then if you have to, speak. The bottom line is, that twice in my life, we were counseled to have an abortion, one with our son Gabriel and one with our little girl Bella. And neither time did Karen and I for a moment think about it because we know that life begins at conception. We know the dignity of every human life and we know the potential of every child, no matter how long that life lives. And that is a message that can come across to all Americans and without having to say a word and defend the institution of life and the dignity of life in this country. +p993 +aVThe president of the United States has been the most divisive president in -- certainly in my lifetime. This is a man who constantly... He is not trustworthy. You can't sit down and negotiate with him. He won't keep a deal. We have heard that over and over again. And here is what he does that really, really creates the friction in Washington. He personally attacks people. He ascribes motives to them that aren't true and then he tears them down. How are you going to work with someone if you don't treat them decently, honestly, and respectfully? I was a tough fighter when I was in Washington. I had very sharp elbows. I fought. I went there and joined a game named Jim Nussle here from Iowa with the "gang of seven." And we, in four years' time, took a Congress that had been controlled by Democrats for 40 years, and brought in the first Republican majority because we fought and we fought tough. But you know what? I was able to then work with those same people that we fought with and able to pass welfare reform. Unborn Victims of Violence Act. Pro-life bills. Health savings accounts. A whole laundry list of things not because I was mean, but because I was able to be respectful in the disagreements. And that's what we need in Washington, someone who can be respectful and still unite this country. +p994 +aVI just want to thank the people of Iowa. Over the last five years I've done 700 speeches and town hall meetings all throughout the state of Iowa, and it has been an incredible right. Thank you. I want to thank all the wonderful folks like Pastor Carey Gordon who gave me a smooth stone and said you go slay Goliaths. Someone like Jim and Janet Cook who over this past Christmas gave up Christmas presents for their kids, and they have more than I do, just they can help me and my campaign. That's the kind of people... ... in Iowa. And, here's what I'm asking you to do. You're good people. You know good leaders. Lead. Pick the right person, not what the polls say. Not who the money give people to. Pick the leader you know is best for this country. Thank you. +p995 +aVWell, all he has to do is listen to the Democratic debate and find out how bad the economy is. All they do is complain about the hollowing out of the middle of America, and how America is struggling so badly, and have to make these radical changes in Washington. But they've been in control for the last seven years, and what have we seen? The most important jobs, I believe, in this country are the ones that fill the middle. For the 74% of Americans who don't have a college degree between the age of 25 and 65 are manufacturing jobs. Your governor, and your legislature, and your team here have done an amazing job of bringing manufacturing jobs back to South Carolina. Right here. Right here in Charleston, right down in the street in Boeing. You've done a great job, and what's happened? You've grown this economy, you've strengthened the center of your state, the middle. That's because you know that if you're really going to create wealth and opportunity, you got to get jobs, and good paying jobs for everybody. And, so what's happened? Two million jobs, manufacturing jobs, have left this country because of Barack Obama. Regulations, EPA, workplace regulations, things driving people off-shore all because of his number one priority, global climate change. Well, let me tell you this, Mr. President. For every dollar of GDP, China creates five times as much pollution as we do here. You want to \u2014 lower global climate change, bring those jobs back to America and let American workers do that job with less pollution. +p996 +aVWell, the historic promises that we have made to \u2014 to Iran in this agreement need to be torn up on the first day in office of the next president. And let me tell you why, because Iran has already torn it up. Iran has not approved the agreement that President Obama has said that they have approved. They have approved a different agreement in their parliament. The fact of the matter is they have violated this agreement. Carly just mentioned some of those violations. They have launched ballistic missiles, tested them, in clear violation. And here's the pathetic part. The president announced that they were going to impose sanctions. And then President Rouhani went on Twitter and said there would be retaliation. And what did we do? We backed down. Ladies and gentlemen, there are 50 some Citadel cadets in this audience tonight. I would ask them to stand up if they will. And here's what I want to tell each and every one of them, as you stand. Here's what I want to tell them. Whether it's you're watching that movie this weekend that just came out when we abandoned our men and women in Benghazi, or whether it's we treat Iran, that gave courtesies to our sailors, as they made them record a hostage video, let me tell you this, if you choose to serve this country, I will have your back. I will not let America be trampled upon anymore by these radical jihadists. +p997 +aVI would just say that if we were doing a better job within the government, we wouldn't need the private sector to do the things that we're asking them to do. I've had a little experience in this in the private sector myself. And what I found was a government with layers and layers of bureaucracy, of people who had some technical expertise but they had no authority, number one. And one of the things I found out about in the bureaucracy is if a lot of people have authority, nobody has authority, number one. And number two, that if you don't do anything, you don't get fired. It's only when you do something and something goes wrong, you get fired. So they do nothing. And that's what is happening in our Defense Department right now. We have a capability that they're trying to develop to play defense. We have a lot of technologists that are very skilled. And they're trying to figure out how to play defense. But what we don't have is we don't have folks who are thinking about offense. We don't have war-fighters. We have technologists. Technologists are not war-fighters. Technologists are thinking, how do I protect cyber-security, how do I secure, how do I protect? And we need to have a much more dynamic, how do we \u2014 how do we go after them? How do we respond? And we need leadership that's willing to make sure that when someone attacks us \u2014 and ladies and gentlemen, they're attacking us as we speak. They're attacking us all day every day, not just the government, but they're attacking private sector companies all day every day. They have to learn that we're going to pay \u2014 they're going to pay a price when they do so. And then right now, just like in every other aspect of our national security, people who attack us are not paying a price. We need a leader who will make sure that they know when they mess with America, they're going to pay a price. +p998 +aVLook, Facebook and Twitter can teach us things. We can cooperate with them. We can share ideas and information. But this is a \u2014 and this is a very dicey area for the government to go in and require the industry to do its job. It needs to develop that capability. We need to be \u2014 have responsible dialogue, but I don't think requirements are the order of the day. +p999 +aVWell, the most devastating attack that could occur is an electromagnetic pulse attack, and that would be an attack that would be triggered by a nuclear explosion in the upper atmosphere of our country. The best way to stop that from happening is to make sure that those who contemplating and actually war-gaming and talking about using it, Iran, doesn't get a nuclear weapon so they can't explode that device. And the president of the United States has put Iran on a path to a nuclear weapon. And we have done nothing to do anything to harden our grid. There is actually a bill in Congress that would put money forward to try to put redundancy and harden our electric grid so it could actually survive an EMP. An EMP is a devastating explosion that sends a pulse that knocks out all electric, everything, everything that is connected to any kind \u2014 that is wired, that has a circuit board gets fried out. Everything is gone. Cars stop. Planes fall out of the sky. This is a devastating attack. And this president has done nothing, number one, to take the most probable person to \u2014 probable country to launch an attack and stop them, and has done nothing to try to defend us, particularly our electric grid. The bottom line is, I put the original sanctions on the Iranian nuclear program when I was in the United States Senate. I've been fighting for 12 years with one thing in mind, that we must stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. And......because they're different than every other country. They do not want a nuclear weapon to defend themselves. They want a nuclear weapon to have theological ends to bring about their mahdi so they can control the world. And that is the most serious threat facing this country right now. +p1000 +aVWell, the numbers just don't add up. I mean, they have not added manufacturing jobs. Manufacturing jobs have been lost in this country, 2 million of them. The bottom line is that this president has done more to take jobs away from the hard-working people who are struggling the most. And that's folks who are, as I said, the 74 percent of Americans who don't have a college degree. And they're out there talking about, well, we're going to provide free college for everybody. Well, who is going to pay for it? The 74 percent that don't have a college degree. They're not \u2014 nobody is focused. Let's just be honest, nobody is focused on the people who are struggling the most in America today. We talk about immigration. Talk about the president's immigration plan. He wants to bring in more and more people into this country. Let people who are here illegally stay in this country. Almost all of the people who are here illegally, and most of the people who came here legally over the last 20 years, they're working in wage-earning jobs. That is why wages have flat-lined. And we have unfortunately two political parties with most of the candidates in this field for some form of amnesty, some form of allowing people to stay here even though they're here illegally and for increasing levels of legal immigration. I'm someone who believes that we need to be the party that stands for the American worker. And when we say we need to send people back, I mean we send people back. And let me just make one point. I was in Storm Lake, Iowa, the other day, near a Tyson's plant, 91 percent of the kids that go to the elementary school there are minority kids. And they said, well, what are you going to do with all of these people, their families, they've lived here for a long time? I said, I'm going to give them a gift. I'm going to give them a gift of being able to help the country they were born in. And I'm going to export America, the education they were able to see. They learned English language. They learned about capitalism. They learned about democracy. You want to stop flow of immigrants? Let's send six million Mexicans, Hondurans, Guatemalans, El Savadorians......back into their country, so they can start a renaissance in their country so they won't be coming over here anymore. +p1001 +aVYou know, we've had this debate about the economy, and we haven't talked the one issue now increasingly even the right, and even the are coming to agreement. I've run around doing 300 town hall meetings talking about a book written by a liberal Harvard sociologist, not a normal thing for me to be talking about, but I now name Robert Putnam who wrote a book called, "Our Kids". And, he wrote this book, I think, ostensibly to support the Democratic argument that the middle of America's hollowing out, and income gap is widening, and rich are getting richer. When he studied all the information as to what was going on, he realized that the biggest reason that we're seeing the hollowing out of the middle of America is the breakdown of the American family. The reality is that if you're a single parent \u2014 a child of a single parent, and you grew up in a single parent family neighborhood, you went to that single parent family school, the chance of you ever, ever reaching the top 20% of income earners is 3% in America. At least \u2014 I don't know about you, but that's not good enough. And, we have been too politically correct in this country because we don't want to offend anybody to fight for the lives of our children. You want \u2014 You want to be shocked? You read the first few chapters of Mr. \u2014 Dr. Putnam' book. He talks about Port Clinton, Ohio and growing up there in the 1950's, and how poor kids actually survived and did well, even though they were poor and disadvantaged. But, then he goes to the towns today and these kids are failing, and failing miserably. They don't even have a shot, and we won't even have the courage to have leadership at the federal level \u2014 not with legislation, but the most powerful tool a president have, the bully pulpit to encourage each and everyone of you, churches and businesses, and educators, and community leaders to let's have a national campaign to rebuild the American family, and give every child its birthright which is a Mom and a Dad who loves them. That will change this economy. +p1002 +aVLadies and gentlemen, America is frustrated and angry and looking for someone who's a fighter, but I also think they're looking for someone who's a winner. Somebody who can go out there and take on the establishment and make a difference. And take on someone who's going to be the person who's going to be between a Republican holding the presidency and that's Hillary Clinton. And there's one person on this stage, one person in the race who's done it and done it repeatedly. I've taken on Hillary Clinton on the issues you care about. Partial-birth abortion. Go and google Rick Santorum and Hillary Clinton and there you'll see a five-minute debate. I'll let you decide who won the debate. I'll tell you who won, because we passed the bill and I know I'm out of time but I'm going to take some of Rand Paul's time here for a second. If you're looking for someone who fought Hillary Clinton on Iran's sanctions, she was one of four who voted \u2014 who's deciding vote who voted against Iran's sanctions, so we didn't get it in place as earlier as we should have. I've fought battles against her. In 1994, I ran against the Clinton machine. James Carville and Paul Begala, ran the race against me when I took on the author of Hillary care. And each one of those battles, I won. You want a fighter, you want a winner, I'd appreciate your vote. Thank you. +p1003 +aVThank you, Wolf. It's great to be here in Las Vegas. And I just want to thank everybody for the opportunity to be here. This is an important time in our country's history. We have entered World War III. World War III has begun and we have a leader who refuses to identify it and be truthful to the American people to the stakes that are involved, in part, because his policies have led us here. His policy toward Iran lit the fuse of a nuclear Iran. Just a few weeks ago the International Atomic Agency reported that Iran has had a nuclear program, but they don't know if it's continuing because they refuse to share any information about the current status. And this President marches on, forgiving them hundreds of billions of dollars to allow them to not just reconstitute their robust nuclear program, pursue their missile program, but also to foment terror around the world. And then his policies in the Middle East with Iraq create +p1004 +aVOf course I do. But what Donald Trump was saying was nothing against Muslims. His comment was against this administration who doesn't have a policy to properly vet people coming into this country. Let's just be honest about what's \u2014 what's being talked about here. And I know people will pile on because it makes sense to pile on, maybe from the polls. But he brings up a legitimate issue. The fact of the matter is not all Muslims are Jihadists and no one, including I suspect, Donald Trump would say that. But the reality is, all Jihadists are Muslims. That's a reality. And we have \u2014 we have to stop worrying about offending some people and start defending all Americans. Because we're not right now. +p1005 +aVI would agree \u2014 I would agree that Donald Trump's proposal was not the right proposal. But he brings up a very important issue that I think we've been ignoring for far too long in this country. The reality is that, yes, we need to get reformist Muslims to join us. We need to get those who are being persecuted and killed within the Middle East to join us. But we also have to protect this country from those who want to harm us and we have to defeat those who are radicalized in the Middle East and wherever we find them around the world. +p1006 +aVJust because it couldn't have prevented San Bernardino doesn't mean that we shouldn't have all tools available to us that doesn't impinge upon people's privacy. This sort of data collection is not collecting people's phones calls, their voices; they're not collecting information that's personal. There's no names attached to these numbers. They're simply numbers and times and relationships that throughout algorithms that computer technology can be able to sort through relationship about what numbers are calling what numbers and be able to track those down to see if there's any leakage's between someone who's potentially a terrorist. That is to me just fundamental that we have to have this type of data to be able to not impinge upon people's privacy. In fact, I would make the argument that the more data we can collect that's anonymous that we can through, through using algorithms, the less we need to involve people in and imposing themselves in people's privacy. +p1007 +aVLook, I agree with Governor Huckabee, that we should in fact be looking at people's social media posts. That's just common sense. But we've defunded and tied the hands behind the backs of our intelligence agencies because of political correctness. We're not allowed to ask any questions or really pursue, whether there's any mosque that they're attending that could be spreading Jihadism, and we know that in this country there are Imams that are doing that. But we're not allowed to ask those questions, we're not allowed to pursue to those things because we have a president who denies the reality of the enemy we confront. +p1008 +aVI don't. I don't think we should be able to deny someone's constitutional rights based on a list kept by the government that nobody knows how they get on it, or how they get off of it. If you're going to make that list public, if you're going to put criteria out there as to how you're going to get on it, if you're going to deny someone's constitutional right, than I think there has to be more transparency. Let's just be honest, when someone applies for a gun, you do a background check. And, if you're on the terrorist watch list, guess what very well may happen? You may get denied that. That's a discretion of the people \u2014 of the ATF in making that kind of decision. I want to leave that discretion \u2014 as long as this list is not well known, as long as it's not transparent, we have to leave that discretion. I want to make a comment about what Mike said, and George said, about mus \u2014 Islam. The fact of the matter is, Islam is different. I know this is going to come as a shock to a lot of people, and I mean the sincerely. Islam is not just a religion. It is also a political governing structure. The fact of the matter is, Islam is a religion, but it is also Sharia law, it is also a civil government, it is also a form of government. And, so, the idea that that is protected under the First Amendment is wrong. And, in fact, that political structure is what is the big problem. The imposition of Sharia law adherence to fundamental Islam as it was practiced in the Seventh Century... +p1009 +aV...There has to be a line drawn. +p1010 +aVWell, there's all sorts of theological reasons why we may not want to go into Syria right now to take +p1011 +aVI would have no problem with Sy \u2014 with boots on the ground in Syria in a training capacity. I do not want American troops on the front line in Syria because I don't believe that that would serve to the interest. Again, understanding what +p1012 +aVNo look, I'm committed to whatever is necessary understanding the nature of the enemy. The enemy is a theocracy and their allure is their theocracy. It's their doctrine and so we have to understand that doctrine. That's why, I love the fact that people are angry and outraged in Washington and want someone new and fresh. But we need someone who understands and has knowledge and experience in these areas. And I can see that you know, Senator Graham has that experience and we have a little difference of opinion. But frankly, it's not that big of difference in our opinion, we both want to defeat +p1013 +aVAnd the fact that we have a nuclear treaty with the Shiites in Iran, that we have now partnered with the Russians and appearing to allow Assad to stay, which is a satellite Alawites, very interrelated to the Shiites, this looks to +p1014 +aVWell, I would establish a no-fly zone. And, I think we just... +p1015 +aVWell \u2014 the first thing you have to do is establish a no-fly zone, and you don't do that by just sort of declaring it. You work through the process of making sure you work with people who, hopefully, have the same objective that you do. And, if they don't, then you establish the no-fly zone, and you take the consequences of whatever \u2014 who violates that law. +p1016 +aV...I don't think it's a war with Russia anymore than Turkey went to war with Russia when Turkey shot down a plane... +p1017 +aVThese are \u2014 these are incidents not something that we're threatening the motherland. This is a tactical decision within an area that we have an obligation for the refugees, for providing stability to the rebels, and an opportunity for the rebels to reconstitute. And, making sure that we stop the flow of refugees into Europe, and into the United States to establish a no-fly zone. And, Russia either is going to comply with it or not, and if they don't, I think it can be contained to that region. +p1018 +aVWell, I would establish a no-fly zone. And, I think we just... +p1019 +aVWell \u2014 the first thing you have to do is establish a no-fly zone, and you don't do that by just sort of declaring it. You work through the process of making sure you work with people who, hopefully, have the same objective that you do. And, if they don't, then you establish the no-fly zone, and you take the consequences of whatever \u2014 who violates that law. +p1020 +aV...I don't think it's a war with Russia anymore than Turkey went to war with Russia when Turkey shot down a plane... +p1021 +aVThese are \u2014 these are incidents not something that we're threatening the motherland. This is a tactical decision within an area that we have an obligation for the refugees, for providing stability to the rebels, and an opportunity for the rebels to reconstitute. And, making sure that we stop the flow of refugees into Europe, and into the United States to establish a no-fly zone. And, Russia either is going to comply with it or not, and if they don't, I think it can be contained to that region. +p1022 +aVI would use the studies that were done that were ignored by this military that there were certain positions that frankly were not suitable. And they pushed a political agenda above what is in the best interest of the safety, security, and effective of our, of our fighting units. So I would go back to using what we should be doing. Which is putting forth people on those front line positions who are best prepared to do the job, survive the job, and come back home safely. +p1023 +aVI would change the policy to reflect what is the best interest of the people that we're asking. I've got a son who's going, who's going into the Air Force right now, and I, as a father, I want to make sure that, if he's out there on the front line \u2014 and he may be a pilot flying an airplane \u2014 I want to make sure that the person who's responsible for, for his wing has the ability to do the job they're doing. And if they don't have that ability to do the job, if we're doing a social promotion as opposed to what's best for the efficacy of our fighting force and for the survivability of our men and women, I'll change that policy. +p1024 +aVSo what you just said is you agree with me. Because that's exactly what I said. +p1025 +aVI said if you can't do the job, you shouldn't be able to...you shouldn't have the position. +p1026 +aVNo, I did not say that, George. I mean, you may, you may have heard that, but I didn't say that. What I said was, if they can in fact do the job that any, any other person can do, I will allow them to do so. +p1027 +aVBut if they cannot, I would reverse the policy. And what happened here is there were many studies done, particularly in the Marine Corps, which begged this President not to move forward with this because people are going to get killed as a result of it. The President went forward anyway. +p1028 +aVOf course there is a proper way to vet refugees coming into the United States. But not from the +p1029 +aVLindsay says this is a real war, until it comes to immigration. And, then, all of a sudden it's not such a real war. The reality is that we've seen since the events of 9/11, the president talks about how he's worried about discrimination and acts against Muslims. There's four times as many acts of violence against Jews than there are against Muslims. I never hear the president talk about that. The reality is that under this president, since 9/11, this anti-Muslim United States of America has doubled the rate of Muslim immigration. Since 9/11. That's what we've done. So, the idea that we have an immigration system that is working... +p1030 +aVIs not \u2014 and, I'm out of time. +p1031 +aVHere's the problem. I was with, in fact, one my guests here today is the Sheriff in Cochise County, down on the border in Arizona. And, he talked with me last night when I was with him about all of the children coming across. All of the children, why? Because we've created a magnet. These children are not coming over, and in great shape, not coming over \u2014 and not in harms way, and \u2014 going through difficult times. We're attracting people. He's also the Sheriff that caught Syrian's at the border. We have through the policies supported by almost everybody in this field......A policy that says amnesty. The world hears this, and knows that if they can come across this border, by and large, they're going to be able to stay. That has to change. +p1032 +aVBarack Obama has not kept this country safe. Hillary Clinton will not keep this country safe. We need to nominate someone who America knows will keep this country safe. Ten years ago I put the sanctions on Iran's nuclear program. Before that, I gave speech after speech, including to President Bush, to identify the enemy and call these radical Islamists who they are. Ladies and gentlemen, this week +p1033 +aVThe middle of America is hollowing out. All you have to do is listen to the last Democratic debate and you would think there was a Republican president in office the way they complained about how bad things are in America and how the middle \u2014 the middle of America is hollowing out. I agree with Mike Huckabee. I spent this morning in Chicago at Fabtech, which is a sheet manufac \u2014 a sheet metal fabricators conference. Thousands of people there explained the latest and newest technologies. You know what I was told? I was told when I went to booth after booth that there are 250,000 welder jobs open in America \u2014 250,000 welder jobs paying anywhere from $50,000 to $70,000 a year, and if you want to weld pipe on a, you know, for oil and gas pipelines, you can make $100,000 a year. Every manufacturer \u2014 I go to one every single week. In fact, I have with me in the \u2014 in the crowd here today a gentleman who is a supporter of mine from Rockwall, Texas, Ed Grand-Lienard. He runs Special Products. And he tells me he has jobs open in every skill that he \u2014 he \u2014 he could possibly hire for in Rockwall, Texas, but he can't find people. So the issue is, yes, we need a tax code. I \u2014 I propose a 20 percent flat tax \u2014 20 percent on corporations, 20 percent on \u2014 on individuals, full expensing, which will be powerful for manufacturing, a 0 percent rate, initially, for manufacturers. We're going to have a very powerful tax code. We're going to do something about regulation. We're going to suspected every single ObamaCare regu \u2014 Obama regulation that cost over $100,000 to the economy. But we have to start doing something about training and employing people who are sitting on the sidelines because they don't see a path. And we have a \u2014 a bureaucracy in Washington and a president in Washington \u2014 and even among Republicans who think everybody has to go to college. People need to go to work and we need to provide......opportunities for them to go to work out of high school. +p1034 +aVWell, the answer is first that we need to do something about a tax code that doesn't penalize. One thing that I'm excited about our tax code, proposed changes, is it's very pro-family. You have a $2,700 tax credit, period, for every person in that family, so that family, you know, would have about an $8,000 tax credit, which would be refundable. So every dollar she works, she's still only losing 20 cents. The problem with the tax code today, because of all the different provisions, you're right, you go back to work, you lose welfare benefits, you're losing money. Throw on top of that the \u2014 even a bigger problem, over 50 percent of children being raised in a home today of a single mom are raised in a home where the father is born \u2014 father is (sic) living at the child \u2014 the time the child is born. Now what does that mean? That means we have incentivized people not to marry. We've incentivized people to cohabitate instead of not marry, why? Because mom will lose welfare benefits if she marries father. It's not just mom going back to work, but it's mother and father marrying to form a more stable family for that child to be raised in a two-parent family. So we've got all sorts of really corrupt incentives that were put in place, well meaning by the left. But we need to remove those. We need to remove those incentives. We need to adopt a tax code that says we're going to be pro-family and pro-work. And that's what we'll do. +p1035 +aVAbsolutely. I'm a capitalist, not a corporatist. I'm not someone who believes we should be bailing out corporations whether their auto industries, or banks. And, it is simply a matter that there's auto industry \u2014 the auto industry would have survived, it would have survived through a bankruptcy process of \u2014 instead of Washington picking a winner and a loser. And, in this case, the losers are the bondholders, and the winners were the unions. That's fine. They did it, the unions \u2014 the unions survived. We \u2014 we have not survived in continuing to grow manufacturing jobs. We have a \u2014 we have a president, and an economy right now, that is killing \u2014 choking our ability to be able to compete. I'm one of the few people up here who actually believes that we need a level playing field when it comes to manufacturing. That means a good tax code, a good regulatory environment, low energy prices, better opportunities for workers to get training, and, also, I'm \u2014 a supporter of the +p1036 +aV...Let me settle this argument... +p1037 +aV...Well... +p1038 +aVI'll answer that in a second, but, I want to answer this other problem because this is a real legitimate debate between Chris and Bobby, and if somebody says we need someone who can win in a blue state, and Bobby says we need a real principled conservative. Ninety-two percent conservative voting record, unlike some of the other senators that Bobby mentioned who hasn't done anything to cut federal spending, I was actually the author of welfare reform, which is the only time we've ever seen a federal entitlement actually cut. We cut it. Senate did exactly what every conservative says they want to do. We took the program, we eliminated the federal entitlement, we blocked (ph) to the state, we capped the amount of money, cut it by about 10%, and then put two requirements, work, and time limits. We need to do that with the rest of the \u2014 means (ph) tested federal entitlements. I've done it. And I did it with a bipartisan support in the House and Senate, and after fighting two presidential vetoes by Bill Clinton. So I had a democratic president we had to get this through. No record of accomplishment. I agree with the folks who are from the Congress in this race. I have a record of accomplishment of being a conservative on everything. National security, on moral and cultural issues, on the economy, and twice won a blue state. The first time I beat the author of Hillarycare. I had Bill and Hillary in my state, James Carville managed the race against me, a state with a million more Democrats than Republicans. And I ran on health savings accounts, on private sector health care, as a conservative, pro-life, pro-family, and I won. And then in 2000, I was the only senator to win a state as a conservative that George Bush lost. You want someone who can win Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, with a conservative message, I'm your guy. +p1039 +aVI'll be happy to answer that if you give me more time. +p1040 +aVI'm going to answer two questions for the price of one. The infrastructure question, the answer is... We need to get the federal government out of this infrastructure business, other than vital economic highways. It has been said that if we cut the gas tax to 3 to 5 cents and send the rest back to the states, and just take care of the federal infrastructure that's vital for our economy, let the \u2014 we don't need the federal government and the road business that it is today. Number one. Number two, you know who I respect in the Democratic Party? You know why I respect them? Because they fight! Because they're not willing to back down, and they're willing to stand up and fight and win. And so I respect them because they are willing to take it to us. +p1041 +aVWell, I'll tell you, I have a 20 percent flat tax. That's one all income \u2014 so capital gains, corporations, individuals, 20 percent. I think that's a fair number, one out of five, to be able to \u2014 to help support the federal government. By the way it also approximates, if you take out some of the deductions, it approximates how much the federal government is, on average, spent of GDP, which is about 18 to 19 percent of GDP. So it actually fits with shrinking the size of government down to more like post-World War II levels. So the second thing we do is I don't allow for deductibility of state and local taxes, which will require state and local taxes to go down in order to be treated for their \u2014 for their people to be treated fairly. So the answer is, 20 percent and probably 33 percent overall. +p1042 +aVWell, I don't \u2014 I agree with Governor Christie, I don't think you can make it any more political than it's been. They \u2014 they are protecting a president that is over-taxing and over- regulating, shutting down this economy. And he \u2014 and they're keeping it up like Atlas, trying to hold up the Earth by \u2014 by these ridiculously low interest rates. And it's hurting American seniors, who are seeing no Social Security increases, seeing no \u2014 no savings. They're \u2014 they're putting their money aside. They're getting nothing in their deposit accounts. This is hurting the people who have acted responsibly, all in favor of those who, um, you know, are \u2014 are speculators and \u2014 and those on Wall Street. It's not a good deal for \u2014 for the vast majority of responsible Americans. The other thing we have with the Fed is they've been given way too much authority. Under Dodd-Frank, they've been given this enormous new authority. I mean they \u2014 they now have almost become the most powerful entity in Washington, DC. We need to repeal Dodd-Frank, get away that authority from the Fed and put them under more \u2014 more scrutiny. That's only part of the problem. I understand the Fed is interesting for a business channel, but I think for most Americans, the most important business is the family. And we haven't really talked much about the importance of the family to the economy. And \u2014 and ladies and gentlemen, every single book, from left to right, that's been written over the last couple of years has said the biggest problem in America today at the hollowing out of the middle of America is the breakdown of the nuclear family in America. We'd better be the party that's out there talking about this issue and what we're going to do to help strengthen marriage and return dads into homes in all communities. You want to talk about the communities that are hurting the most, the ones you see the protests in......there are no dads. And we need to do something about it. +p1043 +aVHappy Birthday. +p1044 +aV\u2014 States Marine Corps. +p1045 +aVThat's very personal to me. I grew up on a V.A. grounds. I lived in apartments on V.A. grounds my entire childhood. Both my Mom and Dad, after World War II, marry \u2014 met at a V.A., married, and that's where I lived. Kitchen table discussion was, particularly when I was growing up in the 1960's and 1970's, was the decline of the V.A. When they joined in the early 1950's, the V.A. was the top. They were the best, they were the best and brightest coming in after the war. And, we believed in the cause that we fought, and we invested in our hospitals to make sure that our veterans who left World War II were taken care of. But, after Vietnam, and during Vietnam, that began to change, and it really hasn't recovered since. The bottom line is the V.A. is antiquated. There's no need for a V.A. healthcare system as it existed after World War \u2014 why? Because we have the best private healthcare system in the world, we didn't need \u2014 we needed it in 1950's, hospitals were not particularly advanced, so, we built the best. We didn't maintain the best. Government didn't keep its promises to its veterans. So, what we need to do is two things. Number one, we need to allow veterans to go to private sector hospitals for their routine and ordinary care to get the best care in their community possible. And, there is a place for the Veterans Administration. There are injuries, and there are \u2014 things like +p1046 +aVIt should come as no surprise to Chris, or anybody else, that Barack Obama doesn't stand behind our men and women in uniform here at home because he hasn't stood behind them overseas. The rules of engagement that we've allowed our soldiers to go and fight against have put them in harm's way for political purposes. This has been the most politicized wars that we've ever seen under this administration. He gets in, and gets out, based upon what the polls are saying, what pressure he's getting from groups. Talk about a Commander in Chief. We need a commander in chief who has a vision and plan of how we're going to execute the national security of our country. Commander in chief is not an entry level position. Experience matters, and that's why I would ask for your support as a Commander in Chief, because I have the experience against the enemy......to confront to do the job. +p1047 +aVI announced from a factory floor in Western Pennsylvania. This campaign has all been about two words for me, working families. Working. Getting people the opportunity to see those wages rise, to be on the side of the American workers so they can get good paying jobs, and that means we have to start making things in America again. We need a president who's going to not just put policies in place, but is going to stand up at the bully pulpit and talk about the dignity of being a welder. The dignity of being a carpenter, about going to work and earning success. And, also, the importance of families, the importance of families and fathers, and mothers raising their children, and committing to that so that they can give children in our country the best opportunity to success. Working families is the key for us to win this election. +p1048 +aVYes, I think it's one thing to shrink the size of a state government but it's another thing to actually get something accomplished in Washington. It's a much tougher field. And I'm the one in the \u2014 on this stage and, frankly, on both stages that has actually gone to Washington, said we would shrink government, said we would shake things up and actually delivered for the conservative cause, everything from welfare reform, which was the largest, most significant accomplishment in the last 25 years for conservatism. I authored the bill when I was in the House of Representatives; I managed the bill on the floor of the United States Senate. You need a conservative who can deliver and that's what I bring to the table. +p1049 +aVWell, if you look at my flat tax, it actually takes the best of what Steve Forbes, Art Laffer, many have been advocating for a long time, which is a very strong pro-growth tax code \u2014 very simple. And, it adjusts it to make sure that it is not regressive. We have a $2,750 per person tax credit \u2014 that's $2,750 off the taxes due, not a deduction, a credit. And, we think \u2014 in fact, if you run the numbers, no American who's going to be paying more taxes under our proposal, so, we've accomplished both. We have a system that has a low single rate, but we take care of American families. I'm talking about $2,750 per person. That means a family four, that's $11,000 dollar tax credit. That's a very, very strong pro-family \u2014 and if you looked at the Wall Street Journal today, and so many of the publications that have been out there, they've talked about how the biggest problem of the hollowing out of the middle of this country. For workers to be able to raise is actually, the breakdown of the American family. William Galston, a liberal, said that on the pages of the Wall Street Journal today that the key to poverty is families. So, we put forth a pro-growth \u2014 Steve Forbes plan, combined it with a pro- family plan, and that's why I think it's going to work out, and work effectively. +p1050 +aVWhat we should be \u2014 we shouldn't be putting tariffs on anything. That hurts working men and women in this country. What we should be doing is making our manufacturing more competitive. One of the reasons I introduced the 20/20 plan, a 20 percent flat tax on corporations, as well as on individuals, is so we can be competitive, so we can bring those manufacturing jobs back. You want to talk about cutting pollution? You do a little back- of-the-envelope. We \u2014 we produce, per dollar of GDP, about one-fifth of the CO2 and other pollutants that China produces. So we're five times more efficient in producing goods here, as far as the environment \u2014 environment is concerned. Why don't we \u2014 if we really want to tackle environmental problems, global warming, what we need to do is take those jobs from China and bring them back here to the United States, employ workers in this country. We've lost two million jobs \u2014 two million jobs \u2014 under this administration in manufacturing \u2014 15,000 manufacturers have left this country. Why? Because of bad tax policy, bad regulatory policy and, yes, bad trade policy. We need to have a president that's going to pledge, as I have \u2014 I'm going to make America the number-one manufacturer so working men and women can have good paying jobs again in America. +p1051 +aV\u2014 with competition... +p1052 +aV\u2014 for low wage workers. +p1053 +aV and I... +p1054 +aVThat's not what's happening. +p1055 +aVA true conservative wants to create a level playing field. That's what \u2014 that's what we're \u2014 that's what government is supposed to do. They're not supposed to favor one group over another. And when it comes to our manufacturers, the level playing field is not in the United States. It's international. And so the federal government should have laws, tax laws, regulatory laws and, yes, finance laws. There's 60 other ex-im banks all over \u2014 all over the world. Every major competitor for the United States' manufacturing dollar has one of those banks. And guess what? They use those banks a heck of a lot more than their \u2014 than the United States of America does, number one. So in order to have a level playing field, which is what conservatives talk about all the time, level playing field, then we have to have export financing and here's why.Because export financing doesn't help Boeing, or G.E. G.E. just lost a contract, you know what they did? They went to . They got the X.M. (ph) bank in France to support it, and what did they do? They moved manufacturing out of South Carolina, out of Texas, moved to \u2014 Hungary, and to France. G.E. is still making money. G.E. is still doing well, but American workers are out of jobs. That's why we have to have this level playing field so we can compete with the rest of the world. +p1056 +aVWell, first, since you mention Colorado, I want to thank the people of Colorado because four years ago you \u2014 gave me the honor of winning the nomination out here in the state of Colorado. On a night we won three states, and it catapulted us to win 11 states ultimately, so, I just want to thank you very, very much for that support, and \u2014 in response to that, I do drink a lot of Coors beer, so... I try to help. The answer is pretty simple. The answer is simple. There are no shortage of breweries around the United States of America. I \u2014 I do \u2014 as I travel around the country, I do pints and politics, and I go to breweries all over the place, and there \u2014 there's almost no town in America anymore that doesn't have a brewery, so I don't think we need to worry too much. They're obviously \u2014 if there's \u2014 if there's some anti- competitive issues, you know, we have agencies to look at that. But, no, I'm not \u2014 I'm not concerned that Americans are not going to have choices in beer. +p1057 +aVAnd I care about, by the way. I care about choices. +p1058 +aVWell, I \u2014 I would say this, that what you're seeing is \u2014 in health care, you're seeing a lot of consolidation, and that consolidation is occurring because of Obamacare. You're seeing it particularly in an area that I am concerned about, and that's in insurance \u2014 health insurance. You're seeing the big health insurance companies fold up. You've seen Obama try to seed health insurance companies, and they've all failed, I think, except one. Why? Because we have a system of Obamacare with minimum loss ratios that make it virtually impossible for a small insurer to operate effectively. And this was the motive behind Obamacare. This wasn't incidental. This was deliberate, to make it so impossible for small insurers to survive... +p1059 +aV...that they consolidate into a small group. Then the left can say, "there is no competition, we need a single payer." That's why we have to repeal Obamacare. +p1060 +aVThank you. Can I just say something about that? +p1061 +aVWell, if you look at our plan that I introduced, the 2020 Clear Vision for America, we increase growth by 10 percent, 1 percent a year. So we go from 2.3 to 3.3, in repealing Obamacare, it's another .7. So you're looking at 4 percent growth, according to the Tax Foundation. And unlike Donald Trump and Bobby Jindal, we don't add $10 trillion to the deficit. In fact, our plan, while it creates as many jobs as their plan does and grows the economy as much as theirs does, we are a revenue-neutral plan because I believe that we need to reduce the size of government, yes, but we also need to reduce our deficit, and we need to get our budget balanced so we can start paying down this debt. And adding a trillion dollars with a tax cut and getting no more growth is not the way to do it. But that's only half of it. The word "economy" comes from the Greek "euthokis" (ph) which means family. The family is the first economy. And the one thing that we do not talk about enough is how stable families are vitally important for the middle of America to be prosperous and to grow and be safe. And I will have policies, not just tax policies, but others that will make sure that families are strong again in America. +p1062 +aVMLB, NHL, so I'm a big sports fan. And "The Wall Street Journal." Those are the three apps I use the most. +p1063 +aVWell, since we're usually in the Super Bowl at the Pittsburgh Steelers... Steeler nation, anybody? +p1064 +aVNo. I was in......was in Kansas City over the weekend to watch the Steeler game and about a third of the crowd were Steeler fans. So I'm usually not alone when I call on Steeler Nation. But we are used to being in the Super Bowl, so actually, it is in Pennsylvania already. +p1065 +aVI grew up in a steel town of Western Pennsylvania, outside of Pittsburgh, and when I announced for president, I announced from the factory floor. When I talk about making America the number one manufacturer again in the world, it's not just talk. When I talk about having the opportunity for people to rise again, it's not just because it polls well. I represented the old steel valley of Pittsburgh. I represented a 70% Democratic district, and won with 60% of the vote. Why? Because I aligned myself with working men and women who feel that neither party, and certainly not Washington D.C. cares about them. You elect me, we will get American workers on the side of the Republican party, and we can not be stopped if we do. +p1066 +asVQUESTION +p1067 +(lp1068 +VMy name is Ashley Tofil. Ms. Fiorina, in November, you said that you would not talk to Vladimir Putin after you were elected because you would be communicating from a position of weakness. Do you believe that it is feasible to not communicate with another world leader? And do you think that that also is a sign of weakness? +p1069 +aVMy name is Carla Hernandez. I'm from the University of Texas at Austin. And my question is directed to all the candidates. If the Bible clearly states that we need to embrace those in need and not fear, how can we justify not accepting refugees? +p1070 +aVPlease describe one action you would do to make the economic environment more favorable for small businesses and entrepreneurs and anyone dreaming of opening their own business. +p1071 +aVHi, I'm Adithya Sivakumar. I'm from Vanderbilt University. And I was wondering with U.S. designated state sponsors of terrorism such as Iran and other traditional U.S. enemies fighting +p1072 +asVCAVUTO +p1073 +(lp1074 +VIt is 9:00 p.m. on the East Coast, 8:00 p.m. here inside the Milwaukee theater. Welcome to the Republican presidential debate here on the Fox Business Network. I'm Neil Cavuto, alongside my co-moderators, Maria Bartiromo, and the editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal, Gerard Baker. +p1075 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. +p1076 +aVIt sounds like a game show but it's not. Now I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the elephant in the room, and I'm not talking about your party's fine symbol. I'm talking about the purpose of tonight's debate. The economy and what each of you would do to improve it. No more, no less. We are focused on those issues, and what you have said on those issues in your words and what your opponents have said in their words about your words. That is the agenda tonight. How each of you plans to make America better tomorrow. And so we begin. Candidates, as we gather tonight in this very august theater, just outside and across the country, picketers are gathering as well. They're demanding an immediate hike in the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Just a few hours ago, near Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed doing the same for all state workers, the first governor to do so. Mr. Trump, as the leading presidential candidate on this stage and one whose tax plan exempts couples making up to $50,000 a year from paying any federal income taxes at all, are you sympathetic to the protesters cause since a $15 wage works out to about $31,000 a year? +p1077 +aVSo do not raise the minimum wage? +p1078 +aVDr. Carson, you have long bemoaned this lackluster recovery. And this Facebook map show Americans share your concern. The green represents how the jobs issue is resonating all across the nation, especially here in the state of Wisconsin. You suggested one minimum wage does not fit all, and that perhaps we should offer a lower or starter wage for young people. Those protesters outside are looking for $15 and nothing less. Where are you? +p1079 +aVSo, sir, just to be clear, you would not raise it? +p1080 +aVSenator Rubio, you called the recent Democratic debate in Las Vegas a night of giveaways, including free health care, free college and a host of other government-paid benefits. Since you aren't a fan of all they're giving away, tell us tonight what you would take back. +p1081 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. +p1082 +aVAll right. We're only just getting started. Coming up, your taxes. Stick around. You're watching FOX Business +p1083 +aVWelcome back to the Milwaukee Theater and the Republican presidential debate. Let's get right back to our questions. Dr. Carson, to you. You recently railed against the double- standard in the media, sir, that seems obsessed with inconsistencies and potential exaggerations in your life story, but looked the other way when it came to then-Senator Barack Obama's. Still, as a candidate whose brand has always been trust, are you worried your campaign \u2014 which you've always said, sir, is bigger than you \u2014 is now being hurt by you? +p1084 +aVI'll just forget that follow-up there. +p1085 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1086 +aVAlright, thank you. We're going to take a break here. Coming up, a big issue many Americans are facing, taxes. The Republican Presidential Debate continues now, live, from Milwaukee. +p1087 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from Milwaukee. Let's get back to the questions. And we want to touch on obviously one of the biggest of this issue in this year, taxes. And this will go to several of you. One of the biggest economic concerns of course in the country are taxes. Facebook data certainly backs that up. Once again the green on this map that we're going to see here shows how the conversation around taxes is resonating across the nation, especially here in Wisconsin. First off, Dr. Carson, to you. You say you are in favor of a tax system, I guess akin to tithing, sir, with a flat tax rate of up to 15 percent because you said, if everybody pays this, I think God is a pretty fair guy, so tithing is a pretty fair process. But Donald Trump says that is not fair. That wealthier taxpayers should pay a higher rate because it's a fair thing to do. So whose plan would God endorse then, Doctor? Yours or Mr. Trump's? +p1088 +aVRight. +p1089 +aVThank you very much. Senator Paul, you said you want to blow up the tax code and start over with an across-the-board 14.5 percent fair and flat tax. You happily offered that it is not revenue neutral and that's the idea. You want to choke off the amount of money coming into Washington. But don't you risk, sir, creating a near-term budget crisis just as your presidency would be beginning? +p1090 +aVThere are no deductions on your \u2014 under your plan? +p1091 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1092 +aVSenator Paul... Senator Paul, you have already said, sir, that that would be a mistake in not talking to Vladimir Putin, or to rule it out. You've argued that it's never a good idea to close down communication. With that in mind, do you think the same applies to administration efforts right now to include the Iranians in talks on Syria? +p1093 +aV...Well, then how would you respond? +p1094 +aVBut if you're not going to respond in a no-fly zone strategy, what would yours be? +p1095 +aVAll right. And look at the time, look at the time. You are watching FOX Business, we'll take a break. Stick around. +p1096 +aVSenator Cruz \u2014 and I will get to you \u2014 but, Senator Cruz, on that theme, Facebook data shows that over the last month alone, nearly 1 million people \u2014 nearly 1 million \u2014 have been concerned about reining in Wall Street, apparently believing that some have not been punished enough. So, as an accomplished litigator yourself and a former solicitor general, would you go after the very people who believe and fear that Wall Street has ignored, in other words, the crooks that Bernie Sanders say have gotten away with a financial murder? +p1097 +aVSenator......Senator, I really want to be clear here. Are you saying, sir, that if Bank of America were on the brink, you would let it fail? +p1098 +aVSir, I understand that. I just want to be clear, if you don't mind, that millions of depositors would be on the line with that decision. And I just want to be clear. If it were to happen again, for whatever the reason, you would let it go, you would let a Bank of America go? +p1099 +aVOK, I think it's fair to say you're not fans of Hillary Clinton's resume. Alright, Mr. Trump.... +p1100 +aVI had a feeling. Perhaps the most successful capitalist on this stage tonight, you've acknowledged that some give capitalism a bad name. You've been particularly critical of businesses that find all sorts of ways of paying their taxes by keeping money abroad, but your own plan includes an incentive to bring \u2014 that more the $2 trillion dollars home. Isn't that, like, a one-time bounty... +p1101 +aV...Some of the guys you all but call pirates, so they still keep the loot, and pay only a price to bring it back. +p1102 +aV...Alright, gentlemen, I know you want to \u2014 and I want to, be we also promised to get people home tonight, and we are going to take a quick break here. I think it is fair to say at this juncture that you can discuss these issues, and only business issues, but still keep it interesting. Stick around for these candidates closing statements. +p1103 +aVSenator Marco Rubio? +p1104 +aVDr. Ben Carson? +p1105 +aVDonald Trump? +p1106 +aVCandidates, we want to thank you all. We also appreciate your helping save time by talking over one another at times. That was welcomed. But by all means, it was a very riveting debate. Business issues can be \u2014 can be riveting, because it wasn't about us, it's about them. +p1107 +aVThat'll do it. Thank you for joining us. +p1108 +asVBLITZER +p1109 +(lp1110 +VWelcome to the CNN-Facebook Republican presidential debate here at the Venetian Las Vegas. We have a very enthusiastic audience. Everyone is here. They're looking forward to a serious and spirited discussion about the security of this nation. I'm Wolf Blitzer, your moderator tonight. This debate is airing on CNN networks here in the United States and around the world, and on the Salem Radio Network. The nine leading candidates, they are here. Let's welcome them right now. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Businessman and real estate developer Donald Trump. Retired neurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. And Ohio Governor John Kasich. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome these Republican candidates for president of the United States. This is the final Republican debate before the election year begins, and we're taking a moment for the photographs of the candidates together on the stage. Now, everyone, please rise for the national anthem sung by Ayla Brown. +p1111 +aVI know everyone is eager to get started. So, candidates, please take your places while I explain the ground rules for tonight. As moderator, I'll guide the discussion, and I'll be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt and CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. We also asked Republicans and independents nationwide to share their questions for the candidates. We teamed up with Facebook to send a campaign camper across the country over the past several weeks. Thousands of people stepped inside and recorded their questions on video. Millions more have weighed in on Facebook. Candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have a minute and 15 seconds to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you're singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know that we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. And as the candidates requested, a bell will sound like this. We know you are all eager to jump in and debate these important issues, so, please, wait until you're called on. These nine Republicans are positioned on stage based on their ranking in the recent polls, so let's begin right now. I'd like to invite each candidate to introduce himself or herself to our audience. You'll have one minute. First to you, Senator Paul. +p1112 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p1113 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1114 +aVMs. Fiorina? +p1115 +aVGovernor Bush? +p1116 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1117 +aVSenator Cruz. +p1118 +aVDr. Carson. +p1119 +aVMr. Trump. +p1120 +aVThank you. Since you last debated, Americans have witnessed terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino. The FBI director says the country now faces the greatest terror threat since 9/11. You all have different approaches to keeping the country safe. And that will be the focus of tonight's debate. Mr. Trump, as you mentioned in your opening statement, part of your strategy is to focus in on America's borders. To keep the country safe, you say you want to temporarily ban non-American Muslims from coming to the United States; ban refugees fleeing +p1121 +aVGovernor Bush, you called Mr. Trump "unhinged" when he proposed banning non-American Muslims from the United States. Why is that unhinged? +p1122 +aVMr. Trump? +p1123 +aVSenator Rubio \u2014 I'm going to go to Senator Rubio and get his thoughts. You have said banning Muslims is unconstitutional. But according to a recent ABC News-Washington Post poll, a majority of Republicans support Mr. Trump's idea. Why are they wrong? +p1124 +aVHugh Hewitt, you have a question. +p1125 +aVGovernor Christie, Americans are clearly more afraid today than at any time since 9/11. As you mentioned in your opening statement, today in Los Angeles, 650 schoolchildren didn't go to \u2014 650,000 schoolchildren didn't go to school because of an e-mail threat, this two weeks after an attack killed 14 people in San Bernardino. Is this the new normal? And if so, what steps would you take as president of the United States to ensure that fear does not paralyze America? +p1126 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, one of the killers in San Bernardino was an American who was not on anyone's watch list. How are you going to find that radicalized person and stop another such attack? +p1127 +aVThank you. Dana Bash, you have the next question. +p1128 +aVThank you. Dr. Carson, you're in favor of monitoring mosques and schools where there is anti-America sentiment, what do you consider anti- America? +p1129 +aVDr. Carson, who was right in that little debate that we just heard between Senator Rubio and Senator Paul? +p1130 +aVHold on a sec, we have a lot more to come and everybody's going to have their full opportunity. Governor Bush, six days after 9/11 your brother visited a mosque and said quote, "Islam is peace." The conversation tonight is about banning Muslims and surveillance of mosques, are President Bush's words still relevant in today's Republican party? +p1131 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you pointed out you were a CEO in Silicon Valley on 9/11. Companies there, they say they won't help the FBI now crack encrypted communication from +p1132 +aVBut my question was: Should these Silicon Valley companies be forced to cooperate with the FBI? +p1133 +aVMr. Trump, you recently suggested closing that Internet up, those were your words, as a way to stop +p1134 +aVLet me follow up, Mr. Trump. So, are you open to closing parts of the Internet? +p1135 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, is shutting down any part of the Internet a good idea? +p1136 +aVThank you, Governor. The fight against radical Islamic terrorists and +p1137 +aVThank you. To be clear, Senator Cruz, would you carpet bomb Raqqa, the +p1138 +aVThank you. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you've been critical of Senator Cruz's strategy. You say his voting record doesn't match his rhetoric. Why? +p1139 +aVBecause I asked the question, Senator, because you said this. You said he, referring to Senator Cruz, voted against the Defense Authorization Act every year that it came up, and I assume that if he voted against it, he would veto it as president. That's the bill that funds our troops. +p1140 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1141 +aVSenator Rubio. +p1142 +aVWe are going to have much more on this... +p1143 +aVWe're going to have much more on this. But I want to move now back to Mr. Trump. +p1144 +aVHold on. Hold on. Hold on. +p1145 +aVWe have a lot... +p1146 +aVWe have a lot to discuss. I want to move to Mr. Trump right now. We have a question on this war against +p1147 +aVMr. Trump. +p1148 +aVGovernor Bush. Governor Bush. +p1149 +aVMr. Trump. +p1150 +aVJust one at a time, go ahead... +p1151 +aVGo ahead, Mr. Trump. +p1152 +aVGovernor Bush, please. +p1153 +aVOne at a time. +p1154 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1155 +aVThank you. +p1156 +aVAll right. Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash, Hugh, go ahead with the next question. +p1157 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Rubio? Let's continue this conversation. This is a critically important issue. +p1158 +aVWe will get to \u2014 we have a lot of time, Ms. Fiorina. I want to get to Senator Rubio right now. Let's talk about, one of the aspects of your strategy, you say the only way to defeat +p1159 +aVThank you, Senator. Stand by. Ms. Fiorina, the former defense secretary, Bob Gates, says the chances of getting Sunni-Arab forces on the ground to get the job done, his words, "chances very remote." What's your strategy? +p1160 +aVThank you. Governor Christie, what's your strategy? +p1161 +aVDr. Carson, what is your strategy? +p1162 +aVThank you. Everyone stand by. We're only just beginning. Coming up, which candidates on this stage tonight want to move foreign policy in a dramatically new direction? We'll be right back. +p1163 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate here at the Venetian, Las Vegas. The war against +p1164 +aVThank you. +p1165 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you supported the removal of Moammar Gadhafi in Libya. Now that country is in turmoil, as +p1166 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1167 +aVStandby. Everybody standby for a moment. Governor Kasich, go ahead. +p1168 +aVThank you. +p1169 +aVWe're going to talk about Assad in a moment. Mr. Trump, are Americans safer with dictators running the world in the Middle East? +p1170 +aVThank you. Mr. Trump? +p1171 +aVAll right. +p1172 +aVThank you. +p1173 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East... +p1174 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East better off with dictators? +p1175 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1176 +aVHold on Governor Bush., here's the question. You said, "getting rid of Saddam Hussein in your words was a pretty good deal." In light of what has happened in Iraq, do you still feel that way? +p1177 +aVSenator Paul, was getting rid of Saddam Hussein a pretty good deal? +p1178 +aVThank you. Hugh Hewitt, go ahead. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hugh. +p1179 +aVSenator, Senator, we're going to get to you. Wait your turn. We have two hours of debate. We'll have plenty of time. Let Hugh ask his question. +p1180 +aVSenator, please. +p1181 +aVSenator... +p1182 +aVYou'll have plenty of opportunity. Hugh, go ahead. +p1183 +aVThese are the rules all of you agreed to. Hugh, go ahead with your question. +p1184 +aVLet's continue with Russia right now. We have another question from Facebook. Listen and watch. +p1185 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you know, U.S. and Russian warplanes are flying all over Syria right now. With so many lives on the line, is this a good time for the United States not to talk to Putin? +p1186 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Christie, if the U.S. imposed a no-fly zone over Syria and a Russian plane encroached, invaded that no-fly zone, would you be prepared to shoot down that Russian plane and risk war with Russia? +p1187 +aVSenator Paul \u2014 Senator Paul, I want you to respond to what we just heard from Governor Christie. If there was a no-fly zone, you say that potentially could lead to World War III. Why? +p1188 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1189 +aVAll right, let's go back \u2014 Hugh and Dana? +p1190 +aVOne at a time. Hugh, go ahead. +p1191 +aVGovernor, thank you very much. So, Dr. Carson, you recently visited a refugee camp in Jordan and you deemed it your words, "really quite nice." Saying the people there didn't want to come to the United States. Do you think these camps are a long-term solution of the problem of Syrian refugees? +p1192 +aVSenator Paul, you oppose letting in Syrian refugees at this time into the United States. The U.S. has already accepted 2,000 Syrian refugees, including 13 living here in Las Vegas right now. Would you send them back? What would you do with these people? +p1193 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1194 +aVSenator Paul, you didn't answer the question about the 2,000 Syrian refugees who are already here in the United States. Will you send them back or let them stay? +p1195 +aVWe have another \u2014 we have another question. We have another question from Facebook. Let's listen. +p1196 +aVGovernor Christie, you say there should be a pause in allowing new refugees to come into the United States, including orphans under the age of five. What do you say to Carla? +p1197 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1198 +aVThank you, Governor. There is much more coming up. We are only just beginning. Coming up, what other global hot spots await the next president of the United States. +p1199 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate. We're here at the Venetian Las Vegas. Tonight we have been focusing on the Middle East, but let's turn to some other world threats that you will potentially face as Commander in Chief. Ms. Fiorina, candidates here have called the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un a maniac who is mentally unstable. Last week he said he now has a hydrogen bomb. If you were elected president, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p1200 +aVDr. Carson, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p1201 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Dana and Hugh you have questions as well. +p1202 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Some of you on this stage have questioned whether your opponents have temperament, the right temperament, to be in control of the nuclear codes. Dana, you have a question on this? +p1203 +aVThank you, senator. Thank you. +p1204 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1205 +aVThank you, Senator. We're a month and a half away now from the first real test who will be the Republican presidential nominee. Hugh, you have a question? +p1206 +aVAll right. Candidates, we have more coming up. When we come back, everyone will have an opportunity to explain why this particular candidate, each of you on the stage, believes he or she should be the Republican presidential nominee. +p1207 +aVNow it's time for the closing statements from the candidates. Each one has 30 seconds. Senator Paul. +p1208 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1209 +aVGovernor Christie. +p1210 +aVMs. Fiorina. +p1211 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1212 +aVSenator Rubio. +p1213 +aVSenator Cruz. +p1214 +aVDr. Carson. +p1215 +aVThanks to all the Republican presidential candidates. That does it for this Republican presidential debate. +p1216 +aVI'd now like to ask the candidates to please take your places while I tell you a little bit more about how tonight's debate will work. As the moderator, I'll guide the discussion asking questions and follow-ups, as will Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt. Candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have a minutes and 15 seconds to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you're singled out for criticism. We have timing lights that are visible to the candidates, those lights will warn you when your time is up. And as the candidates requested, a bell will sound like this. We know you're all eager to jump in and debate these important issues, but please wait until you're called on. Now that everyone is this place, it's time for the candidates to introduce themselves to our audience. You'll each have one minute. Senator Graham, you're first. +p1217 +aVGovernor Pataki. +p1218 +aVSenator Santorum. +p1219 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p1220 +aVLet's begin. The United States just suffered the worst terrorist attack since 9-11, the murder of 14 people by two terrorists, one of whom was an American citizen. In response, Republican frontrunner Donald Trump proposed a temporary ban on all Muslims coming into the United States until the government can figure out what is going on. Senator Graham, the polls show most Republicans do support Mr. Trump. What do you say to them? +p1221 +aVSenator Graham, you say you'd rather lose the election without Trump than try to win with him. Does that mean you'll be voting for the Democratic nominee if Donald Trump wins the presidential nomination? +p1222 +aVGovernor Pataki, you mentioned Donald Trump in your opening statement. You've also suggested Mr. Trump's plan is un-American and absurd. Why? +p1223 +aVSenator Santorum, you object to Mr. Trump's proposals on the grounds that it's unworkable. You've made religious liberty a hallmark of your career. Do you believe in religious liberty for Muslims as well as Christians? +p1224 +aVSenator Graham. +p1225 +aVSenator Santorum. +p1226 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you called Mr. Trump's plan to ban Muslims impossible and unconstitutional. But what is your specific plan to prevent would-be Jihadists from carrying out attacks against Americans? +p1227 +aVThe terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino have sparked a debate here in the United States about the balance between privacy and security. I want to bring in CNN's Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt for more on this. +p1228 +aVGovernor Pataki. +p1229 +aVThere are a lot of people who have been frustrated, especially Senator Graham, that law enforcement can't tap into information on terrorist cell phones. Senator Graham has called on companies in Silicon Valley to change their business models. As president of the United States, would you force these companies to change their models so the government can better monitor the traffic on these cell phones? +p1230 +aVSenator Graham? +p1231 +aVSenator Graham. +p1232 +aVHere is a question we have on the fight against +p1233 +aVGovernor Huckabee, how would you defeat +p1234 +aVSenator Graham, you have an aggressive military plan to try to defeat +p1235 +aVSenator Santorum, following up on what we just heard from Senator Graham, at least one U.S. intelligence report from the White House has concluded that, in order to defeat +p1236 +aVSenator Graham, you're shaking your head. +p1237 +aVI'm going to bring Governor Pataki in a minute, but go ahead and respond, Senator Graham. +p1238 +aVGovernor Pataki, should the U.S. send ground troops into Syria? +p1239 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you have not put a number of how many U.S. ground troops would be needed to combat +p1240 +aVSenator Graham, and I just want to remind our viewers, you want 10,000 U.S. ground troops in Iraq, and 10,000 in Syria? +p1241 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you have said as president you would tell +p1242 +aVSenator Samtorum? +p1243 +aVGovernor Pataki, you support ground troops - deploying grounds troops. +p1244 +aVThe U.S. Army's Former Cheif of Staff, General Raymond Odierno said that, and I'm quoting, "now +p1245 +aVBut how long would you be willing to commit U.S. troops to fight +p1246 +aVSenator Graham, you called for U.S. ground troops as we know in Iraq and Syria. +p1247 +aVAs you know, there's a growing +p1248 +aVAre you ready to deploy U.S. troops to Libya to try to defeat +p1249 +aVSenator? Senator, are you ready to commit U.S. ground troops to Libya? +p1250 +aVAlright, gentleman, standby. The fight against +p1251 +aVWe're live here at the Venetian in Las Vegas. Welcome back. As the U.S. fight against +p1252 +aVWe have a video question from Facebook. Let's watch. +p1253 +aVGovernor Pataki. +p1254 +aVHe says he was wondering with U.S. designated state sponsors of terrorism like Iran and other traditional U.S. enemies fighting +p1255 +aVHugh Hewitt and Dana Bash have questions. Hugh go ahead. +p1256 +aVGovernor Pataki, let me stick with you. Governor Pataki, a U.S. Army Sargent Bowe Bergdahl now facing a court marshall after leaving his base in Afghanistan, getting captured by the Taliban - Donald Trump, has called for his execution. The former house speak John Boehner says "he's innocent until proven guilty." Where do you stand? +p1257 +aVSenator Graham, where do you stand? +p1258 +aVGovernor Huckabee? Governor Huckbee, +p1259 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Pataki, speaking of those four Americans being held in Iran right now. Iran has suggested they might be willing to have a prisoner swap, release Iranian prisoners held in the United States, in exchange for those four Americans. Would you support that? +p1260 +aVWe have to take a quick break, but, Governor, Israel has exchanged a lot of the prisoners it was holding for Israeli soldiers who were being held by Hamas, for example. +p1261 +aVThank you. Let's take another quick break. The scramble, the scramble to protect Americans after +p1262 +aVWelcome back to the Republican Presidential Debate here at the Venetian in Las Vegas. Gentlemen, in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks, the Obama Administration policy of allowing Syrian refugees to come into the United States has come under fire. Senator Santorum, you say accepting Syrian refugees is dangerous. You say it just takes one Jihadist to destroy the world. Do you think there is any way to properly vet refugees coming into the United States? +p1263 +aVGovernor Pataki, you have said you wouldn't accept a single Syrian refugee. What should become of them? +p1264 +aVLet's go back to Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt for more questions. Dana? +p1265 +aVThank you, Senator. Gentlemen, standby, we are going to take another very quick break. Coming up, with America on edge, who has what it takes to be the next Commander in Chief? These candidates, they will make their case. +p1266 +aVWelcome back. We're live here at the Venetian Las Vegas. Gentlemen, it's time for your closing statements. Each candidate will have 30 seconds. Senator graham, you're first. +p1267 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Pataki. +p1268 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum. +p1269 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee. +p1270 +aVThank you. Thanks to all of the candidates for a very important discussion on critically important issues. This debate night is just getting started here at the Venetian Las Vegas. The top nine candidates, they are standing by for their turn on this stage in just a little while. I'll be back as the moderator. +p1271 +asVMODERATOR +p1272 +(lp1273 +VComing up more of our debate, including questions about President Obama's foreign policy and these guys and their better ideas. Coming up. +p1274 +asVFIORINA +p1275 +(lp1276 +VLike all of you I'm angry. I'm angry at what's happening to our nation. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. Bombastic insults wont take it back. Political rhetoric that promises a lot and delivers little, won't take it back. All of our problems can be solved. All of our wounds can be healed by a tested leader who is willing to fight for the character of our nation. I have been tested. I have beaten breast cancer. I have buried a child. I started as a secretary. I fought my way to the top of corporate America while being called every B word in the book. I fought my way into this election and on to this debate stage while all the political insiders and the pundits told, "it couldn't be done." I've been told, "no,: all my life. And all my life, I've refused to accept no as an answer. Citizens, it is time to take our country back from the political class, from the media, from the liberal elite. It can be done, it must be done, join me and we will get it done. +p1277 +aVWhat I think we need to stand for are solutions. I offer myself as a leader to the people of this country because I think they're looking for solutions, not lawyers arguing over laws or entertainers throwing out sound bites that draw media attention. We need to solve the problem. To solve the problem, we need to do something here at home and something over there in their caliphate. We need to deny them territory. But here at home, we need to do two fundamental things. Number one, we need to recognize that technology has moved on. The Patriot Act was signed in 2001, roughly. The iPhone was invented in 2007. The iPad was invented in 2011. Snapchat and Twitter, all the rest of it, have been around just for several years. Technology has moved on, and the terrorists have moved on with it. Let me tell you a story. Soon after 9/11, I got a phone call from the NSA. They needed help. I gave them help. I stopped a truckload of equipment. I had it turned around. It was escorted by the NSA into headquarters. We need the private sector's help, because government is not innovating. Technology is running ahead by leaps and bound. The private sector will help, just as I helped after 9/11. But they must be engaged, and they must be asked. I will ask them. I know them. +p1278 +aVYou know, listening to this conversation, let me just say, we have a lot of argument about laws but none of it solves the problem. Let's examine what happened, why did we miss the Tsarnaev brothers, why did we miss the San Bernardino couple? It wasn't because we had stopped collected metadata it was because, I think, as someone who comes from the technology world, we were using the wrong algorithms. This is a place where the private sector could be helpful because the government is woefully behind the technology curve. But secondly, the bureaucratic processes that have been in place since 9/11 are woefully inadequate as well. What do we now know? That DHS vets people by going into databases of known or suspected terrorists. And yet, we also know that +p1279 +aVThey do not need to be forced. They need to be asked to bring the best and brightest, the most recent technology to the table. I was asked as a CEO. I complied happily. And they will as well. But they have not been asked. That's why it cost billions of dollars to build an Obama website that failed because the private sector wasn't asked. +p1280 +aVI hope at some point you're going to ask me my strategy. +p1281 +aVWell, first I'll just point out that talking tough is not the same as being strong. And to wage war, we need a commander in chief who has made tough calls in tough times and stood up to be held accountable over and over, not first-term senators who've never made an executive decision in their life. One of the things I would immediately do, in addition to defeating them here at home, is bring back the warrior class \u2014 Petraeus, McChrystal, Mattis, Keane, Flynn. Every single one of these generals I know. Every one was retired early because they told President Obama things that he didn't want to hear. We must have Sunni-Arabs involved in this coalition. We must commit leadership, strength, support and resolve. I'll just add that Margaret Thatcher once said, "If you want something talked about, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman." +p1282 +aVThat is exactly what President Obama said. I'm amazed to hear that from a republican presidential candidate. But let's just start with, who got it wrong? Who really got it wrong? Hillary Clinton has gotten every foreign policy challenge wrong. Hitting the reset button with Vladimir Putin \u2013 recall that she called Bashar Al-Assad a positive reformer and then she opened an embassy and then later she said, over, and over, and over again, "Bashar Al-Assad must go." Although she wasn't prepared to do anything about it. Recall that Hillary Clinton was all for toppling Gadhafi then didn't listen to her own people on the ground. And then of course, when she lied about the terrorist attack in Benghazi, she invited more terrorist attacks. +p1283 +aVWe've mismanaged going into Iraq. +p1284 +aVWe've mismanaged going out of Iraq. +p1285 +aVWe actually... +p1286 +aVI didn't say I would cut off all communication with Putin. What I said was as president of the United States, now is not the time to talk with him. Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. There is a time and a place for everything. There is a time and a place for talk. And there is a time and a place for action. I know Vladimir Putin. He respects strength. He lied to our president's face; didn't both to tell him about warplanes and troops going into Syria. We need to speak to him from a position of strength. So as commander in chief, I will not speak to him until we've set up that no-fly zone; until we've gathered our Sunni-Arab allies and begun to deny +p1287 +aVThis doesn't do a thing to solve the problems...It doesn't do a thing to solve the problems. +p1288 +aVIt will not solve the problem. +p1289 +aVLadies and gentleman, this is why the American people are standing up. +p1290 +aVThis is why the nation is fed up... +p1291 +aVWe have been talking about this... +p1292 +aVSorry, but you haven't gotten to me. This is why... +p1293 +aVthe people are fed up with the political class. +p1294 +aVWell, first, Kim Jong-Un is a dangerous leader, without a doubt. And both Republican and Democrat administrations have been completely ineffective in dealing with him. So we must continue to isolate him. We will need China as part of that strategy. China is a rising adversary. So one of the things we have to do if we want China's support is to push back on China. They, too, recognize one thing \u2014 strength and their own economic interest. I have done business in China for 25 years, so I know that in order to get China to cooperate with us, we must first actually retaliate against their cyber-attacks so they know we're serious. We have to push back on their desire to control the trade route through the South China Sea through which flows $5 trillion worth of goods and services every year. We cannot let them control the disputed islands, and we must work with the Australians, the South Koreans, the Japanese and the Filipinos to contain China. And then we must ask for their support and their help with North Korea. Because believe it or not, China is as concerned about Kim Jong-Un as we are. +p1295 +aVI too remember September 11th. I remember immediately putting into place security procedures all throughout our company that did business in 170 countries where we thought corporate interests would be attacked next. To take our country back, to keep our nation safe, we have to begin by beating Hillary Clinton. We need to unify our party. We need to better than our government, which 75 percent of the American people now think is corrupt and incompetent. They're right. We need to better than our politics. 80 percent think we have a professional/political class of both parties that cares more about its power, position and privilege than actually on getting anything done. We need to unify our party, we need a real Conservative in the White House, and we need to beat Hillary Clinton to take our country back and keep our nation safe. I can. I am. And together, if you join me, we will take our country back. +p1296 +aVWell, first of all, I must say as I think about that question, I think about a woman I met the other day. I would guess she was 40 years old. She had several children. And she said to me, you know, Carly, I go to bed every night afraid for my children's future. And that really struck me. This is America. A mother is going to bed afraid for her children's future. And the reason she's afraid for her children's future is because we've had problems for a long time. Yes, problems have gotten much worse under Democrats. But the truth is, this government has been growing bigger and bigger, more corrupt, less effective, crushing the engine of economic growth for a very long time. This isn't about just replacing a Democrat with a Republican now. It's about actually challenging the status quo of big government. Big government has created a big business called politics. And there are lots of people invested in the status quo of that big business called politics. Specifically, we need actually to do five things to really get this economy going again. We need to go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dollar is being spent, we can challenge any dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. We need to actually reform the tax code. Go to a three-page tax code. Yes, there are plans that would reform our tax code to three pages. In addition to rolling back what President Obama has done, we need to do a top-to-bottom review of every single regulation on the books. That hasn't been done in 50 years. We need to pass the +p1297 +aVWell, first Obamacare has to be repealed because it's failing... ...it's failing the very people it was intended to help, but, also, it is croney-capitalism at its worst. Who helped write this bill? Drug companies, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, every single one of those kinds of companies are bulking up to deal with big government. See, that's what happens. As government gets bigger, and bigger \u2014 and it has been for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike \u2014 and business have to bulk up to deal with big government. So, we have to repeal it. It's tens of thousands of pages long, no one can possible understand it except the big companies, the lawyers, the accountants, the lobbyists that they hire to protect their interests. Then, we have to give back to states the responsibility to manage a high risk pool. We need to try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried. Health insurance has always been a cozy, little game between regulators and health insurance companies. We need to try the free market. The free market. Where people actually have to compete. And, we 'ought to have the government ensure that you must \u2014 and I don't use that term often, that government 'ought to do something, but every healthcare provider 'ought to publish its costs, its prices, its outcomes, because as patients we don't know what we're buying. Now, let me just say \u2014 let me just say, I know more about innovation and entrepreneurship than anyone on this panel because I have led innovative businesses in the most highly competitive industry in the world for decades. The truth is the secret sauce of America is innovation, and entrepreneurship, it is why we must cut our government down to size, and hold it accountable. It's why we have to take our government back, because innovation and entrepreneurship is crushed by the crushing load of a 73,000 page tax code. It is crushed... ...by regulatory thicket that is so vast we don't even know what's in it anymore. It is crushed as well by government bureaucrats who don't do their jobs very well, and who are not held accountable, which is why I've said we got to take our government back, and to do that, we have to know where every dollar being spent, and be able to move any dollar. We have to hack through this regulatory thicket, repeal so much, but, also, know what's in that regulatory thicket \u2014 we don't even know what regulations have been passed. Third, we need to build a meritocracy \u2014 Scott Walker, by the way, is trying now to do in Wisconsin... ...Finally, we need to get to a three page tax code, and, yes, that plan exists. +p1298 +aVSorry, I can't hear you. +p1299 +aV...Absolutely... +p1300 +aV...You need to give... +p1301 +aVThe alternative is to allow states to manage high risk pools for those who really need help. Look, I'm a cancer survivor, OK? I understand that you cannot have someone who's battled cancer just become known as a pre-existing condition. I understand that you cannot allow families to go bankrupt if they truly need help. But, I also understand that Obamacare isn't helping anyone. We're throwing more, and more people into Medicaid, and fewer, and fewer doctors are taking those payments. The point is Obamacare is crushing small businesses, it is not helping the families it was intended to help. So, let us allow states to manage high risk pools. Let us try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried, the free market. Let us ensure that as patients, and customers... +p1302 +aV...that we have information to shop wisely for our health care. +p1303 +aV...Yes, the middle ground is this... +p1304 +aV...This is why \u2014 this is why we must combine, actually, zero-based budgeting with tax reform because unless we can examine, and cut, and move, every single dollar of discretionary spending in the federal government, we cannot reform taxes and reduce spending at the same time. Ask yourself this question, how is it possible that the federal government gets more money each and every year, which the federal government has been doing, receiving more money every year for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike, and yet, never has enough money to do the important things? The answer? All the money's always spoken for. All the money's spoken for. So, we have to go to zero-based budgeting, which is a simple idea \u2014 by the way, there's been a bill for zeros-based (ph) budgeting... ...It exists, it can be voted on. Every dollar must be examined. Any dollar can be cut. Any dollar can be cut, any dollar can be moved. We have to go to a three page tax code. You lower every rate, you close every loophole, why? Because the government uses the tax code to decide winners, and losers. You have to strip the corruption out of the tax code to pay for it. You have to know where every single dollar is being spent... +p1305 +aV...Cut where you need to, and invest where you need to... +p1306 +aV...The two go hand in hand... +p1307 +aVYou know, Mr. Trump fancies himself a very good negotiator. And, I accept that he's done a lot of good deals, so, Mr. Trump 'ought to know that we should not speak to people from a position of weakness. Senator Paul should know that as well. One of the reasons I've said that I would not be talking to Vladimir Putin right now, although I have met him as well, not in a green room for a show, but in a private meeting. One of the reasons I've said I wouldn't be talking to Vladimir Putin right now is because we are speaking to him from a position of weakness brought on by this administration, so, I wouldn't talk to him for awhile, but, I would do this. I would start rebuilding the Sixth Fleet right under his nose, rebuilding the military \u2014 the missile defense program in Poland right under his nose. I would conduct very aggressive military exercises in the Baltic States so that he understood we would protect our +p1308 +aV...we have the strongest military on the face of the planet, and everyone has to know it. +p1309 +aV...Ronald Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. +p1310 +aV...he walked away, he quit talks... +p1311 +aV...when it was time to quit talking... +p1312 +aVCan I just \u2014 could I just say, as a chief executive who's had to make tough calls to save jobs and to grow jobs, I think what's interesting about Dodd-Frank is it's a great example of how socialism starts. Socialism starts when government creates a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. Government created the problem. Government created the problem of a real estate boom. How did we create it? Under Republican and Democrats alike, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, everybody gathered together, Republicans and Democrats, and said, "home ownership is part of the American dream. Let's create a bubble," and then government stepped in \u2014 by the way, under president George W. Bush, banks were told \u2014 encouraged \u2014 told, really \u2014 to buy other banks, to take money. And now what do we have with Dodd-Frank? The classic of crony capitalism. The big have gotten bigger, 1,590 community banks have gone out of business, and on top of all that, we've created something called the Consumer Financial Production Bureau, a vast bureaucracy with no congressional oversight that's digging through hundreds of millions of your credit records to detect fraud. This is how socialism starts, ladies and gentlemen. We must take our government back. +p1313 +aVImagine a Clinton presidency. Our military will continue to deteriorate. Our veterans will not be cared for. And, no, Mrs. Clinton, that situation is not exaggerated. The rich will get richer. The poor will get poorer. The middle class will continue to get crushed. And as bad as that picture is, what's even worse is that a Clinton presidency will corrode the character of this nation. Why? Because of the Clinton way: Say whatever you have to, lie as long as you can get away with it. We must beat Hillary Clinton. Carly Fiorina can beat Hillary Clinton. I will beat Hillary Clinton. And under a President Fiorina, we will restore the character of this nation, the security of this nation, the prosperity of this nation, because as citizens, we will take our government back. +p1314 +aVWell, gee, after the last debate, I was told that I didn't smile enough. +p1315 +aVBut I also think that these are very serious times; 75 percent of the American people think the federal government is corrupt. I agree with them. And this big powerful, corrupt bureaucracy works now only for the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected. Meantime, wages have stagnated for 40 years. We have more Americans out of work or just Americans who quit looking for work for 40 years. Ours was intended to be a citizen government. This is about more than replacing a D with an R. We need a leader who will help us take our government back. +p1316 +aVLet me just say on taxes, how long have we been talking about tax reform in Washington, D.C.? We have been talking about it for decades. We now have a 73,000-page tax code. There have been more than 4,000 changes to the tax plan since 2001 alone. There are loads of great ideas, great conservative ideas from wonderful think tanks about how to reform the tax code. The problem is we never get it done. We have talked about tax reform in every single election for decades. It never happens. And the politicians always say it is so complicated, nobody but a politician can figure it out. The truth is this, the big problem, we need a leader in Washington who understands how to get something done, not to talk about it, not to propose it, to get it done. +p1317 +aVThat's right, three pages. +p1318 +aVYou know why three? +p1319 +aVNo. You know why three? Because only if it's about three pages are you leveling the playing field between the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected who can hire the armies of lawyers and accountants and, yes, lobbyists to help them navigate their way through 73,000 pages. Three pages is about the maximum that a single business owner or a farmer or just a couple can understand without hiring somebody. Almost 60 percent of American people now need to hire an expert to understand their taxes. So yes, you're going to hear a lot of talk about tax reform \u2014 +p1320 +aV\u2014 the issue is who is going to get it done. +p1321 +aVYou know, the +p1322 +aVWell, this is one of the reasons why Tom Perkins and I had disagreements in the boardroom, Becky. Nevertheless, one of the things that I think people don't always understand is how accountable a CEO actually is. So you know, I had to report results every 90 days in excruciating detail. I had to answer every single question about every single result and every single projection in public until there were no more questions. And if I misrepresented those results or those projections in any way, I was held criminally liable. Imagine \u2014 imagine \u2014 if a politician were held to that standard of account. I will run on my record all day long. And I believe people need a leader who is prepared to make tough calls in tough times and stand up... +p1323 +aV...and be held accountable. +p1324 +aVYou know, I want to go back for a moment to what we were just talking about. Crony capitalism is alive and well, and has been so in Washington, D.C. for decades. What's crony capitalism? Crony capitalism is what happens when government gets so big and so powerful that only the big and the powerful can handle it. So why are the pharmaceutical companies consolidating? Why are there five even bigger Wall Street banks now, instead of the ten we used to have on Wall Street? Because when government gets big and powerful, the big feel like they need to get even bigger to deal with all that power, and meanwhile, the small and the powerless \u2014 in this case, 1,590 community banks \u2014 go out of business. You see, folks, this is how socialism starts. Government causes a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. This is why, fundamentally, we have to take our government back. The student loan problem has been created by government. Government trying to level the playing field between Internet and brick-and-mortar creates a problem. The FCC jumping in now and saying, "we're going to put 400 pages of regulation over the Internet," is going to create massive problems. But guess who pushed for that regulation? The big Internet companies. This is what's going on. Big and powerful use big and powerful government to their advantage. It's why you see Walgreens buying Rite Aid. It's why you see the pharmaceuticals getting together. It's you see the health insurance companies getting together. It's why you see the banks consolidating. And meanwhile, small businesses are getting crushed. Community- based businesses and farms are getting crushed. Community banks are going out of business. Big government favors the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected, and crushes the small and the powerless. +p1325 +aVIt is why we have to simplify. It is why we have to reduce the size and power of government. +p1326 +aVIt's the only way to level the playing field between big and powerful and small and powerless. +p1327 +aVBecky, it is the height of hypocrisy for Mrs. Clinton to talk about being the first woman President, when every single policy she espouses, and every single policy of President Obama has been demonstrably bad for women. 92 percent \u2014 92 percent of the jobs lost during Barack Obama's first term belonged to women. Senator Cruz is precisely right. Three million women have fallen into poverty under this administration. The number of women \u2014 +p1328 +aV\u2014 living in extreme poverty is the highest level on record. I am a conservative because I know our values, our principles and our policies \u2014 +p1329 +aV\u2014 work better to lift everyone up, men and women. +p1330 +aVNo, the Federal Government should not play a larger role. Look, every time the Federal Government gets engaged in something it gets worse. And then the Government steps in to try and solve the problem and we get a little further down to that progressive vision that Hillary Clinton is talking about. Companies should, if they want to attract the best workers, provide a good set of benefits. But honestly, if you're a small business owner today you are being crushed. We have 400,000 small businesses forming every year in this country. How great is that? They are employing themselves, they are potentially employing others. The bad news is, we have 470,000 going out of business every year. And why? They cite Obamacare. They are refusing to... +p1331 +aVI think it's a wonderful that that businesses start a 401(k). The point I'm making is this, the Federal Government should not be in a lot of things. There is no Constitutional role for the Federal Government in setting up \u2014 retirement plans. There is no Constitutional role for the Federal Government to be setting minimum wages... +p1332 +aV... The more the Government gets engaged in the economy, the slower the economy becomes. The more the Government gets engaged in the economy, it is demonstrably true... +p1333 +aV... The more the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected are advantaged. +p1334 +aVJohn, I \u2014 if I \u2014 a lot of people have jumped in here. I'd like to jump in. A lot of people have jumped in here. +p1335 +aVI understand. +p1336 +aVI would just say that... ... I would just say this, we've heard a lot of great ideas up here, and I agree with what Senator Rubio said. Every election we talk about this. Every election we talk about Medicare and Social Security reform. It never happens. I would like to start with a basic. Let us actually go to zero- based budgeting so we know where the money is being spent. It's kind of basic. There is a bill sitting in the House that would actually pass and have us go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dime of your money is being spent instead of only talking about how much more we're going to spend year after year after year. My point is this. While there are lots of good ideas for reform, we have never tackled the basics. And we finally need to tackle the basics to cut this government down to size and hold it accountable. So let's start by knowing where your money is being spent by the federal government. +p1337 +aVYou know, every election we hear a lot of talk. We hear a lot of good plans. We hear actually a lot of good intentions. But somehow for decades, nothing really has changed. What we need now is a proven leader who has produced results. That's how you go from secretary to CEO. You lead and you produce results. I will cut this government down to size and hold it accountable, simplify the tax code, roll back the regulations that have been spewing out of Washington, D.C. for 50 years. I may not be your dream candidate just yet, but I can assure you I am Hillary Clinton's worst nightmare. And in your heart of hearts, you cannot wait to see a debate between Hillary Clinton and Carly Fiorina. I will tell you this, I will beat Hillary Clinton. And with your vote and your support and your prayers, I will lead with the citizens of this great nation the resurgence of this great nation. +p1338 +aVGood evening. My story, from secretary to CEO, is only possible in this nation, and proves that everyone of us has potential. My husband, Frank, of 30 years, started out driving a tow truck for a family owned auto body shop. We have come to a pivotal point in our nation's history where this nation's possibilities and potential are being crushed by a government grown so big, so powerful, so inept, so corrupt, and a political class that refuses to do anything about it. I am prepared to lead the resurgence of this great nation. +p1339 +aVYou know, I think Mr. Trump is a wonderful entertainer. He's been terrific at that business. I also think that one of the benefits of a presidential campaign is the character and capability, judgment and temperament of every single one of us is revealed over time and under pressure. All of us will be revealed over time and under pressure. I look forward to a long race. +p1340 +aVThat's not for me to answer; it is for the voters of this country to answer, and I have a lot of faith in the common sense and good judgment of the voters of the United States of America. +p1341 +aVJake, I'll tell you \u2014 I'll tell you why people are supporting outsiders. It's because you know what happens if someone's been in the system their whole life, they don't know how broken the system is. A fish swims in water, it doesn't know it's water. It's not that politicians are bad people, it's that they've been in that system forever. The truth is 75 percent of the American people think the government is corrupt; 82 percent of the American people think these problems that have festered for 50 years in some cases, 25 years in other cases. The border's been insecure for 25 years; 307,000 veterans have died waiting for health care. These things have gone on for so long because no one will challenge the status quo. You know what a leader does? They challenge the status quo, they solve problems that have festered for a long time and they produce results. That is what my whole life has been about. People know this is about far more than replacing a D with an R \u2014 +p1342 +aV\u2014 this is about changing the system. +p1343 +aVHaving... +p1344 +aVHaving met Vladimir Putin, if I may... +p1345 +aVHaving met Vladimir Putin, I wouldn't talk to him at all. We've talked way too much to him. What I would do, immediately, is begin rebuilding the Sixth Fleet, I would begin rebuilding the missile defense program in Poland, I would conduct regular, aggressive military exercises in the Baltic states. I'd probably send a few thousand more troops into Germany. Vladimir Putin would get the message. By the way, the reason it is so critically important that every one of us know General Suleimani's name is because Russia is in Syria right now, because the head of the Quds force traveled to Russia and talked Vladimir Putin into aligning themselves with Iran and Syria to prop up Bashar al- Assad. Russia is a bad actor, but Vladimir Putin is someone we should not talk to, because the only way he will stop is to sense strength and resolve on the other side, and we have all of that within our control. We could rebuild the Sixth Fleet. I will. We haven't. We could rebuild the missile defense program. We haven't. I will. We could also, to Senator Rubio's point, give the Egyptians what they've asked for, which is intelligence. We could give the Jordanians what they've asked for... +p1346 +aV...bombs and materiel. We have not supplied it... +p1347 +aV...I will. We could arm the Kurds. They've been asking us for three years. All of this is within our control. +p1348 +aV...Jake... +p1349 +aV...Jake, ... +p1350 +aVAnd then it'll be my turn. +p1351 +aVJake? +p1352 +aVJake? +p1353 +aVDana, I'd like to... +p1354 +aVDana, I would like to link these two issues, both of which are incredibly important, Iran and Planned Parenthood. One has something to do with the defense of the security of this nation. The other has something to do with the defense of the character of this nation. You have not heard a plan about Iran from any politician up here, here is my plan. On day one in the Oval Office, I will make two phone calls, the first to my good friend to Bibi Netanyahu to reassure him we will stand with the state of Israel. The second, to the supreme leader, to tell him that unless and until he opens every military and every nuclear facility to real anytime, anywhere inspections by our people, not his, we, the United States of America, will make it as difficult as possible and move money around the global financial system. We can do that, we don't need anyone's cooperation to do it. And every ally and every adversary we have in this world will know that the United States in America is back in the leadership business, which is how we must stand with our allies. As regards Planned Parenthood, anyone who has watched this videotape, I dare Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama to watch these tapes. Watch a fully formed fetus on the table, it's heart beating, it's legs kicking while someone says we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain. This is about the character of our nation, and if we will not stand up in and force President Obama to veto this bill, shame on us. +p1355 +aVYou know, it's interesting to me, Mr. Trump said that he heard Mr. Bush very clearly and what Mr. Bush said. I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said. +p1356 +aVDana, with all being said to Mr. Trump... +p1357 +aVImmigration did not come up in 2016 because Mr. Trump brought it up. We talked about it in 2012, we talked about it in 2008. We talked about it in 2004. +p1358 +aVWe have been talking about it for 25 years. This is why people are tired of politicians. +p1359 +aVFirst let me say, We have just spent a good bit of time discussing, as Republicans, how to solve this problem. I would ask your audience at home to ask a very basic question. Why have Democrats not solved this problem? President Obama campaigned in 2007 and 2008 on solving the immigration problem. He entered Washington with majorities in the House and the Senate. He could have chosen to do anything to solve this pro \u2014 this problem. Instead, he chose to do nothing. Why? because the Democrats don't want this issue solved. +p1360 +aVThey want it to be an issue that they can use. As to birthright citizenship... +p1361 +aV...the truth is, you can't just wave your hands and say "the 14th Amendment is gonna go away." It will take an extremely arduous vote in Congress, followed by two-thirds of the states, and if that doesn't work to amend the Constitution, then it is a long, arduous process in court. And meanwhile, what will continue to go on is what has gone on for 25 years. With all due respect, Mr. Trump, we've been talking about illegal immigration for 25 years. San Francisco has been a sanctuary city since 1989. There are 300 of them. And meanwhile, what has happened? Nothing. The border remains insecure. The legal immigration system remains broken. Look, we know what it takes to secure a border. We've heard a lot of great ideas here. Money, manpower, technology... +p1362 +aV...mostly, apparently, leadership... +p1363 +aV...the kind of leadership that understands how to get results. +p1364 +aVBut you \u2014 you would stipulate, Mr. Trump, but not everyone agrees with you. +p1365 +aVOK. +p1366 +aVI led Hewlett Packard through a very difficult time, the worst technology recession in 25 years. The +p1367 +aV\u2014 out a full-page ad in the New York Times to say he was wrong, I was right. I was a terrific CEO, the board was dysfunctional. And he thinks I will make a magnificent president of the United States. +p1368 +aVYou know, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld is a well-known Clintonite and honestly had it out for me from the moment that I arrived at Hewlett Packard. But honestly, Mr. Trump, I find it quite rich that you would talk about this. You know, there are a lot of us Americans who believe that we are going to have trouble someday paying back the interest on our debt because politicians have run up mountains of debt using other people's money. That is in fact precisely the way you ran your casinos. You ran up mountains of debt, as well as losses, using other people's money, and you were forced to file for bankruptcy not once \u2014 +p1369 +aV\u2014 not twice, four times, a record four times. Why should we trust you to manage the finances \u2014 +p1370 +aV\u2014 of this nation any differently than you managed the finances \u2014 +p1371 +aV\u2014 of your casinos? +p1372 +aVWell \u2014 +p1373 +aVWell, Mr. Trump \u2014 +p1374 +aVA track record of leadership is not a game. It is the issue in this election. +p1375 +aVWell, I thought we had been hearing quite a bit about Govenor Christie's record as governor, actually. I think track records are very important. I completely agree that what's at stake here is the future of this nation, and the future of every American. But I do think that a track record of leadership is vital because in the end this election is about leadership. And let's talk about what leadership is. It's not about braggadocio, it is about challenging the status quo, solving problems, producing results. And the highest calling of leadership is to unlock potential in others. +p1376 +aVProblems have festered in Washington for too long. And the potential of this nation is being crushed. +p1377 +aVYou see, Governor Christie, people spend time talking about their track records, and Mr. Trump and I have every right to do the same. And Mrs. Clinton has to defend her track record. Her track record of lying about Benghazi, of lying about her e- mails, about lying about her servers. She does not have a track record of accomplishment. Like Mrs. Clinton, I, too, have travels hundreds of thousands of miles around the globe. But unlike Mrs. Clinton, I know flying is an activity, not an accomplishment. Mrs. Clinton \u2014 if you want to stump a Democrat, ask them to name a accomplishment of Mrs. Clinton's. +p1378 +aVWe just spent \u2014 we just spent the last 10 minutes... +p1379 +aV...Jake, since everyone has gotten to weigh in on this military issue, I'd like to be able to do the same. We have spent probably 12 minutes talking about the past. Let's talk about the future. We need the strongest military on the face of the planet, and everyone has to know it. And, specifically, what that means is we need about 50 Army brigades, we need about 36 Marine battalions, we need somewhere between 300, and 350 naval ships, we need to upgrade every leg of the nuclear triad... +p1380 +aV...we need to reform the Department of Defense, we need as well... +p1381 +aV...to invest in our military technology, and we need to care for our veterans so 307,000... +p1382 +aV...aren't dying waiting for health care. +p1383 +aVJake, may I just say... +p1384 +aVJake \u2014 Jake... +p1385 +aVI very much hope I am the only person on this stage who can say this, but I know there are millions of Americans out there who will say the same thing. My husband Frank and I buried a child to drug addiction. So, we must invest more in the treatment of drugs. +p1386 +aVI agree with Senator Paul. I agree with states' rights. But we are misleading young people when we tell them that marijuana is just like having a beer. It's not. And the marijuana that kids are smoking today is not the same as the marijuana that Jeb Bush smoked 40 years ago. We do \u2014 sorry, Barbara. We do need \u2014 we do need criminal justice reform. We have the highest incarceration rates in the world. Two-thirds of the people in our prisons are there for non-violent offenses, mostly drug related. It's clearly not working. But we need to tell young people the truth. Drug addiction is an epidemic, and it is taking too many of our young people. I know this sadly from personal experience. +p1387 +aVI wouldn't change the $10 bill, or the $20 bill. I think, honestly, it's a gesture. I don't think it helps to change our history. What I would think is that we ought to recognize that women are not a special interest group. Women are the majority of this nation. We are half the potential of this nation, and this nation will be better off when every woman has the opportunity to live the life she chooses. +p1388 +aVSecretariat. +p1389 +aVI think what this nation can be and must be is symbolized by Lady Liberty and Lady Justice. Lady Liberty stands tall and strong. She is clear-eyed and resolute. She doesn't shield her eyes from the realities of the world, but she faces outward into the world nevertheless, as we always must. And she holds her torch high, because she knows she is a beacon of hope in a very troubled world. And Lady Justice, Lady Justice holds a sword by her side, because she is a fighter, a warrior for the values and the principles that have made this nation great. She holds a scale in her other hand. And with that scale she says all of us are equal in the eyes of God. And so all of us must be equal in the eyes of the law and the government, powerful and powerless alike. And she wears a blindfold. And with that blindfold she is saying to us that it must be true, it can be true that in this country, in this century, it doesn't matter who you are, it doesn't matter what you look like, it doesn't matter how you start, it doesn't matter your circumstances, here in this nation, every American's life must be filled with the possibilities that come from their God-given gifts. One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. +p1390 +aVWhen America does not lead, the world is a dangerous and a tragic place. This is a bad deal. Obama broke every rule of negotiation. Yes, our allies are not perfect, but Iran is at the heart of most of the evil that is going on in the Middle East through their proxy. +p1391 +aVYou know, when I started my campaign on May 4th of last year, I was 17 out of 16 candidates. Nobody polled my name. Nobody had ever heard of me. Less than 4 percent of you had ever heard of me. The people in Iowa showed up and they are still showing up. Hundreds and hundreds of them at every event. I have done over 150 events in the state of Iowa and I have 15 more coming up. Now, by the way, I start there because someone asked me about midway through my campaign, what's the biggest surprise to you on the campaign trail? And I will tell you what the biggest surprise is: the chasm, the yawning chasm, between what the national media talks about and what the people of Iowa and the people of this great nation talk about. That's the biggest surprise. So guess what, Martha? Guess what, sorry. The people of Iowa never ask me about a crisis in the GOP, they never ask me about the polls. They never ask me about the other candidates. What they ask me about is Carly, tell us why zero based budgeting is so important. Tell us why you are a leader who is going to produce results. Tell us how you are going to defeat +p1392 +aVWell let me tell you this: news flash, President Obama, news flash, Mrs. Clinton -- climate change is not our most pressing national security threat. Actually -- actually, it is +p1393 +aVYou know, we have a professional, political class of both parties. We have been talking about the same issues for election cycle after election cycle. Yeah, government is big and out of control, and the only way to get it under control is to control the money. And the only way to control the money is to ask the federal government to budget the way you do, to examine every dollar, to cut any dollar to spend -- to move any dollar. The fancy word for that is zero-base budgeting. I call it common sense. That three-page tax code I talk about all the time here in Iowa? It's been around for 20 years. But politicians don't want to talk about it, and you bet the lobbyists don't want to talk about it. In fact, nobody wants to vote on a three-page tax code or zero- base budgeting, although they've both been around for a long time. You know why? Because if you get those two things done, you are goring everybody's ox. You are taking the political establishment apart. You are actually challenging the status quo, which is what we need in the Oval Office. So you know who I'm going to count on? The citizens of this great nation, because you have extraordinary power. But when you do not use it... ... you are losing it. So take out your smartphones, folks. The people of Iowa know what I'm talking about. You take out your smartphones. if you agree with me that three-page tax code needs to be passed, lobbyists aren't going to be in my office. If you agree we gotta finally pass zero-base budgeting, take out your smartphones. Press one for yes, ladies and gentlemen. Press two for no. Citizens, we must take our country back. +p1394 +aVWell, first of all, I haven't said that. What I have said is that in the process of examining every dollar, cutting any dollar and moving any dollar, we happen to know that in this vast federal bureaucracy we have about 260,000 federal government employees who are going to retire, and we shouldn't replace them. Secondly, at Hewlett Packard, as you know -- the people of Iowa know this -- we went through a tough time. The worst technology recession in 25 years -- a great company called Gateway used to do be right here in Iowa. But they didn't make the tough calls necessary to save all those jobs, and so they lost every one of those jobs. Yes, I've had to make some tough calls. We saved 80,000 jobs. We went on to grow to 160,000 jobs. And, frankly, I think the American people know we need a president who's going to make some tough calls. So let me tell you where I'm going to start. The American people got a bill passed through Congress that said we could fire the top 400 senior executives at the V.A. for dereliction of duty. When we know that 307,000 veterans have died waiting for health care and the V.A. handed out $142 million worth of bonuses for superb performance, I'm going to start by firing 400... ... senior executives at the V.A. +p1395 +aVHe is right there. He is right there. +p1396 +aVIt wasn't a personal attack. I was pointing out the fact that Hillary Clinton will do anything to gain and hang on to power, anything. Listen, if my husband did what Bill Clinton did, I would have left him long ago. So, here's the deal. Hillary Clinton has been climbing the ladder to try and get power and here now she is trying for the White House. She is probably more qualified for the big house, honestly. She has escaped prosecution more times than El Chapo, perhaps Sean Penn should interview her. The woman should be prosecuted. And while Mrs. Clinton has flown hundreds of thousands of world around the global, I have too. And I know flying is an activity not an accomplishment. While I know that she has held many positions and many titles she has not accomplished much of anything in her life. She has gotten every single foreign policy challenge wrong. She continues to lie to the American people. It's called the Clinton way. Both Bill and Hillary practice it, the Clinton way. Say whatever you have to say, do whatever you have to say. Lie as long as you can get away with it. Hillary Clinton cannot be the president of these United States. +p1397 +aVWell, you know, Hillary Clinton hasn't been indicted either. So that tells us a lot about our justice system in this country. But, look, the facts of Planned Parenthood have not changed, folks, and I will not be rendered silent on this issue or any other issue. And it doesn't matter what stage I'm on. Here are the facts. Planned Parenthood engages in partial birth abortion, in late-term abortion. They alter those abortion techniques to harvest and sell body parts. They have admitted that they are not going to accept compensation for this anymore. The reality is, most Americans find this practice horrific. Most Americans find horrific that Hillary Clinton's position on this is it's not a life until it's born. Most Americans find horrific Hillary Clinton's position or the Democrat party's position, that a young woman does not need her mother's permission to get an abortion. But if you are 13 years old, you can get an abortion, but you can't go to a tanning salon without your mother's permission. A president Fiorina -- in a president Fiorina budget, there will not be one dime for Planned Parenthood, although there would be a lot of money for women's health and we will finally pass the pain capable unborn child protection act. I will always stand for life and religious liberty... ... because this is about the character of our nation. +p1398 +aVMartha, can I just say we've been talking tonight about a lot of issues and we've also been talking about the fact that the game is rigged and frankly, the media has a lot to do with that. It is outrageous frankly, that Fox News, and you, would question the pro-life credentials of Rick Santorum. That is outrageous. +p1399 +aVIn over 150 events I have come to know and love the people of Iowa. And the people of Iowa know what the rest of Americans have figured out, this ain't working anymore. The government no longer works for those who pay for it. The professional political class says and does whatever they need to do to win, and then does whatever they please. We need to return to a citizen government. That is why I am running for President. The media, the establishment, they all want to tell you this elections over, they know who's going to win it, except that you haven't... ... cast a single vote yet. So, the people of Iowa, stand with me, fight with me. Caucus for me. It is time to take our country back. +p1400 +aVWell, thank you. Good evening. If I may begin by saying how honored I am to be standing here with two former Iowa Caucus winners. Governor, Senator. And how honored I am to be talking with all of you. You know, I'm not a political insider. I haven't spent my lifetime running for office. The truth is I have had and been blessed by a lot of opportunities to do a lot of things in my life. And unlike another woman in this race, I actually love spending time with my husband. I'm standing here because I think we have to restore a citizen government in this country. I think we have to end crony capitalism. The crony capitalism that starts with both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. You know, Hillary Clinton sits inside government and rakes in millions, handing out access and favors. And Donald Trump sits outside government and rakes in billions buying people like Hillary Clinton. The state of our economy is not strong. We have record numbers of men out of work. We have record numbers of women living in poverty. We have young people who no longer believe that the American dream applies to them. We have working families whose wages have stagnated for decades, all while the rich get richer, the powerful get more powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected get more connected. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. +p1401 +aVAmerica must lead because when we do not lead, when this exceptional nation does not lead, the world is more dangerous and a more tragic place. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, they all refuse to lead. Worse, they refuse to respond when this nation is provoked. Hillary Clinton famously asked what difference does it make how four Americans died in Benghazi? Mrs. Clinton, here's what difference it makes. When you do not stand up and say the truth, that this was a purposeful terrorist attack, when you do not say the United States of America will retaliate for that attack, terrorists assume it's open season. We have refused to respond to every provocation. The President wouldn't even mention the fact that Iran had taken two Navy boats and our sailors \u2014 hostage. He didn't mention the fact that they violated the Geneva convention. He didn't respond to the fact that Iran launched two ballistic missile just a short time ago, in direct violation of a deal they had just signed. We didn't respond to the fact that North Korea attacked Sony Pictures. When we refuse to respond over, and over to provocation and bad behavior, we will get more provocation and bad behavior. I know most of our allies personally. I have met many of our adversaries. I know our military and our intelligence capability, and I know this. When we will not stand with our allies, when we will not respond to our adversaries, when we do not lead in the world the world is a dangerous and tragic place. I will be a Commander in Chief who will lead. +p1402 +aVOf course I'm worried about similar problems in the United States. We can not allow refugees to enter this country unless we can adequately vet them and we know we can't. Therefore we should stop allowing refugees into this country. And by the way, we do not need to be lectured about why we're angry and frustrated and fearful because we've had an illegal immigration problem in this country for 25 years. And we have every right to be frustrated about the fact that politicians stand up in election after election after election and promise us to fix the problem and yet, it has never been fixed. I offer leadership that understands that actions speak louder than words, that results count. We must secure our border. We must fix our broken immigration system. We must enforce a pro-American immigration system that serves our interests, not the rest of the world. I understand what it takes to translate goals into results and that is what I will do as president of the United States. Of course, we should be worried, for heavens sakes. This administration has now told us they don't know who has overstayed a visa. This administration has told us they don't even bother to check Facebook or Twitter to find out who's pledging allegiance to jihadis. We can do better than this, citizens. We need to take our country back. +p1403 +aVWe need to be very clear-eyed now about who are our allies and who are our adversaries. In the fight against +p1404 +aVAnd we all believe the polling data all the time, don't we? +p1405 +aVOh, it's a problem for so many reasons. First of all, it is yet another lawless executive order. You see, he doesn't like the fact that Congress has rejected his ideas twice on a bipartisan basis, so he's decided he just gets to override them. Sorry, Mr. President, not the way "The Constitution" works. Secondly......secondly, he basically admitted in that speech that he hasn't been paying much attention to enforcing the laws we have. He said, gee, we need a few more FBI agents. That would have helped, perhaps, stop a tragedy here in South Carolina with Dylann Roof, a guy who clearly never should have been sold a gun. In other words, Mr. President, you're right, we need to enforce the laws we have. Let's enforce the laws we have. There are criminals running around with guns who shouldn't have them. We don't prosecute any of them. Less than 1 percent. But I want to go back to the technology issue for a moment, if I may, as well, because in this regard, I disagree with Senator Santorum. Look, I come from the technology industry and I can tell you there is one thing that bureaucracies don't know how to do. They do not know how to innovate. We have come seven generations of technology since 2011. We have bureaucracies that are incapable of bringing in that innovation. So, yes, there are some very specific things that we should ask the private sector to help us with, including making sure we have the latest and greatest in algorithms to search through all these databases so that we find terrorists before they attack us, not after it's too late. And, finally, when a president who understands technology in the Oval Office. Mrs. Clinton, actually, you cannot wipe a server with a towel. +p1406 +aVYes, and see... +p1407 +aVAs CEO of Hewlett Packard... +p1408 +aVAs CEO of Hewlett Packard, I was asked very specifically for some very real help. The help I was asked to provide, this is now public information. So I am not revealing what \u2014 something that was \u2014 was classified. We had a very large shipment of equipment, software and hardware, headed to a retail outlet. And I was called by the head of the NSA, who had an urgent need for that capability, to begin laying out a program to track terrorists. We turned that truck around on a highway and it was escorted to the headquarters in San Jose. In World War II, our government went to the private sector and said, help us do things that we cannot do. The private sector has capabilities that the government does not have. There are some legal authorities that are required. The Sony attack could have been detected and repelled, had legal authorities been passed in Congress allowing private networks and public networks to work together. Those legal authorities have not yet been passed. Yes, I was asked to help. I know the technology industry. They will help again. But they must be asked by a president who understands what they have. +p1409 +aVFor decades, the professional political class in both parties has been talking about the middle class. For decades, Republicans in particular have been talking about reducing the size and scope of government, spending less money, reducing the complexity. And yet, for 40 years, the government has gotten bigger and more expensive. We now have a 75,000 plus page tax code, although politicians have run for office for decades promising reform. And all the while, middle class incomes have stagnated. You see, when government gets bigger and bigger, more powerful, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer and the middle class gets squeezed. We need to understand who the job creators are in this country, because we need more jobs to grow the middle class and to grow the wages of the middle class. Who creates jobs? Small businesses, new businesses, family-owned businesses. They create two thirds of the new jobs in this country and they employ half the people. I started out typing for a nine person real estate firm. My husband Frank started out driving a tow truck for a family-owned auto body shop. And we are crushing small businesses and destroying the middle class. So here's my blueprint to take back America. Let us first actually reform the tax code from 73,000 pages down to three. There's a 20-year-old plan to do exactly that. And then let us begin piece by piece to focus on every single dollar the government spends, so that we will spend less overall and still have enough for our priorities. And that requires the government to budget the way you do at home \u2014 examine every dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. The fancy term for that is zero- based budgeting, but I call it common sense. Citizens, we've got to take our country back. +p1410 +aVMy husband Frank, that I mentioned, I love spending time with. He's down there. He was real excited the other day because in New Hampshire, he was introduced as my eye candy. You know, everybody out there watching knows this. You cannot wait to see the debate between me and Hillary Clinton. You would pay to see that fight. And that's because you know I will win. And that's important. We've got to start by beating Hillary Clinton. All of my life, I have been told to sit down and be quiet. Settle. Settle. Don't challenge the system. That's what the American people are being told now and we have been told that for way too long \u2014 sit down and be quiet about our God, about our guns, about the abortion industry, settle for illegal immigration that's been a problem for decades, as so many of our problems have festered for decades. Accept a system of government and politics that no longer works for us. I will not sit down and be quiet. And neither will you. So I ask you to stand with me, fight with me, vote for me, citizens. It is time to take our future back, time to take our politics back. It is time to take our government back. Citizens, it is time. We must take our country back. +p1411 +asVBUSH +p1412 +(lp1413 +VOur freedom is under attack. Our economy is under water. The leading democrat is under investigation. And America is under the gun to lead the free world to protect our civilized way of life. Serious times require strong leadership, that's what at stake right now. Regarding national security, we need to restore the defense cuts of Barack Obama to rebuild our military, to destroy +p1414 +aVWell, first of all, we need to destroy +p1415 +aVLook, he mentioned me. I can bring \u2014 I can talk. This is \u2014 this is the problem. Banning all Muslims will make it harder for us to do exactly what we need to do, which is to destroy +p1416 +aVThey are relevant if we want to destroy +p1417 +aVDonald, this has got... +p1418 +aVThis is another example of the lack of seriousness. Look, this is \u2014 this is troubling because we're at war. They've declared war on us and we need to have a serious strategy to destroy +p1419 +aVYou said on September 30th that +p1420 +aVI'm talking right now. I'm talking. +p1421 +aVSeptember 30th you said... +p1422 +aVA little of your own medicine there, Donald. +p1423 +aVDonald, you're not going to be able to insult your way to the presidency. That's not going to happen. And I do have the strength. Leadership, leadership is not about attacking people and disparaging people. Leadership is about creating a serious strategy to deal with the threat of our time. And I laid out that strategy before the attacks in Paris and before the attacks in San Bernardino. And it is the way forward. We need to increase our military spending. We need to deal with a no- fly zone in Syria, a safe zone. We need to focus on building a military that is second-to-none... +p1424 +aV... so that we can destroy Islamic terrorism. +p1425 +aVI think we're focusing a whole... +p1426 +aVI do. I think the lesson's learned are that we have to have to have a strategy to get and a strategy to get out. Which means, that you create a stable situation. This president and this is what the focus ought to be, it's not the differences between us, it's Barack Obama does not believe America's leadership in the world is a force for good. He does not believe that our strength is a place where security can take place. He leads from behind. He creates an environment that now we're creating the most unstable situation we've had since the World War II era. The focus ought to be on the single fact that Hillary Clinton wants to double down on a failed foreign policy and we need to be united to defeat that because we're going to be in a place that is far less secure than it is today. Don't you all agree? +p1427 +aVBecause I \u2014 first of all, I know what I don't know. I know what I don't know. I would seek out, as I have, the best advice that exists. I won't get my information from the shows. I don't know if that's Saturday morning or Sunday morning. I don't know which one. I will seek out the best advice, and I will create a strategy and I will persuade the American people what the role of America should be. I've laid out a policy of rebuilding our military. All of the talk that we're seeing here \u2014 most of which I agree on, frankly \u2014 requires a much stronger military. We now have a lack of readiness that is quite scary. We have planes that were \u2014 that Harry Truman inaugurated, the B-52. We have \u2014 the Navy has been gutted and decimated. The readiness of the Marines is way down. If we're serious about America's leadership in the world, then we need to make sure that we have the back of the armed forces. The Armed Forces Radio is here listening to this today. I hope they know that if I'm president, I'll be a commander-in-chief, not an agitator- in-chief or a divider-in-chief, that I will lead this country in a way that will create greater security and greater safety. +p1428 +aVSo I was \u2014 I was \u2014 I was mentioned, so I can bring up something, I think, right? Look, the simple fact is, if you think this is tough you're not being treated fairly... +p1429 +aV... imagine what it's going to be like dealing with Putin or dealing with President Xi. +p1430 +aVOr dealing with the Islamic terrorism that exists. +p1431 +aVThis is a tough business to run for president. +p1432 +aVAnd it's \u2014 and we need...... to have a leader that is... +p1433 +aVYou're never going to be president of the United States by insulting your way to the presidency. +p1434 +aVDoesn't matter. Doesn't matter. +p1435 +aVYes. +p1436 +aVNo it isn't but it is an important subject to talk about for sure. And I think people have good ideas on this. Clearly, we need to secure the border. Coming here legally needs to be a lot easier than coming here illegally. If you don't have that, you don't have the rule of law. We now have a national security consideration, public health issues, we have an epidemic of heroine overdoses in all places in this country because of the ease of bringing heroine in. We have to secure the border. It is a serious undertaking and yes, we do need more fencing and we do need to use technology, and we do need more border control. And we need to have better cooperation by the way with local law enforcement. There are 800,000 cops on the beat, they ought to be trained to be the eyes and ears for law enforcement for the threat against terror as well as for immigration. This is a serious challenge and if we can get it right, yes, we'll start winning votes again. The real problem isn't anybody on this stage, the real problem is Barack Obama has had six years to advocate a position to fix this and he's done nothing. The congress has funded these programs of building more fencing and doing all this and he hasn't done it. He wants to maintain it as a wedge issue and so does Hillary Clinton. Republicans need to fix it and when we do, we'll be better off. +p1437 +aVI completely agree with Chris. And this administration has been so lax. Think about it. Hillary Clinton is using a private server for \u2014 where classified information go by. This is a \u2014 this is a serious administration? The president receives an inspector general's report that the Office of Personnel Management could be hacked into; they had antiquated firewalls; 23 million files have been \u2014 are in the hands of the Chinese allegedly, including, by the way, members of the press, it turns out, last week. Maybe that's the only part that's good news, so that you guys can get a feel for what it's like now to see this type of attack. This is something \u2014 we have to have the best defensive capabilities. We need to coordinate all of our efforts with the private sector. We need to give them liability relief so that we can do that. And offensively, we need to have capabilities second to none. We need to create a situation where they know that there will be adverse impacts if they continue to do what they're doing. They'll respect that. They'll respect a United States that is serious about protecting our \u2014 our infrastructure. If we don't do it, we'll continue to see what's \u2014 exactly what's happening, not just from the Chinese, by the way. The Russians and rogue actors, including +p1438 +aVAsk yourself, which candidate will keep you and our country safer, stronger and freer? Hillary Clinton has aligned herself with Barack Obama on +p1439 +aVYou've already made two comments, John. It's my turn. +p1440 +aVI got about four minutes in the last debate. I'm going to get my question right now. +p1441 +aVYes. +p1442 +aVFirst of all, we could get to 4 percent growth. The new normal of 2 percent puts huge demands on government. The reason why we have structural deficits is that more and more people are relying on government and the growth that we don't have makes \u2014 makes the deficit grow. A 4 percent growth strategy starts with tax reform. And the proposal that I've laid out is the one the Wall Street Journal editorial board has said is the most pro-growth of all the proposals out there. We cut the \u2014 we eliminate a lot of deductions and cut the rates down. A corporate rate of 20 percent, which puts us 5 percent above \u2014 below that of China, and allows us full expensing of investing. It would create an explosion of investment back into this country, creating higher-wage jobs, and so that's part of it. On the regulatory side I think we need to repeal every rule that Barack Obama has in terms of work in progress, every one of them. And start over. For those that are already in existence, the regulation of the Internet, we have to start over, but we ought to do that. The clean power act, we ought to repeal that and \u2014 and start over on that. The waters of the United States act, which is going to be devastating for agriculture and many industries, we should repeal that. We should repeal the rules because the economic costs of this far exceed the social benefit. And if we're serious about being serious about high growth, then we have to recognize that small businesses right now, more of them are closing than \u2014 than are \u2014 than are being set up. Hillary Clinton has said that Barack Obama's policies get an A. Really? One in 10 people right now aren't working or have given up altogether, as you said. That's not an A. One in seven people are living in poverty. That's not an A. One in five children are on food stamps. That is not an A. It may be the best that Hillary Clinton can do, but it's not the best America can do. +p1443 +aVThank you, Donald, for allowing me to speak at the debate. That's really nice of you. Really appreciate that. What a generous man you are. Twelve million illegal immigrants, to send them back, 500,000 a month, is just not \u2014 not possible. And it's not embracing American values. And it would tear communities apart. And it would send a signal that we're not the kind of country that I know America is. And even having this conversation sends a powerful signal \u2014 they're doing high-fives in the Clinton campaign right now when they hear this. That's the problem with this. We have to win the presidency. And the way you win the presidency is to have practical plans. Lay them out there. What we need to do is allow people to earn legal status where they pay a fine, where they work, where they don't commit crimes, where they learn English, and over an extended period of time, they earn legal status. That's the path \u2014 a proper path... +p1444 +aVI'm gonna fight as hard as I can to make sure that we shift power away from Washington, simplify the tax code, to spur economic activity in this country. Of course it's the highest priority. If we don't do that, we're stuck with the "new normal" of 2 percent growth. Hillary Clinton says, basically, we just gotta get used to it. Two percent growth means declining income for the middle class. It means more than 6 million people are stuck in poverty than the day that Barack Obama was inaugurated. It means \u2014 it means more demands on government \u2014 growing the economy is the first job, if we're going to be serious about dealing with the deficit and debt. And more importantly, people are really struggling right now. In this economy, the disposable income of the great middle is down 2,300 bucks. So yeah, we've created jobs, your \u2014 argue (ph) \u2014 brought that up early, and it was a good question. Jobs are being created, but they're lower-income jobs than the jobs that were lost. And the net effect of this is we need to jump-start the economy. I think of Jonathan (ph) and Reagan Love (ph), who are supporters of mine. Jonathan has been deployed by the National Guard, he is \u2014 he's in Oklahoma. Reagan Love \u2014 by the way, pretty great name, I think \u2014 is a teacher. When \u2014 if they had this tax cut, what they told me was that that $2,300 of money in their pocket \u2014 they would go back to South Carolina and start a business. Imagine what it would be like, instead of having more businesses closed than started, we had it the exact opposite. We would grow our economy, and the government would get the revenue necessary to make things \u2014 make things better. Hillary Clinton's approach to this is more top-down, more regulation, more taxes, more government, and it will destroy our economy. +p1445 +aVIt is \u2014 I'd say it is Islamic terrorism, and, back to the question of what we are dealing with in Iraq, when we pull back voids are filled. That's the lesson of history, and, sadly, this president does not believe in American leadership. He does not believe it, and the net result is that we have a caliphate the size of Indiana that gains energy each and everyday to recruit Americans in our own country, and the threat to the homeland relates to the fact that we have not dealt with this threat of terror in the Middle East. We should have a no fly zone in Syria. We should have a support for the remnants of the Syrian Free Army, and create safe zones. If you want to deal with the four million refugees that are leaving Syria because of the devastation there, then we 'ought to create safe zones for them to stay in the region rather than go to Europe. And, that requires American leadership. Without American leadership every other country in the neighborhood beings to change their priorities. It is tragic that you see Iraq, and other countries now talking to Russia. It wasn't that long ago that Russia had no influence in the region at all. And, so, the United States needs to lead across the board. This president, and Hillary Clinton both do not believe the United States has a leadership role to play, and we're now paying a price, and it will have a huge impact on the economy of this country if we don't deal with this. +p1446 +aV...They're not doing that... +p1447 +aV +p1448 +aVDonald \u2014 Donald's wrong on this. He is absolutely wrong on this. We're not going to be the world's policeman, but we sure as heck better be the world's leader. That's \u2014 there's a huge difference where, without us leading... ...voids are filled, and the idea that it's a good idea for Putin to be in Syria, let +p1449 +aVWe're not \u2014 we shouldn't have another financial crisis. What we ought to do is raise the capital requirements so banks aren't too big to fail. Dodd-Frank has actually done the opposite, totally the opposite, where banks now have higher concentration of risk in assets and the capital requirements aren't high enough. If we were serious about it, we would raise the capital requirements and lessen the load on the community banks and other financial institutions. This vast overreach has created a huge problem for our country, and Hillary Clinton wants to double down on that. I was in Washington, Iowa, about three months ago talking about how bad Washington, D.C., is. It was \u2014 get the \u2014 kind of the \u2014 anyway. We had... It \u2014 and I talked to a banker there. This is a bank that had $125 million of assets, four branches. Their compliance costs because of Dodd-Frank went from $100,000 to $600,000 in a two-year period. The net effect of that is \u2014 and they had \u2014 they had not one loan that went bad during the financial crisis. They knew \u2014 they knew their borrowers. They gave back to the community. They were engaged in the community. And imagine America without its community banks. Well, that's what's happening because of Dodd-Frank. That's \u2014 that's my worry. My worry is that the real economy has been hurt by the vast overreach of the Obama administration. And Hillary Clinton, she wants to double down on that. She wants to create even more so. She is a captive of the left of her party to the point now where she is \u2014 she was for the trade agreement in \u2014 the Pacific agreement. Now she's against it. She was \u2014 hinted she was for the XL pipeline. Now she's opposed to it. All the things that would create sustained economic growth she's now doubling down against it. +p1450 +aVYou could, if you were serious about... +p1451 +aVNo, I can't say that. But I can say, if you created higher capital requirements, that's the solution to this, not having concentration of assets. The bigger banks now have more and more control over \u2014 over the financial assets of this country. And that is the wrong approach to take. +p1452 +aVMaria? +p1453 +aV...We've had a 10% reduction in carbon emissions, and it isn't because of Solyndra. It isn't because of the central planners in Washington D.C. It's because we've had a great American success story, the explosion of natural gas. Taking two existing technologies, and applying it through innovation has created lower carbon emissions, lower energy costs \u2014 40% of all the economic activity in the age of Obama has come from the energy sector, and Hillary Clinton wants to suppress that. We \u2014 I think we ought to be expanding this. High growth is the path to lower carbon, and more jobs. I know for a fact, as Governor of the State of Florida, we created the largest land purchasing programs, and environment clean-up programs because we had a growing economy. Our revenues were growing at 4.4%. It allowed for resources to be able to protect the natural system. We got to get to a conservation... ...in environmental policy that goes beyond just carbon... +p1454 +aVJane Horton is sitting with my wife here today. Her husband, Chris, was killed in action in Afghanistan. And Jane spends her time now defending and fighting for military families. They're both heroes. I don't think we need an agitator-in-chief or a divider-in-chief. We need a commander-in-chief that will rebuild our military and restore respect to our veterans by revamping and fixing a broken Veterans Administration, That's my pledge to you. I ask for your support. Thank you. +p1455 +aVYou know, I am by my nature impatient. And this is not an endeavor that rewards that. You gotta be patient. You gotta be \u2014 stick with it, and all that. But also, I can't fake anger. I believe this is still the most extraordinary country on the face of the Earth. And it troubles me that people are rewarded for tearing down our country. It's never been that way in American politics before. I can't do it. I just don't believe that this country's days are going to be deeply \u2014 you know, going down. I think we're on the verge of the greatest time, and I want to fix the things to let people rise up. +p1456 +aVCould I \u2014 could I bring something up here, because I'm a constituent of the senator and I helped him and I expected that he would do constituent service, which means that he shows up to work. He got endorsed by the Sun-Sentinel because he was the most talented guy in the field. He's a gifted politician. But Marco, when you signed up for this, this was a six-year term, and you should be showing up to work. I mean, literally, the Senate \u2014 what is it, like a French work week? You get, like, three days where you have to show up? You can campaign, or just resign and let someone else take the job. There are a lot of people living paycheck to paycheck in Florida as well, they're looking for a senator that will fight for them each and every day. +p1457 +aVHe wasn't my senator. +p1458 +aVWell, I've been \u2014 +p1459 +aVNo, no. What I said was I don't believe that I would be president of the United States and have the same dysfunction that exists in Washington, D.C. now. +p1460 +aVDon't vote for me if you want to keep the gridlock in Washington, D.C. +p1461 +aVBut if you want someone who has a proven, effective leadership, that was a governor of a state, that transformed the culture there, elect me so I can fight for the American people and change the culture in Washington, D.C. +p1462 +aV, the great majority of Republicans and Americans believe in a hopeful future. They don't believe in building walls and a pessimistic view of the future. They're concerned that Washington is so dysfunctional it is holding them back. There are lids on people's aspirations. Think about it: six and a half million people working part-time. Workforce participation rates lower than they were in 1977. Six million more people living in poverty than the day that Barack Obama got elected president, and the left just wants more of the same. We have to offer a compelling alternative that is based on hope and optimism and grounded in serious policy, which I've laid out. And you can go get it at jeb2016.com. +p1463 +aVWell, the deal was done. Barack Obama got his massive tax increase, and there was no spending cuts. You just see the recent deal announced today or yesterday, more spending, more tax increasing, more regulation. And now we have to accept 2 percent, the new normal for economic growth. And the net result is the middle class has $2,300 less in their pockets than the day that Barack Obama got elected president. And now they see Hillary Clinton proposing a third term of economic policy for our country. We need to reverse that. And my record was one of cutting taxes each and every year. You don't have to guess about it, because I actually have a record. $19 billion of tax cuts, 1.3 million jobs created. We were one of two states to go to AAA bond rating, and our government spending was far less than the spending in people's income. +p1464 +aVYou find me... +p1465 +aVYou find me a Democrat \u2014 you find me a Democrat that will cut spending ten dollars? Heck, find me a Republican in Congress that would cut spending ten dollars. I'll talk to them. +p1466 +aVLook, the \u2014 the deal is already done. The biggest tax increase happened under the watch of Barack Obama, and spending's gone up. You find a Democrat that's for cutting taxes \u2014 cutting spending ten dollars, I'll give them a warm kiss. +p1467 +aVLook, the \u2014 the simple fact is that my plan actually gives the middle class the greatest break: $2,000 per family. And if you make $40,000 a year, a family of four, you don't pay any income tax at all. Simplifying the code and lowering rates, both for corporations and \u2014 and personal rates, is exactly what we need to do. You think about the regulatory cost and the tax cost \u2014 that's why small businesses are closing, rather than being formed in our country right now. The big corporations have the scale to deal with all of this. And what I think all of us are saying is, our monetary policy, our tax policy, regulatory policy needs to be radically changed so we can create high sustained growth for income to rise. The government has tried it their way. Under \u2014 under Barack Obama and the proposals of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and others, they've tried it their way, and it has failed miserably. We need to take a new approach of taxing \u2014 reforming how we tax, and reforming the regulations in our \u2014 in our country before it's too late. +p1468 +aVWe don't need the federal government to be involved in this at all. +p1469 +aVWe don't need the Federal Government to be involved in this, because when they do we create a $1.2 trillion debt. In Florida, we have the lowest in-state tuition of any state, because there's accountability, just as John said. Let the states do this. You'll create a much better graduation rate at a lower cost, and you won't in debt the next generation with recourse debt on their backs. It's always a solution of the left to create more Government from the Federal Government. It is broke, it is not working. +p1470 +aVWell, first of all, I'm 7 and 0 in my fantasy league. +p1471 +aVGronkowski is still going strong. I have Ryan Tannehill, Marco, as my quarterback, he was 18 for 19 last week. So I'm doing great. But we're not gambling. And I think this has become something that needs to be looked at in terms of regulation. Effectively it is day trading without any regulation at all. And when you have insider information, which apparently has been the case, where people use that information and use big data to try to take advantage of it, there has to be some regulation. If they can't regulate themselves, then the NFL needs to look at just, you know, moving away from them a little bit. And there should be some regulation. I have no clue whether the federal government is the proper place, my instinct is to say, hell no, just about everything about the federal government. +p1472 +aVBecky \u2014 +p1473 +aV\u2014 the governor's absolutely right. But we also need to reform Medicare and Social Security. We can't just allow it to continue on its current path the way that Hillary Clinton wants to do because there'll be major reductions in benefits in the next decade if we do nothing. I have a concrete plan to do just that, which allows people to keep HSAs to encourage savings, it allows for people that are retiring with Social Security to be able to get a minimum of 125 percent of the poverty level so that there is a baseline that in this generous country of ours no one goes below. +p1474 +aVYou have to reform Social Security, and the simple way to do it is to make sure that the wealthiest don't receive the same benefits as people that are lower-income. And make sure you enhance savings in the private market. The idea of 401(k)s. I have a small business that I set up. It took \u2014 it took an arm and a leg to be able to set up a 401(k). Because of all the federal mandates and federal laws, it was too expensive. We need to incent private savings and make sure that Social Security is protected for those that have it. +p1475 +aVBut the idea that you can't \u2014 that you're just gonna grow your way out of this \u2014 I have a plan to grow the economy at 4 percent, but you're gonna have to make adjustments for both Medicare and Social Security. [ +p1476 +aVAmerica's at a crossroads. The D.C. politicians continue to make things worse. I have a proven record of success, 32 years in business, and 8 years as Governor of the state of Florida. I will change the culture in Washington, just as I changed the culture in Tallahassee. I will do so in a way that will bring people together. We need a unifier, not a cynical divider in chief, and that's exactly what I will do. Imagine a country where people are lifted out of poverty again. Imagine a country where the middle class can get rising income again. I know we can do this because we're still the most extraordinary country on the face of the Earth. +p1477 +aVI'm Jeb Bush, and I believe America's on the verge of its greatest century, and I'm ready to lead. I'm a committed, conservative reformer that cut taxes, that balanced budgets, that took on the special interest in Florida, and we won. I look forward to talking tonight about how we can fix a broken Washington D.C., and create an environment where people can rise up again in this great country. Thank you. +p1478 +aVI think the voters will make that determination. But what I know to be true is that the next president of the United States is going to have to fix an extraordinary difficult situation. This administration, with President Obama and Hillary Clinton, has created insecurity the likes of which we never would've imagined. There's not a place in the world where we're better off today than six and a half years ago. And that requires a steadiness. That requires an understanding of how the world works. That requires an understanding and appreciation of American leadership in the world. You can't just, you know, talk about this stuff and insult leaders around the world and expect a good result. You have to do this with a steady hand, and I believe I have those skills. +p1479 +aVNo. Absolutely not. People are supporting me because I have a proven record of conservative leadership where I cut taxes $19 billion over eight years. We shrunk the state government workforce, we created a climate that led the nation in job growth seven out of eight years. We were one of two states to go to AAA bond rating. People know that we need principle-centered leadership, a disrupter to go to Washington, D.C. The one guy that had some special interests that I know of that tried to get me to change my views on something \u2014 that was generous and gave me money \u2014 was Donald Trump. He wanted casino gambling in Florida \u2014 +p1480 +aVYes you did. +p1481 +aVYou wanted it and you didn't get it because I was opposed to \u2014 +p1482 +aV\u2014 casino gambling before \u2014 +p1483 +aVduring and after. And that's not \u2014 I'm not going to be bought by anybody. +p1484 +aVNo way. Believe me. +p1485 +aVNot even possible. +p1486 +aVYou've got, according to your \u2014 to what you said on one of the talk shows, you got Hillary Clinton to go to your wedding \u2014 +p1487 +aV\u2014 because you gave her money. Maybe it works for Hillary Clinton \u2014 +p1488 +aV\u2014 it doesn't work for anybody on this \u2014 on stage. +p1489 +aVBut the simple fact is \u2014 +p1490 +aVNo. The simple fact is, Donald, you could not take \u2014 +p1491 +aVI was asked the question. +p1492 +aVSo he supports Pelosi, he supports Schumer, he supports Clinton \u2014 +p1493 +aVWhen he \u2014 and he \u2014 when he asked \u2014 when he asked Florida to have casino gambling, we said no. +p1494 +aVWe said no. And that's the simple fact. The simple fact is \u2014 +p1495 +aVDon't cut me off. +p1496 +aVNo, I don't think so, but we need to be strong against China. We should use offensive tactics as it relates to cyber security, send a deterrent signal to China. There should be super sanctions in what President Obama has proposed. There's many other tools that we have without canceling a dinner. That's not going to change anything, but we can be much stronger as it relates to that. As it relates to Iran, it's not a strategy to tear up an agreement. A strategy would be how do we confront Iran? And, the first thing that we need to do is to establish our commitment to Israel which has been altered by this administration. And, make sure that they have the most sophisticated weapons to send a signal to Iran that we have Israel's back. If we do that, it's going to create a healthier deterrent effect than anything else I can think of. +p1497 +aVI don't think \u2014 you're not stating my views right. +p1498 +aVI think there needs to be accommodation for someone acting on faith. Religious conscience is \u2014 is \u2014 is a first freedom. It's \u2014 it's a powerful part of our \u2014 of our Bill of Rights. And, in a big, tolerant country, we should respect the rule of law, allow people in \u2014 in \u2014 in this country \u2014 I'm a \u2014 I was opposed to the decision, but we \u2014 you can't just say, "well, they \u2014 gays can't get married now." But this woman, there should be some accommodation for her conscience, just as there should be for people that are florists that don't want to participate in weddings, or bakers. A great country like us should find a way to have accommodations for people so that we can solve the problem in the right way. This should be solved at the local level... +p1499 +aVAnd so we do agree, Mike. +p1500 +aVWell, he's wrong on a lot of things, but on this he's wrong because I'm the most pro-life governor on this stage. I got to act on my core beliefs. It's part of who I am. Life is a gift from God. And from beginning end we need to respect it and err on the side of life. And so I defunded Planned Parenthood. We created a climate where parental notification took place. We were the only state to fund crisis pregnancy centers with state moneys. We were totally focused on this. And I would bring that kind of philosophy to Washington, D.C. So here is a solution to this. Title X of the HHS funding, there is something that was the "Reagan Rule." It was passed in 1988. And in that rule it was defined, and the courts approved this, that a Planned Parenthood, you couldn't separate the money between the actual abortion procedures, and there are 330,000 abortions that take place in this clinic, and their promotion of it. He interpreted it the right way, the courts ruled in his favor, and Planned Parenthood did not get funding during that time until President Clinton came in. When I'm elected president, we will restore that interpretation of Title X. And this deal will be finished. +p1501 +aVThere are 13,000 community-based organizations that provide health services to women, 13,000 in this country. I don't believe that Planned Parenthood should get a penny from the federal government. Those organizations should get funding, just as I increased funding when I was governor of the state. That's the way you do this is you improve the condition for people. And, Donald, when I was governor, we also increased the opportunities for women. Women's income grew three times faster than the national average when I was governor. +p1502 +aVWe improved \u2014 we improved \u2014 +p1503 +aV\u2014 we increased child support \u2014 we increased child support with a broken system by 90 percent. +p1504 +aVI have a proven record. I have a proven record. +p1505 +aVHe did, he did. You're proud of your family, just as I am. +p1506 +aVTo subject my wife into the middle of a raucous political conversation was completely inappropriate, and I hope you apologize for that, Donald. +p1507 +aVShe is. She's fantastic. +p1508 +aVShe is absolutely the love of my life, and she's right here... +p1509 +aVAnd why don't you apologize to her right now. +p1510 +aVYeah. +p1511 +aVSo, here's the deal. My wife is a Mexican-American. She's an American by choice. She loves this country as much as anybody in this room, and she wants a secure border. But she wants to embrace the traditional American values that make us special and make us unique. We're at a crossroads right now. Are we going to take the Reagan approach, the hopeful optimistic approach, the approach that says that, you come to our country legally, you pursue your dreams with a vengeance, you create opportunities for all of us? Or the Donald Trump approach? The approach that says that everything is bad, that everything is coming to an end. I... +p1512 +aVI'm on the Reagan side of this. +p1513 +aVLook, first of all, I wrote a book about this, three \u2014 four years ago, now. And I laid out a comprehensive, conservative approach for immigration reform. And it does require securing the border. No one disagrees with that. But to build a wall, and to deport people \u2014 half a million a month \u2014 would cost hundreds of billions of dollars, Donald. Hundreds of billions of dollars. It would destroy community life, it would tear families apart. And it would send a signal to the rest of the world that the United States values that are so important for our long-term success no longer matter in this country. +p1514 +aVWell, I've been speaking English here tonight, and I'll keep speaking English. But the simple fact is, if a high school kid asks me a question in Spanish, a school \u2014 by the way, a voucher program that was created under my watch, the largest voucher program in the country, where kids can go to a Christian school, and they ask me a question in Spanish, I'm going to show respect and answer that question in Spanish. Even though they do speak English, and even though they embrace American values. +p1515 +aVYeah. +p1516 +aVWell, first of all, Hugh, if you're looking at Republican advisers, you have to go to the last two administrations. That happened to be 41 and 43. So just by definition, if you're \u2014 and many of the people here that are seeking advice from the foreign policy experts in the Republican side, they \u2014 they served in my dad's administration, my brother's administration. Of course that's the case. But I'm my own man. I'm going to create a strategy that is based on the simple fact that the United States needs to lead the world. The first thing that we need to do is to stop the craziness of the sequester. Rebuild our military so that our \u2014 so that we don't deploy people over and over again without the necessary equipment to keep them safe, to send a signal to the world that we're serious. If we're going to lead the world, then we need to have the strongest military possible. We need to rebuild our counterintelligence and intelligence capabilities. We need to focus on the fact that the next president is going to start in 2017, not in 1990 \u2014 you know, 30 years ago, or when my brother started. The world is dramatically different. And I believe that we need to restore America's presence and leadership in the world. Name a country where our relationship is better today than it was the \u2014 the day that Barack Obama got elected president. Under Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama, we have seen a weakness that now creates huge problems for the next president of the United States. So I'll have a team that will be \u2014 that will be following the doctrine I set up, and it will be peace through strength. We're sitting here in this library, which is a wonderful place to talk about this, because that's exactly what happened in the 1980s, and the world was a lot safer because of... +p1517 +aVThe leadership of Ronald Reagan and my... +p1518 +aVSo you \u2014 the \u2014 the first chance... +p1519 +aVRight after me, and then I'll \u2014 I'll yield \u2014 yield the floor. What do you guys say in the Senate when you're talking and debating? +p1520 +aVHere's the facts: When Donald Trump talks about judgment, what was his position on who would've been the best negotiator to deal with Iran? It wasn't a Republican; it was Hillary Clinton. That's what you believe. I mean, the lack of judgment and the lack of understanding about how the world works is really dangerous in this kind of time that we're saying. So is that the judgment that you bring to the table, that Hillary Clinton... +p1521 +aV... is a great negotiator, that she could bring about a better deal on Iran? +p1522 +aVYou know what? As it relates to my brother, there's one thing I know for sure. He kept us safe. I don't know if you remember... ... Donald... ... you remember the \u2014 the rumble? You remember the fire fighter with his arms around it? He sent a clear signal that the United States would be strong and fight Islamic terrorism, and he did keep us safe. +p1523 +aVThat's \u2014 that's my brother. +p1524 +aVHere's the lessons of history: When we \u2014 we pull back, voids are created. We left Iraq. We should've had a \u2014 a forces agreement to stay there with a small force, and instead of that, we politically and militarily pulled back, and now we have the creation of +p1525 +aV... because of what President Obama's done by pulling back. +p1526 +aVWell, I'm surprised Senator Cruz would say that since he was as strong supporter of John Roberts at the time. I will talk about what I will do as it relates to appointing Supreme Court Justices. We need to make sure that we have justices that, with a proven experienced record of respect for upholding the constitution. That is what we need. We can't have \u2014 the history in recent past is appoint people that have no experience so that you can't get attacked. And, that makes it harder for people to have confidence that they won't veer off... +p1527 +aVJohn Roberts has made some really good decisions, for sure, but he did not have a proven, extensive record that would have made the clarity the important thing, and that's what we need to do. And, I'm willing to fight for those nominees to make sure that they get passed. You can't do it the politically expedient way anymore. This is the culture in Washington. You have to fight hard for these appointments. This is perhaps the most important thing that the next president will do. +p1528 +aVWell, first of all, he, as I said, supported John Roberts. He supported him, publicly. So, you can rewrite history, I guess, Ted, but the simple fact is that you supported him because he had all the criteria that you would have thought would have made a great justice. And, I think he is doing a good job. But, the simple fact is that going forward, what we need to do is to have someone that has a long standing set of rulings that consistently makes it clear that he is a focused, exclusively on upholding the Constitution of the United States so they won't try to use the bench as a means to which legislate. +p1529 +aVHe was talking about me. +p1530 +aVWell, I \u2014 I wanted to \u2014 be \u2014 make it easier for him. +p1531 +aVAnd I just did. +p1532 +aVSo, 40 years ago, I smoked marijuana, and I admit it. I'm sure that other people might have done it and may not want to say it in front of 25 million people. My mom's not happy that I just did. That's true. And here's the deal. Here's the deal. We have \u2014 we have a serious epidemic of drugs that goes way beyond marijuana. What goes on in Colorado, as far as I'm concerned, that should be a state decision. But if you look at the problem of drugs in this \u2014 in this society today, it's a serious problem. Rand, you know this because you're campaigning in New Hampshire like all of us, and you see the epidemic of heroin, the overdoses of heroin that's taking place. People's families are \u2014 are being torn apart. It is appropriate for the government to play a consistent role to be able to provide more treatment, more prevention \u2014 we're the state that has the most drug courts across every circuit in \u2014 in \u2014 in Florida, there are drug courts to give people a second chance. That's the best way to do this. +p1533 +aVNo, you're wrong \u2014 you're wrong about this. +p1534 +aVI don't want to put poor people in jail, Randy. +p1535 +aVHere's the deal. No, I did not oppose when the legislature passed the bill to deal with that very issue. That's the way to solve this problem. Medical marijuana on the ballot was opened up, there was a huge loophole, it was the first step to getting to a place. And as a citizen of Florida, I voted no. +p1536 +aVNot very far. I think we need to do this state by state. There are places that get this right, and we need to make sure that we protect the privacy laws. This is a complicated place. But I do think the natural impulse on the left \u2014 Hillary Clinton, immediately after one of these horrific violent acts took place, immediately said we need to have federal gun laws. President Obama almost reflexively always says the same thing. And the net result is, you're going to take away rights of \u2014 of law-abiding citizens, the 99.999 percent of the people that are law- abiding citizens. That's not the right approach to do it. In Florida, we have a background check. We have concealed-weapon permit holders, and in fact, there's 1,200,000 of them. We have a reduction in violent crime because we put people behind bars when they use a gun in the commission of the crime. That's the better approach. But we're living in a society today where despair kind of grows in isolation. +p1537 +aVI \u2014 I think there needs to be a hearing, but the fact is, we need to encourage that kind of involvement. That's \u2014 that's exactly what we need to do. +p1538 +aVI would go with Ronald Reagan's partner, Margaret Thatcher. Probably illegal, but what the heck? Since it's not going to happen. A strong leader is what we need in the White House, and she certainly was a strong leader that restored the United Kingdom into greatness. +p1539 +aVEver Ready, it's very high energy, Donald. +p1540 +aVSix million more people are living in poverty than the day that Barack Obama got elected president. Six million more people. The middle class has had declining income, workforce participation rates are lower than they were in 1977. For the first time in modern history, more businesses are failing than are being created. That is what the next president will have to deal with. And I believe we can reverse course by creating a strategy of high sustained economic growth, not the new normal of 2 percent that all the left says we just have to get used to, but a 4 percent growth strategy where we reform how we tax, fix the broken regulatory system, embrace the energy revolution in our midst, fix the immigration system so we can turn it into an economic driver, deal with the structural fiscal problems that exist because of our entitlement problems that will overwhelm and create way too much debt. If we grow at 4 percent, people are going to be lifted out of poverty. The great middle that defines our country will have a chance to be able to pursue their dreams as they see fit. That should be the great challenge and the great opportunity for the next president of the United States, to forge consensus to go back to a high-growth strategy. And then we'll be able to lead the world. Without a high-growth strategy, our country will never have the resources or the optimism to be able to lead the world, which the world desperately needs our leadership. +p1541 +aVAbsolutely, I do, and I'm gonna run hard, run with heart, and run to win. I'm gonna have to earn this. Maybe the barrier -- the bar's even higher for me. That's fine. I've got a record in Florida. I'm proud of my dad, and I'm certainly proud of my brother. In Florida, they called me Jeb, because I earned it. I cut taxes every year, totaling $19 billion. We were -- we had -- we balanced every budget. We went from $1 billion of reserves to $9 billion of reserves. We were one of two states that went to AAA bond rating. They keep -- they called me Veto Corleone. Because I vetoed 2,500 separate line-items in the budget. I am my own man. I governed as a conservative, and I govern effectively. And the net effect was, during my eight years, 1.3 million jobs were created. We left the state better off because I applied conservative principles in a purple state the right way, and people rose up. +p1542 +aVI do. I believe that the great majority of people coming here illegally have no other option. They want to provide for their family. But we need to control our border. It's not -- it's our responsibility to pick and choose who comes in. So I -- I've written a book about this and yet this week, I did come up with a comprehensive strategy that -- that really mirrored what we said in the book, which is that we need to deal with E-Verify, we need to deal with people that come with a legal visa and overstay. We need to be much more strategic on how we deal with border enforcement, border security. We need to eliminate the sanctuary cities in this country. It is ridiculous and tragic......that people are dying because of the fact that -- that local governments are not following the federal law. There's much to do. And I think rather than talking about this as a wedge issue, which Barack Obama has done now for six long years, the next president -- and I hope to be that president -- will fix this once and for all so that we can turn this into a driver for high sustained economic growth. And there should be a path to earned legal status... ...for those that are here. Not -- not amnesty, earned legal status, which means you pay a fine and do many things over an extended period of time. +p1543 +aV...I remember... +p1544 +aV...I remember, Megyn. +p1545 +aVKnowing what we know now, with faulty intelligence, and not having security be the first priority when -- when we invaded, it was a mistake. I wouldn't have gone in, however, for the people that did lose their lives, and the families that suffer because of it -- I know this full well because as governor of the state of Florida, I called every one of them. Every one of them that I could find to tell them that I was praying for them, that I cared about them, and it was really hard to do. And, every one of them said that their child did not die in vain, or their wife, of their husband did not die in vain. So, why it was difficult for me to do it was based on that. Here's the lesson that we should take from this, which relates to this whole subject. Barack Obama became president, and he abandoned Iraq. He left, and when he left Al Qaida was done for. +p1546 +aVNo, I don't. And I don't believe the federal government should be involved in the creation of standards directly or indirectly, the creation of curriculum or content. It is clearly a state responsibility. I'm for higher standards... ...measured in an intellectually honest way, with abundant school choice, ending social promotion. And I know how to do this because as governor of the state of Florida I created the first statewide voucher program in the country, the second statewide voucher program, in the country and the third statewide voucher program in the country. And we had rising student achievement across the board, because high standards, robust accountability, ending social promotion in third grade, real school choice across the board, challenging the teachers union and beating them is the way to go. And Florida's low income kids had the greatest gains inside the country. Our graduation rate improved by 50 percent. That's what I'm for. +p1547 +aVHe is definitely my friend. And I think the states ought to create these standards. And if states want to opt out of Common Core, fine. Just make sure your standards are high. Because today in America, a third of our kids, after we spend more per student than any country in the world other than a couple rounding errors, to be honest with you, 30 percent are college- and/or career-ready. If we are going to compete in this world we're in today, there is no possible way we can do it with lowering expectations and dumbing down everything. Children are going to suffer and families' hearts are going to be broken that their kids won't be able to get a job in the 21st Century. +p1548 +aVWe've done it 27 times since World War II. I think we need to lift our spirits and have high, lofty expectations for this great country of ours. The new normal of two percent that the left is saying you can't do anything about is so dangerous for our country. There's 6 million people living in poverty today, more than when Barack Obama got elected. 6.5 million people are working part-time, most of whom want to work full-time. We've created rules and taxes on top of every aspiration of people, and the net result is we're not growing fast, income's not growing. A four percent growth strategy means you fix a convoluted tax code. You get in and you change every aspect of regulations that are job killers. You get rid of Obamacare and replace it with something that doesn't suppress wages and kill jobs. You embrace the energy revolution in our country. This president and Hillary Clinton, who can't even say she's for the XL pipeline even after she's left? Give me a break. Of course we're for it. We should be for these things to create high sustained economic growth. And frankly, fixing our immigration system and turning it into an economic driver is part of this as well. We can do this. +p1549 +aVNone of which is true. +p1550 +aVNo. It's not true. But I have said that Mr. Trump's language is divisive. I want to win. I want one of these people here or the ones at 5:00, to be the next president of the United States. We're not going on win by doing what Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton do each and every day. Dividing the country. Saying, creating a grievance kind of environment. We're going to win when we unite people with a hopeful, optimistic message. I have that message because I was a governor of a state that saw people lifted up, because we had high sustained economic growth. Our economy grew at double the rate of the nation. We created 1.3 million jobs. We led the nation seven out of those eight years. We were only one of two states that went to AAA bond rating. I cut taxes, $19 billion. If you do that and apply conservative principles the right way, you create an environment where everybody rises up. That's how we're going to win. Campaigning in places to give people hope that their life is better because too many people are suffering today in America. +p1551 +aVHere's what I believe. I believe we're at the verge of the greatest time to be alive in this world. But Washington is holding us back. How we tax, how we regulate. We're not embracing the energy revolution in our midst, a broken immigration system that has been politicized rather than turning it into an economic driver. We're not protecting and preserving our entitlement system or reforming for the next generation. All these things languish while we have politicians in Washington using these as wedge issues. Here's my commitment to you, because I did it as Florida. We can fix these things. We can grow economically and restore America's leadership in the world, so that everybody has a chance to rise up. I humbly ask for your vote, whenever you're gonna get to vote, whenever the primary is. Thank you all very much. +p1552 +asVWALKER +p1553 +(lp1554 +VGood evening, I'm Scott Walker, and tonight, I want to thank and Mrs. Reagan, and the Reagan Library for hosting us. You see, in my lifetime, the greatest president was a governor from California. Ronald Reagan knew how to go big, and go bold. He understood the essence of moving this country forward, and that's what I did when I took on the status quo in my state, and the Washington based special interest. Now, more than ever, America needs a leader who will go big and bold again. Someone who's been tested. I'm ready to be that leader. Thank you. +p1555 +aVBut Jake, Jake, Jake, Jake... +p1556 +aVBut Jake, this \u2014 this is \u2014 this... +p1557 +aVJake, this is \u2014 this is \u2014 this is... +p1558 +aVThis is actually what's wrong \u2014 this is what's wrong with this debate. We're not talking about real issues. And Mr. Trump, we don't need an apprentice in the White House. We don't need an apprentice in the White House. We have one right now. He told us all the things we wanted to hear back in 2008. We don't know who you are or where you're going. We need someone who can actually get the job done. And you talked about business. +p1559 +aVYou \u2014 you \u2014 let me finish... +p1560 +aVNo, no... +p1561 +aVYou're using the talking... +p1562 +aVMr. Trump, you're using the talking points of the Democrats... +p1563 +aV... and as we all know... +p1564 +aV... that failed three times in four and a half years when I got elected, because it is working. We balanced a budget. You want to talk about balanced budgets? You took four major projects into bankruptcy over and over and over again. You can't take America into bankruptcy. That's what's wrong with the politicians in Washington right now. They think we can take a country into bankruptcy. +p1565 +aVJake, yeah, absolutely, I'll take this on, because this is an issue that's important in this race. Just because he says it doesn't make it true. The facts are the facts. We balanced a $3.6 billion budget deficit, we did it by cutting taxes \u2014 $4.7 billion to help working families, family farmers, small business owners and senior citizens. And it's about time people in America stand up and take note of this. If you want someone that can actually take on the special interest of Washington, which you yourself said you were part of, using the system, we need somebody that will stand up and fight for average Americans to put them back in charge of their government. I'm the one who is taking that on. I'll do that as your next president. +p1566 +aVTwo parts to that, one on China, one back for a second on Iran. When it comes to China, why would we be giving an official state visit to a country that's been involved in a massive cyber attack against the United States? That's not just a visit, that's a 21 gun salute on the South Lawn of the White House. It just doesn't make any sense. If we're ever going to send a message to them, wouldn't this be the time, when they've issued this, sort of, massive attack against us? And, Jake, for the question, I was one of the first ones to call for terminating the bad deal with Iran on day one. The President came after me and said I need to bone up. You know, the President who called +p1567 +aVJake, just one more moment. This is \u2014 there's something bigger to this. Now, I \u2014 like so many other governors here, I defunded Planned Parenthood four-and-a-half years ago, in a Blue State. But it's bigger than that. We did that in a Blue State, we took the money and put it into women's health, so we did exactly what we're talking about here. But I think the bigger issue here is we should be able to do this nationally, and this is precisely why so many Republicans are upset with Washington. They see the House and they see the Senate and they say why can't we pass this. Why can't we defund Planned \u2014 put it in a spending bill. Forget about the 60-vote rule, there's no reason \u2014 and the Constitution doesn't call for 60 votes. Pass it with 51 votes, put it on the desk of the president \u2014 +p1568 +aV\u2014 and go forward and actually make a point. This is why \u2014 +p1569 +aV\u2014 people are upset with Washington. +p1570 +aVSo, the best way to help people see their wages go up is to get them the education, the skill they need, to take on careers that pay more than minimum wage. And, it's why we talk about it, it's all about jobs. You want to help actually get jobs, it's why on that last question we were trying to jump in on taxes. To me, it's not just about taxes, cutting taxes. I've done it as much as anyone has. I've cut income taxes, I've cut property taxes. In fact, property taxes are lower today in my state than they were before we took office. The real issues about jobs. Ronald Reagan, our plan is based on the Ronald Reagan tax cuts of 1986. That brought about one of the longest sustained periods of economic growth in American history. All the things we should be talking about tonight are about how do we create jobs, helping people get the skills and the education qualifications they need to succeed. That's the way you help people create jobs. It's part of our large plan to reform the tax code, to cut taxes, to put in place an education system that gives people the skills and education that they need. To put in place all the above energy policy, but you start on day one with repealing Obamacare. I'm the only one on this stage that's actually got a plan, introduced an actual plan to repeal Obamacare on day one. I'll send a bill up to Congress, and to make sure enact it... +p1571 +aV...I'm going to sign an order that makes the Congress live by the same rules as everybody else. +p1572 +aV...That will ensure they repeal Obamacare... +p1573 +aV...Jake, Jake, Jake, I just want to address that issue because you said I didn't answer, and I did. I said, to me, I think the real focus shouldn't be \u2014 you know, Hillary Clinton talks about the minimum wage. That's her answer to grow the economy. The answer is to give people the skills and the education so they make far more than minimum wage. I don't want to argue about how low things are going to be, I want to talk about how do we lift everyone up in America. That's what Reagan talked about. It wasn't how bad things were, it was how to make it better for everyone. That's what we've done in Wisconsin, that's exactly what we'd do as... +p1574 +aV... the key issue here is talking about leadership. Now, there's a lot of greater people up here, and you've heard a lot of great ideas out there. But I would ask the American people, look at who's been tested. When there were 100,000 protesters in my capital, I didn't back down, when they issued death threats against me and threats against my family, I didn't back down, when they tried to recall me, I didn't back down, and when they made me the \u2014 one of their number-one targets last year, I didn't back down. Give me the chance to be your president. +p1575 +aVI won't back down... +p1576 +aV... on any of these issues. +p1577 +aVTo be clear, what I said the other day was that we need to lift the political restrictions that are already in play. Barack Obama's administration has put political restrictions on the military personnel already in Iraq. We need to lift those and then we need to listen to our military experts, not the political forces in the White House, but our military experts about how many more we sent in. And we certainly shouldn't have a commander-in-chief who sends a message to our adversaries as to how far we're going to go, and how far we're willing to fight, so I'm not putting a troop number. What I'm saying is lift the political restrictions. When you do that, you empower our military personnel already there to work with the Kurd and the Sunni allies, to reclaim the territory taken by +p1578 +aV... a lot of those people, though, and I'm going to echo what Senator Rubio just said. This is an issue where, we're talking about my state, it's thousands of manufacturing jobs. Thousands of manufacturing jobs for a rule the Obama administration, own EPA has said will have a marginal impact on climate change. So we're going to put thousands and thousands of jobs in my state, I think it's something like 30,000 in Ohio, other states across this country, we're going to put people \u2014 manufacturing jobs, the kind of jobs that are far greater than minimum wage, this administration is willing to put at risk for something its own EPA says is marginal (ph)... +p1579 +aVFirst of all, I got to say to Carson, Huckabee, thanks a lot for making the rest of us look like chumps up here, but, I'd pick Clara Barton. I once worked for the American Red Cross, she was a great founder of the Red Cross. +p1580 +aVHarley. I love riding Harley's. +p1581 +aVWell, I turned 13 years old two days before Ronald Reagan was first elected. A lot of people forget this, but just a few days before that election 1980, he was behind in the polls. And I think what changed things was people in America realized they didn't want to hear what was bad about America, they wanted to know how it was going to be better. Ronald Reagan wasn't just a conservative Republican, he was an eternal optimist in the American people. And I am too. So here's what I think will make America better. We need to live in a world where our children are free, are free from the threats of radical Islamic terrorism. We need to live in an America where we have an economy, where everyone can live their piece of the American dream, no matter what that dream is. And we need to live in an America where we have a federal government that is not too big to fail, but ultimately small enough to succeed, where we send powers back to the states and back to the people. That's what I did in Wisconsin. We took on the big government union bosses, the big government special interests, many of whom came in from Washington, to spend millions of dollars to try and take me out because we stood up to them, we didn't back down in any of those instances. If you give me the chance as your next president, I won't back down any day, anyway, anyhow. I'll fight and win for you and your families every single day I'm in office. +p1582 +aVWell, I'm pro-life, I've always been pro-life, and I've got a position that I think is consistent with many Americans out there in that... ...in that I believe that that is an unborn child that's in need of protection out there, and I've said many a time that that unborn child can be protected, and there are many other alternatives that can also protect the life of that mother. That's been consistently proven. Unlike Hillary Clinton, who has a radical position in terms of support for Planned Parenthood, I defunded Planned Parenthood more than four years ago, long before any of these videos came out... ...I've got a position that's in line with everyday America. +p1583 +aVChris, I actually said that on your show earlier this year. I acknowledged that. I said I actually listened to the American people. And I think people across America want a leader who's actually going to listen to them. I talked to border state governors and other elected officials. I look at how this president, particularly through last November, messed up the immigration system in this country. Most importantly, I listened to the people of America. I believe we need to secure the border. I've been to the border with Governor Abbott in Texas and others, seeing the problems that they have there. There is international criminal organizations penetrating our southern based borders, and we need to do something about it. Secure the border, enforce the law, no amnesty, and go forward with the legal immigration system that gives priority to American working families and wages. +p1584 +aVI don't know about additional ones. We need to focus on the ones we have. You look at Egypt, probably the best relationship we've had in Israel, at least in my lifetime, incredibly important. You look at the Saudis -- in fact, earlier this year, I met with Saudi leaders, and leaders from the United Arab Emirates, and I asked them what's the greatest challenge in the world today? Set aside the Iran deal. They said it's the disengagement of America. We are leading from behind under the Obama-Clinton doctrine -- America's a great country. We need to stand up and start leading again, and we need to have allies, not just in Israel, but throughout the Persian Gulf. +p1585 +aVJust one second on this, though. We -- we spent a lot of time talking about Hillary Clinton and ---and pitting us back and forth. Let's be clear, we should be talking about Hillary Clinton on that last subject, because everywhere in the world that Hillary Clinton touched is more messed up today than before she and the president . +p1586 +aVIt's true. +p1587 +aVWell, the voters in Wisconsin elected me last year for the third time because they wanted someone who aimed high, not aimed low. Before I came in, the unemployment rate was over eight percent. It's now down to 4.6 percent. We've more than made up for the jobs that were lost during the recession. And the rate in which people are working is almost five points higher than it is nationally. You know, people like Hillary Clinton think you grow the economy by growing Washington. One report last year showed that six of the top 10 wealthiest counties in America were in or around Washington, D.C.. I think most of us in America understand that people, not the government creates jobs. And one of the best things we can do is get the government out of the way, repeal Obamacare, put in -- reign in all the out of control regulations, put in place an all of the above energy policy, give people the education, the skills that the need to succeed, and lower the tax rate and reform the tax code. That's what I'll do as president, just like I did in Wisconsin. +p1588 +aVWell, first off, let's remember. I still remember, as a kid, tying a yellow ribbon around a tree in front of my house during the 444 days that Iran held 52 Americans hostage. Iran is not a place we should be doing business with. To me, you terminate the deal on day one, you reinstate the sanctions authorized by Congress, you go to Congress and put in place even more crippling sanctions in place, and then you convince our allies to do the same. This is not just bad with Iran, this is bad with +p1589 +aVWell, I think the most important thing we can do when it comes to policing -- it's something you've had a guest on who's a friend of mine Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clark, who's talked to me about this many times in the past -- it's about training. It's about making sure that law enforcement professionals, not only in the way in to their positions but all the way through their time, have the proper training, particularly when it comes to the use of force. And that we protect and stand up and support those men and women who are doing their jobs in law enforcement. And for the very few that don't, that there are consequences to show that we treat everyone the same here in America. +p1590 +aVWell first off, for the cyber attack with Russia the other day, it's sad to think right now, but probably the Russian and Chinese government know more about Hillary Clinton's e-mail server than do the members of the United States Congress. And -- and that has put our national security at risk. If I am president, he won't think about that. You know, Putin believes in the old Lenin adage: you probe with bayonets. When you find mush, you push. When you find steel, you stop. Under Obama and Clinton, we found a lot of mush over the last two years. We need to have a national security that puts steel in front of our enemies. I would send weapons to Ukraine. I would work with +p1591 +aVWell, thanks, Megyn. I'm certainly an imperfect man. And it's only by the blood of Jesus Christ that I've been redeemed from my sins. So I know that God doesn't call me to do a specific thing, God hasn't given me a list, a Ten Commandments, if you will, of things to act on the first day. What God calls us to do is follow his will. And ultimately that's what I'm going to try to do. And I hope people've seen it in my state, even in the big challenges I took on when I had over 100,000 protesters in and around our capital, trying to do what I thought was the right thing. It wasn't just how I took on those political battles. It was ultimately how I acted. Not responding in kind. Not lashing out. But just being decent going forward and living my life in a way that would be a testimony to him and our faith. +p1592 +aVThanks. I'm guy with a wife and two kids, and Harley. One article called me "aggressively normal." I ran for governor because I was worried about my kids' future. Then, I took on the big government union bosses, and we won. They tried to recall me, and we won. They target us again, and we won. We balanced the budget, cut taxes, and turned our state around with big, bold reforms. It wasn't too late for Wisconsin, and it's not too late for America. That's why I ask for your vote. +p1593 +asVMALE +p1594 +(lp1595 +VThat's a good one. +p1596 +asVHEWITT +p1597 +(lp1598 +VSenator Cruz, you've said you disagree with Mr. Trump's policy. I don't want a cage match; you've tweeted you don't want a cage match. But Republican primary voters deserve to know, with the kind of specificity and responsiveness you delivered in your nine Supreme Court arguments, how you disagree with Mr. Trump. Would you spell that out with us? +p1599 +aVSo you're saying you disagree because he's too broad and you have a narrower focus? Why do you disagree with him? +p1600 +aVCarly Fiorina... ... this is the Christmas dinner debate. This will be the debate that Americans talk about at Christmas. And thus far, in the first 10 minutes, we haven't heard a lot about Ronald Reagan's city on a hill. We've heard a lot about keeping Americans out or keeping Americans safe and everyone else out. Is this what you want the party to stand for? +p1601 +aVDr. Carson...... you mentioned in your opening remarks that you're a pediatric neurologist surgeon... +p1602 +aVNeurosurgeon. And people admire and respect and are inspired by your life story, your kindness, your evangelical core support. We're talking about ruthless things tonight \u2014 carpet bombing, toughness, war. And people wonder, could you do that? Could you order air strikes that would kill innocent children by not the scores, but the hundreds and the thousands? Could you wage war as a commander-in-chief? +p1603 +aVSo you are OK with the deaths of thousands of innocent children and civilian? It's like... +p1604 +aVThat is what war \u2014 can you be as ruthless as Churchill was in prosecuting the war against the Nazis? +p1605 +aVMr. Trump, we are talking about the most important thing, that's why it's heated. And it's, you are OK with Mr. Assad staying in power, but you are also in favor of winning. If he stays in power, Iran is winning, Hezbollah is winning. Iran is winning in Yemen. They are winning everywhere. If they are winning how can we be winning? +p1606 +aVGovernor Christie, is he right? Because if we step back, Iran goes nuclear. Is Donald Trump right? +p1607 +aVSenator Paul, let me ask you, you heard Governor Kasich say Assad must go. Do you agree? +p1608 +aVGovernor Bush, a commander-in-chief question. You've said that Mr. Trump is not qualified to be president because he's not qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin. Why are you better qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin than Mr. Trump? +p1609 +aVMr. Trump? +p1610 +aVBut, Mr. Trump, it's not CNN \u2014 I was on CNN last night... +p1611 +aV... watching... +p1612 +aVBut it wasn't \u2014 it wasn't CNN. It was me. I watched you last night for 16 minutes. It's not CNN. +p1613 +aVIt's not CNN. It's America's watching you. +p1614 +aVIt's America's watching. +p1615 +aVGovernor \u2014 thank you, Governor. +p1616 +aVDr. Carson, commander-in-chief question again. You've been the head of neurosurgery for a big hospital. You're on a lot of boards of a lot of companies. You've traveled the world. You're going traveling again next week. But does that prepare you to command troops from Djibouti to Japan, troops from Afghanistan to Iraq to be in charge of the men and women watching on Armed Services Network tonight? +p1617 +aVMr. Trump...... Dr. Carson just referenced the single most important job of the president, the command, the control and the care of our nuclear forces. And he mentioned the triad. The B-52s are older than I am. The missiles are old. The submarines are aging out. It's an executive order. It's a commander-in-chief decision. What's your priority among our nuclear triad? +p1618 +aVOf the three legs of the triad, though, do you have a priority? I want to go to Senator Rubio after that and ask him. +p1619 +aVSenator Rubio, do you have a response? +p1620 +aVMy listeners tell me again and again they are worried that Hillary Clinton will win the White House because you'll run as an independent. Are you ready to assure Republicans tonight that you will run as a Republican and abide by the decision of the Republicans? +p1621 +aVDr. Carson, last week... +p1622 +aVPlease. +p1623 +aVDr. Carson, Mr. Trump just committed to stay the distance regardless of the result. How about you? +p1624 +aVThank you, Jake. Mr. Trump, two years ago, President Obama drew a red line that the Syrian dictator Bashar Assad crossed, President Obama threatened to strike. He did not, his knees buckled. We now have 4 million refugees, Syria is a living hell, and he turned to the Congress for the authority to back him up. You have three senators to your right that said, no. Do they bear responsibility for this refugee crisis, and what would you have done when Bashar Assad crossed the line? +p1625 +aVHow much responsibility, Mr. Trump, do the senators hold? +p1626 +aVSenator Rubio... +p1627 +aVSenator Paul? +p1628 +aVI'd like to talk about winning because I think all of you are more qualified than former Secretary of State Clinton, and as were the people in the first debate, but there are different styles, and Carly Fiorina, Governor Kasich, you're conveniently located next to each other, and you have different styles. Governor Kasich, you've been on my show a lot. You refused to attack Hillary Clinton, you just don't want to go there, you want to do the up with people. Go, Ohio, OK, and I like that. Carly Fiorina, I don't have to bring up the Secretary of State \u2014 you bring her up, so . Which one of you is wrong? Governor Kasich? +p1629 +aVGovernor. +p1630 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1631 +aVCarly Fiorina, your style? +p1632 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Christie, your name was mentioned. I want to give you a chance to respond. +p1633 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1634 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. There is a lot more coming up. Ahead, a world of trouble. The challenges that one of these candidates may face in the Oval Office, and how he or she will handle it. Stay with us. +p1635 +aVOh, you're the best interview in America. +p1636 +aV... makes an interesting case (ph) here (ph). +p1637 +aVThank you, Jake. I've done a lot of great interviews with all of you, but, Governor Bush, I talked to you in February about the biggest elephant in a room full of elephants, which is your last name. And you said you would not be burdened either by your brother or your father's legacy in the Middle East. And then, a week later, you rolled out your list of foreign policy advisers, and it was a lot of the band getting back together again. So on behalf of the military that is watching... +p1638 +aV...OK, the active duty military that are at the end of the sphere (ph), what kind of a commander in chief is Jeb Bush going to be, and who are the advisers that are new to your team? +p1639 +aVMr. \u2014 Mr. Trump. +p1640 +aVI want to ask you a question, though, you promised us great leaders. And I believe that. But Jeb Bush has laid out 20 different people that have experience around the world. There are 190 countries, you can't run the world by yourself. When are we going to get some names on your military and your foreign policy advisers? +p1641 +aVThank you, Jake. Tomorrow is \u2014 Republicans know this \u2014 tomorrow is Constitution Day. We've been talking about the 10th Amendment. Let's talk about the Second Amendment. Governor Bush, one of the things the Supreme Court has gotten right is that it's an individual right and it's protected for individuals to hold it. Last week, you said the next step in gun issues is to make sure they're not in the hands of mentally ill. In this state, there's a controversial law that allows guns to be taken away from people without a hearing. Where does it go \u2014 and the problem of violence is endemic, but where does it go from what you said last week, how far into people's lives to take guns away from them? +p1642 +aVIf a family member calls and says, "My child, my brother, my sister is disturbed," ought the state be able to go and get their weapon without a hearing? +p1643 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1644 +aVSenator Cruz, I want to go to you. Your constitutional litigant (ph), are you afraid of the next- step theory of what happens to Second Amendment rights? +p1645 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1646 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1647 +aVThank you, senator. +p1648 +aVWait, let's pursue that in fact Governor Pataki? +p1649 +aVYou called for following and finding those Imams who are preaching violence in mosques. How exactly would you do that and what Mosques would you shut down? How extensive of a surveillance program are you proposing? +p1650 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1651 +aVGovernor Huckabee... ...As Governor Pataki noted earlier, we have a history of religious intoleration in this country. About the American Muslims who would be subject to this kind of surveillance, does it violate their First Amendment rights? +p1652 +aVSenator Santorum... ...I want to start then, not on the First Amendment, but on the Second Amendment. There is a terror watchlist. You can legally purchase a gun in the United States if you're on that watchlist. Your old colleague, Peter King in the House, wants to change that law. Do you agree with him? +p1653 +aVGovernor... +p1654 +aVGovernor, back to you. Your response? +p1655 +aVSenator Graham, are you trying to get in? +p1656 +aVThank you, Wolf. Governor Huckabee, ten minutes ago you blasted President Obama for destabilizing Iraq. You hit former Secretary of State Clinton for supporting the Muslim brotherhood in Egypt. But you have said recently you would sanction countries that don't join the fight aggressively against +p1657 +aVWhich country? +p1658 +aVWhich countries are those, governor, that you would sanction? +p1659 +aVThat's an easy, give. Are you going to sanction any of our allies who say, no this isn't our fight we're gonna let you do this. Are you going to leave our allies alone? For example, Indonesia and Malaysia \u2014 other Muslim countries \u2014 will you leave them alone? +p1660 +aVSenator Graham, I just named two Islamic countries... ...Senator Graham, I just named two Islamic countries that are allies that he suggested we sanction. Is that the appropriate approach to this war? +p1661 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you... +p1662 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you, the opposite of getting into bed is shooting down the prince's plane. Senator Santorum has \u2014 Senator Graham has said he would shoot down Russian planes bombing Syrian fighters on our side. Would you shoot down a Russian plane bombing American allied fighters in Syria? +p1663 +aVWhat \u2014 if they fly into it, would you shoot it down? +p1664 +aVThe consequences would be war with Russia. Would you risk... +p1665 +aVSenator Graham, do you agree? +p1666 +aVOK, we know you agree, Senator Graham. How about you, Governor Pataki, would you shoot down Russian planes? +p1667 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you... +p1668 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you, the opposite of getting into bed is shooting down the prince's plane. Senator Santorum has \u2014 Senator Graham has said he would shoot down Russian planes bombing Syrian fighters on our side. Would you shoot down a Russian plane bombing American allied fighters in Syria? +p1669 +aVWhat \u2014 if they fly into it, would you shoot it down? +p1670 +aVThe consequences would be war with Russia. Would you risk... +p1671 +aVSenator Graham, do you agree? +p1672 +aVOK, we know you agree, Senator Graham. How about you, Governor Pataki, would you shoot down Russian planes? +p1673 +aVSenator Graham, in 2013 you were part of the leadership that pushed through immigration reform, comprehensive immigration reform in the Senate of the United States. It died in the House. Many accused you of amnesty, and may have undermined your ability to get your message out on the war. Would you sign that bill again today? Would you \u2014 sponsor that bill again today? +p1674 +aVBut, Senator, I misunderstand, did you... +p1675 +aVSenator Santorum, is that sufficient for you? +p1676 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1677 +aVYep. Governor Huckabee, you have said that children of immigrants who came here illegally should not be punished by their parents actions. As president, would you continue President Obama's policy, vis-a-vis, the Dreamers? +p1678 +aVSenator... +p1679 +aVSenator Santorum, you... ...Your position on that policy, assuming that it was passed constitutionally, would you allow this, would you support such an act? +p1680 +asVJINDAL +p1681 +(lp1682 +V...Thank you. +p1683 +aVA couple of things. In Louisiana, we're actually a top 10 state for job growth. As we sit here today, we have more people working in Louisiana than ever before, earning a higher income than ever before. We've had 60 months in a row of consecutive job growth in our state. So the reality is, we have diversified our economy. Yes, I've got an interview plan that says all of the above, that creates good manufacturing jobs in America. We've also got one of the fastest growing IT sectors by percentage. We are growing Louisiana's economy. But let me get to the point that is, I think, the most important issue here tonight. You're going to have several hours of debate on the economy and we're going to have a great discussion about energy plans and tax rates. And that's all great. The most important thing we have to do, we have a fundamental choice to make, folks. Are we willing to cut the government economy so we can grow the American economy? That is the most fundamental question we've got to answer. We are on the path to socialism right now. These are mutually exclusive. The hour is late, but it is not too late for America. Though under President Obama, you asked about his economy. We've got record dependents, a record number of Americans on food stamps, record low participation rate in the work force. This is a fundamental choice. Sending a big government Republican to DC is not enough to fix this problem. It's not enough just to beat Hillary Clinton. We've got to change the direction of our country. What that means is let's shrink the government, not slow its growth rate, but actually shrink the government so we can grow the American economy. That is the fundamental issue we should be debating here tonight. +p1684 +aVNo, I think right now there's not much difference between the two parties. The reason we keep losing nationally is we try to be cheaper versions of the Democratic party. What if the Republicans, what if Republicans actually embraced our own principles? So I earlier said if you want bigger paychecks, you want more jobs, you want less government dependence, you're going to have to cut government spending. Here's the dirty little secret. You're going to hear a lot of Republicans tonight in this debate and the next one talk about cutting government spending. It's going to sound great. There's only one of us that's actually cut government spending. Not two, there's one, and you're looking at him. We've got four senators running. They've never cut anything in D.C. They give these long speeches called filibusters, they pat themselves on the back, nothing changes. When they go to relieve themselves their cause and the toilet get flushed at the same time, and the American people lose. We've got a bunch of governors running, we've got seven current former governors running. I'm the only one that has cut government spending. Everybody else can talk about it. If they haven't done it in their state capitals, what makes them thank that \u2014 what makes us think they'll do it if we send them to D.C. Look, when politicians talk, we need to look at what they have done, not what they have said. Otherwise, it's a bunch of hot air. We've cut our budget 26 percent. Record number of Louisianans working. If Republicans want to win national elections, let's be conservatives, let's be Republicans, let's not be a second version of the liberal party, let's cut government spending and grow the American economy. +p1685 +aVWait, wait, wait. I want to respond. He has criticized something I said. I want to respond to that. Mike, with all due respect, I admire your social views, I share many of those views, your record as Governor tells a different story. Was \u2014 your time as Governor spending in Arkansas went up 65 percent, number of state workers went up 20 percent, the taxes for the average citizen went up 47 percent. That's not a record of cutting. I'm saying we've actually cut. We reduced the size of our budget. So wanting to cut is one thing, actually cutting is a different thing. Facts don't lie. +p1686 +aVI was absolutely a skeptic of giving this president more power. He negotiated a bad deal with Iran. He breaks the law routinely. I don't know why Congress would want to concede more authority to him. Look, this trade deal is 6,000 pages long. Unlike ObamaCare, I think we should read it before we decide whether we would vote for it or not vote for it. I am for trade deals, but I want to make sure they are fair trade deals. I want to come back to something that Chris had said earlier. Look, I absolutely agree we've got to beat Hillary Clinton. But just sending any Republican is not good enough. We've had a Republican majority in the Senate and the House. What has changed? If we send another big government Republican to the White House, we will not do enough to fix what is wrong in this country. Chris, I think records matter. I think the way we govern matter. Under your leadership in New Jersey, your budget has gone up 15 percent. It's gone down 26 percent in Louisiana. It has gone up $5 million in New Jersey. It's gone down $9 billion in Louisiana. In New Jersey, you've had nine credit downgrades, setting a record. We've had eight credit upgrades in Louisiana. My point is this. If politicians say they're going to be conservative, they say they're going to cut spending but they don't do it, why should we send them to DC? It gets harder, not easier, when we send them to DC. Let's not be a second liberal party. Let's actually cut government spending. Let's grow the American economy. Let's not just beat Hillary, let's elect a conservative to the White House, not just any Republican. +p1687 +aVBut wait a minute, records matter. Records \u2014 records matter. Yes, we've got to... +p1688 +aV\u2014 beat Hillary Clinton. But Chris, it's also true that you expanded food stamps at a time that we've got record numbers of Americans on food stamps. It's also true you caved into ObamaCare. You expanded Medicaid. We've got a choice in front of us. This is an important debate. This is not about comparing Louisiana to New Jersey or Bobby to Chris. This is an important debate for the American people. This is supposed to be an economics debate. Let's have a debate. Do we want to grow government or do we want to grow the American economy? Do we want to grow dependence on government, or do we want to grow good paying jobs in the private sector... +p1689 +aV...you don't grow the economy by putting more people on food stamps, more people in Medicaid, you grow the economy by cutting government, cutting spending. That's what we've done in Louisiana, you haven't done that in New Jersey... +p1690 +aV...We need a conservative, not a big government republican in D.C. +p1691 +aV...This is how we.... +p1692 +aV...This is how we move our country forward, look, this is not about between me and Chris... +p1693 +aV...This is about......are we going to be the party... +p1694 +aVWell, look, only one other opponent, actually, one other candidate, actually, has a plan. That's Jeb Bush, and he creates a new entitlement program. My plan actually gets rid of all of Obamacare, it's great that Senator Cruz will shut down the government over Obamacare, but he still hasn't given us his plan to get rid of it. It's great that other republicans talk about getting rid of it. You go to a town hall in Iowa, or New Hampshire, ask them how they're actually going to get rid of it \u2014 my plan has been online for over a year. It gets rid of all of Obamacare, it reduces the cost. It actually puts Americans, their patients, their doctors back in control. And, it actually helps those that really need this help \u2014 but, this is one of the most critical issues we face domestically. I think I \u2014 look, right now, I think I am the only candidate running that refused to expand Medicaid. I'm the only one that turned down \u2014 that did what we could to fight Obamacare. This is an important point, and, look, I appreciate Chris's nice compliments to me. And, Chris, you look to me very well, I love Mary-pat, but this isn't about me and Chris. This is about the country, and this is about what direction \u2014 this is the most important election in our lifetimes. Folks, a couple of years ago they told us give them the republican majorities in the House and the Senate, they'd stop Obamacare, and amnesty, and the bad Iran deal \u2014 nothing changed. If they fooled us once, shame on them. If they fooled us twice, shame on us. Don't let them fool us again. Chris, look, I'll give you your ribbon for participation, and a juicebox, but in the real world, it's about results......but, in the real world it's about results. It's about actually cutting government spending, not just talking about cutting government spending. +p1695 +aVWe can waste our time. And I think this is why people were so frustrated with the last debate with these kinds of silly questions. We've only got a certain amount of time to talk about the economy. Let me use my time to say this. I want to fire everybody in D.C. in both parties. I think they all \u2014 we need term limits, get rid of them all, make them live under the same rules they passed on the rest of us. +p1696 +aVSo under our tax plan, look, the top rate is 25 percent, 10 percent, 2 percent. That 2 percent is the most important. I think everybody should pay something. I think everybody should have skin in the game. We shouldn't be creating one group of Americans that's dependent on government, another group that's paying taxes. I want to come back to an earlier point though, that Chris said. Look, we all agree Hillary Clinton is bad. We all agree we need to beat her. But let's not pretend that out-of-control government spending is only a Democratic issue. This is a bipartisan issue, and just sending another big government Republican to D.C. is not good enough. We need to actually cut government spending. We need to cut \u2014 and we're not going to do it just by sending any Republican. I'm glad he's vetoed taxes. The Tax Foundation graded New Jersey the 50th worst business climate due to taxes, high taxes in the state of New Jersey. +p1697 +aVWell, a couple of reasons. Look, we know big companies don't pay those taxes today. They hire lobbyists and accountants and lawyers. It's the small businesses that get hit. I want to get rid of the corporate tax, I want to bring the jobs and investment back to America. Make the CEOs pay the same rates as everybody else. Get rid of all the corporate welfare as well. Like I said, make everybody pay something, earned success is so much better than unearned success. And let's actually shrink the size of government. My plan purposely does that. Look, we can talk all night about tax plans, energy plans, I think you will find a lot of agreement among all the Republicans. We all want to get rid of the death tax, the marriage penalty. We all want lower, fewer brackets. We want to downsize, take away power from the IRS. What we really need to be talking about is this, these last seven years, we've had more government spending, more government dependence. Poverty has gone up. Inequality has gone up. Only the top 10 percent have seen their incomes go up \u2014 their median incomes go up. We actually have more inequality thanks to what we have seen, the largest most expensive experiment in progressive government. We can't keep spending money we don't have. And the reality is, the last couple of years it hasn't mattered whether Republicans or Democrats were in control. We keep stealing from our children. That is immoral. It is wrong. And we're creating more government dependence. If we really want to grow the economy, yes, you need a rational energy plan, and you've got to rein in the EPA, and you've got to repeal Obamacare, and you've got to cut taxes. But none of that will be enough if we're not serious about cutting government spending. We cannot afford to elect a big- government Republican. We need somebody. This is the most important election. Hillary Clinton is gift-wrapping this election to us. Let's not waste this opportunity to apply conservative principles and cut the size of government. +p1698 +aVWell, a couple things, first, I want to echo what others have said and thank those veterans that run towards danger, not away from it, so we can live in the greatest country in the history of the world. I think every veteran should get that card, and they should be allowed to get that health care wherever they want in the private sector. But, I also think \u2014 or the public sector, I also think we need to fire some of the V.A. bureaucrats. Somebody should go to jail over these scandals, and it is a crime that it has not happened. When it comes \u2014 when it comes to uniting the American people, one of the things we've done to honor our veterans in Louisiana, we've given thousands \u2014 and I've hand delivered these, to veterans \u2014 medals to veterans to thank them for their service. I'll just give you one quick example, I know my time is out, but, we've had Vietnam war veterans with tears in their eyes saying nobody has ever thanked them before. We've had World War II veterans, children, who said they never heard the stories of their parents heroic sacrifice. Whatever conflict, whenever they served, one of the things we can do is to teach our children we do live in the greatest country in the history of the world. We got a president who doesn't believe in American exceptionalism, but we still do, and it's because of those men and women in uniform. We should thank them everyday, not just veterans day. +p1699 +aVYou know, I have spent a lot of time tonight talking about the need to cut the size of government. The reason I'm doing that \u2014 it's not just about balancing the budget, or balancing a bunch of numbers. Because I believe in the American dream. I think President Obama's done a lot of damage to our country. I think that one of the worst things he has done is try to change the idea of America to be one of dependence. There are a lot of politicians that talk about cutting government spending, I'm the only one that's actually done it that's running for President. The rest of them, it's a lot of hot air. If you want your paychecks to go up, if you want more good paying jobs, if you want the government out of your lives, we've got to cut the size of government. It's not enough just to elect any republican, we've seen that. We've got to elect a republican that will take on the establishment in both parties. I'm asking for your support. Thank you. +p1700 +aVI think the reason voters are so frustrated is nothing seems to change in D.C. Look, over the next several hours, you're going to hear several Republicans all tell you they want to shrink the size of government and grow the American economy and it sounds great and we've got to do it. Here's the truth \u2014 of all these folks talking, I'm the only one that has cut the size of government. There's not two of us, there's one of us. The rest of it is all just hot air. When politicians talk, we need to pay attention to what they do, not what they say. I'm the only one that's reduced the size of government. Let's shrink the government economy. Let's grow the American economy. +p1701 +aVWell, look, I think that's a false choice. I think this is a very bad deal. Whenever they tell us in D.C. they're going to cut tomorrow, that means they're never going to cut. Tomorrow never seems to happen. Instead, why don't we actually follow our conservative principles? Why not insist on structural reforms? Why not cut spending? I don't mean strength (ph) the growth rate, I mean, actually spend less. Why not a balanced budget in the amendment \u2014 an amendment to the Constitution? Why not a super-majority vote before they grow our taxes, before they grow the government faster than the economy? Let's be honest, $18 trillion dollars of debt. Record low participation rate in the workforce, record number of Americans on food stamps. We are going the way of Europe. The left is trying to turn the American Dream into the European Nightmare. If you're a Republican... +p1702 +aV... willing to stand up and fight... +p1703 +aVI think that's a false choice. If I were \u2014 I were to lead, we would pass a conservative budget, challenge the President to do the right thing. And, here's the problem, the Republicans never want to fight. Give Pelosi and Reed credit, they forced Obamacare and socialism down our throats, why won't the Republicans fight half as hard for freedom and opportunity. This was a bad budget. +p1704 +aVAbsolutely, Jhon. And what we did is we cut state spending. We've cut our budget 26 percent, according to Cato and other analysis, the only candidate that's actually reduced government spending. Look, the left always complains there's not enough money for government. We have 30,000 fewer state employees than the day I took office, eight credit upgrades, we're a top 10 state for private sector job creation. We've got a choice. You grow the government economy or the American economy. When I became governor, we had 25 years in a row of outmigration. We were coming back from Katrina. The question many were asking, will Louisiana rebuild, should Louisiana rebuild? Seven years in a row, more people moving into the state than were leaving the state. We now have more people working than ever before, erg a higher income than ever before. Yes, we've reduced the size of government. That's exactly what we need to do in DC. In DC, the Republicans slowed the growth rate, they claimed victory. That's not enough. Let's be honest with where we are today. We are running off of a cliff. Look, we'll be the next Greece and we can talk and we can rearrange the chairs. Over over $18 trillion of debt, no wonder our economy has been stagnant. We haven't had real growth. If you're a young student here, you've not seen a robust American economy. +p1705 +aVWell, Jhon, a couple of things. Not only did we not raise taxes, we did the largest income tax cut in the state's history. And I'm proud of that record. I think that's the kind of leadership voters want in DC. Look, if you want a Republican that's going go grow government spending, if you want a \u2014 a president or if you want a candidate who's going to income taxes, I'm not your guy. If you want somebody that's going to do and say the things that can't be said, can't be done, I'm asking a vote for me to join my cause. That's how dangerous these times are. This is \u2014 this is a \u2014 this is \u2014 these are dangerous times for America. I think we have a chance to rescue the idea of America, but if we don't do it now, four years will be too late from now. So, yes, I'm proud we cut taxes, we cut spending, 30,000 fewer state government bureaucrats than the day I took office. I absolutely will do that in DC. +p1706 +aVThank you. +p1707 +aVAbsolutely, John. I'd go further. My tax plan, like everybody's, like a lot of Republicans' \u2014 look, I'd get rid of the death penalty and the marriage penalty, and I'd simplify the brackets to 25 percent, 10 percent, 2 percent, so that an average middle-class family \u2014 a teacher marries a law enforcement official (ph)... +p1708 +aV...I \u2014 I'm gonna get that. Pays 25 percent today, would pay 10 percent under my plan. But my plan does three things different from other people's plans. One \u2014 remember, I said 2 percent. I think everybody should pay something, even if it's only 2 percent. That's the most important 2 percent in my plan. I know a lot of Republicans brag \u2014 y'all can clap, it doesn't scare me. Go ahead. I heard some people. There are millions of \u2014 there are millions of folks that wouldn't pay taxes in Jeb's plan and Trump's plan. I think that's a mistake. In terms of the corporate tax, secondly, I'd get rid of the corporate tax. We do have the highest corporate tax rate in the developed world. I'd get rid of it. I'd get rid of all the corporate welfare. Make the CEOs pay their same tax rates the way the rest of us do. And third, I'd purposely shrink the size of government. You know, that is a \u2014 that is an intentional feature of my plan. We've got a choice: do we grow government \u2014 the government economy, or the American economy? So I say get rid of the corporate tax, bring those jobs and investment here to the United States, stop sending jobs and investment overseas. +p1709 +aVLook, I think the government should work to change that, but that doesn't \u2014 does not mean I'm for the government mandating that. We already have too many government mandates out of DC. Do I want people to have paid leave? Sure. Do I want people to earn higher wages? Sure. Do I want them to have better benefits? Sure. The government can't wave a magic wand and make that happen. Here's the problem. The last seven years, President Obama has tried to teach the American people that government is the answer to all of our problems. Where has that gotten us? We're on a path toward socialism. The way that folks can get better paying jobs with better benefits is if we have a growing economy. That means to repeal all of ObamaCare, a lower flatter tax code. That means that we have an energy plan that makes sense. That means that we embrace an all of the above approach to energy. Those are good paying jobs \u2014 $50,000, $70,000, $90,000 a year jobs with benefits. But this president won't let us produce more energy on our domestic federal lands and waters. He won't allow the Canadians to build the Keystone Pipeline. He's got an EPA that's doing everything they can to kill private sector jobs in America. So, yes, I want families to have better paying jobs and better benefits, but we're not going to get that with a government mandate, we're going to get that with a growing economy. +p1710 +aVA couple things. You're talking about payroll taxes that fund programs. People pay for their Medicare, they pay for their Social Security. I want every American to worry and care about how those folks in D.C. are spending our money. If $18 trillion of debt \u2014 they're misspending our money. Earned success is so much more fulfilling than unearned success. I don't want us to continue to create one class of Americans that pays income taxes, that pays for government, another class of Americans that's growing more and more dependent on government. That's what we have today. Socialism is bad, not only for taxpayers, but people that they say they're trying to help. There's dignity in work, dignity in self-sufficiency. I wanna quote you a president. Our previous president said this: he said, "the problem is, is that tax rates are too high, government income revenues are too low." He said, "paradoxically, lowering tax rates now is the best way to produce higher government revenues later." No, that wasn't President Reagan, as many are probably guessing at home. That was President Kennedy. I see you know the answer. That was President Kennedy. Imagine if he were alive today \u2014 and if he was at that last Democratic debate, imagine if you tried to say that in a party that's veering towards socialism. That wouldn't be welcome in today's Democratic party. +p1711 +aVWell, thank you. Look, if Senator Santorum wants to concede the tax cut wing of the Republican Party, I'm happy to fight for that side of the Republican Party. He's exactly right. I explicitly want to shrink the size of government; 22 percent over 10 years is not too much. We cut our state budget 26 percent in eight years. This is a fundamental choice. We mustn't become a cheaper version of the Democratic Party, a second liberal party. We need to proudly say we're willing to cut taxes, shrink government, grow the American economy. President Kennedy said it to the Democratic Party. Why can't we say it in the Republican Party in 2015, let's cut taxes. +p1712 +aVJohn, our budget is balanced. We balanced our budget every year for eight years. Yeah, we've had to cut spending. You know what? We privatized or closed nine of our 10 charity hospitals. We did statewide school choice; $1.6 billion (ph) budget cut. You're quoting an old number from the beginning of the year. We closed that gap. What they talk about, just like D.C., government's the only place where you give them less money than they wanted, they count it as a cut. They take last year's budget. They add inflation. They call it a baseline. We need to do zero-based budgets. We need to say just because you got money last year, you don't have it this year. Let me close, though. We balanced our budget. We didn't raise taxes. In eight years, we never raised taxes. We cut taxes. Our \u2014 our taxpayers, our families have been better off for it. +p1713 +aV absolutely they should be accountable. They should be accountable to their students through the market. Look, you either trust the American people to make their own choices or you don't. I know the Left thinks we need to be protected from ourselves. President Obama is trying to limit competition to the higher education market. As a result, you're going to see tuition prices continue to go up. We've had $1 trillion of student debt and counting. And he wants to exempt certain schools from the same oversight he wants to apply only to the for-profit market. For some reason, the private sector is a bad word to this president. It's not in the real world. In Louisiana, we fought so that the dollars follow the child and so the child following the dollar. What that means, from K-12, what that means is that parents and their families can decide what's the best way for their children to be educated. Higher education, we have a +p1714 +aVI was just saying to my colleagues, I may be the last person in this audience without an iPhone. I'm actually one of the last folks \u2014 I still have a BlackBerry in my pocket. And I basically use it for scheduling. I use it to keep up when my wife is here and my three kids at home. The only games on that phone are Bricklayer. I use it to keep up with the news through the Internet. I may be the last American out there without an iPhone. +p1715 +aVMy apologies. +p1716 +aVWell, absolutely, when the Saints go back to repeat, we were talking about beer sales earlier, all those folks from being hung over in Louisiana from drinking to celebrate Drew Brees winning this, I think it would be a great day to take off. No, look, on a serious note, I do want to say this about the Super Bowl and our athletes. They can be great role models for our children and I'm obviously a Saints fan. Drew Brees and his wife great role models, great Christians. So, yes, it should be a holiday. +p1717 +aVMy message is to conservatives, this is our hour. Thanks to the insanity, the incompetence of the Democratic party, the American people are ready to turn our government over to us. It's not enough to let just any Republican, however. The reality is the idea of America is slipping away. As Christians, we believe that the tomb is empty. As Americans, we believe that our best days are always ahead of us, and they can be again. We must win this election. We cannot allow Hillary Clinton to take us down this path towards socialism \u2014 further down this path. I've got the courage to apply our conservative principles. I can't do it alone. With your help, with God's grace, we can save the idea of America before it's too late. +p1718 +asVWALLACE +p1719 +(lp1720 +VAlso of note, Fox News is partnering for tonight's debate with Facebook. For the past several weeks, we've been asking you for questions for the candidates on Facebook. Nearly 6 million of you, 6 million, viewed the debate videos on our site, and more than 40,000 of you submitted questions: some of which you will hear us asking the candidates tonight. +p1721 +aVKentucky Senator Rand Paul. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. And your very own governor of Ohio... ... John Kasich. +p1722 +aVBrett -- Brett, I think you would call that a home field advantage. +p1723 +aVSenator Rubio, when Jeb Bush announced his candidacy for presidency, he said this: "There's no passing off responsibility when you're a governor, no blending into the legislative crowd." Could you please address Governor Bush across the stage here, and explain to him why you, someone who has never held executive office, are better prepared to be president than he is, a man who you say did a great job running your state of Florida for eight years. +p1724 +aVSenator Cruz, your colleague, Senator Paul, right there next to you, said a few months ago he agrees with you on a number of issues, but he says you do nothing to grow the party. He says you feed red meat to the base, but you don't reach out to minorities. You have a toxic relationship with GOP leaders in Congress. You even called the Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell a liar recently. How can you win in 2016 when you're such a divisive figure? +p1725 +aVGovernor Huckabee, like Governor Walker, you have staked out strong positions on social issues. You favor a constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage. You favor a constitutional amendment banning abortions, except for the life of the mother. Millions of people in this country agree with you, but according to the polls, and again this an electability question, according to the polls, more people don't, so how do you persuade enough Independents and Democrats to get elected in 2016? +p1726 +aVGentlemen, we're turning to a new subject that all of you have been talking about and some of you have been disagreeing about, and that is the issue of immigration. Governor Bush, you released a new plan this week on illegal immigration focusing on enforcement, which some suggest is your effort to show that you're not soft on that issue. I want to ask you about a statement that you made last year about illegal immigrants. And here's what you said. "They broke the law, but it's not a felony, it's an act of love. It's an act of commitment to your family." Do you stand by that statement and do you stand by your support for earned legal status? +p1727 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, it has not escaped anybody's notice that you say that the Mexican government, the Mexican government is sending criminals -- rapists, drug dealers, across the border. Governor Bush has called those remarks, quote, "extraordinarily ugly." I'd like you -- you're right next to him -- tell us -- talk to him directly and say how you respond to that and -- and you have repeatedly said that you have evidence that the Mexican government is doing this, but you have evidence you have refused or declined to share. Why not use this first Republican presidential debate to share your proof with the American people? +p1728 +aVMr. Trump, I'll give you 30 seconds -- I'll give you 30 seconds to answer my question, which was, what evidence do you have, specific evidence that the Mexican government is sending criminals across the border? Thirty seconds. +p1729 +aVAll right. Obviously there's a lot more to talk about this. We're going to have more questions for the candidates on illegal immigration, plus other key topics including your questions on Facebook. +p1730 +aVWelcome back to FOX News/Facebook Republican Debate Night. We're going to continue the questions now on illegal immigration. We kind of ended with a cliffhanger there. So let's continue the conversation. Governor Kasich, I know you don't like to talk about Donald Trump. But I do want to ask you about the merit of what he just said. When you say that the American government is stupid, that the Mexican government is sending criminals, that we're being bamboozled, is that an adequate response to the question of illegal immigration? +p1731 +aVRespectfully, can we talk about illegal immigration? +p1732 +aVAll right, well, Senator Rubio, let me see if I can do better with you. Is it as simple as our leaders are stupid, their leaders are smart, and all of these illegals coming over are criminals? +p1733 +aVGovernor Walker. Governor Walker, from 2002 until as recently as 2013, just two years ago, you supported comprehensive immigration reform, including a path to citizenship. Now you say that was a quick reaction to something you hadn't really thought about, and that you've changed your mind. Other than politics, could you explain why in the last two years you've changed your position on a path to citizenship, and are there other past positions that we shouldn't hold you to? +p1734 +aVSenator Cruz, some 1,400 people submitted questions on this very hot topic of illegal immigration on Facebook, and a number of them were about the murder of Kate Steinle in San Francisco, allegedly shot down by an illegal. Doug Bettencourt sent this question, "will you support Kate Steinle's Law," which would impose a mandatory five-year prison term for an illegal who is deported and then returns to this country? "And will you defund sanctuary cities for violating federal law?" +p1735 +aVGentlemen, we're obviously digging into some subjects in depth, but we're also going to change it up every once in a while throughout the next hour and have many rounds where we ask, you are not going to like it, only a couple of candidates questions on those subjects. This is the first of the many rounds, and it's about somebody whose name probably hasn't been mentioned enough so far tonight. Governor Kasich, let me start with you. Whoever the Republican nominee -- Whoever the Republican nominee is, it looks at least for now like whoever that nominee is, he or she, will be facing off against Hillary Clinton. You know how she will come after whoever the Republican nominee is. She will say that you, whoever it is, support the rich while she supports the middle class. That you want to suppress the rights of women and minorities. She wants to move the country forward while you, the Republicans, want to take the country back to the past. How will you, if you're the nominee, how will you answer that and take Hillary Clinton on? +p1736 +aVI know that all of you would like to answer this question, but we're only going to ask one other candidate before we move on to a different subject, Dr. Carson. Basically, same question to you. If Hillary Clinton is the nominee and she comes at you with that kind of line of attack, how will you take Iraq? +p1737 +aVGentlemen, we're going to turn now to the subject of the economy, jobs and money and the government. And Governor Bush, I'm going to start with you. You have made a bold promise in your announcement. You have promised four percent economic growth and 19 million new jobs if you are fortunate enough to serve two terms as president. That many jobs, 19 million, would be triple what your father and your brother accomplished together. And four percent growth, the last president to average that was Lyndon Johnson during the height of the Vietnam War. So question, how on Earth specifically would you pull that off? +p1738 +aVGovernor Walker. Governor Walker, when you ran for governor of Wisconsin back in 2010, you promised that you would create 250,000 jobs in your first term, first four years. In fact, Wisconsin added barely half that and ranked 35th in the country in job growth. Now you're running for president, and you're promising an economic plan in which everyone will earn a piece of the American dream. Given your record in Wisconsin, why should voters believe you? +p1739 +aVGovernor Christie, I want to engage you and Governor Huckabee in a subject that is a big issue in both of your campaigns, and that is entitlement reform. You say that you -- to save the system that you want to raise the retirement age -- have to raise the retirement age, and to cut benefits for Social Security and Medicare, and you say that some of the candidates here on the stage are lying. Governor Huckabee says he can save Social Security and Medicare without doing any of that. Is he lying? +p1740 +aVGovernor Huckabee? You say that changing entitlements, the kind of thing that Governor Christie is talking about, would be breaking a promise to the American people, and you say that you can keep those programs, save Social Security, save Medicare, without those kinds of reforms through a FairTax, which is a broad tax on consumption. Please explain to Governor Christie how that would work, and how you could save these programs without the kind of painful reforms he says we need? +p1741 +aV...Thirty seconds. +p1742 +aV...Alright, this is it. Thirty Seconds, finally. +p1743 +aVAll right. Enough. Mr. Trump. +p1744 +aVMr. Trump, you talk a lot about how you are the person on this stage to grow the economy, I want to ask you about your business records. From corporations, Trump corporations, casinos and hotels, have declared bankruptcy four times over the last quarter-century. +p1745 +aVNo, but the concept sir... +p1746 +aV... that's your line, but your companies have gone bankrupt. +p1747 +aVWell sir, let's just talk about the latest example......which is Trump Entertainment Resorts, which went bankrupt in 2009. In that case alone, lenders to your company lost over $1 billion and more than 1,100 people were laid off. +p1748 +aVIs that the way that you'd run the country? +p1749 +aVSo... +p1750 +aVSenator Rubio. Senator Rubio, more than 3,000 people sent us questions about the economy and jobs on Facebook. And here is a video question from Tania Cioloko from Philadelphia. Here she is. +p1751 +aVSenator, how do you answer Tania? +p1752 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. +p1753 +aVSenator Paul, closing statement. +p1754 +aVDr. Carson, closing statement. +p1755 +aVGovernor Bush, closing statement, sir. +p1756 +asVSMITH +p1757 +(lp1758 +VGovernor Huckabee, same question to you. Where do you see the country right now? +p1759 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Thank you, candidates. Moving to the world stage. The middle east is on the brink of chaos. Iran continues to provoke the United States, North Korea claims it's tested a hydrogen bomb, and Afghanistan is in danger of falling back into Taliban hands. Critics of the administration say it's all due to lack of U.S. leadership. To you, Mrs. Fiorina, how do you see America's role in the world today? +p1760 +aVGovernor Huckabee, in Afghanistan, the Taliban is strengthening. Attacks are on the rise and thousands more civilians have been wounded or killed. Much of the Taliban surge can be attributed to the withdrawal of U.S. forces there. You have expressed skepticism with the war there, saying you see no end game in sight. What, then, is your solution to the growing conflict there? +p1761 +aVAll right, thank you, candidates. We're just getting started. Jobs, Homeland Security, gun rights, all those issues are coming up straight ahead. We're live from North Charleston and the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back. +p1762 +aVAll right, let's get started. Senator Santorum, to you first. President Obama has urged technology leaders to make it hard for terrorists to use technology to escape from justice. Hillary Clinton says social media companies can help by swiftly shutting down terrorist accounts. The companies say that they're already working with law enforcement and any proposed legislation would do more harm than good. Should companies like Facebook and Twitter be required by law to more actively \u2014 be more actively engaged in fighting terror? +p1763 +aVSenator, would you \u2014 would you require anything of those companies like Facebook and Twitter if you were president? +p1764 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1765 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee, you called President Obama's executive orders on gun control unconstitutional and completely insane. +p1766 +aVYou even told gun store owners to ignore the President's orders. Yet, innocent people are dying from gun violence in cities like Detroit, Chicago, and Charleston everyday. Is there anything that can be done at the federal level to prevent guns from falling into the hands of criminals? +p1767 +aV +p1768 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p1769 +aVSenator Santorum, many of our military leaders believe America's critical infrastructure is vulnerable to a terrorist attack. This is the power in our homes, the water we drink, the Internet and phone systems by which we stay connected. If attacked, these essential services that underpin American society could come to a grinding halt. Do you have a specific plan to protect us from this type of attack? +p1770 +aVSenator Santorum, I want to stay with you on this, moving to jobs and the economy. In his State of the Union Address the other night, President Obama touted his record on jobs, citing more than 14 million new jobs and boasted of nearly 900,000 manufacturing jobs added in the past six years. Do you dispute his track record of creating jobs? +p1771 +aVGovernor Huckabee, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mike Mullen, has said the greatest threat to our security is our national debt. Our national debt is now on pace to top $19 trillion. Yet, you as well as Ms. Fiorina have laid forward no plan to reform entitlements. How can you say you're going to pay down our country's debt without cutting Social Security or Medicare? +p1772 +aVOK. We're going to continue this conversation. We're taking a quick break and then coming up, the candidates' plans for strengthening the middle class. We're live in North Charleston with the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back. +p1773 +aVAll right, thanks, Trish. Well, let's get started with Ms. Fiorina. Today, the middle class represents about 50 percent of the U.S. population, down from about 61 percent back in 1971. That's according to Pew Research. The same research revealed a widening income gap in America. The rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. What will you do to strengthen a middle class that is no longer the majority? +p1774 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p1775 +aVThank you, Senator. We're not finished yet. More Republican Presidential Debate in North Charleston after this. +p1776 +aVWelcome back, it's time for the closing statements. Candidates will each get one minute, starting with Senator Santorum. Thank you very much, I want to thank the people of Charleston, which has become a little bit of a second home to me, because I am very privileged to have two young men who go to the Citadel here and they're here tonight, my son John and my son Daniel. +p1777 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Governor Mike Huckabee. +p1778 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1779 +aVAlright, this debate will last one hour. Each candidate will have up to 90 seconds to respond to each question. One minute for each follow up. When your time is up, you're going to hear this bell. Alright, that's it, so let's begin with Governor Christie. Governor, economically, our country is struggling with some of the anemic growth we have seen on record. More than 90 million Americans are unemployed, or they are not in the workforce altogether. The number of people now willing, able, and wanting to go to work is at a level that has fallen to a level we have not been since the 1970's. For those that are working, wages aren't budging while other things, costs, like housing, remain high. As President, what concrete steps will you take to get America back to work. +p1780 +aVThank you. Governor Huckabee, we're here Wisconsin, a state that has seen the biggest decline in middle-class households of any American state. With more than 120,000 manufacturing jobs being lost in the last 15 years. As we move away from a manufacturing economy to a services based, technological economy, how are you going to help the millions of Americans that are stuck in this transition? +p1781 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee, you have characterized entitlement reform as both political and economic suicide. Taxpayers currently spend more than $600 billion per year on social welfare programs, with the intended goal of getting people back on their feet and working again. Today a record number of Americans aren't even looking for work. Are our social welfare programs, while well-intended, creating a culture of dependency? If so, how will you fix it? +p1782 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1783 +aVDo you have something to add, Governor? +p1784 +aVAll right. Let's, let's bring Governor Christie in next. +p1785 +aVAll right. Well, let's get the \u2014 let's keep the conversation going. Let's bring Governor Christie in here because we're talking about national debt, climbing toward $19 trillion, Governor. Our federal government employed nearly three million workers, our tax code is more than 74,000 pages long. If you're elected President, Governor Christie, what concrete steps would you take to reduce the size of the federal government? +p1786 +aVGovernor Christie, China is stealing our technology. China is pirating our intellectual property, and China's hacking into our computers, spying on American corporations, and spying on our citizens. China also slaps tariffs on U.S. goods, making it harder for us to sell our products. How are you going to stop them? +p1787 +aV...Alright... +p1788 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p1789 +aVAll right. Governor Jindal, thank you. All right. Well, we are not finished yet. More from the Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee, next. +p1790 +aVSo would you change leadership at the Fed? +p1791 +aVSenator Santorum, thank you. I have a question for all of you. Americans connection to the military has been increasingly fading. As a society, how do we restore that sense of duty, that sense of pride, that was the hallmark of the greatest generation. Again, I'd like to ask each of you, 30 seconds each, beginning with Governor Jindal. +p1792 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p1793 +aVGovernor Christie. +p1794 +aVSenator Santorum. +p1795 +aVAlright, thank you gentlemen. That does it, everyone, for the first debate here in Milwaukee. In just about one hour from now, at 9:00PM Eastern, eight more candidates are going to be taking to the stage. Right now though, special coverage of the Republican Presidential Debate, live from Milwaukee, continues right here on Fox Business. +p1796 +asVBAKER +p1797 +(lp1798 +VThe candidates on stage tonight were selected based on their standing in an average of four national polls. Those standings determining their position on the stage. And here they are. At center stage, businessman Donald Trump. Neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson. +p1799 +aVTonight's rules are simple. Up to 90 second for each answer. One minute for each follow-up response. And if a candidate goes over their allotted time, you'll here this. +p1800 +aVMs. Fiorina, while you've all pointed out how weak the current recovery has been and how disappointing by any historical standards, in the general election, the Democrats will inevitably ask you and voters to compare the recent president's jobs performance. Now, in seven years under President Obama, the U.S. has added an average of 107,000 jobs a month. Under President Clinton, the economy added about 240,000 jobs a month. Under George W. Bush, it was only 13,000 a month. If you win the nomination, you'll probably be facing a Democrat named Clinton. How are you going to respond to the claim that Democratic presidents are better at creating jobs than Republicans? +p1801 +aVThank you. Thank you. Senator Paul, income inequality has been rising in the United States. Fifty years ago, for example, the average CEO of a big corporation in this country earned 20 times the average salary of one of his or her workers. Today, that CEO earns about 300 times the average salary of a worker. Does it matter at all that the gap between the rich and everyone else is widening? +p1802 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1803 +aVSenator Rubio... +p1804 +aVYes, one quick comment, yes. +p1805 +aVGovernor Bush... +p1806 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor, you...You should let Jeb speak. +p1807 +aVMr. Trump, Mr. Trump, you yourself \u2014 you yourself said let Governor Bush speak. Governor Bush? +p1808 +aVSenator Rubio? Senator... +p1809 +aVSenator Rubio, Senator Rubio, let me \u2014 let me take you to a question that I think gets to the root of a lot of the anxiety that people have in this country. The economy is undergoing a transformation through information technology. Americans are anxious that the new economy isn't producing higher-paying jobs. Many are concerned that the new wealth seems to be going mainly to innovators and investors. Meanwhile, with factories run by robots and shopping done increasingly on smartphones, many traditional jobs are just going away. How do you reassure American workers that their jobs are not being steadily replaced by machines? +p1810 +aVThank you. Senator Cruz \u2014 Senator Cruz, entitlements. You've argued for raising the retirement age and reducing benefits for future retirees, but reducing any sort of benefits for the elderly has always been notoriously hard to do politically. When Speaker Paul Ryan proposed replacing traditional Medicare with federally funded private plans a few years ago, a liberal group responded with a commercial that featured a granny being pushed off a cliff. What's going to be different this time? +p1811 +aV...I said for future retirees was your statement... +p1812 +aVSenator Rubio. Can I just come to Senator Rubio? We're coming to you, Mr. Trump, in one second. I \u2014 I promise. +p1813 +aVSenator Rubio, your tax plan includes a large expansion of child tax credits to raise off (ph) the tax incomes for low-income parents. A similar tax credit that you previously proposed in the Senate was estimated to cost as much as $170 billion a year, according to the Tax Foundation. Isn't \u2014 isn't there a risk you're just adding another expensive entitle program to an already overburdened federal budget? +p1814 +aVGovernor Kasich? Let me come to Governor Kasich. +p1815 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1816 +aVVery quickly, Senator. +p1817 +aVPlease. +p1818 +aV...Gentleman, we need to move on... +p1819 +aV...We need to move... +p1820 +aV...We need too... +p1821 +aV...We do need to move on. Mr. Trump... +p1822 +aV...Very quick. +p1823 +aVLet's talk about \u2014 No, no, Governor, I really must move on. I really want to move on. Mr. Trump, let's talk about the international economy... +p1824 +aV...We really need to move on... +p1825 +aV...No, governor, I promise I will come to you... +p1826 +aV...Listen... +p1827 +aV...Mr. Trump, can I ask you about... +p1828 +aV...the U.S. just concluded an international trade agreement with 11 countries in the Pacific. You've said that you'd rather have no deal... +p1829 +aV...than sign the one that's on the table... +p1830 +aV...Most economists \u2014 most economists say that trade is boosted growth, and every single post war president has supported the expansion of international trade, including the last three republican presidents. Why would you reverse more than 50 years of U.S. trade policy? +p1831 +aVThe \u2014 the deal, as you say, the terms of the deal were published \u2014 were published just last week, the details, 5,000 pages of it, and 80 percent of U.S. trade with countries in the Pacific, these countries, these 11 countries, is actually tariff-free, and these \u2014 the trade deal only affects the other 20 percent. Which \u2014 are there particular parts of the deal that you think were badly negotiated? +p1832 +aVThere was a separate \u2014 separate... +p1833 +aVBut isn't that \u2014 isn't that part of the problem? When I say, Senator, that if \u2014 if this deal is not ratified by \u2014 by the U.S. \u2014 by the Senate, then it would actually give China an opportunity to grow its economic leadership, which it's been seeking to do? And if the U.S. is unable to take part in this trade deal with these countries in Asia, China will take the lead? +p1834 +aVThank you. Thanks, Senator. +p1835 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich, I want to ask you about China, in particular hundreds of American companies have been subjected to cyber attacks from the Chinese military, yet state-backed Chinese companies, growing their presence in the United States, Chinese investments in U.S., which were nearly nonexistent a few years ago, are now over $50 billion. And as my newspaper recently reported, Chinese companies are planning to bid for one of the largest hotel chains in the United States, what would be the largest ever Chinese takeover of a U.S. company. Would you stop them? +p1836 +aVThank you, Governor. Plenty of opportunities. Thank you. Neil? +p1837 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate, live from Milwaukee. Now let's get straight back to the questions, and Governor Bush. Governor, Hillary Clinton recently said that if we had another financial crisis like the one in 2008, she wouldn't bail out the banks. Would you? +p1838 +aVBut, Governor, but can I just quickly \u2014 did \u2014 you can't seriously guarantee that there won't be another financial crisis, can you? +p1839 +aVEver? There will never be another financial crisis? +p1840 +aVDr. Carson, if I may, just on that point, despite measures taken, as the governor says, since the crisis to make the financial system safer, the major banks in the U.S., many of them are actually bigger than ever. Asset held by JPMorgan Chase, for example, the very largest bank, have increased by nearly 40 percent to over $2.6 trillion. Do you think JPMorgan and the other big banks should be broken up? +p1841 +aVBut just to be clear, just \u2014 just to be clear, then, you wouldn't \u2014 you wouldn't favor breaking up the big banks? You think they're big enough \u2014 they're OK as they are, as big as they are? +p1842 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1843 +aVThank you. +p1844 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate. And now, candidates, it's time for your closing statements. You get 30 seconds each, and, Senator Paul, we will begin with you. +p1845 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p1846 +asVHUCKABEE +p1847 +(lp1848 +VWell, John, I don't really have any weaknesses that I can think of. But my wife is down here in the front, and I'm sure, if you'd like to talk to her later, she can give you more than you'll ever be able to take care of. If I have a weakness, it's that I try to live by the rules. I try to live by the rules, no matter what they are, and I was brought up that way as a kid. Play by the rules. And I'll tell you what a weakness is of this country: there are a lot of people who are sick and tired because Washington does not play by the same rules that the American people have to play by. +p1849 +aVWell, I would really appreciate that. First of all, yes, we've stolen. Yes, we've lied to the American people about Social Security, and Medicare. But, you know what we're not telling them? It's their money. This isn't the governments money. This is not entitlement, it's not welfare. This is money that people have confiscated out of their paychecks. Everytime they got a paycheck, the government reached in and took something out of it before they ever saw it. Now, we're going to blame the people. Today congress decided to take another $150 billion dollars away from Social Security so they can borrow more money. That makes no sense to everybody. And, they're always going to say, "Well, we're going to fix this one day." No their not. It's like a 400 pound man saying, "I'm going to go on a diet, but I'm eating a sack of Krispy Kremes before I do." And, people are sick of believing that the government is never going to really address this. But, let me tell you who not to blame. Let's quit blaming the people on Social Security. Let's quit making it a problem for them. It's like them getting mugged, and then us saying, well, we're going to mug you some more. You ought to just be able to get over it, get used to it... +p1850 +aV...No, sir... +p1851 +aV...we need to honor our promises... +p1852 +aV...before I go. This is the only time I've had a chance, let me finish. +p1853 +aV...This is a matter not of math, this is a matter of morality. If this country that does not keep its promise to seniors then what promise can this country hope to be trusted to keep? And, the fact is, none of them. [ +p1854 +aVAnd, the only way \u2014 no... +p1855 +aV...Chris... +p1856 +aV...Chris... +p1857 +aVSince he brought me up, do I not get to respond? +p1858 +aVJohn, listen, let's keep in mind that for one-third of the 60 million Americans on Social Security it represents 90 percent of their income. And, when I hear people talking about means testing, let's just remember what that means. If we means test Social Security, it means that the government decides whether or not I deserve it. If a person lives in a seven room house, does the government get to say you don't need seven rooms, we're going to take two of them away? Folks, the government has no business stealing even more from the people who have paid this in. I just want to remind you, people paid their money. They expect to have it. And, if this government doesn't pay it, than tell me what's different between the government and Bernie Madolf, who sits in prison today for doing less than what the government has done to the people on social security and Medicare in this country. +p1859 +aVI don't think it's so much about when the government orders a corporation to do something. In fact, that's part of the problem. If you saw that blimp that got cut loose from Maryland today, it's a perfect example of government. I mean, what we had was something the government made \u2014 basically a bag of gas \u2014 that cut loose, destroyed everything in its path, left thousands of people powerless, but they couldn't get rid of it because we had too much money invested in it, so we had to keep it. That is our government today. We saw it in the blimp. That's exactly what we saw. So look, corporations ought to exercise some responsibility. When CEO income has risen 90 percent above the average worker, when the bottom 90 percent of this country's economy has had stagnant wages for the past 40 years, somebody is taking it in the teeth. And it's not the folks on Wall Street. I'm not anti-Wall Street, but I don't believe the government ought to wear a team jersey, pick winners and losers. +p1860 +aVThe government ought to wear a striped shirt and just make sure the game... +p1861 +aV...is paid \u2014 played fairly. +p1862 +aVNow, everybody else has fudged their time and gone over, so please, don't cut me off too quick, Becky. +p1863 +aVLet me just close it out this way. +p1864 +aVWe need to be focusing on what fixes this country. And I'll tell you one thing that we never talk about \u2014 we haven't talked about it tonight. Why aren't we talking about \u2014 instead of cutting benefits for old people, cutting benefits for sick people \u2014 why don't we say, "let's cure the four big cost-driving diseases... +p1865 +aV..."diabetes, heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer's?" +p1866 +aVIf you do that, you don't just change the economy, you transform the lives of millions of hurting Americans. +p1867 +aVGosh, I'd love for us to talk about something like that. Thank you. +p1868 +aVYou know, of the few questions I've got, the last one I need is to give him some more time. I love Donald Trump. He is a good man. I'm wearing a Trump tie tonight. Get over that one, OK? [ +p1869 +aVI don't know. [ +p1870 +aVI have no idea. +p1871 +aVYou're welcome. Let me tell you, Donald Trump would be a president every day of the week and twice on Sunday, rather than Hillary. I've spent a lifetime in politics fighting the Clinton machine. You want to talk about what we're going to be up against next year? I'm the only guy on this stage \u2014 you know, everybody has an "only guy" \u2014 "I'm the only guy this; I'm the only guy that." Well, let me tell you one thing that I am the only guy: The only guy that has consistently fought the Clinton machine every election I was ever in over the past 26 years. And not only did I fight them, but I beat them. Somebody says "I'm a fighter." Well, I want to know, did you win? Well, I did. And not only did I fight them and win, I lived to tell about it and I'm standing on this stage tonight as evidence of that. And I think that ought to be worth something. +p1872 +aVWell, and specifically to Medicare, Becky, because 85 percent of the cost of Medicare is chronic disease. The fact is if we don't address what's costing so much, we can't throw enough money at this. And it's why I've continued to focus on the fact that we need to declare war on the four big cost drivers because 80 percent of all medical costs in this country are chronic disease. We don't have a health care crisis in America, we have a health crisis. And until we deal with the health of Americans and do what we did with polio \u2014 when I was a little kid, we eradicated it. You know how much money we spent on polio last year in America? We didn't spend any. We've saved billions of dollars. You want to fix Medicare? Focus on the diseases that are costing us the trillions of dollars. Alzheimers, diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Eradicate those and you fix Medicare and you've fixed America, its economy and you've made people's lives a heck of a lot better. +p1873 +aVYou know, I know to a lot of people in the media, this is just a great big game, and we're the players. And, we come out here, and we do our thing. And, sometimes we're held up in contempt by people who write columns, but, I guarantee you to every person on this stage there's something deep inside of us that would cause us to give up our livelihoods and step out on this stage and fight for the people of America. I've got five grandkids. I do not want to walk my five grandkids through the charred remains of a once great country called America, and say, "Here you go, $20 trillion dollars of debt. Good luck making something out of this mess." And, for those of us who are serious enough to run for president, think long and hard why we're here, and hopefully you'll know we're not here for ourselves. We honest to god are here to get this country back on track. I know this, I certainly am. +p1874 +aV...Thank you. +p1875 +aVI'm Mike Huckabee. I'm delighted to be on this stage with some remarkable fellow Republicans. None of us are a self-professed socialist. None of us on this state are under investigation by the FBI because we destroyed government records, or because we leaked secrets. I know that there are some in the Wall-Street-to-Washington axis of power who speak of all of us contemptuously. But I'm here to say that I think we are, in fact, the A team. We have some remarkable people, and, in fact, not only are we the A team; we even have our own Mr. T, who doesn't mind saying about others, "you're a fool." And I'm delighted to be here with all of these guys, and would put any of them in an administration that I led. Thank you very much. +p1876 +aVI would certainly love to get in on this, because I think the single... +p1877 +aVI've been patiently waiting, and I'm going to just say this about Iran. +p1878 +aVBecause I think it is incredibly important. This is really about the survival of Western civilization. This is not just a little conflict with a Middle Eastern country that we've just now given over $100 billion to, the equivalent in U.S. terms is $5 trillion. This threatens Israel immediately, this threatens the entire Middle East, but it threatens the United States of America. And we can't treat a nuclear Iranian government as if it is just some government that would like to have power. This is a government for 36 years has killed Americans, they kidnapped Americans, they have maimed Americans. They have sponsored terrorist groups, Hamas and Hezbollah, and they threaten the very essence of Western civilization. To give them this agreement, that the president treats like the Magna Carta, but Iranians treat it like it's toilet paper, and we must, simply, make it very clear that the next president, one of us on this stage, will absolutely not honor that agreement, and will destroy it and will be tough with Iran, because otherwise, we put every person in this world in a very dangerous place. +p1879 +aVNo, I don't think he's on the wrong side of such an issue. Jeb is a friend. I'm not up here to fight with Jeb or to fight with anybody else. But I am here to fight for somebody who is a county clerk elected under the Kentucky constitution that 75 percent of the people of that state had voted for that said that marriage was between a man and a woman. The Supreme Court in a very, very divided decision decided out of thin air that they were just going to redefine marriage. It's a decision that the other justices in dissent said they didn't have and there wasn't a constitutional shred of capacity for them to do it. I thought that everybody here passed ninth-grade civics. The courts cannot legislate. That's what Roberts said. But heck, it's what we learned in civics. The courts can't make a law. They can interpret one. They can review one. They can't implement it. They can't force it. But here's what happened: Because the courts just decided that something was going to be and people relinquished it and the other two branches of government sat by silently \u2014 I thought we had three branches of government, they were all equal to each other, we have separation of powers, and we have checks and balances. If the court can just make a decision and we just all surrender to it, we have what Jefferson said was judicial tyranny. The reason that this is a real issue that we need to think about... +p1880 +aVNo, no. Let me finish this one thought, Jake. I haven't gotten that much time, so I'm going to take just what little I can here. We made accommodation to the Fort Hood shooter to let him grow a beard. We made accommodations to the detainees at Gitmo \u2014 I've been to Gitmo, and I've seen the accommodations that we made to the Muslim detainees who killed Americans. You're telling me that you cannot make an accommodation for an elected Democrat county clerk from Rowan County, Kentucky? What else is it other than the criminalization of her faith and the exaltation of the faith of everyone else who might be a Fort Hood shooter or a detainee at Gitmo? +p1881 +aVI have a different idea. I think we ought to get rid of all the taxes on people who produce. Why should we penalize productivity? And it's why I'm an unabashed supporter of the "fair tax," which would be a tax on our consumption, rather than a tax on our productivity. In other words, you're not going to tax anybody for what they earn, whether it's worker whose working by the hour or whether it's a hedge fund manager. If they can produce something and bring capital and labor to create jobs, we need some jobs. And I think the "fair tax" makes more sense. Now, Jake, I've been listening to everybody on the stage and there is a lot of back and forth about I'm the only one who has done this, the only one who has done that, I've done great things. We've all done great things or we wouldn't be on this stage. But it occurs to me as we're sitting here in the Reagan Library that most of us would like to pay tribute to a guy who, when he got elected, didn't get elected telling everybody how great he was. He got elected telling everybody how great the American people were. And he empowered them to live their dreams, which is what I'd love to see us do by no longer penalizing the people who are out there working because they are taking a gut punch right now. +p1882 +aV...You don't want me operating on you, I assure you. +p1883 +aVJust today \u2014 just today, there was a new report that 50 different intelligence analysts have said that what they sent up the ladder was doctored by senior officials, so that they could give some happy talk to the situation that we face. I love the idea of a good intellectual capacity to deal with our enemies, but the fact is, if you don't have good intelligence that is reliable and honest, you won't have good intelligence and you cannot make good decisions. The next president is primarily elected not just to know things, but to know what to do with the things that he knows. And the most dangerous person in any room is the person who doesn't know what he doesn't know. +p1884 +aVAnd the reason Barack Obama has been dangerous to this country and we better elect someone who had some executive experience, is because we cannot afford another eight years having a person in the office who doesn't know what he does not know. +p1885 +aVYou better believe I will, because I'm tired of liberals always having a litmus test and conservatives are supposed to pretend we don't. Well let me tell you what mine would be. Number one, I'd ask do you think that the unborn child is a human being or is it just a blob of tissue? I'd want to know the answer to that. I'd want to know do you believe in the First Amendment, do you believe that religious liberty is the fundamental liberty around which all the other freedoms of this country are based? And I'd want to know do you really believe in the Second Amendment, do you believe that we have an individual right to bear arms to protect ourselves and our family and to protect our country? And do you believe in the Fifth and the 14th Amendment? Do you believe that a person, before they're deprived of life and liberty, should in fact have due process and equal protection under the law? Because if you do, you're going to do more than defund Planned Parenthood. +p1886 +aVOne final thing. I'd make darn sure that we absolutely believe the 10th Amendment. Every governor on this stage would share this much with you. Every one of us \u2014 our biggest fight wasn't always with the legislature or even with the Democrats. My gosh, half the time, it was with the federal government who apparently never understood \u2014 +p1887 +aV\u2014 that if it's not reserved in the Constitution, then the 10th Amendment says it's left to the states. But somebody forgot to send a memo to Washington. +p1888 +aVJake? Jake? +p1889 +aVI think we need to remember that there are maybe some controversies about autism, but there is no controversy about the things that are really driving the medical costs in this country. And I would really believe that the next president ought to declare a war on cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer's, because those are the four things that are causing the greatest level of cost. John Kennedy said, "we'll go to the moon in a decade and bring a man back," and we did it. I grew up in the '50s. I remember the polio vaccine. We saved billions of dollars since that time, because we haven't had to treat for polio. Why doesn't this country focus on cures rather than treatment? Why don't we put a definitive focus scientifically on finding the cure for cancer, for heart disease, for diabetes and for Alzheimer's, a disease alone that will cost us \u2014 +p1890 +aV$1.1 trillion by the year 2050. We change the economy and the country. +p1891 +aVThat's an easy one. I'd put my wife on there. I've been married to her 41 years. She's fought cancer and lived through it. She's raised three kids, five great grandkids, and she's put up with me. I mean, who else could possibly be on that money other than my wife. And that way, she could spend her own money with her face. +p1892 +aVI'd go with Duck Hunter. +p1893 +aVAt the end of my presidency I would like to believe that the world would be a safe place, and there wouldn't be the threats. not only to the U.S., but to Israel and our allies, because we would have the most incredible well-trained, well-equipped, well- prepared military in the history of mankind. And they would know that the commander-in-chief would never send them to a mission without all the resources necessary, but people wouldn't bully us anymore. Because they would know that that would be an invitation to their destruction. Domestically, we would be operating under a tax system that eliminated the IRS. People wouldn't be punished for their work, and for what they produced. And life would be really deemed precious. Abortion would be no more. It would be as much of a scourge in our past as slavery is. And we would have a peaceful country, where people respected each other and people respected law enforcement. And we would focus on cures. And we would make this country not only safe from our enemies without, but safe from the enemies within. And it would be a good place to raise our kids and our grandkids. +p1894 +aVChris, I disagree with the idea that the real issue is a constitutional amendment. That's a long and difficult process. I've actually taken the position that's bolder than that. A lot of people are talking about defunding planned parenthood, as if that's a huge game changer. I think it's time to do something even more bold. I think the next president ought to invoke the Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the constitution now that we clearly know that that baby inside the mother's womb is a person at the moment of conception. The reason we know that it is is because of the DNA schedule that we now have clear scientific evidence on. And, this notion that we just continue to ignore the personhood of the individual is a violation of that unborn child's Fifth and 14th Amendment rights for due process and equal protection under the law. It's time that we recognize the Supreme Court is not the Supreme Being, and we change the policy to be pro-life and protect children instead of rip up their body parts and sell them like they're parts to a Buick. +p1895 +aVNot me. But you're welcome to give me a check, Donald if you'd like. +p1896 +aVIt's not too big to shrink. But the problem is we have a Wall Street-to-Washington axis of power that has controlled the political climate. The donor class feeds the political class who does the dance that the donor class wants. And the result is federal government keeps getting bigger. Every person on this stage who has been a governor will tell that you the biggest fight they had was not the other party. Wasn't even the legislature. It was the federal government, who continually put mandates on the states that we had to suck up and pay for. And the fact is there are a lot of things happening at the federal level that are absolutely beyond the jurisdiction of the Constitution. This is power that should be shifted back to the states, whether it's the EPA, there is no role at the federal level for the Department of Education. And I'm still one who says that we can get rid of the Internal Revenue Service if we would pass the FairTax, which is a tax on consumption rather than a tax on people's income, and move power back where the founders believed it should have been all along. +p1897 +aVWell, let's all be reminded, 60 million Americans are on Social Security, 60 million. A third of those people depend on 90% of their income from Social Security. Nobody in this country is on Social Security because they made the decision when they were starting work at 14 that they wanted to trust some of their money with the government. The government took it out of their check whether they wanted them to or not. And, if person goes to 65, they're going to spend 51 years with the government reaching into their pocket at every paycheck. Now, here's the point, whose fault is it that the system is screwed up? Is it the recipients, or is it the government? And, if Congress wants to mess with the retirement program, why don't we let them start by changing their retirement program, and not have one, instead of talking about getting rid of Social Security and Medicare that was robbed $700 billion dollars to pay for Obamacare. It's always that the government figures that they can do this off the backs of people, many of whom are poor, and depend on that money, and I just think it's fundamentally lying to the people and stealing from them, and we shouldn't be doing it. +p1898 +aVWell, you ask about how we fund it. One of the reasons that Social Security is in so much trouble is that the only funding stream comes from people who get a wage. The people who get wages is declining dramatically. Most of the income in this country is made by people at the top who get dividends and -- and capital gains. The FairTax transforms the process by which we fund Social Security and Medicare because the money paid in consumption is paid by everybody, including illegals, prostitutes, pimps, drug dealers, all the people that are freeloading off the system now. That's why it ought to be a transformed system. +p1899 +aVRonald Reagan said "trust, but verify." President Obama is "trust, but vilify." He trusts our enemies and vilifies everyone who disagrees with him. And the reason we disagree with him has nothing to do with party. +p1900 +aVIt has to do with the incredibly dangerous place that this world is gonna be as a result of a deal in which we got nothing. We didn't even get four hostages out. We got nothing, and Iran gets everything they want. We said we would have anywhere, anytime negotiations and inspections, we gave that up. We said that we would make sure that they didn't have any nuclear capacity, we gave that up. The president can't tell us what we got. I'll tell you what the world got. The world has a burgeoning nuclear power that didn't, as the Soviets, say "we might defend ourselves in a war." What the Iranians have said is, "we will wipe Israel off the face of the map, and we will bring death to America." When someone points a gun at your head and loads it, by God, you ought to take them seriously, and we need to take that seriously. +p1901 +aVThe military is not a social experiment. The purpose of the military is kill people and break things. It's not to transform the culture by trying out some ideas that some people think would make us a different country and more diverse. The purpose is to protect America. I'm not sure how paying for transgender surgery for soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines makes our country safer. We've reduced the military by 25 percent... ... under President Obama. The disaster is that we've forgotten why we have a military. The purpose of it is to make sure that we protect every American, wherever that American is, and if an American is calling out for help, whether it's in Benghazi or at the border, then we ought to be able to answer it. We've not done that because we've decimated our military. We're flying B-52s. The most recent one that was put in service was November of 1962. A lot of the B-52s we're flying, we've only got 44 that are in service combat ready, and the fact is, most of them are older than me. And that's pretty scary. +p1902 +aVIt seems like this election has been a whole lot about a person who's very high in the polls, that doesn't have a clue about how to govern. A person who has been filled with scandals, and who could not lead, and, of course, I'm talking about Hillary Clinton. I think America... +p1903 +aV...is in trouble, but it's not beyond repair. But it's going to take leadership who sees the greatness of this country, and who believes that once again we can be one nation, under God. I'll be my best to do that, and thank you for your support. +p1904 +aVI don't think it's that the message isn't working, I think it's the message isn't getting out because the message that I have this time, Bill, it's exactly what I said eight years ago. I talked about people who are standing on their feet on factory floors, people who lift heavy things, who sweat through their clothes, they're getting gut punched. They are not having a fair shake in this economy. I talked about that eight years ago, and I'm talking about it now. I talked about the importance of preserving life, of not just saying we're going to defund Planned Parenthood, but let's do something bolder. Let's get rid of abortion once and for all by applying the Fifth, and Fourteenth amendment to every person from conception because that means that we recognize that no person can be deprived of life or liberty unless they have due process. And, that's not happening in our country. And, I believe, and continue to practice that we need the Fair Tax to revive our economy. To make it so that people are able to be rewarded for their work rather than punished for it. +p1905 +aVYou know, I -- I would leave that to other people. I'm not going to get into an argument with all the New Yorkers, because there's a lot of them. This much I will tell you. I wish that some of those New Yorkers had funded as much of my campaign as they did the corporately funded candidates, but they didn't. And to be honest with you, when I say I'm -- wish they had, I'm glad they didn't. I'm not a New York-funded campaign. I'm not bankrolled by the corporatists, I'm not bankrolled by Goldman Sachs and Citibank and AIG and all the big brokers -- brokerage houses and the billionaires. I'm sponsored by people like Thomas, a part-time Uber driver in Pennsylvania who sent me $25 this week. He's between jobs. He's driving an Uber car. But he believed in what I'm talking about enough that, even on a limited, part-time income, he sent me $25 to help in my campaign. I'll stand with the Thomases of the world any day. I'll leave all the discussion of the big financiers to other candidates. But there's only a few of us in the entire Republican process who are not corporately funded by the same group. And let me just finish by saying, you want to know why things never change depending on whether Democrats or Republicans are in power, and why Republicans in Iowa and the rest of the country are so frustrated? The reason is, is because if you follow the money, the same folks who finance the Democrats finance the Republicans, and no matter what the speeches and the ads, they get the same results. If you want a different result, I'm available. +p1906 +aVWell, I don't trust him. I've never said I trusted him. But if somebody is willing to take a shot at the people we are taking shots at, I'm more than willing to let them use their own bullets to do it. But let's be very clear about how we take out +p1907 +aVNo, I don't think that it's impossible, but we're not going to do it by doing the same things we've been doing for all these many years. And, we've lost five million manufacturing jobs just since the year 2000. The other day I was in Newton, Iowa. It used to be a vibrant place where Maytag washers and dryers were built. Went out of business in 2007, all those shops went to Mexico. All those people lost their jobs. There was a guy in my forum that day, he lost his job. He still has never found an employment that got anywhere near the job that he had. Let me ask you, how many people do you think living around the Beltway know a guy like that? Care about a guy like that? Not many. And, that's because they're six of the ten richest counties in America that surround Washington D.C. People who live in the bubbles of the high finance world of New York, the government world of Washington, the entertainment world of Hollywood, don't have a clue about how hard people out here in Iowa are working every single day. And, I believe one of the values of campaigning in Iowa, you can't win unless you go out and talk to farmers and housewives -- and welders, and unemployed truck drivers, and I hate... ... That a president could become president who never met people who have to struggle to make a living and put food on the table. +p1908 +aVA lot of Americans are angry. And I think it's important to understand why they are mad. They are mad because they see a government that continues to do fine. They see people at the top. They are doing fine. But that person you asked Rick about a moment ago, that lady that's making 10,000 bucks a year, do you know what our poverty programs do to people? They keep them in poverty. They keep them in poverty because we have these arbitrary thresholds... ... that mean that if you go to work, you lose all the benefits for your kids, Medicaid, WIC, Section 8 housing, food stamps, and then your kids go hungry. I know a little about poverty. My sister is here tonight. Now both of us could tell you we did not grow up rich. My mother grew up in a house, oldest of seven kids. She had lived in a house that didn't have floors. Just dirt. No electricity. No running water. I resent it when people say, oh, people are poor because they want to be. No, they are not. Nobody wants to be poor. And that's a stupid, foolish thing, mean thing to say. People are poor because they don't know how to get out of the hole. And government shouldn't push them back in the hole which is what our policies do when they punish people who want to go to work and don't let them out. We can fix that, but it takes some leadership to get it done. +p1909 +aVWell, I didn't have a tax and spend approach. You got to understand where the Club for Growth comes from, a bunch of rich guys sitting around writing checks to go after people they don't like. And, they don't like me sometimes because I was fighting for the guys at the bottom, not just the guys at the top. I cut 94 taxes in a state that had never had a general major tax decrease in its history. I also was able to see per capita income growth in my state go up by 50%. I think that's a pretty darn good record. Look at the overall record and it was fine. But, it's not about stats from when I was governor. Look, one of the reasons I support the Fairtax is because it's the one thing, Bill, that would truly empower people at the bottom of the economy by no longer punishing them for their work. If a guy works an hourly job, and he works eight hours, gets paid for it, terrific. But, if he works 16 hours, he doesn't get a double paycheck because he's going to be bumped up into a new tax bracket, and the government will get more of his second shift than he will. So, we've actually punished him for being industrious, hardworking, and that is a foolish economic policy... ... that's hurting Americans about as much as anything. +p1910 +aVI honestly don't understand how anybody with IQ above plant life would honestly think... ... that we would be better off if we let the government have all of the private property and that the government would dole out what they thought we should have. I'm not "feeling the Bern," Bill. I'm not feeling it. And when Bernie Sanders promises these kids free college, I'm telling them, because I get asked, what about free college? I said, look, if we give you free college when you are 20, pal, you are going to be paying for it when you are 30, when you are 40, and when you are 50. There is no such thing as the government giving you anything. They will definitely make a mess of it. And I just think there are a lot of people who have never understood the basic understanding of economics, that you do not make people rich by tearing down those who are you providing jobs, and you don't help poor people by taking away. You give them jobs. Let them work. Let them earn. And then you let them keep the money that they earned. That's how we build a great economy. +p1911 +aVWell, this week there was a little dust up about a video we put together with the music of Adele, so I thought it'd be appropriate for me to begin tonight by saying, "Hello, Iowa. It's me." +p1912 +aVAnd, you know me. You gave me the largest number of votes in the history of the Iowa caucus eight years ago, and I think you did it because you trusted me, you believed that I had your best interest at heart. When I was governor I had a little plaque in my office in the Governor's office, and it simply said this. Come, let us reason together. I believe the next President needs to put that plaque in the oval office, and needs to lead this country by saying, "Come, let us reason together." God bless you, and thank you for your support. +p1913 +aVI wish I saw the country in the same place that the president presented it to be the other night in the State of the Union. He talked about how great the economy was doing. And I guess for the people he hangs out with, it's probably doing great. But the president should've stood in the line at the layaway counter at Walmart just before Christmas. He would have heard a very different story about the economy of America. I wish I could introduce him the lady who cleans the building where our campaign headquarters is located in Little Rock. Her name is Kathleen. She works all day at a local hospital cleaning, and then she goes to the building where a bank, and our headquarters, and other offices are she spends another seven hours. She works 15 hours a day. I guarantee you she's not working 15 hours a day because she loves scrubbing toilets, and sweeping floors. She's working that many hours because that's what it takes for her to make it work. And, she's not alone. There are people all over this country who are working like that. Many of them working two jobs \u2014 and they used to have one job, and that would take care of them. But, because of wage stagnation, which we've had for 40 years, because the fact that they're punished for working harder if they work that many hours. The government gets more of their second shift than they do. And, as a result there are a lot of people who are hurting today. I wish the President knew more of them. He might make a change in the economy and the way he's managing it. +p1914 +aVLet me put that in context. When I went to Afghanistan, I saw a land that looked like the land of the Flintstones. It was desolate. It was barren. It was primitive. And it's been that way for thousands of years. They want to take the world back to be just like that. We don't. We need to make a clear goal as to why we want to be anywhere in the Middle East, and I'll tell you why we want to be and need to be, is to destroy radical Islam and everything that threatens civilization. It's not just a threat......to Israel or to America, it's a threat to every civilized person on this Earth. And we need to be equipping not only the Kurds in Iraq, we need to be making sure that those who are willing to fight radical Muslims will do it, but we need to never ever spend a drop of American blood unless there is a clearly defined goal and we can't make sure we win unless we have a military that's the strongest in the history of mankind. We've got to rebuild our navy. It's the smallest navy we've had since 1915, when my grandfather got on a destroyer in World War I when he was in the U.S. Navy. We've got young men in Air Force B-52s, one in particular, he's flying a B-52 that his father flew in the '80s and his grandfather flew in the '50s. Those planes are older than me. We've got to have a military that the world is afraid of, use it sparingly, but when we do, the whole world will know that America is on their tail and they will be on their tail on the ground, never ever to rise up again. +p1915 +aVOnly if there is a concerted effort to destroy the advance of radical Islamists who are against us. As far as what are we going to make it look like. Frankly, I don't know what we can make it look like. You can't create for other people a desire for freedom and democracy. And frankly, that is not the role of the United States. The role of the United States military is not to build schools, it is not to build bridges, it is not to go around and pass out food packets. It is to kill and destroy our enemy and make America safe and that is the purpose we should be there if we're going to be there. +p1916 +aV Yes, I did. +p1917 +aVWell, why don't we start by making sure the Justice Department never does an idiotic program like Fast and Furious where the U.S. Government put guns......in the hands of Mexican drug lords......and end up killing one of our border agents. You know, they want to talk about law abiding citizens, I just find it amazing the President keeps saying the gun show loophole. There is no gun show loophole. I promise you I've been to more gun shows than President Obama. +p1918 +aVAnd, I've bought more weapons at them, and you fill out forms. The President also says things that it's easier to get a gun now than it is to grow trees. Again, I purchase guns, and I can assure you that it is much more difficult to purchase a firearm than it is to get the ingredients of a salad at the supermarket. What the President keeps pushing are ideas that have never worked. Ideas that would not have stopped San Bernadino, Sandy Hook, Aurora, and at some point you wonder if you keep retrying things that don't work, maybe we should just see if we could resell all those used lottery tickets that didn't work real well because that's the logic of just keep doing the same thing, but something that has failed. Of course, we want to stop gun violence, but the one common thing that has happened in most mass shootings is that they happened in gun- free zones where people who would have been law abiding citizens, who could have stood up and at least tried to stop it and we're not allowed to under the law. +p1919 +aVWell, we shouldn't be and that's one of the reasons that I think there a lot of voices in our country who are saying it's time to relook at the visa program. The European Union is a failure, it's not allowed for even the economic goals that they were trying to achieve. But, what we're not seeing is that it's making Europe less safe, and it's proven not to be exactly what they all thought it was going to be. Our first and foremost responsibility in this country, and the first responsibility of the President of the United States is protect America, and protect Americans. We have a President who seems to be more interested in protecting the reputation and image of Islam than he is protecting us. And, I want to be very clear......that this President. Makes comments like he did the other night, that we have to be so careful because we don't want to offend Muslims. He needs to read his own FBI crime stats from last year which would show him that of the hate crimes in the country, over 5,500, about 1,100 were religious hate crimes. And, of those, 58% were directed toward Jews. Only 16% directed toward Muslims. Maybe what the President should have talked about the other night is how we ought to be more careful in the anti-semitic comments that are going toward American Jews than toward Muslims because by three times as many......they're being targeted for religious hate crime. +p1920 +aVIt does not shut down international commerce, but it may slow it down. And, you don't want to slowdown commerce that is making us safer. It's worth it. This lady who came and joined with the San Bernardino killer had passed three background checks, and that's why a lot of Americans didn't buy it when the President said we'll bring in Syrian refugees, but don't worry we'll check them out. We have a lot of confidence in a president who told us that we could keep our doctor, we could keep our health insurance, and cost us less, and now the latest is if you like your gun you can keep it too, and frankly, we don't buy it. We don't believe it. He's lost his credibility, and his inept... ...inability to work with Congress and pass legislation has led him to do what I never even imagined doing as a governor, and that's just going and doing it my own way. That's why we elect a president, is to lead, is to be able to shepherd things through. And if I can do it with a 90 percent Democrat legislature in Arkansas, there is no excuse for any president not being able to lead in Washington if he knows what the heck he is doing when he gets there. +p1921 +aVWell, first of all, let's just remember that Social Security is not the government's money, it belongs to the people who had it taken out of their checks involuntarily their entire working lives. For the government to say, well it is fault of working people that we have a Social Security problem, no. It is the fault of a government that used those people's money for something other than protecting those people's accounts. So let's not blame them and punish them. But here is a fact, and I sometimes hear Republicans say well, we're going to have to cut this and extend the age. You know what I think a lot of times when I hear people say, well, let's make people work to their 70. That sounds great for white-collar people who sat at a desk most of their lives. You ever talk to somebody that stood on concrete floor for the first 40 years of their working life? Do you think they can stand another five years or 10 years, many of them will retired virtually crippled because they worked hard. And we're going to punish them some more? I don't think so. Here's the fact. Four percent economic growth, we fully fund Social Security and Medicare. Our problem is not that Social Security is just too generous to seniors. It isn't. Our problem is that our politicians have not created the kind of policies that would bring economic growth. And I still support strongly that we get rid of the 77,000 pages of the monstrous tax code......pass the fair tax, supercharge this economy with the rocket fuel that happens with the consumption tax and we don't have to cut Social Security to any senior who has worked their lifetime for it. +p1922 +aVLet me go back to the reason so many people are having a hard time getting ahead. The tax system punishes them. Think about this. If you work really hard and you start moving up the economic ladder, you get bumped into a different tax bracket. So the government thinks it deserves more of your hard work than you do. And it's one of the reasons that no matter how many different reforms you have to a tax on people's productivity, you're still taxing their work, their savings. You're taxing their capital gains, inheritance, dividends, you're taxing everything that produces something. And it's way I really believe it's time to do something bold, not something minute. This is no time for a tap of the hammer, a twist of the screwdriver. It's time for something big. That's why the fair tax transforms our economy. And we don't punish workers. It's the only way we're going to get middle class people moving ahead again, because the harder they work, the more they keep. No payroll tax deducted from their checks. They get their entire paycheck. And, one of the most important parts, it's built on the common sense with which we raised our kids, and trained dogs. You reward behavior you want more of. And, you punish behavior you want less of. That's how I raise kids, it's how I trained our dogs, and folks, it's not that difficult. We now punish the behavior we say we want more of by taxing it, and we reward the behavior that we say we want less of, so if you make a good investment, we punish you with a tax. If you make a bad investment you can write that off and the rest of the taxpayers will help subsidize you, and bail you out. +p1923 +aVWell, Rick, I'm pretty sure I did also fight the Clinton machine because every election I was ever in in Arkansas, I assure you, they were behind it, helping finance and campaign for every opponent. And I share with you the understanding that it's going to be a tough battle. But I spent the first half of my adult life in the private and nonprofit sector, raising a family, understanding how tough it is for people to make it. And that first half of my life is what led me to believe that America needs a different kind of leadership, not people who spent their whole life running from one office to the next, and living off the government dime. And I got involved because I got sick of what I saw. I also believe that there's got to be some leadership that not only addresses the monetary and military issues of this country, but the moral issues of this country. At the end of every political speech, most of us say, God bless America. But how can he do that when we continue to slaughter 4,000 babies a day? And I want to be the president that treats every person, including the unborn, as a person. And protect them under the 5th and 14th amendments of the constitution. I close with this word from a gentleman in East Texas named Butel Lucre. He's 100 years old and I met him down in East Texas. And he said this to me. "I sure wish, Mike, we had the days when The Ten Commandments were in all of our capitals and in every school, and we prayed again. You know, he may be 100 years old, but I believe some of those old ideas to get this country back where we unapologetically get on our knees before we get on our feet might be the best solutions we've ever sought as a country. And I ask for your support and your vote. Thank you. +p1924 +aVWolf, I want to say thanks to you and CNN for giving us the opportunity especially to focus on national security issues at a time when Americans are not only angry \u2014 angry at their government that they feel like has failed them, been indifferent to them, cost them their livelihoods \u2014 but they're in addition to angry, they're just plain scared. They're scared when they thing that they go to a Christmas party and get shot at by somebody who sat and had lunch with them an hour earlier. They're scared when they realize that our government, who promises that it can vet people and is begging us to approve bringing 10,000 Syrian refugees into this country, can't even catch somebody after a third background check, who had posted things on social media clearly indicating she wanted to kill Americans. And we couldn't catch that. We've lost confidence in our government. And when Americans lose confidence in their government, we're in a dangerous place. We're in danger because we have an enemy that is out to kill us, and we have a government that we don't trust any more. This election is about going back to having a government we can trust with leaders who have the courage and conviction to actually lead and not follow. +p1925 +aVWell, let me begin by saying I'm not that afraid of Donald Trump. And, in the sense that I'd rather him be President than I had Hillary be president any day. And so if he becomes president, I think he will do a whole lot more to protect us than Hillary will. And a whole lot more than Barack Obama has done in his eight years. So I want to make it very clear that when I was making that comment, I was simply speaking that I'm not sure that you can have a religious test per se. And it's very impractical because if somebody comes to our borders and says I'd like to come in. They say are you a Muslim? Well, they're \u2014 if they're going to come in here to kill us, they're not gonna say yeah, and I'm coming to kill you. They're going to lie about it. Anybody that will kill you, for God's sake, will lie to you. So that's why I say it's impractical. But what he has done, and I don't think a lot of people understand, he has touched a nerve because people are angry and afraid that we are facing an enemy that this administration refuses to acknowledge, refuses to want to go fight. And our only answer is to go after +p1926 +aVNo. I'm not taking it away, I just want to make sure that everything we use is going to be effective. We're spending billions of dollars, let's make sure it's effective. Let's use every tool, but let's also check out the Facebook posts, let's look at Twitter accounts. My gosh, we were told we couldn't do it because it might invade somebody's privacy. This lady who came over here and shot up San Bernardino was posting things on Facebook, yet, we were restricted from looking. Every college kid who goes to a frat party gets drunk and puts his picture on Facebook is going to have a potential employer looking at that photo before he gets hired. Why should we have more attention? I mean, for heaven's sake, towards some college kid who wants to one day ten years from to get a job, then we're going after who wants to come in with a semi automatic weapon or a pipe bomb and blow up a bunch of Americans. This is what I think a lot of Americans are frustrated with, it's the duplicity of our policy that is illogical and irrational. Our goal ought to be, "protect Americans and put Americans first not last," which is what I think this administration has done. +p1927 +aVNo, it does not violate their First Amendment rights to have someone go and listen to the sermons. You can go to any church in America, it's a public place, you can listen, and \u2014 you know, if you go to my church, you'll probably get a real blessing. Heck, it'll be a wonderful experience. You go to some people's church, you may go to sleep, I don't know what happens in every church, but, the point is that these are public places, and folks are invited to come. So, if it's a public place, and people are invited to come, how does it violate anybody's First Amendment rights that somebody shows up because they might want to just listen in and see is there something that is a little nefarious? And, if there is, then you take the second step of getting a search warrant, you do whatever you have to do. That's all protected under the constitution. So, Huge, I hear people act like there's something that is terrible about going and sitting in and listening to the sermons of a mosque. If Islam is as wonderful, and peaceful as its adherents say, shouldn't they be begging us to all come in and listen to these peaceful sermons? Shouldn't they be begging us all to come, and listen, and bring the FBI so we'd all want to convert to Islam? +p1928 +aVI don't disagree. I don't disagree with anything that the Senator just said because that's exactly right. But, I just want to go back to the point that when people say we can't go into the mosque, we can't listen. That's utter nonsense. Of course we can. And, if we can't, if there's something so secretive going on in there that somebody isn't allowed to go and hear it, maybe we do need for sure to send somebody in there and gather the intelligence. And, that's all to the world I'm saying, I think it stands to be true. +p1929 +aVThe way we defeat them ideologically is that we remind people that what their intent is is to kill us, and that it is our intent to use every means possible to get to them before they get to us. We are pretending that this is a war that is not that significant. We have a president who called it the JV team, said we had contained it. Nine hours after he said we contained it, there was a massacre in Paris. We've got to make it so untenable for somebody to join +p1930 +aVWolf, it may be sufficient, but rather than put a number \u2014 and I'm comfortable that we say 10,000, 20,000 \u2014 look, I think we make a mistake when we start telling the enemy what our limitations are. I think we make a huge mistake when we say we're gonna do up to this. I think what we say is, we're gonna do whatever it takes. If it's 10,000, if it's 100,000, if it's 3,000 sorties a day, if it's 5,000 sorties a day. We never tell our enemy what our limitations are, what we are willing and what we're unwilling to do. And that's one of the mistakes I believe that we're making militarily. But the biggest mistake we've made militarily is letting Barack Obama cut our defense forces by 25 percent and leaving us at the least prepared position we've been in since before World War II. We have to get our Military rebuilt from the ground up. And all over America I hear young people say, would you tell me what you're going to do? Would you give me free college? Will you make sure that I can have medical marijuana? You know what we ought to tell young people? We aren't going to give you anything. We're give you the opportunity to get off your butt and go serve your country and secure your freedom. Because if you don't, nobody else is. +p1931 +aVI'd sure want them to think we would. And I'd want to make sure that we did everything we could. But we can't do it with our current Military strength. We've got to build up and have the most robust, well trained, well equipped, well prepared and ample Military force in the history of the world because we're not fighting just a known enemy in one place. We're fighting people all over the world who can go anywhere. And the reason I say that is because if we tried to win this war on the cheap or we try to do it with the, "light footprint," we're making a huge mistake. When all of us were in grade school, one thing we all knew, the bully never picked on the kid except for the weak one. When all of us were in grade school, one thing we all knew, the bully never picked on the kid, except for the weak one. He never picked on the kid he knew, he'd whip him. We need to make to sure that we have the kind of military that +p1932 +aVWell, I want to be real clear, I don't trust Putin, I don't trust Assad. I'm not saying that I would endorse him for his reelection bid. The man is a tyrant, he's killed lots of people, but he wasn't killing Americans. And, the thing that I'm concerned about is that we have seen a complete destabilization, not only of Syria, but we've seen it in Yemen, that the President pronouncing great shape just before it collapsed. +p1933 +aVWell what we have done, and we created an impossible atmosphere. This administration has put more pressure on Israel to stop building bedrooms in Judea and Samaria than they've put on Iranians to stop building a nuclear bomb. And I'm just simply pointing out the obvious, that we need to recognize who our friends are, who our enemies are... +p1934 +aV... but I'm convinced... +p1935 +aVWell, first of all, it would be the Iranians. I would have never entered into this deal. I don't know why on God's earth that the senators gave it so that it was easier for Obama to have the agreement than it would be to make it a treaty. +p1936 +aVI would make sure that there was economic pressure put on them. Why not? Why should we fund every single battle against radical Islam? Why should we stand back and watch Israel get targeted, the United States get targeted and we watch with people with their hands in their pocket, and their hands in our pocket because we're getting them a lot of money. And let's say your hands can be in your pocket, you can stand still, but your hands aren't going to be in our pockets anymore. We're not going to give you another dime unless you engage the battle with us. We are not sending our sons and daughters, and grandsons and granddaughters to war to fight for your interest. You either get in with us or be on your own. But we're not gonna fight the battle for you. +p1937 +aVI wouldn't reinstate a draft, but, I think it's noteworthy that we are fighting all the battles we have with less than one percent of the American population. +p1938 +aVI wouldn't reinstate a draft, but, I think it's noteworthy that we are fighting all the battles we have with less than one percent of the American population. We have the lowest level of percentage of population participating in the military than ever. And they're over-deployed, they're over used, especially among our reserves and Guard troops. Any governor will tell you. +p1939 +aVWell, I would say that, if you want a college education, let's go back and reinstate the full-blown G.I. bill. You give something to your country; your country gives something back to you. We need to ask young people to step up and buy their own freedom because there's not going to be enough people left at less than one percent. And as my good friend Ken Howard, former Dean of the War College, has often said, we're fighting all the wars with other people's kids. And that's one of the things that's making us much less safe, is because we don't have enough Americans truly invested in the process of defeating our enemies. Therefore, I do think without a draft we do need to ask people to recognize we are at war. +p1940 +aVI'm not belittling their sacrifice, Lindsey, but I'm just making note that on the part of Americans we have sent National Guard troops over for an 18-month em \u2014 18-month deployment. They come back for five, they go back for another 18. We're wearing these guys out. They agreed to be citizen soldiers. We turned them into full time soldiers because we've not kept up the pace by recruiting enough people in the military to fully fill these forces, and that's what we need to be doing. +p1941 +aVThe horrors that those families have to go through, if that were my son, my daughter, I'd give my last drop of blood to get them back. You bet I would. Is it a good policy? No. It's a terrible policy because once we do it, we're only going to invite more and more hostages, more and more ransoms, and the diasters gets even worse. But I don't blame any of these families. You know who I blame? I blame a policy in our government that has made it so that families are so desperate that they're willing to pay ransom to terrorists organizations because they don't believe our government will fight the fight for them and they think they're out there on their own. My goodness people, this is America. When did we have to start telling people that you've got to bake your own bread in order to fight the battles? That's what we have a government for, it's what we pay taxes for. And I believe, those families ought to have a better expectation of what this government will do. We should never has sat at the table with the Iranians as long Sayed Abadnini is sitting in an Iranian prison. As long as the Washington Post report is over there. Until the four hostages of America were on an airplane safely out of Tehran. We should've told them, " we won't even walk into the room with you much less sit down and negotiate with you." That's what we ought to be doing. +p1942 +aVWe just need to take a real pause and all the people that coming here and we don't know who they are or what their affiliations are. What George just said is right. We can't take the risk. And why should we take the risk? And if it's such a doggone good idea to bring people here that we really don't know who they are and Obama thinks that we're being un-Christian to not do it, I've got a suggestion. Let's send the first wave of them to Chappaqua, Martha's Vineyard and the upper east side of Manhattan and to the south lawn of the White House where we'll set up a camp. Let's see how that works out. And if they behave wonderfully, that's fine. I want to say, I don't want someone lecturing me about what it means to be a Christian that I should invite a potential terrorist into my backyard. On one hand, the left says separation of church and state. Let's not have any discussion of religion, and then the left wants to tell me what it means to be a Christian. They need to figure out if they know more about being a Christian than I do, then tell me... On one hand, the left says separation of church and state. Let's not have any discussion of religion, and then the left wants to tell me what it means to be a Christian. They need to figure out if they know more about being a Christian than I do \u2014 then tell me. They are no longer going to say separation of church and state, but, we have the most fundamental right above everything else \u2014 is not to protect the reputation of Islam. It is to protect Americans first and foremost. That is our job. +p1943 +aVNo, because he did it unconstitutionally. Twenty-three times he's said he couldn't do it, and then one day he woke up and he found he had a pen in one hand, and a phone in another, and wow. That Constitution didn't mean much anymore. Look, President's can't just do what they want to do. That's the purpose of getting elected and working with other people who got elected, is that our system was designed to function with the power of persuasion, it's really what you elect a president to do. +p1944 +aV...Let me finish, Hugh. You elect him to lead which means that if you think it's a good idea to not punish the children for something their parents did, then you go to the members of Congress and you persuade them. And, you persuade the American people. You don't just jump up and shove it up the nostrils of Congress, and the American people because you think you have a superior intellect, and a superior will, and a superior theology than everybody else. Our system is not a system of tyranny. We don't elect kings, we elect servants. If I'm elected president, I don't consider myself to be elected to be the king of the country, but the servant of the country to work with other people who are elected to get things done that need to be done. +p1945 +aVThe terrorists don't win just because they kill us. The terrorists win when they make us change everything we do in our daily lives and alter our routines. And they're doing that, from getting on a plane to going in a building. And it is high time that we recognize that we have to take them out, not a little bit, but totally, because I want my grandkids to grow up not in fear, but in faith and in freedom. And if you give me the opportunity to be president of the United States, I will fight for your grandkids as much as I will for mine. Thank you and God bless you. +p1946 +aVWell, first of all, Trish, I don't know why we have to move away from manufacturing. The only reason we have is because... ...we have a tax code that has punished manufacturing. I hear a lot of people talk about the plans to simplify the tax code. I've got one better than any of the simplifications, it's called a, "Fair Tax", and it eliminates all of the taxes on our productivity. Here's what would happen. We'd get rid of taxes on people's work, so, we wouldn't punish people for working anymore. Yeah, we've lost five million manufacturing jobs just since the year 2000 \u2014 160,000 manufacturing plants have close in this country, which means a lot of people \u2014 that the governors talking about, he's exactly right. They don't have jobs anymore. And the reason they don't have jobs is because their jobs are in Mexico, they're in China, they're in Indonesia. Bring the jobs back. And with the fair tax, you do that, because you don't tax capital and labor and you bring a real sense of equity to the opportunity so that people will not only make it easier to function, they'll get the manufacturing jobs back. And here's the best part. We don't reduce the IRS, we get rid of the IRS. We completely eliminate them......because the government has no business knowing how much money we make and how we made it. It's none of their business. And that's why I believe that manufacturing is critical. If we can't feed ourselves, fuel ourselves and fight for ourselves, we can't be free. And by the way, fighting for ourselves means manufacturing our own weapons of self-defense. +p1947 +aVWell, Sandra, first of all, let me mention the fact that I think there's a big difference between welfare programs and what some people call entitlements. Namely, Social Security and Medicare. I just want to remind everybody out there who has ever had a paycheck, the government didn't ask you if you wanted them to take money out of your check for Social Security and Medicare. They did that involuntarily. Those are not entitlements and that's not welfare. That's an earned benefit. And by gosh, you paid for it. And if the government screwed it up, you shouldn't have to pay the penalty because of an incompetent government. That's different than the social programs that we've spent $2 trillion on since the War on Poverty began exactly 50 years ago this year. Now the reason we still have so much poverty is because it was never designed to get people out of poverty. It was designed to make sure that there was an industry of poverty, so that the people in the poverty industry would have a lot of jobs. But the people who are poor haven't been benefited. Having grown up poor, I know a little something about it. Nobody who is poor wants to be. That's a nonsense statement and I hear it all the time. Well, poor people ought to work harder. They're working as hard as they can, for gosh sake. But the problem is the system keeps pushing them down because, if they work, then they get punished. They lose all the benefits. When we did welfare reform in the '90s, you know what we did? We said you're not going to lose everything at once. There's not an arbitrary threshold. So as you move up the ladder from work and training, you'll actually always be better off than you were before. That's the American way. +p1948 +aVWell, I'd just like to respond, with all due respect to, to the Governor, to the state just south of me, I would say that a lot of us have cut things. And during the recession of 2001 to 2003, when 91 percent of our state budget was basically three things, educate, medicate and incarcerate, we ended up cutting 11 percent out of the state budget through that recession so we didn't have to go in and raise a bunch of taxes, and there were people who thought we should. So it's just not accurate to say that nobody else up here has ever cut. I believe every governor has probably had to make tough decisions. I'm, I'm guessing my colleague Governor Christie has, as I'm tossing him the ball like Arkansas did to Ol' Miss the other day. +p1949 +aVSandra, before we get too far away, he specifically brought out some things about the record that I need to correct. +p1950 +aVSandra, I've been concerned that this administration has not done anything to help stop the slaughter of Christians. We didn't help the Kurds, we said we would. But, the idea that we're just going to open our doors, and we have no idea who these people are \u2014 what we do know is that only one out of five of the so called, "Syrian Refugees", who went into Europe were actually Syrian. Many of them, we had no idea who they were. They weren't Syrian. Are we going to open the doors so that the +p1951 +aV...I'd like to get that opportunity to go... +p1952 +aVWell, since we're not going to answer the question, let me just remind everybody, tomorrow is Veterans Day. And here's what I would like to remind everybody. The VA has been a disaster in large part because the people in Congress have never bothered to fix it, and this president has certainly not... +p1953 +aVLet me finish, please. I'm going to ask you just this, what would happen if the Congress and the president had to get their health care from the VA? We would fix the problem and we would fix Congress. +p1954 +aVWell, thank you very much. I still want to go back to the fact that if we got rid of all the taxes on our work, got rid of the taxes on our savings, investments, capital gains, and inheritance, and made a zero tax, we'd pay at the point of consumption. Because why should we punish people for their productivity? And the fair tax doesn't punish people for doing well and building the economy. There's $31 trillion parked offshore. What happens if that money comes back to America? You'd think it'd goose the economy? I guarantee you it would. And that's why the fair tax is the best solution we have for economic growth in this country. +p1955 +aVWell, first of all, do you know an American that will just stop spending? I don't. No, that's not going to be the problem. Look, Americans will go to the marketplace with more money they've ever had. For the first time they'll be having their whole paycheck. You see, most people don't understand that when you buy something that is made in America, 22 percent of the cost of it is the embedded tax they never even know they paid. It's why China has beaten the daylights out of us, they can build stuff that we can't because they're not taxing it, when they don't tax capital and labor and we do. They bring something over here, it's automatically cheaper even without the regulatory environment because they're not embedding the taxes, we are. Take the embedded taxes out. Give a person his whole paycheck because every American would no longer have a payroll tax taken out. It means they'd see their real paycheck for the first time. When they go to spend that money, they'll actually have it. And they only pay taxes on the stuff that's new. So a lot of Americans will buy used stuff. Look, here's the point, Americans are not going to quit shopping. Americans are not going to quit buying. But it would be nice if Americans could control how much they paid in tax, rather than having the government reach into their pockets and take it out before they ever had a chance to even see it, much less spend it. And that's why the fair tax makes a heck of a lot more sense than punishing productivity and rewarding irresponsibility. +p1956 +aVWell, my wife's name is Janet and when you say Janet Yelling, I'm very familiar with what you mean. But, look, I think the Fed is in a big trouble because they haven't addressed the number one issue that's hurting Americans and that's the fact that wages for the bottom 90 percent of the economy have been stagnant for 40 years. In the 25 years after World War II, up to 1971, wages grew by 85 percent in this country. People were \u2014 were moving up in the middle class. There was a middle class. That's not happening any more, and in large measure, the Fed has manipulated the dollar so it doesn't have a standard. Tie the dollar to something fixed and if it's not going to be gold, make it the commodity basket. But here's what we've got to do. We absolutely have to get it where the people who go out there and work get something in return. And if the dollar keeps fluctuating, and this is as crazy as \u2014 as is the price of bread, well, the fact is, people can't get ahead then. +p1957 +aVAbsolutely. Absolutely, because what we need to is to make sure that they tie the monetary standard to something that makes sense, rather than to their own whims, because who's getting gut punched? It ain't the people in Wall Street, it's the folks on Main Street. They're the ones who's wages have been stagnant for 40 years. And the average American today has a total savings of 1,000 bucks. One root canal and they're in trouble. And if their car breaks down the same week......they're out of business. +p1958 +aVWell, I think thanking our veterans is a wonderful thing to do, but, they sure appreciate a better paycheck. They'd appreciate the fact that we kept our promises to them. The men and women in uniform put on the uniform of our nation, they went halfway around the world, they face dangers on our behalf, and we promised them if they did that, when they came home we'd take care of their medical care, we'd make is possible for their kids to go to college, and they'd be able to bind to a home. They kept their promises to us. We have not kept our promises to them, and today, less than one percent of Americans go to the military for service. We're fighting wars with other people's kids in large measure because we've not taken seriously the moral, not the monetary, the moral obligation to take care of the veterans and to keep America's promise to the ones who kept their promise to America. +p1959 +aVIn many ways, I feel like I'm the luckiest guy on Earth. I really do. It's a long way from a little brick rent house on second street in Hope, Arkansas to this stage where I'm running for President of the United States. It's not about me, not about these guys \u2014 'ought to be about you, and I've never been the favorite of the people who have the most money. But, I want to be the favorite of the people who still want to believe the American dream can work for them. Today in our office, I got a letter from a third grader in North Dakota, her name is Reese. She sent $6 dollars from her allowance, and said, "I want to help you be president." You know, I'm going to keep standing on this stage, and keep fighting for one reason, because somewhere out there in North Dakota, and all over America, there are kids like Reese who need a president who will never forget where they came from, and I promise I won't. +p1960 +asVCRUZ +p1961 +(lp1962 +VThank you, Wolf. America is at war. Our enemy is not violent extremism. It is not some unnamed malevolent force. It is radical Islamic terrorist. We have a president who is unwilling to utter its name. The men and women on this stage, every one of us, is better prepared to keep this nation safe than is Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. We need a president who understands the first obligation of the commander-in-chief is to keep America safe. If I am elected president, we will hunt down and kill the terrorists. We will utterly destroy +p1963 +aVWell, listen, Hugh, everyone understands why Donald has suggested what he has. We're looking at a president who's engaged in this double-speak where he doesn't call radical Islamic terrorism by its name. Indeed, he gives a speech after the San Bernardino attack where his approach is to try to go after the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens rather than to keep us safe. And even worse, President Obama and Hillary Clinton are proposing bringing tens of thousands of Syrian refugees to this country when the head of the FBI has told Congress they cannot vet those refugees. I understand why Donald made that proposal. I introduced legislation in the Senate that I believe is more narrowly focused at the actual threat, which is radical Islamic terrorism, and what my legislation would do is suspend all refugees for three years from countries where +p1964 +aVWell, you know, I'm reminded of what FDR's grandfather said. He said, "All horse-thieves are Democrats, but not all Democrats are horse-thieves." In this instance, there are millions of peaceful Muslims across the world, in countries like India, where there is not the problems we are seeing in nations that are controlled \u2014 have territory controlled by Al Qaida or +p1965 +aVWell, Dana, the premise of your question is not accurate. I'm very proud to have joined with conservatives in both the Senate and the House to reform how we target bad guys. And what the USA Freedom Act did is it did two things. Number one, it ended the federal government's bulk collection of phone metadata of millions of law-abiding citizens. But number two in the second half of it that is critical. It strengthened the tools of national security and law enforcement to go after terrorists. It gave us greater tools and we are seeing those tools work right now in San Bernardino. And in particular, what it did is the prior program only covered a relatively narrow slice of phone calls. When you had a terrorist, you could only search a relatively narrow slice of numbers, primarily land lines. The USA Freedom Act expands that so now we have cell phones, now we have Internet phones, now we have the phones that terrorists are likely to use and the focus of law enforcement is on targeting the bad guys. You know what the Obama administration keeps getting wrong is whenever anything bad happens they focus on law-abiding citizens instead of focusing on the bad guys. We need to focus on radical Islamic terrorists and we need to stop them before they carry out acts of terror. +p1966 +aVWell, you know, I would note that Marco knows what he's saying isn't true. You know, Mark Levin wrote a column last week that says that the attack ads his Super PAC is running that are saying the same thing, that they are knowingly false and they are, in fact, Alinsky-like attacks like Barack Obama. And the reason is simple. What he knows is that the old program covered 20 percent to 30 percent of phone numbers to search for terrorists. The new program covers nearly 100 percent. That gives us greater ability to stop acts of terrorism, and he knows that that's the case. +p1967 +aVWhat it means is using overwhelming air power to utterly and completely destroy +p1968 +aVYou would carpet bomb where +p1969 +aVWell, you know, Marco has continued these attacks, and he knows they're not true. Yes, it is true that I voted against the National Defense Authorization Act, because when I campaigned in Texas I told voters in Texas that I would oppose the federal government having the authority to detain U.S. citizens permanently with no due process. I have repeatedly supported an effort to take that out of that bill, and I honored that campaign commitment. +p1970 +aVBut more broadly, you know, the notion Marco is suggesting, that somehow \u2014 he also has tossed more than a few insults this direction \u2014 let's be absolutely clear. +p1971 +aVWolf, I believe in a America first foreign policy, that far too often President Obama and Hillary Clinton \u2014 and, unfortunately, more than a few Republicans \u2014 have gotten distracted from the central focus of keeping this country safe. So let's go back to the beginning of the Obama administration, when Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama led +p1972 +aV... we ought to hunt down our enemies and kill +p1973 +aVWell, it's more than not shedding a tear. It's actively getting involved to topple a government. And we keep hearing from President Obama and Hillary Clinton and Washington Republicans that they're searching for these mythical moderate rebels. It's like a purple unicorn. They never exist. These moderate rebels end up being jihadists. And I'll tell you whose view on Assad is the same as mine. It's Prime Minister Netanyahu. Prime Minister Netanyahu has said Israel doesn't have a dog in that fight because Assad is a puppet of Iran, a Shia radical Islamic terrorist, but at the same time, Prime Minister Netanyahu doesn't want to see Syria governed by +p1974 +aVThe question of whether we should toppling dictatorships is asking the wrong question. We should be defeating our enemies. So the problem with defeating... +p1975 +aVWell, but let me explain, the focus should be... +p1976 +aV... on defeating our enemies. So, for example... +p1977 +aV... a regime we should change is Iran... +p1978 +aV... because Iran has declared war on us. But we shouldn't be toppling regimes...... that are fighting radical Islamic terrorists that are helping... +p1979 +aVWell, he \u2014 he has attempted to muddy the waters, but I think that anyone who watched the battle that we had. You know, there was a time for choosing as Reagan put it. Where there was a battle over amnesty and some chose, like Senator Rubio to stand with Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer and support a massive amnesty plan. Others chose to stand with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and the American people and secure the border. And let me mention, this issue is actually directly connected to what we've been talking about. Because the front line with +p1980 +aVLook, I understand Marco wants to raise confusion, it is not accurate what he just said that I supported legalization. Indeed, I led the fight against his legalization and amnesty. And you know, there was one commentator that put it this way that, for Marco to suggest our record's the same is like suggesting "the fireman and the arsonist because they are both at the scene of the fire." He was fighting to grant amnesty and not to secure the border, I was fighting to secure the border. And this also goes to trust, listening on to campaign trails. Candidates all the time make promises. You know, Marco said," he learned that the American people didn't trust the federal government." +p1981 +aVIn Florida promising to... +p1982 +aVgo in the fight against amnesty... +p1983 +aVHe campaigned promising to lead the fight against amnesty. +p1984 +aVI have never supported a legalization... +p1985 +aVI have never supported legalization, and I do not intend to support legalization. Let me tell you how you do this, what you do is you enforce the law... +p1986 +aVWatt you do is enforcement the law... +p1987 +aVWhat you do... +p1988 +aVWhat you do is you enforce the law. I've laid out a very, very detailed immigration plan on my website, tedcruz.org. It's 11 pages of existing federal law and in particular the question of what to do with people who are here now? You enforce the law. That means you stop the Obama administration's policy of releasing criminal illegal aliens. Do you know how many aliens Bill Clinton deported? 12 million. Do you know how many illegal aliens, George W. Bush deported? 10 million. We can enforce the laws and if we secure the border, that solves the problem. And as president I will solve this problem and secure the border. +p1989 +aVDana, what I said in private is exactly what I'll say here, which is that the judgment that every voter is making of every one of us up here is who has the experience, who has the vision, who has the judgment to be commander in chief. That is the most important decision for the voters to make. That's a standard I'm held to. And it's a standard everyone else is held to. And I will note, you know, in the whole course of this discussion about our foreign policy threats, it actually illustrates the need for clarity of focus. You know, my daughters, Caroline and Catherine, came tonight. They're 7 and 5. And you think about the Los Angeles schools canceling their schools today. And every parent is wondering, how do we keep our kids safe? We need a commander in chief who does what Ronald Reagan did with communism, which is he set out a global strategy to defeat Soviet communism. And he directed all of his... I'm answering the question, Dana. He directed all of his forces to defeating communism. One of the things we've seen here is how easy it is for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to get distracted from dealing with radical Islamic terrorism. They won't even call it by its name. We need a president who stands up, number one, and says, we will defeat +p1990 +aVAnd we need to be focused on defeating... +p1991 +aV... defeating radical Islamic terrorists. +p1992 +aVWhat I'm saying, Dana, is that is a judgment for every voter to make. What I can tell you is all nine of the people here would make an infinitely better commander in chief than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. +p1993 +aVAnd there is a real danger, Dana, when people get distracted. I'm answering the question, Wolf. There's a real danger when people get distracted by peripheral issues. They get distracted by democracy building. They get distracted about military conflicts. We need to focus on defeating jihadism. +p1994 +aVAnd I will do everything necessary to keep our children safe. +p1995 +aVJudgment, strength, clarity and trust. Barack Obama has said he doesn't believe in American leadership or America winning \u2014 he is wrong. America can win again and we will win again. Ronald Reagan reignited the American economy, rebuilt the Military, bankrupted the Soviet Union and defeated Soviet Communism. I will do the same thing. Cutting taxes, cutting regulation, unleashing small businesses and rebuilding the Military to defeat radical Islamic terrorism \u2014 our strategy is simple. We win, they lose. We've done it before and we can do it again. +p1996 +aVWell, Maria, it's great to be with you. It's great to be here in Milwaukee. You know, the question you asked really I think is the most important question any of us can have \u2014 face, which is, how do we get the economy growing? How do we bring back economic growth? Because economic growth, it's foundational to every other challenge we have. As you rightly noted, from 2008 to today, our economy has grown 1.2 percent a year on average. The Obama economy is a disaster, and the IMF is telling us this is a new normal. It doesn't have to be. If you look at the history of America, there are three levers that government has had to facilitate economic growth. The first is tax reform. And as you noted, I have rolled out a bold and simple flat tax: 10 percent for every American that would produce booming growth and 4.9 million new jobs within a decade. The second element is regulatory reform, pulling back the armies of regulators that have descended like locusts on small businesses. And the third element is sound money. Every time we've pursued all three of those \u2014 whether in the 1920s with Calvin Coolidge or the 1960s with JFK or the 1980s with Ronald Reagan \u2014 the result has been incredible economic growth. We have done it before, and with leadership, we can do it again. +p1997 +aVWell, my Mom is here, so I don't think we should be pushing any grannies off cliffs. And, you miss-stated what I've said on entitlement reform. What I've said is for seniors we should make no changes whatsoever, for younger workers we should gradually raise the retirement age, we should have benefits grow more slowly, and we should allow them to keep a portion of their taxes in a personal account that they control, and can pass on to their kids... +p1998 +aVI want to go back to the discussion we had a minute ago because, you know, what was said was right. The democrats are laughing \u2014 because if republicans join democrats as the party of amnesty, we will lose. And, you know, I understand that when the mainstream media covers immigration, it doesn't often see it as an economic issue. But, I can tell you for millions \u2014 of Americans at home watching this, it is a very personal economic issue. And, I will say the politics of it will be very, very different if a bunch of lawyers or bankers were crossing the Rio Grande. Or if a bunch of people with journalism degrees were coming over and driving down the wages in the press. Then, we would see stories about the economic calamity that is befalling our nation. And, I will say for those of us who believe people 'ought to come to this country legally, and we should enforce the law, we're tired of being told it's anti-immigrant. It's offensive. I am the son of an immigrant who came legally from Cuba... ...to seek the American dream. And, we can embrace legal immigration while believing in the rule of law \u2014 and I would note, try going illegally to another country. Try going to China, or Japan. Try going to Mexico. See what they do. Every sovereign nation secures its borders, and it is not compassionate to say we're not going to enforce the laws... ...And we're going to drive down the wages for millions of hardworking men and women. That is abandoning the working... +p1999 +aVWell, sure, you put your finger on what the problem is. The current system isn't fair. Washington is fundamentally corrupt. There are more words in the IRS code than there are in the Bible \u2014 and \u2014 and not a one of them is as good. Every one of them reflects a carve-out or a subsidy, and it's all about empowering the Washington cartel. My simple Flat Tax says that, for a family of four, for the first $36,000 you earn, you pay no taxes whatsoever. No income taxes, no payroll taxes, no nothing. Above that, every American pays 10 percent across the board \u2014 a flat, fair tax. Which means that no longer do you have hedge-fund billionaires paying a lower tax rate than their secretaries. On the business side, I've got a business flat tax of 16 percent \u2014 again, that applies across the board. Right now, with our corporate income tax, giant corporations with armies of accountants regularly are paying little to no taxes while small businesses are getting hammered. This is fair and across-the-board. Now, you ask, how do the numbers add up? I would encourage folks, if you go to our website, tedcruz.org, we have the specific numbers on the website. This plan eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax, eliminates the corporate income tax, and it abolishes the IRS. And the effect of that is incredible economic growth. It means every income group will see double-digit increases, from the very poorest to the very weakest, of at least 14 percent. So if you're a single mom, if you're making $40,000 a year, what that means is an extra about $5,000 in your pocket to provide for your kids, to make ends meet. It has a powerful, powerful effect. And there's one other really powerful feature of my plan, which is that it's border-adjustable. Which means, if you're an exporter \u2014 if you're a farmer, if you're a rancher, if you're a manufacturer, you don't pay the businesses flat tax. Exports are free of that tax, but all imports pay that 16 percent business flat tax, which means this tax plan would cause jobs to boom, and it would let America compete with China and the world on a level playing field. +p2000 +aVWell, the numbers the Tax Foundation had put out is that the static cost of the plan is $3.6 trillion over 10 years, but the dynamic cost of the plan, which \u2014 which is the cost that factors in growth, is about $768 billion. It is less than a trillion. It costs less than virtually every other plan people have put up here, and yet it produces more growth and it's one of the very few plans that abolishes the IRS. But on top of that, today, we rolled out a spending plan. $500 billion in specific cuts \u2014 five major agencies that I would eliminate. The IRS, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Energy, the Department of Commerce, and HUD \u2014 and then 25 specific programs. Again, that's on our website at tedcruz.org. You want to look at specificity? It's easy for everyone to say, "cut spending". It's much harder and riskier to put out, chapter and verse, specifically the programs you would cut to stop bankrupting our kids and grandkids. +p2001 +aV...Middle ground that brings both of these together... +p2002 +aV...Exactly right, that we have to defend this nation. You think defending this nation is expensive, try not defending it. That's a lot more expensive. But, you can do that, and pay for it. You can do that, and also be fiscally responsible. You know, I mention that the 25 programs that I put today, that I would eliminate them. Among them are corporate welfare, like sugar subsidies. Let's take that as an example. Sugar subsidies. Sugar farmers farm under... ...under roughly 0.2% of the farmland in America, and yet they give 40% of the lobbying money. That sort of corporate welfare is why we're bankrupting our kids, and grandkids. I would end those subsidies to pay for defending this nation... +p2003 +aVAbsolutely yes. You know, I have spent much of my adult life enforcing the law and defending the Constitution. And the problem that underlies all of this is the cronyism and corruption of Washington. You know, the opening question Jerry asked, would you bail out the big banks again? Nobody gave you an answer to that. I'll give you an answer. Absolutely not. And what we have right now is we have Washington \u2014 as government gets bigger and bigger, you know, the biggest lie in all of Washington and in all of politics is that Republicans are the party of the rich. The truth is, the rich do great with big government. They get in bed with big government. The big banks get bigger and bigger and bigger under Dodd-Frank and community banks are going out of business. And, by the way, the consequence of that is small businesses can't get business loans, and it is that fundamental corruption that is why six of the 10 wealthiest counties in America are in and around Washington, D.C. And let me give you a contrast to Washington cronyism. Some weeks ago, a woman named Sabina Loving testified at a hearing that I chaired in the Senate. Sabina Loving is an African-American single mom who started a tax preparation business in the south side of Chicago. She found a store front, she wanted to have her own business. She started a business. But then the IRS promulgated new regulations targeting tax preparers. They did it under a more than 100-year-old statute called the Dead Horse Act. Now, this statute and the IRS in classic Washington crony fashion had exemptions for lawyers and big fancy accountants, but Sabina had to pay $1,000 an employee. It would have driven her out of business, and Ms. Loving sued the IRS. She took the Obama IRS to court, and she won, and they struck down the rule for picking the big guys over the little guys. +p2004 +aVYes. Now, let's be clear, there is a role for the Federal Reserve \u2014 what the Fed is doing now is it is a series of philosopher- kings trying to guess what's happening with the economy. You look at the Fed, one of the reasons we had the financial crash is throughout the 2000s, we had loose money, we had an asset bubble, it drove up the price of real estate, drove up the price of commodities, and then in the third quarter of 2008, the Fed tightened the money and crashed those asset prices, which caused a cascading collapse. That's why I am supporting getting back to rules-based monetary system not with a bunch of philosopher-kings deciding, but tied... +p2005 +aVSo let me be clear. I would not bail them out, but instead of adjusting monetary policy according to whims and getting it wrong over and over again and causing booms and busts, what the Fed should be doing is, number one, keeping our money tied to a stable level of gold, and, number two, serving as a lender of last resort. That's what central banks do. So if you have a run on the bank, the Fed can serve as a lender of last resort, but it's not a bailout. It is a loan at higher interest rates. That's how central banks have worked. And I'll point out \u2014 look, we had a gold standard under Bretton Woods, we had it for about 170 years of our nation's history, and enjoyed booming economic growth and lower inflation than we have had with the Fed now. We need to get back to sound money, which helps, in particular, working men and women. What Washington does \u2014 the people who are doing well in the Obama economy are those with power and influence in the Obama government. The people who working men and women... +p2006 +aVSo, Governor Kasich... +p2007 +aV...why would you then bail out rich Wall Street banks, but not Main street, not Mom and Pop, not Sabina Loving? +p2008 +aVBut you just said an executive... +p2009 +aV...knows to step in and bail out a bank. +p2010 +aVSo you said you'd abandon philosophy and abandon principle... +p2011 +aV...but what would you do if the bank was failing? +p2012 +aVSo you \u2014 you would bail them out. +p2013 +aVAnd, Maria, I will note, she's got a lot of experience, but her policies have proven disastrous. If you look at foreign policy, every region in the world has gotten worse. Under her leadership, we abandon the nation of Israel. Under her leadership, radical Islamic terrorism has been on to the rise. Under her leadership, and Obama's leadership, Iran is getting $100 billion dollars, and on the verge of getting a nuclear weapon. Everything she's put her hand to, or has touched \u2014 and when we talk about the cronyism of Washington, Hillary Clinton embodies the cronyism... ...of Washington. And, I'll give you an example of that, which is the Congressional exemption from Obamacare, which is fundamentally wrong, and I'll tell you this, if I'm elected president, I will veto any statute that exempts members of congress. The law should apply evenly to every American. +p2014 +aVMaria, critically, when it comes to climate change... +p2015 +aV...Our \u2014 our... +p2016 +aVFifty-eight years ago, my father fled Cuba. As he stood on the deck of that ferryboat with the wind and salt air blowing, he looked back at the oppression and torture he was escaping. And yet he looked forward to the promise of America. His story is our story. What ties Americans together is we are all the children of those who risked everything for freedom. America is in crisis now. I believe in America. And if we get back to the free market principles and constitutional liberties that built this country, we can turn this country around. I believe that 2016 will be an election like 1980, that we will win by following Reagan's admonition to paint in bold colors, not pale pastels. We're building a grassroots army. I ask you to join us at tedcruz.org. And we, the people, can turn this nation around. +p2017 +aVI'm too agreeable, easy going. You know, I think my biggest weakness is exactly the opposite. I'm a fighter. I am passionate about what I believe. I've been passionate my whole life about the Constitution. And, you know, for six-and-a-half years, we've had a gigantic party. If you want someone to grab a beer with, I may not be that guy. But if you want someone to drive you home, I will get the job done and I will get you home. +p2018 +aVBecky, if you want a 10 percent flat tax where the numbers add up, I rolled out my tax plan today, you can find it on line at tedcruz.org. It is a simple flat tax where for individuals, a family of four pays nothing on the first $36,000. After that you pay 10 percent as a flat tax going up. The billionaire and the working man, no hedge fund manager pays less than his secretary. On top of that, there is a business flat tax of 16 percent. Now that applies universally to giant corporations that with lobbyists right now are not paying taxes, and as small business. And you wanted to know the numbers, the Tax Foundation, which has scored every one of our plans, shows that this plan will allow the economy to generate 4.9 million jobs, to raise wages over 12 percent, and to generate 14 percent growth. And it costs, with dynamic scoring, less than a trillion dollars. Those are the hard numbers. And every single income decile sees a double-digit increase in after-tax income. +p2019 +aVGrowth is the answer. And as Reagan demonstrated, if we cut taxes, we can bring back growth. +p2020 +aVYou know, let me say something at the outset. The questions that have been asked so far in this debate illustrate why the American people don't trust the media. This is not a cage match. And, you look at the questions \u2014 "Donald Trump, are you a comic-book villain?" "Ben Carson, can you do math?" "John Kasich, will you insult two people over here?" "Marco Rubio, why don't you resign?" "Jeb Bush, why have your numbers fallen?" How about talking about the substantive issues the people care about? +p2021 +aVAnd Carl \u2014 Carl, I'm not finished yet. The contrast with the Democratic debate, where every fawning question from the media was, "Which of you is more handsome and why?" And let me be clear. +p2022 +aVLet me be clear. The men and women on this stage have more ideas, more experience, more common sense than every participant in the Democratic debate. That debate reflected a debate between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. And nobody watching at home believed that any of the moderators had any intention of voting in a Republican primary. The questions that are being asked shouldn't be trying to get people to tear into each other. It should be what are your substantive positions... +p2023 +aVYou want me to answer that question? I'm happy to answer the question... +p2024 +aVLet me tell you how that question... +p2025 +aVLet me tell you how that question... +p2026 +aV... so you don't actually want to hear the answer, John? +p2027 +aVYou don't want to hear the answer. You just want to... +p2028 +aVYou're not interested in an answer. +p2029 +aV...Then I'll buy you a tequila... +p2030 +aV...Or, even some famous Colorado brownies. +p2031 +aVWell, sure. This deal in Washington is an example of why Washington's broken. Republican leadership joined with every single Democrat, add $80 trillion to our debt to do nothing to fix the problems. And, let me now on Social Security because we were getting into a good substantive exchange, and I want to say I think both Chris, and Mike are right. Governor Huckabee's exactly right, we need to honor the promises made to our seniors, but for younger workers \u2014 look. I'm 44 years old. It is hard to find someone in my generation that thinks Social Security will be there for us. We can save and preserve and strengthen Social Security by making no changes for seniors, but for younger workers gradually increasing the retirement age, changing the rate of growth so that it matches inflation, and critically allowing younger workers to keep a portion of our tax payments in a personal account that we own, we control them, we can pass on to our kids. +p2032 +aVWell, we've gotta turn the economy around for people who are struggling. The Democrats' answer to everything is more government control over wages, and more empowering trial lawyers to file lawsuits. You know, you look at women working. I'll tell you, in my family there are a lot of single moms in my family. My sister was a single mom, both of my aunts who were a single moms. My mom who's here today, was a single mom when my father left us when I was 3 years old. Now, thank God, my father was invited to a Bible study and became born again and he came back to my mom and me and we were raised together. But I \u2014 the struggle of single moms is extraordinary. And you know, when you see Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and all the Democrats talking about wanting to address the plight of working women, not a one of them mentioned the fact that under Barack Obama, 3.7 million women have entered poverty. Not a one of them mentioned the fact that under Barack Obama and the big government economy, the median wage for women has dropped $733. The the truth of the matter is, big government benefits the wealthy, it benefits the lobbyists, it benefits the giant corporations. And the people who are getting hammered are small businesses, it's single moms, it's Hispanics. That is who I'm fighting for. The people that Washington leaves behind. +p2033 +aVWell, Rick, it's a very important question. I have got deep concerns about the Fed. The first thing I think we need to do is audit the Fed. And I am an original co-sponsor of Rand Paul's audit the Fed legislation. The second thing we need to do is I think we need to bring together a bipartisan commission to look at getting back to rules- based monetary policy, end this star chamber that has been engaging in this incredible experiment of quantitative easing, QE1, QE2, QE3, QE- infinity. And the people who are being impacted, you know, a question that was asked earlier, Becky asked, was about working women. You know, it's interesting, you look at on Wall Street, the Fed is doing great. It's driving up stock prices. Wall Street is doing great. You know, today, the top 1 percent earn a higher share of our income than any year since 1928. But if you look at working men and women. If you look at a single mom buying groceries, she sees hamburger prices have gone up nearly 40 percent. She sees her cost of electricity going up. She sees her health insurance going up. And loose money is one of the major problems. We need sound money. And I think the Fed should get out of the business of trying to juice our economy and simply be focused on sound money and monetary stability, ideally tied to gold. +p2034 +aVLet me say on that... +p2035 +aV...Rand is exactly right. His plan is a good plan, and I will note that my 10% plan also eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax, +p2036 +aV...eliminates the business... [ +p2037 +aV...income tax... [ +p2038 +aV...10% flat rate... +p2039 +aV...is the lowest personal rate any candidate up here has, and what it would also enable us to do is for every citizen to fill out their taxes on a postcard so we can eliminate the IRS. +p2040 +aVYou know, everyone here talks about the need to take on Washington. The natural next question is who actually has done so. Who actually has stood up not just to Democrats, but to leaders in our own party? When millions of Americans rose up against Obamacare, I was proud to lead that fight. When millions of Americans rose up against amnesty, I was proud to lead that fight. When millions of Americans rose up against Planned Parenthood, I was proud to lead that fight. If people are promising they're going to take on Washington and cronyism, you need to look to who has been doing it. In my family, my dad fled oppression in Cuba to come to America. Freedom is personal for me, and I will always keep my word and fight for freedom. +p2041 +aVI'm Ted Cruz. I am the son of an Irish-Italian mom and a Cuban immigrant dad who fled oppression and came to America seeking freedom. I'm a husband to my best friend, Heidi, who's here tonight. I'm a dad to two little girls who are the loves of my life, Caroline and Catherine. If you're fed up with Washington, if you're looking for someone to stand up to career politicians in both parties, I'm the only one on this stage who has done that over and over again, and if we stand together, we can bring America back. +p2042 +aVWell, let me tell you, Jake, the single biggest national security threat facing America right now is the threat of a nuclear Iran. We've seen six and a half years of President Obama leading from behind. Weakness is provocative, and this Iranian nuclear deal is nothing short of catastrophic. This deal, on its face, will send over $100 billion to the Ayatollah Khamenei, making the Obama administration the world's leading financier of radical Islamic terrorism. +p2043 +aVThis deal abandons four American hostages in Iran, and this deal will only accelerate Iran's acquiring nuclear weapons. You'd better believe it. If I am elected president, on the very first day in office, I will rip to shreds this catastrophic Iranian nuclear deal. +p2044 +aVWell, let's be clear when it comes to experience. What President Obama wants to do is he's run to the United Nations, and he wants to use the United Nations to bind the United States, and take away our sovereignty. Well, I spent five and a half years as a Solicitor General of Texas, the lead lawyer for the state, in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, and I went in front of the Supreme Court, and took on the world court of the United Nations in a case called Medellin v. Texas, and we won a historic victory saying the World Court, and the U.N., has no power to bind the United States, and no President of the United States, Republican or Democrat, has the authority to give away our sovereignty. And, so, if there's anyone up here who would be bound by this catastrophic deal with Iran, they're giving up the core responsibility of commander in chief, and as president, I would never do that. +p2045 +aVJake, Jake... +p2046 +aVJake, there is no more important topic in 2016 than this topic right here, and I've listened to several folks saying, "Well, gosh, if they cheat, we'll act." We won't know under this agreement \u2014 there are several facilities in Iran they designate as military facilities that are off limit all together. Beyond that, the other facilities, we give them 24 days notice before inspecting them. That is designed to allow them to hide the evidence. And most astonishingly, this agreement trusts the Iranians to inspect themselves. That makes no sense whatsoever. And let me know \u2014 President Obama is violating federal law... +p2047 +aV... by not handing over the side deals, and we ought to see the United States Congress... +p2048 +aV... stand up together and say, "Hand over this treaty, and protect this country." +p2049 +aVWell, let me tell you, Dana, number one, I'm proud to stand for life. These Planned Parenthood videos are horrifying. I would encourage every American to watch the videos. See \u2014 seeing your Planned Parenthood officials callously, heartlessly bartering and selling the body parts of human beings, and then ask yourself, "are these my values?" These are horrifying. On these videos, Planned Parenthood also essentially confesses to multiple felonies. It is a felony with ten years' jail term to sell the body parts of unborn children for profit. That's what these videos show Planned Parenthood doing. Absolutely we shouldn't be sending $500 million of taxpayer money to funding an ongoing criminal enterprise, and I'll tell you, the fact that Republican leadership in both houses has begun this discussion by preemptively surrendering to Barack Obama and saying, "we'll give in because Obama threatens a veto." You know, Obama's committed to his principles. His liberal principles, he will fight for them. He says... +p2050 +aVI will veto any budget that doesn't fund Planned Parenthood, and Republicans surrender. We need to stop surrendering and start standing... +p2051 +aV...for our principles. +p2052 +aVWell, Jake, you know, I'm \u2014 I'm very glad that Donald Trump's being in this race has forced the mainstream media finally to talk about illegal immigration. I think that's very important. I like and respect Ben Carson. I'll let him talk about his own plans. But I will say this: The natural next question that primary voters are asking, after we focus on illegal immigration is, okay, what are the records of the various candidates? And this is an issue on which there are stark differences. A majority of the men and women on this stage have previously and publicly embraced amnesty. I am the only candidate on this stage who has never supported amnesty and, in fact, who helped lead the fight to stop a massive amnesty plan. In 2013, when Barack Obama and Harry Reid joined the Washington Republicans in a massive, I stood shoulder to shoulder with Jeff Sessions helping lead the fight. You know, folks here have talked about, how do you secure the borders? Well, I've been leading the fight in the Senate to triple the Border Patrol, to put in place fencings and walls, to put in place a strong biometric exit/entry system... +p2053 +aVWell, Dana, I've known John Roberts for 20 years, he's amazingly talented lawyer, but, yes, it was a mistake when he was appointed to the Supreme Court. He's a good enough lawyer that he knows in these Obamacare cases he changed the statute, he changed the law in order to force that failed law on millions of Americans for a political outcome. And, you know, we're frustrated as conservatives. We keep winning elections, and then we don't get the outcome we want. And, let me focus on two moments in time. Number one, in 1990, in one room was David Souter, and in another room was Edith Jones, the rock ribbed (ph) conservative on the fifth circuit court of appeals. George Herbert Walker Bush appointed David Souter. And then in 2005, in one room was John Roberts, in another room was my former boss, Mike Luttig, the rock ribbed (ph) conservative on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals... +p2054 +aV...George W. Bush appointed John Roberts, and let me give you the consequences of that. If, instead, the President Bush had appointed Edith Jones, and Mike Luttig, which is who I would have appointed, Obamacare would have been struck down three years ago, and the marriage laws of all 50 states would be on the books. These matter, and I fought to defend the constitution my whole life... +p2055 +aV...and I will as president as well. +p2056 +aVIt is true that after George W. Bush nominated John Roberts, I supported his confirmation. That was a mistake and I regret that. I wouldn't have nominated John Roberts, and indeed, Governor Bush pointed out why. It wasn't that the President Bushes wanted to appoint a liberal to the court, it's that it was the easier choice. Both David Souter and John Roberts, they didn't have a long paper trail. If you had nominated Edith Jones or Mike Ludig (ph) you would have had a bloody fight and they weren't willing to spend political capital to put a strong judicial conservative on the court. I have spent my entire life, starting from clerking for Chief Justice William Rehnquist on the United States Supreme Court, one of the most principled jurists. We have an out-of-control Court, and I give you my word, if I'm elected president, every single Supreme Court justice will faithfully follow the law and will not act like philosopher kings \u2014 +p2057 +aV\u2014 imposing their liberal policies on millions of Americans \u2014 +p2058 +aV\u2014 who need to be trusted to govern ourselves. +p2059 +aVI \u2014 I am not, and \u2014 and you mentioned that the U.S. Supreme Court had rightly upheld the individual right to keep and bear arms. I was proud to lead 31 states before the U.S. Supreme Court defending the Second Amendment, and we won that landmark victory. And indeed, just a couple of years ago, when Harry Reid and Barack Obama came after the right to keep and bear arms of millions of Americans, I was proud to lead the fight in the United States Senate to protect our right to keep and bear arms, and for that reason... +p2060 +aV... I was honored to be endorsed by Gun Owners of America... +p2061 +aV... as the strongest supporter of the Second Amendment on this stage today, and I will... +p2062 +aV... fight every day to defend the Bill of Rights. +p2063 +aVWell, I wouldn't change the $10 bill, I'd change the $20. I'd take Jackson off and I'd leave Alexander Hamilton right where he is as one of our Founding Fathers. And I very much agree with Marco that it should be Rosa Parks. She was a principled pioneer that helped change this country, helped remedy racial injustice, and that would be an honor that would be entirely appropriate. +p2064 +aVYou know, as a Cuban, I might go with Cohiba (ph), and I'll tell you, I'd go with, for Heidi, Angel, because she is my angel. +p2065 +aVRonald Reagan believed in America. If I'm elected president our friends and allies across the globe will know that we stand with them. the bust of Winston Churchill will be back in the Oval Office, and the American embassy in Israel will be in Jerusalem. Enemies across this world will know the United States is not to be trifled with. +p2066 +aVChris, I believe the American people are looking for someone to speak the truth. If you're looking for someone to go to Washington, to go along to get along, to get -- to agree with the career politicians in both parties who get in bed with the lobbyists and special interests, then I ain't your guy. There is a reason... .... that we have $18 trillion in debt. Because as conservatives, as Republicans, we keep winning elections. We got a Republican House, we've got a Republican Senate, and we don't have leaders who honor their commitments. I will always tell the truth and do what I said I would do. +p2067 +aVChris, absolutely yes. And not only will I support it......I have authored Kate's law in the United States Senate and filed that legislation. I tried to get the Senate to vote to pass Kate's law on the floor of the Senate just one week ago, and the leader of our own party blocked a vote on Kate's law. You know, there was reference made to our leaders being stupid. It's not a question of stupidity. It's that they don't want to enforce the immigration laws. That there are far too many in the Washington cartel that support amnesty. President Obama has talked about fundamentally transforming this country. There's 7 billion people across the face of the globe, many of whom want to come to this country. If they come legally, great. But if they come illegally and they get amnesty, that is how we fundamentally change this country, and it really is striking. A majority of the candidates on this stage have supported amnesty. I have never supported amnesty, and I led the fight against Chuck Schumer's gang of eight amnesty legislation in the Senate. +p2068 +aVMegyn, we need a commander in chief that speaks the truth. We will not defeat radical Islamic terrorism so long as we have a president unwilling to utter the words, "radical Islamic terrorism". When I asked General Dempsey, the chairman of the joint chiefs, what would be required militarily to destroy +p2069 +aVMegyn, of course it's an ideological problem, that's one of the reasons I introduce the Expatriate Terrorist Act in the Senate that said if any American travels to the Middle East and joining +p2070 +aVWell, Bret, of course they have, and over the last six and a half years we've seen the consequences of the Obama-Clinton foreign policy. Leading from behind is a disaster. We have abandoned and alienated our friends and allies, and our enemies are stronger. Radical Islam is on the rise, Iran's on the verge of acquiring a nuclear weapon, China is waging cyber warfare against America, Russia -- General Soleimani, you just mentioned, the Iranian general is the head of the al Quds forces. He's directly responsible for the murder of over 500 American servicemen in Iraq, and part of this Iranian deal was lifting the international sanctions on General Soleimani. The day General Soleimani flew back from Moscow to Iran was the day we believed that Russia used cyber warfare against the Joint Chiefs. We need a new commander in chief that will stand up to our enemies, and that will have credibility... It is worth emphasizing that Iran released our hostages in 1981 the day Ronald Reagan was sworn into office. +p2071 +aVBrett, can I -- Brett, can I jump in on this one? +p2072 +aVWell, I am blessed to receive a word from God every day in receiving the scriptures and reading the scriptures. And God speaks through the Bible. I'm the son of a pastor and evangelist and I've described many times how my father, when I was a child, was an alcoholic. He wasn't a Christian. And my father left my mother and left me when I was just three years old. And someone invited him to Clay Road Baptist Church. And he gave his heart to Jesus and it turned him around. And he got on a plane and he flew back to my mother and me. I would also note that the scripture tells us, "you shall know them by their fruit." We see lots of "campaign conservatives." But if we're going to win in 2016, we need a consistent conservative, someone who has been a fiscal conservative, a social conservative, a national security conservative. There are real differences among the candidates on issues like amnesty, like Obamacare, like religious liberty, like life and marriage. And I have been proud to fight and stand for religious liberty, to stand against Planned Parenthood, to defend life for my entire career. And I will be proud to continue to do so as president of the United States. +p2073 +aVIf I'm elected president, let me tell you about my first day in office. The first thing I intend to do is to rescind every illegal and unconstitutional executive action taken by Barack Obama. The next thing I intend to do is instruct the Department of Justice to open an investigation into these videos and to prosecute Planned Parenthood for any criminal violations. The next thing I intend to do is instruct the Department of Justice and the IRS to start (sic) persecuting religious liberty, and then intend to cancel the Iran deal, and finally move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. I will keep my word. My father fled Cuba, and I will fight to defend liberty because my family knows what it's like to lose it. +p2074 +asVTODD +p2075 +(lp2076 +VGood evening, and welcome to the +p2077 +aVAnd neither party has seen this yet. These candidates are both running for the Democratic nomination, but they are very different from each other when it comes to what matters most and how they would go about the job of being president. Our job tonight is to draw out those differences so you, the voters, can understand them and be fully informed. +p2078 +aVFirst, I want to say a special thanks to the New Hampshire Union Leader for helping make this debate possible, and the readers, who helped provide some of the questions and topics that we'll be addressing tonight. The rules tonight, by the way, are simple: 90 seconds for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. +p2079 +aVThank you, Senator. Secretary Clinton. +p2080 +aVAll right. Let's get started. Secretary Clinton, last night you cited the Concord Monitor when you said of Senator Sanders that, quote, "It's very hard to see how any of his proposals could ever be achievable." So please tell us why you think if he's elected president on a platform of promising things like free public college and universal healthcare, that he cannot achieve those things. +p2081 +aVThank you, Secretary. Senator Sanders, so just explain how you spent nearly two decades in Congress and haven't gotten any of these things passed. Why do you think as president you'll be able to achieve big, big new programs like this? +p2082 +aVGo. +p2083 +aVYes, go ahead. +p2084 +aVAll right, thank you both. Rachel. +p2085 +aVI'd like to follow up on a comment that Secretary Clinton said, Senator. President Obama has not called for abolishing the death penalty. President Obama is for the big Asian trade deal known as TPP, and just yesterday you said you can't be both a moderate or a progressive, but you can't be both. Is President Obama, in your judgment, based on these policies positions, a progressive? +p2086 +aV...Secretary Clinton, go ahead... +p2087 +aV 30 seconds, and then we'll move. +p2088 +aVThank you. +p2089 +aV... Secretary, we're gonna... +p2090 +aVThirty seconds. +p2091 +aVThank you both. +p2092 +aVAll right, welcome back. Let's get right to it. Senator Sanders, you were talking about all of your campaign contributions and campaign finance reform. You rail against big money in politics. But do you realize there is one public financing system that we do have in place, and it is\u2014it is in place to run for president. Why aren't you walking the walk on that? Why aren't you participating in the presidential public financing system which is designed to essentially keep big money out of presidential politics? +p2093 +aVWell, going on that then, why criticize her on Super PACs, and you got\u2014and all this when it is\u2014you know, that's the system? I mean, you could be participating in a publicly-financing\u2014public financing system... +p2094 +aV... and being able to set\u2014being able to set an example. +p2095 +aV... she has had more people praise her plan than yours. +p2096 +aVThank you both. Let me move on to our next question here, and in fact it comes to us through New England Cable News. Secretary Clinton, it's addressed to you, and it's about this issue of the speeches, particularly to Goldman Sachs. This is what the questioner wrote verbatim. "I am concerned with the abuses of Wall Street has taken with the American taxpayers money," and then she asks whether you would release the transcripts of your Goldman Sachs speeches, and then added, "Don't you think the voting public has a right to know what was said?" But, let's make that bigger. Are you willing to release the transcripts of all your paid speeches? We do know through reporting that there were transcription services for all of those paid speeches. In full disclosure, would you release all of them? +p2097 +aVSenator, you sound like you want to respond. Go ahead. +p2098 +aVWe'll be right back. And we're going to get to trade and a lot of other issues. +p2099 +aVGo ahead, Senator Sanders\u201430 seconds, your response. +p2100 +aVAll right. Senator, I want to stay, though... +p2101 +aVGo ahead. 30 seconds. +p2102 +aVLet me\u2014let\u2014we're gonna\u2014we're staying\u2014we're staying basically on this topic. Obviously you've been emphasizing this difference on the Iraq war, but one place where you do agree, and one place where you voted to authorize the use of force, was in favor of the war in Afghanistan. Right now, it is possible President Obama is going to be leaving the next president, perhaps President Sanders, at least 10,000 troops in Afghanistan. How long will those troops be in Afghanistan under President Sanders? +p2103 +aVCan you address a question on Afghanistan? How long are these troops going to be there? If President Obama leaves you 10,000 troops, how long do you think they're going to be there? +p2104 +aVSecretary Clinton, 30 seconds: How long are these troops going to be in Afghanistan? We have more American troops in Afghanistan than what we were talking about with Iraq. +p2105 +aVYou know, Senator Sanders, nobody knows who your foreign policy advisers are. You haven't given a major foreign policy speech. And it doesn't sound like all the time that foreign policy is a priority, other than when you're asked about it, and you say you're going to crush +p2106 +aVAll right, Senator, 30 seconds. +p2107 +aV30 seconds, madam secretary. +p2108 +aVAlright, as Commander in Chief, Senator Sanders, you've got to prioritize potential threats to the United States. Three countries, North Korea, Iran, Russia. How would you rank them in order of their threat to America's security right now... +p2109 +aV... Starting with the biggest threat. +p2110 +aV... I didn't say that... +p2111 +aV... No... +p2112 +aV... We already had that. I'm talking about these three countries. How would you orient our national security, our national defense posture. +p2113 +aVSecretary of Defense Ash Carter this week picked one of those three, and he has said Russia is, basically, the most important national security threat. Sort of reorienting the defense and the challenges to that. Do you agree with his decisions... +p2114 +aVSecretary Clinton, what do you think of Secretary of Defense Ash Carter. He's basically putting Russia above Iran, above North Korea, as sort of the chief national security challenge right now. +p2115 +aVThank you both, Rachel? +p2116 +aVAnd we are back. We're gonna get into a little bit of election politics, electability, in a little bit. Senator Sanders, The Iowa Democratic Party has declared Hillary Clinton the winner of Monday's Iowa caucuses\u2014narrowest of margins. Today, the Des Moines Register has an editorial that calls for the audit of the results, saying, quote, "what happened Monday night at the Democratic caucuses was a debacle, period. The results were too close not to do a complete audit." Senator Sanders, do you accept the idea that Hillary Clinton won Iowa? And do you\u2014or do you believe the caucuses are still an open question? +p2117 +aVSecretary Clinton, will you participate in some sort of audit, if that's what the party wants to do? You good with that? +p2118 +aVThat's fair enough. OK. +p2119 +aVGood, we move on. We're happy with that. We have more questions. +p2120 +aVWe'll stay on this issue. We'll stay on this topic. Secretary Clinton, just like there are some Democrats that question Senator Sanders' ability in the general election, many Democratic voters that our reporters have been running into in Iowa and New Hampshire, they tell our reporters over and over again they're worried about the emails issue, not because they don't believe your explanation, but because it's a drip-drip, because the cloud is hanging over your head and that it will impact the general election. They see your numbers right now and they think it's the email issue as to why you're not polling very well. So can you reassure these Democrats that somehow the email issue isn't going to blow up your candidacy if you're the nominee? +p2121 +aVAll right, Madam Secretary, there is an open\u2014there is an open FBI investigation into this matter about how you may have handled classified material. Are you 100 percent confident that nothing is going to come of this FBI investigation? +p2122 +aVWell, Senator sanders, you famously at the first debate said you didn't give a darn about her emails; I think you used another . +p2123 +aVYou're right. I'm trying to\u2014it's a\u2014it's a family hour still right now. After 11:00, I'll say it the other way. And you mostly have refrained from commenting on it, but recently you called it a very serious issue, and then the other day you said well she's getting slapped with the email controversy. Are you\u2014how are you feeling about these darn emails now? +p2124 +aVOK. Senator Sanders, thank you. +p2125 +aVSecretary Clinton, let me turn to the issue of trade. In the '90s you supported +p2126 +aVWell, Senator Sanders, I know you want to respond on this, you have never supported a trade deal since you've been in Congress. +p2127 +aVBut if you do that as president... If you do that as president, how are you not essentially letting China, who will do all of these deals around the world, how are you going to prevent China from essentially setting the rules of trade for the world? +p2128 +aVAll right. Thank you both. We're going to sneak in one more break here, and when we come back we'll squeeze as many questions as we can before we end this thing. We'll be right back. +p2129 +aVAll right. Welcome back here in the final minutes. +p2130 +aVThe home stretch of this only Democratic debate in the final week before the primary. Let me start with you, Secretary Clinton, on this question. Obviously, President Obama got a lot of ambitious stuff done in his first year and a half. You're going to have to make choices. And there's a lot of heavy lifts. And he made choices. He did healthcare and it came at the expense, arguably, of immigration reform. Had he put immigration reform first, perhaps that gets done and healthcare doesn't. So there are three big lifts that you've talked about: immigration, gun reform, climate change. What do you do first? Because you know the first one is the one you have the best shot at getting done. +p2131 +aVAll right, but Senator Sanders......you've still got to do something first. As you know, history said\u2014shows what you pick first is your best shot at getting, and how you prioritize things. +p2132 +aVImmigration reform, for instance, fell by the wayside in the first term because of this. +p2133 +aVOK. Thank you. +p2134 +aVAll right, before we go, I want to ask each one of these. Secretary Clinton, you've made it clear when you look at Senator Sanders, you do not see a president, but do you see\u2014 +p2135 +aVBut do you see\u2014do you see a vice president? +p2136 +aVWould you unite the party by trying to pick Senator Sanders as your running mate? +p2137 +aVSenator, would you consider the secretary? +p2138 +aVSecretary Clinton, closing statements. You are first. +p2139 +aVThank you, Madam Secretary. Senator Sanders. +p2140 +aVWell, there you have it. I promise you, Rachel and I have a lot more questions, but we just don't have any more time, unless we could a third hour, but I don't think so. Our debate coverage\u2014 debate coverage will continue in just a moment with our colleague . And we want to thank all of you for being here, and we want to thank the two candidates for taking part in this important event. +p2141 +aVWe'll see you in a few minutes. Thank you. +p2142 +asVHARWOOD +p2143 +(lp2144 +VMr. Trump, you've done very well in this campaign so far by promising to build a wall and make another country pay for it. +p2145 +aVSend 11 million people out of the country. Cut taxes $10 trillion without increasing the deficit. +p2146 +aVAnd make Americans better off because your greatness would replace the stupidity and incompetence of others. +p2147 +aVLet's be honest. Is this a comic book version of a presidential campaign? +p2148 +aVWe're at the 60 seconds. +p2149 +aVWe're at 60 seconds, but I gotta ask you, you talked about your tax plan. You say that it would not increase the deficit because you cut taxes $10 trillion in the economy would take off like... +p2150 +aVHold on, hold on. The economy would take off like a rocket ship. +p2151 +aVI talked to economic advisers who have served presidents of both parties. They said that you have as chance of cutting taxes that much without increasing the deficit as you would of flying away from that podium by flapping your arms. +p2152 +aVThe Tax Foundation says \u2014 has looked at all of our plans and \u2014 and his creates, even with the dynamic effect, $8 trillion dollar deficit... +p2153 +aVGovernor Kasich, hold it, I'm coming to you right now. The... +p2154 +aVWell, I'm asking you about this. +p2155 +aVI'm about to ask you about this. That is, you had some very strong words to say yesterday about what's happening in your party and what you're hearing from the two gentlemen we've just heard from. Would you repeat it? +p2156 +aVWell, let's just get more pointed about it. You said yesterday that you were hearing proposals that were just crazy from your colleagues. Who were you talking about? +p2157 +aVHold on. I think there's a \u2014 I've got question for \u2014 +p2158 +aVHold on, Governor. I've got a question for Governor Bush. +p2159 +aVNo, we're moving to Governor Bush. Governor, the fact that you're at the fifth lectern tonight shows how far your stock has fallen in this race, despite the big investment your donors have made. You noted recently, after slashing your payroll, that you had better things to do than sit around and be demonized by other people. I wanted to ask you \u2014 +p2160 +aVOK. +p2161 +aVGot it. +p2162 +aVBut it's a \u2014 OK. It's a \u2014 it's a question about why you're having difficulty. I want to ask you in this context. Ben Bernanke, who was appointed Fed chairman by your brother, recently wrote a book in which he said he no longer considers himself a Republican because the Republican Party has given in to know- nothingism. Is that why you're having a difficult time in this race? +p2163 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2164 +aVWe're gonna get down the line. Becky's got a question. +p2165 +aVSenator Paul, I've got a question for you on the same subject. +p2166 +aVSenator Paul? +p2167 +aVYou used your time on something else. Senator Paul? +p2168 +aVSenator Paul, the budget deal crafted by Speaker Boehner and passed by the House today makes cuts in entitlement programs, Medicare and Social Security disability, which are the very programs conservatives say need cutting to shrink government and solve our country's long-term budget deficit. Do you oppose that budget deal because it doesn't cut those programs enough? +p2169 +aVSenator, if what you just said is true, why did Speaker Boehner craft this deal and why did Paul Ryan, who has a strong reputation for fiscal discipline, vote for it? +p2170 +aVThank you, Senator . +p2171 +aVJim, thanks. Governor Bush, in a debate like this four years ago, every Republican running for president pledged to oppose a budget deal containing any tax increase even if it had spending cuts ten times as large. A few months later, you told Congress, put me in, coach, you said you would take that deal. Still feel that way? +p2172 +aVBut to \u2014 to the point that you made to Congress, if you were president and you were offered a bipartisan deal that had one dollar... +p2173 +aV...one dollar of tax increases per ten dollars of spending cuts, would you take it? +p2174 +aVSo you don't want the coach to put you in any more? +p2175 +aVThank you, governor. Carl? +p2176 +aVGovernor John Kasich, you've called for abolishing the Export Import Bank, which provides subsidies to help American companies compete with overseas competitors. You call that corporate welfare. One of the largest newspapers in your state wrote an editorial, said they found that strange, writing, that if that's corporate welfare, what does Kasich call the millions of dollars in financial incentives doled out to attract or retain jobs by his development effort \u2014 jobs Ohio. If subsidies are good enough for Ohio companies, why aren't they good enough for companies trying to compete overseas? +p2177 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2178 +aVThank you, Governor. Thank you. +p2179 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate on +p2180 +aVIt sounds like you think Senator Sessions is wrong to believe there is enough abuse in that program that we shouldn't... +p2181 +aVThank you, Senator. Becky? +p2182 +aVGovernor Bush, the tax reform bill that Ronald Reagan signed in 1986 cut the top personal income tax rate to 28 percent \u2014 just like your plan does. But President Reagan taxed capital gains at the same rate, while you would tax them at just 20 percent. Given the problems we've been discussing, growing gap between rich and poor, why would you tax labor at a higher rate than income from investments? +p2183 +aVSenator Rubio, 30 seconds to you. The Tax Foundation, which was alluded to earlier, scored your tax plan and concluded that you give nearly twice as much of a gain in after-tax income to the top 1 percent as to people in the middle of the income scale. Since you're the champion of Americans living paycheck-to- paycheck, don't you have that backward? +p2184 +aVThe Tax Foundation \u2014 just to be clear, they said the... +p2185 +aVNo, I did not. +p2186 +aVSenator, the Tax Foundation said after-tax income for the top 1 percent under your plan would go up 27.9 percent. +p2187 +aVAnd people in the middle of the income spectrum, about 15 percent. +p2188 +aV +p2189 +aVSenator, thank you. +p2190 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you've written about the huge divide in values between middle America and the big coastal cities like New York and Los Angeles. As a preacher as well as a politician, you know that presidents need the moral authority to bring the entire country together. The leading Republican candidate, when you look at the average of national polls right now, is Donald Trump. When you look at him, do you see someone with the moral authority to unite the country? +p2191 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2192 +aVThank you, Governor. Don't forget my colleague, Sharon Epperson. +p2193 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said something that many in your party do not believe, which is that climate change is undeniable, that human activity contributes to it, and you said, quote: "The question is, what do we do to deal with it?". So what do we do? +p2194 +aVWhat should we do? +p2195 +aVYou mean government? +p2196 +aVThank you, Governor. Becky. +p2197 +aVGovernor Bush, Mr. Trump says that he is capable of growing the economy so much that Social Security and Medicare don't have to be touched. Do you want to explain how that is going to happen, Mr. Trump? +p2198 +aVHold on, Governor. I've got a question for \u2014 for Dr. Carson. +p2199 +aVYes. You've said that you would like to replace Medicare with a system of individual family savings accounts, so that families could cover their own expenses. Obviously, that would be a very controversial idea. Explain how that would work, exactly. +p2200 +aVGovernor, do you also think that... +p2201 +aV...that Dr. Carson's right, that we can replace Medicare with individual savings accounts? +p2202 +aVMrs. Fiorina, we're right at the end of our time. +p2203 +aVYou all wanted us to limit . All right. Go ahead. +p2204 +aVWe have now reached the point in the program where candidates are going to give their closing statements, 30 seconds apiece. We're going to go right to left and start with you, Senator Paul. +p2205 +aVGovernor Christie? +p2206 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Cruz? +p2207 +aVThank you, Senator. Mrs. Fiorina? +p2208 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Dr. Carson? +p2209 +aVMr. Trump? +p2210 +aVJust for the record, the debate was always going to be two hours. Senator Rubio? +p2211 +aVSenator Rubio. +p2212 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Bush? +p2213 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Huckabee. +p2214 +aVThank you... +p2215 +aVGovernor Kasich? +p2216 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2217 +aVWe're going to pose this question to all candidates and go left to right, starting with Governor Jindal. Governor, a majority of Republican voters at this point in the campaign have made clear that they prefer someone from outside the political system. In 30 seconds, tell us why your experience inside the system would be more valuable than the fresh eyes an outsider would bring. +p2218 +aVThanks, Governor Jindal. Senator Santorum? +p2219 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Pataki? +p2220 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Graham. +p2221 +aVSenator Graham, thank you very much. Becky? +p2222 +aVJust hold on, Governor Pataki, we're going to go to Senator Graham on this question because we believe you are likely to be the only person on this stage tonight who supports this budget deal. Now, you just heard Governor Jindal say that it's a phony deal, it doesn't do anything, and people like you are surrendering rather than fighting by supporting it. Why is he wrong? +p2223 +aVThank you, Senator Graham... +p2224 +aV...Governor, we're going to get to you in just a moment, we're going to try to keep this shorter... +p2225 +aVGovernor Jindal, a question about fiscal policy, especially since you noted that this deal doesn't solve the long-term debt situation. When you came into office with a budget surplus in the state of Louisiana, now, years later, the state legislature faced a $1.6 billion budget gap and the Republican state treasurer called one of your approaches to that problem "nonsense on a stick," quoting him. Are you going to do for the federal budget what you did for the Louisiana budget? +p2226 +aVBut Governor Jindal, as you know, many Republicans are opposed to the approach that you've taken in Louisiana. They complain that you have tried so hard to avoid anything that could be called a tax increase so that you could run for president saying you'd never raised taxes, David Vitter, the Republican who's now running to succeed you, has told voters, I won't be like Jindal, I'm not using the governorship as a stepping stone to higher office. +p2227 +aVGovernor Jindal, thank you. +p2228 +aVWe're going to take a quick break. The Republican presidential debate continues live from Boulder, Colorado in a moment. +p2229 +aVGovernor Jindal, Senator Santorum just raised the issue of corporate taxes, and cutting corporate taxes is very popular in your party because our rate, at 35 percent, is one of the highest in the world. But nobody has figured out how to identify a set of loopholes that would allow that tax rate to be lowered. So can you tell us specifically what loopholes you'd do away with? +p2230 +aVWe're talking corporate taxes. +p2231 +aVThanks, Governor. Becky? +p2232 +aVSo the tax credit right now that we have for domestic manufacturing, which manufacturers say is... +p2233 +aV...important, you would get rid of that? +p2234 +aVSenator Graham, Americans have gotten used to seeing headlines about more and more big corporations relocating overseas to cut their tax bill. Now, many in Washington think the way to stop that is to lower our corporate tax rate. But as we've seen, tax reform takes time. It hasn't happened yet. In the meantime, do you fault those companies for leaving? Do companies owe anything to their country, as well as their shareholders? +p2235 +aVSenator Graham. +p2236 +aVI want to remind candidates, you've got a one-minute limit on the \u2014 on the response. But I just want to follow up, Senator Graham. Four years ago, the nominee of your party said that corporations are people, too. If that is true, the question is, do they owe any obligation to the country? +p2237 +aVSenator Graham \u2014 +p2238 +aV\u2014 thank you very much. +p2239 +aVWe're moving on. +p2240 +aVSenator, we're moving on. I'd like to bring on my colleague, Rick Santelli \u2014 Rick. +p2241 +aVSenator, that \u2014 I mean, Governor, if that's true, why was our economy limping six years ago and now it's the strongest in the world? +p2242 +aVGovernor Pataki, you've indicated you believe climate change is real and caused at least in part by human activity. So, in 60 seconds, tell us what the federal government should do about it. +p2243 +aVIs there a role for government? +p2244 +aVSo, subsidies for those programs? For \u2014 for those alternative energy sources? +p2245 +aVThank you, Governor. Thank you, Governor. Carl? +p2246 +aVGovernor, if you cut spending and cut government so much, why did your legislature have such a big deficit? +p2247 +aVNo, we're going to move on. I'm going to bring on my colleague Sharon Epperson. +p2248 +aVAnd thank you, Sharon. This is the Republican Presidential Debate, live from Boulder, Colorado. We'll be right back. +p2249 +aVOK, now we're at the point of the evening where we're just about to give our candidates a holiday from this debate, but not before they tell us in 30 seconds their closing statements. Senator Graham, you're first. +p2250 +aVSenator Graham... +p2251 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. Governor Pataki? +p2252 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum? +p2253 +aVSenator Santorum, thank you. Governor Jindal? +p2254 +aVGovernor Jindal, thank you very much. Carl? +p2255 +asVPAUL +p2256 +(lp2257 +VThe question is, how do we keep America safe from terrorism? Trump says we ought to close that Internet thing. The question really is, what does he mean by that? Like they do in North Korea? Like they do in China? Rubio says we should collect all Americans' records all of the time. The Constitution says otherwise. I think they're both wrong. I think we defeat terrorism by showing them that we do not fear them. I think if we ban certain religions, if we censor the Internet, I think that at that point the terrorists will have won. Regime change hasn't won. Toppling secular dictators in the Middle East has only led to chaos and the rise of radical Islam. I think if we want to defeat terrorism, I think if we truly are sincere about defeating terrorism, we need to quit arming the allies of +p2258 +aVYou know, I think Marco gets it completely wrong. We are not any safer through the bulk collection of all Americans' records. In fact, I think we're less safe. We get so distracted by all of the information, we're not spending enough time getting specific immigration \u2014 specific information on terrorists. The other thing is, is the one thing that might have stopped San Bernardino, that might have stopped 9/11 would have been stricter controls on those who came here. And Marco has opposed at every point increased security \u2014 border security for those who come to our country. On his Gang of Eight bill, he would have liberalized immigration, but he did not \u2014 and he steadfastly opposed any new border security requirements for refugees or students. Last week, I introduced another bill saying we need more security, we need more scrutiny. Once again, Marco opposed this. So Marco can't have it both ways. He thinks he wants to be this, "Oh, I'm great and strong on national defense." But he's the weakest of all the candidates on immigration. He is the one for an open border that is leaving us defenseless. If we want to defend the country, we have to defend against who's coming in, and Marco is \u2014 has more of an allegiance to Chuck Schumer and to the liberals than he does to conservative policy. +p2259 +aVIf I was mentioned in the question, can I respond? +p2260 +aVMarco still misunderstands the immigration issue. What I put forward was an amendment that would have temporarily halted immigration from high-risk terrorist countries, but would have started it up, but I wanted them to go through Global Entry, which is a program where we do background checks. The thing is, is that every terrorist attack we've had since 9/11 has been legal immigration. Marco wants to expand that. I want more rules, more scrutiny, and to defend the country, you have to defend the border. +p2261 +aVWolf... +p2262 +aVWolf, this legislation... +p2263 +aVThis legislation on indefinite detention... +p2264 +aV... I think deserves a little more attention. +p2265 +aVI think that by arming the allies of +p2266 +aVI think that if you believe in regime change, you're mistaken. In 2013, we put 600 tons of weapons \u2014 us, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar \u2014 into the war against Assad. By pushing Assad back, we did create a safe space. We had people coming to our Foreign Relations Committee and saying, "Oh, we need to arm the allies of Al Qaida." They are still saying this. It is a crazy notion. This is the biggest debate we should be having tonight is is regime change a good idea; has it been a good idea. There are still people \u2014 the majority on the stage, they want to topple Assad. And then there will be chaos, and I think +p2267 +aVThese are the fundamental questions of our time, these foreign policy questions, whether or not regime change is a good idea or a bad idea. I don't think because I think the regime change was a bad idea it means that Hussein was necessarily a good idea. There is often variations of evil on both sides of the war. What we have to decide is whether or not regime change is a good idea. It's what the neoconservatives have wanted. It's what the vast majority of those on the stage want. They still want regime change. They want it in Syria. They wanted it in Iraq. They want it in Libya. It has not worked. Out of regime change you get chaos. From the chaos you have seen repeatedly the rise of radical Islam. So we get this profession of, oh, my goodness, they want to do something about terrorism and yet they're the problem because they allow terrorism to arise out of that chaos. +p2268 +aVNo, I think it's a huge mistake. I think regime change in Syria, and this is what \u2014 I've been saying this for several years now. In 2013 when we first went in, I said, you are going to give arms to the allies of al Qaida, to radical jihadists? That's crazy. But the other thing I said is the great irony is you will be back fighting against your own weapons. Had Assad been bombed when he used chemical weapons two years ago, +p2269 +aVWell, I think if you're in favor of World War III, you have your candidate. You know, here's...... the thing. My goodness, what we want in a leader is someone with judgment, not someone who is so reckless as to stand on the stage and say, "Yes, I'm jumping up and down; I'm going to shoot down Russian planes." Russia already flies in that airspace. It may not be something we're in love with the fact that they're there, but they were invited by Iraq and by Syria to fly in that airspace. And so if we announce we're going to have a no-fly zone, and others have said this. Hillary Clinton is also for it. It is a recipe for disaster. It's a recipe for World War III. We need to confront Russia from a position of strength, but we don't need to confront Russia from a point of recklessness that would lead to war. This is something \u2014 this type of judgment, you know, it's having that kind of judgment; who you would appoint and how you're going to conduct affairs, that is incredibly important. I mean, I think when we think about the judgment of someone who might want World War III, we might think about someone who might shut down a bridge because they don't like their friends; they don't want to \u2014 you know, they want to a Democrat. So I think we need to be very careful. +p2270 +aVYou know, I think we need to set the record straight on this, because I think Marco misspoke about the bill. On the Gang of Eight bill, there was no provisions really for extra scrutiny or safety for refugees. At the time the bill came up, two Iraqi refugees came to my home town, Bowling Green, Kentucky. Their fingerprints were on a bomb from Iraq. They were in the database, but we didn't pick them up. We relocated them here, put them in government housing, got them on food stamps. And we began providing for them, but we didn't have adequate security. On the Gang of Eight bill, on Marco's bill, we had an opportunity. There was a conservative consensus for an amendment I put forward called Trust, But Verify that would have strengthened border security on both refugees, students and those coming here. And Marco sided and I guess was more sympathetic to Chuck Schumer and to the president than he was to conservative principles. But this goes directly to national defense. And if he wants to run as a national \u2014 national defense conservative, he's got to explain why he hasn't stepped up to support border security. +p2271 +aVWhat my bill would do would be only for refugees going forward. So I haven't taken a position on sending anyone home. But I have taken the position that we have a lot of problems here in our country. And that one of the things that we do \u2014 charity is about giving your own money. Charity isn't giving someone else's money. To put everyone in government housing and food stamps and bring them in from around the world I think is a mistake. To give of your own money, I've given to my church. My church has helped people that came from Bosnia. That's a good thing. But we shouldn't have a program where we just say that we're going to take care of the world's refugees. Nobody in the Middle East is doing anything. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait \u2014 all the Gulf nations are doing nothing. They need to step up and take... +p2272 +aVThe greatest threat to our national security is our debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. And whose fault is it? Well, frankly, it's both parties' fault. You have those on the right who clamor and say, oh, we will spend anything on the military, and those on the left who say the same for domestic welfare. But what most Americans don't realize is there is an unholy alliance. They come together. There's a secret handshake. We spend more money on everything. And we are not stronger nation if we go further into debt. We are not projecting power from bankruptcy court. To me, there is no greater threat than our debt. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage because I'm willing to hold the line on all spending. I hope you will consider me in the election. Thank you very much. +p2273 +aVAbsolutely. And I think that we ought to look where income inequality seems to be the worst. It seems to be worst in cities run by Democrats, governors of... States run by Democrats and countries currently run by Democrats. So the thing is, let's look for root causes. But I would also say \u2014 lay some blame at the \u2014 the feet of the Federal Reserve. I think the Federal Reserve has made this problem worse. By artificially keeping interest rates below the market rate, average ordinary citizens have a tough time earning interest, have a tough time making money. They're actually talking now about negative interest. The money as it's created through quantitative easing or other means tends to start out in the big banks in New York. And because we're now paying interest for them to keep the money there, much of that money has not filtered out into the economy. So what we're finding is there is increasing income disparity and income inequality. We also find that as the Federal Reserve destroys the value of the currency, what you're finding is that, if you're poor, if you make $20,000 a year and you have three or four kids, and you're trying to get by, as your prices rise or as the value of the dollar shrinks, these are the people that are hurt the worst. So really we need to reexamine whether we not \u2014 we want a Federal Reserve that's involved so much in determining interest rates. We also need to look at root causes as to what caused the housing boom and the housing collapse. But the bottom line is, if you want less income inequality, move to a city with a Republican mayor or a state with a Republican governor. +p2274 +aVWell, it's a great question, Neil, and thanks for including me in the tax debate. I think what's important about the tax debate is, is that we have to ask the question, where is money best spent, in the private sector or in the government sector? I want a government really, really small, so small you can barely see it. So I want lower taxes and much more money in the private sector. My tax plan, however, is the only tax plan among any of the candidates on the stage that is part of a balanced budget plan. I put forward three plans that actually balance the budget over a five-year period. Each of these plans have details on exactly where we would cut. The question came up earlier, where would you cut? Nobody likes to say where they would cut. I've put pencil to paper and done three budgets that actually balance. I'm also in favor of a plan called the penny plan where we'd just cut 1 percent across the board and the budget actually balances in less than five years. So I think what is extraordinary about my tax plan is it is in the context of balancing the budget. What is also extraordinary about my tax plan is it gets rid of the payroll tax. Democrats demagogue this issue to death, and when they do they say, oh, a millionaire would get a bigger tax cut than someone making $10,000. That's proportionality, as Ben is trying to explain to folks. But the thing is, is if we get rid of the payroll tax, everybody is going to get a tax cut. And this is something that I think the public at large will support and could win an election. +p2275 +aVOurs is 14.5 percent for corporations, 14.5 percent for individuals. No payroll tax for the employee. The business tax pays for social security, and there would be two remaining deductions \u2014 home mortgage and charity. +p2276 +aVThank you. +p2277 +aVNeil, there's a point I'd like to make here... ....Neil, a point that I'd like to make about the tax credits. We have to decide what is conservative and what isn't conservative. Is it fiscally conservative to have a trillion-dollar expenditure? We're not talking about giving people back their tax money. He's talking about giving people money they didn't pay. It's a welfare transfer payment. So here's what we have. Is it conservative to have $1 trillion in transfer payments \u2014 a new welfare program that's a refundable tax credit? Add that to Marco's plan for $1 trillion in new military spending, and you get something that looks, to me, not very conservative. Thank you. +p2278 +aVNevertheless, it's not very conservative, Marco. +p2279 +aVHow is it conservative? +p2280 +aVYeah, but, Marco! Marco! How is it conservative, how is it conservative to add a trillion-dollar expenditure for the federal government that you're not paying for? +p2281 +aVHow is it conservative? +p2282 +aVHow is it conservative to add a trillion dollars in military expenditures? You can not be a conservative if you're going to keep promoting new programs that you're not going to pay for. +p2283 +aVNo. I don't think we're any safer \u2014 I do not think we are any safer from bankruptcy court. As we go further, and further into debt, we become less, and less safe. This is the most important thing we're going to talk about tonight. Can you be a conservative, and be liberal on military spending? Can you be for unlimited military spending, and say, Oh, I'm going to make the country safe? No, we need a safe country, but, you know, we spend more on our military than the next ten countries combined? I want a strong national defense, but I don't want us to be bankrupt. +p2284 +aVHey, Gerard, you know, we might want to point out China is not part of this deal. +p2285 +aVBefore we get a little bit off-kilter here... +p2286 +aVThere is an argument that China doesn't like the deal, because in us doing the deal, we'll be trading with their competitors. You're exactly right. But I think we've sort of missed the point a little bit here. There is an important point, though, about how we discuss these trade treaties that I do agree with Mr. Trump on. We should negotiate from a position of strength. And we also should negotiate using the full force and the constitutional power that was given to us. I think it's a mistake that we give up power to the presidency on these trade deals. We give up the power to filibuster, and I'm kind of fond of that power. We give up the power to amend. And I think, really, one of the big problems we have in our country is, over the last century, really, so much power has gravitated to the executive branch. Really, Congress is kind of a bystander. We don't write the rules. We don't make the laws. The executive branch does. So even in trade \u2014 and I am for trade \u2014 I think we should be careful about giving so much power to the presidency. +p2287 +aVI'd like first to respond to the acquisition, we should \u2014 I think it's particularly naive, particularly foolish to think that we're not going to talk to Russia. The idea of a no fly zone, realize that this is also something that Hillary Clinton agrees with several on our side with, you're asking for a no fly zone in an area in which Russia already flies. Russia flies in that zone at the invitation of Iraq. I'm not saying it's a good thing, but you better know at least what we're getting into. So, when you think it's going to be a good idea to have a no fly zone over Iraq, realize that means you are saying we are going to shoot down Russian planes. If you're ready for that, be ready to send your sons and daughters to another war in Iraq. I don't want to see that happen. I think the first war in Iraq was a mistake... You can be strong without being involved in every civil war around the war... +p2288 +aVRonald Reagan was strong, but Ronald Reagan didn't... +p2289 +aV...send troops into the Middle East... +p2290 +aV...Can I finish... +p2291 +aV...Can I finish my time? Could I finish with my time? +p2292 +aVYes, I would like to finish my response, basically. +p2293 +aVThis is an important question. This is an incredibly important question. And the question goes to be, who do we want to be our commander-in-chief? Do you want a commander-in-chief who says something that we never did throughout the entire Cold War, to discontinue having conversations with the Russians? I am not happy about them flying over there. But I'm not naive enough to say, well, Iraq has them flying over their airspace, we're just going to announce that we're shooting them down? That is naive to the point of being something you might hear in junior high. But it's scary... +p2294 +aVThe first thing I would do is I wouldn't arm our enemies. I wouldn't arm +p2295 +aVGerard, can I comment... +p2296 +aVThe first thing I would do as president is repeal the regulations that are hampering our energy that the President has put in place. Including the Clean Power Act. While I do think that man may have a role in our climate, I think nature also has a role. The planet's 4.5 billion years old, we've been through geologic age after geologic age. We've had times when the temperatures been warmer, we've had times when the temperatures been colder. We've had times when the carbon in the atmosphere's been higher. So, I think before we \u2014 we need to look before we leap. President's often fond of saying he wants a balance solution, but, really we do need to balance both keeping the environment clean, and we will have some rules for that. We got to balance that with the economy. He's devastated my state. I say the President's not only destroying Kentucky, he's destroying the democrat party down there because nobody wants to associate with him. So, what we really need is somebody that understands that we do need energy of all forms, and that means we will have solar, and wind, and hydro, but we will still have coal, and we still will have natural gas. And, we've got to have an all of the above policy. But, it would be a mistake to shut down all of our industries in the coal fields, and shut down the coal power plants. If we did so we're going to have a day where we wake up and some of our big cities are either very cold, or very hot. So, I think it's a big danger, and we shouldn't do it. And, what we should do is say we want all of the above... ...We want to free up the energy sector, and let people produce, let them drill, let them explore. +p2297 +aVWe're the richest, freest, most humanitarian nation in the history of mankind. But we also borrow a million dollars a minute. And the question I have for all Americans is, think about it, can you be a fiscal conservative if you don't conserve all of the money? If you're a profligate spender, you spend money in an unlimited fashion for the military, is that a conservative notion? We have to be conservative with all spending, domestic spending and welfare spending. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage. +p2298 +aVYou know, I left my medical practice and ran for office because I was concerned about an $18 trillion debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. Now, on the floor of the Congress, the Washington establishment from both parties puts forward a bill that will explode the deficit. It allows President Obama to borrow unlimited amounts of money. I will stand firm. I will spend every ounce of energy to stop it. I will begin tomorrow to filibuster it. And I ask everyone in America to call Congress tomorrow and say enough is enough; no more debt. +p2299 +aVNo, I oppose it because you're taking money from the entitlement and then spending it immediately on other items. That's what they're doing. They're taking money from Social Security and they're going to spend it on the military and they're going to spend it on domestic spending. Here's the thing. When you look at raising the debt limit, it should be leverage to try to reform government. In 2011, the sequester was passed as a reform to slow down the rate of government. Instead, the Washington establishment raised both. We raised the military spending, took from entitlements, and raised domestic spending and the deficit will explode under this. This is the unholy alliance that people need to know about between right and left. Right and left are spending us into oblivion. We should use the debt ceiling, as precisely to Don, to force upon them budgetary reforms. +p2300 +aVWell, that's a real question. Is there going to be any change in the House with new leadership? I frankly don't think there will be much change because I think what's going to happen is you're going to get more of the same. People in Washington think they were sent there to be adults and govern and do all this. Well, you know what I'm worried about? Not keeping the government open. I'm worried about bankrupting the American people. We're borrowing a million dollars a minute. That is important. And that's what we have to contrast. Keeping the government open and continuing to borrow a million dollars a minute. +p2301 +aVWell, thank you very much. I would like to thank Ted for co-sponsoring my bill, audit the Fed. And I think it's precisely because of the arrogance of someone like Ben Bernanke, who now calls us all know-nothings, that is precisely why we need audit the Fed. I think it is really very much a huge problem that an organization as powerful as the Fed comes in, lobbies against them being audited on the Hill. I would prevent them lobbying Congress. I don't think the Fed should be involved with lobbying us. I think we should examine how the Fed has really been part of the problem. You want to study income inequality, let's bring the Fed forward and talk about Fed policy and how it causes income inequality. Let's also bring the Fed forward and have them explain how they caused the housing boom and the crisis, and what they've done to make us better or worse. I think the Fed has been a great problem in our society. What you need to do is free up interest rates. Interest rates are the price of money, and we shouldn't have price controls on the price of money. +p2302 +aV...John... +p2303 +aVJohn, I'd like to address this? John, could I follow up on this? +p2304 +aVWhat are the rules on who gets to follow up. How do we decide on who gets to follow up? I've seen plenty of other people follow up? +p2305 +aVI'd like to just mention something about my tax plan, and how it relates to the discussion... +p2306 +aVAlright. Much of the discussion is centered over whether or not the different tax plans help, or affect the middle class. In fact, it's the chief argument by democrats against many of the different flat tax proposals. Mine is unique in the sense that my tax plan actually gets rid of the payroll tax as well. It shifts it to the business, and it would allow middle class people to get a tax cut. If you just cut their income tax, there isn't much income tax to cut. Mine actually cuts the payroll tax, and I think it would spread the tax cut across all socioeconomic levels, and would allow then it to be something that would be broadly supported by the public in an election. +p2307 +aVThe question always is, what works better, the private marketplace or government? And what distributes goods better? It always seems to be the private marketplace does a better job. Is there an area for a safety net? Can you have Medicare or Social Security? Yes. But you ought to acknowledge the government doesn't do a very good job at it. The main problem with Medicare right now is that the average person pays in taxes over their whole lifetime about $100,000. But the average person takes out about $350,000. We have this enormous mismatch because we have smaller and smaller families. When people ask me, whose fault is it? Whose fault is it that Medicare is broken, out of money, that Social Security is broken, out of money? And I say, look, it's not Republicans' fault, it's not Democrats' fault, it's your grandparents' fault for having too many damn kids. After the war we had all of these kids, Baby Boomers. Now we're having smaller families. We used to have 16 workers for one retiree, now you have three workers for one retiree. It's not working. I have a bill to fix Medicare. I've a bill to fix Social Security. For both of them you have to gradually raise the age. If you're not willing to do that, nobody wants to do it, but if you're not willing to gradually raise the age, you're not serious about fixing either one of them. +p2308 +aVSay again? +p2309 +aVYou can't do nothing. And that's what I hear from some people, "we'll do nothing and it will just be fixed." That's absurd, and I think people who don't want to fix it, really, or unwilling to take the chance to say, "something has to change," are missing the boat here. The age will have to gradually rise, there is no question. It's the only way you fix Medicare, the only way you fix Social Security. You will also have to means-test the benefits and declare there's not enough money. It isn't "I put money in, I'm getting it back." There is no money, it's a stack of paper. There is no money in the Social Security account. There is no money in the Medicare account. There's only a promise to pay by the next generation, and the next generation's not big enough to pay it. [ +p2310 +aVLiberty thrives when government is small. I want a government so small I can barely see it. I want a government so small that the individual has a chance to thrive and prosper. I think, though, government is too big now. And what you're going to see in Washington this week is establishment Republicans have made an agreement with the president to raise the debt ceiling in an unlimited fashion; no limit to the debt ceiling raise. This is extraordinary. It's extraordinarily wrong. You'll see me on the floor of the Senate tomorrow filibustering this and saying enough is enough, no more debt. +p2311 +aVGood evening, everyone. I'm an eye surgeon from Bowling Green, Kentucky. My wife, Kelly, and I have been married for nearly 25 years, and I spend my days defending the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I think there's nothing more important than understanding that the Constitution restrains government, not the people. Thank you. +p2312 +aVI kind of have to laugh when I think of, "Mmm, sounds like a non sequitur." He was asked whether or not he would be capable and it would be in good hands to be in charge of the nuclear weapons, and all of a sudden, there's a sideways attack at me. I think that really goes to really the judgment. Do we want someone with that kind of character, that kind of careless language to be negotiating with Putin? Do we want someone like that to be negotiating with Iran? I think really there's a sophomoric quality that is entertaining about Mr. Trump, but I am worried. I'm very concerned about him \u2014 having him in charge of the nuclear weapons, because I think his response, his \u2014 his visceral response to attack people on their appearance \u2014 short, tall, fat, ugly \u2014 my goodness, that happened in junior high. Are we not way above that? Would we not all be worried to have someone like that in charge of the nuclear arsenal? +p2313 +aVI think this goes back to essentially what we've been saying for the last two or three questions. Carly Fiorina also said we're not going to talk with Putin. Well, think if Reagan had said that during the Cold War? We continued to talk with the Russians throughout the Cold War which is much more significant that where we are now. Should we continue to talk with Iran? Yes. Should we cut up the agreement immediately? That's absurd. Wouldn't you want to know if they complied? Now, I'm going to vote against the agreement because I don't think there's significant leverage, but it doesn't mean that I would immediately not look at the agreement, and cut it up without looking to see if whether or not Iran has complied. The same goes with China. I don't think we need to be rash, I don't think we need to be reckless, and I think need to leave lines of communication open. Often we talk about whether we should be engaged in the world, or disengaged in the world, and I think this is an example of some who want to isolate us, actually, and not be engaged. We do need to be engaged with Russia. It doesn't mean we give them a free pass, or China a free pass, but, to be engaged, to continue to talk. We did throughout the Cold War, and it would be a big mistake not to do it here. +p2314 +aVI think this gets to the point of wisdom on when to intervene and when we shouldn't. Had we bombed Assad at the time, like President Obama wanted, and like Hillary Clinton wanted and many Republicans wanted, I think +p2315 +aVWell, I hate to say it, but Donald Trump has a bit of a point here. The case that was decided around 1900 was, people had a green card, were here legally, and they said that their children were citizens. There's never been a direct Supreme Court case on people who were here illegally, whether or not their kids are citizens. So it hasn't really been completely adjudicated. The 14th Amendment says that "those who are here and under the jurisdiction." The original author of the \u2014 of the 14th Amendment said on the Senate floor that this was applying to slaves, and did not specifically apply to others. +p2316 +aVWell, I'm glad we're having a discussion about taxes because everybody laments that we lose jobs overseas, we have. Our companies, and our jobs are being chased overseas by a 70,000 page tax code, so, that's why I've chosen to get rid of the whole thing, and have one single rate, 14 and a-half percent for everybody, business, and for corporate income, and personal income. But, we also get rid of the payroll tax, so the working class would get a tax break as well. So, I think a flat tax, eliminating the tax code, getting rid of all the loopholes, is the way to go, and it's the way we get America going again. +p2317 +aVHugh, can I \u2014 can I make a response to that? +p2318 +aVCan I make a response to that? +p2319 +aVMay I make a response to that? +p2320 +aVHe's referred to me. +p2321 +aVHe's referred to me... +p2322 +aV... in his remarks. May I make a response? +p2323 +aVAbsolutely. Go ahead. +p2324 +aVMay I respond? +p2325 +aVThe remark was made that there hadn't been anyone else on the podium opposed to the Iraq War. I've made my career as being an opponent of the Iraq War. I was opposed to the Syria war. I was opposed to arming people who are our enemies. Iran is now stronger because Hussein is gone. Hussein was the great bulwark and counterbalance to the Iranians. So when we complain about the Iranians, you need to remember that the Iraq War made it worse. Originally, Governor Bush was asked, was the Iraq War a mistake, and he said, "No. We'd do it again." We have to learn sometimes the interventions backfire. The Iraq War backfired and did not help us. We're still paying the repercussions of a bad decision. +p2326 +aVWe have make the decision now in Syria, should we topple Assad? Many up here wanted to topple Assad, and it's like \u2014 I said no, because if you do... +p2327 +aV... +p2328 +aVIf you want boots on the ground, and you want them to be our sons and daughters, you got 14 other choices. There will always be a Bush or Clinton for you, if you want to go back to war in Iraq. But the thing is, the first war was a mistake. And I'm not sending our sons and our daughters back to Iraq. The war didn't work. We can amplify those who live there. The Kurds deserve to be armed and I'll arm them. We can use our Air Force to amplify the forces there. But the boots on the ground need to be the people who live there. My goodness, I'm still upset with the Saudi Arabians for everything they do over there. They've funded the arms that went to the jihadists. They're not accepting any of the people, any of the migrants that have been \u2014 the refugees that are being pushed out of Syria. Saudi Arabia is not accepting one. Why are we always the world's patsies that we have to go over there and fight their wars for them? They need to fight their wars, we need to defend American interests, but it is not in America's national security interests to have another war in Iraq. +p2329 +aVI think one of the great problems, and what American people don't like about politics, is hypocrisy. People have one standard for others and not for them \u2014 for themselves. There is at least one prominent example on the stage of someone who says they smoked pot in high school, and yet the people going to \u2014 to jail for this are poor people, often African-Americans and often Hispanics, and yet the rich kids who use drugs aren't. I personally think that this is a crime for which the only victim is the individual, and I think that America has to take a different attitude. I would like to see more rehabilitation and less incarceration. I'm a fan of the drug courts which try to direct you back towards work and less time in jail. But the bottom line is the states. We say we like the 10th Amendment, until we start talking about this. And I think the federal government has gone too far, I think that the war on drugs has had a racial outcome, and really has been something that has really damaged our inner cities. Not only do the drugs damage them, we damage them again by incarcerating them and then preventing them from getting employment over time. So I don't think that the federal government should override the states. I believe in the 10th Amendment and I really will say that the states are left to themselves. +p2330 +aVWell, I think if we left it open, we could see how many people smoked pot in high school. +p2331 +aVWell, you know, the thing is that... +p2332 +aVYeah, I was talking about \u2014 well, let me... +p2333 +aVBut let me respond. The thing is, is that in Florida, Governor Bush campaigned against medical marijuana. That means that a small child like Morgan Hintz (ph) that has seizures is day, is failing on non-traditional medications, is not allowed to use cannabis oil. And if they do that in Florida, they will take the child away, they will put the parents in jail. And that's what that means if you're against allowing people use medical marijuana, you'll actually put them in jail. +p2334 +aVAnd actually, under the current circumstances, kids who had privilege like you do, don't go to jail, but the poor kids in our inner cities go to jail. I don't think that's fair. And I think we need to acknowledge it, and it is hypocritical to still want to put poor people in jail... +p2335 +aVWell, you vote \u2014 you oppose medical marijuana... +p2336 +aVBut that means you'll put people in jail. +p2337 +aVMay I respond? +p2338 +aVUnderstand what they're saying. if they're going to say we are going to enforce the federal law against what the state law is, they aren't really believing in the Tenth Amendment. Governor Christie would go into Colorado, and if you're breaking any federal law on marijuana, even though the state law allows it, he would put you in jail. If a young mother is trying to give her child cannabis oil for medical marijuana for seizure treatment, he would put her in jail, if it violates federal law. I would let Colorado do what the Tenth Amendment says. This power \u2014 we were never intended to have crime dealing at the federal level. Crime was supposed to be left to the states. Colorado has made their decision. And I don't want the federal government interfering and putting moms in jail, who are trying to get medicine for their kid... +p2339 +aVMay I respond? May I respond? +p2340 +aVHere is the thing, he doesn't want to make it about medical marijuana, but what if New Jersey's medical marijuana contradicts the federal law? He's saying he'll send the federal government in, and he will enforce the federal law. That's not consistent with the Tenth Amendment. It is not consistent with states' rights. And it is not consistent with the conservative vision for the country. I don't think we should be sending the federal police in to arrest a mother and separate them from their child for giving a medicine to their child for seizures. +p2341 +aVIf you want a skeptic \u2014 if you want a skeptic, Jake, I will happily jump into that briar patch. If you want a real... +p2342 +aVA second opinion? One of the greatest \u2014 one of the greatest medical discoveries of all times was \u2014 were the vaccines, particularly for smallpox. And if you want to read a story, it's called The Speckled Monster, it's an amazing story, it was all done voluntary. But people came in by the droves. George Washington wouldn't let his wife visit until she got vaccinated. So I'm all for vaccines. But I'm also for freedom. I'm also a little concerned about how they're bunched up. My kids had all of their vaccines, and even if the science doesn't say bunching them up is a problem, I ought to have the right to spread out my vaccines out a little bit at the very least. +p2343 +aVOoh, that's a tough one. You know, I'm big on \u2014 that we were \u2014 and I love what Carly said about women's suffrage. I think Susan B. Anthony might be a good choice. +p2344 +aVJustice Never Sleeps. +p2345 +aVI met Ronald Reagan as a teenager, and my family, we're big supporters of him when he ran against Gerald Ford. It was a big deal because he was the grassroots, running against the establishment, and I'll never forget that. And, how he stood up and said, you know what, this is something new that our country needs, and our party needs. If I were president, I would try to be one who says, you know what, I'm a Reagan Conservative. I'm someone who believes in peace through strength, and I would try to lead the country in that way knowing that our goal is peace, and that war is the last resort, not the first resort. And, that when we go to war, we go to war in a constitutional way, which means that we have to vote on it, that war is initiated by congress, not by the president, that we go to war electively (ph). That when we go to war, we don't fight with one arm tied behind our back, we fight all out to win, but then we come home. +p2346 +aVThis is what's wrong! +p2347 +aVI mean, this is what's wrong. He buys and sells politicians of all stripes, he's already... +p2348 +aVHey, look, look! He's already hedging his bet on the Clintons, OK? So if he doesn't run as a Republican, maybe he supports Clinton, or maybe he runs as an independent... +p2349 +aV...but I'd say that he's already hedging his bets because he's used to buying politicians. +p2350 +aVFirst of all, only +p2351 +aVMegyn, may I respond? May I respond? +p2352 +aVI want to collect more records from terrorists, but less records from innocent Americans. The Fourth Amendment was what we fought the Revolution over! John Adams said it was the spark that led to our war for independence, and I'm proud of standing for the Bill of Rights, and I will continue to stand for the Bill of Rights. +p2353 +aVUse the Fourth Amendment! +p2354 +aVUse the Fourth Amendment! +p2355 +aVGet a warrant! +p2356 +aVGet a judge to sign the warrant! +p2357 +aVSee, here's the problem. +p2358 +aVHere's the problem, governor. Here's the problem, governor. You fundamentally misunderstand the Bill of Rights. Every time you did a case, you got a warrant from a judge. I'm talking about searches without warrants... +p2359 +aV...indiscriminately, of all Americans' records, and that's what I fought to end. I don't trust President Obama with our records. I know you gave him a big hug, and if you want to give him a big hug again, go right ahead. +p2360 +aVI've got a news flash... +p2361 +aVNews flash, the Republican Party's been fighting against a single-payer system... +p2362 +aV-- for a decade. So I think you're on the wrong side of this if you're still arguing for a single-payer system. +p2363 +aVI oppose the Iranian deal, and will vote against it. I don't think that the president negotiated from a position of strength, but I don't immediately discount negotiations. I'm a Reagan conservative. Reagan did negotiate with the Soviets. But you have to negotiate from a position of strength, and I think President Obama gave away too much, too early. If there's going to be a negotiation, you're going to have to believe somehow that the Iranians are going to comply. And I asked this question to John Kerry, I said "do you believe they're trustworthy?" and he said "No." And I said, "well, how are we gonna get them to comply?" I would have never released the sanctions before there was consistent evidence of compliance. +p2364 +aVLook, I don't want my marriage or my guns registered in Washington. And if people have an opinion, it's a religious opinion that is heartly felt, obviously they should be allowed to practice that and no government should interfere with them. One of the things, one of the things that really got to me was the thing in Houston where you had the government, the mayor actually, trying to get the sermons of ministers. When the government tries to invade the church to enforce its own opinion on marriage, that's when it's time to resist. +p2365 +aVWell, let's be clear, I'm the only one on the stage who actually has a five-year budget that balances. I've put pencil to paper... +p2366 +aV... and I've said -- and I've said I would cut spending, and I've said exactly where. Each one of my budgets has taken a meat axe to foreign aid, because I think we ought to quit sending it to countries that hate us. I think we ought to quit sending it to countries that burn our flag. Israel is not one of those. But even Benjamin Netanyahu said that ultimately, they will be stronger when they're independent. My position is exactly the same. We shouldn't borrow money from China to send it anywhere, but why don't we start with eliminating aid to our enemies. +p2367 +aVI still say exactly what my original opinion is. Do you borrow money from China to send it to anyone? Out of your surplus, you can help your allies, and Israel is a great ally. And this is no particular animus of Israel, but what I will say, and I will say over and over again, we cannot give away money we don't have. We do not project power from bankruptcy court. We're borrowing a million dollars a minute. It's got to stop somewhere. +p2368 +aVI'm a different kind of Republican. I've introduced a five-year balanced budget. I've introduced the largest tax cut in our history. I stood for ten and a half hours on the Senate floor to defend your right to be left alone. But I've also gone to Chicago. I've gone to Detroit. I've been to Ferguson, I've been to Baltimore, because I want our party to be bigger, better and bolder, and I'm the only one that leads Hillary Clinton in five states that were won by President Obama. I'm a different kind of Republican. +p2369 +asVBASH +p2370 +(lp2371 +VA crucial question is how to balance surveillance with privacy and keeping Americans safe. Senator Cruz, you voted for a bill that President Obama signed into law just this past June that made it harder for the government to access Americans' phone records. In light of the San Bernardino attack, was your vote a mistake? +p2372 +aVThank you. Senator Rubio, Senator Cruz is right there was bipartisan support for that. But you voted against it. So, is Senator Cruz wrong? +p2373 +aVSenator Cruz? +p2374 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator \u2014 Senator Rubio, please respond. +p2375 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I know this is \u2014 this has been a very big issue for you. You hear many of your colleagues are calling for increased surveillance by law enforcement. You call that hogwash. Why is that hogwash? +p2376 +aVSenator Rubio? +p2377 +aVGovernor Christie, Governor Christie... ...Governor Christie, I'll come to you in a minute. Go ahead, Senator Paul. +p2378 +aVGo ahead, please. +p2379 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about immigration in a while. But, Governor Christie, just listening to this... +p2380 +aVListening to this, you talked \u2014 you heard Senator Paul, Senator Cruz talk about how important it is to protect Americans' privacy, even in a time of grave danger. Why \u2014 what's wrong with that? +p2381 +aVSenator Paul, you said +p2382 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I want to go back to my initial question, which is you saying that +p2383 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about regime change in a bit. But Governor Kasich, would you like to respond to Senator Paul? +p2384 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. We've been talking tonight about programs and policy proposals that you all have to keep Americans safe and it's a big discussion on the campaign trail. Also about border security and immigration. So let's talk about immigration. Senator Rubio. You co-authored a bill with Democrats two years ago that allowed a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Do you still support that path to citizenship, which means giving those immigrants rights, like the right to vote? +p2385 +aVSenator, you haven't answered the question. You described a very long path but does that path end at citizenship? +p2386 +aVThank you, senator. +p2387 +aVThank you, senator. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, on the campaign trail, Senator Rubio has said that his immigration plan is not that different from yours. Is that true? +p2388 +aVSenator Rubio, please. +p2389 +aVSenator Cruz? +p2390 +aVSenator Cruz? +p2391 +aVSenator Cruz, can you answer that question please? +p2392 +aVSenator Cruz? +p2393 +aVOne at a time please. +p2394 +aVMs. Fiorina, please wait your turn, we're going to get to you. +p2395 +aVSenator Cruz go ahead. +p2396 +aVMr. Trump, you like to say that you restarted this conversation in the campaign. +p2397 +aVSo who do you side with? Who do you side with in this, Senator Rubio or Senator Cruz? +p2398 +aVThank you. Governor Bush? +p2399 +aVListening to this, do you think this is the tone \u2014 this immigration debate that republicans need to take to win back Hispanics into our party especially states like where we are in Nevada that has a pretty Hispanic community? +p2400 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said if China launches a cyber- attack against the U.S. on your watch, "they're going to see cyber- warfare like they have never seen before." What exactly would that response look like? +p2401 +aVGovernor Bush, what you just heard from Governor Christie, are you concerned that that could really escalate with China, that they would retaliate? And, for example, as the NSA has said, attack the U.S. and maybe it's power grid, which the Chinese have the capability to do? +p2402 +aVMr. Trump, just this weekend you said Senator Cruz is not qualified to be president because he doesn't have the right temperament and acted like a maniac when he arrived in the Senate. But last month you said you were open to naming Senator Cruz as your running mate. +p2403 +aVSo why would you be willing to put somebody who's a maniac one heartbeat away from the presidency? +p2404 +aVOkay. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, you have not been willing to attack Mr. Trump in public. +p2405 +aVBut you did question his judgment in having control of American's nuclear arsenal during a private meeting with supporters. Why are you willing to say things about him in private and not in public? +p2406 +aVSenator, senator, I just... +p2407 +aVSenator, a lot of people have seen... +p2408 +aV... a lot of people have seen these comments you made in private. I just want to clarify what you're saying right now is you do believe Mr. Trump has the judgment to be commander in chief? +p2409 +aVGovernor Kasich, Senator Cruz is so committed to stripping federal funds from Planned Parenthood that it could result in shutting down the federal government in just about two weeks. Do you agree with Senator Cruz's tactic? +p2410 +aVThank you. +p2411 +aVThank you. Senator Cruz, I would just add that, on this stage not that long ago, Senator Graham said that this tactic that you're pushing would tank the Republicans' ability to win in 2016. +p2412 +aVThank you, senator. +p2413 +aVThank you... +p2414 +aVGovernor \u2014 governor, I want to go to you. Is it what Senator Cruz says, a surrender by Republicans? +p2415 +aVBut... +p2416 +aVBut is it... +p2417 +aVBut, governor, the \u2014 but, governor, the reality is, in just two weeks' time... ...we are going to be facing a question about whether or not it's enough to shut down the government to make that statement, because there is still a Democrat in the White House. Do you oppose it or support it? +p2418 +aVYes or no, do you support this shutdown? +p2419 +aVWe're talking about Planned Parenthood right now. +p2420 +aVCan you answer yes or no? +p2421 +aVOne more time. I'm sorry, I just want to get the answer. +p2422 +aVSo you would support a shutdown. +p2423 +aVGovernor Bush, Mr. Trump has suggested that your views on immigration are influenced by your Mexican born wife. He said that, quote, "If my wife were from Mexico, I think I would have a soft spot for people from Mexico." Did Mr. Trump go to far in invoking your wife? +p2424 +aVMr. Trump? +p2425 +aVMr. Trump... +p2426 +aVGo ahead. +p2427 +aVMs. Fiorina \u2014 Ms. Fiorina, we're going to come to you, we're going to come to you. I just want to give Governor Bush a chance to respond to what Mr. Trump said. +p2428 +aVOK, on that note, you have criticized Governor Bush for speaking Spanish on the campaign trail. You said, quote, "He should really set an example by speaking English in the United States." What's wrong with speaking Spanish? +p2429 +aVThank you. +p2430 +aV...Thank you.... +p2431 +aVGovernor Bush, let's talk about the issue that's very important to Republican voters, and that's the Supreme Court. After Chief Justice John Roberts voted to uphold Obamacare twice, Senator Cruz criticized your brother for appointing John Roberts to the Supreme Court. Looking back on it, did your brother make a mistake? +p2432 +aV...Is John Roberts one of those people? +p2433 +aVDo you like what you just heard, Senator Cruz? +p2434 +aVMr. Trump, you have said once or twice that you are really rich, and you are by far the richest person on this stage. Chris Christie says billionaires like you and even people who make and earn far less should no longer get Social Security, or at least there should be limits based on \u2014 on their income. You think he's wrong, and if so, why? +p2435 +aVWhat about the country as a \u2014 as a policy? +p2436 +aVSo is a voluntary program the way to get the Social Security system solvent again like that. +p2437 +aVSenator Santorum, you want to give the intelligence community more power to collect American's phone data. But the government had this ability until just days before the San Bernardino attack. If it couldn't prevent San Bernardino, why will it protect America? +p2438 +aVSenator Graham, when this program was exposed, you said, " you have nothing to worry about if you're not talking to terrorist." Do you understand why though some Americans are concerned that the government is keeping tabs on them in any way? +p2439 +aVThank you. Governor Huckabee, you said, "not one terrorist plot has been foiled by the NSA's collection of American's phone records. The director of the CIA says,. "not having these programs makes it ability to find terrorists, quote, "much more challenging."" Are you taking a potential tool to fight terrorists? +p2440 +aVSenator Santorum? +p2441 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator Graham... +p2442 +aVSenator Graham... +p2443 +aVSenator Graham, we've heard here tonight a lot about the fact that you want to send U.S. troops, ground troops, into Iraq, and Syria to defeat +p2444 +aVGovernor Huckabee... +p2445 +aVGovernor Huckabee, would you reinstate the draft? +p2446 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator Graham... +p2447 +aVSenator Graham... +p2448 +aVSenator Graham, we've heard here tonight a lot about the fact that you want to send U.S. troops, ground troops, into Iraq, and Syria to defeat +p2449 +aVGovernor Huckabee... +p2450 +aVGovernor Huckabee, would you reinstate the draft? +p2451 +aVSo what would you do about it? +p2452 +aVSenator... +p2453 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. +p2454 +aVSenator Graham. +p2455 +aVSenator Graham, quick response. +p2456 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. +p2457 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. +p2458 +aVSenator Santorum, earlier this month the Pentagon opened all U.S. military combat positions to women. You previously opposed allowing women in combat roles. As President, would you change the Pentagon's new policy? +p2459 +aVSo, just to be clear, you're saying, yes, you would change the policy back? +p2460 +aVGovernor Pataki, as you mentioned earlier, you have two sons who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Would you maintain this new policy as President, or do you agree with Senator Santorum. +p2461 +aVSenator Santorum. +p2462 +aVNow Governor Pataki, do you a final response? +p2463 +aVGovernor Huckabee, the U.S. has a program that allows visitors from America's closest allies to travel to the U.S. without obtaining a visa. But new legislation in Congress says that privilege should not apply to those who have visited is hot spots like Iraq and Syria in the last five years. You say that legislation doesn't go far enough. Why? +p2464 +asVEPPERSON +p2465 +(lp2466 +VThank you, John. Mrs. Fiorina, you were the CEO of a large corporation that offers a 401(k) to its employees. But more than half of American have no access to an employer sponsored retirement plan. That includes the workers at small businesses, and the growing ranks of Uber drivers and other part-timers in the freelance economy. Should the Federal Government play a larger role in helping to set up retirement plans for these workers? +p2467 +aVSo you wouldn't agree \u2014 you wouldn't agree with a start for 401(k) for businesses or anything like that? +p2468 +aVThank you very much. +p2469 +aVThank you, the rules say one minute. +p2470 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. We appreciate it. Thank you, thank you. I want to turn my attention now, to you now, Governor Kasich. Most people can't get a college degree without going into debt. Over 40 million Americans have student loans and many of them cannot pay them back. This country has over $100 billion in student loan defaults. That's billion with a b. What will you do to make sure that students, their families, taxpayers, won't feel the economic impact of this burden for generations? Well, first of all, in Ohio we're changing the whole system. Universities will not get paid one dime unless the student graduates or \u2014 graduates or completes a course. Secondly, you can be in high school and complete almost an entire first year before you go to college and get credit to do that. And, of course, in addition to that, we are working now to go after the cost drivers in our universities. And let me give you an example. Universities today have so many non-academic assets. At Ohio State they sold the parking garage and the parking lot, and they got $500 million because they shouldn't be in the parking lot business. They shouldn't be in the ding business, they shouldn't be in the dorm business. And, of course, we need to take advantage of on-line education to reduce these costs and begin to dis-intermediate the cost of four years. Now, for those who that have these big high costs, I think we can seriously look at an idea of where you can do public service. I mean legitimate, public service and begin to pay off some of that debt through the public service that you do. And in the meantime, it may inspire us to care more about our country, more about ourselves. This is a big moral issue in America. Living a life bigger than yourself, and being a center of healing and justice. And people can learn it through public service. +p2471 +aVThank you, thank you. +p2472 +aVThank you, John. Senator Graham, one in every four workers has saved less than $1,000 for retirement. Millions of Americans rely on their Social Security benefits for the majority of their retirement income. Now, you called for reforms to Social Security, but what would you do to fix the other part of the problem for future retirees and get people to save more? +p2473 +aVBut Senator Graham... +p2474 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. Thank you, Senator Graham. Governor Jindal, you've been a strong supporter of for-profit colleges. These are institutions that educate many veterans, minorities and working class Americans. They make up about 11 percent of the college population at these schools, but they account for 44 percent of student loan defaults. Should for-profit schools be held accountable when they take taxpayer money and leave students deep in debt? +p2475 +asVSANDERS +p2476 +(lp2477 +VWell, Gwen and Judy, thank you very much for hosting this event. And, PBS, thank you. Nine months ago, our campaign began. And when it began, we had no political organization, no money, and not much name recognition outside of the state of Vermont. A lot has happened in nine months. And what has happened is, I think, the American people have responded to a series of basic truths, and that is that we have today a campaign finance system which is corrupt, which is undermining American democracy, which allows Wall Street and billionaires to pour huge sums of money into the political process to elect the candidates of their choice. And aligned with a corrupt campaign finance system is a rigged economy. And that's an economy where ordinary Americans are working longer hours for low wagers. They are worried to death about the future of their kids. And yet they are seeing almost all new income and all new wealth going to the top 1 percent. And then in addition to that, the American people are looking around and they see a broken criminal justice system. They see more people in jail in the United States of America than any other country on earth, 2.2 million. We're spending $80 billion a year locking up fellow Americans. They see kids getting arrested for marijuana, getting in prison, getting a criminal record, while they see executives on Wall Street who pay billions of dollars in settlements and get no prosecution at all. No criminal records for them. I think what our campaign is indicating is that the American people are tired of establishment politics, tired of establishment economics. They want a political revolution in which millions of Americans stand up, come together, not let the Trumps of the world divide us, and say, you know what, in this great country, we need a government that represents all of us, not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors. Thank you. +p2478 +aVWell, to put that in a context, Judy, I think we have to understand that in the last 30 years in this country there has been a massive transfer of wealth going from the hands of working families into the top one-tenth of 1% whose percentage of wealth has doubled. In other words, the very rich are getting richer, almost everybody is going \u2014 getting poorer. What I believe is the United States, in fact, should join the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee healthcare to all people. Our Medicare for all single-payer proposal will save the average middle class family $5,000 a year. I do believe that in the year 2016 we have to look in terms of public education as colleges as part of public education making public colleges and universities tuition free. I believe that when real unemployment is close to 10%, and when our infrastructure, our roads, our bridges, our water systems, Flint, Michigan comes to mind. Our waste water plants, our rail, our airports, in many places are disintegrating. Yeah, we can create 13 million jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure at a cost of a trillion dollars. +p2479 +aV... Of course there will be a limit, but when today you have massive levels of income and wealth inequality, when the middle class is disappearing, you have the highest rate of child poverty of almost any major country on Earth. Yes, in my view, the government of a democratic society has a moral responsibility to play a vital role in making sure all of our people have a decent standard of living. +p2480 +aVWell, let us level with the American people. Secretary Clinton has been going around the country saying Bernie Sanders wants to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, people are going to lose their MedicAid, they're going to lose their +p2481 +aVThat is absolutely inaccurate. Look, here is the reality, folks. There is one major country on Earth that does not guarantee health care to all people. There is one major country \u2014 the United States \u2014 which ends up spending almost three times per capita what they do in the U.K. guaranteeing health care to all people, 50 percent more than they do in France guaranteeing health care to all people, far more than our Canadian neighbors, who guarantee health care to all people. Please do not tell me that in this country, if \u2014 and here's the if \u2014 we have the courage to take on the drug companies, and have the courage to take on the insurance companies, and the medical equipment suppliers, if we do that, yes, we can guarantee health care to all people in a much more cost effective way. +p2482 +aVWell, Secretary Clinton, you're not in the White House yet. And let us be clear that every proposal that I have introduced has been paid for. For example, all right, who in America denies that we have an infrastructure that is crumbling? Roads, bridges, water systems, wastewater plants, who denies that? Who denies that real unemployment today, including those who have given up looking for work and are working part-time is close to 10 percent? Who denies that African-American youth unemployment, real, is over 50 percent. We need to create jobs. So yes, I will do away with the outrageous loopholes that allow profitable multinational corporations to stash billions of dollars in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda and in a given year pay zero, zero in federal income tax. Yes, I'm going to do away with that. We will use those proceeds, a hundred billion a year, to invest in rebuilding our infrastructure. Yes, I believe that as a result of the illegal behavior on Wall Street, that they are a Wall Street that drove this country into the worst economic downturn since the Great Recession \u2014 Great Depression. Yes, I do believe that now after the American people bailed Wall Street out, yes, they should pay a Wall Street speculation tax so that we can make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We bailed them out. Now it is their time to help the middle class. +p2483 +aVA brief response. +p2484 +aVHere is where we are with public education. A 100, 150 years ago incredibly brave Americans said, you know what, working class kids, low income kids should not have to work in factories or on the farms. Like rich kids, they deserve to get a free education. And that free education of extraordinary accomplishment was from first grade to 12th grade. The world has changed. This is 2016. In many ways, a college degree today is equivalent to what a high school degree was 50, 60 years ago. So, yes, I do believe that when we talk about public education in America, today, in a rapidly changing world, we should have free tuition at public colleges and universities. That should be a right of all Americans regardless of the income of their families. +p2485 +aVLook, we are fighting for every vote that we can get from women, from men, straight, gay, African-Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans. We are trying to bring America together around an agenda that works for working families and the middle class. I am very proud, if my memory is not correct \u2014 I think I am \u2014 that I have a lifetime \u2014 and I've been in Congress a few years \u2014 a lifetime 100 percent pro-choice voting record. I am very proud that over the years we have had the support in my state of Vermont from very significant majorities of women. I'm very proud that I support legislation that is currently in the Congress, got support of almost all progressive Democrats in the House and Senate, which says we will end the absurdity of women today making 79 cents on the dollar compared to men. And we will join the rest of the other \u2014 the industrialized world in saying that paid family and medical leave should be a right of all working families. +p2486 +aVWell, you know, I think, from a historical point of view, somebody with my background, somebody with my views, somebody who has spent his entire life taking on the big money interests, I think a Sanders victory would be of some historical accomplishment, as well. +p2487 +aVLet me concur with the secretary, no question women's rights are under fierce attack all over this country. And I will tell you something that really galls me. I will not shock anybody to suggest that in politics there is occasionally a little bit of hypocrisy. Just a little bit. All over this country we have Republican candidates for president saying we hate the government. Government is the enemy. We're going to cut Social Security to help you. We're going to cut Medicare and Medicaid, federal aid to education to help you, because the government is so terrible. But, by the way, when it comes to a woman having to make a very personal choice, ah, in that case, my Republican colleagues love the government and want the government to make that choice for every woman in America. If that's not hypocrisy, I don't know what hypocrisy is. +p2488 +aVThis is one of the great tragedies in our country today. And we can no longer continue to sweep it under the rug. It has to be dealt with. Today a male African-American baby born today stands a one-in-four chance of ending up in jail. That is beyond unspeakable. So what we have to do is the radical reform of a broken criminal justice system. What we have to do is end over-policing in African-American neighborhoods. The reality is that both the African-American community and the white community do marijuana at about equal rates. The reality is four times as many blacks get arrested for marijuana. Truth is that far more blacks get stopped for traffic violations. The truth is that sentencing for blacks is higher than for whites. We need fundamental police reform, clearly, clearly, when we talk about a criminal justice system. I would hope that we could all agree that we are sick and tired of seeing videos on television of unarmed people, often African-Americans, shot by police officers. What we have got to do is make it clear that any police officer who breaks the law will, in fact, be held accountable. +p2489 +aVNothing that Secretary Clinton said do I disagree with. This mandatory sentencing, a very bad idea. It takes away discretion from judges. We have got to demilitarize local police departments so they do not look like occupying armies. We have got to make sure that local police departments look like the communities they serve in their diversity. And, where we are failing abysmally is in the very high rate of recidivism we see. People are being released from jail without the education, without the job training, without the resources that they need to get their lives together, then they end up \u2014 we're shocked that they end up back in jail again. So, we have a lot of work to do. But, here is a pledge I've made throughout this campaign, and it's really not a very radical pledge. When we have more people in jail, disproportionately African American and Latino, than China does, a communist authoritarian society four times our size. Here's my promise, at the end of my first term as president we will not have more people in jail than any other country. We will invest in education, and jobs for our kids, not incarceration and more jails. +p2490 +aVWell, I think, Judy, what has to be appreciated is that, as a result of the disastrous and illegal behavior on Wall Street, millions of lives were hurt. People lost their jobs, their homes, their life savings. Turns out that the African-American community and the Latino community were hit especially hard. As I understand it, the African-American community lost half of their wealth as a result of the Wall Street collapse. So when you have childhood African-American poverty rates of 35 percent, when you have youth unemployment at 51 percent, when you have unbelievable rates of incarceration \u2014 which, by the way, leaves the children back home without a dad or even a mother \u2014 clearly, we are looking at institutional racism. We are looking at an economy in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. And sadly, in America today, in our economy, a whole lot of those poor people are African-American. +p2491 +aVAbsolutely, because what we will do is say, instead of giving tax breaks to billionaires, we are going to create millions of jobs for low-income kids so they're not hanging out on street corners. We're going to make sure that those kids stay in school or are able to get a college education. And I think when you give low-income kids \u2014 African-American, white, Latino kids \u2014 the opportunities to get their lives together, they are not going to end up in jail. They're going to end up in the productive economy, which is where we want them. +p2492 +aVWhite people? +p2493 +aVYeah, you can, because African-Americans and Latinos not only face the general economic crises of low wages, and high unemployment, and poor educational opportunities, but they face other problems, as well. So, yes, we can talk about it as a racial issue. But it is a general economic issue. And here's what the economic issue is. The wages that high school graduates receive today are significantly less, whether you are white or black, than they used to be. Why is that? Because of a series of disastrous trade policies which have allowed corporate America through +p2494 +aVThe answer is yes. We've got 11 million undocumented people in this country. I have talked to some of the young kids with tears rolling down their cheeks, are scared to death that today they may or their parents may be deported. I believe that we have got to pass comprehensive immigration reform, something that I strongly supported. I believe that we have got to move toward a path toward citizenship. I agree with President Obama who used executive orders to protect families because the Congress, the House was unable or refused to act. And in fact I would go further. What would motivate me and what would be the guiding light for me in terms of immigration reform, Judy, is to bring families together, not divide them up. And let me say this also. Somebody who is very fond of the president, agrees with him most of the time, I disagree with his recent deportation policies. And I would not support those. Bottom line is a path towards citizenship for 11 million undocumented people, if Congress doesn't do the right thing, we use the executive orders of the president. +p2495 +aVSecretary Clinton, I do have a disagreement here. If my memory is correct, I think when we saw children coming from these horrendous, horrendously violent areas of Honduras and neighboring countries, people who are fleeing drug violence and cartel violence, I thought it was a good idea to allow those children to stay in this country. That was not, as I understand it, the secretary's position. In terms of 2007 immigration reform, yeah, I did vote against it. I voted against it because the Southern Poverty Law Center, among other groups, said that the guest-worker programs that were embedded in this agreement were akin to slavery. Akin to slavery, where people came into this country to do guest work were abused, were exploited, and if they stood up for their rights, they'd be thrown out of this country. So it wasn't just me who opposed it. It was +p2496 +aVWell, let me just respond. I worked with Ted Kennedy. He was the chairman of my committee. And I loved Ted Kennedy. But on this issue, when you have one of the large Latino organizations in America saying vote no, and you have the AFL-CIO saying vote no, and you have leading progressive Democrats, in fact, voting no, I don't apologize for that vote. But in terms of the children, I don't know to whom you're sending a message. Who are you sending a message to? These are children who are leaving countries and neighborhoods where their lives are at stake. That was the fact. I don't think we use them to send a message. I think we welcome them into this country and do the best we can to help them get their lives together. +p2497 +aVOK. You know, you judge a nation not by the number of millionaires and billionaires it has, but by how you treat, we treat, the most vulnerable and fragile people in our nation. And by those standards, we're not doing particularly well. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty among almost any major country on Earth. And in terms of seniors, there are millions of seniors \u2014 and I've talked to them in my state of Vermont and all over this country \u2014 who are trying to get by on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year Social Security. And you know what? You do the arithmetic. You can't get by on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year. And here's an area where Secretary Clinton and I believe we have a difference. I have long supported the proposition that we should lift the cap on taxable income coming into the Social Security Trust Fund, starting at $250,000. And when we \u2014 and when we do that, we don't do what the Republicans want, which is to cut Social Security. We do what the American people want, to expand Social Security by $1,300 a year for people under $16,000, and we extend the life of Social Security for 58 years. Yes, the wealthiest people, the top 1.5 percent, will pay more in taxes. But a great nation like ours should not be in a position where elderly people are cutting their pills in half, where they don't have decent nutrition, where they can't heat their homes in the wintertime. That is not what America should be about. If elected president, I will do everything I can to expand Social Security benefits, not just for seniors, but for disabled veterans, as well. +p2498 +aVIn all due respect......In all due respect, Secretary Clinton, a lot of the progressive groups, the online groups have really asked you a simple question. Are you coming onboard a proposal? And what is that proposal? Now, the proposal that I have outlined, you know, should be familiar to you, because it is what essentially Barack Obama campaigned on in 2008. You opposed him then. I would hope that you would come onboard and say that this is the simple and straightforward thing to do. We're asking the top 1.5 percent, including passive income, to start paying a little bit more so that the elderly and disabled vets in this country can live with security and dignity. I hope you will make a decision soon on this. +p2499 +aVThat's my bill. Check it out. +p2500 +aVWhat we are talking about in reality is a corrupt campaign finance system, that's what we're talking about. We have to be honest about it. It is undermining American democracy. When extraordinarily wealthy people make very large contributions to Super PACs, and in many cases in this campaign, Super PACs have raised more money than individual candidates have, OK? We had a decision to make early on, do we do a Super PAC? And, we said no. We don't represent Wall Street, we don't represent the billionaire class, so it ends up I'm the only candidate up here of the many candidates who has no Super PAC. But, what we did is we said to the working families of this country, look, we know things are tough, but if you want to help us go beyond establishment politics, and establishment economics, send us something. And, it turns out that up until \u2014 and this has blown me away, never in a million years would I have believed that I would be standing here tonight telling you that we have received three and a half million individual contributions from well over a million people. Now, Secretary Clinton's Super PAC, as I understand it, received $25 million dollars last reporting period, $15 million dollars from Wall Street. Our average contribution is $27 dollars, I'm very proud of that. +p2501 +aVThe people aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street... But let's not \u2014 but let's not \u2014 let's not insult \u2014 let's not insult the intelligence of the American people. People aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street make huge campaign contributions? I guess just for the fun of it; they want to throw money around. Why does the pharmaceutical industry make huge campaign contributions? Any connection maybe to the fact that our people pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs? Why does the fossil fuel industry pay \u2014 spend huge amounts of money on campaign contributions? Any connection to the fact that not one Republican candidate for president thinks and agrees with the scientific community that climate change is real and that we have got to transform our energy system? And when we talk about Wall Street, let's talk about Wall Street. I voted for Dodd-Frank, got an important amendment in it. In my view, it doesn't go anywhere near far enough. But when we talk about Wall Street, you have Wall Street and major banks have paid $200 billion in fines since the great crash. No Wall Street executive has been prosecuted. +p2502 +aVLet me, you know, again, respectfully disagree with Secretary Clinton here. When you have three out of the four largest financial institutions in this country bigger today than they were when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, when you have six financial institutions having assets equivalent to 58 percent of the GDP of America, while issuing two-thirds of the credit cards and a third of the mortgages, look, I think if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, that great trust-buster would have said break them up. I think he would have been right. I think he would have said bring back a 21st-century Glass-Steagall legislation. I think that would have been right, as well. That's my view. +p2503 +aVHey, I'm in the United States Senate, and anyone who doesn't think that there is an enormous amount of waste and inefficiency and bureaucracy throughout government would be very, very mistaken. I believe in government, but I believe in efficient government, not wasteful government. +p2504 +aVIf I could just answer that, we have also got to take a look at the waste and inefficiencies in the Department of Defense, which is the one major agency of government that has not been able to be audited. And I have the feeling you're going to find a lot of cost overruns there and a lot of waste and duplicative activities. +p2505 +aVLet me \u2014 let me just say this. What a President of the United States has got to do and what is his or her major, I think, responsibility is to, a, make certain that we keep our people safe, that we work with allies around the world to protect democratic values, that we do all that we can to create a world of peace and prosperity. I voted against the war in Iraq because I listened very carefully to what President Bush and Vice President Cheney had to say and I didn't believe them. And if you go to my Web site,berniesanders.com, what you find is not only going to help lead the opposition to that war, but much of what I feared would happen when I spoke on the floor of the House, in fact, did happen in terms of the instability that occurred. Now I think an area in kind of a vague way, or not so vague, where Secretary Clinton and I disagree is the area of regime change. Look, the truth is that a powerful nation like the United States, certainly working with our allies, we can overthrow dictators all over the world. And God only knows Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator. We could overthrow Assad tomorrow if we wanted to. We got rid of Gadhafi. But the point about foreign policy is not just to know that you can overthrow a terrible dictator, it's to understand what happens the day after. And in Libya, for example, the United States, Secretary Clinton, as secretary of state, working with some other countries, did get rid of a terrible dictator named Gadhafi. But what happened is a political vacuum developed. +p2506 +aVJudy, if I can, there is no question, Secretary Clinton and I are friends, and I have a lot of respect for her, that she has enormous experience in foreign affairs. Secretary of state for four years. You've got a bit of experience, I would imagine. But judgment matters as well. Judgment matters as well. And she and I looked at the same evidence coming from the Bush administration regarding Iraq. I lead the opposition against it. She voted for it. But more importantly, in terms of this Libya resolution that you have noted before, this was a virtually unanimous consent. Everybody voted for it wanting to see Libya move toward democracy, of course we all wanted to do that. That is very different than talking about specific action for regime change, which I did not support. +p2507 +aVJudy, one area very briefly... +p2508 +aVWhere the secretary and I have a very profound difference, in the last debate \u2014 and I believe in her book \u2014 very good book, by the way \u2014 in her book and in this last debate, she talked about getting the approval or the support or the mentoring of Henry Kissinger. Now, I find it rather amazing, because I happen to believe that Henry Kissinger was one of the most destructive secretaries of state in the modern history of this country. I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend. I will not take advice from Henry Kissinger. And in fact, Kissinger's actions in Cambodia, when the United States bombed that country, overthrew Prince Sihanouk, created the instability for Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge to come in, who then butchered some 3 million innocent people, one of the worst genocides in the history of the world. So count me in as somebody who will not be listening to Henry Kissinger. +p2509 +aVWell, it ain't Henry Kissinger. That's for sure. +p2510 +aVIt is. +p2511 +aVI find \u2014 I mean, it's just a very different, you know, historical perspective here. Kissinger was one of those people during the Vietnam era who talked about the domino theory. Not everybody remembers that. You do. I do. The domino theory, you know, if Vietnam goes, China, da, da, da, da, da, da, da. That's what he talked about, the great threat of China. And then, after the war, this is the guy who, in fact, yes, you're right, he opened up relations with China, and now pushed various type of trade agreements, resulting in American workers losing their jobs as corporations moved to China. The terrible, authoritarian, Communist dictatorship he warned us about, now he's urging companies to shut down and move to China. Not my kind of guy. +p2512 +aVWell, this is what I would say. It is a complicated relationship. I congratulate Secretary of State John Kerry and the president for working on this agreement. As you've indicated, what is happening in Syria, the number of people, the hundreds of thousands of people who have been killed \u2014 men, women, 20,000 children, the people who are forced to flee their own country \u2014 their own country \u2014 it is unspeakable. It is a real horror. Now, what I think is that right now we have got to do our best in developing positive relations with Russia. But let's be clear: Russia's aggressive actions in the Crimea and in Ukraine have brought about a situation where President Obama and +p2513 +aVLet me just \u2014 just say this. For a start, the secretary and I disagree \u2014 and I think the president does not agree with her \u2014 in terms of the concept of a no-fly zone in Syria. I think you do have a humanitarian tragedy there, as I mentioned a moment ago. I applaud Secretary Kerry and the president for trying to put together this agreement. Let's hope that it holds. But furthermore, what we have got to do, I'm sorry, yes, I do believe that we have got to do everything that we can, and it will not happen tomorrow. But I do hope that in years to come, just as occurred with Cuba, 10, 20 years ago, people would say, reach normalized relations with Cuba. And by the way, I hope we can end the trade embargo with Cuba as well. But the idea that we some day maybe have decent relations with Iran, maybe put pressure on them so they end their support for terrorism around the world, yes, that is something I want to achieve. And I believe that the best way to do that is to be aggressive, to be principled, but to have the goal of trying to improve relations. That's how you make peace in the world. You sit down and you work with people, you make demands of people, in this case demanding Iran stop the support of international terrorism. +p2514 +aVWe have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of work to do. But I recall when Secretary Clinton ran against then-Senator Obama, she was critical of him for suggesting that maybe you want to talk to Iran, that you want to talk to our enemies. I have no illusion. Of course you are right. Iran is sponsoring terrorism in many parts of the world, destabilizing areas. Everybody knows that. But our goal is, in fact, to try over a period of time to, in fact, deal with our enemies, not just ignore that reality. +p2515 +aVNo, I think the idea was that president \u2014 then-Senator Obama was wrong for suggesting that it is a good idea to talk to your opponents. It's easier to talk to your friends. It's harder to talk to your enemies. I think we should do both. +p2516 +aVA couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to go on a congressional delegation. And I went to one of these Turkish refugee camps right on the border of Syria. And what a sad sight that was: Men, women, children forced out of their homes. And Turkey, by the way, did a very decent thing, providing what was reasonable housing and conditions for those people. It seems to me that given our history as a nation that has been a beacon of hope for the oppressed, for the downtrodden, that I very strongly disagree with those Republican candidates who say, you know what, we've got to turn our backs on women and children who left their home with nothing, nothing at all. That is not what America is supposed to be about. So I believe that working with Europe \u2014 and, by the way, you know, we've got some very wealthy countries there in that part of the world. You got Kuwait and you got Qatar and you got Saudi Arabia. They have a responsibility, as well. But I think this is a worldwide \u2014 that the entire world needs to come together to deal with this horrific refugee crisis we're seeing from Syria and Afghanistan, as well. +p2517 +aVYou know, Franklin Delano Roosevelt took the oath of office in 1933 at a time when 25 percent of the American people were unemployed, country was in incredible despair. And he stood before the American people and he said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself," a profound statement that gave the American people the courage to believe that, yes, we could get out of that terrible depression. And then what he did is redefine the role of government. You know, you had Herbert Hoover before that saying, no, we got to only worry about the deficit. So what if mass unemployment exists? So what if children are going hungry? That's not the role of the government. And when FDR said, "Yeah, it is," that we're going to use all of the resources that we have to create jobs, to build homes, to feed people, to protect the farmers, we are a nation which if we come together there is nothing that we could not accomplish. And kind of \u2014 that's what I see our campaign is about right now. In this particular moment of serious crises, saying to the American people don't give up on the political process. don't listen to the Trumps of the world and allowing them to divide us. If we reengage and get involved, yeah, we can have health care for all people, we can make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We do not have to have massive levels of income and wealth inequality. In the same light, as the foreign leader, Winston Churchill's politics were not my politics. He was kind of a conservative guy in many respects. But nobody can deny that as a wartime leader, he rallied the British people when they stood virtually alone against the Nazi juggernaut and rallied them and eventually won an extraordinary victory. Those are two leaders that I admire very much. +p2518 +aVThat is......Madam Secretary, that is a low blow. I have worked with President Obama for the last seven years. When President Obama came into office we were losing 800,000 jobs a month, 800,000 jobs a month. We had a $1.4 trillion deficit. And the world's financial system is on the verge of collapse. As a result of his efforts and the efforts of Joe Biden against unprecedented, I was there in the Senate, unprecedented Republican obstructionism, we have made enormous progress. But you know what? Last I heard we lived in a democratic society. Last I heard, a United States senator had the right to disagree with the president, including a president who has done such an extraordinary job. So I have voiced criticisms. You're right. Maybe you haven't. I have. But I think to suggest that I have voiced criticism, this blurb that you talk about, you know what the blurb said? The blurb said that the next president of the United States has got to be aggressive in bringing people into the political process. That's what I said. That is what I believe. President Obama and I are friends. As you know, he came to Vermont to campaign for me when he was a senator. I have worked for his re-election. His first election and his re-election. But I think it is really unfair to suggest that I have not been supportive of the president. I have been a strong ally with him on virtually every issue. Do senators have the right to disagree with the president? Have you ever disagreed with a president? I suspect you may have. +p2519 +aVWell, one of us ran against Barack Obama. I was not that candidate. All right, look, this has been a great debate. A lot of interesting issues have come together. Let me conclude by just saying this. There is no president, in my view, not Hillary Clinton, not Bernie Sanders, who has the capability or the power to take on Wall Street, large campaign donors, the corporate media, the big money interests in this country alone. This campaign is not just about electing a president. What this campaign is about is creating a process for a political revolution in which millions of Americans, working people who have given up on the political process, they don't think anybody hears their pains or their concerns. Young people for whom getting involved in politics is as, you know, it's like going to the moon. It ain't going to happen. Low income people who are not involved in the political process. What this campaign is not only about electing someone who has the most progressive agenda, it is about bringing tens of millions of people together to demand that we have a government that represents all of us and not just the 1 percent, who today have so much economic and political power. Thank you all very much. +p2520 +aVRachel, thank you very much. Millions of Americans are giving up on the political process. And they're giving up on the political process because they understand the economy is rigged. They are working longer hours for low wages. They're worried about the future of their kids, and yet almost all new income and wealth is going to the top 1 percent. Not what America is supposed to be about. Not the fairness that we grew up believing that America was about. And then sustaining that rigged economy is a corrupt campaign finance system undermining American democracy, where billionaire, Wall Street, corporate America can contribute unlimited sums of money into super PACs and into candidates. Our job, together, is to end a rigged economy, create an economy that works for all, and absolutely overturn Citizens United. One person, one vote. That's what American democracy is about. +p2521 +aVWell, I haven't quite run for president before. Let's deal with some of the comments that Secretary Clinton made. And by the way, you know, sometimes there's a lot of drama here. I have known Secretary Clinton for 25 years and respect her very much. Here is the issue. Every major country on earth, whether it's the U.K., whether it's France, whether it's Canada, has managed to provide healthcare to all people as a right and they are spending significantly less per capita on health care than we are. So I do not accept the belief that the United States of America can't do that. I do not accept the belief that the United States of America and our government can't stand up to the ripoffs of the pharmaceutical industry which charge us by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. Number two, in the economy today, everybody understands that we need a well educated workforce. This is 2016. When we talk about public education, it can no longer be K through 12th grade. I do believe that public colleges and universities should be tuition free. Well, how do we pay for that? It's an expensive proposition. I do believe that we should substantially lower student debt in this country, which is crushing millions of people. We pay for it, in my view, by a tax on Wall Street speculation. The middle class bailed out Wall Street in their time of need. Now, it is Wall Street's time to help the middle class. +p2522 +aVLet me... +p2523 +aV... this is a good discussion here. +p2524 +aVAnd let me just say this. As Secretary Clinton may know, I am on the Health Education Labor Committee. That committee wrote the Affordable Care Act. The idea I would dismantle health care in America while we're waiting to pass a Medicare for all is just not accurate. The Affordable Care Act has clearly, as Secretary Clinton made the point, done a lot of good things, but, what it has not done is dealt with the fact we have 29 million people today who have zero health insurance, we have even more who are underinsured with large deductibles and copayments and prescription drug prices are off the wall. So I do believe that in the future, not by dismantling what we have here\u2014I helped write that bill\u2014but by moving forward, rallying the American people, I do believe we should have health care for all. +p2525 +aVNo, not at all. Here's the reality of American economic life today. The reality is that we have one of lowest voter turnouts of any major country on earth because so many people have given up on the political process. The reality is that there has been trillions of dollars of wealth going from the middle class in the last 30 years to the top 1/10th of 1 percent. The reality is we that have a corrupt campaign finance system which separates the American people's needs and desires from what Congress is doing. So to my mind, what we have got to do is wage a political revolution where millions of people have given up on the political process, stand up and fight back, demand the government that represents us and not just a handful of campaign contribution\u2014contributors. Now all of the ideas that I'm talking about, they are not radical ideas. Making public colleges and universities tuition free, that exists in countries all over the world, used to exist in the United States. Rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, and creating 13 million jobs by doing away with tax loopholes that large corporations now enjoy by putting their money into the Cayman Islands and other tax havens. That is not a radical idea. What we need to do is to stand up to the big money interests, and the campaign contributors. When we do that, we can, in fact, transform America. +p2526 +aVLet me just pick up on this point. This whole discussion began because I commented, not making overall evaluation about the Secretary. She was in Ohio, I think, in September or November and she got up and said something like, I have been\u2014I'm paraphrasing, I have been criticized because people think I'm a moderate. Well, I am a moderate. That's where this came from. It wasn't me paraphrasing her. It is what she said, and all that I said was there's nothing wrong with being a moderate. But, you can't be a moderate, you can't a progressive. In terms of President Obama, I think if we remember where this country was seven years ago, 800,000 jobs being lost every month, $1.4 trillion dollar deficit. The world's financial system on the verge of collapse. I think that President Obama, Vice President Biden, and the Democratic leadership in the House and the Senate have done a fantastic job. We are in much better shape than we were seven years ago, although my Republican colleagues seem to have forgotten where we were seven years ago. That's the fact, but, we still have a very long way to go. Do I think President Obama is a progressive? Yes, I do. I disagree with him on a number of issues including the trade agreement. But, yes, I think he has done an excellent job. +p2527 +aVThat's right, I mean, instead of arguing about definitions, let's talk about... +p2528 +aV... What we should do, and one of the things we should do is not only talk the talk, but walk the walk. I am very proud to be the only candidate up here who does not have a Super PAC, who's not raising huge sums of money from Wall Street...... And special interests. I am enormously proud. Never believed it would happen that we have raised 3.5 million individual contributions, averaging $27 dollars a piece. That is what the political revolution means. +p2529 +aVWell, Rachel, actually, that wasn't accurate. In 1988 the Republican did win, I believe, by 3 points. I came in second. It was 34-31, I think, 19 for the Democrat. In that race the Democrat was the spoiler, not me. And it is true......it is true, it's not to be denied, I am the longest- serving independent in the history of the United States Congress. People of Vermont sent me to Washington as an independent. That is true. But on the other hand, I have\u2014when I was in the House for 16 years, I caucused with the Democrats. In the Senate for nine years caucused with the Democrats, of course. And I was elected by the Democrats to be chair of the Veterans Committee three years ago, which I'm very proud of. And now am the rankings member on the Budget Committee, leader of the Democrats in opposition to the majority Republicans. I am running for president as a Democrat. And if elected, not only do I hope to bring forth a major change in national priorities, but let me be frank, I do want to see major changes in the Democratic Party. I want to see working people and young people come into the party in a way that doesn't exist now. And you know what, I want a 50-state strategy so the Democratic Party is not just the party of 25 states. +p2530 +aVWell, I don't see it quite like that. +p2531 +aVI am\u2014will absolutely admit that Secretary Clinton has the support of far more governors, mayors, members of the House. She has the entire establishment or almost the entire establishment behind her. That's a fact. I don't deny it. But I am pretty proud that we have over a million people who have contributed to our campaign averaging 27 bucks apiece. That we have had meetings where 25,000-30,000 people have come out. That our campaign is a campaign of the people, by the people, and for the people. So, Rachel, yes, Secretary Clinton does represent the establishment. I represent, I hope, ordinary Americans, and by the way, who are not all that enamored with the establishment, but I am very proud to have people like Keith Ellison and Raul Grijalva in the House, the co-chairmen of the House Progressive Caucus. +p2532 +aVWhat being part of the establishment is, is, in the last quarter, having a super PAC that raised $15 million from Wall Street, that throughout one's life raised a whole lot of money from the drug companies and other special interests. To my mind, if we do not get a handle on money in politics and the degree to which big money controls the political process in this country, nobody is going to bring about the changes that is needed in this country for the middle class and working families. +p2533 +aVWhat... +p2534 +aV... you know... +p2535 +aV. +p2536 +aVLet's talk about\u2014OK, let's talk... +p2537 +aV... let us talk about issues. +p2538 +aVLet's talk about issues. +p2539 +aVLet's... +p2540 +aV... let's\u2014let's\u2014let's talk about issues. +p2541 +aVLet's talk\u2014let's talk about issues, all right? Let's talk about why, in the 1990s, Wall Street got deregulated. Did it have anything to do with the fact that Wall Street provided\u2014spent billions of dollars on lobbying and campaign contributions? Well, some people might think, yeah, that had some influence. Let's ask why it is that we pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, and your medicine can be doubled tomorrow, and there's nothing that the government can do to stop it. You think it has anything to do with the huge amounts of campaign contributions and lobbying from the fossil fuel industry? Let's talk about climate change. Do you think there's a reason why not one Republican has the guts to recognize that climate change is real, and that we need to transform our energy system? Do you think it has anything to do with the Koch brothers and ExxonMobil pouring huge amounts of money into the political system? That is what goes on in America. I am not\u2014I like......there is a reason. You know, there is a reason why these people are putting huge amounts of money into our political system. And in my view, it is undermining American democracy and it is allowing Congress to represent wealthy campaign contributors and not the working families of this country. +p2542 +aVI think as Secretary Clinton knows, there is nobody who fought harder. I was on the House Financial Committee at that time. I heard the arguments coming from Democrats and Republicans\u2014Robert Rubin, Alan Greenspan\u2014about great an idea it would be if we did away with Glass-Steagall and if we allowed investor banks and commercial banks and big insurance companies to merge. Go to YouTube today. Look up Greenspan-Sanders. Listen to what I told them then. I helped lead the effort against deregulation. Unfortunately, we lost that. The result is\u2014was the worst financial disaster since the Great Depression. +p2543 +aVChuck, actually we looked at it, but it turns out to be a disaster. The way it is structured right now, if you make it all the way to California, you could do pretty well. But in terms of the early states\u2014Iowa, New Hampshire, the other states\u2014it just doesn't work. Your point is well taken. I believe in public funding of elections, absolutely. But this system is\u2014I don't know if the secretary would agree\u2014is currently very antiquated and no longer applies to modern day politics. +p2544 +aVBut if the... +p2545 +aVLet me just say this. Wall Street is perhaps the most powerful economic and political force in this country. You have companies like Goldman Sachs, who just recently paid a settlement fine with the federal government for $5 billion for defrauding investors. Goldman Sachs was one of those companies whose illegal activity helped destroy our economy and ruin the lives of millions of Americans. But this is what a rigged economy and a corrupt campaign finance system and a broken criminal justice is about. These guys are so powerful that not one of the executives on Wall Street has been charged with anything after paying, in this case of Goldman Sachs, a $5 billion fine. Kid gets caught with marijuana, that kid has a police record. A Wall Street executive destroys the economy, $5 billion settlement with the government, no criminal record. That is what power is about. That is what corruption is about. And that is what has to change in the United States of America. +p2546 +aVI would say that\u2014that folks who have looked at this issue for a long time, whether it's Elizabeth Warren or many other economists, will tell you that right now, yes, we do need a 21st century Glass-Steagall legislation. And I would tell you also that when you have three out of the four largest banks in America today, bigger than they were\u2014significantly bigger than when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, I think if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, a good Republican by the way, what he would say is: Break them up; they are too powerful economically; they are too powerful politically. And that is what I believe and many economists believe. Time to break them up. +p2547 +aVWell, we've had a number of economists supporting our legislation. And here's where we are. The American people can judge. Six largest financial institutions in America today have assets of roughly $10 trillion; equivalent to 58 percent of the GDP of the United States of America. That is a lot of money. They issue two thirds of the credit cards, and by the way they're ripping off a whole lot of people with high interest rates on the credit cards, and they write about one third of the mortgages. That is a lot of power for six financial institutions. That's it. I think it is too much power. Too much economic power, too much political power, and the economists that I talk to say we should break them up. +p2548 +aVYeah, I do. I agree with much of what the Secretary said, but, madam Secretary, it is not one streak. Wall Street is an entity of unbelievable economic and political power. That's a fact. And, I want to say something, and it may sound harsh, not to you, but to the American people. In a sense, in my view, the business model of Wall Street is fraud. It's fraud. I believe that corruption is rampant, and the fact that major bank after major bank has reached multi billion dollar settlements with the United States government when we have a weak regulator system tells me that not only did we have to bail them out once, if we don't start breaking them up, we're going to have to bail them out again, and I do not want to see that happen... +p2549 +aVOf course I can work with them, but let's be clear. When I talked about Boeing and I talked about General Electric, what I was referring to is an outrage. I suspect the secretary agrees request me. Right now you have a loophole such that these guys are putting their profits, multi-billion dollar profitable corporations putting billions of dollars into the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, and other tax havens. And in a given year, Rachel, after making billions of dollars in profit, do you know how much they're paying in taxes to the United States government in a given year? Zero. Now explain to me how that makes any sense at all. So what I have said with regard to Boeing and GE and other multinationals that pay zero taxes, you know what we're going to do? We're going to end that loophole. They are going to pay their fair share of taxes. We're going to use that money to rebuild our infrastructure and create up to 13 million jobs. Can I work with corporations? Are there good corporations doing incredible cutting edge research and development? Absolutely they are. And we should be proud of them. But on the other hand, there are many corporations who have turned their backs on the American worker, who have said, if I can make another nickel in profit by going to China and shutting down in the United States of America, that's what I will do. I will do my best to transform our trade policy and take on these corporations who want to invest in low-income countries around the world rather than in the United States of America. +p2550 +aVOK. Let me agree with much of what the secretary said, but where we have a different background on this issue is we differ on the war in Iraq, which created barbaric organizations like +p2551 +aVWell, I think our great task is to make certain that our young men and women in the military do not get sucked into never- ending, perpetual warfare within the quagmire of Syria and Iraq. And I will do my very best to make sure that that doesn't happen. I agree with the secretary that I think what has to happen\u2014and let me just mention what King Abdullah of Jordan said. I think he hit the nail on the head. And what he said is essentially the war against +p2552 +aVWell, you can't simply withdraw tomorrow. Wish we could, and allow, you know, the Taliban or anybody else to reclaim that country. But what we must do, and what we have seen in recent months, is some progress in Iraq, where finally the Iraqi army, which has not been a particularly effective fighting force, retook Ramadi. +p2553 +aVWell, that's not quite accurate. I did give a speech at Georgetown where I talked about democratic socialism and foreign policy. Maybe I shouldn't have combined the two in the same speech, because the foreign policy part of it didn't get much attention. So, let me take this opportunity to give you a very short speech here on the issue. I think, while it is true that the secretary and I voted differently on the war in Iraq, what is important is that we learn the lesson of the war in Iraq. And that lesson is intrinsic to my foreign policy if elected president, is the United States cannot do it alone. We cannot be the policeman of the world. We are now spending more I believe than the next eight countries on defense. We have got to work in strong coalition with the major powers of the world and with those Muslim countries that are prepared to stand up and take on terrorism. So I would say that the key doctrine of the Sanders administration would be no, we cannot continue to do it alone; we need to work in coalition. +p2554 +aV I fully, fully concede that Secretary Clinton, who was secretary of State for four years, has more experience\u2014hat is not arguable\u2014in foreign affairs. But experience is not the only point, judgment is. And once again, back in 2002, when we both looked at the same evidence about the wisdom of the war in Iraq, one of us voted the right way and one of us didn't. In terms of Iran and in terms of Saudi Arabia, of course they hate each other. That's no great secret. But John Kerry, who is I think doing a very good job, has tried to at least get these people in the room together because both of them are being threatened by +p2555 +aVWell... +p2556 +aVWho said That think we should normalize relations with Iran tomorrow? I never said that. I think we should move forward as quickly as we can. And you're right. They are a sponsor of terrorism around the world and we have to address that. But you know, a number of years ago, people were saying normal relationship with Cuba, what a bad and silly idea. They're Communists, they are our enemy. Well guess what? Change has come. So please don't suggest that I think we normalize relations with Tehran tomorrow. We don't. But I would like to see us move forward, and hopefully some day that will happen. And I would say if I might, Madam Secretary\u2014and you can correct me if I'm wrong. When you ran against Senator Obama you thought him naive because he thought it was a good idea to talk to our enemies. I think those are exactly the people you have to talk to and you have to negotiate with. +p2557 +aVOK. +p2558 +aVI think President Obama had the right idea, and the bottom line is that of course there have to be conditions. But, of course it doesn't do us any good to not talk with our adversaries... +p2559 +aVJust to set the record straight, I very strongly supported the agreement which makes certain that Iran does not get a nuclear weapon. +p2560 +aV... +p2561 +aV +p2562 +aV... No, no... +p2563 +aV... +p2564 +aVClearly North Korea is a very strange situation because it is such an isolated country run by a handful of dictators, or maybe just one, who seems to be somewhat paranoid. And, who had nuclear weapons. And, our goal there, in my view, is to work and lean strongly on China to put as much pressure. China is one of the few major countries in the world that has significant support for North Korea, and I think we got to do everything we can to put pressure on China. I worry very much about an isolated, paranoid country with atomic bombs. I think, clearly, we got to work closely with China to resolve the serious problems we have, and I worry about Putin and his military adventurism in the Crimea and the Ukraine. +p2565 +aV... No, I don't. I worry very, very much about an isolated country. That's what makes me nervous. Russia lives in the world. China lives in the world. North Korea is a very, very strange country because it is so isolated, and I do feel that a nation with nuclear weapons, they have got to be dealt with. Dealt with effectively. +p2566 +aVLet me agree. You know, as the secretary knows, I chaired\u2014I had the privilege and the honor of chairing the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs. And it is interesting to me, you know, Republicans give a lot of speeches about how much they love veterans. I work with the American Legion, the VFW, the DAV, the Vietnam Vets, and virtually every veterans organization to put together the most comprehensive piece of the veterans legislation in the modern history of America. That's what I did. And I brought it to the floor of the Senate. Every Democrat voted for it, I got two Republicans. We ended up with 56 votes and I couldn't get the 60 votes that I needed. That is pathetic. This was legislation supported by all of the veterans organizations, addressing many of the serious problems that veterans face in health care and in how we deliver benefits to them. So Republicans talk a good game about veterans, but when it came to put money on the line to protect our veterans, frankly, they were not there. What I did next, Rachel, is I had to retreat a little bit, I had to compromise. I did work with John McCain. I did work with Jeff Miller over in the House. And we put together not the bill that I wanted, but probably the most comprehensive V.A. health care bill in the modern history of this country. Secretary Clinton is absolutely right, there are people, Koch brothers among others, who have a group called Concerned Veterans of America, funded by the Koch brothers. The Koch brothers, by the way, want to destroy Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, every governmental program passed since the 1930s. Yes, there are people out there who want to privatize it. The last point that I'd make. I had a hearing. I had all of the veterans groups in front of me. And I said to them, tell me when a veteran gets in to the V.A., understanding there are waiting lines and real problems, when a veteran gets into the system, is the quality of care good? Without exception, what they said, good, excellent, very good. We've got to strengthen the V.A. We do not privatize the V.A. +p2567 +aVWell, I agree with the Des Moines Register, but let's not blow this out of proportion. This is not a\u2014this is not, like, a winner-take-all thing. I think where we now stand\u2014correct me if I'm wrong\u2014you have 22 delegates, I have 20 delegates. We need 2,500 delegates to win the nomination. You know, so this is not\u2014this is not the biggest deal in the world. We think, by the way, based on talking to our precinct captains, we may have at least two more delegates. What the Des Moines Register said\u2014you know, there were coin\u2014I think there were half a dozen coin flips\u2014a fairly chaotic type situation. At the end of the day, no matter how it's recounted, it will break roughly even. And by the way, I love and respect the caucus process in Iowa. See, and I don't have to say it, because they voted already. And I love New Hampshire, too, because you haven't voted, but......but, look, I think people are blowing this up out of proportion. But I think we need improvements in the process by which results are determined. +p2568 +aVOh . See, when you are old, then they go back all these years. All right. What have you got? +p2569 +aVWell, you know, a general election is different than a primary and caucus process. But let me just say this. In terms of where we are right now, as you mention, Rachel, in a number of national and state, including New Hampshire. For example, the last poll I saw\u2014there may have been a new one\u2014last one I saw here in New Hampshire, a battleground state, had me defeating Trump by 19; the secretary defeating him by one. There were also pretty large margins in Iowa and Wisconsin. These are polls. Polls go up. Polls go down. But here's why I think I will be, if nominated, the strongest candidate. Democrats win when there is a large voter turnout; when people are excited; when working people, middle class people and young people are prepared to engage in the political process. Republicans win when people are demoralized and you have a small voter turnout, which by the way is why they love voter suppression. I believe that our campaign up to now has shown that we can create an enormous amount of enthusiasm from working people, from young people, who will get involved in the political process and which will drive us to a very large voter turnout. If there is a large voter turnout, not only do we retain the White House, but I think we regain the Senate. We win governors' chairs up and down the line. So I believe if you want to retain the White House, if you want to see Democrats do well across the board, I think our campaign is the one that creates the large voter turnout and helps us win. +p2570 +aV +p2571 +aVI am feeling exactly the way I felt at the first debate. There's a process under way. I will not politicize it. +p2572 +aVAnd by the way\u2014and by the way, if I may, the secretary probably doesn't know that there's not a day that goes by when I am not asked to attack her on that issue, and I have refrained from doing that and I will continue to refrain from doing that. +p2573 +aVNot losing control of our campaign. You know, we have hired a whole lot of people in a rapid way and I am familiar with the first two instances and they are unacceptable, and we have apologized and dealt with that. In terms of the last one, as I understand it, we did not suggest that we had the endorsement of a newspaper. Newspapers who make endorsements also say positive things about other candidates, and to the best of my knowledge, that is what we did. So we never said, never said that somebody, a newspaper endorsed us that did not. What we did say is blah blah blah blah was said by the newspaper. +p2574 +aVBut that was only for\u2014that was not to be on television. That's an important point. That was just something\u2014as the secretary knows, you put titles on ads and you send them out, but there was no word in that ad, none, that said that those newspapers had endorsed us. +p2575 +aV... Look, I hear what the Secretary said, and I understand, but look, there are\u2014all of us know that we have seen in recent years horrible, horrible crimes. It's hard to imagine how people can do, bomb, and kill 168 people in Oklahoma City, or do the Boston Marathon bombing, but this is what I believe, and for a couple of reasons. Number one, too many innocent people, including minorities, African Americans, have been executed when they were not guilty. That's number one. We have to be very careful about making sure about that. But, second of all, and maybe, in a deeper reason, of course there are barbaric acts out there. But, in a world of so much violence and killing, I just don't believe that government itself should be part of the killing. So, when somebody commits......somebody commits any of these terrible crimes that we have seen, you lock them up, and you toss away the key. They're never going to get out. But, I just don't' want to see government be part of killing. That's all. +p2576 +aVAbsolutely. I think the Secretary described the situation appropriately. You know, I don't go around asking for governor's resignations every day. In fact, I think I never have in my life. But I did ask for the resignation of Governor Snyder because his irresponsibility......was so outrageous. What we are talking about are children being poisoned. That's what we're talking about. We don't know, no one knows for sure because they haven't done the appropriate studies, but there's no question that kids' intellectual development may have been impacted. We don't know how many thousands. The idea that there has not been a dramatic response is beyond comprehension. And when you have one of the, I think, significant public health crises of recent years, of course the federal government comes in. And of course the federal government says, you're not going to be poisoning little kids and impacting their entire lives. Last point on this. And I suspect the secretary agrees. One wonders if this were a white suburban community what kind of response there would have been. Flint, Michigan, is a poor community. It is disproportionately African-American and minority. And what has happened there is absolutely unacceptable. +p2577 +aVAbsolutely right. +p2578 +aVChuck, I believe in trade, but I do not believe in unfettered free trade. I believe in fair trade which works for the middle class and working families of this country and not just large multinational corporations. I was not only in opposition to +p2579 +aVNo, let... +p2580 +aV... I am absolutely supportive of comprehensive immigration reform and a path towards citizenship for 11 million people today who are living in the shadows. All right? We got to do that. But you miss\u2014when you looked at the issues, you missed two of the most important. And that is you're not going to accomplish what has to be done for working families and the middle class unless there is campaign finance reform. So long as big money interests control the United States Congress, it is gonna be very hard to do what has to be done for working families. So let me be very clear. No nominee of mine, if I'm elected president, to the United States Supreme Court will get that nomination unless he or she is loud and clear, and says they will vote to overturn Citizens United. Second point\u2014second point is that the only way we make change in terms of health care, in terms of dealing with a broken criminal justice system which, today, allows us to have more people in jail than any other country\u2014largely African-American and Latino\u2014the only way we create millions of jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure or have a tax system that says to the wealthy that they are going to pay their fair share, is when millions of people become involved in the political process. No, you just can't negotiate with Mitch McConnell. Mitch is gonna have to look out the window and see a whole lot of people saying, "Mitch, stop representing the billionaire class. Start listening to working families." And as president, that's what I will work hard on. +p2581 +aVI agree with what the secretary said. We shouldn't be getting ahead of ourselves. And as I have said many times, you know, sometimes in these campaigns, things get a little bit out of hand. I happen to respect the secretary very much, I hope it's mutual. And on our worst days, I think it is fair to say we are 100 times better than any Republican candidate. +p2582 +aVI\u2014my dad came to this country at the age of 17 from Poland. Didn't have any money, couldn't speak English, he died pretty young, and I think it would have been beyond his wildest dreams to see his son up here on this stage today running for president. I love this country and my dad loved this country, and he was the most proud American because of what it gave him in terms of raising his family, even though we never had much money. But today in America, we are the only major country on earth that doesn't guarantee health care to all people, that doesn't guarantee paid family and medical leave. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth. We are seeing millions of families unable to send their kids to college in the United States of America. I'm running for president because I believe it is just too late for establishment politics and establishment economics. I do believe we need a political revolution where millions of people stand up and say loudly and clearly that our government belongs to all of us and not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors. Thank you all. +p2583 +asVBARTIROMO +p2584 +(lp2585 +VTonight we're partnering with the Wall Street Journal to ask questions on the economy that voters want answered. We're also working with Facebook, who tells us that since the first Republican debate, more than 58 million people have joined the political conversation online. More than 9 million are talking specifically about the economy. +p2586 +aVBusinesswoman Carly Fiorina. Ohio Governor John Kasich. And Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. +p2587 +aVWe've asked people on Facebook to submit their questions for the candidates. Seth Bell wrote, "We are approaching $20 trillion in national debt. Specifically, what plans do you have to cut federal spending?" Governor Kasich, you have spoken much about your success in balancing the budget under President Clinton. Today the national debt is at record highs and growing unsustainably. Interest will be the fastest-growing part of the federal budget, tripling over the next 10 years. Social Security, the lifeline of millions of American seniors, is rushing toward insolvency. With all of the tax plans presented tonight, estimated to cost anywhere between $2 trillion and $12 trillion over a decade, what specific steps will you take to balance the budget? +p2588 +aVDid you want to name any specific steps, sir? +p2589 +aVThank you, sir. +p2590 +aVSenator Cruz, the International Monetary Fund recently cut its expectations for economic growth. Many economists expect a recession to hit the U.S. within the next year due to the weakening of manufacturing. The next president will have to deal with it. You say tax reform is a powerful lever to spur economic expansion. You're calling for a 10 percent income tax and a 16 percent business tax. What other elements do you need in this plan to actually create jobs? +p2591 +aVThank you, sir. +p2592 +aVGovernor Bush... +p2593 +aVWe have more questions for you, Governor Kasich, coming up. We have more questions for you, Governor Kasich. +p2594 +aVWe will \u2014 we will certainly get to that. Governor Bush? +p2595 +aVAlmost 40 percent of Americans are without a job and are not looking. Many have given up. That's what the participation rate tells us. You've said your policies will drive the economy back to 4 percent growth, which we haven't seen since the year 2000. What specific regulations would you change? And how will that lead to jobs and growth? +p2596 +aVThank you, sir. +p2597 +aVMr. Trump, a federal appeals court just dealt a blow to the Obama administration's plan to prevent the deportation of 5 million people living in this country illegally. The White House is appealing to the Supreme Court. At the heart of this issue is the effect that illegal immigrants are having on our economy, what will you do about it? +p2598 +aVCan we just send 5 million people back with no effect on economy? +p2599 +aVSo what will you do? +p2600 +aVThank you, sir. +p2601 +aVWe go back to Facebook. Dewayne Wesley Cato asks on Facebook, how do we get rid of regulations choking our businesses? Ms. Fiorina? Specifically, under the president's Affordable Care Act, employers with 50 or more employees are required to offer health insurance, or be fined. Many are opting to pay the fine. Others are cutting back employee hours to duck the law altogether. What specific ways will you alleviate the pressure on small business? +p2602 +aVJust to be clear, you want to repeal Obamacare... ..but, what's the alternative? +p2603 +aVJust to be clear, you say you would repeal Obamacare... +p2604 +aV...But, what is the alternative... +p2605 +aV...and how does that help small business... +p2606 +aV...Thank you... +p2607 +aVSenator Cruz, there isn't anyone in this audience or watching at home tonight who would not like to pay less in taxes. Most people just want a fair shake, and they don't want their money to be wasted. But explain how your plan works. How can you cut taxes as much as you propose without running up debt and deficits? +p2608 +aVBut you haven't told us how to pay for it. +p2609 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Bush, Republican primary voters say tax reform should be a priority for Congress and the administration. But, Governor Bush, how important is tax reform in your domestic policy agenda? Will you guarantee it in the first year of your presidency? +p2610 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2611 +aVThat's right. That's right. +p2612 +aVComing up, the biggest threats facing the next commander-in-chief. You're watching the Republican presidential debate, live tonight from Milwaukee. We'll be right back. +p2613 +aVWelcome back. Welcome back to the Republican presidential debate. The candidates taking the questions you want answered. Also tonight, you can see what America is saying about the debate. Go to Facebook and type #gopdebate into the search box. Now, back to the questions. Americans face security threats at home and abroad. Last year, terrorist attacks rose 61 percent, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace, with the most deaths occurring in just five countries, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Syria. Dr. Carson, you were against putting troops on the ground in Iraq and against a large military force in Afghanistan. Do you support the president's decision to now put 50 special ops forces in Syria and leave 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan? +p2614 +aVWe asked Facebook to take a look at some of the major issues we're talking about, and tackling in this debate tonight. This word cloud shows what people are focusing on the most. The bigger the word, the more the talk. One of the most discussed issues in the last month, homeland security. Governor Bush, what is the biggest threat facing America today? +p2615 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, in 2012 debate, President Obama mocked Mitt Romney's assertion that Russia was the top geopolitical challenge facing the United States, saying he was a Cold War dinosaur. Now, Russia has invaded Ukraine, and has put troops in Syria. You have said you will have a good relationship with Mr. Putin. So, what does President Trump do in response to Russia's aggression? +p2616 +aVThank you, sir. +p2617 +aVThank you, governor. +p2618 +aVSenator Rubio. +p2619 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. +p2620 +aVMore questions \u2014 more questions coming up, when the Republican presidential debate comes right back, live from Milwaukee. Stay with us. +p2621 +aVWelcome back to the fourth Republican presidential debate. Senator Rubio, Hillary Clinton is the clear front runner for the Democratic nomination. If she is indeed the nominee, you will be facing a candidate with an impressive resume. She was the first lady of the United States, a U.S. senator from New York, and secretary of state under Barack Obama. She has arguably more experience, certainly more time in government than almost all of you on stage tonight. Why should the American people trust you to lead this country, even though she has been so much closer to the office? +p2622 +aVSenator Paul, you were one of 15 republicans to vote for an amendment which states that human activity contributed to climate change. President Obama has announced an aggressive plan to cut carbon emissions. At the same time, energy production in America has boomed. Is it possible to continue this boom, and move toward energy self-sufficiency, while at the same time pursuing a meaningful climate change program? +p2623 +aVCarly Fiorina? +p2624 +aVFormer Governor Jeb Bush? +p2625 +aVSenator Ted Cruz? +p2626 +aVHe's funny. +p2627 +aVThank you. +p2628 +asVCLINTON +p2629 +(lp2630 +VThank you. +p2631 +aVI'm running for president to knock down all the barriers that are holding Americans back, and to rebuild the ladders of opportunity that will give every American a chance to advance, especially those who have been left out and left behind. I know a lot of Americans are angry about the economy. And for good cause. Americans haven't had a raise in 15 years. There aren't enough good-paying jobs, especially for young people. And yes, the economy is rigged in favor of those at the top. We both agree that we have to get unaccountable money out of our political system and that we have to do much more to ensure that Wall Street never wrecks main street again. But I want to go further. I want to tackle those barriers that stand in the way of too many Americans right now. African-Americans who face discrimination in the job market, education, housing, and the criminal justice system. Hardworking immigrant families living in fear, who should be brought out of the shadows so they and their children can have a better future. Guaranteeing that women's work finally gets the pay, the equal pay that we deserve. I think America can only live up to its potential when we make sure that every American has a chance to live up to his or her potential. That will be my mission as president. And I think together we will make progress. +p2632 +aVJudy, I think that the best analysis that I've seen based on Senator Sanders plans is that it would probably increase the size of the federal government by about 40%, but what is most concerning to me is that in looking at the plans \u2014 let's take healthcare for example. Last week in a CNN town hall, the Senator told a questioner that the questioner would spend about $500 dollars in taxes to get about $5,000 dollars in healthcare. Every progressive economist who has analyzed that says that the numbers don't add up, and that's a promise that cannot be kept, and it's really important now that we are getting into the rest of the country that both of us are held to account for explaining what we are proposing because, especially with healthcare, this is not about math. This is about people's lives, and we should level with the American people about what we can do to make sure they get quality affordable healthcare. +p2633 +aVI can only say that we both share the goal of universal health care coverage. You know, before it was called Obamacare, it was called Hillarycare. And I took on the drug companies and I took on the insurance companies to try to get us universal health care coverage. And why I am a staunch supporter of President Obama's principal accomplishment \u2014 namely the Affordable Care Act \u2014 is because I know how hard it was to get that done. We are at 90 percent coverage. We have to get the remaining 10. I've set forth very specific plans about how to get costs down, especially prescription drug costs. And it is difficult to in any way argue with the goal that we both share. But I think the American people deserve to know specifically how this would work. If it's Medicare for all, then you no longer have the Affordable Care Act, because the Affordable Care Act, as you know very well, is based on the insurance system, based on exchanges, based on a subsidy system. The Children's Health Insurance Program, which I helped to create, which covers 8 million kids, is also a different kind of program. So if you're having Medicare for all, single-payer, you need to level with people about what they will have at the end of the process you are proposing. And based on every analysis that I can find by people who are sympathetic to the goal, the numbers don't add up, and many people will actually be worse off than they are right now. +p2634 +aVWell, let me just \u2014 let me just say, once again......that, having been in the trenches fighting for this, I believe strongly we have to guarantee health care. I believe we are on the path to doing that. The last thing we need is to throw our country into a contentious debate about health care again. And we are not England. We are not France. We inherited a system that was set up during World War II; 170 million Americans get health insurance right now through their employers. So what we have tried to do and what President Obama succeeded in doing was to build on the health care system we have, get us to 90 percent coverage. We have to get the other 10 percent of the way to 100. I far prefer that and the chances we have to be successful there than trying to start all over again, gridlocking our system, and trying to get from zero to 100 percent. +p2635 +aVNo. But it is absolutely fair and necessary for Americans to vet both of our proposals, to ask the really hard questions about, what is it we think we can accomplish, why do we believe that, and what would be the results for the average American family? In my case, whether it's health care, or getting us to debt-free tuition, or moving us toward paid family leave, I have been very specific about where I would raise the money, how much it would cost, and how I would move this agenda forward. I've tried to be as specific to answer questions so that my proposals can be vetted, because I feel like we have to level with people for the very reason, Gwen, that you are mentioning. There is a great deal of skepticism about the federal government. I'm aware of that. It comes from the right, from the left, from people on all sides of the political spectrum. So we have a special obligation to make clear what we stand for, which is why I think we should not make promises we can't keep, because that will further, I think, alienate Americans from understanding and believing we can together make some real changes in people's lives. +p2636 +aVI will put a price tag. My price tag is about $100 billion a year. And again, paid for. And what I have said is I will not throw us further into debt. I believe I can get the money that I need by taxing the wealthy, by closing loopholes, the things that we are way overdue for doing. And I think once I'm in the White House we will have enough political capital to be able to do that. But I am conscious of the fact that we have to also be very clear, especially with young people, about what kind of government is going to do what for them and what it will cost. +p2637 +aVYou know, I think, again, both of us share the goal of trying to make college affordable for all young Americans. And I have set forth a compact that would do just that for debt-free tuition. We differ, however, on a couple of key points. One of them being that if you don't have some agreement within the system from states and from families and from students, it's hard to get to where we need to go. And Senator Sanders's plan really rests on making sure that governors like Scott Walker contribute $23 billion on the first day to make college free. I am a little skeptical about your governor actually caring enough about higher education to make any kind of commitment like that. +p2638 +aVWell, first, Judy, I have spent my entire adult life working toward making sure that women are empowered to make their own choices, even if that choice is not to vote for me. I believe that it's most important that we unleash the full potential of women and girls in our society. And I feel very strongly that I have an agenda, I have a record that really does respond to a lot of the specific needs that the women in our country face. So I'm going to keep making that case. I'm going to keep making sure that everything I've done, everything that I stand for is going to be well known. But I have no argument with anyone making up her mind about who to support. I just hope that by the end of this campaign there will be a lot more supporting me. That's what I'm working towards. +p2639 +aVWell, look, I think that she's been saying that for as long as I've known her, which is about 25 years. But it doesn't change my view that we need to empower everyone, women and men, to make the best decisions in their minds that they can make. That's what I've always stood for. And when it comes to the issues that are really on the front lines as to whether we're going to have equal pay, paid family leave, some opportunity for, you know, women to go as far as their hard work and talent take them, I think that we still have some barriers to knock down, which is why that's at the core of my campaign. I would note, just for a historic aside, somebody told me earlier today we've had like 200 presidential primary debates, and this is the first time there have been a majority of women on the stage. So, you know, we'll take our progress wherever we can find it. +p2640 +aVYou know, I have said \u2014 I have said many times, you know, I'm not asking people to support me because I'm a woman. I'm asking people to support me because I think I'm the most qualified, experienced, and ready person to be the president and the commander-in-chief. And I appreciate greatly Senator Sanders' voting record. And I was very proud to get the endorsement of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, because I've been a leader on these issues. I have gone time and time again to take on the vested interests who would keep women's health care decisions the province of the government instead of women ourselves. I'm very proud that +p2641 +aVYou know, I completely agree with Senator Sanders. The first speech I gave in this campaign back in April was about criminal justice reform and ending the era of mass incarceration. The statistics from Wisconsin are particularly troubling, because it is the highest rate of incarceration for African-Americans in our nation, twice the national average. And we know of the tragic, terrible event that lead to the death of Dontre Hamilton right here in Milwaukee, a young man unarmed, who should still be with us. His family certainly believes that. And so do I. So we have work to do. There have been some good recommendations about what needs to happen. President Obama's policing commission came out with some. I have fully endorsed those. But we have to restore policing that will actually protect the communities that police officers are sworn to protect. And, then we have to go after sentencing, and that's one of the problems here in Wisconsin because so much of what happened in the criminal justice system doesn't happen at the federal level, it happens at the state and local level. But, I would also add this. There are other racial discrepancies. Really systemic racism in this state, as in others, education, in employment, in the kinds of factors that too often lead from a position where young people, particularly young men, are pushed out of school early, are denied employment opportunities. So, when we talk about criminal justice reform, and ending the era of mass incarceration, we also have to talk about jobs, education, housing, and other ways of helping communities. +p2642 +aVWell, I'm just not sure I agree completely with that assessment. I think under President Obama we have seen a lot of advances, the Affordable Care Act has helped more African Americans than any other group to get insurance, to be taken care of, but we also know a lot more than we did. We have a lot more social media, we have everybody with a cellphone. So, we are seeing the dark side of the remaining systemic racism that we have to root out in our society. I think President Obama has set a great example. I think he has addressed a lot of these issues that have been quite difficult, but he has gone forward. Now, what we have to do is to build on an honest conversation about where we go next. We now have much more information about what must be done to fix our criminal justice system. We now have some good models about how better to provide employment, housing and education. I think what President Obama did was to exemplify the importance of this issue as our first African American president, and to address it both from the President's office, and through his advocacy, such as working with young men, and Mrs. Obama's work with young women. But, we can't rest. We have work to do, and we now know a lot more than we ever did before. So, it's going to be my responsibility to make sure we move forward to solve these problems that are now out in the open. Nobody can deny them. To use the Justice Department, as we just saw, they have said they are going to sue Ferguson, that entered into a consent agreement, and then tried to back out. So, we're going to enforce the law, we're going to change policing practices, we're going to change incarceration practices, but we're also going to emphasize education, jobs, and housing. +p2643 +aVLook, I am deeply concerned about what's happening in every community in America, and that includes white communities, where we are seeing an increase in alcoholism, addiction, earlier deaths. People with a high school education or less are not even living as long as their parents lived. This is a remarkable and horrifying fact. And that's why I've come forward with, for example, a plan to revitalize coal country, the coalfield communities that have been so hard hit by the changing economy, by the reduction in the use of coal. You know, coal miners and their families who helped turn on the lights and power our factories for generations are now wondering, has our country forgotten us? Do people not care about all of our sacrifice? And I'm going to do everything I can to address distressed communities, whether they are communities of color, whether they are white communities, whether they are in any part of our country. I particularly appreciate the proposal that Congressman Jim Clyburn has \u2014 the 10-20-30 proposal \u2014 to try to spend more federal dollars in communities with persistent generational poverty. And you know what? If you look at the numbers, there are actually as many, if not more white communities that are truly being left behind and left out. So, yes, I do think it would be a terrible oversight not to try to address the very real problems that white Americans \u2014 particularly those without a lot of education whose jobs have \u2014 you know, no longer provided them or even no longer present in their communities, because we have to focus where the real hurt is. And that's why, as president, I will look at communities that need special help and try to deliver that. +p2644 +aVI strongly support the president's executive actions. I hope the Supreme Court upholds them. I think there is constitutional and legal authority for the president to have done what he did. I am against the raids. I'm against the kind of inhumane treatment that is now being visited upon families, waking them up in the middle of the night, rounding them up. We should be deporting criminals, not hardworking immigrant families who do the very best they can and often are keeping economies going in many places in our country. I'm a strong supporter of comprehensive immigration reform. Have been ever since I was in the Senate. I was one of the original sponsors of the +p2645 +aVTwo quick responses. One, with respect to the Central American children, I made it very clear that those children needed to be processed appropriately, but we also had to send a message to families and communities in Central America not to send their children on this dangerous journey in the hands of smugglers. I've also called for the end of family detention, for the end of privately-run detention centers, along with private prisons, which I think are really against the common good and the rule of law. And with respect to the 2007 bill, this was Ted Kennedy's bill. And I think Ted Kennedy had a very clear idea about what needed to be done. And I was proud to stand with him and support it. +p2646 +aVWell, that just wasn't \u2014 that just wasn't the fact, Senator. The fact is that there was a great effort made by the Obama administration and others to really send a clear message, because we knew that so many of these children were being abused, being treated terribly while they tried to get to our border. So we have a disagreement on this. I think now what I've called for is counsel for every child so that no child has to face any kind of process without someone who speaks and advocates for that child so that the right decision hopefully can be made. +p2647 +aVI think \u2014 I think it's fair to say we don't have a disagreement. We both believe there has to be more money going into the Social Security system. I've said I'm looking at a couple of different ways, one which you mentioned, Senator, but also trying to expand the existing tax to passive income that wealthy people have so that we do get more revenue into the Social Security Trust Fund. I have a slightly different approach, though, about what we should do with that initially. First, rather than expand benefits for everyone, I do want to take care of low-income seniors who worked at low-wage jobs. I want to take care of women. When the Social Security program was started in the 1930s, not very many women worked. And women have been disadvantaged ever since. They do not get any credit for their care-taking responsibilities. And the people who are often the most hard-hit are widows, because when their spouse dies, they can lose up to one-half of their Social Security monthly payment. So we have no disagreement about the need to buttress Social Security, get more revenue into the program. But I want to start by helping those people who are most at risk, the ones who, yes, are cutting their pills in half, who don't believe they can make the rent, who are worried about what comes next for them. +p2648 +aVWell, Senator, look, I think we're in vigorous agreement here. We both want to get more revenue in. I have yet to see a proposal that you're describing that the \u2014 raising the cap would apply to passive income. That has not been... +p2649 +aVWell, that has not been a part of most of the proposals that I've seen. I'm interested in making sure we get the maximum amount of revenue from those who can well afford to provide it. So I'm going to come up with the best way forward. We're going to end up in the same place. We're going to get more revenue. I'm going to prioritize those recipients who need the most help first. +p2650 +aVI can't speak for the Koch Brothers, you're referring to a Super PAC that we don't coordinate with, that was set up to support President Obama, that has now decided that they want to support me. They are the ones who should respond to any questions. Let's talk about our campaigns. I'm very proud of the fact that we have more than 750 thousand donors, and the vast majority of them are giving small contributions. So, I'm proud of Senator Sanders, and his supporters. I think it's great that Senator Sanders, President Obama and I have more donors than any three people who have every run, certainly on the Democratic side. That's the way it should be, and I'm going to continue to reach out to thank all my online contributors for everything they are doing for me, to encourage them and help me do more just as Senator Sanders is. I think that is the real key here. We both have a lot of small donors. I think that sets us apart from a lot of what's happening right now on the Republican side. The Koch Brothers have a very clear political agenda. It is an agenda, in my view, that would do great harm to our country. We're going to fight it as hard as we can, and we're going to fight whoever the Republicans nominate who will depend on the Koch Brothers, and others. +p2651 +aVWe are mixing apples and oranges. My 750,000 donors have contributed more than a million and a half donations. I'm very proud. That, I think, between the two of us demonstrates the strength of the support we have among people who want to see change in our country. But, the real issue, I think, that the Senator is injecting into this is that if you had a Super PAC, like President Obama has, which now says it wants to support me. It's not my PAC. If you take donations from Wall Street, you can't be independent. I would just say, I debated then Senator Obama numerous times on stages like this, and he was the recipient of the largest number of Wall Street donations of anybody running on the Democratic side ever. Now, when it mattered, he stood up and took on Wall Street. He pushed through, and he passed the Dodd-Frank regulation, the toughest regulations since the 1930's. So, let's not in anyway imply here that either President Obama or myself, would in anyway not take on any vested interested, whether it's Wall Street, or drug companies, or insurance companies, or frankly, the gun lobby to stand up to do what's best for the American people. +p2652 +aVWell, let's just \u2014 let's just follow up on this, because, you know, I've made it very clear that no bank is too big to fail, no executive too powerful to jail, and because of Dodd-Frank, we now have in law a process that the president, the Federal Reserve, and others can use if any bank poses a systemic risk. I think that's a major accomplishment. I agree, however, it doesn't go far enough, because what it focuses on are the big banks, which Senator Sanders has talked about a lot, for good reason. I go further in the plan that I've proposed, which has been called the toughest, most effective, comprehensive plan for reining in the other risks that the financial system could face. It was an investment bank, Lehman Brothers, that contributed to our collapse. It was a big insurance company, AIG. It was Countrywide Mortgage. My plan would sweep all of them into a regulatory framework so we can try to get ahead of what the next problems might be. And I believe that not only Barney Frank, Paul Krugman, and others, have said that what I have proposed is the most effective. It goes in the right direction. We have Dodd-Frank. We can use it to break up the banks, if that's appropriate. But let's not kid ourselves. As we speak, there are new problems on the horizon. I want to get ahead of those, and that's why I've proposed a much more comprehensive approach to deal with all of these... +p2653 +aVAbsolutely. And, you know, there are a number of programs that I think are duplicative and redundant and not producing the results that people deserve. There are a lot of training programs and education programs that I think can be streamlined and put into a much better format so that if we do continue them they can be more useful, in public schools, community colleges, and colleges and universities. I would like to take a hard look at every part of the federal government and really do the kind of analysis that would rebuild some confidence in people that we're taking a hard look about what we have, you know, and what we don't need anymore. And that's what I intend to do. +p2654 +aVLook, I think we are readier than we used to be, but it's a constant effort that has to be undertaken to make sure we are as ready as we need to be. We have made a lot of improvements in our domestic security since 9/11, and we have been able to foil and prevent attacks, yet we see the terrible attack in San Bernardino and know that we haven't done enough. So we have to go after this both abroad and at home. We have to go after terrorist networks, predominantly +p2655 +aVIf I could just respond. Two points. One, Senator Sanders voted in 1998 on what I think is fair to call a regime change resolution with respect to Iraq, calling for the end of Saddam Hussein's regime. He voted in favor of regime change with Libya, voted in favor of the Security Council being an active participate in setting the parameters for what we would do, which of course we followed through on. I do not believe a vote in 2002 is a plan to defeat +p2656 +aVYou did support a U.N. Security Council approach, which we did follow up on. And, look, I think it's important to look at what the most important counterterrorism judgment of the first four years of the Obama administration was, and that was the very difficult decision as to whether or not to advise the president to go after bin Laden. I looked at the evidence. I looked at the intelligence. I got the briefings. I recommended that the president go forward. It was a hard choice. Not all of his top national security advisors agreed with that. And at the end of the day, it was the president's decision. So he had to leave the Situation Room after hearing from the small group advising him and he had to make that decision. I'm proud that I gave him that advice. And I'm very grateful to the brave Navy +p2657 +aVWell, I know journalists have asked who you do listen to on foreign policy, and we have yet to know who that is. +p2658 +aVThat's fine. That's fine. You know, I listen to a wide variety of voices that have expertise in various areas. I think it is fair to say, whatever the complaints that you want to make about him are, that with respect to China, one of the most challenging relationships we have, his opening up China and his ongoing relationships with the leaders of China is an incredibly useful relationship for the United States of America. So if we want to pick and choose \u2014 and I certainly do \u2014 people I listen to, people I don't listen to, people I listen to for certain areas, then I think we have to be fair and look at the entire world, because it's a big, complicated world out there. +p2659 +aVAnd, yes, people we may disagree with on a number of things may have some insight, may have some relationships that are important for the president to understand in order to best protect the United States. +p2660 +aVWell, with respect to Syria, I really do appreciate the efforts that Secretary Kerry has made. The agreement on humanitarian relief now needs to be implemented, because there are enclaves that are literally filled with starving people throughout Syria. The agreement on a cease-fire, though, is something that has to be implemented more quickly than the schedule that the Russians agreed to. You know, the Russians wanted to buy time. Are they buying time to continue their bombardment on behalf of the Assad regime to further decimate what's left of the opposition, which would be a grave disservice to any kind of eventual cease-fire? So I know Secretary Kerry is working extremely hard to try to move that cease-fire up as quickly as possible. But I would add this. You know, the Security Council finally got around to adopting a resolution. At the core of that resolution is an agreement I negotiated in June of 2012 in Geneva, which set forth a cease-fire and moving toward a political resolution, trying to bring the parties at stake in Syria together. This is incredibly complicated, because we've got Iran as a big player, in addition to Russia. We have Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and others who have very important interests in their view. This is one of the areas I've disagreed with Senator Sanders on, who has called for Iranian troops trying to end civil war in Syria, which I think would be a grave mistake. Putting Iranian troops right on the border of the Golan right next to Israel would be a nonstarter for me. Trying to get Iran and Saudi Arabia to work together, as he has suggested in the past, is equally a nonstarter. So let's support what Secretary Kerry and the president are doing, but let's hope that we can accelerate the cease-fire, because I fear that the Russians will continue their bombing, try to do everything they can to destroy what's left of the opposition. And remember, the Russians have not gone after +p2661 +aVWell, I respectfully disagree. I think we have achieved a great deal with the Iranian nuclear agreement to put a lid on the Iranian nuclear weapons program. That has to be enforced absolutely with consequences for Iran at the slightest deviation from their requirements under the agreement. I do not think we should promise or even look toward normalizing relations because we have a lot of other business to get done with Iran. Yes, they have to stop being the main state sponsor of terrorism. Yes, they have to stop trying to destabilize the Middle East, causing even more chaos. Yes, they've got to get out of Syria. They've got to quit sponsoring Hezbollah and Hamas. They have got to quit trying to ship rockets into Gaza that can be used against Israel. We have a lot of work to do with Iran before we ever say that they could move toward normalized relations with us. +p2662 +aV... Senator Sanders, from a debate in 2008, quote what I said. The question was, would you meet with an adversary without conditions? I said no. And in fact, in Obama administration, we did not meet with anybody without conditions. That is the appropriate approach in order to get the results that you are seeking. +p2663 +aVWell, I was pleased that +p2664 +aVI certainly agree with FDR for all the reasons Senator Sanders said. And I agree about the role that he played both in war and in peace on the economy and defeating fascism around the world. I would choose Nelson Mandela for his generosity of heart, his understanding of the need for reconciliation. But I want to \u2014 I want to follow up on something having to do with leadership, because, you know, today Senator Sanders said that President Obama failed the presidential leadership test. And this is not the first time that he has criticized President Obama. In the past he has called him weak. He has called him a disappointment. He wrote a forward for a book that basically argued voters should have buyers' remorse when it comes to President Obama's leadership and legacy. And I just couldn't agree \u2014 disagree more with those kinds of comments. You know, from my perspective, maybe because I understand what President Obama inherited, not only the worst financial crisis but the antipathy of the Republicans in Congress, I don't think he gets the credit he deserves for being a president......who got us out of that......put us on firm ground, and has sent us into the future. And it is a \u2014 the kind of criticism that we've heard from Senator Sanders about our president I expect from Republicans. I do not expect from someone running for the Democratic nomination to succeed President Obama. +p2665 +aVYou know, Senator, what I am concerned about, is not disagreement on issues, saying that this is what I would rather do, I don't agree with the president on that, calling the president weak, calling him a disappointment, calling several times that he should have a primary opponent when he ran for re-election in 2012, you know, I think that goes further than saying we have our disagreements. As a senator, yes, I was a senator. I understand we can disagree on the path forward. But those kinds of personal assessments and charges are ones that I find particularly troubling. +p2666 +aVYou know, we \u2014 we agree that we've got to get unaccountable money out of politics. We agree that Wall Street should never be allowed to wreck Main Street again. But here's the point I want to make tonight. I am not a single-issue candidate, and I do not believe we live in a single-issue country. I think that a lot of what we have to overcome to break down the barriers that are holding people back, whether it's poison in the water of the children of Flint, or whether it's the poor miners who are being left out and left behind in coal country, or whether it is any other American today who feels somehow put down and oppressed by racism, by sexism, by discrimination against the +p2667 +aVWell, I'm happy to be here in New Hampshire for this debate, as we move toward the primary on Tuesday. I believe that America has the opportunity to once again live by our values, live up to our values in the 21st century, but I think that America can only do that if Americans can succeed. And there are lots of reasons why Americans today are feeling left out and left behind. Yes, of course, the economy has not been working for most Americans. Yes, of course, we have special interests that are unfortunately doing too much to rig the game. But there's also the continuing challenges of racism, of sexism, of discrimination against the +p2668 +aVWell, let me start by saying that Senator Sanders and I share some very big progressive goals. I've been fighting for universal healthcare for many years, and we're now on the path to achieving it. I don't want us to start over again. I think that would be a great mistake, to once again plunge our country into a contentious debate about whether we should have and what kind of system we should have for healthcare. I want to build on the progress we've made; got from 90 percent coverage to 100 percent coverage. And I don't want to rip away the security that people finally have; 18 million people now have healthcare; preexisting conditions are no longer a bar. So we have a difference. I also believe in affordable college, but I don't believe in free college, because every expert that I have talked to says, look, how will you ever control the costs. What I want to do is make sure middle class kids, not Donald Trump's kids, get to be able to afford college. I want to get the economy going again. It's not just enough about what we're against, as important as that is. I have a plan to create new jobs, manufacturing, infrastructure, clean energy jobs that will make us the 21st century clean energy super power. I also want to make sure small businesses can start and grow again. And of course, I believe in raising the minimum wage and equal pay for work. But the numbers just don't add up, from what Senator Sanders has been proposing. That's why all of the independent experts, all of the editorial boards that have vetted both of us have concluded that it is just not achievable. Let's go down a path where we can actually tell people what we will do. A progressive is someone who makes progress. That's what I intend to do. +p2669 +aVIf I could just follow up on that. There is no disagreement between us on universal coverage for health care, the disagreement is where do we start from and where do we end up. The Republicans want to repeal the Affordable Care Act, I want to improve it. I want to build on it, get the costs down, get prescription drug costs down. Senator Sanders wants us to start all over again. This was a major achievement of President Obama, of our country. It is helping people right now. I am not going to wait and have us plunge back into a contentious national debate that has very little chance of succeeding. Let's make the Affordable Care Act work for everybody. +p2670 +aVWell because I am a progressive who gets things done. And the root of that word, progressive, is progress. But I've heard Senator Sanders comments, and it's really caused me to wonder who's left in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Under his definition, President Obama is not progressive because he took donations from Wall Street; Vice President Biden is not progressive because she supported Keystone; Senator Shaheen is not progressive because she supports the trade pact. Even the late, great Senator Paul Wellstone would not fit this definition because he voted for +p2671 +aVWell, Chuck... +p2672 +aV... If I could, you know, in the very first debate I was asked am I a moderate or a progressive and I said I'm a progressive who likes to get things done. Cherry picking a quote here or there doesn't change my record of having fought for racial justice, having fought for kids rights, having fought the kind of inequities that fueled my interest in service in the first place going back to my days in the Children's Defense Fund. It certainly didn't stop me from taking on the drug companies and the insurance companies. Before it was called Hillarycare\u2014I mean, before it was called ObamaCare it was called Hillarycare because we took them on, and we weren't successful, but we kept fighting and we got the children's health insurance program. Every step along the way I have stood up, and fought, and have the scars to prove it. So, again......I think it's important that, look, I understand Senator Sanders really trying to distinguish himself. I understand that, that's what you do in campaigns, but at the same time let's not be\u2014in, I think an unfair way, making an accusation, or making an attack about where I stand and about where I've always stood. It is fair to say, Senator, that in your definition, as you being the self-proclaimed gatekeeper for progressivism, I don't know anyone else who fits that definition, but I know a lot of really hard fighting progressives in the Democratic party who have stood up time, and time again against special interests, against the powerful on behalf of those who are left behind and left out. And, that's what we ought to be celebrating. Let's talk about what we would do as President, and Commander in Chief to make sure the progress continues into the future. +p2673 +aV... Well, you began it yesterday with your comments... +p2674 +aVYou know, the person who first put out the idea of a 50-state party strategy is former Governor Howard Dean, who is with us tonight. And I'm very proud and grateful to have the support of so many elected Vermonters and former officials. Two former governors, the current governor, the current other senator. I really appreciate that. And I think it's because they've worked with me, they've seen what I do. They know what kind of a colleague I am. They want me as their partner in the White House. And that's exactly what I will do. We'll get things done together. Democrats, Republicans, independents, we're going to make progress together when I'm president. +p2675 +aVWell, look, I've got to just jump in here because, honestly, Senator Sanders is the only person who I think would characterize me, a woman running to be the first woman president, as exemplifying the establishment. And I've got to tell you that it is......it is really quite amusing to me. People support me because they know me. They know my life's work. They have worked with me and many have also worked with Senator Sanders. And at the end of the day they endorse me because they know I can get things done. I am not going to make promises I can't keep. I am not going to talk about big ideas like single-payer and then not level with people about how much it will cost. A respected health economist said that these plans would cost a trillion dollars more a year. I'm not going to tell people that I will raise your incomes and not your taxes, and not mean it, because I don't want to see the kind of struggle that the middle class is going through exemplified by these promises that would raise taxes and make it much more difficult for many, many Americans to get ahead and stay ahead. That is not my agenda. +p2676 +aVYeah, but I\u2014I think it's fair to really ask what's behind that comment. You know, Senator Sanders has said he wants to run a positive campaign. I've tried to keep my disagreements over issues, as it should be. But time and time again, by innuendo, by insinuation, there is this attack that he is putting forth, which really comes down to\u2014you know, anybody who ever took donations or speaking fees from any interest group has to be bought. And I just absolutely reject that, Senator. And I really don't think these kinds of attacks by insinuation are worthy of you. And enough is enough. If you've got something to say, say it directly. But you will not find that I ever changed a view or a vote because of any donation that I ever received. +p2677 +aVAnd I have stood up and I have represented my constituents to the best of my abilities, and I'm very proud of that. +p2678 +aVSo I think it's time to end the very artful smear that you and your campaign have been carrying out... +p2679 +aV... in recent weeks, and let's talk......let's talk about about the issues. Let's talk about the issues that divide us. +p2680 +aVAnd let's\u2014let's... +p2681 +aV... we both agree with campaign finance reform. +p2682 +aVI\u2014I worked hard for McCain-Feingold. +p2683 +aVI want to reverse Citizens United. +p2684 +aVAnd so\u2014let's talk about issues. +p2685 +aVWell, you know, Senator, I don't think\u2014I don't... +p2686 +aV... I don't think you could find any person in political life today who has been subjected to more attacks and had more money spent against her by special interests, among whom you have named a few, than I. And I'm proud of that. You know, when I took on the drug companies and the insurance companies for universal health care coverage, they went after me with a vengeance. Today, you've got hedge fund billionaires aligned with Karl Rove, running ads against me to try to get Democrats to vote for you. I know this game. I'm going to stop this game. But while we're talking about votes, you're the one who voted to deregulate swaps and derivatives in 2000, which contributed to the over-leveraging of Lehman Brothers, which was one of the culprits that brought down the economy. So I don't know\u2014I'm not impugning your motive because you voted to deregulate swaps and derivatives. People make mistakes and I'm certainly not saying you did it for any kind of financial advantage. What we've got to do as Democrats\u2014what we've got to do as Democrats is to be united to actually solve these problems. And what I believe is that I have a better track record and a better opportunity to actually get that job done. That's what this election should be about. +p2687 +aVOn the issue of Wall Street. +p2688 +aVWell you know, Rachel, I think I may not have done the job I should in explaining my record. You know, I did\u2014when I left the secretary of State's office, like so many former officials, military leaders, journalists, others, I did go on the speaking circuit. I spoke to heart doctors, I spoke to the American Camping Association, I spoke to auto dealers, and yes, I spoke to firms on Wall Street. They wanted me to talk about the world, what my experience had been as secretary of State. But what I want people to know is I went to Wall Street before the crash. I was the one saying you're going to wreck the economy because of these shenanigans with mortgages. I called to end the carried interest loophole that hedge fund managers enjoy. I proposed changes in CEO compensation. I called for a consumer protection financial bureau before it was created. And I think the best evidence that the Wall Street people at least know where I stand and where I have always stood is because they are trying to beat me in this primary. They have collected and spent as much as $6 million on these ads. Hedge fund billionaires, Karl Rove, another billionaire, jumped in. And why are they doing that? These are guys who try to make smart investments. They know my record, they know me, they know that I say what I believe and I will do it. And I also have a pretty good understanding about how to stop them. So I do want people to know that, and I think it's important for everybody to understand I have a record, I have stood firm and I will be the person who prevents them from ever wrecking the economy again. +p2689 +aVIf I could, let me just say that of course it has to change. It has to change. And that's why I have put forward a plan to do just that. And it's been judged to be the toughest, most effective and comprehensive one. I have great respect for Senator Sanders's commitment to try to restore Glass-Steagall. But I do not believe that that is enough. And in fact, I don't believe it really addresses a lot of the biggest issues we have. You know, we now have power under the Dodd-Frank legislation to break up banks. And I've said I will use that power if they pose a systemic risk. But I want to go further, because it was investment banks, it was insurance companies, it was mortgage companies, all of which contributed. So let's not just be narrowly focused on one part of the problem. We have a lot of issues with corporate power that have to be addressed. My plan takes us further and it would do the job. +p2690 +aVLook we have a law\u2014look, you know, I\u2014I appreciate the senator's advocacy. We have a law. It was passed. It was signed by President Obama. It lays out a process that you go through to determine whether a systemic risk is posed. And by the way, President Obama signed that, pushed it through, even though he took donations from Wall Street, because he's a responsible president. So we have a law in place. If the circumstances warrant it, I will certainly use it. And from what you say, I know you will as well. But that is not enough. And I keep going back to this because part of the reason the Wall Street guys are trying so hard to stop me\u2014the hedge fund guys, the shadow banking guys\u2014is because I've got their number on all of that. And my plan goes so much further to try to prevent the problems of the future. You know, we can't just fight the last war. We've got to be prepared to stop these guys if they ever try to use their economic power once again, to hurt the economy, and to hurt so many Americans. And my plan, Paul Krugman, Barney Frank, a lot of experts who understand what the new challenges might be, have said I am exactly on point, and the Wall Street guys actually know that. +p2691 +aVI will look into it. I don't know the status, but I will certainly look into it. But, I can only repeat what is the fact that I spoke to a lot of different groups with a lot of different constituents, a lot of different kinds of members about issues that had to do with world affairs. I probably described more times than I can remember how stressful it was advising the President about going after Bin Laden. My view on this is look at my record. Look at what I am proposing, and\u2014we have a vigorous agreement here. We both want to reign in the excesses of Wall Street. I also want to reign in the excesses of Johnson Controls that we bailed out when they were an autoparts company, and we saved the auto industry, and now they want to avoid paying taxes. I want to go after the pharmaceutical companies like Valeant, and Turns that are increasing prices without any regard to the impact on people's health. Now, if all we're going to talk about is one part of our economy, and indeed one streak in our economy, we're missing the big oil companies. We're missing other big energy companies. We're missing the big picture, and I have a record of trying to go at the problems that actually exist, and I will continue to do that. +p2692 +aV... Well, Senator, no one wants to see that happen. I mean, look, I care deeply about this because just like you I have met so many people who had their life savings wiped out, who lost their homes, who are barely back with their heads above water. This was a disaster for our country, and we can never let that happen again. We have no disagreement about this. But, I think it's a broader target list than just Wall Street, and I believe that we have to be very focused on how we try to take back the power and increase the empowerment of the American people. And, I think I have that kind of experience, maybe because they've beat me up for so many years, and I know exactly how to handle them because I've been in the arena with them time and time again. +p2693 +aVWell, I think what the president understands, and what he's trying to do, is that we have to support the Arab and Kurdish fighters on the ground who are actually doing the fighting. I agree with the president. I've said myself, we will not send American combat troops back to either Syria or Iraq\u2014that is off the table. But we do have special forces, we do have trainers, we do have the military personnel who are helping with the airstrikes that the United States is leading so that we can try to take out +p2694 +aVNo. I mean, of course that's a theoretical question, and we don't know what it would be for, and we don't know how many numbers there are. I am against American combat troops being in Syria and Iraq. I support special forces. I support trainers. I support the air campaign. And I think we're making some progress. I want to continue to intensify that, and that's exactly what the president is doing. +p2695 +aVIf I could\u2014if I could... +p2696 +aV... respectfully add\u2014look, we did differ. A vote in 2002 is not a plan to defeat +p2697 +aVOh, absolutely. The president decided to leave more troops than he had originally planned in Afghanistan. We have a very cooperative government there, with Ashraf Ghani and his top\u2014his top partner, Abdullah. And they are doing their very best. And the Afghan army is actually fighting. The Afghan army is taking heavy losses defending Afghan territory. And I would have to make an evaluation based on the circumstances at the time I took office as to how much help they continue to need. Because it's not just the Taliban. We now are seeing outposts of, you know, fighters claiming to be affiliated with +p2698 +aVA group of national security experts, military intelligence experts, issued a very concerning statement about Senator Sanders's views on foreign policy and national security, pointing out some of the comments he has made on these issues, such as inviting Iranian troops into Syria to try to resolve the conflict there; putting them right at the doorstep of Israel. Asking Saudi Arabia and Iran to work together, when they can't stand each other and are engaged in a proxy battle right at this moment. So I do think questions have been raised and questions have to be answered because when New Hampshire voters go on Tuesday to cast your vote, you are voting both for a president and a commander in chief. And there is no way to predict what comes in the door of that White House from day to day that can pose a threat to the United States or one of our friends and allies, and I think this is a big part of the job interview that we are all conducting with the voters here. +p2699 +aVWell, let me just add that, you know, I've said this before and I'm very proud of it, that when it comes to judgment, having run a hard race against Senator Obama at the time, he turned to me to be secretary of State. And when it comes to the biggest counterterrorism issues that we faced in this administration, namely whether or not to go after bin Laden, I was at that table, I was exercising my judgment to advise the president on what to do, on that, on Iran, on Russia on China, on a whole raft of issues. Because I know from my own experience that you've got to be ready on day one. There is just too much unpredictable threat and danger in the world today, you know, to try to just say wait, I'll get to that when I can. That is just not an acceptable approach. +p2700 +aVAbsolutely. You know, I did put together the coalition to impose sanctions. I actually started the negotiations that led to the nuclear agreement, sending some much my closest aides to begin the conversations with the Iranians. I'm very pleased we got that nuclear agreement. It puts a lid on the nuclear weapons program. We have to enforce it, there have to be consequences attached to it. But that is not our only problem with Iran. We have to figure out how to deal with Iran as the principal state sponsor of terrorism in the world. They are destabilizing governments in the region. They continue to support Hezbollah and Hamas in Lebanon against Israel. A lot of work that we have do is going to be incredibly hard. I'm prepared to do that work, but I believe, just as I did with imposing the sanctions, you have to get action for action. If we were to normalize relations right now, we would remove one of the biggest pieces of leverage we have to try to influence and change Iranian behavior. The president doesn't think we should. I certainly don't think we should. I believe we have to take this step by step to try to reign in Iranian aggression, their support for terrorism and the other bad behavior that can come back and haunt us. +p2701 +aVWell Senator, let me just correct the record if I can. You know\u2014let me correct the record. +p2702 +aVAs I\u2014as I certainly recall, the question was to meet with without conditions. And you're right, I was against that. I was against it then I would be against it now. +p2703 +aVPart of diplomacy, the hard work of diplomacy is trying to extract whatever concessions you can get, and giving something the other side wants. Of course you've got to try to make peace with, and work with those who are your adversaries, but you don't just rush in, open the door, and say, "Here I am. Let's talk and make a deal." That's not the way it works. +p2704 +aV... Well, we set conditions on Iran. We worked hard to get them established, and to be enforced, and then we talked. That's exactly the right......and, that's what I did with the President, so he and I are on the very same page. +p2705 +aVI haven't talked to Secretary Carter, but here's what I would think he's planning. We do have the nuclear weapons agreement with Iran, that's an enforcement consequence, action for action, follow on. We have a plan, we will watch them, we will be vigilant. We do have to worry about North Korea. They continue to develop their nuclear weapons capability, and they're working very hard on their ballistic missile capability. And, I know that some of those plans could very well lead to a missile that might reach Hawaii, if not the West Coast. We do have to try to get the countries in the region to work with us to do everything we can to confine, and constrain them. But, what Secretary Carter is looking at is the constant pressure that Russia's putting on our European allies. The way that Russia is trying to move the boundaries of the post-World War II Europe. The way that he is trying to set European countries against one another, seizing territory, holding it in Crimea. Beginning to explore whether they could make some inroads in the Baltics. We know that they are deeply engaged in supporting Assad because they want to have a place in the Middle East. They have a naval base, they have an air base in Syria. They want to hang on to that. I think what Secretary Carter is seeing, and I'm glad he is, is that we got to get +p2706 +aVWell, first of all, I'm absolutely against privatizing the V.A. And I am going do everything I can to build on the reforms that Senator Sanders and others in Congress have passed to try to fix what's wrong with the V.A. There are a lot of issues about wait times and services that have to be fixed because our veterans deserve nothing but the best. But you're absolutely right, you know, Rachel, this is another part of the Koch brothers agenda. They've actually formed an organization to try to begin to convince Americans we should no longer have guaranteed health care, specialized care for our veterans. I will fight that as hard as I can. I think there's where we can enlist the veterans service organizations, the veterans of America, because, yes, let's fix the V.A., but we will never let it be privatized, and that is a promise. +p2707 +aVWhatever they decide to do, that's fine. +p2708 +aVAll right. +p2709 +aVI can only tell you what I believe, and that is that I am the strongest candidate to take it to the Republicans and win in November. And I say that with great\u2014with great respect for the campaign that Senator Sanders has been running. I personally am thrilled at the numbers of people, and particularly young people who are coming to support your campaign. I hope that I will be able to earn their support. They may not support me now, but I support them and we'll work together. But what I'm concerned about is the views of many Democrats who know their states, who know how hard it is to win a general election. And it also will push whoever the nominee is into the spotlight. I've been vetted. There's hardly anything you don't know about me. And I think it's fair to say that whoever is in that position, Senator Sanders or anyone else who might have run, will face the most withering onslaught. So, I think that I am the person who can do all aspects of the job. I think I'm the person best prepared to take the case to the Republicans. And I think that at the end of the day, it's not so much electability. It is who the American people can believe can keep them safe, can get the economy moving again, can get incomes rising, can build on the progressive accomplishments of President Obama. And I think that the coalition that President Obama put together to win twice is a coalition that I can put together and add to. And that's what I'm prepared to... +p2710 +aVAbsolutely I can. You know, before it was emails, it was Benghazi, and the Republicans were stirring up so much controversy about that. And I testified for 11 hours, answered their questions. They basically said yeah, didn't get her. We tried. That was all a political ploy. Now, we had a development in the email matter today when it came out that Secretary Powell and close aides to Former Secretary Rice used private e-mail accounts. and now you have these people in the government who are doing the same thing to Secretary Powell and Secretary Rice's aide they've been doing to me, which is that I never sent or received any classified material. They are retroactively classifying it. I agree completely with Secretary Powell, who said today this is an absurdity. And so I think the American people will know it's an absurdity. I have absolutely no concerns about it whatsoever. +p2711 +aVI am 100 percent confident. This is a security review that was requested. It is being carried out. It will be resolved. But I have to add if there's going to be a security review about me, there's going to have to be security reviews about a lot of other people, including Republican office holders, because we've got this absurd situation of retroactive classifications. Honest to goodness, this is\u2014this just beggars the imagination. So I have absolutely no concerns about it, but we've got to get to the bottom of what's really going on here, and I hope that will happen. +p2712 +aVNo. +p2713 +aVYes, I do. And\u2014you know, what I hope the Supreme Court will do is make it absolutely clear that any state that continues capital punishment either must meet the highest standards of evidentiary proof of effective assistance of counsel or they cannot continue it because that, to me, is the real dividing line. I have much more confidence in the federal system, and I do reserve it for particularly heinous crimes in the federal system, like terrorism. I have strong feelings about that. I thought it was appropriate after a very thorough trial that Timothy McVeigh received the death penalty for blowing up the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people, including 19 children in a daycare center. I do for very limited, particularly heinous crimes believe it is an appropriate punishment, but I deeply disagree with the way that too many states are still implementing it. If it were possible to separate the federal from the state system by the Supreme Court, that would, I think, be an appropriate outcome. +p2714 +aVAbsolutely. Absolutely. You know, Rachel, you and I have talked about this before. I thank you for going to Flint to hold that town hall. I will be in Flint at the Mayor's invitation on Sunday to get an in depth briefing about what is, and is not happening. This is an emergency. Everyday that goes by that these people, particularly the children, are not tested so we can know what steps must be taken to try to remediate the effects of the poisoning that they have been living with is a day lost in a child's life. I know from the work that I've done over so many years, lead, the toxic nature of lead can affect you brain development, your body development, your behavior. I absolutely believe that what is being done is not sufficient. We need to be absolutely clear about everything that should be done from today to tomorrow, into the future to try to remedy the terrible burden that the people of Flint are barring. That includes fixing their pipes, it includes guaranteeing whatever healthcare and educational embellishments they may need going forward, and I think the federal government has way where it can bill the state of Michigan. If Michigan won't do it, there have to be ways that we can begin to move, and then make them pay for it, and hold them accountable. +p2715 +aVYou know, Chuck, I've only had responsibility for voting for trade agreements as a senator. And I voted a multinational trade agreement when I was senator, the +p2716 +aVWell, I\u2014I don't accept that premise, Chuck. I think that we've got so much business we have to do. We've talked a lot tonight about what we're against\u2014we're against income inequality. We're against the abuses of powerful interests. We're against a lot of things. I'm for a lot of things. I don't want to just stop bad things from happening, I want to start good things from happening. And I believe, if I'm so fortunate to get the nomination, I will begin to work immediately on putting together an agenda, beginning to talk with members of Congress and others about how we can push forward. I want to have half a billion more solar panels deployed, the first four years. I want to have enough clean energy to power every home the next four years. I want us to keep working on the Affordable Care Act, to get not only to 100 percent coverage, but bring down the costs of prescription drugs and out-of-pocket costs. I want to move forward on paid family leave, on early childhood education, I want us to do more for small businesses. Small businesses have to create most of the jobs, and we're not creating and growing small businesses. I think, if you have a smart agenda, you pick the committees that you know have to begin to work on these various pieces\u2014because that's the way Congress is set up. You go through different committees, and you really make a big push in the beginning. Immigration reform, economic revitalization with manufacturing, with infrastructure\u2014we put it out there, and we begin to work on an ambitious, big, bold agenda that will actually produce the results that I want to see for our country. +p2717 +aVThe answer to both of those is no. I'm interested in making what we have work better. I want to streamline programs that are duplicative and redundant. I want to have a top-to-bottom review about what works and what doesn't work, and be absolutely clear we're getting rid of what doesn't work. I have had the opportunity to run a big agency. I was very flattered when Henry Kissinger said I ran the State Department better\u2014better than anybody had run it in a long time. So I have an idea of what it's going to take to make our government work more efficiently. And when you put together a budget, you have to make a lot of hard decisions, but I think it's not appropriate to say "I'm going to get rid of this, get rid of that" until you have a very good process that gives you the information about what to do. But I want to add something else, you know, because look, we have so much work to do in our country, and I think it's the greatest work that Americans will be called to do. And of course, we have to have people in every community involved in it. We have to have the political voice, the political grassroots speaking up and speaking out about what we have to try to accomplish in Washington. But we also need to have a very clear set of goals that we are going to achieve, and we need to level with the American people about what they are, what they will cost, what will be expected of our citizenry. So I see as president having a constant dialogue with Americans here's what we're trying to get done, here's why I need your help, here's why you may think comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship isn't something you care about, but I'm telling you it will help fix the labor market, it will bring people out of the shadows\u2014 +p2718 +aVI never said that. +p2719 +aVLook... +p2720 +aVWell, I'm certainly going to unite the party, but I'm not\u2014I'm not getting ahead of myself. I think that would be a little bit presumptuous. If I'm so fortunate as to be the nominee, the first person I will call to talk to about where we go and how we get it done will be Senator Sanders. +p2721 +aVThat's true. That's true. +p2722 +aVWell first, thanks to +p2723 +asVTRUMP +p2724 +(lp2725 +VThank you. I began this journey six months ago. My total focus was on building up our military, building up our strength, building up our borders, making sure that China, Japan, Mexico, both at the border and in trade, no longer takes advantage of our country. Certainly would never have made that horrible, disgusting, absolutely incompetent deal with Iran where they get $150 billion. They're a terrorist nation. But I began it talking about other things. And those things are things that I'm very good at and maybe that's why I'm center stage. People saw it. People liked it. People respected it. A month ago things changed. Radical Islamic terrorism came into effect even more so than it has been in the past. People like what I say. People respect what I say. And we've opened up a very big discussion that needed to be opened up. Thank you very much. +p2726 +aVWe are not talking about isolation. We're talking about security. We're not talking about religion. We're talking about security. Our country is out of control. People are pouring across the southern border. I will build a wall. It will be a great wall. People will not come in unless they come in legally. Drugs will not pour through that wall. As far as other people like in the migration, where they're going, tens of thousands of people having cell phones with +p2727 +aVJeb doesn't really believe I'm unhinged. He said that very simply because he has failed in this campaign. It's been a total disaster. Nobody cares. And frankly, I'm the most solid person up here. I built a tremendous company and all I want to do is make America great again. I don't want our country to be taken away from us, and that's what's happening. The policies that we've suffered under other presidents have been a disaster for our country. We want to make America great again. And Jeb, in all fairness, he doesn't believe that. +p2728 +aVWell, look, this is so easy to answer. +p2729 +aVI would certainly be open to closing areas where we are at war with somebody. I sure as hell don't want to let people that want to kill us and kill our nation use our Internet. Yes, sir, I am. +p2730 +aVWe have to be much tougher. We have to be much stronger than we've been. We have people that know what is going on. You take a look at just the attack in California the other day. There were numerous people, including the mother, that knew what was going on. They saw a pipe bomb sitting all over the floor. They saw ammunition all over the place. They knew exactly what was going on. When you had the World Trade Center go, people were put into planes that were friends, family, girlfriends, and they were put into planes and they were sent back, for the most part, to Saudi Arabia. They knew what was going on. They went home and they wanted to watch their boyfriends on television. I would be very, very firm with families. Frankly, that will make people think because they may not care much about their lives, but they do care, believe it or not, about their families' lives. +p2731 +aVLook, the problem is we need toughness. Honestly, I think Jeb is a very nice person. He's a very nice person. But we need tough people. We need toughness. We need intelligence and we need tough. Jeb said when they come across the southern border they come as an act of love. +p2732 +aVAm I talking or are you talking, Jeb? +p2733 +aVYou can go back. You're not talking. You interrupted me. +p2734 +aVAre you going to apologize, Jeb? No. Am I allowed to finish? +p2735 +aVExcuse me, am I allowed to finish? +p2736 +aVSo... +p2737 +aV... again... +p2738 +aVI know you're trying to build up your energy, Jeb, but it's not working very well. +p2739 +aVLook, look, look. We need a toughness. We need strength. We're not respected, you know, as a nation anymore. We don't have that level of respect that we need. And if we don't get it back fast, we're just going to go weaker, weaker and just disintegrate. We can't allow that to happen. We need strength. We don't have it. When Jeb comes out and he talks about the border, and I saw it and I was witness to it, and so was everyone else, and I was standing there, "they come across as an act of love," he's saying the same thing right now with radical Islam. And we can't have that in our country. It just won't work. We need strength. +p2740 +aVWith Jeb's attitude, we will never be great again, that I can tell you. We will never be great again. +p2741 +aVSo, they can kill us, but we can't kill them? That's what you're saying. And as far as the Internet is concerned, we're not talking about closing the Internet. I'm talking about parts of Syria, parts of Iraq, where +p2742 +aVIn my opinion, we've spent $4 trillion trying to topple various people that frankly, if they were there and if we could've spent that $4 trillion in the United States to fix our roads, our bridges, and all of the other problems; our airports and all of the other problems we've had, we would've been a lot better off. I can tell you that right now. We have done a tremendous disservice, not only to Middle East, we've done a tremendous disservice to humanity. The people that have been killed, the people that have wiped away, and for what? It's not like we had victory. It's a mess. The Middle East is totally destabilized. A total and complete mess. I wish we had the $4 trillion or $5 trillion. I wish it were spent right here in the United States, on our schools, hospitals, roads, airports, and everything else that are all falling apart. +p2743 +aVWell, there's nothing to respond to. Well, people feel differently. I mean, the fact is Benghazi was a disaster because of Libya, everything just fell into place. It could not have been worse. What do we have now? We have nothing. We've spent $3 trillion and probably much more \u2013 I have no idea what we've spent. Thousands and thousands of lives, we have nothing. Wounded warriors all over the place who I love, we have nothing for it. And by the way \u2013 and Ben said incorrectly \u2013 and I'm not saying this as a knock \u2013 he's one of finest men. You're not going to find a finer men. But I've been talking about oil for three years. I've been saying,, "take the oil, take the oil." I didn't say, "just bomb it," I said," take it and use it and distribute it so that the wounded warriors -" People, I've been saying this now for many years. +p2744 +aVNow, all of a sudden everybody's saying, "take the oil." It wasn't so fashionable to take the oil six months ago. I've been saying it for years. +p2745 +aVI think Assad is a bad guy, a very bad guy, all right? Lots of people killed. I think we are backing people we have no idea who they are. The rebels, we call them the rebels, the patriotic rebels. We have no idea. A lot of people think, Hugh, that they are +p2746 +aVI think it's very sad that CNN leads Jeb Bush, Governor Bush, down a road by starting off virtually all the questions, "Mr. Trump this, Mister" \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched the first debate, and the first long number of questions were, "Mr. Trump said this, Mr. Trump said that. Mr. Trump" \u2014 these poor guys \u2014 although, I must tell you, Santorum, good guy. Governor Huckabee, good guy. They were very nice, and I respect them greatly. But I thought it was very unfair that virtually the entire early portion of the debate was Trump this, Trump that, in order to get ratings, I guess. In order to get ratings, I guess. +p2747 +aVI just think it's very \u2014 excuse me. +p2748 +aVExcuse me. I think it's very unprofessional. +p2749 +aVWell, I think it's very unprofessional. +p2750 +aVOK, fine. +p2751 +aVThis isn't tough and easy. I wish it... +p2752 +aVI wish it was always this easy as you, Jeb. +p2753 +aVOh, yeah. +p2754 +aVOh, I know. You're a tough guy, Jeb. I know. +p2755 +aVYou're tough. +p2756 +aVWell, let's see. I'm at 42, and you're at 3. So, so far, I'm doing better. +p2757 +aVSo far, I'm doing better. You know, you started off over here, Jeb. You're moving over further and further. Pretty soon you're going to be off the end... +p2758 +aVI believe I did. +p2759 +aVI have a very hardline position, we have a country or we don't have a country. People that have come into our country illegally, they have to go. They have to come back into through a legal process. I want a strong border. I do want a wall. Walls do work, you just have to speak to the folks in Israel. Walls work if they're properly constructed. I know how to build, believe me, I know how to build. I feel a very, very strong bind, and really I'm bound to this country, we either have a border or we don't. People can come into the country, we welcome people to come but they have to come in legally. +p2760 +aVWell, first of all, I think we need somebody absolutely that we can trust, who is totally responsible; who really knows what he or she is doing. That is so powerful and so important. And one of the things that I'm frankly most proud of is that in 2003, 2004, I was totally against going into Iraq because you're going to destabilize the Middle East. I called it. I called it very strongly. And it was very important. But we have to be extremely vigilant and extremely careful when it comes to nuclear. Nuclear changes the whole ball game. Frankly, I would have said get out of Syria; get out \u2014 if we didn't have the power of weaponry today. The power is so massive that we can't just leave areas that 50 years ago or 75 years ago we wouldn't care. It was hand-to-hand combat. The biggest problem this world has today is not President Obama with global warming, which is inconceivable, this is what he's saying. The biggest problem we have is nuclear \u2014 nuclear proliferation and having some maniac, having some madman go out and get a nuclear weapon. That's in my opinion, that is the single biggest problem that our country faces right now. +p2761 +aVI think \u2014 I think, for me, nuclear is just the power, the devastation is very important to me. +p2762 +aVI did. +p2763 +aVLet me just say that I have gotten to know him over the last three or four days. He has a wonderful temperament. He's just fine. Don't worry about it. +p2764 +aVYou better not attack... +p2765 +aVI really am. I'll be honest, I really am. I mean, the people have been putting me... I really am. +p2766 +aVLet me just. Can I just finish my... +p2767 +aVI've gained great respect for the Republican leadership. I've gained great respect for many \u2014 and I'm going to even say \u2014 I mean, in different forms for the people on the dais, in different forms. In different forms. But I have great respect for the people I have met through this process. I've never done this process before. I've never been a politician. I mean, for the last six months I've been a politician. But I will tell you, I am totally committed to the Republican Party. I feel very honored to be the front runner. And I think I'll do very well if I'm chosen. If I'm so fortunate to be chosen, I think I'll do very well. Polls have come out recently saying I would beat Hillary. I will do everything in my power to beat Hillary Clinton, I promise you. +p2768 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We don't win on trade. We don't win on the military. We can't defeat +p2769 +aVI can't be Neil. And the and the reason I can't be is that we are a country that is being beaten on every front economically, militarily. There is nothing that we do now to win. We don't win anymore. Our taxes are too high. I've come up with a tax plan that many, many people like very much. It's going to be a tremendous plan. I think it'll make our country and our economy very dynamic. But, taxes too high, wages too high, we're not going to be able to compete against the world. I hate to say it, but we have to leave it the way it is. People have to go out, they have to work really hard and have to get into that upper stratum. But we can not do this if we are going to compete with the rest of the world. We just can't do it. +p2770 +aVI would not do it. +p2771 +aVI was so happy yesterday when I saw that decision come down. That was an unbelievable decision. And we don't have enough of those decisions coming down. He of the executive order, because nobody wants to listen to him, including the Democrats, so he just goes around signing executive orders. That was a great day. And, frankly, we have to stop illegal immigration. It's hurting us economically. It's hurting us from every standpoint. It's causing tremendous difficulty with respect to drugs and what that does to many of our inner cities in particular. And it really is \u2014 was such an unbelievable moment because the courts have not been ruling in our favor. And it was a 2-1 decision. And it was a terrific thing that happened. And I will tell you, we are a country of laws. We need borders. We will have a wall. The wall will be built. The wall will be successful. And if you think walls don't work, all you have to do is ask Israel. The wall works, believe me. Properly done. Believe me. +p2772 +aVYou are going to have to bring people \u2014 you are going to have to send people out. Look, we're a country... +p2773 +aVMaria, we're a country of laws. We either have a country or we don't have a country. We are a country of laws. Going to have to go out and they will come back but they are going to have to go out and hopefully they get back. But we have no choice if we're going to run our country properly and if we're going to be a country. +p2774 +aVAll I can say is, you're lucky in Ohio that you struck oil. That is for one thing. Let me just tell you that Dwight Eisenhower, good president, great president, people liked him. "I like Ike," right? The expression. "I like Ike." Moved a 1.5 million illegal immigrants out of this country, moved them just beyond the border. They came back. Moved them again beyond the border, they came back. Didn't like it. Moved them way south. They never came back. Dwight Eisenhower. You don't get nicer. You don't get friendlier. They moved a 1.5 million out. We have no choice. We have no choice. +p2775 +aVNo, it's unfair. +p2776 +aV... built an unbelievable company worth billions and billions of dollars. I don't have to hear from this man, believe me. I don't have to hear from him. +p2777 +aVWe have millions of people right now on line trying to come into this country. Very, very unfair to the people that want to come into our country legally. They've gone through the process. They're on line. They're waiting. Very, very unfair to them. That I can tell you. +p2778 +aVYes. +p2779 +aVNo, I'm sorry. No, excuse me. I was there. +p2780 +aVPlease, if I could just... +p2781 +aVWe have to make our military bigger, better, stronger than ever before so that nobody messes with us, and a long run, it's going to save us. I agree with Marco, I agree with Ted, we have no choice. And, I can tell you this with certainty. We all have a different tax plan. Some I don't totally agree with. One thing we understand, each one of those tax plans is better than the mess that we have right now. +p2782 +aV...Yes... +p2783 +aV...Yeah... +p2784 +aV...It's a horrible deal... +p2785 +aVThe TPP is horrible deal. It is a deal that is going to lead to nothing but trouble. It's a deal that was designed for China to come in, as they always do, through the back door and totally take advantage of everyone. It's 5,600 pages long. So complex that nobodies read it. It's like Obamacare; nobody ever read it. They passed it; nobody read it. And look at mess we have right now. And it will be repealed. But this is one of the worst trade deals. And I would, yes, rather not have it. With all of these countries, and all of the bad ones getting advantage and taking advantage of what the good ones would normally get, I'd rather make individual deals with individual countries. We will do much better. We lose a fortune on trade. The United States loses with everybody. We're losing now over $500 billion in terms of imbalance with China, $75 billion a year imbalance with Japan. By the way, Mexico, $50 billion a year imbalance. So I must say, Gerard, I just think it's a terrible deal. I love trade. I'm a free trader, 100 percent. But we need smart people making the deals, and we don't have smart people making the deals. +p2786 +aVYes. Well, the currency manipulation they don't discuss in the agreement, which is a disaster. If you look at the way China and India and almost everybody takes advantage of the United States \u2014 China in particular, because they're so good. It's the number-one abuser of this country. And if you look at the way they take advantage, it's through currency manipulation. It's not even discussed in the almost 6,000-page agreement. It's not even discussed. +p2787 +aVAnd as you understand, I mean, you understand very well from the Wall Street Journal, currency manipulation is the single great weapon people have. They don't even discuss it in this agreement. So I say, it's a very bad deal, should not be approved. If it is approved, it will just be more bad trade deals, more loss of jobs for our country. We are losing jobs like nobody's ever lost jobs before. I want to bring jobs back into this country. +p2788 +aVWell, first of all, it's not only Russia. We have problems with North Korea where they actually have nuclear weapons. You know, nobody talks about it, we talk about Iran, and that's one of the worst deals ever made. One of the worst contracts ever signed, ever, in anything, and it's a disgrace. But, we have somebody over there, a madman, who already has nuclear weapons we don't talk about that. That's a problem. China is a problem, both economically in what they're doing in the South China Sea, I mean, they are becoming a very, very major force. So, we have more than just Russia. But, as far as the Ukraine is concerned, and you could Syria \u2014 as far as Syria, I like \u2014 if Putin wants to go in, and I got to know him very well because we were both on 60 Minutes, we were stablemates, and we did very well that night. But, you know that. But, if Putin wants to go and knocked the hell out of +p2789 +aV...They blew up \u2014 hold it.... +p2790 +aV...They blew up, wait a minute... ...They blew up a Russian airplane. He cannot be in love with these people. He's going in, and we can go in, and everybody should go in. As far as the Ukraine is concerned, we have a group of people, and a group of countries, including Germany \u2014 tremendous economic behemoth \u2014 why are we always doing the work? We are \u2014 I'm all for protecting Ukraine and working \u2014 but, we have countries that are surrounding the Ukraine that aren't doing anything. They say, "Keep going, keep going, you dummies, keep going. Protect us..." ...And we have to get smart. We can't continue to be the policeman of the world. We are $19 trillion dollars, we have a country that's going to hell, we have an infrastructure that's falling apart. Our roads, our bridges, our schools, our airports, and we have to start investing money in our country. +p2791 +aVAssad is a bad guy, but we have no idea who the so-called rebels \u2014 I read about the rebels, nobody even knows who they are. I spoke to a general two weeks ago, he said \u2014 he was very up on exactly what we're talking about. He said, "You know, Mr. Trump? We're giving hundreds of millions of dollars of equipment to these people, we have no idea who they are." So, I don't like Assad. Who's going to like Assad? But, we have no idea who these people, and what they're going to be, and what they're going to represent. They may be far worse than Assad. Look at Libya. Look at Iraq. Look at the mess we have after spending $2 trillion dollars, thousands of lives, wounded warriors all over the place \u2014 who I love, OK? All over. We have nothing. And, I said, keep the oil. And we should have kept the oil, believe me. We should have kept the oil. And, you know what? We should have given the oil... ..We should've given big chunks to the people that lost their arms, their legs, and their families, and their sons, and daughters, because right now, you know who has a lot of that oil? Iran, and +p2792 +aVWhy does she keep interrupting everybody? Terrible. +p2793 +aVWe are not. +p2794 +aV...No, no, no... +p2795 +aVWell, what's happening right now, Neil, is something that not been a subject of conversation by politicians. As primarily the only politician, I guess other than Carly on the stage, they haven't talked about a corporate inversion. A corporate inversion \u2014 companies are leaving. You know, we used to leave New York to go to Florida. We got better taxes, we got, maybe, something else. Now, they're the United States to go to other countries. They have trillions of dollars in those other countries. They're going for two reasons, they can't get their money back in. It's something where the democrats and the republicans both agree, it's the only thing I can think of. They both agree, let the money come back in. Three and a half years, they still can't make a deal. They can't get the money in. It's probably two and a half trillion, but, I think it's much more than that. All of that money could become \u2014 could come right in and be used to rebuild our country, and investments in our country. They can't do it. What we have to do, and what I've done, is made the tax rate \u2014 and one of the reasons they don't the taxes so obnoxious, they can't do it. Where, I made it a 10% number, as you know. I've been very highly praised for it. A lot of money's going to come back in, we're going to get rid of the bureaucratic problems, and roadblocks, because that's also a problem. And, we're going to have all of this money pour back into the United States. It's going to be used to build businesses, for jobs, and everything else. And, as I say, my expression is, let's make America great again. +p2796 +aVThank you. Over the years, I've created tens of thousands of jobs and a great company. It's a company I'm very proud of. Some of the most iconic assets anywhere in the world. And I will tell you, I don't have to give you a website because I'm self-funding my campaign. I'm putting up my own money. I want to do something really special. I want to make our country greater than it's ever been. I think we have that potential. We cannot lose this election. We cannot let Hillary Clinton, who is the worst secretary of state in the history of our country, win this election. We will fight. We will win. And we truly will make this even more special. We have to make it better than ever before. And I will tell you, the United States can actually be better than ever before. Thank you. +p2797 +aVI think maybe my greatest weakness is that I trust people too much. I'm too trusting. And when they let me down, if they let me down, I never forgive. I find it very, very hard to forgive people that deceived me. So I don't know if you would call that a weakness, but my wife said "let up." +p2798 +aVRight. +p2799 +aVRight. +p2800 +aVThat's right. +p2801 +aVNo, not a comic book, and it's not a very nicely asked question the way you say that. Larry Kudlow is an example, who I have a lot of respect for, who loves my tax plan. We're reducing taxes to 15 percent. We're bringing corporate taxes down, bringing money back in, corporate inversions. We have $2.5 trillion outside of the United States which we want to bring back in. As far as the wall is concerned, we're going to build a wall. We're going to create a border. We're going to let people in, but they're going to come in legally. They're going to come in legally. And it's something that can be done, and I get questioned about that. They built the great wall of China. That's 13,000 miles. Here, we actually need 1,000 because we have natural barriers. So we need 1,000. We can do a wall. We're going to have a big, fat beautiful door right in the middle of the wall. We're going to have people come in, but they're coming in legally. And Mexico's going to pay for the wall because Mexico \u2014 I love the Mexican people; I respect the Mexican leaders \u2014 but the leaders are much sharper, smarter and more cunning than our leaders. And just to finish, people say, how will you get Mexico to pay? A politician other than the people in the states \u2014 I don't want to \u2014 a politician cannot get them to pay. I can. We lose, we have a trade imbalance... Excuse me, John. ... of $50 billion... +p2802 +aV... believe me the world is peanuts by comparison. +p2803 +aVRight. Dynamically. +p2804 +aVThen you have to get rid of Larry Kudlow, who sits on your panel, who's a great guy, who came out the other day and said, I love Trump's tax plan. +p2805 +aVFirst of all, John got lucky with a thing called fracking, OK? He hit oil. He got lucky with fracking. Believe me, that is why Ohio is doing well. Number \u2014 and that is important for you to know. Number two, this was the man that was a managing general partner at Lehman Brothers when it went down the tubes and almost took every one of us with it, including Ben and myself, because I was there and I watched what happened. And Lehman Brothers started it all. He was on the board. And he was a managing general partner. And just thirdly, he was so nice. He was such a nice guy. And he said, oh, I'm never going to attack. But then his poll numbers tanked. He has got \u2014 that is why he is on the end. And he got nasty. And he got nasty. So you know what? You can have him. +p2806 +aVI think you're \u2014 +p2807 +aVWell, first of all, like many other very big businessmen, I could name them here, but I'm not going to do that for a lot of obvious reasons, but the biggest, and almost all of them, they've all used the chapter laws, the bankruptcy laws to their own benefit. Before this, I was a very successful person as a developer and as a businessman. Atlantic City has gone bad. I mean, Chris will know about that. I'm not blaming Chris, by the way, but he will know about that. Caesar's \u2014 excuse me \u2014 Caesar's, the Rolls-Royce, as you know, is in bankruptcy. Almost every hotel in Atlantic City has either been in bankruptcy or will be in bankruptcy \u2014 the biggest. But also the biggest people (ph) \u2014 now I've used that to my advantage as a business man, for my family, for myself. I never filed for bankruptcy. But many, many people did. What happened with Atlantic City is very, very disgraceful. Now hundreds of companies I've opened. I've used it three times, maybe four times. Came out great. But I guess I'm supposed to come out great. That is what I could do for the country. We owe $19 trillion, boy am I good at solving debt problems. Nobody can solve it like me. But I will tell you this, Atlantic City, you're using that, hundreds of companies that I have opened have thrived. I built a net worth of way over $10 billion, and I have done it four times out of hundreds. And I'm glad I did it. I used the laws of the country to my benefit, I'm sorry. +p2808 +aVThank you. +p2809 +aVI was not at all critical of him. I was not at all. In fact, frankly, he's complaining about the fact that we're losing some of the most talented people. They go to Harvard. They go to Yale. They go to Princeton. They come from another country and they're immediately sent out. I am all in favor of keeping these talented people here so they can go to work in Silicon Valley. +p2810 +aVSo I have nothing at all critical of him. +p2811 +aVProbably, I don't know \u2014 you people write the stuff. I don't know where you... And if I could say just one thing. I am the only person in either campaign that's self-funding. I'm putting up 100 percent of my own money. And right now, I will be putting up a tremendous \u2014 so far, I've put up less than anybody and I have the best results. Wouldn't that be nice if the country could do that? But I will be putting \u2014 I will be putting up, you know, tremendous amounts of money. SuperPacs are a disaster. They're a scam. They cause dishonesty. And you better get rid of them because they are causing a lot of bad decisions to be made by some very good people. And I'm not blaming these folks \u2014 well, I guess I could. Very good people are making very bad decisions right now. And if anything comes out of this whole thing with some of these nasty and ridiculous questions, I will tell you, you better get rid of the SuperPacs because they causing a big problem with this country, not only in dishonesty and what's going on, but also in a lot of bad decisions that have been made for the benefit of lobbyists and special interests. +p2812 +aVI never said that. I never said that. +p2813 +aVYou've got another gentleman in Florida, who happens to be a very nice guy, but not... +p2814 +aV... he's really doing some bad... +p2815 +aVI'm in favor of people coming into this country legally. And you know what? They can have it anyway you want. You can call it visas, you can call it work permits, you can call it anything you want. I've created tens of thousands of jobs, and in all due respect \u2014 and actually some of these folks I really like a lot \u2014 but I'm the only one that can say that. I have created tens of thousands of jobs, and I'll be creating many millions of jobs if I'm given \u2014 if I'm given the opportunity to be president. As far as Mark is concerned, as far as the visas are concerned, if we need people, they have \u2014 it's fine. They have to come into this country legally. We have a country of borders. We have a country of laws. We have to obey the laws. It's fine if they come in, but they have to come in legally. +p2816 +aVYes. +p2817 +aVOr somebody else. Right. +p2818 +aVYes, I might feel more comfortable. I would say that I would and I have a permit, which is very unusual in New York \u2014 a permit to carry. And I do carry on occasion, sometimes a lot. But I like to be unpredictable so that people don't know exactly... +p2819 +aVBy the way, unlike our country where we're totally predictable and the enemy, whether it's +p2820 +aVI would change them. I would change them. +p2821 +aVSuch a nasty \u2014 such a nasty question, but thank you, Governor. +p2822 +aVYes, it's very simple. We're going to make a really dynamic economy from what we have right now, which is not at all dynamic. We're going to bring jobs back from Japan, we're going to bring jobs back from China, we're going to bring, frankly, jobs back from Mexico where, as you probably saw, Nabisco is leaving Chicago with one of their biggest plants, and they're moving it to Mexico. We're going to bring jobs and manufacturing back. We're going to cut costs. We're going to save Social Security, and we're going to save Medicare. [ +p2823 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We used to win, we don't win anymore. We lose on trade. We lose with +p2824 +aVAnd, I'll do that with the country. We will make America great again. And, thank you everybody. Just for the record. +p2825 +aVThat's not right. That is absolutely not right. You know that. That is not right. [ +p2826 +aVI'm Donald Trump. I wrote "The Art of the Deal". I say not in a braggadocious way, I've made billions and billions of dollars dealing with people all over the world, and I want to put whatever that talent is to work for this country so we have great trade deals, we make our country rich again, we make it great again. We build our military, we take care of our vets, we get rid of Obamacare, and we have a great life altogether. Thank you. Thank you. +p2827 +aVWell, first of all, Rand Paul shouldn't even be on this stage. He's number 11, he's got 1 percent in the polls, and how he got up here, there's far too many people anyway. As far as temperament \u2014 and we all know that \u2014 as far as temperament, I think I have a great temperament. I built a phenomenal business with incredible, iconic assets, one of the really truly great real-estate businesses. And I may be an entertainer, because I've had tremendous success with number-one bestsellers all over the place, with "The Apprentice" and everything else I've done. But I will tell you this: What I am far and away greater than an entertainer is a businessman, and that's the kind of mindset this country needs to bring it back, because we owe $19 trillion right now, $19 trillion, and you need this kind of thinking to bring our country back. And believe me, my temperament is very good, very calm. But we will be respected outside of this country. We are not respected now. +p2828 +aVI never attacked him on his look, and believe me, there's plenty of subject matter right there. That I can tell you. +p2829 +aVI've actually been in politics all my life, although I've been on that side as opposed to this side. I'm now a politician for about three months. Obviously, I'm doing pretty well. I'm number one in every poll by a lot. But the qualification is that I've dealt with people all over the world, been successful all over the world. Everything I've done virtually has been a tremendous success. When markets changed, when things turned, I heard Governor Pataki, who, by the way, was a failed governor in New York, a very seriously failed \u2014 he wouldn't be elected dog catcher right now. I heard what he had to say. And I will tell you this: Atlantic City, I've made a tremendous amount of money in Atlantic City. I left seven years ago, I've gotten great credit for my timing, and that's what I'm all about. I'm a businessman, did really well, really well, and Jeb, what I want to do is put that ability into this country to make our country rich again. And I can do that, and I'm not sure that anybody else in the group will be able to do that. +p2830 +aVBut I have to say... +p2831 +aVWell, in Wisconsin... +p2832 +aVExcuse me. +p2833 +aVIn Wisconsin, you're losing $2.2 billion right now. +p2834 +aVI would do so much better than that. +p2835 +aVNo. +p2836 +aVI'm using facts. +p2837 +aVEvery major business leader has used the \u2014 I never went bankrupt, by the way, as you know, everybody knows. But we \u2014 hundreds of companies, hundreds of deals, I've used ???: ... into bankruptcy. That's what's wrong with politicians in Washington right now. They think we can take a country into bankruptcy. +p2838 +aVEvery major business leader, has used the \u2014 I never went bank bankrupt, by the way, as you know, everybody knows. But \u2014 hundreds of companies, hundreds of deals, I used the law four times and made a tremendous thing. I'm in business. I did a very good job. But I will say this, and people are very, very impressed with what I've done, the business people. But when the folks of Iowa found out the true facts of the job that you've done in Wisconsin, all of a sudden you, tubed (ph), he was No. 1 and now he's No. 6 or seven in the polls. So, look, we brought it out, you were supposed to make a billion dollars in the state. You lost 2.2 \u2014 you have right now, a huge budget deficit. That's not a Democratic point. That's a point. That's a fact. And when the people of Iowa found that out, I went to No. 1 and you went down the tubes. +p2839 +aVI didn't \u2014 +p2840 +aVTotally false. +p2841 +aVI would have gotten it. +p2842 +aVI promise I would have gotten it. +p2843 +aVI promise if I wanted it, I would have gotten it. +p2844 +aVI know my people. +p2845 +aVI know my people. +p2846 +aVNo. I just will tell you that, you know, Jeb made the statement. I'm not only referring to him. I \u2014 a lot of money was raised by a lot of different people that are standing up here. And the donors, the special interests, the lobbyists have very strong power over these people. I'm spending all of my money, I'm not spending \u2014 I'm not getting any \u2014 I turned down \u2014 I turn down so much, I could have right now from special interests and donors, I could have double and triple what he's got. I've turned it down. I turned down last week $5 million from somebody. So I will tell you I understand the game, I've been on the other side all of my life. And they have a lot of control over our politicians. And I don't say that favorably, and I'm not sure if there's another system, but I say this. I am not accepting any money from anybody. Nobody has control of me other than the people of this country. I'm going to do the right thing. +p2847 +aVThat's true. That's true. +p2848 +aVI was \u2014 excuse me, Jeb. +p2849 +aVI was a businessman, I got along with Clinton, I got along with everybody. That was my job, to get along with people. +p2850 +aVI didn't want to \u2014 excuse me. One second. +p2851 +aVOK, more energy tonight. I like that. Look \u2014 +p2852 +aVI didn't want \u2014 it was my obligation as a businessman to my family, to my company, to my employees, to get along with all politicians. I get along with all of them, and I did a damn good job in doing it. Go ahead. +p2853 +aVGot along with everybody. +p2854 +aVWrong. +p2855 +aVDon't make things up. Jeb, don't make things up. Come on. +p2856 +aVDon't make things up. +p2857 +aVSo, number one, they have to respect you. He has absolutely no respect for President Obama. Zero. Syria's a mess. You look at what's going on with +p2858 +aVI believe that I will get along \u2014 we will do \u2014 between that, Ukraine, all of the other problems, we won't have the kind of problems that our country has right now with Russia and many other nations. +p2859 +aVI wouldn't have drawn the line, but once he drew it, he had no choice but to go across. They do bear some responsibility, but I think he probably didn't do it, not for that reason. Somehow, he just doesn't have courage. There is something missing from our president. Had he crossed the line and really gone in with force, done something to Assad \u2014 if he had gone in with tremendous force, you wouldn't have millions of people displaced all over the world. +p2860 +aVThey had a responsibility, absolutely. I think we have three of them here... +p2861 +aVI think they had a responsibility, yes. +p2862 +aVJeb, just... +p2863 +aVI think it will haunt him. I think it's a terrible. I think it's going to haunt him absolutely. He came back later and he said he misspoke. There was no question because I heard when he said the statement. I was watching and he said the statement. And I said, wow, I can't believe it. I will take care of women. I respect women. I will take care of women. One thing we will say and I would like to get back to the Iran situation. We're talking about Iran. The agreement was terrible. It was incompetent. I've never seen anything like it. One of the worst contracts of any kind I've ever seen. And nobody ever mentions North Korea where you have this maniac sitting there and he actually has nuclear weapons and somebody better start thinking about North Korea and perhaps a couple of other places. But certainly North Korea. And Ted and I have spoken. We've \u2014 a lot of us have spoken. We're talking about Iran. They are bad actors, bad things are going to happen. But in the meantime, you have somebody right now in North Korea who has got nuclear weapons and who is saying almost every other week, I'm ready to use them. And we don't even mention it. +p2864 +aVSo why didn't you say it? Why didn't you say it? +p2865 +aVI know, but why did you say it? I heard it myself. Why did you say it? +p2866 +aVYou said you're going to cut funding for women's health. You said it. +p2867 +aVYou said it. +p2868 +aVI think she's got a beautiful face, and I think she's a beautiful woman. +p2869 +aVCorrect. First of all, I want to build a wall, a wall that works. So important, and it's a big part of it. Second of all, we have a lot of really bad dudes in this country from outside, and I think Chris knows that, maybe as well as anybody. They go, if I get elected, first day they're gone. Gangs all over the place. Chicago, Baltimore, no matter where you look. We have a country based on laws. I will make sure that those laws are adhered to. These are illegal immigrants. I don't think you'd even be asking this question if I didn't run because when I ran, and I brought this up, my opening remarks at Trump Tower, I took heat like nobody has taken heat in a long time. And, then they found out with the killing of Katie, from San Francisco, and so many other crimes, they found out that I was right. And, most people, many people, apologized to me. I don't think you'd even be talking about illegal immigration if it weren't for me. So, we have a country of laws, they're going to go out, and they'll come back if they deserve to come back. If they've had a bad record, if they've been arrested, if they've been in jail, they're never coming back. We're going to have a country again. Right now, we don't have a country, we don't have a border, and we're going to do something about it, and it can be done with proper management, and it can be done with heart. +p2870 +aV...By the way, I agree with \u2014 with what Chris is saying, but, I will say this. Illegal immigration is costing us more than $200 billion dollars a year just to maintain what we have. +p2871 +aVCorrect. +p2872 +aVWell, I have to tell you, I hear phenomenal things. I hear your wife is a lovely woman... +p2873 +aVI don't know her, and this is a total mischaracterization... +p2874 +aVGood. +p2875 +aVNo, I won't do that, because I've said nothing wrong. +p2876 +aVBut I do hear she's a lovely woman. +p2877 +aVJeb said... +p2878 +aV... that they come into our country as an act of love. With all of the problems we that we have, in so many instances \u2014 we have wonderful people coming in. But with all of the problems \u2014 this is not an act of love. He's weak on immigration \u2014 by the way, in favor of Common Core, which is also a disaster, but weak on immigration. He doesn't get my vote. +p2879 +aVNot with this intensity. +p2880 +aVAs I said, we are spending $200 billion \u2014 we are spending $200 billion a year on maintaining what we have. We will move them out. The great ones will come back, the good ones will come back. They'll be expedited, they'll be back, they'll come back legally. We'll have a country \u2014 they'll come back, legally. +p2881 +aVWell, I think it's wonderful and all, but I did it a little bit half-heartedly, but I do mean it to a large extent. We have a country, where, to assimilate, you have to speak English. And I think that where he was, and the way it came out didn't sound right to me. We have to have assimilation \u2014 to have a country, we have to have assimilation. I'm not the first one to say this, Dana. We've had many people over the years, for many, many years, saying the same thing. This is a country where we speak English, not Spanish. +p2882 +aVThis is a reporter, not a high school kid. +p2883 +aVWell, first of all, the \u2014 the 14th Amendment says very, very clearly to a lot of great legal scholars \u2014 not television scholars, but legal scholars \u2014 that it is wrong. It can be corrected with an act of Congress, probably doesn't even need that. A woman gets pregnant. She's nine months, she walks across the border, she has the baby in the United States, and we take care of the baby for 85 years. I don't think so. And by the way, Mexico and almost every other country anywhere in the world doesn't have that. We're the only ones dumb enough, stupid enough to have it. And people \u2014 and by the way, this is not just with respect to Mexico. They are coming from Asia to have babies here, and all of a sudden, we have to take care of the babies for the life of the baby. The 14th Amendment, it reads properly, you can go and \u2014 it's probably going to be have to be check \u2014 go through a process of court, probably ends up at the Supreme Court, but there are a lot of great legal scholars that say that is not correct. And in my opinion, it makes absolutely no \u2014 we're the only \u2014 one of the only countries, we're going to take care of those babies for 70, 75, 80, 90 years? I don't think so. +p2884 +aVI agree 100 percent, by the way, with Carly on the fact that the Democrats do not want to solve this problem, for the obvious reasons, but they do not. But I believe that a reading of the 14th Amendment allows you to have an interpretation where this is not legal and where it can't be done. I've seen both sides, but some of the greatest scholars agree with me, without having to go through Congress. If you do go through Congress, you can absolutely solve the problem. +p2885 +aVThat's true, sure. +p2886 +aVWell \u2014 +p2887 +aV\u2014 let me \u2014 well, let me just explain. The head of the Yale Business School, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, wrote a paper recently, one of the worst tenures for a CEO that he has ever seen, ranked one of the top 20 in the history of business. The company is a disaster and continues to be a disaster. They still haven't recovered. In fact, today, on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, they fired another 25 or 30,000 people saying we still haven't recovered from the catastrophe. When Carly says the revenues went up, that's because she bought Compaq, it was a terrible deal, and it really led to the destruction of the company. Now one other company before that was Lucent. Carly was at Lucent before that. And Lucent turned out to be a catastrophe also. So I only say this. She can't run any of my companies. That I can tell you. +p2888 +aVI never filed for bankruptcy. +p2889 +aVI'll tell you why; it's very simple. +p2890 +aVI'll tell you. I was running \u2014 +p2891 +aV\u2014 Carly, Carly \u2014 +p2892 +aV\u2014 I've made over $10 billion. I had a casino company \u2014 Caesars just filed for bankruptcy. Chris will tell you \u2014 it's not Chris' fault either \u2014 but almost everybody in Atlantic City is either in trouble or filed for \u2014 maybe I'll blame Chris. +p2893 +aVBut Atlantic City is a disaster \u2014 +p2894 +aVWait a minute, Carly. Wait. I let you speak. Atlantic City is a disaster, and I did great in Atlantic City. I knew when to get out. My timing was great. And I got a lot of credit for it. Many of the great business people that you know \u2014 and Carl Icon (ph) is going to work with me on making great deals for this country. But whether it's Carl or so many others that we read about all the time \u2014 +p2895 +aV\u2014 they have used the laws of the land, which is the \u2014 +p2896 +aV...Well, I'd like to respond, I'd like to respond... +p2897 +aVWell, I think the thing about the flat tax, I know it very well. What I don't like is that if you make $200 million a year, you pay ten percent, you're paying very little relatively to somebody that's making $50,000 a year, and has to hire H&R Block to do the \u2014 because it's so complicated. One thing I'll say to Ben is that we've had a graduated tax system for many years, so it's not a socialistic thing. What I'd like to do, and I'll be putting in the plan in about two weeks, and I think people are going to like it, it's a major reduction in taxes. It's a major reduction for the middle class. The hedge fund guys won't like me as much as they like me right now. I know them all, but they'll pay more. I know people that are making a tremendous amount of money and paying virtually no tax, and I think it's unfair. +p2898 +aVWell, I heard Hugh Hewitt, a nice man, he apologized because he actually said that we had a misunderstanding. And he said today that Donald Trump is maybe the best interview there is anywhere that he has ever done. Now unless he was just saying that on CNN to be nice, but he did say that... +p2899 +aVAnd we had a legitimate misunderstanding in terms of his pronunciation of a word. But I would say just... +p2900 +aVWell, I think it was. And he actually said that. Did you say that? +p2901 +aVOK. So I will say this, though, Hugh was giving me name after name, Arab name, Arab name, and there are few people anywhere, anywhere that would have known those names. I think he was reading them off a sheet. And frankly I will have \u2014 and I told him, I will have the finest team that anybody has put together and we will solve a lot of problems. You know, right now they know a lot and look at what is happening. The world is blowing up around us. We will have great teams and great people. +p2902 +aVI hope that answers your question. I mean, you are in the Senate, but I hope that answers your question. +p2903 +aVNo, I don't think he's suggesting that at all. I mean... +p2904 +aVI don't think he's suggesting that at all. +p2905 +aVWell, you have to understand, I am not sitting in the United States Senate with, by the way, the worst voting record there is today. Number one. I am not sitting in the United States Senate. I'm a businessman doing business transactions. +p2906 +aVI am doing business transactions. I will know more about this \u2014 and, as you said, that was very acceptable, and when you listen to that whole interview, it's a great interview, you said it, I didn't. Well, now I did. But... +p2907 +aVListen, just one second. Just one second. +p2908 +aVI will know... +p2909 +aV...I will know more about the problems of this world by the time I sit, and you look at what's going in this world right now by people that supposedly know, this world is a mess. +p2910 +aV +p2911 +aV I'm \u2014 and I'm meeting with people that are terrific people, but I have to say something because it's about judgment. I am the only person on this dais \u2014 the only person \u2014 that fought very, very hard against us (ph), and I wasn't a sitting politician going into Iraq, because I said going into Iraq \u2014 that was in 2003, you can check it out, check out \u2014 I'll give you 25 different stories. In fact, a delegation was sent to my office to see me because I was so vocal about it. I'm a very militaristic person, but you have to know when to use the military. I'm the only person up here that fought against going into Iraq. +p2912 +aVJust excuse me, one second, Rand... +p2913 +aVIf you don't mind, Rand \u2014 you know, you are on last \u2014 you do have your 1 percent. I would like \u2014 and I think it's very important. I think it's important, because it's about judgment. It's about judgment. I didn't want to go into Iraq, and I fought it, because what I said \u2014 what I said... +p2914 +aV... was you're going to \u2014 you're going to destabilize... +p2915 +aV... the Middle East, and that's what happened. +p2916 +aVIf you think about it... +p2917 +aVYour brother \u2014 and your brother's administration gave us Barack Obama, because it was such a disaster, those last three months, that Abraham Lincoln couldn't have been elected. +p2918 +aVI don't know. You feel safe right now? I don't feel so safe. +p2919 +aVOr the collapse of the economy. +p2920 +aVSpeaking for myself, I'm OK with it. I think there's a certain truth to it. I know people that, frankly, it has no impact on their life whatsoever. There are many people. I would almost say leave it up to them, but I would be willing to check it off, and say I will not get Social Security. I do not... +p2921 +aVAs a policy, I would almost leave it up to the people. Don't forget they pay in and they pay in, and maybe they do well, and maybe some people want it. But the fact is that there are people that truly don't need it, and there are many people that do need it very, very badly. And I would be willing to write mine off 100 percent, Dana. +p2922 +aVWell, I \u2014 I \u2014 I'd like to respond. +p2923 +aVI'd like to respond. +p2924 +aVAutism has become an epidemic. Twenty-five years ago, 35 years ago, you look at the statistics, not even close. It has gotten totally out of control. I am totally in favor of vaccines. But I want smaller doses over a longer period of time. Because you take a baby in \u2014 and I've seen it \u2014 and I've seen it, and I had my children taken care of over a long period of time, over a two or three year period of time. Same exact amount, but you take this little beautiful baby, and you pump \u2014 I mean, it looks just like it's meant for a horse, not for a child, and we've had so many instances, people that work for me. Just the other day, two years old, two and a half years old, a child, a beautiful child went to have the vaccine, and came back, and a week later got a tremendous fever, got very, very sick, now is autistic. I only say it's not \u2014 I'm in favor of vaccines, do them over a longer period of time, same amount. +p2925 +aVBut just in \u2014 in little sections. +p2926 +aVI think \u2014 and I think you're going to have \u2014 I think you're going to see a big impact on autism. +p2927 +aVAnd that's all I'm saying, Jake. That's all I'm saying. +p2928 +aVWell, because she's been sitting for three hours, I think my daughter, Ivanka, who's right here. +p2929 +aVOther than that we'll go with Rosa Parks. I like that. +p2930 +aVHumble. +p2931 +aVIf I become president, we will do something really special. We will make this country greater than ever before. We'll have more jobs. We'll have more of everything. We were discussing disease, we were discussing all sorts of things tonight, many of which will just be words, it will just pass on. I don't want to say politicians, all talk, no action. But a lot of what we talked about is words and it will be forgotten very quickly. If I'm president, many of the things that we discussed tonight will not be forgotten. We'll find solutions. And the world will respect us. They will respect us like never before. And it will be actually a friendlier world. And I have to say, it is a great honor to be here tonight. +p2932 +aVI fully understand. +p2933 +aVI fully understand. +p2934 +aVI cannot say. I have to respect the person that, if it's not me, the person that wins, if I do win, and I'm leading by quite a bit, that's what I want to do. I can totally make that pledge. If I'm the nominee, I will pledge I will not run as an independent. But -- and I am discussing it with everybody, but I'm, you know, talking about a lot of leverage. We want to win, and we will win. But I want to win as the Republican. I want to run as the Republican nominee. +p2935 +aVWell, I've given him plenty of money. +p2936 +aVI will not make the pledge at this time. +p2937 +aVOnly Rosie O'Donnell. +p2938 +aVThank you. +p2939 +aVYes, I'm sure it was. +p2940 +aVI think the big problem this country has is being politically correct. I've been challenged by so many people, and I don't frankly have time for total political correctness. And to be honest with you, this country doesn't have time either. This country is in big trouble. We don't win anymore. We lose to China. We lose to Mexico both in trade and at the border. We lose to everybody. And frankly, what I say, and oftentimes it's fun, it's kidding. We have a good time. What I say is what I say. And honestly Megyn, if you don't like it, I'm sorry. I've been very nice to you, although I could probably maybe not be, based on the way you have treated me. But I wouldn't do that. But you know what, we -- we need strength, we need energy, we need quickness and we need brain in this country to turn it around. That, I can tell you right now. +p2941 +aVSo, if it weren't for me, you wouldn't even be talking about illegal immigration, Chris. You wouldn't even be talking about it. This was not a subject that was on anybody's mind until I brought it up at my announcement. And I said, Mexico is sending. Except the reporters, because they're a very dishonest lot, generally speaking, in the world of politics, they didn't cover my statement the way I said it. The fact is, since then, many killings ,murders, crime, drugs pouring across the border, are money going out and the drugs coming in. And I said we need to build a wall, and it has to be built quickly. And I don't mind having a big beautiful door in that wall so that people can come into this country legally. But we need, Jeb, to build a wall, we need to keep illegals out. +p2942 +aVBorder Patrol, I was at the border last week. Border Patrol, people that I deal with, that I talk to, they say this is what's happening. Because our leaders are stupid. Our politicians are stupid. And the Mexican government is much smarter, much sharper, much more cunning. And they send the bad ones over because they don't want to pay for them. They don't want to take care of them. Why should they when the stupid leaders of the United States will do it for them? And that's what is happening whether you like it or not. +p2943 +aVA complete disaster, yes. +p2944 +aVCorrect. +p2945 +aVFirst of all, I'd like to just go back to one. In July of 2004, I came out strongly against the war with Iraq, because it was going to destabilize the Middle East. And I'm the only one on this stage that knew that and had the vision to say it. And that's exactly what happened. +p2946 +aVAnd the Middle East became totally destabilized. So I just want to say. As far as single payer, it works in Canada. It works incredibly well in Scotland. It could have worked in a different age, which is the age you're talking about here. What I'd like to see is a private system without the artificial lines around every state. I have a big company with thousands and thousands of employees. And if I'm negotiating in New York or in New Jersey or in California, I have like one bidder. Nobody can bid. You know why? Because the insurance companies are making a fortune because they have control of the politicians, of course, with the exception of the politicians on this stage. But they have total control of the politicians. They're making a fortune. Get rid of the artificial lines and you will have......yourself great plans. And then we have to take care of the people that can't take care of themselves. And I will do that through a different system. +p2947 +aVI'm not -- I'm not are -- I don't think you heard me. You're having a hard time tonight. +p2948 +aVYou'd better believe it. +p2949 +aVIf I ask them, if I need them, you know, most of the people on this stage I've given to, just so you understand, a lot of money. +p2950 +aVMany of them. +p2951 +aVNot much. +p2952 +aVBut I... +p2953 +aVI have good... +p2954 +aVGood. +p2955 +aVSounds good. Sounds good to me, Governor. I will tell you that our system is broken. I gave to many people, before this, before two months ago, I was a businessman. I give to everybody. When they call, I give. And do you know what? When I need something from them two years later, three years later, I call them, they are there for me. +p2956 +aVAnd that's a broken system. +p2957 +aVWell, I'll tell you what, with Hillary Clinton, I said be at my wedding and she came to my wedding. You know why? She didn't have a choice because I gave. I gave to a foundation that, frankly, that foundation is supposed to do good. I didn't know her money would be used on private jets going all over the world. It was. But... +p2958 +aVBecause I have used the laws of this country just like the greatest people that you read about every day in business have used the laws of this country, the chapter laws, to do a great job for my company, for myself, for my employees, for my family, et cetera. I have never gone bankrupt, by the way. I have never. But out of hundreds of deals... +p2959 +aVExcuse me. Excuse me. +p2960 +aVExcuse me, what am I saying? Out of hundreds of deals that I've done, hundreds, on four occasions I've taken advantage of the laws of this country, like other people. I'm not going to name their names because I'm not going to embarrass, but virtually every person that you read about on the front page of the business sections, they've used the law. The difference is, when somebody else uses those laws, nobody writes about it. When I use it, they say, "Trump, Trump, Trump." The fact is, I built a net worth of more than $10 billion. I have a great, great company. I employ thousands of people. And I'm very proud of the job I did. Again Chris, hundreds and hundreds of deals. Four times, I've taken advantage of the laws. And frankly, so has everybody else in my position. +p2961 +aVWell, I... +p2962 +aVLet me just tell you about the lenders. First of all, these lenders aren't babies. These are total killers. These are not the nice, sweet little people that you think, OK? You know, I mean you're living in a world of the make-believe, Chris, you want to know the truth. And I had the good sense to leave Atlantic City, which by the way, Caesars just went bankrupt. Every company, Chris can tell you, every company virtually in Atlantic City went bankrupt. Every company. And let me just tell you. I had the good sense, and I've gotten a lot of credit in the financial pages, seven years ago I left Atlantic City before it totally cratered, and I made a lot of money in Atlantic City, and I'm very proud of it. I want to tell you that. Very, very proud of it. +p2963 +aVAnd by the way, this country right now owes $19 trillion. And they need somebody like me to straighten out that mess. +p2964 +aVI don't think they like me very much. I'll tell you what. I've evolved on many issues over the years. And you know who else has? Is Ronald Reagan evolved on many issues. And I am pro-life. And if you look at the question, I was in business. They asked me a question as to pro-life or choice. And I said if you let it run, that I hate the concept of abortion. I hate the concept of abortion. And then since then, I've very much evolved. And what happened is friends of mine years ago were going to have a child, and it was going to be aborted. And it wasn't aborted. And that child today is a total superstar, a great, great child. And I saw that. And I saw other instances. And I am very, very proud to say that I am pro-life. As far as being a Republican is concerned, I come from a place, New York City, which is virtually, I mean, it is almost exclusively Democrat. And I have really started to see some of the negatives -- as an example, and I have a lot of liking for this man, but the last number of months of his brother's administration were a catastrophe. And unfortunately, those few months gave us President Obama. And you can't be happy about that. +p2965 +aVFirst of all, Jeb, I am very happy that you denied that, and I appreciate that very much. He is a true gentleman. He really is. One thing he did say, and I mean that. The one thing he did say about me, however, was my tone. And I also understand that. But when you have people that are cutting Christians' heads off, when you have a world that the border and at so many places, that it is medieval times, we've never -- it almost has to be as bad as it ever was in terms of the violence and the horror, we don't have time for tone. We have to go out and get the job done. +p2966 +aVI would be so different from what you have right now. Like, the polar opposite. We have a president who doesn't have a clue. I would say he's incompetent, but I don't want to do that because that's not nice. But if you look at the deals we make, whether it's the nuclear deal with 24 hour periods -- and by the way, before you get to the 24 hours, you have to go through a system. You look at Sgt. Bergdahl, we get Bergdahl, a traitor, and they get five of the big, great killers leaders that they want. We have people in Washington that don't know what they're doing. Now... I agree. Now, with Iran, we're making a deal, you would say, we want him. We want out our prisoners. We want all these things, and we don't get anything. We're giving them $150 billion dollars plus, they are going to be -- I'll tell you what, if Iran was a stock, you folks should go out and buy it right now because you'll quadruple -- this, what's happening in Iran, is a disgrace, and it's going to lead to destruction in large portions of the world. +p2967 +aVOur country is in serious trouble. We don't win anymore. We don't beat China in trade. We don't beat Japan, with their millions and millions of cars coming into this country, in trade. We can't beat Mexico, at the border or in trade. We can't do anything right. Our military has to be strengthened. Our vets have to be taken care of. We have to end Obamacare, and we have to make our country great again, and I will do that. Thank you. +p2968 +asVPATAKI +p2969 +(lp2970 +VThank you, Wolf. I want to speak to you this evening not as a Republican or a presidential candidate, but as an American. As we saw today in L.A., we are at a crisis in our country. Radical Islam poses a threat to our safety not just overseas, but literally in every community in America. And yet at a time when we should be united, we have a president who has divided us, who refuses to call radical Islam what it is, let alone have a coherent strategy to defeat it. The leading Democrat, Hillary Clinton, won't call +p2971 +aVAbsolutely. It's one of many absurd things this President has said. To target a religion and say that regardless of whether you're an American soldier who has fought on our side or allies we have overseas, simply because of your religion we're going to ban you is un-American, it is unconstitutional and it is wrong. And by the way, Wolf, now there was a group that tried to do that 150 to 160 years ago, they were called the Know-Nothing Party. They wanted to ban Catholics. They thought they were going to destroy America. Well, Donald Trump is the Know-Nothing candidate of the 21st century and cannot be our nominee. By the way, though. I fault Hillary and Obama as well because by not distinguishing between Muslims and radicalized Jihadists, by refusing to acknowledge that it's radical Muslim, radical Islamists who are carrying out these attacks against America \u2014 they let Americans who are confused and angry lump everyone together. We have to embrace the Muslims who embrace our freedom and living and safety. We have to destroy those who embrace Jihad and want to engage in violence against us here or abroad. +p2972 +aVYes. +p2973 +aVYou know, I think it's very important that we do everything in our power to prevent radicalization of Americans right here. And it is happening, not just overseas, but it's happening here from Mosques on social media. And truth \u2014 interaction and community meetings. New York police department had a very active group, aggressively monitoring and using intelligence to \u2014 in certain Muslim communities, consistent with our constitution, consistent of our civil rights, so they could have the intelligence as to where these sermons are being given, and who is being radicalized. And, they stopped and prevented dozens, and dozens of attacks in New York. You know, I'm a great believer in the First Amendment, of Freedom of Speech. I wish we had more of it on our college campuses, but you can't shout fire in a crowded theater. Calling on Americans to engage in violence against their fellow Americans in the name of jihad is crying fire in a crowded theater. It is not constitutionally protected speech, it should be shut down. And, by the way, the two murders who went to Garland, Texas to massacre many Americans before the Texas police officer courageously killed them, had been radicalized here. Getting to that metadata question, one of those terrorists, the day before the attacks, had sent......109 message to a known terrorist overseas. We could not read those messages, we can not read those today... +p2974 +aV...We have got to do far better. +p2975 +aVYes, Wolf. +p2976 +aVI would pass a law requiring them to do that. Let me just give you one example. I mentioned in Garland, Texas, where that murderer, that terrorist, the day before sent 109 messages overseas to a known terrorist. But they were encrypted. So to this date we don't know what that said. Companies are entitled to encrypt and protect their knowledge and their intelligence. But what we need is a back door for law enforcement to be able, when they can establish that that communication poses a risk to our safety and engages in terrorism, to get a court order and go in and access those communications. Allow the companies to continue encryption, provide an entry way for law enforcement when they can prove to a court that there is a sufficient risk of an attack upon us that they have the right to look at those messages. +p2977 +aVAnd just one more thing, Wolf. When that murderer came from Pakistan to San Bernardino and committed those atrocious crimes just a few weeks ago, she applied for a visa. She had posted on social media jihadist messages. Because this administration is so politically correct, they have a rule that they cannot look at social media postings of people applying to come to the United States. That is utterly absurd. One of the things we must do, the next president must do is get rid of that law and make sure we do everything in our power to find out if someone poses a threat to our existence here. +p2978 +aVWolf, I think the answer is we have to send troops with allies and supporters. Wherever it is necessary to destroy the training centers, recruitment centers, planning hubs of +p2979 +aVYes. +p2980 +aVYou know, I don't think it's a function of years of going after +p2981 +aVYou know, I don't want to see us occupy a country. I've been to Iraq a couple of times and Afghanistan. The first time I went, I had an uneasy feeling that when we went there we were liberators. But as we stayed ,we became occupiers. I saw American troops move into some of Saddam's old hideous marble palaces. And I thought that was exactly the wrong message. We do not have to occupy. We do not have to nation build and try to create a democracy where one hasn't existed. WE have to destroy +p2982 +aVI'm not sure \u2014 ally with which groups? I didn't quite catch that. +p2983 +aVNot at all. Iran is our enemy. They are the number one sponsor of state terror. The Iranian Deal is a disaster. And by the way, I don't think the next president has to aggregate it. It was never ratified by the Iranians. They have tested long-range ballistic missiles in violation of U.N. resolutions. They have broken the agreement. It is void. They can never have a nuclear weapon and should not get relief. With respect to the other groups, like Hezbollah, of course we should not work with them. I'll tell you who we should work with in Syria. There are two groups. One are the PYD, the \u2014 the Kurds in Syria who led the defense of Kobani, and are in northern and eastern Syria and anti- +p2984 +aVI could create... +p2985 +aVI would create the no-fly zone, and let me tell you, something very simply. Putin is a bully, and the most important and effective thing you can do to a bully is punch him in the face. Create a no-fly zone. If Russian planes violate that space, either us, or the Turks, should shoot them down to keep our word. And, I guarantee you that Putin would back off. Bullies, when you stand up to them, back down. We have had, under Obama, and under Hillary as Secretary of State, nothing but weakness in the face of Russia, whether it was in the Crimea, whether it was in Ukraine, or now in the Middle East. I would give the Ukrainians lethal weapons so they could defend themselves. I would create the no-fly zone, and if Russian planes flew into it in violation of what we have declared, yes. +p2986 +aVI could create... +p2987 +aVI would create the no-fly zone, and let me tell you, something very simply. Putin is a bully, and the most important and effective thing you can do to a bully is punch him in the face. Create a no-fly zone. If Russian planes violate that space, either us, or the Turks, should shoot them down to keep our word. And, I guarantee you that Putin would back off. Bullies, when you stand up to them, back down. We have had, under Obama, and under Hillary as Secretary of State, nothing but weakness in the face of Russia, whether it was in the Crimea, whether it was in Ukraine, or now in the Middle East. I would give the Ukrainians lethal weapons so they could defend themselves. I would create the no-fly zone, and if Russian planes flew into it in violation of what we have declared, yes. +p2988 +aVNo, I completely disagree with Rick. This is America. And we've made enormous progress. And I don't care if you're a man or a woman. I care if you're good and capable of doing the job. If you can do the job \u2014 don't lower standards, don't lower the criteria \u2014 but if a woman is capable of doing these jobs, there is no reason why we should deny a patriot who wants to serve and help defend our country that right. +p2989 +aVIt's not. +p2990 +aVNo, you said you would reverse the policy which excluded women from those jobs whether or not they were able to do that. That is wrong. +p2991 +aVAh. +p2992 +aVYes, I think what Rick said is very different from what he said initially which was that, "he would reverse the policy that gave woman not the right but the opportunity to serve in combat." They can only do it if they're fit and capable and meet the same standards as men. And so, to reverse that policy and deny a woman who is prepared to risk her life to defend our freedom and is capable of doing everything a man could do is not the right thing for America in the 21st century. By the way, you see in Iraq, the Peshmerga, the Kurds ,many of their top fighters are women. This is the 21st century. We're not radical Islam. We want to give women the opportunity to do whatever they are capable of achieving in this country. +p2993 +aVOf course he's innocent until proven guilty. I happen to believe he's guilty. The military did a very clear and long study as to whether or not he deserted in the face of enemy and they are not court marshalling him. I don't think he should executed. I do think he will have a fair military trial, not a civilian trial, at which time, assuming he's found guilty as I think he would, he will be sentenced appropriately. But there's a bigger issue here, this administration has failed to protect us because they have treated radical Islamists as Americans who should be tried in civil court. That is ridiculous. They are enemy aliens engaged in terror against Americans. And by the way, the fact that this president is now threatening to close Guantanamo Bay when we know that time after time, terrorists he released are involved in a high level capacity helping +p2994 +aVYou know, again, it comes down to something that, as Mike said, breaks your heart. We clearly want to get them back. But the idea that by taking a journalist, for example, and holding him hostage in Iran, they're going to be able to get some of their terrorist leaders back, is simply bad policy. Israel has shown the way on this in rejecting hostage exchanges such as this and then not paying ransom. But, by the way, Mike is absolutely right. We have to do more to protect our people overseas, but then we also have to do more to help our veterans when they come back here today. We haven't talked about that. But more talking about defeating terrorism, one of the things we have to do is give our veterans the support and help that they require. What has happened at the VA is a disgrace. Give our veterans a medical card that they can use to get the best quality care anywhere, including outside of the VA system. +p2995 +aVAnd that \u2014 but that was involved in combat, where they were actually involved in a war against each other and exchanged prisoners. We have not been in a war with Iran. They have taken civilians as hostages. It's a totally different situation. And we cannot encourage them to do any more of that. +p2996 +aVYou know, I think what I said earlier is that I would create a no-fly zone in Syria. Turkey just agreed to take 3 million more Syrian refugees. The EU just came up with a funding program to provide camps for Syrian refugees, but I would also create that no-fly zone where refugees can be there. I have to say I agree with Rick, because this President is talking about taking 10,000 people from Syria, who we cannot vet. This administration, allegedly, vetted the woman who carried out the attacks in San Bernardino and never found out that she had a false address and was on social media talking about radical Jihad. Coming from Syria, it's impossible to do that check. And we know, by the way, that +p2997 +aVThank you. This debate has been about terrorism and appropriately so. I'm proud to have been governor of New York on September 11th and have led our state through and during the aftermath of that horrible attack. I vowed then that if I ever had the chance to lead this country, I would do everything in my power to make sure that Americans were safe. But I also saw a positive from that. New Yorkers and the American people came together and vowed that we weren't just going to defend ourselves. We were not going to live in fear. We were going to rise to new heights and celebrate our freedom. Come to Lower Manhattan today. You will see a magnificent tribute to those who died, the memorial and the museum. You will also see a new tower soaring 1,776 feet tall, the Freedom Tower, a symbol of our freedom, a symbol of our belief that as a free people we can soar to new heights. Give us the chance to unite Americans, not just Republicans. And this country's future is unlimited. +p2998 +aVWe need an outsider to run our party and to win the next election. Washington has become a corrupt insider game and everybody talks about how they're going to change the taxes, grow the economy. Nothing seems to change. But, by the way, Bobby, I shrunk the size of New York State's government when I left. We had reduced the employment by over 25,000 and cut taxes. But I understand that to change Washington you have to understand government as well. You can't just be an outsider. You can't just be someone who throws stones at Washington. You have to be someone who can actually bring people together across party lines. I can do that, I will do that if I have the chance to lead this party. +p2999 +aVBecky, can I comment on this question? +p3000 +aV...John, can I quickly comment on this one... +p3001 +aV...But, I want to speak on this issue... +p3002 +aV...I think it was a bad deal, but I would have voted for it for a very simple reason. Barack Obama is the first president in American history to hold our military hostage. He knew that we needed funding for overseas contingency operations, $40 million dollars that would go to support our troops. And, he was prepared, and had vetoed it, unless this deal went through. I have two sons, they both served overseas. One in Iraq, and one in Afghanistan, and I understand that we have got to do far more to help our military, help our veterans, and help protect our security. This is a bad deal, but to protect our military, I would have signed it. Uh, it's not going to be the case, if I have a chance to lead this country, we're going to reduce the deficit, shrink the government, lower the tax burden and grow the private sector because that's how you solve deficits. +p3003 +aVThank you. +p3004 +aVNo, I don't think we need a military response, but we need a coordinated response. And I have to say that I think the Obama administration has been completely lax, to say the least, in dealing with these cyber-attacks, not just by governments like North Korea, but by, particularly, Chinese and other companies. And what I would do is put in place a policy where if we know a company, say, a Chinese company, is hacking into American companies, stealing trade secrets, as we know they do every day, we will retaliate against that company and say that that company's not going to be allowed to continue to do trade with the United States. I would also look at what we're doing at the federal level and put in place what Israel has done: a \u2014 one federal agency dealing with cybersecurity and charged with working across silos to make sure we have the best technology. And, Jim, I've gotta tell you something, talking about cybersecurity. Hillary Clinton put a server, an unsecure server, in her home as secretary of state. We have no doubt that that was hacked, and that state secrets are out there to the Iranians, the Russians, the Chinese and others. That alone should disqualify her from being president of the United States. +p3005 +aVI think they have gone too far. I think we've seen Wall Street really blossom and do very well while the rest of the country is struggling, and it's because we have this corrupt connection between Wall Street and Washington. And, John, you were just talking about what loopholes would you get rid of. I would get rid of virtually every single one of them. They cost American taxpayers $1.4 trillion a year. I would throw them all out. +p3006 +aVNo, I wouldn't. I was going to say... +p3007 +aV...no, I would keep \u2014 first, yes, but what I would do is ii would lower the tax on manufacturing to the lowest in the developed world \u2014 12 percent. We all have plans. I have a plan. We all have plans. My plan, the Tax Foundation said, would create five and a half million new jobs over the next decade. The difference, though, is I will get my plan enacted because, when I was governor of New York, I passed sweeping tax code \u2014 cuts in a Democratic state with a Democratic legislature. I \u2014 you know, Bobby, you're talking about your tax cuts? I cut taxes more than everybody on this stage, more than everybody on the next stage, combined. By more than the other 49 states, in New York state. I don't just have a plan. I will enact tax cuts, get rid of those loopholes and make the system fairer for all Americans. +p3008 +aVThank you. +p3009 +aVLet me \u2014 let me try to get a word in edgewise. +p3010 +aVIn Washington, they talk over each other... +p3011 +aVYes. Very simply, you guys talk over each other in Washington all the time. I'm not used to that. I listen when people talk. We have a skills gap. You mentioned the construction company. The construction industry says one of their biggest problems are they can't find the craftsmen to do the work. What we have to... +p3012 +aV\u2014 do in America is honor blue collar work again. We have to honor the carpenter, the plumber, the electrician, who can actually build something and instead of just saying that a college degree live \u2014 delivers prestige, let's celebrate those who do things with their hands and elevate their skills using training in high school and community... +p3013 +aV\u2014 colleges so that we can... +p3014 +aV\u2014 have a better quality workforce that we honor... +p3015 +aV\u2014 as they build America's future. +p3016 +aVThank you. +p3017 +aVThank you. +p3018 +aVHey, Rick. +p3019 +aVI'm doing great. +p3020 +aVNot at all. +p3021 +aVNo, I don't support it. But let me go back a little bit here. We need to grow our economy faster. We've had the worst economic recovery since the Great Depression. And it's because of policy in Washington and policy at the Fed. And let me go back to Washington. In 2009 \u2014 +p3022 +aVJohn, no question Barack Obama inherited a economic disaster in 2009. But what did he do? Instead of focusing on pro-growth policies in the economy, he rammed through ObamaCare, the worst law of my lifetime, that hurt small businesses, hurt companies, raised taxes and almost completely eliminated one industry because of its taxes. The Fed had to act. And the Fed did act and appropriately in reducing interest rates but they've reduced them now for seven straight years, that's never happened before. They've been zero for way too long. They should raise the rates; the Fed should get out of manipulating the market and the Fed also, by the way, should reduce its balance sheet, $2.7 trillion. Let some of those bonds mature and put the money back in the banking system so our economy can grow. +p3023 +aVYeah, absolutely. I \u2014 one of the things that troubles me about the Republican Party is too often we question science that everyone accepts. I mean, it's ridiculous that, in the 21st century, we're questioning whether or not vaccines are the appropriate way to go. Of course they are. And it's also not appropriate to think that human activity, putting CO2 into the atmosphere, doesn't make the earth warmer. All things being equal, it does. It's uncontroverted. I think part of the problem is that Republicans think about climate change, say, "oh my God, we're gonna have higher taxes, more Obama, more big government, the EPA shutting down factories." That's not the solution that I see. I want Republicans to embrace innovation and technology. You know, there's one country in the world that has fewer greenhouse gas emissions than the rest of \u2014 of the world. You know what that is? The United States. Our emissions are lower than they were in 1995. Not because of a \u2014 of a government program, but because of fracking, private sector creation... +p3024 +aV...replace coal plants \u2014 government's roles \u2014 is to incentivize innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit in America. We could have far more clean energy. We could have next-generation nuclear, thorium reactors that have no risk of meltdown. We could have solar panels on every home that are four times more efficient than today. +p3025 +aVR&D \u2014 R&D credits. Let the private sector do this, develop this innovation. And not only would we solve our problems, we would have clean energy, cheaper energy here. We could export those technologies to places like China and like India so we would grow our economy, have a far greater impact globally, have a secure domestic source of energy, and cleaner, healthier air. That's the solution. Embrace science, embrace innovation and change. +p3026 +aVThe one I use the most is Uber. You know, I used to get driven......when I was governor, I had a driver. I don't anymore, but.... And it's an example of what millennials are doing to change America for the better. And I tweet a lot, too. So Uber, Tweet \u2014 Twitter and then I communicate with my family. +p3027 +aVI \u2014 I am a long suffering Jets fan. So my answer is obviously no, there's no reason to take off the day after the Super Bowl. But let me just add this. The Mets are going to win tonight. Let's go, Mets. +p3028 +aVThank you for the opportunity to be with this great audience tonight. I'm a limited government conservative and I mean by that that not just when it comes to economic issues leaving them to the state, but social issues, as well. And in that I differ from every single other candidate seeking the Republican nomination. I take the Tenth Amendment very, very seriously. I'm a Republican who embraces science and understands we have to work with the next generation of millennials to have the innovation and technology so that we can grow a 21st century economy. And I'm a Republican who understands in Washington, when you're a leader, you have to put aside partisan politics to do what's right for the people. We are one America. If we work together across party lines, there's no problem we can't solve and the 21st century will be America's greatest century. Thank you very much. +p3029 +asVCHRISTIE +p3030 +(lp3031 +VThank you Wolf. America has been betrayed. We've been betrayed by the leadership that Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton have provided to this country over the last number of years. Think about just what's happened today. The second largest school district in America in Los Angeles closed based on a threat. Think about the effect that, that's going to have on those children when they go back to school tomorrow wondering filled with anxiety to whether they're really going to be safe. Think about the mothers who will take those children tomorrow morning to the bus stop wondering whether their children will arrive back on that bus safe and sound. Think about the fathers of Los Angeles, who tomorrow will head off to work and wonder about the safety of their wives and their children. What is Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton done to this country? That the most basic responsibility of an administration is to protect the safety and security of the American people. I will tell you this, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I've fought terrorists and won and when we get back in the White House we will fight terrorists and win again and America will be safe. +p3032 +aVWolf, unfortunately, it's the new normal under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The fact is that if you listen to Hillary Clinton the other day, what she said to the American people was, as regards to +p3033 +aVListen, I want to talk to the audience at home for a second. If your eyes are glazing over like mine, this is what it's like to be on the floor of the United States Senate. I mean, endless debates about how many angels on the head of a pin from people who've never had to make a consequential decision in an executive position. The fact is, for seven years, I had to make these decisions after 9/11, make a decision about how to proceed forward with an investigation or how to pull back, whether you use certain actionable intelligence or whether not to. And yet they continue to debate about this bill and in the subcommittee and what \u2014 nobody in America cares about that. What they care about is, are we going to have a president who actually knows what they're doing to make these decisions? And for the seven years afterwards, New Jersey was threatened like no other region in this country and what we did was we took action within the constitution to make sure that law enforcement had all the information they needed. We prosecuted two of the biggest terrorism cases in the world and stopped Fort Dix from being attacked by six American radicalized Muslims from a Mosque in New Jersey because we worked with the Muslim American community to get intelligence and we used the Patriot Act to get other intelligence to make sure we did those cases. This is the difference between actually been a federal prosecutor, actually doing something, and not just spending your life as one of hundred debating it. Let's talk about how we do this, not about which bill, which one these guys like more. The American people don't care about that. +p3034 +aVWolf, you sit up here and you listen to this stuff, and you think that so many of these people have had so much to do in this national debate, they talk like they were bystanders. You know, we talk about our military being degraded over time, and yet we've had folks on this stage who've been a part of Congress who have participated in sequester; who participated in the degrading of this military over time. And that's why I think people get so frustrated with Washington, D.C. now. That's why they're so angry with the \u2014 the electorate is so angry with everybody who is involved in government in Washington, D.C. Because if you listen to the folks up here, you think that they weren't even there; they had nothing to do with this. This is a difference between being a governor and being in a legislature. See, because when something doesn't work in New Jersey, they look at me, say: "Why didn't it get done? Why didn't you do it?" You have to be responsible and accountable. And so on +p3035 +aVWell, I think we have to focus, Hugh, on exactly what the priorities are. And to me, what I've always said is that the president has set up an awful situation through his deal with Iran, because what his deal with Iran has done is empower them and enrich them. And that's the way +p3036 +aVNot only would I be prepared to do it, I would do it. A no-fly zone means a no-fly zone, Wolf. That's what it means. See, maybe \u2014 maybe because I'm from New Jersey, I just have this kind of plain language hangup. But I would make very clear \u2014 I would not talk to Vladimir Putin. In fact, I would talk to Vladimir Putin a lot. But I'd say to him, "Listen, Mr. President, there's a no-fly zone in Syria; you fly in, it applies to you." And yes, we would shoot down the planes of Russian pilots if in fact they were stupid enough to think that this president was the same feckless weakling that the president we have in the Oval Office is right now. +p3037 +aVWell, Wolf, I'll tell you what reckless is. What reckless is is calling Assad a reformer. What reckless is allowing Russia to come into Crimea and Ukraine. What reckless is is inviting Russia into Syria to team with Iran. That is reckless. And the reckless people are the folks in the White House right now. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are the reckless people. And if you think that a no-fly zone is a reckless policy, you're welcome to your opinion. But how is it working so far? As we have 250,000 Syrians murdered, slaughtered; millions running around the world, running for their lives. It's not working. We need to try something else. And that is not reckless. +p3038 +aVWhat I say to Carla is that the first job of the president of the United States is to protect your safety and your security and the security and safety of your family. And this debate stops with me in the discussions with the FBI director. Now, listen, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I know Jim Comey. We've worked together. He was the U.S. attorney in Manhattan when I was a U.S. attorney in New Jersey. And when Jim Comey gets up before Congress and says, we cannot effectively vet these people, for me as president, that's the end of the conversation. We have to put America's security first. The American people \u2014 we on this stage need to open our ears. We need to open our ears. The American people are not whispering to us. They are screaming to us. And they're screaming to us that it's our job to actually make this government work. It's so dysfunctional under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. It's so ineffective. It's so ineffectual that the American people say, we don't trust them to do anything anymore. So I'm not going to let Syrian refugees, any Syrian refugees in this country. And it was widows and orphans, by the way, and we now know from watching the San Bernardino attack that women can commit heinous, heinous acts against humanity just the same as men can do it. And so I don't back away from that position for a minute. When the FBI director tells me that he can vet those people, then we'll consider it and not a moment before because your safety and security is what's most important to me. +p3039 +aVWell, what it would like is, we have one of the great advantages of America being the open society that we are. It is, we are not hiding things from the American people, but China everyday is conducting business in a way that hides things from their people. So if they want to come in and attack all the personnel records in the federal government, which they've done, and which \u2014 they now have my Social Security number and my fingerprints, as well as maybe some other folks' who are on this stage. The fact is, they need to be fought back on. And what we need to do is go at the things that they are most sensitive and most embarrassing to them; that they're hiding; get that information and put it out in public. Let the Chinese people start to digest how corrupt the Chinese government is; how they steal from the Chinese people; and how they're enriching oligarchs all throughout China. They need to understand that. And we need to take those type of steps. This president has seen personnel records of people who have sacrificed for the American people and for the federal government stolen by the Chinese and he's done nothing in return. This is why \u2014 this is what I said at the beginning that this administration, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton through their foreign policy, have betrayed the American people, because the weakness they've displayed has led to Putin's incursions in the Middle East and in eastern Europe, and has led \u2014 has led to significant problems in the Middle East as well, and the death and murder of lots of folks. +p3040 +aVOn September 10th, 2001, I was named chief federal prosecutor in New Jersey and on September 11th, 2001, my wife and my brother who are in the audience tonight went through the World Trade Center and to their offices just blocks away from the Trade Center. I lost touch with them for six hours that day and prayed that they were alive. Luckily, they were sent home. But many of our friends and others in our neighborhood lost their lives that day. Terrorism \u2014 radical jihadist terrorism is not theoretical to me. It's real. And for seven years, I spent my life protecting our country against another one of those attacks. You won't have to worry when I'm President of the Untied States whether that can be done because I've already done it. I want the chance to do it again to protect you, your children and your families. If you give me the chance and give me your vote I will protect America from the wars that are being brought to our door step. +p3041 +aVI don't see a lot of weakness on this stage, quite frankly. Where I see the weakness is in those three people that are left on the Democratic stage. You know, I see a socialist, an isolationist and a pessimist. And for the sake of me, I can't figure out which one is which. But I will \u2014 but I will tell you this, the socialist says they're going to pay for everything and give you everything for free, except they don't say they're going to raise it through taxes to 90 percent to do it. The isolationist is the one who wants to continue to follow a foreign policy that has fewer democracies today than when Barack Obama came into office around the world. But I know who the pessimist is. It's Hillary Clinton. And you put me on that stage against her next September, she won't get within 10 miles of the White House. Take it to the bank. +p3042 +aVWell, I wish you would have asked that question years ago when they broke it. I mean, let me be honest with the people who are watching at home. The government has lied to you and they have stolen from you. They told you that your Social Security money is in a trust fund. All that's in that trust fund is a pile of IOUs for money they spent on something else a long time ago. And they've stolen from you because now they know they cannot pay these benefits and Social Security is going to be insolvent in seven to eight years. We're sitting up here talking about all these other things; 71 percent of federal spending today is on entitlements, and debt service. And, that's with zero percent interest rates. Now, I'm the only person that's put out a detailed plan on how to deal with entitlements. And we'll save a trillion dollars over the next 10 years. And, here's the difference between me and Hillary Clinton. What Hillary Clinton's going to say, and has said before is, she wants to raise Social Security taxes. Now, let me ask you a question everybody, and, this is for the guy, you know, who owns a landscaping business out there. If somebody's already stolen money from you, are you going to give them more? Or, are you going to deal with the problem by saying, I'm going to give people who've done well in this country less benefit on the backend. We need to get realistic about this. We're not \u2014 the American people \u2014 forget about anything else, they've already been lied to and stolen from. And... +p3043 +aV...I'm going to go to Washington to stop it... +p3044 +aV...The only way we're going to be morale, the only way we're going to keep our promise to seniors is start by following the first rule we should all follow, which is to look at them, treat them like adults, and tell them the truth. It isn't there anymore, Mike. They stole it. It got stolen from them. It's not theirs anymore. The government stole it, and spent it a long time ago... +p3045 +aVSo, let's stop fooling around about this, let's tell people the truth. For once, let's do that, and stop trying to give them some kind of fantasy that's never going to come true. +p3046 +aVYou bet they do. And if I were the prosecutor, that is exactly where they would be. The fact is that this Justice Department under this president has been a political Justice Department. It has been a Justice Department that decided that they want to pick who the winners and losers are. They like General Motors, so they give them a pass. They don't like somebody else like David Petraeus, they prosecute them and send a decorated general on to disgrace. It's a political Justice Department. And, Jim, you know full well that in the seven years I was U.S. attorney we went after pharmaceutical companies. We went after companies that were ripping off shareholders. We went after companies that were doing things that were against the law. And to expand on Mr. Carson's \u2014 or Dr. Carson's question, let's face it, we have laws already. We don't need newer (ph) laws. We don't need Hillary Clinton's price controls for \u2014 again, does anybody out there think that giving Washington, D.C., the opportunity to run the pharmaceutical industry is a good idea, given how well they have done running the government? So what we do, though, is, if there is somebody who is price- gouging, we have laws for prosecutors to take that on. Let's let a Justice Department \u2014 and I will make an attorney general who will enforce the law and make justice more than just a word. It will be a way of life. +p3047 +aVJohn, I'll tell you something. You want to talk about moral authority. Let's talk about something that happened this week in the news. You know, the FBI director, the president's appointed FBI director has said this week that because of a lack of support from politicians like the president of the United States, that police officers are afraid to get out of their cars; that they're afraid to enforce the law. And he says, the president's appointee, that crime is going up because of this. And when the president of the United States gets out to speak about it, does he support police officers? Does he stand up for law enforcement? No, he doesn't. I'll tell you this, the number one job of the president of the United States is to protect the safety and security of the American people. This president has failed, and when I'm in the Oval Office, police officers will know that they will have the support of the president of the Untied States. That's real moral authority that we need in the Oval Office. +p3048 +aVCarl, are we really talking about getting government involved in fantasy football? We have \u2014 wait a second, we have $19 trillion in debt. We have people out of work. We have +p3049 +aVWell, first off, what we don't do is do what Hillary Clinton and John Kerry and Barack Obama want us to do, which is their solution for everything, put more taxes on it, give more money to Washington, D.C., and then they will fix it. Well, there is no evidence that they can fix anything in Washington, D.C. +p3050 +aVWhat we should do is to be investing in all types of energy, John, all types of energy. I've laid out... +p3051 +aVNo, John. John, do you want me to answer or do you want to answer? How are we going to do this? Because, I've got to tell you the truth, even in New Jersey what you're doing is called rude. So... We've laid out a national energy plan that says that we should invest in all types of energy. I will tell you, you could win a bet at a bar tonight, since we're talking about fantasy football, if you ask who the top three states in America are that produce solar energy: California and Arizona are easy, but number three is New Jersey. Why? Because we work with the private sector to make solar energy affordable and available to businesses and individuals in our state. We need to make sure that we do everything across all kinds of energy: natural gas, oil, absolutely. But also where it's affordable, solar, wind in Iowa has become very affordable and it makes sense. That is the way we deal with global warming, climate change, or any of those problems, not through government intervention, not through government taxes, and for God's sake, don't send Washington another dime until they stop wasting the money they're already sending there. +p3052 +aVAnd \u2014 and \u2014 and I \u2014 you know, Ben is absolutely right in saying that what we don't need to do is to send more money to Washington, D.C. to fix this problem. And that's what you'll hear from Hillary Clinton \u2014 and I've already heard from her \u2014 is that, send more money in Social Security, send more money in Medicare taxes, send more money for Medicaid, and that's gonna solve the problem. What we know is we're living longer. That's a blessing. It's a blessing that we're living longer, so we have to increase the retirement age to reflect that blessing. We need to make sure that people understand, as Jeb said before, that if you've done extraordinarily well in this country, do you want them to take more out of your taxes now and think they're gonna give it back to you later? Or would you rather take less later on? +p3053 +aVI want to talk to the folks at home. I want to ask you: Are you fed up with how Washington taxes you? Are you fed up with how Washington wastes your money? Are you concerned like I am that the debt and deficits of Washington, D.C. are endangering America's future? I've got one more question for you then. Are you serious about this election? Because if you are, you need to elect someone who's deadly serious about changing this culture. I am deadly serious about changing this culture. I changed it in New Jersey. I'm deadly serious about doing this job the right way. I'm prepared. I'm tested. I'm ready. And I want to make this our government. For the people who say we can't do it, I say hell no, we can do it together. +p3054 +aVHi, my name is Chris Christie, and I'd like to you take the camera off me and put it on the audience because I'd like to ask all of you, how many of you, raise your hand, believe that in today's Barak Obama America your children will have a better life than you've had? You see? That's why I'm running for President. because leadership is not about me, it's about our country. And, what we talk about tonight, it's not about us, it's about the people in the audience tonight, because in seven short years this president has stripped away their trust, and their faith, and their belief that the next generation will have a better life. He's stolen that from us, and when I'm president, I'm going to take it back. +p3055 +aVWell, I know Ben wasn't talking about me, I'm sure he was talking about one of the other guys, not me. As far as being an outsider is concerned \u2014 as far as being an outsider is concerned, let me tell you this, Jake, I'm a Republican in New Jersey. I wake up every morning as an outsider. I wake up every morning with a Democratic legislature who trying to beat my head in and fight me because I'm trying to bring conservative change to a state that needed it desperately. And so, everyone can talk us here about their credentials. But the bottom line is, every morning I get up, I veto 400 bills from a crazy liberal Democratic legislature, not one of them has been overridden. I've vetoed more tax increases than any governor in American history, according to Americans for Tax Reform. What folks want in this country is somebody to go down there and get the job done. And that's exactly what I'll do. So, I know this much, that what the American people want to hire right now is somebody who believes in them. And believes that they are the ones who can fix our country. I will be the vessel through which they can fix this country, but it's not about me. It's about all of you. And getting this government off your back and out of your way, and letting you succeed. I know Ben wasn't talking about me. +p3056 +aVLook at him smiling at me right now. I know Ben didn't mean it about me. One of these other guys, I'm sure. +p3057 +aVBe honest, Ben, be honest. +p3058 +aVSee, Jake, it wasn't me. +p3059 +aVI was \u2014 +p3060 +aVShe is, and so if she, based on conscience, can't sign that \u2014 that marriage license, then there should be someone in her office to be able to do it, and if the law needs to be changed in the state of Kentucky, which is what she's advocating, it should be changed. +p3061 +aVAnd why don't we do the same thing with Planned Parenthood? +p3062 +aVWe elected a Republican Congress to do this. And they should be doing it, and they're not. And they're giving the president a pass. +p3063 +aVI put it in the list, Dana. We should be doing these things and forcing the president to take action. +p3064 +aVLet's force him to do what he says he's going to do. Now I don't know whether he'll do it or not, but let's force him to do it. +p3065 +aVFirst of, Jake, I don't yield to anybody on how to enforce the law. I'm the only person on this stage who spent seven years as a United States Attorney after September 11th, and I know how to do this. The fact is though that for 15,000 people a day to be deported every day for two years is an undertaking that almost none of us could accomplish given the current levels of funding, and the current number of law enforcement officers. Here's what we need to do, and I think this is where Donald is absolutely right. What we need to do is to secure our border, and we need to do it with more than just a wall. We need to use electronics, we need to use drones, we need to use FBI, DEA, and ATF, and yes, we need to take the fingerprint of every person who comes into this country on a visa, and when they overstay their visa, we need to tap them on the shoulder, and say, "You have overstayed your welcome, you're taking advantage of the American people. It's time for you to go." If we had that kind of system in place, we wouldn't have the 11 million people we have now. +p3066 +aVJake listen. While I'm as entertained as anyone by this personal back-and-forth about the history of Donald and Carly's career, for the 55-year-old construction worker out in that audience tonight who doesn't have a job, who can't fund his child's education, I've got to tell you the truth. They could care less about your careers, they care about theirs. Let's start talking about that on this stage and stop playing \u2014 and stop playing the games. Stop playing \u2014 +p3067 +aVJohn \u2014 I'm not done yet, John. +p3068 +aVStop \u2014 and stop playing \u2014 and Carly \u2014 Carly, listen. You can interrupt everybody else on this stage, you're not going to interrupt me, OK? The fact is that we don't want to hear about your careers, back and forth and volleying back and forth about who did well and who did poorly. You're both successful people. Congratulations. You know who's not successful? The middle class in this country who's getting plowed over by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Let's start talking about those issues tonight and stop this childish back-and-forth between the two of you. +p3069 +aVListen, you know, Hugh, it's an important point. And the question is, who is going to prosecute Hillary Clinton? The Obama White House seems to have in interest, the Justice Department seems to have no interest. I think it's time to put a former federal prosecutor on the same stage as Hillary Clinton. And I will prosecute her during those debates on that stage for the record we're talking about here. The fact she had a private email server in her basement, using national security secrets running through it, could have been hacked by the Russians, the Chinese, or two 18-year-olds on a toot (ph) wanting to have some fun. No one is answering that question from the Hillary Clinton campaign... +p3070 +aVYou know why? Because she knows she's wrong, and she cannot look in the mirror at herself, and she cannot tell the American people the truth. +p3071 +aVWell, Jake, I was named U.S. attorney by President Bush on September 10th, 2001. And that next day my wife Mary Pat did what she did every day, she traveled through the World Trade Center and went to her office two blocks from the World Trade Center. And after those planes hit, for five-and-a-half-hours after that, I couldn't reach her, didn't know whether she was dead or alive, and we had three children at the time, 8, 5 and 1. And I had to confront what so many thousands of others in my region had to confront, the idea I might become a single parent, the idea that my life and my children's life might be changed forever. We lost friends that day. We went to the funerals. And I will tell you that what those people wanted and what they deserved was for America to answer back against what had been done to them. And I support what President Bush did at that time, going into Afghanistan, hunting al Qaeda and its leaders, getting its sanctuary out of place, and making it as difficult around the world for them to move people and money. And then he went to prosecutors like us, and he said, never again. Don't prosecute these people after the crime is committed. Intervene before the crime happens. I absolutely believe that what the president did at the time was right. And I am proud to have been one of the people on the stage who was part of making sure that what Governor Bush said before was the truth. America was safe for those seven years and Barack Obama has taken that safety away from us. +p3072 +aVLet me say this, Jake, is that while that may have been a fine idea that Dr. Carson had, these people were out to kill us. I stood in that region with my family, and every time a plane went overhead in the weeks after that, people's heads jerked to the sky because they thought it was happening again. You do not need to go through subtle diplomacy at that point. That could be handled later on. What you need is a strong American leader who will take the steps that are necessary to protect our nation. That's what I would do as commander-in-chief in this circumstance. And that's what President George W. Bush did in 2001. +p3073 +aVJake, you brought my issue up. +p3074 +aVYou know, I enjoy the interplay. Thank you, gentlemen. I'll just say this, first off, New Jersey is the first state in the nation that now says if you are non-violent, non-dealing drug user, that you don't go to jail for your first offense. You go to mandatory treatment. You see, Jake, I'm pro-life. And I think you need to be pro-life for more than just the time in the womb. It gets tougher when they get out of the womb. And when they're the 16-year-old drug addict in the Florida county lockup, that life is just as precious as the life in the womb. And so, that's why I'm for rehabilitation, why I think the war on drugs has been a failure. But I'll end with this. That doesn't mean we should be legalizing gate way drugs. And if Senator Paul thinks that the only victim is the person, look at the decrease in productivity, look at the way people get used and move on to other drugs when they use marijuana as a gateway drug, it is not them that are the only victims. Their families are the victims too, their children are the victims too, and their employers are the victims also. That's why I'll enforce the federal law, while you can still put an emphasis on rehabilitation, which we've done in New Jersey. +p3075 +aVAnd Senator Paul knows that that's simply not the truth. In New Jersey, we have medical marijuana laws, which I supported and implemented. This is not medical marijuana. There's goes as much \u2014 a further step beyond. This is recreational use of marijuana. This is much different. And so, while he would like to use a sympathetic story to back up his point, it doesn't work. I'm not against medical marijuana. We do it in New Jersey. But I'm against the recreational use against marijuana. If he wants to change the federal law, get Congress to pass the law to change it, and get a president to sign it. +p3076 +aVNo, it's not. But with Donald, it's a good start. That's really good. No, listen. This is an issue that \u2014 that we've gotta talk about, and we haven't talked about yet. 71 percent of all federal spending is on entitlements and debt service. When John Kennedy was elected president in 1960, it was 26 percent. Harvard and Dartmouth says that Social Security's going to go insolvent in seven to eight years. So what I say is very simple. We need to save this program for the good people out there who have paid into the system and need it. And if that means making sure that folks like Donald and many of us on the stage don't get it, that's the right thing to do because here's what Hillary Clinton is going to want to do. She's going to want to put more money into a system that has already lied to us and stolen from us. This government doesn't need more money to make Social Security solvent. We need to be not paying out benefits to people who don't really need it. We need to protect the people who Social Security means the difference between picking between heat and rent and food. That's why I put out the proposal and that's the people I'm trying to... +p3077 +aVI don't think Senator Rubio is a skeptic of climate change. I think what Senator Rubio said I agree with. That in fact we don't need this massive government intervention to deal with the problem. Look at what we have done in New Jersey. We have already reached our clean air goals for 2020. And when I was governor, I pulled out of the regional cap and trade deal, the only state in the Northeast that did that. And we still reached our goals. Why? Because 53 percent of our electricity comes from nuclear. We use natural gas. We use solar power. We're the third-highest- using solar power state. You know why? Because we made all of those things economically feasible. I agree with Marco. We shouldn't be destroying our economy in order to chase some wild left-wing idea that somehow us by ourselves is going to fix the climate. We can contribute to that and be economically sound. We have proven we can do that in New Jersey. Nuclear needs to be back on the table in a significant way in this country if we want to go after this problem. +p3078 +aVI understand. No, no, listen, everybody makes a mistake every once in a while, Jake, even George Shultz. And if that's truly a representation of what he believes we should be doing, then with all due respect to the former secretary of state, I disagree with him. +p3079 +aVI think the Adams family has been shorted in the currency business. Our country wouldn't be here without John Adams, and he would not have been able to do it without Abigal Adams, so, I'd put Abigail Adams on the bill. +p3080 +aVYou know, I've been called a lot of names by a lot of different people, and now I got to get called by names by the Secret Service? I would just say True Heart. +p3081 +aVI turned 18 in 1980, and my first vote was for Ronald Reagan. Boy, am I glad I did it. And I think the country is, too. A Christie presidency won't be about me. It will be about you. Tonight, you sit at home in your living room, frustrated that you play by the rules, you pay the taxes, you do the hard things to raise your family, yet you feel like America's generosity is being taken advantage of. That you've been \u2014 system is being gamed, and that you're turning out to fall further and further behind. Our presidency \u2014 our presidency \u2014 will be about ending that, about enforcing the law, level the playing field for everybody, and once again reward those folks who play by the rules, and think that justice means more than just the word. But it means a way of life. And I will tell you this, around the world, I will not shake hands with, I will not meet with, and I will not agree to anything with a country that says death to us and death to Israel and holds our hostages while we sign agreements with them. It will be an America that be strong and resolute, and will once again be able to stick out its chest and say, "we truly are the greatest nation in the world, because we live our lives that way, each and every day." +p3082 +aVIf you think it's bad now, you should've seen it when I got there. The fact is -- the fact is, in the eight years before I became governor, taxes and fees were raised at the state level 115 times. In the eight years before I became governor, spending was increased 56 percent. And in the eight years before I become governor, taxes and fees were raised at the state level 115 times. In the eight years before I became Governor, spending was increased 56 percent, and in the eight years before I became governor, there was zero net private sector job growth in New Jersey. Zero. For eight years. So, what did we do? We came in, we balanced an $11 billion deficit on a $29 billion budget by cutting over 800 programs in the state budget. We brought the budget into balance with no tax increases. In fact, we vetoed five income tax increases during my time as governor. We cut business taxes $2.3 billion, and we cut regulation by one-third of what my predecessor put in place. And, what's happened since? A hundred ninety-two thousand private sector jobs in the five and a half years I've been governor. We have a lot of work to do in New Jersey, but I am darn proud we've brought our state back. +p3083 +aVYes, I do. And I'll tell you why: because I'm the only person on this stage who's actually filed applications under the Patriot Act, who has gone before the federal -- the Foreign Intelligence Service court, who has prosecuted and investigated and jailed terrorists in this country after September 11th. I was appointed U.S. attorney by President Bush on September 10th, 2001, and the world changed enormously the next day, and that happened in my state. This is not theoretical to me. I went to the funerals. We lost friends of ours in the Trade Center that day. My own wife was two blocks from the Trade Center that day, at her office, having gone through it that morning. When you actually have to be responsible for doing this, you can do it, and we did it, for seven years in my office, respecting civil liberties and protecting the homeland. And I will make no apologies, ever, for protecting the lives and the safety of the American people. We have to give more tools to our folks to be able to do that, not fewer, and then trust those people and oversee them to do it the right way. As president, that is exactly what I'll do. +p3084 +aVAnd -- and, Megyn? Megyn, that's a -- that, you know, that's a completely ridiculous answer. "I want to collect more records from terrorists, but less records from other people." How are you supposed to know, Megyn? +p3085 +aVWhat are you supposed to... +p3086 +aV...how are you supposed to -- no, I'll tell you how you, look... +p3087 +aVLet me tell you something, you go... +p3088 +aVWhen you -- you know, senator... +p3089 +aVListen, senator, you know, when you're sitting in a subcommittee, just blowing hot air about this, you can say things like that. When you're responsible for protecting the lives of the American people, then what you need to do is to make sure... +p3090 +aV...is to make sure that you use the system the way it's supposed to work. +p3091 +aVThere is no... +p3092 +aVAnd you know -- you know, Senator Paul? Senator Paul, you know, the hugs that I remember are the hugs that I gave to the families who lost their people on September 11th. Those are the hugs I remember, and those had nothing to do -- and those had nothing to do with politics, unlike what you're doing by cutting speeches on the floor of the Senate, then putting them on the Internet within half an hour to raise money for your campaign... +p3093 +aV...and while still putting our country at risk. +p3094 +aVYou know what, Megyn, can I... +p3095 +aVNo, he's not lying, he's just wrong. I mean, so, there's a difference -- I'm the only guy on this stage who's put out a detailed, 12 point plan on entitlement reform and here's why -- because 71% of federal spending right now is on entitlements, and debt service, 71%. And we have spent the last hour and five minutes talking about the other 29%, and no time on the 71%, and that makes no sense. Now, let me tell you exactly what we would do on Social Security. Yes, we'd raise the retirement age two years, and phase it in over 25 years, that means we'd raise it one month a year for 25 years when we're all living longer, and living better lives. Secondly, we would means test Social Security for those who are making over $200,000 dollars a year in retirement income, and have $4 to $5 million dollars in liquid assets saved. They don't need that Social Security check. Social Security is meant to be -- to make sure that no one who's worked hard, and played by the rules, and paid into the system grows old in poverty in America. If we don't deal with this problem, it will bankrupt our country, or lead to massive tax increases, neither one that we want in this country. +p3096 +aVChris... +p3097 +aVYeah, sure. And, I don't disagree with ending Congress' retirement program. I'm a governor, I don't have a retirement program in my state, and I don't disagree with that. But, here's the news to the American people, he's complaining about the lying and stealing. The lying and stealing has already occurred. The trust fund is filled with IOU's. We can't fix the problem just by ending Congress's retirement, that's worth about, "this" much. We need to go at the fundamental problem, and the fundamental problem is that this system is broken. It has been stolen from. We have been lied to, and we need a strong leader to tell the truth and fix... +p3098 +aVWell, listen. You know, if we want to deal with these issues, we have to deal with them in a way that makes sense. I agree with what Dr. Carson said earlier. The first thing we need to do to make America stronger is to strengthen our military, and I put out a really specific plan: no less than 500,000 active duty soldiers in the Army. No less than 185,000 active duty marines in the Marine Corps. Bring us to a 350 ship Navy again, and modernize the Ohio class of submarines, and bring our Air Force back to 2,600 aircraft that are ready to go. Those are the kind of things that are going to send a clear message around the world. Those are the things that we need to start working on immediately to make our country stronger and make it better. Those are the things that we need to be able to be doing. And as we move towards dealing with foreign aid, I don't disagree with Senator Paul's position that we shouldn't be funding our enemies. But I absolutely believe that Israel is a priority to be able to fund and keep them strong and safe after eight years of this administration. +p3099 +aVWell, thank you, Megyn. Listen, I was born into a middle class family in New Jersey. My dad came home from serving in the Army after having lost his father, worked in the Breyers ice cream plant in Newark, New Jersey. Was the first person to graduate from college. He put himself through college at night. My mom was a secretary. I was appointed United States attorney on September 10, 2001. And I spent the next seven years of my career fighting terrorism and putting terrorists in jail. I'm a conservative, pro-life governor in a state where it is really tough to be both. A state like New Jersey, with lots of Democrats, but still we cut taxes, we balanced budgets. We fought the teacher's union. This president has had weak leadership, which has led to bad choices. We have got to stop worrying about being loved and start worrying about being respected. And that's exactly how I'll lead our country. +p3100 +aVWell, first I want to share a story with you that relates to your question. I was in New Hampshire last week, and a woman approached me after the town hall meeting and she said to me, "Governor, I'm really concerned." I said, "What are your concerns?" And, she said, "I don't quite how to describe it," she said. "But, every month when my bills come in, I feel this awful anxiety in the pit of my stomach that I'm not going to have enough to pay them that month." There are tens of millions of Americans living that way after the worst recovery from an economic recession since World War II. And, let's be clear, if we do not change course, if we follow the President's lead, and that's exactly what Secretary Clinton will do, we're going to be in the same circumstance \u2014 with government picking the winners and losers. So, let me be clear about what we'll do. First, Make the tax code fairer, flatter, and simplier. Get rid of all the special interest deductions. You know, the American people feel like the tax code is rigged for the rich, and you know why they feel that way? Because it is. We'll get rid of all those special interest deductions except for the home mortgage interest deduction, and the charitable contribution deduction. Everyone will get lower rates, keep more of their own money, be able to file their tax returns in 15 minutes, and, by the way, the good thing, I'll be able to fire a whole bunch of IRS agents once we do that. And, in addition, we need to get the government off of our backs. Dodd-Frank, all the different regulations, 81,000 pages of new regulation by this administration just last year \u2014 it is suffocating small business, it is suffocating the folks who are trying to make a living. I will do what I did in New Jersey......lift if off their backs. +p3101 +aVYes, sure. If anybody believes the stuff they heard from that Democratic debate a few weeks ago, there's nothing for free. What they forgot to tell was that they're going to raise your tax rates to 70 or 80 percent in order to provide all of that stuff. But let me ask the folks at home one very simple question, do you want to give Washington more control over your life? Do you think they're doing such a great job that now let's have them control what our corporations pay their employees? Let's have them control every aspect of our economy? Is Washington doing that good a job for you right now? And the fact is that if you listen to Hillary Clinton, she has made it very clear, she believes that she can make decisions for you better than you can make them for yourself. She believes that Washington, D.C., should pick the winners and losers in our economy, and in our life. And here's what I believe as a Republican, I believe the greatness of America is not in its government. The greatness of America is in the American people. And what we need to do is get the government the hell out of the way and let the American people win once again. +p3102 +aVFirst off, let me, let me just say this in response to this back and forth. For the people who are out there right now, I want to guarantee you one thing real clearly. If you think that Mike Huckabee won't be the kind of President who will cut back spending, or Chris Christie, or John Kasich, wait 'til you see what Hillary Clinton will do to this country and how she will drown us in debt. She is the real adversary tonight and we'd better stay focused as Republicans on her. Now I've forward, I put forward an entitlement reform plan. We spend 71 cents of every dollar in America on entitlements and debt service, and if \u2014 you know, Willy Sutton used to say, when they asked him why he robbed banks, he said that's 'cause that's where the money is, OK? And where the money is in the federal government are these entitlement programs and debt service. What I've said is we need to get a hold of that. We cannot continue to go down the $19 trillion in debt. So our plan will save over $1 trillion over the next 10 years and make sure that Social Security and Medicare are there for those who truly need it and also make sure that we have money to be able to reduce taxes and spend on the things we need to spend. I will also, on my first day as \u2014 as president, sign a executive order that says no more regulation for the next 120 days by any government agency or department. We are drowning in regulations. Stop and then we'll go out there and we'll cut and reduce regulation that small business owners across this country want us to do. You'll grow the economy then. More money will come into the system and we'll get more closer to balance. But the bottom line is, believe me, Hillary Clinton's coming for your wallet, everybody. Don't worry about Huckabee or Jindal, worry about her. +p3103 +aVWell, let's start with this, remember why we're in the position we're in with China, because an absolutely weak and feckless foreign policy that was engineered by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. That's why we're in the position we're in......because the Chinese......the Chinese don't take us seriously and why should they? Why should they? They hacked into the American government's personnel file and took millions of records in cyberwarfare against this country. I'm one of the victims of that hack. They took my Social Security number, my fingerprints as a former United States attorney that was on file in there. And what has this president done? Not one thing. Let me be really clear about what I would do. If the Chinese commit cyberwarfare against us, they are going to see cyberwarfare like they have never seen before. And that is a closed society in China......where they're hiding information from their own people. The information we take, we'll make sure all the Chinese people see it. Then they'll have some real fun in Beijing when we start showing them how they're spending their money in China. And one last thing. One last thing. I will tell you this, they're building those artificial islands in the South China Sea and the president won't \u2014 up until recently, wouldn't sail a ship within 12 miles or fly a plane over it. I'll tell you this, the first thing I'll do with the Chinese is I'll throw \u2014 I'll fly Air Force One over those islands. They'll know we mean business. +p3104 +aVI'll tell you, Gerry, it's interesting, if you go to New Jersey, they'll call me lots of different things. A liberal is not one of them. Um, and......I would say this. I have great respect for Bobby's record in Louisiana. I think he's been a wonderful governor and I think he's provided outstanding leadership for that state and I respect him for what he's done. And I think that all of us deserve that same level of respect. And my point is this. You know, the differences between me and Bobby Jindal, we can talk about those, and obviously, Bobby wants to spent a lot of time tonight talking about that. I'll tell you what I want to talk about. I want to talk about what's going to happen to this country if we have another four years of Barack Obama's policies. And by the way, it will be even worse, because Hillary Clinton is running so far to the left to treaty to catch up to her socialist opponent, Bernie Sanders, it's hard to even see her anymore. The fact is \u2014 the fact is that we'd better be focused on it. And I'll tell you what I'll bring to the table, the fact that I've won in a blue state, that I've won in a state that has 750,000 more Democrats than Republicans......that I won in a state for reelection after governing as a pro-life conservative......and got 61 percent of the vote. That's the person you want on the stage prosecuting the case against Hillary Clinton. +p3105 +aVI don't... +p3106 +aV..Let me... +p3107 +aV...Let me just... +p3108 +aV...Sure. It's interesting. I complimented Bobby, imagine how much time he'd want if I actually criticized him. You know, the fact is, he's done \u2014 done a nice job down in Louisiana, and I don't have any problem with the job he's done. I've cut spending $2 billion dollars, except for our pension and health care in New Jersey, which was driven predominantly by Obamacare. We have reduce the number of employees we have on the state payroll by 15%, but, you know what? The people out there don't care about any of that. You know what they care about? They care about who's going to be able to beat Hillary Clinton......Who's going to keep their eye on the ball? I'm going to keep my eye on the ball. +p3109 +aVYeah, listen. We stopped Obamacare in New Jersey because we refused to participate in the federal exchange. But, here's the bigger issue. What do you think's going to happen when Hillary Clinton's elected president of the United States? The woman who tried to impose healthcare on this country over 20 years ago? And, she was stopped then by a strong group of republicans, and an American public that said, "No, thank you." What she will do \u2014 what she will do is move us towards a single payer system. She will completely nationalize the federal health care system. That's what she wanted to do 20 years ago, and I guarantee you that's what she'll do if you give her the keys to the White House one more time. The fact is we need someone who knows how to beat democrats, who knows how to beat democrats in a democratic area. I've done it twice as governor of New Jersey, and Hillary Clinton doesn't want one minute on that stage with me next September when I'm debating her, and prosecuting her for her vision for America... +p3110 +aVI'll continue in the pattern and just say... And just say this to everybody, since it seems to be an open question. I'll tell you the thing that disturbs me the most about what's going on with the Democratic Party in Washington, that they're not standing behind our police officers across this country. That they're allowing lawlessness... That they're allowing lawlessness to reign in this country. I spent seven years of my life in law enforcement, here's what every law enforcement, 700,000, should know tonight. When President Christie is in the Oval Office, I'll have your back. +p3111 +aVYes. You know, our tax plan puts forward a highest rate of 28 percent for those who are doing the most and making the most in this country and 8 percent on the low end. And I agree with Senator Santorum, we get rid of all of the deductions and loopholes, except for the home mortgage interest deduction and the charitable contribution deduction. That means getting rid of the state and local income tax deduction, as well, because that will put more pressure on governors and on local officials not to keep raising those taxes, saying we can deduct them. And so ours will be 28 on the high end, 8 on the low end. And I will tell you one other thing. Americans for Tax Reform came out with a report six weeks ago and said I vetoed more tax increases than any governor in American history. I will do exactly the same thing as president of the United States. +p3112 +aVGerry, this has been the most political Federal Reserve I've seen in my lifetime. Now, when they first cut interest rates during the economic recession and the crisis, that was the right thing to do. But they've kept those interest rates artificially low for one reason, and one reason only. Because they're trying to politically support Barack Obama and his agenda. And it's been wrong. And what it's done, in an administration where the President has talked about income inequality, he's had more income inequality in this administration than any previous administration. The middle class is doing worse than it's ever done before. And the investor class, the wealthy, are doing even better because of this cheap money from the Fed. And here's the worst part, we had one and a half percent GDP growth last quarter. If we slide back towards a recession, you cannot lower interest rates below zero. Where are we going to go if we need help if the economy slides back into recession? And with this government- controlled economy that Barack Obama, we're moving right towards it. The Fed should be audited and the Fed should stop playing politics with our money supply. That's what they've done. It's been the wrong thing to do. It's hurting the American economy. And......let me......let me add one other thing on this. Be very aware now, because what Hillary Clinton is talking about doing, if she's president of the United States, is to make sure that the government gets even more involved in the economy, even more involved in making choices for everybody. You do not want that to happen. You need someone who's going to stand up on that stage and prosecute the case against her and prosecute it strong. That's what I'll do. +p3113 +aVThe way to reconnect Americans to the men and women in uniform is to first, and foremost, give them a Commander in Chief who respects the military, and respects everyone who wears the uniform. Starts at the top there... And Secretary Clinton says, there's no crisis at the V.A.. That send a long, and hard message to our veterans that she doesn't get it, and she doesn't respect their service. When the President of the United States doesn't back up law enforcement officers in uniform, he loses the moral authority to any man or woman who is uniform. I spent seven years in law enforcement......I respect these folks, and I will do so as Commander in Chief of the military. +p3114 +aVI want to tell the American people who are watching tonight the truth. I saw the most disgraceful thing I've seen in this entire campaign a few weeks ago. Hillary Clinton was asked the enemy she's most proud of, and she said, "Republicans". In a world where we have Al-Qaeda, and +p3115 +asVCARSON +p3116 +(lp3117 +VThank you, Wolf. Please join me for a moment of silence and remembrance of the San Bernardino victims. Thank you. You know, our country since its inception has been at war, every 15 or 20 years. But the war that we are fighting now against radical Islamist jihadists is one that we must win. Our very existence is dependent upon that. You know, as a pediatric neurosurgeon, I frequently faced life and death situations, and had to come up with the right diagnosis, the right plan, and execute that plan frequently with other colleagues. Right now, the United States of America is the patient. And the patient is in critical condition and will not be cured by political correctness and will not be cured by timidity. And I am asking the Congress, which represents the people, to declare a war on +p3118 +aVFirst of all, let me just complain a little bit. This is the first time I've spoken and several people have had multiple questions so please try to pay attention to that. Now, as far as monitoring is concerned, what my point is, we need to make sure that any place \u2013 I don't care whether it's a mosque, a school, a supermarket, a theater, you know it doesn't matter. If there are a lot of people getting there and engaging in radicalizing activities then we need to be suspicious of it. We have to get rid of all this PC stuff. And people are worried about if somebody's going to say that I'm Islamophobic or what have you. This is craziness because we are at war. That's why I asked congress, go ahead and declare the war . We need to be on a war footing. We need to understand that our nation is in grave danger. You know, what the Muslim Brotherhood said in the explanatory memorandum that was discovered during the Holy Land Foundation Trial was that, "they will take advantage of our PC attitude to get us. :" We have to be better than this. We have to be smarter than they are. +p3119 +aVI think you have to ask them about that. I don't want to get in between them. Let them fight. +p3120 +aVNeurosurgeon. +p3121 +aVWell, interestingly enough, you should see the eyes of some of those children when I say to them we're going to have to open your head up and take out this tumor. They're not happy about it, believe me. And they don't like me very much at that point. But later on, they love me. Sometimes you \u2014 I sound like him. You know, later on, you know, they really realize what's going on. And by the same token, you have to be able to look at the big picture and understand that it's actually merciful if you go ahead and finish the job, rather than death by 1,000 pricks. +p3122 +aVYou got it. You got it. +p3123 +aVRuthless is not necessarily the word I would use, but tough, resolute, understanding what the problems are, and understanding that the job of the president of the United States is to protect the people of this country and to do what is necessary in order to get it done. +p3124 +aVFirst of all, I've been talking about this for over a year. We have to destroy their caliphate because that gives them legitimacy to go ahead with the global Jihad. We have to take their energy because they are \u2014 +p3125 +aVNo one is ever better off with dictators but there comes a time you know, when you're on an airplane, they always say, "in case of an emergency oxygen masks will drop down. Put yours on first and then administer help to your neighbor." We need oxygen right now. And we need to start thinking about the needs of the American people before we go and solve everybody else's problems. The fact of the matter is, is that the Middle East has been in turmoil for thousands of years. For us to think that we're going to in there and fix that with a couple of little bombs and a few little decorations is relatively foolish. +p3126 +aVWell, you know, there's a false narrative that only the political class has the wisdom and the ability to be commander-in- chief. But if you go back and you study the design of our country, it was really designed for the citizen statesman. And we need to be talking about where does your experience come from? You know, and I've had a lot of experience building things, organizing things, you know, a national scholarship program. One of the things that you'll notice if you look through my life is that I don't do a lot of talking. I do a lot of doing. And really, it says more about a person than how much they talk. And then some people say you're weak because, you know, you're not loud and you're not boisterous and you're not rude. But the fact of the matter is, look and see what I've done. And that speaks volumes about strength. +p3127 +aVWell, it was very interesting having an opportunity to talk to the Syrians themselves. And I asked them: What do you want? What is your supreme desire? Their supreme desire was to be settled back in their own country. I said, "What can Americans and other countries do?" They said, "Support the efforts of those who are trying to provide safety for us, including the Jordanians." Of course, they had a brand new hospital, for instance, that was unstaffed because there wasn't enough money to do it. But here's what's really neat. If you go into Hasakah province in northeast Syria, that's an area that's as big as Lebanon. It's controlled by the Kurds, the Christians and the moderate Sunnis. And there are airstrips and hotels. You could settle a lot of people there. All we would have to do is be willing to provide them with some weaponry, some defensive weaponry. And we seem to be afraid to give the Kurds weaponry. We like to send it for some strange reason through Baghdad, and then they only get a tenth of it. And if we would support them, we'd have a perfect ideal there. We don't need to set this up as we either take a bunch of refugees who will be infiltrated with terrorists, I guarantee you. For them not to be would be terrorist malpractice. And we need to \u2014 to choose the right choice, not these false choices. +p3128 +aVWell, I definitely believe that he is unstable, and I do, in fact, believe that China has a lot more influence with him than we do. But we also recognize that North Korea is in severe financial straits, and they have decided to use their resources to build their military, rather than to feed their people and to take care of the various humanitarian responsibilities that they have. We can capitalize upon that. You know, we should use our economic power in lots of different ways. I think we can use that in order to keep Putin contained, because he is a one-horse show. Energy. And we have an abundance of energy, but we have archaic energy exportation rules. We need to get rid of those, allow ourselves to really make Europe dependent on us and other parts of the world dependent on us for energy. Put him back in his little box where he belongs. And, you know, we need to be doing lots of other things with the resources that we have. So economic power works just as well as military power, perhaps even better. And speaking of that, our Military needs to be upgraded. You know, you look at things like our Ohio Class submarines, they're 25 years old. Our minuteman 3 missiles \u2014 they are 34 years old. Our B-52 bombers \u2014 50 years old. You know, if we don't get the military right nothing else matters. +p3129 +aVWell, you know, the statement that I made last week, that I would leave the party was contingent upon whether in fact the party acts like they have in the past with a lot of subterfuge and dishonesty, or like they're going act now because I spike to Reince Priebus, and he assured me that the Washington Post writer had it all wrong, and that they're not be engaging in anything to thwart the will of the people. That's why I got into this race, as a member of we the people, to try bring some honesty and integrity back to the process. +p3130 +aVI've been fortunate enough to travel to 58 different countries and I thank God everyday that I was born in this country. The most exceptional country that the world has ever known. And I want to make sure that we preserve that exceptionalism for the next generation. My mother told me if I work hard and I really believed in American principles and I believed in God, anything is possible. I believe that is true, and that's why I'm not anxious to give away American values and principles for the sake of political correctness. +p3131 +aVWell, first of all, delighted to be here. My family's here, and my little granddaughter, who's three years old, said she wanted to come to the debate. So this is very cool. As far as the minimum wage is concerned, people need to be educated on the minimum wage. Every time we raise the minimum wage, the number of jobless people increases. It's particularly a problem in the black community. Only 19.8 percent of black teenagers have a job, who are looking for one. You know, that \u2014 and that's because of those high wages. If you lower those wages, that comes down. You know, I can remember, as a youngster \u2014 you know, my first job working in a laboratory as a lab assistant, and multiple other jobs. But I would not have gotten those jobs if someone had to pay me a large amount of money. But what I did gain from those jobs is a tremendous amount of experience, and how to operate in the world and how to relate to different people, and how to become a responsible individual. And that's what gave me what I needed to ascend the ladder of opportunity in this country. That's what we need to be thinking about. How do we allow people to ascend the ladder of opportunity, rather than how do we give them everything and keep them dependent? +p3132 +aVI would not raise it. I would not raise it, specifically because I'm interested in making sure that people are able to enter the job market and take advantage of opportunities. +p3133 +aVWell, first of all, thank you not asking me what I said in the 10th grade. I appreciate that. +p3134 +aVThe fact of the matter is, you know, what \u2014 we should vet all candidates. I have no problem with being vetted. What I do have a problem with is being lied about and then putting that out there as truth. And I don't even mind that so much, if they do it about \u2014 with everybody, like people on the other side. But, you know, when I look at somebody like Hillary Clinton, who sits there and tells her daughter and a government official that no, this was a terrorist attack, and then tells everybody else that it was a video. Where I came from, they call that a lie. And... I think that's very different from, you know, somebody misinterpreting, when I said that I was offered a scholarship to West Point, that is the words that they used. But, I've had many people come and say the same thing to me. That is what people do in those situations. We have to start treating people the same, and finding out what people really think and what they're made of. People who know me know that I'm an honest person. +p3135 +aVWell, you know, when I say tithing, I'm talking about the concept of proportionality. +p3136 +aVEverybody should pay the same proportion of what they make. You make $10 billion, you pay a billion. You make $10, you pay one. You get same rights and privileges. I don't see how anything gets a whole lot fairer than that. But you also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes because that is the thing that tilts it in one direction or another. And you have to set the rate at an appropriate level. Now I will say that, there are a lot of people who say, if you get rid of the deductions, you ruin the American dream because, you know, home mortgage deduction. But the fact of the matter is, people had homes before 1913 when we introduced the federal income tax, and later after that started deductions. And they say there will be no more charitable giving. We had churches before that and charitable organizations before that. The fact of the matter is, I believe if you put more money in people's pockets that they will actually be more generous rather than less generous. And it's... ... the money that they earned. And, the other thing is, I do care about the poor people. And in the system that we're putting together, there will be a rebate for people at the poverty level. But I also want to emphasize the fact that as we get the economy moving, and I hope I get a question about how do we get the economy moving, there will be a lot more opportunities for poor people not to be poor people because this is America. This is the land of dreams. And our policies should be aimed at allowing people to realize that dream. +p3137 +aVWell, putting the special ops people in there is better than not having them there, because they \u2014 that's why they're called special ops, they're actually able to guide some of the other things that we're doing there. And what we have to recognize is that Putin is trying to really spread his influence throughout the Middle East. This is going to be his base. And we have to oppose him there in an effective way. We also must recognize that it's a very complex place. You know, the Chinese are there, as well as the Russians, and you have all kinds of factions there. What we've been doing so far is very ineffective, but we can't give up ground right there. But we have to look at this on a much more global scale. We're talking about global jihadists. And their desire is to destroy us and to destroy our way of life. So we have to be saying, how do we make them look like losers? Because that's the way that they're able to gather a lot of influence. And I think in order to make them look like losers, we have to destroy their caliphate. And you look for the easiest place to do that? It would be in Iraq. And if \u2014 outside of Anbar in Iraq, there's a big energy field. Take that from them. Take all of that land from them. We could do that, I believe, fairly easily, I've learned from talking to several generals, and then you move on from there. But you have to continue to face them, because our goal is not to contain them, but to destroy them before they destroy us. +p3138 +aVWell, I think we should have policies that don't allow them to just enlarge themselves at the expense of smaller entities. And certainly some of the policies, some of the monetary and Fed policies that we're using makes it very easy for them, makes it very easy for the big corporations, quite frankly, at these very low interest rates to buy back their stock and to drive the price of that up artificially. Those are the kinds of things that led to the problem in the first place. And I think this all really gets back to this whole regulation issue which is creating a very abnormal situation. This country was \u2014 declared its independence in 1776. In less than 100 years, it was the number-one economic power in the world. And the reason was because we had an atmosphere that encouraged entrepreneurial risk- taking and capital investment. Those are the fuels that drive it. And what we've done now is let the creep of regulation turn into a stampede of regulations, which is involved in every aspect of our lives. If we can get that out, it makes a big difference. And even for the average person, every single regulation costs money. And it's shifted to the individual. So \u2014 and it hurts the poor and the middle class much more than it does the rich. They go into the store and they buy a bar of soap, it costs 10 cents more, they notice it. And the middle class, when they come to the cash register, have a whole cart full of things that cost 5, 10 or 15 cents more, they notice it. It is hurting the poor. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton won't tell you that that's the thing that's really hurting middle class in the core. They'll say it's the rich, take their money, but that won't help. You can take all of the rich's money and it won't make a dent in the problem that we're having. We have to come back to the fundamental principles that made America great. +p3139 +aVI would have policies that wouldn't allow that to occur. I don't want to go in and tear anybody down. I mean, that doesn't help us. But what does help us is stop tinkering around the edges and fix the actual problems that exist that are creating the problem in the first place. +p3140 +aVIn the two hours of this \u2014 of this debate, five people have died from drug-related deaths, $100 million has been added to our national debt, 200 babies have been killed by abortionists, and two veterans have taken their lives out of despair. This is a narrative that we can change, not we the Democrats, not we the Republicans, but we the people of America, because there is something special about this nation, and we must embrace it and be proud of it and never give it away for the sake of political correctness. +p3141 +aVProbably in terms of the applying for the job of president, a weakness would be not really seeing myself in that position until hundreds of thousands of people began to tell me that I needed to do it. I do, however, believe in Reagan's 11th commandment, and will not be engaging in awful things about my compatriots here. And recognizing that it's so important, this election, because we're talking about America for the people versus America for the government. +p3142 +aVWell, first of all, I didn't say that the rate would be 10 percent. I used the tithing analogy. +p3143 +aVThe rate \u2014 the rate \u2014 the rate is gonna be much closer to 15 percent. +p3144 +aVYou also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes. You also have to some strategically cutting in several places. Remember, we have 645 federal agencies and sub-agencies. Anybody who tells me that we need every penny and every one of those is in a fantasy world. So, also, we can stimulate the economy. That's gonna be the real growth engine. Stimulating the economy \u2014 because it's tethered down right now with so many regulations... +p3145 +aVThat's not true. +p3146 +aVWhen \u2014 when we put all the facts down, you'll be able to see that it's not true, it works out very well. +p3147 +aVSince I was attacked too. +p3148 +aVLet me just say, if you're talking about an $18 trillion economy, you're talking about a 15 percent tax on your gross domestic product. You're talking about $2.7 trillion. We have a budget closer to $3.5 trillion. But if you also apply that same 15 percent to several other things, including corporate taxes, and including the capital gains taxes, you make that amount up pretty quickly. So that is not by any stretch a pie in the sky. +p3149 +aVWell, there is no question that some people go overboard when it comes to trying to make profits, and they don't take into consideration the American people. What we have to start thinking about, as leaders, particularly in government, is what can we do for the average American? And you think about the reasons that we're having such difficulty right now with our job market. Well, the average small manufacturer, whatever they're manufacturing, drugs or anything, if they have less than 50 employees, the average cost in terms of regulations is $34,000 per employee. Makes it a whole lot easier for them to want to go somewhere else. So what we're going to have to start doing instead of, you know, picking on this group or this group, is we're going to have to have a major reduction in the regulatory influence that is going on. The government is not supposed to be in every part of our lives, and that is what is causing the problem. +p3150 +aVWell, obviously, you don't understand my views on homosexuality. I believe that our Constitution protects everybody, regardless of their sexual orientation or any other aspect. I also believe that marriage is between one man and one woman. And there is no reason that you can't be perfectly fair to the gay community. They shouldn't automatically assume that because you believe that marriage is between one man and one woman that you are a homophobe. And this is one of the myths that the left perpetrates on our society, and this is how they frighten people and get people to shut up. You know, that's what the PC culture is all about, and it's destroying this nation. The fact of the matter is we the American people are not each other's enemies, it's those people who are trying to divide us who are the enemies. And we need to make that very clear to everybody. +p3151 +aVWell, that's easy to answer. I didn't have an involvement with them. That is total propaganda, and this is what happens in our society. Total propaganda. I did a couple of speeches for them, I do speeches for other people. They were paid speeches. It is absolutely absurd to say that I had any kind of a relationship with them. Do I take the product? Yes. I think it's a good product. +p3152 +aVIf somebody put me on their homepage, they did it without my permission. +p3153 +aVNo, it speaks to the fact that I don't know those \u2014 See? They know. +p3154 +aVWell, first of all, I was wrong about taking the oil subsidy. I have studied that issue in great detail. And what I have concluded is that the best policy is to get rid of all government subsidies, and get the government out of our lives, and let people rise and fall based on how good they are. And \u2014 you know, all of this too big to fail stuff and picking and choosing winners and losers \u2014 this is a bunch of crap, and it is really causing a great deal of \u2014 great deal of problems for our society right now. And \u2014 and \u2014 you know, it goes back to the whole concept of regulations, which are in everything. The reason that I \u2014 I hate them so much is because every single regulation costs in terms of goods and services. That cost gets passed on to the people. Now, who are the people who are hurt by that? It's poor people and middle class. Doesn't hurt rich people if their bar of soap goes up ten cents, but it hurts the poor and the middle class. And Bernie Sanders will tell them that it's because of the rich. Well, I'll tell you something: you can take everything from the top 1 percent, and you apply it to our fiscal gap, and you won't even make a dent in it. +p3155 +aVAbout Medicare? +p3156 +aVWell, first of all the \u2014 the plan gives people the option of \u2014 of opting out. But I think they will see a very good option here. You know, the annual Medicare budget is over $600 billion. And there are 48 million people involved \u2014 40 million, 65 and over, and 8 million other. Divide that out. That comes out to $12,500 for each one. Now, I can tell you there are a lot of private-sector things that you could do with $12,500, which will get you a lot more than you get from this government program. And that's really a theme of a lot of the things that I'm talking about. How do we utilize our intellect rather than allowing the government to use its, quote, "intellect," in order to help us to be able to live healthier and better lives? It was never intended that the government should be in every aspect of our lives. This is a country that is of, for and by the people. +p3157 +aVI just want to thank all my colleagues here for being civil, and not falling for the traps. And, I also just want to thank the audience for being attentive, and noticing the questions, and the noticing the answers. And, this is what I am finding throughout America. People are waking up because it is going to be us who will determine the direction of our country. And, it was made for we the people, we are the ones who decide who we are, and we should never give away the values and principles that made America into a great nation for the sake of political correctness. +p3158 +aVHi, I'm Ben Carson, and I'm a retired pediatric neurosurgeon. I'm here with my wife, Candy, of 40 years, and two of my sons, and their wives. I stress the pediatric part of my career because the reason that I've gotten involved in this race is because I'm very concerned about the future of our children, and the direction of our country is one that does not portend well, unless we, the people, intervene and retake our rightful place at the pinnacle. +p3159 +aVTypically, politicians do things that are politically expedient. And they are looking for whatever their particular goal is. That is not the reason that I have gotten into this thing. I'm extraordinary concerned about the direction of this country, the divisiveness that is going on, fiscal irresponsibility, the failure to take a leadership position in the world. All of those things will lead to a situation where the next generation will not have a chance that we've had now. So I don't \u2014 I don't want to really get into describing who's a politician and who's not a politician, but I think the people have kind of made that decision for themselves already, and will continue to do so as time goes on. +p3160 +aVJake, can I say something about that? +p3161 +aVYou know, when I entered this race, all the political pundits said it's impossible; you can't do it because you're not connected with the money. And there's no way that you can raise what you need in order to compete successfully. I in no way am willing to get in the bed with special interest group or lick the boots of billionaires. I have said to the people if they want me to do this, please get involved. And we now have over 500,000 donations, and the money is coming in. But the pundits forgot about one thing, and that is the people. And they are really in charge. +p3162 +aVWell, first of all, I recognize that we have an incredible illegal immigration problem. I was down in Arizona a few weeks ago at the border. I mean, the fences that were there were not manned, and those are the kind of fences when I was a kid that would barely slow us down. So, I don't see any purpose in having that. Now, what we need to do is look at something that actually works. Yuma County, Arizona. They stop 97 percent of the illegal immigrants through there. They put in a double fence with a road so that there was quick access by the enforcement people. If we don't seal the border, the rest of this stuff clearly doesn't matter. It's kind of ridiculous all the other things we talk about. We have the ability to do it, we don't have the will to do it. There was one area where they had cut a hole in the fence, and to repair it, they put a few strands of barb wire across. Well, the photographers who were there with us, they wanted to photograph us from the side of the Mexicans, and they went through there, and they were not physically fit people, and they took their cameras and things with them, and shot us from the other side. That's how easy it is to get across. And, the drugs, I mean, it goes on, and on, and on. ICE tells them to release these people, 67,000 criminals released... +p3163 +aV...on to our property, it's ridiculous. +p3164 +aVWell, I have also said, if anybody knows how to do that, that I would be willing to listen. And, if they can, you know, specify exactly how that's going to be done, and what the cost, and it sounds reasonable, then I think it's worth discussing... +p3165 +aVNot exactly what I said. +p3166 +aVWell, what I said, after we seal the borders, after we turn off the spigot that dispenses all the goodies so we don't have people coming in here, including employment, that people who had a pristine record, we should consider allowing them to become guest workers, primarily in the agricultural sphere, because that's the place where Americans don't seem to want to work. That's what I said. And they have a six-month period to do that. If they don't do it within that time period, then they become illegal, and as illegals, they will be treated as such. +p3167 +aVCan I \u2014 can I \u2014 can I just... +p3168 +aVCan I correct... +p3169 +aVOK. +p3170 +aVMy plan is not amnesty for a number of reasons. Number one, you know, I've talked to farmers, and they said they cannot hire Americans to do the kind of job that I'm talking about. And the second reason is because the individuals who register as guest workers, they don't get to vote, they are not American citizens, and they don't get the rights and privileges of American citizens. So that's key. But the other thing that I want to bring up is, I mentioned something earlier. I think it was just sort of glossed over. I talked about the success in Yuma County, I mean, incredible success, and the Department of Justice said, "No, we don't want to do that. That's too successful." We don't have to keep reinventing the wheel. All we have to do is look at things that work. All we have to do is use a little common sense. +p3171 +aVIt's all about America. You know, the people who say the guy who paid a billion dollars because he had 10, he has still got $9 billion left, that's not fair, we need to take more of his money. That's called socialism. That doesn't work so well. What made America into a great nation was the fact that we said, that guy just put in $1 billion, let's create an environment that's even more conducive to his success so that next year he can put in $2 billion. And that's the kind of thing that helps us to grow. We can't grow by continuing to take a piece of pie, and dividing it, and redistributing it. But, I'm also looking at what doctor \u2014 at what Governor Huckabee talked about... +p3172 +aVThe Fair Tax. Looking at both of them, and evaluating them both, and I'm talking to the American people because one of the things we must recognize is that this country is of, for, and by the people. And, it's really time that the government get out of the way, and let the people be the ones who decide how they want to run their country. +p3173 +aVWell, first of all, let me say what I actually said about raising the minimum wage. I was asked should it be raised, I said, probably, or possibly. But, what I added, which I think is the most important thing, so, I said we need to get both sides of this issue to sit down, and talk about it. Negotiate a reasonable minimum wage, and index that so that we never have to have this conversation again in the history of America. I think we also have to have two minimum wages, a starter, and a sustaining because how are young people ever going to get a job if you have such a high minimum wage that it makes it impractical to hire them... +p3174 +aVJake, Jake... +p3175 +aVI haven't had an opportunity to weigh in on foreign policy, and I just want to mention that when the war, when the issue occurred in 2003, I suggested to President Bush that he not go to war? OK. So I just want that on the record. And, you know, a lot of people are very much against us getting involved right now with global jihadism. And they refer back to our invasion of Iraq. And they seem to think that that was what caused it. What caused it was withdrawing from there and creating a vacuum which allowed this terrible situation to occur. But it is very different from what is going on today. We're talking about global jihadists who actually want to destroy us. They are an existential threat to our nation. And we have to be mature enough to recognize that our children will have no future if we put our heads in the sand. We have to recognize we have two choices. We either allow them the continue to progress and appear to be the winners, or we use every resource available to us to destroy... +p3176 +aV... them first. +p3177 +aVWell, recognize that, you know, President George W. Bush is a great friend of ours, and we spent many wonderful days at the White House. I haven't been there in the last seven years. I probably have to have a food-tester. But at any rate, I didn't suggest that nothing be done. What I suggested to President Bush is to be Kennedy-esque, in the sense that when the Russians got ahead of us in the space race, what we did is use the bully pulpit to galvanize everybody, business, industry, academia behind a national goal to put a man on the moon and bring him back safely. I said, you can do the same kind of thing. Declare that within five to 10 years we will become petroleum independent. The moderate Arab states would have been so concerned about that, they would have turned over Osama bin Laden and anybody else you wanted on a silver platter within two weeks. There are smart ways to do things and there are muscular ways to do things. And sometimes you have to look at both of those to come up with the right solution. +p3178 +aVI have no argument with having a strong leader, and to be aggressive where aggression is needed. But it is not needed in every circumstance. There is a time when you can use your intellect to come up with other ways to do things. And I think that's what we have to start thinking about. There is no question that a lot of these problems that we have been talking about in terms of the international situation is because we are weak. It is because our Navy is so small. It is because our Air Force is incapable of doing the same things that it did a few years ago. It's because our Marines Corps is not ready to be deployed. +p3179 +aVThere are a lot of problems that are going on, and we need to solve those problems, we need to build up our military... +p3180 +aVWell, let me put it this way, there has \u2014 there have been numerous studies, and they have not demonstrated that there is any correlation between vaccinations and autism. This was something that was spread widely 15 or 20 years ago, and it has not been adequately, you know, revealed to the public what's actually going on. Vaccines are very important. Certain ones. The ones that would prevent death or crippling. There are others, there are a multitude of vaccines which probably don't fit in that category, and there should be some discretion in those cases. But, you know, a lot of this is \u2014 is \u2014 is pushed by big government. And I think that's one of the things that people so vehemently want to get rid of, big government. You know, we have 4.1 million federal employees. Six hundred and fifty federal agencies and department (sic). That's why they have to take so much of our taxes. +p3181 +aVWell, you know, I've just explained it to him. He can read about it if he wants to. I think he's an intelligent man and will make the correct decision after getting the real facts. +p3182 +aVHe's an OK doctor. But, you know, the fact of the matter is, we have extremely well-documented proof that there's no autism associated with vaccinations. But it is true that we are probably giving way too many in too short a period of time. And a lot of pediatricians now recognize that, and, I think, are cutting down on the number and the proximity in which those are done, and I think that's appropriate. +p3183 +aVI'd put my mother on there. You know, she was one of 24 children, got married at age 13, had only a third grade education, had to raise two sons by herself, refused to be a victim. Wouldn't let us be victims, and has been an inspiration to many people. +p3184 +aVOne Nation. +p3185 +aVWell, you know, I was a radical Democrat before I started listening to Ronald Reagan. And he didn't sound like what they said Republicans were. He sounded logical. And I hope that I sound logical also. Because when I look at what is going on with the United States of America, I see a lot of things that are not logical. I see us allowing people to divide us, when in fact our strength is in our unity. I see people exercising the most irresponsible fiscal habits that anyone could possibly do. And hiding it from the American people, so that the majority of people have no idea what our financial situation is. So, when someone comes along and says, free college, free phones, free this and that, and the other, they say, "wow, that's nice," having no idea that they're destabilizing our position. And I think also that Ronald Reagan was a master at understanding that a pinnacle nation has to be a nation that leads. If we learn to lead in the Middle East right now, a coalition will form behind us, but never they do it if we just sit there and talk about it. Real leadership is what I would hopefully bring to America. +p3186 +aVWell, I could take issue with -- with all of those things, but we don't have time. But I will say, we have a debate here tonight, and we will have an opportunity to explore those areas, and I'm looking very much forward to demonstrating that, in fact, the thing that is probably most important is having a brain, and to be able to figure things out and learn things very rapidly. So, you know, experience comes from a large number of different arenas, and America became a great nation early on not because it was flooded with politicians, but because it was flooded with people who understood the value of personal responsibility, hard work, creativity, innovation, and that's what will get us on the right track now, as well. +p3187 +aVWell, thank you, Megyn, I wasn't sure I was going to get to talk again. +p3188 +aVAlright. You know, what we do in order to get the information that we need is our business, and I wouldn't necessarily be broadcasting what we're going to do. We. . .uh. . .we've gotten into this -- this mindset of fighting politically correct wars. There is no such thing as a politically correct war. And, the left, of course, will say Carson doesn't believe in the Geneva Convention. Carson doesn't believe in fighting stupid wars. And -- and what we have to remember is we want to utilize the tremendous intellect that we have in the military to win wars. And I've talked to a lot of the generals, a lot of our advanced people. And believe me, if we gave them the mission, which is what the commander-in-chief does, they would be able to carry it out. And if we don't tie their hands behind their back, they will do it......extremely effectively. +p3189 +aVWhat I agree with is that we need a significantly changed taxation system. And the one that I've advocated is based on tithing, because I think God is a pretty fair guy. And he said, you know, if you give me a tithe, it doesn't matter how much you made. If you've had a bumper crop, you don't owe me triple tithes. And if you've had no crops at all, you don't owe me no tithes. So there must be something inherently fair about that. And that's why I've advocated a proportional tax system. You make $10 billion, you pay a billion. You make $10, you pay one. And everybody gets treated the same way. And you get rid of the deductions, you get rid of all the loopholes, and... +p3190 +aVAnd I have a lot more to say about it. +p3191 +aVIf Hillary is the candidate, which I doubt, that would be a dream come true. But you know, the fact of the matter is, she is the epitome of the progressive -- the secular progressive movement. And she counts on the fact that people are uninformed, the Alinsky Model, taking advantage of useful idiots. Well, I just happen to believe that people are not stupid. And the way I will come at it is to educate people, help people to actually understand that it is that progressive movement that is causing them the problems. You know, you look at the -- the national debt and how it's being driven up. If I was trying to destroy this country, what I would do is find a way to drive wedges between all the people, drive the debt to an unsustainable level, and then step off the stage as a world leader and let our enemies increase while we decreased our capacity as a military person. And that's what she's doing. +p3192 +aVWell, what we have to stop and think about is that we have weakened ourselves militarily to such an extent that if affects all of our military policies. Our Navy is at its smallest size since 1917; our Air Force, since 1940. In recent testimony, the commandant of the Marine Corps said half of the non-deployed units were not ready and you know, the sequester is cutting the heart out of our personnel. Our generals are retiring because they don't want to be part of this, and at the same time, our enemies are increasing. Our -- our friends can't trust us anymore. You know, Ukraine was a nuclear-armed state. They gave away their nuclear arms with the understanding that we would protect them. We won't even give them offensive weapons. You know, we turned our back on Israel, our ally. You know, in a situation like that, of course Obama's not going to be able to do anything. I would shore up our military first, because if you don't get the military right, nothing else is going to work. +p3193 +aVWell, I think the bully pulpit is a wonderful place to start healing that divide. You know, we have the purveyors of hatred who take every single incident between people of two races and try to make a race war out of it, and drive wedges into people. And this does not need to be done. What we need to think about instead -- you know, I was asked by an NPR reporter once, why don't I talk about race that often. I said it's because I'm a neurosurgeon. And she thought that was a strange response. And you say -- I said, you see, when I take someone to the operating room, I'm actually operating on the thing that makes them who they are. The skin doesn't make them who they are. The hair doesn't make them who they are. And it's time for us to move beyond that. Because......our strength as a nation comes in our unity. We are the United States of America, not the divided states. And those who want to destroy us are trying to divide us, and we shouldn't let them do it. +p3194 +aVWell, I haven't said anything about me being the only one to do anything, so let me try that. I'm the only one to separate Siamese twins... The -- the only one to operate on babies while they were still in mother's womb, the only one to take out half of a brain, although you would think, if you go to Washington, that someone had beat me to it. But I -- but I'm very hopeful that I'm not the only one who's willing to pick up the baton of freedom, because freedom is not free, and we must fight for it every day. Every one of us must fight for it, because we're fighting for our children and the next generation. +p3195 +asVQUINTANILLA +p3196 +(lp3197 +VGood evening, I'm Carl Quintanilla, with my colleagues Becky Quick and John Harwood. We'll be joined tonight by some of +p3198 +aVGovernor? +p3199 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p3200 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Bush. +p3201 +aVSenator Rubio. +p3202 +aVMr. Trump? +p3203 +aVDr. Carson? +p3204 +aVMrs. Fiorina? +p3205 +aVFixed it. +p3206 +aVSenator Cruz? +p3207 +aVGovernor Christie? +p3208 +aVSenator Paul? +p3209 +aVThanks to all the candidates. John? +p3210 +aVHold it. We'll cut it back to you in just a minute. Becky's moving on. +p3211 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor. thank you, Governor. +p3212 +aVMr. Trump, 30 seconds. +p3213 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3214 +aVWe're going to try to move on. +p3215 +aVYou want to bring 70,000 pages to three? +p3216 +aVIs that using really small type? +p3217 +aVIs that using really small type? +p3218 +aVMrs. Fiorina \u2014 +p3219 +aVWe're going to \u2014 +p3220 +aVWe will come around the bend, i promise. This one is for Senator Rubio. You've been a young man in a hurry ever since you won your first election in your 20s. You've had a big accomplishment in the Senate, an immigration bill providing a path to citizenship the conservatives in your party hate, and even you don't support anymore. Now, you're skipping more votes than any senator to run for president. Why not slow down, get a few more things done first or least finish what you start? +p3221 +aVSo when the Sun-Sentinel says Rubio should resign, not rip us off, when they say Floridians sent you to Washington to do a job, when they say you act like you hate your job, do you? +p3222 +aVWell, do you hate your job? +p3223 +aVIs that the standard? +p3224 +aVSenator, thank you. John. +p3225 +aVThank you, Senator. +p3226 +aVSenator Cruz. Congressional Republicans, Democrats and the White House are about to strike a compromise that would raise the debt limit, prevent a government shutdown and calm financial markets that fear of \u2014 another Washington-created crisis is on the way. Does your opposition to it show that you're not the kind of problem-solver American voters want? +p3227 +aV do we get credit ? +p3228 +aVSo, this is a question about , which you have 30 seconds left to answer, should you choose to do so. +p3229 +aVOK. I asked you about the debt limit and I got no answer. +p3230 +aVWe promised we would get to everyone this block. Governor Huckabee, I'm going to give you 60 seconds on this. +p3231 +aV...Governor... +p3232 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p3233 +aV...Senator Cruz... +p3234 +aVOK, alright. +p3235 +aVSenator Cruz... +p3236 +aV...Before we go to break, we're clearly not having that beer you mentioned, but I'll give you 30 more seconds... +p3237 +aVOK. +p3238 +aVI'll give you 30 seconds to respond... +p3239 +aVRespond on the debt limit, or an answer to the governor, which ever you choose. +p3240 +aV30 seconds, Governor Huckabee. +p3241 +aVGovernor, thank you. We will take a break. The Republican Presidential debate, live from Boulder, Colorado, coming back after a break on +p3242 +aVMrs. Fiorina, in 2010, while running for Senate in Tech Ridge (ph), California, you called an Internet sales tax a bad idea. Traditional brick and mortar stores obviously disagree. Now that the Internet shopping playing field has matured, what would be a fair plan to even that playing field? +p3243 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p3244 +aVOK. +p3245 +aVThank you very much. +p3246 +aVDr. Carson, we know you as a physician, but we wanted to ask you about your involvement on some corporate boards, including Costco's. Last year, a marketing study called the warehouse retailer the number one gay-friendly brand in America, partly because of its domestic partner benefits. Why would you serve on a company whose policies seem to run counter to your views on homosexuality? +p3247 +aVOne more question. This is a company called Mannatech, a maker of nutritional supplements, with which you had a 10-year relationship. They offered claims that they could cure autism, cancer, they paid $7 million to settle a deceptive marketing lawsuit in Texas, and yet you're involvement continued. Why? +p3248 +aVTo be fair, you were on the homepage of their website with the logo over your shoulder \u2014 +p3249 +aVDoes that not speak to your vetting process or judgment in any way. +p3250 +aVApparently. We will take a break. We'll be back in Boulder in just a minute. +p3251 +aV...We'll come back around. I want to get to governor Kasich. +p3252 +aVGovernor Kasich, let's talk ... +p3253 +aV...about Marijuana, Governor Kasich... +p3254 +aVAlright, but 30 seconds, you made a case. Sure, 30 seconds. +p3255 +aVSenator, thank you. +p3256 +aVOh, no, no, no... +p3257 +aV...Ok... +p3258 +aV...We're going to go to... +p3259 +aVOK. Thank you, Senator. Governor Kasich, let's talk about marijuana. We're broadcasting from Colorado which has seen $150 million in new revenue for the state since legalizing last year. Governor Hickenlooper is not a big fan of legalization, but he's said the people who used to be smoking it are still smoking it, they're just now paying taxes. Given the budget pressures in Ohio, and other states, is this a revenue stream you'd like to have? +p3260 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3261 +aVThank you. We'll be back from Boulder, Colorado in just a moment. +p3262 +aVMr. Trump, you've said you have a special permit to carry a gun in New York. +p3263 +aVAfter the Oregon mass shooting on October 1st, you said, "By the way, it was a gun-free zone. If you had a couple of teachers with guns, you would have been a hell of a lot better off." +p3264 +aVWould you feel more comfortable if your employees brought guns to work? +p3265 +aVAre you carrying one now? +p3266 +aVWe called a few Trump resorts, a few Trump properties that \u2014 that do not allow guns with or without a permit. Would you change those policies? +p3267 +aVOK. All right. Thank you. John? +p3268 +aVGovernor Bush, daily fantasy sports has become a phenomenon in this country, will award billions of dollars in prize money this year. But to play you have to assess your odds, put money at risk, wait for an outcome that's out of your control. Isn't that the definition of gambling, and should the Federal Government treat it as such? +p3269 +aVI had a feeling you were going to brag about that. +p3270 +aVThis is the\u2014 well, we're going to take a break. We want to save time for closing statements after the break. So this is the Republican presidential debate in Boulder, and we'll be right back. +p3271 +aVSenator Rubio... +p3272 +aV...yeah, I just wanted . +p3273 +aVI want to give you 30 seconds here. +p3274 +aVThat concludes tonight's debate. On behalf of my colleagues Becky Quick, John Harwood, Sharon Epperson, Rick Santelli and Jim Cramer, we'd like to our host, the University of Colorado at Boulder, the Republican National Committee, the candidates and, of course, tonight's audience. +p3275 +aV...Question, in the meantime, for Senator Santorum. You have advocated a flat tax, so we'd like to ask you about fairness. Why is it fair to tax all Americans at the same rate, as opposed to taxing more affluent Americans at higher rates? +p3276 +aVSenator, thank you. John \u2014 Becky? +p3277 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live in boulder, Colorado, on cNBC. We resume our questions now with Jim Cramer, the host of +p3278 +aVSenator Graham. You have said you believe that climate change is real. You've said you accept tax increases as part of a budget deal with Democrats. You've co-sponsored a Senate immigration bill providing a path to citizenship for those in the country illegally. Are you in the wrong party's debate? +p3279 +aVMy question for Governor Jindal, Paul Ryan says he would take the speaker job if it did not take away from his family time. The Department of Labor says 13 percent of American workers are eligible for paid family leave and the U.S. is the only developed nation in the world not to have guaranteed paid maternity leave for new moms. Should the government work to change that? +p3280 +aVGovernor, thank you. John? +p3281 +ag2562 +aVWelcome back to the University of Colorado, and the Republican Presidential Debate on +p3282 +aVWell, let's get to that. I mean, another example, for example, is Walgreens. +p3283 +aVI'm sure you do. Walgreens/Rite Aid. Big deal, consolidation in drug stores, semiconductors, food. What is the line at which something becomes anti-competitive in your view? +p3284 +aVSenator. +p3285 +aVThank you. Becky. +p3286 +aVQuestion for Senator Santorum. +p3287 +aVAfter this question maybe. The 2015 Nobel Prize winner for economics argues that slow growth causes poverty, and that leads to inequality. What would you do to ease inequality? And what would you do solve poverty? By the way, thanks to Larry Kudlow, +p3288 +aVGovernor Jindal, I'll give you 30 seconds on this. +p3289 +aVWe've got one more. One more lightning round. Governor Jindal, should the day after the Super Bowl be a national holiday? +p3290 +aVSenator? +p3291 +aVGovernor? +p3292 +aVFinally, Senator? +p3293 +aVThat concludes our first part of the evening. +p3294 +asVGILMORE +p3295 +(lp3296 +VWell, Bill, can I first... +p3297 +aVWell, first of all, Bill, let me say one thing, I have been in Iowa. But this is not the place where I'm choosing to begin my campaign. I am beginning my campaign in New Hampshire and I decided to do that based upon the process that is in place in Iowa and the primary that's in place in New Hampshire. But never mind that, I want to return to something. I'm the only veteran, Bill and Martha in this race. And I'm not going to any Donald Trump event over across town on some sort of faux veteran sort of issue. I'm going to speak to you tonight about the issue that really confronts veterans. I'm going to talk to you about the concerns that they have got with the veterans administration. The lousy appeals process that they have got. The fact that sometimes they get good service at the V.A. and sometimes they don't and the fact that post traumatic stress syndrome is not properly recognized. That psychology positions are unavailable in the Veterans Administration. And I will say this to you -- as the only veteran in -- in this race, when I become president of the United States, the veterans are going to be treated with respect and competently in success in the Veterans' Administration in this country. +p3298 +aVFirst of all, Bill, I think that Gitmo ought to remain open. But I also want to point out to you that what you are saying is the exact right topic to all of these other candidates. And that's this international challenge that we are facing, the international war that America is in, even to this day. And I'm the candidate who is best qualified to deal with this issue. A degree in foreign policy in Russian area studies. I'm the only United States Army veteran having gone to Europe during the Cold War as United States Army Intelligence agent, the governor during the 9/11 attack, the chairman of the National Commission on Homeland Security for the United States for five years. And this is what I will do. If I become the president, I'm going to rebuild the United States military. We're going to take the sequester off the defense budget. Give the Navy the ships it needs. Refit the United States Army. Refit the United States Marine Corps. And on this international guerrilla war, we need to recognize our Special Forces, our intelligence community, and the people that we need in order to really protect us. And finally, this war of ideas, we must win this. We must say to the world that radical Islamism is the threat. It isn't just confined to +p3299 +aVHey, did you miss me? Did you skip me? +p3300 +aVI'm going to have something to say about this, but you just keep going. +p3301 +aVYes, I'll be there. +p3302 +aVYou know, Martha, it may be out of the barn in that the Iranians may be moving towards a nuclear program, because this nuclear deal actually gives them a time frame up the road when they are going to be able to do that kind of program. And that's very dangerous because it means people in the Middle East have to begin to react to that right now. The United States, I think, has to continue to exercise its influence in the Middle East, stay active, and not do this pull-back type of program that we are seeing all over the place with President Obama, which is creating this kind of danger. The world is a more dangerous place now than when I was an intelligence agent. We have not only this international guerrilla war but also these challenges from these other countries as well. But, Martha, I want to say one more thing to you and Bill. I disagree with Carly Fiorina when she says that it's just a political class in Washington. The truth is that the country has changed. And there are powerful forces at this point that are really controlling our lives. And that's why people are so angry. One of those is government, which is regulating everything through the Environmental Protection Agency, through other places. But the biggest one is the organized establishment media. And I just noticed just now you gave Carly Fiorina two one-minute answers in a row. This media across the country is manipulating and shaping and framing this campaign and has been for at least a year now in order to get the kind of choices that people are going to have an opportunity to see. This is wrong. It has to change. And when I'm president, it's going to change. +p3303 +aVI'll take it. +p3304 +aVMartha, I just visited a community mental health clinic in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, just three days ago, as a matter of fact. And when I was governor of Virginia, I tried to move more of those resources into the community, which will give us the facilities and the abilities to begin to identify people who actually might be dangerous and who abuse Second Amendment rights. But I do believe this is one of the really principle issues in this campaign. The president and Hillary Clinton are working very hard to change the culture of this country in order to put us in a position where we can't exercise Second Amendment rights. That's wrong. I am a board member of the National Rifle Association. The reason I'm a board member is because I believe that individuals in this country can be trusted to exercise their rights under the Second Amendment and under the Bill of Rights. To take away people's Second Amendment rights is to redefine the individual in the society, and I'm not going to put up with it. As President of the United States, when Jim Gilmore's President of the United States, I can tell you this. Gun control is not going to be an issue. If gun control... ... comes to the President's desk when I'm president, I'll veto it as fast as it takes Hillary Clinton to eliminate her emails. +p3305 +aVYou know Bill, that raises, I think, the question of the future of the Republican party. The question is -- first of all, I stand second to no one in standing up to radical Islamism. I understand that +p3306 +aVWell, thank you very much, Bill. And, thank you, and Fox and Google for including me in this debate tonight. I think it's been a wonderful opportunity. I'm the son of a meat cutter. My father worked for Safeway stores for 45 years. My mother was a secretary, she ended her career as the Secretary for the Methodist Bishop. I didn't have a father that could give me a million dollar loan to start my business. But, my father did talk character, and he provided for his family, and he was a wonderful example. And, I'm not about to go across town tonight to carry the coat for some billionaire. Instead, I intend to run for President of the United States, speak to the issue of this international war, and challenge that we're in. This issue of veterans rights, and the issue of Second Amendment rights, and I ask for your support... +p3307 +asVSANTELLI +p3308 +(lp3309 +VSenator Cruz, let's focus on our central bank, the Federal Reserve. You've been a fierce critic of the Fed, arguing for more transparency. Where do you want to take that? Do you want to get Congress involved in monetary policy, or is it time to slap the Fed back and downsize them completely? What are your thoughts? What do you believe? +p3310 +aVSenator Paul, the same question to you. +p3311 +aVThank you, Senator. Dr. Carson, you told The Des Moines Register that you don't like government subsidies, it interferes with the free market. But you've also said that you're in favor of taking oil subsidies and putting them towards ethanol processing. Isn't that just swapping one subsidy for another, Doctor? +p3312 +aVThank you, Doctor. Becky? +p3313 +aVThanks, John. Governor Pataki. +p3314 +aVHow are you doing tonight? +p3315 +aVListen, America's central bank, the Federal Reserve, they've kept interest rates near zero since the 2008 financial crisis. And, by the way, they had a meeting today, you think they raised rates? No. Shocking, isn't it? +p3316 +aVListen, it's been a rough ride for American savers and retirees, they really rely on this interest income. And it's been a bonanza for the stock market, a bonanza. And for investors that like the little bit more risk, it's been a bonanza for them as well. So I guess what I'm asking is, do you think this policy is fair and do you support it? +p3317 +aVThanks, Governor. Senator Santorum, in the 2012 presidential debate, you were for the export-import bank, which facilitates government funding for U.S. exports. American companies like GE and Boeing are among the beneficiaries. But you said that killing the bank here \u2014 and I'm going to quote you \u2014 "is the last thing a true conservative should be doing." I don't know, government-backed funding isn't normally what I hear from true conservatives. So why is this situation different? +p3318 +asVMACCALLUM +p3319 +(lp3320 +VSo it will come as no surprise that there is an idea out there that there is a civil war brewing within the GOP over the meaning of conservative and the question of who is electable. There are some in the GOP who are so outraged by Trump and Cruz that they say they would actually rather have Hillary Clinton in the White House. So, Carly Fiorina, I ask you this. Is your party in crisis? +p3321 +aVGovernor Huckabee, word is that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is considering getting into this race. If he does, that would make four New Yorkers, including Sanders, Clinton, and Trump. One candidate in this race has criticized so-called "New York values". So tell me, in your opinion, are New York values different than Iowa values? +p3322 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum, according to Google, the Paris terror attacks were the largest story that was searched in 2015, with nearly 1 billion searches of that story worldwide. There have been at 18 terror attacks so far this year -- in just January alone, in 2016, and it will likely, as we all know, get worse. But what can an American president do to stop these terrifying killings? +p3323 +aVThank you, Senator. +p3324 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you have said when it comes to +p3325 +aVThank you. +p3326 +aVComing up, we're going to have more on the top issues in this campaign, and you can engage in tonight's conversation right from home. Go to google.com, search "FOX News debate." You can vote on which candidate you think is winning so far in tonight's debate. And you can check results after the debate is over. We are back in a moment live from the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. +p3327 +aVAlright, Governor Huckabee, government grows and grows. In fact, neighborhoods in and around the Beltway get richer and richer all the time while our manufacturing towns are disappearing. Still Republicans from Reagan to Bush have bowed to shrink the size of government, but it never works. Is this Presidency, and presidency, simply too small a David to slay the Goliath of government? +p3328 +aVAlright, Carly Fiorina, you've said that you can get the tax code down to three short simple pages. But, when lobbyists who have twisted the arms of members of Congress come sit with you in the Oval Office and say, "Madam President, sorry, I cannot be with you on this one," you may understand what previous presidents have gone through. No? +p3329 +aVSenator Santorum, Bernie Sanders asked a woman in Iowa what it's like to live in poverty. She broke down in tears, saying that she lives on less than $10,000 a year and that she is ashamed every day. She leans on her parents for help. She says she can't buy presents for her children. We are all sympathetic to this woman's plight. On the other hand, the G.O.P. is supposed to be the party of smaller government. So what would you look her in the eye and say? +p3330 +aVThank you, Senator. +p3331 +aVGovernor Gilmore, thanks to the Iranian nuclear deal, President Rouhani is currently on a tour of Europe meeting with our closest allies in France and Italy. In fact, he has already landed some 50 to 85 billion are the estimates in deals with those countries, with our allies. More on the way. You and others say that you would rip up that deal. But, really, by the time the next president is in office, won't that horse be well out of the barn? +p3332 +aVWe have another question for you, Governor Gilmore, back to back, here we go. According to Google... +p3333 +aVYou got it. According to Google, gun control is the most searched issue last month, making up nearly 80 percent of all the U.S. searches. People are looking for information on guns. When it comes to the tragic mass killings that we have seen in this country, Donald Trump says that what we need to do is build quote "more institutions for people who are sickos." Charles Krauthammer also says that in some cases involuntary commitment would help. And you have agreed with that. Given that institutions would be extraordinarily expensive to begin building, how much is too much to ask on this from the American taxpayer? +p3334 +aVThank you, Governor Gilmore. +p3335 +aVStill more to come from the Republican Presidential debate tonight. And, see how the campaigns are responding to the debate in realtime, go to Google.com and open your google search app. Type in, "Fox News Debate". We'll see you, just a moment -- back. +p3336 +aVWe are back live at the Iowa events center and this question goes to Carly Fiorina. In the last debate you said as part of your introduction, quote, " And unlike the other woman candidate in this case I actually love spending time with my husband." +p3337 +aVBut back in September in an interview you said that you would stick only to the record, your record versus Hillary Clinton's record. And never resort to personal attacks. So what changed? +p3338 +aVAll right. Carly, I want to stay with you on this next question as well. You waded into the Planned Parenthood early on. You took some heat for it. Now the people who shot that undercover video are the ones who got indicted and Planned Parenthood is untouched. Hillary Clinton has been crowing about this. Any regrets about this? +p3339 +aVThank you Carly Fiorina. Let me just ask a quick question here to Senator Santorum. Carly Fiorina was the only one of the GOP candidates to attend the March for Life in Washington last week. Where were you. +p3340 +aVAll right. Coming up, we will have the closing statements from our candidates tonight as we continue live from the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. We'll be right back. +p3341 +aVAlright, let's go now to Senator Rick Santorum. +p3342 +aV +p3343 +aVCarly Fiorina. +p3344 +aVThank you, Carly. +p3345 +aVIn one hour, seven more candidates take the stage for a debate hosted by Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly, and Chris Wallace. But, up next, the O'Reilly Factor. Good night everybody. +p3346 +as. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/downloads/data/script12.pickle b/downloads/data/script12.pickle new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bc9ef2a --- /dev/null +++ b/downloads/data/script12.pickle @@ -0,0 +1,7165 @@ +(dp0 +VCRAMER +p1 +(lp2 +VDr. Carson, in recent weeks, a number of pharmaceutical companies has been accused of profiteering, for dramatically raising the prices of life-saving drugs. You have spent a lifetime in medicine. Have these companies gone too far? Should the government be involved in controlling some of these price increases? +p3 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Governor Christie, there has been a lot of political rhetoric that some bank executives should have gone to jail for the 2008 financial crisis. But General Motors paid more than $1 billion in fines and settlements for its ignition switch defect. One hundred and twenty- four people died as a result of these faulty switches. No one went to jail. As a former prosecutor, do you believe the people responsible for the switch and the cover-up belong behind bars? +p4 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. +p5 +aVThank you. Governor Pataki, in the wake of the Sony hack last year, you said, quote, "at the very least, we should declare cyber-war on North Korea." What does a cyber-war look like? And if our companies are getting attacked by foreign governments, do we need a military response? +p6 +aVSenator Graham, you're a hawk. Was that tough enough? +p7 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Santorum. We know that a troubling amount of air pollution on the west coast comes from China. Should we enact a pollution tax on products imported from China and give our manufacturers a level playing field? +p8 +aVThank you, Senator. John? +p9 +asVPERRY +p10 +(lp11 +VI will tell you one thing: I would whole lot rather had Carly Fiorina over there doing our negotiation than John Kerry. Maybe we would've gotten a deal where we didn't give everything away. But the issue for us is to have a Congress that stands up and says not only no, but hell no, to this money going to a regime that is going to use it for terror... +p12 +asVANNOUNCER +p13 +(lp14 +VHello from MinuteEarth. Fossil fuels have long kept our cars moving and our light bulbs lit. But we know that burning these fuels releases heat-trapping gases that are warming the planet, causing seas to rise and contributing to extreme weather events, like South Carolina's devastating flooding last year. Fighting human-caused climate change means giving up our global addiction to fossil fuels and shifting the bulk of the world's energy supply to alternative sources. Some countries have acted decisively to make this transition. But here at home, we still get a whooping 82 percent of our energy from coal, oil, and natural gas. In the U.S., political gridlock, pressure from industry lobbyists and insufficient R&D have made an already tough battle against climate change even tougher. +p15 +asVUNKNOWN +p16 +(lp17 +VIf you're not going to have my back, I'm going to have my back. +p18 +aVA couple things here. First of all... +p19 +aVWe have grown \u2014 we have grown... +p20 +aVTrue. It's true. +p21 +aV...let me follow up that... +p22 +aV +p23 +aVOh, great. +p24 +aV...In 2011, you told Forbes Magazine this: "I've used the laws of the country to my advantage." But at the same time, financial experts involved in those bankruptcies say that lenders to your companies lost billions of dollars. Question sir, with that record, why should we trust you to run the nation's business? +p25 +aVI do. +p26 +aVThank you. +p27 +asVIFILL +p28 +(lp29 +VWe want to also extend our warm thanks to Milwaukee Public Radio and Milwaukee Public Television, as well as all of our friends at the PBS member stations across the country tuning in tonight. This is the sixth time the Democrats have met face to face. Each time, we learn more about them and the presidents they say they want to be. You know you're watching \u2014 whether you're a Democrat, a Republican, or neither \u2014 because you believe the outcome of the election is important to you. And we believe that, too. With that, let's welcome the candidates to the stage. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. +p30 +aVWelcome to you both. +p31 +aVWith Iowa and New Hampshire behind us, we are now broadening the conversation to America's heartland and beyond, including here in Wisconsin. Now let's turn to the candidates for their opening statements. The order was decided by coin toss. And, Senator Sanders, you go first. +p32 +aVThank you, Senator Sanders. Thank you, Senator Sanders. Secretary Clinton. +p33 +aVFinal thought, Senator. +p34 +aVI'd like to move along. I'd like to move along. Secretary Clinton, you might \u2014 you also have proposed fairly expansive ideas about government. You may remember this pledge from a State of the Union Address at which I believe you were present, in which these words were said: "The era of big government is over." You may remember that. When asked your feelings about the federal government this week, 61 percent of New Hampshire Democrats told exit pollsters that they are angry or at least dissatisfied. Given what you and Senator Sanders are proposing, an expanding government in almost every area of our lives, is it fair for Americans who fear government to fear you? +p35 +aVBut I haven't heard either of you put a price tag on your \u2014 you say... +p36 +aVSenator? +p37 +aVSenator, do you worry at all that you will be the instrument of thwarting history, as Senator Clinton keeps claiming, that she might be the first woman president? +p38 +aVThank you both. We turn now to the first of several questions from our partners at Facebook. They were selected from a curated group of people we've been following of undecided voters. The first comes from Claudia Looze, a 54-year-old woman who works as a program manager at a public affairs cable network in Madison, Wisconsin. And she writes: "Wisconsin is number one in African-American male incarceration, according to a University of Wisconsin study. They found that Wisconsin's incarceration rate for black men, which is at 13 percent, was nearly double the country's rate. What can we do across the nation to address this?" Senator Sanders. +p39 +aVLet me turn this on its head, because when we talk about race in this country, we always talk about African-Americans, people of color. I want to talk about white people, OK? +p40 +aVI know. So many people will be surprised to find out that we are sitting in one of the most racially polarized metropolitan areas in the country. By the middle of this century, the nation is going to be majority nonwhite. Our public schools are already there. If working-class, white Americans are about to be outnumbered, are already underemployed in many cases, and one study found they are dying sooner, don't they have a reason to be resentful, Senator \u2014 Secretary Clinton? +p41 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, I want you to respond to that, but I also want you to \u2014 am I wrong? Is it even right to be describing this as a matter of race? +p42 +aVIf you would allow me now to move on, we've been talking about children. I want to talk about seniors. That takes us to our second Facebook question from Farheen Hakeem, who writes, "My father" \u2014 she's a 40-year-old woman who works for a nonprofit here in Milwaukee. And she writes, "My father gets just $16 in food assistance per month as part of Medicaid's family community program in Milwaukee County for low-income seniors. How will you as president work to ensure low-income seniors get their basic needs met?" Start with you, Senator Sanders. +p43 +aVSenator Sanders, are you saying... +p44 +aVThere's a lot more to come in just a few minutes. Stay with us for more of the PBS NewsHour Democratic Debate. +p45 +aVHow about you, Senator Clinton \u2014 Secretary Clinton? +p46 +aVWe spent the first part of this debate talking about domestic insecurity. The second part, we want to talk about our foreign policy insecurities. And we want to start with a question for you, Secretary Clinton, about America's role in the world. Americans are becoming increasingly worried that attacks abroad are coming home, that they already are, in fact, here. According to exit polls from last week, from earlier this week, more than two-thirds of Democrats in New Hampshire are concerned about sending their children to fight in wars they can't win. They fret that the next attack is just around the corner and we are not ready. Are we? +p47 +aVSenator Sanders... +p48 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p49 +aVLet me move on. You have both mentioned the humanitarian tragedies which have been an outgrowth in part of what has happened in Syria and in Libya. More than a million refugees entered Europe in 2015. Another 76,000 just last month, that is about 2,000 arrivals every day. Nearly 400 people have been lost at sea so far this year, crossing the Mediterranean. And there are reports that 10,000 children are missing. If we are leaders in this world, where should the U.S. be on this? What should the United States be doing, Secretary Clinton? +p50 +aVSenator, if you would like respond to \u2014 you may respond to that but it is time for closing statements and you can use your time for closing statements to do that. +p51 +aVThank you. Thank you Senator Clinton. Thank you, Senator Sanders. We also want to thank our partners at Facebook and our hosts here at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. +p52 +aVI'm going to remain here in Milwaukee tomorrow evening for a special edition of Washington Week here on PBS. +p53 +asVWOODRUFF +p54 +(lp55 +VGood evening, and thank you. We are happy to welcome you to Milwaukee for this Democratic debate. We are especially pleased to thank our partners at Facebook, who have helped us set up a vibrant conversation among voters who are undecided. And tonight you're going to hear some of their questions for the candidates. And you can follow along at home on the PBS NewsHour page on Facebook. We also want to thank our hosts, the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, on whose campus we meet, here in the beautiful Helen Bader Concert Hall. +p56 +aVWelcome, Senator, great to see you. And former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Very good to be here with you. +p57 +aVNow, a word about format. There will be two short breaks, and the rules are simple: 90 seconds for each answer and 30 seconds for the other candidate to respond. +p58 +aVThank you both. Thank you both. And we'll be right back after a short break to begin questions. +p59 +aVAnd, welcome back to this PBS Newshour debate, Democratic debate, here in Milwaukee. Let's get right to the questions. Senator Sanders, to you first. Coming off the results in Iowa and New Hampshire, there are many voters who are taking a closer look at you, and your ideas, and they're asking how big a role do you foresee for the federal government? It's already spending 21% of the entire U.S. economy. How much larger would government be in the lives of Americans under a Sanders presidency? +p60 +aVBut, my question is how big would government be? Would there be any limit on the size of the role of government... +p61 +aVNext, we're going to... +p62 +aVVery brief, thank you. +p63 +aVSecretary Clinton, your campaign \u2014 you and your campaign have made a clear appeal to women voters. You have talked repeatedly about the fact, we know you would be, if elected, the first woman president. But in New Hampshire 55 percent of the women voters supported and voted for Senator Sanders. What are women missing about you? +p64 +aVAs you know, just quickly, as you know, your strong supporter, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, said the other day that there's a special place in Hell for women who don't support other women. Do you agree with what she said? +p65 +aVSenator Sanders, you're in the minority, but we still want to hear from you. +p66 +aVFinal comment. +p67 +aVSecretary Clinton, I was talking recently with a 23 year old black woman who voted for President Obama because she said she thought relations between the races would get better under his leadership, and his example. Hardly anyone believes that they have. Why do you think race relations would be better under a Clinton presidency? What would you do that the nation's first African American has not been able to? +p68 +aVSenator Sanders? +p69 +aVSo race relation was be better under a Sanders presidency than they've been? +p70 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders, one of the causes of anxiety for working class Americans is connected to immigrants. President Obama, as you know, has issued executive actions to permit some 5 million undocumented immigrants who are living now in the United States to come out of the shadows without fear of deportation to get work permits. Would you go further than that? And if so, how specifically would you do it? Should an undocumented family watching this debate tonight, say, in Nevada, rest easy, not fear of further deportations under a Sanders presidency? +p71 +aVI'd like... +p72 +aVWe're going to move on. Secretary Clinton, your campaign has recently ramped up criticism of Senator Sanders for attending Democratic Party fundraisers from which you say he benefited. But nearly half of your financial sector donations appear to come from just two wealthy financiers, George Soros and Donald Sussman, for a total of about $10 million. You have said that there's no quid pro quo involved. Is that also true of the donations that wealthy Republicans give to Republican candidates, contributors including the Koch Brothers? +p73 +aVI'm asking if Democratic donors are different than Republican donors. +p74 +aVWe have to go to a break. We... +p75 +aVAll right. Thank you both. It is time for a break. And when we come back, we're going to turn to some new topics, including how these candidates will keep America safe. +p76 +aVWelcome back to the Democratic presidential debate. Before we return to our questions, we have a follow-up question from our Facebook group. And it is to Senator Sanders. Senator, it comes from Bill Corfield. He is a 55-year-old musician from Troy, Ohio. And he asks: "Are there any areas of government you would like to reduce?" +p77 +aVJust a final word. +p78 +aVSenator, let me \u2014 let me move on to another country with which the U.S. has a complicated relationship, Senator Sanders, and that's Russia. On the one hand, we're aware that Russia is a country that the United States needs to cooperate with. Just tonight, Secretary of State John Kerry has announced what appears to be an agreement with the Russians to lead \u2014 that could lead toward a ceasefire in Syria, would be the first cessation of conflict in that country, in that civil war in five years, but it comes at a very high price, because not only have all \u2014 have we seen the deaths, the removal of so many people, millions of people, we now see the Russians in the last few weeks have bombed in a way that benefits President Assad, has not gone after +p79 +aVAnd we have a final question from our Facebook family. And it goes to Senator Sanders. It comes from Robert Andrews. He's a 40-year-old stay-at-home dad in Dover, Massachusetts. He says, "The world has seen many great leaders in the course of human history. Can you name two leaders \u2014 one American and one foreign \u2014 who would influence your foreign policy decisions? And why do you see them as \u2014 why are they influential?" +p80 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p81 +aVAnd we want to thank our audience, our quiet audience here in Helen Bader Concert Hall, and to all of you watching at home. Thank you all. Stay tuned for analysis of the debate and the overall race for the Democratic nomination. That's coming up next here on PBS stations and online atPBS.org/NewsHour. +p82 +aVAnd I'm going to be returning to Washington. I hope you'll join us for the PBS NewsHour tomorrow and every night. That's it from all of us here in Milwaukee. We thank you. +p83 +asVKELLY +p84 +(lp85 +VWelcome to the first debate night of the 2016 presidential campaign, live from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. I'm Megyn Kelly... ... along with my co-moderators, Brett Baier and Chris Wallace. Tonight... Nice. Tonight, thousands of people here in the Q, along with millions of voters at home will get their very first chance to see the candidates face off in a debate, answering the questions you want answered. +p86 +aVAs for the candidates who will be answering those questions? Here they are. Positioned on the stage by how they stand in the polls, in the center of the stage tonight, businessman Donald Trump. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. +p87 +aVGentlemen, our first round of questions is on the subject of electability in the general election, and we start tonight with you, Dr. Carson. You are a successful neurosurgeon, but you admit that you have had to study up on foreign policy, saying there's a lot to learn. Your critics say that your inexperience shows. You've suggested that the Baltic States are not a part of +p88 +aVMr. Trump, one of the things people love about you is you speak your mind and you don't use a politician's filter. However, that is not without its downsides, in particular, when it comes to women. You've called women you don't like "fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals." Your Twitter account... +p89 +aVNo, it wasn't. Your Twitter account... +p90 +aVFor the record, it was well beyond Rosie O'Donnell. +p91 +aVYour Twitter account has several disparaging comments about women's looks. You once told a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice it would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees. Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president, and how will you answer the charge from Hillary Clinton, who was likely to be the Democratic nominee, that you are part of the war on women? +p92 +aVGovernor Walker, you've consistently said that you want to make abortion illegal even in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother. You recently signed an abortion law in Wisconsin that does have an exception for the mother's life, but you're on the record as having objected to it. Would you really let a mother die rather than have an abortion, and with 83 percent of the American public in favor of a life exception, are you too out of the mainstream on this issue to win the general election? +p93 +aVGovernor Kasich, You chose to expand Medicaid in your state, unlike several other governors on this stage tonight, and it is already over budget by some estimates costing taxpayers an additional $1.4 billion in just the first 18 months. You defended your Medicaid expansion by invoking God, saying to skeptics that when they arrive in heaven, Saint Peter isn't going to ask them how small they've kept government, but what they have done for the poor. Why should Republican voters, who generally want to shrink government, believe that you won't use your Saint Peter rationale to expand every government program? +p94 +aVAlright, gentlemen, we're gonna switch topics now and talk a bit about terror and national security. Governor Christie. You've said that Senator Paul's opposition to the NSA's collection of phone records has made the United States weaker and more vulnerable, even going so far as to say that he should be called before Congress to answer for it if we should be hit by another terrorist attack. Do you really believe you can assign blame to Senator Paul just for opposing the bulk collection of people's phone records in the event of a terrorist attack? +p95 +aVGo ahead, sir. +p96 +aVGovernor Christie, make your point. +p97 +aVGo ahead, governor. +p98 +aVAlright. +p99 +aVAlright, we've gotta cut it off there. We have plenty more we want to get to. That was an interesting exchange, thank you for that. +p100 +aVWell, I want to move on, because I have -- we're gonna get to you, governor, but I -- I really wanna get to a Facebook questioner. His name is Alex Chalgren, and he has the following question: +p101 +aVSenator Cruz, I wanna talk to you about this, because many of the Facebook users and -- and -- the -- the folks on Facebook wanted the candidates to speak to +p102 +aVYou don't see it as... ...an ideological problem -- an ideological problem in addition to a military one? +p103 +aVGovernor Bush, for days on end in this campaign, you struggled to answer a question about whether knowing what we know now... +p104 +aV...we would've invaded Iraq... +p105 +aVI remember it too, and +p106 +aVGovernor Walker, in February you said that we needed to gain partners in the Arab world. Which Arab country not already in the U.S. led coalition has potential to be our greatest partner? +p107 +aVDr. Carson, in one of his first acts as commander in chief, President Obama signed an executive order banning enhanced interrogation techniques in fighting terror. As president, would you bring back water boarding? +p108 +aVWe have a lot for you, don't worry. Fear not, you may rue that request. +p109 +aVIt's just before 10:00 p.m. on the East Coast. Welcome back to Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, and the very first Republican primary debate of the 2016 presidential campaign. Ten candidates on the stage, selected based on their standing in five national polls. And tonight they are facing off, answering the questions you want asked. We hope. +p110 +aV Sounds like somebody's a little R-rated. +p111 +aVWell, the first debate night of the 2016 presidential campaign continues from Cleveland after a short time-out. Stick around. Social issues, next. +p112 +aVSenator Rubio, you favor a rape and incest exception to abortion bans. Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York just said yesterday those exceptions are preposterous. He said they discriminate against an entire class of human beings. If you believe that life begins at conception, as you say you do, how do you justify ending a life just because it begins violently, through no fault of the baby? +p113 +aVYou don't favor a rape and incest exception? +p114 +aVMr. Trump, in 1999, you said you were, quote, "very pro- choice." Even supporting partial-birth abortion. You favored an assault weapons ban as well. In 2004, you said in most cases you identified as a Democrat. Even in this campaign, your critics say you often sound more like a Democrat than a Republican, calling several of your opponents on the stage things like clowns and puppets. When did you actually become a Republican? +p115 +aVGovernor Bush, I want to ask you, on the subject of name calling of your fellow candidates, a story appeared today quoting an anonymous GOP donor who said you called Mr. Trump a clown, a buffoon, something else that cannot be repeated on television. +p116 +aVIs it true? +p117 +aVMr. Trump, 30 seconds. +p118 +aVThe subject of gay marriage and religious liberty. Governor Kasich, if you had a son or daughter who was gay or lesbian, how would you explain to them your opposition to same-sex marriage? +p119 +aVHow would you -- how would you explain it to a child? +p120 +aVSenator Paul, in the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling on same sex marriage, Carol Fox on Facebook want to know the following. Quote: what will you do to ensure Christians are not prosecuted for speaking out against gay marriage and will Christians be forced to conduct business that conflicts with their religious beliefs? +p121 +aVGovernor Walker, many in the Black Lives Matter movement, and beyond, believe that overly-aggressive police officers targeting young African Americans is the civil rights issue of our time. Do you agree? And if so, how do you plan to address it? And if not, why not? +p122 +aVThank you. +p123 +aVWe have to stand you by, because after the break, we're going to let the candidates make their closing statements, their final thoughts, and . . . God. Stay tuned for that. +p124 +aVWelcome back. In our final moments here together, we're going to allow the candidates to offer their final thoughts. But first, we want to ask them an interesting closing question from Chase Norton on Facebook, who wants to know this of the candidates: "I want to know if any of them have received a word from God on what they should do and take care of first." Senator Cruz, start from you. Any word from God? +p125 +aVGovernor Kasich, same question. +p126 +aVGovernor Walker, same question. +p127 +aVSenator Rubio, I want to ask you the same question. But I do want to mention, a woman just came here to the stage and asked, what about the veterans? I want to hear more about what these candidates are going to do for our nation's veterans. So I put the question to you about God and the veterans, which you may find to be related. +p128 +aVDr. Carson, a question to you about God and his role, but also, one of the issues that the public was very interested in, and we touched on it earlier, is race relations in this country, and how divided we seem right now. And what, if anything, you can do -- you would do as the next president to help heal that divide. +p129 +aVGovernor Christie? +p130 +aVSenator Ted Cruz. +p131 +aVGovernor Scott Walker. +p132 +aVIt's over! +p133 +aVAre you relieved? You were nervous before, they -- they don't look relieved. They look "get me outta here." Thank you all very much, and that will do it for the first Republican primary debate night of the 2016 presidential race. Our thanks to the candidates, who will now be joined by their families on stage. +p134 +asVRUBIO +p135 +(lp136 +VThank you Wolf. It's really amazing to be back in Las Vegas. I spent six years as a child growing not far from where we stand tonight. I use to sit on the porch of our home and listen to my grandfather tell stories as he smoked one of three daily cigars. One of the things my grandfather instilled in me, was that I was really blessed because I was a citizen of the greatest country in the history of our mankind. But there have always been people in American politics that wanted America to be more like the rest of the world. And In 2008, one of them was elected president of this country and the result has been a disaster. Today you have millions of Americans that feel left out and out of place in their own country, struggling to live paycheck to paycheck, called bigots because they hold on to traditional values. And around the world, America's influence has declined while this president has destroyed our military, our allies no longer trust us, and our adversaries no longer respect us. And that is why this election is so important. That is why I'm running for president. And that's why I'm going to ask you for your vote tonight. If you elect me president, we will have a president that believes America is the greatest country in the world and we will have a president that acts like it. +p137 +aVWell, I understand why they feel that way, because this president hasn't kept us safe. The problem is we had an attack in San Bernardino. And we were paying attention to the most important issue we have faced in a decade since 9/11, and then all the talk was about this proposal, which isn't going to happen. But this is what's important to do is we must deal frontally with this threat of radical Islamists, especially from +p138 +aVHe is and so are those that voted for it. There were some that voted for it because they wanted to keep it alive and they were afraid the whole program would expire. Here's the world we live in. This is a radical jihadist group that is increasingly sophisticated in its ability, for example, to radicalize American citizens, in its inability to exploit loopholes in our legal immigration system, in its ability to capture and hold territory in the Middle East, as I outlined earlier, in multiple countries. This is not just the most capable, it is the most sophisticated terror threat we have ever faced. We are now at a time when we need more tools, not less tools. And that took we lost, the metadata program, was a valuable tool that we no longer have at our disposal. +p139 +aVDana, may I interject here? +p140 +aVLet me be very careful when answering this, because I don't think national television in front of 15 million people is the place to discuss classified information. So let me just be very clear. There is nothing that we are allowed to do under this bill that we could not do before. This bill did, however, take away a valuable tool that allowed the National Security Agency and other law \u2014 and other intelligence agencies to quickly and rapidly access phone records and match them up with other phone records to see who terrorists have been calling. Because I promise you, the next time there is attack on \u2014 an attack on this country, the first thing people are going to want to know is, why didn't we know about it and why didn't we stop it? And the answer better not be because we didn't have access to records or information that would have allowed us to identify these killers before they attacked. +p141 +aVI want to thank Rand for another 30 seconds, because, number one, what he's pointing to is a bill last week that \u2014 amendment that he voted for that only 10 people voted for. You know why? Because it's not focused on terrorists. It would have banned anyone from coming here. Someone from Taiwan would not have been able to come here as a tourist. Number two, this program, this metadata program is actually more strict than what a regular law enforcement agency has now. If a regular law enforcement agency wants your phone records, all they have to do is issue a subpoena. But now the intelligence agency is not able to quickly gather records and look at them to see who these terrorists are calling. And the terrorists that attacked us in San Bernardino was an American citizen, born and raised in this country. And I bet you we wish we would have had access to five years of his records so we could see who he was working with... +p142 +aVDo I get another 30 seconds? He mentioned me. +p143 +aVWell, let me begin by saying that we have to understand who +p144 +aVThat is accurate. Three times he voted against the Defense Authorization Act, which is a bill that funds the troops. It also, by the way, funds the Iron Dome and other important programs. And I have to assume that if you vote against it in the Senate, you would also veto it as president. He has also supported, by the way, a budget that is called the containment budget. And it is a budget that would radically reduce the amount of money we spend on our military. You can't carpet bomb +p145 +aVYes, let me \u2014 three points of distinction. The first is, if you're an American citizen and you decide to join up with +p146 +aVWell, they most certainly will have to be worked on to provide more than what they are doing now. There's no doubt about it. And there's one \u2014 one major reason why they have not been willing to be a broader part of the coalition, and that is they have lost complete trust and confidence in this president. This president cut a deal with their moral enemy, the Shia, in Iran. And this is the reason why they no longer trust this president and are willing to work alongside them. But they have as much invested in this as we do. In fact, more so, for it is the king of Saudi Arabia they want to behead first. It's the king of Jordan that they want to dethrone. It's the \u2014 they want to go into Egypt the way they've already gone into Libya. And on another point that we need to talk about, Assad is one of the main reasons why +p147 +aVTo begin with, Moammar Gadhafi and the revolt against Gadhafi was not started by the United States. It was started by the Libyan people. And the reason why I argued we needed to get involved is because he was going to go one way or the other. And my argument then was proven true, and that is, the longer that civil war took, the more militias would be formed and the more unstable the country would be after the fact. As far as Moammar Gadhafi is concerned, by the way, Moammar Gadhafi is the man that killed those Americans over Lockerbie, Scotland. Moammar Gadhafi is also the man that bombed that cafe in Berlin and killed those Marines. And you want to know why Moammar Gadhafi started cooperating on his nuclear program? Because we got rid of Saddam Hussein. And so he got scared that he would be next, and that's why he started cooperating. Look, we will have to work around the world with less than ideal governments. The government in Saudi Arabia is not a democracy, but we will have to work with them. The government in Jordan is not perfect, but we will have to work with them. But anti-American dictators like Assad, who help Hezbollah, who helped get those IEDs into Iraq, if they go, I will not shed a tear. +p148 +aVYeah. Immigration is not an issue that I read about in the newspaper or watch a documentary on PBS or CNN. It's an issues I've lived around my whole life. My family are immigrants. My wife's family are immigrants. All of my neighbors are immigrants. I see every aspect of this problem. The good, the bad, and the ugly. And here's what we learned in 2013. The American people don't trust the Federal Government to enforce our immigration laws, and we will not be able to do anything on immigration until we first prove to the American people that illegal immigration is under control. And we can do that. We know what it takes to do that. It takes at least 20,000 more additional border agents. It takes completing those 700 miles of fencing. It takes a mandatory e-verify system and a mandatory entry/exit tracking system to prevent overstays. After we have done that, the second thing we have to do is reform and modernize the legal immigration system. And after we have done those two things, I think the American people are gonna be reasonable with what do you do with someone who has been in this country for 10 or 12 years who hasn't otherwise violated our laws \u2014 because if they're a criminal they can't stay. They'll have to undergo a background check, pay a fine, start paying taxes. And ultimately, they'll given a work permit and that's all they're gonna be allowed to have for at least 10 years. But you can't get to that third step until you have done the other two things, and that was the lesson we learned in 2013. There is no trust that the Federal Government will enforce the law. They will not support you until you see it done first. +p149 +aVBut I've answered that question repeatedly. I am personally open \u2014 after all that has happened and after ten years in that probationary status where all they have is a permit, I personally am open to allowing people to apply for a green card. That may not be a majority position in my party, but that's down the road. You can't even begin that process until you prove to people \u2014 not just pass a law that says you're gonna bring illegal immigration under control. You're gonna have to do it and prove to people that it's working. And that was the lesson of 2013. And it's more true today, than it was then. After a migratory crisis on the border with minors coming over that you're seeing start up again now, after all these executive orders the President has issued. More than ever we need to... +p150 +aV... prove to people that illegal immigration is under control. +p151 +aVYeah, a couple points. In 2013 we had never faced a crisis like the Syrian refugee crisis now. Up until that point, a refugee meant someone fleeing oppression, fleeing Communism like it is in my community. As far as Ted's record, I'm always puzzled by his attack on this issue. Ted, you support legalizing people who are in this country illegally. Ted Cruz supported a 500-percent increase in the number of H-1 visas, the guest workers that are allowed into this country, and Ted supports doubling the number of green cards. So I think what's important for us to understand and there is a way forward on this issue that we an bring our country together on. And while I'm president I will do it. And it will begin by bringing illegal immigration under control and proving to the American people. +p152 +aVNo, no, give him time. +p153 +aVTed, do you... +p154 +aVDid Ted Cruz fight to support legalizing people that are in this country illegally? +p155 +aVDoes Ted Cruz rule out ever legalizing people that are in this country now? +p156 +aVWould you rule it out? +p157 +aVWell, he's just admitted \u2014 as he's just admitted, the reason why those refugees were allowed in was because they messed up in how they used the actual database. They should have know. They didn't because they didn't run the actual law as it exists now. It didn't work well. As far as the refugees are concerned, it's not that America doesn't want to accept refugees, Wolf. It's that we may not be able to, because this is an issue we have to be 100 percent right on. If we allow 9,999 Syrian refugees into the United States, and all of them are good people, but we allow one person in who's an +p158 +aVI do. First, let's explain to people at home who the triad \u2014 what the triad is. Maybe a lot of people haven't heard that terminology before. The triad is our ability of the United States to conduct nuclear attacks using airplanes, using missiles launched from silos or from the ground, and also from our nuclear subs' ability to attack. And it's important \u2014 all three of them are critical. It gives us the ability at deterrence. Now, some have become more critical than others; for example, the submarines. And that's the Ohio Class submarine that needs to be modernized. The air component also needs to be modernized. The B-52, as someone earlier pointed out, is an outdated model that was flown by the grandparents of people that are flying it now. And we need a serious modernization program as well on our silo-launched missiles. All three are critical for the defense of the country. +p159 +aVThank you. As we near the end of this year, we enter one of the most important elections in a generation. For what's at stake in this election is not simply what party's going to be in charge. But our very identity as a people and as a nation. For over 200 years this has been a special country. A unique place where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything. But now millions of Americans feel like they're being left behind. Insecure in their future and unsafe in the face of terrorism. This election is about electing a president that will restore our economic vibrancy so that the American dream can expand to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And rebuild our Military and our intelligence programs so that we can remain the strongest nation on earth. Tonight I ask you for your vote. If you do this, we will rebuild this country, and together we will usher in a new American century \u2014 the greatest era in the history of this great land. +p160 +aVWell, let me begin by answering both the first question and this one, because they're related. As I've said many times before, my parents were never rich people. My father was a bartender. My mother was a maid. They worked for a living. But they were successful people, because, despite the fact that they weren't well educated and had those jobs, they made enough money to buy a home in a safe and stable neighborhood, retire with dignity, leave all four of their children better off than themselves. We call that the American dream, but in fact, it's a universal dream of a better life that people have all over the world. It is a reminder that every country in the world has rich people. What makes America special is that we have millions and millions of people that are not rich, that through hard work and perseverance are able to be successful. The problem is that today people are not successful working as hard as ever because the economy is not providing jobs that pay enough. If I thought that raising the minimum wage was the best way to help people increase their pay, I would be all for it, but it isn't. In the 20th century, it's a disaster. If you raise the minimum wage, you're going to make people more expensive than a machine. And that means all this automation that's replacing jobs and people right now is only going to be accelerated. Here's the best way to raise wages. Make America the best place in the world to start a business or expand an existing business, tax reform and regulatory reform, bring our debt under control, fully utilize our energy resources so we can reinvigorate manufacturing, repeal and replace Obamacare, and make higher education faster and easier to access, especially vocational training. For the life of me, I don't know why we have stigmatized vocational education. Welders make more money than philosophers. We need more welders and less philosophers. If we do that \u2014 and if we do this \u2014 if we do this, we will be able to increase wages for millions of Americans and we will be able to leave everyone better off without making anyone worse off. +p161 +aVWell, you know, that's an excellent question, because what we are going through in this country is not simply an economic downturn. We are living through a massive economic transformation. I mean, this economy is nothing like what it was like five years ago, not to mention 15 or 20 years ago. And it isn't just a different economy. It's changing faster than ever. You know, it took the telephone 75 years to reach 100 million users. It took Candy Crush one year to reach some 100 million users. So the world is changing faster than ever, and it is disruptive. Number one, we are in a global competition now, and several of the candidates have said that. There are now dozens of developed economies on this planet that we have to compete with. And we lose that competition because we have the highest business tax rate in the industrialized world, because we have regulations that continue to grow by the billions every single week, because we have a crazy health care law that discourages companies from hiring people, but because we're not fully utilizing our energy resources, that if we did, it would bring back all kinds of growth, especially in manufacturing, and because we have an outdated higher education system. Our higher education system is completely outdated. It is too expensive, too hard to access, and it doesn't teach 21st century skills. If we do what needs to be done \u2014 tax reform, regulatory reform, fully utilize our energy resources, repeal and replace Obamacare, and modernize higher education, then we can grasp the potential and the promise of this new economy. And we won't just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And then truly this new century can be a new American century. +p162 +aVThe most important job I'm ever going to have, the most important job anyone in this room will ever have, is the job of being a parent. Not the job of being president, or the job of being a senator, or the job of being a congressman. The most important job any of us will ever do is the job of being a president (sic), because the most important institution in society is the family. If the family breaks down, society breaks down. You can't have a strong nation without strong values, and no one is born with strong values. They have to be taught to you in strong families and reinforced in you in strong communities. And so when we set out to do tax reform, we endeavor to have a pro-family tax code, and we endeavor to do it because we know how difficult it is for families in the 21st century to afford the cost of living. It is expensive to raise children in the 21st century, and families that are raising children are raising the future taxpayers of the United States, and everything costs more. In 35 out of 50 states, child care costs more than college. There are millions of people watching this broadcast tonight that understand exactly what I'm talking about. They don't know how they're going to make that payment every month, and if they can't make it, they can't work, because someone needs to watch their kids during the day. They don't know how they're going to save for their kids' future, to go to college. And so, yes, I have a child tax credit increase, and I'm proud of it. I am proud that I have a pro-family tax code, because the pro- family tax plan I have will strengthen the most important institution in the \u2014 in the country, the family. +p163 +aVNow I get my 60 seconds to respond. He's talking about my tax plan. +p164 +aVSo let me begin with this. I actually believe \u2014 first of all, this is their money. They do pay. It is refundable, not just against the taxes they pay to the government, but also the \u2014 on their federal income tax, it's refundable against the payroll tax. Everyone pays payroll tax. This is their money. This is not our money. And here's what I don't understand \u2014 if you invest that money in a piece of equipment, if you invest that money in a business, you get to write it off your taxes. But if you invest it in your children, in the future of America and strengthening your family, we're not going to recognize that in our tax code? The family is the most important institution in society. And, yes... +p165 +aV... I do want to rebuild the American military. +p166 +aVI know that Rand is a committed isolationist. I'm not. I believe the world is a stronger and a better place, when the United States is the strongest military power in the world. +p167 +aVBecause... +p168 +aV...are you talking about the military, Rand? +p169 +aVWe can't even have an economy if we're not safe. There are radical jihadist in the Middle East beheading people and crucifying Christians. A radical Shia cleric in Iran trying to get a nuclear weapon, the Chinese taking over the South China Sea... ...Yes, I believe the world is a safer \u2014 no, no, I don't believe, I know that the world is a safer place when America is the strongest military power in the world. +p170 +aVYou know, if I may respond... +p171 +aVI need to add a couple of points to this. The first is, I've never met Vladimir Putin, but I know enough about him to know he is a gangster. He is basically an organized crime figure that runs a country, controls a $2 trillion economy. And is using to build up his military in a rapid way despite the fact his economy is a disaster. He understands only geopolitical strength. And every time he has acted anywhere in the world, whether it's in Ukraine or Georgia before that, or now in the Middle East, it's because he is trusting in weakness. His calculation in the Middle East is that he has seen what this president has done, which is nothing, the president has no strategy, our allies in the region do not trust us. For goodness sake, there is only one pro-American free enterprise democracy in the Middle East, it is the state of Israel. And we have a president that treats the prime minister of Israel with less respect than what he gives the ayatollah in Iran. And so our allies in the region don't trust us. Vladimir Putin is exploiting that weakness, for purposes of edging the Americans out as the most important geopolitical power broker in the region. And we do have a vested interest. And here's why. Because all those radical terrorist groups that, by the way, are not just in Syria and in Iraq, +p172 +aVCan I just add what \u2014 he's right on point there. Do you know why these banks are so big? The government made them big. The government made them big by adding thousands and thousands of pages of regulations. So the big banks, they have an army of lawyers, they have an army of compliance officers. They can deal with all these things. The small banks, like Governor Bush was saying, they can't deal with all these regulations. They can't deal with all \u2014 they cannot hire the fanciest law firm in Washington or the best lobbying firm to deal with all these regulations. And so the result is, the big banks get bigger, the small banks struggle to lend or even exist, and the result is what you have today. And in Dodd-Frank, you have actually codified too big to fail. We have actually created a category of systemically important institutions, and these banks go around bragging about it. You know what they say to people with a wink and a nod? We are so big, we are so important that if we get in trouble, the government has to bail us out. This is an outrage. We need to repeal Dodd-Frank as soon as possible. +p173 +aVWell, that's a great question, and let me begin by answering it. This election is about the future, about what kind of country this nation is gonna be in the 21st century. This next (ph) election is actually a generational choice. A choice about what kind of nation we will be in the 21st century. For over 2.5 centuries, America's been a special country, the one place on earth where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything, a nation that's been a force for good on this planet. But now, a growing number of Americans feel out of place in their own country. We have a society that stigmatizes those that hold cultural values that are traditional. We have a society where people \u2014 millions of people \u2014 are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, but they're living paycheck to paycheck because the economy has changed underneath their feet. We have young Americans who owe thousands of dollars in student loans for a degree that doesn't lead to a job. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses dying than starting, and around the world, every day brings news of a new humiliation for America \u2014 many the direct response \u2014 direct consequence of decisions made when Hillary Clinton was the secretary of the \u2014 of state. And so here's the truth: this election is about the future, and the Democratic Party, and the political left has no ideas about the future. All their ideas are the same, tired ideas of the past. More government, more spending. For every issue for America, their answer is a new tax on someone, and a new government program. This nation is going to turn the page, and that's what this election should be about, and, as I said at the first debate... ...If I am our nominee, they will be the party of the past, we will be the party of the 21st century. +p174 +aVOurs \u2014 the story of America is an extraordinary story. It is the story of a nation that for over two centuries each generation has left the next better off than themselves. But now, because Washington is out of touch, for the fault of both political parties, for the first time in our history, that is in doubt. And that is what this election must be about, because if the next four years are anything like the last eight years, our children will be the first Americans ever left worse off by their parents. This election is about making a different choice, about applying our principles of limited government and free enterprise to the unique issues of our time. And if we do, we will not just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And the 21st century can be a new American century. So tonight, I ask you for your vote and I ask you to join us at my website, marcorubio.com. +p175 +aVThank you for that question. I would begin by saying that I'm not sure it's a weakness, but I do believe that I share a sense of optimism for America's future that, today, is eroding from too many of our people. I think there's a sense in this country today that somehow our best days are behind us. And that doesn't have to be true. Our greatest days lie ahead if we are willing to do what it takes now. If we're willing to do what it takes now, the 21st century is going to be the new American century, greater than any other era we've had in the history of this great nation. +p176 +aVThat's an interesting question. That's exactly what the Republican establishment says too. Why don't you wait in line? Wait for what? This country is running out of time. We can't afford to have another four years like the last eight years. Watching this broadcast tonight are millions of people that are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, everything costs more, and they haven't had a raise in decades. You have small businesses in America that are struggling. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses closing than starting. We have a world that's out of control and has grown dangerous and a president that is weakening our military and making our foreign policy unstable and unreliable in the eyes of our allies. And our adversaries continue to grow stronger. We have a \u2014 they say there's no bipartisanship in Washington? We have a $19 trillion bipartisan debt and it continues to grow as we borrow money from countries that do not like us to pay for government we cannot afford. The time to act is now. The time to turn the page is now. If we \u2014 if we don't act now, we are going to be the first generation in American history that leaves our children worse off than ourselves. +p177 +aVLet me say, I read that editorial today with a great amusement. It's actually evidence of the bias that exists in the American media today. +p178 +aVLet me \u2014 let me answer your question on the Sun-Sentinel editorial today. Back in 2004, one of my predecessors to the Senate by the name of Bob Graham, a Democrat, ran for president missing over 30 percent of his votes. I don't recall them calling for his resignation \u2014 +p179 +aVLater that year, in 2004, John Kerry ran for president missing close to 60 to 70 percent of his votes. I don't recall the Sun \u2014 in fact, the Sun-Sentinel endorsed him. In 2008, Barack Obama missed 60 or 70 percent of his votes, and the same newspaper endorsed him again. So this is another example of the double standard that exists in this country between the mainstream media and the conservative movement. +p180 +aVI get to respond, right? +p181 +aVWell, it's interesting. Over the last few weeks, I've listened to Jeb as he walked around the country and said that you're modeling your campaign after John McCain, that you're going to launch a furious comeback the way he did, by fighting hard in New Hampshire and places like that, carrying your own bag at the airport. You know how many votes John McCain missed when he was carrying out that furious comeback that you're now modeling after? +p182 +aVNo Jeb, I don't remember \u2014 well, let me tell you. I don't remember you ever complaining about John McCain's vote record. The only reason why you're doing it now is because we're running for the same position, and someone has convinced you that attacking me is going to help you. +p183 +aVHere's the bottom line. I'm not \u2014 my campaign is going to be about the future of America, it's not going to be about attacking anyone else on this stage. I will continue to have tremendous admiration and respect for Governor Bush. I'm not running against Governor Bush, I'm not running against anyone on this stage. I'm running for president because there is no way we can elect Hillary Clinton to continue the policies of Barack Obama. +p184 +aVWell, you just \u2014 you just listed a litany of discredited attacks from Democrats and my political opponents, and I'm not gonna waste 60 seconds detailing them all. But I'm going to tell you the truth. Here's the truth. I didn't inherit any money. My dad was a bartender, my mother was a maid. They worked hard to provide us the chance at a better life. They didn't save enough money for us to go to school. I had to work my way through school. I had to borrow money to go to school. I tried (ph), early in my marriage, explaining to my wife why someone named Sallie Mae was taking $1,000 out of our bank account every month. I know what it's like to owe that money, and we've worked hard. We've worked hard our whole life to provide a better family \u2014 a better life for our family. We own a home four blocks away from the place that I grew up in. My four children have been able to receive a good Christian education, and I've been able to save for them to go to college so they never have to have the loans that I did. But I'm not worried about my finances, I'm worried about the finances of everyday Americans who today are struggling in an economy that is not producing good paying jobs while everything else costs more. And that's what this economy needs to \u2014 that's what this debate needs to be about. This debate needs to be about the men and women across this country that are struggling on a daily basis to provide for their families the better future that we've always said this country is all about. +p185 +aVAnd I used it to pay off my loans. And it's available on paperback, if you're interested in buying my book. +p186 +aVYeah, again, as I said, we're raising a family in the 21st century and it's one of the reasons why my tax plan is a pro- family tax plan. It increases the per child tax credit, because I didn't read about this in a book. I know for a fact how difficult it is to raise children, how expensive it's become for working families. And I make a lot more than the average American. Imagine how hard it is for these people out there that are making 40, 50, $60,000 a year, and they're trying to provide for their families at a time when this economy is not growing. We can't afford another four years of that. Which is what we're gonna get if we elect a big government liberal like Hillary Clinton to the White House. Thank you, senator. +p187 +aVWell, first of all, if a company gets caught doing that, they should never be able to use the program again. If you get caught abusing this program, you should never be able to use it again. The second thing I said is we need to add reforms, not just increase the numbers, but add reforms. For example, before you hire anyone from abroad, you should have to advertise that job for 180 days. You also have to prove that you're going to pay these people more than you would pay someone else, so that you're not undercutting it by bringing in cheap labor. But here's the best solution of all. We need to get back to training people in this country to do the jobs of the 21st century. Why, for the life of me, I do not understand why did we stop doing vocational education in America, people that can work with their hands; people you can train to do this work while they're still in high school so they can graduate ready to go work. But the best way to close this gap is to modernize higher education so Americans have the skills for those jobs. But in the interim, in the absence of that, what's happening is some of these tech companies are taking those \u2014 those centers (ph) to Canada because they can get people to go over there instead of here. But the ideal scenario is to train Americans to do the work so we don't have to rely on people from abroad. +p188 +aVWell, I believe that there are abuses, those companies should be permanently barred from ever using the program again and we should put strict standards in place to ensure that they're not being abused, like the prevailing wage requirement and like the advertising requirement. +p189 +aVSince I've been mentioned, can I respond? +p190 +aVOK. I know the Democrats have the ultimate SuperPac. It's called the mainstream media who every single day... ... and I'll tell you why. Last week, Hillary Clinton went before a committee. She admitted she had sent e-mails to her family saying, "Hey, this attack at Benghazi was caused by Al Qaida-like elements." She spent over a week telling the families of those victims and the American people that it was because of a video. And yet the mainstream media is going around saying it was the greatest week in Hillary Clinton's campaign. It was the week she got exposed as a liar. It was the week that she got exposed as a liar... But she has her super PAC helping her out, the American mainstream media. +p191 +aVNo, that's \u2014 you're wrong. In fact, the largest after- tax gains is for the people at the lower end of the tax spectrum under my plan. And there's a bunch of things my tax plan does to help them. Number one, you have people in this country that... +p192 +aV...you wrote a story on it, and you had to go back and correct it. +p193 +aVYou did. No, you did. +p194 +aVWell, you're talking about \u2014 yeah. +p195 +aVYeah, but that \u2014 because the math is, if you \u2014 5 percent of a million is a lot more than 5 percent of a thousand. So yeah, someone who makes more money... +p196 +aV...numerically, it's gonna be higher. But the greatest gains, percentage-wise, for people, are gonna be at the lower end of our plan, and here's why: because in addition to a general personal exemption, we are increasing the per-child tax credit for working families. We are lowering taxes on small business. You know, a lot of business activity in America is conducted like the guy that does my dry cleaning. He's an S corporation. He pays on his personal rate, and he is paying higher than the big dry-cleaning chain down the street, because he's paying at his personal rate. Under my plan, no business, big or small, will pay more than 25 percent flat rate on their business income. That is a dramatic tax decrease for hard-working people who run their own businesses. +p197 +aV...The other thing I'd like to make about our plan, one more point, it is the most pro growth tax plan that I can imagine because it doesn't tax investments at all. You know why? Because the more you tax something, the less of it you get. I want to be in \u2014 I want America to be the best... +p198 +aV...in the world for people... +p199 +aVI was mentioned in the question. +p200 +aVThank you. Well, I've learned the rules on this. Look, in addition to what Donald was saying is we also need to talk about the legal immigration system for permanent residents. Today, we have a legal immigration system for permanent residency that is largely based on whether or not you have a relative living here. And that's the way my parents came legally in 1956. But in 2015, we have a very different economy. Our legal immigration system from now on has to be merit-based. It has to be based on what skills you have, what you can contribute economically, and most important of all, on whether or not you're coming here to become an American, not just live in America, but be an American. +p201 +aVNo. No. What I said was that I think that Dr. Carson's ideas are good ideas. They're not my ideas, and I don't necessarily agree with all of them. But this is what you're seeing in the Republican debate that you didn't see in that Democrat debate. You didn't see it for a minute. You didn't see these kind of ideas being batted around, and being batted around in a way that's civil and smart and that's trying to help to inform the voter out there. What you saw was a parade of, "I'll give you this for free; I'll give you that for free." Let me tell you, everybody, when they say they want to give it to you for free, keep your hands on your wallets because they're coming to you to pay for it. And that's why I think these ideas up here are great, and that's what we should have is have more discussions like this and less gotcha. +p202 +aVI want to take off from that point and argue the same thing. And that is that one of the things you're watching tonight are 11 quality candidates debating an important issue. The Republican Party is blessed to have 11 good candidates, 10 good candidates. The Democrats can't even come up with one. And on this issue of the Medicare in particular, it's important because they're going to demagogue what we're saying here tonight. Everyone up here tonight that's talking about reforms, I think and I know for myself I speak to this, we're all talking about reforms for future generations. Nothing has to change for current beneficiaries. My mother is on Medicare and Social Security. I'm against anything that's bad for my mother. So, we're talking about \u2014 we're talking about reform for people like me and people like Senator Cruz, as he talked about earlier, who are years away from retirement that have a way to plan for these changes, and way that's very reasonable. And it's not too much to ask of our generation after everything our parents and our grandparents did for us. +p203 +aVYou know, America doesn't owe me anything. I have a debt to America I'll never repay. This isn't just the country I was born in, this is the nation that literally changed the history of my family. My parents in this country were able to give me the chance to do all the things they never did. We call that the American Dream, although, it's built on the universal dream of a better life. The fact that it's happened for so many people here throughout our history, that's what makes us special. But, now for millions of Americans, it's slipping away. And, we have a government and leaders in government that are completely out of touch, and that's why I'm running for president. Because we can't just save the American Dream, we can expand it to reach more people, and change more lives than ever before. And, that's why tonight I'm asking you for your vote. +p204 +aVThank you. My name is Marco Rubio. I'm from Florida. My wife Jeanette and I are the proud \u2014 we've been married 17 years, and we're the proud parents of four children, two of whom were able to join us here this evening. I'm honored to be here at the Reagan Library, at a place that honors the legacy of a man who inspired not just my interest in public service, but also our love for country. And I'm also aware that California has a drought, and so that's why I made sure I brought my own water. +p205 +aVWell, first of all, I have an understanding of exactly what it is Russia and Putin are doing, and it's pretty straightforward. He wants to reposition Russia, once again, as a geopolitical force. He himself said that the destruction of the Soviet Union \u2014 the fall of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century, and now he's trying to reverse that. He's trying to destroy +p206 +aVLet me tell you \u2014 I will tell you we have zero responsibility, because let's remember what the president said. He said the attack he would conduct would be a pinprick. Well, the United States military was not build to conduct pinprick attacks. If the United States military is going to be engaged by a commander-in-chief, it should only be engaged in an endeavor to win. And we're not going to authorize use of force if you're not put in a position where they can win. And quite frankly, people don't trust this president as commander-in-chief because of that. +p207 +aVHold on, a second, Jake, he asked me, as well. I'd like to actually... +p208 +aV... respond. I think I'm the first senator. The No. 1 test for use of military force should be the vital national security interest of the United States. The reason why I opposed President Obama bombing Syria, is because he couldn't answer the question what do you do if chemical weapons end up in the hands of radical Islamic terrorists like al-Nusra, like Al Qaida, like +p209 +aVIn the middle of negotiating this treaty, Khamenei led the assembled masses in chanting, death to America. I'm reminded of a great editorial cartoon. It shows the Ayatollah Khamenei saying, "Death to all Americans," and then it shows John Kerry coming back, saying, "Can we meet ya half way?" We need a commander-in-chief who will stand up and protect this country. And I'll tell you, I can't wait to stand on that debate stage with Hillary Clinton and to make abundantly clear if you vote for Hillary, you are voting for the Ayatollah Khomeini to possess a nuclear weapon and if you elect me as president, under no circumstances will a theocratic ayatollah who chants death to America ever be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon. +p210 +aVMs. Dana, I agree that English is the unifying language of our country, and everyone should learn to speak it. It's important. I want to tell you a story about someone that didn't speak English that well. It was my grandfather; he came to this country in the 1960s, as a \u2014 escaping Cuba. And he lived with us, growing up. And my grandfather loved America. He understood what was so special about this country. He loved Ronald Reagan; he would be very proud of the fact that we're here this evening. My grandfather instilled in me the belief that I was blessed to live in the one society in all of human history where even I, the son of a bartender and a maid, could aspire to have anything, and be anything that I was willing to work hard to achieve. But he taught me that in Spanish, because it was the language he was most comfortable in. And he became a conservative, even though he got his news in Spanish. And so, I do give interviews in Spanish, and here's why \u2014 because I believe that free enterprise and limited government is the best way to help people who are trying to achieve upward mobility. And if they get their news in Spanish, I want them to hear that directly from me. Not from a translator at Univision. +p211 +aVWell, let me say that legal immigration is not an issue I read about in the newspaper. Immigration, illegal immigration, all the good aspects of immigration and all the negative ones as well, I live with. My family's immigrants. My neighbors are all immigrants. My in-laws are all immigrants. So I've seen every aspect of it, and I can tell you America doesn't have one immigration problem, it has three. First, despite the fact that we are the most generous country in the history of the world in allowing people to come here legally, we have people still coming illegally. Second, we have a legal immigration system that no longer works. It primary is built on the basis of whether you have a relative living here instead of merit. And third, we have 11 million or 12 million people, many of whom have been here for longer than a decade who are already here illegally. And we must deal with all three of these problems. We cannot deal with all three of these problems in one massive piece of legislation. I learned that. We tried it that way. Here's the way forward: First, we must \u2014 we must secure our border, the physical border, with \u2014 with a wall, absolutely. But we also need to have an entry/exit tracking system. 40 percent of the people who come here illegally come legally, and then they overstay the visa. We also need a mandatory e-verify system. After we've done that, step two would be to modernize our legal immigration system so you come to America on the basis of what you can contribute economically, not whether or not simply you have a relative living here. And after we've done those two things, I believe the American people... +p212 +aV... will be very reasonable and responsible about what you do with someone who's been here and isn't a criminal. If you're a criminal, obviously, you will not be able to stay. +p213 +aVYes, well, it does. But it's in the following way, this is an important question. I think if you're running for president, these are important issues, because look at around the world today. There is a lunatic in North Korea with dozens of nuclear weapons and long-range rocket that can already hit the very place in which we stand tonight. The Chinese are rapidly expanding their military. They hack into our computers. They're building artificial islands in the South China Sea, the most important shipping lane in the world. A gangster in Moscow is not just threatening Europe, he's threatening to destroy and divide +p214 +aVWell, that's why we have a debate. I think that we should have a deeper debate about these issues, because there is no more important decision that a president will make. +p215 +aVWell, you should ask him questions in detail about the foreign policy issues our president will confront, because you had better be able to lead our country on the first day. Not six months from now, not a year from now, on the first day in office, our president could very well confront a national security crisis. You can't predict it. Sometimes you cannot control it. And it is the most \u2014 the federal government does all kinds of things it's not supposed to be doing. It regulates bathrooms. It regulates schools that belong to local communities. But the one thing that the federal government must do, the one thing that only the federal government can do is keep us safe. And a president better be up-to-date on those issues on his first day in office, on her first day in office. +p216 +aVTrust (ph) me, I get that. OK. +p217 +aVI never get to addressed, and... +p218 +aV...and when I do, I'm gonna jump in. +p219 +aVYeah. He did. Let me \u2014 I'm proud to serve in the United States Senate. You know, when I ran five years ago, the entire leadership of my party in Washington lined up against me. But I'm glad I won. And I'm glad that I ran, because this country's headed in the wrong direction. And if we keep electing the same people, nothing is going to change. And you're right, I have missed some votes, and I'll tell you why, Mr. Trump. Because in my years in the Senate, I've figured out very quickly that the political establishment in Washington, D.C. in both political parties is completely out of touch with the lives of our people. You have millions of people in this country living paycheck to paycheck, and nothing is being done about it. We are about to leave our children with $18 trillion in \u2014 in \u2014 in debt, and they're about to raise the debt limit again. We have a world that grows increasingly dangerous, and we are eviscerating our military spending and signing deals with Iran. And these \u2014 if this thing continues, we are going to be the first Americans to leave our children worse off than ourselves. That's why I'm missing votes. Because I am leaving the Senate, I'm not running for re-election, and I'm running for president because I know this: unless we have the right president, we cannot make America fulfill its potential, but with the right person in office, the 21st century can be the greatest era that our nation has ever known. +p220 +aVI want to go even deeper \u2014 and I want to go even deeper in that direction, because I think the belief that somehow by retreating, America makes the world safer has been disproven every single time it's ever been tried. Syria's a perfect example of it. The uprising in Syria was not started by the United States; it was started by the Syrian people. And I warned at the time \u2014 this was three and a half years ago \u2014 I openly and repeatedly warned that if we did not find moderate elements on the ground that we could equip and arm, that void would be filled by radical jihadists. Well, the president didn't listen, the administration didn't follow through, and that's exactly what happened. That is why +p221 +aV... as you asked earlier today. +p222 +aVBut radical terrorism cannot be solved by intellect. It cannot \u2014 they require \u2014 what they need, is they need an operating space. That's what Afghanistan was for Al Qaida. It was a vacuum that they filled, and they created an operating space. That's why they had to be drawn out of there. That's why they had to be destroyed. It is the reason why +p223 +aVThere's a broader issue here, Hugh. And there's a broader issue here as well. First of all, the only people that follow the law are law-abiding people. Criminals by definition ignore the law, so you can pass all the gun laws in the world, like the left wants. The criminals are going to ignore it because they are criminals. Here's the real issue. The real issue \u2014 the real issue is not what are people using to commit violence, but why are they committing the violence? And here's the truth: Because you cannot separate the social, moral wellbeing of your people from their economic and other wellbeing. You cannot separate it. You can't have a strong country without strong people, you cannot have strong people without strong values, and you cannot have strong values without strong families and the institutions in this country that defend and support those families. +p224 +aVWell, and today, we have a left-wing government under this president that is undermining all of the institutions and society that support the family and teach those values. +p225 +aVBecause we're not going to destroy our economy the way the left-wing government that we are under now wants to do. We're not going to... +p226 +aVWell, and I don't \u2014 he may have lined up with their positions on this issue. But here is the bottom line. Every proposal they put forward are going to be proposals that will make it harder to do business in America, that will make it harder to create jobs in America. Single parents are already struggling across this country to provide for their families. Maybe a billionaire here in California can afford an increase in their utility rates, but a working family in Tampa, Florida, or anywhere across this country cannot afford it. So we are not going to destroy our economy. We are not going to make America a harder place to create jobs in order to pursue policies that will do absolutely nothing, nothing to change our climate, to change our weather, because America is a lot of things, the greatest country in the world, absolutely. But America is not a planet. And we are not even the largest carbon producer anymore, China is. And they're drilling a hole and digging anywhere in the world that they can get a hold of. So the bottom line is, I am not in favor of any policies that make America a harder place for people to live, or to work, or to raise their families. +p227 +aVJake, you mentioned me and called me a denier. Let me say, climate change... +p228 +aVOK. A skeptic. You can measure the climate. You can measure it. That's not the issue we're discussing. Here is what I'm skeptical of. I'm skeptical of the decisions that the left wants us to make, because I know the impact those are going to have and they're all going to be on our economy. They will not do a thing to lower the rise of the sea. They will not do a thing to cure the drought here in California. But what they will do is they will make America a more expensive place to create jobs. And today with millions of people watching this broadcast that are struggling paycheck to paycheck that do not know how they're going to pay their bills at the end of this month, I'm not in favor of anything that is going to make it harder for them to raise their family. +p229 +aVSenator Rubio, you mean? +p230 +aVI know we all look alike. +p231 +aVThe \u2014 Rosa Parks, an everyday American that changed the course of history. +p232 +aVWell, there are some people in Florida upset at me over a joke I made about Florida State, but, what the heck, I want my codename to be Gator. +p233 +aVOne of the things that made Ronald Reagan a great president, is that he understood that America was a unique nation, like any other that had existed throughout human history. He knew it was founded on universal principles that were powerful, the dignity of all people, human rights, the rights of all to live in freedom and liberty, and choose their own path in life. He didn't just believe it, he acted on it. That's why bringing down communism was so important to him. If I'm honored with the opportunity to be president, I hope that our Air Force One will fly, first and foremost, to our allies; in Israel, in South Korea, and Japan. They know we stand with them. That America can be counted on. It would also fly to China, not just to meet with our enemies, not just to meet with those adversaries of ours that are there, but also to meet with those that aspire to freedom and liberty within China. I would even invite them to my inauguration. We would also fly into Moscow and into Russia. And not just meet with the leaders of Russia, but also meet with those who aspire to freedom and liberty in Russia. And ultimately, I hope that my Air Force One, if I become president, will one day land in a free Cuba, where its people can choose its leaders and its own destiny. +p234 +aVWell, thank you for the question, Chris, and it's great to be here tonight. Let me begin by saying this: I'm not new to the political process; I was making a contribution as the speaker of the third largest and most diverse state in the country well before I even got into the Senate. I would add to that that this election cannot be a resume competition. It's important to be qualified, but if this election is a resume competition, then Hillary Clinton's gonna be the next president, because she's been in office and in government longer than anybody else running here tonight. Here's what this election better be about: This election better be about the future, not the past. It better be about the issues our nation and the world is facing today, not simply the issues we once faced. This country is facing an economy that has been radically transformed. You know, the largest retailer in the country and the world today, Amazon, doesn't even own a single store? And these changes have been disruptive. They have changed people's lives. The jobs that once sustained our middle class, they either don't pay enough or they are gone, and we need someone that understands that as our nominee. If I'm our nominee, how is Hillary Clinton gonna lecture me about living paycheck to paycheck? I was raised paycheck to paycheck. How is she -- how is she gonna lecture me -- how is she gonna lecture me about student loans? I owed over $100,000 just four years ago. If I'm our nominee, we will be the party of the future. +p235 +aVLet me set the record straight on a couple of things. The first is, the evidence is now clear that the majority of people coming across the border are not from Mexico. They're coming from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras. Those countries are the source of the people that are now coming in its majority. I also believe we need a fence. The problem is if El Chapo builds a tunnel under the fence, we have to be able to deal with that too. And that's why you need an e-verify system and you need an entry-exit tracking system and all sorts of other things to prevent illegal immigration. But I agree with what Governor Kasich just said. People are frustrated. This is the most generous country in the world when it comes to immigration. There are a million people a year who legally immigrate to the United States, and people feel like we're being taken advantage of. We feel like despite our generosity, we're being taken advantage of. And let me tell you who never gets talked about in these debates. The people that call my office, who have been waiting for 15 years to come to the United States. And they've paid their fees, and they hired a lawyer, and they can't get in. And they're wondering, maybe they should come illegally. And so these are important issues, and we should address it. It's a serious problem that needs to be addressed, and otherwise we're going to keep talking about this for the next 30 years, like we have for the last 30 years. +p236 +aVNot me. +p237 +aVActually, to be clear......he supported Charlie Crist. +p238 +aVHey, Charlie... +p239 +aVWell, first off, I too believe in curriculum reform. It is critically important in the 21st Century. We do need curriculum reform. And it should happen at the state and local level. That's. . . that's. . . that is where educational policy belongs, because if a parent is unhappy with what their child is being taught in school, they can go to that local school board or their state legislature, or their governor and get it changed. Here's the problem with Common Core. The Department of Education, like every federal agency, will never be satisfied. They will not stop with it being a suggestion. They will turn it into a mandate. In fact, what they will begin to say to local communities is, you will not get federal money unless do you things the way we want you to do it. And they will use Common Core or any other requirements that exists nationally to force it down the throats of our people in our states. +p240 +aVThat's a great question. +p241 +aVThat's a great question. First of all, it begins by having leaders that recognize that the economy we live in today is dramatically different from the one we had five years ago. It's an economy that now has placed us in global competition with dozens of other countries around the world. Now, the big companies that have connections with Washington, they can affect policies to help them, but the small companies like the one Tania is talking about, they're the ones that are struggling. The first thing we need to do is we need to even out the tax code for small businesses so that we lower their tax rate to 25 percent, just as we need to lower it for all businesses. We need to have a regulatory budget in America that limits the amount of regulations on our economy. We need to repeal and replace Obamacare and we need to improve higher education so that people can have access to the skills they need for 21st century jobs. And last but not least, we need to repeal Dodd-Frank. It is eviscerating small businesses and small banks. 20 \u2014 over 40 percent of small and mid-size banks that loan money to small businesses have been wiped out over the \u2014 since Dodd-Frank has passed. We need to repeal and replace Dodd-Frank. We need to make America fair again for all businesses, but especially those being run by small business owners. +p242 +aVWell, Megyn, first of all, I'm not sure that that's a correct assessment of my record. I would go on to add that I believe all-- +p243 +aVI have never said that. And I have never advocated that. What I have advocated is that we pass law in this country that says all human life at every stage of its development is worthy of protection. In fact, I think that law already exists. It is called the Constitution of the United States. And let me go further. I believe that every single human being is entitled to the protection of our laws, whether they can vote or not. Whether they can speak or not. Whether they can hire a lawyer or not. Whether they have a birth certificate or not. And I think future generations will look back at this history of our country and call us barbarians for murdering millions of babies who we never gave them a chance to live. +p244 +aVWell, first, let me say I think God has blessed us. He has blessed the Republican Party with some very good candidates. The Democrats can't even find one. And I believe God has blessed our country. This country has been extraordinarily blessed. And we have honored that blessing. And that's why God has continued to bless us. And he has blessed us with young men and women willing to risk their lives and sometimes die in uniform for the safety and security of our people. Unfortunately today we have a VA that does not do enough for them. I am proud that last year we helped change the law. We changed the law to give the power to the VA secretary the ability to fire any executive that isn't doing their job. And it is outrageous they've only fired one person to date. When I'm president of the United States, we're going to have a VA that cares more about our veterans than about the bureaucrats who work at the VA. +p245 +aVThank you. You know, both of my parents were born into poor families on the island of Cuba. They came to America because it was the only place where people like them could have a chance. Here in this country, they never made it big, but the very purpose of their life was to give us the chance to do all the things they never could. My father was a bartender. And the journey from the back of that bar to this stage tonight, to me, that is the essence of the American dream. It is what makes our nation different. And I'm running for president because I want that to still be possible for the people trying to do that now. I run for president because I believe that we can't just save the American dream; we can expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And that's why I'm asking for your vote. So we can make America greater than it has ever been. And make of this century a new American century. +p246 +asVKASICH +p247 +(lp248 +VThank you, Wolf. Just last weekend, just last week, a friend asked one of my daughters, "Do you like politics?" And my daughter said, "No, I don't. And the reason I don't like it is because there's too much fighting, too much yelling. It's so loud, I don't like it." You know, I turned to my friend and I said, "You know, she's really on to something." And when we think about our country and the big issues that we face in this country; creating jobs, making sure people can keep their jobs, the need for rising wages, whether our children when they graduate from college can find a job, protecting the homeland, destroying +p249 +aVWell, first of all, Wolf, I said last February that we needed to have people on the ground, troops on the ground in a coalition similar to what we had in the first Gulf War. I remember when the Egyptian ambassador to the United States stood in the Rose Garden and pledged Arab commitment to removing Saddam Hussein from Kuwait. Before we came out here tonight, I am told that the Saudis have organized 34 countries who want to join in the battle against terrorism. First and foremost, we need to go and destroy +p250 +aVNo, I don't think it is. And I want to go back to two other issues. One is the metadata. We know we have to hold this data for a longer period of time. And, you know, in a lot of ways, Chris is right. Look, what a president has to do is take a position. We don't want to err on the side of having less. We want to err on the side of having more. That's good for our families. In addition to that, Wolf, there is a big problem. It's called encryption. And the people in San Bernardino were communicating with people who the FBI had been watching. But because their phone was encrypted, because the intelligence officials could not see who they were talking to, it was lost. We have to solve the encryption problem. It is not easy. A president of the United States, again, has to bring people together, have a position. We need to be able to penetrate these people when they are involved in these plots and these plans. And we have to give the local authorities the ability to penetrate to disrupt. That's what we need to do. Encryption is a major problem, and Congress has got to deal with this and so does the president to keep us safe. +p251 +aVYeah, let me \u2014 let me just suggest to everybody, and I hear \u2014 last February, I said we needed to have people on the ground in a coalition with Europe and our allies. This is not going to get done just by working with the Sunnis. And it is not going to get done if we just embed a few people. We have to go massively, like we did in the first Gulf War where we destroyed Saddam's ability to take Kuwait. We need to have a coalition that will stand for nothing less than the total destruction of +p252 +aVI don't understand this thing about Assad. He has to go. Assad is aligned with Iran and Russia. The one thing we want to prevent is we want to prevent Iran being able to extend a Shia crescent all across the Middle East. Assad has got to go. And there are moderates there. There are moderates in Syria who we should be supporting. I do not support a civil war. I don't want to be policeman of the world. But we can't back off of this. And let me tell you, at the end, the Saudis have agreed to put together a coalition inside of Syria to stabilize that country. +p253 +aVHe must go. It will be a blow to Iran and Russia. +p254 +aVThe foreign policy, you have to know how to pick and choose. There's no way, if Saddam had not had weapons of mass destruction, I would have gone, because I don't believe that the U.S. should be involved directly in civil wars. I opposed the U.S. involvement in Lebanon. We ended up having to withdraw our marines after our barracks were blown up. There is a difference between Iraq, where you have Sunni, Shia, and Kurds put together after the First World War by the Western powers. It doesn't work. It needs to break up into three parts. And for the Russians, frankly, it's time that we punched the Russians in the nose. They've gotten away with too much in this world and we need to stand up against them, not just there, but also in Eastern Europe where they threaten some of our most precious allies. +p255 +aVIt sounds more and more what my daughter said that I said in the beginning, all the fighting and arguing is not advancing us. +p256 +aVIt is not the way we're going to strengthen our country. We will strengthen our country when we come together. And, look, you've got Rand Paul, you've got Ted Cruz, you've got Marco, you've got a lot of people on this stage that have studied these issues. You know what a leader does? A leader has a sound program, has a good policy, and then brings people together to solve problems. Guess what? Both in Congress in balancing the budget and in Ohio fixing the economy \u2014 and, by the way, we talk about the fence. The first thing we better get going is strengthening our economy, because if we don't have a strong economy, we can't pay for all of this. And the world wants us to be able to function from strength, believe it or not. Get our economy going, get these people together in a room. We can fix this, ladies and gentlemen. We don't have to fight all the time. It can be done, and we will be great... +p257 +aV... when we join together. Thank you, Hugh. +p258 +aVYou know, obviously, as president of the United States, we've got to keep the people safe. That's first and foremost. But as governor of Ohio, I have an obligation to keep the 11.5 million people in Ohio safe. And we have been very effective with our Joint Terrorism Task Force, being able to make busts. In fact, we just made one three-four weeks ago against a person who was favorable to +p259 +aVNo Republican has ever been elected president of the United States without winning Ohio. Let me give you a little tip on how you win Ohio, it's reform, it's hope, it's growth, it's opportunity, and it's security. The people of Ohio are the people of America. The people of America are reflected in Ohio. Our message has to be big, and bold, and positive, and connect, not just with people's heads but also connect with their hearts. If we do it, we will beat Hillary Clinton, and we will run the White House, and we will strengthen and fix America, I promise you. +p260 +aVFirst of all, let me just say that, in the state of Ohio \u2014 and I'm the only acting executive on \u2014 on this stage today \u2014 we do have a moderate increase in the minimum wage. And I got to tell you, my father carried mail on his back. His father was a coal miner. He died of black lung. He was losing his eyesight. My mother's mother lived with us. She could barely speak English. I come from a town where if the wind blew the wrong way, people found themselves out of work. An economic theory is fine, but you know what? People need help. Now, I have a plan that, in fact, would cut taxes, but not $11 trillion or $12 trillion that would put my children further in debt. I have a plan that would not only cut taxes, lower the income tax rate for individuals, lower the tax for businesses so businesses will compete here and not move operations overseas, and also a plan \u2014 the only plan of anybody standing on this stage to get us to a balanced budget by the end of a second term. And, you know, the simple fact of the matter is, we hear a lot of promises in this debate, a lot of promises about these tax cuts or tax schemes sometimes that I call them. Hillary and the Democrats promise everything on the spending side. We've got to be responsible about what we propose on the tax side. Yes, lower taxes, lower spending. My website, JohnKasich.com, will show you exactly how we balance the budget. I balanced the budget in Washington as a chief architect, and I have balanced it in Ohio for one reason. When you balance the budget and you cut taxes, people get work. And our most important moral purpose as leaders in the political system is to make sure we create an environment for job creation so people can live their dreams and realize their God-given potential. That's why it's so important. And for those at the bottom, we've got to do what we can to train them so they can move up. But to just look the other way is not acceptable, because, you know what, as the governor of Ohio I have to deal with real challenges, and we've gotten it done in our state, and I will do it for America. +p261 +aVSure. We would move the Medicare system from a 7 percent growth down to about a 5 percent growth. And I have a whole series of ways to do that. In Ohio, we reduced Medicaid funding for the poor from 10 percent to 2.5 percent, didn't cut one benefit or didn't take anybody off the rolls. Why? Because we're innovators. I've been an innovator my entire career. And I really don't care what special interests or lobbyists have to say. I have a job to do when I take over a public office. Now, we freeze non-defense discretionary for eight years. We also put an increase in defense spending. Our tax cuts balance out. And at the end of the day, we will get to a balanced budget. And I want everybody here to know, when I was Budget Committee chairman in Washington, I stepped on every toe in that town, and we got to a balanced budget, and we had enormous job growth. And as governor of Ohio, we went from 350,000 lost jobs to a gain of 347,000 jobs. +p262 +aVI'll do it in Washington. I've done it twice; I'll do it thrice for the United States of America. +p263 +aVExcuse me. +p264 +aVYeah, I would like to make a comment. +p265 +aVI appreciate it, Jeb. I'm all of you. But I want at some point to talk about a value-added tax and $11 trillion, $12 trillion tax cuts that will put our kids way deeper in the hole than they have been at this point. So I would like to talk about it at some point, because that's what leadership is. +p266 +aVMaria, can we comment on that? +p267 +aVCan we comment on that? +p268 +aVWell, look, in 1986 Ronald Reagan basically said the people who were here, if they were law-abiding, could stay. But, what didn't happen is we didn't build the walls effectively and we didn't control the border. We need to. We need to control our border just like people have to control who goes in and out of their house. But if people think that we are going to ship 11 million people who are law-abiding, who are in this country, and somehow pick them up at their house and ship them out of Mexico \u2014 to Mexico, think about the families. Think about the children. So, you know what the answer really is? If they have been law- abiding, they pay a penalty. They get to stay. We protect the wall. Anybody else comes over, they go back. But for the 11 million people, come on, folks. We all know you can't pick them up and ship them across, back across the border. It's a silly argument. It is not an adult argument. It makes no sense. +p269 +aVJerry, Gerald, it was an attack. +p270 +aVIn the state of Ohio, the state of Ohio, we have grown 347,000 jobs. Our unemployment is half of what it was. Our fracking industry, energy industry may have contributed 20,000, but if Mr. Trump understood that the real jobs come in the downstream, not in the upstream, but in the downstream. And that's where we're going to get our jobs. But Ohio is diversified. And little false little things, sir, they don't really work when it comes to the truth. So the fact is, all I'm suggesting, we can't ship 11 million people out of this country. Children would be terrified, and it will not work. +p271 +aV...Mr. Baker, everybody got to talk about taxes... +p272 +aV...I think you were coming to me and then... +p273 +aV...Look, I hate to crash the party to you, Mr. Baker, but, you know, what's fair... +p274 +aV...Yes, sir... +p275 +aVLet me tell you this, Mr. Baker, in terms of the cyber attacks, we have the capability to not only have a defensive posture, but it also to make it clear to people that if you attack us with cyber attacks, we will destroy the mechanisms that you are using to attack us. I want to give you a little trip around the world. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years. In the Ukraine, arm the people there so they can fight for themselves. In the eastern part of Europe, make sure that Finland and the Baltics know that if the Russians move, we move. In Syria, yes, a no-fly zone in the north on the Turkish border, a no-fly zone on the south on the Jordanian border. Anybody flies in the first time, maybe they can fly out. They fly in there a second time, they will not fly out. And it also becomes a sanctuary for the people to be. And it also sends many messages in the Middle East that we're still involved. Saudi Arabia, cut off the funding for the radical clerics, the ones that preach against us. But they're fundamentally our friends. Jordan, we want the king to reign for 1,000 years. Egypt, they have been our ally and a moderating force in the Middle East throughout their history. In the groups \u2014 in the countries of the Gulf states of Bahrain, the Cleveland Clinic is opening an operation. Clearly we see the same with them. And in Israel, we have no better ally in the world, and no more criticizing them in public, we should support them. And finally China, China doesn't own the South China Sea, and I give the president some credit for being able to move a naval force in there to let the Chinese know that we're not going to put up with it any more. And in the trade agreement, the TPP, it's critical to us, not only for economic reasons and for jobs, because there are so many people who are connected to getting jobs because of trade, but it allows us to create not only economy alliances, but also potentially strategic alliances against the Chinese. They are not our enemy, but they are certainly not our friend. And finally, I will say to everyone in this room, we have been talking about taxes and economics. When the fall comes, and we run against Hillary, which will be a disaster if she got elected. I have two 16-year-old girls, and I want this country to be strong. We make promises we can't keep under the bright light of the fall, we will have trouble. We must make sure that economic programs and our military programs are solid. I served in Washington as the chairman of the Budget Committee, and we got the budget balanced. And in Ohio, as the CEO, and guess what, we have got to have a CEO mentality and a way to beat Hillary Clinton and the Democracies in the fall. And our ideas have to add up. They have to be solid. And people have to know we have the confidence to lead America. And as president, I will lead this country, as I have before in Washington and in Ohio, and will return both on domestic and international affairs. And I appreciate the opportunity to speak this time, Gerry. +p276 +aVLet me \u2014 let me also say, Gary \u2014 Gary, let me also say, Jeb is \u2014 what Jeb is talking about with the big banks is to force them to reserve their capital, people who invest it and they hold their capital, so that if the bank goes down, the people who are invested in the bank are the ones that pay. That's what he's trying to say. Secondly, I'll tell you about Wall Street: There's too much greed. And the fact is, a free enterprise system is a system that's produced the greatest wealth for the world. But you know Michael Novak, the great Catholic theologian, says that a free enterprise system that is not underlaid with values \u2014 and we should all think about the way we conduct our lives \u2014 yes, free enterprise is great, profits are great, but there have to be some values that underlay it, and they need a good ethics lesson on Wall Street on a regular basis to keep them in check so we, the people, do not lose. +p277 +aVNeil, that's the difference of being an executive. And let me just explain: when a bank is ready to go under and depositors are getting ready to lose their life savings, you just don't say we believe in philosophical concerns. You know what an executive has to decide? When there's a water crisis, how do we get water to the city? When there's a school shooting, how do you get there and help heal a community? When there are financial crisis, or a crisis with ebola, you got to go there and try to fix it. Philosophy doesn't work when you run something. And I gotta tell you, on-the-job training for president of the United States doesn't work. We've done it for 8 years, \u2014 and almost 8 years now. It does not work. We need an executive who's been tried, has been tested, and judge the decisions that that executive makes. I don't like what the Fed is doing, but I'll tell you what worries me more than anything else: turning the Fed over to the Congress of the United States... +p278 +aV...so they can print the money. That would be a very bad approach. +p279 +aVI wouldn't. I wouldn't. +p280 +aVNo. No, I didn't say that. +p281 +aVThey were \u2014 they were talking about what you would do with depositors. Would you let these banks shut down? My argument is, going forward, the banks have to reserve the capital, so that the \u2014 so that the people who own the capital start pressuring the banks to not take these risky approaches, Ted. But at the end of the day... +p282 +aV... I'm gonna tell you this. Let me tell you this. If during \u2014 if during... +p283 +aV...because if during \u2014 well, I'll tell you what (ph). +p284 +aVAs an executive \u2014 no. As an executive, I would figure out how to separate those people who can afford it versus those people, or the hard-working folks who put those money in those institutions...... let me \u2014 no, no. Let me say another thing. Here's what I mean by that. Here's what I mean by that. +p285 +aVWhen you are faced \u2014 when you are faced, in the last financial crisis, with banks going under \u2014 with banks going under, and people, people who put their \u2014 their life savings in there, you got to deal with it. You can't turn a blind eye to it. Now, going forward, that's one thing. If you had another financial crisis, perhaps there would be an effort to make sure that we do (ph). +p286 +aVWell, ladies and gentlemen, if Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders were to win this election, my 16-year-olds, I \u2014 I worry about what their life is going to be like. You know, the conservative movement is all about opportunity. It is about lower taxes. It's about balanced budgets. It's about less regulation. And it's about sending power, money and influence back to where we live so we can run America from the bottom up. In addition to that, once we have the power and the money and the influence with programs we shift out, that each of us have a responsibility to reach out and to rebuild our families, make them stronger, and connect our neighborhoods. All that together \u2014 wealth, connection, family \u2014 America's greatest days are ahead. We must win this election. +p287 +aVGood question, but I want to tell you, my great concern is that we are on the verge, perhaps, of picking someone who cannot do this job. I've watched to see people say that we should dismantle Medicare and Medicaid and leave the senior citizens out \u2014 out in the \u2014 in the cold. I've heard them talk about deporting 10 or 11 \u2014 people here from this country out of this country, splitting families. I've heard about tax schemes that don't add up, that put our kids in \u2014 in a deeper hole than they are today. We need somebody who can lead. We need somebody who can balance budgets, cut taxes... +p288 +aVYou know, frankly, I did it in Washington, in Ohio, and I will do it again in Washington, if I'm president, to get this country moving again. +p289 +aVcountry moving again. +p290 +aVListen, I want to just comment. +p291 +aVWell I want to comment on this. This is the fantasy... +p292 +aVThis is the fantasy that I talked about in the beginning. +p293 +aVI'm the only person on this stage that actually was involved in the chief architect of balancing the Federal Budget. You can't do it with empty promised. You know, these plans would put us trillions and trillions of dollars in debt. I actually have a plan. I'm the only one on this stage that has a plan that would create jobs, cut taxes, balance the budget and can get it done because I'm realistic. You just don't make promises like this. Why don't we just give a chicken in every pot, while we're, you know, coming up \u2014 coming up with these fantasy tax schemes. We'll just clean it up. Where are you gonna clean it up? You have to deal with entitlements, you have to be in a position to control discretionary spending. You gotta be creative and imaginative. Now, let me just be clear, John. I went into Ohio where we had an $8 billion hole and now we have a $2 billion surplus. We're up 347,000 jobs. When I was in Washington, I fought to get the budget balanced. I was the architect. It was the first time we did it since man walked on the moon. We cut taxes and we had a $5 trillion projected surplus when I left. That's was hard work. Fiscal discipline, know what you're doing. Creativity. This stuff is fantasy. Just like getting rid of Medicare and Medicaid. Come on, that's just not \u2014 you scare senior citizens with that. It's not responsible. +p294 +aVWell, I mean right here. To talk about we're just gonna have a 10 percent tithe and that's how we're gonna fund the government? And we're going to just fix everything with waste, fraud, and abuse? Or that we're just going to be great? Or we're going to ship 10 million Americans \u2014 or 10 million people out of this country, leaving their children here in this country and dividing families? Folks, we've got to wake up. We cannot elect somebody that doesn't know how to do the job. You have got to pick somebody who has experience, somebody that has the know-how, the discipline. And I spent my entire lifetime balancing federal budgets, growing jobs, the same in Ohio. And I will go back to Washington with my plan. +p295 +aVAnd I will have done it within 100 days, and it will pass. And we will be strong again. Thank you. +p296 +aVLet me just \u2014 let me respond. First of all, Ohio does have an energy industry, but we're diversified. We're one of the fastest growing states in the country. We came back from the dead. And you know what? It works very, very well. And secondly, when you talk about me being on the board of Lehman Brothers, I wasn't on the board of Lehman Brothers. I was a banker and I was proud of it. And I traveled the country and learned how people made jobs. We ought to have politicians who not only have government experience but know how the CEOs and the job creators work. My state is doing great across the board. And guess what, in 2011, I got a deal... +p297 +aV... an agreement with the... +p298 +aV... that he tried to take credit for four years later. It's a joke. +p299 +aVJohn Harwood, there's a bigger issue here. +p300 +aVWell, first of all, when we talk about the Import Export Bank, it's time to clean up corporate welfare. If we're gonna reform welfare for poor people, we ought to reform it for rich people, as well. Secondly, in our state, we went from a loss of 350,000 jobs to, now, a gain of 347,000 jobs to the positive. Our wages are growing faster than the national average, and I've cut taxes more than any sitting governor in this state \u2014 $5 billion, including no taxes on small business and killing the death tax. I want to go back to what we were talking about earlier, this budget deal in Washington. This is the same old stuff since I left. You spend the money today and then you hope you're going to save money tomorrow. I don't know if people understand, but I spent a lifetime with my colleagues getting us to a federal balanced budget. We actually did it. And I have a road map and a plan right now to get us to balance. Reforming entitlements, cutting taxes. You see, because if you really want to get to a balanced budget, you need to reduce your expenses and you need to grow your economy. So what I will tell you about our incentives \u2014 our incentives are tight, and at the end of the day we make sure that we gain more from the creation of jobs than what we lose. And you know what? Ohio, one of the best growing places in the country \u2014 I not only did it in Washington, I did it in Ohio, and I'll go back to Washington, and there will be no more silly deals... +p301 +aV... If I become President because we'll have a Constitutional Amendment to require a federally balanced budget so they will do their job. +p302 +aVWell, first of all, we're running a $2 billion dollar surplus, we're not having a revenue problem right now. And, sending mixed signals to kids about drugs is a disaster. Drugs is one of the greatest scourge in this country, and I spent five years of my administration working with my team to do a whole sort of things to try to reign in the problem of overdoses, and it goes on and on. We could do a whole show on that. I want to go back for a second thought on this issue of income inequality. My program would move the 104 programs of the federal Department of Education into four block grants, and send them back to the states because income inequality is driven by a lack of skills when kids don't get what they need to be able to compete and win in this country. The fact is, in order to get this economy moving again, I call for freezing regulations for a year except for the problem of public safety. I believe that we need to cut these taxes down, we need to be on a roadmap to balancing the budget, and we need to send power, money, and influence, the welfare department, the education department, job training, infrastructure, Medicaid, all of that out of Washington back to the states so we can run these programs from where we live to the top, not a one size fits all mentality that they have in Washington. And, that will get to the nub of opportunity for our children, and an ability to see wages rise. Again... +p303 +aV...One more time, in Ohio, our wages are growing faster than the national average. We've cut taxes, balanced budgets, changed the regulatory environment. Folks, you want to \u2014 +p304 +aV\u2014 fix America, this is the formula. It worked for Reagan and it works for our team in Ohio. Thank you. +p305 +aVJohn. +p306 +aVI wanna tell you, in my state, we took Medicaid, the hardest program to control, and we took it from a 10 percent growth rate to 2.5 percent without taking one person off the rolls or cutting one single benefit. And so much of what we did \u2014 to force competition, to use technology, to stand down the special interest groups \u2014 can you imagine taking Medicaid from 10 to 2.5 percent? We can take many of those same procedures, we can apply it to Medicare. We can make a stronger program. But I agree with Jeb, you can't just do this by growing the economy. You can't grow your way out of demographics. But we can give people better health care. And finally, on health care, why don't we start treating \u2014 keep giving... +p307 +aV...incentives for people to keep people healthy, rather than giving the incentives to treat them when they're sick? +p308 +aVI was on morning Joe at a town hall and a young student stood up and said, "Can I still be idealistic?" I said, absolutely, you can still change the world. And, you know the old inscription, if you save one life, you've changed the world. Folks, we have a problem here with the leadership in Washington, but I'll tell you another problem. We need to rebuild our families. We need to have stronger families. We need to know who our neighbors are. We need to come together as a country because we have to realize that America is great, not from the top-down. Oh yeah, we want to elect a good president, but America is great from the bottom-up, and the bottom-up is us in our families, in our communities, in our neighborhoods. We will renew America if we work together, and I am totally confident that we will. And God bless America. +p309 +aVHello, I'm John Kasich, the Governor of Ohio. Emma, and Reese, my children, and Karen, love 'ya girls. Thanks for watching tonight. By the way, I think I actually flew on this plane with Ronald Reagan when I was a congressman, and his goals, and mine, really much \u2014 are pretty much the same. Lift Americans, unify, give hope, grow America, and restore it is to that great, shining city on a hill. Yes, he was a great one, and I learned much from watching him. The most important thing, hope to Americans, unify, lift everyone in America. +p310 +aVJake, Jake. +p311 +aVListen, you know, I \u2014 if I were sitting at home and watch thing back and forth, I would be inclined to turn it off. I mean, people at home want to know across this country, they want to know what we're going to do to fix this place, how we'll balance a budget, how we're going to create more economic growth, how we'll pay down the debt. What we're going to do to strengthen the military. So, we just spent 10 minutes here... +p312 +aVBut \u2014 but wait a minute. It's a lot of ad hogshead. Now, I know that it may be buzzing out there, but I think it's important we get to the issues, because that's what people want, and they don't want all this fighting. +p313 +aV...Yeah, well... +p314 +aVWell, let me just say this. First of all, I think it's a bad agreement, I would never have done it. But, you know, a lot of our problems in the world today is that we don't have the relationship with our allies. If we want to go everywhere alone, we will not have the strength as (ph) if we could rebuild with our allies. Now, this agreement, we don't know what's going to happen in 18 months. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years. I've seen lots of issues in foreign affairs, and foreign \u2014 in terms of global politics, you have to be steady. Now, here's the \u2014 if they cheat, we slap the sanctions back on. If they help Hamas, and Hezbollah, we slap the sanctions back on. And, if we find out that they may be developing a nuclear weapon, than the military option is on the table. We are stronger when we work with the Western civilization, our friends in Europe, and just doing it on our own I don't think is the right policy. +p315 +aVNo, no, no. I want to \u2014 I want to \u2014 I want to say something about what the senator just said. +p316 +aVNo one is \u2014 no \u2014 let me \u2014 let me suggest to you we believe that we operate better in the world when our allies work with us. President Bush did it in the Gulf War. We work better when we are unified. Secondly, nobody's trusting Iran. They violate the deal, we put on the sanctions, and we have the high moral ground to talk to our allies in Europe to get them to go with us. If they don't go with us, we slap the sanctions on anyway. If they fund these radical groups that threaten Israel and all of the West, then we should rip up the deal and put the sanctions back on. And let me make it clear \u2014 let me make it clear... +p317 +aV... if we think \u2014 if we think they're getting close to a \u2014 to developing a nuclear weapon and we get that information, you better believe that I would do everything in my power as the commander-in-chief to stop them having a nuclear weapon. +p318 +aVWe can have it, and we can have our allies, and we can be strong as a country, and we can project across this globe with unity, not just doing it alone. That is not what gets us where we want to get as a nation. +p319 +aVWell, I agree that we should defund Planned Parenthood. I don't know many people in America who don't think that we should, and in my state, we're trying to figure out how to get it done, because we are threatened with the federal government taking all of our Medicaid money away. I think there is a way to get this done by giving governors the ability to be able to act to defund Planned Parenthood. But when (ph) it comes to closing down the federal government, you gotta be very careful about that. When we shut the government down \u2014 if we have a chance at success and it's a great principle, yes. The president of the United States is not going to sign this, and all we're gonna do is shut the government down, and then we're gonna open up \u2014 open it up, and the American people are gonna shake their heads and say, "what's the story with these Republicans?" So I think there is a way to get to cutting off the funding for Planned Parenthood. I was in the Congress for 18 years, balanced the budget, cut taxes, got it done. Changed welfare, went around the president to get welfare reform done. There are ways to do it without having to shut the government down, but I'm sympathetic to the fact that we don't want this organization to get funding, and the money ought to be reprogrammed for family planning in other organizations that don't support this tactic. But I would not be for shutting the government down... +p320 +aV...because I don't think it's going to work out. +p321 +aVWe're not \u2014 what I can tell you is this. We didn't surrender in New Jersey, six years ago, as the brand new first ever pro-life governor of New Jersey since Roe versus Wade, I defended Planned Parenthood. And I've vetoed Planned Parenthood funding, now, eight times in New Jersey. Since the day I walked in as governor, Planned Parenthood has not been funded in New Jersey. We stood up and every one of those vetoes has been sustained. But here's the problem, we're \u2014 we're fighting with each other up here. We agree. Let's ask Hillary Clinton. She believes in the systematic murder of children in the womb to preserve their body parts... +p322 +aV...Dana, in a way that maximizes their value for sale for profit. It is disgusting, and the American people need to hear it... +p323 +aV...we shouldn't be fighting with each other. She's the real opponent, she's the real problem. +p324 +aVI'll tell you what \u2014 I'll tell you what I'd be willing to fight for. I'll tell you what I'd be willing to fight for. Why will (ph) we put tax reform on the president's desk, so we can simplify this tax system? +p325 +aVNo, no, it's really important, Dana. We got to talk about what we would be willing to shut down for. Why don't we put tax reform on this president's desk, and make him veto it if that's what he wants to do? Why haven't we repealed and replaced Obamacare? Make him veto if that's what he wants to do. +p326 +aVThere's a \u2014 +p327 +aVJake \u2014 +p328 +aVOK, Jake. +p329 +aVI don't at this point in terms of changing the incentives for investment and risk-taking. But let's just stop for a second. There's one person on this stage that does have a record. I'm the only person on the stage and one of the few people in this country that led the effort as the chief architect of the last time we balanced the federal budget. We also cut taxes. And when I left Washington in 2000, we had a $5 trillion surplus, and the economy was booming. I had spent 10 years of my life to get us to that point, went out in the private sector, was a great experience, and went into Ohio and took an $8 billion hole and turned it into a $2 billion surplus. We've had the largest amount of tax cuts of any sitting governor. We've grown well over 300,000 jobs. You see, I've done it in both places. I'm the only one here that has done it in both places. It took a lot to get us to a balanced budget. It was legitimate. It was real. And we negotiated it. A lot of what we're talking about here tonight as we take this position and that position, you know what? At the end of the day, America has got to work. We've got to figure out how we come together to deal with this \u2014 with our fiscal problems because when we deal with that, we create a stronger economy for everybody. People have a chance to rise. So, you know, when we think about how we make a choice, it's the person that lands that plane. It's not somebody that talks about it. It's about the person who has done it. And I've done it in... +p330 +aV... both places. And I did it including people in the other party. And that's how we were successful. +p331 +aVAnd that's how I will be president, using that experience to drive this country forward. Thank you. +p332 +aVWell, look, people still have to get to know me, so I want to spend my time talking about my experience reforming welfare, balancing budgets, cutting taxes, providing economic growth when I was in Washington, turning Ohio around. Eight billion in the hole, $2 billion surplus, up over 300,000 jobs, big tax cuts, strengthening our credit. All those things matter but, you know, as a young man in my first election in 1978, I defeated an incumbent Democrat. I defeated an incumbent Democrat in 1982; running on the Reagan program, I was the only Republican in America to defeat an incumbent Democrat that year. And then, when I won for election of governor, I was the first Republican to defeat an incumbent in 36 years, and the first person to have never run statewide out of politics for 10 years to beat an incumbent. That hadn't happened for 96 years. So, we'll get to the point where we'll talk about Hillary Clinton, or whoever the nominee is, record. But right now, I want to give people sense of hope, sense of purpose, a sense of unity, sense that we can do it. So... +p333 +aVYou know, at the end of the day, I'm going to continue to talk about my record, because there is, did you ever notice when people run for office, they run for president, they make a lot of promises, they don't keep them. +p334 +aVI don't intend to do that, and I going to be out there pushing it out \u2014 don't worry about me and Hillary. That will all work out, and I'm from Ohio. She will not beat me there, I can promise you that. +p335 +aVCan I just \u2014 can I \u2014 Jake, can I just make one point on this whole military discussion? +p336 +aVI called for boots on the ground many months ago in a coalition with our friends who share our interest. You know, you win a battle with the military, and when we go somewhere, we need to be mobile, and lethal. We need to take care of business, and we need to come home. But, we face, also, a bigger war \u2014 and you win the bigger war with the battle of ideas. You wonder why young people, and educated people, rich people, schooled people, have tried to join +p337 +aV...to make (ph) centers (ph) of justice so that we can battle the radicals, call them out for what they are, and make sure that all of our people feel fulfilled in living in Western civilization... +p338 +aV...This is a giant battle in the world today... +p339 +aVWell, it's probably not, maybe, legal, but, I would pick Mother Theresa, the lady that I had a chance to meet, a woman who lived a life so much bigger than her own. An inspiration to everyone when we think about our responsibility to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. +p340 +aVWell, I have one now \u2014 they (ph) call me, "Unit One". My wife says, "You'll never be Unite One, I'm Unite One. You're Unit Two." +p341 +aVWell, as president, I will make this a nation that will solve problems. And how? By having the elected officials and the leaders realize they're Americans before they're Republicans or Democrats. I did it in Washington. And I've done it in Ohio by having the elected officials realize that they're Ohioans before anything else. Secondly, I will rebuild the relationships and show the respect to our allies around the world. We have no choice but to do that. We will be stronger when we are unified. And we'll fight for freedom and for human rights. And finally, a little bit of what Carly said. The people that are out there listening, America was never great because we ran America from the top down. America is great because we have run America from the bottom up, where we all live in the neighborhoods. One more time in America, we need to revive the concept of citizenship, where everybody's actions make a huge difference in changing the world. We have a Holocaust memorial on our state house grounds. And there is one line on there that stands out all the time. "If you've saved one life, you've changed the world." We need to adopt that as citizens and rebuild and reinspire our country. Thank you. +p342 +aVWell, first of all... ...first of all, Megyn, you should know that -- that President Reagan expanded Medicaid three or four times. Secondly, I had an opportunity to bring resources back to Ohio to do what? To treat the mentally ill. Ten thousand of them sit in our prisons. It costs $22,500 a year... ...to keep them in prison. I'd rather get them their medication so they could lead a decent life. Secondly, we are rehabbing the drug-addicted. Eighty percent of the people in our prisons have addictions or problems. We now treat them in the prisons, release them in the community and the recidivism rate is 10 percent and everybody across this country knows that the tsunami of drugs is -- is threatening their very families. So we're treating them and getting them on their feet. And, finally, the working poor, instead of them having come into the emergency rooms where it costs more, where they're sicker and we end up paying, we brought a program in here to make sure that people could get on their feet. And do you know what? Everybody has a right to their God-given purpose. And finally, our Medicaid is growing at one of the lowest rates in the country. And, finally, we went from $8 billion in the hole to $2 billion in the black. We've cut $5 billion in taxes... ...and we've grown 350,000 jobs. +p343 +aVChris, first of all, I was just saying to Chris Christie, they say we're outspoken, we need to take lessons from Donald Trump if we're really going to learn it. Here is the thing about Donald Trump. Donald Trump is hitting a nerve in this country. He is. He's hitting a nerve. People are frustrated. They're fed up. They don't think the government is working for them. And for people who want to just tune him out, they're making a mistake. Now, he's got his solutions. Some of us have other solutions. You know, look, I balanced the federal budget as one of the chief architects when I was in Washington. Hasn't been done since. I was a military reformer. I took the state of Ohio from an $8 billion hole and a 350,000 job loss to a $2 billion surplus and a gain of 350,000 jobs. +p344 +aVBut the point is that we all have solutions. Mr. Trump is touching a nerve because people want the wall to be built. They want to see an end to illegal immigration. They want to see it, and we all do. But we all have different ways of getting there. And you're going to hear from all of us tonight about what our ideas are. +p345 +aVDonald, if you... +p346 +aV-- this campaign, I hope you will give to me. +p347 +aVOK. +p348 +aVLet's start off with my father being a mailman. So I understand the concerns of all the folks across this country, some of whom have trouble, you know, making ends meet. But I think she will come in a narrow way. The nominee of this party, if they're going to win, has got to come at it in a big way, which is pro-growth. Which is balancing budgets. You know, we were talking about it. People were saying, could we do it? I was the chairman of the Budget Committee and the lead architect the last time it happened in Washington, and when we did it we had great economic growth, we cut taxes, and we had a big surplus. Economic growth is the key. Economic growth is the key to everything. But once you have economic growth, it is important that we reach out to people who live in the shadows, the people who don't seem to ever think that they get a fair deal. And that includes people in our minority community; that includes people who feel as though they don't have a chance to move up. You know, America is a miracle country. And we have to restore the sense that the "Amiracle" will apply to you. Each and every one of the people in this country who's watching tonight, lift everybody, unite everybody and build a stronger United States of America again. It will be and can be done. +p349 +aVWell, look, I'm an old-fashioned person here, and I happen to believe in traditional marriage. But I've also said the court has ruled -- +p350 +aVWait, Megyn, the court has ruled, and I said we'll accept it. And guess what, I just went to a wedding of a friend of mine who happens to be gay. Because somebody doesn't think the way I do, doesn't mean that I can't care about them or can't love them. So if one of my daughters happened to be that, of course I would love them and I would accept them. Because you know what? That's what we're taught when we have strong faith. So the issues like that, issues like that are planted to divide us. I think the simple fact of the matter is, and this is where I would agree with Jeb, and I've been saying it all along, we need to give everybody a chance, treat everybody with respect, and let them share in this great American dream that we have, Megan. So, look, I'm going to love my daughters, I'm going to love them no matter what they do. Because, you know what, God gives me unconditional love. I'm going to give it to my family and my friends and the people around me. +p351 +aVWell, Megyn, my father was a mailman. His father was a coal miner. My mother's mother could barely speak English. And their son today stands on this podium in the great state of Ohio not only as the governor, but a candidate for president of the United States. I do believe in miracles. You know, I've had a lot of elections. But my elections are really not about campaigns. I tell my people that these are about a movement. And a movement to do what? To restore common sense. A movement to do things like provide economic growth. And a movement not to let anybody be behind. You know, today the country is divided. You asked a question about the police and the difficulty in communities. We've got to unite our country again, because we're stronger when we are united and we are weaker when we are divided. And we've got to listen to other people's voices, respect them, but keep in mind, and I believe in terms of the things that I've read in my lifetime, the Lord'is not picking us. But because of how we respect human rights, because that we are a good force in the world, he wants America to be strong. He wants America to succeed. And he wants America to lead. And nothing is more important to me than my family, my faith, and my friends. +p352 +aVYou know, tonight we hear about what people want to do. I want to tell you what I've done. I was a member of the Armed Services Committee for 18 years. I spent a big chunk of my life studying national security issues and our role in the world. No. 2. I was the chairman of the House Budget Committee and one of the chief architects the last time we balanced a budget, and it was the first time we had done it since man walked on the moon. We had a $5 trillion surplus and we cut taxes. I spent ten years in the private sector, actually learning how business works. And now I'm the governor of Ohio, and I inherited a state that was on the brink of dying. And we turned it all around with jobs and balanced budgets and rising credit and tax cuts, and the state is unified, and people have hope again in Ohio. +p353 +asVQUICK +p354 +(lp355 +VGentlemen \u2014 we'll \u2014 we'll get back to this \u2014 just a minute \u2014 just a minute we're gonna continue this. I wanna talk taxes... +p356 +aVDr. Carson, let's talk about taxes. You have a flat tax plan of 10 percent flat taxes, and \u2014 I've looked at it \u2014 and this is something that is very appealing to a lot of voters, but I've had a really tough time trying to make the math work on this. If you were to took a 10 percent tax, with the numbers right now in total personal income, you're gonna come in with bring in $1.5 trillion. That is less than half of what we bring in right now. And by the way, it's gonna leave us in a $2 trillion hole. So what analysis got you to the point where you think this will work? +p357 +aVI \u2014 I understand that, but if you \u2014 if you look at the numbers you probably have to get to 28. +p358 +aV15 percent still leaves you with a $1.1 trillion hole. +p359 +aVYou'd have to cut \u2014 you'd have to cut government about 40 percent to make it work with a $1.1 trillion hole. +p360 +aVThat is true, I looked at the numbers. +p361 +aVDr. Carson, thank you. +p362 +aVGovernor... +p363 +aVDr. Carson, let me get 30 seconds with Dr. Carson... +p364 +aVThank you. +p365 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, thank you. +p366 +aVGentlemen, I'm sorry, we need to... +p367 +aVWe're going to move on. +p368 +aVThirty seconds. +p369 +aVWe'll get to everyone. Ms. Fiorina, I \u2014 I'd like to ask you a question. You are running for president of the United States because of your record running Hewlett-Packard. But the stock market is usually a fair indicator of the performance of a CEO, and the market was not kind to you. Someone who invested a dollar in your company the day you took office had lost half of the dollar by the day you left. Obviously, you've talked in the past about what a difficult time it was for technology companies, but anybody who was following the market knows that your stock was a much worse performer, if you looked at your competitors, if you looked at the overall market. I just wonder, in terms of all of that \u2014 you know, we look back, your board fired you. I just wondered why you think we should hire you now. +p370 +aVMrs. Fiorina, it's interesting that you bring up Mr. Perkins, because... ...he said a lot of very questionable things. Last year, in an interview, he said that he thinks wealthy people should get more votes than poor people. I think his quote was that, "if you pay zero dollars in taxes, you should get zero votes. If you pay a million dollars, you should get a million votes." Is this the type of person you want defending you? +p371 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p372 +aVThank you, we're out of time. Thank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Carl. +p373 +aVGovernor Christie, I'd like to a question next. Actually, I have a question for you . In your tell it like it is campaign, you've said a lot of tough things. You've said that we need to raise the retirement age for Social Security. You think that we need to cut benefits for people who make over $80,000 and eliminate them entirely for seniors who are making over $200,000. Governor Huckabee, who is here on the stage, has said that you and others who think this way are trying to rob seniors of the benefits that they've earned. It raises the question: When it is acceptable to break a social compact? +p374 +aV...Governor... +p375 +aV...Thank you. +p376 +aVWelcome back to the presidential debate for the Republicans. We are live in Boulder, Colorado, right here on +p377 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. +p378 +aVSenator Rubio, you yourself have said that you've had issues. You have a lack of bookkeeping skills. You accidentally inter-mingled campaign money with your personal money. You faced (ph) foreclosure on a second home that you bought. And just last year, you liquidated a $68,000 retirement fund. That's something that cost you thousands of dollars in taxes and penalties. In terms of all of that, it raises the question whether you have the maturity and wisdom to lead this $17 trillion economy. What do you say? +p379 +aVSenator, I understand all of that. I had a lot of student loans when I got out, too. But you've had a windfall that a lot of Americans haven't. You made over a million dollars on a book deal, and some of these problems came after that. +p380 +aVBut you \u2014 but you liquidated that retirement account after the fact, and that cost you about $24,000 out of that in taxes and feed. That \u2014 that was after you'd already come into that windfall. That's why I raised the question. +p381 +aVYes, thank you John. Senator Cruz, working women in this country still earn just 77 percent of what men earn. And I know that you've said you've been very sympathetic to our cause. But you've also you said that the Democrats' moves to try and change this are the political show votes. I just wonder what you would do as President to try and help in this cause? +p382 +aVMrs. Fiorina \u2014 +p383 +aVMrs. Fiorina, we will come back to you. +p384 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Carl? +p385 +aVMr. Trump, let's stay on this issue of immigration. You have been very critical of Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook who has wanted to increase the number of these H1Bs. +p386 +aVSo you're in favor of... +p387 +aVWhere did I read this and come up with this that you were... +p388 +aVYou know, Mr. \u2014 you know, Mr. Trump, if I may . You've been \u2014 you have been \u2014 you had talked a little bit about Marco Rubio. I think you called him Mark Zuckerberg's personal senator because he was in favor of the H1B. +p389 +aVSo this was an erroneous article the whole way around? +p390 +aVMy apologies. I'm sorry. +p391 +aVYes, you can. +p392 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you very much. I would like to introduce my colleague, Rick Santelli, he has some comments as well, sir. +p393 +aVRick, thank you very much. Governor Huckabee, you have railed against income inequality. You've said that some Wall Street executives should have gone to jail over the roles that they played during the financial crisis. Apart from your tax plan, are there specific steps you would require from corporate America to try and reduce the income inequality. +p394 +aVGovernor? +p395 +aVGovernor? +p396 +aVThank you. +p397 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee. +p398 +aVHow about 15 more seconds? +p399 +aVGovernor? +p400 +aVGovernor, I'm sorry... +p401 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p402 +aVGovernor, thank you. Appreciate it. John? +p403 +aVIt's at the moderator discretion. +p404 +aVWelcome back to the University of Colorado and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p405 +aVThank you, sir. +p406 +aVYou were. You get 30 seconds. +p407 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Carl? +p408 +aVHigher education is the example... +p409 +aVI want to go back, if I can, to the issue of... +p410 +aVI want to go back, if I may, to the... +p411 +aVSenator Paul, among the leading conservative opponents to the creation of Medicare back in the 1960s was Ronald Reagan. He warned that it would lead to socialism. Considering the mounting cost of Medicare, was he right to oppose it? +p412 +aVSenator, thank you. [ +p413 +aVWelcome back to Boulder, Colorado and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p414 +aVThank you, Governor. +p415 +aVGovernor. +p416 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Paul, let's go back to you. Do these solutions sound like they work? +p417 +aVDo these solutions sound like they would work? +p418 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Governor? +p419 +aVGood evening, everyone. I'm Becky Quick, along with my +p420 +aVGovernor Jindal, let's talk a little bit about the news of the day. Just a few hours ago, the Republicans and the Democrats in the House voted on a budget deal that will increase spending by about $80 billion dollars over the next two years. You, however, have called the Republicans who have been willing to work with the Democrats to do things like this the, "Surrender Party of the Republican caucus." Would you have shut the government down instead? +p421 +aV...But Governor... +p422 +aV...if you didn't have a choice, if you didn't control things in the house, would you take the choice of shutting things down, or would you go ahead and agree with them? +p423 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p424 +aVGovernor Pataki, let's get to your point. You wanted to make a comment on the budget. You want to get in on the idea, what would you do if you were in Washington? Would you compromise... +p425 +aVGovernor Pataki, thank you. John? +p426 +aVGovernor Pataki, let's talk a little bit about what's happened on Wall Street. Some of your colleagues in the Republican Party, including some of the people on this stage, have bashed Wall Street. They say that it was largely responsible for the financial crisis. You're a former governor of New York, and you relied very heavily on Wall Street for income. Do you think they've gone too far? +p427 +aVGovernor Pataki, thank you. +p428 +aVCarl? +p429 +aVWelcome back, everyone. This is the Republican Presidential Debate on +p430 +aVSenator, I'm sorry your minute is up. +p431 +aVThank you very much, Senator Santorum. +p432 +aVAnd Graham, Mr. Graham, yes, that was a question to you, too. +p433 +aVYou have 30 seconds. +p434 +aVSenator Graham, thank you. +p435 +aVI'm sorry. That's your 30 seconds... +p436 +aVSenator Graham... +p437 +aVThank you, Senator. +p438 +aVGentlemen, hold on a second. +p439 +aVGo ahead, +p440 +aVGovernor Pataki... +p441 +aV\u2014 I'm sorry, that was a... +p442 +aVGovernor Pataki... +p443 +aVI'm sorry to talk over you, sir. That was a minute. +p444 +aVThank you very much. +p445 +aVCarl? +p446 +aVYou guys are making this just like home. This is just like . +p447 +aVGovernor Jindal, I want to go back to something that you mentioned before with your tax plan. I know that you want to put a 2 percent tax on all families, just to make sure everyone has some skin in the game. But every working American pays 6.2 percent, when it comes to Social Security taxes. They pay another 1.45 percent of Medicare. Isn't that skin in the game? +p448 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p449 +aVWelcome back to Boulder, Colorado, and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p450 +aVNo, no. +p451 +aVI \u2014 I'm with you. I still have a BlackBerry, too. Senator \u2014 Senator Santorum, how about you? +p452 +aVThank you. Governor? +p453 +aVThank you. Senator Graham? +p454 +aVWe take your time back. Yes. +p455 +aVJohn? +p456 +asVGRAHAM +p457 +(lp458 +VThank you very much. I just returned from Iraq two weeks ago. It was my 36th trip to Iraq and Afghanistan in the last decade. Toward the end, I met a very impressive Special Forces sergeant. It was his job to train Iraqi Kurdish commandos. He was so proud of what he was doing and so proud of the people he was training. He was the replacement for Master Sergeant Wheeler, a Delta Force member who was killed two months ago in a raid against an +p459 +aVYou may think this makes us safe, but it doesn't. The good news for everybody in this room is, after 36 trips to Iraq and Afghanistan, most people over there, Wolf, are not buying what +p460 +aVI will support the Republican nominee, whoever he or she may be. Like Bob Dole, I may sleep late that day if it's Trump. But the bottom line, if it's Trump, so be it. That's who I'll support. Please understand we're in a war that we can't afford to lose, and what he said about banning Muslims coming here to America has made us all less safe, and it's the worst possible thing he could do in this war. He clearly doesn't understand this war and how to win it. For God's sakes, pick somebody who is worthy of the sacrifice of those who are fighting this war and who actually knows how to win, and I don't believe that's Mr. Trump, and I know it's not Hillary Clinton. +p461 +aVRick, please understand the only way we're gonna win the war against radical Islam is for the world to unite. Very few fathers and mothers want to turn their daughters and sons over to +p462 +aVWell, here's what I'm here to tell you, when I first started this process of running for president., I said, " if you didn't realize we need more America boots on the ground in Iraq and eventually in Syria as a part of the regional army - not ready to be commander in chief." Like nobody said a word, now everybody's on board except Senator Paul. Senator Paul and Senator Cruz, are isolationists. They both want to restrict the ability of the NSA to do the following; find out if somebody overseas is calling into America and if somebody is on the other end of the phone, don't you want to know who their talking to? IF a terrorist is calling into America and we can match up phone numbers we get a get a court order to find out what the content is. We're at war folks, they're not trying to steal your car, they're trying to kills us all. So yes, I would re-institute this program. There's four things you need to understand about this war, it's a religious war, them against the world, if you don't fight them over there, they're coming here. If you don't hit them first, they're going to hit us. If you're not determined to fight it as a ware, you're going to lose it. So if you're worried about somebody having your phone in the government, don't be. The only thing you need to worry about is if you're talking to terrorist and a judge gives an order to listen to what you're saying. That's all you need to worry about. +p463 +aVCan I say something? +p464 +aVYeah. There are at least 3,500 American muslims serving in the armed forces. Thank you for your service. You are not the enemy. Your religion is not the enemy. Let me make this real to you. I was at the second presidential election in Afghanistan. The guy guarding me was an American Muslim sergeant in the Army who grew up in Kabul, left when he was \u2014 graduated high school, joined the U.S. Army, went back to his high school where they were doing polling, people voting, he took me there and cried like a baby. I cried like a baby. He is the solution to this problem, folks. He is not the problem. Leave the faith alone. Go after the radicals that kill us all. +p465 +aVThank you. This is why I own a flip phone. You don't have to worry about all of this stuff. The bottom line is, we're at war. They're trying to come here to kill us all and it's up to the government to protect you within constitutional means. Any system that would allow a terrorist to communicate with somebody in our country and we can't find out what they're saying is stupid. If I'm president of the United States, and you join +p466 +aVWell, what you want to do is you want to knock them off line. How about this idea? If you pledge allegiance to al-Baghdadi, you can't get married in America? The bottom line is you have to go after them everywhere. The key to winning this war is to provide the capacity to those in the faith who reject the ideology. The key to fighting this war is to fight it in their backyard, not ours. Two years ago I came up with a plan that requires more American boots on the ground in Iraq. The first thing out of my mouth running for President was, if you don't understand we need 10,000 troops in Iraq, rather than 3,500, you're not ready. What would I do in Syria? I'd form a regional army of Arabs and Turkey. Ninety percent them, 10 percent us. Up to 10,000 U.S. forces to go in on the ground and destroy the caliphate and its roots. Take Raqqah away from +p467 +aVYeh, it's just you're not going to win that way, Rick. There's nobody left in Syria to train. Between the Russians and Assad, they have killed all the people we trained, and our President sat on the sidelines and watched people get killed that we enticed into the fight. There is nobody left to train. I would get the Arabs who are threatened by +p468 +aVWell, number one, dead men don't preach anything. If you don't understand we need a ground force to go into Syria, then you're not ready to destroy +p469 +aVYeah. I just don't make this up, Wolf. I talk to people who are combat trained who have won in Iraq who I trust. Here's what I want to tell the Arab world and Turkey. We're not going to send 100,000 troops. You're going to do the fighting this time and we're gonna help you. We paid for the last two wars, you're gonna pay for this one. And, by the way, they get it because +p470 +aVTwo years ago. +p471 +aVYes. +p472 +aVI think we need to have a military strategy regarding Libya. They've just take over Gaddafi's hometown called Sur. There's about 2000 of them. Here's what I've learned in my 36 visits, you can't deter these guys, they're ready to die, bring on the virgins. Dying is first place in their world. What we have to do is work with others over time to destroy to ideology. We have to offer a hopeful life to compete with the glory of this. Most young people folks want the same thing you do. They don't want to live in the 11th century. So yes, you have to destroy the caliphate. I want to work with Arabs and Turkey to do it, but here's the key is to not leave. If we left Germany and Japan only god knows what would've happened. If we have 10000 troops left in Iraq, there would be no +p473 +aVI want to talk to General Keane first. I want to find out, what do we need militarily to keep them contained and eventually destroy them in Libya. They're in nine countries. You want to deal with Libya, go to Iraq and Syria. You want to prevent another 9/11, take the caliphate headquarters away from +p474 +aVNo. What I would do is I would try to make friends throughout the world to destroy a common threat to the world. These people are religious Nazis. Most people in Islam don't buy what they're selling. I've told you a thousand times that I would partner with the Arabs in Turkey. But, the reason they don't partner with Obama is they just don't trust him. Do you think they would trust me? I know them all. I've been working for a decade to figure out how to win this war. To my good friend Ted Cruz, please ask him the following question, you say you would keep Assad in power, I will tell you that is the worst possible thing that could come out of an American leaders mouth. It would be disastrous. His favorite movie is, apparently, Princess Bride. Ted, getting in bed with Iran and Russia to save Assad is inconceivable. +p475 +aVPrincess Buttercup would not like this. +p476 +aV...I didn't get to say yes. Yes. +p477 +aVYeah, this is an important discussion. The American president is the strongest voice in the world \u2014 until Obama came along. Now, we're just one of many. When you ask people to help you, when you entice Syrians to join your cause, to take down the dictator they hate to destroy +p478 +aV...we'd better do something about it, and I have a plan. +p479 +aVI don't think it's necessary. If you don't want to be there, I don't want you to be there. I just retired after 33 years in the Air Force, 140 days on the ground as an Air Force Reservist. To those who are watching, thank you for your service. I've had a small walk in your shoes. We have the best military in the world. Obama has put it in a box. Let's take it out of the box and use it before we get attacked here. We don't need a draft, we need a commander in chief who knows what the hell they're doing. +p480 +aVAnd, I am that guy. +p481 +aVBut, the reason they don't partner with Obama is they just don't trust him. Do you think they would trust me? I know them all. I've been working for a decade to figure out how to win this war. To my good friend Ted Cruz, please ask him the following question, you say you would keep Assad in power, I will tell you that is the worst possible thing that could come out of an American leaders mouth. It would be disastrous. His favorite movie is, apparently, Princess Bride. Ted, getting in bed with Iran and Russia to save Assad is inconceivable. +p482 +aVPrincess Buttercup would not like this. +p483 +aV...I didn't get to say yes. Yes. +p484 +aVYeah, this is an important discussion. The American president is the strongest voice in the world \u2014 until Obama came along. Now, we're just one of many. When you ask people to help you, when you entice Syrians to join your cause, to take down the dictator they hate to destroy +p485 +aV...we'd better do something about it, and I have a plan. +p486 +aVI don't think it's necessary. If you don't want to be there, I don't want you to be there. I just retired after 33 years in the Air Force, 140 days on the ground as an Air Force Reservist. To those who are watching, thank you for your service. I've had a small walk in your shoes. We have the best military in the world. Obama has put it in a box. Let's take it out of the box and use it before we get attacked here. We don't need a draft, we need a commander in chief who knows what the hell they're doing. +p487 +aVAnd, I am that guy. +p488 +aVCan, can I... +p489 +aVThis is important. We're not fighting all the wars with our kids. If you've been to Iraq and Afghanistan and you made any friends, you've lots of bunch. Thousands have died in Iraq and Afghanistan fighting. +p490 +aVDon't belittle their sacrifice. +p491 +aVNo. +p492 +aVTo, to those the (well) times in the Army were a bigger problem than they are today. If you want to fix this, you get the Army to 500,000, not 420,000. You want to win this war, grow the Navy to 350 ships, not 275. Sequestration is Latin for doing really dumb things. We're going to have the smallest Navy since 1915, the smallest Army since 1940. I was yelling and screaming don't do sequestration. I was right. If I am President of the United States, Commander in Chief, we're going to rebuild our military without a draft... +p493 +aV...and we're going to go on the offense and they're ready to go. +p494 +aVThey are ready to go. They just need to be led. +p495 +aVWell I stand unique, having been a military lawyer for 33 years. I've been a defense attorney, a prosecutor, and a military judge. Mr. Trump, you don't have to speak about everything, that's not required. I would make sure that everybody had a fair trial. Does that make sense to you? We're at war folks and this stuff has to stop. It's bad for morale to hear somebody wanting to be Commander in Chief that would deny due process to somebody who's been charged in the military. For God's sakes Mr. Trump, you're asking to be the Commander in Chief , the leader of the free world, up your game. As to women, if you want to kill terrorists, I'm your guy. +p496 +aVWell, the first thing I would do is make adjustments to reality. I want to look and see if this was a terrorist arranged marriage between the couple in California. The fact that they met online accidentally is almost zero. So, no, I would have a time-out on Syrian refugees because you'd be crazy if you didn't after Paris. But, I've been to the refugee camps in Turkey, and Jordan. Trust me with your Christian \u2014 and I'm a lousy Christian saved by grace, but \u2014 this is important. We've got to stop this war. Do you realize that there are more Syrian refugees in Lebanon going to school than Lebanese children? Do you realize if this war goes for another year the King of Jordan could fall? Let's have a no-fly zone. +p497 +aVI would \u2014 make changes to that bill in light of what I know today. +p498 +aVThe next president is going to be a war-time president, whether they like it or not. I'm ready for that job. Two years ago isolationism led by Senator Paul and Cruz was white hot in our party. Now it is in retreat because events have proven me more right than wrong and has proven them to be wrong. In the first debate I called for American troops on the ground to protect our homeland. Nobody came forward. Now, most have. We've spent a lot of carnage to get them to where I have always been. Make me president, I will keep you and your family safe. +p499 +aVWell, number one, thank you for having me here tonight. How about a round of applause for Boulder, Colorado? This is a beautiful place. Looking at their academic standards, the only way I could have gotten into this university is to be invited to this debate tonight. But here's my take on things. Without national security, there is no economic security. Without the sacrifice of the veteran, all of our hopes and dreams are at risk. Just a few days ago, Hillary Clinton said that the problems with the V.A. are being exaggerated by Republicans. They are not, they are real. +p500 +aVWell, let me tell you what is real. The threat to our homeland. I've never seen so many threats to our homeland than I do today. Barack Obama is an incompetent Commander in Chief. There are more terrorist organizations with safe havens to attack the American homeland than anytime since 9/11. We're in the process of reducing our defense spending by half. I am looking at this budget with one view in mind, will it restore the ability to defend this nation. We're on track to have the smallest army since 1940, the smallest navy since 1915, this budget, if it is paid for, will put $40 billion dollars back in the defense department at a time we need it. The number one role of the federal government's to defend this nation, I intend to be a Commander in Chief that can win a war we cannot afford to lose. +p501 +aVHere's the problem. We're being walked all over because our commander in chief is weak in the eyes of our enemies. Do you think Putin would be in the Ukraine today if Ronald Reagan were president? Why are the Chinese stealing our intellectual property, hacking into our system? Why are they building islands over resource-rich waters? Because they can get away with it. At the end of the day, ladies and gentlemen, the foreign policy of Barack Obama needs to be replaced, and the last person you want to find to replace his foreign policy is his secretary of state. So to the Chinese, when it comes to dealing with me, you've got a clenched fist or an open hand. You pick. The party's over, to all the dictators. Make me commander-in-chief and this crap stops. +p502 +aVNo, I \u2014 I think I'm trying to solve problems that somebody had better solve. Now, you don't have to believe that climate change is real. I have been to the Antarctic. I've been to Alaska. I'm not a scientist, and I've got the grades to prove it. But I've talked to the climatologists of the world, and 90 percent of them are telling me that greenhouse gas effect is real. That we're heating up the planet. I just want a solution that would be good for the economy, that doesn't destroy it. I want to fix an immigration system. I'm not gonna tell you, if you like your doctor, you can keep it \u2014 keep him. Do you like your health care, you're gonna keep it. I'm tired of telling people things that they want to hear, that we know we're not gonna do. We're not gonna eliminate the corporate tax. But we can make it lower. We're going to fix immigration, only if we work together. I want to secure the border because, if we don't, we're going to get hurt and hit again. I want to fix a broken visa system. I want to increase legal immigration, because we're gonna have a shortage of workers over time. As to the 11 million, I want to talk about fixing the problem. We're not going to deport 11 million people and their legal citizen children. But we will deport felons. And those who stay will have to learn our language to stay, because I don't speak it well but look how far I've come. +p503 +aVAt the end of the day, folks, I am trying to solve a problem and win an election. I am tired of losing. Good God, look who we're running against. The number one candidate on the other side thought she was flat broke after her and her husband were in the White House for eight years. The number two guy went to the Soviet Union on his honeymoon and I don't think he ever came back. If we don't beat these people, who the hell are we going to beat? +p504 +aVThe first thing... +p505 +aV\u2014 that we have to do is come to grips with the reality that we're facing as Americans. In 1950, there were 16 workers for every Social Security recipient. Today, there's three. In 20 years, there are two. I want to make sure that no American company leaves America because you can't find a worker. American workers always get the first preference. But if you can't find an American worker, after you advertise at a competitive wage, I don't want you to be at a loss. Bring people in based on merit. Let's take a broken immigration... +p506 +aV\u2014 system... +p507 +aV\u2014 and make a merit-based immigration system that will help our economy. We're going to need workers in the future. +p508 +aVLet's just choose rationally. +p509 +aVWe owe to every businessperson and worker in America the best environment in the world to create a job. We owe that to American businesses. Thirty-five percent corporate tax rate is the second highest in the world. We need to lower it so they don't leave. The goal is to help the middle class. We can talk about corporations all day long but my goal is to help the middle class, somebody who makes too much to be on government assistance but still lives paycheck to paycheck. When the kid gets sick you don't go on vacation. +p510 +aVThat's the purpose of my presidency, to grow the economy here. And let me tell you, our Democratic friends have a list a mile long of more government. That's not going to grow the middle class, that's going to create a burden on your children, which they're already overburdened. The best way to grow the middle class is to make it a good place to create a job. You know why Boeing came to South Carolina when they could have gone anywhere to build the 787? Because we wanted them. We had a low-tax structure. +p511 +aVA permitting structure that allowed them to build the building even faster than they thought they could build it. We welcomed them there. I'm going to take the South Carolina attitude \u2014 +p512 +aVI think everybody owes an obligation to the country. The ones that I'm most worried about are the 1 percent of Americans in uniform, who have been fighting this war for 14 years. They need a commander in chief who knows what the hell they're doing. My first job as President of the United States is to rebuild the military and use it smartly. Admiral Mullen said the debt is a big threat to our national security. He's right. But people go where they're welcome when it comes to job creation. If I'm President of the United States you will be welcomed in America. +p513 +aVThis will be the place to come \u2014 +p514 +aVAnd if I'm president of the United States \u2014 +p515 +aV\u2014 our enemies \u2014 +p516 +aVWell, number one, Social Security is not just a concept to me. I know why it exists; 50 percent of today's seniors would be in poverty without a Social Security check. I promise you, if you make me your president, I will save Social Security because I know why it exists. Now, if you're looking for good beer policy, I'm your best bet. My dad owned a bar. I know beer. We grew up, my sister and myself, in the back of that bar in one room with my mom, my dad and my sister who's nine years younger. When I was 21, my mom was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease. Neither parent finished high school. She died within a year. We were wiped out from the medical bills. And if it wasn't for a Social Security survivor benefit check coming into my family, we wouldn't' have made it because my dad died 15 months later. So I... +p517 +aVWait a minute, please. I'm 22 and we're wiped out. I am 60. I'm not married. I have a military retirement. I'm in good shape. I would give up some of my benefits to help those who need it more than I do. To young people here, I will ask you to work a little bit longer because we have to. The purpose of my presidency is to save this country and to save Social Security by working across the aisle just like Ronald Reagan. This is the biggest issue facing this nation. +p518 +aVWell, number one, the only reason I have an iPhone is because I gave my number to Donald Trump. Don't do that. +p519 +aVDonald has done more to upgrade my technology than my whole staff. Number one, Fox News. Sorry about +p520 +aVWell, I think a national holiday would be the day that commander-in-chief Barack Obama doesn't have that job. But unlike these other three, I want to win New Hampshire. Go Tom Brady. Go Patriots. Sorry, Colorado is late in the... +p521 +aVSomebody said \u2014 or maybe I saw it on the bill of a cap \u2014 that let's make America great again. America is great. I intend to make America strong again. I'm going to be the champion of the middle class, where I came from. If you make me your president, our best days are ahead. I'm ready to be commander- in-chief, ladies and gentlemen, on day one. I intend to war \u2014 win a war that we cannot afford to lose. I will be a commander-in-chief worthy of the sacrifice of those brave Americans who have been defending our nation. They have had our back. God knows, they have had our back... +p522 +aV\u2014 and I intend to have their back as commander-in- chief. Make me commander-in-chief. +p523 +asVREGAN +p524 +(lp525 +VIn Tuesday's State of the Union Address, the president said that our economy is strong. He cited the significant decline we've seen in unemployment rate and the millions of jobs that have been created. What is your assessment of the economy right now? And I would like to hear from all of you on this one, beginning with Ms. Fiorina. +p526 +aVThank you Governor Huckabee. Senator Santorum? +p527 +aVThank you. Well, since we've been talking about the Middle East, Senator Santorum, conflicts between Saudi Arabia and Iran have certainly escalated, amid accusations that Saudi Arabia bombed the Iranian Embassy in Yemen after the Saudi Embassy in Tehran was attacked. As we confront an increasingly unstable Middle East, how will you, as president, navigate this administration's promises to Iran while standing by our historic allies in the region? +p528 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p529 +aVGovernor Huckabee, if I could just follow-up with that. Do we need to be in Afghanistan? +p530 +aVThank you Governor Huckabee. Ms. Fiorina, nearly 600 women say they were attacked in a German city on New Year's Eve by men of Arab or North African descent and 45 percent of those alleged attacks were sexual assaults. Twenty-two of those 32 men arrested so far are asylum-seekers. Are you worried about similar problems in the United States? +p531 +aVI want to stay with you on this. The world shares a common enemy right now in the way of +p532 +aVMs. Fiorina, thank you. +p533 +aVWelcome back, everyone, to the Republican presidential debate. On to the next round of questions \u2014 Sandra. +p534 +aVMs. Fiorina, the president has just issued an executive order to expand the gun laws and background checks. And none of you on stage agree with this. But recent polls show the majority of Americans are in favor of universal background checks. +p535 +aVIt's the poll data. +p536 +aVSo tell me......why, in your view, is the president's proposal a problem? +p537 +aVMs. Fiorina, you've said that was when you were CEO of HP, you actually worked with the government. +p538 +aV\u2014 to try and combat some of these terrorist threats. +p539 +aVWhat did you do? +p540 +aVMs. Fiorina, thank you. +p541 +aVGovernor Huckabee, an American in San Bernardino murdered 14 people while terrorists with Belgian and French passports murdered 130 people. Were facing a threat within our borders, and from outside the United States. Those European terrorists, they could have come here at any time given that we have a visa waiver program that enables people to travel back and forth. It exists within those countries, and 36 others. In countries around the world, including many in Europe, cannot ensure that their citizens are not jihadists, why are we waiving the visa requirement at all? +p542 +aVIf you get the visa waiver program, does that shut down international commerce? +p543 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p544 +aVSenator Santorum, thank you. +p545 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p546 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from North Charleston. We want to jump right back in. Sandra is kicking it off. +p547 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you know it used to be you could graduate from high school and get a pretty good job at the local factory, enough to take care of your family and yourself. Those days seem to be gone. It's pretty hard to do that nowadays. Businesses are increasingly turning to automation to increase their productivity levels. It's happening right here, in fact, at the Boeing factory in North Charleston. The president says automation threatens workers' ability to get higher wages. Do you agree with that? And if so, do you have a solution? +p548 +aVThank you very much, Governor Huckabee. Senator Santorum, 40% of babies born today are born to single moms. That's twice as high as reported back in 1980, and it's 11 times as high as in 1940. Studies show that children are always better off economically, most often \u2014 and emotionally, with two parents in a household. From a policy perspective, should the government be doing anything to encourage family formation? +p549 +aVThank you. +p550 +aVCarly Fiorina? +p551 +aVThank you to all the candidates. That does it, everyone for the first debate right here in North Charleston. +p552 +aVGood evening, and welcome to the historic Milwaukee Theater. Tonight, you'll hear from 12 Republican candidates vying to become the next President of the United States. I'm Trish Regan, along with my co-moderators, Sandra Smith, and from the Wall Street Journal, Jerry Seib. +p553 +aVLet's introduce them. New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie. Former Arkansas Governor, Mike Huckabee. Former Pennsylvania Senator, Rick Santorum. And, Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindal. +p554 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p555 +aVAll right, Governor Jindal, you have pushed Louisiana's energy resources as a means to grow jobs in your state. But as oil prices have plunged in recent months, so has jobs growth. Louisiana now has an unemployment rate above the national average. Will your energy-focused jobs plan for the country be subject to the same market ups and downs? +p556 +aVAll right, Governor Jindal, thank you. Governor Christie, you have said that the Democrats' message is one of, quote, "free stuff." In contrast, Republicans want to reduce spending. How do you win a national election when the Democrats are offering free health care, a free or subsidized college education, and you're the party that is seemingly offering nothing in the way of immediate tangible benefits? +p557 +aVSenator Santorum, a single mom with no job and two kids in New Hampshire, home of the first in the nation primary, is eligible for more than $30,000 a year in benefits. Even if she could find a job, she would need to find child care. And in many cases may conclude it's better for her to live off government benefits. Senator, how do you help and incentivize her to go to work? And if you're the one that's going to cut her benefits, why should she vote for you? +p558 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you. All right, we are just getting started. Medicare, Social Security and the future of ObamaCare \u2014 that is all straight ahead, live from Milwaukee and the Republican presidential debate. +p559 +aVWelcome back to the Milwaukee Theater, and the Republican Presidential Debate. On to the next round of questions, Gerry has the next question. +p560 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you differ from many of your GOP opponents on the stage tonight over accepting Syrian refugees into this country. You have said, "We don't have an obligation to just open our doors." As the Islamic state continues to expand, slaughtering and crucifying Christians, including women and children, refugees continue to flee their land by the thousands. Should America open its doors to accept any refugees in this country? If so, how many? +p561 +aVAlright, Governor Huckabee, thank you. +p562 +aVNext question to you, Governor... +p563 +aV...Next question to you, Governor... +p564 +aV...let me get in......Let me get in here, because the next question, it's to you, and it's on Obamacare. It is still unpopular with the American people. You've seen the polls, they've shown nearly half the country still opposes this law. You have been critical of your GOP opponents, some of them standing on the stage tonight, others later. Notably, Ted Cruz, for not having comprehensive plans. You say you do. What specifically makes your plan to replace Obamacare better than the opponents, some of them standing next to you. +p565 +aVGovernor Jindal, thank you. +p566 +aVWe'll get to that. +p567 +aVRonald Reagan did work with Tip O'Neill. Anyway, we are going to take a quick break. Coming up, one of the top issues for voters, how much you're paying in taxes. We are live from Milwaukee with the Republican presidential debate. See you right back here. +p568 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate. We are live from Milwaukee. A top issue on the campaign trail, taxes and how much you pay. All right, I've got a question for all of you here. When looking at the federal income tax, state income tax and local tax, in some cases, combined, some Americans are paying over 50 percent of their paycheck to the government. What is the highest percentage, all in, in the way of taxes, that any American should have to pay and what is the lowest? I'd like to, again, to hear from each of you. And I want those two all in numbers. I'm going to start with you, Senator Santorum. +p569 +aVAll in. OK, Governor Christie? +p570 +aVAnd we'll get back to you. Governor Jindal? +p571 +aVGovernor Huckabee, Americans, under your plan, would pay a tax on every single thing that they purchase. Given that consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of GDP, some economists worry that your tax plan would actually discourage spending, thereby slowing our economy. How do you respond? +p572 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p573 +aVSenator Santorum, you agree with Governor Christie. You also have said that the Fed should be audited. But many worry that given the Congressional challenges that they face, by having Congressional oversight of the Fed, which has been historically an independent body, you would be making the Fed much more political. How would you navigate that risk? +p574 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee, both Senator Santorum and Governor Christie were boat \u2014 both critical of the Federal Reserve. Also, many have questioned whether Janet Yellen is the right person to be running the Fed. If elected president, would you keep Janet Yellen? +p575 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee, thank you. All right, Senator Santorum, by the way, today is the 240th... +p576 +aV\u2014 of the United States... +p577 +aV\u2014 Marine Corps. Tomorrow is Veterans Day. We honor and recognize all those who have fought for, and served this great nation, Senator. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, meanwhile, which provides patient care, and federal benefits to those veterans, as well as their families, is beset by scandal. What new ideas do you have to fix the broken V.A. healthcare system? +p578 +asVHEMMER +p579 +(lp580 +VSo, here we go. Ninety-seven hours before Iowa chooses, in fact the last two winners in this state are on this stage tonight. Governor Huckabee, in 2008, you won by nine points here, but this time your support seems to be going to Senator Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. Why, Governor, is your message not working this time? +p581 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Santorum, four short years ago you won Iowa. You beat Mitt Romney, pretty much shocked the country. But, just the other day you talked about what is in the greater good for your campaign. Is Monday night your last stand? +p582 +aVOK. +p583 +aV... Senator, do you want to name... ... Senator, do you want to name that entertainer your refering to? +p584 +aVBut senator, since you mentioned... +p585 +aVSenator, quickly then, after this debate, you mentioned Donald trump's name. Immediately, you're going to event across town here in Des Moines as a guest of Donald Trump. +p586 +aVSo are you laying the groundwork for maybe your future? Perhaps an endorsement of Mr. Trump? +p587 +aVThank you, senator. One moment. We'll get to you in a moment, Governor. We have a few coming up. +p588 +aVThank you. Governor Gilmore. As of one week ago, you have not held a single campaign event here in the state of Iowa. As of one week ago, in fact, you were the only one in the Republican field who had not made a campaign visit to this state. You know how it works here. You know how it's worked over time. Why should anyone caucus for you on Monday night? +p589 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p590 +aVMs. Fiorina, same topic. The president says that many are exaggerating the threat from +p591 +aVThank you. +p592 +aVGovernor Gilmore, some time this spring 34 more detainees are cleared from release from Gitmo. If you were president, as you say, this president wants to close it. As president, if Gitmo were closed and an enemy combatant were found or captured in the field of battle, perhaps Syria or Iraq or Libya, and you don't have Gitmo, where would you put them? +p593 +aVGovernor, thank you for that. +p594 +aVWelcome back to Des Moines on what will be a long night here. Let's get back to the questions. Let's get back to the questions with Martha. +p595 +aVLet me stay with you, Ms. Fiorina. You've said you will shrink the federal government by 30 percent over the next two years, and those jobs will not be filled, and you'll do it through retirement. Your critics would argue that's exactly what you did at Hewlett Packard when 30,000 people lost their jobs. If it did not work at H.P., why would it work at the federal government? +p596 +aVThank you. +p597 +aVGovernor Huckabee, Nikki Haley, Republican governor from South Carolina, recently said... +p598 +aVI did not, but we... +p599 +aVWe have plenty for you -- you bet, Governor. We have a couple more in the hopper for you in a moment here. +p600 +aVFirst, Governor -- Governor Huckabee, Nikki Haley warned about listening to "the siren call of the angriest voices," to which Donald Trump said he is "very, very angry." Who is right, Governor? +p601 +aVThank you, Governor. +p602 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you've mentioned the economy several times tonight. Let's go back to that for a moment because in America today 50% of the American workers are making less than $30,000 dollars a year. Let's talk about what you could do for them. The Conservative Club for Growth has had an issue with your policy on taxes for years. In fact, it called you, "Tax Hike Mike". And, the record shows state spending in Arkansas increased 54% when you were in charge, 94% if you include federal dollars during that same period. When it comes to helping people at the margins, $30,000, $32,000 dollars a year, what's better? A tax and spend approach, or shrinking government? +p603 +aVGovernor Huckabee, thank you. Same issue, Senator Santorum. The President says criticism of his economic policy is political hot air. You consistently talk about manufacturing jobs leaving America. You support a flat tax of 20%. How would a flat tax bring back two million jobs to America? +p604 +aVSenator, thank you. +p605 +aVThank you Ms. Fiorina. Governor Gilmore. Who are the moderate Muslims do you seek advice and counsel from on how to deal with the threat from radical Islamic terrorism? +p606 +aVThank you governor. Governor Huckabee. Here in Iowa 43 percent of Democratic caucus goers describe themselves as socialist. That's a higher number than those who say they are capitalist. I guess you could say, they're feeling the burn. This is a country rooted in capitalism, the United States of America. How did we get here? +p607 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum, the president says politics in America have become meaner over the past several years with him in the White House. Two weeks ago at the State of the Union he said the following. "A president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide." Lincoln and Roosevelt, that's pretty good company. If he is right, do Republicans share some of the blame? +p608 +aVThank you, Senator. +p609 +aVIn the closing few moments, the candidates have an opportunity to make a closing statement, 30 seconds for each. And, we want to start tonight with the former Virginia Governor, Jim Gilmore. +p610 +aV... Thank you, Governor. +p611 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p612 +aVThank you, Governor. +p613 +aVThat concludes our debate tonight, but the night has just begun. +p614 +asVUNIDENTIFIED +p615 +(lp616 +VWhy don't, why don't we... +p617 +asVBAIER +p618 +(lp619 +VLess than a year from now, in this very arena, one of these 10 candidates or one of the seven on the previous debate tonight will accept the Republican party's nomination. Tonight's candidates were selected based on an average of five national polls. Just a few hours ago, you heard from the candidates ranked 11th through 17. And now, the prime-time event, the top 10. +p620 +aVNeurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Florida Senator Marco Rubio. +p621 +aVIt might be. It might be. We'll see. [ +p622 +aVIt might be. The rules for tonight are simple. One minute for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups. And if a candidate runs over, you'll hear this. Pleasant, no? We also have a big crowd here with us tonight in the home of the Cavaliers, as I mentioned. And while we expect them... ... we expect them to be enthusiastic, as you heard, we don't want to take anything away from the valuable time for the candidate. So, we're looking for somewhere between a reaction to a LeBron James dunk and the Cleveland Public Library across the street. Somewhere there, we'll find a balance tonight. Without further ado, let's begin. +p623 +aVGentlemen, we know how much you love hand-raising questions. So we promise, this is the only one tonight: the only one. Is there anyone on stage, and can I see hands, who is unwilling tonight to pledge your support to the eventual nominee of the Republican party and pledge to not run an independent campaign against that person. Again, we're looking for you to raise your hand now -- raise your hand now if you won't make that pledge tonight. Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump to be clear, you're standing on a Republican primary debate stage. +p624 +aVThe place where the RNC will give the nominee the nod. +p625 +aVAnd that experts say an independent run would almost certainly hand the race over to Democrats and likely another Clinton. You can't say tonight that you can make that pledge? +p626 +aVSo tonight, you can't say if another one of these... +p627 +aVOK. +p628 +aVDr. Paul. +p629 +aVOK. +p630 +aVJust to be clear, you can't make a -- we're gonna -- we're going to move on. You're not gonna make the pledge tonight? +p631 +aVOK. Alright. +p632 +aVGovernor Bush, you have insisted that you're your own man. You say you have a life experience uniquely your own. Not your father's, not your brother's. But there are several opponents on this stage who get big- applause lines in early voting states with this line: quote, "the last thing the country needs is another Bush in the Oval Office." So do you understand the real concern in this country about dynastic politics? +p633 +aVGovernor Christie, you're not exactly the darling of conservatives. You tout your record as a Republican governor in a blue state. On Facebook, the most people talking about you, not surprisingly, come from your state of New Jersey, and one of the top issues they are talking about is the economy. This -- this may be why. Under your watch, New Jersey has undergone nine credit rating downgrades. The state's 44th in private sector growth. You face an employee pension crisis and the Garden State has the third highest foreclosure rate in the country. So why should voters believe that your management of the country's finances would be any different? +p634 +aVSenator Paul, you recently blamed the rise of +p635 +aVGentlemen, the next series of questions deals with ObamaCare and the role of the federal government. Mr. Trump, ObamaCare is one of the things you call a disaster. +p636 +aVSaying it needs to be repealed and replaced. +p637 +aVNow, 15 years ago, you called yourself a liberal on health care. You were for a single-payer system, a Canadian-style system. Why were you for that then and why aren't you for it now? +p638 +aVBut on ObamaCare... +p639 +aVMr. Trump, hold up one second. +p640 +aVAll right, now, hold on, Senator Paul... +p641 +aVOK. +p642 +aVAll right, let me... Mr. Trump, it's not just your past support for single- payer health care. You've also supported a host of other liberal policies. Use -- you've also donated to several Democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton included, Nancy Pelosi. You explained away those donations saying you did that to get business-related favors. And you said recently, quote, "When you give, they do whatever the hell you want them to do." +p643 +aVSo what specifically did... +p644 +aV-- they do? +p645 +aVHold on. We're going to -- we're going to move on. We'll come back to you, Governor Walker. +p646 +aVWe have many questions to come. +p647 +aVMany questions to come. Governor Huckabee, on Facebook, John Pietricone asked this, "Will you abolish or take away the powers and cut the size of the EPA, the IRS, the Department of Education?" Now, broadly... ...broadly, the size of government is a big concern for Facebook users, Facebook persons, as well as, obviously, conservatives. But year after year, decade after decade, there are promises from Republicans to shrink government. But year after year, decade after decade, it doesn't happen. In fact, it gets bigger, even under Republican politicians. So the question is, at this point, is the government simply too big for any one person, even a Republican, to shrink? +p648 +aVDr. Carson... +p649 +aVDr. Carson, do you agree with that? +p650 +aVGovernor Bush? +p651 +aVWe're going to come back to you, Dr. Carson. Governor Bush, you are one of the few people on the stage who advocates for Common Core education standards, reading and math. A lot of people on this stage vigorously oppose a federal involvement in education. They say it should all be handled locally. President Obama's secretary of education, Arnie Duncan, has said that most of the criticism of Common Core is due to a, quote, "fringe group of critics." Do you think that's accurate? +p652 +aVSenator Rubio, why is Governor Bush wrong on Common Core? +p653 +aVAnd do you agree with your old friend? +p654 +aVWe have many more questions coming on a host of topics, here from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Stay with us. +p655 +aVWe have many more questions coming on a host of topics. Here from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Stay with us. +p656 +aVGentlemen, another question for a few of you. Yesterday, just yesterday, President Obama criticized Republican lawmakers trying to block the Iran deal, calling them knee-jerk partisans, adding that hardliners in Iran who chant "death to America" were, quote, "making common cause with the Republican caucus." Here's what two of your opponents on the 5 p.m. debate stage said about Iran. +p657 +aVNow, I wanna ask a few of you this. First, Governor Walker. You've said that you would tear up the Iran deal on day one. If this deal is undone, what then? +p658 +aVSenator Paul, would you tear up the deal on day one? +p659 +aVGovernor Huckabee, what do you think about what Senator Paul just said? +p660 +aVThank you, gentlemen. +p661 +aVWelcome back to Cleveland. Our next topic is foreign policy. Candidates, you may not have seen the late developing news today our Fox Pentagon team broke earlier this evening about a top Iranian general traveling to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. His name is General Qassem Soleimani, he's blamed for hundreds of U.S. troop's deaths in Iraq, and Afghanistan. His trip to Russia appears to directly violate U.N. Security Council resolutions to confine him to Iran. So, Mr. Trump, if you were president, how would you respond to this? +p662 +aVAnother new development today, Senior Defense officials tell Fox they strongly suspect Russia was behind the cyber attack on the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs office... +p663 +aV...email. This comes in the wake of the Director of National Intelligence blaming the Chinese for the largest ever cyber attack, stealing personal data of tens of millions of Americans. Senator Cruz, in your view, have Russia and China committed acts of cyber war, and if you were president, what would you do about it? +p664 +aVDr. Carson, in August of 2012 President Obama famously declared Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons, quote, "that's a redline for us," and that there would be enormous consequences. One year later, with overwhelming evidence the Assad had, in fact, used chemical weapons and crossed that red line, President Obama declined to use military force against the Assad regime. As president, would you have used military force there? +p665 +aVGovernor Walker, as president, what would you do if Russian President Vladimir Putin started a campaign to destabilize +p666 +aVGovernor -- Governor Huckabee, the culture of the American military is definitely changing. Women are moving into combat roles. Don't Ask, Don't Tell has obviously been dropped. And now Defense Secretary Ashton Carter recently directed the military to prepare for a moment when it is welcoming transgender persons to serve openly. As commander in chief, how would you handle that? +p667 +aVSenator Paul, the first budget you proposed as senator cut all financial aid to Israel. You have since changed your view on that issue. What made you change your mind. +p668 +aVOK. But you still say that Israel could be one of the countries that is cut from financial aid? +p669 +aVGovernor Christie, what do you think of that answer? +p670 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p671 +aVSenator, we're going to finish up with some more questions, thank you. +p672 +aVNow each candidate will make a closing statement. You'll all have 30 seconds to make a closing statement for this debate. We'll start with Ohio Governor John Kasich. +p673 +aVSenator Marco Rubio. +p674 +aVThank you, Senator. +p675 +aVGovernor Mike Huckabee, closing statement. +p676 +aVMr. Trump, closing statement, sir. +p677 +aVGentlemen, thank you. +p678 +aVThat's it. +p679 +asVMADDOW +p680 +(lp681 +VWe are super excited to be here at the University of New Hampshire. Tonight, this is the first time that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have squared off exactly like this. Face-to-face, just one-on-one, just the two of them. +p682 +aVAnd we do hope that the candidates will take this opportunity to show us the distinctions\u2014show us the differences between them. That's the whole reason that we're here tonight. We're not here for talking points. We're to learn about the difference between the candidates. And with that, let's get going. Please join us in welcoming Secretary Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders. +p683 +aVAnd with that, that's it. We're going to begin with 60- second opening statements from each of the candidates. And as agreed to in advance by the two campaigns, we're going to begin tonight with Senator Sanders. +p684 +aVSecretary Clinton, Senator Sanders is campaigning against you now, at this point in the campaign, basically arguing that you are not progressive enough to be the Democratic nominee. He has said that if you voted for the Iraq war, if you are in favor of the death penalty, if you wobbled on things like the Keystone Pipeline or TPP, if you said single payer health care could never happen, then you're too far to the right of the Democratic Party to be the party's standard bearer. Given those policy positions, why should liberal Democrats support you and not Senator Sanders? +p685 +aVSenator Sanders, have you established a list of what it means to be a progressive that is unrealistic? +p686 +aVThank you Senator. +p687 +aVSenator Sanders, as a Vermonter, you have almost a home state advantage here in New Hampshire. But back home across the border, you also have a long history of running against Democrats as a third-party candidate, for governor, Senate, for Congress. In 1988 your candidacy as a third-party candidate arguably cost the Democrats a congressional seat and sent a Republican instead. How can you lead the Democratic Party nationally when you have not been a member of the Democratic Party until very recently? +p688 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p689 +aVSo, Senator, to that point, Secretary Clinton is raising the issue of endorsements by your home state Democrats. She's implying that that says something about the people who know you best. +p690 +aVHow do you see it? +p691 +aVSecretary. +p692 +aVSenator Sanders, you'll have 30 seconds to respond to that. +p693 +aVSenator Sanders, Secretary Clinton, obviously we've touched a nerve. We're going to be back with more on this subject, and much more, right after this. Stay with us. +p694 +aVSecretary Clinton, on the issue of Wall Street... +p695 +aV... on the issue of Wall Street, when our reporters go out and talk to people on the ground in the early states, what they tell us over and over again when they find voters who are leaning toward Senator Sanders rather than yourself is that the most frequent area of concern that they hear from those voters is the issue of Wall Street and whether or not you are too close to Wall Street. Last night, when you were asked about speaking fees and the amount of speaking fees you got from Goldman Sachs speeches, you said that's what they offered. Have you been too dismissive of voters' concerns about this issue in your own campaign and your own career? +p696 +aVSenator Sanders, you have been a critic of Secretary Clinton taking those speaking fees and having donations from Wall Street. What about her defense of her record? +p697 +aVSenator Sanders, let me turn to, I think, where this direction is heading anyway, which is the broader issue of big business and power in our political system. You on the campaign trail have railed against big name American corporations like Boeing, and General Electric, and Wal Mart. But, some big businesses in this country have also been part of advancing progressive goals like that nationwide initiative to expand employment opportunities for veterans. That was all about cooperation between the Obama administration and some very big business. The Affordable Care Act, some of the thorniest problems in that bill were worked out in cooperation with big business in order to accomplish progressive goals. Could you work with them, or have you made enemies of big business in this country with the way you've approached them in this campaign? +p698 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. And with that, we're going to take a break. +p699 +aVWelcome back\u2014welcome back to the Democratic candidates' debate. We're going to be talking about America in the world, both in terms of some trade issues, but also national security. And Secretary Clinton, we're going to start with you. There are more than 4,000 American troops back in Iraq right now as part of the fight against +p700 +aVTo be clear, to the specific question, if that strategic goal that you're describing requires considerably more of Americans\u2014an ever-increasing number of Americans in Iraq and maybe in Syria, are you OK with the numbers increasing? +p701 +aVThank you, Madam Secretary. +p702 +aVSecretary Clinton, at the\u2014at the last Democratic debate in Charleston\u2014I want to get specific here\u2014Senator Sanders called for moving as aggressively as we can to normalize relations with Iran. Your campaign has criticized him for saying that. Now that he's standing next to you here on this stage, can you explain why the U.S. shouldn't try to normalize relations in Iran in your view? +p703 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to ask you about a national security issue that is closer to home. There are thousands of veterans, over 100,000 veterans living in the state of New Hampshire. If either one of you is nominated as the Democratic Party's nominee, you will likely face a Republican opponent in the general election who wants to privatize or even abolish big parts of the V.A. It's a newly popular idea in conservative politics. How will you win the argument on that issue given the problems that have been exposed at the V.A. in the last few years? What's your argument that the V.A. should still exist and should not be privatized? +p704 +aVSenator Sanders, you, as a congressional leader on veterans issues and the Veterans Committee, you've worked in a very bipartisan way with Senator John McCain and others on veterans issues. Is the right contour of the fight, the way she's talking about this issue? +p705 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Sanders, Secretary Clinton, we're going to take another break. We'll be talking about Social Security and some of those other issues when we come back. +p706 +aVSenator\u2014Senator Sanders, in 1964... +p707 +aVIn 1964, I heard that the Republicans nominated Barry Goldwater, who was the hero of the conservative movement. He was, however, far to the right of most of that party. In 1972, the Democrats nominated George McGovern, who was a hero of liberals in the antiwar movement, but he was to the left of his party's mainstream. Both of those nominees made activists very excited, and they both got destroyed in the general election. Even Democrats who love you worry about your fate in a general election. And I know you have good head-to-head polling numbers against Republican frontrunners right now. We know that. But do you have a general election strategy that is different than the way you're running right now to try to get the nomination? +p708 +aVSecretary Clinton, your campaign surrogates, and people who have endorsed you, have suggested that or even said that if Senator Sanders is the nominee, that Democrats will suffer nationwide and the chances will go down of Democrats holding onto the White House. With him here standing next to you, can you tell us whether or not you believe he would win the general election if he were nominated? +p709 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. Senator, in December, one of your campaign staffers was fired from your campaign for taking voter data essentially from the Clinton campaign. You apologized for that when the incident was made public. Your campaign has now been criticized for its operatives essentially impersonating culinary union members wearing union pins in Nevada, and the Nashua Telegraph has complained recently that you falsely implied in an advertisement that they had endorsed you when they did not. None of these issues obviously is the end of the world, but they all are of a piece. Are you in some sense losing control of your campaign? +p710 +aVJust to follow up on that, the title of the ad in question was Endorsement. +p711 +aVSecretary Clinton, do you want 30 seconds on that issue? +p712 +aVAnd with that, we will . +p713 +aVWelcome back to the University of New Hampshire, and the Democratic candidates' debate. Secretary Clinton, on the issue of the death penalty, here in New Hampshire, the one person who is on death row is there for killing a police officer. It's a crime that has caused anguish in this state, both among death penalty opponents and death penalty supporters. The last time I had the chance to talk with you on this issue, on the death penalty, you said that capital punishment has a place in a very few federal cases, but you also said you would breathe a sigh of relief if the Supreme Court abolished the death penalty nationwide. Tonight, do you still support capital punishment, even if you do so reluctantly? +p714 +aVSenator Sanders, you have singled out the death penalty, and Senator Clinton's support for the death penalty, as an issue that makes it hard to consider as progressive in your mind... +p715 +aVAnother issue related to the proper role of government, and in this case, specifically the role of government between the federal government and the states. I want to talk for a moment about the issue of Flint, Michigan. On the Flint lead poisoning disaster, you have both been highly critical of Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan, and how the state in Michigan both caused the lead poisoning problem, and has not acted fast enough to fix it. You have both been outspoken on that. The fact is that Michigan though has not fixed it. There is no door to door delivery of clean water in Flint even today. Not a single lead pipe has been replaced in Flint, even today. If the state is failing, would you, Secretary Clinton, would you as President order a federal response to get it right over and above the wishes of the state? +p716 +aVSenator Sanders are there things the President could be doing? President Obama could be ordering, done, right now, in Flint, Michigan that are not being done that you as President would do? +p717 +aVSenator, thank you. +p718 +aVThe home stretch. +p719 +aVSecretary Clinton, Republicans, particularly in campaign years, often talk about which departments of government\u2014which agencies of government they would get rid of if they were elected president. The EPA, the Department of Education, the Commerce Department, oops\u2014is\u2014is there a department of government that you would get rid of? Or is there a whole new one that you would create? +p720 +aVThank you, Secretary Clinton. +p721 +aVThank you very much. Thank you. +p722 +aVWe also want to thank our host, the University of New Hampshire, and the people of New Hampshire. You guys get to vote in just five days. I can't wait to see how it turns out. Don't screw up. +p723 +asVSEIB +p724 +(lp725 +VThis evening Fox Business is partnering with the Wall Street Journal to bring you the fourth republican presidential debate of the 2016 campaign. For the next hour, four of the candidates will be here answering the question voters want answered. +p726 +aVSenator Santorum, you're all obviously highly critical of President Obama's economic record. But federal statistics show that payrolls have expanded by 8.7 million new jobs so far during his time in office. All the jobs lost in the recession were recovered by last year. And in October, the economy added jobs at the fastest rate since 2009. So what's wrong with the Obama jobs record? +p727 +aVGovernor Jindal, Republicans have now 32 of the nation's 50 governor seats. But, even while you're doing very well at the state level, you keep falling short nationally. You've lost the popular vote in five of the last six presidential elections. Are Democrats simply putting forward a better national economic message than the one Republicans are offering? And what should Republicans do about it. +p728 +aVSenator Santorum, we're in the Upper-Midwest, heart of the American auto industry. The Auto Alliance says the state of Wisconsin, where we are tonight, is home to 176 auto supplier companies. Back in 2008, you opposed the use of federal bailout funds for automakers as proposed then by the Bush administration. The automakers survived. In retrospect, do you still think that was the right position. +p729 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p730 +aVGovernor Jindal, there's a new trade deal the Obama administration has completed with 11 other Pacific nations. The U.S. Trade Representative's office says that deal will cut 18,000 different tariffs on American goods sent to the Pacific and will cut tariffs on goods made in your state of Louisiana by as much as 40 percent. Even a skeptical about \u2014 a skeptic about this deal, now that the details are public, are you going to be for it? +p731 +aVGovernor Christie? +p732 +aV...Guys... +p733 +aVGovernor Christie... +p734 +aV...last word, briefly +p735 +aV...Thank you both, Governors. +p736 +aV...No, no, Senator Santorum... +p737 +aV...I have a question for you. Just about everybody agrees that the nation's infrastructure is in bad shape. Urban highway congestion costs the economy more than $100 billion dollars annually, nearly one in four bridges in the National Highway System is structurally deficient, or obsolete. Congress is working on a six year highway bill to try to fix this problem. It only funds it for about three years. Should Americans be asked to pay more in federal gas taxes in order to address this problem? +p738 +aVSenator, I don't think we got to infrastructure, but I understand. +p739 +aVNo, no. To do the things you're talking about, that you're all talking about, getting things done in Washington, you have to work with the other side. So a question, who in Congress do you most admire on the Democratic side? I need one name from each of you. And let's start with Governor Jindal. +p740 +aVGovernor Huckabee? +p741 +aVGovernor Christie? +p742 +aVSenator Santorum? +p743 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p744 +aVGovernor Jindal, you've proposed something different. You've proposed eliminating the federal corporate income tax entirely. Why would have you wage-earners and investors pay an income tax but not a corporation? +p745 +aVWelcome back to the Republican Presidential Debate live from Milwaukee's historic theater. Let's get back to the questions. Governor Christie, by keeping interest rates so low for so long, is the Fed creating a new financial bubble in real estate or stock as prices that will burst and create problems down the road, or has it been right to err on the side of trying to help the recovery through low rates? +p746 +aVCandidates, it's time for closing statements, 30 seconds. Governor Jindal, we'll start with you. +p747 +aVSenator Santorum. +p748 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p749 +aVGovernor Christie. +p750 +asVTAPPER +p751 +(lp752 +VI'm Jake Tapper. We're live at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California for the main event. Round 2 of CNN's presidential debate starts now. The eleven leading Republican candidates for president are at their podiums. They are ready to face off, and if you've been watching this race, you know anything could happen over the next few hours. To viewers who are just joining us, welcome to the Air Force One Pavilion of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Our thanks to the staff here and especially to former first lady Nancy Reagan for this impressive setting with Ronald Reagan's presidential plane as our backdrop. This debate is airing on CNN networks in the United States and around the world. It's also being broadcast on the Salem Radio Network. I know everyone is very eager to get started. But first, I want to explain the ground rules tonight. My name is Jake Tapper. I'll be the moderator. I will be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt. He worked in the Reagan administration for six years. And by CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. I will ask follow-up questions, I will attempt to guide the discussion. Candidates, I will try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have one minute to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you've been singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. These 11 Republicans are positioned on the stage based on their ranking in recent national polls. Our goal for this evening is a debate. A true debate, with candidates addressing each other in areas where they differ. Where they disagree \u2014 on policy, on politics, on leadership. Now, let's begin. I'd like to invite each candidate to take 30 seconds to introduce him or herself to our audience. First to you, Senator Paul. +p753 +aVSenator Cruz? +p754 +aVThank you one and all for being here. There are many important policy issues facing our nation. We're going to get to many of them tonight, but I do want to start off with some current events in the news, and also some of the comments the candidates have recently made on the campaign trail. Mrs. Fiorina, I want to start with you. Fellow Republican candidate, and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, has suggested that your party's frontrunner, Mr. Donald Trump, would be dangerous as President. He said he wouldn't want, quote, "such a hot head with his finger on the nuclear codes." You, as well, have raised concerns about Mr. Trump's temperament. You've dismissed him as an entertainer. Would you feel comfortable with Donald trump's finger on the nuclear codes? +p755 +aVYou didn't answer my question. Would you feel comfortable with Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear codes? It's an issue that one of your fellow candidates has raised. +p756 +aVMr. Trump? +p757 +aVMr. \u2014 Senator Paul, your name has been invoked. +p758 +aVMr. Trump? +p759 +aVI want to \u2014 I want to give Mr. Trump... +p760 +aV... Mr. Trump, I want to give you another chance \u2014 Mr. Trump, I want to give you a chance to respond to something that your rival to your left, Governor Bush, said. Governor Bush told me last week when I read him the quote from Governor Jindal that he agrees you're not a serious candidate. Tell Governor Bush why you are a serious candidate and what your qualifications are to be commander-in-chief. +p761 +aVGovernor Bush, would you feel comfortable with Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear codes? +p762 +aVGovernor Walker? +p763 +aVLet's move on. +p764 +aVA phenomenon going on in the race right now is the political... OK, Governor Kasich, go ahead. +p765 +aVWe have a lot of issues coming up, sir. +p766 +aVWe are getting to the issues, sir. Phenomenon going on in the race is the political outsiders in the race, Dr. Carson, Donald Trump, Carly Fiorina, all together, have majority support in the polls. Governor Christie, I want to ask you about something that Dr. Carson said the other day. Dr. Carson said campaigning is easier for him, because he's not a politician. He can just tell the truth, therefore, while politicians, quote, "Have their finger in the air to see and do what is politically expedient." Governor Christie, tell Dr. Carson, is that a fair description of you? +p767 +aVWell, let's find out. Thank you. +p768 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. Dr. Carson, who were you thinking about on this stage when you said that? +p769 +aVAnd more broadly, is experience in government not important for a president to have? +p770 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p771 +aVThank you. +p772 +aVThank you. Thank you Ms. Fiorina. Governor Bush, in addition to the fact that he's an outsider, one of the reasons Mr. Trump is a frontrunner, Republican voters say, is because they like the fact that he is not bought and paid for by wealthy donors. Mr. Trump has repeatedly said that the $100 million you've raised for your campaign makes you a puppet for your donors. Are you? +p773 +aVIs there anything else you want to say about this? +p774 +aVGovernor \u2014 +p775 +aVSure Dr. Carson. +p776 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Let's move to Russia if we could. Russia is sending troops and tanks into Syria right now to prop up a U.S. enemy, Bashar al-Assad. President Obama's incoming top general says, quote, "Russia presents the greatest threat to our national security." Mr. Trump, you say you can do business with President Vladimir Putin, you say you will get along, quote, "very well." What would you do right now if you were president, to get the Russians out of Syria? +p777 +aVSo, you \u2014 just to clarify, the only answer I heard to the question I asked is that you would \u2014 you would reach out to Vladimir Putin, and you would do what? You would... +p778 +aVSenator Rubio, you've taken a very different approach to the \u2014 the question of Russia. You've called Vladimir Putin a, quote, "gangster." Why would President Rubio's approach be more effective than President Trump's? +p779 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. +p780 +aVI want to bring in Carly Fiorina. +p781 +aVMs. Fiorina, you have met... +p782 +aV...yeah, you've met Vladimir Putin. Yes. +p783 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p784 +aVThank you. +p785 +aVThank you. Thank you, Ms. Fiorina. While you're \u2014 while you brought up the subject of General Suleimani of the Quds forces from Iran, the next president, no matter who he or she may be, will inherit President Obama's Iran deal. Senator Cruz, Governor Kasich says that anyone who is promising to rip up the Iran deal on day one, as you have promised to do, is, quote, "inexperienced," and, quote, "playing to a crowd." Respond to Governor Kasich, please. +p786 +aVWhy is that not, as Governor Kasich says, playing to the crowd and an example of you being inexperienced? +p787 +aVGovernor Kasich... +p788 +aV...Did Senator Cruz just play to the crowd? +p789 +aV...Thank you, Governor. I want to go to Senator Paul. +p790 +aVI want to go to Senator Paul. Senator Paul, the White House is rolling out the red carpet next week for the President of China, President Xi. Governor Walker says that President Obama should cancel the state dinner because of China's currency manipulation, and because of China's alleged cyber attacks against the United States. Is Governor Walker right? +p791 +aVGovernor Walker, Senator Paul seemed to suggest... +p792 +aV...that canceling the state dinner would be rash, and reckless. +p793 +aV...Governor Bush... +p794 +aVGovernor Bush, your father was the chief diplomatic envoy to China back when Nixon opened relations to China. Is Scott Walker's approach the right one, canceling the state dinner? +p795 +aVI want to turn... +p796 +aV...I want to turn to Governor Huckabee who has been very patient. Somebody had to be 11th, and he is, but, I do want to change the subject to the event that you had... +p797 +aV... however you want, but I want to ask this question. +p798 +aVAll right, sir, go ahead. +p799 +aVOK. ( +p800 +aVWe're going to turn now to Hugh Hewitt, from Salem Radio Network. +p801 +aVThank you, Senator Paul. I want to turn now to my colleague Dana Bash. +p802 +aVThat would be fair, you're right. You're the third senator. +p803 +aVWe're going to go to Dana Bash... +p804 +aVSenator Cruz? +p805 +aVThank you, Senator. +p806 +aVThank you, Senator. +p807 +aVThank you, Senator. I want to... +p808 +aV... turn back to Governor Huckabee... +p809 +aVI want to turn back to Governor Huckabee. Governor Huckabee, last week, you held a rally for a county clerk in Kentucky who was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, as I don't need to tell you. You've called what happened to Kim Davis, that clerk, "an example of the criminalization of Christianity." There are several people on the stage who disagree with you. Governor Bush, for example, says that that clerk is sworn to uphold the law. Is Governor Bush on the wrong side of the criminalization of Christianity? +p810 +aVThank you, Governor. +p811 +aVWell, I'm not telling you that, Governor. But Governor Bush is, because he \u2014 because he disagrees. He thinks that Kim Davis swore to uphold the law. You disagree? You're not \u2014 you don't... +p812 +aVOK. Please do. +p813 +aVYou did... +p814 +aVGovernor, you said, quote, "she is sworn to uphold the law." +p815 +aVLet me go to my colleague Dana Bash, who has a question. +p816 +aVDana, I want to continue on the subject. Governor Bush, you recently said while discussing Planned Parenthood, quote, you're "not sure we need a half billion for women's health issues." Now you've since said that you misspoke, you didn't mean to say "women's health issues." But Donald Trump said that quote, that comment, which Hillary Clinton did seize upon immediately, will haunt you the same way Mitt Romney's 47 percent video haunted him. Tell Donald Trump why he's wrong. +p817 +aVThank you, Governor Bush. Donald Trump, let me just... +p818 +aVThe quote was, "I'm not sure we need half a billion dollars for women's health issues." He said he misspoke. You said that that's going to haunt him. Why do you think that? +p819 +aVGovernor Bush? +p820 +aVI want to \u2014 we're going to get to \u2014 +p821 +aVThank you, Governor. +p822 +aVThank you, Governor. +p823 +aVWe're going to \u2014 we're going to get to many of these issues. This \u2014 we're still in the first block, believe it or not. We're going to get to many of these issues, but before we end this block, Ms. Fiorina, I do want to ask you about this. In an interview last week in Rolling Stone magazine, Donald Trump said the following about you. Quote, "Look at that face. Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?" Mr. Trump later said he was talking about your persona, not your appearance. Please feel free to respond what you think about his persona. +p824 +aVAll right. On that note, in less than two minutes \u2014 we're going to take a very quick break. In less than two minutes, the most contentious issue on the campaign trail. And the candidates on the stage are split over how to handle it. That's coming up next. Please give some applause to the candidates. +p825 +aVWelcome to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate. No topic perhaps has been more combustible in this campaign than the issue of immigration. Mr. Trump, you have called for deporting every undocumented immigrant, Governor Christie has said, quote, "There are not enough law enforcement officers \u2014 local, county, state and federal combined \u2014 to forcibly deport 11 to 12 million people." Tell Governor Christie how much your plan will cost, and how you will get it done. +p826 +aVGovernor Christie, you and I have talked about this in an interview. You say that his big wall, his plan to deport 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants, it sounds great, but it's never going to happen. Tell him why you're skeptical of his plans? +p827 +aVThank you, Governor Christie... +p828 +aVI want to bring in Dr. Carson because he too has been skeptical of your plan to immediately deport 11 to 12 million illegal immigrants. He said, quote, "People who say that have no idea what this entails." Why do you say that, Dr. Carson? +p829 +aV...Dr. Carson... +p830 +aVWith all due respect, you said about Donald Trump's plan to deport 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants, "People who say that have no idea what this entails." Why not? +p831 +aV...let's continue the conversation about illegal immigration with Dana Bash. +p832 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Senator Cruz \u2014 Senator Cruz, this week, we learned more about Dr. Carson's plan for the 11 million to 12 million undocumented immigrants in this country. Dr. Carson proposed giving these undocumented immigrants a six- month grace period to pay back taxes then to let them become guest workers and only to deport people who failed to do that. +p833 +aVWell, how would you say it, sir? I was just reading the Wall Street Journal quote, but please tell us. +p834 +aVOK, from the horse's mouth, Senator Cruz, does that fit your definition of amnesty? +p835 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Rubio... +p836 +aV... I'm not sure... +p837 +aVWe'll come back to you \u2014 we'll come back to you in one second, sir. But Senator Rubio, I'm not sure exactly whose plan he's \u2014 he's saying is \u2014 constitutes amnesty, but I know he has said it about your plan in the past, so I want to give you a chance to respond, then, Dr. Carson, we'll come to you. +p838 +aVThank you, Senator. +p839 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator \u2014 Dr. Carson... ... I want to give you 30 seconds. I'd like you to answer the question. Senator Cruz describes plans such as yours as amnesty. Why is your plan not amnesty? +p840 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. I want to talk about the issue of birthright citizenship, which \u2014 which has emerged since the first debate as \u2014 as an a \u2014 a major issue in this campaign. Mr. Trump, you say that babies born in the United States to undocumented immigrants should not any longer get automatic American citizenship. Ms. Fiorina says that you are pandering on this issue and acting like the politicians that you rail against. What's your message to Ms. Fiorina on birthright citizenship? +p841 +aVMs. Fiorina, the vast majority of countries do not have birthright citizenship... ...Donald Trump is right about that. Why is it pandering when he's \u2014 he says this? +p842 +aVMs. Fiorina... +p843 +aVPlease. +p844 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p845 +aVThank you. +p846 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Mr. Trump, I want to give you the chance to respond... +p847 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. Senator Paul... +p848 +aVSenator Paul, I want to bring you in. Where \u2014 where do you stand on the issue of birthright citizenship? +p849 +aVAll right. Senator Paul, thank you so much. Let's turn to a new topic. We've received a lot of questions on social media about the economy and about jobs. We have two CEOs on stage right now. Ms. Fiorina, you were CEO of Hewlett Packard. Donald Trump says you, quote, "ran HP into the ground," you laid off tens of thousands of people, you got viciously fired. For voters looking to somebody with private-sector experience to create American jobs, why should they pick you and not Donald Trump? +p850 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p851 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p852 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 Mr. Trump, why would you be better at creating jobs than Carly Fiorina? +p853 +aVMs. Fiorina, I want to give you a chance to respond. +p854 +aVMr. Trump. +p855 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. +p856 +aVGovernor Christie's name has been invoked. I'd like to give him a 30 second opportunity. +p857 +aVMs. Fiorina, I want to give you +p858 +aVGovernor Kasich, I'm coming to you next, but Ms. Fiorina's name was mentioned, and I have to give her the opportunity to respond if she wants it. +p859 +aVThank you. +p860 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Kasich, I want to come \u2014 I'm coming to you. I'm coming to you. Let me ask the question. You can use the time however you want. +p861 +aVDonald Trump says that the hedge fund guys are getting away with murder by paying a lower tax rate. He wants to raise the taxes of hedge fund managers, as does Governor Bush. Do you agree? +p862 +aVThank you, Governor. +p863 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. +p864 +aVGovernor Huckabee, I want to bring you in on the question of hedge fund managers and taxing them. You have said that you are bothered by the fact that hedge fund managers pay such a low tax rate and make 2,500 times what people who work for them make. Do you agree with what Donald Trump and Governor Bush have proposed, raising their tax rates? +p865 +aVThank you, Governor. Dr. Carson, you support scrapping the entire tax code and replacing it with a flat tax based on the principal on tithing from the Bible. If you make $10 billion, you pay $1 billion in taxes, if you make $10, you pay $1 in taxes. Donald Trump believes in progressive taxation. He says it's not right that rich people pay the same as the poor. Tell Donald Trump why his ideas on taxes are wrong. +p866 +aVMr. Trump... +p867 +aV...What do you think of the flat tax? Do you think it's fair? +p868 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. Senator Paul? +p869 +aVGovernor Walker, I want to go to you. Dr. Carson wants to raise the Federal Minimum Wage, you have called it a lame idea. Why is raising the Federal Minimum Wage lame? +p870 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p871 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p872 +aVDr. Carson, Governor Walker didn't really answer the question, but I'll let you respond. He called raising the Federal Minimum Wage lame, what do you think of that? +p873 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson... +p874 +aVLet me bring in our partner from Salem Radio Network, Hugh Hewitt. +p875 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate. Let's turn to some issues now in foreign policy. Mr. Trump, Senator Rubio said it was, quote, "very concerning to him" that in a recent interview you didn't seem to know the details about some of the enemies the U.S. faces. Rubio said, if you don't know the answers to those questions, you will not be able to serve as commander-in-chief. Please respond to Senator Rubio. +p876 +aVSenator Rubio? +p877 +aVMr. Trump? Senator Rubio seemed to be suggesting that you don't know information that... +p878 +aVAll right. Senator Rubio. +p879 +aVBut are you saying that you have the knowledge to be the president that Mr. Trump does not have? +p880 +aVMr. Trump? +p881 +aVSenator Rubio, he did invoke your absentee record in the Senate. +p882 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. I want to turn now to Hugh Hewitt. +p883 +aVThank you, Governor. +p884 +aVSenator... +p885 +aVSenator Paul? +p886 +aVSenator Paul... +p887 +aVThank you, Senator Paul... +p888 +aVThank you, Senator Paul... +p889 +aVI understand that Governor Bush's name has been invoked, and then we can go to you, Senator Rubio. +p890 +aVThank you, Governor. +p891 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Rubio? +p892 +aVThank you, Senator. +p893 +aVDr. Carson? +p894 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p895 +aVI mean, it is interesting that you say that, because I want to ask Governor Christie about something else that you have said. Governor Christie, we just marked the 14th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Now Dr. Carson has said that if he had been president at the time, the United States would not have gone to war in Afghanistan. What does that say to you about how Dr. Carson would respond as president if America were attacked again? +p896 +aVDr. Carson? +p897 +aV... Governor Christie. +p898 +aVDr. Carson? +p899 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p900 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p901 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee. +p902 +aVThank you, Governor. +p903 +aVThank you, governor, I want to turn to +p904 +aVGovernor Walker, there is a big debate now, we have been talking about +p905 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Paul, I want to go to you, because you have said that the boots on the ground to fight +p906 +aVThank you, Senator. We're going to turn to some domestic issues now. I want to bring in my colleague, Dana Bash. +p907 +aVSure.... +p908 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p909 +aV...Thank you, Governor. Dana Bash... +p910 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina... +p911 +aV...Thank you, we're going to turn now to domestic issues with Dana Bash. +p912 +aV...Dana Bash... +p913 +aVThank you. Dana Bash? +p914 +aVThank you, Senator. +p915 +aV...Governor Bush... +p916 +aV...I want to let you respond. +p917 +aVThank you, Governor... ...And, that's what we should do, and I hope I'll be working members of the United States Senate to fight hard for the passage of people that have that kind of qualification. +p918 +aVSenator Cruz, 30 seconds. +p919 +aVThank you, Senator. +p920 +aVThank you, Semator. +p921 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee, I want to bring you in very quickly if you could. Will you have a litmus test when it comes to appointing Supreme Court nominees? +p922 +aVThank you, Governor. +p923 +aVThank you, Governor. +p924 +aVThank you, Governor. We're going to take a quick break. Coming up, one of the hottest questions that you have been asking us via social media. We will pose it to the candidates. That's coming up right after this. +p925 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican presidential debate at the Reagan Library here in Simi Valley \u2014 Simi Valley, California. Many people on social media wanted us to ask about marijuana legalization. Senator Paul, Governor Christie recently said, quote, "if you're getting high in Colorado today," where marijuana has been legalized, "enjoy it until January 2017, because I will enforce the federal laws against marijuana." Will you? +p926 +aVI want to give that \u2014 I want to give the person that you called a hypocrite an opportunity to respond. Do you want to identify that person? +p927 +aVIs there somebody you were specifically thinking of? +p928 +aVThat's what I though, but I wanted to say it. +p929 +aVOK. +p930 +aVGovernor Bush, please. +p931 +aVI want to go right now \u2014 I want to go right now... +p932 +aVThat's true. Go ahead, Christie, please. +p933 +aVYou may respond, and then I'll bring in you, Ms. Fiorina. +p934 +aVYes, Senator Paul. +p935 +aVI want to bring in Ms. Fiorina \u2014 I want to bring in Ms. Fiorina on this issue. +p936 +aVHugh \u2014 Hugh, I'd like to... +p937 +aVI'd like to turn it over \u2014 I'd like to turn to Dana Bush. +p938 +aVThank you, Governor. +p939 +aVI'm coming to you right now on a separate issue, sir. We received... ( +p940 +aVWe received a lot of questions from social media about climate change. Senator Rubio, Ronald Reagan's secretary of state, George Shultz, reminds us that when Reagan was president he faced a similar situation to the one that we're facing now. There were dire warnings from the mass consensus of the scientific community about the ozone layer shrinking. Shultz says Ronald Reagan urged skeptics in industry to come up with a plan. He said, do it as an insurance policy in case the scientists are right. The scientists were right. Reagan and his approach worked. Secretary Shultz asks, why not take out an insurance policy and approach climate change the Reagan way? +p941 +aVI'm citing George Shultz. +p942 +aVGovernor Christie, you have said that climate change is real, and that humans help contribute to it. Without getting into the issue of China versus the United States, which I understand you've talked about before, what do you make of skeptics of climate change such as Senator Rubio? +p943 +aVJust for the record, I was citing Secretary of State George Shultz, Ronald Reagan's secretary of state who I don't think anybody would call him left-wing. +p944 +aVI called you a skeptic. +p945 +aVI want to go another question right now. +p946 +aVThank you, Governor. +p947 +aVI'm turning to... +p948 +aV...I'm turning to another \u2014 I'm turning to another issue right now. Senator Cruz. Well, I think we've heard from several this evening. A backlash against vaccines was blamed for a measles outbreak here in California. Dr. Carson, Donald Trump has publicly and repeatedly linked vaccines, childhood vaccines, to autism, which, as you know, the medical community adamantly disputes. You're a pediatric neurosurgeon. Should Mr. Trump stop saying this? +p949 +aVShould he stop saying it? Should he stop saying that vaccines cause autism? +p950 +aVMr. Trump, as president, you would... +p951 +aVI'm going right to you. +p952 +aVMr. Trump, as president, you would be in charge of the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health, both of which say you are wrong. How would you handle this as president? +p953 +aVThank you. +p954 +aVDr. \u2014 Dr. Carson? +p955 +aVDr. Carson, you just heard his medical take. +p956 +aVDr. Paul? Dr. Paul, I'd like to bring you in. +p957 +aVAlright, thank you so much... +p958 +aVComing up \u2014 I'm sorry, Governor Huckabee, please. +p959 +aVThank you, Governor. +p960 +aVWe have to take another quick break. Coming up, Ronald Reagan looming large over this debate. So how Reaganesque exactly are these Republicans? We will find out next. +p961 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California. We have a few last questions for you. Two of them a little lighthearted, the other one more serious. We'll start with one of the more light questions. Senator Paul, I'm going to start with you and we're just going to go down the line. Earlier this year, the Treasury Department announced that a woman will appear on the $10 bill. What woman would you like to see on the $10 bill? +p962 +aVGovernor Huckabee? +p963 +aVSenator Paul (sic). +p964 +aVI'm sorry. Senator Rubio? +p965 +aVJust the senators. +p966 +aVSenator Cruz? +p967 +aVDr. Carson? +p968 +aVMr. Trump. +p969 +aVGovernor Bush. +p970 +aVGovernor Walker. +p971 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p972 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p973 +aVGovernor Christie. +p974 +aVAlright. Some good entries if anybody at the mint was listening. Here's the next lighthearted question, you all know that the United States Secret Service uses codenames for the president, and his family. Ronald Reagan's codename, for example, was, "Rawhide", an homage to his performances in Westerns. Nancy Reagan's was, "Rainbow". You don't have to come up the one for your spouse, but, what would you want, Governor Christie, I'll start with you, your Secret Service codename to be. +p975 +aVGovernor Walker? +p976 +aVMr. Trump? +p977 +aVDr. Carson? +p978 +aVSenator Cruz? +p979 +aVSenator Rubio? +p980 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p981 +aVSenator Paul. +p982 +aVThat's a mouthful, but OK. OK, here's the more serious question, Ronald Reagan, the 40th President, used the plane behind you to accomplish a great many things. Perhaps, most notably, to challenge Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the wall, and ultimately, to make peace with the +p983 +aVThat concludes this Republican presidential debate. On behalf of everyone here at CNN, we want to thank the candidates, the Reagan Library, and the Republican National Committee. Thank you, also, to Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash. The next presidential debate will also be right here on CNN, among the Democratic candidates, who will face off for the first time on October the 13th. That debate, a partnership with Facebook, will be moderated by my colleague, Anderson Cooper. And Anderson picks up our coverage of tonight's debate right now. Before I throw to Anderson, let's have one final round of applause for the candidates. +p984 +asVSANTORUM +p985 +(lp986 +VYou know, listening to what your network was talking about prior to this race, this debate, reminded me of the coverage that many on this floor are getting. This race, this debate, was called the, "Undercard Debate". The undercard debate. It wasn't advertised significantly. In fact, the entire hour lead up to this there was no conversation about any of the four people on this debate stage, and that is the chronic situation. In fact, they listed -- they put a poll up from Wall Street Journal/NBC News, they listed the candidates, and they failed to mention I wasn't listed. I got zero, why? Because they -- NBC, Wall Street Journal poll never includes my name on the list. This is what the media has been doing over the past year, and trying to segregate, and take Iowans out of the process. What Iowans deserve... ... is to hear from every candidate on equal footing. Had they applied the same rules four years ago, I would have been in the undercard debate. The guy who won the Iowa Caucuses would have been in the undercard debate, not talked about. We would have been talking about, maybe, an entertainer that may have been trying to run. Ladies and gentlemen, you have a chance on Monday to put the record straight about who you want, not who will entertain you. +p987 +aVBut, who will fight for what you believe in, and I hope you do... +p988 +aVWell, look. The entire lead up to this debate was talking about whether Donald Trump is going to show up for the next debate. The people of Iowa, who I know pretty darn well, care a lot about the issues. They care about who is going to be the leader of the free world. Who is going to be able to take on +p989 +aVAnd we are not hearing any of those things. We are hearing about whether someone is going to show up for the next debate or not. +p990 +aVYes, I am. +p991 +aVYou know, this, again, more of the politics of trying to get people to throw stuff at each other. I'm not going to throw mud at anybody on this stage tonight. I'm not going to throw mud at anybody on the stage later. I'm not going to attack Donald Trump. What I'm -- Mike Huckabee and I were asked to come to an event where money was going to be raise to do help our veterans. You know, I thought about it. And I thought about. I said well, wait a minute, now, if there were no political considerations and I had some time because I'm not doing anything at 9:00 tonight. And so if I had some time, would I go... ... if I could help raise money for veterans? And the answer was yes, I would. And so I'm going. +p992 +aVThank you for the question, Martha. We have to have an honest discussion with the American people about the nature of the threat that we confront. This president says that +p993 +aVWhat I would say is that we have to create jobs that give people wages and benefits that can help them provide for themselves and their families. And that's why I announced from a factory floor in western Pennsylvania, I pledge to make America the number one manufacturing nation, again, in the world. And we can do it. China is starting to reorient itself away from a manufacturing economy that's dumping products on the -- overseas to providing more services to their people. This is an opportunity for America. It's an opportunity for us to get those jobs back. And by the way, do you want to solve global climate change? Take 2 million jobs from China in manufacturing and moving them back here to the United States, where we produce one-fifth the CO2 when we make things. We can help -- we can do every -- we can do it all. We can take care of the environment. We can create more jobs here. Seventy-four percent of Americans don't have a college degree. And unfortunately most folks who, in the Republican Party, don't talk about what we're going to do to create jobs for people who feel like neither political party cares about them. When you elect me, we'll create opportunities for working men and women in this country -- all over this country. +p994 +aVWell, in fact, the plan that I put forward is scored by the Tax Foundation as bringing three and a half million jobs into this country, and we have provisions in the flat tax for the corporate side that actually has a phase in of manufacturing. Manufacturers initially don't pay any income tax. Ten percent the next year, and 20. We're going to also have a repatriation provision which says that if you have money overseas, and you're Apple, and you got a couple hundred billion dollars there, bring it back. The most you'll be taxed 10%, invest it here in America. Create jobs here in America with all that money that's sitting overseas. We also -- it's not just taxes. It's regulation. I've pledged to cut every single Obamacare -- I mean, excuse me, Obama regulation, including Obamacare, and remove those regulations that cost more than a hundred million dollars in the economy. That will liberate -- and that includes waters of the U.S., and the ozone regulations, they -- the mercury regulations. All of these just crush our manufactures and don't create an opportunity for us to survive. And, remember, China produces five times as much CO2 and other pollutants per dollar of GDP as we do. You want to help the environment? Bring jobs back to America. +p995 +aVWell, I've been to the March for Life for about 25 years and I thought -- I think that's a pretty good record. Spoken at it a few times and I have shepherded every single piece of pro-life piece of legislation that's passed over the last 20 years. I've either authored it or shepherded it through the United States Congress and I'm pretty proud of that record too. But we have an election going on and there was some snow coming. So I decided that maybe it would be better for me to get out and do some campaigning and not be stuck as my wife and kids were for a week, piling out of two and a half feet of snow. So, here's what I would say. If you want someone that is going to talk a good game, there are a lot of folks on this stage that have talked a good game on the issue of life. Not only have I talked a good game on life and I've done some things. But I've also lived it. You know, one of the things Saint Francis said was, you know, if you preach the gospel, then if you have to, speak. The bottom line is, that twice in my life, we were counseled to have an abortion, one with our son Gabriel and one with our little girl Bella. And neither time did Karen and I for a moment think about it because we know that life begins at conception. We know the dignity of every human life and we know the potential of every child, no matter how long that life lives. And that is a message that can come across to all Americans and without having to say a word and defend the institution of life and the dignity of life in this country. +p996 +aVThe president of the United States has been the most divisive president in -- certainly in my lifetime. This is a man who constantly... He is not trustworthy. You can't sit down and negotiate with him. He won't keep a deal. We have heard that over and over again. And here is what he does that really, really creates the friction in Washington. He personally attacks people. He ascribes motives to them that aren't true and then he tears them down. How are you going to work with someone if you don't treat them decently, honestly, and respectfully? I was a tough fighter when I was in Washington. I had very sharp elbows. I fought. I went there and joined a game named Jim Nussle here from Iowa with the "gang of seven." And we, in four years' time, took a Congress that had been controlled by Democrats for 40 years, and brought in the first Republican majority because we fought and we fought tough. But you know what? I was able to then work with those same people that we fought with and able to pass welfare reform. Unborn Victims of Violence Act. Pro-life bills. Health savings accounts. A whole laundry list of things not because I was mean, but because I was able to be respectful in the disagreements. And that's what we need in Washington, someone who can be respectful and still unite this country. +p997 +aVI just want to thank the people of Iowa. Over the last five years I've done 700 speeches and town hall meetings all throughout the state of Iowa, and it has been an incredible right. Thank you. I want to thank all the wonderful folks like Pastor Carey Gordon who gave me a smooth stone and said you go slay Goliaths. Someone like Jim and Janet Cook who over this past Christmas gave up Christmas presents for their kids, and they have more than I do, just they can help me and my campaign. That's the kind of people... ... in Iowa. And, here's what I'm asking you to do. You're good people. You know good leaders. Lead. Pick the right person, not what the polls say. Not who the money give people to. Pick the leader you know is best for this country. Thank you. +p998 +aVWell, all he has to do is listen to the Democratic debate and find out how bad the economy is. All they do is complain about the hollowing out of the middle of America, and how America is struggling so badly, and have to make these radical changes in Washington. But they've been in control for the last seven years, and what have we seen? The most important jobs, I believe, in this country are the ones that fill the middle. For the 74% of Americans who don't have a college degree between the age of 25 and 65 are manufacturing jobs. Your governor, and your legislature, and your team here have done an amazing job of bringing manufacturing jobs back to South Carolina. Right here. Right here in Charleston, right down in the street in Boeing. You've done a great job, and what's happened? You've grown this economy, you've strengthened the center of your state, the middle. That's because you know that if you're really going to create wealth and opportunity, you got to get jobs, and good paying jobs for everybody. And, so what's happened? Two million jobs, manufacturing jobs, have left this country because of Barack Obama. Regulations, EPA, workplace regulations, things driving people off-shore all because of his number one priority, global climate change. Well, let me tell you this, Mr. President. For every dollar of GDP, China creates five times as much pollution as we do here. You want to \u2014 lower global climate change, bring those jobs back to America and let American workers do that job with less pollution. +p999 +aVWell, the historic promises that we have made to \u2014 to Iran in this agreement need to be torn up on the first day in office of the next president. And let me tell you why, because Iran has already torn it up. Iran has not approved the agreement that President Obama has said that they have approved. They have approved a different agreement in their parliament. The fact of the matter is they have violated this agreement. Carly just mentioned some of those violations. They have launched ballistic missiles, tested them, in clear violation. And here's the pathetic part. The president announced that they were going to impose sanctions. And then President Rouhani went on Twitter and said there would be retaliation. And what did we do? We backed down. Ladies and gentlemen, there are 50 some Citadel cadets in this audience tonight. I would ask them to stand up if they will. And here's what I want to tell each and every one of them, as you stand. Here's what I want to tell them. Whether it's you're watching that movie this weekend that just came out when we abandoned our men and women in Benghazi, or whether it's we treat Iran, that gave courtesies to our sailors, as they made them record a hostage video, let me tell you this, if you choose to serve this country, I will have your back. I will not let America be trampled upon anymore by these radical jihadists. +p1000 +aVI would just say that if we were doing a better job within the government, we wouldn't need the private sector to do the things that we're asking them to do. I've had a little experience in this in the private sector myself. And what I found was a government with layers and layers of bureaucracy, of people who had some technical expertise but they had no authority, number one. And one of the things I found out about in the bureaucracy is if a lot of people have authority, nobody has authority, number one. And number two, that if you don't do anything, you don't get fired. It's only when you do something and something goes wrong, you get fired. So they do nothing. And that's what is happening in our Defense Department right now. We have a capability that they're trying to develop to play defense. We have a lot of technologists that are very skilled. And they're trying to figure out how to play defense. But what we don't have is we don't have folks who are thinking about offense. We don't have war-fighters. We have technologists. Technologists are not war-fighters. Technologists are thinking, how do I protect cyber-security, how do I secure, how do I protect? And we need to have a much more dynamic, how do we \u2014 how do we go after them? How do we respond? And we need leadership that's willing to make sure that when someone attacks us \u2014 and ladies and gentlemen, they're attacking us as we speak. They're attacking us all day every day, not just the government, but they're attacking private sector companies all day every day. They have to learn that we're going to pay \u2014 they're going to pay a price when they do so. And then right now, just like in every other aspect of our national security, people who attack us are not paying a price. We need a leader who will make sure that they know when they mess with America, they're going to pay a price. +p1001 +aVLook, Facebook and Twitter can teach us things. We can cooperate with them. We can share ideas and information. But this is a \u2014 and this is a very dicey area for the government to go in and require the industry to do its job. It needs to develop that capability. We need to be \u2014 have responsible dialogue, but I don't think requirements are the order of the day. +p1002 +aVWell, the most devastating attack that could occur is an electromagnetic pulse attack, and that would be an attack that would be triggered by a nuclear explosion in the upper atmosphere of our country. The best way to stop that from happening is to make sure that those who contemplating and actually war-gaming and talking about using it, Iran, doesn't get a nuclear weapon so they can't explode that device. And the president of the United States has put Iran on a path to a nuclear weapon. And we have done nothing to do anything to harden our grid. There is actually a bill in Congress that would put money forward to try to put redundancy and harden our electric grid so it could actually survive an EMP. An EMP is a devastating explosion that sends a pulse that knocks out all electric, everything, everything that is connected to any kind \u2014 that is wired, that has a circuit board gets fried out. Everything is gone. Cars stop. Planes fall out of the sky. This is a devastating attack. And this president has done nothing, number one, to take the most probable person to \u2014 probable country to launch an attack and stop them, and has done nothing to try to defend us, particularly our electric grid. The bottom line is, I put the original sanctions on the Iranian nuclear program when I was in the United States Senate. I've been fighting for 12 years with one thing in mind, that we must stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. And......because they're different than every other country. They do not want a nuclear weapon to defend themselves. They want a nuclear weapon to have theological ends to bring about their mahdi so they can control the world. And that is the most serious threat facing this country right now. +p1003 +aVWell, the numbers just don't add up. I mean, they have not added manufacturing jobs. Manufacturing jobs have been lost in this country, 2 million of them. The bottom line is that this president has done more to take jobs away from the hard-working people who are struggling the most. And that's folks who are, as I said, the 74 percent of Americans who don't have a college degree. And they're out there talking about, well, we're going to provide free college for everybody. Well, who is going to pay for it? The 74 percent that don't have a college degree. They're not \u2014 nobody is focused. Let's just be honest, nobody is focused on the people who are struggling the most in America today. We talk about immigration. Talk about the president's immigration plan. He wants to bring in more and more people into this country. Let people who are here illegally stay in this country. Almost all of the people who are here illegally, and most of the people who came here legally over the last 20 years, they're working in wage-earning jobs. That is why wages have flat-lined. And we have unfortunately two political parties with most of the candidates in this field for some form of amnesty, some form of allowing people to stay here even though they're here illegally and for increasing levels of legal immigration. I'm someone who believes that we need to be the party that stands for the American worker. And when we say we need to send people back, I mean we send people back. And let me just make one point. I was in Storm Lake, Iowa, the other day, near a Tyson's plant, 91 percent of the kids that go to the elementary school there are minority kids. And they said, well, what are you going to do with all of these people, their families, they've lived here for a long time? I said, I'm going to give them a gift. I'm going to give them a gift of being able to help the country they were born in. And I'm going to export America, the education they were able to see. They learned English language. They learned about capitalism. They learned about democracy. You want to stop flow of immigrants? Let's send six million Mexicans, Hondurans, Guatemalans, El Savadorians......back into their country, so they can start a renaissance in their country so they won't be coming over here anymore. +p1004 +aVYou know, we've had this debate about the economy, and we haven't talked the one issue now increasingly even the right, and even the are coming to agreement. I've run around doing 300 town hall meetings talking about a book written by a liberal Harvard sociologist, not a normal thing for me to be talking about, but I now name Robert Putnam who wrote a book called, "Our Kids". And, he wrote this book, I think, ostensibly to support the Democratic argument that the middle of America's hollowing out, and income gap is widening, and rich are getting richer. When he studied all the information as to what was going on, he realized that the biggest reason that we're seeing the hollowing out of the middle of America is the breakdown of the American family. The reality is that if you're a single parent \u2014 a child of a single parent, and you grew up in a single parent family neighborhood, you went to that single parent family school, the chance of you ever, ever reaching the top 20% of income earners is 3% in America. At least \u2014 I don't know about you, but that's not good enough. And, we have been too politically correct in this country because we don't want to offend anybody to fight for the lives of our children. You want \u2014 You want to be shocked? You read the first few chapters of Mr. \u2014 Dr. Putnam' book. He talks about Port Clinton, Ohio and growing up there in the 1950's, and how poor kids actually survived and did well, even though they were poor and disadvantaged. But, then he goes to the towns today and these kids are failing, and failing miserably. They don't even have a shot, and we won't even have the courage to have leadership at the federal level \u2014 not with legislation, but the most powerful tool a president have, the bully pulpit to encourage each and everyone of you, churches and businesses, and educators, and community leaders to let's have a national campaign to rebuild the American family, and give every child its birthright which is a Mom and a Dad who loves them. That will change this economy. +p1005 +aVLadies and gentlemen, America is frustrated and angry and looking for someone who's a fighter, but I also think they're looking for someone who's a winner. Somebody who can go out there and take on the establishment and make a difference. And take on someone who's going to be the person who's going to be between a Republican holding the presidency and that's Hillary Clinton. And there's one person on this stage, one person in the race who's done it and done it repeatedly. I've taken on Hillary Clinton on the issues you care about. Partial-birth abortion. Go and google Rick Santorum and Hillary Clinton and there you'll see a five-minute debate. I'll let you decide who won the debate. I'll tell you who won, because we passed the bill and I know I'm out of time but I'm going to take some of Rand Paul's time here for a second. If you're looking for someone who fought Hillary Clinton on Iran's sanctions, she was one of four who voted \u2014 who's deciding vote who voted against Iran's sanctions, so we didn't get it in place as earlier as we should have. I've fought battles against her. In 1994, I ran against the Clinton machine. James Carville and Paul Begala, ran the race against me when I took on the author of Hillary care. And each one of those battles, I won. You want a fighter, you want a winner, I'd appreciate your vote. Thank you. +p1006 +aVThank you, Wolf. It's great to be here in Las Vegas. And I just want to thank everybody for the opportunity to be here. This is an important time in our country's history. We have entered World War III. World War III has begun and we have a leader who refuses to identify it and be truthful to the American people to the stakes that are involved, in part, because his policies have led us here. His policy toward Iran lit the fuse of a nuclear Iran. Just a few weeks ago the International Atomic Agency reported that Iran has had a nuclear program, but they don't know if it's continuing because they refuse to share any information about the current status. And this President marches on, forgiving them hundreds of billions of dollars to allow them to not just reconstitute their robust nuclear program, pursue their missile program, but also to foment terror around the world. And then his policies in the Middle East with Iraq create +p1007 +aVOf course I do. But what Donald Trump was saying was nothing against Muslims. His comment was against this administration who doesn't have a policy to properly vet people coming into this country. Let's just be honest about what's \u2014 what's being talked about here. And I know people will pile on because it makes sense to pile on, maybe from the polls. But he brings up a legitimate issue. The fact of the matter is not all Muslims are Jihadists and no one, including I suspect, Donald Trump would say that. But the reality is, all Jihadists are Muslims. That's a reality. And we have \u2014 we have to stop worrying about offending some people and start defending all Americans. Because we're not right now. +p1008 +aVI would agree \u2014 I would agree that Donald Trump's proposal was not the right proposal. But he brings up a very important issue that I think we've been ignoring for far too long in this country. The reality is that, yes, we need to get reformist Muslims to join us. We need to get those who are being persecuted and killed within the Middle East to join us. But we also have to protect this country from those who want to harm us and we have to defeat those who are radicalized in the Middle East and wherever we find them around the world. +p1009 +aVJust because it couldn't have prevented San Bernardino doesn't mean that we shouldn't have all tools available to us that doesn't impinge upon people's privacy. This sort of data collection is not collecting people's phones calls, their voices; they're not collecting information that's personal. There's no names attached to these numbers. They're simply numbers and times and relationships that throughout algorithms that computer technology can be able to sort through relationship about what numbers are calling what numbers and be able to track those down to see if there's any leakage's between someone who's potentially a terrorist. That is to me just fundamental that we have to have this type of data to be able to not impinge upon people's privacy. In fact, I would make the argument that the more data we can collect that's anonymous that we can through, through using algorithms, the less we need to involve people in and imposing themselves in people's privacy. +p1010 +aVLook, I agree with Governor Huckabee, that we should in fact be looking at people's social media posts. That's just common sense. But we've defunded and tied the hands behind the backs of our intelligence agencies because of political correctness. We're not allowed to ask any questions or really pursue, whether there's any mosque that they're attending that could be spreading Jihadism, and we know that in this country there are Imams that are doing that. But we're not allowed to ask those questions, we're not allowed to pursue to those things because we have a president who denies the reality of the enemy we confront. +p1011 +aVI don't. I don't think we should be able to deny someone's constitutional rights based on a list kept by the government that nobody knows how they get on it, or how they get off of it. If you're going to make that list public, if you're going to put criteria out there as to how you're going to get on it, if you're going to deny someone's constitutional right, than I think there has to be more transparency. Let's just be honest, when someone applies for a gun, you do a background check. And, if you're on the terrorist watch list, guess what very well may happen? You may get denied that. That's a discretion of the people \u2014 of the ATF in making that kind of decision. I want to leave that discretion \u2014 as long as this list is not well known, as long as it's not transparent, we have to leave that discretion. I want to make a comment about what Mike said, and George said, about mus \u2014 Islam. The fact of the matter is, Islam is different. I know this is going to come as a shock to a lot of people, and I mean the sincerely. Islam is not just a religion. It is also a political governing structure. The fact of the matter is, Islam is a religion, but it is also Sharia law, it is also a civil government, it is also a form of government. And, so, the idea that that is protected under the First Amendment is wrong. And, in fact, that political structure is what is the big problem. The imposition of Sharia law adherence to fundamental Islam as it was practiced in the Seventh Century... +p1012 +aV...There has to be a line drawn. +p1013 +aVWell, there's all sorts of theological reasons why we may not want to go into Syria right now to take +p1014 +aVI would have no problem with Sy \u2014 with boots on the ground in Syria in a training capacity. I do not want American troops on the front line in Syria because I don't believe that that would serve to the interest. Again, understanding what +p1015 +aVNo look, I'm committed to whatever is necessary understanding the nature of the enemy. The enemy is a theocracy and their allure is their theocracy. It's their doctrine and so we have to understand that doctrine. That's why, I love the fact that people are angry and outraged in Washington and want someone new and fresh. But we need someone who understands and has knowledge and experience in these areas. And I can see that you know, Senator Graham has that experience and we have a little difference of opinion. But frankly, it's not that big of difference in our opinion, we both want to defeat +p1016 +aVAnd the fact that we have a nuclear treaty with the Shiites in Iran, that we have now partnered with the Russians and appearing to allow Assad to stay, which is a satellite Alawites, very interrelated to the Shiites, this looks to +p1017 +aVWell, I would establish a no-fly zone. And, I think we just... +p1018 +aVWell \u2014 the first thing you have to do is establish a no-fly zone, and you don't do that by just sort of declaring it. You work through the process of making sure you work with people who, hopefully, have the same objective that you do. And, if they don't, then you establish the no-fly zone, and you take the consequences of whatever \u2014 who violates that law. +p1019 +aV...I don't think it's a war with Russia anymore than Turkey went to war with Russia when Turkey shot down a plane... +p1020 +aVThese are \u2014 these are incidents not something that we're threatening the motherland. This is a tactical decision within an area that we have an obligation for the refugees, for providing stability to the rebels, and an opportunity for the rebels to reconstitute. And, making sure that we stop the flow of refugees into Europe, and into the United States to establish a no-fly zone. And, Russia either is going to comply with it or not, and if they don't, I think it can be contained to that region. +p1021 +aVWell, I would establish a no-fly zone. And, I think we just... +p1022 +aVWell \u2014 the first thing you have to do is establish a no-fly zone, and you don't do that by just sort of declaring it. You work through the process of making sure you work with people who, hopefully, have the same objective that you do. And, if they don't, then you establish the no-fly zone, and you take the consequences of whatever \u2014 who violates that law. +p1023 +aV...I don't think it's a war with Russia anymore than Turkey went to war with Russia when Turkey shot down a plane... +p1024 +aVThese are \u2014 these are incidents not something that we're threatening the motherland. This is a tactical decision within an area that we have an obligation for the refugees, for providing stability to the rebels, and an opportunity for the rebels to reconstitute. And, making sure that we stop the flow of refugees into Europe, and into the United States to establish a no-fly zone. And, Russia either is going to comply with it or not, and if they don't, I think it can be contained to that region. +p1025 +aVI would use the studies that were done that were ignored by this military that there were certain positions that frankly were not suitable. And they pushed a political agenda above what is in the best interest of the safety, security, and effective of our, of our fighting units. So I would go back to using what we should be doing. Which is putting forth people on those front line positions who are best prepared to do the job, survive the job, and come back home safely. +p1026 +aVI would change the policy to reflect what is the best interest of the people that we're asking. I've got a son who's going, who's going into the Air Force right now, and I, as a father, I want to make sure that, if he's out there on the front line \u2014 and he may be a pilot flying an airplane \u2014 I want to make sure that the person who's responsible for, for his wing has the ability to do the job they're doing. And if they don't have that ability to do the job, if we're doing a social promotion as opposed to what's best for the efficacy of our fighting force and for the survivability of our men and women, I'll change that policy. +p1027 +aVSo what you just said is you agree with me. Because that's exactly what I said. +p1028 +aVI said if you can't do the job, you shouldn't be able to...you shouldn't have the position. +p1029 +aVNo, I did not say that, George. I mean, you may, you may have heard that, but I didn't say that. What I said was, if they can in fact do the job that any, any other person can do, I will allow them to do so. +p1030 +aVBut if they cannot, I would reverse the policy. And what happened here is there were many studies done, particularly in the Marine Corps, which begged this President not to move forward with this because people are going to get killed as a result of it. The President went forward anyway. +p1031 +aVOf course there is a proper way to vet refugees coming into the United States. But not from the +p1032 +aVLindsay says this is a real war, until it comes to immigration. And, then, all of a sudden it's not such a real war. The reality is that we've seen since the events of 9/11, the president talks about how he's worried about discrimination and acts against Muslims. There's four times as many acts of violence against Jews than there are against Muslims. I never hear the president talk about that. The reality is that under this president, since 9/11, this anti-Muslim United States of America has doubled the rate of Muslim immigration. Since 9/11. That's what we've done. So, the idea that we have an immigration system that is working... +p1033 +aVIs not \u2014 and, I'm out of time. +p1034 +aVHere's the problem. I was with, in fact, one my guests here today is the Sheriff in Cochise County, down on the border in Arizona. And, he talked with me last night when I was with him about all of the children coming across. All of the children, why? Because we've created a magnet. These children are not coming over, and in great shape, not coming over \u2014 and not in harms way, and \u2014 going through difficult times. We're attracting people. He's also the Sheriff that caught Syrian's at the border. We have through the policies supported by almost everybody in this field......A policy that says amnesty. The world hears this, and knows that if they can come across this border, by and large, they're going to be able to stay. That has to change. +p1035 +aVBarack Obama has not kept this country safe. Hillary Clinton will not keep this country safe. We need to nominate someone who America knows will keep this country safe. Ten years ago I put the sanctions on Iran's nuclear program. Before that, I gave speech after speech, including to President Bush, to identify the enemy and call these radical Islamists who they are. Ladies and gentlemen, this week +p1036 +aVThe middle of America is hollowing out. All you have to do is listen to the last Democratic debate and you would think there was a Republican president in office the way they complained about how bad things are in America and how the middle \u2014 the middle of America is hollowing out. I agree with Mike Huckabee. I spent this morning in Chicago at Fabtech, which is a sheet manufac \u2014 a sheet metal fabricators conference. Thousands of people there explained the latest and newest technologies. You know what I was told? I was told when I went to booth after booth that there are 250,000 welder jobs open in America \u2014 250,000 welder jobs paying anywhere from $50,000 to $70,000 a year, and if you want to weld pipe on a, you know, for oil and gas pipelines, you can make $100,000 a year. Every manufacturer \u2014 I go to one every single week. In fact, I have with me in the \u2014 in the crowd here today a gentleman who is a supporter of mine from Rockwall, Texas, Ed Grand-Lienard. He runs Special Products. And he tells me he has jobs open in every skill that he \u2014 he \u2014 he could possibly hire for in Rockwall, Texas, but he can't find people. So the issue is, yes, we need a tax code. I \u2014 I propose a 20 percent flat tax \u2014 20 percent on corporations, 20 percent on \u2014 on individuals, full expensing, which will be powerful for manufacturing, a 0 percent rate, initially, for manufacturers. We're going to have a very powerful tax code. We're going to do something about regulation. We're going to suspected every single ObamaCare regu \u2014 Obama regulation that cost over $100,000 to the economy. But we have to start doing something about training and employing people who are sitting on the sidelines because they don't see a path. And we have a \u2014 a bureaucracy in Washington and a president in Washington \u2014 and even among Republicans who think everybody has to go to college. People need to go to work and we need to provide......opportunities for them to go to work out of high school. +p1037 +aVWell, the answer is first that we need to do something about a tax code that doesn't penalize. One thing that I'm excited about our tax code, proposed changes, is it's very pro-family. You have a $2,700 tax credit, period, for every person in that family, so that family, you know, would have about an $8,000 tax credit, which would be refundable. So every dollar she works, she's still only losing 20 cents. The problem with the tax code today, because of all the different provisions, you're right, you go back to work, you lose welfare benefits, you're losing money. Throw on top of that the \u2014 even a bigger problem, over 50 percent of children being raised in a home today of a single mom are raised in a home where the father is born \u2014 father is (sic) living at the child \u2014 the time the child is born. Now what does that mean? That means we have incentivized people not to marry. We've incentivized people to cohabitate instead of not marry, why? Because mom will lose welfare benefits if she marries father. It's not just mom going back to work, but it's mother and father marrying to form a more stable family for that child to be raised in a two-parent family. So we've got all sorts of really corrupt incentives that were put in place, well meaning by the left. But we need to remove those. We need to remove those incentives. We need to adopt a tax code that says we're going to be pro-family and pro-work. And that's what we'll do. +p1038 +aVAbsolutely. I'm a capitalist, not a corporatist. I'm not someone who believes we should be bailing out corporations whether their auto industries, or banks. And, it is simply a matter that there's auto industry \u2014 the auto industry would have survived, it would have survived through a bankruptcy process of \u2014 instead of Washington picking a winner and a loser. And, in this case, the losers are the bondholders, and the winners were the unions. That's fine. They did it, the unions \u2014 the unions survived. We \u2014 we have not survived in continuing to grow manufacturing jobs. We have a \u2014 we have a president, and an economy right now, that is killing \u2014 choking our ability to be able to compete. I'm one of the few people up here who actually believes that we need a level playing field when it comes to manufacturing. That means a good tax code, a good regulatory environment, low energy prices, better opportunities for workers to get training, and, also, I'm \u2014 a supporter of the +p1039 +aV...Let me settle this argument... +p1040 +aV...Well... +p1041 +aVI'll answer that in a second, but, I want to answer this other problem because this is a real legitimate debate between Chris and Bobby, and if somebody says we need someone who can win in a blue state, and Bobby says we need a real principled conservative. Ninety-two percent conservative voting record, unlike some of the other senators that Bobby mentioned who hasn't done anything to cut federal spending, I was actually the author of welfare reform, which is the only time we've ever seen a federal entitlement actually cut. We cut it. Senate did exactly what every conservative says they want to do. We took the program, we eliminated the federal entitlement, we blocked (ph) to the state, we capped the amount of money, cut it by about 10%, and then put two requirements, work, and time limits. We need to do that with the rest of the \u2014 means (ph) tested federal entitlements. I've done it. And I did it with a bipartisan support in the House and Senate, and after fighting two presidential vetoes by Bill Clinton. So I had a democratic president we had to get this through. No record of accomplishment. I agree with the folks who are from the Congress in this race. I have a record of accomplishment of being a conservative on everything. National security, on moral and cultural issues, on the economy, and twice won a blue state. The first time I beat the author of Hillarycare. I had Bill and Hillary in my state, James Carville managed the race against me, a state with a million more Democrats than Republicans. And I ran on health savings accounts, on private sector health care, as a conservative, pro-life, pro-family, and I won. And then in 2000, I was the only senator to win a state as a conservative that George Bush lost. You want someone who can win Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, with a conservative message, I'm your guy. +p1042 +aVI'll be happy to answer that if you give me more time. +p1043 +aVI'm going to answer two questions for the price of one. The infrastructure question, the answer is... We need to get the federal government out of this infrastructure business, other than vital economic highways. It has been said that if we cut the gas tax to 3 to 5 cents and send the rest back to the states, and just take care of the federal infrastructure that's vital for our economy, let the \u2014 we don't need the federal government and the road business that it is today. Number one. Number two, you know who I respect in the Democratic Party? You know why I respect them? Because they fight! Because they're not willing to back down, and they're willing to stand up and fight and win. And so I respect them because they are willing to take it to us. +p1044 +aVWell, I'll tell you, I have a 20 percent flat tax. That's one all income \u2014 so capital gains, corporations, individuals, 20 percent. I think that's a fair number, one out of five, to be able to \u2014 to help support the federal government. By the way it also approximates, if you take out some of the deductions, it approximates how much the federal government is, on average, spent of GDP, which is about 18 to 19 percent of GDP. So it actually fits with shrinking the size of government down to more like post-World War II levels. So the second thing we do is I don't allow for deductibility of state and local taxes, which will require state and local taxes to go down in order to be treated for their \u2014 for their people to be treated fairly. So the answer is, 20 percent and probably 33 percent overall. +p1045 +aVWell, I don't \u2014 I agree with Governor Christie, I don't think you can make it any more political than it's been. They \u2014 they are protecting a president that is over-taxing and over- regulating, shutting down this economy. And he \u2014 and they're keeping it up like Atlas, trying to hold up the Earth by \u2014 by these ridiculously low interest rates. And it's hurting American seniors, who are seeing no Social Security increases, seeing no \u2014 no savings. They're \u2014 they're putting their money aside. They're getting nothing in their deposit accounts. This is hurting the people who have acted responsibly, all in favor of those who, um, you know, are \u2014 are speculators and \u2014 and those on Wall Street. It's not a good deal for \u2014 for the vast majority of responsible Americans. The other thing we have with the Fed is they've been given way too much authority. Under Dodd-Frank, they've been given this enormous new authority. I mean they \u2014 they now have almost become the most powerful entity in Washington, DC. We need to repeal Dodd-Frank, get away that authority from the Fed and put them under more \u2014 more scrutiny. That's only part of the problem. I understand the Fed is interesting for a business channel, but I think for most Americans, the most important business is the family. And we haven't really talked much about the importance of the family to the economy. And \u2014 and ladies and gentlemen, every single book, from left to right, that's been written over the last couple of years has said the biggest problem in America today at the hollowing out of the middle of America is the breakdown of the nuclear family in America. We'd better be the party that's out there talking about this issue and what we're going to do to help strengthen marriage and return dads into homes in all communities. You want to talk about the communities that are hurting the most, the ones you see the protests in......there are no dads. And we need to do something about it. +p1046 +aVHappy Birthday. +p1047 +aV\u2014 States Marine Corps. +p1048 +aVThat's very personal to me. I grew up on a V.A. grounds. I lived in apartments on V.A. grounds my entire childhood. Both my Mom and Dad, after World War II, marry \u2014 met at a V.A., married, and that's where I lived. Kitchen table discussion was, particularly when I was growing up in the 1960's and 1970's, was the decline of the V.A. When they joined in the early 1950's, the V.A. was the top. They were the best, they were the best and brightest coming in after the war. And, we believed in the cause that we fought, and we invested in our hospitals to make sure that our veterans who left World War II were taken care of. But, after Vietnam, and during Vietnam, that began to change, and it really hasn't recovered since. The bottom line is the V.A. is antiquated. There's no need for a V.A. healthcare system as it existed after World War \u2014 why? Because we have the best private healthcare system in the world, we didn't need \u2014 we needed it in 1950's, hospitals were not particularly advanced, so, we built the best. We didn't maintain the best. Government didn't keep its promises to its veterans. So, what we need to do is two things. Number one, we need to allow veterans to go to private sector hospitals for their routine and ordinary care to get the best care in their community possible. And, there is a place for the Veterans Administration. There are injuries, and there are \u2014 things like +p1049 +aVIt should come as no surprise to Chris, or anybody else, that Barack Obama doesn't stand behind our men and women in uniform here at home because he hasn't stood behind them overseas. The rules of engagement that we've allowed our soldiers to go and fight against have put them in harm's way for political purposes. This has been the most politicized wars that we've ever seen under this administration. He gets in, and gets out, based upon what the polls are saying, what pressure he's getting from groups. Talk about a Commander in Chief. We need a commander in chief who has a vision and plan of how we're going to execute the national security of our country. Commander in chief is not an entry level position. Experience matters, and that's why I would ask for your support as a Commander in Chief, because I have the experience against the enemy......to confront to do the job. +p1050 +aVI announced from a factory floor in Western Pennsylvania. This campaign has all been about two words for me, working families. Working. Getting people the opportunity to see those wages rise, to be on the side of the American workers so they can get good paying jobs, and that means we have to start making things in America again. We need a president who's going to not just put policies in place, but is going to stand up at the bully pulpit and talk about the dignity of being a welder. The dignity of being a carpenter, about going to work and earning success. And, also, the importance of families, the importance of families and fathers, and mothers raising their children, and committing to that so that they can give children in our country the best opportunity to success. Working families is the key for us to win this election. +p1051 +aVYes, I think it's one thing to shrink the size of a state government but it's another thing to actually get something accomplished in Washington. It's a much tougher field. And I'm the one in the \u2014 on this stage and, frankly, on both stages that has actually gone to Washington, said we would shrink government, said we would shake things up and actually delivered for the conservative cause, everything from welfare reform, which was the largest, most significant accomplishment in the last 25 years for conservatism. I authored the bill when I was in the House of Representatives; I managed the bill on the floor of the United States Senate. You need a conservative who can deliver and that's what I bring to the table. +p1052 +aVWell, if you look at my flat tax, it actually takes the best of what Steve Forbes, Art Laffer, many have been advocating for a long time, which is a very strong pro-growth tax code \u2014 very simple. And, it adjusts it to make sure that it is not regressive. We have a $2,750 per person tax credit \u2014 that's $2,750 off the taxes due, not a deduction, a credit. And, we think \u2014 in fact, if you run the numbers, no American who's going to be paying more taxes under our proposal, so, we've accomplished both. We have a system that has a low single rate, but we take care of American families. I'm talking about $2,750 per person. That means a family four, that's $11,000 dollar tax credit. That's a very, very strong pro-family \u2014 and if you looked at the Wall Street Journal today, and so many of the publications that have been out there, they've talked about how the biggest problem of the hollowing out of the middle of this country. For workers to be able to raise is actually, the breakdown of the American family. William Galston, a liberal, said that on the pages of the Wall Street Journal today that the key to poverty is families. So, we put forth a pro-growth \u2014 Steve Forbes plan, combined it with a pro- family plan, and that's why I think it's going to work out, and work effectively. +p1053 +aVWhat we should be \u2014 we shouldn't be putting tariffs on anything. That hurts working men and women in this country. What we should be doing is making our manufacturing more competitive. One of the reasons I introduced the 20/20 plan, a 20 percent flat tax on corporations, as well as on individuals, is so we can be competitive, so we can bring those manufacturing jobs back. You want to talk about cutting pollution? You do a little back- of-the-envelope. We \u2014 we produce, per dollar of GDP, about one-fifth of the CO2 and other pollutants that China produces. So we're five times more efficient in producing goods here, as far as the environment \u2014 environment is concerned. Why don't we \u2014 if we really want to tackle environmental problems, global warming, what we need to do is take those jobs from China and bring them back here to the United States, employ workers in this country. We've lost two million jobs \u2014 two million jobs \u2014 under this administration in manufacturing \u2014 15,000 manufacturers have left this country. Why? Because of bad tax policy, bad regulatory policy and, yes, bad trade policy. We need to have a president that's going to pledge, as I have \u2014 I'm going to make America the number-one manufacturer so working men and women can have good paying jobs again in America. +p1054 +aV\u2014 with competition... +p1055 +aV\u2014 for low wage workers. +p1056 +aV and I... +p1057 +aVThat's not what's happening. +p1058 +aVA true conservative wants to create a level playing field. That's what \u2014 that's what we're \u2014 that's what government is supposed to do. They're not supposed to favor one group over another. And when it comes to our manufacturers, the level playing field is not in the United States. It's international. And so the federal government should have laws, tax laws, regulatory laws and, yes, finance laws. There's 60 other ex-im banks all over \u2014 all over the world. Every major competitor for the United States' manufacturing dollar has one of those banks. And guess what? They use those banks a heck of a lot more than their \u2014 than the United States of America does, number one. So in order to have a level playing field, which is what conservatives talk about all the time, level playing field, then we have to have export financing and here's why.Because export financing doesn't help Boeing, or G.E. G.E. just lost a contract, you know what they did? They went to . They got the X.M. (ph) bank in France to support it, and what did they do? They moved manufacturing out of South Carolina, out of Texas, moved to \u2014 Hungary, and to France. G.E. is still making money. G.E. is still doing well, but American workers are out of jobs. That's why we have to have this level playing field so we can compete with the rest of the world. +p1059 +aVWell, first, since you mention Colorado, I want to thank the people of Colorado because four years ago you \u2014 gave me the honor of winning the nomination out here in the state of Colorado. On a night we won three states, and it catapulted us to win 11 states ultimately, so, I just want to thank you very, very much for that support, and \u2014 in response to that, I do drink a lot of Coors beer, so... I try to help. The answer is pretty simple. The answer is simple. There are no shortage of breweries around the United States of America. I \u2014 I do \u2014 as I travel around the country, I do pints and politics, and I go to breweries all over the place, and there \u2014 there's almost no town in America anymore that doesn't have a brewery, so I don't think we need to worry too much. They're obviously \u2014 if there's \u2014 if there's some anti- competitive issues, you know, we have agencies to look at that. But, no, I'm not \u2014 I'm not concerned that Americans are not going to have choices in beer. +p1060 +aVAnd I care about, by the way. I care about choices. +p1061 +aVWell, I \u2014 I would say this, that what you're seeing is \u2014 in health care, you're seeing a lot of consolidation, and that consolidation is occurring because of Obamacare. You're seeing it particularly in an area that I am concerned about, and that's in insurance \u2014 health insurance. You're seeing the big health insurance companies fold up. You've seen Obama try to seed health insurance companies, and they've all failed, I think, except one. Why? Because we have a system of Obamacare with minimum loss ratios that make it virtually impossible for a small insurer to operate effectively. And this was the motive behind Obamacare. This wasn't incidental. This was deliberate, to make it so impossible for small insurers to survive... +p1062 +aV...that they consolidate into a small group. Then the left can say, "there is no competition, we need a single payer." That's why we have to repeal Obamacare. +p1063 +aVThank you. Can I just say something about that? +p1064 +aVWell, if you look at our plan that I introduced, the 2020 Clear Vision for America, we increase growth by 10 percent, 1 percent a year. So we go from 2.3 to 3.3, in repealing Obamacare, it's another .7. So you're looking at 4 percent growth, according to the Tax Foundation. And unlike Donald Trump and Bobby Jindal, we don't add $10 trillion to the deficit. In fact, our plan, while it creates as many jobs as their plan does and grows the economy as much as theirs does, we are a revenue-neutral plan because I believe that we need to reduce the size of government, yes, but we also need to reduce our deficit, and we need to get our budget balanced so we can start paying down this debt. And adding a trillion dollars with a tax cut and getting no more growth is not the way to do it. But that's only half of it. The word "economy" comes from the Greek "euthokis" (ph) which means family. The family is the first economy. And the one thing that we do not talk about enough is how stable families are vitally important for the middle of America to be prosperous and to grow and be safe. And I will have policies, not just tax policies, but others that will make sure that families are strong again in America. +p1065 +aVMLB, NHL, so I'm a big sports fan. And "The Wall Street Journal." Those are the three apps I use the most. +p1066 +aVWell, since we're usually in the Super Bowl at the Pittsburgh Steelers... Steeler nation, anybody? +p1067 +aVNo. I was in......was in Kansas City over the weekend to watch the Steeler game and about a third of the crowd were Steeler fans. So I'm usually not alone when I call on Steeler Nation. But we are used to being in the Super Bowl, so actually, it is in Pennsylvania already. +p1068 +aVI grew up in a steel town of Western Pennsylvania, outside of Pittsburgh, and when I announced for president, I announced from the factory floor. When I talk about making America the number one manufacturer again in the world, it's not just talk. When I talk about having the opportunity for people to rise again, it's not just because it polls well. I represented the old steel valley of Pittsburgh. I represented a 70% Democratic district, and won with 60% of the vote. Why? Because I aligned myself with working men and women who feel that neither party, and certainly not Washington D.C. cares about them. You elect me, we will get American workers on the side of the Republican party, and we can not be stopped if we do. +p1069 +asVQUESTION +p1070 +(lp1071 +VMy name is Ashley Tofil. Ms. Fiorina, in November, you said that you would not talk to Vladimir Putin after you were elected because you would be communicating from a position of weakness. Do you believe that it is feasible to not communicate with another world leader? And do you think that that also is a sign of weakness? +p1072 +aVMy name is Carla Hernandez. I'm from the University of Texas at Austin. And my question is directed to all the candidates. If the Bible clearly states that we need to embrace those in need and not fear, how can we justify not accepting refugees? +p1073 +aVPlease describe one action you would do to make the economic environment more favorable for small businesses and entrepreneurs and anyone dreaming of opening their own business. +p1074 +aVHi, I'm Adithya Sivakumar. I'm from Vanderbilt University. And I was wondering with U.S. designated state sponsors of terrorism such as Iran and other traditional U.S. enemies fighting +p1075 +asVCAVUTO +p1076 +(lp1077 +VIt is 9:00 p.m. on the East Coast, 8:00 p.m. here inside the Milwaukee theater. Welcome to the Republican presidential debate here on the Fox Business Network. I'm Neil Cavuto, alongside my co-moderators, Maria Bartiromo, and the editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal, Gerard Baker. +p1078 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. +p1079 +aVIt sounds like a game show but it's not. Now I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the elephant in the room, and I'm not talking about your party's fine symbol. I'm talking about the purpose of tonight's debate. The economy and what each of you would do to improve it. No more, no less. We are focused on those issues, and what you have said on those issues in your words and what your opponents have said in their words about your words. That is the agenda tonight. How each of you plans to make America better tomorrow. And so we begin. Candidates, as we gather tonight in this very august theater, just outside and across the country, picketers are gathering as well. They're demanding an immediate hike in the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Just a few hours ago, near Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed doing the same for all state workers, the first governor to do so. Mr. Trump, as the leading presidential candidate on this stage and one whose tax plan exempts couples making up to $50,000 a year from paying any federal income taxes at all, are you sympathetic to the protesters cause since a $15 wage works out to about $31,000 a year? +p1080 +aVSo do not raise the minimum wage? +p1081 +aVDr. Carson, you have long bemoaned this lackluster recovery. And this Facebook map show Americans share your concern. The green represents how the jobs issue is resonating all across the nation, especially here in the state of Wisconsin. You suggested one minimum wage does not fit all, and that perhaps we should offer a lower or starter wage for young people. Those protesters outside are looking for $15 and nothing less. Where are you? +p1082 +aVSo, sir, just to be clear, you would not raise it? +p1083 +aVSenator Rubio, you called the recent Democratic debate in Las Vegas a night of giveaways, including free health care, free college and a host of other government-paid benefits. Since you aren't a fan of all they're giving away, tell us tonight what you would take back. +p1084 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. +p1085 +aVAll right. We're only just getting started. Coming up, your taxes. Stick around. You're watching FOX Business +p1086 +aVWelcome back to the Milwaukee Theater and the Republican presidential debate. Let's get right back to our questions. Dr. Carson, to you. You recently railed against the double- standard in the media, sir, that seems obsessed with inconsistencies and potential exaggerations in your life story, but looked the other way when it came to then-Senator Barack Obama's. Still, as a candidate whose brand has always been trust, are you worried your campaign \u2014 which you've always said, sir, is bigger than you \u2014 is now being hurt by you? +p1087 +aVI'll just forget that follow-up there. +p1088 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1089 +aVAlright, thank you. We're going to take a break here. Coming up, a big issue many Americans are facing, taxes. The Republican Presidential Debate continues now, live, from Milwaukee. +p1090 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from Milwaukee. Let's get back to the questions. And we want to touch on obviously one of the biggest of this issue in this year, taxes. And this will go to several of you. One of the biggest economic concerns of course in the country are taxes. Facebook data certainly backs that up. Once again the green on this map that we're going to see here shows how the conversation around taxes is resonating across the nation, especially here in Wisconsin. First off, Dr. Carson, to you. You say you are in favor of a tax system, I guess akin to tithing, sir, with a flat tax rate of up to 15 percent because you said, if everybody pays this, I think God is a pretty fair guy, so tithing is a pretty fair process. But Donald Trump says that is not fair. That wealthier taxpayers should pay a higher rate because it's a fair thing to do. So whose plan would God endorse then, Doctor? Yours or Mr. Trump's? +p1091 +aVRight. +p1092 +aVThank you very much. Senator Paul, you said you want to blow up the tax code and start over with an across-the-board 14.5 percent fair and flat tax. You happily offered that it is not revenue neutral and that's the idea. You want to choke off the amount of money coming into Washington. But don't you risk, sir, creating a near-term budget crisis just as your presidency would be beginning? +p1093 +aVThere are no deductions on your \u2014 under your plan? +p1094 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1095 +aVSenator Paul... Senator Paul, you have already said, sir, that that would be a mistake in not talking to Vladimir Putin, or to rule it out. You've argued that it's never a good idea to close down communication. With that in mind, do you think the same applies to administration efforts right now to include the Iranians in talks on Syria? +p1096 +aV...Well, then how would you respond? +p1097 +aVBut if you're not going to respond in a no-fly zone strategy, what would yours be? +p1098 +aVAll right. And look at the time, look at the time. You are watching FOX Business, we'll take a break. Stick around. +p1099 +aVSenator Cruz \u2014 and I will get to you \u2014 but, Senator Cruz, on that theme, Facebook data shows that over the last month alone, nearly 1 million people \u2014 nearly 1 million \u2014 have been concerned about reining in Wall Street, apparently believing that some have not been punished enough. So, as an accomplished litigator yourself and a former solicitor general, would you go after the very people who believe and fear that Wall Street has ignored, in other words, the crooks that Bernie Sanders say have gotten away with a financial murder? +p1100 +aVSenator......Senator, I really want to be clear here. Are you saying, sir, that if Bank of America were on the brink, you would let it fail? +p1101 +aVSir, I understand that. I just want to be clear, if you don't mind, that millions of depositors would be on the line with that decision. And I just want to be clear. If it were to happen again, for whatever the reason, you would let it go, you would let a Bank of America go? +p1102 +aVOK, I think it's fair to say you're not fans of Hillary Clinton's resume. Alright, Mr. Trump.... +p1103 +aVI had a feeling. Perhaps the most successful capitalist on this stage tonight, you've acknowledged that some give capitalism a bad name. You've been particularly critical of businesses that find all sorts of ways of paying their taxes by keeping money abroad, but your own plan includes an incentive to bring \u2014 that more the $2 trillion dollars home. Isn't that, like, a one-time bounty... +p1104 +aV...Some of the guys you all but call pirates, so they still keep the loot, and pay only a price to bring it back. +p1105 +aV...Alright, gentlemen, I know you want to \u2014 and I want to, be we also promised to get people home tonight, and we are going to take a quick break here. I think it is fair to say at this juncture that you can discuss these issues, and only business issues, but still keep it interesting. Stick around for these candidates closing statements. +p1106 +aVSenator Marco Rubio? +p1107 +aVDr. Ben Carson? +p1108 +aVDonald Trump? +p1109 +aVCandidates, we want to thank you all. We also appreciate your helping save time by talking over one another at times. That was welcomed. But by all means, it was a very riveting debate. Business issues can be \u2014 can be riveting, because it wasn't about us, it's about them. +p1110 +aVThat'll do it. Thank you for joining us. +p1111 +asVBLITZER +p1112 +(lp1113 +VWelcome to the CNN-Facebook Republican presidential debate here at the Venetian Las Vegas. We have a very enthusiastic audience. Everyone is here. They're looking forward to a serious and spirited discussion about the security of this nation. I'm Wolf Blitzer, your moderator tonight. This debate is airing on CNN networks here in the United States and around the world, and on the Salem Radio Network. The nine leading candidates, they are here. Let's welcome them right now. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Businessman and real estate developer Donald Trump. Retired neurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. And Ohio Governor John Kasich. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome these Republican candidates for president of the United States. This is the final Republican debate before the election year begins, and we're taking a moment for the photographs of the candidates together on the stage. Now, everyone, please rise for the national anthem sung by Ayla Brown. +p1114 +aVI know everyone is eager to get started. So, candidates, please take your places while I explain the ground rules for tonight. As moderator, I'll guide the discussion, and I'll be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt and CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. We also asked Republicans and independents nationwide to share their questions for the candidates. We teamed up with Facebook to send a campaign camper across the country over the past several weeks. Thousands of people stepped inside and recorded their questions on video. Millions more have weighed in on Facebook. Candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have a minute and 15 seconds to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you're singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know that we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. And as the candidates requested, a bell will sound like this. We know you are all eager to jump in and debate these important issues, so, please, wait until you're called on. These nine Republicans are positioned on stage based on their ranking in the recent polls, so let's begin right now. I'd like to invite each candidate to introduce himself or herself to our audience. You'll have one minute. First to you, Senator Paul. +p1115 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p1116 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1117 +aVMs. Fiorina? +p1118 +aVGovernor Bush? +p1119 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1120 +aVSenator Cruz. +p1121 +aVDr. Carson. +p1122 +aVMr. Trump. +p1123 +aVThank you. Since you last debated, Americans have witnessed terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino. The FBI director says the country now faces the greatest terror threat since 9/11. You all have different approaches to keeping the country safe. And that will be the focus of tonight's debate. Mr. Trump, as you mentioned in your opening statement, part of your strategy is to focus in on America's borders. To keep the country safe, you say you want to temporarily ban non-American Muslims from coming to the United States; ban refugees fleeing +p1124 +aVGovernor Bush, you called Mr. Trump "unhinged" when he proposed banning non-American Muslims from the United States. Why is that unhinged? +p1125 +aVMr. Trump? +p1126 +aVSenator Rubio \u2014 I'm going to go to Senator Rubio and get his thoughts. You have said banning Muslims is unconstitutional. But according to a recent ABC News-Washington Post poll, a majority of Republicans support Mr. Trump's idea. Why are they wrong? +p1127 +aVHugh Hewitt, you have a question. +p1128 +aVGovernor Christie, Americans are clearly more afraid today than at any time since 9/11. As you mentioned in your opening statement, today in Los Angeles, 650 schoolchildren didn't go to \u2014 650,000 schoolchildren didn't go to school because of an e-mail threat, this two weeks after an attack killed 14 people in San Bernardino. Is this the new normal? And if so, what steps would you take as president of the United States to ensure that fear does not paralyze America? +p1129 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, one of the killers in San Bernardino was an American who was not on anyone's watch list. How are you going to find that radicalized person and stop another such attack? +p1130 +aVThank you. Dana Bash, you have the next question. +p1131 +aVThank you. Dr. Carson, you're in favor of monitoring mosques and schools where there is anti-America sentiment, what do you consider anti- America? +p1132 +aVDr. Carson, who was right in that little debate that we just heard between Senator Rubio and Senator Paul? +p1133 +aVHold on a sec, we have a lot more to come and everybody's going to have their full opportunity. Governor Bush, six days after 9/11 your brother visited a mosque and said quote, "Islam is peace." The conversation tonight is about banning Muslims and surveillance of mosques, are President Bush's words still relevant in today's Republican party? +p1134 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you pointed out you were a CEO in Silicon Valley on 9/11. Companies there, they say they won't help the FBI now crack encrypted communication from +p1135 +aVBut my question was: Should these Silicon Valley companies be forced to cooperate with the FBI? +p1136 +aVMr. Trump, you recently suggested closing that Internet up, those were your words, as a way to stop +p1137 +aVLet me follow up, Mr. Trump. So, are you open to closing parts of the Internet? +p1138 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, is shutting down any part of the Internet a good idea? +p1139 +aVThank you, Governor. The fight against radical Islamic terrorists and +p1140 +aVThank you. To be clear, Senator Cruz, would you carpet bomb Raqqa, the +p1141 +aVThank you. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you've been critical of Senator Cruz's strategy. You say his voting record doesn't match his rhetoric. Why? +p1142 +aVBecause I asked the question, Senator, because you said this. You said he, referring to Senator Cruz, voted against the Defense Authorization Act every year that it came up, and I assume that if he voted against it, he would veto it as president. That's the bill that funds our troops. +p1143 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1144 +aVSenator Rubio. +p1145 +aVWe are going to have much more on this... +p1146 +aVWe're going to have much more on this. But I want to move now back to Mr. Trump. +p1147 +aVHold on. Hold on. Hold on. +p1148 +aVWe have a lot... +p1149 +aVWe have a lot to discuss. I want to move to Mr. Trump right now. We have a question on this war against +p1150 +aVMr. Trump. +p1151 +aVGovernor Bush. Governor Bush. +p1152 +aVMr. Trump. +p1153 +aVJust one at a time, go ahead... +p1154 +aVGo ahead, Mr. Trump. +p1155 +aVGovernor Bush, please. +p1156 +aVOne at a time. +p1157 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1158 +aVThank you. +p1159 +aVAll right. Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash, Hugh, go ahead with the next question. +p1160 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Rubio? Let's continue this conversation. This is a critically important issue. +p1161 +aVWe will get to \u2014 we have a lot of time, Ms. Fiorina. I want to get to Senator Rubio right now. Let's talk about, one of the aspects of your strategy, you say the only way to defeat +p1162 +aVThank you, Senator. Stand by. Ms. Fiorina, the former defense secretary, Bob Gates, says the chances of getting Sunni-Arab forces on the ground to get the job done, his words, "chances very remote." What's your strategy? +p1163 +aVThank you. Governor Christie, what's your strategy? +p1164 +aVDr. Carson, what is your strategy? +p1165 +aVThank you. Everyone stand by. We're only just beginning. Coming up, which candidates on this stage tonight want to move foreign policy in a dramatically new direction? We'll be right back. +p1166 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate here at the Venetian, Las Vegas. The war against +p1167 +aVThank you. +p1168 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you supported the removal of Moammar Gadhafi in Libya. Now that country is in turmoil, as +p1169 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1170 +aVStandby. Everybody standby for a moment. Governor Kasich, go ahead. +p1171 +aVThank you. +p1172 +aVWe're going to talk about Assad in a moment. Mr. Trump, are Americans safer with dictators running the world in the Middle East? +p1173 +aVThank you. Mr. Trump? +p1174 +aVAll right. +p1175 +aVThank you. +p1176 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East... +p1177 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East better off with dictators? +p1178 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1179 +aVHold on Governor Bush., here's the question. You said, "getting rid of Saddam Hussein in your words was a pretty good deal." In light of what has happened in Iraq, do you still feel that way? +p1180 +aVSenator Paul, was getting rid of Saddam Hussein a pretty good deal? +p1181 +aVThank you. Hugh Hewitt, go ahead. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hugh. +p1182 +aVSenator, Senator, we're going to get to you. Wait your turn. We have two hours of debate. We'll have plenty of time. Let Hugh ask his question. +p1183 +aVSenator, please. +p1184 +aVSenator... +p1185 +aVYou'll have plenty of opportunity. Hugh, go ahead. +p1186 +aVThese are the rules all of you agreed to. Hugh, go ahead with your question. +p1187 +aVLet's continue with Russia right now. We have another question from Facebook. Listen and watch. +p1188 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you know, U.S. and Russian warplanes are flying all over Syria right now. With so many lives on the line, is this a good time for the United States not to talk to Putin? +p1189 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Christie, if the U.S. imposed a no-fly zone over Syria and a Russian plane encroached, invaded that no-fly zone, would you be prepared to shoot down that Russian plane and risk war with Russia? +p1190 +aVSenator Paul \u2014 Senator Paul, I want you to respond to what we just heard from Governor Christie. If there was a no-fly zone, you say that potentially could lead to World War III. Why? +p1191 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1192 +aVAll right, let's go back \u2014 Hugh and Dana? +p1193 +aVOne at a time. Hugh, go ahead. +p1194 +aVGovernor, thank you very much. So, Dr. Carson, you recently visited a refugee camp in Jordan and you deemed it your words, "really quite nice." Saying the people there didn't want to come to the United States. Do you think these camps are a long-term solution of the problem of Syrian refugees? +p1195 +aVSenator Paul, you oppose letting in Syrian refugees at this time into the United States. The U.S. has already accepted 2,000 Syrian refugees, including 13 living here in Las Vegas right now. Would you send them back? What would you do with these people? +p1196 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1197 +aVSenator Paul, you didn't answer the question about the 2,000 Syrian refugees who are already here in the United States. Will you send them back or let them stay? +p1198 +aVWe have another \u2014 we have another question. We have another question from Facebook. Let's listen. +p1199 +aVGovernor Christie, you say there should be a pause in allowing new refugees to come into the United States, including orphans under the age of five. What do you say to Carla? +p1200 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1201 +aVThank you, Governor. There is much more coming up. We are only just beginning. Coming up, what other global hot spots await the next president of the United States. +p1202 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate. We're here at the Venetian Las Vegas. Tonight we have been focusing on the Middle East, but let's turn to some other world threats that you will potentially face as Commander in Chief. Ms. Fiorina, candidates here have called the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un a maniac who is mentally unstable. Last week he said he now has a hydrogen bomb. If you were elected president, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p1203 +aVDr. Carson, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p1204 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Dana and Hugh you have questions as well. +p1205 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Some of you on this stage have questioned whether your opponents have temperament, the right temperament, to be in control of the nuclear codes. Dana, you have a question on this? +p1206 +aVThank you, senator. Thank you. +p1207 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1208 +aVThank you, Senator. We're a month and a half away now from the first real test who will be the Republican presidential nominee. Hugh, you have a question? +p1209 +aVAll right. Candidates, we have more coming up. When we come back, everyone will have an opportunity to explain why this particular candidate, each of you on the stage, believes he or she should be the Republican presidential nominee. +p1210 +aVNow it's time for the closing statements from the candidates. Each one has 30 seconds. Senator Paul. +p1211 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1212 +aVGovernor Christie. +p1213 +aVMs. Fiorina. +p1214 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1215 +aVSenator Rubio. +p1216 +aVSenator Cruz. +p1217 +aVDr. Carson. +p1218 +aVThanks to all the Republican presidential candidates. That does it for this Republican presidential debate. +p1219 +aVI'd now like to ask the candidates to please take your places while I tell you a little bit more about how tonight's debate will work. As the moderator, I'll guide the discussion asking questions and follow-ups, as will Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt. Candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have a minutes and 15 seconds to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you're singled out for criticism. We have timing lights that are visible to the candidates, those lights will warn you when your time is up. And as the candidates requested, a bell will sound like this. We know you're all eager to jump in and debate these important issues, but please wait until you're called on. Now that everyone is this place, it's time for the candidates to introduce themselves to our audience. You'll each have one minute. Senator Graham, you're first. +p1220 +aVGovernor Pataki. +p1221 +aVSenator Santorum. +p1222 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p1223 +aVLet's begin. The United States just suffered the worst terrorist attack since 9-11, the murder of 14 people by two terrorists, one of whom was an American citizen. In response, Republican frontrunner Donald Trump proposed a temporary ban on all Muslims coming into the United States until the government can figure out what is going on. Senator Graham, the polls show most Republicans do support Mr. Trump. What do you say to them? +p1224 +aVSenator Graham, you say you'd rather lose the election without Trump than try to win with him. Does that mean you'll be voting for the Democratic nominee if Donald Trump wins the presidential nomination? +p1225 +aVGovernor Pataki, you mentioned Donald Trump in your opening statement. You've also suggested Mr. Trump's plan is un-American and absurd. Why? +p1226 +aVSenator Santorum, you object to Mr. Trump's proposals on the grounds that it's unworkable. You've made religious liberty a hallmark of your career. Do you believe in religious liberty for Muslims as well as Christians? +p1227 +aVSenator Graham. +p1228 +aVSenator Santorum. +p1229 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you called Mr. Trump's plan to ban Muslims impossible and unconstitutional. But what is your specific plan to prevent would-be Jihadists from carrying out attacks against Americans? +p1230 +aVThe terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino have sparked a debate here in the United States about the balance between privacy and security. I want to bring in CNN's Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt for more on this. +p1231 +aVGovernor Pataki. +p1232 +aVThere are a lot of people who have been frustrated, especially Senator Graham, that law enforcement can't tap into information on terrorist cell phones. Senator Graham has called on companies in Silicon Valley to change their business models. As president of the United States, would you force these companies to change their models so the government can better monitor the traffic on these cell phones? +p1233 +aVSenator Graham? +p1234 +aVSenator Graham. +p1235 +aVHere is a question we have on the fight against +p1236 +aVGovernor Huckabee, how would you defeat +p1237 +aVSenator Graham, you have an aggressive military plan to try to defeat +p1238 +aVSenator Santorum, following up on what we just heard from Senator Graham, at least one U.S. intelligence report from the White House has concluded that, in order to defeat +p1239 +aVSenator Graham, you're shaking your head. +p1240 +aVI'm going to bring Governor Pataki in a minute, but go ahead and respond, Senator Graham. +p1241 +aVGovernor Pataki, should the U.S. send ground troops into Syria? +p1242 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you have not put a number of how many U.S. ground troops would be needed to combat +p1243 +aVSenator Graham, and I just want to remind our viewers, you want 10,000 U.S. ground troops in Iraq, and 10,000 in Syria? +p1244 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you have said as president you would tell +p1245 +aVSenator Samtorum? +p1246 +aVGovernor Pataki, you support ground troops - deploying grounds troops. +p1247 +aVThe U.S. Army's Former Cheif of Staff, General Raymond Odierno said that, and I'm quoting, "now +p1248 +aVBut how long would you be willing to commit U.S. troops to fight +p1249 +aVSenator Graham, you called for U.S. ground troops as we know in Iraq and Syria. +p1250 +aVAs you know, there's a growing +p1251 +aVAre you ready to deploy U.S. troops to Libya to try to defeat +p1252 +aVSenator? Senator, are you ready to commit U.S. ground troops to Libya? +p1253 +aVAlright, gentleman, standby. The fight against +p1254 +aVWe're live here at the Venetian in Las Vegas. Welcome back. As the U.S. fight against +p1255 +aVWe have a video question from Facebook. Let's watch. +p1256 +aVGovernor Pataki. +p1257 +aVHe says he was wondering with U.S. designated state sponsors of terrorism like Iran and other traditional U.S. enemies fighting +p1258 +aVHugh Hewitt and Dana Bash have questions. Hugh go ahead. +p1259 +aVGovernor Pataki, let me stick with you. Governor Pataki, a U.S. Army Sargent Bowe Bergdahl now facing a court marshall after leaving his base in Afghanistan, getting captured by the Taliban - Donald Trump, has called for his execution. The former house speak John Boehner says "he's innocent until proven guilty." Where do you stand? +p1260 +aVSenator Graham, where do you stand? +p1261 +aVGovernor Huckabee? Governor Huckbee, +p1262 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Pataki, speaking of those four Americans being held in Iran right now. Iran has suggested they might be willing to have a prisoner swap, release Iranian prisoners held in the United States, in exchange for those four Americans. Would you support that? +p1263 +aVWe have to take a quick break, but, Governor, Israel has exchanged a lot of the prisoners it was holding for Israeli soldiers who were being held by Hamas, for example. +p1264 +aVThank you. Let's take another quick break. The scramble, the scramble to protect Americans after +p1265 +aVWelcome back to the Republican Presidential Debate here at the Venetian in Las Vegas. Gentlemen, in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks, the Obama Administration policy of allowing Syrian refugees to come into the United States has come under fire. Senator Santorum, you say accepting Syrian refugees is dangerous. You say it just takes one Jihadist to destroy the world. Do you think there is any way to properly vet refugees coming into the United States? +p1266 +aVGovernor Pataki, you have said you wouldn't accept a single Syrian refugee. What should become of them? +p1267 +aVLet's go back to Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt for more questions. Dana? +p1268 +aVThank you, Senator. Gentlemen, standby, we are going to take another very quick break. Coming up, with America on edge, who has what it takes to be the next Commander in Chief? These candidates, they will make their case. +p1269 +aVWelcome back. We're live here at the Venetian Las Vegas. Gentlemen, it's time for your closing statements. Each candidate will have 30 seconds. Senator graham, you're first. +p1270 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Pataki. +p1271 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum. +p1272 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee. +p1273 +aVThank you. Thanks to all of the candidates for a very important discussion on critically important issues. This debate night is just getting started here at the Venetian Las Vegas. The top nine candidates, they are standing by for their turn on this stage in just a little while. I'll be back as the moderator. +p1274 +asVMODERATOR +p1275 +(lp1276 +VComing up more of our debate, including questions about President Obama's foreign policy and these guys and their better ideas. Coming up. +p1277 +asVFIORINA +p1278 +(lp1279 +VLike all of you I'm angry. I'm angry at what's happening to our nation. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. Bombastic insults wont take it back. Political rhetoric that promises a lot and delivers little, won't take it back. All of our problems can be solved. All of our wounds can be healed by a tested leader who is willing to fight for the character of our nation. I have been tested. I have beaten breast cancer. I have buried a child. I started as a secretary. I fought my way to the top of corporate America while being called every B word in the book. I fought my way into this election and on to this debate stage while all the political insiders and the pundits told, "it couldn't be done." I've been told, "no,: all my life. And all my life, I've refused to accept no as an answer. Citizens, it is time to take our country back from the political class, from the media, from the liberal elite. It can be done, it must be done, join me and we will get it done. +p1280 +aVWhat I think we need to stand for are solutions. I offer myself as a leader to the people of this country because I think they're looking for solutions, not lawyers arguing over laws or entertainers throwing out sound bites that draw media attention. We need to solve the problem. To solve the problem, we need to do something here at home and something over there in their caliphate. We need to deny them territory. But here at home, we need to do two fundamental things. Number one, we need to recognize that technology has moved on. The Patriot Act was signed in 2001, roughly. The iPhone was invented in 2007. The iPad was invented in 2011. Snapchat and Twitter, all the rest of it, have been around just for several years. Technology has moved on, and the terrorists have moved on with it. Let me tell you a story. Soon after 9/11, I got a phone call from the NSA. They needed help. I gave them help. I stopped a truckload of equipment. I had it turned around. It was escorted by the NSA into headquarters. We need the private sector's help, because government is not innovating. Technology is running ahead by leaps and bound. The private sector will help, just as I helped after 9/11. But they must be engaged, and they must be asked. I will ask them. I know them. +p1281 +aVYou know, listening to this conversation, let me just say, we have a lot of argument about laws but none of it solves the problem. Let's examine what happened, why did we miss the Tsarnaev brothers, why did we miss the San Bernardino couple? It wasn't because we had stopped collected metadata it was because, I think, as someone who comes from the technology world, we were using the wrong algorithms. This is a place where the private sector could be helpful because the government is woefully behind the technology curve. But secondly, the bureaucratic processes that have been in place since 9/11 are woefully inadequate as well. What do we now know? That DHS vets people by going into databases of known or suspected terrorists. And yet, we also know that +p1282 +aVThey do not need to be forced. They need to be asked to bring the best and brightest, the most recent technology to the table. I was asked as a CEO. I complied happily. And they will as well. But they have not been asked. That's why it cost billions of dollars to build an Obama website that failed because the private sector wasn't asked. +p1283 +aVI hope at some point you're going to ask me my strategy. +p1284 +aVWell, first I'll just point out that talking tough is not the same as being strong. And to wage war, we need a commander in chief who has made tough calls in tough times and stood up to be held accountable over and over, not first-term senators who've never made an executive decision in their life. One of the things I would immediately do, in addition to defeating them here at home, is bring back the warrior class \u2014 Petraeus, McChrystal, Mattis, Keane, Flynn. Every single one of these generals I know. Every one was retired early because they told President Obama things that he didn't want to hear. We must have Sunni-Arabs involved in this coalition. We must commit leadership, strength, support and resolve. I'll just add that Margaret Thatcher once said, "If you want something talked about, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman." +p1285 +aVThat is exactly what President Obama said. I'm amazed to hear that from a republican presidential candidate. But let's just start with, who got it wrong? Who really got it wrong? Hillary Clinton has gotten every foreign policy challenge wrong. Hitting the reset button with Vladimir Putin \u2013 recall that she called Bashar Al-Assad a positive reformer and then she opened an embassy and then later she said, over, and over, and over again, "Bashar Al-Assad must go." Although she wasn't prepared to do anything about it. Recall that Hillary Clinton was all for toppling Gadhafi then didn't listen to her own people on the ground. And then of course, when she lied about the terrorist attack in Benghazi, she invited more terrorist attacks. +p1286 +aVWe've mismanaged going into Iraq. +p1287 +aVWe've mismanaged going out of Iraq. +p1288 +aVWe actually... +p1289 +aVI didn't say I would cut off all communication with Putin. What I said was as president of the United States, now is not the time to talk with him. Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. There is a time and a place for everything. There is a time and a place for talk. And there is a time and a place for action. I know Vladimir Putin. He respects strength. He lied to our president's face; didn't both to tell him about warplanes and troops going into Syria. We need to speak to him from a position of strength. So as commander in chief, I will not speak to him until we've set up that no-fly zone; until we've gathered our Sunni-Arab allies and begun to deny +p1290 +aVThis doesn't do a thing to solve the problems...It doesn't do a thing to solve the problems. +p1291 +aVIt will not solve the problem. +p1292 +aVLadies and gentleman, this is why the American people are standing up. +p1293 +aVThis is why the nation is fed up... +p1294 +aVWe have been talking about this... +p1295 +aVSorry, but you haven't gotten to me. This is why... +p1296 +aVthe people are fed up with the political class. +p1297 +aVWell, first, Kim Jong-Un is a dangerous leader, without a doubt. And both Republican and Democrat administrations have been completely ineffective in dealing with him. So we must continue to isolate him. We will need China as part of that strategy. China is a rising adversary. So one of the things we have to do if we want China's support is to push back on China. They, too, recognize one thing \u2014 strength and their own economic interest. I have done business in China for 25 years, so I know that in order to get China to cooperate with us, we must first actually retaliate against their cyber-attacks so they know we're serious. We have to push back on their desire to control the trade route through the South China Sea through which flows $5 trillion worth of goods and services every year. We cannot let them control the disputed islands, and we must work with the Australians, the South Koreans, the Japanese and the Filipinos to contain China. And then we must ask for their support and their help with North Korea. Because believe it or not, China is as concerned about Kim Jong-Un as we are. +p1298 +aVI too remember September 11th. I remember immediately putting into place security procedures all throughout our company that did business in 170 countries where we thought corporate interests would be attacked next. To take our country back, to keep our nation safe, we have to begin by beating Hillary Clinton. We need to unify our party. We need to better than our government, which 75 percent of the American people now think is corrupt and incompetent. They're right. We need to better than our politics. 80 percent think we have a professional/political class of both parties that cares more about its power, position and privilege than actually on getting anything done. We need to unify our party, we need a real Conservative in the White House, and we need to beat Hillary Clinton to take our country back and keep our nation safe. I can. I am. And together, if you join me, we will take our country back. +p1299 +aVWell, first of all, I must say as I think about that question, I think about a woman I met the other day. I would guess she was 40 years old. She had several children. And she said to me, you know, Carly, I go to bed every night afraid for my children's future. And that really struck me. This is America. A mother is going to bed afraid for her children's future. And the reason she's afraid for her children's future is because we've had problems for a long time. Yes, problems have gotten much worse under Democrats. But the truth is, this government has been growing bigger and bigger, more corrupt, less effective, crushing the engine of economic growth for a very long time. This isn't about just replacing a Democrat with a Republican now. It's about actually challenging the status quo of big government. Big government has created a big business called politics. And there are lots of people invested in the status quo of that big business called politics. Specifically, we need actually to do five things to really get this economy going again. We need to go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dollar is being spent, we can challenge any dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. We need to actually reform the tax code. Go to a three-page tax code. Yes, there are plans that would reform our tax code to three pages. In addition to rolling back what President Obama has done, we need to do a top-to-bottom review of every single regulation on the books. That hasn't been done in 50 years. We need to pass the +p1300 +aVWell, first Obamacare has to be repealed because it's failing... ...it's failing the very people it was intended to help, but, also, it is croney-capitalism at its worst. Who helped write this bill? Drug companies, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, every single one of those kinds of companies are bulking up to deal with big government. See, that's what happens. As government gets bigger, and bigger \u2014 and it has been for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike \u2014 and business have to bulk up to deal with big government. So, we have to repeal it. It's tens of thousands of pages long, no one can possible understand it except the big companies, the lawyers, the accountants, the lobbyists that they hire to protect their interests. Then, we have to give back to states the responsibility to manage a high risk pool. We need to try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried. Health insurance has always been a cozy, little game between regulators and health insurance companies. We need to try the free market. The free market. Where people actually have to compete. And, we 'ought to have the government ensure that you must \u2014 and I don't use that term often, that government 'ought to do something, but every healthcare provider 'ought to publish its costs, its prices, its outcomes, because as patients we don't know what we're buying. Now, let me just say \u2014 let me just say, I know more about innovation and entrepreneurship than anyone on this panel because I have led innovative businesses in the most highly competitive industry in the world for decades. The truth is the secret sauce of America is innovation, and entrepreneurship, it is why we must cut our government down to size, and hold it accountable. It's why we have to take our government back, because innovation and entrepreneurship is crushed by the crushing load of a 73,000 page tax code. It is crushed... ...by regulatory thicket that is so vast we don't even know what's in it anymore. It is crushed as well by government bureaucrats who don't do their jobs very well, and who are not held accountable, which is why I've said we got to take our government back, and to do that, we have to know where every dollar being spent, and be able to move any dollar. We have to hack through this regulatory thicket, repeal so much, but, also, know what's in that regulatory thicket \u2014 we don't even know what regulations have been passed. Third, we need to build a meritocracy \u2014 Scott Walker, by the way, is trying now to do in Wisconsin... ...Finally, we need to get to a three page tax code, and, yes, that plan exists. +p1301 +aVSorry, I can't hear you. +p1302 +aV...Absolutely... +p1303 +aV...You need to give... +p1304 +aVThe alternative is to allow states to manage high risk pools for those who really need help. Look, I'm a cancer survivor, OK? I understand that you cannot have someone who's battled cancer just become known as a pre-existing condition. I understand that you cannot allow families to go bankrupt if they truly need help. But, I also understand that Obamacare isn't helping anyone. We're throwing more, and more people into Medicaid, and fewer, and fewer doctors are taking those payments. The point is Obamacare is crushing small businesses, it is not helping the families it was intended to help. So, let us allow states to manage high risk pools. Let us try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried, the free market. Let us ensure that as patients, and customers... +p1305 +aV...that we have information to shop wisely for our health care. +p1306 +aV...Yes, the middle ground is this... +p1307 +aV...This is why \u2014 this is why we must combine, actually, zero-based budgeting with tax reform because unless we can examine, and cut, and move, every single dollar of discretionary spending in the federal government, we cannot reform taxes and reduce spending at the same time. Ask yourself this question, how is it possible that the federal government gets more money each and every year, which the federal government has been doing, receiving more money every year for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike, and yet, never has enough money to do the important things? The answer? All the money's always spoken for. All the money's spoken for. So, we have to go to zero-based budgeting, which is a simple idea \u2014 by the way, there's been a bill for zeros-based (ph) budgeting... ...It exists, it can be voted on. Every dollar must be examined. Any dollar can be cut. Any dollar can be cut, any dollar can be moved. We have to go to a three page tax code. You lower every rate, you close every loophole, why? Because the government uses the tax code to decide winners, and losers. You have to strip the corruption out of the tax code to pay for it. You have to know where every single dollar is being spent... +p1308 +aV...Cut where you need to, and invest where you need to... +p1309 +aV...The two go hand in hand... +p1310 +aVYou know, Mr. Trump fancies himself a very good negotiator. And, I accept that he's done a lot of good deals, so, Mr. Trump 'ought to know that we should not speak to people from a position of weakness. Senator Paul should know that as well. One of the reasons I've said that I would not be talking to Vladimir Putin right now, although I have met him as well, not in a green room for a show, but in a private meeting. One of the reasons I've said I wouldn't be talking to Vladimir Putin right now is because we are speaking to him from a position of weakness brought on by this administration, so, I wouldn't talk to him for awhile, but, I would do this. I would start rebuilding the Sixth Fleet right under his nose, rebuilding the military \u2014 the missile defense program in Poland right under his nose. I would conduct very aggressive military exercises in the Baltic States so that he understood we would protect our +p1311 +aV...we have the strongest military on the face of the planet, and everyone has to know it. +p1312 +aV...Ronald Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. +p1313 +aV...he walked away, he quit talks... +p1314 +aV...when it was time to quit talking... +p1315 +aVCan I just \u2014 could I just say, as a chief executive who's had to make tough calls to save jobs and to grow jobs, I think what's interesting about Dodd-Frank is it's a great example of how socialism starts. Socialism starts when government creates a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. Government created the problem. Government created the problem of a real estate boom. How did we create it? Under Republican and Democrats alike, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, everybody gathered together, Republicans and Democrats, and said, "home ownership is part of the American dream. Let's create a bubble," and then government stepped in \u2014 by the way, under president George W. Bush, banks were told \u2014 encouraged \u2014 told, really \u2014 to buy other banks, to take money. And now what do we have with Dodd-Frank? The classic of crony capitalism. The big have gotten bigger, 1,590 community banks have gone out of business, and on top of all that, we've created something called the Consumer Financial Production Bureau, a vast bureaucracy with no congressional oversight that's digging through hundreds of millions of your credit records to detect fraud. This is how socialism starts, ladies and gentlemen. We must take our government back. +p1316 +aVImagine a Clinton presidency. Our military will continue to deteriorate. Our veterans will not be cared for. And, no, Mrs. Clinton, that situation is not exaggerated. The rich will get richer. The poor will get poorer. The middle class will continue to get crushed. And as bad as that picture is, what's even worse is that a Clinton presidency will corrode the character of this nation. Why? Because of the Clinton way: Say whatever you have to, lie as long as you can get away with it. We must beat Hillary Clinton. Carly Fiorina can beat Hillary Clinton. I will beat Hillary Clinton. And under a President Fiorina, we will restore the character of this nation, the security of this nation, the prosperity of this nation, because as citizens, we will take our government back. +p1317 +aVWell, gee, after the last debate, I was told that I didn't smile enough. +p1318 +aVBut I also think that these are very serious times; 75 percent of the American people think the federal government is corrupt. I agree with them. And this big powerful, corrupt bureaucracy works now only for the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected. Meantime, wages have stagnated for 40 years. We have more Americans out of work or just Americans who quit looking for work for 40 years. Ours was intended to be a citizen government. This is about more than replacing a D with an R. We need a leader who will help us take our government back. +p1319 +aVLet me just say on taxes, how long have we been talking about tax reform in Washington, D.C.? We have been talking about it for decades. We now have a 73,000-page tax code. There have been more than 4,000 changes to the tax plan since 2001 alone. There are loads of great ideas, great conservative ideas from wonderful think tanks about how to reform the tax code. The problem is we never get it done. We have talked about tax reform in every single election for decades. It never happens. And the politicians always say it is so complicated, nobody but a politician can figure it out. The truth is this, the big problem, we need a leader in Washington who understands how to get something done, not to talk about it, not to propose it, to get it done. +p1320 +aVThat's right, three pages. +p1321 +aVYou know why three? +p1322 +aVNo. You know why three? Because only if it's about three pages are you leveling the playing field between the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected who can hire the armies of lawyers and accountants and, yes, lobbyists to help them navigate their way through 73,000 pages. Three pages is about the maximum that a single business owner or a farmer or just a couple can understand without hiring somebody. Almost 60 percent of American people now need to hire an expert to understand their taxes. So yes, you're going to hear a lot of talk about tax reform \u2014 +p1323 +aV\u2014 the issue is who is going to get it done. +p1324 +aVYou know, the +p1325 +aVWell, this is one of the reasons why Tom Perkins and I had disagreements in the boardroom, Becky. Nevertheless, one of the things that I think people don't always understand is how accountable a CEO actually is. So you know, I had to report results every 90 days in excruciating detail. I had to answer every single question about every single result and every single projection in public until there were no more questions. And if I misrepresented those results or those projections in any way, I was held criminally liable. Imagine \u2014 imagine \u2014 if a politician were held to that standard of account. I will run on my record all day long. And I believe people need a leader who is prepared to make tough calls in tough times and stand up... +p1326 +aV...and be held accountable. +p1327 +aVYou know, I want to go back for a moment to what we were just talking about. Crony capitalism is alive and well, and has been so in Washington, D.C. for decades. What's crony capitalism? Crony capitalism is what happens when government gets so big and so powerful that only the big and the powerful can handle it. So why are the pharmaceutical companies consolidating? Why are there five even bigger Wall Street banks now, instead of the ten we used to have on Wall Street? Because when government gets big and powerful, the big feel like they need to get even bigger to deal with all that power, and meanwhile, the small and the powerless \u2014 in this case, 1,590 community banks \u2014 go out of business. You see, folks, this is how socialism starts. Government causes a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. This is why, fundamentally, we have to take our government back. The student loan problem has been created by government. Government trying to level the playing field between Internet and brick-and-mortar creates a problem. The FCC jumping in now and saying, "we're going to put 400 pages of regulation over the Internet," is going to create massive problems. But guess who pushed for that regulation? The big Internet companies. This is what's going on. Big and powerful use big and powerful government to their advantage. It's why you see Walgreens buying Rite Aid. It's why you see the pharmaceuticals getting together. It's you see the health insurance companies getting together. It's why you see the banks consolidating. And meanwhile, small businesses are getting crushed. Community- based businesses and farms are getting crushed. Community banks are going out of business. Big government favors the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected, and crushes the small and the powerless. +p1328 +aVIt is why we have to simplify. It is why we have to reduce the size and power of government. +p1329 +aVIt's the only way to level the playing field between big and powerful and small and powerless. +p1330 +aVBecky, it is the height of hypocrisy for Mrs. Clinton to talk about being the first woman President, when every single policy she espouses, and every single policy of President Obama has been demonstrably bad for women. 92 percent \u2014 92 percent of the jobs lost during Barack Obama's first term belonged to women. Senator Cruz is precisely right. Three million women have fallen into poverty under this administration. The number of women \u2014 +p1331 +aV\u2014 living in extreme poverty is the highest level on record. I am a conservative because I know our values, our principles and our policies \u2014 +p1332 +aV\u2014 work better to lift everyone up, men and women. +p1333 +aVNo, the Federal Government should not play a larger role. Look, every time the Federal Government gets engaged in something it gets worse. And then the Government steps in to try and solve the problem and we get a little further down to that progressive vision that Hillary Clinton is talking about. Companies should, if they want to attract the best workers, provide a good set of benefits. But honestly, if you're a small business owner today you are being crushed. We have 400,000 small businesses forming every year in this country. How great is that? They are employing themselves, they are potentially employing others. The bad news is, we have 470,000 going out of business every year. And why? They cite Obamacare. They are refusing to... +p1334 +aVI think it's a wonderful that that businesses start a 401(k). The point I'm making is this, the Federal Government should not be in a lot of things. There is no Constitutional role for the Federal Government in setting up \u2014 retirement plans. There is no Constitutional role for the Federal Government to be setting minimum wages... +p1335 +aV... The more the Government gets engaged in the economy, the slower the economy becomes. The more the Government gets engaged in the economy, it is demonstrably true... +p1336 +aV... The more the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected are advantaged. +p1337 +aVJohn, I \u2014 if I \u2014 a lot of people have jumped in here. I'd like to jump in. A lot of people have jumped in here. +p1338 +aVI understand. +p1339 +aVI would just say that... ... I would just say this, we've heard a lot of great ideas up here, and I agree with what Senator Rubio said. Every election we talk about this. Every election we talk about Medicare and Social Security reform. It never happens. I would like to start with a basic. Let us actually go to zero- based budgeting so we know where the money is being spent. It's kind of basic. There is a bill sitting in the House that would actually pass and have us go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dime of your money is being spent instead of only talking about how much more we're going to spend year after year after year. My point is this. While there are lots of good ideas for reform, we have never tackled the basics. And we finally need to tackle the basics to cut this government down to size and hold it accountable. So let's start by knowing where your money is being spent by the federal government. +p1340 +aVYou know, every election we hear a lot of talk. We hear a lot of good plans. We hear actually a lot of good intentions. But somehow for decades, nothing really has changed. What we need now is a proven leader who has produced results. That's how you go from secretary to CEO. You lead and you produce results. I will cut this government down to size and hold it accountable, simplify the tax code, roll back the regulations that have been spewing out of Washington, D.C. for 50 years. I may not be your dream candidate just yet, but I can assure you I am Hillary Clinton's worst nightmare. And in your heart of hearts, you cannot wait to see a debate between Hillary Clinton and Carly Fiorina. I will tell you this, I will beat Hillary Clinton. And with your vote and your support and your prayers, I will lead with the citizens of this great nation the resurgence of this great nation. +p1341 +aVGood evening. My story, from secretary to CEO, is only possible in this nation, and proves that everyone of us has potential. My husband, Frank, of 30 years, started out driving a tow truck for a family owned auto body shop. We have come to a pivotal point in our nation's history where this nation's possibilities and potential are being crushed by a government grown so big, so powerful, so inept, so corrupt, and a political class that refuses to do anything about it. I am prepared to lead the resurgence of this great nation. +p1342 +aVYou know, I think Mr. Trump is a wonderful entertainer. He's been terrific at that business. I also think that one of the benefits of a presidential campaign is the character and capability, judgment and temperament of every single one of us is revealed over time and under pressure. All of us will be revealed over time and under pressure. I look forward to a long race. +p1343 +aVThat's not for me to answer; it is for the voters of this country to answer, and I have a lot of faith in the common sense and good judgment of the voters of the United States of America. +p1344 +aVJake, I'll tell you \u2014 I'll tell you why people are supporting outsiders. It's because you know what happens if someone's been in the system their whole life, they don't know how broken the system is. A fish swims in water, it doesn't know it's water. It's not that politicians are bad people, it's that they've been in that system forever. The truth is 75 percent of the American people think the government is corrupt; 82 percent of the American people think these problems that have festered for 50 years in some cases, 25 years in other cases. The border's been insecure for 25 years; 307,000 veterans have died waiting for health care. These things have gone on for so long because no one will challenge the status quo. You know what a leader does? They challenge the status quo, they solve problems that have festered for a long time and they produce results. That is what my whole life has been about. People know this is about far more than replacing a D with an R \u2014 +p1345 +aV\u2014 this is about changing the system. +p1346 +aVHaving... +p1347 +aVHaving met Vladimir Putin, if I may... +p1348 +aVHaving met Vladimir Putin, I wouldn't talk to him at all. We've talked way too much to him. What I would do, immediately, is begin rebuilding the Sixth Fleet, I would begin rebuilding the missile defense program in Poland, I would conduct regular, aggressive military exercises in the Baltic states. I'd probably send a few thousand more troops into Germany. Vladimir Putin would get the message. By the way, the reason it is so critically important that every one of us know General Suleimani's name is because Russia is in Syria right now, because the head of the Quds force traveled to Russia and talked Vladimir Putin into aligning themselves with Iran and Syria to prop up Bashar al- Assad. Russia is a bad actor, but Vladimir Putin is someone we should not talk to, because the only way he will stop is to sense strength and resolve on the other side, and we have all of that within our control. We could rebuild the Sixth Fleet. I will. We haven't. We could rebuild the missile defense program. We haven't. I will. We could also, to Senator Rubio's point, give the Egyptians what they've asked for, which is intelligence. We could give the Jordanians what they've asked for... +p1349 +aV...bombs and materiel. We have not supplied it... +p1350 +aV...I will. We could arm the Kurds. They've been asking us for three years. All of this is within our control. +p1351 +aV...Jake... +p1352 +aV...Jake, ... +p1353 +aVAnd then it'll be my turn. +p1354 +aVJake? +p1355 +aVJake? +p1356 +aVDana, I'd like to... +p1357 +aVDana, I would like to link these two issues, both of which are incredibly important, Iran and Planned Parenthood. One has something to do with the defense of the security of this nation. The other has something to do with the defense of the character of this nation. You have not heard a plan about Iran from any politician up here, here is my plan. On day one in the Oval Office, I will make two phone calls, the first to my good friend to Bibi Netanyahu to reassure him we will stand with the state of Israel. The second, to the supreme leader, to tell him that unless and until he opens every military and every nuclear facility to real anytime, anywhere inspections by our people, not his, we, the United States of America, will make it as difficult as possible and move money around the global financial system. We can do that, we don't need anyone's cooperation to do it. And every ally and every adversary we have in this world will know that the United States in America is back in the leadership business, which is how we must stand with our allies. As regards Planned Parenthood, anyone who has watched this videotape, I dare Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama to watch these tapes. Watch a fully formed fetus on the table, it's heart beating, it's legs kicking while someone says we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain. This is about the character of our nation, and if we will not stand up in and force President Obama to veto this bill, shame on us. +p1358 +aVYou know, it's interesting to me, Mr. Trump said that he heard Mr. Bush very clearly and what Mr. Bush said. I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said. +p1359 +aVDana, with all being said to Mr. Trump... +p1360 +aVImmigration did not come up in 2016 because Mr. Trump brought it up. We talked about it in 2012, we talked about it in 2008. We talked about it in 2004. +p1361 +aVWe have been talking about it for 25 years. This is why people are tired of politicians. +p1362 +aVFirst let me say, We have just spent a good bit of time discussing, as Republicans, how to solve this problem. I would ask your audience at home to ask a very basic question. Why have Democrats not solved this problem? President Obama campaigned in 2007 and 2008 on solving the immigration problem. He entered Washington with majorities in the House and the Senate. He could have chosen to do anything to solve this pro \u2014 this problem. Instead, he chose to do nothing. Why? because the Democrats don't want this issue solved. +p1363 +aVThey want it to be an issue that they can use. As to birthright citizenship... +p1364 +aV...the truth is, you can't just wave your hands and say "the 14th Amendment is gonna go away." It will take an extremely arduous vote in Congress, followed by two-thirds of the states, and if that doesn't work to amend the Constitution, then it is a long, arduous process in court. And meanwhile, what will continue to go on is what has gone on for 25 years. With all due respect, Mr. Trump, we've been talking about illegal immigration for 25 years. San Francisco has been a sanctuary city since 1989. There are 300 of them. And meanwhile, what has happened? Nothing. The border remains insecure. The legal immigration system remains broken. Look, we know what it takes to secure a border. We've heard a lot of great ideas here. Money, manpower, technology... +p1365 +aV...mostly, apparently, leadership... +p1366 +aV...the kind of leadership that understands how to get results. +p1367 +aVBut you \u2014 you would stipulate, Mr. Trump, but not everyone agrees with you. +p1368 +aVOK. +p1369 +aVI led Hewlett Packard through a very difficult time, the worst technology recession in 25 years. The +p1370 +aV\u2014 out a full-page ad in the New York Times to say he was wrong, I was right. I was a terrific CEO, the board was dysfunctional. And he thinks I will make a magnificent president of the United States. +p1371 +aVYou know, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld is a well-known Clintonite and honestly had it out for me from the moment that I arrived at Hewlett Packard. But honestly, Mr. Trump, I find it quite rich that you would talk about this. You know, there are a lot of us Americans who believe that we are going to have trouble someday paying back the interest on our debt because politicians have run up mountains of debt using other people's money. That is in fact precisely the way you ran your casinos. You ran up mountains of debt, as well as losses, using other people's money, and you were forced to file for bankruptcy not once \u2014 +p1372 +aV\u2014 not twice, four times, a record four times. Why should we trust you to manage the finances \u2014 +p1373 +aV\u2014 of this nation any differently than you managed the finances \u2014 +p1374 +aV\u2014 of your casinos? +p1375 +aVWell \u2014 +p1376 +aVWell, Mr. Trump \u2014 +p1377 +aVA track record of leadership is not a game. It is the issue in this election. +p1378 +aVWell, I thought we had been hearing quite a bit about Govenor Christie's record as governor, actually. I think track records are very important. I completely agree that what's at stake here is the future of this nation, and the future of every American. But I do think that a track record of leadership is vital because in the end this election is about leadership. And let's talk about what leadership is. It's not about braggadocio, it is about challenging the status quo, solving problems, producing results. And the highest calling of leadership is to unlock potential in others. +p1379 +aVProblems have festered in Washington for too long. And the potential of this nation is being crushed. +p1380 +aVYou see, Governor Christie, people spend time talking about their track records, and Mr. Trump and I have every right to do the same. And Mrs. Clinton has to defend her track record. Her track record of lying about Benghazi, of lying about her e- mails, about lying about her servers. She does not have a track record of accomplishment. Like Mrs. Clinton, I, too, have travels hundreds of thousands of miles around the globe. But unlike Mrs. Clinton, I know flying is an activity, not an accomplishment. Mrs. Clinton \u2014 if you want to stump a Democrat, ask them to name a accomplishment of Mrs. Clinton's. +p1381 +aVWe just spent \u2014 we just spent the last 10 minutes... +p1382 +aV...Jake, since everyone has gotten to weigh in on this military issue, I'd like to be able to do the same. We have spent probably 12 minutes talking about the past. Let's talk about the future. We need the strongest military on the face of the planet, and everyone has to know it. And, specifically, what that means is we need about 50 Army brigades, we need about 36 Marine battalions, we need somewhere between 300, and 350 naval ships, we need to upgrade every leg of the nuclear triad... +p1383 +aV...we need to reform the Department of Defense, we need as well... +p1384 +aV...to invest in our military technology, and we need to care for our veterans so 307,000... +p1385 +aV...aren't dying waiting for health care. +p1386 +aVJake, may I just say... +p1387 +aVJake \u2014 Jake... +p1388 +aVI very much hope I am the only person on this stage who can say this, but I know there are millions of Americans out there who will say the same thing. My husband Frank and I buried a child to drug addiction. So, we must invest more in the treatment of drugs. +p1389 +aVI agree with Senator Paul. I agree with states' rights. But we are misleading young people when we tell them that marijuana is just like having a beer. It's not. And the marijuana that kids are smoking today is not the same as the marijuana that Jeb Bush smoked 40 years ago. We do \u2014 sorry, Barbara. We do need \u2014 we do need criminal justice reform. We have the highest incarceration rates in the world. Two-thirds of the people in our prisons are there for non-violent offenses, mostly drug related. It's clearly not working. But we need to tell young people the truth. Drug addiction is an epidemic, and it is taking too many of our young people. I know this sadly from personal experience. +p1390 +aVI wouldn't change the $10 bill, or the $20 bill. I think, honestly, it's a gesture. I don't think it helps to change our history. What I would think is that we ought to recognize that women are not a special interest group. Women are the majority of this nation. We are half the potential of this nation, and this nation will be better off when every woman has the opportunity to live the life she chooses. +p1391 +aVSecretariat. +p1392 +aVI think what this nation can be and must be is symbolized by Lady Liberty and Lady Justice. Lady Liberty stands tall and strong. She is clear-eyed and resolute. She doesn't shield her eyes from the realities of the world, but she faces outward into the world nevertheless, as we always must. And she holds her torch high, because she knows she is a beacon of hope in a very troubled world. And Lady Justice, Lady Justice holds a sword by her side, because she is a fighter, a warrior for the values and the principles that have made this nation great. She holds a scale in her other hand. And with that scale she says all of us are equal in the eyes of God. And so all of us must be equal in the eyes of the law and the government, powerful and powerless alike. And she wears a blindfold. And with that blindfold she is saying to us that it must be true, it can be true that in this country, in this century, it doesn't matter who you are, it doesn't matter what you look like, it doesn't matter how you start, it doesn't matter your circumstances, here in this nation, every American's life must be filled with the possibilities that come from their God-given gifts. One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. +p1393 +aVWhen America does not lead, the world is a dangerous and a tragic place. This is a bad deal. Obama broke every rule of negotiation. Yes, our allies are not perfect, but Iran is at the heart of most of the evil that is going on in the Middle East through their proxy. +p1394 +aVYou know, when I started my campaign on May 4th of last year, I was 17 out of 16 candidates. Nobody polled my name. Nobody had ever heard of me. Less than 4 percent of you had ever heard of me. The people in Iowa showed up and they are still showing up. Hundreds and hundreds of them at every event. I have done over 150 events in the state of Iowa and I have 15 more coming up. Now, by the way, I start there because someone asked me about midway through my campaign, what's the biggest surprise to you on the campaign trail? And I will tell you what the biggest surprise is: the chasm, the yawning chasm, between what the national media talks about and what the people of Iowa and the people of this great nation talk about. That's the biggest surprise. So guess what, Martha? Guess what, sorry. The people of Iowa never ask me about a crisis in the GOP, they never ask me about the polls. They never ask me about the other candidates. What they ask me about is Carly, tell us why zero based budgeting is so important. Tell us why you are a leader who is going to produce results. Tell us how you are going to defeat +p1395 +aVWell let me tell you this: news flash, President Obama, news flash, Mrs. Clinton -- climate change is not our most pressing national security threat. Actually -- actually, it is +p1396 +aVYou know, we have a professional, political class of both parties. We have been talking about the same issues for election cycle after election cycle. Yeah, government is big and out of control, and the only way to get it under control is to control the money. And the only way to control the money is to ask the federal government to budget the way you do, to examine every dollar, to cut any dollar to spend -- to move any dollar. The fancy word for that is zero-base budgeting. I call it common sense. That three-page tax code I talk about all the time here in Iowa? It's been around for 20 years. But politicians don't want to talk about it, and you bet the lobbyists don't want to talk about it. In fact, nobody wants to vote on a three-page tax code or zero- base budgeting, although they've both been around for a long time. You know why? Because if you get those two things done, you are goring everybody's ox. You are taking the political establishment apart. You are actually challenging the status quo, which is what we need in the Oval Office. So you know who I'm going to count on? The citizens of this great nation, because you have extraordinary power. But when you do not use it... ... you are losing it. So take out your smartphones, folks. The people of Iowa know what I'm talking about. You take out your smartphones. if you agree with me that three-page tax code needs to be passed, lobbyists aren't going to be in my office. If you agree we gotta finally pass zero-base budgeting, take out your smartphones. Press one for yes, ladies and gentlemen. Press two for no. Citizens, we must take our country back. +p1397 +aVWell, first of all, I haven't said that. What I have said is that in the process of examining every dollar, cutting any dollar and moving any dollar, we happen to know that in this vast federal bureaucracy we have about 260,000 federal government employees who are going to retire, and we shouldn't replace them. Secondly, at Hewlett Packard, as you know -- the people of Iowa know this -- we went through a tough time. The worst technology recession in 25 years -- a great company called Gateway used to do be right here in Iowa. But they didn't make the tough calls necessary to save all those jobs, and so they lost every one of those jobs. Yes, I've had to make some tough calls. We saved 80,000 jobs. We went on to grow to 160,000 jobs. And, frankly, I think the American people know we need a president who's going to make some tough calls. So let me tell you where I'm going to start. The American people got a bill passed through Congress that said we could fire the top 400 senior executives at the V.A. for dereliction of duty. When we know that 307,000 veterans have died waiting for health care and the V.A. handed out $142 million worth of bonuses for superb performance, I'm going to start by firing 400... ... senior executives at the V.A. +p1398 +aVHe is right there. He is right there. +p1399 +aVIt wasn't a personal attack. I was pointing out the fact that Hillary Clinton will do anything to gain and hang on to power, anything. Listen, if my husband did what Bill Clinton did, I would have left him long ago. So, here's the deal. Hillary Clinton has been climbing the ladder to try and get power and here now she is trying for the White House. She is probably more qualified for the big house, honestly. She has escaped prosecution more times than El Chapo, perhaps Sean Penn should interview her. The woman should be prosecuted. And while Mrs. Clinton has flown hundreds of thousands of world around the global, I have too. And I know flying is an activity not an accomplishment. While I know that she has held many positions and many titles she has not accomplished much of anything in her life. She has gotten every single foreign policy challenge wrong. She continues to lie to the American people. It's called the Clinton way. Both Bill and Hillary practice it, the Clinton way. Say whatever you have to say, do whatever you have to say. Lie as long as you can get away with it. Hillary Clinton cannot be the president of these United States. +p1400 +aVWell, you know, Hillary Clinton hasn't been indicted either. So that tells us a lot about our justice system in this country. But, look, the facts of Planned Parenthood have not changed, folks, and I will not be rendered silent on this issue or any other issue. And it doesn't matter what stage I'm on. Here are the facts. Planned Parenthood engages in partial birth abortion, in late-term abortion. They alter those abortion techniques to harvest and sell body parts. They have admitted that they are not going to accept compensation for this anymore. The reality is, most Americans find this practice horrific. Most Americans find horrific that Hillary Clinton's position on this is it's not a life until it's born. Most Americans find horrific Hillary Clinton's position or the Democrat party's position, that a young woman does not need her mother's permission to get an abortion. But if you are 13 years old, you can get an abortion, but you can't go to a tanning salon without your mother's permission. A president Fiorina -- in a president Fiorina budget, there will not be one dime for Planned Parenthood, although there would be a lot of money for women's health and we will finally pass the pain capable unborn child protection act. I will always stand for life and religious liberty... ... because this is about the character of our nation. +p1401 +aVMartha, can I just say we've been talking tonight about a lot of issues and we've also been talking about the fact that the game is rigged and frankly, the media has a lot to do with that. It is outrageous frankly, that Fox News, and you, would question the pro-life credentials of Rick Santorum. That is outrageous. +p1402 +aVIn over 150 events I have come to know and love the people of Iowa. And the people of Iowa know what the rest of Americans have figured out, this ain't working anymore. The government no longer works for those who pay for it. The professional political class says and does whatever they need to do to win, and then does whatever they please. We need to return to a citizen government. That is why I am running for President. The media, the establishment, they all want to tell you this elections over, they know who's going to win it, except that you haven't... ... cast a single vote yet. So, the people of Iowa, stand with me, fight with me. Caucus for me. It is time to take our country back. +p1403 +aVWell, thank you. Good evening. If I may begin by saying how honored I am to be standing here with two former Iowa Caucus winners. Governor, Senator. And how honored I am to be talking with all of you. You know, I'm not a political insider. I haven't spent my lifetime running for office. The truth is I have had and been blessed by a lot of opportunities to do a lot of things in my life. And unlike another woman in this race, I actually love spending time with my husband. I'm standing here because I think we have to restore a citizen government in this country. I think we have to end crony capitalism. The crony capitalism that starts with both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. You know, Hillary Clinton sits inside government and rakes in millions, handing out access and favors. And Donald Trump sits outside government and rakes in billions buying people like Hillary Clinton. The state of our economy is not strong. We have record numbers of men out of work. We have record numbers of women living in poverty. We have young people who no longer believe that the American dream applies to them. We have working families whose wages have stagnated for decades, all while the rich get richer, the powerful get more powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected get more connected. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. +p1404 +aVAmerica must lead because when we do not lead, when this exceptional nation does not lead, the world is more dangerous and a more tragic place. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, they all refuse to lead. Worse, they refuse to respond when this nation is provoked. Hillary Clinton famously asked what difference does it make how four Americans died in Benghazi? Mrs. Clinton, here's what difference it makes. When you do not stand up and say the truth, that this was a purposeful terrorist attack, when you do not say the United States of America will retaliate for that attack, terrorists assume it's open season. We have refused to respond to every provocation. The President wouldn't even mention the fact that Iran had taken two Navy boats and our sailors \u2014 hostage. He didn't mention the fact that they violated the Geneva convention. He didn't respond to the fact that Iran launched two ballistic missile just a short time ago, in direct violation of a deal they had just signed. We didn't respond to the fact that North Korea attacked Sony Pictures. When we refuse to respond over, and over to provocation and bad behavior, we will get more provocation and bad behavior. I know most of our allies personally. I have met many of our adversaries. I know our military and our intelligence capability, and I know this. When we will not stand with our allies, when we will not respond to our adversaries, when we do not lead in the world the world is a dangerous and tragic place. I will be a Commander in Chief who will lead. +p1405 +aVOf course I'm worried about similar problems in the United States. We can not allow refugees to enter this country unless we can adequately vet them and we know we can't. Therefore we should stop allowing refugees into this country. And by the way, we do not need to be lectured about why we're angry and frustrated and fearful because we've had an illegal immigration problem in this country for 25 years. And we have every right to be frustrated about the fact that politicians stand up in election after election after election and promise us to fix the problem and yet, it has never been fixed. I offer leadership that understands that actions speak louder than words, that results count. We must secure our border. We must fix our broken immigration system. We must enforce a pro-American immigration system that serves our interests, not the rest of the world. I understand what it takes to translate goals into results and that is what I will do as president of the United States. Of course, we should be worried, for heavens sakes. This administration has now told us they don't know who has overstayed a visa. This administration has told us they don't even bother to check Facebook or Twitter to find out who's pledging allegiance to jihadis. We can do better than this, citizens. We need to take our country back. +p1406 +aVWe need to be very clear-eyed now about who are our allies and who are our adversaries. In the fight against +p1407 +aVAnd we all believe the polling data all the time, don't we? +p1408 +aVOh, it's a problem for so many reasons. First of all, it is yet another lawless executive order. You see, he doesn't like the fact that Congress has rejected his ideas twice on a bipartisan basis, so he's decided he just gets to override them. Sorry, Mr. President, not the way "The Constitution" works. Secondly......secondly, he basically admitted in that speech that he hasn't been paying much attention to enforcing the laws we have. He said, gee, we need a few more FBI agents. That would have helped, perhaps, stop a tragedy here in South Carolina with Dylann Roof, a guy who clearly never should have been sold a gun. In other words, Mr. President, you're right, we need to enforce the laws we have. Let's enforce the laws we have. There are criminals running around with guns who shouldn't have them. We don't prosecute any of them. Less than 1 percent. But I want to go back to the technology issue for a moment, if I may, as well, because in this regard, I disagree with Senator Santorum. Look, I come from the technology industry and I can tell you there is one thing that bureaucracies don't know how to do. They do not know how to innovate. We have come seven generations of technology since 2011. We have bureaucracies that are incapable of bringing in that innovation. So, yes, there are some very specific things that we should ask the private sector to help us with, including making sure we have the latest and greatest in algorithms to search through all these databases so that we find terrorists before they attack us, not after it's too late. And, finally, when a president who understands technology in the Oval Office. Mrs. Clinton, actually, you cannot wipe a server with a towel. +p1409 +aVYes, and see... +p1410 +aVAs CEO of Hewlett Packard... +p1411 +aVAs CEO of Hewlett Packard, I was asked very specifically for some very real help. The help I was asked to provide, this is now public information. So I am not revealing what \u2014 something that was \u2014 was classified. We had a very large shipment of equipment, software and hardware, headed to a retail outlet. And I was called by the head of the NSA, who had an urgent need for that capability, to begin laying out a program to track terrorists. We turned that truck around on a highway and it was escorted to the headquarters in San Jose. In World War II, our government went to the private sector and said, help us do things that we cannot do. The private sector has capabilities that the government does not have. There are some legal authorities that are required. The Sony attack could have been detected and repelled, had legal authorities been passed in Congress allowing private networks and public networks to work together. Those legal authorities have not yet been passed. Yes, I was asked to help. I know the technology industry. They will help again. But they must be asked by a president who understands what they have. +p1412 +aVFor decades, the professional political class in both parties has been talking about the middle class. For decades, Republicans in particular have been talking about reducing the size and scope of government, spending less money, reducing the complexity. And yet, for 40 years, the government has gotten bigger and more expensive. We now have a 75,000 plus page tax code, although politicians have run for office for decades promising reform. And all the while, middle class incomes have stagnated. You see, when government gets bigger and bigger, more powerful, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer and the middle class gets squeezed. We need to understand who the job creators are in this country, because we need more jobs to grow the middle class and to grow the wages of the middle class. Who creates jobs? Small businesses, new businesses, family-owned businesses. They create two thirds of the new jobs in this country and they employ half the people. I started out typing for a nine person real estate firm. My husband Frank started out driving a tow truck for a family-owned auto body shop. And we are crushing small businesses and destroying the middle class. So here's my blueprint to take back America. Let us first actually reform the tax code from 73,000 pages down to three. There's a 20-year-old plan to do exactly that. And then let us begin piece by piece to focus on every single dollar the government spends, so that we will spend less overall and still have enough for our priorities. And that requires the government to budget the way you do at home \u2014 examine every dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. The fancy term for that is zero- based budgeting, but I call it common sense. Citizens, we've got to take our country back. +p1413 +aVMy husband Frank, that I mentioned, I love spending time with. He's down there. He was real excited the other day because in New Hampshire, he was introduced as my eye candy. You know, everybody out there watching knows this. You cannot wait to see the debate between me and Hillary Clinton. You would pay to see that fight. And that's because you know I will win. And that's important. We've got to start by beating Hillary Clinton. All of my life, I have been told to sit down and be quiet. Settle. Settle. Don't challenge the system. That's what the American people are being told now and we have been told that for way too long \u2014 sit down and be quiet about our God, about our guns, about the abortion industry, settle for illegal immigration that's been a problem for decades, as so many of our problems have festered for decades. Accept a system of government and politics that no longer works for us. I will not sit down and be quiet. And neither will you. So I ask you to stand with me, fight with me, vote for me, citizens. It is time to take our future back, time to take our politics back. It is time to take our government back. Citizens, it is time. We must take our country back. +p1414 +asVBUSH +p1415 +(lp1416 +VOur freedom is under attack. Our economy is under water. The leading democrat is under investigation. And America is under the gun to lead the free world to protect our civilized way of life. Serious times require strong leadership, that's what at stake right now. Regarding national security, we need to restore the defense cuts of Barack Obama to rebuild our military, to destroy +p1417 +aVWell, first of all, we need to destroy +p1418 +aVLook, he mentioned me. I can bring \u2014 I can talk. This is \u2014 this is the problem. Banning all Muslims will make it harder for us to do exactly what we need to do, which is to destroy +p1419 +aVThey are relevant if we want to destroy +p1420 +aVDonald, this has got... +p1421 +aVThis is another example of the lack of seriousness. Look, this is \u2014 this is troubling because we're at war. They've declared war on us and we need to have a serious strategy to destroy +p1422 +aVYou said on September 30th that +p1423 +aVI'm talking right now. I'm talking. +p1424 +aVSeptember 30th you said... +p1425 +aVA little of your own medicine there, Donald. +p1426 +aVDonald, you're not going to be able to insult your way to the presidency. That's not going to happen. And I do have the strength. Leadership, leadership is not about attacking people and disparaging people. Leadership is about creating a serious strategy to deal with the threat of our time. And I laid out that strategy before the attacks in Paris and before the attacks in San Bernardino. And it is the way forward. We need to increase our military spending. We need to deal with a no- fly zone in Syria, a safe zone. We need to focus on building a military that is second-to-none... +p1427 +aV... so that we can destroy Islamic terrorism. +p1428 +aVI think we're focusing a whole... +p1429 +aVI do. I think the lesson's learned are that we have to have to have a strategy to get and a strategy to get out. Which means, that you create a stable situation. This president and this is what the focus ought to be, it's not the differences between us, it's Barack Obama does not believe America's leadership in the world is a force for good. He does not believe that our strength is a place where security can take place. He leads from behind. He creates an environment that now we're creating the most unstable situation we've had since the World War II era. The focus ought to be on the single fact that Hillary Clinton wants to double down on a failed foreign policy and we need to be united to defeat that because we're going to be in a place that is far less secure than it is today. Don't you all agree? +p1430 +aVBecause I \u2014 first of all, I know what I don't know. I know what I don't know. I would seek out, as I have, the best advice that exists. I won't get my information from the shows. I don't know if that's Saturday morning or Sunday morning. I don't know which one. I will seek out the best advice, and I will create a strategy and I will persuade the American people what the role of America should be. I've laid out a policy of rebuilding our military. All of the talk that we're seeing here \u2014 most of which I agree on, frankly \u2014 requires a much stronger military. We now have a lack of readiness that is quite scary. We have planes that were \u2014 that Harry Truman inaugurated, the B-52. We have \u2014 the Navy has been gutted and decimated. The readiness of the Marines is way down. If we're serious about America's leadership in the world, then we need to make sure that we have the back of the armed forces. The Armed Forces Radio is here listening to this today. I hope they know that if I'm president, I'll be a commander-in-chief, not an agitator- in-chief or a divider-in-chief, that I will lead this country in a way that will create greater security and greater safety. +p1431 +aVSo I was \u2014 I was \u2014 I was mentioned, so I can bring up something, I think, right? Look, the simple fact is, if you think this is tough you're not being treated fairly... +p1432 +aV... imagine what it's going to be like dealing with Putin or dealing with President Xi. +p1433 +aVOr dealing with the Islamic terrorism that exists. +p1434 +aVThis is a tough business to run for president. +p1435 +aVAnd it's \u2014 and we need...... to have a leader that is... +p1436 +aVYou're never going to be president of the United States by insulting your way to the presidency. +p1437 +aVDoesn't matter. Doesn't matter. +p1438 +aVYes. +p1439 +aVNo it isn't but it is an important subject to talk about for sure. And I think people have good ideas on this. Clearly, we need to secure the border. Coming here legally needs to be a lot easier than coming here illegally. If you don't have that, you don't have the rule of law. We now have a national security consideration, public health issues, we have an epidemic of heroine overdoses in all places in this country because of the ease of bringing heroine in. We have to secure the border. It is a serious undertaking and yes, we do need more fencing and we do need to use technology, and we do need more border control. And we need to have better cooperation by the way with local law enforcement. There are 800,000 cops on the beat, they ought to be trained to be the eyes and ears for law enforcement for the threat against terror as well as for immigration. This is a serious challenge and if we can get it right, yes, we'll start winning votes again. The real problem isn't anybody on this stage, the real problem is Barack Obama has had six years to advocate a position to fix this and he's done nothing. The congress has funded these programs of building more fencing and doing all this and he hasn't done it. He wants to maintain it as a wedge issue and so does Hillary Clinton. Republicans need to fix it and when we do, we'll be better off. +p1440 +aVI completely agree with Chris. And this administration has been so lax. Think about it. Hillary Clinton is using a private server for \u2014 where classified information go by. This is a \u2014 this is a serious administration? The president receives an inspector general's report that the Office of Personnel Management could be hacked into; they had antiquated firewalls; 23 million files have been \u2014 are in the hands of the Chinese allegedly, including, by the way, members of the press, it turns out, last week. Maybe that's the only part that's good news, so that you guys can get a feel for what it's like now to see this type of attack. This is something \u2014 we have to have the best defensive capabilities. We need to coordinate all of our efforts with the private sector. We need to give them liability relief so that we can do that. And offensively, we need to have capabilities second to none. We need to create a situation where they know that there will be adverse impacts if they continue to do what they're doing. They'll respect that. They'll respect a United States that is serious about protecting our \u2014 our infrastructure. If we don't do it, we'll continue to see what's \u2014 exactly what's happening, not just from the Chinese, by the way. The Russians and rogue actors, including +p1441 +aVAsk yourself, which candidate will keep you and our country safer, stronger and freer? Hillary Clinton has aligned herself with Barack Obama on +p1442 +aVYou've already made two comments, John. It's my turn. +p1443 +aVI got about four minutes in the last debate. I'm going to get my question right now. +p1444 +aVYes. +p1445 +aVFirst of all, we could get to 4 percent growth. The new normal of 2 percent puts huge demands on government. The reason why we have structural deficits is that more and more people are relying on government and the growth that we don't have makes \u2014 makes the deficit grow. A 4 percent growth strategy starts with tax reform. And the proposal that I've laid out is the one the Wall Street Journal editorial board has said is the most pro-growth of all the proposals out there. We cut the \u2014 we eliminate a lot of deductions and cut the rates down. A corporate rate of 20 percent, which puts us 5 percent above \u2014 below that of China, and allows us full expensing of investing. It would create an explosion of investment back into this country, creating higher-wage jobs, and so that's part of it. On the regulatory side I think we need to repeal every rule that Barack Obama has in terms of work in progress, every one of them. And start over. For those that are already in existence, the regulation of the Internet, we have to start over, but we ought to do that. The clean power act, we ought to repeal that and \u2014 and start over on that. The waters of the United States act, which is going to be devastating for agriculture and many industries, we should repeal that. We should repeal the rules because the economic costs of this far exceed the social benefit. And if we're serious about being serious about high growth, then we have to recognize that small businesses right now, more of them are closing than \u2014 than are \u2014 than are being set up. Hillary Clinton has said that Barack Obama's policies get an A. Really? One in 10 people right now aren't working or have given up altogether, as you said. That's not an A. One in seven people are living in poverty. That's not an A. One in five children are on food stamps. That is not an A. It may be the best that Hillary Clinton can do, but it's not the best America can do. +p1446 +aVThank you, Donald, for allowing me to speak at the debate. That's really nice of you. Really appreciate that. What a generous man you are. Twelve million illegal immigrants, to send them back, 500,000 a month, is just not \u2014 not possible. And it's not embracing American values. And it would tear communities apart. And it would send a signal that we're not the kind of country that I know America is. And even having this conversation sends a powerful signal \u2014 they're doing high-fives in the Clinton campaign right now when they hear this. That's the problem with this. We have to win the presidency. And the way you win the presidency is to have practical plans. Lay them out there. What we need to do is allow people to earn legal status where they pay a fine, where they work, where they don't commit crimes, where they learn English, and over an extended period of time, they earn legal status. That's the path \u2014 a proper path... +p1447 +aVI'm gonna fight as hard as I can to make sure that we shift power away from Washington, simplify the tax code, to spur economic activity in this country. Of course it's the highest priority. If we don't do that, we're stuck with the "new normal" of 2 percent growth. Hillary Clinton says, basically, we just gotta get used to it. Two percent growth means declining income for the middle class. It means more than 6 million people are stuck in poverty than the day that Barack Obama was inaugurated. It means \u2014 it means more demands on government \u2014 growing the economy is the first job, if we're going to be serious about dealing with the deficit and debt. And more importantly, people are really struggling right now. In this economy, the disposable income of the great middle is down 2,300 bucks. So yeah, we've created jobs, your \u2014 argue (ph) \u2014 brought that up early, and it was a good question. Jobs are being created, but they're lower-income jobs than the jobs that were lost. And the net effect of this is we need to jump-start the economy. I think of Jonathan (ph) and Reagan Love (ph), who are supporters of mine. Jonathan has been deployed by the National Guard, he is \u2014 he's in Oklahoma. Reagan Love \u2014 by the way, pretty great name, I think \u2014 is a teacher. When \u2014 if they had this tax cut, what they told me was that that $2,300 of money in their pocket \u2014 they would go back to South Carolina and start a business. Imagine what it would be like, instead of having more businesses closed than started, we had it the exact opposite. We would grow our economy, and the government would get the revenue necessary to make things \u2014 make things better. Hillary Clinton's approach to this is more top-down, more regulation, more taxes, more government, and it will destroy our economy. +p1448 +aVIt is \u2014 I'd say it is Islamic terrorism, and, back to the question of what we are dealing with in Iraq, when we pull back voids are filled. That's the lesson of history, and, sadly, this president does not believe in American leadership. He does not believe it, and the net result is that we have a caliphate the size of Indiana that gains energy each and everyday to recruit Americans in our own country, and the threat to the homeland relates to the fact that we have not dealt with this threat of terror in the Middle East. We should have a no fly zone in Syria. We should have a support for the remnants of the Syrian Free Army, and create safe zones. If you want to deal with the four million refugees that are leaving Syria because of the devastation there, then we 'ought to create safe zones for them to stay in the region rather than go to Europe. And, that requires American leadership. Without American leadership every other country in the neighborhood beings to change their priorities. It is tragic that you see Iraq, and other countries now talking to Russia. It wasn't that long ago that Russia had no influence in the region at all. And, so, the United States needs to lead across the board. This president, and Hillary Clinton both do not believe the United States has a leadership role to play, and we're now paying a price, and it will have a huge impact on the economy of this country if we don't deal with this. +p1449 +aV...They're not doing that... +p1450 +aV +p1451 +aVDonald \u2014 Donald's wrong on this. He is absolutely wrong on this. We're not going to be the world's policeman, but we sure as heck better be the world's leader. That's \u2014 there's a huge difference where, without us leading... ...voids are filled, and the idea that it's a good idea for Putin to be in Syria, let +p1452 +aVWe're not \u2014 we shouldn't have another financial crisis. What we ought to do is raise the capital requirements so banks aren't too big to fail. Dodd-Frank has actually done the opposite, totally the opposite, where banks now have higher concentration of risk in assets and the capital requirements aren't high enough. If we were serious about it, we would raise the capital requirements and lessen the load on the community banks and other financial institutions. This vast overreach has created a huge problem for our country, and Hillary Clinton wants to double down on that. I was in Washington, Iowa, about three months ago talking about how bad Washington, D.C., is. It was \u2014 get the \u2014 kind of the \u2014 anyway. We had... It \u2014 and I talked to a banker there. This is a bank that had $125 million of assets, four branches. Their compliance costs because of Dodd-Frank went from $100,000 to $600,000 in a two-year period. The net effect of that is \u2014 and they had \u2014 they had not one loan that went bad during the financial crisis. They knew \u2014 they knew their borrowers. They gave back to the community. They were engaged in the community. And imagine America without its community banks. Well, that's what's happening because of Dodd-Frank. That's \u2014 that's my worry. My worry is that the real economy has been hurt by the vast overreach of the Obama administration. And Hillary Clinton, she wants to double down on that. She wants to create even more so. She is a captive of the left of her party to the point now where she is \u2014 she was for the trade agreement in \u2014 the Pacific agreement. Now she's against it. She was \u2014 hinted she was for the XL pipeline. Now she's opposed to it. All the things that would create sustained economic growth she's now doubling down against it. +p1453 +aVYou could, if you were serious about... +p1454 +aVNo, I can't say that. But I can say, if you created higher capital requirements, that's the solution to this, not having concentration of assets. The bigger banks now have more and more control over \u2014 over the financial assets of this country. And that is the wrong approach to take. +p1455 +aVMaria? +p1456 +aV...We've had a 10% reduction in carbon emissions, and it isn't because of Solyndra. It isn't because of the central planners in Washington D.C. It's because we've had a great American success story, the explosion of natural gas. Taking two existing technologies, and applying it through innovation has created lower carbon emissions, lower energy costs \u2014 40% of all the economic activity in the age of Obama has come from the energy sector, and Hillary Clinton wants to suppress that. We \u2014 I think we ought to be expanding this. High growth is the path to lower carbon, and more jobs. I know for a fact, as Governor of the State of Florida, we created the largest land purchasing programs, and environment clean-up programs because we had a growing economy. Our revenues were growing at 4.4%. It allowed for resources to be able to protect the natural system. We got to get to a conservation... ...in environmental policy that goes beyond just carbon... +p1457 +aVJane Horton is sitting with my wife here today. Her husband, Chris, was killed in action in Afghanistan. And Jane spends her time now defending and fighting for military families. They're both heroes. I don't think we need an agitator-in-chief or a divider-in-chief. We need a commander-in-chief that will rebuild our military and restore respect to our veterans by revamping and fixing a broken Veterans Administration, That's my pledge to you. I ask for your support. Thank you. +p1458 +aVYou know, I am by my nature impatient. And this is not an endeavor that rewards that. You gotta be patient. You gotta be \u2014 stick with it, and all that. But also, I can't fake anger. I believe this is still the most extraordinary country on the face of the Earth. And it troubles me that people are rewarded for tearing down our country. It's never been that way in American politics before. I can't do it. I just don't believe that this country's days are going to be deeply \u2014 you know, going down. I think we're on the verge of the greatest time, and I want to fix the things to let people rise up. +p1459 +aVCould I \u2014 could I bring something up here, because I'm a constituent of the senator and I helped him and I expected that he would do constituent service, which means that he shows up to work. He got endorsed by the Sun-Sentinel because he was the most talented guy in the field. He's a gifted politician. But Marco, when you signed up for this, this was a six-year term, and you should be showing up to work. I mean, literally, the Senate \u2014 what is it, like a French work week? You get, like, three days where you have to show up? You can campaign, or just resign and let someone else take the job. There are a lot of people living paycheck to paycheck in Florida as well, they're looking for a senator that will fight for them each and every day. +p1460 +aVHe wasn't my senator. +p1461 +aVWell, I've been \u2014 +p1462 +aVNo, no. What I said was I don't believe that I would be president of the United States and have the same dysfunction that exists in Washington, D.C. now. +p1463 +aVDon't vote for me if you want to keep the gridlock in Washington, D.C. +p1464 +aVBut if you want someone who has a proven, effective leadership, that was a governor of a state, that transformed the culture there, elect me so I can fight for the American people and change the culture in Washington, D.C. +p1465 +aV, the great majority of Republicans and Americans believe in a hopeful future. They don't believe in building walls and a pessimistic view of the future. They're concerned that Washington is so dysfunctional it is holding them back. There are lids on people's aspirations. Think about it: six and a half million people working part-time. Workforce participation rates lower than they were in 1977. Six million more people living in poverty than the day that Barack Obama got elected president, and the left just wants more of the same. We have to offer a compelling alternative that is based on hope and optimism and grounded in serious policy, which I've laid out. And you can go get it at jeb2016.com. +p1466 +aVWell, the deal was done. Barack Obama got his massive tax increase, and there was no spending cuts. You just see the recent deal announced today or yesterday, more spending, more tax increasing, more regulation. And now we have to accept 2 percent, the new normal for economic growth. And the net result is the middle class has $2,300 less in their pockets than the day that Barack Obama got elected president. And now they see Hillary Clinton proposing a third term of economic policy for our country. We need to reverse that. And my record was one of cutting taxes each and every year. You don't have to guess about it, because I actually have a record. $19 billion of tax cuts, 1.3 million jobs created. We were one of two states to go to AAA bond rating, and our government spending was far less than the spending in people's income. +p1467 +aVYou find me... +p1468 +aVYou find me a Democrat \u2014 you find me a Democrat that will cut spending ten dollars? Heck, find me a Republican in Congress that would cut spending ten dollars. I'll talk to them. +p1469 +aVLook, the \u2014 the deal is already done. The biggest tax increase happened under the watch of Barack Obama, and spending's gone up. You find a Democrat that's for cutting taxes \u2014 cutting spending ten dollars, I'll give them a warm kiss. +p1470 +aVLook, the \u2014 the simple fact is that my plan actually gives the middle class the greatest break: $2,000 per family. And if you make $40,000 a year, a family of four, you don't pay any income tax at all. Simplifying the code and lowering rates, both for corporations and \u2014 and personal rates, is exactly what we need to do. You think about the regulatory cost and the tax cost \u2014 that's why small businesses are closing, rather than being formed in our country right now. The big corporations have the scale to deal with all of this. And what I think all of us are saying is, our monetary policy, our tax policy, regulatory policy needs to be radically changed so we can create high sustained growth for income to rise. The government has tried it their way. Under \u2014 under Barack Obama and the proposals of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and others, they've tried it their way, and it has failed miserably. We need to take a new approach of taxing \u2014 reforming how we tax, and reforming the regulations in our \u2014 in our country before it's too late. +p1471 +aVWe don't need the federal government to be involved in this at all. +p1472 +aVWe don't need the Federal Government to be involved in this, because when they do we create a $1.2 trillion debt. In Florida, we have the lowest in-state tuition of any state, because there's accountability, just as John said. Let the states do this. You'll create a much better graduation rate at a lower cost, and you won't in debt the next generation with recourse debt on their backs. It's always a solution of the left to create more Government from the Federal Government. It is broke, it is not working. +p1473 +aVWell, first of all, I'm 7 and 0 in my fantasy league. +p1474 +aVGronkowski is still going strong. I have Ryan Tannehill, Marco, as my quarterback, he was 18 for 19 last week. So I'm doing great. But we're not gambling. And I think this has become something that needs to be looked at in terms of regulation. Effectively it is day trading without any regulation at all. And when you have insider information, which apparently has been the case, where people use that information and use big data to try to take advantage of it, there has to be some regulation. If they can't regulate themselves, then the NFL needs to look at just, you know, moving away from them a little bit. And there should be some regulation. I have no clue whether the federal government is the proper place, my instinct is to say, hell no, just about everything about the federal government. +p1475 +aVBecky \u2014 +p1476 +aV\u2014 the governor's absolutely right. But we also need to reform Medicare and Social Security. We can't just allow it to continue on its current path the way that Hillary Clinton wants to do because there'll be major reductions in benefits in the next decade if we do nothing. I have a concrete plan to do just that, which allows people to keep HSAs to encourage savings, it allows for people that are retiring with Social Security to be able to get a minimum of 125 percent of the poverty level so that there is a baseline that in this generous country of ours no one goes below. +p1477 +aVYou have to reform Social Security, and the simple way to do it is to make sure that the wealthiest don't receive the same benefits as people that are lower-income. And make sure you enhance savings in the private market. The idea of 401(k)s. I have a small business that I set up. It took \u2014 it took an arm and a leg to be able to set up a 401(k). Because of all the federal mandates and federal laws, it was too expensive. We need to incent private savings and make sure that Social Security is protected for those that have it. +p1478 +aVBut the idea that you can't \u2014 that you're just gonna grow your way out of this \u2014 I have a plan to grow the economy at 4 percent, but you're gonna have to make adjustments for both Medicare and Social Security. [ +p1479 +aVAmerica's at a crossroads. The D.C. politicians continue to make things worse. I have a proven record of success, 32 years in business, and 8 years as Governor of the state of Florida. I will change the culture in Washington, just as I changed the culture in Tallahassee. I will do so in a way that will bring people together. We need a unifier, not a cynical divider in chief, and that's exactly what I will do. Imagine a country where people are lifted out of poverty again. Imagine a country where the middle class can get rising income again. I know we can do this because we're still the most extraordinary country on the face of the Earth. +p1480 +aVI'm Jeb Bush, and I believe America's on the verge of its greatest century, and I'm ready to lead. I'm a committed, conservative reformer that cut taxes, that balanced budgets, that took on the special interest in Florida, and we won. I look forward to talking tonight about how we can fix a broken Washington D.C., and create an environment where people can rise up again in this great country. Thank you. +p1481 +aVI think the voters will make that determination. But what I know to be true is that the next president of the United States is going to have to fix an extraordinary difficult situation. This administration, with President Obama and Hillary Clinton, has created insecurity the likes of which we never would've imagined. There's not a place in the world where we're better off today than six and a half years ago. And that requires a steadiness. That requires an understanding of how the world works. That requires an understanding and appreciation of American leadership in the world. You can't just, you know, talk about this stuff and insult leaders around the world and expect a good result. You have to do this with a steady hand, and I believe I have those skills. +p1482 +aVNo. Absolutely not. People are supporting me because I have a proven record of conservative leadership where I cut taxes $19 billion over eight years. We shrunk the state government workforce, we created a climate that led the nation in job growth seven out of eight years. We were one of two states to go to AAA bond rating. People know that we need principle-centered leadership, a disrupter to go to Washington, D.C. The one guy that had some special interests that I know of that tried to get me to change my views on something \u2014 that was generous and gave me money \u2014 was Donald Trump. He wanted casino gambling in Florida \u2014 +p1483 +aVYes you did. +p1484 +aVYou wanted it and you didn't get it because I was opposed to \u2014 +p1485 +aV\u2014 casino gambling before \u2014 +p1486 +aVduring and after. And that's not \u2014 I'm not going to be bought by anybody. +p1487 +aVNo way. Believe me. +p1488 +aVNot even possible. +p1489 +aVYou've got, according to your \u2014 to what you said on one of the talk shows, you got Hillary Clinton to go to your wedding \u2014 +p1490 +aV\u2014 because you gave her money. Maybe it works for Hillary Clinton \u2014 +p1491 +aV\u2014 it doesn't work for anybody on this \u2014 on stage. +p1492 +aVBut the simple fact is \u2014 +p1493 +aVNo. The simple fact is, Donald, you could not take \u2014 +p1494 +aVI was asked the question. +p1495 +aVSo he supports Pelosi, he supports Schumer, he supports Clinton \u2014 +p1496 +aVWhen he \u2014 and he \u2014 when he asked \u2014 when he asked Florida to have casino gambling, we said no. +p1497 +aVWe said no. And that's the simple fact. The simple fact is \u2014 +p1498 +aVDon't cut me off. +p1499 +aVNo, I don't think so, but we need to be strong against China. We should use offensive tactics as it relates to cyber security, send a deterrent signal to China. There should be super sanctions in what President Obama has proposed. There's many other tools that we have without canceling a dinner. That's not going to change anything, but we can be much stronger as it relates to that. As it relates to Iran, it's not a strategy to tear up an agreement. A strategy would be how do we confront Iran? And, the first thing that we need to do is to establish our commitment to Israel which has been altered by this administration. And, make sure that they have the most sophisticated weapons to send a signal to Iran that we have Israel's back. If we do that, it's going to create a healthier deterrent effect than anything else I can think of. +p1500 +aVI don't think \u2014 you're not stating my views right. +p1501 +aVI think there needs to be accommodation for someone acting on faith. Religious conscience is \u2014 is \u2014 is a first freedom. It's \u2014 it's a powerful part of our \u2014 of our Bill of Rights. And, in a big, tolerant country, we should respect the rule of law, allow people in \u2014 in \u2014 in this country \u2014 I'm a \u2014 I was opposed to the decision, but we \u2014 you can't just say, "well, they \u2014 gays can't get married now." But this woman, there should be some accommodation for her conscience, just as there should be for people that are florists that don't want to participate in weddings, or bakers. A great country like us should find a way to have accommodations for people so that we can solve the problem in the right way. This should be solved at the local level... +p1502 +aVAnd so we do agree, Mike. +p1503 +aVWell, he's wrong on a lot of things, but on this he's wrong because I'm the most pro-life governor on this stage. I got to act on my core beliefs. It's part of who I am. Life is a gift from God. And from beginning end we need to respect it and err on the side of life. And so I defunded Planned Parenthood. We created a climate where parental notification took place. We were the only state to fund crisis pregnancy centers with state moneys. We were totally focused on this. And I would bring that kind of philosophy to Washington, D.C. So here is a solution to this. Title X of the HHS funding, there is something that was the "Reagan Rule." It was passed in 1988. And in that rule it was defined, and the courts approved this, that a Planned Parenthood, you couldn't separate the money between the actual abortion procedures, and there are 330,000 abortions that take place in this clinic, and their promotion of it. He interpreted it the right way, the courts ruled in his favor, and Planned Parenthood did not get funding during that time until President Clinton came in. When I'm elected president, we will restore that interpretation of Title X. And this deal will be finished. +p1504 +aVThere are 13,000 community-based organizations that provide health services to women, 13,000 in this country. I don't believe that Planned Parenthood should get a penny from the federal government. Those organizations should get funding, just as I increased funding when I was governor of the state. That's the way you do this is you improve the condition for people. And, Donald, when I was governor, we also increased the opportunities for women. Women's income grew three times faster than the national average when I was governor. +p1505 +aVWe improved \u2014 we improved \u2014 +p1506 +aV\u2014 we increased child support \u2014 we increased child support with a broken system by 90 percent. +p1507 +aVI have a proven record. I have a proven record. +p1508 +aVHe did, he did. You're proud of your family, just as I am. +p1509 +aVTo subject my wife into the middle of a raucous political conversation was completely inappropriate, and I hope you apologize for that, Donald. +p1510 +aVShe is. She's fantastic. +p1511 +aVShe is absolutely the love of my life, and she's right here... +p1512 +aVAnd why don't you apologize to her right now. +p1513 +aVYeah. +p1514 +aVSo, here's the deal. My wife is a Mexican-American. She's an American by choice. She loves this country as much as anybody in this room, and she wants a secure border. But she wants to embrace the traditional American values that make us special and make us unique. We're at a crossroads right now. Are we going to take the Reagan approach, the hopeful optimistic approach, the approach that says that, you come to our country legally, you pursue your dreams with a vengeance, you create opportunities for all of us? Or the Donald Trump approach? The approach that says that everything is bad, that everything is coming to an end. I... +p1515 +aVI'm on the Reagan side of this. +p1516 +aVLook, first of all, I wrote a book about this, three \u2014 four years ago, now. And I laid out a comprehensive, conservative approach for immigration reform. And it does require securing the border. No one disagrees with that. But to build a wall, and to deport people \u2014 half a million a month \u2014 would cost hundreds of billions of dollars, Donald. Hundreds of billions of dollars. It would destroy community life, it would tear families apart. And it would send a signal to the rest of the world that the United States values that are so important for our long-term success no longer matter in this country. +p1517 +aVWell, I've been speaking English here tonight, and I'll keep speaking English. But the simple fact is, if a high school kid asks me a question in Spanish, a school \u2014 by the way, a voucher program that was created under my watch, the largest voucher program in the country, where kids can go to a Christian school, and they ask me a question in Spanish, I'm going to show respect and answer that question in Spanish. Even though they do speak English, and even though they embrace American values. +p1518 +aVYeah. +p1519 +aVWell, first of all, Hugh, if you're looking at Republican advisers, you have to go to the last two administrations. That happened to be 41 and 43. So just by definition, if you're \u2014 and many of the people here that are seeking advice from the foreign policy experts in the Republican side, they \u2014 they served in my dad's administration, my brother's administration. Of course that's the case. But I'm my own man. I'm going to create a strategy that is based on the simple fact that the United States needs to lead the world. The first thing that we need to do is to stop the craziness of the sequester. Rebuild our military so that our \u2014 so that we don't deploy people over and over again without the necessary equipment to keep them safe, to send a signal to the world that we're serious. If we're going to lead the world, then we need to have the strongest military possible. We need to rebuild our counterintelligence and intelligence capabilities. We need to focus on the fact that the next president is going to start in 2017, not in 1990 \u2014 you know, 30 years ago, or when my brother started. The world is dramatically different. And I believe that we need to restore America's presence and leadership in the world. Name a country where our relationship is better today than it was the \u2014 the day that Barack Obama got elected president. Under Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama, we have seen a weakness that now creates huge problems for the next president of the United States. So I'll have a team that will be \u2014 that will be following the doctrine I set up, and it will be peace through strength. We're sitting here in this library, which is a wonderful place to talk about this, because that's exactly what happened in the 1980s, and the world was a lot safer because of... +p1520 +aVThe leadership of Ronald Reagan and my... +p1521 +aVSo you \u2014 the \u2014 the first chance... +p1522 +aVRight after me, and then I'll \u2014 I'll yield \u2014 yield the floor. What do you guys say in the Senate when you're talking and debating? +p1523 +aVHere's the facts: When Donald Trump talks about judgment, what was his position on who would've been the best negotiator to deal with Iran? It wasn't a Republican; it was Hillary Clinton. That's what you believe. I mean, the lack of judgment and the lack of understanding about how the world works is really dangerous in this kind of time that we're saying. So is that the judgment that you bring to the table, that Hillary Clinton... +p1524 +aV... is a great negotiator, that she could bring about a better deal on Iran? +p1525 +aVYou know what? As it relates to my brother, there's one thing I know for sure. He kept us safe. I don't know if you remember... ... Donald... ... you remember the \u2014 the rumble? You remember the fire fighter with his arms around it? He sent a clear signal that the United States would be strong and fight Islamic terrorism, and he did keep us safe. +p1526 +aVThat's \u2014 that's my brother. +p1527 +aVHere's the lessons of history: When we \u2014 we pull back, voids are created. We left Iraq. We should've had a \u2014 a forces agreement to stay there with a small force, and instead of that, we politically and militarily pulled back, and now we have the creation of +p1528 +aV... because of what President Obama's done by pulling back. +p1529 +aVWell, I'm surprised Senator Cruz would say that since he was as strong supporter of John Roberts at the time. I will talk about what I will do as it relates to appointing Supreme Court Justices. We need to make sure that we have justices that, with a proven experienced record of respect for upholding the constitution. That is what we need. We can't have \u2014 the history in recent past is appoint people that have no experience so that you can't get attacked. And, that makes it harder for people to have confidence that they won't veer off... +p1530 +aVJohn Roberts has made some really good decisions, for sure, but he did not have a proven, extensive record that would have made the clarity the important thing, and that's what we need to do. And, I'm willing to fight for those nominees to make sure that they get passed. You can't do it the politically expedient way anymore. This is the culture in Washington. You have to fight hard for these appointments. This is perhaps the most important thing that the next president will do. +p1531 +aVWell, first of all, he, as I said, supported John Roberts. He supported him, publicly. So, you can rewrite history, I guess, Ted, but the simple fact is that you supported him because he had all the criteria that you would have thought would have made a great justice. And, I think he is doing a good job. But, the simple fact is that going forward, what we need to do is to have someone that has a long standing set of rulings that consistently makes it clear that he is a focused, exclusively on upholding the Constitution of the United States so they won't try to use the bench as a means to which legislate. +p1532 +aVHe was talking about me. +p1533 +aVWell, I \u2014 I wanted to \u2014 be \u2014 make it easier for him. +p1534 +aVAnd I just did. +p1535 +aVSo, 40 years ago, I smoked marijuana, and I admit it. I'm sure that other people might have done it and may not want to say it in front of 25 million people. My mom's not happy that I just did. That's true. And here's the deal. Here's the deal. We have \u2014 we have a serious epidemic of drugs that goes way beyond marijuana. What goes on in Colorado, as far as I'm concerned, that should be a state decision. But if you look at the problem of drugs in this \u2014 in this society today, it's a serious problem. Rand, you know this because you're campaigning in New Hampshire like all of us, and you see the epidemic of heroin, the overdoses of heroin that's taking place. People's families are \u2014 are being torn apart. It is appropriate for the government to play a consistent role to be able to provide more treatment, more prevention \u2014 we're the state that has the most drug courts across every circuit in \u2014 in \u2014 in Florida, there are drug courts to give people a second chance. That's the best way to do this. +p1536 +aVNo, you're wrong \u2014 you're wrong about this. +p1537 +aVI don't want to put poor people in jail, Randy. +p1538 +aVHere's the deal. No, I did not oppose when the legislature passed the bill to deal with that very issue. That's the way to solve this problem. Medical marijuana on the ballot was opened up, there was a huge loophole, it was the first step to getting to a place. And as a citizen of Florida, I voted no. +p1539 +aVNot very far. I think we need to do this state by state. There are places that get this right, and we need to make sure that we protect the privacy laws. This is a complicated place. But I do think the natural impulse on the left \u2014 Hillary Clinton, immediately after one of these horrific violent acts took place, immediately said we need to have federal gun laws. President Obama almost reflexively always says the same thing. And the net result is, you're going to take away rights of \u2014 of law-abiding citizens, the 99.999 percent of the people that are law- abiding citizens. That's not the right approach to do it. In Florida, we have a background check. We have concealed-weapon permit holders, and in fact, there's 1,200,000 of them. We have a reduction in violent crime because we put people behind bars when they use a gun in the commission of the crime. That's the better approach. But we're living in a society today where despair kind of grows in isolation. +p1540 +aVI \u2014 I think there needs to be a hearing, but the fact is, we need to encourage that kind of involvement. That's \u2014 that's exactly what we need to do. +p1541 +aVI would go with Ronald Reagan's partner, Margaret Thatcher. Probably illegal, but what the heck? Since it's not going to happen. A strong leader is what we need in the White House, and she certainly was a strong leader that restored the United Kingdom into greatness. +p1542 +aVEver Ready, it's very high energy, Donald. +p1543 +aVSix million more people are living in poverty than the day that Barack Obama got elected president. Six million more people. The middle class has had declining income, workforce participation rates are lower than they were in 1977. For the first time in modern history, more businesses are failing than are being created. That is what the next president will have to deal with. And I believe we can reverse course by creating a strategy of high sustained economic growth, not the new normal of 2 percent that all the left says we just have to get used to, but a 4 percent growth strategy where we reform how we tax, fix the broken regulatory system, embrace the energy revolution in our midst, fix the immigration system so we can turn it into an economic driver, deal with the structural fiscal problems that exist because of our entitlement problems that will overwhelm and create way too much debt. If we grow at 4 percent, people are going to be lifted out of poverty. The great middle that defines our country will have a chance to be able to pursue their dreams as they see fit. That should be the great challenge and the great opportunity for the next president of the United States, to forge consensus to go back to a high-growth strategy. And then we'll be able to lead the world. Without a high-growth strategy, our country will never have the resources or the optimism to be able to lead the world, which the world desperately needs our leadership. +p1544 +aVAbsolutely, I do, and I'm gonna run hard, run with heart, and run to win. I'm gonna have to earn this. Maybe the barrier -- the bar's even higher for me. That's fine. I've got a record in Florida. I'm proud of my dad, and I'm certainly proud of my brother. In Florida, they called me Jeb, because I earned it. I cut taxes every year, totaling $19 billion. We were -- we had -- we balanced every budget. We went from $1 billion of reserves to $9 billion of reserves. We were one of two states that went to AAA bond rating. They keep -- they called me Veto Corleone. Because I vetoed 2,500 separate line-items in the budget. I am my own man. I governed as a conservative, and I govern effectively. And the net effect was, during my eight years, 1.3 million jobs were created. We left the state better off because I applied conservative principles in a purple state the right way, and people rose up. +p1545 +aVI do. I believe that the great majority of people coming here illegally have no other option. They want to provide for their family. But we need to control our border. It's not -- it's our responsibility to pick and choose who comes in. So I -- I've written a book about this and yet this week, I did come up with a comprehensive strategy that -- that really mirrored what we said in the book, which is that we need to deal with E-Verify, we need to deal with people that come with a legal visa and overstay. We need to be much more strategic on how we deal with border enforcement, border security. We need to eliminate the sanctuary cities in this country. It is ridiculous and tragic......that people are dying because of the fact that -- that local governments are not following the federal law. There's much to do. And I think rather than talking about this as a wedge issue, which Barack Obama has done now for six long years, the next president -- and I hope to be that president -- will fix this once and for all so that we can turn this into a driver for high sustained economic growth. And there should be a path to earned legal status... ...for those that are here. Not -- not amnesty, earned legal status, which means you pay a fine and do many things over an extended period of time. +p1546 +aV...I remember... +p1547 +aV...I remember, Megyn. +p1548 +aVKnowing what we know now, with faulty intelligence, and not having security be the first priority when -- when we invaded, it was a mistake. I wouldn't have gone in, however, for the people that did lose their lives, and the families that suffer because of it -- I know this full well because as governor of the state of Florida, I called every one of them. Every one of them that I could find to tell them that I was praying for them, that I cared about them, and it was really hard to do. And, every one of them said that their child did not die in vain, or their wife, of their husband did not die in vain. So, why it was difficult for me to do it was based on that. Here's the lesson that we should take from this, which relates to this whole subject. Barack Obama became president, and he abandoned Iraq. He left, and when he left Al Qaida was done for. +p1549 +aVNo, I don't. And I don't believe the federal government should be involved in the creation of standards directly or indirectly, the creation of curriculum or content. It is clearly a state responsibility. I'm for higher standards... ...measured in an intellectually honest way, with abundant school choice, ending social promotion. And I know how to do this because as governor of the state of Florida I created the first statewide voucher program in the country, the second statewide voucher program, in the country and the third statewide voucher program in the country. And we had rising student achievement across the board, because high standards, robust accountability, ending social promotion in third grade, real school choice across the board, challenging the teachers union and beating them is the way to go. And Florida's low income kids had the greatest gains inside the country. Our graduation rate improved by 50 percent. That's what I'm for. +p1550 +aVHe is definitely my friend. And I think the states ought to create these standards. And if states want to opt out of Common Core, fine. Just make sure your standards are high. Because today in America, a third of our kids, after we spend more per student than any country in the world other than a couple rounding errors, to be honest with you, 30 percent are college- and/or career-ready. If we are going to compete in this world we're in today, there is no possible way we can do it with lowering expectations and dumbing down everything. Children are going to suffer and families' hearts are going to be broken that their kids won't be able to get a job in the 21st Century. +p1551 +aVWe've done it 27 times since World War II. I think we need to lift our spirits and have high, lofty expectations for this great country of ours. The new normal of two percent that the left is saying you can't do anything about is so dangerous for our country. There's 6 million people living in poverty today, more than when Barack Obama got elected. 6.5 million people are working part-time, most of whom want to work full-time. We've created rules and taxes on top of every aspiration of people, and the net result is we're not growing fast, income's not growing. A four percent growth strategy means you fix a convoluted tax code. You get in and you change every aspect of regulations that are job killers. You get rid of Obamacare and replace it with something that doesn't suppress wages and kill jobs. You embrace the energy revolution in our country. This president and Hillary Clinton, who can't even say she's for the XL pipeline even after she's left? Give me a break. Of course we're for it. We should be for these things to create high sustained economic growth. And frankly, fixing our immigration system and turning it into an economic driver is part of this as well. We can do this. +p1552 +aVNone of which is true. +p1553 +aVNo. It's not true. But I have said that Mr. Trump's language is divisive. I want to win. I want one of these people here or the ones at 5:00, to be the next president of the United States. We're not going on win by doing what Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton do each and every day. Dividing the country. Saying, creating a grievance kind of environment. We're going to win when we unite people with a hopeful, optimistic message. I have that message because I was a governor of a state that saw people lifted up, because we had high sustained economic growth. Our economy grew at double the rate of the nation. We created 1.3 million jobs. We led the nation seven out of those eight years. We were only one of two states that went to AAA bond rating. I cut taxes, $19 billion. If you do that and apply conservative principles the right way, you create an environment where everybody rises up. That's how we're going to win. Campaigning in places to give people hope that their life is better because too many people are suffering today in America. +p1554 +aVHere's what I believe. I believe we're at the verge of the greatest time to be alive in this world. But Washington is holding us back. How we tax, how we regulate. We're not embracing the energy revolution in our midst, a broken immigration system that has been politicized rather than turning it into an economic driver. We're not protecting and preserving our entitlement system or reforming for the next generation. All these things languish while we have politicians in Washington using these as wedge issues. Here's my commitment to you, because I did it as Florida. We can fix these things. We can grow economically and restore America's leadership in the world, so that everybody has a chance to rise up. I humbly ask for your vote, whenever you're gonna get to vote, whenever the primary is. Thank you all very much. +p1555 +asVFRANTA +p1556 +(lp1557 +VHi, I'm Connor Franta, I'm 23 and my audience is around the same age. Getting my generation to vote should be a priority for any presidential candidate. Now I know Senator Sanders is pretty popular among my peers, but what I want to know is, how are all of you planning on engaging us further in this election? +p1558 +asVWALKER +p1559 +(lp1560 +VGood evening, I'm Scott Walker, and tonight, I want to thank and Mrs. Reagan, and the Reagan Library for hosting us. You see, in my lifetime, the greatest president was a governor from California. Ronald Reagan knew how to go big, and go bold. He understood the essence of moving this country forward, and that's what I did when I took on the status quo in my state, and the Washington based special interest. Now, more than ever, America needs a leader who will go big and bold again. Someone who's been tested. I'm ready to be that leader. Thank you. +p1561 +aVBut Jake, Jake, Jake, Jake... +p1562 +aVBut Jake, this \u2014 this is \u2014 this... +p1563 +aVJake, this is \u2014 this is \u2014 this is... +p1564 +aVThis is actually what's wrong \u2014 this is what's wrong with this debate. We're not talking about real issues. And Mr. Trump, we don't need an apprentice in the White House. We don't need an apprentice in the White House. We have one right now. He told us all the things we wanted to hear back in 2008. We don't know who you are or where you're going. We need someone who can actually get the job done. And you talked about business. +p1565 +aVYou \u2014 you \u2014 let me finish... +p1566 +aVNo, no... +p1567 +aVYou're using the talking... +p1568 +aVMr. Trump, you're using the talking points of the Democrats... +p1569 +aV... and as we all know... +p1570 +aV... that failed three times in four and a half years when I got elected, because it is working. We balanced a budget. You want to talk about balanced budgets? You took four major projects into bankruptcy over and over and over again. You can't take America into bankruptcy. That's what's wrong with the politicians in Washington right now. They think we can take a country into bankruptcy. +p1571 +aVJake, yeah, absolutely, I'll take this on, because this is an issue that's important in this race. Just because he says it doesn't make it true. The facts are the facts. We balanced a $3.6 billion budget deficit, we did it by cutting taxes \u2014 $4.7 billion to help working families, family farmers, small business owners and senior citizens. And it's about time people in America stand up and take note of this. If you want someone that can actually take on the special interest of Washington, which you yourself said you were part of, using the system, we need somebody that will stand up and fight for average Americans to put them back in charge of their government. I'm the one who is taking that on. I'll do that as your next president. +p1572 +aVTwo parts to that, one on China, one back for a second on Iran. When it comes to China, why would we be giving an official state visit to a country that's been involved in a massive cyber attack against the United States? That's not just a visit, that's a 21 gun salute on the South Lawn of the White House. It just doesn't make any sense. If we're ever going to send a message to them, wouldn't this be the time, when they've issued this, sort of, massive attack against us? And, Jake, for the question, I was one of the first ones to call for terminating the bad deal with Iran on day one. The President came after me and said I need to bone up. You know, the President who called +p1573 +aVJake, just one more moment. This is \u2014 there's something bigger to this. Now, I \u2014 like so many other governors here, I defunded Planned Parenthood four-and-a-half years ago, in a Blue State. But it's bigger than that. We did that in a Blue State, we took the money and put it into women's health, so we did exactly what we're talking about here. But I think the bigger issue here is we should be able to do this nationally, and this is precisely why so many Republicans are upset with Washington. They see the House and they see the Senate and they say why can't we pass this. Why can't we defund Planned \u2014 put it in a spending bill. Forget about the 60-vote rule, there's no reason \u2014 and the Constitution doesn't call for 60 votes. Pass it with 51 votes, put it on the desk of the president \u2014 +p1574 +aV\u2014 and go forward and actually make a point. This is why \u2014 +p1575 +aV\u2014 people are upset with Washington. +p1576 +aVSo, the best way to help people see their wages go up is to get them the education, the skill they need, to take on careers that pay more than minimum wage. And, it's why we talk about it, it's all about jobs. You want to help actually get jobs, it's why on that last question we were trying to jump in on taxes. To me, it's not just about taxes, cutting taxes. I've done it as much as anyone has. I've cut income taxes, I've cut property taxes. In fact, property taxes are lower today in my state than they were before we took office. The real issues about jobs. Ronald Reagan, our plan is based on the Ronald Reagan tax cuts of 1986. That brought about one of the longest sustained periods of economic growth in American history. All the things we should be talking about tonight are about how do we create jobs, helping people get the skills and the education qualifications they need to succeed. That's the way you help people create jobs. It's part of our large plan to reform the tax code, to cut taxes, to put in place an education system that gives people the skills and education that they need. To put in place all the above energy policy, but you start on day one with repealing Obamacare. I'm the only one on this stage that's actually got a plan, introduced an actual plan to repeal Obamacare on day one. I'll send a bill up to Congress, and to make sure enact it... +p1577 +aV...I'm going to sign an order that makes the Congress live by the same rules as everybody else. +p1578 +aV...That will ensure they repeal Obamacare... +p1579 +aV...Jake, Jake, Jake, I just want to address that issue because you said I didn't answer, and I did. I said, to me, I think the real focus shouldn't be \u2014 you know, Hillary Clinton talks about the minimum wage. That's her answer to grow the economy. The answer is to give people the skills and the education so they make far more than minimum wage. I don't want to argue about how low things are going to be, I want to talk about how do we lift everyone up in America. That's what Reagan talked about. It wasn't how bad things were, it was how to make it better for everyone. That's what we've done in Wisconsin, that's exactly what we'd do as... +p1580 +aV... the key issue here is talking about leadership. Now, there's a lot of greater people up here, and you've heard a lot of great ideas out there. But I would ask the American people, look at who's been tested. When there were 100,000 protesters in my capital, I didn't back down, when they issued death threats against me and threats against my family, I didn't back down, when they tried to recall me, I didn't back down, and when they made me the \u2014 one of their number-one targets last year, I didn't back down. Give me the chance to be your president. +p1581 +aVI won't back down... +p1582 +aV... on any of these issues. +p1583 +aVTo be clear, what I said the other day was that we need to lift the political restrictions that are already in play. Barack Obama's administration has put political restrictions on the military personnel already in Iraq. We need to lift those and then we need to listen to our military experts, not the political forces in the White House, but our military experts about how many more we sent in. And we certainly shouldn't have a commander-in-chief who sends a message to our adversaries as to how far we're going to go, and how far we're willing to fight, so I'm not putting a troop number. What I'm saying is lift the political restrictions. When you do that, you empower our military personnel already there to work with the Kurd and the Sunni allies, to reclaim the territory taken by +p1584 +aV... a lot of those people, though, and I'm going to echo what Senator Rubio just said. This is an issue where, we're talking about my state, it's thousands of manufacturing jobs. Thousands of manufacturing jobs for a rule the Obama administration, own EPA has said will have a marginal impact on climate change. So we're going to put thousands and thousands of jobs in my state, I think it's something like 30,000 in Ohio, other states across this country, we're going to put people \u2014 manufacturing jobs, the kind of jobs that are far greater than minimum wage, this administration is willing to put at risk for something its own EPA says is marginal (ph)... +p1585 +aVFirst of all, I got to say to Carson, Huckabee, thanks a lot for making the rest of us look like chumps up here, but, I'd pick Clara Barton. I once worked for the American Red Cross, she was a great founder of the Red Cross. +p1586 +aVHarley. I love riding Harley's. +p1587 +aVWell, I turned 13 years old two days before Ronald Reagan was first elected. A lot of people forget this, but just a few days before that election 1980, he was behind in the polls. And I think what changed things was people in America realized they didn't want to hear what was bad about America, they wanted to know how it was going to be better. Ronald Reagan wasn't just a conservative Republican, he was an eternal optimist in the American people. And I am too. So here's what I think will make America better. We need to live in a world where our children are free, are free from the threats of radical Islamic terrorism. We need to live in an America where we have an economy, where everyone can live their piece of the American dream, no matter what that dream is. And we need to live in an America where we have a federal government that is not too big to fail, but ultimately small enough to succeed, where we send powers back to the states and back to the people. That's what I did in Wisconsin. We took on the big government union bosses, the big government special interests, many of whom came in from Washington, to spend millions of dollars to try and take me out because we stood up to them, we didn't back down in any of those instances. If you give me the chance as your next president, I won't back down any day, anyway, anyhow. I'll fight and win for you and your families every single day I'm in office. +p1588 +aVWell, I'm pro-life, I've always been pro-life, and I've got a position that I think is consistent with many Americans out there in that... ...in that I believe that that is an unborn child that's in need of protection out there, and I've said many a time that that unborn child can be protected, and there are many other alternatives that can also protect the life of that mother. That's been consistently proven. Unlike Hillary Clinton, who has a radical position in terms of support for Planned Parenthood, I defunded Planned Parenthood more than four years ago, long before any of these videos came out... ...I've got a position that's in line with everyday America. +p1589 +aVChris, I actually said that on your show earlier this year. I acknowledged that. I said I actually listened to the American people. And I think people across America want a leader who's actually going to listen to them. I talked to border state governors and other elected officials. I look at how this president, particularly through last November, messed up the immigration system in this country. Most importantly, I listened to the people of America. I believe we need to secure the border. I've been to the border with Governor Abbott in Texas and others, seeing the problems that they have there. There is international criminal organizations penetrating our southern based borders, and we need to do something about it. Secure the border, enforce the law, no amnesty, and go forward with the legal immigration system that gives priority to American working families and wages. +p1590 +aVI don't know about additional ones. We need to focus on the ones we have. You look at Egypt, probably the best relationship we've had in Israel, at least in my lifetime, incredibly important. You look at the Saudis -- in fact, earlier this year, I met with Saudi leaders, and leaders from the United Arab Emirates, and I asked them what's the greatest challenge in the world today? Set aside the Iran deal. They said it's the disengagement of America. We are leading from behind under the Obama-Clinton doctrine -- America's a great country. We need to stand up and start leading again, and we need to have allies, not just in Israel, but throughout the Persian Gulf. +p1591 +aVJust one second on this, though. We -- we spent a lot of time talking about Hillary Clinton and ---and pitting us back and forth. Let's be clear, we should be talking about Hillary Clinton on that last subject, because everywhere in the world that Hillary Clinton touched is more messed up today than before she and the president . +p1592 +aVIt's true. +p1593 +aVWell, the voters in Wisconsin elected me last year for the third time because they wanted someone who aimed high, not aimed low. Before I came in, the unemployment rate was over eight percent. It's now down to 4.6 percent. We've more than made up for the jobs that were lost during the recession. And the rate in which people are working is almost five points higher than it is nationally. You know, people like Hillary Clinton think you grow the economy by growing Washington. One report last year showed that six of the top 10 wealthiest counties in America were in or around Washington, D.C.. I think most of us in America understand that people, not the government creates jobs. And one of the best things we can do is get the government out of the way, repeal Obamacare, put in -- reign in all the out of control regulations, put in place an all of the above energy policy, give people the education, the skills that the need to succeed, and lower the tax rate and reform the tax code. That's what I'll do as president, just like I did in Wisconsin. +p1594 +aVWell, first off, let's remember. I still remember, as a kid, tying a yellow ribbon around a tree in front of my house during the 444 days that Iran held 52 Americans hostage. Iran is not a place we should be doing business with. To me, you terminate the deal on day one, you reinstate the sanctions authorized by Congress, you go to Congress and put in place even more crippling sanctions in place, and then you convince our allies to do the same. This is not just bad with Iran, this is bad with +p1595 +aVWell, I think the most important thing we can do when it comes to policing -- it's something you've had a guest on who's a friend of mine Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clark, who's talked to me about this many times in the past -- it's about training. It's about making sure that law enforcement professionals, not only in the way in to their positions but all the way through their time, have the proper training, particularly when it comes to the use of force. And that we protect and stand up and support those men and women who are doing their jobs in law enforcement. And for the very few that don't, that there are consequences to show that we treat everyone the same here in America. +p1596 +aVWell first off, for the cyber attack with Russia the other day, it's sad to think right now, but probably the Russian and Chinese government know more about Hillary Clinton's e-mail server than do the members of the United States Congress. And -- and that has put our national security at risk. If I am president, he won't think about that. You know, Putin believes in the old Lenin adage: you probe with bayonets. When you find mush, you push. When you find steel, you stop. Under Obama and Clinton, we found a lot of mush over the last two years. We need to have a national security that puts steel in front of our enemies. I would send weapons to Ukraine. I would work with +p1597 +aVWell, thanks, Megyn. I'm certainly an imperfect man. And it's only by the blood of Jesus Christ that I've been redeemed from my sins. So I know that God doesn't call me to do a specific thing, God hasn't given me a list, a Ten Commandments, if you will, of things to act on the first day. What God calls us to do is follow his will. And ultimately that's what I'm going to try to do. And I hope people've seen it in my state, even in the big challenges I took on when I had over 100,000 protesters in and around our capital, trying to do what I thought was the right thing. It wasn't just how I took on those political battles. It was ultimately how I acted. Not responding in kind. Not lashing out. But just being decent going forward and living my life in a way that would be a testimony to him and our faith. +p1598 +aVThanks. I'm guy with a wife and two kids, and Harley. One article called me "aggressively normal." I ran for governor because I was worried about my kids' future. Then, I took on the big government union bosses, and we won. They tried to recall me, and we won. They target us again, and we won. We balanced the budget, cut taxes, and turned our state around with big, bold reforms. It wasn't too late for Wisconsin, and it's not too late for America. That's why I ask for your vote. +p1599 +asVMALE +p1600 +(lp1601 +VThat's a good one. +p1602 +asVMITCHELL +p1603 +(lp1604 +VThank you, Lester. Secretary Clinton, Senator Sanders favors what he calls "Medicare for all." Now, you said that what he is proposing would tear up Obamacare and replace it. Secretary Clinton, is it fair to say to say that Bernie Sanders wants to kill Obamacare? +p1605 +aVSenator Sanders? +p1606 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor Sanders... +p1607 +aVSenator Sanders, let me ask you this, though... +p1608 +aV... you've talked about Medicare for all... +p1609 +aV.. and tonight you've released a very detailed plan, just two... +p1610 +aV... well, two hours before the debate, you did. +p1611 +aVBut let me ask you about Vermont. Because in Vermont \u2014 you tried in the state of Vermont, and Vermont walked away from this kind of idea, of \u2014 of Medicare for all, single-payer, because they concluded it would require major tax increases... +p1612 +aV... and by some estimates, it would double the budget. If you couldn't sell it in Vermont, Senator... +p1613 +aV... how can you sell it to the country? +p1614 +aVSenator Sanders \u2014 Senator Sanders, you've talked a lot about things you want to do. You want free education for everyone, you want the Federal Minimum Wage raised to $15 an hour. You want to expand Social Security... +p1615 +aV... benefits. You've been specific about what you want, but let's talk about how to pay for all this. You now said that you would raise taxes today, two hours or so ago, you said you would raise taxes to pay for your health care plan. You haven't been specific about how to pay for the other things... +p1616 +aV... Will you tell us tonight? +p1617 +aV... OK... O' +p1618 +aV... Secretary Clinton, you mentioned earlier \u2014 Secretary Clinton, do you want to respond? +p1619 +aVOK, we're out of time. Senator Sanders, +p1620 +aVSenator Sanders... +p1621 +aV... Senator Sanders, let me ask you a question about taxes. +p1622 +aVThe most googled political issue... +p1623 +aVIn the last month was taxes. Now, in your healthcare plan, the plan you released tonight, you would not only raise taxes on the wealthy, but the details you released indicate you would raise taxes on the middle class also. Is that correct? +p1624 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, let me just follow up on that. +p1625 +aVOn Meet the Press on December 20th, you said that you would only raise taxes on the middle class to pay for family leave. And, having said that, now you say you're going to raise middle class taxes to pay for healthcare as well. Is that breaking your word? +p1626 +aVThank you Lester. Senator Sanders, the nuclear deal is now enforced. Iran is getting it's billions of dollars, several Americans who have been held are now going to be heading home. The president said today, "it's a good day. It's a good day for diplomacy. It's a time now to restore diplomatic relations for the first time since 1979 and actually re- opened a U.S. Embassy in Tehran." +p1627 +aVYour response Secretary Clinton? +p1628 +aVYou mentioned Syria. Let me ask you about Syria, all of you. Let's turn to Syria and the civil war that has been raging there. Are there any circumstances in which you could see deploying significant numbers of ground forces in Syria, not just specials forces but significant ground forces to combat +p1629 +aVSenator Sanders, ground forces yes or no? +p1630 +aVGovernor O'Malley? +p1631 +aVGovernor O'Malley. O' +p1632 +aVI have a question. I have a question for Senator Sanders. Did the policies of the Obama administration, in which Secretary Clinton of course was a part, create a vacuum in Iraq and Syria that helped +p1633 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to talk to you about red lines, because former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in a recent interview that President Obama's decision to stand down on planned missile strikes against Damascus after Assad had used chemical weapons hurt the president's credibility. Should the president have stuck to his red line once he drew it? +p1634 +aVBut should he \u2014 should he have stuck to his... +p1635 +aV... line? Did it hurt U.S. credibility? +p1636 +aVYour time is up. +p1637 +aVSenator.... +p1638 +aVYou're out of time. +p1639 +aVSenator Sanders. +p1640 +aVYour time is us. Lester. +p1641 +aVJust a \u2014 just a quick follow-up, though, Secretary Clinton. Just a moment, Governor. O' +p1642 +aVBut \u2014 but \u2014 Secretary Clinton, you said that the leaders from the intelligence community went to Silicon Valley, they were flatly turned down. They got nowhere. +p1643 +aVSenator Sanders, let me ask you a question. You called Bill Clinton's past transgressions, quote, "totally, totally, totally disgraceful and unacceptable." Senator, do you regret saying that? +p1644 +aV...too long. O' +p1645 +asVHEWITT +p1646 +(lp1647 +VSenator Cruz, you've said you disagree with Mr. Trump's policy. I don't want a cage match; you've tweeted you don't want a cage match. But Republican primary voters deserve to know, with the kind of specificity and responsiveness you delivered in your nine Supreme Court arguments, how you disagree with Mr. Trump. Would you spell that out with us? +p1648 +aVSo you're saying you disagree because he's too broad and you have a narrower focus? Why do you disagree with him? +p1649 +aVCarly Fiorina... ... this is the Christmas dinner debate. This will be the debate that Americans talk about at Christmas. And thus far, in the first 10 minutes, we haven't heard a lot about Ronald Reagan's city on a hill. We've heard a lot about keeping Americans out or keeping Americans safe and everyone else out. Is this what you want the party to stand for? +p1650 +aVDr. Carson...... you mentioned in your opening remarks that you're a pediatric neurologist surgeon... +p1651 +aVNeurosurgeon. And people admire and respect and are inspired by your life story, your kindness, your evangelical core support. We're talking about ruthless things tonight \u2014 carpet bombing, toughness, war. And people wonder, could you do that? Could you order air strikes that would kill innocent children by not the scores, but the hundreds and the thousands? Could you wage war as a commander-in-chief? +p1652 +aVSo you are OK with the deaths of thousands of innocent children and civilian? It's like... +p1653 +aVThat is what war \u2014 can you be as ruthless as Churchill was in prosecuting the war against the Nazis? +p1654 +aVMr. Trump, we are talking about the most important thing, that's why it's heated. And it's, you are OK with Mr. Assad staying in power, but you are also in favor of winning. If he stays in power, Iran is winning, Hezbollah is winning. Iran is winning in Yemen. They are winning everywhere. If they are winning how can we be winning? +p1655 +aVGovernor Christie, is he right? Because if we step back, Iran goes nuclear. Is Donald Trump right? +p1656 +aVSenator Paul, let me ask you, you heard Governor Kasich say Assad must go. Do you agree? +p1657 +aVGovernor Bush, a commander-in-chief question. You've said that Mr. Trump is not qualified to be president because he's not qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin. Why are you better qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin than Mr. Trump? +p1658 +aVMr. Trump? +p1659 +aVBut, Mr. Trump, it's not CNN \u2014 I was on CNN last night... +p1660 +aV... watching... +p1661 +aVBut it wasn't \u2014 it wasn't CNN. It was me. I watched you last night for 16 minutes. It's not CNN. +p1662 +aVIt's not CNN. It's America's watching you. +p1663 +aVIt's America's watching. +p1664 +aVGovernor \u2014 thank you, Governor. +p1665 +aVDr. Carson, commander-in-chief question again. You've been the head of neurosurgery for a big hospital. You're on a lot of boards of a lot of companies. You've traveled the world. You're going traveling again next week. But does that prepare you to command troops from Djibouti to Japan, troops from Afghanistan to Iraq to be in charge of the men and women watching on Armed Services Network tonight? +p1666 +aVMr. Trump...... Dr. Carson just referenced the single most important job of the president, the command, the control and the care of our nuclear forces. And he mentioned the triad. The B-52s are older than I am. The missiles are old. The submarines are aging out. It's an executive order. It's a commander-in-chief decision. What's your priority among our nuclear triad? +p1667 +aVOf the three legs of the triad, though, do you have a priority? I want to go to Senator Rubio after that and ask him. +p1668 +aVSenator Rubio, do you have a response? +p1669 +aVMy listeners tell me again and again they are worried that Hillary Clinton will win the White House because you'll run as an independent. Are you ready to assure Republicans tonight that you will run as a Republican and abide by the decision of the Republicans? +p1670 +aVDr. Carson, last week... +p1671 +aVPlease. +p1672 +aVDr. Carson, Mr. Trump just committed to stay the distance regardless of the result. How about you? +p1673 +aVThank you, Jake. Mr. Trump, two years ago, President Obama drew a red line that the Syrian dictator Bashar Assad crossed, President Obama threatened to strike. He did not, his knees buckled. We now have 4 million refugees, Syria is a living hell, and he turned to the Congress for the authority to back him up. You have three senators to your right that said, no. Do they bear responsibility for this refugee crisis, and what would you have done when Bashar Assad crossed the line? +p1674 +aVHow much responsibility, Mr. Trump, do the senators hold? +p1675 +aVSenator Rubio... +p1676 +aVSenator Paul? +p1677 +aVI'd like to talk about winning because I think all of you are more qualified than former Secretary of State Clinton, and as were the people in the first debate, but there are different styles, and Carly Fiorina, Governor Kasich, you're conveniently located next to each other, and you have different styles. Governor Kasich, you've been on my show a lot. You refused to attack Hillary Clinton, you just don't want to go there, you want to do the up with people. Go, Ohio, OK, and I like that. Carly Fiorina, I don't have to bring up the Secretary of State \u2014 you bring her up, so . Which one of you is wrong? Governor Kasich? +p1678 +aVGovernor. +p1679 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1680 +aVCarly Fiorina, your style? +p1681 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Christie, your name was mentioned. I want to give you a chance to respond. +p1682 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1683 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. There is a lot more coming up. Ahead, a world of trouble. The challenges that one of these candidates may face in the Oval Office, and how he or she will handle it. Stay with us. +p1684 +aVOh, you're the best interview in America. +p1685 +aV... makes an interesting case (ph) here (ph). +p1686 +aVThank you, Jake. I've done a lot of great interviews with all of you, but, Governor Bush, I talked to you in February about the biggest elephant in a room full of elephants, which is your last name. And you said you would not be burdened either by your brother or your father's legacy in the Middle East. And then, a week later, you rolled out your list of foreign policy advisers, and it was a lot of the band getting back together again. So on behalf of the military that is watching... +p1687 +aV...OK, the active duty military that are at the end of the sphere (ph), what kind of a commander in chief is Jeb Bush going to be, and who are the advisers that are new to your team? +p1688 +aVMr. \u2014 Mr. Trump. +p1689 +aVI want to ask you a question, though, you promised us great leaders. And I believe that. But Jeb Bush has laid out 20 different people that have experience around the world. There are 190 countries, you can't run the world by yourself. When are we going to get some names on your military and your foreign policy advisers? +p1690 +aVThank you, Jake. Tomorrow is \u2014 Republicans know this \u2014 tomorrow is Constitution Day. We've been talking about the 10th Amendment. Let's talk about the Second Amendment. Governor Bush, one of the things the Supreme Court has gotten right is that it's an individual right and it's protected for individuals to hold it. Last week, you said the next step in gun issues is to make sure they're not in the hands of mentally ill. In this state, there's a controversial law that allows guns to be taken away from people without a hearing. Where does it go \u2014 and the problem of violence is endemic, but where does it go from what you said last week, how far into people's lives to take guns away from them? +p1691 +aVIf a family member calls and says, "My child, my brother, my sister is disturbed," ought the state be able to go and get their weapon without a hearing? +p1692 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1693 +aVSenator Cruz, I want to go to you. Your constitutional litigant (ph), are you afraid of the next- step theory of what happens to Second Amendment rights? +p1694 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1695 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1696 +aVThank you, senator. +p1697 +aVWait, let's pursue that in fact Governor Pataki? +p1698 +aVYou called for following and finding those Imams who are preaching violence in mosques. How exactly would you do that and what Mosques would you shut down? How extensive of a surveillance program are you proposing? +p1699 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1700 +aVGovernor Huckabee... ...As Governor Pataki noted earlier, we have a history of religious intoleration in this country. About the American Muslims who would be subject to this kind of surveillance, does it violate their First Amendment rights? +p1701 +aVSenator Santorum... ...I want to start then, not on the First Amendment, but on the Second Amendment. There is a terror watchlist. You can legally purchase a gun in the United States if you're on that watchlist. Your old colleague, Peter King in the House, wants to change that law. Do you agree with him? +p1702 +aVGovernor... +p1703 +aVGovernor, back to you. Your response? +p1704 +aVSenator Graham, are you trying to get in? +p1705 +aVThank you, Wolf. Governor Huckabee, ten minutes ago you blasted President Obama for destabilizing Iraq. You hit former Secretary of State Clinton for supporting the Muslim brotherhood in Egypt. But you have said recently you would sanction countries that don't join the fight aggressively against +p1706 +aVWhich country? +p1707 +aVWhich countries are those, governor, that you would sanction? +p1708 +aVThat's an easy, give. Are you going to sanction any of our allies who say, no this isn't our fight we're gonna let you do this. Are you going to leave our allies alone? For example, Indonesia and Malaysia \u2014 other Muslim countries \u2014 will you leave them alone? +p1709 +aVSenator Graham, I just named two Islamic countries... ...Senator Graham, I just named two Islamic countries that are allies that he suggested we sanction. Is that the appropriate approach to this war? +p1710 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you... +p1711 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you, the opposite of getting into bed is shooting down the prince's plane. Senator Santorum has \u2014 Senator Graham has said he would shoot down Russian planes bombing Syrian fighters on our side. Would you shoot down a Russian plane bombing American allied fighters in Syria? +p1712 +aVWhat \u2014 if they fly into it, would you shoot it down? +p1713 +aVThe consequences would be war with Russia. Would you risk... +p1714 +aVSenator Graham, do you agree? +p1715 +aVOK, we know you agree, Senator Graham. How about you, Governor Pataki, would you shoot down Russian planes? +p1716 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you... +p1717 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you, the opposite of getting into bed is shooting down the prince's plane. Senator Santorum has \u2014 Senator Graham has said he would shoot down Russian planes bombing Syrian fighters on our side. Would you shoot down a Russian plane bombing American allied fighters in Syria? +p1718 +aVWhat \u2014 if they fly into it, would you shoot it down? +p1719 +aVThe consequences would be war with Russia. Would you risk... +p1720 +aVSenator Graham, do you agree? +p1721 +aVOK, we know you agree, Senator Graham. How about you, Governor Pataki, would you shoot down Russian planes? +p1722 +aVSenator Graham, in 2013 you were part of the leadership that pushed through immigration reform, comprehensive immigration reform in the Senate of the United States. It died in the House. Many accused you of amnesty, and may have undermined your ability to get your message out on the war. Would you sign that bill again today? Would you \u2014 sponsor that bill again today? +p1723 +aVBut, Senator, I misunderstand, did you... +p1724 +aVSenator Santorum, is that sufficient for you? +p1725 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1726 +aVYep. Governor Huckabee, you have said that children of immigrants who came here illegally should not be punished by their parents actions. As president, would you continue President Obama's policy, vis-a-vis, the Dreamers? +p1727 +aVSenator... +p1728 +aVSenator Santorum, you... ...Your position on that policy, assuming that it was passed constitutionally, would you allow this, would you support such an act? +p1729 +asVJINDAL +p1730 +(lp1731 +V...Thank you. +p1732 +aVA couple of things. In Louisiana, we're actually a top 10 state for job growth. As we sit here today, we have more people working in Louisiana than ever before, earning a higher income than ever before. We've had 60 months in a row of consecutive job growth in our state. So the reality is, we have diversified our economy. Yes, I've got an interview plan that says all of the above, that creates good manufacturing jobs in America. We've also got one of the fastest growing IT sectors by percentage. We are growing Louisiana's economy. But let me get to the point that is, I think, the most important issue here tonight. You're going to have several hours of debate on the economy and we're going to have a great discussion about energy plans and tax rates. And that's all great. The most important thing we have to do, we have a fundamental choice to make, folks. Are we willing to cut the government economy so we can grow the American economy? That is the most fundamental question we've got to answer. We are on the path to socialism right now. These are mutually exclusive. The hour is late, but it is not too late for America. Though under President Obama, you asked about his economy. We've got record dependents, a record number of Americans on food stamps, record low participation rate in the work force. This is a fundamental choice. Sending a big government Republican to DC is not enough to fix this problem. It's not enough just to beat Hillary Clinton. We've got to change the direction of our country. What that means is let's shrink the government, not slow its growth rate, but actually shrink the government so we can grow the American economy. That is the fundamental issue we should be debating here tonight. +p1733 +aVNo, I think right now there's not much difference between the two parties. The reason we keep losing nationally is we try to be cheaper versions of the Democratic party. What if the Republicans, what if Republicans actually embraced our own principles? So I earlier said if you want bigger paychecks, you want more jobs, you want less government dependence, you're going to have to cut government spending. Here's the dirty little secret. You're going to hear a lot of Republicans tonight in this debate and the next one talk about cutting government spending. It's going to sound great. There's only one of us that's actually cut government spending. Not two, there's one, and you're looking at him. We've got four senators running. They've never cut anything in D.C. They give these long speeches called filibusters, they pat themselves on the back, nothing changes. When they go to relieve themselves their cause and the toilet get flushed at the same time, and the American people lose. We've got a bunch of governors running, we've got seven current former governors running. I'm the only one that has cut government spending. Everybody else can talk about it. If they haven't done it in their state capitals, what makes them thank that \u2014 what makes us think they'll do it if we send them to D.C. Look, when politicians talk, we need to look at what they have done, not what they have said. Otherwise, it's a bunch of hot air. We've cut our budget 26 percent. Record number of Louisianans working. If Republicans want to win national elections, let's be conservatives, let's be Republicans, let's not be a second version of the liberal party, let's cut government spending and grow the American economy. +p1734 +aVWait, wait, wait. I want to respond. He has criticized something I said. I want to respond to that. Mike, with all due respect, I admire your social views, I share many of those views, your record as Governor tells a different story. Was \u2014 your time as Governor spending in Arkansas went up 65 percent, number of state workers went up 20 percent, the taxes for the average citizen went up 47 percent. That's not a record of cutting. I'm saying we've actually cut. We reduced the size of our budget. So wanting to cut is one thing, actually cutting is a different thing. Facts don't lie. +p1735 +aVI was absolutely a skeptic of giving this president more power. He negotiated a bad deal with Iran. He breaks the law routinely. I don't know why Congress would want to concede more authority to him. Look, this trade deal is 6,000 pages long. Unlike ObamaCare, I think we should read it before we decide whether we would vote for it or not vote for it. I am for trade deals, but I want to make sure they are fair trade deals. I want to come back to something that Chris had said earlier. Look, I absolutely agree we've got to beat Hillary Clinton. But just sending any Republican is not good enough. We've had a Republican majority in the Senate and the House. What has changed? If we send another big government Republican to the White House, we will not do enough to fix what is wrong in this country. Chris, I think records matter. I think the way we govern matter. Under your leadership in New Jersey, your budget has gone up 15 percent. It's gone down 26 percent in Louisiana. It has gone up $5 million in New Jersey. It's gone down $9 billion in Louisiana. In New Jersey, you've had nine credit downgrades, setting a record. We've had eight credit upgrades in Louisiana. My point is this. If politicians say they're going to be conservative, they say they're going to cut spending but they don't do it, why should we send them to DC? It gets harder, not easier, when we send them to DC. Let's not be a second liberal party. Let's actually cut government spending. Let's grow the American economy. Let's not just beat Hillary, let's elect a conservative to the White House, not just any Republican. +p1736 +aVBut wait a minute, records matter. Records \u2014 records matter. Yes, we've got to... +p1737 +aV\u2014 beat Hillary Clinton. But Chris, it's also true that you expanded food stamps at a time that we've got record numbers of Americans on food stamps. It's also true you caved into ObamaCare. You expanded Medicaid. We've got a choice in front of us. This is an important debate. This is not about comparing Louisiana to New Jersey or Bobby to Chris. This is an important debate for the American people. This is supposed to be an economics debate. Let's have a debate. Do we want to grow government or do we want to grow the American economy? Do we want to grow dependence on government, or do we want to grow good paying jobs in the private sector... +p1738 +aV...you don't grow the economy by putting more people on food stamps, more people in Medicaid, you grow the economy by cutting government, cutting spending. That's what we've done in Louisiana, you haven't done that in New Jersey... +p1739 +aV...We need a conservative, not a big government republican in D.C. +p1740 +aV...This is how we.... +p1741 +aV...This is how we move our country forward, look, this is not about between me and Chris... +p1742 +aV...This is about......are we going to be the party... +p1743 +aVWell, look, only one other opponent, actually, one other candidate, actually, has a plan. That's Jeb Bush, and he creates a new entitlement program. My plan actually gets rid of all of Obamacare, it's great that Senator Cruz will shut down the government over Obamacare, but he still hasn't given us his plan to get rid of it. It's great that other republicans talk about getting rid of it. You go to a town hall in Iowa, or New Hampshire, ask them how they're actually going to get rid of it \u2014 my plan has been online for over a year. It gets rid of all of Obamacare, it reduces the cost. It actually puts Americans, their patients, their doctors back in control. And, it actually helps those that really need this help \u2014 but, this is one of the most critical issues we face domestically. I think I \u2014 look, right now, I think I am the only candidate running that refused to expand Medicaid. I'm the only one that turned down \u2014 that did what we could to fight Obamacare. This is an important point, and, look, I appreciate Chris's nice compliments to me. And, Chris, you look to me very well, I love Mary-pat, but this isn't about me and Chris. This is about the country, and this is about what direction \u2014 this is the most important election in our lifetimes. Folks, a couple of years ago they told us give them the republican majorities in the House and the Senate, they'd stop Obamacare, and amnesty, and the bad Iran deal \u2014 nothing changed. If they fooled us once, shame on them. If they fooled us twice, shame on us. Don't let them fool us again. Chris, look, I'll give you your ribbon for participation, and a juicebox, but in the real world, it's about results......but, in the real world it's about results. It's about actually cutting government spending, not just talking about cutting government spending. +p1744 +aVWe can waste our time. And I think this is why people were so frustrated with the last debate with these kinds of silly questions. We've only got a certain amount of time to talk about the economy. Let me use my time to say this. I want to fire everybody in D.C. in both parties. I think they all \u2014 we need term limits, get rid of them all, make them live under the same rules they passed on the rest of us. +p1745 +aVSo under our tax plan, look, the top rate is 25 percent, 10 percent, 2 percent. That 2 percent is the most important. I think everybody should pay something. I think everybody should have skin in the game. We shouldn't be creating one group of Americans that's dependent on government, another group that's paying taxes. I want to come back to an earlier point though, that Chris said. Look, we all agree Hillary Clinton is bad. We all agree we need to beat her. But let's not pretend that out-of-control government spending is only a Democratic issue. This is a bipartisan issue, and just sending another big government Republican to D.C. is not good enough. We need to actually cut government spending. We need to cut \u2014 and we're not going to do it just by sending any Republican. I'm glad he's vetoed taxes. The Tax Foundation graded New Jersey the 50th worst business climate due to taxes, high taxes in the state of New Jersey. +p1746 +aVWell, a couple of reasons. Look, we know big companies don't pay those taxes today. They hire lobbyists and accountants and lawyers. It's the small businesses that get hit. I want to get rid of the corporate tax, I want to bring the jobs and investment back to America. Make the CEOs pay the same rates as everybody else. Get rid of all the corporate welfare as well. Like I said, make everybody pay something, earned success is so much better than unearned success. And let's actually shrink the size of government. My plan purposely does that. Look, we can talk all night about tax plans, energy plans, I think you will find a lot of agreement among all the Republicans. We all want to get rid of the death tax, the marriage penalty. We all want lower, fewer brackets. We want to downsize, take away power from the IRS. What we really need to be talking about is this, these last seven years, we've had more government spending, more government dependence. Poverty has gone up. Inequality has gone up. Only the top 10 percent have seen their incomes go up \u2014 their median incomes go up. We actually have more inequality thanks to what we have seen, the largest most expensive experiment in progressive government. We can't keep spending money we don't have. And the reality is, the last couple of years it hasn't mattered whether Republicans or Democrats were in control. We keep stealing from our children. That is immoral. It is wrong. And we're creating more government dependence. If we really want to grow the economy, yes, you need a rational energy plan, and you've got to rein in the EPA, and you've got to repeal Obamacare, and you've got to cut taxes. But none of that will be enough if we're not serious about cutting government spending. We cannot afford to elect a big- government Republican. We need somebody. This is the most important election. Hillary Clinton is gift-wrapping this election to us. Let's not waste this opportunity to apply conservative principles and cut the size of government. +p1747 +aVWell, a couple things, first, I want to echo what others have said and thank those veterans that run towards danger, not away from it, so we can live in the greatest country in the history of the world. I think every veteran should get that card, and they should be allowed to get that health care wherever they want in the private sector. But, I also think \u2014 or the public sector, I also think we need to fire some of the V.A. bureaucrats. Somebody should go to jail over these scandals, and it is a crime that it has not happened. When it comes \u2014 when it comes to uniting the American people, one of the things we've done to honor our veterans in Louisiana, we've given thousands \u2014 and I've hand delivered these, to veterans \u2014 medals to veterans to thank them for their service. I'll just give you one quick example, I know my time is out, but, we've had Vietnam war veterans with tears in their eyes saying nobody has ever thanked them before. We've had World War II veterans, children, who said they never heard the stories of their parents heroic sacrifice. Whatever conflict, whenever they served, one of the things we can do is to teach our children we do live in the greatest country in the history of the world. We got a president who doesn't believe in American exceptionalism, but we still do, and it's because of those men and women in uniform. We should thank them everyday, not just veterans day. +p1748 +aVYou know, I have spent a lot of time tonight talking about the need to cut the size of government. The reason I'm doing that \u2014 it's not just about balancing the budget, or balancing a bunch of numbers. Because I believe in the American dream. I think President Obama's done a lot of damage to our country. I think that one of the worst things he has done is try to change the idea of America to be one of dependence. There are a lot of politicians that talk about cutting government spending, I'm the only one that's actually done it that's running for President. The rest of them, it's a lot of hot air. If you want your paychecks to go up, if you want more good paying jobs, if you want the government out of your lives, we've got to cut the size of government. It's not enough just to elect any republican, we've seen that. We've got to elect a republican that will take on the establishment in both parties. I'm asking for your support. Thank you. +p1749 +aVI think the reason voters are so frustrated is nothing seems to change in D.C. Look, over the next several hours, you're going to hear several Republicans all tell you they want to shrink the size of government and grow the American economy and it sounds great and we've got to do it. Here's the truth \u2014 of all these folks talking, I'm the only one that has cut the size of government. There's not two of us, there's one of us. The rest of it is all just hot air. When politicians talk, we need to pay attention to what they do, not what they say. I'm the only one that's reduced the size of government. Let's shrink the government economy. Let's grow the American economy. +p1750 +aVWell, look, I think that's a false choice. I think this is a very bad deal. Whenever they tell us in D.C. they're going to cut tomorrow, that means they're never going to cut. Tomorrow never seems to happen. Instead, why don't we actually follow our conservative principles? Why not insist on structural reforms? Why not cut spending? I don't mean strength (ph) the growth rate, I mean, actually spend less. Why not a balanced budget in the amendment \u2014 an amendment to the Constitution? Why not a super-majority vote before they grow our taxes, before they grow the government faster than the economy? Let's be honest, $18 trillion dollars of debt. Record low participation rate in the workforce, record number of Americans on food stamps. We are going the way of Europe. The left is trying to turn the American Dream into the European Nightmare. If you're a Republican... +p1751 +aV... willing to stand up and fight... +p1752 +aVI think that's a false choice. If I were \u2014 I were to lead, we would pass a conservative budget, challenge the President to do the right thing. And, here's the problem, the Republicans never want to fight. Give Pelosi and Reed credit, they forced Obamacare and socialism down our throats, why won't the Republicans fight half as hard for freedom and opportunity. This was a bad budget. +p1753 +aVAbsolutely, Jhon. And what we did is we cut state spending. We've cut our budget 26 percent, according to Cato and other analysis, the only candidate that's actually reduced government spending. Look, the left always complains there's not enough money for government. We have 30,000 fewer state employees than the day I took office, eight credit upgrades, we're a top 10 state for private sector job creation. We've got a choice. You grow the government economy or the American economy. When I became governor, we had 25 years in a row of outmigration. We were coming back from Katrina. The question many were asking, will Louisiana rebuild, should Louisiana rebuild? Seven years in a row, more people moving into the state than were leaving the state. We now have more people working than ever before, erg a higher income than ever before. Yes, we've reduced the size of government. That's exactly what we need to do in DC. In DC, the Republicans slowed the growth rate, they claimed victory. That's not enough. Let's be honest with where we are today. We are running off of a cliff. Look, we'll be the next Greece and we can talk and we can rearrange the chairs. Over over $18 trillion of debt, no wonder our economy has been stagnant. We haven't had real growth. If you're a young student here, you've not seen a robust American economy. +p1754 +aVWell, Jhon, a couple of things. Not only did we not raise taxes, we did the largest income tax cut in the state's history. And I'm proud of that record. I think that's the kind of leadership voters want in DC. Look, if you want a Republican that's going go grow government spending, if you want a \u2014 a president or if you want a candidate who's going to income taxes, I'm not your guy. If you want somebody that's going to do and say the things that can't be said, can't be done, I'm asking a vote for me to join my cause. That's how dangerous these times are. This is \u2014 this is a \u2014 this is \u2014 these are dangerous times for America. I think we have a chance to rescue the idea of America, but if we don't do it now, four years will be too late from now. So, yes, I'm proud we cut taxes, we cut spending, 30,000 fewer state government bureaucrats than the day I took office. I absolutely will do that in DC. +p1755 +aVThank you. +p1756 +aVAbsolutely, John. I'd go further. My tax plan, like everybody's, like a lot of Republicans' \u2014 look, I'd get rid of the death penalty and the marriage penalty, and I'd simplify the brackets to 25 percent, 10 percent, 2 percent, so that an average middle-class family \u2014 a teacher marries a law enforcement official (ph)... +p1757 +aV...I \u2014 I'm gonna get that. Pays 25 percent today, would pay 10 percent under my plan. But my plan does three things different from other people's plans. One \u2014 remember, I said 2 percent. I think everybody should pay something, even if it's only 2 percent. That's the most important 2 percent in my plan. I know a lot of Republicans brag \u2014 y'all can clap, it doesn't scare me. Go ahead. I heard some people. There are millions of \u2014 there are millions of folks that wouldn't pay taxes in Jeb's plan and Trump's plan. I think that's a mistake. In terms of the corporate tax, secondly, I'd get rid of the corporate tax. We do have the highest corporate tax rate in the developed world. I'd get rid of it. I'd get rid of all the corporate welfare. Make the CEOs pay their same tax rates the way the rest of us do. And third, I'd purposely shrink the size of government. You know, that is a \u2014 that is an intentional feature of my plan. We've got a choice: do we grow government \u2014 the government economy, or the American economy? So I say get rid of the corporate tax, bring those jobs and investment here to the United States, stop sending jobs and investment overseas. +p1758 +aVLook, I think the government should work to change that, but that doesn't \u2014 does not mean I'm for the government mandating that. We already have too many government mandates out of DC. Do I want people to have paid leave? Sure. Do I want people to earn higher wages? Sure. Do I want them to have better benefits? Sure. The government can't wave a magic wand and make that happen. Here's the problem. The last seven years, President Obama has tried to teach the American people that government is the answer to all of our problems. Where has that gotten us? We're on a path toward socialism. The way that folks can get better paying jobs with better benefits is if we have a growing economy. That means to repeal all of ObamaCare, a lower flatter tax code. That means that we have an energy plan that makes sense. That means that we embrace an all of the above approach to energy. Those are good paying jobs \u2014 $50,000, $70,000, $90,000 a year jobs with benefits. But this president won't let us produce more energy on our domestic federal lands and waters. He won't allow the Canadians to build the Keystone Pipeline. He's got an EPA that's doing everything they can to kill private sector jobs in America. So, yes, I want families to have better paying jobs and better benefits, but we're not going to get that with a government mandate, we're going to get that with a growing economy. +p1759 +aVA couple things. You're talking about payroll taxes that fund programs. People pay for their Medicare, they pay for their Social Security. I want every American to worry and care about how those folks in D.C. are spending our money. If $18 trillion of debt \u2014 they're misspending our money. Earned success is so much more fulfilling than unearned success. I don't want us to continue to create one class of Americans that pays income taxes, that pays for government, another class of Americans that's growing more and more dependent on government. That's what we have today. Socialism is bad, not only for taxpayers, but people that they say they're trying to help. There's dignity in work, dignity in self-sufficiency. I wanna quote you a president. Our previous president said this: he said, "the problem is, is that tax rates are too high, government income revenues are too low." He said, "paradoxically, lowering tax rates now is the best way to produce higher government revenues later." No, that wasn't President Reagan, as many are probably guessing at home. That was President Kennedy. I see you know the answer. That was President Kennedy. Imagine if he were alive today \u2014 and if he was at that last Democratic debate, imagine if you tried to say that in a party that's veering towards socialism. That wouldn't be welcome in today's Democratic party. +p1760 +aVWell, thank you. Look, if Senator Santorum wants to concede the tax cut wing of the Republican Party, I'm happy to fight for that side of the Republican Party. He's exactly right. I explicitly want to shrink the size of government; 22 percent over 10 years is not too much. We cut our state budget 26 percent in eight years. This is a fundamental choice. We mustn't become a cheaper version of the Democratic Party, a second liberal party. We need to proudly say we're willing to cut taxes, shrink government, grow the American economy. President Kennedy said it to the Democratic Party. Why can't we say it in the Republican Party in 2015, let's cut taxes. +p1761 +aVJohn, our budget is balanced. We balanced our budget every year for eight years. Yeah, we've had to cut spending. You know what? We privatized or closed nine of our 10 charity hospitals. We did statewide school choice; $1.6 billion (ph) budget cut. You're quoting an old number from the beginning of the year. We closed that gap. What they talk about, just like D.C., government's the only place where you give them less money than they wanted, they count it as a cut. They take last year's budget. They add inflation. They call it a baseline. We need to do zero-based budgets. We need to say just because you got money last year, you don't have it this year. Let me close, though. We balanced our budget. We didn't raise taxes. In eight years, we never raised taxes. We cut taxes. Our \u2014 our taxpayers, our families have been better off for it. +p1762 +aV absolutely they should be accountable. They should be accountable to their students through the market. Look, you either trust the American people to make their own choices or you don't. I know the Left thinks we need to be protected from ourselves. President Obama is trying to limit competition to the higher education market. As a result, you're going to see tuition prices continue to go up. We've had $1 trillion of student debt and counting. And he wants to exempt certain schools from the same oversight he wants to apply only to the for-profit market. For some reason, the private sector is a bad word to this president. It's not in the real world. In Louisiana, we fought so that the dollars follow the child and so the child following the dollar. What that means, from K-12, what that means is that parents and their families can decide what's the best way for their children to be educated. Higher education, we have a +p1763 +aVI was just saying to my colleagues, I may be the last person in this audience without an iPhone. I'm actually one of the last folks \u2014 I still have a BlackBerry in my pocket. And I basically use it for scheduling. I use it to keep up when my wife is here and my three kids at home. The only games on that phone are Bricklayer. I use it to keep up with the news through the Internet. I may be the last American out there without an iPhone. +p1764 +aVMy apologies. +p1765 +aVWell, absolutely, when the Saints go back to repeat, we were talking about beer sales earlier, all those folks from being hung over in Louisiana from drinking to celebrate Drew Brees winning this, I think it would be a great day to take off. No, look, on a serious note, I do want to say this about the Super Bowl and our athletes. They can be great role models for our children and I'm obviously a Saints fan. Drew Brees and his wife great role models, great Christians. So, yes, it should be a holiday. +p1766 +aVMy message is to conservatives, this is our hour. Thanks to the insanity, the incompetence of the Democratic party, the American people are ready to turn our government over to us. It's not enough to let just any Republican, however. The reality is the idea of America is slipping away. As Christians, we believe that the tomb is empty. As Americans, we believe that our best days are always ahead of us, and they can be again. We must win this election. We cannot allow Hillary Clinton to take us down this path towards socialism \u2014 further down this path. I've got the courage to apply our conservative principles. I can't do it alone. With your help, with God's grace, we can save the idea of America before it's too late. +p1767 +asVWALLACE +p1768 +(lp1769 +VAlso of note, Fox News is partnering for tonight's debate with Facebook. For the past several weeks, we've been asking you for questions for the candidates on Facebook. Nearly 6 million of you, 6 million, viewed the debate videos on our site, and more than 40,000 of you submitted questions: some of which you will hear us asking the candidates tonight. +p1770 +aVKentucky Senator Rand Paul. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. And your very own governor of Ohio... ... John Kasich. +p1771 +aVBrett -- Brett, I think you would call that a home field advantage. +p1772 +aVSenator Rubio, when Jeb Bush announced his candidacy for presidency, he said this: "There's no passing off responsibility when you're a governor, no blending into the legislative crowd." Could you please address Governor Bush across the stage here, and explain to him why you, someone who has never held executive office, are better prepared to be president than he is, a man who you say did a great job running your state of Florida for eight years. +p1773 +aVSenator Cruz, your colleague, Senator Paul, right there next to you, said a few months ago he agrees with you on a number of issues, but he says you do nothing to grow the party. He says you feed red meat to the base, but you don't reach out to minorities. You have a toxic relationship with GOP leaders in Congress. You even called the Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell a liar recently. How can you win in 2016 when you're such a divisive figure? +p1774 +aVGovernor Huckabee, like Governor Walker, you have staked out strong positions on social issues. You favor a constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage. You favor a constitutional amendment banning abortions, except for the life of the mother. Millions of people in this country agree with you, but according to the polls, and again this an electability question, according to the polls, more people don't, so how do you persuade enough Independents and Democrats to get elected in 2016? +p1775 +aVGentlemen, we're turning to a new subject that all of you have been talking about and some of you have been disagreeing about, and that is the issue of immigration. Governor Bush, you released a new plan this week on illegal immigration focusing on enforcement, which some suggest is your effort to show that you're not soft on that issue. I want to ask you about a statement that you made last year about illegal immigrants. And here's what you said. "They broke the law, but it's not a felony, it's an act of love. It's an act of commitment to your family." Do you stand by that statement and do you stand by your support for earned legal status? +p1776 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, it has not escaped anybody's notice that you say that the Mexican government, the Mexican government is sending criminals -- rapists, drug dealers, across the border. Governor Bush has called those remarks, quote, "extraordinarily ugly." I'd like you -- you're right next to him -- tell us -- talk to him directly and say how you respond to that and -- and you have repeatedly said that you have evidence that the Mexican government is doing this, but you have evidence you have refused or declined to share. Why not use this first Republican presidential debate to share your proof with the American people? +p1777 +aVMr. Trump, I'll give you 30 seconds -- I'll give you 30 seconds to answer my question, which was, what evidence do you have, specific evidence that the Mexican government is sending criminals across the border? Thirty seconds. +p1778 +aVAll right. Obviously there's a lot more to talk about this. We're going to have more questions for the candidates on illegal immigration, plus other key topics including your questions on Facebook. +p1779 +aVWelcome back to FOX News/Facebook Republican Debate Night. We're going to continue the questions now on illegal immigration. We kind of ended with a cliffhanger there. So let's continue the conversation. Governor Kasich, I know you don't like to talk about Donald Trump. But I do want to ask you about the merit of what he just said. When you say that the American government is stupid, that the Mexican government is sending criminals, that we're being bamboozled, is that an adequate response to the question of illegal immigration? +p1780 +aVRespectfully, can we talk about illegal immigration? +p1781 +aVAll right, well, Senator Rubio, let me see if I can do better with you. Is it as simple as our leaders are stupid, their leaders are smart, and all of these illegals coming over are criminals? +p1782 +aVGovernor Walker. Governor Walker, from 2002 until as recently as 2013, just two years ago, you supported comprehensive immigration reform, including a path to citizenship. Now you say that was a quick reaction to something you hadn't really thought about, and that you've changed your mind. Other than politics, could you explain why in the last two years you've changed your position on a path to citizenship, and are there other past positions that we shouldn't hold you to? +p1783 +aVSenator Cruz, some 1,400 people submitted questions on this very hot topic of illegal immigration on Facebook, and a number of them were about the murder of Kate Steinle in San Francisco, allegedly shot down by an illegal. Doug Bettencourt sent this question, "will you support Kate Steinle's Law," which would impose a mandatory five-year prison term for an illegal who is deported and then returns to this country? "And will you defund sanctuary cities for violating federal law?" +p1784 +aVGentlemen, we're obviously digging into some subjects in depth, but we're also going to change it up every once in a while throughout the next hour and have many rounds where we ask, you are not going to like it, only a couple of candidates questions on those subjects. This is the first of the many rounds, and it's about somebody whose name probably hasn't been mentioned enough so far tonight. Governor Kasich, let me start with you. Whoever the Republican nominee -- Whoever the Republican nominee is, it looks at least for now like whoever that nominee is, he or she, will be facing off against Hillary Clinton. You know how she will come after whoever the Republican nominee is. She will say that you, whoever it is, support the rich while she supports the middle class. That you want to suppress the rights of women and minorities. She wants to move the country forward while you, the Republicans, want to take the country back to the past. How will you, if you're the nominee, how will you answer that and take Hillary Clinton on? +p1785 +aVI know that all of you would like to answer this question, but we're only going to ask one other candidate before we move on to a different subject, Dr. Carson. Basically, same question to you. If Hillary Clinton is the nominee and she comes at you with that kind of line of attack, how will you take Iraq? +p1786 +aVGentlemen, we're going to turn now to the subject of the economy, jobs and money and the government. And Governor Bush, I'm going to start with you. You have made a bold promise in your announcement. You have promised four percent economic growth and 19 million new jobs if you are fortunate enough to serve two terms as president. That many jobs, 19 million, would be triple what your father and your brother accomplished together. And four percent growth, the last president to average that was Lyndon Johnson during the height of the Vietnam War. So question, how on Earth specifically would you pull that off? +p1787 +aVGovernor Walker. Governor Walker, when you ran for governor of Wisconsin back in 2010, you promised that you would create 250,000 jobs in your first term, first four years. In fact, Wisconsin added barely half that and ranked 35th in the country in job growth. Now you're running for president, and you're promising an economic plan in which everyone will earn a piece of the American dream. Given your record in Wisconsin, why should voters believe you? +p1788 +aVGovernor Christie, I want to engage you and Governor Huckabee in a subject that is a big issue in both of your campaigns, and that is entitlement reform. You say that you -- to save the system that you want to raise the retirement age -- have to raise the retirement age, and to cut benefits for Social Security and Medicare, and you say that some of the candidates here on the stage are lying. Governor Huckabee says he can save Social Security and Medicare without doing any of that. Is he lying? +p1789 +aVGovernor Huckabee? You say that changing entitlements, the kind of thing that Governor Christie is talking about, would be breaking a promise to the American people, and you say that you can keep those programs, save Social Security, save Medicare, without those kinds of reforms through a FairTax, which is a broad tax on consumption. Please explain to Governor Christie how that would work, and how you could save these programs without the kind of painful reforms he says we need? +p1790 +aV...Thirty seconds. +p1791 +aV...Alright, this is it. Thirty Seconds, finally. +p1792 +aVAll right. Enough. Mr. Trump. +p1793 +aVMr. Trump, you talk a lot about how you are the person on this stage to grow the economy, I want to ask you about your business records. From corporations, Trump corporations, casinos and hotels, have declared bankruptcy four times over the last quarter-century. +p1794 +aVNo, but the concept sir... +p1795 +aV... that's your line, but your companies have gone bankrupt. +p1796 +aVWell sir, let's just talk about the latest example......which is Trump Entertainment Resorts, which went bankrupt in 2009. In that case alone, lenders to your company lost over $1 billion and more than 1,100 people were laid off. +p1797 +aVIs that the way that you'd run the country? +p1798 +aVSo... +p1799 +aVSenator Rubio. Senator Rubio, more than 3,000 people sent us questions about the economy and jobs on Facebook. And here is a video question from Tania Cioloko from Philadelphia. Here she is. +p1800 +aVSenator, how do you answer Tania? +p1801 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. +p1802 +aVSenator Paul, closing statement. +p1803 +aVDr. Carson, closing statement. +p1804 +aVGovernor Bush, closing statement, sir. +p1805 +asVSMITH +p1806 +(lp1807 +VGovernor Huckabee, same question to you. Where do you see the country right now? +p1808 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Thank you, candidates. Moving to the world stage. The middle east is on the brink of chaos. Iran continues to provoke the United States, North Korea claims it's tested a hydrogen bomb, and Afghanistan is in danger of falling back into Taliban hands. Critics of the administration say it's all due to lack of U.S. leadership. To you, Mrs. Fiorina, how do you see America's role in the world today? +p1809 +aVGovernor Huckabee, in Afghanistan, the Taliban is strengthening. Attacks are on the rise and thousands more civilians have been wounded or killed. Much of the Taliban surge can be attributed to the withdrawal of U.S. forces there. You have expressed skepticism with the war there, saying you see no end game in sight. What, then, is your solution to the growing conflict there? +p1810 +aVAll right, thank you, candidates. We're just getting started. Jobs, Homeland Security, gun rights, all those issues are coming up straight ahead. We're live from North Charleston and the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back. +p1811 +aVAll right, let's get started. Senator Santorum, to you first. President Obama has urged technology leaders to make it hard for terrorists to use technology to escape from justice. Hillary Clinton says social media companies can help by swiftly shutting down terrorist accounts. The companies say that they're already working with law enforcement and any proposed legislation would do more harm than good. Should companies like Facebook and Twitter be required by law to more actively \u2014 be more actively engaged in fighting terror? +p1812 +aVSenator, would you \u2014 would you require anything of those companies like Facebook and Twitter if you were president? +p1813 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1814 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee, you called President Obama's executive orders on gun control unconstitutional and completely insane. +p1815 +aVYou even told gun store owners to ignore the President's orders. Yet, innocent people are dying from gun violence in cities like Detroit, Chicago, and Charleston everyday. Is there anything that can be done at the federal level to prevent guns from falling into the hands of criminals? +p1816 +aV +p1817 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p1818 +aVSenator Santorum, many of our military leaders believe America's critical infrastructure is vulnerable to a terrorist attack. This is the power in our homes, the water we drink, the Internet and phone systems by which we stay connected. If attacked, these essential services that underpin American society could come to a grinding halt. Do you have a specific plan to protect us from this type of attack? +p1819 +aVSenator Santorum, I want to stay with you on this, moving to jobs and the economy. In his State of the Union Address the other night, President Obama touted his record on jobs, citing more than 14 million new jobs and boasted of nearly 900,000 manufacturing jobs added in the past six years. Do you dispute his track record of creating jobs? +p1820 +aVGovernor Huckabee, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mike Mullen, has said the greatest threat to our security is our national debt. Our national debt is now on pace to top $19 trillion. Yet, you as well as Ms. Fiorina have laid forward no plan to reform entitlements. How can you say you're going to pay down our country's debt without cutting Social Security or Medicare? +p1821 +aVOK. We're going to continue this conversation. We're taking a quick break and then coming up, the candidates' plans for strengthening the middle class. We're live in North Charleston with the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back. +p1822 +aVAll right, thanks, Trish. Well, let's get started with Ms. Fiorina. Today, the middle class represents about 50 percent of the U.S. population, down from about 61 percent back in 1971. That's according to Pew Research. The same research revealed a widening income gap in America. The rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. What will you do to strengthen a middle class that is no longer the majority? +p1823 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p1824 +aVThank you, Senator. We're not finished yet. More Republican Presidential Debate in North Charleston after this. +p1825 +aVWelcome back, it's time for the closing statements. Candidates will each get one minute, starting with Senator Santorum. Thank you very much, I want to thank the people of Charleston, which has become a little bit of a second home to me, because I am very privileged to have two young men who go to the Citadel here and they're here tonight, my son John and my son Daniel. +p1826 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Governor Mike Huckabee. +p1827 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1828 +aVAlright, this debate will last one hour. Each candidate will have up to 90 seconds to respond to each question. One minute for each follow up. When your time is up, you're going to hear this bell. Alright, that's it, so let's begin with Governor Christie. Governor, economically, our country is struggling with some of the anemic growth we have seen on record. More than 90 million Americans are unemployed, or they are not in the workforce altogether. The number of people now willing, able, and wanting to go to work is at a level that has fallen to a level we have not been since the 1970's. For those that are working, wages aren't budging while other things, costs, like housing, remain high. As President, what concrete steps will you take to get America back to work. +p1829 +aVThank you. Governor Huckabee, we're here Wisconsin, a state that has seen the biggest decline in middle-class households of any American state. With more than 120,000 manufacturing jobs being lost in the last 15 years. As we move away from a manufacturing economy to a services based, technological economy, how are you going to help the millions of Americans that are stuck in this transition? +p1830 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee, you have characterized entitlement reform as both political and economic suicide. Taxpayers currently spend more than $600 billion per year on social welfare programs, with the intended goal of getting people back on their feet and working again. Today a record number of Americans aren't even looking for work. Are our social welfare programs, while well-intended, creating a culture of dependency? If so, how will you fix it? +p1831 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1832 +aVDo you have something to add, Governor? +p1833 +aVAll right. Let's, let's bring Governor Christie in next. +p1834 +aVAll right. Well, let's get the \u2014 let's keep the conversation going. Let's bring Governor Christie in here because we're talking about national debt, climbing toward $19 trillion, Governor. Our federal government employed nearly three million workers, our tax code is more than 74,000 pages long. If you're elected President, Governor Christie, what concrete steps would you take to reduce the size of the federal government? +p1835 +aVGovernor Christie, China is stealing our technology. China is pirating our intellectual property, and China's hacking into our computers, spying on American corporations, and spying on our citizens. China also slaps tariffs on U.S. goods, making it harder for us to sell our products. How are you going to stop them? +p1836 +aV...Alright... +p1837 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p1838 +aVAll right. Governor Jindal, thank you. All right. Well, we are not finished yet. More from the Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee, next. +p1839 +aVSo would you change leadership at the Fed? +p1840 +aVSenator Santorum, thank you. I have a question for all of you. Americans connection to the military has been increasingly fading. As a society, how do we restore that sense of duty, that sense of pride, that was the hallmark of the greatest generation. Again, I'd like to ask each of you, 30 seconds each, beginning with Governor Jindal. +p1841 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p1842 +aVGovernor Christie. +p1843 +aVSenator Santorum. +p1844 +aVAlright, thank you gentlemen. That does it, everyone, for the first debate here in Milwaukee. In just about one hour from now, at 9:00PM Eastern, eight more candidates are going to be taking to the stage. Right now though, special coverage of the Republican Presidential Debate, live from Milwaukee, continues right here on Fox Business. +p1845 +asVBAKER +p1846 +(lp1847 +VThe candidates on stage tonight were selected based on their standing in an average of four national polls. Those standings determining their position on the stage. And here they are. At center stage, businessman Donald Trump. Neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson. +p1848 +aVTonight's rules are simple. Up to 90 second for each answer. One minute for each follow-up response. And if a candidate goes over their allotted time, you'll here this. +p1849 +aVMs. Fiorina, while you've all pointed out how weak the current recovery has been and how disappointing by any historical standards, in the general election, the Democrats will inevitably ask you and voters to compare the recent president's jobs performance. Now, in seven years under President Obama, the U.S. has added an average of 107,000 jobs a month. Under President Clinton, the economy added about 240,000 jobs a month. Under George W. Bush, it was only 13,000 a month. If you win the nomination, you'll probably be facing a Democrat named Clinton. How are you going to respond to the claim that Democratic presidents are better at creating jobs than Republicans? +p1850 +aVThank you. Thank you. Senator Paul, income inequality has been rising in the United States. Fifty years ago, for example, the average CEO of a big corporation in this country earned 20 times the average salary of one of his or her workers. Today, that CEO earns about 300 times the average salary of a worker. Does it matter at all that the gap between the rich and everyone else is widening? +p1851 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1852 +aVSenator Rubio... +p1853 +aVYes, one quick comment, yes. +p1854 +aVGovernor Bush... +p1855 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor, you...You should let Jeb speak. +p1856 +aVMr. Trump, Mr. Trump, you yourself \u2014 you yourself said let Governor Bush speak. Governor Bush? +p1857 +aVSenator Rubio? Senator... +p1858 +aVSenator Rubio, Senator Rubio, let me \u2014 let me take you to a question that I think gets to the root of a lot of the anxiety that people have in this country. The economy is undergoing a transformation through information technology. Americans are anxious that the new economy isn't producing higher-paying jobs. Many are concerned that the new wealth seems to be going mainly to innovators and investors. Meanwhile, with factories run by robots and shopping done increasingly on smartphones, many traditional jobs are just going away. How do you reassure American workers that their jobs are not being steadily replaced by machines? +p1859 +aVThank you. Senator Cruz \u2014 Senator Cruz, entitlements. You've argued for raising the retirement age and reducing benefits for future retirees, but reducing any sort of benefits for the elderly has always been notoriously hard to do politically. When Speaker Paul Ryan proposed replacing traditional Medicare with federally funded private plans a few years ago, a liberal group responded with a commercial that featured a granny being pushed off a cliff. What's going to be different this time? +p1860 +aV...I said for future retirees was your statement... +p1861 +aVSenator Rubio. Can I just come to Senator Rubio? We're coming to you, Mr. Trump, in one second. I \u2014 I promise. +p1862 +aVSenator Rubio, your tax plan includes a large expansion of child tax credits to raise off (ph) the tax incomes for low-income parents. A similar tax credit that you previously proposed in the Senate was estimated to cost as much as $170 billion a year, according to the Tax Foundation. Isn't \u2014 isn't there a risk you're just adding another expensive entitle program to an already overburdened federal budget? +p1863 +aVGovernor Kasich? Let me come to Governor Kasich. +p1864 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1865 +aVVery quickly, Senator. +p1866 +aVPlease. +p1867 +aV...Gentleman, we need to move on... +p1868 +aV...We need to move... +p1869 +aV...We need too... +p1870 +aV...We do need to move on. Mr. Trump... +p1871 +aV...Very quick. +p1872 +aVLet's talk about \u2014 No, no, Governor, I really must move on. I really want to move on. Mr. Trump, let's talk about the international economy... +p1873 +aV...We really need to move on... +p1874 +aV...No, governor, I promise I will come to you... +p1875 +aV...Listen... +p1876 +aV...Mr. Trump, can I ask you about... +p1877 +aV...the U.S. just concluded an international trade agreement with 11 countries in the Pacific. You've said that you'd rather have no deal... +p1878 +aV...than sign the one that's on the table... +p1879 +aV...Most economists \u2014 most economists say that trade is boosted growth, and every single post war president has supported the expansion of international trade, including the last three republican presidents. Why would you reverse more than 50 years of U.S. trade policy? +p1880 +aVThe \u2014 the deal, as you say, the terms of the deal were published \u2014 were published just last week, the details, 5,000 pages of it, and 80 percent of U.S. trade with countries in the Pacific, these countries, these 11 countries, is actually tariff-free, and these \u2014 the trade deal only affects the other 20 percent. Which \u2014 are there particular parts of the deal that you think were badly negotiated? +p1881 +aVThere was a separate \u2014 separate... +p1882 +aVBut isn't that \u2014 isn't that part of the problem? When I say, Senator, that if \u2014 if this deal is not ratified by \u2014 by the U.S. \u2014 by the Senate, then it would actually give China an opportunity to grow its economic leadership, which it's been seeking to do? And if the U.S. is unable to take part in this trade deal with these countries in Asia, China will take the lead? +p1883 +aVThank you. Thanks, Senator. +p1884 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich, I want to ask you about China, in particular hundreds of American companies have been subjected to cyber attacks from the Chinese military, yet state-backed Chinese companies, growing their presence in the United States, Chinese investments in U.S., which were nearly nonexistent a few years ago, are now over $50 billion. And as my newspaper recently reported, Chinese companies are planning to bid for one of the largest hotel chains in the United States, what would be the largest ever Chinese takeover of a U.S. company. Would you stop them? +p1885 +aVThank you, Governor. Plenty of opportunities. Thank you. Neil? +p1886 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate, live from Milwaukee. Now let's get straight back to the questions, and Governor Bush. Governor, Hillary Clinton recently said that if we had another financial crisis like the one in 2008, she wouldn't bail out the banks. Would you? +p1887 +aVBut, Governor, but can I just quickly \u2014 did \u2014 you can't seriously guarantee that there won't be another financial crisis, can you? +p1888 +aVEver? There will never be another financial crisis? +p1889 +aVDr. Carson, if I may, just on that point, despite measures taken, as the governor says, since the crisis to make the financial system safer, the major banks in the U.S., many of them are actually bigger than ever. Asset held by JPMorgan Chase, for example, the very largest bank, have increased by nearly 40 percent to over $2.6 trillion. Do you think JPMorgan and the other big banks should be broken up? +p1890 +aVBut just to be clear, just \u2014 just to be clear, then, you wouldn't \u2014 you wouldn't favor breaking up the big banks? You think they're big enough \u2014 they're OK as they are, as big as they are? +p1891 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1892 +aVThank you. +p1893 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate. And now, candidates, it's time for your closing statements. You get 30 seconds each, and, Senator Paul, we will begin with you. +p1894 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p1895 +asVHOLT +p1896 +(lp1897 +VGood evening and welcome to the NBC News Youtube Democratic candidate's debate. After all the campaigning, soon, Americans will have their say with the first votes of the 2016 campaign just 15 days away in Iowa. And New Hampshire not far behind. Tonight will be the final opportunity to see these candidates face to face before the voting begins. Our purpose here tonight is to highlight and examine the differences among the three Democratic candidates. So let's get started. Please welcome Secretary Hillary Clinton, Senator Bernie Sanders and Governor Martin O'Malley. Well, welcome to all of you. Hope you're excited, we're excited. We want to thank our hosts, the Congressional Black Caucus Institute. I'm joined by my colleague Andrea Mitchell tonight. The rules are simple. Sixty seconds for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups or rebuttals. I know you'll all keep exactly to time, so our job should be pretty easy here tonight. We'll have questions from the Youtube community throughout the debate. This is a critical point in the race. You've been defining your differences with each other especially vigorously in the last week on the campaign trail. We're here to facilitate this conversation on behalf of the voters so that they know exactly where you stand as you face off tonight. Let's have a great debate. We'll begin with 45 second opening statements from each candidate, starting with Secretary Clinton. +p1898 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders, your opening statement, sir. +p1899 +aVSenator, thank you. And Governor O'Malley, your opening statement, sir. O' +p1900 +aVAll right. And Governor, thank you. All right, to our first question, now. The first question, I'll be addressing to all of the candidates. President Obama came to office determined to swing for the fences on health care reform. Voters want to know how you would define your presidency? How would you think big? So complete this sentence: in my first 100 days in office, my top three priorities will be \u2014 fill in the blank. Senator Sanders. +p1901 +aVSecretary Clinton, same question, my first 100 days in office, my top three priorities will be. +p1902 +aVGovernor O'Malley, same question. O' +p1903 +aVThank you. You've all... O' +p1904 +aVAll right governor thank you. We've all laid out large visions and we're going to cover a lot of the ground you talked about as we continue in the evening. The last couple of weeks of this campaign have featured some of the sharpest exchanges in the race. Let's start with one of them, the issue of guns. Senator Sanders, last week Secretary Clinton called you quote, "a pretty reliable vote for the gun lobby." Right before the debate you changed your position on immunity from lawsuits for gun manufacturers, can you tell us why? +p1905 +aVSenator, but you didn't answer the question that you did change your position on immunity from gun manufacturers. So can you... +p1906 +aVSecretary Clinton, would you like to respond to Senator Sanders. +p1907 +aVAll right, Governor O'Malley, you signed tough gun control measures as governor of Maryland and there are a lot Democrats in the audience here in South Carolina who own guns. This conversation might be worrying many of them. They may be hearing, "you want to take my guns. What would you say to them? O' +p1908 +aVAlright, Governor, thank you. Secretary Clinton, this is a community that has suffered a lot of heartache in the last year. Of course, as you mentioned, the church shootings. We won't forget the video of Walter Scott being shot in the back while running from police. We understand that a jury will decide whether that police officer was justified, but it plays straight to the fears of many African American men that their lives are cheap. Is that perception, or in your view, is it reality? +p1909 +aVYou time is up. Senator Sanders, my next question is... +p1910 +aV... It's actually \u2014 actually my next question is to you... +p1911 +aVSenator Sanders... +p1912 +aVSenator. Senator Sanders... +p1913 +aV... Just over a week ago the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus endorsed Secretary Clinton, not you. He said that choosing her over you was not a hard decision. In fact, our polling shows she's beating you more than two to one among minority voters. How can you be the nominee if you don't have that support? +p1914 +aVGovernor, I'm going to come to you in a second. Google searches for the words, "Black Lives Matter" surpassed, "civil rights movement". And, here in South Carolina, "black lives matter" was the number one trending political issue. +p1915 +aVAll right. Let's talk... O' +p1916 +aVLet's talk more about policing and the criminal justice system. Senator Sanders, a few times tonight we're going to hear from some of the most prominent voices on YouTube, starting with Franchesca Ramsey, who tackles racial stereotypes through her videos. Let's watch. +p1917 +aVSenator Sanders. +p1918 +aVWould you like me to read it back to you? +p1919 +aVProsecutors \u2014 "I believe there's a huge conflict of interest when local prosecutors investigate cases of police violence within their communities. Most recently, we saw this with a non- indictment of the officers involved in the case of 12-year-old Tamir Rice. How would you presidency ensure incidents of police violence are investigated and prosecuted fairly?" +p1920 +aVSecretary Clinton, this question is for you. Tonight parts of America are in the grip of a deadly heroin epidemic, spanning race and class, hitting small towns and cities alike. It has become a major issue in this race. In a lot of places where you've been campaigning, despite an estimated trillion dollars spent, many say the war on drugs has failed. So what would you do? +p1921 +aVAnd that's time. +p1922 +aVSenator... +p1923 +aVSenator Sanders, would you like to respond? +p1924 +aVThat's... +p1925 +aV... time. +p1926 +aVWe're going to get into all that coming up. O' +p1927 +aVBut we're going to take a break and we need to take a break... O' +p1928 +aV... and when we come back, the anger brewing in America. +p1929 +aVWelcome back to Charleston. Let's turn to another area where there has been fierce disagreement \u2014 that would be health care. Senator Sanders and Secretary Clinton, you both mentioned it in your 100-day priorities. Let's turn to my colleague, Andrea Mitchell now to lead that questioning. +p1930 +aVAnd that's time. We're gonna take a turn now. Secretary Clinton, in his final State of the Union address, President Obama said his biggest regret was his inability to bring the country together. If President Obama couldn't do it, how will you? O' +p1931 +aVThat's time. Senator Sanders, response. +p1932 +aVThat's time. But let me continue with the... +p1933 +aVSenator Sanders, let me continue, you call yourself a Democratic socialist... +p1934 +aVAnd throughout your career in politics, you've been critical of the Democratic party, you've been saying in a book you wrote, quote, "There wasn't a hell of a big difference between the the two major parties." How would you will a general election... +p1935 +aVHow will you win a general election labeling yourself a democratic socialist? +p1936 +aVYes, but senator, you can... +p1937 +aVAnd that is right. +p1938 +aVSecretary Clinton, our next question is for you. Here's another quantitative problem. +p1939 +aVAnd we're going to get into that coming up. But Secretary Clinton, here's a question from YouTube. It's from a young video blogger who has over 5 million subscribers. He has a question about the importance of younger voters. +p1940 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p1941 +aVThat's time... +p1942 +aVA quick follow up \u2014 a thirty second follow up. Why is Senator Sanders beating you to 2 to 1 among younger votes? +p1943 +aVWe're going to take... +p1944 +aVWe're going to take a break. When we come back; big banks, big business and big differences among the three candidates on the American Economy. We'll be right back. +p1945 +aVWelcome back from Charleston. Let's turn now to the economy. Senator Sanders, you released a tough new ad last week in which without mentioning Secretary Clinton by name, you talk about two Democratic visions for regulating Wall Street. "One says it's OK to take millions from big banks and tell them what to do. My plan, break up the big banks, close the tax loopholes and make them pay their fair share." What do you see as the difference between what you would do about the banks and what Secretary Clinton would do? +p1946 +aVSecretary Clinton, help the voter understand the daylight between the two of you here. +p1947 +aVSenator Sanders, your response. +p1948 +aVThat's time. Governor O'Malley... +p1949 +aVI have a question for you... +p1950 +aVThirty-second response. +p1951 +aVGovernor O'Malley. O' +p1952 +aVSecretary Clinton, 30-second response. +p1953 +aVThat's time. Andrea. +p1954 +aV... Senator... +p1955 +aVWe have got a lot to ground to cover here. Many Democratic voters are passionate about the need to do something to combat the threat of climate change, including the team of scientists from Youtube's MinuteEarth channel. Here's their take. +p1956 +aVSenator Sanders, Americans love their SUVs, which spiked in sales last year as gas prices plummeted. How do you convince Americans that the problem of climate change is so urgent that they need to change their behavior? +p1957 +aVGovernor O'Malley, 30 seconds. O' +p1958 +aVThat's time. We're going to take a break. +p1959 +aVWhen we return, the late-breaking developments regarding Iran. The threat of +p1960 +aVCharleston, Andrea Mitchell has questions now starting with Iran. +p1961 +aVSenator Sanders mentioned Russia a moment ago. Secretary Clinton, you famously handed Russia's foreign minister a reset button in 2009. Since then, Russia has annexed Crimea, fomented a war in Ukraine, provided weapons that downed an airliner and launched operations, as we just did discuss, to support Assad in Syria. As president, would you hand Vladimir Putin a reset button? +p1962 +aVWhat's your relationship with him? +p1963 +aVWe to want turn right now to the issue of balancing national security concerns with the privacy rights of Americans. That brings us to YouTube and this question. +p1964 +aVSo, Governor O'Malley. O' +p1965 +aVThat's time. You have all talked about what you would do fighting +p1966 +aVThat's a question to Senator Sanders. I wasn't clear, I apologize. +p1967 +aVBut in terms of lone wolves, the threat, how would you do it? +p1968 +aVWe have to go to a \u2014 we have to go to a break, and when we come back, we're going to get to some of the burning questions these candidates have yet to answer and are totally eager to talk about. +p1969 +aVAnd welcome back to Charleston. As we were going to a break, Secretary Clinton, I cut you off. I'll give you 30 seconds to respond on the issue of lone wolves. O' +p1970 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p1971 +aVAnd Andrea has a follow-up. O' +p1972 +aVAll right, that's time, and \u2014 and we do......we do have to move on. Secretary Clinton, this is the first time... +p1973 +aVThirty \u2014 30 \u2014 30 seconds, Senator. +p1974 +aVAll right. Secretary Clinton......this is the first time that a spouse of a former president could be elected president. You have said that President Clinton would advise you on economic issues, but be specific, if you can. Are you talking about a kitchen-table role on economics, or will he have a real policy role? +p1975 +aVSenator sanders, a 30 second response, sir. +p1976 +aVWe will take a break. We'll continue from Charleston right after this. +p1977 +aVWelcome back everybody. Finally, before we go tonight, we set out here to understand points of differences between you. We believe we've learned a lot here, but before we leave, is there anything that you really wanted to say tonight that you haven't gotten a chance to say. And, we'll start with Governor O'Malley. Didn't see that coming, did you? O' +p1978 +aVSixty seconds, we'd appreciate it. O' +p1979 +aVAnd that's time. O' +p1980 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p1981 +aVAnd that's time. +p1982 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders? +p1983 +asVBROWNLEE +p1984 +(lp1985 +VHi, my name Marques Brownlee, and I've been making YouTube videos about electronics and gadgets for the past seven years. I think America's future success is tied to getting all kinds of tech right. Tech companies are responsible for the encryption technology to protect personal data, but the government wants a back door into that information. So do you think it's possible to find common ground? And where do you stand on privacy versus security? +p1986 +asVHUCKABEE +p1987 +(lp1988 +VWell, John, I don't really have any weaknesses that I can think of. But my wife is down here in the front, and I'm sure, if you'd like to talk to her later, she can give you more than you'll ever be able to take care of. If I have a weakness, it's that I try to live by the rules. I try to live by the rules, no matter what they are, and I was brought up that way as a kid. Play by the rules. And I'll tell you what a weakness is of this country: there are a lot of people who are sick and tired because Washington does not play by the same rules that the American people have to play by. +p1989 +aVWell, I would really appreciate that. First of all, yes, we've stolen. Yes, we've lied to the American people about Social Security, and Medicare. But, you know what we're not telling them? It's their money. This isn't the governments money. This is not entitlement, it's not welfare. This is money that people have confiscated out of their paychecks. Everytime they got a paycheck, the government reached in and took something out of it before they ever saw it. Now, we're going to blame the people. Today congress decided to take another $150 billion dollars away from Social Security so they can borrow more money. That makes no sense to everybody. And, they're always going to say, "Well, we're going to fix this one day." No their not. It's like a 400 pound man saying, "I'm going to go on a diet, but I'm eating a sack of Krispy Kremes before I do." And, people are sick of believing that the government is never going to really address this. But, let me tell you who not to blame. Let's quit blaming the people on Social Security. Let's quit making it a problem for them. It's like them getting mugged, and then us saying, well, we're going to mug you some more. You ought to just be able to get over it, get used to it... +p1990 +aV...No, sir... +p1991 +aV...we need to honor our promises... +p1992 +aV...before I go. This is the only time I've had a chance, let me finish. +p1993 +aV...This is a matter not of math, this is a matter of morality. If this country that does not keep its promise to seniors then what promise can this country hope to be trusted to keep? And, the fact is, none of them. [ +p1994 +aVAnd, the only way \u2014 no... +p1995 +aV...Chris... +p1996 +aV...Chris... +p1997 +aVSince he brought me up, do I not get to respond? +p1998 +aVJohn, listen, let's keep in mind that for one-third of the 60 million Americans on Social Security it represents 90 percent of their income. And, when I hear people talking about means testing, let's just remember what that means. If we means test Social Security, it means that the government decides whether or not I deserve it. If a person lives in a seven room house, does the government get to say you don't need seven rooms, we're going to take two of them away? Folks, the government has no business stealing even more from the people who have paid this in. I just want to remind you, people paid their money. They expect to have it. And, if this government doesn't pay it, than tell me what's different between the government and Bernie Madolf, who sits in prison today for doing less than what the government has done to the people on social security and Medicare in this country. +p1999 +aVI don't think it's so much about when the government orders a corporation to do something. In fact, that's part of the problem. If you saw that blimp that got cut loose from Maryland today, it's a perfect example of government. I mean, what we had was something the government made \u2014 basically a bag of gas \u2014 that cut loose, destroyed everything in its path, left thousands of people powerless, but they couldn't get rid of it because we had too much money invested in it, so we had to keep it. That is our government today. We saw it in the blimp. That's exactly what we saw. So look, corporations ought to exercise some responsibility. When CEO income has risen 90 percent above the average worker, when the bottom 90 percent of this country's economy has had stagnant wages for the past 40 years, somebody is taking it in the teeth. And it's not the folks on Wall Street. I'm not anti-Wall Street, but I don't believe the government ought to wear a team jersey, pick winners and losers. +p2000 +aVThe government ought to wear a striped shirt and just make sure the game... +p2001 +aV...is paid \u2014 played fairly. +p2002 +aVNow, everybody else has fudged their time and gone over, so please, don't cut me off too quick, Becky. +p2003 +aVLet me just close it out this way. +p2004 +aVWe need to be focusing on what fixes this country. And I'll tell you one thing that we never talk about \u2014 we haven't talked about it tonight. Why aren't we talking about \u2014 instead of cutting benefits for old people, cutting benefits for sick people \u2014 why don't we say, "let's cure the four big cost-driving diseases... +p2005 +aV..."diabetes, heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer's?" +p2006 +aVIf you do that, you don't just change the economy, you transform the lives of millions of hurting Americans. +p2007 +aVGosh, I'd love for us to talk about something like that. Thank you. +p2008 +aVYou know, of the few questions I've got, the last one I need is to give him some more time. I love Donald Trump. He is a good man. I'm wearing a Trump tie tonight. Get over that one, OK? [ +p2009 +aVI don't know. [ +p2010 +aVI have no idea. +p2011 +aVYou're welcome. Let me tell you, Donald Trump would be a president every day of the week and twice on Sunday, rather than Hillary. I've spent a lifetime in politics fighting the Clinton machine. You want to talk about what we're going to be up against next year? I'm the only guy on this stage \u2014 you know, everybody has an "only guy" \u2014 "I'm the only guy this; I'm the only guy that." Well, let me tell you one thing that I am the only guy: The only guy that has consistently fought the Clinton machine every election I was ever in over the past 26 years. And not only did I fight them, but I beat them. Somebody says "I'm a fighter." Well, I want to know, did you win? Well, I did. And not only did I fight them and win, I lived to tell about it and I'm standing on this stage tonight as evidence of that. And I think that ought to be worth something. +p2012 +aVWell, and specifically to Medicare, Becky, because 85 percent of the cost of Medicare is chronic disease. The fact is if we don't address what's costing so much, we can't throw enough money at this. And it's why I've continued to focus on the fact that we need to declare war on the four big cost drivers because 80 percent of all medical costs in this country are chronic disease. We don't have a health care crisis in America, we have a health crisis. And until we deal with the health of Americans and do what we did with polio \u2014 when I was a little kid, we eradicated it. You know how much money we spent on polio last year in America? We didn't spend any. We've saved billions of dollars. You want to fix Medicare? Focus on the diseases that are costing us the trillions of dollars. Alzheimers, diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Eradicate those and you fix Medicare and you've fixed America, its economy and you've made people's lives a heck of a lot better. +p2013 +aVYou know, I know to a lot of people in the media, this is just a great big game, and we're the players. And, we come out here, and we do our thing. And, sometimes we're held up in contempt by people who write columns, but, I guarantee you to every person on this stage there's something deep inside of us that would cause us to give up our livelihoods and step out on this stage and fight for the people of America. I've got five grandkids. I do not want to walk my five grandkids through the charred remains of a once great country called America, and say, "Here you go, $20 trillion dollars of debt. Good luck making something out of this mess." And, for those of us who are serious enough to run for president, think long and hard why we're here, and hopefully you'll know we're not here for ourselves. We honest to god are here to get this country back on track. I know this, I certainly am. +p2014 +aV...Thank you. +p2015 +aVI'm Mike Huckabee. I'm delighted to be on this stage with some remarkable fellow Republicans. None of us are a self-professed socialist. None of us on this state are under investigation by the FBI because we destroyed government records, or because we leaked secrets. I know that there are some in the Wall-Street-to-Washington axis of power who speak of all of us contemptuously. But I'm here to say that I think we are, in fact, the A team. We have some remarkable people, and, in fact, not only are we the A team; we even have our own Mr. T, who doesn't mind saying about others, "you're a fool." And I'm delighted to be here with all of these guys, and would put any of them in an administration that I led. Thank you very much. +p2016 +aVI would certainly love to get in on this, because I think the single... +p2017 +aVI've been patiently waiting, and I'm going to just say this about Iran. +p2018 +aVBecause I think it is incredibly important. This is really about the survival of Western civilization. This is not just a little conflict with a Middle Eastern country that we've just now given over $100 billion to, the equivalent in U.S. terms is $5 trillion. This threatens Israel immediately, this threatens the entire Middle East, but it threatens the United States of America. And we can't treat a nuclear Iranian government as if it is just some government that would like to have power. This is a government for 36 years has killed Americans, they kidnapped Americans, they have maimed Americans. They have sponsored terrorist groups, Hamas and Hezbollah, and they threaten the very essence of Western civilization. To give them this agreement, that the president treats like the Magna Carta, but Iranians treat it like it's toilet paper, and we must, simply, make it very clear that the next president, one of us on this stage, will absolutely not honor that agreement, and will destroy it and will be tough with Iran, because otherwise, we put every person in this world in a very dangerous place. +p2019 +aVNo, I don't think he's on the wrong side of such an issue. Jeb is a friend. I'm not up here to fight with Jeb or to fight with anybody else. But I am here to fight for somebody who is a county clerk elected under the Kentucky constitution that 75 percent of the people of that state had voted for that said that marriage was between a man and a woman. The Supreme Court in a very, very divided decision decided out of thin air that they were just going to redefine marriage. It's a decision that the other justices in dissent said they didn't have and there wasn't a constitutional shred of capacity for them to do it. I thought that everybody here passed ninth-grade civics. The courts cannot legislate. That's what Roberts said. But heck, it's what we learned in civics. The courts can't make a law. They can interpret one. They can review one. They can't implement it. They can't force it. But here's what happened: Because the courts just decided that something was going to be and people relinquished it and the other two branches of government sat by silently \u2014 I thought we had three branches of government, they were all equal to each other, we have separation of powers, and we have checks and balances. If the court can just make a decision and we just all surrender to it, we have what Jefferson said was judicial tyranny. The reason that this is a real issue that we need to think about... +p2020 +aVNo, no. Let me finish this one thought, Jake. I haven't gotten that much time, so I'm going to take just what little I can here. We made accommodation to the Fort Hood shooter to let him grow a beard. We made accommodations to the detainees at Gitmo \u2014 I've been to Gitmo, and I've seen the accommodations that we made to the Muslim detainees who killed Americans. You're telling me that you cannot make an accommodation for an elected Democrat county clerk from Rowan County, Kentucky? What else is it other than the criminalization of her faith and the exaltation of the faith of everyone else who might be a Fort Hood shooter or a detainee at Gitmo? +p2021 +aVI have a different idea. I think we ought to get rid of all the taxes on people who produce. Why should we penalize productivity? And it's why I'm an unabashed supporter of the "fair tax," which would be a tax on our consumption, rather than a tax on our productivity. In other words, you're not going to tax anybody for what they earn, whether it's worker whose working by the hour or whether it's a hedge fund manager. If they can produce something and bring capital and labor to create jobs, we need some jobs. And I think the "fair tax" makes more sense. Now, Jake, I've been listening to everybody on the stage and there is a lot of back and forth about I'm the only one who has done this, the only one who has done that, I've done great things. We've all done great things or we wouldn't be on this stage. But it occurs to me as we're sitting here in the Reagan Library that most of us would like to pay tribute to a guy who, when he got elected, didn't get elected telling everybody how great he was. He got elected telling everybody how great the American people were. And he empowered them to live their dreams, which is what I'd love to see us do by no longer penalizing the people who are out there working because they are taking a gut punch right now. +p2022 +aV...You don't want me operating on you, I assure you. +p2023 +aVJust today \u2014 just today, there was a new report that 50 different intelligence analysts have said that what they sent up the ladder was doctored by senior officials, so that they could give some happy talk to the situation that we face. I love the idea of a good intellectual capacity to deal with our enemies, but the fact is, if you don't have good intelligence that is reliable and honest, you won't have good intelligence and you cannot make good decisions. The next president is primarily elected not just to know things, but to know what to do with the things that he knows. And the most dangerous person in any room is the person who doesn't know what he doesn't know. +p2024 +aVAnd the reason Barack Obama has been dangerous to this country and we better elect someone who had some executive experience, is because we cannot afford another eight years having a person in the office who doesn't know what he does not know. +p2025 +aVYou better believe I will, because I'm tired of liberals always having a litmus test and conservatives are supposed to pretend we don't. Well let me tell you what mine would be. Number one, I'd ask do you think that the unborn child is a human being or is it just a blob of tissue? I'd want to know the answer to that. I'd want to know do you believe in the First Amendment, do you believe that religious liberty is the fundamental liberty around which all the other freedoms of this country are based? And I'd want to know do you really believe in the Second Amendment, do you believe that we have an individual right to bear arms to protect ourselves and our family and to protect our country? And do you believe in the Fifth and the 14th Amendment? Do you believe that a person, before they're deprived of life and liberty, should in fact have due process and equal protection under the law? Because if you do, you're going to do more than defund Planned Parenthood. +p2026 +aVOne final thing. I'd make darn sure that we absolutely believe the 10th Amendment. Every governor on this stage would share this much with you. Every one of us \u2014 our biggest fight wasn't always with the legislature or even with the Democrats. My gosh, half the time, it was with the federal government who apparently never understood \u2014 +p2027 +aV\u2014 that if it's not reserved in the Constitution, then the 10th Amendment says it's left to the states. But somebody forgot to send a memo to Washington. +p2028 +aVJake? Jake? +p2029 +aVI think we need to remember that there are maybe some controversies about autism, but there is no controversy about the things that are really driving the medical costs in this country. And I would really believe that the next president ought to declare a war on cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer's, because those are the four things that are causing the greatest level of cost. John Kennedy said, "we'll go to the moon in a decade and bring a man back," and we did it. I grew up in the '50s. I remember the polio vaccine. We saved billions of dollars since that time, because we haven't had to treat for polio. Why doesn't this country focus on cures rather than treatment? Why don't we put a definitive focus scientifically on finding the cure for cancer, for heart disease, for diabetes and for Alzheimer's, a disease alone that will cost us \u2014 +p2030 +aV$1.1 trillion by the year 2050. We change the economy and the country. +p2031 +aVThat's an easy one. I'd put my wife on there. I've been married to her 41 years. She's fought cancer and lived through it. She's raised three kids, five great grandkids, and she's put up with me. I mean, who else could possibly be on that money other than my wife. And that way, she could spend her own money with her face. +p2032 +aVI'd go with Duck Hunter. +p2033 +aVAt the end of my presidency I would like to believe that the world would be a safe place, and there wouldn't be the threats. not only to the U.S., but to Israel and our allies, because we would have the most incredible well-trained, well-equipped, well- prepared military in the history of mankind. And they would know that the commander-in-chief would never send them to a mission without all the resources necessary, but people wouldn't bully us anymore. Because they would know that that would be an invitation to their destruction. Domestically, we would be operating under a tax system that eliminated the IRS. People wouldn't be punished for their work, and for what they produced. And life would be really deemed precious. Abortion would be no more. It would be as much of a scourge in our past as slavery is. And we would have a peaceful country, where people respected each other and people respected law enforcement. And we would focus on cures. And we would make this country not only safe from our enemies without, but safe from the enemies within. And it would be a good place to raise our kids and our grandkids. +p2034 +aVChris, I disagree with the idea that the real issue is a constitutional amendment. That's a long and difficult process. I've actually taken the position that's bolder than that. A lot of people are talking about defunding planned parenthood, as if that's a huge game changer. I think it's time to do something even more bold. I think the next president ought to invoke the Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the constitution now that we clearly know that that baby inside the mother's womb is a person at the moment of conception. The reason we know that it is is because of the DNA schedule that we now have clear scientific evidence on. And, this notion that we just continue to ignore the personhood of the individual is a violation of that unborn child's Fifth and 14th Amendment rights for due process and equal protection under the law. It's time that we recognize the Supreme Court is not the Supreme Being, and we change the policy to be pro-life and protect children instead of rip up their body parts and sell them like they're parts to a Buick. +p2035 +aVNot me. But you're welcome to give me a check, Donald if you'd like. +p2036 +aVIt's not too big to shrink. But the problem is we have a Wall Street-to-Washington axis of power that has controlled the political climate. The donor class feeds the political class who does the dance that the donor class wants. And the result is federal government keeps getting bigger. Every person on this stage who has been a governor will tell that you the biggest fight they had was not the other party. Wasn't even the legislature. It was the federal government, who continually put mandates on the states that we had to suck up and pay for. And the fact is there are a lot of things happening at the federal level that are absolutely beyond the jurisdiction of the Constitution. This is power that should be shifted back to the states, whether it's the EPA, there is no role at the federal level for the Department of Education. And I'm still one who says that we can get rid of the Internal Revenue Service if we would pass the FairTax, which is a tax on consumption rather than a tax on people's income, and move power back where the founders believed it should have been all along. +p2037 +aVWell, let's all be reminded, 60 million Americans are on Social Security, 60 million. A third of those people depend on 90% of their income from Social Security. Nobody in this country is on Social Security because they made the decision when they were starting work at 14 that they wanted to trust some of their money with the government. The government took it out of their check whether they wanted them to or not. And, if person goes to 65, they're going to spend 51 years with the government reaching into their pocket at every paycheck. Now, here's the point, whose fault is it that the system is screwed up? Is it the recipients, or is it the government? And, if Congress wants to mess with the retirement program, why don't we let them start by changing their retirement program, and not have one, instead of talking about getting rid of Social Security and Medicare that was robbed $700 billion dollars to pay for Obamacare. It's always that the government figures that they can do this off the backs of people, many of whom are poor, and depend on that money, and I just think it's fundamentally lying to the people and stealing from them, and we shouldn't be doing it. +p2038 +aVWell, you ask about how we fund it. One of the reasons that Social Security is in so much trouble is that the only funding stream comes from people who get a wage. The people who get wages is declining dramatically. Most of the income in this country is made by people at the top who get dividends and -- and capital gains. The FairTax transforms the process by which we fund Social Security and Medicare because the money paid in consumption is paid by everybody, including illegals, prostitutes, pimps, drug dealers, all the people that are freeloading off the system now. That's why it ought to be a transformed system. +p2039 +aVRonald Reagan said "trust, but verify." President Obama is "trust, but vilify." He trusts our enemies and vilifies everyone who disagrees with him. And the reason we disagree with him has nothing to do with party. +p2040 +aVIt has to do with the incredibly dangerous place that this world is gonna be as a result of a deal in which we got nothing. We didn't even get four hostages out. We got nothing, and Iran gets everything they want. We said we would have anywhere, anytime negotiations and inspections, we gave that up. We said that we would make sure that they didn't have any nuclear capacity, we gave that up. The president can't tell us what we got. I'll tell you what the world got. The world has a burgeoning nuclear power that didn't, as the Soviets, say "we might defend ourselves in a war." What the Iranians have said is, "we will wipe Israel off the face of the map, and we will bring death to America." When someone points a gun at your head and loads it, by God, you ought to take them seriously, and we need to take that seriously. +p2041 +aVThe military is not a social experiment. The purpose of the military is kill people and break things. It's not to transform the culture by trying out some ideas that some people think would make us a different country and more diverse. The purpose is to protect America. I'm not sure how paying for transgender surgery for soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines makes our country safer. We've reduced the military by 25 percent... ... under President Obama. The disaster is that we've forgotten why we have a military. The purpose of it is to make sure that we protect every American, wherever that American is, and if an American is calling out for help, whether it's in Benghazi or at the border, then we ought to be able to answer it. We've not done that because we've decimated our military. We're flying B-52s. The most recent one that was put in service was November of 1962. A lot of the B-52s we're flying, we've only got 44 that are in service combat ready, and the fact is, most of them are older than me. And that's pretty scary. +p2042 +aVIt seems like this election has been a whole lot about a person who's very high in the polls, that doesn't have a clue about how to govern. A person who has been filled with scandals, and who could not lead, and, of course, I'm talking about Hillary Clinton. I think America... +p2043 +aV...is in trouble, but it's not beyond repair. But it's going to take leadership who sees the greatness of this country, and who believes that once again we can be one nation, under God. I'll be my best to do that, and thank you for your support. +p2044 +aVI don't think it's that the message isn't working, I think it's the message isn't getting out because the message that I have this time, Bill, it's exactly what I said eight years ago. I talked about people who are standing on their feet on factory floors, people who lift heavy things, who sweat through their clothes, they're getting gut punched. They are not having a fair shake in this economy. I talked about that eight years ago, and I'm talking about it now. I talked about the importance of preserving life, of not just saying we're going to defund Planned Parenthood, but let's do something bolder. Let's get rid of abortion once and for all by applying the Fifth, and Fourteenth amendment to every person from conception because that means that we recognize that no person can be deprived of life or liberty unless they have due process. And, that's not happening in our country. And, I believe, and continue to practice that we need the Fair Tax to revive our economy. To make it so that people are able to be rewarded for their work rather than punished for it. +p2045 +aVYou know, I -- I would leave that to other people. I'm not going to get into an argument with all the New Yorkers, because there's a lot of them. This much I will tell you. I wish that some of those New Yorkers had funded as much of my campaign as they did the corporately funded candidates, but they didn't. And to be honest with you, when I say I'm -- wish they had, I'm glad they didn't. I'm not a New York-funded campaign. I'm not bankrolled by the corporatists, I'm not bankrolled by Goldman Sachs and Citibank and AIG and all the big brokers -- brokerage houses and the billionaires. I'm sponsored by people like Thomas, a part-time Uber driver in Pennsylvania who sent me $25 this week. He's between jobs. He's driving an Uber car. But he believed in what I'm talking about enough that, even on a limited, part-time income, he sent me $25 to help in my campaign. I'll stand with the Thomases of the world any day. I'll leave all the discussion of the big financiers to other candidates. But there's only a few of us in the entire Republican process who are not corporately funded by the same group. And let me just finish by saying, you want to know why things never change depending on whether Democrats or Republicans are in power, and why Republicans in Iowa and the rest of the country are so frustrated? The reason is, is because if you follow the money, the same folks who finance the Democrats finance the Republicans, and no matter what the speeches and the ads, they get the same results. If you want a different result, I'm available. +p2046 +aVWell, I don't trust him. I've never said I trusted him. But if somebody is willing to take a shot at the people we are taking shots at, I'm more than willing to let them use their own bullets to do it. But let's be very clear about how we take out +p2047 +aVNo, I don't think that it's impossible, but we're not going to do it by doing the same things we've been doing for all these many years. And, we've lost five million manufacturing jobs just since the year 2000. The other day I was in Newton, Iowa. It used to be a vibrant place where Maytag washers and dryers were built. Went out of business in 2007, all those shops went to Mexico. All those people lost their jobs. There was a guy in my forum that day, he lost his job. He still has never found an employment that got anywhere near the job that he had. Let me ask you, how many people do you think living around the Beltway know a guy like that? Care about a guy like that? Not many. And, that's because they're six of the ten richest counties in America that surround Washington D.C. People who live in the bubbles of the high finance world of New York, the government world of Washington, the entertainment world of Hollywood, don't have a clue about how hard people out here in Iowa are working every single day. And, I believe one of the values of campaigning in Iowa, you can't win unless you go out and talk to farmers and housewives -- and welders, and unemployed truck drivers, and I hate... ... That a president could become president who never met people who have to struggle to make a living and put food on the table. +p2048 +aVA lot of Americans are angry. And I think it's important to understand why they are mad. They are mad because they see a government that continues to do fine. They see people at the top. They are doing fine. But that person you asked Rick about a moment ago, that lady that's making 10,000 bucks a year, do you know what our poverty programs do to people? They keep them in poverty. They keep them in poverty because we have these arbitrary thresholds... ... that mean that if you go to work, you lose all the benefits for your kids, Medicaid, WIC, Section 8 housing, food stamps, and then your kids go hungry. I know a little about poverty. My sister is here tonight. Now both of us could tell you we did not grow up rich. My mother grew up in a house, oldest of seven kids. She had lived in a house that didn't have floors. Just dirt. No electricity. No running water. I resent it when people say, oh, people are poor because they want to be. No, they are not. Nobody wants to be poor. And that's a stupid, foolish thing, mean thing to say. People are poor because they don't know how to get out of the hole. And government shouldn't push them back in the hole which is what our policies do when they punish people who want to go to work and don't let them out. We can fix that, but it takes some leadership to get it done. +p2049 +aVWell, I didn't have a tax and spend approach. You got to understand where the Club for Growth comes from, a bunch of rich guys sitting around writing checks to go after people they don't like. And, they don't like me sometimes because I was fighting for the guys at the bottom, not just the guys at the top. I cut 94 taxes in a state that had never had a general major tax decrease in its history. I also was able to see per capita income growth in my state go up by 50%. I think that's a pretty darn good record. Look at the overall record and it was fine. But, it's not about stats from when I was governor. Look, one of the reasons I support the Fairtax is because it's the one thing, Bill, that would truly empower people at the bottom of the economy by no longer punishing them for their work. If a guy works an hourly job, and he works eight hours, gets paid for it, terrific. But, if he works 16 hours, he doesn't get a double paycheck because he's going to be bumped up into a new tax bracket, and the government will get more of his second shift than he will. So, we've actually punished him for being industrious, hardworking, and that is a foolish economic policy... ... that's hurting Americans about as much as anything. +p2050 +aVI honestly don't understand how anybody with IQ above plant life would honestly think... ... that we would be better off if we let the government have all of the private property and that the government would dole out what they thought we should have. I'm not "feeling the Bern," Bill. I'm not feeling it. And when Bernie Sanders promises these kids free college, I'm telling them, because I get asked, what about free college? I said, look, if we give you free college when you are 20, pal, you are going to be paying for it when you are 30, when you are 40, and when you are 50. There is no such thing as the government giving you anything. They will definitely make a mess of it. And I just think there are a lot of people who have never understood the basic understanding of economics, that you do not make people rich by tearing down those who are you providing jobs, and you don't help poor people by taking away. You give them jobs. Let them work. Let them earn. And then you let them keep the money that they earned. That's how we build a great economy. +p2051 +aVWell, this week there was a little dust up about a video we put together with the music of Adele, so I thought it'd be appropriate for me to begin tonight by saying, "Hello, Iowa. It's me." +p2052 +aVAnd, you know me. You gave me the largest number of votes in the history of the Iowa caucus eight years ago, and I think you did it because you trusted me, you believed that I had your best interest at heart. When I was governor I had a little plaque in my office in the Governor's office, and it simply said this. Come, let us reason together. I believe the next President needs to put that plaque in the oval office, and needs to lead this country by saying, "Come, let us reason together." God bless you, and thank you for your support. +p2053 +aVI wish I saw the country in the same place that the president presented it to be the other night in the State of the Union. He talked about how great the economy was doing. And I guess for the people he hangs out with, it's probably doing great. But the president should've stood in the line at the layaway counter at Walmart just before Christmas. He would have heard a very different story about the economy of America. I wish I could introduce him the lady who cleans the building where our campaign headquarters is located in Little Rock. Her name is Kathleen. She works all day at a local hospital cleaning, and then she goes to the building where a bank, and our headquarters, and other offices are she spends another seven hours. She works 15 hours a day. I guarantee you she's not working 15 hours a day because she loves scrubbing toilets, and sweeping floors. She's working that many hours because that's what it takes for her to make it work. And, she's not alone. There are people all over this country who are working like that. Many of them working two jobs \u2014 and they used to have one job, and that would take care of them. But, because of wage stagnation, which we've had for 40 years, because the fact that they're punished for working harder if they work that many hours. The government gets more of their second shift than they do. And, as a result there are a lot of people who are hurting today. I wish the President knew more of them. He might make a change in the economy and the way he's managing it. +p2054 +aVLet me put that in context. When I went to Afghanistan, I saw a land that looked like the land of the Flintstones. It was desolate. It was barren. It was primitive. And it's been that way for thousands of years. They want to take the world back to be just like that. We don't. We need to make a clear goal as to why we want to be anywhere in the Middle East, and I'll tell you why we want to be and need to be, is to destroy radical Islam and everything that threatens civilization. It's not just a threat......to Israel or to America, it's a threat to every civilized person on this Earth. And we need to be equipping not only the Kurds in Iraq, we need to be making sure that those who are willing to fight radical Muslims will do it, but we need to never ever spend a drop of American blood unless there is a clearly defined goal and we can't make sure we win unless we have a military that's the strongest in the history of mankind. We've got to rebuild our navy. It's the smallest navy we've had since 1915, when my grandfather got on a destroyer in World War I when he was in the U.S. Navy. We've got young men in Air Force B-52s, one in particular, he's flying a B-52 that his father flew in the '80s and his grandfather flew in the '50s. Those planes are older than me. We've got to have a military that the world is afraid of, use it sparingly, but when we do, the whole world will know that America is on their tail and they will be on their tail on the ground, never ever to rise up again. +p2055 +aVOnly if there is a concerted effort to destroy the advance of radical Islamists who are against us. As far as what are we going to make it look like. Frankly, I don't know what we can make it look like. You can't create for other people a desire for freedom and democracy. And frankly, that is not the role of the United States. The role of the United States military is not to build schools, it is not to build bridges, it is not to go around and pass out food packets. It is to kill and destroy our enemy and make America safe and that is the purpose we should be there if we're going to be there. +p2056 +aV Yes, I did. +p2057 +aVWell, why don't we start by making sure the Justice Department never does an idiotic program like Fast and Furious where the U.S. Government put guns......in the hands of Mexican drug lords......and end up killing one of our border agents. You know, they want to talk about law abiding citizens, I just find it amazing the President keeps saying the gun show loophole. There is no gun show loophole. I promise you I've been to more gun shows than President Obama. +p2058 +aVAnd, I've bought more weapons at them, and you fill out forms. The President also says things that it's easier to get a gun now than it is to grow trees. Again, I purchase guns, and I can assure you that it is much more difficult to purchase a firearm than it is to get the ingredients of a salad at the supermarket. What the President keeps pushing are ideas that have never worked. Ideas that would not have stopped San Bernadino, Sandy Hook, Aurora, and at some point you wonder if you keep retrying things that don't work, maybe we should just see if we could resell all those used lottery tickets that didn't work real well because that's the logic of just keep doing the same thing, but something that has failed. Of course, we want to stop gun violence, but the one common thing that has happened in most mass shootings is that they happened in gun- free zones where people who would have been law abiding citizens, who could have stood up and at least tried to stop it and we're not allowed to under the law. +p2059 +aVWell, we shouldn't be and that's one of the reasons that I think there a lot of voices in our country who are saying it's time to relook at the visa program. The European Union is a failure, it's not allowed for even the economic goals that they were trying to achieve. But, what we're not seeing is that it's making Europe less safe, and it's proven not to be exactly what they all thought it was going to be. Our first and foremost responsibility in this country, and the first responsibility of the President of the United States is protect America, and protect Americans. We have a President who seems to be more interested in protecting the reputation and image of Islam than he is protecting us. And, I want to be very clear......that this President. Makes comments like he did the other night, that we have to be so careful because we don't want to offend Muslims. He needs to read his own FBI crime stats from last year which would show him that of the hate crimes in the country, over 5,500, about 1,100 were religious hate crimes. And, of those, 58% were directed toward Jews. Only 16% directed toward Muslims. Maybe what the President should have talked about the other night is how we ought to be more careful in the anti-semitic comments that are going toward American Jews than toward Muslims because by three times as many......they're being targeted for religious hate crime. +p2060 +aVIt does not shut down international commerce, but it may slow it down. And, you don't want to slowdown commerce that is making us safer. It's worth it. This lady who came and joined with the San Bernardino killer had passed three background checks, and that's why a lot of Americans didn't buy it when the President said we'll bring in Syrian refugees, but don't worry we'll check them out. We have a lot of confidence in a president who told us that we could keep our doctor, we could keep our health insurance, and cost us less, and now the latest is if you like your gun you can keep it too, and frankly, we don't buy it. We don't believe it. He's lost his credibility, and his inept... ...inability to work with Congress and pass legislation has led him to do what I never even imagined doing as a governor, and that's just going and doing it my own way. That's why we elect a president, is to lead, is to be able to shepherd things through. And if I can do it with a 90 percent Democrat legislature in Arkansas, there is no excuse for any president not being able to lead in Washington if he knows what the heck he is doing when he gets there. +p2061 +aVWell, first of all, let's just remember that Social Security is not the government's money, it belongs to the people who had it taken out of their checks involuntarily their entire working lives. For the government to say, well it is fault of working people that we have a Social Security problem, no. It is the fault of a government that used those people's money for something other than protecting those people's accounts. So let's not blame them and punish them. But here is a fact, and I sometimes hear Republicans say well, we're going to have to cut this and extend the age. You know what I think a lot of times when I hear people say, well, let's make people work to their 70. That sounds great for white-collar people who sat at a desk most of their lives. You ever talk to somebody that stood on concrete floor for the first 40 years of their working life? Do you think they can stand another five years or 10 years, many of them will retired virtually crippled because they worked hard. And we're going to punish them some more? I don't think so. Here's the fact. Four percent economic growth, we fully fund Social Security and Medicare. Our problem is not that Social Security is just too generous to seniors. It isn't. Our problem is that our politicians have not created the kind of policies that would bring economic growth. And I still support strongly that we get rid of the 77,000 pages of the monstrous tax code......pass the fair tax, supercharge this economy with the rocket fuel that happens with the consumption tax and we don't have to cut Social Security to any senior who has worked their lifetime for it. +p2062 +aVLet me go back to the reason so many people are having a hard time getting ahead. The tax system punishes them. Think about this. If you work really hard and you start moving up the economic ladder, you get bumped into a different tax bracket. So the government thinks it deserves more of your hard work than you do. And it's one of the reasons that no matter how many different reforms you have to a tax on people's productivity, you're still taxing their work, their savings. You're taxing their capital gains, inheritance, dividends, you're taxing everything that produces something. And it's way I really believe it's time to do something bold, not something minute. This is no time for a tap of the hammer, a twist of the screwdriver. It's time for something big. That's why the fair tax transforms our economy. And we don't punish workers. It's the only way we're going to get middle class people moving ahead again, because the harder they work, the more they keep. No payroll tax deducted from their checks. They get their entire paycheck. And, one of the most important parts, it's built on the common sense with which we raised our kids, and trained dogs. You reward behavior you want more of. And, you punish behavior you want less of. That's how I raise kids, it's how I trained our dogs, and folks, it's not that difficult. We now punish the behavior we say we want more of by taxing it, and we reward the behavior that we say we want less of, so if you make a good investment, we punish you with a tax. If you make a bad investment you can write that off and the rest of the taxpayers will help subsidize you, and bail you out. +p2063 +aVWell, Rick, I'm pretty sure I did also fight the Clinton machine because every election I was ever in in Arkansas, I assure you, they were behind it, helping finance and campaign for every opponent. And I share with you the understanding that it's going to be a tough battle. But I spent the first half of my adult life in the private and nonprofit sector, raising a family, understanding how tough it is for people to make it. And that first half of my life is what led me to believe that America needs a different kind of leadership, not people who spent their whole life running from one office to the next, and living off the government dime. And I got involved because I got sick of what I saw. I also believe that there's got to be some leadership that not only addresses the monetary and military issues of this country, but the moral issues of this country. At the end of every political speech, most of us say, God bless America. But how can he do that when we continue to slaughter 4,000 babies a day? And I want to be the president that treats every person, including the unborn, as a person. And protect them under the 5th and 14th amendments of the constitution. I close with this word from a gentleman in East Texas named Butel Lucre. He's 100 years old and I met him down in East Texas. And he said this to me. "I sure wish, Mike, we had the days when The Ten Commandments were in all of our capitals and in every school, and we prayed again. You know, he may be 100 years old, but I believe some of those old ideas to get this country back where we unapologetically get on our knees before we get on our feet might be the best solutions we've ever sought as a country. And I ask for your support and your vote. Thank you. +p2064 +aVWolf, I want to say thanks to you and CNN for giving us the opportunity especially to focus on national security issues at a time when Americans are not only angry \u2014 angry at their government that they feel like has failed them, been indifferent to them, cost them their livelihoods \u2014 but they're in addition to angry, they're just plain scared. They're scared when they thing that they go to a Christmas party and get shot at by somebody who sat and had lunch with them an hour earlier. They're scared when they realize that our government, who promises that it can vet people and is begging us to approve bringing 10,000 Syrian refugees into this country, can't even catch somebody after a third background check, who had posted things on social media clearly indicating she wanted to kill Americans. And we couldn't catch that. We've lost confidence in our government. And when Americans lose confidence in their government, we're in a dangerous place. We're in danger because we have an enemy that is out to kill us, and we have a government that we don't trust any more. This election is about going back to having a government we can trust with leaders who have the courage and conviction to actually lead and not follow. +p2065 +aVWell, let me begin by saying I'm not that afraid of Donald Trump. And, in the sense that I'd rather him be President than I had Hillary be president any day. And so if he becomes president, I think he will do a whole lot more to protect us than Hillary will. And a whole lot more than Barack Obama has done in his eight years. So I want to make it very clear that when I was making that comment, I was simply speaking that I'm not sure that you can have a religious test per se. And it's very impractical because if somebody comes to our borders and says I'd like to come in. They say are you a Muslim? Well, they're \u2014 if they're going to come in here to kill us, they're not gonna say yeah, and I'm coming to kill you. They're going to lie about it. Anybody that will kill you, for God's sake, will lie to you. So that's why I say it's impractical. But what he has done, and I don't think a lot of people understand, he has touched a nerve because people are angry and afraid that we are facing an enemy that this administration refuses to acknowledge, refuses to want to go fight. And our only answer is to go after +p2066 +aVNo. I'm not taking it away, I just want to make sure that everything we use is going to be effective. We're spending billions of dollars, let's make sure it's effective. Let's use every tool, but let's also check out the Facebook posts, let's look at Twitter accounts. My gosh, we were told we couldn't do it because it might invade somebody's privacy. This lady who came over here and shot up San Bernardino was posting things on Facebook, yet, we were restricted from looking. Every college kid who goes to a frat party gets drunk and puts his picture on Facebook is going to have a potential employer looking at that photo before he gets hired. Why should we have more attention? I mean, for heaven's sake, towards some college kid who wants to one day ten years from to get a job, then we're going after who wants to come in with a semi automatic weapon or a pipe bomb and blow up a bunch of Americans. This is what I think a lot of Americans are frustrated with, it's the duplicity of our policy that is illogical and irrational. Our goal ought to be, "protect Americans and put Americans first not last," which is what I think this administration has done. +p2067 +aVNo, it does not violate their First Amendment rights to have someone go and listen to the sermons. You can go to any church in America, it's a public place, you can listen, and \u2014 you know, if you go to my church, you'll probably get a real blessing. Heck, it'll be a wonderful experience. You go to some people's church, you may go to sleep, I don't know what happens in every church, but, the point is that these are public places, and folks are invited to come. So, if it's a public place, and people are invited to come, how does it violate anybody's First Amendment rights that somebody shows up because they might want to just listen in and see is there something that is a little nefarious? And, if there is, then you take the second step of getting a search warrant, you do whatever you have to do. That's all protected under the constitution. So, Huge, I hear people act like there's something that is terrible about going and sitting in and listening to the sermons of a mosque. If Islam is as wonderful, and peaceful as its adherents say, shouldn't they be begging us to all come in and listen to these peaceful sermons? Shouldn't they be begging us all to come, and listen, and bring the FBI so we'd all want to convert to Islam? +p2068 +aVI don't disagree. I don't disagree with anything that the Senator just said because that's exactly right. But, I just want to go back to the point that when people say we can't go into the mosque, we can't listen. That's utter nonsense. Of course we can. And, if we can't, if there's something so secretive going on in there that somebody isn't allowed to go and hear it, maybe we do need for sure to send somebody in there and gather the intelligence. And, that's all to the world I'm saying, I think it stands to be true. +p2069 +aVThe way we defeat them ideologically is that we remind people that what their intent is is to kill us, and that it is our intent to use every means possible to get to them before they get to us. We are pretending that this is a war that is not that significant. We have a president who called it the JV team, said we had contained it. Nine hours after he said we contained it, there was a massacre in Paris. We've got to make it so untenable for somebody to join +p2070 +aVWolf, it may be sufficient, but rather than put a number \u2014 and I'm comfortable that we say 10,000, 20,000 \u2014 look, I think we make a mistake when we start telling the enemy what our limitations are. I think we make a huge mistake when we say we're gonna do up to this. I think what we say is, we're gonna do whatever it takes. If it's 10,000, if it's 100,000, if it's 3,000 sorties a day, if it's 5,000 sorties a day. We never tell our enemy what our limitations are, what we are willing and what we're unwilling to do. And that's one of the mistakes I believe that we're making militarily. But the biggest mistake we've made militarily is letting Barack Obama cut our defense forces by 25 percent and leaving us at the least prepared position we've been in since before World War II. We have to get our Military rebuilt from the ground up. And all over America I hear young people say, would you tell me what you're going to do? Would you give me free college? Will you make sure that I can have medical marijuana? You know what we ought to tell young people? We aren't going to give you anything. We're give you the opportunity to get off your butt and go serve your country and secure your freedom. Because if you don't, nobody else is. +p2071 +aVI'd sure want them to think we would. And I'd want to make sure that we did everything we could. But we can't do it with our current Military strength. We've got to build up and have the most robust, well trained, well equipped, well prepared and ample Military force in the history of the world because we're not fighting just a known enemy in one place. We're fighting people all over the world who can go anywhere. And the reason I say that is because if we tried to win this war on the cheap or we try to do it with the, "light footprint," we're making a huge mistake. When all of us were in grade school, one thing we all knew, the bully never picked on the kid except for the weak one. When all of us were in grade school, one thing we all knew, the bully never picked on the kid, except for the weak one. He never picked on the kid he knew, he'd whip him. We need to make to sure that we have the kind of military that +p2072 +aVWell, I want to be real clear, I don't trust Putin, I don't trust Assad. I'm not saying that I would endorse him for his reelection bid. The man is a tyrant, he's killed lots of people, but he wasn't killing Americans. And, the thing that I'm concerned about is that we have seen a complete destabilization, not only of Syria, but we've seen it in Yemen, that the President pronouncing great shape just before it collapsed. +p2073 +aVWell what we have done, and we created an impossible atmosphere. This administration has put more pressure on Israel to stop building bedrooms in Judea and Samaria than they've put on Iranians to stop building a nuclear bomb. And I'm just simply pointing out the obvious, that we need to recognize who our friends are, who our enemies are... +p2074 +aV... but I'm convinced... +p2075 +aVWell, first of all, it would be the Iranians. I would have never entered into this deal. I don't know why on God's earth that the senators gave it so that it was easier for Obama to have the agreement than it would be to make it a treaty. +p2076 +aVI would make sure that there was economic pressure put on them. Why not? Why should we fund every single battle against radical Islam? Why should we stand back and watch Israel get targeted, the United States get targeted and we watch with people with their hands in their pocket, and their hands in our pocket because we're getting them a lot of money. And let's say your hands can be in your pocket, you can stand still, but your hands aren't going to be in our pockets anymore. We're not going to give you another dime unless you engage the battle with us. We are not sending our sons and daughters, and grandsons and granddaughters to war to fight for your interest. You either get in with us or be on your own. But we're not gonna fight the battle for you. +p2077 +aVI wouldn't reinstate a draft, but, I think it's noteworthy that we are fighting all the battles we have with less than one percent of the American population. +p2078 +aVI wouldn't reinstate a draft, but, I think it's noteworthy that we are fighting all the battles we have with less than one percent of the American population. We have the lowest level of percentage of population participating in the military than ever. And they're over-deployed, they're over used, especially among our reserves and Guard troops. Any governor will tell you. +p2079 +aVWell, I would say that, if you want a college education, let's go back and reinstate the full-blown G.I. bill. You give something to your country; your country gives something back to you. We need to ask young people to step up and buy their own freedom because there's not going to be enough people left at less than one percent. And as my good friend Ken Howard, former Dean of the War College, has often said, we're fighting all the wars with other people's kids. And that's one of the things that's making us much less safe, is because we don't have enough Americans truly invested in the process of defeating our enemies. Therefore, I do think without a draft we do need to ask people to recognize we are at war. +p2080 +aVI'm not belittling their sacrifice, Lindsey, but I'm just making note that on the part of Americans we have sent National Guard troops over for an 18-month em \u2014 18-month deployment. They come back for five, they go back for another 18. We're wearing these guys out. They agreed to be citizen soldiers. We turned them into full time soldiers because we've not kept up the pace by recruiting enough people in the military to fully fill these forces, and that's what we need to be doing. +p2081 +aVThe horrors that those families have to go through, if that were my son, my daughter, I'd give my last drop of blood to get them back. You bet I would. Is it a good policy? No. It's a terrible policy because once we do it, we're only going to invite more and more hostages, more and more ransoms, and the diasters gets even worse. But I don't blame any of these families. You know who I blame? I blame a policy in our government that has made it so that families are so desperate that they're willing to pay ransom to terrorists organizations because they don't believe our government will fight the fight for them and they think they're out there on their own. My goodness people, this is America. When did we have to start telling people that you've got to bake your own bread in order to fight the battles? That's what we have a government for, it's what we pay taxes for. And I believe, those families ought to have a better expectation of what this government will do. We should never has sat at the table with the Iranians as long Sayed Abadnini is sitting in an Iranian prison. As long as the Washington Post report is over there. Until the four hostages of America were on an airplane safely out of Tehran. We should've told them, " we won't even walk into the room with you much less sit down and negotiate with you." That's what we ought to be doing. +p2082 +aVWe just need to take a real pause and all the people that coming here and we don't know who they are or what their affiliations are. What George just said is right. We can't take the risk. And why should we take the risk? And if it's such a doggone good idea to bring people here that we really don't know who they are and Obama thinks that we're being un-Christian to not do it, I've got a suggestion. Let's send the first wave of them to Chappaqua, Martha's Vineyard and the upper east side of Manhattan and to the south lawn of the White House where we'll set up a camp. Let's see how that works out. And if they behave wonderfully, that's fine. I want to say, I don't want someone lecturing me about what it means to be a Christian that I should invite a potential terrorist into my backyard. On one hand, the left says separation of church and state. Let's not have any discussion of religion, and then the left wants to tell me what it means to be a Christian. They need to figure out if they know more about being a Christian than I do, then tell me... On one hand, the left says separation of church and state. Let's not have any discussion of religion, and then the left wants to tell me what it means to be a Christian. They need to figure out if they know more about being a Christian than I do \u2014 then tell me. They are no longer going to say separation of church and state, but, we have the most fundamental right above everything else \u2014 is not to protect the reputation of Islam. It is to protect Americans first and foremost. That is our job. +p2083 +aVNo, because he did it unconstitutionally. Twenty-three times he's said he couldn't do it, and then one day he woke up and he found he had a pen in one hand, and a phone in another, and wow. That Constitution didn't mean much anymore. Look, President's can't just do what they want to do. That's the purpose of getting elected and working with other people who got elected, is that our system was designed to function with the power of persuasion, it's really what you elect a president to do. +p2084 +aV...Let me finish, Hugh. You elect him to lead which means that if you think it's a good idea to not punish the children for something their parents did, then you go to the members of Congress and you persuade them. And, you persuade the American people. You don't just jump up and shove it up the nostrils of Congress, and the American people because you think you have a superior intellect, and a superior will, and a superior theology than everybody else. Our system is not a system of tyranny. We don't elect kings, we elect servants. If I'm elected president, I don't consider myself to be elected to be the king of the country, but the servant of the country to work with other people who are elected to get things done that need to be done. +p2085 +aVThe terrorists don't win just because they kill us. The terrorists win when they make us change everything we do in our daily lives and alter our routines. And they're doing that, from getting on a plane to going in a building. And it is high time that we recognize that we have to take them out, not a little bit, but totally, because I want my grandkids to grow up not in fear, but in faith and in freedom. And if you give me the opportunity to be president of the United States, I will fight for your grandkids as much as I will for mine. Thank you and God bless you. +p2086 +aVWell, first of all, Trish, I don't know why we have to move away from manufacturing. The only reason we have is because... ...we have a tax code that has punished manufacturing. I hear a lot of people talk about the plans to simplify the tax code. I've got one better than any of the simplifications, it's called a, "Fair Tax", and it eliminates all of the taxes on our productivity. Here's what would happen. We'd get rid of taxes on people's work, so, we wouldn't punish people for working anymore. Yeah, we've lost five million manufacturing jobs just since the year 2000 \u2014 160,000 manufacturing plants have close in this country, which means a lot of people \u2014 that the governors talking about, he's exactly right. They don't have jobs anymore. And the reason they don't have jobs is because their jobs are in Mexico, they're in China, they're in Indonesia. Bring the jobs back. And with the fair tax, you do that, because you don't tax capital and labor and you bring a real sense of equity to the opportunity so that people will not only make it easier to function, they'll get the manufacturing jobs back. And here's the best part. We don't reduce the IRS, we get rid of the IRS. We completely eliminate them......because the government has no business knowing how much money we make and how we made it. It's none of their business. And that's why I believe that manufacturing is critical. If we can't feed ourselves, fuel ourselves and fight for ourselves, we can't be free. And by the way, fighting for ourselves means manufacturing our own weapons of self-defense. +p2087 +aVWell, Sandra, first of all, let me mention the fact that I think there's a big difference between welfare programs and what some people call entitlements. Namely, Social Security and Medicare. I just want to remind everybody out there who has ever had a paycheck, the government didn't ask you if you wanted them to take money out of your check for Social Security and Medicare. They did that involuntarily. Those are not entitlements and that's not welfare. That's an earned benefit. And by gosh, you paid for it. And if the government screwed it up, you shouldn't have to pay the penalty because of an incompetent government. That's different than the social programs that we've spent $2 trillion on since the War on Poverty began exactly 50 years ago this year. Now the reason we still have so much poverty is because it was never designed to get people out of poverty. It was designed to make sure that there was an industry of poverty, so that the people in the poverty industry would have a lot of jobs. But the people who are poor haven't been benefited. Having grown up poor, I know a little something about it. Nobody who is poor wants to be. That's a nonsense statement and I hear it all the time. Well, poor people ought to work harder. They're working as hard as they can, for gosh sake. But the problem is the system keeps pushing them down because, if they work, then they get punished. They lose all the benefits. When we did welfare reform in the '90s, you know what we did? We said you're not going to lose everything at once. There's not an arbitrary threshold. So as you move up the ladder from work and training, you'll actually always be better off than you were before. That's the American way. +p2088 +aVWell, I'd just like to respond, with all due respect to, to the Governor, to the state just south of me, I would say that a lot of us have cut things. And during the recession of 2001 to 2003, when 91 percent of our state budget was basically three things, educate, medicate and incarcerate, we ended up cutting 11 percent out of the state budget through that recession so we didn't have to go in and raise a bunch of taxes, and there were people who thought we should. So it's just not accurate to say that nobody else up here has ever cut. I believe every governor has probably had to make tough decisions. I'm, I'm guessing my colleague Governor Christie has, as I'm tossing him the ball like Arkansas did to Ol' Miss the other day. +p2089 +aVSandra, before we get too far away, he specifically brought out some things about the record that I need to correct. +p2090 +aVSandra, I've been concerned that this administration has not done anything to help stop the slaughter of Christians. We didn't help the Kurds, we said we would. But, the idea that we're just going to open our doors, and we have no idea who these people are \u2014 what we do know is that only one out of five of the so called, "Syrian Refugees", who went into Europe were actually Syrian. Many of them, we had no idea who they were. They weren't Syrian. Are we going to open the doors so that the +p2091 +aV...I'd like to get that opportunity to go... +p2092 +aVWell, since we're not going to answer the question, let me just remind everybody, tomorrow is Veterans Day. And here's what I would like to remind everybody. The VA has been a disaster in large part because the people in Congress have never bothered to fix it, and this president has certainly not... +p2093 +aVLet me finish, please. I'm going to ask you just this, what would happen if the Congress and the president had to get their health care from the VA? We would fix the problem and we would fix Congress. +p2094 +aVWell, thank you very much. I still want to go back to the fact that if we got rid of all the taxes on our work, got rid of the taxes on our savings, investments, capital gains, and inheritance, and made a zero tax, we'd pay at the point of consumption. Because why should we punish people for their productivity? And the fair tax doesn't punish people for doing well and building the economy. There's $31 trillion parked offshore. What happens if that money comes back to America? You'd think it'd goose the economy? I guarantee you it would. And that's why the fair tax is the best solution we have for economic growth in this country. +p2095 +aVWell, first of all, do you know an American that will just stop spending? I don't. No, that's not going to be the problem. Look, Americans will go to the marketplace with more money they've ever had. For the first time they'll be having their whole paycheck. You see, most people don't understand that when you buy something that is made in America, 22 percent of the cost of it is the embedded tax they never even know they paid. It's why China has beaten the daylights out of us, they can build stuff that we can't because they're not taxing it, when they don't tax capital and labor and we do. They bring something over here, it's automatically cheaper even without the regulatory environment because they're not embedding the taxes, we are. Take the embedded taxes out. Give a person his whole paycheck because every American would no longer have a payroll tax taken out. It means they'd see their real paycheck for the first time. When they go to spend that money, they'll actually have it. And they only pay taxes on the stuff that's new. So a lot of Americans will buy used stuff. Look, here's the point, Americans are not going to quit shopping. Americans are not going to quit buying. But it would be nice if Americans could control how much they paid in tax, rather than having the government reach into their pockets and take it out before they ever had a chance to even see it, much less spend it. And that's why the fair tax makes a heck of a lot more sense than punishing productivity and rewarding irresponsibility. +p2096 +aVWell, my wife's name is Janet and when you say Janet Yelling, I'm very familiar with what you mean. But, look, I think the Fed is in a big trouble because they haven't addressed the number one issue that's hurting Americans and that's the fact that wages for the bottom 90 percent of the economy have been stagnant for 40 years. In the 25 years after World War II, up to 1971, wages grew by 85 percent in this country. People were \u2014 were moving up in the middle class. There was a middle class. That's not happening any more, and in large measure, the Fed has manipulated the dollar so it doesn't have a standard. Tie the dollar to something fixed and if it's not going to be gold, make it the commodity basket. But here's what we've got to do. We absolutely have to get it where the people who go out there and work get something in return. And if the dollar keeps fluctuating, and this is as crazy as \u2014 as is the price of bread, well, the fact is, people can't get ahead then. +p2097 +aVAbsolutely. Absolutely, because what we need to is to make sure that they tie the monetary standard to something that makes sense, rather than to their own whims, because who's getting gut punched? It ain't the people in Wall Street, it's the folks on Main Street. They're the ones who's wages have been stagnant for 40 years. And the average American today has a total savings of 1,000 bucks. One root canal and they're in trouble. And if their car breaks down the same week......they're out of business. +p2098 +aVWell, I think thanking our veterans is a wonderful thing to do, but, they sure appreciate a better paycheck. They'd appreciate the fact that we kept our promises to them. The men and women in uniform put on the uniform of our nation, they went halfway around the world, they face dangers on our behalf, and we promised them if they did that, when they came home we'd take care of their medical care, we'd make is possible for their kids to go to college, and they'd be able to bind to a home. They kept their promises to us. We have not kept our promises to them, and today, less than one percent of Americans go to the military for service. We're fighting wars with other people's kids in large measure because we've not taken seriously the moral, not the monetary, the moral obligation to take care of the veterans and to keep America's promise to the ones who kept their promise to America. +p2099 +aVIn many ways, I feel like I'm the luckiest guy on Earth. I really do. It's a long way from a little brick rent house on second street in Hope, Arkansas to this stage where I'm running for President of the United States. It's not about me, not about these guys \u2014 'ought to be about you, and I've never been the favorite of the people who have the most money. But, I want to be the favorite of the people who still want to believe the American dream can work for them. Today in our office, I got a letter from a third grader in North Dakota, her name is Reese. She sent $6 dollars from her allowance, and said, "I want to help you be president." You know, I'm going to keep standing on this stage, and keep fighting for one reason, because somewhere out there in North Dakota, and all over America, there are kids like Reese who need a president who will never forget where they came from, and I promise I won't. +p2100 +asVCRUZ +p2101 +(lp2102 +VThank you, Wolf. America is at war. Our enemy is not violent extremism. It is not some unnamed malevolent force. It is radical Islamic terrorist. We have a president who is unwilling to utter its name. The men and women on this stage, every one of us, is better prepared to keep this nation safe than is Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. We need a president who understands the first obligation of the commander-in-chief is to keep America safe. If I am elected president, we will hunt down and kill the terrorists. We will utterly destroy +p2103 +aVWell, listen, Hugh, everyone understands why Donald has suggested what he has. We're looking at a president who's engaged in this double-speak where he doesn't call radical Islamic terrorism by its name. Indeed, he gives a speech after the San Bernardino attack where his approach is to try to go after the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens rather than to keep us safe. And even worse, President Obama and Hillary Clinton are proposing bringing tens of thousands of Syrian refugees to this country when the head of the FBI has told Congress they cannot vet those refugees. I understand why Donald made that proposal. I introduced legislation in the Senate that I believe is more narrowly focused at the actual threat, which is radical Islamic terrorism, and what my legislation would do is suspend all refugees for three years from countries where +p2104 +aVWell, you know, I'm reminded of what FDR's grandfather said. He said, "All horse-thieves are Democrats, but not all Democrats are horse-thieves." In this instance, there are millions of peaceful Muslims across the world, in countries like India, where there is not the problems we are seeing in nations that are controlled \u2014 have territory controlled by Al Qaida or +p2105 +aVWell, Dana, the premise of your question is not accurate. I'm very proud to have joined with conservatives in both the Senate and the House to reform how we target bad guys. And what the USA Freedom Act did is it did two things. Number one, it ended the federal government's bulk collection of phone metadata of millions of law-abiding citizens. But number two in the second half of it that is critical. It strengthened the tools of national security and law enforcement to go after terrorists. It gave us greater tools and we are seeing those tools work right now in San Bernardino. And in particular, what it did is the prior program only covered a relatively narrow slice of phone calls. When you had a terrorist, you could only search a relatively narrow slice of numbers, primarily land lines. The USA Freedom Act expands that so now we have cell phones, now we have Internet phones, now we have the phones that terrorists are likely to use and the focus of law enforcement is on targeting the bad guys. You know what the Obama administration keeps getting wrong is whenever anything bad happens they focus on law-abiding citizens instead of focusing on the bad guys. We need to focus on radical Islamic terrorists and we need to stop them before they carry out acts of terror. +p2106 +aVWell, you know, I would note that Marco knows what he's saying isn't true. You know, Mark Levin wrote a column last week that says that the attack ads his Super PAC is running that are saying the same thing, that they are knowingly false and they are, in fact, Alinsky-like attacks like Barack Obama. And the reason is simple. What he knows is that the old program covered 20 percent to 30 percent of phone numbers to search for terrorists. The new program covers nearly 100 percent. That gives us greater ability to stop acts of terrorism, and he knows that that's the case. +p2107 +aVWhat it means is using overwhelming air power to utterly and completely destroy +p2108 +aVYou would carpet bomb where +p2109 +aVWell, you know, Marco has continued these attacks, and he knows they're not true. Yes, it is true that I voted against the National Defense Authorization Act, because when I campaigned in Texas I told voters in Texas that I would oppose the federal government having the authority to detain U.S. citizens permanently with no due process. I have repeatedly supported an effort to take that out of that bill, and I honored that campaign commitment. +p2110 +aVBut more broadly, you know, the notion Marco is suggesting, that somehow \u2014 he also has tossed more than a few insults this direction \u2014 let's be absolutely clear. +p2111 +aVWolf, I believe in a America first foreign policy, that far too often President Obama and Hillary Clinton \u2014 and, unfortunately, more than a few Republicans \u2014 have gotten distracted from the central focus of keeping this country safe. So let's go back to the beginning of the Obama administration, when Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama led +p2112 +aV... we ought to hunt down our enemies and kill +p2113 +aVWell, it's more than not shedding a tear. It's actively getting involved to topple a government. And we keep hearing from President Obama and Hillary Clinton and Washington Republicans that they're searching for these mythical moderate rebels. It's like a purple unicorn. They never exist. These moderate rebels end up being jihadists. And I'll tell you whose view on Assad is the same as mine. It's Prime Minister Netanyahu. Prime Minister Netanyahu has said Israel doesn't have a dog in that fight because Assad is a puppet of Iran, a Shia radical Islamic terrorist, but at the same time, Prime Minister Netanyahu doesn't want to see Syria governed by +p2114 +aVThe question of whether we should toppling dictatorships is asking the wrong question. We should be defeating our enemies. So the problem with defeating... +p2115 +aVWell, but let me explain, the focus should be... +p2116 +aV... on defeating our enemies. So, for example... +p2117 +aV... a regime we should change is Iran... +p2118 +aV... because Iran has declared war on us. But we shouldn't be toppling regimes...... that are fighting radical Islamic terrorists that are helping... +p2119 +aVWell, he \u2014 he has attempted to muddy the waters, but I think that anyone who watched the battle that we had. You know, there was a time for choosing as Reagan put it. Where there was a battle over amnesty and some chose, like Senator Rubio to stand with Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer and support a massive amnesty plan. Others chose to stand with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and the American people and secure the border. And let me mention, this issue is actually directly connected to what we've been talking about. Because the front line with +p2120 +aVLook, I understand Marco wants to raise confusion, it is not accurate what he just said that I supported legalization. Indeed, I led the fight against his legalization and amnesty. And you know, there was one commentator that put it this way that, for Marco to suggest our record's the same is like suggesting "the fireman and the arsonist because they are both at the scene of the fire." He was fighting to grant amnesty and not to secure the border, I was fighting to secure the border. And this also goes to trust, listening on to campaign trails. Candidates all the time make promises. You know, Marco said," he learned that the American people didn't trust the federal government." +p2121 +aVIn Florida promising to... +p2122 +aVgo in the fight against amnesty... +p2123 +aVHe campaigned promising to lead the fight against amnesty. +p2124 +aVI have never supported a legalization... +p2125 +aVI have never supported legalization, and I do not intend to support legalization. Let me tell you how you do this, what you do is you enforce the law... +p2126 +aVWatt you do is enforcement the law... +p2127 +aVWhat you do... +p2128 +aVWhat you do is you enforce the law. I've laid out a very, very detailed immigration plan on my website, tedcruz.org. It's 11 pages of existing federal law and in particular the question of what to do with people who are here now? You enforce the law. That means you stop the Obama administration's policy of releasing criminal illegal aliens. Do you know how many aliens Bill Clinton deported? 12 million. Do you know how many illegal aliens, George W. Bush deported? 10 million. We can enforce the laws and if we secure the border, that solves the problem. And as president I will solve this problem and secure the border. +p2129 +aVDana, what I said in private is exactly what I'll say here, which is that the judgment that every voter is making of every one of us up here is who has the experience, who has the vision, who has the judgment to be commander in chief. That is the most important decision for the voters to make. That's a standard I'm held to. And it's a standard everyone else is held to. And I will note, you know, in the whole course of this discussion about our foreign policy threats, it actually illustrates the need for clarity of focus. You know, my daughters, Caroline and Catherine, came tonight. They're 7 and 5. And you think about the Los Angeles schools canceling their schools today. And every parent is wondering, how do we keep our kids safe? We need a commander in chief who does what Ronald Reagan did with communism, which is he set out a global strategy to defeat Soviet communism. And he directed all of his... I'm answering the question, Dana. He directed all of his forces to defeating communism. One of the things we've seen here is how easy it is for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to get distracted from dealing with radical Islamic terrorism. They won't even call it by its name. We need a president who stands up, number one, and says, we will defeat +p2130 +aVAnd we need to be focused on defeating... +p2131 +aV... defeating radical Islamic terrorists. +p2132 +aVWhat I'm saying, Dana, is that is a judgment for every voter to make. What I can tell you is all nine of the people here would make an infinitely better commander in chief than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. +p2133 +aVAnd there is a real danger, Dana, when people get distracted. I'm answering the question, Wolf. There's a real danger when people get distracted by peripheral issues. They get distracted by democracy building. They get distracted about military conflicts. We need to focus on defeating jihadism. +p2134 +aVAnd I will do everything necessary to keep our children safe. +p2135 +aVJudgment, strength, clarity and trust. Barack Obama has said he doesn't believe in American leadership or America winning \u2014 he is wrong. America can win again and we will win again. Ronald Reagan reignited the American economy, rebuilt the Military, bankrupted the Soviet Union and defeated Soviet Communism. I will do the same thing. Cutting taxes, cutting regulation, unleashing small businesses and rebuilding the Military to defeat radical Islamic terrorism \u2014 our strategy is simple. We win, they lose. We've done it before and we can do it again. +p2136 +aVWell, Maria, it's great to be with you. It's great to be here in Milwaukee. You know, the question you asked really I think is the most important question any of us can have \u2014 face, which is, how do we get the economy growing? How do we bring back economic growth? Because economic growth, it's foundational to every other challenge we have. As you rightly noted, from 2008 to today, our economy has grown 1.2 percent a year on average. The Obama economy is a disaster, and the IMF is telling us this is a new normal. It doesn't have to be. If you look at the history of America, there are three levers that government has had to facilitate economic growth. The first is tax reform. And as you noted, I have rolled out a bold and simple flat tax: 10 percent for every American that would produce booming growth and 4.9 million new jobs within a decade. The second element is regulatory reform, pulling back the armies of regulators that have descended like locusts on small businesses. And the third element is sound money. Every time we've pursued all three of those \u2014 whether in the 1920s with Calvin Coolidge or the 1960s with JFK or the 1980s with Ronald Reagan \u2014 the result has been incredible economic growth. We have done it before, and with leadership, we can do it again. +p2137 +aVWell, my Mom is here, so I don't think we should be pushing any grannies off cliffs. And, you miss-stated what I've said on entitlement reform. What I've said is for seniors we should make no changes whatsoever, for younger workers we should gradually raise the retirement age, we should have benefits grow more slowly, and we should allow them to keep a portion of their taxes in a personal account that they control, and can pass on to their kids... +p2138 +aVI want to go back to the discussion we had a minute ago because, you know, what was said was right. The democrats are laughing \u2014 because if republicans join democrats as the party of amnesty, we will lose. And, you know, I understand that when the mainstream media covers immigration, it doesn't often see it as an economic issue. But, I can tell you for millions \u2014 of Americans at home watching this, it is a very personal economic issue. And, I will say the politics of it will be very, very different if a bunch of lawyers or bankers were crossing the Rio Grande. Or if a bunch of people with journalism degrees were coming over and driving down the wages in the press. Then, we would see stories about the economic calamity that is befalling our nation. And, I will say for those of us who believe people 'ought to come to this country legally, and we should enforce the law, we're tired of being told it's anti-immigrant. It's offensive. I am the son of an immigrant who came legally from Cuba... ...to seek the American dream. And, we can embrace legal immigration while believing in the rule of law \u2014 and I would note, try going illegally to another country. Try going to China, or Japan. Try going to Mexico. See what they do. Every sovereign nation secures its borders, and it is not compassionate to say we're not going to enforce the laws... ...And we're going to drive down the wages for millions of hardworking men and women. That is abandoning the working... +p2139 +aVWell, sure, you put your finger on what the problem is. The current system isn't fair. Washington is fundamentally corrupt. There are more words in the IRS code than there are in the Bible \u2014 and \u2014 and not a one of them is as good. Every one of them reflects a carve-out or a subsidy, and it's all about empowering the Washington cartel. My simple Flat Tax says that, for a family of four, for the first $36,000 you earn, you pay no taxes whatsoever. No income taxes, no payroll taxes, no nothing. Above that, every American pays 10 percent across the board \u2014 a flat, fair tax. Which means that no longer do you have hedge-fund billionaires paying a lower tax rate than their secretaries. On the business side, I've got a business flat tax of 16 percent \u2014 again, that applies across the board. Right now, with our corporate income tax, giant corporations with armies of accountants regularly are paying little to no taxes while small businesses are getting hammered. This is fair and across-the-board. Now, you ask, how do the numbers add up? I would encourage folks, if you go to our website, tedcruz.org, we have the specific numbers on the website. This plan eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax, eliminates the corporate income tax, and it abolishes the IRS. And the effect of that is incredible economic growth. It means every income group will see double-digit increases, from the very poorest to the very weakest, of at least 14 percent. So if you're a single mom, if you're making $40,000 a year, what that means is an extra about $5,000 in your pocket to provide for your kids, to make ends meet. It has a powerful, powerful effect. And there's one other really powerful feature of my plan, which is that it's border-adjustable. Which means, if you're an exporter \u2014 if you're a farmer, if you're a rancher, if you're a manufacturer, you don't pay the businesses flat tax. Exports are free of that tax, but all imports pay that 16 percent business flat tax, which means this tax plan would cause jobs to boom, and it would let America compete with China and the world on a level playing field. +p2140 +aVWell, the numbers the Tax Foundation had put out is that the static cost of the plan is $3.6 trillion over 10 years, but the dynamic cost of the plan, which \u2014 which is the cost that factors in growth, is about $768 billion. It is less than a trillion. It costs less than virtually every other plan people have put up here, and yet it produces more growth and it's one of the very few plans that abolishes the IRS. But on top of that, today, we rolled out a spending plan. $500 billion in specific cuts \u2014 five major agencies that I would eliminate. The IRS, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Energy, the Department of Commerce, and HUD \u2014 and then 25 specific programs. Again, that's on our website at tedcruz.org. You want to look at specificity? It's easy for everyone to say, "cut spending". It's much harder and riskier to put out, chapter and verse, specifically the programs you would cut to stop bankrupting our kids and grandkids. +p2141 +aV...Middle ground that brings both of these together... +p2142 +aV...Exactly right, that we have to defend this nation. You think defending this nation is expensive, try not defending it. That's a lot more expensive. But, you can do that, and pay for it. You can do that, and also be fiscally responsible. You know, I mention that the 25 programs that I put today, that I would eliminate them. Among them are corporate welfare, like sugar subsidies. Let's take that as an example. Sugar subsidies. Sugar farmers farm under... ...under roughly 0.2% of the farmland in America, and yet they give 40% of the lobbying money. That sort of corporate welfare is why we're bankrupting our kids, and grandkids. I would end those subsidies to pay for defending this nation... +p2143 +aVAbsolutely yes. You know, I have spent much of my adult life enforcing the law and defending the Constitution. And the problem that underlies all of this is the cronyism and corruption of Washington. You know, the opening question Jerry asked, would you bail out the big banks again? Nobody gave you an answer to that. I'll give you an answer. Absolutely not. And what we have right now is we have Washington \u2014 as government gets bigger and bigger, you know, the biggest lie in all of Washington and in all of politics is that Republicans are the party of the rich. The truth is, the rich do great with big government. They get in bed with big government. The big banks get bigger and bigger and bigger under Dodd-Frank and community banks are going out of business. And, by the way, the consequence of that is small businesses can't get business loans, and it is that fundamental corruption that is why six of the 10 wealthiest counties in America are in and around Washington, D.C. And let me give you a contrast to Washington cronyism. Some weeks ago, a woman named Sabina Loving testified at a hearing that I chaired in the Senate. Sabina Loving is an African-American single mom who started a tax preparation business in the south side of Chicago. She found a store front, she wanted to have her own business. She started a business. But then the IRS promulgated new regulations targeting tax preparers. They did it under a more than 100-year-old statute called the Dead Horse Act. Now, this statute and the IRS in classic Washington crony fashion had exemptions for lawyers and big fancy accountants, but Sabina had to pay $1,000 an employee. It would have driven her out of business, and Ms. Loving sued the IRS. She took the Obama IRS to court, and she won, and they struck down the rule for picking the big guys over the little guys. +p2144 +aVYes. Now, let's be clear, there is a role for the Federal Reserve \u2014 what the Fed is doing now is it is a series of philosopher- kings trying to guess what's happening with the economy. You look at the Fed, one of the reasons we had the financial crash is throughout the 2000s, we had loose money, we had an asset bubble, it drove up the price of real estate, drove up the price of commodities, and then in the third quarter of 2008, the Fed tightened the money and crashed those asset prices, which caused a cascading collapse. That's why I am supporting getting back to rules-based monetary system not with a bunch of philosopher-kings deciding, but tied... +p2145 +aVSo let me be clear. I would not bail them out, but instead of adjusting monetary policy according to whims and getting it wrong over and over again and causing booms and busts, what the Fed should be doing is, number one, keeping our money tied to a stable level of gold, and, number two, serving as a lender of last resort. That's what central banks do. So if you have a run on the bank, the Fed can serve as a lender of last resort, but it's not a bailout. It is a loan at higher interest rates. That's how central banks have worked. And I'll point out \u2014 look, we had a gold standard under Bretton Woods, we had it for about 170 years of our nation's history, and enjoyed booming economic growth and lower inflation than we have had with the Fed now. We need to get back to sound money, which helps, in particular, working men and women. What Washington does \u2014 the people who are doing well in the Obama economy are those with power and influence in the Obama government. The people who working men and women... +p2146 +aVSo, Governor Kasich... +p2147 +aV...why would you then bail out rich Wall Street banks, but not Main street, not Mom and Pop, not Sabina Loving? +p2148 +aVBut you just said an executive... +p2149 +aV...knows to step in and bail out a bank. +p2150 +aVSo you said you'd abandon philosophy and abandon principle... +p2151 +aV...but what would you do if the bank was failing? +p2152 +aVSo you \u2014 you would bail them out. +p2153 +aVAnd, Maria, I will note, she's got a lot of experience, but her policies have proven disastrous. If you look at foreign policy, every region in the world has gotten worse. Under her leadership, we abandon the nation of Israel. Under her leadership, radical Islamic terrorism has been on to the rise. Under her leadership, and Obama's leadership, Iran is getting $100 billion dollars, and on the verge of getting a nuclear weapon. Everything she's put her hand to, or has touched \u2014 and when we talk about the cronyism of Washington, Hillary Clinton embodies the cronyism... ...of Washington. And, I'll give you an example of that, which is the Congressional exemption from Obamacare, which is fundamentally wrong, and I'll tell you this, if I'm elected president, I will veto any statute that exempts members of congress. The law should apply evenly to every American. +p2154 +aVMaria, critically, when it comes to climate change... +p2155 +aV...Our \u2014 our... +p2156 +aVFifty-eight years ago, my father fled Cuba. As he stood on the deck of that ferryboat with the wind and salt air blowing, he looked back at the oppression and torture he was escaping. And yet he looked forward to the promise of America. His story is our story. What ties Americans together is we are all the children of those who risked everything for freedom. America is in crisis now. I believe in America. And if we get back to the free market principles and constitutional liberties that built this country, we can turn this country around. I believe that 2016 will be an election like 1980, that we will win by following Reagan's admonition to paint in bold colors, not pale pastels. We're building a grassroots army. I ask you to join us at tedcruz.org. And we, the people, can turn this nation around. +p2157 +aVI'm too agreeable, easy going. You know, I think my biggest weakness is exactly the opposite. I'm a fighter. I am passionate about what I believe. I've been passionate my whole life about the Constitution. And, you know, for six-and-a-half years, we've had a gigantic party. If you want someone to grab a beer with, I may not be that guy. But if you want someone to drive you home, I will get the job done and I will get you home. +p2158 +aVBecky, if you want a 10 percent flat tax where the numbers add up, I rolled out my tax plan today, you can find it on line at tedcruz.org. It is a simple flat tax where for individuals, a family of four pays nothing on the first $36,000. After that you pay 10 percent as a flat tax going up. The billionaire and the working man, no hedge fund manager pays less than his secretary. On top of that, there is a business flat tax of 16 percent. Now that applies universally to giant corporations that with lobbyists right now are not paying taxes, and as small business. And you wanted to know the numbers, the Tax Foundation, which has scored every one of our plans, shows that this plan will allow the economy to generate 4.9 million jobs, to raise wages over 12 percent, and to generate 14 percent growth. And it costs, with dynamic scoring, less than a trillion dollars. Those are the hard numbers. And every single income decile sees a double-digit increase in after-tax income. +p2159 +aVGrowth is the answer. And as Reagan demonstrated, if we cut taxes, we can bring back growth. +p2160 +aVYou know, let me say something at the outset. The questions that have been asked so far in this debate illustrate why the American people don't trust the media. This is not a cage match. And, you look at the questions \u2014 "Donald Trump, are you a comic-book villain?" "Ben Carson, can you do math?" "John Kasich, will you insult two people over here?" "Marco Rubio, why don't you resign?" "Jeb Bush, why have your numbers fallen?" How about talking about the substantive issues the people care about? +p2161 +aVAnd Carl \u2014 Carl, I'm not finished yet. The contrast with the Democratic debate, where every fawning question from the media was, "Which of you is more handsome and why?" And let me be clear. +p2162 +aVLet me be clear. The men and women on this stage have more ideas, more experience, more common sense than every participant in the Democratic debate. That debate reflected a debate between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. And nobody watching at home believed that any of the moderators had any intention of voting in a Republican primary. The questions that are being asked shouldn't be trying to get people to tear into each other. It should be what are your substantive positions... +p2163 +aVYou want me to answer that question? I'm happy to answer the question... +p2164 +aVLet me tell you how that question... +p2165 +aVLet me tell you how that question... +p2166 +aV... so you don't actually want to hear the answer, John? +p2167 +aVYou don't want to hear the answer. You just want to... +p2168 +aVYou're not interested in an answer. +p2169 +aV...Then I'll buy you a tequila... +p2170 +aV...Or, even some famous Colorado brownies. +p2171 +aVWell, sure. This deal in Washington is an example of why Washington's broken. Republican leadership joined with every single Democrat, add $80 trillion to our debt to do nothing to fix the problems. And, let me now on Social Security because we were getting into a good substantive exchange, and I want to say I think both Chris, and Mike are right. Governor Huckabee's exactly right, we need to honor the promises made to our seniors, but for younger workers \u2014 look. I'm 44 years old. It is hard to find someone in my generation that thinks Social Security will be there for us. We can save and preserve and strengthen Social Security by making no changes for seniors, but for younger workers gradually increasing the retirement age, changing the rate of growth so that it matches inflation, and critically allowing younger workers to keep a portion of our tax payments in a personal account that we own, we control them, we can pass on to our kids. +p2172 +aVWell, we've gotta turn the economy around for people who are struggling. The Democrats' answer to everything is more government control over wages, and more empowering trial lawyers to file lawsuits. You know, you look at women working. I'll tell you, in my family there are a lot of single moms in my family. My sister was a single mom, both of my aunts who were a single moms. My mom who's here today, was a single mom when my father left us when I was 3 years old. Now, thank God, my father was invited to a Bible study and became born again and he came back to my mom and me and we were raised together. But I \u2014 the struggle of single moms is extraordinary. And you know, when you see Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and all the Democrats talking about wanting to address the plight of working women, not a one of them mentioned the fact that under Barack Obama, 3.7 million women have entered poverty. Not a one of them mentioned the fact that under Barack Obama and the big government economy, the median wage for women has dropped $733. The the truth of the matter is, big government benefits the wealthy, it benefits the lobbyists, it benefits the giant corporations. And the people who are getting hammered are small businesses, it's single moms, it's Hispanics. That is who I'm fighting for. The people that Washington leaves behind. +p2173 +aVWell, Rick, it's a very important question. I have got deep concerns about the Fed. The first thing I think we need to do is audit the Fed. And I am an original co-sponsor of Rand Paul's audit the Fed legislation. The second thing we need to do is I think we need to bring together a bipartisan commission to look at getting back to rules- based monetary policy, end this star chamber that has been engaging in this incredible experiment of quantitative easing, QE1, QE2, QE3, QE- infinity. And the people who are being impacted, you know, a question that was asked earlier, Becky asked, was about working women. You know, it's interesting, you look at on Wall Street, the Fed is doing great. It's driving up stock prices. Wall Street is doing great. You know, today, the top 1 percent earn a higher share of our income than any year since 1928. But if you look at working men and women. If you look at a single mom buying groceries, she sees hamburger prices have gone up nearly 40 percent. She sees her cost of electricity going up. She sees her health insurance going up. And loose money is one of the major problems. We need sound money. And I think the Fed should get out of the business of trying to juice our economy and simply be focused on sound money and monetary stability, ideally tied to gold. +p2174 +aVLet me say on that... +p2175 +aV...Rand is exactly right. His plan is a good plan, and I will note that my 10% plan also eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax, +p2176 +aV...eliminates the business... [ +p2177 +aV...income tax... [ +p2178 +aV...10% flat rate... +p2179 +aV...is the lowest personal rate any candidate up here has, and what it would also enable us to do is for every citizen to fill out their taxes on a postcard so we can eliminate the IRS. +p2180 +aVYou know, everyone here talks about the need to take on Washington. The natural next question is who actually has done so. Who actually has stood up not just to Democrats, but to leaders in our own party? When millions of Americans rose up against Obamacare, I was proud to lead that fight. When millions of Americans rose up against amnesty, I was proud to lead that fight. When millions of Americans rose up against Planned Parenthood, I was proud to lead that fight. If people are promising they're going to take on Washington and cronyism, you need to look to who has been doing it. In my family, my dad fled oppression in Cuba to come to America. Freedom is personal for me, and I will always keep my word and fight for freedom. +p2181 +aVI'm Ted Cruz. I am the son of an Irish-Italian mom and a Cuban immigrant dad who fled oppression and came to America seeking freedom. I'm a husband to my best friend, Heidi, who's here tonight. I'm a dad to two little girls who are the loves of my life, Caroline and Catherine. If you're fed up with Washington, if you're looking for someone to stand up to career politicians in both parties, I'm the only one on this stage who has done that over and over again, and if we stand together, we can bring America back. +p2182 +aVWell, let me tell you, Jake, the single biggest national security threat facing America right now is the threat of a nuclear Iran. We've seen six and a half years of President Obama leading from behind. Weakness is provocative, and this Iranian nuclear deal is nothing short of catastrophic. This deal, on its face, will send over $100 billion to the Ayatollah Khamenei, making the Obama administration the world's leading financier of radical Islamic terrorism. +p2183 +aVThis deal abandons four American hostages in Iran, and this deal will only accelerate Iran's acquiring nuclear weapons. You'd better believe it. If I am elected president, on the very first day in office, I will rip to shreds this catastrophic Iranian nuclear deal. +p2184 +aVWell, let's be clear when it comes to experience. What President Obama wants to do is he's run to the United Nations, and he wants to use the United Nations to bind the United States, and take away our sovereignty. Well, I spent five and a half years as a Solicitor General of Texas, the lead lawyer for the state, in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, and I went in front of the Supreme Court, and took on the world court of the United Nations in a case called Medellin v. Texas, and we won a historic victory saying the World Court, and the U.N., has no power to bind the United States, and no President of the United States, Republican or Democrat, has the authority to give away our sovereignty. And, so, if there's anyone up here who would be bound by this catastrophic deal with Iran, they're giving up the core responsibility of commander in chief, and as president, I would never do that. +p2185 +aVJake, Jake... +p2186 +aVJake, there is no more important topic in 2016 than this topic right here, and I've listened to several folks saying, "Well, gosh, if they cheat, we'll act." We won't know under this agreement \u2014 there are several facilities in Iran they designate as military facilities that are off limit all together. Beyond that, the other facilities, we give them 24 days notice before inspecting them. That is designed to allow them to hide the evidence. And most astonishingly, this agreement trusts the Iranians to inspect themselves. That makes no sense whatsoever. And let me know \u2014 President Obama is violating federal law... +p2187 +aV... by not handing over the side deals, and we ought to see the United States Congress... +p2188 +aV... stand up together and say, "Hand over this treaty, and protect this country." +p2189 +aVWell, let me tell you, Dana, number one, I'm proud to stand for life. These Planned Parenthood videos are horrifying. I would encourage every American to watch the videos. See \u2014 seeing your Planned Parenthood officials callously, heartlessly bartering and selling the body parts of human beings, and then ask yourself, "are these my values?" These are horrifying. On these videos, Planned Parenthood also essentially confesses to multiple felonies. It is a felony with ten years' jail term to sell the body parts of unborn children for profit. That's what these videos show Planned Parenthood doing. Absolutely we shouldn't be sending $500 million of taxpayer money to funding an ongoing criminal enterprise, and I'll tell you, the fact that Republican leadership in both houses has begun this discussion by preemptively surrendering to Barack Obama and saying, "we'll give in because Obama threatens a veto." You know, Obama's committed to his principles. His liberal principles, he will fight for them. He says... +p2190 +aVI will veto any budget that doesn't fund Planned Parenthood, and Republicans surrender. We need to stop surrendering and start standing... +p2191 +aV...for our principles. +p2192 +aVWell, Jake, you know, I'm \u2014 I'm very glad that Donald Trump's being in this race has forced the mainstream media finally to talk about illegal immigration. I think that's very important. I like and respect Ben Carson. I'll let him talk about his own plans. But I will say this: The natural next question that primary voters are asking, after we focus on illegal immigration is, okay, what are the records of the various candidates? And this is an issue on which there are stark differences. A majority of the men and women on this stage have previously and publicly embraced amnesty. I am the only candidate on this stage who has never supported amnesty and, in fact, who helped lead the fight to stop a massive amnesty plan. In 2013, when Barack Obama and Harry Reid joined the Washington Republicans in a massive, I stood shoulder to shoulder with Jeff Sessions helping lead the fight. You know, folks here have talked about, how do you secure the borders? Well, I've been leading the fight in the Senate to triple the Border Patrol, to put in place fencings and walls, to put in place a strong biometric exit/entry system... +p2193 +aVWell, Dana, I've known John Roberts for 20 years, he's amazingly talented lawyer, but, yes, it was a mistake when he was appointed to the Supreme Court. He's a good enough lawyer that he knows in these Obamacare cases he changed the statute, he changed the law in order to force that failed law on millions of Americans for a political outcome. And, you know, we're frustrated as conservatives. We keep winning elections, and then we don't get the outcome we want. And, let me focus on two moments in time. Number one, in 1990, in one room was David Souter, and in another room was Edith Jones, the rock ribbed (ph) conservative on the fifth circuit court of appeals. George Herbert Walker Bush appointed David Souter. And then in 2005, in one room was John Roberts, in another room was my former boss, Mike Luttig, the rock ribbed (ph) conservative on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals... +p2194 +aV...George W. Bush appointed John Roberts, and let me give you the consequences of that. If, instead, the President Bush had appointed Edith Jones, and Mike Luttig, which is who I would have appointed, Obamacare would have been struck down three years ago, and the marriage laws of all 50 states would be on the books. These matter, and I fought to defend the constitution my whole life... +p2195 +aV...and I will as president as well. +p2196 +aVIt is true that after George W. Bush nominated John Roberts, I supported his confirmation. That was a mistake and I regret that. I wouldn't have nominated John Roberts, and indeed, Governor Bush pointed out why. It wasn't that the President Bushes wanted to appoint a liberal to the court, it's that it was the easier choice. Both David Souter and John Roberts, they didn't have a long paper trail. If you had nominated Edith Jones or Mike Ludig (ph) you would have had a bloody fight and they weren't willing to spend political capital to put a strong judicial conservative on the court. I have spent my entire life, starting from clerking for Chief Justice William Rehnquist on the United States Supreme Court, one of the most principled jurists. We have an out-of-control Court, and I give you my word, if I'm elected president, every single Supreme Court justice will faithfully follow the law and will not act like philosopher kings \u2014 +p2197 +aV\u2014 imposing their liberal policies on millions of Americans \u2014 +p2198 +aV\u2014 who need to be trusted to govern ourselves. +p2199 +aVI \u2014 I am not, and \u2014 and you mentioned that the U.S. Supreme Court had rightly upheld the individual right to keep and bear arms. I was proud to lead 31 states before the U.S. Supreme Court defending the Second Amendment, and we won that landmark victory. And indeed, just a couple of years ago, when Harry Reid and Barack Obama came after the right to keep and bear arms of millions of Americans, I was proud to lead the fight in the United States Senate to protect our right to keep and bear arms, and for that reason... +p2200 +aV... I was honored to be endorsed by Gun Owners of America... +p2201 +aV... as the strongest supporter of the Second Amendment on this stage today, and I will... +p2202 +aV... fight every day to defend the Bill of Rights. +p2203 +aVWell, I wouldn't change the $10 bill, I'd change the $20. I'd take Jackson off and I'd leave Alexander Hamilton right where he is as one of our Founding Fathers. And I very much agree with Marco that it should be Rosa Parks. She was a principled pioneer that helped change this country, helped remedy racial injustice, and that would be an honor that would be entirely appropriate. +p2204 +aVYou know, as a Cuban, I might go with Cohiba (ph), and I'll tell you, I'd go with, for Heidi, Angel, because she is my angel. +p2205 +aVRonald Reagan believed in America. If I'm elected president our friends and allies across the globe will know that we stand with them. the bust of Winston Churchill will be back in the Oval Office, and the American embassy in Israel will be in Jerusalem. Enemies across this world will know the United States is not to be trifled with. +p2206 +aVChris, I believe the American people are looking for someone to speak the truth. If you're looking for someone to go to Washington, to go along to get along, to get -- to agree with the career politicians in both parties who get in bed with the lobbyists and special interests, then I ain't your guy. There is a reason... .... that we have $18 trillion in debt. Because as conservatives, as Republicans, we keep winning elections. We got a Republican House, we've got a Republican Senate, and we don't have leaders who honor their commitments. I will always tell the truth and do what I said I would do. +p2207 +aVChris, absolutely yes. And not only will I support it......I have authored Kate's law in the United States Senate and filed that legislation. I tried to get the Senate to vote to pass Kate's law on the floor of the Senate just one week ago, and the leader of our own party blocked a vote on Kate's law. You know, there was reference made to our leaders being stupid. It's not a question of stupidity. It's that they don't want to enforce the immigration laws. That there are far too many in the Washington cartel that support amnesty. President Obama has talked about fundamentally transforming this country. There's 7 billion people across the face of the globe, many of whom want to come to this country. If they come legally, great. But if they come illegally and they get amnesty, that is how we fundamentally change this country, and it really is striking. A majority of the candidates on this stage have supported amnesty. I have never supported amnesty, and I led the fight against Chuck Schumer's gang of eight amnesty legislation in the Senate. +p2208 +aVMegyn, we need a commander in chief that speaks the truth. We will not defeat radical Islamic terrorism so long as we have a president unwilling to utter the words, "radical Islamic terrorism". When I asked General Dempsey, the chairman of the joint chiefs, what would be required militarily to destroy +p2209 +aVMegyn, of course it's an ideological problem, that's one of the reasons I introduce the Expatriate Terrorist Act in the Senate that said if any American travels to the Middle East and joining +p2210 +aVWell, Bret, of course they have, and over the last six and a half years we've seen the consequences of the Obama-Clinton foreign policy. Leading from behind is a disaster. We have abandoned and alienated our friends and allies, and our enemies are stronger. Radical Islam is on the rise, Iran's on the verge of acquiring a nuclear weapon, China is waging cyber warfare against America, Russia -- General Soleimani, you just mentioned, the Iranian general is the head of the al Quds forces. He's directly responsible for the murder of over 500 American servicemen in Iraq, and part of this Iranian deal was lifting the international sanctions on General Soleimani. The day General Soleimani flew back from Moscow to Iran was the day we believed that Russia used cyber warfare against the Joint Chiefs. We need a new commander in chief that will stand up to our enemies, and that will have credibility... It is worth emphasizing that Iran released our hostages in 1981 the day Ronald Reagan was sworn into office. +p2211 +aVBrett, can I -- Brett, can I jump in on this one? +p2212 +aVWell, I am blessed to receive a word from God every day in receiving the scriptures and reading the scriptures. And God speaks through the Bible. I'm the son of a pastor and evangelist and I've described many times how my father, when I was a child, was an alcoholic. He wasn't a Christian. And my father left my mother and left me when I was just three years old. And someone invited him to Clay Road Baptist Church. And he gave his heart to Jesus and it turned him around. And he got on a plane and he flew back to my mother and me. I would also note that the scripture tells us, "you shall know them by their fruit." We see lots of "campaign conservatives." But if we're going to win in 2016, we need a consistent conservative, someone who has been a fiscal conservative, a social conservative, a national security conservative. There are real differences among the candidates on issues like amnesty, like Obamacare, like religious liberty, like life and marriage. And I have been proud to fight and stand for religious liberty, to stand against Planned Parenthood, to defend life for my entire career. And I will be proud to continue to do so as president of the United States. +p2213 +aVIf I'm elected president, let me tell you about my first day in office. The first thing I intend to do is to rescind every illegal and unconstitutional executive action taken by Barack Obama. The next thing I intend to do is instruct the Department of Justice to open an investigation into these videos and to prosecute Planned Parenthood for any criminal violations. The next thing I intend to do is instruct the Department of Justice and the IRS to start (sic) persecuting religious liberty, and then intend to cancel the Iran deal, and finally move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. I will keep my word. My father fled Cuba, and I will fight to defend liberty because my family knows what it's like to lose it. +p2214 +asVTODD +p2215 +(lp2216 +VGood evening, and welcome to the +p2217 +aVAnd neither party has seen this yet. These candidates are both running for the Democratic nomination, but they are very different from each other when it comes to what matters most and how they would go about the job of being president. Our job tonight is to draw out those differences so you, the voters, can understand them and be fully informed. +p2218 +aVFirst, I want to say a special thanks to the New Hampshire Union Leader for helping make this debate possible, and the readers, who helped provide some of the questions and topics that we'll be addressing tonight. The rules tonight, by the way, are simple: 90 seconds for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. +p2219 +aVThank you, Senator. Secretary Clinton. +p2220 +aVAll right. Let's get started. Secretary Clinton, last night you cited the Concord Monitor when you said of Senator Sanders that, quote, "It's very hard to see how any of his proposals could ever be achievable." So please tell us why you think if he's elected president on a platform of promising things like free public college and universal healthcare, that he cannot achieve those things. +p2221 +aVThank you, Secretary. Senator Sanders, so just explain how you spent nearly two decades in Congress and haven't gotten any of these things passed. Why do you think as president you'll be able to achieve big, big new programs like this? +p2222 +aVGo. +p2223 +aVYes, go ahead. +p2224 +aVAll right, thank you both. Rachel. +p2225 +aVI'd like to follow up on a comment that Secretary Clinton said, Senator. President Obama has not called for abolishing the death penalty. President Obama is for the big Asian trade deal known as TPP, and just yesterday you said you can't be both a moderate or a progressive, but you can't be both. Is President Obama, in your judgment, based on these policies positions, a progressive? +p2226 +aV...Secretary Clinton, go ahead... +p2227 +aV 30 seconds, and then we'll move. +p2228 +aVThank you. +p2229 +aV... Secretary, we're gonna... +p2230 +aVThirty seconds. +p2231 +aVThank you both. +p2232 +aVAll right, welcome back. Let's get right to it. Senator Sanders, you were talking about all of your campaign contributions and campaign finance reform. You rail against big money in politics. But do you realize there is one public financing system that we do have in place, and it is\u2014it is in place to run for president. Why aren't you walking the walk on that? Why aren't you participating in the presidential public financing system which is designed to essentially keep big money out of presidential politics? +p2233 +aVWell, going on that then, why criticize her on Super PACs, and you got\u2014and all this when it is\u2014you know, that's the system? I mean, you could be participating in a publicly-financing\u2014public financing system... +p2234 +aV... and being able to set\u2014being able to set an example. +p2235 +aV... she has had more people praise her plan than yours. +p2236 +aVThank you both. Let me move on to our next question here, and in fact it comes to us through New England Cable News. Secretary Clinton, it's addressed to you, and it's about this issue of the speeches, particularly to Goldman Sachs. This is what the questioner wrote verbatim. "I am concerned with the abuses of Wall Street has taken with the American taxpayers money," and then she asks whether you would release the transcripts of your Goldman Sachs speeches, and then added, "Don't you think the voting public has a right to know what was said?" But, let's make that bigger. Are you willing to release the transcripts of all your paid speeches? We do know through reporting that there were transcription services for all of those paid speeches. In full disclosure, would you release all of them? +p2237 +aVSenator, you sound like you want to respond. Go ahead. +p2238 +aVWe'll be right back. And we're going to get to trade and a lot of other issues. +p2239 +aVGo ahead, Senator Sanders\u201430 seconds, your response. +p2240 +aVAll right. Senator, I want to stay, though... +p2241 +aVGo ahead. 30 seconds. +p2242 +aVLet me\u2014let\u2014we're gonna\u2014we're staying\u2014we're staying basically on this topic. Obviously you've been emphasizing this difference on the Iraq war, but one place where you do agree, and one place where you voted to authorize the use of force, was in favor of the war in Afghanistan. Right now, it is possible President Obama is going to be leaving the next president, perhaps President Sanders, at least 10,000 troops in Afghanistan. How long will those troops be in Afghanistan under President Sanders? +p2243 +aVCan you address a question on Afghanistan? How long are these troops going to be there? If President Obama leaves you 10,000 troops, how long do you think they're going to be there? +p2244 +aVSecretary Clinton, 30 seconds: How long are these troops going to be in Afghanistan? We have more American troops in Afghanistan than what we were talking about with Iraq. +p2245 +aVYou know, Senator Sanders, nobody knows who your foreign policy advisers are. You haven't given a major foreign policy speech. And it doesn't sound like all the time that foreign policy is a priority, other than when you're asked about it, and you say you're going to crush +p2246 +aVAll right, Senator, 30 seconds. +p2247 +aV30 seconds, madam secretary. +p2248 +aVAlright, as Commander in Chief, Senator Sanders, you've got to prioritize potential threats to the United States. Three countries, North Korea, Iran, Russia. How would you rank them in order of their threat to America's security right now... +p2249 +aV... Starting with the biggest threat. +p2250 +aV... I didn't say that... +p2251 +aV... No... +p2252 +aV... We already had that. I'm talking about these three countries. How would you orient our national security, our national defense posture. +p2253 +aVSecretary of Defense Ash Carter this week picked one of those three, and he has said Russia is, basically, the most important national security threat. Sort of reorienting the defense and the challenges to that. Do you agree with his decisions... +p2254 +aVSecretary Clinton, what do you think of Secretary of Defense Ash Carter. He's basically putting Russia above Iran, above North Korea, as sort of the chief national security challenge right now. +p2255 +aVThank you both, Rachel? +p2256 +aVAnd we are back. We're gonna get into a little bit of election politics, electability, in a little bit. Senator Sanders, The Iowa Democratic Party has declared Hillary Clinton the winner of Monday's Iowa caucuses\u2014narrowest of margins. Today, the Des Moines Register has an editorial that calls for the audit of the results, saying, quote, "what happened Monday night at the Democratic caucuses was a debacle, period. The results were too close not to do a complete audit." Senator Sanders, do you accept the idea that Hillary Clinton won Iowa? And do you\u2014or do you believe the caucuses are still an open question? +p2257 +aVSecretary Clinton, will you participate in some sort of audit, if that's what the party wants to do? You good with that? +p2258 +aVThat's fair enough. OK. +p2259 +aVGood, we move on. We're happy with that. We have more questions. +p2260 +aVWe'll stay on this issue. We'll stay on this topic. Secretary Clinton, just like there are some Democrats that question Senator Sanders' ability in the general election, many Democratic voters that our reporters have been running into in Iowa and New Hampshire, they tell our reporters over and over again they're worried about the emails issue, not because they don't believe your explanation, but because it's a drip-drip, because the cloud is hanging over your head and that it will impact the general election. They see your numbers right now and they think it's the email issue as to why you're not polling very well. So can you reassure these Democrats that somehow the email issue isn't going to blow up your candidacy if you're the nominee? +p2261 +aVAll right, Madam Secretary, there is an open\u2014there is an open FBI investigation into this matter about how you may have handled classified material. Are you 100 percent confident that nothing is going to come of this FBI investigation? +p2262 +aVWell, Senator sanders, you famously at the first debate said you didn't give a darn about her emails; I think you used another . +p2263 +aVYou're right. I'm trying to\u2014it's a\u2014it's a family hour still right now. After 11:00, I'll say it the other way. And you mostly have refrained from commenting on it, but recently you called it a very serious issue, and then the other day you said well she's getting slapped with the email controversy. Are you\u2014how are you feeling about these darn emails now? +p2264 +aVOK. Senator Sanders, thank you. +p2265 +aVSecretary Clinton, let me turn to the issue of trade. In the '90s you supported +p2266 +aVWell, Senator Sanders, I know you want to respond on this, you have never supported a trade deal since you've been in Congress. +p2267 +aVBut if you do that as president... If you do that as president, how are you not essentially letting China, who will do all of these deals around the world, how are you going to prevent China from essentially setting the rules of trade for the world? +p2268 +aVAll right. Thank you both. We're going to sneak in one more break here, and when we come back we'll squeeze as many questions as we can before we end this thing. We'll be right back. +p2269 +aVAll right. Welcome back here in the final minutes. +p2270 +aVThe home stretch of this only Democratic debate in the final week before the primary. Let me start with you, Secretary Clinton, on this question. Obviously, President Obama got a lot of ambitious stuff done in his first year and a half. You're going to have to make choices. And there's a lot of heavy lifts. And he made choices. He did healthcare and it came at the expense, arguably, of immigration reform. Had he put immigration reform first, perhaps that gets done and healthcare doesn't. So there are three big lifts that you've talked about: immigration, gun reform, climate change. What do you do first? Because you know the first one is the one you have the best shot at getting done. +p2271 +aVAll right, but Senator Sanders......you've still got to do something first. As you know, history said\u2014shows what you pick first is your best shot at getting, and how you prioritize things. +p2272 +aVImmigration reform, for instance, fell by the wayside in the first term because of this. +p2273 +aVOK. Thank you. +p2274 +aVAll right, before we go, I want to ask each one of these. Secretary Clinton, you've made it clear when you look at Senator Sanders, you do not see a president, but do you see\u2014 +p2275 +aVBut do you see\u2014do you see a vice president? +p2276 +aVWould you unite the party by trying to pick Senator Sanders as your running mate? +p2277 +aVSenator, would you consider the secretary? +p2278 +aVSecretary Clinton, closing statements. You are first. +p2279 +aVThank you, Madam Secretary. Senator Sanders. +p2280 +aVWell, there you have it. I promise you, Rachel and I have a lot more questions, but we just don't have any more time, unless we could a third hour, but I don't think so. Our debate coverage\u2014 debate coverage will continue in just a moment with our colleague . And we want to thank all of you for being here, and we want to thank the two candidates for taking part in this important event. +p2281 +aVWe'll see you in a few minutes. Thank you. +p2282 +asVHARWOOD +p2283 +(lp2284 +VMr. Trump, you've done very well in this campaign so far by promising to build a wall and make another country pay for it. +p2285 +aVSend 11 million people out of the country. Cut taxes $10 trillion without increasing the deficit. +p2286 +aVAnd make Americans better off because your greatness would replace the stupidity and incompetence of others. +p2287 +aVLet's be honest. Is this a comic book version of a presidential campaign? +p2288 +aVWe're at the 60 seconds. +p2289 +aVWe're at 60 seconds, but I gotta ask you, you talked about your tax plan. You say that it would not increase the deficit because you cut taxes $10 trillion in the economy would take off like... +p2290 +aVHold on, hold on. The economy would take off like a rocket ship. +p2291 +aVI talked to economic advisers who have served presidents of both parties. They said that you have as chance of cutting taxes that much without increasing the deficit as you would of flying away from that podium by flapping your arms. +p2292 +aVThe Tax Foundation says \u2014 has looked at all of our plans and \u2014 and his creates, even with the dynamic effect, $8 trillion dollar deficit... +p2293 +aVGovernor Kasich, hold it, I'm coming to you right now. The... +p2294 +aVWell, I'm asking you about this. +p2295 +aVI'm about to ask you about this. That is, you had some very strong words to say yesterday about what's happening in your party and what you're hearing from the two gentlemen we've just heard from. Would you repeat it? +p2296 +aVWell, let's just get more pointed about it. You said yesterday that you were hearing proposals that were just crazy from your colleagues. Who were you talking about? +p2297 +aVHold on. I think there's a \u2014 I've got question for \u2014 +p2298 +aVHold on, Governor. I've got a question for Governor Bush. +p2299 +aVNo, we're moving to Governor Bush. Governor, the fact that you're at the fifth lectern tonight shows how far your stock has fallen in this race, despite the big investment your donors have made. You noted recently, after slashing your payroll, that you had better things to do than sit around and be demonized by other people. I wanted to ask you \u2014 +p2300 +aVOK. +p2301 +aVGot it. +p2302 +aVBut it's a \u2014 OK. It's a \u2014 it's a question about why you're having difficulty. I want to ask you in this context. Ben Bernanke, who was appointed Fed chairman by your brother, recently wrote a book in which he said he no longer considers himself a Republican because the Republican Party has given in to know- nothingism. Is that why you're having a difficult time in this race? +p2303 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2304 +aVWe're gonna get down the line. Becky's got a question. +p2305 +aVSenator Paul, I've got a question for you on the same subject. +p2306 +aVSenator Paul? +p2307 +aVYou used your time on something else. Senator Paul? +p2308 +aVSenator Paul, the budget deal crafted by Speaker Boehner and passed by the House today makes cuts in entitlement programs, Medicare and Social Security disability, which are the very programs conservatives say need cutting to shrink government and solve our country's long-term budget deficit. Do you oppose that budget deal because it doesn't cut those programs enough? +p2309 +aVSenator, if what you just said is true, why did Speaker Boehner craft this deal and why did Paul Ryan, who has a strong reputation for fiscal discipline, vote for it? +p2310 +aVThank you, Senator . +p2311 +aVJim, thanks. Governor Bush, in a debate like this four years ago, every Republican running for president pledged to oppose a budget deal containing any tax increase even if it had spending cuts ten times as large. A few months later, you told Congress, put me in, coach, you said you would take that deal. Still feel that way? +p2312 +aVBut to \u2014 to the point that you made to Congress, if you were president and you were offered a bipartisan deal that had one dollar... +p2313 +aV...one dollar of tax increases per ten dollars of spending cuts, would you take it? +p2314 +aVSo you don't want the coach to put you in any more? +p2315 +aVThank you, governor. Carl? +p2316 +aVGovernor John Kasich, you've called for abolishing the Export Import Bank, which provides subsidies to help American companies compete with overseas competitors. You call that corporate welfare. One of the largest newspapers in your state wrote an editorial, said they found that strange, writing, that if that's corporate welfare, what does Kasich call the millions of dollars in financial incentives doled out to attract or retain jobs by his development effort \u2014 jobs Ohio. If subsidies are good enough for Ohio companies, why aren't they good enough for companies trying to compete overseas? +p2317 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2318 +aVThank you, Governor. Thank you. +p2319 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate on +p2320 +aVIt sounds like you think Senator Sessions is wrong to believe there is enough abuse in that program that we shouldn't... +p2321 +aVThank you, Senator. Becky? +p2322 +aVGovernor Bush, the tax reform bill that Ronald Reagan signed in 1986 cut the top personal income tax rate to 28 percent \u2014 just like your plan does. But President Reagan taxed capital gains at the same rate, while you would tax them at just 20 percent. Given the problems we've been discussing, growing gap between rich and poor, why would you tax labor at a higher rate than income from investments? +p2323 +aVSenator Rubio, 30 seconds to you. The Tax Foundation, which was alluded to earlier, scored your tax plan and concluded that you give nearly twice as much of a gain in after-tax income to the top 1 percent as to people in the middle of the income scale. Since you're the champion of Americans living paycheck-to- paycheck, don't you have that backward? +p2324 +aVThe Tax Foundation \u2014 just to be clear, they said the... +p2325 +aVNo, I did not. +p2326 +aVSenator, the Tax Foundation said after-tax income for the top 1 percent under your plan would go up 27.9 percent. +p2327 +aVAnd people in the middle of the income spectrum, about 15 percent. +p2328 +aV +p2329 +aVSenator, thank you. +p2330 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you've written about the huge divide in values between middle America and the big coastal cities like New York and Los Angeles. As a preacher as well as a politician, you know that presidents need the moral authority to bring the entire country together. The leading Republican candidate, when you look at the average of national polls right now, is Donald Trump. When you look at him, do you see someone with the moral authority to unite the country? +p2331 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2332 +aVThank you, Governor. Don't forget my colleague, Sharon Epperson. +p2333 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said something that many in your party do not believe, which is that climate change is undeniable, that human activity contributes to it, and you said, quote: "The question is, what do we do to deal with it?". So what do we do? +p2334 +aVWhat should we do? +p2335 +aVYou mean government? +p2336 +aVThank you, Governor. Becky. +p2337 +aVGovernor Bush, Mr. Trump says that he is capable of growing the economy so much that Social Security and Medicare don't have to be touched. Do you want to explain how that is going to happen, Mr. Trump? +p2338 +aVHold on, Governor. I've got a question for \u2014 for Dr. Carson. +p2339 +aVYes. You've said that you would like to replace Medicare with a system of individual family savings accounts, so that families could cover their own expenses. Obviously, that would be a very controversial idea. Explain how that would work, exactly. +p2340 +aVGovernor, do you also think that... +p2341 +aV...that Dr. Carson's right, that we can replace Medicare with individual savings accounts? +p2342 +aVMrs. Fiorina, we're right at the end of our time. +p2343 +aVYou all wanted us to limit . All right. Go ahead. +p2344 +aVWe have now reached the point in the program where candidates are going to give their closing statements, 30 seconds apiece. We're going to go right to left and start with you, Senator Paul. +p2345 +aVGovernor Christie? +p2346 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Cruz? +p2347 +aVThank you, Senator. Mrs. Fiorina? +p2348 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Dr. Carson? +p2349 +aVMr. Trump? +p2350 +aVJust for the record, the debate was always going to be two hours. Senator Rubio? +p2351 +aVSenator Rubio. +p2352 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Bush? +p2353 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Huckabee. +p2354 +aVThank you... +p2355 +aVGovernor Kasich? +p2356 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2357 +aVWe're going to pose this question to all candidates and go left to right, starting with Governor Jindal. Governor, a majority of Republican voters at this point in the campaign have made clear that they prefer someone from outside the political system. In 30 seconds, tell us why your experience inside the system would be more valuable than the fresh eyes an outsider would bring. +p2358 +aVThanks, Governor Jindal. Senator Santorum? +p2359 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Pataki? +p2360 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Graham. +p2361 +aVSenator Graham, thank you very much. Becky? +p2362 +aVJust hold on, Governor Pataki, we're going to go to Senator Graham on this question because we believe you are likely to be the only person on this stage tonight who supports this budget deal. Now, you just heard Governor Jindal say that it's a phony deal, it doesn't do anything, and people like you are surrendering rather than fighting by supporting it. Why is he wrong? +p2363 +aVThank you, Senator Graham... +p2364 +aV...Governor, we're going to get to you in just a moment, we're going to try to keep this shorter... +p2365 +aVGovernor Jindal, a question about fiscal policy, especially since you noted that this deal doesn't solve the long-term debt situation. When you came into office with a budget surplus in the state of Louisiana, now, years later, the state legislature faced a $1.6 billion budget gap and the Republican state treasurer called one of your approaches to that problem "nonsense on a stick," quoting him. Are you going to do for the federal budget what you did for the Louisiana budget? +p2366 +aVBut Governor Jindal, as you know, many Republicans are opposed to the approach that you've taken in Louisiana. They complain that you have tried so hard to avoid anything that could be called a tax increase so that you could run for president saying you'd never raised taxes, David Vitter, the Republican who's now running to succeed you, has told voters, I won't be like Jindal, I'm not using the governorship as a stepping stone to higher office. +p2367 +aVGovernor Jindal, thank you. +p2368 +aVWe're going to take a quick break. The Republican presidential debate continues live from Boulder, Colorado in a moment. +p2369 +aVGovernor Jindal, Senator Santorum just raised the issue of corporate taxes, and cutting corporate taxes is very popular in your party because our rate, at 35 percent, is one of the highest in the world. But nobody has figured out how to identify a set of loopholes that would allow that tax rate to be lowered. So can you tell us specifically what loopholes you'd do away with? +p2370 +aVWe're talking corporate taxes. +p2371 +aVThanks, Governor. Becky? +p2372 +aVSo the tax credit right now that we have for domestic manufacturing, which manufacturers say is... +p2373 +aV...important, you would get rid of that? +p2374 +aVSenator Graham, Americans have gotten used to seeing headlines about more and more big corporations relocating overseas to cut their tax bill. Now, many in Washington think the way to stop that is to lower our corporate tax rate. But as we've seen, tax reform takes time. It hasn't happened yet. In the meantime, do you fault those companies for leaving? Do companies owe anything to their country, as well as their shareholders? +p2375 +aVSenator Graham. +p2376 +aVI want to remind candidates, you've got a one-minute limit on the \u2014 on the response. But I just want to follow up, Senator Graham. Four years ago, the nominee of your party said that corporations are people, too. If that is true, the question is, do they owe any obligation to the country? +p2377 +aVSenator Graham \u2014 +p2378 +aV\u2014 thank you very much. +p2379 +aVWe're moving on. +p2380 +aVSenator, we're moving on. I'd like to bring on my colleague, Rick Santelli \u2014 Rick. +p2381 +aVSenator, that \u2014 I mean, Governor, if that's true, why was our economy limping six years ago and now it's the strongest in the world? +p2382 +aVGovernor Pataki, you've indicated you believe climate change is real and caused at least in part by human activity. So, in 60 seconds, tell us what the federal government should do about it. +p2383 +aVIs there a role for government? +p2384 +aVSo, subsidies for those programs? For \u2014 for those alternative energy sources? +p2385 +aVThank you, Governor. Thank you, Governor. Carl? +p2386 +aVGovernor, if you cut spending and cut government so much, why did your legislature have such a big deficit? +p2387 +aVNo, we're going to move on. I'm going to bring on my colleague Sharon Epperson. +p2388 +aVAnd thank you, Sharon. This is the Republican Presidential Debate, live from Boulder, Colorado. We'll be right back. +p2389 +aVOK, now we're at the point of the evening where we're just about to give our candidates a holiday from this debate, but not before they tell us in 30 seconds their closing statements. Senator Graham, you're first. +p2390 +aVSenator Graham... +p2391 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. Governor Pataki? +p2392 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum? +p2393 +aVSenator Santorum, thank you. Governor Jindal? +p2394 +aVGovernor Jindal, thank you very much. Carl? +p2395 +asVPAUL +p2396 +(lp2397 +VThe question is, how do we keep America safe from terrorism? Trump says we ought to close that Internet thing. The question really is, what does he mean by that? Like they do in North Korea? Like they do in China? Rubio says we should collect all Americans' records all of the time. The Constitution says otherwise. I think they're both wrong. I think we defeat terrorism by showing them that we do not fear them. I think if we ban certain religions, if we censor the Internet, I think that at that point the terrorists will have won. Regime change hasn't won. Toppling secular dictators in the Middle East has only led to chaos and the rise of radical Islam. I think if we want to defeat terrorism, I think if we truly are sincere about defeating terrorism, we need to quit arming the allies of +p2398 +aVYou know, I think Marco gets it completely wrong. We are not any safer through the bulk collection of all Americans' records. In fact, I think we're less safe. We get so distracted by all of the information, we're not spending enough time getting specific immigration \u2014 specific information on terrorists. The other thing is, is the one thing that might have stopped San Bernardino, that might have stopped 9/11 would have been stricter controls on those who came here. And Marco has opposed at every point increased security \u2014 border security for those who come to our country. On his Gang of Eight bill, he would have liberalized immigration, but he did not \u2014 and he steadfastly opposed any new border security requirements for refugees or students. Last week, I introduced another bill saying we need more security, we need more scrutiny. Once again, Marco opposed this. So Marco can't have it both ways. He thinks he wants to be this, "Oh, I'm great and strong on national defense." But he's the weakest of all the candidates on immigration. He is the one for an open border that is leaving us defenseless. If we want to defend the country, we have to defend against who's coming in, and Marco is \u2014 has more of an allegiance to Chuck Schumer and to the liberals than he does to conservative policy. +p2399 +aVIf I was mentioned in the question, can I respond? +p2400 +aVMarco still misunderstands the immigration issue. What I put forward was an amendment that would have temporarily halted immigration from high-risk terrorist countries, but would have started it up, but I wanted them to go through Global Entry, which is a program where we do background checks. The thing is, is that every terrorist attack we've had since 9/11 has been legal immigration. Marco wants to expand that. I want more rules, more scrutiny, and to defend the country, you have to defend the border. +p2401 +aVWolf... +p2402 +aVWolf, this legislation... +p2403 +aVThis legislation on indefinite detention... +p2404 +aV... I think deserves a little more attention. +p2405 +aVI think that by arming the allies of +p2406 +aVI think that if you believe in regime change, you're mistaken. In 2013, we put 600 tons of weapons \u2014 us, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar \u2014 into the war against Assad. By pushing Assad back, we did create a safe space. We had people coming to our Foreign Relations Committee and saying, "Oh, we need to arm the allies of Al Qaida." They are still saying this. It is a crazy notion. This is the biggest debate we should be having tonight is is regime change a good idea; has it been a good idea. There are still people \u2014 the majority on the stage, they want to topple Assad. And then there will be chaos, and I think +p2407 +aVThese are the fundamental questions of our time, these foreign policy questions, whether or not regime change is a good idea or a bad idea. I don't think because I think the regime change was a bad idea it means that Hussein was necessarily a good idea. There is often variations of evil on both sides of the war. What we have to decide is whether or not regime change is a good idea. It's what the neoconservatives have wanted. It's what the vast majority of those on the stage want. They still want regime change. They want it in Syria. They wanted it in Iraq. They want it in Libya. It has not worked. Out of regime change you get chaos. From the chaos you have seen repeatedly the rise of radical Islam. So we get this profession of, oh, my goodness, they want to do something about terrorism and yet they're the problem because they allow terrorism to arise out of that chaos. +p2408 +aVNo, I think it's a huge mistake. I think regime change in Syria, and this is what \u2014 I've been saying this for several years now. In 2013 when we first went in, I said, you are going to give arms to the allies of al Qaida, to radical jihadists? That's crazy. But the other thing I said is the great irony is you will be back fighting against your own weapons. Had Assad been bombed when he used chemical weapons two years ago, +p2409 +aVWell, I think if you're in favor of World War III, you have your candidate. You know, here's...... the thing. My goodness, what we want in a leader is someone with judgment, not someone who is so reckless as to stand on the stage and say, "Yes, I'm jumping up and down; I'm going to shoot down Russian planes." Russia already flies in that airspace. It may not be something we're in love with the fact that they're there, but they were invited by Iraq and by Syria to fly in that airspace. And so if we announce we're going to have a no-fly zone, and others have said this. Hillary Clinton is also for it. It is a recipe for disaster. It's a recipe for World War III. We need to confront Russia from a position of strength, but we don't need to confront Russia from a point of recklessness that would lead to war. This is something \u2014 this type of judgment, you know, it's having that kind of judgment; who you would appoint and how you're going to conduct affairs, that is incredibly important. I mean, I think when we think about the judgment of someone who might want World War III, we might think about someone who might shut down a bridge because they don't like their friends; they don't want to \u2014 you know, they want to a Democrat. So I think we need to be very careful. +p2410 +aVYou know, I think we need to set the record straight on this, because I think Marco misspoke about the bill. On the Gang of Eight bill, there was no provisions really for extra scrutiny or safety for refugees. At the time the bill came up, two Iraqi refugees came to my home town, Bowling Green, Kentucky. Their fingerprints were on a bomb from Iraq. They were in the database, but we didn't pick them up. We relocated them here, put them in government housing, got them on food stamps. And we began providing for them, but we didn't have adequate security. On the Gang of Eight bill, on Marco's bill, we had an opportunity. There was a conservative consensus for an amendment I put forward called Trust, But Verify that would have strengthened border security on both refugees, students and those coming here. And Marco sided and I guess was more sympathetic to Chuck Schumer and to the president than he was to conservative principles. But this goes directly to national defense. And if he wants to run as a national \u2014 national defense conservative, he's got to explain why he hasn't stepped up to support border security. +p2411 +aVWhat my bill would do would be only for refugees going forward. So I haven't taken a position on sending anyone home. But I have taken the position that we have a lot of problems here in our country. And that one of the things that we do \u2014 charity is about giving your own money. Charity isn't giving someone else's money. To put everyone in government housing and food stamps and bring them in from around the world I think is a mistake. To give of your own money, I've given to my church. My church has helped people that came from Bosnia. That's a good thing. But we shouldn't have a program where we just say that we're going to take care of the world's refugees. Nobody in the Middle East is doing anything. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait \u2014 all the Gulf nations are doing nothing. They need to step up and take... +p2412 +aVThe greatest threat to our national security is our debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. And whose fault is it? Well, frankly, it's both parties' fault. You have those on the right who clamor and say, oh, we will spend anything on the military, and those on the left who say the same for domestic welfare. But what most Americans don't realize is there is an unholy alliance. They come together. There's a secret handshake. We spend more money on everything. And we are not stronger nation if we go further into debt. We are not projecting power from bankruptcy court. To me, there is no greater threat than our debt. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage because I'm willing to hold the line on all spending. I hope you will consider me in the election. Thank you very much. +p2413 +aVAbsolutely. And I think that we ought to look where income inequality seems to be the worst. It seems to be worst in cities run by Democrats, governors of... States run by Democrats and countries currently run by Democrats. So the thing is, let's look for root causes. But I would also say \u2014 lay some blame at the \u2014 the feet of the Federal Reserve. I think the Federal Reserve has made this problem worse. By artificially keeping interest rates below the market rate, average ordinary citizens have a tough time earning interest, have a tough time making money. They're actually talking now about negative interest. The money as it's created through quantitative easing or other means tends to start out in the big banks in New York. And because we're now paying interest for them to keep the money there, much of that money has not filtered out into the economy. So what we're finding is there is increasing income disparity and income inequality. We also find that as the Federal Reserve destroys the value of the currency, what you're finding is that, if you're poor, if you make $20,000 a year and you have three or four kids, and you're trying to get by, as your prices rise or as the value of the dollar shrinks, these are the people that are hurt the worst. So really we need to reexamine whether we not \u2014 we want a Federal Reserve that's involved so much in determining interest rates. We also need to look at root causes as to what caused the housing boom and the housing collapse. But the bottom line is, if you want less income inequality, move to a city with a Republican mayor or a state with a Republican governor. +p2414 +aVWell, it's a great question, Neil, and thanks for including me in the tax debate. I think what's important about the tax debate is, is that we have to ask the question, where is money best spent, in the private sector or in the government sector? I want a government really, really small, so small you can barely see it. So I want lower taxes and much more money in the private sector. My tax plan, however, is the only tax plan among any of the candidates on the stage that is part of a balanced budget plan. I put forward three plans that actually balance the budget over a five-year period. Each of these plans have details on exactly where we would cut. The question came up earlier, where would you cut? Nobody likes to say where they would cut. I've put pencil to paper and done three budgets that actually balance. I'm also in favor of a plan called the penny plan where we'd just cut 1 percent across the board and the budget actually balances in less than five years. So I think what is extraordinary about my tax plan is it is in the context of balancing the budget. What is also extraordinary about my tax plan is it gets rid of the payroll tax. Democrats demagogue this issue to death, and when they do they say, oh, a millionaire would get a bigger tax cut than someone making $10,000. That's proportionality, as Ben is trying to explain to folks. But the thing is, is if we get rid of the payroll tax, everybody is going to get a tax cut. And this is something that I think the public at large will support and could win an election. +p2415 +aVOurs is 14.5 percent for corporations, 14.5 percent for individuals. No payroll tax for the employee. The business tax pays for social security, and there would be two remaining deductions \u2014 home mortgage and charity. +p2416 +aVThank you. +p2417 +aVNeil, there's a point I'd like to make here... ....Neil, a point that I'd like to make about the tax credits. We have to decide what is conservative and what isn't conservative. Is it fiscally conservative to have a trillion-dollar expenditure? We're not talking about giving people back their tax money. He's talking about giving people money they didn't pay. It's a welfare transfer payment. So here's what we have. Is it conservative to have $1 trillion in transfer payments \u2014 a new welfare program that's a refundable tax credit? Add that to Marco's plan for $1 trillion in new military spending, and you get something that looks, to me, not very conservative. Thank you. +p2418 +aVNevertheless, it's not very conservative, Marco. +p2419 +aVHow is it conservative? +p2420 +aVYeah, but, Marco! Marco! How is it conservative, how is it conservative to add a trillion-dollar expenditure for the federal government that you're not paying for? +p2421 +aVHow is it conservative? +p2422 +aVHow is it conservative to add a trillion dollars in military expenditures? You can not be a conservative if you're going to keep promoting new programs that you're not going to pay for. +p2423 +aVNo. I don't think we're any safer \u2014 I do not think we are any safer from bankruptcy court. As we go further, and further into debt, we become less, and less safe. This is the most important thing we're going to talk about tonight. Can you be a conservative, and be liberal on military spending? Can you be for unlimited military spending, and say, Oh, I'm going to make the country safe? No, we need a safe country, but, you know, we spend more on our military than the next ten countries combined? I want a strong national defense, but I don't want us to be bankrupt. +p2424 +aVHey, Gerard, you know, we might want to point out China is not part of this deal. +p2425 +aVBefore we get a little bit off-kilter here... +p2426 +aVThere is an argument that China doesn't like the deal, because in us doing the deal, we'll be trading with their competitors. You're exactly right. But I think we've sort of missed the point a little bit here. There is an important point, though, about how we discuss these trade treaties that I do agree with Mr. Trump on. We should negotiate from a position of strength. And we also should negotiate using the full force and the constitutional power that was given to us. I think it's a mistake that we give up power to the presidency on these trade deals. We give up the power to filibuster, and I'm kind of fond of that power. We give up the power to amend. And I think, really, one of the big problems we have in our country is, over the last century, really, so much power has gravitated to the executive branch. Really, Congress is kind of a bystander. We don't write the rules. We don't make the laws. The executive branch does. So even in trade \u2014 and I am for trade \u2014 I think we should be careful about giving so much power to the presidency. +p2427 +aVI'd like first to respond to the acquisition, we should \u2014 I think it's particularly naive, particularly foolish to think that we're not going to talk to Russia. The idea of a no fly zone, realize that this is also something that Hillary Clinton agrees with several on our side with, you're asking for a no fly zone in an area in which Russia already flies. Russia flies in that zone at the invitation of Iraq. I'm not saying it's a good thing, but you better know at least what we're getting into. So, when you think it's going to be a good idea to have a no fly zone over Iraq, realize that means you are saying we are going to shoot down Russian planes. If you're ready for that, be ready to send your sons and daughters to another war in Iraq. I don't want to see that happen. I think the first war in Iraq was a mistake... You can be strong without being involved in every civil war around the war... +p2428 +aVRonald Reagan was strong, but Ronald Reagan didn't... +p2429 +aV...send troops into the Middle East... +p2430 +aV...Can I finish... +p2431 +aV...Can I finish my time? Could I finish with my time? +p2432 +aVYes, I would like to finish my response, basically. +p2433 +aVThis is an important question. This is an incredibly important question. And the question goes to be, who do we want to be our commander-in-chief? Do you want a commander-in-chief who says something that we never did throughout the entire Cold War, to discontinue having conversations with the Russians? I am not happy about them flying over there. But I'm not naive enough to say, well, Iraq has them flying over their airspace, we're just going to announce that we're shooting them down? That is naive to the point of being something you might hear in junior high. But it's scary... +p2434 +aVThe first thing I would do is I wouldn't arm our enemies. I wouldn't arm +p2435 +aVGerard, can I comment... +p2436 +aVThe first thing I would do as president is repeal the regulations that are hampering our energy that the President has put in place. Including the Clean Power Act. While I do think that man may have a role in our climate, I think nature also has a role. The planet's 4.5 billion years old, we've been through geologic age after geologic age. We've had times when the temperatures been warmer, we've had times when the temperatures been colder. We've had times when the carbon in the atmosphere's been higher. So, I think before we \u2014 we need to look before we leap. President's often fond of saying he wants a balance solution, but, really we do need to balance both keeping the environment clean, and we will have some rules for that. We got to balance that with the economy. He's devastated my state. I say the President's not only destroying Kentucky, he's destroying the democrat party down there because nobody wants to associate with him. So, what we really need is somebody that understands that we do need energy of all forms, and that means we will have solar, and wind, and hydro, but we will still have coal, and we still will have natural gas. And, we've got to have an all of the above policy. But, it would be a mistake to shut down all of our industries in the coal fields, and shut down the coal power plants. If we did so we're going to have a day where we wake up and some of our big cities are either very cold, or very hot. So, I think it's a big danger, and we shouldn't do it. And, what we should do is say we want all of the above... ...We want to free up the energy sector, and let people produce, let them drill, let them explore. +p2437 +aVWe're the richest, freest, most humanitarian nation in the history of mankind. But we also borrow a million dollars a minute. And the question I have for all Americans is, think about it, can you be a fiscal conservative if you don't conserve all of the money? If you're a profligate spender, you spend money in an unlimited fashion for the military, is that a conservative notion? We have to be conservative with all spending, domestic spending and welfare spending. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage. +p2438 +aVYou know, I left my medical practice and ran for office because I was concerned about an $18 trillion debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. Now, on the floor of the Congress, the Washington establishment from both parties puts forward a bill that will explode the deficit. It allows President Obama to borrow unlimited amounts of money. I will stand firm. I will spend every ounce of energy to stop it. I will begin tomorrow to filibuster it. And I ask everyone in America to call Congress tomorrow and say enough is enough; no more debt. +p2439 +aVNo, I oppose it because you're taking money from the entitlement and then spending it immediately on other items. That's what they're doing. They're taking money from Social Security and they're going to spend it on the military and they're going to spend it on domestic spending. Here's the thing. When you look at raising the debt limit, it should be leverage to try to reform government. In 2011, the sequester was passed as a reform to slow down the rate of government. Instead, the Washington establishment raised both. We raised the military spending, took from entitlements, and raised domestic spending and the deficit will explode under this. This is the unholy alliance that people need to know about between right and left. Right and left are spending us into oblivion. We should use the debt ceiling, as precisely to Don, to force upon them budgetary reforms. +p2440 +aVWell, that's a real question. Is there going to be any change in the House with new leadership? I frankly don't think there will be much change because I think what's going to happen is you're going to get more of the same. People in Washington think they were sent there to be adults and govern and do all this. Well, you know what I'm worried about? Not keeping the government open. I'm worried about bankrupting the American people. We're borrowing a million dollars a minute. That is important. And that's what we have to contrast. Keeping the government open and continuing to borrow a million dollars a minute. +p2441 +aVWell, thank you very much. I would like to thank Ted for co-sponsoring my bill, audit the Fed. And I think it's precisely because of the arrogance of someone like Ben Bernanke, who now calls us all know-nothings, that is precisely why we need audit the Fed. I think it is really very much a huge problem that an organization as powerful as the Fed comes in, lobbies against them being audited on the Hill. I would prevent them lobbying Congress. I don't think the Fed should be involved with lobbying us. I think we should examine how the Fed has really been part of the problem. You want to study income inequality, let's bring the Fed forward and talk about Fed policy and how it causes income inequality. Let's also bring the Fed forward and have them explain how they caused the housing boom and the crisis, and what they've done to make us better or worse. I think the Fed has been a great problem in our society. What you need to do is free up interest rates. Interest rates are the price of money, and we shouldn't have price controls on the price of money. +p2442 +aV...John... +p2443 +aVJohn, I'd like to address this? John, could I follow up on this? +p2444 +aVWhat are the rules on who gets to follow up. How do we decide on who gets to follow up? I've seen plenty of other people follow up? +p2445 +aVI'd like to just mention something about my tax plan, and how it relates to the discussion... +p2446 +aVAlright. Much of the discussion is centered over whether or not the different tax plans help, or affect the middle class. In fact, it's the chief argument by democrats against many of the different flat tax proposals. Mine is unique in the sense that my tax plan actually gets rid of the payroll tax as well. It shifts it to the business, and it would allow middle class people to get a tax cut. If you just cut their income tax, there isn't much income tax to cut. Mine actually cuts the payroll tax, and I think it would spread the tax cut across all socioeconomic levels, and would allow then it to be something that would be broadly supported by the public in an election. +p2447 +aVThe question always is, what works better, the private marketplace or government? And what distributes goods better? It always seems to be the private marketplace does a better job. Is there an area for a safety net? Can you have Medicare or Social Security? Yes. But you ought to acknowledge the government doesn't do a very good job at it. The main problem with Medicare right now is that the average person pays in taxes over their whole lifetime about $100,000. But the average person takes out about $350,000. We have this enormous mismatch because we have smaller and smaller families. When people ask me, whose fault is it? Whose fault is it that Medicare is broken, out of money, that Social Security is broken, out of money? And I say, look, it's not Republicans' fault, it's not Democrats' fault, it's your grandparents' fault for having too many damn kids. After the war we had all of these kids, Baby Boomers. Now we're having smaller families. We used to have 16 workers for one retiree, now you have three workers for one retiree. It's not working. I have a bill to fix Medicare. I've a bill to fix Social Security. For both of them you have to gradually raise the age. If you're not willing to do that, nobody wants to do it, but if you're not willing to gradually raise the age, you're not serious about fixing either one of them. +p2448 +aVSay again? +p2449 +aVYou can't do nothing. And that's what I hear from some people, "we'll do nothing and it will just be fixed." That's absurd, and I think people who don't want to fix it, really, or unwilling to take the chance to say, "something has to change," are missing the boat here. The age will have to gradually rise, there is no question. It's the only way you fix Medicare, the only way you fix Social Security. You will also have to means-test the benefits and declare there's not enough money. It isn't "I put money in, I'm getting it back." There is no money, it's a stack of paper. There is no money in the Social Security account. There is no money in the Medicare account. There's only a promise to pay by the next generation, and the next generation's not big enough to pay it. [ +p2450 +aVLiberty thrives when government is small. I want a government so small I can barely see it. I want a government so small that the individual has a chance to thrive and prosper. I think, though, government is too big now. And what you're going to see in Washington this week is establishment Republicans have made an agreement with the president to raise the debt ceiling in an unlimited fashion; no limit to the debt ceiling raise. This is extraordinary. It's extraordinarily wrong. You'll see me on the floor of the Senate tomorrow filibustering this and saying enough is enough, no more debt. +p2451 +aVGood evening, everyone. I'm an eye surgeon from Bowling Green, Kentucky. My wife, Kelly, and I have been married for nearly 25 years, and I spend my days defending the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I think there's nothing more important than understanding that the Constitution restrains government, not the people. Thank you. +p2452 +aVI kind of have to laugh when I think of, "Mmm, sounds like a non sequitur." He was asked whether or not he would be capable and it would be in good hands to be in charge of the nuclear weapons, and all of a sudden, there's a sideways attack at me. I think that really goes to really the judgment. Do we want someone with that kind of character, that kind of careless language to be negotiating with Putin? Do we want someone like that to be negotiating with Iran? I think really there's a sophomoric quality that is entertaining about Mr. Trump, but I am worried. I'm very concerned about him \u2014 having him in charge of the nuclear weapons, because I think his response, his \u2014 his visceral response to attack people on their appearance \u2014 short, tall, fat, ugly \u2014 my goodness, that happened in junior high. Are we not way above that? Would we not all be worried to have someone like that in charge of the nuclear arsenal? +p2453 +aVI think this goes back to essentially what we've been saying for the last two or three questions. Carly Fiorina also said we're not going to talk with Putin. Well, think if Reagan had said that during the Cold War? We continued to talk with the Russians throughout the Cold War which is much more significant that where we are now. Should we continue to talk with Iran? Yes. Should we cut up the agreement immediately? That's absurd. Wouldn't you want to know if they complied? Now, I'm going to vote against the agreement because I don't think there's significant leverage, but it doesn't mean that I would immediately not look at the agreement, and cut it up without looking to see if whether or not Iran has complied. The same goes with China. I don't think we need to be rash, I don't think we need to be reckless, and I think need to leave lines of communication open. Often we talk about whether we should be engaged in the world, or disengaged in the world, and I think this is an example of some who want to isolate us, actually, and not be engaged. We do need to be engaged with Russia. It doesn't mean we give them a free pass, or China a free pass, but, to be engaged, to continue to talk. We did throughout the Cold War, and it would be a big mistake not to do it here. +p2454 +aVI think this gets to the point of wisdom on when to intervene and when we shouldn't. Had we bombed Assad at the time, like President Obama wanted, and like Hillary Clinton wanted and many Republicans wanted, I think +p2455 +aVWell, I hate to say it, but Donald Trump has a bit of a point here. The case that was decided around 1900 was, people had a green card, were here legally, and they said that their children were citizens. There's never been a direct Supreme Court case on people who were here illegally, whether or not their kids are citizens. So it hasn't really been completely adjudicated. The 14th Amendment says that "those who are here and under the jurisdiction." The original author of the \u2014 of the 14th Amendment said on the Senate floor that this was applying to slaves, and did not specifically apply to others. +p2456 +aVWell, I'm glad we're having a discussion about taxes because everybody laments that we lose jobs overseas, we have. Our companies, and our jobs are being chased overseas by a 70,000 page tax code, so, that's why I've chosen to get rid of the whole thing, and have one single rate, 14 and a-half percent for everybody, business, and for corporate income, and personal income. But, we also get rid of the payroll tax, so the working class would get a tax break as well. So, I think a flat tax, eliminating the tax code, getting rid of all the loopholes, is the way to go, and it's the way we get America going again. +p2457 +aVHugh, can I \u2014 can I make a response to that? +p2458 +aVCan I make a response to that? +p2459 +aVMay I make a response to that? +p2460 +aVHe's referred to me. +p2461 +aVHe's referred to me... +p2462 +aV... in his remarks. May I make a response? +p2463 +aVAbsolutely. Go ahead. +p2464 +aVMay I respond? +p2465 +aVThe remark was made that there hadn't been anyone else on the podium opposed to the Iraq War. I've made my career as being an opponent of the Iraq War. I was opposed to the Syria war. I was opposed to arming people who are our enemies. Iran is now stronger because Hussein is gone. Hussein was the great bulwark and counterbalance to the Iranians. So when we complain about the Iranians, you need to remember that the Iraq War made it worse. Originally, Governor Bush was asked, was the Iraq War a mistake, and he said, "No. We'd do it again." We have to learn sometimes the interventions backfire. The Iraq War backfired and did not help us. We're still paying the repercussions of a bad decision. +p2466 +aVWe have make the decision now in Syria, should we topple Assad? Many up here wanted to topple Assad, and it's like \u2014 I said no, because if you do... +p2467 +aV... +p2468 +aVIf you want boots on the ground, and you want them to be our sons and daughters, you got 14 other choices. There will always be a Bush or Clinton for you, if you want to go back to war in Iraq. But the thing is, the first war was a mistake. And I'm not sending our sons and our daughters back to Iraq. The war didn't work. We can amplify those who live there. The Kurds deserve to be armed and I'll arm them. We can use our Air Force to amplify the forces there. But the boots on the ground need to be the people who live there. My goodness, I'm still upset with the Saudi Arabians for everything they do over there. They've funded the arms that went to the jihadists. They're not accepting any of the people, any of the migrants that have been \u2014 the refugees that are being pushed out of Syria. Saudi Arabia is not accepting one. Why are we always the world's patsies that we have to go over there and fight their wars for them? They need to fight their wars, we need to defend American interests, but it is not in America's national security interests to have another war in Iraq. +p2469 +aVI think one of the great problems, and what American people don't like about politics, is hypocrisy. People have one standard for others and not for them \u2014 for themselves. There is at least one prominent example on the stage of someone who says they smoked pot in high school, and yet the people going to \u2014 to jail for this are poor people, often African-Americans and often Hispanics, and yet the rich kids who use drugs aren't. I personally think that this is a crime for which the only victim is the individual, and I think that America has to take a different attitude. I would like to see more rehabilitation and less incarceration. I'm a fan of the drug courts which try to direct you back towards work and less time in jail. But the bottom line is the states. We say we like the 10th Amendment, until we start talking about this. And I think the federal government has gone too far, I think that the war on drugs has had a racial outcome, and really has been something that has really damaged our inner cities. Not only do the drugs damage them, we damage them again by incarcerating them and then preventing them from getting employment over time. So I don't think that the federal government should override the states. I believe in the 10th Amendment and I really will say that the states are left to themselves. +p2470 +aVWell, I think if we left it open, we could see how many people smoked pot in high school. +p2471 +aVWell, you know, the thing is that... +p2472 +aVYeah, I was talking about \u2014 well, let me... +p2473 +aVBut let me respond. The thing is, is that in Florida, Governor Bush campaigned against medical marijuana. That means that a small child like Morgan Hintz (ph) that has seizures is day, is failing on non-traditional medications, is not allowed to use cannabis oil. And if they do that in Florida, they will take the child away, they will put the parents in jail. And that's what that means if you're against allowing people use medical marijuana, you'll actually put them in jail. +p2474 +aVAnd actually, under the current circumstances, kids who had privilege like you do, don't go to jail, but the poor kids in our inner cities go to jail. I don't think that's fair. And I think we need to acknowledge it, and it is hypocritical to still want to put poor people in jail... +p2475 +aVWell, you vote \u2014 you oppose medical marijuana... +p2476 +aVBut that means you'll put people in jail. +p2477 +aVMay I respond? +p2478 +aVUnderstand what they're saying. if they're going to say we are going to enforce the federal law against what the state law is, they aren't really believing in the Tenth Amendment. Governor Christie would go into Colorado, and if you're breaking any federal law on marijuana, even though the state law allows it, he would put you in jail. If a young mother is trying to give her child cannabis oil for medical marijuana for seizure treatment, he would put her in jail, if it violates federal law. I would let Colorado do what the Tenth Amendment says. This power \u2014 we were never intended to have crime dealing at the federal level. Crime was supposed to be left to the states. Colorado has made their decision. And I don't want the federal government interfering and putting moms in jail, who are trying to get medicine for their kid... +p2479 +aVMay I respond? May I respond? +p2480 +aVHere is the thing, he doesn't want to make it about medical marijuana, but what if New Jersey's medical marijuana contradicts the federal law? He's saying he'll send the federal government in, and he will enforce the federal law. That's not consistent with the Tenth Amendment. It is not consistent with states' rights. And it is not consistent with the conservative vision for the country. I don't think we should be sending the federal police in to arrest a mother and separate them from their child for giving a medicine to their child for seizures. +p2481 +aVIf you want a skeptic \u2014 if you want a skeptic, Jake, I will happily jump into that briar patch. If you want a real... +p2482 +aVA second opinion? One of the greatest \u2014 one of the greatest medical discoveries of all times was \u2014 were the vaccines, particularly for smallpox. And if you want to read a story, it's called The Speckled Monster, it's an amazing story, it was all done voluntary. But people came in by the droves. George Washington wouldn't let his wife visit until she got vaccinated. So I'm all for vaccines. But I'm also for freedom. I'm also a little concerned about how they're bunched up. My kids had all of their vaccines, and even if the science doesn't say bunching them up is a problem, I ought to have the right to spread out my vaccines out a little bit at the very least. +p2483 +aVOoh, that's a tough one. You know, I'm big on \u2014 that we were \u2014 and I love what Carly said about women's suffrage. I think Susan B. Anthony might be a good choice. +p2484 +aVJustice Never Sleeps. +p2485 +aVI met Ronald Reagan as a teenager, and my family, we're big supporters of him when he ran against Gerald Ford. It was a big deal because he was the grassroots, running against the establishment, and I'll never forget that. And, how he stood up and said, you know what, this is something new that our country needs, and our party needs. If I were president, I would try to be one who says, you know what, I'm a Reagan Conservative. I'm someone who believes in peace through strength, and I would try to lead the country in that way knowing that our goal is peace, and that war is the last resort, not the first resort. And, that when we go to war, we go to war in a constitutional way, which means that we have to vote on it, that war is initiated by congress, not by the president, that we go to war electively (ph). That when we go to war, we don't fight with one arm tied behind our back, we fight all out to win, but then we come home. +p2486 +aVThis is what's wrong! +p2487 +aVI mean, this is what's wrong. He buys and sells politicians of all stripes, he's already... +p2488 +aVHey, look, look! He's already hedging his bet on the Clintons, OK? So if he doesn't run as a Republican, maybe he supports Clinton, or maybe he runs as an independent... +p2489 +aV...but I'd say that he's already hedging his bets because he's used to buying politicians. +p2490 +aVFirst of all, only +p2491 +aVMegyn, may I respond? May I respond? +p2492 +aVI want to collect more records from terrorists, but less records from innocent Americans. The Fourth Amendment was what we fought the Revolution over! John Adams said it was the spark that led to our war for independence, and I'm proud of standing for the Bill of Rights, and I will continue to stand for the Bill of Rights. +p2493 +aVUse the Fourth Amendment! +p2494 +aVUse the Fourth Amendment! +p2495 +aVGet a warrant! +p2496 +aVGet a judge to sign the warrant! +p2497 +aVSee, here's the problem. +p2498 +aVHere's the problem, governor. Here's the problem, governor. You fundamentally misunderstand the Bill of Rights. Every time you did a case, you got a warrant from a judge. I'm talking about searches without warrants... +p2499 +aV...indiscriminately, of all Americans' records, and that's what I fought to end. I don't trust President Obama with our records. I know you gave him a big hug, and if you want to give him a big hug again, go right ahead. +p2500 +aVI've got a news flash... +p2501 +aVNews flash, the Republican Party's been fighting against a single-payer system... +p2502 +aV-- for a decade. So I think you're on the wrong side of this if you're still arguing for a single-payer system. +p2503 +aVI oppose the Iranian deal, and will vote against it. I don't think that the president negotiated from a position of strength, but I don't immediately discount negotiations. I'm a Reagan conservative. Reagan did negotiate with the Soviets. But you have to negotiate from a position of strength, and I think President Obama gave away too much, too early. If there's going to be a negotiation, you're going to have to believe somehow that the Iranians are going to comply. And I asked this question to John Kerry, I said "do you believe they're trustworthy?" and he said "No." And I said, "well, how are we gonna get them to comply?" I would have never released the sanctions before there was consistent evidence of compliance. +p2504 +aVLook, I don't want my marriage or my guns registered in Washington. And if people have an opinion, it's a religious opinion that is heartly felt, obviously they should be allowed to practice that and no government should interfere with them. One of the things, one of the things that really got to me was the thing in Houston where you had the government, the mayor actually, trying to get the sermons of ministers. When the government tries to invade the church to enforce its own opinion on marriage, that's when it's time to resist. +p2505 +aVWell, let's be clear, I'm the only one on the stage who actually has a five-year budget that balances. I've put pencil to paper... +p2506 +aV... and I've said -- and I've said I would cut spending, and I've said exactly where. Each one of my budgets has taken a meat axe to foreign aid, because I think we ought to quit sending it to countries that hate us. I think we ought to quit sending it to countries that burn our flag. Israel is not one of those. But even Benjamin Netanyahu said that ultimately, they will be stronger when they're independent. My position is exactly the same. We shouldn't borrow money from China to send it anywhere, but why don't we start with eliminating aid to our enemies. +p2507 +aVI still say exactly what my original opinion is. Do you borrow money from China to send it to anyone? Out of your surplus, you can help your allies, and Israel is a great ally. And this is no particular animus of Israel, but what I will say, and I will say over and over again, we cannot give away money we don't have. We do not project power from bankruptcy court. We're borrowing a million dollars a minute. It's got to stop somewhere. +p2508 +aVI'm a different kind of Republican. I've introduced a five-year balanced budget. I've introduced the largest tax cut in our history. I stood for ten and a half hours on the Senate floor to defend your right to be left alone. But I've also gone to Chicago. I've gone to Detroit. I've been to Ferguson, I've been to Baltimore, because I want our party to be bigger, better and bolder, and I'm the only one that leads Hillary Clinton in five states that were won by President Obama. I'm a different kind of Republican. +p2509 +asVBASH +p2510 +(lp2511 +VA crucial question is how to balance surveillance with privacy and keeping Americans safe. Senator Cruz, you voted for a bill that President Obama signed into law just this past June that made it harder for the government to access Americans' phone records. In light of the San Bernardino attack, was your vote a mistake? +p2512 +aVThank you. Senator Rubio, Senator Cruz is right there was bipartisan support for that. But you voted against it. So, is Senator Cruz wrong? +p2513 +aVSenator Cruz? +p2514 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator \u2014 Senator Rubio, please respond. +p2515 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I know this is \u2014 this has been a very big issue for you. You hear many of your colleagues are calling for increased surveillance by law enforcement. You call that hogwash. Why is that hogwash? +p2516 +aVSenator Rubio? +p2517 +aVGovernor Christie, Governor Christie... ...Governor Christie, I'll come to you in a minute. Go ahead, Senator Paul. +p2518 +aVGo ahead, please. +p2519 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about immigration in a while. But, Governor Christie, just listening to this... +p2520 +aVListening to this, you talked \u2014 you heard Senator Paul, Senator Cruz talk about how important it is to protect Americans' privacy, even in a time of grave danger. Why \u2014 what's wrong with that? +p2521 +aVSenator Paul, you said +p2522 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I want to go back to my initial question, which is you saying that +p2523 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about regime change in a bit. But Governor Kasich, would you like to respond to Senator Paul? +p2524 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. We've been talking tonight about programs and policy proposals that you all have to keep Americans safe and it's a big discussion on the campaign trail. Also about border security and immigration. So let's talk about immigration. Senator Rubio. You co-authored a bill with Democrats two years ago that allowed a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Do you still support that path to citizenship, which means giving those immigrants rights, like the right to vote? +p2525 +aVSenator, you haven't answered the question. You described a very long path but does that path end at citizenship? +p2526 +aVThank you, senator. +p2527 +aVThank you, senator. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, on the campaign trail, Senator Rubio has said that his immigration plan is not that different from yours. Is that true? +p2528 +aVSenator Rubio, please. +p2529 +aVSenator Cruz? +p2530 +aVSenator Cruz? +p2531 +aVSenator Cruz, can you answer that question please? +p2532 +aVSenator Cruz? +p2533 +aVOne at a time please. +p2534 +aVMs. Fiorina, please wait your turn, we're going to get to you. +p2535 +aVSenator Cruz go ahead. +p2536 +aVMr. Trump, you like to say that you restarted this conversation in the campaign. +p2537 +aVSo who do you side with? Who do you side with in this, Senator Rubio or Senator Cruz? +p2538 +aVThank you. Governor Bush? +p2539 +aVListening to this, do you think this is the tone \u2014 this immigration debate that republicans need to take to win back Hispanics into our party especially states like where we are in Nevada that has a pretty Hispanic community? +p2540 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said if China launches a cyber- attack against the U.S. on your watch, "they're going to see cyber- warfare like they have never seen before." What exactly would that response look like? +p2541 +aVGovernor Bush, what you just heard from Governor Christie, are you concerned that that could really escalate with China, that they would retaliate? And, for example, as the NSA has said, attack the U.S. and maybe it's power grid, which the Chinese have the capability to do? +p2542 +aVMr. Trump, just this weekend you said Senator Cruz is not qualified to be president because he doesn't have the right temperament and acted like a maniac when he arrived in the Senate. But last month you said you were open to naming Senator Cruz as your running mate. +p2543 +aVSo why would you be willing to put somebody who's a maniac one heartbeat away from the presidency? +p2544 +aVOkay. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, you have not been willing to attack Mr. Trump in public. +p2545 +aVBut you did question his judgment in having control of American's nuclear arsenal during a private meeting with supporters. Why are you willing to say things about him in private and not in public? +p2546 +aVSenator, senator, I just... +p2547 +aVSenator, a lot of people have seen... +p2548 +aV... a lot of people have seen these comments you made in private. I just want to clarify what you're saying right now is you do believe Mr. Trump has the judgment to be commander in chief? +p2549 +aVGovernor Kasich, Senator Cruz is so committed to stripping federal funds from Planned Parenthood that it could result in shutting down the federal government in just about two weeks. Do you agree with Senator Cruz's tactic? +p2550 +aVThank you. +p2551 +aVThank you. Senator Cruz, I would just add that, on this stage not that long ago, Senator Graham said that this tactic that you're pushing would tank the Republicans' ability to win in 2016. +p2552 +aVThank you, senator. +p2553 +aVThank you... +p2554 +aVGovernor \u2014 governor, I want to go to you. Is it what Senator Cruz says, a surrender by Republicans? +p2555 +aVBut... +p2556 +aVBut is it... +p2557 +aVBut, governor, the \u2014 but, governor, the reality is, in just two weeks' time... ...we are going to be facing a question about whether or not it's enough to shut down the government to make that statement, because there is still a Democrat in the White House. Do you oppose it or support it? +p2558 +aVYes or no, do you support this shutdown? +p2559 +aVWe're talking about Planned Parenthood right now. +p2560 +aVCan you answer yes or no? +p2561 +aVOne more time. I'm sorry, I just want to get the answer. +p2562 +aVSo you would support a shutdown. +p2563 +aVGovernor Bush, Mr. Trump has suggested that your views on immigration are influenced by your Mexican born wife. He said that, quote, "If my wife were from Mexico, I think I would have a soft spot for people from Mexico." Did Mr. Trump go to far in invoking your wife? +p2564 +aVMr. Trump? +p2565 +aVMr. Trump... +p2566 +aVGo ahead. +p2567 +aVMs. Fiorina \u2014 Ms. Fiorina, we're going to come to you, we're going to come to you. I just want to give Governor Bush a chance to respond to what Mr. Trump said. +p2568 +aVOK, on that note, you have criticized Governor Bush for speaking Spanish on the campaign trail. You said, quote, "He should really set an example by speaking English in the United States." What's wrong with speaking Spanish? +p2569 +aVThank you. +p2570 +aV...Thank you.... +p2571 +aVGovernor Bush, let's talk about the issue that's very important to Republican voters, and that's the Supreme Court. After Chief Justice John Roberts voted to uphold Obamacare twice, Senator Cruz criticized your brother for appointing John Roberts to the Supreme Court. Looking back on it, did your brother make a mistake? +p2572 +aV...Is John Roberts one of those people? +p2573 +aVDo you like what you just heard, Senator Cruz? +p2574 +aVMr. Trump, you have said once or twice that you are really rich, and you are by far the richest person on this stage. Chris Christie says billionaires like you and even people who make and earn far less should no longer get Social Security, or at least there should be limits based on \u2014 on their income. You think he's wrong, and if so, why? +p2575 +aVWhat about the country as a \u2014 as a policy? +p2576 +aVSo is a voluntary program the way to get the Social Security system solvent again like that. +p2577 +aVSenator Santorum, you want to give the intelligence community more power to collect American's phone data. But the government had this ability until just days before the San Bernardino attack. If it couldn't prevent San Bernardino, why will it protect America? +p2578 +aVSenator Graham, when this program was exposed, you said, " you have nothing to worry about if you're not talking to terrorist." Do you understand why though some Americans are concerned that the government is keeping tabs on them in any way? +p2579 +aVThank you. Governor Huckabee, you said, "not one terrorist plot has been foiled by the NSA's collection of American's phone records. The director of the CIA says,. "not having these programs makes it ability to find terrorists, quote, "much more challenging."" Are you taking a potential tool to fight terrorists? +p2580 +aVSenator Santorum? +p2581 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator Graham... +p2582 +aVSenator Graham... +p2583 +aVSenator Graham, we've heard here tonight a lot about the fact that you want to send U.S. troops, ground troops, into Iraq, and Syria to defeat +p2584 +aVGovernor Huckabee... +p2585 +aVGovernor Huckabee, would you reinstate the draft? +p2586 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator Graham... +p2587 +aVSenator Graham... +p2588 +aVSenator Graham, we've heard here tonight a lot about the fact that you want to send U.S. troops, ground troops, into Iraq, and Syria to defeat +p2589 +aVGovernor Huckabee... +p2590 +aVGovernor Huckabee, would you reinstate the draft? +p2591 +aVSo what would you do about it? +p2592 +aVSenator... +p2593 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. +p2594 +aVSenator Graham. +p2595 +aVSenator Graham, quick response. +p2596 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. +p2597 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. +p2598 +aVSenator Santorum, earlier this month the Pentagon opened all U.S. military combat positions to women. You previously opposed allowing women in combat roles. As President, would you change the Pentagon's new policy? +p2599 +aVSo, just to be clear, you're saying, yes, you would change the policy back? +p2600 +aVGovernor Pataki, as you mentioned earlier, you have two sons who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Would you maintain this new policy as President, or do you agree with Senator Santorum. +p2601 +aVSenator Santorum. +p2602 +aVNow Governor Pataki, do you a final response? +p2603 +aVGovernor Huckabee, the U.S. has a program that allows visitors from America's closest allies to travel to the U.S. without obtaining a visa. But new legislation in Congress says that privilege should not apply to those who have visited is hot spots like Iraq and Syria in the last five years. You say that legislation doesn't go far enough. Why? +p2604 +asVEPPERSON +p2605 +(lp2606 +VThank you, John. Mrs. Fiorina, you were the CEO of a large corporation that offers a 401(k) to its employees. But more than half of American have no access to an employer sponsored retirement plan. That includes the workers at small businesses, and the growing ranks of Uber drivers and other part-timers in the freelance economy. Should the Federal Government play a larger role in helping to set up retirement plans for these workers? +p2607 +aVSo you wouldn't agree \u2014 you wouldn't agree with a start for 401(k) for businesses or anything like that? +p2608 +aVThank you very much. +p2609 +aVThank you, the rules say one minute. +p2610 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. We appreciate it. Thank you, thank you. I want to turn my attention now, to you now, Governor Kasich. Most people can't get a college degree without going into debt. Over 40 million Americans have student loans and many of them cannot pay them back. This country has over $100 billion in student loan defaults. That's billion with a b. What will you do to make sure that students, their families, taxpayers, won't feel the economic impact of this burden for generations? Well, first of all, in Ohio we're changing the whole system. Universities will not get paid one dime unless the student graduates or \u2014 graduates or completes a course. Secondly, you can be in high school and complete almost an entire first year before you go to college and get credit to do that. And, of course, in addition to that, we are working now to go after the cost drivers in our universities. And let me give you an example. Universities today have so many non-academic assets. At Ohio State they sold the parking garage and the parking lot, and they got $500 million because they shouldn't be in the parking lot business. They shouldn't be in the ding business, they shouldn't be in the dorm business. And, of course, we need to take advantage of on-line education to reduce these costs and begin to dis-intermediate the cost of four years. Now, for those who that have these big high costs, I think we can seriously look at an idea of where you can do public service. I mean legitimate, public service and begin to pay off some of that debt through the public service that you do. And in the meantime, it may inspire us to care more about our country, more about ourselves. This is a big moral issue in America. Living a life bigger than yourself, and being a center of healing and justice. And people can learn it through public service. +p2611 +aVThank you, thank you. +p2612 +aVThank you, John. Senator Graham, one in every four workers has saved less than $1,000 for retirement. Millions of Americans rely on their Social Security benefits for the majority of their retirement income. Now, you called for reforms to Social Security, but what would you do to fix the other part of the problem for future retirees and get people to save more? +p2613 +aVBut Senator Graham... +p2614 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. Thank you, Senator Graham. Governor Jindal, you've been a strong supporter of for-profit colleges. These are institutions that educate many veterans, minorities and working class Americans. They make up about 11 percent of the college population at these schools, but they account for 44 percent of student loan defaults. Should for-profit schools be held accountable when they take taxpayer money and leave students deep in debt? +p2615 +asVSANDERS +p2616 +(lp2617 +VWell, Gwen and Judy, thank you very much for hosting this event. And, PBS, thank you. Nine months ago, our campaign began. And when it began, we had no political organization, no money, and not much name recognition outside of the state of Vermont. A lot has happened in nine months. And what has happened is, I think, the American people have responded to a series of basic truths, and that is that we have today a campaign finance system which is corrupt, which is undermining American democracy, which allows Wall Street and billionaires to pour huge sums of money into the political process to elect the candidates of their choice. And aligned with a corrupt campaign finance system is a rigged economy. And that's an economy where ordinary Americans are working longer hours for low wagers. They are worried to death about the future of their kids. And yet they are seeing almost all new income and all new wealth going to the top 1 percent. And then in addition to that, the American people are looking around and they see a broken criminal justice system. They see more people in jail in the United States of America than any other country on earth, 2.2 million. We're spending $80 billion a year locking up fellow Americans. They see kids getting arrested for marijuana, getting in prison, getting a criminal record, while they see executives on Wall Street who pay billions of dollars in settlements and get no prosecution at all. No criminal records for them. I think what our campaign is indicating is that the American people are tired of establishment politics, tired of establishment economics. They want a political revolution in which millions of Americans stand up, come together, not let the Trumps of the world divide us, and say, you know what, in this great country, we need a government that represents all of us, not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors. Thank you. +p2618 +aVWell, to put that in a context, Judy, I think we have to understand that in the last 30 years in this country there has been a massive transfer of wealth going from the hands of working families into the top one-tenth of 1% whose percentage of wealth has doubled. In other words, the very rich are getting richer, almost everybody is going \u2014 getting poorer. What I believe is the United States, in fact, should join the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee healthcare to all people. Our Medicare for all single-payer proposal will save the average middle class family $5,000 a year. I do believe that in the year 2016 we have to look in terms of public education as colleges as part of public education making public colleges and universities tuition free. I believe that when real unemployment is close to 10%, and when our infrastructure, our roads, our bridges, our water systems, Flint, Michigan comes to mind. Our waste water plants, our rail, our airports, in many places are disintegrating. Yeah, we can create 13 million jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure at a cost of a trillion dollars. +p2619 +aV... Of course there will be a limit, but when today you have massive levels of income and wealth inequality, when the middle class is disappearing, you have the highest rate of child poverty of almost any major country on Earth. Yes, in my view, the government of a democratic society has a moral responsibility to play a vital role in making sure all of our people have a decent standard of living. +p2620 +aVWell, let us level with the American people. Secretary Clinton has been going around the country saying Bernie Sanders wants to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, people are going to lose their MedicAid, they're going to lose their +p2621 +aVThat is absolutely inaccurate. Look, here is the reality, folks. There is one major country on Earth that does not guarantee health care to all people. There is one major country \u2014 the United States \u2014 which ends up spending almost three times per capita what they do in the U.K. guaranteeing health care to all people, 50 percent more than they do in France guaranteeing health care to all people, far more than our Canadian neighbors, who guarantee health care to all people. Please do not tell me that in this country, if \u2014 and here's the if \u2014 we have the courage to take on the drug companies, and have the courage to take on the insurance companies, and the medical equipment suppliers, if we do that, yes, we can guarantee health care to all people in a much more cost effective way. +p2622 +aVWell, Secretary Clinton, you're not in the White House yet. And let us be clear that every proposal that I have introduced has been paid for. For example, all right, who in America denies that we have an infrastructure that is crumbling? Roads, bridges, water systems, wastewater plants, who denies that? Who denies that real unemployment today, including those who have given up looking for work and are working part-time is close to 10 percent? Who denies that African-American youth unemployment, real, is over 50 percent. We need to create jobs. So yes, I will do away with the outrageous loopholes that allow profitable multinational corporations to stash billions of dollars in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda and in a given year pay zero, zero in federal income tax. Yes, I'm going to do away with that. We will use those proceeds, a hundred billion a year, to invest in rebuilding our infrastructure. Yes, I believe that as a result of the illegal behavior on Wall Street, that they are a Wall Street that drove this country into the worst economic downturn since the Great Recession \u2014 Great Depression. Yes, I do believe that now after the American people bailed Wall Street out, yes, they should pay a Wall Street speculation tax so that we can make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We bailed them out. Now it is their time to help the middle class. +p2623 +aVA brief response. +p2624 +aVHere is where we are with public education. A 100, 150 years ago incredibly brave Americans said, you know what, working class kids, low income kids should not have to work in factories or on the farms. Like rich kids, they deserve to get a free education. And that free education of extraordinary accomplishment was from first grade to 12th grade. The world has changed. This is 2016. In many ways, a college degree today is equivalent to what a high school degree was 50, 60 years ago. So, yes, I do believe that when we talk about public education in America, today, in a rapidly changing world, we should have free tuition at public colleges and universities. That should be a right of all Americans regardless of the income of their families. +p2625 +aVLook, we are fighting for every vote that we can get from women, from men, straight, gay, African-Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans. We are trying to bring America together around an agenda that works for working families and the middle class. I am very proud, if my memory is not correct \u2014 I think I am \u2014 that I have a lifetime \u2014 and I've been in Congress a few years \u2014 a lifetime 100 percent pro-choice voting record. I am very proud that over the years we have had the support in my state of Vermont from very significant majorities of women. I'm very proud that I support legislation that is currently in the Congress, got support of almost all progressive Democrats in the House and Senate, which says we will end the absurdity of women today making 79 cents on the dollar compared to men. And we will join the rest of the other \u2014 the industrialized world in saying that paid family and medical leave should be a right of all working families. +p2626 +aVWell, you know, I think, from a historical point of view, somebody with my background, somebody with my views, somebody who has spent his entire life taking on the big money interests, I think a Sanders victory would be of some historical accomplishment, as well. +p2627 +aVLet me concur with the secretary, no question women's rights are under fierce attack all over this country. And I will tell you something that really galls me. I will not shock anybody to suggest that in politics there is occasionally a little bit of hypocrisy. Just a little bit. All over this country we have Republican candidates for president saying we hate the government. Government is the enemy. We're going to cut Social Security to help you. We're going to cut Medicare and Medicaid, federal aid to education to help you, because the government is so terrible. But, by the way, when it comes to a woman having to make a very personal choice, ah, in that case, my Republican colleagues love the government and want the government to make that choice for every woman in America. If that's not hypocrisy, I don't know what hypocrisy is. +p2628 +aVThis is one of the great tragedies in our country today. And we can no longer continue to sweep it under the rug. It has to be dealt with. Today a male African-American baby born today stands a one-in-four chance of ending up in jail. That is beyond unspeakable. So what we have to do is the radical reform of a broken criminal justice system. What we have to do is end over-policing in African-American neighborhoods. The reality is that both the African-American community and the white community do marijuana at about equal rates. The reality is four times as many blacks get arrested for marijuana. Truth is that far more blacks get stopped for traffic violations. The truth is that sentencing for blacks is higher than for whites. We need fundamental police reform, clearly, clearly, when we talk about a criminal justice system. I would hope that we could all agree that we are sick and tired of seeing videos on television of unarmed people, often African-Americans, shot by police officers. What we have got to do is make it clear that any police officer who breaks the law will, in fact, be held accountable. +p2629 +aVNothing that Secretary Clinton said do I disagree with. This mandatory sentencing, a very bad idea. It takes away discretion from judges. We have got to demilitarize local police departments so they do not look like occupying armies. We have got to make sure that local police departments look like the communities they serve in their diversity. And, where we are failing abysmally is in the very high rate of recidivism we see. People are being released from jail without the education, without the job training, without the resources that they need to get their lives together, then they end up \u2014 we're shocked that they end up back in jail again. So, we have a lot of work to do. But, here is a pledge I've made throughout this campaign, and it's really not a very radical pledge. When we have more people in jail, disproportionately African American and Latino, than China does, a communist authoritarian society four times our size. Here's my promise, at the end of my first term as president we will not have more people in jail than any other country. We will invest in education, and jobs for our kids, not incarceration and more jails. +p2630 +aVWell, I think, Judy, what has to be appreciated is that, as a result of the disastrous and illegal behavior on Wall Street, millions of lives were hurt. People lost their jobs, their homes, their life savings. Turns out that the African-American community and the Latino community were hit especially hard. As I understand it, the African-American community lost half of their wealth as a result of the Wall Street collapse. So when you have childhood African-American poverty rates of 35 percent, when you have youth unemployment at 51 percent, when you have unbelievable rates of incarceration \u2014 which, by the way, leaves the children back home without a dad or even a mother \u2014 clearly, we are looking at institutional racism. We are looking at an economy in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. And sadly, in America today, in our economy, a whole lot of those poor people are African-American. +p2631 +aVAbsolutely, because what we will do is say, instead of giving tax breaks to billionaires, we are going to create millions of jobs for low-income kids so they're not hanging out on street corners. We're going to make sure that those kids stay in school or are able to get a college education. And I think when you give low-income kids \u2014 African-American, white, Latino kids \u2014 the opportunities to get their lives together, they are not going to end up in jail. They're going to end up in the productive economy, which is where we want them. +p2632 +aVWhite people? +p2633 +aVYeah, you can, because African-Americans and Latinos not only face the general economic crises of low wages, and high unemployment, and poor educational opportunities, but they face other problems, as well. So, yes, we can talk about it as a racial issue. But it is a general economic issue. And here's what the economic issue is. The wages that high school graduates receive today are significantly less, whether you are white or black, than they used to be. Why is that? Because of a series of disastrous trade policies which have allowed corporate America through +p2634 +aVThe answer is yes. We've got 11 million undocumented people in this country. I have talked to some of the young kids with tears rolling down their cheeks, are scared to death that today they may or their parents may be deported. I believe that we have got to pass comprehensive immigration reform, something that I strongly supported. I believe that we have got to move toward a path toward citizenship. I agree with President Obama who used executive orders to protect families because the Congress, the House was unable or refused to act. And in fact I would go further. What would motivate me and what would be the guiding light for me in terms of immigration reform, Judy, is to bring families together, not divide them up. And let me say this also. Somebody who is very fond of the president, agrees with him most of the time, I disagree with his recent deportation policies. And I would not support those. Bottom line is a path towards citizenship for 11 million undocumented people, if Congress doesn't do the right thing, we use the executive orders of the president. +p2635 +aVSecretary Clinton, I do have a disagreement here. If my memory is correct, I think when we saw children coming from these horrendous, horrendously violent areas of Honduras and neighboring countries, people who are fleeing drug violence and cartel violence, I thought it was a good idea to allow those children to stay in this country. That was not, as I understand it, the secretary's position. In terms of 2007 immigration reform, yeah, I did vote against it. I voted against it because the Southern Poverty Law Center, among other groups, said that the guest-worker programs that were embedded in this agreement were akin to slavery. Akin to slavery, where people came into this country to do guest work were abused, were exploited, and if they stood up for their rights, they'd be thrown out of this country. So it wasn't just me who opposed it. It was +p2636 +aVWell, let me just respond. I worked with Ted Kennedy. He was the chairman of my committee. And I loved Ted Kennedy. But on this issue, when you have one of the large Latino organizations in America saying vote no, and you have the AFL-CIO saying vote no, and you have leading progressive Democrats, in fact, voting no, I don't apologize for that vote. But in terms of the children, I don't know to whom you're sending a message. Who are you sending a message to? These are children who are leaving countries and neighborhoods where their lives are at stake. That was the fact. I don't think we use them to send a message. I think we welcome them into this country and do the best we can to help them get their lives together. +p2637 +aVOK. You know, you judge a nation not by the number of millionaires and billionaires it has, but by how you treat, we treat, the most vulnerable and fragile people in our nation. And by those standards, we're not doing particularly well. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty among almost any major country on Earth. And in terms of seniors, there are millions of seniors \u2014 and I've talked to them in my state of Vermont and all over this country \u2014 who are trying to get by on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year Social Security. And you know what? You do the arithmetic. You can't get by on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year. And here's an area where Secretary Clinton and I believe we have a difference. I have long supported the proposition that we should lift the cap on taxable income coming into the Social Security Trust Fund, starting at $250,000. And when we \u2014 and when we do that, we don't do what the Republicans want, which is to cut Social Security. We do what the American people want, to expand Social Security by $1,300 a year for people under $16,000, and we extend the life of Social Security for 58 years. Yes, the wealthiest people, the top 1.5 percent, will pay more in taxes. But a great nation like ours should not be in a position where elderly people are cutting their pills in half, where they don't have decent nutrition, where they can't heat their homes in the wintertime. That is not what America should be about. If elected president, I will do everything I can to expand Social Security benefits, not just for seniors, but for disabled veterans, as well. +p2638 +aVIn all due respect......In all due respect, Secretary Clinton, a lot of the progressive groups, the online groups have really asked you a simple question. Are you coming onboard a proposal? And what is that proposal? Now, the proposal that I have outlined, you know, should be familiar to you, because it is what essentially Barack Obama campaigned on in 2008. You opposed him then. I would hope that you would come onboard and say that this is the simple and straightforward thing to do. We're asking the top 1.5 percent, including passive income, to start paying a little bit more so that the elderly and disabled vets in this country can live with security and dignity. I hope you will make a decision soon on this. +p2639 +aVThat's my bill. Check it out. +p2640 +aVWhat we are talking about in reality is a corrupt campaign finance system, that's what we're talking about. We have to be honest about it. It is undermining American democracy. When extraordinarily wealthy people make very large contributions to Super PACs, and in many cases in this campaign, Super PACs have raised more money than individual candidates have, OK? We had a decision to make early on, do we do a Super PAC? And, we said no. We don't represent Wall Street, we don't represent the billionaire class, so it ends up I'm the only candidate up here of the many candidates who has no Super PAC. But, what we did is we said to the working families of this country, look, we know things are tough, but if you want to help us go beyond establishment politics, and establishment economics, send us something. And, it turns out that up until \u2014 and this has blown me away, never in a million years would I have believed that I would be standing here tonight telling you that we have received three and a half million individual contributions from well over a million people. Now, Secretary Clinton's Super PAC, as I understand it, received $25 million dollars last reporting period, $15 million dollars from Wall Street. Our average contribution is $27 dollars, I'm very proud of that. +p2641 +aVThe people aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street... But let's not \u2014 but let's not \u2014 let's not insult \u2014 let's not insult the intelligence of the American people. People aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street make huge campaign contributions? I guess just for the fun of it; they want to throw money around. Why does the pharmaceutical industry make huge campaign contributions? Any connection maybe to the fact that our people pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs? Why does the fossil fuel industry pay \u2014 spend huge amounts of money on campaign contributions? Any connection to the fact that not one Republican candidate for president thinks and agrees with the scientific community that climate change is real and that we have got to transform our energy system? And when we talk about Wall Street, let's talk about Wall Street. I voted for Dodd-Frank, got an important amendment in it. In my view, it doesn't go anywhere near far enough. But when we talk about Wall Street, you have Wall Street and major banks have paid $200 billion in fines since the great crash. No Wall Street executive has been prosecuted. +p2642 +aVLet me, you know, again, respectfully disagree with Secretary Clinton here. When you have three out of the four largest financial institutions in this country bigger today than they were when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, when you have six financial institutions having assets equivalent to 58 percent of the GDP of America, while issuing two-thirds of the credit cards and a third of the mortgages, look, I think if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, that great trust-buster would have said break them up. I think he would have been right. I think he would have said bring back a 21st-century Glass-Steagall legislation. I think that would have been right, as well. That's my view. +p2643 +aVHey, I'm in the United States Senate, and anyone who doesn't think that there is an enormous amount of waste and inefficiency and bureaucracy throughout government would be very, very mistaken. I believe in government, but I believe in efficient government, not wasteful government. +p2644 +aVIf I could just answer that, we have also got to take a look at the waste and inefficiencies in the Department of Defense, which is the one major agency of government that has not been able to be audited. And I have the feeling you're going to find a lot of cost overruns there and a lot of waste and duplicative activities. +p2645 +aVLet me \u2014 let me just say this. What a President of the United States has got to do and what is his or her major, I think, responsibility is to, a, make certain that we keep our people safe, that we work with allies around the world to protect democratic values, that we do all that we can to create a world of peace and prosperity. I voted against the war in Iraq because I listened very carefully to what President Bush and Vice President Cheney had to say and I didn't believe them. And if you go to my Web site,berniesanders.com, what you find is not only going to help lead the opposition to that war, but much of what I feared would happen when I spoke on the floor of the House, in fact, did happen in terms of the instability that occurred. Now I think an area in kind of a vague way, or not so vague, where Secretary Clinton and I disagree is the area of regime change. Look, the truth is that a powerful nation like the United States, certainly working with our allies, we can overthrow dictators all over the world. And God only knows Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator. We could overthrow Assad tomorrow if we wanted to. We got rid of Gadhafi. But the point about foreign policy is not just to know that you can overthrow a terrible dictator, it's to understand what happens the day after. And in Libya, for example, the United States, Secretary Clinton, as secretary of state, working with some other countries, did get rid of a terrible dictator named Gadhafi. But what happened is a political vacuum developed. +p2646 +aVJudy, if I can, there is no question, Secretary Clinton and I are friends, and I have a lot of respect for her, that she has enormous experience in foreign affairs. Secretary of state for four years. You've got a bit of experience, I would imagine. But judgment matters as well. Judgment matters as well. And she and I looked at the same evidence coming from the Bush administration regarding Iraq. I lead the opposition against it. She voted for it. But more importantly, in terms of this Libya resolution that you have noted before, this was a virtually unanimous consent. Everybody voted for it wanting to see Libya move toward democracy, of course we all wanted to do that. That is very different than talking about specific action for regime change, which I did not support. +p2647 +aVJudy, one area very briefly... +p2648 +aVWhere the secretary and I have a very profound difference, in the last debate \u2014 and I believe in her book \u2014 very good book, by the way \u2014 in her book and in this last debate, she talked about getting the approval or the support or the mentoring of Henry Kissinger. Now, I find it rather amazing, because I happen to believe that Henry Kissinger was one of the most destructive secretaries of state in the modern history of this country. I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend. I will not take advice from Henry Kissinger. And in fact, Kissinger's actions in Cambodia, when the United States bombed that country, overthrew Prince Sihanouk, created the instability for Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge to come in, who then butchered some 3 million innocent people, one of the worst genocides in the history of the world. So count me in as somebody who will not be listening to Henry Kissinger. +p2649 +aVWell, it ain't Henry Kissinger. That's for sure. +p2650 +aVIt is. +p2651 +aVI find \u2014 I mean, it's just a very different, you know, historical perspective here. Kissinger was one of those people during the Vietnam era who talked about the domino theory. Not everybody remembers that. You do. I do. The domino theory, you know, if Vietnam goes, China, da, da, da, da, da, da, da. That's what he talked about, the great threat of China. And then, after the war, this is the guy who, in fact, yes, you're right, he opened up relations with China, and now pushed various type of trade agreements, resulting in American workers losing their jobs as corporations moved to China. The terrible, authoritarian, Communist dictatorship he warned us about, now he's urging companies to shut down and move to China. Not my kind of guy. +p2652 +aVWell, this is what I would say. It is a complicated relationship. I congratulate Secretary of State John Kerry and the president for working on this agreement. As you've indicated, what is happening in Syria, the number of people, the hundreds of thousands of people who have been killed \u2014 men, women, 20,000 children, the people who are forced to flee their own country \u2014 their own country \u2014 it is unspeakable. It is a real horror. Now, what I think is that right now we have got to do our best in developing positive relations with Russia. But let's be clear: Russia's aggressive actions in the Crimea and in Ukraine have brought about a situation where President Obama and +p2653 +aVLet me just \u2014 just say this. For a start, the secretary and I disagree \u2014 and I think the president does not agree with her \u2014 in terms of the concept of a no-fly zone in Syria. I think you do have a humanitarian tragedy there, as I mentioned a moment ago. I applaud Secretary Kerry and the president for trying to put together this agreement. Let's hope that it holds. But furthermore, what we have got to do, I'm sorry, yes, I do believe that we have got to do everything that we can, and it will not happen tomorrow. But I do hope that in years to come, just as occurred with Cuba, 10, 20 years ago, people would say, reach normalized relations with Cuba. And by the way, I hope we can end the trade embargo with Cuba as well. But the idea that we some day maybe have decent relations with Iran, maybe put pressure on them so they end their support for terrorism around the world, yes, that is something I want to achieve. And I believe that the best way to do that is to be aggressive, to be principled, but to have the goal of trying to improve relations. That's how you make peace in the world. You sit down and you work with people, you make demands of people, in this case demanding Iran stop the support of international terrorism. +p2654 +aVWe have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of work to do. But I recall when Secretary Clinton ran against then-Senator Obama, she was critical of him for suggesting that maybe you want to talk to Iran, that you want to talk to our enemies. I have no illusion. Of course you are right. Iran is sponsoring terrorism in many parts of the world, destabilizing areas. Everybody knows that. But our goal is, in fact, to try over a period of time to, in fact, deal with our enemies, not just ignore that reality. +p2655 +aVNo, I think the idea was that president \u2014 then-Senator Obama was wrong for suggesting that it is a good idea to talk to your opponents. It's easier to talk to your friends. It's harder to talk to your enemies. I think we should do both. +p2656 +aVA couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to go on a congressional delegation. And I went to one of these Turkish refugee camps right on the border of Syria. And what a sad sight that was: Men, women, children forced out of their homes. And Turkey, by the way, did a very decent thing, providing what was reasonable housing and conditions for those people. It seems to me that given our history as a nation that has been a beacon of hope for the oppressed, for the downtrodden, that I very strongly disagree with those Republican candidates who say, you know what, we've got to turn our backs on women and children who left their home with nothing, nothing at all. That is not what America is supposed to be about. So I believe that working with Europe \u2014 and, by the way, you know, we've got some very wealthy countries there in that part of the world. You got Kuwait and you got Qatar and you got Saudi Arabia. They have a responsibility, as well. But I think this is a worldwide \u2014 that the entire world needs to come together to deal with this horrific refugee crisis we're seeing from Syria and Afghanistan, as well. +p2657 +aVYou know, Franklin Delano Roosevelt took the oath of office in 1933 at a time when 25 percent of the American people were unemployed, country was in incredible despair. And he stood before the American people and he said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself," a profound statement that gave the American people the courage to believe that, yes, we could get out of that terrible depression. And then what he did is redefine the role of government. You know, you had Herbert Hoover before that saying, no, we got to only worry about the deficit. So what if mass unemployment exists? So what if children are going hungry? That's not the role of the government. And when FDR said, "Yeah, it is," that we're going to use all of the resources that we have to create jobs, to build homes, to feed people, to protect the farmers, we are a nation which if we come together there is nothing that we could not accomplish. And kind of \u2014 that's what I see our campaign is about right now. In this particular moment of serious crises, saying to the American people don't give up on the political process. don't listen to the Trumps of the world and allowing them to divide us. If we reengage and get involved, yeah, we can have health care for all people, we can make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We do not have to have massive levels of income and wealth inequality. In the same light, as the foreign leader, Winston Churchill's politics were not my politics. He was kind of a conservative guy in many respects. But nobody can deny that as a wartime leader, he rallied the British people when they stood virtually alone against the Nazi juggernaut and rallied them and eventually won an extraordinary victory. Those are two leaders that I admire very much. +p2658 +aVThat is......Madam Secretary, that is a low blow. I have worked with President Obama for the last seven years. When President Obama came into office we were losing 800,000 jobs a month, 800,000 jobs a month. We had a $1.4 trillion deficit. And the world's financial system is on the verge of collapse. As a result of his efforts and the efforts of Joe Biden against unprecedented, I was there in the Senate, unprecedented Republican obstructionism, we have made enormous progress. But you know what? Last I heard we lived in a democratic society. Last I heard, a United States senator had the right to disagree with the president, including a president who has done such an extraordinary job. So I have voiced criticisms. You're right. Maybe you haven't. I have. But I think to suggest that I have voiced criticism, this blurb that you talk about, you know what the blurb said? The blurb said that the next president of the United States has got to be aggressive in bringing people into the political process. That's what I said. That is what I believe. President Obama and I are friends. As you know, he came to Vermont to campaign for me when he was a senator. I have worked for his re-election. His first election and his re-election. But I think it is really unfair to suggest that I have not been supportive of the president. I have been a strong ally with him on virtually every issue. Do senators have the right to disagree with the president? Have you ever disagreed with a president? I suspect you may have. +p2659 +aVWell, one of us ran against Barack Obama. I was not that candidate. All right, look, this has been a great debate. A lot of interesting issues have come together. Let me conclude by just saying this. There is no president, in my view, not Hillary Clinton, not Bernie Sanders, who has the capability or the power to take on Wall Street, large campaign donors, the corporate media, the big money interests in this country alone. This campaign is not just about electing a president. What this campaign is about is creating a process for a political revolution in which millions of Americans, working people who have given up on the political process, they don't think anybody hears their pains or their concerns. Young people for whom getting involved in politics is as, you know, it's like going to the moon. It ain't going to happen. Low income people who are not involved in the political process. What this campaign is not only about electing someone who has the most progressive agenda, it is about bringing tens of millions of people together to demand that we have a government that represents all of us and not just the 1 percent, who today have so much economic and political power. Thank you all very much. +p2660 +aVRachel, thank you very much. Millions of Americans are giving up on the political process. And they're giving up on the political process because they understand the economy is rigged. They are working longer hours for low wages. They're worried about the future of their kids, and yet almost all new income and wealth is going to the top 1 percent. Not what America is supposed to be about. Not the fairness that we grew up believing that America was about. And then sustaining that rigged economy is a corrupt campaign finance system undermining American democracy, where billionaire, Wall Street, corporate America can contribute unlimited sums of money into super PACs and into candidates. Our job, together, is to end a rigged economy, create an economy that works for all, and absolutely overturn Citizens United. One person, one vote. That's what American democracy is about. +p2661 +aVWell, I haven't quite run for president before. Let's deal with some of the comments that Secretary Clinton made. And by the way, you know, sometimes there's a lot of drama here. I have known Secretary Clinton for 25 years and respect her very much. Here is the issue. Every major country on earth, whether it's the U.K., whether it's France, whether it's Canada, has managed to provide healthcare to all people as a right and they are spending significantly less per capita on health care than we are. So I do not accept the belief that the United States of America can't do that. I do not accept the belief that the United States of America and our government can't stand up to the ripoffs of the pharmaceutical industry which charge us by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. Number two, in the economy today, everybody understands that we need a well educated workforce. This is 2016. When we talk about public education, it can no longer be K through 12th grade. I do believe that public colleges and universities should be tuition free. Well, how do we pay for that? It's an expensive proposition. I do believe that we should substantially lower student debt in this country, which is crushing millions of people. We pay for it, in my view, by a tax on Wall Street speculation. The middle class bailed out Wall Street in their time of need. Now, it is Wall Street's time to help the middle class. +p2662 +aVLet me... +p2663 +aV... this is a good discussion here. +p2664 +aVAnd let me just say this. As Secretary Clinton may know, I am on the Health Education Labor Committee. That committee wrote the Affordable Care Act. The idea I would dismantle health care in America while we're waiting to pass a Medicare for all is just not accurate. The Affordable Care Act has clearly, as Secretary Clinton made the point, done a lot of good things, but, what it has not done is dealt with the fact we have 29 million people today who have zero health insurance, we have even more who are underinsured with large deductibles and copayments and prescription drug prices are off the wall. So I do believe that in the future, not by dismantling what we have here\u2014I helped write that bill\u2014but by moving forward, rallying the American people, I do believe we should have health care for all. +p2665 +aVNo, not at all. Here's the reality of American economic life today. The reality is that we have one of lowest voter turnouts of any major country on earth because so many people have given up on the political process. The reality is that there has been trillions of dollars of wealth going from the middle class in the last 30 years to the top 1/10th of 1 percent. The reality is we that have a corrupt campaign finance system which separates the American people's needs and desires from what Congress is doing. So to my mind, what we have got to do is wage a political revolution where millions of people have given up on the political process, stand up and fight back, demand the government that represents us and not just a handful of campaign contribution\u2014contributors. Now all of the ideas that I'm talking about, they are not radical ideas. Making public colleges and universities tuition free, that exists in countries all over the world, used to exist in the United States. Rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, and creating 13 million jobs by doing away with tax loopholes that large corporations now enjoy by putting their money into the Cayman Islands and other tax havens. That is not a radical idea. What we need to do is to stand up to the big money interests, and the campaign contributors. When we do that, we can, in fact, transform America. +p2666 +aVLet me just pick up on this point. This whole discussion began because I commented, not making overall evaluation about the Secretary. She was in Ohio, I think, in September or November and she got up and said something like, I have been\u2014I'm paraphrasing, I have been criticized because people think I'm a moderate. Well, I am a moderate. That's where this came from. It wasn't me paraphrasing her. It is what she said, and all that I said was there's nothing wrong with being a moderate. But, you can't be a moderate, you can't a progressive. In terms of President Obama, I think if we remember where this country was seven years ago, 800,000 jobs being lost every month, $1.4 trillion dollar deficit. The world's financial system on the verge of collapse. I think that President Obama, Vice President Biden, and the Democratic leadership in the House and the Senate have done a fantastic job. We are in much better shape than we were seven years ago, although my Republican colleagues seem to have forgotten where we were seven years ago. That's the fact, but, we still have a very long way to go. Do I think President Obama is a progressive? Yes, I do. I disagree with him on a number of issues including the trade agreement. But, yes, I think he has done an excellent job. +p2667 +aVThat's right, I mean, instead of arguing about definitions, let's talk about... +p2668 +aV... What we should do, and one of the things we should do is not only talk the talk, but walk the walk. I am very proud to be the only candidate up here who does not have a Super PAC, who's not raising huge sums of money from Wall Street...... And special interests. I am enormously proud. Never believed it would happen that we have raised 3.5 million individual contributions, averaging $27 dollars a piece. That is what the political revolution means. +p2669 +aVWell, Rachel, actually, that wasn't accurate. In 1988 the Republican did win, I believe, by 3 points. I came in second. It was 34-31, I think, 19 for the Democrat. In that race the Democrat was the spoiler, not me. And it is true......it is true, it's not to be denied, I am the longest- serving independent in the history of the United States Congress. People of Vermont sent me to Washington as an independent. That is true. But on the other hand, I have\u2014when I was in the House for 16 years, I caucused with the Democrats. In the Senate for nine years caucused with the Democrats, of course. And I was elected by the Democrats to be chair of the Veterans Committee three years ago, which I'm very proud of. And now am the rankings member on the Budget Committee, leader of the Democrats in opposition to the majority Republicans. I am running for president as a Democrat. And if elected, not only do I hope to bring forth a major change in national priorities, but let me be frank, I do want to see major changes in the Democratic Party. I want to see working people and young people come into the party in a way that doesn't exist now. And you know what, I want a 50-state strategy so the Democratic Party is not just the party of 25 states. +p2670 +aVWell, I don't see it quite like that. +p2671 +aVI am\u2014will absolutely admit that Secretary Clinton has the support of far more governors, mayors, members of the House. She has the entire establishment or almost the entire establishment behind her. That's a fact. I don't deny it. But I am pretty proud that we have over a million people who have contributed to our campaign averaging 27 bucks apiece. That we have had meetings where 25,000-30,000 people have come out. That our campaign is a campaign of the people, by the people, and for the people. So, Rachel, yes, Secretary Clinton does represent the establishment. I represent, I hope, ordinary Americans, and by the way, who are not all that enamored with the establishment, but I am very proud to have people like Keith Ellison and Raul Grijalva in the House, the co-chairmen of the House Progressive Caucus. +p2672 +aVWhat being part of the establishment is, is, in the last quarter, having a super PAC that raised $15 million from Wall Street, that throughout one's life raised a whole lot of money from the drug companies and other special interests. To my mind, if we do not get a handle on money in politics and the degree to which big money controls the political process in this country, nobody is going to bring about the changes that is needed in this country for the middle class and working families. +p2673 +aVWhat... +p2674 +aV... you know... +p2675 +aV. +p2676 +aVLet's talk about\u2014OK, let's talk... +p2677 +aV... let us talk about issues. +p2678 +aVLet's talk about issues. +p2679 +aVLet's... +p2680 +aV... let's\u2014let's\u2014let's talk about issues. +p2681 +aVLet's talk\u2014let's talk about issues, all right? Let's talk about why, in the 1990s, Wall Street got deregulated. Did it have anything to do with the fact that Wall Street provided\u2014spent billions of dollars on lobbying and campaign contributions? Well, some people might think, yeah, that had some influence. Let's ask why it is that we pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, and your medicine can be doubled tomorrow, and there's nothing that the government can do to stop it. You think it has anything to do with the huge amounts of campaign contributions and lobbying from the fossil fuel industry? Let's talk about climate change. Do you think there's a reason why not one Republican has the guts to recognize that climate change is real, and that we need to transform our energy system? Do you think it has anything to do with the Koch brothers and ExxonMobil pouring huge amounts of money into the political system? That is what goes on in America. I am not\u2014I like......there is a reason. You know, there is a reason why these people are putting huge amounts of money into our political system. And in my view, it is undermining American democracy and it is allowing Congress to represent wealthy campaign contributors and not the working families of this country. +p2682 +aVI think as Secretary Clinton knows, there is nobody who fought harder. I was on the House Financial Committee at that time. I heard the arguments coming from Democrats and Republicans\u2014Robert Rubin, Alan Greenspan\u2014about great an idea it would be if we did away with Glass-Steagall and if we allowed investor banks and commercial banks and big insurance companies to merge. Go to YouTube today. Look up Greenspan-Sanders. Listen to what I told them then. I helped lead the effort against deregulation. Unfortunately, we lost that. The result is\u2014was the worst financial disaster since the Great Depression. +p2683 +aVChuck, actually we looked at it, but it turns out to be a disaster. The way it is structured right now, if you make it all the way to California, you could do pretty well. But in terms of the early states\u2014Iowa, New Hampshire, the other states\u2014it just doesn't work. Your point is well taken. I believe in public funding of elections, absolutely. But this system is\u2014I don't know if the secretary would agree\u2014is currently very antiquated and no longer applies to modern day politics. +p2684 +aVBut if the... +p2685 +aVLet me just say this. Wall Street is perhaps the most powerful economic and political force in this country. You have companies like Goldman Sachs, who just recently paid a settlement fine with the federal government for $5 billion for defrauding investors. Goldman Sachs was one of those companies whose illegal activity helped destroy our economy and ruin the lives of millions of Americans. But this is what a rigged economy and a corrupt campaign finance system and a broken criminal justice is about. These guys are so powerful that not one of the executives on Wall Street has been charged with anything after paying, in this case of Goldman Sachs, a $5 billion fine. Kid gets caught with marijuana, that kid has a police record. A Wall Street executive destroys the economy, $5 billion settlement with the government, no criminal record. That is what power is about. That is what corruption is about. And that is what has to change in the United States of America. +p2686 +aVI would say that\u2014that folks who have looked at this issue for a long time, whether it's Elizabeth Warren or many other economists, will tell you that right now, yes, we do need a 21st century Glass-Steagall legislation. And I would tell you also that when you have three out of the four largest banks in America today, bigger than they were\u2014significantly bigger than when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, I think if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, a good Republican by the way, what he would say is: Break them up; they are too powerful economically; they are too powerful politically. And that is what I believe and many economists believe. Time to break them up. +p2687 +aVWell, we've had a number of economists supporting our legislation. And here's where we are. The American people can judge. Six largest financial institutions in America today have assets of roughly $10 trillion; equivalent to 58 percent of the GDP of the United States of America. That is a lot of money. They issue two thirds of the credit cards, and by the way they're ripping off a whole lot of people with high interest rates on the credit cards, and they write about one third of the mortgages. That is a lot of power for six financial institutions. That's it. I think it is too much power. Too much economic power, too much political power, and the economists that I talk to say we should break them up. +p2688 +aVYeah, I do. I agree with much of what the Secretary said, but, madam Secretary, it is not one streak. Wall Street is an entity of unbelievable economic and political power. That's a fact. And, I want to say something, and it may sound harsh, not to you, but to the American people. In a sense, in my view, the business model of Wall Street is fraud. It's fraud. I believe that corruption is rampant, and the fact that major bank after major bank has reached multi billion dollar settlements with the United States government when we have a weak regulator system tells me that not only did we have to bail them out once, if we don't start breaking them up, we're going to have to bail them out again, and I do not want to see that happen... +p2689 +aVOf course I can work with them, but let's be clear. When I talked about Boeing and I talked about General Electric, what I was referring to is an outrage. I suspect the secretary agrees request me. Right now you have a loophole such that these guys are putting their profits, multi-billion dollar profitable corporations putting billions of dollars into the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, and other tax havens. And in a given year, Rachel, after making billions of dollars in profit, do you know how much they're paying in taxes to the United States government in a given year? Zero. Now explain to me how that makes any sense at all. So what I have said with regard to Boeing and GE and other multinationals that pay zero taxes, you know what we're going to do? We're going to end that loophole. They are going to pay their fair share of taxes. We're going to use that money to rebuild our infrastructure and create up to 13 million jobs. Can I work with corporations? Are there good corporations doing incredible cutting edge research and development? Absolutely they are. And we should be proud of them. But on the other hand, there are many corporations who have turned their backs on the American worker, who have said, if I can make another nickel in profit by going to China and shutting down in the United States of America, that's what I will do. I will do my best to transform our trade policy and take on these corporations who want to invest in low-income countries around the world rather than in the United States of America. +p2690 +aVOK. Let me agree with much of what the secretary said, but where we have a different background on this issue is we differ on the war in Iraq, which created barbaric organizations like +p2691 +aVWell, I think our great task is to make certain that our young men and women in the military do not get sucked into never- ending, perpetual warfare within the quagmire of Syria and Iraq. And I will do my very best to make sure that that doesn't happen. I agree with the secretary that I think what has to happen\u2014and let me just mention what King Abdullah of Jordan said. I think he hit the nail on the head. And what he said is essentially the war against +p2692 +aVWell, you can't simply withdraw tomorrow. Wish we could, and allow, you know, the Taliban or anybody else to reclaim that country. But what we must do, and what we have seen in recent months, is some progress in Iraq, where finally the Iraqi army, which has not been a particularly effective fighting force, retook Ramadi. +p2693 +aVWell, that's not quite accurate. I did give a speech at Georgetown where I talked about democratic socialism and foreign policy. Maybe I shouldn't have combined the two in the same speech, because the foreign policy part of it didn't get much attention. So, let me take this opportunity to give you a very short speech here on the issue. I think, while it is true that the secretary and I voted differently on the war in Iraq, what is important is that we learn the lesson of the war in Iraq. And that lesson is intrinsic to my foreign policy if elected president, is the United States cannot do it alone. We cannot be the policeman of the world. We are now spending more I believe than the next eight countries on defense. We have got to work in strong coalition with the major powers of the world and with those Muslim countries that are prepared to stand up and take on terrorism. So I would say that the key doctrine of the Sanders administration would be no, we cannot continue to do it alone; we need to work in coalition. +p2694 +aV I fully, fully concede that Secretary Clinton, who was secretary of State for four years, has more experience\u2014hat is not arguable\u2014in foreign affairs. But experience is not the only point, judgment is. And once again, back in 2002, when we both looked at the same evidence about the wisdom of the war in Iraq, one of us voted the right way and one of us didn't. In terms of Iran and in terms of Saudi Arabia, of course they hate each other. That's no great secret. But John Kerry, who is I think doing a very good job, has tried to at least get these people in the room together because both of them are being threatened by +p2695 +aVWell... +p2696 +aVWho said That think we should normalize relations with Iran tomorrow? I never said that. I think we should move forward as quickly as we can. And you're right. They are a sponsor of terrorism around the world and we have to address that. But you know, a number of years ago, people were saying normal relationship with Cuba, what a bad and silly idea. They're Communists, they are our enemy. Well guess what? Change has come. So please don't suggest that I think we normalize relations with Tehran tomorrow. We don't. But I would like to see us move forward, and hopefully some day that will happen. And I would say if I might, Madam Secretary\u2014and you can correct me if I'm wrong. When you ran against Senator Obama you thought him naive because he thought it was a good idea to talk to our enemies. I think those are exactly the people you have to talk to and you have to negotiate with. +p2697 +aVOK. +p2698 +aVI think President Obama had the right idea, and the bottom line is that of course there have to be conditions. But, of course it doesn't do us any good to not talk with our adversaries... +p2699 +aVJust to set the record straight, I very strongly supported the agreement which makes certain that Iran does not get a nuclear weapon. +p2700 +aV... +p2701 +aV +p2702 +aV... No, no... +p2703 +aV... +p2704 +aVClearly North Korea is a very strange situation because it is such an isolated country run by a handful of dictators, or maybe just one, who seems to be somewhat paranoid. And, who had nuclear weapons. And, our goal there, in my view, is to work and lean strongly on China to put as much pressure. China is one of the few major countries in the world that has significant support for North Korea, and I think we got to do everything we can to put pressure on China. I worry very much about an isolated, paranoid country with atomic bombs. I think, clearly, we got to work closely with China to resolve the serious problems we have, and I worry about Putin and his military adventurism in the Crimea and the Ukraine. +p2705 +aV... No, I don't. I worry very, very much about an isolated country. That's what makes me nervous. Russia lives in the world. China lives in the world. North Korea is a very, very strange country because it is so isolated, and I do feel that a nation with nuclear weapons, they have got to be dealt with. Dealt with effectively. +p2706 +aVLet me agree. You know, as the secretary knows, I chaired\u2014I had the privilege and the honor of chairing the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs. And it is interesting to me, you know, Republicans give a lot of speeches about how much they love veterans. I work with the American Legion, the VFW, the DAV, the Vietnam Vets, and virtually every veterans organization to put together the most comprehensive piece of the veterans legislation in the modern history of America. That's what I did. And I brought it to the floor of the Senate. Every Democrat voted for it, I got two Republicans. We ended up with 56 votes and I couldn't get the 60 votes that I needed. That is pathetic. This was legislation supported by all of the veterans organizations, addressing many of the serious problems that veterans face in health care and in how we deliver benefits to them. So Republicans talk a good game about veterans, but when it came to put money on the line to protect our veterans, frankly, they were not there. What I did next, Rachel, is I had to retreat a little bit, I had to compromise. I did work with John McCain. I did work with Jeff Miller over in the House. And we put together not the bill that I wanted, but probably the most comprehensive V.A. health care bill in the modern history of this country. Secretary Clinton is absolutely right, there are people, Koch brothers among others, who have a group called Concerned Veterans of America, funded by the Koch brothers. The Koch brothers, by the way, want to destroy Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, every governmental program passed since the 1930s. Yes, there are people out there who want to privatize it. The last point that I'd make. I had a hearing. I had all of the veterans groups in front of me. And I said to them, tell me when a veteran gets in to the V.A., understanding there are waiting lines and real problems, when a veteran gets into the system, is the quality of care good? Without exception, what they said, good, excellent, very good. We've got to strengthen the V.A. We do not privatize the V.A. +p2707 +aVWell, I agree with the Des Moines Register, but let's not blow this out of proportion. This is not a\u2014this is not, like, a winner-take-all thing. I think where we now stand\u2014correct me if I'm wrong\u2014you have 22 delegates, I have 20 delegates. We need 2,500 delegates to win the nomination. You know, so this is not\u2014this is not the biggest deal in the world. We think, by the way, based on talking to our precinct captains, we may have at least two more delegates. What the Des Moines Register said\u2014you know, there were coin\u2014I think there were half a dozen coin flips\u2014a fairly chaotic type situation. At the end of the day, no matter how it's recounted, it will break roughly even. And by the way, I love and respect the caucus process in Iowa. See, and I don't have to say it, because they voted already. And I love New Hampshire, too, because you haven't voted, but......but, look, I think people are blowing this up out of proportion. But I think we need improvements in the process by which results are determined. +p2708 +aVOh . See, when you are old, then they go back all these years. All right. What have you got? +p2709 +aVWell, you know, a general election is different than a primary and caucus process. But let me just say this. In terms of where we are right now, as you mention, Rachel, in a number of national and state, including New Hampshire. For example, the last poll I saw\u2014there may have been a new one\u2014last one I saw here in New Hampshire, a battleground state, had me defeating Trump by 19; the secretary defeating him by one. There were also pretty large margins in Iowa and Wisconsin. These are polls. Polls go up. Polls go down. But here's why I think I will be, if nominated, the strongest candidate. Democrats win when there is a large voter turnout; when people are excited; when working people, middle class people and young people are prepared to engage in the political process. Republicans win when people are demoralized and you have a small voter turnout, which by the way is why they love voter suppression. I believe that our campaign up to now has shown that we can create an enormous amount of enthusiasm from working people, from young people, who will get involved in the political process and which will drive us to a very large voter turnout. If there is a large voter turnout, not only do we retain the White House, but I think we regain the Senate. We win governors' chairs up and down the line. So I believe if you want to retain the White House, if you want to see Democrats do well across the board, I think our campaign is the one that creates the large voter turnout and helps us win. +p2710 +aV +p2711 +aVI am feeling exactly the way I felt at the first debate. There's a process under way. I will not politicize it. +p2712 +aVAnd by the way\u2014and by the way, if I may, the secretary probably doesn't know that there's not a day that goes by when I am not asked to attack her on that issue, and I have refrained from doing that and I will continue to refrain from doing that. +p2713 +aVNot losing control of our campaign. You know, we have hired a whole lot of people in a rapid way and I am familiar with the first two instances and they are unacceptable, and we have apologized and dealt with that. In terms of the last one, as I understand it, we did not suggest that we had the endorsement of a newspaper. Newspapers who make endorsements also say positive things about other candidates, and to the best of my knowledge, that is what we did. So we never said, never said that somebody, a newspaper endorsed us that did not. What we did say is blah blah blah blah was said by the newspaper. +p2714 +aVBut that was only for\u2014that was not to be on television. That's an important point. That was just something\u2014as the secretary knows, you put titles on ads and you send them out, but there was no word in that ad, none, that said that those newspapers had endorsed us. +p2715 +aV... Look, I hear what the Secretary said, and I understand, but look, there are\u2014all of us know that we have seen in recent years horrible, horrible crimes. It's hard to imagine how people can do, bomb, and kill 168 people in Oklahoma City, or do the Boston Marathon bombing, but this is what I believe, and for a couple of reasons. Number one, too many innocent people, including minorities, African Americans, have been executed when they were not guilty. That's number one. We have to be very careful about making sure about that. But, second of all, and maybe, in a deeper reason, of course there are barbaric acts out there. But, in a world of so much violence and killing, I just don't believe that government itself should be part of the killing. So, when somebody commits......somebody commits any of these terrible crimes that we have seen, you lock them up, and you toss away the key. They're never going to get out. But, I just don't' want to see government be part of killing. That's all. +p2716 +aVAbsolutely. I think the Secretary described the situation appropriately. You know, I don't go around asking for governor's resignations every day. In fact, I think I never have in my life. But I did ask for the resignation of Governor Snyder because his irresponsibility......was so outrageous. What we are talking about are children being poisoned. That's what we're talking about. We don't know, no one knows for sure because they haven't done the appropriate studies, but there's no question that kids' intellectual development may have been impacted. We don't know how many thousands. The idea that there has not been a dramatic response is beyond comprehension. And when you have one of the, I think, significant public health crises of recent years, of course the federal government comes in. And of course the federal government says, you're not going to be poisoning little kids and impacting their entire lives. Last point on this. And I suspect the secretary agrees. One wonders if this were a white suburban community what kind of response there would have been. Flint, Michigan, is a poor community. It is disproportionately African-American and minority. And what has happened there is absolutely unacceptable. +p2717 +aVAbsolutely right. +p2718 +aVChuck, I believe in trade, but I do not believe in unfettered free trade. I believe in fair trade which works for the middle class and working families of this country and not just large multinational corporations. I was not only in opposition to +p2719 +aVNo, let... +p2720 +aV... I am absolutely supportive of comprehensive immigration reform and a path towards citizenship for 11 million people today who are living in the shadows. All right? We got to do that. But you miss\u2014when you looked at the issues, you missed two of the most important. And that is you're not going to accomplish what has to be done for working families and the middle class unless there is campaign finance reform. So long as big money interests control the United States Congress, it is gonna be very hard to do what has to be done for working families. So let me be very clear. No nominee of mine, if I'm elected president, to the United States Supreme Court will get that nomination unless he or she is loud and clear, and says they will vote to overturn Citizens United. Second point\u2014second point is that the only way we make change in terms of health care, in terms of dealing with a broken criminal justice system which, today, allows us to have more people in jail than any other country\u2014largely African-American and Latino\u2014the only way we create millions of jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure or have a tax system that says to the wealthy that they are going to pay their fair share, is when millions of people become involved in the political process. No, you just can't negotiate with Mitch McConnell. Mitch is gonna have to look out the window and see a whole lot of people saying, "Mitch, stop representing the billionaire class. Start listening to working families." And as president, that's what I will work hard on. +p2721 +aVI agree with what the secretary said. We shouldn't be getting ahead of ourselves. And as I have said many times, you know, sometimes in these campaigns, things get a little bit out of hand. I happen to respect the secretary very much, I hope it's mutual. And on our worst days, I think it is fair to say we are 100 times better than any Republican candidate. +p2722 +aVI\u2014my dad came to this country at the age of 17 from Poland. Didn't have any money, couldn't speak English, he died pretty young, and I think it would have been beyond his wildest dreams to see his son up here on this stage today running for president. I love this country and my dad loved this country, and he was the most proud American because of what it gave him in terms of raising his family, even though we never had much money. But today in America, we are the only major country on earth that doesn't guarantee health care to all people, that doesn't guarantee paid family and medical leave. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth. We are seeing millions of families unable to send their kids to college in the United States of America. I'm running for president because I believe it is just too late for establishment politics and establishment economics. I do believe we need a political revolution where millions of people stand up and say loudly and clearly that our government belongs to all of us and not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors. Thank you all. +p2723 +aVThank you. As we honor the extraordinary life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., it's important not only that we remember what he stood for, but that we pledge to continue his vision to transform our country. As we look out at our country today, what the American people understand is we have an economy that's rigged, that ordinary Americans are working longer hours for lower wages, 47 million people living in poverty, and almost all of the new income and wealth going to the top one percent. And then, to make a bad situation worse, we have a corrupt campaign finance system where millionaires and billionaires are spending extraordinary amounts of money to buy elections. This campaign is about a political revolution to not only elect the president, but to transform this country. +p2724 +aVWell, that's what our campaign is about. It is thinking big. It is understanding that in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, we should have health care for every man, woman, and child as a right that we should raise the minimum wage to at least $15 an hour; that we have got to create millions of decent- paying jobs by rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure. So, what my first days are about is bringing America together, to end the decline of the middle class, to tell the wealthiest people in this country that yes, they are going to start paying their fair share of taxes, and that we are going to have a government that works for all of us, and not just big campaign contributors. +p2725 +aVWell, I think Secretary Clinton knows that what she says is very disingenuous. I have a D-minus voting record from the NRA. I was in 1988, there were three candidates running for congress in the state of Vermont, I stood up to the gun lobby and came out and maintained the position that in this country we should not be selling military style assault weapons. I have supported from day one and instant background check to make certain that people who should have guns do not have guns. And that includes people of criminal backgrounds, people who are mentally unstable. I support what President Obama is doing in terms of trying to close the gun show loop holes and I think it should be a federal crime if people act as dormant. We have seen in this city a horrendous tragedy of a crazed person praying with people in the coming up and shooting nine people. This should not be a political issue. What we should be doing is working together. And by the way, as a senator from a rural state that has virtually no gun control, I believe that I am in an excellent position to bring people together to fight the sensible... +p2726 +aVWhat I have said, is that gun manufacturer's liability bill has some good provisions among other things, we've prohibited ammunition that would've killed cops who had protection on. We have child safety protection work on guns in that legislation. And what we also said, "is a small mom and pop gun shop who sells a gun legally to somebody should not be held liable if somebody does something terrible with that gun." So what I said is, " I would re-look at it." We are going to re- look at it and I will support stronger provisions. +p2727 +aV...Well, I \u2014 look... +p2728 +aV... Let me respond to what the secretary said. We have a criminal justice system which is broken. Who in America is satisfied that we have more people in jail than any other country on Earth, including China? Disproportionately African American, and Latino. Who is satisfied that 51% of African American young people are either unemployed, or underemployed? Who is satisfied that millions of people have police records for possessing marijuana when the CEO's of Wall Street companies who destroyed our economy have no police records. +p2729 +aV... We need to take a very hard look at our... +p2730 +aV... criminal justice system, investing in jobs, and education not in jails and incarceration . +p2731 +aVWell, let me talk about polling. As Secretary Clinton well knows, when this campaign began she was 50 points ahead of me. We were all of three percentage points. Guess what? In Iowa, New Hampshire, the race is very, very close. Maybe we're ahead New Hampshire. In terms of polling, guess what? We are running ahead of Secretary Clinton. In terms of taking on my taking on my good friend, Donald Trump, beating him by 19 points in New Hampshire, 13 points in the last national poll that we saw. To answer your question. When the African American community becomes familiar with my Congressional record and with our agenda, and with our views on the economy, and criminal justice \u2014 just as the general population has become more supportive, so will the African American community, so will the Latino community. We have the momentum, we're on a path to a victory. O' +p2732 +aVI apologize for not hearing all of that question. +p2733 +aVYes. +p2734 +aVAbsolutely. This is a responsibility for the U.S. Justice Department to get involved. Whenever anybody in this country is killed while in police custody, it should automatically trigger a U.S. attorney general's investigation. Second of all, and I speak as a mayor who worked very closely and well with police officers, the vast majority of whom are honest, hard- working people trying to do a difficult job, but let us be clear. If a police officer breaks the law, like any public official, that officer must be held accountable. And thirdly, we have got to de-militarize our police departments so they don't look like occupying armies. We've got to move toward community policing. And fourthly, we have got to make our police departments look like the communities they serve in their diversity. +p2735 +aVSure. I agree... I agree with everything the Secretary said, but let me just add this, there is a responsibility on the part of the pharmaceutical industry and the drug companies who are producing all of these drugs and not looking at the consequence of it. And second of all, when we talk about addiction being a disease, the Secretary is right, what that means is we need a revolution in this country in terms of mental health treatment. People should be able to get the treatment that they need when they need it, not two months from now, which is why I believe in universal... +p2736 +aV... healthcare with mental health... +p2737 +aV... a part of that. +p2738 +aVOK. +p2739 +aVSecretary \u2014 Secretary Clinton didn't answer your question. Because what her campaign was saying \u2014 Bernie Sanders, who has fought for universal health care for my entire life, he wants to end Medicare, end Medicaid, end the children's health insurance program. That is nonsense. What a Medicare-for-all program does is finally provide in this country health care for every man, woman and child as a right. Now, the truth is, that Frank Delano Roosevelt, Harry Truman, do you know what they believed in? They believed that health care should be available to all of our people. I'm on the committee that wrote the Affordable Care Act. I made the Affordable Care Act along with Jim Clyburn a better piece of legislation. I voted for it, but right now, what we have to deal with is the fact that 29 million people still have no health insurance. We are paying the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, getting ripped off. And here's the important point, we are spending far more per person on health care than the people of any other country. My proposal, provide health care to all people, get private insurance out of health insurance, lower the cost of health care for middle class families by 5,000 bucks. That's the vision we need to take. +p2740 +aVBut \u2014 what if we have... +p2741 +aVIt is \u2014 it is absolutely inaccurate. O' +p2742 +aVNo one is tearing this up, we're going to go forward. But with the secretary neglected to mention, not just the 29 million still have no health insurance, that even more are underinsured with huge copayments and deductibles. Tell me why we are spending almost three times more than the British, who guarantee health care to all of their people? Fifty percent more than the French, more than the Canadians. The vision from FDR and Harry Truman was health care for all people as a right in a cost-effective way. We're not going to tear up the Affordable Care Act. I helped write it. But we are going to move on top of that to a Medicaid-for-all system. O' +p2743 +aVYeah. +p2744 +aVYes. +p2745 +aVNot all that detailed. +p2746 +aVWell. +p2747 +aVWell, that's \u2014 you might want to ask... +p2748 +aVAndrea, let me just say this. +p2749 +aVLet me just say that you might want to ask the governor of the state of Vermont why he could not do it. I'm not the governor. I'm the senator from the state of Vermont. But second of all \u2014 second of all...... here is what the real point is, in terms of all of the issues you've raised \u2014 the good questions you've raised. You know what it all comes down to? Do you know why we can't do what every other country \u2014 major country on Earth is doing? It's because we have a campaign finance system that is corrupt, we have super PACs, we have the pharmaceutical industry pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into campaign contributions and lobbying, and the private insurance companies as well. What this is really about is not the rational way to go forward \u2014 it's Medicare for all \u2014 it is whether we have the guts to stand up to the private insurance companies and all of their money, and the pharmaceutical industry. That's what this debate should be about. +p2750 +aVA couple of years ago, when we understood that veterans were not getting the quality care they needed in the timely manner, I worked with folks like John McCain and others to pass the most comprehensive veteran's health care legislation in modern history. But let me rephrase your question because I think, in all do respect, you're expression. In all do respect, you're missing the main point. And the main point in the Congress, it's not the Republicans and Democrats hate each other. That's a mythology from the media. The real issue is that Congress is owned by big money and refuses to do what the American people want them to do. The real issue is that in area after area, raising the minimum wage to $15 bucks an hour. The American people want it. Rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, creating 13 million jobs, the American people want it. The pay equity for women, the American people want it. Demanding that the wealthy start paying their fair share of taxes. The American people want it. +p2751 +aVThe point is, we have to make Congress respond to the needs of the people, not big money. +p2752 +aVI do. +p2753 +aVDid I say that? +p2754 +aVBecause of what I believe in what I was just saying. The Democratic party needs major reform. To those of you in South Carolina, you know what, in Mississippi, we need a 50-state strategy so that people in South Carolina and Mississippi can get the resources that they need. Instead of being dependent on super PACs, what we need is to be dependent on small, individual campaign contributors. We need an agenda that speaks to the needs of working families and low-income people. Not wealthy campaign contributors. +p2755 +aVWe need to expand what the input into the Democratic party. I am very proud that in this campaign, we have seen an enormous amount of excitement from young people, from working people. We have received more individual contributions than any candidate in the history of this country up to this point. O' +p2756 +aVAnd I respectfully disagree. +p2757 +aVAnd I respectfully disagree with my friend over here. And that is, you are right. All of us have denounced Trump's attempts to divide this country: the anti-Latino rhetoric, the racist rhetoric, he anti-Muslim rhetoric. But where I disagree with you, Governor O'Malley, is I do believe we have to deal with the fundamental issues of a handful of billionaires... O' +p2758 +aV... who control economic and political life of this country. O' +p2759 +aVNothing real will get happened. Unless we have a political revolution. Where millions of people finally stand up. +p2760 +aVIs that your strategy... +p2761 +aVWell, the first difference is I don't take money from big banks. I don't get personal speaking fees from Goldman Sachs. What I would do... What I would do is understand that when you have three out of the four largest banks today, bigger than they were when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, when you have the six largest financial institutions having assets of 60 percent of the GDP of America, it is very clear to me what you have to do. You've got to bring back the 21st century Glass-Steagall legislation and you've got to break up these huge financial institutions. They have too much economic power and they have too much financial power over our entire economy. If Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, the old Republican trust buster, what he would say is these guys are too powerful. Break them up. I believe that's what the American people to want see. That's my view. +p2762 +aVOK. First of all... +p2763 +aVSet the record right. In 2006 when I ran for the Senate, Senator Barack Obama was kind enough to campaign for me, 2008, I did my best to see that he was elected and in 2012, I worked as hard as I could to see that he was reelected. He and I are friends. We've worked together on many issues. We have some differences of opinion. But here is the issue, Secretary touched on it, can you really reform Wall Street when they are spending millions and millions of dollars on campaign contributions and when they are providing speaker fees to individuals? So it's easy to say, well, I'm going to do this and do that, but I have doubts when people receive huge amounts of money from Wall Street. I am very proud, I do not have a super PAC. I do not want Wall Street's money. I'll rely on the middle class and working families... +p2764 +aV... campaign contributions. +p2765 +aVLet me give you an example of how corrupt \u2014 how corrupt this system is. Goldman Sachs recently fined $5 billion. Goldman Sachs has given this country two secretaries of treasury, one on the Republicans, one under Democrats. O' +p2766 +aVThe leader of Goldman Sachs is a billionaire who comes to Congress and tells us we should cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Secretary Clinton \u2014 and you're not the only one, so I don't mean to just point the finger at you, you've received over $600,000 in speaking fees from Goldman Sachs in one year. I find it very strange that a major financial institution that pays $5 billion in fines for breaking the law, not one of their executives is prosecuted, while kids who smoke marijuana get a jail sentence. +p2767 +aVIf you want to... +p2768 +aVAnyone who wants to check my record in taking on Wall Street, in fighting against the deregulation of Wall Street when Wall Street put billions of dollars in lobbying, in campaign contributions to get the government off their backs. They got the government off their backs. Turns out that they were crooks, and they destroyed our economy. I think it's time to put the government back on their backs. +p2769 +aV... Yeah... +p2770 +aV... That's true. +p2771 +aVGood. You're right. I want to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, create 13 million jobs. We do that by doing away with the absurd loophole that now allows major profitable corporations to stash their money in the Cayman Islands, and not in some years, pay a nickel in taxes. Yes, I do. I plead guilty. I want every kid in this country who has the ability to be able to go to a public college, or university, tuition free. And, by the way, I want to substantially lower student debt interest rates in this country as well. How do I pay for it? I pay for it through a tax on Wall Street speculation. This country, and the middle class, bailed out Wall Street. Now, it is Wall Street's time to help the middle class. In fact... O' +p2772 +aV... we have documented, unlike Secretary Clinton, I have documented exactly how I would pay for our ambitious agenda. O' +p2773 +aV... Here is the main two points... +p2774 +aVYeah. +p2775 +aV... I got it. +p2776 +aVWhat is correct, and I'm disappointed that Secretary Clinton's campaign has made this criticism. It's a Republican criticism. Secretary Clinton does know a lot about healthcare, and she understands, I believe, that a medicare for all, single payer program will substantially lower the cost of healthcare for middle class families. So, what we have got to acknowledge, and I hope the Secretary does, is we are doing away with private health insurance premiums. So, instead of paying $10,000 dollars to Blue Cross, or Blue Shield, yes, some middle class families would be paying slightly more in taxes, but the result would be that that middle class family would be saving some $5,000 dollars in healthcare costs. A little bit more in taxes, do away with private health insurance premiums. It's a pretty good deal. +p2777 +aVYeah. +p2778 +aVNo, it is not breaking my word. When you are \u2014 it's one thing to say I'm raising taxes, it's another thing to say that we are doing away with private health insurance premiums. So, if I save you $10,000 in private health insurance, and you pay a little bit more in taxes in total, there are huge savings in what your family is spending. O' +p2779 +aVI was mayor for eight years, I did that as well. O' +p2780 +aVI think we already are. Younger generation understands it instinctively. I was home in Burlington, Vermont, on Christmas Eve, the temperature was 65 degrees. People in Vermont know what's going on. People who did ice fishing, where their ice is no longer there on the lake understand what's going on. I'm on both the Environmental and Energy Committees. The debate is over. Climate change is real. It is already causing major problems. And if we do not act boldly and decisively, a bad situation will become worse. It is amazing to me, and I think we'll have agreement on this up here, that we have a major party, called the Republican Party that is so owned by the fossil fuel industry and their campaign contributions that they don't even have the courage, the decency to listen to the scientists. It is beyond my comprehension how we can elect a president of the United States, somebody like Trump, who believes that climate change is a hoax invented by the Chinese. Bottom line is, we need to be bold and decisive, we can create millions of jobs. We must, for the sake of our kids and grandchildren, transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energy. I've got the most comprehensive legislation in the Senate to do that. And as president, I will fight to make that happen. +p2781 +aVI think what we've got to do is move as aggressively as we can to normalize relations with Iran. Understanding that Iran's behavior in so many ways is something that we disagree with; their support terrorism, the anti-American rhetoric that we're hearing from of their leadership is something that is not acceptable. On the other hand, the fact that we've managed to reach an agreement, something that I've very strongly supported that prevents Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and we did that without going to war. And that I believe we're seeing a fall in our relationships with Iran is a very positive step. So if your question is, do I want to see that relationship become more positive in the future? Yes. Can I tell that we should open an embassy in Tehran tomorrow? No, I don't think we should. But I think the goal has go to be as we've done with Cuba, to move in warm relations with a very powerful and important country in this world. +p2782 +aVAs everybody you know, this is incredibly complicated and difficult issue and I applaud. I know President Obama's been getting a lot of criticism on this. I think he is doing the right thing. What the nightmare is, which many of my Republican colleagues appear to want is to not have learned the lesson of Iraq. To get American young men and women involved in perpetual warfare in the quagmire of Syria and the Middle East would be an unmitigated disaster that as president, I will do everything in my power to avoid. O' +p2783 +aVWe should \u2014 we should learn \u2014 we should learn from King Abdullah of Jordan, one of the few heroes in a very unheroic place. And what Abdullah said is this is a war with a soul of Islam and that Muslim troops should be on the ground with our support and the support of other major countries. That is how we destroy +p2784 +aVNo. I think the vacuum was created by the disastrous war in Iraq, which I vigorously opposed. Not only did I vote against it, I helped lead the opposition. And what happened there is yes, it's easy to get rid of a two-bit dictator like Saddam Hussein, but there wasn't the kind of thought as to what happens the day after you get him and what kind of political vacuum occurs. And who rises up? Groups like +p2785 +aVLet me just... +p2786 +aVOK. Let me suggest... +p2787 +aVWhere Secretary Clinton and I think, I agree with most of what she said. But where I think we do have an honest disagreement, is that in the incredible quagmire of Syria, where it's hard to know who's fighting who and if you give arms to this guy, it may end up in +p2788 +aVOK. I just wanted to add, in the previous question, I voted against the USA Patriot Act for many of the reasons that Governor O'Malley mentioned. But it is not only the government that we have to worry about, it is private corporations. You would all be amazed, or maybe not, about the amount of information private companies and the government has in terms of the Web sites that you access, the products that you buy, where you are this very moment. And it is very clear to me that public policy has not caught up with the explosion of technology. So yes, we have to work with Silicon Valley to make sure that we do not allow +p2789 +aVRight. What we have got to do there is, among other things, as I was just saying, have Silicon Valley help us to make sure that information being transmitted through the Internet or in other ways by +p2790 +aVCan I get 50 seconds? +p2791 +aVCan I get a \u2014 can I just get a very brief response? Very brief. +p2792 +aVOK. One \u2014 and I agree with what the secretary said, and what Governor O'Malley said. But here's an issue that we also should talk about. We have a $600 billion military budget. It is a budget larger than the next eight countries'. Unfortunately, much of that budget continues to fight the old Cold War with the Soviet Union. Very little of that budget \u2014 less than 10 percent \u2014 actually goes into fighting +p2793 +aVGreat ideas, Governor O'Malley, Secretary Clinton, but here's the truth. If you have an administration stacked with Wall Street appointees, it ain't going to accomplish very much. So here's a promise that I make \u2014 and I mentioned a moment ago how corrupt the system is \u2014 Goldman Sachs, paying a $5 billion fine, gives this country, in recent history, a Republican secretary of treasury, a Democratic secretary of treasury. Here's a promise. If elected president, Goldman Sachs is not going to have \u2014 bring forth a secretary of treasury for a Sanders administration. +p2794 +aVI was asked a question. You know, one of the things, Andrea, and I \u2014 that question annoys me. I cannot walk down the street \u2014 Secretary Clinton knows this \u2014 without being told how much I have to attack secretary Clinton, want to get me on the front pages of the paper, I'd make some vicious attack. I have avoided doing that. Trying to run an issue-oriented campaign. +p2795 +aVI was asked a question. +p2796 +aVWell \u2014 then if I don't answer it, then there's another front page, so it's yes. And I mean this seriously. You know that. We've been through this. Yes, his behavior was deplorable. Have I ever once said a word about that issue? No, I have not. I'm going to debate Secretary Clinton, Governor O'Malley, on the issues facing the American people, not Bill Clinton's personal behavior. +p2797 +aVWell, Secretary Clinton was right and what I did which I think is also right, is demanded the resignation of governor. A man who acts that irresponsibly should not stay in power. Now, we are a great nation \u2014 and we've heard a lot of great ideas here tonight. Let's be honest and let's be truthful. Very little is going to be done to transform our economy and to create the kind of middle class we need unless we end a corrupt campaign finance system which is undermining American democracy. We've got to get rid of Super PACs, we've got to get rid of Citizens' United and what we've got to do is create a political revolution which revitalizes American democracy; which brings millions of young people and working people into the political process. To say loudly and clearly," that the government of the United States of America belongs to all of us and not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors." +p2798 +asVBARTIROMO +p2799 +(lp2800 +VTonight we're partnering with the Wall Street Journal to ask questions on the economy that voters want answered. We're also working with Facebook, who tells us that since the first Republican debate, more than 58 million people have joined the political conversation online. More than 9 million are talking specifically about the economy. +p2801 +aVBusinesswoman Carly Fiorina. Ohio Governor John Kasich. And Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. +p2802 +aVWe've asked people on Facebook to submit their questions for the candidates. Seth Bell wrote, "We are approaching $20 trillion in national debt. Specifically, what plans do you have to cut federal spending?" Governor Kasich, you have spoken much about your success in balancing the budget under President Clinton. Today the national debt is at record highs and growing unsustainably. Interest will be the fastest-growing part of the federal budget, tripling over the next 10 years. Social Security, the lifeline of millions of American seniors, is rushing toward insolvency. With all of the tax plans presented tonight, estimated to cost anywhere between $2 trillion and $12 trillion over a decade, what specific steps will you take to balance the budget? +p2803 +aVDid you want to name any specific steps, sir? +p2804 +aVThank you, sir. +p2805 +aVSenator Cruz, the International Monetary Fund recently cut its expectations for economic growth. Many economists expect a recession to hit the U.S. within the next year due to the weakening of manufacturing. The next president will have to deal with it. You say tax reform is a powerful lever to spur economic expansion. You're calling for a 10 percent income tax and a 16 percent business tax. What other elements do you need in this plan to actually create jobs? +p2806 +aVThank you, sir. +p2807 +aVGovernor Bush... +p2808 +aVWe have more questions for you, Governor Kasich, coming up. We have more questions for you, Governor Kasich. +p2809 +aVWe will \u2014 we will certainly get to that. Governor Bush? +p2810 +aVAlmost 40 percent of Americans are without a job and are not looking. Many have given up. That's what the participation rate tells us. You've said your policies will drive the economy back to 4 percent growth, which we haven't seen since the year 2000. What specific regulations would you change? And how will that lead to jobs and growth? +p2811 +aVThank you, sir. +p2812 +aVMr. Trump, a federal appeals court just dealt a blow to the Obama administration's plan to prevent the deportation of 5 million people living in this country illegally. The White House is appealing to the Supreme Court. At the heart of this issue is the effect that illegal immigrants are having on our economy, what will you do about it? +p2813 +aVCan we just send 5 million people back with no effect on economy? +p2814 +aVSo what will you do? +p2815 +aVThank you, sir. +p2816 +aVWe go back to Facebook. Dewayne Wesley Cato asks on Facebook, how do we get rid of regulations choking our businesses? Ms. Fiorina? Specifically, under the president's Affordable Care Act, employers with 50 or more employees are required to offer health insurance, or be fined. Many are opting to pay the fine. Others are cutting back employee hours to duck the law altogether. What specific ways will you alleviate the pressure on small business? +p2817 +aVJust to be clear, you want to repeal Obamacare... ..but, what's the alternative? +p2818 +aVJust to be clear, you say you would repeal Obamacare... +p2819 +aV...But, what is the alternative... +p2820 +aV...and how does that help small business... +p2821 +aV...Thank you... +p2822 +aVSenator Cruz, there isn't anyone in this audience or watching at home tonight who would not like to pay less in taxes. Most people just want a fair shake, and they don't want their money to be wasted. But explain how your plan works. How can you cut taxes as much as you propose without running up debt and deficits? +p2823 +aVBut you haven't told us how to pay for it. +p2824 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Bush, Republican primary voters say tax reform should be a priority for Congress and the administration. But, Governor Bush, how important is tax reform in your domestic policy agenda? Will you guarantee it in the first year of your presidency? +p2825 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2826 +aVThat's right. That's right. +p2827 +aVComing up, the biggest threats facing the next commander-in-chief. You're watching the Republican presidential debate, live tonight from Milwaukee. We'll be right back. +p2828 +aVWelcome back. Welcome back to the Republican presidential debate. The candidates taking the questions you want answered. Also tonight, you can see what America is saying about the debate. Go to Facebook and type #gopdebate into the search box. Now, back to the questions. Americans face security threats at home and abroad. Last year, terrorist attacks rose 61 percent, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace, with the most deaths occurring in just five countries, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Syria. Dr. Carson, you were against putting troops on the ground in Iraq and against a large military force in Afghanistan. Do you support the president's decision to now put 50 special ops forces in Syria and leave 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan? +p2829 +aVWe asked Facebook to take a look at some of the major issues we're talking about, and tackling in this debate tonight. This word cloud shows what people are focusing on the most. The bigger the word, the more the talk. One of the most discussed issues in the last month, homeland security. Governor Bush, what is the biggest threat facing America today? +p2830 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, in 2012 debate, President Obama mocked Mitt Romney's assertion that Russia was the top geopolitical challenge facing the United States, saying he was a Cold War dinosaur. Now, Russia has invaded Ukraine, and has put troops in Syria. You have said you will have a good relationship with Mr. Putin. So, what does President Trump do in response to Russia's aggression? +p2831 +aVThank you, sir. +p2832 +aVThank you, governor. +p2833 +aVSenator Rubio. +p2834 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. +p2835 +aVMore questions \u2014 more questions coming up, when the Republican presidential debate comes right back, live from Milwaukee. Stay with us. +p2836 +aVWelcome back to the fourth Republican presidential debate. Senator Rubio, Hillary Clinton is the clear front runner for the Democratic nomination. If she is indeed the nominee, you will be facing a candidate with an impressive resume. She was the first lady of the United States, a U.S. senator from New York, and secretary of state under Barack Obama. She has arguably more experience, certainly more time in government than almost all of you on stage tonight. Why should the American people trust you to lead this country, even though she has been so much closer to the office? +p2837 +aVSenator Paul, you were one of 15 republicans to vote for an amendment which states that human activity contributed to climate change. President Obama has announced an aggressive plan to cut carbon emissions. At the same time, energy production in America has boomed. Is it possible to continue this boom, and move toward energy self-sufficiency, while at the same time pursuing a meaningful climate change program? +p2838 +aVCarly Fiorina? +p2839 +aVFormer Governor Jeb Bush? +p2840 +aVSenator Ted Cruz? +p2841 +aVHe's funny. +p2842 +aVThank you. +p2843 +asVCLINTON +p2844 +(lp2845 +VThank you. +p2846 +aVI'm running for president to knock down all the barriers that are holding Americans back, and to rebuild the ladders of opportunity that will give every American a chance to advance, especially those who have been left out and left behind. I know a lot of Americans are angry about the economy. And for good cause. Americans haven't had a raise in 15 years. There aren't enough good-paying jobs, especially for young people. And yes, the economy is rigged in favor of those at the top. We both agree that we have to get unaccountable money out of our political system and that we have to do much more to ensure that Wall Street never wrecks main street again. But I want to go further. I want to tackle those barriers that stand in the way of too many Americans right now. African-Americans who face discrimination in the job market, education, housing, and the criminal justice system. Hardworking immigrant families living in fear, who should be brought out of the shadows so they and their children can have a better future. Guaranteeing that women's work finally gets the pay, the equal pay that we deserve. I think America can only live up to its potential when we make sure that every American has a chance to live up to his or her potential. That will be my mission as president. And I think together we will make progress. +p2847 +aVJudy, I think that the best analysis that I've seen based on Senator Sanders plans is that it would probably increase the size of the federal government by about 40%, but what is most concerning to me is that in looking at the plans \u2014 let's take healthcare for example. Last week in a CNN town hall, the Senator told a questioner that the questioner would spend about $500 dollars in taxes to get about $5,000 dollars in healthcare. Every progressive economist who has analyzed that says that the numbers don't add up, and that's a promise that cannot be kept, and it's really important now that we are getting into the rest of the country that both of us are held to account for explaining what we are proposing because, especially with healthcare, this is not about math. This is about people's lives, and we should level with the American people about what we can do to make sure they get quality affordable healthcare. +p2848 +aVI can only say that we both share the goal of universal health care coverage. You know, before it was called Obamacare, it was called Hillarycare. And I took on the drug companies and I took on the insurance companies to try to get us universal health care coverage. And why I am a staunch supporter of President Obama's principal accomplishment \u2014 namely the Affordable Care Act \u2014 is because I know how hard it was to get that done. We are at 90 percent coverage. We have to get the remaining 10. I've set forth very specific plans about how to get costs down, especially prescription drug costs. And it is difficult to in any way argue with the goal that we both share. But I think the American people deserve to know specifically how this would work. If it's Medicare for all, then you no longer have the Affordable Care Act, because the Affordable Care Act, as you know very well, is based on the insurance system, based on exchanges, based on a subsidy system. The Children's Health Insurance Program, which I helped to create, which covers 8 million kids, is also a different kind of program. So if you're having Medicare for all, single-payer, you need to level with people about what they will have at the end of the process you are proposing. And based on every analysis that I can find by people who are sympathetic to the goal, the numbers don't add up, and many people will actually be worse off than they are right now. +p2849 +aVWell, let me just \u2014 let me just say, once again......that, having been in the trenches fighting for this, I believe strongly we have to guarantee health care. I believe we are on the path to doing that. The last thing we need is to throw our country into a contentious debate about health care again. And we are not England. We are not France. We inherited a system that was set up during World War II; 170 million Americans get health insurance right now through their employers. So what we have tried to do and what President Obama succeeded in doing was to build on the health care system we have, get us to 90 percent coverage. We have to get the other 10 percent of the way to 100. I far prefer that and the chances we have to be successful there than trying to start all over again, gridlocking our system, and trying to get from zero to 100 percent. +p2850 +aVNo. But it is absolutely fair and necessary for Americans to vet both of our proposals, to ask the really hard questions about, what is it we think we can accomplish, why do we believe that, and what would be the results for the average American family? In my case, whether it's health care, or getting us to debt-free tuition, or moving us toward paid family leave, I have been very specific about where I would raise the money, how much it would cost, and how I would move this agenda forward. I've tried to be as specific to answer questions so that my proposals can be vetted, because I feel like we have to level with people for the very reason, Gwen, that you are mentioning. There is a great deal of skepticism about the federal government. I'm aware of that. It comes from the right, from the left, from people on all sides of the political spectrum. So we have a special obligation to make clear what we stand for, which is why I think we should not make promises we can't keep, because that will further, I think, alienate Americans from understanding and believing we can together make some real changes in people's lives. +p2851 +aVI will put a price tag. My price tag is about $100 billion a year. And again, paid for. And what I have said is I will not throw us further into debt. I believe I can get the money that I need by taxing the wealthy, by closing loopholes, the things that we are way overdue for doing. And I think once I'm in the White House we will have enough political capital to be able to do that. But I am conscious of the fact that we have to also be very clear, especially with young people, about what kind of government is going to do what for them and what it will cost. +p2852 +aVYou know, I think, again, both of us share the goal of trying to make college affordable for all young Americans. And I have set forth a compact that would do just that for debt-free tuition. We differ, however, on a couple of key points. One of them being that if you don't have some agreement within the system from states and from families and from students, it's hard to get to where we need to go. And Senator Sanders's plan really rests on making sure that governors like Scott Walker contribute $23 billion on the first day to make college free. I am a little skeptical about your governor actually caring enough about higher education to make any kind of commitment like that. +p2853 +aVWell, first, Judy, I have spent my entire adult life working toward making sure that women are empowered to make their own choices, even if that choice is not to vote for me. I believe that it's most important that we unleash the full potential of women and girls in our society. And I feel very strongly that I have an agenda, I have a record that really does respond to a lot of the specific needs that the women in our country face. So I'm going to keep making that case. I'm going to keep making sure that everything I've done, everything that I stand for is going to be well known. But I have no argument with anyone making up her mind about who to support. I just hope that by the end of this campaign there will be a lot more supporting me. That's what I'm working towards. +p2854 +aVWell, look, I think that she's been saying that for as long as I've known her, which is about 25 years. But it doesn't change my view that we need to empower everyone, women and men, to make the best decisions in their minds that they can make. That's what I've always stood for. And when it comes to the issues that are really on the front lines as to whether we're going to have equal pay, paid family leave, some opportunity for, you know, women to go as far as their hard work and talent take them, I think that we still have some barriers to knock down, which is why that's at the core of my campaign. I would note, just for a historic aside, somebody told me earlier today we've had like 200 presidential primary debates, and this is the first time there have been a majority of women on the stage. So, you know, we'll take our progress wherever we can find it. +p2855 +aVYou know, I have said \u2014 I have said many times, you know, I'm not asking people to support me because I'm a woman. I'm asking people to support me because I think I'm the most qualified, experienced, and ready person to be the president and the commander-in-chief. And I appreciate greatly Senator Sanders' voting record. And I was very proud to get the endorsement of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, because I've been a leader on these issues. I have gone time and time again to take on the vested interests who would keep women's health care decisions the province of the government instead of women ourselves. I'm very proud that +p2856 +aVYou know, I completely agree with Senator Sanders. The first speech I gave in this campaign back in April was about criminal justice reform and ending the era of mass incarceration. The statistics from Wisconsin are particularly troubling, because it is the highest rate of incarceration for African-Americans in our nation, twice the national average. And we know of the tragic, terrible event that lead to the death of Dontre Hamilton right here in Milwaukee, a young man unarmed, who should still be with us. His family certainly believes that. And so do I. So we have work to do. There have been some good recommendations about what needs to happen. President Obama's policing commission came out with some. I have fully endorsed those. But we have to restore policing that will actually protect the communities that police officers are sworn to protect. And, then we have to go after sentencing, and that's one of the problems here in Wisconsin because so much of what happened in the criminal justice system doesn't happen at the federal level, it happens at the state and local level. But, I would also add this. There are other racial discrepancies. Really systemic racism in this state, as in others, education, in employment, in the kinds of factors that too often lead from a position where young people, particularly young men, are pushed out of school early, are denied employment opportunities. So, when we talk about criminal justice reform, and ending the era of mass incarceration, we also have to talk about jobs, education, housing, and other ways of helping communities. +p2857 +aVWell, I'm just not sure I agree completely with that assessment. I think under President Obama we have seen a lot of advances, the Affordable Care Act has helped more African Americans than any other group to get insurance, to be taken care of, but we also know a lot more than we did. We have a lot more social media, we have everybody with a cellphone. So, we are seeing the dark side of the remaining systemic racism that we have to root out in our society. I think President Obama has set a great example. I think he has addressed a lot of these issues that have been quite difficult, but he has gone forward. Now, what we have to do is to build on an honest conversation about where we go next. We now have much more information about what must be done to fix our criminal justice system. We now have some good models about how better to provide employment, housing and education. I think what President Obama did was to exemplify the importance of this issue as our first African American president, and to address it both from the President's office, and through his advocacy, such as working with young men, and Mrs. Obama's work with young women. But, we can't rest. We have work to do, and we now know a lot more than we ever did before. So, it's going to be my responsibility to make sure we move forward to solve these problems that are now out in the open. Nobody can deny them. To use the Justice Department, as we just saw, they have said they are going to sue Ferguson, that entered into a consent agreement, and then tried to back out. So, we're going to enforce the law, we're going to change policing practices, we're going to change incarceration practices, but we're also going to emphasize education, jobs, and housing. +p2858 +aVLook, I am deeply concerned about what's happening in every community in America, and that includes white communities, where we are seeing an increase in alcoholism, addiction, earlier deaths. People with a high school education or less are not even living as long as their parents lived. This is a remarkable and horrifying fact. And that's why I've come forward with, for example, a plan to revitalize coal country, the coalfield communities that have been so hard hit by the changing economy, by the reduction in the use of coal. You know, coal miners and their families who helped turn on the lights and power our factories for generations are now wondering, has our country forgotten us? Do people not care about all of our sacrifice? And I'm going to do everything I can to address distressed communities, whether they are communities of color, whether they are white communities, whether they are in any part of our country. I particularly appreciate the proposal that Congressman Jim Clyburn has \u2014 the 10-20-30 proposal \u2014 to try to spend more federal dollars in communities with persistent generational poverty. And you know what? If you look at the numbers, there are actually as many, if not more white communities that are truly being left behind and left out. So, yes, I do think it would be a terrible oversight not to try to address the very real problems that white Americans \u2014 particularly those without a lot of education whose jobs have \u2014 you know, no longer provided them or even no longer present in their communities, because we have to focus where the real hurt is. And that's why, as president, I will look at communities that need special help and try to deliver that. +p2859 +aVI strongly support the president's executive actions. I hope the Supreme Court upholds them. I think there is constitutional and legal authority for the president to have done what he did. I am against the raids. I'm against the kind of inhumane treatment that is now being visited upon families, waking them up in the middle of the night, rounding them up. We should be deporting criminals, not hardworking immigrant families who do the very best they can and often are keeping economies going in many places in our country. I'm a strong supporter of comprehensive immigration reform. Have been ever since I was in the Senate. I was one of the original sponsors of the +p2860 +aVTwo quick responses. One, with respect to the Central American children, I made it very clear that those children needed to be processed appropriately, but we also had to send a message to families and communities in Central America not to send their children on this dangerous journey in the hands of smugglers. I've also called for the end of family detention, for the end of privately-run detention centers, along with private prisons, which I think are really against the common good and the rule of law. And with respect to the 2007 bill, this was Ted Kennedy's bill. And I think Ted Kennedy had a very clear idea about what needed to be done. And I was proud to stand with him and support it. +p2861 +aVWell, that just wasn't \u2014 that just wasn't the fact, Senator. The fact is that there was a great effort made by the Obama administration and others to really send a clear message, because we knew that so many of these children were being abused, being treated terribly while they tried to get to our border. So we have a disagreement on this. I think now what I've called for is counsel for every child so that no child has to face any kind of process without someone who speaks and advocates for that child so that the right decision hopefully can be made. +p2862 +aVI think \u2014 I think it's fair to say we don't have a disagreement. We both believe there has to be more money going into the Social Security system. I've said I'm looking at a couple of different ways, one which you mentioned, Senator, but also trying to expand the existing tax to passive income that wealthy people have so that we do get more revenue into the Social Security Trust Fund. I have a slightly different approach, though, about what we should do with that initially. First, rather than expand benefits for everyone, I do want to take care of low-income seniors who worked at low-wage jobs. I want to take care of women. When the Social Security program was started in the 1930s, not very many women worked. And women have been disadvantaged ever since. They do not get any credit for their care-taking responsibilities. And the people who are often the most hard-hit are widows, because when their spouse dies, they can lose up to one-half of their Social Security monthly payment. So we have no disagreement about the need to buttress Social Security, get more revenue into the program. But I want to start by helping those people who are most at risk, the ones who, yes, are cutting their pills in half, who don't believe they can make the rent, who are worried about what comes next for them. +p2863 +aVWell, Senator, look, I think we're in vigorous agreement here. We both want to get more revenue in. I have yet to see a proposal that you're describing that the \u2014 raising the cap would apply to passive income. That has not been... +p2864 +aVWell, that has not been a part of most of the proposals that I've seen. I'm interested in making sure we get the maximum amount of revenue from those who can well afford to provide it. So I'm going to come up with the best way forward. We're going to end up in the same place. We're going to get more revenue. I'm going to prioritize those recipients who need the most help first. +p2865 +aVI can't speak for the Koch Brothers, you're referring to a Super PAC that we don't coordinate with, that was set up to support President Obama, that has now decided that they want to support me. They are the ones who should respond to any questions. Let's talk about our campaigns. I'm very proud of the fact that we have more than 750 thousand donors, and the vast majority of them are giving small contributions. So, I'm proud of Senator Sanders, and his supporters. I think it's great that Senator Sanders, President Obama and I have more donors than any three people who have every run, certainly on the Democratic side. That's the way it should be, and I'm going to continue to reach out to thank all my online contributors for everything they are doing for me, to encourage them and help me do more just as Senator Sanders is. I think that is the real key here. We both have a lot of small donors. I think that sets us apart from a lot of what's happening right now on the Republican side. The Koch Brothers have a very clear political agenda. It is an agenda, in my view, that would do great harm to our country. We're going to fight it as hard as we can, and we're going to fight whoever the Republicans nominate who will depend on the Koch Brothers, and others. +p2866 +aVWe are mixing apples and oranges. My 750,000 donors have contributed more than a million and a half donations. I'm very proud. That, I think, between the two of us demonstrates the strength of the support we have among people who want to see change in our country. But, the real issue, I think, that the Senator is injecting into this is that if you had a Super PAC, like President Obama has, which now says it wants to support me. It's not my PAC. If you take donations from Wall Street, you can't be independent. I would just say, I debated then Senator Obama numerous times on stages like this, and he was the recipient of the largest number of Wall Street donations of anybody running on the Democratic side ever. Now, when it mattered, he stood up and took on Wall Street. He pushed through, and he passed the Dodd-Frank regulation, the toughest regulations since the 1930's. So, let's not in anyway imply here that either President Obama or myself, would in anyway not take on any vested interested, whether it's Wall Street, or drug companies, or insurance companies, or frankly, the gun lobby to stand up to do what's best for the American people. +p2867 +aVWell, let's just \u2014 let's just follow up on this, because, you know, I've made it very clear that no bank is too big to fail, no executive too powerful to jail, and because of Dodd-Frank, we now have in law a process that the president, the Federal Reserve, and others can use if any bank poses a systemic risk. I think that's a major accomplishment. I agree, however, it doesn't go far enough, because what it focuses on are the big banks, which Senator Sanders has talked about a lot, for good reason. I go further in the plan that I've proposed, which has been called the toughest, most effective, comprehensive plan for reining in the other risks that the financial system could face. It was an investment bank, Lehman Brothers, that contributed to our collapse. It was a big insurance company, AIG. It was Countrywide Mortgage. My plan would sweep all of them into a regulatory framework so we can try to get ahead of what the next problems might be. And I believe that not only Barney Frank, Paul Krugman, and others, have said that what I have proposed is the most effective. It goes in the right direction. We have Dodd-Frank. We can use it to break up the banks, if that's appropriate. But let's not kid ourselves. As we speak, there are new problems on the horizon. I want to get ahead of those, and that's why I've proposed a much more comprehensive approach to deal with all of these... +p2868 +aVAbsolutely. And, you know, there are a number of programs that I think are duplicative and redundant and not producing the results that people deserve. There are a lot of training programs and education programs that I think can be streamlined and put into a much better format so that if we do continue them they can be more useful, in public schools, community colleges, and colleges and universities. I would like to take a hard look at every part of the federal government and really do the kind of analysis that would rebuild some confidence in people that we're taking a hard look about what we have, you know, and what we don't need anymore. And that's what I intend to do. +p2869 +aVLook, I think we are readier than we used to be, but it's a constant effort that has to be undertaken to make sure we are as ready as we need to be. We have made a lot of improvements in our domestic security since 9/11, and we have been able to foil and prevent attacks, yet we see the terrible attack in San Bernardino and know that we haven't done enough. So we have to go after this both abroad and at home. We have to go after terrorist networks, predominantly +p2870 +aVIf I could just respond. Two points. One, Senator Sanders voted in 1998 on what I think is fair to call a regime change resolution with respect to Iraq, calling for the end of Saddam Hussein's regime. He voted in favor of regime change with Libya, voted in favor of the Security Council being an active participate in setting the parameters for what we would do, which of course we followed through on. I do not believe a vote in 2002 is a plan to defeat +p2871 +aVYou did support a U.N. Security Council approach, which we did follow up on. And, look, I think it's important to look at what the most important counterterrorism judgment of the first four years of the Obama administration was, and that was the very difficult decision as to whether or not to advise the president to go after bin Laden. I looked at the evidence. I looked at the intelligence. I got the briefings. I recommended that the president go forward. It was a hard choice. Not all of his top national security advisors agreed with that. And at the end of the day, it was the president's decision. So he had to leave the Situation Room after hearing from the small group advising him and he had to make that decision. I'm proud that I gave him that advice. And I'm very grateful to the brave Navy +p2872 +aVWell, I know journalists have asked who you do listen to on foreign policy, and we have yet to know who that is. +p2873 +aVThat's fine. That's fine. You know, I listen to a wide variety of voices that have expertise in various areas. I think it is fair to say, whatever the complaints that you want to make about him are, that with respect to China, one of the most challenging relationships we have, his opening up China and his ongoing relationships with the leaders of China is an incredibly useful relationship for the United States of America. So if we want to pick and choose \u2014 and I certainly do \u2014 people I listen to, people I don't listen to, people I listen to for certain areas, then I think we have to be fair and look at the entire world, because it's a big, complicated world out there. +p2874 +aVAnd, yes, people we may disagree with on a number of things may have some insight, may have some relationships that are important for the president to understand in order to best protect the United States. +p2875 +aVWell, with respect to Syria, I really do appreciate the efforts that Secretary Kerry has made. The agreement on humanitarian relief now needs to be implemented, because there are enclaves that are literally filled with starving people throughout Syria. The agreement on a cease-fire, though, is something that has to be implemented more quickly than the schedule that the Russians agreed to. You know, the Russians wanted to buy time. Are they buying time to continue their bombardment on behalf of the Assad regime to further decimate what's left of the opposition, which would be a grave disservice to any kind of eventual cease-fire? So I know Secretary Kerry is working extremely hard to try to move that cease-fire up as quickly as possible. But I would add this. You know, the Security Council finally got around to adopting a resolution. At the core of that resolution is an agreement I negotiated in June of 2012 in Geneva, which set forth a cease-fire and moving toward a political resolution, trying to bring the parties at stake in Syria together. This is incredibly complicated, because we've got Iran as a big player, in addition to Russia. We have Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and others who have very important interests in their view. This is one of the areas I've disagreed with Senator Sanders on, who has called for Iranian troops trying to end civil war in Syria, which I think would be a grave mistake. Putting Iranian troops right on the border of the Golan right next to Israel would be a nonstarter for me. Trying to get Iran and Saudi Arabia to work together, as he has suggested in the past, is equally a nonstarter. So let's support what Secretary Kerry and the president are doing, but let's hope that we can accelerate the cease-fire, because I fear that the Russians will continue their bombing, try to do everything they can to destroy what's left of the opposition. And remember, the Russians have not gone after +p2876 +aVWell, I respectfully disagree. I think we have achieved a great deal with the Iranian nuclear agreement to put a lid on the Iranian nuclear weapons program. That has to be enforced absolutely with consequences for Iran at the slightest deviation from their requirements under the agreement. I do not think we should promise or even look toward normalizing relations because we have a lot of other business to get done with Iran. Yes, they have to stop being the main state sponsor of terrorism. Yes, they have to stop trying to destabilize the Middle East, causing even more chaos. Yes, they've got to get out of Syria. They've got to quit sponsoring Hezbollah and Hamas. They have got to quit trying to ship rockets into Gaza that can be used against Israel. We have a lot of work to do with Iran before we ever say that they could move toward normalized relations with us. +p2877 +aV... Senator Sanders, from a debate in 2008, quote what I said. The question was, would you meet with an adversary without conditions? I said no. And in fact, in Obama administration, we did not meet with anybody without conditions. That is the appropriate approach in order to get the results that you are seeking. +p2878 +aVWell, I was pleased that +p2879 +aVI certainly agree with FDR for all the reasons Senator Sanders said. And I agree about the role that he played both in war and in peace on the economy and defeating fascism around the world. I would choose Nelson Mandela for his generosity of heart, his understanding of the need for reconciliation. But I want to \u2014 I want to follow up on something having to do with leadership, because, you know, today Senator Sanders said that President Obama failed the presidential leadership test. And this is not the first time that he has criticized President Obama. In the past he has called him weak. He has called him a disappointment. He wrote a forward for a book that basically argued voters should have buyers' remorse when it comes to President Obama's leadership and legacy. And I just couldn't agree \u2014 disagree more with those kinds of comments. You know, from my perspective, maybe because I understand what President Obama inherited, not only the worst financial crisis but the antipathy of the Republicans in Congress, I don't think he gets the credit he deserves for being a president......who got us out of that......put us on firm ground, and has sent us into the future. And it is a \u2014 the kind of criticism that we've heard from Senator Sanders about our president I expect from Republicans. I do not expect from someone running for the Democratic nomination to succeed President Obama. +p2880 +aVYou know, Senator, what I am concerned about, is not disagreement on issues, saying that this is what I would rather do, I don't agree with the president on that, calling the president weak, calling him a disappointment, calling several times that he should have a primary opponent when he ran for re-election in 2012, you know, I think that goes further than saying we have our disagreements. As a senator, yes, I was a senator. I understand we can disagree on the path forward. But those kinds of personal assessments and charges are ones that I find particularly troubling. +p2881 +aVYou know, we \u2014 we agree that we've got to get unaccountable money out of politics. We agree that Wall Street should never be allowed to wreck Main Street again. But here's the point I want to make tonight. I am not a single-issue candidate, and I do not believe we live in a single-issue country. I think that a lot of what we have to overcome to break down the barriers that are holding people back, whether it's poison in the water of the children of Flint, or whether it's the poor miners who are being left out and left behind in coal country, or whether it is any other American today who feels somehow put down and oppressed by racism, by sexism, by discrimination against the +p2882 +aVWell, I'm happy to be here in New Hampshire for this debate, as we move toward the primary on Tuesday. I believe that America has the opportunity to once again live by our values, live up to our values in the 21st century, but I think that America can only do that if Americans can succeed. And there are lots of reasons why Americans today are feeling left out and left behind. Yes, of course, the economy has not been working for most Americans. Yes, of course, we have special interests that are unfortunately doing too much to rig the game. But there's also the continuing challenges of racism, of sexism, of discrimination against the +p2883 +aVWell, let me start by saying that Senator Sanders and I share some very big progressive goals. I've been fighting for universal healthcare for many years, and we're now on the path to achieving it. I don't want us to start over again. I think that would be a great mistake, to once again plunge our country into a contentious debate about whether we should have and what kind of system we should have for healthcare. I want to build on the progress we've made; got from 90 percent coverage to 100 percent coverage. And I don't want to rip away the security that people finally have; 18 million people now have healthcare; preexisting conditions are no longer a bar. So we have a difference. I also believe in affordable college, but I don't believe in free college, because every expert that I have talked to says, look, how will you ever control the costs. What I want to do is make sure middle class kids, not Donald Trump's kids, get to be able to afford college. I want to get the economy going again. It's not just enough about what we're against, as important as that is. I have a plan to create new jobs, manufacturing, infrastructure, clean energy jobs that will make us the 21st century clean energy super power. I also want to make sure small businesses can start and grow again. And of course, I believe in raising the minimum wage and equal pay for work. But the numbers just don't add up, from what Senator Sanders has been proposing. That's why all of the independent experts, all of the editorial boards that have vetted both of us have concluded that it is just not achievable. Let's go down a path where we can actually tell people what we will do. A progressive is someone who makes progress. That's what I intend to do. +p2884 +aVIf I could just follow up on that. There is no disagreement between us on universal coverage for health care, the disagreement is where do we start from and where do we end up. The Republicans want to repeal the Affordable Care Act, I want to improve it. I want to build on it, get the costs down, get prescription drug costs down. Senator Sanders wants us to start all over again. This was a major achievement of President Obama, of our country. It is helping people right now. I am not going to wait and have us plunge back into a contentious national debate that has very little chance of succeeding. Let's make the Affordable Care Act work for everybody. +p2885 +aVWell because I am a progressive who gets things done. And the root of that word, progressive, is progress. But I've heard Senator Sanders comments, and it's really caused me to wonder who's left in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Under his definition, President Obama is not progressive because he took donations from Wall Street; Vice President Biden is not progressive because she supported Keystone; Senator Shaheen is not progressive because she supports the trade pact. Even the late, great Senator Paul Wellstone would not fit this definition because he voted for +p2886 +aVWell, Chuck... +p2887 +aV... If I could, you know, in the very first debate I was asked am I a moderate or a progressive and I said I'm a progressive who likes to get things done. Cherry picking a quote here or there doesn't change my record of having fought for racial justice, having fought for kids rights, having fought the kind of inequities that fueled my interest in service in the first place going back to my days in the Children's Defense Fund. It certainly didn't stop me from taking on the drug companies and the insurance companies. Before it was called Hillarycare\u2014I mean, before it was called ObamaCare it was called Hillarycare because we took them on, and we weren't successful, but we kept fighting and we got the children's health insurance program. Every step along the way I have stood up, and fought, and have the scars to prove it. So, again......I think it's important that, look, I understand Senator Sanders really trying to distinguish himself. I understand that, that's what you do in campaigns, but at the same time let's not be\u2014in, I think an unfair way, making an accusation, or making an attack about where I stand and about where I've always stood. It is fair to say, Senator, that in your definition, as you being the self-proclaimed gatekeeper for progressivism, I don't know anyone else who fits that definition, but I know a lot of really hard fighting progressives in the Democratic party who have stood up time, and time again against special interests, against the powerful on behalf of those who are left behind and left out. And, that's what we ought to be celebrating. Let's talk about what we would do as President, and Commander in Chief to make sure the progress continues into the future. +p2888 +aV... Well, you began it yesterday with your comments... +p2889 +aVYou know, the person who first put out the idea of a 50-state party strategy is former Governor Howard Dean, who is with us tonight. And I'm very proud and grateful to have the support of so many elected Vermonters and former officials. Two former governors, the current governor, the current other senator. I really appreciate that. And I think it's because they've worked with me, they've seen what I do. They know what kind of a colleague I am. They want me as their partner in the White House. And that's exactly what I will do. We'll get things done together. Democrats, Republicans, independents, we're going to make progress together when I'm president. +p2890 +aVWell, look, I've got to just jump in here because, honestly, Senator Sanders is the only person who I think would characterize me, a woman running to be the first woman president, as exemplifying the establishment. And I've got to tell you that it is......it is really quite amusing to me. People support me because they know me. They know my life's work. They have worked with me and many have also worked with Senator Sanders. And at the end of the day they endorse me because they know I can get things done. I am not going to make promises I can't keep. I am not going to talk about big ideas like single-payer and then not level with people about how much it will cost. A respected health economist said that these plans would cost a trillion dollars more a year. I'm not going to tell people that I will raise your incomes and not your taxes, and not mean it, because I don't want to see the kind of struggle that the middle class is going through exemplified by these promises that would raise taxes and make it much more difficult for many, many Americans to get ahead and stay ahead. That is not my agenda. +p2891 +aVYeah, but I\u2014I think it's fair to really ask what's behind that comment. You know, Senator Sanders has said he wants to run a positive campaign. I've tried to keep my disagreements over issues, as it should be. But time and time again, by innuendo, by insinuation, there is this attack that he is putting forth, which really comes down to\u2014you know, anybody who ever took donations or speaking fees from any interest group has to be bought. And I just absolutely reject that, Senator. And I really don't think these kinds of attacks by insinuation are worthy of you. And enough is enough. If you've got something to say, say it directly. But you will not find that I ever changed a view or a vote because of any donation that I ever received. +p2892 +aVAnd I have stood up and I have represented my constituents to the best of my abilities, and I'm very proud of that. +p2893 +aVSo I think it's time to end the very artful smear that you and your campaign have been carrying out... +p2894 +aV... in recent weeks, and let's talk......let's talk about about the issues. Let's talk about the issues that divide us. +p2895 +aVAnd let's\u2014let's... +p2896 +aV... we both agree with campaign finance reform. +p2897 +aVI\u2014I worked hard for McCain-Feingold. +p2898 +aVI want to reverse Citizens United. +p2899 +aVAnd so\u2014let's talk about issues. +p2900 +aVWell, you know, Senator, I don't think\u2014I don't... +p2901 +aV... I don't think you could find any person in political life today who has been subjected to more attacks and had more money spent against her by special interests, among whom you have named a few, than I. And I'm proud of that. You know, when I took on the drug companies and the insurance companies for universal health care coverage, they went after me with a vengeance. Today, you've got hedge fund billionaires aligned with Karl Rove, running ads against me to try to get Democrats to vote for you. I know this game. I'm going to stop this game. But while we're talking about votes, you're the one who voted to deregulate swaps and derivatives in 2000, which contributed to the over-leveraging of Lehman Brothers, which was one of the culprits that brought down the economy. So I don't know\u2014I'm not impugning your motive because you voted to deregulate swaps and derivatives. People make mistakes and I'm certainly not saying you did it for any kind of financial advantage. What we've got to do as Democrats\u2014what we've got to do as Democrats is to be united to actually solve these problems. And what I believe is that I have a better track record and a better opportunity to actually get that job done. That's what this election should be about. +p2902 +aVOn the issue of Wall Street. +p2903 +aVWell you know, Rachel, I think I may not have done the job I should in explaining my record. You know, I did\u2014when I left the secretary of State's office, like so many former officials, military leaders, journalists, others, I did go on the speaking circuit. I spoke to heart doctors, I spoke to the American Camping Association, I spoke to auto dealers, and yes, I spoke to firms on Wall Street. They wanted me to talk about the world, what my experience had been as secretary of State. But what I want people to know is I went to Wall Street before the crash. I was the one saying you're going to wreck the economy because of these shenanigans with mortgages. I called to end the carried interest loophole that hedge fund managers enjoy. I proposed changes in CEO compensation. I called for a consumer protection financial bureau before it was created. And I think the best evidence that the Wall Street people at least know where I stand and where I have always stood is because they are trying to beat me in this primary. They have collected and spent as much as $6 million on these ads. Hedge fund billionaires, Karl Rove, another billionaire, jumped in. And why are they doing that? These are guys who try to make smart investments. They know my record, they know me, they know that I say what I believe and I will do it. And I also have a pretty good understanding about how to stop them. So I do want people to know that, and I think it's important for everybody to understand I have a record, I have stood firm and I will be the person who prevents them from ever wrecking the economy again. +p2904 +aVIf I could, let me just say that of course it has to change. It has to change. And that's why I have put forward a plan to do just that. And it's been judged to be the toughest, most effective and comprehensive one. I have great respect for Senator Sanders's commitment to try to restore Glass-Steagall. But I do not believe that that is enough. And in fact, I don't believe it really addresses a lot of the biggest issues we have. You know, we now have power under the Dodd-Frank legislation to break up banks. And I've said I will use that power if they pose a systemic risk. But I want to go further, because it was investment banks, it was insurance companies, it was mortgage companies, all of which contributed. So let's not just be narrowly focused on one part of the problem. We have a lot of issues with corporate power that have to be addressed. My plan takes us further and it would do the job. +p2905 +aVLook we have a law\u2014look, you know, I\u2014I appreciate the senator's advocacy. We have a law. It was passed. It was signed by President Obama. It lays out a process that you go through to determine whether a systemic risk is posed. And by the way, President Obama signed that, pushed it through, even though he took donations from Wall Street, because he's a responsible president. So we have a law in place. If the circumstances warrant it, I will certainly use it. And from what you say, I know you will as well. But that is not enough. And I keep going back to this because part of the reason the Wall Street guys are trying so hard to stop me\u2014the hedge fund guys, the shadow banking guys\u2014is because I've got their number on all of that. And my plan goes so much further to try to prevent the problems of the future. You know, we can't just fight the last war. We've got to be prepared to stop these guys if they ever try to use their economic power once again, to hurt the economy, and to hurt so many Americans. And my plan, Paul Krugman, Barney Frank, a lot of experts who understand what the new challenges might be, have said I am exactly on point, and the Wall Street guys actually know that. +p2906 +aVI will look into it. I don't know the status, but I will certainly look into it. But, I can only repeat what is the fact that I spoke to a lot of different groups with a lot of different constituents, a lot of different kinds of members about issues that had to do with world affairs. I probably described more times than I can remember how stressful it was advising the President about going after Bin Laden. My view on this is look at my record. Look at what I am proposing, and\u2014we have a vigorous agreement here. We both want to reign in the excesses of Wall Street. I also want to reign in the excesses of Johnson Controls that we bailed out when they were an autoparts company, and we saved the auto industry, and now they want to avoid paying taxes. I want to go after the pharmaceutical companies like Valeant, and Turns that are increasing prices without any regard to the impact on people's health. Now, if all we're going to talk about is one part of our economy, and indeed one streak in our economy, we're missing the big oil companies. We're missing other big energy companies. We're missing the big picture, and I have a record of trying to go at the problems that actually exist, and I will continue to do that. +p2907 +aV... Well, Senator, no one wants to see that happen. I mean, look, I care deeply about this because just like you I have met so many people who had their life savings wiped out, who lost their homes, who are barely back with their heads above water. This was a disaster for our country, and we can never let that happen again. We have no disagreement about this. But, I think it's a broader target list than just Wall Street, and I believe that we have to be very focused on how we try to take back the power and increase the empowerment of the American people. And, I think I have that kind of experience, maybe because they've beat me up for so many years, and I know exactly how to handle them because I've been in the arena with them time and time again. +p2908 +aVWell, I think what the president understands, and what he's trying to do, is that we have to support the Arab and Kurdish fighters on the ground who are actually doing the fighting. I agree with the president. I've said myself, we will not send American combat troops back to either Syria or Iraq\u2014that is off the table. But we do have special forces, we do have trainers, we do have the military personnel who are helping with the airstrikes that the United States is leading so that we can try to take out +p2909 +aVNo. I mean, of course that's a theoretical question, and we don't know what it would be for, and we don't know how many numbers there are. I am against American combat troops being in Syria and Iraq. I support special forces. I support trainers. I support the air campaign. And I think we're making some progress. I want to continue to intensify that, and that's exactly what the president is doing. +p2910 +aVIf I could\u2014if I could... +p2911 +aV... respectfully add\u2014look, we did differ. A vote in 2002 is not a plan to defeat +p2912 +aVOh, absolutely. The president decided to leave more troops than he had originally planned in Afghanistan. We have a very cooperative government there, with Ashraf Ghani and his top\u2014his top partner, Abdullah. And they are doing their very best. And the Afghan army is actually fighting. The Afghan army is taking heavy losses defending Afghan territory. And I would have to make an evaluation based on the circumstances at the time I took office as to how much help they continue to need. Because it's not just the Taliban. We now are seeing outposts of, you know, fighters claiming to be affiliated with +p2913 +aVA group of national security experts, military intelligence experts, issued a very concerning statement about Senator Sanders's views on foreign policy and national security, pointing out some of the comments he has made on these issues, such as inviting Iranian troops into Syria to try to resolve the conflict there; putting them right at the doorstep of Israel. Asking Saudi Arabia and Iran to work together, when they can't stand each other and are engaged in a proxy battle right at this moment. So I do think questions have been raised and questions have to be answered because when New Hampshire voters go on Tuesday to cast your vote, you are voting both for a president and a commander in chief. And there is no way to predict what comes in the door of that White House from day to day that can pose a threat to the United States or one of our friends and allies, and I think this is a big part of the job interview that we are all conducting with the voters here. +p2914 +aVWell, let me just add that, you know, I've said this before and I'm very proud of it, that when it comes to judgment, having run a hard race against Senator Obama at the time, he turned to me to be secretary of State. And when it comes to the biggest counterterrorism issues that we faced in this administration, namely whether or not to go after bin Laden, I was at that table, I was exercising my judgment to advise the president on what to do, on that, on Iran, on Russia on China, on a whole raft of issues. Because I know from my own experience that you've got to be ready on day one. There is just too much unpredictable threat and danger in the world today, you know, to try to just say wait, I'll get to that when I can. That is just not an acceptable approach. +p2915 +aVAbsolutely. You know, I did put together the coalition to impose sanctions. I actually started the negotiations that led to the nuclear agreement, sending some much my closest aides to begin the conversations with the Iranians. I'm very pleased we got that nuclear agreement. It puts a lid on the nuclear weapons program. We have to enforce it, there have to be consequences attached to it. But that is not our only problem with Iran. We have to figure out how to deal with Iran as the principal state sponsor of terrorism in the world. They are destabilizing governments in the region. They continue to support Hezbollah and Hamas in Lebanon against Israel. A lot of work that we have do is going to be incredibly hard. I'm prepared to do that work, but I believe, just as I did with imposing the sanctions, you have to get action for action. If we were to normalize relations right now, we would remove one of the biggest pieces of leverage we have to try to influence and change Iranian behavior. The president doesn't think we should. I certainly don't think we should. I believe we have to take this step by step to try to reign in Iranian aggression, their support for terrorism and the other bad behavior that can come back and haunt us. +p2916 +aVWell Senator, let me just correct the record if I can. You know\u2014let me correct the record. +p2917 +aVAs I\u2014as I certainly recall, the question was to meet with without conditions. And you're right, I was against that. I was against it then I would be against it now. +p2918 +aVPart of diplomacy, the hard work of diplomacy is trying to extract whatever concessions you can get, and giving something the other side wants. Of course you've got to try to make peace with, and work with those who are your adversaries, but you don't just rush in, open the door, and say, "Here I am. Let's talk and make a deal." That's not the way it works. +p2919 +aV... Well, we set conditions on Iran. We worked hard to get them established, and to be enforced, and then we talked. That's exactly the right......and, that's what I did with the President, so he and I are on the very same page. +p2920 +aVI haven't talked to Secretary Carter, but here's what I would think he's planning. We do have the nuclear weapons agreement with Iran, that's an enforcement consequence, action for action, follow on. We have a plan, we will watch them, we will be vigilant. We do have to worry about North Korea. They continue to develop their nuclear weapons capability, and they're working very hard on their ballistic missile capability. And, I know that some of those plans could very well lead to a missile that might reach Hawaii, if not the West Coast. We do have to try to get the countries in the region to work with us to do everything we can to confine, and constrain them. But, what Secretary Carter is looking at is the constant pressure that Russia's putting on our European allies. The way that Russia is trying to move the boundaries of the post-World War II Europe. The way that he is trying to set European countries against one another, seizing territory, holding it in Crimea. Beginning to explore whether they could make some inroads in the Baltics. We know that they are deeply engaged in supporting Assad because they want to have a place in the Middle East. They have a naval base, they have an air base in Syria. They want to hang on to that. I think what Secretary Carter is seeing, and I'm glad he is, is that we got to get +p2921 +aVWell, first of all, I'm absolutely against privatizing the V.A. And I am going do everything I can to build on the reforms that Senator Sanders and others in Congress have passed to try to fix what's wrong with the V.A. There are a lot of issues about wait times and services that have to be fixed because our veterans deserve nothing but the best. But you're absolutely right, you know, Rachel, this is another part of the Koch brothers agenda. They've actually formed an organization to try to begin to convince Americans we should no longer have guaranteed health care, specialized care for our veterans. I will fight that as hard as I can. I think there's where we can enlist the veterans service organizations, the veterans of America, because, yes, let's fix the V.A., but we will never let it be privatized, and that is a promise. +p2922 +aVWhatever they decide to do, that's fine. +p2923 +aVAll right. +p2924 +aVI can only tell you what I believe, and that is that I am the strongest candidate to take it to the Republicans and win in November. And I say that with great\u2014with great respect for the campaign that Senator Sanders has been running. I personally am thrilled at the numbers of people, and particularly young people who are coming to support your campaign. I hope that I will be able to earn their support. They may not support me now, but I support them and we'll work together. But what I'm concerned about is the views of many Democrats who know their states, who know how hard it is to win a general election. And it also will push whoever the nominee is into the spotlight. I've been vetted. There's hardly anything you don't know about me. And I think it's fair to say that whoever is in that position, Senator Sanders or anyone else who might have run, will face the most withering onslaught. So, I think that I am the person who can do all aspects of the job. I think I'm the person best prepared to take the case to the Republicans. And I think that at the end of the day, it's not so much electability. It is who the American people can believe can keep them safe, can get the economy moving again, can get incomes rising, can build on the progressive accomplishments of President Obama. And I think that the coalition that President Obama put together to win twice is a coalition that I can put together and add to. And that's what I'm prepared to... +p2925 +aVAbsolutely I can. You know, before it was emails, it was Benghazi, and the Republicans were stirring up so much controversy about that. And I testified for 11 hours, answered their questions. They basically said yeah, didn't get her. We tried. That was all a political ploy. Now, we had a development in the email matter today when it came out that Secretary Powell and close aides to Former Secretary Rice used private e-mail accounts. and now you have these people in the government who are doing the same thing to Secretary Powell and Secretary Rice's aide they've been doing to me, which is that I never sent or received any classified material. They are retroactively classifying it. I agree completely with Secretary Powell, who said today this is an absurdity. And so I think the American people will know it's an absurdity. I have absolutely no concerns about it whatsoever. +p2926 +aVI am 100 percent confident. This is a security review that was requested. It is being carried out. It will be resolved. But I have to add if there's going to be a security review about me, there's going to have to be security reviews about a lot of other people, including Republican office holders, because we've got this absurd situation of retroactive classifications. Honest to goodness, this is\u2014this just beggars the imagination. So I have absolutely no concerns about it, but we've got to get to the bottom of what's really going on here, and I hope that will happen. +p2927 +aVNo. +p2928 +aVYes, I do. And\u2014you know, what I hope the Supreme Court will do is make it absolutely clear that any state that continues capital punishment either must meet the highest standards of evidentiary proof of effective assistance of counsel or they cannot continue it because that, to me, is the real dividing line. I have much more confidence in the federal system, and I do reserve it for particularly heinous crimes in the federal system, like terrorism. I have strong feelings about that. I thought it was appropriate after a very thorough trial that Timothy McVeigh received the death penalty for blowing up the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people, including 19 children in a daycare center. I do for very limited, particularly heinous crimes believe it is an appropriate punishment, but I deeply disagree with the way that too many states are still implementing it. If it were possible to separate the federal from the state system by the Supreme Court, that would, I think, be an appropriate outcome. +p2929 +aVAbsolutely. Absolutely. You know, Rachel, you and I have talked about this before. I thank you for going to Flint to hold that town hall. I will be in Flint at the Mayor's invitation on Sunday to get an in depth briefing about what is, and is not happening. This is an emergency. Everyday that goes by that these people, particularly the children, are not tested so we can know what steps must be taken to try to remediate the effects of the poisoning that they have been living with is a day lost in a child's life. I know from the work that I've done over so many years, lead, the toxic nature of lead can affect you brain development, your body development, your behavior. I absolutely believe that what is being done is not sufficient. We need to be absolutely clear about everything that should be done from today to tomorrow, into the future to try to remedy the terrible burden that the people of Flint are barring. That includes fixing their pipes, it includes guaranteeing whatever healthcare and educational embellishments they may need going forward, and I think the federal government has way where it can bill the state of Michigan. If Michigan won't do it, there have to be ways that we can begin to move, and then make them pay for it, and hold them accountable. +p2930 +aVYou know, Chuck, I've only had responsibility for voting for trade agreements as a senator. And I voted a multinational trade agreement when I was senator, the +p2931 +aVWell, I\u2014I don't accept that premise, Chuck. I think that we've got so much business we have to do. We've talked a lot tonight about what we're against\u2014we're against income inequality. We're against the abuses of powerful interests. We're against a lot of things. I'm for a lot of things. I don't want to just stop bad things from happening, I want to start good things from happening. And I believe, if I'm so fortunate to get the nomination, I will begin to work immediately on putting together an agenda, beginning to talk with members of Congress and others about how we can push forward. I want to have half a billion more solar panels deployed, the first four years. I want to have enough clean energy to power every home the next four years. I want us to keep working on the Affordable Care Act, to get not only to 100 percent coverage, but bring down the costs of prescription drugs and out-of-pocket costs. I want to move forward on paid family leave, on early childhood education, I want us to do more for small businesses. Small businesses have to create most of the jobs, and we're not creating and growing small businesses. I think, if you have a smart agenda, you pick the committees that you know have to begin to work on these various pieces\u2014because that's the way Congress is set up. You go through different committees, and you really make a big push in the beginning. Immigration reform, economic revitalization with manufacturing, with infrastructure\u2014we put it out there, and we begin to work on an ambitious, big, bold agenda that will actually produce the results that I want to see for our country. +p2932 +aVThe answer to both of those is no. I'm interested in making what we have work better. I want to streamline programs that are duplicative and redundant. I want to have a top-to-bottom review about what works and what doesn't work, and be absolutely clear we're getting rid of what doesn't work. I have had the opportunity to run a big agency. I was very flattered when Henry Kissinger said I ran the State Department better\u2014better than anybody had run it in a long time. So I have an idea of what it's going to take to make our government work more efficiently. And when you put together a budget, you have to make a lot of hard decisions, but I think it's not appropriate to say "I'm going to get rid of this, get rid of that" until you have a very good process that gives you the information about what to do. But I want to add something else, you know, because look, we have so much work to do in our country, and I think it's the greatest work that Americans will be called to do. And of course, we have to have people in every community involved in it. We have to have the political voice, the political grassroots speaking up and speaking out about what we have to try to accomplish in Washington. But we also need to have a very clear set of goals that we are going to achieve, and we need to level with the American people about what they are, what they will cost, what will be expected of our citizenry. So I see as president having a constant dialogue with Americans here's what we're trying to get done, here's why I need your help, here's why you may think comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship isn't something you care about, but I'm telling you it will help fix the labor market, it will bring people out of the shadows\u2014 +p2933 +aVI never said that. +p2934 +aVLook... +p2935 +aVWell, I'm certainly going to unite the party, but I'm not\u2014I'm not getting ahead of myself. I think that would be a little bit presumptuous. If I'm so fortunate as to be the nominee, the first person I will call to talk to about where we go and how we get it done will be Senator Sanders. +p2936 +aVThat's true. That's true. +p2937 +aVWell first, thanks to +p2938 +aVWell, good evening. And I want to thank the Congressional Black Caucus Institute and the people of Charleston for hosting us here on the eve of Martin Luther King Day tomorrow. You know, I remember well when my youth minister took me to hear Dr. King. I was a teenager. And his moral clarity, the message that he conveyed that evening really stayed with me and helped to set me on a path to service. I also remember that he spent the last day of his life in Memphis, fighting for dignity and higher pay for working people. And that is our fight still. We have to get the economy working and incomes rising for everyone, including those who have been left out and left behind. We have to keep our communities and our country safe. We need a president who can do all aspects of the job. I understand that this is the hardest job in the world. I'm prepared and ready to take it on and I hope to earn your support to be the nominee of the Democratic Party and the next president of the United States. +p2939 +aVI would work quickly to present to the Congress my plans for creating more good jobs in manufacturing, infrastructure, clean and renewable energy, raising the minimum wage, and guaranteeing, finally, equal pay for women's work. I would also......I would also be presenting my plans to build on the Affordable Care Act and to improve it by decreasing the out-of-pocket costs by putting a cap on prescription drug costs; by looking for ways that we can put the prescription drug business and the health insurance company business on a more stable platform that doesn't take too much money out of the pockets of hard-working Americans. And third, I would be working, in every way that I knew, to bring our country together. We do have too much division, too much mean- spiritedness. There's a lot we have to do on immigration reform, on voting rights, on campaign finance reform, but we need to do it together. That's how we'll have the kind of country for the 21st century that we know will guarantee our children and grandchildren the kind of future they deserve. +p2940 +aVYes look, I have made it clear based on Senator Sanders' own record that he has voted with the NRA, with the gun lobby numerous times. He voted against the Brady Bill five times. He voted for what we call, the Charleston Loophole. He voted for immunity from gunmakers and sellers which the NRA said, "was the most important piece of gun legislation in 20 years. " He voted to let guns go onto the Amtrak, guns go into National Parks. He voted against doing research to figure out how we can save lives. Let's not forget what this is about, 90 people a day die from gun violence in our country. That's 33,000 people a year. One of the most horrific examples not a block from here where we had nine people murdered. Now, I am pleased to hear that Senator Sanders has reversed his position on immunity and I look forward to him joining with those members of congress who have already introduced legislation. There is no other industry in America that was given the total pass that the gun makers and dealers were and that needs to be reversed. +p2941 +aVWell, sadly it's reality, and it has been heartbreaking, and incredibly outraging to see the constant stories of young men like Walter Scott, as you said, who have been killed by police officers. Their needs to be a concerted effort to address the systemic racism in our criminal justice system. And, that requires a very clear, agenda for retraining police officers, looking at ways to end racial profiling, finding more ways to really bring the disparities that stalk our country into high relief. One out of three African American men may well end up going to prison. That's the statistic. I want people hear to think what we would be doing if it was one out of three white men, and very often, the black men are arrested, convicted and incarcerated ......for offensive that do not lead to the same results for white men. So, we have a very serious problem that we can no longer ignore. +p2942 +aVWell, Lester, you're right. Everywhere I go to campaign, I'm meeting families who are affected by the drug problem that mostly is opioids and heroin now, and lives are being lost and children are being orphaned. And I've met a lot of grandparents who are now taking care of grandchildren. So I have tried to come out with a comprehensive approach that, number one, does tell the states that we will work with you from the federal government putting more money, about a billion dollars a year, to help states have a different approach to dealing with this epidemic. The policing needs to change. Police officers must be equipped with the antidote to a heroin overdose or an opioid overdose, known as Narcan. They should be able to administer it. So should firefighters and others. We have to move away from treating the use of drugs as a crime and instead, move it to where it belongs, as a health issue. And we need to divert more people from the criminal justice system into drug courts, into treatment, and recovery. +p2943 +aVSo this is the kind of approach that we should take in dealing with what is now... +p2944 +aV... a growing epidemic. +p2945 +aVWell, Andrea, I am absolutely committed to universal health care. I have worked on this for a long time, people may remember that I took on the health insurance industry back in the '90s, and I didn't quit until we got the children's health insurance program that ensures eight million kids. And I certainly respect Senator Sanders' intentions, but when you're talking about health care, the details really matter. And therefore, we have been raising questions about the nine bills that he introduced over 20 years, as to how they would work and what would be the impact on people's health care? He didn't like that, his campaign didn't like it either. And tonight, he's come out with a new health care plan. And again, we need to get into the details. But here's what I believe, the Democratic Party and the United States worked since Harry Truman to get the Affordable Care Act passed. We finally have a path to universal health care. We have accomplished so much already. I do not to want see the Republicans repeal it, and I don't to want see us start over again with a contentious debate. I want us to defend and build on the Affordable Care Act and improve it. +p2946 +aVBut \u2014 Senator Sanders, if I can... You know, I have to say I'm not sure whether we're talking about the plan you just introduced tonight, or we're talking about the plan you introduced nine times in the Congress. But the fact is, we have the Affordable Care Act. That is one of the greatest accomplishments of President Obama, of the Democratic Party, and of our country. And we have already seen 19 million Americans get insurance. We have seen the end of pre-existing conditions keeping people from getting insurance. We have seen women no longer paying more for our insurance than men. And we have seen young people, up to the age of 26, being able to stay on their parent's policy. +p2947 +aVNow, there are things we can do to improve it, but to tear it up and start over again, pushing our country back into that kind of a contentious debate, I think is the wrong direction. +p2948 +aVAnd that's exactly what we are able to do based on the foundation of the Affordable Care Act \u2014 what Governor O'Malley just said is one of the models that we will be looking at to make sure we do get costs down, we do limit a lot of the unnecessary costs that we still have in the system. But, with all due respect, to start over again with a whole new debate is something that I think would set us back. The Republicans just voted last week to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and thank goodness, President Obama vetoed it and saved Obamacare for the American people. +p2949 +aVWell, as someone who \u2014 as someone who has a little bit of experience standing up to the health insurance industry, that spent, you know......many, many millions of dollars attacking me, and probably will so again, because of what I believe we can do building on the Affordable Care Act, I think it's important to point out that there are a lot of reasons we have the health care system we have today. I know how much money influences the political decision-making. That's why I'm for huge campaign finance reform. However, we started a system that had private health insurance. And even during the Affordable Care Act debate, there was an opportunity to vote for what was called the public option. In other words, people could buy in to Medicare, and even when the Democrats were in charge of the Congress, we couldn't get the votes for that. So, what I'm saying is really simple. This has been the fight of the Democratic Party for decades. We have the Affordable Care Act. Let's make it work. Let's take the models that states are doing. We now have driven costs down to the lowest they've been in 50 years. Now we've got to get individual costs down. That's what I'm planning to do. +p2950 +aVWell, I think it's an important point the president made in his State of the Union. And here's what I would say. I will go anywhere, to meet with anyone, at any time to find common ground. That's what I did as a first lady, when I worked with both Democrats and Republicans to get the Children's Health Insurance Program, when I worked with Tom DeLay, one of the most partisan of Republicans, to reform the adoption and foster care system. What I did, working in the Senate, where I crossed the aisle often, working even with the senator from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham, to get Tricare for national guardsmen and women. And it's what I did as Secretary of State, on numerous occasions, and most particularly, rounding up two-thirds votes in order to pass a treaty that lowered the nuclear weapons in both Russia and the United States. So I know it's hard, but I also know you've got to work at it every single day. I look out here, I see a lot of my friends from the Congress. And I know that they work at it every single day. Because maybe you can't only find a little sliver of common ground to cooperate with somebody from the other party, but who knows. If you're successful there, maybe you can build even more. That's what I would do. +p2951 +aVWell thanks for the question and congratulations on five million viewers on YouTube, that's quite an accomplishment. Look, this election is mostly about the future and therefore it is of greatest urgency for young people. I've laid out my ideas about what we can do to make college affordable; how we can help people pay off their student debts and save thousands of dollars, how we can create more good jobs because a lot of the young people that I talk with are pretty disappointed the economic prospects they feel their facing. So making community college free, making it possible to attend a public college or university with debt free tuition, looking for ways to protect our rights especially from the concerted Republican assault; on voting rights, on women's rights, on gay rights, on civil rights, on workers rights. And I know how much young people value their independence, their autonomy, and their rights. So I think this is an election where we have to pull young people and older people together to have a strategy about how we're going to encourage even more American's to vote because it absolutely clear to me... +p2952 +aVThat turning over our White House to the Republicans would be bad for everybody especially young people. +p2953 +aVLook, I have the greatest respect for Senator Sanders and for his supports and I'm going to keep working as hard as I can to reach as many people of all ages about what I will do, what the experience and the ideas that I have that I will bring to the White House and I hope to have their support when I'm the Democratic nominee. +p2954 +aVWell, there's no daylight on the basic premise that there should be no bank too big to fail and no individual too powerful to jail. We agree on that. But where we disagree is the comments that Senator Sanders has made that don't just affect me, I can take that, but he's criticized President Obama for taking donations from Wall Street, and President Obama has led our country out of the great recession. Senator Sanders called him weak, disappointing. He even, in 2011, publicly sought someone to run in a primary against President Obama. Now, I personally believe that President Obama's work to push through the Dodd-Frank... The Dodd-Frank bill and then to sign it was one of the most important regulatory schemes we've had since the 1930s. So I'm going to defend Dodd-Frank and I'm going to defend President Obama for taking on Wall Street, taking on the financial industry and getting results. +p2955 +aVYou know, I think since \u2014 since Senator Standers followed up on this... +p2956 +aVYour profusion of comments about your feelings towards President Obama are a little strange given what you said about him in 2011. But look, I have a plan that most commentators have said is tougher, more effective, and more comprehensive. O' +p2957 +aVIt builds on the Dodd-Frank \u2014 yes, it is. It builds on the Dodd-Frank, regulatory scheme... O' +p2958 +aV... but it goes much further, because... O' +p2959 +aV... both the governor and the senator have focused only on the big banks. Lehman Brothers, AIG, the shadow banking sector were as big a problem in what caused the Great Recession, I go after them. And I can tell you that the hedge fund billionaires who are running ads against me right now, and Karl Rove, who started running an ad against me right now, funded by money from the financial services sector, sure thing, I'm the one they don't want to be up against. +p2960 +aVYes, well, first of all \u2014 first of all, Paul Krugman, Barney Frank, others have all endorsed my plan. Secondly, we have Dodd-Frank. It gives us the authority already to break up big banks that pose... O' +p2961 +aVThat pose a risk to the financial sector. I want to go further and add to that. And, you know, Governor, you have raised money on Wall Street. You raised a lot of money on Wall Street when you were the head of the Democratic Governor's Association... O' +p2962 +aVAnd you were... O' +p2963 +aVYes, well, the point is that if we're going to be serious about this and not just try to score political points, we should know what's in Dodd-Frank, and what's in Dodd-Frank already gives the president the authority......with his regulators to make those decisions. +p2964 +aVWell, the last point on this is, Senator Sanders, you're the only one on this stage that voted to deregulate the financial market in 2000, to take the cops off the street, to use Governor O'Malley's phrase, to make the SEC and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission no longer able to regulate swaps and derivatives, which were one of the main cause of the collapse in '08. So there's plenty... +p2965 +aVThere's plenty of problems that we all have to face together. And the final thing I would say, we're at least having a vigorous debate about reining in Wall Street... +p2966 +aV... The Republicans want to give them more power, and repeal Dodd-Frank. That's what we need to stop... +p2967 +aVWell, I have actually documented every way that I'm going to pay for what I'm doing because I think the American public deserves to know. And, you can go to my website and actually see that. But, there are serious questions about how we're going to pay for what we want to see our country do. And, I'm the only candidate standing here tonight who has said I will not raise taxes on the middle class. I want to raise incomes, not taxes, and I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that the wealthy pay for debt free tuition, for child care, for paid family leave. To help us bring down student debt we're going to refinance that student debt, saving kids thousands of dollars. Yeah, and that will also come out of the \u2014 some of the pockets of people in the financial services industry... +p2968 +aVBut I will tell you exactly how I pay for everything I've proposed... +p2969 +aVAnd let me... +p2970 +aVWell, I'm very proud of the Iran Nuclear Agreement. I was very pleased to be part of what the president put into action when he took office. I was responsible for getting those sanctions imposed which put the pressure on Iran. It brought them to the negotiating table which resulted in this agreement. And so, they have been so far, following their requirements under the agreement. But I think we still have to carefully watch them. We've had one good day over 36 year and I think we need more good days before we move more rapidly toward any kind of normalization. And we have to be sure that they are truly going to implement the agreement. And then, we have to go after them on a lot of their other bad behavior in the region which is causing enormous problems in Syria, Yemen, Iraq and elsewhere. +p2971 +aVAbsolutely not. I have a three point plan that does not include American Ground forces. It includes the United States leading an air coalition which is what we're doing, supporting fighters on the ground; the Iraqi Army which is beginning to show more ability, the Sunni fighters that we are now helping to reconstitute and Kurdish on both sides of the border. I think we also have try to disrupt their supply chain of foreign fighters and foreign money and we do have to contest them in online space. So I'm very committed to both going after +p2972 +aVLook, I think that the president's decision to go after the chemical weapons once there was a potential opportunity to build on when the Russians opened that door resulted in a very positive outcome. We were able to get the chemical weapons out. I know from my own experience as secretary of State that we were deeply worried about Assad's forces using chemical weapons because it would have had not only a horrific affect on people in Syria, but it could very well have affected the surrounding states, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Turkey. So getting those chemical weapons out was a big deal, but... +p2973 +aVWell \u2014 but \u2014 but... +p2974 +aVI think, as commander in chief, you've got to constantly be evaluating the decisions you have to make. I know a little bit about this, having spent many hours in the situation room, advising President Obama. And I want to just add to something that Senator Sanders said, the United States had a very big interest in trying to help stabilize the region. If there is any blame to be spread around, it starts with the prime minister of Iraq, who sectarianized his military, setting Shia against Sunni. It is amplified by Assad, who has waged one of the bloodiest, most terrible attacks on his own people: 250,000-plus dead, millions fleeing. Causing this vacuum that has been filled unfortunately, by terrorist groups, including +p2975 +aV... and go after +p2976 +aVBut overall, a lot of the forces at work in the region are ones that we cannot directly influence, but we can... +p2977 +aVWell, it would depend on what I got for it and I can tell you what we got in the first term, we got a new start treaty to reduce nuclear weapons between the United States and Russia. We got permission to resupply our troops in Afghanistan by traveling across Russia. We got Russia to sign on to our sanctions against Iran and other very important commitments. So look, in diplomacy, you are always trying to see how you can figure out the interest of the other to see if there isn't some way you can advance your security and your values. When Putin came back in the fall of 2011, it was very clear he came back with a mission. And I began speaking out as soon as that happened because there were some fraudulent elections held, and Russians poured out into the streets to demand their freedom, and he cracked down. And in fact, accused me of fomenting it. So we now know that he has a mixed record to say the least and we have to figure out how to deal with him. +p2978 +aVWell, my relationship with him, it's \u2014 it's interesting. It's one, I think, of respect. We've had some very tough dealings with one another. And I know that he's someone that you have to continuingly stand up to because, like many bullies, he is somebody who will take as much as he possibly can unless you do. And we need to get the Europeans to be more willing to stand up, I was pleased they put sanctions on after Crimea and eastern Ukraine and the downing of the airliner, but we've got to be more united in preventing Putin from taking a more aggressive stance in Europe and the Middle East. +p2979 +aVOh, we're breaking? OK. +p2980 +aVWell, I wanted to say, and I'll do it quickly, I was very pleased that leaders of President Obama's administration went out to Silicon Valley last week and began exactly this conversation about what we can do, consistent with privacy and security. We need better intelligence cooperation, we need to be sure that we are getting the best intelligence that we can from friends and allies around the world. And then, we've got to recognize our first line of defense against lone wolf attacks is among Muslim Americans. And it is not only shameful, it is dangerous for the kinds of comments you're hearing from the Republican side. We need to be reaching out and unifying our country against terrorist attacks and lone wolves, and working with Muslim Americans. +p2981 +aVThat is not what I've heard. Let me leave it at that. O' +p2982 +aVWell, it'll start at the kitchen table, we'll see how it goes from there. And I......I'm going to have the very best advisers that I can possibly have, and when it comes to the economy and what was accomplished under my husband's leadership and the '90s \u2014 especially when it came to raising incomes for everybody and lifting more people out of poverty than at any time in recent history \u2014 you bet. I'm going to ask for his ideas, I'm going ask for his advice, and I'm going use him as a goodwill emissary to go around the country to find the best ideas we've got, because I do believe, as he said, everything that's wrong with America has been solved somewhere in America. We just have to do more of it, and we have to reach out, especially into poor communities and communities of color, to give more people their own chance to get ahead. +p2983 +aVWell Lester, I spent a lot of time last week being outraged by what's happening in Flint, Michigan and I think every single American should be outraged. We've had a city in the United States of America where the population which is poor in many ways and majority African American has been drinking and bathing in lead contaminated water. And the governor of that state acted as though he didn't really care. He had request for help and he had basically stone walled. I'll tell you what, if the kids in a rich suburb of Detroit had been drinking contaminated water and being bathed in it, there would've been action. So I sent my top campaign aide down there to talk to the mayor of Flint to see what I could to help. I issued a statement about what we needed to do and then I went on a T.V. show and I said, "it was outrageous that the governor hadn't acted and within two hours he had." +p2984 +aVI want to be a president who takes care of the big problems and the problems that are affecting the people of our country everyday. +p2985 +asVTRUMP +p2986 +(lp2987 +VThank you. I began this journey six months ago. My total focus was on building up our military, building up our strength, building up our borders, making sure that China, Japan, Mexico, both at the border and in trade, no longer takes advantage of our country. Certainly would never have made that horrible, disgusting, absolutely incompetent deal with Iran where they get $150 billion. They're a terrorist nation. But I began it talking about other things. And those things are things that I'm very good at and maybe that's why I'm center stage. People saw it. People liked it. People respected it. A month ago things changed. Radical Islamic terrorism came into effect even more so than it has been in the past. People like what I say. People respect what I say. And we've opened up a very big discussion that needed to be opened up. Thank you very much. +p2988 +aVWe are not talking about isolation. We're talking about security. We're not talking about religion. We're talking about security. Our country is out of control. People are pouring across the southern border. I will build a wall. It will be a great wall. People will not come in unless they come in legally. Drugs will not pour through that wall. As far as other people like in the migration, where they're going, tens of thousands of people having cell phones with +p2989 +aVJeb doesn't really believe I'm unhinged. He said that very simply because he has failed in this campaign. It's been a total disaster. Nobody cares. And frankly, I'm the most solid person up here. I built a tremendous company and all I want to do is make America great again. I don't want our country to be taken away from us, and that's what's happening. The policies that we've suffered under other presidents have been a disaster for our country. We want to make America great again. And Jeb, in all fairness, he doesn't believe that. +p2990 +aVWell, look, this is so easy to answer. +p2991 +aVI would certainly be open to closing areas where we are at war with somebody. I sure as hell don't want to let people that want to kill us and kill our nation use our Internet. Yes, sir, I am. +p2992 +aVWe have to be much tougher. We have to be much stronger than we've been. We have people that know what is going on. You take a look at just the attack in California the other day. There were numerous people, including the mother, that knew what was going on. They saw a pipe bomb sitting all over the floor. They saw ammunition all over the place. They knew exactly what was going on. When you had the World Trade Center go, people were put into planes that were friends, family, girlfriends, and they were put into planes and they were sent back, for the most part, to Saudi Arabia. They knew what was going on. They went home and they wanted to watch their boyfriends on television. I would be very, very firm with families. Frankly, that will make people think because they may not care much about their lives, but they do care, believe it or not, about their families' lives. +p2993 +aVLook, the problem is we need toughness. Honestly, I think Jeb is a very nice person. He's a very nice person. But we need tough people. We need toughness. We need intelligence and we need tough. Jeb said when they come across the southern border they come as an act of love. +p2994 +aVAm I talking or are you talking, Jeb? +p2995 +aVYou can go back. You're not talking. You interrupted me. +p2996 +aVAre you going to apologize, Jeb? No. Am I allowed to finish? +p2997 +aVExcuse me, am I allowed to finish? +p2998 +aVSo... +p2999 +aV... again... +p3000 +aVI know you're trying to build up your energy, Jeb, but it's not working very well. +p3001 +aVLook, look, look. We need a toughness. We need strength. We're not respected, you know, as a nation anymore. We don't have that level of respect that we need. And if we don't get it back fast, we're just going to go weaker, weaker and just disintegrate. We can't allow that to happen. We need strength. We don't have it. When Jeb comes out and he talks about the border, and I saw it and I was witness to it, and so was everyone else, and I was standing there, "they come across as an act of love," he's saying the same thing right now with radical Islam. And we can't have that in our country. It just won't work. We need strength. +p3002 +aVWith Jeb's attitude, we will never be great again, that I can tell you. We will never be great again. +p3003 +aVSo, they can kill us, but we can't kill them? That's what you're saying. And as far as the Internet is concerned, we're not talking about closing the Internet. I'm talking about parts of Syria, parts of Iraq, where +p3004 +aVIn my opinion, we've spent $4 trillion trying to topple various people that frankly, if they were there and if we could've spent that $4 trillion in the United States to fix our roads, our bridges, and all of the other problems; our airports and all of the other problems we've had, we would've been a lot better off. I can tell you that right now. We have done a tremendous disservice, not only to Middle East, we've done a tremendous disservice to humanity. The people that have been killed, the people that have wiped away, and for what? It's not like we had victory. It's a mess. The Middle East is totally destabilized. A total and complete mess. I wish we had the $4 trillion or $5 trillion. I wish it were spent right here in the United States, on our schools, hospitals, roads, airports, and everything else that are all falling apart. +p3005 +aVWell, there's nothing to respond to. Well, people feel differently. I mean, the fact is Benghazi was a disaster because of Libya, everything just fell into place. It could not have been worse. What do we have now? We have nothing. We've spent $3 trillion and probably much more \u2013 I have no idea what we've spent. Thousands and thousands of lives, we have nothing. Wounded warriors all over the place who I love, we have nothing for it. And by the way \u2013 and Ben said incorrectly \u2013 and I'm not saying this as a knock \u2013 he's one of finest men. You're not going to find a finer men. But I've been talking about oil for three years. I've been saying,, "take the oil, take the oil." I didn't say, "just bomb it," I said," take it and use it and distribute it so that the wounded warriors -" People, I've been saying this now for many years. +p3006 +aVNow, all of a sudden everybody's saying, "take the oil." It wasn't so fashionable to take the oil six months ago. I've been saying it for years. +p3007 +aVI think Assad is a bad guy, a very bad guy, all right? Lots of people killed. I think we are backing people we have no idea who they are. The rebels, we call them the rebels, the patriotic rebels. We have no idea. A lot of people think, Hugh, that they are +p3008 +aVI think it's very sad that CNN leads Jeb Bush, Governor Bush, down a road by starting off virtually all the questions, "Mr. Trump this, Mister" \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched the first debate, and the first long number of questions were, "Mr. Trump said this, Mr. Trump said that. Mr. Trump" \u2014 these poor guys \u2014 although, I must tell you, Santorum, good guy. Governor Huckabee, good guy. They were very nice, and I respect them greatly. But I thought it was very unfair that virtually the entire early portion of the debate was Trump this, Trump that, in order to get ratings, I guess. In order to get ratings, I guess. +p3009 +aVI just think it's very \u2014 excuse me. +p3010 +aVExcuse me. I think it's very unprofessional. +p3011 +aVWell, I think it's very unprofessional. +p3012 +aVOK, fine. +p3013 +aVThis isn't tough and easy. I wish it... +p3014 +aVI wish it was always this easy as you, Jeb. +p3015 +aVOh, yeah. +p3016 +aVOh, I know. You're a tough guy, Jeb. I know. +p3017 +aVYou're tough. +p3018 +aVWell, let's see. I'm at 42, and you're at 3. So, so far, I'm doing better. +p3019 +aVSo far, I'm doing better. You know, you started off over here, Jeb. You're moving over further and further. Pretty soon you're going to be off the end... +p3020 +aVI believe I did. +p3021 +aVI have a very hardline position, we have a country or we don't have a country. People that have come into our country illegally, they have to go. They have to come back into through a legal process. I want a strong border. I do want a wall. Walls do work, you just have to speak to the folks in Israel. Walls work if they're properly constructed. I know how to build, believe me, I know how to build. I feel a very, very strong bind, and really I'm bound to this country, we either have a border or we don't. People can come into the country, we welcome people to come but they have to come in legally. +p3022 +aVWell, first of all, I think we need somebody absolutely that we can trust, who is totally responsible; who really knows what he or she is doing. That is so powerful and so important. And one of the things that I'm frankly most proud of is that in 2003, 2004, I was totally against going into Iraq because you're going to destabilize the Middle East. I called it. I called it very strongly. And it was very important. But we have to be extremely vigilant and extremely careful when it comes to nuclear. Nuclear changes the whole ball game. Frankly, I would have said get out of Syria; get out \u2014 if we didn't have the power of weaponry today. The power is so massive that we can't just leave areas that 50 years ago or 75 years ago we wouldn't care. It was hand-to-hand combat. The biggest problem this world has today is not President Obama with global warming, which is inconceivable, this is what he's saying. The biggest problem we have is nuclear \u2014 nuclear proliferation and having some maniac, having some madman go out and get a nuclear weapon. That's in my opinion, that is the single biggest problem that our country faces right now. +p3023 +aVI think \u2014 I think, for me, nuclear is just the power, the devastation is very important to me. +p3024 +aVI did. +p3025 +aVLet me just say that I have gotten to know him over the last three or four days. He has a wonderful temperament. He's just fine. Don't worry about it. +p3026 +aVYou better not attack... +p3027 +aVI really am. I'll be honest, I really am. I mean, the people have been putting me... I really am. +p3028 +aVLet me just. Can I just finish my... +p3029 +aVI've gained great respect for the Republican leadership. I've gained great respect for many \u2014 and I'm going to even say \u2014 I mean, in different forms for the people on the dais, in different forms. In different forms. But I have great respect for the people I have met through this process. I've never done this process before. I've never been a politician. I mean, for the last six months I've been a politician. But I will tell you, I am totally committed to the Republican Party. I feel very honored to be the front runner. And I think I'll do very well if I'm chosen. If I'm so fortunate to be chosen, I think I'll do very well. Polls have come out recently saying I would beat Hillary. I will do everything in my power to beat Hillary Clinton, I promise you. +p3030 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We don't win on trade. We don't win on the military. We can't defeat +p3031 +aVI can't be Neil. And the and the reason I can't be is that we are a country that is being beaten on every front economically, militarily. There is nothing that we do now to win. We don't win anymore. Our taxes are too high. I've come up with a tax plan that many, many people like very much. It's going to be a tremendous plan. I think it'll make our country and our economy very dynamic. But, taxes too high, wages too high, we're not going to be able to compete against the world. I hate to say it, but we have to leave it the way it is. People have to go out, they have to work really hard and have to get into that upper stratum. But we can not do this if we are going to compete with the rest of the world. We just can't do it. +p3032 +aVI would not do it. +p3033 +aVI was so happy yesterday when I saw that decision come down. That was an unbelievable decision. And we don't have enough of those decisions coming down. He of the executive order, because nobody wants to listen to him, including the Democrats, so he just goes around signing executive orders. That was a great day. And, frankly, we have to stop illegal immigration. It's hurting us economically. It's hurting us from every standpoint. It's causing tremendous difficulty with respect to drugs and what that does to many of our inner cities in particular. And it really is \u2014 was such an unbelievable moment because the courts have not been ruling in our favor. And it was a 2-1 decision. And it was a terrific thing that happened. And I will tell you, we are a country of laws. We need borders. We will have a wall. The wall will be built. The wall will be successful. And if you think walls don't work, all you have to do is ask Israel. The wall works, believe me. Properly done. Believe me. +p3034 +aVYou are going to have to bring people \u2014 you are going to have to send people out. Look, we're a country... +p3035 +aVMaria, we're a country of laws. We either have a country or we don't have a country. We are a country of laws. Going to have to go out and they will come back but they are going to have to go out and hopefully they get back. But we have no choice if we're going to run our country properly and if we're going to be a country. +p3036 +aVAll I can say is, you're lucky in Ohio that you struck oil. That is for one thing. Let me just tell you that Dwight Eisenhower, good president, great president, people liked him. "I like Ike," right? The expression. "I like Ike." Moved a 1.5 million illegal immigrants out of this country, moved them just beyond the border. They came back. Moved them again beyond the border, they came back. Didn't like it. Moved them way south. They never came back. Dwight Eisenhower. You don't get nicer. You don't get friendlier. They moved a 1.5 million out. We have no choice. We have no choice. +p3037 +aVNo, it's unfair. +p3038 +aV... built an unbelievable company worth billions and billions of dollars. I don't have to hear from this man, believe me. I don't have to hear from him. +p3039 +aVWe have millions of people right now on line trying to come into this country. Very, very unfair to the people that want to come into our country legally. They've gone through the process. They're on line. They're waiting. Very, very unfair to them. That I can tell you. +p3040 +aVYes. +p3041 +aVNo, I'm sorry. No, excuse me. I was there. +p3042 +aVPlease, if I could just... +p3043 +aVWe have to make our military bigger, better, stronger than ever before so that nobody messes with us, and a long run, it's going to save us. I agree with Marco, I agree with Ted, we have no choice. And, I can tell you this with certainty. We all have a different tax plan. Some I don't totally agree with. One thing we understand, each one of those tax plans is better than the mess that we have right now. +p3044 +aV...Yes... +p3045 +aV...Yeah... +p3046 +aV...It's a horrible deal... +p3047 +aVThe TPP is horrible deal. It is a deal that is going to lead to nothing but trouble. It's a deal that was designed for China to come in, as they always do, through the back door and totally take advantage of everyone. It's 5,600 pages long. So complex that nobodies read it. It's like Obamacare; nobody ever read it. They passed it; nobody read it. And look at mess we have right now. And it will be repealed. But this is one of the worst trade deals. And I would, yes, rather not have it. With all of these countries, and all of the bad ones getting advantage and taking advantage of what the good ones would normally get, I'd rather make individual deals with individual countries. We will do much better. We lose a fortune on trade. The United States loses with everybody. We're losing now over $500 billion in terms of imbalance with China, $75 billion a year imbalance with Japan. By the way, Mexico, $50 billion a year imbalance. So I must say, Gerard, I just think it's a terrible deal. I love trade. I'm a free trader, 100 percent. But we need smart people making the deals, and we don't have smart people making the deals. +p3048 +aVYes. Well, the currency manipulation they don't discuss in the agreement, which is a disaster. If you look at the way China and India and almost everybody takes advantage of the United States \u2014 China in particular, because they're so good. It's the number-one abuser of this country. And if you look at the way they take advantage, it's through currency manipulation. It's not even discussed in the almost 6,000-page agreement. It's not even discussed. +p3049 +aVAnd as you understand, I mean, you understand very well from the Wall Street Journal, currency manipulation is the single great weapon people have. They don't even discuss it in this agreement. So I say, it's a very bad deal, should not be approved. If it is approved, it will just be more bad trade deals, more loss of jobs for our country. We are losing jobs like nobody's ever lost jobs before. I want to bring jobs back into this country. +p3050 +aVWell, first of all, it's not only Russia. We have problems with North Korea where they actually have nuclear weapons. You know, nobody talks about it, we talk about Iran, and that's one of the worst deals ever made. One of the worst contracts ever signed, ever, in anything, and it's a disgrace. But, we have somebody over there, a madman, who already has nuclear weapons we don't talk about that. That's a problem. China is a problem, both economically in what they're doing in the South China Sea, I mean, they are becoming a very, very major force. So, we have more than just Russia. But, as far as the Ukraine is concerned, and you could Syria \u2014 as far as Syria, I like \u2014 if Putin wants to go in, and I got to know him very well because we were both on 60 Minutes, we were stablemates, and we did very well that night. But, you know that. But, if Putin wants to go and knocked the hell out of +p3051 +aV...They blew up \u2014 hold it.... +p3052 +aV...They blew up, wait a minute... ...They blew up a Russian airplane. He cannot be in love with these people. He's going in, and we can go in, and everybody should go in. As far as the Ukraine is concerned, we have a group of people, and a group of countries, including Germany \u2014 tremendous economic behemoth \u2014 why are we always doing the work? We are \u2014 I'm all for protecting Ukraine and working \u2014 but, we have countries that are surrounding the Ukraine that aren't doing anything. They say, "Keep going, keep going, you dummies, keep going. Protect us..." ...And we have to get smart. We can't continue to be the policeman of the world. We are $19 trillion dollars, we have a country that's going to hell, we have an infrastructure that's falling apart. Our roads, our bridges, our schools, our airports, and we have to start investing money in our country. +p3053 +aVAssad is a bad guy, but we have no idea who the so-called rebels \u2014 I read about the rebels, nobody even knows who they are. I spoke to a general two weeks ago, he said \u2014 he was very up on exactly what we're talking about. He said, "You know, Mr. Trump? We're giving hundreds of millions of dollars of equipment to these people, we have no idea who they are." So, I don't like Assad. Who's going to like Assad? But, we have no idea who these people, and what they're going to be, and what they're going to represent. They may be far worse than Assad. Look at Libya. Look at Iraq. Look at the mess we have after spending $2 trillion dollars, thousands of lives, wounded warriors all over the place \u2014 who I love, OK? All over. We have nothing. And, I said, keep the oil. And we should have kept the oil, believe me. We should have kept the oil. And, you know what? We should have given the oil... ..We should've given big chunks to the people that lost their arms, their legs, and their families, and their sons, and daughters, because right now, you know who has a lot of that oil? Iran, and +p3054 +aVWhy does she keep interrupting everybody? Terrible. +p3055 +aVWe are not. +p3056 +aV...No, no, no... +p3057 +aVWell, what's happening right now, Neil, is something that not been a subject of conversation by politicians. As primarily the only politician, I guess other than Carly on the stage, they haven't talked about a corporate inversion. A corporate inversion \u2014 companies are leaving. You know, we used to leave New York to go to Florida. We got better taxes, we got, maybe, something else. Now, they're the United States to go to other countries. They have trillions of dollars in those other countries. They're going for two reasons, they can't get their money back in. It's something where the democrats and the republicans both agree, it's the only thing I can think of. They both agree, let the money come back in. Three and a half years, they still can't make a deal. They can't get the money in. It's probably two and a half trillion, but, I think it's much more than that. All of that money could become \u2014 could come right in and be used to rebuild our country, and investments in our country. They can't do it. What we have to do, and what I've done, is made the tax rate \u2014 and one of the reasons they don't the taxes so obnoxious, they can't do it. Where, I made it a 10% number, as you know. I've been very highly praised for it. A lot of money's going to come back in, we're going to get rid of the bureaucratic problems, and roadblocks, because that's also a problem. And, we're going to have all of this money pour back into the United States. It's going to be used to build businesses, for jobs, and everything else. And, as I say, my expression is, let's make America great again. +p3058 +aVThank you. Over the years, I've created tens of thousands of jobs and a great company. It's a company I'm very proud of. Some of the most iconic assets anywhere in the world. And I will tell you, I don't have to give you a website because I'm self-funding my campaign. I'm putting up my own money. I want to do something really special. I want to make our country greater than it's ever been. I think we have that potential. We cannot lose this election. We cannot let Hillary Clinton, who is the worst secretary of state in the history of our country, win this election. We will fight. We will win. And we truly will make this even more special. We have to make it better than ever before. And I will tell you, the United States can actually be better than ever before. Thank you. +p3059 +aVI think maybe my greatest weakness is that I trust people too much. I'm too trusting. And when they let me down, if they let me down, I never forgive. I find it very, very hard to forgive people that deceived me. So I don't know if you would call that a weakness, but my wife said "let up." +p3060 +aVRight. +p3061 +aVRight. +p3062 +aVThat's right. +p3063 +aVNo, not a comic book, and it's not a very nicely asked question the way you say that. Larry Kudlow is an example, who I have a lot of respect for, who loves my tax plan. We're reducing taxes to 15 percent. We're bringing corporate taxes down, bringing money back in, corporate inversions. We have $2.5 trillion outside of the United States which we want to bring back in. As far as the wall is concerned, we're going to build a wall. We're going to create a border. We're going to let people in, but they're going to come in legally. They're going to come in legally. And it's something that can be done, and I get questioned about that. They built the great wall of China. That's 13,000 miles. Here, we actually need 1,000 because we have natural barriers. So we need 1,000. We can do a wall. We're going to have a big, fat beautiful door right in the middle of the wall. We're going to have people come in, but they're coming in legally. And Mexico's going to pay for the wall because Mexico \u2014 I love the Mexican people; I respect the Mexican leaders \u2014 but the leaders are much sharper, smarter and more cunning than our leaders. And just to finish, people say, how will you get Mexico to pay? A politician other than the people in the states \u2014 I don't want to \u2014 a politician cannot get them to pay. I can. We lose, we have a trade imbalance... Excuse me, John. ... of $50 billion... +p3064 +aV... believe me the world is peanuts by comparison. +p3065 +aVRight. Dynamically. +p3066 +aVThen you have to get rid of Larry Kudlow, who sits on your panel, who's a great guy, who came out the other day and said, I love Trump's tax plan. +p3067 +aVFirst of all, John got lucky with a thing called fracking, OK? He hit oil. He got lucky with fracking. Believe me, that is why Ohio is doing well. Number \u2014 and that is important for you to know. Number two, this was the man that was a managing general partner at Lehman Brothers when it went down the tubes and almost took every one of us with it, including Ben and myself, because I was there and I watched what happened. And Lehman Brothers started it all. He was on the board. And he was a managing general partner. And just thirdly, he was so nice. He was such a nice guy. And he said, oh, I'm never going to attack. But then his poll numbers tanked. He has got \u2014 that is why he is on the end. And he got nasty. And he got nasty. So you know what? You can have him. +p3068 +aVI think you're \u2014 +p3069 +aVWell, first of all, like many other very big businessmen, I could name them here, but I'm not going to do that for a lot of obvious reasons, but the biggest, and almost all of them, they've all used the chapter laws, the bankruptcy laws to their own benefit. Before this, I was a very successful person as a developer and as a businessman. Atlantic City has gone bad. I mean, Chris will know about that. I'm not blaming Chris, by the way, but he will know about that. Caesar's \u2014 excuse me \u2014 Caesar's, the Rolls-Royce, as you know, is in bankruptcy. Almost every hotel in Atlantic City has either been in bankruptcy or will be in bankruptcy \u2014 the biggest. But also the biggest people (ph) \u2014 now I've used that to my advantage as a business man, for my family, for myself. I never filed for bankruptcy. But many, many people did. What happened with Atlantic City is very, very disgraceful. Now hundreds of companies I've opened. I've used it three times, maybe four times. Came out great. But I guess I'm supposed to come out great. That is what I could do for the country. We owe $19 trillion, boy am I good at solving debt problems. Nobody can solve it like me. But I will tell you this, Atlantic City, you're using that, hundreds of companies that I have opened have thrived. I built a net worth of way over $10 billion, and I have done it four times out of hundreds. And I'm glad I did it. I used the laws of the country to my benefit, I'm sorry. +p3070 +aVThank you. +p3071 +aVI was not at all critical of him. I was not at all. In fact, frankly, he's complaining about the fact that we're losing some of the most talented people. They go to Harvard. They go to Yale. They go to Princeton. They come from another country and they're immediately sent out. I am all in favor of keeping these talented people here so they can go to work in Silicon Valley. +p3072 +aVSo I have nothing at all critical of him. +p3073 +aVProbably, I don't know \u2014 you people write the stuff. I don't know where you... And if I could say just one thing. I am the only person in either campaign that's self-funding. I'm putting up 100 percent of my own money. And right now, I will be putting up a tremendous \u2014 so far, I've put up less than anybody and I have the best results. Wouldn't that be nice if the country could do that? But I will be putting \u2014 I will be putting up, you know, tremendous amounts of money. SuperPacs are a disaster. They're a scam. They cause dishonesty. And you better get rid of them because they are causing a lot of bad decisions to be made by some very good people. And I'm not blaming these folks \u2014 well, I guess I could. Very good people are making very bad decisions right now. And if anything comes out of this whole thing with some of these nasty and ridiculous questions, I will tell you, you better get rid of the SuperPacs because they causing a big problem with this country, not only in dishonesty and what's going on, but also in a lot of bad decisions that have been made for the benefit of lobbyists and special interests. +p3074 +aVI never said that. I never said that. +p3075 +aVYou've got another gentleman in Florida, who happens to be a very nice guy, but not... +p3076 +aV... he's really doing some bad... +p3077 +aVI'm in favor of people coming into this country legally. And you know what? They can have it anyway you want. You can call it visas, you can call it work permits, you can call it anything you want. I've created tens of thousands of jobs, and in all due respect \u2014 and actually some of these folks I really like a lot \u2014 but I'm the only one that can say that. I have created tens of thousands of jobs, and I'll be creating many millions of jobs if I'm given \u2014 if I'm given the opportunity to be president. As far as Mark is concerned, as far as the visas are concerned, if we need people, they have \u2014 it's fine. They have to come into this country legally. We have a country of borders. We have a country of laws. We have to obey the laws. It's fine if they come in, but they have to come in legally. +p3078 +aVYes. +p3079 +aVOr somebody else. Right. +p3080 +aVYes, I might feel more comfortable. I would say that I would and I have a permit, which is very unusual in New York \u2014 a permit to carry. And I do carry on occasion, sometimes a lot. But I like to be unpredictable so that people don't know exactly... +p3081 +aVBy the way, unlike our country where we're totally predictable and the enemy, whether it's +p3082 +aVI would change them. I would change them. +p3083 +aVSuch a nasty \u2014 such a nasty question, but thank you, Governor. +p3084 +aVYes, it's very simple. We're going to make a really dynamic economy from what we have right now, which is not at all dynamic. We're going to bring jobs back from Japan, we're going to bring jobs back from China, we're going to bring, frankly, jobs back from Mexico where, as you probably saw, Nabisco is leaving Chicago with one of their biggest plants, and they're moving it to Mexico. We're going to bring jobs and manufacturing back. We're going to cut costs. We're going to save Social Security, and we're going to save Medicare. [ +p3085 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We used to win, we don't win anymore. We lose on trade. We lose with +p3086 +aVAnd, I'll do that with the country. We will make America great again. And, thank you everybody. Just for the record. +p3087 +aVThat's not right. That is absolutely not right. You know that. That is not right. [ +p3088 +aVI'm Donald Trump. I wrote "The Art of the Deal". I say not in a braggadocious way, I've made billions and billions of dollars dealing with people all over the world, and I want to put whatever that talent is to work for this country so we have great trade deals, we make our country rich again, we make it great again. We build our military, we take care of our vets, we get rid of Obamacare, and we have a great life altogether. Thank you. Thank you. +p3089 +aVWell, first of all, Rand Paul shouldn't even be on this stage. He's number 11, he's got 1 percent in the polls, and how he got up here, there's far too many people anyway. As far as temperament \u2014 and we all know that \u2014 as far as temperament, I think I have a great temperament. I built a phenomenal business with incredible, iconic assets, one of the really truly great real-estate businesses. And I may be an entertainer, because I've had tremendous success with number-one bestsellers all over the place, with "The Apprentice" and everything else I've done. But I will tell you this: What I am far and away greater than an entertainer is a businessman, and that's the kind of mindset this country needs to bring it back, because we owe $19 trillion right now, $19 trillion, and you need this kind of thinking to bring our country back. And believe me, my temperament is very good, very calm. But we will be respected outside of this country. We are not respected now. +p3090 +aVI never attacked him on his look, and believe me, there's plenty of subject matter right there. That I can tell you. +p3091 +aVI've actually been in politics all my life, although I've been on that side as opposed to this side. I'm now a politician for about three months. Obviously, I'm doing pretty well. I'm number one in every poll by a lot. But the qualification is that I've dealt with people all over the world, been successful all over the world. Everything I've done virtually has been a tremendous success. When markets changed, when things turned, I heard Governor Pataki, who, by the way, was a failed governor in New York, a very seriously failed \u2014 he wouldn't be elected dog catcher right now. I heard what he had to say. And I will tell you this: Atlantic City, I've made a tremendous amount of money in Atlantic City. I left seven years ago, I've gotten great credit for my timing, and that's what I'm all about. I'm a businessman, did really well, really well, and Jeb, what I want to do is put that ability into this country to make our country rich again. And I can do that, and I'm not sure that anybody else in the group will be able to do that. +p3092 +aVBut I have to say... +p3093 +aVWell, in Wisconsin... +p3094 +aVExcuse me. +p3095 +aVIn Wisconsin, you're losing $2.2 billion right now. +p3096 +aVI would do so much better than that. +p3097 +aVNo. +p3098 +aVI'm using facts. +p3099 +aVEvery major business leader has used the \u2014 I never went bankrupt, by the way, as you know, everybody knows. But we \u2014 hundreds of companies, hundreds of deals, I've used ???: ... into bankruptcy. That's what's wrong with politicians in Washington right now. They think we can take a country into bankruptcy. +p3100 +aVEvery major business leader, has used the \u2014 I never went bank bankrupt, by the way, as you know, everybody knows. But \u2014 hundreds of companies, hundreds of deals, I used the law four times and made a tremendous thing. I'm in business. I did a very good job. But I will say this, and people are very, very impressed with what I've done, the business people. But when the folks of Iowa found out the true facts of the job that you've done in Wisconsin, all of a sudden you, tubed (ph), he was No. 1 and now he's No. 6 or seven in the polls. So, look, we brought it out, you were supposed to make a billion dollars in the state. You lost 2.2 \u2014 you have right now, a huge budget deficit. That's not a Democratic point. That's a point. That's a fact. And when the people of Iowa found that out, I went to No. 1 and you went down the tubes. +p3101 +aVI didn't \u2014 +p3102 +aVTotally false. +p3103 +aVI would have gotten it. +p3104 +aVI promise I would have gotten it. +p3105 +aVI promise if I wanted it, I would have gotten it. +p3106 +aVI know my people. +p3107 +aVI know my people. +p3108 +aVNo. I just will tell you that, you know, Jeb made the statement. I'm not only referring to him. I \u2014 a lot of money was raised by a lot of different people that are standing up here. And the donors, the special interests, the lobbyists have very strong power over these people. I'm spending all of my money, I'm not spending \u2014 I'm not getting any \u2014 I turned down \u2014 I turn down so much, I could have right now from special interests and donors, I could have double and triple what he's got. I've turned it down. I turned down last week $5 million from somebody. So I will tell you I understand the game, I've been on the other side all of my life. And they have a lot of control over our politicians. And I don't say that favorably, and I'm not sure if there's another system, but I say this. I am not accepting any money from anybody. Nobody has control of me other than the people of this country. I'm going to do the right thing. +p3109 +aVThat's true. That's true. +p3110 +aVI was \u2014 excuse me, Jeb. +p3111 +aVI was a businessman, I got along with Clinton, I got along with everybody. That was my job, to get along with people. +p3112 +aVI didn't want to \u2014 excuse me. One second. +p3113 +aVOK, more energy tonight. I like that. Look \u2014 +p3114 +aVI didn't want \u2014 it was my obligation as a businessman to my family, to my company, to my employees, to get along with all politicians. I get along with all of them, and I did a damn good job in doing it. Go ahead. +p3115 +aVGot along with everybody. +p3116 +aVWrong. +p3117 +aVDon't make things up. Jeb, don't make things up. Come on. +p3118 +aVDon't make things up. +p3119 +aVSo, number one, they have to respect you. He has absolutely no respect for President Obama. Zero. Syria's a mess. You look at what's going on with +p3120 +aVI believe that I will get along \u2014 we will do \u2014 between that, Ukraine, all of the other problems, we won't have the kind of problems that our country has right now with Russia and many other nations. +p3121 +aVI wouldn't have drawn the line, but once he drew it, he had no choice but to go across. They do bear some responsibility, but I think he probably didn't do it, not for that reason. Somehow, he just doesn't have courage. There is something missing from our president. Had he crossed the line and really gone in with force, done something to Assad \u2014 if he had gone in with tremendous force, you wouldn't have millions of people displaced all over the world. +p3122 +aVThey had a responsibility, absolutely. I think we have three of them here... +p3123 +aVI think they had a responsibility, yes. +p3124 +aVJeb, just... +p3125 +aVI think it will haunt him. I think it's a terrible. I think it's going to haunt him absolutely. He came back later and he said he misspoke. There was no question because I heard when he said the statement. I was watching and he said the statement. And I said, wow, I can't believe it. I will take care of women. I respect women. I will take care of women. One thing we will say and I would like to get back to the Iran situation. We're talking about Iran. The agreement was terrible. It was incompetent. I've never seen anything like it. One of the worst contracts of any kind I've ever seen. And nobody ever mentions North Korea where you have this maniac sitting there and he actually has nuclear weapons and somebody better start thinking about North Korea and perhaps a couple of other places. But certainly North Korea. And Ted and I have spoken. We've \u2014 a lot of us have spoken. We're talking about Iran. They are bad actors, bad things are going to happen. But in the meantime, you have somebody right now in North Korea who has got nuclear weapons and who is saying almost every other week, I'm ready to use them. And we don't even mention it. +p3126 +aVSo why didn't you say it? Why didn't you say it? +p3127 +aVI know, but why did you say it? I heard it myself. Why did you say it? +p3128 +aVYou said you're going to cut funding for women's health. You said it. +p3129 +aVYou said it. +p3130 +aVI think she's got a beautiful face, and I think she's a beautiful woman. +p3131 +aVCorrect. First of all, I want to build a wall, a wall that works. So important, and it's a big part of it. Second of all, we have a lot of really bad dudes in this country from outside, and I think Chris knows that, maybe as well as anybody. They go, if I get elected, first day they're gone. Gangs all over the place. Chicago, Baltimore, no matter where you look. We have a country based on laws. I will make sure that those laws are adhered to. These are illegal immigrants. I don't think you'd even be asking this question if I didn't run because when I ran, and I brought this up, my opening remarks at Trump Tower, I took heat like nobody has taken heat in a long time. And, then they found out with the killing of Katie, from San Francisco, and so many other crimes, they found out that I was right. And, most people, many people, apologized to me. I don't think you'd even be talking about illegal immigration if it weren't for me. So, we have a country of laws, they're going to go out, and they'll come back if they deserve to come back. If they've had a bad record, if they've been arrested, if they've been in jail, they're never coming back. We're going to have a country again. Right now, we don't have a country, we don't have a border, and we're going to do something about it, and it can be done with proper management, and it can be done with heart. +p3132 +aV...By the way, I agree with \u2014 with what Chris is saying, but, I will say this. Illegal immigration is costing us more than $200 billion dollars a year just to maintain what we have. +p3133 +aVCorrect. +p3134 +aVWell, I have to tell you, I hear phenomenal things. I hear your wife is a lovely woman... +p3135 +aVI don't know her, and this is a total mischaracterization... +p3136 +aVGood. +p3137 +aVNo, I won't do that, because I've said nothing wrong. +p3138 +aVBut I do hear she's a lovely woman. +p3139 +aVJeb said... +p3140 +aV... that they come into our country as an act of love. With all of the problems we that we have, in so many instances \u2014 we have wonderful people coming in. But with all of the problems \u2014 this is not an act of love. He's weak on immigration \u2014 by the way, in favor of Common Core, which is also a disaster, but weak on immigration. He doesn't get my vote. +p3141 +aVNot with this intensity. +p3142 +aVAs I said, we are spending $200 billion \u2014 we are spending $200 billion a year on maintaining what we have. We will move them out. The great ones will come back, the good ones will come back. They'll be expedited, they'll be back, they'll come back legally. We'll have a country \u2014 they'll come back, legally. +p3143 +aVWell, I think it's wonderful and all, but I did it a little bit half-heartedly, but I do mean it to a large extent. We have a country, where, to assimilate, you have to speak English. And I think that where he was, and the way it came out didn't sound right to me. We have to have assimilation \u2014 to have a country, we have to have assimilation. I'm not the first one to say this, Dana. We've had many people over the years, for many, many years, saying the same thing. This is a country where we speak English, not Spanish. +p3144 +aVThis is a reporter, not a high school kid. +p3145 +aVWell, first of all, the \u2014 the 14th Amendment says very, very clearly to a lot of great legal scholars \u2014 not television scholars, but legal scholars \u2014 that it is wrong. It can be corrected with an act of Congress, probably doesn't even need that. A woman gets pregnant. She's nine months, she walks across the border, she has the baby in the United States, and we take care of the baby for 85 years. I don't think so. And by the way, Mexico and almost every other country anywhere in the world doesn't have that. We're the only ones dumb enough, stupid enough to have it. And people \u2014 and by the way, this is not just with respect to Mexico. They are coming from Asia to have babies here, and all of a sudden, we have to take care of the babies for the life of the baby. The 14th Amendment, it reads properly, you can go and \u2014 it's probably going to be have to be check \u2014 go through a process of court, probably ends up at the Supreme Court, but there are a lot of great legal scholars that say that is not correct. And in my opinion, it makes absolutely no \u2014 we're the only \u2014 one of the only countries, we're going to take care of those babies for 70, 75, 80, 90 years? I don't think so. +p3146 +aVI agree 100 percent, by the way, with Carly on the fact that the Democrats do not want to solve this problem, for the obvious reasons, but they do not. But I believe that a reading of the 14th Amendment allows you to have an interpretation where this is not legal and where it can't be done. I've seen both sides, but some of the greatest scholars agree with me, without having to go through Congress. If you do go through Congress, you can absolutely solve the problem. +p3147 +aVThat's true, sure. +p3148 +aVWell \u2014 +p3149 +aV\u2014 let me \u2014 well, let me just explain. The head of the Yale Business School, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, wrote a paper recently, one of the worst tenures for a CEO that he has ever seen, ranked one of the top 20 in the history of business. The company is a disaster and continues to be a disaster. They still haven't recovered. In fact, today, on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, they fired another 25 or 30,000 people saying we still haven't recovered from the catastrophe. When Carly says the revenues went up, that's because she bought Compaq, it was a terrible deal, and it really led to the destruction of the company. Now one other company before that was Lucent. Carly was at Lucent before that. And Lucent turned out to be a catastrophe also. So I only say this. She can't run any of my companies. That I can tell you. +p3150 +aVI never filed for bankruptcy. +p3151 +aVI'll tell you why; it's very simple. +p3152 +aVI'll tell you. I was running \u2014 +p3153 +aV\u2014 Carly, Carly \u2014 +p3154 +aV\u2014 I've made over $10 billion. I had a casino company \u2014 Caesars just filed for bankruptcy. Chris will tell you \u2014 it's not Chris' fault either \u2014 but almost everybody in Atlantic City is either in trouble or filed for \u2014 maybe I'll blame Chris. +p3155 +aVBut Atlantic City is a disaster \u2014 +p3156 +aVWait a minute, Carly. Wait. I let you speak. Atlantic City is a disaster, and I did great in Atlantic City. I knew when to get out. My timing was great. And I got a lot of credit for it. Many of the great business people that you know \u2014 and Carl Icon (ph) is going to work with me on making great deals for this country. But whether it's Carl or so many others that we read about all the time \u2014 +p3157 +aV\u2014 they have used the laws of the land, which is the \u2014 +p3158 +aV...Well, I'd like to respond, I'd like to respond... +p3159 +aVWell, I think the thing about the flat tax, I know it very well. What I don't like is that if you make $200 million a year, you pay ten percent, you're paying very little relatively to somebody that's making $50,000 a year, and has to hire H&R Block to do the \u2014 because it's so complicated. One thing I'll say to Ben is that we've had a graduated tax system for many years, so it's not a socialistic thing. What I'd like to do, and I'll be putting in the plan in about two weeks, and I think people are going to like it, it's a major reduction in taxes. It's a major reduction for the middle class. The hedge fund guys won't like me as much as they like me right now. I know them all, but they'll pay more. I know people that are making a tremendous amount of money and paying virtually no tax, and I think it's unfair. +p3160 +aVWell, I heard Hugh Hewitt, a nice man, he apologized because he actually said that we had a misunderstanding. And he said today that Donald Trump is maybe the best interview there is anywhere that he has ever done. Now unless he was just saying that on CNN to be nice, but he did say that... +p3161 +aVAnd we had a legitimate misunderstanding in terms of his pronunciation of a word. But I would say just... +p3162 +aVWell, I think it was. And he actually said that. Did you say that? +p3163 +aVOK. So I will say this, though, Hugh was giving me name after name, Arab name, Arab name, and there are few people anywhere, anywhere that would have known those names. I think he was reading them off a sheet. And frankly I will have \u2014 and I told him, I will have the finest team that anybody has put together and we will solve a lot of problems. You know, right now they know a lot and look at what is happening. The world is blowing up around us. We will have great teams and great people. +p3164 +aVI hope that answers your question. I mean, you are in the Senate, but I hope that answers your question. +p3165 +aVNo, I don't think he's suggesting that at all. I mean... +p3166 +aVI don't think he's suggesting that at all. +p3167 +aVWell, you have to understand, I am not sitting in the United States Senate with, by the way, the worst voting record there is today. Number one. I am not sitting in the United States Senate. I'm a businessman doing business transactions. +p3168 +aVI am doing business transactions. I will know more about this \u2014 and, as you said, that was very acceptable, and when you listen to that whole interview, it's a great interview, you said it, I didn't. Well, now I did. But... +p3169 +aVListen, just one second. Just one second. +p3170 +aVI will know... +p3171 +aV...I will know more about the problems of this world by the time I sit, and you look at what's going in this world right now by people that supposedly know, this world is a mess. +p3172 +aV +p3173 +aV I'm \u2014 and I'm meeting with people that are terrific people, but I have to say something because it's about judgment. I am the only person on this dais \u2014 the only person \u2014 that fought very, very hard against us (ph), and I wasn't a sitting politician going into Iraq, because I said going into Iraq \u2014 that was in 2003, you can check it out, check out \u2014 I'll give you 25 different stories. In fact, a delegation was sent to my office to see me because I was so vocal about it. I'm a very militaristic person, but you have to know when to use the military. I'm the only person up here that fought against going into Iraq. +p3174 +aVJust excuse me, one second, Rand... +p3175 +aVIf you don't mind, Rand \u2014 you know, you are on last \u2014 you do have your 1 percent. I would like \u2014 and I think it's very important. I think it's important, because it's about judgment. It's about judgment. I didn't want to go into Iraq, and I fought it, because what I said \u2014 what I said... +p3176 +aV... was you're going to \u2014 you're going to destabilize... +p3177 +aV... the Middle East, and that's what happened. +p3178 +aVIf you think about it... +p3179 +aVYour brother \u2014 and your brother's administration gave us Barack Obama, because it was such a disaster, those last three months, that Abraham Lincoln couldn't have been elected. +p3180 +aVI don't know. You feel safe right now? I don't feel so safe. +p3181 +aVOr the collapse of the economy. +p3182 +aVSpeaking for myself, I'm OK with it. I think there's a certain truth to it. I know people that, frankly, it has no impact on their life whatsoever. There are many people. I would almost say leave it up to them, but I would be willing to check it off, and say I will not get Social Security. I do not... +p3183 +aVAs a policy, I would almost leave it up to the people. Don't forget they pay in and they pay in, and maybe they do well, and maybe some people want it. But the fact is that there are people that truly don't need it, and there are many people that do need it very, very badly. And I would be willing to write mine off 100 percent, Dana. +p3184 +aVWell, I \u2014 I \u2014 I'd like to respond. +p3185 +aVI'd like to respond. +p3186 +aVAutism has become an epidemic. Twenty-five years ago, 35 years ago, you look at the statistics, not even close. It has gotten totally out of control. I am totally in favor of vaccines. But I want smaller doses over a longer period of time. Because you take a baby in \u2014 and I've seen it \u2014 and I've seen it, and I had my children taken care of over a long period of time, over a two or three year period of time. Same exact amount, but you take this little beautiful baby, and you pump \u2014 I mean, it looks just like it's meant for a horse, not for a child, and we've had so many instances, people that work for me. Just the other day, two years old, two and a half years old, a child, a beautiful child went to have the vaccine, and came back, and a week later got a tremendous fever, got very, very sick, now is autistic. I only say it's not \u2014 I'm in favor of vaccines, do them over a longer period of time, same amount. +p3187 +aVBut just in \u2014 in little sections. +p3188 +aVI think \u2014 and I think you're going to have \u2014 I think you're going to see a big impact on autism. +p3189 +aVAnd that's all I'm saying, Jake. That's all I'm saying. +p3190 +aVWell, because she's been sitting for three hours, I think my daughter, Ivanka, who's right here. +p3191 +aVOther than that we'll go with Rosa Parks. I like that. +p3192 +aVHumble. +p3193 +aVIf I become president, we will do something really special. We will make this country greater than ever before. We'll have more jobs. We'll have more of everything. We were discussing disease, we were discussing all sorts of things tonight, many of which will just be words, it will just pass on. I don't want to say politicians, all talk, no action. But a lot of what we talked about is words and it will be forgotten very quickly. If I'm president, many of the things that we discussed tonight will not be forgotten. We'll find solutions. And the world will respect us. They will respect us like never before. And it will be actually a friendlier world. And I have to say, it is a great honor to be here tonight. +p3194 +aVI fully understand. +p3195 +aVI fully understand. +p3196 +aVI cannot say. I have to respect the person that, if it's not me, the person that wins, if I do win, and I'm leading by quite a bit, that's what I want to do. I can totally make that pledge. If I'm the nominee, I will pledge I will not run as an independent. But -- and I am discussing it with everybody, but I'm, you know, talking about a lot of leverage. We want to win, and we will win. But I want to win as the Republican. I want to run as the Republican nominee. +p3197 +aVWell, I've given him plenty of money. +p3198 +aVI will not make the pledge at this time. +p3199 +aVOnly Rosie O'Donnell. +p3200 +aVThank you. +p3201 +aVYes, I'm sure it was. +p3202 +aVI think the big problem this country has is being politically correct. I've been challenged by so many people, and I don't frankly have time for total political correctness. And to be honest with you, this country doesn't have time either. This country is in big trouble. We don't win anymore. We lose to China. We lose to Mexico both in trade and at the border. We lose to everybody. And frankly, what I say, and oftentimes it's fun, it's kidding. We have a good time. What I say is what I say. And honestly Megyn, if you don't like it, I'm sorry. I've been very nice to you, although I could probably maybe not be, based on the way you have treated me. But I wouldn't do that. But you know what, we -- we need strength, we need energy, we need quickness and we need brain in this country to turn it around. That, I can tell you right now. +p3203 +aVSo, if it weren't for me, you wouldn't even be talking about illegal immigration, Chris. You wouldn't even be talking about it. This was not a subject that was on anybody's mind until I brought it up at my announcement. And I said, Mexico is sending. Except the reporters, because they're a very dishonest lot, generally speaking, in the world of politics, they didn't cover my statement the way I said it. The fact is, since then, many killings ,murders, crime, drugs pouring across the border, are money going out and the drugs coming in. And I said we need to build a wall, and it has to be built quickly. And I don't mind having a big beautiful door in that wall so that people can come into this country legally. But we need, Jeb, to build a wall, we need to keep illegals out. +p3204 +aVBorder Patrol, I was at the border last week. Border Patrol, people that I deal with, that I talk to, they say this is what's happening. Because our leaders are stupid. Our politicians are stupid. And the Mexican government is much smarter, much sharper, much more cunning. And they send the bad ones over because they don't want to pay for them. They don't want to take care of them. Why should they when the stupid leaders of the United States will do it for them? And that's what is happening whether you like it or not. +p3205 +aVA complete disaster, yes. +p3206 +aVCorrect. +p3207 +aVFirst of all, I'd like to just go back to one. In July of 2004, I came out strongly against the war with Iraq, because it was going to destabilize the Middle East. And I'm the only one on this stage that knew that and had the vision to say it. And that's exactly what happened. +p3208 +aVAnd the Middle East became totally destabilized. So I just want to say. As far as single payer, it works in Canada. It works incredibly well in Scotland. It could have worked in a different age, which is the age you're talking about here. What I'd like to see is a private system without the artificial lines around every state. I have a big company with thousands and thousands of employees. And if I'm negotiating in New York or in New Jersey or in California, I have like one bidder. Nobody can bid. You know why? Because the insurance companies are making a fortune because they have control of the politicians, of course, with the exception of the politicians on this stage. But they have total control of the politicians. They're making a fortune. Get rid of the artificial lines and you will have......yourself great plans. And then we have to take care of the people that can't take care of themselves. And I will do that through a different system. +p3209 +aVI'm not -- I'm not are -- I don't think you heard me. You're having a hard time tonight. +p3210 +aVYou'd better believe it. +p3211 +aVIf I ask them, if I need them, you know, most of the people on this stage I've given to, just so you understand, a lot of money. +p3212 +aVMany of them. +p3213 +aVNot much. +p3214 +aVBut I... +p3215 +aVI have good... +p3216 +aVGood. +p3217 +aVSounds good. Sounds good to me, Governor. I will tell you that our system is broken. I gave to many people, before this, before two months ago, I was a businessman. I give to everybody. When they call, I give. And do you know what? When I need something from them two years later, three years later, I call them, they are there for me. +p3218 +aVAnd that's a broken system. +p3219 +aVWell, I'll tell you what, with Hillary Clinton, I said be at my wedding and she came to my wedding. You know why? She didn't have a choice because I gave. I gave to a foundation that, frankly, that foundation is supposed to do good. I didn't know her money would be used on private jets going all over the world. It was. But... +p3220 +aVBecause I have used the laws of this country just like the greatest people that you read about every day in business have used the laws of this country, the chapter laws, to do a great job for my company, for myself, for my employees, for my family, et cetera. I have never gone bankrupt, by the way. I have never. But out of hundreds of deals... +p3221 +aVExcuse me. Excuse me. +p3222 +aVExcuse me, what am I saying? Out of hundreds of deals that I've done, hundreds, on four occasions I've taken advantage of the laws of this country, like other people. I'm not going to name their names because I'm not going to embarrass, but virtually every person that you read about on the front page of the business sections, they've used the law. The difference is, when somebody else uses those laws, nobody writes about it. When I use it, they say, "Trump, Trump, Trump." The fact is, I built a net worth of more than $10 billion. I have a great, great company. I employ thousands of people. And I'm very proud of the job I did. Again Chris, hundreds and hundreds of deals. Four times, I've taken advantage of the laws. And frankly, so has everybody else in my position. +p3223 +aVWell, I... +p3224 +aVLet me just tell you about the lenders. First of all, these lenders aren't babies. These are total killers. These are not the nice, sweet little people that you think, OK? You know, I mean you're living in a world of the make-believe, Chris, you want to know the truth. And I had the good sense to leave Atlantic City, which by the way, Caesars just went bankrupt. Every company, Chris can tell you, every company virtually in Atlantic City went bankrupt. Every company. And let me just tell you. I had the good sense, and I've gotten a lot of credit in the financial pages, seven years ago I left Atlantic City before it totally cratered, and I made a lot of money in Atlantic City, and I'm very proud of it. I want to tell you that. Very, very proud of it. +p3225 +aVAnd by the way, this country right now owes $19 trillion. And they need somebody like me to straighten out that mess. +p3226 +aVI don't think they like me very much. I'll tell you what. I've evolved on many issues over the years. And you know who else has? Is Ronald Reagan evolved on many issues. And I am pro-life. And if you look at the question, I was in business. They asked me a question as to pro-life or choice. And I said if you let it run, that I hate the concept of abortion. I hate the concept of abortion. And then since then, I've very much evolved. And what happened is friends of mine years ago were going to have a child, and it was going to be aborted. And it wasn't aborted. And that child today is a total superstar, a great, great child. And I saw that. And I saw other instances. And I am very, very proud to say that I am pro-life. As far as being a Republican is concerned, I come from a place, New York City, which is virtually, I mean, it is almost exclusively Democrat. And I have really started to see some of the negatives -- as an example, and I have a lot of liking for this man, but the last number of months of his brother's administration were a catastrophe. And unfortunately, those few months gave us President Obama. And you can't be happy about that. +p3227 +aVFirst of all, Jeb, I am very happy that you denied that, and I appreciate that very much. He is a true gentleman. He really is. One thing he did say, and I mean that. The one thing he did say about me, however, was my tone. And I also understand that. But when you have people that are cutting Christians' heads off, when you have a world that the border and at so many places, that it is medieval times, we've never -- it almost has to be as bad as it ever was in terms of the violence and the horror, we don't have time for tone. We have to go out and get the job done. +p3228 +aVI would be so different from what you have right now. Like, the polar opposite. We have a president who doesn't have a clue. I would say he's incompetent, but I don't want to do that because that's not nice. But if you look at the deals we make, whether it's the nuclear deal with 24 hour periods -- and by the way, before you get to the 24 hours, you have to go through a system. You look at Sgt. Bergdahl, we get Bergdahl, a traitor, and they get five of the big, great killers leaders that they want. We have people in Washington that don't know what they're doing. Now... I agree. Now, with Iran, we're making a deal, you would say, we want him. We want out our prisoners. We want all these things, and we don't get anything. We're giving them $150 billion dollars plus, they are going to be -- I'll tell you what, if Iran was a stock, you folks should go out and buy it right now because you'll quadruple -- this, what's happening in Iran, is a disgrace, and it's going to lead to destruction in large portions of the world. +p3229 +aVOur country is in serious trouble. We don't win anymore. We don't beat China in trade. We don't beat Japan, with their millions and millions of cars coming into this country, in trade. We can't beat Mexico, at the border or in trade. We can't do anything right. Our military has to be strengthened. Our vets have to be taken care of. We have to end Obamacare, and we have to make our country great again, and I will do that. Thank you. +p3230 +asVPATAKI +p3231 +(lp3232 +VThank you, Wolf. I want to speak to you this evening not as a Republican or a presidential candidate, but as an American. As we saw today in L.A., we are at a crisis in our country. Radical Islam poses a threat to our safety not just overseas, but literally in every community in America. And yet at a time when we should be united, we have a president who has divided us, who refuses to call radical Islam what it is, let alone have a coherent strategy to defeat it. The leading Democrat, Hillary Clinton, won't call +p3233 +aVAbsolutely. It's one of many absurd things this President has said. To target a religion and say that regardless of whether you're an American soldier who has fought on our side or allies we have overseas, simply because of your religion we're going to ban you is un-American, it is unconstitutional and it is wrong. And by the way, Wolf, now there was a group that tried to do that 150 to 160 years ago, they were called the Know-Nothing Party. They wanted to ban Catholics. They thought they were going to destroy America. Well, Donald Trump is the Know-Nothing candidate of the 21st century and cannot be our nominee. By the way, though. I fault Hillary and Obama as well because by not distinguishing between Muslims and radicalized Jihadists, by refusing to acknowledge that it's radical Muslim, radical Islamists who are carrying out these attacks against America \u2014 they let Americans who are confused and angry lump everyone together. We have to embrace the Muslims who embrace our freedom and living and safety. We have to destroy those who embrace Jihad and want to engage in violence against us here or abroad. +p3234 +aVYes. +p3235 +aVYou know, I think it's very important that we do everything in our power to prevent radicalization of Americans right here. And it is happening, not just overseas, but it's happening here from Mosques on social media. And truth \u2014 interaction and community meetings. New York police department had a very active group, aggressively monitoring and using intelligence to \u2014 in certain Muslim communities, consistent with our constitution, consistent of our civil rights, so they could have the intelligence as to where these sermons are being given, and who is being radicalized. And, they stopped and prevented dozens, and dozens of attacks in New York. You know, I'm a great believer in the First Amendment, of Freedom of Speech. I wish we had more of it on our college campuses, but you can't shout fire in a crowded theater. Calling on Americans to engage in violence against their fellow Americans in the name of jihad is crying fire in a crowded theater. It is not constitutionally protected speech, it should be shut down. And, by the way, the two murders who went to Garland, Texas to massacre many Americans before the Texas police officer courageously killed them, had been radicalized here. Getting to that metadata question, one of those terrorists, the day before the attacks, had sent......109 message to a known terrorist overseas. We could not read those messages, we can not read those today... +p3236 +aV...We have got to do far better. +p3237 +aVYes, Wolf. +p3238 +aVI would pass a law requiring them to do that. Let me just give you one example. I mentioned in Garland, Texas, where that murderer, that terrorist, the day before sent 109 messages overseas to a known terrorist. But they were encrypted. So to this date we don't know what that said. Companies are entitled to encrypt and protect their knowledge and their intelligence. But what we need is a back door for law enforcement to be able, when they can establish that that communication poses a risk to our safety and engages in terrorism, to get a court order and go in and access those communications. Allow the companies to continue encryption, provide an entry way for law enforcement when they can prove to a court that there is a sufficient risk of an attack upon us that they have the right to look at those messages. +p3239 +aVAnd just one more thing, Wolf. When that murderer came from Pakistan to San Bernardino and committed those atrocious crimes just a few weeks ago, she applied for a visa. She had posted on social media jihadist messages. Because this administration is so politically correct, they have a rule that they cannot look at social media postings of people applying to come to the United States. That is utterly absurd. One of the things we must do, the next president must do is get rid of that law and make sure we do everything in our power to find out if someone poses a threat to our existence here. +p3240 +aVWolf, I think the answer is we have to send troops with allies and supporters. Wherever it is necessary to destroy the training centers, recruitment centers, planning hubs of +p3241 +aVYes. +p3242 +aVYou know, I don't think it's a function of years of going after +p3243 +aVYou know, I don't want to see us occupy a country. I've been to Iraq a couple of times and Afghanistan. The first time I went, I had an uneasy feeling that when we went there we were liberators. But as we stayed ,we became occupiers. I saw American troops move into some of Saddam's old hideous marble palaces. And I thought that was exactly the wrong message. We do not have to occupy. We do not have to nation build and try to create a democracy where one hasn't existed. WE have to destroy +p3244 +aVI'm not sure \u2014 ally with which groups? I didn't quite catch that. +p3245 +aVNot at all. Iran is our enemy. They are the number one sponsor of state terror. The Iranian Deal is a disaster. And by the way, I don't think the next president has to aggregate it. It was never ratified by the Iranians. They have tested long-range ballistic missiles in violation of U.N. resolutions. They have broken the agreement. It is void. They can never have a nuclear weapon and should not get relief. With respect to the other groups, like Hezbollah, of course we should not work with them. I'll tell you who we should work with in Syria. There are two groups. One are the PYD, the \u2014 the Kurds in Syria who led the defense of Kobani, and are in northern and eastern Syria and anti- +p3246 +aVI could create... +p3247 +aVI would create the no-fly zone, and let me tell you, something very simply. Putin is a bully, and the most important and effective thing you can do to a bully is punch him in the face. Create a no-fly zone. If Russian planes violate that space, either us, or the Turks, should shoot them down to keep our word. And, I guarantee you that Putin would back off. Bullies, when you stand up to them, back down. We have had, under Obama, and under Hillary as Secretary of State, nothing but weakness in the face of Russia, whether it was in the Crimea, whether it was in Ukraine, or now in the Middle East. I would give the Ukrainians lethal weapons so they could defend themselves. I would create the no-fly zone, and if Russian planes flew into it in violation of what we have declared, yes. +p3248 +aVI could create... +p3249 +aVI would create the no-fly zone, and let me tell you, something very simply. Putin is a bully, and the most important and effective thing you can do to a bully is punch him in the face. Create a no-fly zone. If Russian planes violate that space, either us, or the Turks, should shoot them down to keep our word. And, I guarantee you that Putin would back off. Bullies, when you stand up to them, back down. We have had, under Obama, and under Hillary as Secretary of State, nothing but weakness in the face of Russia, whether it was in the Crimea, whether it was in Ukraine, or now in the Middle East. I would give the Ukrainians lethal weapons so they could defend themselves. I would create the no-fly zone, and if Russian planes flew into it in violation of what we have declared, yes. +p3250 +aVNo, I completely disagree with Rick. This is America. And we've made enormous progress. And I don't care if you're a man or a woman. I care if you're good and capable of doing the job. If you can do the job \u2014 don't lower standards, don't lower the criteria \u2014 but if a woman is capable of doing these jobs, there is no reason why we should deny a patriot who wants to serve and help defend our country that right. +p3251 +aVIt's not. +p3252 +aVNo, you said you would reverse the policy which excluded women from those jobs whether or not they were able to do that. That is wrong. +p3253 +aVAh. +p3254 +aVYes, I think what Rick said is very different from what he said initially which was that, "he would reverse the policy that gave woman not the right but the opportunity to serve in combat." They can only do it if they're fit and capable and meet the same standards as men. And so, to reverse that policy and deny a woman who is prepared to risk her life to defend our freedom and is capable of doing everything a man could do is not the right thing for America in the 21st century. By the way, you see in Iraq, the Peshmerga, the Kurds ,many of their top fighters are women. This is the 21st century. We're not radical Islam. We want to give women the opportunity to do whatever they are capable of achieving in this country. +p3255 +aVOf course he's innocent until proven guilty. I happen to believe he's guilty. The military did a very clear and long study as to whether or not he deserted in the face of enemy and they are not court marshalling him. I don't think he should executed. I do think he will have a fair military trial, not a civilian trial, at which time, assuming he's found guilty as I think he would, he will be sentenced appropriately. But there's a bigger issue here, this administration has failed to protect us because they have treated radical Islamists as Americans who should be tried in civil court. That is ridiculous. They are enemy aliens engaged in terror against Americans. And by the way, the fact that this president is now threatening to close Guantanamo Bay when we know that time after time, terrorists he released are involved in a high level capacity helping +p3256 +aVYou know, again, it comes down to something that, as Mike said, breaks your heart. We clearly want to get them back. But the idea that by taking a journalist, for example, and holding him hostage in Iran, they're going to be able to get some of their terrorist leaders back, is simply bad policy. Israel has shown the way on this in rejecting hostage exchanges such as this and then not paying ransom. But, by the way, Mike is absolutely right. We have to do more to protect our people overseas, but then we also have to do more to help our veterans when they come back here today. We haven't talked about that. But more talking about defeating terrorism, one of the things we have to do is give our veterans the support and help that they require. What has happened at the VA is a disgrace. Give our veterans a medical card that they can use to get the best quality care anywhere, including outside of the VA system. +p3257 +aVAnd that \u2014 but that was involved in combat, where they were actually involved in a war against each other and exchanged prisoners. We have not been in a war with Iran. They have taken civilians as hostages. It's a totally different situation. And we cannot encourage them to do any more of that. +p3258 +aVYou know, I think what I said earlier is that I would create a no-fly zone in Syria. Turkey just agreed to take 3 million more Syrian refugees. The EU just came up with a funding program to provide camps for Syrian refugees, but I would also create that no-fly zone where refugees can be there. I have to say I agree with Rick, because this President is talking about taking 10,000 people from Syria, who we cannot vet. This administration, allegedly, vetted the woman who carried out the attacks in San Bernardino and never found out that she had a false address and was on social media talking about radical Jihad. Coming from Syria, it's impossible to do that check. And we know, by the way, that +p3259 +aVThank you. This debate has been about terrorism and appropriately so. I'm proud to have been governor of New York on September 11th and have led our state through and during the aftermath of that horrible attack. I vowed then that if I ever had the chance to lead this country, I would do everything in my power to make sure that Americans were safe. But I also saw a positive from that. New Yorkers and the American people came together and vowed that we weren't just going to defend ourselves. We were not going to live in fear. We were going to rise to new heights and celebrate our freedom. Come to Lower Manhattan today. You will see a magnificent tribute to those who died, the memorial and the museum. You will also see a new tower soaring 1,776 feet tall, the Freedom Tower, a symbol of our freedom, a symbol of our belief that as a free people we can soar to new heights. Give us the chance to unite Americans, not just Republicans. And this country's future is unlimited. +p3260 +aVWe need an outsider to run our party and to win the next election. Washington has become a corrupt insider game and everybody talks about how they're going to change the taxes, grow the economy. Nothing seems to change. But, by the way, Bobby, I shrunk the size of New York State's government when I left. We had reduced the employment by over 25,000 and cut taxes. But I understand that to change Washington you have to understand government as well. You can't just be an outsider. You can't just be someone who throws stones at Washington. You have to be someone who can actually bring people together across party lines. I can do that, I will do that if I have the chance to lead this party. +p3261 +aVBecky, can I comment on this question? +p3262 +aV...John, can I quickly comment on this one... +p3263 +aV...But, I want to speak on this issue... +p3264 +aV...I think it was a bad deal, but I would have voted for it for a very simple reason. Barack Obama is the first president in American history to hold our military hostage. He knew that we needed funding for overseas contingency operations, $40 million dollars that would go to support our troops. And, he was prepared, and had vetoed it, unless this deal went through. I have two sons, they both served overseas. One in Iraq, and one in Afghanistan, and I understand that we have got to do far more to help our military, help our veterans, and help protect our security. This is a bad deal, but to protect our military, I would have signed it. Uh, it's not going to be the case, if I have a chance to lead this country, we're going to reduce the deficit, shrink the government, lower the tax burden and grow the private sector because that's how you solve deficits. +p3265 +aVThank you. +p3266 +aVNo, I don't think we need a military response, but we need a coordinated response. And I have to say that I think the Obama administration has been completely lax, to say the least, in dealing with these cyber-attacks, not just by governments like North Korea, but by, particularly, Chinese and other companies. And what I would do is put in place a policy where if we know a company, say, a Chinese company, is hacking into American companies, stealing trade secrets, as we know they do every day, we will retaliate against that company and say that that company's not going to be allowed to continue to do trade with the United States. I would also look at what we're doing at the federal level and put in place what Israel has done: a \u2014 one federal agency dealing with cybersecurity and charged with working across silos to make sure we have the best technology. And, Jim, I've gotta tell you something, talking about cybersecurity. Hillary Clinton put a server, an unsecure server, in her home as secretary of state. We have no doubt that that was hacked, and that state secrets are out there to the Iranians, the Russians, the Chinese and others. That alone should disqualify her from being president of the United States. +p3267 +aVI think they have gone too far. I think we've seen Wall Street really blossom and do very well while the rest of the country is struggling, and it's because we have this corrupt connection between Wall Street and Washington. And, John, you were just talking about what loopholes would you get rid of. I would get rid of virtually every single one of them. They cost American taxpayers $1.4 trillion a year. I would throw them all out. +p3268 +aVNo, I wouldn't. I was going to say... +p3269 +aV...no, I would keep \u2014 first, yes, but what I would do is ii would lower the tax on manufacturing to the lowest in the developed world \u2014 12 percent. We all have plans. I have a plan. We all have plans. My plan, the Tax Foundation said, would create five and a half million new jobs over the next decade. The difference, though, is I will get my plan enacted because, when I was governor of New York, I passed sweeping tax code \u2014 cuts in a Democratic state with a Democratic legislature. I \u2014 you know, Bobby, you're talking about your tax cuts? I cut taxes more than everybody on this stage, more than everybody on the next stage, combined. By more than the other 49 states, in New York state. I don't just have a plan. I will enact tax cuts, get rid of those loopholes and make the system fairer for all Americans. +p3270 +aVThank you. +p3271 +aVLet me \u2014 let me try to get a word in edgewise. +p3272 +aVIn Washington, they talk over each other... +p3273 +aVYes. Very simply, you guys talk over each other in Washington all the time. I'm not used to that. I listen when people talk. We have a skills gap. You mentioned the construction company. The construction industry says one of their biggest problems are they can't find the craftsmen to do the work. What we have to... +p3274 +aV\u2014 do in America is honor blue collar work again. We have to honor the carpenter, the plumber, the electrician, who can actually build something and instead of just saying that a college degree live \u2014 delivers prestige, let's celebrate those who do things with their hands and elevate their skills using training in high school and community... +p3275 +aV\u2014 colleges so that we can... +p3276 +aV\u2014 have a better quality workforce that we honor... +p3277 +aV\u2014 as they build America's future. +p3278 +aVThank you. +p3279 +aVThank you. +p3280 +aVHey, Rick. +p3281 +aVI'm doing great. +p3282 +aVNot at all. +p3283 +aVNo, I don't support it. But let me go back a little bit here. We need to grow our economy faster. We've had the worst economic recovery since the Great Depression. And it's because of policy in Washington and policy at the Fed. And let me go back to Washington. In 2009 \u2014 +p3284 +aVJohn, no question Barack Obama inherited a economic disaster in 2009. But what did he do? Instead of focusing on pro-growth policies in the economy, he rammed through ObamaCare, the worst law of my lifetime, that hurt small businesses, hurt companies, raised taxes and almost completely eliminated one industry because of its taxes. The Fed had to act. And the Fed did act and appropriately in reducing interest rates but they've reduced them now for seven straight years, that's never happened before. They've been zero for way too long. They should raise the rates; the Fed should get out of manipulating the market and the Fed also, by the way, should reduce its balance sheet, $2.7 trillion. Let some of those bonds mature and put the money back in the banking system so our economy can grow. +p3285 +aVYeah, absolutely. I \u2014 one of the things that troubles me about the Republican Party is too often we question science that everyone accepts. I mean, it's ridiculous that, in the 21st century, we're questioning whether or not vaccines are the appropriate way to go. Of course they are. And it's also not appropriate to think that human activity, putting CO2 into the atmosphere, doesn't make the earth warmer. All things being equal, it does. It's uncontroverted. I think part of the problem is that Republicans think about climate change, say, "oh my God, we're gonna have higher taxes, more Obama, more big government, the EPA shutting down factories." That's not the solution that I see. I want Republicans to embrace innovation and technology. You know, there's one country in the world that has fewer greenhouse gas emissions than the rest of \u2014 of the world. You know what that is? The United States. Our emissions are lower than they were in 1995. Not because of a \u2014 of a government program, but because of fracking, private sector creation... +p3286 +aV...replace coal plants \u2014 government's roles \u2014 is to incentivize innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit in America. We could have far more clean energy. We could have next-generation nuclear, thorium reactors that have no risk of meltdown. We could have solar panels on every home that are four times more efficient than today. +p3287 +aVR&D \u2014 R&D credits. Let the private sector do this, develop this innovation. And not only would we solve our problems, we would have clean energy, cheaper energy here. We could export those technologies to places like China and like India so we would grow our economy, have a far greater impact globally, have a secure domestic source of energy, and cleaner, healthier air. That's the solution. Embrace science, embrace innovation and change. +p3288 +aVThe one I use the most is Uber. You know, I used to get driven......when I was governor, I had a driver. I don't anymore, but.... And it's an example of what millennials are doing to change America for the better. And I tweet a lot, too. So Uber, Tweet \u2014 Twitter and then I communicate with my family. +p3289 +aVI \u2014 I am a long suffering Jets fan. So my answer is obviously no, there's no reason to take off the day after the Super Bowl. But let me just add this. The Mets are going to win tonight. Let's go, Mets. +p3290 +aVThank you for the opportunity to be with this great audience tonight. I'm a limited government conservative and I mean by that that not just when it comes to economic issues leaving them to the state, but social issues, as well. And in that I differ from every single other candidate seeking the Republican nomination. I take the Tenth Amendment very, very seriously. I'm a Republican who embraces science and understands we have to work with the next generation of millennials to have the innovation and technology so that we can grow a 21st century economy. And I'm a Republican who understands in Washington, when you're a leader, you have to put aside partisan politics to do what's right for the people. We are one America. If we work together across party lines, there's no problem we can't solve and the 21st century will be America's greatest century. Thank you very much. +p3291 +asVCHRISTIE +p3292 +(lp3293 +VThank you Wolf. America has been betrayed. We've been betrayed by the leadership that Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton have provided to this country over the last number of years. Think about just what's happened today. The second largest school district in America in Los Angeles closed based on a threat. Think about the effect that, that's going to have on those children when they go back to school tomorrow wondering filled with anxiety to whether they're really going to be safe. Think about the mothers who will take those children tomorrow morning to the bus stop wondering whether their children will arrive back on that bus safe and sound. Think about the fathers of Los Angeles, who tomorrow will head off to work and wonder about the safety of their wives and their children. What is Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton done to this country? That the most basic responsibility of an administration is to protect the safety and security of the American people. I will tell you this, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I've fought terrorists and won and when we get back in the White House we will fight terrorists and win again and America will be safe. +p3294 +aVWolf, unfortunately, it's the new normal under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The fact is that if you listen to Hillary Clinton the other day, what she said to the American people was, as regards to +p3295 +aVListen, I want to talk to the audience at home for a second. If your eyes are glazing over like mine, this is what it's like to be on the floor of the United States Senate. I mean, endless debates about how many angels on the head of a pin from people who've never had to make a consequential decision in an executive position. The fact is, for seven years, I had to make these decisions after 9/11, make a decision about how to proceed forward with an investigation or how to pull back, whether you use certain actionable intelligence or whether not to. And yet they continue to debate about this bill and in the subcommittee and what \u2014 nobody in America cares about that. What they care about is, are we going to have a president who actually knows what they're doing to make these decisions? And for the seven years afterwards, New Jersey was threatened like no other region in this country and what we did was we took action within the constitution to make sure that law enforcement had all the information they needed. We prosecuted two of the biggest terrorism cases in the world and stopped Fort Dix from being attacked by six American radicalized Muslims from a Mosque in New Jersey because we worked with the Muslim American community to get intelligence and we used the Patriot Act to get other intelligence to make sure we did those cases. This is the difference between actually been a federal prosecutor, actually doing something, and not just spending your life as one of hundred debating it. Let's talk about how we do this, not about which bill, which one these guys like more. The American people don't care about that. +p3296 +aVWolf, you sit up here and you listen to this stuff, and you think that so many of these people have had so much to do in this national debate, they talk like they were bystanders. You know, we talk about our military being degraded over time, and yet we've had folks on this stage who've been a part of Congress who have participated in sequester; who participated in the degrading of this military over time. And that's why I think people get so frustrated with Washington, D.C. now. That's why they're so angry with the \u2014 the electorate is so angry with everybody who is involved in government in Washington, D.C. Because if you listen to the folks up here, you think that they weren't even there; they had nothing to do with this. This is a difference between being a governor and being in a legislature. See, because when something doesn't work in New Jersey, they look at me, say: "Why didn't it get done? Why didn't you do it?" You have to be responsible and accountable. And so on +p3297 +aVWell, I think we have to focus, Hugh, on exactly what the priorities are. And to me, what I've always said is that the president has set up an awful situation through his deal with Iran, because what his deal with Iran has done is empower them and enrich them. And that's the way +p3298 +aVNot only would I be prepared to do it, I would do it. A no-fly zone means a no-fly zone, Wolf. That's what it means. See, maybe \u2014 maybe because I'm from New Jersey, I just have this kind of plain language hangup. But I would make very clear \u2014 I would not talk to Vladimir Putin. In fact, I would talk to Vladimir Putin a lot. But I'd say to him, "Listen, Mr. President, there's a no-fly zone in Syria; you fly in, it applies to you." And yes, we would shoot down the planes of Russian pilots if in fact they were stupid enough to think that this president was the same feckless weakling that the president we have in the Oval Office is right now. +p3299 +aVWell, Wolf, I'll tell you what reckless is. What reckless is is calling Assad a reformer. What reckless is allowing Russia to come into Crimea and Ukraine. What reckless is is inviting Russia into Syria to team with Iran. That is reckless. And the reckless people are the folks in the White House right now. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are the reckless people. And if you think that a no-fly zone is a reckless policy, you're welcome to your opinion. But how is it working so far? As we have 250,000 Syrians murdered, slaughtered; millions running around the world, running for their lives. It's not working. We need to try something else. And that is not reckless. +p3300 +aVWhat I say to Carla is that the first job of the president of the United States is to protect your safety and your security and the security and safety of your family. And this debate stops with me in the discussions with the FBI director. Now, listen, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I know Jim Comey. We've worked together. He was the U.S. attorney in Manhattan when I was a U.S. attorney in New Jersey. And when Jim Comey gets up before Congress and says, we cannot effectively vet these people, for me as president, that's the end of the conversation. We have to put America's security first. The American people \u2014 we on this stage need to open our ears. We need to open our ears. The American people are not whispering to us. They are screaming to us. And they're screaming to us that it's our job to actually make this government work. It's so dysfunctional under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. It's so ineffective. It's so ineffectual that the American people say, we don't trust them to do anything anymore. So I'm not going to let Syrian refugees, any Syrian refugees in this country. And it was widows and orphans, by the way, and we now know from watching the San Bernardino attack that women can commit heinous, heinous acts against humanity just the same as men can do it. And so I don't back away from that position for a minute. When the FBI director tells me that he can vet those people, then we'll consider it and not a moment before because your safety and security is what's most important to me. +p3301 +aVWell, what it would like is, we have one of the great advantages of America being the open society that we are. It is, we are not hiding things from the American people, but China everyday is conducting business in a way that hides things from their people. So if they want to come in and attack all the personnel records in the federal government, which they've done, and which \u2014 they now have my Social Security number and my fingerprints, as well as maybe some other folks' who are on this stage. The fact is, they need to be fought back on. And what we need to do is go at the things that they are most sensitive and most embarrassing to them; that they're hiding; get that information and put it out in public. Let the Chinese people start to digest how corrupt the Chinese government is; how they steal from the Chinese people; and how they're enriching oligarchs all throughout China. They need to understand that. And we need to take those type of steps. This president has seen personnel records of people who have sacrificed for the American people and for the federal government stolen by the Chinese and he's done nothing in return. This is why \u2014 this is what I said at the beginning that this administration, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton through their foreign policy, have betrayed the American people, because the weakness they've displayed has led to Putin's incursions in the Middle East and in eastern Europe, and has led \u2014 has led to significant problems in the Middle East as well, and the death and murder of lots of folks. +p3302 +aVOn September 10th, 2001, I was named chief federal prosecutor in New Jersey and on September 11th, 2001, my wife and my brother who are in the audience tonight went through the World Trade Center and to their offices just blocks away from the Trade Center. I lost touch with them for six hours that day and prayed that they were alive. Luckily, they were sent home. But many of our friends and others in our neighborhood lost their lives that day. Terrorism \u2014 radical jihadist terrorism is not theoretical to me. It's real. And for seven years, I spent my life protecting our country against another one of those attacks. You won't have to worry when I'm President of the Untied States whether that can be done because I've already done it. I want the chance to do it again to protect you, your children and your families. If you give me the chance and give me your vote I will protect America from the wars that are being brought to our door step. +p3303 +aVI don't see a lot of weakness on this stage, quite frankly. Where I see the weakness is in those three people that are left on the Democratic stage. You know, I see a socialist, an isolationist and a pessimist. And for the sake of me, I can't figure out which one is which. But I will \u2014 but I will tell you this, the socialist says they're going to pay for everything and give you everything for free, except they don't say they're going to raise it through taxes to 90 percent to do it. The isolationist is the one who wants to continue to follow a foreign policy that has fewer democracies today than when Barack Obama came into office around the world. But I know who the pessimist is. It's Hillary Clinton. And you put me on that stage against her next September, she won't get within 10 miles of the White House. Take it to the bank. +p3304 +aVWell, I wish you would have asked that question years ago when they broke it. I mean, let me be honest with the people who are watching at home. The government has lied to you and they have stolen from you. They told you that your Social Security money is in a trust fund. All that's in that trust fund is a pile of IOUs for money they spent on something else a long time ago. And they've stolen from you because now they know they cannot pay these benefits and Social Security is going to be insolvent in seven to eight years. We're sitting up here talking about all these other things; 71 percent of federal spending today is on entitlements, and debt service. And, that's with zero percent interest rates. Now, I'm the only person that's put out a detailed plan on how to deal with entitlements. And we'll save a trillion dollars over the next 10 years. And, here's the difference between me and Hillary Clinton. What Hillary Clinton's going to say, and has said before is, she wants to raise Social Security taxes. Now, let me ask you a question everybody, and, this is for the guy, you know, who owns a landscaping business out there. If somebody's already stolen money from you, are you going to give them more? Or, are you going to deal with the problem by saying, I'm going to give people who've done well in this country less benefit on the backend. We need to get realistic about this. We're not \u2014 the American people \u2014 forget about anything else, they've already been lied to and stolen from. And... +p3305 +aV...I'm going to go to Washington to stop it... +p3306 +aV...The only way we're going to be morale, the only way we're going to keep our promise to seniors is start by following the first rule we should all follow, which is to look at them, treat them like adults, and tell them the truth. It isn't there anymore, Mike. They stole it. It got stolen from them. It's not theirs anymore. The government stole it, and spent it a long time ago... +p3307 +aVSo, let's stop fooling around about this, let's tell people the truth. For once, let's do that, and stop trying to give them some kind of fantasy that's never going to come true. +p3308 +aVYou bet they do. And if I were the prosecutor, that is exactly where they would be. The fact is that this Justice Department under this president has been a political Justice Department. It has been a Justice Department that decided that they want to pick who the winners and losers are. They like General Motors, so they give them a pass. They don't like somebody else like David Petraeus, they prosecute them and send a decorated general on to disgrace. It's a political Justice Department. And, Jim, you know full well that in the seven years I was U.S. attorney we went after pharmaceutical companies. We went after companies that were ripping off shareholders. We went after companies that were doing things that were against the law. And to expand on Mr. Carson's \u2014 or Dr. Carson's question, let's face it, we have laws already. We don't need newer (ph) laws. We don't need Hillary Clinton's price controls for \u2014 again, does anybody out there think that giving Washington, D.C., the opportunity to run the pharmaceutical industry is a good idea, given how well they have done running the government? So what we do, though, is, if there is somebody who is price- gouging, we have laws for prosecutors to take that on. Let's let a Justice Department \u2014 and I will make an attorney general who will enforce the law and make justice more than just a word. It will be a way of life. +p3309 +aVJohn, I'll tell you something. You want to talk about moral authority. Let's talk about something that happened this week in the news. You know, the FBI director, the president's appointed FBI director has said this week that because of a lack of support from politicians like the president of the United States, that police officers are afraid to get out of their cars; that they're afraid to enforce the law. And he says, the president's appointee, that crime is going up because of this. And when the president of the United States gets out to speak about it, does he support police officers? Does he stand up for law enforcement? No, he doesn't. I'll tell you this, the number one job of the president of the United States is to protect the safety and security of the American people. This president has failed, and when I'm in the Oval Office, police officers will know that they will have the support of the president of the Untied States. That's real moral authority that we need in the Oval Office. +p3310 +aVCarl, are we really talking about getting government involved in fantasy football? We have \u2014 wait a second, we have $19 trillion in debt. We have people out of work. We have +p3311 +aVWell, first off, what we don't do is do what Hillary Clinton and John Kerry and Barack Obama want us to do, which is their solution for everything, put more taxes on it, give more money to Washington, D.C., and then they will fix it. Well, there is no evidence that they can fix anything in Washington, D.C. +p3312 +aVWhat we should do is to be investing in all types of energy, John, all types of energy. I've laid out... +p3313 +aVNo, John. John, do you want me to answer or do you want to answer? How are we going to do this? Because, I've got to tell you the truth, even in New Jersey what you're doing is called rude. So... We've laid out a national energy plan that says that we should invest in all types of energy. I will tell you, you could win a bet at a bar tonight, since we're talking about fantasy football, if you ask who the top three states in America are that produce solar energy: California and Arizona are easy, but number three is New Jersey. Why? Because we work with the private sector to make solar energy affordable and available to businesses and individuals in our state. We need to make sure that we do everything across all kinds of energy: natural gas, oil, absolutely. But also where it's affordable, solar, wind in Iowa has become very affordable and it makes sense. That is the way we deal with global warming, climate change, or any of those problems, not through government intervention, not through government taxes, and for God's sake, don't send Washington another dime until they stop wasting the money they're already sending there. +p3314 +aVAnd \u2014 and \u2014 and I \u2014 you know, Ben is absolutely right in saying that what we don't need to do is to send more money to Washington, D.C. to fix this problem. And that's what you'll hear from Hillary Clinton \u2014 and I've already heard from her \u2014 is that, send more money in Social Security, send more money in Medicare taxes, send more money for Medicaid, and that's gonna solve the problem. What we know is we're living longer. That's a blessing. It's a blessing that we're living longer, so we have to increase the retirement age to reflect that blessing. We need to make sure that people understand, as Jeb said before, that if you've done extraordinarily well in this country, do you want them to take more out of your taxes now and think they're gonna give it back to you later? Or would you rather take less later on? +p3315 +aVI want to talk to the folks at home. I want to ask you: Are you fed up with how Washington taxes you? Are you fed up with how Washington wastes your money? Are you concerned like I am that the debt and deficits of Washington, D.C. are endangering America's future? I've got one more question for you then. Are you serious about this election? Because if you are, you need to elect someone who's deadly serious about changing this culture. I am deadly serious about changing this culture. I changed it in New Jersey. I'm deadly serious about doing this job the right way. I'm prepared. I'm tested. I'm ready. And I want to make this our government. For the people who say we can't do it, I say hell no, we can do it together. +p3316 +aVHi, my name is Chris Christie, and I'd like to you take the camera off me and put it on the audience because I'd like to ask all of you, how many of you, raise your hand, believe that in today's Barak Obama America your children will have a better life than you've had? You see? That's why I'm running for President. because leadership is not about me, it's about our country. And, what we talk about tonight, it's not about us, it's about the people in the audience tonight, because in seven short years this president has stripped away their trust, and their faith, and their belief that the next generation will have a better life. He's stolen that from us, and when I'm president, I'm going to take it back. +p3317 +aVWell, I know Ben wasn't talking about me, I'm sure he was talking about one of the other guys, not me. As far as being an outsider is concerned \u2014 as far as being an outsider is concerned, let me tell you this, Jake, I'm a Republican in New Jersey. I wake up every morning as an outsider. I wake up every morning with a Democratic legislature who trying to beat my head in and fight me because I'm trying to bring conservative change to a state that needed it desperately. And so, everyone can talk us here about their credentials. But the bottom line is, every morning I get up, I veto 400 bills from a crazy liberal Democratic legislature, not one of them has been overridden. I've vetoed more tax increases than any governor in American history, according to Americans for Tax Reform. What folks want in this country is somebody to go down there and get the job done. And that's exactly what I'll do. So, I know this much, that what the American people want to hire right now is somebody who believes in them. And believes that they are the ones who can fix our country. I will be the vessel through which they can fix this country, but it's not about me. It's about all of you. And getting this government off your back and out of your way, and letting you succeed. I know Ben wasn't talking about me. +p3318 +aVLook at him smiling at me right now. I know Ben didn't mean it about me. One of these other guys, I'm sure. +p3319 +aVBe honest, Ben, be honest. +p3320 +aVSee, Jake, it wasn't me. +p3321 +aVI was \u2014 +p3322 +aVShe is, and so if she, based on conscience, can't sign that \u2014 that marriage license, then there should be someone in her office to be able to do it, and if the law needs to be changed in the state of Kentucky, which is what she's advocating, it should be changed. +p3323 +aVAnd why don't we do the same thing with Planned Parenthood? +p3324 +aVWe elected a Republican Congress to do this. And they should be doing it, and they're not. And they're giving the president a pass. +p3325 +aVI put it in the list, Dana. We should be doing these things and forcing the president to take action. +p3326 +aVLet's force him to do what he says he's going to do. Now I don't know whether he'll do it or not, but let's force him to do it. +p3327 +aVFirst of, Jake, I don't yield to anybody on how to enforce the law. I'm the only person on this stage who spent seven years as a United States Attorney after September 11th, and I know how to do this. The fact is though that for 15,000 people a day to be deported every day for two years is an undertaking that almost none of us could accomplish given the current levels of funding, and the current number of law enforcement officers. Here's what we need to do, and I think this is where Donald is absolutely right. What we need to do is to secure our border, and we need to do it with more than just a wall. We need to use electronics, we need to use drones, we need to use FBI, DEA, and ATF, and yes, we need to take the fingerprint of every person who comes into this country on a visa, and when they overstay their visa, we need to tap them on the shoulder, and say, "You have overstayed your welcome, you're taking advantage of the American people. It's time for you to go." If we had that kind of system in place, we wouldn't have the 11 million people we have now. +p3328 +aVJake listen. While I'm as entertained as anyone by this personal back-and-forth about the history of Donald and Carly's career, for the 55-year-old construction worker out in that audience tonight who doesn't have a job, who can't fund his child's education, I've got to tell you the truth. They could care less about your careers, they care about theirs. Let's start talking about that on this stage and stop playing \u2014 and stop playing the games. Stop playing \u2014 +p3329 +aVJohn \u2014 I'm not done yet, John. +p3330 +aVStop \u2014 and stop playing \u2014 and Carly \u2014 Carly, listen. You can interrupt everybody else on this stage, you're not going to interrupt me, OK? The fact is that we don't want to hear about your careers, back and forth and volleying back and forth about who did well and who did poorly. You're both successful people. Congratulations. You know who's not successful? The middle class in this country who's getting plowed over by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Let's start talking about those issues tonight and stop this childish back-and-forth between the two of you. +p3331 +aVListen, you know, Hugh, it's an important point. And the question is, who is going to prosecute Hillary Clinton? The Obama White House seems to have in interest, the Justice Department seems to have no interest. I think it's time to put a former federal prosecutor on the same stage as Hillary Clinton. And I will prosecute her during those debates on that stage for the record we're talking about here. The fact she had a private email server in her basement, using national security secrets running through it, could have been hacked by the Russians, the Chinese, or two 18-year-olds on a toot (ph) wanting to have some fun. No one is answering that question from the Hillary Clinton campaign... +p3332 +aVYou know why? Because she knows she's wrong, and she cannot look in the mirror at herself, and she cannot tell the American people the truth. +p3333 +aVWell, Jake, I was named U.S. attorney by President Bush on September 10th, 2001. And that next day my wife Mary Pat did what she did every day, she traveled through the World Trade Center and went to her office two blocks from the World Trade Center. And after those planes hit, for five-and-a-half-hours after that, I couldn't reach her, didn't know whether she was dead or alive, and we had three children at the time, 8, 5 and 1. And I had to confront what so many thousands of others in my region had to confront, the idea I might become a single parent, the idea that my life and my children's life might be changed forever. We lost friends that day. We went to the funerals. And I will tell you that what those people wanted and what they deserved was for America to answer back against what had been done to them. And I support what President Bush did at that time, going into Afghanistan, hunting al Qaeda and its leaders, getting its sanctuary out of place, and making it as difficult around the world for them to move people and money. And then he went to prosecutors like us, and he said, never again. Don't prosecute these people after the crime is committed. Intervene before the crime happens. I absolutely believe that what the president did at the time was right. And I am proud to have been one of the people on the stage who was part of making sure that what Governor Bush said before was the truth. America was safe for those seven years and Barack Obama has taken that safety away from us. +p3334 +aVLet me say this, Jake, is that while that may have been a fine idea that Dr. Carson had, these people were out to kill us. I stood in that region with my family, and every time a plane went overhead in the weeks after that, people's heads jerked to the sky because they thought it was happening again. You do not need to go through subtle diplomacy at that point. That could be handled later on. What you need is a strong American leader who will take the steps that are necessary to protect our nation. That's what I would do as commander-in-chief in this circumstance. And that's what President George W. Bush did in 2001. +p3335 +aVJake, you brought my issue up. +p3336 +aVYou know, I enjoy the interplay. Thank you, gentlemen. I'll just say this, first off, New Jersey is the first state in the nation that now says if you are non-violent, non-dealing drug user, that you don't go to jail for your first offense. You go to mandatory treatment. You see, Jake, I'm pro-life. And I think you need to be pro-life for more than just the time in the womb. It gets tougher when they get out of the womb. And when they're the 16-year-old drug addict in the Florida county lockup, that life is just as precious as the life in the womb. And so, that's why I'm for rehabilitation, why I think the war on drugs has been a failure. But I'll end with this. That doesn't mean we should be legalizing gate way drugs. And if Senator Paul thinks that the only victim is the person, look at the decrease in productivity, look at the way people get used and move on to other drugs when they use marijuana as a gateway drug, it is not them that are the only victims. Their families are the victims too, their children are the victims too, and their employers are the victims also. That's why I'll enforce the federal law, while you can still put an emphasis on rehabilitation, which we've done in New Jersey. +p3337 +aVAnd Senator Paul knows that that's simply not the truth. In New Jersey, we have medical marijuana laws, which I supported and implemented. This is not medical marijuana. There's goes as much \u2014 a further step beyond. This is recreational use of marijuana. This is much different. And so, while he would like to use a sympathetic story to back up his point, it doesn't work. I'm not against medical marijuana. We do it in New Jersey. But I'm against the recreational use against marijuana. If he wants to change the federal law, get Congress to pass the law to change it, and get a president to sign it. +p3338 +aVNo, it's not. But with Donald, it's a good start. That's really good. No, listen. This is an issue that \u2014 that we've gotta talk about, and we haven't talked about yet. 71 percent of all federal spending is on entitlements and debt service. When John Kennedy was elected president in 1960, it was 26 percent. Harvard and Dartmouth says that Social Security's going to go insolvent in seven to eight years. So what I say is very simple. We need to save this program for the good people out there who have paid into the system and need it. And if that means making sure that folks like Donald and many of us on the stage don't get it, that's the right thing to do because here's what Hillary Clinton is going to want to do. She's going to want to put more money into a system that has already lied to us and stolen from us. This government doesn't need more money to make Social Security solvent. We need to be not paying out benefits to people who don't really need it. We need to protect the people who Social Security means the difference between picking between heat and rent and food. That's why I put out the proposal and that's the people I'm trying to... +p3339 +aVI don't think Senator Rubio is a skeptic of climate change. I think what Senator Rubio said I agree with. That in fact we don't need this massive government intervention to deal with the problem. Look at what we have done in New Jersey. We have already reached our clean air goals for 2020. And when I was governor, I pulled out of the regional cap and trade deal, the only state in the Northeast that did that. And we still reached our goals. Why? Because 53 percent of our electricity comes from nuclear. We use natural gas. We use solar power. We're the third-highest- using solar power state. You know why? Because we made all of those things economically feasible. I agree with Marco. We shouldn't be destroying our economy in order to chase some wild left-wing idea that somehow us by ourselves is going to fix the climate. We can contribute to that and be economically sound. We have proven we can do that in New Jersey. Nuclear needs to be back on the table in a significant way in this country if we want to go after this problem. +p3340 +aVI understand. No, no, listen, everybody makes a mistake every once in a while, Jake, even George Shultz. And if that's truly a representation of what he believes we should be doing, then with all due respect to the former secretary of state, I disagree with him. +p3341 +aVI think the Adams family has been shorted in the currency business. Our country wouldn't be here without John Adams, and he would not have been able to do it without Abigal Adams, so, I'd put Abigail Adams on the bill. +p3342 +aVYou know, I've been called a lot of names by a lot of different people, and now I got to get called by names by the Secret Service? I would just say True Heart. +p3343 +aVI turned 18 in 1980, and my first vote was for Ronald Reagan. Boy, am I glad I did it. And I think the country is, too. A Christie presidency won't be about me. It will be about you. Tonight, you sit at home in your living room, frustrated that you play by the rules, you pay the taxes, you do the hard things to raise your family, yet you feel like America's generosity is being taken advantage of. That you've been \u2014 system is being gamed, and that you're turning out to fall further and further behind. Our presidency \u2014 our presidency \u2014 will be about ending that, about enforcing the law, level the playing field for everybody, and once again reward those folks who play by the rules, and think that justice means more than just the word. But it means a way of life. And I will tell you this, around the world, I will not shake hands with, I will not meet with, and I will not agree to anything with a country that says death to us and death to Israel and holds our hostages while we sign agreements with them. It will be an America that be strong and resolute, and will once again be able to stick out its chest and say, "we truly are the greatest nation in the world, because we live our lives that way, each and every day." +p3344 +aVIf you think it's bad now, you should've seen it when I got there. The fact is -- the fact is, in the eight years before I became governor, taxes and fees were raised at the state level 115 times. In the eight years before I became governor, spending was increased 56 percent. And in the eight years before I become governor, taxes and fees were raised at the state level 115 times. In the eight years before I became Governor, spending was increased 56 percent, and in the eight years before I became governor, there was zero net private sector job growth in New Jersey. Zero. For eight years. So, what did we do? We came in, we balanced an $11 billion deficit on a $29 billion budget by cutting over 800 programs in the state budget. We brought the budget into balance with no tax increases. In fact, we vetoed five income tax increases during my time as governor. We cut business taxes $2.3 billion, and we cut regulation by one-third of what my predecessor put in place. And, what's happened since? A hundred ninety-two thousand private sector jobs in the five and a half years I've been governor. We have a lot of work to do in New Jersey, but I am darn proud we've brought our state back. +p3345 +aVYes, I do. And I'll tell you why: because I'm the only person on this stage who's actually filed applications under the Patriot Act, who has gone before the federal -- the Foreign Intelligence Service court, who has prosecuted and investigated and jailed terrorists in this country after September 11th. I was appointed U.S. attorney by President Bush on September 10th, 2001, and the world changed enormously the next day, and that happened in my state. This is not theoretical to me. I went to the funerals. We lost friends of ours in the Trade Center that day. My own wife was two blocks from the Trade Center that day, at her office, having gone through it that morning. When you actually have to be responsible for doing this, you can do it, and we did it, for seven years in my office, respecting civil liberties and protecting the homeland. And I will make no apologies, ever, for protecting the lives and the safety of the American people. We have to give more tools to our folks to be able to do that, not fewer, and then trust those people and oversee them to do it the right way. As president, that is exactly what I'll do. +p3346 +aVAnd -- and, Megyn? Megyn, that's a -- that, you know, that's a completely ridiculous answer. "I want to collect more records from terrorists, but less records from other people." How are you supposed to know, Megyn? +p3347 +aVWhat are you supposed to... +p3348 +aV...how are you supposed to -- no, I'll tell you how you, look... +p3349 +aVLet me tell you something, you go... +p3350 +aVWhen you -- you know, senator... +p3351 +aVListen, senator, you know, when you're sitting in a subcommittee, just blowing hot air about this, you can say things like that. When you're responsible for protecting the lives of the American people, then what you need to do is to make sure... +p3352 +aV...is to make sure that you use the system the way it's supposed to work. +p3353 +aVThere is no... +p3354 +aVAnd you know -- you know, Senator Paul? Senator Paul, you know, the hugs that I remember are the hugs that I gave to the families who lost their people on September 11th. Those are the hugs I remember, and those had nothing to do -- and those had nothing to do with politics, unlike what you're doing by cutting speeches on the floor of the Senate, then putting them on the Internet within half an hour to raise money for your campaign... +p3355 +aV...and while still putting our country at risk. +p3356 +aVYou know what, Megyn, can I... +p3357 +aVNo, he's not lying, he's just wrong. I mean, so, there's a difference -- I'm the only guy on this stage who's put out a detailed, 12 point plan on entitlement reform and here's why -- because 71% of federal spending right now is on entitlements, and debt service, 71%. And we have spent the last hour and five minutes talking about the other 29%, and no time on the 71%, and that makes no sense. Now, let me tell you exactly what we would do on Social Security. Yes, we'd raise the retirement age two years, and phase it in over 25 years, that means we'd raise it one month a year for 25 years when we're all living longer, and living better lives. Secondly, we would means test Social Security for those who are making over $200,000 dollars a year in retirement income, and have $4 to $5 million dollars in liquid assets saved. They don't need that Social Security check. Social Security is meant to be -- to make sure that no one who's worked hard, and played by the rules, and paid into the system grows old in poverty in America. If we don't deal with this problem, it will bankrupt our country, or lead to massive tax increases, neither one that we want in this country. +p3358 +aVChris... +p3359 +aVYeah, sure. And, I don't disagree with ending Congress' retirement program. I'm a governor, I don't have a retirement program in my state, and I don't disagree with that. But, here's the news to the American people, he's complaining about the lying and stealing. The lying and stealing has already occurred. The trust fund is filled with IOU's. We can't fix the problem just by ending Congress's retirement, that's worth about, "this" much. We need to go at the fundamental problem, and the fundamental problem is that this system is broken. It has been stolen from. We have been lied to, and we need a strong leader to tell the truth and fix... +p3360 +aVWell, listen. You know, if we want to deal with these issues, we have to deal with them in a way that makes sense. I agree with what Dr. Carson said earlier. The first thing we need to do to make America stronger is to strengthen our military, and I put out a really specific plan: no less than 500,000 active duty soldiers in the Army. No less than 185,000 active duty marines in the Marine Corps. Bring us to a 350 ship Navy again, and modernize the Ohio class of submarines, and bring our Air Force back to 2,600 aircraft that are ready to go. Those are the kind of things that are going to send a clear message around the world. Those are the things that we need to start working on immediately to make our country stronger and make it better. Those are the things that we need to be able to be doing. And as we move towards dealing with foreign aid, I don't disagree with Senator Paul's position that we shouldn't be funding our enemies. But I absolutely believe that Israel is a priority to be able to fund and keep them strong and safe after eight years of this administration. +p3361 +aVWell, thank you, Megyn. Listen, I was born into a middle class family in New Jersey. My dad came home from serving in the Army after having lost his father, worked in the Breyers ice cream plant in Newark, New Jersey. Was the first person to graduate from college. He put himself through college at night. My mom was a secretary. I was appointed United States attorney on September 10, 2001. And I spent the next seven years of my career fighting terrorism and putting terrorists in jail. I'm a conservative, pro-life governor in a state where it is really tough to be both. A state like New Jersey, with lots of Democrats, but still we cut taxes, we balanced budgets. We fought the teacher's union. This president has had weak leadership, which has led to bad choices. We have got to stop worrying about being loved and start worrying about being respected. And that's exactly how I'll lead our country. +p3362 +aVWell, first I want to share a story with you that relates to your question. I was in New Hampshire last week, and a woman approached me after the town hall meeting and she said to me, "Governor, I'm really concerned." I said, "What are your concerns?" And, she said, "I don't quite how to describe it," she said. "But, every month when my bills come in, I feel this awful anxiety in the pit of my stomach that I'm not going to have enough to pay them that month." There are tens of millions of Americans living that way after the worst recovery from an economic recession since World War II. And, let's be clear, if we do not change course, if we follow the President's lead, and that's exactly what Secretary Clinton will do, we're going to be in the same circumstance \u2014 with government picking the winners and losers. So, let me be clear about what we'll do. First, Make the tax code fairer, flatter, and simplier. Get rid of all the special interest deductions. You know, the American people feel like the tax code is rigged for the rich, and you know why they feel that way? Because it is. We'll get rid of all those special interest deductions except for the home mortgage interest deduction, and the charitable contribution deduction. Everyone will get lower rates, keep more of their own money, be able to file their tax returns in 15 minutes, and, by the way, the good thing, I'll be able to fire a whole bunch of IRS agents once we do that. And, in addition, we need to get the government off of our backs. Dodd-Frank, all the different regulations, 81,000 pages of new regulation by this administration just last year \u2014 it is suffocating small business, it is suffocating the folks who are trying to make a living. I will do what I did in New Jersey......lift if off their backs. +p3363 +aVYes, sure. If anybody believes the stuff they heard from that Democratic debate a few weeks ago, there's nothing for free. What they forgot to tell was that they're going to raise your tax rates to 70 or 80 percent in order to provide all of that stuff. But let me ask the folks at home one very simple question, do you want to give Washington more control over your life? Do you think they're doing such a great job that now let's have them control what our corporations pay their employees? Let's have them control every aspect of our economy? Is Washington doing that good a job for you right now? And the fact is that if you listen to Hillary Clinton, she has made it very clear, she believes that she can make decisions for you better than you can make them for yourself. She believes that Washington, D.C., should pick the winners and losers in our economy, and in our life. And here's what I believe as a Republican, I believe the greatness of America is not in its government. The greatness of America is in the American people. And what we need to do is get the government the hell out of the way and let the American people win once again. +p3364 +aVFirst off, let me, let me just say this in response to this back and forth. For the people who are out there right now, I want to guarantee you one thing real clearly. If you think that Mike Huckabee won't be the kind of President who will cut back spending, or Chris Christie, or John Kasich, wait 'til you see what Hillary Clinton will do to this country and how she will drown us in debt. She is the real adversary tonight and we'd better stay focused as Republicans on her. Now I've forward, I put forward an entitlement reform plan. We spend 71 cents of every dollar in America on entitlements and debt service, and if \u2014 you know, Willy Sutton used to say, when they asked him why he robbed banks, he said that's 'cause that's where the money is, OK? And where the money is in the federal government are these entitlement programs and debt service. What I've said is we need to get a hold of that. We cannot continue to go down the $19 trillion in debt. So our plan will save over $1 trillion over the next 10 years and make sure that Social Security and Medicare are there for those who truly need it and also make sure that we have money to be able to reduce taxes and spend on the things we need to spend. I will also, on my first day as \u2014 as president, sign a executive order that says no more regulation for the next 120 days by any government agency or department. We are drowning in regulations. Stop and then we'll go out there and we'll cut and reduce regulation that small business owners across this country want us to do. You'll grow the economy then. More money will come into the system and we'll get more closer to balance. But the bottom line is, believe me, Hillary Clinton's coming for your wallet, everybody. Don't worry about Huckabee or Jindal, worry about her. +p3365 +aVWell, let's start with this, remember why we're in the position we're in with China, because an absolutely weak and feckless foreign policy that was engineered by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. That's why we're in the position we're in......because the Chinese......the Chinese don't take us seriously and why should they? Why should they? They hacked into the American government's personnel file and took millions of records in cyberwarfare against this country. I'm one of the victims of that hack. They took my Social Security number, my fingerprints as a former United States attorney that was on file in there. And what has this president done? Not one thing. Let me be really clear about what I would do. If the Chinese commit cyberwarfare against us, they are going to see cyberwarfare like they have never seen before. And that is a closed society in China......where they're hiding information from their own people. The information we take, we'll make sure all the Chinese people see it. Then they'll have some real fun in Beijing when we start showing them how they're spending their money in China. And one last thing. One last thing. I will tell you this, they're building those artificial islands in the South China Sea and the president won't \u2014 up until recently, wouldn't sail a ship within 12 miles or fly a plane over it. I'll tell you this, the first thing I'll do with the Chinese is I'll throw \u2014 I'll fly Air Force One over those islands. They'll know we mean business. +p3366 +aVI'll tell you, Gerry, it's interesting, if you go to New Jersey, they'll call me lots of different things. A liberal is not one of them. Um, and......I would say this. I have great respect for Bobby's record in Louisiana. I think he's been a wonderful governor and I think he's provided outstanding leadership for that state and I respect him for what he's done. And I think that all of us deserve that same level of respect. And my point is this. You know, the differences between me and Bobby Jindal, we can talk about those, and obviously, Bobby wants to spent a lot of time tonight talking about that. I'll tell you what I want to talk about. I want to talk about what's going to happen to this country if we have another four years of Barack Obama's policies. And by the way, it will be even worse, because Hillary Clinton is running so far to the left to treaty to catch up to her socialist opponent, Bernie Sanders, it's hard to even see her anymore. The fact is \u2014 the fact is that we'd better be focused on it. And I'll tell you what I'll bring to the table, the fact that I've won in a blue state, that I've won in a state that has 750,000 more Democrats than Republicans......that I won in a state for reelection after governing as a pro-life conservative......and got 61 percent of the vote. That's the person you want on the stage prosecuting the case against Hillary Clinton. +p3367 +aVI don't... +p3368 +aV..Let me... +p3369 +aV...Let me just... +p3370 +aV...Sure. It's interesting. I complimented Bobby, imagine how much time he'd want if I actually criticized him. You know, the fact is, he's done \u2014 done a nice job down in Louisiana, and I don't have any problem with the job he's done. I've cut spending $2 billion dollars, except for our pension and health care in New Jersey, which was driven predominantly by Obamacare. We have reduce the number of employees we have on the state payroll by 15%, but, you know what? The people out there don't care about any of that. You know what they care about? They care about who's going to be able to beat Hillary Clinton......Who's going to keep their eye on the ball? I'm going to keep my eye on the ball. +p3371 +aVYeah, listen. We stopped Obamacare in New Jersey because we refused to participate in the federal exchange. But, here's the bigger issue. What do you think's going to happen when Hillary Clinton's elected president of the United States? The woman who tried to impose healthcare on this country over 20 years ago? And, she was stopped then by a strong group of republicans, and an American public that said, "No, thank you." What she will do \u2014 what she will do is move us towards a single payer system. She will completely nationalize the federal health care system. That's what she wanted to do 20 years ago, and I guarantee you that's what she'll do if you give her the keys to the White House one more time. The fact is we need someone who knows how to beat democrats, who knows how to beat democrats in a democratic area. I've done it twice as governor of New Jersey, and Hillary Clinton doesn't want one minute on that stage with me next September when I'm debating her, and prosecuting her for her vision for America... +p3372 +aVI'll continue in the pattern and just say... And just say this to everybody, since it seems to be an open question. I'll tell you the thing that disturbs me the most about what's going on with the Democratic Party in Washington, that they're not standing behind our police officers across this country. That they're allowing lawlessness... That they're allowing lawlessness to reign in this country. I spent seven years of my life in law enforcement, here's what every law enforcement, 700,000, should know tonight. When President Christie is in the Oval Office, I'll have your back. +p3373 +aVYes. You know, our tax plan puts forward a highest rate of 28 percent for those who are doing the most and making the most in this country and 8 percent on the low end. And I agree with Senator Santorum, we get rid of all of the deductions and loopholes, except for the home mortgage interest deduction and the charitable contribution deduction. That means getting rid of the state and local income tax deduction, as well, because that will put more pressure on governors and on local officials not to keep raising those taxes, saying we can deduct them. And so ours will be 28 on the high end, 8 on the low end. And I will tell you one other thing. Americans for Tax Reform came out with a report six weeks ago and said I vetoed more tax increases than any governor in American history. I will do exactly the same thing as president of the United States. +p3374 +aVGerry, this has been the most political Federal Reserve I've seen in my lifetime. Now, when they first cut interest rates during the economic recession and the crisis, that was the right thing to do. But they've kept those interest rates artificially low for one reason, and one reason only. Because they're trying to politically support Barack Obama and his agenda. And it's been wrong. And what it's done, in an administration where the President has talked about income inequality, he's had more income inequality in this administration than any previous administration. The middle class is doing worse than it's ever done before. And the investor class, the wealthy, are doing even better because of this cheap money from the Fed. And here's the worst part, we had one and a half percent GDP growth last quarter. If we slide back towards a recession, you cannot lower interest rates below zero. Where are we going to go if we need help if the economy slides back into recession? And with this government- controlled economy that Barack Obama, we're moving right towards it. The Fed should be audited and the Fed should stop playing politics with our money supply. That's what they've done. It's been the wrong thing to do. It's hurting the American economy. And......let me......let me add one other thing on this. Be very aware now, because what Hillary Clinton is talking about doing, if she's president of the United States, is to make sure that the government gets even more involved in the economy, even more involved in making choices for everybody. You do not want that to happen. You need someone who's going to stand up on that stage and prosecute the case against her and prosecute it strong. That's what I'll do. +p3375 +aVThe way to reconnect Americans to the men and women in uniform is to first, and foremost, give them a Commander in Chief who respects the military, and respects everyone who wears the uniform. Starts at the top there... And Secretary Clinton says, there's no crisis at the V.A.. That send a long, and hard message to our veterans that she doesn't get it, and she doesn't respect their service. When the President of the United States doesn't back up law enforcement officers in uniform, he loses the moral authority to any man or woman who is uniform. I spent seven years in law enforcement......I respect these folks, and I will do so as Commander in Chief of the military. +p3376 +aVI want to tell the American people who are watching tonight the truth. I saw the most disgraceful thing I've seen in this entire campaign a few weeks ago. Hillary Clinton was asked the enemy she's most proud of, and she said, "Republicans". In a world where we have Al-Qaeda, and +p3377 +asVCARSON +p3378 +(lp3379 +VThank you, Wolf. Please join me for a moment of silence and remembrance of the San Bernardino victims. Thank you. You know, our country since its inception has been at war, every 15 or 20 years. But the war that we are fighting now against radical Islamist jihadists is one that we must win. Our very existence is dependent upon that. You know, as a pediatric neurosurgeon, I frequently faced life and death situations, and had to come up with the right diagnosis, the right plan, and execute that plan frequently with other colleagues. Right now, the United States of America is the patient. And the patient is in critical condition and will not be cured by political correctness and will not be cured by timidity. And I am asking the Congress, which represents the people, to declare a war on +p3380 +aVFirst of all, let me just complain a little bit. This is the first time I've spoken and several people have had multiple questions so please try to pay attention to that. Now, as far as monitoring is concerned, what my point is, we need to make sure that any place \u2013 I don't care whether it's a mosque, a school, a supermarket, a theater, you know it doesn't matter. If there are a lot of people getting there and engaging in radicalizing activities then we need to be suspicious of it. We have to get rid of all this PC stuff. And people are worried about if somebody's going to say that I'm Islamophobic or what have you. This is craziness because we are at war. That's why I asked congress, go ahead and declare the war . We need to be on a war footing. We need to understand that our nation is in grave danger. You know, what the Muslim Brotherhood said in the explanatory memorandum that was discovered during the Holy Land Foundation Trial was that, "they will take advantage of our PC attitude to get us. :" We have to be better than this. We have to be smarter than they are. +p3381 +aVI think you have to ask them about that. I don't want to get in between them. Let them fight. +p3382 +aVNeurosurgeon. +p3383 +aVWell, interestingly enough, you should see the eyes of some of those children when I say to them we're going to have to open your head up and take out this tumor. They're not happy about it, believe me. And they don't like me very much at that point. But later on, they love me. Sometimes you \u2014 I sound like him. You know, later on, you know, they really realize what's going on. And by the same token, you have to be able to look at the big picture and understand that it's actually merciful if you go ahead and finish the job, rather than death by 1,000 pricks. +p3384 +aVYou got it. You got it. +p3385 +aVRuthless is not necessarily the word I would use, but tough, resolute, understanding what the problems are, and understanding that the job of the president of the United States is to protect the people of this country and to do what is necessary in order to get it done. +p3386 +aVFirst of all, I've been talking about this for over a year. We have to destroy their caliphate because that gives them legitimacy to go ahead with the global Jihad. We have to take their energy because they are \u2014 +p3387 +aVNo one is ever better off with dictators but there comes a time you know, when you're on an airplane, they always say, "in case of an emergency oxygen masks will drop down. Put yours on first and then administer help to your neighbor." We need oxygen right now. And we need to start thinking about the needs of the American people before we go and solve everybody else's problems. The fact of the matter is, is that the Middle East has been in turmoil for thousands of years. For us to think that we're going to in there and fix that with a couple of little bombs and a few little decorations is relatively foolish. +p3388 +aVWell, you know, there's a false narrative that only the political class has the wisdom and the ability to be commander-in- chief. But if you go back and you study the design of our country, it was really designed for the citizen statesman. And we need to be talking about where does your experience come from? You know, and I've had a lot of experience building things, organizing things, you know, a national scholarship program. One of the things that you'll notice if you look through my life is that I don't do a lot of talking. I do a lot of doing. And really, it says more about a person than how much they talk. And then some people say you're weak because, you know, you're not loud and you're not boisterous and you're not rude. But the fact of the matter is, look and see what I've done. And that speaks volumes about strength. +p3389 +aVWell, it was very interesting having an opportunity to talk to the Syrians themselves. And I asked them: What do you want? What is your supreme desire? Their supreme desire was to be settled back in their own country. I said, "What can Americans and other countries do?" They said, "Support the efforts of those who are trying to provide safety for us, including the Jordanians." Of course, they had a brand new hospital, for instance, that was unstaffed because there wasn't enough money to do it. But here's what's really neat. If you go into Hasakah province in northeast Syria, that's an area that's as big as Lebanon. It's controlled by the Kurds, the Christians and the moderate Sunnis. And there are airstrips and hotels. You could settle a lot of people there. All we would have to do is be willing to provide them with some weaponry, some defensive weaponry. And we seem to be afraid to give the Kurds weaponry. We like to send it for some strange reason through Baghdad, and then they only get a tenth of it. And if we would support them, we'd have a perfect ideal there. We don't need to set this up as we either take a bunch of refugees who will be infiltrated with terrorists, I guarantee you. For them not to be would be terrorist malpractice. And we need to \u2014 to choose the right choice, not these false choices. +p3390 +aVWell, I definitely believe that he is unstable, and I do, in fact, believe that China has a lot more influence with him than we do. But we also recognize that North Korea is in severe financial straits, and they have decided to use their resources to build their military, rather than to feed their people and to take care of the various humanitarian responsibilities that they have. We can capitalize upon that. You know, we should use our economic power in lots of different ways. I think we can use that in order to keep Putin contained, because he is a one-horse show. Energy. And we have an abundance of energy, but we have archaic energy exportation rules. We need to get rid of those, allow ourselves to really make Europe dependent on us and other parts of the world dependent on us for energy. Put him back in his little box where he belongs. And, you know, we need to be doing lots of other things with the resources that we have. So economic power works just as well as military power, perhaps even better. And speaking of that, our Military needs to be upgraded. You know, you look at things like our Ohio Class submarines, they're 25 years old. Our minuteman 3 missiles \u2014 they are 34 years old. Our B-52 bombers \u2014 50 years old. You know, if we don't get the military right nothing else matters. +p3391 +aVWell, you know, the statement that I made last week, that I would leave the party was contingent upon whether in fact the party acts like they have in the past with a lot of subterfuge and dishonesty, or like they're going act now because I spike to Reince Priebus, and he assured me that the Washington Post writer had it all wrong, and that they're not be engaging in anything to thwart the will of the people. That's why I got into this race, as a member of we the people, to try bring some honesty and integrity back to the process. +p3392 +aVI've been fortunate enough to travel to 58 different countries and I thank God everyday that I was born in this country. The most exceptional country that the world has ever known. And I want to make sure that we preserve that exceptionalism for the next generation. My mother told me if I work hard and I really believed in American principles and I believed in God, anything is possible. I believe that is true, and that's why I'm not anxious to give away American values and principles for the sake of political correctness. +p3393 +aVWell, first of all, delighted to be here. My family's here, and my little granddaughter, who's three years old, said she wanted to come to the debate. So this is very cool. As far as the minimum wage is concerned, people need to be educated on the minimum wage. Every time we raise the minimum wage, the number of jobless people increases. It's particularly a problem in the black community. Only 19.8 percent of black teenagers have a job, who are looking for one. You know, that \u2014 and that's because of those high wages. If you lower those wages, that comes down. You know, I can remember, as a youngster \u2014 you know, my first job working in a laboratory as a lab assistant, and multiple other jobs. But I would not have gotten those jobs if someone had to pay me a large amount of money. But what I did gain from those jobs is a tremendous amount of experience, and how to operate in the world and how to relate to different people, and how to become a responsible individual. And that's what gave me what I needed to ascend the ladder of opportunity in this country. That's what we need to be thinking about. How do we allow people to ascend the ladder of opportunity, rather than how do we give them everything and keep them dependent? +p3394 +aVI would not raise it. I would not raise it, specifically because I'm interested in making sure that people are able to enter the job market and take advantage of opportunities. +p3395 +aVWell, first of all, thank you not asking me what I said in the 10th grade. I appreciate that. +p3396 +aVThe fact of the matter is, you know, what \u2014 we should vet all candidates. I have no problem with being vetted. What I do have a problem with is being lied about and then putting that out there as truth. And I don't even mind that so much, if they do it about \u2014 with everybody, like people on the other side. But, you know, when I look at somebody like Hillary Clinton, who sits there and tells her daughter and a government official that no, this was a terrorist attack, and then tells everybody else that it was a video. Where I came from, they call that a lie. And... I think that's very different from, you know, somebody misinterpreting, when I said that I was offered a scholarship to West Point, that is the words that they used. But, I've had many people come and say the same thing to me. That is what people do in those situations. We have to start treating people the same, and finding out what people really think and what they're made of. People who know me know that I'm an honest person. +p3397 +aVWell, you know, when I say tithing, I'm talking about the concept of proportionality. +p3398 +aVEverybody should pay the same proportion of what they make. You make $10 billion, you pay a billion. You make $10, you pay one. You get same rights and privileges. I don't see how anything gets a whole lot fairer than that. But you also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes because that is the thing that tilts it in one direction or another. And you have to set the rate at an appropriate level. Now I will say that, there are a lot of people who say, if you get rid of the deductions, you ruin the American dream because, you know, home mortgage deduction. But the fact of the matter is, people had homes before 1913 when we introduced the federal income tax, and later after that started deductions. And they say there will be no more charitable giving. We had churches before that and charitable organizations before that. The fact of the matter is, I believe if you put more money in people's pockets that they will actually be more generous rather than less generous. And it's... ... the money that they earned. And, the other thing is, I do care about the poor people. And in the system that we're putting together, there will be a rebate for people at the poverty level. But I also want to emphasize the fact that as we get the economy moving, and I hope I get a question about how do we get the economy moving, there will be a lot more opportunities for poor people not to be poor people because this is America. This is the land of dreams. And our policies should be aimed at allowing people to realize that dream. +p3399 +aVWell, putting the special ops people in there is better than not having them there, because they \u2014 that's why they're called special ops, they're actually able to guide some of the other things that we're doing there. And what we have to recognize is that Putin is trying to really spread his influence throughout the Middle East. This is going to be his base. And we have to oppose him there in an effective way. We also must recognize that it's a very complex place. You know, the Chinese are there, as well as the Russians, and you have all kinds of factions there. What we've been doing so far is very ineffective, but we can't give up ground right there. But we have to look at this on a much more global scale. We're talking about global jihadists. And their desire is to destroy us and to destroy our way of life. So we have to be saying, how do we make them look like losers? Because that's the way that they're able to gather a lot of influence. And I think in order to make them look like losers, we have to destroy their caliphate. And you look for the easiest place to do that? It would be in Iraq. And if \u2014 outside of Anbar in Iraq, there's a big energy field. Take that from them. Take all of that land from them. We could do that, I believe, fairly easily, I've learned from talking to several generals, and then you move on from there. But you have to continue to face them, because our goal is not to contain them, but to destroy them before they destroy us. +p3400 +aVWell, I think we should have policies that don't allow them to just enlarge themselves at the expense of smaller entities. And certainly some of the policies, some of the monetary and Fed policies that we're using makes it very easy for them, makes it very easy for the big corporations, quite frankly, at these very low interest rates to buy back their stock and to drive the price of that up artificially. Those are the kinds of things that led to the problem in the first place. And I think this all really gets back to this whole regulation issue which is creating a very abnormal situation. This country was \u2014 declared its independence in 1776. In less than 100 years, it was the number-one economic power in the world. And the reason was because we had an atmosphere that encouraged entrepreneurial risk- taking and capital investment. Those are the fuels that drive it. And what we've done now is let the creep of regulation turn into a stampede of regulations, which is involved in every aspect of our lives. If we can get that out, it makes a big difference. And even for the average person, every single regulation costs money. And it's shifted to the individual. So \u2014 and it hurts the poor and the middle class much more than it does the rich. They go into the store and they buy a bar of soap, it costs 10 cents more, they notice it. And the middle class, when they come to the cash register, have a whole cart full of things that cost 5, 10 or 15 cents more, they notice it. It is hurting the poor. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton won't tell you that that's the thing that's really hurting middle class in the core. They'll say it's the rich, take their money, but that won't help. You can take all of the rich's money and it won't make a dent in the problem that we're having. We have to come back to the fundamental principles that made America great. +p3401 +aVI would have policies that wouldn't allow that to occur. I don't want to go in and tear anybody down. I mean, that doesn't help us. But what does help us is stop tinkering around the edges and fix the actual problems that exist that are creating the problem in the first place. +p3402 +aVIn the two hours of this \u2014 of this debate, five people have died from drug-related deaths, $100 million has been added to our national debt, 200 babies have been killed by abortionists, and two veterans have taken their lives out of despair. This is a narrative that we can change, not we the Democrats, not we the Republicans, but we the people of America, because there is something special about this nation, and we must embrace it and be proud of it and never give it away for the sake of political correctness. +p3403 +aVProbably in terms of the applying for the job of president, a weakness would be not really seeing myself in that position until hundreds of thousands of people began to tell me that I needed to do it. I do, however, believe in Reagan's 11th commandment, and will not be engaging in awful things about my compatriots here. And recognizing that it's so important, this election, because we're talking about America for the people versus America for the government. +p3404 +aVWell, first of all, I didn't say that the rate would be 10 percent. I used the tithing analogy. +p3405 +aVThe rate \u2014 the rate \u2014 the rate is gonna be much closer to 15 percent. +p3406 +aVYou also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes. You also have to some strategically cutting in several places. Remember, we have 645 federal agencies and sub-agencies. Anybody who tells me that we need every penny and every one of those is in a fantasy world. So, also, we can stimulate the economy. That's gonna be the real growth engine. Stimulating the economy \u2014 because it's tethered down right now with so many regulations... +p3407 +aVThat's not true. +p3408 +aVWhen \u2014 when we put all the facts down, you'll be able to see that it's not true, it works out very well. +p3409 +aVSince I was attacked too. +p3410 +aVLet me just say, if you're talking about an $18 trillion economy, you're talking about a 15 percent tax on your gross domestic product. You're talking about $2.7 trillion. We have a budget closer to $3.5 trillion. But if you also apply that same 15 percent to several other things, including corporate taxes, and including the capital gains taxes, you make that amount up pretty quickly. So that is not by any stretch a pie in the sky. +p3411 +aVWell, there is no question that some people go overboard when it comes to trying to make profits, and they don't take into consideration the American people. What we have to start thinking about, as leaders, particularly in government, is what can we do for the average American? And you think about the reasons that we're having such difficulty right now with our job market. Well, the average small manufacturer, whatever they're manufacturing, drugs or anything, if they have less than 50 employees, the average cost in terms of regulations is $34,000 per employee. Makes it a whole lot easier for them to want to go somewhere else. So what we're going to have to start doing instead of, you know, picking on this group or this group, is we're going to have to have a major reduction in the regulatory influence that is going on. The government is not supposed to be in every part of our lives, and that is what is causing the problem. +p3412 +aVWell, obviously, you don't understand my views on homosexuality. I believe that our Constitution protects everybody, regardless of their sexual orientation or any other aspect. I also believe that marriage is between one man and one woman. And there is no reason that you can't be perfectly fair to the gay community. They shouldn't automatically assume that because you believe that marriage is between one man and one woman that you are a homophobe. And this is one of the myths that the left perpetrates on our society, and this is how they frighten people and get people to shut up. You know, that's what the PC culture is all about, and it's destroying this nation. The fact of the matter is we the American people are not each other's enemies, it's those people who are trying to divide us who are the enemies. And we need to make that very clear to everybody. +p3413 +aVWell, that's easy to answer. I didn't have an involvement with them. That is total propaganda, and this is what happens in our society. Total propaganda. I did a couple of speeches for them, I do speeches for other people. They were paid speeches. It is absolutely absurd to say that I had any kind of a relationship with them. Do I take the product? Yes. I think it's a good product. +p3414 +aVIf somebody put me on their homepage, they did it without my permission. +p3415 +aVNo, it speaks to the fact that I don't know those \u2014 See? They know. +p3416 +aVWell, first of all, I was wrong about taking the oil subsidy. I have studied that issue in great detail. And what I have concluded is that the best policy is to get rid of all government subsidies, and get the government out of our lives, and let people rise and fall based on how good they are. And \u2014 you know, all of this too big to fail stuff and picking and choosing winners and losers \u2014 this is a bunch of crap, and it is really causing a great deal of \u2014 great deal of problems for our society right now. And \u2014 and \u2014 you know, it goes back to the whole concept of regulations, which are in everything. The reason that I \u2014 I hate them so much is because every single regulation costs in terms of goods and services. That cost gets passed on to the people. Now, who are the people who are hurt by that? It's poor people and middle class. Doesn't hurt rich people if their bar of soap goes up ten cents, but it hurts the poor and the middle class. And Bernie Sanders will tell them that it's because of the rich. Well, I'll tell you something: you can take everything from the top 1 percent, and you apply it to our fiscal gap, and you won't even make a dent in it. +p3417 +aVAbout Medicare? +p3418 +aVWell, first of all the \u2014 the plan gives people the option of \u2014 of opting out. But I think they will see a very good option here. You know, the annual Medicare budget is over $600 billion. And there are 48 million people involved \u2014 40 million, 65 and over, and 8 million other. Divide that out. That comes out to $12,500 for each one. Now, I can tell you there are a lot of private-sector things that you could do with $12,500, which will get you a lot more than you get from this government program. And that's really a theme of a lot of the things that I'm talking about. How do we utilize our intellect rather than allowing the government to use its, quote, "intellect," in order to help us to be able to live healthier and better lives? It was never intended that the government should be in every aspect of our lives. This is a country that is of, for and by the people. +p3419 +aVI just want to thank all my colleagues here for being civil, and not falling for the traps. And, I also just want to thank the audience for being attentive, and noticing the questions, and the noticing the answers. And, this is what I am finding throughout America. People are waking up because it is going to be us who will determine the direction of our country. And, it was made for we the people, we are the ones who decide who we are, and we should never give away the values and principles that made America into a great nation for the sake of political correctness. +p3420 +aVHi, I'm Ben Carson, and I'm a retired pediatric neurosurgeon. I'm here with my wife, Candy, of 40 years, and two of my sons, and their wives. I stress the pediatric part of my career because the reason that I've gotten involved in this race is because I'm very concerned about the future of our children, and the direction of our country is one that does not portend well, unless we, the people, intervene and retake our rightful place at the pinnacle. +p3421 +aVTypically, politicians do things that are politically expedient. And they are looking for whatever their particular goal is. That is not the reason that I have gotten into this thing. I'm extraordinary concerned about the direction of this country, the divisiveness that is going on, fiscal irresponsibility, the failure to take a leadership position in the world. All of those things will lead to a situation where the next generation will not have a chance that we've had now. So I don't \u2014 I don't want to really get into describing who's a politician and who's not a politician, but I think the people have kind of made that decision for themselves already, and will continue to do so as time goes on. +p3422 +aVJake, can I say something about that? +p3423 +aVYou know, when I entered this race, all the political pundits said it's impossible; you can't do it because you're not connected with the money. And there's no way that you can raise what you need in order to compete successfully. I in no way am willing to get in the bed with special interest group or lick the boots of billionaires. I have said to the people if they want me to do this, please get involved. And we now have over 500,000 donations, and the money is coming in. But the pundits forgot about one thing, and that is the people. And they are really in charge. +p3424 +aVWell, first of all, I recognize that we have an incredible illegal immigration problem. I was down in Arizona a few weeks ago at the border. I mean, the fences that were there were not manned, and those are the kind of fences when I was a kid that would barely slow us down. So, I don't see any purpose in having that. Now, what we need to do is look at something that actually works. Yuma County, Arizona. They stop 97 percent of the illegal immigrants through there. They put in a double fence with a road so that there was quick access by the enforcement people. If we don't seal the border, the rest of this stuff clearly doesn't matter. It's kind of ridiculous all the other things we talk about. We have the ability to do it, we don't have the will to do it. There was one area where they had cut a hole in the fence, and to repair it, they put a few strands of barb wire across. Well, the photographers who were there with us, they wanted to photograph us from the side of the Mexicans, and they went through there, and they were not physically fit people, and they took their cameras and things with them, and shot us from the other side. That's how easy it is to get across. And, the drugs, I mean, it goes on, and on, and on. ICE tells them to release these people, 67,000 criminals released... +p3425 +aV...on to our property, it's ridiculous. +p3426 +aVWell, I have also said, if anybody knows how to do that, that I would be willing to listen. And, if they can, you know, specify exactly how that's going to be done, and what the cost, and it sounds reasonable, then I think it's worth discussing... +p3427 +aVNot exactly what I said. +p3428 +aVWell, what I said, after we seal the borders, after we turn off the spigot that dispenses all the goodies so we don't have people coming in here, including employment, that people who had a pristine record, we should consider allowing them to become guest workers, primarily in the agricultural sphere, because that's the place where Americans don't seem to want to work. That's what I said. And they have a six-month period to do that. If they don't do it within that time period, then they become illegal, and as illegals, they will be treated as such. +p3429 +aVCan I \u2014 can I \u2014 can I just... +p3430 +aVCan I correct... +p3431 +aVOK. +p3432 +aVMy plan is not amnesty for a number of reasons. Number one, you know, I've talked to farmers, and they said they cannot hire Americans to do the kind of job that I'm talking about. And the second reason is because the individuals who register as guest workers, they don't get to vote, they are not American citizens, and they don't get the rights and privileges of American citizens. So that's key. But the other thing that I want to bring up is, I mentioned something earlier. I think it was just sort of glossed over. I talked about the success in Yuma County, I mean, incredible success, and the Department of Justice said, "No, we don't want to do that. That's too successful." We don't have to keep reinventing the wheel. All we have to do is look at things that work. All we have to do is use a little common sense. +p3433 +aVIt's all about America. You know, the people who say the guy who paid a billion dollars because he had 10, he has still got $9 billion left, that's not fair, we need to take more of his money. That's called socialism. That doesn't work so well. What made America into a great nation was the fact that we said, that guy just put in $1 billion, let's create an environment that's even more conducive to his success so that next year he can put in $2 billion. And that's the kind of thing that helps us to grow. We can't grow by continuing to take a piece of pie, and dividing it, and redistributing it. But, I'm also looking at what doctor \u2014 at what Governor Huckabee talked about... +p3434 +aVThe Fair Tax. Looking at both of them, and evaluating them both, and I'm talking to the American people because one of the things we must recognize is that this country is of, for, and by the people. And, it's really time that the government get out of the way, and let the people be the ones who decide how they want to run their country. +p3435 +aVWell, first of all, let me say what I actually said about raising the minimum wage. I was asked should it be raised, I said, probably, or possibly. But, what I added, which I think is the most important thing, so, I said we need to get both sides of this issue to sit down, and talk about it. Negotiate a reasonable minimum wage, and index that so that we never have to have this conversation again in the history of America. I think we also have to have two minimum wages, a starter, and a sustaining because how are young people ever going to get a job if you have such a high minimum wage that it makes it impractical to hire them... +p3436 +aVJake, Jake... +p3437 +aVI haven't had an opportunity to weigh in on foreign policy, and I just want to mention that when the war, when the issue occurred in 2003, I suggested to President Bush that he not go to war? OK. So I just want that on the record. And, you know, a lot of people are very much against us getting involved right now with global jihadism. And they refer back to our invasion of Iraq. And they seem to think that that was what caused it. What caused it was withdrawing from there and creating a vacuum which allowed this terrible situation to occur. But it is very different from what is going on today. We're talking about global jihadists who actually want to destroy us. They are an existential threat to our nation. And we have to be mature enough to recognize that our children will have no future if we put our heads in the sand. We have to recognize we have two choices. We either allow them the continue to progress and appear to be the winners, or we use every resource available to us to destroy... +p3438 +aV... them first. +p3439 +aVWell, recognize that, you know, President George W. Bush is a great friend of ours, and we spent many wonderful days at the White House. I haven't been there in the last seven years. I probably have to have a food-tester. But at any rate, I didn't suggest that nothing be done. What I suggested to President Bush is to be Kennedy-esque, in the sense that when the Russians got ahead of us in the space race, what we did is use the bully pulpit to galvanize everybody, business, industry, academia behind a national goal to put a man on the moon and bring him back safely. I said, you can do the same kind of thing. Declare that within five to 10 years we will become petroleum independent. The moderate Arab states would have been so concerned about that, they would have turned over Osama bin Laden and anybody else you wanted on a silver platter within two weeks. There are smart ways to do things and there are muscular ways to do things. And sometimes you have to look at both of those to come up with the right solution. +p3440 +aVI have no argument with having a strong leader, and to be aggressive where aggression is needed. But it is not needed in every circumstance. There is a time when you can use your intellect to come up with other ways to do things. And I think that's what we have to start thinking about. There is no question that a lot of these problems that we have been talking about in terms of the international situation is because we are weak. It is because our Navy is so small. It is because our Air Force is incapable of doing the same things that it did a few years ago. It's because our Marines Corps is not ready to be deployed. +p3441 +aVThere are a lot of problems that are going on, and we need to solve those problems, we need to build up our military... +p3442 +aVWell, let me put it this way, there has \u2014 there have been numerous studies, and they have not demonstrated that there is any correlation between vaccinations and autism. This was something that was spread widely 15 or 20 years ago, and it has not been adequately, you know, revealed to the public what's actually going on. Vaccines are very important. Certain ones. The ones that would prevent death or crippling. There are others, there are a multitude of vaccines which probably don't fit in that category, and there should be some discretion in those cases. But, you know, a lot of this is \u2014 is \u2014 is pushed by big government. And I think that's one of the things that people so vehemently want to get rid of, big government. You know, we have 4.1 million federal employees. Six hundred and fifty federal agencies and department (sic). That's why they have to take so much of our taxes. +p3443 +aVWell, you know, I've just explained it to him. He can read about it if he wants to. I think he's an intelligent man and will make the correct decision after getting the real facts. +p3444 +aVHe's an OK doctor. But, you know, the fact of the matter is, we have extremely well-documented proof that there's no autism associated with vaccinations. But it is true that we are probably giving way too many in too short a period of time. And a lot of pediatricians now recognize that, and, I think, are cutting down on the number and the proximity in which those are done, and I think that's appropriate. +p3445 +aVI'd put my mother on there. You know, she was one of 24 children, got married at age 13, had only a third grade education, had to raise two sons by herself, refused to be a victim. Wouldn't let us be victims, and has been an inspiration to many people. +p3446 +aVOne Nation. +p3447 +aVWell, you know, I was a radical Democrat before I started listening to Ronald Reagan. And he didn't sound like what they said Republicans were. He sounded logical. And I hope that I sound logical also. Because when I look at what is going on with the United States of America, I see a lot of things that are not logical. I see us allowing people to divide us, when in fact our strength is in our unity. I see people exercising the most irresponsible fiscal habits that anyone could possibly do. And hiding it from the American people, so that the majority of people have no idea what our financial situation is. So, when someone comes along and says, free college, free phones, free this and that, and the other, they say, "wow, that's nice," having no idea that they're destabilizing our position. And I think also that Ronald Reagan was a master at understanding that a pinnacle nation has to be a nation that leads. If we learn to lead in the Middle East right now, a coalition will form behind us, but never they do it if we just sit there and talk about it. Real leadership is what I would hopefully bring to America. +p3448 +aVWell, I could take issue with -- with all of those things, but we don't have time. But I will say, we have a debate here tonight, and we will have an opportunity to explore those areas, and I'm looking very much forward to demonstrating that, in fact, the thing that is probably most important is having a brain, and to be able to figure things out and learn things very rapidly. So, you know, experience comes from a large number of different arenas, and America became a great nation early on not because it was flooded with politicians, but because it was flooded with people who understood the value of personal responsibility, hard work, creativity, innovation, and that's what will get us on the right track now, as well. +p3449 +aVWell, thank you, Megyn, I wasn't sure I was going to get to talk again. +p3450 +aVAlright. You know, what we do in order to get the information that we need is our business, and I wouldn't necessarily be broadcasting what we're going to do. We. . .uh. . .we've gotten into this -- this mindset of fighting politically correct wars. There is no such thing as a politically correct war. And, the left, of course, will say Carson doesn't believe in the Geneva Convention. Carson doesn't believe in fighting stupid wars. And -- and what we have to remember is we want to utilize the tremendous intellect that we have in the military to win wars. And I've talked to a lot of the generals, a lot of our advanced people. And believe me, if we gave them the mission, which is what the commander-in-chief does, they would be able to carry it out. And if we don't tie their hands behind their back, they will do it......extremely effectively. +p3451 +aVWhat I agree with is that we need a significantly changed taxation system. And the one that I've advocated is based on tithing, because I think God is a pretty fair guy. And he said, you know, if you give me a tithe, it doesn't matter how much you made. If you've had a bumper crop, you don't owe me triple tithes. And if you've had no crops at all, you don't owe me no tithes. So there must be something inherently fair about that. And that's why I've advocated a proportional tax system. You make $10 billion, you pay a billion. You make $10, you pay one. And everybody gets treated the same way. And you get rid of the deductions, you get rid of all the loopholes, and... +p3452 +aVAnd I have a lot more to say about it. +p3453 +aVIf Hillary is the candidate, which I doubt, that would be a dream come true. But you know, the fact of the matter is, she is the epitome of the progressive -- the secular progressive movement. And she counts on the fact that people are uninformed, the Alinsky Model, taking advantage of useful idiots. Well, I just happen to believe that people are not stupid. And the way I will come at it is to educate people, help people to actually understand that it is that progressive movement that is causing them the problems. You know, you look at the -- the national debt and how it's being driven up. If I was trying to destroy this country, what I would do is find a way to drive wedges between all the people, drive the debt to an unsustainable level, and then step off the stage as a world leader and let our enemies increase while we decreased our capacity as a military person. And that's what she's doing. +p3454 +aVWell, what we have to stop and think about is that we have weakened ourselves militarily to such an extent that if affects all of our military policies. Our Navy is at its smallest size since 1917; our Air Force, since 1940. In recent testimony, the commandant of the Marine Corps said half of the non-deployed units were not ready and you know, the sequester is cutting the heart out of our personnel. Our generals are retiring because they don't want to be part of this, and at the same time, our enemies are increasing. Our -- our friends can't trust us anymore. You know, Ukraine was a nuclear-armed state. They gave away their nuclear arms with the understanding that we would protect them. We won't even give them offensive weapons. You know, we turned our back on Israel, our ally. You know, in a situation like that, of course Obama's not going to be able to do anything. I would shore up our military first, because if you don't get the military right, nothing else is going to work. +p3455 +aVWell, I think the bully pulpit is a wonderful place to start healing that divide. You know, we have the purveyors of hatred who take every single incident between people of two races and try to make a race war out of it, and drive wedges into people. And this does not need to be done. What we need to think about instead -- you know, I was asked by an NPR reporter once, why don't I talk about race that often. I said it's because I'm a neurosurgeon. And she thought that was a strange response. And you say -- I said, you see, when I take someone to the operating room, I'm actually operating on the thing that makes them who they are. The skin doesn't make them who they are. The hair doesn't make them who they are. And it's time for us to move beyond that. Because......our strength as a nation comes in our unity. We are the United States of America, not the divided states. And those who want to destroy us are trying to divide us, and we shouldn't let them do it. +p3456 +aVWell, I haven't said anything about me being the only one to do anything, so let me try that. I'm the only one to separate Siamese twins... The -- the only one to operate on babies while they were still in mother's womb, the only one to take out half of a brain, although you would think, if you go to Washington, that someone had beat me to it. But I -- but I'm very hopeful that I'm not the only one who's willing to pick up the baton of freedom, because freedom is not free, and we must fight for it every day. Every one of us must fight for it, because we're fighting for our children and the next generation. +p3457 +asVQUINTANILLA +p3458 +(lp3459 +VGood evening, I'm Carl Quintanilla, with my colleagues Becky Quick and John Harwood. We'll be joined tonight by some of +p3460 +aVGovernor? +p3461 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p3462 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Bush. +p3463 +aVSenator Rubio. +p3464 +aVMr. Trump? +p3465 +aVDr. Carson? +p3466 +aVMrs. Fiorina? +p3467 +aVFixed it. +p3468 +aVSenator Cruz? +p3469 +aVGovernor Christie? +p3470 +aVSenator Paul? +p3471 +aVThanks to all the candidates. John? +p3472 +aVHold it. We'll cut it back to you in just a minute. Becky's moving on. +p3473 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor. thank you, Governor. +p3474 +aVMr. Trump, 30 seconds. +p3475 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3476 +aVWe're going to try to move on. +p3477 +aVYou want to bring 70,000 pages to three? +p3478 +aVIs that using really small type? +p3479 +aVIs that using really small type? +p3480 +aVMrs. Fiorina \u2014 +p3481 +aVWe're going to \u2014 +p3482 +aVWe will come around the bend, i promise. This one is for Senator Rubio. You've been a young man in a hurry ever since you won your first election in your 20s. You've had a big accomplishment in the Senate, an immigration bill providing a path to citizenship the conservatives in your party hate, and even you don't support anymore. Now, you're skipping more votes than any senator to run for president. Why not slow down, get a few more things done first or least finish what you start? +p3483 +aVSo when the Sun-Sentinel says Rubio should resign, not rip us off, when they say Floridians sent you to Washington to do a job, when they say you act like you hate your job, do you? +p3484 +aVWell, do you hate your job? +p3485 +aVIs that the standard? +p3486 +aVSenator, thank you. John. +p3487 +aVThank you, Senator. +p3488 +aVSenator Cruz. Congressional Republicans, Democrats and the White House are about to strike a compromise that would raise the debt limit, prevent a government shutdown and calm financial markets that fear of \u2014 another Washington-created crisis is on the way. Does your opposition to it show that you're not the kind of problem-solver American voters want? +p3489 +aV do we get credit ? +p3490 +aVSo, this is a question about , which you have 30 seconds left to answer, should you choose to do so. +p3491 +aVOK. I asked you about the debt limit and I got no answer. +p3492 +aVWe promised we would get to everyone this block. Governor Huckabee, I'm going to give you 60 seconds on this. +p3493 +aV...Governor... +p3494 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p3495 +aV...Senator Cruz... +p3496 +aVOK, alright. +p3497 +aVSenator Cruz... +p3498 +aV...Before we go to break, we're clearly not having that beer you mentioned, but I'll give you 30 more seconds... +p3499 +aVOK. +p3500 +aVI'll give you 30 seconds to respond... +p3501 +aVRespond on the debt limit, or an answer to the governor, which ever you choose. +p3502 +aV30 seconds, Governor Huckabee. +p3503 +aVGovernor, thank you. We will take a break. The Republican Presidential debate, live from Boulder, Colorado, coming back after a break on +p3504 +aVMrs. Fiorina, in 2010, while running for Senate in Tech Ridge (ph), California, you called an Internet sales tax a bad idea. Traditional brick and mortar stores obviously disagree. Now that the Internet shopping playing field has matured, what would be a fair plan to even that playing field? +p3505 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p3506 +aVOK. +p3507 +aVThank you very much. +p3508 +aVDr. Carson, we know you as a physician, but we wanted to ask you about your involvement on some corporate boards, including Costco's. Last year, a marketing study called the warehouse retailer the number one gay-friendly brand in America, partly because of its domestic partner benefits. Why would you serve on a company whose policies seem to run counter to your views on homosexuality? +p3509 +aVOne more question. This is a company called Mannatech, a maker of nutritional supplements, with which you had a 10-year relationship. They offered claims that they could cure autism, cancer, they paid $7 million to settle a deceptive marketing lawsuit in Texas, and yet you're involvement continued. Why? +p3510 +aVTo be fair, you were on the homepage of their website with the logo over your shoulder \u2014 +p3511 +aVDoes that not speak to your vetting process or judgment in any way. +p3512 +aVApparently. We will take a break. We'll be back in Boulder in just a minute. +p3513 +aV...We'll come back around. I want to get to governor Kasich. +p3514 +aVGovernor Kasich, let's talk ... +p3515 +aV...about Marijuana, Governor Kasich... +p3516 +aVAlright, but 30 seconds, you made a case. Sure, 30 seconds. +p3517 +aVSenator, thank you. +p3518 +aVOh, no, no, no... +p3519 +aV...Ok... +p3520 +aV...We're going to go to... +p3521 +aVOK. Thank you, Senator. Governor Kasich, let's talk about marijuana. We're broadcasting from Colorado which has seen $150 million in new revenue for the state since legalizing last year. Governor Hickenlooper is not a big fan of legalization, but he's said the people who used to be smoking it are still smoking it, they're just now paying taxes. Given the budget pressures in Ohio, and other states, is this a revenue stream you'd like to have? +p3522 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3523 +aVThank you. We'll be back from Boulder, Colorado in just a moment. +p3524 +aVMr. Trump, you've said you have a special permit to carry a gun in New York. +p3525 +aVAfter the Oregon mass shooting on October 1st, you said, "By the way, it was a gun-free zone. If you had a couple of teachers with guns, you would have been a hell of a lot better off." +p3526 +aVWould you feel more comfortable if your employees brought guns to work? +p3527 +aVAre you carrying one now? +p3528 +aVWe called a few Trump resorts, a few Trump properties that \u2014 that do not allow guns with or without a permit. Would you change those policies? +p3529 +aVOK. All right. Thank you. John? +p3530 +aVGovernor Bush, daily fantasy sports has become a phenomenon in this country, will award billions of dollars in prize money this year. But to play you have to assess your odds, put money at risk, wait for an outcome that's out of your control. Isn't that the definition of gambling, and should the Federal Government treat it as such? +p3531 +aVI had a feeling you were going to brag about that. +p3532 +aVThis is the\u2014 well, we're going to take a break. We want to save time for closing statements after the break. So this is the Republican presidential debate in Boulder, and we'll be right back. +p3533 +aVSenator Rubio... +p3534 +aV...yeah, I just wanted . +p3535 +aVI want to give you 30 seconds here. +p3536 +aVThat concludes tonight's debate. On behalf of my colleagues Becky Quick, John Harwood, Sharon Epperson, Rick Santelli and Jim Cramer, we'd like to our host, the University of Colorado at Boulder, the Republican National Committee, the candidates and, of course, tonight's audience. +p3537 +aV...Question, in the meantime, for Senator Santorum. You have advocated a flat tax, so we'd like to ask you about fairness. Why is it fair to tax all Americans at the same rate, as opposed to taxing more affluent Americans at higher rates? +p3538 +aVSenator, thank you. John \u2014 Becky? +p3539 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live in boulder, Colorado, on cNBC. We resume our questions now with Jim Cramer, the host of +p3540 +aVSenator Graham. You have said you believe that climate change is real. You've said you accept tax increases as part of a budget deal with Democrats. You've co-sponsored a Senate immigration bill providing a path to citizenship for those in the country illegally. Are you in the wrong party's debate? +p3541 +aVMy question for Governor Jindal, Paul Ryan says he would take the speaker job if it did not take away from his family time. The Department of Labor says 13 percent of American workers are eligible for paid family leave and the U.S. is the only developed nation in the world not to have guaranteed paid maternity leave for new moms. Should the government work to change that? +p3542 +aVGovernor, thank you. John? +p3543 +ag2702 +aVWelcome back to the University of Colorado, and the Republican Presidential Debate on +p3544 +aVWell, let's get to that. I mean, another example, for example, is Walgreens. +p3545 +aVI'm sure you do. Walgreens/Rite Aid. Big deal, consolidation in drug stores, semiconductors, food. What is the line at which something becomes anti-competitive in your view? +p3546 +aVSenator. +p3547 +aVThank you. Becky. +p3548 +aVQuestion for Senator Santorum. +p3549 +aVAfter this question maybe. The 2015 Nobel Prize winner for economics argues that slow growth causes poverty, and that leads to inequality. What would you do to ease inequality? And what would you do solve poverty? By the way, thanks to Larry Kudlow, +p3550 +aVGovernor Jindal, I'll give you 30 seconds on this. +p3551 +aVWe've got one more. One more lightning round. Governor Jindal, should the day after the Super Bowl be a national holiday? +p3552 +aVSenator? +p3553 +aVGovernor? +p3554 +aVFinally, Senator? +p3555 +aVThat concludes our first part of the evening. +p3556 +asVGILMORE +p3557 +(lp3558 +VWell, Bill, can I first... +p3559 +aVWell, first of all, Bill, let me say one thing, I have been in Iowa. But this is not the place where I'm choosing to begin my campaign. I am beginning my campaign in New Hampshire and I decided to do that based upon the process that is in place in Iowa and the primary that's in place in New Hampshire. But never mind that, I want to return to something. I'm the only veteran, Bill and Martha in this race. And I'm not going to any Donald Trump event over across town on some sort of faux veteran sort of issue. I'm going to speak to you tonight about the issue that really confronts veterans. I'm going to talk to you about the concerns that they have got with the veterans administration. The lousy appeals process that they have got. The fact that sometimes they get good service at the V.A. and sometimes they don't and the fact that post traumatic stress syndrome is not properly recognized. That psychology positions are unavailable in the Veterans Administration. And I will say this to you -- as the only veteran in -- in this race, when I become president of the United States, the veterans are going to be treated with respect and competently in success in the Veterans' Administration in this country. +p3560 +aVFirst of all, Bill, I think that Gitmo ought to remain open. But I also want to point out to you that what you are saying is the exact right topic to all of these other candidates. And that's this international challenge that we are facing, the international war that America is in, even to this day. And I'm the candidate who is best qualified to deal with this issue. A degree in foreign policy in Russian area studies. I'm the only United States Army veteran having gone to Europe during the Cold War as United States Army Intelligence agent, the governor during the 9/11 attack, the chairman of the National Commission on Homeland Security for the United States for five years. And this is what I will do. If I become the president, I'm going to rebuild the United States military. We're going to take the sequester off the defense budget. Give the Navy the ships it needs. Refit the United States Army. Refit the United States Marine Corps. And on this international guerrilla war, we need to recognize our Special Forces, our intelligence community, and the people that we need in order to really protect us. And finally, this war of ideas, we must win this. We must say to the world that radical Islamism is the threat. It isn't just confined to +p3561 +aVHey, did you miss me? Did you skip me? +p3562 +aVI'm going to have something to say about this, but you just keep going. +p3563 +aVYes, I'll be there. +p3564 +aVYou know, Martha, it may be out of the barn in that the Iranians may be moving towards a nuclear program, because this nuclear deal actually gives them a time frame up the road when they are going to be able to do that kind of program. And that's very dangerous because it means people in the Middle East have to begin to react to that right now. The United States, I think, has to continue to exercise its influence in the Middle East, stay active, and not do this pull-back type of program that we are seeing all over the place with President Obama, which is creating this kind of danger. The world is a more dangerous place now than when I was an intelligence agent. We have not only this international guerrilla war but also these challenges from these other countries as well. But, Martha, I want to say one more thing to you and Bill. I disagree with Carly Fiorina when she says that it's just a political class in Washington. The truth is that the country has changed. And there are powerful forces at this point that are really controlling our lives. And that's why people are so angry. One of those is government, which is regulating everything through the Environmental Protection Agency, through other places. But the biggest one is the organized establishment media. And I just noticed just now you gave Carly Fiorina two one-minute answers in a row. This media across the country is manipulating and shaping and framing this campaign and has been for at least a year now in order to get the kind of choices that people are going to have an opportunity to see. This is wrong. It has to change. And when I'm president, it's going to change. +p3565 +aVI'll take it. +p3566 +aVMartha, I just visited a community mental health clinic in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, just three days ago, as a matter of fact. And when I was governor of Virginia, I tried to move more of those resources into the community, which will give us the facilities and the abilities to begin to identify people who actually might be dangerous and who abuse Second Amendment rights. But I do believe this is one of the really principle issues in this campaign. The president and Hillary Clinton are working very hard to change the culture of this country in order to put us in a position where we can't exercise Second Amendment rights. That's wrong. I am a board member of the National Rifle Association. The reason I'm a board member is because I believe that individuals in this country can be trusted to exercise their rights under the Second Amendment and under the Bill of Rights. To take away people's Second Amendment rights is to redefine the individual in the society, and I'm not going to put up with it. As President of the United States, when Jim Gilmore's President of the United States, I can tell you this. Gun control is not going to be an issue. If gun control... ... comes to the President's desk when I'm president, I'll veto it as fast as it takes Hillary Clinton to eliminate her emails. +p3567 +aVYou know Bill, that raises, I think, the question of the future of the Republican party. The question is -- first of all, I stand second to no one in standing up to radical Islamism. I understand that +p3568 +aVWell, thank you very much, Bill. And, thank you, and Fox and Google for including me in this debate tonight. I think it's been a wonderful opportunity. I'm the son of a meat cutter. My father worked for Safeway stores for 45 years. My mother was a secretary, she ended her career as the Secretary for the Methodist Bishop. I didn't have a father that could give me a million dollar loan to start my business. But, my father did talk character, and he provided for his family, and he was a wonderful example. And, I'm not about to go across town tonight to carry the coat for some billionaire. Instead, I intend to run for President of the United States, speak to the issue of this international war, and challenge that we're in. This issue of veterans rights, and the issue of Second Amendment rights, and I ask for your support... +p3569 +asVSANTELLI +p3570 +(lp3571 +VSenator Cruz, let's focus on our central bank, the Federal Reserve. You've been a fierce critic of the Fed, arguing for more transparency. Where do you want to take that? Do you want to get Congress involved in monetary policy, or is it time to slap the Fed back and downsize them completely? What are your thoughts? What do you believe? +p3572 +aVSenator Paul, the same question to you. +p3573 +aVThank you, Senator. Dr. Carson, you told The Des Moines Register that you don't like government subsidies, it interferes with the free market. But you've also said that you're in favor of taking oil subsidies and putting them towards ethanol processing. Isn't that just swapping one subsidy for another, Doctor? +p3574 +aVThank you, Doctor. Becky? +p3575 +aVThanks, John. Governor Pataki. +p3576 +aVHow are you doing tonight? +p3577 +aVListen, America's central bank, the Federal Reserve, they've kept interest rates near zero since the 2008 financial crisis. And, by the way, they had a meeting today, you think they raised rates? No. Shocking, isn't it? +p3578 +aVListen, it's been a rough ride for American savers and retirees, they really rely on this interest income. And it's been a bonanza for the stock market, a bonanza. And for investors that like the little bit more risk, it's been a bonanza for them as well. So I guess what I'm asking is, do you think this policy is fair and do you support it? +p3579 +aVThanks, Governor. Senator Santorum, in the 2012 presidential debate, you were for the export-import bank, which facilitates government funding for U.S. exports. American companies like GE and Boeing are among the beneficiaries. But you said that killing the bank here \u2014 and I'm going to quote you \u2014 "is the last thing a true conservative should be doing." I don't know, government-backed funding isn't normally what I hear from true conservatives. So why is this situation different? +p3580 +asVMACCALLUM +p3581 +(lp3582 +VSo it will come as no surprise that there is an idea out there that there is a civil war brewing within the GOP over the meaning of conservative and the question of who is electable. There are some in the GOP who are so outraged by Trump and Cruz that they say they would actually rather have Hillary Clinton in the White House. So, Carly Fiorina, I ask you this. Is your party in crisis? +p3583 +aVGovernor Huckabee, word is that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is considering getting into this race. If he does, that would make four New Yorkers, including Sanders, Clinton, and Trump. One candidate in this race has criticized so-called "New York values". So tell me, in your opinion, are New York values different than Iowa values? +p3584 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum, according to Google, the Paris terror attacks were the largest story that was searched in 2015, with nearly 1 billion searches of that story worldwide. There have been at 18 terror attacks so far this year -- in just January alone, in 2016, and it will likely, as we all know, get worse. But what can an American president do to stop these terrifying killings? +p3585 +aVThank you, Senator. +p3586 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you have said when it comes to +p3587 +aVThank you. +p3588 +aVComing up, we're going to have more on the top issues in this campaign, and you can engage in tonight's conversation right from home. Go to google.com, search "FOX News debate." You can vote on which candidate you think is winning so far in tonight's debate. And you can check results after the debate is over. We are back in a moment live from the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. +p3589 +aVAlright, Governor Huckabee, government grows and grows. In fact, neighborhoods in and around the Beltway get richer and richer all the time while our manufacturing towns are disappearing. Still Republicans from Reagan to Bush have bowed to shrink the size of government, but it never works. Is this Presidency, and presidency, simply too small a David to slay the Goliath of government? +p3590 +aVAlright, Carly Fiorina, you've said that you can get the tax code down to three short simple pages. But, when lobbyists who have twisted the arms of members of Congress come sit with you in the Oval Office and say, "Madam President, sorry, I cannot be with you on this one," you may understand what previous presidents have gone through. No? +p3591 +aVSenator Santorum, Bernie Sanders asked a woman in Iowa what it's like to live in poverty. She broke down in tears, saying that she lives on less than $10,000 a year and that she is ashamed every day. She leans on her parents for help. She says she can't buy presents for her children. We are all sympathetic to this woman's plight. On the other hand, the G.O.P. is supposed to be the party of smaller government. So what would you look her in the eye and say? +p3592 +aVThank you, Senator. +p3593 +aVGovernor Gilmore, thanks to the Iranian nuclear deal, President Rouhani is currently on a tour of Europe meeting with our closest allies in France and Italy. In fact, he has already landed some 50 to 85 billion are the estimates in deals with those countries, with our allies. More on the way. You and others say that you would rip up that deal. But, really, by the time the next president is in office, won't that horse be well out of the barn? +p3594 +aVWe have another question for you, Governor Gilmore, back to back, here we go. According to Google... +p3595 +aVYou got it. According to Google, gun control is the most searched issue last month, making up nearly 80 percent of all the U.S. searches. People are looking for information on guns. When it comes to the tragic mass killings that we have seen in this country, Donald Trump says that what we need to do is build quote "more institutions for people who are sickos." Charles Krauthammer also says that in some cases involuntary commitment would help. And you have agreed with that. Given that institutions would be extraordinarily expensive to begin building, how much is too much to ask on this from the American taxpayer? +p3596 +aVThank you, Governor Gilmore. +p3597 +aVStill more to come from the Republican Presidential debate tonight. And, see how the campaigns are responding to the debate in realtime, go to Google.com and open your google search app. Type in, "Fox News Debate". We'll see you, just a moment -- back. +p3598 +aVWe are back live at the Iowa events center and this question goes to Carly Fiorina. In the last debate you said as part of your introduction, quote, " And unlike the other woman candidate in this case I actually love spending time with my husband." +p3599 +aVBut back in September in an interview you said that you would stick only to the record, your record versus Hillary Clinton's record. And never resort to personal attacks. So what changed? +p3600 +aVAll right. Carly, I want to stay with you on this next question as well. You waded into the Planned Parenthood early on. You took some heat for it. Now the people who shot that undercover video are the ones who got indicted and Planned Parenthood is untouched. Hillary Clinton has been crowing about this. Any regrets about this? +p3601 +aVThank you Carly Fiorina. Let me just ask a quick question here to Senator Santorum. Carly Fiorina was the only one of the GOP candidates to attend the March for Life in Washington last week. Where were you. +p3602 +aVAll right. Coming up, we will have the closing statements from our candidates tonight as we continue live from the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. We'll be right back. +p3603 +aVAlright, let's go now to Senator Rick Santorum. +p3604 +aV +p3605 +aVCarly Fiorina. +p3606 +aVThank you, Carly. +p3607 +aVIn one hour, seven more candidates take the stage for a debate hosted by Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly, and Chris Wallace. But, up next, the O'Reilly Factor. Good night everybody. +p3608 +as. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/downloads/data/script13.pickle b/downloads/data/script13.pickle new file mode 100644 index 0000000..50642bc --- /dev/null +++ b/downloads/data/script13.pickle @@ -0,0 +1,7779 @@ +(dp0 +VCRAMER +p1 +(lp2 +VDr. Carson, in recent weeks, a number of pharmaceutical companies has been accused of profiteering, for dramatically raising the prices of life-saving drugs. You have spent a lifetime in medicine. Have these companies gone too far? Should the government be involved in controlling some of these price increases? +p3 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Governor Christie, there has been a lot of political rhetoric that some bank executives should have gone to jail for the 2008 financial crisis. But General Motors paid more than $1 billion in fines and settlements for its ignition switch defect. One hundred and twenty- four people died as a result of these faulty switches. No one went to jail. As a former prosecutor, do you believe the people responsible for the switch and the cover-up belong behind bars? +p4 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. +p5 +aVThank you. Governor Pataki, in the wake of the Sony hack last year, you said, quote, "at the very least, we should declare cyber-war on North Korea." What does a cyber-war look like? And if our companies are getting attacked by foreign governments, do we need a military response? +p6 +aVSenator Graham, you're a hawk. Was that tough enough? +p7 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Santorum. We know that a troubling amount of air pollution on the west coast comes from China. Should we enact a pollution tax on products imported from China and give our manufacturers a level playing field? +p8 +aVThank you, Senator. John? +p9 +asVPERRY +p10 +(lp11 +VI will tell you one thing: I would whole lot rather had Carly Fiorina over there doing our negotiation than John Kerry. Maybe we would've gotten a deal where we didn't give everything away. But the issue for us is to have a Congress that stands up and says not only no, but hell no, to this money going to a regime that is going to use it for terror... +p12 +asVANNOUNCER +p13 +(lp14 +VHello from MinuteEarth. Fossil fuels have long kept our cars moving and our light bulbs lit. But we know that burning these fuels releases heat-trapping gases that are warming the planet, causing seas to rise and contributing to extreme weather events, like South Carolina's devastating flooding last year. Fighting human-caused climate change means giving up our global addiction to fossil fuels and shifting the bulk of the world's energy supply to alternative sources. Some countries have acted decisively to make this transition. But here at home, we still get a whooping 82 percent of our energy from coal, oil, and natural gas. In the U.S., political gridlock, pressure from industry lobbyists and insufficient R&D have made an already tough battle against climate change even tougher. +p15 +asVUNKNOWN +p16 +(lp17 +VIf you're not going to have my back, I'm going to have my back. +p18 +aVA couple things here. First of all... +p19 +aVWe have grown \u2014 we have grown... +p20 +aVTrue. It's true. +p21 +aV...let me follow up that... +p22 +aV +p23 +aVOh, great. +p24 +aV...In 2011, you told Forbes Magazine this: "I've used the laws of the country to my advantage." But at the same time, financial experts involved in those bankruptcies say that lenders to your companies lost billions of dollars. Question sir, with that record, why should we trust you to run the nation's business? +p25 +aVI do. +p26 +aVThank you. +p27 +asVIFILL +p28 +(lp29 +VWe want to also extend our warm thanks to Milwaukee Public Radio and Milwaukee Public Television, as well as all of our friends at the PBS member stations across the country tuning in tonight. This is the sixth time the Democrats have met face to face. Each time, we learn more about them and the presidents they say they want to be. You know you're watching \u2014 whether you're a Democrat, a Republican, or neither \u2014 because you believe the outcome of the election is important to you. And we believe that, too. With that, let's welcome the candidates to the stage. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. +p30 +aVWelcome to you both. +p31 +aVWith Iowa and New Hampshire behind us, we are now broadening the conversation to America's heartland and beyond, including here in Wisconsin. Now let's turn to the candidates for their opening statements. The order was decided by coin toss. And, Senator Sanders, you go first. +p32 +aVThank you, Senator Sanders. Thank you, Senator Sanders. Secretary Clinton. +p33 +aVFinal thought, Senator. +p34 +aVI'd like to move along. I'd like to move along. Secretary Clinton, you might \u2014 you also have proposed fairly expansive ideas about government. You may remember this pledge from a State of the Union Address at which I believe you were present, in which these words were said: "The era of big government is over." You may remember that. When asked your feelings about the federal government this week, 61 percent of New Hampshire Democrats told exit pollsters that they are angry or at least dissatisfied. Given what you and Senator Sanders are proposing, an expanding government in almost every area of our lives, is it fair for Americans who fear government to fear you? +p35 +aVBut I haven't heard either of you put a price tag on your \u2014 you say... +p36 +aVSenator? +p37 +aVSenator, do you worry at all that you will be the instrument of thwarting history, as Senator Clinton keeps claiming, that she might be the first woman president? +p38 +aVThank you both. We turn now to the first of several questions from our partners at Facebook. They were selected from a curated group of people we've been following of undecided voters. The first comes from Claudia Looze, a 54-year-old woman who works as a program manager at a public affairs cable network in Madison, Wisconsin. And she writes: "Wisconsin is number one in African-American male incarceration, according to a University of Wisconsin study. They found that Wisconsin's incarceration rate for black men, which is at 13 percent, was nearly double the country's rate. What can we do across the nation to address this?" Senator Sanders. +p39 +aVLet me turn this on its head, because when we talk about race in this country, we always talk about African-Americans, people of color. I want to talk about white people, OK? +p40 +aVI know. So many people will be surprised to find out that we are sitting in one of the most racially polarized metropolitan areas in the country. By the middle of this century, the nation is going to be majority nonwhite. Our public schools are already there. If working-class, white Americans are about to be outnumbered, are already underemployed in many cases, and one study found they are dying sooner, don't they have a reason to be resentful, Senator \u2014 Secretary Clinton? +p41 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, I want you to respond to that, but I also want you to \u2014 am I wrong? Is it even right to be describing this as a matter of race? +p42 +aVIf you would allow me now to move on, we've been talking about children. I want to talk about seniors. That takes us to our second Facebook question from Farheen Hakeem, who writes, "My father" \u2014 she's a 40-year-old woman who works for a nonprofit here in Milwaukee. And she writes, "My father gets just $16 in food assistance per month as part of Medicaid's family community program in Milwaukee County for low-income seniors. How will you as president work to ensure low-income seniors get their basic needs met?" Start with you, Senator Sanders. +p43 +aVSenator Sanders, are you saying... +p44 +aVThere's a lot more to come in just a few minutes. Stay with us for more of the PBS NewsHour Democratic Debate. +p45 +aVHow about you, Senator Clinton \u2014 Secretary Clinton? +p46 +aVWe spent the first part of this debate talking about domestic insecurity. The second part, we want to talk about our foreign policy insecurities. And we want to start with a question for you, Secretary Clinton, about America's role in the world. Americans are becoming increasingly worried that attacks abroad are coming home, that they already are, in fact, here. According to exit polls from last week, from earlier this week, more than two-thirds of Democrats in New Hampshire are concerned about sending their children to fight in wars they can't win. They fret that the next attack is just around the corner and we are not ready. Are we? +p47 +aVSenator Sanders... +p48 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p49 +aVLet me move on. You have both mentioned the humanitarian tragedies which have been an outgrowth in part of what has happened in Syria and in Libya. More than a million refugees entered Europe in 2015. Another 76,000 just last month, that is about 2,000 arrivals every day. Nearly 400 people have been lost at sea so far this year, crossing the Mediterranean. And there are reports that 10,000 children are missing. If we are leaders in this world, where should the U.S. be on this? What should the United States be doing, Secretary Clinton? +p50 +aVSenator, if you would like respond to \u2014 you may respond to that but it is time for closing statements and you can use your time for closing statements to do that. +p51 +aVThank you. Thank you Senator Clinton. Thank you, Senator Sanders. We also want to thank our partners at Facebook and our hosts here at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. +p52 +aVI'm going to remain here in Milwaukee tomorrow evening for a special edition of Washington Week here on PBS. +p53 +asVWOODRUFF +p54 +(lp55 +VGood evening, and thank you. We are happy to welcome you to Milwaukee for this Democratic debate. We are especially pleased to thank our partners at Facebook, who have helped us set up a vibrant conversation among voters who are undecided. And tonight you're going to hear some of their questions for the candidates. And you can follow along at home on the PBS NewsHour page on Facebook. We also want to thank our hosts, the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, on whose campus we meet, here in the beautiful Helen Bader Concert Hall. +p56 +aVWelcome, Senator, great to see you. And former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Very good to be here with you. +p57 +aVNow, a word about format. There will be two short breaks, and the rules are simple: 90 seconds for each answer and 30 seconds for the other candidate to respond. +p58 +aVThank you both. Thank you both. And we'll be right back after a short break to begin questions. +p59 +aVAnd, welcome back to this PBS Newshour debate, Democratic debate, here in Milwaukee. Let's get right to the questions. Senator Sanders, to you first. Coming off the results in Iowa and New Hampshire, there are many voters who are taking a closer look at you, and your ideas, and they're asking how big a role do you foresee for the federal government? It's already spending 21% of the entire U.S. economy. How much larger would government be in the lives of Americans under a Sanders presidency? +p60 +aVBut, my question is how big would government be? Would there be any limit on the size of the role of government... +p61 +aVNext, we're going to... +p62 +aVVery brief, thank you. +p63 +aVSecretary Clinton, your campaign \u2014 you and your campaign have made a clear appeal to women voters. You have talked repeatedly about the fact, we know you would be, if elected, the first woman president. But in New Hampshire 55 percent of the women voters supported and voted for Senator Sanders. What are women missing about you? +p64 +aVAs you know, just quickly, as you know, your strong supporter, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, said the other day that there's a special place in Hell for women who don't support other women. Do you agree with what she said? +p65 +aVSenator Sanders, you're in the minority, but we still want to hear from you. +p66 +aVFinal comment. +p67 +aVSecretary Clinton, I was talking recently with a 23 year old black woman who voted for President Obama because she said she thought relations between the races would get better under his leadership, and his example. Hardly anyone believes that they have. Why do you think race relations would be better under a Clinton presidency? What would you do that the nation's first African American has not been able to? +p68 +aVSenator Sanders? +p69 +aVSo race relation was be better under a Sanders presidency than they've been? +p70 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders, one of the causes of anxiety for working class Americans is connected to immigrants. President Obama, as you know, has issued executive actions to permit some 5 million undocumented immigrants who are living now in the United States to come out of the shadows without fear of deportation to get work permits. Would you go further than that? And if so, how specifically would you do it? Should an undocumented family watching this debate tonight, say, in Nevada, rest easy, not fear of further deportations under a Sanders presidency? +p71 +aVI'd like... +p72 +aVWe're going to move on. Secretary Clinton, your campaign has recently ramped up criticism of Senator Sanders for attending Democratic Party fundraisers from which you say he benefited. But nearly half of your financial sector donations appear to come from just two wealthy financiers, George Soros and Donald Sussman, for a total of about $10 million. You have said that there's no quid pro quo involved. Is that also true of the donations that wealthy Republicans give to Republican candidates, contributors including the Koch Brothers? +p73 +aVI'm asking if Democratic donors are different than Republican donors. +p74 +aVWe have to go to a break. We... +p75 +aVAll right. Thank you both. It is time for a break. And when we come back, we're going to turn to some new topics, including how these candidates will keep America safe. +p76 +aVWelcome back to the Democratic presidential debate. Before we return to our questions, we have a follow-up question from our Facebook group. And it is to Senator Sanders. Senator, it comes from Bill Corfield. He is a 55-year-old musician from Troy, Ohio. And he asks: "Are there any areas of government you would like to reduce?" +p77 +aVJust a final word. +p78 +aVSenator, let me \u2014 let me move on to another country with which the U.S. has a complicated relationship, Senator Sanders, and that's Russia. On the one hand, we're aware that Russia is a country that the United States needs to cooperate with. Just tonight, Secretary of State John Kerry has announced what appears to be an agreement with the Russians to lead \u2014 that could lead toward a ceasefire in Syria, would be the first cessation of conflict in that country, in that civil war in five years, but it comes at a very high price, because not only have all \u2014 have we seen the deaths, the removal of so many people, millions of people, we now see the Russians in the last few weeks have bombed in a way that benefits President Assad, has not gone after +p79 +aVAnd we have a final question from our Facebook family. And it goes to Senator Sanders. It comes from Robert Andrews. He's a 40-year-old stay-at-home dad in Dover, Massachusetts. He says, "The world has seen many great leaders in the course of human history. Can you name two leaders \u2014 one American and one foreign \u2014 who would influence your foreign policy decisions? And why do you see them as \u2014 why are they influential?" +p80 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p81 +aVAnd we want to thank our audience, our quiet audience here in Helen Bader Concert Hall, and to all of you watching at home. Thank you all. Stay tuned for analysis of the debate and the overall race for the Democratic nomination. That's coming up next here on PBS stations and online atPBS.org/NewsHour. +p82 +aVAnd I'm going to be returning to Washington. I hope you'll join us for the PBS NewsHour tomorrow and every night. That's it from all of us here in Milwaukee. We thank you. +p83 +asVKELLY +p84 +(lp85 +VWelcome to the first debate night of the 2016 presidential campaign, live from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. I'm Megyn Kelly... ... along with my co-moderators, Brett Baier and Chris Wallace. Tonight... Nice. Tonight, thousands of people here in the Q, along with millions of voters at home will get their very first chance to see the candidates face off in a debate, answering the questions you want answered. +p86 +aVAs for the candidates who will be answering those questions? Here they are. Positioned on the stage by how they stand in the polls, in the center of the stage tonight, businessman Donald Trump. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. +p87 +aVGentlemen, our first round of questions is on the subject of electability in the general election, and we start tonight with you, Dr. Carson. You are a successful neurosurgeon, but you admit that you have had to study up on foreign policy, saying there's a lot to learn. Your critics say that your inexperience shows. You've suggested that the Baltic States are not a part of +p88 +aVMr. Trump, one of the things people love about you is you speak your mind and you don't use a politician's filter. However, that is not without its downsides, in particular, when it comes to women. You've called women you don't like "fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals." Your Twitter account... +p89 +aVNo, it wasn't. Your Twitter account... +p90 +aVFor the record, it was well beyond Rosie O'Donnell. +p91 +aVYour Twitter account has several disparaging comments about women's looks. You once told a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice it would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees. Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president, and how will you answer the charge from Hillary Clinton, who was likely to be the Democratic nominee, that you are part of the war on women? +p92 +aVGovernor Walker, you've consistently said that you want to make abortion illegal even in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother. You recently signed an abortion law in Wisconsin that does have an exception for the mother's life, but you're on the record as having objected to it. Would you really let a mother die rather than have an abortion, and with 83 percent of the American public in favor of a life exception, are you too out of the mainstream on this issue to win the general election? +p93 +aVGovernor Kasich, You chose to expand Medicaid in your state, unlike several other governors on this stage tonight, and it is already over budget by some estimates costing taxpayers an additional $1.4 billion in just the first 18 months. You defended your Medicaid expansion by invoking God, saying to skeptics that when they arrive in heaven, Saint Peter isn't going to ask them how small they've kept government, but what they have done for the poor. Why should Republican voters, who generally want to shrink government, believe that you won't use your Saint Peter rationale to expand every government program? +p94 +aVAlright, gentlemen, we're gonna switch topics now and talk a bit about terror and national security. Governor Christie. You've said that Senator Paul's opposition to the NSA's collection of phone records has made the United States weaker and more vulnerable, even going so far as to say that he should be called before Congress to answer for it if we should be hit by another terrorist attack. Do you really believe you can assign blame to Senator Paul just for opposing the bulk collection of people's phone records in the event of a terrorist attack? +p95 +aVGo ahead, sir. +p96 +aVGovernor Christie, make your point. +p97 +aVGo ahead, governor. +p98 +aVAlright. +p99 +aVAlright, we've gotta cut it off there. We have plenty more we want to get to. That was an interesting exchange, thank you for that. +p100 +aVWell, I want to move on, because I have -- we're gonna get to you, governor, but I -- I really wanna get to a Facebook questioner. His name is Alex Chalgren, and he has the following question: +p101 +aVSenator Cruz, I wanna talk to you about this, because many of the Facebook users and -- and -- the -- the folks on Facebook wanted the candidates to speak to +p102 +aVYou don't see it as... ...an ideological problem -- an ideological problem in addition to a military one? +p103 +aVGovernor Bush, for days on end in this campaign, you struggled to answer a question about whether knowing what we know now... +p104 +aV...we would've invaded Iraq... +p105 +aVI remember it too, and +p106 +aVGovernor Walker, in February you said that we needed to gain partners in the Arab world. Which Arab country not already in the U.S. led coalition has potential to be our greatest partner? +p107 +aVDr. Carson, in one of his first acts as commander in chief, President Obama signed an executive order banning enhanced interrogation techniques in fighting terror. As president, would you bring back water boarding? +p108 +aVWe have a lot for you, don't worry. Fear not, you may rue that request. +p109 +aVIt's just before 10:00 p.m. on the East Coast. Welcome back to Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, and the very first Republican primary debate of the 2016 presidential campaign. Ten candidates on the stage, selected based on their standing in five national polls. And tonight they are facing off, answering the questions you want asked. We hope. +p110 +aV Sounds like somebody's a little R-rated. +p111 +aVWell, the first debate night of the 2016 presidential campaign continues from Cleveland after a short time-out. Stick around. Social issues, next. +p112 +aVSenator Rubio, you favor a rape and incest exception to abortion bans. Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York just said yesterday those exceptions are preposterous. He said they discriminate against an entire class of human beings. If you believe that life begins at conception, as you say you do, how do you justify ending a life just because it begins violently, through no fault of the baby? +p113 +aVYou don't favor a rape and incest exception? +p114 +aVMr. Trump, in 1999, you said you were, quote, "very pro- choice." Even supporting partial-birth abortion. You favored an assault weapons ban as well. In 2004, you said in most cases you identified as a Democrat. Even in this campaign, your critics say you often sound more like a Democrat than a Republican, calling several of your opponents on the stage things like clowns and puppets. When did you actually become a Republican? +p115 +aVGovernor Bush, I want to ask you, on the subject of name calling of your fellow candidates, a story appeared today quoting an anonymous GOP donor who said you called Mr. Trump a clown, a buffoon, something else that cannot be repeated on television. +p116 +aVIs it true? +p117 +aVMr. Trump, 30 seconds. +p118 +aVThe subject of gay marriage and religious liberty. Governor Kasich, if you had a son or daughter who was gay or lesbian, how would you explain to them your opposition to same-sex marriage? +p119 +aVHow would you -- how would you explain it to a child? +p120 +aVSenator Paul, in the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling on same sex marriage, Carol Fox on Facebook want to know the following. Quote: what will you do to ensure Christians are not prosecuted for speaking out against gay marriage and will Christians be forced to conduct business that conflicts with their religious beliefs? +p121 +aVGovernor Walker, many in the Black Lives Matter movement, and beyond, believe that overly-aggressive police officers targeting young African Americans is the civil rights issue of our time. Do you agree? And if so, how do you plan to address it? And if not, why not? +p122 +aVThank you. +p123 +aVWe have to stand you by, because after the break, we're going to let the candidates make their closing statements, their final thoughts, and . . . God. Stay tuned for that. +p124 +aVWelcome back. In our final moments here together, we're going to allow the candidates to offer their final thoughts. But first, we want to ask them an interesting closing question from Chase Norton on Facebook, who wants to know this of the candidates: "I want to know if any of them have received a word from God on what they should do and take care of first." Senator Cruz, start from you. Any word from God? +p125 +aVGovernor Kasich, same question. +p126 +aVGovernor Walker, same question. +p127 +aVSenator Rubio, I want to ask you the same question. But I do want to mention, a woman just came here to the stage and asked, what about the veterans? I want to hear more about what these candidates are going to do for our nation's veterans. So I put the question to you about God and the veterans, which you may find to be related. +p128 +aVDr. Carson, a question to you about God and his role, but also, one of the issues that the public was very interested in, and we touched on it earlier, is race relations in this country, and how divided we seem right now. And what, if anything, you can do -- you would do as the next president to help heal that divide. +p129 +aVGovernor Christie? +p130 +aVSenator Ted Cruz. +p131 +aVGovernor Scott Walker. +p132 +aVIt's over! +p133 +aVAre you relieved? You were nervous before, they -- they don't look relieved. They look "get me outta here." Thank you all very much, and that will do it for the first Republican primary debate night of the 2016 presidential race. Our thanks to the candidates, who will now be joined by their families on stage. +p134 +asVRUBIO +p135 +(lp136 +VThank you Wolf. It's really amazing to be back in Las Vegas. I spent six years as a child growing not far from where we stand tonight. I use to sit on the porch of our home and listen to my grandfather tell stories as he smoked one of three daily cigars. One of the things my grandfather instilled in me, was that I was really blessed because I was a citizen of the greatest country in the history of our mankind. But there have always been people in American politics that wanted America to be more like the rest of the world. And In 2008, one of them was elected president of this country and the result has been a disaster. Today you have millions of Americans that feel left out and out of place in their own country, struggling to live paycheck to paycheck, called bigots because they hold on to traditional values. And around the world, America's influence has declined while this president has destroyed our military, our allies no longer trust us, and our adversaries no longer respect us. And that is why this election is so important. That is why I'm running for president. And that's why I'm going to ask you for your vote tonight. If you elect me president, we will have a president that believes America is the greatest country in the world and we will have a president that acts like it. +p137 +aVWell, I understand why they feel that way, because this president hasn't kept us safe. The problem is we had an attack in San Bernardino. And we were paying attention to the most important issue we have faced in a decade since 9/11, and then all the talk was about this proposal, which isn't going to happen. But this is what's important to do is we must deal frontally with this threat of radical Islamists, especially from +p138 +aVHe is and so are those that voted for it. There were some that voted for it because they wanted to keep it alive and they were afraid the whole program would expire. Here's the world we live in. This is a radical jihadist group that is increasingly sophisticated in its ability, for example, to radicalize American citizens, in its inability to exploit loopholes in our legal immigration system, in its ability to capture and hold territory in the Middle East, as I outlined earlier, in multiple countries. This is not just the most capable, it is the most sophisticated terror threat we have ever faced. We are now at a time when we need more tools, not less tools. And that took we lost, the metadata program, was a valuable tool that we no longer have at our disposal. +p139 +aVDana, may I interject here? +p140 +aVLet me be very careful when answering this, because I don't think national television in front of 15 million people is the place to discuss classified information. So let me just be very clear. There is nothing that we are allowed to do under this bill that we could not do before. This bill did, however, take away a valuable tool that allowed the National Security Agency and other law \u2014 and other intelligence agencies to quickly and rapidly access phone records and match them up with other phone records to see who terrorists have been calling. Because I promise you, the next time there is attack on \u2014 an attack on this country, the first thing people are going to want to know is, why didn't we know about it and why didn't we stop it? And the answer better not be because we didn't have access to records or information that would have allowed us to identify these killers before they attacked. +p141 +aVI want to thank Rand for another 30 seconds, because, number one, what he's pointing to is a bill last week that \u2014 amendment that he voted for that only 10 people voted for. You know why? Because it's not focused on terrorists. It would have banned anyone from coming here. Someone from Taiwan would not have been able to come here as a tourist. Number two, this program, this metadata program is actually more strict than what a regular law enforcement agency has now. If a regular law enforcement agency wants your phone records, all they have to do is issue a subpoena. But now the intelligence agency is not able to quickly gather records and look at them to see who these terrorists are calling. And the terrorists that attacked us in San Bernardino was an American citizen, born and raised in this country. And I bet you we wish we would have had access to five years of his records so we could see who he was working with... +p142 +aVDo I get another 30 seconds? He mentioned me. +p143 +aVWell, let me begin by saying that we have to understand who +p144 +aVThat is accurate. Three times he voted against the Defense Authorization Act, which is a bill that funds the troops. It also, by the way, funds the Iron Dome and other important programs. And I have to assume that if you vote against it in the Senate, you would also veto it as president. He has also supported, by the way, a budget that is called the containment budget. And it is a budget that would radically reduce the amount of money we spend on our military. You can't carpet bomb +p145 +aVYes, let me \u2014 three points of distinction. The first is, if you're an American citizen and you decide to join up with +p146 +aVWell, they most certainly will have to be worked on to provide more than what they are doing now. There's no doubt about it. And there's one \u2014 one major reason why they have not been willing to be a broader part of the coalition, and that is they have lost complete trust and confidence in this president. This president cut a deal with their moral enemy, the Shia, in Iran. And this is the reason why they no longer trust this president and are willing to work alongside them. But they have as much invested in this as we do. In fact, more so, for it is the king of Saudi Arabia they want to behead first. It's the king of Jordan that they want to dethrone. It's the \u2014 they want to go into Egypt the way they've already gone into Libya. And on another point that we need to talk about, Assad is one of the main reasons why +p147 +aVTo begin with, Moammar Gadhafi and the revolt against Gadhafi was not started by the United States. It was started by the Libyan people. And the reason why I argued we needed to get involved is because he was going to go one way or the other. And my argument then was proven true, and that is, the longer that civil war took, the more militias would be formed and the more unstable the country would be after the fact. As far as Moammar Gadhafi is concerned, by the way, Moammar Gadhafi is the man that killed those Americans over Lockerbie, Scotland. Moammar Gadhafi is also the man that bombed that cafe in Berlin and killed those Marines. And you want to know why Moammar Gadhafi started cooperating on his nuclear program? Because we got rid of Saddam Hussein. And so he got scared that he would be next, and that's why he started cooperating. Look, we will have to work around the world with less than ideal governments. The government in Saudi Arabia is not a democracy, but we will have to work with them. The government in Jordan is not perfect, but we will have to work with them. But anti-American dictators like Assad, who help Hezbollah, who helped get those IEDs into Iraq, if they go, I will not shed a tear. +p148 +aVYeah. Immigration is not an issue that I read about in the newspaper or watch a documentary on PBS or CNN. It's an issues I've lived around my whole life. My family are immigrants. My wife's family are immigrants. All of my neighbors are immigrants. I see every aspect of this problem. The good, the bad, and the ugly. And here's what we learned in 2013. The American people don't trust the Federal Government to enforce our immigration laws, and we will not be able to do anything on immigration until we first prove to the American people that illegal immigration is under control. And we can do that. We know what it takes to do that. It takes at least 20,000 more additional border agents. It takes completing those 700 miles of fencing. It takes a mandatory e-verify system and a mandatory entry/exit tracking system to prevent overstays. After we have done that, the second thing we have to do is reform and modernize the legal immigration system. And after we have done those two things, I think the American people are gonna be reasonable with what do you do with someone who has been in this country for 10 or 12 years who hasn't otherwise violated our laws \u2014 because if they're a criminal they can't stay. They'll have to undergo a background check, pay a fine, start paying taxes. And ultimately, they'll given a work permit and that's all they're gonna be allowed to have for at least 10 years. But you can't get to that third step until you have done the other two things, and that was the lesson we learned in 2013. There is no trust that the Federal Government will enforce the law. They will not support you until you see it done first. +p149 +aVBut I've answered that question repeatedly. I am personally open \u2014 after all that has happened and after ten years in that probationary status where all they have is a permit, I personally am open to allowing people to apply for a green card. That may not be a majority position in my party, but that's down the road. You can't even begin that process until you prove to people \u2014 not just pass a law that says you're gonna bring illegal immigration under control. You're gonna have to do it and prove to people that it's working. And that was the lesson of 2013. And it's more true today, than it was then. After a migratory crisis on the border with minors coming over that you're seeing start up again now, after all these executive orders the President has issued. More than ever we need to... +p150 +aV... prove to people that illegal immigration is under control. +p151 +aVYeah, a couple points. In 2013 we had never faced a crisis like the Syrian refugee crisis now. Up until that point, a refugee meant someone fleeing oppression, fleeing Communism like it is in my community. As far as Ted's record, I'm always puzzled by his attack on this issue. Ted, you support legalizing people who are in this country illegally. Ted Cruz supported a 500-percent increase in the number of H-1 visas, the guest workers that are allowed into this country, and Ted supports doubling the number of green cards. So I think what's important for us to understand and there is a way forward on this issue that we an bring our country together on. And while I'm president I will do it. And it will begin by bringing illegal immigration under control and proving to the American people. +p152 +aVNo, no, give him time. +p153 +aVTed, do you... +p154 +aVDid Ted Cruz fight to support legalizing people that are in this country illegally? +p155 +aVDoes Ted Cruz rule out ever legalizing people that are in this country now? +p156 +aVWould you rule it out? +p157 +aVWell, he's just admitted \u2014 as he's just admitted, the reason why those refugees were allowed in was because they messed up in how they used the actual database. They should have know. They didn't because they didn't run the actual law as it exists now. It didn't work well. As far as the refugees are concerned, it's not that America doesn't want to accept refugees, Wolf. It's that we may not be able to, because this is an issue we have to be 100 percent right on. If we allow 9,999 Syrian refugees into the United States, and all of them are good people, but we allow one person in who's an +p158 +aVI do. First, let's explain to people at home who the triad \u2014 what the triad is. Maybe a lot of people haven't heard that terminology before. The triad is our ability of the United States to conduct nuclear attacks using airplanes, using missiles launched from silos or from the ground, and also from our nuclear subs' ability to attack. And it's important \u2014 all three of them are critical. It gives us the ability at deterrence. Now, some have become more critical than others; for example, the submarines. And that's the Ohio Class submarine that needs to be modernized. The air component also needs to be modernized. The B-52, as someone earlier pointed out, is an outdated model that was flown by the grandparents of people that are flying it now. And we need a serious modernization program as well on our silo-launched missiles. All three are critical for the defense of the country. +p159 +aVThank you. As we near the end of this year, we enter one of the most important elections in a generation. For what's at stake in this election is not simply what party's going to be in charge. But our very identity as a people and as a nation. For over 200 years this has been a special country. A unique place where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything. But now millions of Americans feel like they're being left behind. Insecure in their future and unsafe in the face of terrorism. This election is about electing a president that will restore our economic vibrancy so that the American dream can expand to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And rebuild our Military and our intelligence programs so that we can remain the strongest nation on earth. Tonight I ask you for your vote. If you do this, we will rebuild this country, and together we will usher in a new American century \u2014 the greatest era in the history of this great land. +p160 +aVWell, let me begin by answering both the first question and this one, because they're related. As I've said many times before, my parents were never rich people. My father was a bartender. My mother was a maid. They worked for a living. But they were successful people, because, despite the fact that they weren't well educated and had those jobs, they made enough money to buy a home in a safe and stable neighborhood, retire with dignity, leave all four of their children better off than themselves. We call that the American dream, but in fact, it's a universal dream of a better life that people have all over the world. It is a reminder that every country in the world has rich people. What makes America special is that we have millions and millions of people that are not rich, that through hard work and perseverance are able to be successful. The problem is that today people are not successful working as hard as ever because the economy is not providing jobs that pay enough. If I thought that raising the minimum wage was the best way to help people increase their pay, I would be all for it, but it isn't. In the 20th century, it's a disaster. If you raise the minimum wage, you're going to make people more expensive than a machine. And that means all this automation that's replacing jobs and people right now is only going to be accelerated. Here's the best way to raise wages. Make America the best place in the world to start a business or expand an existing business, tax reform and regulatory reform, bring our debt under control, fully utilize our energy resources so we can reinvigorate manufacturing, repeal and replace Obamacare, and make higher education faster and easier to access, especially vocational training. For the life of me, I don't know why we have stigmatized vocational education. Welders make more money than philosophers. We need more welders and less philosophers. If we do that \u2014 and if we do this \u2014 if we do this, we will be able to increase wages for millions of Americans and we will be able to leave everyone better off without making anyone worse off. +p161 +aVWell, you know, that's an excellent question, because what we are going through in this country is not simply an economic downturn. We are living through a massive economic transformation. I mean, this economy is nothing like what it was like five years ago, not to mention 15 or 20 years ago. And it isn't just a different economy. It's changing faster than ever. You know, it took the telephone 75 years to reach 100 million users. It took Candy Crush one year to reach some 100 million users. So the world is changing faster than ever, and it is disruptive. Number one, we are in a global competition now, and several of the candidates have said that. There are now dozens of developed economies on this planet that we have to compete with. And we lose that competition because we have the highest business tax rate in the industrialized world, because we have regulations that continue to grow by the billions every single week, because we have a crazy health care law that discourages companies from hiring people, but because we're not fully utilizing our energy resources, that if we did, it would bring back all kinds of growth, especially in manufacturing, and because we have an outdated higher education system. Our higher education system is completely outdated. It is too expensive, too hard to access, and it doesn't teach 21st century skills. If we do what needs to be done \u2014 tax reform, regulatory reform, fully utilize our energy resources, repeal and replace Obamacare, and modernize higher education, then we can grasp the potential and the promise of this new economy. And we won't just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And then truly this new century can be a new American century. +p162 +aVThe most important job I'm ever going to have, the most important job anyone in this room will ever have, is the job of being a parent. Not the job of being president, or the job of being a senator, or the job of being a congressman. The most important job any of us will ever do is the job of being a president (sic), because the most important institution in society is the family. If the family breaks down, society breaks down. You can't have a strong nation without strong values, and no one is born with strong values. They have to be taught to you in strong families and reinforced in you in strong communities. And so when we set out to do tax reform, we endeavor to have a pro-family tax code, and we endeavor to do it because we know how difficult it is for families in the 21st century to afford the cost of living. It is expensive to raise children in the 21st century, and families that are raising children are raising the future taxpayers of the United States, and everything costs more. In 35 out of 50 states, child care costs more than college. There are millions of people watching this broadcast tonight that understand exactly what I'm talking about. They don't know how they're going to make that payment every month, and if they can't make it, they can't work, because someone needs to watch their kids during the day. They don't know how they're going to save for their kids' future, to go to college. And so, yes, I have a child tax credit increase, and I'm proud of it. I am proud that I have a pro-family tax code, because the pro- family tax plan I have will strengthen the most important institution in the \u2014 in the country, the family. +p163 +aVNow I get my 60 seconds to respond. He's talking about my tax plan. +p164 +aVSo let me begin with this. I actually believe \u2014 first of all, this is their money. They do pay. It is refundable, not just against the taxes they pay to the government, but also the \u2014 on their federal income tax, it's refundable against the payroll tax. Everyone pays payroll tax. This is their money. This is not our money. And here's what I don't understand \u2014 if you invest that money in a piece of equipment, if you invest that money in a business, you get to write it off your taxes. But if you invest it in your children, in the future of America and strengthening your family, we're not going to recognize that in our tax code? The family is the most important institution in society. And, yes... +p165 +aV... I do want to rebuild the American military. +p166 +aVI know that Rand is a committed isolationist. I'm not. I believe the world is a stronger and a better place, when the United States is the strongest military power in the world. +p167 +aVBecause... +p168 +aV...are you talking about the military, Rand? +p169 +aVWe can't even have an economy if we're not safe. There are radical jihadist in the Middle East beheading people and crucifying Christians. A radical Shia cleric in Iran trying to get a nuclear weapon, the Chinese taking over the South China Sea... ...Yes, I believe the world is a safer \u2014 no, no, I don't believe, I know that the world is a safer place when America is the strongest military power in the world. +p170 +aVYou know, if I may respond... +p171 +aVI need to add a couple of points to this. The first is, I've never met Vladimir Putin, but I know enough about him to know he is a gangster. He is basically an organized crime figure that runs a country, controls a $2 trillion economy. And is using to build up his military in a rapid way despite the fact his economy is a disaster. He understands only geopolitical strength. And every time he has acted anywhere in the world, whether it's in Ukraine or Georgia before that, or now in the Middle East, it's because he is trusting in weakness. His calculation in the Middle East is that he has seen what this president has done, which is nothing, the president has no strategy, our allies in the region do not trust us. For goodness sake, there is only one pro-American free enterprise democracy in the Middle East, it is the state of Israel. And we have a president that treats the prime minister of Israel with less respect than what he gives the ayatollah in Iran. And so our allies in the region don't trust us. Vladimir Putin is exploiting that weakness, for purposes of edging the Americans out as the most important geopolitical power broker in the region. And we do have a vested interest. And here's why. Because all those radical terrorist groups that, by the way, are not just in Syria and in Iraq, +p172 +aVCan I just add what \u2014 he's right on point there. Do you know why these banks are so big? The government made them big. The government made them big by adding thousands and thousands of pages of regulations. So the big banks, they have an army of lawyers, they have an army of compliance officers. They can deal with all these things. The small banks, like Governor Bush was saying, they can't deal with all these regulations. They can't deal with all \u2014 they cannot hire the fanciest law firm in Washington or the best lobbying firm to deal with all these regulations. And so the result is, the big banks get bigger, the small banks struggle to lend or even exist, and the result is what you have today. And in Dodd-Frank, you have actually codified too big to fail. We have actually created a category of systemically important institutions, and these banks go around bragging about it. You know what they say to people with a wink and a nod? We are so big, we are so important that if we get in trouble, the government has to bail us out. This is an outrage. We need to repeal Dodd-Frank as soon as possible. +p173 +aVWell, that's a great question, and let me begin by answering it. This election is about the future, about what kind of country this nation is gonna be in the 21st century. This next (ph) election is actually a generational choice. A choice about what kind of nation we will be in the 21st century. For over 2.5 centuries, America's been a special country, the one place on earth where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything, a nation that's been a force for good on this planet. But now, a growing number of Americans feel out of place in their own country. We have a society that stigmatizes those that hold cultural values that are traditional. We have a society where people \u2014 millions of people \u2014 are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, but they're living paycheck to paycheck because the economy has changed underneath their feet. We have young Americans who owe thousands of dollars in student loans for a degree that doesn't lead to a job. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses dying than starting, and around the world, every day brings news of a new humiliation for America \u2014 many the direct response \u2014 direct consequence of decisions made when Hillary Clinton was the secretary of the \u2014 of state. And so here's the truth: this election is about the future, and the Democratic Party, and the political left has no ideas about the future. All their ideas are the same, tired ideas of the past. More government, more spending. For every issue for America, their answer is a new tax on someone, and a new government program. This nation is going to turn the page, and that's what this election should be about, and, as I said at the first debate... ...If I am our nominee, they will be the party of the past, we will be the party of the 21st century. +p174 +aVOurs \u2014 the story of America is an extraordinary story. It is the story of a nation that for over two centuries each generation has left the next better off than themselves. But now, because Washington is out of touch, for the fault of both political parties, for the first time in our history, that is in doubt. And that is what this election must be about, because if the next four years are anything like the last eight years, our children will be the first Americans ever left worse off by their parents. This election is about making a different choice, about applying our principles of limited government and free enterprise to the unique issues of our time. And if we do, we will not just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And the 21st century can be a new American century. So tonight, I ask you for your vote and I ask you to join us at my website, marcorubio.com. +p175 +aVThank you for that question. I would begin by saying that I'm not sure it's a weakness, but I do believe that I share a sense of optimism for America's future that, today, is eroding from too many of our people. I think there's a sense in this country today that somehow our best days are behind us. And that doesn't have to be true. Our greatest days lie ahead if we are willing to do what it takes now. If we're willing to do what it takes now, the 21st century is going to be the new American century, greater than any other era we've had in the history of this great nation. +p176 +aVThat's an interesting question. That's exactly what the Republican establishment says too. Why don't you wait in line? Wait for what? This country is running out of time. We can't afford to have another four years like the last eight years. Watching this broadcast tonight are millions of people that are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, everything costs more, and they haven't had a raise in decades. You have small businesses in America that are struggling. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses closing than starting. We have a world that's out of control and has grown dangerous and a president that is weakening our military and making our foreign policy unstable and unreliable in the eyes of our allies. And our adversaries continue to grow stronger. We have a \u2014 they say there's no bipartisanship in Washington? We have a $19 trillion bipartisan debt and it continues to grow as we borrow money from countries that do not like us to pay for government we cannot afford. The time to act is now. The time to turn the page is now. If we \u2014 if we don't act now, we are going to be the first generation in American history that leaves our children worse off than ourselves. +p177 +aVLet me say, I read that editorial today with a great amusement. It's actually evidence of the bias that exists in the American media today. +p178 +aVLet me \u2014 let me answer your question on the Sun-Sentinel editorial today. Back in 2004, one of my predecessors to the Senate by the name of Bob Graham, a Democrat, ran for president missing over 30 percent of his votes. I don't recall them calling for his resignation \u2014 +p179 +aVLater that year, in 2004, John Kerry ran for president missing close to 60 to 70 percent of his votes. I don't recall the Sun \u2014 in fact, the Sun-Sentinel endorsed him. In 2008, Barack Obama missed 60 or 70 percent of his votes, and the same newspaper endorsed him again. So this is another example of the double standard that exists in this country between the mainstream media and the conservative movement. +p180 +aVI get to respond, right? +p181 +aVWell, it's interesting. Over the last few weeks, I've listened to Jeb as he walked around the country and said that you're modeling your campaign after John McCain, that you're going to launch a furious comeback the way he did, by fighting hard in New Hampshire and places like that, carrying your own bag at the airport. You know how many votes John McCain missed when he was carrying out that furious comeback that you're now modeling after? +p182 +aVNo Jeb, I don't remember \u2014 well, let me tell you. I don't remember you ever complaining about John McCain's vote record. The only reason why you're doing it now is because we're running for the same position, and someone has convinced you that attacking me is going to help you. +p183 +aVHere's the bottom line. I'm not \u2014 my campaign is going to be about the future of America, it's not going to be about attacking anyone else on this stage. I will continue to have tremendous admiration and respect for Governor Bush. I'm not running against Governor Bush, I'm not running against anyone on this stage. I'm running for president because there is no way we can elect Hillary Clinton to continue the policies of Barack Obama. +p184 +aVWell, you just \u2014 you just listed a litany of discredited attacks from Democrats and my political opponents, and I'm not gonna waste 60 seconds detailing them all. But I'm going to tell you the truth. Here's the truth. I didn't inherit any money. My dad was a bartender, my mother was a maid. They worked hard to provide us the chance at a better life. They didn't save enough money for us to go to school. I had to work my way through school. I had to borrow money to go to school. I tried (ph), early in my marriage, explaining to my wife why someone named Sallie Mae was taking $1,000 out of our bank account every month. I know what it's like to owe that money, and we've worked hard. We've worked hard our whole life to provide a better family \u2014 a better life for our family. We own a home four blocks away from the place that I grew up in. My four children have been able to receive a good Christian education, and I've been able to save for them to go to college so they never have to have the loans that I did. But I'm not worried about my finances, I'm worried about the finances of everyday Americans who today are struggling in an economy that is not producing good paying jobs while everything else costs more. And that's what this economy needs to \u2014 that's what this debate needs to be about. This debate needs to be about the men and women across this country that are struggling on a daily basis to provide for their families the better future that we've always said this country is all about. +p185 +aVAnd I used it to pay off my loans. And it's available on paperback, if you're interested in buying my book. +p186 +aVYeah, again, as I said, we're raising a family in the 21st century and it's one of the reasons why my tax plan is a pro- family tax plan. It increases the per child tax credit, because I didn't read about this in a book. I know for a fact how difficult it is to raise children, how expensive it's become for working families. And I make a lot more than the average American. Imagine how hard it is for these people out there that are making 40, 50, $60,000 a year, and they're trying to provide for their families at a time when this economy is not growing. We can't afford another four years of that. Which is what we're gonna get if we elect a big government liberal like Hillary Clinton to the White House. Thank you, senator. +p187 +aVWell, first of all, if a company gets caught doing that, they should never be able to use the program again. If you get caught abusing this program, you should never be able to use it again. The second thing I said is we need to add reforms, not just increase the numbers, but add reforms. For example, before you hire anyone from abroad, you should have to advertise that job for 180 days. You also have to prove that you're going to pay these people more than you would pay someone else, so that you're not undercutting it by bringing in cheap labor. But here's the best solution of all. We need to get back to training people in this country to do the jobs of the 21st century. Why, for the life of me, I do not understand why did we stop doing vocational education in America, people that can work with their hands; people you can train to do this work while they're still in high school so they can graduate ready to go work. But the best way to close this gap is to modernize higher education so Americans have the skills for those jobs. But in the interim, in the absence of that, what's happening is some of these tech companies are taking those \u2014 those centers (ph) to Canada because they can get people to go over there instead of here. But the ideal scenario is to train Americans to do the work so we don't have to rely on people from abroad. +p188 +aVWell, I believe that there are abuses, those companies should be permanently barred from ever using the program again and we should put strict standards in place to ensure that they're not being abused, like the prevailing wage requirement and like the advertising requirement. +p189 +aVSince I've been mentioned, can I respond? +p190 +aVOK. I know the Democrats have the ultimate SuperPac. It's called the mainstream media who every single day... ... and I'll tell you why. Last week, Hillary Clinton went before a committee. She admitted she had sent e-mails to her family saying, "Hey, this attack at Benghazi was caused by Al Qaida-like elements." She spent over a week telling the families of those victims and the American people that it was because of a video. And yet the mainstream media is going around saying it was the greatest week in Hillary Clinton's campaign. It was the week she got exposed as a liar. It was the week that she got exposed as a liar... But she has her super PAC helping her out, the American mainstream media. +p191 +aVNo, that's \u2014 you're wrong. In fact, the largest after- tax gains is for the people at the lower end of the tax spectrum under my plan. And there's a bunch of things my tax plan does to help them. Number one, you have people in this country that... +p192 +aV...you wrote a story on it, and you had to go back and correct it. +p193 +aVYou did. No, you did. +p194 +aVWell, you're talking about \u2014 yeah. +p195 +aVYeah, but that \u2014 because the math is, if you \u2014 5 percent of a million is a lot more than 5 percent of a thousand. So yeah, someone who makes more money... +p196 +aV...numerically, it's gonna be higher. But the greatest gains, percentage-wise, for people, are gonna be at the lower end of our plan, and here's why: because in addition to a general personal exemption, we are increasing the per-child tax credit for working families. We are lowering taxes on small business. You know, a lot of business activity in America is conducted like the guy that does my dry cleaning. He's an S corporation. He pays on his personal rate, and he is paying higher than the big dry-cleaning chain down the street, because he's paying at his personal rate. Under my plan, no business, big or small, will pay more than 25 percent flat rate on their business income. That is a dramatic tax decrease for hard-working people who run their own businesses. +p197 +aV...The other thing I'd like to make about our plan, one more point, it is the most pro growth tax plan that I can imagine because it doesn't tax investments at all. You know why? Because the more you tax something, the less of it you get. I want to be in \u2014 I want America to be the best... +p198 +aV...in the world for people... +p199 +aVI was mentioned in the question. +p200 +aVThank you. Well, I've learned the rules on this. Look, in addition to what Donald was saying is we also need to talk about the legal immigration system for permanent residents. Today, we have a legal immigration system for permanent residency that is largely based on whether or not you have a relative living here. And that's the way my parents came legally in 1956. But in 2015, we have a very different economy. Our legal immigration system from now on has to be merit-based. It has to be based on what skills you have, what you can contribute economically, and most important of all, on whether or not you're coming here to become an American, not just live in America, but be an American. +p201 +aVNo. No. What I said was that I think that Dr. Carson's ideas are good ideas. They're not my ideas, and I don't necessarily agree with all of them. But this is what you're seeing in the Republican debate that you didn't see in that Democrat debate. You didn't see it for a minute. You didn't see these kind of ideas being batted around, and being batted around in a way that's civil and smart and that's trying to help to inform the voter out there. What you saw was a parade of, "I'll give you this for free; I'll give you that for free." Let me tell you, everybody, when they say they want to give it to you for free, keep your hands on your wallets because they're coming to you to pay for it. And that's why I think these ideas up here are great, and that's what we should have is have more discussions like this and less gotcha. +p202 +aVI want to take off from that point and argue the same thing. And that is that one of the things you're watching tonight are 11 quality candidates debating an important issue. The Republican Party is blessed to have 11 good candidates, 10 good candidates. The Democrats can't even come up with one. And on this issue of the Medicare in particular, it's important because they're going to demagogue what we're saying here tonight. Everyone up here tonight that's talking about reforms, I think and I know for myself I speak to this, we're all talking about reforms for future generations. Nothing has to change for current beneficiaries. My mother is on Medicare and Social Security. I'm against anything that's bad for my mother. So, we're talking about \u2014 we're talking about reform for people like me and people like Senator Cruz, as he talked about earlier, who are years away from retirement that have a way to plan for these changes, and way that's very reasonable. And it's not too much to ask of our generation after everything our parents and our grandparents did for us. +p203 +aVYou know, America doesn't owe me anything. I have a debt to America I'll never repay. This isn't just the country I was born in, this is the nation that literally changed the history of my family. My parents in this country were able to give me the chance to do all the things they never did. We call that the American Dream, although, it's built on the universal dream of a better life. The fact that it's happened for so many people here throughout our history, that's what makes us special. But, now for millions of Americans, it's slipping away. And, we have a government and leaders in government that are completely out of touch, and that's why I'm running for president. Because we can't just save the American Dream, we can expand it to reach more people, and change more lives than ever before. And, that's why tonight I'm asking you for your vote. +p204 +aVThank you. My name is Marco Rubio. I'm from Florida. My wife Jeanette and I are the proud \u2014 we've been married 17 years, and we're the proud parents of four children, two of whom were able to join us here this evening. I'm honored to be here at the Reagan Library, at a place that honors the legacy of a man who inspired not just my interest in public service, but also our love for country. And I'm also aware that California has a drought, and so that's why I made sure I brought my own water. +p205 +aVWell, first of all, I have an understanding of exactly what it is Russia and Putin are doing, and it's pretty straightforward. He wants to reposition Russia, once again, as a geopolitical force. He himself said that the destruction of the Soviet Union \u2014 the fall of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century, and now he's trying to reverse that. He's trying to destroy +p206 +aVLet me tell you \u2014 I will tell you we have zero responsibility, because let's remember what the president said. He said the attack he would conduct would be a pinprick. Well, the United States military was not build to conduct pinprick attacks. If the United States military is going to be engaged by a commander-in-chief, it should only be engaged in an endeavor to win. And we're not going to authorize use of force if you're not put in a position where they can win. And quite frankly, people don't trust this president as commander-in-chief because of that. +p207 +aVHold on, a second, Jake, he asked me, as well. I'd like to actually... +p208 +aV... respond. I think I'm the first senator. The No. 1 test for use of military force should be the vital national security interest of the United States. The reason why I opposed President Obama bombing Syria, is because he couldn't answer the question what do you do if chemical weapons end up in the hands of radical Islamic terrorists like al-Nusra, like Al Qaida, like +p209 +aVIn the middle of negotiating this treaty, Khamenei led the assembled masses in chanting, death to America. I'm reminded of a great editorial cartoon. It shows the Ayatollah Khamenei saying, "Death to all Americans," and then it shows John Kerry coming back, saying, "Can we meet ya half way?" We need a commander-in-chief who will stand up and protect this country. And I'll tell you, I can't wait to stand on that debate stage with Hillary Clinton and to make abundantly clear if you vote for Hillary, you are voting for the Ayatollah Khomeini to possess a nuclear weapon and if you elect me as president, under no circumstances will a theocratic ayatollah who chants death to America ever be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon. +p210 +aVMs. Dana, I agree that English is the unifying language of our country, and everyone should learn to speak it. It's important. I want to tell you a story about someone that didn't speak English that well. It was my grandfather; he came to this country in the 1960s, as a \u2014 escaping Cuba. And he lived with us, growing up. And my grandfather loved America. He understood what was so special about this country. He loved Ronald Reagan; he would be very proud of the fact that we're here this evening. My grandfather instilled in me the belief that I was blessed to live in the one society in all of human history where even I, the son of a bartender and a maid, could aspire to have anything, and be anything that I was willing to work hard to achieve. But he taught me that in Spanish, because it was the language he was most comfortable in. And he became a conservative, even though he got his news in Spanish. And so, I do give interviews in Spanish, and here's why \u2014 because I believe that free enterprise and limited government is the best way to help people who are trying to achieve upward mobility. And if they get their news in Spanish, I want them to hear that directly from me. Not from a translator at Univision. +p211 +aVWell, let me say that legal immigration is not an issue I read about in the newspaper. Immigration, illegal immigration, all the good aspects of immigration and all the negative ones as well, I live with. My family's immigrants. My neighbors are all immigrants. My in-laws are all immigrants. So I've seen every aspect of it, and I can tell you America doesn't have one immigration problem, it has three. First, despite the fact that we are the most generous country in the history of the world in allowing people to come here legally, we have people still coming illegally. Second, we have a legal immigration system that no longer works. It primary is built on the basis of whether you have a relative living here instead of merit. And third, we have 11 million or 12 million people, many of whom have been here for longer than a decade who are already here illegally. And we must deal with all three of these problems. We cannot deal with all three of these problems in one massive piece of legislation. I learned that. We tried it that way. Here's the way forward: First, we must \u2014 we must secure our border, the physical border, with \u2014 with a wall, absolutely. But we also need to have an entry/exit tracking system. 40 percent of the people who come here illegally come legally, and then they overstay the visa. We also need a mandatory e-verify system. After we've done that, step two would be to modernize our legal immigration system so you come to America on the basis of what you can contribute economically, not whether or not simply you have a relative living here. And after we've done those two things, I believe the American people... +p212 +aV... will be very reasonable and responsible about what you do with someone who's been here and isn't a criminal. If you're a criminal, obviously, you will not be able to stay. +p213 +aVYes, well, it does. But it's in the following way, this is an important question. I think if you're running for president, these are important issues, because look at around the world today. There is a lunatic in North Korea with dozens of nuclear weapons and long-range rocket that can already hit the very place in which we stand tonight. The Chinese are rapidly expanding their military. They hack into our computers. They're building artificial islands in the South China Sea, the most important shipping lane in the world. A gangster in Moscow is not just threatening Europe, he's threatening to destroy and divide +p214 +aVWell, that's why we have a debate. I think that we should have a deeper debate about these issues, because there is no more important decision that a president will make. +p215 +aVWell, you should ask him questions in detail about the foreign policy issues our president will confront, because you had better be able to lead our country on the first day. Not six months from now, not a year from now, on the first day in office, our president could very well confront a national security crisis. You can't predict it. Sometimes you cannot control it. And it is the most \u2014 the federal government does all kinds of things it's not supposed to be doing. It regulates bathrooms. It regulates schools that belong to local communities. But the one thing that the federal government must do, the one thing that only the federal government can do is keep us safe. And a president better be up-to-date on those issues on his first day in office, on her first day in office. +p216 +aVTrust (ph) me, I get that. OK. +p217 +aVI never get to addressed, and... +p218 +aV...and when I do, I'm gonna jump in. +p219 +aVYeah. He did. Let me \u2014 I'm proud to serve in the United States Senate. You know, when I ran five years ago, the entire leadership of my party in Washington lined up against me. But I'm glad I won. And I'm glad that I ran, because this country's headed in the wrong direction. And if we keep electing the same people, nothing is going to change. And you're right, I have missed some votes, and I'll tell you why, Mr. Trump. Because in my years in the Senate, I've figured out very quickly that the political establishment in Washington, D.C. in both political parties is completely out of touch with the lives of our people. You have millions of people in this country living paycheck to paycheck, and nothing is being done about it. We are about to leave our children with $18 trillion in \u2014 in \u2014 in debt, and they're about to raise the debt limit again. We have a world that grows increasingly dangerous, and we are eviscerating our military spending and signing deals with Iran. And these \u2014 if this thing continues, we are going to be the first Americans to leave our children worse off than ourselves. That's why I'm missing votes. Because I am leaving the Senate, I'm not running for re-election, and I'm running for president because I know this: unless we have the right president, we cannot make America fulfill its potential, but with the right person in office, the 21st century can be the greatest era that our nation has ever known. +p220 +aVI want to go even deeper \u2014 and I want to go even deeper in that direction, because I think the belief that somehow by retreating, America makes the world safer has been disproven every single time it's ever been tried. Syria's a perfect example of it. The uprising in Syria was not started by the United States; it was started by the Syrian people. And I warned at the time \u2014 this was three and a half years ago \u2014 I openly and repeatedly warned that if we did not find moderate elements on the ground that we could equip and arm, that void would be filled by radical jihadists. Well, the president didn't listen, the administration didn't follow through, and that's exactly what happened. That is why +p221 +aV... as you asked earlier today. +p222 +aVBut radical terrorism cannot be solved by intellect. It cannot \u2014 they require \u2014 what they need, is they need an operating space. That's what Afghanistan was for Al Qaida. It was a vacuum that they filled, and they created an operating space. That's why they had to be drawn out of there. That's why they had to be destroyed. It is the reason why +p223 +aVThere's a broader issue here, Hugh. And there's a broader issue here as well. First of all, the only people that follow the law are law-abiding people. Criminals by definition ignore the law, so you can pass all the gun laws in the world, like the left wants. The criminals are going to ignore it because they are criminals. Here's the real issue. The real issue \u2014 the real issue is not what are people using to commit violence, but why are they committing the violence? And here's the truth: Because you cannot separate the social, moral wellbeing of your people from their economic and other wellbeing. You cannot separate it. You can't have a strong country without strong people, you cannot have strong people without strong values, and you cannot have strong values without strong families and the institutions in this country that defend and support those families. +p224 +aVWell, and today, we have a left-wing government under this president that is undermining all of the institutions and society that support the family and teach those values. +p225 +aVBecause we're not going to destroy our economy the way the left-wing government that we are under now wants to do. We're not going to... +p226 +aVWell, and I don't \u2014 he may have lined up with their positions on this issue. But here is the bottom line. Every proposal they put forward are going to be proposals that will make it harder to do business in America, that will make it harder to create jobs in America. Single parents are already struggling across this country to provide for their families. Maybe a billionaire here in California can afford an increase in their utility rates, but a working family in Tampa, Florida, or anywhere across this country cannot afford it. So we are not going to destroy our economy. We are not going to make America a harder place to create jobs in order to pursue policies that will do absolutely nothing, nothing to change our climate, to change our weather, because America is a lot of things, the greatest country in the world, absolutely. But America is not a planet. And we are not even the largest carbon producer anymore, China is. And they're drilling a hole and digging anywhere in the world that they can get a hold of. So the bottom line is, I am not in favor of any policies that make America a harder place for people to live, or to work, or to raise their families. +p227 +aVJake, you mentioned me and called me a denier. Let me say, climate change... +p228 +aVOK. A skeptic. You can measure the climate. You can measure it. That's not the issue we're discussing. Here is what I'm skeptical of. I'm skeptical of the decisions that the left wants us to make, because I know the impact those are going to have and they're all going to be on our economy. They will not do a thing to lower the rise of the sea. They will not do a thing to cure the drought here in California. But what they will do is they will make America a more expensive place to create jobs. And today with millions of people watching this broadcast that are struggling paycheck to paycheck that do not know how they're going to pay their bills at the end of this month, I'm not in favor of anything that is going to make it harder for them to raise their family. +p229 +aVSenator Rubio, you mean? +p230 +aVI know we all look alike. +p231 +aVThe \u2014 Rosa Parks, an everyday American that changed the course of history. +p232 +aVWell, there are some people in Florida upset at me over a joke I made about Florida State, but, what the heck, I want my codename to be Gator. +p233 +aVOne of the things that made Ronald Reagan a great president, is that he understood that America was a unique nation, like any other that had existed throughout human history. He knew it was founded on universal principles that were powerful, the dignity of all people, human rights, the rights of all to live in freedom and liberty, and choose their own path in life. He didn't just believe it, he acted on it. That's why bringing down communism was so important to him. If I'm honored with the opportunity to be president, I hope that our Air Force One will fly, first and foremost, to our allies; in Israel, in South Korea, and Japan. They know we stand with them. That America can be counted on. It would also fly to China, not just to meet with our enemies, not just to meet with those adversaries of ours that are there, but also to meet with those that aspire to freedom and liberty within China. I would even invite them to my inauguration. We would also fly into Moscow and into Russia. And not just meet with the leaders of Russia, but also meet with those who aspire to freedom and liberty in Russia. And ultimately, I hope that my Air Force One, if I become president, will one day land in a free Cuba, where its people can choose its leaders and its own destiny. +p234 +aVWell, thank you for the question, Chris, and it's great to be here tonight. Let me begin by saying this: I'm not new to the political process; I was making a contribution as the speaker of the third largest and most diverse state in the country well before I even got into the Senate. I would add to that that this election cannot be a resume competition. It's important to be qualified, but if this election is a resume competition, then Hillary Clinton's gonna be the next president, because she's been in office and in government longer than anybody else running here tonight. Here's what this election better be about: This election better be about the future, not the past. It better be about the issues our nation and the world is facing today, not simply the issues we once faced. This country is facing an economy that has been radically transformed. You know, the largest retailer in the country and the world today, Amazon, doesn't even own a single store? And these changes have been disruptive. They have changed people's lives. The jobs that once sustained our middle class, they either don't pay enough or they are gone, and we need someone that understands that as our nominee. If I'm our nominee, how is Hillary Clinton gonna lecture me about living paycheck to paycheck? I was raised paycheck to paycheck. How is she -- how is she gonna lecture me -- how is she gonna lecture me about student loans? I owed over $100,000 just four years ago. If I'm our nominee, we will be the party of the future. +p235 +aVLet me set the record straight on a couple of things. The first is, the evidence is now clear that the majority of people coming across the border are not from Mexico. They're coming from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras. Those countries are the source of the people that are now coming in its majority. I also believe we need a fence. The problem is if El Chapo builds a tunnel under the fence, we have to be able to deal with that too. And that's why you need an e-verify system and you need an entry-exit tracking system and all sorts of other things to prevent illegal immigration. But I agree with what Governor Kasich just said. People are frustrated. This is the most generous country in the world when it comes to immigration. There are a million people a year who legally immigrate to the United States, and people feel like we're being taken advantage of. We feel like despite our generosity, we're being taken advantage of. And let me tell you who never gets talked about in these debates. The people that call my office, who have been waiting for 15 years to come to the United States. And they've paid their fees, and they hired a lawyer, and they can't get in. And they're wondering, maybe they should come illegally. And so these are important issues, and we should address it. It's a serious problem that needs to be addressed, and otherwise we're going to keep talking about this for the next 30 years, like we have for the last 30 years. +p236 +aVNot me. +p237 +aVActually, to be clear......he supported Charlie Crist. +p238 +aVHey, Charlie... +p239 +aVWell, first off, I too believe in curriculum reform. It is critically important in the 21st Century. We do need curriculum reform. And it should happen at the state and local level. That's. . . that's. . . that is where educational policy belongs, because if a parent is unhappy with what their child is being taught in school, they can go to that local school board or their state legislature, or their governor and get it changed. Here's the problem with Common Core. The Department of Education, like every federal agency, will never be satisfied. They will not stop with it being a suggestion. They will turn it into a mandate. In fact, what they will begin to say to local communities is, you will not get federal money unless do you things the way we want you to do it. And they will use Common Core or any other requirements that exists nationally to force it down the throats of our people in our states. +p240 +aVThat's a great question. +p241 +aVThat's a great question. First of all, it begins by having leaders that recognize that the economy we live in today is dramatically different from the one we had five years ago. It's an economy that now has placed us in global competition with dozens of other countries around the world. Now, the big companies that have connections with Washington, they can affect policies to help them, but the small companies like the one Tania is talking about, they're the ones that are struggling. The first thing we need to do is we need to even out the tax code for small businesses so that we lower their tax rate to 25 percent, just as we need to lower it for all businesses. We need to have a regulatory budget in America that limits the amount of regulations on our economy. We need to repeal and replace Obamacare and we need to improve higher education so that people can have access to the skills they need for 21st century jobs. And last but not least, we need to repeal Dodd-Frank. It is eviscerating small businesses and small banks. 20 \u2014 over 40 percent of small and mid-size banks that loan money to small businesses have been wiped out over the \u2014 since Dodd-Frank has passed. We need to repeal and replace Dodd-Frank. We need to make America fair again for all businesses, but especially those being run by small business owners. +p242 +aVWell, Megyn, first of all, I'm not sure that that's a correct assessment of my record. I would go on to add that I believe all-- +p243 +aVI have never said that. And I have never advocated that. What I have advocated is that we pass law in this country that says all human life at every stage of its development is worthy of protection. In fact, I think that law already exists. It is called the Constitution of the United States. And let me go further. I believe that every single human being is entitled to the protection of our laws, whether they can vote or not. Whether they can speak or not. Whether they can hire a lawyer or not. Whether they have a birth certificate or not. And I think future generations will look back at this history of our country and call us barbarians for murdering millions of babies who we never gave them a chance to live. +p244 +aVWell, first, let me say I think God has blessed us. He has blessed the Republican Party with some very good candidates. The Democrats can't even find one. And I believe God has blessed our country. This country has been extraordinarily blessed. And we have honored that blessing. And that's why God has continued to bless us. And he has blessed us with young men and women willing to risk their lives and sometimes die in uniform for the safety and security of our people. Unfortunately today we have a VA that does not do enough for them. I am proud that last year we helped change the law. We changed the law to give the power to the VA secretary the ability to fire any executive that isn't doing their job. And it is outrageous they've only fired one person to date. When I'm president of the United States, we're going to have a VA that cares more about our veterans than about the bureaucrats who work at the VA. +p245 +aVThank you. You know, both of my parents were born into poor families on the island of Cuba. They came to America because it was the only place where people like them could have a chance. Here in this country, they never made it big, but the very purpose of their life was to give us the chance to do all the things they never could. My father was a bartender. And the journey from the back of that bar to this stage tonight, to me, that is the essence of the American dream. It is what makes our nation different. And I'm running for president because I want that to still be possible for the people trying to do that now. I run for president because I believe that we can't just save the American dream; we can expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And that's why I'm asking for your vote. So we can make America greater than it has ever been. And make of this century a new American century. +p246 +asVKASICH +p247 +(lp248 +VThank you, Wolf. Just last weekend, just last week, a friend asked one of my daughters, "Do you like politics?" And my daughter said, "No, I don't. And the reason I don't like it is because there's too much fighting, too much yelling. It's so loud, I don't like it." You know, I turned to my friend and I said, "You know, she's really on to something." And when we think about our country and the big issues that we face in this country; creating jobs, making sure people can keep their jobs, the need for rising wages, whether our children when they graduate from college can find a job, protecting the homeland, destroying +p249 +aVWell, first of all, Wolf, I said last February that we needed to have people on the ground, troops on the ground in a coalition similar to what we had in the first Gulf War. I remember when the Egyptian ambassador to the United States stood in the Rose Garden and pledged Arab commitment to removing Saddam Hussein from Kuwait. Before we came out here tonight, I am told that the Saudis have organized 34 countries who want to join in the battle against terrorism. First and foremost, we need to go and destroy +p250 +aVNo, I don't think it is. And I want to go back to two other issues. One is the metadata. We know we have to hold this data for a longer period of time. And, you know, in a lot of ways, Chris is right. Look, what a president has to do is take a position. We don't want to err on the side of having less. We want to err on the side of having more. That's good for our families. In addition to that, Wolf, there is a big problem. It's called encryption. And the people in San Bernardino were communicating with people who the FBI had been watching. But because their phone was encrypted, because the intelligence officials could not see who they were talking to, it was lost. We have to solve the encryption problem. It is not easy. A president of the United States, again, has to bring people together, have a position. We need to be able to penetrate these people when they are involved in these plots and these plans. And we have to give the local authorities the ability to penetrate to disrupt. That's what we need to do. Encryption is a major problem, and Congress has got to deal with this and so does the president to keep us safe. +p251 +aVYeah, let me \u2014 let me just suggest to everybody, and I hear \u2014 last February, I said we needed to have people on the ground in a coalition with Europe and our allies. This is not going to get done just by working with the Sunnis. And it is not going to get done if we just embed a few people. We have to go massively, like we did in the first Gulf War where we destroyed Saddam's ability to take Kuwait. We need to have a coalition that will stand for nothing less than the total destruction of +p252 +aVI don't understand this thing about Assad. He has to go. Assad is aligned with Iran and Russia. The one thing we want to prevent is we want to prevent Iran being able to extend a Shia crescent all across the Middle East. Assad has got to go. And there are moderates there. There are moderates in Syria who we should be supporting. I do not support a civil war. I don't want to be policeman of the world. But we can't back off of this. And let me tell you, at the end, the Saudis have agreed to put together a coalition inside of Syria to stabilize that country. +p253 +aVHe must go. It will be a blow to Iran and Russia. +p254 +aVThe foreign policy, you have to know how to pick and choose. There's no way, if Saddam had not had weapons of mass destruction, I would have gone, because I don't believe that the U.S. should be involved directly in civil wars. I opposed the U.S. involvement in Lebanon. We ended up having to withdraw our marines after our barracks were blown up. There is a difference between Iraq, where you have Sunni, Shia, and Kurds put together after the First World War by the Western powers. It doesn't work. It needs to break up into three parts. And for the Russians, frankly, it's time that we punched the Russians in the nose. They've gotten away with too much in this world and we need to stand up against them, not just there, but also in Eastern Europe where they threaten some of our most precious allies. +p255 +aVIt sounds more and more what my daughter said that I said in the beginning, all the fighting and arguing is not advancing us. +p256 +aVIt is not the way we're going to strengthen our country. We will strengthen our country when we come together. And, look, you've got Rand Paul, you've got Ted Cruz, you've got Marco, you've got a lot of people on this stage that have studied these issues. You know what a leader does? A leader has a sound program, has a good policy, and then brings people together to solve problems. Guess what? Both in Congress in balancing the budget and in Ohio fixing the economy \u2014 and, by the way, we talk about the fence. The first thing we better get going is strengthening our economy, because if we don't have a strong economy, we can't pay for all of this. And the world wants us to be able to function from strength, believe it or not. Get our economy going, get these people together in a room. We can fix this, ladies and gentlemen. We don't have to fight all the time. It can be done, and we will be great... +p257 +aV... when we join together. Thank you, Hugh. +p258 +aVYou know, obviously, as president of the United States, we've got to keep the people safe. That's first and foremost. But as governor of Ohio, I have an obligation to keep the 11.5 million people in Ohio safe. And we have been very effective with our Joint Terrorism Task Force, being able to make busts. In fact, we just made one three-four weeks ago against a person who was favorable to +p259 +aVNo Republican has ever been elected president of the United States without winning Ohio. Let me give you a little tip on how you win Ohio, it's reform, it's hope, it's growth, it's opportunity, and it's security. The people of Ohio are the people of America. The people of America are reflected in Ohio. Our message has to be big, and bold, and positive, and connect, not just with people's heads but also connect with their hearts. If we do it, we will beat Hillary Clinton, and we will run the White House, and we will strengthen and fix America, I promise you. +p260 +aVFirst of all, let me just say that, in the state of Ohio \u2014 and I'm the only acting executive on \u2014 on this stage today \u2014 we do have a moderate increase in the minimum wage. And I got to tell you, my father carried mail on his back. His father was a coal miner. He died of black lung. He was losing his eyesight. My mother's mother lived with us. She could barely speak English. I come from a town where if the wind blew the wrong way, people found themselves out of work. An economic theory is fine, but you know what? People need help. Now, I have a plan that, in fact, would cut taxes, but not $11 trillion or $12 trillion that would put my children further in debt. I have a plan that would not only cut taxes, lower the income tax rate for individuals, lower the tax for businesses so businesses will compete here and not move operations overseas, and also a plan \u2014 the only plan of anybody standing on this stage to get us to a balanced budget by the end of a second term. And, you know, the simple fact of the matter is, we hear a lot of promises in this debate, a lot of promises about these tax cuts or tax schemes sometimes that I call them. Hillary and the Democrats promise everything on the spending side. We've got to be responsible about what we propose on the tax side. Yes, lower taxes, lower spending. My website, JohnKasich.com, will show you exactly how we balance the budget. I balanced the budget in Washington as a chief architect, and I have balanced it in Ohio for one reason. When you balance the budget and you cut taxes, people get work. And our most important moral purpose as leaders in the political system is to make sure we create an environment for job creation so people can live their dreams and realize their God-given potential. That's why it's so important. And for those at the bottom, we've got to do what we can to train them so they can move up. But to just look the other way is not acceptable, because, you know what, as the governor of Ohio I have to deal with real challenges, and we've gotten it done in our state, and I will do it for America. +p261 +aVSure. We would move the Medicare system from a 7 percent growth down to about a 5 percent growth. And I have a whole series of ways to do that. In Ohio, we reduced Medicaid funding for the poor from 10 percent to 2.5 percent, didn't cut one benefit or didn't take anybody off the rolls. Why? Because we're innovators. I've been an innovator my entire career. And I really don't care what special interests or lobbyists have to say. I have a job to do when I take over a public office. Now, we freeze non-defense discretionary for eight years. We also put an increase in defense spending. Our tax cuts balance out. And at the end of the day, we will get to a balanced budget. And I want everybody here to know, when I was Budget Committee chairman in Washington, I stepped on every toe in that town, and we got to a balanced budget, and we had enormous job growth. And as governor of Ohio, we went from 350,000 lost jobs to a gain of 347,000 jobs. +p262 +aVI'll do it in Washington. I've done it twice; I'll do it thrice for the United States of America. +p263 +aVExcuse me. +p264 +aVYeah, I would like to make a comment. +p265 +aVI appreciate it, Jeb. I'm all of you. But I want at some point to talk about a value-added tax and $11 trillion, $12 trillion tax cuts that will put our kids way deeper in the hole than they have been at this point. So I would like to talk about it at some point, because that's what leadership is. +p266 +aVMaria, can we comment on that? +p267 +aVCan we comment on that? +p268 +aVWell, look, in 1986 Ronald Reagan basically said the people who were here, if they were law-abiding, could stay. But, what didn't happen is we didn't build the walls effectively and we didn't control the border. We need to. We need to control our border just like people have to control who goes in and out of their house. But if people think that we are going to ship 11 million people who are law-abiding, who are in this country, and somehow pick them up at their house and ship them out of Mexico \u2014 to Mexico, think about the families. Think about the children. So, you know what the answer really is? If they have been law- abiding, they pay a penalty. They get to stay. We protect the wall. Anybody else comes over, they go back. But for the 11 million people, come on, folks. We all know you can't pick them up and ship them across, back across the border. It's a silly argument. It is not an adult argument. It makes no sense. +p269 +aVJerry, Gerald, it was an attack. +p270 +aVIn the state of Ohio, the state of Ohio, we have grown 347,000 jobs. Our unemployment is half of what it was. Our fracking industry, energy industry may have contributed 20,000, but if Mr. Trump understood that the real jobs come in the downstream, not in the upstream, but in the downstream. And that's where we're going to get our jobs. But Ohio is diversified. And little false little things, sir, they don't really work when it comes to the truth. So the fact is, all I'm suggesting, we can't ship 11 million people out of this country. Children would be terrified, and it will not work. +p271 +aV...Mr. Baker, everybody got to talk about taxes... +p272 +aV...I think you were coming to me and then... +p273 +aV...Look, I hate to crash the party to you, Mr. Baker, but, you know, what's fair... +p274 +aV...Yes, sir... +p275 +aVLet me tell you this, Mr. Baker, in terms of the cyber attacks, we have the capability to not only have a defensive posture, but it also to make it clear to people that if you attack us with cyber attacks, we will destroy the mechanisms that you are using to attack us. I want to give you a little trip around the world. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years. In the Ukraine, arm the people there so they can fight for themselves. In the eastern part of Europe, make sure that Finland and the Baltics know that if the Russians move, we move. In Syria, yes, a no-fly zone in the north on the Turkish border, a no-fly zone on the south on the Jordanian border. Anybody flies in the first time, maybe they can fly out. They fly in there a second time, they will not fly out. And it also becomes a sanctuary for the people to be. And it also sends many messages in the Middle East that we're still involved. Saudi Arabia, cut off the funding for the radical clerics, the ones that preach against us. But they're fundamentally our friends. Jordan, we want the king to reign for 1,000 years. Egypt, they have been our ally and a moderating force in the Middle East throughout their history. In the groups \u2014 in the countries of the Gulf states of Bahrain, the Cleveland Clinic is opening an operation. Clearly we see the same with them. And in Israel, we have no better ally in the world, and no more criticizing them in public, we should support them. And finally China, China doesn't own the South China Sea, and I give the president some credit for being able to move a naval force in there to let the Chinese know that we're not going to put up with it any more. And in the trade agreement, the TPP, it's critical to us, not only for economic reasons and for jobs, because there are so many people who are connected to getting jobs because of trade, but it allows us to create not only economy alliances, but also potentially strategic alliances against the Chinese. They are not our enemy, but they are certainly not our friend. And finally, I will say to everyone in this room, we have been talking about taxes and economics. When the fall comes, and we run against Hillary, which will be a disaster if she got elected. I have two 16-year-old girls, and I want this country to be strong. We make promises we can't keep under the bright light of the fall, we will have trouble. We must make sure that economic programs and our military programs are solid. I served in Washington as the chairman of the Budget Committee, and we got the budget balanced. And in Ohio, as the CEO, and guess what, we have got to have a CEO mentality and a way to beat Hillary Clinton and the Democracies in the fall. And our ideas have to add up. They have to be solid. And people have to know we have the confidence to lead America. And as president, I will lead this country, as I have before in Washington and in Ohio, and will return both on domestic and international affairs. And I appreciate the opportunity to speak this time, Gerry. +p276 +aVLet me \u2014 let me also say, Gary \u2014 Gary, let me also say, Jeb is \u2014 what Jeb is talking about with the big banks is to force them to reserve their capital, people who invest it and they hold their capital, so that if the bank goes down, the people who are invested in the bank are the ones that pay. That's what he's trying to say. Secondly, I'll tell you about Wall Street: There's too much greed. And the fact is, a free enterprise system is a system that's produced the greatest wealth for the world. But you know Michael Novak, the great Catholic theologian, says that a free enterprise system that is not underlaid with values \u2014 and we should all think about the way we conduct our lives \u2014 yes, free enterprise is great, profits are great, but there have to be some values that underlay it, and they need a good ethics lesson on Wall Street on a regular basis to keep them in check so we, the people, do not lose. +p277 +aVNeil, that's the difference of being an executive. And let me just explain: when a bank is ready to go under and depositors are getting ready to lose their life savings, you just don't say we believe in philosophical concerns. You know what an executive has to decide? When there's a water crisis, how do we get water to the city? When there's a school shooting, how do you get there and help heal a community? When there are financial crisis, or a crisis with ebola, you got to go there and try to fix it. Philosophy doesn't work when you run something. And I gotta tell you, on-the-job training for president of the United States doesn't work. We've done it for 8 years, \u2014 and almost 8 years now. It does not work. We need an executive who's been tried, has been tested, and judge the decisions that that executive makes. I don't like what the Fed is doing, but I'll tell you what worries me more than anything else: turning the Fed over to the Congress of the United States... +p278 +aV...so they can print the money. That would be a very bad approach. +p279 +aVI wouldn't. I wouldn't. +p280 +aVNo. No, I didn't say that. +p281 +aVThey were \u2014 they were talking about what you would do with depositors. Would you let these banks shut down? My argument is, going forward, the banks have to reserve the capital, so that the \u2014 so that the people who own the capital start pressuring the banks to not take these risky approaches, Ted. But at the end of the day... +p282 +aV... I'm gonna tell you this. Let me tell you this. If during \u2014 if during... +p283 +aV...because if during \u2014 well, I'll tell you what (ph). +p284 +aVAs an executive \u2014 no. As an executive, I would figure out how to separate those people who can afford it versus those people, or the hard-working folks who put those money in those institutions...... let me \u2014 no, no. Let me say another thing. Here's what I mean by that. Here's what I mean by that. +p285 +aVWhen you are faced \u2014 when you are faced, in the last financial crisis, with banks going under \u2014 with banks going under, and people, people who put their \u2014 their life savings in there, you got to deal with it. You can't turn a blind eye to it. Now, going forward, that's one thing. If you had another financial crisis, perhaps there would be an effort to make sure that we do (ph). +p286 +aVWell, ladies and gentlemen, if Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders were to win this election, my 16-year-olds, I \u2014 I worry about what their life is going to be like. You know, the conservative movement is all about opportunity. It is about lower taxes. It's about balanced budgets. It's about less regulation. And it's about sending power, money and influence back to where we live so we can run America from the bottom up. In addition to that, once we have the power and the money and the influence with programs we shift out, that each of us have a responsibility to reach out and to rebuild our families, make them stronger, and connect our neighborhoods. All that together \u2014 wealth, connection, family \u2014 America's greatest days are ahead. We must win this election. +p287 +aVGood question, but I want to tell you, my great concern is that we are on the verge, perhaps, of picking someone who cannot do this job. I've watched to see people say that we should dismantle Medicare and Medicaid and leave the senior citizens out \u2014 out in the \u2014 in the cold. I've heard them talk about deporting 10 or 11 \u2014 people here from this country out of this country, splitting families. I've heard about tax schemes that don't add up, that put our kids in \u2014 in a deeper hole than they are today. We need somebody who can lead. We need somebody who can balance budgets, cut taxes... +p288 +aVYou know, frankly, I did it in Washington, in Ohio, and I will do it again in Washington, if I'm president, to get this country moving again. +p289 +aVcountry moving again. +p290 +aVListen, I want to just comment. +p291 +aVWell I want to comment on this. This is the fantasy... +p292 +aVThis is the fantasy that I talked about in the beginning. +p293 +aVI'm the only person on this stage that actually was involved in the chief architect of balancing the Federal Budget. You can't do it with empty promised. You know, these plans would put us trillions and trillions of dollars in debt. I actually have a plan. I'm the only one on this stage that has a plan that would create jobs, cut taxes, balance the budget and can get it done because I'm realistic. You just don't make promises like this. Why don't we just give a chicken in every pot, while we're, you know, coming up \u2014 coming up with these fantasy tax schemes. We'll just clean it up. Where are you gonna clean it up? You have to deal with entitlements, you have to be in a position to control discretionary spending. You gotta be creative and imaginative. Now, let me just be clear, John. I went into Ohio where we had an $8 billion hole and now we have a $2 billion surplus. We're up 347,000 jobs. When I was in Washington, I fought to get the budget balanced. I was the architect. It was the first time we did it since man walked on the moon. We cut taxes and we had a $5 trillion projected surplus when I left. That's was hard work. Fiscal discipline, know what you're doing. Creativity. This stuff is fantasy. Just like getting rid of Medicare and Medicaid. Come on, that's just not \u2014 you scare senior citizens with that. It's not responsible. +p294 +aVWell, I mean right here. To talk about we're just gonna have a 10 percent tithe and that's how we're gonna fund the government? And we're going to just fix everything with waste, fraud, and abuse? Or that we're just going to be great? Or we're going to ship 10 million Americans \u2014 or 10 million people out of this country, leaving their children here in this country and dividing families? Folks, we've got to wake up. We cannot elect somebody that doesn't know how to do the job. You have got to pick somebody who has experience, somebody that has the know-how, the discipline. And I spent my entire lifetime balancing federal budgets, growing jobs, the same in Ohio. And I will go back to Washington with my plan. +p295 +aVAnd I will have done it within 100 days, and it will pass. And we will be strong again. Thank you. +p296 +aVLet me just \u2014 let me respond. First of all, Ohio does have an energy industry, but we're diversified. We're one of the fastest growing states in the country. We came back from the dead. And you know what? It works very, very well. And secondly, when you talk about me being on the board of Lehman Brothers, I wasn't on the board of Lehman Brothers. I was a banker and I was proud of it. And I traveled the country and learned how people made jobs. We ought to have politicians who not only have government experience but know how the CEOs and the job creators work. My state is doing great across the board. And guess what, in 2011, I got a deal... +p297 +aV... an agreement with the... +p298 +aV... that he tried to take credit for four years later. It's a joke. +p299 +aVJohn Harwood, there's a bigger issue here. +p300 +aVWell, first of all, when we talk about the Import Export Bank, it's time to clean up corporate welfare. If we're gonna reform welfare for poor people, we ought to reform it for rich people, as well. Secondly, in our state, we went from a loss of 350,000 jobs to, now, a gain of 347,000 jobs to the positive. Our wages are growing faster than the national average, and I've cut taxes more than any sitting governor in this state \u2014 $5 billion, including no taxes on small business and killing the death tax. I want to go back to what we were talking about earlier, this budget deal in Washington. This is the same old stuff since I left. You spend the money today and then you hope you're going to save money tomorrow. I don't know if people understand, but I spent a lifetime with my colleagues getting us to a federal balanced budget. We actually did it. And I have a road map and a plan right now to get us to balance. Reforming entitlements, cutting taxes. You see, because if you really want to get to a balanced budget, you need to reduce your expenses and you need to grow your economy. So what I will tell you about our incentives \u2014 our incentives are tight, and at the end of the day we make sure that we gain more from the creation of jobs than what we lose. And you know what? Ohio, one of the best growing places in the country \u2014 I not only did it in Washington, I did it in Ohio, and I'll go back to Washington, and there will be no more silly deals... +p301 +aV... If I become President because we'll have a Constitutional Amendment to require a federally balanced budget so they will do their job. +p302 +aVWell, first of all, we're running a $2 billion dollar surplus, we're not having a revenue problem right now. And, sending mixed signals to kids about drugs is a disaster. Drugs is one of the greatest scourge in this country, and I spent five years of my administration working with my team to do a whole sort of things to try to reign in the problem of overdoses, and it goes on and on. We could do a whole show on that. I want to go back for a second thought on this issue of income inequality. My program would move the 104 programs of the federal Department of Education into four block grants, and send them back to the states because income inequality is driven by a lack of skills when kids don't get what they need to be able to compete and win in this country. The fact is, in order to get this economy moving again, I call for freezing regulations for a year except for the problem of public safety. I believe that we need to cut these taxes down, we need to be on a roadmap to balancing the budget, and we need to send power, money, and influence, the welfare department, the education department, job training, infrastructure, Medicaid, all of that out of Washington back to the states so we can run these programs from where we live to the top, not a one size fits all mentality that they have in Washington. And, that will get to the nub of opportunity for our children, and an ability to see wages rise. Again... +p303 +aV...One more time, in Ohio, our wages are growing faster than the national average. We've cut taxes, balanced budgets, changed the regulatory environment. Folks, you want to \u2014 +p304 +aV\u2014 fix America, this is the formula. It worked for Reagan and it works for our team in Ohio. Thank you. +p305 +aVJohn. +p306 +aVI wanna tell you, in my state, we took Medicaid, the hardest program to control, and we took it from a 10 percent growth rate to 2.5 percent without taking one person off the rolls or cutting one single benefit. And so much of what we did \u2014 to force competition, to use technology, to stand down the special interest groups \u2014 can you imagine taking Medicaid from 10 to 2.5 percent? We can take many of those same procedures, we can apply it to Medicare. We can make a stronger program. But I agree with Jeb, you can't just do this by growing the economy. You can't grow your way out of demographics. But we can give people better health care. And finally, on health care, why don't we start treating \u2014 keep giving... +p307 +aV...incentives for people to keep people healthy, rather than giving the incentives to treat them when they're sick? +p308 +aVI was on morning Joe at a town hall and a young student stood up and said, "Can I still be idealistic?" I said, absolutely, you can still change the world. And, you know the old inscription, if you save one life, you've changed the world. Folks, we have a problem here with the leadership in Washington, but I'll tell you another problem. We need to rebuild our families. We need to have stronger families. We need to know who our neighbors are. We need to come together as a country because we have to realize that America is great, not from the top-down. Oh yeah, we want to elect a good president, but America is great from the bottom-up, and the bottom-up is us in our families, in our communities, in our neighborhoods. We will renew America if we work together, and I am totally confident that we will. And God bless America. +p309 +aVHello, I'm John Kasich, the Governor of Ohio. Emma, and Reese, my children, and Karen, love 'ya girls. Thanks for watching tonight. By the way, I think I actually flew on this plane with Ronald Reagan when I was a congressman, and his goals, and mine, really much \u2014 are pretty much the same. Lift Americans, unify, give hope, grow America, and restore it is to that great, shining city on a hill. Yes, he was a great one, and I learned much from watching him. The most important thing, hope to Americans, unify, lift everyone in America. +p310 +aVJake, Jake. +p311 +aVListen, you know, I \u2014 if I were sitting at home and watch thing back and forth, I would be inclined to turn it off. I mean, people at home want to know across this country, they want to know what we're going to do to fix this place, how we'll balance a budget, how we're going to create more economic growth, how we'll pay down the debt. What we're going to do to strengthen the military. So, we just spent 10 minutes here... +p312 +aVBut \u2014 but wait a minute. It's a lot of ad hogshead. Now, I know that it may be buzzing out there, but I think it's important we get to the issues, because that's what people want, and they don't want all this fighting. +p313 +aV...Yeah, well... +p314 +aVWell, let me just say this. First of all, I think it's a bad agreement, I would never have done it. But, you know, a lot of our problems in the world today is that we don't have the relationship with our allies. If we want to go everywhere alone, we will not have the strength as (ph) if we could rebuild with our allies. Now, this agreement, we don't know what's going to happen in 18 months. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years. I've seen lots of issues in foreign affairs, and foreign \u2014 in terms of global politics, you have to be steady. Now, here's the \u2014 if they cheat, we slap the sanctions back on. If they help Hamas, and Hezbollah, we slap the sanctions back on. And, if we find out that they may be developing a nuclear weapon, than the military option is on the table. We are stronger when we work with the Western civilization, our friends in Europe, and just doing it on our own I don't think is the right policy. +p315 +aVNo, no, no. I want to \u2014 I want to \u2014 I want to say something about what the senator just said. +p316 +aVNo one is \u2014 no \u2014 let me \u2014 let me suggest to you we believe that we operate better in the world when our allies work with us. President Bush did it in the Gulf War. We work better when we are unified. Secondly, nobody's trusting Iran. They violate the deal, we put on the sanctions, and we have the high moral ground to talk to our allies in Europe to get them to go with us. If they don't go with us, we slap the sanctions on anyway. If they fund these radical groups that threaten Israel and all of the West, then we should rip up the deal and put the sanctions back on. And let me make it clear \u2014 let me make it clear... +p317 +aV... if we think \u2014 if we think they're getting close to a \u2014 to developing a nuclear weapon and we get that information, you better believe that I would do everything in my power as the commander-in-chief to stop them having a nuclear weapon. +p318 +aVWe can have it, and we can have our allies, and we can be strong as a country, and we can project across this globe with unity, not just doing it alone. That is not what gets us where we want to get as a nation. +p319 +aVWell, I agree that we should defund Planned Parenthood. I don't know many people in America who don't think that we should, and in my state, we're trying to figure out how to get it done, because we are threatened with the federal government taking all of our Medicaid money away. I think there is a way to get this done by giving governors the ability to be able to act to defund Planned Parenthood. But when (ph) it comes to closing down the federal government, you gotta be very careful about that. When we shut the government down \u2014 if we have a chance at success and it's a great principle, yes. The president of the United States is not going to sign this, and all we're gonna do is shut the government down, and then we're gonna open up \u2014 open it up, and the American people are gonna shake their heads and say, "what's the story with these Republicans?" So I think there is a way to get to cutting off the funding for Planned Parenthood. I was in the Congress for 18 years, balanced the budget, cut taxes, got it done. Changed welfare, went around the president to get welfare reform done. There are ways to do it without having to shut the government down, but I'm sympathetic to the fact that we don't want this organization to get funding, and the money ought to be reprogrammed for family planning in other organizations that don't support this tactic. But I would not be for shutting the government down... +p320 +aV...because I don't think it's going to work out. +p321 +aVWe're not \u2014 what I can tell you is this. We didn't surrender in New Jersey, six years ago, as the brand new first ever pro-life governor of New Jersey since Roe versus Wade, I defended Planned Parenthood. And I've vetoed Planned Parenthood funding, now, eight times in New Jersey. Since the day I walked in as governor, Planned Parenthood has not been funded in New Jersey. We stood up and every one of those vetoes has been sustained. But here's the problem, we're \u2014 we're fighting with each other up here. We agree. Let's ask Hillary Clinton. She believes in the systematic murder of children in the womb to preserve their body parts... +p322 +aV...Dana, in a way that maximizes their value for sale for profit. It is disgusting, and the American people need to hear it... +p323 +aV...we shouldn't be fighting with each other. She's the real opponent, she's the real problem. +p324 +aVI'll tell you what \u2014 I'll tell you what I'd be willing to fight for. I'll tell you what I'd be willing to fight for. Why will (ph) we put tax reform on the president's desk, so we can simplify this tax system? +p325 +aVNo, no, it's really important, Dana. We got to talk about what we would be willing to shut down for. Why don't we put tax reform on this president's desk, and make him veto it if that's what he wants to do? Why haven't we repealed and replaced Obamacare? Make him veto if that's what he wants to do. +p326 +aVThere's a \u2014 +p327 +aVJake \u2014 +p328 +aVOK, Jake. +p329 +aVI don't at this point in terms of changing the incentives for investment and risk-taking. But let's just stop for a second. There's one person on this stage that does have a record. I'm the only person on the stage and one of the few people in this country that led the effort as the chief architect of the last time we balanced the federal budget. We also cut taxes. And when I left Washington in 2000, we had a $5 trillion surplus, and the economy was booming. I had spent 10 years of my life to get us to that point, went out in the private sector, was a great experience, and went into Ohio and took an $8 billion hole and turned it into a $2 billion surplus. We've had the largest amount of tax cuts of any sitting governor. We've grown well over 300,000 jobs. You see, I've done it in both places. I'm the only one here that has done it in both places. It took a lot to get us to a balanced budget. It was legitimate. It was real. And we negotiated it. A lot of what we're talking about here tonight as we take this position and that position, you know what? At the end of the day, America has got to work. We've got to figure out how we come together to deal with this \u2014 with our fiscal problems because when we deal with that, we create a stronger economy for everybody. People have a chance to rise. So, you know, when we think about how we make a choice, it's the person that lands that plane. It's not somebody that talks about it. It's about the person who has done it. And I've done it in... +p330 +aV... both places. And I did it including people in the other party. And that's how we were successful. +p331 +aVAnd that's how I will be president, using that experience to drive this country forward. Thank you. +p332 +aVWell, look, people still have to get to know me, so I want to spend my time talking about my experience reforming welfare, balancing budgets, cutting taxes, providing economic growth when I was in Washington, turning Ohio around. Eight billion in the hole, $2 billion surplus, up over 300,000 jobs, big tax cuts, strengthening our credit. All those things matter but, you know, as a young man in my first election in 1978, I defeated an incumbent Democrat. I defeated an incumbent Democrat in 1982; running on the Reagan program, I was the only Republican in America to defeat an incumbent Democrat that year. And then, when I won for election of governor, I was the first Republican to defeat an incumbent in 36 years, and the first person to have never run statewide out of politics for 10 years to beat an incumbent. That hadn't happened for 96 years. So, we'll get to the point where we'll talk about Hillary Clinton, or whoever the nominee is, record. But right now, I want to give people sense of hope, sense of purpose, a sense of unity, sense that we can do it. So... +p333 +aVYou know, at the end of the day, I'm going to continue to talk about my record, because there is, did you ever notice when people run for office, they run for president, they make a lot of promises, they don't keep them. +p334 +aVI don't intend to do that, and I going to be out there pushing it out \u2014 don't worry about me and Hillary. That will all work out, and I'm from Ohio. She will not beat me there, I can promise you that. +p335 +aVCan I just \u2014 can I \u2014 Jake, can I just make one point on this whole military discussion? +p336 +aVI called for boots on the ground many months ago in a coalition with our friends who share our interest. You know, you win a battle with the military, and when we go somewhere, we need to be mobile, and lethal. We need to take care of business, and we need to come home. But, we face, also, a bigger war \u2014 and you win the bigger war with the battle of ideas. You wonder why young people, and educated people, rich people, schooled people, have tried to join +p337 +aV...to make (ph) centers (ph) of justice so that we can battle the radicals, call them out for what they are, and make sure that all of our people feel fulfilled in living in Western civilization... +p338 +aV...This is a giant battle in the world today... +p339 +aVWell, it's probably not, maybe, legal, but, I would pick Mother Theresa, the lady that I had a chance to meet, a woman who lived a life so much bigger than her own. An inspiration to everyone when we think about our responsibility to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. +p340 +aVWell, I have one now \u2014 they (ph) call me, "Unit One". My wife says, "You'll never be Unite One, I'm Unite One. You're Unit Two." +p341 +aVWell, as president, I will make this a nation that will solve problems. And how? By having the elected officials and the leaders realize they're Americans before they're Republicans or Democrats. I did it in Washington. And I've done it in Ohio by having the elected officials realize that they're Ohioans before anything else. Secondly, I will rebuild the relationships and show the respect to our allies around the world. We have no choice but to do that. We will be stronger when we are unified. And we'll fight for freedom and for human rights. And finally, a little bit of what Carly said. The people that are out there listening, America was never great because we ran America from the top down. America is great because we have run America from the bottom up, where we all live in the neighborhoods. One more time in America, we need to revive the concept of citizenship, where everybody's actions make a huge difference in changing the world. We have a Holocaust memorial on our state house grounds. And there is one line on there that stands out all the time. "If you've saved one life, you've changed the world." We need to adopt that as citizens and rebuild and reinspire our country. Thank you. +p342 +aVWell, first of all... ...first of all, Megyn, you should know that -- that President Reagan expanded Medicaid three or four times. Secondly, I had an opportunity to bring resources back to Ohio to do what? To treat the mentally ill. Ten thousand of them sit in our prisons. It costs $22,500 a year... ...to keep them in prison. I'd rather get them their medication so they could lead a decent life. Secondly, we are rehabbing the drug-addicted. Eighty percent of the people in our prisons have addictions or problems. We now treat them in the prisons, release them in the community and the recidivism rate is 10 percent and everybody across this country knows that the tsunami of drugs is -- is threatening their very families. So we're treating them and getting them on their feet. And, finally, the working poor, instead of them having come into the emergency rooms where it costs more, where they're sicker and we end up paying, we brought a program in here to make sure that people could get on their feet. And do you know what? Everybody has a right to their God-given purpose. And finally, our Medicaid is growing at one of the lowest rates in the country. And, finally, we went from $8 billion in the hole to $2 billion in the black. We've cut $5 billion in taxes... ...and we've grown 350,000 jobs. +p343 +aVChris, first of all, I was just saying to Chris Christie, they say we're outspoken, we need to take lessons from Donald Trump if we're really going to learn it. Here is the thing about Donald Trump. Donald Trump is hitting a nerve in this country. He is. He's hitting a nerve. People are frustrated. They're fed up. They don't think the government is working for them. And for people who want to just tune him out, they're making a mistake. Now, he's got his solutions. Some of us have other solutions. You know, look, I balanced the federal budget as one of the chief architects when I was in Washington. Hasn't been done since. I was a military reformer. I took the state of Ohio from an $8 billion hole and a 350,000 job loss to a $2 billion surplus and a gain of 350,000 jobs. +p344 +aVBut the point is that we all have solutions. Mr. Trump is touching a nerve because people want the wall to be built. They want to see an end to illegal immigration. They want to see it, and we all do. But we all have different ways of getting there. And you're going to hear from all of us tonight about what our ideas are. +p345 +aVDonald, if you... +p346 +aV-- this campaign, I hope you will give to me. +p347 +aVOK. +p348 +aVLet's start off with my father being a mailman. So I understand the concerns of all the folks across this country, some of whom have trouble, you know, making ends meet. But I think she will come in a narrow way. The nominee of this party, if they're going to win, has got to come at it in a big way, which is pro-growth. Which is balancing budgets. You know, we were talking about it. People were saying, could we do it? I was the chairman of the Budget Committee and the lead architect the last time it happened in Washington, and when we did it we had great economic growth, we cut taxes, and we had a big surplus. Economic growth is the key. Economic growth is the key to everything. But once you have economic growth, it is important that we reach out to people who live in the shadows, the people who don't seem to ever think that they get a fair deal. And that includes people in our minority community; that includes people who feel as though they don't have a chance to move up. You know, America is a miracle country. And we have to restore the sense that the "Amiracle" will apply to you. Each and every one of the people in this country who's watching tonight, lift everybody, unite everybody and build a stronger United States of America again. It will be and can be done. +p349 +aVWell, look, I'm an old-fashioned person here, and I happen to believe in traditional marriage. But I've also said the court has ruled -- +p350 +aVWait, Megyn, the court has ruled, and I said we'll accept it. And guess what, I just went to a wedding of a friend of mine who happens to be gay. Because somebody doesn't think the way I do, doesn't mean that I can't care about them or can't love them. So if one of my daughters happened to be that, of course I would love them and I would accept them. Because you know what? That's what we're taught when we have strong faith. So the issues like that, issues like that are planted to divide us. I think the simple fact of the matter is, and this is where I would agree with Jeb, and I've been saying it all along, we need to give everybody a chance, treat everybody with respect, and let them share in this great American dream that we have, Megan. So, look, I'm going to love my daughters, I'm going to love them no matter what they do. Because, you know what, God gives me unconditional love. I'm going to give it to my family and my friends and the people around me. +p351 +aVWell, Megyn, my father was a mailman. His father was a coal miner. My mother's mother could barely speak English. And their son today stands on this podium in the great state of Ohio not only as the governor, but a candidate for president of the United States. I do believe in miracles. You know, I've had a lot of elections. But my elections are really not about campaigns. I tell my people that these are about a movement. And a movement to do what? To restore common sense. A movement to do things like provide economic growth. And a movement not to let anybody be behind. You know, today the country is divided. You asked a question about the police and the difficulty in communities. We've got to unite our country again, because we're stronger when we are united and we are weaker when we are divided. And we've got to listen to other people's voices, respect them, but keep in mind, and I believe in terms of the things that I've read in my lifetime, the Lord'is not picking us. But because of how we respect human rights, because that we are a good force in the world, he wants America to be strong. He wants America to succeed. And he wants America to lead. And nothing is more important to me than my family, my faith, and my friends. +p352 +aVYou know, tonight we hear about what people want to do. I want to tell you what I've done. I was a member of the Armed Services Committee for 18 years. I spent a big chunk of my life studying national security issues and our role in the world. No. 2. I was the chairman of the House Budget Committee and one of the chief architects the last time we balanced a budget, and it was the first time we had done it since man walked on the moon. We had a $5 trillion surplus and we cut taxes. I spent ten years in the private sector, actually learning how business works. And now I'm the governor of Ohio, and I inherited a state that was on the brink of dying. And we turned it all around with jobs and balanced budgets and rising credit and tax cuts, and the state is unified, and people have hope again in Ohio. +p353 +asVQUICK +p354 +(lp355 +VGentlemen \u2014 we'll \u2014 we'll get back to this \u2014 just a minute \u2014 just a minute we're gonna continue this. I wanna talk taxes... +p356 +aVDr. Carson, let's talk about taxes. You have a flat tax plan of 10 percent flat taxes, and \u2014 I've looked at it \u2014 and this is something that is very appealing to a lot of voters, but I've had a really tough time trying to make the math work on this. If you were to took a 10 percent tax, with the numbers right now in total personal income, you're gonna come in with bring in $1.5 trillion. That is less than half of what we bring in right now. And by the way, it's gonna leave us in a $2 trillion hole. So what analysis got you to the point where you think this will work? +p357 +aVI \u2014 I understand that, but if you \u2014 if you look at the numbers you probably have to get to 28. +p358 +aV15 percent still leaves you with a $1.1 trillion hole. +p359 +aVYou'd have to cut \u2014 you'd have to cut government about 40 percent to make it work with a $1.1 trillion hole. +p360 +aVThat is true, I looked at the numbers. +p361 +aVDr. Carson, thank you. +p362 +aVGovernor... +p363 +aVDr. Carson, let me get 30 seconds with Dr. Carson... +p364 +aVThank you. +p365 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, thank you. +p366 +aVGentlemen, I'm sorry, we need to... +p367 +aVWe're going to move on. +p368 +aVThirty seconds. +p369 +aVWe'll get to everyone. Ms. Fiorina, I \u2014 I'd like to ask you a question. You are running for president of the United States because of your record running Hewlett-Packard. But the stock market is usually a fair indicator of the performance of a CEO, and the market was not kind to you. Someone who invested a dollar in your company the day you took office had lost half of the dollar by the day you left. Obviously, you've talked in the past about what a difficult time it was for technology companies, but anybody who was following the market knows that your stock was a much worse performer, if you looked at your competitors, if you looked at the overall market. I just wonder, in terms of all of that \u2014 you know, we look back, your board fired you. I just wondered why you think we should hire you now. +p370 +aVMrs. Fiorina, it's interesting that you bring up Mr. Perkins, because... ...he said a lot of very questionable things. Last year, in an interview, he said that he thinks wealthy people should get more votes than poor people. I think his quote was that, "if you pay zero dollars in taxes, you should get zero votes. If you pay a million dollars, you should get a million votes." Is this the type of person you want defending you? +p371 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p372 +aVThank you, we're out of time. Thank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Carl. +p373 +aVGovernor Christie, I'd like to a question next. Actually, I have a question for you . In your tell it like it is campaign, you've said a lot of tough things. You've said that we need to raise the retirement age for Social Security. You think that we need to cut benefits for people who make over $80,000 and eliminate them entirely for seniors who are making over $200,000. Governor Huckabee, who is here on the stage, has said that you and others who think this way are trying to rob seniors of the benefits that they've earned. It raises the question: When it is acceptable to break a social compact? +p374 +aV...Governor... +p375 +aV...Thank you. +p376 +aVWelcome back to the presidential debate for the Republicans. We are live in Boulder, Colorado, right here on +p377 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. +p378 +aVSenator Rubio, you yourself have said that you've had issues. You have a lack of bookkeeping skills. You accidentally inter-mingled campaign money with your personal money. You faced (ph) foreclosure on a second home that you bought. And just last year, you liquidated a $68,000 retirement fund. That's something that cost you thousands of dollars in taxes and penalties. In terms of all of that, it raises the question whether you have the maturity and wisdom to lead this $17 trillion economy. What do you say? +p379 +aVSenator, I understand all of that. I had a lot of student loans when I got out, too. But you've had a windfall that a lot of Americans haven't. You made over a million dollars on a book deal, and some of these problems came after that. +p380 +aVBut you \u2014 but you liquidated that retirement account after the fact, and that cost you about $24,000 out of that in taxes and feed. That \u2014 that was after you'd already come into that windfall. That's why I raised the question. +p381 +aVYes, thank you John. Senator Cruz, working women in this country still earn just 77 percent of what men earn. And I know that you've said you've been very sympathetic to our cause. But you've also you said that the Democrats' moves to try and change this are the political show votes. I just wonder what you would do as President to try and help in this cause? +p382 +aVMrs. Fiorina \u2014 +p383 +aVMrs. Fiorina, we will come back to you. +p384 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Carl? +p385 +aVMr. Trump, let's stay on this issue of immigration. You have been very critical of Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook who has wanted to increase the number of these H1Bs. +p386 +aVSo you're in favor of... +p387 +aVWhere did I read this and come up with this that you were... +p388 +aVYou know, Mr. \u2014 you know, Mr. Trump, if I may . You've been \u2014 you have been \u2014 you had talked a little bit about Marco Rubio. I think you called him Mark Zuckerberg's personal senator because he was in favor of the H1B. +p389 +aVSo this was an erroneous article the whole way around? +p390 +aVMy apologies. I'm sorry. +p391 +aVYes, you can. +p392 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you very much. I would like to introduce my colleague, Rick Santelli, he has some comments as well, sir. +p393 +aVRick, thank you very much. Governor Huckabee, you have railed against income inequality. You've said that some Wall Street executives should have gone to jail over the roles that they played during the financial crisis. Apart from your tax plan, are there specific steps you would require from corporate America to try and reduce the income inequality. +p394 +aVGovernor? +p395 +aVGovernor? +p396 +aVThank you. +p397 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee. +p398 +aVHow about 15 more seconds? +p399 +aVGovernor? +p400 +aVGovernor, I'm sorry... +p401 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p402 +aVGovernor, thank you. Appreciate it. John? +p403 +aVIt's at the moderator discretion. +p404 +aVWelcome back to the University of Colorado and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p405 +aVThank you, sir. +p406 +aVYou were. You get 30 seconds. +p407 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Carl? +p408 +aVHigher education is the example... +p409 +aVI want to go back, if I can, to the issue of... +p410 +aVI want to go back, if I may, to the... +p411 +aVSenator Paul, among the leading conservative opponents to the creation of Medicare back in the 1960s was Ronald Reagan. He warned that it would lead to socialism. Considering the mounting cost of Medicare, was he right to oppose it? +p412 +aVSenator, thank you. [ +p413 +aVWelcome back to Boulder, Colorado and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p414 +aVThank you, Governor. +p415 +aVGovernor. +p416 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Paul, let's go back to you. Do these solutions sound like they work? +p417 +aVDo these solutions sound like they would work? +p418 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Governor? +p419 +aVGood evening, everyone. I'm Becky Quick, along with my +p420 +aVGovernor Jindal, let's talk a little bit about the news of the day. Just a few hours ago, the Republicans and the Democrats in the House voted on a budget deal that will increase spending by about $80 billion dollars over the next two years. You, however, have called the Republicans who have been willing to work with the Democrats to do things like this the, "Surrender Party of the Republican caucus." Would you have shut the government down instead? +p421 +aV...But Governor... +p422 +aV...if you didn't have a choice, if you didn't control things in the house, would you take the choice of shutting things down, or would you go ahead and agree with them? +p423 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p424 +aVGovernor Pataki, let's get to your point. You wanted to make a comment on the budget. You want to get in on the idea, what would you do if you were in Washington? Would you compromise... +p425 +aVGovernor Pataki, thank you. John? +p426 +aVGovernor Pataki, let's talk a little bit about what's happened on Wall Street. Some of your colleagues in the Republican Party, including some of the people on this stage, have bashed Wall Street. They say that it was largely responsible for the financial crisis. You're a former governor of New York, and you relied very heavily on Wall Street for income. Do you think they've gone too far? +p427 +aVGovernor Pataki, thank you. +p428 +aVCarl? +p429 +aVWelcome back, everyone. This is the Republican Presidential Debate on +p430 +aVSenator, I'm sorry your minute is up. +p431 +aVThank you very much, Senator Santorum. +p432 +aVAnd Graham, Mr. Graham, yes, that was a question to you, too. +p433 +aVYou have 30 seconds. +p434 +aVSenator Graham, thank you. +p435 +aVI'm sorry. That's your 30 seconds... +p436 +aVSenator Graham... +p437 +aVThank you, Senator. +p438 +aVGentlemen, hold on a second. +p439 +aVGo ahead, +p440 +aVGovernor Pataki... +p441 +aV\u2014 I'm sorry, that was a... +p442 +aVGovernor Pataki... +p443 +aVI'm sorry to talk over you, sir. That was a minute. +p444 +aVThank you very much. +p445 +aVCarl? +p446 +aVYou guys are making this just like home. This is just like . +p447 +aVGovernor Jindal, I want to go back to something that you mentioned before with your tax plan. I know that you want to put a 2 percent tax on all families, just to make sure everyone has some skin in the game. But every working American pays 6.2 percent, when it comes to Social Security taxes. They pay another 1.45 percent of Medicare. Isn't that skin in the game? +p448 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p449 +aVWelcome back to Boulder, Colorado, and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p450 +aVNo, no. +p451 +aVI \u2014 I'm with you. I still have a BlackBerry, too. Senator \u2014 Senator Santorum, how about you? +p452 +aVThank you. Governor? +p453 +aVThank you. Senator Graham? +p454 +aVWe take your time back. Yes. +p455 +aVJohn? +p456 +asVGRAHAM +p457 +(lp458 +VThank you very much. I just returned from Iraq two weeks ago. It was my 36th trip to Iraq and Afghanistan in the last decade. Toward the end, I met a very impressive Special Forces sergeant. It was his job to train Iraqi Kurdish commandos. He was so proud of what he was doing and so proud of the people he was training. He was the replacement for Master Sergeant Wheeler, a Delta Force member who was killed two months ago in a raid against an +p459 +aVYou may think this makes us safe, but it doesn't. The good news for everybody in this room is, after 36 trips to Iraq and Afghanistan, most people over there, Wolf, are not buying what +p460 +aVI will support the Republican nominee, whoever he or she may be. Like Bob Dole, I may sleep late that day if it's Trump. But the bottom line, if it's Trump, so be it. That's who I'll support. Please understand we're in a war that we can't afford to lose, and what he said about banning Muslims coming here to America has made us all less safe, and it's the worst possible thing he could do in this war. He clearly doesn't understand this war and how to win it. For God's sakes, pick somebody who is worthy of the sacrifice of those who are fighting this war and who actually knows how to win, and I don't believe that's Mr. Trump, and I know it's not Hillary Clinton. +p461 +aVRick, please understand the only way we're gonna win the war against radical Islam is for the world to unite. Very few fathers and mothers want to turn their daughters and sons over to +p462 +aVWell, here's what I'm here to tell you, when I first started this process of running for president., I said, " if you didn't realize we need more America boots on the ground in Iraq and eventually in Syria as a part of the regional army - not ready to be commander in chief." Like nobody said a word, now everybody's on board except Senator Paul. Senator Paul and Senator Cruz, are isolationists. They both want to restrict the ability of the NSA to do the following; find out if somebody overseas is calling into America and if somebody is on the other end of the phone, don't you want to know who their talking to? IF a terrorist is calling into America and we can match up phone numbers we get a get a court order to find out what the content is. We're at war folks, they're not trying to steal your car, they're trying to kills us all. So yes, I would re-institute this program. There's four things you need to understand about this war, it's a religious war, them against the world, if you don't fight them over there, they're coming here. If you don't hit them first, they're going to hit us. If you're not determined to fight it as a ware, you're going to lose it. So if you're worried about somebody having your phone in the government, don't be. The only thing you need to worry about is if you're talking to terrorist and a judge gives an order to listen to what you're saying. That's all you need to worry about. +p463 +aVCan I say something? +p464 +aVYeah. There are at least 3,500 American muslims serving in the armed forces. Thank you for your service. You are not the enemy. Your religion is not the enemy. Let me make this real to you. I was at the second presidential election in Afghanistan. The guy guarding me was an American Muslim sergeant in the Army who grew up in Kabul, left when he was \u2014 graduated high school, joined the U.S. Army, went back to his high school where they were doing polling, people voting, he took me there and cried like a baby. I cried like a baby. He is the solution to this problem, folks. He is not the problem. Leave the faith alone. Go after the radicals that kill us all. +p465 +aVThank you. This is why I own a flip phone. You don't have to worry about all of this stuff. The bottom line is, we're at war. They're trying to come here to kill us all and it's up to the government to protect you within constitutional means. Any system that would allow a terrorist to communicate with somebody in our country and we can't find out what they're saying is stupid. If I'm president of the United States, and you join +p466 +aVWell, what you want to do is you want to knock them off line. How about this idea? If you pledge allegiance to al-Baghdadi, you can't get married in America? The bottom line is you have to go after them everywhere. The key to winning this war is to provide the capacity to those in the faith who reject the ideology. The key to fighting this war is to fight it in their backyard, not ours. Two years ago I came up with a plan that requires more American boots on the ground in Iraq. The first thing out of my mouth running for President was, if you don't understand we need 10,000 troops in Iraq, rather than 3,500, you're not ready. What would I do in Syria? I'd form a regional army of Arabs and Turkey. Ninety percent them, 10 percent us. Up to 10,000 U.S. forces to go in on the ground and destroy the caliphate and its roots. Take Raqqah away from +p467 +aVYeh, it's just you're not going to win that way, Rick. There's nobody left in Syria to train. Between the Russians and Assad, they have killed all the people we trained, and our President sat on the sidelines and watched people get killed that we enticed into the fight. There is nobody left to train. I would get the Arabs who are threatened by +p468 +aVWell, number one, dead men don't preach anything. If you don't understand we need a ground force to go into Syria, then you're not ready to destroy +p469 +aVYeah. I just don't make this up, Wolf. I talk to people who are combat trained who have won in Iraq who I trust. Here's what I want to tell the Arab world and Turkey. We're not going to send 100,000 troops. You're going to do the fighting this time and we're gonna help you. We paid for the last two wars, you're gonna pay for this one. And, by the way, they get it because +p470 +aVTwo years ago. +p471 +aVYes. +p472 +aVI think we need to have a military strategy regarding Libya. They've just take over Gaddafi's hometown called Sur. There's about 2000 of them. Here's what I've learned in my 36 visits, you can't deter these guys, they're ready to die, bring on the virgins. Dying is first place in their world. What we have to do is work with others over time to destroy to ideology. We have to offer a hopeful life to compete with the glory of this. Most young people folks want the same thing you do. They don't want to live in the 11th century. So yes, you have to destroy the caliphate. I want to work with Arabs and Turkey to do it, but here's the key is to not leave. If we left Germany and Japan only god knows what would've happened. If we have 10000 troops left in Iraq, there would be no +p473 +aVI want to talk to General Keane first. I want to find out, what do we need militarily to keep them contained and eventually destroy them in Libya. They're in nine countries. You want to deal with Libya, go to Iraq and Syria. You want to prevent another 9/11, take the caliphate headquarters away from +p474 +aVNo. What I would do is I would try to make friends throughout the world to destroy a common threat to the world. These people are religious Nazis. Most people in Islam don't buy what they're selling. I've told you a thousand times that I would partner with the Arabs in Turkey. But, the reason they don't partner with Obama is they just don't trust him. Do you think they would trust me? I know them all. I've been working for a decade to figure out how to win this war. To my good friend Ted Cruz, please ask him the following question, you say you would keep Assad in power, I will tell you that is the worst possible thing that could come out of an American leaders mouth. It would be disastrous. His favorite movie is, apparently, Princess Bride. Ted, getting in bed with Iran and Russia to save Assad is inconceivable. +p475 +aVPrincess Buttercup would not like this. +p476 +aV...I didn't get to say yes. Yes. +p477 +aVYeah, this is an important discussion. The American president is the strongest voice in the world \u2014 until Obama came along. Now, we're just one of many. When you ask people to help you, when you entice Syrians to join your cause, to take down the dictator they hate to destroy +p478 +aV...we'd better do something about it, and I have a plan. +p479 +aVI don't think it's necessary. If you don't want to be there, I don't want you to be there. I just retired after 33 years in the Air Force, 140 days on the ground as an Air Force Reservist. To those who are watching, thank you for your service. I've had a small walk in your shoes. We have the best military in the world. Obama has put it in a box. Let's take it out of the box and use it before we get attacked here. We don't need a draft, we need a commander in chief who knows what the hell they're doing. +p480 +aVAnd, I am that guy. +p481 +aVBut, the reason they don't partner with Obama is they just don't trust him. Do you think they would trust me? I know them all. I've been working for a decade to figure out how to win this war. To my good friend Ted Cruz, please ask him the following question, you say you would keep Assad in power, I will tell you that is the worst possible thing that could come out of an American leaders mouth. It would be disastrous. His favorite movie is, apparently, Princess Bride. Ted, getting in bed with Iran and Russia to save Assad is inconceivable. +p482 +aVPrincess Buttercup would not like this. +p483 +aV...I didn't get to say yes. Yes. +p484 +aVYeah, this is an important discussion. The American president is the strongest voice in the world \u2014 until Obama came along. Now, we're just one of many. When you ask people to help you, when you entice Syrians to join your cause, to take down the dictator they hate to destroy +p485 +aV...we'd better do something about it, and I have a plan. +p486 +aVI don't think it's necessary. If you don't want to be there, I don't want you to be there. I just retired after 33 years in the Air Force, 140 days on the ground as an Air Force Reservist. To those who are watching, thank you for your service. I've had a small walk in your shoes. We have the best military in the world. Obama has put it in a box. Let's take it out of the box and use it before we get attacked here. We don't need a draft, we need a commander in chief who knows what the hell they're doing. +p487 +aVAnd, I am that guy. +p488 +aVCan, can I... +p489 +aVThis is important. We're not fighting all the wars with our kids. If you've been to Iraq and Afghanistan and you made any friends, you've lots of bunch. Thousands have died in Iraq and Afghanistan fighting. +p490 +aVDon't belittle their sacrifice. +p491 +aVNo. +p492 +aVTo, to those the (well) times in the Army were a bigger problem than they are today. If you want to fix this, you get the Army to 500,000, not 420,000. You want to win this war, grow the Navy to 350 ships, not 275. Sequestration is Latin for doing really dumb things. We're going to have the smallest Navy since 1915, the smallest Army since 1940. I was yelling and screaming don't do sequestration. I was right. If I am President of the United States, Commander in Chief, we're going to rebuild our military without a draft... +p493 +aV...and we're going to go on the offense and they're ready to go. +p494 +aVThey are ready to go. They just need to be led. +p495 +aVWell I stand unique, having been a military lawyer for 33 years. I've been a defense attorney, a prosecutor, and a military judge. Mr. Trump, you don't have to speak about everything, that's not required. I would make sure that everybody had a fair trial. Does that make sense to you? We're at war folks and this stuff has to stop. It's bad for morale to hear somebody wanting to be Commander in Chief that would deny due process to somebody who's been charged in the military. For God's sakes Mr. Trump, you're asking to be the Commander in Chief , the leader of the free world, up your game. As to women, if you want to kill terrorists, I'm your guy. +p496 +aVWell, the first thing I would do is make adjustments to reality. I want to look and see if this was a terrorist arranged marriage between the couple in California. The fact that they met online accidentally is almost zero. So, no, I would have a time-out on Syrian refugees because you'd be crazy if you didn't after Paris. But, I've been to the refugee camps in Turkey, and Jordan. Trust me with your Christian \u2014 and I'm a lousy Christian saved by grace, but \u2014 this is important. We've got to stop this war. Do you realize that there are more Syrian refugees in Lebanon going to school than Lebanese children? Do you realize if this war goes for another year the King of Jordan could fall? Let's have a no-fly zone. +p497 +aVI would \u2014 make changes to that bill in light of what I know today. +p498 +aVThe next president is going to be a war-time president, whether they like it or not. I'm ready for that job. Two years ago isolationism led by Senator Paul and Cruz was white hot in our party. Now it is in retreat because events have proven me more right than wrong and has proven them to be wrong. In the first debate I called for American troops on the ground to protect our homeland. Nobody came forward. Now, most have. We've spent a lot of carnage to get them to where I have always been. Make me president, I will keep you and your family safe. +p499 +aVWell, number one, thank you for having me here tonight. How about a round of applause for Boulder, Colorado? This is a beautiful place. Looking at their academic standards, the only way I could have gotten into this university is to be invited to this debate tonight. But here's my take on things. Without national security, there is no economic security. Without the sacrifice of the veteran, all of our hopes and dreams are at risk. Just a few days ago, Hillary Clinton said that the problems with the V.A. are being exaggerated by Republicans. They are not, they are real. +p500 +aVWell, let me tell you what is real. The threat to our homeland. I've never seen so many threats to our homeland than I do today. Barack Obama is an incompetent Commander in Chief. There are more terrorist organizations with safe havens to attack the American homeland than anytime since 9/11. We're in the process of reducing our defense spending by half. I am looking at this budget with one view in mind, will it restore the ability to defend this nation. We're on track to have the smallest army since 1940, the smallest navy since 1915, this budget, if it is paid for, will put $40 billion dollars back in the defense department at a time we need it. The number one role of the federal government's to defend this nation, I intend to be a Commander in Chief that can win a war we cannot afford to lose. +p501 +aVHere's the problem. We're being walked all over because our commander in chief is weak in the eyes of our enemies. Do you think Putin would be in the Ukraine today if Ronald Reagan were president? Why are the Chinese stealing our intellectual property, hacking into our system? Why are they building islands over resource-rich waters? Because they can get away with it. At the end of the day, ladies and gentlemen, the foreign policy of Barack Obama needs to be replaced, and the last person you want to find to replace his foreign policy is his secretary of state. So to the Chinese, when it comes to dealing with me, you've got a clenched fist or an open hand. You pick. The party's over, to all the dictators. Make me commander-in-chief and this crap stops. +p502 +aVNo, I \u2014 I think I'm trying to solve problems that somebody had better solve. Now, you don't have to believe that climate change is real. I have been to the Antarctic. I've been to Alaska. I'm not a scientist, and I've got the grades to prove it. But I've talked to the climatologists of the world, and 90 percent of them are telling me that greenhouse gas effect is real. That we're heating up the planet. I just want a solution that would be good for the economy, that doesn't destroy it. I want to fix an immigration system. I'm not gonna tell you, if you like your doctor, you can keep it \u2014 keep him. Do you like your health care, you're gonna keep it. I'm tired of telling people things that they want to hear, that we know we're not gonna do. We're not gonna eliminate the corporate tax. But we can make it lower. We're going to fix immigration, only if we work together. I want to secure the border because, if we don't, we're going to get hurt and hit again. I want to fix a broken visa system. I want to increase legal immigration, because we're gonna have a shortage of workers over time. As to the 11 million, I want to talk about fixing the problem. We're not going to deport 11 million people and their legal citizen children. But we will deport felons. And those who stay will have to learn our language to stay, because I don't speak it well but look how far I've come. +p503 +aVAt the end of the day, folks, I am trying to solve a problem and win an election. I am tired of losing. Good God, look who we're running against. The number one candidate on the other side thought she was flat broke after her and her husband were in the White House for eight years. The number two guy went to the Soviet Union on his honeymoon and I don't think he ever came back. If we don't beat these people, who the hell are we going to beat? +p504 +aVThe first thing... +p505 +aV\u2014 that we have to do is come to grips with the reality that we're facing as Americans. In 1950, there were 16 workers for every Social Security recipient. Today, there's three. In 20 years, there are two. I want to make sure that no American company leaves America because you can't find a worker. American workers always get the first preference. But if you can't find an American worker, after you advertise at a competitive wage, I don't want you to be at a loss. Bring people in based on merit. Let's take a broken immigration... +p506 +aV\u2014 system... +p507 +aV\u2014 and make a merit-based immigration system that will help our economy. We're going to need workers in the future. +p508 +aVLet's just choose rationally. +p509 +aVWe owe to every businessperson and worker in America the best environment in the world to create a job. We owe that to American businesses. Thirty-five percent corporate tax rate is the second highest in the world. We need to lower it so they don't leave. The goal is to help the middle class. We can talk about corporations all day long but my goal is to help the middle class, somebody who makes too much to be on government assistance but still lives paycheck to paycheck. When the kid gets sick you don't go on vacation. +p510 +aVThat's the purpose of my presidency, to grow the economy here. And let me tell you, our Democratic friends have a list a mile long of more government. That's not going to grow the middle class, that's going to create a burden on your children, which they're already overburdened. The best way to grow the middle class is to make it a good place to create a job. You know why Boeing came to South Carolina when they could have gone anywhere to build the 787? Because we wanted them. We had a low-tax structure. +p511 +aVA permitting structure that allowed them to build the building even faster than they thought they could build it. We welcomed them there. I'm going to take the South Carolina attitude \u2014 +p512 +aVI think everybody owes an obligation to the country. The ones that I'm most worried about are the 1 percent of Americans in uniform, who have been fighting this war for 14 years. They need a commander in chief who knows what the hell they're doing. My first job as President of the United States is to rebuild the military and use it smartly. Admiral Mullen said the debt is a big threat to our national security. He's right. But people go where they're welcome when it comes to job creation. If I'm President of the United States you will be welcomed in America. +p513 +aVThis will be the place to come \u2014 +p514 +aVAnd if I'm president of the United States \u2014 +p515 +aV\u2014 our enemies \u2014 +p516 +aVWell, number one, Social Security is not just a concept to me. I know why it exists; 50 percent of today's seniors would be in poverty without a Social Security check. I promise you, if you make me your president, I will save Social Security because I know why it exists. Now, if you're looking for good beer policy, I'm your best bet. My dad owned a bar. I know beer. We grew up, my sister and myself, in the back of that bar in one room with my mom, my dad and my sister who's nine years younger. When I was 21, my mom was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease. Neither parent finished high school. She died within a year. We were wiped out from the medical bills. And if it wasn't for a Social Security survivor benefit check coming into my family, we wouldn't' have made it because my dad died 15 months later. So I... +p517 +aVWait a minute, please. I'm 22 and we're wiped out. I am 60. I'm not married. I have a military retirement. I'm in good shape. I would give up some of my benefits to help those who need it more than I do. To young people here, I will ask you to work a little bit longer because we have to. The purpose of my presidency is to save this country and to save Social Security by working across the aisle just like Ronald Reagan. This is the biggest issue facing this nation. +p518 +aVWell, number one, the only reason I have an iPhone is because I gave my number to Donald Trump. Don't do that. +p519 +aVDonald has done more to upgrade my technology than my whole staff. Number one, Fox News. Sorry about +p520 +aVWell, I think a national holiday would be the day that commander-in-chief Barack Obama doesn't have that job. But unlike these other three, I want to win New Hampshire. Go Tom Brady. Go Patriots. Sorry, Colorado is late in the... +p521 +aVSomebody said \u2014 or maybe I saw it on the bill of a cap \u2014 that let's make America great again. America is great. I intend to make America strong again. I'm going to be the champion of the middle class, where I came from. If you make me your president, our best days are ahead. I'm ready to be commander- in-chief, ladies and gentlemen, on day one. I intend to war \u2014 win a war that we cannot afford to lose. I will be a commander-in-chief worthy of the sacrifice of those brave Americans who have been defending our nation. They have had our back. God knows, they have had our back... +p522 +aV\u2014 and I intend to have their back as commander-in- chief. Make me commander-in-chief. +p523 +aVOne, thanks, CNN, for having people at this debate. I'm Lindsey Graham from South Carolina, in case you can't tell. I want to thank Ms. Reagan (ph) for inviting me. It means the world to me. I'm the only candidate tonight who served in the military while Ronald Reagan was our president and our commander in chief. It was one of the highlights of my life. I'm running for president to destroy radical Islam, to win the war on terror, to protect you and your family. And in that quest, I have an uncompromising determination to win this war, just like President Reagan had an uncompromising determination to destroy the evil empire, and win the Cold War. Above all others on both sides of the isle, I'm most qualified to be commander and chief on day one -- 33 years in the Air Force, 35 trips to Iraq and Afghanistan, I understand this war. I have a plan to win it, and I intend to win it. +p524 +aVWell, all I can say, if you looked at polling in 2012 and 2008 at this level, we'd have -- at this stage, we would have President Perry and President Giuliani. I have a long way to go. And here's what I'm going to try to do tonight -- convince you that I'm best qualified to be the commander-in-chief of the one percent who are doing the fighting for the rest of us. And we'll have a serious discussion tonight. All of us are going to say we want to destroy +p525 +aVWell, what I hope Republican voters, libertarian, vegetarians, Democrats, you name it, will look for somebody to lead us in a new direction, domestically, but particularly on the foreign policy front. President Obama is making a mess of the world. What I'm trying to tell you here tonight, that Syria is hell on Earth and it's not going to get fixed by insulting each other. I've been there 35 times to Iraq and Afghanistan. I am ready to be commander-in-chief on day one. I've been in the military 33 years, 140 days on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan. I am so ready to get on with winning a war that we can't afford to lose. I hope you believe that experience matters. It's an all- volunteer force of -- when you vote for commander-in-chief, they are stuck with your choice. We've had one novice being commander-in- chief. Let's don't replace one novice with another. And if I thought... +p526 +aV-- I could win this war without more American ground forces in Iraq and Syria, I would tell you, but we can't... +p527 +aV-- and if we don't get on with this, they are coming here. +p528 +aVThank you. +p529 +aVProbably for a good reason. +p530 +aVWell, let's talk about immigration. Number one, I like Rick. I don't remember the Santorum plan when I was in the Senate. The peanut gallery on this is interesting. I have been trying to solve this problem for a decade. There are no democrats here tonight. If you're here, raise your hand. You went to the wrong -- we'll, welcome. Thank you very much for coming. +p531 +aVThe bottom line, I'm trying to pitch the problem. We're not going to deport 11 million people here illegally, but we'll start with felons, and off they go. And, as to the rest, you can stay, but you got to learn our language. I don't speak it very well, well, look how far I've come? Speaking English is a good thing. You got to pay taxes, you got to pay a fine, you got to get in the back of the line. You've got to secure your border or they'll keep coming. If you don't control who gets a job that never ends -- so (ph) got two borders. One with Canadia -- Canada, one with Mexico. I never met an illegal Canadian. This is an economic problem, so, folks, let's solve it. Amnesty is doing nothing, and that's what we've been doing. As to birthright citizenship, once we clean up this mess, in the future, prospectively, I'm going to look at the following. There are people buying tourist visas that go to resorts with maternity wards with the expressed purpose of having a children here in America. There are rich Asians, there are rich people up in the Mid-East... +p532 +aV...That to me is bastardizing citizenship... +p533 +aV...Yeah, I'd like to stop that in the future... +p534 +aV...What do you do with the 11 million? +p535 +aV...What are you going to do with the 11 million? +p536 +aV...Well, what about the other half... +p537 +aV...How many democrats support yourplan... +p538 +aV...How many democrats did you have on your bill? +p539 +aV...I can tell you. None. +p540 +aV...That went nowhere. +p541 +aV...George W. Bush... +p542 +aV...Who won with hispanics. +p543 +aV...Compared to what we're doing... +p544 +aV...Hispanics... +p545 +aV...Are Americans... +p546 +aV...In my world, hispanics are Americans... +p547 +aV...I have a little different take on where the country is going on this issue. Number one, in 1950, there were 16 workers for every retiree. How many are there today? There's three. In 20 years, there's going to be two, and you're going to have 80 million baby boomers like me retiree in mass wanting a Social Security check, and their Medicare bills paid. We're going to need more legal immigration. Let's just make it logical. Let's pick people from all over the world on our terms, not just somebody from Mexico. Let's create a rational, legal immigration system because we have a declining workforce. +p548 +aV...Strom Thurmond had four kids after he was 67, if you're not willing to do that, we've got to come up with a new legal immigration system. +p549 +aVYes, number one, how does President Obama sleep at night? Look what you let happen on your watch. Your commanders told you, don't withdrawal from Iraq because we'll lose of our gains. Three years ago your entire national security team, Senator McCain and I begged you to do a no-fly zone and help the Free Syrian Army while it would matter. But you said no. I'm not blaming Bobby, I'm not blaming Rick, I'm not blaming anybody, I'm blaming Barack Obama for this mess. +p550 +aVRight. +p551 +aVI'm saying this, if they don't understand that Barack Obama's policies are not working, that we're not going to destroy +p552 +aV-- does that include American ground forces in Syria as part of a regional army? Are all of you willing to commit to American ground forces going into Syria as part of a regional army to destroy the caliphate and its headquarters? +p553 +aVWell, you know, Kim Davis, I'm not worried about her attacking me. I am worried about radical Islamic terrorists who are already here planning another 9/11. We're at war, folks. I'm not fighting a crime. I want to have a legal system that understands the difference between fighting a war and fighting a crime, and here's the reality. Young men from the Mid- East are different than Kim Davis. And we've got to understand that. +p554 +aVIslamic websites need to be monitored. +p555 +aVAnd if you are on one, I want to know what you're doing. +p556 +aVI wasn't the best law student. By the end of this debate, it would be the most time I've ever spent in any library. But on the first day in law school view (ph), it's called "Marbury v. Madison." The group in our constitutional democracy that interprets "The Constitution" as to what it means is the Supreme Court. In a 5-4 decision by the Supreme Court, they have ruled that same-sex marriage bans at the state level violate the Fourteenth Amendment to "The United States Constitution" equal protection clause. I don't agree with it, but that is the law of the land. But as president, what I want make sure of is that everybody in this room, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, whatever religion that you can practice your faith without government interference, you can marry people consistent with the tenets of your faith. That's the number one obligation of my presidency, is to protect religious people when they exercise their religious rights. But this decision is the law as it is of right now. And here's the one thing I want to tell you, Jake. +p557 +aVWait -- wait a minute. Whether you're the wedding cake baker or the gay couple or the Baptist preacher, radical Islam would kill you all if they could. +p558 +aVLet's don't lose sight of the big picture here. +p559 +aVHe's one of the most qualified men to ever come before the United States Senate and I don't agree with his decision, but 99 times out of 100, I will. To the Republicans, the biggest prize on the table in 2017 is the presidency. If it is Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders, they are going to pick people that we will disagree with all the time. Please understand, we have to win this election. The court's at stake. It is the most important reason for us to turn out, to make sure we don't lose the judiciary for decades to come. +p560 +aVI've been called a lot of things but never elite before. My dad owned a liquor store, a bar and a poolroom. So only in America can you go from the back of a liquor store to being an elite. +p561 +aVI introduced her at a conference about Africa. I thought Secretary Clinton did a good job when it came to dealing with our problems in Africa, particularly among women. George W. Bush set $40 billion aside and Rick Santorum helped him and President Bush wiped out an entire -- wiped out +p562 +aVWell, Ronald Reagan did a couple of really big things that we should all remember. He sat down with Tip O'Neill, the most liberal guy in the entire House. They started drinking together. That's the first thing I'm going to do as president. We're going to drink more. And what did this -- two great Irishmen do? They found a way to save Social Security from bankruptcy by adjusting the age of retirement from 65 to 67. So, yes, I will say nice things at times about Democrats. Yes, I will work them -- work with them. I will put the country ahead of party. Absolutely I want to work with them. At the end of the day, Hugh, I'm lucky to be standing here. I'm the first in my family to ever go to college. Neither one of my parents finished high school. Darline's here with me tonight. We owned a restaurant... +p563 +aVWell, wait a minute. We... +p564 +aVYou asked me a question. This is important. Republicans need to tell the American people we get it as to who you are. When my mom died, I was 21. When my dad died, when I was 22. We were wiped out financially. If it weren't for Social Security survivor benefit check coming into Darline, we wouldn't have made it. I don't need a lecture from Democrats about Social Security. +p565 +aVI want to save it, just like Ronald Reagan did. +p566 +aVIf you want to see manufacturing, come to South Carolina... +p567 +aV...We'll show 'ya. +p568 +aVWell, I know this. That when my mom and dad owned a restaurant, the bar, the pool room, that if you increased the minimum wage it'd been hard to hire more people. Hillary Clinton has a list a mile long to help the middle class. We're talking all around this. The middle class for the last six and a half years has been squeezed, and squeezed hard. To the middle class, I understand who you are. You're one broken down car from not going on vacation. You're from one sick child away from having to change your whole budget. Here's what I want to do as your president. I want to grow this economy. When Boeing came to South Carolina to build a 787, everybody paid more they would have lost their employees to Boeing. If you're a waitress out there wanting more money, I'm not going to increase the minimum wage, I'm going to try to create an environment where somebody else will open up a restaurant across the street to hire you away at a higher rate, or they'll have to pay you more to keep you. You got to borrow money to create jobs in this country. Banking is locked down because of Dodd-Frank. The tax code is a complete mess, but nobody's talked about the elephant in the room, which is debt. Not one more penny to the federal government until w2e come up with a plan to get out of debt. +p569 +aVIt's probably a small bit, but the ones that get it... +p570 +aVYeah, but I... +p571 +aV...Have you ever thought why all of us say that... +p572 +aVIf I believed they were trying to break out and get a bomb, absolutely. And here's the most important thing: they know I would if I had to. And none of us are going to be able to defend this country adequately until we rebuild our military. A weak economy, a military in decline, the world on fire, does that sound familiar to you? Michael, does that sound familiar to you? The first thing I'm going to do as commander in chief on day one is call the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and say, what do you need that you don't have? We're cutting our military; we're on track to have the smallest Army since 1940, the smallest Navy since 1915 and John Kasich says he wants to close more bases. I want to rebuild our military and I want the Iranians to know that, if I had to, I would use it. The worst nightmare in the world is a radical Islamic regime with a weapon of mass destruction. The only reason 3,000 of us died on 9/11 is not 3 million, not 3 million is because they couldn't get the weapons to kill us. They're on track to get a bomb even if they don't cheat. This deal is a nightmare for Israel. They are coming here if we don't watch it terrorism with a nuclear capability sponsored by Iran. So, yes, I would use military force to stop them. I would set this deal aside and I would get you a better deal. If you gave $100 billion, I could get almost anybody out of jail. We couldn't even get our hostages out of jail. +p573 +aVDo you think Putin would be in the Ukraine or Syria today if Ronald Reagan were president? No. This is what happens when you have a weak, unqualified commander- in-chief who doesn't understand the role America plays in the world. Why is it bad for you that Russia's helping Assad? He's the magnet for Sunni extremists. The Syrian people are not going to accept him as their legitimate leader. By Assad being helped by Russia, it means the war never ends. It means the next 9/11, which is most likely to occur from an attack from Syria. It's more likely. At the end of the day, if I'm president of the United States, I've told you what I'm going to do. There's nobody left in Syria to train. We're going to get a regional army who doesn't like +p574 +aV... and if the war in Syria continues, it is coming here. For God's sakes, let's get on with... +p575 +aV... with fixing the problem in Syria. +p576 +aVBobby, you were in the Congress, and all I can tell you, to everybody here, if you want to repeal Obamacare, get a new president. If you want to defund Planned Parenthood, elect a pro-life president, because that's the only way. If we pass the Cardin bill, Graham, Menendez, it would go to the president. He would veto it. 67 votes are required to override the veto. +p577 +aVWait a minute. Now, you asked me a question. So I don't want to take off the table the ability to slow down Obama in his last 13 to 14 months, because I want 60 votes to stop what I think he's going to do between now and January 2017. Five Republicans deflect -- leave -- we're in trouble. So folks, the world really is the way it is. President Obama is president. The goal is to get him out of there and pick somebody who would actually do something to repeal Obamacare, who would get you a better agreement. So Bobby, he would veto the bill, we don't have 67 votes, and you're giving away a defense against Obama for the rest of his presidency. No, I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to tell you things I can't do. I'm not going to tell you by shutting the government down, we're going to defund Obamacare as long as he's president. All that does is hurt us. I am trying to lead this party to winning. +p578 +aVAre you going to shut the government down? +p579 +aVAre you going to shut the government... +p580 +aVCan I just say something? You know, Bobby, we're running to be president of the United States, the most important job in the free world. With it comes a certain amount of honesty. I'm tired of telling people things they want to hear that I know we can't do. He is not going to sign a bill that would defund ObamaCare. If I am president of the United States, I wouldn't put one penny in -- in my budget for Planned Parenthood, not one penny. I'm as offended by these videos as you are. But the one thing I'm not going to do going into 2016 is shut the government down and tank our ability to win. What you're saying and what Senator Cruz is saying, I am really sick of hearing, trying to get the bottom... +p581 +aV-- the Republican Party in a position... +p582 +aV-- to win. That's what I'm trying to do. And that does matter to me ... +p583 +aVIt matters a lot. +p584 +aVWell, number one, I will win a war that we can't afford to lose. I have a plan to destroy radical Islam because it has to be. These are religious Nazis running while President Obama has made one mistake after another and it's caught up with us. What do I have to offer that's different? I get my foreign policy from being in on the ground. I've been to Iraq and Afghanistan in the Middle East 35 times in the last decade, trying to understand how we got in this mess. Our leading candidate gets his foreign policy from watching television. And what I heard last night is the Cartoon Network, oh, I'm big, I'm strong, we're going to hit them in the head. +p585 +aVThat's not foreign policy. That's a cartoon character. John Kasich, a good friend of mine, said in New Hampshire, we're going to close more bases on his watch. On my watch, we're going to open up more bases. The military is in decline, folks. We're going to have the smallest military in modern times, spending half of what we'd normally spend by the end of this decade. +p586 +aVWhat do I offer? What do I offer? To make your families safe and our country strong again, a vision and a determination to win a war that we cannot afford to lose. +p587 +asVREGAN +p588 +(lp589 +VIn Tuesday's State of the Union Address, the president said that our economy is strong. He cited the significant decline we've seen in unemployment rate and the millions of jobs that have been created. What is your assessment of the economy right now? And I would like to hear from all of you on this one, beginning with Ms. Fiorina. +p590 +aVThank you Governor Huckabee. Senator Santorum? +p591 +aVThank you. Well, since we've been talking about the Middle East, Senator Santorum, conflicts between Saudi Arabia and Iran have certainly escalated, amid accusations that Saudi Arabia bombed the Iranian Embassy in Yemen after the Saudi Embassy in Tehran was attacked. As we confront an increasingly unstable Middle East, how will you, as president, navigate this administration's promises to Iran while standing by our historic allies in the region? +p592 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p593 +aVGovernor Huckabee, if I could just follow-up with that. Do we need to be in Afghanistan? +p594 +aVThank you Governor Huckabee. Ms. Fiorina, nearly 600 women say they were attacked in a German city on New Year's Eve by men of Arab or North African descent and 45 percent of those alleged attacks were sexual assaults. Twenty-two of those 32 men arrested so far are asylum-seekers. Are you worried about similar problems in the United States? +p595 +aVI want to stay with you on this. The world shares a common enemy right now in the way of +p596 +aVMs. Fiorina, thank you. +p597 +aVWelcome back, everyone, to the Republican presidential debate. On to the next round of questions \u2014 Sandra. +p598 +aVMs. Fiorina, the president has just issued an executive order to expand the gun laws and background checks. And none of you on stage agree with this. But recent polls show the majority of Americans are in favor of universal background checks. +p599 +aVIt's the poll data. +p600 +aVSo tell me......why, in your view, is the president's proposal a problem? +p601 +aVMs. Fiorina, you've said that was when you were CEO of HP, you actually worked with the government. +p602 +aV\u2014 to try and combat some of these terrorist threats. +p603 +aVWhat did you do? +p604 +aVMs. Fiorina, thank you. +p605 +aVGovernor Huckabee, an American in San Bernardino murdered 14 people while terrorists with Belgian and French passports murdered 130 people. Were facing a threat within our borders, and from outside the United States. Those European terrorists, they could have come here at any time given that we have a visa waiver program that enables people to travel back and forth. It exists within those countries, and 36 others. In countries around the world, including many in Europe, cannot ensure that their citizens are not jihadists, why are we waiving the visa requirement at all? +p606 +aVIf you get the visa waiver program, does that shut down international commerce? +p607 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p608 +aVSenator Santorum, thank you. +p609 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p610 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from North Charleston. We want to jump right back in. Sandra is kicking it off. +p611 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you know it used to be you could graduate from high school and get a pretty good job at the local factory, enough to take care of your family and yourself. Those days seem to be gone. It's pretty hard to do that nowadays. Businesses are increasingly turning to automation to increase their productivity levels. It's happening right here, in fact, at the Boeing factory in North Charleston. The president says automation threatens workers' ability to get higher wages. Do you agree with that? And if so, do you have a solution? +p612 +aVThank you very much, Governor Huckabee. Senator Santorum, 40% of babies born today are born to single moms. That's twice as high as reported back in 1980, and it's 11 times as high as in 1940. Studies show that children are always better off economically, most often \u2014 and emotionally, with two parents in a household. From a policy perspective, should the government be doing anything to encourage family formation? +p613 +aVThank you. +p614 +aVCarly Fiorina? +p615 +aVThank you to all the candidates. That does it, everyone for the first debate right here in North Charleston. +p616 +aVGood evening, and welcome to the historic Milwaukee Theater. Tonight, you'll hear from 12 Republican candidates vying to become the next President of the United States. I'm Trish Regan, along with my co-moderators, Sandra Smith, and from the Wall Street Journal, Jerry Seib. +p617 +aVLet's introduce them. New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie. Former Arkansas Governor, Mike Huckabee. Former Pennsylvania Senator, Rick Santorum. And, Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindal. +p618 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p619 +aVAll right, Governor Jindal, you have pushed Louisiana's energy resources as a means to grow jobs in your state. But as oil prices have plunged in recent months, so has jobs growth. Louisiana now has an unemployment rate above the national average. Will your energy-focused jobs plan for the country be subject to the same market ups and downs? +p620 +aVAll right, Governor Jindal, thank you. Governor Christie, you have said that the Democrats' message is one of, quote, "free stuff." In contrast, Republicans want to reduce spending. How do you win a national election when the Democrats are offering free health care, a free or subsidized college education, and you're the party that is seemingly offering nothing in the way of immediate tangible benefits? +p621 +aVSenator Santorum, a single mom with no job and two kids in New Hampshire, home of the first in the nation primary, is eligible for more than $30,000 a year in benefits. Even if she could find a job, she would need to find child care. And in many cases may conclude it's better for her to live off government benefits. Senator, how do you help and incentivize her to go to work? And if you're the one that's going to cut her benefits, why should she vote for you? +p622 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you. All right, we are just getting started. Medicare, Social Security and the future of ObamaCare \u2014 that is all straight ahead, live from Milwaukee and the Republican presidential debate. +p623 +aVWelcome back to the Milwaukee Theater, and the Republican Presidential Debate. On to the next round of questions, Gerry has the next question. +p624 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you differ from many of your GOP opponents on the stage tonight over accepting Syrian refugees into this country. You have said, "We don't have an obligation to just open our doors." As the Islamic state continues to expand, slaughtering and crucifying Christians, including women and children, refugees continue to flee their land by the thousands. Should America open its doors to accept any refugees in this country? If so, how many? +p625 +aVAlright, Governor Huckabee, thank you. +p626 +aVNext question to you, Governor... +p627 +aV...Next question to you, Governor... +p628 +aV...let me get in......Let me get in here, because the next question, it's to you, and it's on Obamacare. It is still unpopular with the American people. You've seen the polls, they've shown nearly half the country still opposes this law. You have been critical of your GOP opponents, some of them standing on the stage tonight, others later. Notably, Ted Cruz, for not having comprehensive plans. You say you do. What specifically makes your plan to replace Obamacare better than the opponents, some of them standing next to you. +p629 +aVGovernor Jindal, thank you. +p630 +aVWe'll get to that. +p631 +aVRonald Reagan did work with Tip O'Neill. Anyway, we are going to take a quick break. Coming up, one of the top issues for voters, how much you're paying in taxes. We are live from Milwaukee with the Republican presidential debate. See you right back here. +p632 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate. We are live from Milwaukee. A top issue on the campaign trail, taxes and how much you pay. All right, I've got a question for all of you here. When looking at the federal income tax, state income tax and local tax, in some cases, combined, some Americans are paying over 50 percent of their paycheck to the government. What is the highest percentage, all in, in the way of taxes, that any American should have to pay and what is the lowest? I'd like to, again, to hear from each of you. And I want those two all in numbers. I'm going to start with you, Senator Santorum. +p633 +aVAll in. OK, Governor Christie? +p634 +aVAnd we'll get back to you. Governor Jindal? +p635 +aVGovernor Huckabee, Americans, under your plan, would pay a tax on every single thing that they purchase. Given that consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of GDP, some economists worry that your tax plan would actually discourage spending, thereby slowing our economy. How do you respond? +p636 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p637 +aVSenator Santorum, you agree with Governor Christie. You also have said that the Fed should be audited. But many worry that given the Congressional challenges that they face, by having Congressional oversight of the Fed, which has been historically an independent body, you would be making the Fed much more political. How would you navigate that risk? +p638 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee, both Senator Santorum and Governor Christie were boat \u2014 both critical of the Federal Reserve. Also, many have questioned whether Janet Yellen is the right person to be running the Fed. If elected president, would you keep Janet Yellen? +p639 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee, thank you. All right, Senator Santorum, by the way, today is the 240th... +p640 +aV\u2014 of the United States... +p641 +aV\u2014 Marine Corps. Tomorrow is Veterans Day. We honor and recognize all those who have fought for, and served this great nation, Senator. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, meanwhile, which provides patient care, and federal benefits to those veterans, as well as their families, is beset by scandal. What new ideas do you have to fix the broken V.A. healthcare system? +p642 +asVHEMMER +p643 +(lp644 +VSo, here we go. Ninety-seven hours before Iowa chooses, in fact the last two winners in this state are on this stage tonight. Governor Huckabee, in 2008, you won by nine points here, but this time your support seems to be going to Senator Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. Why, Governor, is your message not working this time? +p645 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Santorum, four short years ago you won Iowa. You beat Mitt Romney, pretty much shocked the country. But, just the other day you talked about what is in the greater good for your campaign. Is Monday night your last stand? +p646 +aVOK. +p647 +aV... Senator, do you want to name... ... Senator, do you want to name that entertainer your refering to? +p648 +aVBut senator, since you mentioned... +p649 +aVSenator, quickly then, after this debate, you mentioned Donald trump's name. Immediately, you're going to event across town here in Des Moines as a guest of Donald Trump. +p650 +aVSo are you laying the groundwork for maybe your future? Perhaps an endorsement of Mr. Trump? +p651 +aVThank you, senator. One moment. We'll get to you in a moment, Governor. We have a few coming up. +p652 +aVThank you. Governor Gilmore. As of one week ago, you have not held a single campaign event here in the state of Iowa. As of one week ago, in fact, you were the only one in the Republican field who had not made a campaign visit to this state. You know how it works here. You know how it's worked over time. Why should anyone caucus for you on Monday night? +p653 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p654 +aVMs. Fiorina, same topic. The president says that many are exaggerating the threat from +p655 +aVThank you. +p656 +aVGovernor Gilmore, some time this spring 34 more detainees are cleared from release from Gitmo. If you were president, as you say, this president wants to close it. As president, if Gitmo were closed and an enemy combatant were found or captured in the field of battle, perhaps Syria or Iraq or Libya, and you don't have Gitmo, where would you put them? +p657 +aVGovernor, thank you for that. +p658 +aVWelcome back to Des Moines on what will be a long night here. Let's get back to the questions. Let's get back to the questions with Martha. +p659 +aVLet me stay with you, Ms. Fiorina. You've said you will shrink the federal government by 30 percent over the next two years, and those jobs will not be filled, and you'll do it through retirement. Your critics would argue that's exactly what you did at Hewlett Packard when 30,000 people lost their jobs. If it did not work at H.P., why would it work at the federal government? +p660 +aVThank you. +p661 +aVGovernor Huckabee, Nikki Haley, Republican governor from South Carolina, recently said... +p662 +aVI did not, but we... +p663 +aVWe have plenty for you -- you bet, Governor. We have a couple more in the hopper for you in a moment here. +p664 +aVFirst, Governor -- Governor Huckabee, Nikki Haley warned about listening to "the siren call of the angriest voices," to which Donald Trump said he is "very, very angry." Who is right, Governor? +p665 +aVThank you, Governor. +p666 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you've mentioned the economy several times tonight. Let's go back to that for a moment because in America today 50% of the American workers are making less than $30,000 dollars a year. Let's talk about what you could do for them. The Conservative Club for Growth has had an issue with your policy on taxes for years. In fact, it called you, "Tax Hike Mike". And, the record shows state spending in Arkansas increased 54% when you were in charge, 94% if you include federal dollars during that same period. When it comes to helping people at the margins, $30,000, $32,000 dollars a year, what's better? A tax and spend approach, or shrinking government? +p667 +aVGovernor Huckabee, thank you. Same issue, Senator Santorum. The President says criticism of his economic policy is political hot air. You consistently talk about manufacturing jobs leaving America. You support a flat tax of 20%. How would a flat tax bring back two million jobs to America? +p668 +aVSenator, thank you. +p669 +aVThank you Ms. Fiorina. Governor Gilmore. Who are the moderate Muslims do you seek advice and counsel from on how to deal with the threat from radical Islamic terrorism? +p670 +aVThank you governor. Governor Huckabee. Here in Iowa 43 percent of Democratic caucus goers describe themselves as socialist. That's a higher number than those who say they are capitalist. I guess you could say, they're feeling the burn. This is a country rooted in capitalism, the United States of America. How did we get here? +p671 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum, the president says politics in America have become meaner over the past several years with him in the White House. Two weeks ago at the State of the Union he said the following. "A president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide." Lincoln and Roosevelt, that's pretty good company. If he is right, do Republicans share some of the blame? +p672 +aVThank you, Senator. +p673 +aVIn the closing few moments, the candidates have an opportunity to make a closing statement, 30 seconds for each. And, we want to start tonight with the former Virginia Governor, Jim Gilmore. +p674 +aV... Thank you, Governor. +p675 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p676 +aVThank you, Governor. +p677 +aVThat concludes our debate tonight, but the night has just begun. +p678 +asVUNIDENTIFIED +p679 +(lp680 +VWhy don't, why don't we... +p681 +asVBAIER +p682 +(lp683 +VLess than a year from now, in this very arena, one of these 10 candidates or one of the seven on the previous debate tonight will accept the Republican party's nomination. Tonight's candidates were selected based on an average of five national polls. Just a few hours ago, you heard from the candidates ranked 11th through 17. And now, the prime-time event, the top 10. +p684 +aVNeurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Florida Senator Marco Rubio. +p685 +aVIt might be. It might be. We'll see. [ +p686 +aVIt might be. The rules for tonight are simple. One minute for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups. And if a candidate runs over, you'll hear this. Pleasant, no? We also have a big crowd here with us tonight in the home of the Cavaliers, as I mentioned. And while we expect them... ... we expect them to be enthusiastic, as you heard, we don't want to take anything away from the valuable time for the candidate. So, we're looking for somewhere between a reaction to a LeBron James dunk and the Cleveland Public Library across the street. Somewhere there, we'll find a balance tonight. Without further ado, let's begin. +p687 +aVGentlemen, we know how much you love hand-raising questions. So we promise, this is the only one tonight: the only one. Is there anyone on stage, and can I see hands, who is unwilling tonight to pledge your support to the eventual nominee of the Republican party and pledge to not run an independent campaign against that person. Again, we're looking for you to raise your hand now -- raise your hand now if you won't make that pledge tonight. Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump to be clear, you're standing on a Republican primary debate stage. +p688 +aVThe place where the RNC will give the nominee the nod. +p689 +aVAnd that experts say an independent run would almost certainly hand the race over to Democrats and likely another Clinton. You can't say tonight that you can make that pledge? +p690 +aVSo tonight, you can't say if another one of these... +p691 +aVOK. +p692 +aVDr. Paul. +p693 +aVOK. +p694 +aVJust to be clear, you can't make a -- we're gonna -- we're going to move on. You're not gonna make the pledge tonight? +p695 +aVOK. Alright. +p696 +aVGovernor Bush, you have insisted that you're your own man. You say you have a life experience uniquely your own. Not your father's, not your brother's. But there are several opponents on this stage who get big- applause lines in early voting states with this line: quote, "the last thing the country needs is another Bush in the Oval Office." So do you understand the real concern in this country about dynastic politics? +p697 +aVGovernor Christie, you're not exactly the darling of conservatives. You tout your record as a Republican governor in a blue state. On Facebook, the most people talking about you, not surprisingly, come from your state of New Jersey, and one of the top issues they are talking about is the economy. This -- this may be why. Under your watch, New Jersey has undergone nine credit rating downgrades. The state's 44th in private sector growth. You face an employee pension crisis and the Garden State has the third highest foreclosure rate in the country. So why should voters believe that your management of the country's finances would be any different? +p698 +aVSenator Paul, you recently blamed the rise of +p699 +aVGentlemen, the next series of questions deals with ObamaCare and the role of the federal government. Mr. Trump, ObamaCare is one of the things you call a disaster. +p700 +aVSaying it needs to be repealed and replaced. +p701 +aVNow, 15 years ago, you called yourself a liberal on health care. You were for a single-payer system, a Canadian-style system. Why were you for that then and why aren't you for it now? +p702 +aVBut on ObamaCare... +p703 +aVMr. Trump, hold up one second. +p704 +aVAll right, now, hold on, Senator Paul... +p705 +aVOK. +p706 +aVAll right, let me... Mr. Trump, it's not just your past support for single- payer health care. You've also supported a host of other liberal policies. Use -- you've also donated to several Democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton included, Nancy Pelosi. You explained away those donations saying you did that to get business-related favors. And you said recently, quote, "When you give, they do whatever the hell you want them to do." +p707 +aVSo what specifically did... +p708 +aV-- they do? +p709 +aVHold on. We're going to -- we're going to move on. We'll come back to you, Governor Walker. +p710 +aVWe have many questions to come. +p711 +aVMany questions to come. Governor Huckabee, on Facebook, John Pietricone asked this, "Will you abolish or take away the powers and cut the size of the EPA, the IRS, the Department of Education?" Now, broadly... ...broadly, the size of government is a big concern for Facebook users, Facebook persons, as well as, obviously, conservatives. But year after year, decade after decade, there are promises from Republicans to shrink government. But year after year, decade after decade, it doesn't happen. In fact, it gets bigger, even under Republican politicians. So the question is, at this point, is the government simply too big for any one person, even a Republican, to shrink? +p712 +aVDr. Carson... +p713 +aVDr. Carson, do you agree with that? +p714 +aVGovernor Bush? +p715 +aVWe're going to come back to you, Dr. Carson. Governor Bush, you are one of the few people on the stage who advocates for Common Core education standards, reading and math. A lot of people on this stage vigorously oppose a federal involvement in education. They say it should all be handled locally. President Obama's secretary of education, Arnie Duncan, has said that most of the criticism of Common Core is due to a, quote, "fringe group of critics." Do you think that's accurate? +p716 +aVSenator Rubio, why is Governor Bush wrong on Common Core? +p717 +aVAnd do you agree with your old friend? +p718 +aVWe have many more questions coming on a host of topics, here from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Stay with us. +p719 +aVWe have many more questions coming on a host of topics. Here from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Stay with us. +p720 +aVGentlemen, another question for a few of you. Yesterday, just yesterday, President Obama criticized Republican lawmakers trying to block the Iran deal, calling them knee-jerk partisans, adding that hardliners in Iran who chant "death to America" were, quote, "making common cause with the Republican caucus." Here's what two of your opponents on the 5 p.m. debate stage said about Iran. +p721 +aVNow, I wanna ask a few of you this. First, Governor Walker. You've said that you would tear up the Iran deal on day one. If this deal is undone, what then? +p722 +aVSenator Paul, would you tear up the deal on day one? +p723 +aVGovernor Huckabee, what do you think about what Senator Paul just said? +p724 +aVThank you, gentlemen. +p725 +aVWelcome back to Cleveland. Our next topic is foreign policy. Candidates, you may not have seen the late developing news today our Fox Pentagon team broke earlier this evening about a top Iranian general traveling to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. His name is General Qassem Soleimani, he's blamed for hundreds of U.S. troop's deaths in Iraq, and Afghanistan. His trip to Russia appears to directly violate U.N. Security Council resolutions to confine him to Iran. So, Mr. Trump, if you were president, how would you respond to this? +p726 +aVAnother new development today, Senior Defense officials tell Fox they strongly suspect Russia was behind the cyber attack on the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs office... +p727 +aV...email. This comes in the wake of the Director of National Intelligence blaming the Chinese for the largest ever cyber attack, stealing personal data of tens of millions of Americans. Senator Cruz, in your view, have Russia and China committed acts of cyber war, and if you were president, what would you do about it? +p728 +aVDr. Carson, in August of 2012 President Obama famously declared Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons, quote, "that's a redline for us," and that there would be enormous consequences. One year later, with overwhelming evidence the Assad had, in fact, used chemical weapons and crossed that red line, President Obama declined to use military force against the Assad regime. As president, would you have used military force there? +p729 +aVGovernor Walker, as president, what would you do if Russian President Vladimir Putin started a campaign to destabilize +p730 +aVGovernor -- Governor Huckabee, the culture of the American military is definitely changing. Women are moving into combat roles. Don't Ask, Don't Tell has obviously been dropped. And now Defense Secretary Ashton Carter recently directed the military to prepare for a moment when it is welcoming transgender persons to serve openly. As commander in chief, how would you handle that? +p731 +aVSenator Paul, the first budget you proposed as senator cut all financial aid to Israel. You have since changed your view on that issue. What made you change your mind. +p732 +aVOK. But you still say that Israel could be one of the countries that is cut from financial aid? +p733 +aVGovernor Christie, what do you think of that answer? +p734 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p735 +aVSenator, we're going to finish up with some more questions, thank you. +p736 +aVNow each candidate will make a closing statement. You'll all have 30 seconds to make a closing statement for this debate. We'll start with Ohio Governor John Kasich. +p737 +aVSenator Marco Rubio. +p738 +aVThank you, Senator. +p739 +aVGovernor Mike Huckabee, closing statement. +p740 +aVMr. Trump, closing statement, sir. +p741 +aVGentlemen, thank you. +p742 +aVThat's it. +p743 +asVMADDOW +p744 +(lp745 +VWe are super excited to be here at the University of New Hampshire. Tonight, this is the first time that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have squared off exactly like this. Face-to-face, just one-on-one, just the two of them. +p746 +aVAnd we do hope that the candidates will take this opportunity to show us the distinctions\u2014show us the differences between them. That's the whole reason that we're here tonight. We're not here for talking points. We're to learn about the difference between the candidates. And with that, let's get going. Please join us in welcoming Secretary Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders. +p747 +aVAnd with that, that's it. We're going to begin with 60- second opening statements from each of the candidates. And as agreed to in advance by the two campaigns, we're going to begin tonight with Senator Sanders. +p748 +aVSecretary Clinton, Senator Sanders is campaigning against you now, at this point in the campaign, basically arguing that you are not progressive enough to be the Democratic nominee. He has said that if you voted for the Iraq war, if you are in favor of the death penalty, if you wobbled on things like the Keystone Pipeline or TPP, if you said single payer health care could never happen, then you're too far to the right of the Democratic Party to be the party's standard bearer. Given those policy positions, why should liberal Democrats support you and not Senator Sanders? +p749 +aVSenator Sanders, have you established a list of what it means to be a progressive that is unrealistic? +p750 +aVThank you Senator. +p751 +aVSenator Sanders, as a Vermonter, you have almost a home state advantage here in New Hampshire. But back home across the border, you also have a long history of running against Democrats as a third-party candidate, for governor, Senate, for Congress. In 1988 your candidacy as a third-party candidate arguably cost the Democrats a congressional seat and sent a Republican instead. How can you lead the Democratic Party nationally when you have not been a member of the Democratic Party until very recently? +p752 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p753 +aVSo, Senator, to that point, Secretary Clinton is raising the issue of endorsements by your home state Democrats. She's implying that that says something about the people who know you best. +p754 +aVHow do you see it? +p755 +aVSecretary. +p756 +aVSenator Sanders, you'll have 30 seconds to respond to that. +p757 +aVSenator Sanders, Secretary Clinton, obviously we've touched a nerve. We're going to be back with more on this subject, and much more, right after this. Stay with us. +p758 +aVSecretary Clinton, on the issue of Wall Street... +p759 +aV... on the issue of Wall Street, when our reporters go out and talk to people on the ground in the early states, what they tell us over and over again when they find voters who are leaning toward Senator Sanders rather than yourself is that the most frequent area of concern that they hear from those voters is the issue of Wall Street and whether or not you are too close to Wall Street. Last night, when you were asked about speaking fees and the amount of speaking fees you got from Goldman Sachs speeches, you said that's what they offered. Have you been too dismissive of voters' concerns about this issue in your own campaign and your own career? +p760 +aVSenator Sanders, you have been a critic of Secretary Clinton taking those speaking fees and having donations from Wall Street. What about her defense of her record? +p761 +aVSenator Sanders, let me turn to, I think, where this direction is heading anyway, which is the broader issue of big business and power in our political system. You on the campaign trail have railed against big name American corporations like Boeing, and General Electric, and Wal Mart. But, some big businesses in this country have also been part of advancing progressive goals like that nationwide initiative to expand employment opportunities for veterans. That was all about cooperation between the Obama administration and some very big business. The Affordable Care Act, some of the thorniest problems in that bill were worked out in cooperation with big business in order to accomplish progressive goals. Could you work with them, or have you made enemies of big business in this country with the way you've approached them in this campaign? +p762 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. And with that, we're going to take a break. +p763 +aVWelcome back\u2014welcome back to the Democratic candidates' debate. We're going to be talking about America in the world, both in terms of some trade issues, but also national security. And Secretary Clinton, we're going to start with you. There are more than 4,000 American troops back in Iraq right now as part of the fight against +p764 +aVTo be clear, to the specific question, if that strategic goal that you're describing requires considerably more of Americans\u2014an ever-increasing number of Americans in Iraq and maybe in Syria, are you OK with the numbers increasing? +p765 +aVThank you, Madam Secretary. +p766 +aVSecretary Clinton, at the\u2014at the last Democratic debate in Charleston\u2014I want to get specific here\u2014Senator Sanders called for moving as aggressively as we can to normalize relations with Iran. Your campaign has criticized him for saying that. Now that he's standing next to you here on this stage, can you explain why the U.S. shouldn't try to normalize relations in Iran in your view? +p767 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to ask you about a national security issue that is closer to home. There are thousands of veterans, over 100,000 veterans living in the state of New Hampshire. If either one of you is nominated as the Democratic Party's nominee, you will likely face a Republican opponent in the general election who wants to privatize or even abolish big parts of the V.A. It's a newly popular idea in conservative politics. How will you win the argument on that issue given the problems that have been exposed at the V.A. in the last few years? What's your argument that the V.A. should still exist and should not be privatized? +p768 +aVSenator Sanders, you, as a congressional leader on veterans issues and the Veterans Committee, you've worked in a very bipartisan way with Senator John McCain and others on veterans issues. Is the right contour of the fight, the way she's talking about this issue? +p769 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Sanders, Secretary Clinton, we're going to take another break. We'll be talking about Social Security and some of those other issues when we come back. +p770 +aVSenator\u2014Senator Sanders, in 1964... +p771 +aVIn 1964, I heard that the Republicans nominated Barry Goldwater, who was the hero of the conservative movement. He was, however, far to the right of most of that party. In 1972, the Democrats nominated George McGovern, who was a hero of liberals in the antiwar movement, but he was to the left of his party's mainstream. Both of those nominees made activists very excited, and they both got destroyed in the general election. Even Democrats who love you worry about your fate in a general election. And I know you have good head-to-head polling numbers against Republican frontrunners right now. We know that. But do you have a general election strategy that is different than the way you're running right now to try to get the nomination? +p772 +aVSecretary Clinton, your campaign surrogates, and people who have endorsed you, have suggested that or even said that if Senator Sanders is the nominee, that Democrats will suffer nationwide and the chances will go down of Democrats holding onto the White House. With him here standing next to you, can you tell us whether or not you believe he would win the general election if he were nominated? +p773 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. Senator, in December, one of your campaign staffers was fired from your campaign for taking voter data essentially from the Clinton campaign. You apologized for that when the incident was made public. Your campaign has now been criticized for its operatives essentially impersonating culinary union members wearing union pins in Nevada, and the Nashua Telegraph has complained recently that you falsely implied in an advertisement that they had endorsed you when they did not. None of these issues obviously is the end of the world, but they all are of a piece. Are you in some sense losing control of your campaign? +p774 +aVJust to follow up on that, the title of the ad in question was Endorsement. +p775 +aVSecretary Clinton, do you want 30 seconds on that issue? +p776 +aVAnd with that, we will . +p777 +aVWelcome back to the University of New Hampshire, and the Democratic candidates' debate. Secretary Clinton, on the issue of the death penalty, here in New Hampshire, the one person who is on death row is there for killing a police officer. It's a crime that has caused anguish in this state, both among death penalty opponents and death penalty supporters. The last time I had the chance to talk with you on this issue, on the death penalty, you said that capital punishment has a place in a very few federal cases, but you also said you would breathe a sigh of relief if the Supreme Court abolished the death penalty nationwide. Tonight, do you still support capital punishment, even if you do so reluctantly? +p778 +aVSenator Sanders, you have singled out the death penalty, and Senator Clinton's support for the death penalty, as an issue that makes it hard to consider as progressive in your mind... +p779 +aVAnother issue related to the proper role of government, and in this case, specifically the role of government between the federal government and the states. I want to talk for a moment about the issue of Flint, Michigan. On the Flint lead poisoning disaster, you have both been highly critical of Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan, and how the state in Michigan both caused the lead poisoning problem, and has not acted fast enough to fix it. You have both been outspoken on that. The fact is that Michigan though has not fixed it. There is no door to door delivery of clean water in Flint even today. Not a single lead pipe has been replaced in Flint, even today. If the state is failing, would you, Secretary Clinton, would you as President order a federal response to get it right over and above the wishes of the state? +p780 +aVSenator Sanders are there things the President could be doing? President Obama could be ordering, done, right now, in Flint, Michigan that are not being done that you as President would do? +p781 +aVSenator, thank you. +p782 +aVThe home stretch. +p783 +aVSecretary Clinton, Republicans, particularly in campaign years, often talk about which departments of government\u2014which agencies of government they would get rid of if they were elected president. The EPA, the Department of Education, the Commerce Department, oops\u2014is\u2014is there a department of government that you would get rid of? Or is there a whole new one that you would create? +p784 +aVThank you, Secretary Clinton. +p785 +aVThank you very much. Thank you. +p786 +aVWe also want to thank our host, the University of New Hampshire, and the people of New Hampshire. You guys get to vote in just five days. I can't wait to see how it turns out. Don't screw up. +p787 +asVSEIB +p788 +(lp789 +VThis evening Fox Business is partnering with the Wall Street Journal to bring you the fourth republican presidential debate of the 2016 campaign. For the next hour, four of the candidates will be here answering the question voters want answered. +p790 +aVSenator Santorum, you're all obviously highly critical of President Obama's economic record. But federal statistics show that payrolls have expanded by 8.7 million new jobs so far during his time in office. All the jobs lost in the recession were recovered by last year. And in October, the economy added jobs at the fastest rate since 2009. So what's wrong with the Obama jobs record? +p791 +aVGovernor Jindal, Republicans have now 32 of the nation's 50 governor seats. But, even while you're doing very well at the state level, you keep falling short nationally. You've lost the popular vote in five of the last six presidential elections. Are Democrats simply putting forward a better national economic message than the one Republicans are offering? And what should Republicans do about it. +p792 +aVSenator Santorum, we're in the Upper-Midwest, heart of the American auto industry. The Auto Alliance says the state of Wisconsin, where we are tonight, is home to 176 auto supplier companies. Back in 2008, you opposed the use of federal bailout funds for automakers as proposed then by the Bush administration. The automakers survived. In retrospect, do you still think that was the right position. +p793 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p794 +aVGovernor Jindal, there's a new trade deal the Obama administration has completed with 11 other Pacific nations. The U.S. Trade Representative's office says that deal will cut 18,000 different tariffs on American goods sent to the Pacific and will cut tariffs on goods made in your state of Louisiana by as much as 40 percent. Even a skeptical about \u2014 a skeptic about this deal, now that the details are public, are you going to be for it? +p795 +aVGovernor Christie? +p796 +aV...Guys... +p797 +aVGovernor Christie... +p798 +aV...last word, briefly +p799 +aV...Thank you both, Governors. +p800 +aV...No, no, Senator Santorum... +p801 +aV...I have a question for you. Just about everybody agrees that the nation's infrastructure is in bad shape. Urban highway congestion costs the economy more than $100 billion dollars annually, nearly one in four bridges in the National Highway System is structurally deficient, or obsolete. Congress is working on a six year highway bill to try to fix this problem. It only funds it for about three years. Should Americans be asked to pay more in federal gas taxes in order to address this problem? +p802 +aVSenator, I don't think we got to infrastructure, but I understand. +p803 +aVNo, no. To do the things you're talking about, that you're all talking about, getting things done in Washington, you have to work with the other side. So a question, who in Congress do you most admire on the Democratic side? I need one name from each of you. And let's start with Governor Jindal. +p804 +aVGovernor Huckabee? +p805 +aVGovernor Christie? +p806 +aVSenator Santorum? +p807 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p808 +aVGovernor Jindal, you've proposed something different. You've proposed eliminating the federal corporate income tax entirely. Why would have you wage-earners and investors pay an income tax but not a corporation? +p809 +aVWelcome back to the Republican Presidential Debate live from Milwaukee's historic theater. Let's get back to the questions. Governor Christie, by keeping interest rates so low for so long, is the Fed creating a new financial bubble in real estate or stock as prices that will burst and create problems down the road, or has it been right to err on the side of trying to help the recovery through low rates? +p810 +aVCandidates, it's time for closing statements, 30 seconds. Governor Jindal, we'll start with you. +p811 +aVSenator Santorum. +p812 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p813 +aVGovernor Christie. +p814 +asVTAPPER +p815 +(lp816 +VI'm Jake Tapper. We're live at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California for the main event. Round 2 of CNN's presidential debate starts now. The eleven leading Republican candidates for president are at their podiums. They are ready to face off, and if you've been watching this race, you know anything could happen over the next few hours. To viewers who are just joining us, welcome to the Air Force One Pavilion of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Our thanks to the staff here and especially to former first lady Nancy Reagan for this impressive setting with Ronald Reagan's presidential plane as our backdrop. This debate is airing on CNN networks in the United States and around the world. It's also being broadcast on the Salem Radio Network. I know everyone is very eager to get started. But first, I want to explain the ground rules tonight. My name is Jake Tapper. I'll be the moderator. I will be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt. He worked in the Reagan administration for six years. And by CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. I will ask follow-up questions, I will attempt to guide the discussion. Candidates, I will try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have one minute to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you've been singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. These 11 Republicans are positioned on the stage based on their ranking in recent national polls. Our goal for this evening is a debate. A true debate, with candidates addressing each other in areas where they differ. Where they disagree \u2014 on policy, on politics, on leadership. Now, let's begin. I'd like to invite each candidate to take 30 seconds to introduce him or herself to our audience. First to you, Senator Paul. +p817 +aVSenator Cruz? +p818 +aVThank you one and all for being here. There are many important policy issues facing our nation. We're going to get to many of them tonight, but I do want to start off with some current events in the news, and also some of the comments the candidates have recently made on the campaign trail. Mrs. Fiorina, I want to start with you. Fellow Republican candidate, and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, has suggested that your party's frontrunner, Mr. Donald Trump, would be dangerous as President. He said he wouldn't want, quote, "such a hot head with his finger on the nuclear codes." You, as well, have raised concerns about Mr. Trump's temperament. You've dismissed him as an entertainer. Would you feel comfortable with Donald trump's finger on the nuclear codes? +p819 +aVYou didn't answer my question. Would you feel comfortable with Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear codes? It's an issue that one of your fellow candidates has raised. +p820 +aVMr. Trump? +p821 +aVMr. \u2014 Senator Paul, your name has been invoked. +p822 +aVMr. Trump? +p823 +aVI want to \u2014 I want to give Mr. Trump... +p824 +aV... Mr. Trump, I want to give you another chance \u2014 Mr. Trump, I want to give you a chance to respond to something that your rival to your left, Governor Bush, said. Governor Bush told me last week when I read him the quote from Governor Jindal that he agrees you're not a serious candidate. Tell Governor Bush why you are a serious candidate and what your qualifications are to be commander-in-chief. +p825 +aVGovernor Bush, would you feel comfortable with Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear codes? +p826 +aVGovernor Walker? +p827 +aVLet's move on. +p828 +aVA phenomenon going on in the race right now is the political... OK, Governor Kasich, go ahead. +p829 +aVWe have a lot of issues coming up, sir. +p830 +aVWe are getting to the issues, sir. Phenomenon going on in the race is the political outsiders in the race, Dr. Carson, Donald Trump, Carly Fiorina, all together, have majority support in the polls. Governor Christie, I want to ask you about something that Dr. Carson said the other day. Dr. Carson said campaigning is easier for him, because he's not a politician. He can just tell the truth, therefore, while politicians, quote, "Have their finger in the air to see and do what is politically expedient." Governor Christie, tell Dr. Carson, is that a fair description of you? +p831 +aVWell, let's find out. Thank you. +p832 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. Dr. Carson, who were you thinking about on this stage when you said that? +p833 +aVAnd more broadly, is experience in government not important for a president to have? +p834 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p835 +aVThank you. +p836 +aVThank you. Thank you Ms. Fiorina. Governor Bush, in addition to the fact that he's an outsider, one of the reasons Mr. Trump is a frontrunner, Republican voters say, is because they like the fact that he is not bought and paid for by wealthy donors. Mr. Trump has repeatedly said that the $100 million you've raised for your campaign makes you a puppet for your donors. Are you? +p837 +aVIs there anything else you want to say about this? +p838 +aVGovernor \u2014 +p839 +aVSure Dr. Carson. +p840 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Let's move to Russia if we could. Russia is sending troops and tanks into Syria right now to prop up a U.S. enemy, Bashar al-Assad. President Obama's incoming top general says, quote, "Russia presents the greatest threat to our national security." Mr. Trump, you say you can do business with President Vladimir Putin, you say you will get along, quote, "very well." What would you do right now if you were president, to get the Russians out of Syria? +p841 +aVSo, you \u2014 just to clarify, the only answer I heard to the question I asked is that you would \u2014 you would reach out to Vladimir Putin, and you would do what? You would... +p842 +aVSenator Rubio, you've taken a very different approach to the \u2014 the question of Russia. You've called Vladimir Putin a, quote, "gangster." Why would President Rubio's approach be more effective than President Trump's? +p843 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. +p844 +aVI want to bring in Carly Fiorina. +p845 +aVMs. Fiorina, you have met... +p846 +aV...yeah, you've met Vladimir Putin. Yes. +p847 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p848 +aVThank you. +p849 +aVThank you. Thank you, Ms. Fiorina. While you're \u2014 while you brought up the subject of General Suleimani of the Quds forces from Iran, the next president, no matter who he or she may be, will inherit President Obama's Iran deal. Senator Cruz, Governor Kasich says that anyone who is promising to rip up the Iran deal on day one, as you have promised to do, is, quote, "inexperienced," and, quote, "playing to a crowd." Respond to Governor Kasich, please. +p850 +aVWhy is that not, as Governor Kasich says, playing to the crowd and an example of you being inexperienced? +p851 +aVGovernor Kasich... +p852 +aV...Did Senator Cruz just play to the crowd? +p853 +aV...Thank you, Governor. I want to go to Senator Paul. +p854 +aVI want to go to Senator Paul. Senator Paul, the White House is rolling out the red carpet next week for the President of China, President Xi. Governor Walker says that President Obama should cancel the state dinner because of China's currency manipulation, and because of China's alleged cyber attacks against the United States. Is Governor Walker right? +p855 +aVGovernor Walker, Senator Paul seemed to suggest... +p856 +aV...that canceling the state dinner would be rash, and reckless. +p857 +aV...Governor Bush... +p858 +aVGovernor Bush, your father was the chief diplomatic envoy to China back when Nixon opened relations to China. Is Scott Walker's approach the right one, canceling the state dinner? +p859 +aVI want to turn... +p860 +aV...I want to turn to Governor Huckabee who has been very patient. Somebody had to be 11th, and he is, but, I do want to change the subject to the event that you had... +p861 +aV... however you want, but I want to ask this question. +p862 +aVAll right, sir, go ahead. +p863 +aVOK. ( +p864 +aVWe're going to turn now to Hugh Hewitt, from Salem Radio Network. +p865 +aVThank you, Senator Paul. I want to turn now to my colleague Dana Bash. +p866 +aVThat would be fair, you're right. You're the third senator. +p867 +aVWe're going to go to Dana Bash... +p868 +aVSenator Cruz? +p869 +aVThank you, Senator. +p870 +aVThank you, Senator. +p871 +aVThank you, Senator. I want to... +p872 +aV... turn back to Governor Huckabee... +p873 +aVI want to turn back to Governor Huckabee. Governor Huckabee, last week, you held a rally for a county clerk in Kentucky who was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, as I don't need to tell you. You've called what happened to Kim Davis, that clerk, "an example of the criminalization of Christianity." There are several people on the stage who disagree with you. Governor Bush, for example, says that that clerk is sworn to uphold the law. Is Governor Bush on the wrong side of the criminalization of Christianity? +p874 +aVThank you, Governor. +p875 +aVWell, I'm not telling you that, Governor. But Governor Bush is, because he \u2014 because he disagrees. He thinks that Kim Davis swore to uphold the law. You disagree? You're not \u2014 you don't... +p876 +aVOK. Please do. +p877 +aVYou did... +p878 +aVGovernor, you said, quote, "she is sworn to uphold the law." +p879 +aVLet me go to my colleague Dana Bash, who has a question. +p880 +aVDana, I want to continue on the subject. Governor Bush, you recently said while discussing Planned Parenthood, quote, you're "not sure we need a half billion for women's health issues." Now you've since said that you misspoke, you didn't mean to say "women's health issues." But Donald Trump said that quote, that comment, which Hillary Clinton did seize upon immediately, will haunt you the same way Mitt Romney's 47 percent video haunted him. Tell Donald Trump why he's wrong. +p881 +aVThank you, Governor Bush. Donald Trump, let me just... +p882 +aVThe quote was, "I'm not sure we need half a billion dollars for women's health issues." He said he misspoke. You said that that's going to haunt him. Why do you think that? +p883 +aVGovernor Bush? +p884 +aVI want to \u2014 we're going to get to \u2014 +p885 +aVThank you, Governor. +p886 +aVThank you, Governor. +p887 +aVWe're going to \u2014 we're going to get to many of these issues. This \u2014 we're still in the first block, believe it or not. We're going to get to many of these issues, but before we end this block, Ms. Fiorina, I do want to ask you about this. In an interview last week in Rolling Stone magazine, Donald Trump said the following about you. Quote, "Look at that face. Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?" Mr. Trump later said he was talking about your persona, not your appearance. Please feel free to respond what you think about his persona. +p888 +aVAll right. On that note, in less than two minutes \u2014 we're going to take a very quick break. In less than two minutes, the most contentious issue on the campaign trail. And the candidates on the stage are split over how to handle it. That's coming up next. Please give some applause to the candidates. +p889 +aVWelcome to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate. No topic perhaps has been more combustible in this campaign than the issue of immigration. Mr. Trump, you have called for deporting every undocumented immigrant, Governor Christie has said, quote, "There are not enough law enforcement officers \u2014 local, county, state and federal combined \u2014 to forcibly deport 11 to 12 million people." Tell Governor Christie how much your plan will cost, and how you will get it done. +p890 +aVGovernor Christie, you and I have talked about this in an interview. You say that his big wall, his plan to deport 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants, it sounds great, but it's never going to happen. Tell him why you're skeptical of his plans? +p891 +aVThank you, Governor Christie... +p892 +aVI want to bring in Dr. Carson because he too has been skeptical of your plan to immediately deport 11 to 12 million illegal immigrants. He said, quote, "People who say that have no idea what this entails." Why do you say that, Dr. Carson? +p893 +aV...Dr. Carson... +p894 +aVWith all due respect, you said about Donald Trump's plan to deport 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants, "People who say that have no idea what this entails." Why not? +p895 +aV...let's continue the conversation about illegal immigration with Dana Bash. +p896 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Senator Cruz \u2014 Senator Cruz, this week, we learned more about Dr. Carson's plan for the 11 million to 12 million undocumented immigrants in this country. Dr. Carson proposed giving these undocumented immigrants a six- month grace period to pay back taxes then to let them become guest workers and only to deport people who failed to do that. +p897 +aVWell, how would you say it, sir? I was just reading the Wall Street Journal quote, but please tell us. +p898 +aVOK, from the horse's mouth, Senator Cruz, does that fit your definition of amnesty? +p899 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Rubio... +p900 +aV... I'm not sure... +p901 +aVWe'll come back to you \u2014 we'll come back to you in one second, sir. But Senator Rubio, I'm not sure exactly whose plan he's \u2014 he's saying is \u2014 constitutes amnesty, but I know he has said it about your plan in the past, so I want to give you a chance to respond, then, Dr. Carson, we'll come to you. +p902 +aVThank you, Senator. +p903 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator \u2014 Dr. Carson... ... I want to give you 30 seconds. I'd like you to answer the question. Senator Cruz describes plans such as yours as amnesty. Why is your plan not amnesty? +p904 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. I want to talk about the issue of birthright citizenship, which \u2014 which has emerged since the first debate as \u2014 as an a \u2014 a major issue in this campaign. Mr. Trump, you say that babies born in the United States to undocumented immigrants should not any longer get automatic American citizenship. Ms. Fiorina says that you are pandering on this issue and acting like the politicians that you rail against. What's your message to Ms. Fiorina on birthright citizenship? +p905 +aVMs. Fiorina, the vast majority of countries do not have birthright citizenship... ...Donald Trump is right about that. Why is it pandering when he's \u2014 he says this? +p906 +aVMs. Fiorina... +p907 +aVPlease. +p908 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p909 +aVThank you. +p910 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Mr. Trump, I want to give you the chance to respond... +p911 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. Senator Paul... +p912 +aVSenator Paul, I want to bring you in. Where \u2014 where do you stand on the issue of birthright citizenship? +p913 +aVAll right. Senator Paul, thank you so much. Let's turn to a new topic. We've received a lot of questions on social media about the economy and about jobs. We have two CEOs on stage right now. Ms. Fiorina, you were CEO of Hewlett Packard. Donald Trump says you, quote, "ran HP into the ground," you laid off tens of thousands of people, you got viciously fired. For voters looking to somebody with private-sector experience to create American jobs, why should they pick you and not Donald Trump? +p914 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p915 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p916 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 Mr. Trump, why would you be better at creating jobs than Carly Fiorina? +p917 +aVMs. Fiorina, I want to give you a chance to respond. +p918 +aVMr. Trump. +p919 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. +p920 +aVGovernor Christie's name has been invoked. I'd like to give him a 30 second opportunity. +p921 +aVMs. Fiorina, I want to give you +p922 +aVGovernor Kasich, I'm coming to you next, but Ms. Fiorina's name was mentioned, and I have to give her the opportunity to respond if she wants it. +p923 +aVThank you. +p924 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Kasich, I want to come \u2014 I'm coming to you. I'm coming to you. Let me ask the question. You can use the time however you want. +p925 +aVDonald Trump says that the hedge fund guys are getting away with murder by paying a lower tax rate. He wants to raise the taxes of hedge fund managers, as does Governor Bush. Do you agree? +p926 +aVThank you, Governor. +p927 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. +p928 +aVGovernor Huckabee, I want to bring you in on the question of hedge fund managers and taxing them. You have said that you are bothered by the fact that hedge fund managers pay such a low tax rate and make 2,500 times what people who work for them make. Do you agree with what Donald Trump and Governor Bush have proposed, raising their tax rates? +p929 +aVThank you, Governor. Dr. Carson, you support scrapping the entire tax code and replacing it with a flat tax based on the principal on tithing from the Bible. If you make $10 billion, you pay $1 billion in taxes, if you make $10, you pay $1 in taxes. Donald Trump believes in progressive taxation. He says it's not right that rich people pay the same as the poor. Tell Donald Trump why his ideas on taxes are wrong. +p930 +aVMr. Trump... +p931 +aV...What do you think of the flat tax? Do you think it's fair? +p932 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. Senator Paul? +p933 +aVGovernor Walker, I want to go to you. Dr. Carson wants to raise the Federal Minimum Wage, you have called it a lame idea. Why is raising the Federal Minimum Wage lame? +p934 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p935 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p936 +aVDr. Carson, Governor Walker didn't really answer the question, but I'll let you respond. He called raising the Federal Minimum Wage lame, what do you think of that? +p937 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson... +p938 +aVLet me bring in our partner from Salem Radio Network, Hugh Hewitt. +p939 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate. Let's turn to some issues now in foreign policy. Mr. Trump, Senator Rubio said it was, quote, "very concerning to him" that in a recent interview you didn't seem to know the details about some of the enemies the U.S. faces. Rubio said, if you don't know the answers to those questions, you will not be able to serve as commander-in-chief. Please respond to Senator Rubio. +p940 +aVSenator Rubio? +p941 +aVMr. Trump? Senator Rubio seemed to be suggesting that you don't know information that... +p942 +aVAll right. Senator Rubio. +p943 +aVBut are you saying that you have the knowledge to be the president that Mr. Trump does not have? +p944 +aVMr. Trump? +p945 +aVSenator Rubio, he did invoke your absentee record in the Senate. +p946 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. I want to turn now to Hugh Hewitt. +p947 +aVThank you, Governor. +p948 +aVSenator... +p949 +aVSenator Paul? +p950 +aVSenator Paul... +p951 +aVThank you, Senator Paul... +p952 +aVThank you, Senator Paul... +p953 +aVI understand that Governor Bush's name has been invoked, and then we can go to you, Senator Rubio. +p954 +aVThank you, Governor. +p955 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Rubio? +p956 +aVThank you, Senator. +p957 +aVDr. Carson? +p958 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p959 +aVI mean, it is interesting that you say that, because I want to ask Governor Christie about something else that you have said. Governor Christie, we just marked the 14th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Now Dr. Carson has said that if he had been president at the time, the United States would not have gone to war in Afghanistan. What does that say to you about how Dr. Carson would respond as president if America were attacked again? +p960 +aVDr. Carson? +p961 +aV... Governor Christie. +p962 +aVDr. Carson? +p963 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p964 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p965 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee. +p966 +aVThank you, Governor. +p967 +aVThank you, governor, I want to turn to +p968 +aVGovernor Walker, there is a big debate now, we have been talking about +p969 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Paul, I want to go to you, because you have said that the boots on the ground to fight +p970 +aVThank you, Senator. We're going to turn to some domestic issues now. I want to bring in my colleague, Dana Bash. +p971 +aVSure.... +p972 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p973 +aV...Thank you, Governor. Dana Bash... +p974 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina... +p975 +aV...Thank you, we're going to turn now to domestic issues with Dana Bash. +p976 +aV...Dana Bash... +p977 +aVThank you. Dana Bash? +p978 +aVThank you, Senator. +p979 +aV...Governor Bush... +p980 +aV...I want to let you respond. +p981 +aVThank you, Governor... ...And, that's what we should do, and I hope I'll be working members of the United States Senate to fight hard for the passage of people that have that kind of qualification. +p982 +aVSenator Cruz, 30 seconds. +p983 +aVThank you, Senator. +p984 +aVThank you, Semator. +p985 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee, I want to bring you in very quickly if you could. Will you have a litmus test when it comes to appointing Supreme Court nominees? +p986 +aVThank you, Governor. +p987 +aVThank you, Governor. +p988 +aVThank you, Governor. We're going to take a quick break. Coming up, one of the hottest questions that you have been asking us via social media. We will pose it to the candidates. That's coming up right after this. +p989 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican presidential debate at the Reagan Library here in Simi Valley \u2014 Simi Valley, California. Many people on social media wanted us to ask about marijuana legalization. Senator Paul, Governor Christie recently said, quote, "if you're getting high in Colorado today," where marijuana has been legalized, "enjoy it until January 2017, because I will enforce the federal laws against marijuana." Will you? +p990 +aVI want to give that \u2014 I want to give the person that you called a hypocrite an opportunity to respond. Do you want to identify that person? +p991 +aVIs there somebody you were specifically thinking of? +p992 +aVThat's what I though, but I wanted to say it. +p993 +aVOK. +p994 +aVGovernor Bush, please. +p995 +aVI want to go right now \u2014 I want to go right now... +p996 +aVThat's true. Go ahead, Christie, please. +p997 +aVYou may respond, and then I'll bring in you, Ms. Fiorina. +p998 +aVYes, Senator Paul. +p999 +aVI want to bring in Ms. Fiorina \u2014 I want to bring in Ms. Fiorina on this issue. +p1000 +aVHugh \u2014 Hugh, I'd like to... +p1001 +aVI'd like to turn it over \u2014 I'd like to turn to Dana Bush. +p1002 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1003 +aVI'm coming to you right now on a separate issue, sir. We received... ( +p1004 +aVWe received a lot of questions from social media about climate change. Senator Rubio, Ronald Reagan's secretary of state, George Shultz, reminds us that when Reagan was president he faced a similar situation to the one that we're facing now. There were dire warnings from the mass consensus of the scientific community about the ozone layer shrinking. Shultz says Ronald Reagan urged skeptics in industry to come up with a plan. He said, do it as an insurance policy in case the scientists are right. The scientists were right. Reagan and his approach worked. Secretary Shultz asks, why not take out an insurance policy and approach climate change the Reagan way? +p1005 +aVI'm citing George Shultz. +p1006 +aVGovernor Christie, you have said that climate change is real, and that humans help contribute to it. Without getting into the issue of China versus the United States, which I understand you've talked about before, what do you make of skeptics of climate change such as Senator Rubio? +p1007 +aVJust for the record, I was citing Secretary of State George Shultz, Ronald Reagan's secretary of state who I don't think anybody would call him left-wing. +p1008 +aVI called you a skeptic. +p1009 +aVI want to go another question right now. +p1010 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1011 +aVI'm turning to... +p1012 +aV...I'm turning to another \u2014 I'm turning to another issue right now. Senator Cruz. Well, I think we've heard from several this evening. A backlash against vaccines was blamed for a measles outbreak here in California. Dr. Carson, Donald Trump has publicly and repeatedly linked vaccines, childhood vaccines, to autism, which, as you know, the medical community adamantly disputes. You're a pediatric neurosurgeon. Should Mr. Trump stop saying this? +p1013 +aVShould he stop saying it? Should he stop saying that vaccines cause autism? +p1014 +aVMr. Trump, as president, you would... +p1015 +aVI'm going right to you. +p1016 +aVMr. Trump, as president, you would be in charge of the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health, both of which say you are wrong. How would you handle this as president? +p1017 +aVThank you. +p1018 +aVDr. \u2014 Dr. Carson? +p1019 +aVDr. Carson, you just heard his medical take. +p1020 +aVDr. Paul? Dr. Paul, I'd like to bring you in. +p1021 +aVAlright, thank you so much... +p1022 +aVComing up \u2014 I'm sorry, Governor Huckabee, please. +p1023 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1024 +aVWe have to take another quick break. Coming up, Ronald Reagan looming large over this debate. So how Reaganesque exactly are these Republicans? We will find out next. +p1025 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California. We have a few last questions for you. Two of them a little lighthearted, the other one more serious. We'll start with one of the more light questions. Senator Paul, I'm going to start with you and we're just going to go down the line. Earlier this year, the Treasury Department announced that a woman will appear on the $10 bill. What woman would you like to see on the $10 bill? +p1026 +aVGovernor Huckabee? +p1027 +aVSenator Paul (sic). +p1028 +aVI'm sorry. Senator Rubio? +p1029 +aVJust the senators. +p1030 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1031 +aVDr. Carson? +p1032 +aVMr. Trump. +p1033 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1034 +aVGovernor Walker. +p1035 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p1036 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1037 +aVGovernor Christie. +p1038 +aVAlright. Some good entries if anybody at the mint was listening. Here's the next lighthearted question, you all know that the United States Secret Service uses codenames for the president, and his family. Ronald Reagan's codename, for example, was, "Rawhide", an homage to his performances in Westerns. Nancy Reagan's was, "Rainbow". You don't have to come up the one for your spouse, but, what would you want, Governor Christie, I'll start with you, your Secret Service codename to be. +p1039 +aVGovernor Walker? +p1040 +aVMr. Trump? +p1041 +aVDr. Carson? +p1042 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1043 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1044 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p1045 +aVSenator Paul. +p1046 +aVThat's a mouthful, but OK. OK, here's the more serious question, Ronald Reagan, the 40th President, used the plane behind you to accomplish a great many things. Perhaps, most notably, to challenge Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the wall, and ultimately, to make peace with the +p1047 +aVThat concludes this Republican presidential debate. On behalf of everyone here at CNN, we want to thank the candidates, the Reagan Library, and the Republican National Committee. Thank you, also, to Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash. The next presidential debate will also be right here on CNN, among the Democratic candidates, who will face off for the first time on October the 13th. That debate, a partnership with Facebook, will be moderated by my colleague, Anderson Cooper. And Anderson picks up our coverage of tonight's debate right now. Before I throw to Anderson, let's have one final round of applause for the candidates. +p1048 +aVWe're live at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California for one of the most highly anticipated primary season debates ever. On this stage 15 candidates in two rounds of questioning with one goal, to show they have what it takes to be the Republican Presidential Nominee. Welcome to our viewers, I'm Jake Tapper. Tonight's debate is airing on CNN networks around the world, and, of course, here in the United States. It's also being broadcast across the country on the Salmen Radio Network. We want to thank our host, former First Lady Nancy Reagan, and the Reagan Library for this very impressive setting, the Air Force One pavilion. Behind me, you can see the actual plane... ...That Ronald Reagan flew in when he was president. Now, because the GOP field is so large, we have divided the candidates into two groups based on their rankings in recent national polls. Later this evening we will hear from the top 11 contenders. The other four candidates are taking part in the first round, and they are ready to join us now. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindal. The former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania, Rick Santorum. and former New York Governor, George Pataki. Ladies and gentleman, please welcome these Republican candidates for President of the United States. And, now, if you would, please rise for our national anthem performed by actress and singer, Natalie Hill. I'd like to ask the candidates to please take their podiums while I tell you a little more about how tonight debate will work. I'm Jake Tapper. I'll be the moderator. Joining me in the questioning, Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt; he worked in the Reagan administration for six years and CNN's chief political correspondent, Dana Bash. I will follow up and guide the discussion; candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have one minute to answer questions and 30 seconds for followups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you have been singled out for criticism. We have timing lights that are visible to the candidates. Those lights will warn them when their time is up. Our goal tonight is to have a true debate, candidates actually addressing each other in areas where they disagree, where they differ on policy, on politics and on leadership. Now that everyone is in place, it's time for the candidates to introduce themselves to our audience. Please keep it brief. Governor Pataki, you're first. +p1049 +aVThank you candidates. We're going to talk a lot about policy and your proposals this evening. But first, Governor Jindal, I want to start with you. You have said that the front runner, Donald Trump, is a, quote, "unstable, narcissistic, ego maniac." Now, we are in the house of Reagan, who made famous the so-called 11th Commandment, "Thou shalt not speak ill of thy fellow Republican." What drove you to violate that unofficial commandment? +p1050 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1051 +aVSenator Santorum, do you think Governor Jindal is wrong for attacking your party's front runner? +p1052 +aVThank you. Governor Jindal, do you want to respond to that? +p1053 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1054 +aVSenator Santorum, just to assure you, we will get to those issues. But just a couple more on this general subject. Senator Graham, you have called Donald Trump a, quote, "wrecking ball for the Republican party." Voters in your home state of South Carolina, in a recent poll, prefer Donald Trump 30 percent to your 4 percent. How do you explain why so many of your constituents would rather have Donald Trump as the Republican nominee than you? +p1055 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. We're going to bring in Hugh Hewitt now, who has a question for Governor Pataki. +p1056 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1057 +aVSenator Graham? One of the -- the reasons why Donald Trump, Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina are doing well is because they are political outsiders. In fact, that's one of the things -- in fact, there are two things that they have in common. They've never been elected to office before and they're doing better than all of you in the polls. The four of you have a combined seven decades in elected office. Senator Graham, in this election season, do Republican voters see your service in government as a liability and not an asset? +p1058 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1059 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1060 +aVThank you, Senator. Let's turn to the topic of immigration. For that, I want to bring in my colleague, Dana Bash. +p1061 +aVThank you, Governor. I -- I want to change the subject. We're staying on immigration, and I'm bringing you in, Governor Pataki... +p1062 +aV... and Senator Graham, I'm coming to you as well. +p1063 +aVGovernor Pataki, Republicans right now are -- are debating birthright citizenship, the policy of granting U.S. citizenship to every baby born in this country, even if they born to undocumented immigrants. Senator Graham wants to end the policy of birthright citizenship. Governor Pataki, you support keeping it. Tell him why he's wrong. +p1064 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1065 +aVGovernor... +p1066 +aVWhat I -- what I asked about was about birthright citizenship and why you think that we should preserve birthright... +p1067 +aVSenator Graham, most countries in the world do not have birthright citizenship. +p1068 +aVWhy do you think Governor Pataki is wrong? +p1069 +aVWas that a... +p1070 +aV...Thank you Senator... +p1071 +aV...Thank you Senator... +p1072 +aV...We'll come back to you Senator Santorum, I promise... +p1073 +aV...alright... +p1074 +aVThank you, Senator... +p1075 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Pataki, I want to let you have the final word here. +p1076 +aVGovernor Pataki? +p1077 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1078 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Graham, your response when it comes to Syrian refugees? +p1079 +aVThank you, Senator. I want to turn now -- +p1080 +aVWe're going to keep talking about the situation in the Middle East. Let me bring in my colleague, Dana Bash, again. +p1081 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1082 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1083 +aVThank you, thank you, Governor. +p1084 +aVGovernor Pataki -- +p1085 +aVThank you, Governor. Sorry. We have rules and timing. Governor Jindal, I do want to bring you in. I want to turn to a story in news in the story today. A 14-year-old Muslim high school student in Texas was arrested on Monday for bringing a homemade clock to school after it was mistaken for a fake bomb. Police released the young man after they determined it was, in fact, a clock. Today, President Obama invited that student to the White House. Governor Jindal, throughout your campaign, you've spoken many times about Muslim extremists in this country. How would you, as president, strike a balance between vigilance and discrimination? +p1086 +aVGovernor Jindal, I'm afraid you didn't answer the question. How do you strike the balance between vigilance and discrimination? Obviously, we know how you feel about the vigilance part of this. Do you ever see the discrimination part of it? +p1087 +aVThank you, Governor. We will get to that subject later in the debate. Senator Graham? +p1088 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1089 +aVGovernor Pataki? +p1090 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1091 +aVWe'll get to that subject in the next block. We're going to take a very quick break. When we come back, both Jeb Bush and Donald Trump agree on one thing when it comes to taxes. We'll see if any of the candidates on stage agree as well. +p1092 +aVThat's next. Stay with us. +p1093 +aVWelcome back to the CNN Republican Debate at the beautiful Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California. Before we took the break, you were all chomping at the bit to talk about Kim Davis, that Kentucky clerk. Governor Pataki said he would have fired Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk jailed for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses. Senator Santorum, do you agree with Governor Pataki? +p1094 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Pataki, your response? +p1095 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum? +p1096 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1097 +aVWe're coming to both of you. +p1098 +aVWhat... +p1099 +aVGovernor Jindal... +p1100 +aVSenator Graham, do you want to weigh in? +p1101 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1102 +aVSenator... +p1103 +aVThank you, Senator. I want to stay with the subject of Supreme Court judges -- justices. Governor Jindal, both Senators graham and Santorum voted to confirm chief justice of the United States, John Roberts, who has led with the majority twice to uphold ObamaCare. Do you think that Graham's and Santorum's votes to confirm John Roberts were a mistake? +p1104 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Graham, I want to give you an opportunity to respond -- -- I would note that Anthony Kennedy, was, of course, a Ronald Reagan appointee. Senator Graham, do you stand by your vote for John Roberts? +p1105 +aVSenator Santorum, do you stand by your vote for John Roberts? +p1106 +aVGovernor Jindal, I'm going to give you 30 seconds to respond. +p1107 +aVLet me bring back Hugh Hewitt. +p1108 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1109 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1110 +aV...I want to turn -- you're going to be involved in the next question... +p1111 +aV...Senator Graham... +p1112 +aV...Thank you, Senator... +p1113 +aV...Thank you Senator. Senator Graham, I want to turn to the minimum... +p1114 +aV...Well, let's talk about South Carolina... +p1115 +aV...Senator, let's turn to the minimum wage. Senator Santorum is the only person on the stage who has proposed increasing the federal minimum wage. How would that affect South Carolinians? Do you agree with Senator Santorum that the federal minimum wage should be increased? +p1116 +aVSenator Graham, thank you so much. Senator Santorum... Senator Graham is suggesting that your proposal would not allot South Carolinians to hire more workers. +p1117 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1118 +aVThank you, Senator. We have to take a quick break. When we come back, confrontation or negotiation? How will these candidates attempt to handle Russian President Vladimir Putin? That's next. +p1119 +aVAnd we're back at the CNN Republican Debate at the Reagan Library in beautiful Simi Valley, California. Let's turn now to some issues of foreign policy. Senator Graham, you all oppose the U.S. nuclear deal with Iran. Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton, a Republican, is pushing for a U.S. military strike against Iran, against its nuclear facilities. Senator Graham, would you authorize, as president, a nuclear strike against -- I mean, sorry -- a strike against Iran's nuclear facilities? +p1120 +aVGovernor -- -- Hugh -- I'm going to go to Hugh Hewitt for a question for Governor Pataki. +p1121 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1122 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Graham -- +p1123 +aVWe're bringing you in on this question as well. Senator Graham, Vladimir Putin in recent days has sent an estimated six more tanks, four helicopters and Russian ground troops into Syria to help support President Assad, an enemy of the United States. The Russian military is also buzzing American planes and Naval vessels around the world. Your front-runner, Donald Trump, says he can do details with President Putin, that the two of them will get along, quote, "very well." Why would your confrontational approach work better than Mr. Trump's negotiation? +p1124 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1125 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1126 +aVGovernor Jindal, how would President Jindal... ... get the Russians out of Syria? +p1127 +aV... +p1128 +aVWell... +p1129 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1130 +aVThank you, Senator... +p1131 +aVThank you, Senator. The final question... +p1132 +aVThe final questions for these four Republicans as the top contenders get ready to take their places on the debate stage when we come back right after this. Welcome back to the CNN Republican debates at the Reagan Library in beautiful Simi Valley, California. We have time for one more question for the candidates. Governor Pataki, let's start with you. You have all spent the last hour and a half debating each other. The other 11 candidates are on their way to the stage. What is the one thing as a candidate that you offer that no one at the next debate can offer? +p1133 +aVThank you, senator. +p1134 +aVThank you. +p1135 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum? +p1136 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1137 +aVThank you. +p1138 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1139 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Governor Jindal, what is something that you offer as a candidate that the other 11 candidates coming on stage in a few minutes cannot offer? +p1140 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Graham? +p1141 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1142 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. Our thanks to the candidates for a great debate. In just a moment, we're bringing the candidates from both of tonight's debates together for a group photo. That will be a first in this campaign. And then, of course, the main event, the top 11 candidates going head to head. I will be back as moderator. Right now, let's go to my colleague, Anderson Cooper. +p1143 +asVSANTORUM +p1144 +(lp1145 +VYou know, listening to what your network was talking about prior to this race, this debate, reminded me of the coverage that many on this floor are getting. This race, this debate, was called the, "Undercard Debate". The undercard debate. It wasn't advertised significantly. In fact, the entire hour lead up to this there was no conversation about any of the four people on this debate stage, and that is the chronic situation. In fact, they listed -- they put a poll up from Wall Street Journal/NBC News, they listed the candidates, and they failed to mention I wasn't listed. I got zero, why? Because they -- NBC, Wall Street Journal poll never includes my name on the list. This is what the media has been doing over the past year, and trying to segregate, and take Iowans out of the process. What Iowans deserve... ... is to hear from every candidate on equal footing. Had they applied the same rules four years ago, I would have been in the undercard debate. The guy who won the Iowa Caucuses would have been in the undercard debate, not talked about. We would have been talking about, maybe, an entertainer that may have been trying to run. Ladies and gentlemen, you have a chance on Monday to put the record straight about who you want, not who will entertain you. +p1146 +aVBut, who will fight for what you believe in, and I hope you do... +p1147 +aVWell, look. The entire lead up to this debate was talking about whether Donald Trump is going to show up for the next debate. The people of Iowa, who I know pretty darn well, care a lot about the issues. They care about who is going to be the leader of the free world. Who is going to be able to take on +p1148 +aVAnd we are not hearing any of those things. We are hearing about whether someone is going to show up for the next debate or not. +p1149 +aVYes, I am. +p1150 +aVYou know, this, again, more of the politics of trying to get people to throw stuff at each other. I'm not going to throw mud at anybody on this stage tonight. I'm not going to throw mud at anybody on the stage later. I'm not going to attack Donald Trump. What I'm -- Mike Huckabee and I were asked to come to an event where money was going to be raise to do help our veterans. You know, I thought about it. And I thought about. I said well, wait a minute, now, if there were no political considerations and I had some time because I'm not doing anything at 9:00 tonight. And so if I had some time, would I go... ... if I could help raise money for veterans? And the answer was yes, I would. And so I'm going. +p1151 +aVThank you for the question, Martha. We have to have an honest discussion with the American people about the nature of the threat that we confront. This president says that +p1152 +aVWhat I would say is that we have to create jobs that give people wages and benefits that can help them provide for themselves and their families. And that's why I announced from a factory floor in western Pennsylvania, I pledge to make America the number one manufacturing nation, again, in the world. And we can do it. China is starting to reorient itself away from a manufacturing economy that's dumping products on the -- overseas to providing more services to their people. This is an opportunity for America. It's an opportunity for us to get those jobs back. And by the way, do you want to solve global climate change? Take 2 million jobs from China in manufacturing and moving them back here to the United States, where we produce one-fifth the CO2 when we make things. We can help -- we can do every -- we can do it all. We can take care of the environment. We can create more jobs here. Seventy-four percent of Americans don't have a college degree. And unfortunately most folks who, in the Republican Party, don't talk about what we're going to do to create jobs for people who feel like neither political party cares about them. When you elect me, we'll create opportunities for working men and women in this country -- all over this country. +p1153 +aVWell, in fact, the plan that I put forward is scored by the Tax Foundation as bringing three and a half million jobs into this country, and we have provisions in the flat tax for the corporate side that actually has a phase in of manufacturing. Manufacturers initially don't pay any income tax. Ten percent the next year, and 20. We're going to also have a repatriation provision which says that if you have money overseas, and you're Apple, and you got a couple hundred billion dollars there, bring it back. The most you'll be taxed 10%, invest it here in America. Create jobs here in America with all that money that's sitting overseas. We also -- it's not just taxes. It's regulation. I've pledged to cut every single Obamacare -- I mean, excuse me, Obama regulation, including Obamacare, and remove those regulations that cost more than a hundred million dollars in the economy. That will liberate -- and that includes waters of the U.S., and the ozone regulations, they -- the mercury regulations. All of these just crush our manufactures and don't create an opportunity for us to survive. And, remember, China produces five times as much CO2 and other pollutants per dollar of GDP as we do. You want to help the environment? Bring jobs back to America. +p1154 +aVWell, I've been to the March for Life for about 25 years and I thought -- I think that's a pretty good record. Spoken at it a few times and I have shepherded every single piece of pro-life piece of legislation that's passed over the last 20 years. I've either authored it or shepherded it through the United States Congress and I'm pretty proud of that record too. But we have an election going on and there was some snow coming. So I decided that maybe it would be better for me to get out and do some campaigning and not be stuck as my wife and kids were for a week, piling out of two and a half feet of snow. So, here's what I would say. If you want someone that is going to talk a good game, there are a lot of folks on this stage that have talked a good game on the issue of life. Not only have I talked a good game on life and I've done some things. But I've also lived it. You know, one of the things Saint Francis said was, you know, if you preach the gospel, then if you have to, speak. The bottom line is, that twice in my life, we were counseled to have an abortion, one with our son Gabriel and one with our little girl Bella. And neither time did Karen and I for a moment think about it because we know that life begins at conception. We know the dignity of every human life and we know the potential of every child, no matter how long that life lives. And that is a message that can come across to all Americans and without having to say a word and defend the institution of life and the dignity of life in this country. +p1155 +aVThe president of the United States has been the most divisive president in -- certainly in my lifetime. This is a man who constantly... He is not trustworthy. You can't sit down and negotiate with him. He won't keep a deal. We have heard that over and over again. And here is what he does that really, really creates the friction in Washington. He personally attacks people. He ascribes motives to them that aren't true and then he tears them down. How are you going to work with someone if you don't treat them decently, honestly, and respectfully? I was a tough fighter when I was in Washington. I had very sharp elbows. I fought. I went there and joined a game named Jim Nussle here from Iowa with the "gang of seven." And we, in four years' time, took a Congress that had been controlled by Democrats for 40 years, and brought in the first Republican majority because we fought and we fought tough. But you know what? I was able to then work with those same people that we fought with and able to pass welfare reform. Unborn Victims of Violence Act. Pro-life bills. Health savings accounts. A whole laundry list of things not because I was mean, but because I was able to be respectful in the disagreements. And that's what we need in Washington, someone who can be respectful and still unite this country. +p1156 +aVI just want to thank the people of Iowa. Over the last five years I've done 700 speeches and town hall meetings all throughout the state of Iowa, and it has been an incredible right. Thank you. I want to thank all the wonderful folks like Pastor Carey Gordon who gave me a smooth stone and said you go slay Goliaths. Someone like Jim and Janet Cook who over this past Christmas gave up Christmas presents for their kids, and they have more than I do, just they can help me and my campaign. That's the kind of people... ... in Iowa. And, here's what I'm asking you to do. You're good people. You know good leaders. Lead. Pick the right person, not what the polls say. Not who the money give people to. Pick the leader you know is best for this country. Thank you. +p1157 +aVWell, all he has to do is listen to the Democratic debate and find out how bad the economy is. All they do is complain about the hollowing out of the middle of America, and how America is struggling so badly, and have to make these radical changes in Washington. But they've been in control for the last seven years, and what have we seen? The most important jobs, I believe, in this country are the ones that fill the middle. For the 74% of Americans who don't have a college degree between the age of 25 and 65 are manufacturing jobs. Your governor, and your legislature, and your team here have done an amazing job of bringing manufacturing jobs back to South Carolina. Right here. Right here in Charleston, right down in the street in Boeing. You've done a great job, and what's happened? You've grown this economy, you've strengthened the center of your state, the middle. That's because you know that if you're really going to create wealth and opportunity, you got to get jobs, and good paying jobs for everybody. And, so what's happened? Two million jobs, manufacturing jobs, have left this country because of Barack Obama. Regulations, EPA, workplace regulations, things driving people off-shore all because of his number one priority, global climate change. Well, let me tell you this, Mr. President. For every dollar of GDP, China creates five times as much pollution as we do here. You want to \u2014 lower global climate change, bring those jobs back to America and let American workers do that job with less pollution. +p1158 +aVWell, the historic promises that we have made to \u2014 to Iran in this agreement need to be torn up on the first day in office of the next president. And let me tell you why, because Iran has already torn it up. Iran has not approved the agreement that President Obama has said that they have approved. They have approved a different agreement in their parliament. The fact of the matter is they have violated this agreement. Carly just mentioned some of those violations. They have launched ballistic missiles, tested them, in clear violation. And here's the pathetic part. The president announced that they were going to impose sanctions. And then President Rouhani went on Twitter and said there would be retaliation. And what did we do? We backed down. Ladies and gentlemen, there are 50 some Citadel cadets in this audience tonight. I would ask them to stand up if they will. And here's what I want to tell each and every one of them, as you stand. Here's what I want to tell them. Whether it's you're watching that movie this weekend that just came out when we abandoned our men and women in Benghazi, or whether it's we treat Iran, that gave courtesies to our sailors, as they made them record a hostage video, let me tell you this, if you choose to serve this country, I will have your back. I will not let America be trampled upon anymore by these radical jihadists. +p1159 +aVI would just say that if we were doing a better job within the government, we wouldn't need the private sector to do the things that we're asking them to do. I've had a little experience in this in the private sector myself. And what I found was a government with layers and layers of bureaucracy, of people who had some technical expertise but they had no authority, number one. And one of the things I found out about in the bureaucracy is if a lot of people have authority, nobody has authority, number one. And number two, that if you don't do anything, you don't get fired. It's only when you do something and something goes wrong, you get fired. So they do nothing. And that's what is happening in our Defense Department right now. We have a capability that they're trying to develop to play defense. We have a lot of technologists that are very skilled. And they're trying to figure out how to play defense. But what we don't have is we don't have folks who are thinking about offense. We don't have war-fighters. We have technologists. Technologists are not war-fighters. Technologists are thinking, how do I protect cyber-security, how do I secure, how do I protect? And we need to have a much more dynamic, how do we \u2014 how do we go after them? How do we respond? And we need leadership that's willing to make sure that when someone attacks us \u2014 and ladies and gentlemen, they're attacking us as we speak. They're attacking us all day every day, not just the government, but they're attacking private sector companies all day every day. They have to learn that we're going to pay \u2014 they're going to pay a price when they do so. And then right now, just like in every other aspect of our national security, people who attack us are not paying a price. We need a leader who will make sure that they know when they mess with America, they're going to pay a price. +p1160 +aVLook, Facebook and Twitter can teach us things. We can cooperate with them. We can share ideas and information. But this is a \u2014 and this is a very dicey area for the government to go in and require the industry to do its job. It needs to develop that capability. We need to be \u2014 have responsible dialogue, but I don't think requirements are the order of the day. +p1161 +aVWell, the most devastating attack that could occur is an electromagnetic pulse attack, and that would be an attack that would be triggered by a nuclear explosion in the upper atmosphere of our country. The best way to stop that from happening is to make sure that those who contemplating and actually war-gaming and talking about using it, Iran, doesn't get a nuclear weapon so they can't explode that device. And the president of the United States has put Iran on a path to a nuclear weapon. And we have done nothing to do anything to harden our grid. There is actually a bill in Congress that would put money forward to try to put redundancy and harden our electric grid so it could actually survive an EMP. An EMP is a devastating explosion that sends a pulse that knocks out all electric, everything, everything that is connected to any kind \u2014 that is wired, that has a circuit board gets fried out. Everything is gone. Cars stop. Planes fall out of the sky. This is a devastating attack. And this president has done nothing, number one, to take the most probable person to \u2014 probable country to launch an attack and stop them, and has done nothing to try to defend us, particularly our electric grid. The bottom line is, I put the original sanctions on the Iranian nuclear program when I was in the United States Senate. I've been fighting for 12 years with one thing in mind, that we must stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. And......because they're different than every other country. They do not want a nuclear weapon to defend themselves. They want a nuclear weapon to have theological ends to bring about their mahdi so they can control the world. And that is the most serious threat facing this country right now. +p1162 +aVWell, the numbers just don't add up. I mean, they have not added manufacturing jobs. Manufacturing jobs have been lost in this country, 2 million of them. The bottom line is that this president has done more to take jobs away from the hard-working people who are struggling the most. And that's folks who are, as I said, the 74 percent of Americans who don't have a college degree. And they're out there talking about, well, we're going to provide free college for everybody. Well, who is going to pay for it? The 74 percent that don't have a college degree. They're not \u2014 nobody is focused. Let's just be honest, nobody is focused on the people who are struggling the most in America today. We talk about immigration. Talk about the president's immigration plan. He wants to bring in more and more people into this country. Let people who are here illegally stay in this country. Almost all of the people who are here illegally, and most of the people who came here legally over the last 20 years, they're working in wage-earning jobs. That is why wages have flat-lined. And we have unfortunately two political parties with most of the candidates in this field for some form of amnesty, some form of allowing people to stay here even though they're here illegally and for increasing levels of legal immigration. I'm someone who believes that we need to be the party that stands for the American worker. And when we say we need to send people back, I mean we send people back. And let me just make one point. I was in Storm Lake, Iowa, the other day, near a Tyson's plant, 91 percent of the kids that go to the elementary school there are minority kids. And they said, well, what are you going to do with all of these people, their families, they've lived here for a long time? I said, I'm going to give them a gift. I'm going to give them a gift of being able to help the country they were born in. And I'm going to export America, the education they were able to see. They learned English language. They learned about capitalism. They learned about democracy. You want to stop flow of immigrants? Let's send six million Mexicans, Hondurans, Guatemalans, El Savadorians......back into their country, so they can start a renaissance in their country so they won't be coming over here anymore. +p1163 +aVYou know, we've had this debate about the economy, and we haven't talked the one issue now increasingly even the right, and even the are coming to agreement. I've run around doing 300 town hall meetings talking about a book written by a liberal Harvard sociologist, not a normal thing for me to be talking about, but I now name Robert Putnam who wrote a book called, "Our Kids". And, he wrote this book, I think, ostensibly to support the Democratic argument that the middle of America's hollowing out, and income gap is widening, and rich are getting richer. When he studied all the information as to what was going on, he realized that the biggest reason that we're seeing the hollowing out of the middle of America is the breakdown of the American family. The reality is that if you're a single parent \u2014 a child of a single parent, and you grew up in a single parent family neighborhood, you went to that single parent family school, the chance of you ever, ever reaching the top 20% of income earners is 3% in America. At least \u2014 I don't know about you, but that's not good enough. And, we have been too politically correct in this country because we don't want to offend anybody to fight for the lives of our children. You want \u2014 You want to be shocked? You read the first few chapters of Mr. \u2014 Dr. Putnam' book. He talks about Port Clinton, Ohio and growing up there in the 1950's, and how poor kids actually survived and did well, even though they were poor and disadvantaged. But, then he goes to the towns today and these kids are failing, and failing miserably. They don't even have a shot, and we won't even have the courage to have leadership at the federal level \u2014 not with legislation, but the most powerful tool a president have, the bully pulpit to encourage each and everyone of you, churches and businesses, and educators, and community leaders to let's have a national campaign to rebuild the American family, and give every child its birthright which is a Mom and a Dad who loves them. That will change this economy. +p1164 +aVLadies and gentlemen, America is frustrated and angry and looking for someone who's a fighter, but I also think they're looking for someone who's a winner. Somebody who can go out there and take on the establishment and make a difference. And take on someone who's going to be the person who's going to be between a Republican holding the presidency and that's Hillary Clinton. And there's one person on this stage, one person in the race who's done it and done it repeatedly. I've taken on Hillary Clinton on the issues you care about. Partial-birth abortion. Go and google Rick Santorum and Hillary Clinton and there you'll see a five-minute debate. I'll let you decide who won the debate. I'll tell you who won, because we passed the bill and I know I'm out of time but I'm going to take some of Rand Paul's time here for a second. If you're looking for someone who fought Hillary Clinton on Iran's sanctions, she was one of four who voted \u2014 who's deciding vote who voted against Iran's sanctions, so we didn't get it in place as earlier as we should have. I've fought battles against her. In 1994, I ran against the Clinton machine. James Carville and Paul Begala, ran the race against me when I took on the author of Hillary care. And each one of those battles, I won. You want a fighter, you want a winner, I'd appreciate your vote. Thank you. +p1165 +aVThank you, Wolf. It's great to be here in Las Vegas. And I just want to thank everybody for the opportunity to be here. This is an important time in our country's history. We have entered World War III. World War III has begun and we have a leader who refuses to identify it and be truthful to the American people to the stakes that are involved, in part, because his policies have led us here. His policy toward Iran lit the fuse of a nuclear Iran. Just a few weeks ago the International Atomic Agency reported that Iran has had a nuclear program, but they don't know if it's continuing because they refuse to share any information about the current status. And this President marches on, forgiving them hundreds of billions of dollars to allow them to not just reconstitute their robust nuclear program, pursue their missile program, but also to foment terror around the world. And then his policies in the Middle East with Iraq create +p1166 +aVOf course I do. But what Donald Trump was saying was nothing against Muslims. His comment was against this administration who doesn't have a policy to properly vet people coming into this country. Let's just be honest about what's \u2014 what's being talked about here. And I know people will pile on because it makes sense to pile on, maybe from the polls. But he brings up a legitimate issue. The fact of the matter is not all Muslims are Jihadists and no one, including I suspect, Donald Trump would say that. But the reality is, all Jihadists are Muslims. That's a reality. And we have \u2014 we have to stop worrying about offending some people and start defending all Americans. Because we're not right now. +p1167 +aVI would agree \u2014 I would agree that Donald Trump's proposal was not the right proposal. But he brings up a very important issue that I think we've been ignoring for far too long in this country. The reality is that, yes, we need to get reformist Muslims to join us. We need to get those who are being persecuted and killed within the Middle East to join us. But we also have to protect this country from those who want to harm us and we have to defeat those who are radicalized in the Middle East and wherever we find them around the world. +p1168 +aVJust because it couldn't have prevented San Bernardino doesn't mean that we shouldn't have all tools available to us that doesn't impinge upon people's privacy. This sort of data collection is not collecting people's phones calls, their voices; they're not collecting information that's personal. There's no names attached to these numbers. They're simply numbers and times and relationships that throughout algorithms that computer technology can be able to sort through relationship about what numbers are calling what numbers and be able to track those down to see if there's any leakage's between someone who's potentially a terrorist. That is to me just fundamental that we have to have this type of data to be able to not impinge upon people's privacy. In fact, I would make the argument that the more data we can collect that's anonymous that we can through, through using algorithms, the less we need to involve people in and imposing themselves in people's privacy. +p1169 +aVLook, I agree with Governor Huckabee, that we should in fact be looking at people's social media posts. That's just common sense. But we've defunded and tied the hands behind the backs of our intelligence agencies because of political correctness. We're not allowed to ask any questions or really pursue, whether there's any mosque that they're attending that could be spreading Jihadism, and we know that in this country there are Imams that are doing that. But we're not allowed to ask those questions, we're not allowed to pursue to those things because we have a president who denies the reality of the enemy we confront. +p1170 +aVI don't. I don't think we should be able to deny someone's constitutional rights based on a list kept by the government that nobody knows how they get on it, or how they get off of it. If you're going to make that list public, if you're going to put criteria out there as to how you're going to get on it, if you're going to deny someone's constitutional right, than I think there has to be more transparency. Let's just be honest, when someone applies for a gun, you do a background check. And, if you're on the terrorist watch list, guess what very well may happen? You may get denied that. That's a discretion of the people \u2014 of the ATF in making that kind of decision. I want to leave that discretion \u2014 as long as this list is not well known, as long as it's not transparent, we have to leave that discretion. I want to make a comment about what Mike said, and George said, about mus \u2014 Islam. The fact of the matter is, Islam is different. I know this is going to come as a shock to a lot of people, and I mean the sincerely. Islam is not just a religion. It is also a political governing structure. The fact of the matter is, Islam is a religion, but it is also Sharia law, it is also a civil government, it is also a form of government. And, so, the idea that that is protected under the First Amendment is wrong. And, in fact, that political structure is what is the big problem. The imposition of Sharia law adherence to fundamental Islam as it was practiced in the Seventh Century... +p1171 +aV...There has to be a line drawn. +p1172 +aVWell, there's all sorts of theological reasons why we may not want to go into Syria right now to take +p1173 +aVI would have no problem with Sy \u2014 with boots on the ground in Syria in a training capacity. I do not want American troops on the front line in Syria because I don't believe that that would serve to the interest. Again, understanding what +p1174 +aVNo look, I'm committed to whatever is necessary understanding the nature of the enemy. The enemy is a theocracy and their allure is their theocracy. It's their doctrine and so we have to understand that doctrine. That's why, I love the fact that people are angry and outraged in Washington and want someone new and fresh. But we need someone who understands and has knowledge and experience in these areas. And I can see that you know, Senator Graham has that experience and we have a little difference of opinion. But frankly, it's not that big of difference in our opinion, we both want to defeat +p1175 +aVAnd the fact that we have a nuclear treaty with the Shiites in Iran, that we have now partnered with the Russians and appearing to allow Assad to stay, which is a satellite Alawites, very interrelated to the Shiites, this looks to +p1176 +aVWell, I would establish a no-fly zone. And, I think we just... +p1177 +aVWell \u2014 the first thing you have to do is establish a no-fly zone, and you don't do that by just sort of declaring it. You work through the process of making sure you work with people who, hopefully, have the same objective that you do. And, if they don't, then you establish the no-fly zone, and you take the consequences of whatever \u2014 who violates that law. +p1178 +aV...I don't think it's a war with Russia anymore than Turkey went to war with Russia when Turkey shot down a plane... +p1179 +aVThese are \u2014 these are incidents not something that we're threatening the motherland. This is a tactical decision within an area that we have an obligation for the refugees, for providing stability to the rebels, and an opportunity for the rebels to reconstitute. And, making sure that we stop the flow of refugees into Europe, and into the United States to establish a no-fly zone. And, Russia either is going to comply with it or not, and if they don't, I think it can be contained to that region. +p1180 +aVWell, I would establish a no-fly zone. And, I think we just... +p1181 +aVWell \u2014 the first thing you have to do is establish a no-fly zone, and you don't do that by just sort of declaring it. You work through the process of making sure you work with people who, hopefully, have the same objective that you do. And, if they don't, then you establish the no-fly zone, and you take the consequences of whatever \u2014 who violates that law. +p1182 +aV...I don't think it's a war with Russia anymore than Turkey went to war with Russia when Turkey shot down a plane... +p1183 +aVThese are \u2014 these are incidents not something that we're threatening the motherland. This is a tactical decision within an area that we have an obligation for the refugees, for providing stability to the rebels, and an opportunity for the rebels to reconstitute. And, making sure that we stop the flow of refugees into Europe, and into the United States to establish a no-fly zone. And, Russia either is going to comply with it or not, and if they don't, I think it can be contained to that region. +p1184 +aVI would use the studies that were done that were ignored by this military that there were certain positions that frankly were not suitable. And they pushed a political agenda above what is in the best interest of the safety, security, and effective of our, of our fighting units. So I would go back to using what we should be doing. Which is putting forth people on those front line positions who are best prepared to do the job, survive the job, and come back home safely. +p1185 +aVI would change the policy to reflect what is the best interest of the people that we're asking. I've got a son who's going, who's going into the Air Force right now, and I, as a father, I want to make sure that, if he's out there on the front line \u2014 and he may be a pilot flying an airplane \u2014 I want to make sure that the person who's responsible for, for his wing has the ability to do the job they're doing. And if they don't have that ability to do the job, if we're doing a social promotion as opposed to what's best for the efficacy of our fighting force and for the survivability of our men and women, I'll change that policy. +p1186 +aVSo what you just said is you agree with me. Because that's exactly what I said. +p1187 +aVI said if you can't do the job, you shouldn't be able to...you shouldn't have the position. +p1188 +aVNo, I did not say that, George. I mean, you may, you may have heard that, but I didn't say that. What I said was, if they can in fact do the job that any, any other person can do, I will allow them to do so. +p1189 +aVBut if they cannot, I would reverse the policy. And what happened here is there were many studies done, particularly in the Marine Corps, which begged this President not to move forward with this because people are going to get killed as a result of it. The President went forward anyway. +p1190 +aVOf course there is a proper way to vet refugees coming into the United States. But not from the +p1191 +aVLindsay says this is a real war, until it comes to immigration. And, then, all of a sudden it's not such a real war. The reality is that we've seen since the events of 9/11, the president talks about how he's worried about discrimination and acts against Muslims. There's four times as many acts of violence against Jews than there are against Muslims. I never hear the president talk about that. The reality is that under this president, since 9/11, this anti-Muslim United States of America has doubled the rate of Muslim immigration. Since 9/11. That's what we've done. So, the idea that we have an immigration system that is working... +p1192 +aVIs not \u2014 and, I'm out of time. +p1193 +aVHere's the problem. I was with, in fact, one my guests here today is the Sheriff in Cochise County, down on the border in Arizona. And, he talked with me last night when I was with him about all of the children coming across. All of the children, why? Because we've created a magnet. These children are not coming over, and in great shape, not coming over \u2014 and not in harms way, and \u2014 going through difficult times. We're attracting people. He's also the Sheriff that caught Syrian's at the border. We have through the policies supported by almost everybody in this field......A policy that says amnesty. The world hears this, and knows that if they can come across this border, by and large, they're going to be able to stay. That has to change. +p1194 +aVBarack Obama has not kept this country safe. Hillary Clinton will not keep this country safe. We need to nominate someone who America knows will keep this country safe. Ten years ago I put the sanctions on Iran's nuclear program. Before that, I gave speech after speech, including to President Bush, to identify the enemy and call these radical Islamists who they are. Ladies and gentlemen, this week +p1195 +aVThe middle of America is hollowing out. All you have to do is listen to the last Democratic debate and you would think there was a Republican president in office the way they complained about how bad things are in America and how the middle \u2014 the middle of America is hollowing out. I agree with Mike Huckabee. I spent this morning in Chicago at Fabtech, which is a sheet manufac \u2014 a sheet metal fabricators conference. Thousands of people there explained the latest and newest technologies. You know what I was told? I was told when I went to booth after booth that there are 250,000 welder jobs open in America \u2014 250,000 welder jobs paying anywhere from $50,000 to $70,000 a year, and if you want to weld pipe on a, you know, for oil and gas pipelines, you can make $100,000 a year. Every manufacturer \u2014 I go to one every single week. In fact, I have with me in the \u2014 in the crowd here today a gentleman who is a supporter of mine from Rockwall, Texas, Ed Grand-Lienard. He runs Special Products. And he tells me he has jobs open in every skill that he \u2014 he \u2014 he could possibly hire for in Rockwall, Texas, but he can't find people. So the issue is, yes, we need a tax code. I \u2014 I propose a 20 percent flat tax \u2014 20 percent on corporations, 20 percent on \u2014 on individuals, full expensing, which will be powerful for manufacturing, a 0 percent rate, initially, for manufacturers. We're going to have a very powerful tax code. We're going to do something about regulation. We're going to suspected every single ObamaCare regu \u2014 Obama regulation that cost over $100,000 to the economy. But we have to start doing something about training and employing people who are sitting on the sidelines because they don't see a path. And we have a \u2014 a bureaucracy in Washington and a president in Washington \u2014 and even among Republicans who think everybody has to go to college. People need to go to work and we need to provide......opportunities for them to go to work out of high school. +p1196 +aVWell, the answer is first that we need to do something about a tax code that doesn't penalize. One thing that I'm excited about our tax code, proposed changes, is it's very pro-family. You have a $2,700 tax credit, period, for every person in that family, so that family, you know, would have about an $8,000 tax credit, which would be refundable. So every dollar she works, she's still only losing 20 cents. The problem with the tax code today, because of all the different provisions, you're right, you go back to work, you lose welfare benefits, you're losing money. Throw on top of that the \u2014 even a bigger problem, over 50 percent of children being raised in a home today of a single mom are raised in a home where the father is born \u2014 father is (sic) living at the child \u2014 the time the child is born. Now what does that mean? That means we have incentivized people not to marry. We've incentivized people to cohabitate instead of not marry, why? Because mom will lose welfare benefits if she marries father. It's not just mom going back to work, but it's mother and father marrying to form a more stable family for that child to be raised in a two-parent family. So we've got all sorts of really corrupt incentives that were put in place, well meaning by the left. But we need to remove those. We need to remove those incentives. We need to adopt a tax code that says we're going to be pro-family and pro-work. And that's what we'll do. +p1197 +aVAbsolutely. I'm a capitalist, not a corporatist. I'm not someone who believes we should be bailing out corporations whether their auto industries, or banks. And, it is simply a matter that there's auto industry \u2014 the auto industry would have survived, it would have survived through a bankruptcy process of \u2014 instead of Washington picking a winner and a loser. And, in this case, the losers are the bondholders, and the winners were the unions. That's fine. They did it, the unions \u2014 the unions survived. We \u2014 we have not survived in continuing to grow manufacturing jobs. We have a \u2014 we have a president, and an economy right now, that is killing \u2014 choking our ability to be able to compete. I'm one of the few people up here who actually believes that we need a level playing field when it comes to manufacturing. That means a good tax code, a good regulatory environment, low energy prices, better opportunities for workers to get training, and, also, I'm \u2014 a supporter of the +p1198 +aV...Let me settle this argument... +p1199 +aV...Well... +p1200 +aVI'll answer that in a second, but, I want to answer this other problem because this is a real legitimate debate between Chris and Bobby, and if somebody says we need someone who can win in a blue state, and Bobby says we need a real principled conservative. Ninety-two percent conservative voting record, unlike some of the other senators that Bobby mentioned who hasn't done anything to cut federal spending, I was actually the author of welfare reform, which is the only time we've ever seen a federal entitlement actually cut. We cut it. Senate did exactly what every conservative says they want to do. We took the program, we eliminated the federal entitlement, we blocked (ph) to the state, we capped the amount of money, cut it by about 10%, and then put two requirements, work, and time limits. We need to do that with the rest of the \u2014 means (ph) tested federal entitlements. I've done it. And I did it with a bipartisan support in the House and Senate, and after fighting two presidential vetoes by Bill Clinton. So I had a democratic president we had to get this through. No record of accomplishment. I agree with the folks who are from the Congress in this race. I have a record of accomplishment of being a conservative on everything. National security, on moral and cultural issues, on the economy, and twice won a blue state. The first time I beat the author of Hillarycare. I had Bill and Hillary in my state, James Carville managed the race against me, a state with a million more Democrats than Republicans. And I ran on health savings accounts, on private sector health care, as a conservative, pro-life, pro-family, and I won. And then in 2000, I was the only senator to win a state as a conservative that George Bush lost. You want someone who can win Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, with a conservative message, I'm your guy. +p1201 +aVI'll be happy to answer that if you give me more time. +p1202 +aVI'm going to answer two questions for the price of one. The infrastructure question, the answer is... We need to get the federal government out of this infrastructure business, other than vital economic highways. It has been said that if we cut the gas tax to 3 to 5 cents and send the rest back to the states, and just take care of the federal infrastructure that's vital for our economy, let the \u2014 we don't need the federal government and the road business that it is today. Number one. Number two, you know who I respect in the Democratic Party? You know why I respect them? Because they fight! Because they're not willing to back down, and they're willing to stand up and fight and win. And so I respect them because they are willing to take it to us. +p1203 +aVWell, I'll tell you, I have a 20 percent flat tax. That's one all income \u2014 so capital gains, corporations, individuals, 20 percent. I think that's a fair number, one out of five, to be able to \u2014 to help support the federal government. By the way it also approximates, if you take out some of the deductions, it approximates how much the federal government is, on average, spent of GDP, which is about 18 to 19 percent of GDP. So it actually fits with shrinking the size of government down to more like post-World War II levels. So the second thing we do is I don't allow for deductibility of state and local taxes, which will require state and local taxes to go down in order to be treated for their \u2014 for their people to be treated fairly. So the answer is, 20 percent and probably 33 percent overall. +p1204 +aVWell, I don't \u2014 I agree with Governor Christie, I don't think you can make it any more political than it's been. They \u2014 they are protecting a president that is over-taxing and over- regulating, shutting down this economy. And he \u2014 and they're keeping it up like Atlas, trying to hold up the Earth by \u2014 by these ridiculously low interest rates. And it's hurting American seniors, who are seeing no Social Security increases, seeing no \u2014 no savings. They're \u2014 they're putting their money aside. They're getting nothing in their deposit accounts. This is hurting the people who have acted responsibly, all in favor of those who, um, you know, are \u2014 are speculators and \u2014 and those on Wall Street. It's not a good deal for \u2014 for the vast majority of responsible Americans. The other thing we have with the Fed is they've been given way too much authority. Under Dodd-Frank, they've been given this enormous new authority. I mean they \u2014 they now have almost become the most powerful entity in Washington, DC. We need to repeal Dodd-Frank, get away that authority from the Fed and put them under more \u2014 more scrutiny. That's only part of the problem. I understand the Fed is interesting for a business channel, but I think for most Americans, the most important business is the family. And we haven't really talked much about the importance of the family to the economy. And \u2014 and ladies and gentlemen, every single book, from left to right, that's been written over the last couple of years has said the biggest problem in America today at the hollowing out of the middle of America is the breakdown of the nuclear family in America. We'd better be the party that's out there talking about this issue and what we're going to do to help strengthen marriage and return dads into homes in all communities. You want to talk about the communities that are hurting the most, the ones you see the protests in......there are no dads. And we need to do something about it. +p1205 +aVHappy Birthday. +p1206 +aV\u2014 States Marine Corps. +p1207 +aVThat's very personal to me. I grew up on a V.A. grounds. I lived in apartments on V.A. grounds my entire childhood. Both my Mom and Dad, after World War II, marry \u2014 met at a V.A., married, and that's where I lived. Kitchen table discussion was, particularly when I was growing up in the 1960's and 1970's, was the decline of the V.A. When they joined in the early 1950's, the V.A. was the top. They were the best, they were the best and brightest coming in after the war. And, we believed in the cause that we fought, and we invested in our hospitals to make sure that our veterans who left World War II were taken care of. But, after Vietnam, and during Vietnam, that began to change, and it really hasn't recovered since. The bottom line is the V.A. is antiquated. There's no need for a V.A. healthcare system as it existed after World War \u2014 why? Because we have the best private healthcare system in the world, we didn't need \u2014 we needed it in 1950's, hospitals were not particularly advanced, so, we built the best. We didn't maintain the best. Government didn't keep its promises to its veterans. So, what we need to do is two things. Number one, we need to allow veterans to go to private sector hospitals for their routine and ordinary care to get the best care in their community possible. And, there is a place for the Veterans Administration. There are injuries, and there are \u2014 things like +p1208 +aVIt should come as no surprise to Chris, or anybody else, that Barack Obama doesn't stand behind our men and women in uniform here at home because he hasn't stood behind them overseas. The rules of engagement that we've allowed our soldiers to go and fight against have put them in harm's way for political purposes. This has been the most politicized wars that we've ever seen under this administration. He gets in, and gets out, based upon what the polls are saying, what pressure he's getting from groups. Talk about a Commander in Chief. We need a commander in chief who has a vision and plan of how we're going to execute the national security of our country. Commander in chief is not an entry level position. Experience matters, and that's why I would ask for your support as a Commander in Chief, because I have the experience against the enemy......to confront to do the job. +p1209 +aVI announced from a factory floor in Western Pennsylvania. This campaign has all been about two words for me, working families. Working. Getting people the opportunity to see those wages rise, to be on the side of the American workers so they can get good paying jobs, and that means we have to start making things in America again. We need a president who's going to not just put policies in place, but is going to stand up at the bully pulpit and talk about the dignity of being a welder. The dignity of being a carpenter, about going to work and earning success. And, also, the importance of families, the importance of families and fathers, and mothers raising their children, and committing to that so that they can give children in our country the best opportunity to success. Working families is the key for us to win this election. +p1210 +aVYes, I think it's one thing to shrink the size of a state government but it's another thing to actually get something accomplished in Washington. It's a much tougher field. And I'm the one in the \u2014 on this stage and, frankly, on both stages that has actually gone to Washington, said we would shrink government, said we would shake things up and actually delivered for the conservative cause, everything from welfare reform, which was the largest, most significant accomplishment in the last 25 years for conservatism. I authored the bill when I was in the House of Representatives; I managed the bill on the floor of the United States Senate. You need a conservative who can deliver and that's what I bring to the table. +p1211 +aVWell, if you look at my flat tax, it actually takes the best of what Steve Forbes, Art Laffer, many have been advocating for a long time, which is a very strong pro-growth tax code \u2014 very simple. And, it adjusts it to make sure that it is not regressive. We have a $2,750 per person tax credit \u2014 that's $2,750 off the taxes due, not a deduction, a credit. And, we think \u2014 in fact, if you run the numbers, no American who's going to be paying more taxes under our proposal, so, we've accomplished both. We have a system that has a low single rate, but we take care of American families. I'm talking about $2,750 per person. That means a family four, that's $11,000 dollar tax credit. That's a very, very strong pro-family \u2014 and if you looked at the Wall Street Journal today, and so many of the publications that have been out there, they've talked about how the biggest problem of the hollowing out of the middle of this country. For workers to be able to raise is actually, the breakdown of the American family. William Galston, a liberal, said that on the pages of the Wall Street Journal today that the key to poverty is families. So, we put forth a pro-growth \u2014 Steve Forbes plan, combined it with a pro- family plan, and that's why I think it's going to work out, and work effectively. +p1212 +aVWhat we should be \u2014 we shouldn't be putting tariffs on anything. That hurts working men and women in this country. What we should be doing is making our manufacturing more competitive. One of the reasons I introduced the 20/20 plan, a 20 percent flat tax on corporations, as well as on individuals, is so we can be competitive, so we can bring those manufacturing jobs back. You want to talk about cutting pollution? You do a little back- of-the-envelope. We \u2014 we produce, per dollar of GDP, about one-fifth of the CO2 and other pollutants that China produces. So we're five times more efficient in producing goods here, as far as the environment \u2014 environment is concerned. Why don't we \u2014 if we really want to tackle environmental problems, global warming, what we need to do is take those jobs from China and bring them back here to the United States, employ workers in this country. We've lost two million jobs \u2014 two million jobs \u2014 under this administration in manufacturing \u2014 15,000 manufacturers have left this country. Why? Because of bad tax policy, bad regulatory policy and, yes, bad trade policy. We need to have a president that's going to pledge, as I have \u2014 I'm going to make America the number-one manufacturer so working men and women can have good paying jobs again in America. +p1213 +aV\u2014 with competition... +p1214 +aV\u2014 for low wage workers. +p1215 +aV and I... +p1216 +aVThat's not what's happening. +p1217 +aVA true conservative wants to create a level playing field. That's what \u2014 that's what we're \u2014 that's what government is supposed to do. They're not supposed to favor one group over another. And when it comes to our manufacturers, the level playing field is not in the United States. It's international. And so the federal government should have laws, tax laws, regulatory laws and, yes, finance laws. There's 60 other ex-im banks all over \u2014 all over the world. Every major competitor for the United States' manufacturing dollar has one of those banks. And guess what? They use those banks a heck of a lot more than their \u2014 than the United States of America does, number one. So in order to have a level playing field, which is what conservatives talk about all the time, level playing field, then we have to have export financing and here's why.Because export financing doesn't help Boeing, or G.E. G.E. just lost a contract, you know what they did? They went to . They got the X.M. (ph) bank in France to support it, and what did they do? They moved manufacturing out of South Carolina, out of Texas, moved to \u2014 Hungary, and to France. G.E. is still making money. G.E. is still doing well, but American workers are out of jobs. That's why we have to have this level playing field so we can compete with the rest of the world. +p1218 +aVWell, first, since you mention Colorado, I want to thank the people of Colorado because four years ago you \u2014 gave me the honor of winning the nomination out here in the state of Colorado. On a night we won three states, and it catapulted us to win 11 states ultimately, so, I just want to thank you very, very much for that support, and \u2014 in response to that, I do drink a lot of Coors beer, so... I try to help. The answer is pretty simple. The answer is simple. There are no shortage of breweries around the United States of America. I \u2014 I do \u2014 as I travel around the country, I do pints and politics, and I go to breweries all over the place, and there \u2014 there's almost no town in America anymore that doesn't have a brewery, so I don't think we need to worry too much. They're obviously \u2014 if there's \u2014 if there's some anti- competitive issues, you know, we have agencies to look at that. But, no, I'm not \u2014 I'm not concerned that Americans are not going to have choices in beer. +p1219 +aVAnd I care about, by the way. I care about choices. +p1220 +aVWell, I \u2014 I would say this, that what you're seeing is \u2014 in health care, you're seeing a lot of consolidation, and that consolidation is occurring because of Obamacare. You're seeing it particularly in an area that I am concerned about, and that's in insurance \u2014 health insurance. You're seeing the big health insurance companies fold up. You've seen Obama try to seed health insurance companies, and they've all failed, I think, except one. Why? Because we have a system of Obamacare with minimum loss ratios that make it virtually impossible for a small insurer to operate effectively. And this was the motive behind Obamacare. This wasn't incidental. This was deliberate, to make it so impossible for small insurers to survive... +p1221 +aV...that they consolidate into a small group. Then the left can say, "there is no competition, we need a single payer." That's why we have to repeal Obamacare. +p1222 +aVThank you. Can I just say something about that? +p1223 +aVWell, if you look at our plan that I introduced, the 2020 Clear Vision for America, we increase growth by 10 percent, 1 percent a year. So we go from 2.3 to 3.3, in repealing Obamacare, it's another .7. So you're looking at 4 percent growth, according to the Tax Foundation. And unlike Donald Trump and Bobby Jindal, we don't add $10 trillion to the deficit. In fact, our plan, while it creates as many jobs as their plan does and grows the economy as much as theirs does, we are a revenue-neutral plan because I believe that we need to reduce the size of government, yes, but we also need to reduce our deficit, and we need to get our budget balanced so we can start paying down this debt. And adding a trillion dollars with a tax cut and getting no more growth is not the way to do it. But that's only half of it. The word "economy" comes from the Greek "euthokis" (ph) which means family. The family is the first economy. And the one thing that we do not talk about enough is how stable families are vitally important for the middle of America to be prosperous and to grow and be safe. And I will have policies, not just tax policies, but others that will make sure that families are strong again in America. +p1224 +aVMLB, NHL, so I'm a big sports fan. And "The Wall Street Journal." Those are the three apps I use the most. +p1225 +aVWell, since we're usually in the Super Bowl at the Pittsburgh Steelers... Steeler nation, anybody? +p1226 +aVNo. I was in......was in Kansas City over the weekend to watch the Steeler game and about a third of the crowd were Steeler fans. So I'm usually not alone when I call on Steeler Nation. But we are used to being in the Super Bowl, so actually, it is in Pennsylvania already. +p1227 +aVI grew up in a steel town of Western Pennsylvania, outside of Pittsburgh, and when I announced for president, I announced from the factory floor. When I talk about making America the number one manufacturer again in the world, it's not just talk. When I talk about having the opportunity for people to rise again, it's not just because it polls well. I represented the old steel valley of Pittsburgh. I represented a 70% Democratic district, and won with 60% of the vote. Why? Because I aligned myself with working men and women who feel that neither party, and certainly not Washington D.C. cares about them. You elect me, we will get American workers on the side of the Republican party, and we can not be stopped if we do. +p1228 +aVHi, I'm Rick Santorum. Some of you may know me because I led the fight to end partial birth abortion. Some of you may know me because the I led the fight to end welfare as we know it, put people back to work, reduce poverty and reduce the federal budget. Some of you may know me because I successfully put sanctions on the Iranian nuclear program in Congress, over opposition of both parties initially. But hopefully, most of you know me most because I'm the proud father of seven children with particularly a special little disabled girl, who is the heart and core of my heart and married to a wonderful woman named Karen for 25 years, who is the love of my life. +p1229 +aVI think personal attacks, just please one person, Hillary Clinton. And all we do when we go after each other -- and we've seen a bunch of it, from people up on this stage, people who are going to be on the stage afterwards, who go after and make personal attacks on people. There are plenty of policy differences between the candidates up here and the candidates later. Donald Trump has ever right to run for president as a Republican, as anybody else in this audience, and he may have positions I disagree with, but he has the right to do that and the people should be given the benefit of the doubt for people to see through these things. I don't think it helps when Republicans attack Republicans personally. I'll say some things tonight which will be very big differences. The issue of immigration is one that there are huge differences in this field, and I will be out there talking about how we have to control immigration. How we have to look after the American worker. The focus of this debate should be on how we're going to win this election and help improve the quality of life for American workers, and we aren't doing that, when we're out there picking at each other and calling each other names. The name we should call out is, what are we going to do for average Americans losing ground in America today. And that should be our focus. +p1230 +aVWell, in fact, just about everybody in this field supports some pathway to citizenship. There are just a few, Governor Jindal, Senator Cruz, Senator Rubio, Jeb Bush, a lot of others, Senator Graham, all support some sort of amnesty at some point in time or another. And this is really the interesting thing about this whole debate. This debate should not be about what we're going to do with someone who's here illegally. This debate should not be about what we're going to do with someone who's here illegally; This debate should be about what -- what every other debate on every other policy issue is in America. What's in the best interest of hardworking Americans? What's in the best interest of our country. We've had to focus because the other side has set up for us, here is who we have to be concerned about on the issue of immigration, someone who's here illegally and their family, and what are we going to do about it? A greater leader will see that the objection of every law in America is to do what's in the best interest of America. And what's in the best interest of America right now is to look at wages, look at employment among wager earners. 70 to 90 percent of people who've come into this country, 35 million over the last 20 years, are wage earners that are holding wages down, taking jobs away from America. +p1231 +aVWell, just because you don't call it amnesty doesn't mean that what -- what almost everybody in this field is for is allowing people who are in this country illegally, people who broke the law to come into this country, people who came here legally and overstayed, to stay in -- in America. Again, we have 35 million -- we have the highest percentage of -- of -- of immigrants in this country, as far as numbers ever, as far as percentage, the -- the highest in 105 years. Wages are flatlining. The reason that you're seeing the angst and the anger out there and the reason this issue has taken off is because workers in America know that their wages are being undermined. If you look at, from the year 2000 to the year 2014, there're 5.7 million net new jobs created. What percentage of those jobs are held by people who weren't born here? The answer is all of them. The fact is, American workers are -- are getting hurt by immigration... +p1232 +aV... and that's why they're upset. +p1233 +aV...Hold on, hold on, hold on... +p1234 +aV...He mentioned my name, and that i didn't have a plan. And, the fact of the matter is... +p1235 +aV...that I did have a plan back in 2006. I introduced a plan called, A Comprehensive Border Security Bill, which did, in fact, put the resources to build the fencing, and deploy the troops, and the technology necessary which... +p1236 +aVAs you know, Lindsay... +p1237 +aV...As you know, 40 to 60 percent of the 11 million are here on visa overstays. We know exactly who they are, we should know where they are, but we have a government that doesn't tell them to return home. You can solve half of the problem of the 11 million... +p1238 +aV...by simply telling the 11 million that they have to return to their country of origin, so, that's half your problem... +p1239 +aV...Now, it's not 11 million... +p1240 +aVI don't know how many democrats I had on my bill... +p1241 +aVBut, the point is -- the point is is that I had a bill... +p1242 +aVWell, you're right, Lindsay, it went no where because we had a president back then who was for more comprehensive immigration reform... +p1243 +aV...That's right... +p1244 +aVYou know what we need to do... +p1245 +aVLindsay, is we need to win -- we need to win fighting for Americans. We need to win fighting for the workers in this country... +p1246 +aV...who are hurting, including including hispanics... +p1247 +aV...the people who are hurt the most by illegal immigration are hispanics. +p1248 +aV...The folks -- the folks who are -- hurt the worst are recent immigrants. By illegal immigrants coming to this country last year alone, 700,000 illegal immigrants came into this country. Who do you think are most impacted? It's the folks who came into this country, played by the rules, did what they were supposed to do. Came here, and went to work, and now they're finding themselves out of work because someone illegally is willing to come in and work for less... +p1249 +aVI just want to say -- I just want to say, I have seven kids, I've done my part. +p1250 +aVI have proposed 10,000 troops, I did so about six or seven months ago, that we needed to deploy additional troops to do exactly what Lindsey said, arm the Kurds, arm -- +p1251 +aVI've said -- I've said 10,000 and, if more is necessary, look, the answer is this, once +p1252 +aV16 years ago, this country was tremendously inspired by a young woman who faced a gunman in Columbine and was challenged about her faith and she refused to deny God. We saw her as a hero. Today, someone who refuses to defy (sic) a judge's unconstitutional verdict is ridiculed and criticized, chastised because she's standing up and denying -- not denying her God and her faith. That is a huge difference in 16 years. People have a fundamental right in the First Amendment. There's no more important right. It is the right that is the trunk that all other rights come from, and that's the freedom of conscience. And when we say in America that we have no room -- how many bakers, how many florists, how many pastors, how many clerks are we going to throw in jail because they stand up and say, "I cannot violate what my faith says is against its teachings"? Is there not room in America? I believe there has to be room. First, I believe we have to pass the First Amendment Defense Act, which provides that room for government officials and others who do not want to be complicit in what they believe is against their faith. Second, we need as a president who's going to fight a court that is abusive, that has superseded their authority. Judicial supremacy is not in the Constitution, and we need a president and a Congress to stand up to a court when it exceeds its constitutional authority. +p1253 +aVI hope so. If they're wrong. +p1254 +aVNo, what you have is judicial supremacy. You don't have a rule of law when the court has the final say on everything. +p1255 +aVMartin Luther King wrote a letter from the Birmingham jail. And he said in that letter that there are just laws and there are unjust laws. And we have no obligation to -- to condone and accept unjust laws. And he -- and they -- then he followed up and said what's an unjust law? An unjust law is a job that -- a law that go against the moral code or God's law or the natural law. I would argue that what the Supreme Court did is against the natural law, it's against God's law and we have every obligation to stand in opposition to it. +p1256 +aVWell, contrary to what Governor Jindal said, Governor -- Justice Roberts had a long record and it was a long, good record. And so he made a bad decision on -- a couple of bad decisions on ObamaCare but he's made a lot of great decisions, too. And so I don't -- I don't regret at all standing up for John Roberts but, you know, it's easy to sit out in Louisiana and talk about how, you know, well, I'd be tougher. I fought when I was in the United States Senate. We fought, for the first time, to defeat justices and judges that Bill Clinton nominated and I fought with President Bush to defend his nominees, to push even a filibuster, breaking the filibuster. I led that fight against someone who didn't want to end the filibuster in order for us to get good, conservative justices. So I have been there on the front line, fighting for judges and conservative justices and I will do so as president like none other. +p1257 +aVActually, I'm going to be proposing a plan, I call it the 20/20 perfect vision for America as flat tax, a 20 percent flat tax on income, 20 percent flat tax on capital gains and on corporations. We eliminate all the deductions, special interest provisions and corporations. We deal with the carried interest issue, because everybody pays the same 20 percent. So, there's no advantage as to how you take your income. That will create growth. We're going to allow expensing for corporations. For manufacturing, again, I print -- I pledged, when I announced that I was going to run for president on the factory floor that I would make America the number one manufacturer in the world. Why? Because we need to put Americans back to work. Hard working Americans, who are not doing well in this economy, and we start creating jobs here, and manufacturing. These people from all skill levels are going to be able to work. We put a 20 percent rate on corporations, we're competitive with almost every country in the world. We allow for expensing, we have a three year phase in. We start at zero for manufacturers, phase it up to 20. You're going to see an enormous investment of capital, and equipment. You're going to see people -- you're going to have problems finding folks are going to be able to work in manufacturing. That's how many jobs we're going to create. So, the answer is, you know, we're going to lower, and flatten taxes. We're going to put government on a -- on a budget. A 10 percent across the board cut... +p1258 +aV...employment. We've got a lot of plans. +p1259 +aV...Let me just... +p1260 +aV...He talked about manufacturing, and the fact is that we have a zero percent rate that faces the 20, we'd have a seven percent repatriation, so money -- about two trillion dollars over seas... +p1261 +aV...Would come back, and be invested in equipment here. We will create more jobs with this plan, than any plan out... +p1262 +aVLindsay, what percentage of American workers make the minimum wage right now? +p1263 +aVIt's less than one percent. +p1264 +aV...So, what you're saying, what every Republican's up here saying is we're against the minimum wage because, if you're not for increasing it, than whoevers making the minimum wage right now... +p1265 +aV...The answer is Republicans don't believe in a floor wage in America. Fine, you go ahead and make that case to the American public, I'm not going to. Not from a party that supported bailouts. I didn't, but this party did. +p1266 +aVNot from a party that supports special interest tax provisions for a whole bunch of other businesses, and, but, when it comes to hardworking Americans who are at the bottom of the income scale, we can't provide some level of income support? What I've proposed is not anything but the (ph) presidents (ph) proposed (ph) I believe that would be harmful to the American public, but a $.50 cents an hour increase over three years, which is what I'm proposing. So we would have a minimum wage which would be roughly in the area of what it's been historically, about 5 percent of wages. To me, if you're going to talk to 90 percent of American workers -- by the way, 90 percent of American workers don't own a bar. They don't own a business. They work for a living. They're wage -- most of them are wage earners. And Republicans are losing elections because we're not talking about them. All we want to talk about is, what happened to our business? There are people who work in that business. I was at a -- I was at the convention four years ago, and on the signs -- on all of the seats the night I spoke was a sign that said, "We built that," because Barack Obama had talked about how businesses didn't build their own businesses. Then we trotted out one small-business person after another for almost an hour that night talking about how they built their businesses. And that's wonderful. But you know what we didn't do? We didn't bring one worker on that stage. How are you going to win, ladies and gentlemen? How are we going to win if 90 percent of Americans don't think we care at all... +p1267 +aV... about them and their chance to rise... +p1268 +aVAs you know, Hugh, 12 years ago I authored the Iran Freedom Support Act, which put sanctions on the Iran nuclear program as we came within four votes of passing a very strong version of that. The four people who opposed on the floor: Joe Biden, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. And we came four votes short. But for 12 years, I have been laser-beam focused on the issue of Iran with a nuclear weapon. Why? Because I understand who they are. Yes, they are radical Islamists, that's true. But their particular version of it, which is an apocalyptic version, which is a death cult, they believe in bringing about the end of the -- end of the world. If you -- if you poll Iranians and Iraqis, Shiites in the region, more than two-thirds of them believe that the end of the world is going to come within their lifetime. Why? Because their regime preaches it. They believe in bringing about the end of times. That's their theological goal and we are in the process of giving them a nuclear weapon to do just that. That's why, on day one, I would say to the Iranian government, you open up all of these facilities for inspection, you make them available to the U.N. and to the U.S., everything, we can go everywhere or else we will take out those facilities. And when people say, you're going to start a war -- +p1269 +aV-- my response is, no, I'm going to stop a war because a nuclear Iran is the end. +p1270 +aVI came to Washington in the most unlikely way. I defeated a 14-year incumbent, a 60 percent Democratic district. I went to Washington thinking I was only going to be there for one term, and so I just shook things up. We sent the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee to jail. We ended 40 years, 40 years of Democratic control of the Congress. And I led that fight with reforms, substantive reforms, welfare reform. I led the charge -- I wrote the bill when I was in the House. I led the charge in the United States Senate. Partial-birth abortion -- in fact, three pro-life bills, bipartisan pro-life bills. I mentioned the Iran bill. We also passed one on Syria. Health savings accounts, as many of you know, I authored the original bill on health savings accounts, pushed that through the Congress for private sector health care reform. An outsider who came to Washington from the tough state of Pennsylvania, and we got conservative things done. I made things happen in a town where things don't happen very much. Now, after 10 years of seeing the mess, the retreat that we see in the Republican party in Washington, D.C., it's time to get someone who is an outsider. +p1271 +aVWho can go to Washington, D.C., and get things done. You know what, you have a lot of folks who will tell you a lot of things. Look at their record. I went to Washington as an outsider. +p1272 +aVShook things up, got things done. +p1273 +aVAnd that's why you can trust me to do it again. +p1274 +asVQUESTION +p1275 +(lp1276 +VMy name is Ashley Tofil. Ms. Fiorina, in November, you said that you would not talk to Vladimir Putin after you were elected because you would be communicating from a position of weakness. Do you believe that it is feasible to not communicate with another world leader? And do you think that that also is a sign of weakness? +p1277 +aVMy name is Carla Hernandez. I'm from the University of Texas at Austin. And my question is directed to all the candidates. If the Bible clearly states that we need to embrace those in need and not fear, how can we justify not accepting refugees? +p1278 +aVPlease describe one action you would do to make the economic environment more favorable for small businesses and entrepreneurs and anyone dreaming of opening their own business. +p1279 +aVHi, I'm Adithya Sivakumar. I'm from Vanderbilt University. And I was wondering with U.S. designated state sponsors of terrorism such as Iran and other traditional U.S. enemies fighting +p1280 +asVCAVUTO +p1281 +(lp1282 +VIt is 9:00 p.m. on the East Coast, 8:00 p.m. here inside the Milwaukee theater. Welcome to the Republican presidential debate here on the Fox Business Network. I'm Neil Cavuto, alongside my co-moderators, Maria Bartiromo, and the editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal, Gerard Baker. +p1283 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. +p1284 +aVIt sounds like a game show but it's not. Now I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the elephant in the room, and I'm not talking about your party's fine symbol. I'm talking about the purpose of tonight's debate. The economy and what each of you would do to improve it. No more, no less. We are focused on those issues, and what you have said on those issues in your words and what your opponents have said in their words about your words. That is the agenda tonight. How each of you plans to make America better tomorrow. And so we begin. Candidates, as we gather tonight in this very august theater, just outside and across the country, picketers are gathering as well. They're demanding an immediate hike in the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Just a few hours ago, near Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed doing the same for all state workers, the first governor to do so. Mr. Trump, as the leading presidential candidate on this stage and one whose tax plan exempts couples making up to $50,000 a year from paying any federal income taxes at all, are you sympathetic to the protesters cause since a $15 wage works out to about $31,000 a year? +p1285 +aVSo do not raise the minimum wage? +p1286 +aVDr. Carson, you have long bemoaned this lackluster recovery. And this Facebook map show Americans share your concern. The green represents how the jobs issue is resonating all across the nation, especially here in the state of Wisconsin. You suggested one minimum wage does not fit all, and that perhaps we should offer a lower or starter wage for young people. Those protesters outside are looking for $15 and nothing less. Where are you? +p1287 +aVSo, sir, just to be clear, you would not raise it? +p1288 +aVSenator Rubio, you called the recent Democratic debate in Las Vegas a night of giveaways, including free health care, free college and a host of other government-paid benefits. Since you aren't a fan of all they're giving away, tell us tonight what you would take back. +p1289 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. +p1290 +aVAll right. We're only just getting started. Coming up, your taxes. Stick around. You're watching FOX Business +p1291 +aVWelcome back to the Milwaukee Theater and the Republican presidential debate. Let's get right back to our questions. Dr. Carson, to you. You recently railed against the double- standard in the media, sir, that seems obsessed with inconsistencies and potential exaggerations in your life story, but looked the other way when it came to then-Senator Barack Obama's. Still, as a candidate whose brand has always been trust, are you worried your campaign \u2014 which you've always said, sir, is bigger than you \u2014 is now being hurt by you? +p1292 +aVI'll just forget that follow-up there. +p1293 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1294 +aVAlright, thank you. We're going to take a break here. Coming up, a big issue many Americans are facing, taxes. The Republican Presidential Debate continues now, live, from Milwaukee. +p1295 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from Milwaukee. Let's get back to the questions. And we want to touch on obviously one of the biggest of this issue in this year, taxes. And this will go to several of you. One of the biggest economic concerns of course in the country are taxes. Facebook data certainly backs that up. Once again the green on this map that we're going to see here shows how the conversation around taxes is resonating across the nation, especially here in Wisconsin. First off, Dr. Carson, to you. You say you are in favor of a tax system, I guess akin to tithing, sir, with a flat tax rate of up to 15 percent because you said, if everybody pays this, I think God is a pretty fair guy, so tithing is a pretty fair process. But Donald Trump says that is not fair. That wealthier taxpayers should pay a higher rate because it's a fair thing to do. So whose plan would God endorse then, Doctor? Yours or Mr. Trump's? +p1296 +aVRight. +p1297 +aVThank you very much. Senator Paul, you said you want to blow up the tax code and start over with an across-the-board 14.5 percent fair and flat tax. You happily offered that it is not revenue neutral and that's the idea. You want to choke off the amount of money coming into Washington. But don't you risk, sir, creating a near-term budget crisis just as your presidency would be beginning? +p1298 +aVThere are no deductions on your \u2014 under your plan? +p1299 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1300 +aVSenator Paul... Senator Paul, you have already said, sir, that that would be a mistake in not talking to Vladimir Putin, or to rule it out. You've argued that it's never a good idea to close down communication. With that in mind, do you think the same applies to administration efforts right now to include the Iranians in talks on Syria? +p1301 +aV...Well, then how would you respond? +p1302 +aVBut if you're not going to respond in a no-fly zone strategy, what would yours be? +p1303 +aVAll right. And look at the time, look at the time. You are watching FOX Business, we'll take a break. Stick around. +p1304 +aVSenator Cruz \u2014 and I will get to you \u2014 but, Senator Cruz, on that theme, Facebook data shows that over the last month alone, nearly 1 million people \u2014 nearly 1 million \u2014 have been concerned about reining in Wall Street, apparently believing that some have not been punished enough. So, as an accomplished litigator yourself and a former solicitor general, would you go after the very people who believe and fear that Wall Street has ignored, in other words, the crooks that Bernie Sanders say have gotten away with a financial murder? +p1305 +aVSenator......Senator, I really want to be clear here. Are you saying, sir, that if Bank of America were on the brink, you would let it fail? +p1306 +aVSir, I understand that. I just want to be clear, if you don't mind, that millions of depositors would be on the line with that decision. And I just want to be clear. If it were to happen again, for whatever the reason, you would let it go, you would let a Bank of America go? +p1307 +aVOK, I think it's fair to say you're not fans of Hillary Clinton's resume. Alright, Mr. Trump.... +p1308 +aVI had a feeling. Perhaps the most successful capitalist on this stage tonight, you've acknowledged that some give capitalism a bad name. You've been particularly critical of businesses that find all sorts of ways of paying their taxes by keeping money abroad, but your own plan includes an incentive to bring \u2014 that more the $2 trillion dollars home. Isn't that, like, a one-time bounty... +p1309 +aV...Some of the guys you all but call pirates, so they still keep the loot, and pay only a price to bring it back. +p1310 +aV...Alright, gentlemen, I know you want to \u2014 and I want to, be we also promised to get people home tonight, and we are going to take a quick break here. I think it is fair to say at this juncture that you can discuss these issues, and only business issues, but still keep it interesting. Stick around for these candidates closing statements. +p1311 +aVSenator Marco Rubio? +p1312 +aVDr. Ben Carson? +p1313 +aVDonald Trump? +p1314 +aVCandidates, we want to thank you all. We also appreciate your helping save time by talking over one another at times. That was welcomed. But by all means, it was a very riveting debate. Business issues can be \u2014 can be riveting, because it wasn't about us, it's about them. +p1315 +aVThat'll do it. Thank you for joining us. +p1316 +asVBLITZER +p1317 +(lp1318 +VWelcome to the CNN-Facebook Republican presidential debate here at the Venetian Las Vegas. We have a very enthusiastic audience. Everyone is here. They're looking forward to a serious and spirited discussion about the security of this nation. I'm Wolf Blitzer, your moderator tonight. This debate is airing on CNN networks here in the United States and around the world, and on the Salem Radio Network. The nine leading candidates, they are here. Let's welcome them right now. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Businessman and real estate developer Donald Trump. Retired neurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. And Ohio Governor John Kasich. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome these Republican candidates for president of the United States. This is the final Republican debate before the election year begins, and we're taking a moment for the photographs of the candidates together on the stage. Now, everyone, please rise for the national anthem sung by Ayla Brown. +p1319 +aVI know everyone is eager to get started. So, candidates, please take your places while I explain the ground rules for tonight. As moderator, I'll guide the discussion, and I'll be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt and CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. We also asked Republicans and independents nationwide to share their questions for the candidates. We teamed up with Facebook to send a campaign camper across the country over the past several weeks. Thousands of people stepped inside and recorded their questions on video. Millions more have weighed in on Facebook. Candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have a minute and 15 seconds to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you're singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know that we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. And as the candidates requested, a bell will sound like this. We know you are all eager to jump in and debate these important issues, so, please, wait until you're called on. These nine Republicans are positioned on stage based on their ranking in the recent polls, so let's begin right now. I'd like to invite each candidate to introduce himself or herself to our audience. You'll have one minute. First to you, Senator Paul. +p1320 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p1321 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1322 +aVMs. Fiorina? +p1323 +aVGovernor Bush? +p1324 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1325 +aVSenator Cruz. +p1326 +aVDr. Carson. +p1327 +aVMr. Trump. +p1328 +aVThank you. Since you last debated, Americans have witnessed terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino. The FBI director says the country now faces the greatest terror threat since 9/11. You all have different approaches to keeping the country safe. And that will be the focus of tonight's debate. Mr. Trump, as you mentioned in your opening statement, part of your strategy is to focus in on America's borders. To keep the country safe, you say you want to temporarily ban non-American Muslims from coming to the United States; ban refugees fleeing +p1329 +aVGovernor Bush, you called Mr. Trump "unhinged" when he proposed banning non-American Muslims from the United States. Why is that unhinged? +p1330 +aVMr. Trump? +p1331 +aVSenator Rubio \u2014 I'm going to go to Senator Rubio and get his thoughts. You have said banning Muslims is unconstitutional. But according to a recent ABC News-Washington Post poll, a majority of Republicans support Mr. Trump's idea. Why are they wrong? +p1332 +aVHugh Hewitt, you have a question. +p1333 +aVGovernor Christie, Americans are clearly more afraid today than at any time since 9/11. As you mentioned in your opening statement, today in Los Angeles, 650 schoolchildren didn't go to \u2014 650,000 schoolchildren didn't go to school because of an e-mail threat, this two weeks after an attack killed 14 people in San Bernardino. Is this the new normal? And if so, what steps would you take as president of the United States to ensure that fear does not paralyze America? +p1334 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, one of the killers in San Bernardino was an American who was not on anyone's watch list. How are you going to find that radicalized person and stop another such attack? +p1335 +aVThank you. Dana Bash, you have the next question. +p1336 +aVThank you. Dr. Carson, you're in favor of monitoring mosques and schools where there is anti-America sentiment, what do you consider anti- America? +p1337 +aVDr. Carson, who was right in that little debate that we just heard between Senator Rubio and Senator Paul? +p1338 +aVHold on a sec, we have a lot more to come and everybody's going to have their full opportunity. Governor Bush, six days after 9/11 your brother visited a mosque and said quote, "Islam is peace." The conversation tonight is about banning Muslims and surveillance of mosques, are President Bush's words still relevant in today's Republican party? +p1339 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you pointed out you were a CEO in Silicon Valley on 9/11. Companies there, they say they won't help the FBI now crack encrypted communication from +p1340 +aVBut my question was: Should these Silicon Valley companies be forced to cooperate with the FBI? +p1341 +aVMr. Trump, you recently suggested closing that Internet up, those were your words, as a way to stop +p1342 +aVLet me follow up, Mr. Trump. So, are you open to closing parts of the Internet? +p1343 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, is shutting down any part of the Internet a good idea? +p1344 +aVThank you, Governor. The fight against radical Islamic terrorists and +p1345 +aVThank you. To be clear, Senator Cruz, would you carpet bomb Raqqa, the +p1346 +aVThank you. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you've been critical of Senator Cruz's strategy. You say his voting record doesn't match his rhetoric. Why? +p1347 +aVBecause I asked the question, Senator, because you said this. You said he, referring to Senator Cruz, voted against the Defense Authorization Act every year that it came up, and I assume that if he voted against it, he would veto it as president. That's the bill that funds our troops. +p1348 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1349 +aVSenator Rubio. +p1350 +aVWe are going to have much more on this... +p1351 +aVWe're going to have much more on this. But I want to move now back to Mr. Trump. +p1352 +aVHold on. Hold on. Hold on. +p1353 +aVWe have a lot... +p1354 +aVWe have a lot to discuss. I want to move to Mr. Trump right now. We have a question on this war against +p1355 +aVMr. Trump. +p1356 +aVGovernor Bush. Governor Bush. +p1357 +aVMr. Trump. +p1358 +aVJust one at a time, go ahead... +p1359 +aVGo ahead, Mr. Trump. +p1360 +aVGovernor Bush, please. +p1361 +aVOne at a time. +p1362 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1363 +aVThank you. +p1364 +aVAll right. Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash, Hugh, go ahead with the next question. +p1365 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Rubio? Let's continue this conversation. This is a critically important issue. +p1366 +aVWe will get to \u2014 we have a lot of time, Ms. Fiorina. I want to get to Senator Rubio right now. Let's talk about, one of the aspects of your strategy, you say the only way to defeat +p1367 +aVThank you, Senator. Stand by. Ms. Fiorina, the former defense secretary, Bob Gates, says the chances of getting Sunni-Arab forces on the ground to get the job done, his words, "chances very remote." What's your strategy? +p1368 +aVThank you. Governor Christie, what's your strategy? +p1369 +aVDr. Carson, what is your strategy? +p1370 +aVThank you. Everyone stand by. We're only just beginning. Coming up, which candidates on this stage tonight want to move foreign policy in a dramatically new direction? We'll be right back. +p1371 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate here at the Venetian, Las Vegas. The war against +p1372 +aVThank you. +p1373 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you supported the removal of Moammar Gadhafi in Libya. Now that country is in turmoil, as +p1374 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1375 +aVStandby. Everybody standby for a moment. Governor Kasich, go ahead. +p1376 +aVThank you. +p1377 +aVWe're going to talk about Assad in a moment. Mr. Trump, are Americans safer with dictators running the world in the Middle East? +p1378 +aVThank you. Mr. Trump? +p1379 +aVAll right. +p1380 +aVThank you. +p1381 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East... +p1382 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East better off with dictators? +p1383 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1384 +aVHold on Governor Bush., here's the question. You said, "getting rid of Saddam Hussein in your words was a pretty good deal." In light of what has happened in Iraq, do you still feel that way? +p1385 +aVSenator Paul, was getting rid of Saddam Hussein a pretty good deal? +p1386 +aVThank you. Hugh Hewitt, go ahead. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hugh. +p1387 +aVSenator, Senator, we're going to get to you. Wait your turn. We have two hours of debate. We'll have plenty of time. Let Hugh ask his question. +p1388 +aVSenator, please. +p1389 +aVSenator... +p1390 +aVYou'll have plenty of opportunity. Hugh, go ahead. +p1391 +aVThese are the rules all of you agreed to. Hugh, go ahead with your question. +p1392 +aVLet's continue with Russia right now. We have another question from Facebook. Listen and watch. +p1393 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you know, U.S. and Russian warplanes are flying all over Syria right now. With so many lives on the line, is this a good time for the United States not to talk to Putin? +p1394 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Christie, if the U.S. imposed a no-fly zone over Syria and a Russian plane encroached, invaded that no-fly zone, would you be prepared to shoot down that Russian plane and risk war with Russia? +p1395 +aVSenator Paul \u2014 Senator Paul, I want you to respond to what we just heard from Governor Christie. If there was a no-fly zone, you say that potentially could lead to World War III. Why? +p1396 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1397 +aVAll right, let's go back \u2014 Hugh and Dana? +p1398 +aVOne at a time. Hugh, go ahead. +p1399 +aVGovernor, thank you very much. So, Dr. Carson, you recently visited a refugee camp in Jordan and you deemed it your words, "really quite nice." Saying the people there didn't want to come to the United States. Do you think these camps are a long-term solution of the problem of Syrian refugees? +p1400 +aVSenator Paul, you oppose letting in Syrian refugees at this time into the United States. The U.S. has already accepted 2,000 Syrian refugees, including 13 living here in Las Vegas right now. Would you send them back? What would you do with these people? +p1401 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1402 +aVSenator Paul, you didn't answer the question about the 2,000 Syrian refugees who are already here in the United States. Will you send them back or let them stay? +p1403 +aVWe have another \u2014 we have another question. We have another question from Facebook. Let's listen. +p1404 +aVGovernor Christie, you say there should be a pause in allowing new refugees to come into the United States, including orphans under the age of five. What do you say to Carla? +p1405 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1406 +aVThank you, Governor. There is much more coming up. We are only just beginning. Coming up, what other global hot spots await the next president of the United States. +p1407 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate. We're here at the Venetian Las Vegas. Tonight we have been focusing on the Middle East, but let's turn to some other world threats that you will potentially face as Commander in Chief. Ms. Fiorina, candidates here have called the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un a maniac who is mentally unstable. Last week he said he now has a hydrogen bomb. If you were elected president, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p1408 +aVDr. Carson, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p1409 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Dana and Hugh you have questions as well. +p1410 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Some of you on this stage have questioned whether your opponents have temperament, the right temperament, to be in control of the nuclear codes. Dana, you have a question on this? +p1411 +aVThank you, senator. Thank you. +p1412 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1413 +aVThank you, Senator. We're a month and a half away now from the first real test who will be the Republican presidential nominee. Hugh, you have a question? +p1414 +aVAll right. Candidates, we have more coming up. When we come back, everyone will have an opportunity to explain why this particular candidate, each of you on the stage, believes he or she should be the Republican presidential nominee. +p1415 +aVNow it's time for the closing statements from the candidates. Each one has 30 seconds. Senator Paul. +p1416 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1417 +aVGovernor Christie. +p1418 +aVMs. Fiorina. +p1419 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1420 +aVSenator Rubio. +p1421 +aVSenator Cruz. +p1422 +aVDr. Carson. +p1423 +aVThanks to all the Republican presidential candidates. That does it for this Republican presidential debate. +p1424 +aVI'd now like to ask the candidates to please take your places while I tell you a little bit more about how tonight's debate will work. As the moderator, I'll guide the discussion asking questions and follow-ups, as will Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt. Candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have a minutes and 15 seconds to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you're singled out for criticism. We have timing lights that are visible to the candidates, those lights will warn you when your time is up. And as the candidates requested, a bell will sound like this. We know you're all eager to jump in and debate these important issues, but please wait until you're called on. Now that everyone is this place, it's time for the candidates to introduce themselves to our audience. You'll each have one minute. Senator Graham, you're first. +p1425 +aVGovernor Pataki. +p1426 +aVSenator Santorum. +p1427 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p1428 +aVLet's begin. The United States just suffered the worst terrorist attack since 9-11, the murder of 14 people by two terrorists, one of whom was an American citizen. In response, Republican frontrunner Donald Trump proposed a temporary ban on all Muslims coming into the United States until the government can figure out what is going on. Senator Graham, the polls show most Republicans do support Mr. Trump. What do you say to them? +p1429 +aVSenator Graham, you say you'd rather lose the election without Trump than try to win with him. Does that mean you'll be voting for the Democratic nominee if Donald Trump wins the presidential nomination? +p1430 +aVGovernor Pataki, you mentioned Donald Trump in your opening statement. You've also suggested Mr. Trump's plan is un-American and absurd. Why? +p1431 +aVSenator Santorum, you object to Mr. Trump's proposals on the grounds that it's unworkable. You've made religious liberty a hallmark of your career. Do you believe in religious liberty for Muslims as well as Christians? +p1432 +aVSenator Graham. +p1433 +aVSenator Santorum. +p1434 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you called Mr. Trump's plan to ban Muslims impossible and unconstitutional. But what is your specific plan to prevent would-be Jihadists from carrying out attacks against Americans? +p1435 +aVThe terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino have sparked a debate here in the United States about the balance between privacy and security. I want to bring in CNN's Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt for more on this. +p1436 +aVGovernor Pataki. +p1437 +aVThere are a lot of people who have been frustrated, especially Senator Graham, that law enforcement can't tap into information on terrorist cell phones. Senator Graham has called on companies in Silicon Valley to change their business models. As president of the United States, would you force these companies to change their models so the government can better monitor the traffic on these cell phones? +p1438 +aVSenator Graham? +p1439 +aVSenator Graham. +p1440 +aVHere is a question we have on the fight against +p1441 +aVGovernor Huckabee, how would you defeat +p1442 +aVSenator Graham, you have an aggressive military plan to try to defeat +p1443 +aVSenator Santorum, following up on what we just heard from Senator Graham, at least one U.S. intelligence report from the White House has concluded that, in order to defeat +p1444 +aVSenator Graham, you're shaking your head. +p1445 +aVI'm going to bring Governor Pataki in a minute, but go ahead and respond, Senator Graham. +p1446 +aVGovernor Pataki, should the U.S. send ground troops into Syria? +p1447 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you have not put a number of how many U.S. ground troops would be needed to combat +p1448 +aVSenator Graham, and I just want to remind our viewers, you want 10,000 U.S. ground troops in Iraq, and 10,000 in Syria? +p1449 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you have said as president you would tell +p1450 +aVSenator Samtorum? +p1451 +aVGovernor Pataki, you support ground troops - deploying grounds troops. +p1452 +aVThe U.S. Army's Former Cheif of Staff, General Raymond Odierno said that, and I'm quoting, "now +p1453 +aVBut how long would you be willing to commit U.S. troops to fight +p1454 +aVSenator Graham, you called for U.S. ground troops as we know in Iraq and Syria. +p1455 +aVAs you know, there's a growing +p1456 +aVAre you ready to deploy U.S. troops to Libya to try to defeat +p1457 +aVSenator? Senator, are you ready to commit U.S. ground troops to Libya? +p1458 +aVAlright, gentleman, standby. The fight against +p1459 +aVWe're live here at the Venetian in Las Vegas. Welcome back. As the U.S. fight against +p1460 +aVWe have a video question from Facebook. Let's watch. +p1461 +aVGovernor Pataki. +p1462 +aVHe says he was wondering with U.S. designated state sponsors of terrorism like Iran and other traditional U.S. enemies fighting +p1463 +aVHugh Hewitt and Dana Bash have questions. Hugh go ahead. +p1464 +aVGovernor Pataki, let me stick with you. Governor Pataki, a U.S. Army Sargent Bowe Bergdahl now facing a court marshall after leaving his base in Afghanistan, getting captured by the Taliban - Donald Trump, has called for his execution. The former house speak John Boehner says "he's innocent until proven guilty." Where do you stand? +p1465 +aVSenator Graham, where do you stand? +p1466 +aVGovernor Huckabee? Governor Huckbee, +p1467 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Pataki, speaking of those four Americans being held in Iran right now. Iran has suggested they might be willing to have a prisoner swap, release Iranian prisoners held in the United States, in exchange for those four Americans. Would you support that? +p1468 +aVWe have to take a quick break, but, Governor, Israel has exchanged a lot of the prisoners it was holding for Israeli soldiers who were being held by Hamas, for example. +p1469 +aVThank you. Let's take another quick break. The scramble, the scramble to protect Americans after +p1470 +aVWelcome back to the Republican Presidential Debate here at the Venetian in Las Vegas. Gentlemen, in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks, the Obama Administration policy of allowing Syrian refugees to come into the United States has come under fire. Senator Santorum, you say accepting Syrian refugees is dangerous. You say it just takes one Jihadist to destroy the world. Do you think there is any way to properly vet refugees coming into the United States? +p1471 +aVGovernor Pataki, you have said you wouldn't accept a single Syrian refugee. What should become of them? +p1472 +aVLet's go back to Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt for more questions. Dana? +p1473 +aVThank you, Senator. Gentlemen, standby, we are going to take another very quick break. Coming up, with America on edge, who has what it takes to be the next Commander in Chief? These candidates, they will make their case. +p1474 +aVWelcome back. We're live here at the Venetian Las Vegas. Gentlemen, it's time for your closing statements. Each candidate will have 30 seconds. Senator graham, you're first. +p1475 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Pataki. +p1476 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum. +p1477 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee. +p1478 +aVThank you. Thanks to all of the candidates for a very important discussion on critically important issues. This debate night is just getting started here at the Venetian Las Vegas. The top nine candidates, they are standing by for their turn on this stage in just a little while. I'll be back as the moderator. +p1479 +asVMODERATOR +p1480 +(lp1481 +VComing up more of our debate, including questions about President Obama's foreign policy and these guys and their better ideas. Coming up. +p1482 +asVFIORINA +p1483 +(lp1484 +VLike all of you I'm angry. I'm angry at what's happening to our nation. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. Bombastic insults wont take it back. Political rhetoric that promises a lot and delivers little, won't take it back. All of our problems can be solved. All of our wounds can be healed by a tested leader who is willing to fight for the character of our nation. I have been tested. I have beaten breast cancer. I have buried a child. I started as a secretary. I fought my way to the top of corporate America while being called every B word in the book. I fought my way into this election and on to this debate stage while all the political insiders and the pundits told, "it couldn't be done." I've been told, "no,: all my life. And all my life, I've refused to accept no as an answer. Citizens, it is time to take our country back from the political class, from the media, from the liberal elite. It can be done, it must be done, join me and we will get it done. +p1485 +aVWhat I think we need to stand for are solutions. I offer myself as a leader to the people of this country because I think they're looking for solutions, not lawyers arguing over laws or entertainers throwing out sound bites that draw media attention. We need to solve the problem. To solve the problem, we need to do something here at home and something over there in their caliphate. We need to deny them territory. But here at home, we need to do two fundamental things. Number one, we need to recognize that technology has moved on. The Patriot Act was signed in 2001, roughly. The iPhone was invented in 2007. The iPad was invented in 2011. Snapchat and Twitter, all the rest of it, have been around just for several years. Technology has moved on, and the terrorists have moved on with it. Let me tell you a story. Soon after 9/11, I got a phone call from the NSA. They needed help. I gave them help. I stopped a truckload of equipment. I had it turned around. It was escorted by the NSA into headquarters. We need the private sector's help, because government is not innovating. Technology is running ahead by leaps and bound. The private sector will help, just as I helped after 9/11. But they must be engaged, and they must be asked. I will ask them. I know them. +p1486 +aVYou know, listening to this conversation, let me just say, we have a lot of argument about laws but none of it solves the problem. Let's examine what happened, why did we miss the Tsarnaev brothers, why did we miss the San Bernardino couple? It wasn't because we had stopped collected metadata it was because, I think, as someone who comes from the technology world, we were using the wrong algorithms. This is a place where the private sector could be helpful because the government is woefully behind the technology curve. But secondly, the bureaucratic processes that have been in place since 9/11 are woefully inadequate as well. What do we now know? That DHS vets people by going into databases of known or suspected terrorists. And yet, we also know that +p1487 +aVThey do not need to be forced. They need to be asked to bring the best and brightest, the most recent technology to the table. I was asked as a CEO. I complied happily. And they will as well. But they have not been asked. That's why it cost billions of dollars to build an Obama website that failed because the private sector wasn't asked. +p1488 +aVI hope at some point you're going to ask me my strategy. +p1489 +aVWell, first I'll just point out that talking tough is not the same as being strong. And to wage war, we need a commander in chief who has made tough calls in tough times and stood up to be held accountable over and over, not first-term senators who've never made an executive decision in their life. One of the things I would immediately do, in addition to defeating them here at home, is bring back the warrior class \u2014 Petraeus, McChrystal, Mattis, Keane, Flynn. Every single one of these generals I know. Every one was retired early because they told President Obama things that he didn't want to hear. We must have Sunni-Arabs involved in this coalition. We must commit leadership, strength, support and resolve. I'll just add that Margaret Thatcher once said, "If you want something talked about, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman." +p1490 +aVThat is exactly what President Obama said. I'm amazed to hear that from a republican presidential candidate. But let's just start with, who got it wrong? Who really got it wrong? Hillary Clinton has gotten every foreign policy challenge wrong. Hitting the reset button with Vladimir Putin \u2013 recall that she called Bashar Al-Assad a positive reformer and then she opened an embassy and then later she said, over, and over, and over again, "Bashar Al-Assad must go." Although she wasn't prepared to do anything about it. Recall that Hillary Clinton was all for toppling Gadhafi then didn't listen to her own people on the ground. And then of course, when she lied about the terrorist attack in Benghazi, she invited more terrorist attacks. +p1491 +aVWe've mismanaged going into Iraq. +p1492 +aVWe've mismanaged going out of Iraq. +p1493 +aVWe actually... +p1494 +aVI didn't say I would cut off all communication with Putin. What I said was as president of the United States, now is not the time to talk with him. Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. There is a time and a place for everything. There is a time and a place for talk. And there is a time and a place for action. I know Vladimir Putin. He respects strength. He lied to our president's face; didn't both to tell him about warplanes and troops going into Syria. We need to speak to him from a position of strength. So as commander in chief, I will not speak to him until we've set up that no-fly zone; until we've gathered our Sunni-Arab allies and begun to deny +p1495 +aVThis doesn't do a thing to solve the problems...It doesn't do a thing to solve the problems. +p1496 +aVIt will not solve the problem. +p1497 +aVLadies and gentleman, this is why the American people are standing up. +p1498 +aVThis is why the nation is fed up... +p1499 +aVWe have been talking about this... +p1500 +aVSorry, but you haven't gotten to me. This is why... +p1501 +aVthe people are fed up with the political class. +p1502 +aVWell, first, Kim Jong-Un is a dangerous leader, without a doubt. And both Republican and Democrat administrations have been completely ineffective in dealing with him. So we must continue to isolate him. We will need China as part of that strategy. China is a rising adversary. So one of the things we have to do if we want China's support is to push back on China. They, too, recognize one thing \u2014 strength and their own economic interest. I have done business in China for 25 years, so I know that in order to get China to cooperate with us, we must first actually retaliate against their cyber-attacks so they know we're serious. We have to push back on their desire to control the trade route through the South China Sea through which flows $5 trillion worth of goods and services every year. We cannot let them control the disputed islands, and we must work with the Australians, the South Koreans, the Japanese and the Filipinos to contain China. And then we must ask for their support and their help with North Korea. Because believe it or not, China is as concerned about Kim Jong-Un as we are. +p1503 +aVI too remember September 11th. I remember immediately putting into place security procedures all throughout our company that did business in 170 countries where we thought corporate interests would be attacked next. To take our country back, to keep our nation safe, we have to begin by beating Hillary Clinton. We need to unify our party. We need to better than our government, which 75 percent of the American people now think is corrupt and incompetent. They're right. We need to better than our politics. 80 percent think we have a professional/political class of both parties that cares more about its power, position and privilege than actually on getting anything done. We need to unify our party, we need a real Conservative in the White House, and we need to beat Hillary Clinton to take our country back and keep our nation safe. I can. I am. And together, if you join me, we will take our country back. +p1504 +aVWell, first of all, I must say as I think about that question, I think about a woman I met the other day. I would guess she was 40 years old. She had several children. And she said to me, you know, Carly, I go to bed every night afraid for my children's future. And that really struck me. This is America. A mother is going to bed afraid for her children's future. And the reason she's afraid for her children's future is because we've had problems for a long time. Yes, problems have gotten much worse under Democrats. But the truth is, this government has been growing bigger and bigger, more corrupt, less effective, crushing the engine of economic growth for a very long time. This isn't about just replacing a Democrat with a Republican now. It's about actually challenging the status quo of big government. Big government has created a big business called politics. And there are lots of people invested in the status quo of that big business called politics. Specifically, we need actually to do five things to really get this economy going again. We need to go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dollar is being spent, we can challenge any dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. We need to actually reform the tax code. Go to a three-page tax code. Yes, there are plans that would reform our tax code to three pages. In addition to rolling back what President Obama has done, we need to do a top-to-bottom review of every single regulation on the books. That hasn't been done in 50 years. We need to pass the +p1505 +aVWell, first Obamacare has to be repealed because it's failing... ...it's failing the very people it was intended to help, but, also, it is croney-capitalism at its worst. Who helped write this bill? Drug companies, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, every single one of those kinds of companies are bulking up to deal with big government. See, that's what happens. As government gets bigger, and bigger \u2014 and it has been for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike \u2014 and business have to bulk up to deal with big government. So, we have to repeal it. It's tens of thousands of pages long, no one can possible understand it except the big companies, the lawyers, the accountants, the lobbyists that they hire to protect their interests. Then, we have to give back to states the responsibility to manage a high risk pool. We need to try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried. Health insurance has always been a cozy, little game between regulators and health insurance companies. We need to try the free market. The free market. Where people actually have to compete. And, we 'ought to have the government ensure that you must \u2014 and I don't use that term often, that government 'ought to do something, but every healthcare provider 'ought to publish its costs, its prices, its outcomes, because as patients we don't know what we're buying. Now, let me just say \u2014 let me just say, I know more about innovation and entrepreneurship than anyone on this panel because I have led innovative businesses in the most highly competitive industry in the world for decades. The truth is the secret sauce of America is innovation, and entrepreneurship, it is why we must cut our government down to size, and hold it accountable. It's why we have to take our government back, because innovation and entrepreneurship is crushed by the crushing load of a 73,000 page tax code. It is crushed... ...by regulatory thicket that is so vast we don't even know what's in it anymore. It is crushed as well by government bureaucrats who don't do their jobs very well, and who are not held accountable, which is why I've said we got to take our government back, and to do that, we have to know where every dollar being spent, and be able to move any dollar. We have to hack through this regulatory thicket, repeal so much, but, also, know what's in that regulatory thicket \u2014 we don't even know what regulations have been passed. Third, we need to build a meritocracy \u2014 Scott Walker, by the way, is trying now to do in Wisconsin... ...Finally, we need to get to a three page tax code, and, yes, that plan exists. +p1506 +aVSorry, I can't hear you. +p1507 +aV...Absolutely... +p1508 +aV...You need to give... +p1509 +aVThe alternative is to allow states to manage high risk pools for those who really need help. Look, I'm a cancer survivor, OK? I understand that you cannot have someone who's battled cancer just become known as a pre-existing condition. I understand that you cannot allow families to go bankrupt if they truly need help. But, I also understand that Obamacare isn't helping anyone. We're throwing more, and more people into Medicaid, and fewer, and fewer doctors are taking those payments. The point is Obamacare is crushing small businesses, it is not helping the families it was intended to help. So, let us allow states to manage high risk pools. Let us try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried, the free market. Let us ensure that as patients, and customers... +p1510 +aV...that we have information to shop wisely for our health care. +p1511 +aV...Yes, the middle ground is this... +p1512 +aV...This is why \u2014 this is why we must combine, actually, zero-based budgeting with tax reform because unless we can examine, and cut, and move, every single dollar of discretionary spending in the federal government, we cannot reform taxes and reduce spending at the same time. Ask yourself this question, how is it possible that the federal government gets more money each and every year, which the federal government has been doing, receiving more money every year for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike, and yet, never has enough money to do the important things? The answer? All the money's always spoken for. All the money's spoken for. So, we have to go to zero-based budgeting, which is a simple idea \u2014 by the way, there's been a bill for zeros-based (ph) budgeting... ...It exists, it can be voted on. Every dollar must be examined. Any dollar can be cut. Any dollar can be cut, any dollar can be moved. We have to go to a three page tax code. You lower every rate, you close every loophole, why? Because the government uses the tax code to decide winners, and losers. You have to strip the corruption out of the tax code to pay for it. You have to know where every single dollar is being spent... +p1513 +aV...Cut where you need to, and invest where you need to... +p1514 +aV...The two go hand in hand... +p1515 +aVYou know, Mr. Trump fancies himself a very good negotiator. And, I accept that he's done a lot of good deals, so, Mr. Trump 'ought to know that we should not speak to people from a position of weakness. Senator Paul should know that as well. One of the reasons I've said that I would not be talking to Vladimir Putin right now, although I have met him as well, not in a green room for a show, but in a private meeting. One of the reasons I've said I wouldn't be talking to Vladimir Putin right now is because we are speaking to him from a position of weakness brought on by this administration, so, I wouldn't talk to him for awhile, but, I would do this. I would start rebuilding the Sixth Fleet right under his nose, rebuilding the military \u2014 the missile defense program in Poland right under his nose. I would conduct very aggressive military exercises in the Baltic States so that he understood we would protect our +p1516 +aV...we have the strongest military on the face of the planet, and everyone has to know it. +p1517 +aV...Ronald Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. +p1518 +aV...he walked away, he quit talks... +p1519 +aV...when it was time to quit talking... +p1520 +aVCan I just \u2014 could I just say, as a chief executive who's had to make tough calls to save jobs and to grow jobs, I think what's interesting about Dodd-Frank is it's a great example of how socialism starts. Socialism starts when government creates a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. Government created the problem. Government created the problem of a real estate boom. How did we create it? Under Republican and Democrats alike, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, everybody gathered together, Republicans and Democrats, and said, "home ownership is part of the American dream. Let's create a bubble," and then government stepped in \u2014 by the way, under president George W. Bush, banks were told \u2014 encouraged \u2014 told, really \u2014 to buy other banks, to take money. And now what do we have with Dodd-Frank? The classic of crony capitalism. The big have gotten bigger, 1,590 community banks have gone out of business, and on top of all that, we've created something called the Consumer Financial Production Bureau, a vast bureaucracy with no congressional oversight that's digging through hundreds of millions of your credit records to detect fraud. This is how socialism starts, ladies and gentlemen. We must take our government back. +p1521 +aVImagine a Clinton presidency. Our military will continue to deteriorate. Our veterans will not be cared for. And, no, Mrs. Clinton, that situation is not exaggerated. The rich will get richer. The poor will get poorer. The middle class will continue to get crushed. And as bad as that picture is, what's even worse is that a Clinton presidency will corrode the character of this nation. Why? Because of the Clinton way: Say whatever you have to, lie as long as you can get away with it. We must beat Hillary Clinton. Carly Fiorina can beat Hillary Clinton. I will beat Hillary Clinton. And under a President Fiorina, we will restore the character of this nation, the security of this nation, the prosperity of this nation, because as citizens, we will take our government back. +p1522 +aVWell, gee, after the last debate, I was told that I didn't smile enough. +p1523 +aVBut I also think that these are very serious times; 75 percent of the American people think the federal government is corrupt. I agree with them. And this big powerful, corrupt bureaucracy works now only for the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected. Meantime, wages have stagnated for 40 years. We have more Americans out of work or just Americans who quit looking for work for 40 years. Ours was intended to be a citizen government. This is about more than replacing a D with an R. We need a leader who will help us take our government back. +p1524 +aVLet me just say on taxes, how long have we been talking about tax reform in Washington, D.C.? We have been talking about it for decades. We now have a 73,000-page tax code. There have been more than 4,000 changes to the tax plan since 2001 alone. There are loads of great ideas, great conservative ideas from wonderful think tanks about how to reform the tax code. The problem is we never get it done. We have talked about tax reform in every single election for decades. It never happens. And the politicians always say it is so complicated, nobody but a politician can figure it out. The truth is this, the big problem, we need a leader in Washington who understands how to get something done, not to talk about it, not to propose it, to get it done. +p1525 +aVThat's right, three pages. +p1526 +aVYou know why three? +p1527 +aVNo. You know why three? Because only if it's about three pages are you leveling the playing field between the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected who can hire the armies of lawyers and accountants and, yes, lobbyists to help them navigate their way through 73,000 pages. Three pages is about the maximum that a single business owner or a farmer or just a couple can understand without hiring somebody. Almost 60 percent of American people now need to hire an expert to understand their taxes. So yes, you're going to hear a lot of talk about tax reform \u2014 +p1528 +aV\u2014 the issue is who is going to get it done. +p1529 +aVYou know, the +p1530 +aVWell, this is one of the reasons why Tom Perkins and I had disagreements in the boardroom, Becky. Nevertheless, one of the things that I think people don't always understand is how accountable a CEO actually is. So you know, I had to report results every 90 days in excruciating detail. I had to answer every single question about every single result and every single projection in public until there were no more questions. And if I misrepresented those results or those projections in any way, I was held criminally liable. Imagine \u2014 imagine \u2014 if a politician were held to that standard of account. I will run on my record all day long. And I believe people need a leader who is prepared to make tough calls in tough times and stand up... +p1531 +aV...and be held accountable. +p1532 +aVYou know, I want to go back for a moment to what we were just talking about. Crony capitalism is alive and well, and has been so in Washington, D.C. for decades. What's crony capitalism? Crony capitalism is what happens when government gets so big and so powerful that only the big and the powerful can handle it. So why are the pharmaceutical companies consolidating? Why are there five even bigger Wall Street banks now, instead of the ten we used to have on Wall Street? Because when government gets big and powerful, the big feel like they need to get even bigger to deal with all that power, and meanwhile, the small and the powerless \u2014 in this case, 1,590 community banks \u2014 go out of business. You see, folks, this is how socialism starts. Government causes a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. This is why, fundamentally, we have to take our government back. The student loan problem has been created by government. Government trying to level the playing field between Internet and brick-and-mortar creates a problem. The FCC jumping in now and saying, "we're going to put 400 pages of regulation over the Internet," is going to create massive problems. But guess who pushed for that regulation? The big Internet companies. This is what's going on. Big and powerful use big and powerful government to their advantage. It's why you see Walgreens buying Rite Aid. It's why you see the pharmaceuticals getting together. It's you see the health insurance companies getting together. It's why you see the banks consolidating. And meanwhile, small businesses are getting crushed. Community- based businesses and farms are getting crushed. Community banks are going out of business. Big government favors the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected, and crushes the small and the powerless. +p1533 +aVIt is why we have to simplify. It is why we have to reduce the size and power of government. +p1534 +aVIt's the only way to level the playing field between big and powerful and small and powerless. +p1535 +aVBecky, it is the height of hypocrisy for Mrs. Clinton to talk about being the first woman President, when every single policy she espouses, and every single policy of President Obama has been demonstrably bad for women. 92 percent \u2014 92 percent of the jobs lost during Barack Obama's first term belonged to women. Senator Cruz is precisely right. Three million women have fallen into poverty under this administration. The number of women \u2014 +p1536 +aV\u2014 living in extreme poverty is the highest level on record. I am a conservative because I know our values, our principles and our policies \u2014 +p1537 +aV\u2014 work better to lift everyone up, men and women. +p1538 +aVNo, the Federal Government should not play a larger role. Look, every time the Federal Government gets engaged in something it gets worse. And then the Government steps in to try and solve the problem and we get a little further down to that progressive vision that Hillary Clinton is talking about. Companies should, if they want to attract the best workers, provide a good set of benefits. But honestly, if you're a small business owner today you are being crushed. We have 400,000 small businesses forming every year in this country. How great is that? They are employing themselves, they are potentially employing others. The bad news is, we have 470,000 going out of business every year. And why? They cite Obamacare. They are refusing to... +p1539 +aVI think it's a wonderful that that businesses start a 401(k). The point I'm making is this, the Federal Government should not be in a lot of things. There is no Constitutional role for the Federal Government in setting up \u2014 retirement plans. There is no Constitutional role for the Federal Government to be setting minimum wages... +p1540 +aV... The more the Government gets engaged in the economy, the slower the economy becomes. The more the Government gets engaged in the economy, it is demonstrably true... +p1541 +aV... The more the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected are advantaged. +p1542 +aVJohn, I \u2014 if I \u2014 a lot of people have jumped in here. I'd like to jump in. A lot of people have jumped in here. +p1543 +aVI understand. +p1544 +aVI would just say that... ... I would just say this, we've heard a lot of great ideas up here, and I agree with what Senator Rubio said. Every election we talk about this. Every election we talk about Medicare and Social Security reform. It never happens. I would like to start with a basic. Let us actually go to zero- based budgeting so we know where the money is being spent. It's kind of basic. There is a bill sitting in the House that would actually pass and have us go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dime of your money is being spent instead of only talking about how much more we're going to spend year after year after year. My point is this. While there are lots of good ideas for reform, we have never tackled the basics. And we finally need to tackle the basics to cut this government down to size and hold it accountable. So let's start by knowing where your money is being spent by the federal government. +p1545 +aVYou know, every election we hear a lot of talk. We hear a lot of good plans. We hear actually a lot of good intentions. But somehow for decades, nothing really has changed. What we need now is a proven leader who has produced results. That's how you go from secretary to CEO. You lead and you produce results. I will cut this government down to size and hold it accountable, simplify the tax code, roll back the regulations that have been spewing out of Washington, D.C. for 50 years. I may not be your dream candidate just yet, but I can assure you I am Hillary Clinton's worst nightmare. And in your heart of hearts, you cannot wait to see a debate between Hillary Clinton and Carly Fiorina. I will tell you this, I will beat Hillary Clinton. And with your vote and your support and your prayers, I will lead with the citizens of this great nation the resurgence of this great nation. +p1546 +aVGood evening. My story, from secretary to CEO, is only possible in this nation, and proves that everyone of us has potential. My husband, Frank, of 30 years, started out driving a tow truck for a family owned auto body shop. We have come to a pivotal point in our nation's history where this nation's possibilities and potential are being crushed by a government grown so big, so powerful, so inept, so corrupt, and a political class that refuses to do anything about it. I am prepared to lead the resurgence of this great nation. +p1547 +aVYou know, I think Mr. Trump is a wonderful entertainer. He's been terrific at that business. I also think that one of the benefits of a presidential campaign is the character and capability, judgment and temperament of every single one of us is revealed over time and under pressure. All of us will be revealed over time and under pressure. I look forward to a long race. +p1548 +aVThat's not for me to answer; it is for the voters of this country to answer, and I have a lot of faith in the common sense and good judgment of the voters of the United States of America. +p1549 +aVJake, I'll tell you \u2014 I'll tell you why people are supporting outsiders. It's because you know what happens if someone's been in the system their whole life, they don't know how broken the system is. A fish swims in water, it doesn't know it's water. It's not that politicians are bad people, it's that they've been in that system forever. The truth is 75 percent of the American people think the government is corrupt; 82 percent of the American people think these problems that have festered for 50 years in some cases, 25 years in other cases. The border's been insecure for 25 years; 307,000 veterans have died waiting for health care. These things have gone on for so long because no one will challenge the status quo. You know what a leader does? They challenge the status quo, they solve problems that have festered for a long time and they produce results. That is what my whole life has been about. People know this is about far more than replacing a D with an R \u2014 +p1550 +aV\u2014 this is about changing the system. +p1551 +aVHaving... +p1552 +aVHaving met Vladimir Putin, if I may... +p1553 +aVHaving met Vladimir Putin, I wouldn't talk to him at all. We've talked way too much to him. What I would do, immediately, is begin rebuilding the Sixth Fleet, I would begin rebuilding the missile defense program in Poland, I would conduct regular, aggressive military exercises in the Baltic states. I'd probably send a few thousand more troops into Germany. Vladimir Putin would get the message. By the way, the reason it is so critically important that every one of us know General Suleimani's name is because Russia is in Syria right now, because the head of the Quds force traveled to Russia and talked Vladimir Putin into aligning themselves with Iran and Syria to prop up Bashar al- Assad. Russia is a bad actor, but Vladimir Putin is someone we should not talk to, because the only way he will stop is to sense strength and resolve on the other side, and we have all of that within our control. We could rebuild the Sixth Fleet. I will. We haven't. We could rebuild the missile defense program. We haven't. I will. We could also, to Senator Rubio's point, give the Egyptians what they've asked for, which is intelligence. We could give the Jordanians what they've asked for... +p1554 +aV...bombs and materiel. We have not supplied it... +p1555 +aV...I will. We could arm the Kurds. They've been asking us for three years. All of this is within our control. +p1556 +aV...Jake... +p1557 +aV...Jake, ... +p1558 +aVAnd then it'll be my turn. +p1559 +aVJake? +p1560 +aVJake? +p1561 +aVDana, I'd like to... +p1562 +aVDana, I would like to link these two issues, both of which are incredibly important, Iran and Planned Parenthood. One has something to do with the defense of the security of this nation. The other has something to do with the defense of the character of this nation. You have not heard a plan about Iran from any politician up here, here is my plan. On day one in the Oval Office, I will make two phone calls, the first to my good friend to Bibi Netanyahu to reassure him we will stand with the state of Israel. The second, to the supreme leader, to tell him that unless and until he opens every military and every nuclear facility to real anytime, anywhere inspections by our people, not his, we, the United States of America, will make it as difficult as possible and move money around the global financial system. We can do that, we don't need anyone's cooperation to do it. And every ally and every adversary we have in this world will know that the United States in America is back in the leadership business, which is how we must stand with our allies. As regards Planned Parenthood, anyone who has watched this videotape, I dare Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama to watch these tapes. Watch a fully formed fetus on the table, it's heart beating, it's legs kicking while someone says we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain. This is about the character of our nation, and if we will not stand up in and force President Obama to veto this bill, shame on us. +p1563 +aVYou know, it's interesting to me, Mr. Trump said that he heard Mr. Bush very clearly and what Mr. Bush said. I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said. +p1564 +aVDana, with all being said to Mr. Trump... +p1565 +aVImmigration did not come up in 2016 because Mr. Trump brought it up. We talked about it in 2012, we talked about it in 2008. We talked about it in 2004. +p1566 +aVWe have been talking about it for 25 years. This is why people are tired of politicians. +p1567 +aVFirst let me say, We have just spent a good bit of time discussing, as Republicans, how to solve this problem. I would ask your audience at home to ask a very basic question. Why have Democrats not solved this problem? President Obama campaigned in 2007 and 2008 on solving the immigration problem. He entered Washington with majorities in the House and the Senate. He could have chosen to do anything to solve this pro \u2014 this problem. Instead, he chose to do nothing. Why? because the Democrats don't want this issue solved. +p1568 +aVThey want it to be an issue that they can use. As to birthright citizenship... +p1569 +aV...the truth is, you can't just wave your hands and say "the 14th Amendment is gonna go away." It will take an extremely arduous vote in Congress, followed by two-thirds of the states, and if that doesn't work to amend the Constitution, then it is a long, arduous process in court. And meanwhile, what will continue to go on is what has gone on for 25 years. With all due respect, Mr. Trump, we've been talking about illegal immigration for 25 years. San Francisco has been a sanctuary city since 1989. There are 300 of them. And meanwhile, what has happened? Nothing. The border remains insecure. The legal immigration system remains broken. Look, we know what it takes to secure a border. We've heard a lot of great ideas here. Money, manpower, technology... +p1570 +aV...mostly, apparently, leadership... +p1571 +aV...the kind of leadership that understands how to get results. +p1572 +aVBut you \u2014 you would stipulate, Mr. Trump, but not everyone agrees with you. +p1573 +aVOK. +p1574 +aVI led Hewlett Packard through a very difficult time, the worst technology recession in 25 years. The +p1575 +aV\u2014 out a full-page ad in the New York Times to say he was wrong, I was right. I was a terrific CEO, the board was dysfunctional. And he thinks I will make a magnificent president of the United States. +p1576 +aVYou know, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld is a well-known Clintonite and honestly had it out for me from the moment that I arrived at Hewlett Packard. But honestly, Mr. Trump, I find it quite rich that you would talk about this. You know, there are a lot of us Americans who believe that we are going to have trouble someday paying back the interest on our debt because politicians have run up mountains of debt using other people's money. That is in fact precisely the way you ran your casinos. You ran up mountains of debt, as well as losses, using other people's money, and you were forced to file for bankruptcy not once \u2014 +p1577 +aV\u2014 not twice, four times, a record four times. Why should we trust you to manage the finances \u2014 +p1578 +aV\u2014 of this nation any differently than you managed the finances \u2014 +p1579 +aV\u2014 of your casinos? +p1580 +aVWell \u2014 +p1581 +aVWell, Mr. Trump \u2014 +p1582 +aVA track record of leadership is not a game. It is the issue in this election. +p1583 +aVWell, I thought we had been hearing quite a bit about Govenor Christie's record as governor, actually. I think track records are very important. I completely agree that what's at stake here is the future of this nation, and the future of every American. But I do think that a track record of leadership is vital because in the end this election is about leadership. And let's talk about what leadership is. It's not about braggadocio, it is about challenging the status quo, solving problems, producing results. And the highest calling of leadership is to unlock potential in others. +p1584 +aVProblems have festered in Washington for too long. And the potential of this nation is being crushed. +p1585 +aVYou see, Governor Christie, people spend time talking about their track records, and Mr. Trump and I have every right to do the same. And Mrs. Clinton has to defend her track record. Her track record of lying about Benghazi, of lying about her e- mails, about lying about her servers. She does not have a track record of accomplishment. Like Mrs. Clinton, I, too, have travels hundreds of thousands of miles around the globe. But unlike Mrs. Clinton, I know flying is an activity, not an accomplishment. Mrs. Clinton \u2014 if you want to stump a Democrat, ask them to name a accomplishment of Mrs. Clinton's. +p1586 +aVWe just spent \u2014 we just spent the last 10 minutes... +p1587 +aV...Jake, since everyone has gotten to weigh in on this military issue, I'd like to be able to do the same. We have spent probably 12 minutes talking about the past. Let's talk about the future. We need the strongest military on the face of the planet, and everyone has to know it. And, specifically, what that means is we need about 50 Army brigades, we need about 36 Marine battalions, we need somewhere between 300, and 350 naval ships, we need to upgrade every leg of the nuclear triad... +p1588 +aV...we need to reform the Department of Defense, we need as well... +p1589 +aV...to invest in our military technology, and we need to care for our veterans so 307,000... +p1590 +aV...aren't dying waiting for health care. +p1591 +aVJake, may I just say... +p1592 +aVJake \u2014 Jake... +p1593 +aVI very much hope I am the only person on this stage who can say this, but I know there are millions of Americans out there who will say the same thing. My husband Frank and I buried a child to drug addiction. So, we must invest more in the treatment of drugs. +p1594 +aVI agree with Senator Paul. I agree with states' rights. But we are misleading young people when we tell them that marijuana is just like having a beer. It's not. And the marijuana that kids are smoking today is not the same as the marijuana that Jeb Bush smoked 40 years ago. We do \u2014 sorry, Barbara. We do need \u2014 we do need criminal justice reform. We have the highest incarceration rates in the world. Two-thirds of the people in our prisons are there for non-violent offenses, mostly drug related. It's clearly not working. But we need to tell young people the truth. Drug addiction is an epidemic, and it is taking too many of our young people. I know this sadly from personal experience. +p1595 +aVI wouldn't change the $10 bill, or the $20 bill. I think, honestly, it's a gesture. I don't think it helps to change our history. What I would think is that we ought to recognize that women are not a special interest group. Women are the majority of this nation. We are half the potential of this nation, and this nation will be better off when every woman has the opportunity to live the life she chooses. +p1596 +aVSecretariat. +p1597 +aVI think what this nation can be and must be is symbolized by Lady Liberty and Lady Justice. Lady Liberty stands tall and strong. She is clear-eyed and resolute. She doesn't shield her eyes from the realities of the world, but she faces outward into the world nevertheless, as we always must. And she holds her torch high, because she knows she is a beacon of hope in a very troubled world. And Lady Justice, Lady Justice holds a sword by her side, because she is a fighter, a warrior for the values and the principles that have made this nation great. She holds a scale in her other hand. And with that scale she says all of us are equal in the eyes of God. And so all of us must be equal in the eyes of the law and the government, powerful and powerless alike. And she wears a blindfold. And with that blindfold she is saying to us that it must be true, it can be true that in this country, in this century, it doesn't matter who you are, it doesn't matter what you look like, it doesn't matter how you start, it doesn't matter your circumstances, here in this nation, every American's life must be filled with the possibilities that come from their God-given gifts. One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. +p1598 +aVWhen America does not lead, the world is a dangerous and a tragic place. This is a bad deal. Obama broke every rule of negotiation. Yes, our allies are not perfect, but Iran is at the heart of most of the evil that is going on in the Middle East through their proxy. +p1599 +aVYou know, when I started my campaign on May 4th of last year, I was 17 out of 16 candidates. Nobody polled my name. Nobody had ever heard of me. Less than 4 percent of you had ever heard of me. The people in Iowa showed up and they are still showing up. Hundreds and hundreds of them at every event. I have done over 150 events in the state of Iowa and I have 15 more coming up. Now, by the way, I start there because someone asked me about midway through my campaign, what's the biggest surprise to you on the campaign trail? And I will tell you what the biggest surprise is: the chasm, the yawning chasm, between what the national media talks about and what the people of Iowa and the people of this great nation talk about. That's the biggest surprise. So guess what, Martha? Guess what, sorry. The people of Iowa never ask me about a crisis in the GOP, they never ask me about the polls. They never ask me about the other candidates. What they ask me about is Carly, tell us why zero based budgeting is so important. Tell us why you are a leader who is going to produce results. Tell us how you are going to defeat +p1600 +aVWell let me tell you this: news flash, President Obama, news flash, Mrs. Clinton -- climate change is not our most pressing national security threat. Actually -- actually, it is +p1601 +aVYou know, we have a professional, political class of both parties. We have been talking about the same issues for election cycle after election cycle. Yeah, government is big and out of control, and the only way to get it under control is to control the money. And the only way to control the money is to ask the federal government to budget the way you do, to examine every dollar, to cut any dollar to spend -- to move any dollar. The fancy word for that is zero-base budgeting. I call it common sense. That three-page tax code I talk about all the time here in Iowa? It's been around for 20 years. But politicians don't want to talk about it, and you bet the lobbyists don't want to talk about it. In fact, nobody wants to vote on a three-page tax code or zero- base budgeting, although they've both been around for a long time. You know why? Because if you get those two things done, you are goring everybody's ox. You are taking the political establishment apart. You are actually challenging the status quo, which is what we need in the Oval Office. So you know who I'm going to count on? The citizens of this great nation, because you have extraordinary power. But when you do not use it... ... you are losing it. So take out your smartphones, folks. The people of Iowa know what I'm talking about. You take out your smartphones. if you agree with me that three-page tax code needs to be passed, lobbyists aren't going to be in my office. If you agree we gotta finally pass zero-base budgeting, take out your smartphones. Press one for yes, ladies and gentlemen. Press two for no. Citizens, we must take our country back. +p1602 +aVWell, first of all, I haven't said that. What I have said is that in the process of examining every dollar, cutting any dollar and moving any dollar, we happen to know that in this vast federal bureaucracy we have about 260,000 federal government employees who are going to retire, and we shouldn't replace them. Secondly, at Hewlett Packard, as you know -- the people of Iowa know this -- we went through a tough time. The worst technology recession in 25 years -- a great company called Gateway used to do be right here in Iowa. But they didn't make the tough calls necessary to save all those jobs, and so they lost every one of those jobs. Yes, I've had to make some tough calls. We saved 80,000 jobs. We went on to grow to 160,000 jobs. And, frankly, I think the American people know we need a president who's going to make some tough calls. So let me tell you where I'm going to start. The American people got a bill passed through Congress that said we could fire the top 400 senior executives at the V.A. for dereliction of duty. When we know that 307,000 veterans have died waiting for health care and the V.A. handed out $142 million worth of bonuses for superb performance, I'm going to start by firing 400... ... senior executives at the V.A. +p1603 +aVHe is right there. He is right there. +p1604 +aVIt wasn't a personal attack. I was pointing out the fact that Hillary Clinton will do anything to gain and hang on to power, anything. Listen, if my husband did what Bill Clinton did, I would have left him long ago. So, here's the deal. Hillary Clinton has been climbing the ladder to try and get power and here now she is trying for the White House. She is probably more qualified for the big house, honestly. She has escaped prosecution more times than El Chapo, perhaps Sean Penn should interview her. The woman should be prosecuted. And while Mrs. Clinton has flown hundreds of thousands of world around the global, I have too. And I know flying is an activity not an accomplishment. While I know that she has held many positions and many titles she has not accomplished much of anything in her life. She has gotten every single foreign policy challenge wrong. She continues to lie to the American people. It's called the Clinton way. Both Bill and Hillary practice it, the Clinton way. Say whatever you have to say, do whatever you have to say. Lie as long as you can get away with it. Hillary Clinton cannot be the president of these United States. +p1605 +aVWell, you know, Hillary Clinton hasn't been indicted either. So that tells us a lot about our justice system in this country. But, look, the facts of Planned Parenthood have not changed, folks, and I will not be rendered silent on this issue or any other issue. And it doesn't matter what stage I'm on. Here are the facts. Planned Parenthood engages in partial birth abortion, in late-term abortion. They alter those abortion techniques to harvest and sell body parts. They have admitted that they are not going to accept compensation for this anymore. The reality is, most Americans find this practice horrific. Most Americans find horrific that Hillary Clinton's position on this is it's not a life until it's born. Most Americans find horrific Hillary Clinton's position or the Democrat party's position, that a young woman does not need her mother's permission to get an abortion. But if you are 13 years old, you can get an abortion, but you can't go to a tanning salon without your mother's permission. A president Fiorina -- in a president Fiorina budget, there will not be one dime for Planned Parenthood, although there would be a lot of money for women's health and we will finally pass the pain capable unborn child protection act. I will always stand for life and religious liberty... ... because this is about the character of our nation. +p1606 +aVMartha, can I just say we've been talking tonight about a lot of issues and we've also been talking about the fact that the game is rigged and frankly, the media has a lot to do with that. It is outrageous frankly, that Fox News, and you, would question the pro-life credentials of Rick Santorum. That is outrageous. +p1607 +aVIn over 150 events I have come to know and love the people of Iowa. And the people of Iowa know what the rest of Americans have figured out, this ain't working anymore. The government no longer works for those who pay for it. The professional political class says and does whatever they need to do to win, and then does whatever they please. We need to return to a citizen government. That is why I am running for President. The media, the establishment, they all want to tell you this elections over, they know who's going to win it, except that you haven't... ... cast a single vote yet. So, the people of Iowa, stand with me, fight with me. Caucus for me. It is time to take our country back. +p1608 +aVWell, thank you. Good evening. If I may begin by saying how honored I am to be standing here with two former Iowa Caucus winners. Governor, Senator. And how honored I am to be talking with all of you. You know, I'm not a political insider. I haven't spent my lifetime running for office. The truth is I have had and been blessed by a lot of opportunities to do a lot of things in my life. And unlike another woman in this race, I actually love spending time with my husband. I'm standing here because I think we have to restore a citizen government in this country. I think we have to end crony capitalism. The crony capitalism that starts with both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. You know, Hillary Clinton sits inside government and rakes in millions, handing out access and favors. And Donald Trump sits outside government and rakes in billions buying people like Hillary Clinton. The state of our economy is not strong. We have record numbers of men out of work. We have record numbers of women living in poverty. We have young people who no longer believe that the American dream applies to them. We have working families whose wages have stagnated for decades, all while the rich get richer, the powerful get more powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected get more connected. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. +p1609 +aVAmerica must lead because when we do not lead, when this exceptional nation does not lead, the world is more dangerous and a more tragic place. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, they all refuse to lead. Worse, they refuse to respond when this nation is provoked. Hillary Clinton famously asked what difference does it make how four Americans died in Benghazi? Mrs. Clinton, here's what difference it makes. When you do not stand up and say the truth, that this was a purposeful terrorist attack, when you do not say the United States of America will retaliate for that attack, terrorists assume it's open season. We have refused to respond to every provocation. The President wouldn't even mention the fact that Iran had taken two Navy boats and our sailors \u2014 hostage. He didn't mention the fact that they violated the Geneva convention. He didn't respond to the fact that Iran launched two ballistic missile just a short time ago, in direct violation of a deal they had just signed. We didn't respond to the fact that North Korea attacked Sony Pictures. When we refuse to respond over, and over to provocation and bad behavior, we will get more provocation and bad behavior. I know most of our allies personally. I have met many of our adversaries. I know our military and our intelligence capability, and I know this. When we will not stand with our allies, when we will not respond to our adversaries, when we do not lead in the world the world is a dangerous and tragic place. I will be a Commander in Chief who will lead. +p1610 +aVOf course I'm worried about similar problems in the United States. We can not allow refugees to enter this country unless we can adequately vet them and we know we can't. Therefore we should stop allowing refugees into this country. And by the way, we do not need to be lectured about why we're angry and frustrated and fearful because we've had an illegal immigration problem in this country for 25 years. And we have every right to be frustrated about the fact that politicians stand up in election after election after election and promise us to fix the problem and yet, it has never been fixed. I offer leadership that understands that actions speak louder than words, that results count. We must secure our border. We must fix our broken immigration system. We must enforce a pro-American immigration system that serves our interests, not the rest of the world. I understand what it takes to translate goals into results and that is what I will do as president of the United States. Of course, we should be worried, for heavens sakes. This administration has now told us they don't know who has overstayed a visa. This administration has told us they don't even bother to check Facebook or Twitter to find out who's pledging allegiance to jihadis. We can do better than this, citizens. We need to take our country back. +p1611 +aVWe need to be very clear-eyed now about who are our allies and who are our adversaries. In the fight against +p1612 +aVAnd we all believe the polling data all the time, don't we? +p1613 +aVOh, it's a problem for so many reasons. First of all, it is yet another lawless executive order. You see, he doesn't like the fact that Congress has rejected his ideas twice on a bipartisan basis, so he's decided he just gets to override them. Sorry, Mr. President, not the way "The Constitution" works. Secondly......secondly, he basically admitted in that speech that he hasn't been paying much attention to enforcing the laws we have. He said, gee, we need a few more FBI agents. That would have helped, perhaps, stop a tragedy here in South Carolina with Dylann Roof, a guy who clearly never should have been sold a gun. In other words, Mr. President, you're right, we need to enforce the laws we have. Let's enforce the laws we have. There are criminals running around with guns who shouldn't have them. We don't prosecute any of them. Less than 1 percent. But I want to go back to the technology issue for a moment, if I may, as well, because in this regard, I disagree with Senator Santorum. Look, I come from the technology industry and I can tell you there is one thing that bureaucracies don't know how to do. They do not know how to innovate. We have come seven generations of technology since 2011. We have bureaucracies that are incapable of bringing in that innovation. So, yes, there are some very specific things that we should ask the private sector to help us with, including making sure we have the latest and greatest in algorithms to search through all these databases so that we find terrorists before they attack us, not after it's too late. And, finally, when a president who understands technology in the Oval Office. Mrs. Clinton, actually, you cannot wipe a server with a towel. +p1614 +aVYes, and see... +p1615 +aVAs CEO of Hewlett Packard... +p1616 +aVAs CEO of Hewlett Packard, I was asked very specifically for some very real help. The help I was asked to provide, this is now public information. So I am not revealing what \u2014 something that was \u2014 was classified. We had a very large shipment of equipment, software and hardware, headed to a retail outlet. And I was called by the head of the NSA, who had an urgent need for that capability, to begin laying out a program to track terrorists. We turned that truck around on a highway and it was escorted to the headquarters in San Jose. In World War II, our government went to the private sector and said, help us do things that we cannot do. The private sector has capabilities that the government does not have. There are some legal authorities that are required. The Sony attack could have been detected and repelled, had legal authorities been passed in Congress allowing private networks and public networks to work together. Those legal authorities have not yet been passed. Yes, I was asked to help. I know the technology industry. They will help again. But they must be asked by a president who understands what they have. +p1617 +aVFor decades, the professional political class in both parties has been talking about the middle class. For decades, Republicans in particular have been talking about reducing the size and scope of government, spending less money, reducing the complexity. And yet, for 40 years, the government has gotten bigger and more expensive. We now have a 75,000 plus page tax code, although politicians have run for office for decades promising reform. And all the while, middle class incomes have stagnated. You see, when government gets bigger and bigger, more powerful, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer and the middle class gets squeezed. We need to understand who the job creators are in this country, because we need more jobs to grow the middle class and to grow the wages of the middle class. Who creates jobs? Small businesses, new businesses, family-owned businesses. They create two thirds of the new jobs in this country and they employ half the people. I started out typing for a nine person real estate firm. My husband Frank started out driving a tow truck for a family-owned auto body shop. And we are crushing small businesses and destroying the middle class. So here's my blueprint to take back America. Let us first actually reform the tax code from 73,000 pages down to three. There's a 20-year-old plan to do exactly that. And then let us begin piece by piece to focus on every single dollar the government spends, so that we will spend less overall and still have enough for our priorities. And that requires the government to budget the way you do at home \u2014 examine every dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. The fancy term for that is zero- based budgeting, but I call it common sense. Citizens, we've got to take our country back. +p1618 +aVMy husband Frank, that I mentioned, I love spending time with. He's down there. He was real excited the other day because in New Hampshire, he was introduced as my eye candy. You know, everybody out there watching knows this. You cannot wait to see the debate between me and Hillary Clinton. You would pay to see that fight. And that's because you know I will win. And that's important. We've got to start by beating Hillary Clinton. All of my life, I have been told to sit down and be quiet. Settle. Settle. Don't challenge the system. That's what the American people are being told now and we have been told that for way too long \u2014 sit down and be quiet about our God, about our guns, about the abortion industry, settle for illegal immigration that's been a problem for decades, as so many of our problems have festered for decades. Accept a system of government and politics that no longer works for us. I will not sit down and be quiet. And neither will you. So I ask you to stand with me, fight with me, vote for me, citizens. It is time to take our future back, time to take our politics back. It is time to take our government back. Citizens, it is time. We must take our country back. +p1619 +asVBUSH +p1620 +(lp1621 +VOur freedom is under attack. Our economy is under water. The leading democrat is under investigation. And America is under the gun to lead the free world to protect our civilized way of life. Serious times require strong leadership, that's what at stake right now. Regarding national security, we need to restore the defense cuts of Barack Obama to rebuild our military, to destroy +p1622 +aVWell, first of all, we need to destroy +p1623 +aVLook, he mentioned me. I can bring \u2014 I can talk. This is \u2014 this is the problem. Banning all Muslims will make it harder for us to do exactly what we need to do, which is to destroy +p1624 +aVThey are relevant if we want to destroy +p1625 +aVDonald, this has got... +p1626 +aVThis is another example of the lack of seriousness. Look, this is \u2014 this is troubling because we're at war. They've declared war on us and we need to have a serious strategy to destroy +p1627 +aVYou said on September 30th that +p1628 +aVI'm talking right now. I'm talking. +p1629 +aVSeptember 30th you said... +p1630 +aVA little of your own medicine there, Donald. +p1631 +aVDonald, you're not going to be able to insult your way to the presidency. That's not going to happen. And I do have the strength. Leadership, leadership is not about attacking people and disparaging people. Leadership is about creating a serious strategy to deal with the threat of our time. And I laid out that strategy before the attacks in Paris and before the attacks in San Bernardino. And it is the way forward. We need to increase our military spending. We need to deal with a no- fly zone in Syria, a safe zone. We need to focus on building a military that is second-to-none... +p1632 +aV... so that we can destroy Islamic terrorism. +p1633 +aVI think we're focusing a whole... +p1634 +aVI do. I think the lesson's learned are that we have to have to have a strategy to get and a strategy to get out. Which means, that you create a stable situation. This president and this is what the focus ought to be, it's not the differences between us, it's Barack Obama does not believe America's leadership in the world is a force for good. He does not believe that our strength is a place where security can take place. He leads from behind. He creates an environment that now we're creating the most unstable situation we've had since the World War II era. The focus ought to be on the single fact that Hillary Clinton wants to double down on a failed foreign policy and we need to be united to defeat that because we're going to be in a place that is far less secure than it is today. Don't you all agree? +p1635 +aVBecause I \u2014 first of all, I know what I don't know. I know what I don't know. I would seek out, as I have, the best advice that exists. I won't get my information from the shows. I don't know if that's Saturday morning or Sunday morning. I don't know which one. I will seek out the best advice, and I will create a strategy and I will persuade the American people what the role of America should be. I've laid out a policy of rebuilding our military. All of the talk that we're seeing here \u2014 most of which I agree on, frankly \u2014 requires a much stronger military. We now have a lack of readiness that is quite scary. We have planes that were \u2014 that Harry Truman inaugurated, the B-52. We have \u2014 the Navy has been gutted and decimated. The readiness of the Marines is way down. If we're serious about America's leadership in the world, then we need to make sure that we have the back of the armed forces. The Armed Forces Radio is here listening to this today. I hope they know that if I'm president, I'll be a commander-in-chief, not an agitator- in-chief or a divider-in-chief, that I will lead this country in a way that will create greater security and greater safety. +p1636 +aVSo I was \u2014 I was \u2014 I was mentioned, so I can bring up something, I think, right? Look, the simple fact is, if you think this is tough you're not being treated fairly... +p1637 +aV... imagine what it's going to be like dealing with Putin or dealing with President Xi. +p1638 +aVOr dealing with the Islamic terrorism that exists. +p1639 +aVThis is a tough business to run for president. +p1640 +aVAnd it's \u2014 and we need...... to have a leader that is... +p1641 +aVYou're never going to be president of the United States by insulting your way to the presidency. +p1642 +aVDoesn't matter. Doesn't matter. +p1643 +aVYes. +p1644 +aVNo it isn't but it is an important subject to talk about for sure. And I think people have good ideas on this. Clearly, we need to secure the border. Coming here legally needs to be a lot easier than coming here illegally. If you don't have that, you don't have the rule of law. We now have a national security consideration, public health issues, we have an epidemic of heroine overdoses in all places in this country because of the ease of bringing heroine in. We have to secure the border. It is a serious undertaking and yes, we do need more fencing and we do need to use technology, and we do need more border control. And we need to have better cooperation by the way with local law enforcement. There are 800,000 cops on the beat, they ought to be trained to be the eyes and ears for law enforcement for the threat against terror as well as for immigration. This is a serious challenge and if we can get it right, yes, we'll start winning votes again. The real problem isn't anybody on this stage, the real problem is Barack Obama has had six years to advocate a position to fix this and he's done nothing. The congress has funded these programs of building more fencing and doing all this and he hasn't done it. He wants to maintain it as a wedge issue and so does Hillary Clinton. Republicans need to fix it and when we do, we'll be better off. +p1645 +aVI completely agree with Chris. And this administration has been so lax. Think about it. Hillary Clinton is using a private server for \u2014 where classified information go by. This is a \u2014 this is a serious administration? The president receives an inspector general's report that the Office of Personnel Management could be hacked into; they had antiquated firewalls; 23 million files have been \u2014 are in the hands of the Chinese allegedly, including, by the way, members of the press, it turns out, last week. Maybe that's the only part that's good news, so that you guys can get a feel for what it's like now to see this type of attack. This is something \u2014 we have to have the best defensive capabilities. We need to coordinate all of our efforts with the private sector. We need to give them liability relief so that we can do that. And offensively, we need to have capabilities second to none. We need to create a situation where they know that there will be adverse impacts if they continue to do what they're doing. They'll respect that. They'll respect a United States that is serious about protecting our \u2014 our infrastructure. If we don't do it, we'll continue to see what's \u2014 exactly what's happening, not just from the Chinese, by the way. The Russians and rogue actors, including +p1646 +aVAsk yourself, which candidate will keep you and our country safer, stronger and freer? Hillary Clinton has aligned herself with Barack Obama on +p1647 +aVYou've already made two comments, John. It's my turn. +p1648 +aVI got about four minutes in the last debate. I'm going to get my question right now. +p1649 +aVYes. +p1650 +aVFirst of all, we could get to 4 percent growth. The new normal of 2 percent puts huge demands on government. The reason why we have structural deficits is that more and more people are relying on government and the growth that we don't have makes \u2014 makes the deficit grow. A 4 percent growth strategy starts with tax reform. And the proposal that I've laid out is the one the Wall Street Journal editorial board has said is the most pro-growth of all the proposals out there. We cut the \u2014 we eliminate a lot of deductions and cut the rates down. A corporate rate of 20 percent, which puts us 5 percent above \u2014 below that of China, and allows us full expensing of investing. It would create an explosion of investment back into this country, creating higher-wage jobs, and so that's part of it. On the regulatory side I think we need to repeal every rule that Barack Obama has in terms of work in progress, every one of them. And start over. For those that are already in existence, the regulation of the Internet, we have to start over, but we ought to do that. The clean power act, we ought to repeal that and \u2014 and start over on that. The waters of the United States act, which is going to be devastating for agriculture and many industries, we should repeal that. We should repeal the rules because the economic costs of this far exceed the social benefit. And if we're serious about being serious about high growth, then we have to recognize that small businesses right now, more of them are closing than \u2014 than are \u2014 than are being set up. Hillary Clinton has said that Barack Obama's policies get an A. Really? One in 10 people right now aren't working or have given up altogether, as you said. That's not an A. One in seven people are living in poverty. That's not an A. One in five children are on food stamps. That is not an A. It may be the best that Hillary Clinton can do, but it's not the best America can do. +p1651 +aVThank you, Donald, for allowing me to speak at the debate. That's really nice of you. Really appreciate that. What a generous man you are. Twelve million illegal immigrants, to send them back, 500,000 a month, is just not \u2014 not possible. And it's not embracing American values. And it would tear communities apart. And it would send a signal that we're not the kind of country that I know America is. And even having this conversation sends a powerful signal \u2014 they're doing high-fives in the Clinton campaign right now when they hear this. That's the problem with this. We have to win the presidency. And the way you win the presidency is to have practical plans. Lay them out there. What we need to do is allow people to earn legal status where they pay a fine, where they work, where they don't commit crimes, where they learn English, and over an extended period of time, they earn legal status. That's the path \u2014 a proper path... +p1652 +aVI'm gonna fight as hard as I can to make sure that we shift power away from Washington, simplify the tax code, to spur economic activity in this country. Of course it's the highest priority. If we don't do that, we're stuck with the "new normal" of 2 percent growth. Hillary Clinton says, basically, we just gotta get used to it. Two percent growth means declining income for the middle class. It means more than 6 million people are stuck in poverty than the day that Barack Obama was inaugurated. It means \u2014 it means more demands on government \u2014 growing the economy is the first job, if we're going to be serious about dealing with the deficit and debt. And more importantly, people are really struggling right now. In this economy, the disposable income of the great middle is down 2,300 bucks. So yeah, we've created jobs, your \u2014 argue (ph) \u2014 brought that up early, and it was a good question. Jobs are being created, but they're lower-income jobs than the jobs that were lost. And the net effect of this is we need to jump-start the economy. I think of Jonathan (ph) and Reagan Love (ph), who are supporters of mine. Jonathan has been deployed by the National Guard, he is \u2014 he's in Oklahoma. Reagan Love \u2014 by the way, pretty great name, I think \u2014 is a teacher. When \u2014 if they had this tax cut, what they told me was that that $2,300 of money in their pocket \u2014 they would go back to South Carolina and start a business. Imagine what it would be like, instead of having more businesses closed than started, we had it the exact opposite. We would grow our economy, and the government would get the revenue necessary to make things \u2014 make things better. Hillary Clinton's approach to this is more top-down, more regulation, more taxes, more government, and it will destroy our economy. +p1653 +aVIt is \u2014 I'd say it is Islamic terrorism, and, back to the question of what we are dealing with in Iraq, when we pull back voids are filled. That's the lesson of history, and, sadly, this president does not believe in American leadership. He does not believe it, and the net result is that we have a caliphate the size of Indiana that gains energy each and everyday to recruit Americans in our own country, and the threat to the homeland relates to the fact that we have not dealt with this threat of terror in the Middle East. We should have a no fly zone in Syria. We should have a support for the remnants of the Syrian Free Army, and create safe zones. If you want to deal with the four million refugees that are leaving Syria because of the devastation there, then we 'ought to create safe zones for them to stay in the region rather than go to Europe. And, that requires American leadership. Without American leadership every other country in the neighborhood beings to change their priorities. It is tragic that you see Iraq, and other countries now talking to Russia. It wasn't that long ago that Russia had no influence in the region at all. And, so, the United States needs to lead across the board. This president, and Hillary Clinton both do not believe the United States has a leadership role to play, and we're now paying a price, and it will have a huge impact on the economy of this country if we don't deal with this. +p1654 +aV...They're not doing that... +p1655 +aV +p1656 +aVDonald \u2014 Donald's wrong on this. He is absolutely wrong on this. We're not going to be the world's policeman, but we sure as heck better be the world's leader. That's \u2014 there's a huge difference where, without us leading... ...voids are filled, and the idea that it's a good idea for Putin to be in Syria, let +p1657 +aVWe're not \u2014 we shouldn't have another financial crisis. What we ought to do is raise the capital requirements so banks aren't too big to fail. Dodd-Frank has actually done the opposite, totally the opposite, where banks now have higher concentration of risk in assets and the capital requirements aren't high enough. If we were serious about it, we would raise the capital requirements and lessen the load on the community banks and other financial institutions. This vast overreach has created a huge problem for our country, and Hillary Clinton wants to double down on that. I was in Washington, Iowa, about three months ago talking about how bad Washington, D.C., is. It was \u2014 get the \u2014 kind of the \u2014 anyway. We had... It \u2014 and I talked to a banker there. This is a bank that had $125 million of assets, four branches. Their compliance costs because of Dodd-Frank went from $100,000 to $600,000 in a two-year period. The net effect of that is \u2014 and they had \u2014 they had not one loan that went bad during the financial crisis. They knew \u2014 they knew their borrowers. They gave back to the community. They were engaged in the community. And imagine America without its community banks. Well, that's what's happening because of Dodd-Frank. That's \u2014 that's my worry. My worry is that the real economy has been hurt by the vast overreach of the Obama administration. And Hillary Clinton, she wants to double down on that. She wants to create even more so. She is a captive of the left of her party to the point now where she is \u2014 she was for the trade agreement in \u2014 the Pacific agreement. Now she's against it. She was \u2014 hinted she was for the XL pipeline. Now she's opposed to it. All the things that would create sustained economic growth she's now doubling down against it. +p1658 +aVYou could, if you were serious about... +p1659 +aVNo, I can't say that. But I can say, if you created higher capital requirements, that's the solution to this, not having concentration of assets. The bigger banks now have more and more control over \u2014 over the financial assets of this country. And that is the wrong approach to take. +p1660 +aVMaria? +p1661 +aV...We've had a 10% reduction in carbon emissions, and it isn't because of Solyndra. It isn't because of the central planners in Washington D.C. It's because we've had a great American success story, the explosion of natural gas. Taking two existing technologies, and applying it through innovation has created lower carbon emissions, lower energy costs \u2014 40% of all the economic activity in the age of Obama has come from the energy sector, and Hillary Clinton wants to suppress that. We \u2014 I think we ought to be expanding this. High growth is the path to lower carbon, and more jobs. I know for a fact, as Governor of the State of Florida, we created the largest land purchasing programs, and environment clean-up programs because we had a growing economy. Our revenues were growing at 4.4%. It allowed for resources to be able to protect the natural system. We got to get to a conservation... ...in environmental policy that goes beyond just carbon... +p1662 +aVJane Horton is sitting with my wife here today. Her husband, Chris, was killed in action in Afghanistan. And Jane spends her time now defending and fighting for military families. They're both heroes. I don't think we need an agitator-in-chief or a divider-in-chief. We need a commander-in-chief that will rebuild our military and restore respect to our veterans by revamping and fixing a broken Veterans Administration, That's my pledge to you. I ask for your support. Thank you. +p1663 +aVYou know, I am by my nature impatient. And this is not an endeavor that rewards that. You gotta be patient. You gotta be \u2014 stick with it, and all that. But also, I can't fake anger. I believe this is still the most extraordinary country on the face of the Earth. And it troubles me that people are rewarded for tearing down our country. It's never been that way in American politics before. I can't do it. I just don't believe that this country's days are going to be deeply \u2014 you know, going down. I think we're on the verge of the greatest time, and I want to fix the things to let people rise up. +p1664 +aVCould I \u2014 could I bring something up here, because I'm a constituent of the senator and I helped him and I expected that he would do constituent service, which means that he shows up to work. He got endorsed by the Sun-Sentinel because he was the most talented guy in the field. He's a gifted politician. But Marco, when you signed up for this, this was a six-year term, and you should be showing up to work. I mean, literally, the Senate \u2014 what is it, like a French work week? You get, like, three days where you have to show up? You can campaign, or just resign and let someone else take the job. There are a lot of people living paycheck to paycheck in Florida as well, they're looking for a senator that will fight for them each and every day. +p1665 +aVHe wasn't my senator. +p1666 +aVWell, I've been \u2014 +p1667 +aVNo, no. What I said was I don't believe that I would be president of the United States and have the same dysfunction that exists in Washington, D.C. now. +p1668 +aVDon't vote for me if you want to keep the gridlock in Washington, D.C. +p1669 +aVBut if you want someone who has a proven, effective leadership, that was a governor of a state, that transformed the culture there, elect me so I can fight for the American people and change the culture in Washington, D.C. +p1670 +aV, the great majority of Republicans and Americans believe in a hopeful future. They don't believe in building walls and a pessimistic view of the future. They're concerned that Washington is so dysfunctional it is holding them back. There are lids on people's aspirations. Think about it: six and a half million people working part-time. Workforce participation rates lower than they were in 1977. Six million more people living in poverty than the day that Barack Obama got elected president, and the left just wants more of the same. We have to offer a compelling alternative that is based on hope and optimism and grounded in serious policy, which I've laid out. And you can go get it at jeb2016.com. +p1671 +aVWell, the deal was done. Barack Obama got his massive tax increase, and there was no spending cuts. You just see the recent deal announced today or yesterday, more spending, more tax increasing, more regulation. And now we have to accept 2 percent, the new normal for economic growth. And the net result is the middle class has $2,300 less in their pockets than the day that Barack Obama got elected president. And now they see Hillary Clinton proposing a third term of economic policy for our country. We need to reverse that. And my record was one of cutting taxes each and every year. You don't have to guess about it, because I actually have a record. $19 billion of tax cuts, 1.3 million jobs created. We were one of two states to go to AAA bond rating, and our government spending was far less than the spending in people's income. +p1672 +aVYou find me... +p1673 +aVYou find me a Democrat \u2014 you find me a Democrat that will cut spending ten dollars? Heck, find me a Republican in Congress that would cut spending ten dollars. I'll talk to them. +p1674 +aVLook, the \u2014 the deal is already done. The biggest tax increase happened under the watch of Barack Obama, and spending's gone up. You find a Democrat that's for cutting taxes \u2014 cutting spending ten dollars, I'll give them a warm kiss. +p1675 +aVLook, the \u2014 the simple fact is that my plan actually gives the middle class the greatest break: $2,000 per family. And if you make $40,000 a year, a family of four, you don't pay any income tax at all. Simplifying the code and lowering rates, both for corporations and \u2014 and personal rates, is exactly what we need to do. You think about the regulatory cost and the tax cost \u2014 that's why small businesses are closing, rather than being formed in our country right now. The big corporations have the scale to deal with all of this. And what I think all of us are saying is, our monetary policy, our tax policy, regulatory policy needs to be radically changed so we can create high sustained growth for income to rise. The government has tried it their way. Under \u2014 under Barack Obama and the proposals of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and others, they've tried it their way, and it has failed miserably. We need to take a new approach of taxing \u2014 reforming how we tax, and reforming the regulations in our \u2014 in our country before it's too late. +p1676 +aVWe don't need the federal government to be involved in this at all. +p1677 +aVWe don't need the Federal Government to be involved in this, because when they do we create a $1.2 trillion debt. In Florida, we have the lowest in-state tuition of any state, because there's accountability, just as John said. Let the states do this. You'll create a much better graduation rate at a lower cost, and you won't in debt the next generation with recourse debt on their backs. It's always a solution of the left to create more Government from the Federal Government. It is broke, it is not working. +p1678 +aVWell, first of all, I'm 7 and 0 in my fantasy league. +p1679 +aVGronkowski is still going strong. I have Ryan Tannehill, Marco, as my quarterback, he was 18 for 19 last week. So I'm doing great. But we're not gambling. And I think this has become something that needs to be looked at in terms of regulation. Effectively it is day trading without any regulation at all. And when you have insider information, which apparently has been the case, where people use that information and use big data to try to take advantage of it, there has to be some regulation. If they can't regulate themselves, then the NFL needs to look at just, you know, moving away from them a little bit. And there should be some regulation. I have no clue whether the federal government is the proper place, my instinct is to say, hell no, just about everything about the federal government. +p1680 +aVBecky \u2014 +p1681 +aV\u2014 the governor's absolutely right. But we also need to reform Medicare and Social Security. We can't just allow it to continue on its current path the way that Hillary Clinton wants to do because there'll be major reductions in benefits in the next decade if we do nothing. I have a concrete plan to do just that, which allows people to keep HSAs to encourage savings, it allows for people that are retiring with Social Security to be able to get a minimum of 125 percent of the poverty level so that there is a baseline that in this generous country of ours no one goes below. +p1682 +aVYou have to reform Social Security, and the simple way to do it is to make sure that the wealthiest don't receive the same benefits as people that are lower-income. And make sure you enhance savings in the private market. The idea of 401(k)s. I have a small business that I set up. It took \u2014 it took an arm and a leg to be able to set up a 401(k). Because of all the federal mandates and federal laws, it was too expensive. We need to incent private savings and make sure that Social Security is protected for those that have it. +p1683 +aVBut the idea that you can't \u2014 that you're just gonna grow your way out of this \u2014 I have a plan to grow the economy at 4 percent, but you're gonna have to make adjustments for both Medicare and Social Security. [ +p1684 +aVAmerica's at a crossroads. The D.C. politicians continue to make things worse. I have a proven record of success, 32 years in business, and 8 years as Governor of the state of Florida. I will change the culture in Washington, just as I changed the culture in Tallahassee. I will do so in a way that will bring people together. We need a unifier, not a cynical divider in chief, and that's exactly what I will do. Imagine a country where people are lifted out of poverty again. Imagine a country where the middle class can get rising income again. I know we can do this because we're still the most extraordinary country on the face of the Earth. +p1685 +aVI'm Jeb Bush, and I believe America's on the verge of its greatest century, and I'm ready to lead. I'm a committed, conservative reformer that cut taxes, that balanced budgets, that took on the special interest in Florida, and we won. I look forward to talking tonight about how we can fix a broken Washington D.C., and create an environment where people can rise up again in this great country. Thank you. +p1686 +aVI think the voters will make that determination. But what I know to be true is that the next president of the United States is going to have to fix an extraordinary difficult situation. This administration, with President Obama and Hillary Clinton, has created insecurity the likes of which we never would've imagined. There's not a place in the world where we're better off today than six and a half years ago. And that requires a steadiness. That requires an understanding of how the world works. That requires an understanding and appreciation of American leadership in the world. You can't just, you know, talk about this stuff and insult leaders around the world and expect a good result. You have to do this with a steady hand, and I believe I have those skills. +p1687 +aVNo. Absolutely not. People are supporting me because I have a proven record of conservative leadership where I cut taxes $19 billion over eight years. We shrunk the state government workforce, we created a climate that led the nation in job growth seven out of eight years. We were one of two states to go to AAA bond rating. People know that we need principle-centered leadership, a disrupter to go to Washington, D.C. The one guy that had some special interests that I know of that tried to get me to change my views on something \u2014 that was generous and gave me money \u2014 was Donald Trump. He wanted casino gambling in Florida \u2014 +p1688 +aVYes you did. +p1689 +aVYou wanted it and you didn't get it because I was opposed to \u2014 +p1690 +aV\u2014 casino gambling before \u2014 +p1691 +aVduring and after. And that's not \u2014 I'm not going to be bought by anybody. +p1692 +aVNo way. Believe me. +p1693 +aVNot even possible. +p1694 +aVYou've got, according to your \u2014 to what you said on one of the talk shows, you got Hillary Clinton to go to your wedding \u2014 +p1695 +aV\u2014 because you gave her money. Maybe it works for Hillary Clinton \u2014 +p1696 +aV\u2014 it doesn't work for anybody on this \u2014 on stage. +p1697 +aVBut the simple fact is \u2014 +p1698 +aVNo. The simple fact is, Donald, you could not take \u2014 +p1699 +aVI was asked the question. +p1700 +aVSo he supports Pelosi, he supports Schumer, he supports Clinton \u2014 +p1701 +aVWhen he \u2014 and he \u2014 when he asked \u2014 when he asked Florida to have casino gambling, we said no. +p1702 +aVWe said no. And that's the simple fact. The simple fact is \u2014 +p1703 +aVDon't cut me off. +p1704 +aVNo, I don't think so, but we need to be strong against China. We should use offensive tactics as it relates to cyber security, send a deterrent signal to China. There should be super sanctions in what President Obama has proposed. There's many other tools that we have without canceling a dinner. That's not going to change anything, but we can be much stronger as it relates to that. As it relates to Iran, it's not a strategy to tear up an agreement. A strategy would be how do we confront Iran? And, the first thing that we need to do is to establish our commitment to Israel which has been altered by this administration. And, make sure that they have the most sophisticated weapons to send a signal to Iran that we have Israel's back. If we do that, it's going to create a healthier deterrent effect than anything else I can think of. +p1705 +aVI don't think \u2014 you're not stating my views right. +p1706 +aVI think there needs to be accommodation for someone acting on faith. Religious conscience is \u2014 is \u2014 is a first freedom. It's \u2014 it's a powerful part of our \u2014 of our Bill of Rights. And, in a big, tolerant country, we should respect the rule of law, allow people in \u2014 in \u2014 in this country \u2014 I'm a \u2014 I was opposed to the decision, but we \u2014 you can't just say, "well, they \u2014 gays can't get married now." But this woman, there should be some accommodation for her conscience, just as there should be for people that are florists that don't want to participate in weddings, or bakers. A great country like us should find a way to have accommodations for people so that we can solve the problem in the right way. This should be solved at the local level... +p1707 +aVAnd so we do agree, Mike. +p1708 +aVWell, he's wrong on a lot of things, but on this he's wrong because I'm the most pro-life governor on this stage. I got to act on my core beliefs. It's part of who I am. Life is a gift from God. And from beginning end we need to respect it and err on the side of life. And so I defunded Planned Parenthood. We created a climate where parental notification took place. We were the only state to fund crisis pregnancy centers with state moneys. We were totally focused on this. And I would bring that kind of philosophy to Washington, D.C. So here is a solution to this. Title X of the HHS funding, there is something that was the "Reagan Rule." It was passed in 1988. And in that rule it was defined, and the courts approved this, that a Planned Parenthood, you couldn't separate the money between the actual abortion procedures, and there are 330,000 abortions that take place in this clinic, and their promotion of it. He interpreted it the right way, the courts ruled in his favor, and Planned Parenthood did not get funding during that time until President Clinton came in. When I'm elected president, we will restore that interpretation of Title X. And this deal will be finished. +p1709 +aVThere are 13,000 community-based organizations that provide health services to women, 13,000 in this country. I don't believe that Planned Parenthood should get a penny from the federal government. Those organizations should get funding, just as I increased funding when I was governor of the state. That's the way you do this is you improve the condition for people. And, Donald, when I was governor, we also increased the opportunities for women. Women's income grew three times faster than the national average when I was governor. +p1710 +aVWe improved \u2014 we improved \u2014 +p1711 +aV\u2014 we increased child support \u2014 we increased child support with a broken system by 90 percent. +p1712 +aVI have a proven record. I have a proven record. +p1713 +aVHe did, he did. You're proud of your family, just as I am. +p1714 +aVTo subject my wife into the middle of a raucous political conversation was completely inappropriate, and I hope you apologize for that, Donald. +p1715 +aVShe is. She's fantastic. +p1716 +aVShe is absolutely the love of my life, and she's right here... +p1717 +aVAnd why don't you apologize to her right now. +p1718 +aVYeah. +p1719 +aVSo, here's the deal. My wife is a Mexican-American. She's an American by choice. She loves this country as much as anybody in this room, and she wants a secure border. But she wants to embrace the traditional American values that make us special and make us unique. We're at a crossroads right now. Are we going to take the Reagan approach, the hopeful optimistic approach, the approach that says that, you come to our country legally, you pursue your dreams with a vengeance, you create opportunities for all of us? Or the Donald Trump approach? The approach that says that everything is bad, that everything is coming to an end. I... +p1720 +aVI'm on the Reagan side of this. +p1721 +aVLook, first of all, I wrote a book about this, three \u2014 four years ago, now. And I laid out a comprehensive, conservative approach for immigration reform. And it does require securing the border. No one disagrees with that. But to build a wall, and to deport people \u2014 half a million a month \u2014 would cost hundreds of billions of dollars, Donald. Hundreds of billions of dollars. It would destroy community life, it would tear families apart. And it would send a signal to the rest of the world that the United States values that are so important for our long-term success no longer matter in this country. +p1722 +aVWell, I've been speaking English here tonight, and I'll keep speaking English. But the simple fact is, if a high school kid asks me a question in Spanish, a school \u2014 by the way, a voucher program that was created under my watch, the largest voucher program in the country, where kids can go to a Christian school, and they ask me a question in Spanish, I'm going to show respect and answer that question in Spanish. Even though they do speak English, and even though they embrace American values. +p1723 +aVYeah. +p1724 +aVWell, first of all, Hugh, if you're looking at Republican advisers, you have to go to the last two administrations. That happened to be 41 and 43. So just by definition, if you're \u2014 and many of the people here that are seeking advice from the foreign policy experts in the Republican side, they \u2014 they served in my dad's administration, my brother's administration. Of course that's the case. But I'm my own man. I'm going to create a strategy that is based on the simple fact that the United States needs to lead the world. The first thing that we need to do is to stop the craziness of the sequester. Rebuild our military so that our \u2014 so that we don't deploy people over and over again without the necessary equipment to keep them safe, to send a signal to the world that we're serious. If we're going to lead the world, then we need to have the strongest military possible. We need to rebuild our counterintelligence and intelligence capabilities. We need to focus on the fact that the next president is going to start in 2017, not in 1990 \u2014 you know, 30 years ago, or when my brother started. The world is dramatically different. And I believe that we need to restore America's presence and leadership in the world. Name a country where our relationship is better today than it was the \u2014 the day that Barack Obama got elected president. Under Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama, we have seen a weakness that now creates huge problems for the next president of the United States. So I'll have a team that will be \u2014 that will be following the doctrine I set up, and it will be peace through strength. We're sitting here in this library, which is a wonderful place to talk about this, because that's exactly what happened in the 1980s, and the world was a lot safer because of... +p1725 +aVThe leadership of Ronald Reagan and my... +p1726 +aVSo you \u2014 the \u2014 the first chance... +p1727 +aVRight after me, and then I'll \u2014 I'll yield \u2014 yield the floor. What do you guys say in the Senate when you're talking and debating? +p1728 +aVHere's the facts: When Donald Trump talks about judgment, what was his position on who would've been the best negotiator to deal with Iran? It wasn't a Republican; it was Hillary Clinton. That's what you believe. I mean, the lack of judgment and the lack of understanding about how the world works is really dangerous in this kind of time that we're saying. So is that the judgment that you bring to the table, that Hillary Clinton... +p1729 +aV... is a great negotiator, that she could bring about a better deal on Iran? +p1730 +aVYou know what? As it relates to my brother, there's one thing I know for sure. He kept us safe. I don't know if you remember... ... Donald... ... you remember the \u2014 the rumble? You remember the fire fighter with his arms around it? He sent a clear signal that the United States would be strong and fight Islamic terrorism, and he did keep us safe. +p1731 +aVThat's \u2014 that's my brother. +p1732 +aVHere's the lessons of history: When we \u2014 we pull back, voids are created. We left Iraq. We should've had a \u2014 a forces agreement to stay there with a small force, and instead of that, we politically and militarily pulled back, and now we have the creation of +p1733 +aV... because of what President Obama's done by pulling back. +p1734 +aVWell, I'm surprised Senator Cruz would say that since he was as strong supporter of John Roberts at the time. I will talk about what I will do as it relates to appointing Supreme Court Justices. We need to make sure that we have justices that, with a proven experienced record of respect for upholding the constitution. That is what we need. We can't have \u2014 the history in recent past is appoint people that have no experience so that you can't get attacked. And, that makes it harder for people to have confidence that they won't veer off... +p1735 +aVJohn Roberts has made some really good decisions, for sure, but he did not have a proven, extensive record that would have made the clarity the important thing, and that's what we need to do. And, I'm willing to fight for those nominees to make sure that they get passed. You can't do it the politically expedient way anymore. This is the culture in Washington. You have to fight hard for these appointments. This is perhaps the most important thing that the next president will do. +p1736 +aVWell, first of all, he, as I said, supported John Roberts. He supported him, publicly. So, you can rewrite history, I guess, Ted, but the simple fact is that you supported him because he had all the criteria that you would have thought would have made a great justice. And, I think he is doing a good job. But, the simple fact is that going forward, what we need to do is to have someone that has a long standing set of rulings that consistently makes it clear that he is a focused, exclusively on upholding the Constitution of the United States so they won't try to use the bench as a means to which legislate. +p1737 +aVHe was talking about me. +p1738 +aVWell, I \u2014 I wanted to \u2014 be \u2014 make it easier for him. +p1739 +aVAnd I just did. +p1740 +aVSo, 40 years ago, I smoked marijuana, and I admit it. I'm sure that other people might have done it and may not want to say it in front of 25 million people. My mom's not happy that I just did. That's true. And here's the deal. Here's the deal. We have \u2014 we have a serious epidemic of drugs that goes way beyond marijuana. What goes on in Colorado, as far as I'm concerned, that should be a state decision. But if you look at the problem of drugs in this \u2014 in this society today, it's a serious problem. Rand, you know this because you're campaigning in New Hampshire like all of us, and you see the epidemic of heroin, the overdoses of heroin that's taking place. People's families are \u2014 are being torn apart. It is appropriate for the government to play a consistent role to be able to provide more treatment, more prevention \u2014 we're the state that has the most drug courts across every circuit in \u2014 in \u2014 in Florida, there are drug courts to give people a second chance. That's the best way to do this. +p1741 +aVNo, you're wrong \u2014 you're wrong about this. +p1742 +aVI don't want to put poor people in jail, Randy. +p1743 +aVHere's the deal. No, I did not oppose when the legislature passed the bill to deal with that very issue. That's the way to solve this problem. Medical marijuana on the ballot was opened up, there was a huge loophole, it was the first step to getting to a place. And as a citizen of Florida, I voted no. +p1744 +aVNot very far. I think we need to do this state by state. There are places that get this right, and we need to make sure that we protect the privacy laws. This is a complicated place. But I do think the natural impulse on the left \u2014 Hillary Clinton, immediately after one of these horrific violent acts took place, immediately said we need to have federal gun laws. President Obama almost reflexively always says the same thing. And the net result is, you're going to take away rights of \u2014 of law-abiding citizens, the 99.999 percent of the people that are law- abiding citizens. That's not the right approach to do it. In Florida, we have a background check. We have concealed-weapon permit holders, and in fact, there's 1,200,000 of them. We have a reduction in violent crime because we put people behind bars when they use a gun in the commission of the crime. That's the better approach. But we're living in a society today where despair kind of grows in isolation. +p1745 +aVI \u2014 I think there needs to be a hearing, but the fact is, we need to encourage that kind of involvement. That's \u2014 that's exactly what we need to do. +p1746 +aVI would go with Ronald Reagan's partner, Margaret Thatcher. Probably illegal, but what the heck? Since it's not going to happen. A strong leader is what we need in the White House, and she certainly was a strong leader that restored the United Kingdom into greatness. +p1747 +aVEver Ready, it's very high energy, Donald. +p1748 +aVSix million more people are living in poverty than the day that Barack Obama got elected president. Six million more people. The middle class has had declining income, workforce participation rates are lower than they were in 1977. For the first time in modern history, more businesses are failing than are being created. That is what the next president will have to deal with. And I believe we can reverse course by creating a strategy of high sustained economic growth, not the new normal of 2 percent that all the left says we just have to get used to, but a 4 percent growth strategy where we reform how we tax, fix the broken regulatory system, embrace the energy revolution in our midst, fix the immigration system so we can turn it into an economic driver, deal with the structural fiscal problems that exist because of our entitlement problems that will overwhelm and create way too much debt. If we grow at 4 percent, people are going to be lifted out of poverty. The great middle that defines our country will have a chance to be able to pursue their dreams as they see fit. That should be the great challenge and the great opportunity for the next president of the United States, to forge consensus to go back to a high-growth strategy. And then we'll be able to lead the world. Without a high-growth strategy, our country will never have the resources or the optimism to be able to lead the world, which the world desperately needs our leadership. +p1749 +aVAbsolutely, I do, and I'm gonna run hard, run with heart, and run to win. I'm gonna have to earn this. Maybe the barrier -- the bar's even higher for me. That's fine. I've got a record in Florida. I'm proud of my dad, and I'm certainly proud of my brother. In Florida, they called me Jeb, because I earned it. I cut taxes every year, totaling $19 billion. We were -- we had -- we balanced every budget. We went from $1 billion of reserves to $9 billion of reserves. We were one of two states that went to AAA bond rating. They keep -- they called me Veto Corleone. Because I vetoed 2,500 separate line-items in the budget. I am my own man. I governed as a conservative, and I govern effectively. And the net effect was, during my eight years, 1.3 million jobs were created. We left the state better off because I applied conservative principles in a purple state the right way, and people rose up. +p1750 +aVI do. I believe that the great majority of people coming here illegally have no other option. They want to provide for their family. But we need to control our border. It's not -- it's our responsibility to pick and choose who comes in. So I -- I've written a book about this and yet this week, I did come up with a comprehensive strategy that -- that really mirrored what we said in the book, which is that we need to deal with E-Verify, we need to deal with people that come with a legal visa and overstay. We need to be much more strategic on how we deal with border enforcement, border security. We need to eliminate the sanctuary cities in this country. It is ridiculous and tragic......that people are dying because of the fact that -- that local governments are not following the federal law. There's much to do. And I think rather than talking about this as a wedge issue, which Barack Obama has done now for six long years, the next president -- and I hope to be that president -- will fix this once and for all so that we can turn this into a driver for high sustained economic growth. And there should be a path to earned legal status... ...for those that are here. Not -- not amnesty, earned legal status, which means you pay a fine and do many things over an extended period of time. +p1751 +aV...I remember... +p1752 +aV...I remember, Megyn. +p1753 +aVKnowing what we know now, with faulty intelligence, and not having security be the first priority when -- when we invaded, it was a mistake. I wouldn't have gone in, however, for the people that did lose their lives, and the families that suffer because of it -- I know this full well because as governor of the state of Florida, I called every one of them. Every one of them that I could find to tell them that I was praying for them, that I cared about them, and it was really hard to do. And, every one of them said that their child did not die in vain, or their wife, of their husband did not die in vain. So, why it was difficult for me to do it was based on that. Here's the lesson that we should take from this, which relates to this whole subject. Barack Obama became president, and he abandoned Iraq. He left, and when he left Al Qaida was done for. +p1754 +aVNo, I don't. And I don't believe the federal government should be involved in the creation of standards directly or indirectly, the creation of curriculum or content. It is clearly a state responsibility. I'm for higher standards... ...measured in an intellectually honest way, with abundant school choice, ending social promotion. And I know how to do this because as governor of the state of Florida I created the first statewide voucher program in the country, the second statewide voucher program, in the country and the third statewide voucher program in the country. And we had rising student achievement across the board, because high standards, robust accountability, ending social promotion in third grade, real school choice across the board, challenging the teachers union and beating them is the way to go. And Florida's low income kids had the greatest gains inside the country. Our graduation rate improved by 50 percent. That's what I'm for. +p1755 +aVHe is definitely my friend. And I think the states ought to create these standards. And if states want to opt out of Common Core, fine. Just make sure your standards are high. Because today in America, a third of our kids, after we spend more per student than any country in the world other than a couple rounding errors, to be honest with you, 30 percent are college- and/or career-ready. If we are going to compete in this world we're in today, there is no possible way we can do it with lowering expectations and dumbing down everything. Children are going to suffer and families' hearts are going to be broken that their kids won't be able to get a job in the 21st Century. +p1756 +aVWe've done it 27 times since World War II. I think we need to lift our spirits and have high, lofty expectations for this great country of ours. The new normal of two percent that the left is saying you can't do anything about is so dangerous for our country. There's 6 million people living in poverty today, more than when Barack Obama got elected. 6.5 million people are working part-time, most of whom want to work full-time. We've created rules and taxes on top of every aspiration of people, and the net result is we're not growing fast, income's not growing. A four percent growth strategy means you fix a convoluted tax code. You get in and you change every aspect of regulations that are job killers. You get rid of Obamacare and replace it with something that doesn't suppress wages and kill jobs. You embrace the energy revolution in our country. This president and Hillary Clinton, who can't even say she's for the XL pipeline even after she's left? Give me a break. Of course we're for it. We should be for these things to create high sustained economic growth. And frankly, fixing our immigration system and turning it into an economic driver is part of this as well. We can do this. +p1757 +aVNone of which is true. +p1758 +aVNo. It's not true. But I have said that Mr. Trump's language is divisive. I want to win. I want one of these people here or the ones at 5:00, to be the next president of the United States. We're not going on win by doing what Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton do each and every day. Dividing the country. Saying, creating a grievance kind of environment. We're going to win when we unite people with a hopeful, optimistic message. I have that message because I was a governor of a state that saw people lifted up, because we had high sustained economic growth. Our economy grew at double the rate of the nation. We created 1.3 million jobs. We led the nation seven out of those eight years. We were only one of two states that went to AAA bond rating. I cut taxes, $19 billion. If you do that and apply conservative principles the right way, you create an environment where everybody rises up. That's how we're going to win. Campaigning in places to give people hope that their life is better because too many people are suffering today in America. +p1759 +aVHere's what I believe. I believe we're at the verge of the greatest time to be alive in this world. But Washington is holding us back. How we tax, how we regulate. We're not embracing the energy revolution in our midst, a broken immigration system that has been politicized rather than turning it into an economic driver. We're not protecting and preserving our entitlement system or reforming for the next generation. All these things languish while we have politicians in Washington using these as wedge issues. Here's my commitment to you, because I did it as Florida. We can fix these things. We can grow economically and restore America's leadership in the world, so that everybody has a chance to rise up. I humbly ask for your vote, whenever you're gonna get to vote, whenever the primary is. Thank you all very much. +p1760 +asVFRANTA +p1761 +(lp1762 +VHi, I'm Connor Franta, I'm 23 and my audience is around the same age. Getting my generation to vote should be a priority for any presidential candidate. Now I know Senator Sanders is pretty popular among my peers, but what I want to know is, how are all of you planning on engaging us further in this election? +p1763 +asVWALKER +p1764 +(lp1765 +VGood evening, I'm Scott Walker, and tonight, I want to thank and Mrs. Reagan, and the Reagan Library for hosting us. You see, in my lifetime, the greatest president was a governor from California. Ronald Reagan knew how to go big, and go bold. He understood the essence of moving this country forward, and that's what I did when I took on the status quo in my state, and the Washington based special interest. Now, more than ever, America needs a leader who will go big and bold again. Someone who's been tested. I'm ready to be that leader. Thank you. +p1766 +aVBut Jake, Jake, Jake, Jake... +p1767 +aVBut Jake, this \u2014 this is \u2014 this... +p1768 +aVJake, this is \u2014 this is \u2014 this is... +p1769 +aVThis is actually what's wrong \u2014 this is what's wrong with this debate. We're not talking about real issues. And Mr. Trump, we don't need an apprentice in the White House. We don't need an apprentice in the White House. We have one right now. He told us all the things we wanted to hear back in 2008. We don't know who you are or where you're going. We need someone who can actually get the job done. And you talked about business. +p1770 +aVYou \u2014 you \u2014 let me finish... +p1771 +aVNo, no... +p1772 +aVYou're using the talking... +p1773 +aVMr. Trump, you're using the talking points of the Democrats... +p1774 +aV... and as we all know... +p1775 +aV... that failed three times in four and a half years when I got elected, because it is working. We balanced a budget. You want to talk about balanced budgets? You took four major projects into bankruptcy over and over and over again. You can't take America into bankruptcy. That's what's wrong with the politicians in Washington right now. They think we can take a country into bankruptcy. +p1776 +aVJake, yeah, absolutely, I'll take this on, because this is an issue that's important in this race. Just because he says it doesn't make it true. The facts are the facts. We balanced a $3.6 billion budget deficit, we did it by cutting taxes \u2014 $4.7 billion to help working families, family farmers, small business owners and senior citizens. And it's about time people in America stand up and take note of this. If you want someone that can actually take on the special interest of Washington, which you yourself said you were part of, using the system, we need somebody that will stand up and fight for average Americans to put them back in charge of their government. I'm the one who is taking that on. I'll do that as your next president. +p1777 +aVTwo parts to that, one on China, one back for a second on Iran. When it comes to China, why would we be giving an official state visit to a country that's been involved in a massive cyber attack against the United States? That's not just a visit, that's a 21 gun salute on the South Lawn of the White House. It just doesn't make any sense. If we're ever going to send a message to them, wouldn't this be the time, when they've issued this, sort of, massive attack against us? And, Jake, for the question, I was one of the first ones to call for terminating the bad deal with Iran on day one. The President came after me and said I need to bone up. You know, the President who called +p1778 +aVJake, just one more moment. This is \u2014 there's something bigger to this. Now, I \u2014 like so many other governors here, I defunded Planned Parenthood four-and-a-half years ago, in a Blue State. But it's bigger than that. We did that in a Blue State, we took the money and put it into women's health, so we did exactly what we're talking about here. But I think the bigger issue here is we should be able to do this nationally, and this is precisely why so many Republicans are upset with Washington. They see the House and they see the Senate and they say why can't we pass this. Why can't we defund Planned \u2014 put it in a spending bill. Forget about the 60-vote rule, there's no reason \u2014 and the Constitution doesn't call for 60 votes. Pass it with 51 votes, put it on the desk of the president \u2014 +p1779 +aV\u2014 and go forward and actually make a point. This is why \u2014 +p1780 +aV\u2014 people are upset with Washington. +p1781 +aVSo, the best way to help people see their wages go up is to get them the education, the skill they need, to take on careers that pay more than minimum wage. And, it's why we talk about it, it's all about jobs. You want to help actually get jobs, it's why on that last question we were trying to jump in on taxes. To me, it's not just about taxes, cutting taxes. I've done it as much as anyone has. I've cut income taxes, I've cut property taxes. In fact, property taxes are lower today in my state than they were before we took office. The real issues about jobs. Ronald Reagan, our plan is based on the Ronald Reagan tax cuts of 1986. That brought about one of the longest sustained periods of economic growth in American history. All the things we should be talking about tonight are about how do we create jobs, helping people get the skills and the education qualifications they need to succeed. That's the way you help people create jobs. It's part of our large plan to reform the tax code, to cut taxes, to put in place an education system that gives people the skills and education that they need. To put in place all the above energy policy, but you start on day one with repealing Obamacare. I'm the only one on this stage that's actually got a plan, introduced an actual plan to repeal Obamacare on day one. I'll send a bill up to Congress, and to make sure enact it... +p1782 +aV...I'm going to sign an order that makes the Congress live by the same rules as everybody else. +p1783 +aV...That will ensure they repeal Obamacare... +p1784 +aV...Jake, Jake, Jake, I just want to address that issue because you said I didn't answer, and I did. I said, to me, I think the real focus shouldn't be \u2014 you know, Hillary Clinton talks about the minimum wage. That's her answer to grow the economy. The answer is to give people the skills and the education so they make far more than minimum wage. I don't want to argue about how low things are going to be, I want to talk about how do we lift everyone up in America. That's what Reagan talked about. It wasn't how bad things were, it was how to make it better for everyone. That's what we've done in Wisconsin, that's exactly what we'd do as... +p1785 +aV... the key issue here is talking about leadership. Now, there's a lot of greater people up here, and you've heard a lot of great ideas out there. But I would ask the American people, look at who's been tested. When there were 100,000 protesters in my capital, I didn't back down, when they issued death threats against me and threats against my family, I didn't back down, when they tried to recall me, I didn't back down, and when they made me the \u2014 one of their number-one targets last year, I didn't back down. Give me the chance to be your president. +p1786 +aVI won't back down... +p1787 +aV... on any of these issues. +p1788 +aVTo be clear, what I said the other day was that we need to lift the political restrictions that are already in play. Barack Obama's administration has put political restrictions on the military personnel already in Iraq. We need to lift those and then we need to listen to our military experts, not the political forces in the White House, but our military experts about how many more we sent in. And we certainly shouldn't have a commander-in-chief who sends a message to our adversaries as to how far we're going to go, and how far we're willing to fight, so I'm not putting a troop number. What I'm saying is lift the political restrictions. When you do that, you empower our military personnel already there to work with the Kurd and the Sunni allies, to reclaim the territory taken by +p1789 +aV... a lot of those people, though, and I'm going to echo what Senator Rubio just said. This is an issue where, we're talking about my state, it's thousands of manufacturing jobs. Thousands of manufacturing jobs for a rule the Obama administration, own EPA has said will have a marginal impact on climate change. So we're going to put thousands and thousands of jobs in my state, I think it's something like 30,000 in Ohio, other states across this country, we're going to put people \u2014 manufacturing jobs, the kind of jobs that are far greater than minimum wage, this administration is willing to put at risk for something its own EPA says is marginal (ph)... +p1790 +aVFirst of all, I got to say to Carson, Huckabee, thanks a lot for making the rest of us look like chumps up here, but, I'd pick Clara Barton. I once worked for the American Red Cross, she was a great founder of the Red Cross. +p1791 +aVHarley. I love riding Harley's. +p1792 +aVWell, I turned 13 years old two days before Ronald Reagan was first elected. A lot of people forget this, but just a few days before that election 1980, he was behind in the polls. And I think what changed things was people in America realized they didn't want to hear what was bad about America, they wanted to know how it was going to be better. Ronald Reagan wasn't just a conservative Republican, he was an eternal optimist in the American people. And I am too. So here's what I think will make America better. We need to live in a world where our children are free, are free from the threats of radical Islamic terrorism. We need to live in an America where we have an economy, where everyone can live their piece of the American dream, no matter what that dream is. And we need to live in an America where we have a federal government that is not too big to fail, but ultimately small enough to succeed, where we send powers back to the states and back to the people. That's what I did in Wisconsin. We took on the big government union bosses, the big government special interests, many of whom came in from Washington, to spend millions of dollars to try and take me out because we stood up to them, we didn't back down in any of those instances. If you give me the chance as your next president, I won't back down any day, anyway, anyhow. I'll fight and win for you and your families every single day I'm in office. +p1793 +aVWell, I'm pro-life, I've always been pro-life, and I've got a position that I think is consistent with many Americans out there in that... ...in that I believe that that is an unborn child that's in need of protection out there, and I've said many a time that that unborn child can be protected, and there are many other alternatives that can also protect the life of that mother. That's been consistently proven. Unlike Hillary Clinton, who has a radical position in terms of support for Planned Parenthood, I defunded Planned Parenthood more than four years ago, long before any of these videos came out... ...I've got a position that's in line with everyday America. +p1794 +aVChris, I actually said that on your show earlier this year. I acknowledged that. I said I actually listened to the American people. And I think people across America want a leader who's actually going to listen to them. I talked to border state governors and other elected officials. I look at how this president, particularly through last November, messed up the immigration system in this country. Most importantly, I listened to the people of America. I believe we need to secure the border. I've been to the border with Governor Abbott in Texas and others, seeing the problems that they have there. There is international criminal organizations penetrating our southern based borders, and we need to do something about it. Secure the border, enforce the law, no amnesty, and go forward with the legal immigration system that gives priority to American working families and wages. +p1795 +aVI don't know about additional ones. We need to focus on the ones we have. You look at Egypt, probably the best relationship we've had in Israel, at least in my lifetime, incredibly important. You look at the Saudis -- in fact, earlier this year, I met with Saudi leaders, and leaders from the United Arab Emirates, and I asked them what's the greatest challenge in the world today? Set aside the Iran deal. They said it's the disengagement of America. We are leading from behind under the Obama-Clinton doctrine -- America's a great country. We need to stand up and start leading again, and we need to have allies, not just in Israel, but throughout the Persian Gulf. +p1796 +aVJust one second on this, though. We -- we spent a lot of time talking about Hillary Clinton and ---and pitting us back and forth. Let's be clear, we should be talking about Hillary Clinton on that last subject, because everywhere in the world that Hillary Clinton touched is more messed up today than before she and the president . +p1797 +aVIt's true. +p1798 +aVWell, the voters in Wisconsin elected me last year for the third time because they wanted someone who aimed high, not aimed low. Before I came in, the unemployment rate was over eight percent. It's now down to 4.6 percent. We've more than made up for the jobs that were lost during the recession. And the rate in which people are working is almost five points higher than it is nationally. You know, people like Hillary Clinton think you grow the economy by growing Washington. One report last year showed that six of the top 10 wealthiest counties in America were in or around Washington, D.C.. I think most of us in America understand that people, not the government creates jobs. And one of the best things we can do is get the government out of the way, repeal Obamacare, put in -- reign in all the out of control regulations, put in place an all of the above energy policy, give people the education, the skills that the need to succeed, and lower the tax rate and reform the tax code. That's what I'll do as president, just like I did in Wisconsin. +p1799 +aVWell, first off, let's remember. I still remember, as a kid, tying a yellow ribbon around a tree in front of my house during the 444 days that Iran held 52 Americans hostage. Iran is not a place we should be doing business with. To me, you terminate the deal on day one, you reinstate the sanctions authorized by Congress, you go to Congress and put in place even more crippling sanctions in place, and then you convince our allies to do the same. This is not just bad with Iran, this is bad with +p1800 +aVWell, I think the most important thing we can do when it comes to policing -- it's something you've had a guest on who's a friend of mine Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clark, who's talked to me about this many times in the past -- it's about training. It's about making sure that law enforcement professionals, not only in the way in to their positions but all the way through their time, have the proper training, particularly when it comes to the use of force. And that we protect and stand up and support those men and women who are doing their jobs in law enforcement. And for the very few that don't, that there are consequences to show that we treat everyone the same here in America. +p1801 +aVWell first off, for the cyber attack with Russia the other day, it's sad to think right now, but probably the Russian and Chinese government know more about Hillary Clinton's e-mail server than do the members of the United States Congress. And -- and that has put our national security at risk. If I am president, he won't think about that. You know, Putin believes in the old Lenin adage: you probe with bayonets. When you find mush, you push. When you find steel, you stop. Under Obama and Clinton, we found a lot of mush over the last two years. We need to have a national security that puts steel in front of our enemies. I would send weapons to Ukraine. I would work with +p1802 +aVWell, thanks, Megyn. I'm certainly an imperfect man. And it's only by the blood of Jesus Christ that I've been redeemed from my sins. So I know that God doesn't call me to do a specific thing, God hasn't given me a list, a Ten Commandments, if you will, of things to act on the first day. What God calls us to do is follow his will. And ultimately that's what I'm going to try to do. And I hope people've seen it in my state, even in the big challenges I took on when I had over 100,000 protesters in and around our capital, trying to do what I thought was the right thing. It wasn't just how I took on those political battles. It was ultimately how I acted. Not responding in kind. Not lashing out. But just being decent going forward and living my life in a way that would be a testimony to him and our faith. +p1803 +aVThanks. I'm guy with a wife and two kids, and Harley. One article called me "aggressively normal." I ran for governor because I was worried about my kids' future. Then, I took on the big government union bosses, and we won. They tried to recall me, and we won. They target us again, and we won. We balanced the budget, cut taxes, and turned our state around with big, bold reforms. It wasn't too late for Wisconsin, and it's not too late for America. That's why I ask for your vote. +p1804 +asVMALE +p1805 +(lp1806 +VThat's a good one. +p1807 +aV +p1808 +asVMITCHELL +p1809 +(lp1810 +VThank you, Lester. Secretary Clinton, Senator Sanders favors what he calls "Medicare for all." Now, you said that what he is proposing would tear up Obamacare and replace it. Secretary Clinton, is it fair to say to say that Bernie Sanders wants to kill Obamacare? +p1811 +aVSenator Sanders? +p1812 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor Sanders... +p1813 +aVSenator Sanders, let me ask you this, though... +p1814 +aV... you've talked about Medicare for all... +p1815 +aV.. and tonight you've released a very detailed plan, just two... +p1816 +aV... well, two hours before the debate, you did. +p1817 +aVBut let me ask you about Vermont. Because in Vermont \u2014 you tried in the state of Vermont, and Vermont walked away from this kind of idea, of \u2014 of Medicare for all, single-payer, because they concluded it would require major tax increases... +p1818 +aV... and by some estimates, it would double the budget. If you couldn't sell it in Vermont, Senator... +p1819 +aV... how can you sell it to the country? +p1820 +aVSenator Sanders \u2014 Senator Sanders, you've talked a lot about things you want to do. You want free education for everyone, you want the Federal Minimum Wage raised to $15 an hour. You want to expand Social Security... +p1821 +aV... benefits. You've been specific about what you want, but let's talk about how to pay for all this. You now said that you would raise taxes today, two hours or so ago, you said you would raise taxes to pay for your health care plan. You haven't been specific about how to pay for the other things... +p1822 +aV... Will you tell us tonight? +p1823 +aV... OK... O' +p1824 +aV... Secretary Clinton, you mentioned earlier \u2014 Secretary Clinton, do you want to respond? +p1825 +aVOK, we're out of time. Senator Sanders, +p1826 +aVSenator Sanders... +p1827 +aV... Senator Sanders, let me ask you a question about taxes. +p1828 +aVThe most googled political issue... +p1829 +aVIn the last month was taxes. Now, in your healthcare plan, the plan you released tonight, you would not only raise taxes on the wealthy, but the details you released indicate you would raise taxes on the middle class also. Is that correct? +p1830 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, let me just follow up on that. +p1831 +aVOn Meet the Press on December 20th, you said that you would only raise taxes on the middle class to pay for family leave. And, having said that, now you say you're going to raise middle class taxes to pay for healthcare as well. Is that breaking your word? +p1832 +aVThank you Lester. Senator Sanders, the nuclear deal is now enforced. Iran is getting it's billions of dollars, several Americans who have been held are now going to be heading home. The president said today, "it's a good day. It's a good day for diplomacy. It's a time now to restore diplomatic relations for the first time since 1979 and actually re- opened a U.S. Embassy in Tehran." +p1833 +aVYour response Secretary Clinton? +p1834 +aVYou mentioned Syria. Let me ask you about Syria, all of you. Let's turn to Syria and the civil war that has been raging there. Are there any circumstances in which you could see deploying significant numbers of ground forces in Syria, not just specials forces but significant ground forces to combat +p1835 +aVSenator Sanders, ground forces yes or no? +p1836 +aVGovernor O'Malley? +p1837 +aVGovernor O'Malley. O' +p1838 +aVI have a question. I have a question for Senator Sanders. Did the policies of the Obama administration, in which Secretary Clinton of course was a part, create a vacuum in Iraq and Syria that helped +p1839 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to talk to you about red lines, because former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in a recent interview that President Obama's decision to stand down on planned missile strikes against Damascus after Assad had used chemical weapons hurt the president's credibility. Should the president have stuck to his red line once he drew it? +p1840 +aVBut should he \u2014 should he have stuck to his... +p1841 +aV... line? Did it hurt U.S. credibility? +p1842 +aVYour time is up. +p1843 +aVSenator.... +p1844 +aVYou're out of time. +p1845 +aVSenator Sanders. +p1846 +aVYour time is us. Lester. +p1847 +aVJust a \u2014 just a quick follow-up, though, Secretary Clinton. Just a moment, Governor. O' +p1848 +aVBut \u2014 but \u2014 Secretary Clinton, you said that the leaders from the intelligence community went to Silicon Valley, they were flatly turned down. They got nowhere. +p1849 +aVSenator Sanders, let me ask you a question. You called Bill Clinton's past transgressions, quote, "totally, totally, totally disgraceful and unacceptable." Senator, do you regret saying that? +p1850 +aV...too long. O' +p1851 +asVHEWITT +p1852 +(lp1853 +VSenator Cruz, you've said you disagree with Mr. Trump's policy. I don't want a cage match; you've tweeted you don't want a cage match. But Republican primary voters deserve to know, with the kind of specificity and responsiveness you delivered in your nine Supreme Court arguments, how you disagree with Mr. Trump. Would you spell that out with us? +p1854 +aVSo you're saying you disagree because he's too broad and you have a narrower focus? Why do you disagree with him? +p1855 +aVCarly Fiorina... ... this is the Christmas dinner debate. This will be the debate that Americans talk about at Christmas. And thus far, in the first 10 minutes, we haven't heard a lot about Ronald Reagan's city on a hill. We've heard a lot about keeping Americans out or keeping Americans safe and everyone else out. Is this what you want the party to stand for? +p1856 +aVDr. Carson...... you mentioned in your opening remarks that you're a pediatric neurologist surgeon... +p1857 +aVNeurosurgeon. And people admire and respect and are inspired by your life story, your kindness, your evangelical core support. We're talking about ruthless things tonight \u2014 carpet bombing, toughness, war. And people wonder, could you do that? Could you order air strikes that would kill innocent children by not the scores, but the hundreds and the thousands? Could you wage war as a commander-in-chief? +p1858 +aVSo you are OK with the deaths of thousands of innocent children and civilian? It's like... +p1859 +aVThat is what war \u2014 can you be as ruthless as Churchill was in prosecuting the war against the Nazis? +p1860 +aVMr. Trump, we are talking about the most important thing, that's why it's heated. And it's, you are OK with Mr. Assad staying in power, but you are also in favor of winning. If he stays in power, Iran is winning, Hezbollah is winning. Iran is winning in Yemen. They are winning everywhere. If they are winning how can we be winning? +p1861 +aVGovernor Christie, is he right? Because if we step back, Iran goes nuclear. Is Donald Trump right? +p1862 +aVSenator Paul, let me ask you, you heard Governor Kasich say Assad must go. Do you agree? +p1863 +aVGovernor Bush, a commander-in-chief question. You've said that Mr. Trump is not qualified to be president because he's not qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin. Why are you better qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin than Mr. Trump? +p1864 +aVMr. Trump? +p1865 +aVBut, Mr. Trump, it's not CNN \u2014 I was on CNN last night... +p1866 +aV... watching... +p1867 +aVBut it wasn't \u2014 it wasn't CNN. It was me. I watched you last night for 16 minutes. It's not CNN. +p1868 +aVIt's not CNN. It's America's watching you. +p1869 +aVIt's America's watching. +p1870 +aVGovernor \u2014 thank you, Governor. +p1871 +aVDr. Carson, commander-in-chief question again. You've been the head of neurosurgery for a big hospital. You're on a lot of boards of a lot of companies. You've traveled the world. You're going traveling again next week. But does that prepare you to command troops from Djibouti to Japan, troops from Afghanistan to Iraq to be in charge of the men and women watching on Armed Services Network tonight? +p1872 +aVMr. Trump...... Dr. Carson just referenced the single most important job of the president, the command, the control and the care of our nuclear forces. And he mentioned the triad. The B-52s are older than I am. The missiles are old. The submarines are aging out. It's an executive order. It's a commander-in-chief decision. What's your priority among our nuclear triad? +p1873 +aVOf the three legs of the triad, though, do you have a priority? I want to go to Senator Rubio after that and ask him. +p1874 +aVSenator Rubio, do you have a response? +p1875 +aVMy listeners tell me again and again they are worried that Hillary Clinton will win the White House because you'll run as an independent. Are you ready to assure Republicans tonight that you will run as a Republican and abide by the decision of the Republicans? +p1876 +aVDr. Carson, last week... +p1877 +aVPlease. +p1878 +aVDr. Carson, Mr. Trump just committed to stay the distance regardless of the result. How about you? +p1879 +aVThank you, Jake. Mr. Trump, two years ago, President Obama drew a red line that the Syrian dictator Bashar Assad crossed, President Obama threatened to strike. He did not, his knees buckled. We now have 4 million refugees, Syria is a living hell, and he turned to the Congress for the authority to back him up. You have three senators to your right that said, no. Do they bear responsibility for this refugee crisis, and what would you have done when Bashar Assad crossed the line? +p1880 +aVHow much responsibility, Mr. Trump, do the senators hold? +p1881 +aVSenator Rubio... +p1882 +aVSenator Paul? +p1883 +aVI'd like to talk about winning because I think all of you are more qualified than former Secretary of State Clinton, and as were the people in the first debate, but there are different styles, and Carly Fiorina, Governor Kasich, you're conveniently located next to each other, and you have different styles. Governor Kasich, you've been on my show a lot. You refused to attack Hillary Clinton, you just don't want to go there, you want to do the up with people. Go, Ohio, OK, and I like that. Carly Fiorina, I don't have to bring up the Secretary of State \u2014 you bring her up, so . Which one of you is wrong? Governor Kasich? +p1884 +aVGovernor. +p1885 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1886 +aVCarly Fiorina, your style? +p1887 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Christie, your name was mentioned. I want to give you a chance to respond. +p1888 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1889 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. There is a lot more coming up. Ahead, a world of trouble. The challenges that one of these candidates may face in the Oval Office, and how he or she will handle it. Stay with us. +p1890 +aVOh, you're the best interview in America. +p1891 +aV... makes an interesting case (ph) here (ph). +p1892 +aVThank you, Jake. I've done a lot of great interviews with all of you, but, Governor Bush, I talked to you in February about the biggest elephant in a room full of elephants, which is your last name. And you said you would not be burdened either by your brother or your father's legacy in the Middle East. And then, a week later, you rolled out your list of foreign policy advisers, and it was a lot of the band getting back together again. So on behalf of the military that is watching... +p1893 +aV...OK, the active duty military that are at the end of the sphere (ph), what kind of a commander in chief is Jeb Bush going to be, and who are the advisers that are new to your team? +p1894 +aVMr. \u2014 Mr. Trump. +p1895 +aVI want to ask you a question, though, you promised us great leaders. And I believe that. But Jeb Bush has laid out 20 different people that have experience around the world. There are 190 countries, you can't run the world by yourself. When are we going to get some names on your military and your foreign policy advisers? +p1896 +aVThank you, Jake. Tomorrow is \u2014 Republicans know this \u2014 tomorrow is Constitution Day. We've been talking about the 10th Amendment. Let's talk about the Second Amendment. Governor Bush, one of the things the Supreme Court has gotten right is that it's an individual right and it's protected for individuals to hold it. Last week, you said the next step in gun issues is to make sure they're not in the hands of mentally ill. In this state, there's a controversial law that allows guns to be taken away from people without a hearing. Where does it go \u2014 and the problem of violence is endemic, but where does it go from what you said last week, how far into people's lives to take guns away from them? +p1897 +aVIf a family member calls and says, "My child, my brother, my sister is disturbed," ought the state be able to go and get their weapon without a hearing? +p1898 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1899 +aVSenator Cruz, I want to go to you. Your constitutional litigant (ph), are you afraid of the next- step theory of what happens to Second Amendment rights? +p1900 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1901 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1902 +aVThank you, senator. +p1903 +aVWait, let's pursue that in fact Governor Pataki? +p1904 +aVYou called for following and finding those Imams who are preaching violence in mosques. How exactly would you do that and what Mosques would you shut down? How extensive of a surveillance program are you proposing? +p1905 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1906 +aVGovernor Huckabee... ...As Governor Pataki noted earlier, we have a history of religious intoleration in this country. About the American Muslims who would be subject to this kind of surveillance, does it violate their First Amendment rights? +p1907 +aVSenator Santorum... ...I want to start then, not on the First Amendment, but on the Second Amendment. There is a terror watchlist. You can legally purchase a gun in the United States if you're on that watchlist. Your old colleague, Peter King in the House, wants to change that law. Do you agree with him? +p1908 +aVGovernor... +p1909 +aVGovernor, back to you. Your response? +p1910 +aVSenator Graham, are you trying to get in? +p1911 +aVThank you, Wolf. Governor Huckabee, ten minutes ago you blasted President Obama for destabilizing Iraq. You hit former Secretary of State Clinton for supporting the Muslim brotherhood in Egypt. But you have said recently you would sanction countries that don't join the fight aggressively against +p1912 +aVWhich country? +p1913 +aVWhich countries are those, governor, that you would sanction? +p1914 +aVThat's an easy, give. Are you going to sanction any of our allies who say, no this isn't our fight we're gonna let you do this. Are you going to leave our allies alone? For example, Indonesia and Malaysia \u2014 other Muslim countries \u2014 will you leave them alone? +p1915 +aVSenator Graham, I just named two Islamic countries... ...Senator Graham, I just named two Islamic countries that are allies that he suggested we sanction. Is that the appropriate approach to this war? +p1916 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you... +p1917 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you, the opposite of getting into bed is shooting down the prince's plane. Senator Santorum has \u2014 Senator Graham has said he would shoot down Russian planes bombing Syrian fighters on our side. Would you shoot down a Russian plane bombing American allied fighters in Syria? +p1918 +aVWhat \u2014 if they fly into it, would you shoot it down? +p1919 +aVThe consequences would be war with Russia. Would you risk... +p1920 +aVSenator Graham, do you agree? +p1921 +aVOK, we know you agree, Senator Graham. How about you, Governor Pataki, would you shoot down Russian planes? +p1922 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you... +p1923 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you, the opposite of getting into bed is shooting down the prince's plane. Senator Santorum has \u2014 Senator Graham has said he would shoot down Russian planes bombing Syrian fighters on our side. Would you shoot down a Russian plane bombing American allied fighters in Syria? +p1924 +aVWhat \u2014 if they fly into it, would you shoot it down? +p1925 +aVThe consequences would be war with Russia. Would you risk... +p1926 +aVSenator Graham, do you agree? +p1927 +aVOK, we know you agree, Senator Graham. How about you, Governor Pataki, would you shoot down Russian planes? +p1928 +aVSenator Graham, in 2013 you were part of the leadership that pushed through immigration reform, comprehensive immigration reform in the Senate of the United States. It died in the House. Many accused you of amnesty, and may have undermined your ability to get your message out on the war. Would you sign that bill again today? Would you \u2014 sponsor that bill again today? +p1929 +aVBut, Senator, I misunderstand, did you... +p1930 +aVSenator Santorum, is that sufficient for you? +p1931 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1932 +aVYep. Governor Huckabee, you have said that children of immigrants who came here illegally should not be punished by their parents actions. As president, would you continue President Obama's policy, vis-a-vis, the Dreamers? +p1933 +aVSenator... +p1934 +aVSenator Santorum, you... ...Your position on that policy, assuming that it was passed constitutionally, would you allow this, would you support such an act? +p1935 +aVThank you, Jake. Governor, you signed the pledge to support the Republican nominee and you promptly broke it. By doing so, by Tweeting out that you would not support Donald Trump, have you released Donald Trump to be a free agent again or anyone else in the field? +p1936 +aVGovernor... +p1937 +aV-- you said on Twitter that you would not support Donald Trump. If he's the nominee... +p1938 +aV-- will you support him? +p1939 +aVWould you really vote for Hillary Clinton... +p1940 +aV-- or vote for Donald Trump if he's the nominee? +p1941 +aVGovernor Jindal, Senator Graham just said it's all about winning and, in fact, if former Secretary of State Clinton is the successor to President Obama, none of this matters and all this conversation is beside the point. In the Washington elite, they have a habit of saying nice things about each other until election time. Senator Graham has praised Secretary of State Clinton as a great choice to be the secretary of state, as a national treasure. Can anyone from inside of Washington win this election cycle, having praised Secretary of State Clinton that way? +p1942 +aVSenator Graham, took a shot at there and you're having a good debate but there is this problem of Washington elites and saying wonderful things about each other. +p1943 +aVIs that responsive to calling Hillary Clinton a national treasure, Senator? +p1944 +aVBut Senator, can you go back and forth that way, and expect to have an argument with the American people to persuade them about that? +p1945 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1946 +aVThank you, senator. +p1947 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1948 +aVLet's talk about the economy, if We could. Governor Pataki. +p1949 +aVJeb Bush and Donald Trump are both proposing raising taxes on hedge fund managers who pay at a lower rate. Governor Pataki, you were the governor of New York, home of Wall Street. Do you agree that hedge fund managers need to be paying a higher rate? +p1950 +aVSo you are with Jeb Bush and Donald Trump on the hedge fund? +p1951 +aVGovernor Jindal -- Governor Jindal, that's three Republicans running for president who support hedge fund managers paying a higher rate. Are you the fourth? +p1952 +aVLet's stay on the topic of taxes. +p1953 +aVI want to bring in my colleague, Dana Bash. +p1954 +aVThere are other ways, Governor, than bombing Iran. I want to quote Rick Santorum. "We should send a very clear message that If you are a scientist and you're going to work on a nuclear program to develop a bomb for Iran, you are not safe." Does that message work? Is anything that works on the table? +p1955 +aVSenator Santorum, stay on that: any means necessary? Is that what you meant to say? Is that what's still on this table after this, what many of us believe is a catastrophic deal? +p1956 +asVJINDAL +p1957 +(lp1958 +V...Thank you. +p1959 +aVA couple of things. In Louisiana, we're actually a top 10 state for job growth. As we sit here today, we have more people working in Louisiana than ever before, earning a higher income than ever before. We've had 60 months in a row of consecutive job growth in our state. So the reality is, we have diversified our economy. Yes, I've got an interview plan that says all of the above, that creates good manufacturing jobs in America. We've also got one of the fastest growing IT sectors by percentage. We are growing Louisiana's economy. But let me get to the point that is, I think, the most important issue here tonight. You're going to have several hours of debate on the economy and we're going to have a great discussion about energy plans and tax rates. And that's all great. The most important thing we have to do, we have a fundamental choice to make, folks. Are we willing to cut the government economy so we can grow the American economy? That is the most fundamental question we've got to answer. We are on the path to socialism right now. These are mutually exclusive. The hour is late, but it is not too late for America. Though under President Obama, you asked about his economy. We've got record dependents, a record number of Americans on food stamps, record low participation rate in the work force. This is a fundamental choice. Sending a big government Republican to DC is not enough to fix this problem. It's not enough just to beat Hillary Clinton. We've got to change the direction of our country. What that means is let's shrink the government, not slow its growth rate, but actually shrink the government so we can grow the American economy. That is the fundamental issue we should be debating here tonight. +p1960 +aVNo, I think right now there's not much difference between the two parties. The reason we keep losing nationally is we try to be cheaper versions of the Democratic party. What if the Republicans, what if Republicans actually embraced our own principles? So I earlier said if you want bigger paychecks, you want more jobs, you want less government dependence, you're going to have to cut government spending. Here's the dirty little secret. You're going to hear a lot of Republicans tonight in this debate and the next one talk about cutting government spending. It's going to sound great. There's only one of us that's actually cut government spending. Not two, there's one, and you're looking at him. We've got four senators running. They've never cut anything in D.C. They give these long speeches called filibusters, they pat themselves on the back, nothing changes. When they go to relieve themselves their cause and the toilet get flushed at the same time, and the American people lose. We've got a bunch of governors running, we've got seven current former governors running. I'm the only one that has cut government spending. Everybody else can talk about it. If they haven't done it in their state capitals, what makes them thank that \u2014 what makes us think they'll do it if we send them to D.C. Look, when politicians talk, we need to look at what they have done, not what they have said. Otherwise, it's a bunch of hot air. We've cut our budget 26 percent. Record number of Louisianans working. If Republicans want to win national elections, let's be conservatives, let's be Republicans, let's not be a second version of the liberal party, let's cut government spending and grow the American economy. +p1961 +aVWait, wait, wait. I want to respond. He has criticized something I said. I want to respond to that. Mike, with all due respect, I admire your social views, I share many of those views, your record as Governor tells a different story. Was \u2014 your time as Governor spending in Arkansas went up 65 percent, number of state workers went up 20 percent, the taxes for the average citizen went up 47 percent. That's not a record of cutting. I'm saying we've actually cut. We reduced the size of our budget. So wanting to cut is one thing, actually cutting is a different thing. Facts don't lie. +p1962 +aVI was absolutely a skeptic of giving this president more power. He negotiated a bad deal with Iran. He breaks the law routinely. I don't know why Congress would want to concede more authority to him. Look, this trade deal is 6,000 pages long. Unlike ObamaCare, I think we should read it before we decide whether we would vote for it or not vote for it. I am for trade deals, but I want to make sure they are fair trade deals. I want to come back to something that Chris had said earlier. Look, I absolutely agree we've got to beat Hillary Clinton. But just sending any Republican is not good enough. We've had a Republican majority in the Senate and the House. What has changed? If we send another big government Republican to the White House, we will not do enough to fix what is wrong in this country. Chris, I think records matter. I think the way we govern matter. Under your leadership in New Jersey, your budget has gone up 15 percent. It's gone down 26 percent in Louisiana. It has gone up $5 million in New Jersey. It's gone down $9 billion in Louisiana. In New Jersey, you've had nine credit downgrades, setting a record. We've had eight credit upgrades in Louisiana. My point is this. If politicians say they're going to be conservative, they say they're going to cut spending but they don't do it, why should we send them to DC? It gets harder, not easier, when we send them to DC. Let's not be a second liberal party. Let's actually cut government spending. Let's grow the American economy. Let's not just beat Hillary, let's elect a conservative to the White House, not just any Republican. +p1963 +aVBut wait a minute, records matter. Records \u2014 records matter. Yes, we've got to... +p1964 +aV\u2014 beat Hillary Clinton. But Chris, it's also true that you expanded food stamps at a time that we've got record numbers of Americans on food stamps. It's also true you caved into ObamaCare. You expanded Medicaid. We've got a choice in front of us. This is an important debate. This is not about comparing Louisiana to New Jersey or Bobby to Chris. This is an important debate for the American people. This is supposed to be an economics debate. Let's have a debate. Do we want to grow government or do we want to grow the American economy? Do we want to grow dependence on government, or do we want to grow good paying jobs in the private sector... +p1965 +aV...you don't grow the economy by putting more people on food stamps, more people in Medicaid, you grow the economy by cutting government, cutting spending. That's what we've done in Louisiana, you haven't done that in New Jersey... +p1966 +aV...We need a conservative, not a big government republican in D.C. +p1967 +aV...This is how we.... +p1968 +aV...This is how we move our country forward, look, this is not about between me and Chris... +p1969 +aV...This is about......are we going to be the party... +p1970 +aVWell, look, only one other opponent, actually, one other candidate, actually, has a plan. That's Jeb Bush, and he creates a new entitlement program. My plan actually gets rid of all of Obamacare, it's great that Senator Cruz will shut down the government over Obamacare, but he still hasn't given us his plan to get rid of it. It's great that other republicans talk about getting rid of it. You go to a town hall in Iowa, or New Hampshire, ask them how they're actually going to get rid of it \u2014 my plan has been online for over a year. It gets rid of all of Obamacare, it reduces the cost. It actually puts Americans, their patients, their doctors back in control. And, it actually helps those that really need this help \u2014 but, this is one of the most critical issues we face domestically. I think I \u2014 look, right now, I think I am the only candidate running that refused to expand Medicaid. I'm the only one that turned down \u2014 that did what we could to fight Obamacare. This is an important point, and, look, I appreciate Chris's nice compliments to me. And, Chris, you look to me very well, I love Mary-pat, but this isn't about me and Chris. This is about the country, and this is about what direction \u2014 this is the most important election in our lifetimes. Folks, a couple of years ago they told us give them the republican majorities in the House and the Senate, they'd stop Obamacare, and amnesty, and the bad Iran deal \u2014 nothing changed. If they fooled us once, shame on them. If they fooled us twice, shame on us. Don't let them fool us again. Chris, look, I'll give you your ribbon for participation, and a juicebox, but in the real world, it's about results......but, in the real world it's about results. It's about actually cutting government spending, not just talking about cutting government spending. +p1971 +aVWe can waste our time. And I think this is why people were so frustrated with the last debate with these kinds of silly questions. We've only got a certain amount of time to talk about the economy. Let me use my time to say this. I want to fire everybody in D.C. in both parties. I think they all \u2014 we need term limits, get rid of them all, make them live under the same rules they passed on the rest of us. +p1972 +aVSo under our tax plan, look, the top rate is 25 percent, 10 percent, 2 percent. That 2 percent is the most important. I think everybody should pay something. I think everybody should have skin in the game. We shouldn't be creating one group of Americans that's dependent on government, another group that's paying taxes. I want to come back to an earlier point though, that Chris said. Look, we all agree Hillary Clinton is bad. We all agree we need to beat her. But let's not pretend that out-of-control government spending is only a Democratic issue. This is a bipartisan issue, and just sending another big government Republican to D.C. is not good enough. We need to actually cut government spending. We need to cut \u2014 and we're not going to do it just by sending any Republican. I'm glad he's vetoed taxes. The Tax Foundation graded New Jersey the 50th worst business climate due to taxes, high taxes in the state of New Jersey. +p1973 +aVWell, a couple of reasons. Look, we know big companies don't pay those taxes today. They hire lobbyists and accountants and lawyers. It's the small businesses that get hit. I want to get rid of the corporate tax, I want to bring the jobs and investment back to America. Make the CEOs pay the same rates as everybody else. Get rid of all the corporate welfare as well. Like I said, make everybody pay something, earned success is so much better than unearned success. And let's actually shrink the size of government. My plan purposely does that. Look, we can talk all night about tax plans, energy plans, I think you will find a lot of agreement among all the Republicans. We all want to get rid of the death tax, the marriage penalty. We all want lower, fewer brackets. We want to downsize, take away power from the IRS. What we really need to be talking about is this, these last seven years, we've had more government spending, more government dependence. Poverty has gone up. Inequality has gone up. Only the top 10 percent have seen their incomes go up \u2014 their median incomes go up. We actually have more inequality thanks to what we have seen, the largest most expensive experiment in progressive government. We can't keep spending money we don't have. And the reality is, the last couple of years it hasn't mattered whether Republicans or Democrats were in control. We keep stealing from our children. That is immoral. It is wrong. And we're creating more government dependence. If we really want to grow the economy, yes, you need a rational energy plan, and you've got to rein in the EPA, and you've got to repeal Obamacare, and you've got to cut taxes. But none of that will be enough if we're not serious about cutting government spending. We cannot afford to elect a big- government Republican. We need somebody. This is the most important election. Hillary Clinton is gift-wrapping this election to us. Let's not waste this opportunity to apply conservative principles and cut the size of government. +p1974 +aVWell, a couple things, first, I want to echo what others have said and thank those veterans that run towards danger, not away from it, so we can live in the greatest country in the history of the world. I think every veteran should get that card, and they should be allowed to get that health care wherever they want in the private sector. But, I also think \u2014 or the public sector, I also think we need to fire some of the V.A. bureaucrats. Somebody should go to jail over these scandals, and it is a crime that it has not happened. When it comes \u2014 when it comes to uniting the American people, one of the things we've done to honor our veterans in Louisiana, we've given thousands \u2014 and I've hand delivered these, to veterans \u2014 medals to veterans to thank them for their service. I'll just give you one quick example, I know my time is out, but, we've had Vietnam war veterans with tears in their eyes saying nobody has ever thanked them before. We've had World War II veterans, children, who said they never heard the stories of their parents heroic sacrifice. Whatever conflict, whenever they served, one of the things we can do is to teach our children we do live in the greatest country in the history of the world. We got a president who doesn't believe in American exceptionalism, but we still do, and it's because of those men and women in uniform. We should thank them everyday, not just veterans day. +p1975 +aVYou know, I have spent a lot of time tonight talking about the need to cut the size of government. The reason I'm doing that \u2014 it's not just about balancing the budget, or balancing a bunch of numbers. Because I believe in the American dream. I think President Obama's done a lot of damage to our country. I think that one of the worst things he has done is try to change the idea of America to be one of dependence. There are a lot of politicians that talk about cutting government spending, I'm the only one that's actually done it that's running for President. The rest of them, it's a lot of hot air. If you want your paychecks to go up, if you want more good paying jobs, if you want the government out of your lives, we've got to cut the size of government. It's not enough just to elect any republican, we've seen that. We've got to elect a republican that will take on the establishment in both parties. I'm asking for your support. Thank you. +p1976 +aVI think the reason voters are so frustrated is nothing seems to change in D.C. Look, over the next several hours, you're going to hear several Republicans all tell you they want to shrink the size of government and grow the American economy and it sounds great and we've got to do it. Here's the truth \u2014 of all these folks talking, I'm the only one that has cut the size of government. There's not two of us, there's one of us. The rest of it is all just hot air. When politicians talk, we need to pay attention to what they do, not what they say. I'm the only one that's reduced the size of government. Let's shrink the government economy. Let's grow the American economy. +p1977 +aVWell, look, I think that's a false choice. I think this is a very bad deal. Whenever they tell us in D.C. they're going to cut tomorrow, that means they're never going to cut. Tomorrow never seems to happen. Instead, why don't we actually follow our conservative principles? Why not insist on structural reforms? Why not cut spending? I don't mean strength (ph) the growth rate, I mean, actually spend less. Why not a balanced budget in the amendment \u2014 an amendment to the Constitution? Why not a super-majority vote before they grow our taxes, before they grow the government faster than the economy? Let's be honest, $18 trillion dollars of debt. Record low participation rate in the workforce, record number of Americans on food stamps. We are going the way of Europe. The left is trying to turn the American Dream into the European Nightmare. If you're a Republican... +p1978 +aV... willing to stand up and fight... +p1979 +aVI think that's a false choice. If I were \u2014 I were to lead, we would pass a conservative budget, challenge the President to do the right thing. And, here's the problem, the Republicans never want to fight. Give Pelosi and Reed credit, they forced Obamacare and socialism down our throats, why won't the Republicans fight half as hard for freedom and opportunity. This was a bad budget. +p1980 +aVAbsolutely, Jhon. And what we did is we cut state spending. We've cut our budget 26 percent, according to Cato and other analysis, the only candidate that's actually reduced government spending. Look, the left always complains there's not enough money for government. We have 30,000 fewer state employees than the day I took office, eight credit upgrades, we're a top 10 state for private sector job creation. We've got a choice. You grow the government economy or the American economy. When I became governor, we had 25 years in a row of outmigration. We were coming back from Katrina. The question many were asking, will Louisiana rebuild, should Louisiana rebuild? Seven years in a row, more people moving into the state than were leaving the state. We now have more people working than ever before, erg a higher income than ever before. Yes, we've reduced the size of government. That's exactly what we need to do in DC. In DC, the Republicans slowed the growth rate, they claimed victory. That's not enough. Let's be honest with where we are today. We are running off of a cliff. Look, we'll be the next Greece and we can talk and we can rearrange the chairs. Over over $18 trillion of debt, no wonder our economy has been stagnant. We haven't had real growth. If you're a young student here, you've not seen a robust American economy. +p1981 +aVWell, Jhon, a couple of things. Not only did we not raise taxes, we did the largest income tax cut in the state's history. And I'm proud of that record. I think that's the kind of leadership voters want in DC. Look, if you want a Republican that's going go grow government spending, if you want a \u2014 a president or if you want a candidate who's going to income taxes, I'm not your guy. If you want somebody that's going to do and say the things that can't be said, can't be done, I'm asking a vote for me to join my cause. That's how dangerous these times are. This is \u2014 this is a \u2014 this is \u2014 these are dangerous times for America. I think we have a chance to rescue the idea of America, but if we don't do it now, four years will be too late from now. So, yes, I'm proud we cut taxes, we cut spending, 30,000 fewer state government bureaucrats than the day I took office. I absolutely will do that in DC. +p1982 +aVThank you. +p1983 +aVAbsolutely, John. I'd go further. My tax plan, like everybody's, like a lot of Republicans' \u2014 look, I'd get rid of the death penalty and the marriage penalty, and I'd simplify the brackets to 25 percent, 10 percent, 2 percent, so that an average middle-class family \u2014 a teacher marries a law enforcement official (ph)... +p1984 +aV...I \u2014 I'm gonna get that. Pays 25 percent today, would pay 10 percent under my plan. But my plan does three things different from other people's plans. One \u2014 remember, I said 2 percent. I think everybody should pay something, even if it's only 2 percent. That's the most important 2 percent in my plan. I know a lot of Republicans brag \u2014 y'all can clap, it doesn't scare me. Go ahead. I heard some people. There are millions of \u2014 there are millions of folks that wouldn't pay taxes in Jeb's plan and Trump's plan. I think that's a mistake. In terms of the corporate tax, secondly, I'd get rid of the corporate tax. We do have the highest corporate tax rate in the developed world. I'd get rid of it. I'd get rid of all the corporate welfare. Make the CEOs pay their same tax rates the way the rest of us do. And third, I'd purposely shrink the size of government. You know, that is a \u2014 that is an intentional feature of my plan. We've got a choice: do we grow government \u2014 the government economy, or the American economy? So I say get rid of the corporate tax, bring those jobs and investment here to the United States, stop sending jobs and investment overseas. +p1985 +aVLook, I think the government should work to change that, but that doesn't \u2014 does not mean I'm for the government mandating that. We already have too many government mandates out of DC. Do I want people to have paid leave? Sure. Do I want people to earn higher wages? Sure. Do I want them to have better benefits? Sure. The government can't wave a magic wand and make that happen. Here's the problem. The last seven years, President Obama has tried to teach the American people that government is the answer to all of our problems. Where has that gotten us? We're on a path toward socialism. The way that folks can get better paying jobs with better benefits is if we have a growing economy. That means to repeal all of ObamaCare, a lower flatter tax code. That means that we have an energy plan that makes sense. That means that we embrace an all of the above approach to energy. Those are good paying jobs \u2014 $50,000, $70,000, $90,000 a year jobs with benefits. But this president won't let us produce more energy on our domestic federal lands and waters. He won't allow the Canadians to build the Keystone Pipeline. He's got an EPA that's doing everything they can to kill private sector jobs in America. So, yes, I want families to have better paying jobs and better benefits, but we're not going to get that with a government mandate, we're going to get that with a growing economy. +p1986 +aVA couple things. You're talking about payroll taxes that fund programs. People pay for their Medicare, they pay for their Social Security. I want every American to worry and care about how those folks in D.C. are spending our money. If $18 trillion of debt \u2014 they're misspending our money. Earned success is so much more fulfilling than unearned success. I don't want us to continue to create one class of Americans that pays income taxes, that pays for government, another class of Americans that's growing more and more dependent on government. That's what we have today. Socialism is bad, not only for taxpayers, but people that they say they're trying to help. There's dignity in work, dignity in self-sufficiency. I wanna quote you a president. Our previous president said this: he said, "the problem is, is that tax rates are too high, government income revenues are too low." He said, "paradoxically, lowering tax rates now is the best way to produce higher government revenues later." No, that wasn't President Reagan, as many are probably guessing at home. That was President Kennedy. I see you know the answer. That was President Kennedy. Imagine if he were alive today \u2014 and if he was at that last Democratic debate, imagine if you tried to say that in a party that's veering towards socialism. That wouldn't be welcome in today's Democratic party. +p1987 +aVWell, thank you. Look, if Senator Santorum wants to concede the tax cut wing of the Republican Party, I'm happy to fight for that side of the Republican Party. He's exactly right. I explicitly want to shrink the size of government; 22 percent over 10 years is not too much. We cut our state budget 26 percent in eight years. This is a fundamental choice. We mustn't become a cheaper version of the Democratic Party, a second liberal party. We need to proudly say we're willing to cut taxes, shrink government, grow the American economy. President Kennedy said it to the Democratic Party. Why can't we say it in the Republican Party in 2015, let's cut taxes. +p1988 +aVJohn, our budget is balanced. We balanced our budget every year for eight years. Yeah, we've had to cut spending. You know what? We privatized or closed nine of our 10 charity hospitals. We did statewide school choice; $1.6 billion (ph) budget cut. You're quoting an old number from the beginning of the year. We closed that gap. What they talk about, just like D.C., government's the only place where you give them less money than they wanted, they count it as a cut. They take last year's budget. They add inflation. They call it a baseline. We need to do zero-based budgets. We need to say just because you got money last year, you don't have it this year. Let me close, though. We balanced our budget. We didn't raise taxes. In eight years, we never raised taxes. We cut taxes. Our \u2014 our taxpayers, our families have been better off for it. +p1989 +aV absolutely they should be accountable. They should be accountable to their students through the market. Look, you either trust the American people to make their own choices or you don't. I know the Left thinks we need to be protected from ourselves. President Obama is trying to limit competition to the higher education market. As a result, you're going to see tuition prices continue to go up. We've had $1 trillion of student debt and counting. And he wants to exempt certain schools from the same oversight he wants to apply only to the for-profit market. For some reason, the private sector is a bad word to this president. It's not in the real world. In Louisiana, we fought so that the dollars follow the child and so the child following the dollar. What that means, from K-12, what that means is that parents and their families can decide what's the best way for their children to be educated. Higher education, we have a +p1990 +aVI was just saying to my colleagues, I may be the last person in this audience without an iPhone. I'm actually one of the last folks \u2014 I still have a BlackBerry in my pocket. And I basically use it for scheduling. I use it to keep up when my wife is here and my three kids at home. The only games on that phone are Bricklayer. I use it to keep up with the news through the Internet. I may be the last American out there without an iPhone. +p1991 +aVMy apologies. +p1992 +aVWell, absolutely, when the Saints go back to repeat, we were talking about beer sales earlier, all those folks from being hung over in Louisiana from drinking to celebrate Drew Brees winning this, I think it would be a great day to take off. No, look, on a serious note, I do want to say this about the Super Bowl and our athletes. They can be great role models for our children and I'm obviously a Saints fan. Drew Brees and his wife great role models, great Christians. So, yes, it should be a holiday. +p1993 +aVMy message is to conservatives, this is our hour. Thanks to the insanity, the incompetence of the Democratic party, the American people are ready to turn our government over to us. It's not enough to let just any Republican, however. The reality is the idea of America is slipping away. As Christians, we believe that the tomb is empty. As Americans, we believe that our best days are always ahead of us, and they can be again. We must win this election. We cannot allow Hillary Clinton to take us down this path towards socialism \u2014 further down this path. I've got the courage to apply our conservative principles. I can't do it alone. With your help, with God's grace, we can save the idea of America before it's too late. +p1994 +aVHi, I'm Bobby Jindal. Now, look, I don't have a famous last name. My daddy didn't run for president. I don't have a reality TV show. I'll tell you what I do have, I've got the backbone, I've got the bandwidth, I've got the experience to get us through these tough times, to make sure that we don't turn the American dream into the European nightmare. Thank you for having me today. +p1995 +aVWell, Jake, I'm in compliance with the 11th Commandment, and I would tell my fellow Republicans, let's stop treating Donald Trump like a Republican. If he were really a conservative... If he were really a conservative and 30 points ahead, I would endorse him. He's not a conservative. He's not a liberal. He's not a Democrat. He's not a Republican. He's not an independent. He believes in Donald Trump. Here is the reality, the idea of America is slipping away. Eighteen trillion dollars of debt, Planned Parenthood selling baby parts across our country. Our government is creating a new entitlement program, when we can't afford the government we've got today. We've got a president who won't even say the words radical Islamic terrorism. He has declared war on trans fats and a truce with Iran. Think about that. He's more worried about Twinkies than he is about the ayatollahs having a nuclear weapon. That's what is happening, the idea of America is slipping away. We must not let that happen on our watch. We have a once in a lifetime opportunity to rescue the idea of America, the choice for conservatives. Do we depend on proven conservative principles like Ronald Reagan did, or do we turn this over to a narcissist who only believes in himself... +p1996 +aVThank you, Jake. +p1997 +aVAbsolutely. Look, the reality is, Hillary Clinton is gift-wrapping this election to us. They are running their weakest candidate. They have got a socialist that is gaining on Hillary Clinton. Folks, you can't make that up. A socialist is doing well in the Democratic primary. The best way for us to give this election back would be to nominate a Donald Trump. He'll implode in the general election, or if, God forbid, if he were in the White House, we have no idea what he would do. You can't just attack him on policy. He doesn't care about policy. It's not enough to say he was for socialized medicine or higher taxes... +p1998 +aVHe's not serious. +p1999 +aVYeah, I wanted to clarify -- I want to make very clear that everybody understands my position is, we need to secure the border, period. Any talk of doing any more -- we don't need a comprehensive plan, don't need an 1,000-page bill, like the Gang of Eight. We don't need amnesty. Everybody in D.C. talks about it. We need to get it done. As president, I'll get it done in six months. It won't be perfect, but we can get it done. I'm not for amnesty. We do need to secure the border. A smart immigration makes our -- our country stronger. Right now, we've got a weak one. One of the things I've said -- I know the left -- I know Hillary didn't like this -- immigration without assimilation is invasion. We need to insist the people who come here come here legally, learn English, adopt our values, roll up their sleeves and get to work. We do need to secure the border. +p2000 +aVDana, that's not right. What I've said consistently is secure the border. I've said after that is done, the American people will deal with the folks that are here pragmatically and compassionately. Now, Rick, if he wants to say that Rubio, Senator Rubio, or Jeb or others are for amnesty, that's his right. I'm not for amnesty. I've never been for amnesty, will never be for amnesty. Secure the border. We don't need to do that as a comprehensive -- I've also said we need to put an end to sanctuary cities. It's not enough to defund them; I think we need to criminalize, accuse and jail those mayors and councilman as accessories... ( +p2001 +aV... for the crimes committed by people who shouldn't be here in the first place. +p2002 +aVJake, look, America's the most compassionate country in the entire world. We do more for folks around this world, and that's the nature of the American people. Two things. One, let us draw line, a direct line, between this refugee crisis, and this president's failed foreign policy. Jake, look, America is the most compassionate country in the entire world. We do more for folks around this world. And that's the nature of the American people. Two things: one, let us draw a line, a direct line between this refugee crisis and this president's failed foreign policy. He drew a red line in Syria and did not enforce it and now we're seeing millions of refugees potentially, hundreds of thousands going into Europe. The answer is not to put a Band-aid on this and allow even more people to come into America. We should not short-circuit; we have got a vetting process, we've got a normal refugee process. Simply allowing more into our country doesn't solve this problem. The way to solve this problem is for us to be clear to our friends and allies that we're going to replace Assad, we're going to hunt down and destroy +p2003 +aVWe -- it is important we insist on that in immigration going -- +p2004 +aVLook, absolutely. We need to do whatever is necessary to hunt down and kill these radical Islamic terrorists but this president has helped -- his policies have helped to contribute to this problem. He went to the Pentagon the same week they announced they were cutting back the number of troops in the Army to say that we're not going to win this through guns, it's going to be a change of hearts and minds. This will be a generational conflict, that is nonsense. These are barbarians. They are burning, crucifying people alive, Christians and other Muslims. We need to hunt them down and -- +p2005 +aV-- by having a president willing to -- +p2006 +aV-- Islamic -- +p2007 +aVWell, Jake, look, I think the American people -- we don't discriminate anybody based on the color of their skin or their creed. I think the way you strike that balance, you say to Muslim leaders, they have got two responsibilities. One, it's not enough to denounce just simply generic acts of violence. They have got to denounce the individuals by name, and say these are not martyrs. These terrorists are not martyrs; rather, they are going straight to hell. They are not going to enjoy a reward in their afterlife. Secondly, they have to explicitly embrace the same freedoms for everybody else they want for themselves. Look, I know it's politically incorrect to say this, the president says Fort Hood was an issue of workplace violence. We are at war with radical Islam. Our president loves to apologize for America, he goes to the National Prayer Breakfast, brings up the Crusades, criticizes Christians. We're at war today with radical Islamic extremists. It's not politically correct to say that, but the way you strike that balance, you say to Muslim leaders, denounce these fools, these radical terrorists by name, say they are not martyrs. +p2008 +aVSure, I don't think a 14-year-old should ever get arrested for bringing a clock to school. So, if you're asking me I'm glad he wasn't -- he was released. I'm glad that police are careful. I'm glad they are worried about security and safety issues. Look, in America we don't tolerate them. The biggest discrimination is going on against Christian business owners and individuals who believe in traditional forms of marriage. They are throwing this woman in jail in Kentucky. Let's talk about that. Let's talk about the Christian florist, the caterer, the musician, who simply want to say, don't arrest us for having -- or don't discriminate against us, don't shut down our businesses, don't fine us thousands of dollars for believing marriage is between a man and a woman. Lets talk about not discriminating against Christians. +p2009 +aVJake -- Jake... +p2010 +aVJake, I've got a practical question. +p2011 +aVI've got a practical question. I'd like the left to give us a list of jobs that Christians aren't allowed to have. If we're not allowed to be clerks, bakers, musicians, caterers, are we allowed to be pastors ? +p2012 +aVWe're not allowed to be elected officials. I firmly -- this is an important point. The First Amendment rights, the right to religious freedom is in the First Amendment of "The Constitution." It isn't breaking the law to exercise our constitutional rights. America did not create religious liberty, religious liberty created the United States of America. It is the reason we're here today. +p2013 +aVI think actually putting Roberts, I think putting Kennedy, I think putting -- before them, I think putting Souter on the bench was a mistake. But look, I think the -- the first responsibility starts in the White House. The reality is conservatives have not been willing to stand up for our beliefs, unlike the liberals -- look, you never worry about where the Democratic judges are going to vote, it's always the conservatives. You've never had a Democratic judge wake up and say, surprise, I've evolved, I've become a conservative. It's always the Republicans, because we have presidents that try to find judges with no records, no rulings, no writings. I'll tell you, I am going to have a litmus test. For judges, I'm going to find judges that are conservative, judges that are going to be pro-life, judges that are going to follow "The Constitution," judges, by the way, that are going to follow the American law, not international law. They're not appointed there to interpret international law, they're there to apply "The United States Constitution." Judges understand, their job is not to write law. If they want to write law, they should run for the Senate or the House. It's time for a Republican president as the next commander in chief, I will do as the Democrats have done. I will appoint bold judges that are actually consistent with my values that will be conservatives and enforce the Senate -- +p2014 +aVThank you, Jake. But look, it's not a minor ruling. Justice Roberts twice rewrote the law to save ObamaCare, the biggest expansion of government, creating a new entitlement when we can't afford the government we've got today, an expansion of socialism in our country. It's not that he got a minor ruling wrong. This is twice he rewrote the law. Now, look, I have a lot of respect for these senators that have big bladders. They give great speeches in the Senate. And I respect that. I've actually signed the executive order. I've actually signed a law protecting religious liberty in the state of Louisiana. It's not 99-1. The one that he got wrong was a big one. Twice he bent over backwards to save ObamaCare. If the Republicans had voted the way that we should -- they should have, we would still have our 19th Amendment rights and ObamaCare would not be the law of the land. +p2015 +aVNo. And it's not only whether they can win. They shouldn't win this election cycle. One of the things I do agree -- and I want to thank Donald Trump after I've criticized him for everything from being a narcissist to an egomaniac -- one of the things he was right about was to say nonsense to the D.C. establishment. It is time to fire all of them. You've got a choice between honest Socialists on the Left, like Bernie Sanders, and lying conservatives on the Right. We have got the majority; what good has it done us? See, they said they were going to stop amnesty. They said they were going to repeal ObamaCare. They didn't do either. Now they're not even willing to fight to defund Planned Parenthood. They've already -- McConnell has already waved the white flag of defeat. They are not willing to stand up to fight for the issues that count. I think it is time to have term limits. I think it's time to have part-time citizen legislators. Let's pay them a per diem instead of a six-figure salary, stop them from being seven-figure lobbyists. Let's also pay them a per diem for every day they don't go to D.C. Let's keep them out of D.C., working in the real -- -- let's make them live under the same rules and laws they apply to the rest of us. Not only shouldn't they be elected, they can't be elected. Let's fire all of them from their current positions. +p2016 +aVTwo things, Jake. One, I'm absolutely for all of these carve-outs and loopholes and special interests for as -- they get lobbyists. They get sweetheart deals you and I and the rest of this audience couldn't get. So as part of an overall comprehensive tax reform that has a lower, flatter tax code, sure. As a single, I am just to raise taxes, no. I don't want to give the government more money. The government has grown over this president where now, it's going to overwhelm the American economy. We've got to cut the size of the government economy. Nobody else running for president has done that. I'm the only candidate. I've cut my state budget 26 percent. Everybody else talks about it, we have done it. So, there's a part of overall tax reform that cuts rates, flattens and lowers the tax code, sure. But I'm not for raising taxes on anybody. We already have too much money going to D.C. +p2017 +aVJake, I'd like to answer that question. +p2018 +aVWell, Jake, I want to answer that question. I want to go back to Iran. I didn't get a chance to answer that as well. Look, on Russia, across the world, dictators walk all over this president. He treats our friends like dirt. He lets our enemies walk all over us. The only group he's able to out-negotiate are the Senate Republicans. They never should've passed this bad Corker bill. Instead of a two-thirds vote to reject -- to approve the Iran deal, now it takes a two-thirds vote to reject the Iran deal. I want to ask Lindsey a question. Will the Senate Republicans -- they still have time -- are they willing to use the nuclear option, meaning get rid of the filibusters, stop Iran from becoming a nuclear power? Now is the time for the Senate Republicans to stand up and fight. We are tired of the establishment saying there's nothing we can do. All night tonight, we've heard Republicans say things like, "Well, if the Supreme Court's ruled, there's nothing I can do about religious liberty," you know. "The president did this. There's nothing we can do about it for two more years." There is something we can do. We won the Senate. We won the House. What was the point of winning those chambers if we're not going to do anything with them? You're going back tonight. You still have time before the Thursday deadline. Will y'all use the nuclear option to stop Iran from becoming a nuclear power? +p2019 +aVLindsey... +p2020 +aVLindsey, well, that's my frustration. Listen to what you've heard. You -- you basically heard a Senate Republican say, "We can't defund Planned Parenthood, despite these barbaric videos." +p2021 +aV"We can't -- we can't..." +p2022 +aV"... we can't get rid of Obamacare" -- Lindsey, let me answer this question now. I wish the Senate Republicans had half the fight in them the Senate Democrats did. Look, President Obama didn't give up on Obamacare when they lost the Senate election in Massachusetts. I want my side to follow the Constitution. They broke the Constitution, they broke the law, but they forced Obamacare down our throats, even when they didn't have 60 votes. I wish Republicans in D.C. had half the fight of the Senate Democrats to get rid of Obamacare, to defund Planned Parenthood. If we can't defund Planned Parenthood now, if we can't stand for innocent human life after these barbaric videos, it is time to be done with the Republican Party. We defunded them in Louisiana. Let's defund them in D.C. If we can't win... +p2023 +aV-- on that issue, there is no point for being cheaper Democrats, no point grabbing a second liberal party. It is time to get rid of the Republican Party, start over with a new one that's at least conservative. Give Harry Reid and Pelosi credit. At least they fight for what they believe in. I want senators and House members in DC to fight for what we believe in, as well. It's time to have Republican... +p2024 +aV-- with a backbone in DC. +p2025 +aVJake, I'm a doer, not a talker. Look, the idea of America is slipping away from us. If you want somebody who is going to manage the slow decline of this country, makes incremental changes, vote for somebody else. If you want to vote for somebody who understands what is at stake -- Planned Parenthood is selling baby parts across this country, and the Senate Republicans have already given up, even without a fight. I am tired of this surrender (ph) caucus, I am angrier at the Republicans in D.C. than I am at the president. The president is a socialist. At least he fights for what we believe in. We don't need to just send any Republican to the White House. We need to sent somebody who understands that it's time to make big changes. It's time to take on the establishment, it's time to take on the D.C. permanent governing class. Every Republican says they will shrink the size of the government. I'm the only one that has done it. Cut our budget 26 percent. If you want somebody that's going to make incremental change, vote for somebody else. It's time to get the idea of America back. At some point, we're going to be held -- we'll be asked, what did you do when the idea of America was slipping away? I'll promise you this. I will give every ounce of blood, energy, sweat I've got to save the idea of America, the greatest country in the history of the world. +p2026 +asVWALLACE +p2027 +(lp2028 +VAlso of note, Fox News is partnering for tonight's debate with Facebook. For the past several weeks, we've been asking you for questions for the candidates on Facebook. Nearly 6 million of you, 6 million, viewed the debate videos on our site, and more than 40,000 of you submitted questions: some of which you will hear us asking the candidates tonight. +p2029 +aVKentucky Senator Rand Paul. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. And your very own governor of Ohio... ... John Kasich. +p2030 +aVBrett -- Brett, I think you would call that a home field advantage. +p2031 +aVSenator Rubio, when Jeb Bush announced his candidacy for presidency, he said this: "There's no passing off responsibility when you're a governor, no blending into the legislative crowd." Could you please address Governor Bush across the stage here, and explain to him why you, someone who has never held executive office, are better prepared to be president than he is, a man who you say did a great job running your state of Florida for eight years. +p2032 +aVSenator Cruz, your colleague, Senator Paul, right there next to you, said a few months ago he agrees with you on a number of issues, but he says you do nothing to grow the party. He says you feed red meat to the base, but you don't reach out to minorities. You have a toxic relationship with GOP leaders in Congress. You even called the Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell a liar recently. How can you win in 2016 when you're such a divisive figure? +p2033 +aVGovernor Huckabee, like Governor Walker, you have staked out strong positions on social issues. You favor a constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage. You favor a constitutional amendment banning abortions, except for the life of the mother. Millions of people in this country agree with you, but according to the polls, and again this an electability question, according to the polls, more people don't, so how do you persuade enough Independents and Democrats to get elected in 2016? +p2034 +aVGentlemen, we're turning to a new subject that all of you have been talking about and some of you have been disagreeing about, and that is the issue of immigration. Governor Bush, you released a new plan this week on illegal immigration focusing on enforcement, which some suggest is your effort to show that you're not soft on that issue. I want to ask you about a statement that you made last year about illegal immigrants. And here's what you said. "They broke the law, but it's not a felony, it's an act of love. It's an act of commitment to your family." Do you stand by that statement and do you stand by your support for earned legal status? +p2035 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, it has not escaped anybody's notice that you say that the Mexican government, the Mexican government is sending criminals -- rapists, drug dealers, across the border. Governor Bush has called those remarks, quote, "extraordinarily ugly." I'd like you -- you're right next to him -- tell us -- talk to him directly and say how you respond to that and -- and you have repeatedly said that you have evidence that the Mexican government is doing this, but you have evidence you have refused or declined to share. Why not use this first Republican presidential debate to share your proof with the American people? +p2036 +aVMr. Trump, I'll give you 30 seconds -- I'll give you 30 seconds to answer my question, which was, what evidence do you have, specific evidence that the Mexican government is sending criminals across the border? Thirty seconds. +p2037 +aVAll right. Obviously there's a lot more to talk about this. We're going to have more questions for the candidates on illegal immigration, plus other key topics including your questions on Facebook. +p2038 +aVWelcome back to FOX News/Facebook Republican Debate Night. We're going to continue the questions now on illegal immigration. We kind of ended with a cliffhanger there. So let's continue the conversation. Governor Kasich, I know you don't like to talk about Donald Trump. But I do want to ask you about the merit of what he just said. When you say that the American government is stupid, that the Mexican government is sending criminals, that we're being bamboozled, is that an adequate response to the question of illegal immigration? +p2039 +aVRespectfully, can we talk about illegal immigration? +p2040 +aVAll right, well, Senator Rubio, let me see if I can do better with you. Is it as simple as our leaders are stupid, their leaders are smart, and all of these illegals coming over are criminals? +p2041 +aVGovernor Walker. Governor Walker, from 2002 until as recently as 2013, just two years ago, you supported comprehensive immigration reform, including a path to citizenship. Now you say that was a quick reaction to something you hadn't really thought about, and that you've changed your mind. Other than politics, could you explain why in the last two years you've changed your position on a path to citizenship, and are there other past positions that we shouldn't hold you to? +p2042 +aVSenator Cruz, some 1,400 people submitted questions on this very hot topic of illegal immigration on Facebook, and a number of them were about the murder of Kate Steinle in San Francisco, allegedly shot down by an illegal. Doug Bettencourt sent this question, "will you support Kate Steinle's Law," which would impose a mandatory five-year prison term for an illegal who is deported and then returns to this country? "And will you defund sanctuary cities for violating federal law?" +p2043 +aVGentlemen, we're obviously digging into some subjects in depth, but we're also going to change it up every once in a while throughout the next hour and have many rounds where we ask, you are not going to like it, only a couple of candidates questions on those subjects. This is the first of the many rounds, and it's about somebody whose name probably hasn't been mentioned enough so far tonight. Governor Kasich, let me start with you. Whoever the Republican nominee -- Whoever the Republican nominee is, it looks at least for now like whoever that nominee is, he or she, will be facing off against Hillary Clinton. You know how she will come after whoever the Republican nominee is. She will say that you, whoever it is, support the rich while she supports the middle class. That you want to suppress the rights of women and minorities. She wants to move the country forward while you, the Republicans, want to take the country back to the past. How will you, if you're the nominee, how will you answer that and take Hillary Clinton on? +p2044 +aVI know that all of you would like to answer this question, but we're only going to ask one other candidate before we move on to a different subject, Dr. Carson. Basically, same question to you. If Hillary Clinton is the nominee and she comes at you with that kind of line of attack, how will you take Iraq? +p2045 +aVGentlemen, we're going to turn now to the subject of the economy, jobs and money and the government. And Governor Bush, I'm going to start with you. You have made a bold promise in your announcement. You have promised four percent economic growth and 19 million new jobs if you are fortunate enough to serve two terms as president. That many jobs, 19 million, would be triple what your father and your brother accomplished together. And four percent growth, the last president to average that was Lyndon Johnson during the height of the Vietnam War. So question, how on Earth specifically would you pull that off? +p2046 +aVGovernor Walker. Governor Walker, when you ran for governor of Wisconsin back in 2010, you promised that you would create 250,000 jobs in your first term, first four years. In fact, Wisconsin added barely half that and ranked 35th in the country in job growth. Now you're running for president, and you're promising an economic plan in which everyone will earn a piece of the American dream. Given your record in Wisconsin, why should voters believe you? +p2047 +aVGovernor Christie, I want to engage you and Governor Huckabee in a subject that is a big issue in both of your campaigns, and that is entitlement reform. You say that you -- to save the system that you want to raise the retirement age -- have to raise the retirement age, and to cut benefits for Social Security and Medicare, and you say that some of the candidates here on the stage are lying. Governor Huckabee says he can save Social Security and Medicare without doing any of that. Is he lying? +p2048 +aVGovernor Huckabee? You say that changing entitlements, the kind of thing that Governor Christie is talking about, would be breaking a promise to the American people, and you say that you can keep those programs, save Social Security, save Medicare, without those kinds of reforms through a FairTax, which is a broad tax on consumption. Please explain to Governor Christie how that would work, and how you could save these programs without the kind of painful reforms he says we need? +p2049 +aV...Thirty seconds. +p2050 +aV...Alright, this is it. Thirty Seconds, finally. +p2051 +aVAll right. Enough. Mr. Trump. +p2052 +aVMr. Trump, you talk a lot about how you are the person on this stage to grow the economy, I want to ask you about your business records. From corporations, Trump corporations, casinos and hotels, have declared bankruptcy four times over the last quarter-century. +p2053 +aVNo, but the concept sir... +p2054 +aV... that's your line, but your companies have gone bankrupt. +p2055 +aVWell sir, let's just talk about the latest example......which is Trump Entertainment Resorts, which went bankrupt in 2009. In that case alone, lenders to your company lost over $1 billion and more than 1,100 people were laid off. +p2056 +aVIs that the way that you'd run the country? +p2057 +aVSo... +p2058 +aVSenator Rubio. Senator Rubio, more than 3,000 people sent us questions about the economy and jobs on Facebook. And here is a video question from Tania Cioloko from Philadelphia. Here she is. +p2059 +aVSenator, how do you answer Tania? +p2060 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. +p2061 +aVSenator Paul, closing statement. +p2062 +aVDr. Carson, closing statement. +p2063 +aVGovernor Bush, closing statement, sir. +p2064 +asVSMITH +p2065 +(lp2066 +VGovernor Huckabee, same question to you. Where do you see the country right now? +p2067 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Thank you, candidates. Moving to the world stage. The middle east is on the brink of chaos. Iran continues to provoke the United States, North Korea claims it's tested a hydrogen bomb, and Afghanistan is in danger of falling back into Taliban hands. Critics of the administration say it's all due to lack of U.S. leadership. To you, Mrs. Fiorina, how do you see America's role in the world today? +p2068 +aVGovernor Huckabee, in Afghanistan, the Taliban is strengthening. Attacks are on the rise and thousands more civilians have been wounded or killed. Much of the Taliban surge can be attributed to the withdrawal of U.S. forces there. You have expressed skepticism with the war there, saying you see no end game in sight. What, then, is your solution to the growing conflict there? +p2069 +aVAll right, thank you, candidates. We're just getting started. Jobs, Homeland Security, gun rights, all those issues are coming up straight ahead. We're live from North Charleston and the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back. +p2070 +aVAll right, let's get started. Senator Santorum, to you first. President Obama has urged technology leaders to make it hard for terrorists to use technology to escape from justice. Hillary Clinton says social media companies can help by swiftly shutting down terrorist accounts. The companies say that they're already working with law enforcement and any proposed legislation would do more harm than good. Should companies like Facebook and Twitter be required by law to more actively \u2014 be more actively engaged in fighting terror? +p2071 +aVSenator, would you \u2014 would you require anything of those companies like Facebook and Twitter if you were president? +p2072 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2073 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee, you called President Obama's executive orders on gun control unconstitutional and completely insane. +p2074 +aVYou even told gun store owners to ignore the President's orders. Yet, innocent people are dying from gun violence in cities like Detroit, Chicago, and Charleston everyday. Is there anything that can be done at the federal level to prevent guns from falling into the hands of criminals? +p2075 +aV +p2076 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p2077 +aVSenator Santorum, many of our military leaders believe America's critical infrastructure is vulnerable to a terrorist attack. This is the power in our homes, the water we drink, the Internet and phone systems by which we stay connected. If attacked, these essential services that underpin American society could come to a grinding halt. Do you have a specific plan to protect us from this type of attack? +p2078 +aVSenator Santorum, I want to stay with you on this, moving to jobs and the economy. In his State of the Union Address the other night, President Obama touted his record on jobs, citing more than 14 million new jobs and boasted of nearly 900,000 manufacturing jobs added in the past six years. Do you dispute his track record of creating jobs? +p2079 +aVGovernor Huckabee, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mike Mullen, has said the greatest threat to our security is our national debt. Our national debt is now on pace to top $19 trillion. Yet, you as well as Ms. Fiorina have laid forward no plan to reform entitlements. How can you say you're going to pay down our country's debt without cutting Social Security or Medicare? +p2080 +aVOK. We're going to continue this conversation. We're taking a quick break and then coming up, the candidates' plans for strengthening the middle class. We're live in North Charleston with the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back. +p2081 +aVAll right, thanks, Trish. Well, let's get started with Ms. Fiorina. Today, the middle class represents about 50 percent of the U.S. population, down from about 61 percent back in 1971. That's according to Pew Research. The same research revealed a widening income gap in America. The rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. What will you do to strengthen a middle class that is no longer the majority? +p2082 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p2083 +aVThank you, Senator. We're not finished yet. More Republican Presidential Debate in North Charleston after this. +p2084 +aVWelcome back, it's time for the closing statements. Candidates will each get one minute, starting with Senator Santorum. Thank you very much, I want to thank the people of Charleston, which has become a little bit of a second home to me, because I am very privileged to have two young men who go to the Citadel here and they're here tonight, my son John and my son Daniel. +p2085 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Governor Mike Huckabee. +p2086 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2087 +aVAlright, this debate will last one hour. Each candidate will have up to 90 seconds to respond to each question. One minute for each follow up. When your time is up, you're going to hear this bell. Alright, that's it, so let's begin with Governor Christie. Governor, economically, our country is struggling with some of the anemic growth we have seen on record. More than 90 million Americans are unemployed, or they are not in the workforce altogether. The number of people now willing, able, and wanting to go to work is at a level that has fallen to a level we have not been since the 1970's. For those that are working, wages aren't budging while other things, costs, like housing, remain high. As President, what concrete steps will you take to get America back to work. +p2088 +aVThank you. Governor Huckabee, we're here Wisconsin, a state that has seen the biggest decline in middle-class households of any American state. With more than 120,000 manufacturing jobs being lost in the last 15 years. As we move away from a manufacturing economy to a services based, technological economy, how are you going to help the millions of Americans that are stuck in this transition? +p2089 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee, you have characterized entitlement reform as both political and economic suicide. Taxpayers currently spend more than $600 billion per year on social welfare programs, with the intended goal of getting people back on their feet and working again. Today a record number of Americans aren't even looking for work. Are our social welfare programs, while well-intended, creating a culture of dependency? If so, how will you fix it? +p2090 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2091 +aVDo you have something to add, Governor? +p2092 +aVAll right. Let's, let's bring Governor Christie in next. +p2093 +aVAll right. Well, let's get the \u2014 let's keep the conversation going. Let's bring Governor Christie in here because we're talking about national debt, climbing toward $19 trillion, Governor. Our federal government employed nearly three million workers, our tax code is more than 74,000 pages long. If you're elected President, Governor Christie, what concrete steps would you take to reduce the size of the federal government? +p2094 +aVGovernor Christie, China is stealing our technology. China is pirating our intellectual property, and China's hacking into our computers, spying on American corporations, and spying on our citizens. China also slaps tariffs on U.S. goods, making it harder for us to sell our products. How are you going to stop them? +p2095 +aV...Alright... +p2096 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p2097 +aVAll right. Governor Jindal, thank you. All right. Well, we are not finished yet. More from the Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee, next. +p2098 +aVSo would you change leadership at the Fed? +p2099 +aVSenator Santorum, thank you. I have a question for all of you. Americans connection to the military has been increasingly fading. As a society, how do we restore that sense of duty, that sense of pride, that was the hallmark of the greatest generation. Again, I'd like to ask each of you, 30 seconds each, beginning with Governor Jindal. +p2100 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p2101 +aVGovernor Christie. +p2102 +aVSenator Santorum. +p2103 +aVAlright, thank you gentlemen. That does it, everyone, for the first debate here in Milwaukee. In just about one hour from now, at 9:00PM Eastern, eight more candidates are going to be taking to the stage. Right now though, special coverage of the Republican Presidential Debate, live from Milwaukee, continues right here on Fox Business. +p2104 +asVBAKER +p2105 +(lp2106 +VThe candidates on stage tonight were selected based on their standing in an average of four national polls. Those standings determining their position on the stage. And here they are. At center stage, businessman Donald Trump. Neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson. +p2107 +aVTonight's rules are simple. Up to 90 second for each answer. One minute for each follow-up response. And if a candidate goes over their allotted time, you'll here this. +p2108 +aVMs. Fiorina, while you've all pointed out how weak the current recovery has been and how disappointing by any historical standards, in the general election, the Democrats will inevitably ask you and voters to compare the recent president's jobs performance. Now, in seven years under President Obama, the U.S. has added an average of 107,000 jobs a month. Under President Clinton, the economy added about 240,000 jobs a month. Under George W. Bush, it was only 13,000 a month. If you win the nomination, you'll probably be facing a Democrat named Clinton. How are you going to respond to the claim that Democratic presidents are better at creating jobs than Republicans? +p2109 +aVThank you. Thank you. Senator Paul, income inequality has been rising in the United States. Fifty years ago, for example, the average CEO of a big corporation in this country earned 20 times the average salary of one of his or her workers. Today, that CEO earns about 300 times the average salary of a worker. Does it matter at all that the gap between the rich and everyone else is widening? +p2110 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2111 +aVSenator Rubio... +p2112 +aVYes, one quick comment, yes. +p2113 +aVGovernor Bush... +p2114 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor, you...You should let Jeb speak. +p2115 +aVMr. Trump, Mr. Trump, you yourself \u2014 you yourself said let Governor Bush speak. Governor Bush? +p2116 +aVSenator Rubio? Senator... +p2117 +aVSenator Rubio, Senator Rubio, let me \u2014 let me take you to a question that I think gets to the root of a lot of the anxiety that people have in this country. The economy is undergoing a transformation through information technology. Americans are anxious that the new economy isn't producing higher-paying jobs. Many are concerned that the new wealth seems to be going mainly to innovators and investors. Meanwhile, with factories run by robots and shopping done increasingly on smartphones, many traditional jobs are just going away. How do you reassure American workers that their jobs are not being steadily replaced by machines? +p2118 +aVThank you. Senator Cruz \u2014 Senator Cruz, entitlements. You've argued for raising the retirement age and reducing benefits for future retirees, but reducing any sort of benefits for the elderly has always been notoriously hard to do politically. When Speaker Paul Ryan proposed replacing traditional Medicare with federally funded private plans a few years ago, a liberal group responded with a commercial that featured a granny being pushed off a cliff. What's going to be different this time? +p2119 +aV...I said for future retirees was your statement... +p2120 +aVSenator Rubio. Can I just come to Senator Rubio? We're coming to you, Mr. Trump, in one second. I \u2014 I promise. +p2121 +aVSenator Rubio, your tax plan includes a large expansion of child tax credits to raise off (ph) the tax incomes for low-income parents. A similar tax credit that you previously proposed in the Senate was estimated to cost as much as $170 billion a year, according to the Tax Foundation. Isn't \u2014 isn't there a risk you're just adding another expensive entitle program to an already overburdened federal budget? +p2122 +aVGovernor Kasich? Let me come to Governor Kasich. +p2123 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p2124 +aVVery quickly, Senator. +p2125 +aVPlease. +p2126 +aV...Gentleman, we need to move on... +p2127 +aV...We need to move... +p2128 +aV...We need too... +p2129 +aV...We do need to move on. Mr. Trump... +p2130 +aV...Very quick. +p2131 +aVLet's talk about \u2014 No, no, Governor, I really must move on. I really want to move on. Mr. Trump, let's talk about the international economy... +p2132 +aV...We really need to move on... +p2133 +aV...No, governor, I promise I will come to you... +p2134 +aV...Listen... +p2135 +aV...Mr. Trump, can I ask you about... +p2136 +aV...the U.S. just concluded an international trade agreement with 11 countries in the Pacific. You've said that you'd rather have no deal... +p2137 +aV...than sign the one that's on the table... +p2138 +aV...Most economists \u2014 most economists say that trade is boosted growth, and every single post war president has supported the expansion of international trade, including the last three republican presidents. Why would you reverse more than 50 years of U.S. trade policy? +p2139 +aVThe \u2014 the deal, as you say, the terms of the deal were published \u2014 were published just last week, the details, 5,000 pages of it, and 80 percent of U.S. trade with countries in the Pacific, these countries, these 11 countries, is actually tariff-free, and these \u2014 the trade deal only affects the other 20 percent. Which \u2014 are there particular parts of the deal that you think were badly negotiated? +p2140 +aVThere was a separate \u2014 separate... +p2141 +aVBut isn't that \u2014 isn't that part of the problem? When I say, Senator, that if \u2014 if this deal is not ratified by \u2014 by the U.S. \u2014 by the Senate, then it would actually give China an opportunity to grow its economic leadership, which it's been seeking to do? And if the U.S. is unable to take part in this trade deal with these countries in Asia, China will take the lead? +p2142 +aVThank you. Thanks, Senator. +p2143 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich, I want to ask you about China, in particular hundreds of American companies have been subjected to cyber attacks from the Chinese military, yet state-backed Chinese companies, growing their presence in the United States, Chinese investments in U.S., which were nearly nonexistent a few years ago, are now over $50 billion. And as my newspaper recently reported, Chinese companies are planning to bid for one of the largest hotel chains in the United States, what would be the largest ever Chinese takeover of a U.S. company. Would you stop them? +p2144 +aVThank you, Governor. Plenty of opportunities. Thank you. Neil? +p2145 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate, live from Milwaukee. Now let's get straight back to the questions, and Governor Bush. Governor, Hillary Clinton recently said that if we had another financial crisis like the one in 2008, she wouldn't bail out the banks. Would you? +p2146 +aVBut, Governor, but can I just quickly \u2014 did \u2014 you can't seriously guarantee that there won't be another financial crisis, can you? +p2147 +aVEver? There will never be another financial crisis? +p2148 +aVDr. Carson, if I may, just on that point, despite measures taken, as the governor says, since the crisis to make the financial system safer, the major banks in the U.S., many of them are actually bigger than ever. Asset held by JPMorgan Chase, for example, the very largest bank, have increased by nearly 40 percent to over $2.6 trillion. Do you think JPMorgan and the other big banks should be broken up? +p2149 +aVBut just to be clear, just \u2014 just to be clear, then, you wouldn't \u2014 you wouldn't favor breaking up the big banks? You think they're big enough \u2014 they're OK as they are, as big as they are? +p2150 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p2151 +aVThank you. +p2152 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate. And now, candidates, it's time for your closing statements. You get 30 seconds each, and, Senator Paul, we will begin with you. +p2153 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p2154 +asVHOLT +p2155 +(lp2156 +VGood evening and welcome to the NBC News Youtube Democratic candidate's debate. After all the campaigning, soon, Americans will have their say with the first votes of the 2016 campaign just 15 days away in Iowa. And New Hampshire not far behind. Tonight will be the final opportunity to see these candidates face to face before the voting begins. Our purpose here tonight is to highlight and examine the differences among the three Democratic candidates. So let's get started. Please welcome Secretary Hillary Clinton, Senator Bernie Sanders and Governor Martin O'Malley. Well, welcome to all of you. Hope you're excited, we're excited. We want to thank our hosts, the Congressional Black Caucus Institute. I'm joined by my colleague Andrea Mitchell tonight. The rules are simple. Sixty seconds for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups or rebuttals. I know you'll all keep exactly to time, so our job should be pretty easy here tonight. We'll have questions from the Youtube community throughout the debate. This is a critical point in the race. You've been defining your differences with each other especially vigorously in the last week on the campaign trail. We're here to facilitate this conversation on behalf of the voters so that they know exactly where you stand as you face off tonight. Let's have a great debate. We'll begin with 45 second opening statements from each candidate, starting with Secretary Clinton. +p2157 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders, your opening statement, sir. +p2158 +aVSenator, thank you. And Governor O'Malley, your opening statement, sir. O' +p2159 +aVAll right. And Governor, thank you. All right, to our first question, now. The first question, I'll be addressing to all of the candidates. President Obama came to office determined to swing for the fences on health care reform. Voters want to know how you would define your presidency? How would you think big? So complete this sentence: in my first 100 days in office, my top three priorities will be \u2014 fill in the blank. Senator Sanders. +p2160 +aVSecretary Clinton, same question, my first 100 days in office, my top three priorities will be. +p2161 +aVGovernor O'Malley, same question. O' +p2162 +aVThank you. You've all... O' +p2163 +aVAll right governor thank you. We've all laid out large visions and we're going to cover a lot of the ground you talked about as we continue in the evening. The last couple of weeks of this campaign have featured some of the sharpest exchanges in the race. Let's start with one of them, the issue of guns. Senator Sanders, last week Secretary Clinton called you quote, "a pretty reliable vote for the gun lobby." Right before the debate you changed your position on immunity from lawsuits for gun manufacturers, can you tell us why? +p2164 +aVSenator, but you didn't answer the question that you did change your position on immunity from gun manufacturers. So can you... +p2165 +aVSecretary Clinton, would you like to respond to Senator Sanders. +p2166 +aVAll right, Governor O'Malley, you signed tough gun control measures as governor of Maryland and there are a lot Democrats in the audience here in South Carolina who own guns. This conversation might be worrying many of them. They may be hearing, "you want to take my guns. What would you say to them? O' +p2167 +aVAlright, Governor, thank you. Secretary Clinton, this is a community that has suffered a lot of heartache in the last year. Of course, as you mentioned, the church shootings. We won't forget the video of Walter Scott being shot in the back while running from police. We understand that a jury will decide whether that police officer was justified, but it plays straight to the fears of many African American men that their lives are cheap. Is that perception, or in your view, is it reality? +p2168 +aVYou time is up. Senator Sanders, my next question is... +p2169 +aV... It's actually \u2014 actually my next question is to you... +p2170 +aVSenator Sanders... +p2171 +aVSenator. Senator Sanders... +p2172 +aV... Just over a week ago the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus endorsed Secretary Clinton, not you. He said that choosing her over you was not a hard decision. In fact, our polling shows she's beating you more than two to one among minority voters. How can you be the nominee if you don't have that support? +p2173 +aVGovernor, I'm going to come to you in a second. Google searches for the words, "Black Lives Matter" surpassed, "civil rights movement". And, here in South Carolina, "black lives matter" was the number one trending political issue. +p2174 +aVAll right. Let's talk... O' +p2175 +aVLet's talk more about policing and the criminal justice system. Senator Sanders, a few times tonight we're going to hear from some of the most prominent voices on YouTube, starting with Franchesca Ramsey, who tackles racial stereotypes through her videos. Let's watch. +p2176 +aVSenator Sanders. +p2177 +aVWould you like me to read it back to you? +p2178 +aVProsecutors \u2014 "I believe there's a huge conflict of interest when local prosecutors investigate cases of police violence within their communities. Most recently, we saw this with a non- indictment of the officers involved in the case of 12-year-old Tamir Rice. How would you presidency ensure incidents of police violence are investigated and prosecuted fairly?" +p2179 +aVSecretary Clinton, this question is for you. Tonight parts of America are in the grip of a deadly heroin epidemic, spanning race and class, hitting small towns and cities alike. It has become a major issue in this race. In a lot of places where you've been campaigning, despite an estimated trillion dollars spent, many say the war on drugs has failed. So what would you do? +p2180 +aVAnd that's time. +p2181 +aVSenator... +p2182 +aVSenator Sanders, would you like to respond? +p2183 +aVThat's... +p2184 +aV... time. +p2185 +aVWe're going to get into all that coming up. O' +p2186 +aVBut we're going to take a break and we need to take a break... O' +p2187 +aV... and when we come back, the anger brewing in America. +p2188 +aVWelcome back to Charleston. Let's turn to another area where there has been fierce disagreement \u2014 that would be health care. Senator Sanders and Secretary Clinton, you both mentioned it in your 100-day priorities. Let's turn to my colleague, Andrea Mitchell now to lead that questioning. +p2189 +aVAnd that's time. We're gonna take a turn now. Secretary Clinton, in his final State of the Union address, President Obama said his biggest regret was his inability to bring the country together. If President Obama couldn't do it, how will you? O' +p2190 +aVThat's time. Senator Sanders, response. +p2191 +aVThat's time. But let me continue with the... +p2192 +aVSenator Sanders, let me continue, you call yourself a Democratic socialist... +p2193 +aVAnd throughout your career in politics, you've been critical of the Democratic party, you've been saying in a book you wrote, quote, "There wasn't a hell of a big difference between the the two major parties." How would you will a general election... +p2194 +aVHow will you win a general election labeling yourself a democratic socialist? +p2195 +aVYes, but senator, you can... +p2196 +aVAnd that is right. +p2197 +aVSecretary Clinton, our next question is for you. Here's another quantitative problem. +p2198 +aVAnd we're going to get into that coming up. But Secretary Clinton, here's a question from YouTube. It's from a young video blogger who has over 5 million subscribers. He has a question about the importance of younger voters. +p2199 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p2200 +aVThat's time... +p2201 +aVA quick follow up \u2014 a thirty second follow up. Why is Senator Sanders beating you to 2 to 1 among younger votes? +p2202 +aVWe're going to take... +p2203 +aVWe're going to take a break. When we come back; big banks, big business and big differences among the three candidates on the American Economy. We'll be right back. +p2204 +aVWelcome back from Charleston. Let's turn now to the economy. Senator Sanders, you released a tough new ad last week in which without mentioning Secretary Clinton by name, you talk about two Democratic visions for regulating Wall Street. "One says it's OK to take millions from big banks and tell them what to do. My plan, break up the big banks, close the tax loopholes and make them pay their fair share." What do you see as the difference between what you would do about the banks and what Secretary Clinton would do? +p2205 +aVSecretary Clinton, help the voter understand the daylight between the two of you here. +p2206 +aVSenator Sanders, your response. +p2207 +aVThat's time. Governor O'Malley... +p2208 +aVI have a question for you... +p2209 +aVThirty-second response. +p2210 +aVGovernor O'Malley. O' +p2211 +aVSecretary Clinton, 30-second response. +p2212 +aVThat's time. Andrea. +p2213 +aV... Senator... +p2214 +aVWe have got a lot to ground to cover here. Many Democratic voters are passionate about the need to do something to combat the threat of climate change, including the team of scientists from Youtube's MinuteEarth channel. Here's their take. +p2215 +aVSenator Sanders, Americans love their SUVs, which spiked in sales last year as gas prices plummeted. How do you convince Americans that the problem of climate change is so urgent that they need to change their behavior? +p2216 +aVGovernor O'Malley, 30 seconds. O' +p2217 +aVThat's time. We're going to take a break. +p2218 +aVWhen we return, the late-breaking developments regarding Iran. The threat of +p2219 +aVCharleston, Andrea Mitchell has questions now starting with Iran. +p2220 +aVSenator Sanders mentioned Russia a moment ago. Secretary Clinton, you famously handed Russia's foreign minister a reset button in 2009. Since then, Russia has annexed Crimea, fomented a war in Ukraine, provided weapons that downed an airliner and launched operations, as we just did discuss, to support Assad in Syria. As president, would you hand Vladimir Putin a reset button? +p2221 +aVWhat's your relationship with him? +p2222 +aVWe to want turn right now to the issue of balancing national security concerns with the privacy rights of Americans. That brings us to YouTube and this question. +p2223 +aVSo, Governor O'Malley. O' +p2224 +aVThat's time. You have all talked about what you would do fighting +p2225 +aVThat's a question to Senator Sanders. I wasn't clear, I apologize. +p2226 +aVBut in terms of lone wolves, the threat, how would you do it? +p2227 +aVWe have to go to a \u2014 we have to go to a break, and when we come back, we're going to get to some of the burning questions these candidates have yet to answer and are totally eager to talk about. +p2228 +aVAnd welcome back to Charleston. As we were going to a break, Secretary Clinton, I cut you off. I'll give you 30 seconds to respond on the issue of lone wolves. O' +p2229 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p2230 +aVAnd Andrea has a follow-up. O' +p2231 +aVAll right, that's time, and \u2014 and we do......we do have to move on. Secretary Clinton, this is the first time... +p2232 +aVThirty \u2014 30 \u2014 30 seconds, Senator. +p2233 +aVAll right. Secretary Clinton......this is the first time that a spouse of a former president could be elected president. You have said that President Clinton would advise you on economic issues, but be specific, if you can. Are you talking about a kitchen-table role on economics, or will he have a real policy role? +p2234 +aVSenator sanders, a 30 second response, sir. +p2235 +aVWe will take a break. We'll continue from Charleston right after this. +p2236 +aVWelcome back everybody. Finally, before we go tonight, we set out here to understand points of differences between you. We believe we've learned a lot here, but before we leave, is there anything that you really wanted to say tonight that you haven't gotten a chance to say. And, we'll start with Governor O'Malley. Didn't see that coming, did you? O' +p2237 +aVSixty seconds, we'd appreciate it. O' +p2238 +aVAnd that's time. O' +p2239 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p2240 +aVAnd that's time. +p2241 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders? +p2242 +asVBROWNLEE +p2243 +(lp2244 +VHi, my name Marques Brownlee, and I've been making YouTube videos about electronics and gadgets for the past seven years. I think America's future success is tied to getting all kinds of tech right. Tech companies are responsible for the encryption technology to protect personal data, but the government wants a back door into that information. So do you think it's possible to find common ground? And where do you stand on privacy versus security? +p2245 +asVHUCKABEE +p2246 +(lp2247 +VWell, John, I don't really have any weaknesses that I can think of. But my wife is down here in the front, and I'm sure, if you'd like to talk to her later, she can give you more than you'll ever be able to take care of. If I have a weakness, it's that I try to live by the rules. I try to live by the rules, no matter what they are, and I was brought up that way as a kid. Play by the rules. And I'll tell you what a weakness is of this country: there are a lot of people who are sick and tired because Washington does not play by the same rules that the American people have to play by. +p2248 +aVWell, I would really appreciate that. First of all, yes, we've stolen. Yes, we've lied to the American people about Social Security, and Medicare. But, you know what we're not telling them? It's their money. This isn't the governments money. This is not entitlement, it's not welfare. This is money that people have confiscated out of their paychecks. Everytime they got a paycheck, the government reached in and took something out of it before they ever saw it. Now, we're going to blame the people. Today congress decided to take another $150 billion dollars away from Social Security so they can borrow more money. That makes no sense to everybody. And, they're always going to say, "Well, we're going to fix this one day." No their not. It's like a 400 pound man saying, "I'm going to go on a diet, but I'm eating a sack of Krispy Kremes before I do." And, people are sick of believing that the government is never going to really address this. But, let me tell you who not to blame. Let's quit blaming the people on Social Security. Let's quit making it a problem for them. It's like them getting mugged, and then us saying, well, we're going to mug you some more. You ought to just be able to get over it, get used to it... +p2249 +aV...No, sir... +p2250 +aV...we need to honor our promises... +p2251 +aV...before I go. This is the only time I've had a chance, let me finish. +p2252 +aV...This is a matter not of math, this is a matter of morality. If this country that does not keep its promise to seniors then what promise can this country hope to be trusted to keep? And, the fact is, none of them. [ +p2253 +aVAnd, the only way \u2014 no... +p2254 +aV...Chris... +p2255 +aV...Chris... +p2256 +aVSince he brought me up, do I not get to respond? +p2257 +aVJohn, listen, let's keep in mind that for one-third of the 60 million Americans on Social Security it represents 90 percent of their income. And, when I hear people talking about means testing, let's just remember what that means. If we means test Social Security, it means that the government decides whether or not I deserve it. If a person lives in a seven room house, does the government get to say you don't need seven rooms, we're going to take two of them away? Folks, the government has no business stealing even more from the people who have paid this in. I just want to remind you, people paid their money. They expect to have it. And, if this government doesn't pay it, than tell me what's different between the government and Bernie Madolf, who sits in prison today for doing less than what the government has done to the people on social security and Medicare in this country. +p2258 +aVI don't think it's so much about when the government orders a corporation to do something. In fact, that's part of the problem. If you saw that blimp that got cut loose from Maryland today, it's a perfect example of government. I mean, what we had was something the government made \u2014 basically a bag of gas \u2014 that cut loose, destroyed everything in its path, left thousands of people powerless, but they couldn't get rid of it because we had too much money invested in it, so we had to keep it. That is our government today. We saw it in the blimp. That's exactly what we saw. So look, corporations ought to exercise some responsibility. When CEO income has risen 90 percent above the average worker, when the bottom 90 percent of this country's economy has had stagnant wages for the past 40 years, somebody is taking it in the teeth. And it's not the folks on Wall Street. I'm not anti-Wall Street, but I don't believe the government ought to wear a team jersey, pick winners and losers. +p2259 +aVThe government ought to wear a striped shirt and just make sure the game... +p2260 +aV...is paid \u2014 played fairly. +p2261 +aVNow, everybody else has fudged their time and gone over, so please, don't cut me off too quick, Becky. +p2262 +aVLet me just close it out this way. +p2263 +aVWe need to be focusing on what fixes this country. And I'll tell you one thing that we never talk about \u2014 we haven't talked about it tonight. Why aren't we talking about \u2014 instead of cutting benefits for old people, cutting benefits for sick people \u2014 why don't we say, "let's cure the four big cost-driving diseases... +p2264 +aV..."diabetes, heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer's?" +p2265 +aVIf you do that, you don't just change the economy, you transform the lives of millions of hurting Americans. +p2266 +aVGosh, I'd love for us to talk about something like that. Thank you. +p2267 +aVYou know, of the few questions I've got, the last one I need is to give him some more time. I love Donald Trump. He is a good man. I'm wearing a Trump tie tonight. Get over that one, OK? [ +p2268 +aVI don't know. [ +p2269 +aVI have no idea. +p2270 +aVYou're welcome. Let me tell you, Donald Trump would be a president every day of the week and twice on Sunday, rather than Hillary. I've spent a lifetime in politics fighting the Clinton machine. You want to talk about what we're going to be up against next year? I'm the only guy on this stage \u2014 you know, everybody has an "only guy" \u2014 "I'm the only guy this; I'm the only guy that." Well, let me tell you one thing that I am the only guy: The only guy that has consistently fought the Clinton machine every election I was ever in over the past 26 years. And not only did I fight them, but I beat them. Somebody says "I'm a fighter." Well, I want to know, did you win? Well, I did. And not only did I fight them and win, I lived to tell about it and I'm standing on this stage tonight as evidence of that. And I think that ought to be worth something. +p2271 +aVWell, and specifically to Medicare, Becky, because 85 percent of the cost of Medicare is chronic disease. The fact is if we don't address what's costing so much, we can't throw enough money at this. And it's why I've continued to focus on the fact that we need to declare war on the four big cost drivers because 80 percent of all medical costs in this country are chronic disease. We don't have a health care crisis in America, we have a health crisis. And until we deal with the health of Americans and do what we did with polio \u2014 when I was a little kid, we eradicated it. You know how much money we spent on polio last year in America? We didn't spend any. We've saved billions of dollars. You want to fix Medicare? Focus on the diseases that are costing us the trillions of dollars. Alzheimers, diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Eradicate those and you fix Medicare and you've fixed America, its economy and you've made people's lives a heck of a lot better. +p2272 +aVYou know, I know to a lot of people in the media, this is just a great big game, and we're the players. And, we come out here, and we do our thing. And, sometimes we're held up in contempt by people who write columns, but, I guarantee you to every person on this stage there's something deep inside of us that would cause us to give up our livelihoods and step out on this stage and fight for the people of America. I've got five grandkids. I do not want to walk my five grandkids through the charred remains of a once great country called America, and say, "Here you go, $20 trillion dollars of debt. Good luck making something out of this mess." And, for those of us who are serious enough to run for president, think long and hard why we're here, and hopefully you'll know we're not here for ourselves. We honest to god are here to get this country back on track. I know this, I certainly am. +p2273 +aV...Thank you. +p2274 +aVI'm Mike Huckabee. I'm delighted to be on this stage with some remarkable fellow Republicans. None of us are a self-professed socialist. None of us on this state are under investigation by the FBI because we destroyed government records, or because we leaked secrets. I know that there are some in the Wall-Street-to-Washington axis of power who speak of all of us contemptuously. But I'm here to say that I think we are, in fact, the A team. We have some remarkable people, and, in fact, not only are we the A team; we even have our own Mr. T, who doesn't mind saying about others, "you're a fool." And I'm delighted to be here with all of these guys, and would put any of them in an administration that I led. Thank you very much. +p2275 +aVI would certainly love to get in on this, because I think the single... +p2276 +aVI've been patiently waiting, and I'm going to just say this about Iran. +p2277 +aVBecause I think it is incredibly important. This is really about the survival of Western civilization. This is not just a little conflict with a Middle Eastern country that we've just now given over $100 billion to, the equivalent in U.S. terms is $5 trillion. This threatens Israel immediately, this threatens the entire Middle East, but it threatens the United States of America. And we can't treat a nuclear Iranian government as if it is just some government that would like to have power. This is a government for 36 years has killed Americans, they kidnapped Americans, they have maimed Americans. They have sponsored terrorist groups, Hamas and Hezbollah, and they threaten the very essence of Western civilization. To give them this agreement, that the president treats like the Magna Carta, but Iranians treat it like it's toilet paper, and we must, simply, make it very clear that the next president, one of us on this stage, will absolutely not honor that agreement, and will destroy it and will be tough with Iran, because otherwise, we put every person in this world in a very dangerous place. +p2278 +aVNo, I don't think he's on the wrong side of such an issue. Jeb is a friend. I'm not up here to fight with Jeb or to fight with anybody else. But I am here to fight for somebody who is a county clerk elected under the Kentucky constitution that 75 percent of the people of that state had voted for that said that marriage was between a man and a woman. The Supreme Court in a very, very divided decision decided out of thin air that they were just going to redefine marriage. It's a decision that the other justices in dissent said they didn't have and there wasn't a constitutional shred of capacity for them to do it. I thought that everybody here passed ninth-grade civics. The courts cannot legislate. That's what Roberts said. But heck, it's what we learned in civics. The courts can't make a law. They can interpret one. They can review one. They can't implement it. They can't force it. But here's what happened: Because the courts just decided that something was going to be and people relinquished it and the other two branches of government sat by silently \u2014 I thought we had three branches of government, they were all equal to each other, we have separation of powers, and we have checks and balances. If the court can just make a decision and we just all surrender to it, we have what Jefferson said was judicial tyranny. The reason that this is a real issue that we need to think about... +p2279 +aVNo, no. Let me finish this one thought, Jake. I haven't gotten that much time, so I'm going to take just what little I can here. We made accommodation to the Fort Hood shooter to let him grow a beard. We made accommodations to the detainees at Gitmo \u2014 I've been to Gitmo, and I've seen the accommodations that we made to the Muslim detainees who killed Americans. You're telling me that you cannot make an accommodation for an elected Democrat county clerk from Rowan County, Kentucky? What else is it other than the criminalization of her faith and the exaltation of the faith of everyone else who might be a Fort Hood shooter or a detainee at Gitmo? +p2280 +aVI have a different idea. I think we ought to get rid of all the taxes on people who produce. Why should we penalize productivity? And it's why I'm an unabashed supporter of the "fair tax," which would be a tax on our consumption, rather than a tax on our productivity. In other words, you're not going to tax anybody for what they earn, whether it's worker whose working by the hour or whether it's a hedge fund manager. If they can produce something and bring capital and labor to create jobs, we need some jobs. And I think the "fair tax" makes more sense. Now, Jake, I've been listening to everybody on the stage and there is a lot of back and forth about I'm the only one who has done this, the only one who has done that, I've done great things. We've all done great things or we wouldn't be on this stage. But it occurs to me as we're sitting here in the Reagan Library that most of us would like to pay tribute to a guy who, when he got elected, didn't get elected telling everybody how great he was. He got elected telling everybody how great the American people were. And he empowered them to live their dreams, which is what I'd love to see us do by no longer penalizing the people who are out there working because they are taking a gut punch right now. +p2281 +aV...You don't want me operating on you, I assure you. +p2282 +aVJust today \u2014 just today, there was a new report that 50 different intelligence analysts have said that what they sent up the ladder was doctored by senior officials, so that they could give some happy talk to the situation that we face. I love the idea of a good intellectual capacity to deal with our enemies, but the fact is, if you don't have good intelligence that is reliable and honest, you won't have good intelligence and you cannot make good decisions. The next president is primarily elected not just to know things, but to know what to do with the things that he knows. And the most dangerous person in any room is the person who doesn't know what he doesn't know. +p2283 +aVAnd the reason Barack Obama has been dangerous to this country and we better elect someone who had some executive experience, is because we cannot afford another eight years having a person in the office who doesn't know what he does not know. +p2284 +aVYou better believe I will, because I'm tired of liberals always having a litmus test and conservatives are supposed to pretend we don't. Well let me tell you what mine would be. Number one, I'd ask do you think that the unborn child is a human being or is it just a blob of tissue? I'd want to know the answer to that. I'd want to know do you believe in the First Amendment, do you believe that religious liberty is the fundamental liberty around which all the other freedoms of this country are based? And I'd want to know do you really believe in the Second Amendment, do you believe that we have an individual right to bear arms to protect ourselves and our family and to protect our country? And do you believe in the Fifth and the 14th Amendment? Do you believe that a person, before they're deprived of life and liberty, should in fact have due process and equal protection under the law? Because if you do, you're going to do more than defund Planned Parenthood. +p2285 +aVOne final thing. I'd make darn sure that we absolutely believe the 10th Amendment. Every governor on this stage would share this much with you. Every one of us \u2014 our biggest fight wasn't always with the legislature or even with the Democrats. My gosh, half the time, it was with the federal government who apparently never understood \u2014 +p2286 +aV\u2014 that if it's not reserved in the Constitution, then the 10th Amendment says it's left to the states. But somebody forgot to send a memo to Washington. +p2287 +aVJake? Jake? +p2288 +aVI think we need to remember that there are maybe some controversies about autism, but there is no controversy about the things that are really driving the medical costs in this country. And I would really believe that the next president ought to declare a war on cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer's, because those are the four things that are causing the greatest level of cost. John Kennedy said, "we'll go to the moon in a decade and bring a man back," and we did it. I grew up in the '50s. I remember the polio vaccine. We saved billions of dollars since that time, because we haven't had to treat for polio. Why doesn't this country focus on cures rather than treatment? Why don't we put a definitive focus scientifically on finding the cure for cancer, for heart disease, for diabetes and for Alzheimer's, a disease alone that will cost us \u2014 +p2289 +aV$1.1 trillion by the year 2050. We change the economy and the country. +p2290 +aVThat's an easy one. I'd put my wife on there. I've been married to her 41 years. She's fought cancer and lived through it. She's raised three kids, five great grandkids, and she's put up with me. I mean, who else could possibly be on that money other than my wife. And that way, she could spend her own money with her face. +p2291 +aVI'd go with Duck Hunter. +p2292 +aVAt the end of my presidency I would like to believe that the world would be a safe place, and there wouldn't be the threats. not only to the U.S., but to Israel and our allies, because we would have the most incredible well-trained, well-equipped, well- prepared military in the history of mankind. And they would know that the commander-in-chief would never send them to a mission without all the resources necessary, but people wouldn't bully us anymore. Because they would know that that would be an invitation to their destruction. Domestically, we would be operating under a tax system that eliminated the IRS. People wouldn't be punished for their work, and for what they produced. And life would be really deemed precious. Abortion would be no more. It would be as much of a scourge in our past as slavery is. And we would have a peaceful country, where people respected each other and people respected law enforcement. And we would focus on cures. And we would make this country not only safe from our enemies without, but safe from the enemies within. And it would be a good place to raise our kids and our grandkids. +p2293 +aVChris, I disagree with the idea that the real issue is a constitutional amendment. That's a long and difficult process. I've actually taken the position that's bolder than that. A lot of people are talking about defunding planned parenthood, as if that's a huge game changer. I think it's time to do something even more bold. I think the next president ought to invoke the Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the constitution now that we clearly know that that baby inside the mother's womb is a person at the moment of conception. The reason we know that it is is because of the DNA schedule that we now have clear scientific evidence on. And, this notion that we just continue to ignore the personhood of the individual is a violation of that unborn child's Fifth and 14th Amendment rights for due process and equal protection under the law. It's time that we recognize the Supreme Court is not the Supreme Being, and we change the policy to be pro-life and protect children instead of rip up their body parts and sell them like they're parts to a Buick. +p2294 +aVNot me. But you're welcome to give me a check, Donald if you'd like. +p2295 +aVIt's not too big to shrink. But the problem is we have a Wall Street-to-Washington axis of power that has controlled the political climate. The donor class feeds the political class who does the dance that the donor class wants. And the result is federal government keeps getting bigger. Every person on this stage who has been a governor will tell that you the biggest fight they had was not the other party. Wasn't even the legislature. It was the federal government, who continually put mandates on the states that we had to suck up and pay for. And the fact is there are a lot of things happening at the federal level that are absolutely beyond the jurisdiction of the Constitution. This is power that should be shifted back to the states, whether it's the EPA, there is no role at the federal level for the Department of Education. And I'm still one who says that we can get rid of the Internal Revenue Service if we would pass the FairTax, which is a tax on consumption rather than a tax on people's income, and move power back where the founders believed it should have been all along. +p2296 +aVWell, let's all be reminded, 60 million Americans are on Social Security, 60 million. A third of those people depend on 90% of their income from Social Security. Nobody in this country is on Social Security because they made the decision when they were starting work at 14 that they wanted to trust some of their money with the government. The government took it out of their check whether they wanted them to or not. And, if person goes to 65, they're going to spend 51 years with the government reaching into their pocket at every paycheck. Now, here's the point, whose fault is it that the system is screwed up? Is it the recipients, or is it the government? And, if Congress wants to mess with the retirement program, why don't we let them start by changing their retirement program, and not have one, instead of talking about getting rid of Social Security and Medicare that was robbed $700 billion dollars to pay for Obamacare. It's always that the government figures that they can do this off the backs of people, many of whom are poor, and depend on that money, and I just think it's fundamentally lying to the people and stealing from them, and we shouldn't be doing it. +p2297 +aVWell, you ask about how we fund it. One of the reasons that Social Security is in so much trouble is that the only funding stream comes from people who get a wage. The people who get wages is declining dramatically. Most of the income in this country is made by people at the top who get dividends and -- and capital gains. The FairTax transforms the process by which we fund Social Security and Medicare because the money paid in consumption is paid by everybody, including illegals, prostitutes, pimps, drug dealers, all the people that are freeloading off the system now. That's why it ought to be a transformed system. +p2298 +aVRonald Reagan said "trust, but verify." President Obama is "trust, but vilify." He trusts our enemies and vilifies everyone who disagrees with him. And the reason we disagree with him has nothing to do with party. +p2299 +aVIt has to do with the incredibly dangerous place that this world is gonna be as a result of a deal in which we got nothing. We didn't even get four hostages out. We got nothing, and Iran gets everything they want. We said we would have anywhere, anytime negotiations and inspections, we gave that up. We said that we would make sure that they didn't have any nuclear capacity, we gave that up. The president can't tell us what we got. I'll tell you what the world got. The world has a burgeoning nuclear power that didn't, as the Soviets, say "we might defend ourselves in a war." What the Iranians have said is, "we will wipe Israel off the face of the map, and we will bring death to America." When someone points a gun at your head and loads it, by God, you ought to take them seriously, and we need to take that seriously. +p2300 +aVThe military is not a social experiment. The purpose of the military is kill people and break things. It's not to transform the culture by trying out some ideas that some people think would make us a different country and more diverse. The purpose is to protect America. I'm not sure how paying for transgender surgery for soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines makes our country safer. We've reduced the military by 25 percent... ... under President Obama. The disaster is that we've forgotten why we have a military. The purpose of it is to make sure that we protect every American, wherever that American is, and if an American is calling out for help, whether it's in Benghazi or at the border, then we ought to be able to answer it. We've not done that because we've decimated our military. We're flying B-52s. The most recent one that was put in service was November of 1962. A lot of the B-52s we're flying, we've only got 44 that are in service combat ready, and the fact is, most of them are older than me. And that's pretty scary. +p2301 +aVIt seems like this election has been a whole lot about a person who's very high in the polls, that doesn't have a clue about how to govern. A person who has been filled with scandals, and who could not lead, and, of course, I'm talking about Hillary Clinton. I think America... +p2302 +aV...is in trouble, but it's not beyond repair. But it's going to take leadership who sees the greatness of this country, and who believes that once again we can be one nation, under God. I'll be my best to do that, and thank you for your support. +p2303 +aVI don't think it's that the message isn't working, I think it's the message isn't getting out because the message that I have this time, Bill, it's exactly what I said eight years ago. I talked about people who are standing on their feet on factory floors, people who lift heavy things, who sweat through their clothes, they're getting gut punched. They are not having a fair shake in this economy. I talked about that eight years ago, and I'm talking about it now. I talked about the importance of preserving life, of not just saying we're going to defund Planned Parenthood, but let's do something bolder. Let's get rid of abortion once and for all by applying the Fifth, and Fourteenth amendment to every person from conception because that means that we recognize that no person can be deprived of life or liberty unless they have due process. And, that's not happening in our country. And, I believe, and continue to practice that we need the Fair Tax to revive our economy. To make it so that people are able to be rewarded for their work rather than punished for it. +p2304 +aVYou know, I -- I would leave that to other people. I'm not going to get into an argument with all the New Yorkers, because there's a lot of them. This much I will tell you. I wish that some of those New Yorkers had funded as much of my campaign as they did the corporately funded candidates, but they didn't. And to be honest with you, when I say I'm -- wish they had, I'm glad they didn't. I'm not a New York-funded campaign. I'm not bankrolled by the corporatists, I'm not bankrolled by Goldman Sachs and Citibank and AIG and all the big brokers -- brokerage houses and the billionaires. I'm sponsored by people like Thomas, a part-time Uber driver in Pennsylvania who sent me $25 this week. He's between jobs. He's driving an Uber car. But he believed in what I'm talking about enough that, even on a limited, part-time income, he sent me $25 to help in my campaign. I'll stand with the Thomases of the world any day. I'll leave all the discussion of the big financiers to other candidates. But there's only a few of us in the entire Republican process who are not corporately funded by the same group. And let me just finish by saying, you want to know why things never change depending on whether Democrats or Republicans are in power, and why Republicans in Iowa and the rest of the country are so frustrated? The reason is, is because if you follow the money, the same folks who finance the Democrats finance the Republicans, and no matter what the speeches and the ads, they get the same results. If you want a different result, I'm available. +p2305 +aVWell, I don't trust him. I've never said I trusted him. But if somebody is willing to take a shot at the people we are taking shots at, I'm more than willing to let them use their own bullets to do it. But let's be very clear about how we take out +p2306 +aVNo, I don't think that it's impossible, but we're not going to do it by doing the same things we've been doing for all these many years. And, we've lost five million manufacturing jobs just since the year 2000. The other day I was in Newton, Iowa. It used to be a vibrant place where Maytag washers and dryers were built. Went out of business in 2007, all those shops went to Mexico. All those people lost their jobs. There was a guy in my forum that day, he lost his job. He still has never found an employment that got anywhere near the job that he had. Let me ask you, how many people do you think living around the Beltway know a guy like that? Care about a guy like that? Not many. And, that's because they're six of the ten richest counties in America that surround Washington D.C. People who live in the bubbles of the high finance world of New York, the government world of Washington, the entertainment world of Hollywood, don't have a clue about how hard people out here in Iowa are working every single day. And, I believe one of the values of campaigning in Iowa, you can't win unless you go out and talk to farmers and housewives -- and welders, and unemployed truck drivers, and I hate... ... That a president could become president who never met people who have to struggle to make a living and put food on the table. +p2307 +aVA lot of Americans are angry. And I think it's important to understand why they are mad. They are mad because they see a government that continues to do fine. They see people at the top. They are doing fine. But that person you asked Rick about a moment ago, that lady that's making 10,000 bucks a year, do you know what our poverty programs do to people? They keep them in poverty. They keep them in poverty because we have these arbitrary thresholds... ... that mean that if you go to work, you lose all the benefits for your kids, Medicaid, WIC, Section 8 housing, food stamps, and then your kids go hungry. I know a little about poverty. My sister is here tonight. Now both of us could tell you we did not grow up rich. My mother grew up in a house, oldest of seven kids. She had lived in a house that didn't have floors. Just dirt. No electricity. No running water. I resent it when people say, oh, people are poor because they want to be. No, they are not. Nobody wants to be poor. And that's a stupid, foolish thing, mean thing to say. People are poor because they don't know how to get out of the hole. And government shouldn't push them back in the hole which is what our policies do when they punish people who want to go to work and don't let them out. We can fix that, but it takes some leadership to get it done. +p2308 +aVWell, I didn't have a tax and spend approach. You got to understand where the Club for Growth comes from, a bunch of rich guys sitting around writing checks to go after people they don't like. And, they don't like me sometimes because I was fighting for the guys at the bottom, not just the guys at the top. I cut 94 taxes in a state that had never had a general major tax decrease in its history. I also was able to see per capita income growth in my state go up by 50%. I think that's a pretty darn good record. Look at the overall record and it was fine. But, it's not about stats from when I was governor. Look, one of the reasons I support the Fairtax is because it's the one thing, Bill, that would truly empower people at the bottom of the economy by no longer punishing them for their work. If a guy works an hourly job, and he works eight hours, gets paid for it, terrific. But, if he works 16 hours, he doesn't get a double paycheck because he's going to be bumped up into a new tax bracket, and the government will get more of his second shift than he will. So, we've actually punished him for being industrious, hardworking, and that is a foolish economic policy... ... that's hurting Americans about as much as anything. +p2309 +aVI honestly don't understand how anybody with IQ above plant life would honestly think... ... that we would be better off if we let the government have all of the private property and that the government would dole out what they thought we should have. I'm not "feeling the Bern," Bill. I'm not feeling it. And when Bernie Sanders promises these kids free college, I'm telling them, because I get asked, what about free college? I said, look, if we give you free college when you are 20, pal, you are going to be paying for it when you are 30, when you are 40, and when you are 50. There is no such thing as the government giving you anything. They will definitely make a mess of it. And I just think there are a lot of people who have never understood the basic understanding of economics, that you do not make people rich by tearing down those who are you providing jobs, and you don't help poor people by taking away. You give them jobs. Let them work. Let them earn. And then you let them keep the money that they earned. That's how we build a great economy. +p2310 +aVWell, this week there was a little dust up about a video we put together with the music of Adele, so I thought it'd be appropriate for me to begin tonight by saying, "Hello, Iowa. It's me." +p2311 +aVAnd, you know me. You gave me the largest number of votes in the history of the Iowa caucus eight years ago, and I think you did it because you trusted me, you believed that I had your best interest at heart. When I was governor I had a little plaque in my office in the Governor's office, and it simply said this. Come, let us reason together. I believe the next President needs to put that plaque in the oval office, and needs to lead this country by saying, "Come, let us reason together." God bless you, and thank you for your support. +p2312 +aVI wish I saw the country in the same place that the president presented it to be the other night in the State of the Union. He talked about how great the economy was doing. And I guess for the people he hangs out with, it's probably doing great. But the president should've stood in the line at the layaway counter at Walmart just before Christmas. He would have heard a very different story about the economy of America. I wish I could introduce him the lady who cleans the building where our campaign headquarters is located in Little Rock. Her name is Kathleen. She works all day at a local hospital cleaning, and then she goes to the building where a bank, and our headquarters, and other offices are she spends another seven hours. She works 15 hours a day. I guarantee you she's not working 15 hours a day because she loves scrubbing toilets, and sweeping floors. She's working that many hours because that's what it takes for her to make it work. And, she's not alone. There are people all over this country who are working like that. Many of them working two jobs \u2014 and they used to have one job, and that would take care of them. But, because of wage stagnation, which we've had for 40 years, because the fact that they're punished for working harder if they work that many hours. The government gets more of their second shift than they do. And, as a result there are a lot of people who are hurting today. I wish the President knew more of them. He might make a change in the economy and the way he's managing it. +p2313 +aVLet me put that in context. When I went to Afghanistan, I saw a land that looked like the land of the Flintstones. It was desolate. It was barren. It was primitive. And it's been that way for thousands of years. They want to take the world back to be just like that. We don't. We need to make a clear goal as to why we want to be anywhere in the Middle East, and I'll tell you why we want to be and need to be, is to destroy radical Islam and everything that threatens civilization. It's not just a threat......to Israel or to America, it's a threat to every civilized person on this Earth. And we need to be equipping not only the Kurds in Iraq, we need to be making sure that those who are willing to fight radical Muslims will do it, but we need to never ever spend a drop of American blood unless there is a clearly defined goal and we can't make sure we win unless we have a military that's the strongest in the history of mankind. We've got to rebuild our navy. It's the smallest navy we've had since 1915, when my grandfather got on a destroyer in World War I when he was in the U.S. Navy. We've got young men in Air Force B-52s, one in particular, he's flying a B-52 that his father flew in the '80s and his grandfather flew in the '50s. Those planes are older than me. We've got to have a military that the world is afraid of, use it sparingly, but when we do, the whole world will know that America is on their tail and they will be on their tail on the ground, never ever to rise up again. +p2314 +aVOnly if there is a concerted effort to destroy the advance of radical Islamists who are against us. As far as what are we going to make it look like. Frankly, I don't know what we can make it look like. You can't create for other people a desire for freedom and democracy. And frankly, that is not the role of the United States. The role of the United States military is not to build schools, it is not to build bridges, it is not to go around and pass out food packets. It is to kill and destroy our enemy and make America safe and that is the purpose we should be there if we're going to be there. +p2315 +aV Yes, I did. +p2316 +aVWell, why don't we start by making sure the Justice Department never does an idiotic program like Fast and Furious where the U.S. Government put guns......in the hands of Mexican drug lords......and end up killing one of our border agents. You know, they want to talk about law abiding citizens, I just find it amazing the President keeps saying the gun show loophole. There is no gun show loophole. I promise you I've been to more gun shows than President Obama. +p2317 +aVAnd, I've bought more weapons at them, and you fill out forms. The President also says things that it's easier to get a gun now than it is to grow trees. Again, I purchase guns, and I can assure you that it is much more difficult to purchase a firearm than it is to get the ingredients of a salad at the supermarket. What the President keeps pushing are ideas that have never worked. Ideas that would not have stopped San Bernadino, Sandy Hook, Aurora, and at some point you wonder if you keep retrying things that don't work, maybe we should just see if we could resell all those used lottery tickets that didn't work real well because that's the logic of just keep doing the same thing, but something that has failed. Of course, we want to stop gun violence, but the one common thing that has happened in most mass shootings is that they happened in gun- free zones where people who would have been law abiding citizens, who could have stood up and at least tried to stop it and we're not allowed to under the law. +p2318 +aVWell, we shouldn't be and that's one of the reasons that I think there a lot of voices in our country who are saying it's time to relook at the visa program. The European Union is a failure, it's not allowed for even the economic goals that they were trying to achieve. But, what we're not seeing is that it's making Europe less safe, and it's proven not to be exactly what they all thought it was going to be. Our first and foremost responsibility in this country, and the first responsibility of the President of the United States is protect America, and protect Americans. We have a President who seems to be more interested in protecting the reputation and image of Islam than he is protecting us. And, I want to be very clear......that this President. Makes comments like he did the other night, that we have to be so careful because we don't want to offend Muslims. He needs to read his own FBI crime stats from last year which would show him that of the hate crimes in the country, over 5,500, about 1,100 were religious hate crimes. And, of those, 58% were directed toward Jews. Only 16% directed toward Muslims. Maybe what the President should have talked about the other night is how we ought to be more careful in the anti-semitic comments that are going toward American Jews than toward Muslims because by three times as many......they're being targeted for religious hate crime. +p2319 +aVIt does not shut down international commerce, but it may slow it down. And, you don't want to slowdown commerce that is making us safer. It's worth it. This lady who came and joined with the San Bernardino killer had passed three background checks, and that's why a lot of Americans didn't buy it when the President said we'll bring in Syrian refugees, but don't worry we'll check them out. We have a lot of confidence in a president who told us that we could keep our doctor, we could keep our health insurance, and cost us less, and now the latest is if you like your gun you can keep it too, and frankly, we don't buy it. We don't believe it. He's lost his credibility, and his inept... ...inability to work with Congress and pass legislation has led him to do what I never even imagined doing as a governor, and that's just going and doing it my own way. That's why we elect a president, is to lead, is to be able to shepherd things through. And if I can do it with a 90 percent Democrat legislature in Arkansas, there is no excuse for any president not being able to lead in Washington if he knows what the heck he is doing when he gets there. +p2320 +aVWell, first of all, let's just remember that Social Security is not the government's money, it belongs to the people who had it taken out of their checks involuntarily their entire working lives. For the government to say, well it is fault of working people that we have a Social Security problem, no. It is the fault of a government that used those people's money for something other than protecting those people's accounts. So let's not blame them and punish them. But here is a fact, and I sometimes hear Republicans say well, we're going to have to cut this and extend the age. You know what I think a lot of times when I hear people say, well, let's make people work to their 70. That sounds great for white-collar people who sat at a desk most of their lives. You ever talk to somebody that stood on concrete floor for the first 40 years of their working life? Do you think they can stand another five years or 10 years, many of them will retired virtually crippled because they worked hard. And we're going to punish them some more? I don't think so. Here's the fact. Four percent economic growth, we fully fund Social Security and Medicare. Our problem is not that Social Security is just too generous to seniors. It isn't. Our problem is that our politicians have not created the kind of policies that would bring economic growth. And I still support strongly that we get rid of the 77,000 pages of the monstrous tax code......pass the fair tax, supercharge this economy with the rocket fuel that happens with the consumption tax and we don't have to cut Social Security to any senior who has worked their lifetime for it. +p2321 +aVLet me go back to the reason so many people are having a hard time getting ahead. The tax system punishes them. Think about this. If you work really hard and you start moving up the economic ladder, you get bumped into a different tax bracket. So the government thinks it deserves more of your hard work than you do. And it's one of the reasons that no matter how many different reforms you have to a tax on people's productivity, you're still taxing their work, their savings. You're taxing their capital gains, inheritance, dividends, you're taxing everything that produces something. And it's way I really believe it's time to do something bold, not something minute. This is no time for a tap of the hammer, a twist of the screwdriver. It's time for something big. That's why the fair tax transforms our economy. And we don't punish workers. It's the only way we're going to get middle class people moving ahead again, because the harder they work, the more they keep. No payroll tax deducted from their checks. They get their entire paycheck. And, one of the most important parts, it's built on the common sense with which we raised our kids, and trained dogs. You reward behavior you want more of. And, you punish behavior you want less of. That's how I raise kids, it's how I trained our dogs, and folks, it's not that difficult. We now punish the behavior we say we want more of by taxing it, and we reward the behavior that we say we want less of, so if you make a good investment, we punish you with a tax. If you make a bad investment you can write that off and the rest of the taxpayers will help subsidize you, and bail you out. +p2322 +aVWell, Rick, I'm pretty sure I did also fight the Clinton machine because every election I was ever in in Arkansas, I assure you, they were behind it, helping finance and campaign for every opponent. And I share with you the understanding that it's going to be a tough battle. But I spent the first half of my adult life in the private and nonprofit sector, raising a family, understanding how tough it is for people to make it. And that first half of my life is what led me to believe that America needs a different kind of leadership, not people who spent their whole life running from one office to the next, and living off the government dime. And I got involved because I got sick of what I saw. I also believe that there's got to be some leadership that not only addresses the monetary and military issues of this country, but the moral issues of this country. At the end of every political speech, most of us say, God bless America. But how can he do that when we continue to slaughter 4,000 babies a day? And I want to be the president that treats every person, including the unborn, as a person. And protect them under the 5th and 14th amendments of the constitution. I close with this word from a gentleman in East Texas named Butel Lucre. He's 100 years old and I met him down in East Texas. And he said this to me. "I sure wish, Mike, we had the days when The Ten Commandments were in all of our capitals and in every school, and we prayed again. You know, he may be 100 years old, but I believe some of those old ideas to get this country back where we unapologetically get on our knees before we get on our feet might be the best solutions we've ever sought as a country. And I ask for your support and your vote. Thank you. +p2323 +aVWolf, I want to say thanks to you and CNN for giving us the opportunity especially to focus on national security issues at a time when Americans are not only angry \u2014 angry at their government that they feel like has failed them, been indifferent to them, cost them their livelihoods \u2014 but they're in addition to angry, they're just plain scared. They're scared when they thing that they go to a Christmas party and get shot at by somebody who sat and had lunch with them an hour earlier. They're scared when they realize that our government, who promises that it can vet people and is begging us to approve bringing 10,000 Syrian refugees into this country, can't even catch somebody after a third background check, who had posted things on social media clearly indicating she wanted to kill Americans. And we couldn't catch that. We've lost confidence in our government. And when Americans lose confidence in their government, we're in a dangerous place. We're in danger because we have an enemy that is out to kill us, and we have a government that we don't trust any more. This election is about going back to having a government we can trust with leaders who have the courage and conviction to actually lead and not follow. +p2324 +aVWell, let me begin by saying I'm not that afraid of Donald Trump. And, in the sense that I'd rather him be President than I had Hillary be president any day. And so if he becomes president, I think he will do a whole lot more to protect us than Hillary will. And a whole lot more than Barack Obama has done in his eight years. So I want to make it very clear that when I was making that comment, I was simply speaking that I'm not sure that you can have a religious test per se. And it's very impractical because if somebody comes to our borders and says I'd like to come in. They say are you a Muslim? Well, they're \u2014 if they're going to come in here to kill us, they're not gonna say yeah, and I'm coming to kill you. They're going to lie about it. Anybody that will kill you, for God's sake, will lie to you. So that's why I say it's impractical. But what he has done, and I don't think a lot of people understand, he has touched a nerve because people are angry and afraid that we are facing an enemy that this administration refuses to acknowledge, refuses to want to go fight. And our only answer is to go after +p2325 +aVNo. I'm not taking it away, I just want to make sure that everything we use is going to be effective. We're spending billions of dollars, let's make sure it's effective. Let's use every tool, but let's also check out the Facebook posts, let's look at Twitter accounts. My gosh, we were told we couldn't do it because it might invade somebody's privacy. This lady who came over here and shot up San Bernardino was posting things on Facebook, yet, we were restricted from looking. Every college kid who goes to a frat party gets drunk and puts his picture on Facebook is going to have a potential employer looking at that photo before he gets hired. Why should we have more attention? I mean, for heaven's sake, towards some college kid who wants to one day ten years from to get a job, then we're going after who wants to come in with a semi automatic weapon or a pipe bomb and blow up a bunch of Americans. This is what I think a lot of Americans are frustrated with, it's the duplicity of our policy that is illogical and irrational. Our goal ought to be, "protect Americans and put Americans first not last," which is what I think this administration has done. +p2326 +aVNo, it does not violate their First Amendment rights to have someone go and listen to the sermons. You can go to any church in America, it's a public place, you can listen, and \u2014 you know, if you go to my church, you'll probably get a real blessing. Heck, it'll be a wonderful experience. You go to some people's church, you may go to sleep, I don't know what happens in every church, but, the point is that these are public places, and folks are invited to come. So, if it's a public place, and people are invited to come, how does it violate anybody's First Amendment rights that somebody shows up because they might want to just listen in and see is there something that is a little nefarious? And, if there is, then you take the second step of getting a search warrant, you do whatever you have to do. That's all protected under the constitution. So, Huge, I hear people act like there's something that is terrible about going and sitting in and listening to the sermons of a mosque. If Islam is as wonderful, and peaceful as its adherents say, shouldn't they be begging us to all come in and listen to these peaceful sermons? Shouldn't they be begging us all to come, and listen, and bring the FBI so we'd all want to convert to Islam? +p2327 +aVI don't disagree. I don't disagree with anything that the Senator just said because that's exactly right. But, I just want to go back to the point that when people say we can't go into the mosque, we can't listen. That's utter nonsense. Of course we can. And, if we can't, if there's something so secretive going on in there that somebody isn't allowed to go and hear it, maybe we do need for sure to send somebody in there and gather the intelligence. And, that's all to the world I'm saying, I think it stands to be true. +p2328 +aVThe way we defeat them ideologically is that we remind people that what their intent is is to kill us, and that it is our intent to use every means possible to get to them before they get to us. We are pretending that this is a war that is not that significant. We have a president who called it the JV team, said we had contained it. Nine hours after he said we contained it, there was a massacre in Paris. We've got to make it so untenable for somebody to join +p2329 +aVWolf, it may be sufficient, but rather than put a number \u2014 and I'm comfortable that we say 10,000, 20,000 \u2014 look, I think we make a mistake when we start telling the enemy what our limitations are. I think we make a huge mistake when we say we're gonna do up to this. I think what we say is, we're gonna do whatever it takes. If it's 10,000, if it's 100,000, if it's 3,000 sorties a day, if it's 5,000 sorties a day. We never tell our enemy what our limitations are, what we are willing and what we're unwilling to do. And that's one of the mistakes I believe that we're making militarily. But the biggest mistake we've made militarily is letting Barack Obama cut our defense forces by 25 percent and leaving us at the least prepared position we've been in since before World War II. We have to get our Military rebuilt from the ground up. And all over America I hear young people say, would you tell me what you're going to do? Would you give me free college? Will you make sure that I can have medical marijuana? You know what we ought to tell young people? We aren't going to give you anything. We're give you the opportunity to get off your butt and go serve your country and secure your freedom. Because if you don't, nobody else is. +p2330 +aVI'd sure want them to think we would. And I'd want to make sure that we did everything we could. But we can't do it with our current Military strength. We've got to build up and have the most robust, well trained, well equipped, well prepared and ample Military force in the history of the world because we're not fighting just a known enemy in one place. We're fighting people all over the world who can go anywhere. And the reason I say that is because if we tried to win this war on the cheap or we try to do it with the, "light footprint," we're making a huge mistake. When all of us were in grade school, one thing we all knew, the bully never picked on the kid except for the weak one. When all of us were in grade school, one thing we all knew, the bully never picked on the kid, except for the weak one. He never picked on the kid he knew, he'd whip him. We need to make to sure that we have the kind of military that +p2331 +aVWell, I want to be real clear, I don't trust Putin, I don't trust Assad. I'm not saying that I would endorse him for his reelection bid. The man is a tyrant, he's killed lots of people, but he wasn't killing Americans. And, the thing that I'm concerned about is that we have seen a complete destabilization, not only of Syria, but we've seen it in Yemen, that the President pronouncing great shape just before it collapsed. +p2332 +aVWell what we have done, and we created an impossible atmosphere. This administration has put more pressure on Israel to stop building bedrooms in Judea and Samaria than they've put on Iranians to stop building a nuclear bomb. And I'm just simply pointing out the obvious, that we need to recognize who our friends are, who our enemies are... +p2333 +aV... but I'm convinced... +p2334 +aVWell, first of all, it would be the Iranians. I would have never entered into this deal. I don't know why on God's earth that the senators gave it so that it was easier for Obama to have the agreement than it would be to make it a treaty. +p2335 +aVI would make sure that there was economic pressure put on them. Why not? Why should we fund every single battle against radical Islam? Why should we stand back and watch Israel get targeted, the United States get targeted and we watch with people with their hands in their pocket, and their hands in our pocket because we're getting them a lot of money. And let's say your hands can be in your pocket, you can stand still, but your hands aren't going to be in our pockets anymore. We're not going to give you another dime unless you engage the battle with us. We are not sending our sons and daughters, and grandsons and granddaughters to war to fight for your interest. You either get in with us or be on your own. But we're not gonna fight the battle for you. +p2336 +aVI wouldn't reinstate a draft, but, I think it's noteworthy that we are fighting all the battles we have with less than one percent of the American population. +p2337 +aVI wouldn't reinstate a draft, but, I think it's noteworthy that we are fighting all the battles we have with less than one percent of the American population. We have the lowest level of percentage of population participating in the military than ever. And they're over-deployed, they're over used, especially among our reserves and Guard troops. Any governor will tell you. +p2338 +aVWell, I would say that, if you want a college education, let's go back and reinstate the full-blown G.I. bill. You give something to your country; your country gives something back to you. We need to ask young people to step up and buy their own freedom because there's not going to be enough people left at less than one percent. And as my good friend Ken Howard, former Dean of the War College, has often said, we're fighting all the wars with other people's kids. And that's one of the things that's making us much less safe, is because we don't have enough Americans truly invested in the process of defeating our enemies. Therefore, I do think without a draft we do need to ask people to recognize we are at war. +p2339 +aVI'm not belittling their sacrifice, Lindsey, but I'm just making note that on the part of Americans we have sent National Guard troops over for an 18-month em \u2014 18-month deployment. They come back for five, they go back for another 18. We're wearing these guys out. They agreed to be citizen soldiers. We turned them into full time soldiers because we've not kept up the pace by recruiting enough people in the military to fully fill these forces, and that's what we need to be doing. +p2340 +aVThe horrors that those families have to go through, if that were my son, my daughter, I'd give my last drop of blood to get them back. You bet I would. Is it a good policy? No. It's a terrible policy because once we do it, we're only going to invite more and more hostages, more and more ransoms, and the diasters gets even worse. But I don't blame any of these families. You know who I blame? I blame a policy in our government that has made it so that families are so desperate that they're willing to pay ransom to terrorists organizations because they don't believe our government will fight the fight for them and they think they're out there on their own. My goodness people, this is America. When did we have to start telling people that you've got to bake your own bread in order to fight the battles? That's what we have a government for, it's what we pay taxes for. And I believe, those families ought to have a better expectation of what this government will do. We should never has sat at the table with the Iranians as long Sayed Abadnini is sitting in an Iranian prison. As long as the Washington Post report is over there. Until the four hostages of America were on an airplane safely out of Tehran. We should've told them, " we won't even walk into the room with you much less sit down and negotiate with you." That's what we ought to be doing. +p2341 +aVWe just need to take a real pause and all the people that coming here and we don't know who they are or what their affiliations are. What George just said is right. We can't take the risk. And why should we take the risk? And if it's such a doggone good idea to bring people here that we really don't know who they are and Obama thinks that we're being un-Christian to not do it, I've got a suggestion. Let's send the first wave of them to Chappaqua, Martha's Vineyard and the upper east side of Manhattan and to the south lawn of the White House where we'll set up a camp. Let's see how that works out. And if they behave wonderfully, that's fine. I want to say, I don't want someone lecturing me about what it means to be a Christian that I should invite a potential terrorist into my backyard. On one hand, the left says separation of church and state. Let's not have any discussion of religion, and then the left wants to tell me what it means to be a Christian. They need to figure out if they know more about being a Christian than I do, then tell me... On one hand, the left says separation of church and state. Let's not have any discussion of religion, and then the left wants to tell me what it means to be a Christian. They need to figure out if they know more about being a Christian than I do \u2014 then tell me. They are no longer going to say separation of church and state, but, we have the most fundamental right above everything else \u2014 is not to protect the reputation of Islam. It is to protect Americans first and foremost. That is our job. +p2342 +aVNo, because he did it unconstitutionally. Twenty-three times he's said he couldn't do it, and then one day he woke up and he found he had a pen in one hand, and a phone in another, and wow. That Constitution didn't mean much anymore. Look, President's can't just do what they want to do. That's the purpose of getting elected and working with other people who got elected, is that our system was designed to function with the power of persuasion, it's really what you elect a president to do. +p2343 +aV...Let me finish, Hugh. You elect him to lead which means that if you think it's a good idea to not punish the children for something their parents did, then you go to the members of Congress and you persuade them. And, you persuade the American people. You don't just jump up and shove it up the nostrils of Congress, and the American people because you think you have a superior intellect, and a superior will, and a superior theology than everybody else. Our system is not a system of tyranny. We don't elect kings, we elect servants. If I'm elected president, I don't consider myself to be elected to be the king of the country, but the servant of the country to work with other people who are elected to get things done that need to be done. +p2344 +aVThe terrorists don't win just because they kill us. The terrorists win when they make us change everything we do in our daily lives and alter our routines. And they're doing that, from getting on a plane to going in a building. And it is high time that we recognize that we have to take them out, not a little bit, but totally, because I want my grandkids to grow up not in fear, but in faith and in freedom. And if you give me the opportunity to be president of the United States, I will fight for your grandkids as much as I will for mine. Thank you and God bless you. +p2345 +aVWell, first of all, Trish, I don't know why we have to move away from manufacturing. The only reason we have is because... ...we have a tax code that has punished manufacturing. I hear a lot of people talk about the plans to simplify the tax code. I've got one better than any of the simplifications, it's called a, "Fair Tax", and it eliminates all of the taxes on our productivity. Here's what would happen. We'd get rid of taxes on people's work, so, we wouldn't punish people for working anymore. Yeah, we've lost five million manufacturing jobs just since the year 2000 \u2014 160,000 manufacturing plants have close in this country, which means a lot of people \u2014 that the governors talking about, he's exactly right. They don't have jobs anymore. And the reason they don't have jobs is because their jobs are in Mexico, they're in China, they're in Indonesia. Bring the jobs back. And with the fair tax, you do that, because you don't tax capital and labor and you bring a real sense of equity to the opportunity so that people will not only make it easier to function, they'll get the manufacturing jobs back. And here's the best part. We don't reduce the IRS, we get rid of the IRS. We completely eliminate them......because the government has no business knowing how much money we make and how we made it. It's none of their business. And that's why I believe that manufacturing is critical. If we can't feed ourselves, fuel ourselves and fight for ourselves, we can't be free. And by the way, fighting for ourselves means manufacturing our own weapons of self-defense. +p2346 +aVWell, Sandra, first of all, let me mention the fact that I think there's a big difference between welfare programs and what some people call entitlements. Namely, Social Security and Medicare. I just want to remind everybody out there who has ever had a paycheck, the government didn't ask you if you wanted them to take money out of your check for Social Security and Medicare. They did that involuntarily. Those are not entitlements and that's not welfare. That's an earned benefit. And by gosh, you paid for it. And if the government screwed it up, you shouldn't have to pay the penalty because of an incompetent government. That's different than the social programs that we've spent $2 trillion on since the War on Poverty began exactly 50 years ago this year. Now the reason we still have so much poverty is because it was never designed to get people out of poverty. It was designed to make sure that there was an industry of poverty, so that the people in the poverty industry would have a lot of jobs. But the people who are poor haven't been benefited. Having grown up poor, I know a little something about it. Nobody who is poor wants to be. That's a nonsense statement and I hear it all the time. Well, poor people ought to work harder. They're working as hard as they can, for gosh sake. But the problem is the system keeps pushing them down because, if they work, then they get punished. They lose all the benefits. When we did welfare reform in the '90s, you know what we did? We said you're not going to lose everything at once. There's not an arbitrary threshold. So as you move up the ladder from work and training, you'll actually always be better off than you were before. That's the American way. +p2347 +aVWell, I'd just like to respond, with all due respect to, to the Governor, to the state just south of me, I would say that a lot of us have cut things. And during the recession of 2001 to 2003, when 91 percent of our state budget was basically three things, educate, medicate and incarcerate, we ended up cutting 11 percent out of the state budget through that recession so we didn't have to go in and raise a bunch of taxes, and there were people who thought we should. So it's just not accurate to say that nobody else up here has ever cut. I believe every governor has probably had to make tough decisions. I'm, I'm guessing my colleague Governor Christie has, as I'm tossing him the ball like Arkansas did to Ol' Miss the other day. +p2348 +aVSandra, before we get too far away, he specifically brought out some things about the record that I need to correct. +p2349 +aVSandra, I've been concerned that this administration has not done anything to help stop the slaughter of Christians. We didn't help the Kurds, we said we would. But, the idea that we're just going to open our doors, and we have no idea who these people are \u2014 what we do know is that only one out of five of the so called, "Syrian Refugees", who went into Europe were actually Syrian. Many of them, we had no idea who they were. They weren't Syrian. Are we going to open the doors so that the +p2350 +aV...I'd like to get that opportunity to go... +p2351 +aVWell, since we're not going to answer the question, let me just remind everybody, tomorrow is Veterans Day. And here's what I would like to remind everybody. The VA has been a disaster in large part because the people in Congress have never bothered to fix it, and this president has certainly not... +p2352 +aVLet me finish, please. I'm going to ask you just this, what would happen if the Congress and the president had to get their health care from the VA? We would fix the problem and we would fix Congress. +p2353 +aVWell, thank you very much. I still want to go back to the fact that if we got rid of all the taxes on our work, got rid of the taxes on our savings, investments, capital gains, and inheritance, and made a zero tax, we'd pay at the point of consumption. Because why should we punish people for their productivity? And the fair tax doesn't punish people for doing well and building the economy. There's $31 trillion parked offshore. What happens if that money comes back to America? You'd think it'd goose the economy? I guarantee you it would. And that's why the fair tax is the best solution we have for economic growth in this country. +p2354 +aVWell, first of all, do you know an American that will just stop spending? I don't. No, that's not going to be the problem. Look, Americans will go to the marketplace with more money they've ever had. For the first time they'll be having their whole paycheck. You see, most people don't understand that when you buy something that is made in America, 22 percent of the cost of it is the embedded tax they never even know they paid. It's why China has beaten the daylights out of us, they can build stuff that we can't because they're not taxing it, when they don't tax capital and labor and we do. They bring something over here, it's automatically cheaper even without the regulatory environment because they're not embedding the taxes, we are. Take the embedded taxes out. Give a person his whole paycheck because every American would no longer have a payroll tax taken out. It means they'd see their real paycheck for the first time. When they go to spend that money, they'll actually have it. And they only pay taxes on the stuff that's new. So a lot of Americans will buy used stuff. Look, here's the point, Americans are not going to quit shopping. Americans are not going to quit buying. But it would be nice if Americans could control how much they paid in tax, rather than having the government reach into their pockets and take it out before they ever had a chance to even see it, much less spend it. And that's why the fair tax makes a heck of a lot more sense than punishing productivity and rewarding irresponsibility. +p2355 +aVWell, my wife's name is Janet and when you say Janet Yelling, I'm very familiar with what you mean. But, look, I think the Fed is in a big trouble because they haven't addressed the number one issue that's hurting Americans and that's the fact that wages for the bottom 90 percent of the economy have been stagnant for 40 years. In the 25 years after World War II, up to 1971, wages grew by 85 percent in this country. People were \u2014 were moving up in the middle class. There was a middle class. That's not happening any more, and in large measure, the Fed has manipulated the dollar so it doesn't have a standard. Tie the dollar to something fixed and if it's not going to be gold, make it the commodity basket. But here's what we've got to do. We absolutely have to get it where the people who go out there and work get something in return. And if the dollar keeps fluctuating, and this is as crazy as \u2014 as is the price of bread, well, the fact is, people can't get ahead then. +p2356 +aVAbsolutely. Absolutely, because what we need to is to make sure that they tie the monetary standard to something that makes sense, rather than to their own whims, because who's getting gut punched? It ain't the people in Wall Street, it's the folks on Main Street. They're the ones who's wages have been stagnant for 40 years. And the average American today has a total savings of 1,000 bucks. One root canal and they're in trouble. And if their car breaks down the same week......they're out of business. +p2357 +aVWell, I think thanking our veterans is a wonderful thing to do, but, they sure appreciate a better paycheck. They'd appreciate the fact that we kept our promises to them. The men and women in uniform put on the uniform of our nation, they went halfway around the world, they face dangers on our behalf, and we promised them if they did that, when they came home we'd take care of their medical care, we'd make is possible for their kids to go to college, and they'd be able to bind to a home. They kept their promises to us. We have not kept our promises to them, and today, less than one percent of Americans go to the military for service. We're fighting wars with other people's kids in large measure because we've not taken seriously the moral, not the monetary, the moral obligation to take care of the veterans and to keep America's promise to the ones who kept their promise to America. +p2358 +aVIn many ways, I feel like I'm the luckiest guy on Earth. I really do. It's a long way from a little brick rent house on second street in Hope, Arkansas to this stage where I'm running for President of the United States. It's not about me, not about these guys \u2014 'ought to be about you, and I've never been the favorite of the people who have the most money. But, I want to be the favorite of the people who still want to believe the American dream can work for them. Today in our office, I got a letter from a third grader in North Dakota, her name is Reese. She sent $6 dollars from her allowance, and said, "I want to help you be president." You know, I'm going to keep standing on this stage, and keep fighting for one reason, because somewhere out there in North Dakota, and all over America, there are kids like Reese who need a president who will never forget where they came from, and I promise I won't. +p2359 +asVCRUZ +p2360 +(lp2361 +VThank you, Wolf. America is at war. Our enemy is not violent extremism. It is not some unnamed malevolent force. It is radical Islamic terrorist. We have a president who is unwilling to utter its name. The men and women on this stage, every one of us, is better prepared to keep this nation safe than is Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. We need a president who understands the first obligation of the commander-in-chief is to keep America safe. If I am elected president, we will hunt down and kill the terrorists. We will utterly destroy +p2362 +aVWell, listen, Hugh, everyone understands why Donald has suggested what he has. We're looking at a president who's engaged in this double-speak where he doesn't call radical Islamic terrorism by its name. Indeed, he gives a speech after the San Bernardino attack where his approach is to try to go after the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens rather than to keep us safe. And even worse, President Obama and Hillary Clinton are proposing bringing tens of thousands of Syrian refugees to this country when the head of the FBI has told Congress they cannot vet those refugees. I understand why Donald made that proposal. I introduced legislation in the Senate that I believe is more narrowly focused at the actual threat, which is radical Islamic terrorism, and what my legislation would do is suspend all refugees for three years from countries where +p2363 +aVWell, you know, I'm reminded of what FDR's grandfather said. He said, "All horse-thieves are Democrats, but not all Democrats are horse-thieves." In this instance, there are millions of peaceful Muslims across the world, in countries like India, where there is not the problems we are seeing in nations that are controlled \u2014 have territory controlled by Al Qaida or +p2364 +aVWell, Dana, the premise of your question is not accurate. I'm very proud to have joined with conservatives in both the Senate and the House to reform how we target bad guys. And what the USA Freedom Act did is it did two things. Number one, it ended the federal government's bulk collection of phone metadata of millions of law-abiding citizens. But number two in the second half of it that is critical. It strengthened the tools of national security and law enforcement to go after terrorists. It gave us greater tools and we are seeing those tools work right now in San Bernardino. And in particular, what it did is the prior program only covered a relatively narrow slice of phone calls. When you had a terrorist, you could only search a relatively narrow slice of numbers, primarily land lines. The USA Freedom Act expands that so now we have cell phones, now we have Internet phones, now we have the phones that terrorists are likely to use and the focus of law enforcement is on targeting the bad guys. You know what the Obama administration keeps getting wrong is whenever anything bad happens they focus on law-abiding citizens instead of focusing on the bad guys. We need to focus on radical Islamic terrorists and we need to stop them before they carry out acts of terror. +p2365 +aVWell, you know, I would note that Marco knows what he's saying isn't true. You know, Mark Levin wrote a column last week that says that the attack ads his Super PAC is running that are saying the same thing, that they are knowingly false and they are, in fact, Alinsky-like attacks like Barack Obama. And the reason is simple. What he knows is that the old program covered 20 percent to 30 percent of phone numbers to search for terrorists. The new program covers nearly 100 percent. That gives us greater ability to stop acts of terrorism, and he knows that that's the case. +p2366 +aVWhat it means is using overwhelming air power to utterly and completely destroy +p2367 +aVYou would carpet bomb where +p2368 +aVWell, you know, Marco has continued these attacks, and he knows they're not true. Yes, it is true that I voted against the National Defense Authorization Act, because when I campaigned in Texas I told voters in Texas that I would oppose the federal government having the authority to detain U.S. citizens permanently with no due process. I have repeatedly supported an effort to take that out of that bill, and I honored that campaign commitment. +p2369 +aVBut more broadly, you know, the notion Marco is suggesting, that somehow \u2014 he also has tossed more than a few insults this direction \u2014 let's be absolutely clear. +p2370 +aVWolf, I believe in a America first foreign policy, that far too often President Obama and Hillary Clinton \u2014 and, unfortunately, more than a few Republicans \u2014 have gotten distracted from the central focus of keeping this country safe. So let's go back to the beginning of the Obama administration, when Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama led +p2371 +aV... we ought to hunt down our enemies and kill +p2372 +aVWell, it's more than not shedding a tear. It's actively getting involved to topple a government. And we keep hearing from President Obama and Hillary Clinton and Washington Republicans that they're searching for these mythical moderate rebels. It's like a purple unicorn. They never exist. These moderate rebels end up being jihadists. And I'll tell you whose view on Assad is the same as mine. It's Prime Minister Netanyahu. Prime Minister Netanyahu has said Israel doesn't have a dog in that fight because Assad is a puppet of Iran, a Shia radical Islamic terrorist, but at the same time, Prime Minister Netanyahu doesn't want to see Syria governed by +p2373 +aVThe question of whether we should toppling dictatorships is asking the wrong question. We should be defeating our enemies. So the problem with defeating... +p2374 +aVWell, but let me explain, the focus should be... +p2375 +aV... on defeating our enemies. So, for example... +p2376 +aV... a regime we should change is Iran... +p2377 +aV... because Iran has declared war on us. But we shouldn't be toppling regimes...... that are fighting radical Islamic terrorists that are helping... +p2378 +aVWell, he \u2014 he has attempted to muddy the waters, but I think that anyone who watched the battle that we had. You know, there was a time for choosing as Reagan put it. Where there was a battle over amnesty and some chose, like Senator Rubio to stand with Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer and support a massive amnesty plan. Others chose to stand with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and the American people and secure the border. And let me mention, this issue is actually directly connected to what we've been talking about. Because the front line with +p2379 +aVLook, I understand Marco wants to raise confusion, it is not accurate what he just said that I supported legalization. Indeed, I led the fight against his legalization and amnesty. And you know, there was one commentator that put it this way that, for Marco to suggest our record's the same is like suggesting "the fireman and the arsonist because they are both at the scene of the fire." He was fighting to grant amnesty and not to secure the border, I was fighting to secure the border. And this also goes to trust, listening on to campaign trails. Candidates all the time make promises. You know, Marco said," he learned that the American people didn't trust the federal government." +p2380 +aVIn Florida promising to... +p2381 +aVgo in the fight against amnesty... +p2382 +aVHe campaigned promising to lead the fight against amnesty. +p2383 +aVI have never supported a legalization... +p2384 +aVI have never supported legalization, and I do not intend to support legalization. Let me tell you how you do this, what you do is you enforce the law... +p2385 +aVWatt you do is enforcement the law... +p2386 +aVWhat you do... +p2387 +aVWhat you do is you enforce the law. I've laid out a very, very detailed immigration plan on my website, tedcruz.org. It's 11 pages of existing federal law and in particular the question of what to do with people who are here now? You enforce the law. That means you stop the Obama administration's policy of releasing criminal illegal aliens. Do you know how many aliens Bill Clinton deported? 12 million. Do you know how many illegal aliens, George W. Bush deported? 10 million. We can enforce the laws and if we secure the border, that solves the problem. And as president I will solve this problem and secure the border. +p2388 +aVDana, what I said in private is exactly what I'll say here, which is that the judgment that every voter is making of every one of us up here is who has the experience, who has the vision, who has the judgment to be commander in chief. That is the most important decision for the voters to make. That's a standard I'm held to. And it's a standard everyone else is held to. And I will note, you know, in the whole course of this discussion about our foreign policy threats, it actually illustrates the need for clarity of focus. You know, my daughters, Caroline and Catherine, came tonight. They're 7 and 5. And you think about the Los Angeles schools canceling their schools today. And every parent is wondering, how do we keep our kids safe? We need a commander in chief who does what Ronald Reagan did with communism, which is he set out a global strategy to defeat Soviet communism. And he directed all of his... I'm answering the question, Dana. He directed all of his forces to defeating communism. One of the things we've seen here is how easy it is for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to get distracted from dealing with radical Islamic terrorism. They won't even call it by its name. We need a president who stands up, number one, and says, we will defeat +p2389 +aVAnd we need to be focused on defeating... +p2390 +aV... defeating radical Islamic terrorists. +p2391 +aVWhat I'm saying, Dana, is that is a judgment for every voter to make. What I can tell you is all nine of the people here would make an infinitely better commander in chief than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. +p2392 +aVAnd there is a real danger, Dana, when people get distracted. I'm answering the question, Wolf. There's a real danger when people get distracted by peripheral issues. They get distracted by democracy building. They get distracted about military conflicts. We need to focus on defeating jihadism. +p2393 +aVAnd I will do everything necessary to keep our children safe. +p2394 +aVJudgment, strength, clarity and trust. Barack Obama has said he doesn't believe in American leadership or America winning \u2014 he is wrong. America can win again and we will win again. Ronald Reagan reignited the American economy, rebuilt the Military, bankrupted the Soviet Union and defeated Soviet Communism. I will do the same thing. Cutting taxes, cutting regulation, unleashing small businesses and rebuilding the Military to defeat radical Islamic terrorism \u2014 our strategy is simple. We win, they lose. We've done it before and we can do it again. +p2395 +aVWell, Maria, it's great to be with you. It's great to be here in Milwaukee. You know, the question you asked really I think is the most important question any of us can have \u2014 face, which is, how do we get the economy growing? How do we bring back economic growth? Because economic growth, it's foundational to every other challenge we have. As you rightly noted, from 2008 to today, our economy has grown 1.2 percent a year on average. The Obama economy is a disaster, and the IMF is telling us this is a new normal. It doesn't have to be. If you look at the history of America, there are three levers that government has had to facilitate economic growth. The first is tax reform. And as you noted, I have rolled out a bold and simple flat tax: 10 percent for every American that would produce booming growth and 4.9 million new jobs within a decade. The second element is regulatory reform, pulling back the armies of regulators that have descended like locusts on small businesses. And the third element is sound money. Every time we've pursued all three of those \u2014 whether in the 1920s with Calvin Coolidge or the 1960s with JFK or the 1980s with Ronald Reagan \u2014 the result has been incredible economic growth. We have done it before, and with leadership, we can do it again. +p2396 +aVWell, my Mom is here, so I don't think we should be pushing any grannies off cliffs. And, you miss-stated what I've said on entitlement reform. What I've said is for seniors we should make no changes whatsoever, for younger workers we should gradually raise the retirement age, we should have benefits grow more slowly, and we should allow them to keep a portion of their taxes in a personal account that they control, and can pass on to their kids... +p2397 +aVI want to go back to the discussion we had a minute ago because, you know, what was said was right. The democrats are laughing \u2014 because if republicans join democrats as the party of amnesty, we will lose. And, you know, I understand that when the mainstream media covers immigration, it doesn't often see it as an economic issue. But, I can tell you for millions \u2014 of Americans at home watching this, it is a very personal economic issue. And, I will say the politics of it will be very, very different if a bunch of lawyers or bankers were crossing the Rio Grande. Or if a bunch of people with journalism degrees were coming over and driving down the wages in the press. Then, we would see stories about the economic calamity that is befalling our nation. And, I will say for those of us who believe people 'ought to come to this country legally, and we should enforce the law, we're tired of being told it's anti-immigrant. It's offensive. I am the son of an immigrant who came legally from Cuba... ...to seek the American dream. And, we can embrace legal immigration while believing in the rule of law \u2014 and I would note, try going illegally to another country. Try going to China, or Japan. Try going to Mexico. See what they do. Every sovereign nation secures its borders, and it is not compassionate to say we're not going to enforce the laws... ...And we're going to drive down the wages for millions of hardworking men and women. That is abandoning the working... +p2398 +aVWell, sure, you put your finger on what the problem is. The current system isn't fair. Washington is fundamentally corrupt. There are more words in the IRS code than there are in the Bible \u2014 and \u2014 and not a one of them is as good. Every one of them reflects a carve-out or a subsidy, and it's all about empowering the Washington cartel. My simple Flat Tax says that, for a family of four, for the first $36,000 you earn, you pay no taxes whatsoever. No income taxes, no payroll taxes, no nothing. Above that, every American pays 10 percent across the board \u2014 a flat, fair tax. Which means that no longer do you have hedge-fund billionaires paying a lower tax rate than their secretaries. On the business side, I've got a business flat tax of 16 percent \u2014 again, that applies across the board. Right now, with our corporate income tax, giant corporations with armies of accountants regularly are paying little to no taxes while small businesses are getting hammered. This is fair and across-the-board. Now, you ask, how do the numbers add up? I would encourage folks, if you go to our website, tedcruz.org, we have the specific numbers on the website. This plan eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax, eliminates the corporate income tax, and it abolishes the IRS. And the effect of that is incredible economic growth. It means every income group will see double-digit increases, from the very poorest to the very weakest, of at least 14 percent. So if you're a single mom, if you're making $40,000 a year, what that means is an extra about $5,000 in your pocket to provide for your kids, to make ends meet. It has a powerful, powerful effect. And there's one other really powerful feature of my plan, which is that it's border-adjustable. Which means, if you're an exporter \u2014 if you're a farmer, if you're a rancher, if you're a manufacturer, you don't pay the businesses flat tax. Exports are free of that tax, but all imports pay that 16 percent business flat tax, which means this tax plan would cause jobs to boom, and it would let America compete with China and the world on a level playing field. +p2399 +aVWell, the numbers the Tax Foundation had put out is that the static cost of the plan is $3.6 trillion over 10 years, but the dynamic cost of the plan, which \u2014 which is the cost that factors in growth, is about $768 billion. It is less than a trillion. It costs less than virtually every other plan people have put up here, and yet it produces more growth and it's one of the very few plans that abolishes the IRS. But on top of that, today, we rolled out a spending plan. $500 billion in specific cuts \u2014 five major agencies that I would eliminate. The IRS, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Energy, the Department of Commerce, and HUD \u2014 and then 25 specific programs. Again, that's on our website at tedcruz.org. You want to look at specificity? It's easy for everyone to say, "cut spending". It's much harder and riskier to put out, chapter and verse, specifically the programs you would cut to stop bankrupting our kids and grandkids. +p2400 +aV...Middle ground that brings both of these together... +p2401 +aV...Exactly right, that we have to defend this nation. You think defending this nation is expensive, try not defending it. That's a lot more expensive. But, you can do that, and pay for it. You can do that, and also be fiscally responsible. You know, I mention that the 25 programs that I put today, that I would eliminate them. Among them are corporate welfare, like sugar subsidies. Let's take that as an example. Sugar subsidies. Sugar farmers farm under... ...under roughly 0.2% of the farmland in America, and yet they give 40% of the lobbying money. That sort of corporate welfare is why we're bankrupting our kids, and grandkids. I would end those subsidies to pay for defending this nation... +p2402 +aVAbsolutely yes. You know, I have spent much of my adult life enforcing the law and defending the Constitution. And the problem that underlies all of this is the cronyism and corruption of Washington. You know, the opening question Jerry asked, would you bail out the big banks again? Nobody gave you an answer to that. I'll give you an answer. Absolutely not. And what we have right now is we have Washington \u2014 as government gets bigger and bigger, you know, the biggest lie in all of Washington and in all of politics is that Republicans are the party of the rich. The truth is, the rich do great with big government. They get in bed with big government. The big banks get bigger and bigger and bigger under Dodd-Frank and community banks are going out of business. And, by the way, the consequence of that is small businesses can't get business loans, and it is that fundamental corruption that is why six of the 10 wealthiest counties in America are in and around Washington, D.C. And let me give you a contrast to Washington cronyism. Some weeks ago, a woman named Sabina Loving testified at a hearing that I chaired in the Senate. Sabina Loving is an African-American single mom who started a tax preparation business in the south side of Chicago. She found a store front, she wanted to have her own business. She started a business. But then the IRS promulgated new regulations targeting tax preparers. They did it under a more than 100-year-old statute called the Dead Horse Act. Now, this statute and the IRS in classic Washington crony fashion had exemptions for lawyers and big fancy accountants, but Sabina had to pay $1,000 an employee. It would have driven her out of business, and Ms. Loving sued the IRS. She took the Obama IRS to court, and she won, and they struck down the rule for picking the big guys over the little guys. +p2403 +aVYes. Now, let's be clear, there is a role for the Federal Reserve \u2014 what the Fed is doing now is it is a series of philosopher- kings trying to guess what's happening with the economy. You look at the Fed, one of the reasons we had the financial crash is throughout the 2000s, we had loose money, we had an asset bubble, it drove up the price of real estate, drove up the price of commodities, and then in the third quarter of 2008, the Fed tightened the money and crashed those asset prices, which caused a cascading collapse. That's why I am supporting getting back to rules-based monetary system not with a bunch of philosopher-kings deciding, but tied... +p2404 +aVSo let me be clear. I would not bail them out, but instead of adjusting monetary policy according to whims and getting it wrong over and over again and causing booms and busts, what the Fed should be doing is, number one, keeping our money tied to a stable level of gold, and, number two, serving as a lender of last resort. That's what central banks do. So if you have a run on the bank, the Fed can serve as a lender of last resort, but it's not a bailout. It is a loan at higher interest rates. That's how central banks have worked. And I'll point out \u2014 look, we had a gold standard under Bretton Woods, we had it for about 170 years of our nation's history, and enjoyed booming economic growth and lower inflation than we have had with the Fed now. We need to get back to sound money, which helps, in particular, working men and women. What Washington does \u2014 the people who are doing well in the Obama economy are those with power and influence in the Obama government. The people who working men and women... +p2405 +aVSo, Governor Kasich... +p2406 +aV...why would you then bail out rich Wall Street banks, but not Main street, not Mom and Pop, not Sabina Loving? +p2407 +aVBut you just said an executive... +p2408 +aV...knows to step in and bail out a bank. +p2409 +aVSo you said you'd abandon philosophy and abandon principle... +p2410 +aV...but what would you do if the bank was failing? +p2411 +aVSo you \u2014 you would bail them out. +p2412 +aVAnd, Maria, I will note, she's got a lot of experience, but her policies have proven disastrous. If you look at foreign policy, every region in the world has gotten worse. Under her leadership, we abandon the nation of Israel. Under her leadership, radical Islamic terrorism has been on to the rise. Under her leadership, and Obama's leadership, Iran is getting $100 billion dollars, and on the verge of getting a nuclear weapon. Everything she's put her hand to, or has touched \u2014 and when we talk about the cronyism of Washington, Hillary Clinton embodies the cronyism... ...of Washington. And, I'll give you an example of that, which is the Congressional exemption from Obamacare, which is fundamentally wrong, and I'll tell you this, if I'm elected president, I will veto any statute that exempts members of congress. The law should apply evenly to every American. +p2413 +aVMaria, critically, when it comes to climate change... +p2414 +aV...Our \u2014 our... +p2415 +aVFifty-eight years ago, my father fled Cuba. As he stood on the deck of that ferryboat with the wind and salt air blowing, he looked back at the oppression and torture he was escaping. And yet he looked forward to the promise of America. His story is our story. What ties Americans together is we are all the children of those who risked everything for freedom. America is in crisis now. I believe in America. And if we get back to the free market principles and constitutional liberties that built this country, we can turn this country around. I believe that 2016 will be an election like 1980, that we will win by following Reagan's admonition to paint in bold colors, not pale pastels. We're building a grassroots army. I ask you to join us at tedcruz.org. And we, the people, can turn this nation around. +p2416 +aVI'm too agreeable, easy going. You know, I think my biggest weakness is exactly the opposite. I'm a fighter. I am passionate about what I believe. I've been passionate my whole life about the Constitution. And, you know, for six-and-a-half years, we've had a gigantic party. If you want someone to grab a beer with, I may not be that guy. But if you want someone to drive you home, I will get the job done and I will get you home. +p2417 +aVBecky, if you want a 10 percent flat tax where the numbers add up, I rolled out my tax plan today, you can find it on line at tedcruz.org. It is a simple flat tax where for individuals, a family of four pays nothing on the first $36,000. After that you pay 10 percent as a flat tax going up. The billionaire and the working man, no hedge fund manager pays less than his secretary. On top of that, there is a business flat tax of 16 percent. Now that applies universally to giant corporations that with lobbyists right now are not paying taxes, and as small business. And you wanted to know the numbers, the Tax Foundation, which has scored every one of our plans, shows that this plan will allow the economy to generate 4.9 million jobs, to raise wages over 12 percent, and to generate 14 percent growth. And it costs, with dynamic scoring, less than a trillion dollars. Those are the hard numbers. And every single income decile sees a double-digit increase in after-tax income. +p2418 +aVGrowth is the answer. And as Reagan demonstrated, if we cut taxes, we can bring back growth. +p2419 +aVYou know, let me say something at the outset. The questions that have been asked so far in this debate illustrate why the American people don't trust the media. This is not a cage match. And, you look at the questions \u2014 "Donald Trump, are you a comic-book villain?" "Ben Carson, can you do math?" "John Kasich, will you insult two people over here?" "Marco Rubio, why don't you resign?" "Jeb Bush, why have your numbers fallen?" How about talking about the substantive issues the people care about? +p2420 +aVAnd Carl \u2014 Carl, I'm not finished yet. The contrast with the Democratic debate, where every fawning question from the media was, "Which of you is more handsome and why?" And let me be clear. +p2421 +aVLet me be clear. The men and women on this stage have more ideas, more experience, more common sense than every participant in the Democratic debate. That debate reflected a debate between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. And nobody watching at home believed that any of the moderators had any intention of voting in a Republican primary. The questions that are being asked shouldn't be trying to get people to tear into each other. It should be what are your substantive positions... +p2422 +aVYou want me to answer that question? I'm happy to answer the question... +p2423 +aVLet me tell you how that question... +p2424 +aVLet me tell you how that question... +p2425 +aV... so you don't actually want to hear the answer, John? +p2426 +aVYou don't want to hear the answer. You just want to... +p2427 +aVYou're not interested in an answer. +p2428 +aV...Then I'll buy you a tequila... +p2429 +aV...Or, even some famous Colorado brownies. +p2430 +aVWell, sure. This deal in Washington is an example of why Washington's broken. Republican leadership joined with every single Democrat, add $80 trillion to our debt to do nothing to fix the problems. And, let me now on Social Security because we were getting into a good substantive exchange, and I want to say I think both Chris, and Mike are right. Governor Huckabee's exactly right, we need to honor the promises made to our seniors, but for younger workers \u2014 look. I'm 44 years old. It is hard to find someone in my generation that thinks Social Security will be there for us. We can save and preserve and strengthen Social Security by making no changes for seniors, but for younger workers gradually increasing the retirement age, changing the rate of growth so that it matches inflation, and critically allowing younger workers to keep a portion of our tax payments in a personal account that we own, we control them, we can pass on to our kids. +p2431 +aVWell, we've gotta turn the economy around for people who are struggling. The Democrats' answer to everything is more government control over wages, and more empowering trial lawyers to file lawsuits. You know, you look at women working. I'll tell you, in my family there are a lot of single moms in my family. My sister was a single mom, both of my aunts who were a single moms. My mom who's here today, was a single mom when my father left us when I was 3 years old. Now, thank God, my father was invited to a Bible study and became born again and he came back to my mom and me and we were raised together. But I \u2014 the struggle of single moms is extraordinary. And you know, when you see Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and all the Democrats talking about wanting to address the plight of working women, not a one of them mentioned the fact that under Barack Obama, 3.7 million women have entered poverty. Not a one of them mentioned the fact that under Barack Obama and the big government economy, the median wage for women has dropped $733. The the truth of the matter is, big government benefits the wealthy, it benefits the lobbyists, it benefits the giant corporations. And the people who are getting hammered are small businesses, it's single moms, it's Hispanics. That is who I'm fighting for. The people that Washington leaves behind. +p2432 +aVWell, Rick, it's a very important question. I have got deep concerns about the Fed. The first thing I think we need to do is audit the Fed. And I am an original co-sponsor of Rand Paul's audit the Fed legislation. The second thing we need to do is I think we need to bring together a bipartisan commission to look at getting back to rules- based monetary policy, end this star chamber that has been engaging in this incredible experiment of quantitative easing, QE1, QE2, QE3, QE- infinity. And the people who are being impacted, you know, a question that was asked earlier, Becky asked, was about working women. You know, it's interesting, you look at on Wall Street, the Fed is doing great. It's driving up stock prices. Wall Street is doing great. You know, today, the top 1 percent earn a higher share of our income than any year since 1928. But if you look at working men and women. If you look at a single mom buying groceries, she sees hamburger prices have gone up nearly 40 percent. She sees her cost of electricity going up. She sees her health insurance going up. And loose money is one of the major problems. We need sound money. And I think the Fed should get out of the business of trying to juice our economy and simply be focused on sound money and monetary stability, ideally tied to gold. +p2433 +aVLet me say on that... +p2434 +aV...Rand is exactly right. His plan is a good plan, and I will note that my 10% plan also eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax, +p2435 +aV...eliminates the business... [ +p2436 +aV...income tax... [ +p2437 +aV...10% flat rate... +p2438 +aV...is the lowest personal rate any candidate up here has, and what it would also enable us to do is for every citizen to fill out their taxes on a postcard so we can eliminate the IRS. +p2439 +aVYou know, everyone here talks about the need to take on Washington. The natural next question is who actually has done so. Who actually has stood up not just to Democrats, but to leaders in our own party? When millions of Americans rose up against Obamacare, I was proud to lead that fight. When millions of Americans rose up against amnesty, I was proud to lead that fight. When millions of Americans rose up against Planned Parenthood, I was proud to lead that fight. If people are promising they're going to take on Washington and cronyism, you need to look to who has been doing it. In my family, my dad fled oppression in Cuba to come to America. Freedom is personal for me, and I will always keep my word and fight for freedom. +p2440 +aVI'm Ted Cruz. I am the son of an Irish-Italian mom and a Cuban immigrant dad who fled oppression and came to America seeking freedom. I'm a husband to my best friend, Heidi, who's here tonight. I'm a dad to two little girls who are the loves of my life, Caroline and Catherine. If you're fed up with Washington, if you're looking for someone to stand up to career politicians in both parties, I'm the only one on this stage who has done that over and over again, and if we stand together, we can bring America back. +p2441 +aVWell, let me tell you, Jake, the single biggest national security threat facing America right now is the threat of a nuclear Iran. We've seen six and a half years of President Obama leading from behind. Weakness is provocative, and this Iranian nuclear deal is nothing short of catastrophic. This deal, on its face, will send over $100 billion to the Ayatollah Khamenei, making the Obama administration the world's leading financier of radical Islamic terrorism. +p2442 +aVThis deal abandons four American hostages in Iran, and this deal will only accelerate Iran's acquiring nuclear weapons. You'd better believe it. If I am elected president, on the very first day in office, I will rip to shreds this catastrophic Iranian nuclear deal. +p2443 +aVWell, let's be clear when it comes to experience. What President Obama wants to do is he's run to the United Nations, and he wants to use the United Nations to bind the United States, and take away our sovereignty. Well, I spent five and a half years as a Solicitor General of Texas, the lead lawyer for the state, in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, and I went in front of the Supreme Court, and took on the world court of the United Nations in a case called Medellin v. Texas, and we won a historic victory saying the World Court, and the U.N., has no power to bind the United States, and no President of the United States, Republican or Democrat, has the authority to give away our sovereignty. And, so, if there's anyone up here who would be bound by this catastrophic deal with Iran, they're giving up the core responsibility of commander in chief, and as president, I would never do that. +p2444 +aVJake, Jake... +p2445 +aVJake, there is no more important topic in 2016 than this topic right here, and I've listened to several folks saying, "Well, gosh, if they cheat, we'll act." We won't know under this agreement \u2014 there are several facilities in Iran they designate as military facilities that are off limit all together. Beyond that, the other facilities, we give them 24 days notice before inspecting them. That is designed to allow them to hide the evidence. And most astonishingly, this agreement trusts the Iranians to inspect themselves. That makes no sense whatsoever. And let me know \u2014 President Obama is violating federal law... +p2446 +aV... by not handing over the side deals, and we ought to see the United States Congress... +p2447 +aV... stand up together and say, "Hand over this treaty, and protect this country." +p2448 +aVWell, let me tell you, Dana, number one, I'm proud to stand for life. These Planned Parenthood videos are horrifying. I would encourage every American to watch the videos. See \u2014 seeing your Planned Parenthood officials callously, heartlessly bartering and selling the body parts of human beings, and then ask yourself, "are these my values?" These are horrifying. On these videos, Planned Parenthood also essentially confesses to multiple felonies. It is a felony with ten years' jail term to sell the body parts of unborn children for profit. That's what these videos show Planned Parenthood doing. Absolutely we shouldn't be sending $500 million of taxpayer money to funding an ongoing criminal enterprise, and I'll tell you, the fact that Republican leadership in both houses has begun this discussion by preemptively surrendering to Barack Obama and saying, "we'll give in because Obama threatens a veto." You know, Obama's committed to his principles. His liberal principles, he will fight for them. He says... +p2449 +aVI will veto any budget that doesn't fund Planned Parenthood, and Republicans surrender. We need to stop surrendering and start standing... +p2450 +aV...for our principles. +p2451 +aVWell, Jake, you know, I'm \u2014 I'm very glad that Donald Trump's being in this race has forced the mainstream media finally to talk about illegal immigration. I think that's very important. I like and respect Ben Carson. I'll let him talk about his own plans. But I will say this: The natural next question that primary voters are asking, after we focus on illegal immigration is, okay, what are the records of the various candidates? And this is an issue on which there are stark differences. A majority of the men and women on this stage have previously and publicly embraced amnesty. I am the only candidate on this stage who has never supported amnesty and, in fact, who helped lead the fight to stop a massive amnesty plan. In 2013, when Barack Obama and Harry Reid joined the Washington Republicans in a massive, I stood shoulder to shoulder with Jeff Sessions helping lead the fight. You know, folks here have talked about, how do you secure the borders? Well, I've been leading the fight in the Senate to triple the Border Patrol, to put in place fencings and walls, to put in place a strong biometric exit/entry system... +p2452 +aVWell, Dana, I've known John Roberts for 20 years, he's amazingly talented lawyer, but, yes, it was a mistake when he was appointed to the Supreme Court. He's a good enough lawyer that he knows in these Obamacare cases he changed the statute, he changed the law in order to force that failed law on millions of Americans for a political outcome. And, you know, we're frustrated as conservatives. We keep winning elections, and then we don't get the outcome we want. And, let me focus on two moments in time. Number one, in 1990, in one room was David Souter, and in another room was Edith Jones, the rock ribbed (ph) conservative on the fifth circuit court of appeals. George Herbert Walker Bush appointed David Souter. And then in 2005, in one room was John Roberts, in another room was my former boss, Mike Luttig, the rock ribbed (ph) conservative on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals... +p2453 +aV...George W. Bush appointed John Roberts, and let me give you the consequences of that. If, instead, the President Bush had appointed Edith Jones, and Mike Luttig, which is who I would have appointed, Obamacare would have been struck down three years ago, and the marriage laws of all 50 states would be on the books. These matter, and I fought to defend the constitution my whole life... +p2454 +aV...and I will as president as well. +p2455 +aVIt is true that after George W. Bush nominated John Roberts, I supported his confirmation. That was a mistake and I regret that. I wouldn't have nominated John Roberts, and indeed, Governor Bush pointed out why. It wasn't that the President Bushes wanted to appoint a liberal to the court, it's that it was the easier choice. Both David Souter and John Roberts, they didn't have a long paper trail. If you had nominated Edith Jones or Mike Ludig (ph) you would have had a bloody fight and they weren't willing to spend political capital to put a strong judicial conservative on the court. I have spent my entire life, starting from clerking for Chief Justice William Rehnquist on the United States Supreme Court, one of the most principled jurists. We have an out-of-control Court, and I give you my word, if I'm elected president, every single Supreme Court justice will faithfully follow the law and will not act like philosopher kings \u2014 +p2456 +aV\u2014 imposing their liberal policies on millions of Americans \u2014 +p2457 +aV\u2014 who need to be trusted to govern ourselves. +p2458 +aVI \u2014 I am not, and \u2014 and you mentioned that the U.S. Supreme Court had rightly upheld the individual right to keep and bear arms. I was proud to lead 31 states before the U.S. Supreme Court defending the Second Amendment, and we won that landmark victory. And indeed, just a couple of years ago, when Harry Reid and Barack Obama came after the right to keep and bear arms of millions of Americans, I was proud to lead the fight in the United States Senate to protect our right to keep and bear arms, and for that reason... +p2459 +aV... I was honored to be endorsed by Gun Owners of America... +p2460 +aV... as the strongest supporter of the Second Amendment on this stage today, and I will... +p2461 +aV... fight every day to defend the Bill of Rights. +p2462 +aVWell, I wouldn't change the $10 bill, I'd change the $20. I'd take Jackson off and I'd leave Alexander Hamilton right where he is as one of our Founding Fathers. And I very much agree with Marco that it should be Rosa Parks. She was a principled pioneer that helped change this country, helped remedy racial injustice, and that would be an honor that would be entirely appropriate. +p2463 +aVYou know, as a Cuban, I might go with Cohiba (ph), and I'll tell you, I'd go with, for Heidi, Angel, because she is my angel. +p2464 +aVRonald Reagan believed in America. If I'm elected president our friends and allies across the globe will know that we stand with them. the bust of Winston Churchill will be back in the Oval Office, and the American embassy in Israel will be in Jerusalem. Enemies across this world will know the United States is not to be trifled with. +p2465 +aVChris, I believe the American people are looking for someone to speak the truth. If you're looking for someone to go to Washington, to go along to get along, to get -- to agree with the career politicians in both parties who get in bed with the lobbyists and special interests, then I ain't your guy. There is a reason... .... that we have $18 trillion in debt. Because as conservatives, as Republicans, we keep winning elections. We got a Republican House, we've got a Republican Senate, and we don't have leaders who honor their commitments. I will always tell the truth and do what I said I would do. +p2466 +aVChris, absolutely yes. And not only will I support it......I have authored Kate's law in the United States Senate and filed that legislation. I tried to get the Senate to vote to pass Kate's law on the floor of the Senate just one week ago, and the leader of our own party blocked a vote on Kate's law. You know, there was reference made to our leaders being stupid. It's not a question of stupidity. It's that they don't want to enforce the immigration laws. That there are far too many in the Washington cartel that support amnesty. President Obama has talked about fundamentally transforming this country. There's 7 billion people across the face of the globe, many of whom want to come to this country. If they come legally, great. But if they come illegally and they get amnesty, that is how we fundamentally change this country, and it really is striking. A majority of the candidates on this stage have supported amnesty. I have never supported amnesty, and I led the fight against Chuck Schumer's gang of eight amnesty legislation in the Senate. +p2467 +aVMegyn, we need a commander in chief that speaks the truth. We will not defeat radical Islamic terrorism so long as we have a president unwilling to utter the words, "radical Islamic terrorism". When I asked General Dempsey, the chairman of the joint chiefs, what would be required militarily to destroy +p2468 +aVMegyn, of course it's an ideological problem, that's one of the reasons I introduce the Expatriate Terrorist Act in the Senate that said if any American travels to the Middle East and joining +p2469 +aVWell, Bret, of course they have, and over the last six and a half years we've seen the consequences of the Obama-Clinton foreign policy. Leading from behind is a disaster. We have abandoned and alienated our friends and allies, and our enemies are stronger. Radical Islam is on the rise, Iran's on the verge of acquiring a nuclear weapon, China is waging cyber warfare against America, Russia -- General Soleimani, you just mentioned, the Iranian general is the head of the al Quds forces. He's directly responsible for the murder of over 500 American servicemen in Iraq, and part of this Iranian deal was lifting the international sanctions on General Soleimani. The day General Soleimani flew back from Moscow to Iran was the day we believed that Russia used cyber warfare against the Joint Chiefs. We need a new commander in chief that will stand up to our enemies, and that will have credibility... It is worth emphasizing that Iran released our hostages in 1981 the day Ronald Reagan was sworn into office. +p2470 +aVBrett, can I -- Brett, can I jump in on this one? +p2471 +aVWell, I am blessed to receive a word from God every day in receiving the scriptures and reading the scriptures. And God speaks through the Bible. I'm the son of a pastor and evangelist and I've described many times how my father, when I was a child, was an alcoholic. He wasn't a Christian. And my father left my mother and left me when I was just three years old. And someone invited him to Clay Road Baptist Church. And he gave his heart to Jesus and it turned him around. And he got on a plane and he flew back to my mother and me. I would also note that the scripture tells us, "you shall know them by their fruit." We see lots of "campaign conservatives." But if we're going to win in 2016, we need a consistent conservative, someone who has been a fiscal conservative, a social conservative, a national security conservative. There are real differences among the candidates on issues like amnesty, like Obamacare, like religious liberty, like life and marriage. And I have been proud to fight and stand for religious liberty, to stand against Planned Parenthood, to defend life for my entire career. And I will be proud to continue to do so as president of the United States. +p2472 +aVIf I'm elected president, let me tell you about my first day in office. The first thing I intend to do is to rescind every illegal and unconstitutional executive action taken by Barack Obama. The next thing I intend to do is instruct the Department of Justice to open an investigation into these videos and to prosecute Planned Parenthood for any criminal violations. The next thing I intend to do is instruct the Department of Justice and the IRS to start (sic) persecuting religious liberty, and then intend to cancel the Iran deal, and finally move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. I will keep my word. My father fled Cuba, and I will fight to defend liberty because my family knows what it's like to lose it. +p2473 +asVTODD +p2474 +(lp2475 +VGood evening, and welcome to the +p2476 +aVAnd neither party has seen this yet. These candidates are both running for the Democratic nomination, but they are very different from each other when it comes to what matters most and how they would go about the job of being president. Our job tonight is to draw out those differences so you, the voters, can understand them and be fully informed. +p2477 +aVFirst, I want to say a special thanks to the New Hampshire Union Leader for helping make this debate possible, and the readers, who helped provide some of the questions and topics that we'll be addressing tonight. The rules tonight, by the way, are simple: 90 seconds for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. +p2478 +aVThank you, Senator. Secretary Clinton. +p2479 +aVAll right. Let's get started. Secretary Clinton, last night you cited the Concord Monitor when you said of Senator Sanders that, quote, "It's very hard to see how any of his proposals could ever be achievable." So please tell us why you think if he's elected president on a platform of promising things like free public college and universal healthcare, that he cannot achieve those things. +p2480 +aVThank you, Secretary. Senator Sanders, so just explain how you spent nearly two decades in Congress and haven't gotten any of these things passed. Why do you think as president you'll be able to achieve big, big new programs like this? +p2481 +aVGo. +p2482 +aVYes, go ahead. +p2483 +aVAll right, thank you both. Rachel. +p2484 +aVI'd like to follow up on a comment that Secretary Clinton said, Senator. President Obama has not called for abolishing the death penalty. President Obama is for the big Asian trade deal known as TPP, and just yesterday you said you can't be both a moderate or a progressive, but you can't be both. Is President Obama, in your judgment, based on these policies positions, a progressive? +p2485 +aV...Secretary Clinton, go ahead... +p2486 +aV 30 seconds, and then we'll move. +p2487 +aVThank you. +p2488 +aV... Secretary, we're gonna... +p2489 +aVThirty seconds. +p2490 +aVThank you both. +p2491 +aVAll right, welcome back. Let's get right to it. Senator Sanders, you were talking about all of your campaign contributions and campaign finance reform. You rail against big money in politics. But do you realize there is one public financing system that we do have in place, and it is\u2014it is in place to run for president. Why aren't you walking the walk on that? Why aren't you participating in the presidential public financing system which is designed to essentially keep big money out of presidential politics? +p2492 +aVWell, going on that then, why criticize her on Super PACs, and you got\u2014and all this when it is\u2014you know, that's the system? I mean, you could be participating in a publicly-financing\u2014public financing system... +p2493 +aV... and being able to set\u2014being able to set an example. +p2494 +aV... she has had more people praise her plan than yours. +p2495 +aVThank you both. Let me move on to our next question here, and in fact it comes to us through New England Cable News. Secretary Clinton, it's addressed to you, and it's about this issue of the speeches, particularly to Goldman Sachs. This is what the questioner wrote verbatim. "I am concerned with the abuses of Wall Street has taken with the American taxpayers money," and then she asks whether you would release the transcripts of your Goldman Sachs speeches, and then added, "Don't you think the voting public has a right to know what was said?" But, let's make that bigger. Are you willing to release the transcripts of all your paid speeches? We do know through reporting that there were transcription services for all of those paid speeches. In full disclosure, would you release all of them? +p2496 +aVSenator, you sound like you want to respond. Go ahead. +p2497 +aVWe'll be right back. And we're going to get to trade and a lot of other issues. +p2498 +aVGo ahead, Senator Sanders\u201430 seconds, your response. +p2499 +aVAll right. Senator, I want to stay, though... +p2500 +aVGo ahead. 30 seconds. +p2501 +aVLet me\u2014let\u2014we're gonna\u2014we're staying\u2014we're staying basically on this topic. Obviously you've been emphasizing this difference on the Iraq war, but one place where you do agree, and one place where you voted to authorize the use of force, was in favor of the war in Afghanistan. Right now, it is possible President Obama is going to be leaving the next president, perhaps President Sanders, at least 10,000 troops in Afghanistan. How long will those troops be in Afghanistan under President Sanders? +p2502 +aVCan you address a question on Afghanistan? How long are these troops going to be there? If President Obama leaves you 10,000 troops, how long do you think they're going to be there? +p2503 +aVSecretary Clinton, 30 seconds: How long are these troops going to be in Afghanistan? We have more American troops in Afghanistan than what we were talking about with Iraq. +p2504 +aVYou know, Senator Sanders, nobody knows who your foreign policy advisers are. You haven't given a major foreign policy speech. And it doesn't sound like all the time that foreign policy is a priority, other than when you're asked about it, and you say you're going to crush +p2505 +aVAll right, Senator, 30 seconds. +p2506 +aV30 seconds, madam secretary. +p2507 +aVAlright, as Commander in Chief, Senator Sanders, you've got to prioritize potential threats to the United States. Three countries, North Korea, Iran, Russia. How would you rank them in order of their threat to America's security right now... +p2508 +aV... Starting with the biggest threat. +p2509 +aV... I didn't say that... +p2510 +aV... No... +p2511 +aV... We already had that. I'm talking about these three countries. How would you orient our national security, our national defense posture. +p2512 +aVSecretary of Defense Ash Carter this week picked one of those three, and he has said Russia is, basically, the most important national security threat. Sort of reorienting the defense and the challenges to that. Do you agree with his decisions... +p2513 +aVSecretary Clinton, what do you think of Secretary of Defense Ash Carter. He's basically putting Russia above Iran, above North Korea, as sort of the chief national security challenge right now. +p2514 +aVThank you both, Rachel? +p2515 +aVAnd we are back. We're gonna get into a little bit of election politics, electability, in a little bit. Senator Sanders, The Iowa Democratic Party has declared Hillary Clinton the winner of Monday's Iowa caucuses\u2014narrowest of margins. Today, the Des Moines Register has an editorial that calls for the audit of the results, saying, quote, "what happened Monday night at the Democratic caucuses was a debacle, period. The results were too close not to do a complete audit." Senator Sanders, do you accept the idea that Hillary Clinton won Iowa? And do you\u2014or do you believe the caucuses are still an open question? +p2516 +aVSecretary Clinton, will you participate in some sort of audit, if that's what the party wants to do? You good with that? +p2517 +aVThat's fair enough. OK. +p2518 +aVGood, we move on. We're happy with that. We have more questions. +p2519 +aVWe'll stay on this issue. We'll stay on this topic. Secretary Clinton, just like there are some Democrats that question Senator Sanders' ability in the general election, many Democratic voters that our reporters have been running into in Iowa and New Hampshire, they tell our reporters over and over again they're worried about the emails issue, not because they don't believe your explanation, but because it's a drip-drip, because the cloud is hanging over your head and that it will impact the general election. They see your numbers right now and they think it's the email issue as to why you're not polling very well. So can you reassure these Democrats that somehow the email issue isn't going to blow up your candidacy if you're the nominee? +p2520 +aVAll right, Madam Secretary, there is an open\u2014there is an open FBI investigation into this matter about how you may have handled classified material. Are you 100 percent confident that nothing is going to come of this FBI investigation? +p2521 +aVWell, Senator sanders, you famously at the first debate said you didn't give a darn about her emails; I think you used another . +p2522 +aVYou're right. I'm trying to\u2014it's a\u2014it's a family hour still right now. After 11:00, I'll say it the other way. And you mostly have refrained from commenting on it, but recently you called it a very serious issue, and then the other day you said well she's getting slapped with the email controversy. Are you\u2014how are you feeling about these darn emails now? +p2523 +aVOK. Senator Sanders, thank you. +p2524 +aVSecretary Clinton, let me turn to the issue of trade. In the '90s you supported +p2525 +aVWell, Senator Sanders, I know you want to respond on this, you have never supported a trade deal since you've been in Congress. +p2526 +aVBut if you do that as president... If you do that as president, how are you not essentially letting China, who will do all of these deals around the world, how are you going to prevent China from essentially setting the rules of trade for the world? +p2527 +aVAll right. Thank you both. We're going to sneak in one more break here, and when we come back we'll squeeze as many questions as we can before we end this thing. We'll be right back. +p2528 +aVAll right. Welcome back here in the final minutes. +p2529 +aVThe home stretch of this only Democratic debate in the final week before the primary. Let me start with you, Secretary Clinton, on this question. Obviously, President Obama got a lot of ambitious stuff done in his first year and a half. You're going to have to make choices. And there's a lot of heavy lifts. And he made choices. He did healthcare and it came at the expense, arguably, of immigration reform. Had he put immigration reform first, perhaps that gets done and healthcare doesn't. So there are three big lifts that you've talked about: immigration, gun reform, climate change. What do you do first? Because you know the first one is the one you have the best shot at getting done. +p2530 +aVAll right, but Senator Sanders......you've still got to do something first. As you know, history said\u2014shows what you pick first is your best shot at getting, and how you prioritize things. +p2531 +aVImmigration reform, for instance, fell by the wayside in the first term because of this. +p2532 +aVOK. Thank you. +p2533 +aVAll right, before we go, I want to ask each one of these. Secretary Clinton, you've made it clear when you look at Senator Sanders, you do not see a president, but do you see\u2014 +p2534 +aVBut do you see\u2014do you see a vice president? +p2535 +aVWould you unite the party by trying to pick Senator Sanders as your running mate? +p2536 +aVSenator, would you consider the secretary? +p2537 +aVSecretary Clinton, closing statements. You are first. +p2538 +aVThank you, Madam Secretary. Senator Sanders. +p2539 +aVWell, there you have it. I promise you, Rachel and I have a lot more questions, but we just don't have any more time, unless we could a third hour, but I don't think so. Our debate coverage\u2014 debate coverage will continue in just a moment with our colleague . And we want to thank all of you for being here, and we want to thank the two candidates for taking part in this important event. +p2540 +aVWe'll see you in a few minutes. Thank you. +p2541 +asVHARWOOD +p2542 +(lp2543 +VMr. Trump, you've done very well in this campaign so far by promising to build a wall and make another country pay for it. +p2544 +aVSend 11 million people out of the country. Cut taxes $10 trillion without increasing the deficit. +p2545 +aVAnd make Americans better off because your greatness would replace the stupidity and incompetence of others. +p2546 +aVLet's be honest. Is this a comic book version of a presidential campaign? +p2547 +aVWe're at the 60 seconds. +p2548 +aVWe're at 60 seconds, but I gotta ask you, you talked about your tax plan. You say that it would not increase the deficit because you cut taxes $10 trillion in the economy would take off like... +p2549 +aVHold on, hold on. The economy would take off like a rocket ship. +p2550 +aVI talked to economic advisers who have served presidents of both parties. They said that you have as chance of cutting taxes that much without increasing the deficit as you would of flying away from that podium by flapping your arms. +p2551 +aVThe Tax Foundation says \u2014 has looked at all of our plans and \u2014 and his creates, even with the dynamic effect, $8 trillion dollar deficit... +p2552 +aVGovernor Kasich, hold it, I'm coming to you right now. The... +p2553 +aVWell, I'm asking you about this. +p2554 +aVI'm about to ask you about this. That is, you had some very strong words to say yesterday about what's happening in your party and what you're hearing from the two gentlemen we've just heard from. Would you repeat it? +p2555 +aVWell, let's just get more pointed about it. You said yesterday that you were hearing proposals that were just crazy from your colleagues. Who were you talking about? +p2556 +aVHold on. I think there's a \u2014 I've got question for \u2014 +p2557 +aVHold on, Governor. I've got a question for Governor Bush. +p2558 +aVNo, we're moving to Governor Bush. Governor, the fact that you're at the fifth lectern tonight shows how far your stock has fallen in this race, despite the big investment your donors have made. You noted recently, after slashing your payroll, that you had better things to do than sit around and be demonized by other people. I wanted to ask you \u2014 +p2559 +aVOK. +p2560 +aVGot it. +p2561 +aVBut it's a \u2014 OK. It's a \u2014 it's a question about why you're having difficulty. I want to ask you in this context. Ben Bernanke, who was appointed Fed chairman by your brother, recently wrote a book in which he said he no longer considers himself a Republican because the Republican Party has given in to know- nothingism. Is that why you're having a difficult time in this race? +p2562 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2563 +aVWe're gonna get down the line. Becky's got a question. +p2564 +aVSenator Paul, I've got a question for you on the same subject. +p2565 +aVSenator Paul? +p2566 +aVYou used your time on something else. Senator Paul? +p2567 +aVSenator Paul, the budget deal crafted by Speaker Boehner and passed by the House today makes cuts in entitlement programs, Medicare and Social Security disability, which are the very programs conservatives say need cutting to shrink government and solve our country's long-term budget deficit. Do you oppose that budget deal because it doesn't cut those programs enough? +p2568 +aVSenator, if what you just said is true, why did Speaker Boehner craft this deal and why did Paul Ryan, who has a strong reputation for fiscal discipline, vote for it? +p2569 +aVThank you, Senator . +p2570 +aVJim, thanks. Governor Bush, in a debate like this four years ago, every Republican running for president pledged to oppose a budget deal containing any tax increase even if it had spending cuts ten times as large. A few months later, you told Congress, put me in, coach, you said you would take that deal. Still feel that way? +p2571 +aVBut to \u2014 to the point that you made to Congress, if you were president and you were offered a bipartisan deal that had one dollar... +p2572 +aV...one dollar of tax increases per ten dollars of spending cuts, would you take it? +p2573 +aVSo you don't want the coach to put you in any more? +p2574 +aVThank you, governor. Carl? +p2575 +aVGovernor John Kasich, you've called for abolishing the Export Import Bank, which provides subsidies to help American companies compete with overseas competitors. You call that corporate welfare. One of the largest newspapers in your state wrote an editorial, said they found that strange, writing, that if that's corporate welfare, what does Kasich call the millions of dollars in financial incentives doled out to attract or retain jobs by his development effort \u2014 jobs Ohio. If subsidies are good enough for Ohio companies, why aren't they good enough for companies trying to compete overseas? +p2576 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2577 +aVThank you, Governor. Thank you. +p2578 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate on +p2579 +aVIt sounds like you think Senator Sessions is wrong to believe there is enough abuse in that program that we shouldn't... +p2580 +aVThank you, Senator. Becky? +p2581 +aVGovernor Bush, the tax reform bill that Ronald Reagan signed in 1986 cut the top personal income tax rate to 28 percent \u2014 just like your plan does. But President Reagan taxed capital gains at the same rate, while you would tax them at just 20 percent. Given the problems we've been discussing, growing gap between rich and poor, why would you tax labor at a higher rate than income from investments? +p2582 +aVSenator Rubio, 30 seconds to you. The Tax Foundation, which was alluded to earlier, scored your tax plan and concluded that you give nearly twice as much of a gain in after-tax income to the top 1 percent as to people in the middle of the income scale. Since you're the champion of Americans living paycheck-to- paycheck, don't you have that backward? +p2583 +aVThe Tax Foundation \u2014 just to be clear, they said the... +p2584 +aVNo, I did not. +p2585 +aVSenator, the Tax Foundation said after-tax income for the top 1 percent under your plan would go up 27.9 percent. +p2586 +aVAnd people in the middle of the income spectrum, about 15 percent. +p2587 +aV +p2588 +aVSenator, thank you. +p2589 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you've written about the huge divide in values between middle America and the big coastal cities like New York and Los Angeles. As a preacher as well as a politician, you know that presidents need the moral authority to bring the entire country together. The leading Republican candidate, when you look at the average of national polls right now, is Donald Trump. When you look at him, do you see someone with the moral authority to unite the country? +p2590 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2591 +aVThank you, Governor. Don't forget my colleague, Sharon Epperson. +p2592 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said something that many in your party do not believe, which is that climate change is undeniable, that human activity contributes to it, and you said, quote: "The question is, what do we do to deal with it?". So what do we do? +p2593 +aVWhat should we do? +p2594 +aVYou mean government? +p2595 +aVThank you, Governor. Becky. +p2596 +aVGovernor Bush, Mr. Trump says that he is capable of growing the economy so much that Social Security and Medicare don't have to be touched. Do you want to explain how that is going to happen, Mr. Trump? +p2597 +aVHold on, Governor. I've got a question for \u2014 for Dr. Carson. +p2598 +aVYes. You've said that you would like to replace Medicare with a system of individual family savings accounts, so that families could cover their own expenses. Obviously, that would be a very controversial idea. Explain how that would work, exactly. +p2599 +aVGovernor, do you also think that... +p2600 +aV...that Dr. Carson's right, that we can replace Medicare with individual savings accounts? +p2601 +aVMrs. Fiorina, we're right at the end of our time. +p2602 +aVYou all wanted us to limit . All right. Go ahead. +p2603 +aVWe have now reached the point in the program where candidates are going to give their closing statements, 30 seconds apiece. We're going to go right to left and start with you, Senator Paul. +p2604 +aVGovernor Christie? +p2605 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Cruz? +p2606 +aVThank you, Senator. Mrs. Fiorina? +p2607 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Dr. Carson? +p2608 +aVMr. Trump? +p2609 +aVJust for the record, the debate was always going to be two hours. Senator Rubio? +p2610 +aVSenator Rubio. +p2611 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Bush? +p2612 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Huckabee. +p2613 +aVThank you... +p2614 +aVGovernor Kasich? +p2615 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2616 +aVWe're going to pose this question to all candidates and go left to right, starting with Governor Jindal. Governor, a majority of Republican voters at this point in the campaign have made clear that they prefer someone from outside the political system. In 30 seconds, tell us why your experience inside the system would be more valuable than the fresh eyes an outsider would bring. +p2617 +aVThanks, Governor Jindal. Senator Santorum? +p2618 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Pataki? +p2619 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Graham. +p2620 +aVSenator Graham, thank you very much. Becky? +p2621 +aVJust hold on, Governor Pataki, we're going to go to Senator Graham on this question because we believe you are likely to be the only person on this stage tonight who supports this budget deal. Now, you just heard Governor Jindal say that it's a phony deal, it doesn't do anything, and people like you are surrendering rather than fighting by supporting it. Why is he wrong? +p2622 +aVThank you, Senator Graham... +p2623 +aV...Governor, we're going to get to you in just a moment, we're going to try to keep this shorter... +p2624 +aVGovernor Jindal, a question about fiscal policy, especially since you noted that this deal doesn't solve the long-term debt situation. When you came into office with a budget surplus in the state of Louisiana, now, years later, the state legislature faced a $1.6 billion budget gap and the Republican state treasurer called one of your approaches to that problem "nonsense on a stick," quoting him. Are you going to do for the federal budget what you did for the Louisiana budget? +p2625 +aVBut Governor Jindal, as you know, many Republicans are opposed to the approach that you've taken in Louisiana. They complain that you have tried so hard to avoid anything that could be called a tax increase so that you could run for president saying you'd never raised taxes, David Vitter, the Republican who's now running to succeed you, has told voters, I won't be like Jindal, I'm not using the governorship as a stepping stone to higher office. +p2626 +aVGovernor Jindal, thank you. +p2627 +aVWe're going to take a quick break. The Republican presidential debate continues live from Boulder, Colorado in a moment. +p2628 +aVGovernor Jindal, Senator Santorum just raised the issue of corporate taxes, and cutting corporate taxes is very popular in your party because our rate, at 35 percent, is one of the highest in the world. But nobody has figured out how to identify a set of loopholes that would allow that tax rate to be lowered. So can you tell us specifically what loopholes you'd do away with? +p2629 +aVWe're talking corporate taxes. +p2630 +aVThanks, Governor. Becky? +p2631 +aVSo the tax credit right now that we have for domestic manufacturing, which manufacturers say is... +p2632 +aV...important, you would get rid of that? +p2633 +aVSenator Graham, Americans have gotten used to seeing headlines about more and more big corporations relocating overseas to cut their tax bill. Now, many in Washington think the way to stop that is to lower our corporate tax rate. But as we've seen, tax reform takes time. It hasn't happened yet. In the meantime, do you fault those companies for leaving? Do companies owe anything to their country, as well as their shareholders? +p2634 +aVSenator Graham. +p2635 +aVI want to remind candidates, you've got a one-minute limit on the \u2014 on the response. But I just want to follow up, Senator Graham. Four years ago, the nominee of your party said that corporations are people, too. If that is true, the question is, do they owe any obligation to the country? +p2636 +aVSenator Graham \u2014 +p2637 +aV\u2014 thank you very much. +p2638 +aVWe're moving on. +p2639 +aVSenator, we're moving on. I'd like to bring on my colleague, Rick Santelli \u2014 Rick. +p2640 +aVSenator, that \u2014 I mean, Governor, if that's true, why was our economy limping six years ago and now it's the strongest in the world? +p2641 +aVGovernor Pataki, you've indicated you believe climate change is real and caused at least in part by human activity. So, in 60 seconds, tell us what the federal government should do about it. +p2642 +aVIs there a role for government? +p2643 +aVSo, subsidies for those programs? For \u2014 for those alternative energy sources? +p2644 +aVThank you, Governor. Thank you, Governor. Carl? +p2645 +aVGovernor, if you cut spending and cut government so much, why did your legislature have such a big deficit? +p2646 +aVNo, we're going to move on. I'm going to bring on my colleague Sharon Epperson. +p2647 +aVAnd thank you, Sharon. This is the Republican Presidential Debate, live from Boulder, Colorado. We'll be right back. +p2648 +aVOK, now we're at the point of the evening where we're just about to give our candidates a holiday from this debate, but not before they tell us in 30 seconds their closing statements. Senator Graham, you're first. +p2649 +aVSenator Graham... +p2650 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. Governor Pataki? +p2651 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum? +p2652 +aVSenator Santorum, thank you. Governor Jindal? +p2653 +aVGovernor Jindal, thank you very much. Carl? +p2654 +asVPAUL +p2655 +(lp2656 +VThe question is, how do we keep America safe from terrorism? Trump says we ought to close that Internet thing. The question really is, what does he mean by that? Like they do in North Korea? Like they do in China? Rubio says we should collect all Americans' records all of the time. The Constitution says otherwise. I think they're both wrong. I think we defeat terrorism by showing them that we do not fear them. I think if we ban certain religions, if we censor the Internet, I think that at that point the terrorists will have won. Regime change hasn't won. Toppling secular dictators in the Middle East has only led to chaos and the rise of radical Islam. I think if we want to defeat terrorism, I think if we truly are sincere about defeating terrorism, we need to quit arming the allies of +p2657 +aVYou know, I think Marco gets it completely wrong. We are not any safer through the bulk collection of all Americans' records. In fact, I think we're less safe. We get so distracted by all of the information, we're not spending enough time getting specific immigration \u2014 specific information on terrorists. The other thing is, is the one thing that might have stopped San Bernardino, that might have stopped 9/11 would have been stricter controls on those who came here. And Marco has opposed at every point increased security \u2014 border security for those who come to our country. On his Gang of Eight bill, he would have liberalized immigration, but he did not \u2014 and he steadfastly opposed any new border security requirements for refugees or students. Last week, I introduced another bill saying we need more security, we need more scrutiny. Once again, Marco opposed this. So Marco can't have it both ways. He thinks he wants to be this, "Oh, I'm great and strong on national defense." But he's the weakest of all the candidates on immigration. He is the one for an open border that is leaving us defenseless. If we want to defend the country, we have to defend against who's coming in, and Marco is \u2014 has more of an allegiance to Chuck Schumer and to the liberals than he does to conservative policy. +p2658 +aVIf I was mentioned in the question, can I respond? +p2659 +aVMarco still misunderstands the immigration issue. What I put forward was an amendment that would have temporarily halted immigration from high-risk terrorist countries, but would have started it up, but I wanted them to go through Global Entry, which is a program where we do background checks. The thing is, is that every terrorist attack we've had since 9/11 has been legal immigration. Marco wants to expand that. I want more rules, more scrutiny, and to defend the country, you have to defend the border. +p2660 +aVWolf... +p2661 +aVWolf, this legislation... +p2662 +aVThis legislation on indefinite detention... +p2663 +aV... I think deserves a little more attention. +p2664 +aVI think that by arming the allies of +p2665 +aVI think that if you believe in regime change, you're mistaken. In 2013, we put 600 tons of weapons \u2014 us, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar \u2014 into the war against Assad. By pushing Assad back, we did create a safe space. We had people coming to our Foreign Relations Committee and saying, "Oh, we need to arm the allies of Al Qaida." They are still saying this. It is a crazy notion. This is the biggest debate we should be having tonight is is regime change a good idea; has it been a good idea. There are still people \u2014 the majority on the stage, they want to topple Assad. And then there will be chaos, and I think +p2666 +aVThese are the fundamental questions of our time, these foreign policy questions, whether or not regime change is a good idea or a bad idea. I don't think because I think the regime change was a bad idea it means that Hussein was necessarily a good idea. There is often variations of evil on both sides of the war. What we have to decide is whether or not regime change is a good idea. It's what the neoconservatives have wanted. It's what the vast majority of those on the stage want. They still want regime change. They want it in Syria. They wanted it in Iraq. They want it in Libya. It has not worked. Out of regime change you get chaos. From the chaos you have seen repeatedly the rise of radical Islam. So we get this profession of, oh, my goodness, they want to do something about terrorism and yet they're the problem because they allow terrorism to arise out of that chaos. +p2667 +aVNo, I think it's a huge mistake. I think regime change in Syria, and this is what \u2014 I've been saying this for several years now. In 2013 when we first went in, I said, you are going to give arms to the allies of al Qaida, to radical jihadists? That's crazy. But the other thing I said is the great irony is you will be back fighting against your own weapons. Had Assad been bombed when he used chemical weapons two years ago, +p2668 +aVWell, I think if you're in favor of World War III, you have your candidate. You know, here's...... the thing. My goodness, what we want in a leader is someone with judgment, not someone who is so reckless as to stand on the stage and say, "Yes, I'm jumping up and down; I'm going to shoot down Russian planes." Russia already flies in that airspace. It may not be something we're in love with the fact that they're there, but they were invited by Iraq and by Syria to fly in that airspace. And so if we announce we're going to have a no-fly zone, and others have said this. Hillary Clinton is also for it. It is a recipe for disaster. It's a recipe for World War III. We need to confront Russia from a position of strength, but we don't need to confront Russia from a point of recklessness that would lead to war. This is something \u2014 this type of judgment, you know, it's having that kind of judgment; who you would appoint and how you're going to conduct affairs, that is incredibly important. I mean, I think when we think about the judgment of someone who might want World War III, we might think about someone who might shut down a bridge because they don't like their friends; they don't want to \u2014 you know, they want to a Democrat. So I think we need to be very careful. +p2669 +aVYou know, I think we need to set the record straight on this, because I think Marco misspoke about the bill. On the Gang of Eight bill, there was no provisions really for extra scrutiny or safety for refugees. At the time the bill came up, two Iraqi refugees came to my home town, Bowling Green, Kentucky. Their fingerprints were on a bomb from Iraq. They were in the database, but we didn't pick them up. We relocated them here, put them in government housing, got them on food stamps. And we began providing for them, but we didn't have adequate security. On the Gang of Eight bill, on Marco's bill, we had an opportunity. There was a conservative consensus for an amendment I put forward called Trust, But Verify that would have strengthened border security on both refugees, students and those coming here. And Marco sided and I guess was more sympathetic to Chuck Schumer and to the president than he was to conservative principles. But this goes directly to national defense. And if he wants to run as a national \u2014 national defense conservative, he's got to explain why he hasn't stepped up to support border security. +p2670 +aVWhat my bill would do would be only for refugees going forward. So I haven't taken a position on sending anyone home. But I have taken the position that we have a lot of problems here in our country. And that one of the things that we do \u2014 charity is about giving your own money. Charity isn't giving someone else's money. To put everyone in government housing and food stamps and bring them in from around the world I think is a mistake. To give of your own money, I've given to my church. My church has helped people that came from Bosnia. That's a good thing. But we shouldn't have a program where we just say that we're going to take care of the world's refugees. Nobody in the Middle East is doing anything. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait \u2014 all the Gulf nations are doing nothing. They need to step up and take... +p2671 +aVThe greatest threat to our national security is our debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. And whose fault is it? Well, frankly, it's both parties' fault. You have those on the right who clamor and say, oh, we will spend anything on the military, and those on the left who say the same for domestic welfare. But what most Americans don't realize is there is an unholy alliance. They come together. There's a secret handshake. We spend more money on everything. And we are not stronger nation if we go further into debt. We are not projecting power from bankruptcy court. To me, there is no greater threat than our debt. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage because I'm willing to hold the line on all spending. I hope you will consider me in the election. Thank you very much. +p2672 +aVAbsolutely. And I think that we ought to look where income inequality seems to be the worst. It seems to be worst in cities run by Democrats, governors of... States run by Democrats and countries currently run by Democrats. So the thing is, let's look for root causes. But I would also say \u2014 lay some blame at the \u2014 the feet of the Federal Reserve. I think the Federal Reserve has made this problem worse. By artificially keeping interest rates below the market rate, average ordinary citizens have a tough time earning interest, have a tough time making money. They're actually talking now about negative interest. The money as it's created through quantitative easing or other means tends to start out in the big banks in New York. And because we're now paying interest for them to keep the money there, much of that money has not filtered out into the economy. So what we're finding is there is increasing income disparity and income inequality. We also find that as the Federal Reserve destroys the value of the currency, what you're finding is that, if you're poor, if you make $20,000 a year and you have three or four kids, and you're trying to get by, as your prices rise or as the value of the dollar shrinks, these are the people that are hurt the worst. So really we need to reexamine whether we not \u2014 we want a Federal Reserve that's involved so much in determining interest rates. We also need to look at root causes as to what caused the housing boom and the housing collapse. But the bottom line is, if you want less income inequality, move to a city with a Republican mayor or a state with a Republican governor. +p2673 +aVWell, it's a great question, Neil, and thanks for including me in the tax debate. I think what's important about the tax debate is, is that we have to ask the question, where is money best spent, in the private sector or in the government sector? I want a government really, really small, so small you can barely see it. So I want lower taxes and much more money in the private sector. My tax plan, however, is the only tax plan among any of the candidates on the stage that is part of a balanced budget plan. I put forward three plans that actually balance the budget over a five-year period. Each of these plans have details on exactly where we would cut. The question came up earlier, where would you cut? Nobody likes to say where they would cut. I've put pencil to paper and done three budgets that actually balance. I'm also in favor of a plan called the penny plan where we'd just cut 1 percent across the board and the budget actually balances in less than five years. So I think what is extraordinary about my tax plan is it is in the context of balancing the budget. What is also extraordinary about my tax plan is it gets rid of the payroll tax. Democrats demagogue this issue to death, and when they do they say, oh, a millionaire would get a bigger tax cut than someone making $10,000. That's proportionality, as Ben is trying to explain to folks. But the thing is, is if we get rid of the payroll tax, everybody is going to get a tax cut. And this is something that I think the public at large will support and could win an election. +p2674 +aVOurs is 14.5 percent for corporations, 14.5 percent for individuals. No payroll tax for the employee. The business tax pays for social security, and there would be two remaining deductions \u2014 home mortgage and charity. +p2675 +aVThank you. +p2676 +aVNeil, there's a point I'd like to make here... ....Neil, a point that I'd like to make about the tax credits. We have to decide what is conservative and what isn't conservative. Is it fiscally conservative to have a trillion-dollar expenditure? We're not talking about giving people back their tax money. He's talking about giving people money they didn't pay. It's a welfare transfer payment. So here's what we have. Is it conservative to have $1 trillion in transfer payments \u2014 a new welfare program that's a refundable tax credit? Add that to Marco's plan for $1 trillion in new military spending, and you get something that looks, to me, not very conservative. Thank you. +p2677 +aVNevertheless, it's not very conservative, Marco. +p2678 +aVHow is it conservative? +p2679 +aVYeah, but, Marco! Marco! How is it conservative, how is it conservative to add a trillion-dollar expenditure for the federal government that you're not paying for? +p2680 +aVHow is it conservative? +p2681 +aVHow is it conservative to add a trillion dollars in military expenditures? You can not be a conservative if you're going to keep promoting new programs that you're not going to pay for. +p2682 +aVNo. I don't think we're any safer \u2014 I do not think we are any safer from bankruptcy court. As we go further, and further into debt, we become less, and less safe. This is the most important thing we're going to talk about tonight. Can you be a conservative, and be liberal on military spending? Can you be for unlimited military spending, and say, Oh, I'm going to make the country safe? No, we need a safe country, but, you know, we spend more on our military than the next ten countries combined? I want a strong national defense, but I don't want us to be bankrupt. +p2683 +aVHey, Gerard, you know, we might want to point out China is not part of this deal. +p2684 +aVBefore we get a little bit off-kilter here... +p2685 +aVThere is an argument that China doesn't like the deal, because in us doing the deal, we'll be trading with their competitors. You're exactly right. But I think we've sort of missed the point a little bit here. There is an important point, though, about how we discuss these trade treaties that I do agree with Mr. Trump on. We should negotiate from a position of strength. And we also should negotiate using the full force and the constitutional power that was given to us. I think it's a mistake that we give up power to the presidency on these trade deals. We give up the power to filibuster, and I'm kind of fond of that power. We give up the power to amend. And I think, really, one of the big problems we have in our country is, over the last century, really, so much power has gravitated to the executive branch. Really, Congress is kind of a bystander. We don't write the rules. We don't make the laws. The executive branch does. So even in trade \u2014 and I am for trade \u2014 I think we should be careful about giving so much power to the presidency. +p2686 +aVI'd like first to respond to the acquisition, we should \u2014 I think it's particularly naive, particularly foolish to think that we're not going to talk to Russia. The idea of a no fly zone, realize that this is also something that Hillary Clinton agrees with several on our side with, you're asking for a no fly zone in an area in which Russia already flies. Russia flies in that zone at the invitation of Iraq. I'm not saying it's a good thing, but you better know at least what we're getting into. So, when you think it's going to be a good idea to have a no fly zone over Iraq, realize that means you are saying we are going to shoot down Russian planes. If you're ready for that, be ready to send your sons and daughters to another war in Iraq. I don't want to see that happen. I think the first war in Iraq was a mistake... You can be strong without being involved in every civil war around the war... +p2687 +aVRonald Reagan was strong, but Ronald Reagan didn't... +p2688 +aV...send troops into the Middle East... +p2689 +aV...Can I finish... +p2690 +aV...Can I finish my time? Could I finish with my time? +p2691 +aVYes, I would like to finish my response, basically. +p2692 +aVThis is an important question. This is an incredibly important question. And the question goes to be, who do we want to be our commander-in-chief? Do you want a commander-in-chief who says something that we never did throughout the entire Cold War, to discontinue having conversations with the Russians? I am not happy about them flying over there. But I'm not naive enough to say, well, Iraq has them flying over their airspace, we're just going to announce that we're shooting them down? That is naive to the point of being something you might hear in junior high. But it's scary... +p2693 +aVThe first thing I would do is I wouldn't arm our enemies. I wouldn't arm +p2694 +aVGerard, can I comment... +p2695 +aVThe first thing I would do as president is repeal the regulations that are hampering our energy that the President has put in place. Including the Clean Power Act. While I do think that man may have a role in our climate, I think nature also has a role. The planet's 4.5 billion years old, we've been through geologic age after geologic age. We've had times when the temperatures been warmer, we've had times when the temperatures been colder. We've had times when the carbon in the atmosphere's been higher. So, I think before we \u2014 we need to look before we leap. President's often fond of saying he wants a balance solution, but, really we do need to balance both keeping the environment clean, and we will have some rules for that. We got to balance that with the economy. He's devastated my state. I say the President's not only destroying Kentucky, he's destroying the democrat party down there because nobody wants to associate with him. So, what we really need is somebody that understands that we do need energy of all forms, and that means we will have solar, and wind, and hydro, but we will still have coal, and we still will have natural gas. And, we've got to have an all of the above policy. But, it would be a mistake to shut down all of our industries in the coal fields, and shut down the coal power plants. If we did so we're going to have a day where we wake up and some of our big cities are either very cold, or very hot. So, I think it's a big danger, and we shouldn't do it. And, what we should do is say we want all of the above... ...We want to free up the energy sector, and let people produce, let them drill, let them explore. +p2696 +aVWe're the richest, freest, most humanitarian nation in the history of mankind. But we also borrow a million dollars a minute. And the question I have for all Americans is, think about it, can you be a fiscal conservative if you don't conserve all of the money? If you're a profligate spender, you spend money in an unlimited fashion for the military, is that a conservative notion? We have to be conservative with all spending, domestic spending and welfare spending. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage. +p2697 +aVYou know, I left my medical practice and ran for office because I was concerned about an $18 trillion debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. Now, on the floor of the Congress, the Washington establishment from both parties puts forward a bill that will explode the deficit. It allows President Obama to borrow unlimited amounts of money. I will stand firm. I will spend every ounce of energy to stop it. I will begin tomorrow to filibuster it. And I ask everyone in America to call Congress tomorrow and say enough is enough; no more debt. +p2698 +aVNo, I oppose it because you're taking money from the entitlement and then spending it immediately on other items. That's what they're doing. They're taking money from Social Security and they're going to spend it on the military and they're going to spend it on domestic spending. Here's the thing. When you look at raising the debt limit, it should be leverage to try to reform government. In 2011, the sequester was passed as a reform to slow down the rate of government. Instead, the Washington establishment raised both. We raised the military spending, took from entitlements, and raised domestic spending and the deficit will explode under this. This is the unholy alliance that people need to know about between right and left. Right and left are spending us into oblivion. We should use the debt ceiling, as precisely to Don, to force upon them budgetary reforms. +p2699 +aVWell, that's a real question. Is there going to be any change in the House with new leadership? I frankly don't think there will be much change because I think what's going to happen is you're going to get more of the same. People in Washington think they were sent there to be adults and govern and do all this. Well, you know what I'm worried about? Not keeping the government open. I'm worried about bankrupting the American people. We're borrowing a million dollars a minute. That is important. And that's what we have to contrast. Keeping the government open and continuing to borrow a million dollars a minute. +p2700 +aVWell, thank you very much. I would like to thank Ted for co-sponsoring my bill, audit the Fed. And I think it's precisely because of the arrogance of someone like Ben Bernanke, who now calls us all know-nothings, that is precisely why we need audit the Fed. I think it is really very much a huge problem that an organization as powerful as the Fed comes in, lobbies against them being audited on the Hill. I would prevent them lobbying Congress. I don't think the Fed should be involved with lobbying us. I think we should examine how the Fed has really been part of the problem. You want to study income inequality, let's bring the Fed forward and talk about Fed policy and how it causes income inequality. Let's also bring the Fed forward and have them explain how they caused the housing boom and the crisis, and what they've done to make us better or worse. I think the Fed has been a great problem in our society. What you need to do is free up interest rates. Interest rates are the price of money, and we shouldn't have price controls on the price of money. +p2701 +aV...John... +p2702 +aVJohn, I'd like to address this? John, could I follow up on this? +p2703 +aVWhat are the rules on who gets to follow up. How do we decide on who gets to follow up? I've seen plenty of other people follow up? +p2704 +aVI'd like to just mention something about my tax plan, and how it relates to the discussion... +p2705 +aVAlright. Much of the discussion is centered over whether or not the different tax plans help, or affect the middle class. In fact, it's the chief argument by democrats against many of the different flat tax proposals. Mine is unique in the sense that my tax plan actually gets rid of the payroll tax as well. It shifts it to the business, and it would allow middle class people to get a tax cut. If you just cut their income tax, there isn't much income tax to cut. Mine actually cuts the payroll tax, and I think it would spread the tax cut across all socioeconomic levels, and would allow then it to be something that would be broadly supported by the public in an election. +p2706 +aVThe question always is, what works better, the private marketplace or government? And what distributes goods better? It always seems to be the private marketplace does a better job. Is there an area for a safety net? Can you have Medicare or Social Security? Yes. But you ought to acknowledge the government doesn't do a very good job at it. The main problem with Medicare right now is that the average person pays in taxes over their whole lifetime about $100,000. But the average person takes out about $350,000. We have this enormous mismatch because we have smaller and smaller families. When people ask me, whose fault is it? Whose fault is it that Medicare is broken, out of money, that Social Security is broken, out of money? And I say, look, it's not Republicans' fault, it's not Democrats' fault, it's your grandparents' fault for having too many damn kids. After the war we had all of these kids, Baby Boomers. Now we're having smaller families. We used to have 16 workers for one retiree, now you have three workers for one retiree. It's not working. I have a bill to fix Medicare. I've a bill to fix Social Security. For both of them you have to gradually raise the age. If you're not willing to do that, nobody wants to do it, but if you're not willing to gradually raise the age, you're not serious about fixing either one of them. +p2707 +aVSay again? +p2708 +aVYou can't do nothing. And that's what I hear from some people, "we'll do nothing and it will just be fixed." That's absurd, and I think people who don't want to fix it, really, or unwilling to take the chance to say, "something has to change," are missing the boat here. The age will have to gradually rise, there is no question. It's the only way you fix Medicare, the only way you fix Social Security. You will also have to means-test the benefits and declare there's not enough money. It isn't "I put money in, I'm getting it back." There is no money, it's a stack of paper. There is no money in the Social Security account. There is no money in the Medicare account. There's only a promise to pay by the next generation, and the next generation's not big enough to pay it. [ +p2709 +aVLiberty thrives when government is small. I want a government so small I can barely see it. I want a government so small that the individual has a chance to thrive and prosper. I think, though, government is too big now. And what you're going to see in Washington this week is establishment Republicans have made an agreement with the president to raise the debt ceiling in an unlimited fashion; no limit to the debt ceiling raise. This is extraordinary. It's extraordinarily wrong. You'll see me on the floor of the Senate tomorrow filibustering this and saying enough is enough, no more debt. +p2710 +aVGood evening, everyone. I'm an eye surgeon from Bowling Green, Kentucky. My wife, Kelly, and I have been married for nearly 25 years, and I spend my days defending the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I think there's nothing more important than understanding that the Constitution restrains government, not the people. Thank you. +p2711 +aVI kind of have to laugh when I think of, "Mmm, sounds like a non sequitur." He was asked whether or not he would be capable and it would be in good hands to be in charge of the nuclear weapons, and all of a sudden, there's a sideways attack at me. I think that really goes to really the judgment. Do we want someone with that kind of character, that kind of careless language to be negotiating with Putin? Do we want someone like that to be negotiating with Iran? I think really there's a sophomoric quality that is entertaining about Mr. Trump, but I am worried. I'm very concerned about him \u2014 having him in charge of the nuclear weapons, because I think his response, his \u2014 his visceral response to attack people on their appearance \u2014 short, tall, fat, ugly \u2014 my goodness, that happened in junior high. Are we not way above that? Would we not all be worried to have someone like that in charge of the nuclear arsenal? +p2712 +aVI think this goes back to essentially what we've been saying for the last two or three questions. Carly Fiorina also said we're not going to talk with Putin. Well, think if Reagan had said that during the Cold War? We continued to talk with the Russians throughout the Cold War which is much more significant that where we are now. Should we continue to talk with Iran? Yes. Should we cut up the agreement immediately? That's absurd. Wouldn't you want to know if they complied? Now, I'm going to vote against the agreement because I don't think there's significant leverage, but it doesn't mean that I would immediately not look at the agreement, and cut it up without looking to see if whether or not Iran has complied. The same goes with China. I don't think we need to be rash, I don't think we need to be reckless, and I think need to leave lines of communication open. Often we talk about whether we should be engaged in the world, or disengaged in the world, and I think this is an example of some who want to isolate us, actually, and not be engaged. We do need to be engaged with Russia. It doesn't mean we give them a free pass, or China a free pass, but, to be engaged, to continue to talk. We did throughout the Cold War, and it would be a big mistake not to do it here. +p2713 +aVI think this gets to the point of wisdom on when to intervene and when we shouldn't. Had we bombed Assad at the time, like President Obama wanted, and like Hillary Clinton wanted and many Republicans wanted, I think +p2714 +aVWell, I hate to say it, but Donald Trump has a bit of a point here. The case that was decided around 1900 was, people had a green card, were here legally, and they said that their children were citizens. There's never been a direct Supreme Court case on people who were here illegally, whether or not their kids are citizens. So it hasn't really been completely adjudicated. The 14th Amendment says that "those who are here and under the jurisdiction." The original author of the \u2014 of the 14th Amendment said on the Senate floor that this was applying to slaves, and did not specifically apply to others. +p2715 +aVWell, I'm glad we're having a discussion about taxes because everybody laments that we lose jobs overseas, we have. Our companies, and our jobs are being chased overseas by a 70,000 page tax code, so, that's why I've chosen to get rid of the whole thing, and have one single rate, 14 and a-half percent for everybody, business, and for corporate income, and personal income. But, we also get rid of the payroll tax, so the working class would get a tax break as well. So, I think a flat tax, eliminating the tax code, getting rid of all the loopholes, is the way to go, and it's the way we get America going again. +p2716 +aVHugh, can I \u2014 can I make a response to that? +p2717 +aVCan I make a response to that? +p2718 +aVMay I make a response to that? +p2719 +aVHe's referred to me. +p2720 +aVHe's referred to me... +p2721 +aV... in his remarks. May I make a response? +p2722 +aVAbsolutely. Go ahead. +p2723 +aVMay I respond? +p2724 +aVThe remark was made that there hadn't been anyone else on the podium opposed to the Iraq War. I've made my career as being an opponent of the Iraq War. I was opposed to the Syria war. I was opposed to arming people who are our enemies. Iran is now stronger because Hussein is gone. Hussein was the great bulwark and counterbalance to the Iranians. So when we complain about the Iranians, you need to remember that the Iraq War made it worse. Originally, Governor Bush was asked, was the Iraq War a mistake, and he said, "No. We'd do it again." We have to learn sometimes the interventions backfire. The Iraq War backfired and did not help us. We're still paying the repercussions of a bad decision. +p2725 +aVWe have make the decision now in Syria, should we topple Assad? Many up here wanted to topple Assad, and it's like \u2014 I said no, because if you do... +p2726 +aV... +p2727 +aVIf you want boots on the ground, and you want them to be our sons and daughters, you got 14 other choices. There will always be a Bush or Clinton for you, if you want to go back to war in Iraq. But the thing is, the first war was a mistake. And I'm not sending our sons and our daughters back to Iraq. The war didn't work. We can amplify those who live there. The Kurds deserve to be armed and I'll arm them. We can use our Air Force to amplify the forces there. But the boots on the ground need to be the people who live there. My goodness, I'm still upset with the Saudi Arabians for everything they do over there. They've funded the arms that went to the jihadists. They're not accepting any of the people, any of the migrants that have been \u2014 the refugees that are being pushed out of Syria. Saudi Arabia is not accepting one. Why are we always the world's patsies that we have to go over there and fight their wars for them? They need to fight their wars, we need to defend American interests, but it is not in America's national security interests to have another war in Iraq. +p2728 +aVI think one of the great problems, and what American people don't like about politics, is hypocrisy. People have one standard for others and not for them \u2014 for themselves. There is at least one prominent example on the stage of someone who says they smoked pot in high school, and yet the people going to \u2014 to jail for this are poor people, often African-Americans and often Hispanics, and yet the rich kids who use drugs aren't. I personally think that this is a crime for which the only victim is the individual, and I think that America has to take a different attitude. I would like to see more rehabilitation and less incarceration. I'm a fan of the drug courts which try to direct you back towards work and less time in jail. But the bottom line is the states. We say we like the 10th Amendment, until we start talking about this. And I think the federal government has gone too far, I think that the war on drugs has had a racial outcome, and really has been something that has really damaged our inner cities. Not only do the drugs damage them, we damage them again by incarcerating them and then preventing them from getting employment over time. So I don't think that the federal government should override the states. I believe in the 10th Amendment and I really will say that the states are left to themselves. +p2729 +aVWell, I think if we left it open, we could see how many people smoked pot in high school. +p2730 +aVWell, you know, the thing is that... +p2731 +aVYeah, I was talking about \u2014 well, let me... +p2732 +aVBut let me respond. The thing is, is that in Florida, Governor Bush campaigned against medical marijuana. That means that a small child like Morgan Hintz (ph) that has seizures is day, is failing on non-traditional medications, is not allowed to use cannabis oil. And if they do that in Florida, they will take the child away, they will put the parents in jail. And that's what that means if you're against allowing people use medical marijuana, you'll actually put them in jail. +p2733 +aVAnd actually, under the current circumstances, kids who had privilege like you do, don't go to jail, but the poor kids in our inner cities go to jail. I don't think that's fair. And I think we need to acknowledge it, and it is hypocritical to still want to put poor people in jail... +p2734 +aVWell, you vote \u2014 you oppose medical marijuana... +p2735 +aVBut that means you'll put people in jail. +p2736 +aVMay I respond? +p2737 +aVUnderstand what they're saying. if they're going to say we are going to enforce the federal law against what the state law is, they aren't really believing in the Tenth Amendment. Governor Christie would go into Colorado, and if you're breaking any federal law on marijuana, even though the state law allows it, he would put you in jail. If a young mother is trying to give her child cannabis oil for medical marijuana for seizure treatment, he would put her in jail, if it violates federal law. I would let Colorado do what the Tenth Amendment says. This power \u2014 we were never intended to have crime dealing at the federal level. Crime was supposed to be left to the states. Colorado has made their decision. And I don't want the federal government interfering and putting moms in jail, who are trying to get medicine for their kid... +p2738 +aVMay I respond? May I respond? +p2739 +aVHere is the thing, he doesn't want to make it about medical marijuana, but what if New Jersey's medical marijuana contradicts the federal law? He's saying he'll send the federal government in, and he will enforce the federal law. That's not consistent with the Tenth Amendment. It is not consistent with states' rights. And it is not consistent with the conservative vision for the country. I don't think we should be sending the federal police in to arrest a mother and separate them from their child for giving a medicine to their child for seizures. +p2740 +aVIf you want a skeptic \u2014 if you want a skeptic, Jake, I will happily jump into that briar patch. If you want a real... +p2741 +aVA second opinion? One of the greatest \u2014 one of the greatest medical discoveries of all times was \u2014 were the vaccines, particularly for smallpox. And if you want to read a story, it's called The Speckled Monster, it's an amazing story, it was all done voluntary. But people came in by the droves. George Washington wouldn't let his wife visit until she got vaccinated. So I'm all for vaccines. But I'm also for freedom. I'm also a little concerned about how they're bunched up. My kids had all of their vaccines, and even if the science doesn't say bunching them up is a problem, I ought to have the right to spread out my vaccines out a little bit at the very least. +p2742 +aVOoh, that's a tough one. You know, I'm big on \u2014 that we were \u2014 and I love what Carly said about women's suffrage. I think Susan B. Anthony might be a good choice. +p2743 +aVJustice Never Sleeps. +p2744 +aVI met Ronald Reagan as a teenager, and my family, we're big supporters of him when he ran against Gerald Ford. It was a big deal because he was the grassroots, running against the establishment, and I'll never forget that. And, how he stood up and said, you know what, this is something new that our country needs, and our party needs. If I were president, I would try to be one who says, you know what, I'm a Reagan Conservative. I'm someone who believes in peace through strength, and I would try to lead the country in that way knowing that our goal is peace, and that war is the last resort, not the first resort. And, that when we go to war, we go to war in a constitutional way, which means that we have to vote on it, that war is initiated by congress, not by the president, that we go to war electively (ph). That when we go to war, we don't fight with one arm tied behind our back, we fight all out to win, but then we come home. +p2745 +aVThis is what's wrong! +p2746 +aVI mean, this is what's wrong. He buys and sells politicians of all stripes, he's already... +p2747 +aVHey, look, look! He's already hedging his bet on the Clintons, OK? So if he doesn't run as a Republican, maybe he supports Clinton, or maybe he runs as an independent... +p2748 +aV...but I'd say that he's already hedging his bets because he's used to buying politicians. +p2749 +aVFirst of all, only +p2750 +aVMegyn, may I respond? May I respond? +p2751 +aVI want to collect more records from terrorists, but less records from innocent Americans. The Fourth Amendment was what we fought the Revolution over! John Adams said it was the spark that led to our war for independence, and I'm proud of standing for the Bill of Rights, and I will continue to stand for the Bill of Rights. +p2752 +aVUse the Fourth Amendment! +p2753 +aVUse the Fourth Amendment! +p2754 +aVGet a warrant! +p2755 +aVGet a judge to sign the warrant! +p2756 +aVSee, here's the problem. +p2757 +aVHere's the problem, governor. Here's the problem, governor. You fundamentally misunderstand the Bill of Rights. Every time you did a case, you got a warrant from a judge. I'm talking about searches without warrants... +p2758 +aV...indiscriminately, of all Americans' records, and that's what I fought to end. I don't trust President Obama with our records. I know you gave him a big hug, and if you want to give him a big hug again, go right ahead. +p2759 +aVI've got a news flash... +p2760 +aVNews flash, the Republican Party's been fighting against a single-payer system... +p2761 +aV-- for a decade. So I think you're on the wrong side of this if you're still arguing for a single-payer system. +p2762 +aVI oppose the Iranian deal, and will vote against it. I don't think that the president negotiated from a position of strength, but I don't immediately discount negotiations. I'm a Reagan conservative. Reagan did negotiate with the Soviets. But you have to negotiate from a position of strength, and I think President Obama gave away too much, too early. If there's going to be a negotiation, you're going to have to believe somehow that the Iranians are going to comply. And I asked this question to John Kerry, I said "do you believe they're trustworthy?" and he said "No." And I said, "well, how are we gonna get them to comply?" I would have never released the sanctions before there was consistent evidence of compliance. +p2763 +aVLook, I don't want my marriage or my guns registered in Washington. And if people have an opinion, it's a religious opinion that is heartly felt, obviously they should be allowed to practice that and no government should interfere with them. One of the things, one of the things that really got to me was the thing in Houston where you had the government, the mayor actually, trying to get the sermons of ministers. When the government tries to invade the church to enforce its own opinion on marriage, that's when it's time to resist. +p2764 +aVWell, let's be clear, I'm the only one on the stage who actually has a five-year budget that balances. I've put pencil to paper... +p2765 +aV... and I've said -- and I've said I would cut spending, and I've said exactly where. Each one of my budgets has taken a meat axe to foreign aid, because I think we ought to quit sending it to countries that hate us. I think we ought to quit sending it to countries that burn our flag. Israel is not one of those. But even Benjamin Netanyahu said that ultimately, they will be stronger when they're independent. My position is exactly the same. We shouldn't borrow money from China to send it anywhere, but why don't we start with eliminating aid to our enemies. +p2766 +aVI still say exactly what my original opinion is. Do you borrow money from China to send it to anyone? Out of your surplus, you can help your allies, and Israel is a great ally. And this is no particular animus of Israel, but what I will say, and I will say over and over again, we cannot give away money we don't have. We do not project power from bankruptcy court. We're borrowing a million dollars a minute. It's got to stop somewhere. +p2767 +aVI'm a different kind of Republican. I've introduced a five-year balanced budget. I've introduced the largest tax cut in our history. I stood for ten and a half hours on the Senate floor to defend your right to be left alone. But I've also gone to Chicago. I've gone to Detroit. I've been to Ferguson, I've been to Baltimore, because I want our party to be bigger, better and bolder, and I'm the only one that leads Hillary Clinton in five states that were won by President Obama. I'm a different kind of Republican. +p2768 +asVBASH +p2769 +(lp2770 +VA crucial question is how to balance surveillance with privacy and keeping Americans safe. Senator Cruz, you voted for a bill that President Obama signed into law just this past June that made it harder for the government to access Americans' phone records. In light of the San Bernardino attack, was your vote a mistake? +p2771 +aVThank you. Senator Rubio, Senator Cruz is right there was bipartisan support for that. But you voted against it. So, is Senator Cruz wrong? +p2772 +aVSenator Cruz? +p2773 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator \u2014 Senator Rubio, please respond. +p2774 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I know this is \u2014 this has been a very big issue for you. You hear many of your colleagues are calling for increased surveillance by law enforcement. You call that hogwash. Why is that hogwash? +p2775 +aVSenator Rubio? +p2776 +aVGovernor Christie, Governor Christie... ...Governor Christie, I'll come to you in a minute. Go ahead, Senator Paul. +p2777 +aVGo ahead, please. +p2778 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about immigration in a while. But, Governor Christie, just listening to this... +p2779 +aVListening to this, you talked \u2014 you heard Senator Paul, Senator Cruz talk about how important it is to protect Americans' privacy, even in a time of grave danger. Why \u2014 what's wrong with that? +p2780 +aVSenator Paul, you said +p2781 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I want to go back to my initial question, which is you saying that +p2782 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about regime change in a bit. But Governor Kasich, would you like to respond to Senator Paul? +p2783 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. We've been talking tonight about programs and policy proposals that you all have to keep Americans safe and it's a big discussion on the campaign trail. Also about border security and immigration. So let's talk about immigration. Senator Rubio. You co-authored a bill with Democrats two years ago that allowed a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Do you still support that path to citizenship, which means giving those immigrants rights, like the right to vote? +p2784 +aVSenator, you haven't answered the question. You described a very long path but does that path end at citizenship? +p2785 +aVThank you, senator. +p2786 +aVThank you, senator. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, on the campaign trail, Senator Rubio has said that his immigration plan is not that different from yours. Is that true? +p2787 +aVSenator Rubio, please. +p2788 +aVSenator Cruz? +p2789 +aVSenator Cruz? +p2790 +aVSenator Cruz, can you answer that question please? +p2791 +aVSenator Cruz? +p2792 +aVOne at a time please. +p2793 +aVMs. Fiorina, please wait your turn, we're going to get to you. +p2794 +aVSenator Cruz go ahead. +p2795 +aVMr. Trump, you like to say that you restarted this conversation in the campaign. +p2796 +aVSo who do you side with? Who do you side with in this, Senator Rubio or Senator Cruz? +p2797 +aVThank you. Governor Bush? +p2798 +aVListening to this, do you think this is the tone \u2014 this immigration debate that republicans need to take to win back Hispanics into our party especially states like where we are in Nevada that has a pretty Hispanic community? +p2799 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said if China launches a cyber- attack against the U.S. on your watch, "they're going to see cyber- warfare like they have never seen before." What exactly would that response look like? +p2800 +aVGovernor Bush, what you just heard from Governor Christie, are you concerned that that could really escalate with China, that they would retaliate? And, for example, as the NSA has said, attack the U.S. and maybe it's power grid, which the Chinese have the capability to do? +p2801 +aVMr. Trump, just this weekend you said Senator Cruz is not qualified to be president because he doesn't have the right temperament and acted like a maniac when he arrived in the Senate. But last month you said you were open to naming Senator Cruz as your running mate. +p2802 +aVSo why would you be willing to put somebody who's a maniac one heartbeat away from the presidency? +p2803 +aVOkay. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, you have not been willing to attack Mr. Trump in public. +p2804 +aVBut you did question his judgment in having control of American's nuclear arsenal during a private meeting with supporters. Why are you willing to say things about him in private and not in public? +p2805 +aVSenator, senator, I just... +p2806 +aVSenator, a lot of people have seen... +p2807 +aV... a lot of people have seen these comments you made in private. I just want to clarify what you're saying right now is you do believe Mr. Trump has the judgment to be commander in chief? +p2808 +aVGovernor Kasich, Senator Cruz is so committed to stripping federal funds from Planned Parenthood that it could result in shutting down the federal government in just about two weeks. Do you agree with Senator Cruz's tactic? +p2809 +aVThank you. +p2810 +aVThank you. Senator Cruz, I would just add that, on this stage not that long ago, Senator Graham said that this tactic that you're pushing would tank the Republicans' ability to win in 2016. +p2811 +aVThank you, senator. +p2812 +aVThank you... +p2813 +aVGovernor \u2014 governor, I want to go to you. Is it what Senator Cruz says, a surrender by Republicans? +p2814 +aVBut... +p2815 +aVBut is it... +p2816 +aVBut, governor, the \u2014 but, governor, the reality is, in just two weeks' time... ...we are going to be facing a question about whether or not it's enough to shut down the government to make that statement, because there is still a Democrat in the White House. Do you oppose it or support it? +p2817 +aVYes or no, do you support this shutdown? +p2818 +aVWe're talking about Planned Parenthood right now. +p2819 +aVCan you answer yes or no? +p2820 +aVOne more time. I'm sorry, I just want to get the answer. +p2821 +aVSo you would support a shutdown. +p2822 +aVGovernor Bush, Mr. Trump has suggested that your views on immigration are influenced by your Mexican born wife. He said that, quote, "If my wife were from Mexico, I think I would have a soft spot for people from Mexico." Did Mr. Trump go to far in invoking your wife? +p2823 +aVMr. Trump? +p2824 +aVMr. Trump... +p2825 +aVGo ahead. +p2826 +aVMs. Fiorina \u2014 Ms. Fiorina, we're going to come to you, we're going to come to you. I just want to give Governor Bush a chance to respond to what Mr. Trump said. +p2827 +aVOK, on that note, you have criticized Governor Bush for speaking Spanish on the campaign trail. You said, quote, "He should really set an example by speaking English in the United States." What's wrong with speaking Spanish? +p2828 +aVThank you. +p2829 +aV...Thank you.... +p2830 +aVGovernor Bush, let's talk about the issue that's very important to Republican voters, and that's the Supreme Court. After Chief Justice John Roberts voted to uphold Obamacare twice, Senator Cruz criticized your brother for appointing John Roberts to the Supreme Court. Looking back on it, did your brother make a mistake? +p2831 +aV...Is John Roberts one of those people? +p2832 +aVDo you like what you just heard, Senator Cruz? +p2833 +aVMr. Trump, you have said once or twice that you are really rich, and you are by far the richest person on this stage. Chris Christie says billionaires like you and even people who make and earn far less should no longer get Social Security, or at least there should be limits based on \u2014 on their income. You think he's wrong, and if so, why? +p2834 +aVWhat about the country as a \u2014 as a policy? +p2835 +aVSo is a voluntary program the way to get the Social Security system solvent again like that. +p2836 +aVSenator Santorum, you want to give the intelligence community more power to collect American's phone data. But the government had this ability until just days before the San Bernardino attack. If it couldn't prevent San Bernardino, why will it protect America? +p2837 +aVSenator Graham, when this program was exposed, you said, " you have nothing to worry about if you're not talking to terrorist." Do you understand why though some Americans are concerned that the government is keeping tabs on them in any way? +p2838 +aVThank you. Governor Huckabee, you said, "not one terrorist plot has been foiled by the NSA's collection of American's phone records. The director of the CIA says,. "not having these programs makes it ability to find terrorists, quote, "much more challenging."" Are you taking a potential tool to fight terrorists? +p2839 +aVSenator Santorum? +p2840 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator Graham... +p2841 +aVSenator Graham... +p2842 +aVSenator Graham, we've heard here tonight a lot about the fact that you want to send U.S. troops, ground troops, into Iraq, and Syria to defeat +p2843 +aVGovernor Huckabee... +p2844 +aVGovernor Huckabee, would you reinstate the draft? +p2845 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator Graham... +p2846 +aVSenator Graham... +p2847 +aVSenator Graham, we've heard here tonight a lot about the fact that you want to send U.S. troops, ground troops, into Iraq, and Syria to defeat +p2848 +aVGovernor Huckabee... +p2849 +aVGovernor Huckabee, would you reinstate the draft? +p2850 +aVSo what would you do about it? +p2851 +aVSenator... +p2852 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. +p2853 +aVSenator Graham. +p2854 +aVSenator Graham, quick response. +p2855 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. +p2856 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. +p2857 +aVSenator Santorum, earlier this month the Pentagon opened all U.S. military combat positions to women. You previously opposed allowing women in combat roles. As President, would you change the Pentagon's new policy? +p2858 +aVSo, just to be clear, you're saying, yes, you would change the policy back? +p2859 +aVGovernor Pataki, as you mentioned earlier, you have two sons who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Would you maintain this new policy as President, or do you agree with Senator Santorum. +p2860 +aVSenator Santorum. +p2861 +aVNow Governor Pataki, do you a final response? +p2862 +aVGovernor Huckabee, the U.S. has a program that allows visitors from America's closest allies to travel to the U.S. without obtaining a visa. But new legislation in Congress says that privilege should not apply to those who have visited is hot spots like Iraq and Syria in the last five years. You say that legislation doesn't go far enough. Why? +p2863 +aVSenator Santorum, Governor Jindal has supported a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants once the border is secure. Why do you disagree with that? +p2864 +aVSenator, your time's up. I want to get the governor to respond to that. +p2865 +aVSenator -- Senator Santorum, do you buy that, that the governor's not for amnesty? +p2866 +aVSenator, your time is up... +p2867 +aVYour time is up. And Governor, I'm sorry. Just -- you -- you really need to clarify your position, because you say you're not for amnesty, but you have been for a path to citizenship... +p2868 +aVThank you. Senator Graham, you mentioned this earlier; you are calling for an additional 20,000 U.S. ground forces to fight +p2869 +aVNo one on this stage has gone that far. So are you saying, for Iraq and Syria, are you saying that everybody to your right is not fit for the Oval Office? +p2870 +aVSenator -- +p2871 +aV-- Senator Santorum, I know you're raising your hand. You're committing to this number of troops, both in Iraq and on the ground in Syria? +p2872 +aVAnd he's saying 20,000. Would you...? +p2873 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Jindal? +p2874 +aVSenator Santorum, you just heard Governor Jindal and Governor Pataki talk about tax reform. Jeb Bush has proposed a tax reform plan, and in it, he limits deductions, including the popular home mortgage deduction. Would you do the same as president? +p2875 +aV...times up, Senator. +p2876 +aV...OK, times up, Senator. Governor, just to bring you back into this, you said that you would be OK with what is effectively raising taxes on hedge fund managers as part of a tax reform plan. Would you aslo be for doing away with people's deductions for their mortgages. +p2877 +asVEPPERSON +p2878 +(lp2879 +VThank you, John. Mrs. Fiorina, you were the CEO of a large corporation that offers a 401(k) to its employees. But more than half of American have no access to an employer sponsored retirement plan. That includes the workers at small businesses, and the growing ranks of Uber drivers and other part-timers in the freelance economy. Should the Federal Government play a larger role in helping to set up retirement plans for these workers? +p2880 +aVSo you wouldn't agree \u2014 you wouldn't agree with a start for 401(k) for businesses or anything like that? +p2881 +aVThank you very much. +p2882 +aVThank you, the rules say one minute. +p2883 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. We appreciate it. Thank you, thank you. I want to turn my attention now, to you now, Governor Kasich. Most people can't get a college degree without going into debt. Over 40 million Americans have student loans and many of them cannot pay them back. This country has over $100 billion in student loan defaults. That's billion with a b. What will you do to make sure that students, their families, taxpayers, won't feel the economic impact of this burden for generations? Well, first of all, in Ohio we're changing the whole system. Universities will not get paid one dime unless the student graduates or \u2014 graduates or completes a course. Secondly, you can be in high school and complete almost an entire first year before you go to college and get credit to do that. And, of course, in addition to that, we are working now to go after the cost drivers in our universities. And let me give you an example. Universities today have so many non-academic assets. At Ohio State they sold the parking garage and the parking lot, and they got $500 million because they shouldn't be in the parking lot business. They shouldn't be in the ding business, they shouldn't be in the dorm business. And, of course, we need to take advantage of on-line education to reduce these costs and begin to dis-intermediate the cost of four years. Now, for those who that have these big high costs, I think we can seriously look at an idea of where you can do public service. I mean legitimate, public service and begin to pay off some of that debt through the public service that you do. And in the meantime, it may inspire us to care more about our country, more about ourselves. This is a big moral issue in America. Living a life bigger than yourself, and being a center of healing and justice. And people can learn it through public service. +p2884 +aVThank you, thank you. +p2885 +aVThank you, John. Senator Graham, one in every four workers has saved less than $1,000 for retirement. Millions of Americans rely on their Social Security benefits for the majority of their retirement income. Now, you called for reforms to Social Security, but what would you do to fix the other part of the problem for future retirees and get people to save more? +p2886 +aVBut Senator Graham... +p2887 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. Thank you, Senator Graham. Governor Jindal, you've been a strong supporter of for-profit colleges. These are institutions that educate many veterans, minorities and working class Americans. They make up about 11 percent of the college population at these schools, but they account for 44 percent of student loan defaults. Should for-profit schools be held accountable when they take taxpayer money and leave students deep in debt? +p2888 +asVSANDERS +p2889 +(lp2890 +VWell, Gwen and Judy, thank you very much for hosting this event. And, PBS, thank you. Nine months ago, our campaign began. And when it began, we had no political organization, no money, and not much name recognition outside of the state of Vermont. A lot has happened in nine months. And what has happened is, I think, the American people have responded to a series of basic truths, and that is that we have today a campaign finance system which is corrupt, which is undermining American democracy, which allows Wall Street and billionaires to pour huge sums of money into the political process to elect the candidates of their choice. And aligned with a corrupt campaign finance system is a rigged economy. And that's an economy where ordinary Americans are working longer hours for low wagers. They are worried to death about the future of their kids. And yet they are seeing almost all new income and all new wealth going to the top 1 percent. And then in addition to that, the American people are looking around and they see a broken criminal justice system. They see more people in jail in the United States of America than any other country on earth, 2.2 million. We're spending $80 billion a year locking up fellow Americans. They see kids getting arrested for marijuana, getting in prison, getting a criminal record, while they see executives on Wall Street who pay billions of dollars in settlements and get no prosecution at all. No criminal records for them. I think what our campaign is indicating is that the American people are tired of establishment politics, tired of establishment economics. They want a political revolution in which millions of Americans stand up, come together, not let the Trumps of the world divide us, and say, you know what, in this great country, we need a government that represents all of us, not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors. Thank you. +p2891 +aVWell, to put that in a context, Judy, I think we have to understand that in the last 30 years in this country there has been a massive transfer of wealth going from the hands of working families into the top one-tenth of 1% whose percentage of wealth has doubled. In other words, the very rich are getting richer, almost everybody is going \u2014 getting poorer. What I believe is the United States, in fact, should join the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee healthcare to all people. Our Medicare for all single-payer proposal will save the average middle class family $5,000 a year. I do believe that in the year 2016 we have to look in terms of public education as colleges as part of public education making public colleges and universities tuition free. I believe that when real unemployment is close to 10%, and when our infrastructure, our roads, our bridges, our water systems, Flint, Michigan comes to mind. Our waste water plants, our rail, our airports, in many places are disintegrating. Yeah, we can create 13 million jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure at a cost of a trillion dollars. +p2892 +aV... Of course there will be a limit, but when today you have massive levels of income and wealth inequality, when the middle class is disappearing, you have the highest rate of child poverty of almost any major country on Earth. Yes, in my view, the government of a democratic society has a moral responsibility to play a vital role in making sure all of our people have a decent standard of living. +p2893 +aVWell, let us level with the American people. Secretary Clinton has been going around the country saying Bernie Sanders wants to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, people are going to lose their MedicAid, they're going to lose their +p2894 +aVThat is absolutely inaccurate. Look, here is the reality, folks. There is one major country on Earth that does not guarantee health care to all people. There is one major country \u2014 the United States \u2014 which ends up spending almost three times per capita what they do in the U.K. guaranteeing health care to all people, 50 percent more than they do in France guaranteeing health care to all people, far more than our Canadian neighbors, who guarantee health care to all people. Please do not tell me that in this country, if \u2014 and here's the if \u2014 we have the courage to take on the drug companies, and have the courage to take on the insurance companies, and the medical equipment suppliers, if we do that, yes, we can guarantee health care to all people in a much more cost effective way. +p2895 +aVWell, Secretary Clinton, you're not in the White House yet. And let us be clear that every proposal that I have introduced has been paid for. For example, all right, who in America denies that we have an infrastructure that is crumbling? Roads, bridges, water systems, wastewater plants, who denies that? Who denies that real unemployment today, including those who have given up looking for work and are working part-time is close to 10 percent? Who denies that African-American youth unemployment, real, is over 50 percent. We need to create jobs. So yes, I will do away with the outrageous loopholes that allow profitable multinational corporations to stash billions of dollars in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda and in a given year pay zero, zero in federal income tax. Yes, I'm going to do away with that. We will use those proceeds, a hundred billion a year, to invest in rebuilding our infrastructure. Yes, I believe that as a result of the illegal behavior on Wall Street, that they are a Wall Street that drove this country into the worst economic downturn since the Great Recession \u2014 Great Depression. Yes, I do believe that now after the American people bailed Wall Street out, yes, they should pay a Wall Street speculation tax so that we can make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We bailed them out. Now it is their time to help the middle class. +p2896 +aVA brief response. +p2897 +aVHere is where we are with public education. A 100, 150 years ago incredibly brave Americans said, you know what, working class kids, low income kids should not have to work in factories or on the farms. Like rich kids, they deserve to get a free education. And that free education of extraordinary accomplishment was from first grade to 12th grade. The world has changed. This is 2016. In many ways, a college degree today is equivalent to what a high school degree was 50, 60 years ago. So, yes, I do believe that when we talk about public education in America, today, in a rapidly changing world, we should have free tuition at public colleges and universities. That should be a right of all Americans regardless of the income of their families. +p2898 +aVLook, we are fighting for every vote that we can get from women, from men, straight, gay, African-Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans. We are trying to bring America together around an agenda that works for working families and the middle class. I am very proud, if my memory is not correct \u2014 I think I am \u2014 that I have a lifetime \u2014 and I've been in Congress a few years \u2014 a lifetime 100 percent pro-choice voting record. I am very proud that over the years we have had the support in my state of Vermont from very significant majorities of women. I'm very proud that I support legislation that is currently in the Congress, got support of almost all progressive Democrats in the House and Senate, which says we will end the absurdity of women today making 79 cents on the dollar compared to men. And we will join the rest of the other \u2014 the industrialized world in saying that paid family and medical leave should be a right of all working families. +p2899 +aVWell, you know, I think, from a historical point of view, somebody with my background, somebody with my views, somebody who has spent his entire life taking on the big money interests, I think a Sanders victory would be of some historical accomplishment, as well. +p2900 +aVLet me concur with the secretary, no question women's rights are under fierce attack all over this country. And I will tell you something that really galls me. I will not shock anybody to suggest that in politics there is occasionally a little bit of hypocrisy. Just a little bit. All over this country we have Republican candidates for president saying we hate the government. Government is the enemy. We're going to cut Social Security to help you. We're going to cut Medicare and Medicaid, federal aid to education to help you, because the government is so terrible. But, by the way, when it comes to a woman having to make a very personal choice, ah, in that case, my Republican colleagues love the government and want the government to make that choice for every woman in America. If that's not hypocrisy, I don't know what hypocrisy is. +p2901 +aVThis is one of the great tragedies in our country today. And we can no longer continue to sweep it under the rug. It has to be dealt with. Today a male African-American baby born today stands a one-in-four chance of ending up in jail. That is beyond unspeakable. So what we have to do is the radical reform of a broken criminal justice system. What we have to do is end over-policing in African-American neighborhoods. The reality is that both the African-American community and the white community do marijuana at about equal rates. The reality is four times as many blacks get arrested for marijuana. Truth is that far more blacks get stopped for traffic violations. The truth is that sentencing for blacks is higher than for whites. We need fundamental police reform, clearly, clearly, when we talk about a criminal justice system. I would hope that we could all agree that we are sick and tired of seeing videos on television of unarmed people, often African-Americans, shot by police officers. What we have got to do is make it clear that any police officer who breaks the law will, in fact, be held accountable. +p2902 +aVNothing that Secretary Clinton said do I disagree with. This mandatory sentencing, a very bad idea. It takes away discretion from judges. We have got to demilitarize local police departments so they do not look like occupying armies. We have got to make sure that local police departments look like the communities they serve in their diversity. And, where we are failing abysmally is in the very high rate of recidivism we see. People are being released from jail without the education, without the job training, without the resources that they need to get their lives together, then they end up \u2014 we're shocked that they end up back in jail again. So, we have a lot of work to do. But, here is a pledge I've made throughout this campaign, and it's really not a very radical pledge. When we have more people in jail, disproportionately African American and Latino, than China does, a communist authoritarian society four times our size. Here's my promise, at the end of my first term as president we will not have more people in jail than any other country. We will invest in education, and jobs for our kids, not incarceration and more jails. +p2903 +aVWell, I think, Judy, what has to be appreciated is that, as a result of the disastrous and illegal behavior on Wall Street, millions of lives were hurt. People lost their jobs, their homes, their life savings. Turns out that the African-American community and the Latino community were hit especially hard. As I understand it, the African-American community lost half of their wealth as a result of the Wall Street collapse. So when you have childhood African-American poverty rates of 35 percent, when you have youth unemployment at 51 percent, when you have unbelievable rates of incarceration \u2014 which, by the way, leaves the children back home without a dad or even a mother \u2014 clearly, we are looking at institutional racism. We are looking at an economy in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. And sadly, in America today, in our economy, a whole lot of those poor people are African-American. +p2904 +aVAbsolutely, because what we will do is say, instead of giving tax breaks to billionaires, we are going to create millions of jobs for low-income kids so they're not hanging out on street corners. We're going to make sure that those kids stay in school or are able to get a college education. And I think when you give low-income kids \u2014 African-American, white, Latino kids \u2014 the opportunities to get their lives together, they are not going to end up in jail. They're going to end up in the productive economy, which is where we want them. +p2905 +aVWhite people? +p2906 +aVYeah, you can, because African-Americans and Latinos not only face the general economic crises of low wages, and high unemployment, and poor educational opportunities, but they face other problems, as well. So, yes, we can talk about it as a racial issue. But it is a general economic issue. And here's what the economic issue is. The wages that high school graduates receive today are significantly less, whether you are white or black, than they used to be. Why is that? Because of a series of disastrous trade policies which have allowed corporate America through +p2907 +aVThe answer is yes. We've got 11 million undocumented people in this country. I have talked to some of the young kids with tears rolling down their cheeks, are scared to death that today they may or their parents may be deported. I believe that we have got to pass comprehensive immigration reform, something that I strongly supported. I believe that we have got to move toward a path toward citizenship. I agree with President Obama who used executive orders to protect families because the Congress, the House was unable or refused to act. And in fact I would go further. What would motivate me and what would be the guiding light for me in terms of immigration reform, Judy, is to bring families together, not divide them up. And let me say this also. Somebody who is very fond of the president, agrees with him most of the time, I disagree with his recent deportation policies. And I would not support those. Bottom line is a path towards citizenship for 11 million undocumented people, if Congress doesn't do the right thing, we use the executive orders of the president. +p2908 +aVSecretary Clinton, I do have a disagreement here. If my memory is correct, I think when we saw children coming from these horrendous, horrendously violent areas of Honduras and neighboring countries, people who are fleeing drug violence and cartel violence, I thought it was a good idea to allow those children to stay in this country. That was not, as I understand it, the secretary's position. In terms of 2007 immigration reform, yeah, I did vote against it. I voted against it because the Southern Poverty Law Center, among other groups, said that the guest-worker programs that were embedded in this agreement were akin to slavery. Akin to slavery, where people came into this country to do guest work were abused, were exploited, and if they stood up for their rights, they'd be thrown out of this country. So it wasn't just me who opposed it. It was +p2909 +aVWell, let me just respond. I worked with Ted Kennedy. He was the chairman of my committee. And I loved Ted Kennedy. But on this issue, when you have one of the large Latino organizations in America saying vote no, and you have the AFL-CIO saying vote no, and you have leading progressive Democrats, in fact, voting no, I don't apologize for that vote. But in terms of the children, I don't know to whom you're sending a message. Who are you sending a message to? These are children who are leaving countries and neighborhoods where their lives are at stake. That was the fact. I don't think we use them to send a message. I think we welcome them into this country and do the best we can to help them get their lives together. +p2910 +aVOK. You know, you judge a nation not by the number of millionaires and billionaires it has, but by how you treat, we treat, the most vulnerable and fragile people in our nation. And by those standards, we're not doing particularly well. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty among almost any major country on Earth. And in terms of seniors, there are millions of seniors \u2014 and I've talked to them in my state of Vermont and all over this country \u2014 who are trying to get by on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year Social Security. And you know what? You do the arithmetic. You can't get by on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year. And here's an area where Secretary Clinton and I believe we have a difference. I have long supported the proposition that we should lift the cap on taxable income coming into the Social Security Trust Fund, starting at $250,000. And when we \u2014 and when we do that, we don't do what the Republicans want, which is to cut Social Security. We do what the American people want, to expand Social Security by $1,300 a year for people under $16,000, and we extend the life of Social Security for 58 years. Yes, the wealthiest people, the top 1.5 percent, will pay more in taxes. But a great nation like ours should not be in a position where elderly people are cutting their pills in half, where they don't have decent nutrition, where they can't heat their homes in the wintertime. That is not what America should be about. If elected president, I will do everything I can to expand Social Security benefits, not just for seniors, but for disabled veterans, as well. +p2911 +aVIn all due respect......In all due respect, Secretary Clinton, a lot of the progressive groups, the online groups have really asked you a simple question. Are you coming onboard a proposal? And what is that proposal? Now, the proposal that I have outlined, you know, should be familiar to you, because it is what essentially Barack Obama campaigned on in 2008. You opposed him then. I would hope that you would come onboard and say that this is the simple and straightforward thing to do. We're asking the top 1.5 percent, including passive income, to start paying a little bit more so that the elderly and disabled vets in this country can live with security and dignity. I hope you will make a decision soon on this. +p2912 +aVThat's my bill. Check it out. +p2913 +aVWhat we are talking about in reality is a corrupt campaign finance system, that's what we're talking about. We have to be honest about it. It is undermining American democracy. When extraordinarily wealthy people make very large contributions to Super PACs, and in many cases in this campaign, Super PACs have raised more money than individual candidates have, OK? We had a decision to make early on, do we do a Super PAC? And, we said no. We don't represent Wall Street, we don't represent the billionaire class, so it ends up I'm the only candidate up here of the many candidates who has no Super PAC. But, what we did is we said to the working families of this country, look, we know things are tough, but if you want to help us go beyond establishment politics, and establishment economics, send us something. And, it turns out that up until \u2014 and this has blown me away, never in a million years would I have believed that I would be standing here tonight telling you that we have received three and a half million individual contributions from well over a million people. Now, Secretary Clinton's Super PAC, as I understand it, received $25 million dollars last reporting period, $15 million dollars from Wall Street. Our average contribution is $27 dollars, I'm very proud of that. +p2914 +aVThe people aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street... But let's not \u2014 but let's not \u2014 let's not insult \u2014 let's not insult the intelligence of the American people. People aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street make huge campaign contributions? I guess just for the fun of it; they want to throw money around. Why does the pharmaceutical industry make huge campaign contributions? Any connection maybe to the fact that our people pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs? Why does the fossil fuel industry pay \u2014 spend huge amounts of money on campaign contributions? Any connection to the fact that not one Republican candidate for president thinks and agrees with the scientific community that climate change is real and that we have got to transform our energy system? And when we talk about Wall Street, let's talk about Wall Street. I voted for Dodd-Frank, got an important amendment in it. In my view, it doesn't go anywhere near far enough. But when we talk about Wall Street, you have Wall Street and major banks have paid $200 billion in fines since the great crash. No Wall Street executive has been prosecuted. +p2915 +aVLet me, you know, again, respectfully disagree with Secretary Clinton here. When you have three out of the four largest financial institutions in this country bigger today than they were when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, when you have six financial institutions having assets equivalent to 58 percent of the GDP of America, while issuing two-thirds of the credit cards and a third of the mortgages, look, I think if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, that great trust-buster would have said break them up. I think he would have been right. I think he would have said bring back a 21st-century Glass-Steagall legislation. I think that would have been right, as well. That's my view. +p2916 +aVHey, I'm in the United States Senate, and anyone who doesn't think that there is an enormous amount of waste and inefficiency and bureaucracy throughout government would be very, very mistaken. I believe in government, but I believe in efficient government, not wasteful government. +p2917 +aVIf I could just answer that, we have also got to take a look at the waste and inefficiencies in the Department of Defense, which is the one major agency of government that has not been able to be audited. And I have the feeling you're going to find a lot of cost overruns there and a lot of waste and duplicative activities. +p2918 +aVLet me \u2014 let me just say this. What a President of the United States has got to do and what is his or her major, I think, responsibility is to, a, make certain that we keep our people safe, that we work with allies around the world to protect democratic values, that we do all that we can to create a world of peace and prosperity. I voted against the war in Iraq because I listened very carefully to what President Bush and Vice President Cheney had to say and I didn't believe them. And if you go to my Web site,berniesanders.com, what you find is not only going to help lead the opposition to that war, but much of what I feared would happen when I spoke on the floor of the House, in fact, did happen in terms of the instability that occurred. Now I think an area in kind of a vague way, or not so vague, where Secretary Clinton and I disagree is the area of regime change. Look, the truth is that a powerful nation like the United States, certainly working with our allies, we can overthrow dictators all over the world. And God only knows Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator. We could overthrow Assad tomorrow if we wanted to. We got rid of Gadhafi. But the point about foreign policy is not just to know that you can overthrow a terrible dictator, it's to understand what happens the day after. And in Libya, for example, the United States, Secretary Clinton, as secretary of state, working with some other countries, did get rid of a terrible dictator named Gadhafi. But what happened is a political vacuum developed. +p2919 +aVJudy, if I can, there is no question, Secretary Clinton and I are friends, and I have a lot of respect for her, that she has enormous experience in foreign affairs. Secretary of state for four years. You've got a bit of experience, I would imagine. But judgment matters as well. Judgment matters as well. And she and I looked at the same evidence coming from the Bush administration regarding Iraq. I lead the opposition against it. She voted for it. But more importantly, in terms of this Libya resolution that you have noted before, this was a virtually unanimous consent. Everybody voted for it wanting to see Libya move toward democracy, of course we all wanted to do that. That is very different than talking about specific action for regime change, which I did not support. +p2920 +aVJudy, one area very briefly... +p2921 +aVWhere the secretary and I have a very profound difference, in the last debate \u2014 and I believe in her book \u2014 very good book, by the way \u2014 in her book and in this last debate, she talked about getting the approval or the support or the mentoring of Henry Kissinger. Now, I find it rather amazing, because I happen to believe that Henry Kissinger was one of the most destructive secretaries of state in the modern history of this country. I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend. I will not take advice from Henry Kissinger. And in fact, Kissinger's actions in Cambodia, when the United States bombed that country, overthrew Prince Sihanouk, created the instability for Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge to come in, who then butchered some 3 million innocent people, one of the worst genocides in the history of the world. So count me in as somebody who will not be listening to Henry Kissinger. +p2922 +aVWell, it ain't Henry Kissinger. That's for sure. +p2923 +aVIt is. +p2924 +aVI find \u2014 I mean, it's just a very different, you know, historical perspective here. Kissinger was one of those people during the Vietnam era who talked about the domino theory. Not everybody remembers that. You do. I do. The domino theory, you know, if Vietnam goes, China, da, da, da, da, da, da, da. That's what he talked about, the great threat of China. And then, after the war, this is the guy who, in fact, yes, you're right, he opened up relations with China, and now pushed various type of trade agreements, resulting in American workers losing their jobs as corporations moved to China. The terrible, authoritarian, Communist dictatorship he warned us about, now he's urging companies to shut down and move to China. Not my kind of guy. +p2925 +aVWell, this is what I would say. It is a complicated relationship. I congratulate Secretary of State John Kerry and the president for working on this agreement. As you've indicated, what is happening in Syria, the number of people, the hundreds of thousands of people who have been killed \u2014 men, women, 20,000 children, the people who are forced to flee their own country \u2014 their own country \u2014 it is unspeakable. It is a real horror. Now, what I think is that right now we have got to do our best in developing positive relations with Russia. But let's be clear: Russia's aggressive actions in the Crimea and in Ukraine have brought about a situation where President Obama and +p2926 +aVLet me just \u2014 just say this. For a start, the secretary and I disagree \u2014 and I think the president does not agree with her \u2014 in terms of the concept of a no-fly zone in Syria. I think you do have a humanitarian tragedy there, as I mentioned a moment ago. I applaud Secretary Kerry and the president for trying to put together this agreement. Let's hope that it holds. But furthermore, what we have got to do, I'm sorry, yes, I do believe that we have got to do everything that we can, and it will not happen tomorrow. But I do hope that in years to come, just as occurred with Cuba, 10, 20 years ago, people would say, reach normalized relations with Cuba. And by the way, I hope we can end the trade embargo with Cuba as well. But the idea that we some day maybe have decent relations with Iran, maybe put pressure on them so they end their support for terrorism around the world, yes, that is something I want to achieve. And I believe that the best way to do that is to be aggressive, to be principled, but to have the goal of trying to improve relations. That's how you make peace in the world. You sit down and you work with people, you make demands of people, in this case demanding Iran stop the support of international terrorism. +p2927 +aVWe have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of work to do. But I recall when Secretary Clinton ran against then-Senator Obama, she was critical of him for suggesting that maybe you want to talk to Iran, that you want to talk to our enemies. I have no illusion. Of course you are right. Iran is sponsoring terrorism in many parts of the world, destabilizing areas. Everybody knows that. But our goal is, in fact, to try over a period of time to, in fact, deal with our enemies, not just ignore that reality. +p2928 +aVNo, I think the idea was that president \u2014 then-Senator Obama was wrong for suggesting that it is a good idea to talk to your opponents. It's easier to talk to your friends. It's harder to talk to your enemies. I think we should do both. +p2929 +aVA couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to go on a congressional delegation. And I went to one of these Turkish refugee camps right on the border of Syria. And what a sad sight that was: Men, women, children forced out of their homes. And Turkey, by the way, did a very decent thing, providing what was reasonable housing and conditions for those people. It seems to me that given our history as a nation that has been a beacon of hope for the oppressed, for the downtrodden, that I very strongly disagree with those Republican candidates who say, you know what, we've got to turn our backs on women and children who left their home with nothing, nothing at all. That is not what America is supposed to be about. So I believe that working with Europe \u2014 and, by the way, you know, we've got some very wealthy countries there in that part of the world. You got Kuwait and you got Qatar and you got Saudi Arabia. They have a responsibility, as well. But I think this is a worldwide \u2014 that the entire world needs to come together to deal with this horrific refugee crisis we're seeing from Syria and Afghanistan, as well. +p2930 +aVYou know, Franklin Delano Roosevelt took the oath of office in 1933 at a time when 25 percent of the American people were unemployed, country was in incredible despair. And he stood before the American people and he said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself," a profound statement that gave the American people the courage to believe that, yes, we could get out of that terrible depression. And then what he did is redefine the role of government. You know, you had Herbert Hoover before that saying, no, we got to only worry about the deficit. So what if mass unemployment exists? So what if children are going hungry? That's not the role of the government. And when FDR said, "Yeah, it is," that we're going to use all of the resources that we have to create jobs, to build homes, to feed people, to protect the farmers, we are a nation which if we come together there is nothing that we could not accomplish. And kind of \u2014 that's what I see our campaign is about right now. In this particular moment of serious crises, saying to the American people don't give up on the political process. don't listen to the Trumps of the world and allowing them to divide us. If we reengage and get involved, yeah, we can have health care for all people, we can make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We do not have to have massive levels of income and wealth inequality. In the same light, as the foreign leader, Winston Churchill's politics were not my politics. He was kind of a conservative guy in many respects. But nobody can deny that as a wartime leader, he rallied the British people when they stood virtually alone against the Nazi juggernaut and rallied them and eventually won an extraordinary victory. Those are two leaders that I admire very much. +p2931 +aVThat is......Madam Secretary, that is a low blow. I have worked with President Obama for the last seven years. When President Obama came into office we were losing 800,000 jobs a month, 800,000 jobs a month. We had a $1.4 trillion deficit. And the world's financial system is on the verge of collapse. As a result of his efforts and the efforts of Joe Biden against unprecedented, I was there in the Senate, unprecedented Republican obstructionism, we have made enormous progress. But you know what? Last I heard we lived in a democratic society. Last I heard, a United States senator had the right to disagree with the president, including a president who has done such an extraordinary job. So I have voiced criticisms. You're right. Maybe you haven't. I have. But I think to suggest that I have voiced criticism, this blurb that you talk about, you know what the blurb said? The blurb said that the next president of the United States has got to be aggressive in bringing people into the political process. That's what I said. That is what I believe. President Obama and I are friends. As you know, he came to Vermont to campaign for me when he was a senator. I have worked for his re-election. His first election and his re-election. But I think it is really unfair to suggest that I have not been supportive of the president. I have been a strong ally with him on virtually every issue. Do senators have the right to disagree with the president? Have you ever disagreed with a president? I suspect you may have. +p2932 +aVWell, one of us ran against Barack Obama. I was not that candidate. All right, look, this has been a great debate. A lot of interesting issues have come together. Let me conclude by just saying this. There is no president, in my view, not Hillary Clinton, not Bernie Sanders, who has the capability or the power to take on Wall Street, large campaign donors, the corporate media, the big money interests in this country alone. This campaign is not just about electing a president. What this campaign is about is creating a process for a political revolution in which millions of Americans, working people who have given up on the political process, they don't think anybody hears their pains or their concerns. Young people for whom getting involved in politics is as, you know, it's like going to the moon. It ain't going to happen. Low income people who are not involved in the political process. What this campaign is not only about electing someone who has the most progressive agenda, it is about bringing tens of millions of people together to demand that we have a government that represents all of us and not just the 1 percent, who today have so much economic and political power. Thank you all very much. +p2933 +aVRachel, thank you very much. Millions of Americans are giving up on the political process. And they're giving up on the political process because they understand the economy is rigged. They are working longer hours for low wages. They're worried about the future of their kids, and yet almost all new income and wealth is going to the top 1 percent. Not what America is supposed to be about. Not the fairness that we grew up believing that America was about. And then sustaining that rigged economy is a corrupt campaign finance system undermining American democracy, where billionaire, Wall Street, corporate America can contribute unlimited sums of money into super PACs and into candidates. Our job, together, is to end a rigged economy, create an economy that works for all, and absolutely overturn Citizens United. One person, one vote. That's what American democracy is about. +p2934 +aVWell, I haven't quite run for president before. Let's deal with some of the comments that Secretary Clinton made. And by the way, you know, sometimes there's a lot of drama here. I have known Secretary Clinton for 25 years and respect her very much. Here is the issue. Every major country on earth, whether it's the U.K., whether it's France, whether it's Canada, has managed to provide healthcare to all people as a right and they are spending significantly less per capita on health care than we are. So I do not accept the belief that the United States of America can't do that. I do not accept the belief that the United States of America and our government can't stand up to the ripoffs of the pharmaceutical industry which charge us by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. Number two, in the economy today, everybody understands that we need a well educated workforce. This is 2016. When we talk about public education, it can no longer be K through 12th grade. I do believe that public colleges and universities should be tuition free. Well, how do we pay for that? It's an expensive proposition. I do believe that we should substantially lower student debt in this country, which is crushing millions of people. We pay for it, in my view, by a tax on Wall Street speculation. The middle class bailed out Wall Street in their time of need. Now, it is Wall Street's time to help the middle class. +p2935 +aVLet me... +p2936 +aV... this is a good discussion here. +p2937 +aVAnd let me just say this. As Secretary Clinton may know, I am on the Health Education Labor Committee. That committee wrote the Affordable Care Act. The idea I would dismantle health care in America while we're waiting to pass a Medicare for all is just not accurate. The Affordable Care Act has clearly, as Secretary Clinton made the point, done a lot of good things, but, what it has not done is dealt with the fact we have 29 million people today who have zero health insurance, we have even more who are underinsured with large deductibles and copayments and prescription drug prices are off the wall. So I do believe that in the future, not by dismantling what we have here\u2014I helped write that bill\u2014but by moving forward, rallying the American people, I do believe we should have health care for all. +p2938 +aVNo, not at all. Here's the reality of American economic life today. The reality is that we have one of lowest voter turnouts of any major country on earth because so many people have given up on the political process. The reality is that there has been trillions of dollars of wealth going from the middle class in the last 30 years to the top 1/10th of 1 percent. The reality is we that have a corrupt campaign finance system which separates the American people's needs and desires from what Congress is doing. So to my mind, what we have got to do is wage a political revolution where millions of people have given up on the political process, stand up and fight back, demand the government that represents us and not just a handful of campaign contribution\u2014contributors. Now all of the ideas that I'm talking about, they are not radical ideas. Making public colleges and universities tuition free, that exists in countries all over the world, used to exist in the United States. Rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, and creating 13 million jobs by doing away with tax loopholes that large corporations now enjoy by putting their money into the Cayman Islands and other tax havens. That is not a radical idea. What we need to do is to stand up to the big money interests, and the campaign contributors. When we do that, we can, in fact, transform America. +p2939 +aVLet me just pick up on this point. This whole discussion began because I commented, not making overall evaluation about the Secretary. She was in Ohio, I think, in September or November and she got up and said something like, I have been\u2014I'm paraphrasing, I have been criticized because people think I'm a moderate. Well, I am a moderate. That's where this came from. It wasn't me paraphrasing her. It is what she said, and all that I said was there's nothing wrong with being a moderate. But, you can't be a moderate, you can't a progressive. In terms of President Obama, I think if we remember where this country was seven years ago, 800,000 jobs being lost every month, $1.4 trillion dollar deficit. The world's financial system on the verge of collapse. I think that President Obama, Vice President Biden, and the Democratic leadership in the House and the Senate have done a fantastic job. We are in much better shape than we were seven years ago, although my Republican colleagues seem to have forgotten where we were seven years ago. That's the fact, but, we still have a very long way to go. Do I think President Obama is a progressive? Yes, I do. I disagree with him on a number of issues including the trade agreement. But, yes, I think he has done an excellent job. +p2940 +aVThat's right, I mean, instead of arguing about definitions, let's talk about... +p2941 +aV... What we should do, and one of the things we should do is not only talk the talk, but walk the walk. I am very proud to be the only candidate up here who does not have a Super PAC, who's not raising huge sums of money from Wall Street...... And special interests. I am enormously proud. Never believed it would happen that we have raised 3.5 million individual contributions, averaging $27 dollars a piece. That is what the political revolution means. +p2942 +aVWell, Rachel, actually, that wasn't accurate. In 1988 the Republican did win, I believe, by 3 points. I came in second. It was 34-31, I think, 19 for the Democrat. In that race the Democrat was the spoiler, not me. And it is true......it is true, it's not to be denied, I am the longest- serving independent in the history of the United States Congress. People of Vermont sent me to Washington as an independent. That is true. But on the other hand, I have\u2014when I was in the House for 16 years, I caucused with the Democrats. In the Senate for nine years caucused with the Democrats, of course. And I was elected by the Democrats to be chair of the Veterans Committee three years ago, which I'm very proud of. And now am the rankings member on the Budget Committee, leader of the Democrats in opposition to the majority Republicans. I am running for president as a Democrat. And if elected, not only do I hope to bring forth a major change in national priorities, but let me be frank, I do want to see major changes in the Democratic Party. I want to see working people and young people come into the party in a way that doesn't exist now. And you know what, I want a 50-state strategy so the Democratic Party is not just the party of 25 states. +p2943 +aVWell, I don't see it quite like that. +p2944 +aVI am\u2014will absolutely admit that Secretary Clinton has the support of far more governors, mayors, members of the House. She has the entire establishment or almost the entire establishment behind her. That's a fact. I don't deny it. But I am pretty proud that we have over a million people who have contributed to our campaign averaging 27 bucks apiece. That we have had meetings where 25,000-30,000 people have come out. That our campaign is a campaign of the people, by the people, and for the people. So, Rachel, yes, Secretary Clinton does represent the establishment. I represent, I hope, ordinary Americans, and by the way, who are not all that enamored with the establishment, but I am very proud to have people like Keith Ellison and Raul Grijalva in the House, the co-chairmen of the House Progressive Caucus. +p2945 +aVWhat being part of the establishment is, is, in the last quarter, having a super PAC that raised $15 million from Wall Street, that throughout one's life raised a whole lot of money from the drug companies and other special interests. To my mind, if we do not get a handle on money in politics and the degree to which big money controls the political process in this country, nobody is going to bring about the changes that is needed in this country for the middle class and working families. +p2946 +aVWhat... +p2947 +aV... you know... +p2948 +aV. +p2949 +aVLet's talk about\u2014OK, let's talk... +p2950 +aV... let us talk about issues. +p2951 +aVLet's talk about issues. +p2952 +aVLet's... +p2953 +aV... let's\u2014let's\u2014let's talk about issues. +p2954 +aVLet's talk\u2014let's talk about issues, all right? Let's talk about why, in the 1990s, Wall Street got deregulated. Did it have anything to do with the fact that Wall Street provided\u2014spent billions of dollars on lobbying and campaign contributions? Well, some people might think, yeah, that had some influence. Let's ask why it is that we pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, and your medicine can be doubled tomorrow, and there's nothing that the government can do to stop it. You think it has anything to do with the huge amounts of campaign contributions and lobbying from the fossil fuel industry? Let's talk about climate change. Do you think there's a reason why not one Republican has the guts to recognize that climate change is real, and that we need to transform our energy system? Do you think it has anything to do with the Koch brothers and ExxonMobil pouring huge amounts of money into the political system? That is what goes on in America. I am not\u2014I like......there is a reason. You know, there is a reason why these people are putting huge amounts of money into our political system. And in my view, it is undermining American democracy and it is allowing Congress to represent wealthy campaign contributors and not the working families of this country. +p2955 +aVI think as Secretary Clinton knows, there is nobody who fought harder. I was on the House Financial Committee at that time. I heard the arguments coming from Democrats and Republicans\u2014Robert Rubin, Alan Greenspan\u2014about great an idea it would be if we did away with Glass-Steagall and if we allowed investor banks and commercial banks and big insurance companies to merge. Go to YouTube today. Look up Greenspan-Sanders. Listen to what I told them then. I helped lead the effort against deregulation. Unfortunately, we lost that. The result is\u2014was the worst financial disaster since the Great Depression. +p2956 +aVChuck, actually we looked at it, but it turns out to be a disaster. The way it is structured right now, if you make it all the way to California, you could do pretty well. But in terms of the early states\u2014Iowa, New Hampshire, the other states\u2014it just doesn't work. Your point is well taken. I believe in public funding of elections, absolutely. But this system is\u2014I don't know if the secretary would agree\u2014is currently very antiquated and no longer applies to modern day politics. +p2957 +aVBut if the... +p2958 +aVLet me just say this. Wall Street is perhaps the most powerful economic and political force in this country. You have companies like Goldman Sachs, who just recently paid a settlement fine with the federal government for $5 billion for defrauding investors. Goldman Sachs was one of those companies whose illegal activity helped destroy our economy and ruin the lives of millions of Americans. But this is what a rigged economy and a corrupt campaign finance system and a broken criminal justice is about. These guys are so powerful that not one of the executives on Wall Street has been charged with anything after paying, in this case of Goldman Sachs, a $5 billion fine. Kid gets caught with marijuana, that kid has a police record. A Wall Street executive destroys the economy, $5 billion settlement with the government, no criminal record. That is what power is about. That is what corruption is about. And that is what has to change in the United States of America. +p2959 +aVI would say that\u2014that folks who have looked at this issue for a long time, whether it's Elizabeth Warren or many other economists, will tell you that right now, yes, we do need a 21st century Glass-Steagall legislation. And I would tell you also that when you have three out of the four largest banks in America today, bigger than they were\u2014significantly bigger than when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, I think if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, a good Republican by the way, what he would say is: Break them up; they are too powerful economically; they are too powerful politically. And that is what I believe and many economists believe. Time to break them up. +p2960 +aVWell, we've had a number of economists supporting our legislation. And here's where we are. The American people can judge. Six largest financial institutions in America today have assets of roughly $10 trillion; equivalent to 58 percent of the GDP of the United States of America. That is a lot of money. They issue two thirds of the credit cards, and by the way they're ripping off a whole lot of people with high interest rates on the credit cards, and they write about one third of the mortgages. That is a lot of power for six financial institutions. That's it. I think it is too much power. Too much economic power, too much political power, and the economists that I talk to say we should break them up. +p2961 +aVYeah, I do. I agree with much of what the Secretary said, but, madam Secretary, it is not one streak. Wall Street is an entity of unbelievable economic and political power. That's a fact. And, I want to say something, and it may sound harsh, not to you, but to the American people. In a sense, in my view, the business model of Wall Street is fraud. It's fraud. I believe that corruption is rampant, and the fact that major bank after major bank has reached multi billion dollar settlements with the United States government when we have a weak regulator system tells me that not only did we have to bail them out once, if we don't start breaking them up, we're going to have to bail them out again, and I do not want to see that happen... +p2962 +aVOf course I can work with them, but let's be clear. When I talked about Boeing and I talked about General Electric, what I was referring to is an outrage. I suspect the secretary agrees request me. Right now you have a loophole such that these guys are putting their profits, multi-billion dollar profitable corporations putting billions of dollars into the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, and other tax havens. And in a given year, Rachel, after making billions of dollars in profit, do you know how much they're paying in taxes to the United States government in a given year? Zero. Now explain to me how that makes any sense at all. So what I have said with regard to Boeing and GE and other multinationals that pay zero taxes, you know what we're going to do? We're going to end that loophole. They are going to pay their fair share of taxes. We're going to use that money to rebuild our infrastructure and create up to 13 million jobs. Can I work with corporations? Are there good corporations doing incredible cutting edge research and development? Absolutely they are. And we should be proud of them. But on the other hand, there are many corporations who have turned their backs on the American worker, who have said, if I can make another nickel in profit by going to China and shutting down in the United States of America, that's what I will do. I will do my best to transform our trade policy and take on these corporations who want to invest in low-income countries around the world rather than in the United States of America. +p2963 +aVOK. Let me agree with much of what the secretary said, but where we have a different background on this issue is we differ on the war in Iraq, which created barbaric organizations like +p2964 +aVWell, I think our great task is to make certain that our young men and women in the military do not get sucked into never- ending, perpetual warfare within the quagmire of Syria and Iraq. And I will do my very best to make sure that that doesn't happen. I agree with the secretary that I think what has to happen\u2014and let me just mention what King Abdullah of Jordan said. I think he hit the nail on the head. And what he said is essentially the war against +p2965 +aVWell, you can't simply withdraw tomorrow. Wish we could, and allow, you know, the Taliban or anybody else to reclaim that country. But what we must do, and what we have seen in recent months, is some progress in Iraq, where finally the Iraqi army, which has not been a particularly effective fighting force, retook Ramadi. +p2966 +aVWell, that's not quite accurate. I did give a speech at Georgetown where I talked about democratic socialism and foreign policy. Maybe I shouldn't have combined the two in the same speech, because the foreign policy part of it didn't get much attention. So, let me take this opportunity to give you a very short speech here on the issue. I think, while it is true that the secretary and I voted differently on the war in Iraq, what is important is that we learn the lesson of the war in Iraq. And that lesson is intrinsic to my foreign policy if elected president, is the United States cannot do it alone. We cannot be the policeman of the world. We are now spending more I believe than the next eight countries on defense. We have got to work in strong coalition with the major powers of the world and with those Muslim countries that are prepared to stand up and take on terrorism. So I would say that the key doctrine of the Sanders administration would be no, we cannot continue to do it alone; we need to work in coalition. +p2967 +aV I fully, fully concede that Secretary Clinton, who was secretary of State for four years, has more experience\u2014hat is not arguable\u2014in foreign affairs. But experience is not the only point, judgment is. And once again, back in 2002, when we both looked at the same evidence about the wisdom of the war in Iraq, one of us voted the right way and one of us didn't. In terms of Iran and in terms of Saudi Arabia, of course they hate each other. That's no great secret. But John Kerry, who is I think doing a very good job, has tried to at least get these people in the room together because both of them are being threatened by +p2968 +aVWell... +p2969 +aVWho said That think we should normalize relations with Iran tomorrow? I never said that. I think we should move forward as quickly as we can. And you're right. They are a sponsor of terrorism around the world and we have to address that. But you know, a number of years ago, people were saying normal relationship with Cuba, what a bad and silly idea. They're Communists, they are our enemy. Well guess what? Change has come. So please don't suggest that I think we normalize relations with Tehran tomorrow. We don't. But I would like to see us move forward, and hopefully some day that will happen. And I would say if I might, Madam Secretary\u2014and you can correct me if I'm wrong. When you ran against Senator Obama you thought him naive because he thought it was a good idea to talk to our enemies. I think those are exactly the people you have to talk to and you have to negotiate with. +p2970 +aVOK. +p2971 +aVI think President Obama had the right idea, and the bottom line is that of course there have to be conditions. But, of course it doesn't do us any good to not talk with our adversaries... +p2972 +aVJust to set the record straight, I very strongly supported the agreement which makes certain that Iran does not get a nuclear weapon. +p2973 +aV... +p2974 +aV +p2975 +aV... No, no... +p2976 +aV... +p2977 +aVClearly North Korea is a very strange situation because it is such an isolated country run by a handful of dictators, or maybe just one, who seems to be somewhat paranoid. And, who had nuclear weapons. And, our goal there, in my view, is to work and lean strongly on China to put as much pressure. China is one of the few major countries in the world that has significant support for North Korea, and I think we got to do everything we can to put pressure on China. I worry very much about an isolated, paranoid country with atomic bombs. I think, clearly, we got to work closely with China to resolve the serious problems we have, and I worry about Putin and his military adventurism in the Crimea and the Ukraine. +p2978 +aV... No, I don't. I worry very, very much about an isolated country. That's what makes me nervous. Russia lives in the world. China lives in the world. North Korea is a very, very strange country because it is so isolated, and I do feel that a nation with nuclear weapons, they have got to be dealt with. Dealt with effectively. +p2979 +aVLet me agree. You know, as the secretary knows, I chaired\u2014I had the privilege and the honor of chairing the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs. And it is interesting to me, you know, Republicans give a lot of speeches about how much they love veterans. I work with the American Legion, the VFW, the DAV, the Vietnam Vets, and virtually every veterans organization to put together the most comprehensive piece of the veterans legislation in the modern history of America. That's what I did. And I brought it to the floor of the Senate. Every Democrat voted for it, I got two Republicans. We ended up with 56 votes and I couldn't get the 60 votes that I needed. That is pathetic. This was legislation supported by all of the veterans organizations, addressing many of the serious problems that veterans face in health care and in how we deliver benefits to them. So Republicans talk a good game about veterans, but when it came to put money on the line to protect our veterans, frankly, they were not there. What I did next, Rachel, is I had to retreat a little bit, I had to compromise. I did work with John McCain. I did work with Jeff Miller over in the House. And we put together not the bill that I wanted, but probably the most comprehensive V.A. health care bill in the modern history of this country. Secretary Clinton is absolutely right, there are people, Koch brothers among others, who have a group called Concerned Veterans of America, funded by the Koch brothers. The Koch brothers, by the way, want to destroy Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, every governmental program passed since the 1930s. Yes, there are people out there who want to privatize it. The last point that I'd make. I had a hearing. I had all of the veterans groups in front of me. And I said to them, tell me when a veteran gets in to the V.A., understanding there are waiting lines and real problems, when a veteran gets into the system, is the quality of care good? Without exception, what they said, good, excellent, very good. We've got to strengthen the V.A. We do not privatize the V.A. +p2980 +aVWell, I agree with the Des Moines Register, but let's not blow this out of proportion. This is not a\u2014this is not, like, a winner-take-all thing. I think where we now stand\u2014correct me if I'm wrong\u2014you have 22 delegates, I have 20 delegates. We need 2,500 delegates to win the nomination. You know, so this is not\u2014this is not the biggest deal in the world. We think, by the way, based on talking to our precinct captains, we may have at least two more delegates. What the Des Moines Register said\u2014you know, there were coin\u2014I think there were half a dozen coin flips\u2014a fairly chaotic type situation. At the end of the day, no matter how it's recounted, it will break roughly even. And by the way, I love and respect the caucus process in Iowa. See, and I don't have to say it, because they voted already. And I love New Hampshire, too, because you haven't voted, but......but, look, I think people are blowing this up out of proportion. But I think we need improvements in the process by which results are determined. +p2981 +aVOh . See, when you are old, then they go back all these years. All right. What have you got? +p2982 +aVWell, you know, a general election is different than a primary and caucus process. But let me just say this. In terms of where we are right now, as you mention, Rachel, in a number of national and state, including New Hampshire. For example, the last poll I saw\u2014there may have been a new one\u2014last one I saw here in New Hampshire, a battleground state, had me defeating Trump by 19; the secretary defeating him by one. There were also pretty large margins in Iowa and Wisconsin. These are polls. Polls go up. Polls go down. But here's why I think I will be, if nominated, the strongest candidate. Democrats win when there is a large voter turnout; when people are excited; when working people, middle class people and young people are prepared to engage in the political process. Republicans win when people are demoralized and you have a small voter turnout, which by the way is why they love voter suppression. I believe that our campaign up to now has shown that we can create an enormous amount of enthusiasm from working people, from young people, who will get involved in the political process and which will drive us to a very large voter turnout. If there is a large voter turnout, not only do we retain the White House, but I think we regain the Senate. We win governors' chairs up and down the line. So I believe if you want to retain the White House, if you want to see Democrats do well across the board, I think our campaign is the one that creates the large voter turnout and helps us win. +p2983 +aV +p2984 +aVI am feeling exactly the way I felt at the first debate. There's a process under way. I will not politicize it. +p2985 +aVAnd by the way\u2014and by the way, if I may, the secretary probably doesn't know that there's not a day that goes by when I am not asked to attack her on that issue, and I have refrained from doing that and I will continue to refrain from doing that. +p2986 +aVNot losing control of our campaign. You know, we have hired a whole lot of people in a rapid way and I am familiar with the first two instances and they are unacceptable, and we have apologized and dealt with that. In terms of the last one, as I understand it, we did not suggest that we had the endorsement of a newspaper. Newspapers who make endorsements also say positive things about other candidates, and to the best of my knowledge, that is what we did. So we never said, never said that somebody, a newspaper endorsed us that did not. What we did say is blah blah blah blah was said by the newspaper. +p2987 +aVBut that was only for\u2014that was not to be on television. That's an important point. That was just something\u2014as the secretary knows, you put titles on ads and you send them out, but there was no word in that ad, none, that said that those newspapers had endorsed us. +p2988 +aV... Look, I hear what the Secretary said, and I understand, but look, there are\u2014all of us know that we have seen in recent years horrible, horrible crimes. It's hard to imagine how people can do, bomb, and kill 168 people in Oklahoma City, or do the Boston Marathon bombing, but this is what I believe, and for a couple of reasons. Number one, too many innocent people, including minorities, African Americans, have been executed when they were not guilty. That's number one. We have to be very careful about making sure about that. But, second of all, and maybe, in a deeper reason, of course there are barbaric acts out there. But, in a world of so much violence and killing, I just don't believe that government itself should be part of the killing. So, when somebody commits......somebody commits any of these terrible crimes that we have seen, you lock them up, and you toss away the key. They're never going to get out. But, I just don't' want to see government be part of killing. That's all. +p2989 +aVAbsolutely. I think the Secretary described the situation appropriately. You know, I don't go around asking for governor's resignations every day. In fact, I think I never have in my life. But I did ask for the resignation of Governor Snyder because his irresponsibility......was so outrageous. What we are talking about are children being poisoned. That's what we're talking about. We don't know, no one knows for sure because they haven't done the appropriate studies, but there's no question that kids' intellectual development may have been impacted. We don't know how many thousands. The idea that there has not been a dramatic response is beyond comprehension. And when you have one of the, I think, significant public health crises of recent years, of course the federal government comes in. And of course the federal government says, you're not going to be poisoning little kids and impacting their entire lives. Last point on this. And I suspect the secretary agrees. One wonders if this were a white suburban community what kind of response there would have been. Flint, Michigan, is a poor community. It is disproportionately African-American and minority. And what has happened there is absolutely unacceptable. +p2990 +aVAbsolutely right. +p2991 +aVChuck, I believe in trade, but I do not believe in unfettered free trade. I believe in fair trade which works for the middle class and working families of this country and not just large multinational corporations. I was not only in opposition to +p2992 +aVNo, let... +p2993 +aV... I am absolutely supportive of comprehensive immigration reform and a path towards citizenship for 11 million people today who are living in the shadows. All right? We got to do that. But you miss\u2014when you looked at the issues, you missed two of the most important. And that is you're not going to accomplish what has to be done for working families and the middle class unless there is campaign finance reform. So long as big money interests control the United States Congress, it is gonna be very hard to do what has to be done for working families. So let me be very clear. No nominee of mine, if I'm elected president, to the United States Supreme Court will get that nomination unless he or she is loud and clear, and says they will vote to overturn Citizens United. Second point\u2014second point is that the only way we make change in terms of health care, in terms of dealing with a broken criminal justice system which, today, allows us to have more people in jail than any other country\u2014largely African-American and Latino\u2014the only way we create millions of jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure or have a tax system that says to the wealthy that they are going to pay their fair share, is when millions of people become involved in the political process. No, you just can't negotiate with Mitch McConnell. Mitch is gonna have to look out the window and see a whole lot of people saying, "Mitch, stop representing the billionaire class. Start listening to working families." And as president, that's what I will work hard on. +p2994 +aVI agree with what the secretary said. We shouldn't be getting ahead of ourselves. And as I have said many times, you know, sometimes in these campaigns, things get a little bit out of hand. I happen to respect the secretary very much, I hope it's mutual. And on our worst days, I think it is fair to say we are 100 times better than any Republican candidate. +p2995 +aVI\u2014my dad came to this country at the age of 17 from Poland. Didn't have any money, couldn't speak English, he died pretty young, and I think it would have been beyond his wildest dreams to see his son up here on this stage today running for president. I love this country and my dad loved this country, and he was the most proud American because of what it gave him in terms of raising his family, even though we never had much money. But today in America, we are the only major country on earth that doesn't guarantee health care to all people, that doesn't guarantee paid family and medical leave. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth. We are seeing millions of families unable to send their kids to college in the United States of America. I'm running for president because I believe it is just too late for establishment politics and establishment economics. I do believe we need a political revolution where millions of people stand up and say loudly and clearly that our government belongs to all of us and not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors. Thank you all. +p2996 +aVThank you. As we honor the extraordinary life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., it's important not only that we remember what he stood for, but that we pledge to continue his vision to transform our country. As we look out at our country today, what the American people understand is we have an economy that's rigged, that ordinary Americans are working longer hours for lower wages, 47 million people living in poverty, and almost all of the new income and wealth going to the top one percent. And then, to make a bad situation worse, we have a corrupt campaign finance system where millionaires and billionaires are spending extraordinary amounts of money to buy elections. This campaign is about a political revolution to not only elect the president, but to transform this country. +p2997 +aVWell, that's what our campaign is about. It is thinking big. It is understanding that in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, we should have health care for every man, woman, and child as a right that we should raise the minimum wage to at least $15 an hour; that we have got to create millions of decent- paying jobs by rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure. So, what my first days are about is bringing America together, to end the decline of the middle class, to tell the wealthiest people in this country that yes, they are going to start paying their fair share of taxes, and that we are going to have a government that works for all of us, and not just big campaign contributors. +p2998 +aVWell, I think Secretary Clinton knows that what she says is very disingenuous. I have a D-minus voting record from the NRA. I was in 1988, there were three candidates running for congress in the state of Vermont, I stood up to the gun lobby and came out and maintained the position that in this country we should not be selling military style assault weapons. I have supported from day one and instant background check to make certain that people who should have guns do not have guns. And that includes people of criminal backgrounds, people who are mentally unstable. I support what President Obama is doing in terms of trying to close the gun show loop holes and I think it should be a federal crime if people act as dormant. We have seen in this city a horrendous tragedy of a crazed person praying with people in the coming up and shooting nine people. This should not be a political issue. What we should be doing is working together. And by the way, as a senator from a rural state that has virtually no gun control, I believe that I am in an excellent position to bring people together to fight the sensible... +p2999 +aVWhat I have said, is that gun manufacturer's liability bill has some good provisions among other things, we've prohibited ammunition that would've killed cops who had protection on. We have child safety protection work on guns in that legislation. And what we also said, "is a small mom and pop gun shop who sells a gun legally to somebody should not be held liable if somebody does something terrible with that gun." So what I said is, " I would re-look at it." We are going to re- look at it and I will support stronger provisions. +p3000 +aV...Well, I \u2014 look... +p3001 +aV... Let me respond to what the secretary said. We have a criminal justice system which is broken. Who in America is satisfied that we have more people in jail than any other country on Earth, including China? Disproportionately African American, and Latino. Who is satisfied that 51% of African American young people are either unemployed, or underemployed? Who is satisfied that millions of people have police records for possessing marijuana when the CEO's of Wall Street companies who destroyed our economy have no police records. +p3002 +aV... We need to take a very hard look at our... +p3003 +aV... criminal justice system, investing in jobs, and education not in jails and incarceration . +p3004 +aVWell, let me talk about polling. As Secretary Clinton well knows, when this campaign began she was 50 points ahead of me. We were all of three percentage points. Guess what? In Iowa, New Hampshire, the race is very, very close. Maybe we're ahead New Hampshire. In terms of polling, guess what? We are running ahead of Secretary Clinton. In terms of taking on my taking on my good friend, Donald Trump, beating him by 19 points in New Hampshire, 13 points in the last national poll that we saw. To answer your question. When the African American community becomes familiar with my Congressional record and with our agenda, and with our views on the economy, and criminal justice \u2014 just as the general population has become more supportive, so will the African American community, so will the Latino community. We have the momentum, we're on a path to a victory. O' +p3005 +aVI apologize for not hearing all of that question. +p3006 +aVYes. +p3007 +aVAbsolutely. This is a responsibility for the U.S. Justice Department to get involved. Whenever anybody in this country is killed while in police custody, it should automatically trigger a U.S. attorney general's investigation. Second of all, and I speak as a mayor who worked very closely and well with police officers, the vast majority of whom are honest, hard- working people trying to do a difficult job, but let us be clear. If a police officer breaks the law, like any public official, that officer must be held accountable. And thirdly, we have got to de-militarize our police departments so they don't look like occupying armies. We've got to move toward community policing. And fourthly, we have got to make our police departments look like the communities they serve in their diversity. +p3008 +aVSure. I agree... I agree with everything the Secretary said, but let me just add this, there is a responsibility on the part of the pharmaceutical industry and the drug companies who are producing all of these drugs and not looking at the consequence of it. And second of all, when we talk about addiction being a disease, the Secretary is right, what that means is we need a revolution in this country in terms of mental health treatment. People should be able to get the treatment that they need when they need it, not two months from now, which is why I believe in universal... +p3009 +aV... healthcare with mental health... +p3010 +aV... a part of that. +p3011 +aVOK. +p3012 +aVSecretary \u2014 Secretary Clinton didn't answer your question. Because what her campaign was saying \u2014 Bernie Sanders, who has fought for universal health care for my entire life, he wants to end Medicare, end Medicaid, end the children's health insurance program. That is nonsense. What a Medicare-for-all program does is finally provide in this country health care for every man, woman and child as a right. Now, the truth is, that Frank Delano Roosevelt, Harry Truman, do you know what they believed in? They believed that health care should be available to all of our people. I'm on the committee that wrote the Affordable Care Act. I made the Affordable Care Act along with Jim Clyburn a better piece of legislation. I voted for it, but right now, what we have to deal with is the fact that 29 million people still have no health insurance. We are paying the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, getting ripped off. And here's the important point, we are spending far more per person on health care than the people of any other country. My proposal, provide health care to all people, get private insurance out of health insurance, lower the cost of health care for middle class families by 5,000 bucks. That's the vision we need to take. +p3013 +aVBut \u2014 what if we have... +p3014 +aVIt is \u2014 it is absolutely inaccurate. O' +p3015 +aVNo one is tearing this up, we're going to go forward. But with the secretary neglected to mention, not just the 29 million still have no health insurance, that even more are underinsured with huge copayments and deductibles. Tell me why we are spending almost three times more than the British, who guarantee health care to all of their people? Fifty percent more than the French, more than the Canadians. The vision from FDR and Harry Truman was health care for all people as a right in a cost-effective way. We're not going to tear up the Affordable Care Act. I helped write it. But we are going to move on top of that to a Medicaid-for-all system. O' +p3016 +aVYeah. +p3017 +aVYes. +p3018 +aVNot all that detailed. +p3019 +aVWell. +p3020 +aVWell, that's \u2014 you might want to ask... +p3021 +aVAndrea, let me just say this. +p3022 +aVLet me just say that you might want to ask the governor of the state of Vermont why he could not do it. I'm not the governor. I'm the senator from the state of Vermont. But second of all \u2014 second of all...... here is what the real point is, in terms of all of the issues you've raised \u2014 the good questions you've raised. You know what it all comes down to? Do you know why we can't do what every other country \u2014 major country on Earth is doing? It's because we have a campaign finance system that is corrupt, we have super PACs, we have the pharmaceutical industry pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into campaign contributions and lobbying, and the private insurance companies as well. What this is really about is not the rational way to go forward \u2014 it's Medicare for all \u2014 it is whether we have the guts to stand up to the private insurance companies and all of their money, and the pharmaceutical industry. That's what this debate should be about. +p3023 +aVA couple of years ago, when we understood that veterans were not getting the quality care they needed in the timely manner, I worked with folks like John McCain and others to pass the most comprehensive veteran's health care legislation in modern history. But let me rephrase your question because I think, in all do respect, you're expression. In all do respect, you're missing the main point. And the main point in the Congress, it's not the Republicans and Democrats hate each other. That's a mythology from the media. The real issue is that Congress is owned by big money and refuses to do what the American people want them to do. The real issue is that in area after area, raising the minimum wage to $15 bucks an hour. The American people want it. Rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, creating 13 million jobs, the American people want it. The pay equity for women, the American people want it. Demanding that the wealthy start paying their fair share of taxes. The American people want it. +p3024 +aVThe point is, we have to make Congress respond to the needs of the people, not big money. +p3025 +aVI do. +p3026 +aVDid I say that? +p3027 +aVBecause of what I believe in what I was just saying. The Democratic party needs major reform. To those of you in South Carolina, you know what, in Mississippi, we need a 50-state strategy so that people in South Carolina and Mississippi can get the resources that they need. Instead of being dependent on super PACs, what we need is to be dependent on small, individual campaign contributors. We need an agenda that speaks to the needs of working families and low-income people. Not wealthy campaign contributors. +p3028 +aVWe need to expand what the input into the Democratic party. I am very proud that in this campaign, we have seen an enormous amount of excitement from young people, from working people. We have received more individual contributions than any candidate in the history of this country up to this point. O' +p3029 +aVAnd I respectfully disagree. +p3030 +aVAnd I respectfully disagree with my friend over here. And that is, you are right. All of us have denounced Trump's attempts to divide this country: the anti-Latino rhetoric, the racist rhetoric, he anti-Muslim rhetoric. But where I disagree with you, Governor O'Malley, is I do believe we have to deal with the fundamental issues of a handful of billionaires... O' +p3031 +aV... who control economic and political life of this country. O' +p3032 +aVNothing real will get happened. Unless we have a political revolution. Where millions of people finally stand up. +p3033 +aVIs that your strategy... +p3034 +aVWell, the first difference is I don't take money from big banks. I don't get personal speaking fees from Goldman Sachs. What I would do... What I would do is understand that when you have three out of the four largest banks today, bigger than they were when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, when you have the six largest financial institutions having assets of 60 percent of the GDP of America, it is very clear to me what you have to do. You've got to bring back the 21st century Glass-Steagall legislation and you've got to break up these huge financial institutions. They have too much economic power and they have too much financial power over our entire economy. If Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, the old Republican trust buster, what he would say is these guys are too powerful. Break them up. I believe that's what the American people to want see. That's my view. +p3035 +aVOK. First of all... +p3036 +aVSet the record right. In 2006 when I ran for the Senate, Senator Barack Obama was kind enough to campaign for me, 2008, I did my best to see that he was elected and in 2012, I worked as hard as I could to see that he was reelected. He and I are friends. We've worked together on many issues. We have some differences of opinion. But here is the issue, Secretary touched on it, can you really reform Wall Street when they are spending millions and millions of dollars on campaign contributions and when they are providing speaker fees to individuals? So it's easy to say, well, I'm going to do this and do that, but I have doubts when people receive huge amounts of money from Wall Street. I am very proud, I do not have a super PAC. I do not want Wall Street's money. I'll rely on the middle class and working families... +p3037 +aV... campaign contributions. +p3038 +aVLet me give you an example of how corrupt \u2014 how corrupt this system is. Goldman Sachs recently fined $5 billion. Goldman Sachs has given this country two secretaries of treasury, one on the Republicans, one under Democrats. O' +p3039 +aVThe leader of Goldman Sachs is a billionaire who comes to Congress and tells us we should cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Secretary Clinton \u2014 and you're not the only one, so I don't mean to just point the finger at you, you've received over $600,000 in speaking fees from Goldman Sachs in one year. I find it very strange that a major financial institution that pays $5 billion in fines for breaking the law, not one of their executives is prosecuted, while kids who smoke marijuana get a jail sentence. +p3040 +aVIf you want to... +p3041 +aVAnyone who wants to check my record in taking on Wall Street, in fighting against the deregulation of Wall Street when Wall Street put billions of dollars in lobbying, in campaign contributions to get the government off their backs. They got the government off their backs. Turns out that they were crooks, and they destroyed our economy. I think it's time to put the government back on their backs. +p3042 +aV... Yeah... +p3043 +aV... That's true. +p3044 +aVGood. You're right. I want to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, create 13 million jobs. We do that by doing away with the absurd loophole that now allows major profitable corporations to stash their money in the Cayman Islands, and not in some years, pay a nickel in taxes. Yes, I do. I plead guilty. I want every kid in this country who has the ability to be able to go to a public college, or university, tuition free. And, by the way, I want to substantially lower student debt interest rates in this country as well. How do I pay for it? I pay for it through a tax on Wall Street speculation. This country, and the middle class, bailed out Wall Street. Now, it is Wall Street's time to help the middle class. In fact... O' +p3045 +aV... we have documented, unlike Secretary Clinton, I have documented exactly how I would pay for our ambitious agenda. O' +p3046 +aV... Here is the main two points... +p3047 +aVYeah. +p3048 +aV... I got it. +p3049 +aVWhat is correct, and I'm disappointed that Secretary Clinton's campaign has made this criticism. It's a Republican criticism. Secretary Clinton does know a lot about healthcare, and she understands, I believe, that a medicare for all, single payer program will substantially lower the cost of healthcare for middle class families. So, what we have got to acknowledge, and I hope the Secretary does, is we are doing away with private health insurance premiums. So, instead of paying $10,000 dollars to Blue Cross, or Blue Shield, yes, some middle class families would be paying slightly more in taxes, but the result would be that that middle class family would be saving some $5,000 dollars in healthcare costs. A little bit more in taxes, do away with private health insurance premiums. It's a pretty good deal. +p3050 +aVYeah. +p3051 +aVNo, it is not breaking my word. When you are \u2014 it's one thing to say I'm raising taxes, it's another thing to say that we are doing away with private health insurance premiums. So, if I save you $10,000 in private health insurance, and you pay a little bit more in taxes in total, there are huge savings in what your family is spending. O' +p3052 +aVI was mayor for eight years, I did that as well. O' +p3053 +aVI think we already are. Younger generation understands it instinctively. I was home in Burlington, Vermont, on Christmas Eve, the temperature was 65 degrees. People in Vermont know what's going on. People who did ice fishing, where their ice is no longer there on the lake understand what's going on. I'm on both the Environmental and Energy Committees. The debate is over. Climate change is real. It is already causing major problems. And if we do not act boldly and decisively, a bad situation will become worse. It is amazing to me, and I think we'll have agreement on this up here, that we have a major party, called the Republican Party that is so owned by the fossil fuel industry and their campaign contributions that they don't even have the courage, the decency to listen to the scientists. It is beyond my comprehension how we can elect a president of the United States, somebody like Trump, who believes that climate change is a hoax invented by the Chinese. Bottom line is, we need to be bold and decisive, we can create millions of jobs. We must, for the sake of our kids and grandchildren, transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energy. I've got the most comprehensive legislation in the Senate to do that. And as president, I will fight to make that happen. +p3054 +aVI think what we've got to do is move as aggressively as we can to normalize relations with Iran. Understanding that Iran's behavior in so many ways is something that we disagree with; their support terrorism, the anti-American rhetoric that we're hearing from of their leadership is something that is not acceptable. On the other hand, the fact that we've managed to reach an agreement, something that I've very strongly supported that prevents Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and we did that without going to war. And that I believe we're seeing a fall in our relationships with Iran is a very positive step. So if your question is, do I want to see that relationship become more positive in the future? Yes. Can I tell that we should open an embassy in Tehran tomorrow? No, I don't think we should. But I think the goal has go to be as we've done with Cuba, to move in warm relations with a very powerful and important country in this world. +p3055 +aVAs everybody you know, this is incredibly complicated and difficult issue and I applaud. I know President Obama's been getting a lot of criticism on this. I think he is doing the right thing. What the nightmare is, which many of my Republican colleagues appear to want is to not have learned the lesson of Iraq. To get American young men and women involved in perpetual warfare in the quagmire of Syria and the Middle East would be an unmitigated disaster that as president, I will do everything in my power to avoid. O' +p3056 +aVWe should \u2014 we should learn \u2014 we should learn from King Abdullah of Jordan, one of the few heroes in a very unheroic place. And what Abdullah said is this is a war with a soul of Islam and that Muslim troops should be on the ground with our support and the support of other major countries. That is how we destroy +p3057 +aVNo. I think the vacuum was created by the disastrous war in Iraq, which I vigorously opposed. Not only did I vote against it, I helped lead the opposition. And what happened there is yes, it's easy to get rid of a two-bit dictator like Saddam Hussein, but there wasn't the kind of thought as to what happens the day after you get him and what kind of political vacuum occurs. And who rises up? Groups like +p3058 +aVLet me just... +p3059 +aVOK. Let me suggest... +p3060 +aVWhere Secretary Clinton and I think, I agree with most of what she said. But where I think we do have an honest disagreement, is that in the incredible quagmire of Syria, where it's hard to know who's fighting who and if you give arms to this guy, it may end up in +p3061 +aVOK. I just wanted to add, in the previous question, I voted against the USA Patriot Act for many of the reasons that Governor O'Malley mentioned. But it is not only the government that we have to worry about, it is private corporations. You would all be amazed, or maybe not, about the amount of information private companies and the government has in terms of the Web sites that you access, the products that you buy, where you are this very moment. And it is very clear to me that public policy has not caught up with the explosion of technology. So yes, we have to work with Silicon Valley to make sure that we do not allow +p3062 +aVRight. What we have got to do there is, among other things, as I was just saying, have Silicon Valley help us to make sure that information being transmitted through the Internet or in other ways by +p3063 +aVCan I get 50 seconds? +p3064 +aVCan I get a \u2014 can I just get a very brief response? Very brief. +p3065 +aVOK. One \u2014 and I agree with what the secretary said, and what Governor O'Malley said. But here's an issue that we also should talk about. We have a $600 billion military budget. It is a budget larger than the next eight countries'. Unfortunately, much of that budget continues to fight the old Cold War with the Soviet Union. Very little of that budget \u2014 less than 10 percent \u2014 actually goes into fighting +p3066 +aVGreat ideas, Governor O'Malley, Secretary Clinton, but here's the truth. If you have an administration stacked with Wall Street appointees, it ain't going to accomplish very much. So here's a promise that I make \u2014 and I mentioned a moment ago how corrupt the system is \u2014 Goldman Sachs, paying a $5 billion fine, gives this country, in recent history, a Republican secretary of treasury, a Democratic secretary of treasury. Here's a promise. If elected president, Goldman Sachs is not going to have \u2014 bring forth a secretary of treasury for a Sanders administration. +p3067 +aVI was asked a question. You know, one of the things, Andrea, and I \u2014 that question annoys me. I cannot walk down the street \u2014 Secretary Clinton knows this \u2014 without being told how much I have to attack secretary Clinton, want to get me on the front pages of the paper, I'd make some vicious attack. I have avoided doing that. Trying to run an issue-oriented campaign. +p3068 +aVI was asked a question. +p3069 +aVWell \u2014 then if I don't answer it, then there's another front page, so it's yes. And I mean this seriously. You know that. We've been through this. Yes, his behavior was deplorable. Have I ever once said a word about that issue? No, I have not. I'm going to debate Secretary Clinton, Governor O'Malley, on the issues facing the American people, not Bill Clinton's personal behavior. +p3070 +aVWell, Secretary Clinton was right and what I did which I think is also right, is demanded the resignation of governor. A man who acts that irresponsibly should not stay in power. Now, we are a great nation \u2014 and we've heard a lot of great ideas here tonight. Let's be honest and let's be truthful. Very little is going to be done to transform our economy and to create the kind of middle class we need unless we end a corrupt campaign finance system which is undermining American democracy. We've got to get rid of Super PACs, we've got to get rid of Citizens' United and what we've got to do is create a political revolution which revitalizes American democracy; which brings millions of young people and working people into the political process. To say loudly and clearly," that the government of the United States of America belongs to all of us and not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors." +p3071 +asVBARTIROMO +p3072 +(lp3073 +VTonight we're partnering with the Wall Street Journal to ask questions on the economy that voters want answered. We're also working with Facebook, who tells us that since the first Republican debate, more than 58 million people have joined the political conversation online. More than 9 million are talking specifically about the economy. +p3074 +aVBusinesswoman Carly Fiorina. Ohio Governor John Kasich. And Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. +p3075 +aVWe've asked people on Facebook to submit their questions for the candidates. Seth Bell wrote, "We are approaching $20 trillion in national debt. Specifically, what plans do you have to cut federal spending?" Governor Kasich, you have spoken much about your success in balancing the budget under President Clinton. Today the national debt is at record highs and growing unsustainably. Interest will be the fastest-growing part of the federal budget, tripling over the next 10 years. Social Security, the lifeline of millions of American seniors, is rushing toward insolvency. With all of the tax plans presented tonight, estimated to cost anywhere between $2 trillion and $12 trillion over a decade, what specific steps will you take to balance the budget? +p3076 +aVDid you want to name any specific steps, sir? +p3077 +aVThank you, sir. +p3078 +aVSenator Cruz, the International Monetary Fund recently cut its expectations for economic growth. Many economists expect a recession to hit the U.S. within the next year due to the weakening of manufacturing. The next president will have to deal with it. You say tax reform is a powerful lever to spur economic expansion. You're calling for a 10 percent income tax and a 16 percent business tax. What other elements do you need in this plan to actually create jobs? +p3079 +aVThank you, sir. +p3080 +aVGovernor Bush... +p3081 +aVWe have more questions for you, Governor Kasich, coming up. We have more questions for you, Governor Kasich. +p3082 +aVWe will \u2014 we will certainly get to that. Governor Bush? +p3083 +aVAlmost 40 percent of Americans are without a job and are not looking. Many have given up. That's what the participation rate tells us. You've said your policies will drive the economy back to 4 percent growth, which we haven't seen since the year 2000. What specific regulations would you change? And how will that lead to jobs and growth? +p3084 +aVThank you, sir. +p3085 +aVMr. Trump, a federal appeals court just dealt a blow to the Obama administration's plan to prevent the deportation of 5 million people living in this country illegally. The White House is appealing to the Supreme Court. At the heart of this issue is the effect that illegal immigrants are having on our economy, what will you do about it? +p3086 +aVCan we just send 5 million people back with no effect on economy? +p3087 +aVSo what will you do? +p3088 +aVThank you, sir. +p3089 +aVWe go back to Facebook. Dewayne Wesley Cato asks on Facebook, how do we get rid of regulations choking our businesses? Ms. Fiorina? Specifically, under the president's Affordable Care Act, employers with 50 or more employees are required to offer health insurance, or be fined. Many are opting to pay the fine. Others are cutting back employee hours to duck the law altogether. What specific ways will you alleviate the pressure on small business? +p3090 +aVJust to be clear, you want to repeal Obamacare... ..but, what's the alternative? +p3091 +aVJust to be clear, you say you would repeal Obamacare... +p3092 +aV...But, what is the alternative... +p3093 +aV...and how does that help small business... +p3094 +aV...Thank you... +p3095 +aVSenator Cruz, there isn't anyone in this audience or watching at home tonight who would not like to pay less in taxes. Most people just want a fair shake, and they don't want their money to be wasted. But explain how your plan works. How can you cut taxes as much as you propose without running up debt and deficits? +p3096 +aVBut you haven't told us how to pay for it. +p3097 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Bush, Republican primary voters say tax reform should be a priority for Congress and the administration. But, Governor Bush, how important is tax reform in your domestic policy agenda? Will you guarantee it in the first year of your presidency? +p3098 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3099 +aVThat's right. That's right. +p3100 +aVComing up, the biggest threats facing the next commander-in-chief. You're watching the Republican presidential debate, live tonight from Milwaukee. We'll be right back. +p3101 +aVWelcome back. Welcome back to the Republican presidential debate. The candidates taking the questions you want answered. Also tonight, you can see what America is saying about the debate. Go to Facebook and type #gopdebate into the search box. Now, back to the questions. Americans face security threats at home and abroad. Last year, terrorist attacks rose 61 percent, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace, with the most deaths occurring in just five countries, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Syria. Dr. Carson, you were against putting troops on the ground in Iraq and against a large military force in Afghanistan. Do you support the president's decision to now put 50 special ops forces in Syria and leave 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan? +p3102 +aVWe asked Facebook to take a look at some of the major issues we're talking about, and tackling in this debate tonight. This word cloud shows what people are focusing on the most. The bigger the word, the more the talk. One of the most discussed issues in the last month, homeland security. Governor Bush, what is the biggest threat facing America today? +p3103 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, in 2012 debate, President Obama mocked Mitt Romney's assertion that Russia was the top geopolitical challenge facing the United States, saying he was a Cold War dinosaur. Now, Russia has invaded Ukraine, and has put troops in Syria. You have said you will have a good relationship with Mr. Putin. So, what does President Trump do in response to Russia's aggression? +p3104 +aVThank you, sir. +p3105 +aVThank you, governor. +p3106 +aVSenator Rubio. +p3107 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. +p3108 +aVMore questions \u2014 more questions coming up, when the Republican presidential debate comes right back, live from Milwaukee. Stay with us. +p3109 +aVWelcome back to the fourth Republican presidential debate. Senator Rubio, Hillary Clinton is the clear front runner for the Democratic nomination. If she is indeed the nominee, you will be facing a candidate with an impressive resume. She was the first lady of the United States, a U.S. senator from New York, and secretary of state under Barack Obama. She has arguably more experience, certainly more time in government than almost all of you on stage tonight. Why should the American people trust you to lead this country, even though she has been so much closer to the office? +p3110 +aVSenator Paul, you were one of 15 republicans to vote for an amendment which states that human activity contributed to climate change. President Obama has announced an aggressive plan to cut carbon emissions. At the same time, energy production in America has boomed. Is it possible to continue this boom, and move toward energy self-sufficiency, while at the same time pursuing a meaningful climate change program? +p3111 +aVCarly Fiorina? +p3112 +aVFormer Governor Jeb Bush? +p3113 +aVSenator Ted Cruz? +p3114 +aVHe's funny. +p3115 +aVThank you. +p3116 +asVCLINTON +p3117 +(lp3118 +VThank you. +p3119 +aVI'm running for president to knock down all the barriers that are holding Americans back, and to rebuild the ladders of opportunity that will give every American a chance to advance, especially those who have been left out and left behind. I know a lot of Americans are angry about the economy. And for good cause. Americans haven't had a raise in 15 years. There aren't enough good-paying jobs, especially for young people. And yes, the economy is rigged in favor of those at the top. We both agree that we have to get unaccountable money out of our political system and that we have to do much more to ensure that Wall Street never wrecks main street again. But I want to go further. I want to tackle those barriers that stand in the way of too many Americans right now. African-Americans who face discrimination in the job market, education, housing, and the criminal justice system. Hardworking immigrant families living in fear, who should be brought out of the shadows so they and their children can have a better future. Guaranteeing that women's work finally gets the pay, the equal pay that we deserve. I think America can only live up to its potential when we make sure that every American has a chance to live up to his or her potential. That will be my mission as president. And I think together we will make progress. +p3120 +aVJudy, I think that the best analysis that I've seen based on Senator Sanders plans is that it would probably increase the size of the federal government by about 40%, but what is most concerning to me is that in looking at the plans \u2014 let's take healthcare for example. Last week in a CNN town hall, the Senator told a questioner that the questioner would spend about $500 dollars in taxes to get about $5,000 dollars in healthcare. Every progressive economist who has analyzed that says that the numbers don't add up, and that's a promise that cannot be kept, and it's really important now that we are getting into the rest of the country that both of us are held to account for explaining what we are proposing because, especially with healthcare, this is not about math. This is about people's lives, and we should level with the American people about what we can do to make sure they get quality affordable healthcare. +p3121 +aVI can only say that we both share the goal of universal health care coverage. You know, before it was called Obamacare, it was called Hillarycare. And I took on the drug companies and I took on the insurance companies to try to get us universal health care coverage. And why I am a staunch supporter of President Obama's principal accomplishment \u2014 namely the Affordable Care Act \u2014 is because I know how hard it was to get that done. We are at 90 percent coverage. We have to get the remaining 10. I've set forth very specific plans about how to get costs down, especially prescription drug costs. And it is difficult to in any way argue with the goal that we both share. But I think the American people deserve to know specifically how this would work. If it's Medicare for all, then you no longer have the Affordable Care Act, because the Affordable Care Act, as you know very well, is based on the insurance system, based on exchanges, based on a subsidy system. The Children's Health Insurance Program, which I helped to create, which covers 8 million kids, is also a different kind of program. So if you're having Medicare for all, single-payer, you need to level with people about what they will have at the end of the process you are proposing. And based on every analysis that I can find by people who are sympathetic to the goal, the numbers don't add up, and many people will actually be worse off than they are right now. +p3122 +aVWell, let me just \u2014 let me just say, once again......that, having been in the trenches fighting for this, I believe strongly we have to guarantee health care. I believe we are on the path to doing that. The last thing we need is to throw our country into a contentious debate about health care again. And we are not England. We are not France. We inherited a system that was set up during World War II; 170 million Americans get health insurance right now through their employers. So what we have tried to do and what President Obama succeeded in doing was to build on the health care system we have, get us to 90 percent coverage. We have to get the other 10 percent of the way to 100. I far prefer that and the chances we have to be successful there than trying to start all over again, gridlocking our system, and trying to get from zero to 100 percent. +p3123 +aVNo. But it is absolutely fair and necessary for Americans to vet both of our proposals, to ask the really hard questions about, what is it we think we can accomplish, why do we believe that, and what would be the results for the average American family? In my case, whether it's health care, or getting us to debt-free tuition, or moving us toward paid family leave, I have been very specific about where I would raise the money, how much it would cost, and how I would move this agenda forward. I've tried to be as specific to answer questions so that my proposals can be vetted, because I feel like we have to level with people for the very reason, Gwen, that you are mentioning. There is a great deal of skepticism about the federal government. I'm aware of that. It comes from the right, from the left, from people on all sides of the political spectrum. So we have a special obligation to make clear what we stand for, which is why I think we should not make promises we can't keep, because that will further, I think, alienate Americans from understanding and believing we can together make some real changes in people's lives. +p3124 +aVI will put a price tag. My price tag is about $100 billion a year. And again, paid for. And what I have said is I will not throw us further into debt. I believe I can get the money that I need by taxing the wealthy, by closing loopholes, the things that we are way overdue for doing. And I think once I'm in the White House we will have enough political capital to be able to do that. But I am conscious of the fact that we have to also be very clear, especially with young people, about what kind of government is going to do what for them and what it will cost. +p3125 +aVYou know, I think, again, both of us share the goal of trying to make college affordable for all young Americans. And I have set forth a compact that would do just that for debt-free tuition. We differ, however, on a couple of key points. One of them being that if you don't have some agreement within the system from states and from families and from students, it's hard to get to where we need to go. And Senator Sanders's plan really rests on making sure that governors like Scott Walker contribute $23 billion on the first day to make college free. I am a little skeptical about your governor actually caring enough about higher education to make any kind of commitment like that. +p3126 +aVWell, first, Judy, I have spent my entire adult life working toward making sure that women are empowered to make their own choices, even if that choice is not to vote for me. I believe that it's most important that we unleash the full potential of women and girls in our society. And I feel very strongly that I have an agenda, I have a record that really does respond to a lot of the specific needs that the women in our country face. So I'm going to keep making that case. I'm going to keep making sure that everything I've done, everything that I stand for is going to be well known. But I have no argument with anyone making up her mind about who to support. I just hope that by the end of this campaign there will be a lot more supporting me. That's what I'm working towards. +p3127 +aVWell, look, I think that she's been saying that for as long as I've known her, which is about 25 years. But it doesn't change my view that we need to empower everyone, women and men, to make the best decisions in their minds that they can make. That's what I've always stood for. And when it comes to the issues that are really on the front lines as to whether we're going to have equal pay, paid family leave, some opportunity for, you know, women to go as far as their hard work and talent take them, I think that we still have some barriers to knock down, which is why that's at the core of my campaign. I would note, just for a historic aside, somebody told me earlier today we've had like 200 presidential primary debates, and this is the first time there have been a majority of women on the stage. So, you know, we'll take our progress wherever we can find it. +p3128 +aVYou know, I have said \u2014 I have said many times, you know, I'm not asking people to support me because I'm a woman. I'm asking people to support me because I think I'm the most qualified, experienced, and ready person to be the president and the commander-in-chief. And I appreciate greatly Senator Sanders' voting record. And I was very proud to get the endorsement of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, because I've been a leader on these issues. I have gone time and time again to take on the vested interests who would keep women's health care decisions the province of the government instead of women ourselves. I'm very proud that +p3129 +aVYou know, I completely agree with Senator Sanders. The first speech I gave in this campaign back in April was about criminal justice reform and ending the era of mass incarceration. The statistics from Wisconsin are particularly troubling, because it is the highest rate of incarceration for African-Americans in our nation, twice the national average. And we know of the tragic, terrible event that lead to the death of Dontre Hamilton right here in Milwaukee, a young man unarmed, who should still be with us. His family certainly believes that. And so do I. So we have work to do. There have been some good recommendations about what needs to happen. President Obama's policing commission came out with some. I have fully endorsed those. But we have to restore policing that will actually protect the communities that police officers are sworn to protect. And, then we have to go after sentencing, and that's one of the problems here in Wisconsin because so much of what happened in the criminal justice system doesn't happen at the federal level, it happens at the state and local level. But, I would also add this. There are other racial discrepancies. Really systemic racism in this state, as in others, education, in employment, in the kinds of factors that too often lead from a position where young people, particularly young men, are pushed out of school early, are denied employment opportunities. So, when we talk about criminal justice reform, and ending the era of mass incarceration, we also have to talk about jobs, education, housing, and other ways of helping communities. +p3130 +aVWell, I'm just not sure I agree completely with that assessment. I think under President Obama we have seen a lot of advances, the Affordable Care Act has helped more African Americans than any other group to get insurance, to be taken care of, but we also know a lot more than we did. We have a lot more social media, we have everybody with a cellphone. So, we are seeing the dark side of the remaining systemic racism that we have to root out in our society. I think President Obama has set a great example. I think he has addressed a lot of these issues that have been quite difficult, but he has gone forward. Now, what we have to do is to build on an honest conversation about where we go next. We now have much more information about what must be done to fix our criminal justice system. We now have some good models about how better to provide employment, housing and education. I think what President Obama did was to exemplify the importance of this issue as our first African American president, and to address it both from the President's office, and through his advocacy, such as working with young men, and Mrs. Obama's work with young women. But, we can't rest. We have work to do, and we now know a lot more than we ever did before. So, it's going to be my responsibility to make sure we move forward to solve these problems that are now out in the open. Nobody can deny them. To use the Justice Department, as we just saw, they have said they are going to sue Ferguson, that entered into a consent agreement, and then tried to back out. So, we're going to enforce the law, we're going to change policing practices, we're going to change incarceration practices, but we're also going to emphasize education, jobs, and housing. +p3131 +aVLook, I am deeply concerned about what's happening in every community in America, and that includes white communities, where we are seeing an increase in alcoholism, addiction, earlier deaths. People with a high school education or less are not even living as long as their parents lived. This is a remarkable and horrifying fact. And that's why I've come forward with, for example, a plan to revitalize coal country, the coalfield communities that have been so hard hit by the changing economy, by the reduction in the use of coal. You know, coal miners and their families who helped turn on the lights and power our factories for generations are now wondering, has our country forgotten us? Do people not care about all of our sacrifice? And I'm going to do everything I can to address distressed communities, whether they are communities of color, whether they are white communities, whether they are in any part of our country. I particularly appreciate the proposal that Congressman Jim Clyburn has \u2014 the 10-20-30 proposal \u2014 to try to spend more federal dollars in communities with persistent generational poverty. And you know what? If you look at the numbers, there are actually as many, if not more white communities that are truly being left behind and left out. So, yes, I do think it would be a terrible oversight not to try to address the very real problems that white Americans \u2014 particularly those without a lot of education whose jobs have \u2014 you know, no longer provided them or even no longer present in their communities, because we have to focus where the real hurt is. And that's why, as president, I will look at communities that need special help and try to deliver that. +p3132 +aVI strongly support the president's executive actions. I hope the Supreme Court upholds them. I think there is constitutional and legal authority for the president to have done what he did. I am against the raids. I'm against the kind of inhumane treatment that is now being visited upon families, waking them up in the middle of the night, rounding them up. We should be deporting criminals, not hardworking immigrant families who do the very best they can and often are keeping economies going in many places in our country. I'm a strong supporter of comprehensive immigration reform. Have been ever since I was in the Senate. I was one of the original sponsors of the +p3133 +aVTwo quick responses. One, with respect to the Central American children, I made it very clear that those children needed to be processed appropriately, but we also had to send a message to families and communities in Central America not to send their children on this dangerous journey in the hands of smugglers. I've also called for the end of family detention, for the end of privately-run detention centers, along with private prisons, which I think are really against the common good and the rule of law. And with respect to the 2007 bill, this was Ted Kennedy's bill. And I think Ted Kennedy had a very clear idea about what needed to be done. And I was proud to stand with him and support it. +p3134 +aVWell, that just wasn't \u2014 that just wasn't the fact, Senator. The fact is that there was a great effort made by the Obama administration and others to really send a clear message, because we knew that so many of these children were being abused, being treated terribly while they tried to get to our border. So we have a disagreement on this. I think now what I've called for is counsel for every child so that no child has to face any kind of process without someone who speaks and advocates for that child so that the right decision hopefully can be made. +p3135 +aVI think \u2014 I think it's fair to say we don't have a disagreement. We both believe there has to be more money going into the Social Security system. I've said I'm looking at a couple of different ways, one which you mentioned, Senator, but also trying to expand the existing tax to passive income that wealthy people have so that we do get more revenue into the Social Security Trust Fund. I have a slightly different approach, though, about what we should do with that initially. First, rather than expand benefits for everyone, I do want to take care of low-income seniors who worked at low-wage jobs. I want to take care of women. When the Social Security program was started in the 1930s, not very many women worked. And women have been disadvantaged ever since. They do not get any credit for their care-taking responsibilities. And the people who are often the most hard-hit are widows, because when their spouse dies, they can lose up to one-half of their Social Security monthly payment. So we have no disagreement about the need to buttress Social Security, get more revenue into the program. But I want to start by helping those people who are most at risk, the ones who, yes, are cutting their pills in half, who don't believe they can make the rent, who are worried about what comes next for them. +p3136 +aVWell, Senator, look, I think we're in vigorous agreement here. We both want to get more revenue in. I have yet to see a proposal that you're describing that the \u2014 raising the cap would apply to passive income. That has not been... +p3137 +aVWell, that has not been a part of most of the proposals that I've seen. I'm interested in making sure we get the maximum amount of revenue from those who can well afford to provide it. So I'm going to come up with the best way forward. We're going to end up in the same place. We're going to get more revenue. I'm going to prioritize those recipients who need the most help first. +p3138 +aVI can't speak for the Koch Brothers, you're referring to a Super PAC that we don't coordinate with, that was set up to support President Obama, that has now decided that they want to support me. They are the ones who should respond to any questions. Let's talk about our campaigns. I'm very proud of the fact that we have more than 750 thousand donors, and the vast majority of them are giving small contributions. So, I'm proud of Senator Sanders, and his supporters. I think it's great that Senator Sanders, President Obama and I have more donors than any three people who have every run, certainly on the Democratic side. That's the way it should be, and I'm going to continue to reach out to thank all my online contributors for everything they are doing for me, to encourage them and help me do more just as Senator Sanders is. I think that is the real key here. We both have a lot of small donors. I think that sets us apart from a lot of what's happening right now on the Republican side. The Koch Brothers have a very clear political agenda. It is an agenda, in my view, that would do great harm to our country. We're going to fight it as hard as we can, and we're going to fight whoever the Republicans nominate who will depend on the Koch Brothers, and others. +p3139 +aVWe are mixing apples and oranges. My 750,000 donors have contributed more than a million and a half donations. I'm very proud. That, I think, between the two of us demonstrates the strength of the support we have among people who want to see change in our country. But, the real issue, I think, that the Senator is injecting into this is that if you had a Super PAC, like President Obama has, which now says it wants to support me. It's not my PAC. If you take donations from Wall Street, you can't be independent. I would just say, I debated then Senator Obama numerous times on stages like this, and he was the recipient of the largest number of Wall Street donations of anybody running on the Democratic side ever. Now, when it mattered, he stood up and took on Wall Street. He pushed through, and he passed the Dodd-Frank regulation, the toughest regulations since the 1930's. So, let's not in anyway imply here that either President Obama or myself, would in anyway not take on any vested interested, whether it's Wall Street, or drug companies, or insurance companies, or frankly, the gun lobby to stand up to do what's best for the American people. +p3140 +aVWell, let's just \u2014 let's just follow up on this, because, you know, I've made it very clear that no bank is too big to fail, no executive too powerful to jail, and because of Dodd-Frank, we now have in law a process that the president, the Federal Reserve, and others can use if any bank poses a systemic risk. I think that's a major accomplishment. I agree, however, it doesn't go far enough, because what it focuses on are the big banks, which Senator Sanders has talked about a lot, for good reason. I go further in the plan that I've proposed, which has been called the toughest, most effective, comprehensive plan for reining in the other risks that the financial system could face. It was an investment bank, Lehman Brothers, that contributed to our collapse. It was a big insurance company, AIG. It was Countrywide Mortgage. My plan would sweep all of them into a regulatory framework so we can try to get ahead of what the next problems might be. And I believe that not only Barney Frank, Paul Krugman, and others, have said that what I have proposed is the most effective. It goes in the right direction. We have Dodd-Frank. We can use it to break up the banks, if that's appropriate. But let's not kid ourselves. As we speak, there are new problems on the horizon. I want to get ahead of those, and that's why I've proposed a much more comprehensive approach to deal with all of these... +p3141 +aVAbsolutely. And, you know, there are a number of programs that I think are duplicative and redundant and not producing the results that people deserve. There are a lot of training programs and education programs that I think can be streamlined and put into a much better format so that if we do continue them they can be more useful, in public schools, community colleges, and colleges and universities. I would like to take a hard look at every part of the federal government and really do the kind of analysis that would rebuild some confidence in people that we're taking a hard look about what we have, you know, and what we don't need anymore. And that's what I intend to do. +p3142 +aVLook, I think we are readier than we used to be, but it's a constant effort that has to be undertaken to make sure we are as ready as we need to be. We have made a lot of improvements in our domestic security since 9/11, and we have been able to foil and prevent attacks, yet we see the terrible attack in San Bernardino and know that we haven't done enough. So we have to go after this both abroad and at home. We have to go after terrorist networks, predominantly +p3143 +aVIf I could just respond. Two points. One, Senator Sanders voted in 1998 on what I think is fair to call a regime change resolution with respect to Iraq, calling for the end of Saddam Hussein's regime. He voted in favor of regime change with Libya, voted in favor of the Security Council being an active participate in setting the parameters for what we would do, which of course we followed through on. I do not believe a vote in 2002 is a plan to defeat +p3144 +aVYou did support a U.N. Security Council approach, which we did follow up on. And, look, I think it's important to look at what the most important counterterrorism judgment of the first four years of the Obama administration was, and that was the very difficult decision as to whether or not to advise the president to go after bin Laden. I looked at the evidence. I looked at the intelligence. I got the briefings. I recommended that the president go forward. It was a hard choice. Not all of his top national security advisors agreed with that. And at the end of the day, it was the president's decision. So he had to leave the Situation Room after hearing from the small group advising him and he had to make that decision. I'm proud that I gave him that advice. And I'm very grateful to the brave Navy +p3145 +aVWell, I know journalists have asked who you do listen to on foreign policy, and we have yet to know who that is. +p3146 +aVThat's fine. That's fine. You know, I listen to a wide variety of voices that have expertise in various areas. I think it is fair to say, whatever the complaints that you want to make about him are, that with respect to China, one of the most challenging relationships we have, his opening up China and his ongoing relationships with the leaders of China is an incredibly useful relationship for the United States of America. So if we want to pick and choose \u2014 and I certainly do \u2014 people I listen to, people I don't listen to, people I listen to for certain areas, then I think we have to be fair and look at the entire world, because it's a big, complicated world out there. +p3147 +aVAnd, yes, people we may disagree with on a number of things may have some insight, may have some relationships that are important for the president to understand in order to best protect the United States. +p3148 +aVWell, with respect to Syria, I really do appreciate the efforts that Secretary Kerry has made. The agreement on humanitarian relief now needs to be implemented, because there are enclaves that are literally filled with starving people throughout Syria. The agreement on a cease-fire, though, is something that has to be implemented more quickly than the schedule that the Russians agreed to. You know, the Russians wanted to buy time. Are they buying time to continue their bombardment on behalf of the Assad regime to further decimate what's left of the opposition, which would be a grave disservice to any kind of eventual cease-fire? So I know Secretary Kerry is working extremely hard to try to move that cease-fire up as quickly as possible. But I would add this. You know, the Security Council finally got around to adopting a resolution. At the core of that resolution is an agreement I negotiated in June of 2012 in Geneva, which set forth a cease-fire and moving toward a political resolution, trying to bring the parties at stake in Syria together. This is incredibly complicated, because we've got Iran as a big player, in addition to Russia. We have Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and others who have very important interests in their view. This is one of the areas I've disagreed with Senator Sanders on, who has called for Iranian troops trying to end civil war in Syria, which I think would be a grave mistake. Putting Iranian troops right on the border of the Golan right next to Israel would be a nonstarter for me. Trying to get Iran and Saudi Arabia to work together, as he has suggested in the past, is equally a nonstarter. So let's support what Secretary Kerry and the president are doing, but let's hope that we can accelerate the cease-fire, because I fear that the Russians will continue their bombing, try to do everything they can to destroy what's left of the opposition. And remember, the Russians have not gone after +p3149 +aVWell, I respectfully disagree. I think we have achieved a great deal with the Iranian nuclear agreement to put a lid on the Iranian nuclear weapons program. That has to be enforced absolutely with consequences for Iran at the slightest deviation from their requirements under the agreement. I do not think we should promise or even look toward normalizing relations because we have a lot of other business to get done with Iran. Yes, they have to stop being the main state sponsor of terrorism. Yes, they have to stop trying to destabilize the Middle East, causing even more chaos. Yes, they've got to get out of Syria. They've got to quit sponsoring Hezbollah and Hamas. They have got to quit trying to ship rockets into Gaza that can be used against Israel. We have a lot of work to do with Iran before we ever say that they could move toward normalized relations with us. +p3150 +aV... Senator Sanders, from a debate in 2008, quote what I said. The question was, would you meet with an adversary without conditions? I said no. And in fact, in Obama administration, we did not meet with anybody without conditions. That is the appropriate approach in order to get the results that you are seeking. +p3151 +aVWell, I was pleased that +p3152 +aVI certainly agree with FDR for all the reasons Senator Sanders said. And I agree about the role that he played both in war and in peace on the economy and defeating fascism around the world. I would choose Nelson Mandela for his generosity of heart, his understanding of the need for reconciliation. But I want to \u2014 I want to follow up on something having to do with leadership, because, you know, today Senator Sanders said that President Obama failed the presidential leadership test. And this is not the first time that he has criticized President Obama. In the past he has called him weak. He has called him a disappointment. He wrote a forward for a book that basically argued voters should have buyers' remorse when it comes to President Obama's leadership and legacy. And I just couldn't agree \u2014 disagree more with those kinds of comments. You know, from my perspective, maybe because I understand what President Obama inherited, not only the worst financial crisis but the antipathy of the Republicans in Congress, I don't think he gets the credit he deserves for being a president......who got us out of that......put us on firm ground, and has sent us into the future. And it is a \u2014 the kind of criticism that we've heard from Senator Sanders about our president I expect from Republicans. I do not expect from someone running for the Democratic nomination to succeed President Obama. +p3153 +aVYou know, Senator, what I am concerned about, is not disagreement on issues, saying that this is what I would rather do, I don't agree with the president on that, calling the president weak, calling him a disappointment, calling several times that he should have a primary opponent when he ran for re-election in 2012, you know, I think that goes further than saying we have our disagreements. As a senator, yes, I was a senator. I understand we can disagree on the path forward. But those kinds of personal assessments and charges are ones that I find particularly troubling. +p3154 +aVYou know, we \u2014 we agree that we've got to get unaccountable money out of politics. We agree that Wall Street should never be allowed to wreck Main Street again. But here's the point I want to make tonight. I am not a single-issue candidate, and I do not believe we live in a single-issue country. I think that a lot of what we have to overcome to break down the barriers that are holding people back, whether it's poison in the water of the children of Flint, or whether it's the poor miners who are being left out and left behind in coal country, or whether it is any other American today who feels somehow put down and oppressed by racism, by sexism, by discrimination against the +p3155 +aVWell, I'm happy to be here in New Hampshire for this debate, as we move toward the primary on Tuesday. I believe that America has the opportunity to once again live by our values, live up to our values in the 21st century, but I think that America can only do that if Americans can succeed. And there are lots of reasons why Americans today are feeling left out and left behind. Yes, of course, the economy has not been working for most Americans. Yes, of course, we have special interests that are unfortunately doing too much to rig the game. But there's also the continuing challenges of racism, of sexism, of discrimination against the +p3156 +aVWell, let me start by saying that Senator Sanders and I share some very big progressive goals. I've been fighting for universal healthcare for many years, and we're now on the path to achieving it. I don't want us to start over again. I think that would be a great mistake, to once again plunge our country into a contentious debate about whether we should have and what kind of system we should have for healthcare. I want to build on the progress we've made; got from 90 percent coverage to 100 percent coverage. And I don't want to rip away the security that people finally have; 18 million people now have healthcare; preexisting conditions are no longer a bar. So we have a difference. I also believe in affordable college, but I don't believe in free college, because every expert that I have talked to says, look, how will you ever control the costs. What I want to do is make sure middle class kids, not Donald Trump's kids, get to be able to afford college. I want to get the economy going again. It's not just enough about what we're against, as important as that is. I have a plan to create new jobs, manufacturing, infrastructure, clean energy jobs that will make us the 21st century clean energy super power. I also want to make sure small businesses can start and grow again. And of course, I believe in raising the minimum wage and equal pay for work. But the numbers just don't add up, from what Senator Sanders has been proposing. That's why all of the independent experts, all of the editorial boards that have vetted both of us have concluded that it is just not achievable. Let's go down a path where we can actually tell people what we will do. A progressive is someone who makes progress. That's what I intend to do. +p3157 +aVIf I could just follow up on that. There is no disagreement between us on universal coverage for health care, the disagreement is where do we start from and where do we end up. The Republicans want to repeal the Affordable Care Act, I want to improve it. I want to build on it, get the costs down, get prescription drug costs down. Senator Sanders wants us to start all over again. This was a major achievement of President Obama, of our country. It is helping people right now. I am not going to wait and have us plunge back into a contentious national debate that has very little chance of succeeding. Let's make the Affordable Care Act work for everybody. +p3158 +aVWell because I am a progressive who gets things done. And the root of that word, progressive, is progress. But I've heard Senator Sanders comments, and it's really caused me to wonder who's left in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Under his definition, President Obama is not progressive because he took donations from Wall Street; Vice President Biden is not progressive because she supported Keystone; Senator Shaheen is not progressive because she supports the trade pact. Even the late, great Senator Paul Wellstone would not fit this definition because he voted for +p3159 +aVWell, Chuck... +p3160 +aV... If I could, you know, in the very first debate I was asked am I a moderate or a progressive and I said I'm a progressive who likes to get things done. Cherry picking a quote here or there doesn't change my record of having fought for racial justice, having fought for kids rights, having fought the kind of inequities that fueled my interest in service in the first place going back to my days in the Children's Defense Fund. It certainly didn't stop me from taking on the drug companies and the insurance companies. Before it was called Hillarycare\u2014I mean, before it was called ObamaCare it was called Hillarycare because we took them on, and we weren't successful, but we kept fighting and we got the children's health insurance program. Every step along the way I have stood up, and fought, and have the scars to prove it. So, again......I think it's important that, look, I understand Senator Sanders really trying to distinguish himself. I understand that, that's what you do in campaigns, but at the same time let's not be\u2014in, I think an unfair way, making an accusation, or making an attack about where I stand and about where I've always stood. It is fair to say, Senator, that in your definition, as you being the self-proclaimed gatekeeper for progressivism, I don't know anyone else who fits that definition, but I know a lot of really hard fighting progressives in the Democratic party who have stood up time, and time again against special interests, against the powerful on behalf of those who are left behind and left out. And, that's what we ought to be celebrating. Let's talk about what we would do as President, and Commander in Chief to make sure the progress continues into the future. +p3161 +aV... Well, you began it yesterday with your comments... +p3162 +aVYou know, the person who first put out the idea of a 50-state party strategy is former Governor Howard Dean, who is with us tonight. And I'm very proud and grateful to have the support of so many elected Vermonters and former officials. Two former governors, the current governor, the current other senator. I really appreciate that. And I think it's because they've worked with me, they've seen what I do. They know what kind of a colleague I am. They want me as their partner in the White House. And that's exactly what I will do. We'll get things done together. Democrats, Republicans, independents, we're going to make progress together when I'm president. +p3163 +aVWell, look, I've got to just jump in here because, honestly, Senator Sanders is the only person who I think would characterize me, a woman running to be the first woman president, as exemplifying the establishment. And I've got to tell you that it is......it is really quite amusing to me. People support me because they know me. They know my life's work. They have worked with me and many have also worked with Senator Sanders. And at the end of the day they endorse me because they know I can get things done. I am not going to make promises I can't keep. I am not going to talk about big ideas like single-payer and then not level with people about how much it will cost. A respected health economist said that these plans would cost a trillion dollars more a year. I'm not going to tell people that I will raise your incomes and not your taxes, and not mean it, because I don't want to see the kind of struggle that the middle class is going through exemplified by these promises that would raise taxes and make it much more difficult for many, many Americans to get ahead and stay ahead. That is not my agenda. +p3164 +aVYeah, but I\u2014I think it's fair to really ask what's behind that comment. You know, Senator Sanders has said he wants to run a positive campaign. I've tried to keep my disagreements over issues, as it should be. But time and time again, by innuendo, by insinuation, there is this attack that he is putting forth, which really comes down to\u2014you know, anybody who ever took donations or speaking fees from any interest group has to be bought. And I just absolutely reject that, Senator. And I really don't think these kinds of attacks by insinuation are worthy of you. And enough is enough. If you've got something to say, say it directly. But you will not find that I ever changed a view or a vote because of any donation that I ever received. +p3165 +aVAnd I have stood up and I have represented my constituents to the best of my abilities, and I'm very proud of that. +p3166 +aVSo I think it's time to end the very artful smear that you and your campaign have been carrying out... +p3167 +aV... in recent weeks, and let's talk......let's talk about about the issues. Let's talk about the issues that divide us. +p3168 +aVAnd let's\u2014let's... +p3169 +aV... we both agree with campaign finance reform. +p3170 +aVI\u2014I worked hard for McCain-Feingold. +p3171 +aVI want to reverse Citizens United. +p3172 +aVAnd so\u2014let's talk about issues. +p3173 +aVWell, you know, Senator, I don't think\u2014I don't... +p3174 +aV... I don't think you could find any person in political life today who has been subjected to more attacks and had more money spent against her by special interests, among whom you have named a few, than I. And I'm proud of that. You know, when I took on the drug companies and the insurance companies for universal health care coverage, they went after me with a vengeance. Today, you've got hedge fund billionaires aligned with Karl Rove, running ads against me to try to get Democrats to vote for you. I know this game. I'm going to stop this game. But while we're talking about votes, you're the one who voted to deregulate swaps and derivatives in 2000, which contributed to the over-leveraging of Lehman Brothers, which was one of the culprits that brought down the economy. So I don't know\u2014I'm not impugning your motive because you voted to deregulate swaps and derivatives. People make mistakes and I'm certainly not saying you did it for any kind of financial advantage. What we've got to do as Democrats\u2014what we've got to do as Democrats is to be united to actually solve these problems. And what I believe is that I have a better track record and a better opportunity to actually get that job done. That's what this election should be about. +p3175 +aVOn the issue of Wall Street. +p3176 +aVWell you know, Rachel, I think I may not have done the job I should in explaining my record. You know, I did\u2014when I left the secretary of State's office, like so many former officials, military leaders, journalists, others, I did go on the speaking circuit. I spoke to heart doctors, I spoke to the American Camping Association, I spoke to auto dealers, and yes, I spoke to firms on Wall Street. They wanted me to talk about the world, what my experience had been as secretary of State. But what I want people to know is I went to Wall Street before the crash. I was the one saying you're going to wreck the economy because of these shenanigans with mortgages. I called to end the carried interest loophole that hedge fund managers enjoy. I proposed changes in CEO compensation. I called for a consumer protection financial bureau before it was created. And I think the best evidence that the Wall Street people at least know where I stand and where I have always stood is because they are trying to beat me in this primary. They have collected and spent as much as $6 million on these ads. Hedge fund billionaires, Karl Rove, another billionaire, jumped in. And why are they doing that? These are guys who try to make smart investments. They know my record, they know me, they know that I say what I believe and I will do it. And I also have a pretty good understanding about how to stop them. So I do want people to know that, and I think it's important for everybody to understand I have a record, I have stood firm and I will be the person who prevents them from ever wrecking the economy again. +p3177 +aVIf I could, let me just say that of course it has to change. It has to change. And that's why I have put forward a plan to do just that. And it's been judged to be the toughest, most effective and comprehensive one. I have great respect for Senator Sanders's commitment to try to restore Glass-Steagall. But I do not believe that that is enough. And in fact, I don't believe it really addresses a lot of the biggest issues we have. You know, we now have power under the Dodd-Frank legislation to break up banks. And I've said I will use that power if they pose a systemic risk. But I want to go further, because it was investment banks, it was insurance companies, it was mortgage companies, all of which contributed. So let's not just be narrowly focused on one part of the problem. We have a lot of issues with corporate power that have to be addressed. My plan takes us further and it would do the job. +p3178 +aVLook we have a law\u2014look, you know, I\u2014I appreciate the senator's advocacy. We have a law. It was passed. It was signed by President Obama. It lays out a process that you go through to determine whether a systemic risk is posed. And by the way, President Obama signed that, pushed it through, even though he took donations from Wall Street, because he's a responsible president. So we have a law in place. If the circumstances warrant it, I will certainly use it. And from what you say, I know you will as well. But that is not enough. And I keep going back to this because part of the reason the Wall Street guys are trying so hard to stop me\u2014the hedge fund guys, the shadow banking guys\u2014is because I've got their number on all of that. And my plan goes so much further to try to prevent the problems of the future. You know, we can't just fight the last war. We've got to be prepared to stop these guys if they ever try to use their economic power once again, to hurt the economy, and to hurt so many Americans. And my plan, Paul Krugman, Barney Frank, a lot of experts who understand what the new challenges might be, have said I am exactly on point, and the Wall Street guys actually know that. +p3179 +aVI will look into it. I don't know the status, but I will certainly look into it. But, I can only repeat what is the fact that I spoke to a lot of different groups with a lot of different constituents, a lot of different kinds of members about issues that had to do with world affairs. I probably described more times than I can remember how stressful it was advising the President about going after Bin Laden. My view on this is look at my record. Look at what I am proposing, and\u2014we have a vigorous agreement here. We both want to reign in the excesses of Wall Street. I also want to reign in the excesses of Johnson Controls that we bailed out when they were an autoparts company, and we saved the auto industry, and now they want to avoid paying taxes. I want to go after the pharmaceutical companies like Valeant, and Turns that are increasing prices without any regard to the impact on people's health. Now, if all we're going to talk about is one part of our economy, and indeed one streak in our economy, we're missing the big oil companies. We're missing other big energy companies. We're missing the big picture, and I have a record of trying to go at the problems that actually exist, and I will continue to do that. +p3180 +aV... Well, Senator, no one wants to see that happen. I mean, look, I care deeply about this because just like you I have met so many people who had their life savings wiped out, who lost their homes, who are barely back with their heads above water. This was a disaster for our country, and we can never let that happen again. We have no disagreement about this. But, I think it's a broader target list than just Wall Street, and I believe that we have to be very focused on how we try to take back the power and increase the empowerment of the American people. And, I think I have that kind of experience, maybe because they've beat me up for so many years, and I know exactly how to handle them because I've been in the arena with them time and time again. +p3181 +aVWell, I think what the president understands, and what he's trying to do, is that we have to support the Arab and Kurdish fighters on the ground who are actually doing the fighting. I agree with the president. I've said myself, we will not send American combat troops back to either Syria or Iraq\u2014that is off the table. But we do have special forces, we do have trainers, we do have the military personnel who are helping with the airstrikes that the United States is leading so that we can try to take out +p3182 +aVNo. I mean, of course that's a theoretical question, and we don't know what it would be for, and we don't know how many numbers there are. I am against American combat troops being in Syria and Iraq. I support special forces. I support trainers. I support the air campaign. And I think we're making some progress. I want to continue to intensify that, and that's exactly what the president is doing. +p3183 +aVIf I could\u2014if I could... +p3184 +aV... respectfully add\u2014look, we did differ. A vote in 2002 is not a plan to defeat +p3185 +aVOh, absolutely. The president decided to leave more troops than he had originally planned in Afghanistan. We have a very cooperative government there, with Ashraf Ghani and his top\u2014his top partner, Abdullah. And they are doing their very best. And the Afghan army is actually fighting. The Afghan army is taking heavy losses defending Afghan territory. And I would have to make an evaluation based on the circumstances at the time I took office as to how much help they continue to need. Because it's not just the Taliban. We now are seeing outposts of, you know, fighters claiming to be affiliated with +p3186 +aVA group of national security experts, military intelligence experts, issued a very concerning statement about Senator Sanders's views on foreign policy and national security, pointing out some of the comments he has made on these issues, such as inviting Iranian troops into Syria to try to resolve the conflict there; putting them right at the doorstep of Israel. Asking Saudi Arabia and Iran to work together, when they can't stand each other and are engaged in a proxy battle right at this moment. So I do think questions have been raised and questions have to be answered because when New Hampshire voters go on Tuesday to cast your vote, you are voting both for a president and a commander in chief. And there is no way to predict what comes in the door of that White House from day to day that can pose a threat to the United States or one of our friends and allies, and I think this is a big part of the job interview that we are all conducting with the voters here. +p3187 +aVWell, let me just add that, you know, I've said this before and I'm very proud of it, that when it comes to judgment, having run a hard race against Senator Obama at the time, he turned to me to be secretary of State. And when it comes to the biggest counterterrorism issues that we faced in this administration, namely whether or not to go after bin Laden, I was at that table, I was exercising my judgment to advise the president on what to do, on that, on Iran, on Russia on China, on a whole raft of issues. Because I know from my own experience that you've got to be ready on day one. There is just too much unpredictable threat and danger in the world today, you know, to try to just say wait, I'll get to that when I can. That is just not an acceptable approach. +p3188 +aVAbsolutely. You know, I did put together the coalition to impose sanctions. I actually started the negotiations that led to the nuclear agreement, sending some much my closest aides to begin the conversations with the Iranians. I'm very pleased we got that nuclear agreement. It puts a lid on the nuclear weapons program. We have to enforce it, there have to be consequences attached to it. But that is not our only problem with Iran. We have to figure out how to deal with Iran as the principal state sponsor of terrorism in the world. They are destabilizing governments in the region. They continue to support Hezbollah and Hamas in Lebanon against Israel. A lot of work that we have do is going to be incredibly hard. I'm prepared to do that work, but I believe, just as I did with imposing the sanctions, you have to get action for action. If we were to normalize relations right now, we would remove one of the biggest pieces of leverage we have to try to influence and change Iranian behavior. The president doesn't think we should. I certainly don't think we should. I believe we have to take this step by step to try to reign in Iranian aggression, their support for terrorism and the other bad behavior that can come back and haunt us. +p3189 +aVWell Senator, let me just correct the record if I can. You know\u2014let me correct the record. +p3190 +aVAs I\u2014as I certainly recall, the question was to meet with without conditions. And you're right, I was against that. I was against it then I would be against it now. +p3191 +aVPart of diplomacy, the hard work of diplomacy is trying to extract whatever concessions you can get, and giving something the other side wants. Of course you've got to try to make peace with, and work with those who are your adversaries, but you don't just rush in, open the door, and say, "Here I am. Let's talk and make a deal." That's not the way it works. +p3192 +aV... Well, we set conditions on Iran. We worked hard to get them established, and to be enforced, and then we talked. That's exactly the right......and, that's what I did with the President, so he and I are on the very same page. +p3193 +aVI haven't talked to Secretary Carter, but here's what I would think he's planning. We do have the nuclear weapons agreement with Iran, that's an enforcement consequence, action for action, follow on. We have a plan, we will watch them, we will be vigilant. We do have to worry about North Korea. They continue to develop their nuclear weapons capability, and they're working very hard on their ballistic missile capability. And, I know that some of those plans could very well lead to a missile that might reach Hawaii, if not the West Coast. We do have to try to get the countries in the region to work with us to do everything we can to confine, and constrain them. But, what Secretary Carter is looking at is the constant pressure that Russia's putting on our European allies. The way that Russia is trying to move the boundaries of the post-World War II Europe. The way that he is trying to set European countries against one another, seizing territory, holding it in Crimea. Beginning to explore whether they could make some inroads in the Baltics. We know that they are deeply engaged in supporting Assad because they want to have a place in the Middle East. They have a naval base, they have an air base in Syria. They want to hang on to that. I think what Secretary Carter is seeing, and I'm glad he is, is that we got to get +p3194 +aVWell, first of all, I'm absolutely against privatizing the V.A. And I am going do everything I can to build on the reforms that Senator Sanders and others in Congress have passed to try to fix what's wrong with the V.A. There are a lot of issues about wait times and services that have to be fixed because our veterans deserve nothing but the best. But you're absolutely right, you know, Rachel, this is another part of the Koch brothers agenda. They've actually formed an organization to try to begin to convince Americans we should no longer have guaranteed health care, specialized care for our veterans. I will fight that as hard as I can. I think there's where we can enlist the veterans service organizations, the veterans of America, because, yes, let's fix the V.A., but we will never let it be privatized, and that is a promise. +p3195 +aVWhatever they decide to do, that's fine. +p3196 +aVAll right. +p3197 +aVI can only tell you what I believe, and that is that I am the strongest candidate to take it to the Republicans and win in November. And I say that with great\u2014with great respect for the campaign that Senator Sanders has been running. I personally am thrilled at the numbers of people, and particularly young people who are coming to support your campaign. I hope that I will be able to earn their support. They may not support me now, but I support them and we'll work together. But what I'm concerned about is the views of many Democrats who know their states, who know how hard it is to win a general election. And it also will push whoever the nominee is into the spotlight. I've been vetted. There's hardly anything you don't know about me. And I think it's fair to say that whoever is in that position, Senator Sanders or anyone else who might have run, will face the most withering onslaught. So, I think that I am the person who can do all aspects of the job. I think I'm the person best prepared to take the case to the Republicans. And I think that at the end of the day, it's not so much electability. It is who the American people can believe can keep them safe, can get the economy moving again, can get incomes rising, can build on the progressive accomplishments of President Obama. And I think that the coalition that President Obama put together to win twice is a coalition that I can put together and add to. And that's what I'm prepared to... +p3198 +aVAbsolutely I can. You know, before it was emails, it was Benghazi, and the Republicans were stirring up so much controversy about that. And I testified for 11 hours, answered their questions. They basically said yeah, didn't get her. We tried. That was all a political ploy. Now, we had a development in the email matter today when it came out that Secretary Powell and close aides to Former Secretary Rice used private e-mail accounts. and now you have these people in the government who are doing the same thing to Secretary Powell and Secretary Rice's aide they've been doing to me, which is that I never sent or received any classified material. They are retroactively classifying it. I agree completely with Secretary Powell, who said today this is an absurdity. And so I think the American people will know it's an absurdity. I have absolutely no concerns about it whatsoever. +p3199 +aVI am 100 percent confident. This is a security review that was requested. It is being carried out. It will be resolved. But I have to add if there's going to be a security review about me, there's going to have to be security reviews about a lot of other people, including Republican office holders, because we've got this absurd situation of retroactive classifications. Honest to goodness, this is\u2014this just beggars the imagination. So I have absolutely no concerns about it, but we've got to get to the bottom of what's really going on here, and I hope that will happen. +p3200 +aVNo. +p3201 +aVYes, I do. And\u2014you know, what I hope the Supreme Court will do is make it absolutely clear that any state that continues capital punishment either must meet the highest standards of evidentiary proof of effective assistance of counsel or they cannot continue it because that, to me, is the real dividing line. I have much more confidence in the federal system, and I do reserve it for particularly heinous crimes in the federal system, like terrorism. I have strong feelings about that. I thought it was appropriate after a very thorough trial that Timothy McVeigh received the death penalty for blowing up the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people, including 19 children in a daycare center. I do for very limited, particularly heinous crimes believe it is an appropriate punishment, but I deeply disagree with the way that too many states are still implementing it. If it were possible to separate the federal from the state system by the Supreme Court, that would, I think, be an appropriate outcome. +p3202 +aVAbsolutely. Absolutely. You know, Rachel, you and I have talked about this before. I thank you for going to Flint to hold that town hall. I will be in Flint at the Mayor's invitation on Sunday to get an in depth briefing about what is, and is not happening. This is an emergency. Everyday that goes by that these people, particularly the children, are not tested so we can know what steps must be taken to try to remediate the effects of the poisoning that they have been living with is a day lost in a child's life. I know from the work that I've done over so many years, lead, the toxic nature of lead can affect you brain development, your body development, your behavior. I absolutely believe that what is being done is not sufficient. We need to be absolutely clear about everything that should be done from today to tomorrow, into the future to try to remedy the terrible burden that the people of Flint are barring. That includes fixing their pipes, it includes guaranteeing whatever healthcare and educational embellishments they may need going forward, and I think the federal government has way where it can bill the state of Michigan. If Michigan won't do it, there have to be ways that we can begin to move, and then make them pay for it, and hold them accountable. +p3203 +aVYou know, Chuck, I've only had responsibility for voting for trade agreements as a senator. And I voted a multinational trade agreement when I was senator, the +p3204 +aVWell, I\u2014I don't accept that premise, Chuck. I think that we've got so much business we have to do. We've talked a lot tonight about what we're against\u2014we're against income inequality. We're against the abuses of powerful interests. We're against a lot of things. I'm for a lot of things. I don't want to just stop bad things from happening, I want to start good things from happening. And I believe, if I'm so fortunate to get the nomination, I will begin to work immediately on putting together an agenda, beginning to talk with members of Congress and others about how we can push forward. I want to have half a billion more solar panels deployed, the first four years. I want to have enough clean energy to power every home the next four years. I want us to keep working on the Affordable Care Act, to get not only to 100 percent coverage, but bring down the costs of prescription drugs and out-of-pocket costs. I want to move forward on paid family leave, on early childhood education, I want us to do more for small businesses. Small businesses have to create most of the jobs, and we're not creating and growing small businesses. I think, if you have a smart agenda, you pick the committees that you know have to begin to work on these various pieces\u2014because that's the way Congress is set up. You go through different committees, and you really make a big push in the beginning. Immigration reform, economic revitalization with manufacturing, with infrastructure\u2014we put it out there, and we begin to work on an ambitious, big, bold agenda that will actually produce the results that I want to see for our country. +p3205 +aVThe answer to both of those is no. I'm interested in making what we have work better. I want to streamline programs that are duplicative and redundant. I want to have a top-to-bottom review about what works and what doesn't work, and be absolutely clear we're getting rid of what doesn't work. I have had the opportunity to run a big agency. I was very flattered when Henry Kissinger said I ran the State Department better\u2014better than anybody had run it in a long time. So I have an idea of what it's going to take to make our government work more efficiently. And when you put together a budget, you have to make a lot of hard decisions, but I think it's not appropriate to say "I'm going to get rid of this, get rid of that" until you have a very good process that gives you the information about what to do. But I want to add something else, you know, because look, we have so much work to do in our country, and I think it's the greatest work that Americans will be called to do. And of course, we have to have people in every community involved in it. We have to have the political voice, the political grassroots speaking up and speaking out about what we have to try to accomplish in Washington. But we also need to have a very clear set of goals that we are going to achieve, and we need to level with the American people about what they are, what they will cost, what will be expected of our citizenry. So I see as president having a constant dialogue with Americans here's what we're trying to get done, here's why I need your help, here's why you may think comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship isn't something you care about, but I'm telling you it will help fix the labor market, it will bring people out of the shadows\u2014 +p3206 +aVI never said that. +p3207 +aVLook... +p3208 +aVWell, I'm certainly going to unite the party, but I'm not\u2014I'm not getting ahead of myself. I think that would be a little bit presumptuous. If I'm so fortunate as to be the nominee, the first person I will call to talk to about where we go and how we get it done will be Senator Sanders. +p3209 +aVThat's true. That's true. +p3210 +aVWell first, thanks to +p3211 +aVWell, good evening. And I want to thank the Congressional Black Caucus Institute and the people of Charleston for hosting us here on the eve of Martin Luther King Day tomorrow. You know, I remember well when my youth minister took me to hear Dr. King. I was a teenager. And his moral clarity, the message that he conveyed that evening really stayed with me and helped to set me on a path to service. I also remember that he spent the last day of his life in Memphis, fighting for dignity and higher pay for working people. And that is our fight still. We have to get the economy working and incomes rising for everyone, including those who have been left out and left behind. We have to keep our communities and our country safe. We need a president who can do all aspects of the job. I understand that this is the hardest job in the world. I'm prepared and ready to take it on and I hope to earn your support to be the nominee of the Democratic Party and the next president of the United States. +p3212 +aVI would work quickly to present to the Congress my plans for creating more good jobs in manufacturing, infrastructure, clean and renewable energy, raising the minimum wage, and guaranteeing, finally, equal pay for women's work. I would also......I would also be presenting my plans to build on the Affordable Care Act and to improve it by decreasing the out-of-pocket costs by putting a cap on prescription drug costs; by looking for ways that we can put the prescription drug business and the health insurance company business on a more stable platform that doesn't take too much money out of the pockets of hard-working Americans. And third, I would be working, in every way that I knew, to bring our country together. We do have too much division, too much mean- spiritedness. There's a lot we have to do on immigration reform, on voting rights, on campaign finance reform, but we need to do it together. That's how we'll have the kind of country for the 21st century that we know will guarantee our children and grandchildren the kind of future they deserve. +p3213 +aVYes look, I have made it clear based on Senator Sanders' own record that he has voted with the NRA, with the gun lobby numerous times. He voted against the Brady Bill five times. He voted for what we call, the Charleston Loophole. He voted for immunity from gunmakers and sellers which the NRA said, "was the most important piece of gun legislation in 20 years. " He voted to let guns go onto the Amtrak, guns go into National Parks. He voted against doing research to figure out how we can save lives. Let's not forget what this is about, 90 people a day die from gun violence in our country. That's 33,000 people a year. One of the most horrific examples not a block from here where we had nine people murdered. Now, I am pleased to hear that Senator Sanders has reversed his position on immunity and I look forward to him joining with those members of congress who have already introduced legislation. There is no other industry in America that was given the total pass that the gun makers and dealers were and that needs to be reversed. +p3214 +aVWell, sadly it's reality, and it has been heartbreaking, and incredibly outraging to see the constant stories of young men like Walter Scott, as you said, who have been killed by police officers. Their needs to be a concerted effort to address the systemic racism in our criminal justice system. And, that requires a very clear, agenda for retraining police officers, looking at ways to end racial profiling, finding more ways to really bring the disparities that stalk our country into high relief. One out of three African American men may well end up going to prison. That's the statistic. I want people hear to think what we would be doing if it was one out of three white men, and very often, the black men are arrested, convicted and incarcerated ......for offensive that do not lead to the same results for white men. So, we have a very serious problem that we can no longer ignore. +p3215 +aVWell, Lester, you're right. Everywhere I go to campaign, I'm meeting families who are affected by the drug problem that mostly is opioids and heroin now, and lives are being lost and children are being orphaned. And I've met a lot of grandparents who are now taking care of grandchildren. So I have tried to come out with a comprehensive approach that, number one, does tell the states that we will work with you from the federal government putting more money, about a billion dollars a year, to help states have a different approach to dealing with this epidemic. The policing needs to change. Police officers must be equipped with the antidote to a heroin overdose or an opioid overdose, known as Narcan. They should be able to administer it. So should firefighters and others. We have to move away from treating the use of drugs as a crime and instead, move it to where it belongs, as a health issue. And we need to divert more people from the criminal justice system into drug courts, into treatment, and recovery. +p3216 +aVSo this is the kind of approach that we should take in dealing with what is now... +p3217 +aV... a growing epidemic. +p3218 +aVWell, Andrea, I am absolutely committed to universal health care. I have worked on this for a long time, people may remember that I took on the health insurance industry back in the '90s, and I didn't quit until we got the children's health insurance program that ensures eight million kids. And I certainly respect Senator Sanders' intentions, but when you're talking about health care, the details really matter. And therefore, we have been raising questions about the nine bills that he introduced over 20 years, as to how they would work and what would be the impact on people's health care? He didn't like that, his campaign didn't like it either. And tonight, he's come out with a new health care plan. And again, we need to get into the details. But here's what I believe, the Democratic Party and the United States worked since Harry Truman to get the Affordable Care Act passed. We finally have a path to universal health care. We have accomplished so much already. I do not to want see the Republicans repeal it, and I don't to want see us start over again with a contentious debate. I want us to defend and build on the Affordable Care Act and improve it. +p3219 +aVBut \u2014 Senator Sanders, if I can... You know, I have to say I'm not sure whether we're talking about the plan you just introduced tonight, or we're talking about the plan you introduced nine times in the Congress. But the fact is, we have the Affordable Care Act. That is one of the greatest accomplishments of President Obama, of the Democratic Party, and of our country. And we have already seen 19 million Americans get insurance. We have seen the end of pre-existing conditions keeping people from getting insurance. We have seen women no longer paying more for our insurance than men. And we have seen young people, up to the age of 26, being able to stay on their parent's policy. +p3220 +aVNow, there are things we can do to improve it, but to tear it up and start over again, pushing our country back into that kind of a contentious debate, I think is the wrong direction. +p3221 +aVAnd that's exactly what we are able to do based on the foundation of the Affordable Care Act \u2014 what Governor O'Malley just said is one of the models that we will be looking at to make sure we do get costs down, we do limit a lot of the unnecessary costs that we still have in the system. But, with all due respect, to start over again with a whole new debate is something that I think would set us back. The Republicans just voted last week to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and thank goodness, President Obama vetoed it and saved Obamacare for the American people. +p3222 +aVWell, as someone who \u2014 as someone who has a little bit of experience standing up to the health insurance industry, that spent, you know......many, many millions of dollars attacking me, and probably will so again, because of what I believe we can do building on the Affordable Care Act, I think it's important to point out that there are a lot of reasons we have the health care system we have today. I know how much money influences the political decision-making. That's why I'm for huge campaign finance reform. However, we started a system that had private health insurance. And even during the Affordable Care Act debate, there was an opportunity to vote for what was called the public option. In other words, people could buy in to Medicare, and even when the Democrats were in charge of the Congress, we couldn't get the votes for that. So, what I'm saying is really simple. This has been the fight of the Democratic Party for decades. We have the Affordable Care Act. Let's make it work. Let's take the models that states are doing. We now have driven costs down to the lowest they've been in 50 years. Now we've got to get individual costs down. That's what I'm planning to do. +p3223 +aVWell, I think it's an important point the president made in his State of the Union. And here's what I would say. I will go anywhere, to meet with anyone, at any time to find common ground. That's what I did as a first lady, when I worked with both Democrats and Republicans to get the Children's Health Insurance Program, when I worked with Tom DeLay, one of the most partisan of Republicans, to reform the adoption and foster care system. What I did, working in the Senate, where I crossed the aisle often, working even with the senator from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham, to get Tricare for national guardsmen and women. And it's what I did as Secretary of State, on numerous occasions, and most particularly, rounding up two-thirds votes in order to pass a treaty that lowered the nuclear weapons in both Russia and the United States. So I know it's hard, but I also know you've got to work at it every single day. I look out here, I see a lot of my friends from the Congress. And I know that they work at it every single day. Because maybe you can't only find a little sliver of common ground to cooperate with somebody from the other party, but who knows. If you're successful there, maybe you can build even more. That's what I would do. +p3224 +aVWell thanks for the question and congratulations on five million viewers on YouTube, that's quite an accomplishment. Look, this election is mostly about the future and therefore it is of greatest urgency for young people. I've laid out my ideas about what we can do to make college affordable; how we can help people pay off their student debts and save thousands of dollars, how we can create more good jobs because a lot of the young people that I talk with are pretty disappointed the economic prospects they feel their facing. So making community college free, making it possible to attend a public college or university with debt free tuition, looking for ways to protect our rights especially from the concerted Republican assault; on voting rights, on women's rights, on gay rights, on civil rights, on workers rights. And I know how much young people value their independence, their autonomy, and their rights. So I think this is an election where we have to pull young people and older people together to have a strategy about how we're going to encourage even more American's to vote because it absolutely clear to me... +p3225 +aVThat turning over our White House to the Republicans would be bad for everybody especially young people. +p3226 +aVLook, I have the greatest respect for Senator Sanders and for his supports and I'm going to keep working as hard as I can to reach as many people of all ages about what I will do, what the experience and the ideas that I have that I will bring to the White House and I hope to have their support when I'm the Democratic nominee. +p3227 +aVWell, there's no daylight on the basic premise that there should be no bank too big to fail and no individual too powerful to jail. We agree on that. But where we disagree is the comments that Senator Sanders has made that don't just affect me, I can take that, but he's criticized President Obama for taking donations from Wall Street, and President Obama has led our country out of the great recession. Senator Sanders called him weak, disappointing. He even, in 2011, publicly sought someone to run in a primary against President Obama. Now, I personally believe that President Obama's work to push through the Dodd-Frank... The Dodd-Frank bill and then to sign it was one of the most important regulatory schemes we've had since the 1930s. So I'm going to defend Dodd-Frank and I'm going to defend President Obama for taking on Wall Street, taking on the financial industry and getting results. +p3228 +aVYou know, I think since \u2014 since Senator Standers followed up on this... +p3229 +aVYour profusion of comments about your feelings towards President Obama are a little strange given what you said about him in 2011. But look, I have a plan that most commentators have said is tougher, more effective, and more comprehensive. O' +p3230 +aVIt builds on the Dodd-Frank \u2014 yes, it is. It builds on the Dodd-Frank, regulatory scheme... O' +p3231 +aV... but it goes much further, because... O' +p3232 +aV... both the governor and the senator have focused only on the big banks. Lehman Brothers, AIG, the shadow banking sector were as big a problem in what caused the Great Recession, I go after them. And I can tell you that the hedge fund billionaires who are running ads against me right now, and Karl Rove, who started running an ad against me right now, funded by money from the financial services sector, sure thing, I'm the one they don't want to be up against. +p3233 +aVYes, well, first of all \u2014 first of all, Paul Krugman, Barney Frank, others have all endorsed my plan. Secondly, we have Dodd-Frank. It gives us the authority already to break up big banks that pose... O' +p3234 +aVThat pose a risk to the financial sector. I want to go further and add to that. And, you know, Governor, you have raised money on Wall Street. You raised a lot of money on Wall Street when you were the head of the Democratic Governor's Association... O' +p3235 +aVAnd you were... O' +p3236 +aVYes, well, the point is that if we're going to be serious about this and not just try to score political points, we should know what's in Dodd-Frank, and what's in Dodd-Frank already gives the president the authority......with his regulators to make those decisions. +p3237 +aVWell, the last point on this is, Senator Sanders, you're the only one on this stage that voted to deregulate the financial market in 2000, to take the cops off the street, to use Governor O'Malley's phrase, to make the SEC and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission no longer able to regulate swaps and derivatives, which were one of the main cause of the collapse in '08. So there's plenty... +p3238 +aVThere's plenty of problems that we all have to face together. And the final thing I would say, we're at least having a vigorous debate about reining in Wall Street... +p3239 +aV... The Republicans want to give them more power, and repeal Dodd-Frank. That's what we need to stop... +p3240 +aVWell, I have actually documented every way that I'm going to pay for what I'm doing because I think the American public deserves to know. And, you can go to my website and actually see that. But, there are serious questions about how we're going to pay for what we want to see our country do. And, I'm the only candidate standing here tonight who has said I will not raise taxes on the middle class. I want to raise incomes, not taxes, and I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that the wealthy pay for debt free tuition, for child care, for paid family leave. To help us bring down student debt we're going to refinance that student debt, saving kids thousands of dollars. Yeah, and that will also come out of the \u2014 some of the pockets of people in the financial services industry... +p3241 +aVBut I will tell you exactly how I pay for everything I've proposed... +p3242 +aVAnd let me... +p3243 +aVWell, I'm very proud of the Iran Nuclear Agreement. I was very pleased to be part of what the president put into action when he took office. I was responsible for getting those sanctions imposed which put the pressure on Iran. It brought them to the negotiating table which resulted in this agreement. And so, they have been so far, following their requirements under the agreement. But I think we still have to carefully watch them. We've had one good day over 36 year and I think we need more good days before we move more rapidly toward any kind of normalization. And we have to be sure that they are truly going to implement the agreement. And then, we have to go after them on a lot of their other bad behavior in the region which is causing enormous problems in Syria, Yemen, Iraq and elsewhere. +p3244 +aVAbsolutely not. I have a three point plan that does not include American Ground forces. It includes the United States leading an air coalition which is what we're doing, supporting fighters on the ground; the Iraqi Army which is beginning to show more ability, the Sunni fighters that we are now helping to reconstitute and Kurdish on both sides of the border. I think we also have try to disrupt their supply chain of foreign fighters and foreign money and we do have to contest them in online space. So I'm very committed to both going after +p3245 +aVLook, I think that the president's decision to go after the chemical weapons once there was a potential opportunity to build on when the Russians opened that door resulted in a very positive outcome. We were able to get the chemical weapons out. I know from my own experience as secretary of State that we were deeply worried about Assad's forces using chemical weapons because it would have had not only a horrific affect on people in Syria, but it could very well have affected the surrounding states, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Turkey. So getting those chemical weapons out was a big deal, but... +p3246 +aVWell \u2014 but \u2014 but... +p3247 +aVI think, as commander in chief, you've got to constantly be evaluating the decisions you have to make. I know a little bit about this, having spent many hours in the situation room, advising President Obama. And I want to just add to something that Senator Sanders said, the United States had a very big interest in trying to help stabilize the region. If there is any blame to be spread around, it starts with the prime minister of Iraq, who sectarianized his military, setting Shia against Sunni. It is amplified by Assad, who has waged one of the bloodiest, most terrible attacks on his own people: 250,000-plus dead, millions fleeing. Causing this vacuum that has been filled unfortunately, by terrorist groups, including +p3248 +aV... and go after +p3249 +aVBut overall, a lot of the forces at work in the region are ones that we cannot directly influence, but we can... +p3250 +aVWell, it would depend on what I got for it and I can tell you what we got in the first term, we got a new start treaty to reduce nuclear weapons between the United States and Russia. We got permission to resupply our troops in Afghanistan by traveling across Russia. We got Russia to sign on to our sanctions against Iran and other very important commitments. So look, in diplomacy, you are always trying to see how you can figure out the interest of the other to see if there isn't some way you can advance your security and your values. When Putin came back in the fall of 2011, it was very clear he came back with a mission. And I began speaking out as soon as that happened because there were some fraudulent elections held, and Russians poured out into the streets to demand their freedom, and he cracked down. And in fact, accused me of fomenting it. So we now know that he has a mixed record to say the least and we have to figure out how to deal with him. +p3251 +aVWell, my relationship with him, it's \u2014 it's interesting. It's one, I think, of respect. We've had some very tough dealings with one another. And I know that he's someone that you have to continuingly stand up to because, like many bullies, he is somebody who will take as much as he possibly can unless you do. And we need to get the Europeans to be more willing to stand up, I was pleased they put sanctions on after Crimea and eastern Ukraine and the downing of the airliner, but we've got to be more united in preventing Putin from taking a more aggressive stance in Europe and the Middle East. +p3252 +aVOh, we're breaking? OK. +p3253 +aVWell, I wanted to say, and I'll do it quickly, I was very pleased that leaders of President Obama's administration went out to Silicon Valley last week and began exactly this conversation about what we can do, consistent with privacy and security. We need better intelligence cooperation, we need to be sure that we are getting the best intelligence that we can from friends and allies around the world. And then, we've got to recognize our first line of defense against lone wolf attacks is among Muslim Americans. And it is not only shameful, it is dangerous for the kinds of comments you're hearing from the Republican side. We need to be reaching out and unifying our country against terrorist attacks and lone wolves, and working with Muslim Americans. +p3254 +aVThat is not what I've heard. Let me leave it at that. O' +p3255 +aVWell, it'll start at the kitchen table, we'll see how it goes from there. And I......I'm going to have the very best advisers that I can possibly have, and when it comes to the economy and what was accomplished under my husband's leadership and the '90s \u2014 especially when it came to raising incomes for everybody and lifting more people out of poverty than at any time in recent history \u2014 you bet. I'm going to ask for his ideas, I'm going ask for his advice, and I'm going use him as a goodwill emissary to go around the country to find the best ideas we've got, because I do believe, as he said, everything that's wrong with America has been solved somewhere in America. We just have to do more of it, and we have to reach out, especially into poor communities and communities of color, to give more people their own chance to get ahead. +p3256 +aVWell Lester, I spent a lot of time last week being outraged by what's happening in Flint, Michigan and I think every single American should be outraged. We've had a city in the United States of America where the population which is poor in many ways and majority African American has been drinking and bathing in lead contaminated water. And the governor of that state acted as though he didn't really care. He had request for help and he had basically stone walled. I'll tell you what, if the kids in a rich suburb of Detroit had been drinking contaminated water and being bathed in it, there would've been action. So I sent my top campaign aide down there to talk to the mayor of Flint to see what I could to help. I issued a statement about what we needed to do and then I went on a T.V. show and I said, "it was outrageous that the governor hadn't acted and within two hours he had." +p3257 +aVI want to be a president who takes care of the big problems and the problems that are affecting the people of our country everyday. +p3258 +asVTRUMP +p3259 +(lp3260 +VThank you. I began this journey six months ago. My total focus was on building up our military, building up our strength, building up our borders, making sure that China, Japan, Mexico, both at the border and in trade, no longer takes advantage of our country. Certainly would never have made that horrible, disgusting, absolutely incompetent deal with Iran where they get $150 billion. They're a terrorist nation. But I began it talking about other things. And those things are things that I'm very good at and maybe that's why I'm center stage. People saw it. People liked it. People respected it. A month ago things changed. Radical Islamic terrorism came into effect even more so than it has been in the past. People like what I say. People respect what I say. And we've opened up a very big discussion that needed to be opened up. Thank you very much. +p3261 +aVWe are not talking about isolation. We're talking about security. We're not talking about religion. We're talking about security. Our country is out of control. People are pouring across the southern border. I will build a wall. It will be a great wall. People will not come in unless they come in legally. Drugs will not pour through that wall. As far as other people like in the migration, where they're going, tens of thousands of people having cell phones with +p3262 +aVJeb doesn't really believe I'm unhinged. He said that very simply because he has failed in this campaign. It's been a total disaster. Nobody cares. And frankly, I'm the most solid person up here. I built a tremendous company and all I want to do is make America great again. I don't want our country to be taken away from us, and that's what's happening. The policies that we've suffered under other presidents have been a disaster for our country. We want to make America great again. And Jeb, in all fairness, he doesn't believe that. +p3263 +aVWell, look, this is so easy to answer. +p3264 +aVI would certainly be open to closing areas where we are at war with somebody. I sure as hell don't want to let people that want to kill us and kill our nation use our Internet. Yes, sir, I am. +p3265 +aVWe have to be much tougher. We have to be much stronger than we've been. We have people that know what is going on. You take a look at just the attack in California the other day. There were numerous people, including the mother, that knew what was going on. They saw a pipe bomb sitting all over the floor. They saw ammunition all over the place. They knew exactly what was going on. When you had the World Trade Center go, people were put into planes that were friends, family, girlfriends, and they were put into planes and they were sent back, for the most part, to Saudi Arabia. They knew what was going on. They went home and they wanted to watch their boyfriends on television. I would be very, very firm with families. Frankly, that will make people think because they may not care much about their lives, but they do care, believe it or not, about their families' lives. +p3266 +aVLook, the problem is we need toughness. Honestly, I think Jeb is a very nice person. He's a very nice person. But we need tough people. We need toughness. We need intelligence and we need tough. Jeb said when they come across the southern border they come as an act of love. +p3267 +aVAm I talking or are you talking, Jeb? +p3268 +aVYou can go back. You're not talking. You interrupted me. +p3269 +aVAre you going to apologize, Jeb? No. Am I allowed to finish? +p3270 +aVExcuse me, am I allowed to finish? +p3271 +aVSo... +p3272 +aV... again... +p3273 +aVI know you're trying to build up your energy, Jeb, but it's not working very well. +p3274 +aVLook, look, look. We need a toughness. We need strength. We're not respected, you know, as a nation anymore. We don't have that level of respect that we need. And if we don't get it back fast, we're just going to go weaker, weaker and just disintegrate. We can't allow that to happen. We need strength. We don't have it. When Jeb comes out and he talks about the border, and I saw it and I was witness to it, and so was everyone else, and I was standing there, "they come across as an act of love," he's saying the same thing right now with radical Islam. And we can't have that in our country. It just won't work. We need strength. +p3275 +aVWith Jeb's attitude, we will never be great again, that I can tell you. We will never be great again. +p3276 +aVSo, they can kill us, but we can't kill them? That's what you're saying. And as far as the Internet is concerned, we're not talking about closing the Internet. I'm talking about parts of Syria, parts of Iraq, where +p3277 +aVIn my opinion, we've spent $4 trillion trying to topple various people that frankly, if they were there and if we could've spent that $4 trillion in the United States to fix our roads, our bridges, and all of the other problems; our airports and all of the other problems we've had, we would've been a lot better off. I can tell you that right now. We have done a tremendous disservice, not only to Middle East, we've done a tremendous disservice to humanity. The people that have been killed, the people that have wiped away, and for what? It's not like we had victory. It's a mess. The Middle East is totally destabilized. A total and complete mess. I wish we had the $4 trillion or $5 trillion. I wish it were spent right here in the United States, on our schools, hospitals, roads, airports, and everything else that are all falling apart. +p3278 +aVWell, there's nothing to respond to. Well, people feel differently. I mean, the fact is Benghazi was a disaster because of Libya, everything just fell into place. It could not have been worse. What do we have now? We have nothing. We've spent $3 trillion and probably much more \u2013 I have no idea what we've spent. Thousands and thousands of lives, we have nothing. Wounded warriors all over the place who I love, we have nothing for it. And by the way \u2013 and Ben said incorrectly \u2013 and I'm not saying this as a knock \u2013 he's one of finest men. You're not going to find a finer men. But I've been talking about oil for three years. I've been saying,, "take the oil, take the oil." I didn't say, "just bomb it," I said," take it and use it and distribute it so that the wounded warriors -" People, I've been saying this now for many years. +p3279 +aVNow, all of a sudden everybody's saying, "take the oil." It wasn't so fashionable to take the oil six months ago. I've been saying it for years. +p3280 +aVI think Assad is a bad guy, a very bad guy, all right? Lots of people killed. I think we are backing people we have no idea who they are. The rebels, we call them the rebels, the patriotic rebels. We have no idea. A lot of people think, Hugh, that they are +p3281 +aVI think it's very sad that CNN leads Jeb Bush, Governor Bush, down a road by starting off virtually all the questions, "Mr. Trump this, Mister" \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched the first debate, and the first long number of questions were, "Mr. Trump said this, Mr. Trump said that. Mr. Trump" \u2014 these poor guys \u2014 although, I must tell you, Santorum, good guy. Governor Huckabee, good guy. They were very nice, and I respect them greatly. But I thought it was very unfair that virtually the entire early portion of the debate was Trump this, Trump that, in order to get ratings, I guess. In order to get ratings, I guess. +p3282 +aVI just think it's very \u2014 excuse me. +p3283 +aVExcuse me. I think it's very unprofessional. +p3284 +aVWell, I think it's very unprofessional. +p3285 +aVOK, fine. +p3286 +aVThis isn't tough and easy. I wish it... +p3287 +aVI wish it was always this easy as you, Jeb. +p3288 +aVOh, yeah. +p3289 +aVOh, I know. You're a tough guy, Jeb. I know. +p3290 +aVYou're tough. +p3291 +aVWell, let's see. I'm at 42, and you're at 3. So, so far, I'm doing better. +p3292 +aVSo far, I'm doing better. You know, you started off over here, Jeb. You're moving over further and further. Pretty soon you're going to be off the end... +p3293 +aVI believe I did. +p3294 +aVI have a very hardline position, we have a country or we don't have a country. People that have come into our country illegally, they have to go. They have to come back into through a legal process. I want a strong border. I do want a wall. Walls do work, you just have to speak to the folks in Israel. Walls work if they're properly constructed. I know how to build, believe me, I know how to build. I feel a very, very strong bind, and really I'm bound to this country, we either have a border or we don't. People can come into the country, we welcome people to come but they have to come in legally. +p3295 +aVWell, first of all, I think we need somebody absolutely that we can trust, who is totally responsible; who really knows what he or she is doing. That is so powerful and so important. And one of the things that I'm frankly most proud of is that in 2003, 2004, I was totally against going into Iraq because you're going to destabilize the Middle East. I called it. I called it very strongly. And it was very important. But we have to be extremely vigilant and extremely careful when it comes to nuclear. Nuclear changes the whole ball game. Frankly, I would have said get out of Syria; get out \u2014 if we didn't have the power of weaponry today. The power is so massive that we can't just leave areas that 50 years ago or 75 years ago we wouldn't care. It was hand-to-hand combat. The biggest problem this world has today is not President Obama with global warming, which is inconceivable, this is what he's saying. The biggest problem we have is nuclear \u2014 nuclear proliferation and having some maniac, having some madman go out and get a nuclear weapon. That's in my opinion, that is the single biggest problem that our country faces right now. +p3296 +aVI think \u2014 I think, for me, nuclear is just the power, the devastation is very important to me. +p3297 +aVI did. +p3298 +aVLet me just say that I have gotten to know him over the last three or four days. He has a wonderful temperament. He's just fine. Don't worry about it. +p3299 +aVYou better not attack... +p3300 +aVI really am. I'll be honest, I really am. I mean, the people have been putting me... I really am. +p3301 +aVLet me just. Can I just finish my... +p3302 +aVI've gained great respect for the Republican leadership. I've gained great respect for many \u2014 and I'm going to even say \u2014 I mean, in different forms for the people on the dais, in different forms. In different forms. But I have great respect for the people I have met through this process. I've never done this process before. I've never been a politician. I mean, for the last six months I've been a politician. But I will tell you, I am totally committed to the Republican Party. I feel very honored to be the front runner. And I think I'll do very well if I'm chosen. If I'm so fortunate to be chosen, I think I'll do very well. Polls have come out recently saying I would beat Hillary. I will do everything in my power to beat Hillary Clinton, I promise you. +p3303 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We don't win on trade. We don't win on the military. We can't defeat +p3304 +aVI can't be Neil. And the and the reason I can't be is that we are a country that is being beaten on every front economically, militarily. There is nothing that we do now to win. We don't win anymore. Our taxes are too high. I've come up with a tax plan that many, many people like very much. It's going to be a tremendous plan. I think it'll make our country and our economy very dynamic. But, taxes too high, wages too high, we're not going to be able to compete against the world. I hate to say it, but we have to leave it the way it is. People have to go out, they have to work really hard and have to get into that upper stratum. But we can not do this if we are going to compete with the rest of the world. We just can't do it. +p3305 +aVI would not do it. +p3306 +aVI was so happy yesterday when I saw that decision come down. That was an unbelievable decision. And we don't have enough of those decisions coming down. He of the executive order, because nobody wants to listen to him, including the Democrats, so he just goes around signing executive orders. That was a great day. And, frankly, we have to stop illegal immigration. It's hurting us economically. It's hurting us from every standpoint. It's causing tremendous difficulty with respect to drugs and what that does to many of our inner cities in particular. And it really is \u2014 was such an unbelievable moment because the courts have not been ruling in our favor. And it was a 2-1 decision. And it was a terrific thing that happened. And I will tell you, we are a country of laws. We need borders. We will have a wall. The wall will be built. The wall will be successful. And if you think walls don't work, all you have to do is ask Israel. The wall works, believe me. Properly done. Believe me. +p3307 +aVYou are going to have to bring people \u2014 you are going to have to send people out. Look, we're a country... +p3308 +aVMaria, we're a country of laws. We either have a country or we don't have a country. We are a country of laws. Going to have to go out and they will come back but they are going to have to go out and hopefully they get back. But we have no choice if we're going to run our country properly and if we're going to be a country. +p3309 +aVAll I can say is, you're lucky in Ohio that you struck oil. That is for one thing. Let me just tell you that Dwight Eisenhower, good president, great president, people liked him. "I like Ike," right? The expression. "I like Ike." Moved a 1.5 million illegal immigrants out of this country, moved them just beyond the border. They came back. Moved them again beyond the border, they came back. Didn't like it. Moved them way south. They never came back. Dwight Eisenhower. You don't get nicer. You don't get friendlier. They moved a 1.5 million out. We have no choice. We have no choice. +p3310 +aVNo, it's unfair. +p3311 +aV... built an unbelievable company worth billions and billions of dollars. I don't have to hear from this man, believe me. I don't have to hear from him. +p3312 +aVWe have millions of people right now on line trying to come into this country. Very, very unfair to the people that want to come into our country legally. They've gone through the process. They're on line. They're waiting. Very, very unfair to them. That I can tell you. +p3313 +aVYes. +p3314 +aVNo, I'm sorry. No, excuse me. I was there. +p3315 +aVPlease, if I could just... +p3316 +aVWe have to make our military bigger, better, stronger than ever before so that nobody messes with us, and a long run, it's going to save us. I agree with Marco, I agree with Ted, we have no choice. And, I can tell you this with certainty. We all have a different tax plan. Some I don't totally agree with. One thing we understand, each one of those tax plans is better than the mess that we have right now. +p3317 +aV...Yes... +p3318 +aV...Yeah... +p3319 +aV...It's a horrible deal... +p3320 +aVThe TPP is horrible deal. It is a deal that is going to lead to nothing but trouble. It's a deal that was designed for China to come in, as they always do, through the back door and totally take advantage of everyone. It's 5,600 pages long. So complex that nobodies read it. It's like Obamacare; nobody ever read it. They passed it; nobody read it. And look at mess we have right now. And it will be repealed. But this is one of the worst trade deals. And I would, yes, rather not have it. With all of these countries, and all of the bad ones getting advantage and taking advantage of what the good ones would normally get, I'd rather make individual deals with individual countries. We will do much better. We lose a fortune on trade. The United States loses with everybody. We're losing now over $500 billion in terms of imbalance with China, $75 billion a year imbalance with Japan. By the way, Mexico, $50 billion a year imbalance. So I must say, Gerard, I just think it's a terrible deal. I love trade. I'm a free trader, 100 percent. But we need smart people making the deals, and we don't have smart people making the deals. +p3321 +aVYes. Well, the currency manipulation they don't discuss in the agreement, which is a disaster. If you look at the way China and India and almost everybody takes advantage of the United States \u2014 China in particular, because they're so good. It's the number-one abuser of this country. And if you look at the way they take advantage, it's through currency manipulation. It's not even discussed in the almost 6,000-page agreement. It's not even discussed. +p3322 +aVAnd as you understand, I mean, you understand very well from the Wall Street Journal, currency manipulation is the single great weapon people have. They don't even discuss it in this agreement. So I say, it's a very bad deal, should not be approved. If it is approved, it will just be more bad trade deals, more loss of jobs for our country. We are losing jobs like nobody's ever lost jobs before. I want to bring jobs back into this country. +p3323 +aVWell, first of all, it's not only Russia. We have problems with North Korea where they actually have nuclear weapons. You know, nobody talks about it, we talk about Iran, and that's one of the worst deals ever made. One of the worst contracts ever signed, ever, in anything, and it's a disgrace. But, we have somebody over there, a madman, who already has nuclear weapons we don't talk about that. That's a problem. China is a problem, both economically in what they're doing in the South China Sea, I mean, they are becoming a very, very major force. So, we have more than just Russia. But, as far as the Ukraine is concerned, and you could Syria \u2014 as far as Syria, I like \u2014 if Putin wants to go in, and I got to know him very well because we were both on 60 Minutes, we were stablemates, and we did very well that night. But, you know that. But, if Putin wants to go and knocked the hell out of +p3324 +aV...They blew up \u2014 hold it.... +p3325 +aV...They blew up, wait a minute... ...They blew up a Russian airplane. He cannot be in love with these people. He's going in, and we can go in, and everybody should go in. As far as the Ukraine is concerned, we have a group of people, and a group of countries, including Germany \u2014 tremendous economic behemoth \u2014 why are we always doing the work? We are \u2014 I'm all for protecting Ukraine and working \u2014 but, we have countries that are surrounding the Ukraine that aren't doing anything. They say, "Keep going, keep going, you dummies, keep going. Protect us..." ...And we have to get smart. We can't continue to be the policeman of the world. We are $19 trillion dollars, we have a country that's going to hell, we have an infrastructure that's falling apart. Our roads, our bridges, our schools, our airports, and we have to start investing money in our country. +p3326 +aVAssad is a bad guy, but we have no idea who the so-called rebels \u2014 I read about the rebels, nobody even knows who they are. I spoke to a general two weeks ago, he said \u2014 he was very up on exactly what we're talking about. He said, "You know, Mr. Trump? We're giving hundreds of millions of dollars of equipment to these people, we have no idea who they are." So, I don't like Assad. Who's going to like Assad? But, we have no idea who these people, and what they're going to be, and what they're going to represent. They may be far worse than Assad. Look at Libya. Look at Iraq. Look at the mess we have after spending $2 trillion dollars, thousands of lives, wounded warriors all over the place \u2014 who I love, OK? All over. We have nothing. And, I said, keep the oil. And we should have kept the oil, believe me. We should have kept the oil. And, you know what? We should have given the oil... ..We should've given big chunks to the people that lost their arms, their legs, and their families, and their sons, and daughters, because right now, you know who has a lot of that oil? Iran, and +p3327 +aVWhy does she keep interrupting everybody? Terrible. +p3328 +aVWe are not. +p3329 +aV...No, no, no... +p3330 +aVWell, what's happening right now, Neil, is something that not been a subject of conversation by politicians. As primarily the only politician, I guess other than Carly on the stage, they haven't talked about a corporate inversion. A corporate inversion \u2014 companies are leaving. You know, we used to leave New York to go to Florida. We got better taxes, we got, maybe, something else. Now, they're the United States to go to other countries. They have trillions of dollars in those other countries. They're going for two reasons, they can't get their money back in. It's something where the democrats and the republicans both agree, it's the only thing I can think of. They both agree, let the money come back in. Three and a half years, they still can't make a deal. They can't get the money in. It's probably two and a half trillion, but, I think it's much more than that. All of that money could become \u2014 could come right in and be used to rebuild our country, and investments in our country. They can't do it. What we have to do, and what I've done, is made the tax rate \u2014 and one of the reasons they don't the taxes so obnoxious, they can't do it. Where, I made it a 10% number, as you know. I've been very highly praised for it. A lot of money's going to come back in, we're going to get rid of the bureaucratic problems, and roadblocks, because that's also a problem. And, we're going to have all of this money pour back into the United States. It's going to be used to build businesses, for jobs, and everything else. And, as I say, my expression is, let's make America great again. +p3331 +aVThank you. Over the years, I've created tens of thousands of jobs and a great company. It's a company I'm very proud of. Some of the most iconic assets anywhere in the world. And I will tell you, I don't have to give you a website because I'm self-funding my campaign. I'm putting up my own money. I want to do something really special. I want to make our country greater than it's ever been. I think we have that potential. We cannot lose this election. We cannot let Hillary Clinton, who is the worst secretary of state in the history of our country, win this election. We will fight. We will win. And we truly will make this even more special. We have to make it better than ever before. And I will tell you, the United States can actually be better than ever before. Thank you. +p3332 +aVI think maybe my greatest weakness is that I trust people too much. I'm too trusting. And when they let me down, if they let me down, I never forgive. I find it very, very hard to forgive people that deceived me. So I don't know if you would call that a weakness, but my wife said "let up." +p3333 +aVRight. +p3334 +aVRight. +p3335 +aVThat's right. +p3336 +aVNo, not a comic book, and it's not a very nicely asked question the way you say that. Larry Kudlow is an example, who I have a lot of respect for, who loves my tax plan. We're reducing taxes to 15 percent. We're bringing corporate taxes down, bringing money back in, corporate inversions. We have $2.5 trillion outside of the United States which we want to bring back in. As far as the wall is concerned, we're going to build a wall. We're going to create a border. We're going to let people in, but they're going to come in legally. They're going to come in legally. And it's something that can be done, and I get questioned about that. They built the great wall of China. That's 13,000 miles. Here, we actually need 1,000 because we have natural barriers. So we need 1,000. We can do a wall. We're going to have a big, fat beautiful door right in the middle of the wall. We're going to have people come in, but they're coming in legally. And Mexico's going to pay for the wall because Mexico \u2014 I love the Mexican people; I respect the Mexican leaders \u2014 but the leaders are much sharper, smarter and more cunning than our leaders. And just to finish, people say, how will you get Mexico to pay? A politician other than the people in the states \u2014 I don't want to \u2014 a politician cannot get them to pay. I can. We lose, we have a trade imbalance... Excuse me, John. ... of $50 billion... +p3337 +aV... believe me the world is peanuts by comparison. +p3338 +aVRight. Dynamically. +p3339 +aVThen you have to get rid of Larry Kudlow, who sits on your panel, who's a great guy, who came out the other day and said, I love Trump's tax plan. +p3340 +aVFirst of all, John got lucky with a thing called fracking, OK? He hit oil. He got lucky with fracking. Believe me, that is why Ohio is doing well. Number \u2014 and that is important for you to know. Number two, this was the man that was a managing general partner at Lehman Brothers when it went down the tubes and almost took every one of us with it, including Ben and myself, because I was there and I watched what happened. And Lehman Brothers started it all. He was on the board. And he was a managing general partner. And just thirdly, he was so nice. He was such a nice guy. And he said, oh, I'm never going to attack. But then his poll numbers tanked. He has got \u2014 that is why he is on the end. And he got nasty. And he got nasty. So you know what? You can have him. +p3341 +aVI think you're \u2014 +p3342 +aVWell, first of all, like many other very big businessmen, I could name them here, but I'm not going to do that for a lot of obvious reasons, but the biggest, and almost all of them, they've all used the chapter laws, the bankruptcy laws to their own benefit. Before this, I was a very successful person as a developer and as a businessman. Atlantic City has gone bad. I mean, Chris will know about that. I'm not blaming Chris, by the way, but he will know about that. Caesar's \u2014 excuse me \u2014 Caesar's, the Rolls-Royce, as you know, is in bankruptcy. Almost every hotel in Atlantic City has either been in bankruptcy or will be in bankruptcy \u2014 the biggest. But also the biggest people (ph) \u2014 now I've used that to my advantage as a business man, for my family, for myself. I never filed for bankruptcy. But many, many people did. What happened with Atlantic City is very, very disgraceful. Now hundreds of companies I've opened. I've used it three times, maybe four times. Came out great. But I guess I'm supposed to come out great. That is what I could do for the country. We owe $19 trillion, boy am I good at solving debt problems. Nobody can solve it like me. But I will tell you this, Atlantic City, you're using that, hundreds of companies that I have opened have thrived. I built a net worth of way over $10 billion, and I have done it four times out of hundreds. And I'm glad I did it. I used the laws of the country to my benefit, I'm sorry. +p3343 +aVThank you. +p3344 +aVI was not at all critical of him. I was not at all. In fact, frankly, he's complaining about the fact that we're losing some of the most talented people. They go to Harvard. They go to Yale. They go to Princeton. They come from another country and they're immediately sent out. I am all in favor of keeping these talented people here so they can go to work in Silicon Valley. +p3345 +aVSo I have nothing at all critical of him. +p3346 +aVProbably, I don't know \u2014 you people write the stuff. I don't know where you... And if I could say just one thing. I am the only person in either campaign that's self-funding. I'm putting up 100 percent of my own money. And right now, I will be putting up a tremendous \u2014 so far, I've put up less than anybody and I have the best results. Wouldn't that be nice if the country could do that? But I will be putting \u2014 I will be putting up, you know, tremendous amounts of money. SuperPacs are a disaster. They're a scam. They cause dishonesty. And you better get rid of them because they are causing a lot of bad decisions to be made by some very good people. And I'm not blaming these folks \u2014 well, I guess I could. Very good people are making very bad decisions right now. And if anything comes out of this whole thing with some of these nasty and ridiculous questions, I will tell you, you better get rid of the SuperPacs because they causing a big problem with this country, not only in dishonesty and what's going on, but also in a lot of bad decisions that have been made for the benefit of lobbyists and special interests. +p3347 +aVI never said that. I never said that. +p3348 +aVYou've got another gentleman in Florida, who happens to be a very nice guy, but not... +p3349 +aV... he's really doing some bad... +p3350 +aVI'm in favor of people coming into this country legally. And you know what? They can have it anyway you want. You can call it visas, you can call it work permits, you can call it anything you want. I've created tens of thousands of jobs, and in all due respect \u2014 and actually some of these folks I really like a lot \u2014 but I'm the only one that can say that. I have created tens of thousands of jobs, and I'll be creating many millions of jobs if I'm given \u2014 if I'm given the opportunity to be president. As far as Mark is concerned, as far as the visas are concerned, if we need people, they have \u2014 it's fine. They have to come into this country legally. We have a country of borders. We have a country of laws. We have to obey the laws. It's fine if they come in, but they have to come in legally. +p3351 +aVYes. +p3352 +aVOr somebody else. Right. +p3353 +aVYes, I might feel more comfortable. I would say that I would and I have a permit, which is very unusual in New York \u2014 a permit to carry. And I do carry on occasion, sometimes a lot. But I like to be unpredictable so that people don't know exactly... +p3354 +aVBy the way, unlike our country where we're totally predictable and the enemy, whether it's +p3355 +aVI would change them. I would change them. +p3356 +aVSuch a nasty \u2014 such a nasty question, but thank you, Governor. +p3357 +aVYes, it's very simple. We're going to make a really dynamic economy from what we have right now, which is not at all dynamic. We're going to bring jobs back from Japan, we're going to bring jobs back from China, we're going to bring, frankly, jobs back from Mexico where, as you probably saw, Nabisco is leaving Chicago with one of their biggest plants, and they're moving it to Mexico. We're going to bring jobs and manufacturing back. We're going to cut costs. We're going to save Social Security, and we're going to save Medicare. [ +p3358 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We used to win, we don't win anymore. We lose on trade. We lose with +p3359 +aVAnd, I'll do that with the country. We will make America great again. And, thank you everybody. Just for the record. +p3360 +aVThat's not right. That is absolutely not right. You know that. That is not right. [ +p3361 +aVI'm Donald Trump. I wrote "The Art of the Deal". I say not in a braggadocious way, I've made billions and billions of dollars dealing with people all over the world, and I want to put whatever that talent is to work for this country so we have great trade deals, we make our country rich again, we make it great again. We build our military, we take care of our vets, we get rid of Obamacare, and we have a great life altogether. Thank you. Thank you. +p3362 +aVWell, first of all, Rand Paul shouldn't even be on this stage. He's number 11, he's got 1 percent in the polls, and how he got up here, there's far too many people anyway. As far as temperament \u2014 and we all know that \u2014 as far as temperament, I think I have a great temperament. I built a phenomenal business with incredible, iconic assets, one of the really truly great real-estate businesses. And I may be an entertainer, because I've had tremendous success with number-one bestsellers all over the place, with "The Apprentice" and everything else I've done. But I will tell you this: What I am far and away greater than an entertainer is a businessman, and that's the kind of mindset this country needs to bring it back, because we owe $19 trillion right now, $19 trillion, and you need this kind of thinking to bring our country back. And believe me, my temperament is very good, very calm. But we will be respected outside of this country. We are not respected now. +p3363 +aVI never attacked him on his look, and believe me, there's plenty of subject matter right there. That I can tell you. +p3364 +aVI've actually been in politics all my life, although I've been on that side as opposed to this side. I'm now a politician for about three months. Obviously, I'm doing pretty well. I'm number one in every poll by a lot. But the qualification is that I've dealt with people all over the world, been successful all over the world. Everything I've done virtually has been a tremendous success. When markets changed, when things turned, I heard Governor Pataki, who, by the way, was a failed governor in New York, a very seriously failed \u2014 he wouldn't be elected dog catcher right now. I heard what he had to say. And I will tell you this: Atlantic City, I've made a tremendous amount of money in Atlantic City. I left seven years ago, I've gotten great credit for my timing, and that's what I'm all about. I'm a businessman, did really well, really well, and Jeb, what I want to do is put that ability into this country to make our country rich again. And I can do that, and I'm not sure that anybody else in the group will be able to do that. +p3365 +aVBut I have to say... +p3366 +aVWell, in Wisconsin... +p3367 +aVExcuse me. +p3368 +aVIn Wisconsin, you're losing $2.2 billion right now. +p3369 +aVI would do so much better than that. +p3370 +aVNo. +p3371 +aVI'm using facts. +p3372 +aVEvery major business leader has used the \u2014 I never went bankrupt, by the way, as you know, everybody knows. But we \u2014 hundreds of companies, hundreds of deals, I've used ???: ... into bankruptcy. That's what's wrong with politicians in Washington right now. They think we can take a country into bankruptcy. +p3373 +aVEvery major business leader, has used the \u2014 I never went bank bankrupt, by the way, as you know, everybody knows. But \u2014 hundreds of companies, hundreds of deals, I used the law four times and made a tremendous thing. I'm in business. I did a very good job. But I will say this, and people are very, very impressed with what I've done, the business people. But when the folks of Iowa found out the true facts of the job that you've done in Wisconsin, all of a sudden you, tubed (ph), he was No. 1 and now he's No. 6 or seven in the polls. So, look, we brought it out, you were supposed to make a billion dollars in the state. You lost 2.2 \u2014 you have right now, a huge budget deficit. That's not a Democratic point. That's a point. That's a fact. And when the people of Iowa found that out, I went to No. 1 and you went down the tubes. +p3374 +aVI didn't \u2014 +p3375 +aVTotally false. +p3376 +aVI would have gotten it. +p3377 +aVI promise I would have gotten it. +p3378 +aVI promise if I wanted it, I would have gotten it. +p3379 +aVI know my people. +p3380 +aVI know my people. +p3381 +aVNo. I just will tell you that, you know, Jeb made the statement. I'm not only referring to him. I \u2014 a lot of money was raised by a lot of different people that are standing up here. And the donors, the special interests, the lobbyists have very strong power over these people. I'm spending all of my money, I'm not spending \u2014 I'm not getting any \u2014 I turned down \u2014 I turn down so much, I could have right now from special interests and donors, I could have double and triple what he's got. I've turned it down. I turned down last week $5 million from somebody. So I will tell you I understand the game, I've been on the other side all of my life. And they have a lot of control over our politicians. And I don't say that favorably, and I'm not sure if there's another system, but I say this. I am not accepting any money from anybody. Nobody has control of me other than the people of this country. I'm going to do the right thing. +p3382 +aVThat's true. That's true. +p3383 +aVI was \u2014 excuse me, Jeb. +p3384 +aVI was a businessman, I got along with Clinton, I got along with everybody. That was my job, to get along with people. +p3385 +aVI didn't want to \u2014 excuse me. One second. +p3386 +aVOK, more energy tonight. I like that. Look \u2014 +p3387 +aVI didn't want \u2014 it was my obligation as a businessman to my family, to my company, to my employees, to get along with all politicians. I get along with all of them, and I did a damn good job in doing it. Go ahead. +p3388 +aVGot along with everybody. +p3389 +aVWrong. +p3390 +aVDon't make things up. Jeb, don't make things up. Come on. +p3391 +aVDon't make things up. +p3392 +aVSo, number one, they have to respect you. He has absolutely no respect for President Obama. Zero. Syria's a mess. You look at what's going on with +p3393 +aVI believe that I will get along \u2014 we will do \u2014 between that, Ukraine, all of the other problems, we won't have the kind of problems that our country has right now with Russia and many other nations. +p3394 +aVI wouldn't have drawn the line, but once he drew it, he had no choice but to go across. They do bear some responsibility, but I think he probably didn't do it, not for that reason. Somehow, he just doesn't have courage. There is something missing from our president. Had he crossed the line and really gone in with force, done something to Assad \u2014 if he had gone in with tremendous force, you wouldn't have millions of people displaced all over the world. +p3395 +aVThey had a responsibility, absolutely. I think we have three of them here... +p3396 +aVI think they had a responsibility, yes. +p3397 +aVJeb, just... +p3398 +aVI think it will haunt him. I think it's a terrible. I think it's going to haunt him absolutely. He came back later and he said he misspoke. There was no question because I heard when he said the statement. I was watching and he said the statement. And I said, wow, I can't believe it. I will take care of women. I respect women. I will take care of women. One thing we will say and I would like to get back to the Iran situation. We're talking about Iran. The agreement was terrible. It was incompetent. I've never seen anything like it. One of the worst contracts of any kind I've ever seen. And nobody ever mentions North Korea where you have this maniac sitting there and he actually has nuclear weapons and somebody better start thinking about North Korea and perhaps a couple of other places. But certainly North Korea. And Ted and I have spoken. We've \u2014 a lot of us have spoken. We're talking about Iran. They are bad actors, bad things are going to happen. But in the meantime, you have somebody right now in North Korea who has got nuclear weapons and who is saying almost every other week, I'm ready to use them. And we don't even mention it. +p3399 +aVSo why didn't you say it? Why didn't you say it? +p3400 +aVI know, but why did you say it? I heard it myself. Why did you say it? +p3401 +aVYou said you're going to cut funding for women's health. You said it. +p3402 +aVYou said it. +p3403 +aVI think she's got a beautiful face, and I think she's a beautiful woman. +p3404 +aVCorrect. First of all, I want to build a wall, a wall that works. So important, and it's a big part of it. Second of all, we have a lot of really bad dudes in this country from outside, and I think Chris knows that, maybe as well as anybody. They go, if I get elected, first day they're gone. Gangs all over the place. Chicago, Baltimore, no matter where you look. We have a country based on laws. I will make sure that those laws are adhered to. These are illegal immigrants. I don't think you'd even be asking this question if I didn't run because when I ran, and I brought this up, my opening remarks at Trump Tower, I took heat like nobody has taken heat in a long time. And, then they found out with the killing of Katie, from San Francisco, and so many other crimes, they found out that I was right. And, most people, many people, apologized to me. I don't think you'd even be talking about illegal immigration if it weren't for me. So, we have a country of laws, they're going to go out, and they'll come back if they deserve to come back. If they've had a bad record, if they've been arrested, if they've been in jail, they're never coming back. We're going to have a country again. Right now, we don't have a country, we don't have a border, and we're going to do something about it, and it can be done with proper management, and it can be done with heart. +p3405 +aV...By the way, I agree with \u2014 with what Chris is saying, but, I will say this. Illegal immigration is costing us more than $200 billion dollars a year just to maintain what we have. +p3406 +aVCorrect. +p3407 +aVWell, I have to tell you, I hear phenomenal things. I hear your wife is a lovely woman... +p3408 +aVI don't know her, and this is a total mischaracterization... +p3409 +aVGood. +p3410 +aVNo, I won't do that, because I've said nothing wrong. +p3411 +aVBut I do hear she's a lovely woman. +p3412 +aVJeb said... +p3413 +aV... that they come into our country as an act of love. With all of the problems we that we have, in so many instances \u2014 we have wonderful people coming in. But with all of the problems \u2014 this is not an act of love. He's weak on immigration \u2014 by the way, in favor of Common Core, which is also a disaster, but weak on immigration. He doesn't get my vote. +p3414 +aVNot with this intensity. +p3415 +aVAs I said, we are spending $200 billion \u2014 we are spending $200 billion a year on maintaining what we have. We will move them out. The great ones will come back, the good ones will come back. They'll be expedited, they'll be back, they'll come back legally. We'll have a country \u2014 they'll come back, legally. +p3416 +aVWell, I think it's wonderful and all, but I did it a little bit half-heartedly, but I do mean it to a large extent. We have a country, where, to assimilate, you have to speak English. And I think that where he was, and the way it came out didn't sound right to me. We have to have assimilation \u2014 to have a country, we have to have assimilation. I'm not the first one to say this, Dana. We've had many people over the years, for many, many years, saying the same thing. This is a country where we speak English, not Spanish. +p3417 +aVThis is a reporter, not a high school kid. +p3418 +aVWell, first of all, the \u2014 the 14th Amendment says very, very clearly to a lot of great legal scholars \u2014 not television scholars, but legal scholars \u2014 that it is wrong. It can be corrected with an act of Congress, probably doesn't even need that. A woman gets pregnant. She's nine months, she walks across the border, she has the baby in the United States, and we take care of the baby for 85 years. I don't think so. And by the way, Mexico and almost every other country anywhere in the world doesn't have that. We're the only ones dumb enough, stupid enough to have it. And people \u2014 and by the way, this is not just with respect to Mexico. They are coming from Asia to have babies here, and all of a sudden, we have to take care of the babies for the life of the baby. The 14th Amendment, it reads properly, you can go and \u2014 it's probably going to be have to be check \u2014 go through a process of court, probably ends up at the Supreme Court, but there are a lot of great legal scholars that say that is not correct. And in my opinion, it makes absolutely no \u2014 we're the only \u2014 one of the only countries, we're going to take care of those babies for 70, 75, 80, 90 years? I don't think so. +p3419 +aVI agree 100 percent, by the way, with Carly on the fact that the Democrats do not want to solve this problem, for the obvious reasons, but they do not. But I believe that a reading of the 14th Amendment allows you to have an interpretation where this is not legal and where it can't be done. I've seen both sides, but some of the greatest scholars agree with me, without having to go through Congress. If you do go through Congress, you can absolutely solve the problem. +p3420 +aVThat's true, sure. +p3421 +aVWell \u2014 +p3422 +aV\u2014 let me \u2014 well, let me just explain. The head of the Yale Business School, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, wrote a paper recently, one of the worst tenures for a CEO that he has ever seen, ranked one of the top 20 in the history of business. The company is a disaster and continues to be a disaster. They still haven't recovered. In fact, today, on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, they fired another 25 or 30,000 people saying we still haven't recovered from the catastrophe. When Carly says the revenues went up, that's because she bought Compaq, it was a terrible deal, and it really led to the destruction of the company. Now one other company before that was Lucent. Carly was at Lucent before that. And Lucent turned out to be a catastrophe also. So I only say this. She can't run any of my companies. That I can tell you. +p3423 +aVI never filed for bankruptcy. +p3424 +aVI'll tell you why; it's very simple. +p3425 +aVI'll tell you. I was running \u2014 +p3426 +aV\u2014 Carly, Carly \u2014 +p3427 +aV\u2014 I've made over $10 billion. I had a casino company \u2014 Caesars just filed for bankruptcy. Chris will tell you \u2014 it's not Chris' fault either \u2014 but almost everybody in Atlantic City is either in trouble or filed for \u2014 maybe I'll blame Chris. +p3428 +aVBut Atlantic City is a disaster \u2014 +p3429 +aVWait a minute, Carly. Wait. I let you speak. Atlantic City is a disaster, and I did great in Atlantic City. I knew when to get out. My timing was great. And I got a lot of credit for it. Many of the great business people that you know \u2014 and Carl Icon (ph) is going to work with me on making great deals for this country. But whether it's Carl or so many others that we read about all the time \u2014 +p3430 +aV\u2014 they have used the laws of the land, which is the \u2014 +p3431 +aV...Well, I'd like to respond, I'd like to respond... +p3432 +aVWell, I think the thing about the flat tax, I know it very well. What I don't like is that if you make $200 million a year, you pay ten percent, you're paying very little relatively to somebody that's making $50,000 a year, and has to hire H&R Block to do the \u2014 because it's so complicated. One thing I'll say to Ben is that we've had a graduated tax system for many years, so it's not a socialistic thing. What I'd like to do, and I'll be putting in the plan in about two weeks, and I think people are going to like it, it's a major reduction in taxes. It's a major reduction for the middle class. The hedge fund guys won't like me as much as they like me right now. I know them all, but they'll pay more. I know people that are making a tremendous amount of money and paying virtually no tax, and I think it's unfair. +p3433 +aVWell, I heard Hugh Hewitt, a nice man, he apologized because he actually said that we had a misunderstanding. And he said today that Donald Trump is maybe the best interview there is anywhere that he has ever done. Now unless he was just saying that on CNN to be nice, but he did say that... +p3434 +aVAnd we had a legitimate misunderstanding in terms of his pronunciation of a word. But I would say just... +p3435 +aVWell, I think it was. And he actually said that. Did you say that? +p3436 +aVOK. So I will say this, though, Hugh was giving me name after name, Arab name, Arab name, and there are few people anywhere, anywhere that would have known those names. I think he was reading them off a sheet. And frankly I will have \u2014 and I told him, I will have the finest team that anybody has put together and we will solve a lot of problems. You know, right now they know a lot and look at what is happening. The world is blowing up around us. We will have great teams and great people. +p3437 +aVI hope that answers your question. I mean, you are in the Senate, but I hope that answers your question. +p3438 +aVNo, I don't think he's suggesting that at all. I mean... +p3439 +aVI don't think he's suggesting that at all. +p3440 +aVWell, you have to understand, I am not sitting in the United States Senate with, by the way, the worst voting record there is today. Number one. I am not sitting in the United States Senate. I'm a businessman doing business transactions. +p3441 +aVI am doing business transactions. I will know more about this \u2014 and, as you said, that was very acceptable, and when you listen to that whole interview, it's a great interview, you said it, I didn't. Well, now I did. But... +p3442 +aVListen, just one second. Just one second. +p3443 +aVI will know... +p3444 +aV...I will know more about the problems of this world by the time I sit, and you look at what's going in this world right now by people that supposedly know, this world is a mess. +p3445 +aV +p3446 +aV I'm \u2014 and I'm meeting with people that are terrific people, but I have to say something because it's about judgment. I am the only person on this dais \u2014 the only person \u2014 that fought very, very hard against us (ph), and I wasn't a sitting politician going into Iraq, because I said going into Iraq \u2014 that was in 2003, you can check it out, check out \u2014 I'll give you 25 different stories. In fact, a delegation was sent to my office to see me because I was so vocal about it. I'm a very militaristic person, but you have to know when to use the military. I'm the only person up here that fought against going into Iraq. +p3447 +aVJust excuse me, one second, Rand... +p3448 +aVIf you don't mind, Rand \u2014 you know, you are on last \u2014 you do have your 1 percent. I would like \u2014 and I think it's very important. I think it's important, because it's about judgment. It's about judgment. I didn't want to go into Iraq, and I fought it, because what I said \u2014 what I said... +p3449 +aV... was you're going to \u2014 you're going to destabilize... +p3450 +aV... the Middle East, and that's what happened. +p3451 +aVIf you think about it... +p3452 +aVYour brother \u2014 and your brother's administration gave us Barack Obama, because it was such a disaster, those last three months, that Abraham Lincoln couldn't have been elected. +p3453 +aVI don't know. You feel safe right now? I don't feel so safe. +p3454 +aVOr the collapse of the economy. +p3455 +aVSpeaking for myself, I'm OK with it. I think there's a certain truth to it. I know people that, frankly, it has no impact on their life whatsoever. There are many people. I would almost say leave it up to them, but I would be willing to check it off, and say I will not get Social Security. I do not... +p3456 +aVAs a policy, I would almost leave it up to the people. Don't forget they pay in and they pay in, and maybe they do well, and maybe some people want it. But the fact is that there are people that truly don't need it, and there are many people that do need it very, very badly. And I would be willing to write mine off 100 percent, Dana. +p3457 +aVWell, I \u2014 I \u2014 I'd like to respond. +p3458 +aVI'd like to respond. +p3459 +aVAutism has become an epidemic. Twenty-five years ago, 35 years ago, you look at the statistics, not even close. It has gotten totally out of control. I am totally in favor of vaccines. But I want smaller doses over a longer period of time. Because you take a baby in \u2014 and I've seen it \u2014 and I've seen it, and I had my children taken care of over a long period of time, over a two or three year period of time. Same exact amount, but you take this little beautiful baby, and you pump \u2014 I mean, it looks just like it's meant for a horse, not for a child, and we've had so many instances, people that work for me. Just the other day, two years old, two and a half years old, a child, a beautiful child went to have the vaccine, and came back, and a week later got a tremendous fever, got very, very sick, now is autistic. I only say it's not \u2014 I'm in favor of vaccines, do them over a longer period of time, same amount. +p3460 +aVBut just in \u2014 in little sections. +p3461 +aVI think \u2014 and I think you're going to have \u2014 I think you're going to see a big impact on autism. +p3462 +aVAnd that's all I'm saying, Jake. That's all I'm saying. +p3463 +aVWell, because she's been sitting for three hours, I think my daughter, Ivanka, who's right here. +p3464 +aVOther than that we'll go with Rosa Parks. I like that. +p3465 +aVHumble. +p3466 +aVIf I become president, we will do something really special. We will make this country greater than ever before. We'll have more jobs. We'll have more of everything. We were discussing disease, we were discussing all sorts of things tonight, many of which will just be words, it will just pass on. I don't want to say politicians, all talk, no action. But a lot of what we talked about is words and it will be forgotten very quickly. If I'm president, many of the things that we discussed tonight will not be forgotten. We'll find solutions. And the world will respect us. They will respect us like never before. And it will be actually a friendlier world. And I have to say, it is a great honor to be here tonight. +p3467 +aVI fully understand. +p3468 +aVI fully understand. +p3469 +aVI cannot say. I have to respect the person that, if it's not me, the person that wins, if I do win, and I'm leading by quite a bit, that's what I want to do. I can totally make that pledge. If I'm the nominee, I will pledge I will not run as an independent. But -- and I am discussing it with everybody, but I'm, you know, talking about a lot of leverage. We want to win, and we will win. But I want to win as the Republican. I want to run as the Republican nominee. +p3470 +aVWell, I've given him plenty of money. +p3471 +aVI will not make the pledge at this time. +p3472 +aVOnly Rosie O'Donnell. +p3473 +aVThank you. +p3474 +aVYes, I'm sure it was. +p3475 +aVI think the big problem this country has is being politically correct. I've been challenged by so many people, and I don't frankly have time for total political correctness. And to be honest with you, this country doesn't have time either. This country is in big trouble. We don't win anymore. We lose to China. We lose to Mexico both in trade and at the border. We lose to everybody. And frankly, what I say, and oftentimes it's fun, it's kidding. We have a good time. What I say is what I say. And honestly Megyn, if you don't like it, I'm sorry. I've been very nice to you, although I could probably maybe not be, based on the way you have treated me. But I wouldn't do that. But you know what, we -- we need strength, we need energy, we need quickness and we need brain in this country to turn it around. That, I can tell you right now. +p3476 +aVSo, if it weren't for me, you wouldn't even be talking about illegal immigration, Chris. You wouldn't even be talking about it. This was not a subject that was on anybody's mind until I brought it up at my announcement. And I said, Mexico is sending. Except the reporters, because they're a very dishonest lot, generally speaking, in the world of politics, they didn't cover my statement the way I said it. The fact is, since then, many killings ,murders, crime, drugs pouring across the border, are money going out and the drugs coming in. And I said we need to build a wall, and it has to be built quickly. And I don't mind having a big beautiful door in that wall so that people can come into this country legally. But we need, Jeb, to build a wall, we need to keep illegals out. +p3477 +aVBorder Patrol, I was at the border last week. Border Patrol, people that I deal with, that I talk to, they say this is what's happening. Because our leaders are stupid. Our politicians are stupid. And the Mexican government is much smarter, much sharper, much more cunning. And they send the bad ones over because they don't want to pay for them. They don't want to take care of them. Why should they when the stupid leaders of the United States will do it for them? And that's what is happening whether you like it or not. +p3478 +aVA complete disaster, yes. +p3479 +aVCorrect. +p3480 +aVFirst of all, I'd like to just go back to one. In July of 2004, I came out strongly against the war with Iraq, because it was going to destabilize the Middle East. And I'm the only one on this stage that knew that and had the vision to say it. And that's exactly what happened. +p3481 +aVAnd the Middle East became totally destabilized. So I just want to say. As far as single payer, it works in Canada. It works incredibly well in Scotland. It could have worked in a different age, which is the age you're talking about here. What I'd like to see is a private system without the artificial lines around every state. I have a big company with thousands and thousands of employees. And if I'm negotiating in New York or in New Jersey or in California, I have like one bidder. Nobody can bid. You know why? Because the insurance companies are making a fortune because they have control of the politicians, of course, with the exception of the politicians on this stage. But they have total control of the politicians. They're making a fortune. Get rid of the artificial lines and you will have......yourself great plans. And then we have to take care of the people that can't take care of themselves. And I will do that through a different system. +p3482 +aVI'm not -- I'm not are -- I don't think you heard me. You're having a hard time tonight. +p3483 +aVYou'd better believe it. +p3484 +aVIf I ask them, if I need them, you know, most of the people on this stage I've given to, just so you understand, a lot of money. +p3485 +aVMany of them. +p3486 +aVNot much. +p3487 +aVBut I... +p3488 +aVI have good... +p3489 +aVGood. +p3490 +aVSounds good. Sounds good to me, Governor. I will tell you that our system is broken. I gave to many people, before this, before two months ago, I was a businessman. I give to everybody. When they call, I give. And do you know what? When I need something from them two years later, three years later, I call them, they are there for me. +p3491 +aVAnd that's a broken system. +p3492 +aVWell, I'll tell you what, with Hillary Clinton, I said be at my wedding and she came to my wedding. You know why? She didn't have a choice because I gave. I gave to a foundation that, frankly, that foundation is supposed to do good. I didn't know her money would be used on private jets going all over the world. It was. But... +p3493 +aVBecause I have used the laws of this country just like the greatest people that you read about every day in business have used the laws of this country, the chapter laws, to do a great job for my company, for myself, for my employees, for my family, et cetera. I have never gone bankrupt, by the way. I have never. But out of hundreds of deals... +p3494 +aVExcuse me. Excuse me. +p3495 +aVExcuse me, what am I saying? Out of hundreds of deals that I've done, hundreds, on four occasions I've taken advantage of the laws of this country, like other people. I'm not going to name their names because I'm not going to embarrass, but virtually every person that you read about on the front page of the business sections, they've used the law. The difference is, when somebody else uses those laws, nobody writes about it. When I use it, they say, "Trump, Trump, Trump." The fact is, I built a net worth of more than $10 billion. I have a great, great company. I employ thousands of people. And I'm very proud of the job I did. Again Chris, hundreds and hundreds of deals. Four times, I've taken advantage of the laws. And frankly, so has everybody else in my position. +p3496 +aVWell, I... +p3497 +aVLet me just tell you about the lenders. First of all, these lenders aren't babies. These are total killers. These are not the nice, sweet little people that you think, OK? You know, I mean you're living in a world of the make-believe, Chris, you want to know the truth. And I had the good sense to leave Atlantic City, which by the way, Caesars just went bankrupt. Every company, Chris can tell you, every company virtually in Atlantic City went bankrupt. Every company. And let me just tell you. I had the good sense, and I've gotten a lot of credit in the financial pages, seven years ago I left Atlantic City before it totally cratered, and I made a lot of money in Atlantic City, and I'm very proud of it. I want to tell you that. Very, very proud of it. +p3498 +aVAnd by the way, this country right now owes $19 trillion. And they need somebody like me to straighten out that mess. +p3499 +aVI don't think they like me very much. I'll tell you what. I've evolved on many issues over the years. And you know who else has? Is Ronald Reagan evolved on many issues. And I am pro-life. And if you look at the question, I was in business. They asked me a question as to pro-life or choice. And I said if you let it run, that I hate the concept of abortion. I hate the concept of abortion. And then since then, I've very much evolved. And what happened is friends of mine years ago were going to have a child, and it was going to be aborted. And it wasn't aborted. And that child today is a total superstar, a great, great child. And I saw that. And I saw other instances. And I am very, very proud to say that I am pro-life. As far as being a Republican is concerned, I come from a place, New York City, which is virtually, I mean, it is almost exclusively Democrat. And I have really started to see some of the negatives -- as an example, and I have a lot of liking for this man, but the last number of months of his brother's administration were a catastrophe. And unfortunately, those few months gave us President Obama. And you can't be happy about that. +p3500 +aVFirst of all, Jeb, I am very happy that you denied that, and I appreciate that very much. He is a true gentleman. He really is. One thing he did say, and I mean that. The one thing he did say about me, however, was my tone. And I also understand that. But when you have people that are cutting Christians' heads off, when you have a world that the border and at so many places, that it is medieval times, we've never -- it almost has to be as bad as it ever was in terms of the violence and the horror, we don't have time for tone. We have to go out and get the job done. +p3501 +aVI would be so different from what you have right now. Like, the polar opposite. We have a president who doesn't have a clue. I would say he's incompetent, but I don't want to do that because that's not nice. But if you look at the deals we make, whether it's the nuclear deal with 24 hour periods -- and by the way, before you get to the 24 hours, you have to go through a system. You look at Sgt. Bergdahl, we get Bergdahl, a traitor, and they get five of the big, great killers leaders that they want. We have people in Washington that don't know what they're doing. Now... I agree. Now, with Iran, we're making a deal, you would say, we want him. We want out our prisoners. We want all these things, and we don't get anything. We're giving them $150 billion dollars plus, they are going to be -- I'll tell you what, if Iran was a stock, you folks should go out and buy it right now because you'll quadruple -- this, what's happening in Iran, is a disgrace, and it's going to lead to destruction in large portions of the world. +p3502 +aVOur country is in serious trouble. We don't win anymore. We don't beat China in trade. We don't beat Japan, with their millions and millions of cars coming into this country, in trade. We can't beat Mexico, at the border or in trade. We can't do anything right. Our military has to be strengthened. Our vets have to be taken care of. We have to end Obamacare, and we have to make our country great again, and I will do that. Thank you. +p3503 +asVPATAKI +p3504 +(lp3505 +VThank you, Wolf. I want to speak to you this evening not as a Republican or a presidential candidate, but as an American. As we saw today in L.A., we are at a crisis in our country. Radical Islam poses a threat to our safety not just overseas, but literally in every community in America. And yet at a time when we should be united, we have a president who has divided us, who refuses to call radical Islam what it is, let alone have a coherent strategy to defeat it. The leading Democrat, Hillary Clinton, won't call +p3506 +aVAbsolutely. It's one of many absurd things this President has said. To target a religion and say that regardless of whether you're an American soldier who has fought on our side or allies we have overseas, simply because of your religion we're going to ban you is un-American, it is unconstitutional and it is wrong. And by the way, Wolf, now there was a group that tried to do that 150 to 160 years ago, they were called the Know-Nothing Party. They wanted to ban Catholics. They thought they were going to destroy America. Well, Donald Trump is the Know-Nothing candidate of the 21st century and cannot be our nominee. By the way, though. I fault Hillary and Obama as well because by not distinguishing between Muslims and radicalized Jihadists, by refusing to acknowledge that it's radical Muslim, radical Islamists who are carrying out these attacks against America \u2014 they let Americans who are confused and angry lump everyone together. We have to embrace the Muslims who embrace our freedom and living and safety. We have to destroy those who embrace Jihad and want to engage in violence against us here or abroad. +p3507 +aVYes. +p3508 +aVYou know, I think it's very important that we do everything in our power to prevent radicalization of Americans right here. And it is happening, not just overseas, but it's happening here from Mosques on social media. And truth \u2014 interaction and community meetings. New York police department had a very active group, aggressively monitoring and using intelligence to \u2014 in certain Muslim communities, consistent with our constitution, consistent of our civil rights, so they could have the intelligence as to where these sermons are being given, and who is being radicalized. And, they stopped and prevented dozens, and dozens of attacks in New York. You know, I'm a great believer in the First Amendment, of Freedom of Speech. I wish we had more of it on our college campuses, but you can't shout fire in a crowded theater. Calling on Americans to engage in violence against their fellow Americans in the name of jihad is crying fire in a crowded theater. It is not constitutionally protected speech, it should be shut down. And, by the way, the two murders who went to Garland, Texas to massacre many Americans before the Texas police officer courageously killed them, had been radicalized here. Getting to that metadata question, one of those terrorists, the day before the attacks, had sent......109 message to a known terrorist overseas. We could not read those messages, we can not read those today... +p3509 +aV...We have got to do far better. +p3510 +aVYes, Wolf. +p3511 +aVI would pass a law requiring them to do that. Let me just give you one example. I mentioned in Garland, Texas, where that murderer, that terrorist, the day before sent 109 messages overseas to a known terrorist. But they were encrypted. So to this date we don't know what that said. Companies are entitled to encrypt and protect their knowledge and their intelligence. But what we need is a back door for law enforcement to be able, when they can establish that that communication poses a risk to our safety and engages in terrorism, to get a court order and go in and access those communications. Allow the companies to continue encryption, provide an entry way for law enforcement when they can prove to a court that there is a sufficient risk of an attack upon us that they have the right to look at those messages. +p3512 +aVAnd just one more thing, Wolf. When that murderer came from Pakistan to San Bernardino and committed those atrocious crimes just a few weeks ago, she applied for a visa. She had posted on social media jihadist messages. Because this administration is so politically correct, they have a rule that they cannot look at social media postings of people applying to come to the United States. That is utterly absurd. One of the things we must do, the next president must do is get rid of that law and make sure we do everything in our power to find out if someone poses a threat to our existence here. +p3513 +aVWolf, I think the answer is we have to send troops with allies and supporters. Wherever it is necessary to destroy the training centers, recruitment centers, planning hubs of +p3514 +aVYes. +p3515 +aVYou know, I don't think it's a function of years of going after +p3516 +aVYou know, I don't want to see us occupy a country. I've been to Iraq a couple of times and Afghanistan. The first time I went, I had an uneasy feeling that when we went there we were liberators. But as we stayed ,we became occupiers. I saw American troops move into some of Saddam's old hideous marble palaces. And I thought that was exactly the wrong message. We do not have to occupy. We do not have to nation build and try to create a democracy where one hasn't existed. WE have to destroy +p3517 +aVI'm not sure \u2014 ally with which groups? I didn't quite catch that. +p3518 +aVNot at all. Iran is our enemy. They are the number one sponsor of state terror. The Iranian Deal is a disaster. And by the way, I don't think the next president has to aggregate it. It was never ratified by the Iranians. They have tested long-range ballistic missiles in violation of U.N. resolutions. They have broken the agreement. It is void. They can never have a nuclear weapon and should not get relief. With respect to the other groups, like Hezbollah, of course we should not work with them. I'll tell you who we should work with in Syria. There are two groups. One are the PYD, the \u2014 the Kurds in Syria who led the defense of Kobani, and are in northern and eastern Syria and anti- +p3519 +aVI could create... +p3520 +aVI would create the no-fly zone, and let me tell you, something very simply. Putin is a bully, and the most important and effective thing you can do to a bully is punch him in the face. Create a no-fly zone. If Russian planes violate that space, either us, or the Turks, should shoot them down to keep our word. And, I guarantee you that Putin would back off. Bullies, when you stand up to them, back down. We have had, under Obama, and under Hillary as Secretary of State, nothing but weakness in the face of Russia, whether it was in the Crimea, whether it was in Ukraine, or now in the Middle East. I would give the Ukrainians lethal weapons so they could defend themselves. I would create the no-fly zone, and if Russian planes flew into it in violation of what we have declared, yes. +p3521 +aVI could create... +p3522 +aVI would create the no-fly zone, and let me tell you, something very simply. Putin is a bully, and the most important and effective thing you can do to a bully is punch him in the face. Create a no-fly zone. If Russian planes violate that space, either us, or the Turks, should shoot them down to keep our word. And, I guarantee you that Putin would back off. Bullies, when you stand up to them, back down. We have had, under Obama, and under Hillary as Secretary of State, nothing but weakness in the face of Russia, whether it was in the Crimea, whether it was in Ukraine, or now in the Middle East. I would give the Ukrainians lethal weapons so they could defend themselves. I would create the no-fly zone, and if Russian planes flew into it in violation of what we have declared, yes. +p3523 +aVNo, I completely disagree with Rick. This is America. And we've made enormous progress. And I don't care if you're a man or a woman. I care if you're good and capable of doing the job. If you can do the job \u2014 don't lower standards, don't lower the criteria \u2014 but if a woman is capable of doing these jobs, there is no reason why we should deny a patriot who wants to serve and help defend our country that right. +p3524 +aVIt's not. +p3525 +aVNo, you said you would reverse the policy which excluded women from those jobs whether or not they were able to do that. That is wrong. +p3526 +aVAh. +p3527 +aVYes, I think what Rick said is very different from what he said initially which was that, "he would reverse the policy that gave woman not the right but the opportunity to serve in combat." They can only do it if they're fit and capable and meet the same standards as men. And so, to reverse that policy and deny a woman who is prepared to risk her life to defend our freedom and is capable of doing everything a man could do is not the right thing for America in the 21st century. By the way, you see in Iraq, the Peshmerga, the Kurds ,many of their top fighters are women. This is the 21st century. We're not radical Islam. We want to give women the opportunity to do whatever they are capable of achieving in this country. +p3528 +aVOf course he's innocent until proven guilty. I happen to believe he's guilty. The military did a very clear and long study as to whether or not he deserted in the face of enemy and they are not court marshalling him. I don't think he should executed. I do think he will have a fair military trial, not a civilian trial, at which time, assuming he's found guilty as I think he would, he will be sentenced appropriately. But there's a bigger issue here, this administration has failed to protect us because they have treated radical Islamists as Americans who should be tried in civil court. That is ridiculous. They are enemy aliens engaged in terror against Americans. And by the way, the fact that this president is now threatening to close Guantanamo Bay when we know that time after time, terrorists he released are involved in a high level capacity helping +p3529 +aVYou know, again, it comes down to something that, as Mike said, breaks your heart. We clearly want to get them back. But the idea that by taking a journalist, for example, and holding him hostage in Iran, they're going to be able to get some of their terrorist leaders back, is simply bad policy. Israel has shown the way on this in rejecting hostage exchanges such as this and then not paying ransom. But, by the way, Mike is absolutely right. We have to do more to protect our people overseas, but then we also have to do more to help our veterans when they come back here today. We haven't talked about that. But more talking about defeating terrorism, one of the things we have to do is give our veterans the support and help that they require. What has happened at the VA is a disgrace. Give our veterans a medical card that they can use to get the best quality care anywhere, including outside of the VA system. +p3530 +aVAnd that \u2014 but that was involved in combat, where they were actually involved in a war against each other and exchanged prisoners. We have not been in a war with Iran. They have taken civilians as hostages. It's a totally different situation. And we cannot encourage them to do any more of that. +p3531 +aVYou know, I think what I said earlier is that I would create a no-fly zone in Syria. Turkey just agreed to take 3 million more Syrian refugees. The EU just came up with a funding program to provide camps for Syrian refugees, but I would also create that no-fly zone where refugees can be there. I have to say I agree with Rick, because this President is talking about taking 10,000 people from Syria, who we cannot vet. This administration, allegedly, vetted the woman who carried out the attacks in San Bernardino and never found out that she had a false address and was on social media talking about radical Jihad. Coming from Syria, it's impossible to do that check. And we know, by the way, that +p3532 +aVThank you. This debate has been about terrorism and appropriately so. I'm proud to have been governor of New York on September 11th and have led our state through and during the aftermath of that horrible attack. I vowed then that if I ever had the chance to lead this country, I would do everything in my power to make sure that Americans were safe. But I also saw a positive from that. New Yorkers and the American people came together and vowed that we weren't just going to defend ourselves. We were not going to live in fear. We were going to rise to new heights and celebrate our freedom. Come to Lower Manhattan today. You will see a magnificent tribute to those who died, the memorial and the museum. You will also see a new tower soaring 1,776 feet tall, the Freedom Tower, a symbol of our freedom, a symbol of our belief that as a free people we can soar to new heights. Give us the chance to unite Americans, not just Republicans. And this country's future is unlimited. +p3533 +aVWe need an outsider to run our party and to win the next election. Washington has become a corrupt insider game and everybody talks about how they're going to change the taxes, grow the economy. Nothing seems to change. But, by the way, Bobby, I shrunk the size of New York State's government when I left. We had reduced the employment by over 25,000 and cut taxes. But I understand that to change Washington you have to understand government as well. You can't just be an outsider. You can't just be someone who throws stones at Washington. You have to be someone who can actually bring people together across party lines. I can do that, I will do that if I have the chance to lead this party. +p3534 +aVBecky, can I comment on this question? +p3535 +aV...John, can I quickly comment on this one... +p3536 +aV...But, I want to speak on this issue... +p3537 +aV...I think it was a bad deal, but I would have voted for it for a very simple reason. Barack Obama is the first president in American history to hold our military hostage. He knew that we needed funding for overseas contingency operations, $40 million dollars that would go to support our troops. And, he was prepared, and had vetoed it, unless this deal went through. I have two sons, they both served overseas. One in Iraq, and one in Afghanistan, and I understand that we have got to do far more to help our military, help our veterans, and help protect our security. This is a bad deal, but to protect our military, I would have signed it. Uh, it's not going to be the case, if I have a chance to lead this country, we're going to reduce the deficit, shrink the government, lower the tax burden and grow the private sector because that's how you solve deficits. +p3538 +aVThank you. +p3539 +aVNo, I don't think we need a military response, but we need a coordinated response. And I have to say that I think the Obama administration has been completely lax, to say the least, in dealing with these cyber-attacks, not just by governments like North Korea, but by, particularly, Chinese and other companies. And what I would do is put in place a policy where if we know a company, say, a Chinese company, is hacking into American companies, stealing trade secrets, as we know they do every day, we will retaliate against that company and say that that company's not going to be allowed to continue to do trade with the United States. I would also look at what we're doing at the federal level and put in place what Israel has done: a \u2014 one federal agency dealing with cybersecurity and charged with working across silos to make sure we have the best technology. And, Jim, I've gotta tell you something, talking about cybersecurity. Hillary Clinton put a server, an unsecure server, in her home as secretary of state. We have no doubt that that was hacked, and that state secrets are out there to the Iranians, the Russians, the Chinese and others. That alone should disqualify her from being president of the United States. +p3540 +aVI think they have gone too far. I think we've seen Wall Street really blossom and do very well while the rest of the country is struggling, and it's because we have this corrupt connection between Wall Street and Washington. And, John, you were just talking about what loopholes would you get rid of. I would get rid of virtually every single one of them. They cost American taxpayers $1.4 trillion a year. I would throw them all out. +p3541 +aVNo, I wouldn't. I was going to say... +p3542 +aV...no, I would keep \u2014 first, yes, but what I would do is ii would lower the tax on manufacturing to the lowest in the developed world \u2014 12 percent. We all have plans. I have a plan. We all have plans. My plan, the Tax Foundation said, would create five and a half million new jobs over the next decade. The difference, though, is I will get my plan enacted because, when I was governor of New York, I passed sweeping tax code \u2014 cuts in a Democratic state with a Democratic legislature. I \u2014 you know, Bobby, you're talking about your tax cuts? I cut taxes more than everybody on this stage, more than everybody on the next stage, combined. By more than the other 49 states, in New York state. I don't just have a plan. I will enact tax cuts, get rid of those loopholes and make the system fairer for all Americans. +p3543 +aVThank you. +p3544 +aVLet me \u2014 let me try to get a word in edgewise. +p3545 +aVIn Washington, they talk over each other... +p3546 +aVYes. Very simply, you guys talk over each other in Washington all the time. I'm not used to that. I listen when people talk. We have a skills gap. You mentioned the construction company. The construction industry says one of their biggest problems are they can't find the craftsmen to do the work. What we have to... +p3547 +aV\u2014 do in America is honor blue collar work again. We have to honor the carpenter, the plumber, the electrician, who can actually build something and instead of just saying that a college degree live \u2014 delivers prestige, let's celebrate those who do things with their hands and elevate their skills using training in high school and community... +p3548 +aV\u2014 colleges so that we can... +p3549 +aV\u2014 have a better quality workforce that we honor... +p3550 +aV\u2014 as they build America's future. +p3551 +aVThank you. +p3552 +aVThank you. +p3553 +aVHey, Rick. +p3554 +aVI'm doing great. +p3555 +aVNot at all. +p3556 +aVNo, I don't support it. But let me go back a little bit here. We need to grow our economy faster. We've had the worst economic recovery since the Great Depression. And it's because of policy in Washington and policy at the Fed. And let me go back to Washington. In 2009 \u2014 +p3557 +aVJohn, no question Barack Obama inherited a economic disaster in 2009. But what did he do? Instead of focusing on pro-growth policies in the economy, he rammed through ObamaCare, the worst law of my lifetime, that hurt small businesses, hurt companies, raised taxes and almost completely eliminated one industry because of its taxes. The Fed had to act. And the Fed did act and appropriately in reducing interest rates but they've reduced them now for seven straight years, that's never happened before. They've been zero for way too long. They should raise the rates; the Fed should get out of manipulating the market and the Fed also, by the way, should reduce its balance sheet, $2.7 trillion. Let some of those bonds mature and put the money back in the banking system so our economy can grow. +p3558 +aVYeah, absolutely. I \u2014 one of the things that troubles me about the Republican Party is too often we question science that everyone accepts. I mean, it's ridiculous that, in the 21st century, we're questioning whether or not vaccines are the appropriate way to go. Of course they are. And it's also not appropriate to think that human activity, putting CO2 into the atmosphere, doesn't make the earth warmer. All things being equal, it does. It's uncontroverted. I think part of the problem is that Republicans think about climate change, say, "oh my God, we're gonna have higher taxes, more Obama, more big government, the EPA shutting down factories." That's not the solution that I see. I want Republicans to embrace innovation and technology. You know, there's one country in the world that has fewer greenhouse gas emissions than the rest of \u2014 of the world. You know what that is? The United States. Our emissions are lower than they were in 1995. Not because of a \u2014 of a government program, but because of fracking, private sector creation... +p3559 +aV...replace coal plants \u2014 government's roles \u2014 is to incentivize innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit in America. We could have far more clean energy. We could have next-generation nuclear, thorium reactors that have no risk of meltdown. We could have solar panels on every home that are four times more efficient than today. +p3560 +aVR&D \u2014 R&D credits. Let the private sector do this, develop this innovation. And not only would we solve our problems, we would have clean energy, cheaper energy here. We could export those technologies to places like China and like India so we would grow our economy, have a far greater impact globally, have a secure domestic source of energy, and cleaner, healthier air. That's the solution. Embrace science, embrace innovation and change. +p3561 +aVThe one I use the most is Uber. You know, I used to get driven......when I was governor, I had a driver. I don't anymore, but.... And it's an example of what millennials are doing to change America for the better. And I tweet a lot, too. So Uber, Tweet \u2014 Twitter and then I communicate with my family. +p3562 +aVI \u2014 I am a long suffering Jets fan. So my answer is obviously no, there's no reason to take off the day after the Super Bowl. But let me just add this. The Mets are going to win tonight. Let's go, Mets. +p3563 +aVThank you for the opportunity to be with this great audience tonight. I'm a limited government conservative and I mean by that that not just when it comes to economic issues leaving them to the state, but social issues, as well. And in that I differ from every single other candidate seeking the Republican nomination. I take the Tenth Amendment very, very seriously. I'm a Republican who embraces science and understands we have to work with the next generation of millennials to have the innovation and technology so that we can grow a 21st century economy. And I'm a Republican who understands in Washington, when you're a leader, you have to put aside partisan politics to do what's right for the people. We are one America. If we work together across party lines, there's no problem we can't solve and the 21st century will be America's greatest century. Thank you very much. +p3564 +aVThank you, Jake. Hi, I'm George Pataki, and I am honored to be here this afternoon with all of you at the Reagan Library. You know, when I think of Ronald Reagan, I think of his tremendous smile, a smile that reflected his optimism and his unending belief and faith in America and in Americans. And it was that belief in America that led to a great presidency, a presidency that led to decades of safety, security and prosperity for America. That's exactly the type of leadership we need in Washington today and that's why I'm running for President of the United States. Thank you. +p3565 +aVNo. Hugh, not at all. I have not broken the pledge because Donald Trump is not going to be the Republican nominee, period, flat out, I guarantee you that. I would vote... +p3566 +aV-- for the Republican nominee... +p3567 +aVHe's not going to be the nominee. +p3568 +aVHe's not going to be the nominee, Hugh. And let me just say one word here. This is an important election with an enormous number of challenges facing the American people. And the first four questions are about Donald Trump. +p3569 +aVNo, I would not vote for Hillary Clinton. +p3570 +aVNo, I will vote for the Republican nominee. But let me say this flat out, Donald Trump is unfit to be president of the United States or the Republican Party's nominee. Look at what he did in Atlantic City. He says he's going to make America great again? He invested four casinos in Atlantic City and he said, essentially, I'm going to make Atlantic City great again. Every one of those casinos went bankrupt. Over 5,000 Americans lost their job. And you know people who, in this difficult economic time, have lost their job and the pain that causes. He didn't lose anything, 5,000 lost their jobs. He will do for America what he did for Atlantic City and that is not someone we will nominate. +p3571 +aVThank you. +p3572 +aVOK. All right. Thank you. +p3573 +aVYeah, it's a small part of a very important issue, and let me comment on what my colleagues were saying here. We all agree you have to secure the border. We have to make sure that people come to America legally. That has got to be step one. Step two is, we have to stop releasing criminals into the communities. If you are charged with a crime as an illegal alien, you should either be in jail or be deported. You should not released, as the Obama administration has done. Of course, we should outlaw sanctuary cities and hold them responsible. But we can't ignore 11 million people who are here. What are we going to do? We're not going to send them back, despite somebody saying we're going to drag kids out of classrooms and send them back. But we have to send a message that we are a nation that depends on the rule of law, and when your first act is to break the law, there has to be a consequence. So what I would do is require those who want to have legal status, not citizenship, come forward, acknowledge they broke the law, and if they do it again, they can be immediately deported, and then do what we do in communities across America when we want to sanction someone... +p3574 +aV... and that is community service -- 200 hours working in a hospital... +p3575 +aV... working in a school, and then they could have legal... +p3576 +aVI don't -- I don't think that we should tell that child born in America that we're going to send them back. The way to avoid that is to have an intelligent immigration policy where we know who is coming here, why they are coming here, so we don't have this flood of people coming here for the wrong reasons. +p3577 +aVWe have to deal with the people who are here illegally. We can't just ignore them, or send them back. I think my policy would work to give them legal status, make them a part of an economy that will grow, and help America. +p3578 +aVLindsey, let me comment on this. Last week was the anniversary of September 11th and I was governor of New York on September 11th and led us through that horrible day. And I learned that we cannot assume that because radical Islam is a continent away, it doesn't pose a threat to us here in America. It did then, and today, I think, we are at greater risk of an attack than at any time since. We have got to destroy +p3579 +aVJake... +p3580 +aVJake, if I can comment on this. Yes, Kim Davis is different from Islamist radicalists from the Middle East. But on the other hand, we have run rule in America, an elected official can't say I'm not going to follow that law if it conflicts with my beliefs. I think she should have been fired and if she worked for me, I would have fired her. We have to uphold the rule of law. +p3581 +aVImagine one minute -- Jake, imagine one minute that was a Muslim who said I don't believe in gay marriage, and refused to perform that wedding. We wouldn't have had that outrage. There's a place where religion supersedes the rule of law. It's called Iran. It shouldn't be the United States. +p3582 +aVMy response is kind of, "Wow." You know, we're going to have a president who defies the Supreme Court because they don't agree? +p3583 +aVThen you don't have the rule of law... +p3584 +aVThe -- the elected representatives of the people always have the opportunity to change that law. The Supreme Court makes a determination, but it's ultimately the elected officials who decide whether or not that would be accepted. By the way, if I have a chance to lead this country, I will appoint judges who understand their role. They're not going to be making the law; they're going to be interpreting law that the elected officials passed. +p3585 +aVBut there's a huge difference between an individual standing up and saying I am going to stand for my religious freedom and my religious rights. I applaud that. This is America. You should be able to engage in your religious belief in the way you see fit. But when you are an elected official and you take an oath of office to uphold the law, all the laws, you cannot pick and choose or you no longer have a society that depends on the rule of law. +p3586 +aVYes, I -- I didn't agree with the Supreme Court's decision, but it is the law of this land. And I am a great admirer of Martin Luther King. And he was prepared to break the law. But it wasn't in an office of political power. It was civil disobedience, where what he was willing to do is voluntarily go to jail with his followers to send a message to the elected representatives that these laws were wrong and had to be changed. And because of his courage, we didn't ignore the courts, we changed the laws and made America a better place. That's the way to do it. +p3587 +aVYes? +p3588 +aVI would throw out the entire corrupt tax code. It's a symbol of the corruption and the power of the lobbyists and the special interests in Washington. It is 74,000 pages of incomprehensible gobbledygook. What I would do is get rid of the 1.4 million every year in exemptions and loopholes, dramatically lower the rates. The normal American person is paying higher taxes than they should because of loopholes, and one of them is that carried interest loophole. I would tax that income the same as ordinary income. I'd lower the rate to 24 percent for all Americans, but I would not give a special break to the Wall Street fat caps -- fat cats. +p3589 +aVIt's hard for me to say I'm with Donald trump on anything, but on this issue, I agree with him. But let me just make one other point. It's not just throwing out the tax code to break the back of the special interests that control Washington. It's other reforms. I would propose a law -- right now there are over 400 former members of the House and Senate who are registered lobbyists in Washington. I would propose a law on day one, you serve one day in the House or Senate, there's a lifetime ban on you ever being a lobbyist in Washington, D.C. You get elected, you go back home. You don't stay and support the special interests. +p3590 +aVCan I just... +p3591 +aVNo, I would not. I would keep that deduction. I would lower the rates dramatically, so, yes, that root that has a special carve out would pay more, but everybody else is going to pay less. I would keep the home mortgage deduction, the charitable deduction, and others. And, by the way, you know, I agree with Rick on manufacturing, but my approach is different. I would pass a rate on manufacturing of 12 percent, the lowest in the developed world so we can make this America again. I know how important those jobs are. When I work -- went through college, Christmas and summer vacations, I worked in a factory. My grandparents worked in a factory. We have the opportunity now with lower energy costs, with the world labor cost getting higher, to make things in America so we don't have to worry about China. Lower the tax burden on manufacturing, improve the work skills... +p3592 +aV...of Americans. Get rid of job killing regulations. If we're going to... +p3593 +aV...If we're going to make this America... +p3594 +aVNot on the table but I think there's a lot that does work. And that is to have a strong America, a strong military and a resolve where the Iranians know that not only are we going to reject this deal on day one and reimpose sanctions but, if they move forward with the nuclear program, their safety for those facilities will be at risk. I'll tell you a couple of things I'd do. I'd give the Israelis bombs called MOPs, massive ordnance penetrators. Give them to Israel. Let the Iranians know we're prepared to work with Israel to make sure they never have a nuclear weapon. And let me point out that Hillary Clinton, supporting this deal, she was the senator from New York on September 11th, she saw what happened at the hands of radical Islam. This is the senator who did the reset program with Russia, who allowed the Middle East to deteriorate to flames, who has lied about Benghazi and is now supporting the Iranian deal. That's the opponent we're going to have next November. We have got to win this election. Everything we say is wonderful. But we have to win and, once we win, we have to actually do what we say. I can do this. +p3595 +aVI think there are two things, Jake. Two things that we need as Republicans. First, we have to win the election. You're going to hear a lot of great ideas, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that. None of it matters unless you win the election. And the second is, once you win, you have to be able to govern successfully. You've heard a lot of fighting back and forth, you didn't get this done, you didn't get that done. That's the way Washington is today. You have to have a leader, a president, who will actually get a conservative agenda through. I'm running because I have done both those things, and I did them in one of the most liberal states in America. I got elected three times in the state of New York. Twice by the largest pluralities ever for a Republican. I ran as a Republican conservative. If I get the nomination, I will be able to get broad support and win this election, and take the White House back for our party. But more importantly, once I've won, I will put in place a sweeping conservative agenda. I did that in New York. Over $143 billion in tax cuts. More than the other 49 states combined. Taking one million people off welfare and putting them into jobs, in a state where the Democrats control the state assembly. +p3596 +aV103-47. I got them to support a conservative agenda. If I get elected president, I will make things work in Washington. +p3597 +aVFor the Republican party and for the United States. +p3598 +asVCHRISTIE +p3599 +(lp3600 +VThank you Wolf. America has been betrayed. We've been betrayed by the leadership that Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton have provided to this country over the last number of years. Think about just what's happened today. The second largest school district in America in Los Angeles closed based on a threat. Think about the effect that, that's going to have on those children when they go back to school tomorrow wondering filled with anxiety to whether they're really going to be safe. Think about the mothers who will take those children tomorrow morning to the bus stop wondering whether their children will arrive back on that bus safe and sound. Think about the fathers of Los Angeles, who tomorrow will head off to work and wonder about the safety of their wives and their children. What is Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton done to this country? That the most basic responsibility of an administration is to protect the safety and security of the American people. I will tell you this, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I've fought terrorists and won and when we get back in the White House we will fight terrorists and win again and America will be safe. +p3601 +aVWolf, unfortunately, it's the new normal under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The fact is that if you listen to Hillary Clinton the other day, what she said to the American people was, as regards to +p3602 +aVListen, I want to talk to the audience at home for a second. If your eyes are glazing over like mine, this is what it's like to be on the floor of the United States Senate. I mean, endless debates about how many angels on the head of a pin from people who've never had to make a consequential decision in an executive position. The fact is, for seven years, I had to make these decisions after 9/11, make a decision about how to proceed forward with an investigation or how to pull back, whether you use certain actionable intelligence or whether not to. And yet they continue to debate about this bill and in the subcommittee and what \u2014 nobody in America cares about that. What they care about is, are we going to have a president who actually knows what they're doing to make these decisions? And for the seven years afterwards, New Jersey was threatened like no other region in this country and what we did was we took action within the constitution to make sure that law enforcement had all the information they needed. We prosecuted two of the biggest terrorism cases in the world and stopped Fort Dix from being attacked by six American radicalized Muslims from a Mosque in New Jersey because we worked with the Muslim American community to get intelligence and we used the Patriot Act to get other intelligence to make sure we did those cases. This is the difference between actually been a federal prosecutor, actually doing something, and not just spending your life as one of hundred debating it. Let's talk about how we do this, not about which bill, which one these guys like more. The American people don't care about that. +p3603 +aVWolf, you sit up here and you listen to this stuff, and you think that so many of these people have had so much to do in this national debate, they talk like they were bystanders. You know, we talk about our military being degraded over time, and yet we've had folks on this stage who've been a part of Congress who have participated in sequester; who participated in the degrading of this military over time. And that's why I think people get so frustrated with Washington, D.C. now. That's why they're so angry with the \u2014 the electorate is so angry with everybody who is involved in government in Washington, D.C. Because if you listen to the folks up here, you think that they weren't even there; they had nothing to do with this. This is a difference between being a governor and being in a legislature. See, because when something doesn't work in New Jersey, they look at me, say: "Why didn't it get done? Why didn't you do it?" You have to be responsible and accountable. And so on +p3604 +aVWell, I think we have to focus, Hugh, on exactly what the priorities are. And to me, what I've always said is that the president has set up an awful situation through his deal with Iran, because what his deal with Iran has done is empower them and enrich them. And that's the way +p3605 +aVNot only would I be prepared to do it, I would do it. A no-fly zone means a no-fly zone, Wolf. That's what it means. See, maybe \u2014 maybe because I'm from New Jersey, I just have this kind of plain language hangup. But I would make very clear \u2014 I would not talk to Vladimir Putin. In fact, I would talk to Vladimir Putin a lot. But I'd say to him, "Listen, Mr. President, there's a no-fly zone in Syria; you fly in, it applies to you." And yes, we would shoot down the planes of Russian pilots if in fact they were stupid enough to think that this president was the same feckless weakling that the president we have in the Oval Office is right now. +p3606 +aVWell, Wolf, I'll tell you what reckless is. What reckless is is calling Assad a reformer. What reckless is allowing Russia to come into Crimea and Ukraine. What reckless is is inviting Russia into Syria to team with Iran. That is reckless. And the reckless people are the folks in the White House right now. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are the reckless people. And if you think that a no-fly zone is a reckless policy, you're welcome to your opinion. But how is it working so far? As we have 250,000 Syrians murdered, slaughtered; millions running around the world, running for their lives. It's not working. We need to try something else. And that is not reckless. +p3607 +aVWhat I say to Carla is that the first job of the president of the United States is to protect your safety and your security and the security and safety of your family. And this debate stops with me in the discussions with the FBI director. Now, listen, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I know Jim Comey. We've worked together. He was the U.S. attorney in Manhattan when I was a U.S. attorney in New Jersey. And when Jim Comey gets up before Congress and says, we cannot effectively vet these people, for me as president, that's the end of the conversation. We have to put America's security first. The American people \u2014 we on this stage need to open our ears. We need to open our ears. The American people are not whispering to us. They are screaming to us. And they're screaming to us that it's our job to actually make this government work. It's so dysfunctional under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. It's so ineffective. It's so ineffectual that the American people say, we don't trust them to do anything anymore. So I'm not going to let Syrian refugees, any Syrian refugees in this country. And it was widows and orphans, by the way, and we now know from watching the San Bernardino attack that women can commit heinous, heinous acts against humanity just the same as men can do it. And so I don't back away from that position for a minute. When the FBI director tells me that he can vet those people, then we'll consider it and not a moment before because your safety and security is what's most important to me. +p3608 +aVWell, what it would like is, we have one of the great advantages of America being the open society that we are. It is, we are not hiding things from the American people, but China everyday is conducting business in a way that hides things from their people. So if they want to come in and attack all the personnel records in the federal government, which they've done, and which \u2014 they now have my Social Security number and my fingerprints, as well as maybe some other folks' who are on this stage. The fact is, they need to be fought back on. And what we need to do is go at the things that they are most sensitive and most embarrassing to them; that they're hiding; get that information and put it out in public. Let the Chinese people start to digest how corrupt the Chinese government is; how they steal from the Chinese people; and how they're enriching oligarchs all throughout China. They need to understand that. And we need to take those type of steps. This president has seen personnel records of people who have sacrificed for the American people and for the federal government stolen by the Chinese and he's done nothing in return. This is why \u2014 this is what I said at the beginning that this administration, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton through their foreign policy, have betrayed the American people, because the weakness they've displayed has led to Putin's incursions in the Middle East and in eastern Europe, and has led \u2014 has led to significant problems in the Middle East as well, and the death and murder of lots of folks. +p3609 +aVOn September 10th, 2001, I was named chief federal prosecutor in New Jersey and on September 11th, 2001, my wife and my brother who are in the audience tonight went through the World Trade Center and to their offices just blocks away from the Trade Center. I lost touch with them for six hours that day and prayed that they were alive. Luckily, they were sent home. But many of our friends and others in our neighborhood lost their lives that day. Terrorism \u2014 radical jihadist terrorism is not theoretical to me. It's real. And for seven years, I spent my life protecting our country against another one of those attacks. You won't have to worry when I'm President of the Untied States whether that can be done because I've already done it. I want the chance to do it again to protect you, your children and your families. If you give me the chance and give me your vote I will protect America from the wars that are being brought to our door step. +p3610 +aVI don't see a lot of weakness on this stage, quite frankly. Where I see the weakness is in those three people that are left on the Democratic stage. You know, I see a socialist, an isolationist and a pessimist. And for the sake of me, I can't figure out which one is which. But I will \u2014 but I will tell you this, the socialist says they're going to pay for everything and give you everything for free, except they don't say they're going to raise it through taxes to 90 percent to do it. The isolationist is the one who wants to continue to follow a foreign policy that has fewer democracies today than when Barack Obama came into office around the world. But I know who the pessimist is. It's Hillary Clinton. And you put me on that stage against her next September, she won't get within 10 miles of the White House. Take it to the bank. +p3611 +aVWell, I wish you would have asked that question years ago when they broke it. I mean, let me be honest with the people who are watching at home. The government has lied to you and they have stolen from you. They told you that your Social Security money is in a trust fund. All that's in that trust fund is a pile of IOUs for money they spent on something else a long time ago. And they've stolen from you because now they know they cannot pay these benefits and Social Security is going to be insolvent in seven to eight years. We're sitting up here talking about all these other things; 71 percent of federal spending today is on entitlements, and debt service. And, that's with zero percent interest rates. Now, I'm the only person that's put out a detailed plan on how to deal with entitlements. And we'll save a trillion dollars over the next 10 years. And, here's the difference between me and Hillary Clinton. What Hillary Clinton's going to say, and has said before is, she wants to raise Social Security taxes. Now, let me ask you a question everybody, and, this is for the guy, you know, who owns a landscaping business out there. If somebody's already stolen money from you, are you going to give them more? Or, are you going to deal with the problem by saying, I'm going to give people who've done well in this country less benefit on the backend. We need to get realistic about this. We're not \u2014 the American people \u2014 forget about anything else, they've already been lied to and stolen from. And... +p3612 +aV...I'm going to go to Washington to stop it... +p3613 +aV...The only way we're going to be morale, the only way we're going to keep our promise to seniors is start by following the first rule we should all follow, which is to look at them, treat them like adults, and tell them the truth. It isn't there anymore, Mike. They stole it. It got stolen from them. It's not theirs anymore. The government stole it, and spent it a long time ago... +p3614 +aVSo, let's stop fooling around about this, let's tell people the truth. For once, let's do that, and stop trying to give them some kind of fantasy that's never going to come true. +p3615 +aVYou bet they do. And if I were the prosecutor, that is exactly where they would be. The fact is that this Justice Department under this president has been a political Justice Department. It has been a Justice Department that decided that they want to pick who the winners and losers are. They like General Motors, so they give them a pass. They don't like somebody else like David Petraeus, they prosecute them and send a decorated general on to disgrace. It's a political Justice Department. And, Jim, you know full well that in the seven years I was U.S. attorney we went after pharmaceutical companies. We went after companies that were ripping off shareholders. We went after companies that were doing things that were against the law. And to expand on Mr. Carson's \u2014 or Dr. Carson's question, let's face it, we have laws already. We don't need newer (ph) laws. We don't need Hillary Clinton's price controls for \u2014 again, does anybody out there think that giving Washington, D.C., the opportunity to run the pharmaceutical industry is a good idea, given how well they have done running the government? So what we do, though, is, if there is somebody who is price- gouging, we have laws for prosecutors to take that on. Let's let a Justice Department \u2014 and I will make an attorney general who will enforce the law and make justice more than just a word. It will be a way of life. +p3616 +aVJohn, I'll tell you something. You want to talk about moral authority. Let's talk about something that happened this week in the news. You know, the FBI director, the president's appointed FBI director has said this week that because of a lack of support from politicians like the president of the United States, that police officers are afraid to get out of their cars; that they're afraid to enforce the law. And he says, the president's appointee, that crime is going up because of this. And when the president of the United States gets out to speak about it, does he support police officers? Does he stand up for law enforcement? No, he doesn't. I'll tell you this, the number one job of the president of the United States is to protect the safety and security of the American people. This president has failed, and when I'm in the Oval Office, police officers will know that they will have the support of the president of the Untied States. That's real moral authority that we need in the Oval Office. +p3617 +aVCarl, are we really talking about getting government involved in fantasy football? We have \u2014 wait a second, we have $19 trillion in debt. We have people out of work. We have +p3618 +aVWell, first off, what we don't do is do what Hillary Clinton and John Kerry and Barack Obama want us to do, which is their solution for everything, put more taxes on it, give more money to Washington, D.C., and then they will fix it. Well, there is no evidence that they can fix anything in Washington, D.C. +p3619 +aVWhat we should do is to be investing in all types of energy, John, all types of energy. I've laid out... +p3620 +aVNo, John. John, do you want me to answer or do you want to answer? How are we going to do this? Because, I've got to tell you the truth, even in New Jersey what you're doing is called rude. So... We've laid out a national energy plan that says that we should invest in all types of energy. I will tell you, you could win a bet at a bar tonight, since we're talking about fantasy football, if you ask who the top three states in America are that produce solar energy: California and Arizona are easy, but number three is New Jersey. Why? Because we work with the private sector to make solar energy affordable and available to businesses and individuals in our state. We need to make sure that we do everything across all kinds of energy: natural gas, oil, absolutely. But also where it's affordable, solar, wind in Iowa has become very affordable and it makes sense. That is the way we deal with global warming, climate change, or any of those problems, not through government intervention, not through government taxes, and for God's sake, don't send Washington another dime until they stop wasting the money they're already sending there. +p3621 +aVAnd \u2014 and \u2014 and I \u2014 you know, Ben is absolutely right in saying that what we don't need to do is to send more money to Washington, D.C. to fix this problem. And that's what you'll hear from Hillary Clinton \u2014 and I've already heard from her \u2014 is that, send more money in Social Security, send more money in Medicare taxes, send more money for Medicaid, and that's gonna solve the problem. What we know is we're living longer. That's a blessing. It's a blessing that we're living longer, so we have to increase the retirement age to reflect that blessing. We need to make sure that people understand, as Jeb said before, that if you've done extraordinarily well in this country, do you want them to take more out of your taxes now and think they're gonna give it back to you later? Or would you rather take less later on? +p3622 +aVI want to talk to the folks at home. I want to ask you: Are you fed up with how Washington taxes you? Are you fed up with how Washington wastes your money? Are you concerned like I am that the debt and deficits of Washington, D.C. are endangering America's future? I've got one more question for you then. Are you serious about this election? Because if you are, you need to elect someone who's deadly serious about changing this culture. I am deadly serious about changing this culture. I changed it in New Jersey. I'm deadly serious about doing this job the right way. I'm prepared. I'm tested. I'm ready. And I want to make this our government. For the people who say we can't do it, I say hell no, we can do it together. +p3623 +aVHi, my name is Chris Christie, and I'd like to you take the camera off me and put it on the audience because I'd like to ask all of you, how many of you, raise your hand, believe that in today's Barak Obama America your children will have a better life than you've had? You see? That's why I'm running for President. because leadership is not about me, it's about our country. And, what we talk about tonight, it's not about us, it's about the people in the audience tonight, because in seven short years this president has stripped away their trust, and their faith, and their belief that the next generation will have a better life. He's stolen that from us, and when I'm president, I'm going to take it back. +p3624 +aVWell, I know Ben wasn't talking about me, I'm sure he was talking about one of the other guys, not me. As far as being an outsider is concerned \u2014 as far as being an outsider is concerned, let me tell you this, Jake, I'm a Republican in New Jersey. I wake up every morning as an outsider. I wake up every morning with a Democratic legislature who trying to beat my head in and fight me because I'm trying to bring conservative change to a state that needed it desperately. And so, everyone can talk us here about their credentials. But the bottom line is, every morning I get up, I veto 400 bills from a crazy liberal Democratic legislature, not one of them has been overridden. I've vetoed more tax increases than any governor in American history, according to Americans for Tax Reform. What folks want in this country is somebody to go down there and get the job done. And that's exactly what I'll do. So, I know this much, that what the American people want to hire right now is somebody who believes in them. And believes that they are the ones who can fix our country. I will be the vessel through which they can fix this country, but it's not about me. It's about all of you. And getting this government off your back and out of your way, and letting you succeed. I know Ben wasn't talking about me. +p3625 +aVLook at him smiling at me right now. I know Ben didn't mean it about me. One of these other guys, I'm sure. +p3626 +aVBe honest, Ben, be honest. +p3627 +aVSee, Jake, it wasn't me. +p3628 +aVI was \u2014 +p3629 +aVShe is, and so if she, based on conscience, can't sign that \u2014 that marriage license, then there should be someone in her office to be able to do it, and if the law needs to be changed in the state of Kentucky, which is what she's advocating, it should be changed. +p3630 +aVAnd why don't we do the same thing with Planned Parenthood? +p3631 +aVWe elected a Republican Congress to do this. And they should be doing it, and they're not. And they're giving the president a pass. +p3632 +aVI put it in the list, Dana. We should be doing these things and forcing the president to take action. +p3633 +aVLet's force him to do what he says he's going to do. Now I don't know whether he'll do it or not, but let's force him to do it. +p3634 +aVFirst of, Jake, I don't yield to anybody on how to enforce the law. I'm the only person on this stage who spent seven years as a United States Attorney after September 11th, and I know how to do this. The fact is though that for 15,000 people a day to be deported every day for two years is an undertaking that almost none of us could accomplish given the current levels of funding, and the current number of law enforcement officers. Here's what we need to do, and I think this is where Donald is absolutely right. What we need to do is to secure our border, and we need to do it with more than just a wall. We need to use electronics, we need to use drones, we need to use FBI, DEA, and ATF, and yes, we need to take the fingerprint of every person who comes into this country on a visa, and when they overstay their visa, we need to tap them on the shoulder, and say, "You have overstayed your welcome, you're taking advantage of the American people. It's time for you to go." If we had that kind of system in place, we wouldn't have the 11 million people we have now. +p3635 +aVJake listen. While I'm as entertained as anyone by this personal back-and-forth about the history of Donald and Carly's career, for the 55-year-old construction worker out in that audience tonight who doesn't have a job, who can't fund his child's education, I've got to tell you the truth. They could care less about your careers, they care about theirs. Let's start talking about that on this stage and stop playing \u2014 and stop playing the games. Stop playing \u2014 +p3636 +aVJohn \u2014 I'm not done yet, John. +p3637 +aVStop \u2014 and stop playing \u2014 and Carly \u2014 Carly, listen. You can interrupt everybody else on this stage, you're not going to interrupt me, OK? The fact is that we don't want to hear about your careers, back and forth and volleying back and forth about who did well and who did poorly. You're both successful people. Congratulations. You know who's not successful? The middle class in this country who's getting plowed over by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Let's start talking about those issues tonight and stop this childish back-and-forth between the two of you. +p3638 +aVListen, you know, Hugh, it's an important point. And the question is, who is going to prosecute Hillary Clinton? The Obama White House seems to have in interest, the Justice Department seems to have no interest. I think it's time to put a former federal prosecutor on the same stage as Hillary Clinton. And I will prosecute her during those debates on that stage for the record we're talking about here. The fact she had a private email server in her basement, using national security secrets running through it, could have been hacked by the Russians, the Chinese, or two 18-year-olds on a toot (ph) wanting to have some fun. No one is answering that question from the Hillary Clinton campaign... +p3639 +aVYou know why? Because she knows she's wrong, and she cannot look in the mirror at herself, and she cannot tell the American people the truth. +p3640 +aVWell, Jake, I was named U.S. attorney by President Bush on September 10th, 2001. And that next day my wife Mary Pat did what she did every day, she traveled through the World Trade Center and went to her office two blocks from the World Trade Center. And after those planes hit, for five-and-a-half-hours after that, I couldn't reach her, didn't know whether she was dead or alive, and we had three children at the time, 8, 5 and 1. And I had to confront what so many thousands of others in my region had to confront, the idea I might become a single parent, the idea that my life and my children's life might be changed forever. We lost friends that day. We went to the funerals. And I will tell you that what those people wanted and what they deserved was for America to answer back against what had been done to them. And I support what President Bush did at that time, going into Afghanistan, hunting al Qaeda and its leaders, getting its sanctuary out of place, and making it as difficult around the world for them to move people and money. And then he went to prosecutors like us, and he said, never again. Don't prosecute these people after the crime is committed. Intervene before the crime happens. I absolutely believe that what the president did at the time was right. And I am proud to have been one of the people on the stage who was part of making sure that what Governor Bush said before was the truth. America was safe for those seven years and Barack Obama has taken that safety away from us. +p3641 +aVLet me say this, Jake, is that while that may have been a fine idea that Dr. Carson had, these people were out to kill us. I stood in that region with my family, and every time a plane went overhead in the weeks after that, people's heads jerked to the sky because they thought it was happening again. You do not need to go through subtle diplomacy at that point. That could be handled later on. What you need is a strong American leader who will take the steps that are necessary to protect our nation. That's what I would do as commander-in-chief in this circumstance. And that's what President George W. Bush did in 2001. +p3642 +aVJake, you brought my issue up. +p3643 +aVYou know, I enjoy the interplay. Thank you, gentlemen. I'll just say this, first off, New Jersey is the first state in the nation that now says if you are non-violent, non-dealing drug user, that you don't go to jail for your first offense. You go to mandatory treatment. You see, Jake, I'm pro-life. And I think you need to be pro-life for more than just the time in the womb. It gets tougher when they get out of the womb. And when they're the 16-year-old drug addict in the Florida county lockup, that life is just as precious as the life in the womb. And so, that's why I'm for rehabilitation, why I think the war on drugs has been a failure. But I'll end with this. That doesn't mean we should be legalizing gate way drugs. And if Senator Paul thinks that the only victim is the person, look at the decrease in productivity, look at the way people get used and move on to other drugs when they use marijuana as a gateway drug, it is not them that are the only victims. Their families are the victims too, their children are the victims too, and their employers are the victims also. That's why I'll enforce the federal law, while you can still put an emphasis on rehabilitation, which we've done in New Jersey. +p3644 +aVAnd Senator Paul knows that that's simply not the truth. In New Jersey, we have medical marijuana laws, which I supported and implemented. This is not medical marijuana. There's goes as much \u2014 a further step beyond. This is recreational use of marijuana. This is much different. And so, while he would like to use a sympathetic story to back up his point, it doesn't work. I'm not against medical marijuana. We do it in New Jersey. But I'm against the recreational use against marijuana. If he wants to change the federal law, get Congress to pass the law to change it, and get a president to sign it. +p3645 +aVNo, it's not. But with Donald, it's a good start. That's really good. No, listen. This is an issue that \u2014 that we've gotta talk about, and we haven't talked about yet. 71 percent of all federal spending is on entitlements and debt service. When John Kennedy was elected president in 1960, it was 26 percent. Harvard and Dartmouth says that Social Security's going to go insolvent in seven to eight years. So what I say is very simple. We need to save this program for the good people out there who have paid into the system and need it. And if that means making sure that folks like Donald and many of us on the stage don't get it, that's the right thing to do because here's what Hillary Clinton is going to want to do. She's going to want to put more money into a system that has already lied to us and stolen from us. This government doesn't need more money to make Social Security solvent. We need to be not paying out benefits to people who don't really need it. We need to protect the people who Social Security means the difference between picking between heat and rent and food. That's why I put out the proposal and that's the people I'm trying to... +p3646 +aVI don't think Senator Rubio is a skeptic of climate change. I think what Senator Rubio said I agree with. That in fact we don't need this massive government intervention to deal with the problem. Look at what we have done in New Jersey. We have already reached our clean air goals for 2020. And when I was governor, I pulled out of the regional cap and trade deal, the only state in the Northeast that did that. And we still reached our goals. Why? Because 53 percent of our electricity comes from nuclear. We use natural gas. We use solar power. We're the third-highest- using solar power state. You know why? Because we made all of those things economically feasible. I agree with Marco. We shouldn't be destroying our economy in order to chase some wild left-wing idea that somehow us by ourselves is going to fix the climate. We can contribute to that and be economically sound. We have proven we can do that in New Jersey. Nuclear needs to be back on the table in a significant way in this country if we want to go after this problem. +p3647 +aVI understand. No, no, listen, everybody makes a mistake every once in a while, Jake, even George Shultz. And if that's truly a representation of what he believes we should be doing, then with all due respect to the former secretary of state, I disagree with him. +p3648 +aVI think the Adams family has been shorted in the currency business. Our country wouldn't be here without John Adams, and he would not have been able to do it without Abigal Adams, so, I'd put Abigail Adams on the bill. +p3649 +aVYou know, I've been called a lot of names by a lot of different people, and now I got to get called by names by the Secret Service? I would just say True Heart. +p3650 +aVI turned 18 in 1980, and my first vote was for Ronald Reagan. Boy, am I glad I did it. And I think the country is, too. A Christie presidency won't be about me. It will be about you. Tonight, you sit at home in your living room, frustrated that you play by the rules, you pay the taxes, you do the hard things to raise your family, yet you feel like America's generosity is being taken advantage of. That you've been \u2014 system is being gamed, and that you're turning out to fall further and further behind. Our presidency \u2014 our presidency \u2014 will be about ending that, about enforcing the law, level the playing field for everybody, and once again reward those folks who play by the rules, and think that justice means more than just the word. But it means a way of life. And I will tell you this, around the world, I will not shake hands with, I will not meet with, and I will not agree to anything with a country that says death to us and death to Israel and holds our hostages while we sign agreements with them. It will be an America that be strong and resolute, and will once again be able to stick out its chest and say, "we truly are the greatest nation in the world, because we live our lives that way, each and every day." +p3651 +aVIf you think it's bad now, you should've seen it when I got there. The fact is -- the fact is, in the eight years before I became governor, taxes and fees were raised at the state level 115 times. In the eight years before I became governor, spending was increased 56 percent. And in the eight years before I become governor, taxes and fees were raised at the state level 115 times. In the eight years before I became Governor, spending was increased 56 percent, and in the eight years before I became governor, there was zero net private sector job growth in New Jersey. Zero. For eight years. So, what did we do? We came in, we balanced an $11 billion deficit on a $29 billion budget by cutting over 800 programs in the state budget. We brought the budget into balance with no tax increases. In fact, we vetoed five income tax increases during my time as governor. We cut business taxes $2.3 billion, and we cut regulation by one-third of what my predecessor put in place. And, what's happened since? A hundred ninety-two thousand private sector jobs in the five and a half years I've been governor. We have a lot of work to do in New Jersey, but I am darn proud we've brought our state back. +p3652 +aVYes, I do. And I'll tell you why: because I'm the only person on this stage who's actually filed applications under the Patriot Act, who has gone before the federal -- the Foreign Intelligence Service court, who has prosecuted and investigated and jailed terrorists in this country after September 11th. I was appointed U.S. attorney by President Bush on September 10th, 2001, and the world changed enormously the next day, and that happened in my state. This is not theoretical to me. I went to the funerals. We lost friends of ours in the Trade Center that day. My own wife was two blocks from the Trade Center that day, at her office, having gone through it that morning. When you actually have to be responsible for doing this, you can do it, and we did it, for seven years in my office, respecting civil liberties and protecting the homeland. And I will make no apologies, ever, for protecting the lives and the safety of the American people. We have to give more tools to our folks to be able to do that, not fewer, and then trust those people and oversee them to do it the right way. As president, that is exactly what I'll do. +p3653 +aVAnd -- and, Megyn? Megyn, that's a -- that, you know, that's a completely ridiculous answer. "I want to collect more records from terrorists, but less records from other people." How are you supposed to know, Megyn? +p3654 +aVWhat are you supposed to... +p3655 +aV...how are you supposed to -- no, I'll tell you how you, look... +p3656 +aVLet me tell you something, you go... +p3657 +aVWhen you -- you know, senator... +p3658 +aVListen, senator, you know, when you're sitting in a subcommittee, just blowing hot air about this, you can say things like that. When you're responsible for protecting the lives of the American people, then what you need to do is to make sure... +p3659 +aV...is to make sure that you use the system the way it's supposed to work. +p3660 +aVThere is no... +p3661 +aVAnd you know -- you know, Senator Paul? Senator Paul, you know, the hugs that I remember are the hugs that I gave to the families who lost their people on September 11th. Those are the hugs I remember, and those had nothing to do -- and those had nothing to do with politics, unlike what you're doing by cutting speeches on the floor of the Senate, then putting them on the Internet within half an hour to raise money for your campaign... +p3662 +aV...and while still putting our country at risk. +p3663 +aVYou know what, Megyn, can I... +p3664 +aVNo, he's not lying, he's just wrong. I mean, so, there's a difference -- I'm the only guy on this stage who's put out a detailed, 12 point plan on entitlement reform and here's why -- because 71% of federal spending right now is on entitlements, and debt service, 71%. And we have spent the last hour and five minutes talking about the other 29%, and no time on the 71%, and that makes no sense. Now, let me tell you exactly what we would do on Social Security. Yes, we'd raise the retirement age two years, and phase it in over 25 years, that means we'd raise it one month a year for 25 years when we're all living longer, and living better lives. Secondly, we would means test Social Security for those who are making over $200,000 dollars a year in retirement income, and have $4 to $5 million dollars in liquid assets saved. They don't need that Social Security check. Social Security is meant to be -- to make sure that no one who's worked hard, and played by the rules, and paid into the system grows old in poverty in America. If we don't deal with this problem, it will bankrupt our country, or lead to massive tax increases, neither one that we want in this country. +p3665 +aVChris... +p3666 +aVYeah, sure. And, I don't disagree with ending Congress' retirement program. I'm a governor, I don't have a retirement program in my state, and I don't disagree with that. But, here's the news to the American people, he's complaining about the lying and stealing. The lying and stealing has already occurred. The trust fund is filled with IOU's. We can't fix the problem just by ending Congress's retirement, that's worth about, "this" much. We need to go at the fundamental problem, and the fundamental problem is that this system is broken. It has been stolen from. We have been lied to, and we need a strong leader to tell the truth and fix... +p3667 +aVWell, listen. You know, if we want to deal with these issues, we have to deal with them in a way that makes sense. I agree with what Dr. Carson said earlier. The first thing we need to do to make America stronger is to strengthen our military, and I put out a really specific plan: no less than 500,000 active duty soldiers in the Army. No less than 185,000 active duty marines in the Marine Corps. Bring us to a 350 ship Navy again, and modernize the Ohio class of submarines, and bring our Air Force back to 2,600 aircraft that are ready to go. Those are the kind of things that are going to send a clear message around the world. Those are the things that we need to start working on immediately to make our country stronger and make it better. Those are the things that we need to be able to be doing. And as we move towards dealing with foreign aid, I don't disagree with Senator Paul's position that we shouldn't be funding our enemies. But I absolutely believe that Israel is a priority to be able to fund and keep them strong and safe after eight years of this administration. +p3668 +aVWell, thank you, Megyn. Listen, I was born into a middle class family in New Jersey. My dad came home from serving in the Army after having lost his father, worked in the Breyers ice cream plant in Newark, New Jersey. Was the first person to graduate from college. He put himself through college at night. My mom was a secretary. I was appointed United States attorney on September 10, 2001. And I spent the next seven years of my career fighting terrorism and putting terrorists in jail. I'm a conservative, pro-life governor in a state where it is really tough to be both. A state like New Jersey, with lots of Democrats, but still we cut taxes, we balanced budgets. We fought the teacher's union. This president has had weak leadership, which has led to bad choices. We have got to stop worrying about being loved and start worrying about being respected. And that's exactly how I'll lead our country. +p3669 +aVWell, first I want to share a story with you that relates to your question. I was in New Hampshire last week, and a woman approached me after the town hall meeting and she said to me, "Governor, I'm really concerned." I said, "What are your concerns?" And, she said, "I don't quite how to describe it," she said. "But, every month when my bills come in, I feel this awful anxiety in the pit of my stomach that I'm not going to have enough to pay them that month." There are tens of millions of Americans living that way after the worst recovery from an economic recession since World War II. And, let's be clear, if we do not change course, if we follow the President's lead, and that's exactly what Secretary Clinton will do, we're going to be in the same circumstance \u2014 with government picking the winners and losers. So, let me be clear about what we'll do. First, Make the tax code fairer, flatter, and simplier. Get rid of all the special interest deductions. You know, the American people feel like the tax code is rigged for the rich, and you know why they feel that way? Because it is. We'll get rid of all those special interest deductions except for the home mortgage interest deduction, and the charitable contribution deduction. Everyone will get lower rates, keep more of their own money, be able to file their tax returns in 15 minutes, and, by the way, the good thing, I'll be able to fire a whole bunch of IRS agents once we do that. And, in addition, we need to get the government off of our backs. Dodd-Frank, all the different regulations, 81,000 pages of new regulation by this administration just last year \u2014 it is suffocating small business, it is suffocating the folks who are trying to make a living. I will do what I did in New Jersey......lift if off their backs. +p3670 +aVYes, sure. If anybody believes the stuff they heard from that Democratic debate a few weeks ago, there's nothing for free. What they forgot to tell was that they're going to raise your tax rates to 70 or 80 percent in order to provide all of that stuff. But let me ask the folks at home one very simple question, do you want to give Washington more control over your life? Do you think they're doing such a great job that now let's have them control what our corporations pay their employees? Let's have them control every aspect of our economy? Is Washington doing that good a job for you right now? And the fact is that if you listen to Hillary Clinton, she has made it very clear, she believes that she can make decisions for you better than you can make them for yourself. She believes that Washington, D.C., should pick the winners and losers in our economy, and in our life. And here's what I believe as a Republican, I believe the greatness of America is not in its government. The greatness of America is in the American people. And what we need to do is get the government the hell out of the way and let the American people win once again. +p3671 +aVFirst off, let me, let me just say this in response to this back and forth. For the people who are out there right now, I want to guarantee you one thing real clearly. If you think that Mike Huckabee won't be the kind of President who will cut back spending, or Chris Christie, or John Kasich, wait 'til you see what Hillary Clinton will do to this country and how she will drown us in debt. She is the real adversary tonight and we'd better stay focused as Republicans on her. Now I've forward, I put forward an entitlement reform plan. We spend 71 cents of every dollar in America on entitlements and debt service, and if \u2014 you know, Willy Sutton used to say, when they asked him why he robbed banks, he said that's 'cause that's where the money is, OK? And where the money is in the federal government are these entitlement programs and debt service. What I've said is we need to get a hold of that. We cannot continue to go down the $19 trillion in debt. So our plan will save over $1 trillion over the next 10 years and make sure that Social Security and Medicare are there for those who truly need it and also make sure that we have money to be able to reduce taxes and spend on the things we need to spend. I will also, on my first day as \u2014 as president, sign a executive order that says no more regulation for the next 120 days by any government agency or department. We are drowning in regulations. Stop and then we'll go out there and we'll cut and reduce regulation that small business owners across this country want us to do. You'll grow the economy then. More money will come into the system and we'll get more closer to balance. But the bottom line is, believe me, Hillary Clinton's coming for your wallet, everybody. Don't worry about Huckabee or Jindal, worry about her. +p3672 +aVWell, let's start with this, remember why we're in the position we're in with China, because an absolutely weak and feckless foreign policy that was engineered by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. That's why we're in the position we're in......because the Chinese......the Chinese don't take us seriously and why should they? Why should they? They hacked into the American government's personnel file and took millions of records in cyberwarfare against this country. I'm one of the victims of that hack. They took my Social Security number, my fingerprints as a former United States attorney that was on file in there. And what has this president done? Not one thing. Let me be really clear about what I would do. If the Chinese commit cyberwarfare against us, they are going to see cyberwarfare like they have never seen before. And that is a closed society in China......where they're hiding information from their own people. The information we take, we'll make sure all the Chinese people see it. Then they'll have some real fun in Beijing when we start showing them how they're spending their money in China. And one last thing. One last thing. I will tell you this, they're building those artificial islands in the South China Sea and the president won't \u2014 up until recently, wouldn't sail a ship within 12 miles or fly a plane over it. I'll tell you this, the first thing I'll do with the Chinese is I'll throw \u2014 I'll fly Air Force One over those islands. They'll know we mean business. +p3673 +aVI'll tell you, Gerry, it's interesting, if you go to New Jersey, they'll call me lots of different things. A liberal is not one of them. Um, and......I would say this. I have great respect for Bobby's record in Louisiana. I think he's been a wonderful governor and I think he's provided outstanding leadership for that state and I respect him for what he's done. And I think that all of us deserve that same level of respect. And my point is this. You know, the differences between me and Bobby Jindal, we can talk about those, and obviously, Bobby wants to spent a lot of time tonight talking about that. I'll tell you what I want to talk about. I want to talk about what's going to happen to this country if we have another four years of Barack Obama's policies. And by the way, it will be even worse, because Hillary Clinton is running so far to the left to treaty to catch up to her socialist opponent, Bernie Sanders, it's hard to even see her anymore. The fact is \u2014 the fact is that we'd better be focused on it. And I'll tell you what I'll bring to the table, the fact that I've won in a blue state, that I've won in a state that has 750,000 more Democrats than Republicans......that I won in a state for reelection after governing as a pro-life conservative......and got 61 percent of the vote. That's the person you want on the stage prosecuting the case against Hillary Clinton. +p3674 +aVI don't... +p3675 +aV..Let me... +p3676 +aV...Let me just... +p3677 +aV...Sure. It's interesting. I complimented Bobby, imagine how much time he'd want if I actually criticized him. You know, the fact is, he's done \u2014 done a nice job down in Louisiana, and I don't have any problem with the job he's done. I've cut spending $2 billion dollars, except for our pension and health care in New Jersey, which was driven predominantly by Obamacare. We have reduce the number of employees we have on the state payroll by 15%, but, you know what? The people out there don't care about any of that. You know what they care about? They care about who's going to be able to beat Hillary Clinton......Who's going to keep their eye on the ball? I'm going to keep my eye on the ball. +p3678 +aVYeah, listen. We stopped Obamacare in New Jersey because we refused to participate in the federal exchange. But, here's the bigger issue. What do you think's going to happen when Hillary Clinton's elected president of the United States? The woman who tried to impose healthcare on this country over 20 years ago? And, she was stopped then by a strong group of republicans, and an American public that said, "No, thank you." What she will do \u2014 what she will do is move us towards a single payer system. She will completely nationalize the federal health care system. That's what she wanted to do 20 years ago, and I guarantee you that's what she'll do if you give her the keys to the White House one more time. The fact is we need someone who knows how to beat democrats, who knows how to beat democrats in a democratic area. I've done it twice as governor of New Jersey, and Hillary Clinton doesn't want one minute on that stage with me next September when I'm debating her, and prosecuting her for her vision for America... +p3679 +aVI'll continue in the pattern and just say... And just say this to everybody, since it seems to be an open question. I'll tell you the thing that disturbs me the most about what's going on with the Democratic Party in Washington, that they're not standing behind our police officers across this country. That they're allowing lawlessness... That they're allowing lawlessness to reign in this country. I spent seven years of my life in law enforcement, here's what every law enforcement, 700,000, should know tonight. When President Christie is in the Oval Office, I'll have your back. +p3680 +aVYes. You know, our tax plan puts forward a highest rate of 28 percent for those who are doing the most and making the most in this country and 8 percent on the low end. And I agree with Senator Santorum, we get rid of all of the deductions and loopholes, except for the home mortgage interest deduction and the charitable contribution deduction. That means getting rid of the state and local income tax deduction, as well, because that will put more pressure on governors and on local officials not to keep raising those taxes, saying we can deduct them. And so ours will be 28 on the high end, 8 on the low end. And I will tell you one other thing. Americans for Tax Reform came out with a report six weeks ago and said I vetoed more tax increases than any governor in American history. I will do exactly the same thing as president of the United States. +p3681 +aVGerry, this has been the most political Federal Reserve I've seen in my lifetime. Now, when they first cut interest rates during the economic recession and the crisis, that was the right thing to do. But they've kept those interest rates artificially low for one reason, and one reason only. Because they're trying to politically support Barack Obama and his agenda. And it's been wrong. And what it's done, in an administration where the President has talked about income inequality, he's had more income inequality in this administration than any previous administration. The middle class is doing worse than it's ever done before. And the investor class, the wealthy, are doing even better because of this cheap money from the Fed. And here's the worst part, we had one and a half percent GDP growth last quarter. If we slide back towards a recession, you cannot lower interest rates below zero. Where are we going to go if we need help if the economy slides back into recession? And with this government- controlled economy that Barack Obama, we're moving right towards it. The Fed should be audited and the Fed should stop playing politics with our money supply. That's what they've done. It's been the wrong thing to do. It's hurting the American economy. And......let me......let me add one other thing on this. Be very aware now, because what Hillary Clinton is talking about doing, if she's president of the United States, is to make sure that the government gets even more involved in the economy, even more involved in making choices for everybody. You do not want that to happen. You need someone who's going to stand up on that stage and prosecute the case against her and prosecute it strong. That's what I'll do. +p3682 +aVThe way to reconnect Americans to the men and women in uniform is to first, and foremost, give them a Commander in Chief who respects the military, and respects everyone who wears the uniform. Starts at the top there... And Secretary Clinton says, there's no crisis at the V.A.. That send a long, and hard message to our veterans that she doesn't get it, and she doesn't respect their service. When the President of the United States doesn't back up law enforcement officers in uniform, he loses the moral authority to any man or woman who is uniform. I spent seven years in law enforcement......I respect these folks, and I will do so as Commander in Chief of the military. +p3683 +aVI want to tell the American people who are watching tonight the truth. I saw the most disgraceful thing I've seen in this entire campaign a few weeks ago. Hillary Clinton was asked the enemy she's most proud of, and she said, "Republicans". In a world where we have Al-Qaeda, and +p3684 +asVCARSON +p3685 +(lp3686 +VThank you, Wolf. Please join me for a moment of silence and remembrance of the San Bernardino victims. Thank you. You know, our country since its inception has been at war, every 15 or 20 years. But the war that we are fighting now against radical Islamist jihadists is one that we must win. Our very existence is dependent upon that. You know, as a pediatric neurosurgeon, I frequently faced life and death situations, and had to come up with the right diagnosis, the right plan, and execute that plan frequently with other colleagues. Right now, the United States of America is the patient. And the patient is in critical condition and will not be cured by political correctness and will not be cured by timidity. And I am asking the Congress, which represents the people, to declare a war on +p3687 +aVFirst of all, let me just complain a little bit. This is the first time I've spoken and several people have had multiple questions so please try to pay attention to that. Now, as far as monitoring is concerned, what my point is, we need to make sure that any place \u2013 I don't care whether it's a mosque, a school, a supermarket, a theater, you know it doesn't matter. If there are a lot of people getting there and engaging in radicalizing activities then we need to be suspicious of it. We have to get rid of all this PC stuff. And people are worried about if somebody's going to say that I'm Islamophobic or what have you. This is craziness because we are at war. That's why I asked congress, go ahead and declare the war . We need to be on a war footing. We need to understand that our nation is in grave danger. You know, what the Muslim Brotherhood said in the explanatory memorandum that was discovered during the Holy Land Foundation Trial was that, "they will take advantage of our PC attitude to get us. :" We have to be better than this. We have to be smarter than they are. +p3688 +aVI think you have to ask them about that. I don't want to get in between them. Let them fight. +p3689 +aVNeurosurgeon. +p3690 +aVWell, interestingly enough, you should see the eyes of some of those children when I say to them we're going to have to open your head up and take out this tumor. They're not happy about it, believe me. And they don't like me very much at that point. But later on, they love me. Sometimes you \u2014 I sound like him. You know, later on, you know, they really realize what's going on. And by the same token, you have to be able to look at the big picture and understand that it's actually merciful if you go ahead and finish the job, rather than death by 1,000 pricks. +p3691 +aVYou got it. You got it. +p3692 +aVRuthless is not necessarily the word I would use, but tough, resolute, understanding what the problems are, and understanding that the job of the president of the United States is to protect the people of this country and to do what is necessary in order to get it done. +p3693 +aVFirst of all, I've been talking about this for over a year. We have to destroy their caliphate because that gives them legitimacy to go ahead with the global Jihad. We have to take their energy because they are \u2014 +p3694 +aVNo one is ever better off with dictators but there comes a time you know, when you're on an airplane, they always say, "in case of an emergency oxygen masks will drop down. Put yours on first and then administer help to your neighbor." We need oxygen right now. And we need to start thinking about the needs of the American people before we go and solve everybody else's problems. The fact of the matter is, is that the Middle East has been in turmoil for thousands of years. For us to think that we're going to in there and fix that with a couple of little bombs and a few little decorations is relatively foolish. +p3695 +aVWell, you know, there's a false narrative that only the political class has the wisdom and the ability to be commander-in- chief. But if you go back and you study the design of our country, it was really designed for the citizen statesman. And we need to be talking about where does your experience come from? You know, and I've had a lot of experience building things, organizing things, you know, a national scholarship program. One of the things that you'll notice if you look through my life is that I don't do a lot of talking. I do a lot of doing. And really, it says more about a person than how much they talk. And then some people say you're weak because, you know, you're not loud and you're not boisterous and you're not rude. But the fact of the matter is, look and see what I've done. And that speaks volumes about strength. +p3696 +aVWell, it was very interesting having an opportunity to talk to the Syrians themselves. And I asked them: What do you want? What is your supreme desire? Their supreme desire was to be settled back in their own country. I said, "What can Americans and other countries do?" They said, "Support the efforts of those who are trying to provide safety for us, including the Jordanians." Of course, they had a brand new hospital, for instance, that was unstaffed because there wasn't enough money to do it. But here's what's really neat. If you go into Hasakah province in northeast Syria, that's an area that's as big as Lebanon. It's controlled by the Kurds, the Christians and the moderate Sunnis. And there are airstrips and hotels. You could settle a lot of people there. All we would have to do is be willing to provide them with some weaponry, some defensive weaponry. And we seem to be afraid to give the Kurds weaponry. We like to send it for some strange reason through Baghdad, and then they only get a tenth of it. And if we would support them, we'd have a perfect ideal there. We don't need to set this up as we either take a bunch of refugees who will be infiltrated with terrorists, I guarantee you. For them not to be would be terrorist malpractice. And we need to \u2014 to choose the right choice, not these false choices. +p3697 +aVWell, I definitely believe that he is unstable, and I do, in fact, believe that China has a lot more influence with him than we do. But we also recognize that North Korea is in severe financial straits, and they have decided to use their resources to build their military, rather than to feed their people and to take care of the various humanitarian responsibilities that they have. We can capitalize upon that. You know, we should use our economic power in lots of different ways. I think we can use that in order to keep Putin contained, because he is a one-horse show. Energy. And we have an abundance of energy, but we have archaic energy exportation rules. We need to get rid of those, allow ourselves to really make Europe dependent on us and other parts of the world dependent on us for energy. Put him back in his little box where he belongs. And, you know, we need to be doing lots of other things with the resources that we have. So economic power works just as well as military power, perhaps even better. And speaking of that, our Military needs to be upgraded. You know, you look at things like our Ohio Class submarines, they're 25 years old. Our minuteman 3 missiles \u2014 they are 34 years old. Our B-52 bombers \u2014 50 years old. You know, if we don't get the military right nothing else matters. +p3698 +aVWell, you know, the statement that I made last week, that I would leave the party was contingent upon whether in fact the party acts like they have in the past with a lot of subterfuge and dishonesty, or like they're going act now because I spike to Reince Priebus, and he assured me that the Washington Post writer had it all wrong, and that they're not be engaging in anything to thwart the will of the people. That's why I got into this race, as a member of we the people, to try bring some honesty and integrity back to the process. +p3699 +aVI've been fortunate enough to travel to 58 different countries and I thank God everyday that I was born in this country. The most exceptional country that the world has ever known. And I want to make sure that we preserve that exceptionalism for the next generation. My mother told me if I work hard and I really believed in American principles and I believed in God, anything is possible. I believe that is true, and that's why I'm not anxious to give away American values and principles for the sake of political correctness. +p3700 +aVWell, first of all, delighted to be here. My family's here, and my little granddaughter, who's three years old, said she wanted to come to the debate. So this is very cool. As far as the minimum wage is concerned, people need to be educated on the minimum wage. Every time we raise the minimum wage, the number of jobless people increases. It's particularly a problem in the black community. Only 19.8 percent of black teenagers have a job, who are looking for one. You know, that \u2014 and that's because of those high wages. If you lower those wages, that comes down. You know, I can remember, as a youngster \u2014 you know, my first job working in a laboratory as a lab assistant, and multiple other jobs. But I would not have gotten those jobs if someone had to pay me a large amount of money. But what I did gain from those jobs is a tremendous amount of experience, and how to operate in the world and how to relate to different people, and how to become a responsible individual. And that's what gave me what I needed to ascend the ladder of opportunity in this country. That's what we need to be thinking about. How do we allow people to ascend the ladder of opportunity, rather than how do we give them everything and keep them dependent? +p3701 +aVI would not raise it. I would not raise it, specifically because I'm interested in making sure that people are able to enter the job market and take advantage of opportunities. +p3702 +aVWell, first of all, thank you not asking me what I said in the 10th grade. I appreciate that. +p3703 +aVThe fact of the matter is, you know, what \u2014 we should vet all candidates. I have no problem with being vetted. What I do have a problem with is being lied about and then putting that out there as truth. And I don't even mind that so much, if they do it about \u2014 with everybody, like people on the other side. But, you know, when I look at somebody like Hillary Clinton, who sits there and tells her daughter and a government official that no, this was a terrorist attack, and then tells everybody else that it was a video. Where I came from, they call that a lie. And... I think that's very different from, you know, somebody misinterpreting, when I said that I was offered a scholarship to West Point, that is the words that they used. But, I've had many people come and say the same thing to me. That is what people do in those situations. We have to start treating people the same, and finding out what people really think and what they're made of. People who know me know that I'm an honest person. +p3704 +aVWell, you know, when I say tithing, I'm talking about the concept of proportionality. +p3705 +aVEverybody should pay the same proportion of what they make. You make $10 billion, you pay a billion. You make $10, you pay one. You get same rights and privileges. I don't see how anything gets a whole lot fairer than that. But you also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes because that is the thing that tilts it in one direction or another. And you have to set the rate at an appropriate level. Now I will say that, there are a lot of people who say, if you get rid of the deductions, you ruin the American dream because, you know, home mortgage deduction. But the fact of the matter is, people had homes before 1913 when we introduced the federal income tax, and later after that started deductions. And they say there will be no more charitable giving. We had churches before that and charitable organizations before that. The fact of the matter is, I believe if you put more money in people's pockets that they will actually be more generous rather than less generous. And it's... ... the money that they earned. And, the other thing is, I do care about the poor people. And in the system that we're putting together, there will be a rebate for people at the poverty level. But I also want to emphasize the fact that as we get the economy moving, and I hope I get a question about how do we get the economy moving, there will be a lot more opportunities for poor people not to be poor people because this is America. This is the land of dreams. And our policies should be aimed at allowing people to realize that dream. +p3706 +aVWell, putting the special ops people in there is better than not having them there, because they \u2014 that's why they're called special ops, they're actually able to guide some of the other things that we're doing there. And what we have to recognize is that Putin is trying to really spread his influence throughout the Middle East. This is going to be his base. And we have to oppose him there in an effective way. We also must recognize that it's a very complex place. You know, the Chinese are there, as well as the Russians, and you have all kinds of factions there. What we've been doing so far is very ineffective, but we can't give up ground right there. But we have to look at this on a much more global scale. We're talking about global jihadists. And their desire is to destroy us and to destroy our way of life. So we have to be saying, how do we make them look like losers? Because that's the way that they're able to gather a lot of influence. And I think in order to make them look like losers, we have to destroy their caliphate. And you look for the easiest place to do that? It would be in Iraq. And if \u2014 outside of Anbar in Iraq, there's a big energy field. Take that from them. Take all of that land from them. We could do that, I believe, fairly easily, I've learned from talking to several generals, and then you move on from there. But you have to continue to face them, because our goal is not to contain them, but to destroy them before they destroy us. +p3707 +aVWell, I think we should have policies that don't allow them to just enlarge themselves at the expense of smaller entities. And certainly some of the policies, some of the monetary and Fed policies that we're using makes it very easy for them, makes it very easy for the big corporations, quite frankly, at these very low interest rates to buy back their stock and to drive the price of that up artificially. Those are the kinds of things that led to the problem in the first place. And I think this all really gets back to this whole regulation issue which is creating a very abnormal situation. This country was \u2014 declared its independence in 1776. In less than 100 years, it was the number-one economic power in the world. And the reason was because we had an atmosphere that encouraged entrepreneurial risk- taking and capital investment. Those are the fuels that drive it. And what we've done now is let the creep of regulation turn into a stampede of regulations, which is involved in every aspect of our lives. If we can get that out, it makes a big difference. And even for the average person, every single regulation costs money. And it's shifted to the individual. So \u2014 and it hurts the poor and the middle class much more than it does the rich. They go into the store and they buy a bar of soap, it costs 10 cents more, they notice it. And the middle class, when they come to the cash register, have a whole cart full of things that cost 5, 10 or 15 cents more, they notice it. It is hurting the poor. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton won't tell you that that's the thing that's really hurting middle class in the core. They'll say it's the rich, take their money, but that won't help. You can take all of the rich's money and it won't make a dent in the problem that we're having. We have to come back to the fundamental principles that made America great. +p3708 +aVI would have policies that wouldn't allow that to occur. I don't want to go in and tear anybody down. I mean, that doesn't help us. But what does help us is stop tinkering around the edges and fix the actual problems that exist that are creating the problem in the first place. +p3709 +aVIn the two hours of this \u2014 of this debate, five people have died from drug-related deaths, $100 million has been added to our national debt, 200 babies have been killed by abortionists, and two veterans have taken their lives out of despair. This is a narrative that we can change, not we the Democrats, not we the Republicans, but we the people of America, because there is something special about this nation, and we must embrace it and be proud of it and never give it away for the sake of political correctness. +p3710 +aVProbably in terms of the applying for the job of president, a weakness would be not really seeing myself in that position until hundreds of thousands of people began to tell me that I needed to do it. I do, however, believe in Reagan's 11th commandment, and will not be engaging in awful things about my compatriots here. And recognizing that it's so important, this election, because we're talking about America for the people versus America for the government. +p3711 +aVWell, first of all, I didn't say that the rate would be 10 percent. I used the tithing analogy. +p3712 +aVThe rate \u2014 the rate \u2014 the rate is gonna be much closer to 15 percent. +p3713 +aVYou also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes. You also have to some strategically cutting in several places. Remember, we have 645 federal agencies and sub-agencies. Anybody who tells me that we need every penny and every one of those is in a fantasy world. So, also, we can stimulate the economy. That's gonna be the real growth engine. Stimulating the economy \u2014 because it's tethered down right now with so many regulations... +p3714 +aVThat's not true. +p3715 +aVWhen \u2014 when we put all the facts down, you'll be able to see that it's not true, it works out very well. +p3716 +aVSince I was attacked too. +p3717 +aVLet me just say, if you're talking about an $18 trillion economy, you're talking about a 15 percent tax on your gross domestic product. You're talking about $2.7 trillion. We have a budget closer to $3.5 trillion. But if you also apply that same 15 percent to several other things, including corporate taxes, and including the capital gains taxes, you make that amount up pretty quickly. So that is not by any stretch a pie in the sky. +p3718 +aVWell, there is no question that some people go overboard when it comes to trying to make profits, and they don't take into consideration the American people. What we have to start thinking about, as leaders, particularly in government, is what can we do for the average American? And you think about the reasons that we're having such difficulty right now with our job market. Well, the average small manufacturer, whatever they're manufacturing, drugs or anything, if they have less than 50 employees, the average cost in terms of regulations is $34,000 per employee. Makes it a whole lot easier for them to want to go somewhere else. So what we're going to have to start doing instead of, you know, picking on this group or this group, is we're going to have to have a major reduction in the regulatory influence that is going on. The government is not supposed to be in every part of our lives, and that is what is causing the problem. +p3719 +aVWell, obviously, you don't understand my views on homosexuality. I believe that our Constitution protects everybody, regardless of their sexual orientation or any other aspect. I also believe that marriage is between one man and one woman. And there is no reason that you can't be perfectly fair to the gay community. They shouldn't automatically assume that because you believe that marriage is between one man and one woman that you are a homophobe. And this is one of the myths that the left perpetrates on our society, and this is how they frighten people and get people to shut up. You know, that's what the PC culture is all about, and it's destroying this nation. The fact of the matter is we the American people are not each other's enemies, it's those people who are trying to divide us who are the enemies. And we need to make that very clear to everybody. +p3720 +aVWell, that's easy to answer. I didn't have an involvement with them. That is total propaganda, and this is what happens in our society. Total propaganda. I did a couple of speeches for them, I do speeches for other people. They were paid speeches. It is absolutely absurd to say that I had any kind of a relationship with them. Do I take the product? Yes. I think it's a good product. +p3721 +aVIf somebody put me on their homepage, they did it without my permission. +p3722 +aVNo, it speaks to the fact that I don't know those \u2014 See? They know. +p3723 +aVWell, first of all, I was wrong about taking the oil subsidy. I have studied that issue in great detail. And what I have concluded is that the best policy is to get rid of all government subsidies, and get the government out of our lives, and let people rise and fall based on how good they are. And \u2014 you know, all of this too big to fail stuff and picking and choosing winners and losers \u2014 this is a bunch of crap, and it is really causing a great deal of \u2014 great deal of problems for our society right now. And \u2014 and \u2014 you know, it goes back to the whole concept of regulations, which are in everything. The reason that I \u2014 I hate them so much is because every single regulation costs in terms of goods and services. That cost gets passed on to the people. Now, who are the people who are hurt by that? It's poor people and middle class. Doesn't hurt rich people if their bar of soap goes up ten cents, but it hurts the poor and the middle class. And Bernie Sanders will tell them that it's because of the rich. Well, I'll tell you something: you can take everything from the top 1 percent, and you apply it to our fiscal gap, and you won't even make a dent in it. +p3724 +aVAbout Medicare? +p3725 +aVWell, first of all the \u2014 the plan gives people the option of \u2014 of opting out. But I think they will see a very good option here. You know, the annual Medicare budget is over $600 billion. And there are 48 million people involved \u2014 40 million, 65 and over, and 8 million other. Divide that out. That comes out to $12,500 for each one. Now, I can tell you there are a lot of private-sector things that you could do with $12,500, which will get you a lot more than you get from this government program. And that's really a theme of a lot of the things that I'm talking about. How do we utilize our intellect rather than allowing the government to use its, quote, "intellect," in order to help us to be able to live healthier and better lives? It was never intended that the government should be in every aspect of our lives. This is a country that is of, for and by the people. +p3726 +aVI just want to thank all my colleagues here for being civil, and not falling for the traps. And, I also just want to thank the audience for being attentive, and noticing the questions, and the noticing the answers. And, this is what I am finding throughout America. People are waking up because it is going to be us who will determine the direction of our country. And, it was made for we the people, we are the ones who decide who we are, and we should never give away the values and principles that made America into a great nation for the sake of political correctness. +p3727 +aVHi, I'm Ben Carson, and I'm a retired pediatric neurosurgeon. I'm here with my wife, Candy, of 40 years, and two of my sons, and their wives. I stress the pediatric part of my career because the reason that I've gotten involved in this race is because I'm very concerned about the future of our children, and the direction of our country is one that does not portend well, unless we, the people, intervene and retake our rightful place at the pinnacle. +p3728 +aVTypically, politicians do things that are politically expedient. And they are looking for whatever their particular goal is. That is not the reason that I have gotten into this thing. I'm extraordinary concerned about the direction of this country, the divisiveness that is going on, fiscal irresponsibility, the failure to take a leadership position in the world. All of those things will lead to a situation where the next generation will not have a chance that we've had now. So I don't \u2014 I don't want to really get into describing who's a politician and who's not a politician, but I think the people have kind of made that decision for themselves already, and will continue to do so as time goes on. +p3729 +aVJake, can I say something about that? +p3730 +aVYou know, when I entered this race, all the political pundits said it's impossible; you can't do it because you're not connected with the money. And there's no way that you can raise what you need in order to compete successfully. I in no way am willing to get in the bed with special interest group or lick the boots of billionaires. I have said to the people if they want me to do this, please get involved. And we now have over 500,000 donations, and the money is coming in. But the pundits forgot about one thing, and that is the people. And they are really in charge. +p3731 +aVWell, first of all, I recognize that we have an incredible illegal immigration problem. I was down in Arizona a few weeks ago at the border. I mean, the fences that were there were not manned, and those are the kind of fences when I was a kid that would barely slow us down. So, I don't see any purpose in having that. Now, what we need to do is look at something that actually works. Yuma County, Arizona. They stop 97 percent of the illegal immigrants through there. They put in a double fence with a road so that there was quick access by the enforcement people. If we don't seal the border, the rest of this stuff clearly doesn't matter. It's kind of ridiculous all the other things we talk about. We have the ability to do it, we don't have the will to do it. There was one area where they had cut a hole in the fence, and to repair it, they put a few strands of barb wire across. Well, the photographers who were there with us, they wanted to photograph us from the side of the Mexicans, and they went through there, and they were not physically fit people, and they took their cameras and things with them, and shot us from the other side. That's how easy it is to get across. And, the drugs, I mean, it goes on, and on, and on. ICE tells them to release these people, 67,000 criminals released... +p3732 +aV...on to our property, it's ridiculous. +p3733 +aVWell, I have also said, if anybody knows how to do that, that I would be willing to listen. And, if they can, you know, specify exactly how that's going to be done, and what the cost, and it sounds reasonable, then I think it's worth discussing... +p3734 +aVNot exactly what I said. +p3735 +aVWell, what I said, after we seal the borders, after we turn off the spigot that dispenses all the goodies so we don't have people coming in here, including employment, that people who had a pristine record, we should consider allowing them to become guest workers, primarily in the agricultural sphere, because that's the place where Americans don't seem to want to work. That's what I said. And they have a six-month period to do that. If they don't do it within that time period, then they become illegal, and as illegals, they will be treated as such. +p3736 +aVCan I \u2014 can I \u2014 can I just... +p3737 +aVCan I correct... +p3738 +aVOK. +p3739 +aVMy plan is not amnesty for a number of reasons. Number one, you know, I've talked to farmers, and they said they cannot hire Americans to do the kind of job that I'm talking about. And the second reason is because the individuals who register as guest workers, they don't get to vote, they are not American citizens, and they don't get the rights and privileges of American citizens. So that's key. But the other thing that I want to bring up is, I mentioned something earlier. I think it was just sort of glossed over. I talked about the success in Yuma County, I mean, incredible success, and the Department of Justice said, "No, we don't want to do that. That's too successful." We don't have to keep reinventing the wheel. All we have to do is look at things that work. All we have to do is use a little common sense. +p3740 +aVIt's all about America. You know, the people who say the guy who paid a billion dollars because he had 10, he has still got $9 billion left, that's not fair, we need to take more of his money. That's called socialism. That doesn't work so well. What made America into a great nation was the fact that we said, that guy just put in $1 billion, let's create an environment that's even more conducive to his success so that next year he can put in $2 billion. And that's the kind of thing that helps us to grow. We can't grow by continuing to take a piece of pie, and dividing it, and redistributing it. But, I'm also looking at what doctor \u2014 at what Governor Huckabee talked about... +p3741 +aVThe Fair Tax. Looking at both of them, and evaluating them both, and I'm talking to the American people because one of the things we must recognize is that this country is of, for, and by the people. And, it's really time that the government get out of the way, and let the people be the ones who decide how they want to run their country. +p3742 +aVWell, first of all, let me say what I actually said about raising the minimum wage. I was asked should it be raised, I said, probably, or possibly. But, what I added, which I think is the most important thing, so, I said we need to get both sides of this issue to sit down, and talk about it. Negotiate a reasonable minimum wage, and index that so that we never have to have this conversation again in the history of America. I think we also have to have two minimum wages, a starter, and a sustaining because how are young people ever going to get a job if you have such a high minimum wage that it makes it impractical to hire them... +p3743 +aVJake, Jake... +p3744 +aVI haven't had an opportunity to weigh in on foreign policy, and I just want to mention that when the war, when the issue occurred in 2003, I suggested to President Bush that he not go to war? OK. So I just want that on the record. And, you know, a lot of people are very much against us getting involved right now with global jihadism. And they refer back to our invasion of Iraq. And they seem to think that that was what caused it. What caused it was withdrawing from there and creating a vacuum which allowed this terrible situation to occur. But it is very different from what is going on today. We're talking about global jihadists who actually want to destroy us. They are an existential threat to our nation. And we have to be mature enough to recognize that our children will have no future if we put our heads in the sand. We have to recognize we have two choices. We either allow them the continue to progress and appear to be the winners, or we use every resource available to us to destroy... +p3745 +aV... them first. +p3746 +aVWell, recognize that, you know, President George W. Bush is a great friend of ours, and we spent many wonderful days at the White House. I haven't been there in the last seven years. I probably have to have a food-tester. But at any rate, I didn't suggest that nothing be done. What I suggested to President Bush is to be Kennedy-esque, in the sense that when the Russians got ahead of us in the space race, what we did is use the bully pulpit to galvanize everybody, business, industry, academia behind a national goal to put a man on the moon and bring him back safely. I said, you can do the same kind of thing. Declare that within five to 10 years we will become petroleum independent. The moderate Arab states would have been so concerned about that, they would have turned over Osama bin Laden and anybody else you wanted on a silver platter within two weeks. There are smart ways to do things and there are muscular ways to do things. And sometimes you have to look at both of those to come up with the right solution. +p3747 +aVI have no argument with having a strong leader, and to be aggressive where aggression is needed. But it is not needed in every circumstance. There is a time when you can use your intellect to come up with other ways to do things. And I think that's what we have to start thinking about. There is no question that a lot of these problems that we have been talking about in terms of the international situation is because we are weak. It is because our Navy is so small. It is because our Air Force is incapable of doing the same things that it did a few years ago. It's because our Marines Corps is not ready to be deployed. +p3748 +aVThere are a lot of problems that are going on, and we need to solve those problems, we need to build up our military... +p3749 +aVWell, let me put it this way, there has \u2014 there have been numerous studies, and they have not demonstrated that there is any correlation between vaccinations and autism. This was something that was spread widely 15 or 20 years ago, and it has not been adequately, you know, revealed to the public what's actually going on. Vaccines are very important. Certain ones. The ones that would prevent death or crippling. There are others, there are a multitude of vaccines which probably don't fit in that category, and there should be some discretion in those cases. But, you know, a lot of this is \u2014 is \u2014 is pushed by big government. And I think that's one of the things that people so vehemently want to get rid of, big government. You know, we have 4.1 million federal employees. Six hundred and fifty federal agencies and department (sic). That's why they have to take so much of our taxes. +p3750 +aVWell, you know, I've just explained it to him. He can read about it if he wants to. I think he's an intelligent man and will make the correct decision after getting the real facts. +p3751 +aVHe's an OK doctor. But, you know, the fact of the matter is, we have extremely well-documented proof that there's no autism associated with vaccinations. But it is true that we are probably giving way too many in too short a period of time. And a lot of pediatricians now recognize that, and, I think, are cutting down on the number and the proximity in which those are done, and I think that's appropriate. +p3752 +aVI'd put my mother on there. You know, she was one of 24 children, got married at age 13, had only a third grade education, had to raise two sons by herself, refused to be a victim. Wouldn't let us be victims, and has been an inspiration to many people. +p3753 +aVOne Nation. +p3754 +aVWell, you know, I was a radical Democrat before I started listening to Ronald Reagan. And he didn't sound like what they said Republicans were. He sounded logical. And I hope that I sound logical also. Because when I look at what is going on with the United States of America, I see a lot of things that are not logical. I see us allowing people to divide us, when in fact our strength is in our unity. I see people exercising the most irresponsible fiscal habits that anyone could possibly do. And hiding it from the American people, so that the majority of people have no idea what our financial situation is. So, when someone comes along and says, free college, free phones, free this and that, and the other, they say, "wow, that's nice," having no idea that they're destabilizing our position. And I think also that Ronald Reagan was a master at understanding that a pinnacle nation has to be a nation that leads. If we learn to lead in the Middle East right now, a coalition will form behind us, but never they do it if we just sit there and talk about it. Real leadership is what I would hopefully bring to America. +p3755 +aVWell, I could take issue with -- with all of those things, but we don't have time. But I will say, we have a debate here tonight, and we will have an opportunity to explore those areas, and I'm looking very much forward to demonstrating that, in fact, the thing that is probably most important is having a brain, and to be able to figure things out and learn things very rapidly. So, you know, experience comes from a large number of different arenas, and America became a great nation early on not because it was flooded with politicians, but because it was flooded with people who understood the value of personal responsibility, hard work, creativity, innovation, and that's what will get us on the right track now, as well. +p3756 +aVWell, thank you, Megyn, I wasn't sure I was going to get to talk again. +p3757 +aVAlright. You know, what we do in order to get the information that we need is our business, and I wouldn't necessarily be broadcasting what we're going to do. We. . .uh. . .we've gotten into this -- this mindset of fighting politically correct wars. There is no such thing as a politically correct war. And, the left, of course, will say Carson doesn't believe in the Geneva Convention. Carson doesn't believe in fighting stupid wars. And -- and what we have to remember is we want to utilize the tremendous intellect that we have in the military to win wars. And I've talked to a lot of the generals, a lot of our advanced people. And believe me, if we gave them the mission, which is what the commander-in-chief does, they would be able to carry it out. And if we don't tie their hands behind their back, they will do it......extremely effectively. +p3758 +aVWhat I agree with is that we need a significantly changed taxation system. And the one that I've advocated is based on tithing, because I think God is a pretty fair guy. And he said, you know, if you give me a tithe, it doesn't matter how much you made. If you've had a bumper crop, you don't owe me triple tithes. And if you've had no crops at all, you don't owe me no tithes. So there must be something inherently fair about that. And that's why I've advocated a proportional tax system. You make $10 billion, you pay a billion. You make $10, you pay one. And everybody gets treated the same way. And you get rid of the deductions, you get rid of all the loopholes, and... +p3759 +aVAnd I have a lot more to say about it. +p3760 +aVIf Hillary is the candidate, which I doubt, that would be a dream come true. But you know, the fact of the matter is, she is the epitome of the progressive -- the secular progressive movement. And she counts on the fact that people are uninformed, the Alinsky Model, taking advantage of useful idiots. Well, I just happen to believe that people are not stupid. And the way I will come at it is to educate people, help people to actually understand that it is that progressive movement that is causing them the problems. You know, you look at the -- the national debt and how it's being driven up. If I was trying to destroy this country, what I would do is find a way to drive wedges between all the people, drive the debt to an unsustainable level, and then step off the stage as a world leader and let our enemies increase while we decreased our capacity as a military person. And that's what she's doing. +p3761 +aVWell, what we have to stop and think about is that we have weakened ourselves militarily to such an extent that if affects all of our military policies. Our Navy is at its smallest size since 1917; our Air Force, since 1940. In recent testimony, the commandant of the Marine Corps said half of the non-deployed units were not ready and you know, the sequester is cutting the heart out of our personnel. Our generals are retiring because they don't want to be part of this, and at the same time, our enemies are increasing. Our -- our friends can't trust us anymore. You know, Ukraine was a nuclear-armed state. They gave away their nuclear arms with the understanding that we would protect them. We won't even give them offensive weapons. You know, we turned our back on Israel, our ally. You know, in a situation like that, of course Obama's not going to be able to do anything. I would shore up our military first, because if you don't get the military right, nothing else is going to work. +p3762 +aVWell, I think the bully pulpit is a wonderful place to start healing that divide. You know, we have the purveyors of hatred who take every single incident between people of two races and try to make a race war out of it, and drive wedges into people. And this does not need to be done. What we need to think about instead -- you know, I was asked by an NPR reporter once, why don't I talk about race that often. I said it's because I'm a neurosurgeon. And she thought that was a strange response. And you say -- I said, you see, when I take someone to the operating room, I'm actually operating on the thing that makes them who they are. The skin doesn't make them who they are. The hair doesn't make them who they are. And it's time for us to move beyond that. Because......our strength as a nation comes in our unity. We are the United States of America, not the divided states. And those who want to destroy us are trying to divide us, and we shouldn't let them do it. +p3763 +aVWell, I haven't said anything about me being the only one to do anything, so let me try that. I'm the only one to separate Siamese twins... The -- the only one to operate on babies while they were still in mother's womb, the only one to take out half of a brain, although you would think, if you go to Washington, that someone had beat me to it. But I -- but I'm very hopeful that I'm not the only one who's willing to pick up the baton of freedom, because freedom is not free, and we must fight for it every day. Every one of us must fight for it, because we're fighting for our children and the next generation. +p3764 +asVQUINTANILLA +p3765 +(lp3766 +VGood evening, I'm Carl Quintanilla, with my colleagues Becky Quick and John Harwood. We'll be joined tonight by some of +p3767 +aVGovernor? +p3768 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p3769 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Bush. +p3770 +aVSenator Rubio. +p3771 +aVMr. Trump? +p3772 +aVDr. Carson? +p3773 +aVMrs. Fiorina? +p3774 +aVFixed it. +p3775 +aVSenator Cruz? +p3776 +aVGovernor Christie? +p3777 +aVSenator Paul? +p3778 +aVThanks to all the candidates. John? +p3779 +aVHold it. We'll cut it back to you in just a minute. Becky's moving on. +p3780 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor. thank you, Governor. +p3781 +aVMr. Trump, 30 seconds. +p3782 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3783 +aVWe're going to try to move on. +p3784 +aVYou want to bring 70,000 pages to three? +p3785 +aVIs that using really small type? +p3786 +aVIs that using really small type? +p3787 +aVMrs. Fiorina \u2014 +p3788 +aVWe're going to \u2014 +p3789 +aVWe will come around the bend, i promise. This one is for Senator Rubio. You've been a young man in a hurry ever since you won your first election in your 20s. You've had a big accomplishment in the Senate, an immigration bill providing a path to citizenship the conservatives in your party hate, and even you don't support anymore. Now, you're skipping more votes than any senator to run for president. Why not slow down, get a few more things done first or least finish what you start? +p3790 +aVSo when the Sun-Sentinel says Rubio should resign, not rip us off, when they say Floridians sent you to Washington to do a job, when they say you act like you hate your job, do you? +p3791 +aVWell, do you hate your job? +p3792 +aVIs that the standard? +p3793 +aVSenator, thank you. John. +p3794 +aVThank you, Senator. +p3795 +aVSenator Cruz. Congressional Republicans, Democrats and the White House are about to strike a compromise that would raise the debt limit, prevent a government shutdown and calm financial markets that fear of \u2014 another Washington-created crisis is on the way. Does your opposition to it show that you're not the kind of problem-solver American voters want? +p3796 +aV do we get credit ? +p3797 +aVSo, this is a question about , which you have 30 seconds left to answer, should you choose to do so. +p3798 +aVOK. I asked you about the debt limit and I got no answer. +p3799 +aVWe promised we would get to everyone this block. Governor Huckabee, I'm going to give you 60 seconds on this. +p3800 +aV...Governor... +p3801 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p3802 +aV...Senator Cruz... +p3803 +aVOK, alright. +p3804 +aVSenator Cruz... +p3805 +aV...Before we go to break, we're clearly not having that beer you mentioned, but I'll give you 30 more seconds... +p3806 +aVOK. +p3807 +aVI'll give you 30 seconds to respond... +p3808 +aVRespond on the debt limit, or an answer to the governor, which ever you choose. +p3809 +aV30 seconds, Governor Huckabee. +p3810 +aVGovernor, thank you. We will take a break. The Republican Presidential debate, live from Boulder, Colorado, coming back after a break on +p3811 +aVMrs. Fiorina, in 2010, while running for Senate in Tech Ridge (ph), California, you called an Internet sales tax a bad idea. Traditional brick and mortar stores obviously disagree. Now that the Internet shopping playing field has matured, what would be a fair plan to even that playing field? +p3812 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p3813 +aVOK. +p3814 +aVThank you very much. +p3815 +aVDr. Carson, we know you as a physician, but we wanted to ask you about your involvement on some corporate boards, including Costco's. Last year, a marketing study called the warehouse retailer the number one gay-friendly brand in America, partly because of its domestic partner benefits. Why would you serve on a company whose policies seem to run counter to your views on homosexuality? +p3816 +aVOne more question. This is a company called Mannatech, a maker of nutritional supplements, with which you had a 10-year relationship. They offered claims that they could cure autism, cancer, they paid $7 million to settle a deceptive marketing lawsuit in Texas, and yet you're involvement continued. Why? +p3817 +aVTo be fair, you were on the homepage of their website with the logo over your shoulder \u2014 +p3818 +aVDoes that not speak to your vetting process or judgment in any way. +p3819 +aVApparently. We will take a break. We'll be back in Boulder in just a minute. +p3820 +aV...We'll come back around. I want to get to governor Kasich. +p3821 +aVGovernor Kasich, let's talk ... +p3822 +aV...about Marijuana, Governor Kasich... +p3823 +aVAlright, but 30 seconds, you made a case. Sure, 30 seconds. +p3824 +aVSenator, thank you. +p3825 +aVOh, no, no, no... +p3826 +aV...Ok... +p3827 +aV...We're going to go to... +p3828 +aVOK. Thank you, Senator. Governor Kasich, let's talk about marijuana. We're broadcasting from Colorado which has seen $150 million in new revenue for the state since legalizing last year. Governor Hickenlooper is not a big fan of legalization, but he's said the people who used to be smoking it are still smoking it, they're just now paying taxes. Given the budget pressures in Ohio, and other states, is this a revenue stream you'd like to have? +p3829 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3830 +aVThank you. We'll be back from Boulder, Colorado in just a moment. +p3831 +aVMr. Trump, you've said you have a special permit to carry a gun in New York. +p3832 +aVAfter the Oregon mass shooting on October 1st, you said, "By the way, it was a gun-free zone. If you had a couple of teachers with guns, you would have been a hell of a lot better off." +p3833 +aVWould you feel more comfortable if your employees brought guns to work? +p3834 +aVAre you carrying one now? +p3835 +aVWe called a few Trump resorts, a few Trump properties that \u2014 that do not allow guns with or without a permit. Would you change those policies? +p3836 +aVOK. All right. Thank you. John? +p3837 +aVGovernor Bush, daily fantasy sports has become a phenomenon in this country, will award billions of dollars in prize money this year. But to play you have to assess your odds, put money at risk, wait for an outcome that's out of your control. Isn't that the definition of gambling, and should the Federal Government treat it as such? +p3838 +aVI had a feeling you were going to brag about that. +p3839 +aVThis is the\u2014 well, we're going to take a break. We want to save time for closing statements after the break. So this is the Republican presidential debate in Boulder, and we'll be right back. +p3840 +aVSenator Rubio... +p3841 +aV...yeah, I just wanted . +p3842 +aVI want to give you 30 seconds here. +p3843 +aVThat concludes tonight's debate. On behalf of my colleagues Becky Quick, John Harwood, Sharon Epperson, Rick Santelli and Jim Cramer, we'd like to our host, the University of Colorado at Boulder, the Republican National Committee, the candidates and, of course, tonight's audience. +p3844 +aV...Question, in the meantime, for Senator Santorum. You have advocated a flat tax, so we'd like to ask you about fairness. Why is it fair to tax all Americans at the same rate, as opposed to taxing more affluent Americans at higher rates? +p3845 +aVSenator, thank you. John \u2014 Becky? +p3846 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live in boulder, Colorado, on cNBC. We resume our questions now with Jim Cramer, the host of +p3847 +aVSenator Graham. You have said you believe that climate change is real. You've said you accept tax increases as part of a budget deal with Democrats. You've co-sponsored a Senate immigration bill providing a path to citizenship for those in the country illegally. Are you in the wrong party's debate? +p3848 +aVMy question for Governor Jindal, Paul Ryan says he would take the speaker job if it did not take away from his family time. The Department of Labor says 13 percent of American workers are eligible for paid family leave and the U.S. is the only developed nation in the world not to have guaranteed paid maternity leave for new moms. Should the government work to change that? +p3849 +aVGovernor, thank you. John? +p3850 +ag2975 +aVWelcome back to the University of Colorado, and the Republican Presidential Debate on +p3851 +aVWell, let's get to that. I mean, another example, for example, is Walgreens. +p3852 +aVI'm sure you do. Walgreens/Rite Aid. Big deal, consolidation in drug stores, semiconductors, food. What is the line at which something becomes anti-competitive in your view? +p3853 +aVSenator. +p3854 +aVThank you. Becky. +p3855 +aVQuestion for Senator Santorum. +p3856 +aVAfter this question maybe. The 2015 Nobel Prize winner for economics argues that slow growth causes poverty, and that leads to inequality. What would you do to ease inequality? And what would you do solve poverty? By the way, thanks to Larry Kudlow, +p3857 +aVGovernor Jindal, I'll give you 30 seconds on this. +p3858 +aVWe've got one more. One more lightning round. Governor Jindal, should the day after the Super Bowl be a national holiday? +p3859 +aVSenator? +p3860 +aVGovernor? +p3861 +aVFinally, Senator? +p3862 +aVThat concludes our first part of the evening. +p3863 +asVGILMORE +p3864 +(lp3865 +VWell, Bill, can I first... +p3866 +aVWell, first of all, Bill, let me say one thing, I have been in Iowa. But this is not the place where I'm choosing to begin my campaign. I am beginning my campaign in New Hampshire and I decided to do that based upon the process that is in place in Iowa and the primary that's in place in New Hampshire. But never mind that, I want to return to something. I'm the only veteran, Bill and Martha in this race. And I'm not going to any Donald Trump event over across town on some sort of faux veteran sort of issue. I'm going to speak to you tonight about the issue that really confronts veterans. I'm going to talk to you about the concerns that they have got with the veterans administration. The lousy appeals process that they have got. The fact that sometimes they get good service at the V.A. and sometimes they don't and the fact that post traumatic stress syndrome is not properly recognized. That psychology positions are unavailable in the Veterans Administration. And I will say this to you -- as the only veteran in -- in this race, when I become president of the United States, the veterans are going to be treated with respect and competently in success in the Veterans' Administration in this country. +p3867 +aVFirst of all, Bill, I think that Gitmo ought to remain open. But I also want to point out to you that what you are saying is the exact right topic to all of these other candidates. And that's this international challenge that we are facing, the international war that America is in, even to this day. And I'm the candidate who is best qualified to deal with this issue. A degree in foreign policy in Russian area studies. I'm the only United States Army veteran having gone to Europe during the Cold War as United States Army Intelligence agent, the governor during the 9/11 attack, the chairman of the National Commission on Homeland Security for the United States for five years. And this is what I will do. If I become the president, I'm going to rebuild the United States military. We're going to take the sequester off the defense budget. Give the Navy the ships it needs. Refit the United States Army. Refit the United States Marine Corps. And on this international guerrilla war, we need to recognize our Special Forces, our intelligence community, and the people that we need in order to really protect us. And finally, this war of ideas, we must win this. We must say to the world that radical Islamism is the threat. It isn't just confined to +p3868 +aVHey, did you miss me? Did you skip me? +p3869 +aVI'm going to have something to say about this, but you just keep going. +p3870 +aVYes, I'll be there. +p3871 +aVYou know, Martha, it may be out of the barn in that the Iranians may be moving towards a nuclear program, because this nuclear deal actually gives them a time frame up the road when they are going to be able to do that kind of program. And that's very dangerous because it means people in the Middle East have to begin to react to that right now. The United States, I think, has to continue to exercise its influence in the Middle East, stay active, and not do this pull-back type of program that we are seeing all over the place with President Obama, which is creating this kind of danger. The world is a more dangerous place now than when I was an intelligence agent. We have not only this international guerrilla war but also these challenges from these other countries as well. But, Martha, I want to say one more thing to you and Bill. I disagree with Carly Fiorina when she says that it's just a political class in Washington. The truth is that the country has changed. And there are powerful forces at this point that are really controlling our lives. And that's why people are so angry. One of those is government, which is regulating everything through the Environmental Protection Agency, through other places. But the biggest one is the organized establishment media. And I just noticed just now you gave Carly Fiorina two one-minute answers in a row. This media across the country is manipulating and shaping and framing this campaign and has been for at least a year now in order to get the kind of choices that people are going to have an opportunity to see. This is wrong. It has to change. And when I'm president, it's going to change. +p3872 +aVI'll take it. +p3873 +aVMartha, I just visited a community mental health clinic in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, just three days ago, as a matter of fact. And when I was governor of Virginia, I tried to move more of those resources into the community, which will give us the facilities and the abilities to begin to identify people who actually might be dangerous and who abuse Second Amendment rights. But I do believe this is one of the really principle issues in this campaign. The president and Hillary Clinton are working very hard to change the culture of this country in order to put us in a position where we can't exercise Second Amendment rights. That's wrong. I am a board member of the National Rifle Association. The reason I'm a board member is because I believe that individuals in this country can be trusted to exercise their rights under the Second Amendment and under the Bill of Rights. To take away people's Second Amendment rights is to redefine the individual in the society, and I'm not going to put up with it. As President of the United States, when Jim Gilmore's President of the United States, I can tell you this. Gun control is not going to be an issue. If gun control... ... comes to the President's desk when I'm president, I'll veto it as fast as it takes Hillary Clinton to eliminate her emails. +p3874 +aVYou know Bill, that raises, I think, the question of the future of the Republican party. The question is -- first of all, I stand second to no one in standing up to radical Islamism. I understand that +p3875 +aVWell, thank you very much, Bill. And, thank you, and Fox and Google for including me in this debate tonight. I think it's been a wonderful opportunity. I'm the son of a meat cutter. My father worked for Safeway stores for 45 years. My mother was a secretary, she ended her career as the Secretary for the Methodist Bishop. I didn't have a father that could give me a million dollar loan to start my business. But, my father did talk character, and he provided for his family, and he was a wonderful example. And, I'm not about to go across town tonight to carry the coat for some billionaire. Instead, I intend to run for President of the United States, speak to the issue of this international war, and challenge that we're in. This issue of veterans rights, and the issue of Second Amendment rights, and I ask for your support... +p3876 +asVSANTELLI +p3877 +(lp3878 +VSenator Cruz, let's focus on our central bank, the Federal Reserve. You've been a fierce critic of the Fed, arguing for more transparency. Where do you want to take that? Do you want to get Congress involved in monetary policy, or is it time to slap the Fed back and downsize them completely? What are your thoughts? What do you believe? +p3879 +aVSenator Paul, the same question to you. +p3880 +aVThank you, Senator. Dr. Carson, you told The Des Moines Register that you don't like government subsidies, it interferes with the free market. But you've also said that you're in favor of taking oil subsidies and putting them towards ethanol processing. Isn't that just swapping one subsidy for another, Doctor? +p3881 +aVThank you, Doctor. Becky? +p3882 +aVThanks, John. Governor Pataki. +p3883 +aVHow are you doing tonight? +p3884 +aVListen, America's central bank, the Federal Reserve, they've kept interest rates near zero since the 2008 financial crisis. And, by the way, they had a meeting today, you think they raised rates? No. Shocking, isn't it? +p3885 +aVListen, it's been a rough ride for American savers and retirees, they really rely on this interest income. And it's been a bonanza for the stock market, a bonanza. And for investors that like the little bit more risk, it's been a bonanza for them as well. So I guess what I'm asking is, do you think this policy is fair and do you support it? +p3886 +aVThanks, Governor. Senator Santorum, in the 2012 presidential debate, you were for the export-import bank, which facilitates government funding for U.S. exports. American companies like GE and Boeing are among the beneficiaries. But you said that killing the bank here \u2014 and I'm going to quote you \u2014 "is the last thing a true conservative should be doing." I don't know, government-backed funding isn't normally what I hear from true conservatives. So why is this situation different? +p3887 +asVMACCALLUM +p3888 +(lp3889 +VSo it will come as no surprise that there is an idea out there that there is a civil war brewing within the GOP over the meaning of conservative and the question of who is electable. There are some in the GOP who are so outraged by Trump and Cruz that they say they would actually rather have Hillary Clinton in the White House. So, Carly Fiorina, I ask you this. Is your party in crisis? +p3890 +aVGovernor Huckabee, word is that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is considering getting into this race. If he does, that would make four New Yorkers, including Sanders, Clinton, and Trump. One candidate in this race has criticized so-called "New York values". So tell me, in your opinion, are New York values different than Iowa values? +p3891 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum, according to Google, the Paris terror attacks were the largest story that was searched in 2015, with nearly 1 billion searches of that story worldwide. There have been at 18 terror attacks so far this year -- in just January alone, in 2016, and it will likely, as we all know, get worse. But what can an American president do to stop these terrifying killings? +p3892 +aVThank you, Senator. +p3893 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you have said when it comes to +p3894 +aVThank you. +p3895 +aVComing up, we're going to have more on the top issues in this campaign, and you can engage in tonight's conversation right from home. Go to google.com, search "FOX News debate." You can vote on which candidate you think is winning so far in tonight's debate. And you can check results after the debate is over. We are back in a moment live from the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. +p3896 +aVAlright, Governor Huckabee, government grows and grows. In fact, neighborhoods in and around the Beltway get richer and richer all the time while our manufacturing towns are disappearing. Still Republicans from Reagan to Bush have bowed to shrink the size of government, but it never works. Is this Presidency, and presidency, simply too small a David to slay the Goliath of government? +p3897 +aVAlright, Carly Fiorina, you've said that you can get the tax code down to three short simple pages. But, when lobbyists who have twisted the arms of members of Congress come sit with you in the Oval Office and say, "Madam President, sorry, I cannot be with you on this one," you may understand what previous presidents have gone through. No? +p3898 +aVSenator Santorum, Bernie Sanders asked a woman in Iowa what it's like to live in poverty. She broke down in tears, saying that she lives on less than $10,000 a year and that she is ashamed every day. She leans on her parents for help. She says she can't buy presents for her children. We are all sympathetic to this woman's plight. On the other hand, the G.O.P. is supposed to be the party of smaller government. So what would you look her in the eye and say? +p3899 +aVThank you, Senator. +p3900 +aVGovernor Gilmore, thanks to the Iranian nuclear deal, President Rouhani is currently on a tour of Europe meeting with our closest allies in France and Italy. In fact, he has already landed some 50 to 85 billion are the estimates in deals with those countries, with our allies. More on the way. You and others say that you would rip up that deal. But, really, by the time the next president is in office, won't that horse be well out of the barn? +p3901 +aVWe have another question for you, Governor Gilmore, back to back, here we go. According to Google... +p3902 +aVYou got it. According to Google, gun control is the most searched issue last month, making up nearly 80 percent of all the U.S. searches. People are looking for information on guns. When it comes to the tragic mass killings that we have seen in this country, Donald Trump says that what we need to do is build quote "more institutions for people who are sickos." Charles Krauthammer also says that in some cases involuntary commitment would help. And you have agreed with that. Given that institutions would be extraordinarily expensive to begin building, how much is too much to ask on this from the American taxpayer? +p3903 +aVThank you, Governor Gilmore. +p3904 +aVStill more to come from the Republican Presidential debate tonight. And, see how the campaigns are responding to the debate in realtime, go to Google.com and open your google search app. Type in, "Fox News Debate". We'll see you, just a moment -- back. +p3905 +aVWe are back live at the Iowa events center and this question goes to Carly Fiorina. In the last debate you said as part of your introduction, quote, " And unlike the other woman candidate in this case I actually love spending time with my husband." +p3906 +aVBut back in September in an interview you said that you would stick only to the record, your record versus Hillary Clinton's record. And never resort to personal attacks. So what changed? +p3907 +aVAll right. Carly, I want to stay with you on this next question as well. You waded into the Planned Parenthood early on. You took some heat for it. Now the people who shot that undercover video are the ones who got indicted and Planned Parenthood is untouched. Hillary Clinton has been crowing about this. Any regrets about this? +p3908 +aVThank you Carly Fiorina. Let me just ask a quick question here to Senator Santorum. Carly Fiorina was the only one of the GOP candidates to attend the March for Life in Washington last week. Where were you. +p3909 +aVAll right. Coming up, we will have the closing statements from our candidates tonight as we continue live from the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. We'll be right back. +p3910 +aVAlright, let's go now to Senator Rick Santorum. +p3911 +aV +p3912 +aVCarly Fiorina. +p3913 +aVThank you, Carly. +p3914 +aVIn one hour, seven more candidates take the stage for a debate hosted by Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly, and Chris Wallace. But, up next, the O'Reilly Factor. Good night everybody. +p3915 +as. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/downloads/data/script14.pickle b/downloads/data/script14.pickle new file mode 100644 index 0000000..370b8be --- /dev/null +++ b/downloads/data/script14.pickle @@ -0,0 +1,8025 @@ +(dp0 +VCRAMER +p1 +(lp2 +VDr. Carson, in recent weeks, a number of pharmaceutical companies has been accused of profiteering, for dramatically raising the prices of life-saving drugs. You have spent a lifetime in medicine. Have these companies gone too far? Should the government be involved in controlling some of these price increases? +p3 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Governor Christie, there has been a lot of political rhetoric that some bank executives should have gone to jail for the 2008 financial crisis. But General Motors paid more than $1 billion in fines and settlements for its ignition switch defect. One hundred and twenty- four people died as a result of these faulty switches. No one went to jail. As a former prosecutor, do you believe the people responsible for the switch and the cover-up belong behind bars? +p4 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. +p5 +aVThank you. Governor Pataki, in the wake of the Sony hack last year, you said, quote, "at the very least, we should declare cyber-war on North Korea." What does a cyber-war look like? And if our companies are getting attacked by foreign governments, do we need a military response? +p6 +aVSenator Graham, you're a hawk. Was that tough enough? +p7 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Santorum. We know that a troubling amount of air pollution on the west coast comes from China. Should we enact a pollution tax on products imported from China and give our manufacturers a level playing field? +p8 +aVThank you, Senator. John? +p9 +asVPERRY +p10 +(lp11 +VI will tell you one thing: I would whole lot rather had Carly Fiorina over there doing our negotiation than John Kerry. Maybe we would've gotten a deal where we didn't give everything away. But the issue for us is to have a Congress that stands up and says not only no, but hell no, to this money going to a regime that is going to use it for terror... +p12 +aVIt's good to be with you. +p13 +aVAfter those four years of looking back and being prepared, the preparation to be the most powerful individual in the world requires an extraordinary amount of work: not just having been the governor of the 12th largest economy in the world, which I might add, we added 1.5 million jobs during that period of time over that 2007 through 2014 period, a period when America was going through the most deep recession it had been through since the Great Depression. I think Americans want someone to have a track record of showing them how to get this country back on record, someone who will stand up and every day project that best days of America are in front of us. And I will assure you, as the governor of the state of Texas, and as those last four years have shown me, the preparation to be ready to stand on this stage and talk about those monetary policies, those domestic policies, and those foreign policies, Americans are going to see that I am ready to be that individual. +p14 +aVWell, when you look at the celebrity of Donald Trump, then I think that says a lot about it. One thing I like to remind people is, back in 2007, Rudy Giuliani was leading the polls for almost a year. I'll suggest a part of that was his celebrity. Fred Thompson was the other one, a man who had spent a lot of time on that screen. I've had my issues with Donald Trump. I talked about Donald Trump from the standpoint of being an individual who was using his celebrity rather than his conservatism. How can you run for the Republican nomination and be for single- payer health care? I mean, I ask that with all due respect. And nobody, nobody on either one of these stages has done more than I've done and the people of the State of Texas to deal with securing that border. We sent our Texas ranger recon teams. We sent our parks and wildlife wardens. I deployed the National Guard after I stood on the ramp in Dallas, Texas and looked the president of the United States in the eye and said, "Mr. President, if you won't secure the border, Texas will," and that's exactly what we did. We need a president that doesn't just talk a game, but a president that's got real results. Mac +p15 +aVBill, here's the interesting position on this. Americans are tired of hearing this debate -- want to go to, what are you going to do about illegal immigration? For 30 years this country has been baited with that. All the way back to when Ronald Reagan signed a piece of legislation that basically allowed for amnesty for over 4 million people, and the border is still not secure. The American people are never going to trust Washington, D.C., and for good reason. We hear all this discussion about well, I would do this, or I would do that, when the fact is, the border is still porous. Until we have a president of the United States that gets up every day and goes to the Oval Office with the intent purpose of securing that border, and there's not anybody on either one of these stages that has the experience of dealing with this as I have for over 14 years with that 1200-mile border. We have to put the personnel on that border in the right places; you have to put the strategic fencing in place; and you have to have aviation assets that fly all the way from Tijuana to El Paso to Brownsville, Texas -- 1,933 miles looking down 24/7, with the technology to be able to identify what individuals are doing, and ID when they are in obviously illegal activities or suspicious activities, and quick response teams come. At that particular point in time, then Americans will believe that Washington is up to a conversation to deal with the millions of people that are here illegally, but not until. If you elect me president of the United States, I will secure that southern border. +p16 +aVWe need to be on the side that keeps Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. That's the side we need to be on, and that's the side of the bulk of the -- of the Middle East. We need to have some coalitions in that part of the world to go after +p17 +aVIt'll be a pretty busy day, but that Iran negotiation is going to be torn up on day one. We're going to start the process of securing that border. I'm also going to take a bottle of White-Out with me to get started on all those executive orders that Mr. Obama has put his name to. +p18 +aVIt will be a long day. +p19 +aVWell, let's go with three. Good at email. +p20 +aVWell, this is going to be a show me, don't tell me election. I think America is just a few good decisions and a leadership change at the top away from the best years we've ever had. And I think that the record of the governor of the last 14 years of the 12th largest economy in the world is just the medicine America is looking for. 1.5 million jobs created during the worst economic time this country has had since the Great Depression while the rest of the country lost 400,000 jobs. We're talking about a state that moved graduation rates forward from 27th in the nation to second-highest. As a matter of fact, if you're Hispanic or African-American in Texas, you have the number one high school graduation rates in America. Americans are looking for somebody that's going to give them, and there is a place in this country over the last eight years in particular that talked about hope every day, and they didn't just talk about it, they delivered it. And that was the state of Texas. And if we can do that in Texas, that 12th largest economy in the world, we can do it in America. Our best days are in front of us. We can reform those entitlements, we can change that corporate tax code and lower it. We can put America back on track on a growth level and a growth rate that we've never seen in the history of this country. Manufacturing will flow back into this country. It just needs a corporate executive type at the top that's done it before. And I will suggest to you nobody's done it like Rick Perry has done it over the last eight years. And if you elect me president, we will bring incredible growth back to this country. And as someone who's worn the uniform of the country, that's how we build our military back up. +p21 +asVANNOUNCER +p22 +(lp23 +VHello from MinuteEarth. Fossil fuels have long kept our cars moving and our light bulbs lit. But we know that burning these fuels releases heat-trapping gases that are warming the planet, causing seas to rise and contributing to extreme weather events, like South Carolina's devastating flooding last year. Fighting human-caused climate change means giving up our global addiction to fossil fuels and shifting the bulk of the world's energy supply to alternative sources. Some countries have acted decisively to make this transition. But here at home, we still get a whooping 82 percent of our energy from coal, oil, and natural gas. In the U.S., political gridlock, pressure from industry lobbyists and insufficient R&D have made an already tough battle against climate change even tougher. +p24 +asVUNKNOWN +p25 +(lp26 +VIf you're not going to have my back, I'm going to have my back. +p27 +aVA couple things here. First of all... +p28 +aVWe have grown \u2014 we have grown... +p29 +aVTrue. It's true. +p30 +aV...let me follow up that... +p31 +aV +p32 +aVOh, great. +p33 +aV...In 2011, you told Forbes Magazine this: "I've used the laws of the country to my advantage." But at the same time, financial experts involved in those bankruptcies say that lenders to your companies lost billions of dollars. Question sir, with that record, why should we trust you to run the nation's business? +p34 +aVI do. +p35 +aVThank you. +p36 +aVSecretive and untrustworthy. +p37 +asVIFILL +p38 +(lp39 +VWe want to also extend our warm thanks to Milwaukee Public Radio and Milwaukee Public Television, as well as all of our friends at the PBS member stations across the country tuning in tonight. This is the sixth time the Democrats have met face to face. Each time, we learn more about them and the presidents they say they want to be. You know you're watching \u2014 whether you're a Democrat, a Republican, or neither \u2014 because you believe the outcome of the election is important to you. And we believe that, too. With that, let's welcome the candidates to the stage. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. +p40 +aVWelcome to you both. +p41 +aVWith Iowa and New Hampshire behind us, we are now broadening the conversation to America's heartland and beyond, including here in Wisconsin. Now let's turn to the candidates for their opening statements. The order was decided by coin toss. And, Senator Sanders, you go first. +p42 +aVThank you, Senator Sanders. Thank you, Senator Sanders. Secretary Clinton. +p43 +aVFinal thought, Senator. +p44 +aVI'd like to move along. I'd like to move along. Secretary Clinton, you might \u2014 you also have proposed fairly expansive ideas about government. You may remember this pledge from a State of the Union Address at which I believe you were present, in which these words were said: "The era of big government is over." You may remember that. When asked your feelings about the federal government this week, 61 percent of New Hampshire Democrats told exit pollsters that they are angry or at least dissatisfied. Given what you and Senator Sanders are proposing, an expanding government in almost every area of our lives, is it fair for Americans who fear government to fear you? +p45 +aVBut I haven't heard either of you put a price tag on your \u2014 you say... +p46 +aVSenator? +p47 +aVSenator, do you worry at all that you will be the instrument of thwarting history, as Senator Clinton keeps claiming, that she might be the first woman president? +p48 +aVThank you both. We turn now to the first of several questions from our partners at Facebook. They were selected from a curated group of people we've been following of undecided voters. The first comes from Claudia Looze, a 54-year-old woman who works as a program manager at a public affairs cable network in Madison, Wisconsin. And she writes: "Wisconsin is number one in African-American male incarceration, according to a University of Wisconsin study. They found that Wisconsin's incarceration rate for black men, which is at 13 percent, was nearly double the country's rate. What can we do across the nation to address this?" Senator Sanders. +p49 +aVLet me turn this on its head, because when we talk about race in this country, we always talk about African-Americans, people of color. I want to talk about white people, OK? +p50 +aVI know. So many people will be surprised to find out that we are sitting in one of the most racially polarized metropolitan areas in the country. By the middle of this century, the nation is going to be majority nonwhite. Our public schools are already there. If working-class, white Americans are about to be outnumbered, are already underemployed in many cases, and one study found they are dying sooner, don't they have a reason to be resentful, Senator \u2014 Secretary Clinton? +p51 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, I want you to respond to that, but I also want you to \u2014 am I wrong? Is it even right to be describing this as a matter of race? +p52 +aVIf you would allow me now to move on, we've been talking about children. I want to talk about seniors. That takes us to our second Facebook question from Farheen Hakeem, who writes, "My father" \u2014 she's a 40-year-old woman who works for a nonprofit here in Milwaukee. And she writes, "My father gets just $16 in food assistance per month as part of Medicaid's family community program in Milwaukee County for low-income seniors. How will you as president work to ensure low-income seniors get their basic needs met?" Start with you, Senator Sanders. +p53 +aVSenator Sanders, are you saying... +p54 +aVThere's a lot more to come in just a few minutes. Stay with us for more of the PBS NewsHour Democratic Debate. +p55 +aVHow about you, Senator Clinton \u2014 Secretary Clinton? +p56 +aVWe spent the first part of this debate talking about domestic insecurity. The second part, we want to talk about our foreign policy insecurities. And we want to start with a question for you, Secretary Clinton, about America's role in the world. Americans are becoming increasingly worried that attacks abroad are coming home, that they already are, in fact, here. According to exit polls from last week, from earlier this week, more than two-thirds of Democrats in New Hampshire are concerned about sending their children to fight in wars they can't win. They fret that the next attack is just around the corner and we are not ready. Are we? +p57 +aVSenator Sanders... +p58 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p59 +aVLet me move on. You have both mentioned the humanitarian tragedies which have been an outgrowth in part of what has happened in Syria and in Libya. More than a million refugees entered Europe in 2015. Another 76,000 just last month, that is about 2,000 arrivals every day. Nearly 400 people have been lost at sea so far this year, crossing the Mediterranean. And there are reports that 10,000 children are missing. If we are leaders in this world, where should the U.S. be on this? What should the United States be doing, Secretary Clinton? +p60 +aVSenator, if you would like respond to \u2014 you may respond to that but it is time for closing statements and you can use your time for closing statements to do that. +p61 +aVThank you. Thank you Senator Clinton. Thank you, Senator Sanders. We also want to thank our partners at Facebook and our hosts here at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. +p62 +aVI'm going to remain here in Milwaukee tomorrow evening for a special edition of Washington Week here on PBS. +p63 +asVWOODRUFF +p64 +(lp65 +VGood evening, and thank you. We are happy to welcome you to Milwaukee for this Democratic debate. We are especially pleased to thank our partners at Facebook, who have helped us set up a vibrant conversation among voters who are undecided. And tonight you're going to hear some of their questions for the candidates. And you can follow along at home on the PBS NewsHour page on Facebook. We also want to thank our hosts, the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, on whose campus we meet, here in the beautiful Helen Bader Concert Hall. +p66 +aVWelcome, Senator, great to see you. And former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Very good to be here with you. +p67 +aVNow, a word about format. There will be two short breaks, and the rules are simple: 90 seconds for each answer and 30 seconds for the other candidate to respond. +p68 +aVThank you both. Thank you both. And we'll be right back after a short break to begin questions. +p69 +aVAnd, welcome back to this PBS Newshour debate, Democratic debate, here in Milwaukee. Let's get right to the questions. Senator Sanders, to you first. Coming off the results in Iowa and New Hampshire, there are many voters who are taking a closer look at you, and your ideas, and they're asking how big a role do you foresee for the federal government? It's already spending 21% of the entire U.S. economy. How much larger would government be in the lives of Americans under a Sanders presidency? +p70 +aVBut, my question is how big would government be? Would there be any limit on the size of the role of government... +p71 +aVNext, we're going to... +p72 +aVVery brief, thank you. +p73 +aVSecretary Clinton, your campaign \u2014 you and your campaign have made a clear appeal to women voters. You have talked repeatedly about the fact, we know you would be, if elected, the first woman president. But in New Hampshire 55 percent of the women voters supported and voted for Senator Sanders. What are women missing about you? +p74 +aVAs you know, just quickly, as you know, your strong supporter, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, said the other day that there's a special place in Hell for women who don't support other women. Do you agree with what she said? +p75 +aVSenator Sanders, you're in the minority, but we still want to hear from you. +p76 +aVFinal comment. +p77 +aVSecretary Clinton, I was talking recently with a 23 year old black woman who voted for President Obama because she said she thought relations between the races would get better under his leadership, and his example. Hardly anyone believes that they have. Why do you think race relations would be better under a Clinton presidency? What would you do that the nation's first African American has not been able to? +p78 +aVSenator Sanders? +p79 +aVSo race relation was be better under a Sanders presidency than they've been? +p80 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders, one of the causes of anxiety for working class Americans is connected to immigrants. President Obama, as you know, has issued executive actions to permit some 5 million undocumented immigrants who are living now in the United States to come out of the shadows without fear of deportation to get work permits. Would you go further than that? And if so, how specifically would you do it? Should an undocumented family watching this debate tonight, say, in Nevada, rest easy, not fear of further deportations under a Sanders presidency? +p81 +aVI'd like... +p82 +aVWe're going to move on. Secretary Clinton, your campaign has recently ramped up criticism of Senator Sanders for attending Democratic Party fundraisers from which you say he benefited. But nearly half of your financial sector donations appear to come from just two wealthy financiers, George Soros and Donald Sussman, for a total of about $10 million. You have said that there's no quid pro quo involved. Is that also true of the donations that wealthy Republicans give to Republican candidates, contributors including the Koch Brothers? +p83 +aVI'm asking if Democratic donors are different than Republican donors. +p84 +aVWe have to go to a break. We... +p85 +aVAll right. Thank you both. It is time for a break. And when we come back, we're going to turn to some new topics, including how these candidates will keep America safe. +p86 +aVWelcome back to the Democratic presidential debate. Before we return to our questions, we have a follow-up question from our Facebook group. And it is to Senator Sanders. Senator, it comes from Bill Corfield. He is a 55-year-old musician from Troy, Ohio. And he asks: "Are there any areas of government you would like to reduce?" +p87 +aVJust a final word. +p88 +aVSenator, let me \u2014 let me move on to another country with which the U.S. has a complicated relationship, Senator Sanders, and that's Russia. On the one hand, we're aware that Russia is a country that the United States needs to cooperate with. Just tonight, Secretary of State John Kerry has announced what appears to be an agreement with the Russians to lead \u2014 that could lead toward a ceasefire in Syria, would be the first cessation of conflict in that country, in that civil war in five years, but it comes at a very high price, because not only have all \u2014 have we seen the deaths, the removal of so many people, millions of people, we now see the Russians in the last few weeks have bombed in a way that benefits President Assad, has not gone after +p89 +aVAnd we have a final question from our Facebook family. And it goes to Senator Sanders. It comes from Robert Andrews. He's a 40-year-old stay-at-home dad in Dover, Massachusetts. He says, "The world has seen many great leaders in the course of human history. Can you name two leaders \u2014 one American and one foreign \u2014 who would influence your foreign policy decisions? And why do you see them as \u2014 why are they influential?" +p90 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p91 +aVAnd we want to thank our audience, our quiet audience here in Helen Bader Concert Hall, and to all of you watching at home. Thank you all. Stay tuned for analysis of the debate and the overall race for the Democratic nomination. That's coming up next here on PBS stations and online atPBS.org/NewsHour. +p92 +aVAnd I'm going to be returning to Washington. I hope you'll join us for the PBS NewsHour tomorrow and every night. That's it from all of us here in Milwaukee. We thank you. +p93 +asVKELLY +p94 +(lp95 +VWelcome to the first debate night of the 2016 presidential campaign, live from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. I'm Megyn Kelly... ... along with my co-moderators, Brett Baier and Chris Wallace. Tonight... Nice. Tonight, thousands of people here in the Q, along with millions of voters at home will get their very first chance to see the candidates face off in a debate, answering the questions you want answered. +p96 +aVAs for the candidates who will be answering those questions? Here they are. Positioned on the stage by how they stand in the polls, in the center of the stage tonight, businessman Donald Trump. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. +p97 +aVGentlemen, our first round of questions is on the subject of electability in the general election, and we start tonight with you, Dr. Carson. You are a successful neurosurgeon, but you admit that you have had to study up on foreign policy, saying there's a lot to learn. Your critics say that your inexperience shows. You've suggested that the Baltic States are not a part of +p98 +aVMr. Trump, one of the things people love about you is you speak your mind and you don't use a politician's filter. However, that is not without its downsides, in particular, when it comes to women. You've called women you don't like "fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals." Your Twitter account... +p99 +aVNo, it wasn't. Your Twitter account... +p100 +aVFor the record, it was well beyond Rosie O'Donnell. +p101 +aVYour Twitter account has several disparaging comments about women's looks. You once told a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice it would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees. Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president, and how will you answer the charge from Hillary Clinton, who was likely to be the Democratic nominee, that you are part of the war on women? +p102 +aVGovernor Walker, you've consistently said that you want to make abortion illegal even in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother. You recently signed an abortion law in Wisconsin that does have an exception for the mother's life, but you're on the record as having objected to it. Would you really let a mother die rather than have an abortion, and with 83 percent of the American public in favor of a life exception, are you too out of the mainstream on this issue to win the general election? +p103 +aVGovernor Kasich, You chose to expand Medicaid in your state, unlike several other governors on this stage tonight, and it is already over budget by some estimates costing taxpayers an additional $1.4 billion in just the first 18 months. You defended your Medicaid expansion by invoking God, saying to skeptics that when they arrive in heaven, Saint Peter isn't going to ask them how small they've kept government, but what they have done for the poor. Why should Republican voters, who generally want to shrink government, believe that you won't use your Saint Peter rationale to expand every government program? +p104 +aVAlright, gentlemen, we're gonna switch topics now and talk a bit about terror and national security. Governor Christie. You've said that Senator Paul's opposition to the NSA's collection of phone records has made the United States weaker and more vulnerable, even going so far as to say that he should be called before Congress to answer for it if we should be hit by another terrorist attack. Do you really believe you can assign blame to Senator Paul just for opposing the bulk collection of people's phone records in the event of a terrorist attack? +p105 +aVGo ahead, sir. +p106 +aVGovernor Christie, make your point. +p107 +aVGo ahead, governor. +p108 +aVAlright. +p109 +aVAlright, we've gotta cut it off there. We have plenty more we want to get to. That was an interesting exchange, thank you for that. +p110 +aVWell, I want to move on, because I have -- we're gonna get to you, governor, but I -- I really wanna get to a Facebook questioner. His name is Alex Chalgren, and he has the following question: +p111 +aVSenator Cruz, I wanna talk to you about this, because many of the Facebook users and -- and -- the -- the folks on Facebook wanted the candidates to speak to +p112 +aVYou don't see it as... ...an ideological problem -- an ideological problem in addition to a military one? +p113 +aVGovernor Bush, for days on end in this campaign, you struggled to answer a question about whether knowing what we know now... +p114 +aV...we would've invaded Iraq... +p115 +aVI remember it too, and +p116 +aVGovernor Walker, in February you said that we needed to gain partners in the Arab world. Which Arab country not already in the U.S. led coalition has potential to be our greatest partner? +p117 +aVDr. Carson, in one of his first acts as commander in chief, President Obama signed an executive order banning enhanced interrogation techniques in fighting terror. As president, would you bring back water boarding? +p118 +aVWe have a lot for you, don't worry. Fear not, you may rue that request. +p119 +aVIt's just before 10:00 p.m. on the East Coast. Welcome back to Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, and the very first Republican primary debate of the 2016 presidential campaign. Ten candidates on the stage, selected based on their standing in five national polls. And tonight they are facing off, answering the questions you want asked. We hope. +p120 +aV Sounds like somebody's a little R-rated. +p121 +aVWell, the first debate night of the 2016 presidential campaign continues from Cleveland after a short time-out. Stick around. Social issues, next. +p122 +aVSenator Rubio, you favor a rape and incest exception to abortion bans. Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York just said yesterday those exceptions are preposterous. He said they discriminate against an entire class of human beings. If you believe that life begins at conception, as you say you do, how do you justify ending a life just because it begins violently, through no fault of the baby? +p123 +aVYou don't favor a rape and incest exception? +p124 +aVMr. Trump, in 1999, you said you were, quote, "very pro- choice." Even supporting partial-birth abortion. You favored an assault weapons ban as well. In 2004, you said in most cases you identified as a Democrat. Even in this campaign, your critics say you often sound more like a Democrat than a Republican, calling several of your opponents on the stage things like clowns and puppets. When did you actually become a Republican? +p125 +aVGovernor Bush, I want to ask you, on the subject of name calling of your fellow candidates, a story appeared today quoting an anonymous GOP donor who said you called Mr. Trump a clown, a buffoon, something else that cannot be repeated on television. +p126 +aVIs it true? +p127 +aVMr. Trump, 30 seconds. +p128 +aVThe subject of gay marriage and religious liberty. Governor Kasich, if you had a son or daughter who was gay or lesbian, how would you explain to them your opposition to same-sex marriage? +p129 +aVHow would you -- how would you explain it to a child? +p130 +aVSenator Paul, in the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling on same sex marriage, Carol Fox on Facebook want to know the following. Quote: what will you do to ensure Christians are not prosecuted for speaking out against gay marriage and will Christians be forced to conduct business that conflicts with their religious beliefs? +p131 +aVGovernor Walker, many in the Black Lives Matter movement, and beyond, believe that overly-aggressive police officers targeting young African Americans is the civil rights issue of our time. Do you agree? And if so, how do you plan to address it? And if not, why not? +p132 +aVThank you. +p133 +aVWe have to stand you by, because after the break, we're going to let the candidates make their closing statements, their final thoughts, and . . . God. Stay tuned for that. +p134 +aVWelcome back. In our final moments here together, we're going to allow the candidates to offer their final thoughts. But first, we want to ask them an interesting closing question from Chase Norton on Facebook, who wants to know this of the candidates: "I want to know if any of them have received a word from God on what they should do and take care of first." Senator Cruz, start from you. Any word from God? +p135 +aVGovernor Kasich, same question. +p136 +aVGovernor Walker, same question. +p137 +aVSenator Rubio, I want to ask you the same question. But I do want to mention, a woman just came here to the stage and asked, what about the veterans? I want to hear more about what these candidates are going to do for our nation's veterans. So I put the question to you about God and the veterans, which you may find to be related. +p138 +aVDr. Carson, a question to you about God and his role, but also, one of the issues that the public was very interested in, and we touched on it earlier, is race relations in this country, and how divided we seem right now. And what, if anything, you can do -- you would do as the next president to help heal that divide. +p139 +aVGovernor Christie? +p140 +aVSenator Ted Cruz. +p141 +aVGovernor Scott Walker. +p142 +aVIt's over! +p143 +aVAre you relieved? You were nervous before, they -- they don't look relieved. They look "get me outta here." Thank you all very much, and that will do it for the first Republican primary debate night of the 2016 presidential race. Our thanks to the candidates, who will now be joined by their families on stage. +p144 +asVRUBIO +p145 +(lp146 +VThank you Wolf. It's really amazing to be back in Las Vegas. I spent six years as a child growing not far from where we stand tonight. I use to sit on the porch of our home and listen to my grandfather tell stories as he smoked one of three daily cigars. One of the things my grandfather instilled in me, was that I was really blessed because I was a citizen of the greatest country in the history of our mankind. But there have always been people in American politics that wanted America to be more like the rest of the world. And In 2008, one of them was elected president of this country and the result has been a disaster. Today you have millions of Americans that feel left out and out of place in their own country, struggling to live paycheck to paycheck, called bigots because they hold on to traditional values. And around the world, America's influence has declined while this president has destroyed our military, our allies no longer trust us, and our adversaries no longer respect us. And that is why this election is so important. That is why I'm running for president. And that's why I'm going to ask you for your vote tonight. If you elect me president, we will have a president that believes America is the greatest country in the world and we will have a president that acts like it. +p147 +aVWell, I understand why they feel that way, because this president hasn't kept us safe. The problem is we had an attack in San Bernardino. And we were paying attention to the most important issue we have faced in a decade since 9/11, and then all the talk was about this proposal, which isn't going to happen. But this is what's important to do is we must deal frontally with this threat of radical Islamists, especially from +p148 +aVHe is and so are those that voted for it. There were some that voted for it because they wanted to keep it alive and they were afraid the whole program would expire. Here's the world we live in. This is a radical jihadist group that is increasingly sophisticated in its ability, for example, to radicalize American citizens, in its inability to exploit loopholes in our legal immigration system, in its ability to capture and hold territory in the Middle East, as I outlined earlier, in multiple countries. This is not just the most capable, it is the most sophisticated terror threat we have ever faced. We are now at a time when we need more tools, not less tools. And that took we lost, the metadata program, was a valuable tool that we no longer have at our disposal. +p149 +aVDana, may I interject here? +p150 +aVLet me be very careful when answering this, because I don't think national television in front of 15 million people is the place to discuss classified information. So let me just be very clear. There is nothing that we are allowed to do under this bill that we could not do before. This bill did, however, take away a valuable tool that allowed the National Security Agency and other law \u2014 and other intelligence agencies to quickly and rapidly access phone records and match them up with other phone records to see who terrorists have been calling. Because I promise you, the next time there is attack on \u2014 an attack on this country, the first thing people are going to want to know is, why didn't we know about it and why didn't we stop it? And the answer better not be because we didn't have access to records or information that would have allowed us to identify these killers before they attacked. +p151 +aVI want to thank Rand for another 30 seconds, because, number one, what he's pointing to is a bill last week that \u2014 amendment that he voted for that only 10 people voted for. You know why? Because it's not focused on terrorists. It would have banned anyone from coming here. Someone from Taiwan would not have been able to come here as a tourist. Number two, this program, this metadata program is actually more strict than what a regular law enforcement agency has now. If a regular law enforcement agency wants your phone records, all they have to do is issue a subpoena. But now the intelligence agency is not able to quickly gather records and look at them to see who these terrorists are calling. And the terrorists that attacked us in San Bernardino was an American citizen, born and raised in this country. And I bet you we wish we would have had access to five years of his records so we could see who he was working with... +p152 +aVDo I get another 30 seconds? He mentioned me. +p153 +aVWell, let me begin by saying that we have to understand who +p154 +aVThat is accurate. Three times he voted against the Defense Authorization Act, which is a bill that funds the troops. It also, by the way, funds the Iron Dome and other important programs. And I have to assume that if you vote against it in the Senate, you would also veto it as president. He has also supported, by the way, a budget that is called the containment budget. And it is a budget that would radically reduce the amount of money we spend on our military. You can't carpet bomb +p155 +aVYes, let me \u2014 three points of distinction. The first is, if you're an American citizen and you decide to join up with +p156 +aVWell, they most certainly will have to be worked on to provide more than what they are doing now. There's no doubt about it. And there's one \u2014 one major reason why they have not been willing to be a broader part of the coalition, and that is they have lost complete trust and confidence in this president. This president cut a deal with their moral enemy, the Shia, in Iran. And this is the reason why they no longer trust this president and are willing to work alongside them. But they have as much invested in this as we do. In fact, more so, for it is the king of Saudi Arabia they want to behead first. It's the king of Jordan that they want to dethrone. It's the \u2014 they want to go into Egypt the way they've already gone into Libya. And on another point that we need to talk about, Assad is one of the main reasons why +p157 +aVTo begin with, Moammar Gadhafi and the revolt against Gadhafi was not started by the United States. It was started by the Libyan people. And the reason why I argued we needed to get involved is because he was going to go one way or the other. And my argument then was proven true, and that is, the longer that civil war took, the more militias would be formed and the more unstable the country would be after the fact. As far as Moammar Gadhafi is concerned, by the way, Moammar Gadhafi is the man that killed those Americans over Lockerbie, Scotland. Moammar Gadhafi is also the man that bombed that cafe in Berlin and killed those Marines. And you want to know why Moammar Gadhafi started cooperating on his nuclear program? Because we got rid of Saddam Hussein. And so he got scared that he would be next, and that's why he started cooperating. Look, we will have to work around the world with less than ideal governments. The government in Saudi Arabia is not a democracy, but we will have to work with them. The government in Jordan is not perfect, but we will have to work with them. But anti-American dictators like Assad, who help Hezbollah, who helped get those IEDs into Iraq, if they go, I will not shed a tear. +p158 +aVYeah. Immigration is not an issue that I read about in the newspaper or watch a documentary on PBS or CNN. It's an issues I've lived around my whole life. My family are immigrants. My wife's family are immigrants. All of my neighbors are immigrants. I see every aspect of this problem. The good, the bad, and the ugly. And here's what we learned in 2013. The American people don't trust the Federal Government to enforce our immigration laws, and we will not be able to do anything on immigration until we first prove to the American people that illegal immigration is under control. And we can do that. We know what it takes to do that. It takes at least 20,000 more additional border agents. It takes completing those 700 miles of fencing. It takes a mandatory e-verify system and a mandatory entry/exit tracking system to prevent overstays. After we have done that, the second thing we have to do is reform and modernize the legal immigration system. And after we have done those two things, I think the American people are gonna be reasonable with what do you do with someone who has been in this country for 10 or 12 years who hasn't otherwise violated our laws \u2014 because if they're a criminal they can't stay. They'll have to undergo a background check, pay a fine, start paying taxes. And ultimately, they'll given a work permit and that's all they're gonna be allowed to have for at least 10 years. But you can't get to that third step until you have done the other two things, and that was the lesson we learned in 2013. There is no trust that the Federal Government will enforce the law. They will not support you until you see it done first. +p159 +aVBut I've answered that question repeatedly. I am personally open \u2014 after all that has happened and after ten years in that probationary status where all they have is a permit, I personally am open to allowing people to apply for a green card. That may not be a majority position in my party, but that's down the road. You can't even begin that process until you prove to people \u2014 not just pass a law that says you're gonna bring illegal immigration under control. You're gonna have to do it and prove to people that it's working. And that was the lesson of 2013. And it's more true today, than it was then. After a migratory crisis on the border with minors coming over that you're seeing start up again now, after all these executive orders the President has issued. More than ever we need to... +p160 +aV... prove to people that illegal immigration is under control. +p161 +aVYeah, a couple points. In 2013 we had never faced a crisis like the Syrian refugee crisis now. Up until that point, a refugee meant someone fleeing oppression, fleeing Communism like it is in my community. As far as Ted's record, I'm always puzzled by his attack on this issue. Ted, you support legalizing people who are in this country illegally. Ted Cruz supported a 500-percent increase in the number of H-1 visas, the guest workers that are allowed into this country, and Ted supports doubling the number of green cards. So I think what's important for us to understand and there is a way forward on this issue that we an bring our country together on. And while I'm president I will do it. And it will begin by bringing illegal immigration under control and proving to the American people. +p162 +aVNo, no, give him time. +p163 +aVTed, do you... +p164 +aVDid Ted Cruz fight to support legalizing people that are in this country illegally? +p165 +aVDoes Ted Cruz rule out ever legalizing people that are in this country now? +p166 +aVWould you rule it out? +p167 +aVWell, he's just admitted \u2014 as he's just admitted, the reason why those refugees were allowed in was because they messed up in how they used the actual database. They should have know. They didn't because they didn't run the actual law as it exists now. It didn't work well. As far as the refugees are concerned, it's not that America doesn't want to accept refugees, Wolf. It's that we may not be able to, because this is an issue we have to be 100 percent right on. If we allow 9,999 Syrian refugees into the United States, and all of them are good people, but we allow one person in who's an +p168 +aVI do. First, let's explain to people at home who the triad \u2014 what the triad is. Maybe a lot of people haven't heard that terminology before. The triad is our ability of the United States to conduct nuclear attacks using airplanes, using missiles launched from silos or from the ground, and also from our nuclear subs' ability to attack. And it's important \u2014 all three of them are critical. It gives us the ability at deterrence. Now, some have become more critical than others; for example, the submarines. And that's the Ohio Class submarine that needs to be modernized. The air component also needs to be modernized. The B-52, as someone earlier pointed out, is an outdated model that was flown by the grandparents of people that are flying it now. And we need a serious modernization program as well on our silo-launched missiles. All three are critical for the defense of the country. +p169 +aVThank you. As we near the end of this year, we enter one of the most important elections in a generation. For what's at stake in this election is not simply what party's going to be in charge. But our very identity as a people and as a nation. For over 200 years this has been a special country. A unique place where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything. But now millions of Americans feel like they're being left behind. Insecure in their future and unsafe in the face of terrorism. This election is about electing a president that will restore our economic vibrancy so that the American dream can expand to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And rebuild our Military and our intelligence programs so that we can remain the strongest nation on earth. Tonight I ask you for your vote. If you do this, we will rebuild this country, and together we will usher in a new American century \u2014 the greatest era in the history of this great land. +p170 +aVWell, let me begin by answering both the first question and this one, because they're related. As I've said many times before, my parents were never rich people. My father was a bartender. My mother was a maid. They worked for a living. But they were successful people, because, despite the fact that they weren't well educated and had those jobs, they made enough money to buy a home in a safe and stable neighborhood, retire with dignity, leave all four of their children better off than themselves. We call that the American dream, but in fact, it's a universal dream of a better life that people have all over the world. It is a reminder that every country in the world has rich people. What makes America special is that we have millions and millions of people that are not rich, that through hard work and perseverance are able to be successful. The problem is that today people are not successful working as hard as ever because the economy is not providing jobs that pay enough. If I thought that raising the minimum wage was the best way to help people increase their pay, I would be all for it, but it isn't. In the 20th century, it's a disaster. If you raise the minimum wage, you're going to make people more expensive than a machine. And that means all this automation that's replacing jobs and people right now is only going to be accelerated. Here's the best way to raise wages. Make America the best place in the world to start a business or expand an existing business, tax reform and regulatory reform, bring our debt under control, fully utilize our energy resources so we can reinvigorate manufacturing, repeal and replace Obamacare, and make higher education faster and easier to access, especially vocational training. For the life of me, I don't know why we have stigmatized vocational education. Welders make more money than philosophers. We need more welders and less philosophers. If we do that \u2014 and if we do this \u2014 if we do this, we will be able to increase wages for millions of Americans and we will be able to leave everyone better off without making anyone worse off. +p171 +aVWell, you know, that's an excellent question, because what we are going through in this country is not simply an economic downturn. We are living through a massive economic transformation. I mean, this economy is nothing like what it was like five years ago, not to mention 15 or 20 years ago. And it isn't just a different economy. It's changing faster than ever. You know, it took the telephone 75 years to reach 100 million users. It took Candy Crush one year to reach some 100 million users. So the world is changing faster than ever, and it is disruptive. Number one, we are in a global competition now, and several of the candidates have said that. There are now dozens of developed economies on this planet that we have to compete with. And we lose that competition because we have the highest business tax rate in the industrialized world, because we have regulations that continue to grow by the billions every single week, because we have a crazy health care law that discourages companies from hiring people, but because we're not fully utilizing our energy resources, that if we did, it would bring back all kinds of growth, especially in manufacturing, and because we have an outdated higher education system. Our higher education system is completely outdated. It is too expensive, too hard to access, and it doesn't teach 21st century skills. If we do what needs to be done \u2014 tax reform, regulatory reform, fully utilize our energy resources, repeal and replace Obamacare, and modernize higher education, then we can grasp the potential and the promise of this new economy. And we won't just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And then truly this new century can be a new American century. +p172 +aVThe most important job I'm ever going to have, the most important job anyone in this room will ever have, is the job of being a parent. Not the job of being president, or the job of being a senator, or the job of being a congressman. The most important job any of us will ever do is the job of being a president (sic), because the most important institution in society is the family. If the family breaks down, society breaks down. You can't have a strong nation without strong values, and no one is born with strong values. They have to be taught to you in strong families and reinforced in you in strong communities. And so when we set out to do tax reform, we endeavor to have a pro-family tax code, and we endeavor to do it because we know how difficult it is for families in the 21st century to afford the cost of living. It is expensive to raise children in the 21st century, and families that are raising children are raising the future taxpayers of the United States, and everything costs more. In 35 out of 50 states, child care costs more than college. There are millions of people watching this broadcast tonight that understand exactly what I'm talking about. They don't know how they're going to make that payment every month, and if they can't make it, they can't work, because someone needs to watch their kids during the day. They don't know how they're going to save for their kids' future, to go to college. And so, yes, I have a child tax credit increase, and I'm proud of it. I am proud that I have a pro-family tax code, because the pro- family tax plan I have will strengthen the most important institution in the \u2014 in the country, the family. +p173 +aVNow I get my 60 seconds to respond. He's talking about my tax plan. +p174 +aVSo let me begin with this. I actually believe \u2014 first of all, this is their money. They do pay. It is refundable, not just against the taxes they pay to the government, but also the \u2014 on their federal income tax, it's refundable against the payroll tax. Everyone pays payroll tax. This is their money. This is not our money. And here's what I don't understand \u2014 if you invest that money in a piece of equipment, if you invest that money in a business, you get to write it off your taxes. But if you invest it in your children, in the future of America and strengthening your family, we're not going to recognize that in our tax code? The family is the most important institution in society. And, yes... +p175 +aV... I do want to rebuild the American military. +p176 +aVI know that Rand is a committed isolationist. I'm not. I believe the world is a stronger and a better place, when the United States is the strongest military power in the world. +p177 +aVBecause... +p178 +aV...are you talking about the military, Rand? +p179 +aVWe can't even have an economy if we're not safe. There are radical jihadist in the Middle East beheading people and crucifying Christians. A radical Shia cleric in Iran trying to get a nuclear weapon, the Chinese taking over the South China Sea... ...Yes, I believe the world is a safer \u2014 no, no, I don't believe, I know that the world is a safer place when America is the strongest military power in the world. +p180 +aVYou know, if I may respond... +p181 +aVI need to add a couple of points to this. The first is, I've never met Vladimir Putin, but I know enough about him to know he is a gangster. He is basically an organized crime figure that runs a country, controls a $2 trillion economy. And is using to build up his military in a rapid way despite the fact his economy is a disaster. He understands only geopolitical strength. And every time he has acted anywhere in the world, whether it's in Ukraine or Georgia before that, or now in the Middle East, it's because he is trusting in weakness. His calculation in the Middle East is that he has seen what this president has done, which is nothing, the president has no strategy, our allies in the region do not trust us. For goodness sake, there is only one pro-American free enterprise democracy in the Middle East, it is the state of Israel. And we have a president that treats the prime minister of Israel with less respect than what he gives the ayatollah in Iran. And so our allies in the region don't trust us. Vladimir Putin is exploiting that weakness, for purposes of edging the Americans out as the most important geopolitical power broker in the region. And we do have a vested interest. And here's why. Because all those radical terrorist groups that, by the way, are not just in Syria and in Iraq, +p182 +aVCan I just add what \u2014 he's right on point there. Do you know why these banks are so big? The government made them big. The government made them big by adding thousands and thousands of pages of regulations. So the big banks, they have an army of lawyers, they have an army of compliance officers. They can deal with all these things. The small banks, like Governor Bush was saying, they can't deal with all these regulations. They can't deal with all \u2014 they cannot hire the fanciest law firm in Washington or the best lobbying firm to deal with all these regulations. And so the result is, the big banks get bigger, the small banks struggle to lend or even exist, and the result is what you have today. And in Dodd-Frank, you have actually codified too big to fail. We have actually created a category of systemically important institutions, and these banks go around bragging about it. You know what they say to people with a wink and a nod? We are so big, we are so important that if we get in trouble, the government has to bail us out. This is an outrage. We need to repeal Dodd-Frank as soon as possible. +p183 +aVWell, that's a great question, and let me begin by answering it. This election is about the future, about what kind of country this nation is gonna be in the 21st century. This next (ph) election is actually a generational choice. A choice about what kind of nation we will be in the 21st century. For over 2.5 centuries, America's been a special country, the one place on earth where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything, a nation that's been a force for good on this planet. But now, a growing number of Americans feel out of place in their own country. We have a society that stigmatizes those that hold cultural values that are traditional. We have a society where people \u2014 millions of people \u2014 are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, but they're living paycheck to paycheck because the economy has changed underneath their feet. We have young Americans who owe thousands of dollars in student loans for a degree that doesn't lead to a job. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses dying than starting, and around the world, every day brings news of a new humiliation for America \u2014 many the direct response \u2014 direct consequence of decisions made when Hillary Clinton was the secretary of the \u2014 of state. And so here's the truth: this election is about the future, and the Democratic Party, and the political left has no ideas about the future. All their ideas are the same, tired ideas of the past. More government, more spending. For every issue for America, their answer is a new tax on someone, and a new government program. This nation is going to turn the page, and that's what this election should be about, and, as I said at the first debate... ...If I am our nominee, they will be the party of the past, we will be the party of the 21st century. +p184 +aVOurs \u2014 the story of America is an extraordinary story. It is the story of a nation that for over two centuries each generation has left the next better off than themselves. But now, because Washington is out of touch, for the fault of both political parties, for the first time in our history, that is in doubt. And that is what this election must be about, because if the next four years are anything like the last eight years, our children will be the first Americans ever left worse off by their parents. This election is about making a different choice, about applying our principles of limited government and free enterprise to the unique issues of our time. And if we do, we will not just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And the 21st century can be a new American century. So tonight, I ask you for your vote and I ask you to join us at my website, marcorubio.com. +p185 +aVThank you for that question. I would begin by saying that I'm not sure it's a weakness, but I do believe that I share a sense of optimism for America's future that, today, is eroding from too many of our people. I think there's a sense in this country today that somehow our best days are behind us. And that doesn't have to be true. Our greatest days lie ahead if we are willing to do what it takes now. If we're willing to do what it takes now, the 21st century is going to be the new American century, greater than any other era we've had in the history of this great nation. +p186 +aVThat's an interesting question. That's exactly what the Republican establishment says too. Why don't you wait in line? Wait for what? This country is running out of time. We can't afford to have another four years like the last eight years. Watching this broadcast tonight are millions of people that are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, everything costs more, and they haven't had a raise in decades. You have small businesses in America that are struggling. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses closing than starting. We have a world that's out of control and has grown dangerous and a president that is weakening our military and making our foreign policy unstable and unreliable in the eyes of our allies. And our adversaries continue to grow stronger. We have a \u2014 they say there's no bipartisanship in Washington? We have a $19 trillion bipartisan debt and it continues to grow as we borrow money from countries that do not like us to pay for government we cannot afford. The time to act is now. The time to turn the page is now. If we \u2014 if we don't act now, we are going to be the first generation in American history that leaves our children worse off than ourselves. +p187 +aVLet me say, I read that editorial today with a great amusement. It's actually evidence of the bias that exists in the American media today. +p188 +aVLet me \u2014 let me answer your question on the Sun-Sentinel editorial today. Back in 2004, one of my predecessors to the Senate by the name of Bob Graham, a Democrat, ran for president missing over 30 percent of his votes. I don't recall them calling for his resignation \u2014 +p189 +aVLater that year, in 2004, John Kerry ran for president missing close to 60 to 70 percent of his votes. I don't recall the Sun \u2014 in fact, the Sun-Sentinel endorsed him. In 2008, Barack Obama missed 60 or 70 percent of his votes, and the same newspaper endorsed him again. So this is another example of the double standard that exists in this country between the mainstream media and the conservative movement. +p190 +aVI get to respond, right? +p191 +aVWell, it's interesting. Over the last few weeks, I've listened to Jeb as he walked around the country and said that you're modeling your campaign after John McCain, that you're going to launch a furious comeback the way he did, by fighting hard in New Hampshire and places like that, carrying your own bag at the airport. You know how many votes John McCain missed when he was carrying out that furious comeback that you're now modeling after? +p192 +aVNo Jeb, I don't remember \u2014 well, let me tell you. I don't remember you ever complaining about John McCain's vote record. The only reason why you're doing it now is because we're running for the same position, and someone has convinced you that attacking me is going to help you. +p193 +aVHere's the bottom line. I'm not \u2014 my campaign is going to be about the future of America, it's not going to be about attacking anyone else on this stage. I will continue to have tremendous admiration and respect for Governor Bush. I'm not running against Governor Bush, I'm not running against anyone on this stage. I'm running for president because there is no way we can elect Hillary Clinton to continue the policies of Barack Obama. +p194 +aVWell, you just \u2014 you just listed a litany of discredited attacks from Democrats and my political opponents, and I'm not gonna waste 60 seconds detailing them all. But I'm going to tell you the truth. Here's the truth. I didn't inherit any money. My dad was a bartender, my mother was a maid. They worked hard to provide us the chance at a better life. They didn't save enough money for us to go to school. I had to work my way through school. I had to borrow money to go to school. I tried (ph), early in my marriage, explaining to my wife why someone named Sallie Mae was taking $1,000 out of our bank account every month. I know what it's like to owe that money, and we've worked hard. We've worked hard our whole life to provide a better family \u2014 a better life for our family. We own a home four blocks away from the place that I grew up in. My four children have been able to receive a good Christian education, and I've been able to save for them to go to college so they never have to have the loans that I did. But I'm not worried about my finances, I'm worried about the finances of everyday Americans who today are struggling in an economy that is not producing good paying jobs while everything else costs more. And that's what this economy needs to \u2014 that's what this debate needs to be about. This debate needs to be about the men and women across this country that are struggling on a daily basis to provide for their families the better future that we've always said this country is all about. +p195 +aVAnd I used it to pay off my loans. And it's available on paperback, if you're interested in buying my book. +p196 +aVYeah, again, as I said, we're raising a family in the 21st century and it's one of the reasons why my tax plan is a pro- family tax plan. It increases the per child tax credit, because I didn't read about this in a book. I know for a fact how difficult it is to raise children, how expensive it's become for working families. And I make a lot more than the average American. Imagine how hard it is for these people out there that are making 40, 50, $60,000 a year, and they're trying to provide for their families at a time when this economy is not growing. We can't afford another four years of that. Which is what we're gonna get if we elect a big government liberal like Hillary Clinton to the White House. Thank you, senator. +p197 +aVWell, first of all, if a company gets caught doing that, they should never be able to use the program again. If you get caught abusing this program, you should never be able to use it again. The second thing I said is we need to add reforms, not just increase the numbers, but add reforms. For example, before you hire anyone from abroad, you should have to advertise that job for 180 days. You also have to prove that you're going to pay these people more than you would pay someone else, so that you're not undercutting it by bringing in cheap labor. But here's the best solution of all. We need to get back to training people in this country to do the jobs of the 21st century. Why, for the life of me, I do not understand why did we stop doing vocational education in America, people that can work with their hands; people you can train to do this work while they're still in high school so they can graduate ready to go work. But the best way to close this gap is to modernize higher education so Americans have the skills for those jobs. But in the interim, in the absence of that, what's happening is some of these tech companies are taking those \u2014 those centers (ph) to Canada because they can get people to go over there instead of here. But the ideal scenario is to train Americans to do the work so we don't have to rely on people from abroad. +p198 +aVWell, I believe that there are abuses, those companies should be permanently barred from ever using the program again and we should put strict standards in place to ensure that they're not being abused, like the prevailing wage requirement and like the advertising requirement. +p199 +aVSince I've been mentioned, can I respond? +p200 +aVOK. I know the Democrats have the ultimate SuperPac. It's called the mainstream media who every single day... ... and I'll tell you why. Last week, Hillary Clinton went before a committee. She admitted she had sent e-mails to her family saying, "Hey, this attack at Benghazi was caused by Al Qaida-like elements." She spent over a week telling the families of those victims and the American people that it was because of a video. And yet the mainstream media is going around saying it was the greatest week in Hillary Clinton's campaign. It was the week she got exposed as a liar. It was the week that she got exposed as a liar... But she has her super PAC helping her out, the American mainstream media. +p201 +aVNo, that's \u2014 you're wrong. In fact, the largest after- tax gains is for the people at the lower end of the tax spectrum under my plan. And there's a bunch of things my tax plan does to help them. Number one, you have people in this country that... +p202 +aV...you wrote a story on it, and you had to go back and correct it. +p203 +aVYou did. No, you did. +p204 +aVWell, you're talking about \u2014 yeah. +p205 +aVYeah, but that \u2014 because the math is, if you \u2014 5 percent of a million is a lot more than 5 percent of a thousand. So yeah, someone who makes more money... +p206 +aV...numerically, it's gonna be higher. But the greatest gains, percentage-wise, for people, are gonna be at the lower end of our plan, and here's why: because in addition to a general personal exemption, we are increasing the per-child tax credit for working families. We are lowering taxes on small business. You know, a lot of business activity in America is conducted like the guy that does my dry cleaning. He's an S corporation. He pays on his personal rate, and he is paying higher than the big dry-cleaning chain down the street, because he's paying at his personal rate. Under my plan, no business, big or small, will pay more than 25 percent flat rate on their business income. That is a dramatic tax decrease for hard-working people who run their own businesses. +p207 +aV...The other thing I'd like to make about our plan, one more point, it is the most pro growth tax plan that I can imagine because it doesn't tax investments at all. You know why? Because the more you tax something, the less of it you get. I want to be in \u2014 I want America to be the best... +p208 +aV...in the world for people... +p209 +aVI was mentioned in the question. +p210 +aVThank you. Well, I've learned the rules on this. Look, in addition to what Donald was saying is we also need to talk about the legal immigration system for permanent residents. Today, we have a legal immigration system for permanent residency that is largely based on whether or not you have a relative living here. And that's the way my parents came legally in 1956. But in 2015, we have a very different economy. Our legal immigration system from now on has to be merit-based. It has to be based on what skills you have, what you can contribute economically, and most important of all, on whether or not you're coming here to become an American, not just live in America, but be an American. +p211 +aVNo. No. What I said was that I think that Dr. Carson's ideas are good ideas. They're not my ideas, and I don't necessarily agree with all of them. But this is what you're seeing in the Republican debate that you didn't see in that Democrat debate. You didn't see it for a minute. You didn't see these kind of ideas being batted around, and being batted around in a way that's civil and smart and that's trying to help to inform the voter out there. What you saw was a parade of, "I'll give you this for free; I'll give you that for free." Let me tell you, everybody, when they say they want to give it to you for free, keep your hands on your wallets because they're coming to you to pay for it. And that's why I think these ideas up here are great, and that's what we should have is have more discussions like this and less gotcha. +p212 +aVI want to take off from that point and argue the same thing. And that is that one of the things you're watching tonight are 11 quality candidates debating an important issue. The Republican Party is blessed to have 11 good candidates, 10 good candidates. The Democrats can't even come up with one. And on this issue of the Medicare in particular, it's important because they're going to demagogue what we're saying here tonight. Everyone up here tonight that's talking about reforms, I think and I know for myself I speak to this, we're all talking about reforms for future generations. Nothing has to change for current beneficiaries. My mother is on Medicare and Social Security. I'm against anything that's bad for my mother. So, we're talking about \u2014 we're talking about reform for people like me and people like Senator Cruz, as he talked about earlier, who are years away from retirement that have a way to plan for these changes, and way that's very reasonable. And it's not too much to ask of our generation after everything our parents and our grandparents did for us. +p213 +aVYou know, America doesn't owe me anything. I have a debt to America I'll never repay. This isn't just the country I was born in, this is the nation that literally changed the history of my family. My parents in this country were able to give me the chance to do all the things they never did. We call that the American Dream, although, it's built on the universal dream of a better life. The fact that it's happened for so many people here throughout our history, that's what makes us special. But, now for millions of Americans, it's slipping away. And, we have a government and leaders in government that are completely out of touch, and that's why I'm running for president. Because we can't just save the American Dream, we can expand it to reach more people, and change more lives than ever before. And, that's why tonight I'm asking you for your vote. +p214 +aVThank you. My name is Marco Rubio. I'm from Florida. My wife Jeanette and I are the proud \u2014 we've been married 17 years, and we're the proud parents of four children, two of whom were able to join us here this evening. I'm honored to be here at the Reagan Library, at a place that honors the legacy of a man who inspired not just my interest in public service, but also our love for country. And I'm also aware that California has a drought, and so that's why I made sure I brought my own water. +p215 +aVWell, first of all, I have an understanding of exactly what it is Russia and Putin are doing, and it's pretty straightforward. He wants to reposition Russia, once again, as a geopolitical force. He himself said that the destruction of the Soviet Union \u2014 the fall of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century, and now he's trying to reverse that. He's trying to destroy +p216 +aVLet me tell you \u2014 I will tell you we have zero responsibility, because let's remember what the president said. He said the attack he would conduct would be a pinprick. Well, the United States military was not build to conduct pinprick attacks. If the United States military is going to be engaged by a commander-in-chief, it should only be engaged in an endeavor to win. And we're not going to authorize use of force if you're not put in a position where they can win. And quite frankly, people don't trust this president as commander-in-chief because of that. +p217 +aVHold on, a second, Jake, he asked me, as well. I'd like to actually... +p218 +aV... respond. I think I'm the first senator. The No. 1 test for use of military force should be the vital national security interest of the United States. The reason why I opposed President Obama bombing Syria, is because he couldn't answer the question what do you do if chemical weapons end up in the hands of radical Islamic terrorists like al-Nusra, like Al Qaida, like +p219 +aVIn the middle of negotiating this treaty, Khamenei led the assembled masses in chanting, death to America. I'm reminded of a great editorial cartoon. It shows the Ayatollah Khamenei saying, "Death to all Americans," and then it shows John Kerry coming back, saying, "Can we meet ya half way?" We need a commander-in-chief who will stand up and protect this country. And I'll tell you, I can't wait to stand on that debate stage with Hillary Clinton and to make abundantly clear if you vote for Hillary, you are voting for the Ayatollah Khomeini to possess a nuclear weapon and if you elect me as president, under no circumstances will a theocratic ayatollah who chants death to America ever be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon. +p220 +aVMs. Dana, I agree that English is the unifying language of our country, and everyone should learn to speak it. It's important. I want to tell you a story about someone that didn't speak English that well. It was my grandfather; he came to this country in the 1960s, as a \u2014 escaping Cuba. And he lived with us, growing up. And my grandfather loved America. He understood what was so special about this country. He loved Ronald Reagan; he would be very proud of the fact that we're here this evening. My grandfather instilled in me the belief that I was blessed to live in the one society in all of human history where even I, the son of a bartender and a maid, could aspire to have anything, and be anything that I was willing to work hard to achieve. But he taught me that in Spanish, because it was the language he was most comfortable in. And he became a conservative, even though he got his news in Spanish. And so, I do give interviews in Spanish, and here's why \u2014 because I believe that free enterprise and limited government is the best way to help people who are trying to achieve upward mobility. And if they get their news in Spanish, I want them to hear that directly from me. Not from a translator at Univision. +p221 +aVWell, let me say that legal immigration is not an issue I read about in the newspaper. Immigration, illegal immigration, all the good aspects of immigration and all the negative ones as well, I live with. My family's immigrants. My neighbors are all immigrants. My in-laws are all immigrants. So I've seen every aspect of it, and I can tell you America doesn't have one immigration problem, it has three. First, despite the fact that we are the most generous country in the history of the world in allowing people to come here legally, we have people still coming illegally. Second, we have a legal immigration system that no longer works. It primary is built on the basis of whether you have a relative living here instead of merit. And third, we have 11 million or 12 million people, many of whom have been here for longer than a decade who are already here illegally. And we must deal with all three of these problems. We cannot deal with all three of these problems in one massive piece of legislation. I learned that. We tried it that way. Here's the way forward: First, we must \u2014 we must secure our border, the physical border, with \u2014 with a wall, absolutely. But we also need to have an entry/exit tracking system. 40 percent of the people who come here illegally come legally, and then they overstay the visa. We also need a mandatory e-verify system. After we've done that, step two would be to modernize our legal immigration system so you come to America on the basis of what you can contribute economically, not whether or not simply you have a relative living here. And after we've done those two things, I believe the American people... +p222 +aV... will be very reasonable and responsible about what you do with someone who's been here and isn't a criminal. If you're a criminal, obviously, you will not be able to stay. +p223 +aVYes, well, it does. But it's in the following way, this is an important question. I think if you're running for president, these are important issues, because look at around the world today. There is a lunatic in North Korea with dozens of nuclear weapons and long-range rocket that can already hit the very place in which we stand tonight. The Chinese are rapidly expanding their military. They hack into our computers. They're building artificial islands in the South China Sea, the most important shipping lane in the world. A gangster in Moscow is not just threatening Europe, he's threatening to destroy and divide +p224 +aVWell, that's why we have a debate. I think that we should have a deeper debate about these issues, because there is no more important decision that a president will make. +p225 +aVWell, you should ask him questions in detail about the foreign policy issues our president will confront, because you had better be able to lead our country on the first day. Not six months from now, not a year from now, on the first day in office, our president could very well confront a national security crisis. You can't predict it. Sometimes you cannot control it. And it is the most \u2014 the federal government does all kinds of things it's not supposed to be doing. It regulates bathrooms. It regulates schools that belong to local communities. But the one thing that the federal government must do, the one thing that only the federal government can do is keep us safe. And a president better be up-to-date on those issues on his first day in office, on her first day in office. +p226 +aVTrust (ph) me, I get that. OK. +p227 +aVI never get to addressed, and... +p228 +aV...and when I do, I'm gonna jump in. +p229 +aVYeah. He did. Let me \u2014 I'm proud to serve in the United States Senate. You know, when I ran five years ago, the entire leadership of my party in Washington lined up against me. But I'm glad I won. And I'm glad that I ran, because this country's headed in the wrong direction. And if we keep electing the same people, nothing is going to change. And you're right, I have missed some votes, and I'll tell you why, Mr. Trump. Because in my years in the Senate, I've figured out very quickly that the political establishment in Washington, D.C. in both political parties is completely out of touch with the lives of our people. You have millions of people in this country living paycheck to paycheck, and nothing is being done about it. We are about to leave our children with $18 trillion in \u2014 in \u2014 in debt, and they're about to raise the debt limit again. We have a world that grows increasingly dangerous, and we are eviscerating our military spending and signing deals with Iran. And these \u2014 if this thing continues, we are going to be the first Americans to leave our children worse off than ourselves. That's why I'm missing votes. Because I am leaving the Senate, I'm not running for re-election, and I'm running for president because I know this: unless we have the right president, we cannot make America fulfill its potential, but with the right person in office, the 21st century can be the greatest era that our nation has ever known. +p230 +aVI want to go even deeper \u2014 and I want to go even deeper in that direction, because I think the belief that somehow by retreating, America makes the world safer has been disproven every single time it's ever been tried. Syria's a perfect example of it. The uprising in Syria was not started by the United States; it was started by the Syrian people. And I warned at the time \u2014 this was three and a half years ago \u2014 I openly and repeatedly warned that if we did not find moderate elements on the ground that we could equip and arm, that void would be filled by radical jihadists. Well, the president didn't listen, the administration didn't follow through, and that's exactly what happened. That is why +p231 +aV... as you asked earlier today. +p232 +aVBut radical terrorism cannot be solved by intellect. It cannot \u2014 they require \u2014 what they need, is they need an operating space. That's what Afghanistan was for Al Qaida. It was a vacuum that they filled, and they created an operating space. That's why they had to be drawn out of there. That's why they had to be destroyed. It is the reason why +p233 +aVThere's a broader issue here, Hugh. And there's a broader issue here as well. First of all, the only people that follow the law are law-abiding people. Criminals by definition ignore the law, so you can pass all the gun laws in the world, like the left wants. The criminals are going to ignore it because they are criminals. Here's the real issue. The real issue \u2014 the real issue is not what are people using to commit violence, but why are they committing the violence? And here's the truth: Because you cannot separate the social, moral wellbeing of your people from their economic and other wellbeing. You cannot separate it. You can't have a strong country without strong people, you cannot have strong people without strong values, and you cannot have strong values without strong families and the institutions in this country that defend and support those families. +p234 +aVWell, and today, we have a left-wing government under this president that is undermining all of the institutions and society that support the family and teach those values. +p235 +aVBecause we're not going to destroy our economy the way the left-wing government that we are under now wants to do. We're not going to... +p236 +aVWell, and I don't \u2014 he may have lined up with their positions on this issue. But here is the bottom line. Every proposal they put forward are going to be proposals that will make it harder to do business in America, that will make it harder to create jobs in America. Single parents are already struggling across this country to provide for their families. Maybe a billionaire here in California can afford an increase in their utility rates, but a working family in Tampa, Florida, or anywhere across this country cannot afford it. So we are not going to destroy our economy. We are not going to make America a harder place to create jobs in order to pursue policies that will do absolutely nothing, nothing to change our climate, to change our weather, because America is a lot of things, the greatest country in the world, absolutely. But America is not a planet. And we are not even the largest carbon producer anymore, China is. And they're drilling a hole and digging anywhere in the world that they can get a hold of. So the bottom line is, I am not in favor of any policies that make America a harder place for people to live, or to work, or to raise their families. +p237 +aVJake, you mentioned me and called me a denier. Let me say, climate change... +p238 +aVOK. A skeptic. You can measure the climate. You can measure it. That's not the issue we're discussing. Here is what I'm skeptical of. I'm skeptical of the decisions that the left wants us to make, because I know the impact those are going to have and they're all going to be on our economy. They will not do a thing to lower the rise of the sea. They will not do a thing to cure the drought here in California. But what they will do is they will make America a more expensive place to create jobs. And today with millions of people watching this broadcast that are struggling paycheck to paycheck that do not know how they're going to pay their bills at the end of this month, I'm not in favor of anything that is going to make it harder for them to raise their family. +p239 +aVSenator Rubio, you mean? +p240 +aVI know we all look alike. +p241 +aVThe \u2014 Rosa Parks, an everyday American that changed the course of history. +p242 +aVWell, there are some people in Florida upset at me over a joke I made about Florida State, but, what the heck, I want my codename to be Gator. +p243 +aVOne of the things that made Ronald Reagan a great president, is that he understood that America was a unique nation, like any other that had existed throughout human history. He knew it was founded on universal principles that were powerful, the dignity of all people, human rights, the rights of all to live in freedom and liberty, and choose their own path in life. He didn't just believe it, he acted on it. That's why bringing down communism was so important to him. If I'm honored with the opportunity to be president, I hope that our Air Force One will fly, first and foremost, to our allies; in Israel, in South Korea, and Japan. They know we stand with them. That America can be counted on. It would also fly to China, not just to meet with our enemies, not just to meet with those adversaries of ours that are there, but also to meet with those that aspire to freedom and liberty within China. I would even invite them to my inauguration. We would also fly into Moscow and into Russia. And not just meet with the leaders of Russia, but also meet with those who aspire to freedom and liberty in Russia. And ultimately, I hope that my Air Force One, if I become president, will one day land in a free Cuba, where its people can choose its leaders and its own destiny. +p244 +aVWell, thank you for the question, Chris, and it's great to be here tonight. Let me begin by saying this: I'm not new to the political process; I was making a contribution as the speaker of the third largest and most diverse state in the country well before I even got into the Senate. I would add to that that this election cannot be a resume competition. It's important to be qualified, but if this election is a resume competition, then Hillary Clinton's gonna be the next president, because she's been in office and in government longer than anybody else running here tonight. Here's what this election better be about: This election better be about the future, not the past. It better be about the issues our nation and the world is facing today, not simply the issues we once faced. This country is facing an economy that has been radically transformed. You know, the largest retailer in the country and the world today, Amazon, doesn't even own a single store? And these changes have been disruptive. They have changed people's lives. The jobs that once sustained our middle class, they either don't pay enough or they are gone, and we need someone that understands that as our nominee. If I'm our nominee, how is Hillary Clinton gonna lecture me about living paycheck to paycheck? I was raised paycheck to paycheck. How is she -- how is she gonna lecture me -- how is she gonna lecture me about student loans? I owed over $100,000 just four years ago. If I'm our nominee, we will be the party of the future. +p245 +aVLet me set the record straight on a couple of things. The first is, the evidence is now clear that the majority of people coming across the border are not from Mexico. They're coming from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras. Those countries are the source of the people that are now coming in its majority. I also believe we need a fence. The problem is if El Chapo builds a tunnel under the fence, we have to be able to deal with that too. And that's why you need an e-verify system and you need an entry-exit tracking system and all sorts of other things to prevent illegal immigration. But I agree with what Governor Kasich just said. People are frustrated. This is the most generous country in the world when it comes to immigration. There are a million people a year who legally immigrate to the United States, and people feel like we're being taken advantage of. We feel like despite our generosity, we're being taken advantage of. And let me tell you who never gets talked about in these debates. The people that call my office, who have been waiting for 15 years to come to the United States. And they've paid their fees, and they hired a lawyer, and they can't get in. And they're wondering, maybe they should come illegally. And so these are important issues, and we should address it. It's a serious problem that needs to be addressed, and otherwise we're going to keep talking about this for the next 30 years, like we have for the last 30 years. +p246 +aVNot me. +p247 +aVActually, to be clear......he supported Charlie Crist. +p248 +aVHey, Charlie... +p249 +aVWell, first off, I too believe in curriculum reform. It is critically important in the 21st Century. We do need curriculum reform. And it should happen at the state and local level. That's. . . that's. . . that is where educational policy belongs, because if a parent is unhappy with what their child is being taught in school, they can go to that local school board or their state legislature, or their governor and get it changed. Here's the problem with Common Core. The Department of Education, like every federal agency, will never be satisfied. They will not stop with it being a suggestion. They will turn it into a mandate. In fact, what they will begin to say to local communities is, you will not get federal money unless do you things the way we want you to do it. And they will use Common Core or any other requirements that exists nationally to force it down the throats of our people in our states. +p250 +aVThat's a great question. +p251 +aVThat's a great question. First of all, it begins by having leaders that recognize that the economy we live in today is dramatically different from the one we had five years ago. It's an economy that now has placed us in global competition with dozens of other countries around the world. Now, the big companies that have connections with Washington, they can affect policies to help them, but the small companies like the one Tania is talking about, they're the ones that are struggling. The first thing we need to do is we need to even out the tax code for small businesses so that we lower their tax rate to 25 percent, just as we need to lower it for all businesses. We need to have a regulatory budget in America that limits the amount of regulations on our economy. We need to repeal and replace Obamacare and we need to improve higher education so that people can have access to the skills they need for 21st century jobs. And last but not least, we need to repeal Dodd-Frank. It is eviscerating small businesses and small banks. 20 \u2014 over 40 percent of small and mid-size banks that loan money to small businesses have been wiped out over the \u2014 since Dodd-Frank has passed. We need to repeal and replace Dodd-Frank. We need to make America fair again for all businesses, but especially those being run by small business owners. +p252 +aVWell, Megyn, first of all, I'm not sure that that's a correct assessment of my record. I would go on to add that I believe all-- +p253 +aVI have never said that. And I have never advocated that. What I have advocated is that we pass law in this country that says all human life at every stage of its development is worthy of protection. In fact, I think that law already exists. It is called the Constitution of the United States. And let me go further. I believe that every single human being is entitled to the protection of our laws, whether they can vote or not. Whether they can speak or not. Whether they can hire a lawyer or not. Whether they have a birth certificate or not. And I think future generations will look back at this history of our country and call us barbarians for murdering millions of babies who we never gave them a chance to live. +p254 +aVWell, first, let me say I think God has blessed us. He has blessed the Republican Party with some very good candidates. The Democrats can't even find one. And I believe God has blessed our country. This country has been extraordinarily blessed. And we have honored that blessing. And that's why God has continued to bless us. And he has blessed us with young men and women willing to risk their lives and sometimes die in uniform for the safety and security of our people. Unfortunately today we have a VA that does not do enough for them. I am proud that last year we helped change the law. We changed the law to give the power to the VA secretary the ability to fire any executive that isn't doing their job. And it is outrageous they've only fired one person to date. When I'm president of the United States, we're going to have a VA that cares more about our veterans than about the bureaucrats who work at the VA. +p255 +aVThank you. You know, both of my parents were born into poor families on the island of Cuba. They came to America because it was the only place where people like them could have a chance. Here in this country, they never made it big, but the very purpose of their life was to give us the chance to do all the things they never could. My father was a bartender. And the journey from the back of that bar to this stage tonight, to me, that is the essence of the American dream. It is what makes our nation different. And I'm running for president because I want that to still be possible for the people trying to do that now. I run for president because I believe that we can't just save the American dream; we can expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And that's why I'm asking for your vote. So we can make America greater than it has ever been. And make of this century a new American century. +p256 +asVKASICH +p257 +(lp258 +VThank you, Wolf. Just last weekend, just last week, a friend asked one of my daughters, "Do you like politics?" And my daughter said, "No, I don't. And the reason I don't like it is because there's too much fighting, too much yelling. It's so loud, I don't like it." You know, I turned to my friend and I said, "You know, she's really on to something." And when we think about our country and the big issues that we face in this country; creating jobs, making sure people can keep their jobs, the need for rising wages, whether our children when they graduate from college can find a job, protecting the homeland, destroying +p259 +aVWell, first of all, Wolf, I said last February that we needed to have people on the ground, troops on the ground in a coalition similar to what we had in the first Gulf War. I remember when the Egyptian ambassador to the United States stood in the Rose Garden and pledged Arab commitment to removing Saddam Hussein from Kuwait. Before we came out here tonight, I am told that the Saudis have organized 34 countries who want to join in the battle against terrorism. First and foremost, we need to go and destroy +p260 +aVNo, I don't think it is. And I want to go back to two other issues. One is the metadata. We know we have to hold this data for a longer period of time. And, you know, in a lot of ways, Chris is right. Look, what a president has to do is take a position. We don't want to err on the side of having less. We want to err on the side of having more. That's good for our families. In addition to that, Wolf, there is a big problem. It's called encryption. And the people in San Bernardino were communicating with people who the FBI had been watching. But because their phone was encrypted, because the intelligence officials could not see who they were talking to, it was lost. We have to solve the encryption problem. It is not easy. A president of the United States, again, has to bring people together, have a position. We need to be able to penetrate these people when they are involved in these plots and these plans. And we have to give the local authorities the ability to penetrate to disrupt. That's what we need to do. Encryption is a major problem, and Congress has got to deal with this and so does the president to keep us safe. +p261 +aVYeah, let me \u2014 let me just suggest to everybody, and I hear \u2014 last February, I said we needed to have people on the ground in a coalition with Europe and our allies. This is not going to get done just by working with the Sunnis. And it is not going to get done if we just embed a few people. We have to go massively, like we did in the first Gulf War where we destroyed Saddam's ability to take Kuwait. We need to have a coalition that will stand for nothing less than the total destruction of +p262 +aVI don't understand this thing about Assad. He has to go. Assad is aligned with Iran and Russia. The one thing we want to prevent is we want to prevent Iran being able to extend a Shia crescent all across the Middle East. Assad has got to go. And there are moderates there. There are moderates in Syria who we should be supporting. I do not support a civil war. I don't want to be policeman of the world. But we can't back off of this. And let me tell you, at the end, the Saudis have agreed to put together a coalition inside of Syria to stabilize that country. +p263 +aVHe must go. It will be a blow to Iran and Russia. +p264 +aVThe foreign policy, you have to know how to pick and choose. There's no way, if Saddam had not had weapons of mass destruction, I would have gone, because I don't believe that the U.S. should be involved directly in civil wars. I opposed the U.S. involvement in Lebanon. We ended up having to withdraw our marines after our barracks were blown up. There is a difference between Iraq, where you have Sunni, Shia, and Kurds put together after the First World War by the Western powers. It doesn't work. It needs to break up into three parts. And for the Russians, frankly, it's time that we punched the Russians in the nose. They've gotten away with too much in this world and we need to stand up against them, not just there, but also in Eastern Europe where they threaten some of our most precious allies. +p265 +aVIt sounds more and more what my daughter said that I said in the beginning, all the fighting and arguing is not advancing us. +p266 +aVIt is not the way we're going to strengthen our country. We will strengthen our country when we come together. And, look, you've got Rand Paul, you've got Ted Cruz, you've got Marco, you've got a lot of people on this stage that have studied these issues. You know what a leader does? A leader has a sound program, has a good policy, and then brings people together to solve problems. Guess what? Both in Congress in balancing the budget and in Ohio fixing the economy \u2014 and, by the way, we talk about the fence. The first thing we better get going is strengthening our economy, because if we don't have a strong economy, we can't pay for all of this. And the world wants us to be able to function from strength, believe it or not. Get our economy going, get these people together in a room. We can fix this, ladies and gentlemen. We don't have to fight all the time. It can be done, and we will be great... +p267 +aV... when we join together. Thank you, Hugh. +p268 +aVYou know, obviously, as president of the United States, we've got to keep the people safe. That's first and foremost. But as governor of Ohio, I have an obligation to keep the 11.5 million people in Ohio safe. And we have been very effective with our Joint Terrorism Task Force, being able to make busts. In fact, we just made one three-four weeks ago against a person who was favorable to +p269 +aVNo Republican has ever been elected president of the United States without winning Ohio. Let me give you a little tip on how you win Ohio, it's reform, it's hope, it's growth, it's opportunity, and it's security. The people of Ohio are the people of America. The people of America are reflected in Ohio. Our message has to be big, and bold, and positive, and connect, not just with people's heads but also connect with their hearts. If we do it, we will beat Hillary Clinton, and we will run the White House, and we will strengthen and fix America, I promise you. +p270 +aVFirst of all, let me just say that, in the state of Ohio \u2014 and I'm the only acting executive on \u2014 on this stage today \u2014 we do have a moderate increase in the minimum wage. And I got to tell you, my father carried mail on his back. His father was a coal miner. He died of black lung. He was losing his eyesight. My mother's mother lived with us. She could barely speak English. I come from a town where if the wind blew the wrong way, people found themselves out of work. An economic theory is fine, but you know what? People need help. Now, I have a plan that, in fact, would cut taxes, but not $11 trillion or $12 trillion that would put my children further in debt. I have a plan that would not only cut taxes, lower the income tax rate for individuals, lower the tax for businesses so businesses will compete here and not move operations overseas, and also a plan \u2014 the only plan of anybody standing on this stage to get us to a balanced budget by the end of a second term. And, you know, the simple fact of the matter is, we hear a lot of promises in this debate, a lot of promises about these tax cuts or tax schemes sometimes that I call them. Hillary and the Democrats promise everything on the spending side. We've got to be responsible about what we propose on the tax side. Yes, lower taxes, lower spending. My website, JohnKasich.com, will show you exactly how we balance the budget. I balanced the budget in Washington as a chief architect, and I have balanced it in Ohio for one reason. When you balance the budget and you cut taxes, people get work. And our most important moral purpose as leaders in the political system is to make sure we create an environment for job creation so people can live their dreams and realize their God-given potential. That's why it's so important. And for those at the bottom, we've got to do what we can to train them so they can move up. But to just look the other way is not acceptable, because, you know what, as the governor of Ohio I have to deal with real challenges, and we've gotten it done in our state, and I will do it for America. +p271 +aVSure. We would move the Medicare system from a 7 percent growth down to about a 5 percent growth. And I have a whole series of ways to do that. In Ohio, we reduced Medicaid funding for the poor from 10 percent to 2.5 percent, didn't cut one benefit or didn't take anybody off the rolls. Why? Because we're innovators. I've been an innovator my entire career. And I really don't care what special interests or lobbyists have to say. I have a job to do when I take over a public office. Now, we freeze non-defense discretionary for eight years. We also put an increase in defense spending. Our tax cuts balance out. And at the end of the day, we will get to a balanced budget. And I want everybody here to know, when I was Budget Committee chairman in Washington, I stepped on every toe in that town, and we got to a balanced budget, and we had enormous job growth. And as governor of Ohio, we went from 350,000 lost jobs to a gain of 347,000 jobs. +p272 +aVI'll do it in Washington. I've done it twice; I'll do it thrice for the United States of America. +p273 +aVExcuse me. +p274 +aVYeah, I would like to make a comment. +p275 +aVI appreciate it, Jeb. I'm all of you. But I want at some point to talk about a value-added tax and $11 trillion, $12 trillion tax cuts that will put our kids way deeper in the hole than they have been at this point. So I would like to talk about it at some point, because that's what leadership is. +p276 +aVMaria, can we comment on that? +p277 +aVCan we comment on that? +p278 +aVWell, look, in 1986 Ronald Reagan basically said the people who were here, if they were law-abiding, could stay. But, what didn't happen is we didn't build the walls effectively and we didn't control the border. We need to. We need to control our border just like people have to control who goes in and out of their house. But if people think that we are going to ship 11 million people who are law-abiding, who are in this country, and somehow pick them up at their house and ship them out of Mexico \u2014 to Mexico, think about the families. Think about the children. So, you know what the answer really is? If they have been law- abiding, they pay a penalty. They get to stay. We protect the wall. Anybody else comes over, they go back. But for the 11 million people, come on, folks. We all know you can't pick them up and ship them across, back across the border. It's a silly argument. It is not an adult argument. It makes no sense. +p279 +aVJerry, Gerald, it was an attack. +p280 +aVIn the state of Ohio, the state of Ohio, we have grown 347,000 jobs. Our unemployment is half of what it was. Our fracking industry, energy industry may have contributed 20,000, but if Mr. Trump understood that the real jobs come in the downstream, not in the upstream, but in the downstream. And that's where we're going to get our jobs. But Ohio is diversified. And little false little things, sir, they don't really work when it comes to the truth. So the fact is, all I'm suggesting, we can't ship 11 million people out of this country. Children would be terrified, and it will not work. +p281 +aV...Mr. Baker, everybody got to talk about taxes... +p282 +aV...I think you were coming to me and then... +p283 +aV...Look, I hate to crash the party to you, Mr. Baker, but, you know, what's fair... +p284 +aV...Yes, sir... +p285 +aVLet me tell you this, Mr. Baker, in terms of the cyber attacks, we have the capability to not only have a defensive posture, but it also to make it clear to people that if you attack us with cyber attacks, we will destroy the mechanisms that you are using to attack us. I want to give you a little trip around the world. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years. In the Ukraine, arm the people there so they can fight for themselves. In the eastern part of Europe, make sure that Finland and the Baltics know that if the Russians move, we move. In Syria, yes, a no-fly zone in the north on the Turkish border, a no-fly zone on the south on the Jordanian border. Anybody flies in the first time, maybe they can fly out. They fly in there a second time, they will not fly out. And it also becomes a sanctuary for the people to be. And it also sends many messages in the Middle East that we're still involved. Saudi Arabia, cut off the funding for the radical clerics, the ones that preach against us. But they're fundamentally our friends. Jordan, we want the king to reign for 1,000 years. Egypt, they have been our ally and a moderating force in the Middle East throughout their history. In the groups \u2014 in the countries of the Gulf states of Bahrain, the Cleveland Clinic is opening an operation. Clearly we see the same with them. And in Israel, we have no better ally in the world, and no more criticizing them in public, we should support them. And finally China, China doesn't own the South China Sea, and I give the president some credit for being able to move a naval force in there to let the Chinese know that we're not going to put up with it any more. And in the trade agreement, the TPP, it's critical to us, not only for economic reasons and for jobs, because there are so many people who are connected to getting jobs because of trade, but it allows us to create not only economy alliances, but also potentially strategic alliances against the Chinese. They are not our enemy, but they are certainly not our friend. And finally, I will say to everyone in this room, we have been talking about taxes and economics. When the fall comes, and we run against Hillary, which will be a disaster if she got elected. I have two 16-year-old girls, and I want this country to be strong. We make promises we can't keep under the bright light of the fall, we will have trouble. We must make sure that economic programs and our military programs are solid. I served in Washington as the chairman of the Budget Committee, and we got the budget balanced. And in Ohio, as the CEO, and guess what, we have got to have a CEO mentality and a way to beat Hillary Clinton and the Democracies in the fall. And our ideas have to add up. They have to be solid. And people have to know we have the confidence to lead America. And as president, I will lead this country, as I have before in Washington and in Ohio, and will return both on domestic and international affairs. And I appreciate the opportunity to speak this time, Gerry. +p286 +aVLet me \u2014 let me also say, Gary \u2014 Gary, let me also say, Jeb is \u2014 what Jeb is talking about with the big banks is to force them to reserve their capital, people who invest it and they hold their capital, so that if the bank goes down, the people who are invested in the bank are the ones that pay. That's what he's trying to say. Secondly, I'll tell you about Wall Street: There's too much greed. And the fact is, a free enterprise system is a system that's produced the greatest wealth for the world. But you know Michael Novak, the great Catholic theologian, says that a free enterprise system that is not underlaid with values \u2014 and we should all think about the way we conduct our lives \u2014 yes, free enterprise is great, profits are great, but there have to be some values that underlay it, and they need a good ethics lesson on Wall Street on a regular basis to keep them in check so we, the people, do not lose. +p287 +aVNeil, that's the difference of being an executive. And let me just explain: when a bank is ready to go under and depositors are getting ready to lose their life savings, you just don't say we believe in philosophical concerns. You know what an executive has to decide? When there's a water crisis, how do we get water to the city? When there's a school shooting, how do you get there and help heal a community? When there are financial crisis, or a crisis with ebola, you got to go there and try to fix it. Philosophy doesn't work when you run something. And I gotta tell you, on-the-job training for president of the United States doesn't work. We've done it for 8 years, \u2014 and almost 8 years now. It does not work. We need an executive who's been tried, has been tested, and judge the decisions that that executive makes. I don't like what the Fed is doing, but I'll tell you what worries me more than anything else: turning the Fed over to the Congress of the United States... +p288 +aV...so they can print the money. That would be a very bad approach. +p289 +aVI wouldn't. I wouldn't. +p290 +aVNo. No, I didn't say that. +p291 +aVThey were \u2014 they were talking about what you would do with depositors. Would you let these banks shut down? My argument is, going forward, the banks have to reserve the capital, so that the \u2014 so that the people who own the capital start pressuring the banks to not take these risky approaches, Ted. But at the end of the day... +p292 +aV... I'm gonna tell you this. Let me tell you this. If during \u2014 if during... +p293 +aV...because if during \u2014 well, I'll tell you what (ph). +p294 +aVAs an executive \u2014 no. As an executive, I would figure out how to separate those people who can afford it versus those people, or the hard-working folks who put those money in those institutions...... let me \u2014 no, no. Let me say another thing. Here's what I mean by that. Here's what I mean by that. +p295 +aVWhen you are faced \u2014 when you are faced, in the last financial crisis, with banks going under \u2014 with banks going under, and people, people who put their \u2014 their life savings in there, you got to deal with it. You can't turn a blind eye to it. Now, going forward, that's one thing. If you had another financial crisis, perhaps there would be an effort to make sure that we do (ph). +p296 +aVWell, ladies and gentlemen, if Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders were to win this election, my 16-year-olds, I \u2014 I worry about what their life is going to be like. You know, the conservative movement is all about opportunity. It is about lower taxes. It's about balanced budgets. It's about less regulation. And it's about sending power, money and influence back to where we live so we can run America from the bottom up. In addition to that, once we have the power and the money and the influence with programs we shift out, that each of us have a responsibility to reach out and to rebuild our families, make them stronger, and connect our neighborhoods. All that together \u2014 wealth, connection, family \u2014 America's greatest days are ahead. We must win this election. +p297 +aVGood question, but I want to tell you, my great concern is that we are on the verge, perhaps, of picking someone who cannot do this job. I've watched to see people say that we should dismantle Medicare and Medicaid and leave the senior citizens out \u2014 out in the \u2014 in the cold. I've heard them talk about deporting 10 or 11 \u2014 people here from this country out of this country, splitting families. I've heard about tax schemes that don't add up, that put our kids in \u2014 in a deeper hole than they are today. We need somebody who can lead. We need somebody who can balance budgets, cut taxes... +p298 +aVYou know, frankly, I did it in Washington, in Ohio, and I will do it again in Washington, if I'm president, to get this country moving again. +p299 +aVcountry moving again. +p300 +aVListen, I want to just comment. +p301 +aVWell I want to comment on this. This is the fantasy... +p302 +aVThis is the fantasy that I talked about in the beginning. +p303 +aVI'm the only person on this stage that actually was involved in the chief architect of balancing the Federal Budget. You can't do it with empty promised. You know, these plans would put us trillions and trillions of dollars in debt. I actually have a plan. I'm the only one on this stage that has a plan that would create jobs, cut taxes, balance the budget and can get it done because I'm realistic. You just don't make promises like this. Why don't we just give a chicken in every pot, while we're, you know, coming up \u2014 coming up with these fantasy tax schemes. We'll just clean it up. Where are you gonna clean it up? You have to deal with entitlements, you have to be in a position to control discretionary spending. You gotta be creative and imaginative. Now, let me just be clear, John. I went into Ohio where we had an $8 billion hole and now we have a $2 billion surplus. We're up 347,000 jobs. When I was in Washington, I fought to get the budget balanced. I was the architect. It was the first time we did it since man walked on the moon. We cut taxes and we had a $5 trillion projected surplus when I left. That's was hard work. Fiscal discipline, know what you're doing. Creativity. This stuff is fantasy. Just like getting rid of Medicare and Medicaid. Come on, that's just not \u2014 you scare senior citizens with that. It's not responsible. +p304 +aVWell, I mean right here. To talk about we're just gonna have a 10 percent tithe and that's how we're gonna fund the government? And we're going to just fix everything with waste, fraud, and abuse? Or that we're just going to be great? Or we're going to ship 10 million Americans \u2014 or 10 million people out of this country, leaving their children here in this country and dividing families? Folks, we've got to wake up. We cannot elect somebody that doesn't know how to do the job. You have got to pick somebody who has experience, somebody that has the know-how, the discipline. And I spent my entire lifetime balancing federal budgets, growing jobs, the same in Ohio. And I will go back to Washington with my plan. +p305 +aVAnd I will have done it within 100 days, and it will pass. And we will be strong again. Thank you. +p306 +aVLet me just \u2014 let me respond. First of all, Ohio does have an energy industry, but we're diversified. We're one of the fastest growing states in the country. We came back from the dead. And you know what? It works very, very well. And secondly, when you talk about me being on the board of Lehman Brothers, I wasn't on the board of Lehman Brothers. I was a banker and I was proud of it. And I traveled the country and learned how people made jobs. We ought to have politicians who not only have government experience but know how the CEOs and the job creators work. My state is doing great across the board. And guess what, in 2011, I got a deal... +p307 +aV... an agreement with the... +p308 +aV... that he tried to take credit for four years later. It's a joke. +p309 +aVJohn Harwood, there's a bigger issue here. +p310 +aVWell, first of all, when we talk about the Import Export Bank, it's time to clean up corporate welfare. If we're gonna reform welfare for poor people, we ought to reform it for rich people, as well. Secondly, in our state, we went from a loss of 350,000 jobs to, now, a gain of 347,000 jobs to the positive. Our wages are growing faster than the national average, and I've cut taxes more than any sitting governor in this state \u2014 $5 billion, including no taxes on small business and killing the death tax. I want to go back to what we were talking about earlier, this budget deal in Washington. This is the same old stuff since I left. You spend the money today and then you hope you're going to save money tomorrow. I don't know if people understand, but I spent a lifetime with my colleagues getting us to a federal balanced budget. We actually did it. And I have a road map and a plan right now to get us to balance. Reforming entitlements, cutting taxes. You see, because if you really want to get to a balanced budget, you need to reduce your expenses and you need to grow your economy. So what I will tell you about our incentives \u2014 our incentives are tight, and at the end of the day we make sure that we gain more from the creation of jobs than what we lose. And you know what? Ohio, one of the best growing places in the country \u2014 I not only did it in Washington, I did it in Ohio, and I'll go back to Washington, and there will be no more silly deals... +p311 +aV... If I become President because we'll have a Constitutional Amendment to require a federally balanced budget so they will do their job. +p312 +aVWell, first of all, we're running a $2 billion dollar surplus, we're not having a revenue problem right now. And, sending mixed signals to kids about drugs is a disaster. Drugs is one of the greatest scourge in this country, and I spent five years of my administration working with my team to do a whole sort of things to try to reign in the problem of overdoses, and it goes on and on. We could do a whole show on that. I want to go back for a second thought on this issue of income inequality. My program would move the 104 programs of the federal Department of Education into four block grants, and send them back to the states because income inequality is driven by a lack of skills when kids don't get what they need to be able to compete and win in this country. The fact is, in order to get this economy moving again, I call for freezing regulations for a year except for the problem of public safety. I believe that we need to cut these taxes down, we need to be on a roadmap to balancing the budget, and we need to send power, money, and influence, the welfare department, the education department, job training, infrastructure, Medicaid, all of that out of Washington back to the states so we can run these programs from where we live to the top, not a one size fits all mentality that they have in Washington. And, that will get to the nub of opportunity for our children, and an ability to see wages rise. Again... +p313 +aV...One more time, in Ohio, our wages are growing faster than the national average. We've cut taxes, balanced budgets, changed the regulatory environment. Folks, you want to \u2014 +p314 +aV\u2014 fix America, this is the formula. It worked for Reagan and it works for our team in Ohio. Thank you. +p315 +aVJohn. +p316 +aVI wanna tell you, in my state, we took Medicaid, the hardest program to control, and we took it from a 10 percent growth rate to 2.5 percent without taking one person off the rolls or cutting one single benefit. And so much of what we did \u2014 to force competition, to use technology, to stand down the special interest groups \u2014 can you imagine taking Medicaid from 10 to 2.5 percent? We can take many of those same procedures, we can apply it to Medicare. We can make a stronger program. But I agree with Jeb, you can't just do this by growing the economy. You can't grow your way out of demographics. But we can give people better health care. And finally, on health care, why don't we start treating \u2014 keep giving... +p317 +aV...incentives for people to keep people healthy, rather than giving the incentives to treat them when they're sick? +p318 +aVI was on morning Joe at a town hall and a young student stood up and said, "Can I still be idealistic?" I said, absolutely, you can still change the world. And, you know the old inscription, if you save one life, you've changed the world. Folks, we have a problem here with the leadership in Washington, but I'll tell you another problem. We need to rebuild our families. We need to have stronger families. We need to know who our neighbors are. We need to come together as a country because we have to realize that America is great, not from the top-down. Oh yeah, we want to elect a good president, but America is great from the bottom-up, and the bottom-up is us in our families, in our communities, in our neighborhoods. We will renew America if we work together, and I am totally confident that we will. And God bless America. +p319 +aVHello, I'm John Kasich, the Governor of Ohio. Emma, and Reese, my children, and Karen, love 'ya girls. Thanks for watching tonight. By the way, I think I actually flew on this plane with Ronald Reagan when I was a congressman, and his goals, and mine, really much \u2014 are pretty much the same. Lift Americans, unify, give hope, grow America, and restore it is to that great, shining city on a hill. Yes, he was a great one, and I learned much from watching him. The most important thing, hope to Americans, unify, lift everyone in America. +p320 +aVJake, Jake. +p321 +aVListen, you know, I \u2014 if I were sitting at home and watch thing back and forth, I would be inclined to turn it off. I mean, people at home want to know across this country, they want to know what we're going to do to fix this place, how we'll balance a budget, how we're going to create more economic growth, how we'll pay down the debt. What we're going to do to strengthen the military. So, we just spent 10 minutes here... +p322 +aVBut \u2014 but wait a minute. It's a lot of ad hogshead. Now, I know that it may be buzzing out there, but I think it's important we get to the issues, because that's what people want, and they don't want all this fighting. +p323 +aV...Yeah, well... +p324 +aVWell, let me just say this. First of all, I think it's a bad agreement, I would never have done it. But, you know, a lot of our problems in the world today is that we don't have the relationship with our allies. If we want to go everywhere alone, we will not have the strength as (ph) if we could rebuild with our allies. Now, this agreement, we don't know what's going to happen in 18 months. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years. I've seen lots of issues in foreign affairs, and foreign \u2014 in terms of global politics, you have to be steady. Now, here's the \u2014 if they cheat, we slap the sanctions back on. If they help Hamas, and Hezbollah, we slap the sanctions back on. And, if we find out that they may be developing a nuclear weapon, than the military option is on the table. We are stronger when we work with the Western civilization, our friends in Europe, and just doing it on our own I don't think is the right policy. +p325 +aVNo, no, no. I want to \u2014 I want to \u2014 I want to say something about what the senator just said. +p326 +aVNo one is \u2014 no \u2014 let me \u2014 let me suggest to you we believe that we operate better in the world when our allies work with us. President Bush did it in the Gulf War. We work better when we are unified. Secondly, nobody's trusting Iran. They violate the deal, we put on the sanctions, and we have the high moral ground to talk to our allies in Europe to get them to go with us. If they don't go with us, we slap the sanctions on anyway. If they fund these radical groups that threaten Israel and all of the West, then we should rip up the deal and put the sanctions back on. And let me make it clear \u2014 let me make it clear... +p327 +aV... if we think \u2014 if we think they're getting close to a \u2014 to developing a nuclear weapon and we get that information, you better believe that I would do everything in my power as the commander-in-chief to stop them having a nuclear weapon. +p328 +aVWe can have it, and we can have our allies, and we can be strong as a country, and we can project across this globe with unity, not just doing it alone. That is not what gets us where we want to get as a nation. +p329 +aVWell, I agree that we should defund Planned Parenthood. I don't know many people in America who don't think that we should, and in my state, we're trying to figure out how to get it done, because we are threatened with the federal government taking all of our Medicaid money away. I think there is a way to get this done by giving governors the ability to be able to act to defund Planned Parenthood. But when (ph) it comes to closing down the federal government, you gotta be very careful about that. When we shut the government down \u2014 if we have a chance at success and it's a great principle, yes. The president of the United States is not going to sign this, and all we're gonna do is shut the government down, and then we're gonna open up \u2014 open it up, and the American people are gonna shake their heads and say, "what's the story with these Republicans?" So I think there is a way to get to cutting off the funding for Planned Parenthood. I was in the Congress for 18 years, balanced the budget, cut taxes, got it done. Changed welfare, went around the president to get welfare reform done. There are ways to do it without having to shut the government down, but I'm sympathetic to the fact that we don't want this organization to get funding, and the money ought to be reprogrammed for family planning in other organizations that don't support this tactic. But I would not be for shutting the government down... +p330 +aV...because I don't think it's going to work out. +p331 +aVWe're not \u2014 what I can tell you is this. We didn't surrender in New Jersey, six years ago, as the brand new first ever pro-life governor of New Jersey since Roe versus Wade, I defended Planned Parenthood. And I've vetoed Planned Parenthood funding, now, eight times in New Jersey. Since the day I walked in as governor, Planned Parenthood has not been funded in New Jersey. We stood up and every one of those vetoes has been sustained. But here's the problem, we're \u2014 we're fighting with each other up here. We agree. Let's ask Hillary Clinton. She believes in the systematic murder of children in the womb to preserve their body parts... +p332 +aV...Dana, in a way that maximizes their value for sale for profit. It is disgusting, and the American people need to hear it... +p333 +aV...we shouldn't be fighting with each other. She's the real opponent, she's the real problem. +p334 +aVI'll tell you what \u2014 I'll tell you what I'd be willing to fight for. I'll tell you what I'd be willing to fight for. Why will (ph) we put tax reform on the president's desk, so we can simplify this tax system? +p335 +aVNo, no, it's really important, Dana. We got to talk about what we would be willing to shut down for. Why don't we put tax reform on this president's desk, and make him veto it if that's what he wants to do? Why haven't we repealed and replaced Obamacare? Make him veto if that's what he wants to do. +p336 +aVThere's a \u2014 +p337 +aVJake \u2014 +p338 +aVOK, Jake. +p339 +aVI don't at this point in terms of changing the incentives for investment and risk-taking. But let's just stop for a second. There's one person on this stage that does have a record. I'm the only person on the stage and one of the few people in this country that led the effort as the chief architect of the last time we balanced the federal budget. We also cut taxes. And when I left Washington in 2000, we had a $5 trillion surplus, and the economy was booming. I had spent 10 years of my life to get us to that point, went out in the private sector, was a great experience, and went into Ohio and took an $8 billion hole and turned it into a $2 billion surplus. We've had the largest amount of tax cuts of any sitting governor. We've grown well over 300,000 jobs. You see, I've done it in both places. I'm the only one here that has done it in both places. It took a lot to get us to a balanced budget. It was legitimate. It was real. And we negotiated it. A lot of what we're talking about here tonight as we take this position and that position, you know what? At the end of the day, America has got to work. We've got to figure out how we come together to deal with this \u2014 with our fiscal problems because when we deal with that, we create a stronger economy for everybody. People have a chance to rise. So, you know, when we think about how we make a choice, it's the person that lands that plane. It's not somebody that talks about it. It's about the person who has done it. And I've done it in... +p340 +aV... both places. And I did it including people in the other party. And that's how we were successful. +p341 +aVAnd that's how I will be president, using that experience to drive this country forward. Thank you. +p342 +aVWell, look, people still have to get to know me, so I want to spend my time talking about my experience reforming welfare, balancing budgets, cutting taxes, providing economic growth when I was in Washington, turning Ohio around. Eight billion in the hole, $2 billion surplus, up over 300,000 jobs, big tax cuts, strengthening our credit. All those things matter but, you know, as a young man in my first election in 1978, I defeated an incumbent Democrat. I defeated an incumbent Democrat in 1982; running on the Reagan program, I was the only Republican in America to defeat an incumbent Democrat that year. And then, when I won for election of governor, I was the first Republican to defeat an incumbent in 36 years, and the first person to have never run statewide out of politics for 10 years to beat an incumbent. That hadn't happened for 96 years. So, we'll get to the point where we'll talk about Hillary Clinton, or whoever the nominee is, record. But right now, I want to give people sense of hope, sense of purpose, a sense of unity, sense that we can do it. So... +p343 +aVYou know, at the end of the day, I'm going to continue to talk about my record, because there is, did you ever notice when people run for office, they run for president, they make a lot of promises, they don't keep them. +p344 +aVI don't intend to do that, and I going to be out there pushing it out \u2014 don't worry about me and Hillary. That will all work out, and I'm from Ohio. She will not beat me there, I can promise you that. +p345 +aVCan I just \u2014 can I \u2014 Jake, can I just make one point on this whole military discussion? +p346 +aVI called for boots on the ground many months ago in a coalition with our friends who share our interest. You know, you win a battle with the military, and when we go somewhere, we need to be mobile, and lethal. We need to take care of business, and we need to come home. But, we face, also, a bigger war \u2014 and you win the bigger war with the battle of ideas. You wonder why young people, and educated people, rich people, schooled people, have tried to join +p347 +aV...to make (ph) centers (ph) of justice so that we can battle the radicals, call them out for what they are, and make sure that all of our people feel fulfilled in living in Western civilization... +p348 +aV...This is a giant battle in the world today... +p349 +aVWell, it's probably not, maybe, legal, but, I would pick Mother Theresa, the lady that I had a chance to meet, a woman who lived a life so much bigger than her own. An inspiration to everyone when we think about our responsibility to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. +p350 +aVWell, I have one now \u2014 they (ph) call me, "Unit One". My wife says, "You'll never be Unite One, I'm Unite One. You're Unit Two." +p351 +aVWell, as president, I will make this a nation that will solve problems. And how? By having the elected officials and the leaders realize they're Americans before they're Republicans or Democrats. I did it in Washington. And I've done it in Ohio by having the elected officials realize that they're Ohioans before anything else. Secondly, I will rebuild the relationships and show the respect to our allies around the world. We have no choice but to do that. We will be stronger when we are unified. And we'll fight for freedom and for human rights. And finally, a little bit of what Carly said. The people that are out there listening, America was never great because we ran America from the top down. America is great because we have run America from the bottom up, where we all live in the neighborhoods. One more time in America, we need to revive the concept of citizenship, where everybody's actions make a huge difference in changing the world. We have a Holocaust memorial on our state house grounds. And there is one line on there that stands out all the time. "If you've saved one life, you've changed the world." We need to adopt that as citizens and rebuild and reinspire our country. Thank you. +p352 +aVWell, first of all... ...first of all, Megyn, you should know that -- that President Reagan expanded Medicaid three or four times. Secondly, I had an opportunity to bring resources back to Ohio to do what? To treat the mentally ill. Ten thousand of them sit in our prisons. It costs $22,500 a year... ...to keep them in prison. I'd rather get them their medication so they could lead a decent life. Secondly, we are rehabbing the drug-addicted. Eighty percent of the people in our prisons have addictions or problems. We now treat them in the prisons, release them in the community and the recidivism rate is 10 percent and everybody across this country knows that the tsunami of drugs is -- is threatening their very families. So we're treating them and getting them on their feet. And, finally, the working poor, instead of them having come into the emergency rooms where it costs more, where they're sicker and we end up paying, we brought a program in here to make sure that people could get on their feet. And do you know what? Everybody has a right to their God-given purpose. And finally, our Medicaid is growing at one of the lowest rates in the country. And, finally, we went from $8 billion in the hole to $2 billion in the black. We've cut $5 billion in taxes... ...and we've grown 350,000 jobs. +p353 +aVChris, first of all, I was just saying to Chris Christie, they say we're outspoken, we need to take lessons from Donald Trump if we're really going to learn it. Here is the thing about Donald Trump. Donald Trump is hitting a nerve in this country. He is. He's hitting a nerve. People are frustrated. They're fed up. They don't think the government is working for them. And for people who want to just tune him out, they're making a mistake. Now, he's got his solutions. Some of us have other solutions. You know, look, I balanced the federal budget as one of the chief architects when I was in Washington. Hasn't been done since. I was a military reformer. I took the state of Ohio from an $8 billion hole and a 350,000 job loss to a $2 billion surplus and a gain of 350,000 jobs. +p354 +aVBut the point is that we all have solutions. Mr. Trump is touching a nerve because people want the wall to be built. They want to see an end to illegal immigration. They want to see it, and we all do. But we all have different ways of getting there. And you're going to hear from all of us tonight about what our ideas are. +p355 +aVDonald, if you... +p356 +aV-- this campaign, I hope you will give to me. +p357 +aVOK. +p358 +aVLet's start off with my father being a mailman. So I understand the concerns of all the folks across this country, some of whom have trouble, you know, making ends meet. But I think she will come in a narrow way. The nominee of this party, if they're going to win, has got to come at it in a big way, which is pro-growth. Which is balancing budgets. You know, we were talking about it. People were saying, could we do it? I was the chairman of the Budget Committee and the lead architect the last time it happened in Washington, and when we did it we had great economic growth, we cut taxes, and we had a big surplus. Economic growth is the key. Economic growth is the key to everything. But once you have economic growth, it is important that we reach out to people who live in the shadows, the people who don't seem to ever think that they get a fair deal. And that includes people in our minority community; that includes people who feel as though they don't have a chance to move up. You know, America is a miracle country. And we have to restore the sense that the "Amiracle" will apply to you. Each and every one of the people in this country who's watching tonight, lift everybody, unite everybody and build a stronger United States of America again. It will be and can be done. +p359 +aVWell, look, I'm an old-fashioned person here, and I happen to believe in traditional marriage. But I've also said the court has ruled -- +p360 +aVWait, Megyn, the court has ruled, and I said we'll accept it. And guess what, I just went to a wedding of a friend of mine who happens to be gay. Because somebody doesn't think the way I do, doesn't mean that I can't care about them or can't love them. So if one of my daughters happened to be that, of course I would love them and I would accept them. Because you know what? That's what we're taught when we have strong faith. So the issues like that, issues like that are planted to divide us. I think the simple fact of the matter is, and this is where I would agree with Jeb, and I've been saying it all along, we need to give everybody a chance, treat everybody with respect, and let them share in this great American dream that we have, Megan. So, look, I'm going to love my daughters, I'm going to love them no matter what they do. Because, you know what, God gives me unconditional love. I'm going to give it to my family and my friends and the people around me. +p361 +aVWell, Megyn, my father was a mailman. His father was a coal miner. My mother's mother could barely speak English. And their son today stands on this podium in the great state of Ohio not only as the governor, but a candidate for president of the United States. I do believe in miracles. You know, I've had a lot of elections. But my elections are really not about campaigns. I tell my people that these are about a movement. And a movement to do what? To restore common sense. A movement to do things like provide economic growth. And a movement not to let anybody be behind. You know, today the country is divided. You asked a question about the police and the difficulty in communities. We've got to unite our country again, because we're stronger when we are united and we are weaker when we are divided. And we've got to listen to other people's voices, respect them, but keep in mind, and I believe in terms of the things that I've read in my lifetime, the Lord'is not picking us. But because of how we respect human rights, because that we are a good force in the world, he wants America to be strong. He wants America to succeed. And he wants America to lead. And nothing is more important to me than my family, my faith, and my friends. +p362 +aVYou know, tonight we hear about what people want to do. I want to tell you what I've done. I was a member of the Armed Services Committee for 18 years. I spent a big chunk of my life studying national security issues and our role in the world. No. 2. I was the chairman of the House Budget Committee and one of the chief architects the last time we balanced a budget, and it was the first time we had done it since man walked on the moon. We had a $5 trillion surplus and we cut taxes. I spent ten years in the private sector, actually learning how business works. And now I'm the governor of Ohio, and I inherited a state that was on the brink of dying. And we turned it all around with jobs and balanced budgets and rising credit and tax cuts, and the state is unified, and people have hope again in Ohio. +p363 +asVQUICK +p364 +(lp365 +VGentlemen \u2014 we'll \u2014 we'll get back to this \u2014 just a minute \u2014 just a minute we're gonna continue this. I wanna talk taxes... +p366 +aVDr. Carson, let's talk about taxes. You have a flat tax plan of 10 percent flat taxes, and \u2014 I've looked at it \u2014 and this is something that is very appealing to a lot of voters, but I've had a really tough time trying to make the math work on this. If you were to took a 10 percent tax, with the numbers right now in total personal income, you're gonna come in with bring in $1.5 trillion. That is less than half of what we bring in right now. And by the way, it's gonna leave us in a $2 trillion hole. So what analysis got you to the point where you think this will work? +p367 +aVI \u2014 I understand that, but if you \u2014 if you look at the numbers you probably have to get to 28. +p368 +aV15 percent still leaves you with a $1.1 trillion hole. +p369 +aVYou'd have to cut \u2014 you'd have to cut government about 40 percent to make it work with a $1.1 trillion hole. +p370 +aVThat is true, I looked at the numbers. +p371 +aVDr. Carson, thank you. +p372 +aVGovernor... +p373 +aVDr. Carson, let me get 30 seconds with Dr. Carson... +p374 +aVThank you. +p375 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, thank you. +p376 +aVGentlemen, I'm sorry, we need to... +p377 +aVWe're going to move on. +p378 +aVThirty seconds. +p379 +aVWe'll get to everyone. Ms. Fiorina, I \u2014 I'd like to ask you a question. You are running for president of the United States because of your record running Hewlett-Packard. But the stock market is usually a fair indicator of the performance of a CEO, and the market was not kind to you. Someone who invested a dollar in your company the day you took office had lost half of the dollar by the day you left. Obviously, you've talked in the past about what a difficult time it was for technology companies, but anybody who was following the market knows that your stock was a much worse performer, if you looked at your competitors, if you looked at the overall market. I just wonder, in terms of all of that \u2014 you know, we look back, your board fired you. I just wondered why you think we should hire you now. +p380 +aVMrs. Fiorina, it's interesting that you bring up Mr. Perkins, because... ...he said a lot of very questionable things. Last year, in an interview, he said that he thinks wealthy people should get more votes than poor people. I think his quote was that, "if you pay zero dollars in taxes, you should get zero votes. If you pay a million dollars, you should get a million votes." Is this the type of person you want defending you? +p381 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p382 +aVThank you, we're out of time. Thank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Carl. +p383 +aVGovernor Christie, I'd like to a question next. Actually, I have a question for you . In your tell it like it is campaign, you've said a lot of tough things. You've said that we need to raise the retirement age for Social Security. You think that we need to cut benefits for people who make over $80,000 and eliminate them entirely for seniors who are making over $200,000. Governor Huckabee, who is here on the stage, has said that you and others who think this way are trying to rob seniors of the benefits that they've earned. It raises the question: When it is acceptable to break a social compact? +p384 +aV...Governor... +p385 +aV...Thank you. +p386 +aVWelcome back to the presidential debate for the Republicans. We are live in Boulder, Colorado, right here on +p387 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. +p388 +aVSenator Rubio, you yourself have said that you've had issues. You have a lack of bookkeeping skills. You accidentally inter-mingled campaign money with your personal money. You faced (ph) foreclosure on a second home that you bought. And just last year, you liquidated a $68,000 retirement fund. That's something that cost you thousands of dollars in taxes and penalties. In terms of all of that, it raises the question whether you have the maturity and wisdom to lead this $17 trillion economy. What do you say? +p389 +aVSenator, I understand all of that. I had a lot of student loans when I got out, too. But you've had a windfall that a lot of Americans haven't. You made over a million dollars on a book deal, and some of these problems came after that. +p390 +aVBut you \u2014 but you liquidated that retirement account after the fact, and that cost you about $24,000 out of that in taxes and feed. That \u2014 that was after you'd already come into that windfall. That's why I raised the question. +p391 +aVYes, thank you John. Senator Cruz, working women in this country still earn just 77 percent of what men earn. And I know that you've said you've been very sympathetic to our cause. But you've also you said that the Democrats' moves to try and change this are the political show votes. I just wonder what you would do as President to try and help in this cause? +p392 +aVMrs. Fiorina \u2014 +p393 +aVMrs. Fiorina, we will come back to you. +p394 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Carl? +p395 +aVMr. Trump, let's stay on this issue of immigration. You have been very critical of Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook who has wanted to increase the number of these H1Bs. +p396 +aVSo you're in favor of... +p397 +aVWhere did I read this and come up with this that you were... +p398 +aVYou know, Mr. \u2014 you know, Mr. Trump, if I may . You've been \u2014 you have been \u2014 you had talked a little bit about Marco Rubio. I think you called him Mark Zuckerberg's personal senator because he was in favor of the H1B. +p399 +aVSo this was an erroneous article the whole way around? +p400 +aVMy apologies. I'm sorry. +p401 +aVYes, you can. +p402 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you very much. I would like to introduce my colleague, Rick Santelli, he has some comments as well, sir. +p403 +aVRick, thank you very much. Governor Huckabee, you have railed against income inequality. You've said that some Wall Street executives should have gone to jail over the roles that they played during the financial crisis. Apart from your tax plan, are there specific steps you would require from corporate America to try and reduce the income inequality. +p404 +aVGovernor? +p405 +aVGovernor? +p406 +aVThank you. +p407 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee. +p408 +aVHow about 15 more seconds? +p409 +aVGovernor? +p410 +aVGovernor, I'm sorry... +p411 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p412 +aVGovernor, thank you. Appreciate it. John? +p413 +aVIt's at the moderator discretion. +p414 +aVWelcome back to the University of Colorado and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p415 +aVThank you, sir. +p416 +aVYou were. You get 30 seconds. +p417 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Carl? +p418 +aVHigher education is the example... +p419 +aVI want to go back, if I can, to the issue of... +p420 +aVI want to go back, if I may, to the... +p421 +aVSenator Paul, among the leading conservative opponents to the creation of Medicare back in the 1960s was Ronald Reagan. He warned that it would lead to socialism. Considering the mounting cost of Medicare, was he right to oppose it? +p422 +aVSenator, thank you. [ +p423 +aVWelcome back to Boulder, Colorado and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p424 +aVThank you, Governor. +p425 +aVGovernor. +p426 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Paul, let's go back to you. Do these solutions sound like they work? +p427 +aVDo these solutions sound like they would work? +p428 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Governor? +p429 +aVGood evening, everyone. I'm Becky Quick, along with my +p430 +aVGovernor Jindal, let's talk a little bit about the news of the day. Just a few hours ago, the Republicans and the Democrats in the House voted on a budget deal that will increase spending by about $80 billion dollars over the next two years. You, however, have called the Republicans who have been willing to work with the Democrats to do things like this the, "Surrender Party of the Republican caucus." Would you have shut the government down instead? +p431 +aV...But Governor... +p432 +aV...if you didn't have a choice, if you didn't control things in the house, would you take the choice of shutting things down, or would you go ahead and agree with them? +p433 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p434 +aVGovernor Pataki, let's get to your point. You wanted to make a comment on the budget. You want to get in on the idea, what would you do if you were in Washington? Would you compromise... +p435 +aVGovernor Pataki, thank you. John? +p436 +aVGovernor Pataki, let's talk a little bit about what's happened on Wall Street. Some of your colleagues in the Republican Party, including some of the people on this stage, have bashed Wall Street. They say that it was largely responsible for the financial crisis. You're a former governor of New York, and you relied very heavily on Wall Street for income. Do you think they've gone too far? +p437 +aVGovernor Pataki, thank you. +p438 +aVCarl? +p439 +aVWelcome back, everyone. This is the Republican Presidential Debate on +p440 +aVSenator, I'm sorry your minute is up. +p441 +aVThank you very much, Senator Santorum. +p442 +aVAnd Graham, Mr. Graham, yes, that was a question to you, too. +p443 +aVYou have 30 seconds. +p444 +aVSenator Graham, thank you. +p445 +aVI'm sorry. That's your 30 seconds... +p446 +aVSenator Graham... +p447 +aVThank you, Senator. +p448 +aVGentlemen, hold on a second. +p449 +aVGo ahead, +p450 +aVGovernor Pataki... +p451 +aV\u2014 I'm sorry, that was a... +p452 +aVGovernor Pataki... +p453 +aVI'm sorry to talk over you, sir. That was a minute. +p454 +aVThank you very much. +p455 +aVCarl? +p456 +aVYou guys are making this just like home. This is just like . +p457 +aVGovernor Jindal, I want to go back to something that you mentioned before with your tax plan. I know that you want to put a 2 percent tax on all families, just to make sure everyone has some skin in the game. But every working American pays 6.2 percent, when it comes to Social Security taxes. They pay another 1.45 percent of Medicare. Isn't that skin in the game? +p458 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p459 +aVWelcome back to Boulder, Colorado, and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p460 +aVNo, no. +p461 +aVI \u2014 I'm with you. I still have a BlackBerry, too. Senator \u2014 Senator Santorum, how about you? +p462 +aVThank you. Governor? +p463 +aVThank you. Senator Graham? +p464 +aVWe take your time back. Yes. +p465 +aVJohn? +p466 +asVGRAHAM +p467 +(lp468 +VThank you very much. I just returned from Iraq two weeks ago. It was my 36th trip to Iraq and Afghanistan in the last decade. Toward the end, I met a very impressive Special Forces sergeant. It was his job to train Iraqi Kurdish commandos. He was so proud of what he was doing and so proud of the people he was training. He was the replacement for Master Sergeant Wheeler, a Delta Force member who was killed two months ago in a raid against an +p469 +aVYou may think this makes us safe, but it doesn't. The good news for everybody in this room is, after 36 trips to Iraq and Afghanistan, most people over there, Wolf, are not buying what +p470 +aVI will support the Republican nominee, whoever he or she may be. Like Bob Dole, I may sleep late that day if it's Trump. But the bottom line, if it's Trump, so be it. That's who I'll support. Please understand we're in a war that we can't afford to lose, and what he said about banning Muslims coming here to America has made us all less safe, and it's the worst possible thing he could do in this war. He clearly doesn't understand this war and how to win it. For God's sakes, pick somebody who is worthy of the sacrifice of those who are fighting this war and who actually knows how to win, and I don't believe that's Mr. Trump, and I know it's not Hillary Clinton. +p471 +aVRick, please understand the only way we're gonna win the war against radical Islam is for the world to unite. Very few fathers and mothers want to turn their daughters and sons over to +p472 +aVWell, here's what I'm here to tell you, when I first started this process of running for president., I said, " if you didn't realize we need more America boots on the ground in Iraq and eventually in Syria as a part of the regional army - not ready to be commander in chief." Like nobody said a word, now everybody's on board except Senator Paul. Senator Paul and Senator Cruz, are isolationists. They both want to restrict the ability of the NSA to do the following; find out if somebody overseas is calling into America and if somebody is on the other end of the phone, don't you want to know who their talking to? IF a terrorist is calling into America and we can match up phone numbers we get a get a court order to find out what the content is. We're at war folks, they're not trying to steal your car, they're trying to kills us all. So yes, I would re-institute this program. There's four things you need to understand about this war, it's a religious war, them against the world, if you don't fight them over there, they're coming here. If you don't hit them first, they're going to hit us. If you're not determined to fight it as a ware, you're going to lose it. So if you're worried about somebody having your phone in the government, don't be. The only thing you need to worry about is if you're talking to terrorist and a judge gives an order to listen to what you're saying. That's all you need to worry about. +p473 +aVCan I say something? +p474 +aVYeah. There are at least 3,500 American muslims serving in the armed forces. Thank you for your service. You are not the enemy. Your religion is not the enemy. Let me make this real to you. I was at the second presidential election in Afghanistan. The guy guarding me was an American Muslim sergeant in the Army who grew up in Kabul, left when he was \u2014 graduated high school, joined the U.S. Army, went back to his high school where they were doing polling, people voting, he took me there and cried like a baby. I cried like a baby. He is the solution to this problem, folks. He is not the problem. Leave the faith alone. Go after the radicals that kill us all. +p475 +aVThank you. This is why I own a flip phone. You don't have to worry about all of this stuff. The bottom line is, we're at war. They're trying to come here to kill us all and it's up to the government to protect you within constitutional means. Any system that would allow a terrorist to communicate with somebody in our country and we can't find out what they're saying is stupid. If I'm president of the United States, and you join +p476 +aVWell, what you want to do is you want to knock them off line. How about this idea? If you pledge allegiance to al-Baghdadi, you can't get married in America? The bottom line is you have to go after them everywhere. The key to winning this war is to provide the capacity to those in the faith who reject the ideology. The key to fighting this war is to fight it in their backyard, not ours. Two years ago I came up with a plan that requires more American boots on the ground in Iraq. The first thing out of my mouth running for President was, if you don't understand we need 10,000 troops in Iraq, rather than 3,500, you're not ready. What would I do in Syria? I'd form a regional army of Arabs and Turkey. Ninety percent them, 10 percent us. Up to 10,000 U.S. forces to go in on the ground and destroy the caliphate and its roots. Take Raqqah away from +p477 +aVYeh, it's just you're not going to win that way, Rick. There's nobody left in Syria to train. Between the Russians and Assad, they have killed all the people we trained, and our President sat on the sidelines and watched people get killed that we enticed into the fight. There is nobody left to train. I would get the Arabs who are threatened by +p478 +aVWell, number one, dead men don't preach anything. If you don't understand we need a ground force to go into Syria, then you're not ready to destroy +p479 +aVYeah. I just don't make this up, Wolf. I talk to people who are combat trained who have won in Iraq who I trust. Here's what I want to tell the Arab world and Turkey. We're not going to send 100,000 troops. You're going to do the fighting this time and we're gonna help you. We paid for the last two wars, you're gonna pay for this one. And, by the way, they get it because +p480 +aVTwo years ago. +p481 +aVYes. +p482 +aVI think we need to have a military strategy regarding Libya. They've just take over Gaddafi's hometown called Sur. There's about 2000 of them. Here's what I've learned in my 36 visits, you can't deter these guys, they're ready to die, bring on the virgins. Dying is first place in their world. What we have to do is work with others over time to destroy to ideology. We have to offer a hopeful life to compete with the glory of this. Most young people folks want the same thing you do. They don't want to live in the 11th century. So yes, you have to destroy the caliphate. I want to work with Arabs and Turkey to do it, but here's the key is to not leave. If we left Germany and Japan only god knows what would've happened. If we have 10000 troops left in Iraq, there would be no +p483 +aVI want to talk to General Keane first. I want to find out, what do we need militarily to keep them contained and eventually destroy them in Libya. They're in nine countries. You want to deal with Libya, go to Iraq and Syria. You want to prevent another 9/11, take the caliphate headquarters away from +p484 +aVNo. What I would do is I would try to make friends throughout the world to destroy a common threat to the world. These people are religious Nazis. Most people in Islam don't buy what they're selling. I've told you a thousand times that I would partner with the Arabs in Turkey. But, the reason they don't partner with Obama is they just don't trust him. Do you think they would trust me? I know them all. I've been working for a decade to figure out how to win this war. To my good friend Ted Cruz, please ask him the following question, you say you would keep Assad in power, I will tell you that is the worst possible thing that could come out of an American leaders mouth. It would be disastrous. His favorite movie is, apparently, Princess Bride. Ted, getting in bed with Iran and Russia to save Assad is inconceivable. +p485 +aVPrincess Buttercup would not like this. +p486 +aV...I didn't get to say yes. Yes. +p487 +aVYeah, this is an important discussion. The American president is the strongest voice in the world \u2014 until Obama came along. Now, we're just one of many. When you ask people to help you, when you entice Syrians to join your cause, to take down the dictator they hate to destroy +p488 +aV...we'd better do something about it, and I have a plan. +p489 +aVI don't think it's necessary. If you don't want to be there, I don't want you to be there. I just retired after 33 years in the Air Force, 140 days on the ground as an Air Force Reservist. To those who are watching, thank you for your service. I've had a small walk in your shoes. We have the best military in the world. Obama has put it in a box. Let's take it out of the box and use it before we get attacked here. We don't need a draft, we need a commander in chief who knows what the hell they're doing. +p490 +aVAnd, I am that guy. +p491 +aVBut, the reason they don't partner with Obama is they just don't trust him. Do you think they would trust me? I know them all. I've been working for a decade to figure out how to win this war. To my good friend Ted Cruz, please ask him the following question, you say you would keep Assad in power, I will tell you that is the worst possible thing that could come out of an American leaders mouth. It would be disastrous. His favorite movie is, apparently, Princess Bride. Ted, getting in bed with Iran and Russia to save Assad is inconceivable. +p492 +aVPrincess Buttercup would not like this. +p493 +aV...I didn't get to say yes. Yes. +p494 +aVYeah, this is an important discussion. The American president is the strongest voice in the world \u2014 until Obama came along. Now, we're just one of many. When you ask people to help you, when you entice Syrians to join your cause, to take down the dictator they hate to destroy +p495 +aV...we'd better do something about it, and I have a plan. +p496 +aVI don't think it's necessary. If you don't want to be there, I don't want you to be there. I just retired after 33 years in the Air Force, 140 days on the ground as an Air Force Reservist. To those who are watching, thank you for your service. I've had a small walk in your shoes. We have the best military in the world. Obama has put it in a box. Let's take it out of the box and use it before we get attacked here. We don't need a draft, we need a commander in chief who knows what the hell they're doing. +p497 +aVAnd, I am that guy. +p498 +aVCan, can I... +p499 +aVThis is important. We're not fighting all the wars with our kids. If you've been to Iraq and Afghanistan and you made any friends, you've lots of bunch. Thousands have died in Iraq and Afghanistan fighting. +p500 +aVDon't belittle their sacrifice. +p501 +aVNo. +p502 +aVTo, to those the (well) times in the Army were a bigger problem than they are today. If you want to fix this, you get the Army to 500,000, not 420,000. You want to win this war, grow the Navy to 350 ships, not 275. Sequestration is Latin for doing really dumb things. We're going to have the smallest Navy since 1915, the smallest Army since 1940. I was yelling and screaming don't do sequestration. I was right. If I am President of the United States, Commander in Chief, we're going to rebuild our military without a draft... +p503 +aV...and we're going to go on the offense and they're ready to go. +p504 +aVThey are ready to go. They just need to be led. +p505 +aVWell I stand unique, having been a military lawyer for 33 years. I've been a defense attorney, a prosecutor, and a military judge. Mr. Trump, you don't have to speak about everything, that's not required. I would make sure that everybody had a fair trial. Does that make sense to you? We're at war folks and this stuff has to stop. It's bad for morale to hear somebody wanting to be Commander in Chief that would deny due process to somebody who's been charged in the military. For God's sakes Mr. Trump, you're asking to be the Commander in Chief , the leader of the free world, up your game. As to women, if you want to kill terrorists, I'm your guy. +p506 +aVWell, the first thing I would do is make adjustments to reality. I want to look and see if this was a terrorist arranged marriage between the couple in California. The fact that they met online accidentally is almost zero. So, no, I would have a time-out on Syrian refugees because you'd be crazy if you didn't after Paris. But, I've been to the refugee camps in Turkey, and Jordan. Trust me with your Christian \u2014 and I'm a lousy Christian saved by grace, but \u2014 this is important. We've got to stop this war. Do you realize that there are more Syrian refugees in Lebanon going to school than Lebanese children? Do you realize if this war goes for another year the King of Jordan could fall? Let's have a no-fly zone. +p507 +aVI would \u2014 make changes to that bill in light of what I know today. +p508 +aVThe next president is going to be a war-time president, whether they like it or not. I'm ready for that job. Two years ago isolationism led by Senator Paul and Cruz was white hot in our party. Now it is in retreat because events have proven me more right than wrong and has proven them to be wrong. In the first debate I called for American troops on the ground to protect our homeland. Nobody came forward. Now, most have. We've spent a lot of carnage to get them to where I have always been. Make me president, I will keep you and your family safe. +p509 +aVWell, number one, thank you for having me here tonight. How about a round of applause for Boulder, Colorado? This is a beautiful place. Looking at their academic standards, the only way I could have gotten into this university is to be invited to this debate tonight. But here's my take on things. Without national security, there is no economic security. Without the sacrifice of the veteran, all of our hopes and dreams are at risk. Just a few days ago, Hillary Clinton said that the problems with the V.A. are being exaggerated by Republicans. They are not, they are real. +p510 +aVWell, let me tell you what is real. The threat to our homeland. I've never seen so many threats to our homeland than I do today. Barack Obama is an incompetent Commander in Chief. There are more terrorist organizations with safe havens to attack the American homeland than anytime since 9/11. We're in the process of reducing our defense spending by half. I am looking at this budget with one view in mind, will it restore the ability to defend this nation. We're on track to have the smallest army since 1940, the smallest navy since 1915, this budget, if it is paid for, will put $40 billion dollars back in the defense department at a time we need it. The number one role of the federal government's to defend this nation, I intend to be a Commander in Chief that can win a war we cannot afford to lose. +p511 +aVHere's the problem. We're being walked all over because our commander in chief is weak in the eyes of our enemies. Do you think Putin would be in the Ukraine today if Ronald Reagan were president? Why are the Chinese stealing our intellectual property, hacking into our system? Why are they building islands over resource-rich waters? Because they can get away with it. At the end of the day, ladies and gentlemen, the foreign policy of Barack Obama needs to be replaced, and the last person you want to find to replace his foreign policy is his secretary of state. So to the Chinese, when it comes to dealing with me, you've got a clenched fist or an open hand. You pick. The party's over, to all the dictators. Make me commander-in-chief and this crap stops. +p512 +aVNo, I \u2014 I think I'm trying to solve problems that somebody had better solve. Now, you don't have to believe that climate change is real. I have been to the Antarctic. I've been to Alaska. I'm not a scientist, and I've got the grades to prove it. But I've talked to the climatologists of the world, and 90 percent of them are telling me that greenhouse gas effect is real. That we're heating up the planet. I just want a solution that would be good for the economy, that doesn't destroy it. I want to fix an immigration system. I'm not gonna tell you, if you like your doctor, you can keep it \u2014 keep him. Do you like your health care, you're gonna keep it. I'm tired of telling people things that they want to hear, that we know we're not gonna do. We're not gonna eliminate the corporate tax. But we can make it lower. We're going to fix immigration, only if we work together. I want to secure the border because, if we don't, we're going to get hurt and hit again. I want to fix a broken visa system. I want to increase legal immigration, because we're gonna have a shortage of workers over time. As to the 11 million, I want to talk about fixing the problem. We're not going to deport 11 million people and their legal citizen children. But we will deport felons. And those who stay will have to learn our language to stay, because I don't speak it well but look how far I've come. +p513 +aVAt the end of the day, folks, I am trying to solve a problem and win an election. I am tired of losing. Good God, look who we're running against. The number one candidate on the other side thought she was flat broke after her and her husband were in the White House for eight years. The number two guy went to the Soviet Union on his honeymoon and I don't think he ever came back. If we don't beat these people, who the hell are we going to beat? +p514 +aVThe first thing... +p515 +aV\u2014 that we have to do is come to grips with the reality that we're facing as Americans. In 1950, there were 16 workers for every Social Security recipient. Today, there's three. In 20 years, there are two. I want to make sure that no American company leaves America because you can't find a worker. American workers always get the first preference. But if you can't find an American worker, after you advertise at a competitive wage, I don't want you to be at a loss. Bring people in based on merit. Let's take a broken immigration... +p516 +aV\u2014 system... +p517 +aV\u2014 and make a merit-based immigration system that will help our economy. We're going to need workers in the future. +p518 +aVLet's just choose rationally. +p519 +aVWe owe to every businessperson and worker in America the best environment in the world to create a job. We owe that to American businesses. Thirty-five percent corporate tax rate is the second highest in the world. We need to lower it so they don't leave. The goal is to help the middle class. We can talk about corporations all day long but my goal is to help the middle class, somebody who makes too much to be on government assistance but still lives paycheck to paycheck. When the kid gets sick you don't go on vacation. +p520 +aVThat's the purpose of my presidency, to grow the economy here. And let me tell you, our Democratic friends have a list a mile long of more government. That's not going to grow the middle class, that's going to create a burden on your children, which they're already overburdened. The best way to grow the middle class is to make it a good place to create a job. You know why Boeing came to South Carolina when they could have gone anywhere to build the 787? Because we wanted them. We had a low-tax structure. +p521 +aVA permitting structure that allowed them to build the building even faster than they thought they could build it. We welcomed them there. I'm going to take the South Carolina attitude \u2014 +p522 +aVI think everybody owes an obligation to the country. The ones that I'm most worried about are the 1 percent of Americans in uniform, who have been fighting this war for 14 years. They need a commander in chief who knows what the hell they're doing. My first job as President of the United States is to rebuild the military and use it smartly. Admiral Mullen said the debt is a big threat to our national security. He's right. But people go where they're welcome when it comes to job creation. If I'm President of the United States you will be welcomed in America. +p523 +aVThis will be the place to come \u2014 +p524 +aVAnd if I'm president of the United States \u2014 +p525 +aV\u2014 our enemies \u2014 +p526 +aVWell, number one, Social Security is not just a concept to me. I know why it exists; 50 percent of today's seniors would be in poverty without a Social Security check. I promise you, if you make me your president, I will save Social Security because I know why it exists. Now, if you're looking for good beer policy, I'm your best bet. My dad owned a bar. I know beer. We grew up, my sister and myself, in the back of that bar in one room with my mom, my dad and my sister who's nine years younger. When I was 21, my mom was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease. Neither parent finished high school. She died within a year. We were wiped out from the medical bills. And if it wasn't for a Social Security survivor benefit check coming into my family, we wouldn't' have made it because my dad died 15 months later. So I... +p527 +aVWait a minute, please. I'm 22 and we're wiped out. I am 60. I'm not married. I have a military retirement. I'm in good shape. I would give up some of my benefits to help those who need it more than I do. To young people here, I will ask you to work a little bit longer because we have to. The purpose of my presidency is to save this country and to save Social Security by working across the aisle just like Ronald Reagan. This is the biggest issue facing this nation. +p528 +aVWell, number one, the only reason I have an iPhone is because I gave my number to Donald Trump. Don't do that. +p529 +aVDonald has done more to upgrade my technology than my whole staff. Number one, Fox News. Sorry about +p530 +aVWell, I think a national holiday would be the day that commander-in-chief Barack Obama doesn't have that job. But unlike these other three, I want to win New Hampshire. Go Tom Brady. Go Patriots. Sorry, Colorado is late in the... +p531 +aVSomebody said \u2014 or maybe I saw it on the bill of a cap \u2014 that let's make America great again. America is great. I intend to make America strong again. I'm going to be the champion of the middle class, where I came from. If you make me your president, our best days are ahead. I'm ready to be commander- in-chief, ladies and gentlemen, on day one. I intend to war \u2014 win a war that we cannot afford to lose. I will be a commander-in-chief worthy of the sacrifice of those brave Americans who have been defending our nation. They have had our back. God knows, they have had our back... +p532 +aV\u2014 and I intend to have their back as commander-in- chief. Make me commander-in-chief. +p533 +aVOne, thanks, CNN, for having people at this debate. I'm Lindsey Graham from South Carolina, in case you can't tell. I want to thank Ms. Reagan (ph) for inviting me. It means the world to me. I'm the only candidate tonight who served in the military while Ronald Reagan was our president and our commander in chief. It was one of the highlights of my life. I'm running for president to destroy radical Islam, to win the war on terror, to protect you and your family. And in that quest, I have an uncompromising determination to win this war, just like President Reagan had an uncompromising determination to destroy the evil empire, and win the Cold War. Above all others on both sides of the isle, I'm most qualified to be commander and chief on day one -- 33 years in the Air Force, 35 trips to Iraq and Afghanistan, I understand this war. I have a plan to win it, and I intend to win it. +p534 +aVWell, all I can say, if you looked at polling in 2012 and 2008 at this level, we'd have -- at this stage, we would have President Perry and President Giuliani. I have a long way to go. And here's what I'm going to try to do tonight -- convince you that I'm best qualified to be the commander-in-chief of the one percent who are doing the fighting for the rest of us. And we'll have a serious discussion tonight. All of us are going to say we want to destroy +p535 +aVWell, what I hope Republican voters, libertarian, vegetarians, Democrats, you name it, will look for somebody to lead us in a new direction, domestically, but particularly on the foreign policy front. President Obama is making a mess of the world. What I'm trying to tell you here tonight, that Syria is hell on Earth and it's not going to get fixed by insulting each other. I've been there 35 times to Iraq and Afghanistan. I am ready to be commander-in-chief on day one. I've been in the military 33 years, 140 days on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan. I am so ready to get on with winning a war that we can't afford to lose. I hope you believe that experience matters. It's an all- volunteer force of -- when you vote for commander-in-chief, they are stuck with your choice. We've had one novice being commander-in- chief. Let's don't replace one novice with another. And if I thought... +p536 +aV-- I could win this war without more American ground forces in Iraq and Syria, I would tell you, but we can't... +p537 +aV-- and if we don't get on with this, they are coming here. +p538 +aVThank you. +p539 +aVProbably for a good reason. +p540 +aVWell, let's talk about immigration. Number one, I like Rick. I don't remember the Santorum plan when I was in the Senate. The peanut gallery on this is interesting. I have been trying to solve this problem for a decade. There are no democrats here tonight. If you're here, raise your hand. You went to the wrong -- we'll, welcome. Thank you very much for coming. +p541 +aVThe bottom line, I'm trying to pitch the problem. We're not going to deport 11 million people here illegally, but we'll start with felons, and off they go. And, as to the rest, you can stay, but you got to learn our language. I don't speak it very well, well, look how far I've come? Speaking English is a good thing. You got to pay taxes, you got to pay a fine, you got to get in the back of the line. You've got to secure your border or they'll keep coming. If you don't control who gets a job that never ends -- so (ph) got two borders. One with Canadia -- Canada, one with Mexico. I never met an illegal Canadian. This is an economic problem, so, folks, let's solve it. Amnesty is doing nothing, and that's what we've been doing. As to birthright citizenship, once we clean up this mess, in the future, prospectively, I'm going to look at the following. There are people buying tourist visas that go to resorts with maternity wards with the expressed purpose of having a children here in America. There are rich Asians, there are rich people up in the Mid-East... +p542 +aV...That to me is bastardizing citizenship... +p543 +aV...Yeah, I'd like to stop that in the future... +p544 +aV...What do you do with the 11 million? +p545 +aV...What are you going to do with the 11 million? +p546 +aV...Well, what about the other half... +p547 +aV...How many democrats support yourplan... +p548 +aV...How many democrats did you have on your bill? +p549 +aV...I can tell you. None. +p550 +aV...That went nowhere. +p551 +aV...George W. Bush... +p552 +aV...Who won with hispanics. +p553 +aV...Compared to what we're doing... +p554 +aV...Hispanics... +p555 +aV...Are Americans... +p556 +aV...In my world, hispanics are Americans... +p557 +aV...I have a little different take on where the country is going on this issue. Number one, in 1950, there were 16 workers for every retiree. How many are there today? There's three. In 20 years, there's going to be two, and you're going to have 80 million baby boomers like me retiree in mass wanting a Social Security check, and their Medicare bills paid. We're going to need more legal immigration. Let's just make it logical. Let's pick people from all over the world on our terms, not just somebody from Mexico. Let's create a rational, legal immigration system because we have a declining workforce. +p558 +aV...Strom Thurmond had four kids after he was 67, if you're not willing to do that, we've got to come up with a new legal immigration system. +p559 +aVYes, number one, how does President Obama sleep at night? Look what you let happen on your watch. Your commanders told you, don't withdrawal from Iraq because we'll lose of our gains. Three years ago your entire national security team, Senator McCain and I begged you to do a no-fly zone and help the Free Syrian Army while it would matter. But you said no. I'm not blaming Bobby, I'm not blaming Rick, I'm not blaming anybody, I'm blaming Barack Obama for this mess. +p560 +aVRight. +p561 +aVI'm saying this, if they don't understand that Barack Obama's policies are not working, that we're not going to destroy +p562 +aV-- does that include American ground forces in Syria as part of a regional army? Are all of you willing to commit to American ground forces going into Syria as part of a regional army to destroy the caliphate and its headquarters? +p563 +aVWell, you know, Kim Davis, I'm not worried about her attacking me. I am worried about radical Islamic terrorists who are already here planning another 9/11. We're at war, folks. I'm not fighting a crime. I want to have a legal system that understands the difference between fighting a war and fighting a crime, and here's the reality. Young men from the Mid- East are different than Kim Davis. And we've got to understand that. +p564 +aVIslamic websites need to be monitored. +p565 +aVAnd if you are on one, I want to know what you're doing. +p566 +aVI wasn't the best law student. By the end of this debate, it would be the most time I've ever spent in any library. But on the first day in law school view (ph), it's called "Marbury v. Madison." The group in our constitutional democracy that interprets "The Constitution" as to what it means is the Supreme Court. In a 5-4 decision by the Supreme Court, they have ruled that same-sex marriage bans at the state level violate the Fourteenth Amendment to "The United States Constitution" equal protection clause. I don't agree with it, but that is the law of the land. But as president, what I want make sure of is that everybody in this room, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, whatever religion that you can practice your faith without government interference, you can marry people consistent with the tenets of your faith. That's the number one obligation of my presidency, is to protect religious people when they exercise their religious rights. But this decision is the law as it is of right now. And here's the one thing I want to tell you, Jake. +p567 +aVWait -- wait a minute. Whether you're the wedding cake baker or the gay couple or the Baptist preacher, radical Islam would kill you all if they could. +p568 +aVLet's don't lose sight of the big picture here. +p569 +aVHe's one of the most qualified men to ever come before the United States Senate and I don't agree with his decision, but 99 times out of 100, I will. To the Republicans, the biggest prize on the table in 2017 is the presidency. If it is Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders, they are going to pick people that we will disagree with all the time. Please understand, we have to win this election. The court's at stake. It is the most important reason for us to turn out, to make sure we don't lose the judiciary for decades to come. +p570 +aVI've been called a lot of things but never elite before. My dad owned a liquor store, a bar and a poolroom. So only in America can you go from the back of a liquor store to being an elite. +p571 +aVI introduced her at a conference about Africa. I thought Secretary Clinton did a good job when it came to dealing with our problems in Africa, particularly among women. George W. Bush set $40 billion aside and Rick Santorum helped him and President Bush wiped out an entire -- wiped out +p572 +aVWell, Ronald Reagan did a couple of really big things that we should all remember. He sat down with Tip O'Neill, the most liberal guy in the entire House. They started drinking together. That's the first thing I'm going to do as president. We're going to drink more. And what did this -- two great Irishmen do? They found a way to save Social Security from bankruptcy by adjusting the age of retirement from 65 to 67. So, yes, I will say nice things at times about Democrats. Yes, I will work them -- work with them. I will put the country ahead of party. Absolutely I want to work with them. At the end of the day, Hugh, I'm lucky to be standing here. I'm the first in my family to ever go to college. Neither one of my parents finished high school. Darline's here with me tonight. We owned a restaurant... +p573 +aVWell, wait a minute. We... +p574 +aVYou asked me a question. This is important. Republicans need to tell the American people we get it as to who you are. When my mom died, I was 21. When my dad died, when I was 22. We were wiped out financially. If it weren't for Social Security survivor benefit check coming into Darline, we wouldn't have made it. I don't need a lecture from Democrats about Social Security. +p575 +aVI want to save it, just like Ronald Reagan did. +p576 +aVIf you want to see manufacturing, come to South Carolina... +p577 +aV...We'll show 'ya. +p578 +aVWell, I know this. That when my mom and dad owned a restaurant, the bar, the pool room, that if you increased the minimum wage it'd been hard to hire more people. Hillary Clinton has a list a mile long to help the middle class. We're talking all around this. The middle class for the last six and a half years has been squeezed, and squeezed hard. To the middle class, I understand who you are. You're one broken down car from not going on vacation. You're from one sick child away from having to change your whole budget. Here's what I want to do as your president. I want to grow this economy. When Boeing came to South Carolina to build a 787, everybody paid more they would have lost their employees to Boeing. If you're a waitress out there wanting more money, I'm not going to increase the minimum wage, I'm going to try to create an environment where somebody else will open up a restaurant across the street to hire you away at a higher rate, or they'll have to pay you more to keep you. You got to borrow money to create jobs in this country. Banking is locked down because of Dodd-Frank. The tax code is a complete mess, but nobody's talked about the elephant in the room, which is debt. Not one more penny to the federal government until w2e come up with a plan to get out of debt. +p579 +aVIt's probably a small bit, but the ones that get it... +p580 +aVYeah, but I... +p581 +aV...Have you ever thought why all of us say that... +p582 +aVIf I believed they were trying to break out and get a bomb, absolutely. And here's the most important thing: they know I would if I had to. And none of us are going to be able to defend this country adequately until we rebuild our military. A weak economy, a military in decline, the world on fire, does that sound familiar to you? Michael, does that sound familiar to you? The first thing I'm going to do as commander in chief on day one is call the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and say, what do you need that you don't have? We're cutting our military; we're on track to have the smallest Army since 1940, the smallest Navy since 1915 and John Kasich says he wants to close more bases. I want to rebuild our military and I want the Iranians to know that, if I had to, I would use it. The worst nightmare in the world is a radical Islamic regime with a weapon of mass destruction. The only reason 3,000 of us died on 9/11 is not 3 million, not 3 million is because they couldn't get the weapons to kill us. They're on track to get a bomb even if they don't cheat. This deal is a nightmare for Israel. They are coming here if we don't watch it terrorism with a nuclear capability sponsored by Iran. So, yes, I would use military force to stop them. I would set this deal aside and I would get you a better deal. If you gave $100 billion, I could get almost anybody out of jail. We couldn't even get our hostages out of jail. +p583 +aVDo you think Putin would be in the Ukraine or Syria today if Ronald Reagan were president? No. This is what happens when you have a weak, unqualified commander- in-chief who doesn't understand the role America plays in the world. Why is it bad for you that Russia's helping Assad? He's the magnet for Sunni extremists. The Syrian people are not going to accept him as their legitimate leader. By Assad being helped by Russia, it means the war never ends. It means the next 9/11, which is most likely to occur from an attack from Syria. It's more likely. At the end of the day, if I'm president of the United States, I've told you what I'm going to do. There's nobody left in Syria to train. We're going to get a regional army who doesn't like +p584 +aV... and if the war in Syria continues, it is coming here. For God's sakes, let's get on with... +p585 +aV... with fixing the problem in Syria. +p586 +aVBobby, you were in the Congress, and all I can tell you, to everybody here, if you want to repeal Obamacare, get a new president. If you want to defund Planned Parenthood, elect a pro-life president, because that's the only way. If we pass the Cardin bill, Graham, Menendez, it would go to the president. He would veto it. 67 votes are required to override the veto. +p587 +aVWait a minute. Now, you asked me a question. So I don't want to take off the table the ability to slow down Obama in his last 13 to 14 months, because I want 60 votes to stop what I think he's going to do between now and January 2017. Five Republicans deflect -- leave -- we're in trouble. So folks, the world really is the way it is. President Obama is president. The goal is to get him out of there and pick somebody who would actually do something to repeal Obamacare, who would get you a better agreement. So Bobby, he would veto the bill, we don't have 67 votes, and you're giving away a defense against Obama for the rest of his presidency. No, I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to tell you things I can't do. I'm not going to tell you by shutting the government down, we're going to defund Obamacare as long as he's president. All that does is hurt us. I am trying to lead this party to winning. +p588 +aVAre you going to shut the government down? +p589 +aVAre you going to shut the government... +p590 +aVCan I just say something? You know, Bobby, we're running to be president of the United States, the most important job in the free world. With it comes a certain amount of honesty. I'm tired of telling people things they want to hear that I know we can't do. He is not going to sign a bill that would defund ObamaCare. If I am president of the United States, I wouldn't put one penny in -- in my budget for Planned Parenthood, not one penny. I'm as offended by these videos as you are. But the one thing I'm not going to do going into 2016 is shut the government down and tank our ability to win. What you're saying and what Senator Cruz is saying, I am really sick of hearing, trying to get the bottom... +p591 +aV-- the Republican Party in a position... +p592 +aV-- to win. That's what I'm trying to do. And that does matter to me ... +p593 +aVIt matters a lot. +p594 +aVWell, number one, I will win a war that we can't afford to lose. I have a plan to destroy radical Islam because it has to be. These are religious Nazis running while President Obama has made one mistake after another and it's caught up with us. What do I have to offer that's different? I get my foreign policy from being in on the ground. I've been to Iraq and Afghanistan in the Middle East 35 times in the last decade, trying to understand how we got in this mess. Our leading candidate gets his foreign policy from watching television. And what I heard last night is the Cartoon Network, oh, I'm big, I'm strong, we're going to hit them in the head. +p595 +aVThat's not foreign policy. That's a cartoon character. John Kasich, a good friend of mine, said in New Hampshire, we're going to close more bases on his watch. On my watch, we're going to open up more bases. The military is in decline, folks. We're going to have the smallest military in modern times, spending half of what we'd normally spend by the end of this decade. +p596 +aVWhat do I offer? What do I offer? To make your families safe and our country strong again, a vision and a determination to win a war that we cannot afford to lose. +p597 +aVYou can trust me to do the following: that when I get on change with Hillary Clinton, we won't be debating about the science, we'll be debating about the solutions. In her world, cap- and-trade would dominate, that we will destroy the economy in the name of helping the environment. In my world, we'll focus on energy independence and a clean environment. When it comes to fossil fuels, we're going to find more here and use less. Over time, we're going to become energy independent. I am tired of sending $300 billion overseas to buy oil from people who hate our guts. The choice between a weak economy and a strong environment is a false choice, that is not the choice I'll offer America. A healthy environment, a strong economy and energy independent America -- that would be the purpose of my presidency, is break the strangle hold that people enjoy on fossil fuels who hate our guts. +p598 +aVIf we don't stop them over there, they are coming here just as sure as I stand here in front of you. One thing I want to be clear about tonight. If you're running for president of the United States and you don't understand that we need more American ground forces in Iraq and that America has to be part of a regional ground force that will go into Syria and destroy +p599 +aVRight. Mac +p600 +aVI think America is dying to work, you just need to give them a chance. To all the Americans who want a better life, don't vote for Hillary Clinton. You're not going to get it. She's not going to repeal "Obamacare" and replace it. I will. She's not going to build the Keystone Pipeline. I will. She's not going to change Dodd-Frank. I will. Until you change the policies of Barack Obama, we're never going to grow this economy. Until you change the policies of Barack Obama, we're never going to be safe. She represents a third term of a failed presidency. I'm fluent in Clinton-speak; I've been dealing with this crowd for 20 years. You know, when Bill Clinton says it depends on what the meaning of is is, that means is is whatever Bill wants it to mean. When Hillary Clinton tells you I've given you all the emails you need, that means she hasn't. So to the people who are dying for a better America, you better change course, and she doesn't represent the change that we need. Do we all agree that +p601 +aVI don't think it's a war on women for all of us as Americans to stand up and stop harvesting organs from little babies. Let's take the money that we would give to Planned Parenthood and put it in women's health care without having to harvest the organs of the unborn. The only way we're going to defund Planned Parenthood is have a pro-life president. You want to see a war on women? Come with me to Iraq and Afghanistan, folks. I've been there 35 times. I will show you what they do to women. These mythical Arab armies that my friends talk about that are going to protect us don't exist. If I am president of the United States, we're going to send soldiers back to Iraq, back to Syria, to keep us from being attacked here and keep soldiers in Afghanistan because we must. I cannot tell you how much our nation is threatened and how we need a commander in chief who understands the threats to this nation. If you're running for president of the United States and you do not understand that we cannot defend this nation without more of our soldiers over there, you are not ready for this job. +p602 +aVChange the Mexico City policy, not take one dime of taxpayer money to fund abortion organizations overseas, and restore the NSA that's been gutted. We're going dark when it comes to detecting the next attack. We have gutted our ability to detect the next attack. And I would not stand for that as president of the United States. I would take the fight to these guys, whatever it took, as long as it took. +p603 +aVThank you. First thing I'd tell the American people, whatever it takes to defend our nation, I would do. To the 1 percent who have been fighting this war for over a decade, I'd try my best to be a commander-in-chief worthy of your sacrifice. We're going to lose Social Security and Medicare if Republicans and Democrats do not come together and find a solution like Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neill. I will be the Ronald Reagan if I can find a Tip O'Neill. When I was 21, my mom died. When I was 22, my dad died. We owned a liquor store, restaurant, bar and we lived in the back. Every penny we needed from -- every penny we got from Social Security, because my sister was a minor, we needed. Today, I'm 60, I'm not married, I don't have any kids. I would give up some Social Security to save a system that Americans are going to depend on now and in the future. Half of American seniors would be in poverty without a Social Security check. If you make your president, I'm going to put the country ahead of the party. I'm going to do what it takes to defend this nation. This nation has been great to me, and that's the only way I know to pay you back. Mac +p604 +aVNot the change we need at a time we need it. +p605 +aVWe need somebody ready to be commander-in-chief on day one, who understands there are no moderates in Iran, they've been killed a long time ago. That the Ayatollah is a radical jihadist who really means it when he chants, "Death to America, death to Israel." And this deal is giving him a pathway to a bomb, a missile to deliver it, and money to pay for it all. We need a president who can solve our problems, bring us together. We're becoming Greece if we don't work together. At the end of the day, ladies and gentlemen, our best days are ahead of us only if we work together, and I intend to put this country on a path of success by working together and doing the hard things that should have been done a very long time ago. +p606 +asVREGAN +p607 +(lp608 +VIn Tuesday's State of the Union Address, the president said that our economy is strong. He cited the significant decline we've seen in unemployment rate and the millions of jobs that have been created. What is your assessment of the economy right now? And I would like to hear from all of you on this one, beginning with Ms. Fiorina. +p609 +aVThank you Governor Huckabee. Senator Santorum? +p610 +aVThank you. Well, since we've been talking about the Middle East, Senator Santorum, conflicts between Saudi Arabia and Iran have certainly escalated, amid accusations that Saudi Arabia bombed the Iranian Embassy in Yemen after the Saudi Embassy in Tehran was attacked. As we confront an increasingly unstable Middle East, how will you, as president, navigate this administration's promises to Iran while standing by our historic allies in the region? +p611 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p612 +aVGovernor Huckabee, if I could just follow-up with that. Do we need to be in Afghanistan? +p613 +aVThank you Governor Huckabee. Ms. Fiorina, nearly 600 women say they were attacked in a German city on New Year's Eve by men of Arab or North African descent and 45 percent of those alleged attacks were sexual assaults. Twenty-two of those 32 men arrested so far are asylum-seekers. Are you worried about similar problems in the United States? +p614 +aVI want to stay with you on this. The world shares a common enemy right now in the way of +p615 +aVMs. Fiorina, thank you. +p616 +aVWelcome back, everyone, to the Republican presidential debate. On to the next round of questions \u2014 Sandra. +p617 +aVMs. Fiorina, the president has just issued an executive order to expand the gun laws and background checks. And none of you on stage agree with this. But recent polls show the majority of Americans are in favor of universal background checks. +p618 +aVIt's the poll data. +p619 +aVSo tell me......why, in your view, is the president's proposal a problem? +p620 +aVMs. Fiorina, you've said that was when you were CEO of HP, you actually worked with the government. +p621 +aV\u2014 to try and combat some of these terrorist threats. +p622 +aVWhat did you do? +p623 +aVMs. Fiorina, thank you. +p624 +aVGovernor Huckabee, an American in San Bernardino murdered 14 people while terrorists with Belgian and French passports murdered 130 people. Were facing a threat within our borders, and from outside the United States. Those European terrorists, they could have come here at any time given that we have a visa waiver program that enables people to travel back and forth. It exists within those countries, and 36 others. In countries around the world, including many in Europe, cannot ensure that their citizens are not jihadists, why are we waiving the visa requirement at all? +p625 +aVIf you get the visa waiver program, does that shut down international commerce? +p626 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p627 +aVSenator Santorum, thank you. +p628 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p629 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from North Charleston. We want to jump right back in. Sandra is kicking it off. +p630 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you know it used to be you could graduate from high school and get a pretty good job at the local factory, enough to take care of your family and yourself. Those days seem to be gone. It's pretty hard to do that nowadays. Businesses are increasingly turning to automation to increase their productivity levels. It's happening right here, in fact, at the Boeing factory in North Charleston. The president says automation threatens workers' ability to get higher wages. Do you agree with that? And if so, do you have a solution? +p631 +aVThank you very much, Governor Huckabee. Senator Santorum, 40% of babies born today are born to single moms. That's twice as high as reported back in 1980, and it's 11 times as high as in 1940. Studies show that children are always better off economically, most often \u2014 and emotionally, with two parents in a household. From a policy perspective, should the government be doing anything to encourage family formation? +p632 +aVThank you. +p633 +aVCarly Fiorina? +p634 +aVThank you to all the candidates. That does it, everyone for the first debate right here in North Charleston. +p635 +aVGood evening, and welcome to the historic Milwaukee Theater. Tonight, you'll hear from 12 Republican candidates vying to become the next President of the United States. I'm Trish Regan, along with my co-moderators, Sandra Smith, and from the Wall Street Journal, Jerry Seib. +p636 +aVLet's introduce them. New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie. Former Arkansas Governor, Mike Huckabee. Former Pennsylvania Senator, Rick Santorum. And, Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindal. +p637 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p638 +aVAll right, Governor Jindal, you have pushed Louisiana's energy resources as a means to grow jobs in your state. But as oil prices have plunged in recent months, so has jobs growth. Louisiana now has an unemployment rate above the national average. Will your energy-focused jobs plan for the country be subject to the same market ups and downs? +p639 +aVAll right, Governor Jindal, thank you. Governor Christie, you have said that the Democrats' message is one of, quote, "free stuff." In contrast, Republicans want to reduce spending. How do you win a national election when the Democrats are offering free health care, a free or subsidized college education, and you're the party that is seemingly offering nothing in the way of immediate tangible benefits? +p640 +aVSenator Santorum, a single mom with no job and two kids in New Hampshire, home of the first in the nation primary, is eligible for more than $30,000 a year in benefits. Even if she could find a job, she would need to find child care. And in many cases may conclude it's better for her to live off government benefits. Senator, how do you help and incentivize her to go to work? And if you're the one that's going to cut her benefits, why should she vote for you? +p641 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you. All right, we are just getting started. Medicare, Social Security and the future of ObamaCare \u2014 that is all straight ahead, live from Milwaukee and the Republican presidential debate. +p642 +aVWelcome back to the Milwaukee Theater, and the Republican Presidential Debate. On to the next round of questions, Gerry has the next question. +p643 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you differ from many of your GOP opponents on the stage tonight over accepting Syrian refugees into this country. You have said, "We don't have an obligation to just open our doors." As the Islamic state continues to expand, slaughtering and crucifying Christians, including women and children, refugees continue to flee their land by the thousands. Should America open its doors to accept any refugees in this country? If so, how many? +p644 +aVAlright, Governor Huckabee, thank you. +p645 +aVNext question to you, Governor... +p646 +aV...Next question to you, Governor... +p647 +aV...let me get in......Let me get in here, because the next question, it's to you, and it's on Obamacare. It is still unpopular with the American people. You've seen the polls, they've shown nearly half the country still opposes this law. You have been critical of your GOP opponents, some of them standing on the stage tonight, others later. Notably, Ted Cruz, for not having comprehensive plans. You say you do. What specifically makes your plan to replace Obamacare better than the opponents, some of them standing next to you. +p648 +aVGovernor Jindal, thank you. +p649 +aVWe'll get to that. +p650 +aVRonald Reagan did work with Tip O'Neill. Anyway, we are going to take a quick break. Coming up, one of the top issues for voters, how much you're paying in taxes. We are live from Milwaukee with the Republican presidential debate. See you right back here. +p651 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate. We are live from Milwaukee. A top issue on the campaign trail, taxes and how much you pay. All right, I've got a question for all of you here. When looking at the federal income tax, state income tax and local tax, in some cases, combined, some Americans are paying over 50 percent of their paycheck to the government. What is the highest percentage, all in, in the way of taxes, that any American should have to pay and what is the lowest? I'd like to, again, to hear from each of you. And I want those two all in numbers. I'm going to start with you, Senator Santorum. +p652 +aVAll in. OK, Governor Christie? +p653 +aVAnd we'll get back to you. Governor Jindal? +p654 +aVGovernor Huckabee, Americans, under your plan, would pay a tax on every single thing that they purchase. Given that consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of GDP, some economists worry that your tax plan would actually discourage spending, thereby slowing our economy. How do you respond? +p655 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p656 +aVSenator Santorum, you agree with Governor Christie. You also have said that the Fed should be audited. But many worry that given the Congressional challenges that they face, by having Congressional oversight of the Fed, which has been historically an independent body, you would be making the Fed much more political. How would you navigate that risk? +p657 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee, both Senator Santorum and Governor Christie were boat \u2014 both critical of the Federal Reserve. Also, many have questioned whether Janet Yellen is the right person to be running the Fed. If elected president, would you keep Janet Yellen? +p658 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee, thank you. All right, Senator Santorum, by the way, today is the 240th... +p659 +aV\u2014 of the United States... +p660 +aV\u2014 Marine Corps. Tomorrow is Veterans Day. We honor and recognize all those who have fought for, and served this great nation, Senator. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, meanwhile, which provides patient care, and federal benefits to those veterans, as well as their families, is beset by scandal. What new ideas do you have to fix the broken V.A. healthcare system? +p661 +asVHEMMER +p662 +(lp663 +VSo, here we go. Ninety-seven hours before Iowa chooses, in fact the last two winners in this state are on this stage tonight. Governor Huckabee, in 2008, you won by nine points here, but this time your support seems to be going to Senator Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. Why, Governor, is your message not working this time? +p664 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Santorum, four short years ago you won Iowa. You beat Mitt Romney, pretty much shocked the country. But, just the other day you talked about what is in the greater good for your campaign. Is Monday night your last stand? +p665 +aVOK. +p666 +aV... Senator, do you want to name... ... Senator, do you want to name that entertainer your refering to? +p667 +aVBut senator, since you mentioned... +p668 +aVSenator, quickly then, after this debate, you mentioned Donald trump's name. Immediately, you're going to event across town here in Des Moines as a guest of Donald Trump. +p669 +aVSo are you laying the groundwork for maybe your future? Perhaps an endorsement of Mr. Trump? +p670 +aVThank you, senator. One moment. We'll get to you in a moment, Governor. We have a few coming up. +p671 +aVThank you. Governor Gilmore. As of one week ago, you have not held a single campaign event here in the state of Iowa. As of one week ago, in fact, you were the only one in the Republican field who had not made a campaign visit to this state. You know how it works here. You know how it's worked over time. Why should anyone caucus for you on Monday night? +p672 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p673 +aVMs. Fiorina, same topic. The president says that many are exaggerating the threat from +p674 +aVThank you. +p675 +aVGovernor Gilmore, some time this spring 34 more detainees are cleared from release from Gitmo. If you were president, as you say, this president wants to close it. As president, if Gitmo were closed and an enemy combatant were found or captured in the field of battle, perhaps Syria or Iraq or Libya, and you don't have Gitmo, where would you put them? +p676 +aVGovernor, thank you for that. +p677 +aVWelcome back to Des Moines on what will be a long night here. Let's get back to the questions. Let's get back to the questions with Martha. +p678 +aVLet me stay with you, Ms. Fiorina. You've said you will shrink the federal government by 30 percent over the next two years, and those jobs will not be filled, and you'll do it through retirement. Your critics would argue that's exactly what you did at Hewlett Packard when 30,000 people lost their jobs. If it did not work at H.P., why would it work at the federal government? +p679 +aVThank you. +p680 +aVGovernor Huckabee, Nikki Haley, Republican governor from South Carolina, recently said... +p681 +aVI did not, but we... +p682 +aVWe have plenty for you -- you bet, Governor. We have a couple more in the hopper for you in a moment here. +p683 +aVFirst, Governor -- Governor Huckabee, Nikki Haley warned about listening to "the siren call of the angriest voices," to which Donald Trump said he is "very, very angry." Who is right, Governor? +p684 +aVThank you, Governor. +p685 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you've mentioned the economy several times tonight. Let's go back to that for a moment because in America today 50% of the American workers are making less than $30,000 dollars a year. Let's talk about what you could do for them. The Conservative Club for Growth has had an issue with your policy on taxes for years. In fact, it called you, "Tax Hike Mike". And, the record shows state spending in Arkansas increased 54% when you were in charge, 94% if you include federal dollars during that same period. When it comes to helping people at the margins, $30,000, $32,000 dollars a year, what's better? A tax and spend approach, or shrinking government? +p686 +aVGovernor Huckabee, thank you. Same issue, Senator Santorum. The President says criticism of his economic policy is political hot air. You consistently talk about manufacturing jobs leaving America. You support a flat tax of 20%. How would a flat tax bring back two million jobs to America? +p687 +aVSenator, thank you. +p688 +aVThank you Ms. Fiorina. Governor Gilmore. Who are the moderate Muslims do you seek advice and counsel from on how to deal with the threat from radical Islamic terrorism? +p689 +aVThank you governor. Governor Huckabee. Here in Iowa 43 percent of Democratic caucus goers describe themselves as socialist. That's a higher number than those who say they are capitalist. I guess you could say, they're feeling the burn. This is a country rooted in capitalism, the United States of America. How did we get here? +p690 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum, the president says politics in America have become meaner over the past several years with him in the White House. Two weeks ago at the State of the Union he said the following. "A president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide." Lincoln and Roosevelt, that's pretty good company. If he is right, do Republicans share some of the blame? +p691 +aVThank you, Senator. +p692 +aVIn the closing few moments, the candidates have an opportunity to make a closing statement, 30 seconds for each. And, we want to start tonight with the former Virginia Governor, Jim Gilmore. +p693 +aV... Thank you, Governor. +p694 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p695 +aVThank you, Governor. +p696 +aVThat concludes our debate tonight, but the night has just begun. +p697 +aVThis is first official event in the campaign for the Republican nomination for president. Welcome to Cleveland Ohio. It is debate night. I'm Bill Hemmer. Mac +p698 +aVSo you will hear from all 17 candidates tonight, and you'll meet seven of them right now, starting with three-time governor in the state of Texas, Rick Perry. Mac +p699 +aVTwo-time. Two-time governor of the State of Louisiana, Acting Governor Bobby Jindal. So you will hear from all 17 candidates tonight, and you'll meet seven of them right now, starting with three-time governor in the state of Texas, Rick Perry. Mac +p700 +aVTwo-time. Two-time governor of the State of Louisiana, Acting Governor Bobby Jindal. Mac +p701 +aVThe senior senator from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham. Mac +p702 +aVAnd former Virginia governor, Jim Gilmore. Mac +p703 +aVGentle. Mac +p704 +aVWait til you hear what the others are going to get later, huh? Mac +p705 +aVOne year from now, a Republican nominee will be standing on this stage in this very same arena. That person is in Cleveland today. So let's get started. First topic, electability. First question to Governor Perry from Texas. Welcome, Governor. +p706 +aVYou were in charge of the 12th largest economy in the world, and you recently said that four years ago, you weren't ready for this job. Why should someone vote for you now? +p707 +aVThank you, Governor. Mac +p708 +aVSenator Santorum, you won the Iowa caucus four years ago and 10 other states. But you failed to beat Mitt Romney for the nomination. And no one here tonight is going to question your conviction or your love for country. But has your moment passed, Senator? +p709 +aVThank you, Senator. Mac +p710 +aVSenator Lindsey Graham, you worked with Democrats and President Obama when it came to climate change, something you know is extremely unpopular with conservative Republicans. How can they trust you based on that record? +p711 +aVThank you, Senator. Mac +p712 +aVThank you, Governor. Mac +p713 +aVThis Saturday, August 8th, two days from now marks one year since the strikes began against +p714 +aVAnd the senator to your right has called for 20,000 American troops in Syria and Iraq so far today, Senator Graham, and I'll give this question to you. Why should the American people after two wars in Iraq sacrifice yet again on a third war? +p715 +aVSenator, thank you. Mac +p716 +aVIt is debate night, and welcome back to Cleveland, Ohio. Let's get back to the questions right now with Martha. Mac +p717 +aVExcuse me, Martha. I have not heard the bell just yet, so you're all very well behaved so far. Governor Gilmore, 30 seconds. +p718 +aVThank you, Governor. I've got to move on to immigration here. Senator Santorum, you would argue you have one of the tougher positions on illegal immigration in the entire 17 candidate field at the moment. We often talk about this issue on the abstract level in Washington, D.C., but you know how it's being talked about in states like Iowa and New Hampshire among illegals in our country today -- 11 million plus. And some are asking, what would you say to a child, born and raised in America, who could see their family broken apart by your policy? +p719 +aVGovernor Perry, try and answer this question again. What do you say to the family of illegals? Are you going to break them apart? +p720 +aVGovernor, thank you. Mac +p721 +aVAnd so right now, we're 30 minutes in. Going to jump back into the topics and continue our discussion of national issues on the domestic level. The issue that is really number one on the minds of many voters, that's the economy and jobs. Mac +p722 +aVThank you, Governor. Your last topic brings us to the state of Ohio. You know, the saying, right? No Republican wins the White House unless you win here in the Buckeye state. Well, here in the Buckeye state, the Governor John Kasich took the federal money for Medicaid expansion under Obamacare. And Governor Jindal of Louisiana, you passed on those tax dollars. Why do you think Governor Kasich got it wrong here? +p723 +aVSo Governor Kasich was wrong, just to be clear. +p724 +aVI didn't hear an answer regarding Governor Kasich, but for now I'll go to Governor Pataki. Yes or no? +p725 +aVGovernor Pataki, three term governor of New York. Is he right, Governor Jindal from Louisiana? +p726 +aVYes or no, would you have expanded Obamacare in the state of New York, had you been governor at that time? +p727 +aVOK. +p728 +aVThank you, Governor Pataki. In a moment here, we'll talk to the candidates about an issue today on Planned Parenthood, and also the U.S. Supreme Court. That's all next here in Cleveland. +p729 +aVWelcome back to Cleveland, Ohio. Want to get back to the questions and the issues in this debate now, with my co-anchor, Martha. Mac +p730 +aVNext question on the U.S. Supreme Court. It's been 42 years, Senator Santorum, since Roe v. Wade, and many consider, in this country, to be a case of settled law. Recently the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on same-sex marriage. Is that now settled law in America today? +p731 +aVAlright, Senator, thank you. To Governor Gilmore. For years, presidential candidates have not said they would have a litmus test for justices nominated to the Supreme Court. Recently, Hillary Clinton broke that precedent. She said she would apply that on the case of Citizens United, which deals with campaign finance laws in America today. Is it time for conservatives to impose a litmus test on abortion? +p732 +aVSo, no litmus test? +p733 +aVThank you, governor. Mac +p734 +aVAs the first debate of the nomination season continues, welcome back to Cleveland. Let's get back to the questions right now, and the issues here in the U.S. Martha? Mac +p735 +aVThank you, Senator. Executive power. It appears that you all have a little bit of an issue with it at the moment. I want to move through this as quickly as I can, from stage left to stage right. On the second day of his presidency, January 22nd 2009, President Obama signed one of his first executive orders. That was close Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Still open today. What would be your first executive order? Governor Gilmore, start. +p736 +aVSenator Graham. +p737 +aVGovernor Jindal, your first executive order would be in the White House would be what? +p738 +aVGovernor Perry. +p739 +aVThat will be a long day. +p740 +aVSenator Santorum? +p741 +aVFirst order, Carly Fiorina? +p742 +aVGovernor Pataki? +p743 +aVThank you all. Mac +p744 +aVThank you, senator. Mac +p745 +aVThank you, Senator. I need a two-word answer to the following query. In 2008, then-Senator Barack Obama described Hillary Clinton as, quote, "likable enough," end quote. What two words would you use to describe the Democratic frontrunner? Governor Pataki to start. +p746 +aVWow. Carly Fiorina. +p747 +aVGovernor Jindal? +p748 +aVGovernor? +p749 +aVNot a lot of compliments. To be continued. Mac +p750 +aVThank you Governor. Senator Santorum? +p751 +aVAll right. Senator thank you. Mac +p752 +aVCarly Fiorina, closing statement. +p753 +aVThank you. Mac +p754 +aVAnd to Governor Pataki, closing statement now. +p755 +aVThank you, Governor. Mac +p756 +aVThat concludes the first debate of the 2016 Republican primary. We would like to thank all seven of you for being here today. +p757 +asVUNIDENTIFIED +p758 +(lp759 +VWhy don't, why don't we... +p760 +asVBAIER +p761 +(lp762 +VLess than a year from now, in this very arena, one of these 10 candidates or one of the seven on the previous debate tonight will accept the Republican party's nomination. Tonight's candidates were selected based on an average of five national polls. Just a few hours ago, you heard from the candidates ranked 11th through 17. And now, the prime-time event, the top 10. +p763 +aVNeurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Florida Senator Marco Rubio. +p764 +aVIt might be. It might be. We'll see. [ +p765 +aVIt might be. The rules for tonight are simple. One minute for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups. And if a candidate runs over, you'll hear this. Pleasant, no? We also have a big crowd here with us tonight in the home of the Cavaliers, as I mentioned. And while we expect them... ... we expect them to be enthusiastic, as you heard, we don't want to take anything away from the valuable time for the candidate. So, we're looking for somewhere between a reaction to a LeBron James dunk and the Cleveland Public Library across the street. Somewhere there, we'll find a balance tonight. Without further ado, let's begin. +p766 +aVGentlemen, we know how much you love hand-raising questions. So we promise, this is the only one tonight: the only one. Is there anyone on stage, and can I see hands, who is unwilling tonight to pledge your support to the eventual nominee of the Republican party and pledge to not run an independent campaign against that person. Again, we're looking for you to raise your hand now -- raise your hand now if you won't make that pledge tonight. Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump to be clear, you're standing on a Republican primary debate stage. +p767 +aVThe place where the RNC will give the nominee the nod. +p768 +aVAnd that experts say an independent run would almost certainly hand the race over to Democrats and likely another Clinton. You can't say tonight that you can make that pledge? +p769 +aVSo tonight, you can't say if another one of these... +p770 +aVOK. +p771 +aVDr. Paul. +p772 +aVOK. +p773 +aVJust to be clear, you can't make a -- we're gonna -- we're going to move on. You're not gonna make the pledge tonight? +p774 +aVOK. Alright. +p775 +aVGovernor Bush, you have insisted that you're your own man. You say you have a life experience uniquely your own. Not your father's, not your brother's. But there are several opponents on this stage who get big- applause lines in early voting states with this line: quote, "the last thing the country needs is another Bush in the Oval Office." So do you understand the real concern in this country about dynastic politics? +p776 +aVGovernor Christie, you're not exactly the darling of conservatives. You tout your record as a Republican governor in a blue state. On Facebook, the most people talking about you, not surprisingly, come from your state of New Jersey, and one of the top issues they are talking about is the economy. This -- this may be why. Under your watch, New Jersey has undergone nine credit rating downgrades. The state's 44th in private sector growth. You face an employee pension crisis and the Garden State has the third highest foreclosure rate in the country. So why should voters believe that your management of the country's finances would be any different? +p777 +aVSenator Paul, you recently blamed the rise of +p778 +aVGentlemen, the next series of questions deals with ObamaCare and the role of the federal government. Mr. Trump, ObamaCare is one of the things you call a disaster. +p779 +aVSaying it needs to be repealed and replaced. +p780 +aVNow, 15 years ago, you called yourself a liberal on health care. You were for a single-payer system, a Canadian-style system. Why were you for that then and why aren't you for it now? +p781 +aVBut on ObamaCare... +p782 +aVMr. Trump, hold up one second. +p783 +aVAll right, now, hold on, Senator Paul... +p784 +aVOK. +p785 +aVAll right, let me... Mr. Trump, it's not just your past support for single- payer health care. You've also supported a host of other liberal policies. Use -- you've also donated to several Democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton included, Nancy Pelosi. You explained away those donations saying you did that to get business-related favors. And you said recently, quote, "When you give, they do whatever the hell you want them to do." +p786 +aVSo what specifically did... +p787 +aV-- they do? +p788 +aVHold on. We're going to -- we're going to move on. We'll come back to you, Governor Walker. +p789 +aVWe have many questions to come. +p790 +aVMany questions to come. Governor Huckabee, on Facebook, John Pietricone asked this, "Will you abolish or take away the powers and cut the size of the EPA, the IRS, the Department of Education?" Now, broadly... ...broadly, the size of government is a big concern for Facebook users, Facebook persons, as well as, obviously, conservatives. But year after year, decade after decade, there are promises from Republicans to shrink government. But year after year, decade after decade, it doesn't happen. In fact, it gets bigger, even under Republican politicians. So the question is, at this point, is the government simply too big for any one person, even a Republican, to shrink? +p791 +aVDr. Carson... +p792 +aVDr. Carson, do you agree with that? +p793 +aVGovernor Bush? +p794 +aVWe're going to come back to you, Dr. Carson. Governor Bush, you are one of the few people on the stage who advocates for Common Core education standards, reading and math. A lot of people on this stage vigorously oppose a federal involvement in education. They say it should all be handled locally. President Obama's secretary of education, Arnie Duncan, has said that most of the criticism of Common Core is due to a, quote, "fringe group of critics." Do you think that's accurate? +p795 +aVSenator Rubio, why is Governor Bush wrong on Common Core? +p796 +aVAnd do you agree with your old friend? +p797 +aVWe have many more questions coming on a host of topics, here from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Stay with us. +p798 +aVWe have many more questions coming on a host of topics. Here from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Stay with us. +p799 +aVGentlemen, another question for a few of you. Yesterday, just yesterday, President Obama criticized Republican lawmakers trying to block the Iran deal, calling them knee-jerk partisans, adding that hardliners in Iran who chant "death to America" were, quote, "making common cause with the Republican caucus." Here's what two of your opponents on the 5 p.m. debate stage said about Iran. +p800 +aVNow, I wanna ask a few of you this. First, Governor Walker. You've said that you would tear up the Iran deal on day one. If this deal is undone, what then? +p801 +aVSenator Paul, would you tear up the deal on day one? +p802 +aVGovernor Huckabee, what do you think about what Senator Paul just said? +p803 +aVThank you, gentlemen. +p804 +aVWelcome back to Cleveland. Our next topic is foreign policy. Candidates, you may not have seen the late developing news today our Fox Pentagon team broke earlier this evening about a top Iranian general traveling to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. His name is General Qassem Soleimani, he's blamed for hundreds of U.S. troop's deaths in Iraq, and Afghanistan. His trip to Russia appears to directly violate U.N. Security Council resolutions to confine him to Iran. So, Mr. Trump, if you were president, how would you respond to this? +p805 +aVAnother new development today, Senior Defense officials tell Fox they strongly suspect Russia was behind the cyber attack on the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs office... +p806 +aV...email. This comes in the wake of the Director of National Intelligence blaming the Chinese for the largest ever cyber attack, stealing personal data of tens of millions of Americans. Senator Cruz, in your view, have Russia and China committed acts of cyber war, and if you were president, what would you do about it? +p807 +aVDr. Carson, in August of 2012 President Obama famously declared Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons, quote, "that's a redline for us," and that there would be enormous consequences. One year later, with overwhelming evidence the Assad had, in fact, used chemical weapons and crossed that red line, President Obama declined to use military force against the Assad regime. As president, would you have used military force there? +p808 +aVGovernor Walker, as president, what would you do if Russian President Vladimir Putin started a campaign to destabilize +p809 +aVGovernor -- Governor Huckabee, the culture of the American military is definitely changing. Women are moving into combat roles. Don't Ask, Don't Tell has obviously been dropped. And now Defense Secretary Ashton Carter recently directed the military to prepare for a moment when it is welcoming transgender persons to serve openly. As commander in chief, how would you handle that? +p810 +aVSenator Paul, the first budget you proposed as senator cut all financial aid to Israel. You have since changed your view on that issue. What made you change your mind. +p811 +aVOK. But you still say that Israel could be one of the countries that is cut from financial aid? +p812 +aVGovernor Christie, what do you think of that answer? +p813 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p814 +aVSenator, we're going to finish up with some more questions, thank you. +p815 +aVNow each candidate will make a closing statement. You'll all have 30 seconds to make a closing statement for this debate. We'll start with Ohio Governor John Kasich. +p816 +aVSenator Marco Rubio. +p817 +aVThank you, Senator. +p818 +aVGovernor Mike Huckabee, closing statement. +p819 +aVMr. Trump, closing statement, sir. +p820 +aVGentlemen, thank you. +p821 +aVThat's it. +p822 +asVMADDOW +p823 +(lp824 +VWe are super excited to be here at the University of New Hampshire. Tonight, this is the first time that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have squared off exactly like this. Face-to-face, just one-on-one, just the two of them. +p825 +aVAnd we do hope that the candidates will take this opportunity to show us the distinctions\u2014show us the differences between them. That's the whole reason that we're here tonight. We're not here for talking points. We're to learn about the difference between the candidates. And with that, let's get going. Please join us in welcoming Secretary Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders. +p826 +aVAnd with that, that's it. We're going to begin with 60- second opening statements from each of the candidates. And as agreed to in advance by the two campaigns, we're going to begin tonight with Senator Sanders. +p827 +aVSecretary Clinton, Senator Sanders is campaigning against you now, at this point in the campaign, basically arguing that you are not progressive enough to be the Democratic nominee. He has said that if you voted for the Iraq war, if you are in favor of the death penalty, if you wobbled on things like the Keystone Pipeline or TPP, if you said single payer health care could never happen, then you're too far to the right of the Democratic Party to be the party's standard bearer. Given those policy positions, why should liberal Democrats support you and not Senator Sanders? +p828 +aVSenator Sanders, have you established a list of what it means to be a progressive that is unrealistic? +p829 +aVThank you Senator. +p830 +aVSenator Sanders, as a Vermonter, you have almost a home state advantage here in New Hampshire. But back home across the border, you also have a long history of running against Democrats as a third-party candidate, for governor, Senate, for Congress. In 1988 your candidacy as a third-party candidate arguably cost the Democrats a congressional seat and sent a Republican instead. How can you lead the Democratic Party nationally when you have not been a member of the Democratic Party until very recently? +p831 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p832 +aVSo, Senator, to that point, Secretary Clinton is raising the issue of endorsements by your home state Democrats. She's implying that that says something about the people who know you best. +p833 +aVHow do you see it? +p834 +aVSecretary. +p835 +aVSenator Sanders, you'll have 30 seconds to respond to that. +p836 +aVSenator Sanders, Secretary Clinton, obviously we've touched a nerve. We're going to be back with more on this subject, and much more, right after this. Stay with us. +p837 +aVSecretary Clinton, on the issue of Wall Street... +p838 +aV... on the issue of Wall Street, when our reporters go out and talk to people on the ground in the early states, what they tell us over and over again when they find voters who are leaning toward Senator Sanders rather than yourself is that the most frequent area of concern that they hear from those voters is the issue of Wall Street and whether or not you are too close to Wall Street. Last night, when you were asked about speaking fees and the amount of speaking fees you got from Goldman Sachs speeches, you said that's what they offered. Have you been too dismissive of voters' concerns about this issue in your own campaign and your own career? +p839 +aVSenator Sanders, you have been a critic of Secretary Clinton taking those speaking fees and having donations from Wall Street. What about her defense of her record? +p840 +aVSenator Sanders, let me turn to, I think, where this direction is heading anyway, which is the broader issue of big business and power in our political system. You on the campaign trail have railed against big name American corporations like Boeing, and General Electric, and Wal Mart. But, some big businesses in this country have also been part of advancing progressive goals like that nationwide initiative to expand employment opportunities for veterans. That was all about cooperation between the Obama administration and some very big business. The Affordable Care Act, some of the thorniest problems in that bill were worked out in cooperation with big business in order to accomplish progressive goals. Could you work with them, or have you made enemies of big business in this country with the way you've approached them in this campaign? +p841 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. And with that, we're going to take a break. +p842 +aVWelcome back\u2014welcome back to the Democratic candidates' debate. We're going to be talking about America in the world, both in terms of some trade issues, but also national security. And Secretary Clinton, we're going to start with you. There are more than 4,000 American troops back in Iraq right now as part of the fight against +p843 +aVTo be clear, to the specific question, if that strategic goal that you're describing requires considerably more of Americans\u2014an ever-increasing number of Americans in Iraq and maybe in Syria, are you OK with the numbers increasing? +p844 +aVThank you, Madam Secretary. +p845 +aVSecretary Clinton, at the\u2014at the last Democratic debate in Charleston\u2014I want to get specific here\u2014Senator Sanders called for moving as aggressively as we can to normalize relations with Iran. Your campaign has criticized him for saying that. Now that he's standing next to you here on this stage, can you explain why the U.S. shouldn't try to normalize relations in Iran in your view? +p846 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to ask you about a national security issue that is closer to home. There are thousands of veterans, over 100,000 veterans living in the state of New Hampshire. If either one of you is nominated as the Democratic Party's nominee, you will likely face a Republican opponent in the general election who wants to privatize or even abolish big parts of the V.A. It's a newly popular idea in conservative politics. How will you win the argument on that issue given the problems that have been exposed at the V.A. in the last few years? What's your argument that the V.A. should still exist and should not be privatized? +p847 +aVSenator Sanders, you, as a congressional leader on veterans issues and the Veterans Committee, you've worked in a very bipartisan way with Senator John McCain and others on veterans issues. Is the right contour of the fight, the way she's talking about this issue? +p848 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Sanders, Secretary Clinton, we're going to take another break. We'll be talking about Social Security and some of those other issues when we come back. +p849 +aVSenator\u2014Senator Sanders, in 1964... +p850 +aVIn 1964, I heard that the Republicans nominated Barry Goldwater, who was the hero of the conservative movement. He was, however, far to the right of most of that party. In 1972, the Democrats nominated George McGovern, who was a hero of liberals in the antiwar movement, but he was to the left of his party's mainstream. Both of those nominees made activists very excited, and they both got destroyed in the general election. Even Democrats who love you worry about your fate in a general election. And I know you have good head-to-head polling numbers against Republican frontrunners right now. We know that. But do you have a general election strategy that is different than the way you're running right now to try to get the nomination? +p851 +aVSecretary Clinton, your campaign surrogates, and people who have endorsed you, have suggested that or even said that if Senator Sanders is the nominee, that Democrats will suffer nationwide and the chances will go down of Democrats holding onto the White House. With him here standing next to you, can you tell us whether or not you believe he would win the general election if he were nominated? +p852 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. Senator, in December, one of your campaign staffers was fired from your campaign for taking voter data essentially from the Clinton campaign. You apologized for that when the incident was made public. Your campaign has now been criticized for its operatives essentially impersonating culinary union members wearing union pins in Nevada, and the Nashua Telegraph has complained recently that you falsely implied in an advertisement that they had endorsed you when they did not. None of these issues obviously is the end of the world, but they all are of a piece. Are you in some sense losing control of your campaign? +p853 +aVJust to follow up on that, the title of the ad in question was Endorsement. +p854 +aVSecretary Clinton, do you want 30 seconds on that issue? +p855 +aVAnd with that, we will . +p856 +aVWelcome back to the University of New Hampshire, and the Democratic candidates' debate. Secretary Clinton, on the issue of the death penalty, here in New Hampshire, the one person who is on death row is there for killing a police officer. It's a crime that has caused anguish in this state, both among death penalty opponents and death penalty supporters. The last time I had the chance to talk with you on this issue, on the death penalty, you said that capital punishment has a place in a very few federal cases, but you also said you would breathe a sigh of relief if the Supreme Court abolished the death penalty nationwide. Tonight, do you still support capital punishment, even if you do so reluctantly? +p857 +aVSenator Sanders, you have singled out the death penalty, and Senator Clinton's support for the death penalty, as an issue that makes it hard to consider as progressive in your mind... +p858 +aVAnother issue related to the proper role of government, and in this case, specifically the role of government between the federal government and the states. I want to talk for a moment about the issue of Flint, Michigan. On the Flint lead poisoning disaster, you have both been highly critical of Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan, and how the state in Michigan both caused the lead poisoning problem, and has not acted fast enough to fix it. You have both been outspoken on that. The fact is that Michigan though has not fixed it. There is no door to door delivery of clean water in Flint even today. Not a single lead pipe has been replaced in Flint, even today. If the state is failing, would you, Secretary Clinton, would you as President order a federal response to get it right over and above the wishes of the state? +p859 +aVSenator Sanders are there things the President could be doing? President Obama could be ordering, done, right now, in Flint, Michigan that are not being done that you as President would do? +p860 +aVSenator, thank you. +p861 +aVThe home stretch. +p862 +aVSecretary Clinton, Republicans, particularly in campaign years, often talk about which departments of government\u2014which agencies of government they would get rid of if they were elected president. The EPA, the Department of Education, the Commerce Department, oops\u2014is\u2014is there a department of government that you would get rid of? Or is there a whole new one that you would create? +p863 +aVThank you, Secretary Clinton. +p864 +aVThank you very much. Thank you. +p865 +aVWe also want to thank our host, the University of New Hampshire, and the people of New Hampshire. You guys get to vote in just five days. I can't wait to see how it turns out. Don't screw up. +p866 +asVSEIB +p867 +(lp868 +VThis evening Fox Business is partnering with the Wall Street Journal to bring you the fourth republican presidential debate of the 2016 campaign. For the next hour, four of the candidates will be here answering the question voters want answered. +p869 +aVSenator Santorum, you're all obviously highly critical of President Obama's economic record. But federal statistics show that payrolls have expanded by 8.7 million new jobs so far during his time in office. All the jobs lost in the recession were recovered by last year. And in October, the economy added jobs at the fastest rate since 2009. So what's wrong with the Obama jobs record? +p870 +aVGovernor Jindal, Republicans have now 32 of the nation's 50 governor seats. But, even while you're doing very well at the state level, you keep falling short nationally. You've lost the popular vote in five of the last six presidential elections. Are Democrats simply putting forward a better national economic message than the one Republicans are offering? And what should Republicans do about it. +p871 +aVSenator Santorum, we're in the Upper-Midwest, heart of the American auto industry. The Auto Alliance says the state of Wisconsin, where we are tonight, is home to 176 auto supplier companies. Back in 2008, you opposed the use of federal bailout funds for automakers as proposed then by the Bush administration. The automakers survived. In retrospect, do you still think that was the right position. +p872 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p873 +aVGovernor Jindal, there's a new trade deal the Obama administration has completed with 11 other Pacific nations. The U.S. Trade Representative's office says that deal will cut 18,000 different tariffs on American goods sent to the Pacific and will cut tariffs on goods made in your state of Louisiana by as much as 40 percent. Even a skeptical about \u2014 a skeptic about this deal, now that the details are public, are you going to be for it? +p874 +aVGovernor Christie? +p875 +aV...Guys... +p876 +aVGovernor Christie... +p877 +aV...last word, briefly +p878 +aV...Thank you both, Governors. +p879 +aV...No, no, Senator Santorum... +p880 +aV...I have a question for you. Just about everybody agrees that the nation's infrastructure is in bad shape. Urban highway congestion costs the economy more than $100 billion dollars annually, nearly one in four bridges in the National Highway System is structurally deficient, or obsolete. Congress is working on a six year highway bill to try to fix this problem. It only funds it for about three years. Should Americans be asked to pay more in federal gas taxes in order to address this problem? +p881 +aVSenator, I don't think we got to infrastructure, but I understand. +p882 +aVNo, no. To do the things you're talking about, that you're all talking about, getting things done in Washington, you have to work with the other side. So a question, who in Congress do you most admire on the Democratic side? I need one name from each of you. And let's start with Governor Jindal. +p883 +aVGovernor Huckabee? +p884 +aVGovernor Christie? +p885 +aVSenator Santorum? +p886 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p887 +aVGovernor Jindal, you've proposed something different. You've proposed eliminating the federal corporate income tax entirely. Why would have you wage-earners and investors pay an income tax but not a corporation? +p888 +aVWelcome back to the Republican Presidential Debate live from Milwaukee's historic theater. Let's get back to the questions. Governor Christie, by keeping interest rates so low for so long, is the Fed creating a new financial bubble in real estate or stock as prices that will burst and create problems down the road, or has it been right to err on the side of trying to help the recovery through low rates? +p889 +aVCandidates, it's time for closing statements, 30 seconds. Governor Jindal, we'll start with you. +p890 +aVSenator Santorum. +p891 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p892 +aVGovernor Christie. +p893 +asVTAPPER +p894 +(lp895 +VI'm Jake Tapper. We're live at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California for the main event. Round 2 of CNN's presidential debate starts now. The eleven leading Republican candidates for president are at their podiums. They are ready to face off, and if you've been watching this race, you know anything could happen over the next few hours. To viewers who are just joining us, welcome to the Air Force One Pavilion of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Our thanks to the staff here and especially to former first lady Nancy Reagan for this impressive setting with Ronald Reagan's presidential plane as our backdrop. This debate is airing on CNN networks in the United States and around the world. It's also being broadcast on the Salem Radio Network. I know everyone is very eager to get started. But first, I want to explain the ground rules tonight. My name is Jake Tapper. I'll be the moderator. I will be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt. He worked in the Reagan administration for six years. And by CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. I will ask follow-up questions, I will attempt to guide the discussion. Candidates, I will try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have one minute to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you've been singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. These 11 Republicans are positioned on the stage based on their ranking in recent national polls. Our goal for this evening is a debate. A true debate, with candidates addressing each other in areas where they differ. Where they disagree \u2014 on policy, on politics, on leadership. Now, let's begin. I'd like to invite each candidate to take 30 seconds to introduce him or herself to our audience. First to you, Senator Paul. +p896 +aVSenator Cruz? +p897 +aVThank you one and all for being here. There are many important policy issues facing our nation. We're going to get to many of them tonight, but I do want to start off with some current events in the news, and also some of the comments the candidates have recently made on the campaign trail. Mrs. Fiorina, I want to start with you. Fellow Republican candidate, and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, has suggested that your party's frontrunner, Mr. Donald Trump, would be dangerous as President. He said he wouldn't want, quote, "such a hot head with his finger on the nuclear codes." You, as well, have raised concerns about Mr. Trump's temperament. You've dismissed him as an entertainer. Would you feel comfortable with Donald trump's finger on the nuclear codes? +p898 +aVYou didn't answer my question. Would you feel comfortable with Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear codes? It's an issue that one of your fellow candidates has raised. +p899 +aVMr. Trump? +p900 +aVMr. \u2014 Senator Paul, your name has been invoked. +p901 +aVMr. Trump? +p902 +aVI want to \u2014 I want to give Mr. Trump... +p903 +aV... Mr. Trump, I want to give you another chance \u2014 Mr. Trump, I want to give you a chance to respond to something that your rival to your left, Governor Bush, said. Governor Bush told me last week when I read him the quote from Governor Jindal that he agrees you're not a serious candidate. Tell Governor Bush why you are a serious candidate and what your qualifications are to be commander-in-chief. +p904 +aVGovernor Bush, would you feel comfortable with Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear codes? +p905 +aVGovernor Walker? +p906 +aVLet's move on. +p907 +aVA phenomenon going on in the race right now is the political... OK, Governor Kasich, go ahead. +p908 +aVWe have a lot of issues coming up, sir. +p909 +aVWe are getting to the issues, sir. Phenomenon going on in the race is the political outsiders in the race, Dr. Carson, Donald Trump, Carly Fiorina, all together, have majority support in the polls. Governor Christie, I want to ask you about something that Dr. Carson said the other day. Dr. Carson said campaigning is easier for him, because he's not a politician. He can just tell the truth, therefore, while politicians, quote, "Have their finger in the air to see and do what is politically expedient." Governor Christie, tell Dr. Carson, is that a fair description of you? +p910 +aVWell, let's find out. Thank you. +p911 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. Dr. Carson, who were you thinking about on this stage when you said that? +p912 +aVAnd more broadly, is experience in government not important for a president to have? +p913 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p914 +aVThank you. +p915 +aVThank you. Thank you Ms. Fiorina. Governor Bush, in addition to the fact that he's an outsider, one of the reasons Mr. Trump is a frontrunner, Republican voters say, is because they like the fact that he is not bought and paid for by wealthy donors. Mr. Trump has repeatedly said that the $100 million you've raised for your campaign makes you a puppet for your donors. Are you? +p916 +aVIs there anything else you want to say about this? +p917 +aVGovernor \u2014 +p918 +aVSure Dr. Carson. +p919 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Let's move to Russia if we could. Russia is sending troops and tanks into Syria right now to prop up a U.S. enemy, Bashar al-Assad. President Obama's incoming top general says, quote, "Russia presents the greatest threat to our national security." Mr. Trump, you say you can do business with President Vladimir Putin, you say you will get along, quote, "very well." What would you do right now if you were president, to get the Russians out of Syria? +p920 +aVSo, you \u2014 just to clarify, the only answer I heard to the question I asked is that you would \u2014 you would reach out to Vladimir Putin, and you would do what? You would... +p921 +aVSenator Rubio, you've taken a very different approach to the \u2014 the question of Russia. You've called Vladimir Putin a, quote, "gangster." Why would President Rubio's approach be more effective than President Trump's? +p922 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. +p923 +aVI want to bring in Carly Fiorina. +p924 +aVMs. Fiorina, you have met... +p925 +aV...yeah, you've met Vladimir Putin. Yes. +p926 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p927 +aVThank you. +p928 +aVThank you. Thank you, Ms. Fiorina. While you're \u2014 while you brought up the subject of General Suleimani of the Quds forces from Iran, the next president, no matter who he or she may be, will inherit President Obama's Iran deal. Senator Cruz, Governor Kasich says that anyone who is promising to rip up the Iran deal on day one, as you have promised to do, is, quote, "inexperienced," and, quote, "playing to a crowd." Respond to Governor Kasich, please. +p929 +aVWhy is that not, as Governor Kasich says, playing to the crowd and an example of you being inexperienced? +p930 +aVGovernor Kasich... +p931 +aV...Did Senator Cruz just play to the crowd? +p932 +aV...Thank you, Governor. I want to go to Senator Paul. +p933 +aVI want to go to Senator Paul. Senator Paul, the White House is rolling out the red carpet next week for the President of China, President Xi. Governor Walker says that President Obama should cancel the state dinner because of China's currency manipulation, and because of China's alleged cyber attacks against the United States. Is Governor Walker right? +p934 +aVGovernor Walker, Senator Paul seemed to suggest... +p935 +aV...that canceling the state dinner would be rash, and reckless. +p936 +aV...Governor Bush... +p937 +aVGovernor Bush, your father was the chief diplomatic envoy to China back when Nixon opened relations to China. Is Scott Walker's approach the right one, canceling the state dinner? +p938 +aVI want to turn... +p939 +aV...I want to turn to Governor Huckabee who has been very patient. Somebody had to be 11th, and he is, but, I do want to change the subject to the event that you had... +p940 +aV... however you want, but I want to ask this question. +p941 +aVAll right, sir, go ahead. +p942 +aVOK. ( +p943 +aVWe're going to turn now to Hugh Hewitt, from Salem Radio Network. +p944 +aVThank you, Senator Paul. I want to turn now to my colleague Dana Bash. +p945 +aVThat would be fair, you're right. You're the third senator. +p946 +aVWe're going to go to Dana Bash... +p947 +aVSenator Cruz? +p948 +aVThank you, Senator. +p949 +aVThank you, Senator. +p950 +aVThank you, Senator. I want to... +p951 +aV... turn back to Governor Huckabee... +p952 +aVI want to turn back to Governor Huckabee. Governor Huckabee, last week, you held a rally for a county clerk in Kentucky who was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, as I don't need to tell you. You've called what happened to Kim Davis, that clerk, "an example of the criminalization of Christianity." There are several people on the stage who disagree with you. Governor Bush, for example, says that that clerk is sworn to uphold the law. Is Governor Bush on the wrong side of the criminalization of Christianity? +p953 +aVThank you, Governor. +p954 +aVWell, I'm not telling you that, Governor. But Governor Bush is, because he \u2014 because he disagrees. He thinks that Kim Davis swore to uphold the law. You disagree? You're not \u2014 you don't... +p955 +aVOK. Please do. +p956 +aVYou did... +p957 +aVGovernor, you said, quote, "she is sworn to uphold the law." +p958 +aVLet me go to my colleague Dana Bash, who has a question. +p959 +aVDana, I want to continue on the subject. Governor Bush, you recently said while discussing Planned Parenthood, quote, you're "not sure we need a half billion for women's health issues." Now you've since said that you misspoke, you didn't mean to say "women's health issues." But Donald Trump said that quote, that comment, which Hillary Clinton did seize upon immediately, will haunt you the same way Mitt Romney's 47 percent video haunted him. Tell Donald Trump why he's wrong. +p960 +aVThank you, Governor Bush. Donald Trump, let me just... +p961 +aVThe quote was, "I'm not sure we need half a billion dollars for women's health issues." He said he misspoke. You said that that's going to haunt him. Why do you think that? +p962 +aVGovernor Bush? +p963 +aVI want to \u2014 we're going to get to \u2014 +p964 +aVThank you, Governor. +p965 +aVThank you, Governor. +p966 +aVWe're going to \u2014 we're going to get to many of these issues. This \u2014 we're still in the first block, believe it or not. We're going to get to many of these issues, but before we end this block, Ms. Fiorina, I do want to ask you about this. In an interview last week in Rolling Stone magazine, Donald Trump said the following about you. Quote, "Look at that face. Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?" Mr. Trump later said he was talking about your persona, not your appearance. Please feel free to respond what you think about his persona. +p967 +aVAll right. On that note, in less than two minutes \u2014 we're going to take a very quick break. In less than two minutes, the most contentious issue on the campaign trail. And the candidates on the stage are split over how to handle it. That's coming up next. Please give some applause to the candidates. +p968 +aVWelcome to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate. No topic perhaps has been more combustible in this campaign than the issue of immigration. Mr. Trump, you have called for deporting every undocumented immigrant, Governor Christie has said, quote, "There are not enough law enforcement officers \u2014 local, county, state and federal combined \u2014 to forcibly deport 11 to 12 million people." Tell Governor Christie how much your plan will cost, and how you will get it done. +p969 +aVGovernor Christie, you and I have talked about this in an interview. You say that his big wall, his plan to deport 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants, it sounds great, but it's never going to happen. Tell him why you're skeptical of his plans? +p970 +aVThank you, Governor Christie... +p971 +aVI want to bring in Dr. Carson because he too has been skeptical of your plan to immediately deport 11 to 12 million illegal immigrants. He said, quote, "People who say that have no idea what this entails." Why do you say that, Dr. Carson? +p972 +aV...Dr. Carson... +p973 +aVWith all due respect, you said about Donald Trump's plan to deport 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants, "People who say that have no idea what this entails." Why not? +p974 +aV...let's continue the conversation about illegal immigration with Dana Bash. +p975 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Senator Cruz \u2014 Senator Cruz, this week, we learned more about Dr. Carson's plan for the 11 million to 12 million undocumented immigrants in this country. Dr. Carson proposed giving these undocumented immigrants a six- month grace period to pay back taxes then to let them become guest workers and only to deport people who failed to do that. +p976 +aVWell, how would you say it, sir? I was just reading the Wall Street Journal quote, but please tell us. +p977 +aVOK, from the horse's mouth, Senator Cruz, does that fit your definition of amnesty? +p978 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Rubio... +p979 +aV... I'm not sure... +p980 +aVWe'll come back to you \u2014 we'll come back to you in one second, sir. But Senator Rubio, I'm not sure exactly whose plan he's \u2014 he's saying is \u2014 constitutes amnesty, but I know he has said it about your plan in the past, so I want to give you a chance to respond, then, Dr. Carson, we'll come to you. +p981 +aVThank you, Senator. +p982 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator \u2014 Dr. Carson... ... I want to give you 30 seconds. I'd like you to answer the question. Senator Cruz describes plans such as yours as amnesty. Why is your plan not amnesty? +p983 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. I want to talk about the issue of birthright citizenship, which \u2014 which has emerged since the first debate as \u2014 as an a \u2014 a major issue in this campaign. Mr. Trump, you say that babies born in the United States to undocumented immigrants should not any longer get automatic American citizenship. Ms. Fiorina says that you are pandering on this issue and acting like the politicians that you rail against. What's your message to Ms. Fiorina on birthright citizenship? +p984 +aVMs. Fiorina, the vast majority of countries do not have birthright citizenship... ...Donald Trump is right about that. Why is it pandering when he's \u2014 he says this? +p985 +aVMs. Fiorina... +p986 +aVPlease. +p987 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p988 +aVThank you. +p989 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Mr. Trump, I want to give you the chance to respond... +p990 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. Senator Paul... +p991 +aVSenator Paul, I want to bring you in. Where \u2014 where do you stand on the issue of birthright citizenship? +p992 +aVAll right. Senator Paul, thank you so much. Let's turn to a new topic. We've received a lot of questions on social media about the economy and about jobs. We have two CEOs on stage right now. Ms. Fiorina, you were CEO of Hewlett Packard. Donald Trump says you, quote, "ran HP into the ground," you laid off tens of thousands of people, you got viciously fired. For voters looking to somebody with private-sector experience to create American jobs, why should they pick you and not Donald Trump? +p993 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p994 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p995 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 Mr. Trump, why would you be better at creating jobs than Carly Fiorina? +p996 +aVMs. Fiorina, I want to give you a chance to respond. +p997 +aVMr. Trump. +p998 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. +p999 +aVGovernor Christie's name has been invoked. I'd like to give him a 30 second opportunity. +p1000 +aVMs. Fiorina, I want to give you +p1001 +aVGovernor Kasich, I'm coming to you next, but Ms. Fiorina's name was mentioned, and I have to give her the opportunity to respond if she wants it. +p1002 +aVThank you. +p1003 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Kasich, I want to come \u2014 I'm coming to you. I'm coming to you. Let me ask the question. You can use the time however you want. +p1004 +aVDonald Trump says that the hedge fund guys are getting away with murder by paying a lower tax rate. He wants to raise the taxes of hedge fund managers, as does Governor Bush. Do you agree? +p1005 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1006 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. +p1007 +aVGovernor Huckabee, I want to bring you in on the question of hedge fund managers and taxing them. You have said that you are bothered by the fact that hedge fund managers pay such a low tax rate and make 2,500 times what people who work for them make. Do you agree with what Donald Trump and Governor Bush have proposed, raising their tax rates? +p1008 +aVThank you, Governor. Dr. Carson, you support scrapping the entire tax code and replacing it with a flat tax based on the principal on tithing from the Bible. If you make $10 billion, you pay $1 billion in taxes, if you make $10, you pay $1 in taxes. Donald Trump believes in progressive taxation. He says it's not right that rich people pay the same as the poor. Tell Donald Trump why his ideas on taxes are wrong. +p1009 +aVMr. Trump... +p1010 +aV...What do you think of the flat tax? Do you think it's fair? +p1011 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. Senator Paul? +p1012 +aVGovernor Walker, I want to go to you. Dr. Carson wants to raise the Federal Minimum Wage, you have called it a lame idea. Why is raising the Federal Minimum Wage lame? +p1013 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1014 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1015 +aVDr. Carson, Governor Walker didn't really answer the question, but I'll let you respond. He called raising the Federal Minimum Wage lame, what do you think of that? +p1016 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson... +p1017 +aVLet me bring in our partner from Salem Radio Network, Hugh Hewitt. +p1018 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate. Let's turn to some issues now in foreign policy. Mr. Trump, Senator Rubio said it was, quote, "very concerning to him" that in a recent interview you didn't seem to know the details about some of the enemies the U.S. faces. Rubio said, if you don't know the answers to those questions, you will not be able to serve as commander-in-chief. Please respond to Senator Rubio. +p1019 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1020 +aVMr. Trump? Senator Rubio seemed to be suggesting that you don't know information that... +p1021 +aVAll right. Senator Rubio. +p1022 +aVBut are you saying that you have the knowledge to be the president that Mr. Trump does not have? +p1023 +aVMr. Trump? +p1024 +aVSenator Rubio, he did invoke your absentee record in the Senate. +p1025 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. I want to turn now to Hugh Hewitt. +p1026 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1027 +aVSenator... +p1028 +aVSenator Paul? +p1029 +aVSenator Paul... +p1030 +aVThank you, Senator Paul... +p1031 +aVThank you, Senator Paul... +p1032 +aVI understand that Governor Bush's name has been invoked, and then we can go to you, Senator Rubio. +p1033 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1034 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Rubio? +p1035 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1036 +aVDr. Carson? +p1037 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1038 +aVI mean, it is interesting that you say that, because I want to ask Governor Christie about something else that you have said. Governor Christie, we just marked the 14th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Now Dr. Carson has said that if he had been president at the time, the United States would not have gone to war in Afghanistan. What does that say to you about how Dr. Carson would respond as president if America were attacked again? +p1039 +aVDr. Carson? +p1040 +aV... Governor Christie. +p1041 +aVDr. Carson? +p1042 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1043 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1044 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee. +p1045 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1046 +aVThank you, governor, I want to turn to +p1047 +aVGovernor Walker, there is a big debate now, we have been talking about +p1048 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Paul, I want to go to you, because you have said that the boots on the ground to fight +p1049 +aVThank you, Senator. We're going to turn to some domestic issues now. I want to bring in my colleague, Dana Bash. +p1050 +aVSure.... +p1051 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1052 +aV...Thank you, Governor. Dana Bash... +p1053 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina... +p1054 +aV...Thank you, we're going to turn now to domestic issues with Dana Bash. +p1055 +aV...Dana Bash... +p1056 +aVThank you. Dana Bash? +p1057 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1058 +aV...Governor Bush... +p1059 +aV...I want to let you respond. +p1060 +aVThank you, Governor... ...And, that's what we should do, and I hope I'll be working members of the United States Senate to fight hard for the passage of people that have that kind of qualification. +p1061 +aVSenator Cruz, 30 seconds. +p1062 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1063 +aVThank you, Semator. +p1064 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee, I want to bring you in very quickly if you could. Will you have a litmus test when it comes to appointing Supreme Court nominees? +p1065 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1066 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1067 +aVThank you, Governor. We're going to take a quick break. Coming up, one of the hottest questions that you have been asking us via social media. We will pose it to the candidates. That's coming up right after this. +p1068 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican presidential debate at the Reagan Library here in Simi Valley \u2014 Simi Valley, California. Many people on social media wanted us to ask about marijuana legalization. Senator Paul, Governor Christie recently said, quote, "if you're getting high in Colorado today," where marijuana has been legalized, "enjoy it until January 2017, because I will enforce the federal laws against marijuana." Will you? +p1069 +aVI want to give that \u2014 I want to give the person that you called a hypocrite an opportunity to respond. Do you want to identify that person? +p1070 +aVIs there somebody you were specifically thinking of? +p1071 +aVThat's what I though, but I wanted to say it. +p1072 +aVOK. +p1073 +aVGovernor Bush, please. +p1074 +aVI want to go right now \u2014 I want to go right now... +p1075 +aVThat's true. Go ahead, Christie, please. +p1076 +aVYou may respond, and then I'll bring in you, Ms. Fiorina. +p1077 +aVYes, Senator Paul. +p1078 +aVI want to bring in Ms. Fiorina \u2014 I want to bring in Ms. Fiorina on this issue. +p1079 +aVHugh \u2014 Hugh, I'd like to... +p1080 +aVI'd like to turn it over \u2014 I'd like to turn to Dana Bush. +p1081 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1082 +aVI'm coming to you right now on a separate issue, sir. We received... ( +p1083 +aVWe received a lot of questions from social media about climate change. Senator Rubio, Ronald Reagan's secretary of state, George Shultz, reminds us that when Reagan was president he faced a similar situation to the one that we're facing now. There were dire warnings from the mass consensus of the scientific community about the ozone layer shrinking. Shultz says Ronald Reagan urged skeptics in industry to come up with a plan. He said, do it as an insurance policy in case the scientists are right. The scientists were right. Reagan and his approach worked. Secretary Shultz asks, why not take out an insurance policy and approach climate change the Reagan way? +p1084 +aVI'm citing George Shultz. +p1085 +aVGovernor Christie, you have said that climate change is real, and that humans help contribute to it. Without getting into the issue of China versus the United States, which I understand you've talked about before, what do you make of skeptics of climate change such as Senator Rubio? +p1086 +aVJust for the record, I was citing Secretary of State George Shultz, Ronald Reagan's secretary of state who I don't think anybody would call him left-wing. +p1087 +aVI called you a skeptic. +p1088 +aVI want to go another question right now. +p1089 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1090 +aVI'm turning to... +p1091 +aV...I'm turning to another \u2014 I'm turning to another issue right now. Senator Cruz. Well, I think we've heard from several this evening. A backlash against vaccines was blamed for a measles outbreak here in California. Dr. Carson, Donald Trump has publicly and repeatedly linked vaccines, childhood vaccines, to autism, which, as you know, the medical community adamantly disputes. You're a pediatric neurosurgeon. Should Mr. Trump stop saying this? +p1092 +aVShould he stop saying it? Should he stop saying that vaccines cause autism? +p1093 +aVMr. Trump, as president, you would... +p1094 +aVI'm going right to you. +p1095 +aVMr. Trump, as president, you would be in charge of the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health, both of which say you are wrong. How would you handle this as president? +p1096 +aVThank you. +p1097 +aVDr. \u2014 Dr. Carson? +p1098 +aVDr. Carson, you just heard his medical take. +p1099 +aVDr. Paul? Dr. Paul, I'd like to bring you in. +p1100 +aVAlright, thank you so much... +p1101 +aVComing up \u2014 I'm sorry, Governor Huckabee, please. +p1102 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1103 +aVWe have to take another quick break. Coming up, Ronald Reagan looming large over this debate. So how Reaganesque exactly are these Republicans? We will find out next. +p1104 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California. We have a few last questions for you. Two of them a little lighthearted, the other one more serious. We'll start with one of the more light questions. Senator Paul, I'm going to start with you and we're just going to go down the line. Earlier this year, the Treasury Department announced that a woman will appear on the $10 bill. What woman would you like to see on the $10 bill? +p1105 +aVGovernor Huckabee? +p1106 +aVSenator Paul (sic). +p1107 +aVI'm sorry. Senator Rubio? +p1108 +aVJust the senators. +p1109 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1110 +aVDr. Carson? +p1111 +aVMr. Trump. +p1112 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1113 +aVGovernor Walker. +p1114 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p1115 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1116 +aVGovernor Christie. +p1117 +aVAlright. Some good entries if anybody at the mint was listening. Here's the next lighthearted question, you all know that the United States Secret Service uses codenames for the president, and his family. Ronald Reagan's codename, for example, was, "Rawhide", an homage to his performances in Westerns. Nancy Reagan's was, "Rainbow". You don't have to come up the one for your spouse, but, what would you want, Governor Christie, I'll start with you, your Secret Service codename to be. +p1118 +aVGovernor Walker? +p1119 +aVMr. Trump? +p1120 +aVDr. Carson? +p1121 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1122 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1123 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p1124 +aVSenator Paul. +p1125 +aVThat's a mouthful, but OK. OK, here's the more serious question, Ronald Reagan, the 40th President, used the plane behind you to accomplish a great many things. Perhaps, most notably, to challenge Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the wall, and ultimately, to make peace with the +p1126 +aVThat concludes this Republican presidential debate. On behalf of everyone here at CNN, we want to thank the candidates, the Reagan Library, and the Republican National Committee. Thank you, also, to Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash. The next presidential debate will also be right here on CNN, among the Democratic candidates, who will face off for the first time on October the 13th. That debate, a partnership with Facebook, will be moderated by my colleague, Anderson Cooper. And Anderson picks up our coverage of tonight's debate right now. Before I throw to Anderson, let's have one final round of applause for the candidates. +p1127 +aVWe're live at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California for one of the most highly anticipated primary season debates ever. On this stage 15 candidates in two rounds of questioning with one goal, to show they have what it takes to be the Republican Presidential Nominee. Welcome to our viewers, I'm Jake Tapper. Tonight's debate is airing on CNN networks around the world, and, of course, here in the United States. It's also being broadcast across the country on the Salmen Radio Network. We want to thank our host, former First Lady Nancy Reagan, and the Reagan Library for this very impressive setting, the Air Force One pavilion. Behind me, you can see the actual plane... ...That Ronald Reagan flew in when he was president. Now, because the GOP field is so large, we have divided the candidates into two groups based on their rankings in recent national polls. Later this evening we will hear from the top 11 contenders. The other four candidates are taking part in the first round, and they are ready to join us now. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindal. The former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania, Rick Santorum. and former New York Governor, George Pataki. Ladies and gentleman, please welcome these Republican candidates for President of the United States. And, now, if you would, please rise for our national anthem performed by actress and singer, Natalie Hill. I'd like to ask the candidates to please take their podiums while I tell you a little more about how tonight debate will work. I'm Jake Tapper. I'll be the moderator. Joining me in the questioning, Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt; he worked in the Reagan administration for six years and CNN's chief political correspondent, Dana Bash. I will follow up and guide the discussion; candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have one minute to answer questions and 30 seconds for followups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you have been singled out for criticism. We have timing lights that are visible to the candidates. Those lights will warn them when their time is up. Our goal tonight is to have a true debate, candidates actually addressing each other in areas where they disagree, where they differ on policy, on politics and on leadership. Now that everyone is in place, it's time for the candidates to introduce themselves to our audience. Please keep it brief. Governor Pataki, you're first. +p1128 +aVThank you candidates. We're going to talk a lot about policy and your proposals this evening. But first, Governor Jindal, I want to start with you. You have said that the front runner, Donald Trump, is a, quote, "unstable, narcissistic, ego maniac." Now, we are in the house of Reagan, who made famous the so-called 11th Commandment, "Thou shalt not speak ill of thy fellow Republican." What drove you to violate that unofficial commandment? +p1129 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1130 +aVSenator Santorum, do you think Governor Jindal is wrong for attacking your party's front runner? +p1131 +aVThank you. Governor Jindal, do you want to respond to that? +p1132 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1133 +aVSenator Santorum, just to assure you, we will get to those issues. But just a couple more on this general subject. Senator Graham, you have called Donald Trump a, quote, "wrecking ball for the Republican party." Voters in your home state of South Carolina, in a recent poll, prefer Donald Trump 30 percent to your 4 percent. How do you explain why so many of your constituents would rather have Donald Trump as the Republican nominee than you? +p1134 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. We're going to bring in Hugh Hewitt now, who has a question for Governor Pataki. +p1135 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1136 +aVSenator Graham? One of the -- the reasons why Donald Trump, Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina are doing well is because they are political outsiders. In fact, that's one of the things -- in fact, there are two things that they have in common. They've never been elected to office before and they're doing better than all of you in the polls. The four of you have a combined seven decades in elected office. Senator Graham, in this election season, do Republican voters see your service in government as a liability and not an asset? +p1137 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1138 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1139 +aVThank you, Senator. Let's turn to the topic of immigration. For that, I want to bring in my colleague, Dana Bash. +p1140 +aVThank you, Governor. I -- I want to change the subject. We're staying on immigration, and I'm bringing you in, Governor Pataki... +p1141 +aV... and Senator Graham, I'm coming to you as well. +p1142 +aVGovernor Pataki, Republicans right now are -- are debating birthright citizenship, the policy of granting U.S. citizenship to every baby born in this country, even if they born to undocumented immigrants. Senator Graham wants to end the policy of birthright citizenship. Governor Pataki, you support keeping it. Tell him why he's wrong. +p1143 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1144 +aVGovernor... +p1145 +aVWhat I -- what I asked about was about birthright citizenship and why you think that we should preserve birthright... +p1146 +aVSenator Graham, most countries in the world do not have birthright citizenship. +p1147 +aVWhy do you think Governor Pataki is wrong? +p1148 +aVWas that a... +p1149 +aV...Thank you Senator... +p1150 +aV...Thank you Senator... +p1151 +aV...We'll come back to you Senator Santorum, I promise... +p1152 +aV...alright... +p1153 +aVThank you, Senator... +p1154 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Pataki, I want to let you have the final word here. +p1155 +aVGovernor Pataki? +p1156 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1157 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Graham, your response when it comes to Syrian refugees? +p1158 +aVThank you, Senator. I want to turn now -- +p1159 +aVWe're going to keep talking about the situation in the Middle East. Let me bring in my colleague, Dana Bash, again. +p1160 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1161 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1162 +aVThank you, thank you, Governor. +p1163 +aVGovernor Pataki -- +p1164 +aVThank you, Governor. Sorry. We have rules and timing. Governor Jindal, I do want to bring you in. I want to turn to a story in news in the story today. A 14-year-old Muslim high school student in Texas was arrested on Monday for bringing a homemade clock to school after it was mistaken for a fake bomb. Police released the young man after they determined it was, in fact, a clock. Today, President Obama invited that student to the White House. Governor Jindal, throughout your campaign, you've spoken many times about Muslim extremists in this country. How would you, as president, strike a balance between vigilance and discrimination? +p1165 +aVGovernor Jindal, I'm afraid you didn't answer the question. How do you strike the balance between vigilance and discrimination? Obviously, we know how you feel about the vigilance part of this. Do you ever see the discrimination part of it? +p1166 +aVThank you, Governor. We will get to that subject later in the debate. Senator Graham? +p1167 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1168 +aVGovernor Pataki? +p1169 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1170 +aVWe'll get to that subject in the next block. We're going to take a very quick break. When we come back, both Jeb Bush and Donald Trump agree on one thing when it comes to taxes. We'll see if any of the candidates on stage agree as well. +p1171 +aVThat's next. Stay with us. +p1172 +aVWelcome back to the CNN Republican Debate at the beautiful Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California. Before we took the break, you were all chomping at the bit to talk about Kim Davis, that Kentucky clerk. Governor Pataki said he would have fired Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk jailed for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses. Senator Santorum, do you agree with Governor Pataki? +p1173 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Pataki, your response? +p1174 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum? +p1175 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1176 +aVWe're coming to both of you. +p1177 +aVWhat... +p1178 +aVGovernor Jindal... +p1179 +aVSenator Graham, do you want to weigh in? +p1180 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1181 +aVSenator... +p1182 +aVThank you, Senator. I want to stay with the subject of Supreme Court judges -- justices. Governor Jindal, both Senators graham and Santorum voted to confirm chief justice of the United States, John Roberts, who has led with the majority twice to uphold ObamaCare. Do you think that Graham's and Santorum's votes to confirm John Roberts were a mistake? +p1183 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Graham, I want to give you an opportunity to respond -- -- I would note that Anthony Kennedy, was, of course, a Ronald Reagan appointee. Senator Graham, do you stand by your vote for John Roberts? +p1184 +aVSenator Santorum, do you stand by your vote for John Roberts? +p1185 +aVGovernor Jindal, I'm going to give you 30 seconds to respond. +p1186 +aVLet me bring back Hugh Hewitt. +p1187 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1188 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1189 +aV...I want to turn -- you're going to be involved in the next question... +p1190 +aV...Senator Graham... +p1191 +aV...Thank you, Senator... +p1192 +aV...Thank you Senator. Senator Graham, I want to turn to the minimum... +p1193 +aV...Well, let's talk about South Carolina... +p1194 +aV...Senator, let's turn to the minimum wage. Senator Santorum is the only person on the stage who has proposed increasing the federal minimum wage. How would that affect South Carolinians? Do you agree with Senator Santorum that the federal minimum wage should be increased? +p1195 +aVSenator Graham, thank you so much. Senator Santorum... Senator Graham is suggesting that your proposal would not allot South Carolinians to hire more workers. +p1196 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1197 +aVThank you, Senator. We have to take a quick break. When we come back, confrontation or negotiation? How will these candidates attempt to handle Russian President Vladimir Putin? That's next. +p1198 +aVAnd we're back at the CNN Republican Debate at the Reagan Library in beautiful Simi Valley, California. Let's turn now to some issues of foreign policy. Senator Graham, you all oppose the U.S. nuclear deal with Iran. Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton, a Republican, is pushing for a U.S. military strike against Iran, against its nuclear facilities. Senator Graham, would you authorize, as president, a nuclear strike against -- I mean, sorry -- a strike against Iran's nuclear facilities? +p1199 +aVGovernor -- -- Hugh -- I'm going to go to Hugh Hewitt for a question for Governor Pataki. +p1200 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1201 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Graham -- +p1202 +aVWe're bringing you in on this question as well. Senator Graham, Vladimir Putin in recent days has sent an estimated six more tanks, four helicopters and Russian ground troops into Syria to help support President Assad, an enemy of the United States. The Russian military is also buzzing American planes and Naval vessels around the world. Your front-runner, Donald Trump, says he can do details with President Putin, that the two of them will get along, quote, "very well." Why would your confrontational approach work better than Mr. Trump's negotiation? +p1203 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1204 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1205 +aVGovernor Jindal, how would President Jindal... ... get the Russians out of Syria? +p1206 +aV... +p1207 +aVWell... +p1208 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1209 +aVThank you, Senator... +p1210 +aVThank you, Senator. The final question... +p1211 +aVThe final questions for these four Republicans as the top contenders get ready to take their places on the debate stage when we come back right after this. Welcome back to the CNN Republican debates at the Reagan Library in beautiful Simi Valley, California. We have time for one more question for the candidates. Governor Pataki, let's start with you. You have all spent the last hour and a half debating each other. The other 11 candidates are on their way to the stage. What is the one thing as a candidate that you offer that no one at the next debate can offer? +p1212 +aVThank you, senator. +p1213 +aVThank you. +p1214 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum? +p1215 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1216 +aVThank you. +p1217 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1218 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Governor Jindal, what is something that you offer as a candidate that the other 11 candidates coming on stage in a few minutes cannot offer? +p1219 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Graham? +p1220 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1221 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. Our thanks to the candidates for a great debate. In just a moment, we're bringing the candidates from both of tonight's debates together for a group photo. That will be a first in this campaign. And then, of course, the main event, the top 11 candidates going head to head. I will be back as moderator. Right now, let's go to my colleague, Anderson Cooper. +p1222 +asVSANTORUM +p1223 +(lp1224 +VYou know, listening to what your network was talking about prior to this race, this debate, reminded me of the coverage that many on this floor are getting. This race, this debate, was called the, "Undercard Debate". The undercard debate. It wasn't advertised significantly. In fact, the entire hour lead up to this there was no conversation about any of the four people on this debate stage, and that is the chronic situation. In fact, they listed -- they put a poll up from Wall Street Journal/NBC News, they listed the candidates, and they failed to mention I wasn't listed. I got zero, why? Because they -- NBC, Wall Street Journal poll never includes my name on the list. This is what the media has been doing over the past year, and trying to segregate, and take Iowans out of the process. What Iowans deserve... ... is to hear from every candidate on equal footing. Had they applied the same rules four years ago, I would have been in the undercard debate. The guy who won the Iowa Caucuses would have been in the undercard debate, not talked about. We would have been talking about, maybe, an entertainer that may have been trying to run. Ladies and gentlemen, you have a chance on Monday to put the record straight about who you want, not who will entertain you. +p1225 +aVBut, who will fight for what you believe in, and I hope you do... +p1226 +aVWell, look. The entire lead up to this debate was talking about whether Donald Trump is going to show up for the next debate. The people of Iowa, who I know pretty darn well, care a lot about the issues. They care about who is going to be the leader of the free world. Who is going to be able to take on +p1227 +aVAnd we are not hearing any of those things. We are hearing about whether someone is going to show up for the next debate or not. +p1228 +aVYes, I am. +p1229 +aVYou know, this, again, more of the politics of trying to get people to throw stuff at each other. I'm not going to throw mud at anybody on this stage tonight. I'm not going to throw mud at anybody on the stage later. I'm not going to attack Donald Trump. What I'm -- Mike Huckabee and I were asked to come to an event where money was going to be raise to do help our veterans. You know, I thought about it. And I thought about. I said well, wait a minute, now, if there were no political considerations and I had some time because I'm not doing anything at 9:00 tonight. And so if I had some time, would I go... ... if I could help raise money for veterans? And the answer was yes, I would. And so I'm going. +p1230 +aVThank you for the question, Martha. We have to have an honest discussion with the American people about the nature of the threat that we confront. This president says that +p1231 +aVWhat I would say is that we have to create jobs that give people wages and benefits that can help them provide for themselves and their families. And that's why I announced from a factory floor in western Pennsylvania, I pledge to make America the number one manufacturing nation, again, in the world. And we can do it. China is starting to reorient itself away from a manufacturing economy that's dumping products on the -- overseas to providing more services to their people. This is an opportunity for America. It's an opportunity for us to get those jobs back. And by the way, do you want to solve global climate change? Take 2 million jobs from China in manufacturing and moving them back here to the United States, where we produce one-fifth the CO2 when we make things. We can help -- we can do every -- we can do it all. We can take care of the environment. We can create more jobs here. Seventy-four percent of Americans don't have a college degree. And unfortunately most folks who, in the Republican Party, don't talk about what we're going to do to create jobs for people who feel like neither political party cares about them. When you elect me, we'll create opportunities for working men and women in this country -- all over this country. +p1232 +aVWell, in fact, the plan that I put forward is scored by the Tax Foundation as bringing three and a half million jobs into this country, and we have provisions in the flat tax for the corporate side that actually has a phase in of manufacturing. Manufacturers initially don't pay any income tax. Ten percent the next year, and 20. We're going to also have a repatriation provision which says that if you have money overseas, and you're Apple, and you got a couple hundred billion dollars there, bring it back. The most you'll be taxed 10%, invest it here in America. Create jobs here in America with all that money that's sitting overseas. We also -- it's not just taxes. It's regulation. I've pledged to cut every single Obamacare -- I mean, excuse me, Obama regulation, including Obamacare, and remove those regulations that cost more than a hundred million dollars in the economy. That will liberate -- and that includes waters of the U.S., and the ozone regulations, they -- the mercury regulations. All of these just crush our manufactures and don't create an opportunity for us to survive. And, remember, China produces five times as much CO2 and other pollutants per dollar of GDP as we do. You want to help the environment? Bring jobs back to America. +p1233 +aVWell, I've been to the March for Life for about 25 years and I thought -- I think that's a pretty good record. Spoken at it a few times and I have shepherded every single piece of pro-life piece of legislation that's passed over the last 20 years. I've either authored it or shepherded it through the United States Congress and I'm pretty proud of that record too. But we have an election going on and there was some snow coming. So I decided that maybe it would be better for me to get out and do some campaigning and not be stuck as my wife and kids were for a week, piling out of two and a half feet of snow. So, here's what I would say. If you want someone that is going to talk a good game, there are a lot of folks on this stage that have talked a good game on the issue of life. Not only have I talked a good game on life and I've done some things. But I've also lived it. You know, one of the things Saint Francis said was, you know, if you preach the gospel, then if you have to, speak. The bottom line is, that twice in my life, we were counseled to have an abortion, one with our son Gabriel and one with our little girl Bella. And neither time did Karen and I for a moment think about it because we know that life begins at conception. We know the dignity of every human life and we know the potential of every child, no matter how long that life lives. And that is a message that can come across to all Americans and without having to say a word and defend the institution of life and the dignity of life in this country. +p1234 +aVThe president of the United States has been the most divisive president in -- certainly in my lifetime. This is a man who constantly... He is not trustworthy. You can't sit down and negotiate with him. He won't keep a deal. We have heard that over and over again. And here is what he does that really, really creates the friction in Washington. He personally attacks people. He ascribes motives to them that aren't true and then he tears them down. How are you going to work with someone if you don't treat them decently, honestly, and respectfully? I was a tough fighter when I was in Washington. I had very sharp elbows. I fought. I went there and joined a game named Jim Nussle here from Iowa with the "gang of seven." And we, in four years' time, took a Congress that had been controlled by Democrats for 40 years, and brought in the first Republican majority because we fought and we fought tough. But you know what? I was able to then work with those same people that we fought with and able to pass welfare reform. Unborn Victims of Violence Act. Pro-life bills. Health savings accounts. A whole laundry list of things not because I was mean, but because I was able to be respectful in the disagreements. And that's what we need in Washington, someone who can be respectful and still unite this country. +p1235 +aVI just want to thank the people of Iowa. Over the last five years I've done 700 speeches and town hall meetings all throughout the state of Iowa, and it has been an incredible right. Thank you. I want to thank all the wonderful folks like Pastor Carey Gordon who gave me a smooth stone and said you go slay Goliaths. Someone like Jim and Janet Cook who over this past Christmas gave up Christmas presents for their kids, and they have more than I do, just they can help me and my campaign. That's the kind of people... ... in Iowa. And, here's what I'm asking you to do. You're good people. You know good leaders. Lead. Pick the right person, not what the polls say. Not who the money give people to. Pick the leader you know is best for this country. Thank you. +p1236 +aVWell, all he has to do is listen to the Democratic debate and find out how bad the economy is. All they do is complain about the hollowing out of the middle of America, and how America is struggling so badly, and have to make these radical changes in Washington. But they've been in control for the last seven years, and what have we seen? The most important jobs, I believe, in this country are the ones that fill the middle. For the 74% of Americans who don't have a college degree between the age of 25 and 65 are manufacturing jobs. Your governor, and your legislature, and your team here have done an amazing job of bringing manufacturing jobs back to South Carolina. Right here. Right here in Charleston, right down in the street in Boeing. You've done a great job, and what's happened? You've grown this economy, you've strengthened the center of your state, the middle. That's because you know that if you're really going to create wealth and opportunity, you got to get jobs, and good paying jobs for everybody. And, so what's happened? Two million jobs, manufacturing jobs, have left this country because of Barack Obama. Regulations, EPA, workplace regulations, things driving people off-shore all because of his number one priority, global climate change. Well, let me tell you this, Mr. President. For every dollar of GDP, China creates five times as much pollution as we do here. You want to \u2014 lower global climate change, bring those jobs back to America and let American workers do that job with less pollution. +p1237 +aVWell, the historic promises that we have made to \u2014 to Iran in this agreement need to be torn up on the first day in office of the next president. And let me tell you why, because Iran has already torn it up. Iran has not approved the agreement that President Obama has said that they have approved. They have approved a different agreement in their parliament. The fact of the matter is they have violated this agreement. Carly just mentioned some of those violations. They have launched ballistic missiles, tested them, in clear violation. And here's the pathetic part. The president announced that they were going to impose sanctions. And then President Rouhani went on Twitter and said there would be retaliation. And what did we do? We backed down. Ladies and gentlemen, there are 50 some Citadel cadets in this audience tonight. I would ask them to stand up if they will. And here's what I want to tell each and every one of them, as you stand. Here's what I want to tell them. Whether it's you're watching that movie this weekend that just came out when we abandoned our men and women in Benghazi, or whether it's we treat Iran, that gave courtesies to our sailors, as they made them record a hostage video, let me tell you this, if you choose to serve this country, I will have your back. I will not let America be trampled upon anymore by these radical jihadists. +p1238 +aVI would just say that if we were doing a better job within the government, we wouldn't need the private sector to do the things that we're asking them to do. I've had a little experience in this in the private sector myself. And what I found was a government with layers and layers of bureaucracy, of people who had some technical expertise but they had no authority, number one. And one of the things I found out about in the bureaucracy is if a lot of people have authority, nobody has authority, number one. And number two, that if you don't do anything, you don't get fired. It's only when you do something and something goes wrong, you get fired. So they do nothing. And that's what is happening in our Defense Department right now. We have a capability that they're trying to develop to play defense. We have a lot of technologists that are very skilled. And they're trying to figure out how to play defense. But what we don't have is we don't have folks who are thinking about offense. We don't have war-fighters. We have technologists. Technologists are not war-fighters. Technologists are thinking, how do I protect cyber-security, how do I secure, how do I protect? And we need to have a much more dynamic, how do we \u2014 how do we go after them? How do we respond? And we need leadership that's willing to make sure that when someone attacks us \u2014 and ladies and gentlemen, they're attacking us as we speak. They're attacking us all day every day, not just the government, but they're attacking private sector companies all day every day. They have to learn that we're going to pay \u2014 they're going to pay a price when they do so. And then right now, just like in every other aspect of our national security, people who attack us are not paying a price. We need a leader who will make sure that they know when they mess with America, they're going to pay a price. +p1239 +aVLook, Facebook and Twitter can teach us things. We can cooperate with them. We can share ideas and information. But this is a \u2014 and this is a very dicey area for the government to go in and require the industry to do its job. It needs to develop that capability. We need to be \u2014 have responsible dialogue, but I don't think requirements are the order of the day. +p1240 +aVWell, the most devastating attack that could occur is an electromagnetic pulse attack, and that would be an attack that would be triggered by a nuclear explosion in the upper atmosphere of our country. The best way to stop that from happening is to make sure that those who contemplating and actually war-gaming and talking about using it, Iran, doesn't get a nuclear weapon so they can't explode that device. And the president of the United States has put Iran on a path to a nuclear weapon. And we have done nothing to do anything to harden our grid. There is actually a bill in Congress that would put money forward to try to put redundancy and harden our electric grid so it could actually survive an EMP. An EMP is a devastating explosion that sends a pulse that knocks out all electric, everything, everything that is connected to any kind \u2014 that is wired, that has a circuit board gets fried out. Everything is gone. Cars stop. Planes fall out of the sky. This is a devastating attack. And this president has done nothing, number one, to take the most probable person to \u2014 probable country to launch an attack and stop them, and has done nothing to try to defend us, particularly our electric grid. The bottom line is, I put the original sanctions on the Iranian nuclear program when I was in the United States Senate. I've been fighting for 12 years with one thing in mind, that we must stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. And......because they're different than every other country. They do not want a nuclear weapon to defend themselves. They want a nuclear weapon to have theological ends to bring about their mahdi so they can control the world. And that is the most serious threat facing this country right now. +p1241 +aVWell, the numbers just don't add up. I mean, they have not added manufacturing jobs. Manufacturing jobs have been lost in this country, 2 million of them. The bottom line is that this president has done more to take jobs away from the hard-working people who are struggling the most. And that's folks who are, as I said, the 74 percent of Americans who don't have a college degree. And they're out there talking about, well, we're going to provide free college for everybody. Well, who is going to pay for it? The 74 percent that don't have a college degree. They're not \u2014 nobody is focused. Let's just be honest, nobody is focused on the people who are struggling the most in America today. We talk about immigration. Talk about the president's immigration plan. He wants to bring in more and more people into this country. Let people who are here illegally stay in this country. Almost all of the people who are here illegally, and most of the people who came here legally over the last 20 years, they're working in wage-earning jobs. That is why wages have flat-lined. And we have unfortunately two political parties with most of the candidates in this field for some form of amnesty, some form of allowing people to stay here even though they're here illegally and for increasing levels of legal immigration. I'm someone who believes that we need to be the party that stands for the American worker. And when we say we need to send people back, I mean we send people back. And let me just make one point. I was in Storm Lake, Iowa, the other day, near a Tyson's plant, 91 percent of the kids that go to the elementary school there are minority kids. And they said, well, what are you going to do with all of these people, their families, they've lived here for a long time? I said, I'm going to give them a gift. I'm going to give them a gift of being able to help the country they were born in. And I'm going to export America, the education they were able to see. They learned English language. They learned about capitalism. They learned about democracy. You want to stop flow of immigrants? Let's send six million Mexicans, Hondurans, Guatemalans, El Savadorians......back into their country, so they can start a renaissance in their country so they won't be coming over here anymore. +p1242 +aVYou know, we've had this debate about the economy, and we haven't talked the one issue now increasingly even the right, and even the are coming to agreement. I've run around doing 300 town hall meetings talking about a book written by a liberal Harvard sociologist, not a normal thing for me to be talking about, but I now name Robert Putnam who wrote a book called, "Our Kids". And, he wrote this book, I think, ostensibly to support the Democratic argument that the middle of America's hollowing out, and income gap is widening, and rich are getting richer. When he studied all the information as to what was going on, he realized that the biggest reason that we're seeing the hollowing out of the middle of America is the breakdown of the American family. The reality is that if you're a single parent \u2014 a child of a single parent, and you grew up in a single parent family neighborhood, you went to that single parent family school, the chance of you ever, ever reaching the top 20% of income earners is 3% in America. At least \u2014 I don't know about you, but that's not good enough. And, we have been too politically correct in this country because we don't want to offend anybody to fight for the lives of our children. You want \u2014 You want to be shocked? You read the first few chapters of Mr. \u2014 Dr. Putnam' book. He talks about Port Clinton, Ohio and growing up there in the 1950's, and how poor kids actually survived and did well, even though they were poor and disadvantaged. But, then he goes to the towns today and these kids are failing, and failing miserably. They don't even have a shot, and we won't even have the courage to have leadership at the federal level \u2014 not with legislation, but the most powerful tool a president have, the bully pulpit to encourage each and everyone of you, churches and businesses, and educators, and community leaders to let's have a national campaign to rebuild the American family, and give every child its birthright which is a Mom and a Dad who loves them. That will change this economy. +p1243 +aVLadies and gentlemen, America is frustrated and angry and looking for someone who's a fighter, but I also think they're looking for someone who's a winner. Somebody who can go out there and take on the establishment and make a difference. And take on someone who's going to be the person who's going to be between a Republican holding the presidency and that's Hillary Clinton. And there's one person on this stage, one person in the race who's done it and done it repeatedly. I've taken on Hillary Clinton on the issues you care about. Partial-birth abortion. Go and google Rick Santorum and Hillary Clinton and there you'll see a five-minute debate. I'll let you decide who won the debate. I'll tell you who won, because we passed the bill and I know I'm out of time but I'm going to take some of Rand Paul's time here for a second. If you're looking for someone who fought Hillary Clinton on Iran's sanctions, she was one of four who voted \u2014 who's deciding vote who voted against Iran's sanctions, so we didn't get it in place as earlier as we should have. I've fought battles against her. In 1994, I ran against the Clinton machine. James Carville and Paul Begala, ran the race against me when I took on the author of Hillary care. And each one of those battles, I won. You want a fighter, you want a winner, I'd appreciate your vote. Thank you. +p1244 +aVThank you, Wolf. It's great to be here in Las Vegas. And I just want to thank everybody for the opportunity to be here. This is an important time in our country's history. We have entered World War III. World War III has begun and we have a leader who refuses to identify it and be truthful to the American people to the stakes that are involved, in part, because his policies have led us here. His policy toward Iran lit the fuse of a nuclear Iran. Just a few weeks ago the International Atomic Agency reported that Iran has had a nuclear program, but they don't know if it's continuing because they refuse to share any information about the current status. And this President marches on, forgiving them hundreds of billions of dollars to allow them to not just reconstitute their robust nuclear program, pursue their missile program, but also to foment terror around the world. And then his policies in the Middle East with Iraq create +p1245 +aVOf course I do. But what Donald Trump was saying was nothing against Muslims. His comment was against this administration who doesn't have a policy to properly vet people coming into this country. Let's just be honest about what's \u2014 what's being talked about here. And I know people will pile on because it makes sense to pile on, maybe from the polls. But he brings up a legitimate issue. The fact of the matter is not all Muslims are Jihadists and no one, including I suspect, Donald Trump would say that. But the reality is, all Jihadists are Muslims. That's a reality. And we have \u2014 we have to stop worrying about offending some people and start defending all Americans. Because we're not right now. +p1246 +aVI would agree \u2014 I would agree that Donald Trump's proposal was not the right proposal. But he brings up a very important issue that I think we've been ignoring for far too long in this country. The reality is that, yes, we need to get reformist Muslims to join us. We need to get those who are being persecuted and killed within the Middle East to join us. But we also have to protect this country from those who want to harm us and we have to defeat those who are radicalized in the Middle East and wherever we find them around the world. +p1247 +aVJust because it couldn't have prevented San Bernardino doesn't mean that we shouldn't have all tools available to us that doesn't impinge upon people's privacy. This sort of data collection is not collecting people's phones calls, their voices; they're not collecting information that's personal. There's no names attached to these numbers. They're simply numbers and times and relationships that throughout algorithms that computer technology can be able to sort through relationship about what numbers are calling what numbers and be able to track those down to see if there's any leakage's between someone who's potentially a terrorist. That is to me just fundamental that we have to have this type of data to be able to not impinge upon people's privacy. In fact, I would make the argument that the more data we can collect that's anonymous that we can through, through using algorithms, the less we need to involve people in and imposing themselves in people's privacy. +p1248 +aVLook, I agree with Governor Huckabee, that we should in fact be looking at people's social media posts. That's just common sense. But we've defunded and tied the hands behind the backs of our intelligence agencies because of political correctness. We're not allowed to ask any questions or really pursue, whether there's any mosque that they're attending that could be spreading Jihadism, and we know that in this country there are Imams that are doing that. But we're not allowed to ask those questions, we're not allowed to pursue to those things because we have a president who denies the reality of the enemy we confront. +p1249 +aVI don't. I don't think we should be able to deny someone's constitutional rights based on a list kept by the government that nobody knows how they get on it, or how they get off of it. If you're going to make that list public, if you're going to put criteria out there as to how you're going to get on it, if you're going to deny someone's constitutional right, than I think there has to be more transparency. Let's just be honest, when someone applies for a gun, you do a background check. And, if you're on the terrorist watch list, guess what very well may happen? You may get denied that. That's a discretion of the people \u2014 of the ATF in making that kind of decision. I want to leave that discretion \u2014 as long as this list is not well known, as long as it's not transparent, we have to leave that discretion. I want to make a comment about what Mike said, and George said, about mus \u2014 Islam. The fact of the matter is, Islam is different. I know this is going to come as a shock to a lot of people, and I mean the sincerely. Islam is not just a religion. It is also a political governing structure. The fact of the matter is, Islam is a religion, but it is also Sharia law, it is also a civil government, it is also a form of government. And, so, the idea that that is protected under the First Amendment is wrong. And, in fact, that political structure is what is the big problem. The imposition of Sharia law adherence to fundamental Islam as it was practiced in the Seventh Century... +p1250 +aV...There has to be a line drawn. +p1251 +aVWell, there's all sorts of theological reasons why we may not want to go into Syria right now to take +p1252 +aVI would have no problem with Sy \u2014 with boots on the ground in Syria in a training capacity. I do not want American troops on the front line in Syria because I don't believe that that would serve to the interest. Again, understanding what +p1253 +aVNo look, I'm committed to whatever is necessary understanding the nature of the enemy. The enemy is a theocracy and their allure is their theocracy. It's their doctrine and so we have to understand that doctrine. That's why, I love the fact that people are angry and outraged in Washington and want someone new and fresh. But we need someone who understands and has knowledge and experience in these areas. And I can see that you know, Senator Graham has that experience and we have a little difference of opinion. But frankly, it's not that big of difference in our opinion, we both want to defeat +p1254 +aVAnd the fact that we have a nuclear treaty with the Shiites in Iran, that we have now partnered with the Russians and appearing to allow Assad to stay, which is a satellite Alawites, very interrelated to the Shiites, this looks to +p1255 +aVWell, I would establish a no-fly zone. And, I think we just... +p1256 +aVWell \u2014 the first thing you have to do is establish a no-fly zone, and you don't do that by just sort of declaring it. You work through the process of making sure you work with people who, hopefully, have the same objective that you do. And, if they don't, then you establish the no-fly zone, and you take the consequences of whatever \u2014 who violates that law. +p1257 +aV...I don't think it's a war with Russia anymore than Turkey went to war with Russia when Turkey shot down a plane... +p1258 +aVThese are \u2014 these are incidents not something that we're threatening the motherland. This is a tactical decision within an area that we have an obligation for the refugees, for providing stability to the rebels, and an opportunity for the rebels to reconstitute. And, making sure that we stop the flow of refugees into Europe, and into the United States to establish a no-fly zone. And, Russia either is going to comply with it or not, and if they don't, I think it can be contained to that region. +p1259 +aVWell, I would establish a no-fly zone. And, I think we just... +p1260 +aVWell \u2014 the first thing you have to do is establish a no-fly zone, and you don't do that by just sort of declaring it. You work through the process of making sure you work with people who, hopefully, have the same objective that you do. And, if they don't, then you establish the no-fly zone, and you take the consequences of whatever \u2014 who violates that law. +p1261 +aV...I don't think it's a war with Russia anymore than Turkey went to war with Russia when Turkey shot down a plane... +p1262 +aVThese are \u2014 these are incidents not something that we're threatening the motherland. This is a tactical decision within an area that we have an obligation for the refugees, for providing stability to the rebels, and an opportunity for the rebels to reconstitute. And, making sure that we stop the flow of refugees into Europe, and into the United States to establish a no-fly zone. And, Russia either is going to comply with it or not, and if they don't, I think it can be contained to that region. +p1263 +aVI would use the studies that were done that were ignored by this military that there were certain positions that frankly were not suitable. And they pushed a political agenda above what is in the best interest of the safety, security, and effective of our, of our fighting units. So I would go back to using what we should be doing. Which is putting forth people on those front line positions who are best prepared to do the job, survive the job, and come back home safely. +p1264 +aVI would change the policy to reflect what is the best interest of the people that we're asking. I've got a son who's going, who's going into the Air Force right now, and I, as a father, I want to make sure that, if he's out there on the front line \u2014 and he may be a pilot flying an airplane \u2014 I want to make sure that the person who's responsible for, for his wing has the ability to do the job they're doing. And if they don't have that ability to do the job, if we're doing a social promotion as opposed to what's best for the efficacy of our fighting force and for the survivability of our men and women, I'll change that policy. +p1265 +aVSo what you just said is you agree with me. Because that's exactly what I said. +p1266 +aVI said if you can't do the job, you shouldn't be able to...you shouldn't have the position. +p1267 +aVNo, I did not say that, George. I mean, you may, you may have heard that, but I didn't say that. What I said was, if they can in fact do the job that any, any other person can do, I will allow them to do so. +p1268 +aVBut if they cannot, I would reverse the policy. And what happened here is there were many studies done, particularly in the Marine Corps, which begged this President not to move forward with this because people are going to get killed as a result of it. The President went forward anyway. +p1269 +aVOf course there is a proper way to vet refugees coming into the United States. But not from the +p1270 +aVLindsay says this is a real war, until it comes to immigration. And, then, all of a sudden it's not such a real war. The reality is that we've seen since the events of 9/11, the president talks about how he's worried about discrimination and acts against Muslims. There's four times as many acts of violence against Jews than there are against Muslims. I never hear the president talk about that. The reality is that under this president, since 9/11, this anti-Muslim United States of America has doubled the rate of Muslim immigration. Since 9/11. That's what we've done. So, the idea that we have an immigration system that is working... +p1271 +aVIs not \u2014 and, I'm out of time. +p1272 +aVHere's the problem. I was with, in fact, one my guests here today is the Sheriff in Cochise County, down on the border in Arizona. And, he talked with me last night when I was with him about all of the children coming across. All of the children, why? Because we've created a magnet. These children are not coming over, and in great shape, not coming over \u2014 and not in harms way, and \u2014 going through difficult times. We're attracting people. He's also the Sheriff that caught Syrian's at the border. We have through the policies supported by almost everybody in this field......A policy that says amnesty. The world hears this, and knows that if they can come across this border, by and large, they're going to be able to stay. That has to change. +p1273 +aVBarack Obama has not kept this country safe. Hillary Clinton will not keep this country safe. We need to nominate someone who America knows will keep this country safe. Ten years ago I put the sanctions on Iran's nuclear program. Before that, I gave speech after speech, including to President Bush, to identify the enemy and call these radical Islamists who they are. Ladies and gentlemen, this week +p1274 +aVThe middle of America is hollowing out. All you have to do is listen to the last Democratic debate and you would think there was a Republican president in office the way they complained about how bad things are in America and how the middle \u2014 the middle of America is hollowing out. I agree with Mike Huckabee. I spent this morning in Chicago at Fabtech, which is a sheet manufac \u2014 a sheet metal fabricators conference. Thousands of people there explained the latest and newest technologies. You know what I was told? I was told when I went to booth after booth that there are 250,000 welder jobs open in America \u2014 250,000 welder jobs paying anywhere from $50,000 to $70,000 a year, and if you want to weld pipe on a, you know, for oil and gas pipelines, you can make $100,000 a year. Every manufacturer \u2014 I go to one every single week. In fact, I have with me in the \u2014 in the crowd here today a gentleman who is a supporter of mine from Rockwall, Texas, Ed Grand-Lienard. He runs Special Products. And he tells me he has jobs open in every skill that he \u2014 he \u2014 he could possibly hire for in Rockwall, Texas, but he can't find people. So the issue is, yes, we need a tax code. I \u2014 I propose a 20 percent flat tax \u2014 20 percent on corporations, 20 percent on \u2014 on individuals, full expensing, which will be powerful for manufacturing, a 0 percent rate, initially, for manufacturers. We're going to have a very powerful tax code. We're going to do something about regulation. We're going to suspected every single ObamaCare regu \u2014 Obama regulation that cost over $100,000 to the economy. But we have to start doing something about training and employing people who are sitting on the sidelines because they don't see a path. And we have a \u2014 a bureaucracy in Washington and a president in Washington \u2014 and even among Republicans who think everybody has to go to college. People need to go to work and we need to provide......opportunities for them to go to work out of high school. +p1275 +aVWell, the answer is first that we need to do something about a tax code that doesn't penalize. One thing that I'm excited about our tax code, proposed changes, is it's very pro-family. You have a $2,700 tax credit, period, for every person in that family, so that family, you know, would have about an $8,000 tax credit, which would be refundable. So every dollar she works, she's still only losing 20 cents. The problem with the tax code today, because of all the different provisions, you're right, you go back to work, you lose welfare benefits, you're losing money. Throw on top of that the \u2014 even a bigger problem, over 50 percent of children being raised in a home today of a single mom are raised in a home where the father is born \u2014 father is (sic) living at the child \u2014 the time the child is born. Now what does that mean? That means we have incentivized people not to marry. We've incentivized people to cohabitate instead of not marry, why? Because mom will lose welfare benefits if she marries father. It's not just mom going back to work, but it's mother and father marrying to form a more stable family for that child to be raised in a two-parent family. So we've got all sorts of really corrupt incentives that were put in place, well meaning by the left. But we need to remove those. We need to remove those incentives. We need to adopt a tax code that says we're going to be pro-family and pro-work. And that's what we'll do. +p1276 +aVAbsolutely. I'm a capitalist, not a corporatist. I'm not someone who believes we should be bailing out corporations whether their auto industries, or banks. And, it is simply a matter that there's auto industry \u2014 the auto industry would have survived, it would have survived through a bankruptcy process of \u2014 instead of Washington picking a winner and a loser. And, in this case, the losers are the bondholders, and the winners were the unions. That's fine. They did it, the unions \u2014 the unions survived. We \u2014 we have not survived in continuing to grow manufacturing jobs. We have a \u2014 we have a president, and an economy right now, that is killing \u2014 choking our ability to be able to compete. I'm one of the few people up here who actually believes that we need a level playing field when it comes to manufacturing. That means a good tax code, a good regulatory environment, low energy prices, better opportunities for workers to get training, and, also, I'm \u2014 a supporter of the +p1277 +aV...Let me settle this argument... +p1278 +aV...Well... +p1279 +aVI'll answer that in a second, but, I want to answer this other problem because this is a real legitimate debate between Chris and Bobby, and if somebody says we need someone who can win in a blue state, and Bobby says we need a real principled conservative. Ninety-two percent conservative voting record, unlike some of the other senators that Bobby mentioned who hasn't done anything to cut federal spending, I was actually the author of welfare reform, which is the only time we've ever seen a federal entitlement actually cut. We cut it. Senate did exactly what every conservative says they want to do. We took the program, we eliminated the federal entitlement, we blocked (ph) to the state, we capped the amount of money, cut it by about 10%, and then put two requirements, work, and time limits. We need to do that with the rest of the \u2014 means (ph) tested federal entitlements. I've done it. And I did it with a bipartisan support in the House and Senate, and after fighting two presidential vetoes by Bill Clinton. So I had a democratic president we had to get this through. No record of accomplishment. I agree with the folks who are from the Congress in this race. I have a record of accomplishment of being a conservative on everything. National security, on moral and cultural issues, on the economy, and twice won a blue state. The first time I beat the author of Hillarycare. I had Bill and Hillary in my state, James Carville managed the race against me, a state with a million more Democrats than Republicans. And I ran on health savings accounts, on private sector health care, as a conservative, pro-life, pro-family, and I won. And then in 2000, I was the only senator to win a state as a conservative that George Bush lost. You want someone who can win Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, with a conservative message, I'm your guy. +p1280 +aVI'll be happy to answer that if you give me more time. +p1281 +aVI'm going to answer two questions for the price of one. The infrastructure question, the answer is... We need to get the federal government out of this infrastructure business, other than vital economic highways. It has been said that if we cut the gas tax to 3 to 5 cents and send the rest back to the states, and just take care of the federal infrastructure that's vital for our economy, let the \u2014 we don't need the federal government and the road business that it is today. Number one. Number two, you know who I respect in the Democratic Party? You know why I respect them? Because they fight! Because they're not willing to back down, and they're willing to stand up and fight and win. And so I respect them because they are willing to take it to us. +p1282 +aVWell, I'll tell you, I have a 20 percent flat tax. That's one all income \u2014 so capital gains, corporations, individuals, 20 percent. I think that's a fair number, one out of five, to be able to \u2014 to help support the federal government. By the way it also approximates, if you take out some of the deductions, it approximates how much the federal government is, on average, spent of GDP, which is about 18 to 19 percent of GDP. So it actually fits with shrinking the size of government down to more like post-World War II levels. So the second thing we do is I don't allow for deductibility of state and local taxes, which will require state and local taxes to go down in order to be treated for their \u2014 for their people to be treated fairly. So the answer is, 20 percent and probably 33 percent overall. +p1283 +aVWell, I don't \u2014 I agree with Governor Christie, I don't think you can make it any more political than it's been. They \u2014 they are protecting a president that is over-taxing and over- regulating, shutting down this economy. And he \u2014 and they're keeping it up like Atlas, trying to hold up the Earth by \u2014 by these ridiculously low interest rates. And it's hurting American seniors, who are seeing no Social Security increases, seeing no \u2014 no savings. They're \u2014 they're putting their money aside. They're getting nothing in their deposit accounts. This is hurting the people who have acted responsibly, all in favor of those who, um, you know, are \u2014 are speculators and \u2014 and those on Wall Street. It's not a good deal for \u2014 for the vast majority of responsible Americans. The other thing we have with the Fed is they've been given way too much authority. Under Dodd-Frank, they've been given this enormous new authority. I mean they \u2014 they now have almost become the most powerful entity in Washington, DC. We need to repeal Dodd-Frank, get away that authority from the Fed and put them under more \u2014 more scrutiny. That's only part of the problem. I understand the Fed is interesting for a business channel, but I think for most Americans, the most important business is the family. And we haven't really talked much about the importance of the family to the economy. And \u2014 and ladies and gentlemen, every single book, from left to right, that's been written over the last couple of years has said the biggest problem in America today at the hollowing out of the middle of America is the breakdown of the nuclear family in America. We'd better be the party that's out there talking about this issue and what we're going to do to help strengthen marriage and return dads into homes in all communities. You want to talk about the communities that are hurting the most, the ones you see the protests in......there are no dads. And we need to do something about it. +p1284 +aVHappy Birthday. +p1285 +aV\u2014 States Marine Corps. +p1286 +aVThat's very personal to me. I grew up on a V.A. grounds. I lived in apartments on V.A. grounds my entire childhood. Both my Mom and Dad, after World War II, marry \u2014 met at a V.A., married, and that's where I lived. Kitchen table discussion was, particularly when I was growing up in the 1960's and 1970's, was the decline of the V.A. When they joined in the early 1950's, the V.A. was the top. They were the best, they were the best and brightest coming in after the war. And, we believed in the cause that we fought, and we invested in our hospitals to make sure that our veterans who left World War II were taken care of. But, after Vietnam, and during Vietnam, that began to change, and it really hasn't recovered since. The bottom line is the V.A. is antiquated. There's no need for a V.A. healthcare system as it existed after World War \u2014 why? Because we have the best private healthcare system in the world, we didn't need \u2014 we needed it in 1950's, hospitals were not particularly advanced, so, we built the best. We didn't maintain the best. Government didn't keep its promises to its veterans. So, what we need to do is two things. Number one, we need to allow veterans to go to private sector hospitals for their routine and ordinary care to get the best care in their community possible. And, there is a place for the Veterans Administration. There are injuries, and there are \u2014 things like +p1287 +aVIt should come as no surprise to Chris, or anybody else, that Barack Obama doesn't stand behind our men and women in uniform here at home because he hasn't stood behind them overseas. The rules of engagement that we've allowed our soldiers to go and fight against have put them in harm's way for political purposes. This has been the most politicized wars that we've ever seen under this administration. He gets in, and gets out, based upon what the polls are saying, what pressure he's getting from groups. Talk about a Commander in Chief. We need a commander in chief who has a vision and plan of how we're going to execute the national security of our country. Commander in chief is not an entry level position. Experience matters, and that's why I would ask for your support as a Commander in Chief, because I have the experience against the enemy......to confront to do the job. +p1288 +aVI announced from a factory floor in Western Pennsylvania. This campaign has all been about two words for me, working families. Working. Getting people the opportunity to see those wages rise, to be on the side of the American workers so they can get good paying jobs, and that means we have to start making things in America again. We need a president who's going to not just put policies in place, but is going to stand up at the bully pulpit and talk about the dignity of being a welder. The dignity of being a carpenter, about going to work and earning success. And, also, the importance of families, the importance of families and fathers, and mothers raising their children, and committing to that so that they can give children in our country the best opportunity to success. Working families is the key for us to win this election. +p1289 +aVYes, I think it's one thing to shrink the size of a state government but it's another thing to actually get something accomplished in Washington. It's a much tougher field. And I'm the one in the \u2014 on this stage and, frankly, on both stages that has actually gone to Washington, said we would shrink government, said we would shake things up and actually delivered for the conservative cause, everything from welfare reform, which was the largest, most significant accomplishment in the last 25 years for conservatism. I authored the bill when I was in the House of Representatives; I managed the bill on the floor of the United States Senate. You need a conservative who can deliver and that's what I bring to the table. +p1290 +aVWell, if you look at my flat tax, it actually takes the best of what Steve Forbes, Art Laffer, many have been advocating for a long time, which is a very strong pro-growth tax code \u2014 very simple. And, it adjusts it to make sure that it is not regressive. We have a $2,750 per person tax credit \u2014 that's $2,750 off the taxes due, not a deduction, a credit. And, we think \u2014 in fact, if you run the numbers, no American who's going to be paying more taxes under our proposal, so, we've accomplished both. We have a system that has a low single rate, but we take care of American families. I'm talking about $2,750 per person. That means a family four, that's $11,000 dollar tax credit. That's a very, very strong pro-family \u2014 and if you looked at the Wall Street Journal today, and so many of the publications that have been out there, they've talked about how the biggest problem of the hollowing out of the middle of this country. For workers to be able to raise is actually, the breakdown of the American family. William Galston, a liberal, said that on the pages of the Wall Street Journal today that the key to poverty is families. So, we put forth a pro-growth \u2014 Steve Forbes plan, combined it with a pro- family plan, and that's why I think it's going to work out, and work effectively. +p1291 +aVWhat we should be \u2014 we shouldn't be putting tariffs on anything. That hurts working men and women in this country. What we should be doing is making our manufacturing more competitive. One of the reasons I introduced the 20/20 plan, a 20 percent flat tax on corporations, as well as on individuals, is so we can be competitive, so we can bring those manufacturing jobs back. You want to talk about cutting pollution? You do a little back- of-the-envelope. We \u2014 we produce, per dollar of GDP, about one-fifth of the CO2 and other pollutants that China produces. So we're five times more efficient in producing goods here, as far as the environment \u2014 environment is concerned. Why don't we \u2014 if we really want to tackle environmental problems, global warming, what we need to do is take those jobs from China and bring them back here to the United States, employ workers in this country. We've lost two million jobs \u2014 two million jobs \u2014 under this administration in manufacturing \u2014 15,000 manufacturers have left this country. Why? Because of bad tax policy, bad regulatory policy and, yes, bad trade policy. We need to have a president that's going to pledge, as I have \u2014 I'm going to make America the number-one manufacturer so working men and women can have good paying jobs again in America. +p1292 +aV\u2014 with competition... +p1293 +aV\u2014 for low wage workers. +p1294 +aV and I... +p1295 +aVThat's not what's happening. +p1296 +aVA true conservative wants to create a level playing field. That's what \u2014 that's what we're \u2014 that's what government is supposed to do. They're not supposed to favor one group over another. And when it comes to our manufacturers, the level playing field is not in the United States. It's international. And so the federal government should have laws, tax laws, regulatory laws and, yes, finance laws. There's 60 other ex-im banks all over \u2014 all over the world. Every major competitor for the United States' manufacturing dollar has one of those banks. And guess what? They use those banks a heck of a lot more than their \u2014 than the United States of America does, number one. So in order to have a level playing field, which is what conservatives talk about all the time, level playing field, then we have to have export financing and here's why.Because export financing doesn't help Boeing, or G.E. G.E. just lost a contract, you know what they did? They went to . They got the X.M. (ph) bank in France to support it, and what did they do? They moved manufacturing out of South Carolina, out of Texas, moved to \u2014 Hungary, and to France. G.E. is still making money. G.E. is still doing well, but American workers are out of jobs. That's why we have to have this level playing field so we can compete with the rest of the world. +p1297 +aVWell, first, since you mention Colorado, I want to thank the people of Colorado because four years ago you \u2014 gave me the honor of winning the nomination out here in the state of Colorado. On a night we won three states, and it catapulted us to win 11 states ultimately, so, I just want to thank you very, very much for that support, and \u2014 in response to that, I do drink a lot of Coors beer, so... I try to help. The answer is pretty simple. The answer is simple. There are no shortage of breweries around the United States of America. I \u2014 I do \u2014 as I travel around the country, I do pints and politics, and I go to breweries all over the place, and there \u2014 there's almost no town in America anymore that doesn't have a brewery, so I don't think we need to worry too much. They're obviously \u2014 if there's \u2014 if there's some anti- competitive issues, you know, we have agencies to look at that. But, no, I'm not \u2014 I'm not concerned that Americans are not going to have choices in beer. +p1298 +aVAnd I care about, by the way. I care about choices. +p1299 +aVWell, I \u2014 I would say this, that what you're seeing is \u2014 in health care, you're seeing a lot of consolidation, and that consolidation is occurring because of Obamacare. You're seeing it particularly in an area that I am concerned about, and that's in insurance \u2014 health insurance. You're seeing the big health insurance companies fold up. You've seen Obama try to seed health insurance companies, and they've all failed, I think, except one. Why? Because we have a system of Obamacare with minimum loss ratios that make it virtually impossible for a small insurer to operate effectively. And this was the motive behind Obamacare. This wasn't incidental. This was deliberate, to make it so impossible for small insurers to survive... +p1300 +aV...that they consolidate into a small group. Then the left can say, "there is no competition, we need a single payer." That's why we have to repeal Obamacare. +p1301 +aVThank you. Can I just say something about that? +p1302 +aVWell, if you look at our plan that I introduced, the 2020 Clear Vision for America, we increase growth by 10 percent, 1 percent a year. So we go from 2.3 to 3.3, in repealing Obamacare, it's another .7. So you're looking at 4 percent growth, according to the Tax Foundation. And unlike Donald Trump and Bobby Jindal, we don't add $10 trillion to the deficit. In fact, our plan, while it creates as many jobs as their plan does and grows the economy as much as theirs does, we are a revenue-neutral plan because I believe that we need to reduce the size of government, yes, but we also need to reduce our deficit, and we need to get our budget balanced so we can start paying down this debt. And adding a trillion dollars with a tax cut and getting no more growth is not the way to do it. But that's only half of it. The word "economy" comes from the Greek "euthokis" (ph) which means family. The family is the first economy. And the one thing that we do not talk about enough is how stable families are vitally important for the middle of America to be prosperous and to grow and be safe. And I will have policies, not just tax policies, but others that will make sure that families are strong again in America. +p1303 +aVMLB, NHL, so I'm a big sports fan. And "The Wall Street Journal." Those are the three apps I use the most. +p1304 +aVWell, since we're usually in the Super Bowl at the Pittsburgh Steelers... Steeler nation, anybody? +p1305 +aVNo. I was in......was in Kansas City over the weekend to watch the Steeler game and about a third of the crowd were Steeler fans. So I'm usually not alone when I call on Steeler Nation. But we are used to being in the Super Bowl, so actually, it is in Pennsylvania already. +p1306 +aVI grew up in a steel town of Western Pennsylvania, outside of Pittsburgh, and when I announced for president, I announced from the factory floor. When I talk about making America the number one manufacturer again in the world, it's not just talk. When I talk about having the opportunity for people to rise again, it's not just because it polls well. I represented the old steel valley of Pittsburgh. I represented a 70% Democratic district, and won with 60% of the vote. Why? Because I aligned myself with working men and women who feel that neither party, and certainly not Washington D.C. cares about them. You elect me, we will get American workers on the side of the Republican party, and we can not be stopped if we do. +p1307 +aVHi, I'm Rick Santorum. Some of you may know me because I led the fight to end partial birth abortion. Some of you may know me because the I led the fight to end welfare as we know it, put people back to work, reduce poverty and reduce the federal budget. Some of you may know me because I successfully put sanctions on the Iranian nuclear program in Congress, over opposition of both parties initially. But hopefully, most of you know me most because I'm the proud father of seven children with particularly a special little disabled girl, who is the heart and core of my heart and married to a wonderful woman named Karen for 25 years, who is the love of my life. +p1308 +aVI think personal attacks, just please one person, Hillary Clinton. And all we do when we go after each other -- and we've seen a bunch of it, from people up on this stage, people who are going to be on the stage afterwards, who go after and make personal attacks on people. There are plenty of policy differences between the candidates up here and the candidates later. Donald Trump has ever right to run for president as a Republican, as anybody else in this audience, and he may have positions I disagree with, but he has the right to do that and the people should be given the benefit of the doubt for people to see through these things. I don't think it helps when Republicans attack Republicans personally. I'll say some things tonight which will be very big differences. The issue of immigration is one that there are huge differences in this field, and I will be out there talking about how we have to control immigration. How we have to look after the American worker. The focus of this debate should be on how we're going to win this election and help improve the quality of life for American workers, and we aren't doing that, when we're out there picking at each other and calling each other names. The name we should call out is, what are we going to do for average Americans losing ground in America today. And that should be our focus. +p1309 +aVWell, in fact, just about everybody in this field supports some pathway to citizenship. There are just a few, Governor Jindal, Senator Cruz, Senator Rubio, Jeb Bush, a lot of others, Senator Graham, all support some sort of amnesty at some point in time or another. And this is really the interesting thing about this whole debate. This debate should not be about what we're going to do with someone who's here illegally. This debate should not be about what we're going to do with someone who's here illegally; This debate should be about what -- what every other debate on every other policy issue is in America. What's in the best interest of hardworking Americans? What's in the best interest of our country. We've had to focus because the other side has set up for us, here is who we have to be concerned about on the issue of immigration, someone who's here illegally and their family, and what are we going to do about it? A greater leader will see that the objection of every law in America is to do what's in the best interest of America. And what's in the best interest of America right now is to look at wages, look at employment among wager earners. 70 to 90 percent of people who've come into this country, 35 million over the last 20 years, are wage earners that are holding wages down, taking jobs away from America. +p1310 +aVWell, just because you don't call it amnesty doesn't mean that what -- what almost everybody in this field is for is allowing people who are in this country illegally, people who broke the law to come into this country, people who came here legally and overstayed, to stay in -- in America. Again, we have 35 million -- we have the highest percentage of -- of -- of immigrants in this country, as far as numbers ever, as far as percentage, the -- the highest in 105 years. Wages are flatlining. The reason that you're seeing the angst and the anger out there and the reason this issue has taken off is because workers in America know that their wages are being undermined. If you look at, from the year 2000 to the year 2014, there're 5.7 million net new jobs created. What percentage of those jobs are held by people who weren't born here? The answer is all of them. The fact is, American workers are -- are getting hurt by immigration... +p1311 +aV... and that's why they're upset. +p1312 +aV...Hold on, hold on, hold on... +p1313 +aV...He mentioned my name, and that i didn't have a plan. And, the fact of the matter is... +p1314 +aV...that I did have a plan back in 2006. I introduced a plan called, A Comprehensive Border Security Bill, which did, in fact, put the resources to build the fencing, and deploy the troops, and the technology necessary which... +p1315 +aVAs you know, Lindsay... +p1316 +aV...As you know, 40 to 60 percent of the 11 million are here on visa overstays. We know exactly who they are, we should know where they are, but we have a government that doesn't tell them to return home. You can solve half of the problem of the 11 million... +p1317 +aV...by simply telling the 11 million that they have to return to their country of origin, so, that's half your problem... +p1318 +aV...Now, it's not 11 million... +p1319 +aVI don't know how many democrats I had on my bill... +p1320 +aVBut, the point is -- the point is is that I had a bill... +p1321 +aVWell, you're right, Lindsay, it went no where because we had a president back then who was for more comprehensive immigration reform... +p1322 +aV...That's right... +p1323 +aVYou know what we need to do... +p1324 +aVLindsay, is we need to win -- we need to win fighting for Americans. We need to win fighting for the workers in this country... +p1325 +aV...who are hurting, including including hispanics... +p1326 +aV...the people who are hurt the most by illegal immigration are hispanics. +p1327 +aV...The folks -- the folks who are -- hurt the worst are recent immigrants. By illegal immigrants coming to this country last year alone, 700,000 illegal immigrants came into this country. Who do you think are most impacted? It's the folks who came into this country, played by the rules, did what they were supposed to do. Came here, and went to work, and now they're finding themselves out of work because someone illegally is willing to come in and work for less... +p1328 +aVI just want to say -- I just want to say, I have seven kids, I've done my part. +p1329 +aVI have proposed 10,000 troops, I did so about six or seven months ago, that we needed to deploy additional troops to do exactly what Lindsey said, arm the Kurds, arm -- +p1330 +aVI've said -- I've said 10,000 and, if more is necessary, look, the answer is this, once +p1331 +aV16 years ago, this country was tremendously inspired by a young woman who faced a gunman in Columbine and was challenged about her faith and she refused to deny God. We saw her as a hero. Today, someone who refuses to defy (sic) a judge's unconstitutional verdict is ridiculed and criticized, chastised because she's standing up and denying -- not denying her God and her faith. That is a huge difference in 16 years. People have a fundamental right in the First Amendment. There's no more important right. It is the right that is the trunk that all other rights come from, and that's the freedom of conscience. And when we say in America that we have no room -- how many bakers, how many florists, how many pastors, how many clerks are we going to throw in jail because they stand up and say, "I cannot violate what my faith says is against its teachings"? Is there not room in America? I believe there has to be room. First, I believe we have to pass the First Amendment Defense Act, which provides that room for government officials and others who do not want to be complicit in what they believe is against their faith. Second, we need as a president who's going to fight a court that is abusive, that has superseded their authority. Judicial supremacy is not in the Constitution, and we need a president and a Congress to stand up to a court when it exceeds its constitutional authority. +p1332 +aVI hope so. If they're wrong. +p1333 +aVNo, what you have is judicial supremacy. You don't have a rule of law when the court has the final say on everything. +p1334 +aVMartin Luther King wrote a letter from the Birmingham jail. And he said in that letter that there are just laws and there are unjust laws. And we have no obligation to -- to condone and accept unjust laws. And he -- and they -- then he followed up and said what's an unjust law? An unjust law is a job that -- a law that go against the moral code or God's law or the natural law. I would argue that what the Supreme Court did is against the natural law, it's against God's law and we have every obligation to stand in opposition to it. +p1335 +aVWell, contrary to what Governor Jindal said, Governor -- Justice Roberts had a long record and it was a long, good record. And so he made a bad decision on -- a couple of bad decisions on ObamaCare but he's made a lot of great decisions, too. And so I don't -- I don't regret at all standing up for John Roberts but, you know, it's easy to sit out in Louisiana and talk about how, you know, well, I'd be tougher. I fought when I was in the United States Senate. We fought, for the first time, to defeat justices and judges that Bill Clinton nominated and I fought with President Bush to defend his nominees, to push even a filibuster, breaking the filibuster. I led that fight against someone who didn't want to end the filibuster in order for us to get good, conservative justices. So I have been there on the front line, fighting for judges and conservative justices and I will do so as president like none other. +p1336 +aVActually, I'm going to be proposing a plan, I call it the 20/20 perfect vision for America as flat tax, a 20 percent flat tax on income, 20 percent flat tax on capital gains and on corporations. We eliminate all the deductions, special interest provisions and corporations. We deal with the carried interest issue, because everybody pays the same 20 percent. So, there's no advantage as to how you take your income. That will create growth. We're going to allow expensing for corporations. For manufacturing, again, I print -- I pledged, when I announced that I was going to run for president on the factory floor that I would make America the number one manufacturer in the world. Why? Because we need to put Americans back to work. Hard working Americans, who are not doing well in this economy, and we start creating jobs here, and manufacturing. These people from all skill levels are going to be able to work. We put a 20 percent rate on corporations, we're competitive with almost every country in the world. We allow for expensing, we have a three year phase in. We start at zero for manufacturers, phase it up to 20. You're going to see an enormous investment of capital, and equipment. You're going to see people -- you're going to have problems finding folks are going to be able to work in manufacturing. That's how many jobs we're going to create. So, the answer is, you know, we're going to lower, and flatten taxes. We're going to put government on a -- on a budget. A 10 percent across the board cut... +p1337 +aV...employment. We've got a lot of plans. +p1338 +aV...Let me just... +p1339 +aV...He talked about manufacturing, and the fact is that we have a zero percent rate that faces the 20, we'd have a seven percent repatriation, so money -- about two trillion dollars over seas... +p1340 +aV...Would come back, and be invested in equipment here. We will create more jobs with this plan, than any plan out... +p1341 +aVLindsay, what percentage of American workers make the minimum wage right now? +p1342 +aVIt's less than one percent. +p1343 +aV...So, what you're saying, what every Republican's up here saying is we're against the minimum wage because, if you're not for increasing it, than whoevers making the minimum wage right now... +p1344 +aV...The answer is Republicans don't believe in a floor wage in America. Fine, you go ahead and make that case to the American public, I'm not going to. Not from a party that supported bailouts. I didn't, but this party did. +p1345 +aVNot from a party that supports special interest tax provisions for a whole bunch of other businesses, and, but, when it comes to hardworking Americans who are at the bottom of the income scale, we can't provide some level of income support? What I've proposed is not anything but the (ph) presidents (ph) proposed (ph) I believe that would be harmful to the American public, but a $.50 cents an hour increase over three years, which is what I'm proposing. So we would have a minimum wage which would be roughly in the area of what it's been historically, about 5 percent of wages. To me, if you're going to talk to 90 percent of American workers -- by the way, 90 percent of American workers don't own a bar. They don't own a business. They work for a living. They're wage -- most of them are wage earners. And Republicans are losing elections because we're not talking about them. All we want to talk about is, what happened to our business? There are people who work in that business. I was at a -- I was at the convention four years ago, and on the signs -- on all of the seats the night I spoke was a sign that said, "We built that," because Barack Obama had talked about how businesses didn't build their own businesses. Then we trotted out one small-business person after another for almost an hour that night talking about how they built their businesses. And that's wonderful. But you know what we didn't do? We didn't bring one worker on that stage. How are you going to win, ladies and gentlemen? How are we going to win if 90 percent of Americans don't think we care at all... +p1346 +aV... about them and their chance to rise... +p1347 +aVAs you know, Hugh, 12 years ago I authored the Iran Freedom Support Act, which put sanctions on the Iran nuclear program as we came within four votes of passing a very strong version of that. The four people who opposed on the floor: Joe Biden, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. And we came four votes short. But for 12 years, I have been laser-beam focused on the issue of Iran with a nuclear weapon. Why? Because I understand who they are. Yes, they are radical Islamists, that's true. But their particular version of it, which is an apocalyptic version, which is a death cult, they believe in bringing about the end of the -- end of the world. If you -- if you poll Iranians and Iraqis, Shiites in the region, more than two-thirds of them believe that the end of the world is going to come within their lifetime. Why? Because their regime preaches it. They believe in bringing about the end of times. That's their theological goal and we are in the process of giving them a nuclear weapon to do just that. That's why, on day one, I would say to the Iranian government, you open up all of these facilities for inspection, you make them available to the U.N. and to the U.S., everything, we can go everywhere or else we will take out those facilities. And when people say, you're going to start a war -- +p1348 +aV-- my response is, no, I'm going to stop a war because a nuclear Iran is the end. +p1349 +aVI came to Washington in the most unlikely way. I defeated a 14-year incumbent, a 60 percent Democratic district. I went to Washington thinking I was only going to be there for one term, and so I just shook things up. We sent the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee to jail. We ended 40 years, 40 years of Democratic control of the Congress. And I led that fight with reforms, substantive reforms, welfare reform. I led the charge -- I wrote the bill when I was in the House. I led the charge in the United States Senate. Partial-birth abortion -- in fact, three pro-life bills, bipartisan pro-life bills. I mentioned the Iran bill. We also passed one on Syria. Health savings accounts, as many of you know, I authored the original bill on health savings accounts, pushed that through the Congress for private sector health care reform. An outsider who came to Washington from the tough state of Pennsylvania, and we got conservative things done. I made things happen in a town where things don't happen very much. Now, after 10 years of seeing the mess, the retreat that we see in the Republican party in Washington, D.C., it's time to get someone who is an outsider. +p1350 +aVWho can go to Washington, D.C., and get things done. You know what, you have a lot of folks who will tell you a lot of things. Look at their record. I went to Washington as an outsider. +p1351 +aVShook things up, got things done. +p1352 +aVAnd that's why you can trust me to do it again. +p1353 +aVI would say the message that got us the win in Iowa and 10 other states against pretty overwhelming odds, is the message that's going to deliver us in this election. You know, we didn't start out four years ago at the top of the heap. We were behind where we were today. But we stuck to our message. We stuck to the fact that Americans are tired of Washington corporate interests and Democrats who are interested in just politics and power and they're looking for someone who's going to fight for them; looking for someone who's going to grow manufacturing sector of our economy, so those 74 percent of Americans who don't have a college degree have a chance to rise again. Someone who's going to stand up, and be very clear with our enemies as to the lines their going to draw and stand with them. I've got a track record. The reason I did so well last time is not just because of the vision, it's because I have a track record in Washington, D.C. of getting things done. Iran sanctions -- the Iran sanctions that brought them to the table, those are sanctions that we put in place when I was in the United States Senate, and a whole host of other things that put me in a position of saying, I not only have a great vision, but I can govern effectively in Washington. +p1354 +aVMy father was born in Italy, and shortly after he was born my grandfather immigrated to this country. And under the laws of this country, he wasn't allowed to be with his father for seven years. Spent the first seven years of his life in Fascist Italy, under Benito Mussolini. Not a very pleasant place to be. I asked my dad after -- obviously, when I found out about this. And I said, "Didn't you resent America for not letting you be with your father in those formative and very threatening years?" You know what he said to me? "America was worth the wait." We're a country of laws, Bill. We're a country of laws, not of men, not of people who do whatever they want to do. I know we have a president who wants to do whatever he wants to do, and take his pen and his phone and just tell everybody what he thinks is best. But the reason America is a great country, the reason is because our compassion is in our laws. And when we live by those laws and we treat everybody equally under the law, that's when people feel good about being Americans. And I put forth an immigration policy that is as strong in favor of the folks who are struggling in America the most than anybody else. It's the strongest pro-worker immigration plan. It says that after 35 million people have come here over the last 20 years, almost all of whom are unskilled workers, flattening wages, creating horrible opportunity -- a lack of opportunities for unskilled workers, we're going to do something about reducing the level of immigration by 25 percent. We're going to be tough at the border, we're going to be tough on all of the illegal immigrants that everybody else in this field -- we're going to be different. We're going to be actually out there trying to create a better life for hard-working Americans. +p1355 +aVI think it's -- yeah, I think it's a one-two punch. Number one, we have to create better paying jobs. I mean, that's just the bottom line. We haven't. And that's the reason that I've said under my presidency, we'll create jobs and make American the number one manufacturing country in the world. If we want to create jobs for the folks that you're talking about, who are having trouble getting off government benefits, primarily because of their low skill level, there is no better way -- it's worked for 100 years in America -- putting people back to work in manufacturing is it. I'm going to be introducing a plan which I call the 2020 Perfect Vision for America. It's a 20 percent flat rate tax, it'll take a blowtorch to the -- to the IRS. It will create a manufacturing juggernaut in this country. And you combine that with reforms of our welfare system. You're looking at the -- at the man who introduced and fought on the floor as a freshman senator and passed the Welfare Reform Act of 1996 over two President Clinton vetoes. Got 70 votes in the United States Senate. Bipartisan issue. And I ended a federal entitlement. Never been done before, never been done since. What we need to do is take the rest of the federal entitlements, not just welfare, but food stamps and Medicaid and housing programs and do the same thing we did with welfare. Work requirements and time limits. That will change everything. Mac +p1356 +aVIt is not any more than Dred Scott was settled law to Abraham Lincoln, who, in his first inaugural address, said "it won't stand." And they went ahead and passed laws in direct contravention to a rogue Supreme Court. This is a rogue Supreme Court decision, just like Justice Roberts said. There is no constitutional basis for the Supreme Court's decision, and I know something about this. The -- one of the times the Supreme Court spoke that I thought they were acting outside of their authority was in a partial-birth abortion case. You know, these Planned Parenthood tapes, what they're showing are partial-birth abortions. Abortions being done where the baby's being delivered first, to preserve those organs, and then they crush the skull. Well, the Supreme Court found a bill that I was the author of unconstitutional. What did I do? I didn't stop. I didn't say "oh, well we lost. It's the law of the land." We worked together. The House and Senate, under my leadership, and we passed a bill, and we said, "Supreme Court, you're wrong." We're a coequal branch of the government. We have every right to be able to stand up and say what is constitutional. We passed a bill, bipartisan support, and the Supreme Court, they -- they sided with us. Sometimes it just takes someone to lead and stand up to the court. +p1357 +aVJust ditto to that. We're going to suspend -- I've -- I've said this for four years. We're going to suspend and repeal every executive order, every regulation that cost American jobs and is -- is -- is impacting our freedom. And second, the First Amendment Defense Act, which is protecting religious liberty, if it's not passed by then, which I suspect it won't, because the president will veto it, I will institute an executive order to make sure that people of faith are not being -- not being harassed and persecuted by the federal government for standing up for the religious beliefs. +p1358 +aVI came to Washington, D.C. in 1990. That sounds like a long time ago. It was. It was 25 years ago, and I came by defeating the Democratic incumbent. I came as a reformer. I started the Gang of Seven, and it led to the overtaking of the 40-year Democratic rule of Congress, because I didn't -- I stood up to the old-boy network in Washington, D.C. because I believed that Washington was not the solution, that Washington was the problem, just like Ronald Reagan said. I was a child of Ronald Reagan. And I went there, and for 16 years, I fought the insiders and was able to get things done. That's the difference. We need to elect someone who will stand with the American people, who understands its greatness, who understands what an open economy and freedom is all about, but at the same time, has a record of being able to get things done in Washington like we've never seen before. Reforms, everything from moral and cultural issues to economic issues. Those of you health savings accounts. Health savings accounts are something that we introduced. It's a private-sector solution that believes in freedom, not Obamacare that believes in government control. Those are the things we brought, and we were able to get things done. If you want someone who's not going to divide Washington, but gets things done, then you should make me your president. +p1359 +aVI'll tell you how optimistic I am about America. Karen and I have seven children. You don't have seven children and bring them into this world if you're not optimistic about the future of this country. I am, but people are upset, and they're upset for a reason about the future of this country. Donald Trump actually seized on it when he talked about immigration. And I think the reason he did is because immigration is sort of an example of what's broken and what's wrong in Washington, D..C. You see, you have one side, the Democrats, and with immigration, all they care about is votes. They don't care about American workers, they just care about bringing as many people in so they can get as many votes as they can. ON the other side, you have so many Republicans, and what do they care about? Helping business make profits. There's nobody out there looking out for the American worker. I'm looking out for the American worker. I'm the only one on this stage who has a plan that's actually reduced -- actually going to reduce immigration. Actually going to do something to help the American worker. And you combine that with a plan to make manufacturing -- this country number one in manufacturing, you've got someone who's going to help revitalize and give hope to America, the place -- the place is that is the most hopeless today. That's why I ask for your support for president. +p1360 +asVQUESTION +p1361 +(lp1362 +VMy name is Ashley Tofil. Ms. Fiorina, in November, you said that you would not talk to Vladimir Putin after you were elected because you would be communicating from a position of weakness. Do you believe that it is feasible to not communicate with another world leader? And do you think that that also is a sign of weakness? +p1363 +aVMy name is Carla Hernandez. I'm from the University of Texas at Austin. And my question is directed to all the candidates. If the Bible clearly states that we need to embrace those in need and not fear, how can we justify not accepting refugees? +p1364 +aVPlease describe one action you would do to make the economic environment more favorable for small businesses and entrepreneurs and anyone dreaming of opening their own business. +p1365 +aVHi, I'm Adithya Sivakumar. I'm from Vanderbilt University. And I was wondering with U.S. designated state sponsors of terrorism such as Iran and other traditional U.S. enemies fighting +p1366 +asVCAVUTO +p1367 +(lp1368 +VIt is 9:00 p.m. on the East Coast, 8:00 p.m. here inside the Milwaukee theater. Welcome to the Republican presidential debate here on the Fox Business Network. I'm Neil Cavuto, alongside my co-moderators, Maria Bartiromo, and the editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal, Gerard Baker. +p1369 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. +p1370 +aVIt sounds like a game show but it's not. Now I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the elephant in the room, and I'm not talking about your party's fine symbol. I'm talking about the purpose of tonight's debate. The economy and what each of you would do to improve it. No more, no less. We are focused on those issues, and what you have said on those issues in your words and what your opponents have said in their words about your words. That is the agenda tonight. How each of you plans to make America better tomorrow. And so we begin. Candidates, as we gather tonight in this very august theater, just outside and across the country, picketers are gathering as well. They're demanding an immediate hike in the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Just a few hours ago, near Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed doing the same for all state workers, the first governor to do so. Mr. Trump, as the leading presidential candidate on this stage and one whose tax plan exempts couples making up to $50,000 a year from paying any federal income taxes at all, are you sympathetic to the protesters cause since a $15 wage works out to about $31,000 a year? +p1371 +aVSo do not raise the minimum wage? +p1372 +aVDr. Carson, you have long bemoaned this lackluster recovery. And this Facebook map show Americans share your concern. The green represents how the jobs issue is resonating all across the nation, especially here in the state of Wisconsin. You suggested one minimum wage does not fit all, and that perhaps we should offer a lower or starter wage for young people. Those protesters outside are looking for $15 and nothing less. Where are you? +p1373 +aVSo, sir, just to be clear, you would not raise it? +p1374 +aVSenator Rubio, you called the recent Democratic debate in Las Vegas a night of giveaways, including free health care, free college and a host of other government-paid benefits. Since you aren't a fan of all they're giving away, tell us tonight what you would take back. +p1375 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. +p1376 +aVAll right. We're only just getting started. Coming up, your taxes. Stick around. You're watching FOX Business +p1377 +aVWelcome back to the Milwaukee Theater and the Republican presidential debate. Let's get right back to our questions. Dr. Carson, to you. You recently railed against the double- standard in the media, sir, that seems obsessed with inconsistencies and potential exaggerations in your life story, but looked the other way when it came to then-Senator Barack Obama's. Still, as a candidate whose brand has always been trust, are you worried your campaign \u2014 which you've always said, sir, is bigger than you \u2014 is now being hurt by you? +p1378 +aVI'll just forget that follow-up there. +p1379 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1380 +aVAlright, thank you. We're going to take a break here. Coming up, a big issue many Americans are facing, taxes. The Republican Presidential Debate continues now, live, from Milwaukee. +p1381 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from Milwaukee. Let's get back to the questions. And we want to touch on obviously one of the biggest of this issue in this year, taxes. And this will go to several of you. One of the biggest economic concerns of course in the country are taxes. Facebook data certainly backs that up. Once again the green on this map that we're going to see here shows how the conversation around taxes is resonating across the nation, especially here in Wisconsin. First off, Dr. Carson, to you. You say you are in favor of a tax system, I guess akin to tithing, sir, with a flat tax rate of up to 15 percent because you said, if everybody pays this, I think God is a pretty fair guy, so tithing is a pretty fair process. But Donald Trump says that is not fair. That wealthier taxpayers should pay a higher rate because it's a fair thing to do. So whose plan would God endorse then, Doctor? Yours or Mr. Trump's? +p1382 +aVRight. +p1383 +aVThank you very much. Senator Paul, you said you want to blow up the tax code and start over with an across-the-board 14.5 percent fair and flat tax. You happily offered that it is not revenue neutral and that's the idea. You want to choke off the amount of money coming into Washington. But don't you risk, sir, creating a near-term budget crisis just as your presidency would be beginning? +p1384 +aVThere are no deductions on your \u2014 under your plan? +p1385 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1386 +aVSenator Paul... Senator Paul, you have already said, sir, that that would be a mistake in not talking to Vladimir Putin, or to rule it out. You've argued that it's never a good idea to close down communication. With that in mind, do you think the same applies to administration efforts right now to include the Iranians in talks on Syria? +p1387 +aV...Well, then how would you respond? +p1388 +aVBut if you're not going to respond in a no-fly zone strategy, what would yours be? +p1389 +aVAll right. And look at the time, look at the time. You are watching FOX Business, we'll take a break. Stick around. +p1390 +aVSenator Cruz \u2014 and I will get to you \u2014 but, Senator Cruz, on that theme, Facebook data shows that over the last month alone, nearly 1 million people \u2014 nearly 1 million \u2014 have been concerned about reining in Wall Street, apparently believing that some have not been punished enough. So, as an accomplished litigator yourself and a former solicitor general, would you go after the very people who believe and fear that Wall Street has ignored, in other words, the crooks that Bernie Sanders say have gotten away with a financial murder? +p1391 +aVSenator......Senator, I really want to be clear here. Are you saying, sir, that if Bank of America were on the brink, you would let it fail? +p1392 +aVSir, I understand that. I just want to be clear, if you don't mind, that millions of depositors would be on the line with that decision. And I just want to be clear. If it were to happen again, for whatever the reason, you would let it go, you would let a Bank of America go? +p1393 +aVOK, I think it's fair to say you're not fans of Hillary Clinton's resume. Alright, Mr. Trump.... +p1394 +aVI had a feeling. Perhaps the most successful capitalist on this stage tonight, you've acknowledged that some give capitalism a bad name. You've been particularly critical of businesses that find all sorts of ways of paying their taxes by keeping money abroad, but your own plan includes an incentive to bring \u2014 that more the $2 trillion dollars home. Isn't that, like, a one-time bounty... +p1395 +aV...Some of the guys you all but call pirates, so they still keep the loot, and pay only a price to bring it back. +p1396 +aV...Alright, gentlemen, I know you want to \u2014 and I want to, be we also promised to get people home tonight, and we are going to take a quick break here. I think it is fair to say at this juncture that you can discuss these issues, and only business issues, but still keep it interesting. Stick around for these candidates closing statements. +p1397 +aVSenator Marco Rubio? +p1398 +aVDr. Ben Carson? +p1399 +aVDonald Trump? +p1400 +aVCandidates, we want to thank you all. We also appreciate your helping save time by talking over one another at times. That was welcomed. But by all means, it was a very riveting debate. Business issues can be \u2014 can be riveting, because it wasn't about us, it's about them. +p1401 +aVThat'll do it. Thank you for joining us. +p1402 +asVBLITZER +p1403 +(lp1404 +VWelcome to the CNN-Facebook Republican presidential debate here at the Venetian Las Vegas. We have a very enthusiastic audience. Everyone is here. They're looking forward to a serious and spirited discussion about the security of this nation. I'm Wolf Blitzer, your moderator tonight. This debate is airing on CNN networks here in the United States and around the world, and on the Salem Radio Network. The nine leading candidates, they are here. Let's welcome them right now. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Businessman and real estate developer Donald Trump. Retired neurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. And Ohio Governor John Kasich. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome these Republican candidates for president of the United States. This is the final Republican debate before the election year begins, and we're taking a moment for the photographs of the candidates together on the stage. Now, everyone, please rise for the national anthem sung by Ayla Brown. +p1405 +aVI know everyone is eager to get started. So, candidates, please take your places while I explain the ground rules for tonight. As moderator, I'll guide the discussion, and I'll be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt and CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. We also asked Republicans and independents nationwide to share their questions for the candidates. We teamed up with Facebook to send a campaign camper across the country over the past several weeks. Thousands of people stepped inside and recorded their questions on video. Millions more have weighed in on Facebook. Candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have a minute and 15 seconds to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you're singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know that we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. And as the candidates requested, a bell will sound like this. We know you are all eager to jump in and debate these important issues, so, please, wait until you're called on. These nine Republicans are positioned on stage based on their ranking in the recent polls, so let's begin right now. I'd like to invite each candidate to introduce himself or herself to our audience. You'll have one minute. First to you, Senator Paul. +p1406 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p1407 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1408 +aVMs. Fiorina? +p1409 +aVGovernor Bush? +p1410 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1411 +aVSenator Cruz. +p1412 +aVDr. Carson. +p1413 +aVMr. Trump. +p1414 +aVThank you. Since you last debated, Americans have witnessed terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino. The FBI director says the country now faces the greatest terror threat since 9/11. You all have different approaches to keeping the country safe. And that will be the focus of tonight's debate. Mr. Trump, as you mentioned in your opening statement, part of your strategy is to focus in on America's borders. To keep the country safe, you say you want to temporarily ban non-American Muslims from coming to the United States; ban refugees fleeing +p1415 +aVGovernor Bush, you called Mr. Trump "unhinged" when he proposed banning non-American Muslims from the United States. Why is that unhinged? +p1416 +aVMr. Trump? +p1417 +aVSenator Rubio \u2014 I'm going to go to Senator Rubio and get his thoughts. You have said banning Muslims is unconstitutional. But according to a recent ABC News-Washington Post poll, a majority of Republicans support Mr. Trump's idea. Why are they wrong? +p1418 +aVHugh Hewitt, you have a question. +p1419 +aVGovernor Christie, Americans are clearly more afraid today than at any time since 9/11. As you mentioned in your opening statement, today in Los Angeles, 650 schoolchildren didn't go to \u2014 650,000 schoolchildren didn't go to school because of an e-mail threat, this two weeks after an attack killed 14 people in San Bernardino. Is this the new normal? And if so, what steps would you take as president of the United States to ensure that fear does not paralyze America? +p1420 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, one of the killers in San Bernardino was an American who was not on anyone's watch list. How are you going to find that radicalized person and stop another such attack? +p1421 +aVThank you. Dana Bash, you have the next question. +p1422 +aVThank you. Dr. Carson, you're in favor of monitoring mosques and schools where there is anti-America sentiment, what do you consider anti- America? +p1423 +aVDr. Carson, who was right in that little debate that we just heard between Senator Rubio and Senator Paul? +p1424 +aVHold on a sec, we have a lot more to come and everybody's going to have their full opportunity. Governor Bush, six days after 9/11 your brother visited a mosque and said quote, "Islam is peace." The conversation tonight is about banning Muslims and surveillance of mosques, are President Bush's words still relevant in today's Republican party? +p1425 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you pointed out you were a CEO in Silicon Valley on 9/11. Companies there, they say they won't help the FBI now crack encrypted communication from +p1426 +aVBut my question was: Should these Silicon Valley companies be forced to cooperate with the FBI? +p1427 +aVMr. Trump, you recently suggested closing that Internet up, those were your words, as a way to stop +p1428 +aVLet me follow up, Mr. Trump. So, are you open to closing parts of the Internet? +p1429 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, is shutting down any part of the Internet a good idea? +p1430 +aVThank you, Governor. The fight against radical Islamic terrorists and +p1431 +aVThank you. To be clear, Senator Cruz, would you carpet bomb Raqqa, the +p1432 +aVThank you. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you've been critical of Senator Cruz's strategy. You say his voting record doesn't match his rhetoric. Why? +p1433 +aVBecause I asked the question, Senator, because you said this. You said he, referring to Senator Cruz, voted against the Defense Authorization Act every year that it came up, and I assume that if he voted against it, he would veto it as president. That's the bill that funds our troops. +p1434 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1435 +aVSenator Rubio. +p1436 +aVWe are going to have much more on this... +p1437 +aVWe're going to have much more on this. But I want to move now back to Mr. Trump. +p1438 +aVHold on. Hold on. Hold on. +p1439 +aVWe have a lot... +p1440 +aVWe have a lot to discuss. I want to move to Mr. Trump right now. We have a question on this war against +p1441 +aVMr. Trump. +p1442 +aVGovernor Bush. Governor Bush. +p1443 +aVMr. Trump. +p1444 +aVJust one at a time, go ahead... +p1445 +aVGo ahead, Mr. Trump. +p1446 +aVGovernor Bush, please. +p1447 +aVOne at a time. +p1448 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1449 +aVThank you. +p1450 +aVAll right. Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash, Hugh, go ahead with the next question. +p1451 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Rubio? Let's continue this conversation. This is a critically important issue. +p1452 +aVWe will get to \u2014 we have a lot of time, Ms. Fiorina. I want to get to Senator Rubio right now. Let's talk about, one of the aspects of your strategy, you say the only way to defeat +p1453 +aVThank you, Senator. Stand by. Ms. Fiorina, the former defense secretary, Bob Gates, says the chances of getting Sunni-Arab forces on the ground to get the job done, his words, "chances very remote." What's your strategy? +p1454 +aVThank you. Governor Christie, what's your strategy? +p1455 +aVDr. Carson, what is your strategy? +p1456 +aVThank you. Everyone stand by. We're only just beginning. Coming up, which candidates on this stage tonight want to move foreign policy in a dramatically new direction? We'll be right back. +p1457 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate here at the Venetian, Las Vegas. The war against +p1458 +aVThank you. +p1459 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you supported the removal of Moammar Gadhafi in Libya. Now that country is in turmoil, as +p1460 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1461 +aVStandby. Everybody standby for a moment. Governor Kasich, go ahead. +p1462 +aVThank you. +p1463 +aVWe're going to talk about Assad in a moment. Mr. Trump, are Americans safer with dictators running the world in the Middle East? +p1464 +aVThank you. Mr. Trump? +p1465 +aVAll right. +p1466 +aVThank you. +p1467 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East... +p1468 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East better off with dictators? +p1469 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1470 +aVHold on Governor Bush., here's the question. You said, "getting rid of Saddam Hussein in your words was a pretty good deal." In light of what has happened in Iraq, do you still feel that way? +p1471 +aVSenator Paul, was getting rid of Saddam Hussein a pretty good deal? +p1472 +aVThank you. Hugh Hewitt, go ahead. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hugh. +p1473 +aVSenator, Senator, we're going to get to you. Wait your turn. We have two hours of debate. We'll have plenty of time. Let Hugh ask his question. +p1474 +aVSenator, please. +p1475 +aVSenator... +p1476 +aVYou'll have plenty of opportunity. Hugh, go ahead. +p1477 +aVThese are the rules all of you agreed to. Hugh, go ahead with your question. +p1478 +aVLet's continue with Russia right now. We have another question from Facebook. Listen and watch. +p1479 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you know, U.S. and Russian warplanes are flying all over Syria right now. With so many lives on the line, is this a good time for the United States not to talk to Putin? +p1480 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Christie, if the U.S. imposed a no-fly zone over Syria and a Russian plane encroached, invaded that no-fly zone, would you be prepared to shoot down that Russian plane and risk war with Russia? +p1481 +aVSenator Paul \u2014 Senator Paul, I want you to respond to what we just heard from Governor Christie. If there was a no-fly zone, you say that potentially could lead to World War III. Why? +p1482 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1483 +aVAll right, let's go back \u2014 Hugh and Dana? +p1484 +aVOne at a time. Hugh, go ahead. +p1485 +aVGovernor, thank you very much. So, Dr. Carson, you recently visited a refugee camp in Jordan and you deemed it your words, "really quite nice." Saying the people there didn't want to come to the United States. Do you think these camps are a long-term solution of the problem of Syrian refugees? +p1486 +aVSenator Paul, you oppose letting in Syrian refugees at this time into the United States. The U.S. has already accepted 2,000 Syrian refugees, including 13 living here in Las Vegas right now. Would you send them back? What would you do with these people? +p1487 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1488 +aVSenator Paul, you didn't answer the question about the 2,000 Syrian refugees who are already here in the United States. Will you send them back or let them stay? +p1489 +aVWe have another \u2014 we have another question. We have another question from Facebook. Let's listen. +p1490 +aVGovernor Christie, you say there should be a pause in allowing new refugees to come into the United States, including orphans under the age of five. What do you say to Carla? +p1491 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1492 +aVThank you, Governor. There is much more coming up. We are only just beginning. Coming up, what other global hot spots await the next president of the United States. +p1493 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate. We're here at the Venetian Las Vegas. Tonight we have been focusing on the Middle East, but let's turn to some other world threats that you will potentially face as Commander in Chief. Ms. Fiorina, candidates here have called the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un a maniac who is mentally unstable. Last week he said he now has a hydrogen bomb. If you were elected president, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p1494 +aVDr. Carson, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p1495 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Dana and Hugh you have questions as well. +p1496 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Some of you on this stage have questioned whether your opponents have temperament, the right temperament, to be in control of the nuclear codes. Dana, you have a question on this? +p1497 +aVThank you, senator. Thank you. +p1498 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1499 +aVThank you, Senator. We're a month and a half away now from the first real test who will be the Republican presidential nominee. Hugh, you have a question? +p1500 +aVAll right. Candidates, we have more coming up. When we come back, everyone will have an opportunity to explain why this particular candidate, each of you on the stage, believes he or she should be the Republican presidential nominee. +p1501 +aVNow it's time for the closing statements from the candidates. Each one has 30 seconds. Senator Paul. +p1502 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1503 +aVGovernor Christie. +p1504 +aVMs. Fiorina. +p1505 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1506 +aVSenator Rubio. +p1507 +aVSenator Cruz. +p1508 +aVDr. Carson. +p1509 +aVThanks to all the Republican presidential candidates. That does it for this Republican presidential debate. +p1510 +aVI'd now like to ask the candidates to please take your places while I tell you a little bit more about how tonight's debate will work. As the moderator, I'll guide the discussion asking questions and follow-ups, as will Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt. Candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have a minutes and 15 seconds to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you're singled out for criticism. We have timing lights that are visible to the candidates, those lights will warn you when your time is up. And as the candidates requested, a bell will sound like this. We know you're all eager to jump in and debate these important issues, but please wait until you're called on. Now that everyone is this place, it's time for the candidates to introduce themselves to our audience. You'll each have one minute. Senator Graham, you're first. +p1511 +aVGovernor Pataki. +p1512 +aVSenator Santorum. +p1513 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p1514 +aVLet's begin. The United States just suffered the worst terrorist attack since 9-11, the murder of 14 people by two terrorists, one of whom was an American citizen. In response, Republican frontrunner Donald Trump proposed a temporary ban on all Muslims coming into the United States until the government can figure out what is going on. Senator Graham, the polls show most Republicans do support Mr. Trump. What do you say to them? +p1515 +aVSenator Graham, you say you'd rather lose the election without Trump than try to win with him. Does that mean you'll be voting for the Democratic nominee if Donald Trump wins the presidential nomination? +p1516 +aVGovernor Pataki, you mentioned Donald Trump in your opening statement. You've also suggested Mr. Trump's plan is un-American and absurd. Why? +p1517 +aVSenator Santorum, you object to Mr. Trump's proposals on the grounds that it's unworkable. You've made religious liberty a hallmark of your career. Do you believe in religious liberty for Muslims as well as Christians? +p1518 +aVSenator Graham. +p1519 +aVSenator Santorum. +p1520 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you called Mr. Trump's plan to ban Muslims impossible and unconstitutional. But what is your specific plan to prevent would-be Jihadists from carrying out attacks against Americans? +p1521 +aVThe terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino have sparked a debate here in the United States about the balance between privacy and security. I want to bring in CNN's Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt for more on this. +p1522 +aVGovernor Pataki. +p1523 +aVThere are a lot of people who have been frustrated, especially Senator Graham, that law enforcement can't tap into information on terrorist cell phones. Senator Graham has called on companies in Silicon Valley to change their business models. As president of the United States, would you force these companies to change their models so the government can better monitor the traffic on these cell phones? +p1524 +aVSenator Graham? +p1525 +aVSenator Graham. +p1526 +aVHere is a question we have on the fight against +p1527 +aVGovernor Huckabee, how would you defeat +p1528 +aVSenator Graham, you have an aggressive military plan to try to defeat +p1529 +aVSenator Santorum, following up on what we just heard from Senator Graham, at least one U.S. intelligence report from the White House has concluded that, in order to defeat +p1530 +aVSenator Graham, you're shaking your head. +p1531 +aVI'm going to bring Governor Pataki in a minute, but go ahead and respond, Senator Graham. +p1532 +aVGovernor Pataki, should the U.S. send ground troops into Syria? +p1533 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you have not put a number of how many U.S. ground troops would be needed to combat +p1534 +aVSenator Graham, and I just want to remind our viewers, you want 10,000 U.S. ground troops in Iraq, and 10,000 in Syria? +p1535 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you have said as president you would tell +p1536 +aVSenator Samtorum? +p1537 +aVGovernor Pataki, you support ground troops - deploying grounds troops. +p1538 +aVThe U.S. Army's Former Cheif of Staff, General Raymond Odierno said that, and I'm quoting, "now +p1539 +aVBut how long would you be willing to commit U.S. troops to fight +p1540 +aVSenator Graham, you called for U.S. ground troops as we know in Iraq and Syria. +p1541 +aVAs you know, there's a growing +p1542 +aVAre you ready to deploy U.S. troops to Libya to try to defeat +p1543 +aVSenator? Senator, are you ready to commit U.S. ground troops to Libya? +p1544 +aVAlright, gentleman, standby. The fight against +p1545 +aVWe're live here at the Venetian in Las Vegas. Welcome back. As the U.S. fight against +p1546 +aVWe have a video question from Facebook. Let's watch. +p1547 +aVGovernor Pataki. +p1548 +aVHe says he was wondering with U.S. designated state sponsors of terrorism like Iran and other traditional U.S. enemies fighting +p1549 +aVHugh Hewitt and Dana Bash have questions. Hugh go ahead. +p1550 +aVGovernor Pataki, let me stick with you. Governor Pataki, a U.S. Army Sargent Bowe Bergdahl now facing a court marshall after leaving his base in Afghanistan, getting captured by the Taliban - Donald Trump, has called for his execution. The former house speak John Boehner says "he's innocent until proven guilty." Where do you stand? +p1551 +aVSenator Graham, where do you stand? +p1552 +aVGovernor Huckabee? Governor Huckbee, +p1553 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Pataki, speaking of those four Americans being held in Iran right now. Iran has suggested they might be willing to have a prisoner swap, release Iranian prisoners held in the United States, in exchange for those four Americans. Would you support that? +p1554 +aVWe have to take a quick break, but, Governor, Israel has exchanged a lot of the prisoners it was holding for Israeli soldiers who were being held by Hamas, for example. +p1555 +aVThank you. Let's take another quick break. The scramble, the scramble to protect Americans after +p1556 +aVWelcome back to the Republican Presidential Debate here at the Venetian in Las Vegas. Gentlemen, in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks, the Obama Administration policy of allowing Syrian refugees to come into the United States has come under fire. Senator Santorum, you say accepting Syrian refugees is dangerous. You say it just takes one Jihadist to destroy the world. Do you think there is any way to properly vet refugees coming into the United States? +p1557 +aVGovernor Pataki, you have said you wouldn't accept a single Syrian refugee. What should become of them? +p1558 +aVLet's go back to Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt for more questions. Dana? +p1559 +aVThank you, Senator. Gentlemen, standby, we are going to take another very quick break. Coming up, with America on edge, who has what it takes to be the next Commander in Chief? These candidates, they will make their case. +p1560 +aVWelcome back. We're live here at the Venetian Las Vegas. Gentlemen, it's time for your closing statements. Each candidate will have 30 seconds. Senator graham, you're first. +p1561 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Pataki. +p1562 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum. +p1563 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee. +p1564 +aVThank you. Thanks to all of the candidates for a very important discussion on critically important issues. This debate night is just getting started here at the Venetian Las Vegas. The top nine candidates, they are standing by for their turn on this stage in just a little while. I'll be back as the moderator. +p1565 +asVMODERATOR +p1566 +(lp1567 +VComing up more of our debate, including questions about President Obama's foreign policy and these guys and their better ideas. Coming up. +p1568 +asVFIORINA +p1569 +(lp1570 +VLike all of you I'm angry. I'm angry at what's happening to our nation. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. Bombastic insults wont take it back. Political rhetoric that promises a lot and delivers little, won't take it back. All of our problems can be solved. All of our wounds can be healed by a tested leader who is willing to fight for the character of our nation. I have been tested. I have beaten breast cancer. I have buried a child. I started as a secretary. I fought my way to the top of corporate America while being called every B word in the book. I fought my way into this election and on to this debate stage while all the political insiders and the pundits told, "it couldn't be done." I've been told, "no,: all my life. And all my life, I've refused to accept no as an answer. Citizens, it is time to take our country back from the political class, from the media, from the liberal elite. It can be done, it must be done, join me and we will get it done. +p1571 +aVWhat I think we need to stand for are solutions. I offer myself as a leader to the people of this country because I think they're looking for solutions, not lawyers arguing over laws or entertainers throwing out sound bites that draw media attention. We need to solve the problem. To solve the problem, we need to do something here at home and something over there in their caliphate. We need to deny them territory. But here at home, we need to do two fundamental things. Number one, we need to recognize that technology has moved on. The Patriot Act was signed in 2001, roughly. The iPhone was invented in 2007. The iPad was invented in 2011. Snapchat and Twitter, all the rest of it, have been around just for several years. Technology has moved on, and the terrorists have moved on with it. Let me tell you a story. Soon after 9/11, I got a phone call from the NSA. They needed help. I gave them help. I stopped a truckload of equipment. I had it turned around. It was escorted by the NSA into headquarters. We need the private sector's help, because government is not innovating. Technology is running ahead by leaps and bound. The private sector will help, just as I helped after 9/11. But they must be engaged, and they must be asked. I will ask them. I know them. +p1572 +aVYou know, listening to this conversation, let me just say, we have a lot of argument about laws but none of it solves the problem. Let's examine what happened, why did we miss the Tsarnaev brothers, why did we miss the San Bernardino couple? It wasn't because we had stopped collected metadata it was because, I think, as someone who comes from the technology world, we were using the wrong algorithms. This is a place where the private sector could be helpful because the government is woefully behind the technology curve. But secondly, the bureaucratic processes that have been in place since 9/11 are woefully inadequate as well. What do we now know? That DHS vets people by going into databases of known or suspected terrorists. And yet, we also know that +p1573 +aVThey do not need to be forced. They need to be asked to bring the best and brightest, the most recent technology to the table. I was asked as a CEO. I complied happily. And they will as well. But they have not been asked. That's why it cost billions of dollars to build an Obama website that failed because the private sector wasn't asked. +p1574 +aVI hope at some point you're going to ask me my strategy. +p1575 +aVWell, first I'll just point out that talking tough is not the same as being strong. And to wage war, we need a commander in chief who has made tough calls in tough times and stood up to be held accountable over and over, not first-term senators who've never made an executive decision in their life. One of the things I would immediately do, in addition to defeating them here at home, is bring back the warrior class \u2014 Petraeus, McChrystal, Mattis, Keane, Flynn. Every single one of these generals I know. Every one was retired early because they told President Obama things that he didn't want to hear. We must have Sunni-Arabs involved in this coalition. We must commit leadership, strength, support and resolve. I'll just add that Margaret Thatcher once said, "If you want something talked about, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman." +p1576 +aVThat is exactly what President Obama said. I'm amazed to hear that from a republican presidential candidate. But let's just start with, who got it wrong? Who really got it wrong? Hillary Clinton has gotten every foreign policy challenge wrong. Hitting the reset button with Vladimir Putin \u2013 recall that she called Bashar Al-Assad a positive reformer and then she opened an embassy and then later she said, over, and over, and over again, "Bashar Al-Assad must go." Although she wasn't prepared to do anything about it. Recall that Hillary Clinton was all for toppling Gadhafi then didn't listen to her own people on the ground. And then of course, when she lied about the terrorist attack in Benghazi, she invited more terrorist attacks. +p1577 +aVWe've mismanaged going into Iraq. +p1578 +aVWe've mismanaged going out of Iraq. +p1579 +aVWe actually... +p1580 +aVI didn't say I would cut off all communication with Putin. What I said was as president of the United States, now is not the time to talk with him. Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. There is a time and a place for everything. There is a time and a place for talk. And there is a time and a place for action. I know Vladimir Putin. He respects strength. He lied to our president's face; didn't both to tell him about warplanes and troops going into Syria. We need to speak to him from a position of strength. So as commander in chief, I will not speak to him until we've set up that no-fly zone; until we've gathered our Sunni-Arab allies and begun to deny +p1581 +aVThis doesn't do a thing to solve the problems...It doesn't do a thing to solve the problems. +p1582 +aVIt will not solve the problem. +p1583 +aVLadies and gentleman, this is why the American people are standing up. +p1584 +aVThis is why the nation is fed up... +p1585 +aVWe have been talking about this... +p1586 +aVSorry, but you haven't gotten to me. This is why... +p1587 +aVthe people are fed up with the political class. +p1588 +aVWell, first, Kim Jong-Un is a dangerous leader, without a doubt. And both Republican and Democrat administrations have been completely ineffective in dealing with him. So we must continue to isolate him. We will need China as part of that strategy. China is a rising adversary. So one of the things we have to do if we want China's support is to push back on China. They, too, recognize one thing \u2014 strength and their own economic interest. I have done business in China for 25 years, so I know that in order to get China to cooperate with us, we must first actually retaliate against their cyber-attacks so they know we're serious. We have to push back on their desire to control the trade route through the South China Sea through which flows $5 trillion worth of goods and services every year. We cannot let them control the disputed islands, and we must work with the Australians, the South Koreans, the Japanese and the Filipinos to contain China. And then we must ask for their support and their help with North Korea. Because believe it or not, China is as concerned about Kim Jong-Un as we are. +p1589 +aVI too remember September 11th. I remember immediately putting into place security procedures all throughout our company that did business in 170 countries where we thought corporate interests would be attacked next. To take our country back, to keep our nation safe, we have to begin by beating Hillary Clinton. We need to unify our party. We need to better than our government, which 75 percent of the American people now think is corrupt and incompetent. They're right. We need to better than our politics. 80 percent think we have a professional/political class of both parties that cares more about its power, position and privilege than actually on getting anything done. We need to unify our party, we need a real Conservative in the White House, and we need to beat Hillary Clinton to take our country back and keep our nation safe. I can. I am. And together, if you join me, we will take our country back. +p1590 +aVWell, first of all, I must say as I think about that question, I think about a woman I met the other day. I would guess she was 40 years old. She had several children. And she said to me, you know, Carly, I go to bed every night afraid for my children's future. And that really struck me. This is America. A mother is going to bed afraid for her children's future. And the reason she's afraid for her children's future is because we've had problems for a long time. Yes, problems have gotten much worse under Democrats. But the truth is, this government has been growing bigger and bigger, more corrupt, less effective, crushing the engine of economic growth for a very long time. This isn't about just replacing a Democrat with a Republican now. It's about actually challenging the status quo of big government. Big government has created a big business called politics. And there are lots of people invested in the status quo of that big business called politics. Specifically, we need actually to do five things to really get this economy going again. We need to go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dollar is being spent, we can challenge any dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. We need to actually reform the tax code. Go to a three-page tax code. Yes, there are plans that would reform our tax code to three pages. In addition to rolling back what President Obama has done, we need to do a top-to-bottom review of every single regulation on the books. That hasn't been done in 50 years. We need to pass the +p1591 +aVWell, first Obamacare has to be repealed because it's failing... ...it's failing the very people it was intended to help, but, also, it is croney-capitalism at its worst. Who helped write this bill? Drug companies, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, every single one of those kinds of companies are bulking up to deal with big government. See, that's what happens. As government gets bigger, and bigger \u2014 and it has been for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike \u2014 and business have to bulk up to deal with big government. So, we have to repeal it. It's tens of thousands of pages long, no one can possible understand it except the big companies, the lawyers, the accountants, the lobbyists that they hire to protect their interests. Then, we have to give back to states the responsibility to manage a high risk pool. We need to try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried. Health insurance has always been a cozy, little game between regulators and health insurance companies. We need to try the free market. The free market. Where people actually have to compete. And, we 'ought to have the government ensure that you must \u2014 and I don't use that term often, that government 'ought to do something, but every healthcare provider 'ought to publish its costs, its prices, its outcomes, because as patients we don't know what we're buying. Now, let me just say \u2014 let me just say, I know more about innovation and entrepreneurship than anyone on this panel because I have led innovative businesses in the most highly competitive industry in the world for decades. The truth is the secret sauce of America is innovation, and entrepreneurship, it is why we must cut our government down to size, and hold it accountable. It's why we have to take our government back, because innovation and entrepreneurship is crushed by the crushing load of a 73,000 page tax code. It is crushed... ...by regulatory thicket that is so vast we don't even know what's in it anymore. It is crushed as well by government bureaucrats who don't do their jobs very well, and who are not held accountable, which is why I've said we got to take our government back, and to do that, we have to know where every dollar being spent, and be able to move any dollar. We have to hack through this regulatory thicket, repeal so much, but, also, know what's in that regulatory thicket \u2014 we don't even know what regulations have been passed. Third, we need to build a meritocracy \u2014 Scott Walker, by the way, is trying now to do in Wisconsin... ...Finally, we need to get to a three page tax code, and, yes, that plan exists. +p1592 +aVSorry, I can't hear you. +p1593 +aV...Absolutely... +p1594 +aV...You need to give... +p1595 +aVThe alternative is to allow states to manage high risk pools for those who really need help. Look, I'm a cancer survivor, OK? I understand that you cannot have someone who's battled cancer just become known as a pre-existing condition. I understand that you cannot allow families to go bankrupt if they truly need help. But, I also understand that Obamacare isn't helping anyone. We're throwing more, and more people into Medicaid, and fewer, and fewer doctors are taking those payments. The point is Obamacare is crushing small businesses, it is not helping the families it was intended to help. So, let us allow states to manage high risk pools. Let us try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried, the free market. Let us ensure that as patients, and customers... +p1596 +aV...that we have information to shop wisely for our health care. +p1597 +aV...Yes, the middle ground is this... +p1598 +aV...This is why \u2014 this is why we must combine, actually, zero-based budgeting with tax reform because unless we can examine, and cut, and move, every single dollar of discretionary spending in the federal government, we cannot reform taxes and reduce spending at the same time. Ask yourself this question, how is it possible that the federal government gets more money each and every year, which the federal government has been doing, receiving more money every year for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike, and yet, never has enough money to do the important things? The answer? All the money's always spoken for. All the money's spoken for. So, we have to go to zero-based budgeting, which is a simple idea \u2014 by the way, there's been a bill for zeros-based (ph) budgeting... ...It exists, it can be voted on. Every dollar must be examined. Any dollar can be cut. Any dollar can be cut, any dollar can be moved. We have to go to a three page tax code. You lower every rate, you close every loophole, why? Because the government uses the tax code to decide winners, and losers. You have to strip the corruption out of the tax code to pay for it. You have to know where every single dollar is being spent... +p1599 +aV...Cut where you need to, and invest where you need to... +p1600 +aV...The two go hand in hand... +p1601 +aVYou know, Mr. Trump fancies himself a very good negotiator. And, I accept that he's done a lot of good deals, so, Mr. Trump 'ought to know that we should not speak to people from a position of weakness. Senator Paul should know that as well. One of the reasons I've said that I would not be talking to Vladimir Putin right now, although I have met him as well, not in a green room for a show, but in a private meeting. One of the reasons I've said I wouldn't be talking to Vladimir Putin right now is because we are speaking to him from a position of weakness brought on by this administration, so, I wouldn't talk to him for awhile, but, I would do this. I would start rebuilding the Sixth Fleet right under his nose, rebuilding the military \u2014 the missile defense program in Poland right under his nose. I would conduct very aggressive military exercises in the Baltic States so that he understood we would protect our +p1602 +aV...we have the strongest military on the face of the planet, and everyone has to know it. +p1603 +aV...Ronald Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. +p1604 +aV...he walked away, he quit talks... +p1605 +aV...when it was time to quit talking... +p1606 +aVCan I just \u2014 could I just say, as a chief executive who's had to make tough calls to save jobs and to grow jobs, I think what's interesting about Dodd-Frank is it's a great example of how socialism starts. Socialism starts when government creates a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. Government created the problem. Government created the problem of a real estate boom. How did we create it? Under Republican and Democrats alike, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, everybody gathered together, Republicans and Democrats, and said, "home ownership is part of the American dream. Let's create a bubble," and then government stepped in \u2014 by the way, under president George W. Bush, banks were told \u2014 encouraged \u2014 told, really \u2014 to buy other banks, to take money. And now what do we have with Dodd-Frank? The classic of crony capitalism. The big have gotten bigger, 1,590 community banks have gone out of business, and on top of all that, we've created something called the Consumer Financial Production Bureau, a vast bureaucracy with no congressional oversight that's digging through hundreds of millions of your credit records to detect fraud. This is how socialism starts, ladies and gentlemen. We must take our government back. +p1607 +aVImagine a Clinton presidency. Our military will continue to deteriorate. Our veterans will not be cared for. And, no, Mrs. Clinton, that situation is not exaggerated. The rich will get richer. The poor will get poorer. The middle class will continue to get crushed. And as bad as that picture is, what's even worse is that a Clinton presidency will corrode the character of this nation. Why? Because of the Clinton way: Say whatever you have to, lie as long as you can get away with it. We must beat Hillary Clinton. Carly Fiorina can beat Hillary Clinton. I will beat Hillary Clinton. And under a President Fiorina, we will restore the character of this nation, the security of this nation, the prosperity of this nation, because as citizens, we will take our government back. +p1608 +aVWell, gee, after the last debate, I was told that I didn't smile enough. +p1609 +aVBut I also think that these are very serious times; 75 percent of the American people think the federal government is corrupt. I agree with them. And this big powerful, corrupt bureaucracy works now only for the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected. Meantime, wages have stagnated for 40 years. We have more Americans out of work or just Americans who quit looking for work for 40 years. Ours was intended to be a citizen government. This is about more than replacing a D with an R. We need a leader who will help us take our government back. +p1610 +aVLet me just say on taxes, how long have we been talking about tax reform in Washington, D.C.? We have been talking about it for decades. We now have a 73,000-page tax code. There have been more than 4,000 changes to the tax plan since 2001 alone. There are loads of great ideas, great conservative ideas from wonderful think tanks about how to reform the tax code. The problem is we never get it done. We have talked about tax reform in every single election for decades. It never happens. And the politicians always say it is so complicated, nobody but a politician can figure it out. The truth is this, the big problem, we need a leader in Washington who understands how to get something done, not to talk about it, not to propose it, to get it done. +p1611 +aVThat's right, three pages. +p1612 +aVYou know why three? +p1613 +aVNo. You know why three? Because only if it's about three pages are you leveling the playing field between the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected who can hire the armies of lawyers and accountants and, yes, lobbyists to help them navigate their way through 73,000 pages. Three pages is about the maximum that a single business owner or a farmer or just a couple can understand without hiring somebody. Almost 60 percent of American people now need to hire an expert to understand their taxes. So yes, you're going to hear a lot of talk about tax reform \u2014 +p1614 +aV\u2014 the issue is who is going to get it done. +p1615 +aVYou know, the +p1616 +aVWell, this is one of the reasons why Tom Perkins and I had disagreements in the boardroom, Becky. Nevertheless, one of the things that I think people don't always understand is how accountable a CEO actually is. So you know, I had to report results every 90 days in excruciating detail. I had to answer every single question about every single result and every single projection in public until there were no more questions. And if I misrepresented those results or those projections in any way, I was held criminally liable. Imagine \u2014 imagine \u2014 if a politician were held to that standard of account. I will run on my record all day long. And I believe people need a leader who is prepared to make tough calls in tough times and stand up... +p1617 +aV...and be held accountable. +p1618 +aVYou know, I want to go back for a moment to what we were just talking about. Crony capitalism is alive and well, and has been so in Washington, D.C. for decades. What's crony capitalism? Crony capitalism is what happens when government gets so big and so powerful that only the big and the powerful can handle it. So why are the pharmaceutical companies consolidating? Why are there five even bigger Wall Street banks now, instead of the ten we used to have on Wall Street? Because when government gets big and powerful, the big feel like they need to get even bigger to deal with all that power, and meanwhile, the small and the powerless \u2014 in this case, 1,590 community banks \u2014 go out of business. You see, folks, this is how socialism starts. Government causes a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. This is why, fundamentally, we have to take our government back. The student loan problem has been created by government. Government trying to level the playing field between Internet and brick-and-mortar creates a problem. The FCC jumping in now and saying, "we're going to put 400 pages of regulation over the Internet," is going to create massive problems. But guess who pushed for that regulation? The big Internet companies. This is what's going on. Big and powerful use big and powerful government to their advantage. It's why you see Walgreens buying Rite Aid. It's why you see the pharmaceuticals getting together. It's you see the health insurance companies getting together. It's why you see the banks consolidating. And meanwhile, small businesses are getting crushed. Community- based businesses and farms are getting crushed. Community banks are going out of business. Big government favors the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected, and crushes the small and the powerless. +p1619 +aVIt is why we have to simplify. It is why we have to reduce the size and power of government. +p1620 +aVIt's the only way to level the playing field between big and powerful and small and powerless. +p1621 +aVBecky, it is the height of hypocrisy for Mrs. Clinton to talk about being the first woman President, when every single policy she espouses, and every single policy of President Obama has been demonstrably bad for women. 92 percent \u2014 92 percent of the jobs lost during Barack Obama's first term belonged to women. Senator Cruz is precisely right. Three million women have fallen into poverty under this administration. The number of women \u2014 +p1622 +aV\u2014 living in extreme poverty is the highest level on record. I am a conservative because I know our values, our principles and our policies \u2014 +p1623 +aV\u2014 work better to lift everyone up, men and women. +p1624 +aVNo, the Federal Government should not play a larger role. Look, every time the Federal Government gets engaged in something it gets worse. And then the Government steps in to try and solve the problem and we get a little further down to that progressive vision that Hillary Clinton is talking about. Companies should, if they want to attract the best workers, provide a good set of benefits. But honestly, if you're a small business owner today you are being crushed. We have 400,000 small businesses forming every year in this country. How great is that? They are employing themselves, they are potentially employing others. The bad news is, we have 470,000 going out of business every year. And why? They cite Obamacare. They are refusing to... +p1625 +aVI think it's a wonderful that that businesses start a 401(k). The point I'm making is this, the Federal Government should not be in a lot of things. There is no Constitutional role for the Federal Government in setting up \u2014 retirement plans. There is no Constitutional role for the Federal Government to be setting minimum wages... +p1626 +aV... The more the Government gets engaged in the economy, the slower the economy becomes. The more the Government gets engaged in the economy, it is demonstrably true... +p1627 +aV... The more the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected are advantaged. +p1628 +aVJohn, I \u2014 if I \u2014 a lot of people have jumped in here. I'd like to jump in. A lot of people have jumped in here. +p1629 +aVI understand. +p1630 +aVI would just say that... ... I would just say this, we've heard a lot of great ideas up here, and I agree with what Senator Rubio said. Every election we talk about this. Every election we talk about Medicare and Social Security reform. It never happens. I would like to start with a basic. Let us actually go to zero- based budgeting so we know where the money is being spent. It's kind of basic. There is a bill sitting in the House that would actually pass and have us go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dime of your money is being spent instead of only talking about how much more we're going to spend year after year after year. My point is this. While there are lots of good ideas for reform, we have never tackled the basics. And we finally need to tackle the basics to cut this government down to size and hold it accountable. So let's start by knowing where your money is being spent by the federal government. +p1631 +aVYou know, every election we hear a lot of talk. We hear a lot of good plans. We hear actually a lot of good intentions. But somehow for decades, nothing really has changed. What we need now is a proven leader who has produced results. That's how you go from secretary to CEO. You lead and you produce results. I will cut this government down to size and hold it accountable, simplify the tax code, roll back the regulations that have been spewing out of Washington, D.C. for 50 years. I may not be your dream candidate just yet, but I can assure you I am Hillary Clinton's worst nightmare. And in your heart of hearts, you cannot wait to see a debate between Hillary Clinton and Carly Fiorina. I will tell you this, I will beat Hillary Clinton. And with your vote and your support and your prayers, I will lead with the citizens of this great nation the resurgence of this great nation. +p1632 +aVGood evening. My story, from secretary to CEO, is only possible in this nation, and proves that everyone of us has potential. My husband, Frank, of 30 years, started out driving a tow truck for a family owned auto body shop. We have come to a pivotal point in our nation's history where this nation's possibilities and potential are being crushed by a government grown so big, so powerful, so inept, so corrupt, and a political class that refuses to do anything about it. I am prepared to lead the resurgence of this great nation. +p1633 +aVYou know, I think Mr. Trump is a wonderful entertainer. He's been terrific at that business. I also think that one of the benefits of a presidential campaign is the character and capability, judgment and temperament of every single one of us is revealed over time and under pressure. All of us will be revealed over time and under pressure. I look forward to a long race. +p1634 +aVThat's not for me to answer; it is for the voters of this country to answer, and I have a lot of faith in the common sense and good judgment of the voters of the United States of America. +p1635 +aVJake, I'll tell you \u2014 I'll tell you why people are supporting outsiders. It's because you know what happens if someone's been in the system their whole life, they don't know how broken the system is. A fish swims in water, it doesn't know it's water. It's not that politicians are bad people, it's that they've been in that system forever. The truth is 75 percent of the American people think the government is corrupt; 82 percent of the American people think these problems that have festered for 50 years in some cases, 25 years in other cases. The border's been insecure for 25 years; 307,000 veterans have died waiting for health care. These things have gone on for so long because no one will challenge the status quo. You know what a leader does? They challenge the status quo, they solve problems that have festered for a long time and they produce results. That is what my whole life has been about. People know this is about far more than replacing a D with an R \u2014 +p1636 +aV\u2014 this is about changing the system. +p1637 +aVHaving... +p1638 +aVHaving met Vladimir Putin, if I may... +p1639 +aVHaving met Vladimir Putin, I wouldn't talk to him at all. We've talked way too much to him. What I would do, immediately, is begin rebuilding the Sixth Fleet, I would begin rebuilding the missile defense program in Poland, I would conduct regular, aggressive military exercises in the Baltic states. I'd probably send a few thousand more troops into Germany. Vladimir Putin would get the message. By the way, the reason it is so critically important that every one of us know General Suleimani's name is because Russia is in Syria right now, because the head of the Quds force traveled to Russia and talked Vladimir Putin into aligning themselves with Iran and Syria to prop up Bashar al- Assad. Russia is a bad actor, but Vladimir Putin is someone we should not talk to, because the only way he will stop is to sense strength and resolve on the other side, and we have all of that within our control. We could rebuild the Sixth Fleet. I will. We haven't. We could rebuild the missile defense program. We haven't. I will. We could also, to Senator Rubio's point, give the Egyptians what they've asked for, which is intelligence. We could give the Jordanians what they've asked for... +p1640 +aV...bombs and materiel. We have not supplied it... +p1641 +aV...I will. We could arm the Kurds. They've been asking us for three years. All of this is within our control. +p1642 +aV...Jake... +p1643 +aV...Jake, ... +p1644 +aVAnd then it'll be my turn. +p1645 +aVJake? +p1646 +aVJake? +p1647 +aVDana, I'd like to... +p1648 +aVDana, I would like to link these two issues, both of which are incredibly important, Iran and Planned Parenthood. One has something to do with the defense of the security of this nation. The other has something to do with the defense of the character of this nation. You have not heard a plan about Iran from any politician up here, here is my plan. On day one in the Oval Office, I will make two phone calls, the first to my good friend to Bibi Netanyahu to reassure him we will stand with the state of Israel. The second, to the supreme leader, to tell him that unless and until he opens every military and every nuclear facility to real anytime, anywhere inspections by our people, not his, we, the United States of America, will make it as difficult as possible and move money around the global financial system. We can do that, we don't need anyone's cooperation to do it. And every ally and every adversary we have in this world will know that the United States in America is back in the leadership business, which is how we must stand with our allies. As regards Planned Parenthood, anyone who has watched this videotape, I dare Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama to watch these tapes. Watch a fully formed fetus on the table, it's heart beating, it's legs kicking while someone says we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain. This is about the character of our nation, and if we will not stand up in and force President Obama to veto this bill, shame on us. +p1649 +aVYou know, it's interesting to me, Mr. Trump said that he heard Mr. Bush very clearly and what Mr. Bush said. I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said. +p1650 +aVDana, with all being said to Mr. Trump... +p1651 +aVImmigration did not come up in 2016 because Mr. Trump brought it up. We talked about it in 2012, we talked about it in 2008. We talked about it in 2004. +p1652 +aVWe have been talking about it for 25 years. This is why people are tired of politicians. +p1653 +aVFirst let me say, We have just spent a good bit of time discussing, as Republicans, how to solve this problem. I would ask your audience at home to ask a very basic question. Why have Democrats not solved this problem? President Obama campaigned in 2007 and 2008 on solving the immigration problem. He entered Washington with majorities in the House and the Senate. He could have chosen to do anything to solve this pro \u2014 this problem. Instead, he chose to do nothing. Why? because the Democrats don't want this issue solved. +p1654 +aVThey want it to be an issue that they can use. As to birthright citizenship... +p1655 +aV...the truth is, you can't just wave your hands and say "the 14th Amendment is gonna go away." It will take an extremely arduous vote in Congress, followed by two-thirds of the states, and if that doesn't work to amend the Constitution, then it is a long, arduous process in court. And meanwhile, what will continue to go on is what has gone on for 25 years. With all due respect, Mr. Trump, we've been talking about illegal immigration for 25 years. San Francisco has been a sanctuary city since 1989. There are 300 of them. And meanwhile, what has happened? Nothing. The border remains insecure. The legal immigration system remains broken. Look, we know what it takes to secure a border. We've heard a lot of great ideas here. Money, manpower, technology... +p1656 +aV...mostly, apparently, leadership... +p1657 +aV...the kind of leadership that understands how to get results. +p1658 +aVBut you \u2014 you would stipulate, Mr. Trump, but not everyone agrees with you. +p1659 +aVOK. +p1660 +aVI led Hewlett Packard through a very difficult time, the worst technology recession in 25 years. The +p1661 +aV\u2014 out a full-page ad in the New York Times to say he was wrong, I was right. I was a terrific CEO, the board was dysfunctional. And he thinks I will make a magnificent president of the United States. +p1662 +aVYou know, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld is a well-known Clintonite and honestly had it out for me from the moment that I arrived at Hewlett Packard. But honestly, Mr. Trump, I find it quite rich that you would talk about this. You know, there are a lot of us Americans who believe that we are going to have trouble someday paying back the interest on our debt because politicians have run up mountains of debt using other people's money. That is in fact precisely the way you ran your casinos. You ran up mountains of debt, as well as losses, using other people's money, and you were forced to file for bankruptcy not once \u2014 +p1663 +aV\u2014 not twice, four times, a record four times. Why should we trust you to manage the finances \u2014 +p1664 +aV\u2014 of this nation any differently than you managed the finances \u2014 +p1665 +aV\u2014 of your casinos? +p1666 +aVWell \u2014 +p1667 +aVWell, Mr. Trump \u2014 +p1668 +aVA track record of leadership is not a game. It is the issue in this election. +p1669 +aVWell, I thought we had been hearing quite a bit about Govenor Christie's record as governor, actually. I think track records are very important. I completely agree that what's at stake here is the future of this nation, and the future of every American. But I do think that a track record of leadership is vital because in the end this election is about leadership. And let's talk about what leadership is. It's not about braggadocio, it is about challenging the status quo, solving problems, producing results. And the highest calling of leadership is to unlock potential in others. +p1670 +aVProblems have festered in Washington for too long. And the potential of this nation is being crushed. +p1671 +aVYou see, Governor Christie, people spend time talking about their track records, and Mr. Trump and I have every right to do the same. And Mrs. Clinton has to defend her track record. Her track record of lying about Benghazi, of lying about her e- mails, about lying about her servers. She does not have a track record of accomplishment. Like Mrs. Clinton, I, too, have travels hundreds of thousands of miles around the globe. But unlike Mrs. Clinton, I know flying is an activity, not an accomplishment. Mrs. Clinton \u2014 if you want to stump a Democrat, ask them to name a accomplishment of Mrs. Clinton's. +p1672 +aVWe just spent \u2014 we just spent the last 10 minutes... +p1673 +aV...Jake, since everyone has gotten to weigh in on this military issue, I'd like to be able to do the same. We have spent probably 12 minutes talking about the past. Let's talk about the future. We need the strongest military on the face of the planet, and everyone has to know it. And, specifically, what that means is we need about 50 Army brigades, we need about 36 Marine battalions, we need somewhere between 300, and 350 naval ships, we need to upgrade every leg of the nuclear triad... +p1674 +aV...we need to reform the Department of Defense, we need as well... +p1675 +aV...to invest in our military technology, and we need to care for our veterans so 307,000... +p1676 +aV...aren't dying waiting for health care. +p1677 +aVJake, may I just say... +p1678 +aVJake \u2014 Jake... +p1679 +aVI very much hope I am the only person on this stage who can say this, but I know there are millions of Americans out there who will say the same thing. My husband Frank and I buried a child to drug addiction. So, we must invest more in the treatment of drugs. +p1680 +aVI agree with Senator Paul. I agree with states' rights. But we are misleading young people when we tell them that marijuana is just like having a beer. It's not. And the marijuana that kids are smoking today is not the same as the marijuana that Jeb Bush smoked 40 years ago. We do \u2014 sorry, Barbara. We do need \u2014 we do need criminal justice reform. We have the highest incarceration rates in the world. Two-thirds of the people in our prisons are there for non-violent offenses, mostly drug related. It's clearly not working. But we need to tell young people the truth. Drug addiction is an epidemic, and it is taking too many of our young people. I know this sadly from personal experience. +p1681 +aVI wouldn't change the $10 bill, or the $20 bill. I think, honestly, it's a gesture. I don't think it helps to change our history. What I would think is that we ought to recognize that women are not a special interest group. Women are the majority of this nation. We are half the potential of this nation, and this nation will be better off when every woman has the opportunity to live the life she chooses. +p1682 +aVSecretariat. +p1683 +aVI think what this nation can be and must be is symbolized by Lady Liberty and Lady Justice. Lady Liberty stands tall and strong. She is clear-eyed and resolute. She doesn't shield her eyes from the realities of the world, but she faces outward into the world nevertheless, as we always must. And she holds her torch high, because she knows she is a beacon of hope in a very troubled world. And Lady Justice, Lady Justice holds a sword by her side, because she is a fighter, a warrior for the values and the principles that have made this nation great. She holds a scale in her other hand. And with that scale she says all of us are equal in the eyes of God. And so all of us must be equal in the eyes of the law and the government, powerful and powerless alike. And she wears a blindfold. And with that blindfold she is saying to us that it must be true, it can be true that in this country, in this century, it doesn't matter who you are, it doesn't matter what you look like, it doesn't matter how you start, it doesn't matter your circumstances, here in this nation, every American's life must be filled with the possibilities that come from their God-given gifts. One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. +p1684 +aVWhen America does not lead, the world is a dangerous and a tragic place. This is a bad deal. Obama broke every rule of negotiation. Yes, our allies are not perfect, but Iran is at the heart of most of the evil that is going on in the Middle East through their proxy. +p1685 +aVYou know, when I started my campaign on May 4th of last year, I was 17 out of 16 candidates. Nobody polled my name. Nobody had ever heard of me. Less than 4 percent of you had ever heard of me. The people in Iowa showed up and they are still showing up. Hundreds and hundreds of them at every event. I have done over 150 events in the state of Iowa and I have 15 more coming up. Now, by the way, I start there because someone asked me about midway through my campaign, what's the biggest surprise to you on the campaign trail? And I will tell you what the biggest surprise is: the chasm, the yawning chasm, between what the national media talks about and what the people of Iowa and the people of this great nation talk about. That's the biggest surprise. So guess what, Martha? Guess what, sorry. The people of Iowa never ask me about a crisis in the GOP, they never ask me about the polls. They never ask me about the other candidates. What they ask me about is Carly, tell us why zero based budgeting is so important. Tell us why you are a leader who is going to produce results. Tell us how you are going to defeat +p1686 +aVWell let me tell you this: news flash, President Obama, news flash, Mrs. Clinton -- climate change is not our most pressing national security threat. Actually -- actually, it is +p1687 +aVYou know, we have a professional, political class of both parties. We have been talking about the same issues for election cycle after election cycle. Yeah, government is big and out of control, and the only way to get it under control is to control the money. And the only way to control the money is to ask the federal government to budget the way you do, to examine every dollar, to cut any dollar to spend -- to move any dollar. The fancy word for that is zero-base budgeting. I call it common sense. That three-page tax code I talk about all the time here in Iowa? It's been around for 20 years. But politicians don't want to talk about it, and you bet the lobbyists don't want to talk about it. In fact, nobody wants to vote on a three-page tax code or zero- base budgeting, although they've both been around for a long time. You know why? Because if you get those two things done, you are goring everybody's ox. You are taking the political establishment apart. You are actually challenging the status quo, which is what we need in the Oval Office. So you know who I'm going to count on? The citizens of this great nation, because you have extraordinary power. But when you do not use it... ... you are losing it. So take out your smartphones, folks. The people of Iowa know what I'm talking about. You take out your smartphones. if you agree with me that three-page tax code needs to be passed, lobbyists aren't going to be in my office. If you agree we gotta finally pass zero-base budgeting, take out your smartphones. Press one for yes, ladies and gentlemen. Press two for no. Citizens, we must take our country back. +p1688 +aVWell, first of all, I haven't said that. What I have said is that in the process of examining every dollar, cutting any dollar and moving any dollar, we happen to know that in this vast federal bureaucracy we have about 260,000 federal government employees who are going to retire, and we shouldn't replace them. Secondly, at Hewlett Packard, as you know -- the people of Iowa know this -- we went through a tough time. The worst technology recession in 25 years -- a great company called Gateway used to do be right here in Iowa. But they didn't make the tough calls necessary to save all those jobs, and so they lost every one of those jobs. Yes, I've had to make some tough calls. We saved 80,000 jobs. We went on to grow to 160,000 jobs. And, frankly, I think the American people know we need a president who's going to make some tough calls. So let me tell you where I'm going to start. The American people got a bill passed through Congress that said we could fire the top 400 senior executives at the V.A. for dereliction of duty. When we know that 307,000 veterans have died waiting for health care and the V.A. handed out $142 million worth of bonuses for superb performance, I'm going to start by firing 400... ... senior executives at the V.A. +p1689 +aVHe is right there. He is right there. +p1690 +aVIt wasn't a personal attack. I was pointing out the fact that Hillary Clinton will do anything to gain and hang on to power, anything. Listen, if my husband did what Bill Clinton did, I would have left him long ago. So, here's the deal. Hillary Clinton has been climbing the ladder to try and get power and here now she is trying for the White House. She is probably more qualified for the big house, honestly. She has escaped prosecution more times than El Chapo, perhaps Sean Penn should interview her. The woman should be prosecuted. And while Mrs. Clinton has flown hundreds of thousands of world around the global, I have too. And I know flying is an activity not an accomplishment. While I know that she has held many positions and many titles she has not accomplished much of anything in her life. She has gotten every single foreign policy challenge wrong. She continues to lie to the American people. It's called the Clinton way. Both Bill and Hillary practice it, the Clinton way. Say whatever you have to say, do whatever you have to say. Lie as long as you can get away with it. Hillary Clinton cannot be the president of these United States. +p1691 +aVWell, you know, Hillary Clinton hasn't been indicted either. So that tells us a lot about our justice system in this country. But, look, the facts of Planned Parenthood have not changed, folks, and I will not be rendered silent on this issue or any other issue. And it doesn't matter what stage I'm on. Here are the facts. Planned Parenthood engages in partial birth abortion, in late-term abortion. They alter those abortion techniques to harvest and sell body parts. They have admitted that they are not going to accept compensation for this anymore. The reality is, most Americans find this practice horrific. Most Americans find horrific that Hillary Clinton's position on this is it's not a life until it's born. Most Americans find horrific Hillary Clinton's position or the Democrat party's position, that a young woman does not need her mother's permission to get an abortion. But if you are 13 years old, you can get an abortion, but you can't go to a tanning salon without your mother's permission. A president Fiorina -- in a president Fiorina budget, there will not be one dime for Planned Parenthood, although there would be a lot of money for women's health and we will finally pass the pain capable unborn child protection act. I will always stand for life and religious liberty... ... because this is about the character of our nation. +p1692 +aVMartha, can I just say we've been talking tonight about a lot of issues and we've also been talking about the fact that the game is rigged and frankly, the media has a lot to do with that. It is outrageous frankly, that Fox News, and you, would question the pro-life credentials of Rick Santorum. That is outrageous. +p1693 +aVIn over 150 events I have come to know and love the people of Iowa. And the people of Iowa know what the rest of Americans have figured out, this ain't working anymore. The government no longer works for those who pay for it. The professional political class says and does whatever they need to do to win, and then does whatever they please. We need to return to a citizen government. That is why I am running for President. The media, the establishment, they all want to tell you this elections over, they know who's going to win it, except that you haven't... ... cast a single vote yet. So, the people of Iowa, stand with me, fight with me. Caucus for me. It is time to take our country back. +p1694 +aVWell, thank you. Good evening. If I may begin by saying how honored I am to be standing here with two former Iowa Caucus winners. Governor, Senator. And how honored I am to be talking with all of you. You know, I'm not a political insider. I haven't spent my lifetime running for office. The truth is I have had and been blessed by a lot of opportunities to do a lot of things in my life. And unlike another woman in this race, I actually love spending time with my husband. I'm standing here because I think we have to restore a citizen government in this country. I think we have to end crony capitalism. The crony capitalism that starts with both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. You know, Hillary Clinton sits inside government and rakes in millions, handing out access and favors. And Donald Trump sits outside government and rakes in billions buying people like Hillary Clinton. The state of our economy is not strong. We have record numbers of men out of work. We have record numbers of women living in poverty. We have young people who no longer believe that the American dream applies to them. We have working families whose wages have stagnated for decades, all while the rich get richer, the powerful get more powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected get more connected. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. +p1695 +aVAmerica must lead because when we do not lead, when this exceptional nation does not lead, the world is more dangerous and a more tragic place. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, they all refuse to lead. Worse, they refuse to respond when this nation is provoked. Hillary Clinton famously asked what difference does it make how four Americans died in Benghazi? Mrs. Clinton, here's what difference it makes. When you do not stand up and say the truth, that this was a purposeful terrorist attack, when you do not say the United States of America will retaliate for that attack, terrorists assume it's open season. We have refused to respond to every provocation. The President wouldn't even mention the fact that Iran had taken two Navy boats and our sailors \u2014 hostage. He didn't mention the fact that they violated the Geneva convention. He didn't respond to the fact that Iran launched two ballistic missile just a short time ago, in direct violation of a deal they had just signed. We didn't respond to the fact that North Korea attacked Sony Pictures. When we refuse to respond over, and over to provocation and bad behavior, we will get more provocation and bad behavior. I know most of our allies personally. I have met many of our adversaries. I know our military and our intelligence capability, and I know this. When we will not stand with our allies, when we will not respond to our adversaries, when we do not lead in the world the world is a dangerous and tragic place. I will be a Commander in Chief who will lead. +p1696 +aVOf course I'm worried about similar problems in the United States. We can not allow refugees to enter this country unless we can adequately vet them and we know we can't. Therefore we should stop allowing refugees into this country. And by the way, we do not need to be lectured about why we're angry and frustrated and fearful because we've had an illegal immigration problem in this country for 25 years. And we have every right to be frustrated about the fact that politicians stand up in election after election after election and promise us to fix the problem and yet, it has never been fixed. I offer leadership that understands that actions speak louder than words, that results count. We must secure our border. We must fix our broken immigration system. We must enforce a pro-American immigration system that serves our interests, not the rest of the world. I understand what it takes to translate goals into results and that is what I will do as president of the United States. Of course, we should be worried, for heavens sakes. This administration has now told us they don't know who has overstayed a visa. This administration has told us they don't even bother to check Facebook or Twitter to find out who's pledging allegiance to jihadis. We can do better than this, citizens. We need to take our country back. +p1697 +aVWe need to be very clear-eyed now about who are our allies and who are our adversaries. In the fight against +p1698 +aVAnd we all believe the polling data all the time, don't we? +p1699 +aVOh, it's a problem for so many reasons. First of all, it is yet another lawless executive order. You see, he doesn't like the fact that Congress has rejected his ideas twice on a bipartisan basis, so he's decided he just gets to override them. Sorry, Mr. President, not the way "The Constitution" works. Secondly......secondly, he basically admitted in that speech that he hasn't been paying much attention to enforcing the laws we have. He said, gee, we need a few more FBI agents. That would have helped, perhaps, stop a tragedy here in South Carolina with Dylann Roof, a guy who clearly never should have been sold a gun. In other words, Mr. President, you're right, we need to enforce the laws we have. Let's enforce the laws we have. There are criminals running around with guns who shouldn't have them. We don't prosecute any of them. Less than 1 percent. But I want to go back to the technology issue for a moment, if I may, as well, because in this regard, I disagree with Senator Santorum. Look, I come from the technology industry and I can tell you there is one thing that bureaucracies don't know how to do. They do not know how to innovate. We have come seven generations of technology since 2011. We have bureaucracies that are incapable of bringing in that innovation. So, yes, there are some very specific things that we should ask the private sector to help us with, including making sure we have the latest and greatest in algorithms to search through all these databases so that we find terrorists before they attack us, not after it's too late. And, finally, when a president who understands technology in the Oval Office. Mrs. Clinton, actually, you cannot wipe a server with a towel. +p1700 +aVYes, and see... +p1701 +aVAs CEO of Hewlett Packard... +p1702 +aVAs CEO of Hewlett Packard, I was asked very specifically for some very real help. The help I was asked to provide, this is now public information. So I am not revealing what \u2014 something that was \u2014 was classified. We had a very large shipment of equipment, software and hardware, headed to a retail outlet. And I was called by the head of the NSA, who had an urgent need for that capability, to begin laying out a program to track terrorists. We turned that truck around on a highway and it was escorted to the headquarters in San Jose. In World War II, our government went to the private sector and said, help us do things that we cannot do. The private sector has capabilities that the government does not have. There are some legal authorities that are required. The Sony attack could have been detected and repelled, had legal authorities been passed in Congress allowing private networks and public networks to work together. Those legal authorities have not yet been passed. Yes, I was asked to help. I know the technology industry. They will help again. But they must be asked by a president who understands what they have. +p1703 +aVFor decades, the professional political class in both parties has been talking about the middle class. For decades, Republicans in particular have been talking about reducing the size and scope of government, spending less money, reducing the complexity. And yet, for 40 years, the government has gotten bigger and more expensive. We now have a 75,000 plus page tax code, although politicians have run for office for decades promising reform. And all the while, middle class incomes have stagnated. You see, when government gets bigger and bigger, more powerful, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer and the middle class gets squeezed. We need to understand who the job creators are in this country, because we need more jobs to grow the middle class and to grow the wages of the middle class. Who creates jobs? Small businesses, new businesses, family-owned businesses. They create two thirds of the new jobs in this country and they employ half the people. I started out typing for a nine person real estate firm. My husband Frank started out driving a tow truck for a family-owned auto body shop. And we are crushing small businesses and destroying the middle class. So here's my blueprint to take back America. Let us first actually reform the tax code from 73,000 pages down to three. There's a 20-year-old plan to do exactly that. And then let us begin piece by piece to focus on every single dollar the government spends, so that we will spend less overall and still have enough for our priorities. And that requires the government to budget the way you do at home \u2014 examine every dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. The fancy term for that is zero- based budgeting, but I call it common sense. Citizens, we've got to take our country back. +p1704 +aVMy husband Frank, that I mentioned, I love spending time with. He's down there. He was real excited the other day because in New Hampshire, he was introduced as my eye candy. You know, everybody out there watching knows this. You cannot wait to see the debate between me and Hillary Clinton. You would pay to see that fight. And that's because you know I will win. And that's important. We've got to start by beating Hillary Clinton. All of my life, I have been told to sit down and be quiet. Settle. Settle. Don't challenge the system. That's what the American people are being told now and we have been told that for way too long \u2014 sit down and be quiet about our God, about our guns, about the abortion industry, settle for illegal immigration that's been a problem for decades, as so many of our problems have festered for decades. Accept a system of government and politics that no longer works for us. I will not sit down and be quiet. And neither will you. So I ask you to stand with me, fight with me, vote for me, citizens. It is time to take our future back, time to take our politics back. It is time to take our government back. Citizens, it is time. We must take our country back. +p1705 +aVWell, I would begin by reminding people that at this point in previous presidential elections, Jimmy Carter couldn't win, Ronald Reagan couldn't win, Bill Clinton couldn't win, and neither could've Barack Obama. I started as a secretary and became ultimately the chief executive of the largest technology company in the world, almost $90 billion in over 150 countries. I know personally how extraordinary and unique this nation is. I think to be commander in chief in the 21st century requires someone who understands how the economy works, someone who understands how the world works and who's in it; I know more world leaders on the stage today than anyone running, with the possible exception of Hillary Clinton; understands bureaucracies, how to cut them down to size and hold them accountable; and understands technology, which is a tool, but it's also a weapon that's being used against us. Most importantly, I think I understand leadership, which sometimes requires a tough call in a tough time. But mostly, the highest calling of leadership is to challenge the status-quo and unlock the potential of others. We need a leader who will lead the resurgence of this great nation and unlock its potential once again. Thank you. +p1706 +aVWell, I don't know. I didn't get a phone call from Bill Clinton before I jumped in the race. Did any of you get a phone call from Bill Clinton? I didn't. Maybe it's because I hadn't given money to the foundation or donated to his wife's Senate campaign. Here's the thing that I would ask Donald Trump in all seriousness. He is the party's frontrunner right now, and good for him. I think he's tapped into an anger that people feel. They're sick of politics as usual. You know, whatever your issue, your cause, the festering problem you hoped would resolved, the political class has failed you. That's just a fact, and that's what Donald Trump taps into. I would also just say this. Since he has changed his mind on amnesty, on health care and on abortion, I would just ask, what are the principles by which he will govern? Mac +p1707 +aVLet me say first that it is disturbing that every time one of these home-grown terrorist attacks occurs, and, as your question points out, they are occurring with far too great frequency, it turns out we had warning signals. It turns out we knew something was wrong. It turns out some dot wasn't connected, and so the first thing we have to do is make sure that everyone and every responsible agency is attuned to all of these possibilities and symptoms. We even had warnings about the Boston Marathon bombers, and yet the dots weren't connected. So we need to get on a different mindset. Secondly, I certainly support that we need to tear down cyber walls, not on a mass basis, but on a targeted basis. But let me just say that we also need down -- to tear down the cyber walls that China is erecting, that Russia is erecting. We need to be very well aware of the fact that China and Russia are using technology to attack us, just as +p1708 +aVI absolutely would call on them to collaborate and cooperate, yes. +p1709 +aVYeah. Sometimes it's a complicated situation, but some things are black and white. On day one in the Oval Office, I would make two phone calls. The first one would be to my good friend, Bibi Netanyahu, to reassure him we will stand with the State of Israel. The second will be to the supreme leader of Iran. He might not take my phone call, but he would get the message, and the message is this: Until you open every nuclear and every military facility to full, open, anytime/anywhere, for real, inspections, we are going to make it as difficult as possible for you to move money around the global financial system. I hope Congress says no to this deal. But realistically, even if they do, the money is flowing. China and Russia have never been on our side of the table. The Europeans have moved on. We have to stop the money flow. And by the way, as important as those two phone calls are, they are also very important because they say this. America is back in the leadership business. And when America does not lead, the world is a dangerous and a tragic place. This is a bad deal. Obama broke every rule of negotiation. Yes, our allies are not perfect. But Iran is at the heart of most of the evil that is going on in the Middle East through their proxies. Mac +p1710 +aVLet me tell you what I would do immediately, day two in the Oval Office. I would hold a Camp David summit with our Arab allies, not to talk them into this lousy deal with Iran, but to say to them, "what is it that you need to defeat +p1711 +aVI agree with my colleagues. We need to begin by undoing -- I would begin by undoing a whole set of things that President Obama has done, whether it's illegal amnesty or this latest round of EPA regulations. But let me go back to something that's very important. We have been debating right here the core difference between conservatism and progressivism. Conservatives, I am a conservative because I believe no one of us is any better than any other one of us. Every one of us is gifted by God, whether it is those poor babies being picked over or it's someone whose life is tangled up in a web of dependence. Progressives don't believe that. They believe some are smarter than others, some are better than others, so some are going to need to take care of others. That is the fight we have to have, and we have to undo a whole set of things that President Obama has done that get at the heart of his disrespect and disregard for too many Americans. +p1712 +aVThis is a great nation. It is a unique nation in all of human history and on the face of the planet, because here, our founders believed that everyone has a right to fulfill their potential and that that right --they called it life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness -- comes from God and cannot be taken away by government. We have arrived at a point in our nation's history where the potential of this nation and too many Americans is being crushed by the weight, the power, the cost, the complexity, the ineptitude, the corruption of the federal government, and only someone who will challenge the status quo of Washington, D.C. can lead the resurgence of this great nation. I will do that. Mac +p1713 +aVNot trustworthy. No accomplishment. +p1714 +aVHillary Clinton lies about Benghazi, she lies about e- mails. She is still defending Planned Parenthood, and she is still her party's frontrunner. 2016 is going to be a fight between conservatism, and a Democrat party that is undermining the very character of this nation. We need a nominee who is going to throw every punch, not pull punches, and someone who cannot stumble before he even gets into the ring. I am not a member of the political class. I am a conservative; I can win this job, I can do this job, I need your help, I need your support. I will, with your help and support, lead the resurgence of this great nation. Thank you. +p1715 +asVBUSH +p1716 +(lp1717 +VOur freedom is under attack. Our economy is under water. The leading democrat is under investigation. And America is under the gun to lead the free world to protect our civilized way of life. Serious times require strong leadership, that's what at stake right now. Regarding national security, we need to restore the defense cuts of Barack Obama to rebuild our military, to destroy +p1718 +aVWell, first of all, we need to destroy +p1719 +aVLook, he mentioned me. I can bring \u2014 I can talk. This is \u2014 this is the problem. Banning all Muslims will make it harder for us to do exactly what we need to do, which is to destroy +p1720 +aVThey are relevant if we want to destroy +p1721 +aVDonald, this has got... +p1722 +aVThis is another example of the lack of seriousness. Look, this is \u2014 this is troubling because we're at war. They've declared war on us and we need to have a serious strategy to destroy +p1723 +aVYou said on September 30th that +p1724 +aVI'm talking right now. I'm talking. +p1725 +aVSeptember 30th you said... +p1726 +aVA little of your own medicine there, Donald. +p1727 +aVDonald, you're not going to be able to insult your way to the presidency. That's not going to happen. And I do have the strength. Leadership, leadership is not about attacking people and disparaging people. Leadership is about creating a serious strategy to deal with the threat of our time. And I laid out that strategy before the attacks in Paris and before the attacks in San Bernardino. And it is the way forward. We need to increase our military spending. We need to deal with a no- fly zone in Syria, a safe zone. We need to focus on building a military that is second-to-none... +p1728 +aV... so that we can destroy Islamic terrorism. +p1729 +aVI think we're focusing a whole... +p1730 +aVI do. I think the lesson's learned are that we have to have to have a strategy to get and a strategy to get out. Which means, that you create a stable situation. This president and this is what the focus ought to be, it's not the differences between us, it's Barack Obama does not believe America's leadership in the world is a force for good. He does not believe that our strength is a place where security can take place. He leads from behind. He creates an environment that now we're creating the most unstable situation we've had since the World War II era. The focus ought to be on the single fact that Hillary Clinton wants to double down on a failed foreign policy and we need to be united to defeat that because we're going to be in a place that is far less secure than it is today. Don't you all agree? +p1731 +aVBecause I \u2014 first of all, I know what I don't know. I know what I don't know. I would seek out, as I have, the best advice that exists. I won't get my information from the shows. I don't know if that's Saturday morning or Sunday morning. I don't know which one. I will seek out the best advice, and I will create a strategy and I will persuade the American people what the role of America should be. I've laid out a policy of rebuilding our military. All of the talk that we're seeing here \u2014 most of which I agree on, frankly \u2014 requires a much stronger military. We now have a lack of readiness that is quite scary. We have planes that were \u2014 that Harry Truman inaugurated, the B-52. We have \u2014 the Navy has been gutted and decimated. The readiness of the Marines is way down. If we're serious about America's leadership in the world, then we need to make sure that we have the back of the armed forces. The Armed Forces Radio is here listening to this today. I hope they know that if I'm president, I'll be a commander-in-chief, not an agitator- in-chief or a divider-in-chief, that I will lead this country in a way that will create greater security and greater safety. +p1732 +aVSo I was \u2014 I was \u2014 I was mentioned, so I can bring up something, I think, right? Look, the simple fact is, if you think this is tough you're not being treated fairly... +p1733 +aV... imagine what it's going to be like dealing with Putin or dealing with President Xi. +p1734 +aVOr dealing with the Islamic terrorism that exists. +p1735 +aVThis is a tough business to run for president. +p1736 +aVAnd it's \u2014 and we need...... to have a leader that is... +p1737 +aVYou're never going to be president of the United States by insulting your way to the presidency. +p1738 +aVDoesn't matter. Doesn't matter. +p1739 +aVYes. +p1740 +aVNo it isn't but it is an important subject to talk about for sure. And I think people have good ideas on this. Clearly, we need to secure the border. Coming here legally needs to be a lot easier than coming here illegally. If you don't have that, you don't have the rule of law. We now have a national security consideration, public health issues, we have an epidemic of heroine overdoses in all places in this country because of the ease of bringing heroine in. We have to secure the border. It is a serious undertaking and yes, we do need more fencing and we do need to use technology, and we do need more border control. And we need to have better cooperation by the way with local law enforcement. There are 800,000 cops on the beat, they ought to be trained to be the eyes and ears for law enforcement for the threat against terror as well as for immigration. This is a serious challenge and if we can get it right, yes, we'll start winning votes again. The real problem isn't anybody on this stage, the real problem is Barack Obama has had six years to advocate a position to fix this and he's done nothing. The congress has funded these programs of building more fencing and doing all this and he hasn't done it. He wants to maintain it as a wedge issue and so does Hillary Clinton. Republicans need to fix it and when we do, we'll be better off. +p1741 +aVI completely agree with Chris. And this administration has been so lax. Think about it. Hillary Clinton is using a private server for \u2014 where classified information go by. This is a \u2014 this is a serious administration? The president receives an inspector general's report that the Office of Personnel Management could be hacked into; they had antiquated firewalls; 23 million files have been \u2014 are in the hands of the Chinese allegedly, including, by the way, members of the press, it turns out, last week. Maybe that's the only part that's good news, so that you guys can get a feel for what it's like now to see this type of attack. This is something \u2014 we have to have the best defensive capabilities. We need to coordinate all of our efforts with the private sector. We need to give them liability relief so that we can do that. And offensively, we need to have capabilities second to none. We need to create a situation where they know that there will be adverse impacts if they continue to do what they're doing. They'll respect that. They'll respect a United States that is serious about protecting our \u2014 our infrastructure. If we don't do it, we'll continue to see what's \u2014 exactly what's happening, not just from the Chinese, by the way. The Russians and rogue actors, including +p1742 +aVAsk yourself, which candidate will keep you and our country safer, stronger and freer? Hillary Clinton has aligned herself with Barack Obama on +p1743 +aVYou've already made two comments, John. It's my turn. +p1744 +aVI got about four minutes in the last debate. I'm going to get my question right now. +p1745 +aVYes. +p1746 +aVFirst of all, we could get to 4 percent growth. The new normal of 2 percent puts huge demands on government. The reason why we have structural deficits is that more and more people are relying on government and the growth that we don't have makes \u2014 makes the deficit grow. A 4 percent growth strategy starts with tax reform. And the proposal that I've laid out is the one the Wall Street Journal editorial board has said is the most pro-growth of all the proposals out there. We cut the \u2014 we eliminate a lot of deductions and cut the rates down. A corporate rate of 20 percent, which puts us 5 percent above \u2014 below that of China, and allows us full expensing of investing. It would create an explosion of investment back into this country, creating higher-wage jobs, and so that's part of it. On the regulatory side I think we need to repeal every rule that Barack Obama has in terms of work in progress, every one of them. And start over. For those that are already in existence, the regulation of the Internet, we have to start over, but we ought to do that. The clean power act, we ought to repeal that and \u2014 and start over on that. The waters of the United States act, which is going to be devastating for agriculture and many industries, we should repeal that. We should repeal the rules because the economic costs of this far exceed the social benefit. And if we're serious about being serious about high growth, then we have to recognize that small businesses right now, more of them are closing than \u2014 than are \u2014 than are being set up. Hillary Clinton has said that Barack Obama's policies get an A. Really? One in 10 people right now aren't working or have given up altogether, as you said. That's not an A. One in seven people are living in poverty. That's not an A. One in five children are on food stamps. That is not an A. It may be the best that Hillary Clinton can do, but it's not the best America can do. +p1747 +aVThank you, Donald, for allowing me to speak at the debate. That's really nice of you. Really appreciate that. What a generous man you are. Twelve million illegal immigrants, to send them back, 500,000 a month, is just not \u2014 not possible. And it's not embracing American values. And it would tear communities apart. And it would send a signal that we're not the kind of country that I know America is. And even having this conversation sends a powerful signal \u2014 they're doing high-fives in the Clinton campaign right now when they hear this. That's the problem with this. We have to win the presidency. And the way you win the presidency is to have practical plans. Lay them out there. What we need to do is allow people to earn legal status where they pay a fine, where they work, where they don't commit crimes, where they learn English, and over an extended period of time, they earn legal status. That's the path \u2014 a proper path... +p1748 +aVI'm gonna fight as hard as I can to make sure that we shift power away from Washington, simplify the tax code, to spur economic activity in this country. Of course it's the highest priority. If we don't do that, we're stuck with the "new normal" of 2 percent growth. Hillary Clinton says, basically, we just gotta get used to it. Two percent growth means declining income for the middle class. It means more than 6 million people are stuck in poverty than the day that Barack Obama was inaugurated. It means \u2014 it means more demands on government \u2014 growing the economy is the first job, if we're going to be serious about dealing with the deficit and debt. And more importantly, people are really struggling right now. In this economy, the disposable income of the great middle is down 2,300 bucks. So yeah, we've created jobs, your \u2014 argue (ph) \u2014 brought that up early, and it was a good question. Jobs are being created, but they're lower-income jobs than the jobs that were lost. And the net effect of this is we need to jump-start the economy. I think of Jonathan (ph) and Reagan Love (ph), who are supporters of mine. Jonathan has been deployed by the National Guard, he is \u2014 he's in Oklahoma. Reagan Love \u2014 by the way, pretty great name, I think \u2014 is a teacher. When \u2014 if they had this tax cut, what they told me was that that $2,300 of money in their pocket \u2014 they would go back to South Carolina and start a business. Imagine what it would be like, instead of having more businesses closed than started, we had it the exact opposite. We would grow our economy, and the government would get the revenue necessary to make things \u2014 make things better. Hillary Clinton's approach to this is more top-down, more regulation, more taxes, more government, and it will destroy our economy. +p1749 +aVIt is \u2014 I'd say it is Islamic terrorism, and, back to the question of what we are dealing with in Iraq, when we pull back voids are filled. That's the lesson of history, and, sadly, this president does not believe in American leadership. He does not believe it, and the net result is that we have a caliphate the size of Indiana that gains energy each and everyday to recruit Americans in our own country, and the threat to the homeland relates to the fact that we have not dealt with this threat of terror in the Middle East. We should have a no fly zone in Syria. We should have a support for the remnants of the Syrian Free Army, and create safe zones. If you want to deal with the four million refugees that are leaving Syria because of the devastation there, then we 'ought to create safe zones for them to stay in the region rather than go to Europe. And, that requires American leadership. Without American leadership every other country in the neighborhood beings to change their priorities. It is tragic that you see Iraq, and other countries now talking to Russia. It wasn't that long ago that Russia had no influence in the region at all. And, so, the United States needs to lead across the board. This president, and Hillary Clinton both do not believe the United States has a leadership role to play, and we're now paying a price, and it will have a huge impact on the economy of this country if we don't deal with this. +p1750 +aV...They're not doing that... +p1751 +aV +p1752 +aVDonald \u2014 Donald's wrong on this. He is absolutely wrong on this. We're not going to be the world's policeman, but we sure as heck better be the world's leader. That's \u2014 there's a huge difference where, without us leading... ...voids are filled, and the idea that it's a good idea for Putin to be in Syria, let +p1753 +aVWe're not \u2014 we shouldn't have another financial crisis. What we ought to do is raise the capital requirements so banks aren't too big to fail. Dodd-Frank has actually done the opposite, totally the opposite, where banks now have higher concentration of risk in assets and the capital requirements aren't high enough. If we were serious about it, we would raise the capital requirements and lessen the load on the community banks and other financial institutions. This vast overreach has created a huge problem for our country, and Hillary Clinton wants to double down on that. I was in Washington, Iowa, about three months ago talking about how bad Washington, D.C., is. It was \u2014 get the \u2014 kind of the \u2014 anyway. We had... It \u2014 and I talked to a banker there. This is a bank that had $125 million of assets, four branches. Their compliance costs because of Dodd-Frank went from $100,000 to $600,000 in a two-year period. The net effect of that is \u2014 and they had \u2014 they had not one loan that went bad during the financial crisis. They knew \u2014 they knew their borrowers. They gave back to the community. They were engaged in the community. And imagine America without its community banks. Well, that's what's happening because of Dodd-Frank. That's \u2014 that's my worry. My worry is that the real economy has been hurt by the vast overreach of the Obama administration. And Hillary Clinton, she wants to double down on that. She wants to create even more so. She is a captive of the left of her party to the point now where she is \u2014 she was for the trade agreement in \u2014 the Pacific agreement. Now she's against it. She was \u2014 hinted she was for the XL pipeline. Now she's opposed to it. All the things that would create sustained economic growth she's now doubling down against it. +p1754 +aVYou could, if you were serious about... +p1755 +aVNo, I can't say that. But I can say, if you created higher capital requirements, that's the solution to this, not having concentration of assets. The bigger banks now have more and more control over \u2014 over the financial assets of this country. And that is the wrong approach to take. +p1756 +aVMaria? +p1757 +aV...We've had a 10% reduction in carbon emissions, and it isn't because of Solyndra. It isn't because of the central planners in Washington D.C. It's because we've had a great American success story, the explosion of natural gas. Taking two existing technologies, and applying it through innovation has created lower carbon emissions, lower energy costs \u2014 40% of all the economic activity in the age of Obama has come from the energy sector, and Hillary Clinton wants to suppress that. We \u2014 I think we ought to be expanding this. High growth is the path to lower carbon, and more jobs. I know for a fact, as Governor of the State of Florida, we created the largest land purchasing programs, and environment clean-up programs because we had a growing economy. Our revenues were growing at 4.4%. It allowed for resources to be able to protect the natural system. We got to get to a conservation... ...in environmental policy that goes beyond just carbon... +p1758 +aVJane Horton is sitting with my wife here today. Her husband, Chris, was killed in action in Afghanistan. And Jane spends her time now defending and fighting for military families. They're both heroes. I don't think we need an agitator-in-chief or a divider-in-chief. We need a commander-in-chief that will rebuild our military and restore respect to our veterans by revamping and fixing a broken Veterans Administration, That's my pledge to you. I ask for your support. Thank you. +p1759 +aVYou know, I am by my nature impatient. And this is not an endeavor that rewards that. You gotta be patient. You gotta be \u2014 stick with it, and all that. But also, I can't fake anger. I believe this is still the most extraordinary country on the face of the Earth. And it troubles me that people are rewarded for tearing down our country. It's never been that way in American politics before. I can't do it. I just don't believe that this country's days are going to be deeply \u2014 you know, going down. I think we're on the verge of the greatest time, and I want to fix the things to let people rise up. +p1760 +aVCould I \u2014 could I bring something up here, because I'm a constituent of the senator and I helped him and I expected that he would do constituent service, which means that he shows up to work. He got endorsed by the Sun-Sentinel because he was the most talented guy in the field. He's a gifted politician. But Marco, when you signed up for this, this was a six-year term, and you should be showing up to work. I mean, literally, the Senate \u2014 what is it, like a French work week? You get, like, three days where you have to show up? You can campaign, or just resign and let someone else take the job. There are a lot of people living paycheck to paycheck in Florida as well, they're looking for a senator that will fight for them each and every day. +p1761 +aVHe wasn't my senator. +p1762 +aVWell, I've been \u2014 +p1763 +aVNo, no. What I said was I don't believe that I would be president of the United States and have the same dysfunction that exists in Washington, D.C. now. +p1764 +aVDon't vote for me if you want to keep the gridlock in Washington, D.C. +p1765 +aVBut if you want someone who has a proven, effective leadership, that was a governor of a state, that transformed the culture there, elect me so I can fight for the American people and change the culture in Washington, D.C. +p1766 +aV, the great majority of Republicans and Americans believe in a hopeful future. They don't believe in building walls and a pessimistic view of the future. They're concerned that Washington is so dysfunctional it is holding them back. There are lids on people's aspirations. Think about it: six and a half million people working part-time. Workforce participation rates lower than they were in 1977. Six million more people living in poverty than the day that Barack Obama got elected president, and the left just wants more of the same. We have to offer a compelling alternative that is based on hope and optimism and grounded in serious policy, which I've laid out. And you can go get it at jeb2016.com. +p1767 +aVWell, the deal was done. Barack Obama got his massive tax increase, and there was no spending cuts. You just see the recent deal announced today or yesterday, more spending, more tax increasing, more regulation. And now we have to accept 2 percent, the new normal for economic growth. And the net result is the middle class has $2,300 less in their pockets than the day that Barack Obama got elected president. And now they see Hillary Clinton proposing a third term of economic policy for our country. We need to reverse that. And my record was one of cutting taxes each and every year. You don't have to guess about it, because I actually have a record. $19 billion of tax cuts, 1.3 million jobs created. We were one of two states to go to AAA bond rating, and our government spending was far less than the spending in people's income. +p1768 +aVYou find me... +p1769 +aVYou find me a Democrat \u2014 you find me a Democrat that will cut spending ten dollars? Heck, find me a Republican in Congress that would cut spending ten dollars. I'll talk to them. +p1770 +aVLook, the \u2014 the deal is already done. The biggest tax increase happened under the watch of Barack Obama, and spending's gone up. You find a Democrat that's for cutting taxes \u2014 cutting spending ten dollars, I'll give them a warm kiss. +p1771 +aVLook, the \u2014 the simple fact is that my plan actually gives the middle class the greatest break: $2,000 per family. And if you make $40,000 a year, a family of four, you don't pay any income tax at all. Simplifying the code and lowering rates, both for corporations and \u2014 and personal rates, is exactly what we need to do. You think about the regulatory cost and the tax cost \u2014 that's why small businesses are closing, rather than being formed in our country right now. The big corporations have the scale to deal with all of this. And what I think all of us are saying is, our monetary policy, our tax policy, regulatory policy needs to be radically changed so we can create high sustained growth for income to rise. The government has tried it their way. Under \u2014 under Barack Obama and the proposals of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and others, they've tried it their way, and it has failed miserably. We need to take a new approach of taxing \u2014 reforming how we tax, and reforming the regulations in our \u2014 in our country before it's too late. +p1772 +aVWe don't need the federal government to be involved in this at all. +p1773 +aVWe don't need the Federal Government to be involved in this, because when they do we create a $1.2 trillion debt. In Florida, we have the lowest in-state tuition of any state, because there's accountability, just as John said. Let the states do this. You'll create a much better graduation rate at a lower cost, and you won't in debt the next generation with recourse debt on their backs. It's always a solution of the left to create more Government from the Federal Government. It is broke, it is not working. +p1774 +aVWell, first of all, I'm 7 and 0 in my fantasy league. +p1775 +aVGronkowski is still going strong. I have Ryan Tannehill, Marco, as my quarterback, he was 18 for 19 last week. So I'm doing great. But we're not gambling. And I think this has become something that needs to be looked at in terms of regulation. Effectively it is day trading without any regulation at all. And when you have insider information, which apparently has been the case, where people use that information and use big data to try to take advantage of it, there has to be some regulation. If they can't regulate themselves, then the NFL needs to look at just, you know, moving away from them a little bit. And there should be some regulation. I have no clue whether the federal government is the proper place, my instinct is to say, hell no, just about everything about the federal government. +p1776 +aVBecky \u2014 +p1777 +aV\u2014 the governor's absolutely right. But we also need to reform Medicare and Social Security. We can't just allow it to continue on its current path the way that Hillary Clinton wants to do because there'll be major reductions in benefits in the next decade if we do nothing. I have a concrete plan to do just that, which allows people to keep HSAs to encourage savings, it allows for people that are retiring with Social Security to be able to get a minimum of 125 percent of the poverty level so that there is a baseline that in this generous country of ours no one goes below. +p1778 +aVYou have to reform Social Security, and the simple way to do it is to make sure that the wealthiest don't receive the same benefits as people that are lower-income. And make sure you enhance savings in the private market. The idea of 401(k)s. I have a small business that I set up. It took \u2014 it took an arm and a leg to be able to set up a 401(k). Because of all the federal mandates and federal laws, it was too expensive. We need to incent private savings and make sure that Social Security is protected for those that have it. +p1779 +aVBut the idea that you can't \u2014 that you're just gonna grow your way out of this \u2014 I have a plan to grow the economy at 4 percent, but you're gonna have to make adjustments for both Medicare and Social Security. [ +p1780 +aVAmerica's at a crossroads. The D.C. politicians continue to make things worse. I have a proven record of success, 32 years in business, and 8 years as Governor of the state of Florida. I will change the culture in Washington, just as I changed the culture in Tallahassee. I will do so in a way that will bring people together. We need a unifier, not a cynical divider in chief, and that's exactly what I will do. Imagine a country where people are lifted out of poverty again. Imagine a country where the middle class can get rising income again. I know we can do this because we're still the most extraordinary country on the face of the Earth. +p1781 +aVI'm Jeb Bush, and I believe America's on the verge of its greatest century, and I'm ready to lead. I'm a committed, conservative reformer that cut taxes, that balanced budgets, that took on the special interest in Florida, and we won. I look forward to talking tonight about how we can fix a broken Washington D.C., and create an environment where people can rise up again in this great country. Thank you. +p1782 +aVI think the voters will make that determination. But what I know to be true is that the next president of the United States is going to have to fix an extraordinary difficult situation. This administration, with President Obama and Hillary Clinton, has created insecurity the likes of which we never would've imagined. There's not a place in the world where we're better off today than six and a half years ago. And that requires a steadiness. That requires an understanding of how the world works. That requires an understanding and appreciation of American leadership in the world. You can't just, you know, talk about this stuff and insult leaders around the world and expect a good result. You have to do this with a steady hand, and I believe I have those skills. +p1783 +aVNo. Absolutely not. People are supporting me because I have a proven record of conservative leadership where I cut taxes $19 billion over eight years. We shrunk the state government workforce, we created a climate that led the nation in job growth seven out of eight years. We were one of two states to go to AAA bond rating. People know that we need principle-centered leadership, a disrupter to go to Washington, D.C. The one guy that had some special interests that I know of that tried to get me to change my views on something \u2014 that was generous and gave me money \u2014 was Donald Trump. He wanted casino gambling in Florida \u2014 +p1784 +aVYes you did. +p1785 +aVYou wanted it and you didn't get it because I was opposed to \u2014 +p1786 +aV\u2014 casino gambling before \u2014 +p1787 +aVduring and after. And that's not \u2014 I'm not going to be bought by anybody. +p1788 +aVNo way. Believe me. +p1789 +aVNot even possible. +p1790 +aVYou've got, according to your \u2014 to what you said on one of the talk shows, you got Hillary Clinton to go to your wedding \u2014 +p1791 +aV\u2014 because you gave her money. Maybe it works for Hillary Clinton \u2014 +p1792 +aV\u2014 it doesn't work for anybody on this \u2014 on stage. +p1793 +aVBut the simple fact is \u2014 +p1794 +aVNo. The simple fact is, Donald, you could not take \u2014 +p1795 +aVI was asked the question. +p1796 +aVSo he supports Pelosi, he supports Schumer, he supports Clinton \u2014 +p1797 +aVWhen he \u2014 and he \u2014 when he asked \u2014 when he asked Florida to have casino gambling, we said no. +p1798 +aVWe said no. And that's the simple fact. The simple fact is \u2014 +p1799 +aVDon't cut me off. +p1800 +aVNo, I don't think so, but we need to be strong against China. We should use offensive tactics as it relates to cyber security, send a deterrent signal to China. There should be super sanctions in what President Obama has proposed. There's many other tools that we have without canceling a dinner. That's not going to change anything, but we can be much stronger as it relates to that. As it relates to Iran, it's not a strategy to tear up an agreement. A strategy would be how do we confront Iran? And, the first thing that we need to do is to establish our commitment to Israel which has been altered by this administration. And, make sure that they have the most sophisticated weapons to send a signal to Iran that we have Israel's back. If we do that, it's going to create a healthier deterrent effect than anything else I can think of. +p1801 +aVI don't think \u2014 you're not stating my views right. +p1802 +aVI think there needs to be accommodation for someone acting on faith. Religious conscience is \u2014 is \u2014 is a first freedom. It's \u2014 it's a powerful part of our \u2014 of our Bill of Rights. And, in a big, tolerant country, we should respect the rule of law, allow people in \u2014 in \u2014 in this country \u2014 I'm a \u2014 I was opposed to the decision, but we \u2014 you can't just say, "well, they \u2014 gays can't get married now." But this woman, there should be some accommodation for her conscience, just as there should be for people that are florists that don't want to participate in weddings, or bakers. A great country like us should find a way to have accommodations for people so that we can solve the problem in the right way. This should be solved at the local level... +p1803 +aVAnd so we do agree, Mike. +p1804 +aVWell, he's wrong on a lot of things, but on this he's wrong because I'm the most pro-life governor on this stage. I got to act on my core beliefs. It's part of who I am. Life is a gift from God. And from beginning end we need to respect it and err on the side of life. And so I defunded Planned Parenthood. We created a climate where parental notification took place. We were the only state to fund crisis pregnancy centers with state moneys. We were totally focused on this. And I would bring that kind of philosophy to Washington, D.C. So here is a solution to this. Title X of the HHS funding, there is something that was the "Reagan Rule." It was passed in 1988. And in that rule it was defined, and the courts approved this, that a Planned Parenthood, you couldn't separate the money between the actual abortion procedures, and there are 330,000 abortions that take place in this clinic, and their promotion of it. He interpreted it the right way, the courts ruled in his favor, and Planned Parenthood did not get funding during that time until President Clinton came in. When I'm elected president, we will restore that interpretation of Title X. And this deal will be finished. +p1805 +aVThere are 13,000 community-based organizations that provide health services to women, 13,000 in this country. I don't believe that Planned Parenthood should get a penny from the federal government. Those organizations should get funding, just as I increased funding when I was governor of the state. That's the way you do this is you improve the condition for people. And, Donald, when I was governor, we also increased the opportunities for women. Women's income grew three times faster than the national average when I was governor. +p1806 +aVWe improved \u2014 we improved \u2014 +p1807 +aV\u2014 we increased child support \u2014 we increased child support with a broken system by 90 percent. +p1808 +aVI have a proven record. I have a proven record. +p1809 +aVHe did, he did. You're proud of your family, just as I am. +p1810 +aVTo subject my wife into the middle of a raucous political conversation was completely inappropriate, and I hope you apologize for that, Donald. +p1811 +aVShe is. She's fantastic. +p1812 +aVShe is absolutely the love of my life, and she's right here... +p1813 +aVAnd why don't you apologize to her right now. +p1814 +aVYeah. +p1815 +aVSo, here's the deal. My wife is a Mexican-American. She's an American by choice. She loves this country as much as anybody in this room, and she wants a secure border. But she wants to embrace the traditional American values that make us special and make us unique. We're at a crossroads right now. Are we going to take the Reagan approach, the hopeful optimistic approach, the approach that says that, you come to our country legally, you pursue your dreams with a vengeance, you create opportunities for all of us? Or the Donald Trump approach? The approach that says that everything is bad, that everything is coming to an end. I... +p1816 +aVI'm on the Reagan side of this. +p1817 +aVLook, first of all, I wrote a book about this, three \u2014 four years ago, now. And I laid out a comprehensive, conservative approach for immigration reform. And it does require securing the border. No one disagrees with that. But to build a wall, and to deport people \u2014 half a million a month \u2014 would cost hundreds of billions of dollars, Donald. Hundreds of billions of dollars. It would destroy community life, it would tear families apart. And it would send a signal to the rest of the world that the United States values that are so important for our long-term success no longer matter in this country. +p1818 +aVWell, I've been speaking English here tonight, and I'll keep speaking English. But the simple fact is, if a high school kid asks me a question in Spanish, a school \u2014 by the way, a voucher program that was created under my watch, the largest voucher program in the country, where kids can go to a Christian school, and they ask me a question in Spanish, I'm going to show respect and answer that question in Spanish. Even though they do speak English, and even though they embrace American values. +p1819 +aVYeah. +p1820 +aVWell, first of all, Hugh, if you're looking at Republican advisers, you have to go to the last two administrations. That happened to be 41 and 43. So just by definition, if you're \u2014 and many of the people here that are seeking advice from the foreign policy experts in the Republican side, they \u2014 they served in my dad's administration, my brother's administration. Of course that's the case. But I'm my own man. I'm going to create a strategy that is based on the simple fact that the United States needs to lead the world. The first thing that we need to do is to stop the craziness of the sequester. Rebuild our military so that our \u2014 so that we don't deploy people over and over again without the necessary equipment to keep them safe, to send a signal to the world that we're serious. If we're going to lead the world, then we need to have the strongest military possible. We need to rebuild our counterintelligence and intelligence capabilities. We need to focus on the fact that the next president is going to start in 2017, not in 1990 \u2014 you know, 30 years ago, or when my brother started. The world is dramatically different. And I believe that we need to restore America's presence and leadership in the world. Name a country where our relationship is better today than it was the \u2014 the day that Barack Obama got elected president. Under Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama, we have seen a weakness that now creates huge problems for the next president of the United States. So I'll have a team that will be \u2014 that will be following the doctrine I set up, and it will be peace through strength. We're sitting here in this library, which is a wonderful place to talk about this, because that's exactly what happened in the 1980s, and the world was a lot safer because of... +p1821 +aVThe leadership of Ronald Reagan and my... +p1822 +aVSo you \u2014 the \u2014 the first chance... +p1823 +aVRight after me, and then I'll \u2014 I'll yield \u2014 yield the floor. What do you guys say in the Senate when you're talking and debating? +p1824 +aVHere's the facts: When Donald Trump talks about judgment, what was his position on who would've been the best negotiator to deal with Iran? It wasn't a Republican; it was Hillary Clinton. That's what you believe. I mean, the lack of judgment and the lack of understanding about how the world works is really dangerous in this kind of time that we're saying. So is that the judgment that you bring to the table, that Hillary Clinton... +p1825 +aV... is a great negotiator, that she could bring about a better deal on Iran? +p1826 +aVYou know what? As it relates to my brother, there's one thing I know for sure. He kept us safe. I don't know if you remember... ... Donald... ... you remember the \u2014 the rumble? You remember the fire fighter with his arms around it? He sent a clear signal that the United States would be strong and fight Islamic terrorism, and he did keep us safe. +p1827 +aVThat's \u2014 that's my brother. +p1828 +aVHere's the lessons of history: When we \u2014 we pull back, voids are created. We left Iraq. We should've had a \u2014 a forces agreement to stay there with a small force, and instead of that, we politically and militarily pulled back, and now we have the creation of +p1829 +aV... because of what President Obama's done by pulling back. +p1830 +aVWell, I'm surprised Senator Cruz would say that since he was as strong supporter of John Roberts at the time. I will talk about what I will do as it relates to appointing Supreme Court Justices. We need to make sure that we have justices that, with a proven experienced record of respect for upholding the constitution. That is what we need. We can't have \u2014 the history in recent past is appoint people that have no experience so that you can't get attacked. And, that makes it harder for people to have confidence that they won't veer off... +p1831 +aVJohn Roberts has made some really good decisions, for sure, but he did not have a proven, extensive record that would have made the clarity the important thing, and that's what we need to do. And, I'm willing to fight for those nominees to make sure that they get passed. You can't do it the politically expedient way anymore. This is the culture in Washington. You have to fight hard for these appointments. This is perhaps the most important thing that the next president will do. +p1832 +aVWell, first of all, he, as I said, supported John Roberts. He supported him, publicly. So, you can rewrite history, I guess, Ted, but the simple fact is that you supported him because he had all the criteria that you would have thought would have made a great justice. And, I think he is doing a good job. But, the simple fact is that going forward, what we need to do is to have someone that has a long standing set of rulings that consistently makes it clear that he is a focused, exclusively on upholding the Constitution of the United States so they won't try to use the bench as a means to which legislate. +p1833 +aVHe was talking about me. +p1834 +aVWell, I \u2014 I wanted to \u2014 be \u2014 make it easier for him. +p1835 +aVAnd I just did. +p1836 +aVSo, 40 years ago, I smoked marijuana, and I admit it. I'm sure that other people might have done it and may not want to say it in front of 25 million people. My mom's not happy that I just did. That's true. And here's the deal. Here's the deal. We have \u2014 we have a serious epidemic of drugs that goes way beyond marijuana. What goes on in Colorado, as far as I'm concerned, that should be a state decision. But if you look at the problem of drugs in this \u2014 in this society today, it's a serious problem. Rand, you know this because you're campaigning in New Hampshire like all of us, and you see the epidemic of heroin, the overdoses of heroin that's taking place. People's families are \u2014 are being torn apart. It is appropriate for the government to play a consistent role to be able to provide more treatment, more prevention \u2014 we're the state that has the most drug courts across every circuit in \u2014 in \u2014 in Florida, there are drug courts to give people a second chance. That's the best way to do this. +p1837 +aVNo, you're wrong \u2014 you're wrong about this. +p1838 +aVI don't want to put poor people in jail, Randy. +p1839 +aVHere's the deal. No, I did not oppose when the legislature passed the bill to deal with that very issue. That's the way to solve this problem. Medical marijuana on the ballot was opened up, there was a huge loophole, it was the first step to getting to a place. And as a citizen of Florida, I voted no. +p1840 +aVNot very far. I think we need to do this state by state. There are places that get this right, and we need to make sure that we protect the privacy laws. This is a complicated place. But I do think the natural impulse on the left \u2014 Hillary Clinton, immediately after one of these horrific violent acts took place, immediately said we need to have federal gun laws. President Obama almost reflexively always says the same thing. And the net result is, you're going to take away rights of \u2014 of law-abiding citizens, the 99.999 percent of the people that are law- abiding citizens. That's not the right approach to do it. In Florida, we have a background check. We have concealed-weapon permit holders, and in fact, there's 1,200,000 of them. We have a reduction in violent crime because we put people behind bars when they use a gun in the commission of the crime. That's the better approach. But we're living in a society today where despair kind of grows in isolation. +p1841 +aVI \u2014 I think there needs to be a hearing, but the fact is, we need to encourage that kind of involvement. That's \u2014 that's exactly what we need to do. +p1842 +aVI would go with Ronald Reagan's partner, Margaret Thatcher. Probably illegal, but what the heck? Since it's not going to happen. A strong leader is what we need in the White House, and she certainly was a strong leader that restored the United Kingdom into greatness. +p1843 +aVEver Ready, it's very high energy, Donald. +p1844 +aVSix million more people are living in poverty than the day that Barack Obama got elected president. Six million more people. The middle class has had declining income, workforce participation rates are lower than they were in 1977. For the first time in modern history, more businesses are failing than are being created. That is what the next president will have to deal with. And I believe we can reverse course by creating a strategy of high sustained economic growth, not the new normal of 2 percent that all the left says we just have to get used to, but a 4 percent growth strategy where we reform how we tax, fix the broken regulatory system, embrace the energy revolution in our midst, fix the immigration system so we can turn it into an economic driver, deal with the structural fiscal problems that exist because of our entitlement problems that will overwhelm and create way too much debt. If we grow at 4 percent, people are going to be lifted out of poverty. The great middle that defines our country will have a chance to be able to pursue their dreams as they see fit. That should be the great challenge and the great opportunity for the next president of the United States, to forge consensus to go back to a high-growth strategy. And then we'll be able to lead the world. Without a high-growth strategy, our country will never have the resources or the optimism to be able to lead the world, which the world desperately needs our leadership. +p1845 +aVAbsolutely, I do, and I'm gonna run hard, run with heart, and run to win. I'm gonna have to earn this. Maybe the barrier -- the bar's even higher for me. That's fine. I've got a record in Florida. I'm proud of my dad, and I'm certainly proud of my brother. In Florida, they called me Jeb, because I earned it. I cut taxes every year, totaling $19 billion. We were -- we had -- we balanced every budget. We went from $1 billion of reserves to $9 billion of reserves. We were one of two states that went to AAA bond rating. They keep -- they called me Veto Corleone. Because I vetoed 2,500 separate line-items in the budget. I am my own man. I governed as a conservative, and I govern effectively. And the net effect was, during my eight years, 1.3 million jobs were created. We left the state better off because I applied conservative principles in a purple state the right way, and people rose up. +p1846 +aVI do. I believe that the great majority of people coming here illegally have no other option. They want to provide for their family. But we need to control our border. It's not -- it's our responsibility to pick and choose who comes in. So I -- I've written a book about this and yet this week, I did come up with a comprehensive strategy that -- that really mirrored what we said in the book, which is that we need to deal with E-Verify, we need to deal with people that come with a legal visa and overstay. We need to be much more strategic on how we deal with border enforcement, border security. We need to eliminate the sanctuary cities in this country. It is ridiculous and tragic......that people are dying because of the fact that -- that local governments are not following the federal law. There's much to do. And I think rather than talking about this as a wedge issue, which Barack Obama has done now for six long years, the next president -- and I hope to be that president -- will fix this once and for all so that we can turn this into a driver for high sustained economic growth. And there should be a path to earned legal status... ...for those that are here. Not -- not amnesty, earned legal status, which means you pay a fine and do many things over an extended period of time. +p1847 +aV...I remember... +p1848 +aV...I remember, Megyn. +p1849 +aVKnowing what we know now, with faulty intelligence, and not having security be the first priority when -- when we invaded, it was a mistake. I wouldn't have gone in, however, for the people that did lose their lives, and the families that suffer because of it -- I know this full well because as governor of the state of Florida, I called every one of them. Every one of them that I could find to tell them that I was praying for them, that I cared about them, and it was really hard to do. And, every one of them said that their child did not die in vain, or their wife, of their husband did not die in vain. So, why it was difficult for me to do it was based on that. Here's the lesson that we should take from this, which relates to this whole subject. Barack Obama became president, and he abandoned Iraq. He left, and when he left Al Qaida was done for. +p1850 +aVNo, I don't. And I don't believe the federal government should be involved in the creation of standards directly or indirectly, the creation of curriculum or content. It is clearly a state responsibility. I'm for higher standards... ...measured in an intellectually honest way, with abundant school choice, ending social promotion. And I know how to do this because as governor of the state of Florida I created the first statewide voucher program in the country, the second statewide voucher program, in the country and the third statewide voucher program in the country. And we had rising student achievement across the board, because high standards, robust accountability, ending social promotion in third grade, real school choice across the board, challenging the teachers union and beating them is the way to go. And Florida's low income kids had the greatest gains inside the country. Our graduation rate improved by 50 percent. That's what I'm for. +p1851 +aVHe is definitely my friend. And I think the states ought to create these standards. And if states want to opt out of Common Core, fine. Just make sure your standards are high. Because today in America, a third of our kids, after we spend more per student than any country in the world other than a couple rounding errors, to be honest with you, 30 percent are college- and/or career-ready. If we are going to compete in this world we're in today, there is no possible way we can do it with lowering expectations and dumbing down everything. Children are going to suffer and families' hearts are going to be broken that their kids won't be able to get a job in the 21st Century. +p1852 +aVWe've done it 27 times since World War II. I think we need to lift our spirits and have high, lofty expectations for this great country of ours. The new normal of two percent that the left is saying you can't do anything about is so dangerous for our country. There's 6 million people living in poverty today, more than when Barack Obama got elected. 6.5 million people are working part-time, most of whom want to work full-time. We've created rules and taxes on top of every aspiration of people, and the net result is we're not growing fast, income's not growing. A four percent growth strategy means you fix a convoluted tax code. You get in and you change every aspect of regulations that are job killers. You get rid of Obamacare and replace it with something that doesn't suppress wages and kill jobs. You embrace the energy revolution in our country. This president and Hillary Clinton, who can't even say she's for the XL pipeline even after she's left? Give me a break. Of course we're for it. We should be for these things to create high sustained economic growth. And frankly, fixing our immigration system and turning it into an economic driver is part of this as well. We can do this. +p1853 +aVNone of which is true. +p1854 +aVNo. It's not true. But I have said that Mr. Trump's language is divisive. I want to win. I want one of these people here or the ones at 5:00, to be the next president of the United States. We're not going on win by doing what Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton do each and every day. Dividing the country. Saying, creating a grievance kind of environment. We're going to win when we unite people with a hopeful, optimistic message. I have that message because I was a governor of a state that saw people lifted up, because we had high sustained economic growth. Our economy grew at double the rate of the nation. We created 1.3 million jobs. We led the nation seven out of those eight years. We were only one of two states that went to AAA bond rating. I cut taxes, $19 billion. If you do that and apply conservative principles the right way, you create an environment where everybody rises up. That's how we're going to win. Campaigning in places to give people hope that their life is better because too many people are suffering today in America. +p1855 +aVHere's what I believe. I believe we're at the verge of the greatest time to be alive in this world. But Washington is holding us back. How we tax, how we regulate. We're not embracing the energy revolution in our midst, a broken immigration system that has been politicized rather than turning it into an economic driver. We're not protecting and preserving our entitlement system or reforming for the next generation. All these things languish while we have politicians in Washington using these as wedge issues. Here's my commitment to you, because I did it as Florida. We can fix these things. We can grow economically and restore America's leadership in the world, so that everybody has a chance to rise up. I humbly ask for your vote, whenever you're gonna get to vote, whenever the primary is. Thank you all very much. +p1856 +asVFRANTA +p1857 +(lp1858 +VHi, I'm Connor Franta, I'm 23 and my audience is around the same age. Getting my generation to vote should be a priority for any presidential candidate. Now I know Senator Sanders is pretty popular among my peers, but what I want to know is, how are all of you planning on engaging us further in this election? +p1859 +asVWALKER +p1860 +(lp1861 +VGood evening, I'm Scott Walker, and tonight, I want to thank and Mrs. Reagan, and the Reagan Library for hosting us. You see, in my lifetime, the greatest president was a governor from California. Ronald Reagan knew how to go big, and go bold. He understood the essence of moving this country forward, and that's what I did when I took on the status quo in my state, and the Washington based special interest. Now, more than ever, America needs a leader who will go big and bold again. Someone who's been tested. I'm ready to be that leader. Thank you. +p1862 +aVBut Jake, Jake, Jake, Jake... +p1863 +aVBut Jake, this \u2014 this is \u2014 this... +p1864 +aVJake, this is \u2014 this is \u2014 this is... +p1865 +aVThis is actually what's wrong \u2014 this is what's wrong with this debate. We're not talking about real issues. And Mr. Trump, we don't need an apprentice in the White House. We don't need an apprentice in the White House. We have one right now. He told us all the things we wanted to hear back in 2008. We don't know who you are or where you're going. We need someone who can actually get the job done. And you talked about business. +p1866 +aVYou \u2014 you \u2014 let me finish... +p1867 +aVNo, no... +p1868 +aVYou're using the talking... +p1869 +aVMr. Trump, you're using the talking points of the Democrats... +p1870 +aV... and as we all know... +p1871 +aV... that failed three times in four and a half years when I got elected, because it is working. We balanced a budget. You want to talk about balanced budgets? You took four major projects into bankruptcy over and over and over again. You can't take America into bankruptcy. That's what's wrong with the politicians in Washington right now. They think we can take a country into bankruptcy. +p1872 +aVJake, yeah, absolutely, I'll take this on, because this is an issue that's important in this race. Just because he says it doesn't make it true. The facts are the facts. We balanced a $3.6 billion budget deficit, we did it by cutting taxes \u2014 $4.7 billion to help working families, family farmers, small business owners and senior citizens. And it's about time people in America stand up and take note of this. If you want someone that can actually take on the special interest of Washington, which you yourself said you were part of, using the system, we need somebody that will stand up and fight for average Americans to put them back in charge of their government. I'm the one who is taking that on. I'll do that as your next president. +p1873 +aVTwo parts to that, one on China, one back for a second on Iran. When it comes to China, why would we be giving an official state visit to a country that's been involved in a massive cyber attack against the United States? That's not just a visit, that's a 21 gun salute on the South Lawn of the White House. It just doesn't make any sense. If we're ever going to send a message to them, wouldn't this be the time, when they've issued this, sort of, massive attack against us? And, Jake, for the question, I was one of the first ones to call for terminating the bad deal with Iran on day one. The President came after me and said I need to bone up. You know, the President who called +p1874 +aVJake, just one more moment. This is \u2014 there's something bigger to this. Now, I \u2014 like so many other governors here, I defunded Planned Parenthood four-and-a-half years ago, in a Blue State. But it's bigger than that. We did that in a Blue State, we took the money and put it into women's health, so we did exactly what we're talking about here. But I think the bigger issue here is we should be able to do this nationally, and this is precisely why so many Republicans are upset with Washington. They see the House and they see the Senate and they say why can't we pass this. Why can't we defund Planned \u2014 put it in a spending bill. Forget about the 60-vote rule, there's no reason \u2014 and the Constitution doesn't call for 60 votes. Pass it with 51 votes, put it on the desk of the president \u2014 +p1875 +aV\u2014 and go forward and actually make a point. This is why \u2014 +p1876 +aV\u2014 people are upset with Washington. +p1877 +aVSo, the best way to help people see their wages go up is to get them the education, the skill they need, to take on careers that pay more than minimum wage. And, it's why we talk about it, it's all about jobs. You want to help actually get jobs, it's why on that last question we were trying to jump in on taxes. To me, it's not just about taxes, cutting taxes. I've done it as much as anyone has. I've cut income taxes, I've cut property taxes. In fact, property taxes are lower today in my state than they were before we took office. The real issues about jobs. Ronald Reagan, our plan is based on the Ronald Reagan tax cuts of 1986. That brought about one of the longest sustained periods of economic growth in American history. All the things we should be talking about tonight are about how do we create jobs, helping people get the skills and the education qualifications they need to succeed. That's the way you help people create jobs. It's part of our large plan to reform the tax code, to cut taxes, to put in place an education system that gives people the skills and education that they need. To put in place all the above energy policy, but you start on day one with repealing Obamacare. I'm the only one on this stage that's actually got a plan, introduced an actual plan to repeal Obamacare on day one. I'll send a bill up to Congress, and to make sure enact it... +p1878 +aV...I'm going to sign an order that makes the Congress live by the same rules as everybody else. +p1879 +aV...That will ensure they repeal Obamacare... +p1880 +aV...Jake, Jake, Jake, I just want to address that issue because you said I didn't answer, and I did. I said, to me, I think the real focus shouldn't be \u2014 you know, Hillary Clinton talks about the minimum wage. That's her answer to grow the economy. The answer is to give people the skills and the education so they make far more than minimum wage. I don't want to argue about how low things are going to be, I want to talk about how do we lift everyone up in America. That's what Reagan talked about. It wasn't how bad things were, it was how to make it better for everyone. That's what we've done in Wisconsin, that's exactly what we'd do as... +p1881 +aV... the key issue here is talking about leadership. Now, there's a lot of greater people up here, and you've heard a lot of great ideas out there. But I would ask the American people, look at who's been tested. When there were 100,000 protesters in my capital, I didn't back down, when they issued death threats against me and threats against my family, I didn't back down, when they tried to recall me, I didn't back down, and when they made me the \u2014 one of their number-one targets last year, I didn't back down. Give me the chance to be your president. +p1882 +aVI won't back down... +p1883 +aV... on any of these issues. +p1884 +aVTo be clear, what I said the other day was that we need to lift the political restrictions that are already in play. Barack Obama's administration has put political restrictions on the military personnel already in Iraq. We need to lift those and then we need to listen to our military experts, not the political forces in the White House, but our military experts about how many more we sent in. And we certainly shouldn't have a commander-in-chief who sends a message to our adversaries as to how far we're going to go, and how far we're willing to fight, so I'm not putting a troop number. What I'm saying is lift the political restrictions. When you do that, you empower our military personnel already there to work with the Kurd and the Sunni allies, to reclaim the territory taken by +p1885 +aV... a lot of those people, though, and I'm going to echo what Senator Rubio just said. This is an issue where, we're talking about my state, it's thousands of manufacturing jobs. Thousands of manufacturing jobs for a rule the Obama administration, own EPA has said will have a marginal impact on climate change. So we're going to put thousands and thousands of jobs in my state, I think it's something like 30,000 in Ohio, other states across this country, we're going to put people \u2014 manufacturing jobs, the kind of jobs that are far greater than minimum wage, this administration is willing to put at risk for something its own EPA says is marginal (ph)... +p1886 +aVFirst of all, I got to say to Carson, Huckabee, thanks a lot for making the rest of us look like chumps up here, but, I'd pick Clara Barton. I once worked for the American Red Cross, she was a great founder of the Red Cross. +p1887 +aVHarley. I love riding Harley's. +p1888 +aVWell, I turned 13 years old two days before Ronald Reagan was first elected. A lot of people forget this, but just a few days before that election 1980, he was behind in the polls. And I think what changed things was people in America realized they didn't want to hear what was bad about America, they wanted to know how it was going to be better. Ronald Reagan wasn't just a conservative Republican, he was an eternal optimist in the American people. And I am too. So here's what I think will make America better. We need to live in a world where our children are free, are free from the threats of radical Islamic terrorism. We need to live in an America where we have an economy, where everyone can live their piece of the American dream, no matter what that dream is. And we need to live in an America where we have a federal government that is not too big to fail, but ultimately small enough to succeed, where we send powers back to the states and back to the people. That's what I did in Wisconsin. We took on the big government union bosses, the big government special interests, many of whom came in from Washington, to spend millions of dollars to try and take me out because we stood up to them, we didn't back down in any of those instances. If you give me the chance as your next president, I won't back down any day, anyway, anyhow. I'll fight and win for you and your families every single day I'm in office. +p1889 +aVWell, I'm pro-life, I've always been pro-life, and I've got a position that I think is consistent with many Americans out there in that... ...in that I believe that that is an unborn child that's in need of protection out there, and I've said many a time that that unborn child can be protected, and there are many other alternatives that can also protect the life of that mother. That's been consistently proven. Unlike Hillary Clinton, who has a radical position in terms of support for Planned Parenthood, I defunded Planned Parenthood more than four years ago, long before any of these videos came out... ...I've got a position that's in line with everyday America. +p1890 +aVChris, I actually said that on your show earlier this year. I acknowledged that. I said I actually listened to the American people. And I think people across America want a leader who's actually going to listen to them. I talked to border state governors and other elected officials. I look at how this president, particularly through last November, messed up the immigration system in this country. Most importantly, I listened to the people of America. I believe we need to secure the border. I've been to the border with Governor Abbott in Texas and others, seeing the problems that they have there. There is international criminal organizations penetrating our southern based borders, and we need to do something about it. Secure the border, enforce the law, no amnesty, and go forward with the legal immigration system that gives priority to American working families and wages. +p1891 +aVI don't know about additional ones. We need to focus on the ones we have. You look at Egypt, probably the best relationship we've had in Israel, at least in my lifetime, incredibly important. You look at the Saudis -- in fact, earlier this year, I met with Saudi leaders, and leaders from the United Arab Emirates, and I asked them what's the greatest challenge in the world today? Set aside the Iran deal. They said it's the disengagement of America. We are leading from behind under the Obama-Clinton doctrine -- America's a great country. We need to stand up and start leading again, and we need to have allies, not just in Israel, but throughout the Persian Gulf. +p1892 +aVJust one second on this, though. We -- we spent a lot of time talking about Hillary Clinton and ---and pitting us back and forth. Let's be clear, we should be talking about Hillary Clinton on that last subject, because everywhere in the world that Hillary Clinton touched is more messed up today than before she and the president . +p1893 +aVIt's true. +p1894 +aVWell, the voters in Wisconsin elected me last year for the third time because they wanted someone who aimed high, not aimed low. Before I came in, the unemployment rate was over eight percent. It's now down to 4.6 percent. We've more than made up for the jobs that were lost during the recession. And the rate in which people are working is almost five points higher than it is nationally. You know, people like Hillary Clinton think you grow the economy by growing Washington. One report last year showed that six of the top 10 wealthiest counties in America were in or around Washington, D.C.. I think most of us in America understand that people, not the government creates jobs. And one of the best things we can do is get the government out of the way, repeal Obamacare, put in -- reign in all the out of control regulations, put in place an all of the above energy policy, give people the education, the skills that the need to succeed, and lower the tax rate and reform the tax code. That's what I'll do as president, just like I did in Wisconsin. +p1895 +aVWell, first off, let's remember. I still remember, as a kid, tying a yellow ribbon around a tree in front of my house during the 444 days that Iran held 52 Americans hostage. Iran is not a place we should be doing business with. To me, you terminate the deal on day one, you reinstate the sanctions authorized by Congress, you go to Congress and put in place even more crippling sanctions in place, and then you convince our allies to do the same. This is not just bad with Iran, this is bad with +p1896 +aVWell, I think the most important thing we can do when it comes to policing -- it's something you've had a guest on who's a friend of mine Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clark, who's talked to me about this many times in the past -- it's about training. It's about making sure that law enforcement professionals, not only in the way in to their positions but all the way through their time, have the proper training, particularly when it comes to the use of force. And that we protect and stand up and support those men and women who are doing their jobs in law enforcement. And for the very few that don't, that there are consequences to show that we treat everyone the same here in America. +p1897 +aVWell first off, for the cyber attack with Russia the other day, it's sad to think right now, but probably the Russian and Chinese government know more about Hillary Clinton's e-mail server than do the members of the United States Congress. And -- and that has put our national security at risk. If I am president, he won't think about that. You know, Putin believes in the old Lenin adage: you probe with bayonets. When you find mush, you push. When you find steel, you stop. Under Obama and Clinton, we found a lot of mush over the last two years. We need to have a national security that puts steel in front of our enemies. I would send weapons to Ukraine. I would work with +p1898 +aVWell, thanks, Megyn. I'm certainly an imperfect man. And it's only by the blood of Jesus Christ that I've been redeemed from my sins. So I know that God doesn't call me to do a specific thing, God hasn't given me a list, a Ten Commandments, if you will, of things to act on the first day. What God calls us to do is follow his will. And ultimately that's what I'm going to try to do. And I hope people've seen it in my state, even in the big challenges I took on when I had over 100,000 protesters in and around our capital, trying to do what I thought was the right thing. It wasn't just how I took on those political battles. It was ultimately how I acted. Not responding in kind. Not lashing out. But just being decent going forward and living my life in a way that would be a testimony to him and our faith. +p1899 +aVThanks. I'm guy with a wife and two kids, and Harley. One article called me "aggressively normal." I ran for governor because I was worried about my kids' future. Then, I took on the big government union bosses, and we won. They tried to recall me, and we won. They target us again, and we won. We balanced the budget, cut taxes, and turned our state around with big, bold reforms. It wasn't too late for Wisconsin, and it's not too late for America. That's why I ask for your vote. +p1900 +asVMALE +p1901 +(lp1902 +VThat's a good one. +p1903 +aV +p1904 +asVMITCHELL +p1905 +(lp1906 +VThank you, Lester. Secretary Clinton, Senator Sanders favors what he calls "Medicare for all." Now, you said that what he is proposing would tear up Obamacare and replace it. Secretary Clinton, is it fair to say to say that Bernie Sanders wants to kill Obamacare? +p1907 +aVSenator Sanders? +p1908 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor Sanders... +p1909 +aVSenator Sanders, let me ask you this, though... +p1910 +aV... you've talked about Medicare for all... +p1911 +aV.. and tonight you've released a very detailed plan, just two... +p1912 +aV... well, two hours before the debate, you did. +p1913 +aVBut let me ask you about Vermont. Because in Vermont \u2014 you tried in the state of Vermont, and Vermont walked away from this kind of idea, of \u2014 of Medicare for all, single-payer, because they concluded it would require major tax increases... +p1914 +aV... and by some estimates, it would double the budget. If you couldn't sell it in Vermont, Senator... +p1915 +aV... how can you sell it to the country? +p1916 +aVSenator Sanders \u2014 Senator Sanders, you've talked a lot about things you want to do. You want free education for everyone, you want the Federal Minimum Wage raised to $15 an hour. You want to expand Social Security... +p1917 +aV... benefits. You've been specific about what you want, but let's talk about how to pay for all this. You now said that you would raise taxes today, two hours or so ago, you said you would raise taxes to pay for your health care plan. You haven't been specific about how to pay for the other things... +p1918 +aV... Will you tell us tonight? +p1919 +aV... OK... O' +p1920 +aV... Secretary Clinton, you mentioned earlier \u2014 Secretary Clinton, do you want to respond? +p1921 +aVOK, we're out of time. Senator Sanders, +p1922 +aVSenator Sanders... +p1923 +aV... Senator Sanders, let me ask you a question about taxes. +p1924 +aVThe most googled political issue... +p1925 +aVIn the last month was taxes. Now, in your healthcare plan, the plan you released tonight, you would not only raise taxes on the wealthy, but the details you released indicate you would raise taxes on the middle class also. Is that correct? +p1926 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, let me just follow up on that. +p1927 +aVOn Meet the Press on December 20th, you said that you would only raise taxes on the middle class to pay for family leave. And, having said that, now you say you're going to raise middle class taxes to pay for healthcare as well. Is that breaking your word? +p1928 +aVThank you Lester. Senator Sanders, the nuclear deal is now enforced. Iran is getting it's billions of dollars, several Americans who have been held are now going to be heading home. The president said today, "it's a good day. It's a good day for diplomacy. It's a time now to restore diplomatic relations for the first time since 1979 and actually re- opened a U.S. Embassy in Tehran." +p1929 +aVYour response Secretary Clinton? +p1930 +aVYou mentioned Syria. Let me ask you about Syria, all of you. Let's turn to Syria and the civil war that has been raging there. Are there any circumstances in which you could see deploying significant numbers of ground forces in Syria, not just specials forces but significant ground forces to combat +p1931 +aVSenator Sanders, ground forces yes or no? +p1932 +aVGovernor O'Malley? +p1933 +aVGovernor O'Malley. O' +p1934 +aVI have a question. I have a question for Senator Sanders. Did the policies of the Obama administration, in which Secretary Clinton of course was a part, create a vacuum in Iraq and Syria that helped +p1935 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to talk to you about red lines, because former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in a recent interview that President Obama's decision to stand down on planned missile strikes against Damascus after Assad had used chemical weapons hurt the president's credibility. Should the president have stuck to his red line once he drew it? +p1936 +aVBut should he \u2014 should he have stuck to his... +p1937 +aV... line? Did it hurt U.S. credibility? +p1938 +aVYour time is up. +p1939 +aVSenator.... +p1940 +aVYou're out of time. +p1941 +aVSenator Sanders. +p1942 +aVYour time is us. Lester. +p1943 +aVJust a \u2014 just a quick follow-up, though, Secretary Clinton. Just a moment, Governor. O' +p1944 +aVBut \u2014 but \u2014 Secretary Clinton, you said that the leaders from the intelligence community went to Silicon Valley, they were flatly turned down. They got nowhere. +p1945 +aVSenator Sanders, let me ask you a question. You called Bill Clinton's past transgressions, quote, "totally, totally, totally disgraceful and unacceptable." Senator, do you regret saying that? +p1946 +aV...too long. O' +p1947 +asVHEWITT +p1948 +(lp1949 +VSenator Cruz, you've said you disagree with Mr. Trump's policy. I don't want a cage match; you've tweeted you don't want a cage match. But Republican primary voters deserve to know, with the kind of specificity and responsiveness you delivered in your nine Supreme Court arguments, how you disagree with Mr. Trump. Would you spell that out with us? +p1950 +aVSo you're saying you disagree because he's too broad and you have a narrower focus? Why do you disagree with him? +p1951 +aVCarly Fiorina... ... this is the Christmas dinner debate. This will be the debate that Americans talk about at Christmas. And thus far, in the first 10 minutes, we haven't heard a lot about Ronald Reagan's city on a hill. We've heard a lot about keeping Americans out or keeping Americans safe and everyone else out. Is this what you want the party to stand for? +p1952 +aVDr. Carson...... you mentioned in your opening remarks that you're a pediatric neurologist surgeon... +p1953 +aVNeurosurgeon. And people admire and respect and are inspired by your life story, your kindness, your evangelical core support. We're talking about ruthless things tonight \u2014 carpet bombing, toughness, war. And people wonder, could you do that? Could you order air strikes that would kill innocent children by not the scores, but the hundreds and the thousands? Could you wage war as a commander-in-chief? +p1954 +aVSo you are OK with the deaths of thousands of innocent children and civilian? It's like... +p1955 +aVThat is what war \u2014 can you be as ruthless as Churchill was in prosecuting the war against the Nazis? +p1956 +aVMr. Trump, we are talking about the most important thing, that's why it's heated. And it's, you are OK with Mr. Assad staying in power, but you are also in favor of winning. If he stays in power, Iran is winning, Hezbollah is winning. Iran is winning in Yemen. They are winning everywhere. If they are winning how can we be winning? +p1957 +aVGovernor Christie, is he right? Because if we step back, Iran goes nuclear. Is Donald Trump right? +p1958 +aVSenator Paul, let me ask you, you heard Governor Kasich say Assad must go. Do you agree? +p1959 +aVGovernor Bush, a commander-in-chief question. You've said that Mr. Trump is not qualified to be president because he's not qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin. Why are you better qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin than Mr. Trump? +p1960 +aVMr. Trump? +p1961 +aVBut, Mr. Trump, it's not CNN \u2014 I was on CNN last night... +p1962 +aV... watching... +p1963 +aVBut it wasn't \u2014 it wasn't CNN. It was me. I watched you last night for 16 minutes. It's not CNN. +p1964 +aVIt's not CNN. It's America's watching you. +p1965 +aVIt's America's watching. +p1966 +aVGovernor \u2014 thank you, Governor. +p1967 +aVDr. Carson, commander-in-chief question again. You've been the head of neurosurgery for a big hospital. You're on a lot of boards of a lot of companies. You've traveled the world. You're going traveling again next week. But does that prepare you to command troops from Djibouti to Japan, troops from Afghanistan to Iraq to be in charge of the men and women watching on Armed Services Network tonight? +p1968 +aVMr. Trump...... Dr. Carson just referenced the single most important job of the president, the command, the control and the care of our nuclear forces. And he mentioned the triad. The B-52s are older than I am. The missiles are old. The submarines are aging out. It's an executive order. It's a commander-in-chief decision. What's your priority among our nuclear triad? +p1969 +aVOf the three legs of the triad, though, do you have a priority? I want to go to Senator Rubio after that and ask him. +p1970 +aVSenator Rubio, do you have a response? +p1971 +aVMy listeners tell me again and again they are worried that Hillary Clinton will win the White House because you'll run as an independent. Are you ready to assure Republicans tonight that you will run as a Republican and abide by the decision of the Republicans? +p1972 +aVDr. Carson, last week... +p1973 +aVPlease. +p1974 +aVDr. Carson, Mr. Trump just committed to stay the distance regardless of the result. How about you? +p1975 +aVThank you, Jake. Mr. Trump, two years ago, President Obama drew a red line that the Syrian dictator Bashar Assad crossed, President Obama threatened to strike. He did not, his knees buckled. We now have 4 million refugees, Syria is a living hell, and he turned to the Congress for the authority to back him up. You have three senators to your right that said, no. Do they bear responsibility for this refugee crisis, and what would you have done when Bashar Assad crossed the line? +p1976 +aVHow much responsibility, Mr. Trump, do the senators hold? +p1977 +aVSenator Rubio... +p1978 +aVSenator Paul? +p1979 +aVI'd like to talk about winning because I think all of you are more qualified than former Secretary of State Clinton, and as were the people in the first debate, but there are different styles, and Carly Fiorina, Governor Kasich, you're conveniently located next to each other, and you have different styles. Governor Kasich, you've been on my show a lot. You refused to attack Hillary Clinton, you just don't want to go there, you want to do the up with people. Go, Ohio, OK, and I like that. Carly Fiorina, I don't have to bring up the Secretary of State \u2014 you bring her up, so . Which one of you is wrong? Governor Kasich? +p1980 +aVGovernor. +p1981 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1982 +aVCarly Fiorina, your style? +p1983 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Christie, your name was mentioned. I want to give you a chance to respond. +p1984 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1985 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. There is a lot more coming up. Ahead, a world of trouble. The challenges that one of these candidates may face in the Oval Office, and how he or she will handle it. Stay with us. +p1986 +aVOh, you're the best interview in America. +p1987 +aV... makes an interesting case (ph) here (ph). +p1988 +aVThank you, Jake. I've done a lot of great interviews with all of you, but, Governor Bush, I talked to you in February about the biggest elephant in a room full of elephants, which is your last name. And you said you would not be burdened either by your brother or your father's legacy in the Middle East. And then, a week later, you rolled out your list of foreign policy advisers, and it was a lot of the band getting back together again. So on behalf of the military that is watching... +p1989 +aV...OK, the active duty military that are at the end of the sphere (ph), what kind of a commander in chief is Jeb Bush going to be, and who are the advisers that are new to your team? +p1990 +aVMr. \u2014 Mr. Trump. +p1991 +aVI want to ask you a question, though, you promised us great leaders. And I believe that. But Jeb Bush has laid out 20 different people that have experience around the world. There are 190 countries, you can't run the world by yourself. When are we going to get some names on your military and your foreign policy advisers? +p1992 +aVThank you, Jake. Tomorrow is \u2014 Republicans know this \u2014 tomorrow is Constitution Day. We've been talking about the 10th Amendment. Let's talk about the Second Amendment. Governor Bush, one of the things the Supreme Court has gotten right is that it's an individual right and it's protected for individuals to hold it. Last week, you said the next step in gun issues is to make sure they're not in the hands of mentally ill. In this state, there's a controversial law that allows guns to be taken away from people without a hearing. Where does it go \u2014 and the problem of violence is endemic, but where does it go from what you said last week, how far into people's lives to take guns away from them? +p1993 +aVIf a family member calls and says, "My child, my brother, my sister is disturbed," ought the state be able to go and get their weapon without a hearing? +p1994 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1995 +aVSenator Cruz, I want to go to you. Your constitutional litigant (ph), are you afraid of the next- step theory of what happens to Second Amendment rights? +p1996 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1997 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1998 +aVThank you, senator. +p1999 +aVWait, let's pursue that in fact Governor Pataki? +p2000 +aVYou called for following and finding those Imams who are preaching violence in mosques. How exactly would you do that and what Mosques would you shut down? How extensive of a surveillance program are you proposing? +p2001 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p2002 +aVGovernor Huckabee... ...As Governor Pataki noted earlier, we have a history of religious intoleration in this country. About the American Muslims who would be subject to this kind of surveillance, does it violate their First Amendment rights? +p2003 +aVSenator Santorum... ...I want to start then, not on the First Amendment, but on the Second Amendment. There is a terror watchlist. You can legally purchase a gun in the United States if you're on that watchlist. Your old colleague, Peter King in the House, wants to change that law. Do you agree with him? +p2004 +aVGovernor... +p2005 +aVGovernor, back to you. Your response? +p2006 +aVSenator Graham, are you trying to get in? +p2007 +aVThank you, Wolf. Governor Huckabee, ten minutes ago you blasted President Obama for destabilizing Iraq. You hit former Secretary of State Clinton for supporting the Muslim brotherhood in Egypt. But you have said recently you would sanction countries that don't join the fight aggressively against +p2008 +aVWhich country? +p2009 +aVWhich countries are those, governor, that you would sanction? +p2010 +aVThat's an easy, give. Are you going to sanction any of our allies who say, no this isn't our fight we're gonna let you do this. Are you going to leave our allies alone? For example, Indonesia and Malaysia \u2014 other Muslim countries \u2014 will you leave them alone? +p2011 +aVSenator Graham, I just named two Islamic countries... ...Senator Graham, I just named two Islamic countries that are allies that he suggested we sanction. Is that the appropriate approach to this war? +p2012 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you... +p2013 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you, the opposite of getting into bed is shooting down the prince's plane. Senator Santorum has \u2014 Senator Graham has said he would shoot down Russian planes bombing Syrian fighters on our side. Would you shoot down a Russian plane bombing American allied fighters in Syria? +p2014 +aVWhat \u2014 if they fly into it, would you shoot it down? +p2015 +aVThe consequences would be war with Russia. Would you risk... +p2016 +aVSenator Graham, do you agree? +p2017 +aVOK, we know you agree, Senator Graham. How about you, Governor Pataki, would you shoot down Russian planes? +p2018 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you... +p2019 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you, the opposite of getting into bed is shooting down the prince's plane. Senator Santorum has \u2014 Senator Graham has said he would shoot down Russian planes bombing Syrian fighters on our side. Would you shoot down a Russian plane bombing American allied fighters in Syria? +p2020 +aVWhat \u2014 if they fly into it, would you shoot it down? +p2021 +aVThe consequences would be war with Russia. Would you risk... +p2022 +aVSenator Graham, do you agree? +p2023 +aVOK, we know you agree, Senator Graham. How about you, Governor Pataki, would you shoot down Russian planes? +p2024 +aVSenator Graham, in 2013 you were part of the leadership that pushed through immigration reform, comprehensive immigration reform in the Senate of the United States. It died in the House. Many accused you of amnesty, and may have undermined your ability to get your message out on the war. Would you sign that bill again today? Would you \u2014 sponsor that bill again today? +p2025 +aVBut, Senator, I misunderstand, did you... +p2026 +aVSenator Santorum, is that sufficient for you? +p2027 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2028 +aVYep. Governor Huckabee, you have said that children of immigrants who came here illegally should not be punished by their parents actions. As president, would you continue President Obama's policy, vis-a-vis, the Dreamers? +p2029 +aVSenator... +p2030 +aVSenator Santorum, you... ...Your position on that policy, assuming that it was passed constitutionally, would you allow this, would you support such an act? +p2031 +aVThank you, Jake. Governor, you signed the pledge to support the Republican nominee and you promptly broke it. By doing so, by Tweeting out that you would not support Donald Trump, have you released Donald Trump to be a free agent again or anyone else in the field? +p2032 +aVGovernor... +p2033 +aV-- you said on Twitter that you would not support Donald Trump. If he's the nominee... +p2034 +aV-- will you support him? +p2035 +aVWould you really vote for Hillary Clinton... +p2036 +aV-- or vote for Donald Trump if he's the nominee? +p2037 +aVGovernor Jindal, Senator Graham just said it's all about winning and, in fact, if former Secretary of State Clinton is the successor to President Obama, none of this matters and all this conversation is beside the point. In the Washington elite, they have a habit of saying nice things about each other until election time. Senator Graham has praised Secretary of State Clinton as a great choice to be the secretary of state, as a national treasure. Can anyone from inside of Washington win this election cycle, having praised Secretary of State Clinton that way? +p2038 +aVSenator Graham, took a shot at there and you're having a good debate but there is this problem of Washington elites and saying wonderful things about each other. +p2039 +aVIs that responsive to calling Hillary Clinton a national treasure, Senator? +p2040 +aVBut Senator, can you go back and forth that way, and expect to have an argument with the American people to persuade them about that? +p2041 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2042 +aVThank you, senator. +p2043 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2044 +aVLet's talk about the economy, if We could. Governor Pataki. +p2045 +aVJeb Bush and Donald Trump are both proposing raising taxes on hedge fund managers who pay at a lower rate. Governor Pataki, you were the governor of New York, home of Wall Street. Do you agree that hedge fund managers need to be paying a higher rate? +p2046 +aVSo you are with Jeb Bush and Donald Trump on the hedge fund? +p2047 +aVGovernor Jindal -- Governor Jindal, that's three Republicans running for president who support hedge fund managers paying a higher rate. Are you the fourth? +p2048 +aVLet's stay on the topic of taxes. +p2049 +aVI want to bring in my colleague, Dana Bash. +p2050 +aVThere are other ways, Governor, than bombing Iran. I want to quote Rick Santorum. "We should send a very clear message that If you are a scientist and you're going to work on a nuclear program to develop a bomb for Iran, you are not safe." Does that message work? Is anything that works on the table? +p2051 +aVSenator Santorum, stay on that: any means necessary? Is that what you meant to say? Is that what's still on this table after this, what many of us believe is a catastrophic deal? +p2052 +asVJINDAL +p2053 +(lp2054 +V...Thank you. +p2055 +aVA couple of things. In Louisiana, we're actually a top 10 state for job growth. As we sit here today, we have more people working in Louisiana than ever before, earning a higher income than ever before. We've had 60 months in a row of consecutive job growth in our state. So the reality is, we have diversified our economy. Yes, I've got an interview plan that says all of the above, that creates good manufacturing jobs in America. We've also got one of the fastest growing IT sectors by percentage. We are growing Louisiana's economy. But let me get to the point that is, I think, the most important issue here tonight. You're going to have several hours of debate on the economy and we're going to have a great discussion about energy plans and tax rates. And that's all great. The most important thing we have to do, we have a fundamental choice to make, folks. Are we willing to cut the government economy so we can grow the American economy? That is the most fundamental question we've got to answer. We are on the path to socialism right now. These are mutually exclusive. The hour is late, but it is not too late for America. Though under President Obama, you asked about his economy. We've got record dependents, a record number of Americans on food stamps, record low participation rate in the work force. This is a fundamental choice. Sending a big government Republican to DC is not enough to fix this problem. It's not enough just to beat Hillary Clinton. We've got to change the direction of our country. What that means is let's shrink the government, not slow its growth rate, but actually shrink the government so we can grow the American economy. That is the fundamental issue we should be debating here tonight. +p2056 +aVNo, I think right now there's not much difference between the two parties. The reason we keep losing nationally is we try to be cheaper versions of the Democratic party. What if the Republicans, what if Republicans actually embraced our own principles? So I earlier said if you want bigger paychecks, you want more jobs, you want less government dependence, you're going to have to cut government spending. Here's the dirty little secret. You're going to hear a lot of Republicans tonight in this debate and the next one talk about cutting government spending. It's going to sound great. There's only one of us that's actually cut government spending. Not two, there's one, and you're looking at him. We've got four senators running. They've never cut anything in D.C. They give these long speeches called filibusters, they pat themselves on the back, nothing changes. When they go to relieve themselves their cause and the toilet get flushed at the same time, and the American people lose. We've got a bunch of governors running, we've got seven current former governors running. I'm the only one that has cut government spending. Everybody else can talk about it. If they haven't done it in their state capitals, what makes them thank that \u2014 what makes us think they'll do it if we send them to D.C. Look, when politicians talk, we need to look at what they have done, not what they have said. Otherwise, it's a bunch of hot air. We've cut our budget 26 percent. Record number of Louisianans working. If Republicans want to win national elections, let's be conservatives, let's be Republicans, let's not be a second version of the liberal party, let's cut government spending and grow the American economy. +p2057 +aVWait, wait, wait. I want to respond. He has criticized something I said. I want to respond to that. Mike, with all due respect, I admire your social views, I share many of those views, your record as Governor tells a different story. Was \u2014 your time as Governor spending in Arkansas went up 65 percent, number of state workers went up 20 percent, the taxes for the average citizen went up 47 percent. That's not a record of cutting. I'm saying we've actually cut. We reduced the size of our budget. So wanting to cut is one thing, actually cutting is a different thing. Facts don't lie. +p2058 +aVI was absolutely a skeptic of giving this president more power. He negotiated a bad deal with Iran. He breaks the law routinely. I don't know why Congress would want to concede more authority to him. Look, this trade deal is 6,000 pages long. Unlike ObamaCare, I think we should read it before we decide whether we would vote for it or not vote for it. I am for trade deals, but I want to make sure they are fair trade deals. I want to come back to something that Chris had said earlier. Look, I absolutely agree we've got to beat Hillary Clinton. But just sending any Republican is not good enough. We've had a Republican majority in the Senate and the House. What has changed? If we send another big government Republican to the White House, we will not do enough to fix what is wrong in this country. Chris, I think records matter. I think the way we govern matter. Under your leadership in New Jersey, your budget has gone up 15 percent. It's gone down 26 percent in Louisiana. It has gone up $5 million in New Jersey. It's gone down $9 billion in Louisiana. In New Jersey, you've had nine credit downgrades, setting a record. We've had eight credit upgrades in Louisiana. My point is this. If politicians say they're going to be conservative, they say they're going to cut spending but they don't do it, why should we send them to DC? It gets harder, not easier, when we send them to DC. Let's not be a second liberal party. Let's actually cut government spending. Let's grow the American economy. Let's not just beat Hillary, let's elect a conservative to the White House, not just any Republican. +p2059 +aVBut wait a minute, records matter. Records \u2014 records matter. Yes, we've got to... +p2060 +aV\u2014 beat Hillary Clinton. But Chris, it's also true that you expanded food stamps at a time that we've got record numbers of Americans on food stamps. It's also true you caved into ObamaCare. You expanded Medicaid. We've got a choice in front of us. This is an important debate. This is not about comparing Louisiana to New Jersey or Bobby to Chris. This is an important debate for the American people. This is supposed to be an economics debate. Let's have a debate. Do we want to grow government or do we want to grow the American economy? Do we want to grow dependence on government, or do we want to grow good paying jobs in the private sector... +p2061 +aV...you don't grow the economy by putting more people on food stamps, more people in Medicaid, you grow the economy by cutting government, cutting spending. That's what we've done in Louisiana, you haven't done that in New Jersey... +p2062 +aV...We need a conservative, not a big government republican in D.C. +p2063 +aV...This is how we.... +p2064 +aV...This is how we move our country forward, look, this is not about between me and Chris... +p2065 +aV...This is about......are we going to be the party... +p2066 +aVWell, look, only one other opponent, actually, one other candidate, actually, has a plan. That's Jeb Bush, and he creates a new entitlement program. My plan actually gets rid of all of Obamacare, it's great that Senator Cruz will shut down the government over Obamacare, but he still hasn't given us his plan to get rid of it. It's great that other republicans talk about getting rid of it. You go to a town hall in Iowa, or New Hampshire, ask them how they're actually going to get rid of it \u2014 my plan has been online for over a year. It gets rid of all of Obamacare, it reduces the cost. It actually puts Americans, their patients, their doctors back in control. And, it actually helps those that really need this help \u2014 but, this is one of the most critical issues we face domestically. I think I \u2014 look, right now, I think I am the only candidate running that refused to expand Medicaid. I'm the only one that turned down \u2014 that did what we could to fight Obamacare. This is an important point, and, look, I appreciate Chris's nice compliments to me. And, Chris, you look to me very well, I love Mary-pat, but this isn't about me and Chris. This is about the country, and this is about what direction \u2014 this is the most important election in our lifetimes. Folks, a couple of years ago they told us give them the republican majorities in the House and the Senate, they'd stop Obamacare, and amnesty, and the bad Iran deal \u2014 nothing changed. If they fooled us once, shame on them. If they fooled us twice, shame on us. Don't let them fool us again. Chris, look, I'll give you your ribbon for participation, and a juicebox, but in the real world, it's about results......but, in the real world it's about results. It's about actually cutting government spending, not just talking about cutting government spending. +p2067 +aVWe can waste our time. And I think this is why people were so frustrated with the last debate with these kinds of silly questions. We've only got a certain amount of time to talk about the economy. Let me use my time to say this. I want to fire everybody in D.C. in both parties. I think they all \u2014 we need term limits, get rid of them all, make them live under the same rules they passed on the rest of us. +p2068 +aVSo under our tax plan, look, the top rate is 25 percent, 10 percent, 2 percent. That 2 percent is the most important. I think everybody should pay something. I think everybody should have skin in the game. We shouldn't be creating one group of Americans that's dependent on government, another group that's paying taxes. I want to come back to an earlier point though, that Chris said. Look, we all agree Hillary Clinton is bad. We all agree we need to beat her. But let's not pretend that out-of-control government spending is only a Democratic issue. This is a bipartisan issue, and just sending another big government Republican to D.C. is not good enough. We need to actually cut government spending. We need to cut \u2014 and we're not going to do it just by sending any Republican. I'm glad he's vetoed taxes. The Tax Foundation graded New Jersey the 50th worst business climate due to taxes, high taxes in the state of New Jersey. +p2069 +aVWell, a couple of reasons. Look, we know big companies don't pay those taxes today. They hire lobbyists and accountants and lawyers. It's the small businesses that get hit. I want to get rid of the corporate tax, I want to bring the jobs and investment back to America. Make the CEOs pay the same rates as everybody else. Get rid of all the corporate welfare as well. Like I said, make everybody pay something, earned success is so much better than unearned success. And let's actually shrink the size of government. My plan purposely does that. Look, we can talk all night about tax plans, energy plans, I think you will find a lot of agreement among all the Republicans. We all want to get rid of the death tax, the marriage penalty. We all want lower, fewer brackets. We want to downsize, take away power from the IRS. What we really need to be talking about is this, these last seven years, we've had more government spending, more government dependence. Poverty has gone up. Inequality has gone up. Only the top 10 percent have seen their incomes go up \u2014 their median incomes go up. We actually have more inequality thanks to what we have seen, the largest most expensive experiment in progressive government. We can't keep spending money we don't have. And the reality is, the last couple of years it hasn't mattered whether Republicans or Democrats were in control. We keep stealing from our children. That is immoral. It is wrong. And we're creating more government dependence. If we really want to grow the economy, yes, you need a rational energy plan, and you've got to rein in the EPA, and you've got to repeal Obamacare, and you've got to cut taxes. But none of that will be enough if we're not serious about cutting government spending. We cannot afford to elect a big- government Republican. We need somebody. This is the most important election. Hillary Clinton is gift-wrapping this election to us. Let's not waste this opportunity to apply conservative principles and cut the size of government. +p2070 +aVWell, a couple things, first, I want to echo what others have said and thank those veterans that run towards danger, not away from it, so we can live in the greatest country in the history of the world. I think every veteran should get that card, and they should be allowed to get that health care wherever they want in the private sector. But, I also think \u2014 or the public sector, I also think we need to fire some of the V.A. bureaucrats. Somebody should go to jail over these scandals, and it is a crime that it has not happened. When it comes \u2014 when it comes to uniting the American people, one of the things we've done to honor our veterans in Louisiana, we've given thousands \u2014 and I've hand delivered these, to veterans \u2014 medals to veterans to thank them for their service. I'll just give you one quick example, I know my time is out, but, we've had Vietnam war veterans with tears in their eyes saying nobody has ever thanked them before. We've had World War II veterans, children, who said they never heard the stories of their parents heroic sacrifice. Whatever conflict, whenever they served, one of the things we can do is to teach our children we do live in the greatest country in the history of the world. We got a president who doesn't believe in American exceptionalism, but we still do, and it's because of those men and women in uniform. We should thank them everyday, not just veterans day. +p2071 +aVYou know, I have spent a lot of time tonight talking about the need to cut the size of government. The reason I'm doing that \u2014 it's not just about balancing the budget, or balancing a bunch of numbers. Because I believe in the American dream. I think President Obama's done a lot of damage to our country. I think that one of the worst things he has done is try to change the idea of America to be one of dependence. There are a lot of politicians that talk about cutting government spending, I'm the only one that's actually done it that's running for President. The rest of them, it's a lot of hot air. If you want your paychecks to go up, if you want more good paying jobs, if you want the government out of your lives, we've got to cut the size of government. It's not enough just to elect any republican, we've seen that. We've got to elect a republican that will take on the establishment in both parties. I'm asking for your support. Thank you. +p2072 +aVI think the reason voters are so frustrated is nothing seems to change in D.C. Look, over the next several hours, you're going to hear several Republicans all tell you they want to shrink the size of government and grow the American economy and it sounds great and we've got to do it. Here's the truth \u2014 of all these folks talking, I'm the only one that has cut the size of government. There's not two of us, there's one of us. The rest of it is all just hot air. When politicians talk, we need to pay attention to what they do, not what they say. I'm the only one that's reduced the size of government. Let's shrink the government economy. Let's grow the American economy. +p2073 +aVWell, look, I think that's a false choice. I think this is a very bad deal. Whenever they tell us in D.C. they're going to cut tomorrow, that means they're never going to cut. Tomorrow never seems to happen. Instead, why don't we actually follow our conservative principles? Why not insist on structural reforms? Why not cut spending? I don't mean strength (ph) the growth rate, I mean, actually spend less. Why not a balanced budget in the amendment \u2014 an amendment to the Constitution? Why not a super-majority vote before they grow our taxes, before they grow the government faster than the economy? Let's be honest, $18 trillion dollars of debt. Record low participation rate in the workforce, record number of Americans on food stamps. We are going the way of Europe. The left is trying to turn the American Dream into the European Nightmare. If you're a Republican... +p2074 +aV... willing to stand up and fight... +p2075 +aVI think that's a false choice. If I were \u2014 I were to lead, we would pass a conservative budget, challenge the President to do the right thing. And, here's the problem, the Republicans never want to fight. Give Pelosi and Reed credit, they forced Obamacare and socialism down our throats, why won't the Republicans fight half as hard for freedom and opportunity. This was a bad budget. +p2076 +aVAbsolutely, Jhon. And what we did is we cut state spending. We've cut our budget 26 percent, according to Cato and other analysis, the only candidate that's actually reduced government spending. Look, the left always complains there's not enough money for government. We have 30,000 fewer state employees than the day I took office, eight credit upgrades, we're a top 10 state for private sector job creation. We've got a choice. You grow the government economy or the American economy. When I became governor, we had 25 years in a row of outmigration. We were coming back from Katrina. The question many were asking, will Louisiana rebuild, should Louisiana rebuild? Seven years in a row, more people moving into the state than were leaving the state. We now have more people working than ever before, erg a higher income than ever before. Yes, we've reduced the size of government. That's exactly what we need to do in DC. In DC, the Republicans slowed the growth rate, they claimed victory. That's not enough. Let's be honest with where we are today. We are running off of a cliff. Look, we'll be the next Greece and we can talk and we can rearrange the chairs. Over over $18 trillion of debt, no wonder our economy has been stagnant. We haven't had real growth. If you're a young student here, you've not seen a robust American economy. +p2077 +aVWell, Jhon, a couple of things. Not only did we not raise taxes, we did the largest income tax cut in the state's history. And I'm proud of that record. I think that's the kind of leadership voters want in DC. Look, if you want a Republican that's going go grow government spending, if you want a \u2014 a president or if you want a candidate who's going to income taxes, I'm not your guy. If you want somebody that's going to do and say the things that can't be said, can't be done, I'm asking a vote for me to join my cause. That's how dangerous these times are. This is \u2014 this is a \u2014 this is \u2014 these are dangerous times for America. I think we have a chance to rescue the idea of America, but if we don't do it now, four years will be too late from now. So, yes, I'm proud we cut taxes, we cut spending, 30,000 fewer state government bureaucrats than the day I took office. I absolutely will do that in DC. +p2078 +aVThank you. +p2079 +aVAbsolutely, John. I'd go further. My tax plan, like everybody's, like a lot of Republicans' \u2014 look, I'd get rid of the death penalty and the marriage penalty, and I'd simplify the brackets to 25 percent, 10 percent, 2 percent, so that an average middle-class family \u2014 a teacher marries a law enforcement official (ph)... +p2080 +aV...I \u2014 I'm gonna get that. Pays 25 percent today, would pay 10 percent under my plan. But my plan does three things different from other people's plans. One \u2014 remember, I said 2 percent. I think everybody should pay something, even if it's only 2 percent. That's the most important 2 percent in my plan. I know a lot of Republicans brag \u2014 y'all can clap, it doesn't scare me. Go ahead. I heard some people. There are millions of \u2014 there are millions of folks that wouldn't pay taxes in Jeb's plan and Trump's plan. I think that's a mistake. In terms of the corporate tax, secondly, I'd get rid of the corporate tax. We do have the highest corporate tax rate in the developed world. I'd get rid of it. I'd get rid of all the corporate welfare. Make the CEOs pay their same tax rates the way the rest of us do. And third, I'd purposely shrink the size of government. You know, that is a \u2014 that is an intentional feature of my plan. We've got a choice: do we grow government \u2014 the government economy, or the American economy? So I say get rid of the corporate tax, bring those jobs and investment here to the United States, stop sending jobs and investment overseas. +p2081 +aVLook, I think the government should work to change that, but that doesn't \u2014 does not mean I'm for the government mandating that. We already have too many government mandates out of DC. Do I want people to have paid leave? Sure. Do I want people to earn higher wages? Sure. Do I want them to have better benefits? Sure. The government can't wave a magic wand and make that happen. Here's the problem. The last seven years, President Obama has tried to teach the American people that government is the answer to all of our problems. Where has that gotten us? We're on a path toward socialism. The way that folks can get better paying jobs with better benefits is if we have a growing economy. That means to repeal all of ObamaCare, a lower flatter tax code. That means that we have an energy plan that makes sense. That means that we embrace an all of the above approach to energy. Those are good paying jobs \u2014 $50,000, $70,000, $90,000 a year jobs with benefits. But this president won't let us produce more energy on our domestic federal lands and waters. He won't allow the Canadians to build the Keystone Pipeline. He's got an EPA that's doing everything they can to kill private sector jobs in America. So, yes, I want families to have better paying jobs and better benefits, but we're not going to get that with a government mandate, we're going to get that with a growing economy. +p2082 +aVA couple things. You're talking about payroll taxes that fund programs. People pay for their Medicare, they pay for their Social Security. I want every American to worry and care about how those folks in D.C. are spending our money. If $18 trillion of debt \u2014 they're misspending our money. Earned success is so much more fulfilling than unearned success. I don't want us to continue to create one class of Americans that pays income taxes, that pays for government, another class of Americans that's growing more and more dependent on government. That's what we have today. Socialism is bad, not only for taxpayers, but people that they say they're trying to help. There's dignity in work, dignity in self-sufficiency. I wanna quote you a president. Our previous president said this: he said, "the problem is, is that tax rates are too high, government income revenues are too low." He said, "paradoxically, lowering tax rates now is the best way to produce higher government revenues later." No, that wasn't President Reagan, as many are probably guessing at home. That was President Kennedy. I see you know the answer. That was President Kennedy. Imagine if he were alive today \u2014 and if he was at that last Democratic debate, imagine if you tried to say that in a party that's veering towards socialism. That wouldn't be welcome in today's Democratic party. +p2083 +aVWell, thank you. Look, if Senator Santorum wants to concede the tax cut wing of the Republican Party, I'm happy to fight for that side of the Republican Party. He's exactly right. I explicitly want to shrink the size of government; 22 percent over 10 years is not too much. We cut our state budget 26 percent in eight years. This is a fundamental choice. We mustn't become a cheaper version of the Democratic Party, a second liberal party. We need to proudly say we're willing to cut taxes, shrink government, grow the American economy. President Kennedy said it to the Democratic Party. Why can't we say it in the Republican Party in 2015, let's cut taxes. +p2084 +aVJohn, our budget is balanced. We balanced our budget every year for eight years. Yeah, we've had to cut spending. You know what? We privatized or closed nine of our 10 charity hospitals. We did statewide school choice; $1.6 billion (ph) budget cut. You're quoting an old number from the beginning of the year. We closed that gap. What they talk about, just like D.C., government's the only place where you give them less money than they wanted, they count it as a cut. They take last year's budget. They add inflation. They call it a baseline. We need to do zero-based budgets. We need to say just because you got money last year, you don't have it this year. Let me close, though. We balanced our budget. We didn't raise taxes. In eight years, we never raised taxes. We cut taxes. Our \u2014 our taxpayers, our families have been better off for it. +p2085 +aV absolutely they should be accountable. They should be accountable to their students through the market. Look, you either trust the American people to make their own choices or you don't. I know the Left thinks we need to be protected from ourselves. President Obama is trying to limit competition to the higher education market. As a result, you're going to see tuition prices continue to go up. We've had $1 trillion of student debt and counting. And he wants to exempt certain schools from the same oversight he wants to apply only to the for-profit market. For some reason, the private sector is a bad word to this president. It's not in the real world. In Louisiana, we fought so that the dollars follow the child and so the child following the dollar. What that means, from K-12, what that means is that parents and their families can decide what's the best way for their children to be educated. Higher education, we have a +p2086 +aVI was just saying to my colleagues, I may be the last person in this audience without an iPhone. I'm actually one of the last folks \u2014 I still have a BlackBerry in my pocket. And I basically use it for scheduling. I use it to keep up when my wife is here and my three kids at home. The only games on that phone are Bricklayer. I use it to keep up with the news through the Internet. I may be the last American out there without an iPhone. +p2087 +aVMy apologies. +p2088 +aVWell, absolutely, when the Saints go back to repeat, we were talking about beer sales earlier, all those folks from being hung over in Louisiana from drinking to celebrate Drew Brees winning this, I think it would be a great day to take off. No, look, on a serious note, I do want to say this about the Super Bowl and our athletes. They can be great role models for our children and I'm obviously a Saints fan. Drew Brees and his wife great role models, great Christians. So, yes, it should be a holiday. +p2089 +aVMy message is to conservatives, this is our hour. Thanks to the insanity, the incompetence of the Democratic party, the American people are ready to turn our government over to us. It's not enough to let just any Republican, however. The reality is the idea of America is slipping away. As Christians, we believe that the tomb is empty. As Americans, we believe that our best days are always ahead of us, and they can be again. We must win this election. We cannot allow Hillary Clinton to take us down this path towards socialism \u2014 further down this path. I've got the courage to apply our conservative principles. I can't do it alone. With your help, with God's grace, we can save the idea of America before it's too late. +p2090 +aVHi, I'm Bobby Jindal. Now, look, I don't have a famous last name. My daddy didn't run for president. I don't have a reality TV show. I'll tell you what I do have, I've got the backbone, I've got the bandwidth, I've got the experience to get us through these tough times, to make sure that we don't turn the American dream into the European nightmare. Thank you for having me today. +p2091 +aVWell, Jake, I'm in compliance with the 11th Commandment, and I would tell my fellow Republicans, let's stop treating Donald Trump like a Republican. If he were really a conservative... If he were really a conservative and 30 points ahead, I would endorse him. He's not a conservative. He's not a liberal. He's not a Democrat. He's not a Republican. He's not an independent. He believes in Donald Trump. Here is the reality, the idea of America is slipping away. Eighteen trillion dollars of debt, Planned Parenthood selling baby parts across our country. Our government is creating a new entitlement program, when we can't afford the government we've got today. We've got a president who won't even say the words radical Islamic terrorism. He has declared war on trans fats and a truce with Iran. Think about that. He's more worried about Twinkies than he is about the ayatollahs having a nuclear weapon. That's what is happening, the idea of America is slipping away. We must not let that happen on our watch. We have a once in a lifetime opportunity to rescue the idea of America, the choice for conservatives. Do we depend on proven conservative principles like Ronald Reagan did, or do we turn this over to a narcissist who only believes in himself... +p2092 +aVThank you, Jake. +p2093 +aVAbsolutely. Look, the reality is, Hillary Clinton is gift-wrapping this election to us. They are running their weakest candidate. They have got a socialist that is gaining on Hillary Clinton. Folks, you can't make that up. A socialist is doing well in the Democratic primary. The best way for us to give this election back would be to nominate a Donald Trump. He'll implode in the general election, or if, God forbid, if he were in the White House, we have no idea what he would do. You can't just attack him on policy. He doesn't care about policy. It's not enough to say he was for socialized medicine or higher taxes... +p2094 +aVHe's not serious. +p2095 +aVYeah, I wanted to clarify -- I want to make very clear that everybody understands my position is, we need to secure the border, period. Any talk of doing any more -- we don't need a comprehensive plan, don't need an 1,000-page bill, like the Gang of Eight. We don't need amnesty. Everybody in D.C. talks about it. We need to get it done. As president, I'll get it done in six months. It won't be perfect, but we can get it done. I'm not for amnesty. We do need to secure the border. A smart immigration makes our -- our country stronger. Right now, we've got a weak one. One of the things I've said -- I know the left -- I know Hillary didn't like this -- immigration without assimilation is invasion. We need to insist the people who come here come here legally, learn English, adopt our values, roll up their sleeves and get to work. We do need to secure the border. +p2096 +aVDana, that's not right. What I've said consistently is secure the border. I've said after that is done, the American people will deal with the folks that are here pragmatically and compassionately. Now, Rick, if he wants to say that Rubio, Senator Rubio, or Jeb or others are for amnesty, that's his right. I'm not for amnesty. I've never been for amnesty, will never be for amnesty. Secure the border. We don't need to do that as a comprehensive -- I've also said we need to put an end to sanctuary cities. It's not enough to defund them; I think we need to criminalize, accuse and jail those mayors and councilman as accessories... ( +p2097 +aV... for the crimes committed by people who shouldn't be here in the first place. +p2098 +aVJake, look, America's the most compassionate country in the entire world. We do more for folks around this world, and that's the nature of the American people. Two things. One, let us draw line, a direct line, between this refugee crisis, and this president's failed foreign policy. Jake, look, America is the most compassionate country in the entire world. We do more for folks around this world. And that's the nature of the American people. Two things: one, let us draw a line, a direct line between this refugee crisis and this president's failed foreign policy. He drew a red line in Syria and did not enforce it and now we're seeing millions of refugees potentially, hundreds of thousands going into Europe. The answer is not to put a Band-aid on this and allow even more people to come into America. We should not short-circuit; we have got a vetting process, we've got a normal refugee process. Simply allowing more into our country doesn't solve this problem. The way to solve this problem is for us to be clear to our friends and allies that we're going to replace Assad, we're going to hunt down and destroy +p2099 +aVWe -- it is important we insist on that in immigration going -- +p2100 +aVLook, absolutely. We need to do whatever is necessary to hunt down and kill these radical Islamic terrorists but this president has helped -- his policies have helped to contribute to this problem. He went to the Pentagon the same week they announced they were cutting back the number of troops in the Army to say that we're not going to win this through guns, it's going to be a change of hearts and minds. This will be a generational conflict, that is nonsense. These are barbarians. They are burning, crucifying people alive, Christians and other Muslims. We need to hunt them down and -- +p2101 +aV-- by having a president willing to -- +p2102 +aV-- Islamic -- +p2103 +aVWell, Jake, look, I think the American people -- we don't discriminate anybody based on the color of their skin or their creed. I think the way you strike that balance, you say to Muslim leaders, they have got two responsibilities. One, it's not enough to denounce just simply generic acts of violence. They have got to denounce the individuals by name, and say these are not martyrs. These terrorists are not martyrs; rather, they are going straight to hell. They are not going to enjoy a reward in their afterlife. Secondly, they have to explicitly embrace the same freedoms for everybody else they want for themselves. Look, I know it's politically incorrect to say this, the president says Fort Hood was an issue of workplace violence. We are at war with radical Islam. Our president loves to apologize for America, he goes to the National Prayer Breakfast, brings up the Crusades, criticizes Christians. We're at war today with radical Islamic extremists. It's not politically correct to say that, but the way you strike that balance, you say to Muslim leaders, denounce these fools, these radical terrorists by name, say they are not martyrs. +p2104 +aVSure, I don't think a 14-year-old should ever get arrested for bringing a clock to school. So, if you're asking me I'm glad he wasn't -- he was released. I'm glad that police are careful. I'm glad they are worried about security and safety issues. Look, in America we don't tolerate them. The biggest discrimination is going on against Christian business owners and individuals who believe in traditional forms of marriage. They are throwing this woman in jail in Kentucky. Let's talk about that. Let's talk about the Christian florist, the caterer, the musician, who simply want to say, don't arrest us for having -- or don't discriminate against us, don't shut down our businesses, don't fine us thousands of dollars for believing marriage is between a man and a woman. Lets talk about not discriminating against Christians. +p2105 +aVJake -- Jake... +p2106 +aVJake, I've got a practical question. +p2107 +aVI've got a practical question. I'd like the left to give us a list of jobs that Christians aren't allowed to have. If we're not allowed to be clerks, bakers, musicians, caterers, are we allowed to be pastors ? +p2108 +aVWe're not allowed to be elected officials. I firmly -- this is an important point. The First Amendment rights, the right to religious freedom is in the First Amendment of "The Constitution." It isn't breaking the law to exercise our constitutional rights. America did not create religious liberty, religious liberty created the United States of America. It is the reason we're here today. +p2109 +aVI think actually putting Roberts, I think putting Kennedy, I think putting -- before them, I think putting Souter on the bench was a mistake. But look, I think the -- the first responsibility starts in the White House. The reality is conservatives have not been willing to stand up for our beliefs, unlike the liberals -- look, you never worry about where the Democratic judges are going to vote, it's always the conservatives. You've never had a Democratic judge wake up and say, surprise, I've evolved, I've become a conservative. It's always the Republicans, because we have presidents that try to find judges with no records, no rulings, no writings. I'll tell you, I am going to have a litmus test. For judges, I'm going to find judges that are conservative, judges that are going to be pro-life, judges that are going to follow "The Constitution," judges, by the way, that are going to follow the American law, not international law. They're not appointed there to interpret international law, they're there to apply "The United States Constitution." Judges understand, their job is not to write law. If they want to write law, they should run for the Senate or the House. It's time for a Republican president as the next commander in chief, I will do as the Democrats have done. I will appoint bold judges that are actually consistent with my values that will be conservatives and enforce the Senate -- +p2110 +aVThank you, Jake. But look, it's not a minor ruling. Justice Roberts twice rewrote the law to save ObamaCare, the biggest expansion of government, creating a new entitlement when we can't afford the government we've got today, an expansion of socialism in our country. It's not that he got a minor ruling wrong. This is twice he rewrote the law. Now, look, I have a lot of respect for these senators that have big bladders. They give great speeches in the Senate. And I respect that. I've actually signed the executive order. I've actually signed a law protecting religious liberty in the state of Louisiana. It's not 99-1. The one that he got wrong was a big one. Twice he bent over backwards to save ObamaCare. If the Republicans had voted the way that we should -- they should have, we would still have our 19th Amendment rights and ObamaCare would not be the law of the land. +p2111 +aVNo. And it's not only whether they can win. They shouldn't win this election cycle. One of the things I do agree -- and I want to thank Donald Trump after I've criticized him for everything from being a narcissist to an egomaniac -- one of the things he was right about was to say nonsense to the D.C. establishment. It is time to fire all of them. You've got a choice between honest Socialists on the Left, like Bernie Sanders, and lying conservatives on the Right. We have got the majority; what good has it done us? See, they said they were going to stop amnesty. They said they were going to repeal ObamaCare. They didn't do either. Now they're not even willing to fight to defund Planned Parenthood. They've already -- McConnell has already waved the white flag of defeat. They are not willing to stand up to fight for the issues that count. I think it is time to have term limits. I think it's time to have part-time citizen legislators. Let's pay them a per diem instead of a six-figure salary, stop them from being seven-figure lobbyists. Let's also pay them a per diem for every day they don't go to D.C. Let's keep them out of D.C., working in the real -- -- let's make them live under the same rules and laws they apply to the rest of us. Not only shouldn't they be elected, they can't be elected. Let's fire all of them from their current positions. +p2112 +aVTwo things, Jake. One, I'm absolutely for all of these carve-outs and loopholes and special interests for as -- they get lobbyists. They get sweetheart deals you and I and the rest of this audience couldn't get. So as part of an overall comprehensive tax reform that has a lower, flatter tax code, sure. As a single, I am just to raise taxes, no. I don't want to give the government more money. The government has grown over this president where now, it's going to overwhelm the American economy. We've got to cut the size of the government economy. Nobody else running for president has done that. I'm the only candidate. I've cut my state budget 26 percent. Everybody else talks about it, we have done it. So, there's a part of overall tax reform that cuts rates, flattens and lowers the tax code, sure. But I'm not for raising taxes on anybody. We already have too much money going to D.C. +p2113 +aVJake, I'd like to answer that question. +p2114 +aVWell, Jake, I want to answer that question. I want to go back to Iran. I didn't get a chance to answer that as well. Look, on Russia, across the world, dictators walk all over this president. He treats our friends like dirt. He lets our enemies walk all over us. The only group he's able to out-negotiate are the Senate Republicans. They never should've passed this bad Corker bill. Instead of a two-thirds vote to reject -- to approve the Iran deal, now it takes a two-thirds vote to reject the Iran deal. I want to ask Lindsey a question. Will the Senate Republicans -- they still have time -- are they willing to use the nuclear option, meaning get rid of the filibusters, stop Iran from becoming a nuclear power? Now is the time for the Senate Republicans to stand up and fight. We are tired of the establishment saying there's nothing we can do. All night tonight, we've heard Republicans say things like, "Well, if the Supreme Court's ruled, there's nothing I can do about religious liberty," you know. "The president did this. There's nothing we can do about it for two more years." There is something we can do. We won the Senate. We won the House. What was the point of winning those chambers if we're not going to do anything with them? You're going back tonight. You still have time before the Thursday deadline. Will y'all use the nuclear option to stop Iran from becoming a nuclear power? +p2115 +aVLindsey... +p2116 +aVLindsey, well, that's my frustration. Listen to what you've heard. You -- you basically heard a Senate Republican say, "We can't defund Planned Parenthood, despite these barbaric videos." +p2117 +aV"We can't -- we can't..." +p2118 +aV"... we can't get rid of Obamacare" -- Lindsey, let me answer this question now. I wish the Senate Republicans had half the fight in them the Senate Democrats did. Look, President Obama didn't give up on Obamacare when they lost the Senate election in Massachusetts. I want my side to follow the Constitution. They broke the Constitution, they broke the law, but they forced Obamacare down our throats, even when they didn't have 60 votes. I wish Republicans in D.C. had half the fight of the Senate Democrats to get rid of Obamacare, to defund Planned Parenthood. If we can't defund Planned Parenthood now, if we can't stand for innocent human life after these barbaric videos, it is time to be done with the Republican Party. We defunded them in Louisiana. Let's defund them in D.C. If we can't win... +p2119 +aV-- on that issue, there is no point for being cheaper Democrats, no point grabbing a second liberal party. It is time to get rid of the Republican Party, start over with a new one that's at least conservative. Give Harry Reid and Pelosi credit. At least they fight for what they believe in. I want senators and House members in DC to fight for what we believe in, as well. It's time to have Republican... +p2120 +aV-- with a backbone in DC. +p2121 +aVJake, I'm a doer, not a talker. Look, the idea of America is slipping away from us. If you want somebody who is going to manage the slow decline of this country, makes incremental changes, vote for somebody else. If you want to vote for somebody who understands what is at stake -- Planned Parenthood is selling baby parts across this country, and the Senate Republicans have already given up, even without a fight. I am tired of this surrender (ph) caucus, I am angrier at the Republicans in D.C. than I am at the president. The president is a socialist. At least he fights for what we believe in. We don't need to just send any Republican to the White House. We need to sent somebody who understands that it's time to make big changes. It's time to take on the establishment, it's time to take on the D.C. permanent governing class. Every Republican says they will shrink the size of the government. I'm the only one that has done it. Cut our budget 26 percent. If you want somebody that's going to make incremental change, vote for somebody else. It's time to get the idea of America back. At some point, we're going to be held -- we'll be asked, what did you do when the idea of America was slipping away? I'll promise you this. I will give every ounce of blood, energy, sweat I've got to save the idea of America, the greatest country in the history of the world. +p2122 +aVWell, first of all, thank you all for having us. You know, I won two record elections. Last time I was elected governor, won a record margin in my state. Martha, we got a lot of politicians that will kiss babies, cut ribbons, do whatever it takes to be popular. That's not why I ran for office. I ran for office to make the generational changes in Louisiana. We've cut 26 percent of our budget. We have 30,000 fewer state bureaucrats than the day I took office. I don't think anybody has cut that much government anywhere, at any time. As a result, eight credit upgrades; as a result, a top ten state for private sector job creation. And we fought for statewide school choice, where the dollars follow the child, instead of the child following the dollars. We've been the most pro-life state six years in a row. My point is this: I won two landslide elections, I made big changes. I think our country is tired of the politicians who simply read the polls and fail to lead. Both Democrats and Republicans have gotten us in the mess we're in -- $18 trillion of debt, a bad deal with Iran, we're not staying with Israel. I think the American people are look for real leadership. That's what I've done in Louisiana, that's what I'll do in America. +p2123 +aVWell, to start with, unlike President Obama, I'll actually name the enemy that we confront. We've got a president who cannot bring himself to say the words "radical Islamic terrorism." Now, Bill, he loves to criticize America, apologize for us, criticize medieval Christians. How can we beat an enemy if our commander-in-chief doesn't have the moral honesty and clarity to say that Islam has a problem, and that problem is radical Islam, to say they've got to condemn not generic acts of violence, but the individual murderers who are committing these acts of violence. We've got a president who instead says, we're going to change hearts and minds. Well, you know what? Sometimes you win a war by killing murderous, evil terrorists. We're going to take the political handcuffs off the military. We will arm and train the Kurds. We will work with our Sunni allies. They know we will be committed to victory. We had this failed red line with Assad and it discouraged folks that want to help us on the ground. Finally, we'll take off the political handcuffs. We'll go to the Congress. This president has gone to Congress and said give me a three-year deadline, give me a ban on ground troops. I'm going to go to the commanders and say give me a plan to win. You can't send your troops into harm's way unless you give them every opportunity to be successful. +p2124 +aVWell, this goes to the question you were just asking. Look, under President Obama and Secretary Clinton, they're working hard to change the American dream into the European nightmare. They do celebrate more dependence on the government. Give Bernie Sanders credit. At least he's honest enough to call himself a socialist. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, they're no better. If we were to expand Medicaid, for every uninsured person we would cover, we'd kick more than one person out of private insurance or remove their opportunity to get private insurance. We're going to have too many people in the cart rather than pulling the cart. This isn't free money. I know some people like to say, "well, this is free money." We pay federal taxes. We are borrowing money from China today. Yesterday, the president stunningly admitted this. He said, "we don't have leverage with China to get a better deal on Iran because we need them to lend us money to continue operating our government." The president of the United States admitting that he's weakening our government's position, our foreign policy standing, because he can't control spending in D.C.. There is a better way to provide health care. The Oregon study showed this. Simply expanding Medicaid does not improve health care outcomes. In Louisiana, instead we're helping people getting better paying jobs so they can provide for their own health care. +p2125 +aVI don't -- look, I don't think anybody should be expanding Medicaid. I think it's a mistake to create new and more expensive entitlement programs when we can't afford the ones we've got today. We've got to stop this culture of government dependence. +p2126 +aVI'll say this. I don't think anybody should expand Medicaid. I think it was a mistake to expand Medicaid everywhere in Ohio and across the country. +p2127 +aVWell, a couple of things. Planned Parenthood had better hope that Hillary Clinton wins this election, because I guarantee under President Jindal, January 2017, the Department of Justice and the IRS and everybody else that we can send from the federal government will be going in to Planned Parenthood. This is absolutely disgusting, and revolts the conscience of the nation. Absolutely, we need to defund Planned Parenthood. In my own state, for example, we launched an investigation, asked the FBI to cooperate. We just, earlier this week, kicked them out of Medicaid in Louisiana as well, canceled their provider contract. They don't provide any abortions in Louisiana. But in terms of shutting down the government, I don't think President Obama should choose to shut down the government simply to send taxpayer dollars to this group that has been caught, I believe, breaking the law, but also offending our values and our ethics. It is time for Republicans in D.C. to fight. Too often, they give up, they negotiate with themselves. They said they would get rid of the unconstitutional amnesty. They didn't do that. They said they would repeal Obamacare if we gave them the majority. They didn't do that either. They said they'd shrink and balance the budget. They haven't done that. Absolutely, they should fight to fund -- defund Planned Parenthood, and I don't think the president should shut down the government simply to send our taxpayer dollars to this group. Mac +p2128 +aVTo repeal these unconstitutional illegal orders, whether it's amnesty or whether it's this president going around the Congress, whether it's in Obamacare, to restore the rule of law. I'd also go after these sanctuary cities, do everything we can to make sure that we are not -- that we are actually prosecuting and cutting off funding for cities that are harboring illegal aliens, and then finally making sure the IRS is not going after conservative or religious groups. I would sign an executive order protecting religious liberty, our first amendment rights, so Christian business owners and individuals don't face discrimination for having a traditional view of marriage. +p2129 +aVSocialist and government dependent. +p2130 +aVYou know, we've got a lot of great talkers running for president. We've already got a great talker in the White House. We cannot afford four more years of on the job training. We need a doer, not a talker. We also need a nominee, a candidate who will endorse our own principles. Jeb Bush says we've got to be willing to lose the primary in order to win the general. Let me translate that for you. That's the establishment telling us to hide our conservative principles to get the left and the media to like us. That never works. If we do that again, we will lose again, we will deserve to lose again. One principle, for example, we've got to embrace is on immigration. We must insist on assimilation -- immigration without assimilation is an invasion. We need to tell folks who want to come here, they need to come here legally. They need to learn English, adopt our values, roll up their sleeves and get to work. I'm tired of the hyphenated Americans and the division. I've got the backbone, I've got the band width, I've got the experience to get us through this. I'm asking folks not just to join my campaign, but join a cause. It is time to believe in America again. Mac +p2131 +asVWALLACE +p2132 +(lp2133 +VAlso of note, Fox News is partnering for tonight's debate with Facebook. For the past several weeks, we've been asking you for questions for the candidates on Facebook. Nearly 6 million of you, 6 million, viewed the debate videos on our site, and more than 40,000 of you submitted questions: some of which you will hear us asking the candidates tonight. +p2134 +aVKentucky Senator Rand Paul. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. And your very own governor of Ohio... ... John Kasich. +p2135 +aVBrett -- Brett, I think you would call that a home field advantage. +p2136 +aVSenator Rubio, when Jeb Bush announced his candidacy for presidency, he said this: "There's no passing off responsibility when you're a governor, no blending into the legislative crowd." Could you please address Governor Bush across the stage here, and explain to him why you, someone who has never held executive office, are better prepared to be president than he is, a man who you say did a great job running your state of Florida for eight years. +p2137 +aVSenator Cruz, your colleague, Senator Paul, right there next to you, said a few months ago he agrees with you on a number of issues, but he says you do nothing to grow the party. He says you feed red meat to the base, but you don't reach out to minorities. You have a toxic relationship with GOP leaders in Congress. You even called the Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell a liar recently. How can you win in 2016 when you're such a divisive figure? +p2138 +aVGovernor Huckabee, like Governor Walker, you have staked out strong positions on social issues. You favor a constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage. You favor a constitutional amendment banning abortions, except for the life of the mother. Millions of people in this country agree with you, but according to the polls, and again this an electability question, according to the polls, more people don't, so how do you persuade enough Independents and Democrats to get elected in 2016? +p2139 +aVGentlemen, we're turning to a new subject that all of you have been talking about and some of you have been disagreeing about, and that is the issue of immigration. Governor Bush, you released a new plan this week on illegal immigration focusing on enforcement, which some suggest is your effort to show that you're not soft on that issue. I want to ask you about a statement that you made last year about illegal immigrants. And here's what you said. "They broke the law, but it's not a felony, it's an act of love. It's an act of commitment to your family." Do you stand by that statement and do you stand by your support for earned legal status? +p2140 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, it has not escaped anybody's notice that you say that the Mexican government, the Mexican government is sending criminals -- rapists, drug dealers, across the border. Governor Bush has called those remarks, quote, "extraordinarily ugly." I'd like you -- you're right next to him -- tell us -- talk to him directly and say how you respond to that and -- and you have repeatedly said that you have evidence that the Mexican government is doing this, but you have evidence you have refused or declined to share. Why not use this first Republican presidential debate to share your proof with the American people? +p2141 +aVMr. Trump, I'll give you 30 seconds -- I'll give you 30 seconds to answer my question, which was, what evidence do you have, specific evidence that the Mexican government is sending criminals across the border? Thirty seconds. +p2142 +aVAll right. Obviously there's a lot more to talk about this. We're going to have more questions for the candidates on illegal immigration, plus other key topics including your questions on Facebook. +p2143 +aVWelcome back to FOX News/Facebook Republican Debate Night. We're going to continue the questions now on illegal immigration. We kind of ended with a cliffhanger there. So let's continue the conversation. Governor Kasich, I know you don't like to talk about Donald Trump. But I do want to ask you about the merit of what he just said. When you say that the American government is stupid, that the Mexican government is sending criminals, that we're being bamboozled, is that an adequate response to the question of illegal immigration? +p2144 +aVRespectfully, can we talk about illegal immigration? +p2145 +aVAll right, well, Senator Rubio, let me see if I can do better with you. Is it as simple as our leaders are stupid, their leaders are smart, and all of these illegals coming over are criminals? +p2146 +aVGovernor Walker. Governor Walker, from 2002 until as recently as 2013, just two years ago, you supported comprehensive immigration reform, including a path to citizenship. Now you say that was a quick reaction to something you hadn't really thought about, and that you've changed your mind. Other than politics, could you explain why in the last two years you've changed your position on a path to citizenship, and are there other past positions that we shouldn't hold you to? +p2147 +aVSenator Cruz, some 1,400 people submitted questions on this very hot topic of illegal immigration on Facebook, and a number of them were about the murder of Kate Steinle in San Francisco, allegedly shot down by an illegal. Doug Bettencourt sent this question, "will you support Kate Steinle's Law," which would impose a mandatory five-year prison term for an illegal who is deported and then returns to this country? "And will you defund sanctuary cities for violating federal law?" +p2148 +aVGentlemen, we're obviously digging into some subjects in depth, but we're also going to change it up every once in a while throughout the next hour and have many rounds where we ask, you are not going to like it, only a couple of candidates questions on those subjects. This is the first of the many rounds, and it's about somebody whose name probably hasn't been mentioned enough so far tonight. Governor Kasich, let me start with you. Whoever the Republican nominee -- Whoever the Republican nominee is, it looks at least for now like whoever that nominee is, he or she, will be facing off against Hillary Clinton. You know how she will come after whoever the Republican nominee is. She will say that you, whoever it is, support the rich while she supports the middle class. That you want to suppress the rights of women and minorities. She wants to move the country forward while you, the Republicans, want to take the country back to the past. How will you, if you're the nominee, how will you answer that and take Hillary Clinton on? +p2149 +aVI know that all of you would like to answer this question, but we're only going to ask one other candidate before we move on to a different subject, Dr. Carson. Basically, same question to you. If Hillary Clinton is the nominee and she comes at you with that kind of line of attack, how will you take Iraq? +p2150 +aVGentlemen, we're going to turn now to the subject of the economy, jobs and money and the government. And Governor Bush, I'm going to start with you. You have made a bold promise in your announcement. You have promised four percent economic growth and 19 million new jobs if you are fortunate enough to serve two terms as president. That many jobs, 19 million, would be triple what your father and your brother accomplished together. And four percent growth, the last president to average that was Lyndon Johnson during the height of the Vietnam War. So question, how on Earth specifically would you pull that off? +p2151 +aVGovernor Walker. Governor Walker, when you ran for governor of Wisconsin back in 2010, you promised that you would create 250,000 jobs in your first term, first four years. In fact, Wisconsin added barely half that and ranked 35th in the country in job growth. Now you're running for president, and you're promising an economic plan in which everyone will earn a piece of the American dream. Given your record in Wisconsin, why should voters believe you? +p2152 +aVGovernor Christie, I want to engage you and Governor Huckabee in a subject that is a big issue in both of your campaigns, and that is entitlement reform. You say that you -- to save the system that you want to raise the retirement age -- have to raise the retirement age, and to cut benefits for Social Security and Medicare, and you say that some of the candidates here on the stage are lying. Governor Huckabee says he can save Social Security and Medicare without doing any of that. Is he lying? +p2153 +aVGovernor Huckabee? You say that changing entitlements, the kind of thing that Governor Christie is talking about, would be breaking a promise to the American people, and you say that you can keep those programs, save Social Security, save Medicare, without those kinds of reforms through a FairTax, which is a broad tax on consumption. Please explain to Governor Christie how that would work, and how you could save these programs without the kind of painful reforms he says we need? +p2154 +aV...Thirty seconds. +p2155 +aV...Alright, this is it. Thirty Seconds, finally. +p2156 +aVAll right. Enough. Mr. Trump. +p2157 +aVMr. Trump, you talk a lot about how you are the person on this stage to grow the economy, I want to ask you about your business records. From corporations, Trump corporations, casinos and hotels, have declared bankruptcy four times over the last quarter-century. +p2158 +aVNo, but the concept sir... +p2159 +aV... that's your line, but your companies have gone bankrupt. +p2160 +aVWell sir, let's just talk about the latest example......which is Trump Entertainment Resorts, which went bankrupt in 2009. In that case alone, lenders to your company lost over $1 billion and more than 1,100 people were laid off. +p2161 +aVIs that the way that you'd run the country? +p2162 +aVSo... +p2163 +aVSenator Rubio. Senator Rubio, more than 3,000 people sent us questions about the economy and jobs on Facebook. And here is a video question from Tania Cioloko from Philadelphia. Here she is. +p2164 +aVSenator, how do you answer Tania? +p2165 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. +p2166 +aVSenator Paul, closing statement. +p2167 +aVDr. Carson, closing statement. +p2168 +aVGovernor Bush, closing statement, sir. +p2169 +asVSMITH +p2170 +(lp2171 +VGovernor Huckabee, same question to you. Where do you see the country right now? +p2172 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Thank you, candidates. Moving to the world stage. The middle east is on the brink of chaos. Iran continues to provoke the United States, North Korea claims it's tested a hydrogen bomb, and Afghanistan is in danger of falling back into Taliban hands. Critics of the administration say it's all due to lack of U.S. leadership. To you, Mrs. Fiorina, how do you see America's role in the world today? +p2173 +aVGovernor Huckabee, in Afghanistan, the Taliban is strengthening. Attacks are on the rise and thousands more civilians have been wounded or killed. Much of the Taliban surge can be attributed to the withdrawal of U.S. forces there. You have expressed skepticism with the war there, saying you see no end game in sight. What, then, is your solution to the growing conflict there? +p2174 +aVAll right, thank you, candidates. We're just getting started. Jobs, Homeland Security, gun rights, all those issues are coming up straight ahead. We're live from North Charleston and the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back. +p2175 +aVAll right, let's get started. Senator Santorum, to you first. President Obama has urged technology leaders to make it hard for terrorists to use technology to escape from justice. Hillary Clinton says social media companies can help by swiftly shutting down terrorist accounts. The companies say that they're already working with law enforcement and any proposed legislation would do more harm than good. Should companies like Facebook and Twitter be required by law to more actively \u2014 be more actively engaged in fighting terror? +p2176 +aVSenator, would you \u2014 would you require anything of those companies like Facebook and Twitter if you were president? +p2177 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2178 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee, you called President Obama's executive orders on gun control unconstitutional and completely insane. +p2179 +aVYou even told gun store owners to ignore the President's orders. Yet, innocent people are dying from gun violence in cities like Detroit, Chicago, and Charleston everyday. Is there anything that can be done at the federal level to prevent guns from falling into the hands of criminals? +p2180 +aV +p2181 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p2182 +aVSenator Santorum, many of our military leaders believe America's critical infrastructure is vulnerable to a terrorist attack. This is the power in our homes, the water we drink, the Internet and phone systems by which we stay connected. If attacked, these essential services that underpin American society could come to a grinding halt. Do you have a specific plan to protect us from this type of attack? +p2183 +aVSenator Santorum, I want to stay with you on this, moving to jobs and the economy. In his State of the Union Address the other night, President Obama touted his record on jobs, citing more than 14 million new jobs and boasted of nearly 900,000 manufacturing jobs added in the past six years. Do you dispute his track record of creating jobs? +p2184 +aVGovernor Huckabee, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mike Mullen, has said the greatest threat to our security is our national debt. Our national debt is now on pace to top $19 trillion. Yet, you as well as Ms. Fiorina have laid forward no plan to reform entitlements. How can you say you're going to pay down our country's debt without cutting Social Security or Medicare? +p2185 +aVOK. We're going to continue this conversation. We're taking a quick break and then coming up, the candidates' plans for strengthening the middle class. We're live in North Charleston with the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back. +p2186 +aVAll right, thanks, Trish. Well, let's get started with Ms. Fiorina. Today, the middle class represents about 50 percent of the U.S. population, down from about 61 percent back in 1971. That's according to Pew Research. The same research revealed a widening income gap in America. The rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. What will you do to strengthen a middle class that is no longer the majority? +p2187 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p2188 +aVThank you, Senator. We're not finished yet. More Republican Presidential Debate in North Charleston after this. +p2189 +aVWelcome back, it's time for the closing statements. Candidates will each get one minute, starting with Senator Santorum. Thank you very much, I want to thank the people of Charleston, which has become a little bit of a second home to me, because I am very privileged to have two young men who go to the Citadel here and they're here tonight, my son John and my son Daniel. +p2190 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Governor Mike Huckabee. +p2191 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2192 +aVAlright, this debate will last one hour. Each candidate will have up to 90 seconds to respond to each question. One minute for each follow up. When your time is up, you're going to hear this bell. Alright, that's it, so let's begin with Governor Christie. Governor, economically, our country is struggling with some of the anemic growth we have seen on record. More than 90 million Americans are unemployed, or they are not in the workforce altogether. The number of people now willing, able, and wanting to go to work is at a level that has fallen to a level we have not been since the 1970's. For those that are working, wages aren't budging while other things, costs, like housing, remain high. As President, what concrete steps will you take to get America back to work. +p2193 +aVThank you. Governor Huckabee, we're here Wisconsin, a state that has seen the biggest decline in middle-class households of any American state. With more than 120,000 manufacturing jobs being lost in the last 15 years. As we move away from a manufacturing economy to a services based, technological economy, how are you going to help the millions of Americans that are stuck in this transition? +p2194 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee, you have characterized entitlement reform as both political and economic suicide. Taxpayers currently spend more than $600 billion per year on social welfare programs, with the intended goal of getting people back on their feet and working again. Today a record number of Americans aren't even looking for work. Are our social welfare programs, while well-intended, creating a culture of dependency? If so, how will you fix it? +p2195 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2196 +aVDo you have something to add, Governor? +p2197 +aVAll right. Let's, let's bring Governor Christie in next. +p2198 +aVAll right. Well, let's get the \u2014 let's keep the conversation going. Let's bring Governor Christie in here because we're talking about national debt, climbing toward $19 trillion, Governor. Our federal government employed nearly three million workers, our tax code is more than 74,000 pages long. If you're elected President, Governor Christie, what concrete steps would you take to reduce the size of the federal government? +p2199 +aVGovernor Christie, China is stealing our technology. China is pirating our intellectual property, and China's hacking into our computers, spying on American corporations, and spying on our citizens. China also slaps tariffs on U.S. goods, making it harder for us to sell our products. How are you going to stop them? +p2200 +aV...Alright... +p2201 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p2202 +aVAll right. Governor Jindal, thank you. All right. Well, we are not finished yet. More from the Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee, next. +p2203 +aVSo would you change leadership at the Fed? +p2204 +aVSenator Santorum, thank you. I have a question for all of you. Americans connection to the military has been increasingly fading. As a society, how do we restore that sense of duty, that sense of pride, that was the hallmark of the greatest generation. Again, I'd like to ask each of you, 30 seconds each, beginning with Governor Jindal. +p2205 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p2206 +aVGovernor Christie. +p2207 +aVSenator Santorum. +p2208 +aVAlright, thank you gentlemen. That does it, everyone, for the first debate here in Milwaukee. In just about one hour from now, at 9:00PM Eastern, eight more candidates are going to be taking to the stage. Right now though, special coverage of the Republican Presidential Debate, live from Milwaukee, continues right here on Fox Business. +p2209 +asVBAKER +p2210 +(lp2211 +VThe candidates on stage tonight were selected based on their standing in an average of four national polls. Those standings determining their position on the stage. And here they are. At center stage, businessman Donald Trump. Neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson. +p2212 +aVTonight's rules are simple. Up to 90 second for each answer. One minute for each follow-up response. And if a candidate goes over their allotted time, you'll here this. +p2213 +aVMs. Fiorina, while you've all pointed out how weak the current recovery has been and how disappointing by any historical standards, in the general election, the Democrats will inevitably ask you and voters to compare the recent president's jobs performance. Now, in seven years under President Obama, the U.S. has added an average of 107,000 jobs a month. Under President Clinton, the economy added about 240,000 jobs a month. Under George W. Bush, it was only 13,000 a month. If you win the nomination, you'll probably be facing a Democrat named Clinton. How are you going to respond to the claim that Democratic presidents are better at creating jobs than Republicans? +p2214 +aVThank you. Thank you. Senator Paul, income inequality has been rising in the United States. Fifty years ago, for example, the average CEO of a big corporation in this country earned 20 times the average salary of one of his or her workers. Today, that CEO earns about 300 times the average salary of a worker. Does it matter at all that the gap between the rich and everyone else is widening? +p2215 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2216 +aVSenator Rubio... +p2217 +aVYes, one quick comment, yes. +p2218 +aVGovernor Bush... +p2219 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor, you...You should let Jeb speak. +p2220 +aVMr. Trump, Mr. Trump, you yourself \u2014 you yourself said let Governor Bush speak. Governor Bush? +p2221 +aVSenator Rubio? Senator... +p2222 +aVSenator Rubio, Senator Rubio, let me \u2014 let me take you to a question that I think gets to the root of a lot of the anxiety that people have in this country. The economy is undergoing a transformation through information technology. Americans are anxious that the new economy isn't producing higher-paying jobs. Many are concerned that the new wealth seems to be going mainly to innovators and investors. Meanwhile, with factories run by robots and shopping done increasingly on smartphones, many traditional jobs are just going away. How do you reassure American workers that their jobs are not being steadily replaced by machines? +p2223 +aVThank you. Senator Cruz \u2014 Senator Cruz, entitlements. You've argued for raising the retirement age and reducing benefits for future retirees, but reducing any sort of benefits for the elderly has always been notoriously hard to do politically. When Speaker Paul Ryan proposed replacing traditional Medicare with federally funded private plans a few years ago, a liberal group responded with a commercial that featured a granny being pushed off a cliff. What's going to be different this time? +p2224 +aV...I said for future retirees was your statement... +p2225 +aVSenator Rubio. Can I just come to Senator Rubio? We're coming to you, Mr. Trump, in one second. I \u2014 I promise. +p2226 +aVSenator Rubio, your tax plan includes a large expansion of child tax credits to raise off (ph) the tax incomes for low-income parents. A similar tax credit that you previously proposed in the Senate was estimated to cost as much as $170 billion a year, according to the Tax Foundation. Isn't \u2014 isn't there a risk you're just adding another expensive entitle program to an already overburdened federal budget? +p2227 +aVGovernor Kasich? Let me come to Governor Kasich. +p2228 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p2229 +aVVery quickly, Senator. +p2230 +aVPlease. +p2231 +aV...Gentleman, we need to move on... +p2232 +aV...We need to move... +p2233 +aV...We need too... +p2234 +aV...We do need to move on. Mr. Trump... +p2235 +aV...Very quick. +p2236 +aVLet's talk about \u2014 No, no, Governor, I really must move on. I really want to move on. Mr. Trump, let's talk about the international economy... +p2237 +aV...We really need to move on... +p2238 +aV...No, governor, I promise I will come to you... +p2239 +aV...Listen... +p2240 +aV...Mr. Trump, can I ask you about... +p2241 +aV...the U.S. just concluded an international trade agreement with 11 countries in the Pacific. You've said that you'd rather have no deal... +p2242 +aV...than sign the one that's on the table... +p2243 +aV...Most economists \u2014 most economists say that trade is boosted growth, and every single post war president has supported the expansion of international trade, including the last three republican presidents. Why would you reverse more than 50 years of U.S. trade policy? +p2244 +aVThe \u2014 the deal, as you say, the terms of the deal were published \u2014 were published just last week, the details, 5,000 pages of it, and 80 percent of U.S. trade with countries in the Pacific, these countries, these 11 countries, is actually tariff-free, and these \u2014 the trade deal only affects the other 20 percent. Which \u2014 are there particular parts of the deal that you think were badly negotiated? +p2245 +aVThere was a separate \u2014 separate... +p2246 +aVBut isn't that \u2014 isn't that part of the problem? When I say, Senator, that if \u2014 if this deal is not ratified by \u2014 by the U.S. \u2014 by the Senate, then it would actually give China an opportunity to grow its economic leadership, which it's been seeking to do? And if the U.S. is unable to take part in this trade deal with these countries in Asia, China will take the lead? +p2247 +aVThank you. Thanks, Senator. +p2248 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich, I want to ask you about China, in particular hundreds of American companies have been subjected to cyber attacks from the Chinese military, yet state-backed Chinese companies, growing their presence in the United States, Chinese investments in U.S., which were nearly nonexistent a few years ago, are now over $50 billion. And as my newspaper recently reported, Chinese companies are planning to bid for one of the largest hotel chains in the United States, what would be the largest ever Chinese takeover of a U.S. company. Would you stop them? +p2249 +aVThank you, Governor. Plenty of opportunities. Thank you. Neil? +p2250 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate, live from Milwaukee. Now let's get straight back to the questions, and Governor Bush. Governor, Hillary Clinton recently said that if we had another financial crisis like the one in 2008, she wouldn't bail out the banks. Would you? +p2251 +aVBut, Governor, but can I just quickly \u2014 did \u2014 you can't seriously guarantee that there won't be another financial crisis, can you? +p2252 +aVEver? There will never be another financial crisis? +p2253 +aVDr. Carson, if I may, just on that point, despite measures taken, as the governor says, since the crisis to make the financial system safer, the major banks in the U.S., many of them are actually bigger than ever. Asset held by JPMorgan Chase, for example, the very largest bank, have increased by nearly 40 percent to over $2.6 trillion. Do you think JPMorgan and the other big banks should be broken up? +p2254 +aVBut just to be clear, just \u2014 just to be clear, then, you wouldn't \u2014 you wouldn't favor breaking up the big banks? You think they're big enough \u2014 they're OK as they are, as big as they are? +p2255 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p2256 +aVThank you. +p2257 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate. And now, candidates, it's time for your closing statements. You get 30 seconds each, and, Senator Paul, we will begin with you. +p2258 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p2259 +asVHOLT +p2260 +(lp2261 +VGood evening and welcome to the NBC News Youtube Democratic candidate's debate. After all the campaigning, soon, Americans will have their say with the first votes of the 2016 campaign just 15 days away in Iowa. And New Hampshire not far behind. Tonight will be the final opportunity to see these candidates face to face before the voting begins. Our purpose here tonight is to highlight and examine the differences among the three Democratic candidates. So let's get started. Please welcome Secretary Hillary Clinton, Senator Bernie Sanders and Governor Martin O'Malley. Well, welcome to all of you. Hope you're excited, we're excited. We want to thank our hosts, the Congressional Black Caucus Institute. I'm joined by my colleague Andrea Mitchell tonight. The rules are simple. Sixty seconds for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups or rebuttals. I know you'll all keep exactly to time, so our job should be pretty easy here tonight. We'll have questions from the Youtube community throughout the debate. This is a critical point in the race. You've been defining your differences with each other especially vigorously in the last week on the campaign trail. We're here to facilitate this conversation on behalf of the voters so that they know exactly where you stand as you face off tonight. Let's have a great debate. We'll begin with 45 second opening statements from each candidate, starting with Secretary Clinton. +p2262 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders, your opening statement, sir. +p2263 +aVSenator, thank you. And Governor O'Malley, your opening statement, sir. O' +p2264 +aVAll right. And Governor, thank you. All right, to our first question, now. The first question, I'll be addressing to all of the candidates. President Obama came to office determined to swing for the fences on health care reform. Voters want to know how you would define your presidency? How would you think big? So complete this sentence: in my first 100 days in office, my top three priorities will be \u2014 fill in the blank. Senator Sanders. +p2265 +aVSecretary Clinton, same question, my first 100 days in office, my top three priorities will be. +p2266 +aVGovernor O'Malley, same question. O' +p2267 +aVThank you. You've all... O' +p2268 +aVAll right governor thank you. We've all laid out large visions and we're going to cover a lot of the ground you talked about as we continue in the evening. The last couple of weeks of this campaign have featured some of the sharpest exchanges in the race. Let's start with one of them, the issue of guns. Senator Sanders, last week Secretary Clinton called you quote, "a pretty reliable vote for the gun lobby." Right before the debate you changed your position on immunity from lawsuits for gun manufacturers, can you tell us why? +p2269 +aVSenator, but you didn't answer the question that you did change your position on immunity from gun manufacturers. So can you... +p2270 +aVSecretary Clinton, would you like to respond to Senator Sanders. +p2271 +aVAll right, Governor O'Malley, you signed tough gun control measures as governor of Maryland and there are a lot Democrats in the audience here in South Carolina who own guns. This conversation might be worrying many of them. They may be hearing, "you want to take my guns. What would you say to them? O' +p2272 +aVAlright, Governor, thank you. Secretary Clinton, this is a community that has suffered a lot of heartache in the last year. Of course, as you mentioned, the church shootings. We won't forget the video of Walter Scott being shot in the back while running from police. We understand that a jury will decide whether that police officer was justified, but it plays straight to the fears of many African American men that their lives are cheap. Is that perception, or in your view, is it reality? +p2273 +aVYou time is up. Senator Sanders, my next question is... +p2274 +aV... It's actually \u2014 actually my next question is to you... +p2275 +aVSenator Sanders... +p2276 +aVSenator. Senator Sanders... +p2277 +aV... Just over a week ago the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus endorsed Secretary Clinton, not you. He said that choosing her over you was not a hard decision. In fact, our polling shows she's beating you more than two to one among minority voters. How can you be the nominee if you don't have that support? +p2278 +aVGovernor, I'm going to come to you in a second. Google searches for the words, "Black Lives Matter" surpassed, "civil rights movement". And, here in South Carolina, "black lives matter" was the number one trending political issue. +p2279 +aVAll right. Let's talk... O' +p2280 +aVLet's talk more about policing and the criminal justice system. Senator Sanders, a few times tonight we're going to hear from some of the most prominent voices on YouTube, starting with Franchesca Ramsey, who tackles racial stereotypes through her videos. Let's watch. +p2281 +aVSenator Sanders. +p2282 +aVWould you like me to read it back to you? +p2283 +aVProsecutors \u2014 "I believe there's a huge conflict of interest when local prosecutors investigate cases of police violence within their communities. Most recently, we saw this with a non- indictment of the officers involved in the case of 12-year-old Tamir Rice. How would you presidency ensure incidents of police violence are investigated and prosecuted fairly?" +p2284 +aVSecretary Clinton, this question is for you. Tonight parts of America are in the grip of a deadly heroin epidemic, spanning race and class, hitting small towns and cities alike. It has become a major issue in this race. In a lot of places where you've been campaigning, despite an estimated trillion dollars spent, many say the war on drugs has failed. So what would you do? +p2285 +aVAnd that's time. +p2286 +aVSenator... +p2287 +aVSenator Sanders, would you like to respond? +p2288 +aVThat's... +p2289 +aV... time. +p2290 +aVWe're going to get into all that coming up. O' +p2291 +aVBut we're going to take a break and we need to take a break... O' +p2292 +aV... and when we come back, the anger brewing in America. +p2293 +aVWelcome back to Charleston. Let's turn to another area where there has been fierce disagreement \u2014 that would be health care. Senator Sanders and Secretary Clinton, you both mentioned it in your 100-day priorities. Let's turn to my colleague, Andrea Mitchell now to lead that questioning. +p2294 +aVAnd that's time. We're gonna take a turn now. Secretary Clinton, in his final State of the Union address, President Obama said his biggest regret was his inability to bring the country together. If President Obama couldn't do it, how will you? O' +p2295 +aVThat's time. Senator Sanders, response. +p2296 +aVThat's time. But let me continue with the... +p2297 +aVSenator Sanders, let me continue, you call yourself a Democratic socialist... +p2298 +aVAnd throughout your career in politics, you've been critical of the Democratic party, you've been saying in a book you wrote, quote, "There wasn't a hell of a big difference between the the two major parties." How would you will a general election... +p2299 +aVHow will you win a general election labeling yourself a democratic socialist? +p2300 +aVYes, but senator, you can... +p2301 +aVAnd that is right. +p2302 +aVSecretary Clinton, our next question is for you. Here's another quantitative problem. +p2303 +aVAnd we're going to get into that coming up. But Secretary Clinton, here's a question from YouTube. It's from a young video blogger who has over 5 million subscribers. He has a question about the importance of younger voters. +p2304 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p2305 +aVThat's time... +p2306 +aVA quick follow up \u2014 a thirty second follow up. Why is Senator Sanders beating you to 2 to 1 among younger votes? +p2307 +aVWe're going to take... +p2308 +aVWe're going to take a break. When we come back; big banks, big business and big differences among the three candidates on the American Economy. We'll be right back. +p2309 +aVWelcome back from Charleston. Let's turn now to the economy. Senator Sanders, you released a tough new ad last week in which without mentioning Secretary Clinton by name, you talk about two Democratic visions for regulating Wall Street. "One says it's OK to take millions from big banks and tell them what to do. My plan, break up the big banks, close the tax loopholes and make them pay their fair share." What do you see as the difference between what you would do about the banks and what Secretary Clinton would do? +p2310 +aVSecretary Clinton, help the voter understand the daylight between the two of you here. +p2311 +aVSenator Sanders, your response. +p2312 +aVThat's time. Governor O'Malley... +p2313 +aVI have a question for you... +p2314 +aVThirty-second response. +p2315 +aVGovernor O'Malley. O' +p2316 +aVSecretary Clinton, 30-second response. +p2317 +aVThat's time. Andrea. +p2318 +aV... Senator... +p2319 +aVWe have got a lot to ground to cover here. Many Democratic voters are passionate about the need to do something to combat the threat of climate change, including the team of scientists from Youtube's MinuteEarth channel. Here's their take. +p2320 +aVSenator Sanders, Americans love their SUVs, which spiked in sales last year as gas prices plummeted. How do you convince Americans that the problem of climate change is so urgent that they need to change their behavior? +p2321 +aVGovernor O'Malley, 30 seconds. O' +p2322 +aVThat's time. We're going to take a break. +p2323 +aVWhen we return, the late-breaking developments regarding Iran. The threat of +p2324 +aVCharleston, Andrea Mitchell has questions now starting with Iran. +p2325 +aVSenator Sanders mentioned Russia a moment ago. Secretary Clinton, you famously handed Russia's foreign minister a reset button in 2009. Since then, Russia has annexed Crimea, fomented a war in Ukraine, provided weapons that downed an airliner and launched operations, as we just did discuss, to support Assad in Syria. As president, would you hand Vladimir Putin a reset button? +p2326 +aVWhat's your relationship with him? +p2327 +aVWe to want turn right now to the issue of balancing national security concerns with the privacy rights of Americans. That brings us to YouTube and this question. +p2328 +aVSo, Governor O'Malley. O' +p2329 +aVThat's time. You have all talked about what you would do fighting +p2330 +aVThat's a question to Senator Sanders. I wasn't clear, I apologize. +p2331 +aVBut in terms of lone wolves, the threat, how would you do it? +p2332 +aVWe have to go to a \u2014 we have to go to a break, and when we come back, we're going to get to some of the burning questions these candidates have yet to answer and are totally eager to talk about. +p2333 +aVAnd welcome back to Charleston. As we were going to a break, Secretary Clinton, I cut you off. I'll give you 30 seconds to respond on the issue of lone wolves. O' +p2334 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p2335 +aVAnd Andrea has a follow-up. O' +p2336 +aVAll right, that's time, and \u2014 and we do......we do have to move on. Secretary Clinton, this is the first time... +p2337 +aVThirty \u2014 30 \u2014 30 seconds, Senator. +p2338 +aVAll right. Secretary Clinton......this is the first time that a spouse of a former president could be elected president. You have said that President Clinton would advise you on economic issues, but be specific, if you can. Are you talking about a kitchen-table role on economics, or will he have a real policy role? +p2339 +aVSenator sanders, a 30 second response, sir. +p2340 +aVWe will take a break. We'll continue from Charleston right after this. +p2341 +aVWelcome back everybody. Finally, before we go tonight, we set out here to understand points of differences between you. We believe we've learned a lot here, but before we leave, is there anything that you really wanted to say tonight that you haven't gotten a chance to say. And, we'll start with Governor O'Malley. Didn't see that coming, did you? O' +p2342 +aVSixty seconds, we'd appreciate it. O' +p2343 +aVAnd that's time. O' +p2344 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p2345 +aVAnd that's time. +p2346 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders? +p2347 +asVBROWNLEE +p2348 +(lp2349 +VHi, my name Marques Brownlee, and I've been making YouTube videos about electronics and gadgets for the past seven years. I think America's future success is tied to getting all kinds of tech right. Tech companies are responsible for the encryption technology to protect personal data, but the government wants a back door into that information. So do you think it's possible to find common ground? And where do you stand on privacy versus security? +p2350 +asVHUCKABEE +p2351 +(lp2352 +VWell, John, I don't really have any weaknesses that I can think of. But my wife is down here in the front, and I'm sure, if you'd like to talk to her later, she can give you more than you'll ever be able to take care of. If I have a weakness, it's that I try to live by the rules. I try to live by the rules, no matter what they are, and I was brought up that way as a kid. Play by the rules. And I'll tell you what a weakness is of this country: there are a lot of people who are sick and tired because Washington does not play by the same rules that the American people have to play by. +p2353 +aVWell, I would really appreciate that. First of all, yes, we've stolen. Yes, we've lied to the American people about Social Security, and Medicare. But, you know what we're not telling them? It's their money. This isn't the governments money. This is not entitlement, it's not welfare. This is money that people have confiscated out of their paychecks. Everytime they got a paycheck, the government reached in and took something out of it before they ever saw it. Now, we're going to blame the people. Today congress decided to take another $150 billion dollars away from Social Security so they can borrow more money. That makes no sense to everybody. And, they're always going to say, "Well, we're going to fix this one day." No their not. It's like a 400 pound man saying, "I'm going to go on a diet, but I'm eating a sack of Krispy Kremes before I do." And, people are sick of believing that the government is never going to really address this. But, let me tell you who not to blame. Let's quit blaming the people on Social Security. Let's quit making it a problem for them. It's like them getting mugged, and then us saying, well, we're going to mug you some more. You ought to just be able to get over it, get used to it... +p2354 +aV...No, sir... +p2355 +aV...we need to honor our promises... +p2356 +aV...before I go. This is the only time I've had a chance, let me finish. +p2357 +aV...This is a matter not of math, this is a matter of morality. If this country that does not keep its promise to seniors then what promise can this country hope to be trusted to keep? And, the fact is, none of them. [ +p2358 +aVAnd, the only way \u2014 no... +p2359 +aV...Chris... +p2360 +aV...Chris... +p2361 +aVSince he brought me up, do I not get to respond? +p2362 +aVJohn, listen, let's keep in mind that for one-third of the 60 million Americans on Social Security it represents 90 percent of their income. And, when I hear people talking about means testing, let's just remember what that means. If we means test Social Security, it means that the government decides whether or not I deserve it. If a person lives in a seven room house, does the government get to say you don't need seven rooms, we're going to take two of them away? Folks, the government has no business stealing even more from the people who have paid this in. I just want to remind you, people paid their money. They expect to have it. And, if this government doesn't pay it, than tell me what's different between the government and Bernie Madolf, who sits in prison today for doing less than what the government has done to the people on social security and Medicare in this country. +p2363 +aVI don't think it's so much about when the government orders a corporation to do something. In fact, that's part of the problem. If you saw that blimp that got cut loose from Maryland today, it's a perfect example of government. I mean, what we had was something the government made \u2014 basically a bag of gas \u2014 that cut loose, destroyed everything in its path, left thousands of people powerless, but they couldn't get rid of it because we had too much money invested in it, so we had to keep it. That is our government today. We saw it in the blimp. That's exactly what we saw. So look, corporations ought to exercise some responsibility. When CEO income has risen 90 percent above the average worker, when the bottom 90 percent of this country's economy has had stagnant wages for the past 40 years, somebody is taking it in the teeth. And it's not the folks on Wall Street. I'm not anti-Wall Street, but I don't believe the government ought to wear a team jersey, pick winners and losers. +p2364 +aVThe government ought to wear a striped shirt and just make sure the game... +p2365 +aV...is paid \u2014 played fairly. +p2366 +aVNow, everybody else has fudged their time and gone over, so please, don't cut me off too quick, Becky. +p2367 +aVLet me just close it out this way. +p2368 +aVWe need to be focusing on what fixes this country. And I'll tell you one thing that we never talk about \u2014 we haven't talked about it tonight. Why aren't we talking about \u2014 instead of cutting benefits for old people, cutting benefits for sick people \u2014 why don't we say, "let's cure the four big cost-driving diseases... +p2369 +aV..."diabetes, heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer's?" +p2370 +aVIf you do that, you don't just change the economy, you transform the lives of millions of hurting Americans. +p2371 +aVGosh, I'd love for us to talk about something like that. Thank you. +p2372 +aVYou know, of the few questions I've got, the last one I need is to give him some more time. I love Donald Trump. He is a good man. I'm wearing a Trump tie tonight. Get over that one, OK? [ +p2373 +aVI don't know. [ +p2374 +aVI have no idea. +p2375 +aVYou're welcome. Let me tell you, Donald Trump would be a president every day of the week and twice on Sunday, rather than Hillary. I've spent a lifetime in politics fighting the Clinton machine. You want to talk about what we're going to be up against next year? I'm the only guy on this stage \u2014 you know, everybody has an "only guy" \u2014 "I'm the only guy this; I'm the only guy that." Well, let me tell you one thing that I am the only guy: The only guy that has consistently fought the Clinton machine every election I was ever in over the past 26 years. And not only did I fight them, but I beat them. Somebody says "I'm a fighter." Well, I want to know, did you win? Well, I did. And not only did I fight them and win, I lived to tell about it and I'm standing on this stage tonight as evidence of that. And I think that ought to be worth something. +p2376 +aVWell, and specifically to Medicare, Becky, because 85 percent of the cost of Medicare is chronic disease. The fact is if we don't address what's costing so much, we can't throw enough money at this. And it's why I've continued to focus on the fact that we need to declare war on the four big cost drivers because 80 percent of all medical costs in this country are chronic disease. We don't have a health care crisis in America, we have a health crisis. And until we deal with the health of Americans and do what we did with polio \u2014 when I was a little kid, we eradicated it. You know how much money we spent on polio last year in America? We didn't spend any. We've saved billions of dollars. You want to fix Medicare? Focus on the diseases that are costing us the trillions of dollars. Alzheimers, diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Eradicate those and you fix Medicare and you've fixed America, its economy and you've made people's lives a heck of a lot better. +p2377 +aVYou know, I know to a lot of people in the media, this is just a great big game, and we're the players. And, we come out here, and we do our thing. And, sometimes we're held up in contempt by people who write columns, but, I guarantee you to every person on this stage there's something deep inside of us that would cause us to give up our livelihoods and step out on this stage and fight for the people of America. I've got five grandkids. I do not want to walk my five grandkids through the charred remains of a once great country called America, and say, "Here you go, $20 trillion dollars of debt. Good luck making something out of this mess." And, for those of us who are serious enough to run for president, think long and hard why we're here, and hopefully you'll know we're not here for ourselves. We honest to god are here to get this country back on track. I know this, I certainly am. +p2378 +aV...Thank you. +p2379 +aVI'm Mike Huckabee. I'm delighted to be on this stage with some remarkable fellow Republicans. None of us are a self-professed socialist. None of us on this state are under investigation by the FBI because we destroyed government records, or because we leaked secrets. I know that there are some in the Wall-Street-to-Washington axis of power who speak of all of us contemptuously. But I'm here to say that I think we are, in fact, the A team. We have some remarkable people, and, in fact, not only are we the A team; we even have our own Mr. T, who doesn't mind saying about others, "you're a fool." And I'm delighted to be here with all of these guys, and would put any of them in an administration that I led. Thank you very much. +p2380 +aVI would certainly love to get in on this, because I think the single... +p2381 +aVI've been patiently waiting, and I'm going to just say this about Iran. +p2382 +aVBecause I think it is incredibly important. This is really about the survival of Western civilization. This is not just a little conflict with a Middle Eastern country that we've just now given over $100 billion to, the equivalent in U.S. terms is $5 trillion. This threatens Israel immediately, this threatens the entire Middle East, but it threatens the United States of America. And we can't treat a nuclear Iranian government as if it is just some government that would like to have power. This is a government for 36 years has killed Americans, they kidnapped Americans, they have maimed Americans. They have sponsored terrorist groups, Hamas and Hezbollah, and they threaten the very essence of Western civilization. To give them this agreement, that the president treats like the Magna Carta, but Iranians treat it like it's toilet paper, and we must, simply, make it very clear that the next president, one of us on this stage, will absolutely not honor that agreement, and will destroy it and will be tough with Iran, because otherwise, we put every person in this world in a very dangerous place. +p2383 +aVNo, I don't think he's on the wrong side of such an issue. Jeb is a friend. I'm not up here to fight with Jeb or to fight with anybody else. But I am here to fight for somebody who is a county clerk elected under the Kentucky constitution that 75 percent of the people of that state had voted for that said that marriage was between a man and a woman. The Supreme Court in a very, very divided decision decided out of thin air that they were just going to redefine marriage. It's a decision that the other justices in dissent said they didn't have and there wasn't a constitutional shred of capacity for them to do it. I thought that everybody here passed ninth-grade civics. The courts cannot legislate. That's what Roberts said. But heck, it's what we learned in civics. The courts can't make a law. They can interpret one. They can review one. They can't implement it. They can't force it. But here's what happened: Because the courts just decided that something was going to be and people relinquished it and the other two branches of government sat by silently \u2014 I thought we had three branches of government, they were all equal to each other, we have separation of powers, and we have checks and balances. If the court can just make a decision and we just all surrender to it, we have what Jefferson said was judicial tyranny. The reason that this is a real issue that we need to think about... +p2384 +aVNo, no. Let me finish this one thought, Jake. I haven't gotten that much time, so I'm going to take just what little I can here. We made accommodation to the Fort Hood shooter to let him grow a beard. We made accommodations to the detainees at Gitmo \u2014 I've been to Gitmo, and I've seen the accommodations that we made to the Muslim detainees who killed Americans. You're telling me that you cannot make an accommodation for an elected Democrat county clerk from Rowan County, Kentucky? What else is it other than the criminalization of her faith and the exaltation of the faith of everyone else who might be a Fort Hood shooter or a detainee at Gitmo? +p2385 +aVI have a different idea. I think we ought to get rid of all the taxes on people who produce. Why should we penalize productivity? And it's why I'm an unabashed supporter of the "fair tax," which would be a tax on our consumption, rather than a tax on our productivity. In other words, you're not going to tax anybody for what they earn, whether it's worker whose working by the hour or whether it's a hedge fund manager. If they can produce something and bring capital and labor to create jobs, we need some jobs. And I think the "fair tax" makes more sense. Now, Jake, I've been listening to everybody on the stage and there is a lot of back and forth about I'm the only one who has done this, the only one who has done that, I've done great things. We've all done great things or we wouldn't be on this stage. But it occurs to me as we're sitting here in the Reagan Library that most of us would like to pay tribute to a guy who, when he got elected, didn't get elected telling everybody how great he was. He got elected telling everybody how great the American people were. And he empowered them to live their dreams, which is what I'd love to see us do by no longer penalizing the people who are out there working because they are taking a gut punch right now. +p2386 +aV...You don't want me operating on you, I assure you. +p2387 +aVJust today \u2014 just today, there was a new report that 50 different intelligence analysts have said that what they sent up the ladder was doctored by senior officials, so that they could give some happy talk to the situation that we face. I love the idea of a good intellectual capacity to deal with our enemies, but the fact is, if you don't have good intelligence that is reliable and honest, you won't have good intelligence and you cannot make good decisions. The next president is primarily elected not just to know things, but to know what to do with the things that he knows. And the most dangerous person in any room is the person who doesn't know what he doesn't know. +p2388 +aVAnd the reason Barack Obama has been dangerous to this country and we better elect someone who had some executive experience, is because we cannot afford another eight years having a person in the office who doesn't know what he does not know. +p2389 +aVYou better believe I will, because I'm tired of liberals always having a litmus test and conservatives are supposed to pretend we don't. Well let me tell you what mine would be. Number one, I'd ask do you think that the unborn child is a human being or is it just a blob of tissue? I'd want to know the answer to that. I'd want to know do you believe in the First Amendment, do you believe that religious liberty is the fundamental liberty around which all the other freedoms of this country are based? And I'd want to know do you really believe in the Second Amendment, do you believe that we have an individual right to bear arms to protect ourselves and our family and to protect our country? And do you believe in the Fifth and the 14th Amendment? Do you believe that a person, before they're deprived of life and liberty, should in fact have due process and equal protection under the law? Because if you do, you're going to do more than defund Planned Parenthood. +p2390 +aVOne final thing. I'd make darn sure that we absolutely believe the 10th Amendment. Every governor on this stage would share this much with you. Every one of us \u2014 our biggest fight wasn't always with the legislature or even with the Democrats. My gosh, half the time, it was with the federal government who apparently never understood \u2014 +p2391 +aV\u2014 that if it's not reserved in the Constitution, then the 10th Amendment says it's left to the states. But somebody forgot to send a memo to Washington. +p2392 +aVJake? Jake? +p2393 +aVI think we need to remember that there are maybe some controversies about autism, but there is no controversy about the things that are really driving the medical costs in this country. And I would really believe that the next president ought to declare a war on cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer's, because those are the four things that are causing the greatest level of cost. John Kennedy said, "we'll go to the moon in a decade and bring a man back," and we did it. I grew up in the '50s. I remember the polio vaccine. We saved billions of dollars since that time, because we haven't had to treat for polio. Why doesn't this country focus on cures rather than treatment? Why don't we put a definitive focus scientifically on finding the cure for cancer, for heart disease, for diabetes and for Alzheimer's, a disease alone that will cost us \u2014 +p2394 +aV$1.1 trillion by the year 2050. We change the economy and the country. +p2395 +aVThat's an easy one. I'd put my wife on there. I've been married to her 41 years. She's fought cancer and lived through it. She's raised three kids, five great grandkids, and she's put up with me. I mean, who else could possibly be on that money other than my wife. And that way, she could spend her own money with her face. +p2396 +aVI'd go with Duck Hunter. +p2397 +aVAt the end of my presidency I would like to believe that the world would be a safe place, and there wouldn't be the threats. not only to the U.S., but to Israel and our allies, because we would have the most incredible well-trained, well-equipped, well- prepared military in the history of mankind. And they would know that the commander-in-chief would never send them to a mission without all the resources necessary, but people wouldn't bully us anymore. Because they would know that that would be an invitation to their destruction. Domestically, we would be operating under a tax system that eliminated the IRS. People wouldn't be punished for their work, and for what they produced. And life would be really deemed precious. Abortion would be no more. It would be as much of a scourge in our past as slavery is. And we would have a peaceful country, where people respected each other and people respected law enforcement. And we would focus on cures. And we would make this country not only safe from our enemies without, but safe from the enemies within. And it would be a good place to raise our kids and our grandkids. +p2398 +aVChris, I disagree with the idea that the real issue is a constitutional amendment. That's a long and difficult process. I've actually taken the position that's bolder than that. A lot of people are talking about defunding planned parenthood, as if that's a huge game changer. I think it's time to do something even more bold. I think the next president ought to invoke the Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the constitution now that we clearly know that that baby inside the mother's womb is a person at the moment of conception. The reason we know that it is is because of the DNA schedule that we now have clear scientific evidence on. And, this notion that we just continue to ignore the personhood of the individual is a violation of that unborn child's Fifth and 14th Amendment rights for due process and equal protection under the law. It's time that we recognize the Supreme Court is not the Supreme Being, and we change the policy to be pro-life and protect children instead of rip up their body parts and sell them like they're parts to a Buick. +p2399 +aVNot me. But you're welcome to give me a check, Donald if you'd like. +p2400 +aVIt's not too big to shrink. But the problem is we have a Wall Street-to-Washington axis of power that has controlled the political climate. The donor class feeds the political class who does the dance that the donor class wants. And the result is federal government keeps getting bigger. Every person on this stage who has been a governor will tell that you the biggest fight they had was not the other party. Wasn't even the legislature. It was the federal government, who continually put mandates on the states that we had to suck up and pay for. And the fact is there are a lot of things happening at the federal level that are absolutely beyond the jurisdiction of the Constitution. This is power that should be shifted back to the states, whether it's the EPA, there is no role at the federal level for the Department of Education. And I'm still one who says that we can get rid of the Internal Revenue Service if we would pass the FairTax, which is a tax on consumption rather than a tax on people's income, and move power back where the founders believed it should have been all along. +p2401 +aVWell, let's all be reminded, 60 million Americans are on Social Security, 60 million. A third of those people depend on 90% of their income from Social Security. Nobody in this country is on Social Security because they made the decision when they were starting work at 14 that they wanted to trust some of their money with the government. The government took it out of their check whether they wanted them to or not. And, if person goes to 65, they're going to spend 51 years with the government reaching into their pocket at every paycheck. Now, here's the point, whose fault is it that the system is screwed up? Is it the recipients, or is it the government? And, if Congress wants to mess with the retirement program, why don't we let them start by changing their retirement program, and not have one, instead of talking about getting rid of Social Security and Medicare that was robbed $700 billion dollars to pay for Obamacare. It's always that the government figures that they can do this off the backs of people, many of whom are poor, and depend on that money, and I just think it's fundamentally lying to the people and stealing from them, and we shouldn't be doing it. +p2402 +aVWell, you ask about how we fund it. One of the reasons that Social Security is in so much trouble is that the only funding stream comes from people who get a wage. The people who get wages is declining dramatically. Most of the income in this country is made by people at the top who get dividends and -- and capital gains. The FairTax transforms the process by which we fund Social Security and Medicare because the money paid in consumption is paid by everybody, including illegals, prostitutes, pimps, drug dealers, all the people that are freeloading off the system now. That's why it ought to be a transformed system. +p2403 +aVRonald Reagan said "trust, but verify." President Obama is "trust, but vilify." He trusts our enemies and vilifies everyone who disagrees with him. And the reason we disagree with him has nothing to do with party. +p2404 +aVIt has to do with the incredibly dangerous place that this world is gonna be as a result of a deal in which we got nothing. We didn't even get four hostages out. We got nothing, and Iran gets everything they want. We said we would have anywhere, anytime negotiations and inspections, we gave that up. We said that we would make sure that they didn't have any nuclear capacity, we gave that up. The president can't tell us what we got. I'll tell you what the world got. The world has a burgeoning nuclear power that didn't, as the Soviets, say "we might defend ourselves in a war." What the Iranians have said is, "we will wipe Israel off the face of the map, and we will bring death to America." When someone points a gun at your head and loads it, by God, you ought to take them seriously, and we need to take that seriously. +p2405 +aVThe military is not a social experiment. The purpose of the military is kill people and break things. It's not to transform the culture by trying out some ideas that some people think would make us a different country and more diverse. The purpose is to protect America. I'm not sure how paying for transgender surgery for soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines makes our country safer. We've reduced the military by 25 percent... ... under President Obama. The disaster is that we've forgotten why we have a military. The purpose of it is to make sure that we protect every American, wherever that American is, and if an American is calling out for help, whether it's in Benghazi or at the border, then we ought to be able to answer it. We've not done that because we've decimated our military. We're flying B-52s. The most recent one that was put in service was November of 1962. A lot of the B-52s we're flying, we've only got 44 that are in service combat ready, and the fact is, most of them are older than me. And that's pretty scary. +p2406 +aVIt seems like this election has been a whole lot about a person who's very high in the polls, that doesn't have a clue about how to govern. A person who has been filled with scandals, and who could not lead, and, of course, I'm talking about Hillary Clinton. I think America... +p2407 +aV...is in trouble, but it's not beyond repair. But it's going to take leadership who sees the greatness of this country, and who believes that once again we can be one nation, under God. I'll be my best to do that, and thank you for your support. +p2408 +aVI don't think it's that the message isn't working, I think it's the message isn't getting out because the message that I have this time, Bill, it's exactly what I said eight years ago. I talked about people who are standing on their feet on factory floors, people who lift heavy things, who sweat through their clothes, they're getting gut punched. They are not having a fair shake in this economy. I talked about that eight years ago, and I'm talking about it now. I talked about the importance of preserving life, of not just saying we're going to defund Planned Parenthood, but let's do something bolder. Let's get rid of abortion once and for all by applying the Fifth, and Fourteenth amendment to every person from conception because that means that we recognize that no person can be deprived of life or liberty unless they have due process. And, that's not happening in our country. And, I believe, and continue to practice that we need the Fair Tax to revive our economy. To make it so that people are able to be rewarded for their work rather than punished for it. +p2409 +aVYou know, I -- I would leave that to other people. I'm not going to get into an argument with all the New Yorkers, because there's a lot of them. This much I will tell you. I wish that some of those New Yorkers had funded as much of my campaign as they did the corporately funded candidates, but they didn't. And to be honest with you, when I say I'm -- wish they had, I'm glad they didn't. I'm not a New York-funded campaign. I'm not bankrolled by the corporatists, I'm not bankrolled by Goldman Sachs and Citibank and AIG and all the big brokers -- brokerage houses and the billionaires. I'm sponsored by people like Thomas, a part-time Uber driver in Pennsylvania who sent me $25 this week. He's between jobs. He's driving an Uber car. But he believed in what I'm talking about enough that, even on a limited, part-time income, he sent me $25 to help in my campaign. I'll stand with the Thomases of the world any day. I'll leave all the discussion of the big financiers to other candidates. But there's only a few of us in the entire Republican process who are not corporately funded by the same group. And let me just finish by saying, you want to know why things never change depending on whether Democrats or Republicans are in power, and why Republicans in Iowa and the rest of the country are so frustrated? The reason is, is because if you follow the money, the same folks who finance the Democrats finance the Republicans, and no matter what the speeches and the ads, they get the same results. If you want a different result, I'm available. +p2410 +aVWell, I don't trust him. I've never said I trusted him. But if somebody is willing to take a shot at the people we are taking shots at, I'm more than willing to let them use their own bullets to do it. But let's be very clear about how we take out +p2411 +aVNo, I don't think that it's impossible, but we're not going to do it by doing the same things we've been doing for all these many years. And, we've lost five million manufacturing jobs just since the year 2000. The other day I was in Newton, Iowa. It used to be a vibrant place where Maytag washers and dryers were built. Went out of business in 2007, all those shops went to Mexico. All those people lost their jobs. There was a guy in my forum that day, he lost his job. He still has never found an employment that got anywhere near the job that he had. Let me ask you, how many people do you think living around the Beltway know a guy like that? Care about a guy like that? Not many. And, that's because they're six of the ten richest counties in America that surround Washington D.C. People who live in the bubbles of the high finance world of New York, the government world of Washington, the entertainment world of Hollywood, don't have a clue about how hard people out here in Iowa are working every single day. And, I believe one of the values of campaigning in Iowa, you can't win unless you go out and talk to farmers and housewives -- and welders, and unemployed truck drivers, and I hate... ... That a president could become president who never met people who have to struggle to make a living and put food on the table. +p2412 +aVA lot of Americans are angry. And I think it's important to understand why they are mad. They are mad because they see a government that continues to do fine. They see people at the top. They are doing fine. But that person you asked Rick about a moment ago, that lady that's making 10,000 bucks a year, do you know what our poverty programs do to people? They keep them in poverty. They keep them in poverty because we have these arbitrary thresholds... ... that mean that if you go to work, you lose all the benefits for your kids, Medicaid, WIC, Section 8 housing, food stamps, and then your kids go hungry. I know a little about poverty. My sister is here tonight. Now both of us could tell you we did not grow up rich. My mother grew up in a house, oldest of seven kids. She had lived in a house that didn't have floors. Just dirt. No electricity. No running water. I resent it when people say, oh, people are poor because they want to be. No, they are not. Nobody wants to be poor. And that's a stupid, foolish thing, mean thing to say. People are poor because they don't know how to get out of the hole. And government shouldn't push them back in the hole which is what our policies do when they punish people who want to go to work and don't let them out. We can fix that, but it takes some leadership to get it done. +p2413 +aVWell, I didn't have a tax and spend approach. You got to understand where the Club for Growth comes from, a bunch of rich guys sitting around writing checks to go after people they don't like. And, they don't like me sometimes because I was fighting for the guys at the bottom, not just the guys at the top. I cut 94 taxes in a state that had never had a general major tax decrease in its history. I also was able to see per capita income growth in my state go up by 50%. I think that's a pretty darn good record. Look at the overall record and it was fine. But, it's not about stats from when I was governor. Look, one of the reasons I support the Fairtax is because it's the one thing, Bill, that would truly empower people at the bottom of the economy by no longer punishing them for their work. If a guy works an hourly job, and he works eight hours, gets paid for it, terrific. But, if he works 16 hours, he doesn't get a double paycheck because he's going to be bumped up into a new tax bracket, and the government will get more of his second shift than he will. So, we've actually punished him for being industrious, hardworking, and that is a foolish economic policy... ... that's hurting Americans about as much as anything. +p2414 +aVI honestly don't understand how anybody with IQ above plant life would honestly think... ... that we would be better off if we let the government have all of the private property and that the government would dole out what they thought we should have. I'm not "feeling the Bern," Bill. I'm not feeling it. And when Bernie Sanders promises these kids free college, I'm telling them, because I get asked, what about free college? I said, look, if we give you free college when you are 20, pal, you are going to be paying for it when you are 30, when you are 40, and when you are 50. There is no such thing as the government giving you anything. They will definitely make a mess of it. And I just think there are a lot of people who have never understood the basic understanding of economics, that you do not make people rich by tearing down those who are you providing jobs, and you don't help poor people by taking away. You give them jobs. Let them work. Let them earn. And then you let them keep the money that they earned. That's how we build a great economy. +p2415 +aVWell, this week there was a little dust up about a video we put together with the music of Adele, so I thought it'd be appropriate for me to begin tonight by saying, "Hello, Iowa. It's me." +p2416 +aVAnd, you know me. You gave me the largest number of votes in the history of the Iowa caucus eight years ago, and I think you did it because you trusted me, you believed that I had your best interest at heart. When I was governor I had a little plaque in my office in the Governor's office, and it simply said this. Come, let us reason together. I believe the next President needs to put that plaque in the oval office, and needs to lead this country by saying, "Come, let us reason together." God bless you, and thank you for your support. +p2417 +aVI wish I saw the country in the same place that the president presented it to be the other night in the State of the Union. He talked about how great the economy was doing. And I guess for the people he hangs out with, it's probably doing great. But the president should've stood in the line at the layaway counter at Walmart just before Christmas. He would have heard a very different story about the economy of America. I wish I could introduce him the lady who cleans the building where our campaign headquarters is located in Little Rock. Her name is Kathleen. She works all day at a local hospital cleaning, and then she goes to the building where a bank, and our headquarters, and other offices are she spends another seven hours. She works 15 hours a day. I guarantee you she's not working 15 hours a day because she loves scrubbing toilets, and sweeping floors. She's working that many hours because that's what it takes for her to make it work. And, she's not alone. There are people all over this country who are working like that. Many of them working two jobs \u2014 and they used to have one job, and that would take care of them. But, because of wage stagnation, which we've had for 40 years, because the fact that they're punished for working harder if they work that many hours. The government gets more of their second shift than they do. And, as a result there are a lot of people who are hurting today. I wish the President knew more of them. He might make a change in the economy and the way he's managing it. +p2418 +aVLet me put that in context. When I went to Afghanistan, I saw a land that looked like the land of the Flintstones. It was desolate. It was barren. It was primitive. And it's been that way for thousands of years. They want to take the world back to be just like that. We don't. We need to make a clear goal as to why we want to be anywhere in the Middle East, and I'll tell you why we want to be and need to be, is to destroy radical Islam and everything that threatens civilization. It's not just a threat......to Israel or to America, it's a threat to every civilized person on this Earth. And we need to be equipping not only the Kurds in Iraq, we need to be making sure that those who are willing to fight radical Muslims will do it, but we need to never ever spend a drop of American blood unless there is a clearly defined goal and we can't make sure we win unless we have a military that's the strongest in the history of mankind. We've got to rebuild our navy. It's the smallest navy we've had since 1915, when my grandfather got on a destroyer in World War I when he was in the U.S. Navy. We've got young men in Air Force B-52s, one in particular, he's flying a B-52 that his father flew in the '80s and his grandfather flew in the '50s. Those planes are older than me. We've got to have a military that the world is afraid of, use it sparingly, but when we do, the whole world will know that America is on their tail and they will be on their tail on the ground, never ever to rise up again. +p2419 +aVOnly if there is a concerted effort to destroy the advance of radical Islamists who are against us. As far as what are we going to make it look like. Frankly, I don't know what we can make it look like. You can't create for other people a desire for freedom and democracy. And frankly, that is not the role of the United States. The role of the United States military is not to build schools, it is not to build bridges, it is not to go around and pass out food packets. It is to kill and destroy our enemy and make America safe and that is the purpose we should be there if we're going to be there. +p2420 +aV Yes, I did. +p2421 +aVWell, why don't we start by making sure the Justice Department never does an idiotic program like Fast and Furious where the U.S. Government put guns......in the hands of Mexican drug lords......and end up killing one of our border agents. You know, they want to talk about law abiding citizens, I just find it amazing the President keeps saying the gun show loophole. There is no gun show loophole. I promise you I've been to more gun shows than President Obama. +p2422 +aVAnd, I've bought more weapons at them, and you fill out forms. The President also says things that it's easier to get a gun now than it is to grow trees. Again, I purchase guns, and I can assure you that it is much more difficult to purchase a firearm than it is to get the ingredients of a salad at the supermarket. What the President keeps pushing are ideas that have never worked. Ideas that would not have stopped San Bernadino, Sandy Hook, Aurora, and at some point you wonder if you keep retrying things that don't work, maybe we should just see if we could resell all those used lottery tickets that didn't work real well because that's the logic of just keep doing the same thing, but something that has failed. Of course, we want to stop gun violence, but the one common thing that has happened in most mass shootings is that they happened in gun- free zones where people who would have been law abiding citizens, who could have stood up and at least tried to stop it and we're not allowed to under the law. +p2423 +aVWell, we shouldn't be and that's one of the reasons that I think there a lot of voices in our country who are saying it's time to relook at the visa program. The European Union is a failure, it's not allowed for even the economic goals that they were trying to achieve. But, what we're not seeing is that it's making Europe less safe, and it's proven not to be exactly what they all thought it was going to be. Our first and foremost responsibility in this country, and the first responsibility of the President of the United States is protect America, and protect Americans. We have a President who seems to be more interested in protecting the reputation and image of Islam than he is protecting us. And, I want to be very clear......that this President. Makes comments like he did the other night, that we have to be so careful because we don't want to offend Muslims. He needs to read his own FBI crime stats from last year which would show him that of the hate crimes in the country, over 5,500, about 1,100 were religious hate crimes. And, of those, 58% were directed toward Jews. Only 16% directed toward Muslims. Maybe what the President should have talked about the other night is how we ought to be more careful in the anti-semitic comments that are going toward American Jews than toward Muslims because by three times as many......they're being targeted for religious hate crime. +p2424 +aVIt does not shut down international commerce, but it may slow it down. And, you don't want to slowdown commerce that is making us safer. It's worth it. This lady who came and joined with the San Bernardino killer had passed three background checks, and that's why a lot of Americans didn't buy it when the President said we'll bring in Syrian refugees, but don't worry we'll check them out. We have a lot of confidence in a president who told us that we could keep our doctor, we could keep our health insurance, and cost us less, and now the latest is if you like your gun you can keep it too, and frankly, we don't buy it. We don't believe it. He's lost his credibility, and his inept... ...inability to work with Congress and pass legislation has led him to do what I never even imagined doing as a governor, and that's just going and doing it my own way. That's why we elect a president, is to lead, is to be able to shepherd things through. And if I can do it with a 90 percent Democrat legislature in Arkansas, there is no excuse for any president not being able to lead in Washington if he knows what the heck he is doing when he gets there. +p2425 +aVWell, first of all, let's just remember that Social Security is not the government's money, it belongs to the people who had it taken out of their checks involuntarily their entire working lives. For the government to say, well it is fault of working people that we have a Social Security problem, no. It is the fault of a government that used those people's money for something other than protecting those people's accounts. So let's not blame them and punish them. But here is a fact, and I sometimes hear Republicans say well, we're going to have to cut this and extend the age. You know what I think a lot of times when I hear people say, well, let's make people work to their 70. That sounds great for white-collar people who sat at a desk most of their lives. You ever talk to somebody that stood on concrete floor for the first 40 years of their working life? Do you think they can stand another five years or 10 years, many of them will retired virtually crippled because they worked hard. And we're going to punish them some more? I don't think so. Here's the fact. Four percent economic growth, we fully fund Social Security and Medicare. Our problem is not that Social Security is just too generous to seniors. It isn't. Our problem is that our politicians have not created the kind of policies that would bring economic growth. And I still support strongly that we get rid of the 77,000 pages of the monstrous tax code......pass the fair tax, supercharge this economy with the rocket fuel that happens with the consumption tax and we don't have to cut Social Security to any senior who has worked their lifetime for it. +p2426 +aVLet me go back to the reason so many people are having a hard time getting ahead. The tax system punishes them. Think about this. If you work really hard and you start moving up the economic ladder, you get bumped into a different tax bracket. So the government thinks it deserves more of your hard work than you do. And it's one of the reasons that no matter how many different reforms you have to a tax on people's productivity, you're still taxing their work, their savings. You're taxing their capital gains, inheritance, dividends, you're taxing everything that produces something. And it's way I really believe it's time to do something bold, not something minute. This is no time for a tap of the hammer, a twist of the screwdriver. It's time for something big. That's why the fair tax transforms our economy. And we don't punish workers. It's the only way we're going to get middle class people moving ahead again, because the harder they work, the more they keep. No payroll tax deducted from their checks. They get their entire paycheck. And, one of the most important parts, it's built on the common sense with which we raised our kids, and trained dogs. You reward behavior you want more of. And, you punish behavior you want less of. That's how I raise kids, it's how I trained our dogs, and folks, it's not that difficult. We now punish the behavior we say we want more of by taxing it, and we reward the behavior that we say we want less of, so if you make a good investment, we punish you with a tax. If you make a bad investment you can write that off and the rest of the taxpayers will help subsidize you, and bail you out. +p2427 +aVWell, Rick, I'm pretty sure I did also fight the Clinton machine because every election I was ever in in Arkansas, I assure you, they were behind it, helping finance and campaign for every opponent. And I share with you the understanding that it's going to be a tough battle. But I spent the first half of my adult life in the private and nonprofit sector, raising a family, understanding how tough it is for people to make it. And that first half of my life is what led me to believe that America needs a different kind of leadership, not people who spent their whole life running from one office to the next, and living off the government dime. And I got involved because I got sick of what I saw. I also believe that there's got to be some leadership that not only addresses the monetary and military issues of this country, but the moral issues of this country. At the end of every political speech, most of us say, God bless America. But how can he do that when we continue to slaughter 4,000 babies a day? And I want to be the president that treats every person, including the unborn, as a person. And protect them under the 5th and 14th amendments of the constitution. I close with this word from a gentleman in East Texas named Butel Lucre. He's 100 years old and I met him down in East Texas. And he said this to me. "I sure wish, Mike, we had the days when The Ten Commandments were in all of our capitals and in every school, and we prayed again. You know, he may be 100 years old, but I believe some of those old ideas to get this country back where we unapologetically get on our knees before we get on our feet might be the best solutions we've ever sought as a country. And I ask for your support and your vote. Thank you. +p2428 +aVWolf, I want to say thanks to you and CNN for giving us the opportunity especially to focus on national security issues at a time when Americans are not only angry \u2014 angry at their government that they feel like has failed them, been indifferent to them, cost them their livelihoods \u2014 but they're in addition to angry, they're just plain scared. They're scared when they thing that they go to a Christmas party and get shot at by somebody who sat and had lunch with them an hour earlier. They're scared when they realize that our government, who promises that it can vet people and is begging us to approve bringing 10,000 Syrian refugees into this country, can't even catch somebody after a third background check, who had posted things on social media clearly indicating she wanted to kill Americans. And we couldn't catch that. We've lost confidence in our government. And when Americans lose confidence in their government, we're in a dangerous place. We're in danger because we have an enemy that is out to kill us, and we have a government that we don't trust any more. This election is about going back to having a government we can trust with leaders who have the courage and conviction to actually lead and not follow. +p2429 +aVWell, let me begin by saying I'm not that afraid of Donald Trump. And, in the sense that I'd rather him be President than I had Hillary be president any day. And so if he becomes president, I think he will do a whole lot more to protect us than Hillary will. And a whole lot more than Barack Obama has done in his eight years. So I want to make it very clear that when I was making that comment, I was simply speaking that I'm not sure that you can have a religious test per se. And it's very impractical because if somebody comes to our borders and says I'd like to come in. They say are you a Muslim? Well, they're \u2014 if they're going to come in here to kill us, they're not gonna say yeah, and I'm coming to kill you. They're going to lie about it. Anybody that will kill you, for God's sake, will lie to you. So that's why I say it's impractical. But what he has done, and I don't think a lot of people understand, he has touched a nerve because people are angry and afraid that we are facing an enemy that this administration refuses to acknowledge, refuses to want to go fight. And our only answer is to go after +p2430 +aVNo. I'm not taking it away, I just want to make sure that everything we use is going to be effective. We're spending billions of dollars, let's make sure it's effective. Let's use every tool, but let's also check out the Facebook posts, let's look at Twitter accounts. My gosh, we were told we couldn't do it because it might invade somebody's privacy. This lady who came over here and shot up San Bernardino was posting things on Facebook, yet, we were restricted from looking. Every college kid who goes to a frat party gets drunk and puts his picture on Facebook is going to have a potential employer looking at that photo before he gets hired. Why should we have more attention? I mean, for heaven's sake, towards some college kid who wants to one day ten years from to get a job, then we're going after who wants to come in with a semi automatic weapon or a pipe bomb and blow up a bunch of Americans. This is what I think a lot of Americans are frustrated with, it's the duplicity of our policy that is illogical and irrational. Our goal ought to be, "protect Americans and put Americans first not last," which is what I think this administration has done. +p2431 +aVNo, it does not violate their First Amendment rights to have someone go and listen to the sermons. You can go to any church in America, it's a public place, you can listen, and \u2014 you know, if you go to my church, you'll probably get a real blessing. Heck, it'll be a wonderful experience. You go to some people's church, you may go to sleep, I don't know what happens in every church, but, the point is that these are public places, and folks are invited to come. So, if it's a public place, and people are invited to come, how does it violate anybody's First Amendment rights that somebody shows up because they might want to just listen in and see is there something that is a little nefarious? And, if there is, then you take the second step of getting a search warrant, you do whatever you have to do. That's all protected under the constitution. So, Huge, I hear people act like there's something that is terrible about going and sitting in and listening to the sermons of a mosque. If Islam is as wonderful, and peaceful as its adherents say, shouldn't they be begging us to all come in and listen to these peaceful sermons? Shouldn't they be begging us all to come, and listen, and bring the FBI so we'd all want to convert to Islam? +p2432 +aVI don't disagree. I don't disagree with anything that the Senator just said because that's exactly right. But, I just want to go back to the point that when people say we can't go into the mosque, we can't listen. That's utter nonsense. Of course we can. And, if we can't, if there's something so secretive going on in there that somebody isn't allowed to go and hear it, maybe we do need for sure to send somebody in there and gather the intelligence. And, that's all to the world I'm saying, I think it stands to be true. +p2433 +aVThe way we defeat them ideologically is that we remind people that what their intent is is to kill us, and that it is our intent to use every means possible to get to them before they get to us. We are pretending that this is a war that is not that significant. We have a president who called it the JV team, said we had contained it. Nine hours after he said we contained it, there was a massacre in Paris. We've got to make it so untenable for somebody to join +p2434 +aVWolf, it may be sufficient, but rather than put a number \u2014 and I'm comfortable that we say 10,000, 20,000 \u2014 look, I think we make a mistake when we start telling the enemy what our limitations are. I think we make a huge mistake when we say we're gonna do up to this. I think what we say is, we're gonna do whatever it takes. If it's 10,000, if it's 100,000, if it's 3,000 sorties a day, if it's 5,000 sorties a day. We never tell our enemy what our limitations are, what we are willing and what we're unwilling to do. And that's one of the mistakes I believe that we're making militarily. But the biggest mistake we've made militarily is letting Barack Obama cut our defense forces by 25 percent and leaving us at the least prepared position we've been in since before World War II. We have to get our Military rebuilt from the ground up. And all over America I hear young people say, would you tell me what you're going to do? Would you give me free college? Will you make sure that I can have medical marijuana? You know what we ought to tell young people? We aren't going to give you anything. We're give you the opportunity to get off your butt and go serve your country and secure your freedom. Because if you don't, nobody else is. +p2435 +aVI'd sure want them to think we would. And I'd want to make sure that we did everything we could. But we can't do it with our current Military strength. We've got to build up and have the most robust, well trained, well equipped, well prepared and ample Military force in the history of the world because we're not fighting just a known enemy in one place. We're fighting people all over the world who can go anywhere. And the reason I say that is because if we tried to win this war on the cheap or we try to do it with the, "light footprint," we're making a huge mistake. When all of us were in grade school, one thing we all knew, the bully never picked on the kid except for the weak one. When all of us were in grade school, one thing we all knew, the bully never picked on the kid, except for the weak one. He never picked on the kid he knew, he'd whip him. We need to make to sure that we have the kind of military that +p2436 +aVWell, I want to be real clear, I don't trust Putin, I don't trust Assad. I'm not saying that I would endorse him for his reelection bid. The man is a tyrant, he's killed lots of people, but he wasn't killing Americans. And, the thing that I'm concerned about is that we have seen a complete destabilization, not only of Syria, but we've seen it in Yemen, that the President pronouncing great shape just before it collapsed. +p2437 +aVWell what we have done, and we created an impossible atmosphere. This administration has put more pressure on Israel to stop building bedrooms in Judea and Samaria than they've put on Iranians to stop building a nuclear bomb. And I'm just simply pointing out the obvious, that we need to recognize who our friends are, who our enemies are... +p2438 +aV... but I'm convinced... +p2439 +aVWell, first of all, it would be the Iranians. I would have never entered into this deal. I don't know why on God's earth that the senators gave it so that it was easier for Obama to have the agreement than it would be to make it a treaty. +p2440 +aVI would make sure that there was economic pressure put on them. Why not? Why should we fund every single battle against radical Islam? Why should we stand back and watch Israel get targeted, the United States get targeted and we watch with people with their hands in their pocket, and their hands in our pocket because we're getting them a lot of money. And let's say your hands can be in your pocket, you can stand still, but your hands aren't going to be in our pockets anymore. We're not going to give you another dime unless you engage the battle with us. We are not sending our sons and daughters, and grandsons and granddaughters to war to fight for your interest. You either get in with us or be on your own. But we're not gonna fight the battle for you. +p2441 +aVI wouldn't reinstate a draft, but, I think it's noteworthy that we are fighting all the battles we have with less than one percent of the American population. +p2442 +aVI wouldn't reinstate a draft, but, I think it's noteworthy that we are fighting all the battles we have with less than one percent of the American population. We have the lowest level of percentage of population participating in the military than ever. And they're over-deployed, they're over used, especially among our reserves and Guard troops. Any governor will tell you. +p2443 +aVWell, I would say that, if you want a college education, let's go back and reinstate the full-blown G.I. bill. You give something to your country; your country gives something back to you. We need to ask young people to step up and buy their own freedom because there's not going to be enough people left at less than one percent. And as my good friend Ken Howard, former Dean of the War College, has often said, we're fighting all the wars with other people's kids. And that's one of the things that's making us much less safe, is because we don't have enough Americans truly invested in the process of defeating our enemies. Therefore, I do think without a draft we do need to ask people to recognize we are at war. +p2444 +aVI'm not belittling their sacrifice, Lindsey, but I'm just making note that on the part of Americans we have sent National Guard troops over for an 18-month em \u2014 18-month deployment. They come back for five, they go back for another 18. We're wearing these guys out. They agreed to be citizen soldiers. We turned them into full time soldiers because we've not kept up the pace by recruiting enough people in the military to fully fill these forces, and that's what we need to be doing. +p2445 +aVThe horrors that those families have to go through, if that were my son, my daughter, I'd give my last drop of blood to get them back. You bet I would. Is it a good policy? No. It's a terrible policy because once we do it, we're only going to invite more and more hostages, more and more ransoms, and the diasters gets even worse. But I don't blame any of these families. You know who I blame? I blame a policy in our government that has made it so that families are so desperate that they're willing to pay ransom to terrorists organizations because they don't believe our government will fight the fight for them and they think they're out there on their own. My goodness people, this is America. When did we have to start telling people that you've got to bake your own bread in order to fight the battles? That's what we have a government for, it's what we pay taxes for. And I believe, those families ought to have a better expectation of what this government will do. We should never has sat at the table with the Iranians as long Sayed Abadnini is sitting in an Iranian prison. As long as the Washington Post report is over there. Until the four hostages of America were on an airplane safely out of Tehran. We should've told them, " we won't even walk into the room with you much less sit down and negotiate with you." That's what we ought to be doing. +p2446 +aVWe just need to take a real pause and all the people that coming here and we don't know who they are or what their affiliations are. What George just said is right. We can't take the risk. And why should we take the risk? And if it's such a doggone good idea to bring people here that we really don't know who they are and Obama thinks that we're being un-Christian to not do it, I've got a suggestion. Let's send the first wave of them to Chappaqua, Martha's Vineyard and the upper east side of Manhattan and to the south lawn of the White House where we'll set up a camp. Let's see how that works out. And if they behave wonderfully, that's fine. I want to say, I don't want someone lecturing me about what it means to be a Christian that I should invite a potential terrorist into my backyard. On one hand, the left says separation of church and state. Let's not have any discussion of religion, and then the left wants to tell me what it means to be a Christian. They need to figure out if they know more about being a Christian than I do, then tell me... On one hand, the left says separation of church and state. Let's not have any discussion of religion, and then the left wants to tell me what it means to be a Christian. They need to figure out if they know more about being a Christian than I do \u2014 then tell me. They are no longer going to say separation of church and state, but, we have the most fundamental right above everything else \u2014 is not to protect the reputation of Islam. It is to protect Americans first and foremost. That is our job. +p2447 +aVNo, because he did it unconstitutionally. Twenty-three times he's said he couldn't do it, and then one day he woke up and he found he had a pen in one hand, and a phone in another, and wow. That Constitution didn't mean much anymore. Look, President's can't just do what they want to do. That's the purpose of getting elected and working with other people who got elected, is that our system was designed to function with the power of persuasion, it's really what you elect a president to do. +p2448 +aV...Let me finish, Hugh. You elect him to lead which means that if you think it's a good idea to not punish the children for something their parents did, then you go to the members of Congress and you persuade them. And, you persuade the American people. You don't just jump up and shove it up the nostrils of Congress, and the American people because you think you have a superior intellect, and a superior will, and a superior theology than everybody else. Our system is not a system of tyranny. We don't elect kings, we elect servants. If I'm elected president, I don't consider myself to be elected to be the king of the country, but the servant of the country to work with other people who are elected to get things done that need to be done. +p2449 +aVThe terrorists don't win just because they kill us. The terrorists win when they make us change everything we do in our daily lives and alter our routines. And they're doing that, from getting on a plane to going in a building. And it is high time that we recognize that we have to take them out, not a little bit, but totally, because I want my grandkids to grow up not in fear, but in faith and in freedom. And if you give me the opportunity to be president of the United States, I will fight for your grandkids as much as I will for mine. Thank you and God bless you. +p2450 +aVWell, first of all, Trish, I don't know why we have to move away from manufacturing. The only reason we have is because... ...we have a tax code that has punished manufacturing. I hear a lot of people talk about the plans to simplify the tax code. I've got one better than any of the simplifications, it's called a, "Fair Tax", and it eliminates all of the taxes on our productivity. Here's what would happen. We'd get rid of taxes on people's work, so, we wouldn't punish people for working anymore. Yeah, we've lost five million manufacturing jobs just since the year 2000 \u2014 160,000 manufacturing plants have close in this country, which means a lot of people \u2014 that the governors talking about, he's exactly right. They don't have jobs anymore. And the reason they don't have jobs is because their jobs are in Mexico, they're in China, they're in Indonesia. Bring the jobs back. And with the fair tax, you do that, because you don't tax capital and labor and you bring a real sense of equity to the opportunity so that people will not only make it easier to function, they'll get the manufacturing jobs back. And here's the best part. We don't reduce the IRS, we get rid of the IRS. We completely eliminate them......because the government has no business knowing how much money we make and how we made it. It's none of their business. And that's why I believe that manufacturing is critical. If we can't feed ourselves, fuel ourselves and fight for ourselves, we can't be free. And by the way, fighting for ourselves means manufacturing our own weapons of self-defense. +p2451 +aVWell, Sandra, first of all, let me mention the fact that I think there's a big difference between welfare programs and what some people call entitlements. Namely, Social Security and Medicare. I just want to remind everybody out there who has ever had a paycheck, the government didn't ask you if you wanted them to take money out of your check for Social Security and Medicare. They did that involuntarily. Those are not entitlements and that's not welfare. That's an earned benefit. And by gosh, you paid for it. And if the government screwed it up, you shouldn't have to pay the penalty because of an incompetent government. That's different than the social programs that we've spent $2 trillion on since the War on Poverty began exactly 50 years ago this year. Now the reason we still have so much poverty is because it was never designed to get people out of poverty. It was designed to make sure that there was an industry of poverty, so that the people in the poverty industry would have a lot of jobs. But the people who are poor haven't been benefited. Having grown up poor, I know a little something about it. Nobody who is poor wants to be. That's a nonsense statement and I hear it all the time. Well, poor people ought to work harder. They're working as hard as they can, for gosh sake. But the problem is the system keeps pushing them down because, if they work, then they get punished. They lose all the benefits. When we did welfare reform in the '90s, you know what we did? We said you're not going to lose everything at once. There's not an arbitrary threshold. So as you move up the ladder from work and training, you'll actually always be better off than you were before. That's the American way. +p2452 +aVWell, I'd just like to respond, with all due respect to, to the Governor, to the state just south of me, I would say that a lot of us have cut things. And during the recession of 2001 to 2003, when 91 percent of our state budget was basically three things, educate, medicate and incarcerate, we ended up cutting 11 percent out of the state budget through that recession so we didn't have to go in and raise a bunch of taxes, and there were people who thought we should. So it's just not accurate to say that nobody else up here has ever cut. I believe every governor has probably had to make tough decisions. I'm, I'm guessing my colleague Governor Christie has, as I'm tossing him the ball like Arkansas did to Ol' Miss the other day. +p2453 +aVSandra, before we get too far away, he specifically brought out some things about the record that I need to correct. +p2454 +aVSandra, I've been concerned that this administration has not done anything to help stop the slaughter of Christians. We didn't help the Kurds, we said we would. But, the idea that we're just going to open our doors, and we have no idea who these people are \u2014 what we do know is that only one out of five of the so called, "Syrian Refugees", who went into Europe were actually Syrian. Many of them, we had no idea who they were. They weren't Syrian. Are we going to open the doors so that the +p2455 +aV...I'd like to get that opportunity to go... +p2456 +aVWell, since we're not going to answer the question, let me just remind everybody, tomorrow is Veterans Day. And here's what I would like to remind everybody. The VA has been a disaster in large part because the people in Congress have never bothered to fix it, and this president has certainly not... +p2457 +aVLet me finish, please. I'm going to ask you just this, what would happen if the Congress and the president had to get their health care from the VA? We would fix the problem and we would fix Congress. +p2458 +aVWell, thank you very much. I still want to go back to the fact that if we got rid of all the taxes on our work, got rid of the taxes on our savings, investments, capital gains, and inheritance, and made a zero tax, we'd pay at the point of consumption. Because why should we punish people for their productivity? And the fair tax doesn't punish people for doing well and building the economy. There's $31 trillion parked offshore. What happens if that money comes back to America? You'd think it'd goose the economy? I guarantee you it would. And that's why the fair tax is the best solution we have for economic growth in this country. +p2459 +aVWell, first of all, do you know an American that will just stop spending? I don't. No, that's not going to be the problem. Look, Americans will go to the marketplace with more money they've ever had. For the first time they'll be having their whole paycheck. You see, most people don't understand that when you buy something that is made in America, 22 percent of the cost of it is the embedded tax they never even know they paid. It's why China has beaten the daylights out of us, they can build stuff that we can't because they're not taxing it, when they don't tax capital and labor and we do. They bring something over here, it's automatically cheaper even without the regulatory environment because they're not embedding the taxes, we are. Take the embedded taxes out. Give a person his whole paycheck because every American would no longer have a payroll tax taken out. It means they'd see their real paycheck for the first time. When they go to spend that money, they'll actually have it. And they only pay taxes on the stuff that's new. So a lot of Americans will buy used stuff. Look, here's the point, Americans are not going to quit shopping. Americans are not going to quit buying. But it would be nice if Americans could control how much they paid in tax, rather than having the government reach into their pockets and take it out before they ever had a chance to even see it, much less spend it. And that's why the fair tax makes a heck of a lot more sense than punishing productivity and rewarding irresponsibility. +p2460 +aVWell, my wife's name is Janet and when you say Janet Yelling, I'm very familiar with what you mean. But, look, I think the Fed is in a big trouble because they haven't addressed the number one issue that's hurting Americans and that's the fact that wages for the bottom 90 percent of the economy have been stagnant for 40 years. In the 25 years after World War II, up to 1971, wages grew by 85 percent in this country. People were \u2014 were moving up in the middle class. There was a middle class. That's not happening any more, and in large measure, the Fed has manipulated the dollar so it doesn't have a standard. Tie the dollar to something fixed and if it's not going to be gold, make it the commodity basket. But here's what we've got to do. We absolutely have to get it where the people who go out there and work get something in return. And if the dollar keeps fluctuating, and this is as crazy as \u2014 as is the price of bread, well, the fact is, people can't get ahead then. +p2461 +aVAbsolutely. Absolutely, because what we need to is to make sure that they tie the monetary standard to something that makes sense, rather than to their own whims, because who's getting gut punched? It ain't the people in Wall Street, it's the folks on Main Street. They're the ones who's wages have been stagnant for 40 years. And the average American today has a total savings of 1,000 bucks. One root canal and they're in trouble. And if their car breaks down the same week......they're out of business. +p2462 +aVWell, I think thanking our veterans is a wonderful thing to do, but, they sure appreciate a better paycheck. They'd appreciate the fact that we kept our promises to them. The men and women in uniform put on the uniform of our nation, they went halfway around the world, they face dangers on our behalf, and we promised them if they did that, when they came home we'd take care of their medical care, we'd make is possible for their kids to go to college, and they'd be able to bind to a home. They kept their promises to us. We have not kept our promises to them, and today, less than one percent of Americans go to the military for service. We're fighting wars with other people's kids in large measure because we've not taken seriously the moral, not the monetary, the moral obligation to take care of the veterans and to keep America's promise to the ones who kept their promise to America. +p2463 +aVIn many ways, I feel like I'm the luckiest guy on Earth. I really do. It's a long way from a little brick rent house on second street in Hope, Arkansas to this stage where I'm running for President of the United States. It's not about me, not about these guys \u2014 'ought to be about you, and I've never been the favorite of the people who have the most money. But, I want to be the favorite of the people who still want to believe the American dream can work for them. Today in our office, I got a letter from a third grader in North Dakota, her name is Reese. She sent $6 dollars from her allowance, and said, "I want to help you be president." You know, I'm going to keep standing on this stage, and keep fighting for one reason, because somewhere out there in North Dakota, and all over America, there are kids like Reese who need a president who will never forget where they came from, and I promise I won't. +p2464 +asVCRUZ +p2465 +(lp2466 +VThank you, Wolf. America is at war. Our enemy is not violent extremism. It is not some unnamed malevolent force. It is radical Islamic terrorist. We have a president who is unwilling to utter its name. The men and women on this stage, every one of us, is better prepared to keep this nation safe than is Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. We need a president who understands the first obligation of the commander-in-chief is to keep America safe. If I am elected president, we will hunt down and kill the terrorists. We will utterly destroy +p2467 +aVWell, listen, Hugh, everyone understands why Donald has suggested what he has. We're looking at a president who's engaged in this double-speak where he doesn't call radical Islamic terrorism by its name. Indeed, he gives a speech after the San Bernardino attack where his approach is to try to go after the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens rather than to keep us safe. And even worse, President Obama and Hillary Clinton are proposing bringing tens of thousands of Syrian refugees to this country when the head of the FBI has told Congress they cannot vet those refugees. I understand why Donald made that proposal. I introduced legislation in the Senate that I believe is more narrowly focused at the actual threat, which is radical Islamic terrorism, and what my legislation would do is suspend all refugees for three years from countries where +p2468 +aVWell, you know, I'm reminded of what FDR's grandfather said. He said, "All horse-thieves are Democrats, but not all Democrats are horse-thieves." In this instance, there are millions of peaceful Muslims across the world, in countries like India, where there is not the problems we are seeing in nations that are controlled \u2014 have territory controlled by Al Qaida or +p2469 +aVWell, Dana, the premise of your question is not accurate. I'm very proud to have joined with conservatives in both the Senate and the House to reform how we target bad guys. And what the USA Freedom Act did is it did two things. Number one, it ended the federal government's bulk collection of phone metadata of millions of law-abiding citizens. But number two in the second half of it that is critical. It strengthened the tools of national security and law enforcement to go after terrorists. It gave us greater tools and we are seeing those tools work right now in San Bernardino. And in particular, what it did is the prior program only covered a relatively narrow slice of phone calls. When you had a terrorist, you could only search a relatively narrow slice of numbers, primarily land lines. The USA Freedom Act expands that so now we have cell phones, now we have Internet phones, now we have the phones that terrorists are likely to use and the focus of law enforcement is on targeting the bad guys. You know what the Obama administration keeps getting wrong is whenever anything bad happens they focus on law-abiding citizens instead of focusing on the bad guys. We need to focus on radical Islamic terrorists and we need to stop them before they carry out acts of terror. +p2470 +aVWell, you know, I would note that Marco knows what he's saying isn't true. You know, Mark Levin wrote a column last week that says that the attack ads his Super PAC is running that are saying the same thing, that they are knowingly false and they are, in fact, Alinsky-like attacks like Barack Obama. And the reason is simple. What he knows is that the old program covered 20 percent to 30 percent of phone numbers to search for terrorists. The new program covers nearly 100 percent. That gives us greater ability to stop acts of terrorism, and he knows that that's the case. +p2471 +aVWhat it means is using overwhelming air power to utterly and completely destroy +p2472 +aVYou would carpet bomb where +p2473 +aVWell, you know, Marco has continued these attacks, and he knows they're not true. Yes, it is true that I voted against the National Defense Authorization Act, because when I campaigned in Texas I told voters in Texas that I would oppose the federal government having the authority to detain U.S. citizens permanently with no due process. I have repeatedly supported an effort to take that out of that bill, and I honored that campaign commitment. +p2474 +aVBut more broadly, you know, the notion Marco is suggesting, that somehow \u2014 he also has tossed more than a few insults this direction \u2014 let's be absolutely clear. +p2475 +aVWolf, I believe in a America first foreign policy, that far too often President Obama and Hillary Clinton \u2014 and, unfortunately, more than a few Republicans \u2014 have gotten distracted from the central focus of keeping this country safe. So let's go back to the beginning of the Obama administration, when Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama led +p2476 +aV... we ought to hunt down our enemies and kill +p2477 +aVWell, it's more than not shedding a tear. It's actively getting involved to topple a government. And we keep hearing from President Obama and Hillary Clinton and Washington Republicans that they're searching for these mythical moderate rebels. It's like a purple unicorn. They never exist. These moderate rebels end up being jihadists. And I'll tell you whose view on Assad is the same as mine. It's Prime Minister Netanyahu. Prime Minister Netanyahu has said Israel doesn't have a dog in that fight because Assad is a puppet of Iran, a Shia radical Islamic terrorist, but at the same time, Prime Minister Netanyahu doesn't want to see Syria governed by +p2478 +aVThe question of whether we should toppling dictatorships is asking the wrong question. We should be defeating our enemies. So the problem with defeating... +p2479 +aVWell, but let me explain, the focus should be... +p2480 +aV... on defeating our enemies. So, for example... +p2481 +aV... a regime we should change is Iran... +p2482 +aV... because Iran has declared war on us. But we shouldn't be toppling regimes...... that are fighting radical Islamic terrorists that are helping... +p2483 +aVWell, he \u2014 he has attempted to muddy the waters, but I think that anyone who watched the battle that we had. You know, there was a time for choosing as Reagan put it. Where there was a battle over amnesty and some chose, like Senator Rubio to stand with Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer and support a massive amnesty plan. Others chose to stand with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and the American people and secure the border. And let me mention, this issue is actually directly connected to what we've been talking about. Because the front line with +p2484 +aVLook, I understand Marco wants to raise confusion, it is not accurate what he just said that I supported legalization. Indeed, I led the fight against his legalization and amnesty. And you know, there was one commentator that put it this way that, for Marco to suggest our record's the same is like suggesting "the fireman and the arsonist because they are both at the scene of the fire." He was fighting to grant amnesty and not to secure the border, I was fighting to secure the border. And this also goes to trust, listening on to campaign trails. Candidates all the time make promises. You know, Marco said," he learned that the American people didn't trust the federal government." +p2485 +aVIn Florida promising to... +p2486 +aVgo in the fight against amnesty... +p2487 +aVHe campaigned promising to lead the fight against amnesty. +p2488 +aVI have never supported a legalization... +p2489 +aVI have never supported legalization, and I do not intend to support legalization. Let me tell you how you do this, what you do is you enforce the law... +p2490 +aVWatt you do is enforcement the law... +p2491 +aVWhat you do... +p2492 +aVWhat you do is you enforce the law. I've laid out a very, very detailed immigration plan on my website, tedcruz.org. It's 11 pages of existing federal law and in particular the question of what to do with people who are here now? You enforce the law. That means you stop the Obama administration's policy of releasing criminal illegal aliens. Do you know how many aliens Bill Clinton deported? 12 million. Do you know how many illegal aliens, George W. Bush deported? 10 million. We can enforce the laws and if we secure the border, that solves the problem. And as president I will solve this problem and secure the border. +p2493 +aVDana, what I said in private is exactly what I'll say here, which is that the judgment that every voter is making of every one of us up here is who has the experience, who has the vision, who has the judgment to be commander in chief. That is the most important decision for the voters to make. That's a standard I'm held to. And it's a standard everyone else is held to. And I will note, you know, in the whole course of this discussion about our foreign policy threats, it actually illustrates the need for clarity of focus. You know, my daughters, Caroline and Catherine, came tonight. They're 7 and 5. And you think about the Los Angeles schools canceling their schools today. And every parent is wondering, how do we keep our kids safe? We need a commander in chief who does what Ronald Reagan did with communism, which is he set out a global strategy to defeat Soviet communism. And he directed all of his... I'm answering the question, Dana. He directed all of his forces to defeating communism. One of the things we've seen here is how easy it is for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to get distracted from dealing with radical Islamic terrorism. They won't even call it by its name. We need a president who stands up, number one, and says, we will defeat +p2494 +aVAnd we need to be focused on defeating... +p2495 +aV... defeating radical Islamic terrorists. +p2496 +aVWhat I'm saying, Dana, is that is a judgment for every voter to make. What I can tell you is all nine of the people here would make an infinitely better commander in chief than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. +p2497 +aVAnd there is a real danger, Dana, when people get distracted. I'm answering the question, Wolf. There's a real danger when people get distracted by peripheral issues. They get distracted by democracy building. They get distracted about military conflicts. We need to focus on defeating jihadism. +p2498 +aVAnd I will do everything necessary to keep our children safe. +p2499 +aVJudgment, strength, clarity and trust. Barack Obama has said he doesn't believe in American leadership or America winning \u2014 he is wrong. America can win again and we will win again. Ronald Reagan reignited the American economy, rebuilt the Military, bankrupted the Soviet Union and defeated Soviet Communism. I will do the same thing. Cutting taxes, cutting regulation, unleashing small businesses and rebuilding the Military to defeat radical Islamic terrorism \u2014 our strategy is simple. We win, they lose. We've done it before and we can do it again. +p2500 +aVWell, Maria, it's great to be with you. It's great to be here in Milwaukee. You know, the question you asked really I think is the most important question any of us can have \u2014 face, which is, how do we get the economy growing? How do we bring back economic growth? Because economic growth, it's foundational to every other challenge we have. As you rightly noted, from 2008 to today, our economy has grown 1.2 percent a year on average. The Obama economy is a disaster, and the IMF is telling us this is a new normal. It doesn't have to be. If you look at the history of America, there are three levers that government has had to facilitate economic growth. The first is tax reform. And as you noted, I have rolled out a bold and simple flat tax: 10 percent for every American that would produce booming growth and 4.9 million new jobs within a decade. The second element is regulatory reform, pulling back the armies of regulators that have descended like locusts on small businesses. And the third element is sound money. Every time we've pursued all three of those \u2014 whether in the 1920s with Calvin Coolidge or the 1960s with JFK or the 1980s with Ronald Reagan \u2014 the result has been incredible economic growth. We have done it before, and with leadership, we can do it again. +p2501 +aVWell, my Mom is here, so I don't think we should be pushing any grannies off cliffs. And, you miss-stated what I've said on entitlement reform. What I've said is for seniors we should make no changes whatsoever, for younger workers we should gradually raise the retirement age, we should have benefits grow more slowly, and we should allow them to keep a portion of their taxes in a personal account that they control, and can pass on to their kids... +p2502 +aVI want to go back to the discussion we had a minute ago because, you know, what was said was right. The democrats are laughing \u2014 because if republicans join democrats as the party of amnesty, we will lose. And, you know, I understand that when the mainstream media covers immigration, it doesn't often see it as an economic issue. But, I can tell you for millions \u2014 of Americans at home watching this, it is a very personal economic issue. And, I will say the politics of it will be very, very different if a bunch of lawyers or bankers were crossing the Rio Grande. Or if a bunch of people with journalism degrees were coming over and driving down the wages in the press. Then, we would see stories about the economic calamity that is befalling our nation. And, I will say for those of us who believe people 'ought to come to this country legally, and we should enforce the law, we're tired of being told it's anti-immigrant. It's offensive. I am the son of an immigrant who came legally from Cuba... ...to seek the American dream. And, we can embrace legal immigration while believing in the rule of law \u2014 and I would note, try going illegally to another country. Try going to China, or Japan. Try going to Mexico. See what they do. Every sovereign nation secures its borders, and it is not compassionate to say we're not going to enforce the laws... ...And we're going to drive down the wages for millions of hardworking men and women. That is abandoning the working... +p2503 +aVWell, sure, you put your finger on what the problem is. The current system isn't fair. Washington is fundamentally corrupt. There are more words in the IRS code than there are in the Bible \u2014 and \u2014 and not a one of them is as good. Every one of them reflects a carve-out or a subsidy, and it's all about empowering the Washington cartel. My simple Flat Tax says that, for a family of four, for the first $36,000 you earn, you pay no taxes whatsoever. No income taxes, no payroll taxes, no nothing. Above that, every American pays 10 percent across the board \u2014 a flat, fair tax. Which means that no longer do you have hedge-fund billionaires paying a lower tax rate than their secretaries. On the business side, I've got a business flat tax of 16 percent \u2014 again, that applies across the board. Right now, with our corporate income tax, giant corporations with armies of accountants regularly are paying little to no taxes while small businesses are getting hammered. This is fair and across-the-board. Now, you ask, how do the numbers add up? I would encourage folks, if you go to our website, tedcruz.org, we have the specific numbers on the website. This plan eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax, eliminates the corporate income tax, and it abolishes the IRS. And the effect of that is incredible economic growth. It means every income group will see double-digit increases, from the very poorest to the very weakest, of at least 14 percent. So if you're a single mom, if you're making $40,000 a year, what that means is an extra about $5,000 in your pocket to provide for your kids, to make ends meet. It has a powerful, powerful effect. And there's one other really powerful feature of my plan, which is that it's border-adjustable. Which means, if you're an exporter \u2014 if you're a farmer, if you're a rancher, if you're a manufacturer, you don't pay the businesses flat tax. Exports are free of that tax, but all imports pay that 16 percent business flat tax, which means this tax plan would cause jobs to boom, and it would let America compete with China and the world on a level playing field. +p2504 +aVWell, the numbers the Tax Foundation had put out is that the static cost of the plan is $3.6 trillion over 10 years, but the dynamic cost of the plan, which \u2014 which is the cost that factors in growth, is about $768 billion. It is less than a trillion. It costs less than virtually every other plan people have put up here, and yet it produces more growth and it's one of the very few plans that abolishes the IRS. But on top of that, today, we rolled out a spending plan. $500 billion in specific cuts \u2014 five major agencies that I would eliminate. The IRS, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Energy, the Department of Commerce, and HUD \u2014 and then 25 specific programs. Again, that's on our website at tedcruz.org. You want to look at specificity? It's easy for everyone to say, "cut spending". It's much harder and riskier to put out, chapter and verse, specifically the programs you would cut to stop bankrupting our kids and grandkids. +p2505 +aV...Middle ground that brings both of these together... +p2506 +aV...Exactly right, that we have to defend this nation. You think defending this nation is expensive, try not defending it. That's a lot more expensive. But, you can do that, and pay for it. You can do that, and also be fiscally responsible. You know, I mention that the 25 programs that I put today, that I would eliminate them. Among them are corporate welfare, like sugar subsidies. Let's take that as an example. Sugar subsidies. Sugar farmers farm under... ...under roughly 0.2% of the farmland in America, and yet they give 40% of the lobbying money. That sort of corporate welfare is why we're bankrupting our kids, and grandkids. I would end those subsidies to pay for defending this nation... +p2507 +aVAbsolutely yes. You know, I have spent much of my adult life enforcing the law and defending the Constitution. And the problem that underlies all of this is the cronyism and corruption of Washington. You know, the opening question Jerry asked, would you bail out the big banks again? Nobody gave you an answer to that. I'll give you an answer. Absolutely not. And what we have right now is we have Washington \u2014 as government gets bigger and bigger, you know, the biggest lie in all of Washington and in all of politics is that Republicans are the party of the rich. The truth is, the rich do great with big government. They get in bed with big government. The big banks get bigger and bigger and bigger under Dodd-Frank and community banks are going out of business. And, by the way, the consequence of that is small businesses can't get business loans, and it is that fundamental corruption that is why six of the 10 wealthiest counties in America are in and around Washington, D.C. And let me give you a contrast to Washington cronyism. Some weeks ago, a woman named Sabina Loving testified at a hearing that I chaired in the Senate. Sabina Loving is an African-American single mom who started a tax preparation business in the south side of Chicago. She found a store front, she wanted to have her own business. She started a business. But then the IRS promulgated new regulations targeting tax preparers. They did it under a more than 100-year-old statute called the Dead Horse Act. Now, this statute and the IRS in classic Washington crony fashion had exemptions for lawyers and big fancy accountants, but Sabina had to pay $1,000 an employee. It would have driven her out of business, and Ms. Loving sued the IRS. She took the Obama IRS to court, and she won, and they struck down the rule for picking the big guys over the little guys. +p2508 +aVYes. Now, let's be clear, there is a role for the Federal Reserve \u2014 what the Fed is doing now is it is a series of philosopher- kings trying to guess what's happening with the economy. You look at the Fed, one of the reasons we had the financial crash is throughout the 2000s, we had loose money, we had an asset bubble, it drove up the price of real estate, drove up the price of commodities, and then in the third quarter of 2008, the Fed tightened the money and crashed those asset prices, which caused a cascading collapse. That's why I am supporting getting back to rules-based monetary system not with a bunch of philosopher-kings deciding, but tied... +p2509 +aVSo let me be clear. I would not bail them out, but instead of adjusting monetary policy according to whims and getting it wrong over and over again and causing booms and busts, what the Fed should be doing is, number one, keeping our money tied to a stable level of gold, and, number two, serving as a lender of last resort. That's what central banks do. So if you have a run on the bank, the Fed can serve as a lender of last resort, but it's not a bailout. It is a loan at higher interest rates. That's how central banks have worked. And I'll point out \u2014 look, we had a gold standard under Bretton Woods, we had it for about 170 years of our nation's history, and enjoyed booming economic growth and lower inflation than we have had with the Fed now. We need to get back to sound money, which helps, in particular, working men and women. What Washington does \u2014 the people who are doing well in the Obama economy are those with power and influence in the Obama government. The people who working men and women... +p2510 +aVSo, Governor Kasich... +p2511 +aV...why would you then bail out rich Wall Street banks, but not Main street, not Mom and Pop, not Sabina Loving? +p2512 +aVBut you just said an executive... +p2513 +aV...knows to step in and bail out a bank. +p2514 +aVSo you said you'd abandon philosophy and abandon principle... +p2515 +aV...but what would you do if the bank was failing? +p2516 +aVSo you \u2014 you would bail them out. +p2517 +aVAnd, Maria, I will note, she's got a lot of experience, but her policies have proven disastrous. If you look at foreign policy, every region in the world has gotten worse. Under her leadership, we abandon the nation of Israel. Under her leadership, radical Islamic terrorism has been on to the rise. Under her leadership, and Obama's leadership, Iran is getting $100 billion dollars, and on the verge of getting a nuclear weapon. Everything she's put her hand to, or has touched \u2014 and when we talk about the cronyism of Washington, Hillary Clinton embodies the cronyism... ...of Washington. And, I'll give you an example of that, which is the Congressional exemption from Obamacare, which is fundamentally wrong, and I'll tell you this, if I'm elected president, I will veto any statute that exempts members of congress. The law should apply evenly to every American. +p2518 +aVMaria, critically, when it comes to climate change... +p2519 +aV...Our \u2014 our... +p2520 +aVFifty-eight years ago, my father fled Cuba. As he stood on the deck of that ferryboat with the wind and salt air blowing, he looked back at the oppression and torture he was escaping. And yet he looked forward to the promise of America. His story is our story. What ties Americans together is we are all the children of those who risked everything for freedom. America is in crisis now. I believe in America. And if we get back to the free market principles and constitutional liberties that built this country, we can turn this country around. I believe that 2016 will be an election like 1980, that we will win by following Reagan's admonition to paint in bold colors, not pale pastels. We're building a grassroots army. I ask you to join us at tedcruz.org. And we, the people, can turn this nation around. +p2521 +aVI'm too agreeable, easy going. You know, I think my biggest weakness is exactly the opposite. I'm a fighter. I am passionate about what I believe. I've been passionate my whole life about the Constitution. And, you know, for six-and-a-half years, we've had a gigantic party. If you want someone to grab a beer with, I may not be that guy. But if you want someone to drive you home, I will get the job done and I will get you home. +p2522 +aVBecky, if you want a 10 percent flat tax where the numbers add up, I rolled out my tax plan today, you can find it on line at tedcruz.org. It is a simple flat tax where for individuals, a family of four pays nothing on the first $36,000. After that you pay 10 percent as a flat tax going up. The billionaire and the working man, no hedge fund manager pays less than his secretary. On top of that, there is a business flat tax of 16 percent. Now that applies universally to giant corporations that with lobbyists right now are not paying taxes, and as small business. And you wanted to know the numbers, the Tax Foundation, which has scored every one of our plans, shows that this plan will allow the economy to generate 4.9 million jobs, to raise wages over 12 percent, and to generate 14 percent growth. And it costs, with dynamic scoring, less than a trillion dollars. Those are the hard numbers. And every single income decile sees a double-digit increase in after-tax income. +p2523 +aVGrowth is the answer. And as Reagan demonstrated, if we cut taxes, we can bring back growth. +p2524 +aVYou know, let me say something at the outset. The questions that have been asked so far in this debate illustrate why the American people don't trust the media. This is not a cage match. And, you look at the questions \u2014 "Donald Trump, are you a comic-book villain?" "Ben Carson, can you do math?" "John Kasich, will you insult two people over here?" "Marco Rubio, why don't you resign?" "Jeb Bush, why have your numbers fallen?" How about talking about the substantive issues the people care about? +p2525 +aVAnd Carl \u2014 Carl, I'm not finished yet. The contrast with the Democratic debate, where every fawning question from the media was, "Which of you is more handsome and why?" And let me be clear. +p2526 +aVLet me be clear. The men and women on this stage have more ideas, more experience, more common sense than every participant in the Democratic debate. That debate reflected a debate between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. And nobody watching at home believed that any of the moderators had any intention of voting in a Republican primary. The questions that are being asked shouldn't be trying to get people to tear into each other. It should be what are your substantive positions... +p2527 +aVYou want me to answer that question? I'm happy to answer the question... +p2528 +aVLet me tell you how that question... +p2529 +aVLet me tell you how that question... +p2530 +aV... so you don't actually want to hear the answer, John? +p2531 +aVYou don't want to hear the answer. You just want to... +p2532 +aVYou're not interested in an answer. +p2533 +aV...Then I'll buy you a tequila... +p2534 +aV...Or, even some famous Colorado brownies. +p2535 +aVWell, sure. This deal in Washington is an example of why Washington's broken. Republican leadership joined with every single Democrat, add $80 trillion to our debt to do nothing to fix the problems. And, let me now on Social Security because we were getting into a good substantive exchange, and I want to say I think both Chris, and Mike are right. Governor Huckabee's exactly right, we need to honor the promises made to our seniors, but for younger workers \u2014 look. I'm 44 years old. It is hard to find someone in my generation that thinks Social Security will be there for us. We can save and preserve and strengthen Social Security by making no changes for seniors, but for younger workers gradually increasing the retirement age, changing the rate of growth so that it matches inflation, and critically allowing younger workers to keep a portion of our tax payments in a personal account that we own, we control them, we can pass on to our kids. +p2536 +aVWell, we've gotta turn the economy around for people who are struggling. The Democrats' answer to everything is more government control over wages, and more empowering trial lawyers to file lawsuits. You know, you look at women working. I'll tell you, in my family there are a lot of single moms in my family. My sister was a single mom, both of my aunts who were a single moms. My mom who's here today, was a single mom when my father left us when I was 3 years old. Now, thank God, my father was invited to a Bible study and became born again and he came back to my mom and me and we were raised together. But I \u2014 the struggle of single moms is extraordinary. And you know, when you see Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and all the Democrats talking about wanting to address the plight of working women, not a one of them mentioned the fact that under Barack Obama, 3.7 million women have entered poverty. Not a one of them mentioned the fact that under Barack Obama and the big government economy, the median wage for women has dropped $733. The the truth of the matter is, big government benefits the wealthy, it benefits the lobbyists, it benefits the giant corporations. And the people who are getting hammered are small businesses, it's single moms, it's Hispanics. That is who I'm fighting for. The people that Washington leaves behind. +p2537 +aVWell, Rick, it's a very important question. I have got deep concerns about the Fed. The first thing I think we need to do is audit the Fed. And I am an original co-sponsor of Rand Paul's audit the Fed legislation. The second thing we need to do is I think we need to bring together a bipartisan commission to look at getting back to rules- based monetary policy, end this star chamber that has been engaging in this incredible experiment of quantitative easing, QE1, QE2, QE3, QE- infinity. And the people who are being impacted, you know, a question that was asked earlier, Becky asked, was about working women. You know, it's interesting, you look at on Wall Street, the Fed is doing great. It's driving up stock prices. Wall Street is doing great. You know, today, the top 1 percent earn a higher share of our income than any year since 1928. But if you look at working men and women. If you look at a single mom buying groceries, she sees hamburger prices have gone up nearly 40 percent. She sees her cost of electricity going up. She sees her health insurance going up. And loose money is one of the major problems. We need sound money. And I think the Fed should get out of the business of trying to juice our economy and simply be focused on sound money and monetary stability, ideally tied to gold. +p2538 +aVLet me say on that... +p2539 +aV...Rand is exactly right. His plan is a good plan, and I will note that my 10% plan also eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax, +p2540 +aV...eliminates the business... [ +p2541 +aV...income tax... [ +p2542 +aV...10% flat rate... +p2543 +aV...is the lowest personal rate any candidate up here has, and what it would also enable us to do is for every citizen to fill out their taxes on a postcard so we can eliminate the IRS. +p2544 +aVYou know, everyone here talks about the need to take on Washington. The natural next question is who actually has done so. Who actually has stood up not just to Democrats, but to leaders in our own party? When millions of Americans rose up against Obamacare, I was proud to lead that fight. When millions of Americans rose up against amnesty, I was proud to lead that fight. When millions of Americans rose up against Planned Parenthood, I was proud to lead that fight. If people are promising they're going to take on Washington and cronyism, you need to look to who has been doing it. In my family, my dad fled oppression in Cuba to come to America. Freedom is personal for me, and I will always keep my word and fight for freedom. +p2545 +aVI'm Ted Cruz. I am the son of an Irish-Italian mom and a Cuban immigrant dad who fled oppression and came to America seeking freedom. I'm a husband to my best friend, Heidi, who's here tonight. I'm a dad to two little girls who are the loves of my life, Caroline and Catherine. If you're fed up with Washington, if you're looking for someone to stand up to career politicians in both parties, I'm the only one on this stage who has done that over and over again, and if we stand together, we can bring America back. +p2546 +aVWell, let me tell you, Jake, the single biggest national security threat facing America right now is the threat of a nuclear Iran. We've seen six and a half years of President Obama leading from behind. Weakness is provocative, and this Iranian nuclear deal is nothing short of catastrophic. This deal, on its face, will send over $100 billion to the Ayatollah Khamenei, making the Obama administration the world's leading financier of radical Islamic terrorism. +p2547 +aVThis deal abandons four American hostages in Iran, and this deal will only accelerate Iran's acquiring nuclear weapons. You'd better believe it. If I am elected president, on the very first day in office, I will rip to shreds this catastrophic Iranian nuclear deal. +p2548 +aVWell, let's be clear when it comes to experience. What President Obama wants to do is he's run to the United Nations, and he wants to use the United Nations to bind the United States, and take away our sovereignty. Well, I spent five and a half years as a Solicitor General of Texas, the lead lawyer for the state, in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, and I went in front of the Supreme Court, and took on the world court of the United Nations in a case called Medellin v. Texas, and we won a historic victory saying the World Court, and the U.N., has no power to bind the United States, and no President of the United States, Republican or Democrat, has the authority to give away our sovereignty. And, so, if there's anyone up here who would be bound by this catastrophic deal with Iran, they're giving up the core responsibility of commander in chief, and as president, I would never do that. +p2549 +aVJake, Jake... +p2550 +aVJake, there is no more important topic in 2016 than this topic right here, and I've listened to several folks saying, "Well, gosh, if they cheat, we'll act." We won't know under this agreement \u2014 there are several facilities in Iran they designate as military facilities that are off limit all together. Beyond that, the other facilities, we give them 24 days notice before inspecting them. That is designed to allow them to hide the evidence. And most astonishingly, this agreement trusts the Iranians to inspect themselves. That makes no sense whatsoever. And let me know \u2014 President Obama is violating federal law... +p2551 +aV... by not handing over the side deals, and we ought to see the United States Congress... +p2552 +aV... stand up together and say, "Hand over this treaty, and protect this country." +p2553 +aVWell, let me tell you, Dana, number one, I'm proud to stand for life. These Planned Parenthood videos are horrifying. I would encourage every American to watch the videos. See \u2014 seeing your Planned Parenthood officials callously, heartlessly bartering and selling the body parts of human beings, and then ask yourself, "are these my values?" These are horrifying. On these videos, Planned Parenthood also essentially confesses to multiple felonies. It is a felony with ten years' jail term to sell the body parts of unborn children for profit. That's what these videos show Planned Parenthood doing. Absolutely we shouldn't be sending $500 million of taxpayer money to funding an ongoing criminal enterprise, and I'll tell you, the fact that Republican leadership in both houses has begun this discussion by preemptively surrendering to Barack Obama and saying, "we'll give in because Obama threatens a veto." You know, Obama's committed to his principles. His liberal principles, he will fight for them. He says... +p2554 +aVI will veto any budget that doesn't fund Planned Parenthood, and Republicans surrender. We need to stop surrendering and start standing... +p2555 +aV...for our principles. +p2556 +aVWell, Jake, you know, I'm \u2014 I'm very glad that Donald Trump's being in this race has forced the mainstream media finally to talk about illegal immigration. I think that's very important. I like and respect Ben Carson. I'll let him talk about his own plans. But I will say this: The natural next question that primary voters are asking, after we focus on illegal immigration is, okay, what are the records of the various candidates? And this is an issue on which there are stark differences. A majority of the men and women on this stage have previously and publicly embraced amnesty. I am the only candidate on this stage who has never supported amnesty and, in fact, who helped lead the fight to stop a massive amnesty plan. In 2013, when Barack Obama and Harry Reid joined the Washington Republicans in a massive, I stood shoulder to shoulder with Jeff Sessions helping lead the fight. You know, folks here have talked about, how do you secure the borders? Well, I've been leading the fight in the Senate to triple the Border Patrol, to put in place fencings and walls, to put in place a strong biometric exit/entry system... +p2557 +aVWell, Dana, I've known John Roberts for 20 years, he's amazingly talented lawyer, but, yes, it was a mistake when he was appointed to the Supreme Court. He's a good enough lawyer that he knows in these Obamacare cases he changed the statute, he changed the law in order to force that failed law on millions of Americans for a political outcome. And, you know, we're frustrated as conservatives. We keep winning elections, and then we don't get the outcome we want. And, let me focus on two moments in time. Number one, in 1990, in one room was David Souter, and in another room was Edith Jones, the rock ribbed (ph) conservative on the fifth circuit court of appeals. George Herbert Walker Bush appointed David Souter. And then in 2005, in one room was John Roberts, in another room was my former boss, Mike Luttig, the rock ribbed (ph) conservative on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals... +p2558 +aV...George W. Bush appointed John Roberts, and let me give you the consequences of that. If, instead, the President Bush had appointed Edith Jones, and Mike Luttig, which is who I would have appointed, Obamacare would have been struck down three years ago, and the marriage laws of all 50 states would be on the books. These matter, and I fought to defend the constitution my whole life... +p2559 +aV...and I will as president as well. +p2560 +aVIt is true that after George W. Bush nominated John Roberts, I supported his confirmation. That was a mistake and I regret that. I wouldn't have nominated John Roberts, and indeed, Governor Bush pointed out why. It wasn't that the President Bushes wanted to appoint a liberal to the court, it's that it was the easier choice. Both David Souter and John Roberts, they didn't have a long paper trail. If you had nominated Edith Jones or Mike Ludig (ph) you would have had a bloody fight and they weren't willing to spend political capital to put a strong judicial conservative on the court. I have spent my entire life, starting from clerking for Chief Justice William Rehnquist on the United States Supreme Court, one of the most principled jurists. We have an out-of-control Court, and I give you my word, if I'm elected president, every single Supreme Court justice will faithfully follow the law and will not act like philosopher kings \u2014 +p2561 +aV\u2014 imposing their liberal policies on millions of Americans \u2014 +p2562 +aV\u2014 who need to be trusted to govern ourselves. +p2563 +aVI \u2014 I am not, and \u2014 and you mentioned that the U.S. Supreme Court had rightly upheld the individual right to keep and bear arms. I was proud to lead 31 states before the U.S. Supreme Court defending the Second Amendment, and we won that landmark victory. And indeed, just a couple of years ago, when Harry Reid and Barack Obama came after the right to keep and bear arms of millions of Americans, I was proud to lead the fight in the United States Senate to protect our right to keep and bear arms, and for that reason... +p2564 +aV... I was honored to be endorsed by Gun Owners of America... +p2565 +aV... as the strongest supporter of the Second Amendment on this stage today, and I will... +p2566 +aV... fight every day to defend the Bill of Rights. +p2567 +aVWell, I wouldn't change the $10 bill, I'd change the $20. I'd take Jackson off and I'd leave Alexander Hamilton right where he is as one of our Founding Fathers. And I very much agree with Marco that it should be Rosa Parks. She was a principled pioneer that helped change this country, helped remedy racial injustice, and that would be an honor that would be entirely appropriate. +p2568 +aVYou know, as a Cuban, I might go with Cohiba (ph), and I'll tell you, I'd go with, for Heidi, Angel, because she is my angel. +p2569 +aVRonald Reagan believed in America. If I'm elected president our friends and allies across the globe will know that we stand with them. the bust of Winston Churchill will be back in the Oval Office, and the American embassy in Israel will be in Jerusalem. Enemies across this world will know the United States is not to be trifled with. +p2570 +aVChris, I believe the American people are looking for someone to speak the truth. If you're looking for someone to go to Washington, to go along to get along, to get -- to agree with the career politicians in both parties who get in bed with the lobbyists and special interests, then I ain't your guy. There is a reason... .... that we have $18 trillion in debt. Because as conservatives, as Republicans, we keep winning elections. We got a Republican House, we've got a Republican Senate, and we don't have leaders who honor their commitments. I will always tell the truth and do what I said I would do. +p2571 +aVChris, absolutely yes. And not only will I support it......I have authored Kate's law in the United States Senate and filed that legislation. I tried to get the Senate to vote to pass Kate's law on the floor of the Senate just one week ago, and the leader of our own party blocked a vote on Kate's law. You know, there was reference made to our leaders being stupid. It's not a question of stupidity. It's that they don't want to enforce the immigration laws. That there are far too many in the Washington cartel that support amnesty. President Obama has talked about fundamentally transforming this country. There's 7 billion people across the face of the globe, many of whom want to come to this country. If they come legally, great. But if they come illegally and they get amnesty, that is how we fundamentally change this country, and it really is striking. A majority of the candidates on this stage have supported amnesty. I have never supported amnesty, and I led the fight against Chuck Schumer's gang of eight amnesty legislation in the Senate. +p2572 +aVMegyn, we need a commander in chief that speaks the truth. We will not defeat radical Islamic terrorism so long as we have a president unwilling to utter the words, "radical Islamic terrorism". When I asked General Dempsey, the chairman of the joint chiefs, what would be required militarily to destroy +p2573 +aVMegyn, of course it's an ideological problem, that's one of the reasons I introduce the Expatriate Terrorist Act in the Senate that said if any American travels to the Middle East and joining +p2574 +aVWell, Bret, of course they have, and over the last six and a half years we've seen the consequences of the Obama-Clinton foreign policy. Leading from behind is a disaster. We have abandoned and alienated our friends and allies, and our enemies are stronger. Radical Islam is on the rise, Iran's on the verge of acquiring a nuclear weapon, China is waging cyber warfare against America, Russia -- General Soleimani, you just mentioned, the Iranian general is the head of the al Quds forces. He's directly responsible for the murder of over 500 American servicemen in Iraq, and part of this Iranian deal was lifting the international sanctions on General Soleimani. The day General Soleimani flew back from Moscow to Iran was the day we believed that Russia used cyber warfare against the Joint Chiefs. We need a new commander in chief that will stand up to our enemies, and that will have credibility... It is worth emphasizing that Iran released our hostages in 1981 the day Ronald Reagan was sworn into office. +p2575 +aVBrett, can I -- Brett, can I jump in on this one? +p2576 +aVWell, I am blessed to receive a word from God every day in receiving the scriptures and reading the scriptures. And God speaks through the Bible. I'm the son of a pastor and evangelist and I've described many times how my father, when I was a child, was an alcoholic. He wasn't a Christian. And my father left my mother and left me when I was just three years old. And someone invited him to Clay Road Baptist Church. And he gave his heart to Jesus and it turned him around. And he got on a plane and he flew back to my mother and me. I would also note that the scripture tells us, "you shall know them by their fruit." We see lots of "campaign conservatives." But if we're going to win in 2016, we need a consistent conservative, someone who has been a fiscal conservative, a social conservative, a national security conservative. There are real differences among the candidates on issues like amnesty, like Obamacare, like religious liberty, like life and marriage. And I have been proud to fight and stand for religious liberty, to stand against Planned Parenthood, to defend life for my entire career. And I will be proud to continue to do so as president of the United States. +p2577 +aVIf I'm elected president, let me tell you about my first day in office. The first thing I intend to do is to rescind every illegal and unconstitutional executive action taken by Barack Obama. The next thing I intend to do is instruct the Department of Justice to open an investigation into these videos and to prosecute Planned Parenthood for any criminal violations. The next thing I intend to do is instruct the Department of Justice and the IRS to start (sic) persecuting religious liberty, and then intend to cancel the Iran deal, and finally move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. I will keep my word. My father fled Cuba, and I will fight to defend liberty because my family knows what it's like to lose it. +p2578 +asVTODD +p2579 +(lp2580 +VGood evening, and welcome to the +p2581 +aVAnd neither party has seen this yet. These candidates are both running for the Democratic nomination, but they are very different from each other when it comes to what matters most and how they would go about the job of being president. Our job tonight is to draw out those differences so you, the voters, can understand them and be fully informed. +p2582 +aVFirst, I want to say a special thanks to the New Hampshire Union Leader for helping make this debate possible, and the readers, who helped provide some of the questions and topics that we'll be addressing tonight. The rules tonight, by the way, are simple: 90 seconds for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. +p2583 +aVThank you, Senator. Secretary Clinton. +p2584 +aVAll right. Let's get started. Secretary Clinton, last night you cited the Concord Monitor when you said of Senator Sanders that, quote, "It's very hard to see how any of his proposals could ever be achievable." So please tell us why you think if he's elected president on a platform of promising things like free public college and universal healthcare, that he cannot achieve those things. +p2585 +aVThank you, Secretary. Senator Sanders, so just explain how you spent nearly two decades in Congress and haven't gotten any of these things passed. Why do you think as president you'll be able to achieve big, big new programs like this? +p2586 +aVGo. +p2587 +aVYes, go ahead. +p2588 +aVAll right, thank you both. Rachel. +p2589 +aVI'd like to follow up on a comment that Secretary Clinton said, Senator. President Obama has not called for abolishing the death penalty. President Obama is for the big Asian trade deal known as TPP, and just yesterday you said you can't be both a moderate or a progressive, but you can't be both. Is President Obama, in your judgment, based on these policies positions, a progressive? +p2590 +aV...Secretary Clinton, go ahead... +p2591 +aV 30 seconds, and then we'll move. +p2592 +aVThank you. +p2593 +aV... Secretary, we're gonna... +p2594 +aVThirty seconds. +p2595 +aVThank you both. +p2596 +aVAll right, welcome back. Let's get right to it. Senator Sanders, you were talking about all of your campaign contributions and campaign finance reform. You rail against big money in politics. But do you realize there is one public financing system that we do have in place, and it is\u2014it is in place to run for president. Why aren't you walking the walk on that? Why aren't you participating in the presidential public financing system which is designed to essentially keep big money out of presidential politics? +p2597 +aVWell, going on that then, why criticize her on Super PACs, and you got\u2014and all this when it is\u2014you know, that's the system? I mean, you could be participating in a publicly-financing\u2014public financing system... +p2598 +aV... and being able to set\u2014being able to set an example. +p2599 +aV... she has had more people praise her plan than yours. +p2600 +aVThank you both. Let me move on to our next question here, and in fact it comes to us through New England Cable News. Secretary Clinton, it's addressed to you, and it's about this issue of the speeches, particularly to Goldman Sachs. This is what the questioner wrote verbatim. "I am concerned with the abuses of Wall Street has taken with the American taxpayers money," and then she asks whether you would release the transcripts of your Goldman Sachs speeches, and then added, "Don't you think the voting public has a right to know what was said?" But, let's make that bigger. Are you willing to release the transcripts of all your paid speeches? We do know through reporting that there were transcription services for all of those paid speeches. In full disclosure, would you release all of them? +p2601 +aVSenator, you sound like you want to respond. Go ahead. +p2602 +aVWe'll be right back. And we're going to get to trade and a lot of other issues. +p2603 +aVGo ahead, Senator Sanders\u201430 seconds, your response. +p2604 +aVAll right. Senator, I want to stay, though... +p2605 +aVGo ahead. 30 seconds. +p2606 +aVLet me\u2014let\u2014we're gonna\u2014we're staying\u2014we're staying basically on this topic. Obviously you've been emphasizing this difference on the Iraq war, but one place where you do agree, and one place where you voted to authorize the use of force, was in favor of the war in Afghanistan. Right now, it is possible President Obama is going to be leaving the next president, perhaps President Sanders, at least 10,000 troops in Afghanistan. How long will those troops be in Afghanistan under President Sanders? +p2607 +aVCan you address a question on Afghanistan? How long are these troops going to be there? If President Obama leaves you 10,000 troops, how long do you think they're going to be there? +p2608 +aVSecretary Clinton, 30 seconds: How long are these troops going to be in Afghanistan? We have more American troops in Afghanistan than what we were talking about with Iraq. +p2609 +aVYou know, Senator Sanders, nobody knows who your foreign policy advisers are. You haven't given a major foreign policy speech. And it doesn't sound like all the time that foreign policy is a priority, other than when you're asked about it, and you say you're going to crush +p2610 +aVAll right, Senator, 30 seconds. +p2611 +aV30 seconds, madam secretary. +p2612 +aVAlright, as Commander in Chief, Senator Sanders, you've got to prioritize potential threats to the United States. Three countries, North Korea, Iran, Russia. How would you rank them in order of their threat to America's security right now... +p2613 +aV... Starting with the biggest threat. +p2614 +aV... I didn't say that... +p2615 +aV... No... +p2616 +aV... We already had that. I'm talking about these three countries. How would you orient our national security, our national defense posture. +p2617 +aVSecretary of Defense Ash Carter this week picked one of those three, and he has said Russia is, basically, the most important national security threat. Sort of reorienting the defense and the challenges to that. Do you agree with his decisions... +p2618 +aVSecretary Clinton, what do you think of Secretary of Defense Ash Carter. He's basically putting Russia above Iran, above North Korea, as sort of the chief national security challenge right now. +p2619 +aVThank you both, Rachel? +p2620 +aVAnd we are back. We're gonna get into a little bit of election politics, electability, in a little bit. Senator Sanders, The Iowa Democratic Party has declared Hillary Clinton the winner of Monday's Iowa caucuses\u2014narrowest of margins. Today, the Des Moines Register has an editorial that calls for the audit of the results, saying, quote, "what happened Monday night at the Democratic caucuses was a debacle, period. The results were too close not to do a complete audit." Senator Sanders, do you accept the idea that Hillary Clinton won Iowa? And do you\u2014or do you believe the caucuses are still an open question? +p2621 +aVSecretary Clinton, will you participate in some sort of audit, if that's what the party wants to do? You good with that? +p2622 +aVThat's fair enough. OK. +p2623 +aVGood, we move on. We're happy with that. We have more questions. +p2624 +aVWe'll stay on this issue. We'll stay on this topic. Secretary Clinton, just like there are some Democrats that question Senator Sanders' ability in the general election, many Democratic voters that our reporters have been running into in Iowa and New Hampshire, they tell our reporters over and over again they're worried about the emails issue, not because they don't believe your explanation, but because it's a drip-drip, because the cloud is hanging over your head and that it will impact the general election. They see your numbers right now and they think it's the email issue as to why you're not polling very well. So can you reassure these Democrats that somehow the email issue isn't going to blow up your candidacy if you're the nominee? +p2625 +aVAll right, Madam Secretary, there is an open\u2014there is an open FBI investigation into this matter about how you may have handled classified material. Are you 100 percent confident that nothing is going to come of this FBI investigation? +p2626 +aVWell, Senator sanders, you famously at the first debate said you didn't give a darn about her emails; I think you used another . +p2627 +aVYou're right. I'm trying to\u2014it's a\u2014it's a family hour still right now. After 11:00, I'll say it the other way. And you mostly have refrained from commenting on it, but recently you called it a very serious issue, and then the other day you said well she's getting slapped with the email controversy. Are you\u2014how are you feeling about these darn emails now? +p2628 +aVOK. Senator Sanders, thank you. +p2629 +aVSecretary Clinton, let me turn to the issue of trade. In the '90s you supported +p2630 +aVWell, Senator Sanders, I know you want to respond on this, you have never supported a trade deal since you've been in Congress. +p2631 +aVBut if you do that as president... If you do that as president, how are you not essentially letting China, who will do all of these deals around the world, how are you going to prevent China from essentially setting the rules of trade for the world? +p2632 +aVAll right. Thank you both. We're going to sneak in one more break here, and when we come back we'll squeeze as many questions as we can before we end this thing. We'll be right back. +p2633 +aVAll right. Welcome back here in the final minutes. +p2634 +aVThe home stretch of this only Democratic debate in the final week before the primary. Let me start with you, Secretary Clinton, on this question. Obviously, President Obama got a lot of ambitious stuff done in his first year and a half. You're going to have to make choices. And there's a lot of heavy lifts. And he made choices. He did healthcare and it came at the expense, arguably, of immigration reform. Had he put immigration reform first, perhaps that gets done and healthcare doesn't. So there are three big lifts that you've talked about: immigration, gun reform, climate change. What do you do first? Because you know the first one is the one you have the best shot at getting done. +p2635 +aVAll right, but Senator Sanders......you've still got to do something first. As you know, history said\u2014shows what you pick first is your best shot at getting, and how you prioritize things. +p2636 +aVImmigration reform, for instance, fell by the wayside in the first term because of this. +p2637 +aVOK. Thank you. +p2638 +aVAll right, before we go, I want to ask each one of these. Secretary Clinton, you've made it clear when you look at Senator Sanders, you do not see a president, but do you see\u2014 +p2639 +aVBut do you see\u2014do you see a vice president? +p2640 +aVWould you unite the party by trying to pick Senator Sanders as your running mate? +p2641 +aVSenator, would you consider the secretary? +p2642 +aVSecretary Clinton, closing statements. You are first. +p2643 +aVThank you, Madam Secretary. Senator Sanders. +p2644 +aVWell, there you have it. I promise you, Rachel and I have a lot more questions, but we just don't have any more time, unless we could a third hour, but I don't think so. Our debate coverage\u2014 debate coverage will continue in just a moment with our colleague . And we want to thank all of you for being here, and we want to thank the two candidates for taking part in this important event. +p2645 +aVWe'll see you in a few minutes. Thank you. +p2646 +asVHARWOOD +p2647 +(lp2648 +VMr. Trump, you've done very well in this campaign so far by promising to build a wall and make another country pay for it. +p2649 +aVSend 11 million people out of the country. Cut taxes $10 trillion without increasing the deficit. +p2650 +aVAnd make Americans better off because your greatness would replace the stupidity and incompetence of others. +p2651 +aVLet's be honest. Is this a comic book version of a presidential campaign? +p2652 +aVWe're at the 60 seconds. +p2653 +aVWe're at 60 seconds, but I gotta ask you, you talked about your tax plan. You say that it would not increase the deficit because you cut taxes $10 trillion in the economy would take off like... +p2654 +aVHold on, hold on. The economy would take off like a rocket ship. +p2655 +aVI talked to economic advisers who have served presidents of both parties. They said that you have as chance of cutting taxes that much without increasing the deficit as you would of flying away from that podium by flapping your arms. +p2656 +aVThe Tax Foundation says \u2014 has looked at all of our plans and \u2014 and his creates, even with the dynamic effect, $8 trillion dollar deficit... +p2657 +aVGovernor Kasich, hold it, I'm coming to you right now. The... +p2658 +aVWell, I'm asking you about this. +p2659 +aVI'm about to ask you about this. That is, you had some very strong words to say yesterday about what's happening in your party and what you're hearing from the two gentlemen we've just heard from. Would you repeat it? +p2660 +aVWell, let's just get more pointed about it. You said yesterday that you were hearing proposals that were just crazy from your colleagues. Who were you talking about? +p2661 +aVHold on. I think there's a \u2014 I've got question for \u2014 +p2662 +aVHold on, Governor. I've got a question for Governor Bush. +p2663 +aVNo, we're moving to Governor Bush. Governor, the fact that you're at the fifth lectern tonight shows how far your stock has fallen in this race, despite the big investment your donors have made. You noted recently, after slashing your payroll, that you had better things to do than sit around and be demonized by other people. I wanted to ask you \u2014 +p2664 +aVOK. +p2665 +aVGot it. +p2666 +aVBut it's a \u2014 OK. It's a \u2014 it's a question about why you're having difficulty. I want to ask you in this context. Ben Bernanke, who was appointed Fed chairman by your brother, recently wrote a book in which he said he no longer considers himself a Republican because the Republican Party has given in to know- nothingism. Is that why you're having a difficult time in this race? +p2667 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2668 +aVWe're gonna get down the line. Becky's got a question. +p2669 +aVSenator Paul, I've got a question for you on the same subject. +p2670 +aVSenator Paul? +p2671 +aVYou used your time on something else. Senator Paul? +p2672 +aVSenator Paul, the budget deal crafted by Speaker Boehner and passed by the House today makes cuts in entitlement programs, Medicare and Social Security disability, which are the very programs conservatives say need cutting to shrink government and solve our country's long-term budget deficit. Do you oppose that budget deal because it doesn't cut those programs enough? +p2673 +aVSenator, if what you just said is true, why did Speaker Boehner craft this deal and why did Paul Ryan, who has a strong reputation for fiscal discipline, vote for it? +p2674 +aVThank you, Senator . +p2675 +aVJim, thanks. Governor Bush, in a debate like this four years ago, every Republican running for president pledged to oppose a budget deal containing any tax increase even if it had spending cuts ten times as large. A few months later, you told Congress, put me in, coach, you said you would take that deal. Still feel that way? +p2676 +aVBut to \u2014 to the point that you made to Congress, if you were president and you were offered a bipartisan deal that had one dollar... +p2677 +aV...one dollar of tax increases per ten dollars of spending cuts, would you take it? +p2678 +aVSo you don't want the coach to put you in any more? +p2679 +aVThank you, governor. Carl? +p2680 +aVGovernor John Kasich, you've called for abolishing the Export Import Bank, which provides subsidies to help American companies compete with overseas competitors. You call that corporate welfare. One of the largest newspapers in your state wrote an editorial, said they found that strange, writing, that if that's corporate welfare, what does Kasich call the millions of dollars in financial incentives doled out to attract or retain jobs by his development effort \u2014 jobs Ohio. If subsidies are good enough for Ohio companies, why aren't they good enough for companies trying to compete overseas? +p2681 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2682 +aVThank you, Governor. Thank you. +p2683 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate on +p2684 +aVIt sounds like you think Senator Sessions is wrong to believe there is enough abuse in that program that we shouldn't... +p2685 +aVThank you, Senator. Becky? +p2686 +aVGovernor Bush, the tax reform bill that Ronald Reagan signed in 1986 cut the top personal income tax rate to 28 percent \u2014 just like your plan does. But President Reagan taxed capital gains at the same rate, while you would tax them at just 20 percent. Given the problems we've been discussing, growing gap between rich and poor, why would you tax labor at a higher rate than income from investments? +p2687 +aVSenator Rubio, 30 seconds to you. The Tax Foundation, which was alluded to earlier, scored your tax plan and concluded that you give nearly twice as much of a gain in after-tax income to the top 1 percent as to people in the middle of the income scale. Since you're the champion of Americans living paycheck-to- paycheck, don't you have that backward? +p2688 +aVThe Tax Foundation \u2014 just to be clear, they said the... +p2689 +aVNo, I did not. +p2690 +aVSenator, the Tax Foundation said after-tax income for the top 1 percent under your plan would go up 27.9 percent. +p2691 +aVAnd people in the middle of the income spectrum, about 15 percent. +p2692 +aV +p2693 +aVSenator, thank you. +p2694 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you've written about the huge divide in values between middle America and the big coastal cities like New York and Los Angeles. As a preacher as well as a politician, you know that presidents need the moral authority to bring the entire country together. The leading Republican candidate, when you look at the average of national polls right now, is Donald Trump. When you look at him, do you see someone with the moral authority to unite the country? +p2695 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2696 +aVThank you, Governor. Don't forget my colleague, Sharon Epperson. +p2697 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said something that many in your party do not believe, which is that climate change is undeniable, that human activity contributes to it, and you said, quote: "The question is, what do we do to deal with it?". So what do we do? +p2698 +aVWhat should we do? +p2699 +aVYou mean government? +p2700 +aVThank you, Governor. Becky. +p2701 +aVGovernor Bush, Mr. Trump says that he is capable of growing the economy so much that Social Security and Medicare don't have to be touched. Do you want to explain how that is going to happen, Mr. Trump? +p2702 +aVHold on, Governor. I've got a question for \u2014 for Dr. Carson. +p2703 +aVYes. You've said that you would like to replace Medicare with a system of individual family savings accounts, so that families could cover their own expenses. Obviously, that would be a very controversial idea. Explain how that would work, exactly. +p2704 +aVGovernor, do you also think that... +p2705 +aV...that Dr. Carson's right, that we can replace Medicare with individual savings accounts? +p2706 +aVMrs. Fiorina, we're right at the end of our time. +p2707 +aVYou all wanted us to limit . All right. Go ahead. +p2708 +aVWe have now reached the point in the program where candidates are going to give their closing statements, 30 seconds apiece. We're going to go right to left and start with you, Senator Paul. +p2709 +aVGovernor Christie? +p2710 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Cruz? +p2711 +aVThank you, Senator. Mrs. Fiorina? +p2712 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Dr. Carson? +p2713 +aVMr. Trump? +p2714 +aVJust for the record, the debate was always going to be two hours. Senator Rubio? +p2715 +aVSenator Rubio. +p2716 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Bush? +p2717 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Huckabee. +p2718 +aVThank you... +p2719 +aVGovernor Kasich? +p2720 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2721 +aVWe're going to pose this question to all candidates and go left to right, starting with Governor Jindal. Governor, a majority of Republican voters at this point in the campaign have made clear that they prefer someone from outside the political system. In 30 seconds, tell us why your experience inside the system would be more valuable than the fresh eyes an outsider would bring. +p2722 +aVThanks, Governor Jindal. Senator Santorum? +p2723 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Pataki? +p2724 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Graham. +p2725 +aVSenator Graham, thank you very much. Becky? +p2726 +aVJust hold on, Governor Pataki, we're going to go to Senator Graham on this question because we believe you are likely to be the only person on this stage tonight who supports this budget deal. Now, you just heard Governor Jindal say that it's a phony deal, it doesn't do anything, and people like you are surrendering rather than fighting by supporting it. Why is he wrong? +p2727 +aVThank you, Senator Graham... +p2728 +aV...Governor, we're going to get to you in just a moment, we're going to try to keep this shorter... +p2729 +aVGovernor Jindal, a question about fiscal policy, especially since you noted that this deal doesn't solve the long-term debt situation. When you came into office with a budget surplus in the state of Louisiana, now, years later, the state legislature faced a $1.6 billion budget gap and the Republican state treasurer called one of your approaches to that problem "nonsense on a stick," quoting him. Are you going to do for the federal budget what you did for the Louisiana budget? +p2730 +aVBut Governor Jindal, as you know, many Republicans are opposed to the approach that you've taken in Louisiana. They complain that you have tried so hard to avoid anything that could be called a tax increase so that you could run for president saying you'd never raised taxes, David Vitter, the Republican who's now running to succeed you, has told voters, I won't be like Jindal, I'm not using the governorship as a stepping stone to higher office. +p2731 +aVGovernor Jindal, thank you. +p2732 +aVWe're going to take a quick break. The Republican presidential debate continues live from Boulder, Colorado in a moment. +p2733 +aVGovernor Jindal, Senator Santorum just raised the issue of corporate taxes, and cutting corporate taxes is very popular in your party because our rate, at 35 percent, is one of the highest in the world. But nobody has figured out how to identify a set of loopholes that would allow that tax rate to be lowered. So can you tell us specifically what loopholes you'd do away with? +p2734 +aVWe're talking corporate taxes. +p2735 +aVThanks, Governor. Becky? +p2736 +aVSo the tax credit right now that we have for domestic manufacturing, which manufacturers say is... +p2737 +aV...important, you would get rid of that? +p2738 +aVSenator Graham, Americans have gotten used to seeing headlines about more and more big corporations relocating overseas to cut their tax bill. Now, many in Washington think the way to stop that is to lower our corporate tax rate. But as we've seen, tax reform takes time. It hasn't happened yet. In the meantime, do you fault those companies for leaving? Do companies owe anything to their country, as well as their shareholders? +p2739 +aVSenator Graham. +p2740 +aVI want to remind candidates, you've got a one-minute limit on the \u2014 on the response. But I just want to follow up, Senator Graham. Four years ago, the nominee of your party said that corporations are people, too. If that is true, the question is, do they owe any obligation to the country? +p2741 +aVSenator Graham \u2014 +p2742 +aV\u2014 thank you very much. +p2743 +aVWe're moving on. +p2744 +aVSenator, we're moving on. I'd like to bring on my colleague, Rick Santelli \u2014 Rick. +p2745 +aVSenator, that \u2014 I mean, Governor, if that's true, why was our economy limping six years ago and now it's the strongest in the world? +p2746 +aVGovernor Pataki, you've indicated you believe climate change is real and caused at least in part by human activity. So, in 60 seconds, tell us what the federal government should do about it. +p2747 +aVIs there a role for government? +p2748 +aVSo, subsidies for those programs? For \u2014 for those alternative energy sources? +p2749 +aVThank you, Governor. Thank you, Governor. Carl? +p2750 +aVGovernor, if you cut spending and cut government so much, why did your legislature have such a big deficit? +p2751 +aVNo, we're going to move on. I'm going to bring on my colleague Sharon Epperson. +p2752 +aVAnd thank you, Sharon. This is the Republican Presidential Debate, live from Boulder, Colorado. We'll be right back. +p2753 +aVOK, now we're at the point of the evening where we're just about to give our candidates a holiday from this debate, but not before they tell us in 30 seconds their closing statements. Senator Graham, you're first. +p2754 +aVSenator Graham... +p2755 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. Governor Pataki? +p2756 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum? +p2757 +aVSenator Santorum, thank you. Governor Jindal? +p2758 +aVGovernor Jindal, thank you very much. Carl? +p2759 +asVPAUL +p2760 +(lp2761 +VThe question is, how do we keep America safe from terrorism? Trump says we ought to close that Internet thing. The question really is, what does he mean by that? Like they do in North Korea? Like they do in China? Rubio says we should collect all Americans' records all of the time. The Constitution says otherwise. I think they're both wrong. I think we defeat terrorism by showing them that we do not fear them. I think if we ban certain religions, if we censor the Internet, I think that at that point the terrorists will have won. Regime change hasn't won. Toppling secular dictators in the Middle East has only led to chaos and the rise of radical Islam. I think if we want to defeat terrorism, I think if we truly are sincere about defeating terrorism, we need to quit arming the allies of +p2762 +aVYou know, I think Marco gets it completely wrong. We are not any safer through the bulk collection of all Americans' records. In fact, I think we're less safe. We get so distracted by all of the information, we're not spending enough time getting specific immigration \u2014 specific information on terrorists. The other thing is, is the one thing that might have stopped San Bernardino, that might have stopped 9/11 would have been stricter controls on those who came here. And Marco has opposed at every point increased security \u2014 border security for those who come to our country. On his Gang of Eight bill, he would have liberalized immigration, but he did not \u2014 and he steadfastly opposed any new border security requirements for refugees or students. Last week, I introduced another bill saying we need more security, we need more scrutiny. Once again, Marco opposed this. So Marco can't have it both ways. He thinks he wants to be this, "Oh, I'm great and strong on national defense." But he's the weakest of all the candidates on immigration. He is the one for an open border that is leaving us defenseless. If we want to defend the country, we have to defend against who's coming in, and Marco is \u2014 has more of an allegiance to Chuck Schumer and to the liberals than he does to conservative policy. +p2763 +aVIf I was mentioned in the question, can I respond? +p2764 +aVMarco still misunderstands the immigration issue. What I put forward was an amendment that would have temporarily halted immigration from high-risk terrorist countries, but would have started it up, but I wanted them to go through Global Entry, which is a program where we do background checks. The thing is, is that every terrorist attack we've had since 9/11 has been legal immigration. Marco wants to expand that. I want more rules, more scrutiny, and to defend the country, you have to defend the border. +p2765 +aVWolf... +p2766 +aVWolf, this legislation... +p2767 +aVThis legislation on indefinite detention... +p2768 +aV... I think deserves a little more attention. +p2769 +aVI think that by arming the allies of +p2770 +aVI think that if you believe in regime change, you're mistaken. In 2013, we put 600 tons of weapons \u2014 us, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar \u2014 into the war against Assad. By pushing Assad back, we did create a safe space. We had people coming to our Foreign Relations Committee and saying, "Oh, we need to arm the allies of Al Qaida." They are still saying this. It is a crazy notion. This is the biggest debate we should be having tonight is is regime change a good idea; has it been a good idea. There are still people \u2014 the majority on the stage, they want to topple Assad. And then there will be chaos, and I think +p2771 +aVThese are the fundamental questions of our time, these foreign policy questions, whether or not regime change is a good idea or a bad idea. I don't think because I think the regime change was a bad idea it means that Hussein was necessarily a good idea. There is often variations of evil on both sides of the war. What we have to decide is whether or not regime change is a good idea. It's what the neoconservatives have wanted. It's what the vast majority of those on the stage want. They still want regime change. They want it in Syria. They wanted it in Iraq. They want it in Libya. It has not worked. Out of regime change you get chaos. From the chaos you have seen repeatedly the rise of radical Islam. So we get this profession of, oh, my goodness, they want to do something about terrorism and yet they're the problem because they allow terrorism to arise out of that chaos. +p2772 +aVNo, I think it's a huge mistake. I think regime change in Syria, and this is what \u2014 I've been saying this for several years now. In 2013 when we first went in, I said, you are going to give arms to the allies of al Qaida, to radical jihadists? That's crazy. But the other thing I said is the great irony is you will be back fighting against your own weapons. Had Assad been bombed when he used chemical weapons two years ago, +p2773 +aVWell, I think if you're in favor of World War III, you have your candidate. You know, here's...... the thing. My goodness, what we want in a leader is someone with judgment, not someone who is so reckless as to stand on the stage and say, "Yes, I'm jumping up and down; I'm going to shoot down Russian planes." Russia already flies in that airspace. It may not be something we're in love with the fact that they're there, but they were invited by Iraq and by Syria to fly in that airspace. And so if we announce we're going to have a no-fly zone, and others have said this. Hillary Clinton is also for it. It is a recipe for disaster. It's a recipe for World War III. We need to confront Russia from a position of strength, but we don't need to confront Russia from a point of recklessness that would lead to war. This is something \u2014 this type of judgment, you know, it's having that kind of judgment; who you would appoint and how you're going to conduct affairs, that is incredibly important. I mean, I think when we think about the judgment of someone who might want World War III, we might think about someone who might shut down a bridge because they don't like their friends; they don't want to \u2014 you know, they want to a Democrat. So I think we need to be very careful. +p2774 +aVYou know, I think we need to set the record straight on this, because I think Marco misspoke about the bill. On the Gang of Eight bill, there was no provisions really for extra scrutiny or safety for refugees. At the time the bill came up, two Iraqi refugees came to my home town, Bowling Green, Kentucky. Their fingerprints were on a bomb from Iraq. They were in the database, but we didn't pick them up. We relocated them here, put them in government housing, got them on food stamps. And we began providing for them, but we didn't have adequate security. On the Gang of Eight bill, on Marco's bill, we had an opportunity. There was a conservative consensus for an amendment I put forward called Trust, But Verify that would have strengthened border security on both refugees, students and those coming here. And Marco sided and I guess was more sympathetic to Chuck Schumer and to the president than he was to conservative principles. But this goes directly to national defense. And if he wants to run as a national \u2014 national defense conservative, he's got to explain why he hasn't stepped up to support border security. +p2775 +aVWhat my bill would do would be only for refugees going forward. So I haven't taken a position on sending anyone home. But I have taken the position that we have a lot of problems here in our country. And that one of the things that we do \u2014 charity is about giving your own money. Charity isn't giving someone else's money. To put everyone in government housing and food stamps and bring them in from around the world I think is a mistake. To give of your own money, I've given to my church. My church has helped people that came from Bosnia. That's a good thing. But we shouldn't have a program where we just say that we're going to take care of the world's refugees. Nobody in the Middle East is doing anything. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait \u2014 all the Gulf nations are doing nothing. They need to step up and take... +p2776 +aVThe greatest threat to our national security is our debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. And whose fault is it? Well, frankly, it's both parties' fault. You have those on the right who clamor and say, oh, we will spend anything on the military, and those on the left who say the same for domestic welfare. But what most Americans don't realize is there is an unholy alliance. They come together. There's a secret handshake. We spend more money on everything. And we are not stronger nation if we go further into debt. We are not projecting power from bankruptcy court. To me, there is no greater threat than our debt. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage because I'm willing to hold the line on all spending. I hope you will consider me in the election. Thank you very much. +p2777 +aVAbsolutely. And I think that we ought to look where income inequality seems to be the worst. It seems to be worst in cities run by Democrats, governors of... States run by Democrats and countries currently run by Democrats. So the thing is, let's look for root causes. But I would also say \u2014 lay some blame at the \u2014 the feet of the Federal Reserve. I think the Federal Reserve has made this problem worse. By artificially keeping interest rates below the market rate, average ordinary citizens have a tough time earning interest, have a tough time making money. They're actually talking now about negative interest. The money as it's created through quantitative easing or other means tends to start out in the big banks in New York. And because we're now paying interest for them to keep the money there, much of that money has not filtered out into the economy. So what we're finding is there is increasing income disparity and income inequality. We also find that as the Federal Reserve destroys the value of the currency, what you're finding is that, if you're poor, if you make $20,000 a year and you have three or four kids, and you're trying to get by, as your prices rise or as the value of the dollar shrinks, these are the people that are hurt the worst. So really we need to reexamine whether we not \u2014 we want a Federal Reserve that's involved so much in determining interest rates. We also need to look at root causes as to what caused the housing boom and the housing collapse. But the bottom line is, if you want less income inequality, move to a city with a Republican mayor or a state with a Republican governor. +p2778 +aVWell, it's a great question, Neil, and thanks for including me in the tax debate. I think what's important about the tax debate is, is that we have to ask the question, where is money best spent, in the private sector or in the government sector? I want a government really, really small, so small you can barely see it. So I want lower taxes and much more money in the private sector. My tax plan, however, is the only tax plan among any of the candidates on the stage that is part of a balanced budget plan. I put forward three plans that actually balance the budget over a five-year period. Each of these plans have details on exactly where we would cut. The question came up earlier, where would you cut? Nobody likes to say where they would cut. I've put pencil to paper and done three budgets that actually balance. I'm also in favor of a plan called the penny plan where we'd just cut 1 percent across the board and the budget actually balances in less than five years. So I think what is extraordinary about my tax plan is it is in the context of balancing the budget. What is also extraordinary about my tax plan is it gets rid of the payroll tax. Democrats demagogue this issue to death, and when they do they say, oh, a millionaire would get a bigger tax cut than someone making $10,000. That's proportionality, as Ben is trying to explain to folks. But the thing is, is if we get rid of the payroll tax, everybody is going to get a tax cut. And this is something that I think the public at large will support and could win an election. +p2779 +aVOurs is 14.5 percent for corporations, 14.5 percent for individuals. No payroll tax for the employee. The business tax pays for social security, and there would be two remaining deductions \u2014 home mortgage and charity. +p2780 +aVThank you. +p2781 +aVNeil, there's a point I'd like to make here... ....Neil, a point that I'd like to make about the tax credits. We have to decide what is conservative and what isn't conservative. Is it fiscally conservative to have a trillion-dollar expenditure? We're not talking about giving people back their tax money. He's talking about giving people money they didn't pay. It's a welfare transfer payment. So here's what we have. Is it conservative to have $1 trillion in transfer payments \u2014 a new welfare program that's a refundable tax credit? Add that to Marco's plan for $1 trillion in new military spending, and you get something that looks, to me, not very conservative. Thank you. +p2782 +aVNevertheless, it's not very conservative, Marco. +p2783 +aVHow is it conservative? +p2784 +aVYeah, but, Marco! Marco! How is it conservative, how is it conservative to add a trillion-dollar expenditure for the federal government that you're not paying for? +p2785 +aVHow is it conservative? +p2786 +aVHow is it conservative to add a trillion dollars in military expenditures? You can not be a conservative if you're going to keep promoting new programs that you're not going to pay for. +p2787 +aVNo. I don't think we're any safer \u2014 I do not think we are any safer from bankruptcy court. As we go further, and further into debt, we become less, and less safe. This is the most important thing we're going to talk about tonight. Can you be a conservative, and be liberal on military spending? Can you be for unlimited military spending, and say, Oh, I'm going to make the country safe? No, we need a safe country, but, you know, we spend more on our military than the next ten countries combined? I want a strong national defense, but I don't want us to be bankrupt. +p2788 +aVHey, Gerard, you know, we might want to point out China is not part of this deal. +p2789 +aVBefore we get a little bit off-kilter here... +p2790 +aVThere is an argument that China doesn't like the deal, because in us doing the deal, we'll be trading with their competitors. You're exactly right. But I think we've sort of missed the point a little bit here. There is an important point, though, about how we discuss these trade treaties that I do agree with Mr. Trump on. We should negotiate from a position of strength. And we also should negotiate using the full force and the constitutional power that was given to us. I think it's a mistake that we give up power to the presidency on these trade deals. We give up the power to filibuster, and I'm kind of fond of that power. We give up the power to amend. And I think, really, one of the big problems we have in our country is, over the last century, really, so much power has gravitated to the executive branch. Really, Congress is kind of a bystander. We don't write the rules. We don't make the laws. The executive branch does. So even in trade \u2014 and I am for trade \u2014 I think we should be careful about giving so much power to the presidency. +p2791 +aVI'd like first to respond to the acquisition, we should \u2014 I think it's particularly naive, particularly foolish to think that we're not going to talk to Russia. The idea of a no fly zone, realize that this is also something that Hillary Clinton agrees with several on our side with, you're asking for a no fly zone in an area in which Russia already flies. Russia flies in that zone at the invitation of Iraq. I'm not saying it's a good thing, but you better know at least what we're getting into. So, when you think it's going to be a good idea to have a no fly zone over Iraq, realize that means you are saying we are going to shoot down Russian planes. If you're ready for that, be ready to send your sons and daughters to another war in Iraq. I don't want to see that happen. I think the first war in Iraq was a mistake... You can be strong without being involved in every civil war around the war... +p2792 +aVRonald Reagan was strong, but Ronald Reagan didn't... +p2793 +aV...send troops into the Middle East... +p2794 +aV...Can I finish... +p2795 +aV...Can I finish my time? Could I finish with my time? +p2796 +aVYes, I would like to finish my response, basically. +p2797 +aVThis is an important question. This is an incredibly important question. And the question goes to be, who do we want to be our commander-in-chief? Do you want a commander-in-chief who says something that we never did throughout the entire Cold War, to discontinue having conversations with the Russians? I am not happy about them flying over there. But I'm not naive enough to say, well, Iraq has them flying over their airspace, we're just going to announce that we're shooting them down? That is naive to the point of being something you might hear in junior high. But it's scary... +p2798 +aVThe first thing I would do is I wouldn't arm our enemies. I wouldn't arm +p2799 +aVGerard, can I comment... +p2800 +aVThe first thing I would do as president is repeal the regulations that are hampering our energy that the President has put in place. Including the Clean Power Act. While I do think that man may have a role in our climate, I think nature also has a role. The planet's 4.5 billion years old, we've been through geologic age after geologic age. We've had times when the temperatures been warmer, we've had times when the temperatures been colder. We've had times when the carbon in the atmosphere's been higher. So, I think before we \u2014 we need to look before we leap. President's often fond of saying he wants a balance solution, but, really we do need to balance both keeping the environment clean, and we will have some rules for that. We got to balance that with the economy. He's devastated my state. I say the President's not only destroying Kentucky, he's destroying the democrat party down there because nobody wants to associate with him. So, what we really need is somebody that understands that we do need energy of all forms, and that means we will have solar, and wind, and hydro, but we will still have coal, and we still will have natural gas. And, we've got to have an all of the above policy. But, it would be a mistake to shut down all of our industries in the coal fields, and shut down the coal power plants. If we did so we're going to have a day where we wake up and some of our big cities are either very cold, or very hot. So, I think it's a big danger, and we shouldn't do it. And, what we should do is say we want all of the above... ...We want to free up the energy sector, and let people produce, let them drill, let them explore. +p2801 +aVWe're the richest, freest, most humanitarian nation in the history of mankind. But we also borrow a million dollars a minute. And the question I have for all Americans is, think about it, can you be a fiscal conservative if you don't conserve all of the money? If you're a profligate spender, you spend money in an unlimited fashion for the military, is that a conservative notion? We have to be conservative with all spending, domestic spending and welfare spending. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage. +p2802 +aVYou know, I left my medical practice and ran for office because I was concerned about an $18 trillion debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. Now, on the floor of the Congress, the Washington establishment from both parties puts forward a bill that will explode the deficit. It allows President Obama to borrow unlimited amounts of money. I will stand firm. I will spend every ounce of energy to stop it. I will begin tomorrow to filibuster it. And I ask everyone in America to call Congress tomorrow and say enough is enough; no more debt. +p2803 +aVNo, I oppose it because you're taking money from the entitlement and then spending it immediately on other items. That's what they're doing. They're taking money from Social Security and they're going to spend it on the military and they're going to spend it on domestic spending. Here's the thing. When you look at raising the debt limit, it should be leverage to try to reform government. In 2011, the sequester was passed as a reform to slow down the rate of government. Instead, the Washington establishment raised both. We raised the military spending, took from entitlements, and raised domestic spending and the deficit will explode under this. This is the unholy alliance that people need to know about between right and left. Right and left are spending us into oblivion. We should use the debt ceiling, as precisely to Don, to force upon them budgetary reforms. +p2804 +aVWell, that's a real question. Is there going to be any change in the House with new leadership? I frankly don't think there will be much change because I think what's going to happen is you're going to get more of the same. People in Washington think they were sent there to be adults and govern and do all this. Well, you know what I'm worried about? Not keeping the government open. I'm worried about bankrupting the American people. We're borrowing a million dollars a minute. That is important. And that's what we have to contrast. Keeping the government open and continuing to borrow a million dollars a minute. +p2805 +aVWell, thank you very much. I would like to thank Ted for co-sponsoring my bill, audit the Fed. And I think it's precisely because of the arrogance of someone like Ben Bernanke, who now calls us all know-nothings, that is precisely why we need audit the Fed. I think it is really very much a huge problem that an organization as powerful as the Fed comes in, lobbies against them being audited on the Hill. I would prevent them lobbying Congress. I don't think the Fed should be involved with lobbying us. I think we should examine how the Fed has really been part of the problem. You want to study income inequality, let's bring the Fed forward and talk about Fed policy and how it causes income inequality. Let's also bring the Fed forward and have them explain how they caused the housing boom and the crisis, and what they've done to make us better or worse. I think the Fed has been a great problem in our society. What you need to do is free up interest rates. Interest rates are the price of money, and we shouldn't have price controls on the price of money. +p2806 +aV...John... +p2807 +aVJohn, I'd like to address this? John, could I follow up on this? +p2808 +aVWhat are the rules on who gets to follow up. How do we decide on who gets to follow up? I've seen plenty of other people follow up? +p2809 +aVI'd like to just mention something about my tax plan, and how it relates to the discussion... +p2810 +aVAlright. Much of the discussion is centered over whether or not the different tax plans help, or affect the middle class. In fact, it's the chief argument by democrats against many of the different flat tax proposals. Mine is unique in the sense that my tax plan actually gets rid of the payroll tax as well. It shifts it to the business, and it would allow middle class people to get a tax cut. If you just cut their income tax, there isn't much income tax to cut. Mine actually cuts the payroll tax, and I think it would spread the tax cut across all socioeconomic levels, and would allow then it to be something that would be broadly supported by the public in an election. +p2811 +aVThe question always is, what works better, the private marketplace or government? And what distributes goods better? It always seems to be the private marketplace does a better job. Is there an area for a safety net? Can you have Medicare or Social Security? Yes. But you ought to acknowledge the government doesn't do a very good job at it. The main problem with Medicare right now is that the average person pays in taxes over their whole lifetime about $100,000. But the average person takes out about $350,000. We have this enormous mismatch because we have smaller and smaller families. When people ask me, whose fault is it? Whose fault is it that Medicare is broken, out of money, that Social Security is broken, out of money? And I say, look, it's not Republicans' fault, it's not Democrats' fault, it's your grandparents' fault for having too many damn kids. After the war we had all of these kids, Baby Boomers. Now we're having smaller families. We used to have 16 workers for one retiree, now you have three workers for one retiree. It's not working. I have a bill to fix Medicare. I've a bill to fix Social Security. For both of them you have to gradually raise the age. If you're not willing to do that, nobody wants to do it, but if you're not willing to gradually raise the age, you're not serious about fixing either one of them. +p2812 +aVSay again? +p2813 +aVYou can't do nothing. And that's what I hear from some people, "we'll do nothing and it will just be fixed." That's absurd, and I think people who don't want to fix it, really, or unwilling to take the chance to say, "something has to change," are missing the boat here. The age will have to gradually rise, there is no question. It's the only way you fix Medicare, the only way you fix Social Security. You will also have to means-test the benefits and declare there's not enough money. It isn't "I put money in, I'm getting it back." There is no money, it's a stack of paper. There is no money in the Social Security account. There is no money in the Medicare account. There's only a promise to pay by the next generation, and the next generation's not big enough to pay it. [ +p2814 +aVLiberty thrives when government is small. I want a government so small I can barely see it. I want a government so small that the individual has a chance to thrive and prosper. I think, though, government is too big now. And what you're going to see in Washington this week is establishment Republicans have made an agreement with the president to raise the debt ceiling in an unlimited fashion; no limit to the debt ceiling raise. This is extraordinary. It's extraordinarily wrong. You'll see me on the floor of the Senate tomorrow filibustering this and saying enough is enough, no more debt. +p2815 +aVGood evening, everyone. I'm an eye surgeon from Bowling Green, Kentucky. My wife, Kelly, and I have been married for nearly 25 years, and I spend my days defending the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I think there's nothing more important than understanding that the Constitution restrains government, not the people. Thank you. +p2816 +aVI kind of have to laugh when I think of, "Mmm, sounds like a non sequitur." He was asked whether or not he would be capable and it would be in good hands to be in charge of the nuclear weapons, and all of a sudden, there's a sideways attack at me. I think that really goes to really the judgment. Do we want someone with that kind of character, that kind of careless language to be negotiating with Putin? Do we want someone like that to be negotiating with Iran? I think really there's a sophomoric quality that is entertaining about Mr. Trump, but I am worried. I'm very concerned about him \u2014 having him in charge of the nuclear weapons, because I think his response, his \u2014 his visceral response to attack people on their appearance \u2014 short, tall, fat, ugly \u2014 my goodness, that happened in junior high. Are we not way above that? Would we not all be worried to have someone like that in charge of the nuclear arsenal? +p2817 +aVI think this goes back to essentially what we've been saying for the last two or three questions. Carly Fiorina also said we're not going to talk with Putin. Well, think if Reagan had said that during the Cold War? We continued to talk with the Russians throughout the Cold War which is much more significant that where we are now. Should we continue to talk with Iran? Yes. Should we cut up the agreement immediately? That's absurd. Wouldn't you want to know if they complied? Now, I'm going to vote against the agreement because I don't think there's significant leverage, but it doesn't mean that I would immediately not look at the agreement, and cut it up without looking to see if whether or not Iran has complied. The same goes with China. I don't think we need to be rash, I don't think we need to be reckless, and I think need to leave lines of communication open. Often we talk about whether we should be engaged in the world, or disengaged in the world, and I think this is an example of some who want to isolate us, actually, and not be engaged. We do need to be engaged with Russia. It doesn't mean we give them a free pass, or China a free pass, but, to be engaged, to continue to talk. We did throughout the Cold War, and it would be a big mistake not to do it here. +p2818 +aVI think this gets to the point of wisdom on when to intervene and when we shouldn't. Had we bombed Assad at the time, like President Obama wanted, and like Hillary Clinton wanted and many Republicans wanted, I think +p2819 +aVWell, I hate to say it, but Donald Trump has a bit of a point here. The case that was decided around 1900 was, people had a green card, were here legally, and they said that their children were citizens. There's never been a direct Supreme Court case on people who were here illegally, whether or not their kids are citizens. So it hasn't really been completely adjudicated. The 14th Amendment says that "those who are here and under the jurisdiction." The original author of the \u2014 of the 14th Amendment said on the Senate floor that this was applying to slaves, and did not specifically apply to others. +p2820 +aVWell, I'm glad we're having a discussion about taxes because everybody laments that we lose jobs overseas, we have. Our companies, and our jobs are being chased overseas by a 70,000 page tax code, so, that's why I've chosen to get rid of the whole thing, and have one single rate, 14 and a-half percent for everybody, business, and for corporate income, and personal income. But, we also get rid of the payroll tax, so the working class would get a tax break as well. So, I think a flat tax, eliminating the tax code, getting rid of all the loopholes, is the way to go, and it's the way we get America going again. +p2821 +aVHugh, can I \u2014 can I make a response to that? +p2822 +aVCan I make a response to that? +p2823 +aVMay I make a response to that? +p2824 +aVHe's referred to me. +p2825 +aVHe's referred to me... +p2826 +aV... in his remarks. May I make a response? +p2827 +aVAbsolutely. Go ahead. +p2828 +aVMay I respond? +p2829 +aVThe remark was made that there hadn't been anyone else on the podium opposed to the Iraq War. I've made my career as being an opponent of the Iraq War. I was opposed to the Syria war. I was opposed to arming people who are our enemies. Iran is now stronger because Hussein is gone. Hussein was the great bulwark and counterbalance to the Iranians. So when we complain about the Iranians, you need to remember that the Iraq War made it worse. Originally, Governor Bush was asked, was the Iraq War a mistake, and he said, "No. We'd do it again." We have to learn sometimes the interventions backfire. The Iraq War backfired and did not help us. We're still paying the repercussions of a bad decision. +p2830 +aVWe have make the decision now in Syria, should we topple Assad? Many up here wanted to topple Assad, and it's like \u2014 I said no, because if you do... +p2831 +aV... +p2832 +aVIf you want boots on the ground, and you want them to be our sons and daughters, you got 14 other choices. There will always be a Bush or Clinton for you, if you want to go back to war in Iraq. But the thing is, the first war was a mistake. And I'm not sending our sons and our daughters back to Iraq. The war didn't work. We can amplify those who live there. The Kurds deserve to be armed and I'll arm them. We can use our Air Force to amplify the forces there. But the boots on the ground need to be the people who live there. My goodness, I'm still upset with the Saudi Arabians for everything they do over there. They've funded the arms that went to the jihadists. They're not accepting any of the people, any of the migrants that have been \u2014 the refugees that are being pushed out of Syria. Saudi Arabia is not accepting one. Why are we always the world's patsies that we have to go over there and fight their wars for them? They need to fight their wars, we need to defend American interests, but it is not in America's national security interests to have another war in Iraq. +p2833 +aVI think one of the great problems, and what American people don't like about politics, is hypocrisy. People have one standard for others and not for them \u2014 for themselves. There is at least one prominent example on the stage of someone who says they smoked pot in high school, and yet the people going to \u2014 to jail for this are poor people, often African-Americans and often Hispanics, and yet the rich kids who use drugs aren't. I personally think that this is a crime for which the only victim is the individual, and I think that America has to take a different attitude. I would like to see more rehabilitation and less incarceration. I'm a fan of the drug courts which try to direct you back towards work and less time in jail. But the bottom line is the states. We say we like the 10th Amendment, until we start talking about this. And I think the federal government has gone too far, I think that the war on drugs has had a racial outcome, and really has been something that has really damaged our inner cities. Not only do the drugs damage them, we damage them again by incarcerating them and then preventing them from getting employment over time. So I don't think that the federal government should override the states. I believe in the 10th Amendment and I really will say that the states are left to themselves. +p2834 +aVWell, I think if we left it open, we could see how many people smoked pot in high school. +p2835 +aVWell, you know, the thing is that... +p2836 +aVYeah, I was talking about \u2014 well, let me... +p2837 +aVBut let me respond. The thing is, is that in Florida, Governor Bush campaigned against medical marijuana. That means that a small child like Morgan Hintz (ph) that has seizures is day, is failing on non-traditional medications, is not allowed to use cannabis oil. And if they do that in Florida, they will take the child away, they will put the parents in jail. And that's what that means if you're against allowing people use medical marijuana, you'll actually put them in jail. +p2838 +aVAnd actually, under the current circumstances, kids who had privilege like you do, don't go to jail, but the poor kids in our inner cities go to jail. I don't think that's fair. And I think we need to acknowledge it, and it is hypocritical to still want to put poor people in jail... +p2839 +aVWell, you vote \u2014 you oppose medical marijuana... +p2840 +aVBut that means you'll put people in jail. +p2841 +aVMay I respond? +p2842 +aVUnderstand what they're saying. if they're going to say we are going to enforce the federal law against what the state law is, they aren't really believing in the Tenth Amendment. Governor Christie would go into Colorado, and if you're breaking any federal law on marijuana, even though the state law allows it, he would put you in jail. If a young mother is trying to give her child cannabis oil for medical marijuana for seizure treatment, he would put her in jail, if it violates federal law. I would let Colorado do what the Tenth Amendment says. This power \u2014 we were never intended to have crime dealing at the federal level. Crime was supposed to be left to the states. Colorado has made their decision. And I don't want the federal government interfering and putting moms in jail, who are trying to get medicine for their kid... +p2843 +aVMay I respond? May I respond? +p2844 +aVHere is the thing, he doesn't want to make it about medical marijuana, but what if New Jersey's medical marijuana contradicts the federal law? He's saying he'll send the federal government in, and he will enforce the federal law. That's not consistent with the Tenth Amendment. It is not consistent with states' rights. And it is not consistent with the conservative vision for the country. I don't think we should be sending the federal police in to arrest a mother and separate them from their child for giving a medicine to their child for seizures. +p2845 +aVIf you want a skeptic \u2014 if you want a skeptic, Jake, I will happily jump into that briar patch. If you want a real... +p2846 +aVA second opinion? One of the greatest \u2014 one of the greatest medical discoveries of all times was \u2014 were the vaccines, particularly for smallpox. And if you want to read a story, it's called The Speckled Monster, it's an amazing story, it was all done voluntary. But people came in by the droves. George Washington wouldn't let his wife visit until she got vaccinated. So I'm all for vaccines. But I'm also for freedom. I'm also a little concerned about how they're bunched up. My kids had all of their vaccines, and even if the science doesn't say bunching them up is a problem, I ought to have the right to spread out my vaccines out a little bit at the very least. +p2847 +aVOoh, that's a tough one. You know, I'm big on \u2014 that we were \u2014 and I love what Carly said about women's suffrage. I think Susan B. Anthony might be a good choice. +p2848 +aVJustice Never Sleeps. +p2849 +aVI met Ronald Reagan as a teenager, and my family, we're big supporters of him when he ran against Gerald Ford. It was a big deal because he was the grassroots, running against the establishment, and I'll never forget that. And, how he stood up and said, you know what, this is something new that our country needs, and our party needs. If I were president, I would try to be one who says, you know what, I'm a Reagan Conservative. I'm someone who believes in peace through strength, and I would try to lead the country in that way knowing that our goal is peace, and that war is the last resort, not the first resort. And, that when we go to war, we go to war in a constitutional way, which means that we have to vote on it, that war is initiated by congress, not by the president, that we go to war electively (ph). That when we go to war, we don't fight with one arm tied behind our back, we fight all out to win, but then we come home. +p2850 +aVThis is what's wrong! +p2851 +aVI mean, this is what's wrong. He buys and sells politicians of all stripes, he's already... +p2852 +aVHey, look, look! He's already hedging his bet on the Clintons, OK? So if he doesn't run as a Republican, maybe he supports Clinton, or maybe he runs as an independent... +p2853 +aV...but I'd say that he's already hedging his bets because he's used to buying politicians. +p2854 +aVFirst of all, only +p2855 +aVMegyn, may I respond? May I respond? +p2856 +aVI want to collect more records from terrorists, but less records from innocent Americans. The Fourth Amendment was what we fought the Revolution over! John Adams said it was the spark that led to our war for independence, and I'm proud of standing for the Bill of Rights, and I will continue to stand for the Bill of Rights. +p2857 +aVUse the Fourth Amendment! +p2858 +aVUse the Fourth Amendment! +p2859 +aVGet a warrant! +p2860 +aVGet a judge to sign the warrant! +p2861 +aVSee, here's the problem. +p2862 +aVHere's the problem, governor. Here's the problem, governor. You fundamentally misunderstand the Bill of Rights. Every time you did a case, you got a warrant from a judge. I'm talking about searches without warrants... +p2863 +aV...indiscriminately, of all Americans' records, and that's what I fought to end. I don't trust President Obama with our records. I know you gave him a big hug, and if you want to give him a big hug again, go right ahead. +p2864 +aVI've got a news flash... +p2865 +aVNews flash, the Republican Party's been fighting against a single-payer system... +p2866 +aV-- for a decade. So I think you're on the wrong side of this if you're still arguing for a single-payer system. +p2867 +aVI oppose the Iranian deal, and will vote against it. I don't think that the president negotiated from a position of strength, but I don't immediately discount negotiations. I'm a Reagan conservative. Reagan did negotiate with the Soviets. But you have to negotiate from a position of strength, and I think President Obama gave away too much, too early. If there's going to be a negotiation, you're going to have to believe somehow that the Iranians are going to comply. And I asked this question to John Kerry, I said "do you believe they're trustworthy?" and he said "No." And I said, "well, how are we gonna get them to comply?" I would have never released the sanctions before there was consistent evidence of compliance. +p2868 +aVLook, I don't want my marriage or my guns registered in Washington. And if people have an opinion, it's a religious opinion that is heartly felt, obviously they should be allowed to practice that and no government should interfere with them. One of the things, one of the things that really got to me was the thing in Houston where you had the government, the mayor actually, trying to get the sermons of ministers. When the government tries to invade the church to enforce its own opinion on marriage, that's when it's time to resist. +p2869 +aVWell, let's be clear, I'm the only one on the stage who actually has a five-year budget that balances. I've put pencil to paper... +p2870 +aV... and I've said -- and I've said I would cut spending, and I've said exactly where. Each one of my budgets has taken a meat axe to foreign aid, because I think we ought to quit sending it to countries that hate us. I think we ought to quit sending it to countries that burn our flag. Israel is not one of those. But even Benjamin Netanyahu said that ultimately, they will be stronger when they're independent. My position is exactly the same. We shouldn't borrow money from China to send it anywhere, but why don't we start with eliminating aid to our enemies. +p2871 +aVI still say exactly what my original opinion is. Do you borrow money from China to send it to anyone? Out of your surplus, you can help your allies, and Israel is a great ally. And this is no particular animus of Israel, but what I will say, and I will say over and over again, we cannot give away money we don't have. We do not project power from bankruptcy court. We're borrowing a million dollars a minute. It's got to stop somewhere. +p2872 +aVI'm a different kind of Republican. I've introduced a five-year balanced budget. I've introduced the largest tax cut in our history. I stood for ten and a half hours on the Senate floor to defend your right to be left alone. But I've also gone to Chicago. I've gone to Detroit. I've been to Ferguson, I've been to Baltimore, because I want our party to be bigger, better and bolder, and I'm the only one that leads Hillary Clinton in five states that were won by President Obama. I'm a different kind of Republican. +p2873 +asVBASH +p2874 +(lp2875 +VA crucial question is how to balance surveillance with privacy and keeping Americans safe. Senator Cruz, you voted for a bill that President Obama signed into law just this past June that made it harder for the government to access Americans' phone records. In light of the San Bernardino attack, was your vote a mistake? +p2876 +aVThank you. Senator Rubio, Senator Cruz is right there was bipartisan support for that. But you voted against it. So, is Senator Cruz wrong? +p2877 +aVSenator Cruz? +p2878 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator \u2014 Senator Rubio, please respond. +p2879 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I know this is \u2014 this has been a very big issue for you. You hear many of your colleagues are calling for increased surveillance by law enforcement. You call that hogwash. Why is that hogwash? +p2880 +aVSenator Rubio? +p2881 +aVGovernor Christie, Governor Christie... ...Governor Christie, I'll come to you in a minute. Go ahead, Senator Paul. +p2882 +aVGo ahead, please. +p2883 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about immigration in a while. But, Governor Christie, just listening to this... +p2884 +aVListening to this, you talked \u2014 you heard Senator Paul, Senator Cruz talk about how important it is to protect Americans' privacy, even in a time of grave danger. Why \u2014 what's wrong with that? +p2885 +aVSenator Paul, you said +p2886 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I want to go back to my initial question, which is you saying that +p2887 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about regime change in a bit. But Governor Kasich, would you like to respond to Senator Paul? +p2888 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. We've been talking tonight about programs and policy proposals that you all have to keep Americans safe and it's a big discussion on the campaign trail. Also about border security and immigration. So let's talk about immigration. Senator Rubio. You co-authored a bill with Democrats two years ago that allowed a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Do you still support that path to citizenship, which means giving those immigrants rights, like the right to vote? +p2889 +aVSenator, you haven't answered the question. You described a very long path but does that path end at citizenship? +p2890 +aVThank you, senator. +p2891 +aVThank you, senator. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, on the campaign trail, Senator Rubio has said that his immigration plan is not that different from yours. Is that true? +p2892 +aVSenator Rubio, please. +p2893 +aVSenator Cruz? +p2894 +aVSenator Cruz? +p2895 +aVSenator Cruz, can you answer that question please? +p2896 +aVSenator Cruz? +p2897 +aVOne at a time please. +p2898 +aVMs. Fiorina, please wait your turn, we're going to get to you. +p2899 +aVSenator Cruz go ahead. +p2900 +aVMr. Trump, you like to say that you restarted this conversation in the campaign. +p2901 +aVSo who do you side with? Who do you side with in this, Senator Rubio or Senator Cruz? +p2902 +aVThank you. Governor Bush? +p2903 +aVListening to this, do you think this is the tone \u2014 this immigration debate that republicans need to take to win back Hispanics into our party especially states like where we are in Nevada that has a pretty Hispanic community? +p2904 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said if China launches a cyber- attack against the U.S. on your watch, "they're going to see cyber- warfare like they have never seen before." What exactly would that response look like? +p2905 +aVGovernor Bush, what you just heard from Governor Christie, are you concerned that that could really escalate with China, that they would retaliate? And, for example, as the NSA has said, attack the U.S. and maybe it's power grid, which the Chinese have the capability to do? +p2906 +aVMr. Trump, just this weekend you said Senator Cruz is not qualified to be president because he doesn't have the right temperament and acted like a maniac when he arrived in the Senate. But last month you said you were open to naming Senator Cruz as your running mate. +p2907 +aVSo why would you be willing to put somebody who's a maniac one heartbeat away from the presidency? +p2908 +aVOkay. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, you have not been willing to attack Mr. Trump in public. +p2909 +aVBut you did question his judgment in having control of American's nuclear arsenal during a private meeting with supporters. Why are you willing to say things about him in private and not in public? +p2910 +aVSenator, senator, I just... +p2911 +aVSenator, a lot of people have seen... +p2912 +aV... a lot of people have seen these comments you made in private. I just want to clarify what you're saying right now is you do believe Mr. Trump has the judgment to be commander in chief? +p2913 +aVGovernor Kasich, Senator Cruz is so committed to stripping federal funds from Planned Parenthood that it could result in shutting down the federal government in just about two weeks. Do you agree with Senator Cruz's tactic? +p2914 +aVThank you. +p2915 +aVThank you. Senator Cruz, I would just add that, on this stage not that long ago, Senator Graham said that this tactic that you're pushing would tank the Republicans' ability to win in 2016. +p2916 +aVThank you, senator. +p2917 +aVThank you... +p2918 +aVGovernor \u2014 governor, I want to go to you. Is it what Senator Cruz says, a surrender by Republicans? +p2919 +aVBut... +p2920 +aVBut is it... +p2921 +aVBut, governor, the \u2014 but, governor, the reality is, in just two weeks' time... ...we are going to be facing a question about whether or not it's enough to shut down the government to make that statement, because there is still a Democrat in the White House. Do you oppose it or support it? +p2922 +aVYes or no, do you support this shutdown? +p2923 +aVWe're talking about Planned Parenthood right now. +p2924 +aVCan you answer yes or no? +p2925 +aVOne more time. I'm sorry, I just want to get the answer. +p2926 +aVSo you would support a shutdown. +p2927 +aVGovernor Bush, Mr. Trump has suggested that your views on immigration are influenced by your Mexican born wife. He said that, quote, "If my wife were from Mexico, I think I would have a soft spot for people from Mexico." Did Mr. Trump go to far in invoking your wife? +p2928 +aVMr. Trump? +p2929 +aVMr. Trump... +p2930 +aVGo ahead. +p2931 +aVMs. Fiorina \u2014 Ms. Fiorina, we're going to come to you, we're going to come to you. I just want to give Governor Bush a chance to respond to what Mr. Trump said. +p2932 +aVOK, on that note, you have criticized Governor Bush for speaking Spanish on the campaign trail. You said, quote, "He should really set an example by speaking English in the United States." What's wrong with speaking Spanish? +p2933 +aVThank you. +p2934 +aV...Thank you.... +p2935 +aVGovernor Bush, let's talk about the issue that's very important to Republican voters, and that's the Supreme Court. After Chief Justice John Roberts voted to uphold Obamacare twice, Senator Cruz criticized your brother for appointing John Roberts to the Supreme Court. Looking back on it, did your brother make a mistake? +p2936 +aV...Is John Roberts one of those people? +p2937 +aVDo you like what you just heard, Senator Cruz? +p2938 +aVMr. Trump, you have said once or twice that you are really rich, and you are by far the richest person on this stage. Chris Christie says billionaires like you and even people who make and earn far less should no longer get Social Security, or at least there should be limits based on \u2014 on their income. You think he's wrong, and if so, why? +p2939 +aVWhat about the country as a \u2014 as a policy? +p2940 +aVSo is a voluntary program the way to get the Social Security system solvent again like that. +p2941 +aVSenator Santorum, you want to give the intelligence community more power to collect American's phone data. But the government had this ability until just days before the San Bernardino attack. If it couldn't prevent San Bernardino, why will it protect America? +p2942 +aVSenator Graham, when this program was exposed, you said, " you have nothing to worry about if you're not talking to terrorist." Do you understand why though some Americans are concerned that the government is keeping tabs on them in any way? +p2943 +aVThank you. Governor Huckabee, you said, "not one terrorist plot has been foiled by the NSA's collection of American's phone records. The director of the CIA says,. "not having these programs makes it ability to find terrorists, quote, "much more challenging."" Are you taking a potential tool to fight terrorists? +p2944 +aVSenator Santorum? +p2945 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator Graham... +p2946 +aVSenator Graham... +p2947 +aVSenator Graham, we've heard here tonight a lot about the fact that you want to send U.S. troops, ground troops, into Iraq, and Syria to defeat +p2948 +aVGovernor Huckabee... +p2949 +aVGovernor Huckabee, would you reinstate the draft? +p2950 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator Graham... +p2951 +aVSenator Graham... +p2952 +aVSenator Graham, we've heard here tonight a lot about the fact that you want to send U.S. troops, ground troops, into Iraq, and Syria to defeat +p2953 +aVGovernor Huckabee... +p2954 +aVGovernor Huckabee, would you reinstate the draft? +p2955 +aVSo what would you do about it? +p2956 +aVSenator... +p2957 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. +p2958 +aVSenator Graham. +p2959 +aVSenator Graham, quick response. +p2960 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. +p2961 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. +p2962 +aVSenator Santorum, earlier this month the Pentagon opened all U.S. military combat positions to women. You previously opposed allowing women in combat roles. As President, would you change the Pentagon's new policy? +p2963 +aVSo, just to be clear, you're saying, yes, you would change the policy back? +p2964 +aVGovernor Pataki, as you mentioned earlier, you have two sons who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Would you maintain this new policy as President, or do you agree with Senator Santorum. +p2965 +aVSenator Santorum. +p2966 +aVNow Governor Pataki, do you a final response? +p2967 +aVGovernor Huckabee, the U.S. has a program that allows visitors from America's closest allies to travel to the U.S. without obtaining a visa. But new legislation in Congress says that privilege should not apply to those who have visited is hot spots like Iraq and Syria in the last five years. You say that legislation doesn't go far enough. Why? +p2968 +aVSenator Santorum, Governor Jindal has supported a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants once the border is secure. Why do you disagree with that? +p2969 +aVSenator, your time's up. I want to get the governor to respond to that. +p2970 +aVSenator -- Senator Santorum, do you buy that, that the governor's not for amnesty? +p2971 +aVSenator, your time is up... +p2972 +aVYour time is up. And Governor, I'm sorry. Just -- you -- you really need to clarify your position, because you say you're not for amnesty, but you have been for a path to citizenship... +p2973 +aVThank you. Senator Graham, you mentioned this earlier; you are calling for an additional 20,000 U.S. ground forces to fight +p2974 +aVNo one on this stage has gone that far. So are you saying, for Iraq and Syria, are you saying that everybody to your right is not fit for the Oval Office? +p2975 +aVSenator -- +p2976 +aV-- Senator Santorum, I know you're raising your hand. You're committing to this number of troops, both in Iraq and on the ground in Syria? +p2977 +aVAnd he's saying 20,000. Would you...? +p2978 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Jindal? +p2979 +aVSenator Santorum, you just heard Governor Jindal and Governor Pataki talk about tax reform. Jeb Bush has proposed a tax reform plan, and in it, he limits deductions, including the popular home mortgage deduction. Would you do the same as president? +p2980 +aV...times up, Senator. +p2981 +aV...OK, times up, Senator. Governor, just to bring you back into this, you said that you would be OK with what is effectively raising taxes on hedge fund managers as part of a tax reform plan. Would you aslo be for doing away with people's deductions for their mortgages. +p2982 +asVEPPERSON +p2983 +(lp2984 +VThank you, John. Mrs. Fiorina, you were the CEO of a large corporation that offers a 401(k) to its employees. But more than half of American have no access to an employer sponsored retirement plan. That includes the workers at small businesses, and the growing ranks of Uber drivers and other part-timers in the freelance economy. Should the Federal Government play a larger role in helping to set up retirement plans for these workers? +p2985 +aVSo you wouldn't agree \u2014 you wouldn't agree with a start for 401(k) for businesses or anything like that? +p2986 +aVThank you very much. +p2987 +aVThank you, the rules say one minute. +p2988 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. We appreciate it. Thank you, thank you. I want to turn my attention now, to you now, Governor Kasich. Most people can't get a college degree without going into debt. Over 40 million Americans have student loans and many of them cannot pay them back. This country has over $100 billion in student loan defaults. That's billion with a b. What will you do to make sure that students, their families, taxpayers, won't feel the economic impact of this burden for generations? Well, first of all, in Ohio we're changing the whole system. Universities will not get paid one dime unless the student graduates or \u2014 graduates or completes a course. Secondly, you can be in high school and complete almost an entire first year before you go to college and get credit to do that. And, of course, in addition to that, we are working now to go after the cost drivers in our universities. And let me give you an example. Universities today have so many non-academic assets. At Ohio State they sold the parking garage and the parking lot, and they got $500 million because they shouldn't be in the parking lot business. They shouldn't be in the ding business, they shouldn't be in the dorm business. And, of course, we need to take advantage of on-line education to reduce these costs and begin to dis-intermediate the cost of four years. Now, for those who that have these big high costs, I think we can seriously look at an idea of where you can do public service. I mean legitimate, public service and begin to pay off some of that debt through the public service that you do. And in the meantime, it may inspire us to care more about our country, more about ourselves. This is a big moral issue in America. Living a life bigger than yourself, and being a center of healing and justice. And people can learn it through public service. +p2989 +aVThank you, thank you. +p2990 +aVThank you, John. Senator Graham, one in every four workers has saved less than $1,000 for retirement. Millions of Americans rely on their Social Security benefits for the majority of their retirement income. Now, you called for reforms to Social Security, but what would you do to fix the other part of the problem for future retirees and get people to save more? +p2991 +aVBut Senator Graham... +p2992 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. Thank you, Senator Graham. Governor Jindal, you've been a strong supporter of for-profit colleges. These are institutions that educate many veterans, minorities and working class Americans. They make up about 11 percent of the college population at these schools, but they account for 44 percent of student loan defaults. Should for-profit schools be held accountable when they take taxpayer money and leave students deep in debt? +p2993 +asVSANDERS +p2994 +(lp2995 +VWell, Gwen and Judy, thank you very much for hosting this event. And, PBS, thank you. Nine months ago, our campaign began. And when it began, we had no political organization, no money, and not much name recognition outside of the state of Vermont. A lot has happened in nine months. And what has happened is, I think, the American people have responded to a series of basic truths, and that is that we have today a campaign finance system which is corrupt, which is undermining American democracy, which allows Wall Street and billionaires to pour huge sums of money into the political process to elect the candidates of their choice. And aligned with a corrupt campaign finance system is a rigged economy. And that's an economy where ordinary Americans are working longer hours for low wagers. They are worried to death about the future of their kids. And yet they are seeing almost all new income and all new wealth going to the top 1 percent. And then in addition to that, the American people are looking around and they see a broken criminal justice system. They see more people in jail in the United States of America than any other country on earth, 2.2 million. We're spending $80 billion a year locking up fellow Americans. They see kids getting arrested for marijuana, getting in prison, getting a criminal record, while they see executives on Wall Street who pay billions of dollars in settlements and get no prosecution at all. No criminal records for them. I think what our campaign is indicating is that the American people are tired of establishment politics, tired of establishment economics. They want a political revolution in which millions of Americans stand up, come together, not let the Trumps of the world divide us, and say, you know what, in this great country, we need a government that represents all of us, not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors. Thank you. +p2996 +aVWell, to put that in a context, Judy, I think we have to understand that in the last 30 years in this country there has been a massive transfer of wealth going from the hands of working families into the top one-tenth of 1% whose percentage of wealth has doubled. In other words, the very rich are getting richer, almost everybody is going \u2014 getting poorer. What I believe is the United States, in fact, should join the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee healthcare to all people. Our Medicare for all single-payer proposal will save the average middle class family $5,000 a year. I do believe that in the year 2016 we have to look in terms of public education as colleges as part of public education making public colleges and universities tuition free. I believe that when real unemployment is close to 10%, and when our infrastructure, our roads, our bridges, our water systems, Flint, Michigan comes to mind. Our waste water plants, our rail, our airports, in many places are disintegrating. Yeah, we can create 13 million jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure at a cost of a trillion dollars. +p2997 +aV... Of course there will be a limit, but when today you have massive levels of income and wealth inequality, when the middle class is disappearing, you have the highest rate of child poverty of almost any major country on Earth. Yes, in my view, the government of a democratic society has a moral responsibility to play a vital role in making sure all of our people have a decent standard of living. +p2998 +aVWell, let us level with the American people. Secretary Clinton has been going around the country saying Bernie Sanders wants to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, people are going to lose their MedicAid, they're going to lose their +p2999 +aVThat is absolutely inaccurate. Look, here is the reality, folks. There is one major country on Earth that does not guarantee health care to all people. There is one major country \u2014 the United States \u2014 which ends up spending almost three times per capita what they do in the U.K. guaranteeing health care to all people, 50 percent more than they do in France guaranteeing health care to all people, far more than our Canadian neighbors, who guarantee health care to all people. Please do not tell me that in this country, if \u2014 and here's the if \u2014 we have the courage to take on the drug companies, and have the courage to take on the insurance companies, and the medical equipment suppliers, if we do that, yes, we can guarantee health care to all people in a much more cost effective way. +p3000 +aVWell, Secretary Clinton, you're not in the White House yet. And let us be clear that every proposal that I have introduced has been paid for. For example, all right, who in America denies that we have an infrastructure that is crumbling? Roads, bridges, water systems, wastewater plants, who denies that? Who denies that real unemployment today, including those who have given up looking for work and are working part-time is close to 10 percent? Who denies that African-American youth unemployment, real, is over 50 percent. We need to create jobs. So yes, I will do away with the outrageous loopholes that allow profitable multinational corporations to stash billions of dollars in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda and in a given year pay zero, zero in federal income tax. Yes, I'm going to do away with that. We will use those proceeds, a hundred billion a year, to invest in rebuilding our infrastructure. Yes, I believe that as a result of the illegal behavior on Wall Street, that they are a Wall Street that drove this country into the worst economic downturn since the Great Recession \u2014 Great Depression. Yes, I do believe that now after the American people bailed Wall Street out, yes, they should pay a Wall Street speculation tax so that we can make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We bailed them out. Now it is their time to help the middle class. +p3001 +aVA brief response. +p3002 +aVHere is where we are with public education. A 100, 150 years ago incredibly brave Americans said, you know what, working class kids, low income kids should not have to work in factories or on the farms. Like rich kids, they deserve to get a free education. And that free education of extraordinary accomplishment was from first grade to 12th grade. The world has changed. This is 2016. In many ways, a college degree today is equivalent to what a high school degree was 50, 60 years ago. So, yes, I do believe that when we talk about public education in America, today, in a rapidly changing world, we should have free tuition at public colleges and universities. That should be a right of all Americans regardless of the income of their families. +p3003 +aVLook, we are fighting for every vote that we can get from women, from men, straight, gay, African-Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans. We are trying to bring America together around an agenda that works for working families and the middle class. I am very proud, if my memory is not correct \u2014 I think I am \u2014 that I have a lifetime \u2014 and I've been in Congress a few years \u2014 a lifetime 100 percent pro-choice voting record. I am very proud that over the years we have had the support in my state of Vermont from very significant majorities of women. I'm very proud that I support legislation that is currently in the Congress, got support of almost all progressive Democrats in the House and Senate, which says we will end the absurdity of women today making 79 cents on the dollar compared to men. And we will join the rest of the other \u2014 the industrialized world in saying that paid family and medical leave should be a right of all working families. +p3004 +aVWell, you know, I think, from a historical point of view, somebody with my background, somebody with my views, somebody who has spent his entire life taking on the big money interests, I think a Sanders victory would be of some historical accomplishment, as well. +p3005 +aVLet me concur with the secretary, no question women's rights are under fierce attack all over this country. And I will tell you something that really galls me. I will not shock anybody to suggest that in politics there is occasionally a little bit of hypocrisy. Just a little bit. All over this country we have Republican candidates for president saying we hate the government. Government is the enemy. We're going to cut Social Security to help you. We're going to cut Medicare and Medicaid, federal aid to education to help you, because the government is so terrible. But, by the way, when it comes to a woman having to make a very personal choice, ah, in that case, my Republican colleagues love the government and want the government to make that choice for every woman in America. If that's not hypocrisy, I don't know what hypocrisy is. +p3006 +aVThis is one of the great tragedies in our country today. And we can no longer continue to sweep it under the rug. It has to be dealt with. Today a male African-American baby born today stands a one-in-four chance of ending up in jail. That is beyond unspeakable. So what we have to do is the radical reform of a broken criminal justice system. What we have to do is end over-policing in African-American neighborhoods. The reality is that both the African-American community and the white community do marijuana at about equal rates. The reality is four times as many blacks get arrested for marijuana. Truth is that far more blacks get stopped for traffic violations. The truth is that sentencing for blacks is higher than for whites. We need fundamental police reform, clearly, clearly, when we talk about a criminal justice system. I would hope that we could all agree that we are sick and tired of seeing videos on television of unarmed people, often African-Americans, shot by police officers. What we have got to do is make it clear that any police officer who breaks the law will, in fact, be held accountable. +p3007 +aVNothing that Secretary Clinton said do I disagree with. This mandatory sentencing, a very bad idea. It takes away discretion from judges. We have got to demilitarize local police departments so they do not look like occupying armies. We have got to make sure that local police departments look like the communities they serve in their diversity. And, where we are failing abysmally is in the very high rate of recidivism we see. People are being released from jail without the education, without the job training, without the resources that they need to get their lives together, then they end up \u2014 we're shocked that they end up back in jail again. So, we have a lot of work to do. But, here is a pledge I've made throughout this campaign, and it's really not a very radical pledge. When we have more people in jail, disproportionately African American and Latino, than China does, a communist authoritarian society four times our size. Here's my promise, at the end of my first term as president we will not have more people in jail than any other country. We will invest in education, and jobs for our kids, not incarceration and more jails. +p3008 +aVWell, I think, Judy, what has to be appreciated is that, as a result of the disastrous and illegal behavior on Wall Street, millions of lives were hurt. People lost their jobs, their homes, their life savings. Turns out that the African-American community and the Latino community were hit especially hard. As I understand it, the African-American community lost half of their wealth as a result of the Wall Street collapse. So when you have childhood African-American poverty rates of 35 percent, when you have youth unemployment at 51 percent, when you have unbelievable rates of incarceration \u2014 which, by the way, leaves the children back home without a dad or even a mother \u2014 clearly, we are looking at institutional racism. We are looking at an economy in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. And sadly, in America today, in our economy, a whole lot of those poor people are African-American. +p3009 +aVAbsolutely, because what we will do is say, instead of giving tax breaks to billionaires, we are going to create millions of jobs for low-income kids so they're not hanging out on street corners. We're going to make sure that those kids stay in school or are able to get a college education. And I think when you give low-income kids \u2014 African-American, white, Latino kids \u2014 the opportunities to get their lives together, they are not going to end up in jail. They're going to end up in the productive economy, which is where we want them. +p3010 +aVWhite people? +p3011 +aVYeah, you can, because African-Americans and Latinos not only face the general economic crises of low wages, and high unemployment, and poor educational opportunities, but they face other problems, as well. So, yes, we can talk about it as a racial issue. But it is a general economic issue. And here's what the economic issue is. The wages that high school graduates receive today are significantly less, whether you are white or black, than they used to be. Why is that? Because of a series of disastrous trade policies which have allowed corporate America through +p3012 +aVThe answer is yes. We've got 11 million undocumented people in this country. I have talked to some of the young kids with tears rolling down their cheeks, are scared to death that today they may or their parents may be deported. I believe that we have got to pass comprehensive immigration reform, something that I strongly supported. I believe that we have got to move toward a path toward citizenship. I agree with President Obama who used executive orders to protect families because the Congress, the House was unable or refused to act. And in fact I would go further. What would motivate me and what would be the guiding light for me in terms of immigration reform, Judy, is to bring families together, not divide them up. And let me say this also. Somebody who is very fond of the president, agrees with him most of the time, I disagree with his recent deportation policies. And I would not support those. Bottom line is a path towards citizenship for 11 million undocumented people, if Congress doesn't do the right thing, we use the executive orders of the president. +p3013 +aVSecretary Clinton, I do have a disagreement here. If my memory is correct, I think when we saw children coming from these horrendous, horrendously violent areas of Honduras and neighboring countries, people who are fleeing drug violence and cartel violence, I thought it was a good idea to allow those children to stay in this country. That was not, as I understand it, the secretary's position. In terms of 2007 immigration reform, yeah, I did vote against it. I voted against it because the Southern Poverty Law Center, among other groups, said that the guest-worker programs that were embedded in this agreement were akin to slavery. Akin to slavery, where people came into this country to do guest work were abused, were exploited, and if they stood up for their rights, they'd be thrown out of this country. So it wasn't just me who opposed it. It was +p3014 +aVWell, let me just respond. I worked with Ted Kennedy. He was the chairman of my committee. And I loved Ted Kennedy. But on this issue, when you have one of the large Latino organizations in America saying vote no, and you have the AFL-CIO saying vote no, and you have leading progressive Democrats, in fact, voting no, I don't apologize for that vote. But in terms of the children, I don't know to whom you're sending a message. Who are you sending a message to? These are children who are leaving countries and neighborhoods where their lives are at stake. That was the fact. I don't think we use them to send a message. I think we welcome them into this country and do the best we can to help them get their lives together. +p3015 +aVOK. You know, you judge a nation not by the number of millionaires and billionaires it has, but by how you treat, we treat, the most vulnerable and fragile people in our nation. And by those standards, we're not doing particularly well. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty among almost any major country on Earth. And in terms of seniors, there are millions of seniors \u2014 and I've talked to them in my state of Vermont and all over this country \u2014 who are trying to get by on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year Social Security. And you know what? You do the arithmetic. You can't get by on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year. And here's an area where Secretary Clinton and I believe we have a difference. I have long supported the proposition that we should lift the cap on taxable income coming into the Social Security Trust Fund, starting at $250,000. And when we \u2014 and when we do that, we don't do what the Republicans want, which is to cut Social Security. We do what the American people want, to expand Social Security by $1,300 a year for people under $16,000, and we extend the life of Social Security for 58 years. Yes, the wealthiest people, the top 1.5 percent, will pay more in taxes. But a great nation like ours should not be in a position where elderly people are cutting their pills in half, where they don't have decent nutrition, where they can't heat their homes in the wintertime. That is not what America should be about. If elected president, I will do everything I can to expand Social Security benefits, not just for seniors, but for disabled veterans, as well. +p3016 +aVIn all due respect......In all due respect, Secretary Clinton, a lot of the progressive groups, the online groups have really asked you a simple question. Are you coming onboard a proposal? And what is that proposal? Now, the proposal that I have outlined, you know, should be familiar to you, because it is what essentially Barack Obama campaigned on in 2008. You opposed him then. I would hope that you would come onboard and say that this is the simple and straightforward thing to do. We're asking the top 1.5 percent, including passive income, to start paying a little bit more so that the elderly and disabled vets in this country can live with security and dignity. I hope you will make a decision soon on this. +p3017 +aVThat's my bill. Check it out. +p3018 +aVWhat we are talking about in reality is a corrupt campaign finance system, that's what we're talking about. We have to be honest about it. It is undermining American democracy. When extraordinarily wealthy people make very large contributions to Super PACs, and in many cases in this campaign, Super PACs have raised more money than individual candidates have, OK? We had a decision to make early on, do we do a Super PAC? And, we said no. We don't represent Wall Street, we don't represent the billionaire class, so it ends up I'm the only candidate up here of the many candidates who has no Super PAC. But, what we did is we said to the working families of this country, look, we know things are tough, but if you want to help us go beyond establishment politics, and establishment economics, send us something. And, it turns out that up until \u2014 and this has blown me away, never in a million years would I have believed that I would be standing here tonight telling you that we have received three and a half million individual contributions from well over a million people. Now, Secretary Clinton's Super PAC, as I understand it, received $25 million dollars last reporting period, $15 million dollars from Wall Street. Our average contribution is $27 dollars, I'm very proud of that. +p3019 +aVThe people aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street... But let's not \u2014 but let's not \u2014 let's not insult \u2014 let's not insult the intelligence of the American people. People aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street make huge campaign contributions? I guess just for the fun of it; they want to throw money around. Why does the pharmaceutical industry make huge campaign contributions? Any connection maybe to the fact that our people pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs? Why does the fossil fuel industry pay \u2014 spend huge amounts of money on campaign contributions? Any connection to the fact that not one Republican candidate for president thinks and agrees with the scientific community that climate change is real and that we have got to transform our energy system? And when we talk about Wall Street, let's talk about Wall Street. I voted for Dodd-Frank, got an important amendment in it. In my view, it doesn't go anywhere near far enough. But when we talk about Wall Street, you have Wall Street and major banks have paid $200 billion in fines since the great crash. No Wall Street executive has been prosecuted. +p3020 +aVLet me, you know, again, respectfully disagree with Secretary Clinton here. When you have three out of the four largest financial institutions in this country bigger today than they were when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, when you have six financial institutions having assets equivalent to 58 percent of the GDP of America, while issuing two-thirds of the credit cards and a third of the mortgages, look, I think if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, that great trust-buster would have said break them up. I think he would have been right. I think he would have said bring back a 21st-century Glass-Steagall legislation. I think that would have been right, as well. That's my view. +p3021 +aVHey, I'm in the United States Senate, and anyone who doesn't think that there is an enormous amount of waste and inefficiency and bureaucracy throughout government would be very, very mistaken. I believe in government, but I believe in efficient government, not wasteful government. +p3022 +aVIf I could just answer that, we have also got to take a look at the waste and inefficiencies in the Department of Defense, which is the one major agency of government that has not been able to be audited. And I have the feeling you're going to find a lot of cost overruns there and a lot of waste and duplicative activities. +p3023 +aVLet me \u2014 let me just say this. What a President of the United States has got to do and what is his or her major, I think, responsibility is to, a, make certain that we keep our people safe, that we work with allies around the world to protect democratic values, that we do all that we can to create a world of peace and prosperity. I voted against the war in Iraq because I listened very carefully to what President Bush and Vice President Cheney had to say and I didn't believe them. And if you go to my Web site,berniesanders.com, what you find is not only going to help lead the opposition to that war, but much of what I feared would happen when I spoke on the floor of the House, in fact, did happen in terms of the instability that occurred. Now I think an area in kind of a vague way, or not so vague, where Secretary Clinton and I disagree is the area of regime change. Look, the truth is that a powerful nation like the United States, certainly working with our allies, we can overthrow dictators all over the world. And God only knows Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator. We could overthrow Assad tomorrow if we wanted to. We got rid of Gadhafi. But the point about foreign policy is not just to know that you can overthrow a terrible dictator, it's to understand what happens the day after. And in Libya, for example, the United States, Secretary Clinton, as secretary of state, working with some other countries, did get rid of a terrible dictator named Gadhafi. But what happened is a political vacuum developed. +p3024 +aVJudy, if I can, there is no question, Secretary Clinton and I are friends, and I have a lot of respect for her, that she has enormous experience in foreign affairs. Secretary of state for four years. You've got a bit of experience, I would imagine. But judgment matters as well. Judgment matters as well. And she and I looked at the same evidence coming from the Bush administration regarding Iraq. I lead the opposition against it. She voted for it. But more importantly, in terms of this Libya resolution that you have noted before, this was a virtually unanimous consent. Everybody voted for it wanting to see Libya move toward democracy, of course we all wanted to do that. That is very different than talking about specific action for regime change, which I did not support. +p3025 +aVJudy, one area very briefly... +p3026 +aVWhere the secretary and I have a very profound difference, in the last debate \u2014 and I believe in her book \u2014 very good book, by the way \u2014 in her book and in this last debate, she talked about getting the approval or the support or the mentoring of Henry Kissinger. Now, I find it rather amazing, because I happen to believe that Henry Kissinger was one of the most destructive secretaries of state in the modern history of this country. I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend. I will not take advice from Henry Kissinger. And in fact, Kissinger's actions in Cambodia, when the United States bombed that country, overthrew Prince Sihanouk, created the instability for Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge to come in, who then butchered some 3 million innocent people, one of the worst genocides in the history of the world. So count me in as somebody who will not be listening to Henry Kissinger. +p3027 +aVWell, it ain't Henry Kissinger. That's for sure. +p3028 +aVIt is. +p3029 +aVI find \u2014 I mean, it's just a very different, you know, historical perspective here. Kissinger was one of those people during the Vietnam era who talked about the domino theory. Not everybody remembers that. You do. I do. The domino theory, you know, if Vietnam goes, China, da, da, da, da, da, da, da. That's what he talked about, the great threat of China. And then, after the war, this is the guy who, in fact, yes, you're right, he opened up relations with China, and now pushed various type of trade agreements, resulting in American workers losing their jobs as corporations moved to China. The terrible, authoritarian, Communist dictatorship he warned us about, now he's urging companies to shut down and move to China. Not my kind of guy. +p3030 +aVWell, this is what I would say. It is a complicated relationship. I congratulate Secretary of State John Kerry and the president for working on this agreement. As you've indicated, what is happening in Syria, the number of people, the hundreds of thousands of people who have been killed \u2014 men, women, 20,000 children, the people who are forced to flee their own country \u2014 their own country \u2014 it is unspeakable. It is a real horror. Now, what I think is that right now we have got to do our best in developing positive relations with Russia. But let's be clear: Russia's aggressive actions in the Crimea and in Ukraine have brought about a situation where President Obama and +p3031 +aVLet me just \u2014 just say this. For a start, the secretary and I disagree \u2014 and I think the president does not agree with her \u2014 in terms of the concept of a no-fly zone in Syria. I think you do have a humanitarian tragedy there, as I mentioned a moment ago. I applaud Secretary Kerry and the president for trying to put together this agreement. Let's hope that it holds. But furthermore, what we have got to do, I'm sorry, yes, I do believe that we have got to do everything that we can, and it will not happen tomorrow. But I do hope that in years to come, just as occurred with Cuba, 10, 20 years ago, people would say, reach normalized relations with Cuba. And by the way, I hope we can end the trade embargo with Cuba as well. But the idea that we some day maybe have decent relations with Iran, maybe put pressure on them so they end their support for terrorism around the world, yes, that is something I want to achieve. And I believe that the best way to do that is to be aggressive, to be principled, but to have the goal of trying to improve relations. That's how you make peace in the world. You sit down and you work with people, you make demands of people, in this case demanding Iran stop the support of international terrorism. +p3032 +aVWe have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of work to do. But I recall when Secretary Clinton ran against then-Senator Obama, she was critical of him for suggesting that maybe you want to talk to Iran, that you want to talk to our enemies. I have no illusion. Of course you are right. Iran is sponsoring terrorism in many parts of the world, destabilizing areas. Everybody knows that. But our goal is, in fact, to try over a period of time to, in fact, deal with our enemies, not just ignore that reality. +p3033 +aVNo, I think the idea was that president \u2014 then-Senator Obama was wrong for suggesting that it is a good idea to talk to your opponents. It's easier to talk to your friends. It's harder to talk to your enemies. I think we should do both. +p3034 +aVA couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to go on a congressional delegation. And I went to one of these Turkish refugee camps right on the border of Syria. And what a sad sight that was: Men, women, children forced out of their homes. And Turkey, by the way, did a very decent thing, providing what was reasonable housing and conditions for those people. It seems to me that given our history as a nation that has been a beacon of hope for the oppressed, for the downtrodden, that I very strongly disagree with those Republican candidates who say, you know what, we've got to turn our backs on women and children who left their home with nothing, nothing at all. That is not what America is supposed to be about. So I believe that working with Europe \u2014 and, by the way, you know, we've got some very wealthy countries there in that part of the world. You got Kuwait and you got Qatar and you got Saudi Arabia. They have a responsibility, as well. But I think this is a worldwide \u2014 that the entire world needs to come together to deal with this horrific refugee crisis we're seeing from Syria and Afghanistan, as well. +p3035 +aVYou know, Franklin Delano Roosevelt took the oath of office in 1933 at a time when 25 percent of the American people were unemployed, country was in incredible despair. And he stood before the American people and he said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself," a profound statement that gave the American people the courage to believe that, yes, we could get out of that terrible depression. And then what he did is redefine the role of government. You know, you had Herbert Hoover before that saying, no, we got to only worry about the deficit. So what if mass unemployment exists? So what if children are going hungry? That's not the role of the government. And when FDR said, "Yeah, it is," that we're going to use all of the resources that we have to create jobs, to build homes, to feed people, to protect the farmers, we are a nation which if we come together there is nothing that we could not accomplish. And kind of \u2014 that's what I see our campaign is about right now. In this particular moment of serious crises, saying to the American people don't give up on the political process. don't listen to the Trumps of the world and allowing them to divide us. If we reengage and get involved, yeah, we can have health care for all people, we can make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We do not have to have massive levels of income and wealth inequality. In the same light, as the foreign leader, Winston Churchill's politics were not my politics. He was kind of a conservative guy in many respects. But nobody can deny that as a wartime leader, he rallied the British people when they stood virtually alone against the Nazi juggernaut and rallied them and eventually won an extraordinary victory. Those are two leaders that I admire very much. +p3036 +aVThat is......Madam Secretary, that is a low blow. I have worked with President Obama for the last seven years. When President Obama came into office we were losing 800,000 jobs a month, 800,000 jobs a month. We had a $1.4 trillion deficit. And the world's financial system is on the verge of collapse. As a result of his efforts and the efforts of Joe Biden against unprecedented, I was there in the Senate, unprecedented Republican obstructionism, we have made enormous progress. But you know what? Last I heard we lived in a democratic society. Last I heard, a United States senator had the right to disagree with the president, including a president who has done such an extraordinary job. So I have voiced criticisms. You're right. Maybe you haven't. I have. But I think to suggest that I have voiced criticism, this blurb that you talk about, you know what the blurb said? The blurb said that the next president of the United States has got to be aggressive in bringing people into the political process. That's what I said. That is what I believe. President Obama and I are friends. As you know, he came to Vermont to campaign for me when he was a senator. I have worked for his re-election. His first election and his re-election. But I think it is really unfair to suggest that I have not been supportive of the president. I have been a strong ally with him on virtually every issue. Do senators have the right to disagree with the president? Have you ever disagreed with a president? I suspect you may have. +p3037 +aVWell, one of us ran against Barack Obama. I was not that candidate. All right, look, this has been a great debate. A lot of interesting issues have come together. Let me conclude by just saying this. There is no president, in my view, not Hillary Clinton, not Bernie Sanders, who has the capability or the power to take on Wall Street, large campaign donors, the corporate media, the big money interests in this country alone. This campaign is not just about electing a president. What this campaign is about is creating a process for a political revolution in which millions of Americans, working people who have given up on the political process, they don't think anybody hears their pains or their concerns. Young people for whom getting involved in politics is as, you know, it's like going to the moon. It ain't going to happen. Low income people who are not involved in the political process. What this campaign is not only about electing someone who has the most progressive agenda, it is about bringing tens of millions of people together to demand that we have a government that represents all of us and not just the 1 percent, who today have so much economic and political power. Thank you all very much. +p3038 +aVRachel, thank you very much. Millions of Americans are giving up on the political process. And they're giving up on the political process because they understand the economy is rigged. They are working longer hours for low wages. They're worried about the future of their kids, and yet almost all new income and wealth is going to the top 1 percent. Not what America is supposed to be about. Not the fairness that we grew up believing that America was about. And then sustaining that rigged economy is a corrupt campaign finance system undermining American democracy, where billionaire, Wall Street, corporate America can contribute unlimited sums of money into super PACs and into candidates. Our job, together, is to end a rigged economy, create an economy that works for all, and absolutely overturn Citizens United. One person, one vote. That's what American democracy is about. +p3039 +aVWell, I haven't quite run for president before. Let's deal with some of the comments that Secretary Clinton made. And by the way, you know, sometimes there's a lot of drama here. I have known Secretary Clinton for 25 years and respect her very much. Here is the issue. Every major country on earth, whether it's the U.K., whether it's France, whether it's Canada, has managed to provide healthcare to all people as a right and they are spending significantly less per capita on health care than we are. So I do not accept the belief that the United States of America can't do that. I do not accept the belief that the United States of America and our government can't stand up to the ripoffs of the pharmaceutical industry which charge us by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. Number two, in the economy today, everybody understands that we need a well educated workforce. This is 2016. When we talk about public education, it can no longer be K through 12th grade. I do believe that public colleges and universities should be tuition free. Well, how do we pay for that? It's an expensive proposition. I do believe that we should substantially lower student debt in this country, which is crushing millions of people. We pay for it, in my view, by a tax on Wall Street speculation. The middle class bailed out Wall Street in their time of need. Now, it is Wall Street's time to help the middle class. +p3040 +aVLet me... +p3041 +aV... this is a good discussion here. +p3042 +aVAnd let me just say this. As Secretary Clinton may know, I am on the Health Education Labor Committee. That committee wrote the Affordable Care Act. The idea I would dismantle health care in America while we're waiting to pass a Medicare for all is just not accurate. The Affordable Care Act has clearly, as Secretary Clinton made the point, done a lot of good things, but, what it has not done is dealt with the fact we have 29 million people today who have zero health insurance, we have even more who are underinsured with large deductibles and copayments and prescription drug prices are off the wall. So I do believe that in the future, not by dismantling what we have here\u2014I helped write that bill\u2014but by moving forward, rallying the American people, I do believe we should have health care for all. +p3043 +aVNo, not at all. Here's the reality of American economic life today. The reality is that we have one of lowest voter turnouts of any major country on earth because so many people have given up on the political process. The reality is that there has been trillions of dollars of wealth going from the middle class in the last 30 years to the top 1/10th of 1 percent. The reality is we that have a corrupt campaign finance system which separates the American people's needs and desires from what Congress is doing. So to my mind, what we have got to do is wage a political revolution where millions of people have given up on the political process, stand up and fight back, demand the government that represents us and not just a handful of campaign contribution\u2014contributors. Now all of the ideas that I'm talking about, they are not radical ideas. Making public colleges and universities tuition free, that exists in countries all over the world, used to exist in the United States. Rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, and creating 13 million jobs by doing away with tax loopholes that large corporations now enjoy by putting their money into the Cayman Islands and other tax havens. That is not a radical idea. What we need to do is to stand up to the big money interests, and the campaign contributors. When we do that, we can, in fact, transform America. +p3044 +aVLet me just pick up on this point. This whole discussion began because I commented, not making overall evaluation about the Secretary. She was in Ohio, I think, in September or November and she got up and said something like, I have been\u2014I'm paraphrasing, I have been criticized because people think I'm a moderate. Well, I am a moderate. That's where this came from. It wasn't me paraphrasing her. It is what she said, and all that I said was there's nothing wrong with being a moderate. But, you can't be a moderate, you can't a progressive. In terms of President Obama, I think if we remember where this country was seven years ago, 800,000 jobs being lost every month, $1.4 trillion dollar deficit. The world's financial system on the verge of collapse. I think that President Obama, Vice President Biden, and the Democratic leadership in the House and the Senate have done a fantastic job. We are in much better shape than we were seven years ago, although my Republican colleagues seem to have forgotten where we were seven years ago. That's the fact, but, we still have a very long way to go. Do I think President Obama is a progressive? Yes, I do. I disagree with him on a number of issues including the trade agreement. But, yes, I think he has done an excellent job. +p3045 +aVThat's right, I mean, instead of arguing about definitions, let's talk about... +p3046 +aV... What we should do, and one of the things we should do is not only talk the talk, but walk the walk. I am very proud to be the only candidate up here who does not have a Super PAC, who's not raising huge sums of money from Wall Street...... And special interests. I am enormously proud. Never believed it would happen that we have raised 3.5 million individual contributions, averaging $27 dollars a piece. That is what the political revolution means. +p3047 +aVWell, Rachel, actually, that wasn't accurate. In 1988 the Republican did win, I believe, by 3 points. I came in second. It was 34-31, I think, 19 for the Democrat. In that race the Democrat was the spoiler, not me. And it is true......it is true, it's not to be denied, I am the longest- serving independent in the history of the United States Congress. People of Vermont sent me to Washington as an independent. That is true. But on the other hand, I have\u2014when I was in the House for 16 years, I caucused with the Democrats. In the Senate for nine years caucused with the Democrats, of course. And I was elected by the Democrats to be chair of the Veterans Committee three years ago, which I'm very proud of. And now am the rankings member on the Budget Committee, leader of the Democrats in opposition to the majority Republicans. I am running for president as a Democrat. And if elected, not only do I hope to bring forth a major change in national priorities, but let me be frank, I do want to see major changes in the Democratic Party. I want to see working people and young people come into the party in a way that doesn't exist now. And you know what, I want a 50-state strategy so the Democratic Party is not just the party of 25 states. +p3048 +aVWell, I don't see it quite like that. +p3049 +aVI am\u2014will absolutely admit that Secretary Clinton has the support of far more governors, mayors, members of the House. She has the entire establishment or almost the entire establishment behind her. That's a fact. I don't deny it. But I am pretty proud that we have over a million people who have contributed to our campaign averaging 27 bucks apiece. That we have had meetings where 25,000-30,000 people have come out. That our campaign is a campaign of the people, by the people, and for the people. So, Rachel, yes, Secretary Clinton does represent the establishment. I represent, I hope, ordinary Americans, and by the way, who are not all that enamored with the establishment, but I am very proud to have people like Keith Ellison and Raul Grijalva in the House, the co-chairmen of the House Progressive Caucus. +p3050 +aVWhat being part of the establishment is, is, in the last quarter, having a super PAC that raised $15 million from Wall Street, that throughout one's life raised a whole lot of money from the drug companies and other special interests. To my mind, if we do not get a handle on money in politics and the degree to which big money controls the political process in this country, nobody is going to bring about the changes that is needed in this country for the middle class and working families. +p3051 +aVWhat... +p3052 +aV... you know... +p3053 +aV. +p3054 +aVLet's talk about\u2014OK, let's talk... +p3055 +aV... let us talk about issues. +p3056 +aVLet's talk about issues. +p3057 +aVLet's... +p3058 +aV... let's\u2014let's\u2014let's talk about issues. +p3059 +aVLet's talk\u2014let's talk about issues, all right? Let's talk about why, in the 1990s, Wall Street got deregulated. Did it have anything to do with the fact that Wall Street provided\u2014spent billions of dollars on lobbying and campaign contributions? Well, some people might think, yeah, that had some influence. Let's ask why it is that we pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, and your medicine can be doubled tomorrow, and there's nothing that the government can do to stop it. You think it has anything to do with the huge amounts of campaign contributions and lobbying from the fossil fuel industry? Let's talk about climate change. Do you think there's a reason why not one Republican has the guts to recognize that climate change is real, and that we need to transform our energy system? Do you think it has anything to do with the Koch brothers and ExxonMobil pouring huge amounts of money into the political system? That is what goes on in America. I am not\u2014I like......there is a reason. You know, there is a reason why these people are putting huge amounts of money into our political system. And in my view, it is undermining American democracy and it is allowing Congress to represent wealthy campaign contributors and not the working families of this country. +p3060 +aVI think as Secretary Clinton knows, there is nobody who fought harder. I was on the House Financial Committee at that time. I heard the arguments coming from Democrats and Republicans\u2014Robert Rubin, Alan Greenspan\u2014about great an idea it would be if we did away with Glass-Steagall and if we allowed investor banks and commercial banks and big insurance companies to merge. Go to YouTube today. Look up Greenspan-Sanders. Listen to what I told them then. I helped lead the effort against deregulation. Unfortunately, we lost that. The result is\u2014was the worst financial disaster since the Great Depression. +p3061 +aVChuck, actually we looked at it, but it turns out to be a disaster. The way it is structured right now, if you make it all the way to California, you could do pretty well. But in terms of the early states\u2014Iowa, New Hampshire, the other states\u2014it just doesn't work. Your point is well taken. I believe in public funding of elections, absolutely. But this system is\u2014I don't know if the secretary would agree\u2014is currently very antiquated and no longer applies to modern day politics. +p3062 +aVBut if the... +p3063 +aVLet me just say this. Wall Street is perhaps the most powerful economic and political force in this country. You have companies like Goldman Sachs, who just recently paid a settlement fine with the federal government for $5 billion for defrauding investors. Goldman Sachs was one of those companies whose illegal activity helped destroy our economy and ruin the lives of millions of Americans. But this is what a rigged economy and a corrupt campaign finance system and a broken criminal justice is about. These guys are so powerful that not one of the executives on Wall Street has been charged with anything after paying, in this case of Goldman Sachs, a $5 billion fine. Kid gets caught with marijuana, that kid has a police record. A Wall Street executive destroys the economy, $5 billion settlement with the government, no criminal record. That is what power is about. That is what corruption is about. And that is what has to change in the United States of America. +p3064 +aVI would say that\u2014that folks who have looked at this issue for a long time, whether it's Elizabeth Warren or many other economists, will tell you that right now, yes, we do need a 21st century Glass-Steagall legislation. And I would tell you also that when you have three out of the four largest banks in America today, bigger than they were\u2014significantly bigger than when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, I think if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, a good Republican by the way, what he would say is: Break them up; they are too powerful economically; they are too powerful politically. And that is what I believe and many economists believe. Time to break them up. +p3065 +aVWell, we've had a number of economists supporting our legislation. And here's where we are. The American people can judge. Six largest financial institutions in America today have assets of roughly $10 trillion; equivalent to 58 percent of the GDP of the United States of America. That is a lot of money. They issue two thirds of the credit cards, and by the way they're ripping off a whole lot of people with high interest rates on the credit cards, and they write about one third of the mortgages. That is a lot of power for six financial institutions. That's it. I think it is too much power. Too much economic power, too much political power, and the economists that I talk to say we should break them up. +p3066 +aVYeah, I do. I agree with much of what the Secretary said, but, madam Secretary, it is not one streak. Wall Street is an entity of unbelievable economic and political power. That's a fact. And, I want to say something, and it may sound harsh, not to you, but to the American people. In a sense, in my view, the business model of Wall Street is fraud. It's fraud. I believe that corruption is rampant, and the fact that major bank after major bank has reached multi billion dollar settlements with the United States government when we have a weak regulator system tells me that not only did we have to bail them out once, if we don't start breaking them up, we're going to have to bail them out again, and I do not want to see that happen... +p3067 +aVOf course I can work with them, but let's be clear. When I talked about Boeing and I talked about General Electric, what I was referring to is an outrage. I suspect the secretary agrees request me. Right now you have a loophole such that these guys are putting their profits, multi-billion dollar profitable corporations putting billions of dollars into the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, and other tax havens. And in a given year, Rachel, after making billions of dollars in profit, do you know how much they're paying in taxes to the United States government in a given year? Zero. Now explain to me how that makes any sense at all. So what I have said with regard to Boeing and GE and other multinationals that pay zero taxes, you know what we're going to do? We're going to end that loophole. They are going to pay their fair share of taxes. We're going to use that money to rebuild our infrastructure and create up to 13 million jobs. Can I work with corporations? Are there good corporations doing incredible cutting edge research and development? Absolutely they are. And we should be proud of them. But on the other hand, there are many corporations who have turned their backs on the American worker, who have said, if I can make another nickel in profit by going to China and shutting down in the United States of America, that's what I will do. I will do my best to transform our trade policy and take on these corporations who want to invest in low-income countries around the world rather than in the United States of America. +p3068 +aVOK. Let me agree with much of what the secretary said, but where we have a different background on this issue is we differ on the war in Iraq, which created barbaric organizations like +p3069 +aVWell, I think our great task is to make certain that our young men and women in the military do not get sucked into never- ending, perpetual warfare within the quagmire of Syria and Iraq. And I will do my very best to make sure that that doesn't happen. I agree with the secretary that I think what has to happen\u2014and let me just mention what King Abdullah of Jordan said. I think he hit the nail on the head. And what he said is essentially the war against +p3070 +aVWell, you can't simply withdraw tomorrow. Wish we could, and allow, you know, the Taliban or anybody else to reclaim that country. But what we must do, and what we have seen in recent months, is some progress in Iraq, where finally the Iraqi army, which has not been a particularly effective fighting force, retook Ramadi. +p3071 +aVWell, that's not quite accurate. I did give a speech at Georgetown where I talked about democratic socialism and foreign policy. Maybe I shouldn't have combined the two in the same speech, because the foreign policy part of it didn't get much attention. So, let me take this opportunity to give you a very short speech here on the issue. I think, while it is true that the secretary and I voted differently on the war in Iraq, what is important is that we learn the lesson of the war in Iraq. And that lesson is intrinsic to my foreign policy if elected president, is the United States cannot do it alone. We cannot be the policeman of the world. We are now spending more I believe than the next eight countries on defense. We have got to work in strong coalition with the major powers of the world and with those Muslim countries that are prepared to stand up and take on terrorism. So I would say that the key doctrine of the Sanders administration would be no, we cannot continue to do it alone; we need to work in coalition. +p3072 +aV I fully, fully concede that Secretary Clinton, who was secretary of State for four years, has more experience\u2014hat is not arguable\u2014in foreign affairs. But experience is not the only point, judgment is. And once again, back in 2002, when we both looked at the same evidence about the wisdom of the war in Iraq, one of us voted the right way and one of us didn't. In terms of Iran and in terms of Saudi Arabia, of course they hate each other. That's no great secret. But John Kerry, who is I think doing a very good job, has tried to at least get these people in the room together because both of them are being threatened by +p3073 +aVWell... +p3074 +aVWho said That think we should normalize relations with Iran tomorrow? I never said that. I think we should move forward as quickly as we can. And you're right. They are a sponsor of terrorism around the world and we have to address that. But you know, a number of years ago, people were saying normal relationship with Cuba, what a bad and silly idea. They're Communists, they are our enemy. Well guess what? Change has come. So please don't suggest that I think we normalize relations with Tehran tomorrow. We don't. But I would like to see us move forward, and hopefully some day that will happen. And I would say if I might, Madam Secretary\u2014and you can correct me if I'm wrong. When you ran against Senator Obama you thought him naive because he thought it was a good idea to talk to our enemies. I think those are exactly the people you have to talk to and you have to negotiate with. +p3075 +aVOK. +p3076 +aVI think President Obama had the right idea, and the bottom line is that of course there have to be conditions. But, of course it doesn't do us any good to not talk with our adversaries... +p3077 +aVJust to set the record straight, I very strongly supported the agreement which makes certain that Iran does not get a nuclear weapon. +p3078 +aV... +p3079 +aV +p3080 +aV... No, no... +p3081 +aV... +p3082 +aVClearly North Korea is a very strange situation because it is such an isolated country run by a handful of dictators, or maybe just one, who seems to be somewhat paranoid. And, who had nuclear weapons. And, our goal there, in my view, is to work and lean strongly on China to put as much pressure. China is one of the few major countries in the world that has significant support for North Korea, and I think we got to do everything we can to put pressure on China. I worry very much about an isolated, paranoid country with atomic bombs. I think, clearly, we got to work closely with China to resolve the serious problems we have, and I worry about Putin and his military adventurism in the Crimea and the Ukraine. +p3083 +aV... No, I don't. I worry very, very much about an isolated country. That's what makes me nervous. Russia lives in the world. China lives in the world. North Korea is a very, very strange country because it is so isolated, and I do feel that a nation with nuclear weapons, they have got to be dealt with. Dealt with effectively. +p3084 +aVLet me agree. You know, as the secretary knows, I chaired\u2014I had the privilege and the honor of chairing the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs. And it is interesting to me, you know, Republicans give a lot of speeches about how much they love veterans. I work with the American Legion, the VFW, the DAV, the Vietnam Vets, and virtually every veterans organization to put together the most comprehensive piece of the veterans legislation in the modern history of America. That's what I did. And I brought it to the floor of the Senate. Every Democrat voted for it, I got two Republicans. We ended up with 56 votes and I couldn't get the 60 votes that I needed. That is pathetic. This was legislation supported by all of the veterans organizations, addressing many of the serious problems that veterans face in health care and in how we deliver benefits to them. So Republicans talk a good game about veterans, but when it came to put money on the line to protect our veterans, frankly, they were not there. What I did next, Rachel, is I had to retreat a little bit, I had to compromise. I did work with John McCain. I did work with Jeff Miller over in the House. And we put together not the bill that I wanted, but probably the most comprehensive V.A. health care bill in the modern history of this country. Secretary Clinton is absolutely right, there are people, Koch brothers among others, who have a group called Concerned Veterans of America, funded by the Koch brothers. The Koch brothers, by the way, want to destroy Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, every governmental program passed since the 1930s. Yes, there are people out there who want to privatize it. The last point that I'd make. I had a hearing. I had all of the veterans groups in front of me. And I said to them, tell me when a veteran gets in to the V.A., understanding there are waiting lines and real problems, when a veteran gets into the system, is the quality of care good? Without exception, what they said, good, excellent, very good. We've got to strengthen the V.A. We do not privatize the V.A. +p3085 +aVWell, I agree with the Des Moines Register, but let's not blow this out of proportion. This is not a\u2014this is not, like, a winner-take-all thing. I think where we now stand\u2014correct me if I'm wrong\u2014you have 22 delegates, I have 20 delegates. We need 2,500 delegates to win the nomination. You know, so this is not\u2014this is not the biggest deal in the world. We think, by the way, based on talking to our precinct captains, we may have at least two more delegates. What the Des Moines Register said\u2014you know, there were coin\u2014I think there were half a dozen coin flips\u2014a fairly chaotic type situation. At the end of the day, no matter how it's recounted, it will break roughly even. And by the way, I love and respect the caucus process in Iowa. See, and I don't have to say it, because they voted already. And I love New Hampshire, too, because you haven't voted, but......but, look, I think people are blowing this up out of proportion. But I think we need improvements in the process by which results are determined. +p3086 +aVOh . See, when you are old, then they go back all these years. All right. What have you got? +p3087 +aVWell, you know, a general election is different than a primary and caucus process. But let me just say this. In terms of where we are right now, as you mention, Rachel, in a number of national and state, including New Hampshire. For example, the last poll I saw\u2014there may have been a new one\u2014last one I saw here in New Hampshire, a battleground state, had me defeating Trump by 19; the secretary defeating him by one. There were also pretty large margins in Iowa and Wisconsin. These are polls. Polls go up. Polls go down. But here's why I think I will be, if nominated, the strongest candidate. Democrats win when there is a large voter turnout; when people are excited; when working people, middle class people and young people are prepared to engage in the political process. Republicans win when people are demoralized and you have a small voter turnout, which by the way is why they love voter suppression. I believe that our campaign up to now has shown that we can create an enormous amount of enthusiasm from working people, from young people, who will get involved in the political process and which will drive us to a very large voter turnout. If there is a large voter turnout, not only do we retain the White House, but I think we regain the Senate. We win governors' chairs up and down the line. So I believe if you want to retain the White House, if you want to see Democrats do well across the board, I think our campaign is the one that creates the large voter turnout and helps us win. +p3088 +aV +p3089 +aVI am feeling exactly the way I felt at the first debate. There's a process under way. I will not politicize it. +p3090 +aVAnd by the way\u2014and by the way, if I may, the secretary probably doesn't know that there's not a day that goes by when I am not asked to attack her on that issue, and I have refrained from doing that and I will continue to refrain from doing that. +p3091 +aVNot losing control of our campaign. You know, we have hired a whole lot of people in a rapid way and I am familiar with the first two instances and they are unacceptable, and we have apologized and dealt with that. In terms of the last one, as I understand it, we did not suggest that we had the endorsement of a newspaper. Newspapers who make endorsements also say positive things about other candidates, and to the best of my knowledge, that is what we did. So we never said, never said that somebody, a newspaper endorsed us that did not. What we did say is blah blah blah blah was said by the newspaper. +p3092 +aVBut that was only for\u2014that was not to be on television. That's an important point. That was just something\u2014as the secretary knows, you put titles on ads and you send them out, but there was no word in that ad, none, that said that those newspapers had endorsed us. +p3093 +aV... Look, I hear what the Secretary said, and I understand, but look, there are\u2014all of us know that we have seen in recent years horrible, horrible crimes. It's hard to imagine how people can do, bomb, and kill 168 people in Oklahoma City, or do the Boston Marathon bombing, but this is what I believe, and for a couple of reasons. Number one, too many innocent people, including minorities, African Americans, have been executed when they were not guilty. That's number one. We have to be very careful about making sure about that. But, second of all, and maybe, in a deeper reason, of course there are barbaric acts out there. But, in a world of so much violence and killing, I just don't believe that government itself should be part of the killing. So, when somebody commits......somebody commits any of these terrible crimes that we have seen, you lock them up, and you toss away the key. They're never going to get out. But, I just don't' want to see government be part of killing. That's all. +p3094 +aVAbsolutely. I think the Secretary described the situation appropriately. You know, I don't go around asking for governor's resignations every day. In fact, I think I never have in my life. But I did ask for the resignation of Governor Snyder because his irresponsibility......was so outrageous. What we are talking about are children being poisoned. That's what we're talking about. We don't know, no one knows for sure because they haven't done the appropriate studies, but there's no question that kids' intellectual development may have been impacted. We don't know how many thousands. The idea that there has not been a dramatic response is beyond comprehension. And when you have one of the, I think, significant public health crises of recent years, of course the federal government comes in. And of course the federal government says, you're not going to be poisoning little kids and impacting their entire lives. Last point on this. And I suspect the secretary agrees. One wonders if this were a white suburban community what kind of response there would have been. Flint, Michigan, is a poor community. It is disproportionately African-American and minority. And what has happened there is absolutely unacceptable. +p3095 +aVAbsolutely right. +p3096 +aVChuck, I believe in trade, but I do not believe in unfettered free trade. I believe in fair trade which works for the middle class and working families of this country and not just large multinational corporations. I was not only in opposition to +p3097 +aVNo, let... +p3098 +aV... I am absolutely supportive of comprehensive immigration reform and a path towards citizenship for 11 million people today who are living in the shadows. All right? We got to do that. But you miss\u2014when you looked at the issues, you missed two of the most important. And that is you're not going to accomplish what has to be done for working families and the middle class unless there is campaign finance reform. So long as big money interests control the United States Congress, it is gonna be very hard to do what has to be done for working families. So let me be very clear. No nominee of mine, if I'm elected president, to the United States Supreme Court will get that nomination unless he or she is loud and clear, and says they will vote to overturn Citizens United. Second point\u2014second point is that the only way we make change in terms of health care, in terms of dealing with a broken criminal justice system which, today, allows us to have more people in jail than any other country\u2014largely African-American and Latino\u2014the only way we create millions of jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure or have a tax system that says to the wealthy that they are going to pay their fair share, is when millions of people become involved in the political process. No, you just can't negotiate with Mitch McConnell. Mitch is gonna have to look out the window and see a whole lot of people saying, "Mitch, stop representing the billionaire class. Start listening to working families." And as president, that's what I will work hard on. +p3099 +aVI agree with what the secretary said. We shouldn't be getting ahead of ourselves. And as I have said many times, you know, sometimes in these campaigns, things get a little bit out of hand. I happen to respect the secretary very much, I hope it's mutual. And on our worst days, I think it is fair to say we are 100 times better than any Republican candidate. +p3100 +aVI\u2014my dad came to this country at the age of 17 from Poland. Didn't have any money, couldn't speak English, he died pretty young, and I think it would have been beyond his wildest dreams to see his son up here on this stage today running for president. I love this country and my dad loved this country, and he was the most proud American because of what it gave him in terms of raising his family, even though we never had much money. But today in America, we are the only major country on earth that doesn't guarantee health care to all people, that doesn't guarantee paid family and medical leave. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth. We are seeing millions of families unable to send their kids to college in the United States of America. I'm running for president because I believe it is just too late for establishment politics and establishment economics. I do believe we need a political revolution where millions of people stand up and say loudly and clearly that our government belongs to all of us and not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors. Thank you all. +p3101 +aVThank you. As we honor the extraordinary life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., it's important not only that we remember what he stood for, but that we pledge to continue his vision to transform our country. As we look out at our country today, what the American people understand is we have an economy that's rigged, that ordinary Americans are working longer hours for lower wages, 47 million people living in poverty, and almost all of the new income and wealth going to the top one percent. And then, to make a bad situation worse, we have a corrupt campaign finance system where millionaires and billionaires are spending extraordinary amounts of money to buy elections. This campaign is about a political revolution to not only elect the president, but to transform this country. +p3102 +aVWell, that's what our campaign is about. It is thinking big. It is understanding that in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, we should have health care for every man, woman, and child as a right that we should raise the minimum wage to at least $15 an hour; that we have got to create millions of decent- paying jobs by rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure. So, what my first days are about is bringing America together, to end the decline of the middle class, to tell the wealthiest people in this country that yes, they are going to start paying their fair share of taxes, and that we are going to have a government that works for all of us, and not just big campaign contributors. +p3103 +aVWell, I think Secretary Clinton knows that what she says is very disingenuous. I have a D-minus voting record from the NRA. I was in 1988, there were three candidates running for congress in the state of Vermont, I stood up to the gun lobby and came out and maintained the position that in this country we should not be selling military style assault weapons. I have supported from day one and instant background check to make certain that people who should have guns do not have guns. And that includes people of criminal backgrounds, people who are mentally unstable. I support what President Obama is doing in terms of trying to close the gun show loop holes and I think it should be a federal crime if people act as dormant. We have seen in this city a horrendous tragedy of a crazed person praying with people in the coming up and shooting nine people. This should not be a political issue. What we should be doing is working together. And by the way, as a senator from a rural state that has virtually no gun control, I believe that I am in an excellent position to bring people together to fight the sensible... +p3104 +aVWhat I have said, is that gun manufacturer's liability bill has some good provisions among other things, we've prohibited ammunition that would've killed cops who had protection on. We have child safety protection work on guns in that legislation. And what we also said, "is a small mom and pop gun shop who sells a gun legally to somebody should not be held liable if somebody does something terrible with that gun." So what I said is, " I would re-look at it." We are going to re- look at it and I will support stronger provisions. +p3105 +aV...Well, I \u2014 look... +p3106 +aV... Let me respond to what the secretary said. We have a criminal justice system which is broken. Who in America is satisfied that we have more people in jail than any other country on Earth, including China? Disproportionately African American, and Latino. Who is satisfied that 51% of African American young people are either unemployed, or underemployed? Who is satisfied that millions of people have police records for possessing marijuana when the CEO's of Wall Street companies who destroyed our economy have no police records. +p3107 +aV... We need to take a very hard look at our... +p3108 +aV... criminal justice system, investing in jobs, and education not in jails and incarceration . +p3109 +aVWell, let me talk about polling. As Secretary Clinton well knows, when this campaign began she was 50 points ahead of me. We were all of three percentage points. Guess what? In Iowa, New Hampshire, the race is very, very close. Maybe we're ahead New Hampshire. In terms of polling, guess what? We are running ahead of Secretary Clinton. In terms of taking on my taking on my good friend, Donald Trump, beating him by 19 points in New Hampshire, 13 points in the last national poll that we saw. To answer your question. When the African American community becomes familiar with my Congressional record and with our agenda, and with our views on the economy, and criminal justice \u2014 just as the general population has become more supportive, so will the African American community, so will the Latino community. We have the momentum, we're on a path to a victory. O' +p3110 +aVI apologize for not hearing all of that question. +p3111 +aVYes. +p3112 +aVAbsolutely. This is a responsibility for the U.S. Justice Department to get involved. Whenever anybody in this country is killed while in police custody, it should automatically trigger a U.S. attorney general's investigation. Second of all, and I speak as a mayor who worked very closely and well with police officers, the vast majority of whom are honest, hard- working people trying to do a difficult job, but let us be clear. If a police officer breaks the law, like any public official, that officer must be held accountable. And thirdly, we have got to de-militarize our police departments so they don't look like occupying armies. We've got to move toward community policing. And fourthly, we have got to make our police departments look like the communities they serve in their diversity. +p3113 +aVSure. I agree... I agree with everything the Secretary said, but let me just add this, there is a responsibility on the part of the pharmaceutical industry and the drug companies who are producing all of these drugs and not looking at the consequence of it. And second of all, when we talk about addiction being a disease, the Secretary is right, what that means is we need a revolution in this country in terms of mental health treatment. People should be able to get the treatment that they need when they need it, not two months from now, which is why I believe in universal... +p3114 +aV... healthcare with mental health... +p3115 +aV... a part of that. +p3116 +aVOK. +p3117 +aVSecretary \u2014 Secretary Clinton didn't answer your question. Because what her campaign was saying \u2014 Bernie Sanders, who has fought for universal health care for my entire life, he wants to end Medicare, end Medicaid, end the children's health insurance program. That is nonsense. What a Medicare-for-all program does is finally provide in this country health care for every man, woman and child as a right. Now, the truth is, that Frank Delano Roosevelt, Harry Truman, do you know what they believed in? They believed that health care should be available to all of our people. I'm on the committee that wrote the Affordable Care Act. I made the Affordable Care Act along with Jim Clyburn a better piece of legislation. I voted for it, but right now, what we have to deal with is the fact that 29 million people still have no health insurance. We are paying the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, getting ripped off. And here's the important point, we are spending far more per person on health care than the people of any other country. My proposal, provide health care to all people, get private insurance out of health insurance, lower the cost of health care for middle class families by 5,000 bucks. That's the vision we need to take. +p3118 +aVBut \u2014 what if we have... +p3119 +aVIt is \u2014 it is absolutely inaccurate. O' +p3120 +aVNo one is tearing this up, we're going to go forward. But with the secretary neglected to mention, not just the 29 million still have no health insurance, that even more are underinsured with huge copayments and deductibles. Tell me why we are spending almost three times more than the British, who guarantee health care to all of their people? Fifty percent more than the French, more than the Canadians. The vision from FDR and Harry Truman was health care for all people as a right in a cost-effective way. We're not going to tear up the Affordable Care Act. I helped write it. But we are going to move on top of that to a Medicaid-for-all system. O' +p3121 +aVYeah. +p3122 +aVYes. +p3123 +aVNot all that detailed. +p3124 +aVWell. +p3125 +aVWell, that's \u2014 you might want to ask... +p3126 +aVAndrea, let me just say this. +p3127 +aVLet me just say that you might want to ask the governor of the state of Vermont why he could not do it. I'm not the governor. I'm the senator from the state of Vermont. But second of all \u2014 second of all...... here is what the real point is, in terms of all of the issues you've raised \u2014 the good questions you've raised. You know what it all comes down to? Do you know why we can't do what every other country \u2014 major country on Earth is doing? It's because we have a campaign finance system that is corrupt, we have super PACs, we have the pharmaceutical industry pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into campaign contributions and lobbying, and the private insurance companies as well. What this is really about is not the rational way to go forward \u2014 it's Medicare for all \u2014 it is whether we have the guts to stand up to the private insurance companies and all of their money, and the pharmaceutical industry. That's what this debate should be about. +p3128 +aVA couple of years ago, when we understood that veterans were not getting the quality care they needed in the timely manner, I worked with folks like John McCain and others to pass the most comprehensive veteran's health care legislation in modern history. But let me rephrase your question because I think, in all do respect, you're expression. In all do respect, you're missing the main point. And the main point in the Congress, it's not the Republicans and Democrats hate each other. That's a mythology from the media. The real issue is that Congress is owned by big money and refuses to do what the American people want them to do. The real issue is that in area after area, raising the minimum wage to $15 bucks an hour. The American people want it. Rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, creating 13 million jobs, the American people want it. The pay equity for women, the American people want it. Demanding that the wealthy start paying their fair share of taxes. The American people want it. +p3129 +aVThe point is, we have to make Congress respond to the needs of the people, not big money. +p3130 +aVI do. +p3131 +aVDid I say that? +p3132 +aVBecause of what I believe in what I was just saying. The Democratic party needs major reform. To those of you in South Carolina, you know what, in Mississippi, we need a 50-state strategy so that people in South Carolina and Mississippi can get the resources that they need. Instead of being dependent on super PACs, what we need is to be dependent on small, individual campaign contributors. We need an agenda that speaks to the needs of working families and low-income people. Not wealthy campaign contributors. +p3133 +aVWe need to expand what the input into the Democratic party. I am very proud that in this campaign, we have seen an enormous amount of excitement from young people, from working people. We have received more individual contributions than any candidate in the history of this country up to this point. O' +p3134 +aVAnd I respectfully disagree. +p3135 +aVAnd I respectfully disagree with my friend over here. And that is, you are right. All of us have denounced Trump's attempts to divide this country: the anti-Latino rhetoric, the racist rhetoric, he anti-Muslim rhetoric. But where I disagree with you, Governor O'Malley, is I do believe we have to deal with the fundamental issues of a handful of billionaires... O' +p3136 +aV... who control economic and political life of this country. O' +p3137 +aVNothing real will get happened. Unless we have a political revolution. Where millions of people finally stand up. +p3138 +aVIs that your strategy... +p3139 +aVWell, the first difference is I don't take money from big banks. I don't get personal speaking fees from Goldman Sachs. What I would do... What I would do is understand that when you have three out of the four largest banks today, bigger than they were when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, when you have the six largest financial institutions having assets of 60 percent of the GDP of America, it is very clear to me what you have to do. You've got to bring back the 21st century Glass-Steagall legislation and you've got to break up these huge financial institutions. They have too much economic power and they have too much financial power over our entire economy. If Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, the old Republican trust buster, what he would say is these guys are too powerful. Break them up. I believe that's what the American people to want see. That's my view. +p3140 +aVOK. First of all... +p3141 +aVSet the record right. In 2006 when I ran for the Senate, Senator Barack Obama was kind enough to campaign for me, 2008, I did my best to see that he was elected and in 2012, I worked as hard as I could to see that he was reelected. He and I are friends. We've worked together on many issues. We have some differences of opinion. But here is the issue, Secretary touched on it, can you really reform Wall Street when they are spending millions and millions of dollars on campaign contributions and when they are providing speaker fees to individuals? So it's easy to say, well, I'm going to do this and do that, but I have doubts when people receive huge amounts of money from Wall Street. I am very proud, I do not have a super PAC. I do not want Wall Street's money. I'll rely on the middle class and working families... +p3142 +aV... campaign contributions. +p3143 +aVLet me give you an example of how corrupt \u2014 how corrupt this system is. Goldman Sachs recently fined $5 billion. Goldman Sachs has given this country two secretaries of treasury, one on the Republicans, one under Democrats. O' +p3144 +aVThe leader of Goldman Sachs is a billionaire who comes to Congress and tells us we should cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Secretary Clinton \u2014 and you're not the only one, so I don't mean to just point the finger at you, you've received over $600,000 in speaking fees from Goldman Sachs in one year. I find it very strange that a major financial institution that pays $5 billion in fines for breaking the law, not one of their executives is prosecuted, while kids who smoke marijuana get a jail sentence. +p3145 +aVIf you want to... +p3146 +aVAnyone who wants to check my record in taking on Wall Street, in fighting against the deregulation of Wall Street when Wall Street put billions of dollars in lobbying, in campaign contributions to get the government off their backs. They got the government off their backs. Turns out that they were crooks, and they destroyed our economy. I think it's time to put the government back on their backs. +p3147 +aV... Yeah... +p3148 +aV... That's true. +p3149 +aVGood. You're right. I want to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, create 13 million jobs. We do that by doing away with the absurd loophole that now allows major profitable corporations to stash their money in the Cayman Islands, and not in some years, pay a nickel in taxes. Yes, I do. I plead guilty. I want every kid in this country who has the ability to be able to go to a public college, or university, tuition free. And, by the way, I want to substantially lower student debt interest rates in this country as well. How do I pay for it? I pay for it through a tax on Wall Street speculation. This country, and the middle class, bailed out Wall Street. Now, it is Wall Street's time to help the middle class. In fact... O' +p3150 +aV... we have documented, unlike Secretary Clinton, I have documented exactly how I would pay for our ambitious agenda. O' +p3151 +aV... Here is the main two points... +p3152 +aVYeah. +p3153 +aV... I got it. +p3154 +aVWhat is correct, and I'm disappointed that Secretary Clinton's campaign has made this criticism. It's a Republican criticism. Secretary Clinton does know a lot about healthcare, and she understands, I believe, that a medicare for all, single payer program will substantially lower the cost of healthcare for middle class families. So, what we have got to acknowledge, and I hope the Secretary does, is we are doing away with private health insurance premiums. So, instead of paying $10,000 dollars to Blue Cross, or Blue Shield, yes, some middle class families would be paying slightly more in taxes, but the result would be that that middle class family would be saving some $5,000 dollars in healthcare costs. A little bit more in taxes, do away with private health insurance premiums. It's a pretty good deal. +p3155 +aVYeah. +p3156 +aVNo, it is not breaking my word. When you are \u2014 it's one thing to say I'm raising taxes, it's another thing to say that we are doing away with private health insurance premiums. So, if I save you $10,000 in private health insurance, and you pay a little bit more in taxes in total, there are huge savings in what your family is spending. O' +p3157 +aVI was mayor for eight years, I did that as well. O' +p3158 +aVI think we already are. Younger generation understands it instinctively. I was home in Burlington, Vermont, on Christmas Eve, the temperature was 65 degrees. People in Vermont know what's going on. People who did ice fishing, where their ice is no longer there on the lake understand what's going on. I'm on both the Environmental and Energy Committees. The debate is over. Climate change is real. It is already causing major problems. And if we do not act boldly and decisively, a bad situation will become worse. It is amazing to me, and I think we'll have agreement on this up here, that we have a major party, called the Republican Party that is so owned by the fossil fuel industry and their campaign contributions that they don't even have the courage, the decency to listen to the scientists. It is beyond my comprehension how we can elect a president of the United States, somebody like Trump, who believes that climate change is a hoax invented by the Chinese. Bottom line is, we need to be bold and decisive, we can create millions of jobs. We must, for the sake of our kids and grandchildren, transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energy. I've got the most comprehensive legislation in the Senate to do that. And as president, I will fight to make that happen. +p3159 +aVI think what we've got to do is move as aggressively as we can to normalize relations with Iran. Understanding that Iran's behavior in so many ways is something that we disagree with; their support terrorism, the anti-American rhetoric that we're hearing from of their leadership is something that is not acceptable. On the other hand, the fact that we've managed to reach an agreement, something that I've very strongly supported that prevents Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and we did that without going to war. And that I believe we're seeing a fall in our relationships with Iran is a very positive step. So if your question is, do I want to see that relationship become more positive in the future? Yes. Can I tell that we should open an embassy in Tehran tomorrow? No, I don't think we should. But I think the goal has go to be as we've done with Cuba, to move in warm relations with a very powerful and important country in this world. +p3160 +aVAs everybody you know, this is incredibly complicated and difficult issue and I applaud. I know President Obama's been getting a lot of criticism on this. I think he is doing the right thing. What the nightmare is, which many of my Republican colleagues appear to want is to not have learned the lesson of Iraq. To get American young men and women involved in perpetual warfare in the quagmire of Syria and the Middle East would be an unmitigated disaster that as president, I will do everything in my power to avoid. O' +p3161 +aVWe should \u2014 we should learn \u2014 we should learn from King Abdullah of Jordan, one of the few heroes in a very unheroic place. And what Abdullah said is this is a war with a soul of Islam and that Muslim troops should be on the ground with our support and the support of other major countries. That is how we destroy +p3162 +aVNo. I think the vacuum was created by the disastrous war in Iraq, which I vigorously opposed. Not only did I vote against it, I helped lead the opposition. And what happened there is yes, it's easy to get rid of a two-bit dictator like Saddam Hussein, but there wasn't the kind of thought as to what happens the day after you get him and what kind of political vacuum occurs. And who rises up? Groups like +p3163 +aVLet me just... +p3164 +aVOK. Let me suggest... +p3165 +aVWhere Secretary Clinton and I think, I agree with most of what she said. But where I think we do have an honest disagreement, is that in the incredible quagmire of Syria, where it's hard to know who's fighting who and if you give arms to this guy, it may end up in +p3166 +aVOK. I just wanted to add, in the previous question, I voted against the USA Patriot Act for many of the reasons that Governor O'Malley mentioned. But it is not only the government that we have to worry about, it is private corporations. You would all be amazed, or maybe not, about the amount of information private companies and the government has in terms of the Web sites that you access, the products that you buy, where you are this very moment. And it is very clear to me that public policy has not caught up with the explosion of technology. So yes, we have to work with Silicon Valley to make sure that we do not allow +p3167 +aVRight. What we have got to do there is, among other things, as I was just saying, have Silicon Valley help us to make sure that information being transmitted through the Internet or in other ways by +p3168 +aVCan I get 50 seconds? +p3169 +aVCan I get a \u2014 can I just get a very brief response? Very brief. +p3170 +aVOK. One \u2014 and I agree with what the secretary said, and what Governor O'Malley said. But here's an issue that we also should talk about. We have a $600 billion military budget. It is a budget larger than the next eight countries'. Unfortunately, much of that budget continues to fight the old Cold War with the Soviet Union. Very little of that budget \u2014 less than 10 percent \u2014 actually goes into fighting +p3171 +aVGreat ideas, Governor O'Malley, Secretary Clinton, but here's the truth. If you have an administration stacked with Wall Street appointees, it ain't going to accomplish very much. So here's a promise that I make \u2014 and I mentioned a moment ago how corrupt the system is \u2014 Goldman Sachs, paying a $5 billion fine, gives this country, in recent history, a Republican secretary of treasury, a Democratic secretary of treasury. Here's a promise. If elected president, Goldman Sachs is not going to have \u2014 bring forth a secretary of treasury for a Sanders administration. +p3172 +aVI was asked a question. You know, one of the things, Andrea, and I \u2014 that question annoys me. I cannot walk down the street \u2014 Secretary Clinton knows this \u2014 without being told how much I have to attack secretary Clinton, want to get me on the front pages of the paper, I'd make some vicious attack. I have avoided doing that. Trying to run an issue-oriented campaign. +p3173 +aVI was asked a question. +p3174 +aVWell \u2014 then if I don't answer it, then there's another front page, so it's yes. And I mean this seriously. You know that. We've been through this. Yes, his behavior was deplorable. Have I ever once said a word about that issue? No, I have not. I'm going to debate Secretary Clinton, Governor O'Malley, on the issues facing the American people, not Bill Clinton's personal behavior. +p3175 +aVWell, Secretary Clinton was right and what I did which I think is also right, is demanded the resignation of governor. A man who acts that irresponsibly should not stay in power. Now, we are a great nation \u2014 and we've heard a lot of great ideas here tonight. Let's be honest and let's be truthful. Very little is going to be done to transform our economy and to create the kind of middle class we need unless we end a corrupt campaign finance system which is undermining American democracy. We've got to get rid of Super PACs, we've got to get rid of Citizens' United and what we've got to do is create a political revolution which revitalizes American democracy; which brings millions of young people and working people into the political process. To say loudly and clearly," that the government of the United States of America belongs to all of us and not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors." +p3176 +asVBARTIROMO +p3177 +(lp3178 +VTonight we're partnering with the Wall Street Journal to ask questions on the economy that voters want answered. We're also working with Facebook, who tells us that since the first Republican debate, more than 58 million people have joined the political conversation online. More than 9 million are talking specifically about the economy. +p3179 +aVBusinesswoman Carly Fiorina. Ohio Governor John Kasich. And Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. +p3180 +aVWe've asked people on Facebook to submit their questions for the candidates. Seth Bell wrote, "We are approaching $20 trillion in national debt. Specifically, what plans do you have to cut federal spending?" Governor Kasich, you have spoken much about your success in balancing the budget under President Clinton. Today the national debt is at record highs and growing unsustainably. Interest will be the fastest-growing part of the federal budget, tripling over the next 10 years. Social Security, the lifeline of millions of American seniors, is rushing toward insolvency. With all of the tax plans presented tonight, estimated to cost anywhere between $2 trillion and $12 trillion over a decade, what specific steps will you take to balance the budget? +p3181 +aVDid you want to name any specific steps, sir? +p3182 +aVThank you, sir. +p3183 +aVSenator Cruz, the International Monetary Fund recently cut its expectations for economic growth. Many economists expect a recession to hit the U.S. within the next year due to the weakening of manufacturing. The next president will have to deal with it. You say tax reform is a powerful lever to spur economic expansion. You're calling for a 10 percent income tax and a 16 percent business tax. What other elements do you need in this plan to actually create jobs? +p3184 +aVThank you, sir. +p3185 +aVGovernor Bush... +p3186 +aVWe have more questions for you, Governor Kasich, coming up. We have more questions for you, Governor Kasich. +p3187 +aVWe will \u2014 we will certainly get to that. Governor Bush? +p3188 +aVAlmost 40 percent of Americans are without a job and are not looking. Many have given up. That's what the participation rate tells us. You've said your policies will drive the economy back to 4 percent growth, which we haven't seen since the year 2000. What specific regulations would you change? And how will that lead to jobs and growth? +p3189 +aVThank you, sir. +p3190 +aVMr. Trump, a federal appeals court just dealt a blow to the Obama administration's plan to prevent the deportation of 5 million people living in this country illegally. The White House is appealing to the Supreme Court. At the heart of this issue is the effect that illegal immigrants are having on our economy, what will you do about it? +p3191 +aVCan we just send 5 million people back with no effect on economy? +p3192 +aVSo what will you do? +p3193 +aVThank you, sir. +p3194 +aVWe go back to Facebook. Dewayne Wesley Cato asks on Facebook, how do we get rid of regulations choking our businesses? Ms. Fiorina? Specifically, under the president's Affordable Care Act, employers with 50 or more employees are required to offer health insurance, or be fined. Many are opting to pay the fine. Others are cutting back employee hours to duck the law altogether. What specific ways will you alleviate the pressure on small business? +p3195 +aVJust to be clear, you want to repeal Obamacare... ..but, what's the alternative? +p3196 +aVJust to be clear, you say you would repeal Obamacare... +p3197 +aV...But, what is the alternative... +p3198 +aV...and how does that help small business... +p3199 +aV...Thank you... +p3200 +aVSenator Cruz, there isn't anyone in this audience or watching at home tonight who would not like to pay less in taxes. Most people just want a fair shake, and they don't want their money to be wasted. But explain how your plan works. How can you cut taxes as much as you propose without running up debt and deficits? +p3201 +aVBut you haven't told us how to pay for it. +p3202 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Bush, Republican primary voters say tax reform should be a priority for Congress and the administration. But, Governor Bush, how important is tax reform in your domestic policy agenda? Will you guarantee it in the first year of your presidency? +p3203 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3204 +aVThat's right. That's right. +p3205 +aVComing up, the biggest threats facing the next commander-in-chief. You're watching the Republican presidential debate, live tonight from Milwaukee. We'll be right back. +p3206 +aVWelcome back. Welcome back to the Republican presidential debate. The candidates taking the questions you want answered. Also tonight, you can see what America is saying about the debate. Go to Facebook and type #gopdebate into the search box. Now, back to the questions. Americans face security threats at home and abroad. Last year, terrorist attacks rose 61 percent, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace, with the most deaths occurring in just five countries, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Syria. Dr. Carson, you were against putting troops on the ground in Iraq and against a large military force in Afghanistan. Do you support the president's decision to now put 50 special ops forces in Syria and leave 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan? +p3207 +aVWe asked Facebook to take a look at some of the major issues we're talking about, and tackling in this debate tonight. This word cloud shows what people are focusing on the most. The bigger the word, the more the talk. One of the most discussed issues in the last month, homeland security. Governor Bush, what is the biggest threat facing America today? +p3208 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, in 2012 debate, President Obama mocked Mitt Romney's assertion that Russia was the top geopolitical challenge facing the United States, saying he was a Cold War dinosaur. Now, Russia has invaded Ukraine, and has put troops in Syria. You have said you will have a good relationship with Mr. Putin. So, what does President Trump do in response to Russia's aggression? +p3209 +aVThank you, sir. +p3210 +aVThank you, governor. +p3211 +aVSenator Rubio. +p3212 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. +p3213 +aVMore questions \u2014 more questions coming up, when the Republican presidential debate comes right back, live from Milwaukee. Stay with us. +p3214 +aVWelcome back to the fourth Republican presidential debate. Senator Rubio, Hillary Clinton is the clear front runner for the Democratic nomination. If she is indeed the nominee, you will be facing a candidate with an impressive resume. She was the first lady of the United States, a U.S. senator from New York, and secretary of state under Barack Obama. She has arguably more experience, certainly more time in government than almost all of you on stage tonight. Why should the American people trust you to lead this country, even though she has been so much closer to the office? +p3215 +aVSenator Paul, you were one of 15 republicans to vote for an amendment which states that human activity contributed to climate change. President Obama has announced an aggressive plan to cut carbon emissions. At the same time, energy production in America has boomed. Is it possible to continue this boom, and move toward energy self-sufficiency, while at the same time pursuing a meaningful climate change program? +p3216 +aVCarly Fiorina? +p3217 +aVFormer Governor Jeb Bush? +p3218 +aVSenator Ted Cruz? +p3219 +aVHe's funny. +p3220 +aVThank you. +p3221 +asVCLINTON +p3222 +(lp3223 +VThank you. +p3224 +aVI'm running for president to knock down all the barriers that are holding Americans back, and to rebuild the ladders of opportunity that will give every American a chance to advance, especially those who have been left out and left behind. I know a lot of Americans are angry about the economy. And for good cause. Americans haven't had a raise in 15 years. There aren't enough good-paying jobs, especially for young people. And yes, the economy is rigged in favor of those at the top. We both agree that we have to get unaccountable money out of our political system and that we have to do much more to ensure that Wall Street never wrecks main street again. But I want to go further. I want to tackle those barriers that stand in the way of too many Americans right now. African-Americans who face discrimination in the job market, education, housing, and the criminal justice system. Hardworking immigrant families living in fear, who should be brought out of the shadows so they and their children can have a better future. Guaranteeing that women's work finally gets the pay, the equal pay that we deserve. I think America can only live up to its potential when we make sure that every American has a chance to live up to his or her potential. That will be my mission as president. And I think together we will make progress. +p3225 +aVJudy, I think that the best analysis that I've seen based on Senator Sanders plans is that it would probably increase the size of the federal government by about 40%, but what is most concerning to me is that in looking at the plans \u2014 let's take healthcare for example. Last week in a CNN town hall, the Senator told a questioner that the questioner would spend about $500 dollars in taxes to get about $5,000 dollars in healthcare. Every progressive economist who has analyzed that says that the numbers don't add up, and that's a promise that cannot be kept, and it's really important now that we are getting into the rest of the country that both of us are held to account for explaining what we are proposing because, especially with healthcare, this is not about math. This is about people's lives, and we should level with the American people about what we can do to make sure they get quality affordable healthcare. +p3226 +aVI can only say that we both share the goal of universal health care coverage. You know, before it was called Obamacare, it was called Hillarycare. And I took on the drug companies and I took on the insurance companies to try to get us universal health care coverage. And why I am a staunch supporter of President Obama's principal accomplishment \u2014 namely the Affordable Care Act \u2014 is because I know how hard it was to get that done. We are at 90 percent coverage. We have to get the remaining 10. I've set forth very specific plans about how to get costs down, especially prescription drug costs. And it is difficult to in any way argue with the goal that we both share. But I think the American people deserve to know specifically how this would work. If it's Medicare for all, then you no longer have the Affordable Care Act, because the Affordable Care Act, as you know very well, is based on the insurance system, based on exchanges, based on a subsidy system. The Children's Health Insurance Program, which I helped to create, which covers 8 million kids, is also a different kind of program. So if you're having Medicare for all, single-payer, you need to level with people about what they will have at the end of the process you are proposing. And based on every analysis that I can find by people who are sympathetic to the goal, the numbers don't add up, and many people will actually be worse off than they are right now. +p3227 +aVWell, let me just \u2014 let me just say, once again......that, having been in the trenches fighting for this, I believe strongly we have to guarantee health care. I believe we are on the path to doing that. The last thing we need is to throw our country into a contentious debate about health care again. And we are not England. We are not France. We inherited a system that was set up during World War II; 170 million Americans get health insurance right now through their employers. So what we have tried to do and what President Obama succeeded in doing was to build on the health care system we have, get us to 90 percent coverage. We have to get the other 10 percent of the way to 100. I far prefer that and the chances we have to be successful there than trying to start all over again, gridlocking our system, and trying to get from zero to 100 percent. +p3228 +aVNo. But it is absolutely fair and necessary for Americans to vet both of our proposals, to ask the really hard questions about, what is it we think we can accomplish, why do we believe that, and what would be the results for the average American family? In my case, whether it's health care, or getting us to debt-free tuition, or moving us toward paid family leave, I have been very specific about where I would raise the money, how much it would cost, and how I would move this agenda forward. I've tried to be as specific to answer questions so that my proposals can be vetted, because I feel like we have to level with people for the very reason, Gwen, that you are mentioning. There is a great deal of skepticism about the federal government. I'm aware of that. It comes from the right, from the left, from people on all sides of the political spectrum. So we have a special obligation to make clear what we stand for, which is why I think we should not make promises we can't keep, because that will further, I think, alienate Americans from understanding and believing we can together make some real changes in people's lives. +p3229 +aVI will put a price tag. My price tag is about $100 billion a year. And again, paid for. And what I have said is I will not throw us further into debt. I believe I can get the money that I need by taxing the wealthy, by closing loopholes, the things that we are way overdue for doing. And I think once I'm in the White House we will have enough political capital to be able to do that. But I am conscious of the fact that we have to also be very clear, especially with young people, about what kind of government is going to do what for them and what it will cost. +p3230 +aVYou know, I think, again, both of us share the goal of trying to make college affordable for all young Americans. And I have set forth a compact that would do just that for debt-free tuition. We differ, however, on a couple of key points. One of them being that if you don't have some agreement within the system from states and from families and from students, it's hard to get to where we need to go. And Senator Sanders's plan really rests on making sure that governors like Scott Walker contribute $23 billion on the first day to make college free. I am a little skeptical about your governor actually caring enough about higher education to make any kind of commitment like that. +p3231 +aVWell, first, Judy, I have spent my entire adult life working toward making sure that women are empowered to make their own choices, even if that choice is not to vote for me. I believe that it's most important that we unleash the full potential of women and girls in our society. And I feel very strongly that I have an agenda, I have a record that really does respond to a lot of the specific needs that the women in our country face. So I'm going to keep making that case. I'm going to keep making sure that everything I've done, everything that I stand for is going to be well known. But I have no argument with anyone making up her mind about who to support. I just hope that by the end of this campaign there will be a lot more supporting me. That's what I'm working towards. +p3232 +aVWell, look, I think that she's been saying that for as long as I've known her, which is about 25 years. But it doesn't change my view that we need to empower everyone, women and men, to make the best decisions in their minds that they can make. That's what I've always stood for. And when it comes to the issues that are really on the front lines as to whether we're going to have equal pay, paid family leave, some opportunity for, you know, women to go as far as their hard work and talent take them, I think that we still have some barriers to knock down, which is why that's at the core of my campaign. I would note, just for a historic aside, somebody told me earlier today we've had like 200 presidential primary debates, and this is the first time there have been a majority of women on the stage. So, you know, we'll take our progress wherever we can find it. +p3233 +aVYou know, I have said \u2014 I have said many times, you know, I'm not asking people to support me because I'm a woman. I'm asking people to support me because I think I'm the most qualified, experienced, and ready person to be the president and the commander-in-chief. And I appreciate greatly Senator Sanders' voting record. And I was very proud to get the endorsement of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, because I've been a leader on these issues. I have gone time and time again to take on the vested interests who would keep women's health care decisions the province of the government instead of women ourselves. I'm very proud that +p3234 +aVYou know, I completely agree with Senator Sanders. The first speech I gave in this campaign back in April was about criminal justice reform and ending the era of mass incarceration. The statistics from Wisconsin are particularly troubling, because it is the highest rate of incarceration for African-Americans in our nation, twice the national average. And we know of the tragic, terrible event that lead to the death of Dontre Hamilton right here in Milwaukee, a young man unarmed, who should still be with us. His family certainly believes that. And so do I. So we have work to do. There have been some good recommendations about what needs to happen. President Obama's policing commission came out with some. I have fully endorsed those. But we have to restore policing that will actually protect the communities that police officers are sworn to protect. And, then we have to go after sentencing, and that's one of the problems here in Wisconsin because so much of what happened in the criminal justice system doesn't happen at the federal level, it happens at the state and local level. But, I would also add this. There are other racial discrepancies. Really systemic racism in this state, as in others, education, in employment, in the kinds of factors that too often lead from a position where young people, particularly young men, are pushed out of school early, are denied employment opportunities. So, when we talk about criminal justice reform, and ending the era of mass incarceration, we also have to talk about jobs, education, housing, and other ways of helping communities. +p3235 +aVWell, I'm just not sure I agree completely with that assessment. I think under President Obama we have seen a lot of advances, the Affordable Care Act has helped more African Americans than any other group to get insurance, to be taken care of, but we also know a lot more than we did. We have a lot more social media, we have everybody with a cellphone. So, we are seeing the dark side of the remaining systemic racism that we have to root out in our society. I think President Obama has set a great example. I think he has addressed a lot of these issues that have been quite difficult, but he has gone forward. Now, what we have to do is to build on an honest conversation about where we go next. We now have much more information about what must be done to fix our criminal justice system. We now have some good models about how better to provide employment, housing and education. I think what President Obama did was to exemplify the importance of this issue as our first African American president, and to address it both from the President's office, and through his advocacy, such as working with young men, and Mrs. Obama's work with young women. But, we can't rest. We have work to do, and we now know a lot more than we ever did before. So, it's going to be my responsibility to make sure we move forward to solve these problems that are now out in the open. Nobody can deny them. To use the Justice Department, as we just saw, they have said they are going to sue Ferguson, that entered into a consent agreement, and then tried to back out. So, we're going to enforce the law, we're going to change policing practices, we're going to change incarceration practices, but we're also going to emphasize education, jobs, and housing. +p3236 +aVLook, I am deeply concerned about what's happening in every community in America, and that includes white communities, where we are seeing an increase in alcoholism, addiction, earlier deaths. People with a high school education or less are not even living as long as their parents lived. This is a remarkable and horrifying fact. And that's why I've come forward with, for example, a plan to revitalize coal country, the coalfield communities that have been so hard hit by the changing economy, by the reduction in the use of coal. You know, coal miners and their families who helped turn on the lights and power our factories for generations are now wondering, has our country forgotten us? Do people not care about all of our sacrifice? And I'm going to do everything I can to address distressed communities, whether they are communities of color, whether they are white communities, whether they are in any part of our country. I particularly appreciate the proposal that Congressman Jim Clyburn has \u2014 the 10-20-30 proposal \u2014 to try to spend more federal dollars in communities with persistent generational poverty. And you know what? If you look at the numbers, there are actually as many, if not more white communities that are truly being left behind and left out. So, yes, I do think it would be a terrible oversight not to try to address the very real problems that white Americans \u2014 particularly those without a lot of education whose jobs have \u2014 you know, no longer provided them or even no longer present in their communities, because we have to focus where the real hurt is. And that's why, as president, I will look at communities that need special help and try to deliver that. +p3237 +aVI strongly support the president's executive actions. I hope the Supreme Court upholds them. I think there is constitutional and legal authority for the president to have done what he did. I am against the raids. I'm against the kind of inhumane treatment that is now being visited upon families, waking them up in the middle of the night, rounding them up. We should be deporting criminals, not hardworking immigrant families who do the very best they can and often are keeping economies going in many places in our country. I'm a strong supporter of comprehensive immigration reform. Have been ever since I was in the Senate. I was one of the original sponsors of the +p3238 +aVTwo quick responses. One, with respect to the Central American children, I made it very clear that those children needed to be processed appropriately, but we also had to send a message to families and communities in Central America not to send their children on this dangerous journey in the hands of smugglers. I've also called for the end of family detention, for the end of privately-run detention centers, along with private prisons, which I think are really against the common good and the rule of law. And with respect to the 2007 bill, this was Ted Kennedy's bill. And I think Ted Kennedy had a very clear idea about what needed to be done. And I was proud to stand with him and support it. +p3239 +aVWell, that just wasn't \u2014 that just wasn't the fact, Senator. The fact is that there was a great effort made by the Obama administration and others to really send a clear message, because we knew that so many of these children were being abused, being treated terribly while they tried to get to our border. So we have a disagreement on this. I think now what I've called for is counsel for every child so that no child has to face any kind of process without someone who speaks and advocates for that child so that the right decision hopefully can be made. +p3240 +aVI think \u2014 I think it's fair to say we don't have a disagreement. We both believe there has to be more money going into the Social Security system. I've said I'm looking at a couple of different ways, one which you mentioned, Senator, but also trying to expand the existing tax to passive income that wealthy people have so that we do get more revenue into the Social Security Trust Fund. I have a slightly different approach, though, about what we should do with that initially. First, rather than expand benefits for everyone, I do want to take care of low-income seniors who worked at low-wage jobs. I want to take care of women. When the Social Security program was started in the 1930s, not very many women worked. And women have been disadvantaged ever since. They do not get any credit for their care-taking responsibilities. And the people who are often the most hard-hit are widows, because when their spouse dies, they can lose up to one-half of their Social Security monthly payment. So we have no disagreement about the need to buttress Social Security, get more revenue into the program. But I want to start by helping those people who are most at risk, the ones who, yes, are cutting their pills in half, who don't believe they can make the rent, who are worried about what comes next for them. +p3241 +aVWell, Senator, look, I think we're in vigorous agreement here. We both want to get more revenue in. I have yet to see a proposal that you're describing that the \u2014 raising the cap would apply to passive income. That has not been... +p3242 +aVWell, that has not been a part of most of the proposals that I've seen. I'm interested in making sure we get the maximum amount of revenue from those who can well afford to provide it. So I'm going to come up with the best way forward. We're going to end up in the same place. We're going to get more revenue. I'm going to prioritize those recipients who need the most help first. +p3243 +aVI can't speak for the Koch Brothers, you're referring to a Super PAC that we don't coordinate with, that was set up to support President Obama, that has now decided that they want to support me. They are the ones who should respond to any questions. Let's talk about our campaigns. I'm very proud of the fact that we have more than 750 thousand donors, and the vast majority of them are giving small contributions. So, I'm proud of Senator Sanders, and his supporters. I think it's great that Senator Sanders, President Obama and I have more donors than any three people who have every run, certainly on the Democratic side. That's the way it should be, and I'm going to continue to reach out to thank all my online contributors for everything they are doing for me, to encourage them and help me do more just as Senator Sanders is. I think that is the real key here. We both have a lot of small donors. I think that sets us apart from a lot of what's happening right now on the Republican side. The Koch Brothers have a very clear political agenda. It is an agenda, in my view, that would do great harm to our country. We're going to fight it as hard as we can, and we're going to fight whoever the Republicans nominate who will depend on the Koch Brothers, and others. +p3244 +aVWe are mixing apples and oranges. My 750,000 donors have contributed more than a million and a half donations. I'm very proud. That, I think, between the two of us demonstrates the strength of the support we have among people who want to see change in our country. But, the real issue, I think, that the Senator is injecting into this is that if you had a Super PAC, like President Obama has, which now says it wants to support me. It's not my PAC. If you take donations from Wall Street, you can't be independent. I would just say, I debated then Senator Obama numerous times on stages like this, and he was the recipient of the largest number of Wall Street donations of anybody running on the Democratic side ever. Now, when it mattered, he stood up and took on Wall Street. He pushed through, and he passed the Dodd-Frank regulation, the toughest regulations since the 1930's. So, let's not in anyway imply here that either President Obama or myself, would in anyway not take on any vested interested, whether it's Wall Street, or drug companies, or insurance companies, or frankly, the gun lobby to stand up to do what's best for the American people. +p3245 +aVWell, let's just \u2014 let's just follow up on this, because, you know, I've made it very clear that no bank is too big to fail, no executive too powerful to jail, and because of Dodd-Frank, we now have in law a process that the president, the Federal Reserve, and others can use if any bank poses a systemic risk. I think that's a major accomplishment. I agree, however, it doesn't go far enough, because what it focuses on are the big banks, which Senator Sanders has talked about a lot, for good reason. I go further in the plan that I've proposed, which has been called the toughest, most effective, comprehensive plan for reining in the other risks that the financial system could face. It was an investment bank, Lehman Brothers, that contributed to our collapse. It was a big insurance company, AIG. It was Countrywide Mortgage. My plan would sweep all of them into a regulatory framework so we can try to get ahead of what the next problems might be. And I believe that not only Barney Frank, Paul Krugman, and others, have said that what I have proposed is the most effective. It goes in the right direction. We have Dodd-Frank. We can use it to break up the banks, if that's appropriate. But let's not kid ourselves. As we speak, there are new problems on the horizon. I want to get ahead of those, and that's why I've proposed a much more comprehensive approach to deal with all of these... +p3246 +aVAbsolutely. And, you know, there are a number of programs that I think are duplicative and redundant and not producing the results that people deserve. There are a lot of training programs and education programs that I think can be streamlined and put into a much better format so that if we do continue them they can be more useful, in public schools, community colleges, and colleges and universities. I would like to take a hard look at every part of the federal government and really do the kind of analysis that would rebuild some confidence in people that we're taking a hard look about what we have, you know, and what we don't need anymore. And that's what I intend to do. +p3247 +aVLook, I think we are readier than we used to be, but it's a constant effort that has to be undertaken to make sure we are as ready as we need to be. We have made a lot of improvements in our domestic security since 9/11, and we have been able to foil and prevent attacks, yet we see the terrible attack in San Bernardino and know that we haven't done enough. So we have to go after this both abroad and at home. We have to go after terrorist networks, predominantly +p3248 +aVIf I could just respond. Two points. One, Senator Sanders voted in 1998 on what I think is fair to call a regime change resolution with respect to Iraq, calling for the end of Saddam Hussein's regime. He voted in favor of regime change with Libya, voted in favor of the Security Council being an active participate in setting the parameters for what we would do, which of course we followed through on. I do not believe a vote in 2002 is a plan to defeat +p3249 +aVYou did support a U.N. Security Council approach, which we did follow up on. And, look, I think it's important to look at what the most important counterterrorism judgment of the first four years of the Obama administration was, and that was the very difficult decision as to whether or not to advise the president to go after bin Laden. I looked at the evidence. I looked at the intelligence. I got the briefings. I recommended that the president go forward. It was a hard choice. Not all of his top national security advisors agreed with that. And at the end of the day, it was the president's decision. So he had to leave the Situation Room after hearing from the small group advising him and he had to make that decision. I'm proud that I gave him that advice. And I'm very grateful to the brave Navy +p3250 +aVWell, I know journalists have asked who you do listen to on foreign policy, and we have yet to know who that is. +p3251 +aVThat's fine. That's fine. You know, I listen to a wide variety of voices that have expertise in various areas. I think it is fair to say, whatever the complaints that you want to make about him are, that with respect to China, one of the most challenging relationships we have, his opening up China and his ongoing relationships with the leaders of China is an incredibly useful relationship for the United States of America. So if we want to pick and choose \u2014 and I certainly do \u2014 people I listen to, people I don't listen to, people I listen to for certain areas, then I think we have to be fair and look at the entire world, because it's a big, complicated world out there. +p3252 +aVAnd, yes, people we may disagree with on a number of things may have some insight, may have some relationships that are important for the president to understand in order to best protect the United States. +p3253 +aVWell, with respect to Syria, I really do appreciate the efforts that Secretary Kerry has made. The agreement on humanitarian relief now needs to be implemented, because there are enclaves that are literally filled with starving people throughout Syria. The agreement on a cease-fire, though, is something that has to be implemented more quickly than the schedule that the Russians agreed to. You know, the Russians wanted to buy time. Are they buying time to continue their bombardment on behalf of the Assad regime to further decimate what's left of the opposition, which would be a grave disservice to any kind of eventual cease-fire? So I know Secretary Kerry is working extremely hard to try to move that cease-fire up as quickly as possible. But I would add this. You know, the Security Council finally got around to adopting a resolution. At the core of that resolution is an agreement I negotiated in June of 2012 in Geneva, which set forth a cease-fire and moving toward a political resolution, trying to bring the parties at stake in Syria together. This is incredibly complicated, because we've got Iran as a big player, in addition to Russia. We have Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and others who have very important interests in their view. This is one of the areas I've disagreed with Senator Sanders on, who has called for Iranian troops trying to end civil war in Syria, which I think would be a grave mistake. Putting Iranian troops right on the border of the Golan right next to Israel would be a nonstarter for me. Trying to get Iran and Saudi Arabia to work together, as he has suggested in the past, is equally a nonstarter. So let's support what Secretary Kerry and the president are doing, but let's hope that we can accelerate the cease-fire, because I fear that the Russians will continue their bombing, try to do everything they can to destroy what's left of the opposition. And remember, the Russians have not gone after +p3254 +aVWell, I respectfully disagree. I think we have achieved a great deal with the Iranian nuclear agreement to put a lid on the Iranian nuclear weapons program. That has to be enforced absolutely with consequences for Iran at the slightest deviation from their requirements under the agreement. I do not think we should promise or even look toward normalizing relations because we have a lot of other business to get done with Iran. Yes, they have to stop being the main state sponsor of terrorism. Yes, they have to stop trying to destabilize the Middle East, causing even more chaos. Yes, they've got to get out of Syria. They've got to quit sponsoring Hezbollah and Hamas. They have got to quit trying to ship rockets into Gaza that can be used against Israel. We have a lot of work to do with Iran before we ever say that they could move toward normalized relations with us. +p3255 +aV... Senator Sanders, from a debate in 2008, quote what I said. The question was, would you meet with an adversary without conditions? I said no. And in fact, in Obama administration, we did not meet with anybody without conditions. That is the appropriate approach in order to get the results that you are seeking. +p3256 +aVWell, I was pleased that +p3257 +aVI certainly agree with FDR for all the reasons Senator Sanders said. And I agree about the role that he played both in war and in peace on the economy and defeating fascism around the world. I would choose Nelson Mandela for his generosity of heart, his understanding of the need for reconciliation. But I want to \u2014 I want to follow up on something having to do with leadership, because, you know, today Senator Sanders said that President Obama failed the presidential leadership test. And this is not the first time that he has criticized President Obama. In the past he has called him weak. He has called him a disappointment. He wrote a forward for a book that basically argued voters should have buyers' remorse when it comes to President Obama's leadership and legacy. And I just couldn't agree \u2014 disagree more with those kinds of comments. You know, from my perspective, maybe because I understand what President Obama inherited, not only the worst financial crisis but the antipathy of the Republicans in Congress, I don't think he gets the credit he deserves for being a president......who got us out of that......put us on firm ground, and has sent us into the future. And it is a \u2014 the kind of criticism that we've heard from Senator Sanders about our president I expect from Republicans. I do not expect from someone running for the Democratic nomination to succeed President Obama. +p3258 +aVYou know, Senator, what I am concerned about, is not disagreement on issues, saying that this is what I would rather do, I don't agree with the president on that, calling the president weak, calling him a disappointment, calling several times that he should have a primary opponent when he ran for re-election in 2012, you know, I think that goes further than saying we have our disagreements. As a senator, yes, I was a senator. I understand we can disagree on the path forward. But those kinds of personal assessments and charges are ones that I find particularly troubling. +p3259 +aVYou know, we \u2014 we agree that we've got to get unaccountable money out of politics. We agree that Wall Street should never be allowed to wreck Main Street again. But here's the point I want to make tonight. I am not a single-issue candidate, and I do not believe we live in a single-issue country. I think that a lot of what we have to overcome to break down the barriers that are holding people back, whether it's poison in the water of the children of Flint, or whether it's the poor miners who are being left out and left behind in coal country, or whether it is any other American today who feels somehow put down and oppressed by racism, by sexism, by discrimination against the +p3260 +aVWell, I'm happy to be here in New Hampshire for this debate, as we move toward the primary on Tuesday. I believe that America has the opportunity to once again live by our values, live up to our values in the 21st century, but I think that America can only do that if Americans can succeed. And there are lots of reasons why Americans today are feeling left out and left behind. Yes, of course, the economy has not been working for most Americans. Yes, of course, we have special interests that are unfortunately doing too much to rig the game. But there's also the continuing challenges of racism, of sexism, of discrimination against the +p3261 +aVWell, let me start by saying that Senator Sanders and I share some very big progressive goals. I've been fighting for universal healthcare for many years, and we're now on the path to achieving it. I don't want us to start over again. I think that would be a great mistake, to once again plunge our country into a contentious debate about whether we should have and what kind of system we should have for healthcare. I want to build on the progress we've made; got from 90 percent coverage to 100 percent coverage. And I don't want to rip away the security that people finally have; 18 million people now have healthcare; preexisting conditions are no longer a bar. So we have a difference. I also believe in affordable college, but I don't believe in free college, because every expert that I have talked to says, look, how will you ever control the costs. What I want to do is make sure middle class kids, not Donald Trump's kids, get to be able to afford college. I want to get the economy going again. It's not just enough about what we're against, as important as that is. I have a plan to create new jobs, manufacturing, infrastructure, clean energy jobs that will make us the 21st century clean energy super power. I also want to make sure small businesses can start and grow again. And of course, I believe in raising the minimum wage and equal pay for work. But the numbers just don't add up, from what Senator Sanders has been proposing. That's why all of the independent experts, all of the editorial boards that have vetted both of us have concluded that it is just not achievable. Let's go down a path where we can actually tell people what we will do. A progressive is someone who makes progress. That's what I intend to do. +p3262 +aVIf I could just follow up on that. There is no disagreement between us on universal coverage for health care, the disagreement is where do we start from and where do we end up. The Republicans want to repeal the Affordable Care Act, I want to improve it. I want to build on it, get the costs down, get prescription drug costs down. Senator Sanders wants us to start all over again. This was a major achievement of President Obama, of our country. It is helping people right now. I am not going to wait and have us plunge back into a contentious national debate that has very little chance of succeeding. Let's make the Affordable Care Act work for everybody. +p3263 +aVWell because I am a progressive who gets things done. And the root of that word, progressive, is progress. But I've heard Senator Sanders comments, and it's really caused me to wonder who's left in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Under his definition, President Obama is not progressive because he took donations from Wall Street; Vice President Biden is not progressive because she supported Keystone; Senator Shaheen is not progressive because she supports the trade pact. Even the late, great Senator Paul Wellstone would not fit this definition because he voted for +p3264 +aVWell, Chuck... +p3265 +aV... If I could, you know, in the very first debate I was asked am I a moderate or a progressive and I said I'm a progressive who likes to get things done. Cherry picking a quote here or there doesn't change my record of having fought for racial justice, having fought for kids rights, having fought the kind of inequities that fueled my interest in service in the first place going back to my days in the Children's Defense Fund. It certainly didn't stop me from taking on the drug companies and the insurance companies. Before it was called Hillarycare\u2014I mean, before it was called ObamaCare it was called Hillarycare because we took them on, and we weren't successful, but we kept fighting and we got the children's health insurance program. Every step along the way I have stood up, and fought, and have the scars to prove it. So, again......I think it's important that, look, I understand Senator Sanders really trying to distinguish himself. I understand that, that's what you do in campaigns, but at the same time let's not be\u2014in, I think an unfair way, making an accusation, or making an attack about where I stand and about where I've always stood. It is fair to say, Senator, that in your definition, as you being the self-proclaimed gatekeeper for progressivism, I don't know anyone else who fits that definition, but I know a lot of really hard fighting progressives in the Democratic party who have stood up time, and time again against special interests, against the powerful on behalf of those who are left behind and left out. And, that's what we ought to be celebrating. Let's talk about what we would do as President, and Commander in Chief to make sure the progress continues into the future. +p3266 +aV... Well, you began it yesterday with your comments... +p3267 +aVYou know, the person who first put out the idea of a 50-state party strategy is former Governor Howard Dean, who is with us tonight. And I'm very proud and grateful to have the support of so many elected Vermonters and former officials. Two former governors, the current governor, the current other senator. I really appreciate that. And I think it's because they've worked with me, they've seen what I do. They know what kind of a colleague I am. They want me as their partner in the White House. And that's exactly what I will do. We'll get things done together. Democrats, Republicans, independents, we're going to make progress together when I'm president. +p3268 +aVWell, look, I've got to just jump in here because, honestly, Senator Sanders is the only person who I think would characterize me, a woman running to be the first woman president, as exemplifying the establishment. And I've got to tell you that it is......it is really quite amusing to me. People support me because they know me. They know my life's work. They have worked with me and many have also worked with Senator Sanders. And at the end of the day they endorse me because they know I can get things done. I am not going to make promises I can't keep. I am not going to talk about big ideas like single-payer and then not level with people about how much it will cost. A respected health economist said that these plans would cost a trillion dollars more a year. I'm not going to tell people that I will raise your incomes and not your taxes, and not mean it, because I don't want to see the kind of struggle that the middle class is going through exemplified by these promises that would raise taxes and make it much more difficult for many, many Americans to get ahead and stay ahead. That is not my agenda. +p3269 +aVYeah, but I\u2014I think it's fair to really ask what's behind that comment. You know, Senator Sanders has said he wants to run a positive campaign. I've tried to keep my disagreements over issues, as it should be. But time and time again, by innuendo, by insinuation, there is this attack that he is putting forth, which really comes down to\u2014you know, anybody who ever took donations or speaking fees from any interest group has to be bought. And I just absolutely reject that, Senator. And I really don't think these kinds of attacks by insinuation are worthy of you. And enough is enough. If you've got something to say, say it directly. But you will not find that I ever changed a view or a vote because of any donation that I ever received. +p3270 +aVAnd I have stood up and I have represented my constituents to the best of my abilities, and I'm very proud of that. +p3271 +aVSo I think it's time to end the very artful smear that you and your campaign have been carrying out... +p3272 +aV... in recent weeks, and let's talk......let's talk about about the issues. Let's talk about the issues that divide us. +p3273 +aVAnd let's\u2014let's... +p3274 +aV... we both agree with campaign finance reform. +p3275 +aVI\u2014I worked hard for McCain-Feingold. +p3276 +aVI want to reverse Citizens United. +p3277 +aVAnd so\u2014let's talk about issues. +p3278 +aVWell, you know, Senator, I don't think\u2014I don't... +p3279 +aV... I don't think you could find any person in political life today who has been subjected to more attacks and had more money spent against her by special interests, among whom you have named a few, than I. And I'm proud of that. You know, when I took on the drug companies and the insurance companies for universal health care coverage, they went after me with a vengeance. Today, you've got hedge fund billionaires aligned with Karl Rove, running ads against me to try to get Democrats to vote for you. I know this game. I'm going to stop this game. But while we're talking about votes, you're the one who voted to deregulate swaps and derivatives in 2000, which contributed to the over-leveraging of Lehman Brothers, which was one of the culprits that brought down the economy. So I don't know\u2014I'm not impugning your motive because you voted to deregulate swaps and derivatives. People make mistakes and I'm certainly not saying you did it for any kind of financial advantage. What we've got to do as Democrats\u2014what we've got to do as Democrats is to be united to actually solve these problems. And what I believe is that I have a better track record and a better opportunity to actually get that job done. That's what this election should be about. +p3280 +aVOn the issue of Wall Street. +p3281 +aVWell you know, Rachel, I think I may not have done the job I should in explaining my record. You know, I did\u2014when I left the secretary of State's office, like so many former officials, military leaders, journalists, others, I did go on the speaking circuit. I spoke to heart doctors, I spoke to the American Camping Association, I spoke to auto dealers, and yes, I spoke to firms on Wall Street. They wanted me to talk about the world, what my experience had been as secretary of State. But what I want people to know is I went to Wall Street before the crash. I was the one saying you're going to wreck the economy because of these shenanigans with mortgages. I called to end the carried interest loophole that hedge fund managers enjoy. I proposed changes in CEO compensation. I called for a consumer protection financial bureau before it was created. And I think the best evidence that the Wall Street people at least know where I stand and where I have always stood is because they are trying to beat me in this primary. They have collected and spent as much as $6 million on these ads. Hedge fund billionaires, Karl Rove, another billionaire, jumped in. And why are they doing that? These are guys who try to make smart investments. They know my record, they know me, they know that I say what I believe and I will do it. And I also have a pretty good understanding about how to stop them. So I do want people to know that, and I think it's important for everybody to understand I have a record, I have stood firm and I will be the person who prevents them from ever wrecking the economy again. +p3282 +aVIf I could, let me just say that of course it has to change. It has to change. And that's why I have put forward a plan to do just that. And it's been judged to be the toughest, most effective and comprehensive one. I have great respect for Senator Sanders's commitment to try to restore Glass-Steagall. But I do not believe that that is enough. And in fact, I don't believe it really addresses a lot of the biggest issues we have. You know, we now have power under the Dodd-Frank legislation to break up banks. And I've said I will use that power if they pose a systemic risk. But I want to go further, because it was investment banks, it was insurance companies, it was mortgage companies, all of which contributed. So let's not just be narrowly focused on one part of the problem. We have a lot of issues with corporate power that have to be addressed. My plan takes us further and it would do the job. +p3283 +aVLook we have a law\u2014look, you know, I\u2014I appreciate the senator's advocacy. We have a law. It was passed. It was signed by President Obama. It lays out a process that you go through to determine whether a systemic risk is posed. And by the way, President Obama signed that, pushed it through, even though he took donations from Wall Street, because he's a responsible president. So we have a law in place. If the circumstances warrant it, I will certainly use it. And from what you say, I know you will as well. But that is not enough. And I keep going back to this because part of the reason the Wall Street guys are trying so hard to stop me\u2014the hedge fund guys, the shadow banking guys\u2014is because I've got their number on all of that. And my plan goes so much further to try to prevent the problems of the future. You know, we can't just fight the last war. We've got to be prepared to stop these guys if they ever try to use their economic power once again, to hurt the economy, and to hurt so many Americans. And my plan, Paul Krugman, Barney Frank, a lot of experts who understand what the new challenges might be, have said I am exactly on point, and the Wall Street guys actually know that. +p3284 +aVI will look into it. I don't know the status, but I will certainly look into it. But, I can only repeat what is the fact that I spoke to a lot of different groups with a lot of different constituents, a lot of different kinds of members about issues that had to do with world affairs. I probably described more times than I can remember how stressful it was advising the President about going after Bin Laden. My view on this is look at my record. Look at what I am proposing, and\u2014we have a vigorous agreement here. We both want to reign in the excesses of Wall Street. I also want to reign in the excesses of Johnson Controls that we bailed out when they were an autoparts company, and we saved the auto industry, and now they want to avoid paying taxes. I want to go after the pharmaceutical companies like Valeant, and Turns that are increasing prices without any regard to the impact on people's health. Now, if all we're going to talk about is one part of our economy, and indeed one streak in our economy, we're missing the big oil companies. We're missing other big energy companies. We're missing the big picture, and I have a record of trying to go at the problems that actually exist, and I will continue to do that. +p3285 +aV... Well, Senator, no one wants to see that happen. I mean, look, I care deeply about this because just like you I have met so many people who had their life savings wiped out, who lost their homes, who are barely back with their heads above water. This was a disaster for our country, and we can never let that happen again. We have no disagreement about this. But, I think it's a broader target list than just Wall Street, and I believe that we have to be very focused on how we try to take back the power and increase the empowerment of the American people. And, I think I have that kind of experience, maybe because they've beat me up for so many years, and I know exactly how to handle them because I've been in the arena with them time and time again. +p3286 +aVWell, I think what the president understands, and what he's trying to do, is that we have to support the Arab and Kurdish fighters on the ground who are actually doing the fighting. I agree with the president. I've said myself, we will not send American combat troops back to either Syria or Iraq\u2014that is off the table. But we do have special forces, we do have trainers, we do have the military personnel who are helping with the airstrikes that the United States is leading so that we can try to take out +p3287 +aVNo. I mean, of course that's a theoretical question, and we don't know what it would be for, and we don't know how many numbers there are. I am against American combat troops being in Syria and Iraq. I support special forces. I support trainers. I support the air campaign. And I think we're making some progress. I want to continue to intensify that, and that's exactly what the president is doing. +p3288 +aVIf I could\u2014if I could... +p3289 +aV... respectfully add\u2014look, we did differ. A vote in 2002 is not a plan to defeat +p3290 +aVOh, absolutely. The president decided to leave more troops than he had originally planned in Afghanistan. We have a very cooperative government there, with Ashraf Ghani and his top\u2014his top partner, Abdullah. And they are doing their very best. And the Afghan army is actually fighting. The Afghan army is taking heavy losses defending Afghan territory. And I would have to make an evaluation based on the circumstances at the time I took office as to how much help they continue to need. Because it's not just the Taliban. We now are seeing outposts of, you know, fighters claiming to be affiliated with +p3291 +aVA group of national security experts, military intelligence experts, issued a very concerning statement about Senator Sanders's views on foreign policy and national security, pointing out some of the comments he has made on these issues, such as inviting Iranian troops into Syria to try to resolve the conflict there; putting them right at the doorstep of Israel. Asking Saudi Arabia and Iran to work together, when they can't stand each other and are engaged in a proxy battle right at this moment. So I do think questions have been raised and questions have to be answered because when New Hampshire voters go on Tuesday to cast your vote, you are voting both for a president and a commander in chief. And there is no way to predict what comes in the door of that White House from day to day that can pose a threat to the United States or one of our friends and allies, and I think this is a big part of the job interview that we are all conducting with the voters here. +p3292 +aVWell, let me just add that, you know, I've said this before and I'm very proud of it, that when it comes to judgment, having run a hard race against Senator Obama at the time, he turned to me to be secretary of State. And when it comes to the biggest counterterrorism issues that we faced in this administration, namely whether or not to go after bin Laden, I was at that table, I was exercising my judgment to advise the president on what to do, on that, on Iran, on Russia on China, on a whole raft of issues. Because I know from my own experience that you've got to be ready on day one. There is just too much unpredictable threat and danger in the world today, you know, to try to just say wait, I'll get to that when I can. That is just not an acceptable approach. +p3293 +aVAbsolutely. You know, I did put together the coalition to impose sanctions. I actually started the negotiations that led to the nuclear agreement, sending some much my closest aides to begin the conversations with the Iranians. I'm very pleased we got that nuclear agreement. It puts a lid on the nuclear weapons program. We have to enforce it, there have to be consequences attached to it. But that is not our only problem with Iran. We have to figure out how to deal with Iran as the principal state sponsor of terrorism in the world. They are destabilizing governments in the region. They continue to support Hezbollah and Hamas in Lebanon against Israel. A lot of work that we have do is going to be incredibly hard. I'm prepared to do that work, but I believe, just as I did with imposing the sanctions, you have to get action for action. If we were to normalize relations right now, we would remove one of the biggest pieces of leverage we have to try to influence and change Iranian behavior. The president doesn't think we should. I certainly don't think we should. I believe we have to take this step by step to try to reign in Iranian aggression, their support for terrorism and the other bad behavior that can come back and haunt us. +p3294 +aVWell Senator, let me just correct the record if I can. You know\u2014let me correct the record. +p3295 +aVAs I\u2014as I certainly recall, the question was to meet with without conditions. And you're right, I was against that. I was against it then I would be against it now. +p3296 +aVPart of diplomacy, the hard work of diplomacy is trying to extract whatever concessions you can get, and giving something the other side wants. Of course you've got to try to make peace with, and work with those who are your adversaries, but you don't just rush in, open the door, and say, "Here I am. Let's talk and make a deal." That's not the way it works. +p3297 +aV... Well, we set conditions on Iran. We worked hard to get them established, and to be enforced, and then we talked. That's exactly the right......and, that's what I did with the President, so he and I are on the very same page. +p3298 +aVI haven't talked to Secretary Carter, but here's what I would think he's planning. We do have the nuclear weapons agreement with Iran, that's an enforcement consequence, action for action, follow on. We have a plan, we will watch them, we will be vigilant. We do have to worry about North Korea. They continue to develop their nuclear weapons capability, and they're working very hard on their ballistic missile capability. And, I know that some of those plans could very well lead to a missile that might reach Hawaii, if not the West Coast. We do have to try to get the countries in the region to work with us to do everything we can to confine, and constrain them. But, what Secretary Carter is looking at is the constant pressure that Russia's putting on our European allies. The way that Russia is trying to move the boundaries of the post-World War II Europe. The way that he is trying to set European countries against one another, seizing territory, holding it in Crimea. Beginning to explore whether they could make some inroads in the Baltics. We know that they are deeply engaged in supporting Assad because they want to have a place in the Middle East. They have a naval base, they have an air base in Syria. They want to hang on to that. I think what Secretary Carter is seeing, and I'm glad he is, is that we got to get +p3299 +aVWell, first of all, I'm absolutely against privatizing the V.A. And I am going do everything I can to build on the reforms that Senator Sanders and others in Congress have passed to try to fix what's wrong with the V.A. There are a lot of issues about wait times and services that have to be fixed because our veterans deserve nothing but the best. But you're absolutely right, you know, Rachel, this is another part of the Koch brothers agenda. They've actually formed an organization to try to begin to convince Americans we should no longer have guaranteed health care, specialized care for our veterans. I will fight that as hard as I can. I think there's where we can enlist the veterans service organizations, the veterans of America, because, yes, let's fix the V.A., but we will never let it be privatized, and that is a promise. +p3300 +aVWhatever they decide to do, that's fine. +p3301 +aVAll right. +p3302 +aVI can only tell you what I believe, and that is that I am the strongest candidate to take it to the Republicans and win in November. And I say that with great\u2014with great respect for the campaign that Senator Sanders has been running. I personally am thrilled at the numbers of people, and particularly young people who are coming to support your campaign. I hope that I will be able to earn their support. They may not support me now, but I support them and we'll work together. But what I'm concerned about is the views of many Democrats who know their states, who know how hard it is to win a general election. And it also will push whoever the nominee is into the spotlight. I've been vetted. There's hardly anything you don't know about me. And I think it's fair to say that whoever is in that position, Senator Sanders or anyone else who might have run, will face the most withering onslaught. So, I think that I am the person who can do all aspects of the job. I think I'm the person best prepared to take the case to the Republicans. And I think that at the end of the day, it's not so much electability. It is who the American people can believe can keep them safe, can get the economy moving again, can get incomes rising, can build on the progressive accomplishments of President Obama. And I think that the coalition that President Obama put together to win twice is a coalition that I can put together and add to. And that's what I'm prepared to... +p3303 +aVAbsolutely I can. You know, before it was emails, it was Benghazi, and the Republicans were stirring up so much controversy about that. And I testified for 11 hours, answered their questions. They basically said yeah, didn't get her. We tried. That was all a political ploy. Now, we had a development in the email matter today when it came out that Secretary Powell and close aides to Former Secretary Rice used private e-mail accounts. and now you have these people in the government who are doing the same thing to Secretary Powell and Secretary Rice's aide they've been doing to me, which is that I never sent or received any classified material. They are retroactively classifying it. I agree completely with Secretary Powell, who said today this is an absurdity. And so I think the American people will know it's an absurdity. I have absolutely no concerns about it whatsoever. +p3304 +aVI am 100 percent confident. This is a security review that was requested. It is being carried out. It will be resolved. But I have to add if there's going to be a security review about me, there's going to have to be security reviews about a lot of other people, including Republican office holders, because we've got this absurd situation of retroactive classifications. Honest to goodness, this is\u2014this just beggars the imagination. So I have absolutely no concerns about it, but we've got to get to the bottom of what's really going on here, and I hope that will happen. +p3305 +aVNo. +p3306 +aVYes, I do. And\u2014you know, what I hope the Supreme Court will do is make it absolutely clear that any state that continues capital punishment either must meet the highest standards of evidentiary proof of effective assistance of counsel or they cannot continue it because that, to me, is the real dividing line. I have much more confidence in the federal system, and I do reserve it for particularly heinous crimes in the federal system, like terrorism. I have strong feelings about that. I thought it was appropriate after a very thorough trial that Timothy McVeigh received the death penalty for blowing up the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people, including 19 children in a daycare center. I do for very limited, particularly heinous crimes believe it is an appropriate punishment, but I deeply disagree with the way that too many states are still implementing it. If it were possible to separate the federal from the state system by the Supreme Court, that would, I think, be an appropriate outcome. +p3307 +aVAbsolutely. Absolutely. You know, Rachel, you and I have talked about this before. I thank you for going to Flint to hold that town hall. I will be in Flint at the Mayor's invitation on Sunday to get an in depth briefing about what is, and is not happening. This is an emergency. Everyday that goes by that these people, particularly the children, are not tested so we can know what steps must be taken to try to remediate the effects of the poisoning that they have been living with is a day lost in a child's life. I know from the work that I've done over so many years, lead, the toxic nature of lead can affect you brain development, your body development, your behavior. I absolutely believe that what is being done is not sufficient. We need to be absolutely clear about everything that should be done from today to tomorrow, into the future to try to remedy the terrible burden that the people of Flint are barring. That includes fixing their pipes, it includes guaranteeing whatever healthcare and educational embellishments they may need going forward, and I think the federal government has way where it can bill the state of Michigan. If Michigan won't do it, there have to be ways that we can begin to move, and then make them pay for it, and hold them accountable. +p3308 +aVYou know, Chuck, I've only had responsibility for voting for trade agreements as a senator. And I voted a multinational trade agreement when I was senator, the +p3309 +aVWell, I\u2014I don't accept that premise, Chuck. I think that we've got so much business we have to do. We've talked a lot tonight about what we're against\u2014we're against income inequality. We're against the abuses of powerful interests. We're against a lot of things. I'm for a lot of things. I don't want to just stop bad things from happening, I want to start good things from happening. And I believe, if I'm so fortunate to get the nomination, I will begin to work immediately on putting together an agenda, beginning to talk with members of Congress and others about how we can push forward. I want to have half a billion more solar panels deployed, the first four years. I want to have enough clean energy to power every home the next four years. I want us to keep working on the Affordable Care Act, to get not only to 100 percent coverage, but bring down the costs of prescription drugs and out-of-pocket costs. I want to move forward on paid family leave, on early childhood education, I want us to do more for small businesses. Small businesses have to create most of the jobs, and we're not creating and growing small businesses. I think, if you have a smart agenda, you pick the committees that you know have to begin to work on these various pieces\u2014because that's the way Congress is set up. You go through different committees, and you really make a big push in the beginning. Immigration reform, economic revitalization with manufacturing, with infrastructure\u2014we put it out there, and we begin to work on an ambitious, big, bold agenda that will actually produce the results that I want to see for our country. +p3310 +aVThe answer to both of those is no. I'm interested in making what we have work better. I want to streamline programs that are duplicative and redundant. I want to have a top-to-bottom review about what works and what doesn't work, and be absolutely clear we're getting rid of what doesn't work. I have had the opportunity to run a big agency. I was very flattered when Henry Kissinger said I ran the State Department better\u2014better than anybody had run it in a long time. So I have an idea of what it's going to take to make our government work more efficiently. And when you put together a budget, you have to make a lot of hard decisions, but I think it's not appropriate to say "I'm going to get rid of this, get rid of that" until you have a very good process that gives you the information about what to do. But I want to add something else, you know, because look, we have so much work to do in our country, and I think it's the greatest work that Americans will be called to do. And of course, we have to have people in every community involved in it. We have to have the political voice, the political grassroots speaking up and speaking out about what we have to try to accomplish in Washington. But we also need to have a very clear set of goals that we are going to achieve, and we need to level with the American people about what they are, what they will cost, what will be expected of our citizenry. So I see as president having a constant dialogue with Americans here's what we're trying to get done, here's why I need your help, here's why you may think comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship isn't something you care about, but I'm telling you it will help fix the labor market, it will bring people out of the shadows\u2014 +p3311 +aVI never said that. +p3312 +aVLook... +p3313 +aVWell, I'm certainly going to unite the party, but I'm not\u2014I'm not getting ahead of myself. I think that would be a little bit presumptuous. If I'm so fortunate as to be the nominee, the first person I will call to talk to about where we go and how we get it done will be Senator Sanders. +p3314 +aVThat's true. That's true. +p3315 +aVWell first, thanks to +p3316 +aVWell, good evening. And I want to thank the Congressional Black Caucus Institute and the people of Charleston for hosting us here on the eve of Martin Luther King Day tomorrow. You know, I remember well when my youth minister took me to hear Dr. King. I was a teenager. And his moral clarity, the message that he conveyed that evening really stayed with me and helped to set me on a path to service. I also remember that he spent the last day of his life in Memphis, fighting for dignity and higher pay for working people. And that is our fight still. We have to get the economy working and incomes rising for everyone, including those who have been left out and left behind. We have to keep our communities and our country safe. We need a president who can do all aspects of the job. I understand that this is the hardest job in the world. I'm prepared and ready to take it on and I hope to earn your support to be the nominee of the Democratic Party and the next president of the United States. +p3317 +aVI would work quickly to present to the Congress my plans for creating more good jobs in manufacturing, infrastructure, clean and renewable energy, raising the minimum wage, and guaranteeing, finally, equal pay for women's work. I would also......I would also be presenting my plans to build on the Affordable Care Act and to improve it by decreasing the out-of-pocket costs by putting a cap on prescription drug costs; by looking for ways that we can put the prescription drug business and the health insurance company business on a more stable platform that doesn't take too much money out of the pockets of hard-working Americans. And third, I would be working, in every way that I knew, to bring our country together. We do have too much division, too much mean- spiritedness. There's a lot we have to do on immigration reform, on voting rights, on campaign finance reform, but we need to do it together. That's how we'll have the kind of country for the 21st century that we know will guarantee our children and grandchildren the kind of future they deserve. +p3318 +aVYes look, I have made it clear based on Senator Sanders' own record that he has voted with the NRA, with the gun lobby numerous times. He voted against the Brady Bill five times. He voted for what we call, the Charleston Loophole. He voted for immunity from gunmakers and sellers which the NRA said, "was the most important piece of gun legislation in 20 years. " He voted to let guns go onto the Amtrak, guns go into National Parks. He voted against doing research to figure out how we can save lives. Let's not forget what this is about, 90 people a day die from gun violence in our country. That's 33,000 people a year. One of the most horrific examples not a block from here where we had nine people murdered. Now, I am pleased to hear that Senator Sanders has reversed his position on immunity and I look forward to him joining with those members of congress who have already introduced legislation. There is no other industry in America that was given the total pass that the gun makers and dealers were and that needs to be reversed. +p3319 +aVWell, sadly it's reality, and it has been heartbreaking, and incredibly outraging to see the constant stories of young men like Walter Scott, as you said, who have been killed by police officers. Their needs to be a concerted effort to address the systemic racism in our criminal justice system. And, that requires a very clear, agenda for retraining police officers, looking at ways to end racial profiling, finding more ways to really bring the disparities that stalk our country into high relief. One out of three African American men may well end up going to prison. That's the statistic. I want people hear to think what we would be doing if it was one out of three white men, and very often, the black men are arrested, convicted and incarcerated ......for offensive that do not lead to the same results for white men. So, we have a very serious problem that we can no longer ignore. +p3320 +aVWell, Lester, you're right. Everywhere I go to campaign, I'm meeting families who are affected by the drug problem that mostly is opioids and heroin now, and lives are being lost and children are being orphaned. And I've met a lot of grandparents who are now taking care of grandchildren. So I have tried to come out with a comprehensive approach that, number one, does tell the states that we will work with you from the federal government putting more money, about a billion dollars a year, to help states have a different approach to dealing with this epidemic. The policing needs to change. Police officers must be equipped with the antidote to a heroin overdose or an opioid overdose, known as Narcan. They should be able to administer it. So should firefighters and others. We have to move away from treating the use of drugs as a crime and instead, move it to where it belongs, as a health issue. And we need to divert more people from the criminal justice system into drug courts, into treatment, and recovery. +p3321 +aVSo this is the kind of approach that we should take in dealing with what is now... +p3322 +aV... a growing epidemic. +p3323 +aVWell, Andrea, I am absolutely committed to universal health care. I have worked on this for a long time, people may remember that I took on the health insurance industry back in the '90s, and I didn't quit until we got the children's health insurance program that ensures eight million kids. And I certainly respect Senator Sanders' intentions, but when you're talking about health care, the details really matter. And therefore, we have been raising questions about the nine bills that he introduced over 20 years, as to how they would work and what would be the impact on people's health care? He didn't like that, his campaign didn't like it either. And tonight, he's come out with a new health care plan. And again, we need to get into the details. But here's what I believe, the Democratic Party and the United States worked since Harry Truman to get the Affordable Care Act passed. We finally have a path to universal health care. We have accomplished so much already. I do not to want see the Republicans repeal it, and I don't to want see us start over again with a contentious debate. I want us to defend and build on the Affordable Care Act and improve it. +p3324 +aVBut \u2014 Senator Sanders, if I can... You know, I have to say I'm not sure whether we're talking about the plan you just introduced tonight, or we're talking about the plan you introduced nine times in the Congress. But the fact is, we have the Affordable Care Act. That is one of the greatest accomplishments of President Obama, of the Democratic Party, and of our country. And we have already seen 19 million Americans get insurance. We have seen the end of pre-existing conditions keeping people from getting insurance. We have seen women no longer paying more for our insurance than men. And we have seen young people, up to the age of 26, being able to stay on their parent's policy. +p3325 +aVNow, there are things we can do to improve it, but to tear it up and start over again, pushing our country back into that kind of a contentious debate, I think is the wrong direction. +p3326 +aVAnd that's exactly what we are able to do based on the foundation of the Affordable Care Act \u2014 what Governor O'Malley just said is one of the models that we will be looking at to make sure we do get costs down, we do limit a lot of the unnecessary costs that we still have in the system. But, with all due respect, to start over again with a whole new debate is something that I think would set us back. The Republicans just voted last week to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and thank goodness, President Obama vetoed it and saved Obamacare for the American people. +p3327 +aVWell, as someone who \u2014 as someone who has a little bit of experience standing up to the health insurance industry, that spent, you know......many, many millions of dollars attacking me, and probably will so again, because of what I believe we can do building on the Affordable Care Act, I think it's important to point out that there are a lot of reasons we have the health care system we have today. I know how much money influences the political decision-making. That's why I'm for huge campaign finance reform. However, we started a system that had private health insurance. And even during the Affordable Care Act debate, there was an opportunity to vote for what was called the public option. In other words, people could buy in to Medicare, and even when the Democrats were in charge of the Congress, we couldn't get the votes for that. So, what I'm saying is really simple. This has been the fight of the Democratic Party for decades. We have the Affordable Care Act. Let's make it work. Let's take the models that states are doing. We now have driven costs down to the lowest they've been in 50 years. Now we've got to get individual costs down. That's what I'm planning to do. +p3328 +aVWell, I think it's an important point the president made in his State of the Union. And here's what I would say. I will go anywhere, to meet with anyone, at any time to find common ground. That's what I did as a first lady, when I worked with both Democrats and Republicans to get the Children's Health Insurance Program, when I worked with Tom DeLay, one of the most partisan of Republicans, to reform the adoption and foster care system. What I did, working in the Senate, where I crossed the aisle often, working even with the senator from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham, to get Tricare for national guardsmen and women. And it's what I did as Secretary of State, on numerous occasions, and most particularly, rounding up two-thirds votes in order to pass a treaty that lowered the nuclear weapons in both Russia and the United States. So I know it's hard, but I also know you've got to work at it every single day. I look out here, I see a lot of my friends from the Congress. And I know that they work at it every single day. Because maybe you can't only find a little sliver of common ground to cooperate with somebody from the other party, but who knows. If you're successful there, maybe you can build even more. That's what I would do. +p3329 +aVWell thanks for the question and congratulations on five million viewers on YouTube, that's quite an accomplishment. Look, this election is mostly about the future and therefore it is of greatest urgency for young people. I've laid out my ideas about what we can do to make college affordable; how we can help people pay off their student debts and save thousands of dollars, how we can create more good jobs because a lot of the young people that I talk with are pretty disappointed the economic prospects they feel their facing. So making community college free, making it possible to attend a public college or university with debt free tuition, looking for ways to protect our rights especially from the concerted Republican assault; on voting rights, on women's rights, on gay rights, on civil rights, on workers rights. And I know how much young people value their independence, their autonomy, and their rights. So I think this is an election where we have to pull young people and older people together to have a strategy about how we're going to encourage even more American's to vote because it absolutely clear to me... +p3330 +aVThat turning over our White House to the Republicans would be bad for everybody especially young people. +p3331 +aVLook, I have the greatest respect for Senator Sanders and for his supports and I'm going to keep working as hard as I can to reach as many people of all ages about what I will do, what the experience and the ideas that I have that I will bring to the White House and I hope to have their support when I'm the Democratic nominee. +p3332 +aVWell, there's no daylight on the basic premise that there should be no bank too big to fail and no individual too powerful to jail. We agree on that. But where we disagree is the comments that Senator Sanders has made that don't just affect me, I can take that, but he's criticized President Obama for taking donations from Wall Street, and President Obama has led our country out of the great recession. Senator Sanders called him weak, disappointing. He even, in 2011, publicly sought someone to run in a primary against President Obama. Now, I personally believe that President Obama's work to push through the Dodd-Frank... The Dodd-Frank bill and then to sign it was one of the most important regulatory schemes we've had since the 1930s. So I'm going to defend Dodd-Frank and I'm going to defend President Obama for taking on Wall Street, taking on the financial industry and getting results. +p3333 +aVYou know, I think since \u2014 since Senator Standers followed up on this... +p3334 +aVYour profusion of comments about your feelings towards President Obama are a little strange given what you said about him in 2011. But look, I have a plan that most commentators have said is tougher, more effective, and more comprehensive. O' +p3335 +aVIt builds on the Dodd-Frank \u2014 yes, it is. It builds on the Dodd-Frank, regulatory scheme... O' +p3336 +aV... but it goes much further, because... O' +p3337 +aV... both the governor and the senator have focused only on the big banks. Lehman Brothers, AIG, the shadow banking sector were as big a problem in what caused the Great Recession, I go after them. And I can tell you that the hedge fund billionaires who are running ads against me right now, and Karl Rove, who started running an ad against me right now, funded by money from the financial services sector, sure thing, I'm the one they don't want to be up against. +p3338 +aVYes, well, first of all \u2014 first of all, Paul Krugman, Barney Frank, others have all endorsed my plan. Secondly, we have Dodd-Frank. It gives us the authority already to break up big banks that pose... O' +p3339 +aVThat pose a risk to the financial sector. I want to go further and add to that. And, you know, Governor, you have raised money on Wall Street. You raised a lot of money on Wall Street when you were the head of the Democratic Governor's Association... O' +p3340 +aVAnd you were... O' +p3341 +aVYes, well, the point is that if we're going to be serious about this and not just try to score political points, we should know what's in Dodd-Frank, and what's in Dodd-Frank already gives the president the authority......with his regulators to make those decisions. +p3342 +aVWell, the last point on this is, Senator Sanders, you're the only one on this stage that voted to deregulate the financial market in 2000, to take the cops off the street, to use Governor O'Malley's phrase, to make the SEC and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission no longer able to regulate swaps and derivatives, which were one of the main cause of the collapse in '08. So there's plenty... +p3343 +aVThere's plenty of problems that we all have to face together. And the final thing I would say, we're at least having a vigorous debate about reining in Wall Street... +p3344 +aV... The Republicans want to give them more power, and repeal Dodd-Frank. That's what we need to stop... +p3345 +aVWell, I have actually documented every way that I'm going to pay for what I'm doing because I think the American public deserves to know. And, you can go to my website and actually see that. But, there are serious questions about how we're going to pay for what we want to see our country do. And, I'm the only candidate standing here tonight who has said I will not raise taxes on the middle class. I want to raise incomes, not taxes, and I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that the wealthy pay for debt free tuition, for child care, for paid family leave. To help us bring down student debt we're going to refinance that student debt, saving kids thousands of dollars. Yeah, and that will also come out of the \u2014 some of the pockets of people in the financial services industry... +p3346 +aVBut I will tell you exactly how I pay for everything I've proposed... +p3347 +aVAnd let me... +p3348 +aVWell, I'm very proud of the Iran Nuclear Agreement. I was very pleased to be part of what the president put into action when he took office. I was responsible for getting those sanctions imposed which put the pressure on Iran. It brought them to the negotiating table which resulted in this agreement. And so, they have been so far, following their requirements under the agreement. But I think we still have to carefully watch them. We've had one good day over 36 year and I think we need more good days before we move more rapidly toward any kind of normalization. And we have to be sure that they are truly going to implement the agreement. And then, we have to go after them on a lot of their other bad behavior in the region which is causing enormous problems in Syria, Yemen, Iraq and elsewhere. +p3349 +aVAbsolutely not. I have a three point plan that does not include American Ground forces. It includes the United States leading an air coalition which is what we're doing, supporting fighters on the ground; the Iraqi Army which is beginning to show more ability, the Sunni fighters that we are now helping to reconstitute and Kurdish on both sides of the border. I think we also have try to disrupt their supply chain of foreign fighters and foreign money and we do have to contest them in online space. So I'm very committed to both going after +p3350 +aVLook, I think that the president's decision to go after the chemical weapons once there was a potential opportunity to build on when the Russians opened that door resulted in a very positive outcome. We were able to get the chemical weapons out. I know from my own experience as secretary of State that we were deeply worried about Assad's forces using chemical weapons because it would have had not only a horrific affect on people in Syria, but it could very well have affected the surrounding states, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Turkey. So getting those chemical weapons out was a big deal, but... +p3351 +aVWell \u2014 but \u2014 but... +p3352 +aVI think, as commander in chief, you've got to constantly be evaluating the decisions you have to make. I know a little bit about this, having spent many hours in the situation room, advising President Obama. And I want to just add to something that Senator Sanders said, the United States had a very big interest in trying to help stabilize the region. If there is any blame to be spread around, it starts with the prime minister of Iraq, who sectarianized his military, setting Shia against Sunni. It is amplified by Assad, who has waged one of the bloodiest, most terrible attacks on his own people: 250,000-plus dead, millions fleeing. Causing this vacuum that has been filled unfortunately, by terrorist groups, including +p3353 +aV... and go after +p3354 +aVBut overall, a lot of the forces at work in the region are ones that we cannot directly influence, but we can... +p3355 +aVWell, it would depend on what I got for it and I can tell you what we got in the first term, we got a new start treaty to reduce nuclear weapons between the United States and Russia. We got permission to resupply our troops in Afghanistan by traveling across Russia. We got Russia to sign on to our sanctions against Iran and other very important commitments. So look, in diplomacy, you are always trying to see how you can figure out the interest of the other to see if there isn't some way you can advance your security and your values. When Putin came back in the fall of 2011, it was very clear he came back with a mission. And I began speaking out as soon as that happened because there were some fraudulent elections held, and Russians poured out into the streets to demand their freedom, and he cracked down. And in fact, accused me of fomenting it. So we now know that he has a mixed record to say the least and we have to figure out how to deal with him. +p3356 +aVWell, my relationship with him, it's \u2014 it's interesting. It's one, I think, of respect. We've had some very tough dealings with one another. And I know that he's someone that you have to continuingly stand up to because, like many bullies, he is somebody who will take as much as he possibly can unless you do. And we need to get the Europeans to be more willing to stand up, I was pleased they put sanctions on after Crimea and eastern Ukraine and the downing of the airliner, but we've got to be more united in preventing Putin from taking a more aggressive stance in Europe and the Middle East. +p3357 +aVOh, we're breaking? OK. +p3358 +aVWell, I wanted to say, and I'll do it quickly, I was very pleased that leaders of President Obama's administration went out to Silicon Valley last week and began exactly this conversation about what we can do, consistent with privacy and security. We need better intelligence cooperation, we need to be sure that we are getting the best intelligence that we can from friends and allies around the world. And then, we've got to recognize our first line of defense against lone wolf attacks is among Muslim Americans. And it is not only shameful, it is dangerous for the kinds of comments you're hearing from the Republican side. We need to be reaching out and unifying our country against terrorist attacks and lone wolves, and working with Muslim Americans. +p3359 +aVThat is not what I've heard. Let me leave it at that. O' +p3360 +aVWell, it'll start at the kitchen table, we'll see how it goes from there. And I......I'm going to have the very best advisers that I can possibly have, and when it comes to the economy and what was accomplished under my husband's leadership and the '90s \u2014 especially when it came to raising incomes for everybody and lifting more people out of poverty than at any time in recent history \u2014 you bet. I'm going to ask for his ideas, I'm going ask for his advice, and I'm going use him as a goodwill emissary to go around the country to find the best ideas we've got, because I do believe, as he said, everything that's wrong with America has been solved somewhere in America. We just have to do more of it, and we have to reach out, especially into poor communities and communities of color, to give more people their own chance to get ahead. +p3361 +aVWell Lester, I spent a lot of time last week being outraged by what's happening in Flint, Michigan and I think every single American should be outraged. We've had a city in the United States of America where the population which is poor in many ways and majority African American has been drinking and bathing in lead contaminated water. And the governor of that state acted as though he didn't really care. He had request for help and he had basically stone walled. I'll tell you what, if the kids in a rich suburb of Detroit had been drinking contaminated water and being bathed in it, there would've been action. So I sent my top campaign aide down there to talk to the mayor of Flint to see what I could to help. I issued a statement about what we needed to do and then I went on a T.V. show and I said, "it was outrageous that the governor hadn't acted and within two hours he had." +p3362 +aVI want to be a president who takes care of the big problems and the problems that are affecting the people of our country everyday. +p3363 +asVTRUMP +p3364 +(lp3365 +VThank you. I began this journey six months ago. My total focus was on building up our military, building up our strength, building up our borders, making sure that China, Japan, Mexico, both at the border and in trade, no longer takes advantage of our country. Certainly would never have made that horrible, disgusting, absolutely incompetent deal with Iran where they get $150 billion. They're a terrorist nation. But I began it talking about other things. And those things are things that I'm very good at and maybe that's why I'm center stage. People saw it. People liked it. People respected it. A month ago things changed. Radical Islamic terrorism came into effect even more so than it has been in the past. People like what I say. People respect what I say. And we've opened up a very big discussion that needed to be opened up. Thank you very much. +p3366 +aVWe are not talking about isolation. We're talking about security. We're not talking about religion. We're talking about security. Our country is out of control. People are pouring across the southern border. I will build a wall. It will be a great wall. People will not come in unless they come in legally. Drugs will not pour through that wall. As far as other people like in the migration, where they're going, tens of thousands of people having cell phones with +p3367 +aVJeb doesn't really believe I'm unhinged. He said that very simply because he has failed in this campaign. It's been a total disaster. Nobody cares. And frankly, I'm the most solid person up here. I built a tremendous company and all I want to do is make America great again. I don't want our country to be taken away from us, and that's what's happening. The policies that we've suffered under other presidents have been a disaster for our country. We want to make America great again. And Jeb, in all fairness, he doesn't believe that. +p3368 +aVWell, look, this is so easy to answer. +p3369 +aVI would certainly be open to closing areas where we are at war with somebody. I sure as hell don't want to let people that want to kill us and kill our nation use our Internet. Yes, sir, I am. +p3370 +aVWe have to be much tougher. We have to be much stronger than we've been. We have people that know what is going on. You take a look at just the attack in California the other day. There were numerous people, including the mother, that knew what was going on. They saw a pipe bomb sitting all over the floor. They saw ammunition all over the place. They knew exactly what was going on. When you had the World Trade Center go, people were put into planes that were friends, family, girlfriends, and they were put into planes and they were sent back, for the most part, to Saudi Arabia. They knew what was going on. They went home and they wanted to watch their boyfriends on television. I would be very, very firm with families. Frankly, that will make people think because they may not care much about their lives, but they do care, believe it or not, about their families' lives. +p3371 +aVLook, the problem is we need toughness. Honestly, I think Jeb is a very nice person. He's a very nice person. But we need tough people. We need toughness. We need intelligence and we need tough. Jeb said when they come across the southern border they come as an act of love. +p3372 +aVAm I talking or are you talking, Jeb? +p3373 +aVYou can go back. You're not talking. You interrupted me. +p3374 +aVAre you going to apologize, Jeb? No. Am I allowed to finish? +p3375 +aVExcuse me, am I allowed to finish? +p3376 +aVSo... +p3377 +aV... again... +p3378 +aVI know you're trying to build up your energy, Jeb, but it's not working very well. +p3379 +aVLook, look, look. We need a toughness. We need strength. We're not respected, you know, as a nation anymore. We don't have that level of respect that we need. And if we don't get it back fast, we're just going to go weaker, weaker and just disintegrate. We can't allow that to happen. We need strength. We don't have it. When Jeb comes out and he talks about the border, and I saw it and I was witness to it, and so was everyone else, and I was standing there, "they come across as an act of love," he's saying the same thing right now with radical Islam. And we can't have that in our country. It just won't work. We need strength. +p3380 +aVWith Jeb's attitude, we will never be great again, that I can tell you. We will never be great again. +p3381 +aVSo, they can kill us, but we can't kill them? That's what you're saying. And as far as the Internet is concerned, we're not talking about closing the Internet. I'm talking about parts of Syria, parts of Iraq, where +p3382 +aVIn my opinion, we've spent $4 trillion trying to topple various people that frankly, if they were there and if we could've spent that $4 trillion in the United States to fix our roads, our bridges, and all of the other problems; our airports and all of the other problems we've had, we would've been a lot better off. I can tell you that right now. We have done a tremendous disservice, not only to Middle East, we've done a tremendous disservice to humanity. The people that have been killed, the people that have wiped away, and for what? It's not like we had victory. It's a mess. The Middle East is totally destabilized. A total and complete mess. I wish we had the $4 trillion or $5 trillion. I wish it were spent right here in the United States, on our schools, hospitals, roads, airports, and everything else that are all falling apart. +p3383 +aVWell, there's nothing to respond to. Well, people feel differently. I mean, the fact is Benghazi was a disaster because of Libya, everything just fell into place. It could not have been worse. What do we have now? We have nothing. We've spent $3 trillion and probably much more \u2013 I have no idea what we've spent. Thousands and thousands of lives, we have nothing. Wounded warriors all over the place who I love, we have nothing for it. And by the way \u2013 and Ben said incorrectly \u2013 and I'm not saying this as a knock \u2013 he's one of finest men. You're not going to find a finer men. But I've been talking about oil for three years. I've been saying,, "take the oil, take the oil." I didn't say, "just bomb it," I said," take it and use it and distribute it so that the wounded warriors -" People, I've been saying this now for many years. +p3384 +aVNow, all of a sudden everybody's saying, "take the oil." It wasn't so fashionable to take the oil six months ago. I've been saying it for years. +p3385 +aVI think Assad is a bad guy, a very bad guy, all right? Lots of people killed. I think we are backing people we have no idea who they are. The rebels, we call them the rebels, the patriotic rebels. We have no idea. A lot of people think, Hugh, that they are +p3386 +aVI think it's very sad that CNN leads Jeb Bush, Governor Bush, down a road by starting off virtually all the questions, "Mr. Trump this, Mister" \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched the first debate, and the first long number of questions were, "Mr. Trump said this, Mr. Trump said that. Mr. Trump" \u2014 these poor guys \u2014 although, I must tell you, Santorum, good guy. Governor Huckabee, good guy. They were very nice, and I respect them greatly. But I thought it was very unfair that virtually the entire early portion of the debate was Trump this, Trump that, in order to get ratings, I guess. In order to get ratings, I guess. +p3387 +aVI just think it's very \u2014 excuse me. +p3388 +aVExcuse me. I think it's very unprofessional. +p3389 +aVWell, I think it's very unprofessional. +p3390 +aVOK, fine. +p3391 +aVThis isn't tough and easy. I wish it... +p3392 +aVI wish it was always this easy as you, Jeb. +p3393 +aVOh, yeah. +p3394 +aVOh, I know. You're a tough guy, Jeb. I know. +p3395 +aVYou're tough. +p3396 +aVWell, let's see. I'm at 42, and you're at 3. So, so far, I'm doing better. +p3397 +aVSo far, I'm doing better. You know, you started off over here, Jeb. You're moving over further and further. Pretty soon you're going to be off the end... +p3398 +aVI believe I did. +p3399 +aVI have a very hardline position, we have a country or we don't have a country. People that have come into our country illegally, they have to go. They have to come back into through a legal process. I want a strong border. I do want a wall. Walls do work, you just have to speak to the folks in Israel. Walls work if they're properly constructed. I know how to build, believe me, I know how to build. I feel a very, very strong bind, and really I'm bound to this country, we either have a border or we don't. People can come into the country, we welcome people to come but they have to come in legally. +p3400 +aVWell, first of all, I think we need somebody absolutely that we can trust, who is totally responsible; who really knows what he or she is doing. That is so powerful and so important. And one of the things that I'm frankly most proud of is that in 2003, 2004, I was totally against going into Iraq because you're going to destabilize the Middle East. I called it. I called it very strongly. And it was very important. But we have to be extremely vigilant and extremely careful when it comes to nuclear. Nuclear changes the whole ball game. Frankly, I would have said get out of Syria; get out \u2014 if we didn't have the power of weaponry today. The power is so massive that we can't just leave areas that 50 years ago or 75 years ago we wouldn't care. It was hand-to-hand combat. The biggest problem this world has today is not President Obama with global warming, which is inconceivable, this is what he's saying. The biggest problem we have is nuclear \u2014 nuclear proliferation and having some maniac, having some madman go out and get a nuclear weapon. That's in my opinion, that is the single biggest problem that our country faces right now. +p3401 +aVI think \u2014 I think, for me, nuclear is just the power, the devastation is very important to me. +p3402 +aVI did. +p3403 +aVLet me just say that I have gotten to know him over the last three or four days. He has a wonderful temperament. He's just fine. Don't worry about it. +p3404 +aVYou better not attack... +p3405 +aVI really am. I'll be honest, I really am. I mean, the people have been putting me... I really am. +p3406 +aVLet me just. Can I just finish my... +p3407 +aVI've gained great respect for the Republican leadership. I've gained great respect for many \u2014 and I'm going to even say \u2014 I mean, in different forms for the people on the dais, in different forms. In different forms. But I have great respect for the people I have met through this process. I've never done this process before. I've never been a politician. I mean, for the last six months I've been a politician. But I will tell you, I am totally committed to the Republican Party. I feel very honored to be the front runner. And I think I'll do very well if I'm chosen. If I'm so fortunate to be chosen, I think I'll do very well. Polls have come out recently saying I would beat Hillary. I will do everything in my power to beat Hillary Clinton, I promise you. +p3408 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We don't win on trade. We don't win on the military. We can't defeat +p3409 +aVI can't be Neil. And the and the reason I can't be is that we are a country that is being beaten on every front economically, militarily. There is nothing that we do now to win. We don't win anymore. Our taxes are too high. I've come up with a tax plan that many, many people like very much. It's going to be a tremendous plan. I think it'll make our country and our economy very dynamic. But, taxes too high, wages too high, we're not going to be able to compete against the world. I hate to say it, but we have to leave it the way it is. People have to go out, they have to work really hard and have to get into that upper stratum. But we can not do this if we are going to compete with the rest of the world. We just can't do it. +p3410 +aVI would not do it. +p3411 +aVI was so happy yesterday when I saw that decision come down. That was an unbelievable decision. And we don't have enough of those decisions coming down. He of the executive order, because nobody wants to listen to him, including the Democrats, so he just goes around signing executive orders. That was a great day. And, frankly, we have to stop illegal immigration. It's hurting us economically. It's hurting us from every standpoint. It's causing tremendous difficulty with respect to drugs and what that does to many of our inner cities in particular. And it really is \u2014 was such an unbelievable moment because the courts have not been ruling in our favor. And it was a 2-1 decision. And it was a terrific thing that happened. And I will tell you, we are a country of laws. We need borders. We will have a wall. The wall will be built. The wall will be successful. And if you think walls don't work, all you have to do is ask Israel. The wall works, believe me. Properly done. Believe me. +p3412 +aVYou are going to have to bring people \u2014 you are going to have to send people out. Look, we're a country... +p3413 +aVMaria, we're a country of laws. We either have a country or we don't have a country. We are a country of laws. Going to have to go out and they will come back but they are going to have to go out and hopefully they get back. But we have no choice if we're going to run our country properly and if we're going to be a country. +p3414 +aVAll I can say is, you're lucky in Ohio that you struck oil. That is for one thing. Let me just tell you that Dwight Eisenhower, good president, great president, people liked him. "I like Ike," right? The expression. "I like Ike." Moved a 1.5 million illegal immigrants out of this country, moved them just beyond the border. They came back. Moved them again beyond the border, they came back. Didn't like it. Moved them way south. They never came back. Dwight Eisenhower. You don't get nicer. You don't get friendlier. They moved a 1.5 million out. We have no choice. We have no choice. +p3415 +aVNo, it's unfair. +p3416 +aV... built an unbelievable company worth billions and billions of dollars. I don't have to hear from this man, believe me. I don't have to hear from him. +p3417 +aVWe have millions of people right now on line trying to come into this country. Very, very unfair to the people that want to come into our country legally. They've gone through the process. They're on line. They're waiting. Very, very unfair to them. That I can tell you. +p3418 +aVYes. +p3419 +aVNo, I'm sorry. No, excuse me. I was there. +p3420 +aVPlease, if I could just... +p3421 +aVWe have to make our military bigger, better, stronger than ever before so that nobody messes with us, and a long run, it's going to save us. I agree with Marco, I agree with Ted, we have no choice. And, I can tell you this with certainty. We all have a different tax plan. Some I don't totally agree with. One thing we understand, each one of those tax plans is better than the mess that we have right now. +p3422 +aV...Yes... +p3423 +aV...Yeah... +p3424 +aV...It's a horrible deal... +p3425 +aVThe TPP is horrible deal. It is a deal that is going to lead to nothing but trouble. It's a deal that was designed for China to come in, as they always do, through the back door and totally take advantage of everyone. It's 5,600 pages long. So complex that nobodies read it. It's like Obamacare; nobody ever read it. They passed it; nobody read it. And look at mess we have right now. And it will be repealed. But this is one of the worst trade deals. And I would, yes, rather not have it. With all of these countries, and all of the bad ones getting advantage and taking advantage of what the good ones would normally get, I'd rather make individual deals with individual countries. We will do much better. We lose a fortune on trade. The United States loses with everybody. We're losing now over $500 billion in terms of imbalance with China, $75 billion a year imbalance with Japan. By the way, Mexico, $50 billion a year imbalance. So I must say, Gerard, I just think it's a terrible deal. I love trade. I'm a free trader, 100 percent. But we need smart people making the deals, and we don't have smart people making the deals. +p3426 +aVYes. Well, the currency manipulation they don't discuss in the agreement, which is a disaster. If you look at the way China and India and almost everybody takes advantage of the United States \u2014 China in particular, because they're so good. It's the number-one abuser of this country. And if you look at the way they take advantage, it's through currency manipulation. It's not even discussed in the almost 6,000-page agreement. It's not even discussed. +p3427 +aVAnd as you understand, I mean, you understand very well from the Wall Street Journal, currency manipulation is the single great weapon people have. They don't even discuss it in this agreement. So I say, it's a very bad deal, should not be approved. If it is approved, it will just be more bad trade deals, more loss of jobs for our country. We are losing jobs like nobody's ever lost jobs before. I want to bring jobs back into this country. +p3428 +aVWell, first of all, it's not only Russia. We have problems with North Korea where they actually have nuclear weapons. You know, nobody talks about it, we talk about Iran, and that's one of the worst deals ever made. One of the worst contracts ever signed, ever, in anything, and it's a disgrace. But, we have somebody over there, a madman, who already has nuclear weapons we don't talk about that. That's a problem. China is a problem, both economically in what they're doing in the South China Sea, I mean, they are becoming a very, very major force. So, we have more than just Russia. But, as far as the Ukraine is concerned, and you could Syria \u2014 as far as Syria, I like \u2014 if Putin wants to go in, and I got to know him very well because we were both on 60 Minutes, we were stablemates, and we did very well that night. But, you know that. But, if Putin wants to go and knocked the hell out of +p3429 +aV...They blew up \u2014 hold it.... +p3430 +aV...They blew up, wait a minute... ...They blew up a Russian airplane. He cannot be in love with these people. He's going in, and we can go in, and everybody should go in. As far as the Ukraine is concerned, we have a group of people, and a group of countries, including Germany \u2014 tremendous economic behemoth \u2014 why are we always doing the work? We are \u2014 I'm all for protecting Ukraine and working \u2014 but, we have countries that are surrounding the Ukraine that aren't doing anything. They say, "Keep going, keep going, you dummies, keep going. Protect us..." ...And we have to get smart. We can't continue to be the policeman of the world. We are $19 trillion dollars, we have a country that's going to hell, we have an infrastructure that's falling apart. Our roads, our bridges, our schools, our airports, and we have to start investing money in our country. +p3431 +aVAssad is a bad guy, but we have no idea who the so-called rebels \u2014 I read about the rebels, nobody even knows who they are. I spoke to a general two weeks ago, he said \u2014 he was very up on exactly what we're talking about. He said, "You know, Mr. Trump? We're giving hundreds of millions of dollars of equipment to these people, we have no idea who they are." So, I don't like Assad. Who's going to like Assad? But, we have no idea who these people, and what they're going to be, and what they're going to represent. They may be far worse than Assad. Look at Libya. Look at Iraq. Look at the mess we have after spending $2 trillion dollars, thousands of lives, wounded warriors all over the place \u2014 who I love, OK? All over. We have nothing. And, I said, keep the oil. And we should have kept the oil, believe me. We should have kept the oil. And, you know what? We should have given the oil... ..We should've given big chunks to the people that lost their arms, their legs, and their families, and their sons, and daughters, because right now, you know who has a lot of that oil? Iran, and +p3432 +aVWhy does she keep interrupting everybody? Terrible. +p3433 +aVWe are not. +p3434 +aV...No, no, no... +p3435 +aVWell, what's happening right now, Neil, is something that not been a subject of conversation by politicians. As primarily the only politician, I guess other than Carly on the stage, they haven't talked about a corporate inversion. A corporate inversion \u2014 companies are leaving. You know, we used to leave New York to go to Florida. We got better taxes, we got, maybe, something else. Now, they're the United States to go to other countries. They have trillions of dollars in those other countries. They're going for two reasons, they can't get their money back in. It's something where the democrats and the republicans both agree, it's the only thing I can think of. They both agree, let the money come back in. Three and a half years, they still can't make a deal. They can't get the money in. It's probably two and a half trillion, but, I think it's much more than that. All of that money could become \u2014 could come right in and be used to rebuild our country, and investments in our country. They can't do it. What we have to do, and what I've done, is made the tax rate \u2014 and one of the reasons they don't the taxes so obnoxious, they can't do it. Where, I made it a 10% number, as you know. I've been very highly praised for it. A lot of money's going to come back in, we're going to get rid of the bureaucratic problems, and roadblocks, because that's also a problem. And, we're going to have all of this money pour back into the United States. It's going to be used to build businesses, for jobs, and everything else. And, as I say, my expression is, let's make America great again. +p3436 +aVThank you. Over the years, I've created tens of thousands of jobs and a great company. It's a company I'm very proud of. Some of the most iconic assets anywhere in the world. And I will tell you, I don't have to give you a website because I'm self-funding my campaign. I'm putting up my own money. I want to do something really special. I want to make our country greater than it's ever been. I think we have that potential. We cannot lose this election. We cannot let Hillary Clinton, who is the worst secretary of state in the history of our country, win this election. We will fight. We will win. And we truly will make this even more special. We have to make it better than ever before. And I will tell you, the United States can actually be better than ever before. Thank you. +p3437 +aVI think maybe my greatest weakness is that I trust people too much. I'm too trusting. And when they let me down, if they let me down, I never forgive. I find it very, very hard to forgive people that deceived me. So I don't know if you would call that a weakness, but my wife said "let up." +p3438 +aVRight. +p3439 +aVRight. +p3440 +aVThat's right. +p3441 +aVNo, not a comic book, and it's not a very nicely asked question the way you say that. Larry Kudlow is an example, who I have a lot of respect for, who loves my tax plan. We're reducing taxes to 15 percent. We're bringing corporate taxes down, bringing money back in, corporate inversions. We have $2.5 trillion outside of the United States which we want to bring back in. As far as the wall is concerned, we're going to build a wall. We're going to create a border. We're going to let people in, but they're going to come in legally. They're going to come in legally. And it's something that can be done, and I get questioned about that. They built the great wall of China. That's 13,000 miles. Here, we actually need 1,000 because we have natural barriers. So we need 1,000. We can do a wall. We're going to have a big, fat beautiful door right in the middle of the wall. We're going to have people come in, but they're coming in legally. And Mexico's going to pay for the wall because Mexico \u2014 I love the Mexican people; I respect the Mexican leaders \u2014 but the leaders are much sharper, smarter and more cunning than our leaders. And just to finish, people say, how will you get Mexico to pay? A politician other than the people in the states \u2014 I don't want to \u2014 a politician cannot get them to pay. I can. We lose, we have a trade imbalance... Excuse me, John. ... of $50 billion... +p3442 +aV... believe me the world is peanuts by comparison. +p3443 +aVRight. Dynamically. +p3444 +aVThen you have to get rid of Larry Kudlow, who sits on your panel, who's a great guy, who came out the other day and said, I love Trump's tax plan. +p3445 +aVFirst of all, John got lucky with a thing called fracking, OK? He hit oil. He got lucky with fracking. Believe me, that is why Ohio is doing well. Number \u2014 and that is important for you to know. Number two, this was the man that was a managing general partner at Lehman Brothers when it went down the tubes and almost took every one of us with it, including Ben and myself, because I was there and I watched what happened. And Lehman Brothers started it all. He was on the board. And he was a managing general partner. And just thirdly, he was so nice. He was such a nice guy. And he said, oh, I'm never going to attack. But then his poll numbers tanked. He has got \u2014 that is why he is on the end. And he got nasty. And he got nasty. So you know what? You can have him. +p3446 +aVI think you're \u2014 +p3447 +aVWell, first of all, like many other very big businessmen, I could name them here, but I'm not going to do that for a lot of obvious reasons, but the biggest, and almost all of them, they've all used the chapter laws, the bankruptcy laws to their own benefit. Before this, I was a very successful person as a developer and as a businessman. Atlantic City has gone bad. I mean, Chris will know about that. I'm not blaming Chris, by the way, but he will know about that. Caesar's \u2014 excuse me \u2014 Caesar's, the Rolls-Royce, as you know, is in bankruptcy. Almost every hotel in Atlantic City has either been in bankruptcy or will be in bankruptcy \u2014 the biggest. But also the biggest people (ph) \u2014 now I've used that to my advantage as a business man, for my family, for myself. I never filed for bankruptcy. But many, many people did. What happened with Atlantic City is very, very disgraceful. Now hundreds of companies I've opened. I've used it three times, maybe four times. Came out great. But I guess I'm supposed to come out great. That is what I could do for the country. We owe $19 trillion, boy am I good at solving debt problems. Nobody can solve it like me. But I will tell you this, Atlantic City, you're using that, hundreds of companies that I have opened have thrived. I built a net worth of way over $10 billion, and I have done it four times out of hundreds. And I'm glad I did it. I used the laws of the country to my benefit, I'm sorry. +p3448 +aVThank you. +p3449 +aVI was not at all critical of him. I was not at all. In fact, frankly, he's complaining about the fact that we're losing some of the most talented people. They go to Harvard. They go to Yale. They go to Princeton. They come from another country and they're immediately sent out. I am all in favor of keeping these talented people here so they can go to work in Silicon Valley. +p3450 +aVSo I have nothing at all critical of him. +p3451 +aVProbably, I don't know \u2014 you people write the stuff. I don't know where you... And if I could say just one thing. I am the only person in either campaign that's self-funding. I'm putting up 100 percent of my own money. And right now, I will be putting up a tremendous \u2014 so far, I've put up less than anybody and I have the best results. Wouldn't that be nice if the country could do that? But I will be putting \u2014 I will be putting up, you know, tremendous amounts of money. SuperPacs are a disaster. They're a scam. They cause dishonesty. And you better get rid of them because they are causing a lot of bad decisions to be made by some very good people. And I'm not blaming these folks \u2014 well, I guess I could. Very good people are making very bad decisions right now. And if anything comes out of this whole thing with some of these nasty and ridiculous questions, I will tell you, you better get rid of the SuperPacs because they causing a big problem with this country, not only in dishonesty and what's going on, but also in a lot of bad decisions that have been made for the benefit of lobbyists and special interests. +p3452 +aVI never said that. I never said that. +p3453 +aVYou've got another gentleman in Florida, who happens to be a very nice guy, but not... +p3454 +aV... he's really doing some bad... +p3455 +aVI'm in favor of people coming into this country legally. And you know what? They can have it anyway you want. You can call it visas, you can call it work permits, you can call it anything you want. I've created tens of thousands of jobs, and in all due respect \u2014 and actually some of these folks I really like a lot \u2014 but I'm the only one that can say that. I have created tens of thousands of jobs, and I'll be creating many millions of jobs if I'm given \u2014 if I'm given the opportunity to be president. As far as Mark is concerned, as far as the visas are concerned, if we need people, they have \u2014 it's fine. They have to come into this country legally. We have a country of borders. We have a country of laws. We have to obey the laws. It's fine if they come in, but they have to come in legally. +p3456 +aVYes. +p3457 +aVOr somebody else. Right. +p3458 +aVYes, I might feel more comfortable. I would say that I would and I have a permit, which is very unusual in New York \u2014 a permit to carry. And I do carry on occasion, sometimes a lot. But I like to be unpredictable so that people don't know exactly... +p3459 +aVBy the way, unlike our country where we're totally predictable and the enemy, whether it's +p3460 +aVI would change them. I would change them. +p3461 +aVSuch a nasty \u2014 such a nasty question, but thank you, Governor. +p3462 +aVYes, it's very simple. We're going to make a really dynamic economy from what we have right now, which is not at all dynamic. We're going to bring jobs back from Japan, we're going to bring jobs back from China, we're going to bring, frankly, jobs back from Mexico where, as you probably saw, Nabisco is leaving Chicago with one of their biggest plants, and they're moving it to Mexico. We're going to bring jobs and manufacturing back. We're going to cut costs. We're going to save Social Security, and we're going to save Medicare. [ +p3463 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We used to win, we don't win anymore. We lose on trade. We lose with +p3464 +aVAnd, I'll do that with the country. We will make America great again. And, thank you everybody. Just for the record. +p3465 +aVThat's not right. That is absolutely not right. You know that. That is not right. [ +p3466 +aVI'm Donald Trump. I wrote "The Art of the Deal". I say not in a braggadocious way, I've made billions and billions of dollars dealing with people all over the world, and I want to put whatever that talent is to work for this country so we have great trade deals, we make our country rich again, we make it great again. We build our military, we take care of our vets, we get rid of Obamacare, and we have a great life altogether. Thank you. Thank you. +p3467 +aVWell, first of all, Rand Paul shouldn't even be on this stage. He's number 11, he's got 1 percent in the polls, and how he got up here, there's far too many people anyway. As far as temperament \u2014 and we all know that \u2014 as far as temperament, I think I have a great temperament. I built a phenomenal business with incredible, iconic assets, one of the really truly great real-estate businesses. And I may be an entertainer, because I've had tremendous success with number-one bestsellers all over the place, with "The Apprentice" and everything else I've done. But I will tell you this: What I am far and away greater than an entertainer is a businessman, and that's the kind of mindset this country needs to bring it back, because we owe $19 trillion right now, $19 trillion, and you need this kind of thinking to bring our country back. And believe me, my temperament is very good, very calm. But we will be respected outside of this country. We are not respected now. +p3468 +aVI never attacked him on his look, and believe me, there's plenty of subject matter right there. That I can tell you. +p3469 +aVI've actually been in politics all my life, although I've been on that side as opposed to this side. I'm now a politician for about three months. Obviously, I'm doing pretty well. I'm number one in every poll by a lot. But the qualification is that I've dealt with people all over the world, been successful all over the world. Everything I've done virtually has been a tremendous success. When markets changed, when things turned, I heard Governor Pataki, who, by the way, was a failed governor in New York, a very seriously failed \u2014 he wouldn't be elected dog catcher right now. I heard what he had to say. And I will tell you this: Atlantic City, I've made a tremendous amount of money in Atlantic City. I left seven years ago, I've gotten great credit for my timing, and that's what I'm all about. I'm a businessman, did really well, really well, and Jeb, what I want to do is put that ability into this country to make our country rich again. And I can do that, and I'm not sure that anybody else in the group will be able to do that. +p3470 +aVBut I have to say... +p3471 +aVWell, in Wisconsin... +p3472 +aVExcuse me. +p3473 +aVIn Wisconsin, you're losing $2.2 billion right now. +p3474 +aVI would do so much better than that. +p3475 +aVNo. +p3476 +aVI'm using facts. +p3477 +aVEvery major business leader has used the \u2014 I never went bankrupt, by the way, as you know, everybody knows. But we \u2014 hundreds of companies, hundreds of deals, I've used ???: ... into bankruptcy. That's what's wrong with politicians in Washington right now. They think we can take a country into bankruptcy. +p3478 +aVEvery major business leader, has used the \u2014 I never went bank bankrupt, by the way, as you know, everybody knows. But \u2014 hundreds of companies, hundreds of deals, I used the law four times and made a tremendous thing. I'm in business. I did a very good job. But I will say this, and people are very, very impressed with what I've done, the business people. But when the folks of Iowa found out the true facts of the job that you've done in Wisconsin, all of a sudden you, tubed (ph), he was No. 1 and now he's No. 6 or seven in the polls. So, look, we brought it out, you were supposed to make a billion dollars in the state. You lost 2.2 \u2014 you have right now, a huge budget deficit. That's not a Democratic point. That's a point. That's a fact. And when the people of Iowa found that out, I went to No. 1 and you went down the tubes. +p3479 +aVI didn't \u2014 +p3480 +aVTotally false. +p3481 +aVI would have gotten it. +p3482 +aVI promise I would have gotten it. +p3483 +aVI promise if I wanted it, I would have gotten it. +p3484 +aVI know my people. +p3485 +aVI know my people. +p3486 +aVNo. I just will tell you that, you know, Jeb made the statement. I'm not only referring to him. I \u2014 a lot of money was raised by a lot of different people that are standing up here. And the donors, the special interests, the lobbyists have very strong power over these people. I'm spending all of my money, I'm not spending \u2014 I'm not getting any \u2014 I turned down \u2014 I turn down so much, I could have right now from special interests and donors, I could have double and triple what he's got. I've turned it down. I turned down last week $5 million from somebody. So I will tell you I understand the game, I've been on the other side all of my life. And they have a lot of control over our politicians. And I don't say that favorably, and I'm not sure if there's another system, but I say this. I am not accepting any money from anybody. Nobody has control of me other than the people of this country. I'm going to do the right thing. +p3487 +aVThat's true. That's true. +p3488 +aVI was \u2014 excuse me, Jeb. +p3489 +aVI was a businessman, I got along with Clinton, I got along with everybody. That was my job, to get along with people. +p3490 +aVI didn't want to \u2014 excuse me. One second. +p3491 +aVOK, more energy tonight. I like that. Look \u2014 +p3492 +aVI didn't want \u2014 it was my obligation as a businessman to my family, to my company, to my employees, to get along with all politicians. I get along with all of them, and I did a damn good job in doing it. Go ahead. +p3493 +aVGot along with everybody. +p3494 +aVWrong. +p3495 +aVDon't make things up. Jeb, don't make things up. Come on. +p3496 +aVDon't make things up. +p3497 +aVSo, number one, they have to respect you. He has absolutely no respect for President Obama. Zero. Syria's a mess. You look at what's going on with +p3498 +aVI believe that I will get along \u2014 we will do \u2014 between that, Ukraine, all of the other problems, we won't have the kind of problems that our country has right now with Russia and many other nations. +p3499 +aVI wouldn't have drawn the line, but once he drew it, he had no choice but to go across. They do bear some responsibility, but I think he probably didn't do it, not for that reason. Somehow, he just doesn't have courage. There is something missing from our president. Had he crossed the line and really gone in with force, done something to Assad \u2014 if he had gone in with tremendous force, you wouldn't have millions of people displaced all over the world. +p3500 +aVThey had a responsibility, absolutely. I think we have three of them here... +p3501 +aVI think they had a responsibility, yes. +p3502 +aVJeb, just... +p3503 +aVI think it will haunt him. I think it's a terrible. I think it's going to haunt him absolutely. He came back later and he said he misspoke. There was no question because I heard when he said the statement. I was watching and he said the statement. And I said, wow, I can't believe it. I will take care of women. I respect women. I will take care of women. One thing we will say and I would like to get back to the Iran situation. We're talking about Iran. The agreement was terrible. It was incompetent. I've never seen anything like it. One of the worst contracts of any kind I've ever seen. And nobody ever mentions North Korea where you have this maniac sitting there and he actually has nuclear weapons and somebody better start thinking about North Korea and perhaps a couple of other places. But certainly North Korea. And Ted and I have spoken. We've \u2014 a lot of us have spoken. We're talking about Iran. They are bad actors, bad things are going to happen. But in the meantime, you have somebody right now in North Korea who has got nuclear weapons and who is saying almost every other week, I'm ready to use them. And we don't even mention it. +p3504 +aVSo why didn't you say it? Why didn't you say it? +p3505 +aVI know, but why did you say it? I heard it myself. Why did you say it? +p3506 +aVYou said you're going to cut funding for women's health. You said it. +p3507 +aVYou said it. +p3508 +aVI think she's got a beautiful face, and I think she's a beautiful woman. +p3509 +aVCorrect. First of all, I want to build a wall, a wall that works. So important, and it's a big part of it. Second of all, we have a lot of really bad dudes in this country from outside, and I think Chris knows that, maybe as well as anybody. They go, if I get elected, first day they're gone. Gangs all over the place. Chicago, Baltimore, no matter where you look. We have a country based on laws. I will make sure that those laws are adhered to. These are illegal immigrants. I don't think you'd even be asking this question if I didn't run because when I ran, and I brought this up, my opening remarks at Trump Tower, I took heat like nobody has taken heat in a long time. And, then they found out with the killing of Katie, from San Francisco, and so many other crimes, they found out that I was right. And, most people, many people, apologized to me. I don't think you'd even be talking about illegal immigration if it weren't for me. So, we have a country of laws, they're going to go out, and they'll come back if they deserve to come back. If they've had a bad record, if they've been arrested, if they've been in jail, they're never coming back. We're going to have a country again. Right now, we don't have a country, we don't have a border, and we're going to do something about it, and it can be done with proper management, and it can be done with heart. +p3510 +aV...By the way, I agree with \u2014 with what Chris is saying, but, I will say this. Illegal immigration is costing us more than $200 billion dollars a year just to maintain what we have. +p3511 +aVCorrect. +p3512 +aVWell, I have to tell you, I hear phenomenal things. I hear your wife is a lovely woman... +p3513 +aVI don't know her, and this is a total mischaracterization... +p3514 +aVGood. +p3515 +aVNo, I won't do that, because I've said nothing wrong. +p3516 +aVBut I do hear she's a lovely woman. +p3517 +aVJeb said... +p3518 +aV... that they come into our country as an act of love. With all of the problems we that we have, in so many instances \u2014 we have wonderful people coming in. But with all of the problems \u2014 this is not an act of love. He's weak on immigration \u2014 by the way, in favor of Common Core, which is also a disaster, but weak on immigration. He doesn't get my vote. +p3519 +aVNot with this intensity. +p3520 +aVAs I said, we are spending $200 billion \u2014 we are spending $200 billion a year on maintaining what we have. We will move them out. The great ones will come back, the good ones will come back. They'll be expedited, they'll be back, they'll come back legally. We'll have a country \u2014 they'll come back, legally. +p3521 +aVWell, I think it's wonderful and all, but I did it a little bit half-heartedly, but I do mean it to a large extent. We have a country, where, to assimilate, you have to speak English. And I think that where he was, and the way it came out didn't sound right to me. We have to have assimilation \u2014 to have a country, we have to have assimilation. I'm not the first one to say this, Dana. We've had many people over the years, for many, many years, saying the same thing. This is a country where we speak English, not Spanish. +p3522 +aVThis is a reporter, not a high school kid. +p3523 +aVWell, first of all, the \u2014 the 14th Amendment says very, very clearly to a lot of great legal scholars \u2014 not television scholars, but legal scholars \u2014 that it is wrong. It can be corrected with an act of Congress, probably doesn't even need that. A woman gets pregnant. She's nine months, she walks across the border, she has the baby in the United States, and we take care of the baby for 85 years. I don't think so. And by the way, Mexico and almost every other country anywhere in the world doesn't have that. We're the only ones dumb enough, stupid enough to have it. And people \u2014 and by the way, this is not just with respect to Mexico. They are coming from Asia to have babies here, and all of a sudden, we have to take care of the babies for the life of the baby. The 14th Amendment, it reads properly, you can go and \u2014 it's probably going to be have to be check \u2014 go through a process of court, probably ends up at the Supreme Court, but there are a lot of great legal scholars that say that is not correct. And in my opinion, it makes absolutely no \u2014 we're the only \u2014 one of the only countries, we're going to take care of those babies for 70, 75, 80, 90 years? I don't think so. +p3524 +aVI agree 100 percent, by the way, with Carly on the fact that the Democrats do not want to solve this problem, for the obvious reasons, but they do not. But I believe that a reading of the 14th Amendment allows you to have an interpretation where this is not legal and where it can't be done. I've seen both sides, but some of the greatest scholars agree with me, without having to go through Congress. If you do go through Congress, you can absolutely solve the problem. +p3525 +aVThat's true, sure. +p3526 +aVWell \u2014 +p3527 +aV\u2014 let me \u2014 well, let me just explain. The head of the Yale Business School, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, wrote a paper recently, one of the worst tenures for a CEO that he has ever seen, ranked one of the top 20 in the history of business. The company is a disaster and continues to be a disaster. They still haven't recovered. In fact, today, on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, they fired another 25 or 30,000 people saying we still haven't recovered from the catastrophe. When Carly says the revenues went up, that's because she bought Compaq, it was a terrible deal, and it really led to the destruction of the company. Now one other company before that was Lucent. Carly was at Lucent before that. And Lucent turned out to be a catastrophe also. So I only say this. She can't run any of my companies. That I can tell you. +p3528 +aVI never filed for bankruptcy. +p3529 +aVI'll tell you why; it's very simple. +p3530 +aVI'll tell you. I was running \u2014 +p3531 +aV\u2014 Carly, Carly \u2014 +p3532 +aV\u2014 I've made over $10 billion. I had a casino company \u2014 Caesars just filed for bankruptcy. Chris will tell you \u2014 it's not Chris' fault either \u2014 but almost everybody in Atlantic City is either in trouble or filed for \u2014 maybe I'll blame Chris. +p3533 +aVBut Atlantic City is a disaster \u2014 +p3534 +aVWait a minute, Carly. Wait. I let you speak. Atlantic City is a disaster, and I did great in Atlantic City. I knew when to get out. My timing was great. And I got a lot of credit for it. Many of the great business people that you know \u2014 and Carl Icon (ph) is going to work with me on making great deals for this country. But whether it's Carl or so many others that we read about all the time \u2014 +p3535 +aV\u2014 they have used the laws of the land, which is the \u2014 +p3536 +aV...Well, I'd like to respond, I'd like to respond... +p3537 +aVWell, I think the thing about the flat tax, I know it very well. What I don't like is that if you make $200 million a year, you pay ten percent, you're paying very little relatively to somebody that's making $50,000 a year, and has to hire H&R Block to do the \u2014 because it's so complicated. One thing I'll say to Ben is that we've had a graduated tax system for many years, so it's not a socialistic thing. What I'd like to do, and I'll be putting in the plan in about two weeks, and I think people are going to like it, it's a major reduction in taxes. It's a major reduction for the middle class. The hedge fund guys won't like me as much as they like me right now. I know them all, but they'll pay more. I know people that are making a tremendous amount of money and paying virtually no tax, and I think it's unfair. +p3538 +aVWell, I heard Hugh Hewitt, a nice man, he apologized because he actually said that we had a misunderstanding. And he said today that Donald Trump is maybe the best interview there is anywhere that he has ever done. Now unless he was just saying that on CNN to be nice, but he did say that... +p3539 +aVAnd we had a legitimate misunderstanding in terms of his pronunciation of a word. But I would say just... +p3540 +aVWell, I think it was. And he actually said that. Did you say that? +p3541 +aVOK. So I will say this, though, Hugh was giving me name after name, Arab name, Arab name, and there are few people anywhere, anywhere that would have known those names. I think he was reading them off a sheet. And frankly I will have \u2014 and I told him, I will have the finest team that anybody has put together and we will solve a lot of problems. You know, right now they know a lot and look at what is happening. The world is blowing up around us. We will have great teams and great people. +p3542 +aVI hope that answers your question. I mean, you are in the Senate, but I hope that answers your question. +p3543 +aVNo, I don't think he's suggesting that at all. I mean... +p3544 +aVI don't think he's suggesting that at all. +p3545 +aVWell, you have to understand, I am not sitting in the United States Senate with, by the way, the worst voting record there is today. Number one. I am not sitting in the United States Senate. I'm a businessman doing business transactions. +p3546 +aVI am doing business transactions. I will know more about this \u2014 and, as you said, that was very acceptable, and when you listen to that whole interview, it's a great interview, you said it, I didn't. Well, now I did. But... +p3547 +aVListen, just one second. Just one second. +p3548 +aVI will know... +p3549 +aV...I will know more about the problems of this world by the time I sit, and you look at what's going in this world right now by people that supposedly know, this world is a mess. +p3550 +aV +p3551 +aV I'm \u2014 and I'm meeting with people that are terrific people, but I have to say something because it's about judgment. I am the only person on this dais \u2014 the only person \u2014 that fought very, very hard against us (ph), and I wasn't a sitting politician going into Iraq, because I said going into Iraq \u2014 that was in 2003, you can check it out, check out \u2014 I'll give you 25 different stories. In fact, a delegation was sent to my office to see me because I was so vocal about it. I'm a very militaristic person, but you have to know when to use the military. I'm the only person up here that fought against going into Iraq. +p3552 +aVJust excuse me, one second, Rand... +p3553 +aVIf you don't mind, Rand \u2014 you know, you are on last \u2014 you do have your 1 percent. I would like \u2014 and I think it's very important. I think it's important, because it's about judgment. It's about judgment. I didn't want to go into Iraq, and I fought it, because what I said \u2014 what I said... +p3554 +aV... was you're going to \u2014 you're going to destabilize... +p3555 +aV... the Middle East, and that's what happened. +p3556 +aVIf you think about it... +p3557 +aVYour brother \u2014 and your brother's administration gave us Barack Obama, because it was such a disaster, those last three months, that Abraham Lincoln couldn't have been elected. +p3558 +aVI don't know. You feel safe right now? I don't feel so safe. +p3559 +aVOr the collapse of the economy. +p3560 +aVSpeaking for myself, I'm OK with it. I think there's a certain truth to it. I know people that, frankly, it has no impact on their life whatsoever. There are many people. I would almost say leave it up to them, but I would be willing to check it off, and say I will not get Social Security. I do not... +p3561 +aVAs a policy, I would almost leave it up to the people. Don't forget they pay in and they pay in, and maybe they do well, and maybe some people want it. But the fact is that there are people that truly don't need it, and there are many people that do need it very, very badly. And I would be willing to write mine off 100 percent, Dana. +p3562 +aVWell, I \u2014 I \u2014 I'd like to respond. +p3563 +aVI'd like to respond. +p3564 +aVAutism has become an epidemic. Twenty-five years ago, 35 years ago, you look at the statistics, not even close. It has gotten totally out of control. I am totally in favor of vaccines. But I want smaller doses over a longer period of time. Because you take a baby in \u2014 and I've seen it \u2014 and I've seen it, and I had my children taken care of over a long period of time, over a two or three year period of time. Same exact amount, but you take this little beautiful baby, and you pump \u2014 I mean, it looks just like it's meant for a horse, not for a child, and we've had so many instances, people that work for me. Just the other day, two years old, two and a half years old, a child, a beautiful child went to have the vaccine, and came back, and a week later got a tremendous fever, got very, very sick, now is autistic. I only say it's not \u2014 I'm in favor of vaccines, do them over a longer period of time, same amount. +p3565 +aVBut just in \u2014 in little sections. +p3566 +aVI think \u2014 and I think you're going to have \u2014 I think you're going to see a big impact on autism. +p3567 +aVAnd that's all I'm saying, Jake. That's all I'm saying. +p3568 +aVWell, because she's been sitting for three hours, I think my daughter, Ivanka, who's right here. +p3569 +aVOther than that we'll go with Rosa Parks. I like that. +p3570 +aVHumble. +p3571 +aVIf I become president, we will do something really special. We will make this country greater than ever before. We'll have more jobs. We'll have more of everything. We were discussing disease, we were discussing all sorts of things tonight, many of which will just be words, it will just pass on. I don't want to say politicians, all talk, no action. But a lot of what we talked about is words and it will be forgotten very quickly. If I'm president, many of the things that we discussed tonight will not be forgotten. We'll find solutions. And the world will respect us. They will respect us like never before. And it will be actually a friendlier world. And I have to say, it is a great honor to be here tonight. +p3572 +aVI fully understand. +p3573 +aVI fully understand. +p3574 +aVI cannot say. I have to respect the person that, if it's not me, the person that wins, if I do win, and I'm leading by quite a bit, that's what I want to do. I can totally make that pledge. If I'm the nominee, I will pledge I will not run as an independent. But -- and I am discussing it with everybody, but I'm, you know, talking about a lot of leverage. We want to win, and we will win. But I want to win as the Republican. I want to run as the Republican nominee. +p3575 +aVWell, I've given him plenty of money. +p3576 +aVI will not make the pledge at this time. +p3577 +aVOnly Rosie O'Donnell. +p3578 +aVThank you. +p3579 +aVYes, I'm sure it was. +p3580 +aVI think the big problem this country has is being politically correct. I've been challenged by so many people, and I don't frankly have time for total political correctness. And to be honest with you, this country doesn't have time either. This country is in big trouble. We don't win anymore. We lose to China. We lose to Mexico both in trade and at the border. We lose to everybody. And frankly, what I say, and oftentimes it's fun, it's kidding. We have a good time. What I say is what I say. And honestly Megyn, if you don't like it, I'm sorry. I've been very nice to you, although I could probably maybe not be, based on the way you have treated me. But I wouldn't do that. But you know what, we -- we need strength, we need energy, we need quickness and we need brain in this country to turn it around. That, I can tell you right now. +p3581 +aVSo, if it weren't for me, you wouldn't even be talking about illegal immigration, Chris. You wouldn't even be talking about it. This was not a subject that was on anybody's mind until I brought it up at my announcement. And I said, Mexico is sending. Except the reporters, because they're a very dishonest lot, generally speaking, in the world of politics, they didn't cover my statement the way I said it. The fact is, since then, many killings ,murders, crime, drugs pouring across the border, are money going out and the drugs coming in. And I said we need to build a wall, and it has to be built quickly. And I don't mind having a big beautiful door in that wall so that people can come into this country legally. But we need, Jeb, to build a wall, we need to keep illegals out. +p3582 +aVBorder Patrol, I was at the border last week. Border Patrol, people that I deal with, that I talk to, they say this is what's happening. Because our leaders are stupid. Our politicians are stupid. And the Mexican government is much smarter, much sharper, much more cunning. And they send the bad ones over because they don't want to pay for them. They don't want to take care of them. Why should they when the stupid leaders of the United States will do it for them? And that's what is happening whether you like it or not. +p3583 +aVA complete disaster, yes. +p3584 +aVCorrect. +p3585 +aVFirst of all, I'd like to just go back to one. In July of 2004, I came out strongly against the war with Iraq, because it was going to destabilize the Middle East. And I'm the only one on this stage that knew that and had the vision to say it. And that's exactly what happened. +p3586 +aVAnd the Middle East became totally destabilized. So I just want to say. As far as single payer, it works in Canada. It works incredibly well in Scotland. It could have worked in a different age, which is the age you're talking about here. What I'd like to see is a private system without the artificial lines around every state. I have a big company with thousands and thousands of employees. And if I'm negotiating in New York or in New Jersey or in California, I have like one bidder. Nobody can bid. You know why? Because the insurance companies are making a fortune because they have control of the politicians, of course, with the exception of the politicians on this stage. But they have total control of the politicians. They're making a fortune. Get rid of the artificial lines and you will have......yourself great plans. And then we have to take care of the people that can't take care of themselves. And I will do that through a different system. +p3587 +aVI'm not -- I'm not are -- I don't think you heard me. You're having a hard time tonight. +p3588 +aVYou'd better believe it. +p3589 +aVIf I ask them, if I need them, you know, most of the people on this stage I've given to, just so you understand, a lot of money. +p3590 +aVMany of them. +p3591 +aVNot much. +p3592 +aVBut I... +p3593 +aVI have good... +p3594 +aVGood. +p3595 +aVSounds good. Sounds good to me, Governor. I will tell you that our system is broken. I gave to many people, before this, before two months ago, I was a businessman. I give to everybody. When they call, I give. And do you know what? When I need something from them two years later, three years later, I call them, they are there for me. +p3596 +aVAnd that's a broken system. +p3597 +aVWell, I'll tell you what, with Hillary Clinton, I said be at my wedding and she came to my wedding. You know why? She didn't have a choice because I gave. I gave to a foundation that, frankly, that foundation is supposed to do good. I didn't know her money would be used on private jets going all over the world. It was. But... +p3598 +aVBecause I have used the laws of this country just like the greatest people that you read about every day in business have used the laws of this country, the chapter laws, to do a great job for my company, for myself, for my employees, for my family, et cetera. I have never gone bankrupt, by the way. I have never. But out of hundreds of deals... +p3599 +aVExcuse me. Excuse me. +p3600 +aVExcuse me, what am I saying? Out of hundreds of deals that I've done, hundreds, on four occasions I've taken advantage of the laws of this country, like other people. I'm not going to name their names because I'm not going to embarrass, but virtually every person that you read about on the front page of the business sections, they've used the law. The difference is, when somebody else uses those laws, nobody writes about it. When I use it, they say, "Trump, Trump, Trump." The fact is, I built a net worth of more than $10 billion. I have a great, great company. I employ thousands of people. And I'm very proud of the job I did. Again Chris, hundreds and hundreds of deals. Four times, I've taken advantage of the laws. And frankly, so has everybody else in my position. +p3601 +aVWell, I... +p3602 +aVLet me just tell you about the lenders. First of all, these lenders aren't babies. These are total killers. These are not the nice, sweet little people that you think, OK? You know, I mean you're living in a world of the make-believe, Chris, you want to know the truth. And I had the good sense to leave Atlantic City, which by the way, Caesars just went bankrupt. Every company, Chris can tell you, every company virtually in Atlantic City went bankrupt. Every company. And let me just tell you. I had the good sense, and I've gotten a lot of credit in the financial pages, seven years ago I left Atlantic City before it totally cratered, and I made a lot of money in Atlantic City, and I'm very proud of it. I want to tell you that. Very, very proud of it. +p3603 +aVAnd by the way, this country right now owes $19 trillion. And they need somebody like me to straighten out that mess. +p3604 +aVI don't think they like me very much. I'll tell you what. I've evolved on many issues over the years. And you know who else has? Is Ronald Reagan evolved on many issues. And I am pro-life. And if you look at the question, I was in business. They asked me a question as to pro-life or choice. And I said if you let it run, that I hate the concept of abortion. I hate the concept of abortion. And then since then, I've very much evolved. And what happened is friends of mine years ago were going to have a child, and it was going to be aborted. And it wasn't aborted. And that child today is a total superstar, a great, great child. And I saw that. And I saw other instances. And I am very, very proud to say that I am pro-life. As far as being a Republican is concerned, I come from a place, New York City, which is virtually, I mean, it is almost exclusively Democrat. And I have really started to see some of the negatives -- as an example, and I have a lot of liking for this man, but the last number of months of his brother's administration were a catastrophe. And unfortunately, those few months gave us President Obama. And you can't be happy about that. +p3605 +aVFirst of all, Jeb, I am very happy that you denied that, and I appreciate that very much. He is a true gentleman. He really is. One thing he did say, and I mean that. The one thing he did say about me, however, was my tone. And I also understand that. But when you have people that are cutting Christians' heads off, when you have a world that the border and at so many places, that it is medieval times, we've never -- it almost has to be as bad as it ever was in terms of the violence and the horror, we don't have time for tone. We have to go out and get the job done. +p3606 +aVI would be so different from what you have right now. Like, the polar opposite. We have a president who doesn't have a clue. I would say he's incompetent, but I don't want to do that because that's not nice. But if you look at the deals we make, whether it's the nuclear deal with 24 hour periods -- and by the way, before you get to the 24 hours, you have to go through a system. You look at Sgt. Bergdahl, we get Bergdahl, a traitor, and they get five of the big, great killers leaders that they want. We have people in Washington that don't know what they're doing. Now... I agree. Now, with Iran, we're making a deal, you would say, we want him. We want out our prisoners. We want all these things, and we don't get anything. We're giving them $150 billion dollars plus, they are going to be -- I'll tell you what, if Iran was a stock, you folks should go out and buy it right now because you'll quadruple -- this, what's happening in Iran, is a disgrace, and it's going to lead to destruction in large portions of the world. +p3607 +aVOur country is in serious trouble. We don't win anymore. We don't beat China in trade. We don't beat Japan, with their millions and millions of cars coming into this country, in trade. We can't beat Mexico, at the border or in trade. We can't do anything right. Our military has to be strengthened. Our vets have to be taken care of. We have to end Obamacare, and we have to make our country great again, and I will do that. Thank you. +p3608 +asVPATAKI +p3609 +(lp3610 +VThank you, Wolf. I want to speak to you this evening not as a Republican or a presidential candidate, but as an American. As we saw today in L.A., we are at a crisis in our country. Radical Islam poses a threat to our safety not just overseas, but literally in every community in America. And yet at a time when we should be united, we have a president who has divided us, who refuses to call radical Islam what it is, let alone have a coherent strategy to defeat it. The leading Democrat, Hillary Clinton, won't call +p3611 +aVAbsolutely. It's one of many absurd things this President has said. To target a religion and say that regardless of whether you're an American soldier who has fought on our side or allies we have overseas, simply because of your religion we're going to ban you is un-American, it is unconstitutional and it is wrong. And by the way, Wolf, now there was a group that tried to do that 150 to 160 years ago, they were called the Know-Nothing Party. They wanted to ban Catholics. They thought they were going to destroy America. Well, Donald Trump is the Know-Nothing candidate of the 21st century and cannot be our nominee. By the way, though. I fault Hillary and Obama as well because by not distinguishing between Muslims and radicalized Jihadists, by refusing to acknowledge that it's radical Muslim, radical Islamists who are carrying out these attacks against America \u2014 they let Americans who are confused and angry lump everyone together. We have to embrace the Muslims who embrace our freedom and living and safety. We have to destroy those who embrace Jihad and want to engage in violence against us here or abroad. +p3612 +aVYes. +p3613 +aVYou know, I think it's very important that we do everything in our power to prevent radicalization of Americans right here. And it is happening, not just overseas, but it's happening here from Mosques on social media. And truth \u2014 interaction and community meetings. New York police department had a very active group, aggressively monitoring and using intelligence to \u2014 in certain Muslim communities, consistent with our constitution, consistent of our civil rights, so they could have the intelligence as to where these sermons are being given, and who is being radicalized. And, they stopped and prevented dozens, and dozens of attacks in New York. You know, I'm a great believer in the First Amendment, of Freedom of Speech. I wish we had more of it on our college campuses, but you can't shout fire in a crowded theater. Calling on Americans to engage in violence against their fellow Americans in the name of jihad is crying fire in a crowded theater. It is not constitutionally protected speech, it should be shut down. And, by the way, the two murders who went to Garland, Texas to massacre many Americans before the Texas police officer courageously killed them, had been radicalized here. Getting to that metadata question, one of those terrorists, the day before the attacks, had sent......109 message to a known terrorist overseas. We could not read those messages, we can not read those today... +p3614 +aV...We have got to do far better. +p3615 +aVYes, Wolf. +p3616 +aVI would pass a law requiring them to do that. Let me just give you one example. I mentioned in Garland, Texas, where that murderer, that terrorist, the day before sent 109 messages overseas to a known terrorist. But they were encrypted. So to this date we don't know what that said. Companies are entitled to encrypt and protect their knowledge and their intelligence. But what we need is a back door for law enforcement to be able, when they can establish that that communication poses a risk to our safety and engages in terrorism, to get a court order and go in and access those communications. Allow the companies to continue encryption, provide an entry way for law enforcement when they can prove to a court that there is a sufficient risk of an attack upon us that they have the right to look at those messages. +p3617 +aVAnd just one more thing, Wolf. When that murderer came from Pakistan to San Bernardino and committed those atrocious crimes just a few weeks ago, she applied for a visa. She had posted on social media jihadist messages. Because this administration is so politically correct, they have a rule that they cannot look at social media postings of people applying to come to the United States. That is utterly absurd. One of the things we must do, the next president must do is get rid of that law and make sure we do everything in our power to find out if someone poses a threat to our existence here. +p3618 +aVWolf, I think the answer is we have to send troops with allies and supporters. Wherever it is necessary to destroy the training centers, recruitment centers, planning hubs of +p3619 +aVYes. +p3620 +aVYou know, I don't think it's a function of years of going after +p3621 +aVYou know, I don't want to see us occupy a country. I've been to Iraq a couple of times and Afghanistan. The first time I went, I had an uneasy feeling that when we went there we were liberators. But as we stayed ,we became occupiers. I saw American troops move into some of Saddam's old hideous marble palaces. And I thought that was exactly the wrong message. We do not have to occupy. We do not have to nation build and try to create a democracy where one hasn't existed. WE have to destroy +p3622 +aVI'm not sure \u2014 ally with which groups? I didn't quite catch that. +p3623 +aVNot at all. Iran is our enemy. They are the number one sponsor of state terror. The Iranian Deal is a disaster. And by the way, I don't think the next president has to aggregate it. It was never ratified by the Iranians. They have tested long-range ballistic missiles in violation of U.N. resolutions. They have broken the agreement. It is void. They can never have a nuclear weapon and should not get relief. With respect to the other groups, like Hezbollah, of course we should not work with them. I'll tell you who we should work with in Syria. There are two groups. One are the PYD, the \u2014 the Kurds in Syria who led the defense of Kobani, and are in northern and eastern Syria and anti- +p3624 +aVI could create... +p3625 +aVI would create the no-fly zone, and let me tell you, something very simply. Putin is a bully, and the most important and effective thing you can do to a bully is punch him in the face. Create a no-fly zone. If Russian planes violate that space, either us, or the Turks, should shoot them down to keep our word. And, I guarantee you that Putin would back off. Bullies, when you stand up to them, back down. We have had, under Obama, and under Hillary as Secretary of State, nothing but weakness in the face of Russia, whether it was in the Crimea, whether it was in Ukraine, or now in the Middle East. I would give the Ukrainians lethal weapons so they could defend themselves. I would create the no-fly zone, and if Russian planes flew into it in violation of what we have declared, yes. +p3626 +aVI could create... +p3627 +aVI would create the no-fly zone, and let me tell you, something very simply. Putin is a bully, and the most important and effective thing you can do to a bully is punch him in the face. Create a no-fly zone. If Russian planes violate that space, either us, or the Turks, should shoot them down to keep our word. And, I guarantee you that Putin would back off. Bullies, when you stand up to them, back down. We have had, under Obama, and under Hillary as Secretary of State, nothing but weakness in the face of Russia, whether it was in the Crimea, whether it was in Ukraine, or now in the Middle East. I would give the Ukrainians lethal weapons so they could defend themselves. I would create the no-fly zone, and if Russian planes flew into it in violation of what we have declared, yes. +p3628 +aVNo, I completely disagree with Rick. This is America. And we've made enormous progress. And I don't care if you're a man or a woman. I care if you're good and capable of doing the job. If you can do the job \u2014 don't lower standards, don't lower the criteria \u2014 but if a woman is capable of doing these jobs, there is no reason why we should deny a patriot who wants to serve and help defend our country that right. +p3629 +aVIt's not. +p3630 +aVNo, you said you would reverse the policy which excluded women from those jobs whether or not they were able to do that. That is wrong. +p3631 +aVAh. +p3632 +aVYes, I think what Rick said is very different from what he said initially which was that, "he would reverse the policy that gave woman not the right but the opportunity to serve in combat." They can only do it if they're fit and capable and meet the same standards as men. And so, to reverse that policy and deny a woman who is prepared to risk her life to defend our freedom and is capable of doing everything a man could do is not the right thing for America in the 21st century. By the way, you see in Iraq, the Peshmerga, the Kurds ,many of their top fighters are women. This is the 21st century. We're not radical Islam. We want to give women the opportunity to do whatever they are capable of achieving in this country. +p3633 +aVOf course he's innocent until proven guilty. I happen to believe he's guilty. The military did a very clear and long study as to whether or not he deserted in the face of enemy and they are not court marshalling him. I don't think he should executed. I do think he will have a fair military trial, not a civilian trial, at which time, assuming he's found guilty as I think he would, he will be sentenced appropriately. But there's a bigger issue here, this administration has failed to protect us because they have treated radical Islamists as Americans who should be tried in civil court. That is ridiculous. They are enemy aliens engaged in terror against Americans. And by the way, the fact that this president is now threatening to close Guantanamo Bay when we know that time after time, terrorists he released are involved in a high level capacity helping +p3634 +aVYou know, again, it comes down to something that, as Mike said, breaks your heart. We clearly want to get them back. But the idea that by taking a journalist, for example, and holding him hostage in Iran, they're going to be able to get some of their terrorist leaders back, is simply bad policy. Israel has shown the way on this in rejecting hostage exchanges such as this and then not paying ransom. But, by the way, Mike is absolutely right. We have to do more to protect our people overseas, but then we also have to do more to help our veterans when they come back here today. We haven't talked about that. But more talking about defeating terrorism, one of the things we have to do is give our veterans the support and help that they require. What has happened at the VA is a disgrace. Give our veterans a medical card that they can use to get the best quality care anywhere, including outside of the VA system. +p3635 +aVAnd that \u2014 but that was involved in combat, where they were actually involved in a war against each other and exchanged prisoners. We have not been in a war with Iran. They have taken civilians as hostages. It's a totally different situation. And we cannot encourage them to do any more of that. +p3636 +aVYou know, I think what I said earlier is that I would create a no-fly zone in Syria. Turkey just agreed to take 3 million more Syrian refugees. The EU just came up with a funding program to provide camps for Syrian refugees, but I would also create that no-fly zone where refugees can be there. I have to say I agree with Rick, because this President is talking about taking 10,000 people from Syria, who we cannot vet. This administration, allegedly, vetted the woman who carried out the attacks in San Bernardino and never found out that she had a false address and was on social media talking about radical Jihad. Coming from Syria, it's impossible to do that check. And we know, by the way, that +p3637 +aVThank you. This debate has been about terrorism and appropriately so. I'm proud to have been governor of New York on September 11th and have led our state through and during the aftermath of that horrible attack. I vowed then that if I ever had the chance to lead this country, I would do everything in my power to make sure that Americans were safe. But I also saw a positive from that. New Yorkers and the American people came together and vowed that we weren't just going to defend ourselves. We were not going to live in fear. We were going to rise to new heights and celebrate our freedom. Come to Lower Manhattan today. You will see a magnificent tribute to those who died, the memorial and the museum. You will also see a new tower soaring 1,776 feet tall, the Freedom Tower, a symbol of our freedom, a symbol of our belief that as a free people we can soar to new heights. Give us the chance to unite Americans, not just Republicans. And this country's future is unlimited. +p3638 +aVWe need an outsider to run our party and to win the next election. Washington has become a corrupt insider game and everybody talks about how they're going to change the taxes, grow the economy. Nothing seems to change. But, by the way, Bobby, I shrunk the size of New York State's government when I left. We had reduced the employment by over 25,000 and cut taxes. But I understand that to change Washington you have to understand government as well. You can't just be an outsider. You can't just be someone who throws stones at Washington. You have to be someone who can actually bring people together across party lines. I can do that, I will do that if I have the chance to lead this party. +p3639 +aVBecky, can I comment on this question? +p3640 +aV...John, can I quickly comment on this one... +p3641 +aV...But, I want to speak on this issue... +p3642 +aV...I think it was a bad deal, but I would have voted for it for a very simple reason. Barack Obama is the first president in American history to hold our military hostage. He knew that we needed funding for overseas contingency operations, $40 million dollars that would go to support our troops. And, he was prepared, and had vetoed it, unless this deal went through. I have two sons, they both served overseas. One in Iraq, and one in Afghanistan, and I understand that we have got to do far more to help our military, help our veterans, and help protect our security. This is a bad deal, but to protect our military, I would have signed it. Uh, it's not going to be the case, if I have a chance to lead this country, we're going to reduce the deficit, shrink the government, lower the tax burden and grow the private sector because that's how you solve deficits. +p3643 +aVThank you. +p3644 +aVNo, I don't think we need a military response, but we need a coordinated response. And I have to say that I think the Obama administration has been completely lax, to say the least, in dealing with these cyber-attacks, not just by governments like North Korea, but by, particularly, Chinese and other companies. And what I would do is put in place a policy where if we know a company, say, a Chinese company, is hacking into American companies, stealing trade secrets, as we know they do every day, we will retaliate against that company and say that that company's not going to be allowed to continue to do trade with the United States. I would also look at what we're doing at the federal level and put in place what Israel has done: a \u2014 one federal agency dealing with cybersecurity and charged with working across silos to make sure we have the best technology. And, Jim, I've gotta tell you something, talking about cybersecurity. Hillary Clinton put a server, an unsecure server, in her home as secretary of state. We have no doubt that that was hacked, and that state secrets are out there to the Iranians, the Russians, the Chinese and others. That alone should disqualify her from being president of the United States. +p3645 +aVI think they have gone too far. I think we've seen Wall Street really blossom and do very well while the rest of the country is struggling, and it's because we have this corrupt connection between Wall Street and Washington. And, John, you were just talking about what loopholes would you get rid of. I would get rid of virtually every single one of them. They cost American taxpayers $1.4 trillion a year. I would throw them all out. +p3646 +aVNo, I wouldn't. I was going to say... +p3647 +aV...no, I would keep \u2014 first, yes, but what I would do is ii would lower the tax on manufacturing to the lowest in the developed world \u2014 12 percent. We all have plans. I have a plan. We all have plans. My plan, the Tax Foundation said, would create five and a half million new jobs over the next decade. The difference, though, is I will get my plan enacted because, when I was governor of New York, I passed sweeping tax code \u2014 cuts in a Democratic state with a Democratic legislature. I \u2014 you know, Bobby, you're talking about your tax cuts? I cut taxes more than everybody on this stage, more than everybody on the next stage, combined. By more than the other 49 states, in New York state. I don't just have a plan. I will enact tax cuts, get rid of those loopholes and make the system fairer for all Americans. +p3648 +aVThank you. +p3649 +aVLet me \u2014 let me try to get a word in edgewise. +p3650 +aVIn Washington, they talk over each other... +p3651 +aVYes. Very simply, you guys talk over each other in Washington all the time. I'm not used to that. I listen when people talk. We have a skills gap. You mentioned the construction company. The construction industry says one of their biggest problems are they can't find the craftsmen to do the work. What we have to... +p3652 +aV\u2014 do in America is honor blue collar work again. We have to honor the carpenter, the plumber, the electrician, who can actually build something and instead of just saying that a college degree live \u2014 delivers prestige, let's celebrate those who do things with their hands and elevate their skills using training in high school and community... +p3653 +aV\u2014 colleges so that we can... +p3654 +aV\u2014 have a better quality workforce that we honor... +p3655 +aV\u2014 as they build America's future. +p3656 +aVThank you. +p3657 +aVThank you. +p3658 +aVHey, Rick. +p3659 +aVI'm doing great. +p3660 +aVNot at all. +p3661 +aVNo, I don't support it. But let me go back a little bit here. We need to grow our economy faster. We've had the worst economic recovery since the Great Depression. And it's because of policy in Washington and policy at the Fed. And let me go back to Washington. In 2009 \u2014 +p3662 +aVJohn, no question Barack Obama inherited a economic disaster in 2009. But what did he do? Instead of focusing on pro-growth policies in the economy, he rammed through ObamaCare, the worst law of my lifetime, that hurt small businesses, hurt companies, raised taxes and almost completely eliminated one industry because of its taxes. The Fed had to act. And the Fed did act and appropriately in reducing interest rates but they've reduced them now for seven straight years, that's never happened before. They've been zero for way too long. They should raise the rates; the Fed should get out of manipulating the market and the Fed also, by the way, should reduce its balance sheet, $2.7 trillion. Let some of those bonds mature and put the money back in the banking system so our economy can grow. +p3663 +aVYeah, absolutely. I \u2014 one of the things that troubles me about the Republican Party is too often we question science that everyone accepts. I mean, it's ridiculous that, in the 21st century, we're questioning whether or not vaccines are the appropriate way to go. Of course they are. And it's also not appropriate to think that human activity, putting CO2 into the atmosphere, doesn't make the earth warmer. All things being equal, it does. It's uncontroverted. I think part of the problem is that Republicans think about climate change, say, "oh my God, we're gonna have higher taxes, more Obama, more big government, the EPA shutting down factories." That's not the solution that I see. I want Republicans to embrace innovation and technology. You know, there's one country in the world that has fewer greenhouse gas emissions than the rest of \u2014 of the world. You know what that is? The United States. Our emissions are lower than they were in 1995. Not because of a \u2014 of a government program, but because of fracking, private sector creation... +p3664 +aV...replace coal plants \u2014 government's roles \u2014 is to incentivize innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit in America. We could have far more clean energy. We could have next-generation nuclear, thorium reactors that have no risk of meltdown. We could have solar panels on every home that are four times more efficient than today. +p3665 +aVR&D \u2014 R&D credits. Let the private sector do this, develop this innovation. And not only would we solve our problems, we would have clean energy, cheaper energy here. We could export those technologies to places like China and like India so we would grow our economy, have a far greater impact globally, have a secure domestic source of energy, and cleaner, healthier air. That's the solution. Embrace science, embrace innovation and change. +p3666 +aVThe one I use the most is Uber. You know, I used to get driven......when I was governor, I had a driver. I don't anymore, but.... And it's an example of what millennials are doing to change America for the better. And I tweet a lot, too. So Uber, Tweet \u2014 Twitter and then I communicate with my family. +p3667 +aVI \u2014 I am a long suffering Jets fan. So my answer is obviously no, there's no reason to take off the day after the Super Bowl. But let me just add this. The Mets are going to win tonight. Let's go, Mets. +p3668 +aVThank you for the opportunity to be with this great audience tonight. I'm a limited government conservative and I mean by that that not just when it comes to economic issues leaving them to the state, but social issues, as well. And in that I differ from every single other candidate seeking the Republican nomination. I take the Tenth Amendment very, very seriously. I'm a Republican who embraces science and understands we have to work with the next generation of millennials to have the innovation and technology so that we can grow a 21st century economy. And I'm a Republican who understands in Washington, when you're a leader, you have to put aside partisan politics to do what's right for the people. We are one America. If we work together across party lines, there's no problem we can't solve and the 21st century will be America's greatest century. Thank you very much. +p3669 +aVThank you, Jake. Hi, I'm George Pataki, and I am honored to be here this afternoon with all of you at the Reagan Library. You know, when I think of Ronald Reagan, I think of his tremendous smile, a smile that reflected his optimism and his unending belief and faith in America and in Americans. And it was that belief in America that led to a great presidency, a presidency that led to decades of safety, security and prosperity for America. That's exactly the type of leadership we need in Washington today and that's why I'm running for President of the United States. Thank you. +p3670 +aVNo. Hugh, not at all. I have not broken the pledge because Donald Trump is not going to be the Republican nominee, period, flat out, I guarantee you that. I would vote... +p3671 +aV-- for the Republican nominee... +p3672 +aVHe's not going to be the nominee. +p3673 +aVHe's not going to be the nominee, Hugh. And let me just say one word here. This is an important election with an enormous number of challenges facing the American people. And the first four questions are about Donald Trump. +p3674 +aVNo, I would not vote for Hillary Clinton. +p3675 +aVNo, I will vote for the Republican nominee. But let me say this flat out, Donald Trump is unfit to be president of the United States or the Republican Party's nominee. Look at what he did in Atlantic City. He says he's going to make America great again? He invested four casinos in Atlantic City and he said, essentially, I'm going to make Atlantic City great again. Every one of those casinos went bankrupt. Over 5,000 Americans lost their job. And you know people who, in this difficult economic time, have lost their job and the pain that causes. He didn't lose anything, 5,000 lost their jobs. He will do for America what he did for Atlantic City and that is not someone we will nominate. +p3676 +aVThank you. +p3677 +aVOK. All right. Thank you. +p3678 +aVYeah, it's a small part of a very important issue, and let me comment on what my colleagues were saying here. We all agree you have to secure the border. We have to make sure that people come to America legally. That has got to be step one. Step two is, we have to stop releasing criminals into the communities. If you are charged with a crime as an illegal alien, you should either be in jail or be deported. You should not released, as the Obama administration has done. Of course, we should outlaw sanctuary cities and hold them responsible. But we can't ignore 11 million people who are here. What are we going to do? We're not going to send them back, despite somebody saying we're going to drag kids out of classrooms and send them back. But we have to send a message that we are a nation that depends on the rule of law, and when your first act is to break the law, there has to be a consequence. So what I would do is require those who want to have legal status, not citizenship, come forward, acknowledge they broke the law, and if they do it again, they can be immediately deported, and then do what we do in communities across America when we want to sanction someone... +p3679 +aV... and that is community service -- 200 hours working in a hospital... +p3680 +aV... working in a school, and then they could have legal... +p3681 +aVI don't -- I don't think that we should tell that child born in America that we're going to send them back. The way to avoid that is to have an intelligent immigration policy where we know who is coming here, why they are coming here, so we don't have this flood of people coming here for the wrong reasons. +p3682 +aVWe have to deal with the people who are here illegally. We can't just ignore them, or send them back. I think my policy would work to give them legal status, make them a part of an economy that will grow, and help America. +p3683 +aVLindsey, let me comment on this. Last week was the anniversary of September 11th and I was governor of New York on September 11th and led us through that horrible day. And I learned that we cannot assume that because radical Islam is a continent away, it doesn't pose a threat to us here in America. It did then, and today, I think, we are at greater risk of an attack than at any time since. We have got to destroy +p3684 +aVJake... +p3685 +aVJake, if I can comment on this. Yes, Kim Davis is different from Islamist radicalists from the Middle East. But on the other hand, we have run rule in America, an elected official can't say I'm not going to follow that law if it conflicts with my beliefs. I think she should have been fired and if she worked for me, I would have fired her. We have to uphold the rule of law. +p3686 +aVImagine one minute -- Jake, imagine one minute that was a Muslim who said I don't believe in gay marriage, and refused to perform that wedding. We wouldn't have had that outrage. There's a place where religion supersedes the rule of law. It's called Iran. It shouldn't be the United States. +p3687 +aVMy response is kind of, "Wow." You know, we're going to have a president who defies the Supreme Court because they don't agree? +p3688 +aVThen you don't have the rule of law... +p3689 +aVThe -- the elected representatives of the people always have the opportunity to change that law. The Supreme Court makes a determination, but it's ultimately the elected officials who decide whether or not that would be accepted. By the way, if I have a chance to lead this country, I will appoint judges who understand their role. They're not going to be making the law; they're going to be interpreting law that the elected officials passed. +p3690 +aVBut there's a huge difference between an individual standing up and saying I am going to stand for my religious freedom and my religious rights. I applaud that. This is America. You should be able to engage in your religious belief in the way you see fit. But when you are an elected official and you take an oath of office to uphold the law, all the laws, you cannot pick and choose or you no longer have a society that depends on the rule of law. +p3691 +aVYes, I -- I didn't agree with the Supreme Court's decision, but it is the law of this land. And I am a great admirer of Martin Luther King. And he was prepared to break the law. But it wasn't in an office of political power. It was civil disobedience, where what he was willing to do is voluntarily go to jail with his followers to send a message to the elected representatives that these laws were wrong and had to be changed. And because of his courage, we didn't ignore the courts, we changed the laws and made America a better place. That's the way to do it. +p3692 +aVYes? +p3693 +aVI would throw out the entire corrupt tax code. It's a symbol of the corruption and the power of the lobbyists and the special interests in Washington. It is 74,000 pages of incomprehensible gobbledygook. What I would do is get rid of the 1.4 million every year in exemptions and loopholes, dramatically lower the rates. The normal American person is paying higher taxes than they should because of loopholes, and one of them is that carried interest loophole. I would tax that income the same as ordinary income. I'd lower the rate to 24 percent for all Americans, but I would not give a special break to the Wall Street fat caps -- fat cats. +p3694 +aVIt's hard for me to say I'm with Donald trump on anything, but on this issue, I agree with him. But let me just make one other point. It's not just throwing out the tax code to break the back of the special interests that control Washington. It's other reforms. I would propose a law -- right now there are over 400 former members of the House and Senate who are registered lobbyists in Washington. I would propose a law on day one, you serve one day in the House or Senate, there's a lifetime ban on you ever being a lobbyist in Washington, D.C. You get elected, you go back home. You don't stay and support the special interests. +p3695 +aVCan I just... +p3696 +aVNo, I would not. I would keep that deduction. I would lower the rates dramatically, so, yes, that root that has a special carve out would pay more, but everybody else is going to pay less. I would keep the home mortgage deduction, the charitable deduction, and others. And, by the way, you know, I agree with Rick on manufacturing, but my approach is different. I would pass a rate on manufacturing of 12 percent, the lowest in the developed world so we can make this America again. I know how important those jobs are. When I work -- went through college, Christmas and summer vacations, I worked in a factory. My grandparents worked in a factory. We have the opportunity now with lower energy costs, with the world labor cost getting higher, to make things in America so we don't have to worry about China. Lower the tax burden on manufacturing, improve the work skills... +p3697 +aV...of Americans. Get rid of job killing regulations. If we're going to... +p3698 +aV...If we're going to make this America... +p3699 +aVNot on the table but I think there's a lot that does work. And that is to have a strong America, a strong military and a resolve where the Iranians know that not only are we going to reject this deal on day one and reimpose sanctions but, if they move forward with the nuclear program, their safety for those facilities will be at risk. I'll tell you a couple of things I'd do. I'd give the Israelis bombs called MOPs, massive ordnance penetrators. Give them to Israel. Let the Iranians know we're prepared to work with Israel to make sure they never have a nuclear weapon. And let me point out that Hillary Clinton, supporting this deal, she was the senator from New York on September 11th, she saw what happened at the hands of radical Islam. This is the senator who did the reset program with Russia, who allowed the Middle East to deteriorate to flames, who has lied about Benghazi and is now supporting the Iranian deal. That's the opponent we're going to have next November. We have got to win this election. Everything we say is wonderful. But we have to win and, once we win, we have to actually do what we say. I can do this. +p3700 +aVI think there are two things, Jake. Two things that we need as Republicans. First, we have to win the election. You're going to hear a lot of great ideas, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that. None of it matters unless you win the election. And the second is, once you win, you have to be able to govern successfully. You've heard a lot of fighting back and forth, you didn't get this done, you didn't get that done. That's the way Washington is today. You have to have a leader, a president, who will actually get a conservative agenda through. I'm running because I have done both those things, and I did them in one of the most liberal states in America. I got elected three times in the state of New York. Twice by the largest pluralities ever for a Republican. I ran as a Republican conservative. If I get the nomination, I will be able to get broad support and win this election, and take the White House back for our party. But more importantly, once I've won, I will put in place a sweeping conservative agenda. I did that in New York. Over $143 billion in tax cuts. More than the other 49 states combined. Taking one million people off welfare and putting them into jobs, in a state where the Democrats control the state assembly. +p3701 +aV103-47. I got them to support a conservative agenda. If I get elected president, I will make things work in Washington. +p3702 +aVFor the Republican party and for the United States. +p3703 +aVI think he means somebody who hasn't been a career politician, and who's been out of office for awhile. I think the last eight years in the private sector have allowed me to see government from the outside, and I think that is a positive thing. Yes, I thought about running four years ago. I was ready to lead, but I wasn't ready to run. But I look at this country today, and I look at how divided we are, I look at how politicians are always posturing and issuing sound bites but never solving problems. What I did in New York was bring people together, an overwhelmingly Democratic state. But I was able to get Democrats to support the most conservative sweeping policy changes in any state in America. And when I look at Washington today, we need to bring us together. We need to solve problems, we need to rebuild our military so we can stand up to radical Islam, we need to get our economy growing much faster by throwing out the corrupt tax code and lowering the rates. We have to end crony capitalism in Washington, where the lobbyists and the powerful can get tax breaks and tax credits, and the American people don't get laws in their interest. I can do that. And I can do it regardless of what the makeup of Congress is because I did it in New York state. So we need new leadership -- yes. I will be that new leader. Mac +p3704 +aVMartha, religious liberty doesn't include encouraging a fellow American to engage in violent jihad and kill an American here. That is not protected free speech. That is not protected religious belief. That is like shouting "fire" in a crowded theater, and that is illegal, and I would do everything in our power not just to go after those who are here who we know who are here, before they can radicalize other Americans to carry out attacks, and it's not just the ones they've arrested. Think back to Garland, Texas. But for that Texas police officer, we could have had a mass murder. We have to shut down their internet capability. We have to shut down, whether or not they're in prisons preaching or on -- in mosques preaching. No radical Islam that is allowed to engage in encouraging violence against Americans, that is not protected speech. Let me just add one thing about +p3705 +aVI think he is right. I don't think you expand entitlements when so many people are dependent on government and when the money the federal government is offering is going to be taken away from you after just a couple of years. But getting back to Martha's question about how we end dependency, do we have to have a cultural change? The answer is no. And I know this, because when I ran for governor of New York, one in 11 of every man, woman, and child in the state of New York was on welfare. On welfare. Think about that. And people said "you can't win, you can't change the culture." But I knew that good people who wanted to be a part of the American dream have become trapped in dependency because the federal government and the state government had made it in their economic interest not to take a job because the benefits that they didn't work were better. I changed that. We put in place mandatory work fair (ph). But we allowed people to keep health care. We put in place child care support. +p3706 +aVNo, it should be repealed. And by the way, when I left, there were over 1 million fewer people on welfare in New York state than when I took office... +p3707 +aV... replacing dependency with opportunity. +p3708 +aVYes. Mac +p3709 +aVMy heart has not changed, because I've always been appalled by abortion. I'm a Catholic, I believe life begins at conception. But as Bill said earlier, Roe v. Wade, it's has been the law for 42 years, and I don't think we should continue to try to change it. But we can do is defund Planned Parenthood, and by the way, put in place an absolute permanent ban on any taxpayer dollars ever being used to fund abortions. Also, when you look at these videos, they are horrific and show just a hideous disrespect for life. What else we can do is that we should believe in science. You know, Hillary Clinton's always saying how Republicans don't follow science? Well, they're the ones not listening to the scientists today, because doctors say that at 20 weeks that is a viable life inside the womb. And at that point, it's a life that we have the right to protect, and I think we should protect. So, I would pass legislation outlawing abortion after 20 weeks. It is Hillary, it is Biden, it is the others who insist on allowing abortion well into viable (inaudible) wrong, and that should be stopped. Mac +p3710 +aVBill, I defeated Mario Cuomo. In the first day in office, my first executive order, I revoked every one of the executive orders that he had -- he had enacted over the prior 12 years. I would do that to Barack Obama's executive orders. But I'd sign a second one, as I did in New York, as well, having a hard hiring freeze on adding new employees except for the military or defense-related positions. I'd sign that executive order. When I left the workforce, New York State had been reduced by over 15 percent. We can do that in Washington. I will do that in Washington. +p3711 +aVDivisive and with no vision. No vision at all. +p3712 +aVWith all the candidates, why me? My background is different. I look at Washington, and I hear the talk, and I see the promises and it seems nothing ever changes. Washington gets bigger, taxes get higher, and the American people feel more distance from our government. I have the opportunity not just to run, but to win in the deep blue state of New York three times. And not only did I win, but I then worked with a Democratic legislature to put in place the most sweeping conservative reforms of any state in America, taking us from the most dangerous state in America to the fourth safest; reducing our welfare rolls by over 1 million, and replacing over 700,000 private sector jobs. I can govern by bringing people together. And also, I've been tested in a way no one else has. I was governor on September 11th, and I'm proud of my leadership in bringing New York through that time. And when I left, we were stronger, we were safer, and we were more united than at any time in my lifetime. We need to bring people together in Washington. The talk has got to stop, the action has got to begin. People can promise you something, I delivered in the blue state of New York. I will deliver for the American people if I have the privilege of leading this country. +p3713 +asVCHRISTIE +p3714 +(lp3715 +VThank you Wolf. America has been betrayed. We've been betrayed by the leadership that Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton have provided to this country over the last number of years. Think about just what's happened today. The second largest school district in America in Los Angeles closed based on a threat. Think about the effect that, that's going to have on those children when they go back to school tomorrow wondering filled with anxiety to whether they're really going to be safe. Think about the mothers who will take those children tomorrow morning to the bus stop wondering whether their children will arrive back on that bus safe and sound. Think about the fathers of Los Angeles, who tomorrow will head off to work and wonder about the safety of their wives and their children. What is Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton done to this country? That the most basic responsibility of an administration is to protect the safety and security of the American people. I will tell you this, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I've fought terrorists and won and when we get back in the White House we will fight terrorists and win again and America will be safe. +p3716 +aVWolf, unfortunately, it's the new normal under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The fact is that if you listen to Hillary Clinton the other day, what she said to the American people was, as regards to +p3717 +aVListen, I want to talk to the audience at home for a second. If your eyes are glazing over like mine, this is what it's like to be on the floor of the United States Senate. I mean, endless debates about how many angels on the head of a pin from people who've never had to make a consequential decision in an executive position. The fact is, for seven years, I had to make these decisions after 9/11, make a decision about how to proceed forward with an investigation or how to pull back, whether you use certain actionable intelligence or whether not to. And yet they continue to debate about this bill and in the subcommittee and what \u2014 nobody in America cares about that. What they care about is, are we going to have a president who actually knows what they're doing to make these decisions? And for the seven years afterwards, New Jersey was threatened like no other region in this country and what we did was we took action within the constitution to make sure that law enforcement had all the information they needed. We prosecuted two of the biggest terrorism cases in the world and stopped Fort Dix from being attacked by six American radicalized Muslims from a Mosque in New Jersey because we worked with the Muslim American community to get intelligence and we used the Patriot Act to get other intelligence to make sure we did those cases. This is the difference between actually been a federal prosecutor, actually doing something, and not just spending your life as one of hundred debating it. Let's talk about how we do this, not about which bill, which one these guys like more. The American people don't care about that. +p3718 +aVWolf, you sit up here and you listen to this stuff, and you think that so many of these people have had so much to do in this national debate, they talk like they were bystanders. You know, we talk about our military being degraded over time, and yet we've had folks on this stage who've been a part of Congress who have participated in sequester; who participated in the degrading of this military over time. And that's why I think people get so frustrated with Washington, D.C. now. That's why they're so angry with the \u2014 the electorate is so angry with everybody who is involved in government in Washington, D.C. Because if you listen to the folks up here, you think that they weren't even there; they had nothing to do with this. This is a difference between being a governor and being in a legislature. See, because when something doesn't work in New Jersey, they look at me, say: "Why didn't it get done? Why didn't you do it?" You have to be responsible and accountable. And so on +p3719 +aVWell, I think we have to focus, Hugh, on exactly what the priorities are. And to me, what I've always said is that the president has set up an awful situation through his deal with Iran, because what his deal with Iran has done is empower them and enrich them. And that's the way +p3720 +aVNot only would I be prepared to do it, I would do it. A no-fly zone means a no-fly zone, Wolf. That's what it means. See, maybe \u2014 maybe because I'm from New Jersey, I just have this kind of plain language hangup. But I would make very clear \u2014 I would not talk to Vladimir Putin. In fact, I would talk to Vladimir Putin a lot. But I'd say to him, "Listen, Mr. President, there's a no-fly zone in Syria; you fly in, it applies to you." And yes, we would shoot down the planes of Russian pilots if in fact they were stupid enough to think that this president was the same feckless weakling that the president we have in the Oval Office is right now. +p3721 +aVWell, Wolf, I'll tell you what reckless is. What reckless is is calling Assad a reformer. What reckless is allowing Russia to come into Crimea and Ukraine. What reckless is is inviting Russia into Syria to team with Iran. That is reckless. And the reckless people are the folks in the White House right now. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are the reckless people. And if you think that a no-fly zone is a reckless policy, you're welcome to your opinion. But how is it working so far? As we have 250,000 Syrians murdered, slaughtered; millions running around the world, running for their lives. It's not working. We need to try something else. And that is not reckless. +p3722 +aVWhat I say to Carla is that the first job of the president of the United States is to protect your safety and your security and the security and safety of your family. And this debate stops with me in the discussions with the FBI director. Now, listen, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I know Jim Comey. We've worked together. He was the U.S. attorney in Manhattan when I was a U.S. attorney in New Jersey. And when Jim Comey gets up before Congress and says, we cannot effectively vet these people, for me as president, that's the end of the conversation. We have to put America's security first. The American people \u2014 we on this stage need to open our ears. We need to open our ears. The American people are not whispering to us. They are screaming to us. And they're screaming to us that it's our job to actually make this government work. It's so dysfunctional under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. It's so ineffective. It's so ineffectual that the American people say, we don't trust them to do anything anymore. So I'm not going to let Syrian refugees, any Syrian refugees in this country. And it was widows and orphans, by the way, and we now know from watching the San Bernardino attack that women can commit heinous, heinous acts against humanity just the same as men can do it. And so I don't back away from that position for a minute. When the FBI director tells me that he can vet those people, then we'll consider it and not a moment before because your safety and security is what's most important to me. +p3723 +aVWell, what it would like is, we have one of the great advantages of America being the open society that we are. It is, we are not hiding things from the American people, but China everyday is conducting business in a way that hides things from their people. So if they want to come in and attack all the personnel records in the federal government, which they've done, and which \u2014 they now have my Social Security number and my fingerprints, as well as maybe some other folks' who are on this stage. The fact is, they need to be fought back on. And what we need to do is go at the things that they are most sensitive and most embarrassing to them; that they're hiding; get that information and put it out in public. Let the Chinese people start to digest how corrupt the Chinese government is; how they steal from the Chinese people; and how they're enriching oligarchs all throughout China. They need to understand that. And we need to take those type of steps. This president has seen personnel records of people who have sacrificed for the American people and for the federal government stolen by the Chinese and he's done nothing in return. This is why \u2014 this is what I said at the beginning that this administration, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton through their foreign policy, have betrayed the American people, because the weakness they've displayed has led to Putin's incursions in the Middle East and in eastern Europe, and has led \u2014 has led to significant problems in the Middle East as well, and the death and murder of lots of folks. +p3724 +aVOn September 10th, 2001, I was named chief federal prosecutor in New Jersey and on September 11th, 2001, my wife and my brother who are in the audience tonight went through the World Trade Center and to their offices just blocks away from the Trade Center. I lost touch with them for six hours that day and prayed that they were alive. Luckily, they were sent home. But many of our friends and others in our neighborhood lost their lives that day. Terrorism \u2014 radical jihadist terrorism is not theoretical to me. It's real. And for seven years, I spent my life protecting our country against another one of those attacks. You won't have to worry when I'm President of the Untied States whether that can be done because I've already done it. I want the chance to do it again to protect you, your children and your families. If you give me the chance and give me your vote I will protect America from the wars that are being brought to our door step. +p3725 +aVI don't see a lot of weakness on this stage, quite frankly. Where I see the weakness is in those three people that are left on the Democratic stage. You know, I see a socialist, an isolationist and a pessimist. And for the sake of me, I can't figure out which one is which. But I will \u2014 but I will tell you this, the socialist says they're going to pay for everything and give you everything for free, except they don't say they're going to raise it through taxes to 90 percent to do it. The isolationist is the one who wants to continue to follow a foreign policy that has fewer democracies today than when Barack Obama came into office around the world. But I know who the pessimist is. It's Hillary Clinton. And you put me on that stage against her next September, she won't get within 10 miles of the White House. Take it to the bank. +p3726 +aVWell, I wish you would have asked that question years ago when they broke it. I mean, let me be honest with the people who are watching at home. The government has lied to you and they have stolen from you. They told you that your Social Security money is in a trust fund. All that's in that trust fund is a pile of IOUs for money they spent on something else a long time ago. And they've stolen from you because now they know they cannot pay these benefits and Social Security is going to be insolvent in seven to eight years. We're sitting up here talking about all these other things; 71 percent of federal spending today is on entitlements, and debt service. And, that's with zero percent interest rates. Now, I'm the only person that's put out a detailed plan on how to deal with entitlements. And we'll save a trillion dollars over the next 10 years. And, here's the difference between me and Hillary Clinton. What Hillary Clinton's going to say, and has said before is, she wants to raise Social Security taxes. Now, let me ask you a question everybody, and, this is for the guy, you know, who owns a landscaping business out there. If somebody's already stolen money from you, are you going to give them more? Or, are you going to deal with the problem by saying, I'm going to give people who've done well in this country less benefit on the backend. We need to get realistic about this. We're not \u2014 the American people \u2014 forget about anything else, they've already been lied to and stolen from. And... +p3727 +aV...I'm going to go to Washington to stop it... +p3728 +aV...The only way we're going to be morale, the only way we're going to keep our promise to seniors is start by following the first rule we should all follow, which is to look at them, treat them like adults, and tell them the truth. It isn't there anymore, Mike. They stole it. It got stolen from them. It's not theirs anymore. The government stole it, and spent it a long time ago... +p3729 +aVSo, let's stop fooling around about this, let's tell people the truth. For once, let's do that, and stop trying to give them some kind of fantasy that's never going to come true. +p3730 +aVYou bet they do. And if I were the prosecutor, that is exactly where they would be. The fact is that this Justice Department under this president has been a political Justice Department. It has been a Justice Department that decided that they want to pick who the winners and losers are. They like General Motors, so they give them a pass. They don't like somebody else like David Petraeus, they prosecute them and send a decorated general on to disgrace. It's a political Justice Department. And, Jim, you know full well that in the seven years I was U.S. attorney we went after pharmaceutical companies. We went after companies that were ripping off shareholders. We went after companies that were doing things that were against the law. And to expand on Mr. Carson's \u2014 or Dr. Carson's question, let's face it, we have laws already. We don't need newer (ph) laws. We don't need Hillary Clinton's price controls for \u2014 again, does anybody out there think that giving Washington, D.C., the opportunity to run the pharmaceutical industry is a good idea, given how well they have done running the government? So what we do, though, is, if there is somebody who is price- gouging, we have laws for prosecutors to take that on. Let's let a Justice Department \u2014 and I will make an attorney general who will enforce the law and make justice more than just a word. It will be a way of life. +p3731 +aVJohn, I'll tell you something. You want to talk about moral authority. Let's talk about something that happened this week in the news. You know, the FBI director, the president's appointed FBI director has said this week that because of a lack of support from politicians like the president of the United States, that police officers are afraid to get out of their cars; that they're afraid to enforce the law. And he says, the president's appointee, that crime is going up because of this. And when the president of the United States gets out to speak about it, does he support police officers? Does he stand up for law enforcement? No, he doesn't. I'll tell you this, the number one job of the president of the United States is to protect the safety and security of the American people. This president has failed, and when I'm in the Oval Office, police officers will know that they will have the support of the president of the Untied States. That's real moral authority that we need in the Oval Office. +p3732 +aVCarl, are we really talking about getting government involved in fantasy football? We have \u2014 wait a second, we have $19 trillion in debt. We have people out of work. We have +p3733 +aVWell, first off, what we don't do is do what Hillary Clinton and John Kerry and Barack Obama want us to do, which is their solution for everything, put more taxes on it, give more money to Washington, D.C., and then they will fix it. Well, there is no evidence that they can fix anything in Washington, D.C. +p3734 +aVWhat we should do is to be investing in all types of energy, John, all types of energy. I've laid out... +p3735 +aVNo, John. John, do you want me to answer or do you want to answer? How are we going to do this? Because, I've got to tell you the truth, even in New Jersey what you're doing is called rude. So... We've laid out a national energy plan that says that we should invest in all types of energy. I will tell you, you could win a bet at a bar tonight, since we're talking about fantasy football, if you ask who the top three states in America are that produce solar energy: California and Arizona are easy, but number three is New Jersey. Why? Because we work with the private sector to make solar energy affordable and available to businesses and individuals in our state. We need to make sure that we do everything across all kinds of energy: natural gas, oil, absolutely. But also where it's affordable, solar, wind in Iowa has become very affordable and it makes sense. That is the way we deal with global warming, climate change, or any of those problems, not through government intervention, not through government taxes, and for God's sake, don't send Washington another dime until they stop wasting the money they're already sending there. +p3736 +aVAnd \u2014 and \u2014 and I \u2014 you know, Ben is absolutely right in saying that what we don't need to do is to send more money to Washington, D.C. to fix this problem. And that's what you'll hear from Hillary Clinton \u2014 and I've already heard from her \u2014 is that, send more money in Social Security, send more money in Medicare taxes, send more money for Medicaid, and that's gonna solve the problem. What we know is we're living longer. That's a blessing. It's a blessing that we're living longer, so we have to increase the retirement age to reflect that blessing. We need to make sure that people understand, as Jeb said before, that if you've done extraordinarily well in this country, do you want them to take more out of your taxes now and think they're gonna give it back to you later? Or would you rather take less later on? +p3737 +aVI want to talk to the folks at home. I want to ask you: Are you fed up with how Washington taxes you? Are you fed up with how Washington wastes your money? Are you concerned like I am that the debt and deficits of Washington, D.C. are endangering America's future? I've got one more question for you then. Are you serious about this election? Because if you are, you need to elect someone who's deadly serious about changing this culture. I am deadly serious about changing this culture. I changed it in New Jersey. I'm deadly serious about doing this job the right way. I'm prepared. I'm tested. I'm ready. And I want to make this our government. For the people who say we can't do it, I say hell no, we can do it together. +p3738 +aVHi, my name is Chris Christie, and I'd like to you take the camera off me and put it on the audience because I'd like to ask all of you, how many of you, raise your hand, believe that in today's Barak Obama America your children will have a better life than you've had? You see? That's why I'm running for President. because leadership is not about me, it's about our country. And, what we talk about tonight, it's not about us, it's about the people in the audience tonight, because in seven short years this president has stripped away their trust, and their faith, and their belief that the next generation will have a better life. He's stolen that from us, and when I'm president, I'm going to take it back. +p3739 +aVWell, I know Ben wasn't talking about me, I'm sure he was talking about one of the other guys, not me. As far as being an outsider is concerned \u2014 as far as being an outsider is concerned, let me tell you this, Jake, I'm a Republican in New Jersey. I wake up every morning as an outsider. I wake up every morning with a Democratic legislature who trying to beat my head in and fight me because I'm trying to bring conservative change to a state that needed it desperately. And so, everyone can talk us here about their credentials. But the bottom line is, every morning I get up, I veto 400 bills from a crazy liberal Democratic legislature, not one of them has been overridden. I've vetoed more tax increases than any governor in American history, according to Americans for Tax Reform. What folks want in this country is somebody to go down there and get the job done. And that's exactly what I'll do. So, I know this much, that what the American people want to hire right now is somebody who believes in them. And believes that they are the ones who can fix our country. I will be the vessel through which they can fix this country, but it's not about me. It's about all of you. And getting this government off your back and out of your way, and letting you succeed. I know Ben wasn't talking about me. +p3740 +aVLook at him smiling at me right now. I know Ben didn't mean it about me. One of these other guys, I'm sure. +p3741 +aVBe honest, Ben, be honest. +p3742 +aVSee, Jake, it wasn't me. +p3743 +aVI was \u2014 +p3744 +aVShe is, and so if she, based on conscience, can't sign that \u2014 that marriage license, then there should be someone in her office to be able to do it, and if the law needs to be changed in the state of Kentucky, which is what she's advocating, it should be changed. +p3745 +aVAnd why don't we do the same thing with Planned Parenthood? +p3746 +aVWe elected a Republican Congress to do this. And they should be doing it, and they're not. And they're giving the president a pass. +p3747 +aVI put it in the list, Dana. We should be doing these things and forcing the president to take action. +p3748 +aVLet's force him to do what he says he's going to do. Now I don't know whether he'll do it or not, but let's force him to do it. +p3749 +aVFirst of, Jake, I don't yield to anybody on how to enforce the law. I'm the only person on this stage who spent seven years as a United States Attorney after September 11th, and I know how to do this. The fact is though that for 15,000 people a day to be deported every day for two years is an undertaking that almost none of us could accomplish given the current levels of funding, and the current number of law enforcement officers. Here's what we need to do, and I think this is where Donald is absolutely right. What we need to do is to secure our border, and we need to do it with more than just a wall. We need to use electronics, we need to use drones, we need to use FBI, DEA, and ATF, and yes, we need to take the fingerprint of every person who comes into this country on a visa, and when they overstay their visa, we need to tap them on the shoulder, and say, "You have overstayed your welcome, you're taking advantage of the American people. It's time for you to go." If we had that kind of system in place, we wouldn't have the 11 million people we have now. +p3750 +aVJake listen. While I'm as entertained as anyone by this personal back-and-forth about the history of Donald and Carly's career, for the 55-year-old construction worker out in that audience tonight who doesn't have a job, who can't fund his child's education, I've got to tell you the truth. They could care less about your careers, they care about theirs. Let's start talking about that on this stage and stop playing \u2014 and stop playing the games. Stop playing \u2014 +p3751 +aVJohn \u2014 I'm not done yet, John. +p3752 +aVStop \u2014 and stop playing \u2014 and Carly \u2014 Carly, listen. You can interrupt everybody else on this stage, you're not going to interrupt me, OK? The fact is that we don't want to hear about your careers, back and forth and volleying back and forth about who did well and who did poorly. You're both successful people. Congratulations. You know who's not successful? The middle class in this country who's getting plowed over by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Let's start talking about those issues tonight and stop this childish back-and-forth between the two of you. +p3753 +aVListen, you know, Hugh, it's an important point. And the question is, who is going to prosecute Hillary Clinton? The Obama White House seems to have in interest, the Justice Department seems to have no interest. I think it's time to put a former federal prosecutor on the same stage as Hillary Clinton. And I will prosecute her during those debates on that stage for the record we're talking about here. The fact she had a private email server in her basement, using national security secrets running through it, could have been hacked by the Russians, the Chinese, or two 18-year-olds on a toot (ph) wanting to have some fun. No one is answering that question from the Hillary Clinton campaign... +p3754 +aVYou know why? Because she knows she's wrong, and she cannot look in the mirror at herself, and she cannot tell the American people the truth. +p3755 +aVWell, Jake, I was named U.S. attorney by President Bush on September 10th, 2001. And that next day my wife Mary Pat did what she did every day, she traveled through the World Trade Center and went to her office two blocks from the World Trade Center. And after those planes hit, for five-and-a-half-hours after that, I couldn't reach her, didn't know whether she was dead or alive, and we had three children at the time, 8, 5 and 1. And I had to confront what so many thousands of others in my region had to confront, the idea I might become a single parent, the idea that my life and my children's life might be changed forever. We lost friends that day. We went to the funerals. And I will tell you that what those people wanted and what they deserved was for America to answer back against what had been done to them. And I support what President Bush did at that time, going into Afghanistan, hunting al Qaeda and its leaders, getting its sanctuary out of place, and making it as difficult around the world for them to move people and money. And then he went to prosecutors like us, and he said, never again. Don't prosecute these people after the crime is committed. Intervene before the crime happens. I absolutely believe that what the president did at the time was right. And I am proud to have been one of the people on the stage who was part of making sure that what Governor Bush said before was the truth. America was safe for those seven years and Barack Obama has taken that safety away from us. +p3756 +aVLet me say this, Jake, is that while that may have been a fine idea that Dr. Carson had, these people were out to kill us. I stood in that region with my family, and every time a plane went overhead in the weeks after that, people's heads jerked to the sky because they thought it was happening again. You do not need to go through subtle diplomacy at that point. That could be handled later on. What you need is a strong American leader who will take the steps that are necessary to protect our nation. That's what I would do as commander-in-chief in this circumstance. And that's what President George W. Bush did in 2001. +p3757 +aVJake, you brought my issue up. +p3758 +aVYou know, I enjoy the interplay. Thank you, gentlemen. I'll just say this, first off, New Jersey is the first state in the nation that now says if you are non-violent, non-dealing drug user, that you don't go to jail for your first offense. You go to mandatory treatment. You see, Jake, I'm pro-life. And I think you need to be pro-life for more than just the time in the womb. It gets tougher when they get out of the womb. And when they're the 16-year-old drug addict in the Florida county lockup, that life is just as precious as the life in the womb. And so, that's why I'm for rehabilitation, why I think the war on drugs has been a failure. But I'll end with this. That doesn't mean we should be legalizing gate way drugs. And if Senator Paul thinks that the only victim is the person, look at the decrease in productivity, look at the way people get used and move on to other drugs when they use marijuana as a gateway drug, it is not them that are the only victims. Their families are the victims too, their children are the victims too, and their employers are the victims also. That's why I'll enforce the federal law, while you can still put an emphasis on rehabilitation, which we've done in New Jersey. +p3759 +aVAnd Senator Paul knows that that's simply not the truth. In New Jersey, we have medical marijuana laws, which I supported and implemented. This is not medical marijuana. There's goes as much \u2014 a further step beyond. This is recreational use of marijuana. This is much different. And so, while he would like to use a sympathetic story to back up his point, it doesn't work. I'm not against medical marijuana. We do it in New Jersey. But I'm against the recreational use against marijuana. If he wants to change the federal law, get Congress to pass the law to change it, and get a president to sign it. +p3760 +aVNo, it's not. But with Donald, it's a good start. That's really good. No, listen. This is an issue that \u2014 that we've gotta talk about, and we haven't talked about yet. 71 percent of all federal spending is on entitlements and debt service. When John Kennedy was elected president in 1960, it was 26 percent. Harvard and Dartmouth says that Social Security's going to go insolvent in seven to eight years. So what I say is very simple. We need to save this program for the good people out there who have paid into the system and need it. And if that means making sure that folks like Donald and many of us on the stage don't get it, that's the right thing to do because here's what Hillary Clinton is going to want to do. She's going to want to put more money into a system that has already lied to us and stolen from us. This government doesn't need more money to make Social Security solvent. We need to be not paying out benefits to people who don't really need it. We need to protect the people who Social Security means the difference between picking between heat and rent and food. That's why I put out the proposal and that's the people I'm trying to... +p3761 +aVI don't think Senator Rubio is a skeptic of climate change. I think what Senator Rubio said I agree with. That in fact we don't need this massive government intervention to deal with the problem. Look at what we have done in New Jersey. We have already reached our clean air goals for 2020. And when I was governor, I pulled out of the regional cap and trade deal, the only state in the Northeast that did that. And we still reached our goals. Why? Because 53 percent of our electricity comes from nuclear. We use natural gas. We use solar power. We're the third-highest- using solar power state. You know why? Because we made all of those things economically feasible. I agree with Marco. We shouldn't be destroying our economy in order to chase some wild left-wing idea that somehow us by ourselves is going to fix the climate. We can contribute to that and be economically sound. We have proven we can do that in New Jersey. Nuclear needs to be back on the table in a significant way in this country if we want to go after this problem. +p3762 +aVI understand. No, no, listen, everybody makes a mistake every once in a while, Jake, even George Shultz. And if that's truly a representation of what he believes we should be doing, then with all due respect to the former secretary of state, I disagree with him. +p3763 +aVI think the Adams family has been shorted in the currency business. Our country wouldn't be here without John Adams, and he would not have been able to do it without Abigal Adams, so, I'd put Abigail Adams on the bill. +p3764 +aVYou know, I've been called a lot of names by a lot of different people, and now I got to get called by names by the Secret Service? I would just say True Heart. +p3765 +aVI turned 18 in 1980, and my first vote was for Ronald Reagan. Boy, am I glad I did it. And I think the country is, too. A Christie presidency won't be about me. It will be about you. Tonight, you sit at home in your living room, frustrated that you play by the rules, you pay the taxes, you do the hard things to raise your family, yet you feel like America's generosity is being taken advantage of. That you've been \u2014 system is being gamed, and that you're turning out to fall further and further behind. Our presidency \u2014 our presidency \u2014 will be about ending that, about enforcing the law, level the playing field for everybody, and once again reward those folks who play by the rules, and think that justice means more than just the word. But it means a way of life. And I will tell you this, around the world, I will not shake hands with, I will not meet with, and I will not agree to anything with a country that says death to us and death to Israel and holds our hostages while we sign agreements with them. It will be an America that be strong and resolute, and will once again be able to stick out its chest and say, "we truly are the greatest nation in the world, because we live our lives that way, each and every day." +p3766 +aVIf you think it's bad now, you should've seen it when I got there. The fact is -- the fact is, in the eight years before I became governor, taxes and fees were raised at the state level 115 times. In the eight years before I became governor, spending was increased 56 percent. And in the eight years before I become governor, taxes and fees were raised at the state level 115 times. In the eight years before I became Governor, spending was increased 56 percent, and in the eight years before I became governor, there was zero net private sector job growth in New Jersey. Zero. For eight years. So, what did we do? We came in, we balanced an $11 billion deficit on a $29 billion budget by cutting over 800 programs in the state budget. We brought the budget into balance with no tax increases. In fact, we vetoed five income tax increases during my time as governor. We cut business taxes $2.3 billion, and we cut regulation by one-third of what my predecessor put in place. And, what's happened since? A hundred ninety-two thousand private sector jobs in the five and a half years I've been governor. We have a lot of work to do in New Jersey, but I am darn proud we've brought our state back. +p3767 +aVYes, I do. And I'll tell you why: because I'm the only person on this stage who's actually filed applications under the Patriot Act, who has gone before the federal -- the Foreign Intelligence Service court, who has prosecuted and investigated and jailed terrorists in this country after September 11th. I was appointed U.S. attorney by President Bush on September 10th, 2001, and the world changed enormously the next day, and that happened in my state. This is not theoretical to me. I went to the funerals. We lost friends of ours in the Trade Center that day. My own wife was two blocks from the Trade Center that day, at her office, having gone through it that morning. When you actually have to be responsible for doing this, you can do it, and we did it, for seven years in my office, respecting civil liberties and protecting the homeland. And I will make no apologies, ever, for protecting the lives and the safety of the American people. We have to give more tools to our folks to be able to do that, not fewer, and then trust those people and oversee them to do it the right way. As president, that is exactly what I'll do. +p3768 +aVAnd -- and, Megyn? Megyn, that's a -- that, you know, that's a completely ridiculous answer. "I want to collect more records from terrorists, but less records from other people." How are you supposed to know, Megyn? +p3769 +aVWhat are you supposed to... +p3770 +aV...how are you supposed to -- no, I'll tell you how you, look... +p3771 +aVLet me tell you something, you go... +p3772 +aVWhen you -- you know, senator... +p3773 +aVListen, senator, you know, when you're sitting in a subcommittee, just blowing hot air about this, you can say things like that. When you're responsible for protecting the lives of the American people, then what you need to do is to make sure... +p3774 +aV...is to make sure that you use the system the way it's supposed to work. +p3775 +aVThere is no... +p3776 +aVAnd you know -- you know, Senator Paul? Senator Paul, you know, the hugs that I remember are the hugs that I gave to the families who lost their people on September 11th. Those are the hugs I remember, and those had nothing to do -- and those had nothing to do with politics, unlike what you're doing by cutting speeches on the floor of the Senate, then putting them on the Internet within half an hour to raise money for your campaign... +p3777 +aV...and while still putting our country at risk. +p3778 +aVYou know what, Megyn, can I... +p3779 +aVNo, he's not lying, he's just wrong. I mean, so, there's a difference -- I'm the only guy on this stage who's put out a detailed, 12 point plan on entitlement reform and here's why -- because 71% of federal spending right now is on entitlements, and debt service, 71%. And we have spent the last hour and five minutes talking about the other 29%, and no time on the 71%, and that makes no sense. Now, let me tell you exactly what we would do on Social Security. Yes, we'd raise the retirement age two years, and phase it in over 25 years, that means we'd raise it one month a year for 25 years when we're all living longer, and living better lives. Secondly, we would means test Social Security for those who are making over $200,000 dollars a year in retirement income, and have $4 to $5 million dollars in liquid assets saved. They don't need that Social Security check. Social Security is meant to be -- to make sure that no one who's worked hard, and played by the rules, and paid into the system grows old in poverty in America. If we don't deal with this problem, it will bankrupt our country, or lead to massive tax increases, neither one that we want in this country. +p3780 +aVChris... +p3781 +aVYeah, sure. And, I don't disagree with ending Congress' retirement program. I'm a governor, I don't have a retirement program in my state, and I don't disagree with that. But, here's the news to the American people, he's complaining about the lying and stealing. The lying and stealing has already occurred. The trust fund is filled with IOU's. We can't fix the problem just by ending Congress's retirement, that's worth about, "this" much. We need to go at the fundamental problem, and the fundamental problem is that this system is broken. It has been stolen from. We have been lied to, and we need a strong leader to tell the truth and fix... +p3782 +aVWell, listen. You know, if we want to deal with these issues, we have to deal with them in a way that makes sense. I agree with what Dr. Carson said earlier. The first thing we need to do to make America stronger is to strengthen our military, and I put out a really specific plan: no less than 500,000 active duty soldiers in the Army. No less than 185,000 active duty marines in the Marine Corps. Bring us to a 350 ship Navy again, and modernize the Ohio class of submarines, and bring our Air Force back to 2,600 aircraft that are ready to go. Those are the kind of things that are going to send a clear message around the world. Those are the things that we need to start working on immediately to make our country stronger and make it better. Those are the things that we need to be able to be doing. And as we move towards dealing with foreign aid, I don't disagree with Senator Paul's position that we shouldn't be funding our enemies. But I absolutely believe that Israel is a priority to be able to fund and keep them strong and safe after eight years of this administration. +p3783 +aVWell, thank you, Megyn. Listen, I was born into a middle class family in New Jersey. My dad came home from serving in the Army after having lost his father, worked in the Breyers ice cream plant in Newark, New Jersey. Was the first person to graduate from college. He put himself through college at night. My mom was a secretary. I was appointed United States attorney on September 10, 2001. And I spent the next seven years of my career fighting terrorism and putting terrorists in jail. I'm a conservative, pro-life governor in a state where it is really tough to be both. A state like New Jersey, with lots of Democrats, but still we cut taxes, we balanced budgets. We fought the teacher's union. This president has had weak leadership, which has led to bad choices. We have got to stop worrying about being loved and start worrying about being respected. And that's exactly how I'll lead our country. +p3784 +aVWell, first I want to share a story with you that relates to your question. I was in New Hampshire last week, and a woman approached me after the town hall meeting and she said to me, "Governor, I'm really concerned." I said, "What are your concerns?" And, she said, "I don't quite how to describe it," she said. "But, every month when my bills come in, I feel this awful anxiety in the pit of my stomach that I'm not going to have enough to pay them that month." There are tens of millions of Americans living that way after the worst recovery from an economic recession since World War II. And, let's be clear, if we do not change course, if we follow the President's lead, and that's exactly what Secretary Clinton will do, we're going to be in the same circumstance \u2014 with government picking the winners and losers. So, let me be clear about what we'll do. First, Make the tax code fairer, flatter, and simplier. Get rid of all the special interest deductions. You know, the American people feel like the tax code is rigged for the rich, and you know why they feel that way? Because it is. We'll get rid of all those special interest deductions except for the home mortgage interest deduction, and the charitable contribution deduction. Everyone will get lower rates, keep more of their own money, be able to file their tax returns in 15 minutes, and, by the way, the good thing, I'll be able to fire a whole bunch of IRS agents once we do that. And, in addition, we need to get the government off of our backs. Dodd-Frank, all the different regulations, 81,000 pages of new regulation by this administration just last year \u2014 it is suffocating small business, it is suffocating the folks who are trying to make a living. I will do what I did in New Jersey......lift if off their backs. +p3785 +aVYes, sure. If anybody believes the stuff they heard from that Democratic debate a few weeks ago, there's nothing for free. What they forgot to tell was that they're going to raise your tax rates to 70 or 80 percent in order to provide all of that stuff. But let me ask the folks at home one very simple question, do you want to give Washington more control over your life? Do you think they're doing such a great job that now let's have them control what our corporations pay their employees? Let's have them control every aspect of our economy? Is Washington doing that good a job for you right now? And the fact is that if you listen to Hillary Clinton, she has made it very clear, she believes that she can make decisions for you better than you can make them for yourself. She believes that Washington, D.C., should pick the winners and losers in our economy, and in our life. And here's what I believe as a Republican, I believe the greatness of America is not in its government. The greatness of America is in the American people. And what we need to do is get the government the hell out of the way and let the American people win once again. +p3786 +aVFirst off, let me, let me just say this in response to this back and forth. For the people who are out there right now, I want to guarantee you one thing real clearly. If you think that Mike Huckabee won't be the kind of President who will cut back spending, or Chris Christie, or John Kasich, wait 'til you see what Hillary Clinton will do to this country and how she will drown us in debt. She is the real adversary tonight and we'd better stay focused as Republicans on her. Now I've forward, I put forward an entitlement reform plan. We spend 71 cents of every dollar in America on entitlements and debt service, and if \u2014 you know, Willy Sutton used to say, when they asked him why he robbed banks, he said that's 'cause that's where the money is, OK? And where the money is in the federal government are these entitlement programs and debt service. What I've said is we need to get a hold of that. We cannot continue to go down the $19 trillion in debt. So our plan will save over $1 trillion over the next 10 years and make sure that Social Security and Medicare are there for those who truly need it and also make sure that we have money to be able to reduce taxes and spend on the things we need to spend. I will also, on my first day as \u2014 as president, sign a executive order that says no more regulation for the next 120 days by any government agency or department. We are drowning in regulations. Stop and then we'll go out there and we'll cut and reduce regulation that small business owners across this country want us to do. You'll grow the economy then. More money will come into the system and we'll get more closer to balance. But the bottom line is, believe me, Hillary Clinton's coming for your wallet, everybody. Don't worry about Huckabee or Jindal, worry about her. +p3787 +aVWell, let's start with this, remember why we're in the position we're in with China, because an absolutely weak and feckless foreign policy that was engineered by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. That's why we're in the position we're in......because the Chinese......the Chinese don't take us seriously and why should they? Why should they? They hacked into the American government's personnel file and took millions of records in cyberwarfare against this country. I'm one of the victims of that hack. They took my Social Security number, my fingerprints as a former United States attorney that was on file in there. And what has this president done? Not one thing. Let me be really clear about what I would do. If the Chinese commit cyberwarfare against us, they are going to see cyberwarfare like they have never seen before. And that is a closed society in China......where they're hiding information from their own people. The information we take, we'll make sure all the Chinese people see it. Then they'll have some real fun in Beijing when we start showing them how they're spending their money in China. And one last thing. One last thing. I will tell you this, they're building those artificial islands in the South China Sea and the president won't \u2014 up until recently, wouldn't sail a ship within 12 miles or fly a plane over it. I'll tell you this, the first thing I'll do with the Chinese is I'll throw \u2014 I'll fly Air Force One over those islands. They'll know we mean business. +p3788 +aVI'll tell you, Gerry, it's interesting, if you go to New Jersey, they'll call me lots of different things. A liberal is not one of them. Um, and......I would say this. I have great respect for Bobby's record in Louisiana. I think he's been a wonderful governor and I think he's provided outstanding leadership for that state and I respect him for what he's done. And I think that all of us deserve that same level of respect. And my point is this. You know, the differences between me and Bobby Jindal, we can talk about those, and obviously, Bobby wants to spent a lot of time tonight talking about that. I'll tell you what I want to talk about. I want to talk about what's going to happen to this country if we have another four years of Barack Obama's policies. And by the way, it will be even worse, because Hillary Clinton is running so far to the left to treaty to catch up to her socialist opponent, Bernie Sanders, it's hard to even see her anymore. The fact is \u2014 the fact is that we'd better be focused on it. And I'll tell you what I'll bring to the table, the fact that I've won in a blue state, that I've won in a state that has 750,000 more Democrats than Republicans......that I won in a state for reelection after governing as a pro-life conservative......and got 61 percent of the vote. That's the person you want on the stage prosecuting the case against Hillary Clinton. +p3789 +aVI don't... +p3790 +aV..Let me... +p3791 +aV...Let me just... +p3792 +aV...Sure. It's interesting. I complimented Bobby, imagine how much time he'd want if I actually criticized him. You know, the fact is, he's done \u2014 done a nice job down in Louisiana, and I don't have any problem with the job he's done. I've cut spending $2 billion dollars, except for our pension and health care in New Jersey, which was driven predominantly by Obamacare. We have reduce the number of employees we have on the state payroll by 15%, but, you know what? The people out there don't care about any of that. You know what they care about? They care about who's going to be able to beat Hillary Clinton......Who's going to keep their eye on the ball? I'm going to keep my eye on the ball. +p3793 +aVYeah, listen. We stopped Obamacare in New Jersey because we refused to participate in the federal exchange. But, here's the bigger issue. What do you think's going to happen when Hillary Clinton's elected president of the United States? The woman who tried to impose healthcare on this country over 20 years ago? And, she was stopped then by a strong group of republicans, and an American public that said, "No, thank you." What she will do \u2014 what she will do is move us towards a single payer system. She will completely nationalize the federal health care system. That's what she wanted to do 20 years ago, and I guarantee you that's what she'll do if you give her the keys to the White House one more time. The fact is we need someone who knows how to beat democrats, who knows how to beat democrats in a democratic area. I've done it twice as governor of New Jersey, and Hillary Clinton doesn't want one minute on that stage with me next September when I'm debating her, and prosecuting her for her vision for America... +p3794 +aVI'll continue in the pattern and just say... And just say this to everybody, since it seems to be an open question. I'll tell you the thing that disturbs me the most about what's going on with the Democratic Party in Washington, that they're not standing behind our police officers across this country. That they're allowing lawlessness... That they're allowing lawlessness to reign in this country. I spent seven years of my life in law enforcement, here's what every law enforcement, 700,000, should know tonight. When President Christie is in the Oval Office, I'll have your back. +p3795 +aVYes. You know, our tax plan puts forward a highest rate of 28 percent for those who are doing the most and making the most in this country and 8 percent on the low end. And I agree with Senator Santorum, we get rid of all of the deductions and loopholes, except for the home mortgage interest deduction and the charitable contribution deduction. That means getting rid of the state and local income tax deduction, as well, because that will put more pressure on governors and on local officials not to keep raising those taxes, saying we can deduct them. And so ours will be 28 on the high end, 8 on the low end. And I will tell you one other thing. Americans for Tax Reform came out with a report six weeks ago and said I vetoed more tax increases than any governor in American history. I will do exactly the same thing as president of the United States. +p3796 +aVGerry, this has been the most political Federal Reserve I've seen in my lifetime. Now, when they first cut interest rates during the economic recession and the crisis, that was the right thing to do. But they've kept those interest rates artificially low for one reason, and one reason only. Because they're trying to politically support Barack Obama and his agenda. And it's been wrong. And what it's done, in an administration where the President has talked about income inequality, he's had more income inequality in this administration than any previous administration. The middle class is doing worse than it's ever done before. And the investor class, the wealthy, are doing even better because of this cheap money from the Fed. And here's the worst part, we had one and a half percent GDP growth last quarter. If we slide back towards a recession, you cannot lower interest rates below zero. Where are we going to go if we need help if the economy slides back into recession? And with this government- controlled economy that Barack Obama, we're moving right towards it. The Fed should be audited and the Fed should stop playing politics with our money supply. That's what they've done. It's been the wrong thing to do. It's hurting the American economy. And......let me......let me add one other thing on this. Be very aware now, because what Hillary Clinton is talking about doing, if she's president of the United States, is to make sure that the government gets even more involved in the economy, even more involved in making choices for everybody. You do not want that to happen. You need someone who's going to stand up on that stage and prosecute the case against her and prosecute it strong. That's what I'll do. +p3797 +aVThe way to reconnect Americans to the men and women in uniform is to first, and foremost, give them a Commander in Chief who respects the military, and respects everyone who wears the uniform. Starts at the top there... And Secretary Clinton says, there's no crisis at the V.A.. That send a long, and hard message to our veterans that she doesn't get it, and she doesn't respect their service. When the President of the United States doesn't back up law enforcement officers in uniform, he loses the moral authority to any man or woman who is uniform. I spent seven years in law enforcement......I respect these folks, and I will do so as Commander in Chief of the military. +p3798 +aVI want to tell the American people who are watching tonight the truth. I saw the most disgraceful thing I've seen in this entire campaign a few weeks ago. Hillary Clinton was asked the enemy she's most proud of, and she said, "Republicans". In a world where we have Al-Qaeda, and +p3799 +asVCARSON +p3800 +(lp3801 +VThank you, Wolf. Please join me for a moment of silence and remembrance of the San Bernardino victims. Thank you. You know, our country since its inception has been at war, every 15 or 20 years. But the war that we are fighting now against radical Islamist jihadists is one that we must win. Our very existence is dependent upon that. You know, as a pediatric neurosurgeon, I frequently faced life and death situations, and had to come up with the right diagnosis, the right plan, and execute that plan frequently with other colleagues. Right now, the United States of America is the patient. And the patient is in critical condition and will not be cured by political correctness and will not be cured by timidity. And I am asking the Congress, which represents the people, to declare a war on +p3802 +aVFirst of all, let me just complain a little bit. This is the first time I've spoken and several people have had multiple questions so please try to pay attention to that. Now, as far as monitoring is concerned, what my point is, we need to make sure that any place \u2013 I don't care whether it's a mosque, a school, a supermarket, a theater, you know it doesn't matter. If there are a lot of people getting there and engaging in radicalizing activities then we need to be suspicious of it. We have to get rid of all this PC stuff. And people are worried about if somebody's going to say that I'm Islamophobic or what have you. This is craziness because we are at war. That's why I asked congress, go ahead and declare the war . We need to be on a war footing. We need to understand that our nation is in grave danger. You know, what the Muslim Brotherhood said in the explanatory memorandum that was discovered during the Holy Land Foundation Trial was that, "they will take advantage of our PC attitude to get us. :" We have to be better than this. We have to be smarter than they are. +p3803 +aVI think you have to ask them about that. I don't want to get in between them. Let them fight. +p3804 +aVNeurosurgeon. +p3805 +aVWell, interestingly enough, you should see the eyes of some of those children when I say to them we're going to have to open your head up and take out this tumor. They're not happy about it, believe me. And they don't like me very much at that point. But later on, they love me. Sometimes you \u2014 I sound like him. You know, later on, you know, they really realize what's going on. And by the same token, you have to be able to look at the big picture and understand that it's actually merciful if you go ahead and finish the job, rather than death by 1,000 pricks. +p3806 +aVYou got it. You got it. +p3807 +aVRuthless is not necessarily the word I would use, but tough, resolute, understanding what the problems are, and understanding that the job of the president of the United States is to protect the people of this country and to do what is necessary in order to get it done. +p3808 +aVFirst of all, I've been talking about this for over a year. We have to destroy their caliphate because that gives them legitimacy to go ahead with the global Jihad. We have to take their energy because they are \u2014 +p3809 +aVNo one is ever better off with dictators but there comes a time you know, when you're on an airplane, they always say, "in case of an emergency oxygen masks will drop down. Put yours on first and then administer help to your neighbor." We need oxygen right now. And we need to start thinking about the needs of the American people before we go and solve everybody else's problems. The fact of the matter is, is that the Middle East has been in turmoil for thousands of years. For us to think that we're going to in there and fix that with a couple of little bombs and a few little decorations is relatively foolish. +p3810 +aVWell, you know, there's a false narrative that only the political class has the wisdom and the ability to be commander-in- chief. But if you go back and you study the design of our country, it was really designed for the citizen statesman. And we need to be talking about where does your experience come from? You know, and I've had a lot of experience building things, organizing things, you know, a national scholarship program. One of the things that you'll notice if you look through my life is that I don't do a lot of talking. I do a lot of doing. And really, it says more about a person than how much they talk. And then some people say you're weak because, you know, you're not loud and you're not boisterous and you're not rude. But the fact of the matter is, look and see what I've done. And that speaks volumes about strength. +p3811 +aVWell, it was very interesting having an opportunity to talk to the Syrians themselves. And I asked them: What do you want? What is your supreme desire? Their supreme desire was to be settled back in their own country. I said, "What can Americans and other countries do?" They said, "Support the efforts of those who are trying to provide safety for us, including the Jordanians." Of course, they had a brand new hospital, for instance, that was unstaffed because there wasn't enough money to do it. But here's what's really neat. If you go into Hasakah province in northeast Syria, that's an area that's as big as Lebanon. It's controlled by the Kurds, the Christians and the moderate Sunnis. And there are airstrips and hotels. You could settle a lot of people there. All we would have to do is be willing to provide them with some weaponry, some defensive weaponry. And we seem to be afraid to give the Kurds weaponry. We like to send it for some strange reason through Baghdad, and then they only get a tenth of it. And if we would support them, we'd have a perfect ideal there. We don't need to set this up as we either take a bunch of refugees who will be infiltrated with terrorists, I guarantee you. For them not to be would be terrorist malpractice. And we need to \u2014 to choose the right choice, not these false choices. +p3812 +aVWell, I definitely believe that he is unstable, and I do, in fact, believe that China has a lot more influence with him than we do. But we also recognize that North Korea is in severe financial straits, and they have decided to use their resources to build their military, rather than to feed their people and to take care of the various humanitarian responsibilities that they have. We can capitalize upon that. You know, we should use our economic power in lots of different ways. I think we can use that in order to keep Putin contained, because he is a one-horse show. Energy. And we have an abundance of energy, but we have archaic energy exportation rules. We need to get rid of those, allow ourselves to really make Europe dependent on us and other parts of the world dependent on us for energy. Put him back in his little box where he belongs. And, you know, we need to be doing lots of other things with the resources that we have. So economic power works just as well as military power, perhaps even better. And speaking of that, our Military needs to be upgraded. You know, you look at things like our Ohio Class submarines, they're 25 years old. Our minuteman 3 missiles \u2014 they are 34 years old. Our B-52 bombers \u2014 50 years old. You know, if we don't get the military right nothing else matters. +p3813 +aVWell, you know, the statement that I made last week, that I would leave the party was contingent upon whether in fact the party acts like they have in the past with a lot of subterfuge and dishonesty, or like they're going act now because I spike to Reince Priebus, and he assured me that the Washington Post writer had it all wrong, and that they're not be engaging in anything to thwart the will of the people. That's why I got into this race, as a member of we the people, to try bring some honesty and integrity back to the process. +p3814 +aVI've been fortunate enough to travel to 58 different countries and I thank God everyday that I was born in this country. The most exceptional country that the world has ever known. And I want to make sure that we preserve that exceptionalism for the next generation. My mother told me if I work hard and I really believed in American principles and I believed in God, anything is possible. I believe that is true, and that's why I'm not anxious to give away American values and principles for the sake of political correctness. +p3815 +aVWell, first of all, delighted to be here. My family's here, and my little granddaughter, who's three years old, said she wanted to come to the debate. So this is very cool. As far as the minimum wage is concerned, people need to be educated on the minimum wage. Every time we raise the minimum wage, the number of jobless people increases. It's particularly a problem in the black community. Only 19.8 percent of black teenagers have a job, who are looking for one. You know, that \u2014 and that's because of those high wages. If you lower those wages, that comes down. You know, I can remember, as a youngster \u2014 you know, my first job working in a laboratory as a lab assistant, and multiple other jobs. But I would not have gotten those jobs if someone had to pay me a large amount of money. But what I did gain from those jobs is a tremendous amount of experience, and how to operate in the world and how to relate to different people, and how to become a responsible individual. And that's what gave me what I needed to ascend the ladder of opportunity in this country. That's what we need to be thinking about. How do we allow people to ascend the ladder of opportunity, rather than how do we give them everything and keep them dependent? +p3816 +aVI would not raise it. I would not raise it, specifically because I'm interested in making sure that people are able to enter the job market and take advantage of opportunities. +p3817 +aVWell, first of all, thank you not asking me what I said in the 10th grade. I appreciate that. +p3818 +aVThe fact of the matter is, you know, what \u2014 we should vet all candidates. I have no problem with being vetted. What I do have a problem with is being lied about and then putting that out there as truth. And I don't even mind that so much, if they do it about \u2014 with everybody, like people on the other side. But, you know, when I look at somebody like Hillary Clinton, who sits there and tells her daughter and a government official that no, this was a terrorist attack, and then tells everybody else that it was a video. Where I came from, they call that a lie. And... I think that's very different from, you know, somebody misinterpreting, when I said that I was offered a scholarship to West Point, that is the words that they used. But, I've had many people come and say the same thing to me. That is what people do in those situations. We have to start treating people the same, and finding out what people really think and what they're made of. People who know me know that I'm an honest person. +p3819 +aVWell, you know, when I say tithing, I'm talking about the concept of proportionality. +p3820 +aVEverybody should pay the same proportion of what they make. You make $10 billion, you pay a billion. You make $10, you pay one. You get same rights and privileges. I don't see how anything gets a whole lot fairer than that. But you also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes because that is the thing that tilts it in one direction or another. And you have to set the rate at an appropriate level. Now I will say that, there are a lot of people who say, if you get rid of the deductions, you ruin the American dream because, you know, home mortgage deduction. But the fact of the matter is, people had homes before 1913 when we introduced the federal income tax, and later after that started deductions. And they say there will be no more charitable giving. We had churches before that and charitable organizations before that. The fact of the matter is, I believe if you put more money in people's pockets that they will actually be more generous rather than less generous. And it's... ... the money that they earned. And, the other thing is, I do care about the poor people. And in the system that we're putting together, there will be a rebate for people at the poverty level. But I also want to emphasize the fact that as we get the economy moving, and I hope I get a question about how do we get the economy moving, there will be a lot more opportunities for poor people not to be poor people because this is America. This is the land of dreams. And our policies should be aimed at allowing people to realize that dream. +p3821 +aVWell, putting the special ops people in there is better than not having them there, because they \u2014 that's why they're called special ops, they're actually able to guide some of the other things that we're doing there. And what we have to recognize is that Putin is trying to really spread his influence throughout the Middle East. This is going to be his base. And we have to oppose him there in an effective way. We also must recognize that it's a very complex place. You know, the Chinese are there, as well as the Russians, and you have all kinds of factions there. What we've been doing so far is very ineffective, but we can't give up ground right there. But we have to look at this on a much more global scale. We're talking about global jihadists. And their desire is to destroy us and to destroy our way of life. So we have to be saying, how do we make them look like losers? Because that's the way that they're able to gather a lot of influence. And I think in order to make them look like losers, we have to destroy their caliphate. And you look for the easiest place to do that? It would be in Iraq. And if \u2014 outside of Anbar in Iraq, there's a big energy field. Take that from them. Take all of that land from them. We could do that, I believe, fairly easily, I've learned from talking to several generals, and then you move on from there. But you have to continue to face them, because our goal is not to contain them, but to destroy them before they destroy us. +p3822 +aVWell, I think we should have policies that don't allow them to just enlarge themselves at the expense of smaller entities. And certainly some of the policies, some of the monetary and Fed policies that we're using makes it very easy for them, makes it very easy for the big corporations, quite frankly, at these very low interest rates to buy back their stock and to drive the price of that up artificially. Those are the kinds of things that led to the problem in the first place. And I think this all really gets back to this whole regulation issue which is creating a very abnormal situation. This country was \u2014 declared its independence in 1776. In less than 100 years, it was the number-one economic power in the world. And the reason was because we had an atmosphere that encouraged entrepreneurial risk- taking and capital investment. Those are the fuels that drive it. And what we've done now is let the creep of regulation turn into a stampede of regulations, which is involved in every aspect of our lives. If we can get that out, it makes a big difference. And even for the average person, every single regulation costs money. And it's shifted to the individual. So \u2014 and it hurts the poor and the middle class much more than it does the rich. They go into the store and they buy a bar of soap, it costs 10 cents more, they notice it. And the middle class, when they come to the cash register, have a whole cart full of things that cost 5, 10 or 15 cents more, they notice it. It is hurting the poor. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton won't tell you that that's the thing that's really hurting middle class in the core. They'll say it's the rich, take their money, but that won't help. You can take all of the rich's money and it won't make a dent in the problem that we're having. We have to come back to the fundamental principles that made America great. +p3823 +aVI would have policies that wouldn't allow that to occur. I don't want to go in and tear anybody down. I mean, that doesn't help us. But what does help us is stop tinkering around the edges and fix the actual problems that exist that are creating the problem in the first place. +p3824 +aVIn the two hours of this \u2014 of this debate, five people have died from drug-related deaths, $100 million has been added to our national debt, 200 babies have been killed by abortionists, and two veterans have taken their lives out of despair. This is a narrative that we can change, not we the Democrats, not we the Republicans, but we the people of America, because there is something special about this nation, and we must embrace it and be proud of it and never give it away for the sake of political correctness. +p3825 +aVProbably in terms of the applying for the job of president, a weakness would be not really seeing myself in that position until hundreds of thousands of people began to tell me that I needed to do it. I do, however, believe in Reagan's 11th commandment, and will not be engaging in awful things about my compatriots here. And recognizing that it's so important, this election, because we're talking about America for the people versus America for the government. +p3826 +aVWell, first of all, I didn't say that the rate would be 10 percent. I used the tithing analogy. +p3827 +aVThe rate \u2014 the rate \u2014 the rate is gonna be much closer to 15 percent. +p3828 +aVYou also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes. You also have to some strategically cutting in several places. Remember, we have 645 federal agencies and sub-agencies. Anybody who tells me that we need every penny and every one of those is in a fantasy world. So, also, we can stimulate the economy. That's gonna be the real growth engine. Stimulating the economy \u2014 because it's tethered down right now with so many regulations... +p3829 +aVThat's not true. +p3830 +aVWhen \u2014 when we put all the facts down, you'll be able to see that it's not true, it works out very well. +p3831 +aVSince I was attacked too. +p3832 +aVLet me just say, if you're talking about an $18 trillion economy, you're talking about a 15 percent tax on your gross domestic product. You're talking about $2.7 trillion. We have a budget closer to $3.5 trillion. But if you also apply that same 15 percent to several other things, including corporate taxes, and including the capital gains taxes, you make that amount up pretty quickly. So that is not by any stretch a pie in the sky. +p3833 +aVWell, there is no question that some people go overboard when it comes to trying to make profits, and they don't take into consideration the American people. What we have to start thinking about, as leaders, particularly in government, is what can we do for the average American? And you think about the reasons that we're having such difficulty right now with our job market. Well, the average small manufacturer, whatever they're manufacturing, drugs or anything, if they have less than 50 employees, the average cost in terms of regulations is $34,000 per employee. Makes it a whole lot easier for them to want to go somewhere else. So what we're going to have to start doing instead of, you know, picking on this group or this group, is we're going to have to have a major reduction in the regulatory influence that is going on. The government is not supposed to be in every part of our lives, and that is what is causing the problem. +p3834 +aVWell, obviously, you don't understand my views on homosexuality. I believe that our Constitution protects everybody, regardless of their sexual orientation or any other aspect. I also believe that marriage is between one man and one woman. And there is no reason that you can't be perfectly fair to the gay community. They shouldn't automatically assume that because you believe that marriage is between one man and one woman that you are a homophobe. And this is one of the myths that the left perpetrates on our society, and this is how they frighten people and get people to shut up. You know, that's what the PC culture is all about, and it's destroying this nation. The fact of the matter is we the American people are not each other's enemies, it's those people who are trying to divide us who are the enemies. And we need to make that very clear to everybody. +p3835 +aVWell, that's easy to answer. I didn't have an involvement with them. That is total propaganda, and this is what happens in our society. Total propaganda. I did a couple of speeches for them, I do speeches for other people. They were paid speeches. It is absolutely absurd to say that I had any kind of a relationship with them. Do I take the product? Yes. I think it's a good product. +p3836 +aVIf somebody put me on their homepage, they did it without my permission. +p3837 +aVNo, it speaks to the fact that I don't know those \u2014 See? They know. +p3838 +aVWell, first of all, I was wrong about taking the oil subsidy. I have studied that issue in great detail. And what I have concluded is that the best policy is to get rid of all government subsidies, and get the government out of our lives, and let people rise and fall based on how good they are. And \u2014 you know, all of this too big to fail stuff and picking and choosing winners and losers \u2014 this is a bunch of crap, and it is really causing a great deal of \u2014 great deal of problems for our society right now. And \u2014 and \u2014 you know, it goes back to the whole concept of regulations, which are in everything. The reason that I \u2014 I hate them so much is because every single regulation costs in terms of goods and services. That cost gets passed on to the people. Now, who are the people who are hurt by that? It's poor people and middle class. Doesn't hurt rich people if their bar of soap goes up ten cents, but it hurts the poor and the middle class. And Bernie Sanders will tell them that it's because of the rich. Well, I'll tell you something: you can take everything from the top 1 percent, and you apply it to our fiscal gap, and you won't even make a dent in it. +p3839 +aVAbout Medicare? +p3840 +aVWell, first of all the \u2014 the plan gives people the option of \u2014 of opting out. But I think they will see a very good option here. You know, the annual Medicare budget is over $600 billion. And there are 48 million people involved \u2014 40 million, 65 and over, and 8 million other. Divide that out. That comes out to $12,500 for each one. Now, I can tell you there are a lot of private-sector things that you could do with $12,500, which will get you a lot more than you get from this government program. And that's really a theme of a lot of the things that I'm talking about. How do we utilize our intellect rather than allowing the government to use its, quote, "intellect," in order to help us to be able to live healthier and better lives? It was never intended that the government should be in every aspect of our lives. This is a country that is of, for and by the people. +p3841 +aVI just want to thank all my colleagues here for being civil, and not falling for the traps. And, I also just want to thank the audience for being attentive, and noticing the questions, and the noticing the answers. And, this is what I am finding throughout America. People are waking up because it is going to be us who will determine the direction of our country. And, it was made for we the people, we are the ones who decide who we are, and we should never give away the values and principles that made America into a great nation for the sake of political correctness. +p3842 +aVHi, I'm Ben Carson, and I'm a retired pediatric neurosurgeon. I'm here with my wife, Candy, of 40 years, and two of my sons, and their wives. I stress the pediatric part of my career because the reason that I've gotten involved in this race is because I'm very concerned about the future of our children, and the direction of our country is one that does not portend well, unless we, the people, intervene and retake our rightful place at the pinnacle. +p3843 +aVTypically, politicians do things that are politically expedient. And they are looking for whatever their particular goal is. That is not the reason that I have gotten into this thing. I'm extraordinary concerned about the direction of this country, the divisiveness that is going on, fiscal irresponsibility, the failure to take a leadership position in the world. All of those things will lead to a situation where the next generation will not have a chance that we've had now. So I don't \u2014 I don't want to really get into describing who's a politician and who's not a politician, but I think the people have kind of made that decision for themselves already, and will continue to do so as time goes on. +p3844 +aVJake, can I say something about that? +p3845 +aVYou know, when I entered this race, all the political pundits said it's impossible; you can't do it because you're not connected with the money. And there's no way that you can raise what you need in order to compete successfully. I in no way am willing to get in the bed with special interest group or lick the boots of billionaires. I have said to the people if they want me to do this, please get involved. And we now have over 500,000 donations, and the money is coming in. But the pundits forgot about one thing, and that is the people. And they are really in charge. +p3846 +aVWell, first of all, I recognize that we have an incredible illegal immigration problem. I was down in Arizona a few weeks ago at the border. I mean, the fences that were there were not manned, and those are the kind of fences when I was a kid that would barely slow us down. So, I don't see any purpose in having that. Now, what we need to do is look at something that actually works. Yuma County, Arizona. They stop 97 percent of the illegal immigrants through there. They put in a double fence with a road so that there was quick access by the enforcement people. If we don't seal the border, the rest of this stuff clearly doesn't matter. It's kind of ridiculous all the other things we talk about. We have the ability to do it, we don't have the will to do it. There was one area where they had cut a hole in the fence, and to repair it, they put a few strands of barb wire across. Well, the photographers who were there with us, they wanted to photograph us from the side of the Mexicans, and they went through there, and they were not physically fit people, and they took their cameras and things with them, and shot us from the other side. That's how easy it is to get across. And, the drugs, I mean, it goes on, and on, and on. ICE tells them to release these people, 67,000 criminals released... +p3847 +aV...on to our property, it's ridiculous. +p3848 +aVWell, I have also said, if anybody knows how to do that, that I would be willing to listen. And, if they can, you know, specify exactly how that's going to be done, and what the cost, and it sounds reasonable, then I think it's worth discussing... +p3849 +aVNot exactly what I said. +p3850 +aVWell, what I said, after we seal the borders, after we turn off the spigot that dispenses all the goodies so we don't have people coming in here, including employment, that people who had a pristine record, we should consider allowing them to become guest workers, primarily in the agricultural sphere, because that's the place where Americans don't seem to want to work. That's what I said. And they have a six-month period to do that. If they don't do it within that time period, then they become illegal, and as illegals, they will be treated as such. +p3851 +aVCan I \u2014 can I \u2014 can I just... +p3852 +aVCan I correct... +p3853 +aVOK. +p3854 +aVMy plan is not amnesty for a number of reasons. Number one, you know, I've talked to farmers, and they said they cannot hire Americans to do the kind of job that I'm talking about. And the second reason is because the individuals who register as guest workers, they don't get to vote, they are not American citizens, and they don't get the rights and privileges of American citizens. So that's key. But the other thing that I want to bring up is, I mentioned something earlier. I think it was just sort of glossed over. I talked about the success in Yuma County, I mean, incredible success, and the Department of Justice said, "No, we don't want to do that. That's too successful." We don't have to keep reinventing the wheel. All we have to do is look at things that work. All we have to do is use a little common sense. +p3855 +aVIt's all about America. You know, the people who say the guy who paid a billion dollars because he had 10, he has still got $9 billion left, that's not fair, we need to take more of his money. That's called socialism. That doesn't work so well. What made America into a great nation was the fact that we said, that guy just put in $1 billion, let's create an environment that's even more conducive to his success so that next year he can put in $2 billion. And that's the kind of thing that helps us to grow. We can't grow by continuing to take a piece of pie, and dividing it, and redistributing it. But, I'm also looking at what doctor \u2014 at what Governor Huckabee talked about... +p3856 +aVThe Fair Tax. Looking at both of them, and evaluating them both, and I'm talking to the American people because one of the things we must recognize is that this country is of, for, and by the people. And, it's really time that the government get out of the way, and let the people be the ones who decide how they want to run their country. +p3857 +aVWell, first of all, let me say what I actually said about raising the minimum wage. I was asked should it be raised, I said, probably, or possibly. But, what I added, which I think is the most important thing, so, I said we need to get both sides of this issue to sit down, and talk about it. Negotiate a reasonable minimum wage, and index that so that we never have to have this conversation again in the history of America. I think we also have to have two minimum wages, a starter, and a sustaining because how are young people ever going to get a job if you have such a high minimum wage that it makes it impractical to hire them... +p3858 +aVJake, Jake... +p3859 +aVI haven't had an opportunity to weigh in on foreign policy, and I just want to mention that when the war, when the issue occurred in 2003, I suggested to President Bush that he not go to war? OK. So I just want that on the record. And, you know, a lot of people are very much against us getting involved right now with global jihadism. And they refer back to our invasion of Iraq. And they seem to think that that was what caused it. What caused it was withdrawing from there and creating a vacuum which allowed this terrible situation to occur. But it is very different from what is going on today. We're talking about global jihadists who actually want to destroy us. They are an existential threat to our nation. And we have to be mature enough to recognize that our children will have no future if we put our heads in the sand. We have to recognize we have two choices. We either allow them the continue to progress and appear to be the winners, or we use every resource available to us to destroy... +p3860 +aV... them first. +p3861 +aVWell, recognize that, you know, President George W. Bush is a great friend of ours, and we spent many wonderful days at the White House. I haven't been there in the last seven years. I probably have to have a food-tester. But at any rate, I didn't suggest that nothing be done. What I suggested to President Bush is to be Kennedy-esque, in the sense that when the Russians got ahead of us in the space race, what we did is use the bully pulpit to galvanize everybody, business, industry, academia behind a national goal to put a man on the moon and bring him back safely. I said, you can do the same kind of thing. Declare that within five to 10 years we will become petroleum independent. The moderate Arab states would have been so concerned about that, they would have turned over Osama bin Laden and anybody else you wanted on a silver platter within two weeks. There are smart ways to do things and there are muscular ways to do things. And sometimes you have to look at both of those to come up with the right solution. +p3862 +aVI have no argument with having a strong leader, and to be aggressive where aggression is needed. But it is not needed in every circumstance. There is a time when you can use your intellect to come up with other ways to do things. And I think that's what we have to start thinking about. There is no question that a lot of these problems that we have been talking about in terms of the international situation is because we are weak. It is because our Navy is so small. It is because our Air Force is incapable of doing the same things that it did a few years ago. It's because our Marines Corps is not ready to be deployed. +p3863 +aVThere are a lot of problems that are going on, and we need to solve those problems, we need to build up our military... +p3864 +aVWell, let me put it this way, there has \u2014 there have been numerous studies, and they have not demonstrated that there is any correlation between vaccinations and autism. This was something that was spread widely 15 or 20 years ago, and it has not been adequately, you know, revealed to the public what's actually going on. Vaccines are very important. Certain ones. The ones that would prevent death or crippling. There are others, there are a multitude of vaccines which probably don't fit in that category, and there should be some discretion in those cases. But, you know, a lot of this is \u2014 is \u2014 is pushed by big government. And I think that's one of the things that people so vehemently want to get rid of, big government. You know, we have 4.1 million federal employees. Six hundred and fifty federal agencies and department (sic). That's why they have to take so much of our taxes. +p3865 +aVWell, you know, I've just explained it to him. He can read about it if he wants to. I think he's an intelligent man and will make the correct decision after getting the real facts. +p3866 +aVHe's an OK doctor. But, you know, the fact of the matter is, we have extremely well-documented proof that there's no autism associated with vaccinations. But it is true that we are probably giving way too many in too short a period of time. And a lot of pediatricians now recognize that, and, I think, are cutting down on the number and the proximity in which those are done, and I think that's appropriate. +p3867 +aVI'd put my mother on there. You know, she was one of 24 children, got married at age 13, had only a third grade education, had to raise two sons by herself, refused to be a victim. Wouldn't let us be victims, and has been an inspiration to many people. +p3868 +aVOne Nation. +p3869 +aVWell, you know, I was a radical Democrat before I started listening to Ronald Reagan. And he didn't sound like what they said Republicans were. He sounded logical. And I hope that I sound logical also. Because when I look at what is going on with the United States of America, I see a lot of things that are not logical. I see us allowing people to divide us, when in fact our strength is in our unity. I see people exercising the most irresponsible fiscal habits that anyone could possibly do. And hiding it from the American people, so that the majority of people have no idea what our financial situation is. So, when someone comes along and says, free college, free phones, free this and that, and the other, they say, "wow, that's nice," having no idea that they're destabilizing our position. And I think also that Ronald Reagan was a master at understanding that a pinnacle nation has to be a nation that leads. If we learn to lead in the Middle East right now, a coalition will form behind us, but never they do it if we just sit there and talk about it. Real leadership is what I would hopefully bring to America. +p3870 +aVWell, I could take issue with -- with all of those things, but we don't have time. But I will say, we have a debate here tonight, and we will have an opportunity to explore those areas, and I'm looking very much forward to demonstrating that, in fact, the thing that is probably most important is having a brain, and to be able to figure things out and learn things very rapidly. So, you know, experience comes from a large number of different arenas, and America became a great nation early on not because it was flooded with politicians, but because it was flooded with people who understood the value of personal responsibility, hard work, creativity, innovation, and that's what will get us on the right track now, as well. +p3871 +aVWell, thank you, Megyn, I wasn't sure I was going to get to talk again. +p3872 +aVAlright. You know, what we do in order to get the information that we need is our business, and I wouldn't necessarily be broadcasting what we're going to do. We. . .uh. . .we've gotten into this -- this mindset of fighting politically correct wars. There is no such thing as a politically correct war. And, the left, of course, will say Carson doesn't believe in the Geneva Convention. Carson doesn't believe in fighting stupid wars. And -- and what we have to remember is we want to utilize the tremendous intellect that we have in the military to win wars. And I've talked to a lot of the generals, a lot of our advanced people. And believe me, if we gave them the mission, which is what the commander-in-chief does, they would be able to carry it out. And if we don't tie their hands behind their back, they will do it......extremely effectively. +p3873 +aVWhat I agree with is that we need a significantly changed taxation system. And the one that I've advocated is based on tithing, because I think God is a pretty fair guy. And he said, you know, if you give me a tithe, it doesn't matter how much you made. If you've had a bumper crop, you don't owe me triple tithes. And if you've had no crops at all, you don't owe me no tithes. So there must be something inherently fair about that. And that's why I've advocated a proportional tax system. You make $10 billion, you pay a billion. You make $10, you pay one. And everybody gets treated the same way. And you get rid of the deductions, you get rid of all the loopholes, and... +p3874 +aVAnd I have a lot more to say about it. +p3875 +aVIf Hillary is the candidate, which I doubt, that would be a dream come true. But you know, the fact of the matter is, she is the epitome of the progressive -- the secular progressive movement. And she counts on the fact that people are uninformed, the Alinsky Model, taking advantage of useful idiots. Well, I just happen to believe that people are not stupid. And the way I will come at it is to educate people, help people to actually understand that it is that progressive movement that is causing them the problems. You know, you look at the -- the national debt and how it's being driven up. If I was trying to destroy this country, what I would do is find a way to drive wedges between all the people, drive the debt to an unsustainable level, and then step off the stage as a world leader and let our enemies increase while we decreased our capacity as a military person. And that's what she's doing. +p3876 +aVWell, what we have to stop and think about is that we have weakened ourselves militarily to such an extent that if affects all of our military policies. Our Navy is at its smallest size since 1917; our Air Force, since 1940. In recent testimony, the commandant of the Marine Corps said half of the non-deployed units were not ready and you know, the sequester is cutting the heart out of our personnel. Our generals are retiring because they don't want to be part of this, and at the same time, our enemies are increasing. Our -- our friends can't trust us anymore. You know, Ukraine was a nuclear-armed state. They gave away their nuclear arms with the understanding that we would protect them. We won't even give them offensive weapons. You know, we turned our back on Israel, our ally. You know, in a situation like that, of course Obama's not going to be able to do anything. I would shore up our military first, because if you don't get the military right, nothing else is going to work. +p3877 +aVWell, I think the bully pulpit is a wonderful place to start healing that divide. You know, we have the purveyors of hatred who take every single incident between people of two races and try to make a race war out of it, and drive wedges into people. And this does not need to be done. What we need to think about instead -- you know, I was asked by an NPR reporter once, why don't I talk about race that often. I said it's because I'm a neurosurgeon. And she thought that was a strange response. And you say -- I said, you see, when I take someone to the operating room, I'm actually operating on the thing that makes them who they are. The skin doesn't make them who they are. The hair doesn't make them who they are. And it's time for us to move beyond that. Because......our strength as a nation comes in our unity. We are the United States of America, not the divided states. And those who want to destroy us are trying to divide us, and we shouldn't let them do it. +p3878 +aVWell, I haven't said anything about me being the only one to do anything, so let me try that. I'm the only one to separate Siamese twins... The -- the only one to operate on babies while they were still in mother's womb, the only one to take out half of a brain, although you would think, if you go to Washington, that someone had beat me to it. But I -- but I'm very hopeful that I'm not the only one who's willing to pick up the baton of freedom, because freedom is not free, and we must fight for it every day. Every one of us must fight for it, because we're fighting for our children and the next generation. +p3879 +asVQUINTANILLA +p3880 +(lp3881 +VGood evening, I'm Carl Quintanilla, with my colleagues Becky Quick and John Harwood. We'll be joined tonight by some of +p3882 +aVGovernor? +p3883 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p3884 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Bush. +p3885 +aVSenator Rubio. +p3886 +aVMr. Trump? +p3887 +aVDr. Carson? +p3888 +aVMrs. Fiorina? +p3889 +aVFixed it. +p3890 +aVSenator Cruz? +p3891 +aVGovernor Christie? +p3892 +aVSenator Paul? +p3893 +aVThanks to all the candidates. John? +p3894 +aVHold it. We'll cut it back to you in just a minute. Becky's moving on. +p3895 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor. thank you, Governor. +p3896 +aVMr. Trump, 30 seconds. +p3897 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3898 +aVWe're going to try to move on. +p3899 +aVYou want to bring 70,000 pages to three? +p3900 +aVIs that using really small type? +p3901 +aVIs that using really small type? +p3902 +aVMrs. Fiorina \u2014 +p3903 +aVWe're going to \u2014 +p3904 +aVWe will come around the bend, i promise. This one is for Senator Rubio. You've been a young man in a hurry ever since you won your first election in your 20s. You've had a big accomplishment in the Senate, an immigration bill providing a path to citizenship the conservatives in your party hate, and even you don't support anymore. Now, you're skipping more votes than any senator to run for president. Why not slow down, get a few more things done first or least finish what you start? +p3905 +aVSo when the Sun-Sentinel says Rubio should resign, not rip us off, when they say Floridians sent you to Washington to do a job, when they say you act like you hate your job, do you? +p3906 +aVWell, do you hate your job? +p3907 +aVIs that the standard? +p3908 +aVSenator, thank you. John. +p3909 +aVThank you, Senator. +p3910 +aVSenator Cruz. Congressional Republicans, Democrats and the White House are about to strike a compromise that would raise the debt limit, prevent a government shutdown and calm financial markets that fear of \u2014 another Washington-created crisis is on the way. Does your opposition to it show that you're not the kind of problem-solver American voters want? +p3911 +aV do we get credit ? +p3912 +aVSo, this is a question about , which you have 30 seconds left to answer, should you choose to do so. +p3913 +aVOK. I asked you about the debt limit and I got no answer. +p3914 +aVWe promised we would get to everyone this block. Governor Huckabee, I'm going to give you 60 seconds on this. +p3915 +aV...Governor... +p3916 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p3917 +aV...Senator Cruz... +p3918 +aVOK, alright. +p3919 +aVSenator Cruz... +p3920 +aV...Before we go to break, we're clearly not having that beer you mentioned, but I'll give you 30 more seconds... +p3921 +aVOK. +p3922 +aVI'll give you 30 seconds to respond... +p3923 +aVRespond on the debt limit, or an answer to the governor, which ever you choose. +p3924 +aV30 seconds, Governor Huckabee. +p3925 +aVGovernor, thank you. We will take a break. The Republican Presidential debate, live from Boulder, Colorado, coming back after a break on +p3926 +aVMrs. Fiorina, in 2010, while running for Senate in Tech Ridge (ph), California, you called an Internet sales tax a bad idea. Traditional brick and mortar stores obviously disagree. Now that the Internet shopping playing field has matured, what would be a fair plan to even that playing field? +p3927 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p3928 +aVOK. +p3929 +aVThank you very much. +p3930 +aVDr. Carson, we know you as a physician, but we wanted to ask you about your involvement on some corporate boards, including Costco's. Last year, a marketing study called the warehouse retailer the number one gay-friendly brand in America, partly because of its domestic partner benefits. Why would you serve on a company whose policies seem to run counter to your views on homosexuality? +p3931 +aVOne more question. This is a company called Mannatech, a maker of nutritional supplements, with which you had a 10-year relationship. They offered claims that they could cure autism, cancer, they paid $7 million to settle a deceptive marketing lawsuit in Texas, and yet you're involvement continued. Why? +p3932 +aVTo be fair, you were on the homepage of their website with the logo over your shoulder \u2014 +p3933 +aVDoes that not speak to your vetting process or judgment in any way. +p3934 +aVApparently. We will take a break. We'll be back in Boulder in just a minute. +p3935 +aV...We'll come back around. I want to get to governor Kasich. +p3936 +aVGovernor Kasich, let's talk ... +p3937 +aV...about Marijuana, Governor Kasich... +p3938 +aVAlright, but 30 seconds, you made a case. Sure, 30 seconds. +p3939 +aVSenator, thank you. +p3940 +aVOh, no, no, no... +p3941 +aV...Ok... +p3942 +aV...We're going to go to... +p3943 +aVOK. Thank you, Senator. Governor Kasich, let's talk about marijuana. We're broadcasting from Colorado which has seen $150 million in new revenue for the state since legalizing last year. Governor Hickenlooper is not a big fan of legalization, but he's said the people who used to be smoking it are still smoking it, they're just now paying taxes. Given the budget pressures in Ohio, and other states, is this a revenue stream you'd like to have? +p3944 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3945 +aVThank you. We'll be back from Boulder, Colorado in just a moment. +p3946 +aVMr. Trump, you've said you have a special permit to carry a gun in New York. +p3947 +aVAfter the Oregon mass shooting on October 1st, you said, "By the way, it was a gun-free zone. If you had a couple of teachers with guns, you would have been a hell of a lot better off." +p3948 +aVWould you feel more comfortable if your employees brought guns to work? +p3949 +aVAre you carrying one now? +p3950 +aVWe called a few Trump resorts, a few Trump properties that \u2014 that do not allow guns with or without a permit. Would you change those policies? +p3951 +aVOK. All right. Thank you. John? +p3952 +aVGovernor Bush, daily fantasy sports has become a phenomenon in this country, will award billions of dollars in prize money this year. But to play you have to assess your odds, put money at risk, wait for an outcome that's out of your control. Isn't that the definition of gambling, and should the Federal Government treat it as such? +p3953 +aVI had a feeling you were going to brag about that. +p3954 +aVThis is the\u2014 well, we're going to take a break. We want to save time for closing statements after the break. So this is the Republican presidential debate in Boulder, and we'll be right back. +p3955 +aVSenator Rubio... +p3956 +aV...yeah, I just wanted . +p3957 +aVI want to give you 30 seconds here. +p3958 +aVThat concludes tonight's debate. On behalf of my colleagues Becky Quick, John Harwood, Sharon Epperson, Rick Santelli and Jim Cramer, we'd like to our host, the University of Colorado at Boulder, the Republican National Committee, the candidates and, of course, tonight's audience. +p3959 +aV...Question, in the meantime, for Senator Santorum. You have advocated a flat tax, so we'd like to ask you about fairness. Why is it fair to tax all Americans at the same rate, as opposed to taxing more affluent Americans at higher rates? +p3960 +aVSenator, thank you. John \u2014 Becky? +p3961 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live in boulder, Colorado, on cNBC. We resume our questions now with Jim Cramer, the host of +p3962 +aVSenator Graham. You have said you believe that climate change is real. You've said you accept tax increases as part of a budget deal with Democrats. You've co-sponsored a Senate immigration bill providing a path to citizenship for those in the country illegally. Are you in the wrong party's debate? +p3963 +aVMy question for Governor Jindal, Paul Ryan says he would take the speaker job if it did not take away from his family time. The Department of Labor says 13 percent of American workers are eligible for paid family leave and the U.S. is the only developed nation in the world not to have guaranteed paid maternity leave for new moms. Should the government work to change that? +p3964 +aVGovernor, thank you. John? +p3965 +ag3080 +aVWelcome back to the University of Colorado, and the Republican Presidential Debate on +p3966 +aVWell, let's get to that. I mean, another example, for example, is Walgreens. +p3967 +aVI'm sure you do. Walgreens/Rite Aid. Big deal, consolidation in drug stores, semiconductors, food. What is the line at which something becomes anti-competitive in your view? +p3968 +aVSenator. +p3969 +aVThank you. Becky. +p3970 +aVQuestion for Senator Santorum. +p3971 +aVAfter this question maybe. The 2015 Nobel Prize winner for economics argues that slow growth causes poverty, and that leads to inequality. What would you do to ease inequality? And what would you do solve poverty? By the way, thanks to Larry Kudlow, +p3972 +aVGovernor Jindal, I'll give you 30 seconds on this. +p3973 +aVWe've got one more. One more lightning round. Governor Jindal, should the day after the Super Bowl be a national holiday? +p3974 +aVSenator? +p3975 +aVGovernor? +p3976 +aVFinally, Senator? +p3977 +aVThat concludes our first part of the evening. +p3978 +asVGILMORE +p3979 +(lp3980 +VWell, Bill, can I first... +p3981 +aVWell, first of all, Bill, let me say one thing, I have been in Iowa. But this is not the place where I'm choosing to begin my campaign. I am beginning my campaign in New Hampshire and I decided to do that based upon the process that is in place in Iowa and the primary that's in place in New Hampshire. But never mind that, I want to return to something. I'm the only veteran, Bill and Martha in this race. And I'm not going to any Donald Trump event over across town on some sort of faux veteran sort of issue. I'm going to speak to you tonight about the issue that really confronts veterans. I'm going to talk to you about the concerns that they have got with the veterans administration. The lousy appeals process that they have got. The fact that sometimes they get good service at the V.A. and sometimes they don't and the fact that post traumatic stress syndrome is not properly recognized. That psychology positions are unavailable in the Veterans Administration. And I will say this to you -- as the only veteran in -- in this race, when I become president of the United States, the veterans are going to be treated with respect and competently in success in the Veterans' Administration in this country. +p3982 +aVFirst of all, Bill, I think that Gitmo ought to remain open. But I also want to point out to you that what you are saying is the exact right topic to all of these other candidates. And that's this international challenge that we are facing, the international war that America is in, even to this day. And I'm the candidate who is best qualified to deal with this issue. A degree in foreign policy in Russian area studies. I'm the only United States Army veteran having gone to Europe during the Cold War as United States Army Intelligence agent, the governor during the 9/11 attack, the chairman of the National Commission on Homeland Security for the United States for five years. And this is what I will do. If I become the president, I'm going to rebuild the United States military. We're going to take the sequester off the defense budget. Give the Navy the ships it needs. Refit the United States Army. Refit the United States Marine Corps. And on this international guerrilla war, we need to recognize our Special Forces, our intelligence community, and the people that we need in order to really protect us. And finally, this war of ideas, we must win this. We must say to the world that radical Islamism is the threat. It isn't just confined to +p3983 +aVHey, did you miss me? Did you skip me? +p3984 +aVI'm going to have something to say about this, but you just keep going. +p3985 +aVYes, I'll be there. +p3986 +aVYou know, Martha, it may be out of the barn in that the Iranians may be moving towards a nuclear program, because this nuclear deal actually gives them a time frame up the road when they are going to be able to do that kind of program. And that's very dangerous because it means people in the Middle East have to begin to react to that right now. The United States, I think, has to continue to exercise its influence in the Middle East, stay active, and not do this pull-back type of program that we are seeing all over the place with President Obama, which is creating this kind of danger. The world is a more dangerous place now than when I was an intelligence agent. We have not only this international guerrilla war but also these challenges from these other countries as well. But, Martha, I want to say one more thing to you and Bill. I disagree with Carly Fiorina when she says that it's just a political class in Washington. The truth is that the country has changed. And there are powerful forces at this point that are really controlling our lives. And that's why people are so angry. One of those is government, which is regulating everything through the Environmental Protection Agency, through other places. But the biggest one is the organized establishment media. And I just noticed just now you gave Carly Fiorina two one-minute answers in a row. This media across the country is manipulating and shaping and framing this campaign and has been for at least a year now in order to get the kind of choices that people are going to have an opportunity to see. This is wrong. It has to change. And when I'm president, it's going to change. +p3987 +aVI'll take it. +p3988 +aVMartha, I just visited a community mental health clinic in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, just three days ago, as a matter of fact. And when I was governor of Virginia, I tried to move more of those resources into the community, which will give us the facilities and the abilities to begin to identify people who actually might be dangerous and who abuse Second Amendment rights. But I do believe this is one of the really principle issues in this campaign. The president and Hillary Clinton are working very hard to change the culture of this country in order to put us in a position where we can't exercise Second Amendment rights. That's wrong. I am a board member of the National Rifle Association. The reason I'm a board member is because I believe that individuals in this country can be trusted to exercise their rights under the Second Amendment and under the Bill of Rights. To take away people's Second Amendment rights is to redefine the individual in the society, and I'm not going to put up with it. As President of the United States, when Jim Gilmore's President of the United States, I can tell you this. Gun control is not going to be an issue. If gun control... ... comes to the President's desk when I'm president, I'll veto it as fast as it takes Hillary Clinton to eliminate her emails. +p3989 +aVYou know Bill, that raises, I think, the question of the future of the Republican party. The question is -- first of all, I stand second to no one in standing up to radical Islamism. I understand that +p3990 +aVWell, thank you very much, Bill. And, thank you, and Fox and Google for including me in this debate tonight. I think it's been a wonderful opportunity. I'm the son of a meat cutter. My father worked for Safeway stores for 45 years. My mother was a secretary, she ended her career as the Secretary for the Methodist Bishop. I didn't have a father that could give me a million dollar loan to start my business. But, my father did talk character, and he provided for his family, and he was a wonderful example. And, I'm not about to go across town tonight to carry the coat for some billionaire. Instead, I intend to run for President of the United States, speak to the issue of this international war, and challenge that we're in. This issue of veterans rights, and the issue of Second Amendment rights, and I ask for your support... +p3991 +aVI think the times are different now. I think the times are much more serious. Because Obama and Clinton policies, the United States is moving further and further into a decline. I want to reverse that decline. That's why I've entered this race, and I think I have the experience to do it. Former elected prosecutor, attorney general, governor, I was elected to all of those offices. A person who, in fact, has a long experience in foreign-policy issues, which is different from many of the other governors and prospective governors who are running. I was an Army intelligence agent and a veteran during the Cold War, assigned to West Germany. I was the chairman of the National Commission on Homeland Security and Terrorism for the United States for five years. I was a person who has dealt extensively with these homeland security issues. I was a governor during the 9/11 attack. I understand both of these issues, how to build the economy and doing that as a governor who'd built jobs, had cut taxes and also a governor who understands foreign-policy, and that's why I entered this race. +p3992 +aVWell, yes, indeed. I chaired the National Commission on Homeland Security Committee for United States. We warned about the 9/11 attack before the 9/11 attack occurred. I was the governor during the 9/11 attack when the Pentagon was struck. And I'm going to tell you this, we need to use the benefit of our law enforcement people across this country, combined with our intelligence people across this country. We need to use our technological advantages, because what we've warned of is an international guerrilla movement that threatens this country. It's going to happen in this country, there are going to be further attacks. We have to be prepared to defend the American people, prepare them for a long war, stand up for the defense of this country, and stand up for the values of this country... +p3993 +aVI'll tell them that we're going to grow the economy so that we can give people better opportunities so they don't have to rely exclusively on benefit types of programs. Some do, but many Americans are dying to have an opportunity to grow and to create something inside this economy. And I'm glad that I have a chance to answer this question. I've had the growth code (ph) there for about five years, and it's this specific program. We're going to do a tax cut for all Americans. We're going to have a three-bracket tax code, 10, 15 and 25 percent. We're going to combine all commercial activity in business into one place in the tax code and charge it 15 percent, which is going to suddenly make us competitive with the rest of the world. And we're going to eliminate the death tax. With a couple of additional tweaks, we know what this will do. It will cause the economy to grow, to explode, to create more jobs. And first of all, we've got to recognize that there is problem that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have caused. And that problem is too big regulations like the EPA, too much new taxes on business that we have seen and "Obamacare." These are drags on the economy, it's a deliberate drag. I propose to reverse that and get this economy moving again. +p3994 +aVWell, as you know, I'm a former elected prosecutor, a former elected attorney general, trained at the University of Virginia in constitutional law, and I don't believe in litmus tests except this. I believe we should be appointing Supreme Court justices who will follow the law and not try to make the law. Now, the challenge we're seeing today is that the Supreme Court is being converted into some type of political body. They have to have some legal basis and precedence for being able to follow the law instead of making the law up, and my goal is -- in appointing Supreme Court justices, would be to point -- to appoint justices who would follow the law. Bill, I want to say one more thing about... +p3995 +aVNot -- not on that, no. But let me say one more thing. I want to -- before my time runs out I want to get back to this issue of +p3996 +aVWell, it's not a matter of what the first executive order would be, Bill. The matter is what orders exist now that shouldn't exist? The president has done an executive order with respect to illegal immigration that is illegal. Illegal. And it creates a -- a contempt for the law, for the rule of law. If i were the president of the United States, I would go and look at every executive order that exists right now and determine which ones want to be voided, because the president shouldn't be legislating: not through that vehicle or any other. We should be relying upon the leadership of the Congress to pass the laws. +p3997 +aVProfessional politician that can't be trusted. +p3998 +aVWell, I was a conservative governor of Virginia, I governed that way, and that's my track record. But the key thing that we're seeing now is serious challenges to this country that must change, the direction of this nation must change. And that's why I've offered a specific program to the people of America tonight to address the fundamental problem of getting our country growing again, getting our economy growing, wages up, opportunities for people. And second, the international crisis we are facing is most dreadful and most dangerous. I have the experience as a prosecutor, attorney general, governor, United States Army intelligence veteran, governor during the 9/11 attack, chairman of the Terrorism Commission for this country. It's time for real substance and real experience. And that's what I'll offer to the people of the United States in this candidacy for the presidency. Mac +p3999 +asVSANTELLI +p4000 +(lp4001 +VSenator Cruz, let's focus on our central bank, the Federal Reserve. You've been a fierce critic of the Fed, arguing for more transparency. Where do you want to take that? Do you want to get Congress involved in monetary policy, or is it time to slap the Fed back and downsize them completely? What are your thoughts? What do you believe? +p4002 +aVSenator Paul, the same question to you. +p4003 +aVThank you, Senator. Dr. Carson, you told The Des Moines Register that you don't like government subsidies, it interferes with the free market. But you've also said that you're in favor of taking oil subsidies and putting them towards ethanol processing. Isn't that just swapping one subsidy for another, Doctor? +p4004 +aVThank you, Doctor. Becky? +p4005 +aVThanks, John. Governor Pataki. +p4006 +aVHow are you doing tonight? +p4007 +aVListen, America's central bank, the Federal Reserve, they've kept interest rates near zero since the 2008 financial crisis. And, by the way, they had a meeting today, you think they raised rates? No. Shocking, isn't it? +p4008 +aVListen, it's been a rough ride for American savers and retirees, they really rely on this interest income. And it's been a bonanza for the stock market, a bonanza. And for investors that like the little bit more risk, it's been a bonanza for them as well. So I guess what I'm asking is, do you think this policy is fair and do you support it? +p4009 +aVThanks, Governor. Senator Santorum, in the 2012 presidential debate, you were for the export-import bank, which facilitates government funding for U.S. exports. American companies like GE and Boeing are among the beneficiaries. But you said that killing the bank here \u2014 and I'm going to quote you \u2014 "is the last thing a true conservative should be doing." I don't know, government-backed funding isn't normally what I hear from true conservatives. So why is this situation different? +p4010 +asVMACCALLUM +p4011 +(lp4012 +VSo it will come as no surprise that there is an idea out there that there is a civil war brewing within the GOP over the meaning of conservative and the question of who is electable. There are some in the GOP who are so outraged by Trump and Cruz that they say they would actually rather have Hillary Clinton in the White House. So, Carly Fiorina, I ask you this. Is your party in crisis? +p4013 +aVGovernor Huckabee, word is that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is considering getting into this race. If he does, that would make four New Yorkers, including Sanders, Clinton, and Trump. One candidate in this race has criticized so-called "New York values". So tell me, in your opinion, are New York values different than Iowa values? +p4014 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum, according to Google, the Paris terror attacks were the largest story that was searched in 2015, with nearly 1 billion searches of that story worldwide. There have been at 18 terror attacks so far this year -- in just January alone, in 2016, and it will likely, as we all know, get worse. But what can an American president do to stop these terrifying killings? +p4015 +aVThank you, Senator. +p4016 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you have said when it comes to +p4017 +aVThank you. +p4018 +aVComing up, we're going to have more on the top issues in this campaign, and you can engage in tonight's conversation right from home. Go to google.com, search "FOX News debate." You can vote on which candidate you think is winning so far in tonight's debate. And you can check results after the debate is over. We are back in a moment live from the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. +p4019 +aVAlright, Governor Huckabee, government grows and grows. In fact, neighborhoods in and around the Beltway get richer and richer all the time while our manufacturing towns are disappearing. Still Republicans from Reagan to Bush have bowed to shrink the size of government, but it never works. Is this Presidency, and presidency, simply too small a David to slay the Goliath of government? +p4020 +aVAlright, Carly Fiorina, you've said that you can get the tax code down to three short simple pages. But, when lobbyists who have twisted the arms of members of Congress come sit with you in the Oval Office and say, "Madam President, sorry, I cannot be with you on this one," you may understand what previous presidents have gone through. No? +p4021 +aVSenator Santorum, Bernie Sanders asked a woman in Iowa what it's like to live in poverty. She broke down in tears, saying that she lives on less than $10,000 a year and that she is ashamed every day. She leans on her parents for help. She says she can't buy presents for her children. We are all sympathetic to this woman's plight. On the other hand, the G.O.P. is supposed to be the party of smaller government. So what would you look her in the eye and say? +p4022 +aVThank you, Senator. +p4023 +aVGovernor Gilmore, thanks to the Iranian nuclear deal, President Rouhani is currently on a tour of Europe meeting with our closest allies in France and Italy. In fact, he has already landed some 50 to 85 billion are the estimates in deals with those countries, with our allies. More on the way. You and others say that you would rip up that deal. But, really, by the time the next president is in office, won't that horse be well out of the barn? +p4024 +aVWe have another question for you, Governor Gilmore, back to back, here we go. According to Google... +p4025 +aVYou got it. According to Google, gun control is the most searched issue last month, making up nearly 80 percent of all the U.S. searches. People are looking for information on guns. When it comes to the tragic mass killings that we have seen in this country, Donald Trump says that what we need to do is build quote "more institutions for people who are sickos." Charles Krauthammer also says that in some cases involuntary commitment would help. And you have agreed with that. Given that institutions would be extraordinarily expensive to begin building, how much is too much to ask on this from the American taxpayer? +p4026 +aVThank you, Governor Gilmore. +p4027 +aVStill more to come from the Republican Presidential debate tonight. And, see how the campaigns are responding to the debate in realtime, go to Google.com and open your google search app. Type in, "Fox News Debate". We'll see you, just a moment -- back. +p4028 +aVWe are back live at the Iowa events center and this question goes to Carly Fiorina. In the last debate you said as part of your introduction, quote, " And unlike the other woman candidate in this case I actually love spending time with my husband." +p4029 +aVBut back in September in an interview you said that you would stick only to the record, your record versus Hillary Clinton's record. And never resort to personal attacks. So what changed? +p4030 +aVAll right. Carly, I want to stay with you on this next question as well. You waded into the Planned Parenthood early on. You took some heat for it. Now the people who shot that undercover video are the ones who got indicted and Planned Parenthood is untouched. Hillary Clinton has been crowing about this. Any regrets about this? +p4031 +aVThank you Carly Fiorina. Let me just ask a quick question here to Senator Santorum. Carly Fiorina was the only one of the GOP candidates to attend the March for Life in Washington last week. Where were you. +p4032 +aVAll right. Coming up, we will have the closing statements from our candidates tonight as we continue live from the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. We'll be right back. +p4033 +aVAlright, let's go now to Senator Rick Santorum. +p4034 +aV +p4035 +aVCarly Fiorina. +p4036 +aVThank you, Carly. +p4037 +aVIn one hour, seven more candidates take the stage for a debate hosted by Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly, and Chris Wallace. But, up next, the O'Reilly Factor. Good night everybody. +p4038 +as. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/downloads/data/script15.pickle b/downloads/data/script15.pickle new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c30ba6f --- /dev/null +++ b/downloads/data/script15.pickle @@ -0,0 +1,8585 @@ +(dp0 +VCRAMER +p1 +(lp2 +VDr. Carson, in recent weeks, a number of pharmaceutical companies has been accused of profiteering, for dramatically raising the prices of life-saving drugs. You have spent a lifetime in medicine. Have these companies gone too far? Should the government be involved in controlling some of these price increases? +p3 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Governor Christie, there has been a lot of political rhetoric that some bank executives should have gone to jail for the 2008 financial crisis. But General Motors paid more than $1 billion in fines and settlements for its ignition switch defect. One hundred and twenty- four people died as a result of these faulty switches. No one went to jail. As a former prosecutor, do you believe the people responsible for the switch and the cover-up belong behind bars? +p4 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. +p5 +aVThank you. Governor Pataki, in the wake of the Sony hack last year, you said, quote, "at the very least, we should declare cyber-war on North Korea." What does a cyber-war look like? And if our companies are getting attacked by foreign governments, do we need a military response? +p6 +aVSenator Graham, you're a hawk. Was that tough enough? +p7 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Santorum. We know that a troubling amount of air pollution on the west coast comes from China. Should we enact a pollution tax on products imported from China and give our manufacturers a level playing field? +p8 +aVThank you, Senator. John? +p9 +asVPERRY +p10 +(lp11 +VI will tell you one thing: I would whole lot rather had Carly Fiorina over there doing our negotiation than John Kerry. Maybe we would've gotten a deal where we didn't give everything away. But the issue for us is to have a Congress that stands up and says not only no, but hell no, to this money going to a regime that is going to use it for terror... +p12 +aVIt's good to be with you. +p13 +aVAfter those four years of looking back and being prepared, the preparation to be the most powerful individual in the world requires an extraordinary amount of work: not just having been the governor of the 12th largest economy in the world, which I might add, we added 1.5 million jobs during that period of time over that 2007 through 2014 period, a period when America was going through the most deep recession it had been through since the Great Depression. I think Americans want someone to have a track record of showing them how to get this country back on record, someone who will stand up and every day project that best days of America are in front of us. And I will assure you, as the governor of the state of Texas, and as those last four years have shown me, the preparation to be ready to stand on this stage and talk about those monetary policies, those domestic policies, and those foreign policies, Americans are going to see that I am ready to be that individual. +p14 +aVWell, when you look at the celebrity of Donald Trump, then I think that says a lot about it. One thing I like to remind people is, back in 2007, Rudy Giuliani was leading the polls for almost a year. I'll suggest a part of that was his celebrity. Fred Thompson was the other one, a man who had spent a lot of time on that screen. I've had my issues with Donald Trump. I talked about Donald Trump from the standpoint of being an individual who was using his celebrity rather than his conservatism. How can you run for the Republican nomination and be for single- payer health care? I mean, I ask that with all due respect. And nobody, nobody on either one of these stages has done more than I've done and the people of the State of Texas to deal with securing that border. We sent our Texas ranger recon teams. We sent our parks and wildlife wardens. I deployed the National Guard after I stood on the ramp in Dallas, Texas and looked the president of the United States in the eye and said, "Mr. President, if you won't secure the border, Texas will," and that's exactly what we did. We need a president that doesn't just talk a game, but a president that's got real results. Mac +p15 +aVBill, here's the interesting position on this. Americans are tired of hearing this debate -- want to go to, what are you going to do about illegal immigration? For 30 years this country has been baited with that. All the way back to when Ronald Reagan signed a piece of legislation that basically allowed for amnesty for over 4 million people, and the border is still not secure. The American people are never going to trust Washington, D.C., and for good reason. We hear all this discussion about well, I would do this, or I would do that, when the fact is, the border is still porous. Until we have a president of the United States that gets up every day and goes to the Oval Office with the intent purpose of securing that border, and there's not anybody on either one of these stages that has the experience of dealing with this as I have for over 14 years with that 1200-mile border. We have to put the personnel on that border in the right places; you have to put the strategic fencing in place; and you have to have aviation assets that fly all the way from Tijuana to El Paso to Brownsville, Texas -- 1,933 miles looking down 24/7, with the technology to be able to identify what individuals are doing, and ID when they are in obviously illegal activities or suspicious activities, and quick response teams come. At that particular point in time, then Americans will believe that Washington is up to a conversation to deal with the millions of people that are here illegally, but not until. If you elect me president of the United States, I will secure that southern border. +p16 +aVWe need to be on the side that keeps Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. That's the side we need to be on, and that's the side of the bulk of the -- of the Middle East. We need to have some coalitions in that part of the world to go after +p17 +aVIt'll be a pretty busy day, but that Iran negotiation is going to be torn up on day one. We're going to start the process of securing that border. I'm also going to take a bottle of White-Out with me to get started on all those executive orders that Mr. Obama has put his name to. +p18 +aVIt will be a long day. +p19 +aVWell, let's go with three. Good at email. +p20 +aVWell, this is going to be a show me, don't tell me election. I think America is just a few good decisions and a leadership change at the top away from the best years we've ever had. And I think that the record of the governor of the last 14 years of the 12th largest economy in the world is just the medicine America is looking for. 1.5 million jobs created during the worst economic time this country has had since the Great Depression while the rest of the country lost 400,000 jobs. We're talking about a state that moved graduation rates forward from 27th in the nation to second-highest. As a matter of fact, if you're Hispanic or African-American in Texas, you have the number one high school graduation rates in America. Americans are looking for somebody that's going to give them, and there is a place in this country over the last eight years in particular that talked about hope every day, and they didn't just talk about it, they delivered it. And that was the state of Texas. And if we can do that in Texas, that 12th largest economy in the world, we can do it in America. Our best days are in front of us. We can reform those entitlements, we can change that corporate tax code and lower it. We can put America back on track on a growth level and a growth rate that we've never seen in the history of this country. Manufacturing will flow back into this country. It just needs a corporate executive type at the top that's done it before. And I will suggest to you nobody's done it like Rick Perry has done it over the last eight years. And if you elect me president, we will bring incredible growth back to this country. And as someone who's worn the uniform of the country, that's how we build our military back up. +p21 +asVRADDATZ +p22 +(lp23 +VGood evening to you all. The rules for tonight are very basic and have been agreed to by all three campaigns in advance. Candidates can take up to a minute-and-a-half to respond directly to a question. For a rebuttal, for a follow-up, 45 seconds will be allowed. There are green, yellow, and red lights that each candidate will see to signal when time is running out and when they're supposed to be finished with their answers. +p24 +aVThank you, Secretary Clinton. Governor O'Malley? O' +p25 +aVSecretary Clinton, in the wake of the San Bernardino attack, you all emphasized gun control. But our latest poll shows that more Americans believe arming people, not stricter gun laws, is the best defense against terrorism. Are they wrong? +p26 +aVSecretary Clinton, can we stick to gun control? +p27 +aVAre they wrong? +p28 +aVSenator Sanders -- wait just a moment, please, Governor O'Malley. Senator Sanders, we've seen those long lines of people buying guns in record numbers after the Paris attacks. Would you discourage people from buying a gun? +p29 +aVThank you, Senator Sanders. I think we're going to go on... O' +p30 +aVGovernor, now -- and let me stay with gun control for a minute, then. You talk about assault weapons. Even if you were able to ban the purchase of assault weapons tomorrow, Americans already own an estimated 7 to 10 million semi-automatic rifles. Would you make it illegal to own those weapons, force people to turn them in? And if not, how would banning the sales really make a difference? O' +p31 +aVBut, again, I'm not talking about buying. Would you have them confiscated? The ones that are already here? O' +p32 +aVI want to move to another... O' +p33 +aVNo, no, not yet, Governor O'Malley. O' +p34 +aVNo, not yet, Governor O'Malley. O' +p35 +aVI'll come to you when we call on you. Thank you very much. O' +p36 +aVYou'll be happy. I'll let -- I'll let you talk then. Secretary Clinton, I want to talk about a new terrorist tool used in the Paris attacks, encryption. FBI Director James Comey says terrorists can hold secret communications which law enforcement cannot get to, even with a court order. You've talked a lot about bringing tech leaders and government officials together, but Apple CEO Tim Cook said removing encryption tools from our products altogether would only hurt law-abiding citizens who rely on us to protect their data. So would you force him to give law enforcement a key to encrypted technology by making it law? +p37 +aVAnd Governor O'Malley, where do you draw the line between national security and personal security? O' +p38 +aVThank you, Governor O'Malley. +p39 +aVSenator Sanders -- Senator Sanders, we're going to move on. We're going to move on. +p40 +aVWe're going to move on to the fight against +p41 +aVOK. Let's keep going. Thank you. +p42 +aVThank you. I do want to move to the fight against +p43 +aVFor the people of New Hampshire, the brutality of +p44 +aVBut why Al Qaida, why not +p45 +aVThe administration has tried that over and over again. If it doesn't work and this threat is so great, what's your plan B? +p46 +aVSecretary Clinton, you too have ruled out a large U.S. combat force, yet you support sending in special operations forces to Syria, and sending those 100 to 200 troops to Iraq to do exploitation kill raids. We've already lost one Delta Force member in a raid. It has looked very much to me like we're already in ground combat on frequent trips I've made there. So, are you fooling Americans when you say, we're not putting American combat troops back into Syria or Iraq? No. Not at all. I think that what we're facing with +p47 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want -- I want to follow up on that. You do support sending special operations forces there. You support what the president has done already. One of the lessons people draw from Vietnam and war since is that a little force can turn into a little more and a little more. President Obama certainly didn't expect to be sending 30,000 additional troops into Afghanistan the first year of his presidency. Are you prepared to run the risk of a bigger war to achieve your goals to destroy +p48 +aVGovernor O'Malley. You've emphasized the need for more human intelligence on the ground. What is it our intelligence community is not doing now that needs to be done? O' +p49 +aVThank you. +p50 +aVSecretary Clinton, I'd like to go back to that if I could. +p51 +aVBut isn't that a decision you should make now, whether... +p52 +aV... if you're advocating this? +p53 +aVAnd we're going to move on to health care. Secretary Clinton, the Department of Health and Human Services says more than 17 million Americans who are not insured now have health coverage because of Obamacare. But for Americans who already had health insurance the cost has gone up 27 percent in the last five years while deductibles are up 67 percent, health care costs are rising faster than many Americans can manage. What's broken in Obamacare that needs to be fixed right now? And what would you do to fix it? +p54 +aVBut you did say those were glitches. +p55 +aVJust glitches? +p56 +aVTwenty-seven percent in the last five years, deductibles up 67 percent? +p57 +aVSenator Sanders, I want you to respond to what she was saying, but you're instead calling for single-payer health care. +p58 +aVYou note people won't have to pay deductibles or premiums but they will have to pay new taxes. Can you tell us specifically how much people will be expected to pay? +p59 +aVSenator Sanders, you didn't really tell us specifically how much people will be expected to pay... +p60 +aVBut you can't tell us this specifically, even if you were... +p61 +aVOK. Let's go to talk about the high cost of college education and for that we turn to the executive director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics, right here at Saint Anselm college, Neil Levesque. Neil? +p62 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to circle back to something that your opponents here have brought up. Libya is falling apart. The country is a haven for +p63 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to go back. That -- government lacked institutions and experience. It had been a family business for 40 years. On the security side, we offered only a modest training effort and a very limited arms buy-back program. Let me ask you the question again. How much responsibility do you bear for the chaos that followed those elections? +p64 +aVBut were mistakes made? +p65 +aVSenator Sanders. +p66 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p67 +aVQuick Governor O'Malley. O' +p68 +aVThank you very much. Thank you. We're going to move on here. Governor O'Malley, thank you very much for that. And we're going to make a very sharp turn as we wrap things up here. Secretary Clinton, first ladies, as you well know, have used their position to work on important causes like literacy and drug abuse. But they also supervise the menus, the flowers, the holiday ornaments and White House decor. I know you think you know where I'm going here. You have said that Bill Clinton is a great host and loves giving tours but may opt out of picking flower arrangements if you're elected. Bill Clinton aside, is it time to change the role of a president's spouse? +p69 +aVGovernor O'Malley? Martha, thank you. I want to thank all of the people who have tuned in tonight. I want to thank the great people of New Hampshire, where despite all of the cynicism about big money and big banks taking over our politics, here in New Hampshire, the individual matters. You know, my wife Katie and I have four terrific kids, and like you, there's probably nothing we wouldn't do to give them a future that's safer, that's healthier, where they have more opportunity than our parents and grandparents gave to us. Tonight, what you listened to was a healthy exchange of ideas about how we'd do that, that which we have always proven, the capacity to do better than any nation in the world, to take actions that include more of our people more fully in the economic, social and political life of our country. When you listened to the Republican debate the other night, you heard a lot of anger and you had a lot of fear. Well, they can have their anger and they can have their fear, but anger and fear never built America. We build our country by adopting wage and labor policies, including comprehensive immigration reform with a pathway of citizenship for all. We do it by investing in our country, by investing in infrastructure, by investing in the skills and the talents of our people with debt-free college, and we can do it again. And we also create a better future for our kids when we square our shoulders to the great challenges of our times, whether it's terror trying to undermine our values or Republican presidential candidates trying to get us to surrender our freedoms and our values in the face of this threat. The other big challenge we have is climate change. The greatest business opportunity to come to the United States of America in 100 years. We need to embrace this. I have put forward a plan that does this, that moves us to 100 percent clean electric grid by 2050. Join this campaign for the future. New leadership is what our country needs to move us out of these divided and polarized times. Thank you. +p70 +asVANNOUNCER +p71 +(lp72 +VHello from MinuteEarth. Fossil fuels have long kept our cars moving and our light bulbs lit. But we know that burning these fuels releases heat-trapping gases that are warming the planet, causing seas to rise and contributing to extreme weather events, like South Carolina's devastating flooding last year. Fighting human-caused climate change means giving up our global addiction to fossil fuels and shifting the bulk of the world's energy supply to alternative sources. Some countries have acted decisively to make this transition. But here at home, we still get a whooping 82 percent of our energy from coal, oil, and natural gas. In the U.S., political gridlock, pressure from industry lobbyists and insufficient R&D have made an already tough battle against climate change even tougher. +p73 +aVABC News coverage of the New Hampshire Democratic debate will continue in a moment. ( +p74 +asVUNKNOWN +p75 +(lp76 +VIf you're not going to have my back, I'm going to have my back. +p77 +aVA couple things here. First of all... +p78 +aVWe have grown \u2014 we have grown... +p79 +aVTrue. It's true. +p80 +aV...let me follow up that... +p81 +aV +p82 +aVOh, great. +p83 +aV...In 2011, you told Forbes Magazine this: "I've used the laws of the country to my advantage." But at the same time, financial experts involved in those bankruptcies say that lenders to your companies lost billions of dollars. Question sir, with that record, why should we trust you to run the nation's business? +p84 +aVI do. +p85 +aVThank you. +p86 +aVSecretive and untrustworthy. +p87 +asVIFILL +p88 +(lp89 +VWe want to also extend our warm thanks to Milwaukee Public Radio and Milwaukee Public Television, as well as all of our friends at the PBS member stations across the country tuning in tonight. This is the sixth time the Democrats have met face to face. Each time, we learn more about them and the presidents they say they want to be. You know you're watching \u2014 whether you're a Democrat, a Republican, or neither \u2014 because you believe the outcome of the election is important to you. And we believe that, too. With that, let's welcome the candidates to the stage. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. +p90 +aVWelcome to you both. +p91 +aVWith Iowa and New Hampshire behind us, we are now broadening the conversation to America's heartland and beyond, including here in Wisconsin. Now let's turn to the candidates for their opening statements. The order was decided by coin toss. And, Senator Sanders, you go first. +p92 +aVThank you, Senator Sanders. Thank you, Senator Sanders. Secretary Clinton. +p93 +aVFinal thought, Senator. +p94 +aVI'd like to move along. I'd like to move along. Secretary Clinton, you might \u2014 you also have proposed fairly expansive ideas about government. You may remember this pledge from a State of the Union Address at which I believe you were present, in which these words were said: "The era of big government is over." You may remember that. When asked your feelings about the federal government this week, 61 percent of New Hampshire Democrats told exit pollsters that they are angry or at least dissatisfied. Given what you and Senator Sanders are proposing, an expanding government in almost every area of our lives, is it fair for Americans who fear government to fear you? +p95 +aVBut I haven't heard either of you put a price tag on your \u2014 you say... +p96 +aVSenator? +p97 +aVSenator, do you worry at all that you will be the instrument of thwarting history, as Senator Clinton keeps claiming, that she might be the first woman president? +p98 +aVThank you both. We turn now to the first of several questions from our partners at Facebook. They were selected from a curated group of people we've been following of undecided voters. The first comes from Claudia Looze, a 54-year-old woman who works as a program manager at a public affairs cable network in Madison, Wisconsin. And she writes: "Wisconsin is number one in African-American male incarceration, according to a University of Wisconsin study. They found that Wisconsin's incarceration rate for black men, which is at 13 percent, was nearly double the country's rate. What can we do across the nation to address this?" Senator Sanders. +p99 +aVLet me turn this on its head, because when we talk about race in this country, we always talk about African-Americans, people of color. I want to talk about white people, OK? +p100 +aVI know. So many people will be surprised to find out that we are sitting in one of the most racially polarized metropolitan areas in the country. By the middle of this century, the nation is going to be majority nonwhite. Our public schools are already there. If working-class, white Americans are about to be outnumbered, are already underemployed in many cases, and one study found they are dying sooner, don't they have a reason to be resentful, Senator \u2014 Secretary Clinton? +p101 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, I want you to respond to that, but I also want you to \u2014 am I wrong? Is it even right to be describing this as a matter of race? +p102 +aVIf you would allow me now to move on, we've been talking about children. I want to talk about seniors. That takes us to our second Facebook question from Farheen Hakeem, who writes, "My father" \u2014 she's a 40-year-old woman who works for a nonprofit here in Milwaukee. And she writes, "My father gets just $16 in food assistance per month as part of Medicaid's family community program in Milwaukee County for low-income seniors. How will you as president work to ensure low-income seniors get their basic needs met?" Start with you, Senator Sanders. +p103 +aVSenator Sanders, are you saying... +p104 +aVThere's a lot more to come in just a few minutes. Stay with us for more of the PBS NewsHour Democratic Debate. +p105 +aVHow about you, Senator Clinton \u2014 Secretary Clinton? +p106 +aVWe spent the first part of this debate talking about domestic insecurity. The second part, we want to talk about our foreign policy insecurities. And we want to start with a question for you, Secretary Clinton, about America's role in the world. Americans are becoming increasingly worried that attacks abroad are coming home, that they already are, in fact, here. According to exit polls from last week, from earlier this week, more than two-thirds of Democrats in New Hampshire are concerned about sending their children to fight in wars they can't win. They fret that the next attack is just around the corner and we are not ready. Are we? +p107 +aVSenator Sanders... +p108 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p109 +aVLet me move on. You have both mentioned the humanitarian tragedies which have been an outgrowth in part of what has happened in Syria and in Libya. More than a million refugees entered Europe in 2015. Another 76,000 just last month, that is about 2,000 arrivals every day. Nearly 400 people have been lost at sea so far this year, crossing the Mediterranean. And there are reports that 10,000 children are missing. If we are leaders in this world, where should the U.S. be on this? What should the United States be doing, Secretary Clinton? +p110 +aVSenator, if you would like respond to \u2014 you may respond to that but it is time for closing statements and you can use your time for closing statements to do that. +p111 +aVThank you. Thank you Senator Clinton. Thank you, Senator Sanders. We also want to thank our partners at Facebook and our hosts here at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. +p112 +aVI'm going to remain here in Milwaukee tomorrow evening for a special edition of Washington Week here on PBS. +p113 +asVWOODRUFF +p114 +(lp115 +VGood evening, and thank you. We are happy to welcome you to Milwaukee for this Democratic debate. We are especially pleased to thank our partners at Facebook, who have helped us set up a vibrant conversation among voters who are undecided. And tonight you're going to hear some of their questions for the candidates. And you can follow along at home on the PBS NewsHour page on Facebook. We also want to thank our hosts, the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, on whose campus we meet, here in the beautiful Helen Bader Concert Hall. +p116 +aVWelcome, Senator, great to see you. And former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Very good to be here with you. +p117 +aVNow, a word about format. There will be two short breaks, and the rules are simple: 90 seconds for each answer and 30 seconds for the other candidate to respond. +p118 +aVThank you both. Thank you both. And we'll be right back after a short break to begin questions. +p119 +aVAnd, welcome back to this PBS Newshour debate, Democratic debate, here in Milwaukee. Let's get right to the questions. Senator Sanders, to you first. Coming off the results in Iowa and New Hampshire, there are many voters who are taking a closer look at you, and your ideas, and they're asking how big a role do you foresee for the federal government? It's already spending 21% of the entire U.S. economy. How much larger would government be in the lives of Americans under a Sanders presidency? +p120 +aVBut, my question is how big would government be? Would there be any limit on the size of the role of government... +p121 +aVNext, we're going to... +p122 +aVVery brief, thank you. +p123 +aVSecretary Clinton, your campaign \u2014 you and your campaign have made a clear appeal to women voters. You have talked repeatedly about the fact, we know you would be, if elected, the first woman president. But in New Hampshire 55 percent of the women voters supported and voted for Senator Sanders. What are women missing about you? +p124 +aVAs you know, just quickly, as you know, your strong supporter, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, said the other day that there's a special place in Hell for women who don't support other women. Do you agree with what she said? +p125 +aVSenator Sanders, you're in the minority, but we still want to hear from you. +p126 +aVFinal comment. +p127 +aVSecretary Clinton, I was talking recently with a 23 year old black woman who voted for President Obama because she said she thought relations between the races would get better under his leadership, and his example. Hardly anyone believes that they have. Why do you think race relations would be better under a Clinton presidency? What would you do that the nation's first African American has not been able to? +p128 +aVSenator Sanders? +p129 +aVSo race relation was be better under a Sanders presidency than they've been? +p130 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders, one of the causes of anxiety for working class Americans is connected to immigrants. President Obama, as you know, has issued executive actions to permit some 5 million undocumented immigrants who are living now in the United States to come out of the shadows without fear of deportation to get work permits. Would you go further than that? And if so, how specifically would you do it? Should an undocumented family watching this debate tonight, say, in Nevada, rest easy, not fear of further deportations under a Sanders presidency? +p131 +aVI'd like... +p132 +aVWe're going to move on. Secretary Clinton, your campaign has recently ramped up criticism of Senator Sanders for attending Democratic Party fundraisers from which you say he benefited. But nearly half of your financial sector donations appear to come from just two wealthy financiers, George Soros and Donald Sussman, for a total of about $10 million. You have said that there's no quid pro quo involved. Is that also true of the donations that wealthy Republicans give to Republican candidates, contributors including the Koch Brothers? +p133 +aVI'm asking if Democratic donors are different than Republican donors. +p134 +aVWe have to go to a break. We... +p135 +aVAll right. Thank you both. It is time for a break. And when we come back, we're going to turn to some new topics, including how these candidates will keep America safe. +p136 +aVWelcome back to the Democratic presidential debate. Before we return to our questions, we have a follow-up question from our Facebook group. And it is to Senator Sanders. Senator, it comes from Bill Corfield. He is a 55-year-old musician from Troy, Ohio. And he asks: "Are there any areas of government you would like to reduce?" +p137 +aVJust a final word. +p138 +aVSenator, let me \u2014 let me move on to another country with which the U.S. has a complicated relationship, Senator Sanders, and that's Russia. On the one hand, we're aware that Russia is a country that the United States needs to cooperate with. Just tonight, Secretary of State John Kerry has announced what appears to be an agreement with the Russians to lead \u2014 that could lead toward a ceasefire in Syria, would be the first cessation of conflict in that country, in that civil war in five years, but it comes at a very high price, because not only have all \u2014 have we seen the deaths, the removal of so many people, millions of people, we now see the Russians in the last few weeks have bombed in a way that benefits President Assad, has not gone after +p139 +aVAnd we have a final question from our Facebook family. And it goes to Senator Sanders. It comes from Robert Andrews. He's a 40-year-old stay-at-home dad in Dover, Massachusetts. He says, "The world has seen many great leaders in the course of human history. Can you name two leaders \u2014 one American and one foreign \u2014 who would influence your foreign policy decisions? And why do you see them as \u2014 why are they influential?" +p140 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p141 +aVAnd we want to thank our audience, our quiet audience here in Helen Bader Concert Hall, and to all of you watching at home. Thank you all. Stay tuned for analysis of the debate and the overall race for the Democratic nomination. That's coming up next here on PBS stations and online atPBS.org/NewsHour. +p142 +aVAnd I'm going to be returning to Washington. I hope you'll join us for the PBS NewsHour tomorrow and every night. That's it from all of us here in Milwaukee. We thank you. +p143 +asVKELLY +p144 +(lp145 +VWelcome to the first debate night of the 2016 presidential campaign, live from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. I'm Megyn Kelly... ... along with my co-moderators, Brett Baier and Chris Wallace. Tonight... Nice. Tonight, thousands of people here in the Q, along with millions of voters at home will get their very first chance to see the candidates face off in a debate, answering the questions you want answered. +p146 +aVAs for the candidates who will be answering those questions? Here they are. Positioned on the stage by how they stand in the polls, in the center of the stage tonight, businessman Donald Trump. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. +p147 +aVGentlemen, our first round of questions is on the subject of electability in the general election, and we start tonight with you, Dr. Carson. You are a successful neurosurgeon, but you admit that you have had to study up on foreign policy, saying there's a lot to learn. Your critics say that your inexperience shows. You've suggested that the Baltic States are not a part of +p148 +aVMr. Trump, one of the things people love about you is you speak your mind and you don't use a politician's filter. However, that is not without its downsides, in particular, when it comes to women. You've called women you don't like "fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals." Your Twitter account... +p149 +aVNo, it wasn't. Your Twitter account... +p150 +aVFor the record, it was well beyond Rosie O'Donnell. +p151 +aVYour Twitter account has several disparaging comments about women's looks. You once told a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice it would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees. Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president, and how will you answer the charge from Hillary Clinton, who was likely to be the Democratic nominee, that you are part of the war on women? +p152 +aVGovernor Walker, you've consistently said that you want to make abortion illegal even in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother. You recently signed an abortion law in Wisconsin that does have an exception for the mother's life, but you're on the record as having objected to it. Would you really let a mother die rather than have an abortion, and with 83 percent of the American public in favor of a life exception, are you too out of the mainstream on this issue to win the general election? +p153 +aVGovernor Kasich, You chose to expand Medicaid in your state, unlike several other governors on this stage tonight, and it is already over budget by some estimates costing taxpayers an additional $1.4 billion in just the first 18 months. You defended your Medicaid expansion by invoking God, saying to skeptics that when they arrive in heaven, Saint Peter isn't going to ask them how small they've kept government, but what they have done for the poor. Why should Republican voters, who generally want to shrink government, believe that you won't use your Saint Peter rationale to expand every government program? +p154 +aVAlright, gentlemen, we're gonna switch topics now and talk a bit about terror and national security. Governor Christie. You've said that Senator Paul's opposition to the NSA's collection of phone records has made the United States weaker and more vulnerable, even going so far as to say that he should be called before Congress to answer for it if we should be hit by another terrorist attack. Do you really believe you can assign blame to Senator Paul just for opposing the bulk collection of people's phone records in the event of a terrorist attack? +p155 +aVGo ahead, sir. +p156 +aVGovernor Christie, make your point. +p157 +aVGo ahead, governor. +p158 +aVAlright. +p159 +aVAlright, we've gotta cut it off there. We have plenty more we want to get to. That was an interesting exchange, thank you for that. +p160 +aVWell, I want to move on, because I have -- we're gonna get to you, governor, but I -- I really wanna get to a Facebook questioner. His name is Alex Chalgren, and he has the following question: +p161 +aVSenator Cruz, I wanna talk to you about this, because many of the Facebook users and -- and -- the -- the folks on Facebook wanted the candidates to speak to +p162 +aVYou don't see it as... ...an ideological problem -- an ideological problem in addition to a military one? +p163 +aVGovernor Bush, for days on end in this campaign, you struggled to answer a question about whether knowing what we know now... +p164 +aV...we would've invaded Iraq... +p165 +aVI remember it too, and +p166 +aVGovernor Walker, in February you said that we needed to gain partners in the Arab world. Which Arab country not already in the U.S. led coalition has potential to be our greatest partner? +p167 +aVDr. Carson, in one of his first acts as commander in chief, President Obama signed an executive order banning enhanced interrogation techniques in fighting terror. As president, would you bring back water boarding? +p168 +aVWe have a lot for you, don't worry. Fear not, you may rue that request. +p169 +aVIt's just before 10:00 p.m. on the East Coast. Welcome back to Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, and the very first Republican primary debate of the 2016 presidential campaign. Ten candidates on the stage, selected based on their standing in five national polls. And tonight they are facing off, answering the questions you want asked. We hope. +p170 +aV Sounds like somebody's a little R-rated. +p171 +aVWell, the first debate night of the 2016 presidential campaign continues from Cleveland after a short time-out. Stick around. Social issues, next. +p172 +aVSenator Rubio, you favor a rape and incest exception to abortion bans. Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York just said yesterday those exceptions are preposterous. He said they discriminate against an entire class of human beings. If you believe that life begins at conception, as you say you do, how do you justify ending a life just because it begins violently, through no fault of the baby? +p173 +aVYou don't favor a rape and incest exception? +p174 +aVMr. Trump, in 1999, you said you were, quote, "very pro- choice." Even supporting partial-birth abortion. You favored an assault weapons ban as well. In 2004, you said in most cases you identified as a Democrat. Even in this campaign, your critics say you often sound more like a Democrat than a Republican, calling several of your opponents on the stage things like clowns and puppets. When did you actually become a Republican? +p175 +aVGovernor Bush, I want to ask you, on the subject of name calling of your fellow candidates, a story appeared today quoting an anonymous GOP donor who said you called Mr. Trump a clown, a buffoon, something else that cannot be repeated on television. +p176 +aVIs it true? +p177 +aVMr. Trump, 30 seconds. +p178 +aVThe subject of gay marriage and religious liberty. Governor Kasich, if you had a son or daughter who was gay or lesbian, how would you explain to them your opposition to same-sex marriage? +p179 +aVHow would you -- how would you explain it to a child? +p180 +aVSenator Paul, in the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling on same sex marriage, Carol Fox on Facebook want to know the following. Quote: what will you do to ensure Christians are not prosecuted for speaking out against gay marriage and will Christians be forced to conduct business that conflicts with their religious beliefs? +p181 +aVGovernor Walker, many in the Black Lives Matter movement, and beyond, believe that overly-aggressive police officers targeting young African Americans is the civil rights issue of our time. Do you agree? And if so, how do you plan to address it? And if not, why not? +p182 +aVThank you. +p183 +aVWe have to stand you by, because after the break, we're going to let the candidates make their closing statements, their final thoughts, and . . . God. Stay tuned for that. +p184 +aVWelcome back. In our final moments here together, we're going to allow the candidates to offer their final thoughts. But first, we want to ask them an interesting closing question from Chase Norton on Facebook, who wants to know this of the candidates: "I want to know if any of them have received a word from God on what they should do and take care of first." Senator Cruz, start from you. Any word from God? +p185 +aVGovernor Kasich, same question. +p186 +aVGovernor Walker, same question. +p187 +aVSenator Rubio, I want to ask you the same question. But I do want to mention, a woman just came here to the stage and asked, what about the veterans? I want to hear more about what these candidates are going to do for our nation's veterans. So I put the question to you about God and the veterans, which you may find to be related. +p188 +aVDr. Carson, a question to you about God and his role, but also, one of the issues that the public was very interested in, and we touched on it earlier, is race relations in this country, and how divided we seem right now. And what, if anything, you can do -- you would do as the next president to help heal that divide. +p189 +aVGovernor Christie? +p190 +aVSenator Ted Cruz. +p191 +aVGovernor Scott Walker. +p192 +aVIt's over! +p193 +aVAre you relieved? You were nervous before, they -- they don't look relieved. They look "get me outta here." Thank you all very much, and that will do it for the first Republican primary debate night of the 2016 presidential race. Our thanks to the candidates, who will now be joined by their families on stage. +p194 +asVRUBIO +p195 +(lp196 +VThank you Wolf. It's really amazing to be back in Las Vegas. I spent six years as a child growing not far from where we stand tonight. I use to sit on the porch of our home and listen to my grandfather tell stories as he smoked one of three daily cigars. One of the things my grandfather instilled in me, was that I was really blessed because I was a citizen of the greatest country in the history of our mankind. But there have always been people in American politics that wanted America to be more like the rest of the world. And In 2008, one of them was elected president of this country and the result has been a disaster. Today you have millions of Americans that feel left out and out of place in their own country, struggling to live paycheck to paycheck, called bigots because they hold on to traditional values. And around the world, America's influence has declined while this president has destroyed our military, our allies no longer trust us, and our adversaries no longer respect us. And that is why this election is so important. That is why I'm running for president. And that's why I'm going to ask you for your vote tonight. If you elect me president, we will have a president that believes America is the greatest country in the world and we will have a president that acts like it. +p197 +aVWell, I understand why they feel that way, because this president hasn't kept us safe. The problem is we had an attack in San Bernardino. And we were paying attention to the most important issue we have faced in a decade since 9/11, and then all the talk was about this proposal, which isn't going to happen. But this is what's important to do is we must deal frontally with this threat of radical Islamists, especially from +p198 +aVHe is and so are those that voted for it. There were some that voted for it because they wanted to keep it alive and they were afraid the whole program would expire. Here's the world we live in. This is a radical jihadist group that is increasingly sophisticated in its ability, for example, to radicalize American citizens, in its inability to exploit loopholes in our legal immigration system, in its ability to capture and hold territory in the Middle East, as I outlined earlier, in multiple countries. This is not just the most capable, it is the most sophisticated terror threat we have ever faced. We are now at a time when we need more tools, not less tools. And that took we lost, the metadata program, was a valuable tool that we no longer have at our disposal. +p199 +aVDana, may I interject here? +p200 +aVLet me be very careful when answering this, because I don't think national television in front of 15 million people is the place to discuss classified information. So let me just be very clear. There is nothing that we are allowed to do under this bill that we could not do before. This bill did, however, take away a valuable tool that allowed the National Security Agency and other law \u2014 and other intelligence agencies to quickly and rapidly access phone records and match them up with other phone records to see who terrorists have been calling. Because I promise you, the next time there is attack on \u2014 an attack on this country, the first thing people are going to want to know is, why didn't we know about it and why didn't we stop it? And the answer better not be because we didn't have access to records or information that would have allowed us to identify these killers before they attacked. +p201 +aVI want to thank Rand for another 30 seconds, because, number one, what he's pointing to is a bill last week that \u2014 amendment that he voted for that only 10 people voted for. You know why? Because it's not focused on terrorists. It would have banned anyone from coming here. Someone from Taiwan would not have been able to come here as a tourist. Number two, this program, this metadata program is actually more strict than what a regular law enforcement agency has now. If a regular law enforcement agency wants your phone records, all they have to do is issue a subpoena. But now the intelligence agency is not able to quickly gather records and look at them to see who these terrorists are calling. And the terrorists that attacked us in San Bernardino was an American citizen, born and raised in this country. And I bet you we wish we would have had access to five years of his records so we could see who he was working with... +p202 +aVDo I get another 30 seconds? He mentioned me. +p203 +aVWell, let me begin by saying that we have to understand who +p204 +aVThat is accurate. Three times he voted against the Defense Authorization Act, which is a bill that funds the troops. It also, by the way, funds the Iron Dome and other important programs. And I have to assume that if you vote against it in the Senate, you would also veto it as president. He has also supported, by the way, a budget that is called the containment budget. And it is a budget that would radically reduce the amount of money we spend on our military. You can't carpet bomb +p205 +aVYes, let me \u2014 three points of distinction. The first is, if you're an American citizen and you decide to join up with +p206 +aVWell, they most certainly will have to be worked on to provide more than what they are doing now. There's no doubt about it. And there's one \u2014 one major reason why they have not been willing to be a broader part of the coalition, and that is they have lost complete trust and confidence in this president. This president cut a deal with their moral enemy, the Shia, in Iran. And this is the reason why they no longer trust this president and are willing to work alongside them. But they have as much invested in this as we do. In fact, more so, for it is the king of Saudi Arabia they want to behead first. It's the king of Jordan that they want to dethrone. It's the \u2014 they want to go into Egypt the way they've already gone into Libya. And on another point that we need to talk about, Assad is one of the main reasons why +p207 +aVTo begin with, Moammar Gadhafi and the revolt against Gadhafi was not started by the United States. It was started by the Libyan people. And the reason why I argued we needed to get involved is because he was going to go one way or the other. And my argument then was proven true, and that is, the longer that civil war took, the more militias would be formed and the more unstable the country would be after the fact. As far as Moammar Gadhafi is concerned, by the way, Moammar Gadhafi is the man that killed those Americans over Lockerbie, Scotland. Moammar Gadhafi is also the man that bombed that cafe in Berlin and killed those Marines. And you want to know why Moammar Gadhafi started cooperating on his nuclear program? Because we got rid of Saddam Hussein. And so he got scared that he would be next, and that's why he started cooperating. Look, we will have to work around the world with less than ideal governments. The government in Saudi Arabia is not a democracy, but we will have to work with them. The government in Jordan is not perfect, but we will have to work with them. But anti-American dictators like Assad, who help Hezbollah, who helped get those IEDs into Iraq, if they go, I will not shed a tear. +p208 +aVYeah. Immigration is not an issue that I read about in the newspaper or watch a documentary on PBS or CNN. It's an issues I've lived around my whole life. My family are immigrants. My wife's family are immigrants. All of my neighbors are immigrants. I see every aspect of this problem. The good, the bad, and the ugly. And here's what we learned in 2013. The American people don't trust the Federal Government to enforce our immigration laws, and we will not be able to do anything on immigration until we first prove to the American people that illegal immigration is under control. And we can do that. We know what it takes to do that. It takes at least 20,000 more additional border agents. It takes completing those 700 miles of fencing. It takes a mandatory e-verify system and a mandatory entry/exit tracking system to prevent overstays. After we have done that, the second thing we have to do is reform and modernize the legal immigration system. And after we have done those two things, I think the American people are gonna be reasonable with what do you do with someone who has been in this country for 10 or 12 years who hasn't otherwise violated our laws \u2014 because if they're a criminal they can't stay. They'll have to undergo a background check, pay a fine, start paying taxes. And ultimately, they'll given a work permit and that's all they're gonna be allowed to have for at least 10 years. But you can't get to that third step until you have done the other two things, and that was the lesson we learned in 2013. There is no trust that the Federal Government will enforce the law. They will not support you until you see it done first. +p209 +aVBut I've answered that question repeatedly. I am personally open \u2014 after all that has happened and after ten years in that probationary status where all they have is a permit, I personally am open to allowing people to apply for a green card. That may not be a majority position in my party, but that's down the road. You can't even begin that process until you prove to people \u2014 not just pass a law that says you're gonna bring illegal immigration under control. You're gonna have to do it and prove to people that it's working. And that was the lesson of 2013. And it's more true today, than it was then. After a migratory crisis on the border with minors coming over that you're seeing start up again now, after all these executive orders the President has issued. More than ever we need to... +p210 +aV... prove to people that illegal immigration is under control. +p211 +aVYeah, a couple points. In 2013 we had never faced a crisis like the Syrian refugee crisis now. Up until that point, a refugee meant someone fleeing oppression, fleeing Communism like it is in my community. As far as Ted's record, I'm always puzzled by his attack on this issue. Ted, you support legalizing people who are in this country illegally. Ted Cruz supported a 500-percent increase in the number of H-1 visas, the guest workers that are allowed into this country, and Ted supports doubling the number of green cards. So I think what's important for us to understand and there is a way forward on this issue that we an bring our country together on. And while I'm president I will do it. And it will begin by bringing illegal immigration under control and proving to the American people. +p212 +aVNo, no, give him time. +p213 +aVTed, do you... +p214 +aVDid Ted Cruz fight to support legalizing people that are in this country illegally? +p215 +aVDoes Ted Cruz rule out ever legalizing people that are in this country now? +p216 +aVWould you rule it out? +p217 +aVWell, he's just admitted \u2014 as he's just admitted, the reason why those refugees were allowed in was because they messed up in how they used the actual database. They should have know. They didn't because they didn't run the actual law as it exists now. It didn't work well. As far as the refugees are concerned, it's not that America doesn't want to accept refugees, Wolf. It's that we may not be able to, because this is an issue we have to be 100 percent right on. If we allow 9,999 Syrian refugees into the United States, and all of them are good people, but we allow one person in who's an +p218 +aVI do. First, let's explain to people at home who the triad \u2014 what the triad is. Maybe a lot of people haven't heard that terminology before. The triad is our ability of the United States to conduct nuclear attacks using airplanes, using missiles launched from silos or from the ground, and also from our nuclear subs' ability to attack. And it's important \u2014 all three of them are critical. It gives us the ability at deterrence. Now, some have become more critical than others; for example, the submarines. And that's the Ohio Class submarine that needs to be modernized. The air component also needs to be modernized. The B-52, as someone earlier pointed out, is an outdated model that was flown by the grandparents of people that are flying it now. And we need a serious modernization program as well on our silo-launched missiles. All three are critical for the defense of the country. +p219 +aVThank you. As we near the end of this year, we enter one of the most important elections in a generation. For what's at stake in this election is not simply what party's going to be in charge. But our very identity as a people and as a nation. For over 200 years this has been a special country. A unique place where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything. But now millions of Americans feel like they're being left behind. Insecure in their future and unsafe in the face of terrorism. This election is about electing a president that will restore our economic vibrancy so that the American dream can expand to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And rebuild our Military and our intelligence programs so that we can remain the strongest nation on earth. Tonight I ask you for your vote. If you do this, we will rebuild this country, and together we will usher in a new American century \u2014 the greatest era in the history of this great land. +p220 +aVWell, let me begin by answering both the first question and this one, because they're related. As I've said many times before, my parents were never rich people. My father was a bartender. My mother was a maid. They worked for a living. But they were successful people, because, despite the fact that they weren't well educated and had those jobs, they made enough money to buy a home in a safe and stable neighborhood, retire with dignity, leave all four of their children better off than themselves. We call that the American dream, but in fact, it's a universal dream of a better life that people have all over the world. It is a reminder that every country in the world has rich people. What makes America special is that we have millions and millions of people that are not rich, that through hard work and perseverance are able to be successful. The problem is that today people are not successful working as hard as ever because the economy is not providing jobs that pay enough. If I thought that raising the minimum wage was the best way to help people increase their pay, I would be all for it, but it isn't. In the 20th century, it's a disaster. If you raise the minimum wage, you're going to make people more expensive than a machine. And that means all this automation that's replacing jobs and people right now is only going to be accelerated. Here's the best way to raise wages. Make America the best place in the world to start a business or expand an existing business, tax reform and regulatory reform, bring our debt under control, fully utilize our energy resources so we can reinvigorate manufacturing, repeal and replace Obamacare, and make higher education faster and easier to access, especially vocational training. For the life of me, I don't know why we have stigmatized vocational education. Welders make more money than philosophers. We need more welders and less philosophers. If we do that \u2014 and if we do this \u2014 if we do this, we will be able to increase wages for millions of Americans and we will be able to leave everyone better off without making anyone worse off. +p221 +aVWell, you know, that's an excellent question, because what we are going through in this country is not simply an economic downturn. We are living through a massive economic transformation. I mean, this economy is nothing like what it was like five years ago, not to mention 15 or 20 years ago. And it isn't just a different economy. It's changing faster than ever. You know, it took the telephone 75 years to reach 100 million users. It took Candy Crush one year to reach some 100 million users. So the world is changing faster than ever, and it is disruptive. Number one, we are in a global competition now, and several of the candidates have said that. There are now dozens of developed economies on this planet that we have to compete with. And we lose that competition because we have the highest business tax rate in the industrialized world, because we have regulations that continue to grow by the billions every single week, because we have a crazy health care law that discourages companies from hiring people, but because we're not fully utilizing our energy resources, that if we did, it would bring back all kinds of growth, especially in manufacturing, and because we have an outdated higher education system. Our higher education system is completely outdated. It is too expensive, too hard to access, and it doesn't teach 21st century skills. If we do what needs to be done \u2014 tax reform, regulatory reform, fully utilize our energy resources, repeal and replace Obamacare, and modernize higher education, then we can grasp the potential and the promise of this new economy. And we won't just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And then truly this new century can be a new American century. +p222 +aVThe most important job I'm ever going to have, the most important job anyone in this room will ever have, is the job of being a parent. Not the job of being president, or the job of being a senator, or the job of being a congressman. The most important job any of us will ever do is the job of being a president (sic), because the most important institution in society is the family. If the family breaks down, society breaks down. You can't have a strong nation without strong values, and no one is born with strong values. They have to be taught to you in strong families and reinforced in you in strong communities. And so when we set out to do tax reform, we endeavor to have a pro-family tax code, and we endeavor to do it because we know how difficult it is for families in the 21st century to afford the cost of living. It is expensive to raise children in the 21st century, and families that are raising children are raising the future taxpayers of the United States, and everything costs more. In 35 out of 50 states, child care costs more than college. There are millions of people watching this broadcast tonight that understand exactly what I'm talking about. They don't know how they're going to make that payment every month, and if they can't make it, they can't work, because someone needs to watch their kids during the day. They don't know how they're going to save for their kids' future, to go to college. And so, yes, I have a child tax credit increase, and I'm proud of it. I am proud that I have a pro-family tax code, because the pro- family tax plan I have will strengthen the most important institution in the \u2014 in the country, the family. +p223 +aVNow I get my 60 seconds to respond. He's talking about my tax plan. +p224 +aVSo let me begin with this. I actually believe \u2014 first of all, this is their money. They do pay. It is refundable, not just against the taxes they pay to the government, but also the \u2014 on their federal income tax, it's refundable against the payroll tax. Everyone pays payroll tax. This is their money. This is not our money. And here's what I don't understand \u2014 if you invest that money in a piece of equipment, if you invest that money in a business, you get to write it off your taxes. But if you invest it in your children, in the future of America and strengthening your family, we're not going to recognize that in our tax code? The family is the most important institution in society. And, yes... +p225 +aV... I do want to rebuild the American military. +p226 +aVI know that Rand is a committed isolationist. I'm not. I believe the world is a stronger and a better place, when the United States is the strongest military power in the world. +p227 +aVBecause... +p228 +aV...are you talking about the military, Rand? +p229 +aVWe can't even have an economy if we're not safe. There are radical jihadist in the Middle East beheading people and crucifying Christians. A radical Shia cleric in Iran trying to get a nuclear weapon, the Chinese taking over the South China Sea... ...Yes, I believe the world is a safer \u2014 no, no, I don't believe, I know that the world is a safer place when America is the strongest military power in the world. +p230 +aVYou know, if I may respond... +p231 +aVI need to add a couple of points to this. The first is, I've never met Vladimir Putin, but I know enough about him to know he is a gangster. He is basically an organized crime figure that runs a country, controls a $2 trillion economy. And is using to build up his military in a rapid way despite the fact his economy is a disaster. He understands only geopolitical strength. And every time he has acted anywhere in the world, whether it's in Ukraine or Georgia before that, or now in the Middle East, it's because he is trusting in weakness. His calculation in the Middle East is that he has seen what this president has done, which is nothing, the president has no strategy, our allies in the region do not trust us. For goodness sake, there is only one pro-American free enterprise democracy in the Middle East, it is the state of Israel. And we have a president that treats the prime minister of Israel with less respect than what he gives the ayatollah in Iran. And so our allies in the region don't trust us. Vladimir Putin is exploiting that weakness, for purposes of edging the Americans out as the most important geopolitical power broker in the region. And we do have a vested interest. And here's why. Because all those radical terrorist groups that, by the way, are not just in Syria and in Iraq, +p232 +aVCan I just add what \u2014 he's right on point there. Do you know why these banks are so big? The government made them big. The government made them big by adding thousands and thousands of pages of regulations. So the big banks, they have an army of lawyers, they have an army of compliance officers. They can deal with all these things. The small banks, like Governor Bush was saying, they can't deal with all these regulations. They can't deal with all \u2014 they cannot hire the fanciest law firm in Washington or the best lobbying firm to deal with all these regulations. And so the result is, the big banks get bigger, the small banks struggle to lend or even exist, and the result is what you have today. And in Dodd-Frank, you have actually codified too big to fail. We have actually created a category of systemically important institutions, and these banks go around bragging about it. You know what they say to people with a wink and a nod? We are so big, we are so important that if we get in trouble, the government has to bail us out. This is an outrage. We need to repeal Dodd-Frank as soon as possible. +p233 +aVWell, that's a great question, and let me begin by answering it. This election is about the future, about what kind of country this nation is gonna be in the 21st century. This next (ph) election is actually a generational choice. A choice about what kind of nation we will be in the 21st century. For over 2.5 centuries, America's been a special country, the one place on earth where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything, a nation that's been a force for good on this planet. But now, a growing number of Americans feel out of place in their own country. We have a society that stigmatizes those that hold cultural values that are traditional. We have a society where people \u2014 millions of people \u2014 are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, but they're living paycheck to paycheck because the economy has changed underneath their feet. We have young Americans who owe thousands of dollars in student loans for a degree that doesn't lead to a job. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses dying than starting, and around the world, every day brings news of a new humiliation for America \u2014 many the direct response \u2014 direct consequence of decisions made when Hillary Clinton was the secretary of the \u2014 of state. And so here's the truth: this election is about the future, and the Democratic Party, and the political left has no ideas about the future. All their ideas are the same, tired ideas of the past. More government, more spending. For every issue for America, their answer is a new tax on someone, and a new government program. This nation is going to turn the page, and that's what this election should be about, and, as I said at the first debate... ...If I am our nominee, they will be the party of the past, we will be the party of the 21st century. +p234 +aVOurs \u2014 the story of America is an extraordinary story. It is the story of a nation that for over two centuries each generation has left the next better off than themselves. But now, because Washington is out of touch, for the fault of both political parties, for the first time in our history, that is in doubt. And that is what this election must be about, because if the next four years are anything like the last eight years, our children will be the first Americans ever left worse off by their parents. This election is about making a different choice, about applying our principles of limited government and free enterprise to the unique issues of our time. And if we do, we will not just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And the 21st century can be a new American century. So tonight, I ask you for your vote and I ask you to join us at my website, marcorubio.com. +p235 +aVThank you for that question. I would begin by saying that I'm not sure it's a weakness, but I do believe that I share a sense of optimism for America's future that, today, is eroding from too many of our people. I think there's a sense in this country today that somehow our best days are behind us. And that doesn't have to be true. Our greatest days lie ahead if we are willing to do what it takes now. If we're willing to do what it takes now, the 21st century is going to be the new American century, greater than any other era we've had in the history of this great nation. +p236 +aVThat's an interesting question. That's exactly what the Republican establishment says too. Why don't you wait in line? Wait for what? This country is running out of time. We can't afford to have another four years like the last eight years. Watching this broadcast tonight are millions of people that are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, everything costs more, and they haven't had a raise in decades. You have small businesses in America that are struggling. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses closing than starting. We have a world that's out of control and has grown dangerous and a president that is weakening our military and making our foreign policy unstable and unreliable in the eyes of our allies. And our adversaries continue to grow stronger. We have a \u2014 they say there's no bipartisanship in Washington? We have a $19 trillion bipartisan debt and it continues to grow as we borrow money from countries that do not like us to pay for government we cannot afford. The time to act is now. The time to turn the page is now. If we \u2014 if we don't act now, we are going to be the first generation in American history that leaves our children worse off than ourselves. +p237 +aVLet me say, I read that editorial today with a great amusement. It's actually evidence of the bias that exists in the American media today. +p238 +aVLet me \u2014 let me answer your question on the Sun-Sentinel editorial today. Back in 2004, one of my predecessors to the Senate by the name of Bob Graham, a Democrat, ran for president missing over 30 percent of his votes. I don't recall them calling for his resignation \u2014 +p239 +aVLater that year, in 2004, John Kerry ran for president missing close to 60 to 70 percent of his votes. I don't recall the Sun \u2014 in fact, the Sun-Sentinel endorsed him. In 2008, Barack Obama missed 60 or 70 percent of his votes, and the same newspaper endorsed him again. So this is another example of the double standard that exists in this country between the mainstream media and the conservative movement. +p240 +aVI get to respond, right? +p241 +aVWell, it's interesting. Over the last few weeks, I've listened to Jeb as he walked around the country and said that you're modeling your campaign after John McCain, that you're going to launch a furious comeback the way he did, by fighting hard in New Hampshire and places like that, carrying your own bag at the airport. You know how many votes John McCain missed when he was carrying out that furious comeback that you're now modeling after? +p242 +aVNo Jeb, I don't remember \u2014 well, let me tell you. I don't remember you ever complaining about John McCain's vote record. The only reason why you're doing it now is because we're running for the same position, and someone has convinced you that attacking me is going to help you. +p243 +aVHere's the bottom line. I'm not \u2014 my campaign is going to be about the future of America, it's not going to be about attacking anyone else on this stage. I will continue to have tremendous admiration and respect for Governor Bush. I'm not running against Governor Bush, I'm not running against anyone on this stage. I'm running for president because there is no way we can elect Hillary Clinton to continue the policies of Barack Obama. +p244 +aVWell, you just \u2014 you just listed a litany of discredited attacks from Democrats and my political opponents, and I'm not gonna waste 60 seconds detailing them all. But I'm going to tell you the truth. Here's the truth. I didn't inherit any money. My dad was a bartender, my mother was a maid. They worked hard to provide us the chance at a better life. They didn't save enough money for us to go to school. I had to work my way through school. I had to borrow money to go to school. I tried (ph), early in my marriage, explaining to my wife why someone named Sallie Mae was taking $1,000 out of our bank account every month. I know what it's like to owe that money, and we've worked hard. We've worked hard our whole life to provide a better family \u2014 a better life for our family. We own a home four blocks away from the place that I grew up in. My four children have been able to receive a good Christian education, and I've been able to save for them to go to college so they never have to have the loans that I did. But I'm not worried about my finances, I'm worried about the finances of everyday Americans who today are struggling in an economy that is not producing good paying jobs while everything else costs more. And that's what this economy needs to \u2014 that's what this debate needs to be about. This debate needs to be about the men and women across this country that are struggling on a daily basis to provide for their families the better future that we've always said this country is all about. +p245 +aVAnd I used it to pay off my loans. And it's available on paperback, if you're interested in buying my book. +p246 +aVYeah, again, as I said, we're raising a family in the 21st century and it's one of the reasons why my tax plan is a pro- family tax plan. It increases the per child tax credit, because I didn't read about this in a book. I know for a fact how difficult it is to raise children, how expensive it's become for working families. And I make a lot more than the average American. Imagine how hard it is for these people out there that are making 40, 50, $60,000 a year, and they're trying to provide for their families at a time when this economy is not growing. We can't afford another four years of that. Which is what we're gonna get if we elect a big government liberal like Hillary Clinton to the White House. Thank you, senator. +p247 +aVWell, first of all, if a company gets caught doing that, they should never be able to use the program again. If you get caught abusing this program, you should never be able to use it again. The second thing I said is we need to add reforms, not just increase the numbers, but add reforms. For example, before you hire anyone from abroad, you should have to advertise that job for 180 days. You also have to prove that you're going to pay these people more than you would pay someone else, so that you're not undercutting it by bringing in cheap labor. But here's the best solution of all. We need to get back to training people in this country to do the jobs of the 21st century. Why, for the life of me, I do not understand why did we stop doing vocational education in America, people that can work with their hands; people you can train to do this work while they're still in high school so they can graduate ready to go work. But the best way to close this gap is to modernize higher education so Americans have the skills for those jobs. But in the interim, in the absence of that, what's happening is some of these tech companies are taking those \u2014 those centers (ph) to Canada because they can get people to go over there instead of here. But the ideal scenario is to train Americans to do the work so we don't have to rely on people from abroad. +p248 +aVWell, I believe that there are abuses, those companies should be permanently barred from ever using the program again and we should put strict standards in place to ensure that they're not being abused, like the prevailing wage requirement and like the advertising requirement. +p249 +aVSince I've been mentioned, can I respond? +p250 +aVOK. I know the Democrats have the ultimate SuperPac. It's called the mainstream media who every single day... ... and I'll tell you why. Last week, Hillary Clinton went before a committee. She admitted she had sent e-mails to her family saying, "Hey, this attack at Benghazi was caused by Al Qaida-like elements." She spent over a week telling the families of those victims and the American people that it was because of a video. And yet the mainstream media is going around saying it was the greatest week in Hillary Clinton's campaign. It was the week she got exposed as a liar. It was the week that she got exposed as a liar... But she has her super PAC helping her out, the American mainstream media. +p251 +aVNo, that's \u2014 you're wrong. In fact, the largest after- tax gains is for the people at the lower end of the tax spectrum under my plan. And there's a bunch of things my tax plan does to help them. Number one, you have people in this country that... +p252 +aV...you wrote a story on it, and you had to go back and correct it. +p253 +aVYou did. No, you did. +p254 +aVWell, you're talking about \u2014 yeah. +p255 +aVYeah, but that \u2014 because the math is, if you \u2014 5 percent of a million is a lot more than 5 percent of a thousand. So yeah, someone who makes more money... +p256 +aV...numerically, it's gonna be higher. But the greatest gains, percentage-wise, for people, are gonna be at the lower end of our plan, and here's why: because in addition to a general personal exemption, we are increasing the per-child tax credit for working families. We are lowering taxes on small business. You know, a lot of business activity in America is conducted like the guy that does my dry cleaning. He's an S corporation. He pays on his personal rate, and he is paying higher than the big dry-cleaning chain down the street, because he's paying at his personal rate. Under my plan, no business, big or small, will pay more than 25 percent flat rate on their business income. That is a dramatic tax decrease for hard-working people who run their own businesses. +p257 +aV...The other thing I'd like to make about our plan, one more point, it is the most pro growth tax plan that I can imagine because it doesn't tax investments at all. You know why? Because the more you tax something, the less of it you get. I want to be in \u2014 I want America to be the best... +p258 +aV...in the world for people... +p259 +aVI was mentioned in the question. +p260 +aVThank you. Well, I've learned the rules on this. Look, in addition to what Donald was saying is we also need to talk about the legal immigration system for permanent residents. Today, we have a legal immigration system for permanent residency that is largely based on whether or not you have a relative living here. And that's the way my parents came legally in 1956. But in 2015, we have a very different economy. Our legal immigration system from now on has to be merit-based. It has to be based on what skills you have, what you can contribute economically, and most important of all, on whether or not you're coming here to become an American, not just live in America, but be an American. +p261 +aVNo. No. What I said was that I think that Dr. Carson's ideas are good ideas. They're not my ideas, and I don't necessarily agree with all of them. But this is what you're seeing in the Republican debate that you didn't see in that Democrat debate. You didn't see it for a minute. You didn't see these kind of ideas being batted around, and being batted around in a way that's civil and smart and that's trying to help to inform the voter out there. What you saw was a parade of, "I'll give you this for free; I'll give you that for free." Let me tell you, everybody, when they say they want to give it to you for free, keep your hands on your wallets because they're coming to you to pay for it. And that's why I think these ideas up here are great, and that's what we should have is have more discussions like this and less gotcha. +p262 +aVI want to take off from that point and argue the same thing. And that is that one of the things you're watching tonight are 11 quality candidates debating an important issue. The Republican Party is blessed to have 11 good candidates, 10 good candidates. The Democrats can't even come up with one. And on this issue of the Medicare in particular, it's important because they're going to demagogue what we're saying here tonight. Everyone up here tonight that's talking about reforms, I think and I know for myself I speak to this, we're all talking about reforms for future generations. Nothing has to change for current beneficiaries. My mother is on Medicare and Social Security. I'm against anything that's bad for my mother. So, we're talking about \u2014 we're talking about reform for people like me and people like Senator Cruz, as he talked about earlier, who are years away from retirement that have a way to plan for these changes, and way that's very reasonable. And it's not too much to ask of our generation after everything our parents and our grandparents did for us. +p263 +aVYou know, America doesn't owe me anything. I have a debt to America I'll never repay. This isn't just the country I was born in, this is the nation that literally changed the history of my family. My parents in this country were able to give me the chance to do all the things they never did. We call that the American Dream, although, it's built on the universal dream of a better life. The fact that it's happened for so many people here throughout our history, that's what makes us special. But, now for millions of Americans, it's slipping away. And, we have a government and leaders in government that are completely out of touch, and that's why I'm running for president. Because we can't just save the American Dream, we can expand it to reach more people, and change more lives than ever before. And, that's why tonight I'm asking you for your vote. +p264 +aVThank you. My name is Marco Rubio. I'm from Florida. My wife Jeanette and I are the proud \u2014 we've been married 17 years, and we're the proud parents of four children, two of whom were able to join us here this evening. I'm honored to be here at the Reagan Library, at a place that honors the legacy of a man who inspired not just my interest in public service, but also our love for country. And I'm also aware that California has a drought, and so that's why I made sure I brought my own water. +p265 +aVWell, first of all, I have an understanding of exactly what it is Russia and Putin are doing, and it's pretty straightforward. He wants to reposition Russia, once again, as a geopolitical force. He himself said that the destruction of the Soviet Union \u2014 the fall of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century, and now he's trying to reverse that. He's trying to destroy +p266 +aVLet me tell you \u2014 I will tell you we have zero responsibility, because let's remember what the president said. He said the attack he would conduct would be a pinprick. Well, the United States military was not build to conduct pinprick attacks. If the United States military is going to be engaged by a commander-in-chief, it should only be engaged in an endeavor to win. And we're not going to authorize use of force if you're not put in a position where they can win. And quite frankly, people don't trust this president as commander-in-chief because of that. +p267 +aVHold on, a second, Jake, he asked me, as well. I'd like to actually... +p268 +aV... respond. I think I'm the first senator. The No. 1 test for use of military force should be the vital national security interest of the United States. The reason why I opposed President Obama bombing Syria, is because he couldn't answer the question what do you do if chemical weapons end up in the hands of radical Islamic terrorists like al-Nusra, like Al Qaida, like +p269 +aVIn the middle of negotiating this treaty, Khamenei led the assembled masses in chanting, death to America. I'm reminded of a great editorial cartoon. It shows the Ayatollah Khamenei saying, "Death to all Americans," and then it shows John Kerry coming back, saying, "Can we meet ya half way?" We need a commander-in-chief who will stand up and protect this country. And I'll tell you, I can't wait to stand on that debate stage with Hillary Clinton and to make abundantly clear if you vote for Hillary, you are voting for the Ayatollah Khomeini to possess a nuclear weapon and if you elect me as president, under no circumstances will a theocratic ayatollah who chants death to America ever be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon. +p270 +aVMs. Dana, I agree that English is the unifying language of our country, and everyone should learn to speak it. It's important. I want to tell you a story about someone that didn't speak English that well. It was my grandfather; he came to this country in the 1960s, as a \u2014 escaping Cuba. And he lived with us, growing up. And my grandfather loved America. He understood what was so special about this country. He loved Ronald Reagan; he would be very proud of the fact that we're here this evening. My grandfather instilled in me the belief that I was blessed to live in the one society in all of human history where even I, the son of a bartender and a maid, could aspire to have anything, and be anything that I was willing to work hard to achieve. But he taught me that in Spanish, because it was the language he was most comfortable in. And he became a conservative, even though he got his news in Spanish. And so, I do give interviews in Spanish, and here's why \u2014 because I believe that free enterprise and limited government is the best way to help people who are trying to achieve upward mobility. And if they get their news in Spanish, I want them to hear that directly from me. Not from a translator at Univision. +p271 +aVWell, let me say that legal immigration is not an issue I read about in the newspaper. Immigration, illegal immigration, all the good aspects of immigration and all the negative ones as well, I live with. My family's immigrants. My neighbors are all immigrants. My in-laws are all immigrants. So I've seen every aspect of it, and I can tell you America doesn't have one immigration problem, it has three. First, despite the fact that we are the most generous country in the history of the world in allowing people to come here legally, we have people still coming illegally. Second, we have a legal immigration system that no longer works. It primary is built on the basis of whether you have a relative living here instead of merit. And third, we have 11 million or 12 million people, many of whom have been here for longer than a decade who are already here illegally. And we must deal with all three of these problems. We cannot deal with all three of these problems in one massive piece of legislation. I learned that. We tried it that way. Here's the way forward: First, we must \u2014 we must secure our border, the physical border, with \u2014 with a wall, absolutely. But we also need to have an entry/exit tracking system. 40 percent of the people who come here illegally come legally, and then they overstay the visa. We also need a mandatory e-verify system. After we've done that, step two would be to modernize our legal immigration system so you come to America on the basis of what you can contribute economically, not whether or not simply you have a relative living here. And after we've done those two things, I believe the American people... +p272 +aV... will be very reasonable and responsible about what you do with someone who's been here and isn't a criminal. If you're a criminal, obviously, you will not be able to stay. +p273 +aVYes, well, it does. But it's in the following way, this is an important question. I think if you're running for president, these are important issues, because look at around the world today. There is a lunatic in North Korea with dozens of nuclear weapons and long-range rocket that can already hit the very place in which we stand tonight. The Chinese are rapidly expanding their military. They hack into our computers. They're building artificial islands in the South China Sea, the most important shipping lane in the world. A gangster in Moscow is not just threatening Europe, he's threatening to destroy and divide +p274 +aVWell, that's why we have a debate. I think that we should have a deeper debate about these issues, because there is no more important decision that a president will make. +p275 +aVWell, you should ask him questions in detail about the foreign policy issues our president will confront, because you had better be able to lead our country on the first day. Not six months from now, not a year from now, on the first day in office, our president could very well confront a national security crisis. You can't predict it. Sometimes you cannot control it. And it is the most \u2014 the federal government does all kinds of things it's not supposed to be doing. It regulates bathrooms. It regulates schools that belong to local communities. But the one thing that the federal government must do, the one thing that only the federal government can do is keep us safe. And a president better be up-to-date on those issues on his first day in office, on her first day in office. +p276 +aVTrust (ph) me, I get that. OK. +p277 +aVI never get to addressed, and... +p278 +aV...and when I do, I'm gonna jump in. +p279 +aVYeah. He did. Let me \u2014 I'm proud to serve in the United States Senate. You know, when I ran five years ago, the entire leadership of my party in Washington lined up against me. But I'm glad I won. And I'm glad that I ran, because this country's headed in the wrong direction. And if we keep electing the same people, nothing is going to change. And you're right, I have missed some votes, and I'll tell you why, Mr. Trump. Because in my years in the Senate, I've figured out very quickly that the political establishment in Washington, D.C. in both political parties is completely out of touch with the lives of our people. You have millions of people in this country living paycheck to paycheck, and nothing is being done about it. We are about to leave our children with $18 trillion in \u2014 in \u2014 in debt, and they're about to raise the debt limit again. We have a world that grows increasingly dangerous, and we are eviscerating our military spending and signing deals with Iran. And these \u2014 if this thing continues, we are going to be the first Americans to leave our children worse off than ourselves. That's why I'm missing votes. Because I am leaving the Senate, I'm not running for re-election, and I'm running for president because I know this: unless we have the right president, we cannot make America fulfill its potential, but with the right person in office, the 21st century can be the greatest era that our nation has ever known. +p280 +aVI want to go even deeper \u2014 and I want to go even deeper in that direction, because I think the belief that somehow by retreating, America makes the world safer has been disproven every single time it's ever been tried. Syria's a perfect example of it. The uprising in Syria was not started by the United States; it was started by the Syrian people. And I warned at the time \u2014 this was three and a half years ago \u2014 I openly and repeatedly warned that if we did not find moderate elements on the ground that we could equip and arm, that void would be filled by radical jihadists. Well, the president didn't listen, the administration didn't follow through, and that's exactly what happened. That is why +p281 +aV... as you asked earlier today. +p282 +aVBut radical terrorism cannot be solved by intellect. It cannot \u2014 they require \u2014 what they need, is they need an operating space. That's what Afghanistan was for Al Qaida. It was a vacuum that they filled, and they created an operating space. That's why they had to be drawn out of there. That's why they had to be destroyed. It is the reason why +p283 +aVThere's a broader issue here, Hugh. And there's a broader issue here as well. First of all, the only people that follow the law are law-abiding people. Criminals by definition ignore the law, so you can pass all the gun laws in the world, like the left wants. The criminals are going to ignore it because they are criminals. Here's the real issue. The real issue \u2014 the real issue is not what are people using to commit violence, but why are they committing the violence? And here's the truth: Because you cannot separate the social, moral wellbeing of your people from their economic and other wellbeing. You cannot separate it. You can't have a strong country without strong people, you cannot have strong people without strong values, and you cannot have strong values without strong families and the institutions in this country that defend and support those families. +p284 +aVWell, and today, we have a left-wing government under this president that is undermining all of the institutions and society that support the family and teach those values. +p285 +aVBecause we're not going to destroy our economy the way the left-wing government that we are under now wants to do. We're not going to... +p286 +aVWell, and I don't \u2014 he may have lined up with their positions on this issue. But here is the bottom line. Every proposal they put forward are going to be proposals that will make it harder to do business in America, that will make it harder to create jobs in America. Single parents are already struggling across this country to provide for their families. Maybe a billionaire here in California can afford an increase in their utility rates, but a working family in Tampa, Florida, or anywhere across this country cannot afford it. So we are not going to destroy our economy. We are not going to make America a harder place to create jobs in order to pursue policies that will do absolutely nothing, nothing to change our climate, to change our weather, because America is a lot of things, the greatest country in the world, absolutely. But America is not a planet. And we are not even the largest carbon producer anymore, China is. And they're drilling a hole and digging anywhere in the world that they can get a hold of. So the bottom line is, I am not in favor of any policies that make America a harder place for people to live, or to work, or to raise their families. +p287 +aVJake, you mentioned me and called me a denier. Let me say, climate change... +p288 +aVOK. A skeptic. You can measure the climate. You can measure it. That's not the issue we're discussing. Here is what I'm skeptical of. I'm skeptical of the decisions that the left wants us to make, because I know the impact those are going to have and they're all going to be on our economy. They will not do a thing to lower the rise of the sea. They will not do a thing to cure the drought here in California. But what they will do is they will make America a more expensive place to create jobs. And today with millions of people watching this broadcast that are struggling paycheck to paycheck that do not know how they're going to pay their bills at the end of this month, I'm not in favor of anything that is going to make it harder for them to raise their family. +p289 +aVSenator Rubio, you mean? +p290 +aVI know we all look alike. +p291 +aVThe \u2014 Rosa Parks, an everyday American that changed the course of history. +p292 +aVWell, there are some people in Florida upset at me over a joke I made about Florida State, but, what the heck, I want my codename to be Gator. +p293 +aVOne of the things that made Ronald Reagan a great president, is that he understood that America was a unique nation, like any other that had existed throughout human history. He knew it was founded on universal principles that were powerful, the dignity of all people, human rights, the rights of all to live in freedom and liberty, and choose their own path in life. He didn't just believe it, he acted on it. That's why bringing down communism was so important to him. If I'm honored with the opportunity to be president, I hope that our Air Force One will fly, first and foremost, to our allies; in Israel, in South Korea, and Japan. They know we stand with them. That America can be counted on. It would also fly to China, not just to meet with our enemies, not just to meet with those adversaries of ours that are there, but also to meet with those that aspire to freedom and liberty within China. I would even invite them to my inauguration. We would also fly into Moscow and into Russia. And not just meet with the leaders of Russia, but also meet with those who aspire to freedom and liberty in Russia. And ultimately, I hope that my Air Force One, if I become president, will one day land in a free Cuba, where its people can choose its leaders and its own destiny. +p294 +aVWell, thank you for the question, Chris, and it's great to be here tonight. Let me begin by saying this: I'm not new to the political process; I was making a contribution as the speaker of the third largest and most diverse state in the country well before I even got into the Senate. I would add to that that this election cannot be a resume competition. It's important to be qualified, but if this election is a resume competition, then Hillary Clinton's gonna be the next president, because she's been in office and in government longer than anybody else running here tonight. Here's what this election better be about: This election better be about the future, not the past. It better be about the issues our nation and the world is facing today, not simply the issues we once faced. This country is facing an economy that has been radically transformed. You know, the largest retailer in the country and the world today, Amazon, doesn't even own a single store? And these changes have been disruptive. They have changed people's lives. The jobs that once sustained our middle class, they either don't pay enough or they are gone, and we need someone that understands that as our nominee. If I'm our nominee, how is Hillary Clinton gonna lecture me about living paycheck to paycheck? I was raised paycheck to paycheck. How is she -- how is she gonna lecture me -- how is she gonna lecture me about student loans? I owed over $100,000 just four years ago. If I'm our nominee, we will be the party of the future. +p295 +aVLet me set the record straight on a couple of things. The first is, the evidence is now clear that the majority of people coming across the border are not from Mexico. They're coming from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras. Those countries are the source of the people that are now coming in its majority. I also believe we need a fence. The problem is if El Chapo builds a tunnel under the fence, we have to be able to deal with that too. And that's why you need an e-verify system and you need an entry-exit tracking system and all sorts of other things to prevent illegal immigration. But I agree with what Governor Kasich just said. People are frustrated. This is the most generous country in the world when it comes to immigration. There are a million people a year who legally immigrate to the United States, and people feel like we're being taken advantage of. We feel like despite our generosity, we're being taken advantage of. And let me tell you who never gets talked about in these debates. The people that call my office, who have been waiting for 15 years to come to the United States. And they've paid their fees, and they hired a lawyer, and they can't get in. And they're wondering, maybe they should come illegally. And so these are important issues, and we should address it. It's a serious problem that needs to be addressed, and otherwise we're going to keep talking about this for the next 30 years, like we have for the last 30 years. +p296 +aVNot me. +p297 +aVActually, to be clear......he supported Charlie Crist. +p298 +aVHey, Charlie... +p299 +aVWell, first off, I too believe in curriculum reform. It is critically important in the 21st Century. We do need curriculum reform. And it should happen at the state and local level. That's. . . that's. . . that is where educational policy belongs, because if a parent is unhappy with what their child is being taught in school, they can go to that local school board or their state legislature, or their governor and get it changed. Here's the problem with Common Core. The Department of Education, like every federal agency, will never be satisfied. They will not stop with it being a suggestion. They will turn it into a mandate. In fact, what they will begin to say to local communities is, you will not get federal money unless do you things the way we want you to do it. And they will use Common Core or any other requirements that exists nationally to force it down the throats of our people in our states. +p300 +aVThat's a great question. +p301 +aVThat's a great question. First of all, it begins by having leaders that recognize that the economy we live in today is dramatically different from the one we had five years ago. It's an economy that now has placed us in global competition with dozens of other countries around the world. Now, the big companies that have connections with Washington, they can affect policies to help them, but the small companies like the one Tania is talking about, they're the ones that are struggling. The first thing we need to do is we need to even out the tax code for small businesses so that we lower their tax rate to 25 percent, just as we need to lower it for all businesses. We need to have a regulatory budget in America that limits the amount of regulations on our economy. We need to repeal and replace Obamacare and we need to improve higher education so that people can have access to the skills they need for 21st century jobs. And last but not least, we need to repeal Dodd-Frank. It is eviscerating small businesses and small banks. 20 \u2014 over 40 percent of small and mid-size banks that loan money to small businesses have been wiped out over the \u2014 since Dodd-Frank has passed. We need to repeal and replace Dodd-Frank. We need to make America fair again for all businesses, but especially those being run by small business owners. +p302 +aVWell, Megyn, first of all, I'm not sure that that's a correct assessment of my record. I would go on to add that I believe all-- +p303 +aVI have never said that. And I have never advocated that. What I have advocated is that we pass law in this country that says all human life at every stage of its development is worthy of protection. In fact, I think that law already exists. It is called the Constitution of the United States. And let me go further. I believe that every single human being is entitled to the protection of our laws, whether they can vote or not. Whether they can speak or not. Whether they can hire a lawyer or not. Whether they have a birth certificate or not. And I think future generations will look back at this history of our country and call us barbarians for murdering millions of babies who we never gave them a chance to live. +p304 +aVWell, first, let me say I think God has blessed us. He has blessed the Republican Party with some very good candidates. The Democrats can't even find one. And I believe God has blessed our country. This country has been extraordinarily blessed. And we have honored that blessing. And that's why God has continued to bless us. And he has blessed us with young men and women willing to risk their lives and sometimes die in uniform for the safety and security of our people. Unfortunately today we have a VA that does not do enough for them. I am proud that last year we helped change the law. We changed the law to give the power to the VA secretary the ability to fire any executive that isn't doing their job. And it is outrageous they've only fired one person to date. When I'm president of the United States, we're going to have a VA that cares more about our veterans than about the bureaucrats who work at the VA. +p305 +aVThank you. You know, both of my parents were born into poor families on the island of Cuba. They came to America because it was the only place where people like them could have a chance. Here in this country, they never made it big, but the very purpose of their life was to give us the chance to do all the things they never could. My father was a bartender. And the journey from the back of that bar to this stage tonight, to me, that is the essence of the American dream. It is what makes our nation different. And I'm running for president because I want that to still be possible for the people trying to do that now. I run for president because I believe that we can't just save the American dream; we can expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And that's why I'm asking for your vote. So we can make America greater than it has ever been. And make of this century a new American century. +p306 +asVKASICH +p307 +(lp308 +VThank you, Wolf. Just last weekend, just last week, a friend asked one of my daughters, "Do you like politics?" And my daughter said, "No, I don't. And the reason I don't like it is because there's too much fighting, too much yelling. It's so loud, I don't like it." You know, I turned to my friend and I said, "You know, she's really on to something." And when we think about our country and the big issues that we face in this country; creating jobs, making sure people can keep their jobs, the need for rising wages, whether our children when they graduate from college can find a job, protecting the homeland, destroying +p309 +aVWell, first of all, Wolf, I said last February that we needed to have people on the ground, troops on the ground in a coalition similar to what we had in the first Gulf War. I remember when the Egyptian ambassador to the United States stood in the Rose Garden and pledged Arab commitment to removing Saddam Hussein from Kuwait. Before we came out here tonight, I am told that the Saudis have organized 34 countries who want to join in the battle against terrorism. First and foremost, we need to go and destroy +p310 +aVNo, I don't think it is. And I want to go back to two other issues. One is the metadata. We know we have to hold this data for a longer period of time. And, you know, in a lot of ways, Chris is right. Look, what a president has to do is take a position. We don't want to err on the side of having less. We want to err on the side of having more. That's good for our families. In addition to that, Wolf, there is a big problem. It's called encryption. And the people in San Bernardino were communicating with people who the FBI had been watching. But because their phone was encrypted, because the intelligence officials could not see who they were talking to, it was lost. We have to solve the encryption problem. It is not easy. A president of the United States, again, has to bring people together, have a position. We need to be able to penetrate these people when they are involved in these plots and these plans. And we have to give the local authorities the ability to penetrate to disrupt. That's what we need to do. Encryption is a major problem, and Congress has got to deal with this and so does the president to keep us safe. +p311 +aVYeah, let me \u2014 let me just suggest to everybody, and I hear \u2014 last February, I said we needed to have people on the ground in a coalition with Europe and our allies. This is not going to get done just by working with the Sunnis. And it is not going to get done if we just embed a few people. We have to go massively, like we did in the first Gulf War where we destroyed Saddam's ability to take Kuwait. We need to have a coalition that will stand for nothing less than the total destruction of +p312 +aVI don't understand this thing about Assad. He has to go. Assad is aligned with Iran and Russia. The one thing we want to prevent is we want to prevent Iran being able to extend a Shia crescent all across the Middle East. Assad has got to go. And there are moderates there. There are moderates in Syria who we should be supporting. I do not support a civil war. I don't want to be policeman of the world. But we can't back off of this. And let me tell you, at the end, the Saudis have agreed to put together a coalition inside of Syria to stabilize that country. +p313 +aVHe must go. It will be a blow to Iran and Russia. +p314 +aVThe foreign policy, you have to know how to pick and choose. There's no way, if Saddam had not had weapons of mass destruction, I would have gone, because I don't believe that the U.S. should be involved directly in civil wars. I opposed the U.S. involvement in Lebanon. We ended up having to withdraw our marines after our barracks were blown up. There is a difference between Iraq, where you have Sunni, Shia, and Kurds put together after the First World War by the Western powers. It doesn't work. It needs to break up into three parts. And for the Russians, frankly, it's time that we punched the Russians in the nose. They've gotten away with too much in this world and we need to stand up against them, not just there, but also in Eastern Europe where they threaten some of our most precious allies. +p315 +aVIt sounds more and more what my daughter said that I said in the beginning, all the fighting and arguing is not advancing us. +p316 +aVIt is not the way we're going to strengthen our country. We will strengthen our country when we come together. And, look, you've got Rand Paul, you've got Ted Cruz, you've got Marco, you've got a lot of people on this stage that have studied these issues. You know what a leader does? A leader has a sound program, has a good policy, and then brings people together to solve problems. Guess what? Both in Congress in balancing the budget and in Ohio fixing the economy \u2014 and, by the way, we talk about the fence. The first thing we better get going is strengthening our economy, because if we don't have a strong economy, we can't pay for all of this. And the world wants us to be able to function from strength, believe it or not. Get our economy going, get these people together in a room. We can fix this, ladies and gentlemen. We don't have to fight all the time. It can be done, and we will be great... +p317 +aV... when we join together. Thank you, Hugh. +p318 +aVYou know, obviously, as president of the United States, we've got to keep the people safe. That's first and foremost. But as governor of Ohio, I have an obligation to keep the 11.5 million people in Ohio safe. And we have been very effective with our Joint Terrorism Task Force, being able to make busts. In fact, we just made one three-four weeks ago against a person who was favorable to +p319 +aVNo Republican has ever been elected president of the United States without winning Ohio. Let me give you a little tip on how you win Ohio, it's reform, it's hope, it's growth, it's opportunity, and it's security. The people of Ohio are the people of America. The people of America are reflected in Ohio. Our message has to be big, and bold, and positive, and connect, not just with people's heads but also connect with their hearts. If we do it, we will beat Hillary Clinton, and we will run the White House, and we will strengthen and fix America, I promise you. +p320 +aVFirst of all, let me just say that, in the state of Ohio \u2014 and I'm the only acting executive on \u2014 on this stage today \u2014 we do have a moderate increase in the minimum wage. And I got to tell you, my father carried mail on his back. His father was a coal miner. He died of black lung. He was losing his eyesight. My mother's mother lived with us. She could barely speak English. I come from a town where if the wind blew the wrong way, people found themselves out of work. An economic theory is fine, but you know what? People need help. Now, I have a plan that, in fact, would cut taxes, but not $11 trillion or $12 trillion that would put my children further in debt. I have a plan that would not only cut taxes, lower the income tax rate for individuals, lower the tax for businesses so businesses will compete here and not move operations overseas, and also a plan \u2014 the only plan of anybody standing on this stage to get us to a balanced budget by the end of a second term. And, you know, the simple fact of the matter is, we hear a lot of promises in this debate, a lot of promises about these tax cuts or tax schemes sometimes that I call them. Hillary and the Democrats promise everything on the spending side. We've got to be responsible about what we propose on the tax side. Yes, lower taxes, lower spending. My website, JohnKasich.com, will show you exactly how we balance the budget. I balanced the budget in Washington as a chief architect, and I have balanced it in Ohio for one reason. When you balance the budget and you cut taxes, people get work. And our most important moral purpose as leaders in the political system is to make sure we create an environment for job creation so people can live their dreams and realize their God-given potential. That's why it's so important. And for those at the bottom, we've got to do what we can to train them so they can move up. But to just look the other way is not acceptable, because, you know what, as the governor of Ohio I have to deal with real challenges, and we've gotten it done in our state, and I will do it for America. +p321 +aVSure. We would move the Medicare system from a 7 percent growth down to about a 5 percent growth. And I have a whole series of ways to do that. In Ohio, we reduced Medicaid funding for the poor from 10 percent to 2.5 percent, didn't cut one benefit or didn't take anybody off the rolls. Why? Because we're innovators. I've been an innovator my entire career. And I really don't care what special interests or lobbyists have to say. I have a job to do when I take over a public office. Now, we freeze non-defense discretionary for eight years. We also put an increase in defense spending. Our tax cuts balance out. And at the end of the day, we will get to a balanced budget. And I want everybody here to know, when I was Budget Committee chairman in Washington, I stepped on every toe in that town, and we got to a balanced budget, and we had enormous job growth. And as governor of Ohio, we went from 350,000 lost jobs to a gain of 347,000 jobs. +p322 +aVI'll do it in Washington. I've done it twice; I'll do it thrice for the United States of America. +p323 +aVExcuse me. +p324 +aVYeah, I would like to make a comment. +p325 +aVI appreciate it, Jeb. I'm all of you. But I want at some point to talk about a value-added tax and $11 trillion, $12 trillion tax cuts that will put our kids way deeper in the hole than they have been at this point. So I would like to talk about it at some point, because that's what leadership is. +p326 +aVMaria, can we comment on that? +p327 +aVCan we comment on that? +p328 +aVWell, look, in 1986 Ronald Reagan basically said the people who were here, if they were law-abiding, could stay. But, what didn't happen is we didn't build the walls effectively and we didn't control the border. We need to. We need to control our border just like people have to control who goes in and out of their house. But if people think that we are going to ship 11 million people who are law-abiding, who are in this country, and somehow pick them up at their house and ship them out of Mexico \u2014 to Mexico, think about the families. Think about the children. So, you know what the answer really is? If they have been law- abiding, they pay a penalty. They get to stay. We protect the wall. Anybody else comes over, they go back. But for the 11 million people, come on, folks. We all know you can't pick them up and ship them across, back across the border. It's a silly argument. It is not an adult argument. It makes no sense. +p329 +aVJerry, Gerald, it was an attack. +p330 +aVIn the state of Ohio, the state of Ohio, we have grown 347,000 jobs. Our unemployment is half of what it was. Our fracking industry, energy industry may have contributed 20,000, but if Mr. Trump understood that the real jobs come in the downstream, not in the upstream, but in the downstream. And that's where we're going to get our jobs. But Ohio is diversified. And little false little things, sir, they don't really work when it comes to the truth. So the fact is, all I'm suggesting, we can't ship 11 million people out of this country. Children would be terrified, and it will not work. +p331 +aV...Mr. Baker, everybody got to talk about taxes... +p332 +aV...I think you were coming to me and then... +p333 +aV...Look, I hate to crash the party to you, Mr. Baker, but, you know, what's fair... +p334 +aV...Yes, sir... +p335 +aVLet me tell you this, Mr. Baker, in terms of the cyber attacks, we have the capability to not only have a defensive posture, but it also to make it clear to people that if you attack us with cyber attacks, we will destroy the mechanisms that you are using to attack us. I want to give you a little trip around the world. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years. In the Ukraine, arm the people there so they can fight for themselves. In the eastern part of Europe, make sure that Finland and the Baltics know that if the Russians move, we move. In Syria, yes, a no-fly zone in the north on the Turkish border, a no-fly zone on the south on the Jordanian border. Anybody flies in the first time, maybe they can fly out. They fly in there a second time, they will not fly out. And it also becomes a sanctuary for the people to be. And it also sends many messages in the Middle East that we're still involved. Saudi Arabia, cut off the funding for the radical clerics, the ones that preach against us. But they're fundamentally our friends. Jordan, we want the king to reign for 1,000 years. Egypt, they have been our ally and a moderating force in the Middle East throughout their history. In the groups \u2014 in the countries of the Gulf states of Bahrain, the Cleveland Clinic is opening an operation. Clearly we see the same with them. And in Israel, we have no better ally in the world, and no more criticizing them in public, we should support them. And finally China, China doesn't own the South China Sea, and I give the president some credit for being able to move a naval force in there to let the Chinese know that we're not going to put up with it any more. And in the trade agreement, the TPP, it's critical to us, not only for economic reasons and for jobs, because there are so many people who are connected to getting jobs because of trade, but it allows us to create not only economy alliances, but also potentially strategic alliances against the Chinese. They are not our enemy, but they are certainly not our friend. And finally, I will say to everyone in this room, we have been talking about taxes and economics. When the fall comes, and we run against Hillary, which will be a disaster if she got elected. I have two 16-year-old girls, and I want this country to be strong. We make promises we can't keep under the bright light of the fall, we will have trouble. We must make sure that economic programs and our military programs are solid. I served in Washington as the chairman of the Budget Committee, and we got the budget balanced. And in Ohio, as the CEO, and guess what, we have got to have a CEO mentality and a way to beat Hillary Clinton and the Democracies in the fall. And our ideas have to add up. They have to be solid. And people have to know we have the confidence to lead America. And as president, I will lead this country, as I have before in Washington and in Ohio, and will return both on domestic and international affairs. And I appreciate the opportunity to speak this time, Gerry. +p336 +aVLet me \u2014 let me also say, Gary \u2014 Gary, let me also say, Jeb is \u2014 what Jeb is talking about with the big banks is to force them to reserve their capital, people who invest it and they hold their capital, so that if the bank goes down, the people who are invested in the bank are the ones that pay. That's what he's trying to say. Secondly, I'll tell you about Wall Street: There's too much greed. And the fact is, a free enterprise system is a system that's produced the greatest wealth for the world. But you know Michael Novak, the great Catholic theologian, says that a free enterprise system that is not underlaid with values \u2014 and we should all think about the way we conduct our lives \u2014 yes, free enterprise is great, profits are great, but there have to be some values that underlay it, and they need a good ethics lesson on Wall Street on a regular basis to keep them in check so we, the people, do not lose. +p337 +aVNeil, that's the difference of being an executive. And let me just explain: when a bank is ready to go under and depositors are getting ready to lose their life savings, you just don't say we believe in philosophical concerns. You know what an executive has to decide? When there's a water crisis, how do we get water to the city? When there's a school shooting, how do you get there and help heal a community? When there are financial crisis, or a crisis with ebola, you got to go there and try to fix it. Philosophy doesn't work when you run something. And I gotta tell you, on-the-job training for president of the United States doesn't work. We've done it for 8 years, \u2014 and almost 8 years now. It does not work. We need an executive who's been tried, has been tested, and judge the decisions that that executive makes. I don't like what the Fed is doing, but I'll tell you what worries me more than anything else: turning the Fed over to the Congress of the United States... +p338 +aV...so they can print the money. That would be a very bad approach. +p339 +aVI wouldn't. I wouldn't. +p340 +aVNo. No, I didn't say that. +p341 +aVThey were \u2014 they were talking about what you would do with depositors. Would you let these banks shut down? My argument is, going forward, the banks have to reserve the capital, so that the \u2014 so that the people who own the capital start pressuring the banks to not take these risky approaches, Ted. But at the end of the day... +p342 +aV... I'm gonna tell you this. Let me tell you this. If during \u2014 if during... +p343 +aV...because if during \u2014 well, I'll tell you what (ph). +p344 +aVAs an executive \u2014 no. As an executive, I would figure out how to separate those people who can afford it versus those people, or the hard-working folks who put those money in those institutions...... let me \u2014 no, no. Let me say another thing. Here's what I mean by that. Here's what I mean by that. +p345 +aVWhen you are faced \u2014 when you are faced, in the last financial crisis, with banks going under \u2014 with banks going under, and people, people who put their \u2014 their life savings in there, you got to deal with it. You can't turn a blind eye to it. Now, going forward, that's one thing. If you had another financial crisis, perhaps there would be an effort to make sure that we do (ph). +p346 +aVWell, ladies and gentlemen, if Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders were to win this election, my 16-year-olds, I \u2014 I worry about what their life is going to be like. You know, the conservative movement is all about opportunity. It is about lower taxes. It's about balanced budgets. It's about less regulation. And it's about sending power, money and influence back to where we live so we can run America from the bottom up. In addition to that, once we have the power and the money and the influence with programs we shift out, that each of us have a responsibility to reach out and to rebuild our families, make them stronger, and connect our neighborhoods. All that together \u2014 wealth, connection, family \u2014 America's greatest days are ahead. We must win this election. +p347 +aVGood question, but I want to tell you, my great concern is that we are on the verge, perhaps, of picking someone who cannot do this job. I've watched to see people say that we should dismantle Medicare and Medicaid and leave the senior citizens out \u2014 out in the \u2014 in the cold. I've heard them talk about deporting 10 or 11 \u2014 people here from this country out of this country, splitting families. I've heard about tax schemes that don't add up, that put our kids in \u2014 in a deeper hole than they are today. We need somebody who can lead. We need somebody who can balance budgets, cut taxes... +p348 +aVYou know, frankly, I did it in Washington, in Ohio, and I will do it again in Washington, if I'm president, to get this country moving again. +p349 +aVcountry moving again. +p350 +aVListen, I want to just comment. +p351 +aVWell I want to comment on this. This is the fantasy... +p352 +aVThis is the fantasy that I talked about in the beginning. +p353 +aVI'm the only person on this stage that actually was involved in the chief architect of balancing the Federal Budget. You can't do it with empty promised. You know, these plans would put us trillions and trillions of dollars in debt. I actually have a plan. I'm the only one on this stage that has a plan that would create jobs, cut taxes, balance the budget and can get it done because I'm realistic. You just don't make promises like this. Why don't we just give a chicken in every pot, while we're, you know, coming up \u2014 coming up with these fantasy tax schemes. We'll just clean it up. Where are you gonna clean it up? You have to deal with entitlements, you have to be in a position to control discretionary spending. You gotta be creative and imaginative. Now, let me just be clear, John. I went into Ohio where we had an $8 billion hole and now we have a $2 billion surplus. We're up 347,000 jobs. When I was in Washington, I fought to get the budget balanced. I was the architect. It was the first time we did it since man walked on the moon. We cut taxes and we had a $5 trillion projected surplus when I left. That's was hard work. Fiscal discipline, know what you're doing. Creativity. This stuff is fantasy. Just like getting rid of Medicare and Medicaid. Come on, that's just not \u2014 you scare senior citizens with that. It's not responsible. +p354 +aVWell, I mean right here. To talk about we're just gonna have a 10 percent tithe and that's how we're gonna fund the government? And we're going to just fix everything with waste, fraud, and abuse? Or that we're just going to be great? Or we're going to ship 10 million Americans \u2014 or 10 million people out of this country, leaving their children here in this country and dividing families? Folks, we've got to wake up. We cannot elect somebody that doesn't know how to do the job. You have got to pick somebody who has experience, somebody that has the know-how, the discipline. And I spent my entire lifetime balancing federal budgets, growing jobs, the same in Ohio. And I will go back to Washington with my plan. +p355 +aVAnd I will have done it within 100 days, and it will pass. And we will be strong again. Thank you. +p356 +aVLet me just \u2014 let me respond. First of all, Ohio does have an energy industry, but we're diversified. We're one of the fastest growing states in the country. We came back from the dead. And you know what? It works very, very well. And secondly, when you talk about me being on the board of Lehman Brothers, I wasn't on the board of Lehman Brothers. I was a banker and I was proud of it. And I traveled the country and learned how people made jobs. We ought to have politicians who not only have government experience but know how the CEOs and the job creators work. My state is doing great across the board. And guess what, in 2011, I got a deal... +p357 +aV... an agreement with the... +p358 +aV... that he tried to take credit for four years later. It's a joke. +p359 +aVJohn Harwood, there's a bigger issue here. +p360 +aVWell, first of all, when we talk about the Import Export Bank, it's time to clean up corporate welfare. If we're gonna reform welfare for poor people, we ought to reform it for rich people, as well. Secondly, in our state, we went from a loss of 350,000 jobs to, now, a gain of 347,000 jobs to the positive. Our wages are growing faster than the national average, and I've cut taxes more than any sitting governor in this state \u2014 $5 billion, including no taxes on small business and killing the death tax. I want to go back to what we were talking about earlier, this budget deal in Washington. This is the same old stuff since I left. You spend the money today and then you hope you're going to save money tomorrow. I don't know if people understand, but I spent a lifetime with my colleagues getting us to a federal balanced budget. We actually did it. And I have a road map and a plan right now to get us to balance. Reforming entitlements, cutting taxes. You see, because if you really want to get to a balanced budget, you need to reduce your expenses and you need to grow your economy. So what I will tell you about our incentives \u2014 our incentives are tight, and at the end of the day we make sure that we gain more from the creation of jobs than what we lose. And you know what? Ohio, one of the best growing places in the country \u2014 I not only did it in Washington, I did it in Ohio, and I'll go back to Washington, and there will be no more silly deals... +p361 +aV... If I become President because we'll have a Constitutional Amendment to require a federally balanced budget so they will do their job. +p362 +aVWell, first of all, we're running a $2 billion dollar surplus, we're not having a revenue problem right now. And, sending mixed signals to kids about drugs is a disaster. Drugs is one of the greatest scourge in this country, and I spent five years of my administration working with my team to do a whole sort of things to try to reign in the problem of overdoses, and it goes on and on. We could do a whole show on that. I want to go back for a second thought on this issue of income inequality. My program would move the 104 programs of the federal Department of Education into four block grants, and send them back to the states because income inequality is driven by a lack of skills when kids don't get what they need to be able to compete and win in this country. The fact is, in order to get this economy moving again, I call for freezing regulations for a year except for the problem of public safety. I believe that we need to cut these taxes down, we need to be on a roadmap to balancing the budget, and we need to send power, money, and influence, the welfare department, the education department, job training, infrastructure, Medicaid, all of that out of Washington back to the states so we can run these programs from where we live to the top, not a one size fits all mentality that they have in Washington. And, that will get to the nub of opportunity for our children, and an ability to see wages rise. Again... +p363 +aV...One more time, in Ohio, our wages are growing faster than the national average. We've cut taxes, balanced budgets, changed the regulatory environment. Folks, you want to \u2014 +p364 +aV\u2014 fix America, this is the formula. It worked for Reagan and it works for our team in Ohio. Thank you. +p365 +aVJohn. +p366 +aVI wanna tell you, in my state, we took Medicaid, the hardest program to control, and we took it from a 10 percent growth rate to 2.5 percent without taking one person off the rolls or cutting one single benefit. And so much of what we did \u2014 to force competition, to use technology, to stand down the special interest groups \u2014 can you imagine taking Medicaid from 10 to 2.5 percent? We can take many of those same procedures, we can apply it to Medicare. We can make a stronger program. But I agree with Jeb, you can't just do this by growing the economy. You can't grow your way out of demographics. But we can give people better health care. And finally, on health care, why don't we start treating \u2014 keep giving... +p367 +aV...incentives for people to keep people healthy, rather than giving the incentives to treat them when they're sick? +p368 +aVI was on morning Joe at a town hall and a young student stood up and said, "Can I still be idealistic?" I said, absolutely, you can still change the world. And, you know the old inscription, if you save one life, you've changed the world. Folks, we have a problem here with the leadership in Washington, but I'll tell you another problem. We need to rebuild our families. We need to have stronger families. We need to know who our neighbors are. We need to come together as a country because we have to realize that America is great, not from the top-down. Oh yeah, we want to elect a good president, but America is great from the bottom-up, and the bottom-up is us in our families, in our communities, in our neighborhoods. We will renew America if we work together, and I am totally confident that we will. And God bless America. +p369 +aVHello, I'm John Kasich, the Governor of Ohio. Emma, and Reese, my children, and Karen, love 'ya girls. Thanks for watching tonight. By the way, I think I actually flew on this plane with Ronald Reagan when I was a congressman, and his goals, and mine, really much \u2014 are pretty much the same. Lift Americans, unify, give hope, grow America, and restore it is to that great, shining city on a hill. Yes, he was a great one, and I learned much from watching him. The most important thing, hope to Americans, unify, lift everyone in America. +p370 +aVJake, Jake. +p371 +aVListen, you know, I \u2014 if I were sitting at home and watch thing back and forth, I would be inclined to turn it off. I mean, people at home want to know across this country, they want to know what we're going to do to fix this place, how we'll balance a budget, how we're going to create more economic growth, how we'll pay down the debt. What we're going to do to strengthen the military. So, we just spent 10 minutes here... +p372 +aVBut \u2014 but wait a minute. It's a lot of ad hogshead. Now, I know that it may be buzzing out there, but I think it's important we get to the issues, because that's what people want, and they don't want all this fighting. +p373 +aV...Yeah, well... +p374 +aVWell, let me just say this. First of all, I think it's a bad agreement, I would never have done it. But, you know, a lot of our problems in the world today is that we don't have the relationship with our allies. If we want to go everywhere alone, we will not have the strength as (ph) if we could rebuild with our allies. Now, this agreement, we don't know what's going to happen in 18 months. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years. I've seen lots of issues in foreign affairs, and foreign \u2014 in terms of global politics, you have to be steady. Now, here's the \u2014 if they cheat, we slap the sanctions back on. If they help Hamas, and Hezbollah, we slap the sanctions back on. And, if we find out that they may be developing a nuclear weapon, than the military option is on the table. We are stronger when we work with the Western civilization, our friends in Europe, and just doing it on our own I don't think is the right policy. +p375 +aVNo, no, no. I want to \u2014 I want to \u2014 I want to say something about what the senator just said. +p376 +aVNo one is \u2014 no \u2014 let me \u2014 let me suggest to you we believe that we operate better in the world when our allies work with us. President Bush did it in the Gulf War. We work better when we are unified. Secondly, nobody's trusting Iran. They violate the deal, we put on the sanctions, and we have the high moral ground to talk to our allies in Europe to get them to go with us. If they don't go with us, we slap the sanctions on anyway. If they fund these radical groups that threaten Israel and all of the West, then we should rip up the deal and put the sanctions back on. And let me make it clear \u2014 let me make it clear... +p377 +aV... if we think \u2014 if we think they're getting close to a \u2014 to developing a nuclear weapon and we get that information, you better believe that I would do everything in my power as the commander-in-chief to stop them having a nuclear weapon. +p378 +aVWe can have it, and we can have our allies, and we can be strong as a country, and we can project across this globe with unity, not just doing it alone. That is not what gets us where we want to get as a nation. +p379 +aVWell, I agree that we should defund Planned Parenthood. I don't know many people in America who don't think that we should, and in my state, we're trying to figure out how to get it done, because we are threatened with the federal government taking all of our Medicaid money away. I think there is a way to get this done by giving governors the ability to be able to act to defund Planned Parenthood. But when (ph) it comes to closing down the federal government, you gotta be very careful about that. When we shut the government down \u2014 if we have a chance at success and it's a great principle, yes. The president of the United States is not going to sign this, and all we're gonna do is shut the government down, and then we're gonna open up \u2014 open it up, and the American people are gonna shake their heads and say, "what's the story with these Republicans?" So I think there is a way to get to cutting off the funding for Planned Parenthood. I was in the Congress for 18 years, balanced the budget, cut taxes, got it done. Changed welfare, went around the president to get welfare reform done. There are ways to do it without having to shut the government down, but I'm sympathetic to the fact that we don't want this organization to get funding, and the money ought to be reprogrammed for family planning in other organizations that don't support this tactic. But I would not be for shutting the government down... +p380 +aV...because I don't think it's going to work out. +p381 +aVWe're not \u2014 what I can tell you is this. We didn't surrender in New Jersey, six years ago, as the brand new first ever pro-life governor of New Jersey since Roe versus Wade, I defended Planned Parenthood. And I've vetoed Planned Parenthood funding, now, eight times in New Jersey. Since the day I walked in as governor, Planned Parenthood has not been funded in New Jersey. We stood up and every one of those vetoes has been sustained. But here's the problem, we're \u2014 we're fighting with each other up here. We agree. Let's ask Hillary Clinton. She believes in the systematic murder of children in the womb to preserve their body parts... +p382 +aV...Dana, in a way that maximizes their value for sale for profit. It is disgusting, and the American people need to hear it... +p383 +aV...we shouldn't be fighting with each other. She's the real opponent, she's the real problem. +p384 +aVI'll tell you what \u2014 I'll tell you what I'd be willing to fight for. I'll tell you what I'd be willing to fight for. Why will (ph) we put tax reform on the president's desk, so we can simplify this tax system? +p385 +aVNo, no, it's really important, Dana. We got to talk about what we would be willing to shut down for. Why don't we put tax reform on this president's desk, and make him veto it if that's what he wants to do? Why haven't we repealed and replaced Obamacare? Make him veto if that's what he wants to do. +p386 +aVThere's a \u2014 +p387 +aVJake \u2014 +p388 +aVOK, Jake. +p389 +aVI don't at this point in terms of changing the incentives for investment and risk-taking. But let's just stop for a second. There's one person on this stage that does have a record. I'm the only person on the stage and one of the few people in this country that led the effort as the chief architect of the last time we balanced the federal budget. We also cut taxes. And when I left Washington in 2000, we had a $5 trillion surplus, and the economy was booming. I had spent 10 years of my life to get us to that point, went out in the private sector, was a great experience, and went into Ohio and took an $8 billion hole and turned it into a $2 billion surplus. We've had the largest amount of tax cuts of any sitting governor. We've grown well over 300,000 jobs. You see, I've done it in both places. I'm the only one here that has done it in both places. It took a lot to get us to a balanced budget. It was legitimate. It was real. And we negotiated it. A lot of what we're talking about here tonight as we take this position and that position, you know what? At the end of the day, America has got to work. We've got to figure out how we come together to deal with this \u2014 with our fiscal problems because when we deal with that, we create a stronger economy for everybody. People have a chance to rise. So, you know, when we think about how we make a choice, it's the person that lands that plane. It's not somebody that talks about it. It's about the person who has done it. And I've done it in... +p390 +aV... both places. And I did it including people in the other party. And that's how we were successful. +p391 +aVAnd that's how I will be president, using that experience to drive this country forward. Thank you. +p392 +aVWell, look, people still have to get to know me, so I want to spend my time talking about my experience reforming welfare, balancing budgets, cutting taxes, providing economic growth when I was in Washington, turning Ohio around. Eight billion in the hole, $2 billion surplus, up over 300,000 jobs, big tax cuts, strengthening our credit. All those things matter but, you know, as a young man in my first election in 1978, I defeated an incumbent Democrat. I defeated an incumbent Democrat in 1982; running on the Reagan program, I was the only Republican in America to defeat an incumbent Democrat that year. And then, when I won for election of governor, I was the first Republican to defeat an incumbent in 36 years, and the first person to have never run statewide out of politics for 10 years to beat an incumbent. That hadn't happened for 96 years. So, we'll get to the point where we'll talk about Hillary Clinton, or whoever the nominee is, record. But right now, I want to give people sense of hope, sense of purpose, a sense of unity, sense that we can do it. So... +p393 +aVYou know, at the end of the day, I'm going to continue to talk about my record, because there is, did you ever notice when people run for office, they run for president, they make a lot of promises, they don't keep them. +p394 +aVI don't intend to do that, and I going to be out there pushing it out \u2014 don't worry about me and Hillary. That will all work out, and I'm from Ohio. She will not beat me there, I can promise you that. +p395 +aVCan I just \u2014 can I \u2014 Jake, can I just make one point on this whole military discussion? +p396 +aVI called for boots on the ground many months ago in a coalition with our friends who share our interest. You know, you win a battle with the military, and when we go somewhere, we need to be mobile, and lethal. We need to take care of business, and we need to come home. But, we face, also, a bigger war \u2014 and you win the bigger war with the battle of ideas. You wonder why young people, and educated people, rich people, schooled people, have tried to join +p397 +aV...to make (ph) centers (ph) of justice so that we can battle the radicals, call them out for what they are, and make sure that all of our people feel fulfilled in living in Western civilization... +p398 +aV...This is a giant battle in the world today... +p399 +aVWell, it's probably not, maybe, legal, but, I would pick Mother Theresa, the lady that I had a chance to meet, a woman who lived a life so much bigger than her own. An inspiration to everyone when we think about our responsibility to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. +p400 +aVWell, I have one now \u2014 they (ph) call me, "Unit One". My wife says, "You'll never be Unite One, I'm Unite One. You're Unit Two." +p401 +aVWell, as president, I will make this a nation that will solve problems. And how? By having the elected officials and the leaders realize they're Americans before they're Republicans or Democrats. I did it in Washington. And I've done it in Ohio by having the elected officials realize that they're Ohioans before anything else. Secondly, I will rebuild the relationships and show the respect to our allies around the world. We have no choice but to do that. We will be stronger when we are unified. And we'll fight for freedom and for human rights. And finally, a little bit of what Carly said. The people that are out there listening, America was never great because we ran America from the top down. America is great because we have run America from the bottom up, where we all live in the neighborhoods. One more time in America, we need to revive the concept of citizenship, where everybody's actions make a huge difference in changing the world. We have a Holocaust memorial on our state house grounds. And there is one line on there that stands out all the time. "If you've saved one life, you've changed the world." We need to adopt that as citizens and rebuild and reinspire our country. Thank you. +p402 +aVWell, first of all... ...first of all, Megyn, you should know that -- that President Reagan expanded Medicaid three or four times. Secondly, I had an opportunity to bring resources back to Ohio to do what? To treat the mentally ill. Ten thousand of them sit in our prisons. It costs $22,500 a year... ...to keep them in prison. I'd rather get them their medication so they could lead a decent life. Secondly, we are rehabbing the drug-addicted. Eighty percent of the people in our prisons have addictions or problems. We now treat them in the prisons, release them in the community and the recidivism rate is 10 percent and everybody across this country knows that the tsunami of drugs is -- is threatening their very families. So we're treating them and getting them on their feet. And, finally, the working poor, instead of them having come into the emergency rooms where it costs more, where they're sicker and we end up paying, we brought a program in here to make sure that people could get on their feet. And do you know what? Everybody has a right to their God-given purpose. And finally, our Medicaid is growing at one of the lowest rates in the country. And, finally, we went from $8 billion in the hole to $2 billion in the black. We've cut $5 billion in taxes... ...and we've grown 350,000 jobs. +p403 +aVChris, first of all, I was just saying to Chris Christie, they say we're outspoken, we need to take lessons from Donald Trump if we're really going to learn it. Here is the thing about Donald Trump. Donald Trump is hitting a nerve in this country. He is. He's hitting a nerve. People are frustrated. They're fed up. They don't think the government is working for them. And for people who want to just tune him out, they're making a mistake. Now, he's got his solutions. Some of us have other solutions. You know, look, I balanced the federal budget as one of the chief architects when I was in Washington. Hasn't been done since. I was a military reformer. I took the state of Ohio from an $8 billion hole and a 350,000 job loss to a $2 billion surplus and a gain of 350,000 jobs. +p404 +aVBut the point is that we all have solutions. Mr. Trump is touching a nerve because people want the wall to be built. They want to see an end to illegal immigration. They want to see it, and we all do. But we all have different ways of getting there. And you're going to hear from all of us tonight about what our ideas are. +p405 +aVDonald, if you... +p406 +aV-- this campaign, I hope you will give to me. +p407 +aVOK. +p408 +aVLet's start off with my father being a mailman. So I understand the concerns of all the folks across this country, some of whom have trouble, you know, making ends meet. But I think she will come in a narrow way. The nominee of this party, if they're going to win, has got to come at it in a big way, which is pro-growth. Which is balancing budgets. You know, we were talking about it. People were saying, could we do it? I was the chairman of the Budget Committee and the lead architect the last time it happened in Washington, and when we did it we had great economic growth, we cut taxes, and we had a big surplus. Economic growth is the key. Economic growth is the key to everything. But once you have economic growth, it is important that we reach out to people who live in the shadows, the people who don't seem to ever think that they get a fair deal. And that includes people in our minority community; that includes people who feel as though they don't have a chance to move up. You know, America is a miracle country. And we have to restore the sense that the "Amiracle" will apply to you. Each and every one of the people in this country who's watching tonight, lift everybody, unite everybody and build a stronger United States of America again. It will be and can be done. +p409 +aVWell, look, I'm an old-fashioned person here, and I happen to believe in traditional marriage. But I've also said the court has ruled -- +p410 +aVWait, Megyn, the court has ruled, and I said we'll accept it. And guess what, I just went to a wedding of a friend of mine who happens to be gay. Because somebody doesn't think the way I do, doesn't mean that I can't care about them or can't love them. So if one of my daughters happened to be that, of course I would love them and I would accept them. Because you know what? That's what we're taught when we have strong faith. So the issues like that, issues like that are planted to divide us. I think the simple fact of the matter is, and this is where I would agree with Jeb, and I've been saying it all along, we need to give everybody a chance, treat everybody with respect, and let them share in this great American dream that we have, Megan. So, look, I'm going to love my daughters, I'm going to love them no matter what they do. Because, you know what, God gives me unconditional love. I'm going to give it to my family and my friends and the people around me. +p411 +aVWell, Megyn, my father was a mailman. His father was a coal miner. My mother's mother could barely speak English. And their son today stands on this podium in the great state of Ohio not only as the governor, but a candidate for president of the United States. I do believe in miracles. You know, I've had a lot of elections. But my elections are really not about campaigns. I tell my people that these are about a movement. And a movement to do what? To restore common sense. A movement to do things like provide economic growth. And a movement not to let anybody be behind. You know, today the country is divided. You asked a question about the police and the difficulty in communities. We've got to unite our country again, because we're stronger when we are united and we are weaker when we are divided. And we've got to listen to other people's voices, respect them, but keep in mind, and I believe in terms of the things that I've read in my lifetime, the Lord'is not picking us. But because of how we respect human rights, because that we are a good force in the world, he wants America to be strong. He wants America to succeed. And he wants America to lead. And nothing is more important to me than my family, my faith, and my friends. +p412 +aVYou know, tonight we hear about what people want to do. I want to tell you what I've done. I was a member of the Armed Services Committee for 18 years. I spent a big chunk of my life studying national security issues and our role in the world. No. 2. I was the chairman of the House Budget Committee and one of the chief architects the last time we balanced a budget, and it was the first time we had done it since man walked on the moon. We had a $5 trillion surplus and we cut taxes. I spent ten years in the private sector, actually learning how business works. And now I'm the governor of Ohio, and I inherited a state that was on the brink of dying. And we turned it all around with jobs and balanced budgets and rising credit and tax cuts, and the state is unified, and people have hope again in Ohio. +p413 +asVQUICK +p414 +(lp415 +VGentlemen \u2014 we'll \u2014 we'll get back to this \u2014 just a minute \u2014 just a minute we're gonna continue this. I wanna talk taxes... +p416 +aVDr. Carson, let's talk about taxes. You have a flat tax plan of 10 percent flat taxes, and \u2014 I've looked at it \u2014 and this is something that is very appealing to a lot of voters, but I've had a really tough time trying to make the math work on this. If you were to took a 10 percent tax, with the numbers right now in total personal income, you're gonna come in with bring in $1.5 trillion. That is less than half of what we bring in right now. And by the way, it's gonna leave us in a $2 trillion hole. So what analysis got you to the point where you think this will work? +p417 +aVI \u2014 I understand that, but if you \u2014 if you look at the numbers you probably have to get to 28. +p418 +aV15 percent still leaves you with a $1.1 trillion hole. +p419 +aVYou'd have to cut \u2014 you'd have to cut government about 40 percent to make it work with a $1.1 trillion hole. +p420 +aVThat is true, I looked at the numbers. +p421 +aVDr. Carson, thank you. +p422 +aVGovernor... +p423 +aVDr. Carson, let me get 30 seconds with Dr. Carson... +p424 +aVThank you. +p425 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, thank you. +p426 +aVGentlemen, I'm sorry, we need to... +p427 +aVWe're going to move on. +p428 +aVThirty seconds. +p429 +aVWe'll get to everyone. Ms. Fiorina, I \u2014 I'd like to ask you a question. You are running for president of the United States because of your record running Hewlett-Packard. But the stock market is usually a fair indicator of the performance of a CEO, and the market was not kind to you. Someone who invested a dollar in your company the day you took office had lost half of the dollar by the day you left. Obviously, you've talked in the past about what a difficult time it was for technology companies, but anybody who was following the market knows that your stock was a much worse performer, if you looked at your competitors, if you looked at the overall market. I just wonder, in terms of all of that \u2014 you know, we look back, your board fired you. I just wondered why you think we should hire you now. +p430 +aVMrs. Fiorina, it's interesting that you bring up Mr. Perkins, because... ...he said a lot of very questionable things. Last year, in an interview, he said that he thinks wealthy people should get more votes than poor people. I think his quote was that, "if you pay zero dollars in taxes, you should get zero votes. If you pay a million dollars, you should get a million votes." Is this the type of person you want defending you? +p431 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p432 +aVThank you, we're out of time. Thank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Carl. +p433 +aVGovernor Christie, I'd like to a question next. Actually, I have a question for you . In your tell it like it is campaign, you've said a lot of tough things. You've said that we need to raise the retirement age for Social Security. You think that we need to cut benefits for people who make over $80,000 and eliminate them entirely for seniors who are making over $200,000. Governor Huckabee, who is here on the stage, has said that you and others who think this way are trying to rob seniors of the benefits that they've earned. It raises the question: When it is acceptable to break a social compact? +p434 +aV...Governor... +p435 +aV...Thank you. +p436 +aVWelcome back to the presidential debate for the Republicans. We are live in Boulder, Colorado, right here on +p437 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. +p438 +aVSenator Rubio, you yourself have said that you've had issues. You have a lack of bookkeeping skills. You accidentally inter-mingled campaign money with your personal money. You faced (ph) foreclosure on a second home that you bought. And just last year, you liquidated a $68,000 retirement fund. That's something that cost you thousands of dollars in taxes and penalties. In terms of all of that, it raises the question whether you have the maturity and wisdom to lead this $17 trillion economy. What do you say? +p439 +aVSenator, I understand all of that. I had a lot of student loans when I got out, too. But you've had a windfall that a lot of Americans haven't. You made over a million dollars on a book deal, and some of these problems came after that. +p440 +aVBut you \u2014 but you liquidated that retirement account after the fact, and that cost you about $24,000 out of that in taxes and feed. That \u2014 that was after you'd already come into that windfall. That's why I raised the question. +p441 +aVYes, thank you John. Senator Cruz, working women in this country still earn just 77 percent of what men earn. And I know that you've said you've been very sympathetic to our cause. But you've also you said that the Democrats' moves to try and change this are the political show votes. I just wonder what you would do as President to try and help in this cause? +p442 +aVMrs. Fiorina \u2014 +p443 +aVMrs. Fiorina, we will come back to you. +p444 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Carl? +p445 +aVMr. Trump, let's stay on this issue of immigration. You have been very critical of Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook who has wanted to increase the number of these H1Bs. +p446 +aVSo you're in favor of... +p447 +aVWhere did I read this and come up with this that you were... +p448 +aVYou know, Mr. \u2014 you know, Mr. Trump, if I may . You've been \u2014 you have been \u2014 you had talked a little bit about Marco Rubio. I think you called him Mark Zuckerberg's personal senator because he was in favor of the H1B. +p449 +aVSo this was an erroneous article the whole way around? +p450 +aVMy apologies. I'm sorry. +p451 +aVYes, you can. +p452 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you very much. I would like to introduce my colleague, Rick Santelli, he has some comments as well, sir. +p453 +aVRick, thank you very much. Governor Huckabee, you have railed against income inequality. You've said that some Wall Street executives should have gone to jail over the roles that they played during the financial crisis. Apart from your tax plan, are there specific steps you would require from corporate America to try and reduce the income inequality. +p454 +aVGovernor? +p455 +aVGovernor? +p456 +aVThank you. +p457 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee. +p458 +aVHow about 15 more seconds? +p459 +aVGovernor? +p460 +aVGovernor, I'm sorry... +p461 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p462 +aVGovernor, thank you. Appreciate it. John? +p463 +aVIt's at the moderator discretion. +p464 +aVWelcome back to the University of Colorado and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p465 +aVThank you, sir. +p466 +aVYou were. You get 30 seconds. +p467 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Carl? +p468 +aVHigher education is the example... +p469 +aVI want to go back, if I can, to the issue of... +p470 +aVI want to go back, if I may, to the... +p471 +aVSenator Paul, among the leading conservative opponents to the creation of Medicare back in the 1960s was Ronald Reagan. He warned that it would lead to socialism. Considering the mounting cost of Medicare, was he right to oppose it? +p472 +aVSenator, thank you. [ +p473 +aVWelcome back to Boulder, Colorado and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p474 +aVThank you, Governor. +p475 +aVGovernor. +p476 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Paul, let's go back to you. Do these solutions sound like they work? +p477 +aVDo these solutions sound like they would work? +p478 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Governor? +p479 +aVGood evening, everyone. I'm Becky Quick, along with my +p480 +aVGovernor Jindal, let's talk a little bit about the news of the day. Just a few hours ago, the Republicans and the Democrats in the House voted on a budget deal that will increase spending by about $80 billion dollars over the next two years. You, however, have called the Republicans who have been willing to work with the Democrats to do things like this the, "Surrender Party of the Republican caucus." Would you have shut the government down instead? +p481 +aV...But Governor... +p482 +aV...if you didn't have a choice, if you didn't control things in the house, would you take the choice of shutting things down, or would you go ahead and agree with them? +p483 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p484 +aVGovernor Pataki, let's get to your point. You wanted to make a comment on the budget. You want to get in on the idea, what would you do if you were in Washington? Would you compromise... +p485 +aVGovernor Pataki, thank you. John? +p486 +aVGovernor Pataki, let's talk a little bit about what's happened on Wall Street. Some of your colleagues in the Republican Party, including some of the people on this stage, have bashed Wall Street. They say that it was largely responsible for the financial crisis. You're a former governor of New York, and you relied very heavily on Wall Street for income. Do you think they've gone too far? +p487 +aVGovernor Pataki, thank you. +p488 +aVCarl? +p489 +aVWelcome back, everyone. This is the Republican Presidential Debate on +p490 +aVSenator, I'm sorry your minute is up. +p491 +aVThank you very much, Senator Santorum. +p492 +aVAnd Graham, Mr. Graham, yes, that was a question to you, too. +p493 +aVYou have 30 seconds. +p494 +aVSenator Graham, thank you. +p495 +aVI'm sorry. That's your 30 seconds... +p496 +aVSenator Graham... +p497 +aVThank you, Senator. +p498 +aVGentlemen, hold on a second. +p499 +aVGo ahead, +p500 +aVGovernor Pataki... +p501 +aV\u2014 I'm sorry, that was a... +p502 +aVGovernor Pataki... +p503 +aVI'm sorry to talk over you, sir. That was a minute. +p504 +aVThank you very much. +p505 +aVCarl? +p506 +aVYou guys are making this just like home. This is just like . +p507 +aVGovernor Jindal, I want to go back to something that you mentioned before with your tax plan. I know that you want to put a 2 percent tax on all families, just to make sure everyone has some skin in the game. But every working American pays 6.2 percent, when it comes to Social Security taxes. They pay another 1.45 percent of Medicare. Isn't that skin in the game? +p508 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p509 +aVWelcome back to Boulder, Colorado, and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p510 +aVNo, no. +p511 +aVI \u2014 I'm with you. I still have a BlackBerry, too. Senator \u2014 Senator Santorum, how about you? +p512 +aVThank you. Governor? +p513 +aVThank you. Senator Graham? +p514 +aVWe take your time back. Yes. +p515 +aVJohn? +p516 +asVGRAHAM +p517 +(lp518 +VThank you very much. I just returned from Iraq two weeks ago. It was my 36th trip to Iraq and Afghanistan in the last decade. Toward the end, I met a very impressive Special Forces sergeant. It was his job to train Iraqi Kurdish commandos. He was so proud of what he was doing and so proud of the people he was training. He was the replacement for Master Sergeant Wheeler, a Delta Force member who was killed two months ago in a raid against an +p519 +aVYou may think this makes us safe, but it doesn't. The good news for everybody in this room is, after 36 trips to Iraq and Afghanistan, most people over there, Wolf, are not buying what +p520 +aVI will support the Republican nominee, whoever he or she may be. Like Bob Dole, I may sleep late that day if it's Trump. But the bottom line, if it's Trump, so be it. That's who I'll support. Please understand we're in a war that we can't afford to lose, and what he said about banning Muslims coming here to America has made us all less safe, and it's the worst possible thing he could do in this war. He clearly doesn't understand this war and how to win it. For God's sakes, pick somebody who is worthy of the sacrifice of those who are fighting this war and who actually knows how to win, and I don't believe that's Mr. Trump, and I know it's not Hillary Clinton. +p521 +aVRick, please understand the only way we're gonna win the war against radical Islam is for the world to unite. Very few fathers and mothers want to turn their daughters and sons over to +p522 +aVWell, here's what I'm here to tell you, when I first started this process of running for president., I said, " if you didn't realize we need more America boots on the ground in Iraq and eventually in Syria as a part of the regional army - not ready to be commander in chief." Like nobody said a word, now everybody's on board except Senator Paul. Senator Paul and Senator Cruz, are isolationists. They both want to restrict the ability of the NSA to do the following; find out if somebody overseas is calling into America and if somebody is on the other end of the phone, don't you want to know who their talking to? IF a terrorist is calling into America and we can match up phone numbers we get a get a court order to find out what the content is. We're at war folks, they're not trying to steal your car, they're trying to kills us all. So yes, I would re-institute this program. There's four things you need to understand about this war, it's a religious war, them against the world, if you don't fight them over there, they're coming here. If you don't hit them first, they're going to hit us. If you're not determined to fight it as a ware, you're going to lose it. So if you're worried about somebody having your phone in the government, don't be. The only thing you need to worry about is if you're talking to terrorist and a judge gives an order to listen to what you're saying. That's all you need to worry about. +p523 +aVCan I say something? +p524 +aVYeah. There are at least 3,500 American muslims serving in the armed forces. Thank you for your service. You are not the enemy. Your religion is not the enemy. Let me make this real to you. I was at the second presidential election in Afghanistan. The guy guarding me was an American Muslim sergeant in the Army who grew up in Kabul, left when he was \u2014 graduated high school, joined the U.S. Army, went back to his high school where they were doing polling, people voting, he took me there and cried like a baby. I cried like a baby. He is the solution to this problem, folks. He is not the problem. Leave the faith alone. Go after the radicals that kill us all. +p525 +aVThank you. This is why I own a flip phone. You don't have to worry about all of this stuff. The bottom line is, we're at war. They're trying to come here to kill us all and it's up to the government to protect you within constitutional means. Any system that would allow a terrorist to communicate with somebody in our country and we can't find out what they're saying is stupid. If I'm president of the United States, and you join +p526 +aVWell, what you want to do is you want to knock them off line. How about this idea? If you pledge allegiance to al-Baghdadi, you can't get married in America? The bottom line is you have to go after them everywhere. The key to winning this war is to provide the capacity to those in the faith who reject the ideology. The key to fighting this war is to fight it in their backyard, not ours. Two years ago I came up with a plan that requires more American boots on the ground in Iraq. The first thing out of my mouth running for President was, if you don't understand we need 10,000 troops in Iraq, rather than 3,500, you're not ready. What would I do in Syria? I'd form a regional army of Arabs and Turkey. Ninety percent them, 10 percent us. Up to 10,000 U.S. forces to go in on the ground and destroy the caliphate and its roots. Take Raqqah away from +p527 +aVYeh, it's just you're not going to win that way, Rick. There's nobody left in Syria to train. Between the Russians and Assad, they have killed all the people we trained, and our President sat on the sidelines and watched people get killed that we enticed into the fight. There is nobody left to train. I would get the Arabs who are threatened by +p528 +aVWell, number one, dead men don't preach anything. If you don't understand we need a ground force to go into Syria, then you're not ready to destroy +p529 +aVYeah. I just don't make this up, Wolf. I talk to people who are combat trained who have won in Iraq who I trust. Here's what I want to tell the Arab world and Turkey. We're not going to send 100,000 troops. You're going to do the fighting this time and we're gonna help you. We paid for the last two wars, you're gonna pay for this one. And, by the way, they get it because +p530 +aVTwo years ago. +p531 +aVYes. +p532 +aVI think we need to have a military strategy regarding Libya. They've just take over Gaddafi's hometown called Sur. There's about 2000 of them. Here's what I've learned in my 36 visits, you can't deter these guys, they're ready to die, bring on the virgins. Dying is first place in their world. What we have to do is work with others over time to destroy to ideology. We have to offer a hopeful life to compete with the glory of this. Most young people folks want the same thing you do. They don't want to live in the 11th century. So yes, you have to destroy the caliphate. I want to work with Arabs and Turkey to do it, but here's the key is to not leave. If we left Germany and Japan only god knows what would've happened. If we have 10000 troops left in Iraq, there would be no +p533 +aVI want to talk to General Keane first. I want to find out, what do we need militarily to keep them contained and eventually destroy them in Libya. They're in nine countries. You want to deal with Libya, go to Iraq and Syria. You want to prevent another 9/11, take the caliphate headquarters away from +p534 +aVNo. What I would do is I would try to make friends throughout the world to destroy a common threat to the world. These people are religious Nazis. Most people in Islam don't buy what they're selling. I've told you a thousand times that I would partner with the Arabs in Turkey. But, the reason they don't partner with Obama is they just don't trust him. Do you think they would trust me? I know them all. I've been working for a decade to figure out how to win this war. To my good friend Ted Cruz, please ask him the following question, you say you would keep Assad in power, I will tell you that is the worst possible thing that could come out of an American leaders mouth. It would be disastrous. His favorite movie is, apparently, Princess Bride. Ted, getting in bed with Iran and Russia to save Assad is inconceivable. +p535 +aVPrincess Buttercup would not like this. +p536 +aV...I didn't get to say yes. Yes. +p537 +aVYeah, this is an important discussion. The American president is the strongest voice in the world \u2014 until Obama came along. Now, we're just one of many. When you ask people to help you, when you entice Syrians to join your cause, to take down the dictator they hate to destroy +p538 +aV...we'd better do something about it, and I have a plan. +p539 +aVI don't think it's necessary. If you don't want to be there, I don't want you to be there. I just retired after 33 years in the Air Force, 140 days on the ground as an Air Force Reservist. To those who are watching, thank you for your service. I've had a small walk in your shoes. We have the best military in the world. Obama has put it in a box. Let's take it out of the box and use it before we get attacked here. We don't need a draft, we need a commander in chief who knows what the hell they're doing. +p540 +aVAnd, I am that guy. +p541 +aVBut, the reason they don't partner with Obama is they just don't trust him. Do you think they would trust me? I know them all. I've been working for a decade to figure out how to win this war. To my good friend Ted Cruz, please ask him the following question, you say you would keep Assad in power, I will tell you that is the worst possible thing that could come out of an American leaders mouth. It would be disastrous. His favorite movie is, apparently, Princess Bride. Ted, getting in bed with Iran and Russia to save Assad is inconceivable. +p542 +aVPrincess Buttercup would not like this. +p543 +aV...I didn't get to say yes. Yes. +p544 +aVYeah, this is an important discussion. The American president is the strongest voice in the world \u2014 until Obama came along. Now, we're just one of many. When you ask people to help you, when you entice Syrians to join your cause, to take down the dictator they hate to destroy +p545 +aV...we'd better do something about it, and I have a plan. +p546 +aVI don't think it's necessary. If you don't want to be there, I don't want you to be there. I just retired after 33 years in the Air Force, 140 days on the ground as an Air Force Reservist. To those who are watching, thank you for your service. I've had a small walk in your shoes. We have the best military in the world. Obama has put it in a box. Let's take it out of the box and use it before we get attacked here. We don't need a draft, we need a commander in chief who knows what the hell they're doing. +p547 +aVAnd, I am that guy. +p548 +aVCan, can I... +p549 +aVThis is important. We're not fighting all the wars with our kids. If you've been to Iraq and Afghanistan and you made any friends, you've lots of bunch. Thousands have died in Iraq and Afghanistan fighting. +p550 +aVDon't belittle their sacrifice. +p551 +aVNo. +p552 +aVTo, to those the (well) times in the Army were a bigger problem than they are today. If you want to fix this, you get the Army to 500,000, not 420,000. You want to win this war, grow the Navy to 350 ships, not 275. Sequestration is Latin for doing really dumb things. We're going to have the smallest Navy since 1915, the smallest Army since 1940. I was yelling and screaming don't do sequestration. I was right. If I am President of the United States, Commander in Chief, we're going to rebuild our military without a draft... +p553 +aV...and we're going to go on the offense and they're ready to go. +p554 +aVThey are ready to go. They just need to be led. +p555 +aVWell I stand unique, having been a military lawyer for 33 years. I've been a defense attorney, a prosecutor, and a military judge. Mr. Trump, you don't have to speak about everything, that's not required. I would make sure that everybody had a fair trial. Does that make sense to you? We're at war folks and this stuff has to stop. It's bad for morale to hear somebody wanting to be Commander in Chief that would deny due process to somebody who's been charged in the military. For God's sakes Mr. Trump, you're asking to be the Commander in Chief , the leader of the free world, up your game. As to women, if you want to kill terrorists, I'm your guy. +p556 +aVWell, the first thing I would do is make adjustments to reality. I want to look and see if this was a terrorist arranged marriage between the couple in California. The fact that they met online accidentally is almost zero. So, no, I would have a time-out on Syrian refugees because you'd be crazy if you didn't after Paris. But, I've been to the refugee camps in Turkey, and Jordan. Trust me with your Christian \u2014 and I'm a lousy Christian saved by grace, but \u2014 this is important. We've got to stop this war. Do you realize that there are more Syrian refugees in Lebanon going to school than Lebanese children? Do you realize if this war goes for another year the King of Jordan could fall? Let's have a no-fly zone. +p557 +aVI would \u2014 make changes to that bill in light of what I know today. +p558 +aVThe next president is going to be a war-time president, whether they like it or not. I'm ready for that job. Two years ago isolationism led by Senator Paul and Cruz was white hot in our party. Now it is in retreat because events have proven me more right than wrong and has proven them to be wrong. In the first debate I called for American troops on the ground to protect our homeland. Nobody came forward. Now, most have. We've spent a lot of carnage to get them to where I have always been. Make me president, I will keep you and your family safe. +p559 +aVWell, number one, thank you for having me here tonight. How about a round of applause for Boulder, Colorado? This is a beautiful place. Looking at their academic standards, the only way I could have gotten into this university is to be invited to this debate tonight. But here's my take on things. Without national security, there is no economic security. Without the sacrifice of the veteran, all of our hopes and dreams are at risk. Just a few days ago, Hillary Clinton said that the problems with the V.A. are being exaggerated by Republicans. They are not, they are real. +p560 +aVWell, let me tell you what is real. The threat to our homeland. I've never seen so many threats to our homeland than I do today. Barack Obama is an incompetent Commander in Chief. There are more terrorist organizations with safe havens to attack the American homeland than anytime since 9/11. We're in the process of reducing our defense spending by half. I am looking at this budget with one view in mind, will it restore the ability to defend this nation. We're on track to have the smallest army since 1940, the smallest navy since 1915, this budget, if it is paid for, will put $40 billion dollars back in the defense department at a time we need it. The number one role of the federal government's to defend this nation, I intend to be a Commander in Chief that can win a war we cannot afford to lose. +p561 +aVHere's the problem. We're being walked all over because our commander in chief is weak in the eyes of our enemies. Do you think Putin would be in the Ukraine today if Ronald Reagan were president? Why are the Chinese stealing our intellectual property, hacking into our system? Why are they building islands over resource-rich waters? Because they can get away with it. At the end of the day, ladies and gentlemen, the foreign policy of Barack Obama needs to be replaced, and the last person you want to find to replace his foreign policy is his secretary of state. So to the Chinese, when it comes to dealing with me, you've got a clenched fist or an open hand. You pick. The party's over, to all the dictators. Make me commander-in-chief and this crap stops. +p562 +aVNo, I \u2014 I think I'm trying to solve problems that somebody had better solve. Now, you don't have to believe that climate change is real. I have been to the Antarctic. I've been to Alaska. I'm not a scientist, and I've got the grades to prove it. But I've talked to the climatologists of the world, and 90 percent of them are telling me that greenhouse gas effect is real. That we're heating up the planet. I just want a solution that would be good for the economy, that doesn't destroy it. I want to fix an immigration system. I'm not gonna tell you, if you like your doctor, you can keep it \u2014 keep him. Do you like your health care, you're gonna keep it. I'm tired of telling people things that they want to hear, that we know we're not gonna do. We're not gonna eliminate the corporate tax. But we can make it lower. We're going to fix immigration, only if we work together. I want to secure the border because, if we don't, we're going to get hurt and hit again. I want to fix a broken visa system. I want to increase legal immigration, because we're gonna have a shortage of workers over time. As to the 11 million, I want to talk about fixing the problem. We're not going to deport 11 million people and their legal citizen children. But we will deport felons. And those who stay will have to learn our language to stay, because I don't speak it well but look how far I've come. +p563 +aVAt the end of the day, folks, I am trying to solve a problem and win an election. I am tired of losing. Good God, look who we're running against. The number one candidate on the other side thought she was flat broke after her and her husband were in the White House for eight years. The number two guy went to the Soviet Union on his honeymoon and I don't think he ever came back. If we don't beat these people, who the hell are we going to beat? +p564 +aVThe first thing... +p565 +aV\u2014 that we have to do is come to grips with the reality that we're facing as Americans. In 1950, there were 16 workers for every Social Security recipient. Today, there's three. In 20 years, there are two. I want to make sure that no American company leaves America because you can't find a worker. American workers always get the first preference. But if you can't find an American worker, after you advertise at a competitive wage, I don't want you to be at a loss. Bring people in based on merit. Let's take a broken immigration... +p566 +aV\u2014 system... +p567 +aV\u2014 and make a merit-based immigration system that will help our economy. We're going to need workers in the future. +p568 +aVLet's just choose rationally. +p569 +aVWe owe to every businessperson and worker in America the best environment in the world to create a job. We owe that to American businesses. Thirty-five percent corporate tax rate is the second highest in the world. We need to lower it so they don't leave. The goal is to help the middle class. We can talk about corporations all day long but my goal is to help the middle class, somebody who makes too much to be on government assistance but still lives paycheck to paycheck. When the kid gets sick you don't go on vacation. +p570 +aVThat's the purpose of my presidency, to grow the economy here. And let me tell you, our Democratic friends have a list a mile long of more government. That's not going to grow the middle class, that's going to create a burden on your children, which they're already overburdened. The best way to grow the middle class is to make it a good place to create a job. You know why Boeing came to South Carolina when they could have gone anywhere to build the 787? Because we wanted them. We had a low-tax structure. +p571 +aVA permitting structure that allowed them to build the building even faster than they thought they could build it. We welcomed them there. I'm going to take the South Carolina attitude \u2014 +p572 +aVI think everybody owes an obligation to the country. The ones that I'm most worried about are the 1 percent of Americans in uniform, who have been fighting this war for 14 years. They need a commander in chief who knows what the hell they're doing. My first job as President of the United States is to rebuild the military and use it smartly. Admiral Mullen said the debt is a big threat to our national security. He's right. But people go where they're welcome when it comes to job creation. If I'm President of the United States you will be welcomed in America. +p573 +aVThis will be the place to come \u2014 +p574 +aVAnd if I'm president of the United States \u2014 +p575 +aV\u2014 our enemies \u2014 +p576 +aVWell, number one, Social Security is not just a concept to me. I know why it exists; 50 percent of today's seniors would be in poverty without a Social Security check. I promise you, if you make me your president, I will save Social Security because I know why it exists. Now, if you're looking for good beer policy, I'm your best bet. My dad owned a bar. I know beer. We grew up, my sister and myself, in the back of that bar in one room with my mom, my dad and my sister who's nine years younger. When I was 21, my mom was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease. Neither parent finished high school. She died within a year. We were wiped out from the medical bills. And if it wasn't for a Social Security survivor benefit check coming into my family, we wouldn't' have made it because my dad died 15 months later. So I... +p577 +aVWait a minute, please. I'm 22 and we're wiped out. I am 60. I'm not married. I have a military retirement. I'm in good shape. I would give up some of my benefits to help those who need it more than I do. To young people here, I will ask you to work a little bit longer because we have to. The purpose of my presidency is to save this country and to save Social Security by working across the aisle just like Ronald Reagan. This is the biggest issue facing this nation. +p578 +aVWell, number one, the only reason I have an iPhone is because I gave my number to Donald Trump. Don't do that. +p579 +aVDonald has done more to upgrade my technology than my whole staff. Number one, Fox News. Sorry about +p580 +aVWell, I think a national holiday would be the day that commander-in-chief Barack Obama doesn't have that job. But unlike these other three, I want to win New Hampshire. Go Tom Brady. Go Patriots. Sorry, Colorado is late in the... +p581 +aVSomebody said \u2014 or maybe I saw it on the bill of a cap \u2014 that let's make America great again. America is great. I intend to make America strong again. I'm going to be the champion of the middle class, where I came from. If you make me your president, our best days are ahead. I'm ready to be commander- in-chief, ladies and gentlemen, on day one. I intend to war \u2014 win a war that we cannot afford to lose. I will be a commander-in-chief worthy of the sacrifice of those brave Americans who have been defending our nation. They have had our back. God knows, they have had our back... +p582 +aV\u2014 and I intend to have their back as commander-in- chief. Make me commander-in-chief. +p583 +aVOne, thanks, CNN, for having people at this debate. I'm Lindsey Graham from South Carolina, in case you can't tell. I want to thank Ms. Reagan (ph) for inviting me. It means the world to me. I'm the only candidate tonight who served in the military while Ronald Reagan was our president and our commander in chief. It was one of the highlights of my life. I'm running for president to destroy radical Islam, to win the war on terror, to protect you and your family. And in that quest, I have an uncompromising determination to win this war, just like President Reagan had an uncompromising determination to destroy the evil empire, and win the Cold War. Above all others on both sides of the isle, I'm most qualified to be commander and chief on day one -- 33 years in the Air Force, 35 trips to Iraq and Afghanistan, I understand this war. I have a plan to win it, and I intend to win it. +p584 +aVWell, all I can say, if you looked at polling in 2012 and 2008 at this level, we'd have -- at this stage, we would have President Perry and President Giuliani. I have a long way to go. And here's what I'm going to try to do tonight -- convince you that I'm best qualified to be the commander-in-chief of the one percent who are doing the fighting for the rest of us. And we'll have a serious discussion tonight. All of us are going to say we want to destroy +p585 +aVWell, what I hope Republican voters, libertarian, vegetarians, Democrats, you name it, will look for somebody to lead us in a new direction, domestically, but particularly on the foreign policy front. President Obama is making a mess of the world. What I'm trying to tell you here tonight, that Syria is hell on Earth and it's not going to get fixed by insulting each other. I've been there 35 times to Iraq and Afghanistan. I am ready to be commander-in-chief on day one. I've been in the military 33 years, 140 days on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan. I am so ready to get on with winning a war that we can't afford to lose. I hope you believe that experience matters. It's an all- volunteer force of -- when you vote for commander-in-chief, they are stuck with your choice. We've had one novice being commander-in- chief. Let's don't replace one novice with another. And if I thought... +p586 +aV-- I could win this war without more American ground forces in Iraq and Syria, I would tell you, but we can't... +p587 +aV-- and if we don't get on with this, they are coming here. +p588 +aVThank you. +p589 +aVProbably for a good reason. +p590 +aVWell, let's talk about immigration. Number one, I like Rick. I don't remember the Santorum plan when I was in the Senate. The peanut gallery on this is interesting. I have been trying to solve this problem for a decade. There are no democrats here tonight. If you're here, raise your hand. You went to the wrong -- we'll, welcome. Thank you very much for coming. +p591 +aVThe bottom line, I'm trying to pitch the problem. We're not going to deport 11 million people here illegally, but we'll start with felons, and off they go. And, as to the rest, you can stay, but you got to learn our language. I don't speak it very well, well, look how far I've come? Speaking English is a good thing. You got to pay taxes, you got to pay a fine, you got to get in the back of the line. You've got to secure your border or they'll keep coming. If you don't control who gets a job that never ends -- so (ph) got two borders. One with Canadia -- Canada, one with Mexico. I never met an illegal Canadian. This is an economic problem, so, folks, let's solve it. Amnesty is doing nothing, and that's what we've been doing. As to birthright citizenship, once we clean up this mess, in the future, prospectively, I'm going to look at the following. There are people buying tourist visas that go to resorts with maternity wards with the expressed purpose of having a children here in America. There are rich Asians, there are rich people up in the Mid-East... +p592 +aV...That to me is bastardizing citizenship... +p593 +aV...Yeah, I'd like to stop that in the future... +p594 +aV...What do you do with the 11 million? +p595 +aV...What are you going to do with the 11 million? +p596 +aV...Well, what about the other half... +p597 +aV...How many democrats support yourplan... +p598 +aV...How many democrats did you have on your bill? +p599 +aV...I can tell you. None. +p600 +aV...That went nowhere. +p601 +aV...George W. Bush... +p602 +aV...Who won with hispanics. +p603 +aV...Compared to what we're doing... +p604 +aV...Hispanics... +p605 +aV...Are Americans... +p606 +aV...In my world, hispanics are Americans... +p607 +aV...I have a little different take on where the country is going on this issue. Number one, in 1950, there were 16 workers for every retiree. How many are there today? There's three. In 20 years, there's going to be two, and you're going to have 80 million baby boomers like me retiree in mass wanting a Social Security check, and their Medicare bills paid. We're going to need more legal immigration. Let's just make it logical. Let's pick people from all over the world on our terms, not just somebody from Mexico. Let's create a rational, legal immigration system because we have a declining workforce. +p608 +aV...Strom Thurmond had four kids after he was 67, if you're not willing to do that, we've got to come up with a new legal immigration system. +p609 +aVYes, number one, how does President Obama sleep at night? Look what you let happen on your watch. Your commanders told you, don't withdrawal from Iraq because we'll lose of our gains. Three years ago your entire national security team, Senator McCain and I begged you to do a no-fly zone and help the Free Syrian Army while it would matter. But you said no. I'm not blaming Bobby, I'm not blaming Rick, I'm not blaming anybody, I'm blaming Barack Obama for this mess. +p610 +aVRight. +p611 +aVI'm saying this, if they don't understand that Barack Obama's policies are not working, that we're not going to destroy +p612 +aV-- does that include American ground forces in Syria as part of a regional army? Are all of you willing to commit to American ground forces going into Syria as part of a regional army to destroy the caliphate and its headquarters? +p613 +aVWell, you know, Kim Davis, I'm not worried about her attacking me. I am worried about radical Islamic terrorists who are already here planning another 9/11. We're at war, folks. I'm not fighting a crime. I want to have a legal system that understands the difference between fighting a war and fighting a crime, and here's the reality. Young men from the Mid- East are different than Kim Davis. And we've got to understand that. +p614 +aVIslamic websites need to be monitored. +p615 +aVAnd if you are on one, I want to know what you're doing. +p616 +aVI wasn't the best law student. By the end of this debate, it would be the most time I've ever spent in any library. But on the first day in law school view (ph), it's called "Marbury v. Madison." The group in our constitutional democracy that interprets "The Constitution" as to what it means is the Supreme Court. In a 5-4 decision by the Supreme Court, they have ruled that same-sex marriage bans at the state level violate the Fourteenth Amendment to "The United States Constitution" equal protection clause. I don't agree with it, but that is the law of the land. But as president, what I want make sure of is that everybody in this room, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, whatever religion that you can practice your faith without government interference, you can marry people consistent with the tenets of your faith. That's the number one obligation of my presidency, is to protect religious people when they exercise their religious rights. But this decision is the law as it is of right now. And here's the one thing I want to tell you, Jake. +p617 +aVWait -- wait a minute. Whether you're the wedding cake baker or the gay couple or the Baptist preacher, radical Islam would kill you all if they could. +p618 +aVLet's don't lose sight of the big picture here. +p619 +aVHe's one of the most qualified men to ever come before the United States Senate and I don't agree with his decision, but 99 times out of 100, I will. To the Republicans, the biggest prize on the table in 2017 is the presidency. If it is Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders, they are going to pick people that we will disagree with all the time. Please understand, we have to win this election. The court's at stake. It is the most important reason for us to turn out, to make sure we don't lose the judiciary for decades to come. +p620 +aVI've been called a lot of things but never elite before. My dad owned a liquor store, a bar and a poolroom. So only in America can you go from the back of a liquor store to being an elite. +p621 +aVI introduced her at a conference about Africa. I thought Secretary Clinton did a good job when it came to dealing with our problems in Africa, particularly among women. George W. Bush set $40 billion aside and Rick Santorum helped him and President Bush wiped out an entire -- wiped out +p622 +aVWell, Ronald Reagan did a couple of really big things that we should all remember. He sat down with Tip O'Neill, the most liberal guy in the entire House. They started drinking together. That's the first thing I'm going to do as president. We're going to drink more. And what did this -- two great Irishmen do? They found a way to save Social Security from bankruptcy by adjusting the age of retirement from 65 to 67. So, yes, I will say nice things at times about Democrats. Yes, I will work them -- work with them. I will put the country ahead of party. Absolutely I want to work with them. At the end of the day, Hugh, I'm lucky to be standing here. I'm the first in my family to ever go to college. Neither one of my parents finished high school. Darline's here with me tonight. We owned a restaurant... +p623 +aVWell, wait a minute. We... +p624 +aVYou asked me a question. This is important. Republicans need to tell the American people we get it as to who you are. When my mom died, I was 21. When my dad died, when I was 22. We were wiped out financially. If it weren't for Social Security survivor benefit check coming into Darline, we wouldn't have made it. I don't need a lecture from Democrats about Social Security. +p625 +aVI want to save it, just like Ronald Reagan did. +p626 +aVIf you want to see manufacturing, come to South Carolina... +p627 +aV...We'll show 'ya. +p628 +aVWell, I know this. That when my mom and dad owned a restaurant, the bar, the pool room, that if you increased the minimum wage it'd been hard to hire more people. Hillary Clinton has a list a mile long to help the middle class. We're talking all around this. The middle class for the last six and a half years has been squeezed, and squeezed hard. To the middle class, I understand who you are. You're one broken down car from not going on vacation. You're from one sick child away from having to change your whole budget. Here's what I want to do as your president. I want to grow this economy. When Boeing came to South Carolina to build a 787, everybody paid more they would have lost their employees to Boeing. If you're a waitress out there wanting more money, I'm not going to increase the minimum wage, I'm going to try to create an environment where somebody else will open up a restaurant across the street to hire you away at a higher rate, or they'll have to pay you more to keep you. You got to borrow money to create jobs in this country. Banking is locked down because of Dodd-Frank. The tax code is a complete mess, but nobody's talked about the elephant in the room, which is debt. Not one more penny to the federal government until w2e come up with a plan to get out of debt. +p629 +aVIt's probably a small bit, but the ones that get it... +p630 +aVYeah, but I... +p631 +aV...Have you ever thought why all of us say that... +p632 +aVIf I believed they were trying to break out and get a bomb, absolutely. And here's the most important thing: they know I would if I had to. And none of us are going to be able to defend this country adequately until we rebuild our military. A weak economy, a military in decline, the world on fire, does that sound familiar to you? Michael, does that sound familiar to you? The first thing I'm going to do as commander in chief on day one is call the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and say, what do you need that you don't have? We're cutting our military; we're on track to have the smallest Army since 1940, the smallest Navy since 1915 and John Kasich says he wants to close more bases. I want to rebuild our military and I want the Iranians to know that, if I had to, I would use it. The worst nightmare in the world is a radical Islamic regime with a weapon of mass destruction. The only reason 3,000 of us died on 9/11 is not 3 million, not 3 million is because they couldn't get the weapons to kill us. They're on track to get a bomb even if they don't cheat. This deal is a nightmare for Israel. They are coming here if we don't watch it terrorism with a nuclear capability sponsored by Iran. So, yes, I would use military force to stop them. I would set this deal aside and I would get you a better deal. If you gave $100 billion, I could get almost anybody out of jail. We couldn't even get our hostages out of jail. +p633 +aVDo you think Putin would be in the Ukraine or Syria today if Ronald Reagan were president? No. This is what happens when you have a weak, unqualified commander- in-chief who doesn't understand the role America plays in the world. Why is it bad for you that Russia's helping Assad? He's the magnet for Sunni extremists. The Syrian people are not going to accept him as their legitimate leader. By Assad being helped by Russia, it means the war never ends. It means the next 9/11, which is most likely to occur from an attack from Syria. It's more likely. At the end of the day, if I'm president of the United States, I've told you what I'm going to do. There's nobody left in Syria to train. We're going to get a regional army who doesn't like +p634 +aV... and if the war in Syria continues, it is coming here. For God's sakes, let's get on with... +p635 +aV... with fixing the problem in Syria. +p636 +aVBobby, you were in the Congress, and all I can tell you, to everybody here, if you want to repeal Obamacare, get a new president. If you want to defund Planned Parenthood, elect a pro-life president, because that's the only way. If we pass the Cardin bill, Graham, Menendez, it would go to the president. He would veto it. 67 votes are required to override the veto. +p637 +aVWait a minute. Now, you asked me a question. So I don't want to take off the table the ability to slow down Obama in his last 13 to 14 months, because I want 60 votes to stop what I think he's going to do between now and January 2017. Five Republicans deflect -- leave -- we're in trouble. So folks, the world really is the way it is. President Obama is president. The goal is to get him out of there and pick somebody who would actually do something to repeal Obamacare, who would get you a better agreement. So Bobby, he would veto the bill, we don't have 67 votes, and you're giving away a defense against Obama for the rest of his presidency. No, I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to tell you things I can't do. I'm not going to tell you by shutting the government down, we're going to defund Obamacare as long as he's president. All that does is hurt us. I am trying to lead this party to winning. +p638 +aVAre you going to shut the government down? +p639 +aVAre you going to shut the government... +p640 +aVCan I just say something? You know, Bobby, we're running to be president of the United States, the most important job in the free world. With it comes a certain amount of honesty. I'm tired of telling people things they want to hear that I know we can't do. He is not going to sign a bill that would defund ObamaCare. If I am president of the United States, I wouldn't put one penny in -- in my budget for Planned Parenthood, not one penny. I'm as offended by these videos as you are. But the one thing I'm not going to do going into 2016 is shut the government down and tank our ability to win. What you're saying and what Senator Cruz is saying, I am really sick of hearing, trying to get the bottom... +p641 +aV-- the Republican Party in a position... +p642 +aV-- to win. That's what I'm trying to do. And that does matter to me ... +p643 +aVIt matters a lot. +p644 +aVWell, number one, I will win a war that we can't afford to lose. I have a plan to destroy radical Islam because it has to be. These are religious Nazis running while President Obama has made one mistake after another and it's caught up with us. What do I have to offer that's different? I get my foreign policy from being in on the ground. I've been to Iraq and Afghanistan in the Middle East 35 times in the last decade, trying to understand how we got in this mess. Our leading candidate gets his foreign policy from watching television. And what I heard last night is the Cartoon Network, oh, I'm big, I'm strong, we're going to hit them in the head. +p645 +aVThat's not foreign policy. That's a cartoon character. John Kasich, a good friend of mine, said in New Hampshire, we're going to close more bases on his watch. On my watch, we're going to open up more bases. The military is in decline, folks. We're going to have the smallest military in modern times, spending half of what we'd normally spend by the end of this decade. +p646 +aVWhat do I offer? What do I offer? To make your families safe and our country strong again, a vision and a determination to win a war that we cannot afford to lose. +p647 +aVYou can trust me to do the following: that when I get on change with Hillary Clinton, we won't be debating about the science, we'll be debating about the solutions. In her world, cap- and-trade would dominate, that we will destroy the economy in the name of helping the environment. In my world, we'll focus on energy independence and a clean environment. When it comes to fossil fuels, we're going to find more here and use less. Over time, we're going to become energy independent. I am tired of sending $300 billion overseas to buy oil from people who hate our guts. The choice between a weak economy and a strong environment is a false choice, that is not the choice I'll offer America. A healthy environment, a strong economy and energy independent America -- that would be the purpose of my presidency, is break the strangle hold that people enjoy on fossil fuels who hate our guts. +p648 +aVIf we don't stop them over there, they are coming here just as sure as I stand here in front of you. One thing I want to be clear about tonight. If you're running for president of the United States and you don't understand that we need more American ground forces in Iraq and that America has to be part of a regional ground force that will go into Syria and destroy +p649 +aVRight. Mac +p650 +aVI think America is dying to work, you just need to give them a chance. To all the Americans who want a better life, don't vote for Hillary Clinton. You're not going to get it. She's not going to repeal "Obamacare" and replace it. I will. She's not going to build the Keystone Pipeline. I will. She's not going to change Dodd-Frank. I will. Until you change the policies of Barack Obama, we're never going to grow this economy. Until you change the policies of Barack Obama, we're never going to be safe. She represents a third term of a failed presidency. I'm fluent in Clinton-speak; I've been dealing with this crowd for 20 years. You know, when Bill Clinton says it depends on what the meaning of is is, that means is is whatever Bill wants it to mean. When Hillary Clinton tells you I've given you all the emails you need, that means she hasn't. So to the people who are dying for a better America, you better change course, and she doesn't represent the change that we need. Do we all agree that +p651 +aVI don't think it's a war on women for all of us as Americans to stand up and stop harvesting organs from little babies. Let's take the money that we would give to Planned Parenthood and put it in women's health care without having to harvest the organs of the unborn. The only way we're going to defund Planned Parenthood is have a pro-life president. You want to see a war on women? Come with me to Iraq and Afghanistan, folks. I've been there 35 times. I will show you what they do to women. These mythical Arab armies that my friends talk about that are going to protect us don't exist. If I am president of the United States, we're going to send soldiers back to Iraq, back to Syria, to keep us from being attacked here and keep soldiers in Afghanistan because we must. I cannot tell you how much our nation is threatened and how we need a commander in chief who understands the threats to this nation. If you're running for president of the United States and you do not understand that we cannot defend this nation without more of our soldiers over there, you are not ready for this job. +p652 +aVChange the Mexico City policy, not take one dime of taxpayer money to fund abortion organizations overseas, and restore the NSA that's been gutted. We're going dark when it comes to detecting the next attack. We have gutted our ability to detect the next attack. And I would not stand for that as president of the United States. I would take the fight to these guys, whatever it took, as long as it took. +p653 +aVThank you. First thing I'd tell the American people, whatever it takes to defend our nation, I would do. To the 1 percent who have been fighting this war for over a decade, I'd try my best to be a commander-in-chief worthy of your sacrifice. We're going to lose Social Security and Medicare if Republicans and Democrats do not come together and find a solution like Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neill. I will be the Ronald Reagan if I can find a Tip O'Neill. When I was 21, my mom died. When I was 22, my dad died. We owned a liquor store, restaurant, bar and we lived in the back. Every penny we needed from -- every penny we got from Social Security, because my sister was a minor, we needed. Today, I'm 60, I'm not married, I don't have any kids. I would give up some Social Security to save a system that Americans are going to depend on now and in the future. Half of American seniors would be in poverty without a Social Security check. If you make your president, I'm going to put the country ahead of the party. I'm going to do what it takes to defend this nation. This nation has been great to me, and that's the only way I know to pay you back. Mac +p654 +aVNot the change we need at a time we need it. +p655 +aVWe need somebody ready to be commander-in-chief on day one, who understands there are no moderates in Iran, they've been killed a long time ago. That the Ayatollah is a radical jihadist who really means it when he chants, "Death to America, death to Israel." And this deal is giving him a pathway to a bomb, a missile to deliver it, and money to pay for it all. We need a president who can solve our problems, bring us together. We're becoming Greece if we don't work together. At the end of the day, ladies and gentlemen, our best days are ahead of us only if we work together, and I intend to put this country on a path of success by working together and doing the hard things that should have been done a very long time ago. +p656 +asVREGAN +p657 +(lp658 +VIn Tuesday's State of the Union Address, the president said that our economy is strong. He cited the significant decline we've seen in unemployment rate and the millions of jobs that have been created. What is your assessment of the economy right now? And I would like to hear from all of you on this one, beginning with Ms. Fiorina. +p659 +aVThank you Governor Huckabee. Senator Santorum? +p660 +aVThank you. Well, since we've been talking about the Middle East, Senator Santorum, conflicts between Saudi Arabia and Iran have certainly escalated, amid accusations that Saudi Arabia bombed the Iranian Embassy in Yemen after the Saudi Embassy in Tehran was attacked. As we confront an increasingly unstable Middle East, how will you, as president, navigate this administration's promises to Iran while standing by our historic allies in the region? +p661 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p662 +aVGovernor Huckabee, if I could just follow-up with that. Do we need to be in Afghanistan? +p663 +aVThank you Governor Huckabee. Ms. Fiorina, nearly 600 women say they were attacked in a German city on New Year's Eve by men of Arab or North African descent and 45 percent of those alleged attacks were sexual assaults. Twenty-two of those 32 men arrested so far are asylum-seekers. Are you worried about similar problems in the United States? +p664 +aVI want to stay with you on this. The world shares a common enemy right now in the way of +p665 +aVMs. Fiorina, thank you. +p666 +aVWelcome back, everyone, to the Republican presidential debate. On to the next round of questions \u2014 Sandra. +p667 +aVMs. Fiorina, the president has just issued an executive order to expand the gun laws and background checks. And none of you on stage agree with this. But recent polls show the majority of Americans are in favor of universal background checks. +p668 +aVIt's the poll data. +p669 +aVSo tell me......why, in your view, is the president's proposal a problem? +p670 +aVMs. Fiorina, you've said that was when you were CEO of HP, you actually worked with the government. +p671 +aV\u2014 to try and combat some of these terrorist threats. +p672 +aVWhat did you do? +p673 +aVMs. Fiorina, thank you. +p674 +aVGovernor Huckabee, an American in San Bernardino murdered 14 people while terrorists with Belgian and French passports murdered 130 people. Were facing a threat within our borders, and from outside the United States. Those European terrorists, they could have come here at any time given that we have a visa waiver program that enables people to travel back and forth. It exists within those countries, and 36 others. In countries around the world, including many in Europe, cannot ensure that their citizens are not jihadists, why are we waiving the visa requirement at all? +p675 +aVIf you get the visa waiver program, does that shut down international commerce? +p676 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p677 +aVSenator Santorum, thank you. +p678 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p679 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from North Charleston. We want to jump right back in. Sandra is kicking it off. +p680 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you know it used to be you could graduate from high school and get a pretty good job at the local factory, enough to take care of your family and yourself. Those days seem to be gone. It's pretty hard to do that nowadays. Businesses are increasingly turning to automation to increase their productivity levels. It's happening right here, in fact, at the Boeing factory in North Charleston. The president says automation threatens workers' ability to get higher wages. Do you agree with that? And if so, do you have a solution? +p681 +aVThank you very much, Governor Huckabee. Senator Santorum, 40% of babies born today are born to single moms. That's twice as high as reported back in 1980, and it's 11 times as high as in 1940. Studies show that children are always better off economically, most often \u2014 and emotionally, with two parents in a household. From a policy perspective, should the government be doing anything to encourage family formation? +p682 +aVThank you. +p683 +aVCarly Fiorina? +p684 +aVThank you to all the candidates. That does it, everyone for the first debate right here in North Charleston. +p685 +aVGood evening, and welcome to the historic Milwaukee Theater. Tonight, you'll hear from 12 Republican candidates vying to become the next President of the United States. I'm Trish Regan, along with my co-moderators, Sandra Smith, and from the Wall Street Journal, Jerry Seib. +p686 +aVLet's introduce them. New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie. Former Arkansas Governor, Mike Huckabee. Former Pennsylvania Senator, Rick Santorum. And, Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindal. +p687 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p688 +aVAll right, Governor Jindal, you have pushed Louisiana's energy resources as a means to grow jobs in your state. But as oil prices have plunged in recent months, so has jobs growth. Louisiana now has an unemployment rate above the national average. Will your energy-focused jobs plan for the country be subject to the same market ups and downs? +p689 +aVAll right, Governor Jindal, thank you. Governor Christie, you have said that the Democrats' message is one of, quote, "free stuff." In contrast, Republicans want to reduce spending. How do you win a national election when the Democrats are offering free health care, a free or subsidized college education, and you're the party that is seemingly offering nothing in the way of immediate tangible benefits? +p690 +aVSenator Santorum, a single mom with no job and two kids in New Hampshire, home of the first in the nation primary, is eligible for more than $30,000 a year in benefits. Even if she could find a job, she would need to find child care. And in many cases may conclude it's better for her to live off government benefits. Senator, how do you help and incentivize her to go to work? And if you're the one that's going to cut her benefits, why should she vote for you? +p691 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you. All right, we are just getting started. Medicare, Social Security and the future of ObamaCare \u2014 that is all straight ahead, live from Milwaukee and the Republican presidential debate. +p692 +aVWelcome back to the Milwaukee Theater, and the Republican Presidential Debate. On to the next round of questions, Gerry has the next question. +p693 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you differ from many of your GOP opponents on the stage tonight over accepting Syrian refugees into this country. You have said, "We don't have an obligation to just open our doors." As the Islamic state continues to expand, slaughtering and crucifying Christians, including women and children, refugees continue to flee their land by the thousands. Should America open its doors to accept any refugees in this country? If so, how many? +p694 +aVAlright, Governor Huckabee, thank you. +p695 +aVNext question to you, Governor... +p696 +aV...Next question to you, Governor... +p697 +aV...let me get in......Let me get in here, because the next question, it's to you, and it's on Obamacare. It is still unpopular with the American people. You've seen the polls, they've shown nearly half the country still opposes this law. You have been critical of your GOP opponents, some of them standing on the stage tonight, others later. Notably, Ted Cruz, for not having comprehensive plans. You say you do. What specifically makes your plan to replace Obamacare better than the opponents, some of them standing next to you. +p698 +aVGovernor Jindal, thank you. +p699 +aVWe'll get to that. +p700 +aVRonald Reagan did work with Tip O'Neill. Anyway, we are going to take a quick break. Coming up, one of the top issues for voters, how much you're paying in taxes. We are live from Milwaukee with the Republican presidential debate. See you right back here. +p701 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate. We are live from Milwaukee. A top issue on the campaign trail, taxes and how much you pay. All right, I've got a question for all of you here. When looking at the federal income tax, state income tax and local tax, in some cases, combined, some Americans are paying over 50 percent of their paycheck to the government. What is the highest percentage, all in, in the way of taxes, that any American should have to pay and what is the lowest? I'd like to, again, to hear from each of you. And I want those two all in numbers. I'm going to start with you, Senator Santorum. +p702 +aVAll in. OK, Governor Christie? +p703 +aVAnd we'll get back to you. Governor Jindal? +p704 +aVGovernor Huckabee, Americans, under your plan, would pay a tax on every single thing that they purchase. Given that consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of GDP, some economists worry that your tax plan would actually discourage spending, thereby slowing our economy. How do you respond? +p705 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p706 +aVSenator Santorum, you agree with Governor Christie. You also have said that the Fed should be audited. But many worry that given the Congressional challenges that they face, by having Congressional oversight of the Fed, which has been historically an independent body, you would be making the Fed much more political. How would you navigate that risk? +p707 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee, both Senator Santorum and Governor Christie were boat \u2014 both critical of the Federal Reserve. Also, many have questioned whether Janet Yellen is the right person to be running the Fed. If elected president, would you keep Janet Yellen? +p708 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee, thank you. All right, Senator Santorum, by the way, today is the 240th... +p709 +aV\u2014 of the United States... +p710 +aV\u2014 Marine Corps. Tomorrow is Veterans Day. We honor and recognize all those who have fought for, and served this great nation, Senator. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, meanwhile, which provides patient care, and federal benefits to those veterans, as well as their families, is beset by scandal. What new ideas do you have to fix the broken V.A. healthcare system? +p711 +asVHEMMER +p712 +(lp713 +VSo, here we go. Ninety-seven hours before Iowa chooses, in fact the last two winners in this state are on this stage tonight. Governor Huckabee, in 2008, you won by nine points here, but this time your support seems to be going to Senator Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. Why, Governor, is your message not working this time? +p714 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Santorum, four short years ago you won Iowa. You beat Mitt Romney, pretty much shocked the country. But, just the other day you talked about what is in the greater good for your campaign. Is Monday night your last stand? +p715 +aVOK. +p716 +aV... Senator, do you want to name... ... Senator, do you want to name that entertainer your refering to? +p717 +aVBut senator, since you mentioned... +p718 +aVSenator, quickly then, after this debate, you mentioned Donald trump's name. Immediately, you're going to event across town here in Des Moines as a guest of Donald Trump. +p719 +aVSo are you laying the groundwork for maybe your future? Perhaps an endorsement of Mr. Trump? +p720 +aVThank you, senator. One moment. We'll get to you in a moment, Governor. We have a few coming up. +p721 +aVThank you. Governor Gilmore. As of one week ago, you have not held a single campaign event here in the state of Iowa. As of one week ago, in fact, you were the only one in the Republican field who had not made a campaign visit to this state. You know how it works here. You know how it's worked over time. Why should anyone caucus for you on Monday night? +p722 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p723 +aVMs. Fiorina, same topic. The president says that many are exaggerating the threat from +p724 +aVThank you. +p725 +aVGovernor Gilmore, some time this spring 34 more detainees are cleared from release from Gitmo. If you were president, as you say, this president wants to close it. As president, if Gitmo were closed and an enemy combatant were found or captured in the field of battle, perhaps Syria or Iraq or Libya, and you don't have Gitmo, where would you put them? +p726 +aVGovernor, thank you for that. +p727 +aVWelcome back to Des Moines on what will be a long night here. Let's get back to the questions. Let's get back to the questions with Martha. +p728 +aVLet me stay with you, Ms. Fiorina. You've said you will shrink the federal government by 30 percent over the next two years, and those jobs will not be filled, and you'll do it through retirement. Your critics would argue that's exactly what you did at Hewlett Packard when 30,000 people lost their jobs. If it did not work at H.P., why would it work at the federal government? +p729 +aVThank you. +p730 +aVGovernor Huckabee, Nikki Haley, Republican governor from South Carolina, recently said... +p731 +aVI did not, but we... +p732 +aVWe have plenty for you -- you bet, Governor. We have a couple more in the hopper for you in a moment here. +p733 +aVFirst, Governor -- Governor Huckabee, Nikki Haley warned about listening to "the siren call of the angriest voices," to which Donald Trump said he is "very, very angry." Who is right, Governor? +p734 +aVThank you, Governor. +p735 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you've mentioned the economy several times tonight. Let's go back to that for a moment because in America today 50% of the American workers are making less than $30,000 dollars a year. Let's talk about what you could do for them. The Conservative Club for Growth has had an issue with your policy on taxes for years. In fact, it called you, "Tax Hike Mike". And, the record shows state spending in Arkansas increased 54% when you were in charge, 94% if you include federal dollars during that same period. When it comes to helping people at the margins, $30,000, $32,000 dollars a year, what's better? A tax and spend approach, or shrinking government? +p736 +aVGovernor Huckabee, thank you. Same issue, Senator Santorum. The President says criticism of his economic policy is political hot air. You consistently talk about manufacturing jobs leaving America. You support a flat tax of 20%. How would a flat tax bring back two million jobs to America? +p737 +aVSenator, thank you. +p738 +aVThank you Ms. Fiorina. Governor Gilmore. Who are the moderate Muslims do you seek advice and counsel from on how to deal with the threat from radical Islamic terrorism? +p739 +aVThank you governor. Governor Huckabee. Here in Iowa 43 percent of Democratic caucus goers describe themselves as socialist. That's a higher number than those who say they are capitalist. I guess you could say, they're feeling the burn. This is a country rooted in capitalism, the United States of America. How did we get here? +p740 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum, the president says politics in America have become meaner over the past several years with him in the White House. Two weeks ago at the State of the Union he said the following. "A president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide." Lincoln and Roosevelt, that's pretty good company. If he is right, do Republicans share some of the blame? +p741 +aVThank you, Senator. +p742 +aVIn the closing few moments, the candidates have an opportunity to make a closing statement, 30 seconds for each. And, we want to start tonight with the former Virginia Governor, Jim Gilmore. +p743 +aV... Thank you, Governor. +p744 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p745 +aVThank you, Governor. +p746 +aVThat concludes our debate tonight, but the night has just begun. +p747 +aVThis is first official event in the campaign for the Republican nomination for president. Welcome to Cleveland Ohio. It is debate night. I'm Bill Hemmer. Mac +p748 +aVSo you will hear from all 17 candidates tonight, and you'll meet seven of them right now, starting with three-time governor in the state of Texas, Rick Perry. Mac +p749 +aVTwo-time. Two-time governor of the State of Louisiana, Acting Governor Bobby Jindal. So you will hear from all 17 candidates tonight, and you'll meet seven of them right now, starting with three-time governor in the state of Texas, Rick Perry. Mac +p750 +aVTwo-time. Two-time governor of the State of Louisiana, Acting Governor Bobby Jindal. Mac +p751 +aVThe senior senator from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham. Mac +p752 +aVAnd former Virginia governor, Jim Gilmore. Mac +p753 +aVGentle. Mac +p754 +aVWait til you hear what the others are going to get later, huh? Mac +p755 +aVOne year from now, a Republican nominee will be standing on this stage in this very same arena. That person is in Cleveland today. So let's get started. First topic, electability. First question to Governor Perry from Texas. Welcome, Governor. +p756 +aVYou were in charge of the 12th largest economy in the world, and you recently said that four years ago, you weren't ready for this job. Why should someone vote for you now? +p757 +aVThank you, Governor. Mac +p758 +aVSenator Santorum, you won the Iowa caucus four years ago and 10 other states. But you failed to beat Mitt Romney for the nomination. And no one here tonight is going to question your conviction or your love for country. But has your moment passed, Senator? +p759 +aVThank you, Senator. Mac +p760 +aVSenator Lindsey Graham, you worked with Democrats and President Obama when it came to climate change, something you know is extremely unpopular with conservative Republicans. How can they trust you based on that record? +p761 +aVThank you, Senator. Mac +p762 +aVThank you, Governor. Mac +p763 +aVThis Saturday, August 8th, two days from now marks one year since the strikes began against +p764 +aVAnd the senator to your right has called for 20,000 American troops in Syria and Iraq so far today, Senator Graham, and I'll give this question to you. Why should the American people after two wars in Iraq sacrifice yet again on a third war? +p765 +aVSenator, thank you. Mac +p766 +aVIt is debate night, and welcome back to Cleveland, Ohio. Let's get back to the questions right now with Martha. Mac +p767 +aVExcuse me, Martha. I have not heard the bell just yet, so you're all very well behaved so far. Governor Gilmore, 30 seconds. +p768 +aVThank you, Governor. I've got to move on to immigration here. Senator Santorum, you would argue you have one of the tougher positions on illegal immigration in the entire 17 candidate field at the moment. We often talk about this issue on the abstract level in Washington, D.C., but you know how it's being talked about in states like Iowa and New Hampshire among illegals in our country today -- 11 million plus. And some are asking, what would you say to a child, born and raised in America, who could see their family broken apart by your policy? +p769 +aVGovernor Perry, try and answer this question again. What do you say to the family of illegals? Are you going to break them apart? +p770 +aVGovernor, thank you. Mac +p771 +aVAnd so right now, we're 30 minutes in. Going to jump back into the topics and continue our discussion of national issues on the domestic level. The issue that is really number one on the minds of many voters, that's the economy and jobs. Mac +p772 +aVThank you, Governor. Your last topic brings us to the state of Ohio. You know, the saying, right? No Republican wins the White House unless you win here in the Buckeye state. Well, here in the Buckeye state, the Governor John Kasich took the federal money for Medicaid expansion under Obamacare. And Governor Jindal of Louisiana, you passed on those tax dollars. Why do you think Governor Kasich got it wrong here? +p773 +aVSo Governor Kasich was wrong, just to be clear. +p774 +aVI didn't hear an answer regarding Governor Kasich, but for now I'll go to Governor Pataki. Yes or no? +p775 +aVGovernor Pataki, three term governor of New York. Is he right, Governor Jindal from Louisiana? +p776 +aVYes or no, would you have expanded Obamacare in the state of New York, had you been governor at that time? +p777 +aVOK. +p778 +aVThank you, Governor Pataki. In a moment here, we'll talk to the candidates about an issue today on Planned Parenthood, and also the U.S. Supreme Court. That's all next here in Cleveland. +p779 +aVWelcome back to Cleveland, Ohio. Want to get back to the questions and the issues in this debate now, with my co-anchor, Martha. Mac +p780 +aVNext question on the U.S. Supreme Court. It's been 42 years, Senator Santorum, since Roe v. Wade, and many consider, in this country, to be a case of settled law. Recently the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on same-sex marriage. Is that now settled law in America today? +p781 +aVAlright, Senator, thank you. To Governor Gilmore. For years, presidential candidates have not said they would have a litmus test for justices nominated to the Supreme Court. Recently, Hillary Clinton broke that precedent. She said she would apply that on the case of Citizens United, which deals with campaign finance laws in America today. Is it time for conservatives to impose a litmus test on abortion? +p782 +aVSo, no litmus test? +p783 +aVThank you, governor. Mac +p784 +aVAs the first debate of the nomination season continues, welcome back to Cleveland. Let's get back to the questions right now, and the issues here in the U.S. Martha? Mac +p785 +aVThank you, Senator. Executive power. It appears that you all have a little bit of an issue with it at the moment. I want to move through this as quickly as I can, from stage left to stage right. On the second day of his presidency, January 22nd 2009, President Obama signed one of his first executive orders. That was close Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Still open today. What would be your first executive order? Governor Gilmore, start. +p786 +aVSenator Graham. +p787 +aVGovernor Jindal, your first executive order would be in the White House would be what? +p788 +aVGovernor Perry. +p789 +aVThat will be a long day. +p790 +aVSenator Santorum? +p791 +aVFirst order, Carly Fiorina? +p792 +aVGovernor Pataki? +p793 +aVThank you all. Mac +p794 +aVThank you, senator. Mac +p795 +aVThank you, Senator. I need a two-word answer to the following query. In 2008, then-Senator Barack Obama described Hillary Clinton as, quote, "likable enough," end quote. What two words would you use to describe the Democratic frontrunner? Governor Pataki to start. +p796 +aVWow. Carly Fiorina. +p797 +aVGovernor Jindal? +p798 +aVGovernor? +p799 +aVNot a lot of compliments. To be continued. Mac +p800 +aVThank you Governor. Senator Santorum? +p801 +aVAll right. Senator thank you. Mac +p802 +aVCarly Fiorina, closing statement. +p803 +aVThank you. Mac +p804 +aVAnd to Governor Pataki, closing statement now. +p805 +aVThank you, Governor. Mac +p806 +aVThat concludes the first debate of the 2016 Republican primary. We would like to thank all seven of you for being here today. +p807 +asVUNIDENTIFIED +p808 +(lp809 +VWhy don't, why don't we... +p810 +asVBAIER +p811 +(lp812 +VLess than a year from now, in this very arena, one of these 10 candidates or one of the seven on the previous debate tonight will accept the Republican party's nomination. Tonight's candidates were selected based on an average of five national polls. Just a few hours ago, you heard from the candidates ranked 11th through 17. And now, the prime-time event, the top 10. +p813 +aVNeurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Florida Senator Marco Rubio. +p814 +aVIt might be. It might be. We'll see. [ +p815 +aVIt might be. The rules for tonight are simple. One minute for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups. And if a candidate runs over, you'll hear this. Pleasant, no? We also have a big crowd here with us tonight in the home of the Cavaliers, as I mentioned. And while we expect them... ... we expect them to be enthusiastic, as you heard, we don't want to take anything away from the valuable time for the candidate. So, we're looking for somewhere between a reaction to a LeBron James dunk and the Cleveland Public Library across the street. Somewhere there, we'll find a balance tonight. Without further ado, let's begin. +p816 +aVGentlemen, we know how much you love hand-raising questions. So we promise, this is the only one tonight: the only one. Is there anyone on stage, and can I see hands, who is unwilling tonight to pledge your support to the eventual nominee of the Republican party and pledge to not run an independent campaign against that person. Again, we're looking for you to raise your hand now -- raise your hand now if you won't make that pledge tonight. Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump to be clear, you're standing on a Republican primary debate stage. +p817 +aVThe place where the RNC will give the nominee the nod. +p818 +aVAnd that experts say an independent run would almost certainly hand the race over to Democrats and likely another Clinton. You can't say tonight that you can make that pledge? +p819 +aVSo tonight, you can't say if another one of these... +p820 +aVOK. +p821 +aVDr. Paul. +p822 +aVOK. +p823 +aVJust to be clear, you can't make a -- we're gonna -- we're going to move on. You're not gonna make the pledge tonight? +p824 +aVOK. Alright. +p825 +aVGovernor Bush, you have insisted that you're your own man. You say you have a life experience uniquely your own. Not your father's, not your brother's. But there are several opponents on this stage who get big- applause lines in early voting states with this line: quote, "the last thing the country needs is another Bush in the Oval Office." So do you understand the real concern in this country about dynastic politics? +p826 +aVGovernor Christie, you're not exactly the darling of conservatives. You tout your record as a Republican governor in a blue state. On Facebook, the most people talking about you, not surprisingly, come from your state of New Jersey, and one of the top issues they are talking about is the economy. This -- this may be why. Under your watch, New Jersey has undergone nine credit rating downgrades. The state's 44th in private sector growth. You face an employee pension crisis and the Garden State has the third highest foreclosure rate in the country. So why should voters believe that your management of the country's finances would be any different? +p827 +aVSenator Paul, you recently blamed the rise of +p828 +aVGentlemen, the next series of questions deals with ObamaCare and the role of the federal government. Mr. Trump, ObamaCare is one of the things you call a disaster. +p829 +aVSaying it needs to be repealed and replaced. +p830 +aVNow, 15 years ago, you called yourself a liberal on health care. You were for a single-payer system, a Canadian-style system. Why were you for that then and why aren't you for it now? +p831 +aVBut on ObamaCare... +p832 +aVMr. Trump, hold up one second. +p833 +aVAll right, now, hold on, Senator Paul... +p834 +aVOK. +p835 +aVAll right, let me... Mr. Trump, it's not just your past support for single- payer health care. You've also supported a host of other liberal policies. Use -- you've also donated to several Democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton included, Nancy Pelosi. You explained away those donations saying you did that to get business-related favors. And you said recently, quote, "When you give, they do whatever the hell you want them to do." +p836 +aVSo what specifically did... +p837 +aV-- they do? +p838 +aVHold on. We're going to -- we're going to move on. We'll come back to you, Governor Walker. +p839 +aVWe have many questions to come. +p840 +aVMany questions to come. Governor Huckabee, on Facebook, John Pietricone asked this, "Will you abolish or take away the powers and cut the size of the EPA, the IRS, the Department of Education?" Now, broadly... ...broadly, the size of government is a big concern for Facebook users, Facebook persons, as well as, obviously, conservatives. But year after year, decade after decade, there are promises from Republicans to shrink government. But year after year, decade after decade, it doesn't happen. In fact, it gets bigger, even under Republican politicians. So the question is, at this point, is the government simply too big for any one person, even a Republican, to shrink? +p841 +aVDr. Carson... +p842 +aVDr. Carson, do you agree with that? +p843 +aVGovernor Bush? +p844 +aVWe're going to come back to you, Dr. Carson. Governor Bush, you are one of the few people on the stage who advocates for Common Core education standards, reading and math. A lot of people on this stage vigorously oppose a federal involvement in education. They say it should all be handled locally. President Obama's secretary of education, Arnie Duncan, has said that most of the criticism of Common Core is due to a, quote, "fringe group of critics." Do you think that's accurate? +p845 +aVSenator Rubio, why is Governor Bush wrong on Common Core? +p846 +aVAnd do you agree with your old friend? +p847 +aVWe have many more questions coming on a host of topics, here from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Stay with us. +p848 +aVWe have many more questions coming on a host of topics. Here from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Stay with us. +p849 +aVGentlemen, another question for a few of you. Yesterday, just yesterday, President Obama criticized Republican lawmakers trying to block the Iran deal, calling them knee-jerk partisans, adding that hardliners in Iran who chant "death to America" were, quote, "making common cause with the Republican caucus." Here's what two of your opponents on the 5 p.m. debate stage said about Iran. +p850 +aVNow, I wanna ask a few of you this. First, Governor Walker. You've said that you would tear up the Iran deal on day one. If this deal is undone, what then? +p851 +aVSenator Paul, would you tear up the deal on day one? +p852 +aVGovernor Huckabee, what do you think about what Senator Paul just said? +p853 +aVThank you, gentlemen. +p854 +aVWelcome back to Cleveland. Our next topic is foreign policy. Candidates, you may not have seen the late developing news today our Fox Pentagon team broke earlier this evening about a top Iranian general traveling to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. His name is General Qassem Soleimani, he's blamed for hundreds of U.S. troop's deaths in Iraq, and Afghanistan. His trip to Russia appears to directly violate U.N. Security Council resolutions to confine him to Iran. So, Mr. Trump, if you were president, how would you respond to this? +p855 +aVAnother new development today, Senior Defense officials tell Fox they strongly suspect Russia was behind the cyber attack on the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs office... +p856 +aV...email. This comes in the wake of the Director of National Intelligence blaming the Chinese for the largest ever cyber attack, stealing personal data of tens of millions of Americans. Senator Cruz, in your view, have Russia and China committed acts of cyber war, and if you were president, what would you do about it? +p857 +aVDr. Carson, in August of 2012 President Obama famously declared Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons, quote, "that's a redline for us," and that there would be enormous consequences. One year later, with overwhelming evidence the Assad had, in fact, used chemical weapons and crossed that red line, President Obama declined to use military force against the Assad regime. As president, would you have used military force there? +p858 +aVGovernor Walker, as president, what would you do if Russian President Vladimir Putin started a campaign to destabilize +p859 +aVGovernor -- Governor Huckabee, the culture of the American military is definitely changing. Women are moving into combat roles. Don't Ask, Don't Tell has obviously been dropped. And now Defense Secretary Ashton Carter recently directed the military to prepare for a moment when it is welcoming transgender persons to serve openly. As commander in chief, how would you handle that? +p860 +aVSenator Paul, the first budget you proposed as senator cut all financial aid to Israel. You have since changed your view on that issue. What made you change your mind. +p861 +aVOK. But you still say that Israel could be one of the countries that is cut from financial aid? +p862 +aVGovernor Christie, what do you think of that answer? +p863 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p864 +aVSenator, we're going to finish up with some more questions, thank you. +p865 +aVNow each candidate will make a closing statement. You'll all have 30 seconds to make a closing statement for this debate. We'll start with Ohio Governor John Kasich. +p866 +aVSenator Marco Rubio. +p867 +aVThank you, Senator. +p868 +aVGovernor Mike Huckabee, closing statement. +p869 +aVMr. Trump, closing statement, sir. +p870 +aVGentlemen, thank you. +p871 +aVThat's it. +p872 +asVMADDOW +p873 +(lp874 +VWe are super excited to be here at the University of New Hampshire. Tonight, this is the first time that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have squared off exactly like this. Face-to-face, just one-on-one, just the two of them. +p875 +aVAnd we do hope that the candidates will take this opportunity to show us the distinctions\u2014show us the differences between them. That's the whole reason that we're here tonight. We're not here for talking points. We're to learn about the difference between the candidates. And with that, let's get going. Please join us in welcoming Secretary Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders. +p876 +aVAnd with that, that's it. We're going to begin with 60- second opening statements from each of the candidates. And as agreed to in advance by the two campaigns, we're going to begin tonight with Senator Sanders. +p877 +aVSecretary Clinton, Senator Sanders is campaigning against you now, at this point in the campaign, basically arguing that you are not progressive enough to be the Democratic nominee. He has said that if you voted for the Iraq war, if you are in favor of the death penalty, if you wobbled on things like the Keystone Pipeline or TPP, if you said single payer health care could never happen, then you're too far to the right of the Democratic Party to be the party's standard bearer. Given those policy positions, why should liberal Democrats support you and not Senator Sanders? +p878 +aVSenator Sanders, have you established a list of what it means to be a progressive that is unrealistic? +p879 +aVThank you Senator. +p880 +aVSenator Sanders, as a Vermonter, you have almost a home state advantage here in New Hampshire. But back home across the border, you also have a long history of running against Democrats as a third-party candidate, for governor, Senate, for Congress. In 1988 your candidacy as a third-party candidate arguably cost the Democrats a congressional seat and sent a Republican instead. How can you lead the Democratic Party nationally when you have not been a member of the Democratic Party until very recently? +p881 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p882 +aVSo, Senator, to that point, Secretary Clinton is raising the issue of endorsements by your home state Democrats. She's implying that that says something about the people who know you best. +p883 +aVHow do you see it? +p884 +aVSecretary. +p885 +aVSenator Sanders, you'll have 30 seconds to respond to that. +p886 +aVSenator Sanders, Secretary Clinton, obviously we've touched a nerve. We're going to be back with more on this subject, and much more, right after this. Stay with us. +p887 +aVSecretary Clinton, on the issue of Wall Street... +p888 +aV... on the issue of Wall Street, when our reporters go out and talk to people on the ground in the early states, what they tell us over and over again when they find voters who are leaning toward Senator Sanders rather than yourself is that the most frequent area of concern that they hear from those voters is the issue of Wall Street and whether or not you are too close to Wall Street. Last night, when you were asked about speaking fees and the amount of speaking fees you got from Goldman Sachs speeches, you said that's what they offered. Have you been too dismissive of voters' concerns about this issue in your own campaign and your own career? +p889 +aVSenator Sanders, you have been a critic of Secretary Clinton taking those speaking fees and having donations from Wall Street. What about her defense of her record? +p890 +aVSenator Sanders, let me turn to, I think, where this direction is heading anyway, which is the broader issue of big business and power in our political system. You on the campaign trail have railed against big name American corporations like Boeing, and General Electric, and Wal Mart. But, some big businesses in this country have also been part of advancing progressive goals like that nationwide initiative to expand employment opportunities for veterans. That was all about cooperation between the Obama administration and some very big business. The Affordable Care Act, some of the thorniest problems in that bill were worked out in cooperation with big business in order to accomplish progressive goals. Could you work with them, or have you made enemies of big business in this country with the way you've approached them in this campaign? +p891 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. And with that, we're going to take a break. +p892 +aVWelcome back\u2014welcome back to the Democratic candidates' debate. We're going to be talking about America in the world, both in terms of some trade issues, but also national security. And Secretary Clinton, we're going to start with you. There are more than 4,000 American troops back in Iraq right now as part of the fight against +p893 +aVTo be clear, to the specific question, if that strategic goal that you're describing requires considerably more of Americans\u2014an ever-increasing number of Americans in Iraq and maybe in Syria, are you OK with the numbers increasing? +p894 +aVThank you, Madam Secretary. +p895 +aVSecretary Clinton, at the\u2014at the last Democratic debate in Charleston\u2014I want to get specific here\u2014Senator Sanders called for moving as aggressively as we can to normalize relations with Iran. Your campaign has criticized him for saying that. Now that he's standing next to you here on this stage, can you explain why the U.S. shouldn't try to normalize relations in Iran in your view? +p896 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to ask you about a national security issue that is closer to home. There are thousands of veterans, over 100,000 veterans living in the state of New Hampshire. If either one of you is nominated as the Democratic Party's nominee, you will likely face a Republican opponent in the general election who wants to privatize or even abolish big parts of the V.A. It's a newly popular idea in conservative politics. How will you win the argument on that issue given the problems that have been exposed at the V.A. in the last few years? What's your argument that the V.A. should still exist and should not be privatized? +p897 +aVSenator Sanders, you, as a congressional leader on veterans issues and the Veterans Committee, you've worked in a very bipartisan way with Senator John McCain and others on veterans issues. Is the right contour of the fight, the way she's talking about this issue? +p898 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Sanders, Secretary Clinton, we're going to take another break. We'll be talking about Social Security and some of those other issues when we come back. +p899 +aVSenator\u2014Senator Sanders, in 1964... +p900 +aVIn 1964, I heard that the Republicans nominated Barry Goldwater, who was the hero of the conservative movement. He was, however, far to the right of most of that party. In 1972, the Democrats nominated George McGovern, who was a hero of liberals in the antiwar movement, but he was to the left of his party's mainstream. Both of those nominees made activists very excited, and they both got destroyed in the general election. Even Democrats who love you worry about your fate in a general election. And I know you have good head-to-head polling numbers against Republican frontrunners right now. We know that. But do you have a general election strategy that is different than the way you're running right now to try to get the nomination? +p901 +aVSecretary Clinton, your campaign surrogates, and people who have endorsed you, have suggested that or even said that if Senator Sanders is the nominee, that Democrats will suffer nationwide and the chances will go down of Democrats holding onto the White House. With him here standing next to you, can you tell us whether or not you believe he would win the general election if he were nominated? +p902 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. Senator, in December, one of your campaign staffers was fired from your campaign for taking voter data essentially from the Clinton campaign. You apologized for that when the incident was made public. Your campaign has now been criticized for its operatives essentially impersonating culinary union members wearing union pins in Nevada, and the Nashua Telegraph has complained recently that you falsely implied in an advertisement that they had endorsed you when they did not. None of these issues obviously is the end of the world, but they all are of a piece. Are you in some sense losing control of your campaign? +p903 +aVJust to follow up on that, the title of the ad in question was Endorsement. +p904 +aVSecretary Clinton, do you want 30 seconds on that issue? +p905 +aVAnd with that, we will . +p906 +aVWelcome back to the University of New Hampshire, and the Democratic candidates' debate. Secretary Clinton, on the issue of the death penalty, here in New Hampshire, the one person who is on death row is there for killing a police officer. It's a crime that has caused anguish in this state, both among death penalty opponents and death penalty supporters. The last time I had the chance to talk with you on this issue, on the death penalty, you said that capital punishment has a place in a very few federal cases, but you also said you would breathe a sigh of relief if the Supreme Court abolished the death penalty nationwide. Tonight, do you still support capital punishment, even if you do so reluctantly? +p907 +aVSenator Sanders, you have singled out the death penalty, and Senator Clinton's support for the death penalty, as an issue that makes it hard to consider as progressive in your mind... +p908 +aVAnother issue related to the proper role of government, and in this case, specifically the role of government between the federal government and the states. I want to talk for a moment about the issue of Flint, Michigan. On the Flint lead poisoning disaster, you have both been highly critical of Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan, and how the state in Michigan both caused the lead poisoning problem, and has not acted fast enough to fix it. You have both been outspoken on that. The fact is that Michigan though has not fixed it. There is no door to door delivery of clean water in Flint even today. Not a single lead pipe has been replaced in Flint, even today. If the state is failing, would you, Secretary Clinton, would you as President order a federal response to get it right over and above the wishes of the state? +p909 +aVSenator Sanders are there things the President could be doing? President Obama could be ordering, done, right now, in Flint, Michigan that are not being done that you as President would do? +p910 +aVSenator, thank you. +p911 +aVThe home stretch. +p912 +aVSecretary Clinton, Republicans, particularly in campaign years, often talk about which departments of government\u2014which agencies of government they would get rid of if they were elected president. The EPA, the Department of Education, the Commerce Department, oops\u2014is\u2014is there a department of government that you would get rid of? Or is there a whole new one that you would create? +p913 +aVThank you, Secretary Clinton. +p914 +aVThank you very much. Thank you. +p915 +aVWe also want to thank our host, the University of New Hampshire, and the people of New Hampshire. You guys get to vote in just five days. I can't wait to see how it turns out. Don't screw up. +p916 +asVSEIB +p917 +(lp918 +VThis evening Fox Business is partnering with the Wall Street Journal to bring you the fourth republican presidential debate of the 2016 campaign. For the next hour, four of the candidates will be here answering the question voters want answered. +p919 +aVSenator Santorum, you're all obviously highly critical of President Obama's economic record. But federal statistics show that payrolls have expanded by 8.7 million new jobs so far during his time in office. All the jobs lost in the recession were recovered by last year. And in October, the economy added jobs at the fastest rate since 2009. So what's wrong with the Obama jobs record? +p920 +aVGovernor Jindal, Republicans have now 32 of the nation's 50 governor seats. But, even while you're doing very well at the state level, you keep falling short nationally. You've lost the popular vote in five of the last six presidential elections. Are Democrats simply putting forward a better national economic message than the one Republicans are offering? And what should Republicans do about it. +p921 +aVSenator Santorum, we're in the Upper-Midwest, heart of the American auto industry. The Auto Alliance says the state of Wisconsin, where we are tonight, is home to 176 auto supplier companies. Back in 2008, you opposed the use of federal bailout funds for automakers as proposed then by the Bush administration. The automakers survived. In retrospect, do you still think that was the right position. +p922 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p923 +aVGovernor Jindal, there's a new trade deal the Obama administration has completed with 11 other Pacific nations. The U.S. Trade Representative's office says that deal will cut 18,000 different tariffs on American goods sent to the Pacific and will cut tariffs on goods made in your state of Louisiana by as much as 40 percent. Even a skeptical about \u2014 a skeptic about this deal, now that the details are public, are you going to be for it? +p924 +aVGovernor Christie? +p925 +aV...Guys... +p926 +aVGovernor Christie... +p927 +aV...last word, briefly +p928 +aV...Thank you both, Governors. +p929 +aV...No, no, Senator Santorum... +p930 +aV...I have a question for you. Just about everybody agrees that the nation's infrastructure is in bad shape. Urban highway congestion costs the economy more than $100 billion dollars annually, nearly one in four bridges in the National Highway System is structurally deficient, or obsolete. Congress is working on a six year highway bill to try to fix this problem. It only funds it for about three years. Should Americans be asked to pay more in federal gas taxes in order to address this problem? +p931 +aVSenator, I don't think we got to infrastructure, but I understand. +p932 +aVNo, no. To do the things you're talking about, that you're all talking about, getting things done in Washington, you have to work with the other side. So a question, who in Congress do you most admire on the Democratic side? I need one name from each of you. And let's start with Governor Jindal. +p933 +aVGovernor Huckabee? +p934 +aVGovernor Christie? +p935 +aVSenator Santorum? +p936 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p937 +aVGovernor Jindal, you've proposed something different. You've proposed eliminating the federal corporate income tax entirely. Why would have you wage-earners and investors pay an income tax but not a corporation? +p938 +aVWelcome back to the Republican Presidential Debate live from Milwaukee's historic theater. Let's get back to the questions. Governor Christie, by keeping interest rates so low for so long, is the Fed creating a new financial bubble in real estate or stock as prices that will burst and create problems down the road, or has it been right to err on the side of trying to help the recovery through low rates? +p939 +aVCandidates, it's time for closing statements, 30 seconds. Governor Jindal, we'll start with you. +p940 +aVSenator Santorum. +p941 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p942 +aVGovernor Christie. +p943 +asVTAPPER +p944 +(lp945 +VI'm Jake Tapper. We're live at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California for the main event. Round 2 of CNN's presidential debate starts now. The eleven leading Republican candidates for president are at their podiums. They are ready to face off, and if you've been watching this race, you know anything could happen over the next few hours. To viewers who are just joining us, welcome to the Air Force One Pavilion of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Our thanks to the staff here and especially to former first lady Nancy Reagan for this impressive setting with Ronald Reagan's presidential plane as our backdrop. This debate is airing on CNN networks in the United States and around the world. It's also being broadcast on the Salem Radio Network. I know everyone is very eager to get started. But first, I want to explain the ground rules tonight. My name is Jake Tapper. I'll be the moderator. I will be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt. He worked in the Reagan administration for six years. And by CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. I will ask follow-up questions, I will attempt to guide the discussion. Candidates, I will try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have one minute to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you've been singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. These 11 Republicans are positioned on the stage based on their ranking in recent national polls. Our goal for this evening is a debate. A true debate, with candidates addressing each other in areas where they differ. Where they disagree \u2014 on policy, on politics, on leadership. Now, let's begin. I'd like to invite each candidate to take 30 seconds to introduce him or herself to our audience. First to you, Senator Paul. +p946 +aVSenator Cruz? +p947 +aVThank you one and all for being here. There are many important policy issues facing our nation. We're going to get to many of them tonight, but I do want to start off with some current events in the news, and also some of the comments the candidates have recently made on the campaign trail. Mrs. Fiorina, I want to start with you. Fellow Republican candidate, and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, has suggested that your party's frontrunner, Mr. Donald Trump, would be dangerous as President. He said he wouldn't want, quote, "such a hot head with his finger on the nuclear codes." You, as well, have raised concerns about Mr. Trump's temperament. You've dismissed him as an entertainer. Would you feel comfortable with Donald trump's finger on the nuclear codes? +p948 +aVYou didn't answer my question. Would you feel comfortable with Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear codes? It's an issue that one of your fellow candidates has raised. +p949 +aVMr. Trump? +p950 +aVMr. \u2014 Senator Paul, your name has been invoked. +p951 +aVMr. Trump? +p952 +aVI want to \u2014 I want to give Mr. Trump... +p953 +aV... Mr. Trump, I want to give you another chance \u2014 Mr. Trump, I want to give you a chance to respond to something that your rival to your left, Governor Bush, said. Governor Bush told me last week when I read him the quote from Governor Jindal that he agrees you're not a serious candidate. Tell Governor Bush why you are a serious candidate and what your qualifications are to be commander-in-chief. +p954 +aVGovernor Bush, would you feel comfortable with Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear codes? +p955 +aVGovernor Walker? +p956 +aVLet's move on. +p957 +aVA phenomenon going on in the race right now is the political... OK, Governor Kasich, go ahead. +p958 +aVWe have a lot of issues coming up, sir. +p959 +aVWe are getting to the issues, sir. Phenomenon going on in the race is the political outsiders in the race, Dr. Carson, Donald Trump, Carly Fiorina, all together, have majority support in the polls. Governor Christie, I want to ask you about something that Dr. Carson said the other day. Dr. Carson said campaigning is easier for him, because he's not a politician. He can just tell the truth, therefore, while politicians, quote, "Have their finger in the air to see and do what is politically expedient." Governor Christie, tell Dr. Carson, is that a fair description of you? +p960 +aVWell, let's find out. Thank you. +p961 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. Dr. Carson, who were you thinking about on this stage when you said that? +p962 +aVAnd more broadly, is experience in government not important for a president to have? +p963 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p964 +aVThank you. +p965 +aVThank you. Thank you Ms. Fiorina. Governor Bush, in addition to the fact that he's an outsider, one of the reasons Mr. Trump is a frontrunner, Republican voters say, is because they like the fact that he is not bought and paid for by wealthy donors. Mr. Trump has repeatedly said that the $100 million you've raised for your campaign makes you a puppet for your donors. Are you? +p966 +aVIs there anything else you want to say about this? +p967 +aVGovernor \u2014 +p968 +aVSure Dr. Carson. +p969 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Let's move to Russia if we could. Russia is sending troops and tanks into Syria right now to prop up a U.S. enemy, Bashar al-Assad. President Obama's incoming top general says, quote, "Russia presents the greatest threat to our national security." Mr. Trump, you say you can do business with President Vladimir Putin, you say you will get along, quote, "very well." What would you do right now if you were president, to get the Russians out of Syria? +p970 +aVSo, you \u2014 just to clarify, the only answer I heard to the question I asked is that you would \u2014 you would reach out to Vladimir Putin, and you would do what? You would... +p971 +aVSenator Rubio, you've taken a very different approach to the \u2014 the question of Russia. You've called Vladimir Putin a, quote, "gangster." Why would President Rubio's approach be more effective than President Trump's? +p972 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. +p973 +aVI want to bring in Carly Fiorina. +p974 +aVMs. Fiorina, you have met... +p975 +aV...yeah, you've met Vladimir Putin. Yes. +p976 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p977 +aVThank you. +p978 +aVThank you. Thank you, Ms. Fiorina. While you're \u2014 while you brought up the subject of General Suleimani of the Quds forces from Iran, the next president, no matter who he or she may be, will inherit President Obama's Iran deal. Senator Cruz, Governor Kasich says that anyone who is promising to rip up the Iran deal on day one, as you have promised to do, is, quote, "inexperienced," and, quote, "playing to a crowd." Respond to Governor Kasich, please. +p979 +aVWhy is that not, as Governor Kasich says, playing to the crowd and an example of you being inexperienced? +p980 +aVGovernor Kasich... +p981 +aV...Did Senator Cruz just play to the crowd? +p982 +aV...Thank you, Governor. I want to go to Senator Paul. +p983 +aVI want to go to Senator Paul. Senator Paul, the White House is rolling out the red carpet next week for the President of China, President Xi. Governor Walker says that President Obama should cancel the state dinner because of China's currency manipulation, and because of China's alleged cyber attacks against the United States. Is Governor Walker right? +p984 +aVGovernor Walker, Senator Paul seemed to suggest... +p985 +aV...that canceling the state dinner would be rash, and reckless. +p986 +aV...Governor Bush... +p987 +aVGovernor Bush, your father was the chief diplomatic envoy to China back when Nixon opened relations to China. Is Scott Walker's approach the right one, canceling the state dinner? +p988 +aVI want to turn... +p989 +aV...I want to turn to Governor Huckabee who has been very patient. Somebody had to be 11th, and he is, but, I do want to change the subject to the event that you had... +p990 +aV... however you want, but I want to ask this question. +p991 +aVAll right, sir, go ahead. +p992 +aVOK. ( +p993 +aVWe're going to turn now to Hugh Hewitt, from Salem Radio Network. +p994 +aVThank you, Senator Paul. I want to turn now to my colleague Dana Bash. +p995 +aVThat would be fair, you're right. You're the third senator. +p996 +aVWe're going to go to Dana Bash... +p997 +aVSenator Cruz? +p998 +aVThank you, Senator. +p999 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1000 +aVThank you, Senator. I want to... +p1001 +aV... turn back to Governor Huckabee... +p1002 +aVI want to turn back to Governor Huckabee. Governor Huckabee, last week, you held a rally for a county clerk in Kentucky who was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, as I don't need to tell you. You've called what happened to Kim Davis, that clerk, "an example of the criminalization of Christianity." There are several people on the stage who disagree with you. Governor Bush, for example, says that that clerk is sworn to uphold the law. Is Governor Bush on the wrong side of the criminalization of Christianity? +p1003 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1004 +aVWell, I'm not telling you that, Governor. But Governor Bush is, because he \u2014 because he disagrees. He thinks that Kim Davis swore to uphold the law. You disagree? You're not \u2014 you don't... +p1005 +aVOK. Please do. +p1006 +aVYou did... +p1007 +aVGovernor, you said, quote, "she is sworn to uphold the law." +p1008 +aVLet me go to my colleague Dana Bash, who has a question. +p1009 +aVDana, I want to continue on the subject. Governor Bush, you recently said while discussing Planned Parenthood, quote, you're "not sure we need a half billion for women's health issues." Now you've since said that you misspoke, you didn't mean to say "women's health issues." But Donald Trump said that quote, that comment, which Hillary Clinton did seize upon immediately, will haunt you the same way Mitt Romney's 47 percent video haunted him. Tell Donald Trump why he's wrong. +p1010 +aVThank you, Governor Bush. Donald Trump, let me just... +p1011 +aVThe quote was, "I'm not sure we need half a billion dollars for women's health issues." He said he misspoke. You said that that's going to haunt him. Why do you think that? +p1012 +aVGovernor Bush? +p1013 +aVI want to \u2014 we're going to get to \u2014 +p1014 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1015 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1016 +aVWe're going to \u2014 we're going to get to many of these issues. This \u2014 we're still in the first block, believe it or not. We're going to get to many of these issues, but before we end this block, Ms. Fiorina, I do want to ask you about this. In an interview last week in Rolling Stone magazine, Donald Trump said the following about you. Quote, "Look at that face. Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?" Mr. Trump later said he was talking about your persona, not your appearance. Please feel free to respond what you think about his persona. +p1017 +aVAll right. On that note, in less than two minutes \u2014 we're going to take a very quick break. In less than two minutes, the most contentious issue on the campaign trail. And the candidates on the stage are split over how to handle it. That's coming up next. Please give some applause to the candidates. +p1018 +aVWelcome to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate. No topic perhaps has been more combustible in this campaign than the issue of immigration. Mr. Trump, you have called for deporting every undocumented immigrant, Governor Christie has said, quote, "There are not enough law enforcement officers \u2014 local, county, state and federal combined \u2014 to forcibly deport 11 to 12 million people." Tell Governor Christie how much your plan will cost, and how you will get it done. +p1019 +aVGovernor Christie, you and I have talked about this in an interview. You say that his big wall, his plan to deport 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants, it sounds great, but it's never going to happen. Tell him why you're skeptical of his plans? +p1020 +aVThank you, Governor Christie... +p1021 +aVI want to bring in Dr. Carson because he too has been skeptical of your plan to immediately deport 11 to 12 million illegal immigrants. He said, quote, "People who say that have no idea what this entails." Why do you say that, Dr. Carson? +p1022 +aV...Dr. Carson... +p1023 +aVWith all due respect, you said about Donald Trump's plan to deport 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants, "People who say that have no idea what this entails." Why not? +p1024 +aV...let's continue the conversation about illegal immigration with Dana Bash. +p1025 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Senator Cruz \u2014 Senator Cruz, this week, we learned more about Dr. Carson's plan for the 11 million to 12 million undocumented immigrants in this country. Dr. Carson proposed giving these undocumented immigrants a six- month grace period to pay back taxes then to let them become guest workers and only to deport people who failed to do that. +p1026 +aVWell, how would you say it, sir? I was just reading the Wall Street Journal quote, but please tell us. +p1027 +aVOK, from the horse's mouth, Senator Cruz, does that fit your definition of amnesty? +p1028 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Rubio... +p1029 +aV... I'm not sure... +p1030 +aVWe'll come back to you \u2014 we'll come back to you in one second, sir. But Senator Rubio, I'm not sure exactly whose plan he's \u2014 he's saying is \u2014 constitutes amnesty, but I know he has said it about your plan in the past, so I want to give you a chance to respond, then, Dr. Carson, we'll come to you. +p1031 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1032 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator \u2014 Dr. Carson... ... I want to give you 30 seconds. I'd like you to answer the question. Senator Cruz describes plans such as yours as amnesty. Why is your plan not amnesty? +p1033 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. I want to talk about the issue of birthright citizenship, which \u2014 which has emerged since the first debate as \u2014 as an a \u2014 a major issue in this campaign. Mr. Trump, you say that babies born in the United States to undocumented immigrants should not any longer get automatic American citizenship. Ms. Fiorina says that you are pandering on this issue and acting like the politicians that you rail against. What's your message to Ms. Fiorina on birthright citizenship? +p1034 +aVMs. Fiorina, the vast majority of countries do not have birthright citizenship... ...Donald Trump is right about that. Why is it pandering when he's \u2014 he says this? +p1035 +aVMs. Fiorina... +p1036 +aVPlease. +p1037 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p1038 +aVThank you. +p1039 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Mr. Trump, I want to give you the chance to respond... +p1040 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. Senator Paul... +p1041 +aVSenator Paul, I want to bring you in. Where \u2014 where do you stand on the issue of birthright citizenship? +p1042 +aVAll right. Senator Paul, thank you so much. Let's turn to a new topic. We've received a lot of questions on social media about the economy and about jobs. We have two CEOs on stage right now. Ms. Fiorina, you were CEO of Hewlett Packard. Donald Trump says you, quote, "ran HP into the ground," you laid off tens of thousands of people, you got viciously fired. For voters looking to somebody with private-sector experience to create American jobs, why should they pick you and not Donald Trump? +p1043 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p1044 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p1045 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 Mr. Trump, why would you be better at creating jobs than Carly Fiorina? +p1046 +aVMs. Fiorina, I want to give you a chance to respond. +p1047 +aVMr. Trump. +p1048 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. +p1049 +aVGovernor Christie's name has been invoked. I'd like to give him a 30 second opportunity. +p1050 +aVMs. Fiorina, I want to give you +p1051 +aVGovernor Kasich, I'm coming to you next, but Ms. Fiorina's name was mentioned, and I have to give her the opportunity to respond if she wants it. +p1052 +aVThank you. +p1053 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Kasich, I want to come \u2014 I'm coming to you. I'm coming to you. Let me ask the question. You can use the time however you want. +p1054 +aVDonald Trump says that the hedge fund guys are getting away with murder by paying a lower tax rate. He wants to raise the taxes of hedge fund managers, as does Governor Bush. Do you agree? +p1055 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1056 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. +p1057 +aVGovernor Huckabee, I want to bring you in on the question of hedge fund managers and taxing them. You have said that you are bothered by the fact that hedge fund managers pay such a low tax rate and make 2,500 times what people who work for them make. Do you agree with what Donald Trump and Governor Bush have proposed, raising their tax rates? +p1058 +aVThank you, Governor. Dr. Carson, you support scrapping the entire tax code and replacing it with a flat tax based on the principal on tithing from the Bible. If you make $10 billion, you pay $1 billion in taxes, if you make $10, you pay $1 in taxes. Donald Trump believes in progressive taxation. He says it's not right that rich people pay the same as the poor. Tell Donald Trump why his ideas on taxes are wrong. +p1059 +aVMr. Trump... +p1060 +aV...What do you think of the flat tax? Do you think it's fair? +p1061 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. Senator Paul? +p1062 +aVGovernor Walker, I want to go to you. Dr. Carson wants to raise the Federal Minimum Wage, you have called it a lame idea. Why is raising the Federal Minimum Wage lame? +p1063 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1064 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1065 +aVDr. Carson, Governor Walker didn't really answer the question, but I'll let you respond. He called raising the Federal Minimum Wage lame, what do you think of that? +p1066 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson... +p1067 +aVLet me bring in our partner from Salem Radio Network, Hugh Hewitt. +p1068 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate. Let's turn to some issues now in foreign policy. Mr. Trump, Senator Rubio said it was, quote, "very concerning to him" that in a recent interview you didn't seem to know the details about some of the enemies the U.S. faces. Rubio said, if you don't know the answers to those questions, you will not be able to serve as commander-in-chief. Please respond to Senator Rubio. +p1069 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1070 +aVMr. Trump? Senator Rubio seemed to be suggesting that you don't know information that... +p1071 +aVAll right. Senator Rubio. +p1072 +aVBut are you saying that you have the knowledge to be the president that Mr. Trump does not have? +p1073 +aVMr. Trump? +p1074 +aVSenator Rubio, he did invoke your absentee record in the Senate. +p1075 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. I want to turn now to Hugh Hewitt. +p1076 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1077 +aVSenator... +p1078 +aVSenator Paul? +p1079 +aVSenator Paul... +p1080 +aVThank you, Senator Paul... +p1081 +aVThank you, Senator Paul... +p1082 +aVI understand that Governor Bush's name has been invoked, and then we can go to you, Senator Rubio. +p1083 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1084 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Rubio? +p1085 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1086 +aVDr. Carson? +p1087 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1088 +aVI mean, it is interesting that you say that, because I want to ask Governor Christie about something else that you have said. Governor Christie, we just marked the 14th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Now Dr. Carson has said that if he had been president at the time, the United States would not have gone to war in Afghanistan. What does that say to you about how Dr. Carson would respond as president if America were attacked again? +p1089 +aVDr. Carson? +p1090 +aV... Governor Christie. +p1091 +aVDr. Carson? +p1092 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1093 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1094 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee. +p1095 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1096 +aVThank you, governor, I want to turn to +p1097 +aVGovernor Walker, there is a big debate now, we have been talking about +p1098 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Paul, I want to go to you, because you have said that the boots on the ground to fight +p1099 +aVThank you, Senator. We're going to turn to some domestic issues now. I want to bring in my colleague, Dana Bash. +p1100 +aVSure.... +p1101 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1102 +aV...Thank you, Governor. Dana Bash... +p1103 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina... +p1104 +aV...Thank you, we're going to turn now to domestic issues with Dana Bash. +p1105 +aV...Dana Bash... +p1106 +aVThank you. Dana Bash? +p1107 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1108 +aV...Governor Bush... +p1109 +aV...I want to let you respond. +p1110 +aVThank you, Governor... ...And, that's what we should do, and I hope I'll be working members of the United States Senate to fight hard for the passage of people that have that kind of qualification. +p1111 +aVSenator Cruz, 30 seconds. +p1112 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1113 +aVThank you, Semator. +p1114 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee, I want to bring you in very quickly if you could. Will you have a litmus test when it comes to appointing Supreme Court nominees? +p1115 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1116 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1117 +aVThank you, Governor. We're going to take a quick break. Coming up, one of the hottest questions that you have been asking us via social media. We will pose it to the candidates. That's coming up right after this. +p1118 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican presidential debate at the Reagan Library here in Simi Valley \u2014 Simi Valley, California. Many people on social media wanted us to ask about marijuana legalization. Senator Paul, Governor Christie recently said, quote, "if you're getting high in Colorado today," where marijuana has been legalized, "enjoy it until January 2017, because I will enforce the federal laws against marijuana." Will you? +p1119 +aVI want to give that \u2014 I want to give the person that you called a hypocrite an opportunity to respond. Do you want to identify that person? +p1120 +aVIs there somebody you were specifically thinking of? +p1121 +aVThat's what I though, but I wanted to say it. +p1122 +aVOK. +p1123 +aVGovernor Bush, please. +p1124 +aVI want to go right now \u2014 I want to go right now... +p1125 +aVThat's true. Go ahead, Christie, please. +p1126 +aVYou may respond, and then I'll bring in you, Ms. Fiorina. +p1127 +aVYes, Senator Paul. +p1128 +aVI want to bring in Ms. Fiorina \u2014 I want to bring in Ms. Fiorina on this issue. +p1129 +aVHugh \u2014 Hugh, I'd like to... +p1130 +aVI'd like to turn it over \u2014 I'd like to turn to Dana Bush. +p1131 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1132 +aVI'm coming to you right now on a separate issue, sir. We received... ( +p1133 +aVWe received a lot of questions from social media about climate change. Senator Rubio, Ronald Reagan's secretary of state, George Shultz, reminds us that when Reagan was president he faced a similar situation to the one that we're facing now. There were dire warnings from the mass consensus of the scientific community about the ozone layer shrinking. Shultz says Ronald Reagan urged skeptics in industry to come up with a plan. He said, do it as an insurance policy in case the scientists are right. The scientists were right. Reagan and his approach worked. Secretary Shultz asks, why not take out an insurance policy and approach climate change the Reagan way? +p1134 +aVI'm citing George Shultz. +p1135 +aVGovernor Christie, you have said that climate change is real, and that humans help contribute to it. Without getting into the issue of China versus the United States, which I understand you've talked about before, what do you make of skeptics of climate change such as Senator Rubio? +p1136 +aVJust for the record, I was citing Secretary of State George Shultz, Ronald Reagan's secretary of state who I don't think anybody would call him left-wing. +p1137 +aVI called you a skeptic. +p1138 +aVI want to go another question right now. +p1139 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1140 +aVI'm turning to... +p1141 +aV...I'm turning to another \u2014 I'm turning to another issue right now. Senator Cruz. Well, I think we've heard from several this evening. A backlash against vaccines was blamed for a measles outbreak here in California. Dr. Carson, Donald Trump has publicly and repeatedly linked vaccines, childhood vaccines, to autism, which, as you know, the medical community adamantly disputes. You're a pediatric neurosurgeon. Should Mr. Trump stop saying this? +p1142 +aVShould he stop saying it? Should he stop saying that vaccines cause autism? +p1143 +aVMr. Trump, as president, you would... +p1144 +aVI'm going right to you. +p1145 +aVMr. Trump, as president, you would be in charge of the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health, both of which say you are wrong. How would you handle this as president? +p1146 +aVThank you. +p1147 +aVDr. \u2014 Dr. Carson? +p1148 +aVDr. Carson, you just heard his medical take. +p1149 +aVDr. Paul? Dr. Paul, I'd like to bring you in. +p1150 +aVAlright, thank you so much... +p1151 +aVComing up \u2014 I'm sorry, Governor Huckabee, please. +p1152 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1153 +aVWe have to take another quick break. Coming up, Ronald Reagan looming large over this debate. So how Reaganesque exactly are these Republicans? We will find out next. +p1154 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California. We have a few last questions for you. Two of them a little lighthearted, the other one more serious. We'll start with one of the more light questions. Senator Paul, I'm going to start with you and we're just going to go down the line. Earlier this year, the Treasury Department announced that a woman will appear on the $10 bill. What woman would you like to see on the $10 bill? +p1155 +aVGovernor Huckabee? +p1156 +aVSenator Paul (sic). +p1157 +aVI'm sorry. Senator Rubio? +p1158 +aVJust the senators. +p1159 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1160 +aVDr. Carson? +p1161 +aVMr. Trump. +p1162 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1163 +aVGovernor Walker. +p1164 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p1165 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1166 +aVGovernor Christie. +p1167 +aVAlright. Some good entries if anybody at the mint was listening. Here's the next lighthearted question, you all know that the United States Secret Service uses codenames for the president, and his family. Ronald Reagan's codename, for example, was, "Rawhide", an homage to his performances in Westerns. Nancy Reagan's was, "Rainbow". You don't have to come up the one for your spouse, but, what would you want, Governor Christie, I'll start with you, your Secret Service codename to be. +p1168 +aVGovernor Walker? +p1169 +aVMr. Trump? +p1170 +aVDr. Carson? +p1171 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1172 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1173 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p1174 +aVSenator Paul. +p1175 +aVThat's a mouthful, but OK. OK, here's the more serious question, Ronald Reagan, the 40th President, used the plane behind you to accomplish a great many things. Perhaps, most notably, to challenge Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the wall, and ultimately, to make peace with the +p1176 +aVThat concludes this Republican presidential debate. On behalf of everyone here at CNN, we want to thank the candidates, the Reagan Library, and the Republican National Committee. Thank you, also, to Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash. The next presidential debate will also be right here on CNN, among the Democratic candidates, who will face off for the first time on October the 13th. That debate, a partnership with Facebook, will be moderated by my colleague, Anderson Cooper. And Anderson picks up our coverage of tonight's debate right now. Before I throw to Anderson, let's have one final round of applause for the candidates. +p1177 +aVWe're live at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California for one of the most highly anticipated primary season debates ever. On this stage 15 candidates in two rounds of questioning with one goal, to show they have what it takes to be the Republican Presidential Nominee. Welcome to our viewers, I'm Jake Tapper. Tonight's debate is airing on CNN networks around the world, and, of course, here in the United States. It's also being broadcast across the country on the Salmen Radio Network. We want to thank our host, former First Lady Nancy Reagan, and the Reagan Library for this very impressive setting, the Air Force One pavilion. Behind me, you can see the actual plane... ...That Ronald Reagan flew in when he was president. Now, because the GOP field is so large, we have divided the candidates into two groups based on their rankings in recent national polls. Later this evening we will hear from the top 11 contenders. The other four candidates are taking part in the first round, and they are ready to join us now. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindal. The former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania, Rick Santorum. and former New York Governor, George Pataki. Ladies and gentleman, please welcome these Republican candidates for President of the United States. And, now, if you would, please rise for our national anthem performed by actress and singer, Natalie Hill. I'd like to ask the candidates to please take their podiums while I tell you a little more about how tonight debate will work. I'm Jake Tapper. I'll be the moderator. Joining me in the questioning, Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt; he worked in the Reagan administration for six years and CNN's chief political correspondent, Dana Bash. I will follow up and guide the discussion; candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have one minute to answer questions and 30 seconds for followups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you have been singled out for criticism. We have timing lights that are visible to the candidates. Those lights will warn them when their time is up. Our goal tonight is to have a true debate, candidates actually addressing each other in areas where they disagree, where they differ on policy, on politics and on leadership. Now that everyone is in place, it's time for the candidates to introduce themselves to our audience. Please keep it brief. Governor Pataki, you're first. +p1178 +aVThank you candidates. We're going to talk a lot about policy and your proposals this evening. But first, Governor Jindal, I want to start with you. You have said that the front runner, Donald Trump, is a, quote, "unstable, narcissistic, ego maniac." Now, we are in the house of Reagan, who made famous the so-called 11th Commandment, "Thou shalt not speak ill of thy fellow Republican." What drove you to violate that unofficial commandment? +p1179 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1180 +aVSenator Santorum, do you think Governor Jindal is wrong for attacking your party's front runner? +p1181 +aVThank you. Governor Jindal, do you want to respond to that? +p1182 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1183 +aVSenator Santorum, just to assure you, we will get to those issues. But just a couple more on this general subject. Senator Graham, you have called Donald Trump a, quote, "wrecking ball for the Republican party." Voters in your home state of South Carolina, in a recent poll, prefer Donald Trump 30 percent to your 4 percent. How do you explain why so many of your constituents would rather have Donald Trump as the Republican nominee than you? +p1184 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. We're going to bring in Hugh Hewitt now, who has a question for Governor Pataki. +p1185 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1186 +aVSenator Graham? One of the -- the reasons why Donald Trump, Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina are doing well is because they are political outsiders. In fact, that's one of the things -- in fact, there are two things that they have in common. They've never been elected to office before and they're doing better than all of you in the polls. The four of you have a combined seven decades in elected office. Senator Graham, in this election season, do Republican voters see your service in government as a liability and not an asset? +p1187 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1188 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1189 +aVThank you, Senator. Let's turn to the topic of immigration. For that, I want to bring in my colleague, Dana Bash. +p1190 +aVThank you, Governor. I -- I want to change the subject. We're staying on immigration, and I'm bringing you in, Governor Pataki... +p1191 +aV... and Senator Graham, I'm coming to you as well. +p1192 +aVGovernor Pataki, Republicans right now are -- are debating birthright citizenship, the policy of granting U.S. citizenship to every baby born in this country, even if they born to undocumented immigrants. Senator Graham wants to end the policy of birthright citizenship. Governor Pataki, you support keeping it. Tell him why he's wrong. +p1193 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1194 +aVGovernor... +p1195 +aVWhat I -- what I asked about was about birthright citizenship and why you think that we should preserve birthright... +p1196 +aVSenator Graham, most countries in the world do not have birthright citizenship. +p1197 +aVWhy do you think Governor Pataki is wrong? +p1198 +aVWas that a... +p1199 +aV...Thank you Senator... +p1200 +aV...Thank you Senator... +p1201 +aV...We'll come back to you Senator Santorum, I promise... +p1202 +aV...alright... +p1203 +aVThank you, Senator... +p1204 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Pataki, I want to let you have the final word here. +p1205 +aVGovernor Pataki? +p1206 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1207 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Graham, your response when it comes to Syrian refugees? +p1208 +aVThank you, Senator. I want to turn now -- +p1209 +aVWe're going to keep talking about the situation in the Middle East. Let me bring in my colleague, Dana Bash, again. +p1210 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1211 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1212 +aVThank you, thank you, Governor. +p1213 +aVGovernor Pataki -- +p1214 +aVThank you, Governor. Sorry. We have rules and timing. Governor Jindal, I do want to bring you in. I want to turn to a story in news in the story today. A 14-year-old Muslim high school student in Texas was arrested on Monday for bringing a homemade clock to school after it was mistaken for a fake bomb. Police released the young man after they determined it was, in fact, a clock. Today, President Obama invited that student to the White House. Governor Jindal, throughout your campaign, you've spoken many times about Muslim extremists in this country. How would you, as president, strike a balance between vigilance and discrimination? +p1215 +aVGovernor Jindal, I'm afraid you didn't answer the question. How do you strike the balance between vigilance and discrimination? Obviously, we know how you feel about the vigilance part of this. Do you ever see the discrimination part of it? +p1216 +aVThank you, Governor. We will get to that subject later in the debate. Senator Graham? +p1217 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1218 +aVGovernor Pataki? +p1219 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1220 +aVWe'll get to that subject in the next block. We're going to take a very quick break. When we come back, both Jeb Bush and Donald Trump agree on one thing when it comes to taxes. We'll see if any of the candidates on stage agree as well. +p1221 +aVThat's next. Stay with us. +p1222 +aVWelcome back to the CNN Republican Debate at the beautiful Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California. Before we took the break, you were all chomping at the bit to talk about Kim Davis, that Kentucky clerk. Governor Pataki said he would have fired Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk jailed for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses. Senator Santorum, do you agree with Governor Pataki? +p1223 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Pataki, your response? +p1224 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum? +p1225 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1226 +aVWe're coming to both of you. +p1227 +aVWhat... +p1228 +aVGovernor Jindal... +p1229 +aVSenator Graham, do you want to weigh in? +p1230 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1231 +aVSenator... +p1232 +aVThank you, Senator. I want to stay with the subject of Supreme Court judges -- justices. Governor Jindal, both Senators graham and Santorum voted to confirm chief justice of the United States, John Roberts, who has led with the majority twice to uphold ObamaCare. Do you think that Graham's and Santorum's votes to confirm John Roberts were a mistake? +p1233 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Graham, I want to give you an opportunity to respond -- -- I would note that Anthony Kennedy, was, of course, a Ronald Reagan appointee. Senator Graham, do you stand by your vote for John Roberts? +p1234 +aVSenator Santorum, do you stand by your vote for John Roberts? +p1235 +aVGovernor Jindal, I'm going to give you 30 seconds to respond. +p1236 +aVLet me bring back Hugh Hewitt. +p1237 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1238 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1239 +aV...I want to turn -- you're going to be involved in the next question... +p1240 +aV...Senator Graham... +p1241 +aV...Thank you, Senator... +p1242 +aV...Thank you Senator. Senator Graham, I want to turn to the minimum... +p1243 +aV...Well, let's talk about South Carolina... +p1244 +aV...Senator, let's turn to the minimum wage. Senator Santorum is the only person on the stage who has proposed increasing the federal minimum wage. How would that affect South Carolinians? Do you agree with Senator Santorum that the federal minimum wage should be increased? +p1245 +aVSenator Graham, thank you so much. Senator Santorum... Senator Graham is suggesting that your proposal would not allot South Carolinians to hire more workers. +p1246 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1247 +aVThank you, Senator. We have to take a quick break. When we come back, confrontation or negotiation? How will these candidates attempt to handle Russian President Vladimir Putin? That's next. +p1248 +aVAnd we're back at the CNN Republican Debate at the Reagan Library in beautiful Simi Valley, California. Let's turn now to some issues of foreign policy. Senator Graham, you all oppose the U.S. nuclear deal with Iran. Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton, a Republican, is pushing for a U.S. military strike against Iran, against its nuclear facilities. Senator Graham, would you authorize, as president, a nuclear strike against -- I mean, sorry -- a strike against Iran's nuclear facilities? +p1249 +aVGovernor -- -- Hugh -- I'm going to go to Hugh Hewitt for a question for Governor Pataki. +p1250 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1251 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Graham -- +p1252 +aVWe're bringing you in on this question as well. Senator Graham, Vladimir Putin in recent days has sent an estimated six more tanks, four helicopters and Russian ground troops into Syria to help support President Assad, an enemy of the United States. The Russian military is also buzzing American planes and Naval vessels around the world. Your front-runner, Donald Trump, says he can do details with President Putin, that the two of them will get along, quote, "very well." Why would your confrontational approach work better than Mr. Trump's negotiation? +p1253 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1254 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1255 +aVGovernor Jindal, how would President Jindal... ... get the Russians out of Syria? +p1256 +aV... +p1257 +aVWell... +p1258 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1259 +aVThank you, Senator... +p1260 +aVThank you, Senator. The final question... +p1261 +aVThe final questions for these four Republicans as the top contenders get ready to take their places on the debate stage when we come back right after this. Welcome back to the CNN Republican debates at the Reagan Library in beautiful Simi Valley, California. We have time for one more question for the candidates. Governor Pataki, let's start with you. You have all spent the last hour and a half debating each other. The other 11 candidates are on their way to the stage. What is the one thing as a candidate that you offer that no one at the next debate can offer? +p1262 +aVThank you, senator. +p1263 +aVThank you. +p1264 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum? +p1265 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1266 +aVThank you. +p1267 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1268 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Governor Jindal, what is something that you offer as a candidate that the other 11 candidates coming on stage in a few minutes cannot offer? +p1269 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Graham? +p1270 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1271 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. Our thanks to the candidates for a great debate. In just a moment, we're bringing the candidates from both of tonight's debates together for a group photo. That will be a first in this campaign. And then, of course, the main event, the top 11 candidates going head to head. I will be back as moderator. Right now, let's go to my colleague, Anderson Cooper. +p1272 +asVSANTORUM +p1273 +(lp1274 +VYou know, listening to what your network was talking about prior to this race, this debate, reminded me of the coverage that many on this floor are getting. This race, this debate, was called the, "Undercard Debate". The undercard debate. It wasn't advertised significantly. In fact, the entire hour lead up to this there was no conversation about any of the four people on this debate stage, and that is the chronic situation. In fact, they listed -- they put a poll up from Wall Street Journal/NBC News, they listed the candidates, and they failed to mention I wasn't listed. I got zero, why? Because they -- NBC, Wall Street Journal poll never includes my name on the list. This is what the media has been doing over the past year, and trying to segregate, and take Iowans out of the process. What Iowans deserve... ... is to hear from every candidate on equal footing. Had they applied the same rules four years ago, I would have been in the undercard debate. The guy who won the Iowa Caucuses would have been in the undercard debate, not talked about. We would have been talking about, maybe, an entertainer that may have been trying to run. Ladies and gentlemen, you have a chance on Monday to put the record straight about who you want, not who will entertain you. +p1275 +aVBut, who will fight for what you believe in, and I hope you do... +p1276 +aVWell, look. The entire lead up to this debate was talking about whether Donald Trump is going to show up for the next debate. The people of Iowa, who I know pretty darn well, care a lot about the issues. They care about who is going to be the leader of the free world. Who is going to be able to take on +p1277 +aVAnd we are not hearing any of those things. We are hearing about whether someone is going to show up for the next debate or not. +p1278 +aVYes, I am. +p1279 +aVYou know, this, again, more of the politics of trying to get people to throw stuff at each other. I'm not going to throw mud at anybody on this stage tonight. I'm not going to throw mud at anybody on the stage later. I'm not going to attack Donald Trump. What I'm -- Mike Huckabee and I were asked to come to an event where money was going to be raise to do help our veterans. You know, I thought about it. And I thought about. I said well, wait a minute, now, if there were no political considerations and I had some time because I'm not doing anything at 9:00 tonight. And so if I had some time, would I go... ... if I could help raise money for veterans? And the answer was yes, I would. And so I'm going. +p1280 +aVThank you for the question, Martha. We have to have an honest discussion with the American people about the nature of the threat that we confront. This president says that +p1281 +aVWhat I would say is that we have to create jobs that give people wages and benefits that can help them provide for themselves and their families. And that's why I announced from a factory floor in western Pennsylvania, I pledge to make America the number one manufacturing nation, again, in the world. And we can do it. China is starting to reorient itself away from a manufacturing economy that's dumping products on the -- overseas to providing more services to their people. This is an opportunity for America. It's an opportunity for us to get those jobs back. And by the way, do you want to solve global climate change? Take 2 million jobs from China in manufacturing and moving them back here to the United States, where we produce one-fifth the CO2 when we make things. We can help -- we can do every -- we can do it all. We can take care of the environment. We can create more jobs here. Seventy-four percent of Americans don't have a college degree. And unfortunately most folks who, in the Republican Party, don't talk about what we're going to do to create jobs for people who feel like neither political party cares about them. When you elect me, we'll create opportunities for working men and women in this country -- all over this country. +p1282 +aVWell, in fact, the plan that I put forward is scored by the Tax Foundation as bringing three and a half million jobs into this country, and we have provisions in the flat tax for the corporate side that actually has a phase in of manufacturing. Manufacturers initially don't pay any income tax. Ten percent the next year, and 20. We're going to also have a repatriation provision which says that if you have money overseas, and you're Apple, and you got a couple hundred billion dollars there, bring it back. The most you'll be taxed 10%, invest it here in America. Create jobs here in America with all that money that's sitting overseas. We also -- it's not just taxes. It's regulation. I've pledged to cut every single Obamacare -- I mean, excuse me, Obama regulation, including Obamacare, and remove those regulations that cost more than a hundred million dollars in the economy. That will liberate -- and that includes waters of the U.S., and the ozone regulations, they -- the mercury regulations. All of these just crush our manufactures and don't create an opportunity for us to survive. And, remember, China produces five times as much CO2 and other pollutants per dollar of GDP as we do. You want to help the environment? Bring jobs back to America. +p1283 +aVWell, I've been to the March for Life for about 25 years and I thought -- I think that's a pretty good record. Spoken at it a few times and I have shepherded every single piece of pro-life piece of legislation that's passed over the last 20 years. I've either authored it or shepherded it through the United States Congress and I'm pretty proud of that record too. But we have an election going on and there was some snow coming. So I decided that maybe it would be better for me to get out and do some campaigning and not be stuck as my wife and kids were for a week, piling out of two and a half feet of snow. So, here's what I would say. If you want someone that is going to talk a good game, there are a lot of folks on this stage that have talked a good game on the issue of life. Not only have I talked a good game on life and I've done some things. But I've also lived it. You know, one of the things Saint Francis said was, you know, if you preach the gospel, then if you have to, speak. The bottom line is, that twice in my life, we were counseled to have an abortion, one with our son Gabriel and one with our little girl Bella. And neither time did Karen and I for a moment think about it because we know that life begins at conception. We know the dignity of every human life and we know the potential of every child, no matter how long that life lives. And that is a message that can come across to all Americans and without having to say a word and defend the institution of life and the dignity of life in this country. +p1284 +aVThe president of the United States has been the most divisive president in -- certainly in my lifetime. This is a man who constantly... He is not trustworthy. You can't sit down and negotiate with him. He won't keep a deal. We have heard that over and over again. And here is what he does that really, really creates the friction in Washington. He personally attacks people. He ascribes motives to them that aren't true and then he tears them down. How are you going to work with someone if you don't treat them decently, honestly, and respectfully? I was a tough fighter when I was in Washington. I had very sharp elbows. I fought. I went there and joined a game named Jim Nussle here from Iowa with the "gang of seven." And we, in four years' time, took a Congress that had been controlled by Democrats for 40 years, and brought in the first Republican majority because we fought and we fought tough. But you know what? I was able to then work with those same people that we fought with and able to pass welfare reform. Unborn Victims of Violence Act. Pro-life bills. Health savings accounts. A whole laundry list of things not because I was mean, but because I was able to be respectful in the disagreements. And that's what we need in Washington, someone who can be respectful and still unite this country. +p1285 +aVI just want to thank the people of Iowa. Over the last five years I've done 700 speeches and town hall meetings all throughout the state of Iowa, and it has been an incredible right. Thank you. I want to thank all the wonderful folks like Pastor Carey Gordon who gave me a smooth stone and said you go slay Goliaths. Someone like Jim and Janet Cook who over this past Christmas gave up Christmas presents for their kids, and they have more than I do, just they can help me and my campaign. That's the kind of people... ... in Iowa. And, here's what I'm asking you to do. You're good people. You know good leaders. Lead. Pick the right person, not what the polls say. Not who the money give people to. Pick the leader you know is best for this country. Thank you. +p1286 +aVWell, all he has to do is listen to the Democratic debate and find out how bad the economy is. All they do is complain about the hollowing out of the middle of America, and how America is struggling so badly, and have to make these radical changes in Washington. But they've been in control for the last seven years, and what have we seen? The most important jobs, I believe, in this country are the ones that fill the middle. For the 74% of Americans who don't have a college degree between the age of 25 and 65 are manufacturing jobs. Your governor, and your legislature, and your team here have done an amazing job of bringing manufacturing jobs back to South Carolina. Right here. Right here in Charleston, right down in the street in Boeing. You've done a great job, and what's happened? You've grown this economy, you've strengthened the center of your state, the middle. That's because you know that if you're really going to create wealth and opportunity, you got to get jobs, and good paying jobs for everybody. And, so what's happened? Two million jobs, manufacturing jobs, have left this country because of Barack Obama. Regulations, EPA, workplace regulations, things driving people off-shore all because of his number one priority, global climate change. Well, let me tell you this, Mr. President. For every dollar of GDP, China creates five times as much pollution as we do here. You want to \u2014 lower global climate change, bring those jobs back to America and let American workers do that job with less pollution. +p1287 +aVWell, the historic promises that we have made to \u2014 to Iran in this agreement need to be torn up on the first day in office of the next president. And let me tell you why, because Iran has already torn it up. Iran has not approved the agreement that President Obama has said that they have approved. They have approved a different agreement in their parliament. The fact of the matter is they have violated this agreement. Carly just mentioned some of those violations. They have launched ballistic missiles, tested them, in clear violation. And here's the pathetic part. The president announced that they were going to impose sanctions. And then President Rouhani went on Twitter and said there would be retaliation. And what did we do? We backed down. Ladies and gentlemen, there are 50 some Citadel cadets in this audience tonight. I would ask them to stand up if they will. And here's what I want to tell each and every one of them, as you stand. Here's what I want to tell them. Whether it's you're watching that movie this weekend that just came out when we abandoned our men and women in Benghazi, or whether it's we treat Iran, that gave courtesies to our sailors, as they made them record a hostage video, let me tell you this, if you choose to serve this country, I will have your back. I will not let America be trampled upon anymore by these radical jihadists. +p1288 +aVI would just say that if we were doing a better job within the government, we wouldn't need the private sector to do the things that we're asking them to do. I've had a little experience in this in the private sector myself. And what I found was a government with layers and layers of bureaucracy, of people who had some technical expertise but they had no authority, number one. And one of the things I found out about in the bureaucracy is if a lot of people have authority, nobody has authority, number one. And number two, that if you don't do anything, you don't get fired. It's only when you do something and something goes wrong, you get fired. So they do nothing. And that's what is happening in our Defense Department right now. We have a capability that they're trying to develop to play defense. We have a lot of technologists that are very skilled. And they're trying to figure out how to play defense. But what we don't have is we don't have folks who are thinking about offense. We don't have war-fighters. We have technologists. Technologists are not war-fighters. Technologists are thinking, how do I protect cyber-security, how do I secure, how do I protect? And we need to have a much more dynamic, how do we \u2014 how do we go after them? How do we respond? And we need leadership that's willing to make sure that when someone attacks us \u2014 and ladies and gentlemen, they're attacking us as we speak. They're attacking us all day every day, not just the government, but they're attacking private sector companies all day every day. They have to learn that we're going to pay \u2014 they're going to pay a price when they do so. And then right now, just like in every other aspect of our national security, people who attack us are not paying a price. We need a leader who will make sure that they know when they mess with America, they're going to pay a price. +p1289 +aVLook, Facebook and Twitter can teach us things. We can cooperate with them. We can share ideas and information. But this is a \u2014 and this is a very dicey area for the government to go in and require the industry to do its job. It needs to develop that capability. We need to be \u2014 have responsible dialogue, but I don't think requirements are the order of the day. +p1290 +aVWell, the most devastating attack that could occur is an electromagnetic pulse attack, and that would be an attack that would be triggered by a nuclear explosion in the upper atmosphere of our country. The best way to stop that from happening is to make sure that those who contemplating and actually war-gaming and talking about using it, Iran, doesn't get a nuclear weapon so they can't explode that device. And the president of the United States has put Iran on a path to a nuclear weapon. And we have done nothing to do anything to harden our grid. There is actually a bill in Congress that would put money forward to try to put redundancy and harden our electric grid so it could actually survive an EMP. An EMP is a devastating explosion that sends a pulse that knocks out all electric, everything, everything that is connected to any kind \u2014 that is wired, that has a circuit board gets fried out. Everything is gone. Cars stop. Planes fall out of the sky. This is a devastating attack. And this president has done nothing, number one, to take the most probable person to \u2014 probable country to launch an attack and stop them, and has done nothing to try to defend us, particularly our electric grid. The bottom line is, I put the original sanctions on the Iranian nuclear program when I was in the United States Senate. I've been fighting for 12 years with one thing in mind, that we must stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. And......because they're different than every other country. They do not want a nuclear weapon to defend themselves. They want a nuclear weapon to have theological ends to bring about their mahdi so they can control the world. And that is the most serious threat facing this country right now. +p1291 +aVWell, the numbers just don't add up. I mean, they have not added manufacturing jobs. Manufacturing jobs have been lost in this country, 2 million of them. The bottom line is that this president has done more to take jobs away from the hard-working people who are struggling the most. And that's folks who are, as I said, the 74 percent of Americans who don't have a college degree. And they're out there talking about, well, we're going to provide free college for everybody. Well, who is going to pay for it? The 74 percent that don't have a college degree. They're not \u2014 nobody is focused. Let's just be honest, nobody is focused on the people who are struggling the most in America today. We talk about immigration. Talk about the president's immigration plan. He wants to bring in more and more people into this country. Let people who are here illegally stay in this country. Almost all of the people who are here illegally, and most of the people who came here legally over the last 20 years, they're working in wage-earning jobs. That is why wages have flat-lined. And we have unfortunately two political parties with most of the candidates in this field for some form of amnesty, some form of allowing people to stay here even though they're here illegally and for increasing levels of legal immigration. I'm someone who believes that we need to be the party that stands for the American worker. And when we say we need to send people back, I mean we send people back. And let me just make one point. I was in Storm Lake, Iowa, the other day, near a Tyson's plant, 91 percent of the kids that go to the elementary school there are minority kids. And they said, well, what are you going to do with all of these people, their families, they've lived here for a long time? I said, I'm going to give them a gift. I'm going to give them a gift of being able to help the country they were born in. And I'm going to export America, the education they were able to see. They learned English language. They learned about capitalism. They learned about democracy. You want to stop flow of immigrants? Let's send six million Mexicans, Hondurans, Guatemalans, El Savadorians......back into their country, so they can start a renaissance in their country so they won't be coming over here anymore. +p1292 +aVYou know, we've had this debate about the economy, and we haven't talked the one issue now increasingly even the right, and even the are coming to agreement. I've run around doing 300 town hall meetings talking about a book written by a liberal Harvard sociologist, not a normal thing for me to be talking about, but I now name Robert Putnam who wrote a book called, "Our Kids". And, he wrote this book, I think, ostensibly to support the Democratic argument that the middle of America's hollowing out, and income gap is widening, and rich are getting richer. When he studied all the information as to what was going on, he realized that the biggest reason that we're seeing the hollowing out of the middle of America is the breakdown of the American family. The reality is that if you're a single parent \u2014 a child of a single parent, and you grew up in a single parent family neighborhood, you went to that single parent family school, the chance of you ever, ever reaching the top 20% of income earners is 3% in America. At least \u2014 I don't know about you, but that's not good enough. And, we have been too politically correct in this country because we don't want to offend anybody to fight for the lives of our children. You want \u2014 You want to be shocked? You read the first few chapters of Mr. \u2014 Dr. Putnam' book. He talks about Port Clinton, Ohio and growing up there in the 1950's, and how poor kids actually survived and did well, even though they were poor and disadvantaged. But, then he goes to the towns today and these kids are failing, and failing miserably. They don't even have a shot, and we won't even have the courage to have leadership at the federal level \u2014 not with legislation, but the most powerful tool a president have, the bully pulpit to encourage each and everyone of you, churches and businesses, and educators, and community leaders to let's have a national campaign to rebuild the American family, and give every child its birthright which is a Mom and a Dad who loves them. That will change this economy. +p1293 +aVLadies and gentlemen, America is frustrated and angry and looking for someone who's a fighter, but I also think they're looking for someone who's a winner. Somebody who can go out there and take on the establishment and make a difference. And take on someone who's going to be the person who's going to be between a Republican holding the presidency and that's Hillary Clinton. And there's one person on this stage, one person in the race who's done it and done it repeatedly. I've taken on Hillary Clinton on the issues you care about. Partial-birth abortion. Go and google Rick Santorum and Hillary Clinton and there you'll see a five-minute debate. I'll let you decide who won the debate. I'll tell you who won, because we passed the bill and I know I'm out of time but I'm going to take some of Rand Paul's time here for a second. If you're looking for someone who fought Hillary Clinton on Iran's sanctions, she was one of four who voted \u2014 who's deciding vote who voted against Iran's sanctions, so we didn't get it in place as earlier as we should have. I've fought battles against her. In 1994, I ran against the Clinton machine. James Carville and Paul Begala, ran the race against me when I took on the author of Hillary care. And each one of those battles, I won. You want a fighter, you want a winner, I'd appreciate your vote. Thank you. +p1294 +aVThank you, Wolf. It's great to be here in Las Vegas. And I just want to thank everybody for the opportunity to be here. This is an important time in our country's history. We have entered World War III. World War III has begun and we have a leader who refuses to identify it and be truthful to the American people to the stakes that are involved, in part, because his policies have led us here. His policy toward Iran lit the fuse of a nuclear Iran. Just a few weeks ago the International Atomic Agency reported that Iran has had a nuclear program, but they don't know if it's continuing because they refuse to share any information about the current status. And this President marches on, forgiving them hundreds of billions of dollars to allow them to not just reconstitute their robust nuclear program, pursue their missile program, but also to foment terror around the world. And then his policies in the Middle East with Iraq create +p1295 +aVOf course I do. But what Donald Trump was saying was nothing against Muslims. His comment was against this administration who doesn't have a policy to properly vet people coming into this country. Let's just be honest about what's \u2014 what's being talked about here. And I know people will pile on because it makes sense to pile on, maybe from the polls. But he brings up a legitimate issue. The fact of the matter is not all Muslims are Jihadists and no one, including I suspect, Donald Trump would say that. But the reality is, all Jihadists are Muslims. That's a reality. And we have \u2014 we have to stop worrying about offending some people and start defending all Americans. Because we're not right now. +p1296 +aVI would agree \u2014 I would agree that Donald Trump's proposal was not the right proposal. But he brings up a very important issue that I think we've been ignoring for far too long in this country. The reality is that, yes, we need to get reformist Muslims to join us. We need to get those who are being persecuted and killed within the Middle East to join us. But we also have to protect this country from those who want to harm us and we have to defeat those who are radicalized in the Middle East and wherever we find them around the world. +p1297 +aVJust because it couldn't have prevented San Bernardino doesn't mean that we shouldn't have all tools available to us that doesn't impinge upon people's privacy. This sort of data collection is not collecting people's phones calls, their voices; they're not collecting information that's personal. There's no names attached to these numbers. They're simply numbers and times and relationships that throughout algorithms that computer technology can be able to sort through relationship about what numbers are calling what numbers and be able to track those down to see if there's any leakage's between someone who's potentially a terrorist. That is to me just fundamental that we have to have this type of data to be able to not impinge upon people's privacy. In fact, I would make the argument that the more data we can collect that's anonymous that we can through, through using algorithms, the less we need to involve people in and imposing themselves in people's privacy. +p1298 +aVLook, I agree with Governor Huckabee, that we should in fact be looking at people's social media posts. That's just common sense. But we've defunded and tied the hands behind the backs of our intelligence agencies because of political correctness. We're not allowed to ask any questions or really pursue, whether there's any mosque that they're attending that could be spreading Jihadism, and we know that in this country there are Imams that are doing that. But we're not allowed to ask those questions, we're not allowed to pursue to those things because we have a president who denies the reality of the enemy we confront. +p1299 +aVI don't. I don't think we should be able to deny someone's constitutional rights based on a list kept by the government that nobody knows how they get on it, or how they get off of it. If you're going to make that list public, if you're going to put criteria out there as to how you're going to get on it, if you're going to deny someone's constitutional right, than I think there has to be more transparency. Let's just be honest, when someone applies for a gun, you do a background check. And, if you're on the terrorist watch list, guess what very well may happen? You may get denied that. That's a discretion of the people \u2014 of the ATF in making that kind of decision. I want to leave that discretion \u2014 as long as this list is not well known, as long as it's not transparent, we have to leave that discretion. I want to make a comment about what Mike said, and George said, about mus \u2014 Islam. The fact of the matter is, Islam is different. I know this is going to come as a shock to a lot of people, and I mean the sincerely. Islam is not just a religion. It is also a political governing structure. The fact of the matter is, Islam is a religion, but it is also Sharia law, it is also a civil government, it is also a form of government. And, so, the idea that that is protected under the First Amendment is wrong. And, in fact, that political structure is what is the big problem. The imposition of Sharia law adherence to fundamental Islam as it was practiced in the Seventh Century... +p1300 +aV...There has to be a line drawn. +p1301 +aVWell, there's all sorts of theological reasons why we may not want to go into Syria right now to take +p1302 +aVI would have no problem with Sy \u2014 with boots on the ground in Syria in a training capacity. I do not want American troops on the front line in Syria because I don't believe that that would serve to the interest. Again, understanding what +p1303 +aVNo look, I'm committed to whatever is necessary understanding the nature of the enemy. The enemy is a theocracy and their allure is their theocracy. It's their doctrine and so we have to understand that doctrine. That's why, I love the fact that people are angry and outraged in Washington and want someone new and fresh. But we need someone who understands and has knowledge and experience in these areas. And I can see that you know, Senator Graham has that experience and we have a little difference of opinion. But frankly, it's not that big of difference in our opinion, we both want to defeat +p1304 +aVAnd the fact that we have a nuclear treaty with the Shiites in Iran, that we have now partnered with the Russians and appearing to allow Assad to stay, which is a satellite Alawites, very interrelated to the Shiites, this looks to +p1305 +aVWell, I would establish a no-fly zone. And, I think we just... +p1306 +aVWell \u2014 the first thing you have to do is establish a no-fly zone, and you don't do that by just sort of declaring it. You work through the process of making sure you work with people who, hopefully, have the same objective that you do. And, if they don't, then you establish the no-fly zone, and you take the consequences of whatever \u2014 who violates that law. +p1307 +aV...I don't think it's a war with Russia anymore than Turkey went to war with Russia when Turkey shot down a plane... +p1308 +aVThese are \u2014 these are incidents not something that we're threatening the motherland. This is a tactical decision within an area that we have an obligation for the refugees, for providing stability to the rebels, and an opportunity for the rebels to reconstitute. And, making sure that we stop the flow of refugees into Europe, and into the United States to establish a no-fly zone. And, Russia either is going to comply with it or not, and if they don't, I think it can be contained to that region. +p1309 +aVWell, I would establish a no-fly zone. And, I think we just... +p1310 +aVWell \u2014 the first thing you have to do is establish a no-fly zone, and you don't do that by just sort of declaring it. You work through the process of making sure you work with people who, hopefully, have the same objective that you do. And, if they don't, then you establish the no-fly zone, and you take the consequences of whatever \u2014 who violates that law. +p1311 +aV...I don't think it's a war with Russia anymore than Turkey went to war with Russia when Turkey shot down a plane... +p1312 +aVThese are \u2014 these are incidents not something that we're threatening the motherland. This is a tactical decision within an area that we have an obligation for the refugees, for providing stability to the rebels, and an opportunity for the rebels to reconstitute. And, making sure that we stop the flow of refugees into Europe, and into the United States to establish a no-fly zone. And, Russia either is going to comply with it or not, and if they don't, I think it can be contained to that region. +p1313 +aVI would use the studies that were done that were ignored by this military that there were certain positions that frankly were not suitable. And they pushed a political agenda above what is in the best interest of the safety, security, and effective of our, of our fighting units. So I would go back to using what we should be doing. Which is putting forth people on those front line positions who are best prepared to do the job, survive the job, and come back home safely. +p1314 +aVI would change the policy to reflect what is the best interest of the people that we're asking. I've got a son who's going, who's going into the Air Force right now, and I, as a father, I want to make sure that, if he's out there on the front line \u2014 and he may be a pilot flying an airplane \u2014 I want to make sure that the person who's responsible for, for his wing has the ability to do the job they're doing. And if they don't have that ability to do the job, if we're doing a social promotion as opposed to what's best for the efficacy of our fighting force and for the survivability of our men and women, I'll change that policy. +p1315 +aVSo what you just said is you agree with me. Because that's exactly what I said. +p1316 +aVI said if you can't do the job, you shouldn't be able to...you shouldn't have the position. +p1317 +aVNo, I did not say that, George. I mean, you may, you may have heard that, but I didn't say that. What I said was, if they can in fact do the job that any, any other person can do, I will allow them to do so. +p1318 +aVBut if they cannot, I would reverse the policy. And what happened here is there were many studies done, particularly in the Marine Corps, which begged this President not to move forward with this because people are going to get killed as a result of it. The President went forward anyway. +p1319 +aVOf course there is a proper way to vet refugees coming into the United States. But not from the +p1320 +aVLindsay says this is a real war, until it comes to immigration. And, then, all of a sudden it's not such a real war. The reality is that we've seen since the events of 9/11, the president talks about how he's worried about discrimination and acts against Muslims. There's four times as many acts of violence against Jews than there are against Muslims. I never hear the president talk about that. The reality is that under this president, since 9/11, this anti-Muslim United States of America has doubled the rate of Muslim immigration. Since 9/11. That's what we've done. So, the idea that we have an immigration system that is working... +p1321 +aVIs not \u2014 and, I'm out of time. +p1322 +aVHere's the problem. I was with, in fact, one my guests here today is the Sheriff in Cochise County, down on the border in Arizona. And, he talked with me last night when I was with him about all of the children coming across. All of the children, why? Because we've created a magnet. These children are not coming over, and in great shape, not coming over \u2014 and not in harms way, and \u2014 going through difficult times. We're attracting people. He's also the Sheriff that caught Syrian's at the border. We have through the policies supported by almost everybody in this field......A policy that says amnesty. The world hears this, and knows that if they can come across this border, by and large, they're going to be able to stay. That has to change. +p1323 +aVBarack Obama has not kept this country safe. Hillary Clinton will not keep this country safe. We need to nominate someone who America knows will keep this country safe. Ten years ago I put the sanctions on Iran's nuclear program. Before that, I gave speech after speech, including to President Bush, to identify the enemy and call these radical Islamists who they are. Ladies and gentlemen, this week +p1324 +aVThe middle of America is hollowing out. All you have to do is listen to the last Democratic debate and you would think there was a Republican president in office the way they complained about how bad things are in America and how the middle \u2014 the middle of America is hollowing out. I agree with Mike Huckabee. I spent this morning in Chicago at Fabtech, which is a sheet manufac \u2014 a sheet metal fabricators conference. Thousands of people there explained the latest and newest technologies. You know what I was told? I was told when I went to booth after booth that there are 250,000 welder jobs open in America \u2014 250,000 welder jobs paying anywhere from $50,000 to $70,000 a year, and if you want to weld pipe on a, you know, for oil and gas pipelines, you can make $100,000 a year. Every manufacturer \u2014 I go to one every single week. In fact, I have with me in the \u2014 in the crowd here today a gentleman who is a supporter of mine from Rockwall, Texas, Ed Grand-Lienard. He runs Special Products. And he tells me he has jobs open in every skill that he \u2014 he \u2014 he could possibly hire for in Rockwall, Texas, but he can't find people. So the issue is, yes, we need a tax code. I \u2014 I propose a 20 percent flat tax \u2014 20 percent on corporations, 20 percent on \u2014 on individuals, full expensing, which will be powerful for manufacturing, a 0 percent rate, initially, for manufacturers. We're going to have a very powerful tax code. We're going to do something about regulation. We're going to suspected every single ObamaCare regu \u2014 Obama regulation that cost over $100,000 to the economy. But we have to start doing something about training and employing people who are sitting on the sidelines because they don't see a path. And we have a \u2014 a bureaucracy in Washington and a president in Washington \u2014 and even among Republicans who think everybody has to go to college. People need to go to work and we need to provide......opportunities for them to go to work out of high school. +p1325 +aVWell, the answer is first that we need to do something about a tax code that doesn't penalize. One thing that I'm excited about our tax code, proposed changes, is it's very pro-family. You have a $2,700 tax credit, period, for every person in that family, so that family, you know, would have about an $8,000 tax credit, which would be refundable. So every dollar she works, she's still only losing 20 cents. The problem with the tax code today, because of all the different provisions, you're right, you go back to work, you lose welfare benefits, you're losing money. Throw on top of that the \u2014 even a bigger problem, over 50 percent of children being raised in a home today of a single mom are raised in a home where the father is born \u2014 father is (sic) living at the child \u2014 the time the child is born. Now what does that mean? That means we have incentivized people not to marry. We've incentivized people to cohabitate instead of not marry, why? Because mom will lose welfare benefits if she marries father. It's not just mom going back to work, but it's mother and father marrying to form a more stable family for that child to be raised in a two-parent family. So we've got all sorts of really corrupt incentives that were put in place, well meaning by the left. But we need to remove those. We need to remove those incentives. We need to adopt a tax code that says we're going to be pro-family and pro-work. And that's what we'll do. +p1326 +aVAbsolutely. I'm a capitalist, not a corporatist. I'm not someone who believes we should be bailing out corporations whether their auto industries, or banks. And, it is simply a matter that there's auto industry \u2014 the auto industry would have survived, it would have survived through a bankruptcy process of \u2014 instead of Washington picking a winner and a loser. And, in this case, the losers are the bondholders, and the winners were the unions. That's fine. They did it, the unions \u2014 the unions survived. We \u2014 we have not survived in continuing to grow manufacturing jobs. We have a \u2014 we have a president, and an economy right now, that is killing \u2014 choking our ability to be able to compete. I'm one of the few people up here who actually believes that we need a level playing field when it comes to manufacturing. That means a good tax code, a good regulatory environment, low energy prices, better opportunities for workers to get training, and, also, I'm \u2014 a supporter of the +p1327 +aV...Let me settle this argument... +p1328 +aV...Well... +p1329 +aVI'll answer that in a second, but, I want to answer this other problem because this is a real legitimate debate between Chris and Bobby, and if somebody says we need someone who can win in a blue state, and Bobby says we need a real principled conservative. Ninety-two percent conservative voting record, unlike some of the other senators that Bobby mentioned who hasn't done anything to cut federal spending, I was actually the author of welfare reform, which is the only time we've ever seen a federal entitlement actually cut. We cut it. Senate did exactly what every conservative says they want to do. We took the program, we eliminated the federal entitlement, we blocked (ph) to the state, we capped the amount of money, cut it by about 10%, and then put two requirements, work, and time limits. We need to do that with the rest of the \u2014 means (ph) tested federal entitlements. I've done it. And I did it with a bipartisan support in the House and Senate, and after fighting two presidential vetoes by Bill Clinton. So I had a democratic president we had to get this through. No record of accomplishment. I agree with the folks who are from the Congress in this race. I have a record of accomplishment of being a conservative on everything. National security, on moral and cultural issues, on the economy, and twice won a blue state. The first time I beat the author of Hillarycare. I had Bill and Hillary in my state, James Carville managed the race against me, a state with a million more Democrats than Republicans. And I ran on health savings accounts, on private sector health care, as a conservative, pro-life, pro-family, and I won. And then in 2000, I was the only senator to win a state as a conservative that George Bush lost. You want someone who can win Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, with a conservative message, I'm your guy. +p1330 +aVI'll be happy to answer that if you give me more time. +p1331 +aVI'm going to answer two questions for the price of one. The infrastructure question, the answer is... We need to get the federal government out of this infrastructure business, other than vital economic highways. It has been said that if we cut the gas tax to 3 to 5 cents and send the rest back to the states, and just take care of the federal infrastructure that's vital for our economy, let the \u2014 we don't need the federal government and the road business that it is today. Number one. Number two, you know who I respect in the Democratic Party? You know why I respect them? Because they fight! Because they're not willing to back down, and they're willing to stand up and fight and win. And so I respect them because they are willing to take it to us. +p1332 +aVWell, I'll tell you, I have a 20 percent flat tax. That's one all income \u2014 so capital gains, corporations, individuals, 20 percent. I think that's a fair number, one out of five, to be able to \u2014 to help support the federal government. By the way it also approximates, if you take out some of the deductions, it approximates how much the federal government is, on average, spent of GDP, which is about 18 to 19 percent of GDP. So it actually fits with shrinking the size of government down to more like post-World War II levels. So the second thing we do is I don't allow for deductibility of state and local taxes, which will require state and local taxes to go down in order to be treated for their \u2014 for their people to be treated fairly. So the answer is, 20 percent and probably 33 percent overall. +p1333 +aVWell, I don't \u2014 I agree with Governor Christie, I don't think you can make it any more political than it's been. They \u2014 they are protecting a president that is over-taxing and over- regulating, shutting down this economy. And he \u2014 and they're keeping it up like Atlas, trying to hold up the Earth by \u2014 by these ridiculously low interest rates. And it's hurting American seniors, who are seeing no Social Security increases, seeing no \u2014 no savings. They're \u2014 they're putting their money aside. They're getting nothing in their deposit accounts. This is hurting the people who have acted responsibly, all in favor of those who, um, you know, are \u2014 are speculators and \u2014 and those on Wall Street. It's not a good deal for \u2014 for the vast majority of responsible Americans. The other thing we have with the Fed is they've been given way too much authority. Under Dodd-Frank, they've been given this enormous new authority. I mean they \u2014 they now have almost become the most powerful entity in Washington, DC. We need to repeal Dodd-Frank, get away that authority from the Fed and put them under more \u2014 more scrutiny. That's only part of the problem. I understand the Fed is interesting for a business channel, but I think for most Americans, the most important business is the family. And we haven't really talked much about the importance of the family to the economy. And \u2014 and ladies and gentlemen, every single book, from left to right, that's been written over the last couple of years has said the biggest problem in America today at the hollowing out of the middle of America is the breakdown of the nuclear family in America. We'd better be the party that's out there talking about this issue and what we're going to do to help strengthen marriage and return dads into homes in all communities. You want to talk about the communities that are hurting the most, the ones you see the protests in......there are no dads. And we need to do something about it. +p1334 +aVHappy Birthday. +p1335 +aV\u2014 States Marine Corps. +p1336 +aVThat's very personal to me. I grew up on a V.A. grounds. I lived in apartments on V.A. grounds my entire childhood. Both my Mom and Dad, after World War II, marry \u2014 met at a V.A., married, and that's where I lived. Kitchen table discussion was, particularly when I was growing up in the 1960's and 1970's, was the decline of the V.A. When they joined in the early 1950's, the V.A. was the top. They were the best, they were the best and brightest coming in after the war. And, we believed in the cause that we fought, and we invested in our hospitals to make sure that our veterans who left World War II were taken care of. But, after Vietnam, and during Vietnam, that began to change, and it really hasn't recovered since. The bottom line is the V.A. is antiquated. There's no need for a V.A. healthcare system as it existed after World War \u2014 why? Because we have the best private healthcare system in the world, we didn't need \u2014 we needed it in 1950's, hospitals were not particularly advanced, so, we built the best. We didn't maintain the best. Government didn't keep its promises to its veterans. So, what we need to do is two things. Number one, we need to allow veterans to go to private sector hospitals for their routine and ordinary care to get the best care in their community possible. And, there is a place for the Veterans Administration. There are injuries, and there are \u2014 things like +p1337 +aVIt should come as no surprise to Chris, or anybody else, that Barack Obama doesn't stand behind our men and women in uniform here at home because he hasn't stood behind them overseas. The rules of engagement that we've allowed our soldiers to go and fight against have put them in harm's way for political purposes. This has been the most politicized wars that we've ever seen under this administration. He gets in, and gets out, based upon what the polls are saying, what pressure he's getting from groups. Talk about a Commander in Chief. We need a commander in chief who has a vision and plan of how we're going to execute the national security of our country. Commander in chief is not an entry level position. Experience matters, and that's why I would ask for your support as a Commander in Chief, because I have the experience against the enemy......to confront to do the job. +p1338 +aVI announced from a factory floor in Western Pennsylvania. This campaign has all been about two words for me, working families. Working. Getting people the opportunity to see those wages rise, to be on the side of the American workers so they can get good paying jobs, and that means we have to start making things in America again. We need a president who's going to not just put policies in place, but is going to stand up at the bully pulpit and talk about the dignity of being a welder. The dignity of being a carpenter, about going to work and earning success. And, also, the importance of families, the importance of families and fathers, and mothers raising their children, and committing to that so that they can give children in our country the best opportunity to success. Working families is the key for us to win this election. +p1339 +aVYes, I think it's one thing to shrink the size of a state government but it's another thing to actually get something accomplished in Washington. It's a much tougher field. And I'm the one in the \u2014 on this stage and, frankly, on both stages that has actually gone to Washington, said we would shrink government, said we would shake things up and actually delivered for the conservative cause, everything from welfare reform, which was the largest, most significant accomplishment in the last 25 years for conservatism. I authored the bill when I was in the House of Representatives; I managed the bill on the floor of the United States Senate. You need a conservative who can deliver and that's what I bring to the table. +p1340 +aVWell, if you look at my flat tax, it actually takes the best of what Steve Forbes, Art Laffer, many have been advocating for a long time, which is a very strong pro-growth tax code \u2014 very simple. And, it adjusts it to make sure that it is not regressive. We have a $2,750 per person tax credit \u2014 that's $2,750 off the taxes due, not a deduction, a credit. And, we think \u2014 in fact, if you run the numbers, no American who's going to be paying more taxes under our proposal, so, we've accomplished both. We have a system that has a low single rate, but we take care of American families. I'm talking about $2,750 per person. That means a family four, that's $11,000 dollar tax credit. That's a very, very strong pro-family \u2014 and if you looked at the Wall Street Journal today, and so many of the publications that have been out there, they've talked about how the biggest problem of the hollowing out of the middle of this country. For workers to be able to raise is actually, the breakdown of the American family. William Galston, a liberal, said that on the pages of the Wall Street Journal today that the key to poverty is families. So, we put forth a pro-growth \u2014 Steve Forbes plan, combined it with a pro- family plan, and that's why I think it's going to work out, and work effectively. +p1341 +aVWhat we should be \u2014 we shouldn't be putting tariffs on anything. That hurts working men and women in this country. What we should be doing is making our manufacturing more competitive. One of the reasons I introduced the 20/20 plan, a 20 percent flat tax on corporations, as well as on individuals, is so we can be competitive, so we can bring those manufacturing jobs back. You want to talk about cutting pollution? You do a little back- of-the-envelope. We \u2014 we produce, per dollar of GDP, about one-fifth of the CO2 and other pollutants that China produces. So we're five times more efficient in producing goods here, as far as the environment \u2014 environment is concerned. Why don't we \u2014 if we really want to tackle environmental problems, global warming, what we need to do is take those jobs from China and bring them back here to the United States, employ workers in this country. We've lost two million jobs \u2014 two million jobs \u2014 under this administration in manufacturing \u2014 15,000 manufacturers have left this country. Why? Because of bad tax policy, bad regulatory policy and, yes, bad trade policy. We need to have a president that's going to pledge, as I have \u2014 I'm going to make America the number-one manufacturer so working men and women can have good paying jobs again in America. +p1342 +aV\u2014 with competition... +p1343 +aV\u2014 for low wage workers. +p1344 +aV and I... +p1345 +aVThat's not what's happening. +p1346 +aVA true conservative wants to create a level playing field. That's what \u2014 that's what we're \u2014 that's what government is supposed to do. They're not supposed to favor one group over another. And when it comes to our manufacturers, the level playing field is not in the United States. It's international. And so the federal government should have laws, tax laws, regulatory laws and, yes, finance laws. There's 60 other ex-im banks all over \u2014 all over the world. Every major competitor for the United States' manufacturing dollar has one of those banks. And guess what? They use those banks a heck of a lot more than their \u2014 than the United States of America does, number one. So in order to have a level playing field, which is what conservatives talk about all the time, level playing field, then we have to have export financing and here's why.Because export financing doesn't help Boeing, or G.E. G.E. just lost a contract, you know what they did? They went to . They got the X.M. (ph) bank in France to support it, and what did they do? They moved manufacturing out of South Carolina, out of Texas, moved to \u2014 Hungary, and to France. G.E. is still making money. G.E. is still doing well, but American workers are out of jobs. That's why we have to have this level playing field so we can compete with the rest of the world. +p1347 +aVWell, first, since you mention Colorado, I want to thank the people of Colorado because four years ago you \u2014 gave me the honor of winning the nomination out here in the state of Colorado. On a night we won three states, and it catapulted us to win 11 states ultimately, so, I just want to thank you very, very much for that support, and \u2014 in response to that, I do drink a lot of Coors beer, so... I try to help. The answer is pretty simple. The answer is simple. There are no shortage of breweries around the United States of America. I \u2014 I do \u2014 as I travel around the country, I do pints and politics, and I go to breweries all over the place, and there \u2014 there's almost no town in America anymore that doesn't have a brewery, so I don't think we need to worry too much. They're obviously \u2014 if there's \u2014 if there's some anti- competitive issues, you know, we have agencies to look at that. But, no, I'm not \u2014 I'm not concerned that Americans are not going to have choices in beer. +p1348 +aVAnd I care about, by the way. I care about choices. +p1349 +aVWell, I \u2014 I would say this, that what you're seeing is \u2014 in health care, you're seeing a lot of consolidation, and that consolidation is occurring because of Obamacare. You're seeing it particularly in an area that I am concerned about, and that's in insurance \u2014 health insurance. You're seeing the big health insurance companies fold up. You've seen Obama try to seed health insurance companies, and they've all failed, I think, except one. Why? Because we have a system of Obamacare with minimum loss ratios that make it virtually impossible for a small insurer to operate effectively. And this was the motive behind Obamacare. This wasn't incidental. This was deliberate, to make it so impossible for small insurers to survive... +p1350 +aV...that they consolidate into a small group. Then the left can say, "there is no competition, we need a single payer." That's why we have to repeal Obamacare. +p1351 +aVThank you. Can I just say something about that? +p1352 +aVWell, if you look at our plan that I introduced, the 2020 Clear Vision for America, we increase growth by 10 percent, 1 percent a year. So we go from 2.3 to 3.3, in repealing Obamacare, it's another .7. So you're looking at 4 percent growth, according to the Tax Foundation. And unlike Donald Trump and Bobby Jindal, we don't add $10 trillion to the deficit. In fact, our plan, while it creates as many jobs as their plan does and grows the economy as much as theirs does, we are a revenue-neutral plan because I believe that we need to reduce the size of government, yes, but we also need to reduce our deficit, and we need to get our budget balanced so we can start paying down this debt. And adding a trillion dollars with a tax cut and getting no more growth is not the way to do it. But that's only half of it. The word "economy" comes from the Greek "euthokis" (ph) which means family. The family is the first economy. And the one thing that we do not talk about enough is how stable families are vitally important for the middle of America to be prosperous and to grow and be safe. And I will have policies, not just tax policies, but others that will make sure that families are strong again in America. +p1353 +aVMLB, NHL, so I'm a big sports fan. And "The Wall Street Journal." Those are the three apps I use the most. +p1354 +aVWell, since we're usually in the Super Bowl at the Pittsburgh Steelers... Steeler nation, anybody? +p1355 +aVNo. I was in......was in Kansas City over the weekend to watch the Steeler game and about a third of the crowd were Steeler fans. So I'm usually not alone when I call on Steeler Nation. But we are used to being in the Super Bowl, so actually, it is in Pennsylvania already. +p1356 +aVI grew up in a steel town of Western Pennsylvania, outside of Pittsburgh, and when I announced for president, I announced from the factory floor. When I talk about making America the number one manufacturer again in the world, it's not just talk. When I talk about having the opportunity for people to rise again, it's not just because it polls well. I represented the old steel valley of Pittsburgh. I represented a 70% Democratic district, and won with 60% of the vote. Why? Because I aligned myself with working men and women who feel that neither party, and certainly not Washington D.C. cares about them. You elect me, we will get American workers on the side of the Republican party, and we can not be stopped if we do. +p1357 +aVHi, I'm Rick Santorum. Some of you may know me because I led the fight to end partial birth abortion. Some of you may know me because the I led the fight to end welfare as we know it, put people back to work, reduce poverty and reduce the federal budget. Some of you may know me because I successfully put sanctions on the Iranian nuclear program in Congress, over opposition of both parties initially. But hopefully, most of you know me most because I'm the proud father of seven children with particularly a special little disabled girl, who is the heart and core of my heart and married to a wonderful woman named Karen for 25 years, who is the love of my life. +p1358 +aVI think personal attacks, just please one person, Hillary Clinton. And all we do when we go after each other -- and we've seen a bunch of it, from people up on this stage, people who are going to be on the stage afterwards, who go after and make personal attacks on people. There are plenty of policy differences between the candidates up here and the candidates later. Donald Trump has ever right to run for president as a Republican, as anybody else in this audience, and he may have positions I disagree with, but he has the right to do that and the people should be given the benefit of the doubt for people to see through these things. I don't think it helps when Republicans attack Republicans personally. I'll say some things tonight which will be very big differences. The issue of immigration is one that there are huge differences in this field, and I will be out there talking about how we have to control immigration. How we have to look after the American worker. The focus of this debate should be on how we're going to win this election and help improve the quality of life for American workers, and we aren't doing that, when we're out there picking at each other and calling each other names. The name we should call out is, what are we going to do for average Americans losing ground in America today. And that should be our focus. +p1359 +aVWell, in fact, just about everybody in this field supports some pathway to citizenship. There are just a few, Governor Jindal, Senator Cruz, Senator Rubio, Jeb Bush, a lot of others, Senator Graham, all support some sort of amnesty at some point in time or another. And this is really the interesting thing about this whole debate. This debate should not be about what we're going to do with someone who's here illegally. This debate should not be about what we're going to do with someone who's here illegally; This debate should be about what -- what every other debate on every other policy issue is in America. What's in the best interest of hardworking Americans? What's in the best interest of our country. We've had to focus because the other side has set up for us, here is who we have to be concerned about on the issue of immigration, someone who's here illegally and their family, and what are we going to do about it? A greater leader will see that the objection of every law in America is to do what's in the best interest of America. And what's in the best interest of America right now is to look at wages, look at employment among wager earners. 70 to 90 percent of people who've come into this country, 35 million over the last 20 years, are wage earners that are holding wages down, taking jobs away from America. +p1360 +aVWell, just because you don't call it amnesty doesn't mean that what -- what almost everybody in this field is for is allowing people who are in this country illegally, people who broke the law to come into this country, people who came here legally and overstayed, to stay in -- in America. Again, we have 35 million -- we have the highest percentage of -- of -- of immigrants in this country, as far as numbers ever, as far as percentage, the -- the highest in 105 years. Wages are flatlining. The reason that you're seeing the angst and the anger out there and the reason this issue has taken off is because workers in America know that their wages are being undermined. If you look at, from the year 2000 to the year 2014, there're 5.7 million net new jobs created. What percentage of those jobs are held by people who weren't born here? The answer is all of them. The fact is, American workers are -- are getting hurt by immigration... +p1361 +aV... and that's why they're upset. +p1362 +aV...Hold on, hold on, hold on... +p1363 +aV...He mentioned my name, and that i didn't have a plan. And, the fact of the matter is... +p1364 +aV...that I did have a plan back in 2006. I introduced a plan called, A Comprehensive Border Security Bill, which did, in fact, put the resources to build the fencing, and deploy the troops, and the technology necessary which... +p1365 +aVAs you know, Lindsay... +p1366 +aV...As you know, 40 to 60 percent of the 11 million are here on visa overstays. We know exactly who they are, we should know where they are, but we have a government that doesn't tell them to return home. You can solve half of the problem of the 11 million... +p1367 +aV...by simply telling the 11 million that they have to return to their country of origin, so, that's half your problem... +p1368 +aV...Now, it's not 11 million... +p1369 +aVI don't know how many democrats I had on my bill... +p1370 +aVBut, the point is -- the point is is that I had a bill... +p1371 +aVWell, you're right, Lindsay, it went no where because we had a president back then who was for more comprehensive immigration reform... +p1372 +aV...That's right... +p1373 +aVYou know what we need to do... +p1374 +aVLindsay, is we need to win -- we need to win fighting for Americans. We need to win fighting for the workers in this country... +p1375 +aV...who are hurting, including including hispanics... +p1376 +aV...the people who are hurt the most by illegal immigration are hispanics. +p1377 +aV...The folks -- the folks who are -- hurt the worst are recent immigrants. By illegal immigrants coming to this country last year alone, 700,000 illegal immigrants came into this country. Who do you think are most impacted? It's the folks who came into this country, played by the rules, did what they were supposed to do. Came here, and went to work, and now they're finding themselves out of work because someone illegally is willing to come in and work for less... +p1378 +aVI just want to say -- I just want to say, I have seven kids, I've done my part. +p1379 +aVI have proposed 10,000 troops, I did so about six or seven months ago, that we needed to deploy additional troops to do exactly what Lindsey said, arm the Kurds, arm -- +p1380 +aVI've said -- I've said 10,000 and, if more is necessary, look, the answer is this, once +p1381 +aV16 years ago, this country was tremendously inspired by a young woman who faced a gunman in Columbine and was challenged about her faith and she refused to deny God. We saw her as a hero. Today, someone who refuses to defy (sic) a judge's unconstitutional verdict is ridiculed and criticized, chastised because she's standing up and denying -- not denying her God and her faith. That is a huge difference in 16 years. People have a fundamental right in the First Amendment. There's no more important right. It is the right that is the trunk that all other rights come from, and that's the freedom of conscience. And when we say in America that we have no room -- how many bakers, how many florists, how many pastors, how many clerks are we going to throw in jail because they stand up and say, "I cannot violate what my faith says is against its teachings"? Is there not room in America? I believe there has to be room. First, I believe we have to pass the First Amendment Defense Act, which provides that room for government officials and others who do not want to be complicit in what they believe is against their faith. Second, we need as a president who's going to fight a court that is abusive, that has superseded their authority. Judicial supremacy is not in the Constitution, and we need a president and a Congress to stand up to a court when it exceeds its constitutional authority. +p1382 +aVI hope so. If they're wrong. +p1383 +aVNo, what you have is judicial supremacy. You don't have a rule of law when the court has the final say on everything. +p1384 +aVMartin Luther King wrote a letter from the Birmingham jail. And he said in that letter that there are just laws and there are unjust laws. And we have no obligation to -- to condone and accept unjust laws. And he -- and they -- then he followed up and said what's an unjust law? An unjust law is a job that -- a law that go against the moral code or God's law or the natural law. I would argue that what the Supreme Court did is against the natural law, it's against God's law and we have every obligation to stand in opposition to it. +p1385 +aVWell, contrary to what Governor Jindal said, Governor -- Justice Roberts had a long record and it was a long, good record. And so he made a bad decision on -- a couple of bad decisions on ObamaCare but he's made a lot of great decisions, too. And so I don't -- I don't regret at all standing up for John Roberts but, you know, it's easy to sit out in Louisiana and talk about how, you know, well, I'd be tougher. I fought when I was in the United States Senate. We fought, for the first time, to defeat justices and judges that Bill Clinton nominated and I fought with President Bush to defend his nominees, to push even a filibuster, breaking the filibuster. I led that fight against someone who didn't want to end the filibuster in order for us to get good, conservative justices. So I have been there on the front line, fighting for judges and conservative justices and I will do so as president like none other. +p1386 +aVActually, I'm going to be proposing a plan, I call it the 20/20 perfect vision for America as flat tax, a 20 percent flat tax on income, 20 percent flat tax on capital gains and on corporations. We eliminate all the deductions, special interest provisions and corporations. We deal with the carried interest issue, because everybody pays the same 20 percent. So, there's no advantage as to how you take your income. That will create growth. We're going to allow expensing for corporations. For manufacturing, again, I print -- I pledged, when I announced that I was going to run for president on the factory floor that I would make America the number one manufacturer in the world. Why? Because we need to put Americans back to work. Hard working Americans, who are not doing well in this economy, and we start creating jobs here, and manufacturing. These people from all skill levels are going to be able to work. We put a 20 percent rate on corporations, we're competitive with almost every country in the world. We allow for expensing, we have a three year phase in. We start at zero for manufacturers, phase it up to 20. You're going to see an enormous investment of capital, and equipment. You're going to see people -- you're going to have problems finding folks are going to be able to work in manufacturing. That's how many jobs we're going to create. So, the answer is, you know, we're going to lower, and flatten taxes. We're going to put government on a -- on a budget. A 10 percent across the board cut... +p1387 +aV...employment. We've got a lot of plans. +p1388 +aV...Let me just... +p1389 +aV...He talked about manufacturing, and the fact is that we have a zero percent rate that faces the 20, we'd have a seven percent repatriation, so money -- about two trillion dollars over seas... +p1390 +aV...Would come back, and be invested in equipment here. We will create more jobs with this plan, than any plan out... +p1391 +aVLindsay, what percentage of American workers make the minimum wage right now? +p1392 +aVIt's less than one percent. +p1393 +aV...So, what you're saying, what every Republican's up here saying is we're against the minimum wage because, if you're not for increasing it, than whoevers making the minimum wage right now... +p1394 +aV...The answer is Republicans don't believe in a floor wage in America. Fine, you go ahead and make that case to the American public, I'm not going to. Not from a party that supported bailouts. I didn't, but this party did. +p1395 +aVNot from a party that supports special interest tax provisions for a whole bunch of other businesses, and, but, when it comes to hardworking Americans who are at the bottom of the income scale, we can't provide some level of income support? What I've proposed is not anything but the (ph) presidents (ph) proposed (ph) I believe that would be harmful to the American public, but a $.50 cents an hour increase over three years, which is what I'm proposing. So we would have a minimum wage which would be roughly in the area of what it's been historically, about 5 percent of wages. To me, if you're going to talk to 90 percent of American workers -- by the way, 90 percent of American workers don't own a bar. They don't own a business. They work for a living. They're wage -- most of them are wage earners. And Republicans are losing elections because we're not talking about them. All we want to talk about is, what happened to our business? There are people who work in that business. I was at a -- I was at the convention four years ago, and on the signs -- on all of the seats the night I spoke was a sign that said, "We built that," because Barack Obama had talked about how businesses didn't build their own businesses. Then we trotted out one small-business person after another for almost an hour that night talking about how they built their businesses. And that's wonderful. But you know what we didn't do? We didn't bring one worker on that stage. How are you going to win, ladies and gentlemen? How are we going to win if 90 percent of Americans don't think we care at all... +p1396 +aV... about them and their chance to rise... +p1397 +aVAs you know, Hugh, 12 years ago I authored the Iran Freedom Support Act, which put sanctions on the Iran nuclear program as we came within four votes of passing a very strong version of that. The four people who opposed on the floor: Joe Biden, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. And we came four votes short. But for 12 years, I have been laser-beam focused on the issue of Iran with a nuclear weapon. Why? Because I understand who they are. Yes, they are radical Islamists, that's true. But their particular version of it, which is an apocalyptic version, which is a death cult, they believe in bringing about the end of the -- end of the world. If you -- if you poll Iranians and Iraqis, Shiites in the region, more than two-thirds of them believe that the end of the world is going to come within their lifetime. Why? Because their regime preaches it. They believe in bringing about the end of times. That's their theological goal and we are in the process of giving them a nuclear weapon to do just that. That's why, on day one, I would say to the Iranian government, you open up all of these facilities for inspection, you make them available to the U.N. and to the U.S., everything, we can go everywhere or else we will take out those facilities. And when people say, you're going to start a war -- +p1398 +aV-- my response is, no, I'm going to stop a war because a nuclear Iran is the end. +p1399 +aVI came to Washington in the most unlikely way. I defeated a 14-year incumbent, a 60 percent Democratic district. I went to Washington thinking I was only going to be there for one term, and so I just shook things up. We sent the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee to jail. We ended 40 years, 40 years of Democratic control of the Congress. And I led that fight with reforms, substantive reforms, welfare reform. I led the charge -- I wrote the bill when I was in the House. I led the charge in the United States Senate. Partial-birth abortion -- in fact, three pro-life bills, bipartisan pro-life bills. I mentioned the Iran bill. We also passed one on Syria. Health savings accounts, as many of you know, I authored the original bill on health savings accounts, pushed that through the Congress for private sector health care reform. An outsider who came to Washington from the tough state of Pennsylvania, and we got conservative things done. I made things happen in a town where things don't happen very much. Now, after 10 years of seeing the mess, the retreat that we see in the Republican party in Washington, D.C., it's time to get someone who is an outsider. +p1400 +aVWho can go to Washington, D.C., and get things done. You know what, you have a lot of folks who will tell you a lot of things. Look at their record. I went to Washington as an outsider. +p1401 +aVShook things up, got things done. +p1402 +aVAnd that's why you can trust me to do it again. +p1403 +aVI would say the message that got us the win in Iowa and 10 other states against pretty overwhelming odds, is the message that's going to deliver us in this election. You know, we didn't start out four years ago at the top of the heap. We were behind where we were today. But we stuck to our message. We stuck to the fact that Americans are tired of Washington corporate interests and Democrats who are interested in just politics and power and they're looking for someone who's going to fight for them; looking for someone who's going to grow manufacturing sector of our economy, so those 74 percent of Americans who don't have a college degree have a chance to rise again. Someone who's going to stand up, and be very clear with our enemies as to the lines their going to draw and stand with them. I've got a track record. The reason I did so well last time is not just because of the vision, it's because I have a track record in Washington, D.C. of getting things done. Iran sanctions -- the Iran sanctions that brought them to the table, those are sanctions that we put in place when I was in the United States Senate, and a whole host of other things that put me in a position of saying, I not only have a great vision, but I can govern effectively in Washington. +p1404 +aVMy father was born in Italy, and shortly after he was born my grandfather immigrated to this country. And under the laws of this country, he wasn't allowed to be with his father for seven years. Spent the first seven years of his life in Fascist Italy, under Benito Mussolini. Not a very pleasant place to be. I asked my dad after -- obviously, when I found out about this. And I said, "Didn't you resent America for not letting you be with your father in those formative and very threatening years?" You know what he said to me? "America was worth the wait." We're a country of laws, Bill. We're a country of laws, not of men, not of people who do whatever they want to do. I know we have a president who wants to do whatever he wants to do, and take his pen and his phone and just tell everybody what he thinks is best. But the reason America is a great country, the reason is because our compassion is in our laws. And when we live by those laws and we treat everybody equally under the law, that's when people feel good about being Americans. And I put forth an immigration policy that is as strong in favor of the folks who are struggling in America the most than anybody else. It's the strongest pro-worker immigration plan. It says that after 35 million people have come here over the last 20 years, almost all of whom are unskilled workers, flattening wages, creating horrible opportunity -- a lack of opportunities for unskilled workers, we're going to do something about reducing the level of immigration by 25 percent. We're going to be tough at the border, we're going to be tough on all of the illegal immigrants that everybody else in this field -- we're going to be different. We're going to be actually out there trying to create a better life for hard-working Americans. +p1405 +aVI think it's -- yeah, I think it's a one-two punch. Number one, we have to create better paying jobs. I mean, that's just the bottom line. We haven't. And that's the reason that I've said under my presidency, we'll create jobs and make American the number one manufacturing country in the world. If we want to create jobs for the folks that you're talking about, who are having trouble getting off government benefits, primarily because of their low skill level, there is no better way -- it's worked for 100 years in America -- putting people back to work in manufacturing is it. I'm going to be introducing a plan which I call the 2020 Perfect Vision for America. It's a 20 percent flat rate tax, it'll take a blowtorch to the -- to the IRS. It will create a manufacturing juggernaut in this country. And you combine that with reforms of our welfare system. You're looking at the -- at the man who introduced and fought on the floor as a freshman senator and passed the Welfare Reform Act of 1996 over two President Clinton vetoes. Got 70 votes in the United States Senate. Bipartisan issue. And I ended a federal entitlement. Never been done before, never been done since. What we need to do is take the rest of the federal entitlements, not just welfare, but food stamps and Medicaid and housing programs and do the same thing we did with welfare. Work requirements and time limits. That will change everything. Mac +p1406 +aVIt is not any more than Dred Scott was settled law to Abraham Lincoln, who, in his first inaugural address, said "it won't stand." And they went ahead and passed laws in direct contravention to a rogue Supreme Court. This is a rogue Supreme Court decision, just like Justice Roberts said. There is no constitutional basis for the Supreme Court's decision, and I know something about this. The -- one of the times the Supreme Court spoke that I thought they were acting outside of their authority was in a partial-birth abortion case. You know, these Planned Parenthood tapes, what they're showing are partial-birth abortions. Abortions being done where the baby's being delivered first, to preserve those organs, and then they crush the skull. Well, the Supreme Court found a bill that I was the author of unconstitutional. What did I do? I didn't stop. I didn't say "oh, well we lost. It's the law of the land." We worked together. The House and Senate, under my leadership, and we passed a bill, and we said, "Supreme Court, you're wrong." We're a coequal branch of the government. We have every right to be able to stand up and say what is constitutional. We passed a bill, bipartisan support, and the Supreme Court, they -- they sided with us. Sometimes it just takes someone to lead and stand up to the court. +p1407 +aVJust ditto to that. We're going to suspend -- I've -- I've said this for four years. We're going to suspend and repeal every executive order, every regulation that cost American jobs and is -- is -- is impacting our freedom. And second, the First Amendment Defense Act, which is protecting religious liberty, if it's not passed by then, which I suspect it won't, because the president will veto it, I will institute an executive order to make sure that people of faith are not being -- not being harassed and persecuted by the federal government for standing up for the religious beliefs. +p1408 +aVI came to Washington, D.C. in 1990. That sounds like a long time ago. It was. It was 25 years ago, and I came by defeating the Democratic incumbent. I came as a reformer. I started the Gang of Seven, and it led to the overtaking of the 40-year Democratic rule of Congress, because I didn't -- I stood up to the old-boy network in Washington, D.C. because I believed that Washington was not the solution, that Washington was the problem, just like Ronald Reagan said. I was a child of Ronald Reagan. And I went there, and for 16 years, I fought the insiders and was able to get things done. That's the difference. We need to elect someone who will stand with the American people, who understands its greatness, who understands what an open economy and freedom is all about, but at the same time, has a record of being able to get things done in Washington like we've never seen before. Reforms, everything from moral and cultural issues to economic issues. Those of you health savings accounts. Health savings accounts are something that we introduced. It's a private-sector solution that believes in freedom, not Obamacare that believes in government control. Those are the things we brought, and we were able to get things done. If you want someone who's not going to divide Washington, but gets things done, then you should make me your president. +p1409 +aVI'll tell you how optimistic I am about America. Karen and I have seven children. You don't have seven children and bring them into this world if you're not optimistic about the future of this country. I am, but people are upset, and they're upset for a reason about the future of this country. Donald Trump actually seized on it when he talked about immigration. And I think the reason he did is because immigration is sort of an example of what's broken and what's wrong in Washington, D..C. You see, you have one side, the Democrats, and with immigration, all they care about is votes. They don't care about American workers, they just care about bringing as many people in so they can get as many votes as they can. ON the other side, you have so many Republicans, and what do they care about? Helping business make profits. There's nobody out there looking out for the American worker. I'm looking out for the American worker. I'm the only one on this stage who has a plan that's actually reduced -- actually going to reduce immigration. Actually going to do something to help the American worker. And you combine that with a plan to make manufacturing -- this country number one in manufacturing, you've got someone who's going to help revitalize and give hope to America, the place -- the place is that is the most hopeless today. That's why I ask for your support for president. +p1410 +asVQUESTION +p1411 +(lp1412 +VMy name is Ashley Tofil. Ms. Fiorina, in November, you said that you would not talk to Vladimir Putin after you were elected because you would be communicating from a position of weakness. Do you believe that it is feasible to not communicate with another world leader? And do you think that that also is a sign of weakness? +p1413 +aVMy name is Carla Hernandez. I'm from the University of Texas at Austin. And my question is directed to all the candidates. If the Bible clearly states that we need to embrace those in need and not fear, how can we justify not accepting refugees? +p1414 +aVPlease describe one action you would do to make the economic environment more favorable for small businesses and entrepreneurs and anyone dreaming of opening their own business. +p1415 +aVHi, I'm Adithya Sivakumar. I'm from Vanderbilt University. And I was wondering with U.S. designated state sponsors of terrorism such as Iran and other traditional U.S. enemies fighting +p1416 +aVNew Hampshire has been hard hit by the heroin epidemic, and we're on track to have twice as many overdose deaths this year as in 2013. What specifically would you do to address this crisis? +p1417 +asVCAVUTO +p1418 +(lp1419 +VIt is 9:00 p.m. on the East Coast, 8:00 p.m. here inside the Milwaukee theater. Welcome to the Republican presidential debate here on the Fox Business Network. I'm Neil Cavuto, alongside my co-moderators, Maria Bartiromo, and the editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal, Gerard Baker. +p1420 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. +p1421 +aVIt sounds like a game show but it's not. Now I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the elephant in the room, and I'm not talking about your party's fine symbol. I'm talking about the purpose of tonight's debate. The economy and what each of you would do to improve it. No more, no less. We are focused on those issues, and what you have said on those issues in your words and what your opponents have said in their words about your words. That is the agenda tonight. How each of you plans to make America better tomorrow. And so we begin. Candidates, as we gather tonight in this very august theater, just outside and across the country, picketers are gathering as well. They're demanding an immediate hike in the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Just a few hours ago, near Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed doing the same for all state workers, the first governor to do so. Mr. Trump, as the leading presidential candidate on this stage and one whose tax plan exempts couples making up to $50,000 a year from paying any federal income taxes at all, are you sympathetic to the protesters cause since a $15 wage works out to about $31,000 a year? +p1422 +aVSo do not raise the minimum wage? +p1423 +aVDr. Carson, you have long bemoaned this lackluster recovery. And this Facebook map show Americans share your concern. The green represents how the jobs issue is resonating all across the nation, especially here in the state of Wisconsin. You suggested one minimum wage does not fit all, and that perhaps we should offer a lower or starter wage for young people. Those protesters outside are looking for $15 and nothing less. Where are you? +p1424 +aVSo, sir, just to be clear, you would not raise it? +p1425 +aVSenator Rubio, you called the recent Democratic debate in Las Vegas a night of giveaways, including free health care, free college and a host of other government-paid benefits. Since you aren't a fan of all they're giving away, tell us tonight what you would take back. +p1426 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. +p1427 +aVAll right. We're only just getting started. Coming up, your taxes. Stick around. You're watching FOX Business +p1428 +aVWelcome back to the Milwaukee Theater and the Republican presidential debate. Let's get right back to our questions. Dr. Carson, to you. You recently railed against the double- standard in the media, sir, that seems obsessed with inconsistencies and potential exaggerations in your life story, but looked the other way when it came to then-Senator Barack Obama's. Still, as a candidate whose brand has always been trust, are you worried your campaign \u2014 which you've always said, sir, is bigger than you \u2014 is now being hurt by you? +p1429 +aVI'll just forget that follow-up there. +p1430 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1431 +aVAlright, thank you. We're going to take a break here. Coming up, a big issue many Americans are facing, taxes. The Republican Presidential Debate continues now, live, from Milwaukee. +p1432 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from Milwaukee. Let's get back to the questions. And we want to touch on obviously one of the biggest of this issue in this year, taxes. And this will go to several of you. One of the biggest economic concerns of course in the country are taxes. Facebook data certainly backs that up. Once again the green on this map that we're going to see here shows how the conversation around taxes is resonating across the nation, especially here in Wisconsin. First off, Dr. Carson, to you. You say you are in favor of a tax system, I guess akin to tithing, sir, with a flat tax rate of up to 15 percent because you said, if everybody pays this, I think God is a pretty fair guy, so tithing is a pretty fair process. But Donald Trump says that is not fair. That wealthier taxpayers should pay a higher rate because it's a fair thing to do. So whose plan would God endorse then, Doctor? Yours or Mr. Trump's? +p1433 +aVRight. +p1434 +aVThank you very much. Senator Paul, you said you want to blow up the tax code and start over with an across-the-board 14.5 percent fair and flat tax. You happily offered that it is not revenue neutral and that's the idea. You want to choke off the amount of money coming into Washington. But don't you risk, sir, creating a near-term budget crisis just as your presidency would be beginning? +p1435 +aVThere are no deductions on your \u2014 under your plan? +p1436 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1437 +aVSenator Paul... Senator Paul, you have already said, sir, that that would be a mistake in not talking to Vladimir Putin, or to rule it out. You've argued that it's never a good idea to close down communication. With that in mind, do you think the same applies to administration efforts right now to include the Iranians in talks on Syria? +p1438 +aV...Well, then how would you respond? +p1439 +aVBut if you're not going to respond in a no-fly zone strategy, what would yours be? +p1440 +aVAll right. And look at the time, look at the time. You are watching FOX Business, we'll take a break. Stick around. +p1441 +aVSenator Cruz \u2014 and I will get to you \u2014 but, Senator Cruz, on that theme, Facebook data shows that over the last month alone, nearly 1 million people \u2014 nearly 1 million \u2014 have been concerned about reining in Wall Street, apparently believing that some have not been punished enough. So, as an accomplished litigator yourself and a former solicitor general, would you go after the very people who believe and fear that Wall Street has ignored, in other words, the crooks that Bernie Sanders say have gotten away with a financial murder? +p1442 +aVSenator......Senator, I really want to be clear here. Are you saying, sir, that if Bank of America were on the brink, you would let it fail? +p1443 +aVSir, I understand that. I just want to be clear, if you don't mind, that millions of depositors would be on the line with that decision. And I just want to be clear. If it were to happen again, for whatever the reason, you would let it go, you would let a Bank of America go? +p1444 +aVOK, I think it's fair to say you're not fans of Hillary Clinton's resume. Alright, Mr. Trump.... +p1445 +aVI had a feeling. Perhaps the most successful capitalist on this stage tonight, you've acknowledged that some give capitalism a bad name. You've been particularly critical of businesses that find all sorts of ways of paying their taxes by keeping money abroad, but your own plan includes an incentive to bring \u2014 that more the $2 trillion dollars home. Isn't that, like, a one-time bounty... +p1446 +aV...Some of the guys you all but call pirates, so they still keep the loot, and pay only a price to bring it back. +p1447 +aV...Alright, gentlemen, I know you want to \u2014 and I want to, be we also promised to get people home tonight, and we are going to take a quick break here. I think it is fair to say at this juncture that you can discuss these issues, and only business issues, but still keep it interesting. Stick around for these candidates closing statements. +p1448 +aVSenator Marco Rubio? +p1449 +aVDr. Ben Carson? +p1450 +aVDonald Trump? +p1451 +aVCandidates, we want to thank you all. We also appreciate your helping save time by talking over one another at times. That was welcomed. But by all means, it was a very riveting debate. Business issues can be \u2014 can be riveting, because it wasn't about us, it's about them. +p1452 +aVThat'll do it. Thank you for joining us. +p1453 +asVBLITZER +p1454 +(lp1455 +VWelcome to the CNN-Facebook Republican presidential debate here at the Venetian Las Vegas. We have a very enthusiastic audience. Everyone is here. They're looking forward to a serious and spirited discussion about the security of this nation. I'm Wolf Blitzer, your moderator tonight. This debate is airing on CNN networks here in the United States and around the world, and on the Salem Radio Network. The nine leading candidates, they are here. Let's welcome them right now. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Businessman and real estate developer Donald Trump. Retired neurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. And Ohio Governor John Kasich. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome these Republican candidates for president of the United States. This is the final Republican debate before the election year begins, and we're taking a moment for the photographs of the candidates together on the stage. Now, everyone, please rise for the national anthem sung by Ayla Brown. +p1456 +aVI know everyone is eager to get started. So, candidates, please take your places while I explain the ground rules for tonight. As moderator, I'll guide the discussion, and I'll be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt and CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. We also asked Republicans and independents nationwide to share their questions for the candidates. We teamed up with Facebook to send a campaign camper across the country over the past several weeks. Thousands of people stepped inside and recorded their questions on video. Millions more have weighed in on Facebook. Candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have a minute and 15 seconds to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you're singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know that we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. And as the candidates requested, a bell will sound like this. We know you are all eager to jump in and debate these important issues, so, please, wait until you're called on. These nine Republicans are positioned on stage based on their ranking in the recent polls, so let's begin right now. I'd like to invite each candidate to introduce himself or herself to our audience. You'll have one minute. First to you, Senator Paul. +p1457 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p1458 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1459 +aVMs. Fiorina? +p1460 +aVGovernor Bush? +p1461 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1462 +aVSenator Cruz. +p1463 +aVDr. Carson. +p1464 +aVMr. Trump. +p1465 +aVThank you. Since you last debated, Americans have witnessed terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino. The FBI director says the country now faces the greatest terror threat since 9/11. You all have different approaches to keeping the country safe. And that will be the focus of tonight's debate. Mr. Trump, as you mentioned in your opening statement, part of your strategy is to focus in on America's borders. To keep the country safe, you say you want to temporarily ban non-American Muslims from coming to the United States; ban refugees fleeing +p1466 +aVGovernor Bush, you called Mr. Trump "unhinged" when he proposed banning non-American Muslims from the United States. Why is that unhinged? +p1467 +aVMr. Trump? +p1468 +aVSenator Rubio \u2014 I'm going to go to Senator Rubio and get his thoughts. You have said banning Muslims is unconstitutional. But according to a recent ABC News-Washington Post poll, a majority of Republicans support Mr. Trump's idea. Why are they wrong? +p1469 +aVHugh Hewitt, you have a question. +p1470 +aVGovernor Christie, Americans are clearly more afraid today than at any time since 9/11. As you mentioned in your opening statement, today in Los Angeles, 650 schoolchildren didn't go to \u2014 650,000 schoolchildren didn't go to school because of an e-mail threat, this two weeks after an attack killed 14 people in San Bernardino. Is this the new normal? And if so, what steps would you take as president of the United States to ensure that fear does not paralyze America? +p1471 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, one of the killers in San Bernardino was an American who was not on anyone's watch list. How are you going to find that radicalized person and stop another such attack? +p1472 +aVThank you. Dana Bash, you have the next question. +p1473 +aVThank you. Dr. Carson, you're in favor of monitoring mosques and schools where there is anti-America sentiment, what do you consider anti- America? +p1474 +aVDr. Carson, who was right in that little debate that we just heard between Senator Rubio and Senator Paul? +p1475 +aVHold on a sec, we have a lot more to come and everybody's going to have their full opportunity. Governor Bush, six days after 9/11 your brother visited a mosque and said quote, "Islam is peace." The conversation tonight is about banning Muslims and surveillance of mosques, are President Bush's words still relevant in today's Republican party? +p1476 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you pointed out you were a CEO in Silicon Valley on 9/11. Companies there, they say they won't help the FBI now crack encrypted communication from +p1477 +aVBut my question was: Should these Silicon Valley companies be forced to cooperate with the FBI? +p1478 +aVMr. Trump, you recently suggested closing that Internet up, those were your words, as a way to stop +p1479 +aVLet me follow up, Mr. Trump. So, are you open to closing parts of the Internet? +p1480 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, is shutting down any part of the Internet a good idea? +p1481 +aVThank you, Governor. The fight against radical Islamic terrorists and +p1482 +aVThank you. To be clear, Senator Cruz, would you carpet bomb Raqqa, the +p1483 +aVThank you. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you've been critical of Senator Cruz's strategy. You say his voting record doesn't match his rhetoric. Why? +p1484 +aVBecause I asked the question, Senator, because you said this. You said he, referring to Senator Cruz, voted against the Defense Authorization Act every year that it came up, and I assume that if he voted against it, he would veto it as president. That's the bill that funds our troops. +p1485 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1486 +aVSenator Rubio. +p1487 +aVWe are going to have much more on this... +p1488 +aVWe're going to have much more on this. But I want to move now back to Mr. Trump. +p1489 +aVHold on. Hold on. Hold on. +p1490 +aVWe have a lot... +p1491 +aVWe have a lot to discuss. I want to move to Mr. Trump right now. We have a question on this war against +p1492 +aVMr. Trump. +p1493 +aVGovernor Bush. Governor Bush. +p1494 +aVMr. Trump. +p1495 +aVJust one at a time, go ahead... +p1496 +aVGo ahead, Mr. Trump. +p1497 +aVGovernor Bush, please. +p1498 +aVOne at a time. +p1499 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1500 +aVThank you. +p1501 +aVAll right. Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash, Hugh, go ahead with the next question. +p1502 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Rubio? Let's continue this conversation. This is a critically important issue. +p1503 +aVWe will get to \u2014 we have a lot of time, Ms. Fiorina. I want to get to Senator Rubio right now. Let's talk about, one of the aspects of your strategy, you say the only way to defeat +p1504 +aVThank you, Senator. Stand by. Ms. Fiorina, the former defense secretary, Bob Gates, says the chances of getting Sunni-Arab forces on the ground to get the job done, his words, "chances very remote." What's your strategy? +p1505 +aVThank you. Governor Christie, what's your strategy? +p1506 +aVDr. Carson, what is your strategy? +p1507 +aVThank you. Everyone stand by. We're only just beginning. Coming up, which candidates on this stage tonight want to move foreign policy in a dramatically new direction? We'll be right back. +p1508 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate here at the Venetian, Las Vegas. The war against +p1509 +aVThank you. +p1510 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you supported the removal of Moammar Gadhafi in Libya. Now that country is in turmoil, as +p1511 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1512 +aVStandby. Everybody standby for a moment. Governor Kasich, go ahead. +p1513 +aVThank you. +p1514 +aVWe're going to talk about Assad in a moment. Mr. Trump, are Americans safer with dictators running the world in the Middle East? +p1515 +aVThank you. Mr. Trump? +p1516 +aVAll right. +p1517 +aVThank you. +p1518 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East... +p1519 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East better off with dictators? +p1520 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1521 +aVHold on Governor Bush., here's the question. You said, "getting rid of Saddam Hussein in your words was a pretty good deal." In light of what has happened in Iraq, do you still feel that way? +p1522 +aVSenator Paul, was getting rid of Saddam Hussein a pretty good deal? +p1523 +aVThank you. Hugh Hewitt, go ahead. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hugh. +p1524 +aVSenator, Senator, we're going to get to you. Wait your turn. We have two hours of debate. We'll have plenty of time. Let Hugh ask his question. +p1525 +aVSenator, please. +p1526 +aVSenator... +p1527 +aVYou'll have plenty of opportunity. Hugh, go ahead. +p1528 +aVThese are the rules all of you agreed to. Hugh, go ahead with your question. +p1529 +aVLet's continue with Russia right now. We have another question from Facebook. Listen and watch. +p1530 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you know, U.S. and Russian warplanes are flying all over Syria right now. With so many lives on the line, is this a good time for the United States not to talk to Putin? +p1531 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Christie, if the U.S. imposed a no-fly zone over Syria and a Russian plane encroached, invaded that no-fly zone, would you be prepared to shoot down that Russian plane and risk war with Russia? +p1532 +aVSenator Paul \u2014 Senator Paul, I want you to respond to what we just heard from Governor Christie. If there was a no-fly zone, you say that potentially could lead to World War III. Why? +p1533 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1534 +aVAll right, let's go back \u2014 Hugh and Dana? +p1535 +aVOne at a time. Hugh, go ahead. +p1536 +aVGovernor, thank you very much. So, Dr. Carson, you recently visited a refugee camp in Jordan and you deemed it your words, "really quite nice." Saying the people there didn't want to come to the United States. Do you think these camps are a long-term solution of the problem of Syrian refugees? +p1537 +aVSenator Paul, you oppose letting in Syrian refugees at this time into the United States. The U.S. has already accepted 2,000 Syrian refugees, including 13 living here in Las Vegas right now. Would you send them back? What would you do with these people? +p1538 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1539 +aVSenator Paul, you didn't answer the question about the 2,000 Syrian refugees who are already here in the United States. Will you send them back or let them stay? +p1540 +aVWe have another \u2014 we have another question. We have another question from Facebook. Let's listen. +p1541 +aVGovernor Christie, you say there should be a pause in allowing new refugees to come into the United States, including orphans under the age of five. What do you say to Carla? +p1542 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1543 +aVThank you, Governor. There is much more coming up. We are only just beginning. Coming up, what other global hot spots await the next president of the United States. +p1544 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate. We're here at the Venetian Las Vegas. Tonight we have been focusing on the Middle East, but let's turn to some other world threats that you will potentially face as Commander in Chief. Ms. Fiorina, candidates here have called the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un a maniac who is mentally unstable. Last week he said he now has a hydrogen bomb. If you were elected president, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p1545 +aVDr. Carson, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p1546 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Dana and Hugh you have questions as well. +p1547 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Some of you on this stage have questioned whether your opponents have temperament, the right temperament, to be in control of the nuclear codes. Dana, you have a question on this? +p1548 +aVThank you, senator. Thank you. +p1549 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1550 +aVThank you, Senator. We're a month and a half away now from the first real test who will be the Republican presidential nominee. Hugh, you have a question? +p1551 +aVAll right. Candidates, we have more coming up. When we come back, everyone will have an opportunity to explain why this particular candidate, each of you on the stage, believes he or she should be the Republican presidential nominee. +p1552 +aVNow it's time for the closing statements from the candidates. Each one has 30 seconds. Senator Paul. +p1553 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1554 +aVGovernor Christie. +p1555 +aVMs. Fiorina. +p1556 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1557 +aVSenator Rubio. +p1558 +aVSenator Cruz. +p1559 +aVDr. Carson. +p1560 +aVThanks to all the Republican presidential candidates. That does it for this Republican presidential debate. +p1561 +aVI'd now like to ask the candidates to please take your places while I tell you a little bit more about how tonight's debate will work. As the moderator, I'll guide the discussion asking questions and follow-ups, as will Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt. Candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have a minutes and 15 seconds to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you're singled out for criticism. We have timing lights that are visible to the candidates, those lights will warn you when your time is up. And as the candidates requested, a bell will sound like this. We know you're all eager to jump in and debate these important issues, but please wait until you're called on. Now that everyone is this place, it's time for the candidates to introduce themselves to our audience. You'll each have one minute. Senator Graham, you're first. +p1562 +aVGovernor Pataki. +p1563 +aVSenator Santorum. +p1564 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p1565 +aVLet's begin. The United States just suffered the worst terrorist attack since 9-11, the murder of 14 people by two terrorists, one of whom was an American citizen. In response, Republican frontrunner Donald Trump proposed a temporary ban on all Muslims coming into the United States until the government can figure out what is going on. Senator Graham, the polls show most Republicans do support Mr. Trump. What do you say to them? +p1566 +aVSenator Graham, you say you'd rather lose the election without Trump than try to win with him. Does that mean you'll be voting for the Democratic nominee if Donald Trump wins the presidential nomination? +p1567 +aVGovernor Pataki, you mentioned Donald Trump in your opening statement. You've also suggested Mr. Trump's plan is un-American and absurd. Why? +p1568 +aVSenator Santorum, you object to Mr. Trump's proposals on the grounds that it's unworkable. You've made religious liberty a hallmark of your career. Do you believe in religious liberty for Muslims as well as Christians? +p1569 +aVSenator Graham. +p1570 +aVSenator Santorum. +p1571 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you called Mr. Trump's plan to ban Muslims impossible and unconstitutional. But what is your specific plan to prevent would-be Jihadists from carrying out attacks against Americans? +p1572 +aVThe terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino have sparked a debate here in the United States about the balance between privacy and security. I want to bring in CNN's Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt for more on this. +p1573 +aVGovernor Pataki. +p1574 +aVThere are a lot of people who have been frustrated, especially Senator Graham, that law enforcement can't tap into information on terrorist cell phones. Senator Graham has called on companies in Silicon Valley to change their business models. As president of the United States, would you force these companies to change their models so the government can better monitor the traffic on these cell phones? +p1575 +aVSenator Graham? +p1576 +aVSenator Graham. +p1577 +aVHere is a question we have on the fight against +p1578 +aVGovernor Huckabee, how would you defeat +p1579 +aVSenator Graham, you have an aggressive military plan to try to defeat +p1580 +aVSenator Santorum, following up on what we just heard from Senator Graham, at least one U.S. intelligence report from the White House has concluded that, in order to defeat +p1581 +aVSenator Graham, you're shaking your head. +p1582 +aVI'm going to bring Governor Pataki in a minute, but go ahead and respond, Senator Graham. +p1583 +aVGovernor Pataki, should the U.S. send ground troops into Syria? +p1584 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you have not put a number of how many U.S. ground troops would be needed to combat +p1585 +aVSenator Graham, and I just want to remind our viewers, you want 10,000 U.S. ground troops in Iraq, and 10,000 in Syria? +p1586 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you have said as president you would tell +p1587 +aVSenator Samtorum? +p1588 +aVGovernor Pataki, you support ground troops - deploying grounds troops. +p1589 +aVThe U.S. Army's Former Cheif of Staff, General Raymond Odierno said that, and I'm quoting, "now +p1590 +aVBut how long would you be willing to commit U.S. troops to fight +p1591 +aVSenator Graham, you called for U.S. ground troops as we know in Iraq and Syria. +p1592 +aVAs you know, there's a growing +p1593 +aVAre you ready to deploy U.S. troops to Libya to try to defeat +p1594 +aVSenator? Senator, are you ready to commit U.S. ground troops to Libya? +p1595 +aVAlright, gentleman, standby. The fight against +p1596 +aVWe're live here at the Venetian in Las Vegas. Welcome back. As the U.S. fight against +p1597 +aVWe have a video question from Facebook. Let's watch. +p1598 +aVGovernor Pataki. +p1599 +aVHe says he was wondering with U.S. designated state sponsors of terrorism like Iran and other traditional U.S. enemies fighting +p1600 +aVHugh Hewitt and Dana Bash have questions. Hugh go ahead. +p1601 +aVGovernor Pataki, let me stick with you. Governor Pataki, a U.S. Army Sargent Bowe Bergdahl now facing a court marshall after leaving his base in Afghanistan, getting captured by the Taliban - Donald Trump, has called for his execution. The former house speak John Boehner says "he's innocent until proven guilty." Where do you stand? +p1602 +aVSenator Graham, where do you stand? +p1603 +aVGovernor Huckabee? Governor Huckbee, +p1604 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Pataki, speaking of those four Americans being held in Iran right now. Iran has suggested they might be willing to have a prisoner swap, release Iranian prisoners held in the United States, in exchange for those four Americans. Would you support that? +p1605 +aVWe have to take a quick break, but, Governor, Israel has exchanged a lot of the prisoners it was holding for Israeli soldiers who were being held by Hamas, for example. +p1606 +aVThank you. Let's take another quick break. The scramble, the scramble to protect Americans after +p1607 +aVWelcome back to the Republican Presidential Debate here at the Venetian in Las Vegas. Gentlemen, in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks, the Obama Administration policy of allowing Syrian refugees to come into the United States has come under fire. Senator Santorum, you say accepting Syrian refugees is dangerous. You say it just takes one Jihadist to destroy the world. Do you think there is any way to properly vet refugees coming into the United States? +p1608 +aVGovernor Pataki, you have said you wouldn't accept a single Syrian refugee. What should become of them? +p1609 +aVLet's go back to Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt for more questions. Dana? +p1610 +aVThank you, Senator. Gentlemen, standby, we are going to take another very quick break. Coming up, with America on edge, who has what it takes to be the next Commander in Chief? These candidates, they will make their case. +p1611 +aVWelcome back. We're live here at the Venetian Las Vegas. Gentlemen, it's time for your closing statements. Each candidate will have 30 seconds. Senator graham, you're first. +p1612 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Pataki. +p1613 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum. +p1614 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee. +p1615 +aVThank you. Thanks to all of the candidates for a very important discussion on critically important issues. This debate night is just getting started here at the Venetian Las Vegas. The top nine candidates, they are standing by for their turn on this stage in just a little while. I'll be back as the moderator. +p1616 +asVMODERATOR +p1617 +(lp1618 +VComing up more of our debate, including questions about President Obama's foreign policy and these guys and their better ideas. Coming up. +p1619 +asVFIORINA +p1620 +(lp1621 +VLike all of you I'm angry. I'm angry at what's happening to our nation. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. Bombastic insults wont take it back. Political rhetoric that promises a lot and delivers little, won't take it back. All of our problems can be solved. All of our wounds can be healed by a tested leader who is willing to fight for the character of our nation. I have been tested. I have beaten breast cancer. I have buried a child. I started as a secretary. I fought my way to the top of corporate America while being called every B word in the book. I fought my way into this election and on to this debate stage while all the political insiders and the pundits told, "it couldn't be done." I've been told, "no,: all my life. And all my life, I've refused to accept no as an answer. Citizens, it is time to take our country back from the political class, from the media, from the liberal elite. It can be done, it must be done, join me and we will get it done. +p1622 +aVWhat I think we need to stand for are solutions. I offer myself as a leader to the people of this country because I think they're looking for solutions, not lawyers arguing over laws or entertainers throwing out sound bites that draw media attention. We need to solve the problem. To solve the problem, we need to do something here at home and something over there in their caliphate. We need to deny them territory. But here at home, we need to do two fundamental things. Number one, we need to recognize that technology has moved on. The Patriot Act was signed in 2001, roughly. The iPhone was invented in 2007. The iPad was invented in 2011. Snapchat and Twitter, all the rest of it, have been around just for several years. Technology has moved on, and the terrorists have moved on with it. Let me tell you a story. Soon after 9/11, I got a phone call from the NSA. They needed help. I gave them help. I stopped a truckload of equipment. I had it turned around. It was escorted by the NSA into headquarters. We need the private sector's help, because government is not innovating. Technology is running ahead by leaps and bound. The private sector will help, just as I helped after 9/11. But they must be engaged, and they must be asked. I will ask them. I know them. +p1623 +aVYou know, listening to this conversation, let me just say, we have a lot of argument about laws but none of it solves the problem. Let's examine what happened, why did we miss the Tsarnaev brothers, why did we miss the San Bernardino couple? It wasn't because we had stopped collected metadata it was because, I think, as someone who comes from the technology world, we were using the wrong algorithms. This is a place where the private sector could be helpful because the government is woefully behind the technology curve. But secondly, the bureaucratic processes that have been in place since 9/11 are woefully inadequate as well. What do we now know? That DHS vets people by going into databases of known or suspected terrorists. And yet, we also know that +p1624 +aVThey do not need to be forced. They need to be asked to bring the best and brightest, the most recent technology to the table. I was asked as a CEO. I complied happily. And they will as well. But they have not been asked. That's why it cost billions of dollars to build an Obama website that failed because the private sector wasn't asked. +p1625 +aVI hope at some point you're going to ask me my strategy. +p1626 +aVWell, first I'll just point out that talking tough is not the same as being strong. And to wage war, we need a commander in chief who has made tough calls in tough times and stood up to be held accountable over and over, not first-term senators who've never made an executive decision in their life. One of the things I would immediately do, in addition to defeating them here at home, is bring back the warrior class \u2014 Petraeus, McChrystal, Mattis, Keane, Flynn. Every single one of these generals I know. Every one was retired early because they told President Obama things that he didn't want to hear. We must have Sunni-Arabs involved in this coalition. We must commit leadership, strength, support and resolve. I'll just add that Margaret Thatcher once said, "If you want something talked about, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman." +p1627 +aVThat is exactly what President Obama said. I'm amazed to hear that from a republican presidential candidate. But let's just start with, who got it wrong? Who really got it wrong? Hillary Clinton has gotten every foreign policy challenge wrong. Hitting the reset button with Vladimir Putin \u2013 recall that she called Bashar Al-Assad a positive reformer and then she opened an embassy and then later she said, over, and over, and over again, "Bashar Al-Assad must go." Although she wasn't prepared to do anything about it. Recall that Hillary Clinton was all for toppling Gadhafi then didn't listen to her own people on the ground. And then of course, when she lied about the terrorist attack in Benghazi, she invited more terrorist attacks. +p1628 +aVWe've mismanaged going into Iraq. +p1629 +aVWe've mismanaged going out of Iraq. +p1630 +aVWe actually... +p1631 +aVI didn't say I would cut off all communication with Putin. What I said was as president of the United States, now is not the time to talk with him. Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. There is a time and a place for everything. There is a time and a place for talk. And there is a time and a place for action. I know Vladimir Putin. He respects strength. He lied to our president's face; didn't both to tell him about warplanes and troops going into Syria. We need to speak to him from a position of strength. So as commander in chief, I will not speak to him until we've set up that no-fly zone; until we've gathered our Sunni-Arab allies and begun to deny +p1632 +aVThis doesn't do a thing to solve the problems...It doesn't do a thing to solve the problems. +p1633 +aVIt will not solve the problem. +p1634 +aVLadies and gentleman, this is why the American people are standing up. +p1635 +aVThis is why the nation is fed up... +p1636 +aVWe have been talking about this... +p1637 +aVSorry, but you haven't gotten to me. This is why... +p1638 +aVthe people are fed up with the political class. +p1639 +aVWell, first, Kim Jong-Un is a dangerous leader, without a doubt. And both Republican and Democrat administrations have been completely ineffective in dealing with him. So we must continue to isolate him. We will need China as part of that strategy. China is a rising adversary. So one of the things we have to do if we want China's support is to push back on China. They, too, recognize one thing \u2014 strength and their own economic interest. I have done business in China for 25 years, so I know that in order to get China to cooperate with us, we must first actually retaliate against their cyber-attacks so they know we're serious. We have to push back on their desire to control the trade route through the South China Sea through which flows $5 trillion worth of goods and services every year. We cannot let them control the disputed islands, and we must work with the Australians, the South Koreans, the Japanese and the Filipinos to contain China. And then we must ask for their support and their help with North Korea. Because believe it or not, China is as concerned about Kim Jong-Un as we are. +p1640 +aVI too remember September 11th. I remember immediately putting into place security procedures all throughout our company that did business in 170 countries where we thought corporate interests would be attacked next. To take our country back, to keep our nation safe, we have to begin by beating Hillary Clinton. We need to unify our party. We need to better than our government, which 75 percent of the American people now think is corrupt and incompetent. They're right. We need to better than our politics. 80 percent think we have a professional/political class of both parties that cares more about its power, position and privilege than actually on getting anything done. We need to unify our party, we need a real Conservative in the White House, and we need to beat Hillary Clinton to take our country back and keep our nation safe. I can. I am. And together, if you join me, we will take our country back. +p1641 +aVWell, first of all, I must say as I think about that question, I think about a woman I met the other day. I would guess she was 40 years old. She had several children. And she said to me, you know, Carly, I go to bed every night afraid for my children's future. And that really struck me. This is America. A mother is going to bed afraid for her children's future. And the reason she's afraid for her children's future is because we've had problems for a long time. Yes, problems have gotten much worse under Democrats. But the truth is, this government has been growing bigger and bigger, more corrupt, less effective, crushing the engine of economic growth for a very long time. This isn't about just replacing a Democrat with a Republican now. It's about actually challenging the status quo of big government. Big government has created a big business called politics. And there are lots of people invested in the status quo of that big business called politics. Specifically, we need actually to do five things to really get this economy going again. We need to go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dollar is being spent, we can challenge any dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. We need to actually reform the tax code. Go to a three-page tax code. Yes, there are plans that would reform our tax code to three pages. In addition to rolling back what President Obama has done, we need to do a top-to-bottom review of every single regulation on the books. That hasn't been done in 50 years. We need to pass the +p1642 +aVWell, first Obamacare has to be repealed because it's failing... ...it's failing the very people it was intended to help, but, also, it is croney-capitalism at its worst. Who helped write this bill? Drug companies, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, every single one of those kinds of companies are bulking up to deal with big government. See, that's what happens. As government gets bigger, and bigger \u2014 and it has been for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike \u2014 and business have to bulk up to deal with big government. So, we have to repeal it. It's tens of thousands of pages long, no one can possible understand it except the big companies, the lawyers, the accountants, the lobbyists that they hire to protect their interests. Then, we have to give back to states the responsibility to manage a high risk pool. We need to try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried. Health insurance has always been a cozy, little game between regulators and health insurance companies. We need to try the free market. The free market. Where people actually have to compete. And, we 'ought to have the government ensure that you must \u2014 and I don't use that term often, that government 'ought to do something, but every healthcare provider 'ought to publish its costs, its prices, its outcomes, because as patients we don't know what we're buying. Now, let me just say \u2014 let me just say, I know more about innovation and entrepreneurship than anyone on this panel because I have led innovative businesses in the most highly competitive industry in the world for decades. The truth is the secret sauce of America is innovation, and entrepreneurship, it is why we must cut our government down to size, and hold it accountable. It's why we have to take our government back, because innovation and entrepreneurship is crushed by the crushing load of a 73,000 page tax code. It is crushed... ...by regulatory thicket that is so vast we don't even know what's in it anymore. It is crushed as well by government bureaucrats who don't do their jobs very well, and who are not held accountable, which is why I've said we got to take our government back, and to do that, we have to know where every dollar being spent, and be able to move any dollar. We have to hack through this regulatory thicket, repeal so much, but, also, know what's in that regulatory thicket \u2014 we don't even know what regulations have been passed. Third, we need to build a meritocracy \u2014 Scott Walker, by the way, is trying now to do in Wisconsin... ...Finally, we need to get to a three page tax code, and, yes, that plan exists. +p1643 +aVSorry, I can't hear you. +p1644 +aV...Absolutely... +p1645 +aV...You need to give... +p1646 +aVThe alternative is to allow states to manage high risk pools for those who really need help. Look, I'm a cancer survivor, OK? I understand that you cannot have someone who's battled cancer just become known as a pre-existing condition. I understand that you cannot allow families to go bankrupt if they truly need help. But, I also understand that Obamacare isn't helping anyone. We're throwing more, and more people into Medicaid, and fewer, and fewer doctors are taking those payments. The point is Obamacare is crushing small businesses, it is not helping the families it was intended to help. So, let us allow states to manage high risk pools. Let us try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried, the free market. Let us ensure that as patients, and customers... +p1647 +aV...that we have information to shop wisely for our health care. +p1648 +aV...Yes, the middle ground is this... +p1649 +aV...This is why \u2014 this is why we must combine, actually, zero-based budgeting with tax reform because unless we can examine, and cut, and move, every single dollar of discretionary spending in the federal government, we cannot reform taxes and reduce spending at the same time. Ask yourself this question, how is it possible that the federal government gets more money each and every year, which the federal government has been doing, receiving more money every year for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike, and yet, never has enough money to do the important things? The answer? All the money's always spoken for. All the money's spoken for. So, we have to go to zero-based budgeting, which is a simple idea \u2014 by the way, there's been a bill for zeros-based (ph) budgeting... ...It exists, it can be voted on. Every dollar must be examined. Any dollar can be cut. Any dollar can be cut, any dollar can be moved. We have to go to a three page tax code. You lower every rate, you close every loophole, why? Because the government uses the tax code to decide winners, and losers. You have to strip the corruption out of the tax code to pay for it. You have to know where every single dollar is being spent... +p1650 +aV...Cut where you need to, and invest where you need to... +p1651 +aV...The two go hand in hand... +p1652 +aVYou know, Mr. Trump fancies himself a very good negotiator. And, I accept that he's done a lot of good deals, so, Mr. Trump 'ought to know that we should not speak to people from a position of weakness. Senator Paul should know that as well. One of the reasons I've said that I would not be talking to Vladimir Putin right now, although I have met him as well, not in a green room for a show, but in a private meeting. One of the reasons I've said I wouldn't be talking to Vladimir Putin right now is because we are speaking to him from a position of weakness brought on by this administration, so, I wouldn't talk to him for awhile, but, I would do this. I would start rebuilding the Sixth Fleet right under his nose, rebuilding the military \u2014 the missile defense program in Poland right under his nose. I would conduct very aggressive military exercises in the Baltic States so that he understood we would protect our +p1653 +aV...we have the strongest military on the face of the planet, and everyone has to know it. +p1654 +aV...Ronald Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. +p1655 +aV...he walked away, he quit talks... +p1656 +aV...when it was time to quit talking... +p1657 +aVCan I just \u2014 could I just say, as a chief executive who's had to make tough calls to save jobs and to grow jobs, I think what's interesting about Dodd-Frank is it's a great example of how socialism starts. Socialism starts when government creates a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. Government created the problem. Government created the problem of a real estate boom. How did we create it? Under Republican and Democrats alike, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, everybody gathered together, Republicans and Democrats, and said, "home ownership is part of the American dream. Let's create a bubble," and then government stepped in \u2014 by the way, under president George W. Bush, banks were told \u2014 encouraged \u2014 told, really \u2014 to buy other banks, to take money. And now what do we have with Dodd-Frank? The classic of crony capitalism. The big have gotten bigger, 1,590 community banks have gone out of business, and on top of all that, we've created something called the Consumer Financial Production Bureau, a vast bureaucracy with no congressional oversight that's digging through hundreds of millions of your credit records to detect fraud. This is how socialism starts, ladies and gentlemen. We must take our government back. +p1658 +aVImagine a Clinton presidency. Our military will continue to deteriorate. Our veterans will not be cared for. And, no, Mrs. Clinton, that situation is not exaggerated. The rich will get richer. The poor will get poorer. The middle class will continue to get crushed. And as bad as that picture is, what's even worse is that a Clinton presidency will corrode the character of this nation. Why? Because of the Clinton way: Say whatever you have to, lie as long as you can get away with it. We must beat Hillary Clinton. Carly Fiorina can beat Hillary Clinton. I will beat Hillary Clinton. And under a President Fiorina, we will restore the character of this nation, the security of this nation, the prosperity of this nation, because as citizens, we will take our government back. +p1659 +aVWell, gee, after the last debate, I was told that I didn't smile enough. +p1660 +aVBut I also think that these are very serious times; 75 percent of the American people think the federal government is corrupt. I agree with them. And this big powerful, corrupt bureaucracy works now only for the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected. Meantime, wages have stagnated for 40 years. We have more Americans out of work or just Americans who quit looking for work for 40 years. Ours was intended to be a citizen government. This is about more than replacing a D with an R. We need a leader who will help us take our government back. +p1661 +aVLet me just say on taxes, how long have we been talking about tax reform in Washington, D.C.? We have been talking about it for decades. We now have a 73,000-page tax code. There have been more than 4,000 changes to the tax plan since 2001 alone. There are loads of great ideas, great conservative ideas from wonderful think tanks about how to reform the tax code. The problem is we never get it done. We have talked about tax reform in every single election for decades. It never happens. And the politicians always say it is so complicated, nobody but a politician can figure it out. The truth is this, the big problem, we need a leader in Washington who understands how to get something done, not to talk about it, not to propose it, to get it done. +p1662 +aVThat's right, three pages. +p1663 +aVYou know why three? +p1664 +aVNo. You know why three? Because only if it's about three pages are you leveling the playing field between the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected who can hire the armies of lawyers and accountants and, yes, lobbyists to help them navigate their way through 73,000 pages. Three pages is about the maximum that a single business owner or a farmer or just a couple can understand without hiring somebody. Almost 60 percent of American people now need to hire an expert to understand their taxes. So yes, you're going to hear a lot of talk about tax reform \u2014 +p1665 +aV\u2014 the issue is who is going to get it done. +p1666 +aVYou know, the +p1667 +aVWell, this is one of the reasons why Tom Perkins and I had disagreements in the boardroom, Becky. Nevertheless, one of the things that I think people don't always understand is how accountable a CEO actually is. So you know, I had to report results every 90 days in excruciating detail. I had to answer every single question about every single result and every single projection in public until there were no more questions. And if I misrepresented those results or those projections in any way, I was held criminally liable. Imagine \u2014 imagine \u2014 if a politician were held to that standard of account. I will run on my record all day long. And I believe people need a leader who is prepared to make tough calls in tough times and stand up... +p1668 +aV...and be held accountable. +p1669 +aVYou know, I want to go back for a moment to what we were just talking about. Crony capitalism is alive and well, and has been so in Washington, D.C. for decades. What's crony capitalism? Crony capitalism is what happens when government gets so big and so powerful that only the big and the powerful can handle it. So why are the pharmaceutical companies consolidating? Why are there five even bigger Wall Street banks now, instead of the ten we used to have on Wall Street? Because when government gets big and powerful, the big feel like they need to get even bigger to deal with all that power, and meanwhile, the small and the powerless \u2014 in this case, 1,590 community banks \u2014 go out of business. You see, folks, this is how socialism starts. Government causes a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. This is why, fundamentally, we have to take our government back. The student loan problem has been created by government. Government trying to level the playing field between Internet and brick-and-mortar creates a problem. The FCC jumping in now and saying, "we're going to put 400 pages of regulation over the Internet," is going to create massive problems. But guess who pushed for that regulation? The big Internet companies. This is what's going on. Big and powerful use big and powerful government to their advantage. It's why you see Walgreens buying Rite Aid. It's why you see the pharmaceuticals getting together. It's you see the health insurance companies getting together. It's why you see the banks consolidating. And meanwhile, small businesses are getting crushed. Community- based businesses and farms are getting crushed. Community banks are going out of business. Big government favors the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected, and crushes the small and the powerless. +p1670 +aVIt is why we have to simplify. It is why we have to reduce the size and power of government. +p1671 +aVIt's the only way to level the playing field between big and powerful and small and powerless. +p1672 +aVBecky, it is the height of hypocrisy for Mrs. Clinton to talk about being the first woman President, when every single policy she espouses, and every single policy of President Obama has been demonstrably bad for women. 92 percent \u2014 92 percent of the jobs lost during Barack Obama's first term belonged to women. Senator Cruz is precisely right. Three million women have fallen into poverty under this administration. The number of women \u2014 +p1673 +aV\u2014 living in extreme poverty is the highest level on record. I am a conservative because I know our values, our principles and our policies \u2014 +p1674 +aV\u2014 work better to lift everyone up, men and women. +p1675 +aVNo, the Federal Government should not play a larger role. Look, every time the Federal Government gets engaged in something it gets worse. And then the Government steps in to try and solve the problem and we get a little further down to that progressive vision that Hillary Clinton is talking about. Companies should, if they want to attract the best workers, provide a good set of benefits. But honestly, if you're a small business owner today you are being crushed. We have 400,000 small businesses forming every year in this country. How great is that? They are employing themselves, they are potentially employing others. The bad news is, we have 470,000 going out of business every year. And why? They cite Obamacare. They are refusing to... +p1676 +aVI think it's a wonderful that that businesses start a 401(k). The point I'm making is this, the Federal Government should not be in a lot of things. There is no Constitutional role for the Federal Government in setting up \u2014 retirement plans. There is no Constitutional role for the Federal Government to be setting minimum wages... +p1677 +aV... The more the Government gets engaged in the economy, the slower the economy becomes. The more the Government gets engaged in the economy, it is demonstrably true... +p1678 +aV... The more the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected are advantaged. +p1679 +aVJohn, I \u2014 if I \u2014 a lot of people have jumped in here. I'd like to jump in. A lot of people have jumped in here. +p1680 +aVI understand. +p1681 +aVI would just say that... ... I would just say this, we've heard a lot of great ideas up here, and I agree with what Senator Rubio said. Every election we talk about this. Every election we talk about Medicare and Social Security reform. It never happens. I would like to start with a basic. Let us actually go to zero- based budgeting so we know where the money is being spent. It's kind of basic. There is a bill sitting in the House that would actually pass and have us go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dime of your money is being spent instead of only talking about how much more we're going to spend year after year after year. My point is this. While there are lots of good ideas for reform, we have never tackled the basics. And we finally need to tackle the basics to cut this government down to size and hold it accountable. So let's start by knowing where your money is being spent by the federal government. +p1682 +aVYou know, every election we hear a lot of talk. We hear a lot of good plans. We hear actually a lot of good intentions. But somehow for decades, nothing really has changed. What we need now is a proven leader who has produced results. That's how you go from secretary to CEO. You lead and you produce results. I will cut this government down to size and hold it accountable, simplify the tax code, roll back the regulations that have been spewing out of Washington, D.C. for 50 years. I may not be your dream candidate just yet, but I can assure you I am Hillary Clinton's worst nightmare. And in your heart of hearts, you cannot wait to see a debate between Hillary Clinton and Carly Fiorina. I will tell you this, I will beat Hillary Clinton. And with your vote and your support and your prayers, I will lead with the citizens of this great nation the resurgence of this great nation. +p1683 +aVGood evening. My story, from secretary to CEO, is only possible in this nation, and proves that everyone of us has potential. My husband, Frank, of 30 years, started out driving a tow truck for a family owned auto body shop. We have come to a pivotal point in our nation's history where this nation's possibilities and potential are being crushed by a government grown so big, so powerful, so inept, so corrupt, and a political class that refuses to do anything about it. I am prepared to lead the resurgence of this great nation. +p1684 +aVYou know, I think Mr. Trump is a wonderful entertainer. He's been terrific at that business. I also think that one of the benefits of a presidential campaign is the character and capability, judgment and temperament of every single one of us is revealed over time and under pressure. All of us will be revealed over time and under pressure. I look forward to a long race. +p1685 +aVThat's not for me to answer; it is for the voters of this country to answer, and I have a lot of faith in the common sense and good judgment of the voters of the United States of America. +p1686 +aVJake, I'll tell you \u2014 I'll tell you why people are supporting outsiders. It's because you know what happens if someone's been in the system their whole life, they don't know how broken the system is. A fish swims in water, it doesn't know it's water. It's not that politicians are bad people, it's that they've been in that system forever. The truth is 75 percent of the American people think the government is corrupt; 82 percent of the American people think these problems that have festered for 50 years in some cases, 25 years in other cases. The border's been insecure for 25 years; 307,000 veterans have died waiting for health care. These things have gone on for so long because no one will challenge the status quo. You know what a leader does? They challenge the status quo, they solve problems that have festered for a long time and they produce results. That is what my whole life has been about. People know this is about far more than replacing a D with an R \u2014 +p1687 +aV\u2014 this is about changing the system. +p1688 +aVHaving... +p1689 +aVHaving met Vladimir Putin, if I may... +p1690 +aVHaving met Vladimir Putin, I wouldn't talk to him at all. We've talked way too much to him. What I would do, immediately, is begin rebuilding the Sixth Fleet, I would begin rebuilding the missile defense program in Poland, I would conduct regular, aggressive military exercises in the Baltic states. I'd probably send a few thousand more troops into Germany. Vladimir Putin would get the message. By the way, the reason it is so critically important that every one of us know General Suleimani's name is because Russia is in Syria right now, because the head of the Quds force traveled to Russia and talked Vladimir Putin into aligning themselves with Iran and Syria to prop up Bashar al- Assad. Russia is a bad actor, but Vladimir Putin is someone we should not talk to, because the only way he will stop is to sense strength and resolve on the other side, and we have all of that within our control. We could rebuild the Sixth Fleet. I will. We haven't. We could rebuild the missile defense program. We haven't. I will. We could also, to Senator Rubio's point, give the Egyptians what they've asked for, which is intelligence. We could give the Jordanians what they've asked for... +p1691 +aV...bombs and materiel. We have not supplied it... +p1692 +aV...I will. We could arm the Kurds. They've been asking us for three years. All of this is within our control. +p1693 +aV...Jake... +p1694 +aV...Jake, ... +p1695 +aVAnd then it'll be my turn. +p1696 +aVJake? +p1697 +aVJake? +p1698 +aVDana, I'd like to... +p1699 +aVDana, I would like to link these two issues, both of which are incredibly important, Iran and Planned Parenthood. One has something to do with the defense of the security of this nation. The other has something to do with the defense of the character of this nation. You have not heard a plan about Iran from any politician up here, here is my plan. On day one in the Oval Office, I will make two phone calls, the first to my good friend to Bibi Netanyahu to reassure him we will stand with the state of Israel. The second, to the supreme leader, to tell him that unless and until he opens every military and every nuclear facility to real anytime, anywhere inspections by our people, not his, we, the United States of America, will make it as difficult as possible and move money around the global financial system. We can do that, we don't need anyone's cooperation to do it. And every ally and every adversary we have in this world will know that the United States in America is back in the leadership business, which is how we must stand with our allies. As regards Planned Parenthood, anyone who has watched this videotape, I dare Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama to watch these tapes. Watch a fully formed fetus on the table, it's heart beating, it's legs kicking while someone says we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain. This is about the character of our nation, and if we will not stand up in and force President Obama to veto this bill, shame on us. +p1700 +aVYou know, it's interesting to me, Mr. Trump said that he heard Mr. Bush very clearly and what Mr. Bush said. I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said. +p1701 +aVDana, with all being said to Mr. Trump... +p1702 +aVImmigration did not come up in 2016 because Mr. Trump brought it up. We talked about it in 2012, we talked about it in 2008. We talked about it in 2004. +p1703 +aVWe have been talking about it for 25 years. This is why people are tired of politicians. +p1704 +aVFirst let me say, We have just spent a good bit of time discussing, as Republicans, how to solve this problem. I would ask your audience at home to ask a very basic question. Why have Democrats not solved this problem? President Obama campaigned in 2007 and 2008 on solving the immigration problem. He entered Washington with majorities in the House and the Senate. He could have chosen to do anything to solve this pro \u2014 this problem. Instead, he chose to do nothing. Why? because the Democrats don't want this issue solved. +p1705 +aVThey want it to be an issue that they can use. As to birthright citizenship... +p1706 +aV...the truth is, you can't just wave your hands and say "the 14th Amendment is gonna go away." It will take an extremely arduous vote in Congress, followed by two-thirds of the states, and if that doesn't work to amend the Constitution, then it is a long, arduous process in court. And meanwhile, what will continue to go on is what has gone on for 25 years. With all due respect, Mr. Trump, we've been talking about illegal immigration for 25 years. San Francisco has been a sanctuary city since 1989. There are 300 of them. And meanwhile, what has happened? Nothing. The border remains insecure. The legal immigration system remains broken. Look, we know what it takes to secure a border. We've heard a lot of great ideas here. Money, manpower, technology... +p1707 +aV...mostly, apparently, leadership... +p1708 +aV...the kind of leadership that understands how to get results. +p1709 +aVBut you \u2014 you would stipulate, Mr. Trump, but not everyone agrees with you. +p1710 +aVOK. +p1711 +aVI led Hewlett Packard through a very difficult time, the worst technology recession in 25 years. The +p1712 +aV\u2014 out a full-page ad in the New York Times to say he was wrong, I was right. I was a terrific CEO, the board was dysfunctional. And he thinks I will make a magnificent president of the United States. +p1713 +aVYou know, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld is a well-known Clintonite and honestly had it out for me from the moment that I arrived at Hewlett Packard. But honestly, Mr. Trump, I find it quite rich that you would talk about this. You know, there are a lot of us Americans who believe that we are going to have trouble someday paying back the interest on our debt because politicians have run up mountains of debt using other people's money. That is in fact precisely the way you ran your casinos. You ran up mountains of debt, as well as losses, using other people's money, and you were forced to file for bankruptcy not once \u2014 +p1714 +aV\u2014 not twice, four times, a record four times. Why should we trust you to manage the finances \u2014 +p1715 +aV\u2014 of this nation any differently than you managed the finances \u2014 +p1716 +aV\u2014 of your casinos? +p1717 +aVWell \u2014 +p1718 +aVWell, Mr. Trump \u2014 +p1719 +aVA track record of leadership is not a game. It is the issue in this election. +p1720 +aVWell, I thought we had been hearing quite a bit about Govenor Christie's record as governor, actually. I think track records are very important. I completely agree that what's at stake here is the future of this nation, and the future of every American. But I do think that a track record of leadership is vital because in the end this election is about leadership. And let's talk about what leadership is. It's not about braggadocio, it is about challenging the status quo, solving problems, producing results. And the highest calling of leadership is to unlock potential in others. +p1721 +aVProblems have festered in Washington for too long. And the potential of this nation is being crushed. +p1722 +aVYou see, Governor Christie, people spend time talking about their track records, and Mr. Trump and I have every right to do the same. And Mrs. Clinton has to defend her track record. Her track record of lying about Benghazi, of lying about her e- mails, about lying about her servers. She does not have a track record of accomplishment. Like Mrs. Clinton, I, too, have travels hundreds of thousands of miles around the globe. But unlike Mrs. Clinton, I know flying is an activity, not an accomplishment. Mrs. Clinton \u2014 if you want to stump a Democrat, ask them to name a accomplishment of Mrs. Clinton's. +p1723 +aVWe just spent \u2014 we just spent the last 10 minutes... +p1724 +aV...Jake, since everyone has gotten to weigh in on this military issue, I'd like to be able to do the same. We have spent probably 12 minutes talking about the past. Let's talk about the future. We need the strongest military on the face of the planet, and everyone has to know it. And, specifically, what that means is we need about 50 Army brigades, we need about 36 Marine battalions, we need somewhere between 300, and 350 naval ships, we need to upgrade every leg of the nuclear triad... +p1725 +aV...we need to reform the Department of Defense, we need as well... +p1726 +aV...to invest in our military technology, and we need to care for our veterans so 307,000... +p1727 +aV...aren't dying waiting for health care. +p1728 +aVJake, may I just say... +p1729 +aVJake \u2014 Jake... +p1730 +aVI very much hope I am the only person on this stage who can say this, but I know there are millions of Americans out there who will say the same thing. My husband Frank and I buried a child to drug addiction. So, we must invest more in the treatment of drugs. +p1731 +aVI agree with Senator Paul. I agree with states' rights. But we are misleading young people when we tell them that marijuana is just like having a beer. It's not. And the marijuana that kids are smoking today is not the same as the marijuana that Jeb Bush smoked 40 years ago. We do \u2014 sorry, Barbara. We do need \u2014 we do need criminal justice reform. We have the highest incarceration rates in the world. Two-thirds of the people in our prisons are there for non-violent offenses, mostly drug related. It's clearly not working. But we need to tell young people the truth. Drug addiction is an epidemic, and it is taking too many of our young people. I know this sadly from personal experience. +p1732 +aVI wouldn't change the $10 bill, or the $20 bill. I think, honestly, it's a gesture. I don't think it helps to change our history. What I would think is that we ought to recognize that women are not a special interest group. Women are the majority of this nation. We are half the potential of this nation, and this nation will be better off when every woman has the opportunity to live the life she chooses. +p1733 +aVSecretariat. +p1734 +aVI think what this nation can be and must be is symbolized by Lady Liberty and Lady Justice. Lady Liberty stands tall and strong. She is clear-eyed and resolute. She doesn't shield her eyes from the realities of the world, but she faces outward into the world nevertheless, as we always must. And she holds her torch high, because she knows she is a beacon of hope in a very troubled world. And Lady Justice, Lady Justice holds a sword by her side, because she is a fighter, a warrior for the values and the principles that have made this nation great. She holds a scale in her other hand. And with that scale she says all of us are equal in the eyes of God. And so all of us must be equal in the eyes of the law and the government, powerful and powerless alike. And she wears a blindfold. And with that blindfold she is saying to us that it must be true, it can be true that in this country, in this century, it doesn't matter who you are, it doesn't matter what you look like, it doesn't matter how you start, it doesn't matter your circumstances, here in this nation, every American's life must be filled with the possibilities that come from their God-given gifts. One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. +p1735 +aVWhen America does not lead, the world is a dangerous and a tragic place. This is a bad deal. Obama broke every rule of negotiation. Yes, our allies are not perfect, but Iran is at the heart of most of the evil that is going on in the Middle East through their proxy. +p1736 +aVYou know, when I started my campaign on May 4th of last year, I was 17 out of 16 candidates. Nobody polled my name. Nobody had ever heard of me. Less than 4 percent of you had ever heard of me. The people in Iowa showed up and they are still showing up. Hundreds and hundreds of them at every event. I have done over 150 events in the state of Iowa and I have 15 more coming up. Now, by the way, I start there because someone asked me about midway through my campaign, what's the biggest surprise to you on the campaign trail? And I will tell you what the biggest surprise is: the chasm, the yawning chasm, between what the national media talks about and what the people of Iowa and the people of this great nation talk about. That's the biggest surprise. So guess what, Martha? Guess what, sorry. The people of Iowa never ask me about a crisis in the GOP, they never ask me about the polls. They never ask me about the other candidates. What they ask me about is Carly, tell us why zero based budgeting is so important. Tell us why you are a leader who is going to produce results. Tell us how you are going to defeat +p1737 +aVWell let me tell you this: news flash, President Obama, news flash, Mrs. Clinton -- climate change is not our most pressing national security threat. Actually -- actually, it is +p1738 +aVYou know, we have a professional, political class of both parties. We have been talking about the same issues for election cycle after election cycle. Yeah, government is big and out of control, and the only way to get it under control is to control the money. And the only way to control the money is to ask the federal government to budget the way you do, to examine every dollar, to cut any dollar to spend -- to move any dollar. The fancy word for that is zero-base budgeting. I call it common sense. That three-page tax code I talk about all the time here in Iowa? It's been around for 20 years. But politicians don't want to talk about it, and you bet the lobbyists don't want to talk about it. In fact, nobody wants to vote on a three-page tax code or zero- base budgeting, although they've both been around for a long time. You know why? Because if you get those two things done, you are goring everybody's ox. You are taking the political establishment apart. You are actually challenging the status quo, which is what we need in the Oval Office. So you know who I'm going to count on? The citizens of this great nation, because you have extraordinary power. But when you do not use it... ... you are losing it. So take out your smartphones, folks. The people of Iowa know what I'm talking about. You take out your smartphones. if you agree with me that three-page tax code needs to be passed, lobbyists aren't going to be in my office. If you agree we gotta finally pass zero-base budgeting, take out your smartphones. Press one for yes, ladies and gentlemen. Press two for no. Citizens, we must take our country back. +p1739 +aVWell, first of all, I haven't said that. What I have said is that in the process of examining every dollar, cutting any dollar and moving any dollar, we happen to know that in this vast federal bureaucracy we have about 260,000 federal government employees who are going to retire, and we shouldn't replace them. Secondly, at Hewlett Packard, as you know -- the people of Iowa know this -- we went through a tough time. The worst technology recession in 25 years -- a great company called Gateway used to do be right here in Iowa. But they didn't make the tough calls necessary to save all those jobs, and so they lost every one of those jobs. Yes, I've had to make some tough calls. We saved 80,000 jobs. We went on to grow to 160,000 jobs. And, frankly, I think the American people know we need a president who's going to make some tough calls. So let me tell you where I'm going to start. The American people got a bill passed through Congress that said we could fire the top 400 senior executives at the V.A. for dereliction of duty. When we know that 307,000 veterans have died waiting for health care and the V.A. handed out $142 million worth of bonuses for superb performance, I'm going to start by firing 400... ... senior executives at the V.A. +p1740 +aVHe is right there. He is right there. +p1741 +aVIt wasn't a personal attack. I was pointing out the fact that Hillary Clinton will do anything to gain and hang on to power, anything. Listen, if my husband did what Bill Clinton did, I would have left him long ago. So, here's the deal. Hillary Clinton has been climbing the ladder to try and get power and here now she is trying for the White House. She is probably more qualified for the big house, honestly. She has escaped prosecution more times than El Chapo, perhaps Sean Penn should interview her. The woman should be prosecuted. And while Mrs. Clinton has flown hundreds of thousands of world around the global, I have too. And I know flying is an activity not an accomplishment. While I know that she has held many positions and many titles she has not accomplished much of anything in her life. She has gotten every single foreign policy challenge wrong. She continues to lie to the American people. It's called the Clinton way. Both Bill and Hillary practice it, the Clinton way. Say whatever you have to say, do whatever you have to say. Lie as long as you can get away with it. Hillary Clinton cannot be the president of these United States. +p1742 +aVWell, you know, Hillary Clinton hasn't been indicted either. So that tells us a lot about our justice system in this country. But, look, the facts of Planned Parenthood have not changed, folks, and I will not be rendered silent on this issue or any other issue. And it doesn't matter what stage I'm on. Here are the facts. Planned Parenthood engages in partial birth abortion, in late-term abortion. They alter those abortion techniques to harvest and sell body parts. They have admitted that they are not going to accept compensation for this anymore. The reality is, most Americans find this practice horrific. Most Americans find horrific that Hillary Clinton's position on this is it's not a life until it's born. Most Americans find horrific Hillary Clinton's position or the Democrat party's position, that a young woman does not need her mother's permission to get an abortion. But if you are 13 years old, you can get an abortion, but you can't go to a tanning salon without your mother's permission. A president Fiorina -- in a president Fiorina budget, there will not be one dime for Planned Parenthood, although there would be a lot of money for women's health and we will finally pass the pain capable unborn child protection act. I will always stand for life and religious liberty... ... because this is about the character of our nation. +p1743 +aVMartha, can I just say we've been talking tonight about a lot of issues and we've also been talking about the fact that the game is rigged and frankly, the media has a lot to do with that. It is outrageous frankly, that Fox News, and you, would question the pro-life credentials of Rick Santorum. That is outrageous. +p1744 +aVIn over 150 events I have come to know and love the people of Iowa. And the people of Iowa know what the rest of Americans have figured out, this ain't working anymore. The government no longer works for those who pay for it. The professional political class says and does whatever they need to do to win, and then does whatever they please. We need to return to a citizen government. That is why I am running for President. The media, the establishment, they all want to tell you this elections over, they know who's going to win it, except that you haven't... ... cast a single vote yet. So, the people of Iowa, stand with me, fight with me. Caucus for me. It is time to take our country back. +p1745 +aVWell, thank you. Good evening. If I may begin by saying how honored I am to be standing here with two former Iowa Caucus winners. Governor, Senator. And how honored I am to be talking with all of you. You know, I'm not a political insider. I haven't spent my lifetime running for office. The truth is I have had and been blessed by a lot of opportunities to do a lot of things in my life. And unlike another woman in this race, I actually love spending time with my husband. I'm standing here because I think we have to restore a citizen government in this country. I think we have to end crony capitalism. The crony capitalism that starts with both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. You know, Hillary Clinton sits inside government and rakes in millions, handing out access and favors. And Donald Trump sits outside government and rakes in billions buying people like Hillary Clinton. The state of our economy is not strong. We have record numbers of men out of work. We have record numbers of women living in poverty. We have young people who no longer believe that the American dream applies to them. We have working families whose wages have stagnated for decades, all while the rich get richer, the powerful get more powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected get more connected. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. +p1746 +aVAmerica must lead because when we do not lead, when this exceptional nation does not lead, the world is more dangerous and a more tragic place. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, they all refuse to lead. Worse, they refuse to respond when this nation is provoked. Hillary Clinton famously asked what difference does it make how four Americans died in Benghazi? Mrs. Clinton, here's what difference it makes. When you do not stand up and say the truth, that this was a purposeful terrorist attack, when you do not say the United States of America will retaliate for that attack, terrorists assume it's open season. We have refused to respond to every provocation. The President wouldn't even mention the fact that Iran had taken two Navy boats and our sailors \u2014 hostage. He didn't mention the fact that they violated the Geneva convention. He didn't respond to the fact that Iran launched two ballistic missile just a short time ago, in direct violation of a deal they had just signed. We didn't respond to the fact that North Korea attacked Sony Pictures. When we refuse to respond over, and over to provocation and bad behavior, we will get more provocation and bad behavior. I know most of our allies personally. I have met many of our adversaries. I know our military and our intelligence capability, and I know this. When we will not stand with our allies, when we will not respond to our adversaries, when we do not lead in the world the world is a dangerous and tragic place. I will be a Commander in Chief who will lead. +p1747 +aVOf course I'm worried about similar problems in the United States. We can not allow refugees to enter this country unless we can adequately vet them and we know we can't. Therefore we should stop allowing refugees into this country. And by the way, we do not need to be lectured about why we're angry and frustrated and fearful because we've had an illegal immigration problem in this country for 25 years. And we have every right to be frustrated about the fact that politicians stand up in election after election after election and promise us to fix the problem and yet, it has never been fixed. I offer leadership that understands that actions speak louder than words, that results count. We must secure our border. We must fix our broken immigration system. We must enforce a pro-American immigration system that serves our interests, not the rest of the world. I understand what it takes to translate goals into results and that is what I will do as president of the United States. Of course, we should be worried, for heavens sakes. This administration has now told us they don't know who has overstayed a visa. This administration has told us they don't even bother to check Facebook or Twitter to find out who's pledging allegiance to jihadis. We can do better than this, citizens. We need to take our country back. +p1748 +aVWe need to be very clear-eyed now about who are our allies and who are our adversaries. In the fight against +p1749 +aVAnd we all believe the polling data all the time, don't we? +p1750 +aVOh, it's a problem for so many reasons. First of all, it is yet another lawless executive order. You see, he doesn't like the fact that Congress has rejected his ideas twice on a bipartisan basis, so he's decided he just gets to override them. Sorry, Mr. President, not the way "The Constitution" works. Secondly......secondly, he basically admitted in that speech that he hasn't been paying much attention to enforcing the laws we have. He said, gee, we need a few more FBI agents. That would have helped, perhaps, stop a tragedy here in South Carolina with Dylann Roof, a guy who clearly never should have been sold a gun. In other words, Mr. President, you're right, we need to enforce the laws we have. Let's enforce the laws we have. There are criminals running around with guns who shouldn't have them. We don't prosecute any of them. Less than 1 percent. But I want to go back to the technology issue for a moment, if I may, as well, because in this regard, I disagree with Senator Santorum. Look, I come from the technology industry and I can tell you there is one thing that bureaucracies don't know how to do. They do not know how to innovate. We have come seven generations of technology since 2011. We have bureaucracies that are incapable of bringing in that innovation. So, yes, there are some very specific things that we should ask the private sector to help us with, including making sure we have the latest and greatest in algorithms to search through all these databases so that we find terrorists before they attack us, not after it's too late. And, finally, when a president who understands technology in the Oval Office. Mrs. Clinton, actually, you cannot wipe a server with a towel. +p1751 +aVYes, and see... +p1752 +aVAs CEO of Hewlett Packard... +p1753 +aVAs CEO of Hewlett Packard, I was asked very specifically for some very real help. The help I was asked to provide, this is now public information. So I am not revealing what \u2014 something that was \u2014 was classified. We had a very large shipment of equipment, software and hardware, headed to a retail outlet. And I was called by the head of the NSA, who had an urgent need for that capability, to begin laying out a program to track terrorists. We turned that truck around on a highway and it was escorted to the headquarters in San Jose. In World War II, our government went to the private sector and said, help us do things that we cannot do. The private sector has capabilities that the government does not have. There are some legal authorities that are required. The Sony attack could have been detected and repelled, had legal authorities been passed in Congress allowing private networks and public networks to work together. Those legal authorities have not yet been passed. Yes, I was asked to help. I know the technology industry. They will help again. But they must be asked by a president who understands what they have. +p1754 +aVFor decades, the professional political class in both parties has been talking about the middle class. For decades, Republicans in particular have been talking about reducing the size and scope of government, spending less money, reducing the complexity. And yet, for 40 years, the government has gotten bigger and more expensive. We now have a 75,000 plus page tax code, although politicians have run for office for decades promising reform. And all the while, middle class incomes have stagnated. You see, when government gets bigger and bigger, more powerful, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer and the middle class gets squeezed. We need to understand who the job creators are in this country, because we need more jobs to grow the middle class and to grow the wages of the middle class. Who creates jobs? Small businesses, new businesses, family-owned businesses. They create two thirds of the new jobs in this country and they employ half the people. I started out typing for a nine person real estate firm. My husband Frank started out driving a tow truck for a family-owned auto body shop. And we are crushing small businesses and destroying the middle class. So here's my blueprint to take back America. Let us first actually reform the tax code from 73,000 pages down to three. There's a 20-year-old plan to do exactly that. And then let us begin piece by piece to focus on every single dollar the government spends, so that we will spend less overall and still have enough for our priorities. And that requires the government to budget the way you do at home \u2014 examine every dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. The fancy term for that is zero- based budgeting, but I call it common sense. Citizens, we've got to take our country back. +p1755 +aVMy husband Frank, that I mentioned, I love spending time with. He's down there. He was real excited the other day because in New Hampshire, he was introduced as my eye candy. You know, everybody out there watching knows this. You cannot wait to see the debate between me and Hillary Clinton. You would pay to see that fight. And that's because you know I will win. And that's important. We've got to start by beating Hillary Clinton. All of my life, I have been told to sit down and be quiet. Settle. Settle. Don't challenge the system. That's what the American people are being told now and we have been told that for way too long \u2014 sit down and be quiet about our God, about our guns, about the abortion industry, settle for illegal immigration that's been a problem for decades, as so many of our problems have festered for decades. Accept a system of government and politics that no longer works for us. I will not sit down and be quiet. And neither will you. So I ask you to stand with me, fight with me, vote for me, citizens. It is time to take our future back, time to take our politics back. It is time to take our government back. Citizens, it is time. We must take our country back. +p1756 +aVWell, I would begin by reminding people that at this point in previous presidential elections, Jimmy Carter couldn't win, Ronald Reagan couldn't win, Bill Clinton couldn't win, and neither could've Barack Obama. I started as a secretary and became ultimately the chief executive of the largest technology company in the world, almost $90 billion in over 150 countries. I know personally how extraordinary and unique this nation is. I think to be commander in chief in the 21st century requires someone who understands how the economy works, someone who understands how the world works and who's in it; I know more world leaders on the stage today than anyone running, with the possible exception of Hillary Clinton; understands bureaucracies, how to cut them down to size and hold them accountable; and understands technology, which is a tool, but it's also a weapon that's being used against us. Most importantly, I think I understand leadership, which sometimes requires a tough call in a tough time. But mostly, the highest calling of leadership is to challenge the status-quo and unlock the potential of others. We need a leader who will lead the resurgence of this great nation and unlock its potential once again. Thank you. +p1757 +aVWell, I don't know. I didn't get a phone call from Bill Clinton before I jumped in the race. Did any of you get a phone call from Bill Clinton? I didn't. Maybe it's because I hadn't given money to the foundation or donated to his wife's Senate campaign. Here's the thing that I would ask Donald Trump in all seriousness. He is the party's frontrunner right now, and good for him. I think he's tapped into an anger that people feel. They're sick of politics as usual. You know, whatever your issue, your cause, the festering problem you hoped would resolved, the political class has failed you. That's just a fact, and that's what Donald Trump taps into. I would also just say this. Since he has changed his mind on amnesty, on health care and on abortion, I would just ask, what are the principles by which he will govern? Mac +p1758 +aVLet me say first that it is disturbing that every time one of these home-grown terrorist attacks occurs, and, as your question points out, they are occurring with far too great frequency, it turns out we had warning signals. It turns out we knew something was wrong. It turns out some dot wasn't connected, and so the first thing we have to do is make sure that everyone and every responsible agency is attuned to all of these possibilities and symptoms. We even had warnings about the Boston Marathon bombers, and yet the dots weren't connected. So we need to get on a different mindset. Secondly, I certainly support that we need to tear down cyber walls, not on a mass basis, but on a targeted basis. But let me just say that we also need down -- to tear down the cyber walls that China is erecting, that Russia is erecting. We need to be very well aware of the fact that China and Russia are using technology to attack us, just as +p1759 +aVI absolutely would call on them to collaborate and cooperate, yes. +p1760 +aVYeah. Sometimes it's a complicated situation, but some things are black and white. On day one in the Oval Office, I would make two phone calls. The first one would be to my good friend, Bibi Netanyahu, to reassure him we will stand with the State of Israel. The second will be to the supreme leader of Iran. He might not take my phone call, but he would get the message, and the message is this: Until you open every nuclear and every military facility to full, open, anytime/anywhere, for real, inspections, we are going to make it as difficult as possible for you to move money around the global financial system. I hope Congress says no to this deal. But realistically, even if they do, the money is flowing. China and Russia have never been on our side of the table. The Europeans have moved on. We have to stop the money flow. And by the way, as important as those two phone calls are, they are also very important because they say this. America is back in the leadership business. And when America does not lead, the world is a dangerous and a tragic place. This is a bad deal. Obama broke every rule of negotiation. Yes, our allies are not perfect. But Iran is at the heart of most of the evil that is going on in the Middle East through their proxies. Mac +p1761 +aVLet me tell you what I would do immediately, day two in the Oval Office. I would hold a Camp David summit with our Arab allies, not to talk them into this lousy deal with Iran, but to say to them, "what is it that you need to defeat +p1762 +aVI agree with my colleagues. We need to begin by undoing -- I would begin by undoing a whole set of things that President Obama has done, whether it's illegal amnesty or this latest round of EPA regulations. But let me go back to something that's very important. We have been debating right here the core difference between conservatism and progressivism. Conservatives, I am a conservative because I believe no one of us is any better than any other one of us. Every one of us is gifted by God, whether it is those poor babies being picked over or it's someone whose life is tangled up in a web of dependence. Progressives don't believe that. They believe some are smarter than others, some are better than others, so some are going to need to take care of others. That is the fight we have to have, and we have to undo a whole set of things that President Obama has done that get at the heart of his disrespect and disregard for too many Americans. +p1763 +aVThis is a great nation. It is a unique nation in all of human history and on the face of the planet, because here, our founders believed that everyone has a right to fulfill their potential and that that right --they called it life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness -- comes from God and cannot be taken away by government. We have arrived at a point in our nation's history where the potential of this nation and too many Americans is being crushed by the weight, the power, the cost, the complexity, the ineptitude, the corruption of the federal government, and only someone who will challenge the status quo of Washington, D.C. can lead the resurgence of this great nation. I will do that. Mac +p1764 +aVNot trustworthy. No accomplishment. +p1765 +aVHillary Clinton lies about Benghazi, she lies about e- mails. She is still defending Planned Parenthood, and she is still her party's frontrunner. 2016 is going to be a fight between conservatism, and a Democrat party that is undermining the very character of this nation. We need a nominee who is going to throw every punch, not pull punches, and someone who cannot stumble before he even gets into the ring. I am not a member of the political class. I am a conservative; I can win this job, I can do this job, I need your help, I need your support. I will, with your help and support, lead the resurgence of this great nation. Thank you. +p1766 +asVBUSH +p1767 +(lp1768 +VOur freedom is under attack. Our economy is under water. The leading democrat is under investigation. And America is under the gun to lead the free world to protect our civilized way of life. Serious times require strong leadership, that's what at stake right now. Regarding national security, we need to restore the defense cuts of Barack Obama to rebuild our military, to destroy +p1769 +aVWell, first of all, we need to destroy +p1770 +aVLook, he mentioned me. I can bring \u2014 I can talk. This is \u2014 this is the problem. Banning all Muslims will make it harder for us to do exactly what we need to do, which is to destroy +p1771 +aVThey are relevant if we want to destroy +p1772 +aVDonald, this has got... +p1773 +aVThis is another example of the lack of seriousness. Look, this is \u2014 this is troubling because we're at war. They've declared war on us and we need to have a serious strategy to destroy +p1774 +aVYou said on September 30th that +p1775 +aVI'm talking right now. I'm talking. +p1776 +aVSeptember 30th you said... +p1777 +aVA little of your own medicine there, Donald. +p1778 +aVDonald, you're not going to be able to insult your way to the presidency. That's not going to happen. And I do have the strength. Leadership, leadership is not about attacking people and disparaging people. Leadership is about creating a serious strategy to deal with the threat of our time. And I laid out that strategy before the attacks in Paris and before the attacks in San Bernardino. And it is the way forward. We need to increase our military spending. We need to deal with a no- fly zone in Syria, a safe zone. We need to focus on building a military that is second-to-none... +p1779 +aV... so that we can destroy Islamic terrorism. +p1780 +aVI think we're focusing a whole... +p1781 +aVI do. I think the lesson's learned are that we have to have to have a strategy to get and a strategy to get out. Which means, that you create a stable situation. This president and this is what the focus ought to be, it's not the differences between us, it's Barack Obama does not believe America's leadership in the world is a force for good. He does not believe that our strength is a place where security can take place. He leads from behind. He creates an environment that now we're creating the most unstable situation we've had since the World War II era. The focus ought to be on the single fact that Hillary Clinton wants to double down on a failed foreign policy and we need to be united to defeat that because we're going to be in a place that is far less secure than it is today. Don't you all agree? +p1782 +aVBecause I \u2014 first of all, I know what I don't know. I know what I don't know. I would seek out, as I have, the best advice that exists. I won't get my information from the shows. I don't know if that's Saturday morning or Sunday morning. I don't know which one. I will seek out the best advice, and I will create a strategy and I will persuade the American people what the role of America should be. I've laid out a policy of rebuilding our military. All of the talk that we're seeing here \u2014 most of which I agree on, frankly \u2014 requires a much stronger military. We now have a lack of readiness that is quite scary. We have planes that were \u2014 that Harry Truman inaugurated, the B-52. We have \u2014 the Navy has been gutted and decimated. The readiness of the Marines is way down. If we're serious about America's leadership in the world, then we need to make sure that we have the back of the armed forces. The Armed Forces Radio is here listening to this today. I hope they know that if I'm president, I'll be a commander-in-chief, not an agitator- in-chief or a divider-in-chief, that I will lead this country in a way that will create greater security and greater safety. +p1783 +aVSo I was \u2014 I was \u2014 I was mentioned, so I can bring up something, I think, right? Look, the simple fact is, if you think this is tough you're not being treated fairly... +p1784 +aV... imagine what it's going to be like dealing with Putin or dealing with President Xi. +p1785 +aVOr dealing with the Islamic terrorism that exists. +p1786 +aVThis is a tough business to run for president. +p1787 +aVAnd it's \u2014 and we need...... to have a leader that is... +p1788 +aVYou're never going to be president of the United States by insulting your way to the presidency. +p1789 +aVDoesn't matter. Doesn't matter. +p1790 +aVYes. +p1791 +aVNo it isn't but it is an important subject to talk about for sure. And I think people have good ideas on this. Clearly, we need to secure the border. Coming here legally needs to be a lot easier than coming here illegally. If you don't have that, you don't have the rule of law. We now have a national security consideration, public health issues, we have an epidemic of heroine overdoses in all places in this country because of the ease of bringing heroine in. We have to secure the border. It is a serious undertaking and yes, we do need more fencing and we do need to use technology, and we do need more border control. And we need to have better cooperation by the way with local law enforcement. There are 800,000 cops on the beat, they ought to be trained to be the eyes and ears for law enforcement for the threat against terror as well as for immigration. This is a serious challenge and if we can get it right, yes, we'll start winning votes again. The real problem isn't anybody on this stage, the real problem is Barack Obama has had six years to advocate a position to fix this and he's done nothing. The congress has funded these programs of building more fencing and doing all this and he hasn't done it. He wants to maintain it as a wedge issue and so does Hillary Clinton. Republicans need to fix it and when we do, we'll be better off. +p1792 +aVI completely agree with Chris. And this administration has been so lax. Think about it. Hillary Clinton is using a private server for \u2014 where classified information go by. This is a \u2014 this is a serious administration? The president receives an inspector general's report that the Office of Personnel Management could be hacked into; they had antiquated firewalls; 23 million files have been \u2014 are in the hands of the Chinese allegedly, including, by the way, members of the press, it turns out, last week. Maybe that's the only part that's good news, so that you guys can get a feel for what it's like now to see this type of attack. This is something \u2014 we have to have the best defensive capabilities. We need to coordinate all of our efforts with the private sector. We need to give them liability relief so that we can do that. And offensively, we need to have capabilities second to none. We need to create a situation where they know that there will be adverse impacts if they continue to do what they're doing. They'll respect that. They'll respect a United States that is serious about protecting our \u2014 our infrastructure. If we don't do it, we'll continue to see what's \u2014 exactly what's happening, not just from the Chinese, by the way. The Russians and rogue actors, including +p1793 +aVAsk yourself, which candidate will keep you and our country safer, stronger and freer? Hillary Clinton has aligned herself with Barack Obama on +p1794 +aVYou've already made two comments, John. It's my turn. +p1795 +aVI got about four minutes in the last debate. I'm going to get my question right now. +p1796 +aVYes. +p1797 +aVFirst of all, we could get to 4 percent growth. The new normal of 2 percent puts huge demands on government. The reason why we have structural deficits is that more and more people are relying on government and the growth that we don't have makes \u2014 makes the deficit grow. A 4 percent growth strategy starts with tax reform. And the proposal that I've laid out is the one the Wall Street Journal editorial board has said is the most pro-growth of all the proposals out there. We cut the \u2014 we eliminate a lot of deductions and cut the rates down. A corporate rate of 20 percent, which puts us 5 percent above \u2014 below that of China, and allows us full expensing of investing. It would create an explosion of investment back into this country, creating higher-wage jobs, and so that's part of it. On the regulatory side I think we need to repeal every rule that Barack Obama has in terms of work in progress, every one of them. And start over. For those that are already in existence, the regulation of the Internet, we have to start over, but we ought to do that. The clean power act, we ought to repeal that and \u2014 and start over on that. The waters of the United States act, which is going to be devastating for agriculture and many industries, we should repeal that. We should repeal the rules because the economic costs of this far exceed the social benefit. And if we're serious about being serious about high growth, then we have to recognize that small businesses right now, more of them are closing than \u2014 than are \u2014 than are being set up. Hillary Clinton has said that Barack Obama's policies get an A. Really? One in 10 people right now aren't working or have given up altogether, as you said. That's not an A. One in seven people are living in poverty. That's not an A. One in five children are on food stamps. That is not an A. It may be the best that Hillary Clinton can do, but it's not the best America can do. +p1798 +aVThank you, Donald, for allowing me to speak at the debate. That's really nice of you. Really appreciate that. What a generous man you are. Twelve million illegal immigrants, to send them back, 500,000 a month, is just not \u2014 not possible. And it's not embracing American values. And it would tear communities apart. And it would send a signal that we're not the kind of country that I know America is. And even having this conversation sends a powerful signal \u2014 they're doing high-fives in the Clinton campaign right now when they hear this. That's the problem with this. We have to win the presidency. And the way you win the presidency is to have practical plans. Lay them out there. What we need to do is allow people to earn legal status where they pay a fine, where they work, where they don't commit crimes, where they learn English, and over an extended period of time, they earn legal status. That's the path \u2014 a proper path... +p1799 +aVI'm gonna fight as hard as I can to make sure that we shift power away from Washington, simplify the tax code, to spur economic activity in this country. Of course it's the highest priority. If we don't do that, we're stuck with the "new normal" of 2 percent growth. Hillary Clinton says, basically, we just gotta get used to it. Two percent growth means declining income for the middle class. It means more than 6 million people are stuck in poverty than the day that Barack Obama was inaugurated. It means \u2014 it means more demands on government \u2014 growing the economy is the first job, if we're going to be serious about dealing with the deficit and debt. And more importantly, people are really struggling right now. In this economy, the disposable income of the great middle is down 2,300 bucks. So yeah, we've created jobs, your \u2014 argue (ph) \u2014 brought that up early, and it was a good question. Jobs are being created, but they're lower-income jobs than the jobs that were lost. And the net effect of this is we need to jump-start the economy. I think of Jonathan (ph) and Reagan Love (ph), who are supporters of mine. Jonathan has been deployed by the National Guard, he is \u2014 he's in Oklahoma. Reagan Love \u2014 by the way, pretty great name, I think \u2014 is a teacher. When \u2014 if they had this tax cut, what they told me was that that $2,300 of money in their pocket \u2014 they would go back to South Carolina and start a business. Imagine what it would be like, instead of having more businesses closed than started, we had it the exact opposite. We would grow our economy, and the government would get the revenue necessary to make things \u2014 make things better. Hillary Clinton's approach to this is more top-down, more regulation, more taxes, more government, and it will destroy our economy. +p1800 +aVIt is \u2014 I'd say it is Islamic terrorism, and, back to the question of what we are dealing with in Iraq, when we pull back voids are filled. That's the lesson of history, and, sadly, this president does not believe in American leadership. He does not believe it, and the net result is that we have a caliphate the size of Indiana that gains energy each and everyday to recruit Americans in our own country, and the threat to the homeland relates to the fact that we have not dealt with this threat of terror in the Middle East. We should have a no fly zone in Syria. We should have a support for the remnants of the Syrian Free Army, and create safe zones. If you want to deal with the four million refugees that are leaving Syria because of the devastation there, then we 'ought to create safe zones for them to stay in the region rather than go to Europe. And, that requires American leadership. Without American leadership every other country in the neighborhood beings to change their priorities. It is tragic that you see Iraq, and other countries now talking to Russia. It wasn't that long ago that Russia had no influence in the region at all. And, so, the United States needs to lead across the board. This president, and Hillary Clinton both do not believe the United States has a leadership role to play, and we're now paying a price, and it will have a huge impact on the economy of this country if we don't deal with this. +p1801 +aV...They're not doing that... +p1802 +aV +p1803 +aVDonald \u2014 Donald's wrong on this. He is absolutely wrong on this. We're not going to be the world's policeman, but we sure as heck better be the world's leader. That's \u2014 there's a huge difference where, without us leading... ...voids are filled, and the idea that it's a good idea for Putin to be in Syria, let +p1804 +aVWe're not \u2014 we shouldn't have another financial crisis. What we ought to do is raise the capital requirements so banks aren't too big to fail. Dodd-Frank has actually done the opposite, totally the opposite, where banks now have higher concentration of risk in assets and the capital requirements aren't high enough. If we were serious about it, we would raise the capital requirements and lessen the load on the community banks and other financial institutions. This vast overreach has created a huge problem for our country, and Hillary Clinton wants to double down on that. I was in Washington, Iowa, about three months ago talking about how bad Washington, D.C., is. It was \u2014 get the \u2014 kind of the \u2014 anyway. We had... It \u2014 and I talked to a banker there. This is a bank that had $125 million of assets, four branches. Their compliance costs because of Dodd-Frank went from $100,000 to $600,000 in a two-year period. The net effect of that is \u2014 and they had \u2014 they had not one loan that went bad during the financial crisis. They knew \u2014 they knew their borrowers. They gave back to the community. They were engaged in the community. And imagine America without its community banks. Well, that's what's happening because of Dodd-Frank. That's \u2014 that's my worry. My worry is that the real economy has been hurt by the vast overreach of the Obama administration. And Hillary Clinton, she wants to double down on that. She wants to create even more so. She is a captive of the left of her party to the point now where she is \u2014 she was for the trade agreement in \u2014 the Pacific agreement. Now she's against it. She was \u2014 hinted she was for the XL pipeline. Now she's opposed to it. All the things that would create sustained economic growth she's now doubling down against it. +p1805 +aVYou could, if you were serious about... +p1806 +aVNo, I can't say that. But I can say, if you created higher capital requirements, that's the solution to this, not having concentration of assets. The bigger banks now have more and more control over \u2014 over the financial assets of this country. And that is the wrong approach to take. +p1807 +aVMaria? +p1808 +aV...We've had a 10% reduction in carbon emissions, and it isn't because of Solyndra. It isn't because of the central planners in Washington D.C. It's because we've had a great American success story, the explosion of natural gas. Taking two existing technologies, and applying it through innovation has created lower carbon emissions, lower energy costs \u2014 40% of all the economic activity in the age of Obama has come from the energy sector, and Hillary Clinton wants to suppress that. We \u2014 I think we ought to be expanding this. High growth is the path to lower carbon, and more jobs. I know for a fact, as Governor of the State of Florida, we created the largest land purchasing programs, and environment clean-up programs because we had a growing economy. Our revenues were growing at 4.4%. It allowed for resources to be able to protect the natural system. We got to get to a conservation... ...in environmental policy that goes beyond just carbon... +p1809 +aVJane Horton is sitting with my wife here today. Her husband, Chris, was killed in action in Afghanistan. And Jane spends her time now defending and fighting for military families. They're both heroes. I don't think we need an agitator-in-chief or a divider-in-chief. We need a commander-in-chief that will rebuild our military and restore respect to our veterans by revamping and fixing a broken Veterans Administration, That's my pledge to you. I ask for your support. Thank you. +p1810 +aVYou know, I am by my nature impatient. And this is not an endeavor that rewards that. You gotta be patient. You gotta be \u2014 stick with it, and all that. But also, I can't fake anger. I believe this is still the most extraordinary country on the face of the Earth. And it troubles me that people are rewarded for tearing down our country. It's never been that way in American politics before. I can't do it. I just don't believe that this country's days are going to be deeply \u2014 you know, going down. I think we're on the verge of the greatest time, and I want to fix the things to let people rise up. +p1811 +aVCould I \u2014 could I bring something up here, because I'm a constituent of the senator and I helped him and I expected that he would do constituent service, which means that he shows up to work. He got endorsed by the Sun-Sentinel because he was the most talented guy in the field. He's a gifted politician. But Marco, when you signed up for this, this was a six-year term, and you should be showing up to work. I mean, literally, the Senate \u2014 what is it, like a French work week? You get, like, three days where you have to show up? You can campaign, or just resign and let someone else take the job. There are a lot of people living paycheck to paycheck in Florida as well, they're looking for a senator that will fight for them each and every day. +p1812 +aVHe wasn't my senator. +p1813 +aVWell, I've been \u2014 +p1814 +aVNo, no. What I said was I don't believe that I would be president of the United States and have the same dysfunction that exists in Washington, D.C. now. +p1815 +aVDon't vote for me if you want to keep the gridlock in Washington, D.C. +p1816 +aVBut if you want someone who has a proven, effective leadership, that was a governor of a state, that transformed the culture there, elect me so I can fight for the American people and change the culture in Washington, D.C. +p1817 +aV, the great majority of Republicans and Americans believe in a hopeful future. They don't believe in building walls and a pessimistic view of the future. They're concerned that Washington is so dysfunctional it is holding them back. There are lids on people's aspirations. Think about it: six and a half million people working part-time. Workforce participation rates lower than they were in 1977. Six million more people living in poverty than the day that Barack Obama got elected president, and the left just wants more of the same. We have to offer a compelling alternative that is based on hope and optimism and grounded in serious policy, which I've laid out. And you can go get it at jeb2016.com. +p1818 +aVWell, the deal was done. Barack Obama got his massive tax increase, and there was no spending cuts. You just see the recent deal announced today or yesterday, more spending, more tax increasing, more regulation. And now we have to accept 2 percent, the new normal for economic growth. And the net result is the middle class has $2,300 less in their pockets than the day that Barack Obama got elected president. And now they see Hillary Clinton proposing a third term of economic policy for our country. We need to reverse that. And my record was one of cutting taxes each and every year. You don't have to guess about it, because I actually have a record. $19 billion of tax cuts, 1.3 million jobs created. We were one of two states to go to AAA bond rating, and our government spending was far less than the spending in people's income. +p1819 +aVYou find me... +p1820 +aVYou find me a Democrat \u2014 you find me a Democrat that will cut spending ten dollars? Heck, find me a Republican in Congress that would cut spending ten dollars. I'll talk to them. +p1821 +aVLook, the \u2014 the deal is already done. The biggest tax increase happened under the watch of Barack Obama, and spending's gone up. You find a Democrat that's for cutting taxes \u2014 cutting spending ten dollars, I'll give them a warm kiss. +p1822 +aVLook, the \u2014 the simple fact is that my plan actually gives the middle class the greatest break: $2,000 per family. And if you make $40,000 a year, a family of four, you don't pay any income tax at all. Simplifying the code and lowering rates, both for corporations and \u2014 and personal rates, is exactly what we need to do. You think about the regulatory cost and the tax cost \u2014 that's why small businesses are closing, rather than being formed in our country right now. The big corporations have the scale to deal with all of this. And what I think all of us are saying is, our monetary policy, our tax policy, regulatory policy needs to be radically changed so we can create high sustained growth for income to rise. The government has tried it their way. Under \u2014 under Barack Obama and the proposals of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and others, they've tried it their way, and it has failed miserably. We need to take a new approach of taxing \u2014 reforming how we tax, and reforming the regulations in our \u2014 in our country before it's too late. +p1823 +aVWe don't need the federal government to be involved in this at all. +p1824 +aVWe don't need the Federal Government to be involved in this, because when they do we create a $1.2 trillion debt. In Florida, we have the lowest in-state tuition of any state, because there's accountability, just as John said. Let the states do this. You'll create a much better graduation rate at a lower cost, and you won't in debt the next generation with recourse debt on their backs. It's always a solution of the left to create more Government from the Federal Government. It is broke, it is not working. +p1825 +aVWell, first of all, I'm 7 and 0 in my fantasy league. +p1826 +aVGronkowski is still going strong. I have Ryan Tannehill, Marco, as my quarterback, he was 18 for 19 last week. So I'm doing great. But we're not gambling. And I think this has become something that needs to be looked at in terms of regulation. Effectively it is day trading without any regulation at all. And when you have insider information, which apparently has been the case, where people use that information and use big data to try to take advantage of it, there has to be some regulation. If they can't regulate themselves, then the NFL needs to look at just, you know, moving away from them a little bit. And there should be some regulation. I have no clue whether the federal government is the proper place, my instinct is to say, hell no, just about everything about the federal government. +p1827 +aVBecky \u2014 +p1828 +aV\u2014 the governor's absolutely right. But we also need to reform Medicare and Social Security. We can't just allow it to continue on its current path the way that Hillary Clinton wants to do because there'll be major reductions in benefits in the next decade if we do nothing. I have a concrete plan to do just that, which allows people to keep HSAs to encourage savings, it allows for people that are retiring with Social Security to be able to get a minimum of 125 percent of the poverty level so that there is a baseline that in this generous country of ours no one goes below. +p1829 +aVYou have to reform Social Security, and the simple way to do it is to make sure that the wealthiest don't receive the same benefits as people that are lower-income. And make sure you enhance savings in the private market. The idea of 401(k)s. I have a small business that I set up. It took \u2014 it took an arm and a leg to be able to set up a 401(k). Because of all the federal mandates and federal laws, it was too expensive. We need to incent private savings and make sure that Social Security is protected for those that have it. +p1830 +aVBut the idea that you can't \u2014 that you're just gonna grow your way out of this \u2014 I have a plan to grow the economy at 4 percent, but you're gonna have to make adjustments for both Medicare and Social Security. [ +p1831 +aVAmerica's at a crossroads. The D.C. politicians continue to make things worse. I have a proven record of success, 32 years in business, and 8 years as Governor of the state of Florida. I will change the culture in Washington, just as I changed the culture in Tallahassee. I will do so in a way that will bring people together. We need a unifier, not a cynical divider in chief, and that's exactly what I will do. Imagine a country where people are lifted out of poverty again. Imagine a country where the middle class can get rising income again. I know we can do this because we're still the most extraordinary country on the face of the Earth. +p1832 +aVI'm Jeb Bush, and I believe America's on the verge of its greatest century, and I'm ready to lead. I'm a committed, conservative reformer that cut taxes, that balanced budgets, that took on the special interest in Florida, and we won. I look forward to talking tonight about how we can fix a broken Washington D.C., and create an environment where people can rise up again in this great country. Thank you. +p1833 +aVI think the voters will make that determination. But what I know to be true is that the next president of the United States is going to have to fix an extraordinary difficult situation. This administration, with President Obama and Hillary Clinton, has created insecurity the likes of which we never would've imagined. There's not a place in the world where we're better off today than six and a half years ago. And that requires a steadiness. That requires an understanding of how the world works. That requires an understanding and appreciation of American leadership in the world. You can't just, you know, talk about this stuff and insult leaders around the world and expect a good result. You have to do this with a steady hand, and I believe I have those skills. +p1834 +aVNo. Absolutely not. People are supporting me because I have a proven record of conservative leadership where I cut taxes $19 billion over eight years. We shrunk the state government workforce, we created a climate that led the nation in job growth seven out of eight years. We were one of two states to go to AAA bond rating. People know that we need principle-centered leadership, a disrupter to go to Washington, D.C. The one guy that had some special interests that I know of that tried to get me to change my views on something \u2014 that was generous and gave me money \u2014 was Donald Trump. He wanted casino gambling in Florida \u2014 +p1835 +aVYes you did. +p1836 +aVYou wanted it and you didn't get it because I was opposed to \u2014 +p1837 +aV\u2014 casino gambling before \u2014 +p1838 +aVduring and after. And that's not \u2014 I'm not going to be bought by anybody. +p1839 +aVNo way. Believe me. +p1840 +aVNot even possible. +p1841 +aVYou've got, according to your \u2014 to what you said on one of the talk shows, you got Hillary Clinton to go to your wedding \u2014 +p1842 +aV\u2014 because you gave her money. Maybe it works for Hillary Clinton \u2014 +p1843 +aV\u2014 it doesn't work for anybody on this \u2014 on stage. +p1844 +aVBut the simple fact is \u2014 +p1845 +aVNo. The simple fact is, Donald, you could not take \u2014 +p1846 +aVI was asked the question. +p1847 +aVSo he supports Pelosi, he supports Schumer, he supports Clinton \u2014 +p1848 +aVWhen he \u2014 and he \u2014 when he asked \u2014 when he asked Florida to have casino gambling, we said no. +p1849 +aVWe said no. And that's the simple fact. The simple fact is \u2014 +p1850 +aVDon't cut me off. +p1851 +aVNo, I don't think so, but we need to be strong against China. We should use offensive tactics as it relates to cyber security, send a deterrent signal to China. There should be super sanctions in what President Obama has proposed. There's many other tools that we have without canceling a dinner. That's not going to change anything, but we can be much stronger as it relates to that. As it relates to Iran, it's not a strategy to tear up an agreement. A strategy would be how do we confront Iran? And, the first thing that we need to do is to establish our commitment to Israel which has been altered by this administration. And, make sure that they have the most sophisticated weapons to send a signal to Iran that we have Israel's back. If we do that, it's going to create a healthier deterrent effect than anything else I can think of. +p1852 +aVI don't think \u2014 you're not stating my views right. +p1853 +aVI think there needs to be accommodation for someone acting on faith. Religious conscience is \u2014 is \u2014 is a first freedom. It's \u2014 it's a powerful part of our \u2014 of our Bill of Rights. And, in a big, tolerant country, we should respect the rule of law, allow people in \u2014 in \u2014 in this country \u2014 I'm a \u2014 I was opposed to the decision, but we \u2014 you can't just say, "well, they \u2014 gays can't get married now." But this woman, there should be some accommodation for her conscience, just as there should be for people that are florists that don't want to participate in weddings, or bakers. A great country like us should find a way to have accommodations for people so that we can solve the problem in the right way. This should be solved at the local level... +p1854 +aVAnd so we do agree, Mike. +p1855 +aVWell, he's wrong on a lot of things, but on this he's wrong because I'm the most pro-life governor on this stage. I got to act on my core beliefs. It's part of who I am. Life is a gift from God. And from beginning end we need to respect it and err on the side of life. And so I defunded Planned Parenthood. We created a climate where parental notification took place. We were the only state to fund crisis pregnancy centers with state moneys. We were totally focused on this. And I would bring that kind of philosophy to Washington, D.C. So here is a solution to this. Title X of the HHS funding, there is something that was the "Reagan Rule." It was passed in 1988. And in that rule it was defined, and the courts approved this, that a Planned Parenthood, you couldn't separate the money between the actual abortion procedures, and there are 330,000 abortions that take place in this clinic, and their promotion of it. He interpreted it the right way, the courts ruled in his favor, and Planned Parenthood did not get funding during that time until President Clinton came in. When I'm elected president, we will restore that interpretation of Title X. And this deal will be finished. +p1856 +aVThere are 13,000 community-based organizations that provide health services to women, 13,000 in this country. I don't believe that Planned Parenthood should get a penny from the federal government. Those organizations should get funding, just as I increased funding when I was governor of the state. That's the way you do this is you improve the condition for people. And, Donald, when I was governor, we also increased the opportunities for women. Women's income grew three times faster than the national average when I was governor. +p1857 +aVWe improved \u2014 we improved \u2014 +p1858 +aV\u2014 we increased child support \u2014 we increased child support with a broken system by 90 percent. +p1859 +aVI have a proven record. I have a proven record. +p1860 +aVHe did, he did. You're proud of your family, just as I am. +p1861 +aVTo subject my wife into the middle of a raucous political conversation was completely inappropriate, and I hope you apologize for that, Donald. +p1862 +aVShe is. She's fantastic. +p1863 +aVShe is absolutely the love of my life, and she's right here... +p1864 +aVAnd why don't you apologize to her right now. +p1865 +aVYeah. +p1866 +aVSo, here's the deal. My wife is a Mexican-American. She's an American by choice. She loves this country as much as anybody in this room, and she wants a secure border. But she wants to embrace the traditional American values that make us special and make us unique. We're at a crossroads right now. Are we going to take the Reagan approach, the hopeful optimistic approach, the approach that says that, you come to our country legally, you pursue your dreams with a vengeance, you create opportunities for all of us? Or the Donald Trump approach? The approach that says that everything is bad, that everything is coming to an end. I... +p1867 +aVI'm on the Reagan side of this. +p1868 +aVLook, first of all, I wrote a book about this, three \u2014 four years ago, now. And I laid out a comprehensive, conservative approach for immigration reform. And it does require securing the border. No one disagrees with that. But to build a wall, and to deport people \u2014 half a million a month \u2014 would cost hundreds of billions of dollars, Donald. Hundreds of billions of dollars. It would destroy community life, it would tear families apart. And it would send a signal to the rest of the world that the United States values that are so important for our long-term success no longer matter in this country. +p1869 +aVWell, I've been speaking English here tonight, and I'll keep speaking English. But the simple fact is, if a high school kid asks me a question in Spanish, a school \u2014 by the way, a voucher program that was created under my watch, the largest voucher program in the country, where kids can go to a Christian school, and they ask me a question in Spanish, I'm going to show respect and answer that question in Spanish. Even though they do speak English, and even though they embrace American values. +p1870 +aVYeah. +p1871 +aVWell, first of all, Hugh, if you're looking at Republican advisers, you have to go to the last two administrations. That happened to be 41 and 43. So just by definition, if you're \u2014 and many of the people here that are seeking advice from the foreign policy experts in the Republican side, they \u2014 they served in my dad's administration, my brother's administration. Of course that's the case. But I'm my own man. I'm going to create a strategy that is based on the simple fact that the United States needs to lead the world. The first thing that we need to do is to stop the craziness of the sequester. Rebuild our military so that our \u2014 so that we don't deploy people over and over again without the necessary equipment to keep them safe, to send a signal to the world that we're serious. If we're going to lead the world, then we need to have the strongest military possible. We need to rebuild our counterintelligence and intelligence capabilities. We need to focus on the fact that the next president is going to start in 2017, not in 1990 \u2014 you know, 30 years ago, or when my brother started. The world is dramatically different. And I believe that we need to restore America's presence and leadership in the world. Name a country where our relationship is better today than it was the \u2014 the day that Barack Obama got elected president. Under Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama, we have seen a weakness that now creates huge problems for the next president of the United States. So I'll have a team that will be \u2014 that will be following the doctrine I set up, and it will be peace through strength. We're sitting here in this library, which is a wonderful place to talk about this, because that's exactly what happened in the 1980s, and the world was a lot safer because of... +p1872 +aVThe leadership of Ronald Reagan and my... +p1873 +aVSo you \u2014 the \u2014 the first chance... +p1874 +aVRight after me, and then I'll \u2014 I'll yield \u2014 yield the floor. What do you guys say in the Senate when you're talking and debating? +p1875 +aVHere's the facts: When Donald Trump talks about judgment, what was his position on who would've been the best negotiator to deal with Iran? It wasn't a Republican; it was Hillary Clinton. That's what you believe. I mean, the lack of judgment and the lack of understanding about how the world works is really dangerous in this kind of time that we're saying. So is that the judgment that you bring to the table, that Hillary Clinton... +p1876 +aV... is a great negotiator, that she could bring about a better deal on Iran? +p1877 +aVYou know what? As it relates to my brother, there's one thing I know for sure. He kept us safe. I don't know if you remember... ... Donald... ... you remember the \u2014 the rumble? You remember the fire fighter with his arms around it? He sent a clear signal that the United States would be strong and fight Islamic terrorism, and he did keep us safe. +p1878 +aVThat's \u2014 that's my brother. +p1879 +aVHere's the lessons of history: When we \u2014 we pull back, voids are created. We left Iraq. We should've had a \u2014 a forces agreement to stay there with a small force, and instead of that, we politically and militarily pulled back, and now we have the creation of +p1880 +aV... because of what President Obama's done by pulling back. +p1881 +aVWell, I'm surprised Senator Cruz would say that since he was as strong supporter of John Roberts at the time. I will talk about what I will do as it relates to appointing Supreme Court Justices. We need to make sure that we have justices that, with a proven experienced record of respect for upholding the constitution. That is what we need. We can't have \u2014 the history in recent past is appoint people that have no experience so that you can't get attacked. And, that makes it harder for people to have confidence that they won't veer off... +p1882 +aVJohn Roberts has made some really good decisions, for sure, but he did not have a proven, extensive record that would have made the clarity the important thing, and that's what we need to do. And, I'm willing to fight for those nominees to make sure that they get passed. You can't do it the politically expedient way anymore. This is the culture in Washington. You have to fight hard for these appointments. This is perhaps the most important thing that the next president will do. +p1883 +aVWell, first of all, he, as I said, supported John Roberts. He supported him, publicly. So, you can rewrite history, I guess, Ted, but the simple fact is that you supported him because he had all the criteria that you would have thought would have made a great justice. And, I think he is doing a good job. But, the simple fact is that going forward, what we need to do is to have someone that has a long standing set of rulings that consistently makes it clear that he is a focused, exclusively on upholding the Constitution of the United States so they won't try to use the bench as a means to which legislate. +p1884 +aVHe was talking about me. +p1885 +aVWell, I \u2014 I wanted to \u2014 be \u2014 make it easier for him. +p1886 +aVAnd I just did. +p1887 +aVSo, 40 years ago, I smoked marijuana, and I admit it. I'm sure that other people might have done it and may not want to say it in front of 25 million people. My mom's not happy that I just did. That's true. And here's the deal. Here's the deal. We have \u2014 we have a serious epidemic of drugs that goes way beyond marijuana. What goes on in Colorado, as far as I'm concerned, that should be a state decision. But if you look at the problem of drugs in this \u2014 in this society today, it's a serious problem. Rand, you know this because you're campaigning in New Hampshire like all of us, and you see the epidemic of heroin, the overdoses of heroin that's taking place. People's families are \u2014 are being torn apart. It is appropriate for the government to play a consistent role to be able to provide more treatment, more prevention \u2014 we're the state that has the most drug courts across every circuit in \u2014 in \u2014 in Florida, there are drug courts to give people a second chance. That's the best way to do this. +p1888 +aVNo, you're wrong \u2014 you're wrong about this. +p1889 +aVI don't want to put poor people in jail, Randy. +p1890 +aVHere's the deal. No, I did not oppose when the legislature passed the bill to deal with that very issue. That's the way to solve this problem. Medical marijuana on the ballot was opened up, there was a huge loophole, it was the first step to getting to a place. And as a citizen of Florida, I voted no. +p1891 +aVNot very far. I think we need to do this state by state. There are places that get this right, and we need to make sure that we protect the privacy laws. This is a complicated place. But I do think the natural impulse on the left \u2014 Hillary Clinton, immediately after one of these horrific violent acts took place, immediately said we need to have federal gun laws. President Obama almost reflexively always says the same thing. And the net result is, you're going to take away rights of \u2014 of law-abiding citizens, the 99.999 percent of the people that are law- abiding citizens. That's not the right approach to do it. In Florida, we have a background check. We have concealed-weapon permit holders, and in fact, there's 1,200,000 of them. We have a reduction in violent crime because we put people behind bars when they use a gun in the commission of the crime. That's the better approach. But we're living in a society today where despair kind of grows in isolation. +p1892 +aVI \u2014 I think there needs to be a hearing, but the fact is, we need to encourage that kind of involvement. That's \u2014 that's exactly what we need to do. +p1893 +aVI would go with Ronald Reagan's partner, Margaret Thatcher. Probably illegal, but what the heck? Since it's not going to happen. A strong leader is what we need in the White House, and she certainly was a strong leader that restored the United Kingdom into greatness. +p1894 +aVEver Ready, it's very high energy, Donald. +p1895 +aVSix million more people are living in poverty than the day that Barack Obama got elected president. Six million more people. The middle class has had declining income, workforce participation rates are lower than they were in 1977. For the first time in modern history, more businesses are failing than are being created. That is what the next president will have to deal with. And I believe we can reverse course by creating a strategy of high sustained economic growth, not the new normal of 2 percent that all the left says we just have to get used to, but a 4 percent growth strategy where we reform how we tax, fix the broken regulatory system, embrace the energy revolution in our midst, fix the immigration system so we can turn it into an economic driver, deal with the structural fiscal problems that exist because of our entitlement problems that will overwhelm and create way too much debt. If we grow at 4 percent, people are going to be lifted out of poverty. The great middle that defines our country will have a chance to be able to pursue their dreams as they see fit. That should be the great challenge and the great opportunity for the next president of the United States, to forge consensus to go back to a high-growth strategy. And then we'll be able to lead the world. Without a high-growth strategy, our country will never have the resources or the optimism to be able to lead the world, which the world desperately needs our leadership. +p1896 +aVAbsolutely, I do, and I'm gonna run hard, run with heart, and run to win. I'm gonna have to earn this. Maybe the barrier -- the bar's even higher for me. That's fine. I've got a record in Florida. I'm proud of my dad, and I'm certainly proud of my brother. In Florida, they called me Jeb, because I earned it. I cut taxes every year, totaling $19 billion. We were -- we had -- we balanced every budget. We went from $1 billion of reserves to $9 billion of reserves. We were one of two states that went to AAA bond rating. They keep -- they called me Veto Corleone. Because I vetoed 2,500 separate line-items in the budget. I am my own man. I governed as a conservative, and I govern effectively. And the net effect was, during my eight years, 1.3 million jobs were created. We left the state better off because I applied conservative principles in a purple state the right way, and people rose up. +p1897 +aVI do. I believe that the great majority of people coming here illegally have no other option. They want to provide for their family. But we need to control our border. It's not -- it's our responsibility to pick and choose who comes in. So I -- I've written a book about this and yet this week, I did come up with a comprehensive strategy that -- that really mirrored what we said in the book, which is that we need to deal with E-Verify, we need to deal with people that come with a legal visa and overstay. We need to be much more strategic on how we deal with border enforcement, border security. We need to eliminate the sanctuary cities in this country. It is ridiculous and tragic......that people are dying because of the fact that -- that local governments are not following the federal law. There's much to do. And I think rather than talking about this as a wedge issue, which Barack Obama has done now for six long years, the next president -- and I hope to be that president -- will fix this once and for all so that we can turn this into a driver for high sustained economic growth. And there should be a path to earned legal status... ...for those that are here. Not -- not amnesty, earned legal status, which means you pay a fine and do many things over an extended period of time. +p1898 +aV...I remember... +p1899 +aV...I remember, Megyn. +p1900 +aVKnowing what we know now, with faulty intelligence, and not having security be the first priority when -- when we invaded, it was a mistake. I wouldn't have gone in, however, for the people that did lose their lives, and the families that suffer because of it -- I know this full well because as governor of the state of Florida, I called every one of them. Every one of them that I could find to tell them that I was praying for them, that I cared about them, and it was really hard to do. And, every one of them said that their child did not die in vain, or their wife, of their husband did not die in vain. So, why it was difficult for me to do it was based on that. Here's the lesson that we should take from this, which relates to this whole subject. Barack Obama became president, and he abandoned Iraq. He left, and when he left Al Qaida was done for. +p1901 +aVNo, I don't. And I don't believe the federal government should be involved in the creation of standards directly or indirectly, the creation of curriculum or content. It is clearly a state responsibility. I'm for higher standards... ...measured in an intellectually honest way, with abundant school choice, ending social promotion. And I know how to do this because as governor of the state of Florida I created the first statewide voucher program in the country, the second statewide voucher program, in the country and the third statewide voucher program in the country. And we had rising student achievement across the board, because high standards, robust accountability, ending social promotion in third grade, real school choice across the board, challenging the teachers union and beating them is the way to go. And Florida's low income kids had the greatest gains inside the country. Our graduation rate improved by 50 percent. That's what I'm for. +p1902 +aVHe is definitely my friend. And I think the states ought to create these standards. And if states want to opt out of Common Core, fine. Just make sure your standards are high. Because today in America, a third of our kids, after we spend more per student than any country in the world other than a couple rounding errors, to be honest with you, 30 percent are college- and/or career-ready. If we are going to compete in this world we're in today, there is no possible way we can do it with lowering expectations and dumbing down everything. Children are going to suffer and families' hearts are going to be broken that their kids won't be able to get a job in the 21st Century. +p1903 +aVWe've done it 27 times since World War II. I think we need to lift our spirits and have high, lofty expectations for this great country of ours. The new normal of two percent that the left is saying you can't do anything about is so dangerous for our country. There's 6 million people living in poverty today, more than when Barack Obama got elected. 6.5 million people are working part-time, most of whom want to work full-time. We've created rules and taxes on top of every aspiration of people, and the net result is we're not growing fast, income's not growing. A four percent growth strategy means you fix a convoluted tax code. You get in and you change every aspect of regulations that are job killers. You get rid of Obamacare and replace it with something that doesn't suppress wages and kill jobs. You embrace the energy revolution in our country. This president and Hillary Clinton, who can't even say she's for the XL pipeline even after she's left? Give me a break. Of course we're for it. We should be for these things to create high sustained economic growth. And frankly, fixing our immigration system and turning it into an economic driver is part of this as well. We can do this. +p1904 +aVNone of which is true. +p1905 +aVNo. It's not true. But I have said that Mr. Trump's language is divisive. I want to win. I want one of these people here or the ones at 5:00, to be the next president of the United States. We're not going on win by doing what Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton do each and every day. Dividing the country. Saying, creating a grievance kind of environment. We're going to win when we unite people with a hopeful, optimistic message. I have that message because I was a governor of a state that saw people lifted up, because we had high sustained economic growth. Our economy grew at double the rate of the nation. We created 1.3 million jobs. We led the nation seven out of those eight years. We were only one of two states that went to AAA bond rating. I cut taxes, $19 billion. If you do that and apply conservative principles the right way, you create an environment where everybody rises up. That's how we're going to win. Campaigning in places to give people hope that their life is better because too many people are suffering today in America. +p1906 +aVHere's what I believe. I believe we're at the verge of the greatest time to be alive in this world. But Washington is holding us back. How we tax, how we regulate. We're not embracing the energy revolution in our midst, a broken immigration system that has been politicized rather than turning it into an economic driver. We're not protecting and preserving our entitlement system or reforming for the next generation. All these things languish while we have politicians in Washington using these as wedge issues. Here's my commitment to you, because I did it as Florida. We can fix these things. We can grow economically and restore America's leadership in the world, so that everybody has a chance to rise up. I humbly ask for your vote, whenever you're gonna get to vote, whenever the primary is. Thank you all very much. +p1907 +asVFRANTA +p1908 +(lp1909 +VHi, I'm Connor Franta, I'm 23 and my audience is around the same age. Getting my generation to vote should be a priority for any presidential candidate. Now I know Senator Sanders is pretty popular among my peers, but what I want to know is, how are all of you planning on engaging us further in this election? +p1910 +asVWALKER +p1911 +(lp1912 +VGood evening, I'm Scott Walker, and tonight, I want to thank and Mrs. Reagan, and the Reagan Library for hosting us. You see, in my lifetime, the greatest president was a governor from California. Ronald Reagan knew how to go big, and go bold. He understood the essence of moving this country forward, and that's what I did when I took on the status quo in my state, and the Washington based special interest. Now, more than ever, America needs a leader who will go big and bold again. Someone who's been tested. I'm ready to be that leader. Thank you. +p1913 +aVBut Jake, Jake, Jake, Jake... +p1914 +aVBut Jake, this \u2014 this is \u2014 this... +p1915 +aVJake, this is \u2014 this is \u2014 this is... +p1916 +aVThis is actually what's wrong \u2014 this is what's wrong with this debate. We're not talking about real issues. And Mr. Trump, we don't need an apprentice in the White House. We don't need an apprentice in the White House. We have one right now. He told us all the things we wanted to hear back in 2008. We don't know who you are or where you're going. We need someone who can actually get the job done. And you talked about business. +p1917 +aVYou \u2014 you \u2014 let me finish... +p1918 +aVNo, no... +p1919 +aVYou're using the talking... +p1920 +aVMr. Trump, you're using the talking points of the Democrats... +p1921 +aV... and as we all know... +p1922 +aV... that failed three times in four and a half years when I got elected, because it is working. We balanced a budget. You want to talk about balanced budgets? You took four major projects into bankruptcy over and over and over again. You can't take America into bankruptcy. That's what's wrong with the politicians in Washington right now. They think we can take a country into bankruptcy. +p1923 +aVJake, yeah, absolutely, I'll take this on, because this is an issue that's important in this race. Just because he says it doesn't make it true. The facts are the facts. We balanced a $3.6 billion budget deficit, we did it by cutting taxes \u2014 $4.7 billion to help working families, family farmers, small business owners and senior citizens. And it's about time people in America stand up and take note of this. If you want someone that can actually take on the special interest of Washington, which you yourself said you were part of, using the system, we need somebody that will stand up and fight for average Americans to put them back in charge of their government. I'm the one who is taking that on. I'll do that as your next president. +p1924 +aVTwo parts to that, one on China, one back for a second on Iran. When it comes to China, why would we be giving an official state visit to a country that's been involved in a massive cyber attack against the United States? That's not just a visit, that's a 21 gun salute on the South Lawn of the White House. It just doesn't make any sense. If we're ever going to send a message to them, wouldn't this be the time, when they've issued this, sort of, massive attack against us? And, Jake, for the question, I was one of the first ones to call for terminating the bad deal with Iran on day one. The President came after me and said I need to bone up. You know, the President who called +p1925 +aVJake, just one more moment. This is \u2014 there's something bigger to this. Now, I \u2014 like so many other governors here, I defunded Planned Parenthood four-and-a-half years ago, in a Blue State. But it's bigger than that. We did that in a Blue State, we took the money and put it into women's health, so we did exactly what we're talking about here. But I think the bigger issue here is we should be able to do this nationally, and this is precisely why so many Republicans are upset with Washington. They see the House and they see the Senate and they say why can't we pass this. Why can't we defund Planned \u2014 put it in a spending bill. Forget about the 60-vote rule, there's no reason \u2014 and the Constitution doesn't call for 60 votes. Pass it with 51 votes, put it on the desk of the president \u2014 +p1926 +aV\u2014 and go forward and actually make a point. This is why \u2014 +p1927 +aV\u2014 people are upset with Washington. +p1928 +aVSo, the best way to help people see their wages go up is to get them the education, the skill they need, to take on careers that pay more than minimum wage. And, it's why we talk about it, it's all about jobs. You want to help actually get jobs, it's why on that last question we were trying to jump in on taxes. To me, it's not just about taxes, cutting taxes. I've done it as much as anyone has. I've cut income taxes, I've cut property taxes. In fact, property taxes are lower today in my state than they were before we took office. The real issues about jobs. Ronald Reagan, our plan is based on the Ronald Reagan tax cuts of 1986. That brought about one of the longest sustained periods of economic growth in American history. All the things we should be talking about tonight are about how do we create jobs, helping people get the skills and the education qualifications they need to succeed. That's the way you help people create jobs. It's part of our large plan to reform the tax code, to cut taxes, to put in place an education system that gives people the skills and education that they need. To put in place all the above energy policy, but you start on day one with repealing Obamacare. I'm the only one on this stage that's actually got a plan, introduced an actual plan to repeal Obamacare on day one. I'll send a bill up to Congress, and to make sure enact it... +p1929 +aV...I'm going to sign an order that makes the Congress live by the same rules as everybody else. +p1930 +aV...That will ensure they repeal Obamacare... +p1931 +aV...Jake, Jake, Jake, I just want to address that issue because you said I didn't answer, and I did. I said, to me, I think the real focus shouldn't be \u2014 you know, Hillary Clinton talks about the minimum wage. That's her answer to grow the economy. The answer is to give people the skills and the education so they make far more than minimum wage. I don't want to argue about how low things are going to be, I want to talk about how do we lift everyone up in America. That's what Reagan talked about. It wasn't how bad things were, it was how to make it better for everyone. That's what we've done in Wisconsin, that's exactly what we'd do as... +p1932 +aV... the key issue here is talking about leadership. Now, there's a lot of greater people up here, and you've heard a lot of great ideas out there. But I would ask the American people, look at who's been tested. When there were 100,000 protesters in my capital, I didn't back down, when they issued death threats against me and threats against my family, I didn't back down, when they tried to recall me, I didn't back down, and when they made me the \u2014 one of their number-one targets last year, I didn't back down. Give me the chance to be your president. +p1933 +aVI won't back down... +p1934 +aV... on any of these issues. +p1935 +aVTo be clear, what I said the other day was that we need to lift the political restrictions that are already in play. Barack Obama's administration has put political restrictions on the military personnel already in Iraq. We need to lift those and then we need to listen to our military experts, not the political forces in the White House, but our military experts about how many more we sent in. And we certainly shouldn't have a commander-in-chief who sends a message to our adversaries as to how far we're going to go, and how far we're willing to fight, so I'm not putting a troop number. What I'm saying is lift the political restrictions. When you do that, you empower our military personnel already there to work with the Kurd and the Sunni allies, to reclaim the territory taken by +p1936 +aV... a lot of those people, though, and I'm going to echo what Senator Rubio just said. This is an issue where, we're talking about my state, it's thousands of manufacturing jobs. Thousands of manufacturing jobs for a rule the Obama administration, own EPA has said will have a marginal impact on climate change. So we're going to put thousands and thousands of jobs in my state, I think it's something like 30,000 in Ohio, other states across this country, we're going to put people \u2014 manufacturing jobs, the kind of jobs that are far greater than minimum wage, this administration is willing to put at risk for something its own EPA says is marginal (ph)... +p1937 +aVFirst of all, I got to say to Carson, Huckabee, thanks a lot for making the rest of us look like chumps up here, but, I'd pick Clara Barton. I once worked for the American Red Cross, she was a great founder of the Red Cross. +p1938 +aVHarley. I love riding Harley's. +p1939 +aVWell, I turned 13 years old two days before Ronald Reagan was first elected. A lot of people forget this, but just a few days before that election 1980, he was behind in the polls. And I think what changed things was people in America realized they didn't want to hear what was bad about America, they wanted to know how it was going to be better. Ronald Reagan wasn't just a conservative Republican, he was an eternal optimist in the American people. And I am too. So here's what I think will make America better. We need to live in a world where our children are free, are free from the threats of radical Islamic terrorism. We need to live in an America where we have an economy, where everyone can live their piece of the American dream, no matter what that dream is. And we need to live in an America where we have a federal government that is not too big to fail, but ultimately small enough to succeed, where we send powers back to the states and back to the people. That's what I did in Wisconsin. We took on the big government union bosses, the big government special interests, many of whom came in from Washington, to spend millions of dollars to try and take me out because we stood up to them, we didn't back down in any of those instances. If you give me the chance as your next president, I won't back down any day, anyway, anyhow. I'll fight and win for you and your families every single day I'm in office. +p1940 +aVWell, I'm pro-life, I've always been pro-life, and I've got a position that I think is consistent with many Americans out there in that... ...in that I believe that that is an unborn child that's in need of protection out there, and I've said many a time that that unborn child can be protected, and there are many other alternatives that can also protect the life of that mother. That's been consistently proven. Unlike Hillary Clinton, who has a radical position in terms of support for Planned Parenthood, I defunded Planned Parenthood more than four years ago, long before any of these videos came out... ...I've got a position that's in line with everyday America. +p1941 +aVChris, I actually said that on your show earlier this year. I acknowledged that. I said I actually listened to the American people. And I think people across America want a leader who's actually going to listen to them. I talked to border state governors and other elected officials. I look at how this president, particularly through last November, messed up the immigration system in this country. Most importantly, I listened to the people of America. I believe we need to secure the border. I've been to the border with Governor Abbott in Texas and others, seeing the problems that they have there. There is international criminal organizations penetrating our southern based borders, and we need to do something about it. Secure the border, enforce the law, no amnesty, and go forward with the legal immigration system that gives priority to American working families and wages. +p1942 +aVI don't know about additional ones. We need to focus on the ones we have. You look at Egypt, probably the best relationship we've had in Israel, at least in my lifetime, incredibly important. You look at the Saudis -- in fact, earlier this year, I met with Saudi leaders, and leaders from the United Arab Emirates, and I asked them what's the greatest challenge in the world today? Set aside the Iran deal. They said it's the disengagement of America. We are leading from behind under the Obama-Clinton doctrine -- America's a great country. We need to stand up and start leading again, and we need to have allies, not just in Israel, but throughout the Persian Gulf. +p1943 +aVJust one second on this, though. We -- we spent a lot of time talking about Hillary Clinton and ---and pitting us back and forth. Let's be clear, we should be talking about Hillary Clinton on that last subject, because everywhere in the world that Hillary Clinton touched is more messed up today than before she and the president . +p1944 +aVIt's true. +p1945 +aVWell, the voters in Wisconsin elected me last year for the third time because they wanted someone who aimed high, not aimed low. Before I came in, the unemployment rate was over eight percent. It's now down to 4.6 percent. We've more than made up for the jobs that were lost during the recession. And the rate in which people are working is almost five points higher than it is nationally. You know, people like Hillary Clinton think you grow the economy by growing Washington. One report last year showed that six of the top 10 wealthiest counties in America were in or around Washington, D.C.. I think most of us in America understand that people, not the government creates jobs. And one of the best things we can do is get the government out of the way, repeal Obamacare, put in -- reign in all the out of control regulations, put in place an all of the above energy policy, give people the education, the skills that the need to succeed, and lower the tax rate and reform the tax code. That's what I'll do as president, just like I did in Wisconsin. +p1946 +aVWell, first off, let's remember. I still remember, as a kid, tying a yellow ribbon around a tree in front of my house during the 444 days that Iran held 52 Americans hostage. Iran is not a place we should be doing business with. To me, you terminate the deal on day one, you reinstate the sanctions authorized by Congress, you go to Congress and put in place even more crippling sanctions in place, and then you convince our allies to do the same. This is not just bad with Iran, this is bad with +p1947 +aVWell, I think the most important thing we can do when it comes to policing -- it's something you've had a guest on who's a friend of mine Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clark, who's talked to me about this many times in the past -- it's about training. It's about making sure that law enforcement professionals, not only in the way in to their positions but all the way through their time, have the proper training, particularly when it comes to the use of force. And that we protect and stand up and support those men and women who are doing their jobs in law enforcement. And for the very few that don't, that there are consequences to show that we treat everyone the same here in America. +p1948 +aVWell first off, for the cyber attack with Russia the other day, it's sad to think right now, but probably the Russian and Chinese government know more about Hillary Clinton's e-mail server than do the members of the United States Congress. And -- and that has put our national security at risk. If I am president, he won't think about that. You know, Putin believes in the old Lenin adage: you probe with bayonets. When you find mush, you push. When you find steel, you stop. Under Obama and Clinton, we found a lot of mush over the last two years. We need to have a national security that puts steel in front of our enemies. I would send weapons to Ukraine. I would work with +p1949 +aVWell, thanks, Megyn. I'm certainly an imperfect man. And it's only by the blood of Jesus Christ that I've been redeemed from my sins. So I know that God doesn't call me to do a specific thing, God hasn't given me a list, a Ten Commandments, if you will, of things to act on the first day. What God calls us to do is follow his will. And ultimately that's what I'm going to try to do. And I hope people've seen it in my state, even in the big challenges I took on when I had over 100,000 protesters in and around our capital, trying to do what I thought was the right thing. It wasn't just how I took on those political battles. It was ultimately how I acted. Not responding in kind. Not lashing out. But just being decent going forward and living my life in a way that would be a testimony to him and our faith. +p1950 +aVThanks. I'm guy with a wife and two kids, and Harley. One article called me "aggressively normal." I ran for governor because I was worried about my kids' future. Then, I took on the big government union bosses, and we won. They tried to recall me, and we won. They target us again, and we won. We balanced the budget, cut taxes, and turned our state around with big, bold reforms. It wasn't too late for Wisconsin, and it's not too late for America. That's why I ask for your vote. +p1951 +asVMALE +p1952 +(lp1953 +VThat's a good one. +p1954 +aV +p1955 +asVMITCHELL +p1956 +(lp1957 +VThank you, Lester. Secretary Clinton, Senator Sanders favors what he calls "Medicare for all." Now, you said that what he is proposing would tear up Obamacare and replace it. Secretary Clinton, is it fair to say to say that Bernie Sanders wants to kill Obamacare? +p1958 +aVSenator Sanders? +p1959 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor Sanders... +p1960 +aVSenator Sanders, let me ask you this, though... +p1961 +aV... you've talked about Medicare for all... +p1962 +aV.. and tonight you've released a very detailed plan, just two... +p1963 +aV... well, two hours before the debate, you did. +p1964 +aVBut let me ask you about Vermont. Because in Vermont \u2014 you tried in the state of Vermont, and Vermont walked away from this kind of idea, of \u2014 of Medicare for all, single-payer, because they concluded it would require major tax increases... +p1965 +aV... and by some estimates, it would double the budget. If you couldn't sell it in Vermont, Senator... +p1966 +aV... how can you sell it to the country? +p1967 +aVSenator Sanders \u2014 Senator Sanders, you've talked a lot about things you want to do. You want free education for everyone, you want the Federal Minimum Wage raised to $15 an hour. You want to expand Social Security... +p1968 +aV... benefits. You've been specific about what you want, but let's talk about how to pay for all this. You now said that you would raise taxes today, two hours or so ago, you said you would raise taxes to pay for your health care plan. You haven't been specific about how to pay for the other things... +p1969 +aV... Will you tell us tonight? +p1970 +aV... OK... O' +p1971 +aV... Secretary Clinton, you mentioned earlier \u2014 Secretary Clinton, do you want to respond? +p1972 +aVOK, we're out of time. Senator Sanders, +p1973 +aVSenator Sanders... +p1974 +aV... Senator Sanders, let me ask you a question about taxes. +p1975 +aVThe most googled political issue... +p1976 +aVIn the last month was taxes. Now, in your healthcare plan, the plan you released tonight, you would not only raise taxes on the wealthy, but the details you released indicate you would raise taxes on the middle class also. Is that correct? +p1977 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, let me just follow up on that. +p1978 +aVOn Meet the Press on December 20th, you said that you would only raise taxes on the middle class to pay for family leave. And, having said that, now you say you're going to raise middle class taxes to pay for healthcare as well. Is that breaking your word? +p1979 +aVThank you Lester. Senator Sanders, the nuclear deal is now enforced. Iran is getting it's billions of dollars, several Americans who have been held are now going to be heading home. The president said today, "it's a good day. It's a good day for diplomacy. It's a time now to restore diplomatic relations for the first time since 1979 and actually re- opened a U.S. Embassy in Tehran." +p1980 +aVYour response Secretary Clinton? +p1981 +aVYou mentioned Syria. Let me ask you about Syria, all of you. Let's turn to Syria and the civil war that has been raging there. Are there any circumstances in which you could see deploying significant numbers of ground forces in Syria, not just specials forces but significant ground forces to combat +p1982 +aVSenator Sanders, ground forces yes or no? +p1983 +aVGovernor O'Malley? +p1984 +aVGovernor O'Malley. O' +p1985 +aVI have a question. I have a question for Senator Sanders. Did the policies of the Obama administration, in which Secretary Clinton of course was a part, create a vacuum in Iraq and Syria that helped +p1986 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to talk to you about red lines, because former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in a recent interview that President Obama's decision to stand down on planned missile strikes against Damascus after Assad had used chemical weapons hurt the president's credibility. Should the president have stuck to his red line once he drew it? +p1987 +aVBut should he \u2014 should he have stuck to his... +p1988 +aV... line? Did it hurt U.S. credibility? +p1989 +aVYour time is up. +p1990 +aVSenator.... +p1991 +aVYou're out of time. +p1992 +aVSenator Sanders. +p1993 +aVYour time is us. Lester. +p1994 +aVJust a \u2014 just a quick follow-up, though, Secretary Clinton. Just a moment, Governor. O' +p1995 +aVBut \u2014 but \u2014 Secretary Clinton, you said that the leaders from the intelligence community went to Silicon Valley, they were flatly turned down. They got nowhere. +p1996 +aVSenator Sanders, let me ask you a question. You called Bill Clinton's past transgressions, quote, "totally, totally, totally disgraceful and unacceptable." Senator, do you regret saying that? +p1997 +aV...too long. O' +p1998 +asVHEWITT +p1999 +(lp2000 +VSenator Cruz, you've said you disagree with Mr. Trump's policy. I don't want a cage match; you've tweeted you don't want a cage match. But Republican primary voters deserve to know, with the kind of specificity and responsiveness you delivered in your nine Supreme Court arguments, how you disagree with Mr. Trump. Would you spell that out with us? +p2001 +aVSo you're saying you disagree because he's too broad and you have a narrower focus? Why do you disagree with him? +p2002 +aVCarly Fiorina... ... this is the Christmas dinner debate. This will be the debate that Americans talk about at Christmas. And thus far, in the first 10 minutes, we haven't heard a lot about Ronald Reagan's city on a hill. We've heard a lot about keeping Americans out or keeping Americans safe and everyone else out. Is this what you want the party to stand for? +p2003 +aVDr. Carson...... you mentioned in your opening remarks that you're a pediatric neurologist surgeon... +p2004 +aVNeurosurgeon. And people admire and respect and are inspired by your life story, your kindness, your evangelical core support. We're talking about ruthless things tonight \u2014 carpet bombing, toughness, war. And people wonder, could you do that? Could you order air strikes that would kill innocent children by not the scores, but the hundreds and the thousands? Could you wage war as a commander-in-chief? +p2005 +aVSo you are OK with the deaths of thousands of innocent children and civilian? It's like... +p2006 +aVThat is what war \u2014 can you be as ruthless as Churchill was in prosecuting the war against the Nazis? +p2007 +aVMr. Trump, we are talking about the most important thing, that's why it's heated. And it's, you are OK with Mr. Assad staying in power, but you are also in favor of winning. If he stays in power, Iran is winning, Hezbollah is winning. Iran is winning in Yemen. They are winning everywhere. If they are winning how can we be winning? +p2008 +aVGovernor Christie, is he right? Because if we step back, Iran goes nuclear. Is Donald Trump right? +p2009 +aVSenator Paul, let me ask you, you heard Governor Kasich say Assad must go. Do you agree? +p2010 +aVGovernor Bush, a commander-in-chief question. You've said that Mr. Trump is not qualified to be president because he's not qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin. Why are you better qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin than Mr. Trump? +p2011 +aVMr. Trump? +p2012 +aVBut, Mr. Trump, it's not CNN \u2014 I was on CNN last night... +p2013 +aV... watching... +p2014 +aVBut it wasn't \u2014 it wasn't CNN. It was me. I watched you last night for 16 minutes. It's not CNN. +p2015 +aVIt's not CNN. It's America's watching you. +p2016 +aVIt's America's watching. +p2017 +aVGovernor \u2014 thank you, Governor. +p2018 +aVDr. Carson, commander-in-chief question again. You've been the head of neurosurgery for a big hospital. You're on a lot of boards of a lot of companies. You've traveled the world. You're going traveling again next week. But does that prepare you to command troops from Djibouti to Japan, troops from Afghanistan to Iraq to be in charge of the men and women watching on Armed Services Network tonight? +p2019 +aVMr. Trump...... Dr. Carson just referenced the single most important job of the president, the command, the control and the care of our nuclear forces. And he mentioned the triad. The B-52s are older than I am. The missiles are old. The submarines are aging out. It's an executive order. It's a commander-in-chief decision. What's your priority among our nuclear triad? +p2020 +aVOf the three legs of the triad, though, do you have a priority? I want to go to Senator Rubio after that and ask him. +p2021 +aVSenator Rubio, do you have a response? +p2022 +aVMy listeners tell me again and again they are worried that Hillary Clinton will win the White House because you'll run as an independent. Are you ready to assure Republicans tonight that you will run as a Republican and abide by the decision of the Republicans? +p2023 +aVDr. Carson, last week... +p2024 +aVPlease. +p2025 +aVDr. Carson, Mr. Trump just committed to stay the distance regardless of the result. How about you? +p2026 +aVThank you, Jake. Mr. Trump, two years ago, President Obama drew a red line that the Syrian dictator Bashar Assad crossed, President Obama threatened to strike. He did not, his knees buckled. We now have 4 million refugees, Syria is a living hell, and he turned to the Congress for the authority to back him up. You have three senators to your right that said, no. Do they bear responsibility for this refugee crisis, and what would you have done when Bashar Assad crossed the line? +p2027 +aVHow much responsibility, Mr. Trump, do the senators hold? +p2028 +aVSenator Rubio... +p2029 +aVSenator Paul? +p2030 +aVI'd like to talk about winning because I think all of you are more qualified than former Secretary of State Clinton, and as were the people in the first debate, but there are different styles, and Carly Fiorina, Governor Kasich, you're conveniently located next to each other, and you have different styles. Governor Kasich, you've been on my show a lot. You refused to attack Hillary Clinton, you just don't want to go there, you want to do the up with people. Go, Ohio, OK, and I like that. Carly Fiorina, I don't have to bring up the Secretary of State \u2014 you bring her up, so . Which one of you is wrong? Governor Kasich? +p2031 +aVGovernor. +p2032 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2033 +aVCarly Fiorina, your style? +p2034 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Christie, your name was mentioned. I want to give you a chance to respond. +p2035 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2036 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. There is a lot more coming up. Ahead, a world of trouble. The challenges that one of these candidates may face in the Oval Office, and how he or she will handle it. Stay with us. +p2037 +aVOh, you're the best interview in America. +p2038 +aV... makes an interesting case (ph) here (ph). +p2039 +aVThank you, Jake. I've done a lot of great interviews with all of you, but, Governor Bush, I talked to you in February about the biggest elephant in a room full of elephants, which is your last name. And you said you would not be burdened either by your brother or your father's legacy in the Middle East. And then, a week later, you rolled out your list of foreign policy advisers, and it was a lot of the band getting back together again. So on behalf of the military that is watching... +p2040 +aV...OK, the active duty military that are at the end of the sphere (ph), what kind of a commander in chief is Jeb Bush going to be, and who are the advisers that are new to your team? +p2041 +aVMr. \u2014 Mr. Trump. +p2042 +aVI want to ask you a question, though, you promised us great leaders. And I believe that. But Jeb Bush has laid out 20 different people that have experience around the world. There are 190 countries, you can't run the world by yourself. When are we going to get some names on your military and your foreign policy advisers? +p2043 +aVThank you, Jake. Tomorrow is \u2014 Republicans know this \u2014 tomorrow is Constitution Day. We've been talking about the 10th Amendment. Let's talk about the Second Amendment. Governor Bush, one of the things the Supreme Court has gotten right is that it's an individual right and it's protected for individuals to hold it. Last week, you said the next step in gun issues is to make sure they're not in the hands of mentally ill. In this state, there's a controversial law that allows guns to be taken away from people without a hearing. Where does it go \u2014 and the problem of violence is endemic, but where does it go from what you said last week, how far into people's lives to take guns away from them? +p2044 +aVIf a family member calls and says, "My child, my brother, my sister is disturbed," ought the state be able to go and get their weapon without a hearing? +p2045 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2046 +aVSenator Cruz, I want to go to you. Your constitutional litigant (ph), are you afraid of the next- step theory of what happens to Second Amendment rights? +p2047 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2048 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2049 +aVThank you, senator. +p2050 +aVWait, let's pursue that in fact Governor Pataki? +p2051 +aVYou called for following and finding those Imams who are preaching violence in mosques. How exactly would you do that and what Mosques would you shut down? How extensive of a surveillance program are you proposing? +p2052 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p2053 +aVGovernor Huckabee... ...As Governor Pataki noted earlier, we have a history of religious intoleration in this country. About the American Muslims who would be subject to this kind of surveillance, does it violate their First Amendment rights? +p2054 +aVSenator Santorum... ...I want to start then, not on the First Amendment, but on the Second Amendment. There is a terror watchlist. You can legally purchase a gun in the United States if you're on that watchlist. Your old colleague, Peter King in the House, wants to change that law. Do you agree with him? +p2055 +aVGovernor... +p2056 +aVGovernor, back to you. Your response? +p2057 +aVSenator Graham, are you trying to get in? +p2058 +aVThank you, Wolf. Governor Huckabee, ten minutes ago you blasted President Obama for destabilizing Iraq. You hit former Secretary of State Clinton for supporting the Muslim brotherhood in Egypt. But you have said recently you would sanction countries that don't join the fight aggressively against +p2059 +aVWhich country? +p2060 +aVWhich countries are those, governor, that you would sanction? +p2061 +aVThat's an easy, give. Are you going to sanction any of our allies who say, no this isn't our fight we're gonna let you do this. Are you going to leave our allies alone? For example, Indonesia and Malaysia \u2014 other Muslim countries \u2014 will you leave them alone? +p2062 +aVSenator Graham, I just named two Islamic countries... ...Senator Graham, I just named two Islamic countries that are allies that he suggested we sanction. Is that the appropriate approach to this war? +p2063 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you... +p2064 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you, the opposite of getting into bed is shooting down the prince's plane. Senator Santorum has \u2014 Senator Graham has said he would shoot down Russian planes bombing Syrian fighters on our side. Would you shoot down a Russian plane bombing American allied fighters in Syria? +p2065 +aVWhat \u2014 if they fly into it, would you shoot it down? +p2066 +aVThe consequences would be war with Russia. Would you risk... +p2067 +aVSenator Graham, do you agree? +p2068 +aVOK, we know you agree, Senator Graham. How about you, Governor Pataki, would you shoot down Russian planes? +p2069 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you... +p2070 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you, the opposite of getting into bed is shooting down the prince's plane. Senator Santorum has \u2014 Senator Graham has said he would shoot down Russian planes bombing Syrian fighters on our side. Would you shoot down a Russian plane bombing American allied fighters in Syria? +p2071 +aVWhat \u2014 if they fly into it, would you shoot it down? +p2072 +aVThe consequences would be war with Russia. Would you risk... +p2073 +aVSenator Graham, do you agree? +p2074 +aVOK, we know you agree, Senator Graham. How about you, Governor Pataki, would you shoot down Russian planes? +p2075 +aVSenator Graham, in 2013 you were part of the leadership that pushed through immigration reform, comprehensive immigration reform in the Senate of the United States. It died in the House. Many accused you of amnesty, and may have undermined your ability to get your message out on the war. Would you sign that bill again today? Would you \u2014 sponsor that bill again today? +p2076 +aVBut, Senator, I misunderstand, did you... +p2077 +aVSenator Santorum, is that sufficient for you? +p2078 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2079 +aVYep. Governor Huckabee, you have said that children of immigrants who came here illegally should not be punished by their parents actions. As president, would you continue President Obama's policy, vis-a-vis, the Dreamers? +p2080 +aVSenator... +p2081 +aVSenator Santorum, you... ...Your position on that policy, assuming that it was passed constitutionally, would you allow this, would you support such an act? +p2082 +aVThank you, Jake. Governor, you signed the pledge to support the Republican nominee and you promptly broke it. By doing so, by Tweeting out that you would not support Donald Trump, have you released Donald Trump to be a free agent again or anyone else in the field? +p2083 +aVGovernor... +p2084 +aV-- you said on Twitter that you would not support Donald Trump. If he's the nominee... +p2085 +aV-- will you support him? +p2086 +aVWould you really vote for Hillary Clinton... +p2087 +aV-- or vote for Donald Trump if he's the nominee? +p2088 +aVGovernor Jindal, Senator Graham just said it's all about winning and, in fact, if former Secretary of State Clinton is the successor to President Obama, none of this matters and all this conversation is beside the point. In the Washington elite, they have a habit of saying nice things about each other until election time. Senator Graham has praised Secretary of State Clinton as a great choice to be the secretary of state, as a national treasure. Can anyone from inside of Washington win this election cycle, having praised Secretary of State Clinton that way? +p2089 +aVSenator Graham, took a shot at there and you're having a good debate but there is this problem of Washington elites and saying wonderful things about each other. +p2090 +aVIs that responsive to calling Hillary Clinton a national treasure, Senator? +p2091 +aVBut Senator, can you go back and forth that way, and expect to have an argument with the American people to persuade them about that? +p2092 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2093 +aVThank you, senator. +p2094 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2095 +aVLet's talk about the economy, if We could. Governor Pataki. +p2096 +aVJeb Bush and Donald Trump are both proposing raising taxes on hedge fund managers who pay at a lower rate. Governor Pataki, you were the governor of New York, home of Wall Street. Do you agree that hedge fund managers need to be paying a higher rate? +p2097 +aVSo you are with Jeb Bush and Donald Trump on the hedge fund? +p2098 +aVGovernor Jindal -- Governor Jindal, that's three Republicans running for president who support hedge fund managers paying a higher rate. Are you the fourth? +p2099 +aVLet's stay on the topic of taxes. +p2100 +aVI want to bring in my colleague, Dana Bash. +p2101 +aVThere are other ways, Governor, than bombing Iran. I want to quote Rick Santorum. "We should send a very clear message that If you are a scientist and you're going to work on a nuclear program to develop a bomb for Iran, you are not safe." Does that message work? Is anything that works on the table? +p2102 +aVSenator Santorum, stay on that: any means necessary? Is that what you meant to say? Is that what's still on this table after this, what many of us believe is a catastrophic deal? +p2103 +asVJINDAL +p2104 +(lp2105 +V...Thank you. +p2106 +aVA couple of things. In Louisiana, we're actually a top 10 state for job growth. As we sit here today, we have more people working in Louisiana than ever before, earning a higher income than ever before. We've had 60 months in a row of consecutive job growth in our state. So the reality is, we have diversified our economy. Yes, I've got an interview plan that says all of the above, that creates good manufacturing jobs in America. We've also got one of the fastest growing IT sectors by percentage. We are growing Louisiana's economy. But let me get to the point that is, I think, the most important issue here tonight. You're going to have several hours of debate on the economy and we're going to have a great discussion about energy plans and tax rates. And that's all great. The most important thing we have to do, we have a fundamental choice to make, folks. Are we willing to cut the government economy so we can grow the American economy? That is the most fundamental question we've got to answer. We are on the path to socialism right now. These are mutually exclusive. The hour is late, but it is not too late for America. Though under President Obama, you asked about his economy. We've got record dependents, a record number of Americans on food stamps, record low participation rate in the work force. This is a fundamental choice. Sending a big government Republican to DC is not enough to fix this problem. It's not enough just to beat Hillary Clinton. We've got to change the direction of our country. What that means is let's shrink the government, not slow its growth rate, but actually shrink the government so we can grow the American economy. That is the fundamental issue we should be debating here tonight. +p2107 +aVNo, I think right now there's not much difference between the two parties. The reason we keep losing nationally is we try to be cheaper versions of the Democratic party. What if the Republicans, what if Republicans actually embraced our own principles? So I earlier said if you want bigger paychecks, you want more jobs, you want less government dependence, you're going to have to cut government spending. Here's the dirty little secret. You're going to hear a lot of Republicans tonight in this debate and the next one talk about cutting government spending. It's going to sound great. There's only one of us that's actually cut government spending. Not two, there's one, and you're looking at him. We've got four senators running. They've never cut anything in D.C. They give these long speeches called filibusters, they pat themselves on the back, nothing changes. When they go to relieve themselves their cause and the toilet get flushed at the same time, and the American people lose. We've got a bunch of governors running, we've got seven current former governors running. I'm the only one that has cut government spending. Everybody else can talk about it. If they haven't done it in their state capitals, what makes them thank that \u2014 what makes us think they'll do it if we send them to D.C. Look, when politicians talk, we need to look at what they have done, not what they have said. Otherwise, it's a bunch of hot air. We've cut our budget 26 percent. Record number of Louisianans working. If Republicans want to win national elections, let's be conservatives, let's be Republicans, let's not be a second version of the liberal party, let's cut government spending and grow the American economy. +p2108 +aVWait, wait, wait. I want to respond. He has criticized something I said. I want to respond to that. Mike, with all due respect, I admire your social views, I share many of those views, your record as Governor tells a different story. Was \u2014 your time as Governor spending in Arkansas went up 65 percent, number of state workers went up 20 percent, the taxes for the average citizen went up 47 percent. That's not a record of cutting. I'm saying we've actually cut. We reduced the size of our budget. So wanting to cut is one thing, actually cutting is a different thing. Facts don't lie. +p2109 +aVI was absolutely a skeptic of giving this president more power. He negotiated a bad deal with Iran. He breaks the law routinely. I don't know why Congress would want to concede more authority to him. Look, this trade deal is 6,000 pages long. Unlike ObamaCare, I think we should read it before we decide whether we would vote for it or not vote for it. I am for trade deals, but I want to make sure they are fair trade deals. I want to come back to something that Chris had said earlier. Look, I absolutely agree we've got to beat Hillary Clinton. But just sending any Republican is not good enough. We've had a Republican majority in the Senate and the House. What has changed? If we send another big government Republican to the White House, we will not do enough to fix what is wrong in this country. Chris, I think records matter. I think the way we govern matter. Under your leadership in New Jersey, your budget has gone up 15 percent. It's gone down 26 percent in Louisiana. It has gone up $5 million in New Jersey. It's gone down $9 billion in Louisiana. In New Jersey, you've had nine credit downgrades, setting a record. We've had eight credit upgrades in Louisiana. My point is this. If politicians say they're going to be conservative, they say they're going to cut spending but they don't do it, why should we send them to DC? It gets harder, not easier, when we send them to DC. Let's not be a second liberal party. Let's actually cut government spending. Let's grow the American economy. Let's not just beat Hillary, let's elect a conservative to the White House, not just any Republican. +p2110 +aVBut wait a minute, records matter. Records \u2014 records matter. Yes, we've got to... +p2111 +aV\u2014 beat Hillary Clinton. But Chris, it's also true that you expanded food stamps at a time that we've got record numbers of Americans on food stamps. It's also true you caved into ObamaCare. You expanded Medicaid. We've got a choice in front of us. This is an important debate. This is not about comparing Louisiana to New Jersey or Bobby to Chris. This is an important debate for the American people. This is supposed to be an economics debate. Let's have a debate. Do we want to grow government or do we want to grow the American economy? Do we want to grow dependence on government, or do we want to grow good paying jobs in the private sector... +p2112 +aV...you don't grow the economy by putting more people on food stamps, more people in Medicaid, you grow the economy by cutting government, cutting spending. That's what we've done in Louisiana, you haven't done that in New Jersey... +p2113 +aV...We need a conservative, not a big government republican in D.C. +p2114 +aV...This is how we.... +p2115 +aV...This is how we move our country forward, look, this is not about between me and Chris... +p2116 +aV...This is about......are we going to be the party... +p2117 +aVWell, look, only one other opponent, actually, one other candidate, actually, has a plan. That's Jeb Bush, and he creates a new entitlement program. My plan actually gets rid of all of Obamacare, it's great that Senator Cruz will shut down the government over Obamacare, but he still hasn't given us his plan to get rid of it. It's great that other republicans talk about getting rid of it. You go to a town hall in Iowa, or New Hampshire, ask them how they're actually going to get rid of it \u2014 my plan has been online for over a year. It gets rid of all of Obamacare, it reduces the cost. It actually puts Americans, their patients, their doctors back in control. And, it actually helps those that really need this help \u2014 but, this is one of the most critical issues we face domestically. I think I \u2014 look, right now, I think I am the only candidate running that refused to expand Medicaid. I'm the only one that turned down \u2014 that did what we could to fight Obamacare. This is an important point, and, look, I appreciate Chris's nice compliments to me. And, Chris, you look to me very well, I love Mary-pat, but this isn't about me and Chris. This is about the country, and this is about what direction \u2014 this is the most important election in our lifetimes. Folks, a couple of years ago they told us give them the republican majorities in the House and the Senate, they'd stop Obamacare, and amnesty, and the bad Iran deal \u2014 nothing changed. If they fooled us once, shame on them. If they fooled us twice, shame on us. Don't let them fool us again. Chris, look, I'll give you your ribbon for participation, and a juicebox, but in the real world, it's about results......but, in the real world it's about results. It's about actually cutting government spending, not just talking about cutting government spending. +p2118 +aVWe can waste our time. And I think this is why people were so frustrated with the last debate with these kinds of silly questions. We've only got a certain amount of time to talk about the economy. Let me use my time to say this. I want to fire everybody in D.C. in both parties. I think they all \u2014 we need term limits, get rid of them all, make them live under the same rules they passed on the rest of us. +p2119 +aVSo under our tax plan, look, the top rate is 25 percent, 10 percent, 2 percent. That 2 percent is the most important. I think everybody should pay something. I think everybody should have skin in the game. We shouldn't be creating one group of Americans that's dependent on government, another group that's paying taxes. I want to come back to an earlier point though, that Chris said. Look, we all agree Hillary Clinton is bad. We all agree we need to beat her. But let's not pretend that out-of-control government spending is only a Democratic issue. This is a bipartisan issue, and just sending another big government Republican to D.C. is not good enough. We need to actually cut government spending. We need to cut \u2014 and we're not going to do it just by sending any Republican. I'm glad he's vetoed taxes. The Tax Foundation graded New Jersey the 50th worst business climate due to taxes, high taxes in the state of New Jersey. +p2120 +aVWell, a couple of reasons. Look, we know big companies don't pay those taxes today. They hire lobbyists and accountants and lawyers. It's the small businesses that get hit. I want to get rid of the corporate tax, I want to bring the jobs and investment back to America. Make the CEOs pay the same rates as everybody else. Get rid of all the corporate welfare as well. Like I said, make everybody pay something, earned success is so much better than unearned success. And let's actually shrink the size of government. My plan purposely does that. Look, we can talk all night about tax plans, energy plans, I think you will find a lot of agreement among all the Republicans. We all want to get rid of the death tax, the marriage penalty. We all want lower, fewer brackets. We want to downsize, take away power from the IRS. What we really need to be talking about is this, these last seven years, we've had more government spending, more government dependence. Poverty has gone up. Inequality has gone up. Only the top 10 percent have seen their incomes go up \u2014 their median incomes go up. We actually have more inequality thanks to what we have seen, the largest most expensive experiment in progressive government. We can't keep spending money we don't have. And the reality is, the last couple of years it hasn't mattered whether Republicans or Democrats were in control. We keep stealing from our children. That is immoral. It is wrong. And we're creating more government dependence. If we really want to grow the economy, yes, you need a rational energy plan, and you've got to rein in the EPA, and you've got to repeal Obamacare, and you've got to cut taxes. But none of that will be enough if we're not serious about cutting government spending. We cannot afford to elect a big- government Republican. We need somebody. This is the most important election. Hillary Clinton is gift-wrapping this election to us. Let's not waste this opportunity to apply conservative principles and cut the size of government. +p2121 +aVWell, a couple things, first, I want to echo what others have said and thank those veterans that run towards danger, not away from it, so we can live in the greatest country in the history of the world. I think every veteran should get that card, and they should be allowed to get that health care wherever they want in the private sector. But, I also think \u2014 or the public sector, I also think we need to fire some of the V.A. bureaucrats. Somebody should go to jail over these scandals, and it is a crime that it has not happened. When it comes \u2014 when it comes to uniting the American people, one of the things we've done to honor our veterans in Louisiana, we've given thousands \u2014 and I've hand delivered these, to veterans \u2014 medals to veterans to thank them for their service. I'll just give you one quick example, I know my time is out, but, we've had Vietnam war veterans with tears in their eyes saying nobody has ever thanked them before. We've had World War II veterans, children, who said they never heard the stories of their parents heroic sacrifice. Whatever conflict, whenever they served, one of the things we can do is to teach our children we do live in the greatest country in the history of the world. We got a president who doesn't believe in American exceptionalism, but we still do, and it's because of those men and women in uniform. We should thank them everyday, not just veterans day. +p2122 +aVYou know, I have spent a lot of time tonight talking about the need to cut the size of government. The reason I'm doing that \u2014 it's not just about balancing the budget, or balancing a bunch of numbers. Because I believe in the American dream. I think President Obama's done a lot of damage to our country. I think that one of the worst things he has done is try to change the idea of America to be one of dependence. There are a lot of politicians that talk about cutting government spending, I'm the only one that's actually done it that's running for President. The rest of them, it's a lot of hot air. If you want your paychecks to go up, if you want more good paying jobs, if you want the government out of your lives, we've got to cut the size of government. It's not enough just to elect any republican, we've seen that. We've got to elect a republican that will take on the establishment in both parties. I'm asking for your support. Thank you. +p2123 +aVI think the reason voters are so frustrated is nothing seems to change in D.C. Look, over the next several hours, you're going to hear several Republicans all tell you they want to shrink the size of government and grow the American economy and it sounds great and we've got to do it. Here's the truth \u2014 of all these folks talking, I'm the only one that has cut the size of government. There's not two of us, there's one of us. The rest of it is all just hot air. When politicians talk, we need to pay attention to what they do, not what they say. I'm the only one that's reduced the size of government. Let's shrink the government economy. Let's grow the American economy. +p2124 +aVWell, look, I think that's a false choice. I think this is a very bad deal. Whenever they tell us in D.C. they're going to cut tomorrow, that means they're never going to cut. Tomorrow never seems to happen. Instead, why don't we actually follow our conservative principles? Why not insist on structural reforms? Why not cut spending? I don't mean strength (ph) the growth rate, I mean, actually spend less. Why not a balanced budget in the amendment \u2014 an amendment to the Constitution? Why not a super-majority vote before they grow our taxes, before they grow the government faster than the economy? Let's be honest, $18 trillion dollars of debt. Record low participation rate in the workforce, record number of Americans on food stamps. We are going the way of Europe. The left is trying to turn the American Dream into the European Nightmare. If you're a Republican... +p2125 +aV... willing to stand up and fight... +p2126 +aVI think that's a false choice. If I were \u2014 I were to lead, we would pass a conservative budget, challenge the President to do the right thing. And, here's the problem, the Republicans never want to fight. Give Pelosi and Reed credit, they forced Obamacare and socialism down our throats, why won't the Republicans fight half as hard for freedom and opportunity. This was a bad budget. +p2127 +aVAbsolutely, Jhon. And what we did is we cut state spending. We've cut our budget 26 percent, according to Cato and other analysis, the only candidate that's actually reduced government spending. Look, the left always complains there's not enough money for government. We have 30,000 fewer state employees than the day I took office, eight credit upgrades, we're a top 10 state for private sector job creation. We've got a choice. You grow the government economy or the American economy. When I became governor, we had 25 years in a row of outmigration. We were coming back from Katrina. The question many were asking, will Louisiana rebuild, should Louisiana rebuild? Seven years in a row, more people moving into the state than were leaving the state. We now have more people working than ever before, erg a higher income than ever before. Yes, we've reduced the size of government. That's exactly what we need to do in DC. In DC, the Republicans slowed the growth rate, they claimed victory. That's not enough. Let's be honest with where we are today. We are running off of a cliff. Look, we'll be the next Greece and we can talk and we can rearrange the chairs. Over over $18 trillion of debt, no wonder our economy has been stagnant. We haven't had real growth. If you're a young student here, you've not seen a robust American economy. +p2128 +aVWell, Jhon, a couple of things. Not only did we not raise taxes, we did the largest income tax cut in the state's history. And I'm proud of that record. I think that's the kind of leadership voters want in DC. Look, if you want a Republican that's going go grow government spending, if you want a \u2014 a president or if you want a candidate who's going to income taxes, I'm not your guy. If you want somebody that's going to do and say the things that can't be said, can't be done, I'm asking a vote for me to join my cause. That's how dangerous these times are. This is \u2014 this is a \u2014 this is \u2014 these are dangerous times for America. I think we have a chance to rescue the idea of America, but if we don't do it now, four years will be too late from now. So, yes, I'm proud we cut taxes, we cut spending, 30,000 fewer state government bureaucrats than the day I took office. I absolutely will do that in DC. +p2129 +aVThank you. +p2130 +aVAbsolutely, John. I'd go further. My tax plan, like everybody's, like a lot of Republicans' \u2014 look, I'd get rid of the death penalty and the marriage penalty, and I'd simplify the brackets to 25 percent, 10 percent, 2 percent, so that an average middle-class family \u2014 a teacher marries a law enforcement official (ph)... +p2131 +aV...I \u2014 I'm gonna get that. Pays 25 percent today, would pay 10 percent under my plan. But my plan does three things different from other people's plans. One \u2014 remember, I said 2 percent. I think everybody should pay something, even if it's only 2 percent. That's the most important 2 percent in my plan. I know a lot of Republicans brag \u2014 y'all can clap, it doesn't scare me. Go ahead. I heard some people. There are millions of \u2014 there are millions of folks that wouldn't pay taxes in Jeb's plan and Trump's plan. I think that's a mistake. In terms of the corporate tax, secondly, I'd get rid of the corporate tax. We do have the highest corporate tax rate in the developed world. I'd get rid of it. I'd get rid of all the corporate welfare. Make the CEOs pay their same tax rates the way the rest of us do. And third, I'd purposely shrink the size of government. You know, that is a \u2014 that is an intentional feature of my plan. We've got a choice: do we grow government \u2014 the government economy, or the American economy? So I say get rid of the corporate tax, bring those jobs and investment here to the United States, stop sending jobs and investment overseas. +p2132 +aVLook, I think the government should work to change that, but that doesn't \u2014 does not mean I'm for the government mandating that. We already have too many government mandates out of DC. Do I want people to have paid leave? Sure. Do I want people to earn higher wages? Sure. Do I want them to have better benefits? Sure. The government can't wave a magic wand and make that happen. Here's the problem. The last seven years, President Obama has tried to teach the American people that government is the answer to all of our problems. Where has that gotten us? We're on a path toward socialism. The way that folks can get better paying jobs with better benefits is if we have a growing economy. That means to repeal all of ObamaCare, a lower flatter tax code. That means that we have an energy plan that makes sense. That means that we embrace an all of the above approach to energy. Those are good paying jobs \u2014 $50,000, $70,000, $90,000 a year jobs with benefits. But this president won't let us produce more energy on our domestic federal lands and waters. He won't allow the Canadians to build the Keystone Pipeline. He's got an EPA that's doing everything they can to kill private sector jobs in America. So, yes, I want families to have better paying jobs and better benefits, but we're not going to get that with a government mandate, we're going to get that with a growing economy. +p2133 +aVA couple things. You're talking about payroll taxes that fund programs. People pay for their Medicare, they pay for their Social Security. I want every American to worry and care about how those folks in D.C. are spending our money. If $18 trillion of debt \u2014 they're misspending our money. Earned success is so much more fulfilling than unearned success. I don't want us to continue to create one class of Americans that pays income taxes, that pays for government, another class of Americans that's growing more and more dependent on government. That's what we have today. Socialism is bad, not only for taxpayers, but people that they say they're trying to help. There's dignity in work, dignity in self-sufficiency. I wanna quote you a president. Our previous president said this: he said, "the problem is, is that tax rates are too high, government income revenues are too low." He said, "paradoxically, lowering tax rates now is the best way to produce higher government revenues later." No, that wasn't President Reagan, as many are probably guessing at home. That was President Kennedy. I see you know the answer. That was President Kennedy. Imagine if he were alive today \u2014 and if he was at that last Democratic debate, imagine if you tried to say that in a party that's veering towards socialism. That wouldn't be welcome in today's Democratic party. +p2134 +aVWell, thank you. Look, if Senator Santorum wants to concede the tax cut wing of the Republican Party, I'm happy to fight for that side of the Republican Party. He's exactly right. I explicitly want to shrink the size of government; 22 percent over 10 years is not too much. We cut our state budget 26 percent in eight years. This is a fundamental choice. We mustn't become a cheaper version of the Democratic Party, a second liberal party. We need to proudly say we're willing to cut taxes, shrink government, grow the American economy. President Kennedy said it to the Democratic Party. Why can't we say it in the Republican Party in 2015, let's cut taxes. +p2135 +aVJohn, our budget is balanced. We balanced our budget every year for eight years. Yeah, we've had to cut spending. You know what? We privatized or closed nine of our 10 charity hospitals. We did statewide school choice; $1.6 billion (ph) budget cut. You're quoting an old number from the beginning of the year. We closed that gap. What they talk about, just like D.C., government's the only place where you give them less money than they wanted, they count it as a cut. They take last year's budget. They add inflation. They call it a baseline. We need to do zero-based budgets. We need to say just because you got money last year, you don't have it this year. Let me close, though. We balanced our budget. We didn't raise taxes. In eight years, we never raised taxes. We cut taxes. Our \u2014 our taxpayers, our families have been better off for it. +p2136 +aV absolutely they should be accountable. They should be accountable to their students through the market. Look, you either trust the American people to make their own choices or you don't. I know the Left thinks we need to be protected from ourselves. President Obama is trying to limit competition to the higher education market. As a result, you're going to see tuition prices continue to go up. We've had $1 trillion of student debt and counting. And he wants to exempt certain schools from the same oversight he wants to apply only to the for-profit market. For some reason, the private sector is a bad word to this president. It's not in the real world. In Louisiana, we fought so that the dollars follow the child and so the child following the dollar. What that means, from K-12, what that means is that parents and their families can decide what's the best way for their children to be educated. Higher education, we have a +p2137 +aVI was just saying to my colleagues, I may be the last person in this audience without an iPhone. I'm actually one of the last folks \u2014 I still have a BlackBerry in my pocket. And I basically use it for scheduling. I use it to keep up when my wife is here and my three kids at home. The only games on that phone are Bricklayer. I use it to keep up with the news through the Internet. I may be the last American out there without an iPhone. +p2138 +aVMy apologies. +p2139 +aVWell, absolutely, when the Saints go back to repeat, we were talking about beer sales earlier, all those folks from being hung over in Louisiana from drinking to celebrate Drew Brees winning this, I think it would be a great day to take off. No, look, on a serious note, I do want to say this about the Super Bowl and our athletes. They can be great role models for our children and I'm obviously a Saints fan. Drew Brees and his wife great role models, great Christians. So, yes, it should be a holiday. +p2140 +aVMy message is to conservatives, this is our hour. Thanks to the insanity, the incompetence of the Democratic party, the American people are ready to turn our government over to us. It's not enough to let just any Republican, however. The reality is the idea of America is slipping away. As Christians, we believe that the tomb is empty. As Americans, we believe that our best days are always ahead of us, and they can be again. We must win this election. We cannot allow Hillary Clinton to take us down this path towards socialism \u2014 further down this path. I've got the courage to apply our conservative principles. I can't do it alone. With your help, with God's grace, we can save the idea of America before it's too late. +p2141 +aVHi, I'm Bobby Jindal. Now, look, I don't have a famous last name. My daddy didn't run for president. I don't have a reality TV show. I'll tell you what I do have, I've got the backbone, I've got the bandwidth, I've got the experience to get us through these tough times, to make sure that we don't turn the American dream into the European nightmare. Thank you for having me today. +p2142 +aVWell, Jake, I'm in compliance with the 11th Commandment, and I would tell my fellow Republicans, let's stop treating Donald Trump like a Republican. If he were really a conservative... If he were really a conservative and 30 points ahead, I would endorse him. He's not a conservative. He's not a liberal. He's not a Democrat. He's not a Republican. He's not an independent. He believes in Donald Trump. Here is the reality, the idea of America is slipping away. Eighteen trillion dollars of debt, Planned Parenthood selling baby parts across our country. Our government is creating a new entitlement program, when we can't afford the government we've got today. We've got a president who won't even say the words radical Islamic terrorism. He has declared war on trans fats and a truce with Iran. Think about that. He's more worried about Twinkies than he is about the ayatollahs having a nuclear weapon. That's what is happening, the idea of America is slipping away. We must not let that happen on our watch. We have a once in a lifetime opportunity to rescue the idea of America, the choice for conservatives. Do we depend on proven conservative principles like Ronald Reagan did, or do we turn this over to a narcissist who only believes in himself... +p2143 +aVThank you, Jake. +p2144 +aVAbsolutely. Look, the reality is, Hillary Clinton is gift-wrapping this election to us. They are running their weakest candidate. They have got a socialist that is gaining on Hillary Clinton. Folks, you can't make that up. A socialist is doing well in the Democratic primary. The best way for us to give this election back would be to nominate a Donald Trump. He'll implode in the general election, or if, God forbid, if he were in the White House, we have no idea what he would do. You can't just attack him on policy. He doesn't care about policy. It's not enough to say he was for socialized medicine or higher taxes... +p2145 +aVHe's not serious. +p2146 +aVYeah, I wanted to clarify -- I want to make very clear that everybody understands my position is, we need to secure the border, period. Any talk of doing any more -- we don't need a comprehensive plan, don't need an 1,000-page bill, like the Gang of Eight. We don't need amnesty. Everybody in D.C. talks about it. We need to get it done. As president, I'll get it done in six months. It won't be perfect, but we can get it done. I'm not for amnesty. We do need to secure the border. A smart immigration makes our -- our country stronger. Right now, we've got a weak one. One of the things I've said -- I know the left -- I know Hillary didn't like this -- immigration without assimilation is invasion. We need to insist the people who come here come here legally, learn English, adopt our values, roll up their sleeves and get to work. We do need to secure the border. +p2147 +aVDana, that's not right. What I've said consistently is secure the border. I've said after that is done, the American people will deal with the folks that are here pragmatically and compassionately. Now, Rick, if he wants to say that Rubio, Senator Rubio, or Jeb or others are for amnesty, that's his right. I'm not for amnesty. I've never been for amnesty, will never be for amnesty. Secure the border. We don't need to do that as a comprehensive -- I've also said we need to put an end to sanctuary cities. It's not enough to defund them; I think we need to criminalize, accuse and jail those mayors and councilman as accessories... ( +p2148 +aV... for the crimes committed by people who shouldn't be here in the first place. +p2149 +aVJake, look, America's the most compassionate country in the entire world. We do more for folks around this world, and that's the nature of the American people. Two things. One, let us draw line, a direct line, between this refugee crisis, and this president's failed foreign policy. Jake, look, America is the most compassionate country in the entire world. We do more for folks around this world. And that's the nature of the American people. Two things: one, let us draw a line, a direct line between this refugee crisis and this president's failed foreign policy. He drew a red line in Syria and did not enforce it and now we're seeing millions of refugees potentially, hundreds of thousands going into Europe. The answer is not to put a Band-aid on this and allow even more people to come into America. We should not short-circuit; we have got a vetting process, we've got a normal refugee process. Simply allowing more into our country doesn't solve this problem. The way to solve this problem is for us to be clear to our friends and allies that we're going to replace Assad, we're going to hunt down and destroy +p2150 +aVWe -- it is important we insist on that in immigration going -- +p2151 +aVLook, absolutely. We need to do whatever is necessary to hunt down and kill these radical Islamic terrorists but this president has helped -- his policies have helped to contribute to this problem. He went to the Pentagon the same week they announced they were cutting back the number of troops in the Army to say that we're not going to win this through guns, it's going to be a change of hearts and minds. This will be a generational conflict, that is nonsense. These are barbarians. They are burning, crucifying people alive, Christians and other Muslims. We need to hunt them down and -- +p2152 +aV-- by having a president willing to -- +p2153 +aV-- Islamic -- +p2154 +aVWell, Jake, look, I think the American people -- we don't discriminate anybody based on the color of their skin or their creed. I think the way you strike that balance, you say to Muslim leaders, they have got two responsibilities. One, it's not enough to denounce just simply generic acts of violence. They have got to denounce the individuals by name, and say these are not martyrs. These terrorists are not martyrs; rather, they are going straight to hell. They are not going to enjoy a reward in their afterlife. Secondly, they have to explicitly embrace the same freedoms for everybody else they want for themselves. Look, I know it's politically incorrect to say this, the president says Fort Hood was an issue of workplace violence. We are at war with radical Islam. Our president loves to apologize for America, he goes to the National Prayer Breakfast, brings up the Crusades, criticizes Christians. We're at war today with radical Islamic extremists. It's not politically correct to say that, but the way you strike that balance, you say to Muslim leaders, denounce these fools, these radical terrorists by name, say they are not martyrs. +p2155 +aVSure, I don't think a 14-year-old should ever get arrested for bringing a clock to school. So, if you're asking me I'm glad he wasn't -- he was released. I'm glad that police are careful. I'm glad they are worried about security and safety issues. Look, in America we don't tolerate them. The biggest discrimination is going on against Christian business owners and individuals who believe in traditional forms of marriage. They are throwing this woman in jail in Kentucky. Let's talk about that. Let's talk about the Christian florist, the caterer, the musician, who simply want to say, don't arrest us for having -- or don't discriminate against us, don't shut down our businesses, don't fine us thousands of dollars for believing marriage is between a man and a woman. Lets talk about not discriminating against Christians. +p2156 +aVJake -- Jake... +p2157 +aVJake, I've got a practical question. +p2158 +aVI've got a practical question. I'd like the left to give us a list of jobs that Christians aren't allowed to have. If we're not allowed to be clerks, bakers, musicians, caterers, are we allowed to be pastors ? +p2159 +aVWe're not allowed to be elected officials. I firmly -- this is an important point. The First Amendment rights, the right to religious freedom is in the First Amendment of "The Constitution." It isn't breaking the law to exercise our constitutional rights. America did not create religious liberty, religious liberty created the United States of America. It is the reason we're here today. +p2160 +aVI think actually putting Roberts, I think putting Kennedy, I think putting -- before them, I think putting Souter on the bench was a mistake. But look, I think the -- the first responsibility starts in the White House. The reality is conservatives have not been willing to stand up for our beliefs, unlike the liberals -- look, you never worry about where the Democratic judges are going to vote, it's always the conservatives. You've never had a Democratic judge wake up and say, surprise, I've evolved, I've become a conservative. It's always the Republicans, because we have presidents that try to find judges with no records, no rulings, no writings. I'll tell you, I am going to have a litmus test. For judges, I'm going to find judges that are conservative, judges that are going to be pro-life, judges that are going to follow "The Constitution," judges, by the way, that are going to follow the American law, not international law. They're not appointed there to interpret international law, they're there to apply "The United States Constitution." Judges understand, their job is not to write law. If they want to write law, they should run for the Senate or the House. It's time for a Republican president as the next commander in chief, I will do as the Democrats have done. I will appoint bold judges that are actually consistent with my values that will be conservatives and enforce the Senate -- +p2161 +aVThank you, Jake. But look, it's not a minor ruling. Justice Roberts twice rewrote the law to save ObamaCare, the biggest expansion of government, creating a new entitlement when we can't afford the government we've got today, an expansion of socialism in our country. It's not that he got a minor ruling wrong. This is twice he rewrote the law. Now, look, I have a lot of respect for these senators that have big bladders. They give great speeches in the Senate. And I respect that. I've actually signed the executive order. I've actually signed a law protecting religious liberty in the state of Louisiana. It's not 99-1. The one that he got wrong was a big one. Twice he bent over backwards to save ObamaCare. If the Republicans had voted the way that we should -- they should have, we would still have our 19th Amendment rights and ObamaCare would not be the law of the land. +p2162 +aVNo. And it's not only whether they can win. They shouldn't win this election cycle. One of the things I do agree -- and I want to thank Donald Trump after I've criticized him for everything from being a narcissist to an egomaniac -- one of the things he was right about was to say nonsense to the D.C. establishment. It is time to fire all of them. You've got a choice between honest Socialists on the Left, like Bernie Sanders, and lying conservatives on the Right. We have got the majority; what good has it done us? See, they said they were going to stop amnesty. They said they were going to repeal ObamaCare. They didn't do either. Now they're not even willing to fight to defund Planned Parenthood. They've already -- McConnell has already waved the white flag of defeat. They are not willing to stand up to fight for the issues that count. I think it is time to have term limits. I think it's time to have part-time citizen legislators. Let's pay them a per diem instead of a six-figure salary, stop them from being seven-figure lobbyists. Let's also pay them a per diem for every day they don't go to D.C. Let's keep them out of D.C., working in the real -- -- let's make them live under the same rules and laws they apply to the rest of us. Not only shouldn't they be elected, they can't be elected. Let's fire all of them from their current positions. +p2163 +aVTwo things, Jake. One, I'm absolutely for all of these carve-outs and loopholes and special interests for as -- they get lobbyists. They get sweetheart deals you and I and the rest of this audience couldn't get. So as part of an overall comprehensive tax reform that has a lower, flatter tax code, sure. As a single, I am just to raise taxes, no. I don't want to give the government more money. The government has grown over this president where now, it's going to overwhelm the American economy. We've got to cut the size of the government economy. Nobody else running for president has done that. I'm the only candidate. I've cut my state budget 26 percent. Everybody else talks about it, we have done it. So, there's a part of overall tax reform that cuts rates, flattens and lowers the tax code, sure. But I'm not for raising taxes on anybody. We already have too much money going to D.C. +p2164 +aVJake, I'd like to answer that question. +p2165 +aVWell, Jake, I want to answer that question. I want to go back to Iran. I didn't get a chance to answer that as well. Look, on Russia, across the world, dictators walk all over this president. He treats our friends like dirt. He lets our enemies walk all over us. The only group he's able to out-negotiate are the Senate Republicans. They never should've passed this bad Corker bill. Instead of a two-thirds vote to reject -- to approve the Iran deal, now it takes a two-thirds vote to reject the Iran deal. I want to ask Lindsey a question. Will the Senate Republicans -- they still have time -- are they willing to use the nuclear option, meaning get rid of the filibusters, stop Iran from becoming a nuclear power? Now is the time for the Senate Republicans to stand up and fight. We are tired of the establishment saying there's nothing we can do. All night tonight, we've heard Republicans say things like, "Well, if the Supreme Court's ruled, there's nothing I can do about religious liberty," you know. "The president did this. There's nothing we can do about it for two more years." There is something we can do. We won the Senate. We won the House. What was the point of winning those chambers if we're not going to do anything with them? You're going back tonight. You still have time before the Thursday deadline. Will y'all use the nuclear option to stop Iran from becoming a nuclear power? +p2166 +aVLindsey... +p2167 +aVLindsey, well, that's my frustration. Listen to what you've heard. You -- you basically heard a Senate Republican say, "We can't defund Planned Parenthood, despite these barbaric videos." +p2168 +aV"We can't -- we can't..." +p2169 +aV"... we can't get rid of Obamacare" -- Lindsey, let me answer this question now. I wish the Senate Republicans had half the fight in them the Senate Democrats did. Look, President Obama didn't give up on Obamacare when they lost the Senate election in Massachusetts. I want my side to follow the Constitution. They broke the Constitution, they broke the law, but they forced Obamacare down our throats, even when they didn't have 60 votes. I wish Republicans in D.C. had half the fight of the Senate Democrats to get rid of Obamacare, to defund Planned Parenthood. If we can't defund Planned Parenthood now, if we can't stand for innocent human life after these barbaric videos, it is time to be done with the Republican Party. We defunded them in Louisiana. Let's defund them in D.C. If we can't win... +p2170 +aV-- on that issue, there is no point for being cheaper Democrats, no point grabbing a second liberal party. It is time to get rid of the Republican Party, start over with a new one that's at least conservative. Give Harry Reid and Pelosi credit. At least they fight for what they believe in. I want senators and House members in DC to fight for what we believe in, as well. It's time to have Republican... +p2171 +aV-- with a backbone in DC. +p2172 +aVJake, I'm a doer, not a talker. Look, the idea of America is slipping away from us. If you want somebody who is going to manage the slow decline of this country, makes incremental changes, vote for somebody else. If you want to vote for somebody who understands what is at stake -- Planned Parenthood is selling baby parts across this country, and the Senate Republicans have already given up, even without a fight. I am tired of this surrender (ph) caucus, I am angrier at the Republicans in D.C. than I am at the president. The president is a socialist. At least he fights for what we believe in. We don't need to just send any Republican to the White House. We need to sent somebody who understands that it's time to make big changes. It's time to take on the establishment, it's time to take on the D.C. permanent governing class. Every Republican says they will shrink the size of the government. I'm the only one that has done it. Cut our budget 26 percent. If you want somebody that's going to make incremental change, vote for somebody else. It's time to get the idea of America back. At some point, we're going to be held -- we'll be asked, what did you do when the idea of America was slipping away? I'll promise you this. I will give every ounce of blood, energy, sweat I've got to save the idea of America, the greatest country in the history of the world. +p2173 +aVWell, first of all, thank you all for having us. You know, I won two record elections. Last time I was elected governor, won a record margin in my state. Martha, we got a lot of politicians that will kiss babies, cut ribbons, do whatever it takes to be popular. That's not why I ran for office. I ran for office to make the generational changes in Louisiana. We've cut 26 percent of our budget. We have 30,000 fewer state bureaucrats than the day I took office. I don't think anybody has cut that much government anywhere, at any time. As a result, eight credit upgrades; as a result, a top ten state for private sector job creation. And we fought for statewide school choice, where the dollars follow the child, instead of the child following the dollars. We've been the most pro-life state six years in a row. My point is this: I won two landslide elections, I made big changes. I think our country is tired of the politicians who simply read the polls and fail to lead. Both Democrats and Republicans have gotten us in the mess we're in -- $18 trillion of debt, a bad deal with Iran, we're not staying with Israel. I think the American people are look for real leadership. That's what I've done in Louisiana, that's what I'll do in America. +p2174 +aVWell, to start with, unlike President Obama, I'll actually name the enemy that we confront. We've got a president who cannot bring himself to say the words "radical Islamic terrorism." Now, Bill, he loves to criticize America, apologize for us, criticize medieval Christians. How can we beat an enemy if our commander-in-chief doesn't have the moral honesty and clarity to say that Islam has a problem, and that problem is radical Islam, to say they've got to condemn not generic acts of violence, but the individual murderers who are committing these acts of violence. We've got a president who instead says, we're going to change hearts and minds. Well, you know what? Sometimes you win a war by killing murderous, evil terrorists. We're going to take the political handcuffs off the military. We will arm and train the Kurds. We will work with our Sunni allies. They know we will be committed to victory. We had this failed red line with Assad and it discouraged folks that want to help us on the ground. Finally, we'll take off the political handcuffs. We'll go to the Congress. This president has gone to Congress and said give me a three-year deadline, give me a ban on ground troops. I'm going to go to the commanders and say give me a plan to win. You can't send your troops into harm's way unless you give them every opportunity to be successful. +p2175 +aVWell, this goes to the question you were just asking. Look, under President Obama and Secretary Clinton, they're working hard to change the American dream into the European nightmare. They do celebrate more dependence on the government. Give Bernie Sanders credit. At least he's honest enough to call himself a socialist. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, they're no better. If we were to expand Medicaid, for every uninsured person we would cover, we'd kick more than one person out of private insurance or remove their opportunity to get private insurance. We're going to have too many people in the cart rather than pulling the cart. This isn't free money. I know some people like to say, "well, this is free money." We pay federal taxes. We are borrowing money from China today. Yesterday, the president stunningly admitted this. He said, "we don't have leverage with China to get a better deal on Iran because we need them to lend us money to continue operating our government." The president of the United States admitting that he's weakening our government's position, our foreign policy standing, because he can't control spending in D.C.. There is a better way to provide health care. The Oregon study showed this. Simply expanding Medicaid does not improve health care outcomes. In Louisiana, instead we're helping people getting better paying jobs so they can provide for their own health care. +p2176 +aVI don't -- look, I don't think anybody should be expanding Medicaid. I think it's a mistake to create new and more expensive entitlement programs when we can't afford the ones we've got today. We've got to stop this culture of government dependence. +p2177 +aVI'll say this. I don't think anybody should expand Medicaid. I think it was a mistake to expand Medicaid everywhere in Ohio and across the country. +p2178 +aVWell, a couple of things. Planned Parenthood had better hope that Hillary Clinton wins this election, because I guarantee under President Jindal, January 2017, the Department of Justice and the IRS and everybody else that we can send from the federal government will be going in to Planned Parenthood. This is absolutely disgusting, and revolts the conscience of the nation. Absolutely, we need to defund Planned Parenthood. In my own state, for example, we launched an investigation, asked the FBI to cooperate. We just, earlier this week, kicked them out of Medicaid in Louisiana as well, canceled their provider contract. They don't provide any abortions in Louisiana. But in terms of shutting down the government, I don't think President Obama should choose to shut down the government simply to send taxpayer dollars to this group that has been caught, I believe, breaking the law, but also offending our values and our ethics. It is time for Republicans in D.C. to fight. Too often, they give up, they negotiate with themselves. They said they would get rid of the unconstitutional amnesty. They didn't do that. They said they would repeal Obamacare if we gave them the majority. They didn't do that either. They said they'd shrink and balance the budget. They haven't done that. Absolutely, they should fight to fund -- defund Planned Parenthood, and I don't think the president should shut down the government simply to send our taxpayer dollars to this group. Mac +p2179 +aVTo repeal these unconstitutional illegal orders, whether it's amnesty or whether it's this president going around the Congress, whether it's in Obamacare, to restore the rule of law. I'd also go after these sanctuary cities, do everything we can to make sure that we are not -- that we are actually prosecuting and cutting off funding for cities that are harboring illegal aliens, and then finally making sure the IRS is not going after conservative or religious groups. I would sign an executive order protecting religious liberty, our first amendment rights, so Christian business owners and individuals don't face discrimination for having a traditional view of marriage. +p2180 +aVSocialist and government dependent. +p2181 +aVYou know, we've got a lot of great talkers running for president. We've already got a great talker in the White House. We cannot afford four more years of on the job training. We need a doer, not a talker. We also need a nominee, a candidate who will endorse our own principles. Jeb Bush says we've got to be willing to lose the primary in order to win the general. Let me translate that for you. That's the establishment telling us to hide our conservative principles to get the left and the media to like us. That never works. If we do that again, we will lose again, we will deserve to lose again. One principle, for example, we've got to embrace is on immigration. We must insist on assimilation -- immigration without assimilation is an invasion. We need to tell folks who want to come here, they need to come here legally. They need to learn English, adopt our values, roll up their sleeves and get to work. I'm tired of the hyphenated Americans and the division. I've got the backbone, I've got the band width, I've got the experience to get us through this. I'm asking folks not just to join my campaign, but join a cause. It is time to believe in America again. Mac +p2182 +asVMUIR +p2183 +(lp2184 +VWe will be tackling many critical issues right here tonight, and we begin with opening statements, in alphabetical order, and Secretary Clinton. +p2185 +aVSenator Sanders. +p2186 +aVSenator Sanders thank you and thank you all. We do have a lot of important issues to get here tonight and we want to address the controversy of the last 24 hours right off the top because we heard some of the most heated rhetoric of the campaign so far between two of the campaigns on this stage tonight. Senator Sanders, you fired a campaign staffer you have sued the Democratic National Committee; all of this after your campaign acknowledge that some of your staffers quote, "irresponsibly accessed data from another campaign." The Clinton campaign called this a very egregious breech of data of ethics and said, quote, "our data was stolen." Did they overstate this or were your staffers essentially stealing part of the Clinton playbook? +p2187 +aVBut Senator, you do mention the DNC -- the vender. But you said of your staff that they did the wrong thing. +p2188 +aVSo, does Secretary Clinton deserve an apology tonight? +p2189 +aVSecretary Clinton... +p2190 +aVSecretary Clinton, he has apologized. How do your react? +p2191 +aV(?): All three candidates are weighing in. +p2192 +aVGood let's move on -- Senator Sanders, let's move on right to some of those issues. It is just six days before Christmas, as we all know in this country. It's typically a joyful time, as it is this year, as well. But it's also an anxious time. President Obama has acknowledged that what we saw in San Bernardino was an act of terrorism. But we remember the president said, right before Thanksgiving, there is no known specific and credible intelligence indicating a plot on the homeland. We now know that this couple had assembled an arsenal. They were not on law enforcement's radar. They were completely undetected. So as we approach another holiday, with the president again saying, late this week, no credible threat, Secretary Clinton, how confident should the American people be, that there aren't others like that couple right now in the U.S. going undetected? And what would you do as president to find them? +p2193 +aV(inaudible) thank you. I am the very first post-9/11 mayor and the very first post-9/11 governor. I understand, from the ground up, that when attacks like San Bernardino happen, when attacks like the attacks of 9/11 happen, that when people call 911, the first people to show up are the local first responders. Many of the things Secretary Clinton said are absolutely true, but they underscore a lack of investment that we have, as a nation, failed to make over these last 15 years in intelligence gathering, intelligence analysis, intelligence sharing. Not only in theater, in Syria and Iraq and other places where we embalk ourselves in toppling dictators without having any idea what comes next, but here in the homeland, as we protect people from this threat of the lone wolves and these changing tactics and strategies. I believe that what's happened here is that the president had us on the right course, but it's a lack of battle tempo. We have to increase the battle tempo, we have to bring a modern way of getting things done and forcing the sharing of information and do a much better job of acting on it in order to prevent these sorts of attacks in the future. +p2194 +aVAnd we're going to break down these issues tonight, but I do want to go to Senator Sanders because the concern going into Christmas is significant, as you know. A new ABC News poll shows 77 percent of Americans have little or no confidence in the government's ability to prevent a lone wolf attack. How would you specifically find would-be terrorist who are going undetected? +p2195 +aVSenator, thank you. +p2196 +aVGovernor, we have to abide the rules here, we'll call on you here shortly, but... O' +p2197 +aVBut I do want pick up on something... O' +p2198 +aVWe will. +p2199 +aVBut let me just establish that for you, senator. Really quickly governor, we are going to call on you tonight and it's very clear you have a lot to say but please wait until you're called upon. And senator, he invoked your record and I'll let you respond. +p2200 +aVI'll let you respond. +p2201 +aVAnd you will get some to as well. +p2202 +aVSenator, thank you. I want to move on here. Secretary Clinton, you brought up Donald Trump a short time ago. +p2203 +aVSecretary Clinton, thank you. We're going to move on from guns here and go back to something you mentioned a short time ago. You brought up Donald Trump first here this evening. We've now seen the polling done well after his proposed ban on Muslims coming to America. Thirty-six percent of Americans, more than a third, agree with him. You have weighed in already on Donald Trump. You've weighed in on the proposed ban. But what would you say to the millions of Americans watching tonight who agree with him? Are they wrong? +p2204 +aVSecretary, thank you. Senator Sanders, I did want to ask you about a neighbor in San Bernardino who reportedly witnessed packages being delivered to that couple's home, that it set off red flags, but they didn't report it because they were afraid to profile. What would you say to Americans afraid to profile? Is it ever acceptable? +p2205 +aVBut I'm asking about -- I'm asking about profiling. Because a lot of people are afraid of that. +p2206 +aVSenator, thank you. +p2207 +aVMartha, we're going to turn now to refugees coming to America. And on the subject of refugees, more than half of all Americans now say they oppose taking in refugees from Syria and across the Middle East. Secretary Clinton, you have said that it would undermine who we are as Americans, shutting our doors. But New Hampshire's governor, where we are right here tonight, a democrat and a supporter of yours, is among more than 30 governors who are now concerned. Governor Maggie Hassan says, "we should halt acceptance of Syrian refugees until U.S. authorities can assure the vetting process, halt Syrian refugees." Is she wrong? +p2208 +aVBut a halt? +p2209 +aVGovernor O'Malley, obviously you were governor yourself at one time. What would you say to New Hampshire's governor tonight? Is she wrong on this? O' +p2210 +aVSo the idea of a halt or a pause? O' +p2211 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p2212 +aVI want to take this to Senator -- I'm going to take this to Senator Sanders next, because I think there... +p2213 +aVSenator, thank you. +p2214 +aVYeah, but, Secretary Clinton -- Secretary Clinton... +p2215 +aVSenator Sanders, Senator Sanders, hold on. One moment, please. I'm going to ask the secretary here, because there does appear to be some daylight here between the policies, at least in respect to when you take out Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Right now or do you wait? Do you tackle +p2216 +aVBut that's what he's saying, we should put that aside for now and go after +p2217 +aVShe says we have to proceed on both fronts at once. +p2218 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. O' +p2219 +aVGovernor O'Malley? O' +p2220 +aVBut -- you criticized -- you criticized Secretary Clinton for what came next. What's your proposal for what comes after Assad? O' +p2221 +aVSenator Sanders, please. Go ahead. Senator Sanders, a last word on this. +p2222 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. When we come back here tonight, the other major issues of this election: jobs, the economy, health care. Which candidates will make the best case for the middle class, as our coverage of the Democratic debate, here in New Hampshire, continues right after this on ABC. +p2223 +aVWelcome back tonight. As you can see, we have a packed audience here in New Hampshire and we're going to continue. We've already had a spirited conversation here at the top of the broadcast about +p2224 +aVWe're going to continue here, and Secretary, you'll get a chance on this too. But as I pointed out the CEO pay, 200 percent of their time -- for that family of just 2 percent. You've all said, "you would raise the minimum wage." But Senator Sanders what else - speak to that household tonight. 20 years, just a 2 percent raise, how as president would you get them a raise right away? +p2225 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. Governor O'Malley, what would propose that would be different, how would you get the middle class a raise and without waiting another 20 years for another 2 percent. O' +p2226 +aVGovernor, thank you. Secretary Clinton... As you were walking in, I was talking about the median American household getting a two percent raise over the last 20 years, that CEO pay in that same time frame has gone up 200 percent. So for those families watching tonight, how do you get them a raise if you're president? +p2227 +aVSecretary... +p2228 +aVSecretary, thank you. +p2229 +aVWe're going to -- we're going to... +p2230 +aVAnd we're going to talk about college education in a moment. But Secretary Clinton, I did want to ask you, the last time you ran for president, Fortune Magazine put you on its cover with the headline Business Loves Hillary, pointing out your support for many CEOs in corporate America. I'm curious, eight years later, should corporate America love Hillary Clinton? +p2231 +aVSecretary, thank you. Senator Sanders... I want to stay on this and ask you how big a role does corporate America play in a healthy economy and will corporate America love a President Sanders? +p2232 +aVSenator, thank you. I want to... Governor, let me just ask you, though, because it is an important question, how important a role do you think corporate America plays in a healthy economy here in the U.S.? O' +p2233 +aVGovernor O'Malley, thank you. I do want to ask you, Secretary Clinton. Let me just ask you... +p2234 +aVWe did -- we did -- Secretary Clinton, let me just ask you... +p2235 +aVAnd in particular... +p2236 +aVSecretary Clinton, thank you. +p2237 +aVSenator? +p2238 +aVSenator Sanders... +p2239 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2240 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p2241 +aVWe're going to get right into this Senator but I want to ask about taxes next. This is included. +p2242 +aVShe was asking about that... +p2243 +aVAre we back on health care - Secretary Clinton hold one moment. Senator Sanders... +p2244 +aVSecretary Clinton, please. +p2245 +aVSo let's ask about it. Secretary Clinton, let's turn to the taxes. +p2246 +aVThis is where we are going next, we are going next to taxes here... +p2247 +aVThis is fun. applause]This is democracy at work. Secretary Clinton, let me ask you about your tax plan because from the crushing cost of college education, the next question most families have; is will my taxes go up under the next president? You have said it's your goal not to raise taxes on families making under $200,000 a year a goal. But can you say that's a promise as you stand here tonight? +p2248 +aVA promise? +p2249 +aVSecretary Clinton... +p2250 +aVPlease. +p2251 +aVSenator, thank you. Let me bring in Governor O'Malley... +p2252 +aVYou've heard... +p2253 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p2254 +aVThank you. I want to bring in Governor O'Malley on this. We heard the promise from Secretary Clinton because people want to know about their taxes, will they go up. She has now promised here tonight not to raise them on families making $250,000 or less. Can you make that same promise if you're elected? O' +p2255 +aVGovernor O'Malley, thank you. A spirited debate on taxes. And there will be more with the Democratic debate in New Hampshire, when we come back right here on ABC. More in a moment. ( +p2256 +aVWelcome back tonight to New Hampshire. The Democratic debate continues here on ABC. And Secretary Clinton, we want to turn to race, now, in America. There is a real concern in this country from Black Lives Matter and from other community groups that we're just now seeing, with smartphones and cell phones, what many have been dealing with for years when they come in contact with police. But you also have many in law enforcement who now say there has been a so-called Ferguson effect, police holding back because they're afraid of backlash. +p2257 +aVIn fact, the FBI director is calling it a chill wind blowing through American law enforcement. So, if elected president, how would you bridge the divide between the two? +p2258 +aVSecretary, thank you. +p2259 +aVGovernor O'Malley, how would you bridge the divide? O' +p2260 +aVGovernor, thank you. And Senator Sanders, when you hear the FBI director calling it a chill wind blowing through American law enforcement, does that concern you as well when you -- +p2261 +aVSenator, thank you. We want to turn now to an issue. This next issue has destroyed so many families across the country, and in particular right here in New Hampshire, heroin. And there's a stunning new figure out. A recent poll -- 48 percent here, in this state alone, say they know someone who has abused heroin. We're going to turn tonight to Dan Tuohy of the New Hampshire Union Leader who has this question. +p2262 +aVSenator Sanders, I'm going to take this to you first because you've seen what's happened with heroin right on the border in your own state. +p2263 +aVSenator, thank you. Secretary Clinton? +p2264 +aVSecretary, thank you. O' +p2265 +aVGovernor O'Malley, thank you. Martha? +p2266 +aVI do want to follow up here for each of you. And a similar line of questioning. Senator Sanders, your wife Jane shares an office at your campaign headquarters in Burlington. We've seen the pictures, the desks right next to each other. Would she have a desk close by in the west wing? +p2267 +aVSenator, thank you. Governor O'Malley -- Governor O'Malley, you have talked about your wife, Katie, here tonight. She's a district court judge. And the question for you is, would she have to give that up as first lady, or will she share an office in the west wing as well? O' +p2268 +aVGovernor O'Malley, thank you, (inaudible). O' +p2269 +aVGovernor, thank you. We'll be back with much more from New Hampshire. The Democratic debate continues right after this. ( +p2270 +aVWelcome back tonight. It's been an evening of lively discussion among the candidates and it's time for closing statements. We began in alphabetical order, so we'll reverse the order at the end and begin with you, Senator Sanders. +p2271 +aVGovernor, thank you. Secretary Clinton? +p2272 +asVWALLACE +p2273 +(lp2274 +VAlso of note, Fox News is partnering for tonight's debate with Facebook. For the past several weeks, we've been asking you for questions for the candidates on Facebook. Nearly 6 million of you, 6 million, viewed the debate videos on our site, and more than 40,000 of you submitted questions: some of which you will hear us asking the candidates tonight. +p2275 +aVKentucky Senator Rand Paul. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. And your very own governor of Ohio... ... John Kasich. +p2276 +aVBrett -- Brett, I think you would call that a home field advantage. +p2277 +aVSenator Rubio, when Jeb Bush announced his candidacy for presidency, he said this: "There's no passing off responsibility when you're a governor, no blending into the legislative crowd." Could you please address Governor Bush across the stage here, and explain to him why you, someone who has never held executive office, are better prepared to be president than he is, a man who you say did a great job running your state of Florida for eight years. +p2278 +aVSenator Cruz, your colleague, Senator Paul, right there next to you, said a few months ago he agrees with you on a number of issues, but he says you do nothing to grow the party. He says you feed red meat to the base, but you don't reach out to minorities. You have a toxic relationship with GOP leaders in Congress. You even called the Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell a liar recently. How can you win in 2016 when you're such a divisive figure? +p2279 +aVGovernor Huckabee, like Governor Walker, you have staked out strong positions on social issues. You favor a constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage. You favor a constitutional amendment banning abortions, except for the life of the mother. Millions of people in this country agree with you, but according to the polls, and again this an electability question, according to the polls, more people don't, so how do you persuade enough Independents and Democrats to get elected in 2016? +p2280 +aVGentlemen, we're turning to a new subject that all of you have been talking about and some of you have been disagreeing about, and that is the issue of immigration. Governor Bush, you released a new plan this week on illegal immigration focusing on enforcement, which some suggest is your effort to show that you're not soft on that issue. I want to ask you about a statement that you made last year about illegal immigrants. And here's what you said. "They broke the law, but it's not a felony, it's an act of love. It's an act of commitment to your family." Do you stand by that statement and do you stand by your support for earned legal status? +p2281 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, it has not escaped anybody's notice that you say that the Mexican government, the Mexican government is sending criminals -- rapists, drug dealers, across the border. Governor Bush has called those remarks, quote, "extraordinarily ugly." I'd like you -- you're right next to him -- tell us -- talk to him directly and say how you respond to that and -- and you have repeatedly said that you have evidence that the Mexican government is doing this, but you have evidence you have refused or declined to share. Why not use this first Republican presidential debate to share your proof with the American people? +p2282 +aVMr. Trump, I'll give you 30 seconds -- I'll give you 30 seconds to answer my question, which was, what evidence do you have, specific evidence that the Mexican government is sending criminals across the border? Thirty seconds. +p2283 +aVAll right. Obviously there's a lot more to talk about this. We're going to have more questions for the candidates on illegal immigration, plus other key topics including your questions on Facebook. +p2284 +aVWelcome back to FOX News/Facebook Republican Debate Night. We're going to continue the questions now on illegal immigration. We kind of ended with a cliffhanger there. So let's continue the conversation. Governor Kasich, I know you don't like to talk about Donald Trump. But I do want to ask you about the merit of what he just said. When you say that the American government is stupid, that the Mexican government is sending criminals, that we're being bamboozled, is that an adequate response to the question of illegal immigration? +p2285 +aVRespectfully, can we talk about illegal immigration? +p2286 +aVAll right, well, Senator Rubio, let me see if I can do better with you. Is it as simple as our leaders are stupid, their leaders are smart, and all of these illegals coming over are criminals? +p2287 +aVGovernor Walker. Governor Walker, from 2002 until as recently as 2013, just two years ago, you supported comprehensive immigration reform, including a path to citizenship. Now you say that was a quick reaction to something you hadn't really thought about, and that you've changed your mind. Other than politics, could you explain why in the last two years you've changed your position on a path to citizenship, and are there other past positions that we shouldn't hold you to? +p2288 +aVSenator Cruz, some 1,400 people submitted questions on this very hot topic of illegal immigration on Facebook, and a number of them were about the murder of Kate Steinle in San Francisco, allegedly shot down by an illegal. Doug Bettencourt sent this question, "will you support Kate Steinle's Law," which would impose a mandatory five-year prison term for an illegal who is deported and then returns to this country? "And will you defund sanctuary cities for violating federal law?" +p2289 +aVGentlemen, we're obviously digging into some subjects in depth, but we're also going to change it up every once in a while throughout the next hour and have many rounds where we ask, you are not going to like it, only a couple of candidates questions on those subjects. This is the first of the many rounds, and it's about somebody whose name probably hasn't been mentioned enough so far tonight. Governor Kasich, let me start with you. Whoever the Republican nominee -- Whoever the Republican nominee is, it looks at least for now like whoever that nominee is, he or she, will be facing off against Hillary Clinton. You know how she will come after whoever the Republican nominee is. She will say that you, whoever it is, support the rich while she supports the middle class. That you want to suppress the rights of women and minorities. She wants to move the country forward while you, the Republicans, want to take the country back to the past. How will you, if you're the nominee, how will you answer that and take Hillary Clinton on? +p2290 +aVI know that all of you would like to answer this question, but we're only going to ask one other candidate before we move on to a different subject, Dr. Carson. Basically, same question to you. If Hillary Clinton is the nominee and she comes at you with that kind of line of attack, how will you take Iraq? +p2291 +aVGentlemen, we're going to turn now to the subject of the economy, jobs and money and the government. And Governor Bush, I'm going to start with you. You have made a bold promise in your announcement. You have promised four percent economic growth and 19 million new jobs if you are fortunate enough to serve two terms as president. That many jobs, 19 million, would be triple what your father and your brother accomplished together. And four percent growth, the last president to average that was Lyndon Johnson during the height of the Vietnam War. So question, how on Earth specifically would you pull that off? +p2292 +aVGovernor Walker. Governor Walker, when you ran for governor of Wisconsin back in 2010, you promised that you would create 250,000 jobs in your first term, first four years. In fact, Wisconsin added barely half that and ranked 35th in the country in job growth. Now you're running for president, and you're promising an economic plan in which everyone will earn a piece of the American dream. Given your record in Wisconsin, why should voters believe you? +p2293 +aVGovernor Christie, I want to engage you and Governor Huckabee in a subject that is a big issue in both of your campaigns, and that is entitlement reform. You say that you -- to save the system that you want to raise the retirement age -- have to raise the retirement age, and to cut benefits for Social Security and Medicare, and you say that some of the candidates here on the stage are lying. Governor Huckabee says he can save Social Security and Medicare without doing any of that. Is he lying? +p2294 +aVGovernor Huckabee? You say that changing entitlements, the kind of thing that Governor Christie is talking about, would be breaking a promise to the American people, and you say that you can keep those programs, save Social Security, save Medicare, without those kinds of reforms through a FairTax, which is a broad tax on consumption. Please explain to Governor Christie how that would work, and how you could save these programs without the kind of painful reforms he says we need? +p2295 +aV...Thirty seconds. +p2296 +aV...Alright, this is it. Thirty Seconds, finally. +p2297 +aVAll right. Enough. Mr. Trump. +p2298 +aVMr. Trump, you talk a lot about how you are the person on this stage to grow the economy, I want to ask you about your business records. From corporations, Trump corporations, casinos and hotels, have declared bankruptcy four times over the last quarter-century. +p2299 +aVNo, but the concept sir... +p2300 +aV... that's your line, but your companies have gone bankrupt. +p2301 +aVWell sir, let's just talk about the latest example......which is Trump Entertainment Resorts, which went bankrupt in 2009. In that case alone, lenders to your company lost over $1 billion and more than 1,100 people were laid off. +p2302 +aVIs that the way that you'd run the country? +p2303 +aVSo... +p2304 +aVSenator Rubio. Senator Rubio, more than 3,000 people sent us questions about the economy and jobs on Facebook. And here is a video question from Tania Cioloko from Philadelphia. Here she is. +p2305 +aVSenator, how do you answer Tania? +p2306 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. +p2307 +aVSenator Paul, closing statement. +p2308 +aVDr. Carson, closing statement. +p2309 +aVGovernor Bush, closing statement, sir. +p2310 +asVSMITH +p2311 +(lp2312 +VGovernor Huckabee, same question to you. Where do you see the country right now? +p2313 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Thank you, candidates. Moving to the world stage. The middle east is on the brink of chaos. Iran continues to provoke the United States, North Korea claims it's tested a hydrogen bomb, and Afghanistan is in danger of falling back into Taliban hands. Critics of the administration say it's all due to lack of U.S. leadership. To you, Mrs. Fiorina, how do you see America's role in the world today? +p2314 +aVGovernor Huckabee, in Afghanistan, the Taliban is strengthening. Attacks are on the rise and thousands more civilians have been wounded or killed. Much of the Taliban surge can be attributed to the withdrawal of U.S. forces there. You have expressed skepticism with the war there, saying you see no end game in sight. What, then, is your solution to the growing conflict there? +p2315 +aVAll right, thank you, candidates. We're just getting started. Jobs, Homeland Security, gun rights, all those issues are coming up straight ahead. We're live from North Charleston and the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back. +p2316 +aVAll right, let's get started. Senator Santorum, to you first. President Obama has urged technology leaders to make it hard for terrorists to use technology to escape from justice. Hillary Clinton says social media companies can help by swiftly shutting down terrorist accounts. The companies say that they're already working with law enforcement and any proposed legislation would do more harm than good. Should companies like Facebook and Twitter be required by law to more actively \u2014 be more actively engaged in fighting terror? +p2317 +aVSenator, would you \u2014 would you require anything of those companies like Facebook and Twitter if you were president? +p2318 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2319 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee, you called President Obama's executive orders on gun control unconstitutional and completely insane. +p2320 +aVYou even told gun store owners to ignore the President's orders. Yet, innocent people are dying from gun violence in cities like Detroit, Chicago, and Charleston everyday. Is there anything that can be done at the federal level to prevent guns from falling into the hands of criminals? +p2321 +aV +p2322 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p2323 +aVSenator Santorum, many of our military leaders believe America's critical infrastructure is vulnerable to a terrorist attack. This is the power in our homes, the water we drink, the Internet and phone systems by which we stay connected. If attacked, these essential services that underpin American society could come to a grinding halt. Do you have a specific plan to protect us from this type of attack? +p2324 +aVSenator Santorum, I want to stay with you on this, moving to jobs and the economy. In his State of the Union Address the other night, President Obama touted his record on jobs, citing more than 14 million new jobs and boasted of nearly 900,000 manufacturing jobs added in the past six years. Do you dispute his track record of creating jobs? +p2325 +aVGovernor Huckabee, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mike Mullen, has said the greatest threat to our security is our national debt. Our national debt is now on pace to top $19 trillion. Yet, you as well as Ms. Fiorina have laid forward no plan to reform entitlements. How can you say you're going to pay down our country's debt without cutting Social Security or Medicare? +p2326 +aVOK. We're going to continue this conversation. We're taking a quick break and then coming up, the candidates' plans for strengthening the middle class. We're live in North Charleston with the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back. +p2327 +aVAll right, thanks, Trish. Well, let's get started with Ms. Fiorina. Today, the middle class represents about 50 percent of the U.S. population, down from about 61 percent back in 1971. That's according to Pew Research. The same research revealed a widening income gap in America. The rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. What will you do to strengthen a middle class that is no longer the majority? +p2328 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p2329 +aVThank you, Senator. We're not finished yet. More Republican Presidential Debate in North Charleston after this. +p2330 +aVWelcome back, it's time for the closing statements. Candidates will each get one minute, starting with Senator Santorum. Thank you very much, I want to thank the people of Charleston, which has become a little bit of a second home to me, because I am very privileged to have two young men who go to the Citadel here and they're here tonight, my son John and my son Daniel. +p2331 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Governor Mike Huckabee. +p2332 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2333 +aVAlright, this debate will last one hour. Each candidate will have up to 90 seconds to respond to each question. One minute for each follow up. When your time is up, you're going to hear this bell. Alright, that's it, so let's begin with Governor Christie. Governor, economically, our country is struggling with some of the anemic growth we have seen on record. More than 90 million Americans are unemployed, or they are not in the workforce altogether. The number of people now willing, able, and wanting to go to work is at a level that has fallen to a level we have not been since the 1970's. For those that are working, wages aren't budging while other things, costs, like housing, remain high. As President, what concrete steps will you take to get America back to work. +p2334 +aVThank you. Governor Huckabee, we're here Wisconsin, a state that has seen the biggest decline in middle-class households of any American state. With more than 120,000 manufacturing jobs being lost in the last 15 years. As we move away from a manufacturing economy to a services based, technological economy, how are you going to help the millions of Americans that are stuck in this transition? +p2335 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee, you have characterized entitlement reform as both political and economic suicide. Taxpayers currently spend more than $600 billion per year on social welfare programs, with the intended goal of getting people back on their feet and working again. Today a record number of Americans aren't even looking for work. Are our social welfare programs, while well-intended, creating a culture of dependency? If so, how will you fix it? +p2336 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2337 +aVDo you have something to add, Governor? +p2338 +aVAll right. Let's, let's bring Governor Christie in next. +p2339 +aVAll right. Well, let's get the \u2014 let's keep the conversation going. Let's bring Governor Christie in here because we're talking about national debt, climbing toward $19 trillion, Governor. Our federal government employed nearly three million workers, our tax code is more than 74,000 pages long. If you're elected President, Governor Christie, what concrete steps would you take to reduce the size of the federal government? +p2340 +aVGovernor Christie, China is stealing our technology. China is pirating our intellectual property, and China's hacking into our computers, spying on American corporations, and spying on our citizens. China also slaps tariffs on U.S. goods, making it harder for us to sell our products. How are you going to stop them? +p2341 +aV...Alright... +p2342 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p2343 +aVAll right. Governor Jindal, thank you. All right. Well, we are not finished yet. More from the Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee, next. +p2344 +aVSo would you change leadership at the Fed? +p2345 +aVSenator Santorum, thank you. I have a question for all of you. Americans connection to the military has been increasingly fading. As a society, how do we restore that sense of duty, that sense of pride, that was the hallmark of the greatest generation. Again, I'd like to ask each of you, 30 seconds each, beginning with Governor Jindal. +p2346 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p2347 +aVGovernor Christie. +p2348 +aVSenator Santorum. +p2349 +aVAlright, thank you gentlemen. That does it, everyone, for the first debate here in Milwaukee. In just about one hour from now, at 9:00PM Eastern, eight more candidates are going to be taking to the stage. Right now though, special coverage of the Republican Presidential Debate, live from Milwaukee, continues right here on Fox Business. +p2350 +asVBAKER +p2351 +(lp2352 +VThe candidates on stage tonight were selected based on their standing in an average of four national polls. Those standings determining their position on the stage. And here they are. At center stage, businessman Donald Trump. Neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson. +p2353 +aVTonight's rules are simple. Up to 90 second for each answer. One minute for each follow-up response. And if a candidate goes over their allotted time, you'll here this. +p2354 +aVMs. Fiorina, while you've all pointed out how weak the current recovery has been and how disappointing by any historical standards, in the general election, the Democrats will inevitably ask you and voters to compare the recent president's jobs performance. Now, in seven years under President Obama, the U.S. has added an average of 107,000 jobs a month. Under President Clinton, the economy added about 240,000 jobs a month. Under George W. Bush, it was only 13,000 a month. If you win the nomination, you'll probably be facing a Democrat named Clinton. How are you going to respond to the claim that Democratic presidents are better at creating jobs than Republicans? +p2355 +aVThank you. Thank you. Senator Paul, income inequality has been rising in the United States. Fifty years ago, for example, the average CEO of a big corporation in this country earned 20 times the average salary of one of his or her workers. Today, that CEO earns about 300 times the average salary of a worker. Does it matter at all that the gap between the rich and everyone else is widening? +p2356 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2357 +aVSenator Rubio... +p2358 +aVYes, one quick comment, yes. +p2359 +aVGovernor Bush... +p2360 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor, you...You should let Jeb speak. +p2361 +aVMr. Trump, Mr. Trump, you yourself \u2014 you yourself said let Governor Bush speak. Governor Bush? +p2362 +aVSenator Rubio? Senator... +p2363 +aVSenator Rubio, Senator Rubio, let me \u2014 let me take you to a question that I think gets to the root of a lot of the anxiety that people have in this country. The economy is undergoing a transformation through information technology. Americans are anxious that the new economy isn't producing higher-paying jobs. Many are concerned that the new wealth seems to be going mainly to innovators and investors. Meanwhile, with factories run by robots and shopping done increasingly on smartphones, many traditional jobs are just going away. How do you reassure American workers that their jobs are not being steadily replaced by machines? +p2364 +aVThank you. Senator Cruz \u2014 Senator Cruz, entitlements. You've argued for raising the retirement age and reducing benefits for future retirees, but reducing any sort of benefits for the elderly has always been notoriously hard to do politically. When Speaker Paul Ryan proposed replacing traditional Medicare with federally funded private plans a few years ago, a liberal group responded with a commercial that featured a granny being pushed off a cliff. What's going to be different this time? +p2365 +aV...I said for future retirees was your statement... +p2366 +aVSenator Rubio. Can I just come to Senator Rubio? We're coming to you, Mr. Trump, in one second. I \u2014 I promise. +p2367 +aVSenator Rubio, your tax plan includes a large expansion of child tax credits to raise off (ph) the tax incomes for low-income parents. A similar tax credit that you previously proposed in the Senate was estimated to cost as much as $170 billion a year, according to the Tax Foundation. Isn't \u2014 isn't there a risk you're just adding another expensive entitle program to an already overburdened federal budget? +p2368 +aVGovernor Kasich? Let me come to Governor Kasich. +p2369 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p2370 +aVVery quickly, Senator. +p2371 +aVPlease. +p2372 +aV...Gentleman, we need to move on... +p2373 +aV...We need to move... +p2374 +aV...We need too... +p2375 +aV...We do need to move on. Mr. Trump... +p2376 +aV...Very quick. +p2377 +aVLet's talk about \u2014 No, no, Governor, I really must move on. I really want to move on. Mr. Trump, let's talk about the international economy... +p2378 +aV...We really need to move on... +p2379 +aV...No, governor, I promise I will come to you... +p2380 +aV...Listen... +p2381 +aV...Mr. Trump, can I ask you about... +p2382 +aV...the U.S. just concluded an international trade agreement with 11 countries in the Pacific. You've said that you'd rather have no deal... +p2383 +aV...than sign the one that's on the table... +p2384 +aV...Most economists \u2014 most economists say that trade is boosted growth, and every single post war president has supported the expansion of international trade, including the last three republican presidents. Why would you reverse more than 50 years of U.S. trade policy? +p2385 +aVThe \u2014 the deal, as you say, the terms of the deal were published \u2014 were published just last week, the details, 5,000 pages of it, and 80 percent of U.S. trade with countries in the Pacific, these countries, these 11 countries, is actually tariff-free, and these \u2014 the trade deal only affects the other 20 percent. Which \u2014 are there particular parts of the deal that you think were badly negotiated? +p2386 +aVThere was a separate \u2014 separate... +p2387 +aVBut isn't that \u2014 isn't that part of the problem? When I say, Senator, that if \u2014 if this deal is not ratified by \u2014 by the U.S. \u2014 by the Senate, then it would actually give China an opportunity to grow its economic leadership, which it's been seeking to do? And if the U.S. is unable to take part in this trade deal with these countries in Asia, China will take the lead? +p2388 +aVThank you. Thanks, Senator. +p2389 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich, I want to ask you about China, in particular hundreds of American companies have been subjected to cyber attacks from the Chinese military, yet state-backed Chinese companies, growing their presence in the United States, Chinese investments in U.S., which were nearly nonexistent a few years ago, are now over $50 billion. And as my newspaper recently reported, Chinese companies are planning to bid for one of the largest hotel chains in the United States, what would be the largest ever Chinese takeover of a U.S. company. Would you stop them? +p2390 +aVThank you, Governor. Plenty of opportunities. Thank you. Neil? +p2391 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate, live from Milwaukee. Now let's get straight back to the questions, and Governor Bush. Governor, Hillary Clinton recently said that if we had another financial crisis like the one in 2008, she wouldn't bail out the banks. Would you? +p2392 +aVBut, Governor, but can I just quickly \u2014 did \u2014 you can't seriously guarantee that there won't be another financial crisis, can you? +p2393 +aVEver? There will never be another financial crisis? +p2394 +aVDr. Carson, if I may, just on that point, despite measures taken, as the governor says, since the crisis to make the financial system safer, the major banks in the U.S., many of them are actually bigger than ever. Asset held by JPMorgan Chase, for example, the very largest bank, have increased by nearly 40 percent to over $2.6 trillion. Do you think JPMorgan and the other big banks should be broken up? +p2395 +aVBut just to be clear, just \u2014 just to be clear, then, you wouldn't \u2014 you wouldn't favor breaking up the big banks? You think they're big enough \u2014 they're OK as they are, as big as they are? +p2396 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p2397 +aVThank you. +p2398 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate. And now, candidates, it's time for your closing statements. You get 30 seconds each, and, Senator Paul, we will begin with you. +p2399 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p2400 +asVHOLT +p2401 +(lp2402 +VGood evening and welcome to the NBC News Youtube Democratic candidate's debate. After all the campaigning, soon, Americans will have their say with the first votes of the 2016 campaign just 15 days away in Iowa. And New Hampshire not far behind. Tonight will be the final opportunity to see these candidates face to face before the voting begins. Our purpose here tonight is to highlight and examine the differences among the three Democratic candidates. So let's get started. Please welcome Secretary Hillary Clinton, Senator Bernie Sanders and Governor Martin O'Malley. Well, welcome to all of you. Hope you're excited, we're excited. We want to thank our hosts, the Congressional Black Caucus Institute. I'm joined by my colleague Andrea Mitchell tonight. The rules are simple. Sixty seconds for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups or rebuttals. I know you'll all keep exactly to time, so our job should be pretty easy here tonight. We'll have questions from the Youtube community throughout the debate. This is a critical point in the race. You've been defining your differences with each other especially vigorously in the last week on the campaign trail. We're here to facilitate this conversation on behalf of the voters so that they know exactly where you stand as you face off tonight. Let's have a great debate. We'll begin with 45 second opening statements from each candidate, starting with Secretary Clinton. +p2403 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders, your opening statement, sir. +p2404 +aVSenator, thank you. And Governor O'Malley, your opening statement, sir. O' +p2405 +aVAll right. And Governor, thank you. All right, to our first question, now. The first question, I'll be addressing to all of the candidates. President Obama came to office determined to swing for the fences on health care reform. Voters want to know how you would define your presidency? How would you think big? So complete this sentence: in my first 100 days in office, my top three priorities will be \u2014 fill in the blank. Senator Sanders. +p2406 +aVSecretary Clinton, same question, my first 100 days in office, my top three priorities will be. +p2407 +aVGovernor O'Malley, same question. O' +p2408 +aVThank you. You've all... O' +p2409 +aVAll right governor thank you. We've all laid out large visions and we're going to cover a lot of the ground you talked about as we continue in the evening. The last couple of weeks of this campaign have featured some of the sharpest exchanges in the race. Let's start with one of them, the issue of guns. Senator Sanders, last week Secretary Clinton called you quote, "a pretty reliable vote for the gun lobby." Right before the debate you changed your position on immunity from lawsuits for gun manufacturers, can you tell us why? +p2410 +aVSenator, but you didn't answer the question that you did change your position on immunity from gun manufacturers. So can you... +p2411 +aVSecretary Clinton, would you like to respond to Senator Sanders. +p2412 +aVAll right, Governor O'Malley, you signed tough gun control measures as governor of Maryland and there are a lot Democrats in the audience here in South Carolina who own guns. This conversation might be worrying many of them. They may be hearing, "you want to take my guns. What would you say to them? O' +p2413 +aVAlright, Governor, thank you. Secretary Clinton, this is a community that has suffered a lot of heartache in the last year. Of course, as you mentioned, the church shootings. We won't forget the video of Walter Scott being shot in the back while running from police. We understand that a jury will decide whether that police officer was justified, but it plays straight to the fears of many African American men that their lives are cheap. Is that perception, or in your view, is it reality? +p2414 +aVYou time is up. Senator Sanders, my next question is... +p2415 +aV... It's actually \u2014 actually my next question is to you... +p2416 +aVSenator Sanders... +p2417 +aVSenator. Senator Sanders... +p2418 +aV... Just over a week ago the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus endorsed Secretary Clinton, not you. He said that choosing her over you was not a hard decision. In fact, our polling shows she's beating you more than two to one among minority voters. How can you be the nominee if you don't have that support? +p2419 +aVGovernor, I'm going to come to you in a second. Google searches for the words, "Black Lives Matter" surpassed, "civil rights movement". And, here in South Carolina, "black lives matter" was the number one trending political issue. +p2420 +aVAll right. Let's talk... O' +p2421 +aVLet's talk more about policing and the criminal justice system. Senator Sanders, a few times tonight we're going to hear from some of the most prominent voices on YouTube, starting with Franchesca Ramsey, who tackles racial stereotypes through her videos. Let's watch. +p2422 +aVSenator Sanders. +p2423 +aVWould you like me to read it back to you? +p2424 +aVProsecutors \u2014 "I believe there's a huge conflict of interest when local prosecutors investigate cases of police violence within their communities. Most recently, we saw this with a non- indictment of the officers involved in the case of 12-year-old Tamir Rice. How would you presidency ensure incidents of police violence are investigated and prosecuted fairly?" +p2425 +aVSecretary Clinton, this question is for you. Tonight parts of America are in the grip of a deadly heroin epidemic, spanning race and class, hitting small towns and cities alike. It has become a major issue in this race. In a lot of places where you've been campaigning, despite an estimated trillion dollars spent, many say the war on drugs has failed. So what would you do? +p2426 +aVAnd that's time. +p2427 +aVSenator... +p2428 +aVSenator Sanders, would you like to respond? +p2429 +aVThat's... +p2430 +aV... time. +p2431 +aVWe're going to get into all that coming up. O' +p2432 +aVBut we're going to take a break and we need to take a break... O' +p2433 +aV... and when we come back, the anger brewing in America. +p2434 +aVWelcome back to Charleston. Let's turn to another area where there has been fierce disagreement \u2014 that would be health care. Senator Sanders and Secretary Clinton, you both mentioned it in your 100-day priorities. Let's turn to my colleague, Andrea Mitchell now to lead that questioning. +p2435 +aVAnd that's time. We're gonna take a turn now. Secretary Clinton, in his final State of the Union address, President Obama said his biggest regret was his inability to bring the country together. If President Obama couldn't do it, how will you? O' +p2436 +aVThat's time. Senator Sanders, response. +p2437 +aVThat's time. But let me continue with the... +p2438 +aVSenator Sanders, let me continue, you call yourself a Democratic socialist... +p2439 +aVAnd throughout your career in politics, you've been critical of the Democratic party, you've been saying in a book you wrote, quote, "There wasn't a hell of a big difference between the the two major parties." How would you will a general election... +p2440 +aVHow will you win a general election labeling yourself a democratic socialist? +p2441 +aVYes, but senator, you can... +p2442 +aVAnd that is right. +p2443 +aVSecretary Clinton, our next question is for you. Here's another quantitative problem. +p2444 +aVAnd we're going to get into that coming up. But Secretary Clinton, here's a question from YouTube. It's from a young video blogger who has over 5 million subscribers. He has a question about the importance of younger voters. +p2445 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p2446 +aVThat's time... +p2447 +aVA quick follow up \u2014 a thirty second follow up. Why is Senator Sanders beating you to 2 to 1 among younger votes? +p2448 +aVWe're going to take... +p2449 +aVWe're going to take a break. When we come back; big banks, big business and big differences among the three candidates on the American Economy. We'll be right back. +p2450 +aVWelcome back from Charleston. Let's turn now to the economy. Senator Sanders, you released a tough new ad last week in which without mentioning Secretary Clinton by name, you talk about two Democratic visions for regulating Wall Street. "One says it's OK to take millions from big banks and tell them what to do. My plan, break up the big banks, close the tax loopholes and make them pay their fair share." What do you see as the difference between what you would do about the banks and what Secretary Clinton would do? +p2451 +aVSecretary Clinton, help the voter understand the daylight between the two of you here. +p2452 +aVSenator Sanders, your response. +p2453 +aVThat's time. Governor O'Malley... +p2454 +aVI have a question for you... +p2455 +aVThirty-second response. +p2456 +aVGovernor O'Malley. O' +p2457 +aVSecretary Clinton, 30-second response. +p2458 +aVThat's time. Andrea. +p2459 +aV... Senator... +p2460 +aVWe have got a lot to ground to cover here. Many Democratic voters are passionate about the need to do something to combat the threat of climate change, including the team of scientists from Youtube's MinuteEarth channel. Here's their take. +p2461 +aVSenator Sanders, Americans love their SUVs, which spiked in sales last year as gas prices plummeted. How do you convince Americans that the problem of climate change is so urgent that they need to change their behavior? +p2462 +aVGovernor O'Malley, 30 seconds. O' +p2463 +aVThat's time. We're going to take a break. +p2464 +aVWhen we return, the late-breaking developments regarding Iran. The threat of +p2465 +aVCharleston, Andrea Mitchell has questions now starting with Iran. +p2466 +aVSenator Sanders mentioned Russia a moment ago. Secretary Clinton, you famously handed Russia's foreign minister a reset button in 2009. Since then, Russia has annexed Crimea, fomented a war in Ukraine, provided weapons that downed an airliner and launched operations, as we just did discuss, to support Assad in Syria. As president, would you hand Vladimir Putin a reset button? +p2467 +aVWhat's your relationship with him? +p2468 +aVWe to want turn right now to the issue of balancing national security concerns with the privacy rights of Americans. That brings us to YouTube and this question. +p2469 +aVSo, Governor O'Malley. O' +p2470 +aVThat's time. You have all talked about what you would do fighting +p2471 +aVThat's a question to Senator Sanders. I wasn't clear, I apologize. +p2472 +aVBut in terms of lone wolves, the threat, how would you do it? +p2473 +aVWe have to go to a \u2014 we have to go to a break, and when we come back, we're going to get to some of the burning questions these candidates have yet to answer and are totally eager to talk about. +p2474 +aVAnd welcome back to Charleston. As we were going to a break, Secretary Clinton, I cut you off. I'll give you 30 seconds to respond on the issue of lone wolves. O' +p2475 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p2476 +aVAnd Andrea has a follow-up. O' +p2477 +aVAll right, that's time, and \u2014 and we do......we do have to move on. Secretary Clinton, this is the first time... +p2478 +aVThirty \u2014 30 \u2014 30 seconds, Senator. +p2479 +aVAll right. Secretary Clinton......this is the first time that a spouse of a former president could be elected president. You have said that President Clinton would advise you on economic issues, but be specific, if you can. Are you talking about a kitchen-table role on economics, or will he have a real policy role? +p2480 +aVSenator sanders, a 30 second response, sir. +p2481 +aVWe will take a break. We'll continue from Charleston right after this. +p2482 +aVWelcome back everybody. Finally, before we go tonight, we set out here to understand points of differences between you. We believe we've learned a lot here, but before we leave, is there anything that you really wanted to say tonight that you haven't gotten a chance to say. And, we'll start with Governor O'Malley. Didn't see that coming, did you? O' +p2483 +aVSixty seconds, we'd appreciate it. O' +p2484 +aVAnd that's time. O' +p2485 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p2486 +aVAnd that's time. +p2487 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders? +p2488 +asVBROWNLEE +p2489 +(lp2490 +VHi, my name Marques Brownlee, and I've been making YouTube videos about electronics and gadgets for the past seven years. I think America's future success is tied to getting all kinds of tech right. Tech companies are responsible for the encryption technology to protect personal data, but the government wants a back door into that information. So do you think it's possible to find common ground? And where do you stand on privacy versus security? +p2491 +asVHUCKABEE +p2492 +(lp2493 +VWell, John, I don't really have any weaknesses that I can think of. But my wife is down here in the front, and I'm sure, if you'd like to talk to her later, she can give you more than you'll ever be able to take care of. If I have a weakness, it's that I try to live by the rules. I try to live by the rules, no matter what they are, and I was brought up that way as a kid. Play by the rules. And I'll tell you what a weakness is of this country: there are a lot of people who are sick and tired because Washington does not play by the same rules that the American people have to play by. +p2494 +aVWell, I would really appreciate that. First of all, yes, we've stolen. Yes, we've lied to the American people about Social Security, and Medicare. But, you know what we're not telling them? It's their money. This isn't the governments money. This is not entitlement, it's not welfare. This is money that people have confiscated out of their paychecks. Everytime they got a paycheck, the government reached in and took something out of it before they ever saw it. Now, we're going to blame the people. Today congress decided to take another $150 billion dollars away from Social Security so they can borrow more money. That makes no sense to everybody. And, they're always going to say, "Well, we're going to fix this one day." No their not. It's like a 400 pound man saying, "I'm going to go on a diet, but I'm eating a sack of Krispy Kremes before I do." And, people are sick of believing that the government is never going to really address this. But, let me tell you who not to blame. Let's quit blaming the people on Social Security. Let's quit making it a problem for them. It's like them getting mugged, and then us saying, well, we're going to mug you some more. You ought to just be able to get over it, get used to it... +p2495 +aV...No, sir... +p2496 +aV...we need to honor our promises... +p2497 +aV...before I go. This is the only time I've had a chance, let me finish. +p2498 +aV...This is a matter not of math, this is a matter of morality. If this country that does not keep its promise to seniors then what promise can this country hope to be trusted to keep? And, the fact is, none of them. [ +p2499 +aVAnd, the only way \u2014 no... +p2500 +aV...Chris... +p2501 +aV...Chris... +p2502 +aVSince he brought me up, do I not get to respond? +p2503 +aVJohn, listen, let's keep in mind that for one-third of the 60 million Americans on Social Security it represents 90 percent of their income. And, when I hear people talking about means testing, let's just remember what that means. If we means test Social Security, it means that the government decides whether or not I deserve it. If a person lives in a seven room house, does the government get to say you don't need seven rooms, we're going to take two of them away? Folks, the government has no business stealing even more from the people who have paid this in. I just want to remind you, people paid their money. They expect to have it. And, if this government doesn't pay it, than tell me what's different between the government and Bernie Madolf, who sits in prison today for doing less than what the government has done to the people on social security and Medicare in this country. +p2504 +aVI don't think it's so much about when the government orders a corporation to do something. In fact, that's part of the problem. If you saw that blimp that got cut loose from Maryland today, it's a perfect example of government. I mean, what we had was something the government made \u2014 basically a bag of gas \u2014 that cut loose, destroyed everything in its path, left thousands of people powerless, but they couldn't get rid of it because we had too much money invested in it, so we had to keep it. That is our government today. We saw it in the blimp. That's exactly what we saw. So look, corporations ought to exercise some responsibility. When CEO income has risen 90 percent above the average worker, when the bottom 90 percent of this country's economy has had stagnant wages for the past 40 years, somebody is taking it in the teeth. And it's not the folks on Wall Street. I'm not anti-Wall Street, but I don't believe the government ought to wear a team jersey, pick winners and losers. +p2505 +aVThe government ought to wear a striped shirt and just make sure the game... +p2506 +aV...is paid \u2014 played fairly. +p2507 +aVNow, everybody else has fudged their time and gone over, so please, don't cut me off too quick, Becky. +p2508 +aVLet me just close it out this way. +p2509 +aVWe need to be focusing on what fixes this country. And I'll tell you one thing that we never talk about \u2014 we haven't talked about it tonight. Why aren't we talking about \u2014 instead of cutting benefits for old people, cutting benefits for sick people \u2014 why don't we say, "let's cure the four big cost-driving diseases... +p2510 +aV..."diabetes, heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer's?" +p2511 +aVIf you do that, you don't just change the economy, you transform the lives of millions of hurting Americans. +p2512 +aVGosh, I'd love for us to talk about something like that. Thank you. +p2513 +aVYou know, of the few questions I've got, the last one I need is to give him some more time. I love Donald Trump. He is a good man. I'm wearing a Trump tie tonight. Get over that one, OK? [ +p2514 +aVI don't know. [ +p2515 +aVI have no idea. +p2516 +aVYou're welcome. Let me tell you, Donald Trump would be a president every day of the week and twice on Sunday, rather than Hillary. I've spent a lifetime in politics fighting the Clinton machine. You want to talk about what we're going to be up against next year? I'm the only guy on this stage \u2014 you know, everybody has an "only guy" \u2014 "I'm the only guy this; I'm the only guy that." Well, let me tell you one thing that I am the only guy: The only guy that has consistently fought the Clinton machine every election I was ever in over the past 26 years. And not only did I fight them, but I beat them. Somebody says "I'm a fighter." Well, I want to know, did you win? Well, I did. And not only did I fight them and win, I lived to tell about it and I'm standing on this stage tonight as evidence of that. And I think that ought to be worth something. +p2517 +aVWell, and specifically to Medicare, Becky, because 85 percent of the cost of Medicare is chronic disease. The fact is if we don't address what's costing so much, we can't throw enough money at this. And it's why I've continued to focus on the fact that we need to declare war on the four big cost drivers because 80 percent of all medical costs in this country are chronic disease. We don't have a health care crisis in America, we have a health crisis. And until we deal with the health of Americans and do what we did with polio \u2014 when I was a little kid, we eradicated it. You know how much money we spent on polio last year in America? We didn't spend any. We've saved billions of dollars. You want to fix Medicare? Focus on the diseases that are costing us the trillions of dollars. Alzheimers, diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Eradicate those and you fix Medicare and you've fixed America, its economy and you've made people's lives a heck of a lot better. +p2518 +aVYou know, I know to a lot of people in the media, this is just a great big game, and we're the players. And, we come out here, and we do our thing. And, sometimes we're held up in contempt by people who write columns, but, I guarantee you to every person on this stage there's something deep inside of us that would cause us to give up our livelihoods and step out on this stage and fight for the people of America. I've got five grandkids. I do not want to walk my five grandkids through the charred remains of a once great country called America, and say, "Here you go, $20 trillion dollars of debt. Good luck making something out of this mess." And, for those of us who are serious enough to run for president, think long and hard why we're here, and hopefully you'll know we're not here for ourselves. We honest to god are here to get this country back on track. I know this, I certainly am. +p2519 +aV...Thank you. +p2520 +aVI'm Mike Huckabee. I'm delighted to be on this stage with some remarkable fellow Republicans. None of us are a self-professed socialist. None of us on this state are under investigation by the FBI because we destroyed government records, or because we leaked secrets. I know that there are some in the Wall-Street-to-Washington axis of power who speak of all of us contemptuously. But I'm here to say that I think we are, in fact, the A team. We have some remarkable people, and, in fact, not only are we the A team; we even have our own Mr. T, who doesn't mind saying about others, "you're a fool." And I'm delighted to be here with all of these guys, and would put any of them in an administration that I led. Thank you very much. +p2521 +aVI would certainly love to get in on this, because I think the single... +p2522 +aVI've been patiently waiting, and I'm going to just say this about Iran. +p2523 +aVBecause I think it is incredibly important. This is really about the survival of Western civilization. This is not just a little conflict with a Middle Eastern country that we've just now given over $100 billion to, the equivalent in U.S. terms is $5 trillion. This threatens Israel immediately, this threatens the entire Middle East, but it threatens the United States of America. And we can't treat a nuclear Iranian government as if it is just some government that would like to have power. This is a government for 36 years has killed Americans, they kidnapped Americans, they have maimed Americans. They have sponsored terrorist groups, Hamas and Hezbollah, and they threaten the very essence of Western civilization. To give them this agreement, that the president treats like the Magna Carta, but Iranians treat it like it's toilet paper, and we must, simply, make it very clear that the next president, one of us on this stage, will absolutely not honor that agreement, and will destroy it and will be tough with Iran, because otherwise, we put every person in this world in a very dangerous place. +p2524 +aVNo, I don't think he's on the wrong side of such an issue. Jeb is a friend. I'm not up here to fight with Jeb or to fight with anybody else. But I am here to fight for somebody who is a county clerk elected under the Kentucky constitution that 75 percent of the people of that state had voted for that said that marriage was between a man and a woman. The Supreme Court in a very, very divided decision decided out of thin air that they were just going to redefine marriage. It's a decision that the other justices in dissent said they didn't have and there wasn't a constitutional shred of capacity for them to do it. I thought that everybody here passed ninth-grade civics. The courts cannot legislate. That's what Roberts said. But heck, it's what we learned in civics. The courts can't make a law. They can interpret one. They can review one. They can't implement it. They can't force it. But here's what happened: Because the courts just decided that something was going to be and people relinquished it and the other two branches of government sat by silently \u2014 I thought we had three branches of government, they were all equal to each other, we have separation of powers, and we have checks and balances. If the court can just make a decision and we just all surrender to it, we have what Jefferson said was judicial tyranny. The reason that this is a real issue that we need to think about... +p2525 +aVNo, no. Let me finish this one thought, Jake. I haven't gotten that much time, so I'm going to take just what little I can here. We made accommodation to the Fort Hood shooter to let him grow a beard. We made accommodations to the detainees at Gitmo \u2014 I've been to Gitmo, and I've seen the accommodations that we made to the Muslim detainees who killed Americans. You're telling me that you cannot make an accommodation for an elected Democrat county clerk from Rowan County, Kentucky? What else is it other than the criminalization of her faith and the exaltation of the faith of everyone else who might be a Fort Hood shooter or a detainee at Gitmo? +p2526 +aVI have a different idea. I think we ought to get rid of all the taxes on people who produce. Why should we penalize productivity? And it's why I'm an unabashed supporter of the "fair tax," which would be a tax on our consumption, rather than a tax on our productivity. In other words, you're not going to tax anybody for what they earn, whether it's worker whose working by the hour or whether it's a hedge fund manager. If they can produce something and bring capital and labor to create jobs, we need some jobs. And I think the "fair tax" makes more sense. Now, Jake, I've been listening to everybody on the stage and there is a lot of back and forth about I'm the only one who has done this, the only one who has done that, I've done great things. We've all done great things or we wouldn't be on this stage. But it occurs to me as we're sitting here in the Reagan Library that most of us would like to pay tribute to a guy who, when he got elected, didn't get elected telling everybody how great he was. He got elected telling everybody how great the American people were. And he empowered them to live their dreams, which is what I'd love to see us do by no longer penalizing the people who are out there working because they are taking a gut punch right now. +p2527 +aV...You don't want me operating on you, I assure you. +p2528 +aVJust today \u2014 just today, there was a new report that 50 different intelligence analysts have said that what they sent up the ladder was doctored by senior officials, so that they could give some happy talk to the situation that we face. I love the idea of a good intellectual capacity to deal with our enemies, but the fact is, if you don't have good intelligence that is reliable and honest, you won't have good intelligence and you cannot make good decisions. The next president is primarily elected not just to know things, but to know what to do with the things that he knows. And the most dangerous person in any room is the person who doesn't know what he doesn't know. +p2529 +aVAnd the reason Barack Obama has been dangerous to this country and we better elect someone who had some executive experience, is because we cannot afford another eight years having a person in the office who doesn't know what he does not know. +p2530 +aVYou better believe I will, because I'm tired of liberals always having a litmus test and conservatives are supposed to pretend we don't. Well let me tell you what mine would be. Number one, I'd ask do you think that the unborn child is a human being or is it just a blob of tissue? I'd want to know the answer to that. I'd want to know do you believe in the First Amendment, do you believe that religious liberty is the fundamental liberty around which all the other freedoms of this country are based? And I'd want to know do you really believe in the Second Amendment, do you believe that we have an individual right to bear arms to protect ourselves and our family and to protect our country? And do you believe in the Fifth and the 14th Amendment? Do you believe that a person, before they're deprived of life and liberty, should in fact have due process and equal protection under the law? Because if you do, you're going to do more than defund Planned Parenthood. +p2531 +aVOne final thing. I'd make darn sure that we absolutely believe the 10th Amendment. Every governor on this stage would share this much with you. Every one of us \u2014 our biggest fight wasn't always with the legislature or even with the Democrats. My gosh, half the time, it was with the federal government who apparently never understood \u2014 +p2532 +aV\u2014 that if it's not reserved in the Constitution, then the 10th Amendment says it's left to the states. But somebody forgot to send a memo to Washington. +p2533 +aVJake? Jake? +p2534 +aVI think we need to remember that there are maybe some controversies about autism, but there is no controversy about the things that are really driving the medical costs in this country. And I would really believe that the next president ought to declare a war on cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer's, because those are the four things that are causing the greatest level of cost. John Kennedy said, "we'll go to the moon in a decade and bring a man back," and we did it. I grew up in the '50s. I remember the polio vaccine. We saved billions of dollars since that time, because we haven't had to treat for polio. Why doesn't this country focus on cures rather than treatment? Why don't we put a definitive focus scientifically on finding the cure for cancer, for heart disease, for diabetes and for Alzheimer's, a disease alone that will cost us \u2014 +p2535 +aV$1.1 trillion by the year 2050. We change the economy and the country. +p2536 +aVThat's an easy one. I'd put my wife on there. I've been married to her 41 years. She's fought cancer and lived through it. She's raised three kids, five great grandkids, and she's put up with me. I mean, who else could possibly be on that money other than my wife. And that way, she could spend her own money with her face. +p2537 +aVI'd go with Duck Hunter. +p2538 +aVAt the end of my presidency I would like to believe that the world would be a safe place, and there wouldn't be the threats. not only to the U.S., but to Israel and our allies, because we would have the most incredible well-trained, well-equipped, well- prepared military in the history of mankind. And they would know that the commander-in-chief would never send them to a mission without all the resources necessary, but people wouldn't bully us anymore. Because they would know that that would be an invitation to their destruction. Domestically, we would be operating under a tax system that eliminated the IRS. People wouldn't be punished for their work, and for what they produced. And life would be really deemed precious. Abortion would be no more. It would be as much of a scourge in our past as slavery is. And we would have a peaceful country, where people respected each other and people respected law enforcement. And we would focus on cures. And we would make this country not only safe from our enemies without, but safe from the enemies within. And it would be a good place to raise our kids and our grandkids. +p2539 +aVChris, I disagree with the idea that the real issue is a constitutional amendment. That's a long and difficult process. I've actually taken the position that's bolder than that. A lot of people are talking about defunding planned parenthood, as if that's a huge game changer. I think it's time to do something even more bold. I think the next president ought to invoke the Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the constitution now that we clearly know that that baby inside the mother's womb is a person at the moment of conception. The reason we know that it is is because of the DNA schedule that we now have clear scientific evidence on. And, this notion that we just continue to ignore the personhood of the individual is a violation of that unborn child's Fifth and 14th Amendment rights for due process and equal protection under the law. It's time that we recognize the Supreme Court is not the Supreme Being, and we change the policy to be pro-life and protect children instead of rip up their body parts and sell them like they're parts to a Buick. +p2540 +aVNot me. But you're welcome to give me a check, Donald if you'd like. +p2541 +aVIt's not too big to shrink. But the problem is we have a Wall Street-to-Washington axis of power that has controlled the political climate. The donor class feeds the political class who does the dance that the donor class wants. And the result is federal government keeps getting bigger. Every person on this stage who has been a governor will tell that you the biggest fight they had was not the other party. Wasn't even the legislature. It was the federal government, who continually put mandates on the states that we had to suck up and pay for. And the fact is there are a lot of things happening at the federal level that are absolutely beyond the jurisdiction of the Constitution. This is power that should be shifted back to the states, whether it's the EPA, there is no role at the federal level for the Department of Education. And I'm still one who says that we can get rid of the Internal Revenue Service if we would pass the FairTax, which is a tax on consumption rather than a tax on people's income, and move power back where the founders believed it should have been all along. +p2542 +aVWell, let's all be reminded, 60 million Americans are on Social Security, 60 million. A third of those people depend on 90% of their income from Social Security. Nobody in this country is on Social Security because they made the decision when they were starting work at 14 that they wanted to trust some of their money with the government. The government took it out of their check whether they wanted them to or not. And, if person goes to 65, they're going to spend 51 years with the government reaching into their pocket at every paycheck. Now, here's the point, whose fault is it that the system is screwed up? Is it the recipients, or is it the government? And, if Congress wants to mess with the retirement program, why don't we let them start by changing their retirement program, and not have one, instead of talking about getting rid of Social Security and Medicare that was robbed $700 billion dollars to pay for Obamacare. It's always that the government figures that they can do this off the backs of people, many of whom are poor, and depend on that money, and I just think it's fundamentally lying to the people and stealing from them, and we shouldn't be doing it. +p2543 +aVWell, you ask about how we fund it. One of the reasons that Social Security is in so much trouble is that the only funding stream comes from people who get a wage. The people who get wages is declining dramatically. Most of the income in this country is made by people at the top who get dividends and -- and capital gains. The FairTax transforms the process by which we fund Social Security and Medicare because the money paid in consumption is paid by everybody, including illegals, prostitutes, pimps, drug dealers, all the people that are freeloading off the system now. That's why it ought to be a transformed system. +p2544 +aVRonald Reagan said "trust, but verify." President Obama is "trust, but vilify." He trusts our enemies and vilifies everyone who disagrees with him. And the reason we disagree with him has nothing to do with party. +p2545 +aVIt has to do with the incredibly dangerous place that this world is gonna be as a result of a deal in which we got nothing. We didn't even get four hostages out. We got nothing, and Iran gets everything they want. We said we would have anywhere, anytime negotiations and inspections, we gave that up. We said that we would make sure that they didn't have any nuclear capacity, we gave that up. The president can't tell us what we got. I'll tell you what the world got. The world has a burgeoning nuclear power that didn't, as the Soviets, say "we might defend ourselves in a war." What the Iranians have said is, "we will wipe Israel off the face of the map, and we will bring death to America." When someone points a gun at your head and loads it, by God, you ought to take them seriously, and we need to take that seriously. +p2546 +aVThe military is not a social experiment. The purpose of the military is kill people and break things. It's not to transform the culture by trying out some ideas that some people think would make us a different country and more diverse. The purpose is to protect America. I'm not sure how paying for transgender surgery for soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines makes our country safer. We've reduced the military by 25 percent... ... under President Obama. The disaster is that we've forgotten why we have a military. The purpose of it is to make sure that we protect every American, wherever that American is, and if an American is calling out for help, whether it's in Benghazi or at the border, then we ought to be able to answer it. We've not done that because we've decimated our military. We're flying B-52s. The most recent one that was put in service was November of 1962. A lot of the B-52s we're flying, we've only got 44 that are in service combat ready, and the fact is, most of them are older than me. And that's pretty scary. +p2547 +aVIt seems like this election has been a whole lot about a person who's very high in the polls, that doesn't have a clue about how to govern. A person who has been filled with scandals, and who could not lead, and, of course, I'm talking about Hillary Clinton. I think America... +p2548 +aV...is in trouble, but it's not beyond repair. But it's going to take leadership who sees the greatness of this country, and who believes that once again we can be one nation, under God. I'll be my best to do that, and thank you for your support. +p2549 +aVI don't think it's that the message isn't working, I think it's the message isn't getting out because the message that I have this time, Bill, it's exactly what I said eight years ago. I talked about people who are standing on their feet on factory floors, people who lift heavy things, who sweat through their clothes, they're getting gut punched. They are not having a fair shake in this economy. I talked about that eight years ago, and I'm talking about it now. I talked about the importance of preserving life, of not just saying we're going to defund Planned Parenthood, but let's do something bolder. Let's get rid of abortion once and for all by applying the Fifth, and Fourteenth amendment to every person from conception because that means that we recognize that no person can be deprived of life or liberty unless they have due process. And, that's not happening in our country. And, I believe, and continue to practice that we need the Fair Tax to revive our economy. To make it so that people are able to be rewarded for their work rather than punished for it. +p2550 +aVYou know, I -- I would leave that to other people. I'm not going to get into an argument with all the New Yorkers, because there's a lot of them. This much I will tell you. I wish that some of those New Yorkers had funded as much of my campaign as they did the corporately funded candidates, but they didn't. And to be honest with you, when I say I'm -- wish they had, I'm glad they didn't. I'm not a New York-funded campaign. I'm not bankrolled by the corporatists, I'm not bankrolled by Goldman Sachs and Citibank and AIG and all the big brokers -- brokerage houses and the billionaires. I'm sponsored by people like Thomas, a part-time Uber driver in Pennsylvania who sent me $25 this week. He's between jobs. He's driving an Uber car. But he believed in what I'm talking about enough that, even on a limited, part-time income, he sent me $25 to help in my campaign. I'll stand with the Thomases of the world any day. I'll leave all the discussion of the big financiers to other candidates. But there's only a few of us in the entire Republican process who are not corporately funded by the same group. And let me just finish by saying, you want to know why things never change depending on whether Democrats or Republicans are in power, and why Republicans in Iowa and the rest of the country are so frustrated? The reason is, is because if you follow the money, the same folks who finance the Democrats finance the Republicans, and no matter what the speeches and the ads, they get the same results. If you want a different result, I'm available. +p2551 +aVWell, I don't trust him. I've never said I trusted him. But if somebody is willing to take a shot at the people we are taking shots at, I'm more than willing to let them use their own bullets to do it. But let's be very clear about how we take out +p2552 +aVNo, I don't think that it's impossible, but we're not going to do it by doing the same things we've been doing for all these many years. And, we've lost five million manufacturing jobs just since the year 2000. The other day I was in Newton, Iowa. It used to be a vibrant place where Maytag washers and dryers were built. Went out of business in 2007, all those shops went to Mexico. All those people lost their jobs. There was a guy in my forum that day, he lost his job. He still has never found an employment that got anywhere near the job that he had. Let me ask you, how many people do you think living around the Beltway know a guy like that? Care about a guy like that? Not many. And, that's because they're six of the ten richest counties in America that surround Washington D.C. People who live in the bubbles of the high finance world of New York, the government world of Washington, the entertainment world of Hollywood, don't have a clue about how hard people out here in Iowa are working every single day. And, I believe one of the values of campaigning in Iowa, you can't win unless you go out and talk to farmers and housewives -- and welders, and unemployed truck drivers, and I hate... ... That a president could become president who never met people who have to struggle to make a living and put food on the table. +p2553 +aVA lot of Americans are angry. And I think it's important to understand why they are mad. They are mad because they see a government that continues to do fine. They see people at the top. They are doing fine. But that person you asked Rick about a moment ago, that lady that's making 10,000 bucks a year, do you know what our poverty programs do to people? They keep them in poverty. They keep them in poverty because we have these arbitrary thresholds... ... that mean that if you go to work, you lose all the benefits for your kids, Medicaid, WIC, Section 8 housing, food stamps, and then your kids go hungry. I know a little about poverty. My sister is here tonight. Now both of us could tell you we did not grow up rich. My mother grew up in a house, oldest of seven kids. She had lived in a house that didn't have floors. Just dirt. No electricity. No running water. I resent it when people say, oh, people are poor because they want to be. No, they are not. Nobody wants to be poor. And that's a stupid, foolish thing, mean thing to say. People are poor because they don't know how to get out of the hole. And government shouldn't push them back in the hole which is what our policies do when they punish people who want to go to work and don't let them out. We can fix that, but it takes some leadership to get it done. +p2554 +aVWell, I didn't have a tax and spend approach. You got to understand where the Club for Growth comes from, a bunch of rich guys sitting around writing checks to go after people they don't like. And, they don't like me sometimes because I was fighting for the guys at the bottom, not just the guys at the top. I cut 94 taxes in a state that had never had a general major tax decrease in its history. I also was able to see per capita income growth in my state go up by 50%. I think that's a pretty darn good record. Look at the overall record and it was fine. But, it's not about stats from when I was governor. Look, one of the reasons I support the Fairtax is because it's the one thing, Bill, that would truly empower people at the bottom of the economy by no longer punishing them for their work. If a guy works an hourly job, and he works eight hours, gets paid for it, terrific. But, if he works 16 hours, he doesn't get a double paycheck because he's going to be bumped up into a new tax bracket, and the government will get more of his second shift than he will. So, we've actually punished him for being industrious, hardworking, and that is a foolish economic policy... ... that's hurting Americans about as much as anything. +p2555 +aVI honestly don't understand how anybody with IQ above plant life would honestly think... ... that we would be better off if we let the government have all of the private property and that the government would dole out what they thought we should have. I'm not "feeling the Bern," Bill. I'm not feeling it. And when Bernie Sanders promises these kids free college, I'm telling them, because I get asked, what about free college? I said, look, if we give you free college when you are 20, pal, you are going to be paying for it when you are 30, when you are 40, and when you are 50. There is no such thing as the government giving you anything. They will definitely make a mess of it. And I just think there are a lot of people who have never understood the basic understanding of economics, that you do not make people rich by tearing down those who are you providing jobs, and you don't help poor people by taking away. You give them jobs. Let them work. Let them earn. And then you let them keep the money that they earned. That's how we build a great economy. +p2556 +aVWell, this week there was a little dust up about a video we put together with the music of Adele, so I thought it'd be appropriate for me to begin tonight by saying, "Hello, Iowa. It's me." +p2557 +aVAnd, you know me. You gave me the largest number of votes in the history of the Iowa caucus eight years ago, and I think you did it because you trusted me, you believed that I had your best interest at heart. When I was governor I had a little plaque in my office in the Governor's office, and it simply said this. Come, let us reason together. I believe the next President needs to put that plaque in the oval office, and needs to lead this country by saying, "Come, let us reason together." God bless you, and thank you for your support. +p2558 +aVI wish I saw the country in the same place that the president presented it to be the other night in the State of the Union. He talked about how great the economy was doing. And I guess for the people he hangs out with, it's probably doing great. But the president should've stood in the line at the layaway counter at Walmart just before Christmas. He would have heard a very different story about the economy of America. I wish I could introduce him the lady who cleans the building where our campaign headquarters is located in Little Rock. Her name is Kathleen. She works all day at a local hospital cleaning, and then she goes to the building where a bank, and our headquarters, and other offices are she spends another seven hours. She works 15 hours a day. I guarantee you she's not working 15 hours a day because she loves scrubbing toilets, and sweeping floors. She's working that many hours because that's what it takes for her to make it work. And, she's not alone. There are people all over this country who are working like that. Many of them working two jobs \u2014 and they used to have one job, and that would take care of them. But, because of wage stagnation, which we've had for 40 years, because the fact that they're punished for working harder if they work that many hours. The government gets more of their second shift than they do. And, as a result there are a lot of people who are hurting today. I wish the President knew more of them. He might make a change in the economy and the way he's managing it. +p2559 +aVLet me put that in context. When I went to Afghanistan, I saw a land that looked like the land of the Flintstones. It was desolate. It was barren. It was primitive. And it's been that way for thousands of years. They want to take the world back to be just like that. We don't. We need to make a clear goal as to why we want to be anywhere in the Middle East, and I'll tell you why we want to be and need to be, is to destroy radical Islam and everything that threatens civilization. It's not just a threat......to Israel or to America, it's a threat to every civilized person on this Earth. And we need to be equipping not only the Kurds in Iraq, we need to be making sure that those who are willing to fight radical Muslims will do it, but we need to never ever spend a drop of American blood unless there is a clearly defined goal and we can't make sure we win unless we have a military that's the strongest in the history of mankind. We've got to rebuild our navy. It's the smallest navy we've had since 1915, when my grandfather got on a destroyer in World War I when he was in the U.S. Navy. We've got young men in Air Force B-52s, one in particular, he's flying a B-52 that his father flew in the '80s and his grandfather flew in the '50s. Those planes are older than me. We've got to have a military that the world is afraid of, use it sparingly, but when we do, the whole world will know that America is on their tail and they will be on their tail on the ground, never ever to rise up again. +p2560 +aVOnly if there is a concerted effort to destroy the advance of radical Islamists who are against us. As far as what are we going to make it look like. Frankly, I don't know what we can make it look like. You can't create for other people a desire for freedom and democracy. And frankly, that is not the role of the United States. The role of the United States military is not to build schools, it is not to build bridges, it is not to go around and pass out food packets. It is to kill and destroy our enemy and make America safe and that is the purpose we should be there if we're going to be there. +p2561 +aV Yes, I did. +p2562 +aVWell, why don't we start by making sure the Justice Department never does an idiotic program like Fast and Furious where the U.S. Government put guns......in the hands of Mexican drug lords......and end up killing one of our border agents. You know, they want to talk about law abiding citizens, I just find it amazing the President keeps saying the gun show loophole. There is no gun show loophole. I promise you I've been to more gun shows than President Obama. +p2563 +aVAnd, I've bought more weapons at them, and you fill out forms. The President also says things that it's easier to get a gun now than it is to grow trees. Again, I purchase guns, and I can assure you that it is much more difficult to purchase a firearm than it is to get the ingredients of a salad at the supermarket. What the President keeps pushing are ideas that have never worked. Ideas that would not have stopped San Bernadino, Sandy Hook, Aurora, and at some point you wonder if you keep retrying things that don't work, maybe we should just see if we could resell all those used lottery tickets that didn't work real well because that's the logic of just keep doing the same thing, but something that has failed. Of course, we want to stop gun violence, but the one common thing that has happened in most mass shootings is that they happened in gun- free zones where people who would have been law abiding citizens, who could have stood up and at least tried to stop it and we're not allowed to under the law. +p2564 +aVWell, we shouldn't be and that's one of the reasons that I think there a lot of voices in our country who are saying it's time to relook at the visa program. The European Union is a failure, it's not allowed for even the economic goals that they were trying to achieve. But, what we're not seeing is that it's making Europe less safe, and it's proven not to be exactly what they all thought it was going to be. Our first and foremost responsibility in this country, and the first responsibility of the President of the United States is protect America, and protect Americans. We have a President who seems to be more interested in protecting the reputation and image of Islam than he is protecting us. And, I want to be very clear......that this President. Makes comments like he did the other night, that we have to be so careful because we don't want to offend Muslims. He needs to read his own FBI crime stats from last year which would show him that of the hate crimes in the country, over 5,500, about 1,100 were religious hate crimes. And, of those, 58% were directed toward Jews. Only 16% directed toward Muslims. Maybe what the President should have talked about the other night is how we ought to be more careful in the anti-semitic comments that are going toward American Jews than toward Muslims because by three times as many......they're being targeted for religious hate crime. +p2565 +aVIt does not shut down international commerce, but it may slow it down. And, you don't want to slowdown commerce that is making us safer. It's worth it. This lady who came and joined with the San Bernardino killer had passed three background checks, and that's why a lot of Americans didn't buy it when the President said we'll bring in Syrian refugees, but don't worry we'll check them out. We have a lot of confidence in a president who told us that we could keep our doctor, we could keep our health insurance, and cost us less, and now the latest is if you like your gun you can keep it too, and frankly, we don't buy it. We don't believe it. He's lost his credibility, and his inept... ...inability to work with Congress and pass legislation has led him to do what I never even imagined doing as a governor, and that's just going and doing it my own way. That's why we elect a president, is to lead, is to be able to shepherd things through. And if I can do it with a 90 percent Democrat legislature in Arkansas, there is no excuse for any president not being able to lead in Washington if he knows what the heck he is doing when he gets there. +p2566 +aVWell, first of all, let's just remember that Social Security is not the government's money, it belongs to the people who had it taken out of their checks involuntarily their entire working lives. For the government to say, well it is fault of working people that we have a Social Security problem, no. It is the fault of a government that used those people's money for something other than protecting those people's accounts. So let's not blame them and punish them. But here is a fact, and I sometimes hear Republicans say well, we're going to have to cut this and extend the age. You know what I think a lot of times when I hear people say, well, let's make people work to their 70. That sounds great for white-collar people who sat at a desk most of their lives. You ever talk to somebody that stood on concrete floor for the first 40 years of their working life? Do you think they can stand another five years or 10 years, many of them will retired virtually crippled because they worked hard. And we're going to punish them some more? I don't think so. Here's the fact. Four percent economic growth, we fully fund Social Security and Medicare. Our problem is not that Social Security is just too generous to seniors. It isn't. Our problem is that our politicians have not created the kind of policies that would bring economic growth. And I still support strongly that we get rid of the 77,000 pages of the monstrous tax code......pass the fair tax, supercharge this economy with the rocket fuel that happens with the consumption tax and we don't have to cut Social Security to any senior who has worked their lifetime for it. +p2567 +aVLet me go back to the reason so many people are having a hard time getting ahead. The tax system punishes them. Think about this. If you work really hard and you start moving up the economic ladder, you get bumped into a different tax bracket. So the government thinks it deserves more of your hard work than you do. And it's one of the reasons that no matter how many different reforms you have to a tax on people's productivity, you're still taxing their work, their savings. You're taxing their capital gains, inheritance, dividends, you're taxing everything that produces something. And it's way I really believe it's time to do something bold, not something minute. This is no time for a tap of the hammer, a twist of the screwdriver. It's time for something big. That's why the fair tax transforms our economy. And we don't punish workers. It's the only way we're going to get middle class people moving ahead again, because the harder they work, the more they keep. No payroll tax deducted from their checks. They get their entire paycheck. And, one of the most important parts, it's built on the common sense with which we raised our kids, and trained dogs. You reward behavior you want more of. And, you punish behavior you want less of. That's how I raise kids, it's how I trained our dogs, and folks, it's not that difficult. We now punish the behavior we say we want more of by taxing it, and we reward the behavior that we say we want less of, so if you make a good investment, we punish you with a tax. If you make a bad investment you can write that off and the rest of the taxpayers will help subsidize you, and bail you out. +p2568 +aVWell, Rick, I'm pretty sure I did also fight the Clinton machine because every election I was ever in in Arkansas, I assure you, they were behind it, helping finance and campaign for every opponent. And I share with you the understanding that it's going to be a tough battle. But I spent the first half of my adult life in the private and nonprofit sector, raising a family, understanding how tough it is for people to make it. And that first half of my life is what led me to believe that America needs a different kind of leadership, not people who spent their whole life running from one office to the next, and living off the government dime. And I got involved because I got sick of what I saw. I also believe that there's got to be some leadership that not only addresses the monetary and military issues of this country, but the moral issues of this country. At the end of every political speech, most of us say, God bless America. But how can he do that when we continue to slaughter 4,000 babies a day? And I want to be the president that treats every person, including the unborn, as a person. And protect them under the 5th and 14th amendments of the constitution. I close with this word from a gentleman in East Texas named Butel Lucre. He's 100 years old and I met him down in East Texas. And he said this to me. "I sure wish, Mike, we had the days when The Ten Commandments were in all of our capitals and in every school, and we prayed again. You know, he may be 100 years old, but I believe some of those old ideas to get this country back where we unapologetically get on our knees before we get on our feet might be the best solutions we've ever sought as a country. And I ask for your support and your vote. Thank you. +p2569 +aVWolf, I want to say thanks to you and CNN for giving us the opportunity especially to focus on national security issues at a time when Americans are not only angry \u2014 angry at their government that they feel like has failed them, been indifferent to them, cost them their livelihoods \u2014 but they're in addition to angry, they're just plain scared. They're scared when they thing that they go to a Christmas party and get shot at by somebody who sat and had lunch with them an hour earlier. They're scared when they realize that our government, who promises that it can vet people and is begging us to approve bringing 10,000 Syrian refugees into this country, can't even catch somebody after a third background check, who had posted things on social media clearly indicating she wanted to kill Americans. And we couldn't catch that. We've lost confidence in our government. And when Americans lose confidence in their government, we're in a dangerous place. We're in danger because we have an enemy that is out to kill us, and we have a government that we don't trust any more. This election is about going back to having a government we can trust with leaders who have the courage and conviction to actually lead and not follow. +p2570 +aVWell, let me begin by saying I'm not that afraid of Donald Trump. And, in the sense that I'd rather him be President than I had Hillary be president any day. And so if he becomes president, I think he will do a whole lot more to protect us than Hillary will. And a whole lot more than Barack Obama has done in his eight years. So I want to make it very clear that when I was making that comment, I was simply speaking that I'm not sure that you can have a religious test per se. And it's very impractical because if somebody comes to our borders and says I'd like to come in. They say are you a Muslim? Well, they're \u2014 if they're going to come in here to kill us, they're not gonna say yeah, and I'm coming to kill you. They're going to lie about it. Anybody that will kill you, for God's sake, will lie to you. So that's why I say it's impractical. But what he has done, and I don't think a lot of people understand, he has touched a nerve because people are angry and afraid that we are facing an enemy that this administration refuses to acknowledge, refuses to want to go fight. And our only answer is to go after +p2571 +aVNo. I'm not taking it away, I just want to make sure that everything we use is going to be effective. We're spending billions of dollars, let's make sure it's effective. Let's use every tool, but let's also check out the Facebook posts, let's look at Twitter accounts. My gosh, we were told we couldn't do it because it might invade somebody's privacy. This lady who came over here and shot up San Bernardino was posting things on Facebook, yet, we were restricted from looking. Every college kid who goes to a frat party gets drunk and puts his picture on Facebook is going to have a potential employer looking at that photo before he gets hired. Why should we have more attention? I mean, for heaven's sake, towards some college kid who wants to one day ten years from to get a job, then we're going after who wants to come in with a semi automatic weapon or a pipe bomb and blow up a bunch of Americans. This is what I think a lot of Americans are frustrated with, it's the duplicity of our policy that is illogical and irrational. Our goal ought to be, "protect Americans and put Americans first not last," which is what I think this administration has done. +p2572 +aVNo, it does not violate their First Amendment rights to have someone go and listen to the sermons. You can go to any church in America, it's a public place, you can listen, and \u2014 you know, if you go to my church, you'll probably get a real blessing. Heck, it'll be a wonderful experience. You go to some people's church, you may go to sleep, I don't know what happens in every church, but, the point is that these are public places, and folks are invited to come. So, if it's a public place, and people are invited to come, how does it violate anybody's First Amendment rights that somebody shows up because they might want to just listen in and see is there something that is a little nefarious? And, if there is, then you take the second step of getting a search warrant, you do whatever you have to do. That's all protected under the constitution. So, Huge, I hear people act like there's something that is terrible about going and sitting in and listening to the sermons of a mosque. If Islam is as wonderful, and peaceful as its adherents say, shouldn't they be begging us to all come in and listen to these peaceful sermons? Shouldn't they be begging us all to come, and listen, and bring the FBI so we'd all want to convert to Islam? +p2573 +aVI don't disagree. I don't disagree with anything that the Senator just said because that's exactly right. But, I just want to go back to the point that when people say we can't go into the mosque, we can't listen. That's utter nonsense. Of course we can. And, if we can't, if there's something so secretive going on in there that somebody isn't allowed to go and hear it, maybe we do need for sure to send somebody in there and gather the intelligence. And, that's all to the world I'm saying, I think it stands to be true. +p2574 +aVThe way we defeat them ideologically is that we remind people that what their intent is is to kill us, and that it is our intent to use every means possible to get to them before they get to us. We are pretending that this is a war that is not that significant. We have a president who called it the JV team, said we had contained it. Nine hours after he said we contained it, there was a massacre in Paris. We've got to make it so untenable for somebody to join +p2575 +aVWolf, it may be sufficient, but rather than put a number \u2014 and I'm comfortable that we say 10,000, 20,000 \u2014 look, I think we make a mistake when we start telling the enemy what our limitations are. I think we make a huge mistake when we say we're gonna do up to this. I think what we say is, we're gonna do whatever it takes. If it's 10,000, if it's 100,000, if it's 3,000 sorties a day, if it's 5,000 sorties a day. We never tell our enemy what our limitations are, what we are willing and what we're unwilling to do. And that's one of the mistakes I believe that we're making militarily. But the biggest mistake we've made militarily is letting Barack Obama cut our defense forces by 25 percent and leaving us at the least prepared position we've been in since before World War II. We have to get our Military rebuilt from the ground up. And all over America I hear young people say, would you tell me what you're going to do? Would you give me free college? Will you make sure that I can have medical marijuana? You know what we ought to tell young people? We aren't going to give you anything. We're give you the opportunity to get off your butt and go serve your country and secure your freedom. Because if you don't, nobody else is. +p2576 +aVI'd sure want them to think we would. And I'd want to make sure that we did everything we could. But we can't do it with our current Military strength. We've got to build up and have the most robust, well trained, well equipped, well prepared and ample Military force in the history of the world because we're not fighting just a known enemy in one place. We're fighting people all over the world who can go anywhere. And the reason I say that is because if we tried to win this war on the cheap or we try to do it with the, "light footprint," we're making a huge mistake. When all of us were in grade school, one thing we all knew, the bully never picked on the kid except for the weak one. When all of us were in grade school, one thing we all knew, the bully never picked on the kid, except for the weak one. He never picked on the kid he knew, he'd whip him. We need to make to sure that we have the kind of military that +p2577 +aVWell, I want to be real clear, I don't trust Putin, I don't trust Assad. I'm not saying that I would endorse him for his reelection bid. The man is a tyrant, he's killed lots of people, but he wasn't killing Americans. And, the thing that I'm concerned about is that we have seen a complete destabilization, not only of Syria, but we've seen it in Yemen, that the President pronouncing great shape just before it collapsed. +p2578 +aVWell what we have done, and we created an impossible atmosphere. This administration has put more pressure on Israel to stop building bedrooms in Judea and Samaria than they've put on Iranians to stop building a nuclear bomb. And I'm just simply pointing out the obvious, that we need to recognize who our friends are, who our enemies are... +p2579 +aV... but I'm convinced... +p2580 +aVWell, first of all, it would be the Iranians. I would have never entered into this deal. I don't know why on God's earth that the senators gave it so that it was easier for Obama to have the agreement than it would be to make it a treaty. +p2581 +aVI would make sure that there was economic pressure put on them. Why not? Why should we fund every single battle against radical Islam? Why should we stand back and watch Israel get targeted, the United States get targeted and we watch with people with their hands in their pocket, and their hands in our pocket because we're getting them a lot of money. And let's say your hands can be in your pocket, you can stand still, but your hands aren't going to be in our pockets anymore. We're not going to give you another dime unless you engage the battle with us. We are not sending our sons and daughters, and grandsons and granddaughters to war to fight for your interest. You either get in with us or be on your own. But we're not gonna fight the battle for you. +p2582 +aVI wouldn't reinstate a draft, but, I think it's noteworthy that we are fighting all the battles we have with less than one percent of the American population. +p2583 +aVI wouldn't reinstate a draft, but, I think it's noteworthy that we are fighting all the battles we have with less than one percent of the American population. We have the lowest level of percentage of population participating in the military than ever. And they're over-deployed, they're over used, especially among our reserves and Guard troops. Any governor will tell you. +p2584 +aVWell, I would say that, if you want a college education, let's go back and reinstate the full-blown G.I. bill. You give something to your country; your country gives something back to you. We need to ask young people to step up and buy their own freedom because there's not going to be enough people left at less than one percent. And as my good friend Ken Howard, former Dean of the War College, has often said, we're fighting all the wars with other people's kids. And that's one of the things that's making us much less safe, is because we don't have enough Americans truly invested in the process of defeating our enemies. Therefore, I do think without a draft we do need to ask people to recognize we are at war. +p2585 +aVI'm not belittling their sacrifice, Lindsey, but I'm just making note that on the part of Americans we have sent National Guard troops over for an 18-month em \u2014 18-month deployment. They come back for five, they go back for another 18. We're wearing these guys out. They agreed to be citizen soldiers. We turned them into full time soldiers because we've not kept up the pace by recruiting enough people in the military to fully fill these forces, and that's what we need to be doing. +p2586 +aVThe horrors that those families have to go through, if that were my son, my daughter, I'd give my last drop of blood to get them back. You bet I would. Is it a good policy? No. It's a terrible policy because once we do it, we're only going to invite more and more hostages, more and more ransoms, and the diasters gets even worse. But I don't blame any of these families. You know who I blame? I blame a policy in our government that has made it so that families are so desperate that they're willing to pay ransom to terrorists organizations because they don't believe our government will fight the fight for them and they think they're out there on their own. My goodness people, this is America. When did we have to start telling people that you've got to bake your own bread in order to fight the battles? That's what we have a government for, it's what we pay taxes for. And I believe, those families ought to have a better expectation of what this government will do. We should never has sat at the table with the Iranians as long Sayed Abadnini is sitting in an Iranian prison. As long as the Washington Post report is over there. Until the four hostages of America were on an airplane safely out of Tehran. We should've told them, " we won't even walk into the room with you much less sit down and negotiate with you." That's what we ought to be doing. +p2587 +aVWe just need to take a real pause and all the people that coming here and we don't know who they are or what their affiliations are. What George just said is right. We can't take the risk. And why should we take the risk? And if it's such a doggone good idea to bring people here that we really don't know who they are and Obama thinks that we're being un-Christian to not do it, I've got a suggestion. Let's send the first wave of them to Chappaqua, Martha's Vineyard and the upper east side of Manhattan and to the south lawn of the White House where we'll set up a camp. Let's see how that works out. And if they behave wonderfully, that's fine. I want to say, I don't want someone lecturing me about what it means to be a Christian that I should invite a potential terrorist into my backyard. On one hand, the left says separation of church and state. Let's not have any discussion of religion, and then the left wants to tell me what it means to be a Christian. They need to figure out if they know more about being a Christian than I do, then tell me... On one hand, the left says separation of church and state. Let's not have any discussion of religion, and then the left wants to tell me what it means to be a Christian. They need to figure out if they know more about being a Christian than I do \u2014 then tell me. They are no longer going to say separation of church and state, but, we have the most fundamental right above everything else \u2014 is not to protect the reputation of Islam. It is to protect Americans first and foremost. That is our job. +p2588 +aVNo, because he did it unconstitutionally. Twenty-three times he's said he couldn't do it, and then one day he woke up and he found he had a pen in one hand, and a phone in another, and wow. That Constitution didn't mean much anymore. Look, President's can't just do what they want to do. That's the purpose of getting elected and working with other people who got elected, is that our system was designed to function with the power of persuasion, it's really what you elect a president to do. +p2589 +aV...Let me finish, Hugh. You elect him to lead which means that if you think it's a good idea to not punish the children for something their parents did, then you go to the members of Congress and you persuade them. And, you persuade the American people. You don't just jump up and shove it up the nostrils of Congress, and the American people because you think you have a superior intellect, and a superior will, and a superior theology than everybody else. Our system is not a system of tyranny. We don't elect kings, we elect servants. If I'm elected president, I don't consider myself to be elected to be the king of the country, but the servant of the country to work with other people who are elected to get things done that need to be done. +p2590 +aVThe terrorists don't win just because they kill us. The terrorists win when they make us change everything we do in our daily lives and alter our routines. And they're doing that, from getting on a plane to going in a building. And it is high time that we recognize that we have to take them out, not a little bit, but totally, because I want my grandkids to grow up not in fear, but in faith and in freedom. And if you give me the opportunity to be president of the United States, I will fight for your grandkids as much as I will for mine. Thank you and God bless you. +p2591 +aVWell, first of all, Trish, I don't know why we have to move away from manufacturing. The only reason we have is because... ...we have a tax code that has punished manufacturing. I hear a lot of people talk about the plans to simplify the tax code. I've got one better than any of the simplifications, it's called a, "Fair Tax", and it eliminates all of the taxes on our productivity. Here's what would happen. We'd get rid of taxes on people's work, so, we wouldn't punish people for working anymore. Yeah, we've lost five million manufacturing jobs just since the year 2000 \u2014 160,000 manufacturing plants have close in this country, which means a lot of people \u2014 that the governors talking about, he's exactly right. They don't have jobs anymore. And the reason they don't have jobs is because their jobs are in Mexico, they're in China, they're in Indonesia. Bring the jobs back. And with the fair tax, you do that, because you don't tax capital and labor and you bring a real sense of equity to the opportunity so that people will not only make it easier to function, they'll get the manufacturing jobs back. And here's the best part. We don't reduce the IRS, we get rid of the IRS. We completely eliminate them......because the government has no business knowing how much money we make and how we made it. It's none of their business. And that's why I believe that manufacturing is critical. If we can't feed ourselves, fuel ourselves and fight for ourselves, we can't be free. And by the way, fighting for ourselves means manufacturing our own weapons of self-defense. +p2592 +aVWell, Sandra, first of all, let me mention the fact that I think there's a big difference between welfare programs and what some people call entitlements. Namely, Social Security and Medicare. I just want to remind everybody out there who has ever had a paycheck, the government didn't ask you if you wanted them to take money out of your check for Social Security and Medicare. They did that involuntarily. Those are not entitlements and that's not welfare. That's an earned benefit. And by gosh, you paid for it. And if the government screwed it up, you shouldn't have to pay the penalty because of an incompetent government. That's different than the social programs that we've spent $2 trillion on since the War on Poverty began exactly 50 years ago this year. Now the reason we still have so much poverty is because it was never designed to get people out of poverty. It was designed to make sure that there was an industry of poverty, so that the people in the poverty industry would have a lot of jobs. But the people who are poor haven't been benefited. Having grown up poor, I know a little something about it. Nobody who is poor wants to be. That's a nonsense statement and I hear it all the time. Well, poor people ought to work harder. They're working as hard as they can, for gosh sake. But the problem is the system keeps pushing them down because, if they work, then they get punished. They lose all the benefits. When we did welfare reform in the '90s, you know what we did? We said you're not going to lose everything at once. There's not an arbitrary threshold. So as you move up the ladder from work and training, you'll actually always be better off than you were before. That's the American way. +p2593 +aVWell, I'd just like to respond, with all due respect to, to the Governor, to the state just south of me, I would say that a lot of us have cut things. And during the recession of 2001 to 2003, when 91 percent of our state budget was basically three things, educate, medicate and incarcerate, we ended up cutting 11 percent out of the state budget through that recession so we didn't have to go in and raise a bunch of taxes, and there were people who thought we should. So it's just not accurate to say that nobody else up here has ever cut. I believe every governor has probably had to make tough decisions. I'm, I'm guessing my colleague Governor Christie has, as I'm tossing him the ball like Arkansas did to Ol' Miss the other day. +p2594 +aVSandra, before we get too far away, he specifically brought out some things about the record that I need to correct. +p2595 +aVSandra, I've been concerned that this administration has not done anything to help stop the slaughter of Christians. We didn't help the Kurds, we said we would. But, the idea that we're just going to open our doors, and we have no idea who these people are \u2014 what we do know is that only one out of five of the so called, "Syrian Refugees", who went into Europe were actually Syrian. Many of them, we had no idea who they were. They weren't Syrian. Are we going to open the doors so that the +p2596 +aV...I'd like to get that opportunity to go... +p2597 +aVWell, since we're not going to answer the question, let me just remind everybody, tomorrow is Veterans Day. And here's what I would like to remind everybody. The VA has been a disaster in large part because the people in Congress have never bothered to fix it, and this president has certainly not... +p2598 +aVLet me finish, please. I'm going to ask you just this, what would happen if the Congress and the president had to get their health care from the VA? We would fix the problem and we would fix Congress. +p2599 +aVWell, thank you very much. I still want to go back to the fact that if we got rid of all the taxes on our work, got rid of the taxes on our savings, investments, capital gains, and inheritance, and made a zero tax, we'd pay at the point of consumption. Because why should we punish people for their productivity? And the fair tax doesn't punish people for doing well and building the economy. There's $31 trillion parked offshore. What happens if that money comes back to America? You'd think it'd goose the economy? I guarantee you it would. And that's why the fair tax is the best solution we have for economic growth in this country. +p2600 +aVWell, first of all, do you know an American that will just stop spending? I don't. No, that's not going to be the problem. Look, Americans will go to the marketplace with more money they've ever had. For the first time they'll be having their whole paycheck. You see, most people don't understand that when you buy something that is made in America, 22 percent of the cost of it is the embedded tax they never even know they paid. It's why China has beaten the daylights out of us, they can build stuff that we can't because they're not taxing it, when they don't tax capital and labor and we do. They bring something over here, it's automatically cheaper even without the regulatory environment because they're not embedding the taxes, we are. Take the embedded taxes out. Give a person his whole paycheck because every American would no longer have a payroll tax taken out. It means they'd see their real paycheck for the first time. When they go to spend that money, they'll actually have it. And they only pay taxes on the stuff that's new. So a lot of Americans will buy used stuff. Look, here's the point, Americans are not going to quit shopping. Americans are not going to quit buying. But it would be nice if Americans could control how much they paid in tax, rather than having the government reach into their pockets and take it out before they ever had a chance to even see it, much less spend it. And that's why the fair tax makes a heck of a lot more sense than punishing productivity and rewarding irresponsibility. +p2601 +aVWell, my wife's name is Janet and when you say Janet Yelling, I'm very familiar with what you mean. But, look, I think the Fed is in a big trouble because they haven't addressed the number one issue that's hurting Americans and that's the fact that wages for the bottom 90 percent of the economy have been stagnant for 40 years. In the 25 years after World War II, up to 1971, wages grew by 85 percent in this country. People were \u2014 were moving up in the middle class. There was a middle class. That's not happening any more, and in large measure, the Fed has manipulated the dollar so it doesn't have a standard. Tie the dollar to something fixed and if it's not going to be gold, make it the commodity basket. But here's what we've got to do. We absolutely have to get it where the people who go out there and work get something in return. And if the dollar keeps fluctuating, and this is as crazy as \u2014 as is the price of bread, well, the fact is, people can't get ahead then. +p2602 +aVAbsolutely. Absolutely, because what we need to is to make sure that they tie the monetary standard to something that makes sense, rather than to their own whims, because who's getting gut punched? It ain't the people in Wall Street, it's the folks on Main Street. They're the ones who's wages have been stagnant for 40 years. And the average American today has a total savings of 1,000 bucks. One root canal and they're in trouble. And if their car breaks down the same week......they're out of business. +p2603 +aVWell, I think thanking our veterans is a wonderful thing to do, but, they sure appreciate a better paycheck. They'd appreciate the fact that we kept our promises to them. The men and women in uniform put on the uniform of our nation, they went halfway around the world, they face dangers on our behalf, and we promised them if they did that, when they came home we'd take care of their medical care, we'd make is possible for their kids to go to college, and they'd be able to bind to a home. They kept their promises to us. We have not kept our promises to them, and today, less than one percent of Americans go to the military for service. We're fighting wars with other people's kids in large measure because we've not taken seriously the moral, not the monetary, the moral obligation to take care of the veterans and to keep America's promise to the ones who kept their promise to America. +p2604 +aVIn many ways, I feel like I'm the luckiest guy on Earth. I really do. It's a long way from a little brick rent house on second street in Hope, Arkansas to this stage where I'm running for President of the United States. It's not about me, not about these guys \u2014 'ought to be about you, and I've never been the favorite of the people who have the most money. But, I want to be the favorite of the people who still want to believe the American dream can work for them. Today in our office, I got a letter from a third grader in North Dakota, her name is Reese. She sent $6 dollars from her allowance, and said, "I want to help you be president." You know, I'm going to keep standing on this stage, and keep fighting for one reason, because somewhere out there in North Dakota, and all over America, there are kids like Reese who need a president who will never forget where they came from, and I promise I won't. +p2605 +asVCRUZ +p2606 +(lp2607 +VThank you, Wolf. America is at war. Our enemy is not violent extremism. It is not some unnamed malevolent force. It is radical Islamic terrorist. We have a president who is unwilling to utter its name. The men and women on this stage, every one of us, is better prepared to keep this nation safe than is Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. We need a president who understands the first obligation of the commander-in-chief is to keep America safe. If I am elected president, we will hunt down and kill the terrorists. We will utterly destroy +p2608 +aVWell, listen, Hugh, everyone understands why Donald has suggested what he has. We're looking at a president who's engaged in this double-speak where he doesn't call radical Islamic terrorism by its name. Indeed, he gives a speech after the San Bernardino attack where his approach is to try to go after the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens rather than to keep us safe. And even worse, President Obama and Hillary Clinton are proposing bringing tens of thousands of Syrian refugees to this country when the head of the FBI has told Congress they cannot vet those refugees. I understand why Donald made that proposal. I introduced legislation in the Senate that I believe is more narrowly focused at the actual threat, which is radical Islamic terrorism, and what my legislation would do is suspend all refugees for three years from countries where +p2609 +aVWell, you know, I'm reminded of what FDR's grandfather said. He said, "All horse-thieves are Democrats, but not all Democrats are horse-thieves." In this instance, there are millions of peaceful Muslims across the world, in countries like India, where there is not the problems we are seeing in nations that are controlled \u2014 have territory controlled by Al Qaida or +p2610 +aVWell, Dana, the premise of your question is not accurate. I'm very proud to have joined with conservatives in both the Senate and the House to reform how we target bad guys. And what the USA Freedom Act did is it did two things. Number one, it ended the federal government's bulk collection of phone metadata of millions of law-abiding citizens. But number two in the second half of it that is critical. It strengthened the tools of national security and law enforcement to go after terrorists. It gave us greater tools and we are seeing those tools work right now in San Bernardino. And in particular, what it did is the prior program only covered a relatively narrow slice of phone calls. When you had a terrorist, you could only search a relatively narrow slice of numbers, primarily land lines. The USA Freedom Act expands that so now we have cell phones, now we have Internet phones, now we have the phones that terrorists are likely to use and the focus of law enforcement is on targeting the bad guys. You know what the Obama administration keeps getting wrong is whenever anything bad happens they focus on law-abiding citizens instead of focusing on the bad guys. We need to focus on radical Islamic terrorists and we need to stop them before they carry out acts of terror. +p2611 +aVWell, you know, I would note that Marco knows what he's saying isn't true. You know, Mark Levin wrote a column last week that says that the attack ads his Super PAC is running that are saying the same thing, that they are knowingly false and they are, in fact, Alinsky-like attacks like Barack Obama. And the reason is simple. What he knows is that the old program covered 20 percent to 30 percent of phone numbers to search for terrorists. The new program covers nearly 100 percent. That gives us greater ability to stop acts of terrorism, and he knows that that's the case. +p2612 +aVWhat it means is using overwhelming air power to utterly and completely destroy +p2613 +aVYou would carpet bomb where +p2614 +aVWell, you know, Marco has continued these attacks, and he knows they're not true. Yes, it is true that I voted against the National Defense Authorization Act, because when I campaigned in Texas I told voters in Texas that I would oppose the federal government having the authority to detain U.S. citizens permanently with no due process. I have repeatedly supported an effort to take that out of that bill, and I honored that campaign commitment. +p2615 +aVBut more broadly, you know, the notion Marco is suggesting, that somehow \u2014 he also has tossed more than a few insults this direction \u2014 let's be absolutely clear. +p2616 +aVWolf, I believe in a America first foreign policy, that far too often President Obama and Hillary Clinton \u2014 and, unfortunately, more than a few Republicans \u2014 have gotten distracted from the central focus of keeping this country safe. So let's go back to the beginning of the Obama administration, when Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama led +p2617 +aV... we ought to hunt down our enemies and kill +p2618 +aVWell, it's more than not shedding a tear. It's actively getting involved to topple a government. And we keep hearing from President Obama and Hillary Clinton and Washington Republicans that they're searching for these mythical moderate rebels. It's like a purple unicorn. They never exist. These moderate rebels end up being jihadists. And I'll tell you whose view on Assad is the same as mine. It's Prime Minister Netanyahu. Prime Minister Netanyahu has said Israel doesn't have a dog in that fight because Assad is a puppet of Iran, a Shia radical Islamic terrorist, but at the same time, Prime Minister Netanyahu doesn't want to see Syria governed by +p2619 +aVThe question of whether we should toppling dictatorships is asking the wrong question. We should be defeating our enemies. So the problem with defeating... +p2620 +aVWell, but let me explain, the focus should be... +p2621 +aV... on defeating our enemies. So, for example... +p2622 +aV... a regime we should change is Iran... +p2623 +aV... because Iran has declared war on us. But we shouldn't be toppling regimes...... that are fighting radical Islamic terrorists that are helping... +p2624 +aVWell, he \u2014 he has attempted to muddy the waters, but I think that anyone who watched the battle that we had. You know, there was a time for choosing as Reagan put it. Where there was a battle over amnesty and some chose, like Senator Rubio to stand with Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer and support a massive amnesty plan. Others chose to stand with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and the American people and secure the border. And let me mention, this issue is actually directly connected to what we've been talking about. Because the front line with +p2625 +aVLook, I understand Marco wants to raise confusion, it is not accurate what he just said that I supported legalization. Indeed, I led the fight against his legalization and amnesty. And you know, there was one commentator that put it this way that, for Marco to suggest our record's the same is like suggesting "the fireman and the arsonist because they are both at the scene of the fire." He was fighting to grant amnesty and not to secure the border, I was fighting to secure the border. And this also goes to trust, listening on to campaign trails. Candidates all the time make promises. You know, Marco said," he learned that the American people didn't trust the federal government." +p2626 +aVIn Florida promising to... +p2627 +aVgo in the fight against amnesty... +p2628 +aVHe campaigned promising to lead the fight against amnesty. +p2629 +aVI have never supported a legalization... +p2630 +aVI have never supported legalization, and I do not intend to support legalization. Let me tell you how you do this, what you do is you enforce the law... +p2631 +aVWatt you do is enforcement the law... +p2632 +aVWhat you do... +p2633 +aVWhat you do is you enforce the law. I've laid out a very, very detailed immigration plan on my website, tedcruz.org. It's 11 pages of existing federal law and in particular the question of what to do with people who are here now? You enforce the law. That means you stop the Obama administration's policy of releasing criminal illegal aliens. Do you know how many aliens Bill Clinton deported? 12 million. Do you know how many illegal aliens, George W. Bush deported? 10 million. We can enforce the laws and if we secure the border, that solves the problem. And as president I will solve this problem and secure the border. +p2634 +aVDana, what I said in private is exactly what I'll say here, which is that the judgment that every voter is making of every one of us up here is who has the experience, who has the vision, who has the judgment to be commander in chief. That is the most important decision for the voters to make. That's a standard I'm held to. And it's a standard everyone else is held to. And I will note, you know, in the whole course of this discussion about our foreign policy threats, it actually illustrates the need for clarity of focus. You know, my daughters, Caroline and Catherine, came tonight. They're 7 and 5. And you think about the Los Angeles schools canceling their schools today. And every parent is wondering, how do we keep our kids safe? We need a commander in chief who does what Ronald Reagan did with communism, which is he set out a global strategy to defeat Soviet communism. And he directed all of his... I'm answering the question, Dana. He directed all of his forces to defeating communism. One of the things we've seen here is how easy it is for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to get distracted from dealing with radical Islamic terrorism. They won't even call it by its name. We need a president who stands up, number one, and says, we will defeat +p2635 +aVAnd we need to be focused on defeating... +p2636 +aV... defeating radical Islamic terrorists. +p2637 +aVWhat I'm saying, Dana, is that is a judgment for every voter to make. What I can tell you is all nine of the people here would make an infinitely better commander in chief than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. +p2638 +aVAnd there is a real danger, Dana, when people get distracted. I'm answering the question, Wolf. There's a real danger when people get distracted by peripheral issues. They get distracted by democracy building. They get distracted about military conflicts. We need to focus on defeating jihadism. +p2639 +aVAnd I will do everything necessary to keep our children safe. +p2640 +aVJudgment, strength, clarity and trust. Barack Obama has said he doesn't believe in American leadership or America winning \u2014 he is wrong. America can win again and we will win again. Ronald Reagan reignited the American economy, rebuilt the Military, bankrupted the Soviet Union and defeated Soviet Communism. I will do the same thing. Cutting taxes, cutting regulation, unleashing small businesses and rebuilding the Military to defeat radical Islamic terrorism \u2014 our strategy is simple. We win, they lose. We've done it before and we can do it again. +p2641 +aVWell, Maria, it's great to be with you. It's great to be here in Milwaukee. You know, the question you asked really I think is the most important question any of us can have \u2014 face, which is, how do we get the economy growing? How do we bring back economic growth? Because economic growth, it's foundational to every other challenge we have. As you rightly noted, from 2008 to today, our economy has grown 1.2 percent a year on average. The Obama economy is a disaster, and the IMF is telling us this is a new normal. It doesn't have to be. If you look at the history of America, there are three levers that government has had to facilitate economic growth. The first is tax reform. And as you noted, I have rolled out a bold and simple flat tax: 10 percent for every American that would produce booming growth and 4.9 million new jobs within a decade. The second element is regulatory reform, pulling back the armies of regulators that have descended like locusts on small businesses. And the third element is sound money. Every time we've pursued all three of those \u2014 whether in the 1920s with Calvin Coolidge or the 1960s with JFK or the 1980s with Ronald Reagan \u2014 the result has been incredible economic growth. We have done it before, and with leadership, we can do it again. +p2642 +aVWell, my Mom is here, so I don't think we should be pushing any grannies off cliffs. And, you miss-stated what I've said on entitlement reform. What I've said is for seniors we should make no changes whatsoever, for younger workers we should gradually raise the retirement age, we should have benefits grow more slowly, and we should allow them to keep a portion of their taxes in a personal account that they control, and can pass on to their kids... +p2643 +aVI want to go back to the discussion we had a minute ago because, you know, what was said was right. The democrats are laughing \u2014 because if republicans join democrats as the party of amnesty, we will lose. And, you know, I understand that when the mainstream media covers immigration, it doesn't often see it as an economic issue. But, I can tell you for millions \u2014 of Americans at home watching this, it is a very personal economic issue. And, I will say the politics of it will be very, very different if a bunch of lawyers or bankers were crossing the Rio Grande. Or if a bunch of people with journalism degrees were coming over and driving down the wages in the press. Then, we would see stories about the economic calamity that is befalling our nation. And, I will say for those of us who believe people 'ought to come to this country legally, and we should enforce the law, we're tired of being told it's anti-immigrant. It's offensive. I am the son of an immigrant who came legally from Cuba... ...to seek the American dream. And, we can embrace legal immigration while believing in the rule of law \u2014 and I would note, try going illegally to another country. Try going to China, or Japan. Try going to Mexico. See what they do. Every sovereign nation secures its borders, and it is not compassionate to say we're not going to enforce the laws... ...And we're going to drive down the wages for millions of hardworking men and women. That is abandoning the working... +p2644 +aVWell, sure, you put your finger on what the problem is. The current system isn't fair. Washington is fundamentally corrupt. There are more words in the IRS code than there are in the Bible \u2014 and \u2014 and not a one of them is as good. Every one of them reflects a carve-out or a subsidy, and it's all about empowering the Washington cartel. My simple Flat Tax says that, for a family of four, for the first $36,000 you earn, you pay no taxes whatsoever. No income taxes, no payroll taxes, no nothing. Above that, every American pays 10 percent across the board \u2014 a flat, fair tax. Which means that no longer do you have hedge-fund billionaires paying a lower tax rate than their secretaries. On the business side, I've got a business flat tax of 16 percent \u2014 again, that applies across the board. Right now, with our corporate income tax, giant corporations with armies of accountants regularly are paying little to no taxes while small businesses are getting hammered. This is fair and across-the-board. Now, you ask, how do the numbers add up? I would encourage folks, if you go to our website, tedcruz.org, we have the specific numbers on the website. This plan eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax, eliminates the corporate income tax, and it abolishes the IRS. And the effect of that is incredible economic growth. It means every income group will see double-digit increases, from the very poorest to the very weakest, of at least 14 percent. So if you're a single mom, if you're making $40,000 a year, what that means is an extra about $5,000 in your pocket to provide for your kids, to make ends meet. It has a powerful, powerful effect. And there's one other really powerful feature of my plan, which is that it's border-adjustable. Which means, if you're an exporter \u2014 if you're a farmer, if you're a rancher, if you're a manufacturer, you don't pay the businesses flat tax. Exports are free of that tax, but all imports pay that 16 percent business flat tax, which means this tax plan would cause jobs to boom, and it would let America compete with China and the world on a level playing field. +p2645 +aVWell, the numbers the Tax Foundation had put out is that the static cost of the plan is $3.6 trillion over 10 years, but the dynamic cost of the plan, which \u2014 which is the cost that factors in growth, is about $768 billion. It is less than a trillion. It costs less than virtually every other plan people have put up here, and yet it produces more growth and it's one of the very few plans that abolishes the IRS. But on top of that, today, we rolled out a spending plan. $500 billion in specific cuts \u2014 five major agencies that I would eliminate. The IRS, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Energy, the Department of Commerce, and HUD \u2014 and then 25 specific programs. Again, that's on our website at tedcruz.org. You want to look at specificity? It's easy for everyone to say, "cut spending". It's much harder and riskier to put out, chapter and verse, specifically the programs you would cut to stop bankrupting our kids and grandkids. +p2646 +aV...Middle ground that brings both of these together... +p2647 +aV...Exactly right, that we have to defend this nation. You think defending this nation is expensive, try not defending it. That's a lot more expensive. But, you can do that, and pay for it. You can do that, and also be fiscally responsible. You know, I mention that the 25 programs that I put today, that I would eliminate them. Among them are corporate welfare, like sugar subsidies. Let's take that as an example. Sugar subsidies. Sugar farmers farm under... ...under roughly 0.2% of the farmland in America, and yet they give 40% of the lobbying money. That sort of corporate welfare is why we're bankrupting our kids, and grandkids. I would end those subsidies to pay for defending this nation... +p2648 +aVAbsolutely yes. You know, I have spent much of my adult life enforcing the law and defending the Constitution. And the problem that underlies all of this is the cronyism and corruption of Washington. You know, the opening question Jerry asked, would you bail out the big banks again? Nobody gave you an answer to that. I'll give you an answer. Absolutely not. And what we have right now is we have Washington \u2014 as government gets bigger and bigger, you know, the biggest lie in all of Washington and in all of politics is that Republicans are the party of the rich. The truth is, the rich do great with big government. They get in bed with big government. The big banks get bigger and bigger and bigger under Dodd-Frank and community banks are going out of business. And, by the way, the consequence of that is small businesses can't get business loans, and it is that fundamental corruption that is why six of the 10 wealthiest counties in America are in and around Washington, D.C. And let me give you a contrast to Washington cronyism. Some weeks ago, a woman named Sabina Loving testified at a hearing that I chaired in the Senate. Sabina Loving is an African-American single mom who started a tax preparation business in the south side of Chicago. She found a store front, she wanted to have her own business. She started a business. But then the IRS promulgated new regulations targeting tax preparers. They did it under a more than 100-year-old statute called the Dead Horse Act. Now, this statute and the IRS in classic Washington crony fashion had exemptions for lawyers and big fancy accountants, but Sabina had to pay $1,000 an employee. It would have driven her out of business, and Ms. Loving sued the IRS. She took the Obama IRS to court, and she won, and they struck down the rule for picking the big guys over the little guys. +p2649 +aVYes. Now, let's be clear, there is a role for the Federal Reserve \u2014 what the Fed is doing now is it is a series of philosopher- kings trying to guess what's happening with the economy. You look at the Fed, one of the reasons we had the financial crash is throughout the 2000s, we had loose money, we had an asset bubble, it drove up the price of real estate, drove up the price of commodities, and then in the third quarter of 2008, the Fed tightened the money and crashed those asset prices, which caused a cascading collapse. That's why I am supporting getting back to rules-based monetary system not with a bunch of philosopher-kings deciding, but tied... +p2650 +aVSo let me be clear. I would not bail them out, but instead of adjusting monetary policy according to whims and getting it wrong over and over again and causing booms and busts, what the Fed should be doing is, number one, keeping our money tied to a stable level of gold, and, number two, serving as a lender of last resort. That's what central banks do. So if you have a run on the bank, the Fed can serve as a lender of last resort, but it's not a bailout. It is a loan at higher interest rates. That's how central banks have worked. And I'll point out \u2014 look, we had a gold standard under Bretton Woods, we had it for about 170 years of our nation's history, and enjoyed booming economic growth and lower inflation than we have had with the Fed now. We need to get back to sound money, which helps, in particular, working men and women. What Washington does \u2014 the people who are doing well in the Obama economy are those with power and influence in the Obama government. The people who working men and women... +p2651 +aVSo, Governor Kasich... +p2652 +aV...why would you then bail out rich Wall Street banks, but not Main street, not Mom and Pop, not Sabina Loving? +p2653 +aVBut you just said an executive... +p2654 +aV...knows to step in and bail out a bank. +p2655 +aVSo you said you'd abandon philosophy and abandon principle... +p2656 +aV...but what would you do if the bank was failing? +p2657 +aVSo you \u2014 you would bail them out. +p2658 +aVAnd, Maria, I will note, she's got a lot of experience, but her policies have proven disastrous. If you look at foreign policy, every region in the world has gotten worse. Under her leadership, we abandon the nation of Israel. Under her leadership, radical Islamic terrorism has been on to the rise. Under her leadership, and Obama's leadership, Iran is getting $100 billion dollars, and on the verge of getting a nuclear weapon. Everything she's put her hand to, or has touched \u2014 and when we talk about the cronyism of Washington, Hillary Clinton embodies the cronyism... ...of Washington. And, I'll give you an example of that, which is the Congressional exemption from Obamacare, which is fundamentally wrong, and I'll tell you this, if I'm elected president, I will veto any statute that exempts members of congress. The law should apply evenly to every American. +p2659 +aVMaria, critically, when it comes to climate change... +p2660 +aV...Our \u2014 our... +p2661 +aVFifty-eight years ago, my father fled Cuba. As he stood on the deck of that ferryboat with the wind and salt air blowing, he looked back at the oppression and torture he was escaping. And yet he looked forward to the promise of America. His story is our story. What ties Americans together is we are all the children of those who risked everything for freedom. America is in crisis now. I believe in America. And if we get back to the free market principles and constitutional liberties that built this country, we can turn this country around. I believe that 2016 will be an election like 1980, that we will win by following Reagan's admonition to paint in bold colors, not pale pastels. We're building a grassroots army. I ask you to join us at tedcruz.org. And we, the people, can turn this nation around. +p2662 +aVI'm too agreeable, easy going. You know, I think my biggest weakness is exactly the opposite. I'm a fighter. I am passionate about what I believe. I've been passionate my whole life about the Constitution. And, you know, for six-and-a-half years, we've had a gigantic party. If you want someone to grab a beer with, I may not be that guy. But if you want someone to drive you home, I will get the job done and I will get you home. +p2663 +aVBecky, if you want a 10 percent flat tax where the numbers add up, I rolled out my tax plan today, you can find it on line at tedcruz.org. It is a simple flat tax where for individuals, a family of four pays nothing on the first $36,000. After that you pay 10 percent as a flat tax going up. The billionaire and the working man, no hedge fund manager pays less than his secretary. On top of that, there is a business flat tax of 16 percent. Now that applies universally to giant corporations that with lobbyists right now are not paying taxes, and as small business. And you wanted to know the numbers, the Tax Foundation, which has scored every one of our plans, shows that this plan will allow the economy to generate 4.9 million jobs, to raise wages over 12 percent, and to generate 14 percent growth. And it costs, with dynamic scoring, less than a trillion dollars. Those are the hard numbers. And every single income decile sees a double-digit increase in after-tax income. +p2664 +aVGrowth is the answer. And as Reagan demonstrated, if we cut taxes, we can bring back growth. +p2665 +aVYou know, let me say something at the outset. The questions that have been asked so far in this debate illustrate why the American people don't trust the media. This is not a cage match. And, you look at the questions \u2014 "Donald Trump, are you a comic-book villain?" "Ben Carson, can you do math?" "John Kasich, will you insult two people over here?" "Marco Rubio, why don't you resign?" "Jeb Bush, why have your numbers fallen?" How about talking about the substantive issues the people care about? +p2666 +aVAnd Carl \u2014 Carl, I'm not finished yet. The contrast with the Democratic debate, where every fawning question from the media was, "Which of you is more handsome and why?" And let me be clear. +p2667 +aVLet me be clear. The men and women on this stage have more ideas, more experience, more common sense than every participant in the Democratic debate. That debate reflected a debate between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. And nobody watching at home believed that any of the moderators had any intention of voting in a Republican primary. The questions that are being asked shouldn't be trying to get people to tear into each other. It should be what are your substantive positions... +p2668 +aVYou want me to answer that question? I'm happy to answer the question... +p2669 +aVLet me tell you how that question... +p2670 +aVLet me tell you how that question... +p2671 +aV... so you don't actually want to hear the answer, John? +p2672 +aVYou don't want to hear the answer. You just want to... +p2673 +aVYou're not interested in an answer. +p2674 +aV...Then I'll buy you a tequila... +p2675 +aV...Or, even some famous Colorado brownies. +p2676 +aVWell, sure. This deal in Washington is an example of why Washington's broken. Republican leadership joined with every single Democrat, add $80 trillion to our debt to do nothing to fix the problems. And, let me now on Social Security because we were getting into a good substantive exchange, and I want to say I think both Chris, and Mike are right. Governor Huckabee's exactly right, we need to honor the promises made to our seniors, but for younger workers \u2014 look. I'm 44 years old. It is hard to find someone in my generation that thinks Social Security will be there for us. We can save and preserve and strengthen Social Security by making no changes for seniors, but for younger workers gradually increasing the retirement age, changing the rate of growth so that it matches inflation, and critically allowing younger workers to keep a portion of our tax payments in a personal account that we own, we control them, we can pass on to our kids. +p2677 +aVWell, we've gotta turn the economy around for people who are struggling. The Democrats' answer to everything is more government control over wages, and more empowering trial lawyers to file lawsuits. You know, you look at women working. I'll tell you, in my family there are a lot of single moms in my family. My sister was a single mom, both of my aunts who were a single moms. My mom who's here today, was a single mom when my father left us when I was 3 years old. Now, thank God, my father was invited to a Bible study and became born again and he came back to my mom and me and we were raised together. But I \u2014 the struggle of single moms is extraordinary. And you know, when you see Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and all the Democrats talking about wanting to address the plight of working women, not a one of them mentioned the fact that under Barack Obama, 3.7 million women have entered poverty. Not a one of them mentioned the fact that under Barack Obama and the big government economy, the median wage for women has dropped $733. The the truth of the matter is, big government benefits the wealthy, it benefits the lobbyists, it benefits the giant corporations. And the people who are getting hammered are small businesses, it's single moms, it's Hispanics. That is who I'm fighting for. The people that Washington leaves behind. +p2678 +aVWell, Rick, it's a very important question. I have got deep concerns about the Fed. The first thing I think we need to do is audit the Fed. And I am an original co-sponsor of Rand Paul's audit the Fed legislation. The second thing we need to do is I think we need to bring together a bipartisan commission to look at getting back to rules- based monetary policy, end this star chamber that has been engaging in this incredible experiment of quantitative easing, QE1, QE2, QE3, QE- infinity. And the people who are being impacted, you know, a question that was asked earlier, Becky asked, was about working women. You know, it's interesting, you look at on Wall Street, the Fed is doing great. It's driving up stock prices. Wall Street is doing great. You know, today, the top 1 percent earn a higher share of our income than any year since 1928. But if you look at working men and women. If you look at a single mom buying groceries, she sees hamburger prices have gone up nearly 40 percent. She sees her cost of electricity going up. She sees her health insurance going up. And loose money is one of the major problems. We need sound money. And I think the Fed should get out of the business of trying to juice our economy and simply be focused on sound money and monetary stability, ideally tied to gold. +p2679 +aVLet me say on that... +p2680 +aV...Rand is exactly right. His plan is a good plan, and I will note that my 10% plan also eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax, +p2681 +aV...eliminates the business... [ +p2682 +aV...income tax... [ +p2683 +aV...10% flat rate... +p2684 +aV...is the lowest personal rate any candidate up here has, and what it would also enable us to do is for every citizen to fill out their taxes on a postcard so we can eliminate the IRS. +p2685 +aVYou know, everyone here talks about the need to take on Washington. The natural next question is who actually has done so. Who actually has stood up not just to Democrats, but to leaders in our own party? When millions of Americans rose up against Obamacare, I was proud to lead that fight. When millions of Americans rose up against amnesty, I was proud to lead that fight. When millions of Americans rose up against Planned Parenthood, I was proud to lead that fight. If people are promising they're going to take on Washington and cronyism, you need to look to who has been doing it. In my family, my dad fled oppression in Cuba to come to America. Freedom is personal for me, and I will always keep my word and fight for freedom. +p2686 +aVI'm Ted Cruz. I am the son of an Irish-Italian mom and a Cuban immigrant dad who fled oppression and came to America seeking freedom. I'm a husband to my best friend, Heidi, who's here tonight. I'm a dad to two little girls who are the loves of my life, Caroline and Catherine. If you're fed up with Washington, if you're looking for someone to stand up to career politicians in both parties, I'm the only one on this stage who has done that over and over again, and if we stand together, we can bring America back. +p2687 +aVWell, let me tell you, Jake, the single biggest national security threat facing America right now is the threat of a nuclear Iran. We've seen six and a half years of President Obama leading from behind. Weakness is provocative, and this Iranian nuclear deal is nothing short of catastrophic. This deal, on its face, will send over $100 billion to the Ayatollah Khamenei, making the Obama administration the world's leading financier of radical Islamic terrorism. +p2688 +aVThis deal abandons four American hostages in Iran, and this deal will only accelerate Iran's acquiring nuclear weapons. You'd better believe it. If I am elected president, on the very first day in office, I will rip to shreds this catastrophic Iranian nuclear deal. +p2689 +aVWell, let's be clear when it comes to experience. What President Obama wants to do is he's run to the United Nations, and he wants to use the United Nations to bind the United States, and take away our sovereignty. Well, I spent five and a half years as a Solicitor General of Texas, the lead lawyer for the state, in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, and I went in front of the Supreme Court, and took on the world court of the United Nations in a case called Medellin v. Texas, and we won a historic victory saying the World Court, and the U.N., has no power to bind the United States, and no President of the United States, Republican or Democrat, has the authority to give away our sovereignty. And, so, if there's anyone up here who would be bound by this catastrophic deal with Iran, they're giving up the core responsibility of commander in chief, and as president, I would never do that. +p2690 +aVJake, Jake... +p2691 +aVJake, there is no more important topic in 2016 than this topic right here, and I've listened to several folks saying, "Well, gosh, if they cheat, we'll act." We won't know under this agreement \u2014 there are several facilities in Iran they designate as military facilities that are off limit all together. Beyond that, the other facilities, we give them 24 days notice before inspecting them. That is designed to allow them to hide the evidence. And most astonishingly, this agreement trusts the Iranians to inspect themselves. That makes no sense whatsoever. And let me know \u2014 President Obama is violating federal law... +p2692 +aV... by not handing over the side deals, and we ought to see the United States Congress... +p2693 +aV... stand up together and say, "Hand over this treaty, and protect this country." +p2694 +aVWell, let me tell you, Dana, number one, I'm proud to stand for life. These Planned Parenthood videos are horrifying. I would encourage every American to watch the videos. See \u2014 seeing your Planned Parenthood officials callously, heartlessly bartering and selling the body parts of human beings, and then ask yourself, "are these my values?" These are horrifying. On these videos, Planned Parenthood also essentially confesses to multiple felonies. It is a felony with ten years' jail term to sell the body parts of unborn children for profit. That's what these videos show Planned Parenthood doing. Absolutely we shouldn't be sending $500 million of taxpayer money to funding an ongoing criminal enterprise, and I'll tell you, the fact that Republican leadership in both houses has begun this discussion by preemptively surrendering to Barack Obama and saying, "we'll give in because Obama threatens a veto." You know, Obama's committed to his principles. His liberal principles, he will fight for them. He says... +p2695 +aVI will veto any budget that doesn't fund Planned Parenthood, and Republicans surrender. We need to stop surrendering and start standing... +p2696 +aV...for our principles. +p2697 +aVWell, Jake, you know, I'm \u2014 I'm very glad that Donald Trump's being in this race has forced the mainstream media finally to talk about illegal immigration. I think that's very important. I like and respect Ben Carson. I'll let him talk about his own plans. But I will say this: The natural next question that primary voters are asking, after we focus on illegal immigration is, okay, what are the records of the various candidates? And this is an issue on which there are stark differences. A majority of the men and women on this stage have previously and publicly embraced amnesty. I am the only candidate on this stage who has never supported amnesty and, in fact, who helped lead the fight to stop a massive amnesty plan. In 2013, when Barack Obama and Harry Reid joined the Washington Republicans in a massive, I stood shoulder to shoulder with Jeff Sessions helping lead the fight. You know, folks here have talked about, how do you secure the borders? Well, I've been leading the fight in the Senate to triple the Border Patrol, to put in place fencings and walls, to put in place a strong biometric exit/entry system... +p2698 +aVWell, Dana, I've known John Roberts for 20 years, he's amazingly talented lawyer, but, yes, it was a mistake when he was appointed to the Supreme Court. He's a good enough lawyer that he knows in these Obamacare cases he changed the statute, he changed the law in order to force that failed law on millions of Americans for a political outcome. And, you know, we're frustrated as conservatives. We keep winning elections, and then we don't get the outcome we want. And, let me focus on two moments in time. Number one, in 1990, in one room was David Souter, and in another room was Edith Jones, the rock ribbed (ph) conservative on the fifth circuit court of appeals. George Herbert Walker Bush appointed David Souter. And then in 2005, in one room was John Roberts, in another room was my former boss, Mike Luttig, the rock ribbed (ph) conservative on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals... +p2699 +aV...George W. Bush appointed John Roberts, and let me give you the consequences of that. If, instead, the President Bush had appointed Edith Jones, and Mike Luttig, which is who I would have appointed, Obamacare would have been struck down three years ago, and the marriage laws of all 50 states would be on the books. These matter, and I fought to defend the constitution my whole life... +p2700 +aV...and I will as president as well. +p2701 +aVIt is true that after George W. Bush nominated John Roberts, I supported his confirmation. That was a mistake and I regret that. I wouldn't have nominated John Roberts, and indeed, Governor Bush pointed out why. It wasn't that the President Bushes wanted to appoint a liberal to the court, it's that it was the easier choice. Both David Souter and John Roberts, they didn't have a long paper trail. If you had nominated Edith Jones or Mike Ludig (ph) you would have had a bloody fight and they weren't willing to spend political capital to put a strong judicial conservative on the court. I have spent my entire life, starting from clerking for Chief Justice William Rehnquist on the United States Supreme Court, one of the most principled jurists. We have an out-of-control Court, and I give you my word, if I'm elected president, every single Supreme Court justice will faithfully follow the law and will not act like philosopher kings \u2014 +p2702 +aV\u2014 imposing their liberal policies on millions of Americans \u2014 +p2703 +aV\u2014 who need to be trusted to govern ourselves. +p2704 +aVI \u2014 I am not, and \u2014 and you mentioned that the U.S. Supreme Court had rightly upheld the individual right to keep and bear arms. I was proud to lead 31 states before the U.S. Supreme Court defending the Second Amendment, and we won that landmark victory. And indeed, just a couple of years ago, when Harry Reid and Barack Obama came after the right to keep and bear arms of millions of Americans, I was proud to lead the fight in the United States Senate to protect our right to keep and bear arms, and for that reason... +p2705 +aV... I was honored to be endorsed by Gun Owners of America... +p2706 +aV... as the strongest supporter of the Second Amendment on this stage today, and I will... +p2707 +aV... fight every day to defend the Bill of Rights. +p2708 +aVWell, I wouldn't change the $10 bill, I'd change the $20. I'd take Jackson off and I'd leave Alexander Hamilton right where he is as one of our Founding Fathers. And I very much agree with Marco that it should be Rosa Parks. She was a principled pioneer that helped change this country, helped remedy racial injustice, and that would be an honor that would be entirely appropriate. +p2709 +aVYou know, as a Cuban, I might go with Cohiba (ph), and I'll tell you, I'd go with, for Heidi, Angel, because she is my angel. +p2710 +aVRonald Reagan believed in America. If I'm elected president our friends and allies across the globe will know that we stand with them. the bust of Winston Churchill will be back in the Oval Office, and the American embassy in Israel will be in Jerusalem. Enemies across this world will know the United States is not to be trifled with. +p2711 +aVChris, I believe the American people are looking for someone to speak the truth. If you're looking for someone to go to Washington, to go along to get along, to get -- to agree with the career politicians in both parties who get in bed with the lobbyists and special interests, then I ain't your guy. There is a reason... .... that we have $18 trillion in debt. Because as conservatives, as Republicans, we keep winning elections. We got a Republican House, we've got a Republican Senate, and we don't have leaders who honor their commitments. I will always tell the truth and do what I said I would do. +p2712 +aVChris, absolutely yes. And not only will I support it......I have authored Kate's law in the United States Senate and filed that legislation. I tried to get the Senate to vote to pass Kate's law on the floor of the Senate just one week ago, and the leader of our own party blocked a vote on Kate's law. You know, there was reference made to our leaders being stupid. It's not a question of stupidity. It's that they don't want to enforce the immigration laws. That there are far too many in the Washington cartel that support amnesty. President Obama has talked about fundamentally transforming this country. There's 7 billion people across the face of the globe, many of whom want to come to this country. If they come legally, great. But if they come illegally and they get amnesty, that is how we fundamentally change this country, and it really is striking. A majority of the candidates on this stage have supported amnesty. I have never supported amnesty, and I led the fight against Chuck Schumer's gang of eight amnesty legislation in the Senate. +p2713 +aVMegyn, we need a commander in chief that speaks the truth. We will not defeat radical Islamic terrorism so long as we have a president unwilling to utter the words, "radical Islamic terrorism". When I asked General Dempsey, the chairman of the joint chiefs, what would be required militarily to destroy +p2714 +aVMegyn, of course it's an ideological problem, that's one of the reasons I introduce the Expatriate Terrorist Act in the Senate that said if any American travels to the Middle East and joining +p2715 +aVWell, Bret, of course they have, and over the last six and a half years we've seen the consequences of the Obama-Clinton foreign policy. Leading from behind is a disaster. We have abandoned and alienated our friends and allies, and our enemies are stronger. Radical Islam is on the rise, Iran's on the verge of acquiring a nuclear weapon, China is waging cyber warfare against America, Russia -- General Soleimani, you just mentioned, the Iranian general is the head of the al Quds forces. He's directly responsible for the murder of over 500 American servicemen in Iraq, and part of this Iranian deal was lifting the international sanctions on General Soleimani. The day General Soleimani flew back from Moscow to Iran was the day we believed that Russia used cyber warfare against the Joint Chiefs. We need a new commander in chief that will stand up to our enemies, and that will have credibility... It is worth emphasizing that Iran released our hostages in 1981 the day Ronald Reagan was sworn into office. +p2716 +aVBrett, can I -- Brett, can I jump in on this one? +p2717 +aVWell, I am blessed to receive a word from God every day in receiving the scriptures and reading the scriptures. And God speaks through the Bible. I'm the son of a pastor and evangelist and I've described many times how my father, when I was a child, was an alcoholic. He wasn't a Christian. And my father left my mother and left me when I was just three years old. And someone invited him to Clay Road Baptist Church. And he gave his heart to Jesus and it turned him around. And he got on a plane and he flew back to my mother and me. I would also note that the scripture tells us, "you shall know them by their fruit." We see lots of "campaign conservatives." But if we're going to win in 2016, we need a consistent conservative, someone who has been a fiscal conservative, a social conservative, a national security conservative. There are real differences among the candidates on issues like amnesty, like Obamacare, like religious liberty, like life and marriage. And I have been proud to fight and stand for religious liberty, to stand against Planned Parenthood, to defend life for my entire career. And I will be proud to continue to do so as president of the United States. +p2718 +aVIf I'm elected president, let me tell you about my first day in office. The first thing I intend to do is to rescind every illegal and unconstitutional executive action taken by Barack Obama. The next thing I intend to do is instruct the Department of Justice to open an investigation into these videos and to prosecute Planned Parenthood for any criminal violations. The next thing I intend to do is instruct the Department of Justice and the IRS to start (sic) persecuting religious liberty, and then intend to cancel the Iran deal, and finally move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. I will keep my word. My father fled Cuba, and I will fight to defend liberty because my family knows what it's like to lose it. +p2719 +asVTODD +p2720 +(lp2721 +VGood evening, and welcome to the +p2722 +aVAnd neither party has seen this yet. These candidates are both running for the Democratic nomination, but they are very different from each other when it comes to what matters most and how they would go about the job of being president. Our job tonight is to draw out those differences so you, the voters, can understand them and be fully informed. +p2723 +aVFirst, I want to say a special thanks to the New Hampshire Union Leader for helping make this debate possible, and the readers, who helped provide some of the questions and topics that we'll be addressing tonight. The rules tonight, by the way, are simple: 90 seconds for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. +p2724 +aVThank you, Senator. Secretary Clinton. +p2725 +aVAll right. Let's get started. Secretary Clinton, last night you cited the Concord Monitor when you said of Senator Sanders that, quote, "It's very hard to see how any of his proposals could ever be achievable." So please tell us why you think if he's elected president on a platform of promising things like free public college and universal healthcare, that he cannot achieve those things. +p2726 +aVThank you, Secretary. Senator Sanders, so just explain how you spent nearly two decades in Congress and haven't gotten any of these things passed. Why do you think as president you'll be able to achieve big, big new programs like this? +p2727 +aVGo. +p2728 +aVYes, go ahead. +p2729 +aVAll right, thank you both. Rachel. +p2730 +aVI'd like to follow up on a comment that Secretary Clinton said, Senator. President Obama has not called for abolishing the death penalty. President Obama is for the big Asian trade deal known as TPP, and just yesterday you said you can't be both a moderate or a progressive, but you can't be both. Is President Obama, in your judgment, based on these policies positions, a progressive? +p2731 +aV...Secretary Clinton, go ahead... +p2732 +aV 30 seconds, and then we'll move. +p2733 +aVThank you. +p2734 +aV... Secretary, we're gonna... +p2735 +aVThirty seconds. +p2736 +aVThank you both. +p2737 +aVAll right, welcome back. Let's get right to it. Senator Sanders, you were talking about all of your campaign contributions and campaign finance reform. You rail against big money in politics. But do you realize there is one public financing system that we do have in place, and it is\u2014it is in place to run for president. Why aren't you walking the walk on that? Why aren't you participating in the presidential public financing system which is designed to essentially keep big money out of presidential politics? +p2738 +aVWell, going on that then, why criticize her on Super PACs, and you got\u2014and all this when it is\u2014you know, that's the system? I mean, you could be participating in a publicly-financing\u2014public financing system... +p2739 +aV... and being able to set\u2014being able to set an example. +p2740 +aV... she has had more people praise her plan than yours. +p2741 +aVThank you both. Let me move on to our next question here, and in fact it comes to us through New England Cable News. Secretary Clinton, it's addressed to you, and it's about this issue of the speeches, particularly to Goldman Sachs. This is what the questioner wrote verbatim. "I am concerned with the abuses of Wall Street has taken with the American taxpayers money," and then she asks whether you would release the transcripts of your Goldman Sachs speeches, and then added, "Don't you think the voting public has a right to know what was said?" But, let's make that bigger. Are you willing to release the transcripts of all your paid speeches? We do know through reporting that there were transcription services for all of those paid speeches. In full disclosure, would you release all of them? +p2742 +aVSenator, you sound like you want to respond. Go ahead. +p2743 +aVWe'll be right back. And we're going to get to trade and a lot of other issues. +p2744 +aVGo ahead, Senator Sanders\u201430 seconds, your response. +p2745 +aVAll right. Senator, I want to stay, though... +p2746 +aVGo ahead. 30 seconds. +p2747 +aVLet me\u2014let\u2014we're gonna\u2014we're staying\u2014we're staying basically on this topic. Obviously you've been emphasizing this difference on the Iraq war, but one place where you do agree, and one place where you voted to authorize the use of force, was in favor of the war in Afghanistan. Right now, it is possible President Obama is going to be leaving the next president, perhaps President Sanders, at least 10,000 troops in Afghanistan. How long will those troops be in Afghanistan under President Sanders? +p2748 +aVCan you address a question on Afghanistan? How long are these troops going to be there? If President Obama leaves you 10,000 troops, how long do you think they're going to be there? +p2749 +aVSecretary Clinton, 30 seconds: How long are these troops going to be in Afghanistan? We have more American troops in Afghanistan than what we were talking about with Iraq. +p2750 +aVYou know, Senator Sanders, nobody knows who your foreign policy advisers are. You haven't given a major foreign policy speech. And it doesn't sound like all the time that foreign policy is a priority, other than when you're asked about it, and you say you're going to crush +p2751 +aVAll right, Senator, 30 seconds. +p2752 +aV30 seconds, madam secretary. +p2753 +aVAlright, as Commander in Chief, Senator Sanders, you've got to prioritize potential threats to the United States. Three countries, North Korea, Iran, Russia. How would you rank them in order of their threat to America's security right now... +p2754 +aV... Starting with the biggest threat. +p2755 +aV... I didn't say that... +p2756 +aV... No... +p2757 +aV... We already had that. I'm talking about these three countries. How would you orient our national security, our national defense posture. +p2758 +aVSecretary of Defense Ash Carter this week picked one of those three, and he has said Russia is, basically, the most important national security threat. Sort of reorienting the defense and the challenges to that. Do you agree with his decisions... +p2759 +aVSecretary Clinton, what do you think of Secretary of Defense Ash Carter. He's basically putting Russia above Iran, above North Korea, as sort of the chief national security challenge right now. +p2760 +aVThank you both, Rachel? +p2761 +aVAnd we are back. We're gonna get into a little bit of election politics, electability, in a little bit. Senator Sanders, The Iowa Democratic Party has declared Hillary Clinton the winner of Monday's Iowa caucuses\u2014narrowest of margins. Today, the Des Moines Register has an editorial that calls for the audit of the results, saying, quote, "what happened Monday night at the Democratic caucuses was a debacle, period. The results were too close not to do a complete audit." Senator Sanders, do you accept the idea that Hillary Clinton won Iowa? And do you\u2014or do you believe the caucuses are still an open question? +p2762 +aVSecretary Clinton, will you participate in some sort of audit, if that's what the party wants to do? You good with that? +p2763 +aVThat's fair enough. OK. +p2764 +aVGood, we move on. We're happy with that. We have more questions. +p2765 +aVWe'll stay on this issue. We'll stay on this topic. Secretary Clinton, just like there are some Democrats that question Senator Sanders' ability in the general election, many Democratic voters that our reporters have been running into in Iowa and New Hampshire, they tell our reporters over and over again they're worried about the emails issue, not because they don't believe your explanation, but because it's a drip-drip, because the cloud is hanging over your head and that it will impact the general election. They see your numbers right now and they think it's the email issue as to why you're not polling very well. So can you reassure these Democrats that somehow the email issue isn't going to blow up your candidacy if you're the nominee? +p2766 +aVAll right, Madam Secretary, there is an open\u2014there is an open FBI investigation into this matter about how you may have handled classified material. Are you 100 percent confident that nothing is going to come of this FBI investigation? +p2767 +aVWell, Senator sanders, you famously at the first debate said you didn't give a darn about her emails; I think you used another . +p2768 +aVYou're right. I'm trying to\u2014it's a\u2014it's a family hour still right now. After 11:00, I'll say it the other way. And you mostly have refrained from commenting on it, but recently you called it a very serious issue, and then the other day you said well she's getting slapped with the email controversy. Are you\u2014how are you feeling about these darn emails now? +p2769 +aVOK. Senator Sanders, thank you. +p2770 +aVSecretary Clinton, let me turn to the issue of trade. In the '90s you supported +p2771 +aVWell, Senator Sanders, I know you want to respond on this, you have never supported a trade deal since you've been in Congress. +p2772 +aVBut if you do that as president... If you do that as president, how are you not essentially letting China, who will do all of these deals around the world, how are you going to prevent China from essentially setting the rules of trade for the world? +p2773 +aVAll right. Thank you both. We're going to sneak in one more break here, and when we come back we'll squeeze as many questions as we can before we end this thing. We'll be right back. +p2774 +aVAll right. Welcome back here in the final minutes. +p2775 +aVThe home stretch of this only Democratic debate in the final week before the primary. Let me start with you, Secretary Clinton, on this question. Obviously, President Obama got a lot of ambitious stuff done in his first year and a half. You're going to have to make choices. And there's a lot of heavy lifts. And he made choices. He did healthcare and it came at the expense, arguably, of immigration reform. Had he put immigration reform first, perhaps that gets done and healthcare doesn't. So there are three big lifts that you've talked about: immigration, gun reform, climate change. What do you do first? Because you know the first one is the one you have the best shot at getting done. +p2776 +aVAll right, but Senator Sanders......you've still got to do something first. As you know, history said\u2014shows what you pick first is your best shot at getting, and how you prioritize things. +p2777 +aVImmigration reform, for instance, fell by the wayside in the first term because of this. +p2778 +aVOK. Thank you. +p2779 +aVAll right, before we go, I want to ask each one of these. Secretary Clinton, you've made it clear when you look at Senator Sanders, you do not see a president, but do you see\u2014 +p2780 +aVBut do you see\u2014do you see a vice president? +p2781 +aVWould you unite the party by trying to pick Senator Sanders as your running mate? +p2782 +aVSenator, would you consider the secretary? +p2783 +aVSecretary Clinton, closing statements. You are first. +p2784 +aVThank you, Madam Secretary. Senator Sanders. +p2785 +aVWell, there you have it. I promise you, Rachel and I have a lot more questions, but we just don't have any more time, unless we could a third hour, but I don't think so. Our debate coverage\u2014 debate coverage will continue in just a moment with our colleague . And we want to thank all of you for being here, and we want to thank the two candidates for taking part in this important event. +p2786 +aVWe'll see you in a few minutes. Thank you. +p2787 +asVLEVESQUE +p2788 +(lp2789 +VHere to New Hampshire again. As you know, this auditorium is filled with many Saint Anselm college students. They know the outstanding student debt right now in America is $1.3 trillion. That private education costs have gone up in the last decade 26 percent, and 40 percent for public education. So knowing that, we know you want to make public education more affordable but how do you really lower the cost? Senator Sanders, you mentioned a few minutes ago that you want free tuition for public colleges. +p2790 +aVHow does that really lower the cost other than just shifting the cost to taxpayers? +p2791 +aVGovernor O'Malley, how do you propose -- Governor O'Malley, how do you propose lowering some of these costs associated with higher education? O' +p2792 +asVHARWOOD +p2793 +(lp2794 +VMr. Trump, you've done very well in this campaign so far by promising to build a wall and make another country pay for it. +p2795 +aVSend 11 million people out of the country. Cut taxes $10 trillion without increasing the deficit. +p2796 +aVAnd make Americans better off because your greatness would replace the stupidity and incompetence of others. +p2797 +aVLet's be honest. Is this a comic book version of a presidential campaign? +p2798 +aVWe're at the 60 seconds. +p2799 +aVWe're at 60 seconds, but I gotta ask you, you talked about your tax plan. You say that it would not increase the deficit because you cut taxes $10 trillion in the economy would take off like... +p2800 +aVHold on, hold on. The economy would take off like a rocket ship. +p2801 +aVI talked to economic advisers who have served presidents of both parties. They said that you have as chance of cutting taxes that much without increasing the deficit as you would of flying away from that podium by flapping your arms. +p2802 +aVThe Tax Foundation says \u2014 has looked at all of our plans and \u2014 and his creates, even with the dynamic effect, $8 trillion dollar deficit... +p2803 +aVGovernor Kasich, hold it, I'm coming to you right now. The... +p2804 +aVWell, I'm asking you about this. +p2805 +aVI'm about to ask you about this. That is, you had some very strong words to say yesterday about what's happening in your party and what you're hearing from the two gentlemen we've just heard from. Would you repeat it? +p2806 +aVWell, let's just get more pointed about it. You said yesterday that you were hearing proposals that were just crazy from your colleagues. Who were you talking about? +p2807 +aVHold on. I think there's a \u2014 I've got question for \u2014 +p2808 +aVHold on, Governor. I've got a question for Governor Bush. +p2809 +aVNo, we're moving to Governor Bush. Governor, the fact that you're at the fifth lectern tonight shows how far your stock has fallen in this race, despite the big investment your donors have made. You noted recently, after slashing your payroll, that you had better things to do than sit around and be demonized by other people. I wanted to ask you \u2014 +p2810 +aVOK. +p2811 +aVGot it. +p2812 +aVBut it's a \u2014 OK. It's a \u2014 it's a question about why you're having difficulty. I want to ask you in this context. Ben Bernanke, who was appointed Fed chairman by your brother, recently wrote a book in which he said he no longer considers himself a Republican because the Republican Party has given in to know- nothingism. Is that why you're having a difficult time in this race? +p2813 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2814 +aVWe're gonna get down the line. Becky's got a question. +p2815 +aVSenator Paul, I've got a question for you on the same subject. +p2816 +aVSenator Paul? +p2817 +aVYou used your time on something else. Senator Paul? +p2818 +aVSenator Paul, the budget deal crafted by Speaker Boehner and passed by the House today makes cuts in entitlement programs, Medicare and Social Security disability, which are the very programs conservatives say need cutting to shrink government and solve our country's long-term budget deficit. Do you oppose that budget deal because it doesn't cut those programs enough? +p2819 +aVSenator, if what you just said is true, why did Speaker Boehner craft this deal and why did Paul Ryan, who has a strong reputation for fiscal discipline, vote for it? +p2820 +aVThank you, Senator . +p2821 +aVJim, thanks. Governor Bush, in a debate like this four years ago, every Republican running for president pledged to oppose a budget deal containing any tax increase even if it had spending cuts ten times as large. A few months later, you told Congress, put me in, coach, you said you would take that deal. Still feel that way? +p2822 +aVBut to \u2014 to the point that you made to Congress, if you were president and you were offered a bipartisan deal that had one dollar... +p2823 +aV...one dollar of tax increases per ten dollars of spending cuts, would you take it? +p2824 +aVSo you don't want the coach to put you in any more? +p2825 +aVThank you, governor. Carl? +p2826 +aVGovernor John Kasich, you've called for abolishing the Export Import Bank, which provides subsidies to help American companies compete with overseas competitors. You call that corporate welfare. One of the largest newspapers in your state wrote an editorial, said they found that strange, writing, that if that's corporate welfare, what does Kasich call the millions of dollars in financial incentives doled out to attract or retain jobs by his development effort \u2014 jobs Ohio. If subsidies are good enough for Ohio companies, why aren't they good enough for companies trying to compete overseas? +p2827 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2828 +aVThank you, Governor. Thank you. +p2829 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate on +p2830 +aVIt sounds like you think Senator Sessions is wrong to believe there is enough abuse in that program that we shouldn't... +p2831 +aVThank you, Senator. Becky? +p2832 +aVGovernor Bush, the tax reform bill that Ronald Reagan signed in 1986 cut the top personal income tax rate to 28 percent \u2014 just like your plan does. But President Reagan taxed capital gains at the same rate, while you would tax them at just 20 percent. Given the problems we've been discussing, growing gap between rich and poor, why would you tax labor at a higher rate than income from investments? +p2833 +aVSenator Rubio, 30 seconds to you. The Tax Foundation, which was alluded to earlier, scored your tax plan and concluded that you give nearly twice as much of a gain in after-tax income to the top 1 percent as to people in the middle of the income scale. Since you're the champion of Americans living paycheck-to- paycheck, don't you have that backward? +p2834 +aVThe Tax Foundation \u2014 just to be clear, they said the... +p2835 +aVNo, I did not. +p2836 +aVSenator, the Tax Foundation said after-tax income for the top 1 percent under your plan would go up 27.9 percent. +p2837 +aVAnd people in the middle of the income spectrum, about 15 percent. +p2838 +aV +p2839 +aVSenator, thank you. +p2840 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you've written about the huge divide in values between middle America and the big coastal cities like New York and Los Angeles. As a preacher as well as a politician, you know that presidents need the moral authority to bring the entire country together. The leading Republican candidate, when you look at the average of national polls right now, is Donald Trump. When you look at him, do you see someone with the moral authority to unite the country? +p2841 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2842 +aVThank you, Governor. Don't forget my colleague, Sharon Epperson. +p2843 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said something that many in your party do not believe, which is that climate change is undeniable, that human activity contributes to it, and you said, quote: "The question is, what do we do to deal with it?". So what do we do? +p2844 +aVWhat should we do? +p2845 +aVYou mean government? +p2846 +aVThank you, Governor. Becky. +p2847 +aVGovernor Bush, Mr. Trump says that he is capable of growing the economy so much that Social Security and Medicare don't have to be touched. Do you want to explain how that is going to happen, Mr. Trump? +p2848 +aVHold on, Governor. I've got a question for \u2014 for Dr. Carson. +p2849 +aVYes. You've said that you would like to replace Medicare with a system of individual family savings accounts, so that families could cover their own expenses. Obviously, that would be a very controversial idea. Explain how that would work, exactly. +p2850 +aVGovernor, do you also think that... +p2851 +aV...that Dr. Carson's right, that we can replace Medicare with individual savings accounts? +p2852 +aVMrs. Fiorina, we're right at the end of our time. +p2853 +aVYou all wanted us to limit . All right. Go ahead. +p2854 +aVWe have now reached the point in the program where candidates are going to give their closing statements, 30 seconds apiece. We're going to go right to left and start with you, Senator Paul. +p2855 +aVGovernor Christie? +p2856 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Cruz? +p2857 +aVThank you, Senator. Mrs. Fiorina? +p2858 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Dr. Carson? +p2859 +aVMr. Trump? +p2860 +aVJust for the record, the debate was always going to be two hours. Senator Rubio? +p2861 +aVSenator Rubio. +p2862 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Bush? +p2863 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Huckabee. +p2864 +aVThank you... +p2865 +aVGovernor Kasich? +p2866 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2867 +aVWe're going to pose this question to all candidates and go left to right, starting with Governor Jindal. Governor, a majority of Republican voters at this point in the campaign have made clear that they prefer someone from outside the political system. In 30 seconds, tell us why your experience inside the system would be more valuable than the fresh eyes an outsider would bring. +p2868 +aVThanks, Governor Jindal. Senator Santorum? +p2869 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Pataki? +p2870 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Graham. +p2871 +aVSenator Graham, thank you very much. Becky? +p2872 +aVJust hold on, Governor Pataki, we're going to go to Senator Graham on this question because we believe you are likely to be the only person on this stage tonight who supports this budget deal. Now, you just heard Governor Jindal say that it's a phony deal, it doesn't do anything, and people like you are surrendering rather than fighting by supporting it. Why is he wrong? +p2873 +aVThank you, Senator Graham... +p2874 +aV...Governor, we're going to get to you in just a moment, we're going to try to keep this shorter... +p2875 +aVGovernor Jindal, a question about fiscal policy, especially since you noted that this deal doesn't solve the long-term debt situation. When you came into office with a budget surplus in the state of Louisiana, now, years later, the state legislature faced a $1.6 billion budget gap and the Republican state treasurer called one of your approaches to that problem "nonsense on a stick," quoting him. Are you going to do for the federal budget what you did for the Louisiana budget? +p2876 +aVBut Governor Jindal, as you know, many Republicans are opposed to the approach that you've taken in Louisiana. They complain that you have tried so hard to avoid anything that could be called a tax increase so that you could run for president saying you'd never raised taxes, David Vitter, the Republican who's now running to succeed you, has told voters, I won't be like Jindal, I'm not using the governorship as a stepping stone to higher office. +p2877 +aVGovernor Jindal, thank you. +p2878 +aVWe're going to take a quick break. The Republican presidential debate continues live from Boulder, Colorado in a moment. +p2879 +aVGovernor Jindal, Senator Santorum just raised the issue of corporate taxes, and cutting corporate taxes is very popular in your party because our rate, at 35 percent, is one of the highest in the world. But nobody has figured out how to identify a set of loopholes that would allow that tax rate to be lowered. So can you tell us specifically what loopholes you'd do away with? +p2880 +aVWe're talking corporate taxes. +p2881 +aVThanks, Governor. Becky? +p2882 +aVSo the tax credit right now that we have for domestic manufacturing, which manufacturers say is... +p2883 +aV...important, you would get rid of that? +p2884 +aVSenator Graham, Americans have gotten used to seeing headlines about more and more big corporations relocating overseas to cut their tax bill. Now, many in Washington think the way to stop that is to lower our corporate tax rate. But as we've seen, tax reform takes time. It hasn't happened yet. In the meantime, do you fault those companies for leaving? Do companies owe anything to their country, as well as their shareholders? +p2885 +aVSenator Graham. +p2886 +aVI want to remind candidates, you've got a one-minute limit on the \u2014 on the response. But I just want to follow up, Senator Graham. Four years ago, the nominee of your party said that corporations are people, too. If that is true, the question is, do they owe any obligation to the country? +p2887 +aVSenator Graham \u2014 +p2888 +aV\u2014 thank you very much. +p2889 +aVWe're moving on. +p2890 +aVSenator, we're moving on. I'd like to bring on my colleague, Rick Santelli \u2014 Rick. +p2891 +aVSenator, that \u2014 I mean, Governor, if that's true, why was our economy limping six years ago and now it's the strongest in the world? +p2892 +aVGovernor Pataki, you've indicated you believe climate change is real and caused at least in part by human activity. So, in 60 seconds, tell us what the federal government should do about it. +p2893 +aVIs there a role for government? +p2894 +aVSo, subsidies for those programs? For \u2014 for those alternative energy sources? +p2895 +aVThank you, Governor. Thank you, Governor. Carl? +p2896 +aVGovernor, if you cut spending and cut government so much, why did your legislature have such a big deficit? +p2897 +aVNo, we're going to move on. I'm going to bring on my colleague Sharon Epperson. +p2898 +aVAnd thank you, Sharon. This is the Republican Presidential Debate, live from Boulder, Colorado. We'll be right back. +p2899 +aVOK, now we're at the point of the evening where we're just about to give our candidates a holiday from this debate, but not before they tell us in 30 seconds their closing statements. Senator Graham, you're first. +p2900 +aVSenator Graham... +p2901 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. Governor Pataki? +p2902 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum? +p2903 +aVSenator Santorum, thank you. Governor Jindal? +p2904 +aVGovernor Jindal, thank you very much. Carl? +p2905 +asVPAUL +p2906 +(lp2907 +VThe question is, how do we keep America safe from terrorism? Trump says we ought to close that Internet thing. The question really is, what does he mean by that? Like they do in North Korea? Like they do in China? Rubio says we should collect all Americans' records all of the time. The Constitution says otherwise. I think they're both wrong. I think we defeat terrorism by showing them that we do not fear them. I think if we ban certain religions, if we censor the Internet, I think that at that point the terrorists will have won. Regime change hasn't won. Toppling secular dictators in the Middle East has only led to chaos and the rise of radical Islam. I think if we want to defeat terrorism, I think if we truly are sincere about defeating terrorism, we need to quit arming the allies of +p2908 +aVYou know, I think Marco gets it completely wrong. We are not any safer through the bulk collection of all Americans' records. In fact, I think we're less safe. We get so distracted by all of the information, we're not spending enough time getting specific immigration \u2014 specific information on terrorists. The other thing is, is the one thing that might have stopped San Bernardino, that might have stopped 9/11 would have been stricter controls on those who came here. And Marco has opposed at every point increased security \u2014 border security for those who come to our country. On his Gang of Eight bill, he would have liberalized immigration, but he did not \u2014 and he steadfastly opposed any new border security requirements for refugees or students. Last week, I introduced another bill saying we need more security, we need more scrutiny. Once again, Marco opposed this. So Marco can't have it both ways. He thinks he wants to be this, "Oh, I'm great and strong on national defense." But he's the weakest of all the candidates on immigration. He is the one for an open border that is leaving us defenseless. If we want to defend the country, we have to defend against who's coming in, and Marco is \u2014 has more of an allegiance to Chuck Schumer and to the liberals than he does to conservative policy. +p2909 +aVIf I was mentioned in the question, can I respond? +p2910 +aVMarco still misunderstands the immigration issue. What I put forward was an amendment that would have temporarily halted immigration from high-risk terrorist countries, but would have started it up, but I wanted them to go through Global Entry, which is a program where we do background checks. The thing is, is that every terrorist attack we've had since 9/11 has been legal immigration. Marco wants to expand that. I want more rules, more scrutiny, and to defend the country, you have to defend the border. +p2911 +aVWolf... +p2912 +aVWolf, this legislation... +p2913 +aVThis legislation on indefinite detention... +p2914 +aV... I think deserves a little more attention. +p2915 +aVI think that by arming the allies of +p2916 +aVI think that if you believe in regime change, you're mistaken. In 2013, we put 600 tons of weapons \u2014 us, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar \u2014 into the war against Assad. By pushing Assad back, we did create a safe space. We had people coming to our Foreign Relations Committee and saying, "Oh, we need to arm the allies of Al Qaida." They are still saying this. It is a crazy notion. This is the biggest debate we should be having tonight is is regime change a good idea; has it been a good idea. There are still people \u2014 the majority on the stage, they want to topple Assad. And then there will be chaos, and I think +p2917 +aVThese are the fundamental questions of our time, these foreign policy questions, whether or not regime change is a good idea or a bad idea. I don't think because I think the regime change was a bad idea it means that Hussein was necessarily a good idea. There is often variations of evil on both sides of the war. What we have to decide is whether or not regime change is a good idea. It's what the neoconservatives have wanted. It's what the vast majority of those on the stage want. They still want regime change. They want it in Syria. They wanted it in Iraq. They want it in Libya. It has not worked. Out of regime change you get chaos. From the chaos you have seen repeatedly the rise of radical Islam. So we get this profession of, oh, my goodness, they want to do something about terrorism and yet they're the problem because they allow terrorism to arise out of that chaos. +p2918 +aVNo, I think it's a huge mistake. I think regime change in Syria, and this is what \u2014 I've been saying this for several years now. In 2013 when we first went in, I said, you are going to give arms to the allies of al Qaida, to radical jihadists? That's crazy. But the other thing I said is the great irony is you will be back fighting against your own weapons. Had Assad been bombed when he used chemical weapons two years ago, +p2919 +aVWell, I think if you're in favor of World War III, you have your candidate. You know, here's...... the thing. My goodness, what we want in a leader is someone with judgment, not someone who is so reckless as to stand on the stage and say, "Yes, I'm jumping up and down; I'm going to shoot down Russian planes." Russia already flies in that airspace. It may not be something we're in love with the fact that they're there, but they were invited by Iraq and by Syria to fly in that airspace. And so if we announce we're going to have a no-fly zone, and others have said this. Hillary Clinton is also for it. It is a recipe for disaster. It's a recipe for World War III. We need to confront Russia from a position of strength, but we don't need to confront Russia from a point of recklessness that would lead to war. This is something \u2014 this type of judgment, you know, it's having that kind of judgment; who you would appoint and how you're going to conduct affairs, that is incredibly important. I mean, I think when we think about the judgment of someone who might want World War III, we might think about someone who might shut down a bridge because they don't like their friends; they don't want to \u2014 you know, they want to a Democrat. So I think we need to be very careful. +p2920 +aVYou know, I think we need to set the record straight on this, because I think Marco misspoke about the bill. On the Gang of Eight bill, there was no provisions really for extra scrutiny or safety for refugees. At the time the bill came up, two Iraqi refugees came to my home town, Bowling Green, Kentucky. Their fingerprints were on a bomb from Iraq. They were in the database, but we didn't pick them up. We relocated them here, put them in government housing, got them on food stamps. And we began providing for them, but we didn't have adequate security. On the Gang of Eight bill, on Marco's bill, we had an opportunity. There was a conservative consensus for an amendment I put forward called Trust, But Verify that would have strengthened border security on both refugees, students and those coming here. And Marco sided and I guess was more sympathetic to Chuck Schumer and to the president than he was to conservative principles. But this goes directly to national defense. And if he wants to run as a national \u2014 national defense conservative, he's got to explain why he hasn't stepped up to support border security. +p2921 +aVWhat my bill would do would be only for refugees going forward. So I haven't taken a position on sending anyone home. But I have taken the position that we have a lot of problems here in our country. And that one of the things that we do \u2014 charity is about giving your own money. Charity isn't giving someone else's money. To put everyone in government housing and food stamps and bring them in from around the world I think is a mistake. To give of your own money, I've given to my church. My church has helped people that came from Bosnia. That's a good thing. But we shouldn't have a program where we just say that we're going to take care of the world's refugees. Nobody in the Middle East is doing anything. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait \u2014 all the Gulf nations are doing nothing. They need to step up and take... +p2922 +aVThe greatest threat to our national security is our debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. And whose fault is it? Well, frankly, it's both parties' fault. You have those on the right who clamor and say, oh, we will spend anything on the military, and those on the left who say the same for domestic welfare. But what most Americans don't realize is there is an unholy alliance. They come together. There's a secret handshake. We spend more money on everything. And we are not stronger nation if we go further into debt. We are not projecting power from bankruptcy court. To me, there is no greater threat than our debt. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage because I'm willing to hold the line on all spending. I hope you will consider me in the election. Thank you very much. +p2923 +aVAbsolutely. And I think that we ought to look where income inequality seems to be the worst. It seems to be worst in cities run by Democrats, governors of... States run by Democrats and countries currently run by Democrats. So the thing is, let's look for root causes. But I would also say \u2014 lay some blame at the \u2014 the feet of the Federal Reserve. I think the Federal Reserve has made this problem worse. By artificially keeping interest rates below the market rate, average ordinary citizens have a tough time earning interest, have a tough time making money. They're actually talking now about negative interest. The money as it's created through quantitative easing or other means tends to start out in the big banks in New York. And because we're now paying interest for them to keep the money there, much of that money has not filtered out into the economy. So what we're finding is there is increasing income disparity and income inequality. We also find that as the Federal Reserve destroys the value of the currency, what you're finding is that, if you're poor, if you make $20,000 a year and you have three or four kids, and you're trying to get by, as your prices rise or as the value of the dollar shrinks, these are the people that are hurt the worst. So really we need to reexamine whether we not \u2014 we want a Federal Reserve that's involved so much in determining interest rates. We also need to look at root causes as to what caused the housing boom and the housing collapse. But the bottom line is, if you want less income inequality, move to a city with a Republican mayor or a state with a Republican governor. +p2924 +aVWell, it's a great question, Neil, and thanks for including me in the tax debate. I think what's important about the tax debate is, is that we have to ask the question, where is money best spent, in the private sector or in the government sector? I want a government really, really small, so small you can barely see it. So I want lower taxes and much more money in the private sector. My tax plan, however, is the only tax plan among any of the candidates on the stage that is part of a balanced budget plan. I put forward three plans that actually balance the budget over a five-year period. Each of these plans have details on exactly where we would cut. The question came up earlier, where would you cut? Nobody likes to say where they would cut. I've put pencil to paper and done three budgets that actually balance. I'm also in favor of a plan called the penny plan where we'd just cut 1 percent across the board and the budget actually balances in less than five years. So I think what is extraordinary about my tax plan is it is in the context of balancing the budget. What is also extraordinary about my tax plan is it gets rid of the payroll tax. Democrats demagogue this issue to death, and when they do they say, oh, a millionaire would get a bigger tax cut than someone making $10,000. That's proportionality, as Ben is trying to explain to folks. But the thing is, is if we get rid of the payroll tax, everybody is going to get a tax cut. And this is something that I think the public at large will support and could win an election. +p2925 +aVOurs is 14.5 percent for corporations, 14.5 percent for individuals. No payroll tax for the employee. The business tax pays for social security, and there would be two remaining deductions \u2014 home mortgage and charity. +p2926 +aVThank you. +p2927 +aVNeil, there's a point I'd like to make here... ....Neil, a point that I'd like to make about the tax credits. We have to decide what is conservative and what isn't conservative. Is it fiscally conservative to have a trillion-dollar expenditure? We're not talking about giving people back their tax money. He's talking about giving people money they didn't pay. It's a welfare transfer payment. So here's what we have. Is it conservative to have $1 trillion in transfer payments \u2014 a new welfare program that's a refundable tax credit? Add that to Marco's plan for $1 trillion in new military spending, and you get something that looks, to me, not very conservative. Thank you. +p2928 +aVNevertheless, it's not very conservative, Marco. +p2929 +aVHow is it conservative? +p2930 +aVYeah, but, Marco! Marco! How is it conservative, how is it conservative to add a trillion-dollar expenditure for the federal government that you're not paying for? +p2931 +aVHow is it conservative? +p2932 +aVHow is it conservative to add a trillion dollars in military expenditures? You can not be a conservative if you're going to keep promoting new programs that you're not going to pay for. +p2933 +aVNo. I don't think we're any safer \u2014 I do not think we are any safer from bankruptcy court. As we go further, and further into debt, we become less, and less safe. This is the most important thing we're going to talk about tonight. Can you be a conservative, and be liberal on military spending? Can you be for unlimited military spending, and say, Oh, I'm going to make the country safe? No, we need a safe country, but, you know, we spend more on our military than the next ten countries combined? I want a strong national defense, but I don't want us to be bankrupt. +p2934 +aVHey, Gerard, you know, we might want to point out China is not part of this deal. +p2935 +aVBefore we get a little bit off-kilter here... +p2936 +aVThere is an argument that China doesn't like the deal, because in us doing the deal, we'll be trading with their competitors. You're exactly right. But I think we've sort of missed the point a little bit here. There is an important point, though, about how we discuss these trade treaties that I do agree with Mr. Trump on. We should negotiate from a position of strength. And we also should negotiate using the full force and the constitutional power that was given to us. I think it's a mistake that we give up power to the presidency on these trade deals. We give up the power to filibuster, and I'm kind of fond of that power. We give up the power to amend. And I think, really, one of the big problems we have in our country is, over the last century, really, so much power has gravitated to the executive branch. Really, Congress is kind of a bystander. We don't write the rules. We don't make the laws. The executive branch does. So even in trade \u2014 and I am for trade \u2014 I think we should be careful about giving so much power to the presidency. +p2937 +aVI'd like first to respond to the acquisition, we should \u2014 I think it's particularly naive, particularly foolish to think that we're not going to talk to Russia. The idea of a no fly zone, realize that this is also something that Hillary Clinton agrees with several on our side with, you're asking for a no fly zone in an area in which Russia already flies. Russia flies in that zone at the invitation of Iraq. I'm not saying it's a good thing, but you better know at least what we're getting into. So, when you think it's going to be a good idea to have a no fly zone over Iraq, realize that means you are saying we are going to shoot down Russian planes. If you're ready for that, be ready to send your sons and daughters to another war in Iraq. I don't want to see that happen. I think the first war in Iraq was a mistake... You can be strong without being involved in every civil war around the war... +p2938 +aVRonald Reagan was strong, but Ronald Reagan didn't... +p2939 +aV...send troops into the Middle East... +p2940 +aV...Can I finish... +p2941 +aV...Can I finish my time? Could I finish with my time? +p2942 +aVYes, I would like to finish my response, basically. +p2943 +aVThis is an important question. This is an incredibly important question. And the question goes to be, who do we want to be our commander-in-chief? Do you want a commander-in-chief who says something that we never did throughout the entire Cold War, to discontinue having conversations with the Russians? I am not happy about them flying over there. But I'm not naive enough to say, well, Iraq has them flying over their airspace, we're just going to announce that we're shooting them down? That is naive to the point of being something you might hear in junior high. But it's scary... +p2944 +aVThe first thing I would do is I wouldn't arm our enemies. I wouldn't arm +p2945 +aVGerard, can I comment... +p2946 +aVThe first thing I would do as president is repeal the regulations that are hampering our energy that the President has put in place. Including the Clean Power Act. While I do think that man may have a role in our climate, I think nature also has a role. The planet's 4.5 billion years old, we've been through geologic age after geologic age. We've had times when the temperatures been warmer, we've had times when the temperatures been colder. We've had times when the carbon in the atmosphere's been higher. So, I think before we \u2014 we need to look before we leap. President's often fond of saying he wants a balance solution, but, really we do need to balance both keeping the environment clean, and we will have some rules for that. We got to balance that with the economy. He's devastated my state. I say the President's not only destroying Kentucky, he's destroying the democrat party down there because nobody wants to associate with him. So, what we really need is somebody that understands that we do need energy of all forms, and that means we will have solar, and wind, and hydro, but we will still have coal, and we still will have natural gas. And, we've got to have an all of the above policy. But, it would be a mistake to shut down all of our industries in the coal fields, and shut down the coal power plants. If we did so we're going to have a day where we wake up and some of our big cities are either very cold, or very hot. So, I think it's a big danger, and we shouldn't do it. And, what we should do is say we want all of the above... ...We want to free up the energy sector, and let people produce, let them drill, let them explore. +p2947 +aVWe're the richest, freest, most humanitarian nation in the history of mankind. But we also borrow a million dollars a minute. And the question I have for all Americans is, think about it, can you be a fiscal conservative if you don't conserve all of the money? If you're a profligate spender, you spend money in an unlimited fashion for the military, is that a conservative notion? We have to be conservative with all spending, domestic spending and welfare spending. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage. +p2948 +aVYou know, I left my medical practice and ran for office because I was concerned about an $18 trillion debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. Now, on the floor of the Congress, the Washington establishment from both parties puts forward a bill that will explode the deficit. It allows President Obama to borrow unlimited amounts of money. I will stand firm. I will spend every ounce of energy to stop it. I will begin tomorrow to filibuster it. And I ask everyone in America to call Congress tomorrow and say enough is enough; no more debt. +p2949 +aVNo, I oppose it because you're taking money from the entitlement and then spending it immediately on other items. That's what they're doing. They're taking money from Social Security and they're going to spend it on the military and they're going to spend it on domestic spending. Here's the thing. When you look at raising the debt limit, it should be leverage to try to reform government. In 2011, the sequester was passed as a reform to slow down the rate of government. Instead, the Washington establishment raised both. We raised the military spending, took from entitlements, and raised domestic spending and the deficit will explode under this. This is the unholy alliance that people need to know about between right and left. Right and left are spending us into oblivion. We should use the debt ceiling, as precisely to Don, to force upon them budgetary reforms. +p2950 +aVWell, that's a real question. Is there going to be any change in the House with new leadership? I frankly don't think there will be much change because I think what's going to happen is you're going to get more of the same. People in Washington think they were sent there to be adults and govern and do all this. Well, you know what I'm worried about? Not keeping the government open. I'm worried about bankrupting the American people. We're borrowing a million dollars a minute. That is important. And that's what we have to contrast. Keeping the government open and continuing to borrow a million dollars a minute. +p2951 +aVWell, thank you very much. I would like to thank Ted for co-sponsoring my bill, audit the Fed. And I think it's precisely because of the arrogance of someone like Ben Bernanke, who now calls us all know-nothings, that is precisely why we need audit the Fed. I think it is really very much a huge problem that an organization as powerful as the Fed comes in, lobbies against them being audited on the Hill. I would prevent them lobbying Congress. I don't think the Fed should be involved with lobbying us. I think we should examine how the Fed has really been part of the problem. You want to study income inequality, let's bring the Fed forward and talk about Fed policy and how it causes income inequality. Let's also bring the Fed forward and have them explain how they caused the housing boom and the crisis, and what they've done to make us better or worse. I think the Fed has been a great problem in our society. What you need to do is free up interest rates. Interest rates are the price of money, and we shouldn't have price controls on the price of money. +p2952 +aV...John... +p2953 +aVJohn, I'd like to address this? John, could I follow up on this? +p2954 +aVWhat are the rules on who gets to follow up. How do we decide on who gets to follow up? I've seen plenty of other people follow up? +p2955 +aVI'd like to just mention something about my tax plan, and how it relates to the discussion... +p2956 +aVAlright. Much of the discussion is centered over whether or not the different tax plans help, or affect the middle class. In fact, it's the chief argument by democrats against many of the different flat tax proposals. Mine is unique in the sense that my tax plan actually gets rid of the payroll tax as well. It shifts it to the business, and it would allow middle class people to get a tax cut. If you just cut their income tax, there isn't much income tax to cut. Mine actually cuts the payroll tax, and I think it would spread the tax cut across all socioeconomic levels, and would allow then it to be something that would be broadly supported by the public in an election. +p2957 +aVThe question always is, what works better, the private marketplace or government? And what distributes goods better? It always seems to be the private marketplace does a better job. Is there an area for a safety net? Can you have Medicare or Social Security? Yes. But you ought to acknowledge the government doesn't do a very good job at it. The main problem with Medicare right now is that the average person pays in taxes over their whole lifetime about $100,000. But the average person takes out about $350,000. We have this enormous mismatch because we have smaller and smaller families. When people ask me, whose fault is it? Whose fault is it that Medicare is broken, out of money, that Social Security is broken, out of money? And I say, look, it's not Republicans' fault, it's not Democrats' fault, it's your grandparents' fault for having too many damn kids. After the war we had all of these kids, Baby Boomers. Now we're having smaller families. We used to have 16 workers for one retiree, now you have three workers for one retiree. It's not working. I have a bill to fix Medicare. I've a bill to fix Social Security. For both of them you have to gradually raise the age. If you're not willing to do that, nobody wants to do it, but if you're not willing to gradually raise the age, you're not serious about fixing either one of them. +p2958 +aVSay again? +p2959 +aVYou can't do nothing. And that's what I hear from some people, "we'll do nothing and it will just be fixed." That's absurd, and I think people who don't want to fix it, really, or unwilling to take the chance to say, "something has to change," are missing the boat here. The age will have to gradually rise, there is no question. It's the only way you fix Medicare, the only way you fix Social Security. You will also have to means-test the benefits and declare there's not enough money. It isn't "I put money in, I'm getting it back." There is no money, it's a stack of paper. There is no money in the Social Security account. There is no money in the Medicare account. There's only a promise to pay by the next generation, and the next generation's not big enough to pay it. [ +p2960 +aVLiberty thrives when government is small. I want a government so small I can barely see it. I want a government so small that the individual has a chance to thrive and prosper. I think, though, government is too big now. And what you're going to see in Washington this week is establishment Republicans have made an agreement with the president to raise the debt ceiling in an unlimited fashion; no limit to the debt ceiling raise. This is extraordinary. It's extraordinarily wrong. You'll see me on the floor of the Senate tomorrow filibustering this and saying enough is enough, no more debt. +p2961 +aVGood evening, everyone. I'm an eye surgeon from Bowling Green, Kentucky. My wife, Kelly, and I have been married for nearly 25 years, and I spend my days defending the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I think there's nothing more important than understanding that the Constitution restrains government, not the people. Thank you. +p2962 +aVI kind of have to laugh when I think of, "Mmm, sounds like a non sequitur." He was asked whether or not he would be capable and it would be in good hands to be in charge of the nuclear weapons, and all of a sudden, there's a sideways attack at me. I think that really goes to really the judgment. Do we want someone with that kind of character, that kind of careless language to be negotiating with Putin? Do we want someone like that to be negotiating with Iran? I think really there's a sophomoric quality that is entertaining about Mr. Trump, but I am worried. I'm very concerned about him \u2014 having him in charge of the nuclear weapons, because I think his response, his \u2014 his visceral response to attack people on their appearance \u2014 short, tall, fat, ugly \u2014 my goodness, that happened in junior high. Are we not way above that? Would we not all be worried to have someone like that in charge of the nuclear arsenal? +p2963 +aVI think this goes back to essentially what we've been saying for the last two or three questions. Carly Fiorina also said we're not going to talk with Putin. Well, think if Reagan had said that during the Cold War? We continued to talk with the Russians throughout the Cold War which is much more significant that where we are now. Should we continue to talk with Iran? Yes. Should we cut up the agreement immediately? That's absurd. Wouldn't you want to know if they complied? Now, I'm going to vote against the agreement because I don't think there's significant leverage, but it doesn't mean that I would immediately not look at the agreement, and cut it up without looking to see if whether or not Iran has complied. The same goes with China. I don't think we need to be rash, I don't think we need to be reckless, and I think need to leave lines of communication open. Often we talk about whether we should be engaged in the world, or disengaged in the world, and I think this is an example of some who want to isolate us, actually, and not be engaged. We do need to be engaged with Russia. It doesn't mean we give them a free pass, or China a free pass, but, to be engaged, to continue to talk. We did throughout the Cold War, and it would be a big mistake not to do it here. +p2964 +aVI think this gets to the point of wisdom on when to intervene and when we shouldn't. Had we bombed Assad at the time, like President Obama wanted, and like Hillary Clinton wanted and many Republicans wanted, I think +p2965 +aVWell, I hate to say it, but Donald Trump has a bit of a point here. The case that was decided around 1900 was, people had a green card, were here legally, and they said that their children were citizens. There's never been a direct Supreme Court case on people who were here illegally, whether or not their kids are citizens. So it hasn't really been completely adjudicated. The 14th Amendment says that "those who are here and under the jurisdiction." The original author of the \u2014 of the 14th Amendment said on the Senate floor that this was applying to slaves, and did not specifically apply to others. +p2966 +aVWell, I'm glad we're having a discussion about taxes because everybody laments that we lose jobs overseas, we have. Our companies, and our jobs are being chased overseas by a 70,000 page tax code, so, that's why I've chosen to get rid of the whole thing, and have one single rate, 14 and a-half percent for everybody, business, and for corporate income, and personal income. But, we also get rid of the payroll tax, so the working class would get a tax break as well. So, I think a flat tax, eliminating the tax code, getting rid of all the loopholes, is the way to go, and it's the way we get America going again. +p2967 +aVHugh, can I \u2014 can I make a response to that? +p2968 +aVCan I make a response to that? +p2969 +aVMay I make a response to that? +p2970 +aVHe's referred to me. +p2971 +aVHe's referred to me... +p2972 +aV... in his remarks. May I make a response? +p2973 +aVAbsolutely. Go ahead. +p2974 +aVMay I respond? +p2975 +aVThe remark was made that there hadn't been anyone else on the podium opposed to the Iraq War. I've made my career as being an opponent of the Iraq War. I was opposed to the Syria war. I was opposed to arming people who are our enemies. Iran is now stronger because Hussein is gone. Hussein was the great bulwark and counterbalance to the Iranians. So when we complain about the Iranians, you need to remember that the Iraq War made it worse. Originally, Governor Bush was asked, was the Iraq War a mistake, and he said, "No. We'd do it again." We have to learn sometimes the interventions backfire. The Iraq War backfired and did not help us. We're still paying the repercussions of a bad decision. +p2976 +aVWe have make the decision now in Syria, should we topple Assad? Many up here wanted to topple Assad, and it's like \u2014 I said no, because if you do... +p2977 +aV... +p2978 +aVIf you want boots on the ground, and you want them to be our sons and daughters, you got 14 other choices. There will always be a Bush or Clinton for you, if you want to go back to war in Iraq. But the thing is, the first war was a mistake. And I'm not sending our sons and our daughters back to Iraq. The war didn't work. We can amplify those who live there. The Kurds deserve to be armed and I'll arm them. We can use our Air Force to amplify the forces there. But the boots on the ground need to be the people who live there. My goodness, I'm still upset with the Saudi Arabians for everything they do over there. They've funded the arms that went to the jihadists. They're not accepting any of the people, any of the migrants that have been \u2014 the refugees that are being pushed out of Syria. Saudi Arabia is not accepting one. Why are we always the world's patsies that we have to go over there and fight their wars for them? They need to fight their wars, we need to defend American interests, but it is not in America's national security interests to have another war in Iraq. +p2979 +aVI think one of the great problems, and what American people don't like about politics, is hypocrisy. People have one standard for others and not for them \u2014 for themselves. There is at least one prominent example on the stage of someone who says they smoked pot in high school, and yet the people going to \u2014 to jail for this are poor people, often African-Americans and often Hispanics, and yet the rich kids who use drugs aren't. I personally think that this is a crime for which the only victim is the individual, and I think that America has to take a different attitude. I would like to see more rehabilitation and less incarceration. I'm a fan of the drug courts which try to direct you back towards work and less time in jail. But the bottom line is the states. We say we like the 10th Amendment, until we start talking about this. And I think the federal government has gone too far, I think that the war on drugs has had a racial outcome, and really has been something that has really damaged our inner cities. Not only do the drugs damage them, we damage them again by incarcerating them and then preventing them from getting employment over time. So I don't think that the federal government should override the states. I believe in the 10th Amendment and I really will say that the states are left to themselves. +p2980 +aVWell, I think if we left it open, we could see how many people smoked pot in high school. +p2981 +aVWell, you know, the thing is that... +p2982 +aVYeah, I was talking about \u2014 well, let me... +p2983 +aVBut let me respond. The thing is, is that in Florida, Governor Bush campaigned against medical marijuana. That means that a small child like Morgan Hintz (ph) that has seizures is day, is failing on non-traditional medications, is not allowed to use cannabis oil. And if they do that in Florida, they will take the child away, they will put the parents in jail. And that's what that means if you're against allowing people use medical marijuana, you'll actually put them in jail. +p2984 +aVAnd actually, under the current circumstances, kids who had privilege like you do, don't go to jail, but the poor kids in our inner cities go to jail. I don't think that's fair. And I think we need to acknowledge it, and it is hypocritical to still want to put poor people in jail... +p2985 +aVWell, you vote \u2014 you oppose medical marijuana... +p2986 +aVBut that means you'll put people in jail. +p2987 +aVMay I respond? +p2988 +aVUnderstand what they're saying. if they're going to say we are going to enforce the federal law against what the state law is, they aren't really believing in the Tenth Amendment. Governor Christie would go into Colorado, and if you're breaking any federal law on marijuana, even though the state law allows it, he would put you in jail. If a young mother is trying to give her child cannabis oil for medical marijuana for seizure treatment, he would put her in jail, if it violates federal law. I would let Colorado do what the Tenth Amendment says. This power \u2014 we were never intended to have crime dealing at the federal level. Crime was supposed to be left to the states. Colorado has made their decision. And I don't want the federal government interfering and putting moms in jail, who are trying to get medicine for their kid... +p2989 +aVMay I respond? May I respond? +p2990 +aVHere is the thing, he doesn't want to make it about medical marijuana, but what if New Jersey's medical marijuana contradicts the federal law? He's saying he'll send the federal government in, and he will enforce the federal law. That's not consistent with the Tenth Amendment. It is not consistent with states' rights. And it is not consistent with the conservative vision for the country. I don't think we should be sending the federal police in to arrest a mother and separate them from their child for giving a medicine to their child for seizures. +p2991 +aVIf you want a skeptic \u2014 if you want a skeptic, Jake, I will happily jump into that briar patch. If you want a real... +p2992 +aVA second opinion? One of the greatest \u2014 one of the greatest medical discoveries of all times was \u2014 were the vaccines, particularly for smallpox. And if you want to read a story, it's called The Speckled Monster, it's an amazing story, it was all done voluntary. But people came in by the droves. George Washington wouldn't let his wife visit until she got vaccinated. So I'm all for vaccines. But I'm also for freedom. I'm also a little concerned about how they're bunched up. My kids had all of their vaccines, and even if the science doesn't say bunching them up is a problem, I ought to have the right to spread out my vaccines out a little bit at the very least. +p2993 +aVOoh, that's a tough one. You know, I'm big on \u2014 that we were \u2014 and I love what Carly said about women's suffrage. I think Susan B. Anthony might be a good choice. +p2994 +aVJustice Never Sleeps. +p2995 +aVI met Ronald Reagan as a teenager, and my family, we're big supporters of him when he ran against Gerald Ford. It was a big deal because he was the grassroots, running against the establishment, and I'll never forget that. And, how he stood up and said, you know what, this is something new that our country needs, and our party needs. If I were president, I would try to be one who says, you know what, I'm a Reagan Conservative. I'm someone who believes in peace through strength, and I would try to lead the country in that way knowing that our goal is peace, and that war is the last resort, not the first resort. And, that when we go to war, we go to war in a constitutional way, which means that we have to vote on it, that war is initiated by congress, not by the president, that we go to war electively (ph). That when we go to war, we don't fight with one arm tied behind our back, we fight all out to win, but then we come home. +p2996 +aVThis is what's wrong! +p2997 +aVI mean, this is what's wrong. He buys and sells politicians of all stripes, he's already... +p2998 +aVHey, look, look! He's already hedging his bet on the Clintons, OK? So if he doesn't run as a Republican, maybe he supports Clinton, or maybe he runs as an independent... +p2999 +aV...but I'd say that he's already hedging his bets because he's used to buying politicians. +p3000 +aVFirst of all, only +p3001 +aVMegyn, may I respond? May I respond? +p3002 +aVI want to collect more records from terrorists, but less records from innocent Americans. The Fourth Amendment was what we fought the Revolution over! John Adams said it was the spark that led to our war for independence, and I'm proud of standing for the Bill of Rights, and I will continue to stand for the Bill of Rights. +p3003 +aVUse the Fourth Amendment! +p3004 +aVUse the Fourth Amendment! +p3005 +aVGet a warrant! +p3006 +aVGet a judge to sign the warrant! +p3007 +aVSee, here's the problem. +p3008 +aVHere's the problem, governor. Here's the problem, governor. You fundamentally misunderstand the Bill of Rights. Every time you did a case, you got a warrant from a judge. I'm talking about searches without warrants... +p3009 +aV...indiscriminately, of all Americans' records, and that's what I fought to end. I don't trust President Obama with our records. I know you gave him a big hug, and if you want to give him a big hug again, go right ahead. +p3010 +aVI've got a news flash... +p3011 +aVNews flash, the Republican Party's been fighting against a single-payer system... +p3012 +aV-- for a decade. So I think you're on the wrong side of this if you're still arguing for a single-payer system. +p3013 +aVI oppose the Iranian deal, and will vote against it. I don't think that the president negotiated from a position of strength, but I don't immediately discount negotiations. I'm a Reagan conservative. Reagan did negotiate with the Soviets. But you have to negotiate from a position of strength, and I think President Obama gave away too much, too early. If there's going to be a negotiation, you're going to have to believe somehow that the Iranians are going to comply. And I asked this question to John Kerry, I said "do you believe they're trustworthy?" and he said "No." And I said, "well, how are we gonna get them to comply?" I would have never released the sanctions before there was consistent evidence of compliance. +p3014 +aVLook, I don't want my marriage or my guns registered in Washington. And if people have an opinion, it's a religious opinion that is heartly felt, obviously they should be allowed to practice that and no government should interfere with them. One of the things, one of the things that really got to me was the thing in Houston where you had the government, the mayor actually, trying to get the sermons of ministers. When the government tries to invade the church to enforce its own opinion on marriage, that's when it's time to resist. +p3015 +aVWell, let's be clear, I'm the only one on the stage who actually has a five-year budget that balances. I've put pencil to paper... +p3016 +aV... and I've said -- and I've said I would cut spending, and I've said exactly where. Each one of my budgets has taken a meat axe to foreign aid, because I think we ought to quit sending it to countries that hate us. I think we ought to quit sending it to countries that burn our flag. Israel is not one of those. But even Benjamin Netanyahu said that ultimately, they will be stronger when they're independent. My position is exactly the same. We shouldn't borrow money from China to send it anywhere, but why don't we start with eliminating aid to our enemies. +p3017 +aVI still say exactly what my original opinion is. Do you borrow money from China to send it to anyone? Out of your surplus, you can help your allies, and Israel is a great ally. And this is no particular animus of Israel, but what I will say, and I will say over and over again, we cannot give away money we don't have. We do not project power from bankruptcy court. We're borrowing a million dollars a minute. It's got to stop somewhere. +p3018 +aVI'm a different kind of Republican. I've introduced a five-year balanced budget. I've introduced the largest tax cut in our history. I stood for ten and a half hours on the Senate floor to defend your right to be left alone. But I've also gone to Chicago. I've gone to Detroit. I've been to Ferguson, I've been to Baltimore, because I want our party to be bigger, better and bolder, and I'm the only one that leads Hillary Clinton in five states that were won by President Obama. I'm a different kind of Republican. +p3019 +asVBASH +p3020 +(lp3021 +VA crucial question is how to balance surveillance with privacy and keeping Americans safe. Senator Cruz, you voted for a bill that President Obama signed into law just this past June that made it harder for the government to access Americans' phone records. In light of the San Bernardino attack, was your vote a mistake? +p3022 +aVThank you. Senator Rubio, Senator Cruz is right there was bipartisan support for that. But you voted against it. So, is Senator Cruz wrong? +p3023 +aVSenator Cruz? +p3024 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator \u2014 Senator Rubio, please respond. +p3025 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I know this is \u2014 this has been a very big issue for you. You hear many of your colleagues are calling for increased surveillance by law enforcement. You call that hogwash. Why is that hogwash? +p3026 +aVSenator Rubio? +p3027 +aVGovernor Christie, Governor Christie... ...Governor Christie, I'll come to you in a minute. Go ahead, Senator Paul. +p3028 +aVGo ahead, please. +p3029 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about immigration in a while. But, Governor Christie, just listening to this... +p3030 +aVListening to this, you talked \u2014 you heard Senator Paul, Senator Cruz talk about how important it is to protect Americans' privacy, even in a time of grave danger. Why \u2014 what's wrong with that? +p3031 +aVSenator Paul, you said +p3032 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I want to go back to my initial question, which is you saying that +p3033 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about regime change in a bit. But Governor Kasich, would you like to respond to Senator Paul? +p3034 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. We've been talking tonight about programs and policy proposals that you all have to keep Americans safe and it's a big discussion on the campaign trail. Also about border security and immigration. So let's talk about immigration. Senator Rubio. You co-authored a bill with Democrats two years ago that allowed a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Do you still support that path to citizenship, which means giving those immigrants rights, like the right to vote? +p3035 +aVSenator, you haven't answered the question. You described a very long path but does that path end at citizenship? +p3036 +aVThank you, senator. +p3037 +aVThank you, senator. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, on the campaign trail, Senator Rubio has said that his immigration plan is not that different from yours. Is that true? +p3038 +aVSenator Rubio, please. +p3039 +aVSenator Cruz? +p3040 +aVSenator Cruz? +p3041 +aVSenator Cruz, can you answer that question please? +p3042 +aVSenator Cruz? +p3043 +aVOne at a time please. +p3044 +aVMs. Fiorina, please wait your turn, we're going to get to you. +p3045 +aVSenator Cruz go ahead. +p3046 +aVMr. Trump, you like to say that you restarted this conversation in the campaign. +p3047 +aVSo who do you side with? Who do you side with in this, Senator Rubio or Senator Cruz? +p3048 +aVThank you. Governor Bush? +p3049 +aVListening to this, do you think this is the tone \u2014 this immigration debate that republicans need to take to win back Hispanics into our party especially states like where we are in Nevada that has a pretty Hispanic community? +p3050 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said if China launches a cyber- attack against the U.S. on your watch, "they're going to see cyber- warfare like they have never seen before." What exactly would that response look like? +p3051 +aVGovernor Bush, what you just heard from Governor Christie, are you concerned that that could really escalate with China, that they would retaliate? And, for example, as the NSA has said, attack the U.S. and maybe it's power grid, which the Chinese have the capability to do? +p3052 +aVMr. Trump, just this weekend you said Senator Cruz is not qualified to be president because he doesn't have the right temperament and acted like a maniac when he arrived in the Senate. But last month you said you were open to naming Senator Cruz as your running mate. +p3053 +aVSo why would you be willing to put somebody who's a maniac one heartbeat away from the presidency? +p3054 +aVOkay. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, you have not been willing to attack Mr. Trump in public. +p3055 +aVBut you did question his judgment in having control of American's nuclear arsenal during a private meeting with supporters. Why are you willing to say things about him in private and not in public? +p3056 +aVSenator, senator, I just... +p3057 +aVSenator, a lot of people have seen... +p3058 +aV... a lot of people have seen these comments you made in private. I just want to clarify what you're saying right now is you do believe Mr. Trump has the judgment to be commander in chief? +p3059 +aVGovernor Kasich, Senator Cruz is so committed to stripping federal funds from Planned Parenthood that it could result in shutting down the federal government in just about two weeks. Do you agree with Senator Cruz's tactic? +p3060 +aVThank you. +p3061 +aVThank you. Senator Cruz, I would just add that, on this stage not that long ago, Senator Graham said that this tactic that you're pushing would tank the Republicans' ability to win in 2016. +p3062 +aVThank you, senator. +p3063 +aVThank you... +p3064 +aVGovernor \u2014 governor, I want to go to you. Is it what Senator Cruz says, a surrender by Republicans? +p3065 +aVBut... +p3066 +aVBut is it... +p3067 +aVBut, governor, the \u2014 but, governor, the reality is, in just two weeks' time... ...we are going to be facing a question about whether or not it's enough to shut down the government to make that statement, because there is still a Democrat in the White House. Do you oppose it or support it? +p3068 +aVYes or no, do you support this shutdown? +p3069 +aVWe're talking about Planned Parenthood right now. +p3070 +aVCan you answer yes or no? +p3071 +aVOne more time. I'm sorry, I just want to get the answer. +p3072 +aVSo you would support a shutdown. +p3073 +aVGovernor Bush, Mr. Trump has suggested that your views on immigration are influenced by your Mexican born wife. He said that, quote, "If my wife were from Mexico, I think I would have a soft spot for people from Mexico." Did Mr. Trump go to far in invoking your wife? +p3074 +aVMr. Trump? +p3075 +aVMr. Trump... +p3076 +aVGo ahead. +p3077 +aVMs. Fiorina \u2014 Ms. Fiorina, we're going to come to you, we're going to come to you. I just want to give Governor Bush a chance to respond to what Mr. Trump said. +p3078 +aVOK, on that note, you have criticized Governor Bush for speaking Spanish on the campaign trail. You said, quote, "He should really set an example by speaking English in the United States." What's wrong with speaking Spanish? +p3079 +aVThank you. +p3080 +aV...Thank you.... +p3081 +aVGovernor Bush, let's talk about the issue that's very important to Republican voters, and that's the Supreme Court. After Chief Justice John Roberts voted to uphold Obamacare twice, Senator Cruz criticized your brother for appointing John Roberts to the Supreme Court. Looking back on it, did your brother make a mistake? +p3082 +aV...Is John Roberts one of those people? +p3083 +aVDo you like what you just heard, Senator Cruz? +p3084 +aVMr. Trump, you have said once or twice that you are really rich, and you are by far the richest person on this stage. Chris Christie says billionaires like you and even people who make and earn far less should no longer get Social Security, or at least there should be limits based on \u2014 on their income. You think he's wrong, and if so, why? +p3085 +aVWhat about the country as a \u2014 as a policy? +p3086 +aVSo is a voluntary program the way to get the Social Security system solvent again like that. +p3087 +aVSenator Santorum, you want to give the intelligence community more power to collect American's phone data. But the government had this ability until just days before the San Bernardino attack. If it couldn't prevent San Bernardino, why will it protect America? +p3088 +aVSenator Graham, when this program was exposed, you said, " you have nothing to worry about if you're not talking to terrorist." Do you understand why though some Americans are concerned that the government is keeping tabs on them in any way? +p3089 +aVThank you. Governor Huckabee, you said, "not one terrorist plot has been foiled by the NSA's collection of American's phone records. The director of the CIA says,. "not having these programs makes it ability to find terrorists, quote, "much more challenging."" Are you taking a potential tool to fight terrorists? +p3090 +aVSenator Santorum? +p3091 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator Graham... +p3092 +aVSenator Graham... +p3093 +aVSenator Graham, we've heard here tonight a lot about the fact that you want to send U.S. troops, ground troops, into Iraq, and Syria to defeat +p3094 +aVGovernor Huckabee... +p3095 +aVGovernor Huckabee, would you reinstate the draft? +p3096 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator Graham... +p3097 +aVSenator Graham... +p3098 +aVSenator Graham, we've heard here tonight a lot about the fact that you want to send U.S. troops, ground troops, into Iraq, and Syria to defeat +p3099 +aVGovernor Huckabee... +p3100 +aVGovernor Huckabee, would you reinstate the draft? +p3101 +aVSo what would you do about it? +p3102 +aVSenator... +p3103 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. +p3104 +aVSenator Graham. +p3105 +aVSenator Graham, quick response. +p3106 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. +p3107 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. +p3108 +aVSenator Santorum, earlier this month the Pentagon opened all U.S. military combat positions to women. You previously opposed allowing women in combat roles. As President, would you change the Pentagon's new policy? +p3109 +aVSo, just to be clear, you're saying, yes, you would change the policy back? +p3110 +aVGovernor Pataki, as you mentioned earlier, you have two sons who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Would you maintain this new policy as President, or do you agree with Senator Santorum. +p3111 +aVSenator Santorum. +p3112 +aVNow Governor Pataki, do you a final response? +p3113 +aVGovernor Huckabee, the U.S. has a program that allows visitors from America's closest allies to travel to the U.S. without obtaining a visa. But new legislation in Congress says that privilege should not apply to those who have visited is hot spots like Iraq and Syria in the last five years. You say that legislation doesn't go far enough. Why? +p3114 +aVSenator Santorum, Governor Jindal has supported a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants once the border is secure. Why do you disagree with that? +p3115 +aVSenator, your time's up. I want to get the governor to respond to that. +p3116 +aVSenator -- Senator Santorum, do you buy that, that the governor's not for amnesty? +p3117 +aVSenator, your time is up... +p3118 +aVYour time is up. And Governor, I'm sorry. Just -- you -- you really need to clarify your position, because you say you're not for amnesty, but you have been for a path to citizenship... +p3119 +aVThank you. Senator Graham, you mentioned this earlier; you are calling for an additional 20,000 U.S. ground forces to fight +p3120 +aVNo one on this stage has gone that far. So are you saying, for Iraq and Syria, are you saying that everybody to your right is not fit for the Oval Office? +p3121 +aVSenator -- +p3122 +aV-- Senator Santorum, I know you're raising your hand. You're committing to this number of troops, both in Iraq and on the ground in Syria? +p3123 +aVAnd he's saying 20,000. Would you...? +p3124 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Jindal? +p3125 +aVSenator Santorum, you just heard Governor Jindal and Governor Pataki talk about tax reform. Jeb Bush has proposed a tax reform plan, and in it, he limits deductions, including the popular home mortgage deduction. Would you do the same as president? +p3126 +aV...times up, Senator. +p3127 +aV...OK, times up, Senator. Governor, just to bring you back into this, you said that you would be OK with what is effectively raising taxes on hedge fund managers as part of a tax reform plan. Would you aslo be for doing away with people's deductions for their mortgages. +p3128 +asVEPPERSON +p3129 +(lp3130 +VThank you, John. Mrs. Fiorina, you were the CEO of a large corporation that offers a 401(k) to its employees. But more than half of American have no access to an employer sponsored retirement plan. That includes the workers at small businesses, and the growing ranks of Uber drivers and other part-timers in the freelance economy. Should the Federal Government play a larger role in helping to set up retirement plans for these workers? +p3131 +aVSo you wouldn't agree \u2014 you wouldn't agree with a start for 401(k) for businesses or anything like that? +p3132 +aVThank you very much. +p3133 +aVThank you, the rules say one minute. +p3134 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. We appreciate it. Thank you, thank you. I want to turn my attention now, to you now, Governor Kasich. Most people can't get a college degree without going into debt. Over 40 million Americans have student loans and many of them cannot pay them back. This country has over $100 billion in student loan defaults. That's billion with a b. What will you do to make sure that students, their families, taxpayers, won't feel the economic impact of this burden for generations? Well, first of all, in Ohio we're changing the whole system. Universities will not get paid one dime unless the student graduates or \u2014 graduates or completes a course. Secondly, you can be in high school and complete almost an entire first year before you go to college and get credit to do that. And, of course, in addition to that, we are working now to go after the cost drivers in our universities. And let me give you an example. Universities today have so many non-academic assets. At Ohio State they sold the parking garage and the parking lot, and they got $500 million because they shouldn't be in the parking lot business. They shouldn't be in the ding business, they shouldn't be in the dorm business. And, of course, we need to take advantage of on-line education to reduce these costs and begin to dis-intermediate the cost of four years. Now, for those who that have these big high costs, I think we can seriously look at an idea of where you can do public service. I mean legitimate, public service and begin to pay off some of that debt through the public service that you do. And in the meantime, it may inspire us to care more about our country, more about ourselves. This is a big moral issue in America. Living a life bigger than yourself, and being a center of healing and justice. And people can learn it through public service. +p3135 +aVThank you, thank you. +p3136 +aVThank you, John. Senator Graham, one in every four workers has saved less than $1,000 for retirement. Millions of Americans rely on their Social Security benefits for the majority of their retirement income. Now, you called for reforms to Social Security, but what would you do to fix the other part of the problem for future retirees and get people to save more? +p3137 +aVBut Senator Graham... +p3138 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. Thank you, Senator Graham. Governor Jindal, you've been a strong supporter of for-profit colleges. These are institutions that educate many veterans, minorities and working class Americans. They make up about 11 percent of the college population at these schools, but they account for 44 percent of student loan defaults. Should for-profit schools be held accountable when they take taxpayer money and leave students deep in debt? +p3139 +asVSANDERS +p3140 +(lp3141 +VWell, Gwen and Judy, thank you very much for hosting this event. And, PBS, thank you. Nine months ago, our campaign began. And when it began, we had no political organization, no money, and not much name recognition outside of the state of Vermont. A lot has happened in nine months. And what has happened is, I think, the American people have responded to a series of basic truths, and that is that we have today a campaign finance system which is corrupt, which is undermining American democracy, which allows Wall Street and billionaires to pour huge sums of money into the political process to elect the candidates of their choice. And aligned with a corrupt campaign finance system is a rigged economy. And that's an economy where ordinary Americans are working longer hours for low wagers. They are worried to death about the future of their kids. And yet they are seeing almost all new income and all new wealth going to the top 1 percent. And then in addition to that, the American people are looking around and they see a broken criminal justice system. They see more people in jail in the United States of America than any other country on earth, 2.2 million. We're spending $80 billion a year locking up fellow Americans. They see kids getting arrested for marijuana, getting in prison, getting a criminal record, while they see executives on Wall Street who pay billions of dollars in settlements and get no prosecution at all. No criminal records for them. I think what our campaign is indicating is that the American people are tired of establishment politics, tired of establishment economics. They want a political revolution in which millions of Americans stand up, come together, not let the Trumps of the world divide us, and say, you know what, in this great country, we need a government that represents all of us, not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors. Thank you. +p3142 +aVWell, to put that in a context, Judy, I think we have to understand that in the last 30 years in this country there has been a massive transfer of wealth going from the hands of working families into the top one-tenth of 1% whose percentage of wealth has doubled. In other words, the very rich are getting richer, almost everybody is going \u2014 getting poorer. What I believe is the United States, in fact, should join the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee healthcare to all people. Our Medicare for all single-payer proposal will save the average middle class family $5,000 a year. I do believe that in the year 2016 we have to look in terms of public education as colleges as part of public education making public colleges and universities tuition free. I believe that when real unemployment is close to 10%, and when our infrastructure, our roads, our bridges, our water systems, Flint, Michigan comes to mind. Our waste water plants, our rail, our airports, in many places are disintegrating. Yeah, we can create 13 million jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure at a cost of a trillion dollars. +p3143 +aV... Of course there will be a limit, but when today you have massive levels of income and wealth inequality, when the middle class is disappearing, you have the highest rate of child poverty of almost any major country on Earth. Yes, in my view, the government of a democratic society has a moral responsibility to play a vital role in making sure all of our people have a decent standard of living. +p3144 +aVWell, let us level with the American people. Secretary Clinton has been going around the country saying Bernie Sanders wants to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, people are going to lose their MedicAid, they're going to lose their +p3145 +aVThat is absolutely inaccurate. Look, here is the reality, folks. There is one major country on Earth that does not guarantee health care to all people. There is one major country \u2014 the United States \u2014 which ends up spending almost three times per capita what they do in the U.K. guaranteeing health care to all people, 50 percent more than they do in France guaranteeing health care to all people, far more than our Canadian neighbors, who guarantee health care to all people. Please do not tell me that in this country, if \u2014 and here's the if \u2014 we have the courage to take on the drug companies, and have the courage to take on the insurance companies, and the medical equipment suppliers, if we do that, yes, we can guarantee health care to all people in a much more cost effective way. +p3146 +aVWell, Secretary Clinton, you're not in the White House yet. And let us be clear that every proposal that I have introduced has been paid for. For example, all right, who in America denies that we have an infrastructure that is crumbling? Roads, bridges, water systems, wastewater plants, who denies that? Who denies that real unemployment today, including those who have given up looking for work and are working part-time is close to 10 percent? Who denies that African-American youth unemployment, real, is over 50 percent. We need to create jobs. So yes, I will do away with the outrageous loopholes that allow profitable multinational corporations to stash billions of dollars in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda and in a given year pay zero, zero in federal income tax. Yes, I'm going to do away with that. We will use those proceeds, a hundred billion a year, to invest in rebuilding our infrastructure. Yes, I believe that as a result of the illegal behavior on Wall Street, that they are a Wall Street that drove this country into the worst economic downturn since the Great Recession \u2014 Great Depression. Yes, I do believe that now after the American people bailed Wall Street out, yes, they should pay a Wall Street speculation tax so that we can make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We bailed them out. Now it is their time to help the middle class. +p3147 +aVA brief response. +p3148 +aVHere is where we are with public education. A 100, 150 years ago incredibly brave Americans said, you know what, working class kids, low income kids should not have to work in factories or on the farms. Like rich kids, they deserve to get a free education. And that free education of extraordinary accomplishment was from first grade to 12th grade. The world has changed. This is 2016. In many ways, a college degree today is equivalent to what a high school degree was 50, 60 years ago. So, yes, I do believe that when we talk about public education in America, today, in a rapidly changing world, we should have free tuition at public colleges and universities. That should be a right of all Americans regardless of the income of their families. +p3149 +aVLook, we are fighting for every vote that we can get from women, from men, straight, gay, African-Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans. We are trying to bring America together around an agenda that works for working families and the middle class. I am very proud, if my memory is not correct \u2014 I think I am \u2014 that I have a lifetime \u2014 and I've been in Congress a few years \u2014 a lifetime 100 percent pro-choice voting record. I am very proud that over the years we have had the support in my state of Vermont from very significant majorities of women. I'm very proud that I support legislation that is currently in the Congress, got support of almost all progressive Democrats in the House and Senate, which says we will end the absurdity of women today making 79 cents on the dollar compared to men. And we will join the rest of the other \u2014 the industrialized world in saying that paid family and medical leave should be a right of all working families. +p3150 +aVWell, you know, I think, from a historical point of view, somebody with my background, somebody with my views, somebody who has spent his entire life taking on the big money interests, I think a Sanders victory would be of some historical accomplishment, as well. +p3151 +aVLet me concur with the secretary, no question women's rights are under fierce attack all over this country. And I will tell you something that really galls me. I will not shock anybody to suggest that in politics there is occasionally a little bit of hypocrisy. Just a little bit. All over this country we have Republican candidates for president saying we hate the government. Government is the enemy. We're going to cut Social Security to help you. We're going to cut Medicare and Medicaid, federal aid to education to help you, because the government is so terrible. But, by the way, when it comes to a woman having to make a very personal choice, ah, in that case, my Republican colleagues love the government and want the government to make that choice for every woman in America. If that's not hypocrisy, I don't know what hypocrisy is. +p3152 +aVThis is one of the great tragedies in our country today. And we can no longer continue to sweep it under the rug. It has to be dealt with. Today a male African-American baby born today stands a one-in-four chance of ending up in jail. That is beyond unspeakable. So what we have to do is the radical reform of a broken criminal justice system. What we have to do is end over-policing in African-American neighborhoods. The reality is that both the African-American community and the white community do marijuana at about equal rates. The reality is four times as many blacks get arrested for marijuana. Truth is that far more blacks get stopped for traffic violations. The truth is that sentencing for blacks is higher than for whites. We need fundamental police reform, clearly, clearly, when we talk about a criminal justice system. I would hope that we could all agree that we are sick and tired of seeing videos on television of unarmed people, often African-Americans, shot by police officers. What we have got to do is make it clear that any police officer who breaks the law will, in fact, be held accountable. +p3153 +aVNothing that Secretary Clinton said do I disagree with. This mandatory sentencing, a very bad idea. It takes away discretion from judges. We have got to demilitarize local police departments so they do not look like occupying armies. We have got to make sure that local police departments look like the communities they serve in their diversity. And, where we are failing abysmally is in the very high rate of recidivism we see. People are being released from jail without the education, without the job training, without the resources that they need to get their lives together, then they end up \u2014 we're shocked that they end up back in jail again. So, we have a lot of work to do. But, here is a pledge I've made throughout this campaign, and it's really not a very radical pledge. When we have more people in jail, disproportionately African American and Latino, than China does, a communist authoritarian society four times our size. Here's my promise, at the end of my first term as president we will not have more people in jail than any other country. We will invest in education, and jobs for our kids, not incarceration and more jails. +p3154 +aVWell, I think, Judy, what has to be appreciated is that, as a result of the disastrous and illegal behavior on Wall Street, millions of lives were hurt. People lost their jobs, their homes, their life savings. Turns out that the African-American community and the Latino community were hit especially hard. As I understand it, the African-American community lost half of their wealth as a result of the Wall Street collapse. So when you have childhood African-American poverty rates of 35 percent, when you have youth unemployment at 51 percent, when you have unbelievable rates of incarceration \u2014 which, by the way, leaves the children back home without a dad or even a mother \u2014 clearly, we are looking at institutional racism. We are looking at an economy in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. And sadly, in America today, in our economy, a whole lot of those poor people are African-American. +p3155 +aVAbsolutely, because what we will do is say, instead of giving tax breaks to billionaires, we are going to create millions of jobs for low-income kids so they're not hanging out on street corners. We're going to make sure that those kids stay in school or are able to get a college education. And I think when you give low-income kids \u2014 African-American, white, Latino kids \u2014 the opportunities to get their lives together, they are not going to end up in jail. They're going to end up in the productive economy, which is where we want them. +p3156 +aVWhite people? +p3157 +aVYeah, you can, because African-Americans and Latinos not only face the general economic crises of low wages, and high unemployment, and poor educational opportunities, but they face other problems, as well. So, yes, we can talk about it as a racial issue. But it is a general economic issue. And here's what the economic issue is. The wages that high school graduates receive today are significantly less, whether you are white or black, than they used to be. Why is that? Because of a series of disastrous trade policies which have allowed corporate America through +p3158 +aVThe answer is yes. We've got 11 million undocumented people in this country. I have talked to some of the young kids with tears rolling down their cheeks, are scared to death that today they may or their parents may be deported. I believe that we have got to pass comprehensive immigration reform, something that I strongly supported. I believe that we have got to move toward a path toward citizenship. I agree with President Obama who used executive orders to protect families because the Congress, the House was unable or refused to act. And in fact I would go further. What would motivate me and what would be the guiding light for me in terms of immigration reform, Judy, is to bring families together, not divide them up. And let me say this also. Somebody who is very fond of the president, agrees with him most of the time, I disagree with his recent deportation policies. And I would not support those. Bottom line is a path towards citizenship for 11 million undocumented people, if Congress doesn't do the right thing, we use the executive orders of the president. +p3159 +aVSecretary Clinton, I do have a disagreement here. If my memory is correct, I think when we saw children coming from these horrendous, horrendously violent areas of Honduras and neighboring countries, people who are fleeing drug violence and cartel violence, I thought it was a good idea to allow those children to stay in this country. That was not, as I understand it, the secretary's position. In terms of 2007 immigration reform, yeah, I did vote against it. I voted against it because the Southern Poverty Law Center, among other groups, said that the guest-worker programs that were embedded in this agreement were akin to slavery. Akin to slavery, where people came into this country to do guest work were abused, were exploited, and if they stood up for their rights, they'd be thrown out of this country. So it wasn't just me who opposed it. It was +p3160 +aVWell, let me just respond. I worked with Ted Kennedy. He was the chairman of my committee. And I loved Ted Kennedy. But on this issue, when you have one of the large Latino organizations in America saying vote no, and you have the AFL-CIO saying vote no, and you have leading progressive Democrats, in fact, voting no, I don't apologize for that vote. But in terms of the children, I don't know to whom you're sending a message. Who are you sending a message to? These are children who are leaving countries and neighborhoods where their lives are at stake. That was the fact. I don't think we use them to send a message. I think we welcome them into this country and do the best we can to help them get their lives together. +p3161 +aVOK. You know, you judge a nation not by the number of millionaires and billionaires it has, but by how you treat, we treat, the most vulnerable and fragile people in our nation. And by those standards, we're not doing particularly well. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty among almost any major country on Earth. And in terms of seniors, there are millions of seniors \u2014 and I've talked to them in my state of Vermont and all over this country \u2014 who are trying to get by on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year Social Security. And you know what? You do the arithmetic. You can't get by on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year. And here's an area where Secretary Clinton and I believe we have a difference. I have long supported the proposition that we should lift the cap on taxable income coming into the Social Security Trust Fund, starting at $250,000. And when we \u2014 and when we do that, we don't do what the Republicans want, which is to cut Social Security. We do what the American people want, to expand Social Security by $1,300 a year for people under $16,000, and we extend the life of Social Security for 58 years. Yes, the wealthiest people, the top 1.5 percent, will pay more in taxes. But a great nation like ours should not be in a position where elderly people are cutting their pills in half, where they don't have decent nutrition, where they can't heat their homes in the wintertime. That is not what America should be about. If elected president, I will do everything I can to expand Social Security benefits, not just for seniors, but for disabled veterans, as well. +p3162 +aVIn all due respect......In all due respect, Secretary Clinton, a lot of the progressive groups, the online groups have really asked you a simple question. Are you coming onboard a proposal? And what is that proposal? Now, the proposal that I have outlined, you know, should be familiar to you, because it is what essentially Barack Obama campaigned on in 2008. You opposed him then. I would hope that you would come onboard and say that this is the simple and straightforward thing to do. We're asking the top 1.5 percent, including passive income, to start paying a little bit more so that the elderly and disabled vets in this country can live with security and dignity. I hope you will make a decision soon on this. +p3163 +aVThat's my bill. Check it out. +p3164 +aVWhat we are talking about in reality is a corrupt campaign finance system, that's what we're talking about. We have to be honest about it. It is undermining American democracy. When extraordinarily wealthy people make very large contributions to Super PACs, and in many cases in this campaign, Super PACs have raised more money than individual candidates have, OK? We had a decision to make early on, do we do a Super PAC? And, we said no. We don't represent Wall Street, we don't represent the billionaire class, so it ends up I'm the only candidate up here of the many candidates who has no Super PAC. But, what we did is we said to the working families of this country, look, we know things are tough, but if you want to help us go beyond establishment politics, and establishment economics, send us something. And, it turns out that up until \u2014 and this has blown me away, never in a million years would I have believed that I would be standing here tonight telling you that we have received three and a half million individual contributions from well over a million people. Now, Secretary Clinton's Super PAC, as I understand it, received $25 million dollars last reporting period, $15 million dollars from Wall Street. Our average contribution is $27 dollars, I'm very proud of that. +p3165 +aVThe people aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street... But let's not \u2014 but let's not \u2014 let's not insult \u2014 let's not insult the intelligence of the American people. People aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street make huge campaign contributions? I guess just for the fun of it; they want to throw money around. Why does the pharmaceutical industry make huge campaign contributions? Any connection maybe to the fact that our people pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs? Why does the fossil fuel industry pay \u2014 spend huge amounts of money on campaign contributions? Any connection to the fact that not one Republican candidate for president thinks and agrees with the scientific community that climate change is real and that we have got to transform our energy system? And when we talk about Wall Street, let's talk about Wall Street. I voted for Dodd-Frank, got an important amendment in it. In my view, it doesn't go anywhere near far enough. But when we talk about Wall Street, you have Wall Street and major banks have paid $200 billion in fines since the great crash. No Wall Street executive has been prosecuted. +p3166 +aVLet me, you know, again, respectfully disagree with Secretary Clinton here. When you have three out of the four largest financial institutions in this country bigger today than they were when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, when you have six financial institutions having assets equivalent to 58 percent of the GDP of America, while issuing two-thirds of the credit cards and a third of the mortgages, look, I think if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, that great trust-buster would have said break them up. I think he would have been right. I think he would have said bring back a 21st-century Glass-Steagall legislation. I think that would have been right, as well. That's my view. +p3167 +aVHey, I'm in the United States Senate, and anyone who doesn't think that there is an enormous amount of waste and inefficiency and bureaucracy throughout government would be very, very mistaken. I believe in government, but I believe in efficient government, not wasteful government. +p3168 +aVIf I could just answer that, we have also got to take a look at the waste and inefficiencies in the Department of Defense, which is the one major agency of government that has not been able to be audited. And I have the feeling you're going to find a lot of cost overruns there and a lot of waste and duplicative activities. +p3169 +aVLet me \u2014 let me just say this. What a President of the United States has got to do and what is his or her major, I think, responsibility is to, a, make certain that we keep our people safe, that we work with allies around the world to protect democratic values, that we do all that we can to create a world of peace and prosperity. I voted against the war in Iraq because I listened very carefully to what President Bush and Vice President Cheney had to say and I didn't believe them. And if you go to my Web site,berniesanders.com, what you find is not only going to help lead the opposition to that war, but much of what I feared would happen when I spoke on the floor of the House, in fact, did happen in terms of the instability that occurred. Now I think an area in kind of a vague way, or not so vague, where Secretary Clinton and I disagree is the area of regime change. Look, the truth is that a powerful nation like the United States, certainly working with our allies, we can overthrow dictators all over the world. And God only knows Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator. We could overthrow Assad tomorrow if we wanted to. We got rid of Gadhafi. But the point about foreign policy is not just to know that you can overthrow a terrible dictator, it's to understand what happens the day after. And in Libya, for example, the United States, Secretary Clinton, as secretary of state, working with some other countries, did get rid of a terrible dictator named Gadhafi. But what happened is a political vacuum developed. +p3170 +aVJudy, if I can, there is no question, Secretary Clinton and I are friends, and I have a lot of respect for her, that she has enormous experience in foreign affairs. Secretary of state for four years. You've got a bit of experience, I would imagine. But judgment matters as well. Judgment matters as well. And she and I looked at the same evidence coming from the Bush administration regarding Iraq. I lead the opposition against it. She voted for it. But more importantly, in terms of this Libya resolution that you have noted before, this was a virtually unanimous consent. Everybody voted for it wanting to see Libya move toward democracy, of course we all wanted to do that. That is very different than talking about specific action for regime change, which I did not support. +p3171 +aVJudy, one area very briefly... +p3172 +aVWhere the secretary and I have a very profound difference, in the last debate \u2014 and I believe in her book \u2014 very good book, by the way \u2014 in her book and in this last debate, she talked about getting the approval or the support or the mentoring of Henry Kissinger. Now, I find it rather amazing, because I happen to believe that Henry Kissinger was one of the most destructive secretaries of state in the modern history of this country. I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend. I will not take advice from Henry Kissinger. And in fact, Kissinger's actions in Cambodia, when the United States bombed that country, overthrew Prince Sihanouk, created the instability for Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge to come in, who then butchered some 3 million innocent people, one of the worst genocides in the history of the world. So count me in as somebody who will not be listening to Henry Kissinger. +p3173 +aVWell, it ain't Henry Kissinger. That's for sure. +p3174 +aVIt is. +p3175 +aVI find \u2014 I mean, it's just a very different, you know, historical perspective here. Kissinger was one of those people during the Vietnam era who talked about the domino theory. Not everybody remembers that. You do. I do. The domino theory, you know, if Vietnam goes, China, da, da, da, da, da, da, da. That's what he talked about, the great threat of China. And then, after the war, this is the guy who, in fact, yes, you're right, he opened up relations with China, and now pushed various type of trade agreements, resulting in American workers losing their jobs as corporations moved to China. The terrible, authoritarian, Communist dictatorship he warned us about, now he's urging companies to shut down and move to China. Not my kind of guy. +p3176 +aVWell, this is what I would say. It is a complicated relationship. I congratulate Secretary of State John Kerry and the president for working on this agreement. As you've indicated, what is happening in Syria, the number of people, the hundreds of thousands of people who have been killed \u2014 men, women, 20,000 children, the people who are forced to flee their own country \u2014 their own country \u2014 it is unspeakable. It is a real horror. Now, what I think is that right now we have got to do our best in developing positive relations with Russia. But let's be clear: Russia's aggressive actions in the Crimea and in Ukraine have brought about a situation where President Obama and +p3177 +aVLet me just \u2014 just say this. For a start, the secretary and I disagree \u2014 and I think the president does not agree with her \u2014 in terms of the concept of a no-fly zone in Syria. I think you do have a humanitarian tragedy there, as I mentioned a moment ago. I applaud Secretary Kerry and the president for trying to put together this agreement. Let's hope that it holds. But furthermore, what we have got to do, I'm sorry, yes, I do believe that we have got to do everything that we can, and it will not happen tomorrow. But I do hope that in years to come, just as occurred with Cuba, 10, 20 years ago, people would say, reach normalized relations with Cuba. And by the way, I hope we can end the trade embargo with Cuba as well. But the idea that we some day maybe have decent relations with Iran, maybe put pressure on them so they end their support for terrorism around the world, yes, that is something I want to achieve. And I believe that the best way to do that is to be aggressive, to be principled, but to have the goal of trying to improve relations. That's how you make peace in the world. You sit down and you work with people, you make demands of people, in this case demanding Iran stop the support of international terrorism. +p3178 +aVWe have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of work to do. But I recall when Secretary Clinton ran against then-Senator Obama, she was critical of him for suggesting that maybe you want to talk to Iran, that you want to talk to our enemies. I have no illusion. Of course you are right. Iran is sponsoring terrorism in many parts of the world, destabilizing areas. Everybody knows that. But our goal is, in fact, to try over a period of time to, in fact, deal with our enemies, not just ignore that reality. +p3179 +aVNo, I think the idea was that president \u2014 then-Senator Obama was wrong for suggesting that it is a good idea to talk to your opponents. It's easier to talk to your friends. It's harder to talk to your enemies. I think we should do both. +p3180 +aVA couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to go on a congressional delegation. And I went to one of these Turkish refugee camps right on the border of Syria. And what a sad sight that was: Men, women, children forced out of their homes. And Turkey, by the way, did a very decent thing, providing what was reasonable housing and conditions for those people. It seems to me that given our history as a nation that has been a beacon of hope for the oppressed, for the downtrodden, that I very strongly disagree with those Republican candidates who say, you know what, we've got to turn our backs on women and children who left their home with nothing, nothing at all. That is not what America is supposed to be about. So I believe that working with Europe \u2014 and, by the way, you know, we've got some very wealthy countries there in that part of the world. You got Kuwait and you got Qatar and you got Saudi Arabia. They have a responsibility, as well. But I think this is a worldwide \u2014 that the entire world needs to come together to deal with this horrific refugee crisis we're seeing from Syria and Afghanistan, as well. +p3181 +aVYou know, Franklin Delano Roosevelt took the oath of office in 1933 at a time when 25 percent of the American people were unemployed, country was in incredible despair. And he stood before the American people and he said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself," a profound statement that gave the American people the courage to believe that, yes, we could get out of that terrible depression. And then what he did is redefine the role of government. You know, you had Herbert Hoover before that saying, no, we got to only worry about the deficit. So what if mass unemployment exists? So what if children are going hungry? That's not the role of the government. And when FDR said, "Yeah, it is," that we're going to use all of the resources that we have to create jobs, to build homes, to feed people, to protect the farmers, we are a nation which if we come together there is nothing that we could not accomplish. And kind of \u2014 that's what I see our campaign is about right now. In this particular moment of serious crises, saying to the American people don't give up on the political process. don't listen to the Trumps of the world and allowing them to divide us. If we reengage and get involved, yeah, we can have health care for all people, we can make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We do not have to have massive levels of income and wealth inequality. In the same light, as the foreign leader, Winston Churchill's politics were not my politics. He was kind of a conservative guy in many respects. But nobody can deny that as a wartime leader, he rallied the British people when they stood virtually alone against the Nazi juggernaut and rallied them and eventually won an extraordinary victory. Those are two leaders that I admire very much. +p3182 +aVThat is......Madam Secretary, that is a low blow. I have worked with President Obama for the last seven years. When President Obama came into office we were losing 800,000 jobs a month, 800,000 jobs a month. We had a $1.4 trillion deficit. And the world's financial system is on the verge of collapse. As a result of his efforts and the efforts of Joe Biden against unprecedented, I was there in the Senate, unprecedented Republican obstructionism, we have made enormous progress. But you know what? Last I heard we lived in a democratic society. Last I heard, a United States senator had the right to disagree with the president, including a president who has done such an extraordinary job. So I have voiced criticisms. You're right. Maybe you haven't. I have. But I think to suggest that I have voiced criticism, this blurb that you talk about, you know what the blurb said? The blurb said that the next president of the United States has got to be aggressive in bringing people into the political process. That's what I said. That is what I believe. President Obama and I are friends. As you know, he came to Vermont to campaign for me when he was a senator. I have worked for his re-election. His first election and his re-election. But I think it is really unfair to suggest that I have not been supportive of the president. I have been a strong ally with him on virtually every issue. Do senators have the right to disagree with the president? Have you ever disagreed with a president? I suspect you may have. +p3183 +aVWell, one of us ran against Barack Obama. I was not that candidate. All right, look, this has been a great debate. A lot of interesting issues have come together. Let me conclude by just saying this. There is no president, in my view, not Hillary Clinton, not Bernie Sanders, who has the capability or the power to take on Wall Street, large campaign donors, the corporate media, the big money interests in this country alone. This campaign is not just about electing a president. What this campaign is about is creating a process for a political revolution in which millions of Americans, working people who have given up on the political process, they don't think anybody hears their pains or their concerns. Young people for whom getting involved in politics is as, you know, it's like going to the moon. It ain't going to happen. Low income people who are not involved in the political process. What this campaign is not only about electing someone who has the most progressive agenda, it is about bringing tens of millions of people together to demand that we have a government that represents all of us and not just the 1 percent, who today have so much economic and political power. Thank you all very much. +p3184 +aVRachel, thank you very much. Millions of Americans are giving up on the political process. And they're giving up on the political process because they understand the economy is rigged. They are working longer hours for low wages. They're worried about the future of their kids, and yet almost all new income and wealth is going to the top 1 percent. Not what America is supposed to be about. Not the fairness that we grew up believing that America was about. And then sustaining that rigged economy is a corrupt campaign finance system undermining American democracy, where billionaire, Wall Street, corporate America can contribute unlimited sums of money into super PACs and into candidates. Our job, together, is to end a rigged economy, create an economy that works for all, and absolutely overturn Citizens United. One person, one vote. That's what American democracy is about. +p3185 +aVWell, I haven't quite run for president before. Let's deal with some of the comments that Secretary Clinton made. And by the way, you know, sometimes there's a lot of drama here. I have known Secretary Clinton for 25 years and respect her very much. Here is the issue. Every major country on earth, whether it's the U.K., whether it's France, whether it's Canada, has managed to provide healthcare to all people as a right and they are spending significantly less per capita on health care than we are. So I do not accept the belief that the United States of America can't do that. I do not accept the belief that the United States of America and our government can't stand up to the ripoffs of the pharmaceutical industry which charge us by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. Number two, in the economy today, everybody understands that we need a well educated workforce. This is 2016. When we talk about public education, it can no longer be K through 12th grade. I do believe that public colleges and universities should be tuition free. Well, how do we pay for that? It's an expensive proposition. I do believe that we should substantially lower student debt in this country, which is crushing millions of people. We pay for it, in my view, by a tax on Wall Street speculation. The middle class bailed out Wall Street in their time of need. Now, it is Wall Street's time to help the middle class. +p3186 +aVLet me... +p3187 +aV... this is a good discussion here. +p3188 +aVAnd let me just say this. As Secretary Clinton may know, I am on the Health Education Labor Committee. That committee wrote the Affordable Care Act. The idea I would dismantle health care in America while we're waiting to pass a Medicare for all is just not accurate. The Affordable Care Act has clearly, as Secretary Clinton made the point, done a lot of good things, but, what it has not done is dealt with the fact we have 29 million people today who have zero health insurance, we have even more who are underinsured with large deductibles and copayments and prescription drug prices are off the wall. So I do believe that in the future, not by dismantling what we have here\u2014I helped write that bill\u2014but by moving forward, rallying the American people, I do believe we should have health care for all. +p3189 +aVNo, not at all. Here's the reality of American economic life today. The reality is that we have one of lowest voter turnouts of any major country on earth because so many people have given up on the political process. The reality is that there has been trillions of dollars of wealth going from the middle class in the last 30 years to the top 1/10th of 1 percent. The reality is we that have a corrupt campaign finance system which separates the American people's needs and desires from what Congress is doing. So to my mind, what we have got to do is wage a political revolution where millions of people have given up on the political process, stand up and fight back, demand the government that represents us and not just a handful of campaign contribution\u2014contributors. Now all of the ideas that I'm talking about, they are not radical ideas. Making public colleges and universities tuition free, that exists in countries all over the world, used to exist in the United States. Rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, and creating 13 million jobs by doing away with tax loopholes that large corporations now enjoy by putting their money into the Cayman Islands and other tax havens. That is not a radical idea. What we need to do is to stand up to the big money interests, and the campaign contributors. When we do that, we can, in fact, transform America. +p3190 +aVLet me just pick up on this point. This whole discussion began because I commented, not making overall evaluation about the Secretary. She was in Ohio, I think, in September or November and she got up and said something like, I have been\u2014I'm paraphrasing, I have been criticized because people think I'm a moderate. Well, I am a moderate. That's where this came from. It wasn't me paraphrasing her. It is what she said, and all that I said was there's nothing wrong with being a moderate. But, you can't be a moderate, you can't a progressive. In terms of President Obama, I think if we remember where this country was seven years ago, 800,000 jobs being lost every month, $1.4 trillion dollar deficit. The world's financial system on the verge of collapse. I think that President Obama, Vice President Biden, and the Democratic leadership in the House and the Senate have done a fantastic job. We are in much better shape than we were seven years ago, although my Republican colleagues seem to have forgotten where we were seven years ago. That's the fact, but, we still have a very long way to go. Do I think President Obama is a progressive? Yes, I do. I disagree with him on a number of issues including the trade agreement. But, yes, I think he has done an excellent job. +p3191 +aVThat's right, I mean, instead of arguing about definitions, let's talk about... +p3192 +aV... What we should do, and one of the things we should do is not only talk the talk, but walk the walk. I am very proud to be the only candidate up here who does not have a Super PAC, who's not raising huge sums of money from Wall Street...... And special interests. I am enormously proud. Never believed it would happen that we have raised 3.5 million individual contributions, averaging $27 dollars a piece. That is what the political revolution means. +p3193 +aVWell, Rachel, actually, that wasn't accurate. In 1988 the Republican did win, I believe, by 3 points. I came in second. It was 34-31, I think, 19 for the Democrat. In that race the Democrat was the spoiler, not me. And it is true......it is true, it's not to be denied, I am the longest- serving independent in the history of the United States Congress. People of Vermont sent me to Washington as an independent. That is true. But on the other hand, I have\u2014when I was in the House for 16 years, I caucused with the Democrats. In the Senate for nine years caucused with the Democrats, of course. And I was elected by the Democrats to be chair of the Veterans Committee three years ago, which I'm very proud of. And now am the rankings member on the Budget Committee, leader of the Democrats in opposition to the majority Republicans. I am running for president as a Democrat. And if elected, not only do I hope to bring forth a major change in national priorities, but let me be frank, I do want to see major changes in the Democratic Party. I want to see working people and young people come into the party in a way that doesn't exist now. And you know what, I want a 50-state strategy so the Democratic Party is not just the party of 25 states. +p3194 +aVWell, I don't see it quite like that. +p3195 +aVI am\u2014will absolutely admit that Secretary Clinton has the support of far more governors, mayors, members of the House. She has the entire establishment or almost the entire establishment behind her. That's a fact. I don't deny it. But I am pretty proud that we have over a million people who have contributed to our campaign averaging 27 bucks apiece. That we have had meetings where 25,000-30,000 people have come out. That our campaign is a campaign of the people, by the people, and for the people. So, Rachel, yes, Secretary Clinton does represent the establishment. I represent, I hope, ordinary Americans, and by the way, who are not all that enamored with the establishment, but I am very proud to have people like Keith Ellison and Raul Grijalva in the House, the co-chairmen of the House Progressive Caucus. +p3196 +aVWhat being part of the establishment is, is, in the last quarter, having a super PAC that raised $15 million from Wall Street, that throughout one's life raised a whole lot of money from the drug companies and other special interests. To my mind, if we do not get a handle on money in politics and the degree to which big money controls the political process in this country, nobody is going to bring about the changes that is needed in this country for the middle class and working families. +p3197 +aVWhat... +p3198 +aV... you know... +p3199 +aV. +p3200 +aVLet's talk about\u2014OK, let's talk... +p3201 +aV... let us talk about issues. +p3202 +aVLet's talk about issues. +p3203 +aVLet's... +p3204 +aV... let's\u2014let's\u2014let's talk about issues. +p3205 +aVLet's talk\u2014let's talk about issues, all right? Let's talk about why, in the 1990s, Wall Street got deregulated. Did it have anything to do with the fact that Wall Street provided\u2014spent billions of dollars on lobbying and campaign contributions? Well, some people might think, yeah, that had some influence. Let's ask why it is that we pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, and your medicine can be doubled tomorrow, and there's nothing that the government can do to stop it. You think it has anything to do with the huge amounts of campaign contributions and lobbying from the fossil fuel industry? Let's talk about climate change. Do you think there's a reason why not one Republican has the guts to recognize that climate change is real, and that we need to transform our energy system? Do you think it has anything to do with the Koch brothers and ExxonMobil pouring huge amounts of money into the political system? That is what goes on in America. I am not\u2014I like......there is a reason. You know, there is a reason why these people are putting huge amounts of money into our political system. And in my view, it is undermining American democracy and it is allowing Congress to represent wealthy campaign contributors and not the working families of this country. +p3206 +aVI think as Secretary Clinton knows, there is nobody who fought harder. I was on the House Financial Committee at that time. I heard the arguments coming from Democrats and Republicans\u2014Robert Rubin, Alan Greenspan\u2014about great an idea it would be if we did away with Glass-Steagall and if we allowed investor banks and commercial banks and big insurance companies to merge. Go to YouTube today. Look up Greenspan-Sanders. Listen to what I told them then. I helped lead the effort against deregulation. Unfortunately, we lost that. The result is\u2014was the worst financial disaster since the Great Depression. +p3207 +aVChuck, actually we looked at it, but it turns out to be a disaster. The way it is structured right now, if you make it all the way to California, you could do pretty well. But in terms of the early states\u2014Iowa, New Hampshire, the other states\u2014it just doesn't work. Your point is well taken. I believe in public funding of elections, absolutely. But this system is\u2014I don't know if the secretary would agree\u2014is currently very antiquated and no longer applies to modern day politics. +p3208 +aVBut if the... +p3209 +aVLet me just say this. Wall Street is perhaps the most powerful economic and political force in this country. You have companies like Goldman Sachs, who just recently paid a settlement fine with the federal government for $5 billion for defrauding investors. Goldman Sachs was one of those companies whose illegal activity helped destroy our economy and ruin the lives of millions of Americans. But this is what a rigged economy and a corrupt campaign finance system and a broken criminal justice is about. These guys are so powerful that not one of the executives on Wall Street has been charged with anything after paying, in this case of Goldman Sachs, a $5 billion fine. Kid gets caught with marijuana, that kid has a police record. A Wall Street executive destroys the economy, $5 billion settlement with the government, no criminal record. That is what power is about. That is what corruption is about. And that is what has to change in the United States of America. +p3210 +aVI would say that\u2014that folks who have looked at this issue for a long time, whether it's Elizabeth Warren or many other economists, will tell you that right now, yes, we do need a 21st century Glass-Steagall legislation. And I would tell you also that when you have three out of the four largest banks in America today, bigger than they were\u2014significantly bigger than when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, I think if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, a good Republican by the way, what he would say is: Break them up; they are too powerful economically; they are too powerful politically. And that is what I believe and many economists believe. Time to break them up. +p3211 +aVWell, we've had a number of economists supporting our legislation. And here's where we are. The American people can judge. Six largest financial institutions in America today have assets of roughly $10 trillion; equivalent to 58 percent of the GDP of the United States of America. That is a lot of money. They issue two thirds of the credit cards, and by the way they're ripping off a whole lot of people with high interest rates on the credit cards, and they write about one third of the mortgages. That is a lot of power for six financial institutions. That's it. I think it is too much power. Too much economic power, too much political power, and the economists that I talk to say we should break them up. +p3212 +aVYeah, I do. I agree with much of what the Secretary said, but, madam Secretary, it is not one streak. Wall Street is an entity of unbelievable economic and political power. That's a fact. And, I want to say something, and it may sound harsh, not to you, but to the American people. In a sense, in my view, the business model of Wall Street is fraud. It's fraud. I believe that corruption is rampant, and the fact that major bank after major bank has reached multi billion dollar settlements with the United States government when we have a weak regulator system tells me that not only did we have to bail them out once, if we don't start breaking them up, we're going to have to bail them out again, and I do not want to see that happen... +p3213 +aVOf course I can work with them, but let's be clear. When I talked about Boeing and I talked about General Electric, what I was referring to is an outrage. I suspect the secretary agrees request me. Right now you have a loophole such that these guys are putting their profits, multi-billion dollar profitable corporations putting billions of dollars into the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, and other tax havens. And in a given year, Rachel, after making billions of dollars in profit, do you know how much they're paying in taxes to the United States government in a given year? Zero. Now explain to me how that makes any sense at all. So what I have said with regard to Boeing and GE and other multinationals that pay zero taxes, you know what we're going to do? We're going to end that loophole. They are going to pay their fair share of taxes. We're going to use that money to rebuild our infrastructure and create up to 13 million jobs. Can I work with corporations? Are there good corporations doing incredible cutting edge research and development? Absolutely they are. And we should be proud of them. But on the other hand, there are many corporations who have turned their backs on the American worker, who have said, if I can make another nickel in profit by going to China and shutting down in the United States of America, that's what I will do. I will do my best to transform our trade policy and take on these corporations who want to invest in low-income countries around the world rather than in the United States of America. +p3214 +aVOK. Let me agree with much of what the secretary said, but where we have a different background on this issue is we differ on the war in Iraq, which created barbaric organizations like +p3215 +aVWell, I think our great task is to make certain that our young men and women in the military do not get sucked into never- ending, perpetual warfare within the quagmire of Syria and Iraq. And I will do my very best to make sure that that doesn't happen. I agree with the secretary that I think what has to happen\u2014and let me just mention what King Abdullah of Jordan said. I think he hit the nail on the head. And what he said is essentially the war against +p3216 +aVWell, you can't simply withdraw tomorrow. Wish we could, and allow, you know, the Taliban or anybody else to reclaim that country. But what we must do, and what we have seen in recent months, is some progress in Iraq, where finally the Iraqi army, which has not been a particularly effective fighting force, retook Ramadi. +p3217 +aVWell, that's not quite accurate. I did give a speech at Georgetown where I talked about democratic socialism and foreign policy. Maybe I shouldn't have combined the two in the same speech, because the foreign policy part of it didn't get much attention. So, let me take this opportunity to give you a very short speech here on the issue. I think, while it is true that the secretary and I voted differently on the war in Iraq, what is important is that we learn the lesson of the war in Iraq. And that lesson is intrinsic to my foreign policy if elected president, is the United States cannot do it alone. We cannot be the policeman of the world. We are now spending more I believe than the next eight countries on defense. We have got to work in strong coalition with the major powers of the world and with those Muslim countries that are prepared to stand up and take on terrorism. So I would say that the key doctrine of the Sanders administration would be no, we cannot continue to do it alone; we need to work in coalition. +p3218 +aV I fully, fully concede that Secretary Clinton, who was secretary of State for four years, has more experience\u2014hat is not arguable\u2014in foreign affairs. But experience is not the only point, judgment is. And once again, back in 2002, when we both looked at the same evidence about the wisdom of the war in Iraq, one of us voted the right way and one of us didn't. In terms of Iran and in terms of Saudi Arabia, of course they hate each other. That's no great secret. But John Kerry, who is I think doing a very good job, has tried to at least get these people in the room together because both of them are being threatened by +p3219 +aVWell... +p3220 +aVWho said That think we should normalize relations with Iran tomorrow? I never said that. I think we should move forward as quickly as we can. And you're right. They are a sponsor of terrorism around the world and we have to address that. But you know, a number of years ago, people were saying normal relationship with Cuba, what a bad and silly idea. They're Communists, they are our enemy. Well guess what? Change has come. So please don't suggest that I think we normalize relations with Tehran tomorrow. We don't. But I would like to see us move forward, and hopefully some day that will happen. And I would say if I might, Madam Secretary\u2014and you can correct me if I'm wrong. When you ran against Senator Obama you thought him naive because he thought it was a good idea to talk to our enemies. I think those are exactly the people you have to talk to and you have to negotiate with. +p3221 +aVOK. +p3222 +aVI think President Obama had the right idea, and the bottom line is that of course there have to be conditions. But, of course it doesn't do us any good to not talk with our adversaries... +p3223 +aVJust to set the record straight, I very strongly supported the agreement which makes certain that Iran does not get a nuclear weapon. +p3224 +aV... +p3225 +aV +p3226 +aV... No, no... +p3227 +aV... +p3228 +aVClearly North Korea is a very strange situation because it is such an isolated country run by a handful of dictators, or maybe just one, who seems to be somewhat paranoid. And, who had nuclear weapons. And, our goal there, in my view, is to work and lean strongly on China to put as much pressure. China is one of the few major countries in the world that has significant support for North Korea, and I think we got to do everything we can to put pressure on China. I worry very much about an isolated, paranoid country with atomic bombs. I think, clearly, we got to work closely with China to resolve the serious problems we have, and I worry about Putin and his military adventurism in the Crimea and the Ukraine. +p3229 +aV... No, I don't. I worry very, very much about an isolated country. That's what makes me nervous. Russia lives in the world. China lives in the world. North Korea is a very, very strange country because it is so isolated, and I do feel that a nation with nuclear weapons, they have got to be dealt with. Dealt with effectively. +p3230 +aVLet me agree. You know, as the secretary knows, I chaired\u2014I had the privilege and the honor of chairing the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs. And it is interesting to me, you know, Republicans give a lot of speeches about how much they love veterans. I work with the American Legion, the VFW, the DAV, the Vietnam Vets, and virtually every veterans organization to put together the most comprehensive piece of the veterans legislation in the modern history of America. That's what I did. And I brought it to the floor of the Senate. Every Democrat voted for it, I got two Republicans. We ended up with 56 votes and I couldn't get the 60 votes that I needed. That is pathetic. This was legislation supported by all of the veterans organizations, addressing many of the serious problems that veterans face in health care and in how we deliver benefits to them. So Republicans talk a good game about veterans, but when it came to put money on the line to protect our veterans, frankly, they were not there. What I did next, Rachel, is I had to retreat a little bit, I had to compromise. I did work with John McCain. I did work with Jeff Miller over in the House. And we put together not the bill that I wanted, but probably the most comprehensive V.A. health care bill in the modern history of this country. Secretary Clinton is absolutely right, there are people, Koch brothers among others, who have a group called Concerned Veterans of America, funded by the Koch brothers. The Koch brothers, by the way, want to destroy Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, every governmental program passed since the 1930s. Yes, there are people out there who want to privatize it. The last point that I'd make. I had a hearing. I had all of the veterans groups in front of me. And I said to them, tell me when a veteran gets in to the V.A., understanding there are waiting lines and real problems, when a veteran gets into the system, is the quality of care good? Without exception, what they said, good, excellent, very good. We've got to strengthen the V.A. We do not privatize the V.A. +p3231 +aVWell, I agree with the Des Moines Register, but let's not blow this out of proportion. This is not a\u2014this is not, like, a winner-take-all thing. I think where we now stand\u2014correct me if I'm wrong\u2014you have 22 delegates, I have 20 delegates. We need 2,500 delegates to win the nomination. You know, so this is not\u2014this is not the biggest deal in the world. We think, by the way, based on talking to our precinct captains, we may have at least two more delegates. What the Des Moines Register said\u2014you know, there were coin\u2014I think there were half a dozen coin flips\u2014a fairly chaotic type situation. At the end of the day, no matter how it's recounted, it will break roughly even. And by the way, I love and respect the caucus process in Iowa. See, and I don't have to say it, because they voted already. And I love New Hampshire, too, because you haven't voted, but......but, look, I think people are blowing this up out of proportion. But I think we need improvements in the process by which results are determined. +p3232 +aVOh . See, when you are old, then they go back all these years. All right. What have you got? +p3233 +aVWell, you know, a general election is different than a primary and caucus process. But let me just say this. In terms of where we are right now, as you mention, Rachel, in a number of national and state, including New Hampshire. For example, the last poll I saw\u2014there may have been a new one\u2014last one I saw here in New Hampshire, a battleground state, had me defeating Trump by 19; the secretary defeating him by one. There were also pretty large margins in Iowa and Wisconsin. These are polls. Polls go up. Polls go down. But here's why I think I will be, if nominated, the strongest candidate. Democrats win when there is a large voter turnout; when people are excited; when working people, middle class people and young people are prepared to engage in the political process. Republicans win when people are demoralized and you have a small voter turnout, which by the way is why they love voter suppression. I believe that our campaign up to now has shown that we can create an enormous amount of enthusiasm from working people, from young people, who will get involved in the political process and which will drive us to a very large voter turnout. If there is a large voter turnout, not only do we retain the White House, but I think we regain the Senate. We win governors' chairs up and down the line. So I believe if you want to retain the White House, if you want to see Democrats do well across the board, I think our campaign is the one that creates the large voter turnout and helps us win. +p3234 +aV +p3235 +aVI am feeling exactly the way I felt at the first debate. There's a process under way. I will not politicize it. +p3236 +aVAnd by the way\u2014and by the way, if I may, the secretary probably doesn't know that there's not a day that goes by when I am not asked to attack her on that issue, and I have refrained from doing that and I will continue to refrain from doing that. +p3237 +aVNot losing control of our campaign. You know, we have hired a whole lot of people in a rapid way and I am familiar with the first two instances and they are unacceptable, and we have apologized and dealt with that. In terms of the last one, as I understand it, we did not suggest that we had the endorsement of a newspaper. Newspapers who make endorsements also say positive things about other candidates, and to the best of my knowledge, that is what we did. So we never said, never said that somebody, a newspaper endorsed us that did not. What we did say is blah blah blah blah was said by the newspaper. +p3238 +aVBut that was only for\u2014that was not to be on television. That's an important point. That was just something\u2014as the secretary knows, you put titles on ads and you send them out, but there was no word in that ad, none, that said that those newspapers had endorsed us. +p3239 +aV... Look, I hear what the Secretary said, and I understand, but look, there are\u2014all of us know that we have seen in recent years horrible, horrible crimes. It's hard to imagine how people can do, bomb, and kill 168 people in Oklahoma City, or do the Boston Marathon bombing, but this is what I believe, and for a couple of reasons. Number one, too many innocent people, including minorities, African Americans, have been executed when they were not guilty. That's number one. We have to be very careful about making sure about that. But, second of all, and maybe, in a deeper reason, of course there are barbaric acts out there. But, in a world of so much violence and killing, I just don't believe that government itself should be part of the killing. So, when somebody commits......somebody commits any of these terrible crimes that we have seen, you lock them up, and you toss away the key. They're never going to get out. But, I just don't' want to see government be part of killing. That's all. +p3240 +aVAbsolutely. I think the Secretary described the situation appropriately. You know, I don't go around asking for governor's resignations every day. In fact, I think I never have in my life. But I did ask for the resignation of Governor Snyder because his irresponsibility......was so outrageous. What we are talking about are children being poisoned. That's what we're talking about. We don't know, no one knows for sure because they haven't done the appropriate studies, but there's no question that kids' intellectual development may have been impacted. We don't know how many thousands. The idea that there has not been a dramatic response is beyond comprehension. And when you have one of the, I think, significant public health crises of recent years, of course the federal government comes in. And of course the federal government says, you're not going to be poisoning little kids and impacting their entire lives. Last point on this. And I suspect the secretary agrees. One wonders if this were a white suburban community what kind of response there would have been. Flint, Michigan, is a poor community. It is disproportionately African-American and minority. And what has happened there is absolutely unacceptable. +p3241 +aVAbsolutely right. +p3242 +aVChuck, I believe in trade, but I do not believe in unfettered free trade. I believe in fair trade which works for the middle class and working families of this country and not just large multinational corporations. I was not only in opposition to +p3243 +aVNo, let... +p3244 +aV... I am absolutely supportive of comprehensive immigration reform and a path towards citizenship for 11 million people today who are living in the shadows. All right? We got to do that. But you miss\u2014when you looked at the issues, you missed two of the most important. And that is you're not going to accomplish what has to be done for working families and the middle class unless there is campaign finance reform. So long as big money interests control the United States Congress, it is gonna be very hard to do what has to be done for working families. So let me be very clear. No nominee of mine, if I'm elected president, to the United States Supreme Court will get that nomination unless he or she is loud and clear, and says they will vote to overturn Citizens United. Second point\u2014second point is that the only way we make change in terms of health care, in terms of dealing with a broken criminal justice system which, today, allows us to have more people in jail than any other country\u2014largely African-American and Latino\u2014the only way we create millions of jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure or have a tax system that says to the wealthy that they are going to pay their fair share, is when millions of people become involved in the political process. No, you just can't negotiate with Mitch McConnell. Mitch is gonna have to look out the window and see a whole lot of people saying, "Mitch, stop representing the billionaire class. Start listening to working families." And as president, that's what I will work hard on. +p3245 +aVI agree with what the secretary said. We shouldn't be getting ahead of ourselves. And as I have said many times, you know, sometimes in these campaigns, things get a little bit out of hand. I happen to respect the secretary very much, I hope it's mutual. And on our worst days, I think it is fair to say we are 100 times better than any Republican candidate. +p3246 +aVI\u2014my dad came to this country at the age of 17 from Poland. Didn't have any money, couldn't speak English, he died pretty young, and I think it would have been beyond his wildest dreams to see his son up here on this stage today running for president. I love this country and my dad loved this country, and he was the most proud American because of what it gave him in terms of raising his family, even though we never had much money. But today in America, we are the only major country on earth that doesn't guarantee health care to all people, that doesn't guarantee paid family and medical leave. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth. We are seeing millions of families unable to send their kids to college in the United States of America. I'm running for president because I believe it is just too late for establishment politics and establishment economics. I do believe we need a political revolution where millions of people stand up and say loudly and clearly that our government belongs to all of us and not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors. Thank you all. +p3247 +aVThank you. As we honor the extraordinary life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., it's important not only that we remember what he stood for, but that we pledge to continue his vision to transform our country. As we look out at our country today, what the American people understand is we have an economy that's rigged, that ordinary Americans are working longer hours for lower wages, 47 million people living in poverty, and almost all of the new income and wealth going to the top one percent. And then, to make a bad situation worse, we have a corrupt campaign finance system where millionaires and billionaires are spending extraordinary amounts of money to buy elections. This campaign is about a political revolution to not only elect the president, but to transform this country. +p3248 +aVWell, that's what our campaign is about. It is thinking big. It is understanding that in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, we should have health care for every man, woman, and child as a right that we should raise the minimum wage to at least $15 an hour; that we have got to create millions of decent- paying jobs by rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure. So, what my first days are about is bringing America together, to end the decline of the middle class, to tell the wealthiest people in this country that yes, they are going to start paying their fair share of taxes, and that we are going to have a government that works for all of us, and not just big campaign contributors. +p3249 +aVWell, I think Secretary Clinton knows that what she says is very disingenuous. I have a D-minus voting record from the NRA. I was in 1988, there were three candidates running for congress in the state of Vermont, I stood up to the gun lobby and came out and maintained the position that in this country we should not be selling military style assault weapons. I have supported from day one and instant background check to make certain that people who should have guns do not have guns. And that includes people of criminal backgrounds, people who are mentally unstable. I support what President Obama is doing in terms of trying to close the gun show loop holes and I think it should be a federal crime if people act as dormant. We have seen in this city a horrendous tragedy of a crazed person praying with people in the coming up and shooting nine people. This should not be a political issue. What we should be doing is working together. And by the way, as a senator from a rural state that has virtually no gun control, I believe that I am in an excellent position to bring people together to fight the sensible... +p3250 +aVWhat I have said, is that gun manufacturer's liability bill has some good provisions among other things, we've prohibited ammunition that would've killed cops who had protection on. We have child safety protection work on guns in that legislation. And what we also said, "is a small mom and pop gun shop who sells a gun legally to somebody should not be held liable if somebody does something terrible with that gun." So what I said is, " I would re-look at it." We are going to re- look at it and I will support stronger provisions. +p3251 +aV...Well, I \u2014 look... +p3252 +aV... Let me respond to what the secretary said. We have a criminal justice system which is broken. Who in America is satisfied that we have more people in jail than any other country on Earth, including China? Disproportionately African American, and Latino. Who is satisfied that 51% of African American young people are either unemployed, or underemployed? Who is satisfied that millions of people have police records for possessing marijuana when the CEO's of Wall Street companies who destroyed our economy have no police records. +p3253 +aV... We need to take a very hard look at our... +p3254 +aV... criminal justice system, investing in jobs, and education not in jails and incarceration . +p3255 +aVWell, let me talk about polling. As Secretary Clinton well knows, when this campaign began she was 50 points ahead of me. We were all of three percentage points. Guess what? In Iowa, New Hampshire, the race is very, very close. Maybe we're ahead New Hampshire. In terms of polling, guess what? We are running ahead of Secretary Clinton. In terms of taking on my taking on my good friend, Donald Trump, beating him by 19 points in New Hampshire, 13 points in the last national poll that we saw. To answer your question. When the African American community becomes familiar with my Congressional record and with our agenda, and with our views on the economy, and criminal justice \u2014 just as the general population has become more supportive, so will the African American community, so will the Latino community. We have the momentum, we're on a path to a victory. O' +p3256 +aVI apologize for not hearing all of that question. +p3257 +aVYes. +p3258 +aVAbsolutely. This is a responsibility for the U.S. Justice Department to get involved. Whenever anybody in this country is killed while in police custody, it should automatically trigger a U.S. attorney general's investigation. Second of all, and I speak as a mayor who worked very closely and well with police officers, the vast majority of whom are honest, hard- working people trying to do a difficult job, but let us be clear. If a police officer breaks the law, like any public official, that officer must be held accountable. And thirdly, we have got to de-militarize our police departments so they don't look like occupying armies. We've got to move toward community policing. And fourthly, we have got to make our police departments look like the communities they serve in their diversity. +p3259 +aVSure. I agree... I agree with everything the Secretary said, but let me just add this, there is a responsibility on the part of the pharmaceutical industry and the drug companies who are producing all of these drugs and not looking at the consequence of it. And second of all, when we talk about addiction being a disease, the Secretary is right, what that means is we need a revolution in this country in terms of mental health treatment. People should be able to get the treatment that they need when they need it, not two months from now, which is why I believe in universal... +p3260 +aV... healthcare with mental health... +p3261 +aV... a part of that. +p3262 +aVOK. +p3263 +aVSecretary \u2014 Secretary Clinton didn't answer your question. Because what her campaign was saying \u2014 Bernie Sanders, who has fought for universal health care for my entire life, he wants to end Medicare, end Medicaid, end the children's health insurance program. That is nonsense. What a Medicare-for-all program does is finally provide in this country health care for every man, woman and child as a right. Now, the truth is, that Frank Delano Roosevelt, Harry Truman, do you know what they believed in? They believed that health care should be available to all of our people. I'm on the committee that wrote the Affordable Care Act. I made the Affordable Care Act along with Jim Clyburn a better piece of legislation. I voted for it, but right now, what we have to deal with is the fact that 29 million people still have no health insurance. We are paying the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, getting ripped off. And here's the important point, we are spending far more per person on health care than the people of any other country. My proposal, provide health care to all people, get private insurance out of health insurance, lower the cost of health care for middle class families by 5,000 bucks. That's the vision we need to take. +p3264 +aVBut \u2014 what if we have... +p3265 +aVIt is \u2014 it is absolutely inaccurate. O' +p3266 +aVNo one is tearing this up, we're going to go forward. But with the secretary neglected to mention, not just the 29 million still have no health insurance, that even more are underinsured with huge copayments and deductibles. Tell me why we are spending almost three times more than the British, who guarantee health care to all of their people? Fifty percent more than the French, more than the Canadians. The vision from FDR and Harry Truman was health care for all people as a right in a cost-effective way. We're not going to tear up the Affordable Care Act. I helped write it. But we are going to move on top of that to a Medicaid-for-all system. O' +p3267 +aVYeah. +p3268 +aVYes. +p3269 +aVNot all that detailed. +p3270 +aVWell. +p3271 +aVWell, that's \u2014 you might want to ask... +p3272 +aVAndrea, let me just say this. +p3273 +aVLet me just say that you might want to ask the governor of the state of Vermont why he could not do it. I'm not the governor. I'm the senator from the state of Vermont. But second of all \u2014 second of all...... here is what the real point is, in terms of all of the issues you've raised \u2014 the good questions you've raised. You know what it all comes down to? Do you know why we can't do what every other country \u2014 major country on Earth is doing? It's because we have a campaign finance system that is corrupt, we have super PACs, we have the pharmaceutical industry pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into campaign contributions and lobbying, and the private insurance companies as well. What this is really about is not the rational way to go forward \u2014 it's Medicare for all \u2014 it is whether we have the guts to stand up to the private insurance companies and all of their money, and the pharmaceutical industry. That's what this debate should be about. +p3274 +aVA couple of years ago, when we understood that veterans were not getting the quality care they needed in the timely manner, I worked with folks like John McCain and others to pass the most comprehensive veteran's health care legislation in modern history. But let me rephrase your question because I think, in all do respect, you're expression. In all do respect, you're missing the main point. And the main point in the Congress, it's not the Republicans and Democrats hate each other. That's a mythology from the media. The real issue is that Congress is owned by big money and refuses to do what the American people want them to do. The real issue is that in area after area, raising the minimum wage to $15 bucks an hour. The American people want it. Rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, creating 13 million jobs, the American people want it. The pay equity for women, the American people want it. Demanding that the wealthy start paying their fair share of taxes. The American people want it. +p3275 +aVThe point is, we have to make Congress respond to the needs of the people, not big money. +p3276 +aVI do. +p3277 +aVDid I say that? +p3278 +aVBecause of what I believe in what I was just saying. The Democratic party needs major reform. To those of you in South Carolina, you know what, in Mississippi, we need a 50-state strategy so that people in South Carolina and Mississippi can get the resources that they need. Instead of being dependent on super PACs, what we need is to be dependent on small, individual campaign contributors. We need an agenda that speaks to the needs of working families and low-income people. Not wealthy campaign contributors. +p3279 +aVWe need to expand what the input into the Democratic party. I am very proud that in this campaign, we have seen an enormous amount of excitement from young people, from working people. We have received more individual contributions than any candidate in the history of this country up to this point. O' +p3280 +aVAnd I respectfully disagree. +p3281 +aVAnd I respectfully disagree with my friend over here. And that is, you are right. All of us have denounced Trump's attempts to divide this country: the anti-Latino rhetoric, the racist rhetoric, he anti-Muslim rhetoric. But where I disagree with you, Governor O'Malley, is I do believe we have to deal with the fundamental issues of a handful of billionaires... O' +p3282 +aV... who control economic and political life of this country. O' +p3283 +aVNothing real will get happened. Unless we have a political revolution. Where millions of people finally stand up. +p3284 +aVIs that your strategy... +p3285 +aVWell, the first difference is I don't take money from big banks. I don't get personal speaking fees from Goldman Sachs. What I would do... What I would do is understand that when you have three out of the four largest banks today, bigger than they were when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, when you have the six largest financial institutions having assets of 60 percent of the GDP of America, it is very clear to me what you have to do. You've got to bring back the 21st century Glass-Steagall legislation and you've got to break up these huge financial institutions. They have too much economic power and they have too much financial power over our entire economy. If Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, the old Republican trust buster, what he would say is these guys are too powerful. Break them up. I believe that's what the American people to want see. That's my view. +p3286 +aVOK. First of all... +p3287 +aVSet the record right. In 2006 when I ran for the Senate, Senator Barack Obama was kind enough to campaign for me, 2008, I did my best to see that he was elected and in 2012, I worked as hard as I could to see that he was reelected. He and I are friends. We've worked together on many issues. We have some differences of opinion. But here is the issue, Secretary touched on it, can you really reform Wall Street when they are spending millions and millions of dollars on campaign contributions and when they are providing speaker fees to individuals? So it's easy to say, well, I'm going to do this and do that, but I have doubts when people receive huge amounts of money from Wall Street. I am very proud, I do not have a super PAC. I do not want Wall Street's money. I'll rely on the middle class and working families... +p3288 +aV... campaign contributions. +p3289 +aVLet me give you an example of how corrupt \u2014 how corrupt this system is. Goldman Sachs recently fined $5 billion. Goldman Sachs has given this country two secretaries of treasury, one on the Republicans, one under Democrats. O' +p3290 +aVThe leader of Goldman Sachs is a billionaire who comes to Congress and tells us we should cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Secretary Clinton \u2014 and you're not the only one, so I don't mean to just point the finger at you, you've received over $600,000 in speaking fees from Goldman Sachs in one year. I find it very strange that a major financial institution that pays $5 billion in fines for breaking the law, not one of their executives is prosecuted, while kids who smoke marijuana get a jail sentence. +p3291 +aVIf you want to... +p3292 +aVAnyone who wants to check my record in taking on Wall Street, in fighting against the deregulation of Wall Street when Wall Street put billions of dollars in lobbying, in campaign contributions to get the government off their backs. They got the government off their backs. Turns out that they were crooks, and they destroyed our economy. I think it's time to put the government back on their backs. +p3293 +aV... Yeah... +p3294 +aV... That's true. +p3295 +aVGood. You're right. I want to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, create 13 million jobs. We do that by doing away with the absurd loophole that now allows major profitable corporations to stash their money in the Cayman Islands, and not in some years, pay a nickel in taxes. Yes, I do. I plead guilty. I want every kid in this country who has the ability to be able to go to a public college, or university, tuition free. And, by the way, I want to substantially lower student debt interest rates in this country as well. How do I pay for it? I pay for it through a tax on Wall Street speculation. This country, and the middle class, bailed out Wall Street. Now, it is Wall Street's time to help the middle class. In fact... O' +p3296 +aV... we have documented, unlike Secretary Clinton, I have documented exactly how I would pay for our ambitious agenda. O' +p3297 +aV... Here is the main two points... +p3298 +aVYeah. +p3299 +aV... I got it. +p3300 +aVWhat is correct, and I'm disappointed that Secretary Clinton's campaign has made this criticism. It's a Republican criticism. Secretary Clinton does know a lot about healthcare, and she understands, I believe, that a medicare for all, single payer program will substantially lower the cost of healthcare for middle class families. So, what we have got to acknowledge, and I hope the Secretary does, is we are doing away with private health insurance premiums. So, instead of paying $10,000 dollars to Blue Cross, or Blue Shield, yes, some middle class families would be paying slightly more in taxes, but the result would be that that middle class family would be saving some $5,000 dollars in healthcare costs. A little bit more in taxes, do away with private health insurance premiums. It's a pretty good deal. +p3301 +aVYeah. +p3302 +aVNo, it is not breaking my word. When you are \u2014 it's one thing to say I'm raising taxes, it's another thing to say that we are doing away with private health insurance premiums. So, if I save you $10,000 in private health insurance, and you pay a little bit more in taxes in total, there are huge savings in what your family is spending. O' +p3303 +aVI was mayor for eight years, I did that as well. O' +p3304 +aVI think we already are. Younger generation understands it instinctively. I was home in Burlington, Vermont, on Christmas Eve, the temperature was 65 degrees. People in Vermont know what's going on. People who did ice fishing, where their ice is no longer there on the lake understand what's going on. I'm on both the Environmental and Energy Committees. The debate is over. Climate change is real. It is already causing major problems. And if we do not act boldly and decisively, a bad situation will become worse. It is amazing to me, and I think we'll have agreement on this up here, that we have a major party, called the Republican Party that is so owned by the fossil fuel industry and their campaign contributions that they don't even have the courage, the decency to listen to the scientists. It is beyond my comprehension how we can elect a president of the United States, somebody like Trump, who believes that climate change is a hoax invented by the Chinese. Bottom line is, we need to be bold and decisive, we can create millions of jobs. We must, for the sake of our kids and grandchildren, transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energy. I've got the most comprehensive legislation in the Senate to do that. And as president, I will fight to make that happen. +p3305 +aVI think what we've got to do is move as aggressively as we can to normalize relations with Iran. Understanding that Iran's behavior in so many ways is something that we disagree with; their support terrorism, the anti-American rhetoric that we're hearing from of their leadership is something that is not acceptable. On the other hand, the fact that we've managed to reach an agreement, something that I've very strongly supported that prevents Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and we did that without going to war. And that I believe we're seeing a fall in our relationships with Iran is a very positive step. So if your question is, do I want to see that relationship become more positive in the future? Yes. Can I tell that we should open an embassy in Tehran tomorrow? No, I don't think we should. But I think the goal has go to be as we've done with Cuba, to move in warm relations with a very powerful and important country in this world. +p3306 +aVAs everybody you know, this is incredibly complicated and difficult issue and I applaud. I know President Obama's been getting a lot of criticism on this. I think he is doing the right thing. What the nightmare is, which many of my Republican colleagues appear to want is to not have learned the lesson of Iraq. To get American young men and women involved in perpetual warfare in the quagmire of Syria and the Middle East would be an unmitigated disaster that as president, I will do everything in my power to avoid. O' +p3307 +aVWe should \u2014 we should learn \u2014 we should learn from King Abdullah of Jordan, one of the few heroes in a very unheroic place. And what Abdullah said is this is a war with a soul of Islam and that Muslim troops should be on the ground with our support and the support of other major countries. That is how we destroy +p3308 +aVNo. I think the vacuum was created by the disastrous war in Iraq, which I vigorously opposed. Not only did I vote against it, I helped lead the opposition. And what happened there is yes, it's easy to get rid of a two-bit dictator like Saddam Hussein, but there wasn't the kind of thought as to what happens the day after you get him and what kind of political vacuum occurs. And who rises up? Groups like +p3309 +aVLet me just... +p3310 +aVOK. Let me suggest... +p3311 +aVWhere Secretary Clinton and I think, I agree with most of what she said. But where I think we do have an honest disagreement, is that in the incredible quagmire of Syria, where it's hard to know who's fighting who and if you give arms to this guy, it may end up in +p3312 +aVOK. I just wanted to add, in the previous question, I voted against the USA Patriot Act for many of the reasons that Governor O'Malley mentioned. But it is not only the government that we have to worry about, it is private corporations. You would all be amazed, or maybe not, about the amount of information private companies and the government has in terms of the Web sites that you access, the products that you buy, where you are this very moment. And it is very clear to me that public policy has not caught up with the explosion of technology. So yes, we have to work with Silicon Valley to make sure that we do not allow +p3313 +aVRight. What we have got to do there is, among other things, as I was just saying, have Silicon Valley help us to make sure that information being transmitted through the Internet or in other ways by +p3314 +aVCan I get 50 seconds? +p3315 +aVCan I get a \u2014 can I just get a very brief response? Very brief. +p3316 +aVOK. One \u2014 and I agree with what the secretary said, and what Governor O'Malley said. But here's an issue that we also should talk about. We have a $600 billion military budget. It is a budget larger than the next eight countries'. Unfortunately, much of that budget continues to fight the old Cold War with the Soviet Union. Very little of that budget \u2014 less than 10 percent \u2014 actually goes into fighting +p3317 +aVGreat ideas, Governor O'Malley, Secretary Clinton, but here's the truth. If you have an administration stacked with Wall Street appointees, it ain't going to accomplish very much. So here's a promise that I make \u2014 and I mentioned a moment ago how corrupt the system is \u2014 Goldman Sachs, paying a $5 billion fine, gives this country, in recent history, a Republican secretary of treasury, a Democratic secretary of treasury. Here's a promise. If elected president, Goldman Sachs is not going to have \u2014 bring forth a secretary of treasury for a Sanders administration. +p3318 +aVI was asked a question. You know, one of the things, Andrea, and I \u2014 that question annoys me. I cannot walk down the street \u2014 Secretary Clinton knows this \u2014 without being told how much I have to attack secretary Clinton, want to get me on the front pages of the paper, I'd make some vicious attack. I have avoided doing that. Trying to run an issue-oriented campaign. +p3319 +aVI was asked a question. +p3320 +aVWell \u2014 then if I don't answer it, then there's another front page, so it's yes. And I mean this seriously. You know that. We've been through this. Yes, his behavior was deplorable. Have I ever once said a word about that issue? No, I have not. I'm going to debate Secretary Clinton, Governor O'Malley, on the issues facing the American people, not Bill Clinton's personal behavior. +p3321 +aVWell, Secretary Clinton was right and what I did which I think is also right, is demanded the resignation of governor. A man who acts that irresponsibly should not stay in power. Now, we are a great nation \u2014 and we've heard a lot of great ideas here tonight. Let's be honest and let's be truthful. Very little is going to be done to transform our economy and to create the kind of middle class we need unless we end a corrupt campaign finance system which is undermining American democracy. We've got to get rid of Super PACs, we've got to get rid of Citizens' United and what we've got to do is create a political revolution which revitalizes American democracy; which brings millions of young people and working people into the political process. To say loudly and clearly," that the government of the United States of America belongs to all of us and not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors." +p3322 +aVGood evening. I am running for president of the United States because it is too late for establishment politics and establishment economics. I'm running for president because our economy is rigged because working people are working longer hours for lower wages and almost all of new wealth and income being created is going to the top one percent. I'm running for president because I'm going to create an economy that works for working families not just billionaires. I'm running for president because we have a campaign finance system which is corrupt, where billionaires are spending hundreds of millionaires of dollars to buy candidates who will represent their interests rather than the middle class and working families. I'm running because we need to address the planetary crisis of climate change and take on the fossil fuel industry and transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energy. I'm running for president because I want a new foreign policy; one that takes on Isis, one that destroys +p3323 +aVDavid, let me give you a little bit of background here. The DNC has hired vendors. On two occasions, there were breeches in information two months ago. Our staff found information on our computers from the Clinton campaign. And when our staffers said, "whoa, what's going here?" They went to the DNC quietly. They went to the vendor and said, "hey, something is wrong," and that was quietly dealt with. None of that information was looked at. Our staffer at that point did exactly the right thing. A few days ago a similar incident happened. There was a breach because the DNC vendor screwed up, information came to our campaign. In this case, our staff did the wrong thing -- they looked at that information. As soon as we learned that they looked at that information - we fired that person. We are now doing an independent internal investigation to see who else was involved. Thirdly, what I have a really problem, and as you mentioned - this is a problem, I recognize it as a problem. But what the DNC did arbitrarily without discussing it with us is shut off our access to our information crippling our campaign. That is an egregious act. I'm glad that late last night, that was resolved. +p3324 +aVFourthly, I work -- look forward to working with Secretary Clinton for an investigation, an independent investigation, about all of the breaches that have occurred from day one in this campaign, because I am not convinced that information from our campaign may not have ended up in her campaign. Don't know that. But we need an independent investigation, and I hope Secretary Clinton will agree with me for the need of that. Last point. When we saw the breach two months, we didn't go running to the media and make a big deal about it. And it bothers me very much that, rather than working on this issue to resolve it, it has become many press releases from the Clinton campaign later. +p3325 +aVAbsolutely. +p3326 +aVYes, I apologize. +p3327 +aVNot only -- not only do I apologize to Secretary Clinton -- and I hope we can work together on an independent investigation from day one -- I want to apologize to my supporters. This is not the type of campaign that we run. And if I find anybody else involved in this, they will also be fired. +p3328 +aVLet me agree with Governor O'Malley and let me agree with Secretary Clinton. You know, we had this incident before, Secretary, with your famous e-mails. Right? And what I said and I think what Governor O'Malley is saying, and I hope you say, is when the middle class of this country is disappearing, when we have massive income and wealth inequality, when we're the only major country on earth not guaranteeing health care to all people, all the issues that the governor talked about, the secretary talked about, those are the issues. Media notwithstanding. Those are the issues that the American people want discussed. I hope those are the issues we'll discuss. +p3329 +aVI'm one of the 77 percent. I think this is a very difficult issue. Let me agree with much of what the secretary and the governor have said. Let me tell you what I think we have got to do. I think it's a two-pronged issue. Number one, our goal is to crush and destroy +p3330 +aVIt's a country in which people choose to buy guns. I think half of the -- more than half of the people in my own state of Vermont, my guess here in New Hampshire, are gun owners. That's the right of people. But this is what I do believe. I believe that when we have some 300 million guns in this country, I believe that when we have seen these horrific mass killings, not only in San Bernardino, but in Colorado and movie theaters in Colorado, I think we have got to bring together the vast majority of the people who do in fact believe in sensible gun safety regulations. For example, talking about polls, a poll recently came out, overwhelming majority of the American people say we should strengthen the instant background check. Who denies that it is crazy... Who denies that it is crazy to allow people to own guns who are criminals or are mentally unstable? We've got to eliminate the gun show loophole. In my view, we have got to see that weapons designed by the military to kill people are not in the hands of civilians. I think there is a consensus. I think -- I'm not going to say that everybody is in agreement. It's a divided country on guns. But there is a broad consensus on sensible gun safety regulations that I, coming from a state that has virtually no gun control, will do my best to bring together. O' +p3331 +aVWhoa, whoa, whoa. Let's calm down a little bit, Martin. +p3332 +aVFirst of all, let's have some rules here, commentators. +p3333 +aVAll right. +p3334 +aVHe sure did. +p3335 +aVSure did. All right. First off, we can do all the great speeches we want but you're not going to succeed unless there is a consensus. In 1988, just to set the record straight governor, I ran for the U.S. House. We have one House member from Vermont, three candidates in the race. One candidate said, you know what, I don't think it's a great idea that we sell automatic weapons in this country that are used by the military to kill people very rapidly. Gun people said, there were three candidates in the race, you vote for one of the others, but not Bernie Sanders. I lost that election by three percentage points. Quite likely, for that reason. So please, do not explain to me, coming from a state where democratic governors and republican governors have supported virtually no gun control. Excuse me. Do not tell me that I have not shown courage in standing up to the gun people, in voting to ban assault weapons, voting for instant background checks, voting to end the gun show loop hole and now we're in a position to create a consensus in America on gun safety. +p3336 +aVWell, the answer is, obviously, if you see suspicious activity, you report it. That's kind of a no-brainer. You know, somebody is loading guns and ammunition into a house, I think it's a good idea to call 911. Do it. +p3337 +aVBut I want to talk -- I want to talk about something else, because Secretary Clinton I think made some interesting and good points. What you have now is a very dangerous moment in American history. The secretary is right: Our people are fearful. They are anxious on a number of levels. They are anxious about international terrorism and the possibility of another attack on America. We all understand that. But you know what else they're anxious about? They're anxious about the fact that they are working incredibly long hours, they're worried about their kids, and they're seeing all the new income and wealth -- virtually all of it -- going to the top 1 percent. And they're looking around them, and they're looking at Washington, and they're saying the rich are getting much richer, I'm getting poorer, what are you going to do about it? What are you going to do for my kids? And somebody like a Trump comes along and says, "I know the answers. The answer is that all of the Mexicans, they're criminals and rapists, we've got to hate the Mexicans. Those are your enemies. We hate all the Muslims, because all of the Muslims are terrorists. We've got to hate the Muslims." Meanwhile, the rich get richer. So what I say to those people who go to Donald Trump's rallies, understand: He thinks a low minimum wage in America is a good idea. He thinks low wages are a good idea. I believe we stand together to address the real issues facing this country, not allow them to divide us by race or where we come from. Let's create an America that works for all of us, not the handful on top. +p3338 +aVExcuse me. May I have a chance to respond to this issue? +p3339 +aVYeah, but the rule includes equal -- got it. All right. +p3340 +aVAll right. Let's keep going. OK. +p3341 +aVYeah. +p3342 +aVAnd I also voted and helped lead the effort against the war in Iraq, which will go down in history as one of the worst foreign blunders -- foreign policy blunders in the history of our country. I voted against the first Gulf War, which set the stage, I believe, for the second Iraq war. And what I believe right now, and I believe this is terribly important, is the United States of America cannot succeed, or be thought of as the policeman of the world, that when there's an international crisis all over the world, in France and in the U.K. Or -- hey, just call up the American military and the American taxpayers, they're going to send the troops. And if they have to be in the Middle East for 20 or 30 years no problem. +p3343 +aVI have a problem with that, Martha. What I believe has got to happen is there must be an international coalition, including Russia, a well-coordinated effort. But I agree, as I mentioned a moment ago, with King Abdullah. This is a war for the soul of Islam. The troops on the ground should not be American troops. They should be Muslim troops. I believe that countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar have got to step up to the plate, have got to contribute the money that we need, and the troops that we need, to destroy +p3344 +aVMy plan is to make it work, to tell Saudi Arabia that instead of going to war in Yemen, they, one of the wealthiest countries on Earth, are going to have to go to war against +p3345 +aVI have a difference of opinion with Secretary Clinton on this. Our differences are fairly deep on this issue. We disagreed on the war in Iraq. We both listened to the information from Bush and Cheney. I voted against the war. But I think -- and I say this with due respect -- that I worry too much that Secretary Clinton is too much into regime change and a little bit too aggressive without knowing what the unintended consequences might be. Yes, we could get rid of Saddam Hussein, but that destabilized the entire region. Yes, we could get rid of Gadhafi, a terrible dictator, but that created a vacuum for +p3346 +aVI was not the secretary of state... +p3347 +aVI happen to think... O' +p3348 +aVSecretary Clinton is right. This is a complicated issue. I don't think anyone has a magical solution. But this is what I do believe. Yes, of course Assad is a terrible dictator. But I think we have got to get our foreign policies and priorities right. The immediate -- it is not Assad who is attacking the United States. It is +p3349 +aVDavid... +p3350 +aVCould I just say -- just say this... +p3351 +aVCan I just say this... +p3352 +aVOf course the United States must lead. But the United States is not the policeman of the world. The United States must not be involved in perpetual warfare in the Middle East. The United States, at the same time, cannot successfully fight Assad and +p3353 +aVFirst of all, we recognize that we have a rigged economy, as you've indicated. Middle class in this country for the last 40 years has been disappearing; are we better off today than we were when Bush left office? Absolutely. But as you've indicated for millions of American workers, people in New Hampshire -- all over America, they're working longer hours for lower wages deeply worried about their kids. So what do we do? First statement is, we tell the billionaire class, "they cannot have it all." For a start, they're going to start to pay their fair share of taxes. Second of all what we do, is you raise the minimum wage to living wage, 15 bucks an hour over the next several years. Next thing we do, pay equity for women workers. Women should not be making 79 cents on the dollar compared to that. Next thing that we do, real unemployment -- official unemployment, 5 percent, real employment 10 percent, youth unemployment, off the charts. We rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, our roads our bridges, our rail systems, we create 13 million jobs with a trillion-dollar investment. Furthermore, in a competitive global economy, it is imperative that we have the best educated workforce in the world. That is why I'm going to have a tax on Wall Street speculation to make certain that public colleges and universities in America are tuition free. +p3354 +aVNo, I think they won't. So Hillary and I have a difference. The CEOs of large multinationals may like Hillary. They ain't going to like me and Wall Street is going to like me even less. And the reason for that is we've got to deal with the elephant in the room, which is the greed, recklessness and illegal behavior on Wall Street. When you have six financial institutions in this country that issue two-thirds of the credit cards and one-third of the mortgages, when three out of four of them are larger today than when we bailed them out because they are too big to fail, we've got to re- establish Glass-Steagall, we have got to break the large financial institutions up. +p3355 +aVSo I don't think... ... having said that, I don't think I'm going to get a whole lot of campaign contributions from Wall Street. I don't have a super PAC. I don't want campaign contributions from corporate America. And let me be clear: While there are some great corporations creating jobs and trying to do the right thing, in my view -- and I say this very seriously -- the greed of the billionaire class, the greed of Wall Street is destroying this economy and is destroying the lives of millions of Americans. We need an economy that works for the middle class, not just a handful of billionaires, and I will fight and lead to make that happen. +p3356 +aVLet me just -- let me just... +p3357 +aVLet me just jump in. My name was invoked. +p3358 +aVSo with that invocation, let me say a few words. Secretary Clinton, I don't have a super PAC. I don't get any money from Wall Street. You have gotten a whole lot of money over the years from Wall Street. But most importantly, when you look at what happened in the 1990s, go to berniesanders.com. I'll advertise my Web site as well. And what you'll find is that I led -- helped lead the effort as a member of the House financial committee against Alan Greenspan, against a guy named Bill Clinton, maybe you know him, maybe you don't. Against the Republican leadership, who all thought it would be a great idea to merge investor banks and commercial banks and large insurance companies. What a brilliant idea that would be. Go to YouTube. Find out what I said to Greenspan. At the end of the day, if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, and the governor makes a good point about trade, anti-trade, anti-monopoly activities. Wall Street today has too much political power. It has too much economic power. To get deregulated -- listen to this, they spent $5 billion in lobbying and campaign contributions over a 10-year period. +p3359 +aVWall Street is a threat to the economy. They've got to be broken up. +p3360 +aVYes, exactly, exactly. +p3361 +aVYes, well, roughly. Let me say this. As a member of the Health Education Committee that helped write the Affordable Care Act, much of what Secretary Clinton said about what we have done, among other things, ending the obscenity of this pre-existing situation is a step forward. Seventeen more million more people have health care. It is a step forward. A step forward. But this is what we also have to say. Not only are deductibles rising, 29 million Americans still have no health insurance and millions of people can't afford to go to the doctor. Major crisis and primary health care. Here is the bottom line. Why is it that the United States of America today is the only major country on earth that does not guarantee health care to all people as a right? Why is it... +p3362 +aVWhy is it that we are -- why is it that we spend almost three times per capita as to what they spend in the U.K., 50 percent more than what they pay in France, countries that guarantee health care to all of their people and in many cases, have better health care outcomes. Bottom line. This ties into campaign finance reform. The insurance companies, the drug companies are bribing the United States Congress. We need to pass a Medicare for all single payer system. It will lower the cost of health care for a middle-class family by thousands of dollars a year. +p3363 +aVBut they will not be paying, Martha, any private insurance. So it's unfair to say in total... +p3364 +aVI can tell you that adding up the fact you're not paying any private insurance, businesses are not paying any private insurance. The average middle-class family will be saving thousands of dollars a year. +p3365 +aVAnd universities. +p3366 +aVWell, Neil, I think we've got to work on a two-pronged approach. And your point is absolutely well taken. The cost of college education is escalating a lot faster than the cost of inflation. There are a lot of factors involved in that. And that is that we have some colleges and universities that are spending a huge amount of money on fancy dormitories and on giant football stadiums. Maybe we should focus on quality education with well-paid faculty members. But... +p3367 +aVAnd I understand in many universities a heck of a lot of vice presidents who earn a big salary. But, bottom line is this is the year 2015. If we are going to be competitive in the global economy we need the best educated workforce. It is insane to my mind, hundreds of thousands of young people today, bright qualified people, cannot go to college because they cannot afford -- their families cannot afford to send them. Millions coming out of school as you indicated, deeply in debt. What do we do? My proposal is to put a speculation tax on wall street, raise very substantial sums of money, not only make public colleges and universities tuition-free, but also substantially lower interest rates on student debt. You have families out there paying 6 percent, 8 percent, 10 percent on student debt; refinance their homes at 3 percent. What sense is that? So I think we need radical changes in the funding of higher education. We should look at college today the way high school was looked at 60 years ago. All young people who have the ability should be able to get a college education. ( +p3368 +aVMay I respond to the critique on the ... +p3369 +aVI would just... +p3370 +aVBut Secretary Clinton is wrong. As you know, because I know you know a lot about health care. You know that the United States per capita pays far and away more than other country. And it is unfair simply to say how much more the program will cost without making sure that people know that, we are doing away with cost of private insurance and that the middle class will be paying substantially less for health care on the single payer than on the Secretary's Clinton proposal. +p3371 +aVNow, this is getting to be fun. +p3372 +aVLet me respond to... +p3373 +aVLet me respond to... +p3374 +aVNumber one, most important economic reality of today is that over the last 30 years, there has been a transfer of trillions of dollars from the middle class to the top one-tenth of one percent who are seeing a doubling of the percentage of wealth that they own. Now, when Secretary Clinton says, "I'm not going raise taxes on the middle class," let me tell you what she is saying. She is disagreeing with FDR on Social Security, LBJ on Medicare and with the vast majority of progressive Democrats in the House and the Senate, who today are fighting to end the disgrace of the United States being the only major country on Earth that doesn't provide paid family and medical leave. What the legislation is is $1.61 a week. Now, you can say that's a tax on the middle class. It will provide three months paid family and medical leave for the working families of this country. I think, Secretary Clinton, $1.61 a week is a pretty good investment. +p3375 +aVDavid, thank you. +p3376 +aVThen (inaudible)... +p3377 +aVEvery (inaudible) Democrat and senator in support of this proposal introduced by your good friend and my good friend, Kirsten Gillibrand, Rosa DeLauro, that is the legislation out there that will finally provide family and medical leave. +p3378 +aVWell, this whole issue concerns me. And I agree with much of what the secretary and the governor have said. But let's be clear. Today in America we have more people in jail than any other country on earth, 2.2 million people. Predominantly African-American and Hispanic. We are spending $80 billion a year locking up our fellow Americans. I think, and this is not easy, but I think we need to make wage a major effort, to come together as a country and end institutional racism. We need major, major reforms of a very broken criminal justice system. Now, what does that mean? Well, for a start it means that police officers should not be shooting unarmed people, predominantly African-Americans. +p3379 +aVIt means that we have to rethink the so-called war on drugs which has destroyed the lives of millions of people, which is why I have taken marijuana out of the Controlled Substance Act. So that it will not be a federal crime. +p3380 +aVThat is why we need to make... That is why we need to make police -- and I speak as a former mayor. I was a mayor for eight years, worked very closely with a great police department. And what we did is try to move that department toward community policing, so that the police officers become part of the community and not, as we see, in some cities an oppressive force. We need to make police departments look like the communities they serve in terms of diversity. We need to end minimal sentencing. We need, basically, to pledge that we're going to invest in this country, in jobs and education, not more jails and incarceration. +p3381 +aVYes. Look, this is a tragedy for New Hampshire. It is a tragedy for my state of Vermont. It is a tragedy all over this country. The number of heroin deaths are growing very, very significantly. What do we do? Well, for a start, this may seem like a radical idea, but I think we have got to tell the medical profession and doctors who are prescribing opiates and the pharmaceutical industry that they have got to start getting their act together, we cannot have this huge number of opiates out there throughout this country, where young people are taking them, getting hooked, and then going to heroin. Second of all, and the reason I believe in a health care for all program, we need to understand that addiction is a disease, not a criminal activity. And that means -- and that means radically changing the way we deal with mental health and addiction issues. When somebody is addicted and seeking help, they should not have to wait three, four months in order to get that help. They should be able to walk in the door tomorrow and get a variety of treatments that work for them. So those are some of the areas that I think we've got to move on. +p3382 +aVBut what... +p3383 +aVLook, the secretary is right. This is a terribly complicated issue. There are no simple solutions. But where we have a disagreement is that I think if you look at the history of regime changes, you go back to Mossadegh in Iran, you go back to Salvador Allende who we overthrew in Chile, you go back to overthrowing Saddam Hussein in Iraq, you go back to where we are today in Syria with a dictator named Assad. The truth is it is relatively easy for a powerful nation like America to overthrow a dictator but it is very hard to predict the unintended consequences and the turmoil and the instability that follows after you overthrow that dictator. So I think Secretary Clinton and I have a fundamental disagreement. I'm not quite the fan of regime change that I believe she is. O' +p3384 +aVGiven the fact that she's a lot smarter than me, yes, she would. And let me, by the way, take this moment to congratulate Hillary Clinton, who I thought not only did an outstanding job as our first lady, but redefined what that role could be. So, I thank you very much for that. My wife, Jane, has been -- way back when before I knew her, a foster parent. Many, many kids came into her home and received the kind of love that they desperately needed. And she turned around many lives. She is the best parent and grandmother that I know. She has devoted her life, when I was mayor of the city of Burlington, actually when I first met her, we started a youth office, which started a after-school programs for kids, started a child care center, started a youth newspaper. We got the kids involved in a whole lot of issues. She led that effort. So I think, at a time when so many of our kids are desperately looking for constructive activity, where too many of our kids are hanging around on street corners, potentially getting into trouble, I think we need a forceful advocate for the children, for teenagers, for the little children, to deal with the dysfunctional child care system, and I think my wife would do a great job in helping me accomplish those goals. +p3385 +aVWell, thank you very much for hosting this debate, and let me applaud my colleagues up here. Because I think frankly, maybe I'm wrong, but on our worst day, I think we have a lot more to offer the American people than the right wing's extremists. +p3386 +aVBut what my parents did accomplish is they were able to send both of their sons to college. We were the first in the family. So I know something about economic anxiety and living in a family does not have sufficient income. And that is why I am pledged, if elected president of the United States, to bring about a political revolution where millions of people begin to stand up and finally say enough is enough, this great country and our government belong to all of us, not just a handful of billionaires. Thank you very much. +p3387 +asVBARTIROMO +p3388 +(lp3389 +VTonight we're partnering with the Wall Street Journal to ask questions on the economy that voters want answered. We're also working with Facebook, who tells us that since the first Republican debate, more than 58 million people have joined the political conversation online. More than 9 million are talking specifically about the economy. +p3390 +aVBusinesswoman Carly Fiorina. Ohio Governor John Kasich. And Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. +p3391 +aVWe've asked people on Facebook to submit their questions for the candidates. Seth Bell wrote, "We are approaching $20 trillion in national debt. Specifically, what plans do you have to cut federal spending?" Governor Kasich, you have spoken much about your success in balancing the budget under President Clinton. Today the national debt is at record highs and growing unsustainably. Interest will be the fastest-growing part of the federal budget, tripling over the next 10 years. Social Security, the lifeline of millions of American seniors, is rushing toward insolvency. With all of the tax plans presented tonight, estimated to cost anywhere between $2 trillion and $12 trillion over a decade, what specific steps will you take to balance the budget? +p3392 +aVDid you want to name any specific steps, sir? +p3393 +aVThank you, sir. +p3394 +aVSenator Cruz, the International Monetary Fund recently cut its expectations for economic growth. Many economists expect a recession to hit the U.S. within the next year due to the weakening of manufacturing. The next president will have to deal with it. You say tax reform is a powerful lever to spur economic expansion. You're calling for a 10 percent income tax and a 16 percent business tax. What other elements do you need in this plan to actually create jobs? +p3395 +aVThank you, sir. +p3396 +aVGovernor Bush... +p3397 +aVWe have more questions for you, Governor Kasich, coming up. We have more questions for you, Governor Kasich. +p3398 +aVWe will \u2014 we will certainly get to that. Governor Bush? +p3399 +aVAlmost 40 percent of Americans are without a job and are not looking. Many have given up. That's what the participation rate tells us. You've said your policies will drive the economy back to 4 percent growth, which we haven't seen since the year 2000. What specific regulations would you change? And how will that lead to jobs and growth? +p3400 +aVThank you, sir. +p3401 +aVMr. Trump, a federal appeals court just dealt a blow to the Obama administration's plan to prevent the deportation of 5 million people living in this country illegally. The White House is appealing to the Supreme Court. At the heart of this issue is the effect that illegal immigrants are having on our economy, what will you do about it? +p3402 +aVCan we just send 5 million people back with no effect on economy? +p3403 +aVSo what will you do? +p3404 +aVThank you, sir. +p3405 +aVWe go back to Facebook. Dewayne Wesley Cato asks on Facebook, how do we get rid of regulations choking our businesses? Ms. Fiorina? Specifically, under the president's Affordable Care Act, employers with 50 or more employees are required to offer health insurance, or be fined. Many are opting to pay the fine. Others are cutting back employee hours to duck the law altogether. What specific ways will you alleviate the pressure on small business? +p3406 +aVJust to be clear, you want to repeal Obamacare... ..but, what's the alternative? +p3407 +aVJust to be clear, you say you would repeal Obamacare... +p3408 +aV...But, what is the alternative... +p3409 +aV...and how does that help small business... +p3410 +aV...Thank you... +p3411 +aVSenator Cruz, there isn't anyone in this audience or watching at home tonight who would not like to pay less in taxes. Most people just want a fair shake, and they don't want their money to be wasted. But explain how your plan works. How can you cut taxes as much as you propose without running up debt and deficits? +p3412 +aVBut you haven't told us how to pay for it. +p3413 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Bush, Republican primary voters say tax reform should be a priority for Congress and the administration. But, Governor Bush, how important is tax reform in your domestic policy agenda? Will you guarantee it in the first year of your presidency? +p3414 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3415 +aVThat's right. That's right. +p3416 +aVComing up, the biggest threats facing the next commander-in-chief. You're watching the Republican presidential debate, live tonight from Milwaukee. We'll be right back. +p3417 +aVWelcome back. Welcome back to the Republican presidential debate. The candidates taking the questions you want answered. Also tonight, you can see what America is saying about the debate. Go to Facebook and type #gopdebate into the search box. Now, back to the questions. Americans face security threats at home and abroad. Last year, terrorist attacks rose 61 percent, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace, with the most deaths occurring in just five countries, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Syria. Dr. Carson, you were against putting troops on the ground in Iraq and against a large military force in Afghanistan. Do you support the president's decision to now put 50 special ops forces in Syria and leave 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan? +p3418 +aVWe asked Facebook to take a look at some of the major issues we're talking about, and tackling in this debate tonight. This word cloud shows what people are focusing on the most. The bigger the word, the more the talk. One of the most discussed issues in the last month, homeland security. Governor Bush, what is the biggest threat facing America today? +p3419 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, in 2012 debate, President Obama mocked Mitt Romney's assertion that Russia was the top geopolitical challenge facing the United States, saying he was a Cold War dinosaur. Now, Russia has invaded Ukraine, and has put troops in Syria. You have said you will have a good relationship with Mr. Putin. So, what does President Trump do in response to Russia's aggression? +p3420 +aVThank you, sir. +p3421 +aVThank you, governor. +p3422 +aVSenator Rubio. +p3423 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. +p3424 +aVMore questions \u2014 more questions coming up, when the Republican presidential debate comes right back, live from Milwaukee. Stay with us. +p3425 +aVWelcome back to the fourth Republican presidential debate. Senator Rubio, Hillary Clinton is the clear front runner for the Democratic nomination. If she is indeed the nominee, you will be facing a candidate with an impressive resume. She was the first lady of the United States, a U.S. senator from New York, and secretary of state under Barack Obama. She has arguably more experience, certainly more time in government than almost all of you on stage tonight. Why should the American people trust you to lead this country, even though she has been so much closer to the office? +p3426 +aVSenator Paul, you were one of 15 republicans to vote for an amendment which states that human activity contributed to climate change. President Obama has announced an aggressive plan to cut carbon emissions. At the same time, energy production in America has boomed. Is it possible to continue this boom, and move toward energy self-sufficiency, while at the same time pursuing a meaningful climate change program? +p3427 +aVCarly Fiorina? +p3428 +aVFormer Governor Jeb Bush? +p3429 +aVSenator Ted Cruz? +p3430 +aVHe's funny. +p3431 +aVThank you. +p3432 +asVCLINTON +p3433 +(lp3434 +VThank you. +p3435 +aVI'm running for president to knock down all the barriers that are holding Americans back, and to rebuild the ladders of opportunity that will give every American a chance to advance, especially those who have been left out and left behind. I know a lot of Americans are angry about the economy. And for good cause. Americans haven't had a raise in 15 years. There aren't enough good-paying jobs, especially for young people. And yes, the economy is rigged in favor of those at the top. We both agree that we have to get unaccountable money out of our political system and that we have to do much more to ensure that Wall Street never wrecks main street again. But I want to go further. I want to tackle those barriers that stand in the way of too many Americans right now. African-Americans who face discrimination in the job market, education, housing, and the criminal justice system. Hardworking immigrant families living in fear, who should be brought out of the shadows so they and their children can have a better future. Guaranteeing that women's work finally gets the pay, the equal pay that we deserve. I think America can only live up to its potential when we make sure that every American has a chance to live up to his or her potential. That will be my mission as president. And I think together we will make progress. +p3436 +aVJudy, I think that the best analysis that I've seen based on Senator Sanders plans is that it would probably increase the size of the federal government by about 40%, but what is most concerning to me is that in looking at the plans \u2014 let's take healthcare for example. Last week in a CNN town hall, the Senator told a questioner that the questioner would spend about $500 dollars in taxes to get about $5,000 dollars in healthcare. Every progressive economist who has analyzed that says that the numbers don't add up, and that's a promise that cannot be kept, and it's really important now that we are getting into the rest of the country that both of us are held to account for explaining what we are proposing because, especially with healthcare, this is not about math. This is about people's lives, and we should level with the American people about what we can do to make sure they get quality affordable healthcare. +p3437 +aVI can only say that we both share the goal of universal health care coverage. You know, before it was called Obamacare, it was called Hillarycare. And I took on the drug companies and I took on the insurance companies to try to get us universal health care coverage. And why I am a staunch supporter of President Obama's principal accomplishment \u2014 namely the Affordable Care Act \u2014 is because I know how hard it was to get that done. We are at 90 percent coverage. We have to get the remaining 10. I've set forth very specific plans about how to get costs down, especially prescription drug costs. And it is difficult to in any way argue with the goal that we both share. But I think the American people deserve to know specifically how this would work. If it's Medicare for all, then you no longer have the Affordable Care Act, because the Affordable Care Act, as you know very well, is based on the insurance system, based on exchanges, based on a subsidy system. The Children's Health Insurance Program, which I helped to create, which covers 8 million kids, is also a different kind of program. So if you're having Medicare for all, single-payer, you need to level with people about what they will have at the end of the process you are proposing. And based on every analysis that I can find by people who are sympathetic to the goal, the numbers don't add up, and many people will actually be worse off than they are right now. +p3438 +aVWell, let me just \u2014 let me just say, once again......that, having been in the trenches fighting for this, I believe strongly we have to guarantee health care. I believe we are on the path to doing that. The last thing we need is to throw our country into a contentious debate about health care again. And we are not England. We are not France. We inherited a system that was set up during World War II; 170 million Americans get health insurance right now through their employers. So what we have tried to do and what President Obama succeeded in doing was to build on the health care system we have, get us to 90 percent coverage. We have to get the other 10 percent of the way to 100. I far prefer that and the chances we have to be successful there than trying to start all over again, gridlocking our system, and trying to get from zero to 100 percent. +p3439 +aVNo. But it is absolutely fair and necessary for Americans to vet both of our proposals, to ask the really hard questions about, what is it we think we can accomplish, why do we believe that, and what would be the results for the average American family? In my case, whether it's health care, or getting us to debt-free tuition, or moving us toward paid family leave, I have been very specific about where I would raise the money, how much it would cost, and how I would move this agenda forward. I've tried to be as specific to answer questions so that my proposals can be vetted, because I feel like we have to level with people for the very reason, Gwen, that you are mentioning. There is a great deal of skepticism about the federal government. I'm aware of that. It comes from the right, from the left, from people on all sides of the political spectrum. So we have a special obligation to make clear what we stand for, which is why I think we should not make promises we can't keep, because that will further, I think, alienate Americans from understanding and believing we can together make some real changes in people's lives. +p3440 +aVI will put a price tag. My price tag is about $100 billion a year. And again, paid for. And what I have said is I will not throw us further into debt. I believe I can get the money that I need by taxing the wealthy, by closing loopholes, the things that we are way overdue for doing. And I think once I'm in the White House we will have enough political capital to be able to do that. But I am conscious of the fact that we have to also be very clear, especially with young people, about what kind of government is going to do what for them and what it will cost. +p3441 +aVYou know, I think, again, both of us share the goal of trying to make college affordable for all young Americans. And I have set forth a compact that would do just that for debt-free tuition. We differ, however, on a couple of key points. One of them being that if you don't have some agreement within the system from states and from families and from students, it's hard to get to where we need to go. And Senator Sanders's plan really rests on making sure that governors like Scott Walker contribute $23 billion on the first day to make college free. I am a little skeptical about your governor actually caring enough about higher education to make any kind of commitment like that. +p3442 +aVWell, first, Judy, I have spent my entire adult life working toward making sure that women are empowered to make their own choices, even if that choice is not to vote for me. I believe that it's most important that we unleash the full potential of women and girls in our society. And I feel very strongly that I have an agenda, I have a record that really does respond to a lot of the specific needs that the women in our country face. So I'm going to keep making that case. I'm going to keep making sure that everything I've done, everything that I stand for is going to be well known. But I have no argument with anyone making up her mind about who to support. I just hope that by the end of this campaign there will be a lot more supporting me. That's what I'm working towards. +p3443 +aVWell, look, I think that she's been saying that for as long as I've known her, which is about 25 years. But it doesn't change my view that we need to empower everyone, women and men, to make the best decisions in their minds that they can make. That's what I've always stood for. And when it comes to the issues that are really on the front lines as to whether we're going to have equal pay, paid family leave, some opportunity for, you know, women to go as far as their hard work and talent take them, I think that we still have some barriers to knock down, which is why that's at the core of my campaign. I would note, just for a historic aside, somebody told me earlier today we've had like 200 presidential primary debates, and this is the first time there have been a majority of women on the stage. So, you know, we'll take our progress wherever we can find it. +p3444 +aVYou know, I have said \u2014 I have said many times, you know, I'm not asking people to support me because I'm a woman. I'm asking people to support me because I think I'm the most qualified, experienced, and ready person to be the president and the commander-in-chief. And I appreciate greatly Senator Sanders' voting record. And I was very proud to get the endorsement of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, because I've been a leader on these issues. I have gone time and time again to take on the vested interests who would keep women's health care decisions the province of the government instead of women ourselves. I'm very proud that +p3445 +aVYou know, I completely agree with Senator Sanders. The first speech I gave in this campaign back in April was about criminal justice reform and ending the era of mass incarceration. The statistics from Wisconsin are particularly troubling, because it is the highest rate of incarceration for African-Americans in our nation, twice the national average. And we know of the tragic, terrible event that lead to the death of Dontre Hamilton right here in Milwaukee, a young man unarmed, who should still be with us. His family certainly believes that. And so do I. So we have work to do. There have been some good recommendations about what needs to happen. President Obama's policing commission came out with some. I have fully endorsed those. But we have to restore policing that will actually protect the communities that police officers are sworn to protect. And, then we have to go after sentencing, and that's one of the problems here in Wisconsin because so much of what happened in the criminal justice system doesn't happen at the federal level, it happens at the state and local level. But, I would also add this. There are other racial discrepancies. Really systemic racism in this state, as in others, education, in employment, in the kinds of factors that too often lead from a position where young people, particularly young men, are pushed out of school early, are denied employment opportunities. So, when we talk about criminal justice reform, and ending the era of mass incarceration, we also have to talk about jobs, education, housing, and other ways of helping communities. +p3446 +aVWell, I'm just not sure I agree completely with that assessment. I think under President Obama we have seen a lot of advances, the Affordable Care Act has helped more African Americans than any other group to get insurance, to be taken care of, but we also know a lot more than we did. We have a lot more social media, we have everybody with a cellphone. So, we are seeing the dark side of the remaining systemic racism that we have to root out in our society. I think President Obama has set a great example. I think he has addressed a lot of these issues that have been quite difficult, but he has gone forward. Now, what we have to do is to build on an honest conversation about where we go next. We now have much more information about what must be done to fix our criminal justice system. We now have some good models about how better to provide employment, housing and education. I think what President Obama did was to exemplify the importance of this issue as our first African American president, and to address it both from the President's office, and through his advocacy, such as working with young men, and Mrs. Obama's work with young women. But, we can't rest. We have work to do, and we now know a lot more than we ever did before. So, it's going to be my responsibility to make sure we move forward to solve these problems that are now out in the open. Nobody can deny them. To use the Justice Department, as we just saw, they have said they are going to sue Ferguson, that entered into a consent agreement, and then tried to back out. So, we're going to enforce the law, we're going to change policing practices, we're going to change incarceration practices, but we're also going to emphasize education, jobs, and housing. +p3447 +aVLook, I am deeply concerned about what's happening in every community in America, and that includes white communities, where we are seeing an increase in alcoholism, addiction, earlier deaths. People with a high school education or less are not even living as long as their parents lived. This is a remarkable and horrifying fact. And that's why I've come forward with, for example, a plan to revitalize coal country, the coalfield communities that have been so hard hit by the changing economy, by the reduction in the use of coal. You know, coal miners and their families who helped turn on the lights and power our factories for generations are now wondering, has our country forgotten us? Do people not care about all of our sacrifice? And I'm going to do everything I can to address distressed communities, whether they are communities of color, whether they are white communities, whether they are in any part of our country. I particularly appreciate the proposal that Congressman Jim Clyburn has \u2014 the 10-20-30 proposal \u2014 to try to spend more federal dollars in communities with persistent generational poverty. And you know what? If you look at the numbers, there are actually as many, if not more white communities that are truly being left behind and left out. So, yes, I do think it would be a terrible oversight not to try to address the very real problems that white Americans \u2014 particularly those without a lot of education whose jobs have \u2014 you know, no longer provided them or even no longer present in their communities, because we have to focus where the real hurt is. And that's why, as president, I will look at communities that need special help and try to deliver that. +p3448 +aVI strongly support the president's executive actions. I hope the Supreme Court upholds them. I think there is constitutional and legal authority for the president to have done what he did. I am against the raids. I'm against the kind of inhumane treatment that is now being visited upon families, waking them up in the middle of the night, rounding them up. We should be deporting criminals, not hardworking immigrant families who do the very best they can and often are keeping economies going in many places in our country. I'm a strong supporter of comprehensive immigration reform. Have been ever since I was in the Senate. I was one of the original sponsors of the +p3449 +aVTwo quick responses. One, with respect to the Central American children, I made it very clear that those children needed to be processed appropriately, but we also had to send a message to families and communities in Central America not to send their children on this dangerous journey in the hands of smugglers. I've also called for the end of family detention, for the end of privately-run detention centers, along with private prisons, which I think are really against the common good and the rule of law. And with respect to the 2007 bill, this was Ted Kennedy's bill. And I think Ted Kennedy had a very clear idea about what needed to be done. And I was proud to stand with him and support it. +p3450 +aVWell, that just wasn't \u2014 that just wasn't the fact, Senator. The fact is that there was a great effort made by the Obama administration and others to really send a clear message, because we knew that so many of these children were being abused, being treated terribly while they tried to get to our border. So we have a disagreement on this. I think now what I've called for is counsel for every child so that no child has to face any kind of process without someone who speaks and advocates for that child so that the right decision hopefully can be made. +p3451 +aVI think \u2014 I think it's fair to say we don't have a disagreement. We both believe there has to be more money going into the Social Security system. I've said I'm looking at a couple of different ways, one which you mentioned, Senator, but also trying to expand the existing tax to passive income that wealthy people have so that we do get more revenue into the Social Security Trust Fund. I have a slightly different approach, though, about what we should do with that initially. First, rather than expand benefits for everyone, I do want to take care of low-income seniors who worked at low-wage jobs. I want to take care of women. When the Social Security program was started in the 1930s, not very many women worked. And women have been disadvantaged ever since. They do not get any credit for their care-taking responsibilities. And the people who are often the most hard-hit are widows, because when their spouse dies, they can lose up to one-half of their Social Security monthly payment. So we have no disagreement about the need to buttress Social Security, get more revenue into the program. But I want to start by helping those people who are most at risk, the ones who, yes, are cutting their pills in half, who don't believe they can make the rent, who are worried about what comes next for them. +p3452 +aVWell, Senator, look, I think we're in vigorous agreement here. We both want to get more revenue in. I have yet to see a proposal that you're describing that the \u2014 raising the cap would apply to passive income. That has not been... +p3453 +aVWell, that has not been a part of most of the proposals that I've seen. I'm interested in making sure we get the maximum amount of revenue from those who can well afford to provide it. So I'm going to come up with the best way forward. We're going to end up in the same place. We're going to get more revenue. I'm going to prioritize those recipients who need the most help first. +p3454 +aVI can't speak for the Koch Brothers, you're referring to a Super PAC that we don't coordinate with, that was set up to support President Obama, that has now decided that they want to support me. They are the ones who should respond to any questions. Let's talk about our campaigns. I'm very proud of the fact that we have more than 750 thousand donors, and the vast majority of them are giving small contributions. So, I'm proud of Senator Sanders, and his supporters. I think it's great that Senator Sanders, President Obama and I have more donors than any three people who have every run, certainly on the Democratic side. That's the way it should be, and I'm going to continue to reach out to thank all my online contributors for everything they are doing for me, to encourage them and help me do more just as Senator Sanders is. I think that is the real key here. We both have a lot of small donors. I think that sets us apart from a lot of what's happening right now on the Republican side. The Koch Brothers have a very clear political agenda. It is an agenda, in my view, that would do great harm to our country. We're going to fight it as hard as we can, and we're going to fight whoever the Republicans nominate who will depend on the Koch Brothers, and others. +p3455 +aVWe are mixing apples and oranges. My 750,000 donors have contributed more than a million and a half donations. I'm very proud. That, I think, between the two of us demonstrates the strength of the support we have among people who want to see change in our country. But, the real issue, I think, that the Senator is injecting into this is that if you had a Super PAC, like President Obama has, which now says it wants to support me. It's not my PAC. If you take donations from Wall Street, you can't be independent. I would just say, I debated then Senator Obama numerous times on stages like this, and he was the recipient of the largest number of Wall Street donations of anybody running on the Democratic side ever. Now, when it mattered, he stood up and took on Wall Street. He pushed through, and he passed the Dodd-Frank regulation, the toughest regulations since the 1930's. So, let's not in anyway imply here that either President Obama or myself, would in anyway not take on any vested interested, whether it's Wall Street, or drug companies, or insurance companies, or frankly, the gun lobby to stand up to do what's best for the American people. +p3456 +aVWell, let's just \u2014 let's just follow up on this, because, you know, I've made it very clear that no bank is too big to fail, no executive too powerful to jail, and because of Dodd-Frank, we now have in law a process that the president, the Federal Reserve, and others can use if any bank poses a systemic risk. I think that's a major accomplishment. I agree, however, it doesn't go far enough, because what it focuses on are the big banks, which Senator Sanders has talked about a lot, for good reason. I go further in the plan that I've proposed, which has been called the toughest, most effective, comprehensive plan for reining in the other risks that the financial system could face. It was an investment bank, Lehman Brothers, that contributed to our collapse. It was a big insurance company, AIG. It was Countrywide Mortgage. My plan would sweep all of them into a regulatory framework so we can try to get ahead of what the next problems might be. And I believe that not only Barney Frank, Paul Krugman, and others, have said that what I have proposed is the most effective. It goes in the right direction. We have Dodd-Frank. We can use it to break up the banks, if that's appropriate. But let's not kid ourselves. As we speak, there are new problems on the horizon. I want to get ahead of those, and that's why I've proposed a much more comprehensive approach to deal with all of these... +p3457 +aVAbsolutely. And, you know, there are a number of programs that I think are duplicative and redundant and not producing the results that people deserve. There are a lot of training programs and education programs that I think can be streamlined and put into a much better format so that if we do continue them they can be more useful, in public schools, community colleges, and colleges and universities. I would like to take a hard look at every part of the federal government and really do the kind of analysis that would rebuild some confidence in people that we're taking a hard look about what we have, you know, and what we don't need anymore. And that's what I intend to do. +p3458 +aVLook, I think we are readier than we used to be, but it's a constant effort that has to be undertaken to make sure we are as ready as we need to be. We have made a lot of improvements in our domestic security since 9/11, and we have been able to foil and prevent attacks, yet we see the terrible attack in San Bernardino and know that we haven't done enough. So we have to go after this both abroad and at home. We have to go after terrorist networks, predominantly +p3459 +aVIf I could just respond. Two points. One, Senator Sanders voted in 1998 on what I think is fair to call a regime change resolution with respect to Iraq, calling for the end of Saddam Hussein's regime. He voted in favor of regime change with Libya, voted in favor of the Security Council being an active participate in setting the parameters for what we would do, which of course we followed through on. I do not believe a vote in 2002 is a plan to defeat +p3460 +aVYou did support a U.N. Security Council approach, which we did follow up on. And, look, I think it's important to look at what the most important counterterrorism judgment of the first four years of the Obama administration was, and that was the very difficult decision as to whether or not to advise the president to go after bin Laden. I looked at the evidence. I looked at the intelligence. I got the briefings. I recommended that the president go forward. It was a hard choice. Not all of his top national security advisors agreed with that. And at the end of the day, it was the president's decision. So he had to leave the Situation Room after hearing from the small group advising him and he had to make that decision. I'm proud that I gave him that advice. And I'm very grateful to the brave Navy +p3461 +aVWell, I know journalists have asked who you do listen to on foreign policy, and we have yet to know who that is. +p3462 +aVThat's fine. That's fine. You know, I listen to a wide variety of voices that have expertise in various areas. I think it is fair to say, whatever the complaints that you want to make about him are, that with respect to China, one of the most challenging relationships we have, his opening up China and his ongoing relationships with the leaders of China is an incredibly useful relationship for the United States of America. So if we want to pick and choose \u2014 and I certainly do \u2014 people I listen to, people I don't listen to, people I listen to for certain areas, then I think we have to be fair and look at the entire world, because it's a big, complicated world out there. +p3463 +aVAnd, yes, people we may disagree with on a number of things may have some insight, may have some relationships that are important for the president to understand in order to best protect the United States. +p3464 +aVWell, with respect to Syria, I really do appreciate the efforts that Secretary Kerry has made. The agreement on humanitarian relief now needs to be implemented, because there are enclaves that are literally filled with starving people throughout Syria. The agreement on a cease-fire, though, is something that has to be implemented more quickly than the schedule that the Russians agreed to. You know, the Russians wanted to buy time. Are they buying time to continue their bombardment on behalf of the Assad regime to further decimate what's left of the opposition, which would be a grave disservice to any kind of eventual cease-fire? So I know Secretary Kerry is working extremely hard to try to move that cease-fire up as quickly as possible. But I would add this. You know, the Security Council finally got around to adopting a resolution. At the core of that resolution is an agreement I negotiated in June of 2012 in Geneva, which set forth a cease-fire and moving toward a political resolution, trying to bring the parties at stake in Syria together. This is incredibly complicated, because we've got Iran as a big player, in addition to Russia. We have Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and others who have very important interests in their view. This is one of the areas I've disagreed with Senator Sanders on, who has called for Iranian troops trying to end civil war in Syria, which I think would be a grave mistake. Putting Iranian troops right on the border of the Golan right next to Israel would be a nonstarter for me. Trying to get Iran and Saudi Arabia to work together, as he has suggested in the past, is equally a nonstarter. So let's support what Secretary Kerry and the president are doing, but let's hope that we can accelerate the cease-fire, because I fear that the Russians will continue their bombing, try to do everything they can to destroy what's left of the opposition. And remember, the Russians have not gone after +p3465 +aVWell, I respectfully disagree. I think we have achieved a great deal with the Iranian nuclear agreement to put a lid on the Iranian nuclear weapons program. That has to be enforced absolutely with consequences for Iran at the slightest deviation from their requirements under the agreement. I do not think we should promise or even look toward normalizing relations because we have a lot of other business to get done with Iran. Yes, they have to stop being the main state sponsor of terrorism. Yes, they have to stop trying to destabilize the Middle East, causing even more chaos. Yes, they've got to get out of Syria. They've got to quit sponsoring Hezbollah and Hamas. They have got to quit trying to ship rockets into Gaza that can be used against Israel. We have a lot of work to do with Iran before we ever say that they could move toward normalized relations with us. +p3466 +aV... Senator Sanders, from a debate in 2008, quote what I said. The question was, would you meet with an adversary without conditions? I said no. And in fact, in Obama administration, we did not meet with anybody without conditions. That is the appropriate approach in order to get the results that you are seeking. +p3467 +aVWell, I was pleased that +p3468 +aVI certainly agree with FDR for all the reasons Senator Sanders said. And I agree about the role that he played both in war and in peace on the economy and defeating fascism around the world. I would choose Nelson Mandela for his generosity of heart, his understanding of the need for reconciliation. But I want to \u2014 I want to follow up on something having to do with leadership, because, you know, today Senator Sanders said that President Obama failed the presidential leadership test. And this is not the first time that he has criticized President Obama. In the past he has called him weak. He has called him a disappointment. He wrote a forward for a book that basically argued voters should have buyers' remorse when it comes to President Obama's leadership and legacy. And I just couldn't agree \u2014 disagree more with those kinds of comments. You know, from my perspective, maybe because I understand what President Obama inherited, not only the worst financial crisis but the antipathy of the Republicans in Congress, I don't think he gets the credit he deserves for being a president......who got us out of that......put us on firm ground, and has sent us into the future. And it is a \u2014 the kind of criticism that we've heard from Senator Sanders about our president I expect from Republicans. I do not expect from someone running for the Democratic nomination to succeed President Obama. +p3469 +aVYou know, Senator, what I am concerned about, is not disagreement on issues, saying that this is what I would rather do, I don't agree with the president on that, calling the president weak, calling him a disappointment, calling several times that he should have a primary opponent when he ran for re-election in 2012, you know, I think that goes further than saying we have our disagreements. As a senator, yes, I was a senator. I understand we can disagree on the path forward. But those kinds of personal assessments and charges are ones that I find particularly troubling. +p3470 +aVYou know, we \u2014 we agree that we've got to get unaccountable money out of politics. We agree that Wall Street should never be allowed to wreck Main Street again. But here's the point I want to make tonight. I am not a single-issue candidate, and I do not believe we live in a single-issue country. I think that a lot of what we have to overcome to break down the barriers that are holding people back, whether it's poison in the water of the children of Flint, or whether it's the poor miners who are being left out and left behind in coal country, or whether it is any other American today who feels somehow put down and oppressed by racism, by sexism, by discrimination against the +p3471 +aVWell, I'm happy to be here in New Hampshire for this debate, as we move toward the primary on Tuesday. I believe that America has the opportunity to once again live by our values, live up to our values in the 21st century, but I think that America can only do that if Americans can succeed. And there are lots of reasons why Americans today are feeling left out and left behind. Yes, of course, the economy has not been working for most Americans. Yes, of course, we have special interests that are unfortunately doing too much to rig the game. But there's also the continuing challenges of racism, of sexism, of discrimination against the +p3472 +aVWell, let me start by saying that Senator Sanders and I share some very big progressive goals. I've been fighting for universal healthcare for many years, and we're now on the path to achieving it. I don't want us to start over again. I think that would be a great mistake, to once again plunge our country into a contentious debate about whether we should have and what kind of system we should have for healthcare. I want to build on the progress we've made; got from 90 percent coverage to 100 percent coverage. And I don't want to rip away the security that people finally have; 18 million people now have healthcare; preexisting conditions are no longer a bar. So we have a difference. I also believe in affordable college, but I don't believe in free college, because every expert that I have talked to says, look, how will you ever control the costs. What I want to do is make sure middle class kids, not Donald Trump's kids, get to be able to afford college. I want to get the economy going again. It's not just enough about what we're against, as important as that is. I have a plan to create new jobs, manufacturing, infrastructure, clean energy jobs that will make us the 21st century clean energy super power. I also want to make sure small businesses can start and grow again. And of course, I believe in raising the minimum wage and equal pay for work. But the numbers just don't add up, from what Senator Sanders has been proposing. That's why all of the independent experts, all of the editorial boards that have vetted both of us have concluded that it is just not achievable. Let's go down a path where we can actually tell people what we will do. A progressive is someone who makes progress. That's what I intend to do. +p3473 +aVIf I could just follow up on that. There is no disagreement between us on universal coverage for health care, the disagreement is where do we start from and where do we end up. The Republicans want to repeal the Affordable Care Act, I want to improve it. I want to build on it, get the costs down, get prescription drug costs down. Senator Sanders wants us to start all over again. This was a major achievement of President Obama, of our country. It is helping people right now. I am not going to wait and have us plunge back into a contentious national debate that has very little chance of succeeding. Let's make the Affordable Care Act work for everybody. +p3474 +aVWell because I am a progressive who gets things done. And the root of that word, progressive, is progress. But I've heard Senator Sanders comments, and it's really caused me to wonder who's left in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Under his definition, President Obama is not progressive because he took donations from Wall Street; Vice President Biden is not progressive because she supported Keystone; Senator Shaheen is not progressive because she supports the trade pact. Even the late, great Senator Paul Wellstone would not fit this definition because he voted for +p3475 +aVWell, Chuck... +p3476 +aV... If I could, you know, in the very first debate I was asked am I a moderate or a progressive and I said I'm a progressive who likes to get things done. Cherry picking a quote here or there doesn't change my record of having fought for racial justice, having fought for kids rights, having fought the kind of inequities that fueled my interest in service in the first place going back to my days in the Children's Defense Fund. It certainly didn't stop me from taking on the drug companies and the insurance companies. Before it was called Hillarycare\u2014I mean, before it was called ObamaCare it was called Hillarycare because we took them on, and we weren't successful, but we kept fighting and we got the children's health insurance program. Every step along the way I have stood up, and fought, and have the scars to prove it. So, again......I think it's important that, look, I understand Senator Sanders really trying to distinguish himself. I understand that, that's what you do in campaigns, but at the same time let's not be\u2014in, I think an unfair way, making an accusation, or making an attack about where I stand and about where I've always stood. It is fair to say, Senator, that in your definition, as you being the self-proclaimed gatekeeper for progressivism, I don't know anyone else who fits that definition, but I know a lot of really hard fighting progressives in the Democratic party who have stood up time, and time again against special interests, against the powerful on behalf of those who are left behind and left out. And, that's what we ought to be celebrating. Let's talk about what we would do as President, and Commander in Chief to make sure the progress continues into the future. +p3477 +aV... Well, you began it yesterday with your comments... +p3478 +aVYou know, the person who first put out the idea of a 50-state party strategy is former Governor Howard Dean, who is with us tonight. And I'm very proud and grateful to have the support of so many elected Vermonters and former officials. Two former governors, the current governor, the current other senator. I really appreciate that. And I think it's because they've worked with me, they've seen what I do. They know what kind of a colleague I am. They want me as their partner in the White House. And that's exactly what I will do. We'll get things done together. Democrats, Republicans, independents, we're going to make progress together when I'm president. +p3479 +aVWell, look, I've got to just jump in here because, honestly, Senator Sanders is the only person who I think would characterize me, a woman running to be the first woman president, as exemplifying the establishment. And I've got to tell you that it is......it is really quite amusing to me. People support me because they know me. They know my life's work. They have worked with me and many have also worked with Senator Sanders. And at the end of the day they endorse me because they know I can get things done. I am not going to make promises I can't keep. I am not going to talk about big ideas like single-payer and then not level with people about how much it will cost. A respected health economist said that these plans would cost a trillion dollars more a year. I'm not going to tell people that I will raise your incomes and not your taxes, and not mean it, because I don't want to see the kind of struggle that the middle class is going through exemplified by these promises that would raise taxes and make it much more difficult for many, many Americans to get ahead and stay ahead. That is not my agenda. +p3480 +aVYeah, but I\u2014I think it's fair to really ask what's behind that comment. You know, Senator Sanders has said he wants to run a positive campaign. I've tried to keep my disagreements over issues, as it should be. But time and time again, by innuendo, by insinuation, there is this attack that he is putting forth, which really comes down to\u2014you know, anybody who ever took donations or speaking fees from any interest group has to be bought. And I just absolutely reject that, Senator. And I really don't think these kinds of attacks by insinuation are worthy of you. And enough is enough. If you've got something to say, say it directly. But you will not find that I ever changed a view or a vote because of any donation that I ever received. +p3481 +aVAnd I have stood up and I have represented my constituents to the best of my abilities, and I'm very proud of that. +p3482 +aVSo I think it's time to end the very artful smear that you and your campaign have been carrying out... +p3483 +aV... in recent weeks, and let's talk......let's talk about about the issues. Let's talk about the issues that divide us. +p3484 +aVAnd let's\u2014let's... +p3485 +aV... we both agree with campaign finance reform. +p3486 +aVI\u2014I worked hard for McCain-Feingold. +p3487 +aVI want to reverse Citizens United. +p3488 +aVAnd so\u2014let's talk about issues. +p3489 +aVWell, you know, Senator, I don't think\u2014I don't... +p3490 +aV... I don't think you could find any person in political life today who has been subjected to more attacks and had more money spent against her by special interests, among whom you have named a few, than I. And I'm proud of that. You know, when I took on the drug companies and the insurance companies for universal health care coverage, they went after me with a vengeance. Today, you've got hedge fund billionaires aligned with Karl Rove, running ads against me to try to get Democrats to vote for you. I know this game. I'm going to stop this game. But while we're talking about votes, you're the one who voted to deregulate swaps and derivatives in 2000, which contributed to the over-leveraging of Lehman Brothers, which was one of the culprits that brought down the economy. So I don't know\u2014I'm not impugning your motive because you voted to deregulate swaps and derivatives. People make mistakes and I'm certainly not saying you did it for any kind of financial advantage. What we've got to do as Democrats\u2014what we've got to do as Democrats is to be united to actually solve these problems. And what I believe is that I have a better track record and a better opportunity to actually get that job done. That's what this election should be about. +p3491 +aVOn the issue of Wall Street. +p3492 +aVWell you know, Rachel, I think I may not have done the job I should in explaining my record. You know, I did\u2014when I left the secretary of State's office, like so many former officials, military leaders, journalists, others, I did go on the speaking circuit. I spoke to heart doctors, I spoke to the American Camping Association, I spoke to auto dealers, and yes, I spoke to firms on Wall Street. They wanted me to talk about the world, what my experience had been as secretary of State. But what I want people to know is I went to Wall Street before the crash. I was the one saying you're going to wreck the economy because of these shenanigans with mortgages. I called to end the carried interest loophole that hedge fund managers enjoy. I proposed changes in CEO compensation. I called for a consumer protection financial bureau before it was created. And I think the best evidence that the Wall Street people at least know where I stand and where I have always stood is because they are trying to beat me in this primary. They have collected and spent as much as $6 million on these ads. Hedge fund billionaires, Karl Rove, another billionaire, jumped in. And why are they doing that? These are guys who try to make smart investments. They know my record, they know me, they know that I say what I believe and I will do it. And I also have a pretty good understanding about how to stop them. So I do want people to know that, and I think it's important for everybody to understand I have a record, I have stood firm and I will be the person who prevents them from ever wrecking the economy again. +p3493 +aVIf I could, let me just say that of course it has to change. It has to change. And that's why I have put forward a plan to do just that. And it's been judged to be the toughest, most effective and comprehensive one. I have great respect for Senator Sanders's commitment to try to restore Glass-Steagall. But I do not believe that that is enough. And in fact, I don't believe it really addresses a lot of the biggest issues we have. You know, we now have power under the Dodd-Frank legislation to break up banks. And I've said I will use that power if they pose a systemic risk. But I want to go further, because it was investment banks, it was insurance companies, it was mortgage companies, all of which contributed. So let's not just be narrowly focused on one part of the problem. We have a lot of issues with corporate power that have to be addressed. My plan takes us further and it would do the job. +p3494 +aVLook we have a law\u2014look, you know, I\u2014I appreciate the senator's advocacy. We have a law. It was passed. It was signed by President Obama. It lays out a process that you go through to determine whether a systemic risk is posed. And by the way, President Obama signed that, pushed it through, even though he took donations from Wall Street, because he's a responsible president. So we have a law in place. If the circumstances warrant it, I will certainly use it. And from what you say, I know you will as well. But that is not enough. And I keep going back to this because part of the reason the Wall Street guys are trying so hard to stop me\u2014the hedge fund guys, the shadow banking guys\u2014is because I've got their number on all of that. And my plan goes so much further to try to prevent the problems of the future. You know, we can't just fight the last war. We've got to be prepared to stop these guys if they ever try to use their economic power once again, to hurt the economy, and to hurt so many Americans. And my plan, Paul Krugman, Barney Frank, a lot of experts who understand what the new challenges might be, have said I am exactly on point, and the Wall Street guys actually know that. +p3495 +aVI will look into it. I don't know the status, but I will certainly look into it. But, I can only repeat what is the fact that I spoke to a lot of different groups with a lot of different constituents, a lot of different kinds of members about issues that had to do with world affairs. I probably described more times than I can remember how stressful it was advising the President about going after Bin Laden. My view on this is look at my record. Look at what I am proposing, and\u2014we have a vigorous agreement here. We both want to reign in the excesses of Wall Street. I also want to reign in the excesses of Johnson Controls that we bailed out when they were an autoparts company, and we saved the auto industry, and now they want to avoid paying taxes. I want to go after the pharmaceutical companies like Valeant, and Turns that are increasing prices without any regard to the impact on people's health. Now, if all we're going to talk about is one part of our economy, and indeed one streak in our economy, we're missing the big oil companies. We're missing other big energy companies. We're missing the big picture, and I have a record of trying to go at the problems that actually exist, and I will continue to do that. +p3496 +aV... Well, Senator, no one wants to see that happen. I mean, look, I care deeply about this because just like you I have met so many people who had their life savings wiped out, who lost their homes, who are barely back with their heads above water. This was a disaster for our country, and we can never let that happen again. We have no disagreement about this. But, I think it's a broader target list than just Wall Street, and I believe that we have to be very focused on how we try to take back the power and increase the empowerment of the American people. And, I think I have that kind of experience, maybe because they've beat me up for so many years, and I know exactly how to handle them because I've been in the arena with them time and time again. +p3497 +aVWell, I think what the president understands, and what he's trying to do, is that we have to support the Arab and Kurdish fighters on the ground who are actually doing the fighting. I agree with the president. I've said myself, we will not send American combat troops back to either Syria or Iraq\u2014that is off the table. But we do have special forces, we do have trainers, we do have the military personnel who are helping with the airstrikes that the United States is leading so that we can try to take out +p3498 +aVNo. I mean, of course that's a theoretical question, and we don't know what it would be for, and we don't know how many numbers there are. I am against American combat troops being in Syria and Iraq. I support special forces. I support trainers. I support the air campaign. And I think we're making some progress. I want to continue to intensify that, and that's exactly what the president is doing. +p3499 +aVIf I could\u2014if I could... +p3500 +aV... respectfully add\u2014look, we did differ. A vote in 2002 is not a plan to defeat +p3501 +aVOh, absolutely. The president decided to leave more troops than he had originally planned in Afghanistan. We have a very cooperative government there, with Ashraf Ghani and his top\u2014his top partner, Abdullah. And they are doing their very best. And the Afghan army is actually fighting. The Afghan army is taking heavy losses defending Afghan territory. And I would have to make an evaluation based on the circumstances at the time I took office as to how much help they continue to need. Because it's not just the Taliban. We now are seeing outposts of, you know, fighters claiming to be affiliated with +p3502 +aVA group of national security experts, military intelligence experts, issued a very concerning statement about Senator Sanders's views on foreign policy and national security, pointing out some of the comments he has made on these issues, such as inviting Iranian troops into Syria to try to resolve the conflict there; putting them right at the doorstep of Israel. Asking Saudi Arabia and Iran to work together, when they can't stand each other and are engaged in a proxy battle right at this moment. So I do think questions have been raised and questions have to be answered because when New Hampshire voters go on Tuesday to cast your vote, you are voting both for a president and a commander in chief. And there is no way to predict what comes in the door of that White House from day to day that can pose a threat to the United States or one of our friends and allies, and I think this is a big part of the job interview that we are all conducting with the voters here. +p3503 +aVWell, let me just add that, you know, I've said this before and I'm very proud of it, that when it comes to judgment, having run a hard race against Senator Obama at the time, he turned to me to be secretary of State. And when it comes to the biggest counterterrorism issues that we faced in this administration, namely whether or not to go after bin Laden, I was at that table, I was exercising my judgment to advise the president on what to do, on that, on Iran, on Russia on China, on a whole raft of issues. Because I know from my own experience that you've got to be ready on day one. There is just too much unpredictable threat and danger in the world today, you know, to try to just say wait, I'll get to that when I can. That is just not an acceptable approach. +p3504 +aVAbsolutely. You know, I did put together the coalition to impose sanctions. I actually started the negotiations that led to the nuclear agreement, sending some much my closest aides to begin the conversations with the Iranians. I'm very pleased we got that nuclear agreement. It puts a lid on the nuclear weapons program. We have to enforce it, there have to be consequences attached to it. But that is not our only problem with Iran. We have to figure out how to deal with Iran as the principal state sponsor of terrorism in the world. They are destabilizing governments in the region. They continue to support Hezbollah and Hamas in Lebanon against Israel. A lot of work that we have do is going to be incredibly hard. I'm prepared to do that work, but I believe, just as I did with imposing the sanctions, you have to get action for action. If we were to normalize relations right now, we would remove one of the biggest pieces of leverage we have to try to influence and change Iranian behavior. The president doesn't think we should. I certainly don't think we should. I believe we have to take this step by step to try to reign in Iranian aggression, their support for terrorism and the other bad behavior that can come back and haunt us. +p3505 +aVWell Senator, let me just correct the record if I can. You know\u2014let me correct the record. +p3506 +aVAs I\u2014as I certainly recall, the question was to meet with without conditions. And you're right, I was against that. I was against it then I would be against it now. +p3507 +aVPart of diplomacy, the hard work of diplomacy is trying to extract whatever concessions you can get, and giving something the other side wants. Of course you've got to try to make peace with, and work with those who are your adversaries, but you don't just rush in, open the door, and say, "Here I am. Let's talk and make a deal." That's not the way it works. +p3508 +aV... Well, we set conditions on Iran. We worked hard to get them established, and to be enforced, and then we talked. That's exactly the right......and, that's what I did with the President, so he and I are on the very same page. +p3509 +aVI haven't talked to Secretary Carter, but here's what I would think he's planning. We do have the nuclear weapons agreement with Iran, that's an enforcement consequence, action for action, follow on. We have a plan, we will watch them, we will be vigilant. We do have to worry about North Korea. They continue to develop their nuclear weapons capability, and they're working very hard on their ballistic missile capability. And, I know that some of those plans could very well lead to a missile that might reach Hawaii, if not the West Coast. We do have to try to get the countries in the region to work with us to do everything we can to confine, and constrain them. But, what Secretary Carter is looking at is the constant pressure that Russia's putting on our European allies. The way that Russia is trying to move the boundaries of the post-World War II Europe. The way that he is trying to set European countries against one another, seizing territory, holding it in Crimea. Beginning to explore whether they could make some inroads in the Baltics. We know that they are deeply engaged in supporting Assad because they want to have a place in the Middle East. They have a naval base, they have an air base in Syria. They want to hang on to that. I think what Secretary Carter is seeing, and I'm glad he is, is that we got to get +p3510 +aVWell, first of all, I'm absolutely against privatizing the V.A. And I am going do everything I can to build on the reforms that Senator Sanders and others in Congress have passed to try to fix what's wrong with the V.A. There are a lot of issues about wait times and services that have to be fixed because our veterans deserve nothing but the best. But you're absolutely right, you know, Rachel, this is another part of the Koch brothers agenda. They've actually formed an organization to try to begin to convince Americans we should no longer have guaranteed health care, specialized care for our veterans. I will fight that as hard as I can. I think there's where we can enlist the veterans service organizations, the veterans of America, because, yes, let's fix the V.A., but we will never let it be privatized, and that is a promise. +p3511 +aVWhatever they decide to do, that's fine. +p3512 +aVAll right. +p3513 +aVI can only tell you what I believe, and that is that I am the strongest candidate to take it to the Republicans and win in November. And I say that with great\u2014with great respect for the campaign that Senator Sanders has been running. I personally am thrilled at the numbers of people, and particularly young people who are coming to support your campaign. I hope that I will be able to earn their support. They may not support me now, but I support them and we'll work together. But what I'm concerned about is the views of many Democrats who know their states, who know how hard it is to win a general election. And it also will push whoever the nominee is into the spotlight. I've been vetted. There's hardly anything you don't know about me. And I think it's fair to say that whoever is in that position, Senator Sanders or anyone else who might have run, will face the most withering onslaught. So, I think that I am the person who can do all aspects of the job. I think I'm the person best prepared to take the case to the Republicans. And I think that at the end of the day, it's not so much electability. It is who the American people can believe can keep them safe, can get the economy moving again, can get incomes rising, can build on the progressive accomplishments of President Obama. And I think that the coalition that President Obama put together to win twice is a coalition that I can put together and add to. And that's what I'm prepared to... +p3514 +aVAbsolutely I can. You know, before it was emails, it was Benghazi, and the Republicans were stirring up so much controversy about that. And I testified for 11 hours, answered their questions. They basically said yeah, didn't get her. We tried. That was all a political ploy. Now, we had a development in the email matter today when it came out that Secretary Powell and close aides to Former Secretary Rice used private e-mail accounts. and now you have these people in the government who are doing the same thing to Secretary Powell and Secretary Rice's aide they've been doing to me, which is that I never sent or received any classified material. They are retroactively classifying it. I agree completely with Secretary Powell, who said today this is an absurdity. And so I think the American people will know it's an absurdity. I have absolutely no concerns about it whatsoever. +p3515 +aVI am 100 percent confident. This is a security review that was requested. It is being carried out. It will be resolved. But I have to add if there's going to be a security review about me, there's going to have to be security reviews about a lot of other people, including Republican office holders, because we've got this absurd situation of retroactive classifications. Honest to goodness, this is\u2014this just beggars the imagination. So I have absolutely no concerns about it, but we've got to get to the bottom of what's really going on here, and I hope that will happen. +p3516 +aVNo. +p3517 +aVYes, I do. And\u2014you know, what I hope the Supreme Court will do is make it absolutely clear that any state that continues capital punishment either must meet the highest standards of evidentiary proof of effective assistance of counsel or they cannot continue it because that, to me, is the real dividing line. I have much more confidence in the federal system, and I do reserve it for particularly heinous crimes in the federal system, like terrorism. I have strong feelings about that. I thought it was appropriate after a very thorough trial that Timothy McVeigh received the death penalty for blowing up the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people, including 19 children in a daycare center. I do for very limited, particularly heinous crimes believe it is an appropriate punishment, but I deeply disagree with the way that too many states are still implementing it. If it were possible to separate the federal from the state system by the Supreme Court, that would, I think, be an appropriate outcome. +p3518 +aVAbsolutely. Absolutely. You know, Rachel, you and I have talked about this before. I thank you for going to Flint to hold that town hall. I will be in Flint at the Mayor's invitation on Sunday to get an in depth briefing about what is, and is not happening. This is an emergency. Everyday that goes by that these people, particularly the children, are not tested so we can know what steps must be taken to try to remediate the effects of the poisoning that they have been living with is a day lost in a child's life. I know from the work that I've done over so many years, lead, the toxic nature of lead can affect you brain development, your body development, your behavior. I absolutely believe that what is being done is not sufficient. We need to be absolutely clear about everything that should be done from today to tomorrow, into the future to try to remedy the terrible burden that the people of Flint are barring. That includes fixing their pipes, it includes guaranteeing whatever healthcare and educational embellishments they may need going forward, and I think the federal government has way where it can bill the state of Michigan. If Michigan won't do it, there have to be ways that we can begin to move, and then make them pay for it, and hold them accountable. +p3519 +aVYou know, Chuck, I've only had responsibility for voting for trade agreements as a senator. And I voted a multinational trade agreement when I was senator, the +p3520 +aVWell, I\u2014I don't accept that premise, Chuck. I think that we've got so much business we have to do. We've talked a lot tonight about what we're against\u2014we're against income inequality. We're against the abuses of powerful interests. We're against a lot of things. I'm for a lot of things. I don't want to just stop bad things from happening, I want to start good things from happening. And I believe, if I'm so fortunate to get the nomination, I will begin to work immediately on putting together an agenda, beginning to talk with members of Congress and others about how we can push forward. I want to have half a billion more solar panels deployed, the first four years. I want to have enough clean energy to power every home the next four years. I want us to keep working on the Affordable Care Act, to get not only to 100 percent coverage, but bring down the costs of prescription drugs and out-of-pocket costs. I want to move forward on paid family leave, on early childhood education, I want us to do more for small businesses. Small businesses have to create most of the jobs, and we're not creating and growing small businesses. I think, if you have a smart agenda, you pick the committees that you know have to begin to work on these various pieces\u2014because that's the way Congress is set up. You go through different committees, and you really make a big push in the beginning. Immigration reform, economic revitalization with manufacturing, with infrastructure\u2014we put it out there, and we begin to work on an ambitious, big, bold agenda that will actually produce the results that I want to see for our country. +p3521 +aVThe answer to both of those is no. I'm interested in making what we have work better. I want to streamline programs that are duplicative and redundant. I want to have a top-to-bottom review about what works and what doesn't work, and be absolutely clear we're getting rid of what doesn't work. I have had the opportunity to run a big agency. I was very flattered when Henry Kissinger said I ran the State Department better\u2014better than anybody had run it in a long time. So I have an idea of what it's going to take to make our government work more efficiently. And when you put together a budget, you have to make a lot of hard decisions, but I think it's not appropriate to say "I'm going to get rid of this, get rid of that" until you have a very good process that gives you the information about what to do. But I want to add something else, you know, because look, we have so much work to do in our country, and I think it's the greatest work that Americans will be called to do. And of course, we have to have people in every community involved in it. We have to have the political voice, the political grassroots speaking up and speaking out about what we have to try to accomplish in Washington. But we also need to have a very clear set of goals that we are going to achieve, and we need to level with the American people about what they are, what they will cost, what will be expected of our citizenry. So I see as president having a constant dialogue with Americans here's what we're trying to get done, here's why I need your help, here's why you may think comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship isn't something you care about, but I'm telling you it will help fix the labor market, it will bring people out of the shadows\u2014 +p3522 +aVI never said that. +p3523 +aVLook... +p3524 +aVWell, I'm certainly going to unite the party, but I'm not\u2014I'm not getting ahead of myself. I think that would be a little bit presumptuous. If I'm so fortunate as to be the nominee, the first person I will call to talk to about where we go and how we get it done will be Senator Sanders. +p3525 +aVThat's true. That's true. +p3526 +aVWell first, thanks to +p3527 +aVWell, good evening. And I want to thank the Congressional Black Caucus Institute and the people of Charleston for hosting us here on the eve of Martin Luther King Day tomorrow. You know, I remember well when my youth minister took me to hear Dr. King. I was a teenager. And his moral clarity, the message that he conveyed that evening really stayed with me and helped to set me on a path to service. I also remember that he spent the last day of his life in Memphis, fighting for dignity and higher pay for working people. And that is our fight still. We have to get the economy working and incomes rising for everyone, including those who have been left out and left behind. We have to keep our communities and our country safe. We need a president who can do all aspects of the job. I understand that this is the hardest job in the world. I'm prepared and ready to take it on and I hope to earn your support to be the nominee of the Democratic Party and the next president of the United States. +p3528 +aVI would work quickly to present to the Congress my plans for creating more good jobs in manufacturing, infrastructure, clean and renewable energy, raising the minimum wage, and guaranteeing, finally, equal pay for women's work. I would also......I would also be presenting my plans to build on the Affordable Care Act and to improve it by decreasing the out-of-pocket costs by putting a cap on prescription drug costs; by looking for ways that we can put the prescription drug business and the health insurance company business on a more stable platform that doesn't take too much money out of the pockets of hard-working Americans. And third, I would be working, in every way that I knew, to bring our country together. We do have too much division, too much mean- spiritedness. There's a lot we have to do on immigration reform, on voting rights, on campaign finance reform, but we need to do it together. That's how we'll have the kind of country for the 21st century that we know will guarantee our children and grandchildren the kind of future they deserve. +p3529 +aVYes look, I have made it clear based on Senator Sanders' own record that he has voted with the NRA, with the gun lobby numerous times. He voted against the Brady Bill five times. He voted for what we call, the Charleston Loophole. He voted for immunity from gunmakers and sellers which the NRA said, "was the most important piece of gun legislation in 20 years. " He voted to let guns go onto the Amtrak, guns go into National Parks. He voted against doing research to figure out how we can save lives. Let's not forget what this is about, 90 people a day die from gun violence in our country. That's 33,000 people a year. One of the most horrific examples not a block from here where we had nine people murdered. Now, I am pleased to hear that Senator Sanders has reversed his position on immunity and I look forward to him joining with those members of congress who have already introduced legislation. There is no other industry in America that was given the total pass that the gun makers and dealers were and that needs to be reversed. +p3530 +aVWell, sadly it's reality, and it has been heartbreaking, and incredibly outraging to see the constant stories of young men like Walter Scott, as you said, who have been killed by police officers. Their needs to be a concerted effort to address the systemic racism in our criminal justice system. And, that requires a very clear, agenda for retraining police officers, looking at ways to end racial profiling, finding more ways to really bring the disparities that stalk our country into high relief. One out of three African American men may well end up going to prison. That's the statistic. I want people hear to think what we would be doing if it was one out of three white men, and very often, the black men are arrested, convicted and incarcerated ......for offensive that do not lead to the same results for white men. So, we have a very serious problem that we can no longer ignore. +p3531 +aVWell, Lester, you're right. Everywhere I go to campaign, I'm meeting families who are affected by the drug problem that mostly is opioids and heroin now, and lives are being lost and children are being orphaned. And I've met a lot of grandparents who are now taking care of grandchildren. So I have tried to come out with a comprehensive approach that, number one, does tell the states that we will work with you from the federal government putting more money, about a billion dollars a year, to help states have a different approach to dealing with this epidemic. The policing needs to change. Police officers must be equipped with the antidote to a heroin overdose or an opioid overdose, known as Narcan. They should be able to administer it. So should firefighters and others. We have to move away from treating the use of drugs as a crime and instead, move it to where it belongs, as a health issue. And we need to divert more people from the criminal justice system into drug courts, into treatment, and recovery. +p3532 +aVSo this is the kind of approach that we should take in dealing with what is now... +p3533 +aV... a growing epidemic. +p3534 +aVWell, Andrea, I am absolutely committed to universal health care. I have worked on this for a long time, people may remember that I took on the health insurance industry back in the '90s, and I didn't quit until we got the children's health insurance program that ensures eight million kids. And I certainly respect Senator Sanders' intentions, but when you're talking about health care, the details really matter. And therefore, we have been raising questions about the nine bills that he introduced over 20 years, as to how they would work and what would be the impact on people's health care? He didn't like that, his campaign didn't like it either. And tonight, he's come out with a new health care plan. And again, we need to get into the details. But here's what I believe, the Democratic Party and the United States worked since Harry Truman to get the Affordable Care Act passed. We finally have a path to universal health care. We have accomplished so much already. I do not to want see the Republicans repeal it, and I don't to want see us start over again with a contentious debate. I want us to defend and build on the Affordable Care Act and improve it. +p3535 +aVBut \u2014 Senator Sanders, if I can... You know, I have to say I'm not sure whether we're talking about the plan you just introduced tonight, or we're talking about the plan you introduced nine times in the Congress. But the fact is, we have the Affordable Care Act. That is one of the greatest accomplishments of President Obama, of the Democratic Party, and of our country. And we have already seen 19 million Americans get insurance. We have seen the end of pre-existing conditions keeping people from getting insurance. We have seen women no longer paying more for our insurance than men. And we have seen young people, up to the age of 26, being able to stay on their parent's policy. +p3536 +aVNow, there are things we can do to improve it, but to tear it up and start over again, pushing our country back into that kind of a contentious debate, I think is the wrong direction. +p3537 +aVAnd that's exactly what we are able to do based on the foundation of the Affordable Care Act \u2014 what Governor O'Malley just said is one of the models that we will be looking at to make sure we do get costs down, we do limit a lot of the unnecessary costs that we still have in the system. But, with all due respect, to start over again with a whole new debate is something that I think would set us back. The Republicans just voted last week to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and thank goodness, President Obama vetoed it and saved Obamacare for the American people. +p3538 +aVWell, as someone who \u2014 as someone who has a little bit of experience standing up to the health insurance industry, that spent, you know......many, many millions of dollars attacking me, and probably will so again, because of what I believe we can do building on the Affordable Care Act, I think it's important to point out that there are a lot of reasons we have the health care system we have today. I know how much money influences the political decision-making. That's why I'm for huge campaign finance reform. However, we started a system that had private health insurance. And even during the Affordable Care Act debate, there was an opportunity to vote for what was called the public option. In other words, people could buy in to Medicare, and even when the Democrats were in charge of the Congress, we couldn't get the votes for that. So, what I'm saying is really simple. This has been the fight of the Democratic Party for decades. We have the Affordable Care Act. Let's make it work. Let's take the models that states are doing. We now have driven costs down to the lowest they've been in 50 years. Now we've got to get individual costs down. That's what I'm planning to do. +p3539 +aVWell, I think it's an important point the president made in his State of the Union. And here's what I would say. I will go anywhere, to meet with anyone, at any time to find common ground. That's what I did as a first lady, when I worked with both Democrats and Republicans to get the Children's Health Insurance Program, when I worked with Tom DeLay, one of the most partisan of Republicans, to reform the adoption and foster care system. What I did, working in the Senate, where I crossed the aisle often, working even with the senator from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham, to get Tricare for national guardsmen and women. And it's what I did as Secretary of State, on numerous occasions, and most particularly, rounding up two-thirds votes in order to pass a treaty that lowered the nuclear weapons in both Russia and the United States. So I know it's hard, but I also know you've got to work at it every single day. I look out here, I see a lot of my friends from the Congress. And I know that they work at it every single day. Because maybe you can't only find a little sliver of common ground to cooperate with somebody from the other party, but who knows. If you're successful there, maybe you can build even more. That's what I would do. +p3540 +aVWell thanks for the question and congratulations on five million viewers on YouTube, that's quite an accomplishment. Look, this election is mostly about the future and therefore it is of greatest urgency for young people. I've laid out my ideas about what we can do to make college affordable; how we can help people pay off their student debts and save thousands of dollars, how we can create more good jobs because a lot of the young people that I talk with are pretty disappointed the economic prospects they feel their facing. So making community college free, making it possible to attend a public college or university with debt free tuition, looking for ways to protect our rights especially from the concerted Republican assault; on voting rights, on women's rights, on gay rights, on civil rights, on workers rights. And I know how much young people value their independence, their autonomy, and their rights. So I think this is an election where we have to pull young people and older people together to have a strategy about how we're going to encourage even more American's to vote because it absolutely clear to me... +p3541 +aVThat turning over our White House to the Republicans would be bad for everybody especially young people. +p3542 +aVLook, I have the greatest respect for Senator Sanders and for his supports and I'm going to keep working as hard as I can to reach as many people of all ages about what I will do, what the experience and the ideas that I have that I will bring to the White House and I hope to have their support when I'm the Democratic nominee. +p3543 +aVWell, there's no daylight on the basic premise that there should be no bank too big to fail and no individual too powerful to jail. We agree on that. But where we disagree is the comments that Senator Sanders has made that don't just affect me, I can take that, but he's criticized President Obama for taking donations from Wall Street, and President Obama has led our country out of the great recession. Senator Sanders called him weak, disappointing. He even, in 2011, publicly sought someone to run in a primary against President Obama. Now, I personally believe that President Obama's work to push through the Dodd-Frank... The Dodd-Frank bill and then to sign it was one of the most important regulatory schemes we've had since the 1930s. So I'm going to defend Dodd-Frank and I'm going to defend President Obama for taking on Wall Street, taking on the financial industry and getting results. +p3544 +aVYou know, I think since \u2014 since Senator Standers followed up on this... +p3545 +aVYour profusion of comments about your feelings towards President Obama are a little strange given what you said about him in 2011. But look, I have a plan that most commentators have said is tougher, more effective, and more comprehensive. O' +p3546 +aVIt builds on the Dodd-Frank \u2014 yes, it is. It builds on the Dodd-Frank, regulatory scheme... O' +p3547 +aV... but it goes much further, because... O' +p3548 +aV... both the governor and the senator have focused only on the big banks. Lehman Brothers, AIG, the shadow banking sector were as big a problem in what caused the Great Recession, I go after them. And I can tell you that the hedge fund billionaires who are running ads against me right now, and Karl Rove, who started running an ad against me right now, funded by money from the financial services sector, sure thing, I'm the one they don't want to be up against. +p3549 +aVYes, well, first of all \u2014 first of all, Paul Krugman, Barney Frank, others have all endorsed my plan. Secondly, we have Dodd-Frank. It gives us the authority already to break up big banks that pose... O' +p3550 +aVThat pose a risk to the financial sector. I want to go further and add to that. And, you know, Governor, you have raised money on Wall Street. You raised a lot of money on Wall Street when you were the head of the Democratic Governor's Association... O' +p3551 +aVAnd you were... O' +p3552 +aVYes, well, the point is that if we're going to be serious about this and not just try to score political points, we should know what's in Dodd-Frank, and what's in Dodd-Frank already gives the president the authority......with his regulators to make those decisions. +p3553 +aVWell, the last point on this is, Senator Sanders, you're the only one on this stage that voted to deregulate the financial market in 2000, to take the cops off the street, to use Governor O'Malley's phrase, to make the SEC and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission no longer able to regulate swaps and derivatives, which were one of the main cause of the collapse in '08. So there's plenty... +p3554 +aVThere's plenty of problems that we all have to face together. And the final thing I would say, we're at least having a vigorous debate about reining in Wall Street... +p3555 +aV... The Republicans want to give them more power, and repeal Dodd-Frank. That's what we need to stop... +p3556 +aVWell, I have actually documented every way that I'm going to pay for what I'm doing because I think the American public deserves to know. And, you can go to my website and actually see that. But, there are serious questions about how we're going to pay for what we want to see our country do. And, I'm the only candidate standing here tonight who has said I will not raise taxes on the middle class. I want to raise incomes, not taxes, and I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that the wealthy pay for debt free tuition, for child care, for paid family leave. To help us bring down student debt we're going to refinance that student debt, saving kids thousands of dollars. Yeah, and that will also come out of the \u2014 some of the pockets of people in the financial services industry... +p3557 +aVBut I will tell you exactly how I pay for everything I've proposed... +p3558 +aVAnd let me... +p3559 +aVWell, I'm very proud of the Iran Nuclear Agreement. I was very pleased to be part of what the president put into action when he took office. I was responsible for getting those sanctions imposed which put the pressure on Iran. It brought them to the negotiating table which resulted in this agreement. And so, they have been so far, following their requirements under the agreement. But I think we still have to carefully watch them. We've had one good day over 36 year and I think we need more good days before we move more rapidly toward any kind of normalization. And we have to be sure that they are truly going to implement the agreement. And then, we have to go after them on a lot of their other bad behavior in the region which is causing enormous problems in Syria, Yemen, Iraq and elsewhere. +p3560 +aVAbsolutely not. I have a three point plan that does not include American Ground forces. It includes the United States leading an air coalition which is what we're doing, supporting fighters on the ground; the Iraqi Army which is beginning to show more ability, the Sunni fighters that we are now helping to reconstitute and Kurdish on both sides of the border. I think we also have try to disrupt their supply chain of foreign fighters and foreign money and we do have to contest them in online space. So I'm very committed to both going after +p3561 +aVLook, I think that the president's decision to go after the chemical weapons once there was a potential opportunity to build on when the Russians opened that door resulted in a very positive outcome. We were able to get the chemical weapons out. I know from my own experience as secretary of State that we were deeply worried about Assad's forces using chemical weapons because it would have had not only a horrific affect on people in Syria, but it could very well have affected the surrounding states, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Turkey. So getting those chemical weapons out was a big deal, but... +p3562 +aVWell \u2014 but \u2014 but... +p3563 +aVI think, as commander in chief, you've got to constantly be evaluating the decisions you have to make. I know a little bit about this, having spent many hours in the situation room, advising President Obama. And I want to just add to something that Senator Sanders said, the United States had a very big interest in trying to help stabilize the region. If there is any blame to be spread around, it starts with the prime minister of Iraq, who sectarianized his military, setting Shia against Sunni. It is amplified by Assad, who has waged one of the bloodiest, most terrible attacks on his own people: 250,000-plus dead, millions fleeing. Causing this vacuum that has been filled unfortunately, by terrorist groups, including +p3564 +aV... and go after +p3565 +aVBut overall, a lot of the forces at work in the region are ones that we cannot directly influence, but we can... +p3566 +aVWell, it would depend on what I got for it and I can tell you what we got in the first term, we got a new start treaty to reduce nuclear weapons between the United States and Russia. We got permission to resupply our troops in Afghanistan by traveling across Russia. We got Russia to sign on to our sanctions against Iran and other very important commitments. So look, in diplomacy, you are always trying to see how you can figure out the interest of the other to see if there isn't some way you can advance your security and your values. When Putin came back in the fall of 2011, it was very clear he came back with a mission. And I began speaking out as soon as that happened because there were some fraudulent elections held, and Russians poured out into the streets to demand their freedom, and he cracked down. And in fact, accused me of fomenting it. So we now know that he has a mixed record to say the least and we have to figure out how to deal with him. +p3567 +aVWell, my relationship with him, it's \u2014 it's interesting. It's one, I think, of respect. We've had some very tough dealings with one another. And I know that he's someone that you have to continuingly stand up to because, like many bullies, he is somebody who will take as much as he possibly can unless you do. And we need to get the Europeans to be more willing to stand up, I was pleased they put sanctions on after Crimea and eastern Ukraine and the downing of the airliner, but we've got to be more united in preventing Putin from taking a more aggressive stance in Europe and the Middle East. +p3568 +aVOh, we're breaking? OK. +p3569 +aVWell, I wanted to say, and I'll do it quickly, I was very pleased that leaders of President Obama's administration went out to Silicon Valley last week and began exactly this conversation about what we can do, consistent with privacy and security. We need better intelligence cooperation, we need to be sure that we are getting the best intelligence that we can from friends and allies around the world. And then, we've got to recognize our first line of defense against lone wolf attacks is among Muslim Americans. And it is not only shameful, it is dangerous for the kinds of comments you're hearing from the Republican side. We need to be reaching out and unifying our country against terrorist attacks and lone wolves, and working with Muslim Americans. +p3570 +aVThat is not what I've heard. Let me leave it at that. O' +p3571 +aVWell, it'll start at the kitchen table, we'll see how it goes from there. And I......I'm going to have the very best advisers that I can possibly have, and when it comes to the economy and what was accomplished under my husband's leadership and the '90s \u2014 especially when it came to raising incomes for everybody and lifting more people out of poverty than at any time in recent history \u2014 you bet. I'm going to ask for his ideas, I'm going ask for his advice, and I'm going use him as a goodwill emissary to go around the country to find the best ideas we've got, because I do believe, as he said, everything that's wrong with America has been solved somewhere in America. We just have to do more of it, and we have to reach out, especially into poor communities and communities of color, to give more people their own chance to get ahead. +p3572 +aVWell Lester, I spent a lot of time last week being outraged by what's happening in Flint, Michigan and I think every single American should be outraged. We've had a city in the United States of America where the population which is poor in many ways and majority African American has been drinking and bathing in lead contaminated water. And the governor of that state acted as though he didn't really care. He had request for help and he had basically stone walled. I'll tell you what, if the kids in a rich suburb of Detroit had been drinking contaminated water and being bathed in it, there would've been action. So I sent my top campaign aide down there to talk to the mayor of Flint to see what I could to help. I issued a statement about what we needed to do and then I went on a T.V. show and I said, "it was outrageous that the governor hadn't acted and within two hours he had." +p3573 +aVI want to be a president who takes care of the big problems and the problems that are affecting the people of our country everyday. +p3574 +aVWell, thank you. And I'm delighted to be here in New Hampshire for this debate. You know, the American president has to both keep our families safe and make the economy grow in a way that helps everyone, not just those at the top. That's the job. I have a strategy to combat and defeat +p3575 +aVI very much appreciate that comment, Bernie. It really is important that we go forward on this. I know that you now have your data back, and that there has been an agreement for an independent inquiry into what did happen. Obviously, we were distressed when we learned of it, because we have worked very hard -- I said in the beginning of this campaign, we want to reach as many voters as possible, and we have tens of thousands of volunteers doing that, and entering data all the time to keep up with what people are telling us. And so, now that, I think, you know, we have resolved your data, we have agreed on an independent inquiry, we should move on. Because I don't think the American people are all that interested in this. I think they're more interested in what we have to say about all the big issues facing us. O' +p3576 +aVWell, first, the most important job of being president is obviously to keep our country safe and to keep the families of America safe. I have a plan that I've put forward to go after +p3577 +aVWell, I think you have to look at both the terrorism challenge that we face abroad and certainly at home and the role that guns play in delivering the violence that stalks us. Clearly, we have to have a very specific set of actions to take. You know, when Senator Sanders talks about a coalition, I agree with him about that. We've got to build a coalition abroad. We also have to build a coalition at home. Abroad, we need a coalition that is going to take on +p3578 +aVYes, I'm getting... +p3579 +aV... I'm getting to that. Because I think if you only think about the coalition abroad you're missing the main point, which is we need a coalition here at home. Guns, in and of themselves, in my opinion, will not make Americans safer. We lose 33,000 people a year already to gun violence, arming more people to do what I think is not the appropriate response to terrorism. I think what is... Is creating much deeper, closer relations and, yes, coalitions within our own country. The first line of defense against radicalization is in Muslim-American community. People who we should be welcoming and working with. I worry greatly that the rhetoric coming from the Republicans, particularly Donald Trump, is sending a message to Muslims here in the United States and literally around the world that there is a "clash of civilizations," that there is some kind of Western plot or even "war against Islam," which then I believe fans the flames of radicalization. So guns have to be looked at as its own problem, but we also have to figure out how we're going to deal with the radicalization here in the United States. +p3580 +aVYes, let's tell the truth, Martin. O' +p3581 +aVHe invoked mine as well. +p3582 +aVI do and this is an important issue and I know we'll get to a lot of other critical ones as well. I actually agree with Governor O'Malley about the need for common sense gun safety measures. And I applaud his record in Maryland. I just wish he wouldn't misrepresent mine. I have been for the Brady bill, I have been against assault weapons. I have voted not to give gun makers and sellers immunity. And I also know that -- and I'm glad to see this -- Senator Sanders has really moved in face of the facts about what we're confronting in our country. I know that he has said in the two previous that he wants to take on this immunity issue because we need to send a strong message to the gun manufacturers, to the sellers, to the gun lobby. And I would hope, Senator Sanders, that you would join the Democrats who are trying to close the Charleston loophole, that you would sponsor or co-sponsor legislation to remove the absolute immunity. We need to move on this consensus that exists in the country. It's no longer enough just to say the vast majority of Americans want common sense gun safety measures including gun owners. We need, and only the three of us will do this, nobody on the Republican side will even admit there's a problem. And in whatever way the three of us can we need to move this agenda forward and begin to deal with the gun lobby and the intimidation that they present. +p3583 +aVWell I think a lot of people are understandably reacting out of fear and anxiety about what they're seeing. First what they saw in Paris, now what they have seen in San Bernardino. And Mr. Trump has a great capacity to use bluster and bigotry to inflame people and to make think there are easy answers to very complex questions. So what I would say is, number one, we need to be united against the threats that we face. We need to have everybody in our country focused on watching what happens and reporting it if it's suspicious, reporting what you hear. Making sure that Muslim Americans don't feel left out or marginalized at the very moment when we need their help. +p3584 +aVYou know, I was a senator from New York after 9/11, and we spent countless hours trying to figure out how to protect the city and the state from perhaps additional attacks. One of the best things that was done, and George W. Bush did this and I give him credit, was to reach out to Muslim Americans and say, we're in this together. You are not our adversary, you are our partner. And we also need to make sure that the really discriminatory messages that Trump is sending around the world don't fall on receptive ears. He is becoming +p3585 +aVI would not want to go to that point. I would hope that, given the extraordinary capacities that the tech community has and the legitimate needs and questions from law enforcement, that there could be a Manhattan-like project, something that would bring the government and the tech communities together to see they're not adversaries, they've got to be partners. It doesn't do anybody any good if terrorists can move toward encrypted communication that no law enforcement agency can break into before or after. There must be some way. I don't know enough about the technology, Martha, to be able to say what it is, but I have a lot of confidence in our tech experts. And maybe the back door is the wrong door, and I understand what Apple and others are saying about that. But I also understand, when a law enforcement official charged with the responsibility of preventing attacks -- to go back to our early questions, how do we prevent attacks -- well, if we can't know what someone is planning, we are going to have to rely on the neighbor or, you know, the member of the mosque or the teacher, somebody to see something. +p3586 +aVI just think there's got to be a way, and I would hope that our tech companies would work with government to figure that out. Otherwise, law enforcement is blind -- blind before, blind during, and, unfortunately, in many instances, blind after. So we always have to balance liberty and security, privacy and safety, but I know that law enforcement needs the tools to keep us safe. And that's what I hope, there can be some understanding and cooperation to achieve. +p3587 +aVWell, I agree that we have to have the toughest screening and vetting... +p3588 +aVI don't think a halt is necessary. What we have to do is put all of our resources through the Department of Homeland Security, through the State Department, through our intelligence agencies, and we have to have an increased vetting and screening. Now, this takes, David, 18 months to 24 months, two years. So I know it's not going to happen overnight and everything that can be done should be done. But the process should move forward while we are also taking on +p3589 +aVSo, I think it's absolutely wrong policy for us to be even imagining we're going end up putting tens of thousands of American troops into Syria and Iraq to fight +p3590 +aVWell, I just think you're asking a question with a false choice. I believe if we lead an air coalition, which we are now in the position of doing and intensify it, if we continue to build back up the Iraqi army, which has had some recent success in Ramadi, as you know, if we get back talking to the tribal sheiks in Anbar to try to rebuild those relationships, which were very successful, in going after Al Qaida in Iraq, if we get the Turks to pay more attention to +p3591 +aVWell, I just want to quickly add... +p3592 +aVMartha, that -- you know, one of the reasons why I have advocated for a no-fly zone is in order to create those safe refuges within Syria, to try to protect people on the ground both from Assad's forces, who are continuing to drop barrel bombs, and from +p3593 +aVI do not think it would come to that. We are already de-conflicting air space. We know... +p3594 +aVNo, I don't think so. I am advocating... +p3595 +aVI am advocating the no-fly zone both because I think it would help us on the ground to protect Syrians; I'm also advocating it because I think it gives us some leverage in our conversations with Russia. Now that Russia has joined us in the Security Council, has adopted an agreement that we hashed out a long day in Geneva three years ago, now I think we can have those conversations. The no-fly zone, I would hope, would be also shared by Russia. If they will begin to turn their military attention away from going after the adversaries of Assad toward +p3596 +aVThat is exactly... +p3597 +aVThat is exactly what I just said and what I just described. +p3598 +aVAnd that is important, because now we have a U.N. Security Council that will enable us to do that. And, you know, with all due respect, Senator, you voted for regime change with respect to Libya. You joined the Senate in voting to get rid of Gadhafi, and you asked that there be a Security Council validation of that with a resolution. All of these are very difficult issues. I know that; I've been dealing with them for a long time. And, of course, we have to continue to do what is necessary when someone like Gadhafi, a despot with American blood on his hands, is overturned. But I'll tell you what would have happened, if we had not joined with our European partners and our Arab partners to assist the people in Libya, you would be looking at Syria. Now the Libyans are turning their attention to try to dislodge +p3599 +aVI think we're missing the point here. We are doing both at the same time. +p3600 +aVWell, I don't agree with that, because we will not get the support on the ground in Syria to dislodge +p3601 +aVSince he has been making all kinds of comments. I think it's fair to say, Assad has killed, by last count, about 250,000 Syrians. The reason we are in the mess we're in, that +p3602 +aVAnd we finally have a U.N. Security Council Resolution bringing the world together to go after a political transition in Syria. +p3603 +aVIf the United States does not lead, there is not another leader. There is a vacuum. +p3604 +aVAnd we have to lead, if we're going to be successful. +p3605 +aVSorry. +p3606 +aVWell, I've been talking to a lot of these families, and this is such an outrage, both because it's bad for our economy, we're a 70 percent consumption economy, people need to feel optimistic and confident, they need to believe their hard work is going to be rewarded, and it's bad for our democracy. It's absolutely the case that if people feel that the game is rigged, that has consequences. I think it's great standing up here with the senator and the governor talking about these issues, because you're not going to hear anything like this from any of the Republicans who are running for president. They don't want to raise the minimum wage; they don't want to do anything to increase incomes. At the center of my economic policy is raising incomes, because people haven't been able to get ahead, and the cost of everything, from college tuition to prescription drugs, has gone up. Of course we have to raise the minimum wage. Of course we have to do more to incentivize profit sharing, like we see with Market Basket right here in New Hampshire and New England, where all of the employees get a chance to share in the profits. And we've got to do more on equal pay for equal work. That means pass the Paycheck Fairness Act so we have transparency about how much people are making. That's the way to get women's wages up, and that's good for them and good for their families and good for our communities. And there is a lot we can do in college affordability. I have debt-free tuition plans, free community college plans, getting student debt down. I also am very committed to getting the price of drugs down. And there's a lot. You can go to my website... +p3607 +aV... hillaryclinton.com, and read about it. But I guess the final thing that -- that I would say is this is the kind of debate we need to take to the Republicans in the fall. +p3608 +aVThis is the election... +p3609 +aV... issues they have to respond to. +p3610 +aVEverybody should. Look, I have said I want to be the president for the struggling, the striving and the successful. I want to make sure the wealthy pay their fair share, which they have not been doing. I want the Buffett Rule to be in effect, where millionaires have to pay 30 percent tax rates instead of 10 percent to nothing in some cases. I want to make sure we rein in the excessive use of political power to feather the nest and support the super wealthy. But I also want to create jobs and I want to be a partner with the private sector. I'm particularly keen on creating jobs in small business. My dad was a small businessman, a really small business. I want to do more to help incentivize and create more small businesses. So if -- if people who are in the private sector know what I stand for, it's what I fought for as a senator, it's what I will do as president, and they want to be part of once again building our economy so it works for everybody, more power to them, because they are the kind of business leaders who understand that if we don't get the American economy moving and growing, we're not going to recognize our country and we're not going to give our kids the same opportunities that we had. +p3611 +aVOK... +p3612 +aVLet me respond... +p3613 +aVUnder the rules, I have been -- I have been invoked, David, so let me respond very quickly. Number one... +p3614 +aVNumber one, there are currently two hedge fund billionaires running ads against me here in New Hampshire. They started in Iowa. Now, you'd have to ask yourself, why are they running ads against me? And the answer is: Because they know I will go right after them, that I will not let their agenda be America's agenda. Secondly, I think it's important to point out that about 3 percent of my donations come from people in the finance and investment world. You can go to opensecrets.org and check that. I have more donations from students and teachers than I do from people associated with Wall Street. Now, number three -- and let me say this -- when Governor O'Malley was heading the Democratic Governors Association, he had no trouble at all going to Wall Street to raise money to run campaigns for Democratic governors. And he also had no trouble appointing an investment banker to be in charge of his consumer protection bureau when he was governor. So, you know, again, the difference between us and the Republicans is night and day. And there is only one person on this stage who voted to take away authority from the SEC and the Commodities Future Trading Commission that they could no longer regulate what are called swaps and derivatives, which actually contributed to the collapse of Lehman Brothers, and that was Senator Sanders. So if we're going to be talking like this, we can -- and maybe we can score some political points -- but the fact is: Every one of us stands for the kind of economy that will work better for every American. And if that means taking on Wall Street, I have a plan that is tough and comprehensive and praised by a lot of folks who say it goes further than what both Senator Sanders and Governor O'Malley are proposing. +p3615 +aVWell, I would certainly build on the successes of the Affordable Care Act and work to fix some of the glitches that you just referenced. Number one, we do have more people who have access to health care. We have ended the terrible situation that people with pre- existing conditions were faced with where they couldn't find at any affordable price health care. Women are not charged more than men any longer for our health insurance. And we keep young people on our policies until they turn 26. Those are all really positive developments. But out-of-pocket costs have gone up too much and prescription drug costs have gone through the roof. And so what I have proposed, number one, is a $5,000 tax credit to help people who have very large out-of-pocket costs be able to afford those. Number two, I want Medicare to be able to negotiate for lower drug prices just like they negotiate with other countries' health systems. We end up paying the highest prices in the world. And I want us to be absolutely clear about making sure the insurance companies in the private employer policy arena as well as in the Affordable Care exchanges are properly regulated so that we are not being gamed. And I think that's an important point to make because I'm going through and analyzing the points you were making, Martha. We don't have enough competition and we don't have enough oversight of what the insurance companies are charging everybody right now. +p3616 +aVYes. +p3617 +aVWell, they're glitches because... +p3618 +aVIt is. Because part of this is the startup challenges that this system is facing. We have fought, as Democrats, for decades to get a health care plan. I know. I've got the scars to show from the effort back in the early '90s. We want to build on it and fix it. And I'm confident we can do that. And it will have effects in the private market. And one of the reasons in some states why the percentage cost has gone up so much is because governors there would not extend Medicaid. And so people are still going to get health care, thankfully, in emergency rooms, in hospitals. Those costs are then added to the overall cost, which does increase the insurance premiums for people in the private system. +p3619 +aVRight. +p3620 +aVWell, I have what I call the new college compact. Because I think everybody has to have some skin in this game, you know. Number one, States have been dis-investing in higher education. In fact, I think New Hampshire, in state tuition for public colleges and universities, is among the highest if not the highest in the country. So states over a period of decades have put their money elsewhere; into prisons, into highways, into things other than higher education. So under my compact, the federal government will match money that the states begin to put back in to the higher education system. Secondly, I don't believe in free tuition for everybody. I believe we should focus on middle-class families, working families, and poor kids who have the ambition and the talent to go to college and get ahead. So I have proposed debt free tuition, which I think is affordable and I would move a lot of the Pell Grant and other aid into the arena where it could be used for living expense. So I put all of this together, again, on my website and I've gotten such a good response. But I want to quickly say, one of the areas that Senator Sanders touched on in talking about education and certainly talking about health care is his commitment to really changing the systems. Free college, a single payer system for health--and it's been estimated we're looking at 18 to $20 trillion, about a 40 percent in the federal budget. And I have looked at his proposed plans for health care for example, and it really does transfer every bit of our health care system including private health care, to the states to have the states run. And I think we've got to be really thoughtful about how we're going to afford what we proposed, which is why everything that I have proposed I will tell you exactly how I'm going to pay for it; including college. +p3621 +aVWell, the only thing - the only thing I can go on Senator Sanders... +p3622 +aVYour proposal is to go and send the health care system to the state. +p3623 +aVAnd my analysis is that you are going to get more taxes out of middle class families. I'm the only person... +p3624 +aV... saying, no middle class tax raises. That's off the table... +p3625 +aVThat is a pledge that I'm making. I made it when I ran in 2008. +p3626 +aVYes, and it was the same one that President Obama made. Because I don't think we should be imposing new big programs that are going to raise middle class families' taxes. We just heard that most families haven't had a wage increase since 2001. Since, you know, the end of the last Clinton administration when incomes did go up for everybody. And we've got to get back to where people can save money again, where they can invest in their families, and I don't think a middle-class tax should be part of anybody's plan right now. +p3627 +aVSenator, I have been -- I have been fighting for paid... +p3628 +aV... family leave for a very long time... +p3629 +aVI have a way to pay for it that actually makes the wealthiest pay for it... +p3630 +aV... not everybody else. +p3631 +aVWell, David, I think this is one of the most important challenges facing not just our next president but our country. We have systemic racism and injustice and inequities in our country and in particular, in our justice system that must be addressed and must be ended. I feel very strongly that we have to reform our criminal justice system and we have to find ways to try to bring law enforcement together again with the communities that they are sworn to protect. Trust has been totally lost in a lot of places. At the same time, we know that in many parts of our country police officers are bridging those divides and they're acting heroically. The young officer who was killed responding to the Planned Parenthood murders. The officer who told the victims of the San Bernardino killings that he would take a bullet before them. So I think that we need to build on the work of the policing commissioner that President Obama impaneled. We need to get a bipartisan commitment to work together on this. And we need to hear the voices of those men and women and boys and girls who feel like strangers in their own country and do whatever is necessary to not only deal with the immediate problems within the criminal justice system, but more opportunities, more jobs, better education so that we can begin to rebuild that very valuable asset known as trust. +p3632 +aVYou know, on my very first visit to New Hampshire in this campaign, I was in Keene, and I was asked, "what are you going to do about the heroin epidemic?" And all over New Hampshire, I met grandmothers who are raising children because they lost the father or the mother to an overdose. I met young people who are desperately trying to get clean and have nowhere to go, because there are not enough facilities. So this is a major epidemic, and it has hit New Hampshire and Vermont particularly hard. I've had had two town halls, one in Keene, one in Laconia, dedicated exclusively to talking about what we can do. And I've heard some great ideas about how law enforcement is changing its behavior, how the recovery community is reaching out. And I was proud to get the endorsement of Mayor Walsh of Boston, who has made his struggle with alcoholism a real clarion call for action in this arena. So, I've laid out a five-point plan about what we can do together. I would like the federal government to offer $10 billion over ten years to work with states, and I really applaud Governor Hassan for taking up this challenge and working with the legislature here to come up with a plan. We need to do more on the prescribing end of it. There are too many opioids being prescribed, and that leads directly now to heroin addiction. And we need to change the way we do law enforcement, and of course, we need more programs and facilities, so when somebody is ready to get help, there's a place for them to go. And every law enforcement should carry the antidote to overdose, Naloxone, so that they can save lives that are on the brink of expiring. +p3633 +aVWell, first, let's remember why we became part of a coalition to stop Gadhafi from committing massacres against his people. The United States was asked to support the Europeans and the Arab partners that we had and we did a lot of due diligence about whether we should or not, and eventually, yes, I recommended and the president decided that we would support the action to protect civilians on the ground and that led to the overthrow of Gadhafi. I think that what Libya then did by having a full free election, which elected moderates, was an indication of their crying need and desire to get on the right path. Now, the whole region has been rendered unstable, in part because of the aftermath of the Arab Spring, in part because of the very effective outreach and propagandizing that +p3634 +aVMartha, we offered a lot more than they were willing to take. We offered a lot more. We also got rid of their chemical weapons, which was a big help, and we also went after a lot of the shoulder-fired missiles to round them up. You know, we can't -- if we're not going to send American troops, which there was never any idea of doing that, then to try to send trainers, to try to send experts, is something we offered, Europeans offered, the U.N. offered, and there wasn't a lot of responsiveness at first. I think a lot of the Libyans who had been forced out of their country by Gadhafi who came back to try to be part of a new government, believed they knew what to do and it turned out that they were no match for some of the, you know, militaristic forces inside that country. But I'm not giving up on Libya and I don't think anybody should. We've been at this a couple of years. +p3635 +aVWell, there's always a retrospective to say what mistakes were made. But I know that we offered a lot of help and I know it was difficult for the Libyans to accept help. What we could have done if they had said yes would have been a lot more than what we were able to have done. +p3636 +aVWell, I would just repeat that. +p3637 +aVWait a minute. I think it's only fair to put on the record, Senator Sanders voted in the Senate for a resolution calling for ending the Gadhafi regime and asking that the U.N. be brought in, either a congressional vote or a U.N. Security Council vote. We got a U.N. Security council vote. Now, I understand that this is very difficult. And I'm not standing here today and saying that Libya is as far along as Tunisia. We saw what happened in Egypt. I cautioned about a quick overthrow of Mubarak, and we now are back with basically an army dictatorship. This is a part of the world where the United States has tried to play two different approaches. One, work with the tough men, the dictators, for our own benefit and promote democracy. That's a hard road to walk. But I think it's the right road for us to try to travel. O' +p3638 +aVWell, the role has been defined by each person who's held it. And I am very grateful for all my predecessors and my successors because each of them not only did what she could to support her husband and our country but often chose to work on important issues that were of particular concern. Obviously, Mrs. Obama has been a terrific leader when it comes to young people's health, particularly nutrition and exercise. And I think has had a big impact. So whoever is part of the family of a president has an extraordinary privilege of not only having a front row seat on history but making her or maybe his contribution. And with respect to my own husband, I am probably still going to pick the flowers and the china for state dinners and stuff like that. But I will certainly turn to him as prior presidents have for special missions, for advice, and in particular, how we're going to get the economy working again for everybody, which he knows a little bit about. +p3639 +aVOn January 20th, 2017, the next president of the United States will walk into the White House. If, heaven forbid, that next president is a Republican, I think it's pretty clear we know what will happen. A lot of the rights that have been won over years, from women's rights to voter rights to gay rights to worker rights, will be at risk. Social Security, which Republicans call a Ponzi scheme, may face privatization. Our vets may see the V.A. hospital that needs to be improved and made better for them turned over to privatization. Planned Parenthood will be defunded. The list goes on because the differences are so stark. You know, everybody says every election's important, and there's truth to that. This is a watershed election. I know how important it is that we have a Democrat succeed President Obama in the White House. And I will do all that I can in this campaign to reach out and explain what I stand for and what I will do as president. You know, I became a grandmother 15 months ago, and so I spent a lot of time thinking about my granddaughter's future. But as president, I will spend even more time thinking about the futures of all the kids and the grandchildren in this country because I want to make sure every single child has a chance to live up to his or her God-given potential. If you will join me in this campaign, we will make that a mission. Thank you, good night and may the force be with you. +p3640 +asVTRUMP +p3641 +(lp3642 +VThank you. I began this journey six months ago. My total focus was on building up our military, building up our strength, building up our borders, making sure that China, Japan, Mexico, both at the border and in trade, no longer takes advantage of our country. Certainly would never have made that horrible, disgusting, absolutely incompetent deal with Iran where they get $150 billion. They're a terrorist nation. But I began it talking about other things. And those things are things that I'm very good at and maybe that's why I'm center stage. People saw it. People liked it. People respected it. A month ago things changed. Radical Islamic terrorism came into effect even more so than it has been in the past. People like what I say. People respect what I say. And we've opened up a very big discussion that needed to be opened up. Thank you very much. +p3643 +aVWe are not talking about isolation. We're talking about security. We're not talking about religion. We're talking about security. Our country is out of control. People are pouring across the southern border. I will build a wall. It will be a great wall. People will not come in unless they come in legally. Drugs will not pour through that wall. As far as other people like in the migration, where they're going, tens of thousands of people having cell phones with +p3644 +aVJeb doesn't really believe I'm unhinged. He said that very simply because he has failed in this campaign. It's been a total disaster. Nobody cares. And frankly, I'm the most solid person up here. I built a tremendous company and all I want to do is make America great again. I don't want our country to be taken away from us, and that's what's happening. The policies that we've suffered under other presidents have been a disaster for our country. We want to make America great again. And Jeb, in all fairness, he doesn't believe that. +p3645 +aVWell, look, this is so easy to answer. +p3646 +aVI would certainly be open to closing areas where we are at war with somebody. I sure as hell don't want to let people that want to kill us and kill our nation use our Internet. Yes, sir, I am. +p3647 +aVWe have to be much tougher. We have to be much stronger than we've been. We have people that know what is going on. You take a look at just the attack in California the other day. There were numerous people, including the mother, that knew what was going on. They saw a pipe bomb sitting all over the floor. They saw ammunition all over the place. They knew exactly what was going on. When you had the World Trade Center go, people were put into planes that were friends, family, girlfriends, and they were put into planes and they were sent back, for the most part, to Saudi Arabia. They knew what was going on. They went home and they wanted to watch their boyfriends on television. I would be very, very firm with families. Frankly, that will make people think because they may not care much about their lives, but they do care, believe it or not, about their families' lives. +p3648 +aVLook, the problem is we need toughness. Honestly, I think Jeb is a very nice person. He's a very nice person. But we need tough people. We need toughness. We need intelligence and we need tough. Jeb said when they come across the southern border they come as an act of love. +p3649 +aVAm I talking or are you talking, Jeb? +p3650 +aVYou can go back. You're not talking. You interrupted me. +p3651 +aVAre you going to apologize, Jeb? No. Am I allowed to finish? +p3652 +aVExcuse me, am I allowed to finish? +p3653 +aVSo... +p3654 +aV... again... +p3655 +aVI know you're trying to build up your energy, Jeb, but it's not working very well. +p3656 +aVLook, look, look. We need a toughness. We need strength. We're not respected, you know, as a nation anymore. We don't have that level of respect that we need. And if we don't get it back fast, we're just going to go weaker, weaker and just disintegrate. We can't allow that to happen. We need strength. We don't have it. When Jeb comes out and he talks about the border, and I saw it and I was witness to it, and so was everyone else, and I was standing there, "they come across as an act of love," he's saying the same thing right now with radical Islam. And we can't have that in our country. It just won't work. We need strength. +p3657 +aVWith Jeb's attitude, we will never be great again, that I can tell you. We will never be great again. +p3658 +aVSo, they can kill us, but we can't kill them? That's what you're saying. And as far as the Internet is concerned, we're not talking about closing the Internet. I'm talking about parts of Syria, parts of Iraq, where +p3659 +aVIn my opinion, we've spent $4 trillion trying to topple various people that frankly, if they were there and if we could've spent that $4 trillion in the United States to fix our roads, our bridges, and all of the other problems; our airports and all of the other problems we've had, we would've been a lot better off. I can tell you that right now. We have done a tremendous disservice, not only to Middle East, we've done a tremendous disservice to humanity. The people that have been killed, the people that have wiped away, and for what? It's not like we had victory. It's a mess. The Middle East is totally destabilized. A total and complete mess. I wish we had the $4 trillion or $5 trillion. I wish it were spent right here in the United States, on our schools, hospitals, roads, airports, and everything else that are all falling apart. +p3660 +aVWell, there's nothing to respond to. Well, people feel differently. I mean, the fact is Benghazi was a disaster because of Libya, everything just fell into place. It could not have been worse. What do we have now? We have nothing. We've spent $3 trillion and probably much more \u2013 I have no idea what we've spent. Thousands and thousands of lives, we have nothing. Wounded warriors all over the place who I love, we have nothing for it. And by the way \u2013 and Ben said incorrectly \u2013 and I'm not saying this as a knock \u2013 he's one of finest men. You're not going to find a finer men. But I've been talking about oil for three years. I've been saying,, "take the oil, take the oil." I didn't say, "just bomb it," I said," take it and use it and distribute it so that the wounded warriors -" People, I've been saying this now for many years. +p3661 +aVNow, all of a sudden everybody's saying, "take the oil." It wasn't so fashionable to take the oil six months ago. I've been saying it for years. +p3662 +aVI think Assad is a bad guy, a very bad guy, all right? Lots of people killed. I think we are backing people we have no idea who they are. The rebels, we call them the rebels, the patriotic rebels. We have no idea. A lot of people think, Hugh, that they are +p3663 +aVI think it's very sad that CNN leads Jeb Bush, Governor Bush, down a road by starting off virtually all the questions, "Mr. Trump this, Mister" \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched the first debate, and the first long number of questions were, "Mr. Trump said this, Mr. Trump said that. Mr. Trump" \u2014 these poor guys \u2014 although, I must tell you, Santorum, good guy. Governor Huckabee, good guy. They were very nice, and I respect them greatly. But I thought it was very unfair that virtually the entire early portion of the debate was Trump this, Trump that, in order to get ratings, I guess. In order to get ratings, I guess. +p3664 +aVI just think it's very \u2014 excuse me. +p3665 +aVExcuse me. I think it's very unprofessional. +p3666 +aVWell, I think it's very unprofessional. +p3667 +aVOK, fine. +p3668 +aVThis isn't tough and easy. I wish it... +p3669 +aVI wish it was always this easy as you, Jeb. +p3670 +aVOh, yeah. +p3671 +aVOh, I know. You're a tough guy, Jeb. I know. +p3672 +aVYou're tough. +p3673 +aVWell, let's see. I'm at 42, and you're at 3. So, so far, I'm doing better. +p3674 +aVSo far, I'm doing better. You know, you started off over here, Jeb. You're moving over further and further. Pretty soon you're going to be off the end... +p3675 +aVI believe I did. +p3676 +aVI have a very hardline position, we have a country or we don't have a country. People that have come into our country illegally, they have to go. They have to come back into through a legal process. I want a strong border. I do want a wall. Walls do work, you just have to speak to the folks in Israel. Walls work if they're properly constructed. I know how to build, believe me, I know how to build. I feel a very, very strong bind, and really I'm bound to this country, we either have a border or we don't. People can come into the country, we welcome people to come but they have to come in legally. +p3677 +aVWell, first of all, I think we need somebody absolutely that we can trust, who is totally responsible; who really knows what he or she is doing. That is so powerful and so important. And one of the things that I'm frankly most proud of is that in 2003, 2004, I was totally against going into Iraq because you're going to destabilize the Middle East. I called it. I called it very strongly. And it was very important. But we have to be extremely vigilant and extremely careful when it comes to nuclear. Nuclear changes the whole ball game. Frankly, I would have said get out of Syria; get out \u2014 if we didn't have the power of weaponry today. The power is so massive that we can't just leave areas that 50 years ago or 75 years ago we wouldn't care. It was hand-to-hand combat. The biggest problem this world has today is not President Obama with global warming, which is inconceivable, this is what he's saying. The biggest problem we have is nuclear \u2014 nuclear proliferation and having some maniac, having some madman go out and get a nuclear weapon. That's in my opinion, that is the single biggest problem that our country faces right now. +p3678 +aVI think \u2014 I think, for me, nuclear is just the power, the devastation is very important to me. +p3679 +aVI did. +p3680 +aVLet me just say that I have gotten to know him over the last three or four days. He has a wonderful temperament. He's just fine. Don't worry about it. +p3681 +aVYou better not attack... +p3682 +aVI really am. I'll be honest, I really am. I mean, the people have been putting me... I really am. +p3683 +aVLet me just. Can I just finish my... +p3684 +aVI've gained great respect for the Republican leadership. I've gained great respect for many \u2014 and I'm going to even say \u2014 I mean, in different forms for the people on the dais, in different forms. In different forms. But I have great respect for the people I have met through this process. I've never done this process before. I've never been a politician. I mean, for the last six months I've been a politician. But I will tell you, I am totally committed to the Republican Party. I feel very honored to be the front runner. And I think I'll do very well if I'm chosen. If I'm so fortunate to be chosen, I think I'll do very well. Polls have come out recently saying I would beat Hillary. I will do everything in my power to beat Hillary Clinton, I promise you. +p3685 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We don't win on trade. We don't win on the military. We can't defeat +p3686 +aVI can't be Neil. And the and the reason I can't be is that we are a country that is being beaten on every front economically, militarily. There is nothing that we do now to win. We don't win anymore. Our taxes are too high. I've come up with a tax plan that many, many people like very much. It's going to be a tremendous plan. I think it'll make our country and our economy very dynamic. But, taxes too high, wages too high, we're not going to be able to compete against the world. I hate to say it, but we have to leave it the way it is. People have to go out, they have to work really hard and have to get into that upper stratum. But we can not do this if we are going to compete with the rest of the world. We just can't do it. +p3687 +aVI would not do it. +p3688 +aVI was so happy yesterday when I saw that decision come down. That was an unbelievable decision. And we don't have enough of those decisions coming down. He of the executive order, because nobody wants to listen to him, including the Democrats, so he just goes around signing executive orders. That was a great day. And, frankly, we have to stop illegal immigration. It's hurting us economically. It's hurting us from every standpoint. It's causing tremendous difficulty with respect to drugs and what that does to many of our inner cities in particular. And it really is \u2014 was such an unbelievable moment because the courts have not been ruling in our favor. And it was a 2-1 decision. And it was a terrific thing that happened. And I will tell you, we are a country of laws. We need borders. We will have a wall. The wall will be built. The wall will be successful. And if you think walls don't work, all you have to do is ask Israel. The wall works, believe me. Properly done. Believe me. +p3689 +aVYou are going to have to bring people \u2014 you are going to have to send people out. Look, we're a country... +p3690 +aVMaria, we're a country of laws. We either have a country or we don't have a country. We are a country of laws. Going to have to go out and they will come back but they are going to have to go out and hopefully they get back. But we have no choice if we're going to run our country properly and if we're going to be a country. +p3691 +aVAll I can say is, you're lucky in Ohio that you struck oil. That is for one thing. Let me just tell you that Dwight Eisenhower, good president, great president, people liked him. "I like Ike," right? The expression. "I like Ike." Moved a 1.5 million illegal immigrants out of this country, moved them just beyond the border. They came back. Moved them again beyond the border, they came back. Didn't like it. Moved them way south. They never came back. Dwight Eisenhower. You don't get nicer. You don't get friendlier. They moved a 1.5 million out. We have no choice. We have no choice. +p3692 +aVNo, it's unfair. +p3693 +aV... built an unbelievable company worth billions and billions of dollars. I don't have to hear from this man, believe me. I don't have to hear from him. +p3694 +aVWe have millions of people right now on line trying to come into this country. Very, very unfair to the people that want to come into our country legally. They've gone through the process. They're on line. They're waiting. Very, very unfair to them. That I can tell you. +p3695 +aVYes. +p3696 +aVNo, I'm sorry. No, excuse me. I was there. +p3697 +aVPlease, if I could just... +p3698 +aVWe have to make our military bigger, better, stronger than ever before so that nobody messes with us, and a long run, it's going to save us. I agree with Marco, I agree with Ted, we have no choice. And, I can tell you this with certainty. We all have a different tax plan. Some I don't totally agree with. One thing we understand, each one of those tax plans is better than the mess that we have right now. +p3699 +aV...Yes... +p3700 +aV...Yeah... +p3701 +aV...It's a horrible deal... +p3702 +aVThe TPP is horrible deal. It is a deal that is going to lead to nothing but trouble. It's a deal that was designed for China to come in, as they always do, through the back door and totally take advantage of everyone. It's 5,600 pages long. So complex that nobodies read it. It's like Obamacare; nobody ever read it. They passed it; nobody read it. And look at mess we have right now. And it will be repealed. But this is one of the worst trade deals. And I would, yes, rather not have it. With all of these countries, and all of the bad ones getting advantage and taking advantage of what the good ones would normally get, I'd rather make individual deals with individual countries. We will do much better. We lose a fortune on trade. The United States loses with everybody. We're losing now over $500 billion in terms of imbalance with China, $75 billion a year imbalance with Japan. By the way, Mexico, $50 billion a year imbalance. So I must say, Gerard, I just think it's a terrible deal. I love trade. I'm a free trader, 100 percent. But we need smart people making the deals, and we don't have smart people making the deals. +p3703 +aVYes. Well, the currency manipulation they don't discuss in the agreement, which is a disaster. If you look at the way China and India and almost everybody takes advantage of the United States \u2014 China in particular, because they're so good. It's the number-one abuser of this country. And if you look at the way they take advantage, it's through currency manipulation. It's not even discussed in the almost 6,000-page agreement. It's not even discussed. +p3704 +aVAnd as you understand, I mean, you understand very well from the Wall Street Journal, currency manipulation is the single great weapon people have. They don't even discuss it in this agreement. So I say, it's a very bad deal, should not be approved. If it is approved, it will just be more bad trade deals, more loss of jobs for our country. We are losing jobs like nobody's ever lost jobs before. I want to bring jobs back into this country. +p3705 +aVWell, first of all, it's not only Russia. We have problems with North Korea where they actually have nuclear weapons. You know, nobody talks about it, we talk about Iran, and that's one of the worst deals ever made. One of the worst contracts ever signed, ever, in anything, and it's a disgrace. But, we have somebody over there, a madman, who already has nuclear weapons we don't talk about that. That's a problem. China is a problem, both economically in what they're doing in the South China Sea, I mean, they are becoming a very, very major force. So, we have more than just Russia. But, as far as the Ukraine is concerned, and you could Syria \u2014 as far as Syria, I like \u2014 if Putin wants to go in, and I got to know him very well because we were both on 60 Minutes, we were stablemates, and we did very well that night. But, you know that. But, if Putin wants to go and knocked the hell out of +p3706 +aV...They blew up \u2014 hold it.... +p3707 +aV...They blew up, wait a minute... ...They blew up a Russian airplane. He cannot be in love with these people. He's going in, and we can go in, and everybody should go in. As far as the Ukraine is concerned, we have a group of people, and a group of countries, including Germany \u2014 tremendous economic behemoth \u2014 why are we always doing the work? We are \u2014 I'm all for protecting Ukraine and working \u2014 but, we have countries that are surrounding the Ukraine that aren't doing anything. They say, "Keep going, keep going, you dummies, keep going. Protect us..." ...And we have to get smart. We can't continue to be the policeman of the world. We are $19 trillion dollars, we have a country that's going to hell, we have an infrastructure that's falling apart. Our roads, our bridges, our schools, our airports, and we have to start investing money in our country. +p3708 +aVAssad is a bad guy, but we have no idea who the so-called rebels \u2014 I read about the rebels, nobody even knows who they are. I spoke to a general two weeks ago, he said \u2014 he was very up on exactly what we're talking about. He said, "You know, Mr. Trump? We're giving hundreds of millions of dollars of equipment to these people, we have no idea who they are." So, I don't like Assad. Who's going to like Assad? But, we have no idea who these people, and what they're going to be, and what they're going to represent. They may be far worse than Assad. Look at Libya. Look at Iraq. Look at the mess we have after spending $2 trillion dollars, thousands of lives, wounded warriors all over the place \u2014 who I love, OK? All over. We have nothing. And, I said, keep the oil. And we should have kept the oil, believe me. We should have kept the oil. And, you know what? We should have given the oil... ..We should've given big chunks to the people that lost their arms, their legs, and their families, and their sons, and daughters, because right now, you know who has a lot of that oil? Iran, and +p3709 +aVWhy does she keep interrupting everybody? Terrible. +p3710 +aVWe are not. +p3711 +aV...No, no, no... +p3712 +aVWell, what's happening right now, Neil, is something that not been a subject of conversation by politicians. As primarily the only politician, I guess other than Carly on the stage, they haven't talked about a corporate inversion. A corporate inversion \u2014 companies are leaving. You know, we used to leave New York to go to Florida. We got better taxes, we got, maybe, something else. Now, they're the United States to go to other countries. They have trillions of dollars in those other countries. They're going for two reasons, they can't get their money back in. It's something where the democrats and the republicans both agree, it's the only thing I can think of. They both agree, let the money come back in. Three and a half years, they still can't make a deal. They can't get the money in. It's probably two and a half trillion, but, I think it's much more than that. All of that money could become \u2014 could come right in and be used to rebuild our country, and investments in our country. They can't do it. What we have to do, and what I've done, is made the tax rate \u2014 and one of the reasons they don't the taxes so obnoxious, they can't do it. Where, I made it a 10% number, as you know. I've been very highly praised for it. A lot of money's going to come back in, we're going to get rid of the bureaucratic problems, and roadblocks, because that's also a problem. And, we're going to have all of this money pour back into the United States. It's going to be used to build businesses, for jobs, and everything else. And, as I say, my expression is, let's make America great again. +p3713 +aVThank you. Over the years, I've created tens of thousands of jobs and a great company. It's a company I'm very proud of. Some of the most iconic assets anywhere in the world. And I will tell you, I don't have to give you a website because I'm self-funding my campaign. I'm putting up my own money. I want to do something really special. I want to make our country greater than it's ever been. I think we have that potential. We cannot lose this election. We cannot let Hillary Clinton, who is the worst secretary of state in the history of our country, win this election. We will fight. We will win. And we truly will make this even more special. We have to make it better than ever before. And I will tell you, the United States can actually be better than ever before. Thank you. +p3714 +aVI think maybe my greatest weakness is that I trust people too much. I'm too trusting. And when they let me down, if they let me down, I never forgive. I find it very, very hard to forgive people that deceived me. So I don't know if you would call that a weakness, but my wife said "let up." +p3715 +aVRight. +p3716 +aVRight. +p3717 +aVThat's right. +p3718 +aVNo, not a comic book, and it's not a very nicely asked question the way you say that. Larry Kudlow is an example, who I have a lot of respect for, who loves my tax plan. We're reducing taxes to 15 percent. We're bringing corporate taxes down, bringing money back in, corporate inversions. We have $2.5 trillion outside of the United States which we want to bring back in. As far as the wall is concerned, we're going to build a wall. We're going to create a border. We're going to let people in, but they're going to come in legally. They're going to come in legally. And it's something that can be done, and I get questioned about that. They built the great wall of China. That's 13,000 miles. Here, we actually need 1,000 because we have natural barriers. So we need 1,000. We can do a wall. We're going to have a big, fat beautiful door right in the middle of the wall. We're going to have people come in, but they're coming in legally. And Mexico's going to pay for the wall because Mexico \u2014 I love the Mexican people; I respect the Mexican leaders \u2014 but the leaders are much sharper, smarter and more cunning than our leaders. And just to finish, people say, how will you get Mexico to pay? A politician other than the people in the states \u2014 I don't want to \u2014 a politician cannot get them to pay. I can. We lose, we have a trade imbalance... Excuse me, John. ... of $50 billion... +p3719 +aV... believe me the world is peanuts by comparison. +p3720 +aVRight. Dynamically. +p3721 +aVThen you have to get rid of Larry Kudlow, who sits on your panel, who's a great guy, who came out the other day and said, I love Trump's tax plan. +p3722 +aVFirst of all, John got lucky with a thing called fracking, OK? He hit oil. He got lucky with fracking. Believe me, that is why Ohio is doing well. Number \u2014 and that is important for you to know. Number two, this was the man that was a managing general partner at Lehman Brothers when it went down the tubes and almost took every one of us with it, including Ben and myself, because I was there and I watched what happened. And Lehman Brothers started it all. He was on the board. And he was a managing general partner. And just thirdly, he was so nice. He was such a nice guy. And he said, oh, I'm never going to attack. But then his poll numbers tanked. He has got \u2014 that is why he is on the end. And he got nasty. And he got nasty. So you know what? You can have him. +p3723 +aVI think you're \u2014 +p3724 +aVWell, first of all, like many other very big businessmen, I could name them here, but I'm not going to do that for a lot of obvious reasons, but the biggest, and almost all of them, they've all used the chapter laws, the bankruptcy laws to their own benefit. Before this, I was a very successful person as a developer and as a businessman. Atlantic City has gone bad. I mean, Chris will know about that. I'm not blaming Chris, by the way, but he will know about that. Caesar's \u2014 excuse me \u2014 Caesar's, the Rolls-Royce, as you know, is in bankruptcy. Almost every hotel in Atlantic City has either been in bankruptcy or will be in bankruptcy \u2014 the biggest. But also the biggest people (ph) \u2014 now I've used that to my advantage as a business man, for my family, for myself. I never filed for bankruptcy. But many, many people did. What happened with Atlantic City is very, very disgraceful. Now hundreds of companies I've opened. I've used it three times, maybe four times. Came out great. But I guess I'm supposed to come out great. That is what I could do for the country. We owe $19 trillion, boy am I good at solving debt problems. Nobody can solve it like me. But I will tell you this, Atlantic City, you're using that, hundreds of companies that I have opened have thrived. I built a net worth of way over $10 billion, and I have done it four times out of hundreds. And I'm glad I did it. I used the laws of the country to my benefit, I'm sorry. +p3725 +aVThank you. +p3726 +aVI was not at all critical of him. I was not at all. In fact, frankly, he's complaining about the fact that we're losing some of the most talented people. They go to Harvard. They go to Yale. They go to Princeton. They come from another country and they're immediately sent out. I am all in favor of keeping these talented people here so they can go to work in Silicon Valley. +p3727 +aVSo I have nothing at all critical of him. +p3728 +aVProbably, I don't know \u2014 you people write the stuff. I don't know where you... And if I could say just one thing. I am the only person in either campaign that's self-funding. I'm putting up 100 percent of my own money. And right now, I will be putting up a tremendous \u2014 so far, I've put up less than anybody and I have the best results. Wouldn't that be nice if the country could do that? But I will be putting \u2014 I will be putting up, you know, tremendous amounts of money. SuperPacs are a disaster. They're a scam. They cause dishonesty. And you better get rid of them because they are causing a lot of bad decisions to be made by some very good people. And I'm not blaming these folks \u2014 well, I guess I could. Very good people are making very bad decisions right now. And if anything comes out of this whole thing with some of these nasty and ridiculous questions, I will tell you, you better get rid of the SuperPacs because they causing a big problem with this country, not only in dishonesty and what's going on, but also in a lot of bad decisions that have been made for the benefit of lobbyists and special interests. +p3729 +aVI never said that. I never said that. +p3730 +aVYou've got another gentleman in Florida, who happens to be a very nice guy, but not... +p3731 +aV... he's really doing some bad... +p3732 +aVI'm in favor of people coming into this country legally. And you know what? They can have it anyway you want. You can call it visas, you can call it work permits, you can call it anything you want. I've created tens of thousands of jobs, and in all due respect \u2014 and actually some of these folks I really like a lot \u2014 but I'm the only one that can say that. I have created tens of thousands of jobs, and I'll be creating many millions of jobs if I'm given \u2014 if I'm given the opportunity to be president. As far as Mark is concerned, as far as the visas are concerned, if we need people, they have \u2014 it's fine. They have to come into this country legally. We have a country of borders. We have a country of laws. We have to obey the laws. It's fine if they come in, but they have to come in legally. +p3733 +aVYes. +p3734 +aVOr somebody else. Right. +p3735 +aVYes, I might feel more comfortable. I would say that I would and I have a permit, which is very unusual in New York \u2014 a permit to carry. And I do carry on occasion, sometimes a lot. But I like to be unpredictable so that people don't know exactly... +p3736 +aVBy the way, unlike our country where we're totally predictable and the enemy, whether it's +p3737 +aVI would change them. I would change them. +p3738 +aVSuch a nasty \u2014 such a nasty question, but thank you, Governor. +p3739 +aVYes, it's very simple. We're going to make a really dynamic economy from what we have right now, which is not at all dynamic. We're going to bring jobs back from Japan, we're going to bring jobs back from China, we're going to bring, frankly, jobs back from Mexico where, as you probably saw, Nabisco is leaving Chicago with one of their biggest plants, and they're moving it to Mexico. We're going to bring jobs and manufacturing back. We're going to cut costs. We're going to save Social Security, and we're going to save Medicare. [ +p3740 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We used to win, we don't win anymore. We lose on trade. We lose with +p3741 +aVAnd, I'll do that with the country. We will make America great again. And, thank you everybody. Just for the record. +p3742 +aVThat's not right. That is absolutely not right. You know that. That is not right. [ +p3743 +aVI'm Donald Trump. I wrote "The Art of the Deal". I say not in a braggadocious way, I've made billions and billions of dollars dealing with people all over the world, and I want to put whatever that talent is to work for this country so we have great trade deals, we make our country rich again, we make it great again. We build our military, we take care of our vets, we get rid of Obamacare, and we have a great life altogether. Thank you. Thank you. +p3744 +aVWell, first of all, Rand Paul shouldn't even be on this stage. He's number 11, he's got 1 percent in the polls, and how he got up here, there's far too many people anyway. As far as temperament \u2014 and we all know that \u2014 as far as temperament, I think I have a great temperament. I built a phenomenal business with incredible, iconic assets, one of the really truly great real-estate businesses. And I may be an entertainer, because I've had tremendous success with number-one bestsellers all over the place, with "The Apprentice" and everything else I've done. But I will tell you this: What I am far and away greater than an entertainer is a businessman, and that's the kind of mindset this country needs to bring it back, because we owe $19 trillion right now, $19 trillion, and you need this kind of thinking to bring our country back. And believe me, my temperament is very good, very calm. But we will be respected outside of this country. We are not respected now. +p3745 +aVI never attacked him on his look, and believe me, there's plenty of subject matter right there. That I can tell you. +p3746 +aVI've actually been in politics all my life, although I've been on that side as opposed to this side. I'm now a politician for about three months. Obviously, I'm doing pretty well. I'm number one in every poll by a lot. But the qualification is that I've dealt with people all over the world, been successful all over the world. Everything I've done virtually has been a tremendous success. When markets changed, when things turned, I heard Governor Pataki, who, by the way, was a failed governor in New York, a very seriously failed \u2014 he wouldn't be elected dog catcher right now. I heard what he had to say. And I will tell you this: Atlantic City, I've made a tremendous amount of money in Atlantic City. I left seven years ago, I've gotten great credit for my timing, and that's what I'm all about. I'm a businessman, did really well, really well, and Jeb, what I want to do is put that ability into this country to make our country rich again. And I can do that, and I'm not sure that anybody else in the group will be able to do that. +p3747 +aVBut I have to say... +p3748 +aVWell, in Wisconsin... +p3749 +aVExcuse me. +p3750 +aVIn Wisconsin, you're losing $2.2 billion right now. +p3751 +aVI would do so much better than that. +p3752 +aVNo. +p3753 +aVI'm using facts. +p3754 +aVEvery major business leader has used the \u2014 I never went bankrupt, by the way, as you know, everybody knows. But we \u2014 hundreds of companies, hundreds of deals, I've used ???: ... into bankruptcy. That's what's wrong with politicians in Washington right now. They think we can take a country into bankruptcy. +p3755 +aVEvery major business leader, has used the \u2014 I never went bank bankrupt, by the way, as you know, everybody knows. But \u2014 hundreds of companies, hundreds of deals, I used the law four times and made a tremendous thing. I'm in business. I did a very good job. But I will say this, and people are very, very impressed with what I've done, the business people. But when the folks of Iowa found out the true facts of the job that you've done in Wisconsin, all of a sudden you, tubed (ph), he was No. 1 and now he's No. 6 or seven in the polls. So, look, we brought it out, you were supposed to make a billion dollars in the state. You lost 2.2 \u2014 you have right now, a huge budget deficit. That's not a Democratic point. That's a point. That's a fact. And when the people of Iowa found that out, I went to No. 1 and you went down the tubes. +p3756 +aVI didn't \u2014 +p3757 +aVTotally false. +p3758 +aVI would have gotten it. +p3759 +aVI promise I would have gotten it. +p3760 +aVI promise if I wanted it, I would have gotten it. +p3761 +aVI know my people. +p3762 +aVI know my people. +p3763 +aVNo. I just will tell you that, you know, Jeb made the statement. I'm not only referring to him. I \u2014 a lot of money was raised by a lot of different people that are standing up here. And the donors, the special interests, the lobbyists have very strong power over these people. I'm spending all of my money, I'm not spending \u2014 I'm not getting any \u2014 I turned down \u2014 I turn down so much, I could have right now from special interests and donors, I could have double and triple what he's got. I've turned it down. I turned down last week $5 million from somebody. So I will tell you I understand the game, I've been on the other side all of my life. And they have a lot of control over our politicians. And I don't say that favorably, and I'm not sure if there's another system, but I say this. I am not accepting any money from anybody. Nobody has control of me other than the people of this country. I'm going to do the right thing. +p3764 +aVThat's true. That's true. +p3765 +aVI was \u2014 excuse me, Jeb. +p3766 +aVI was a businessman, I got along with Clinton, I got along with everybody. That was my job, to get along with people. +p3767 +aVI didn't want to \u2014 excuse me. One second. +p3768 +aVOK, more energy tonight. I like that. Look \u2014 +p3769 +aVI didn't want \u2014 it was my obligation as a businessman to my family, to my company, to my employees, to get along with all politicians. I get along with all of them, and I did a damn good job in doing it. Go ahead. +p3770 +aVGot along with everybody. +p3771 +aVWrong. +p3772 +aVDon't make things up. Jeb, don't make things up. Come on. +p3773 +aVDon't make things up. +p3774 +aVSo, number one, they have to respect you. He has absolutely no respect for President Obama. Zero. Syria's a mess. You look at what's going on with +p3775 +aVI believe that I will get along \u2014 we will do \u2014 between that, Ukraine, all of the other problems, we won't have the kind of problems that our country has right now with Russia and many other nations. +p3776 +aVI wouldn't have drawn the line, but once he drew it, he had no choice but to go across. They do bear some responsibility, but I think he probably didn't do it, not for that reason. Somehow, he just doesn't have courage. There is something missing from our president. Had he crossed the line and really gone in with force, done something to Assad \u2014 if he had gone in with tremendous force, you wouldn't have millions of people displaced all over the world. +p3777 +aVThey had a responsibility, absolutely. I think we have three of them here... +p3778 +aVI think they had a responsibility, yes. +p3779 +aVJeb, just... +p3780 +aVI think it will haunt him. I think it's a terrible. I think it's going to haunt him absolutely. He came back later and he said he misspoke. There was no question because I heard when he said the statement. I was watching and he said the statement. And I said, wow, I can't believe it. I will take care of women. I respect women. I will take care of women. One thing we will say and I would like to get back to the Iran situation. We're talking about Iran. The agreement was terrible. It was incompetent. I've never seen anything like it. One of the worst contracts of any kind I've ever seen. And nobody ever mentions North Korea where you have this maniac sitting there and he actually has nuclear weapons and somebody better start thinking about North Korea and perhaps a couple of other places. But certainly North Korea. And Ted and I have spoken. We've \u2014 a lot of us have spoken. We're talking about Iran. They are bad actors, bad things are going to happen. But in the meantime, you have somebody right now in North Korea who has got nuclear weapons and who is saying almost every other week, I'm ready to use them. And we don't even mention it. +p3781 +aVSo why didn't you say it? Why didn't you say it? +p3782 +aVI know, but why did you say it? I heard it myself. Why did you say it? +p3783 +aVYou said you're going to cut funding for women's health. You said it. +p3784 +aVYou said it. +p3785 +aVI think she's got a beautiful face, and I think she's a beautiful woman. +p3786 +aVCorrect. First of all, I want to build a wall, a wall that works. So important, and it's a big part of it. Second of all, we have a lot of really bad dudes in this country from outside, and I think Chris knows that, maybe as well as anybody. They go, if I get elected, first day they're gone. Gangs all over the place. Chicago, Baltimore, no matter where you look. We have a country based on laws. I will make sure that those laws are adhered to. These are illegal immigrants. I don't think you'd even be asking this question if I didn't run because when I ran, and I brought this up, my opening remarks at Trump Tower, I took heat like nobody has taken heat in a long time. And, then they found out with the killing of Katie, from San Francisco, and so many other crimes, they found out that I was right. And, most people, many people, apologized to me. I don't think you'd even be talking about illegal immigration if it weren't for me. So, we have a country of laws, they're going to go out, and they'll come back if they deserve to come back. If they've had a bad record, if they've been arrested, if they've been in jail, they're never coming back. We're going to have a country again. Right now, we don't have a country, we don't have a border, and we're going to do something about it, and it can be done with proper management, and it can be done with heart. +p3787 +aV...By the way, I agree with \u2014 with what Chris is saying, but, I will say this. Illegal immigration is costing us more than $200 billion dollars a year just to maintain what we have. +p3788 +aVCorrect. +p3789 +aVWell, I have to tell you, I hear phenomenal things. I hear your wife is a lovely woman... +p3790 +aVI don't know her, and this is a total mischaracterization... +p3791 +aVGood. +p3792 +aVNo, I won't do that, because I've said nothing wrong. +p3793 +aVBut I do hear she's a lovely woman. +p3794 +aVJeb said... +p3795 +aV... that they come into our country as an act of love. With all of the problems we that we have, in so many instances \u2014 we have wonderful people coming in. But with all of the problems \u2014 this is not an act of love. He's weak on immigration \u2014 by the way, in favor of Common Core, which is also a disaster, but weak on immigration. He doesn't get my vote. +p3796 +aVNot with this intensity. +p3797 +aVAs I said, we are spending $200 billion \u2014 we are spending $200 billion a year on maintaining what we have. We will move them out. The great ones will come back, the good ones will come back. They'll be expedited, they'll be back, they'll come back legally. We'll have a country \u2014 they'll come back, legally. +p3798 +aVWell, I think it's wonderful and all, but I did it a little bit half-heartedly, but I do mean it to a large extent. We have a country, where, to assimilate, you have to speak English. And I think that where he was, and the way it came out didn't sound right to me. We have to have assimilation \u2014 to have a country, we have to have assimilation. I'm not the first one to say this, Dana. We've had many people over the years, for many, many years, saying the same thing. This is a country where we speak English, not Spanish. +p3799 +aVThis is a reporter, not a high school kid. +p3800 +aVWell, first of all, the \u2014 the 14th Amendment says very, very clearly to a lot of great legal scholars \u2014 not television scholars, but legal scholars \u2014 that it is wrong. It can be corrected with an act of Congress, probably doesn't even need that. A woman gets pregnant. She's nine months, she walks across the border, she has the baby in the United States, and we take care of the baby for 85 years. I don't think so. And by the way, Mexico and almost every other country anywhere in the world doesn't have that. We're the only ones dumb enough, stupid enough to have it. And people \u2014 and by the way, this is not just with respect to Mexico. They are coming from Asia to have babies here, and all of a sudden, we have to take care of the babies for the life of the baby. The 14th Amendment, it reads properly, you can go and \u2014 it's probably going to be have to be check \u2014 go through a process of court, probably ends up at the Supreme Court, but there are a lot of great legal scholars that say that is not correct. And in my opinion, it makes absolutely no \u2014 we're the only \u2014 one of the only countries, we're going to take care of those babies for 70, 75, 80, 90 years? I don't think so. +p3801 +aVI agree 100 percent, by the way, with Carly on the fact that the Democrats do not want to solve this problem, for the obvious reasons, but they do not. But I believe that a reading of the 14th Amendment allows you to have an interpretation where this is not legal and where it can't be done. I've seen both sides, but some of the greatest scholars agree with me, without having to go through Congress. If you do go through Congress, you can absolutely solve the problem. +p3802 +aVThat's true, sure. +p3803 +aVWell \u2014 +p3804 +aV\u2014 let me \u2014 well, let me just explain. The head of the Yale Business School, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, wrote a paper recently, one of the worst tenures for a CEO that he has ever seen, ranked one of the top 20 in the history of business. The company is a disaster and continues to be a disaster. They still haven't recovered. In fact, today, on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, they fired another 25 or 30,000 people saying we still haven't recovered from the catastrophe. When Carly says the revenues went up, that's because she bought Compaq, it was a terrible deal, and it really led to the destruction of the company. Now one other company before that was Lucent. Carly was at Lucent before that. And Lucent turned out to be a catastrophe also. So I only say this. She can't run any of my companies. That I can tell you. +p3805 +aVI never filed for bankruptcy. +p3806 +aVI'll tell you why; it's very simple. +p3807 +aVI'll tell you. I was running \u2014 +p3808 +aV\u2014 Carly, Carly \u2014 +p3809 +aV\u2014 I've made over $10 billion. I had a casino company \u2014 Caesars just filed for bankruptcy. Chris will tell you \u2014 it's not Chris' fault either \u2014 but almost everybody in Atlantic City is either in trouble or filed for \u2014 maybe I'll blame Chris. +p3810 +aVBut Atlantic City is a disaster \u2014 +p3811 +aVWait a minute, Carly. Wait. I let you speak. Atlantic City is a disaster, and I did great in Atlantic City. I knew when to get out. My timing was great. And I got a lot of credit for it. Many of the great business people that you know \u2014 and Carl Icon (ph) is going to work with me on making great deals for this country. But whether it's Carl or so many others that we read about all the time \u2014 +p3812 +aV\u2014 they have used the laws of the land, which is the \u2014 +p3813 +aV...Well, I'd like to respond, I'd like to respond... +p3814 +aVWell, I think the thing about the flat tax, I know it very well. What I don't like is that if you make $200 million a year, you pay ten percent, you're paying very little relatively to somebody that's making $50,000 a year, and has to hire H&R Block to do the \u2014 because it's so complicated. One thing I'll say to Ben is that we've had a graduated tax system for many years, so it's not a socialistic thing. What I'd like to do, and I'll be putting in the plan in about two weeks, and I think people are going to like it, it's a major reduction in taxes. It's a major reduction for the middle class. The hedge fund guys won't like me as much as they like me right now. I know them all, but they'll pay more. I know people that are making a tremendous amount of money and paying virtually no tax, and I think it's unfair. +p3815 +aVWell, I heard Hugh Hewitt, a nice man, he apologized because he actually said that we had a misunderstanding. And he said today that Donald Trump is maybe the best interview there is anywhere that he has ever done. Now unless he was just saying that on CNN to be nice, but he did say that... +p3816 +aVAnd we had a legitimate misunderstanding in terms of his pronunciation of a word. But I would say just... +p3817 +aVWell, I think it was. And he actually said that. Did you say that? +p3818 +aVOK. So I will say this, though, Hugh was giving me name after name, Arab name, Arab name, and there are few people anywhere, anywhere that would have known those names. I think he was reading them off a sheet. And frankly I will have \u2014 and I told him, I will have the finest team that anybody has put together and we will solve a lot of problems. You know, right now they know a lot and look at what is happening. The world is blowing up around us. We will have great teams and great people. +p3819 +aVI hope that answers your question. I mean, you are in the Senate, but I hope that answers your question. +p3820 +aVNo, I don't think he's suggesting that at all. I mean... +p3821 +aVI don't think he's suggesting that at all. +p3822 +aVWell, you have to understand, I am not sitting in the United States Senate with, by the way, the worst voting record there is today. Number one. I am not sitting in the United States Senate. I'm a businessman doing business transactions. +p3823 +aVI am doing business transactions. I will know more about this \u2014 and, as you said, that was very acceptable, and when you listen to that whole interview, it's a great interview, you said it, I didn't. Well, now I did. But... +p3824 +aVListen, just one second. Just one second. +p3825 +aVI will know... +p3826 +aV...I will know more about the problems of this world by the time I sit, and you look at what's going in this world right now by people that supposedly know, this world is a mess. +p3827 +aV +p3828 +aV I'm \u2014 and I'm meeting with people that are terrific people, but I have to say something because it's about judgment. I am the only person on this dais \u2014 the only person \u2014 that fought very, very hard against us (ph), and I wasn't a sitting politician going into Iraq, because I said going into Iraq \u2014 that was in 2003, you can check it out, check out \u2014 I'll give you 25 different stories. In fact, a delegation was sent to my office to see me because I was so vocal about it. I'm a very militaristic person, but you have to know when to use the military. I'm the only person up here that fought against going into Iraq. +p3829 +aVJust excuse me, one second, Rand... +p3830 +aVIf you don't mind, Rand \u2014 you know, you are on last \u2014 you do have your 1 percent. I would like \u2014 and I think it's very important. I think it's important, because it's about judgment. It's about judgment. I didn't want to go into Iraq, and I fought it, because what I said \u2014 what I said... +p3831 +aV... was you're going to \u2014 you're going to destabilize... +p3832 +aV... the Middle East, and that's what happened. +p3833 +aVIf you think about it... +p3834 +aVYour brother \u2014 and your brother's administration gave us Barack Obama, because it was such a disaster, those last three months, that Abraham Lincoln couldn't have been elected. +p3835 +aVI don't know. You feel safe right now? I don't feel so safe. +p3836 +aVOr the collapse of the economy. +p3837 +aVSpeaking for myself, I'm OK with it. I think there's a certain truth to it. I know people that, frankly, it has no impact on their life whatsoever. There are many people. I would almost say leave it up to them, but I would be willing to check it off, and say I will not get Social Security. I do not... +p3838 +aVAs a policy, I would almost leave it up to the people. Don't forget they pay in and they pay in, and maybe they do well, and maybe some people want it. But the fact is that there are people that truly don't need it, and there are many people that do need it very, very badly. And I would be willing to write mine off 100 percent, Dana. +p3839 +aVWell, I \u2014 I \u2014 I'd like to respond. +p3840 +aVI'd like to respond. +p3841 +aVAutism has become an epidemic. Twenty-five years ago, 35 years ago, you look at the statistics, not even close. It has gotten totally out of control. I am totally in favor of vaccines. But I want smaller doses over a longer period of time. Because you take a baby in \u2014 and I've seen it \u2014 and I've seen it, and I had my children taken care of over a long period of time, over a two or three year period of time. Same exact amount, but you take this little beautiful baby, and you pump \u2014 I mean, it looks just like it's meant for a horse, not for a child, and we've had so many instances, people that work for me. Just the other day, two years old, two and a half years old, a child, a beautiful child went to have the vaccine, and came back, and a week later got a tremendous fever, got very, very sick, now is autistic. I only say it's not \u2014 I'm in favor of vaccines, do them over a longer period of time, same amount. +p3842 +aVBut just in \u2014 in little sections. +p3843 +aVI think \u2014 and I think you're going to have \u2014 I think you're going to see a big impact on autism. +p3844 +aVAnd that's all I'm saying, Jake. That's all I'm saying. +p3845 +aVWell, because she's been sitting for three hours, I think my daughter, Ivanka, who's right here. +p3846 +aVOther than that we'll go with Rosa Parks. I like that. +p3847 +aVHumble. +p3848 +aVIf I become president, we will do something really special. We will make this country greater than ever before. We'll have more jobs. We'll have more of everything. We were discussing disease, we were discussing all sorts of things tonight, many of which will just be words, it will just pass on. I don't want to say politicians, all talk, no action. But a lot of what we talked about is words and it will be forgotten very quickly. If I'm president, many of the things that we discussed tonight will not be forgotten. We'll find solutions. And the world will respect us. They will respect us like never before. And it will be actually a friendlier world. And I have to say, it is a great honor to be here tonight. +p3849 +aVI fully understand. +p3850 +aVI fully understand. +p3851 +aVI cannot say. I have to respect the person that, if it's not me, the person that wins, if I do win, and I'm leading by quite a bit, that's what I want to do. I can totally make that pledge. If I'm the nominee, I will pledge I will not run as an independent. But -- and I am discussing it with everybody, but I'm, you know, talking about a lot of leverage. We want to win, and we will win. But I want to win as the Republican. I want to run as the Republican nominee. +p3852 +aVWell, I've given him plenty of money. +p3853 +aVI will not make the pledge at this time. +p3854 +aVOnly Rosie O'Donnell. +p3855 +aVThank you. +p3856 +aVYes, I'm sure it was. +p3857 +aVI think the big problem this country has is being politically correct. I've been challenged by so many people, and I don't frankly have time for total political correctness. And to be honest with you, this country doesn't have time either. This country is in big trouble. We don't win anymore. We lose to China. We lose to Mexico both in trade and at the border. We lose to everybody. And frankly, what I say, and oftentimes it's fun, it's kidding. We have a good time. What I say is what I say. And honestly Megyn, if you don't like it, I'm sorry. I've been very nice to you, although I could probably maybe not be, based on the way you have treated me. But I wouldn't do that. But you know what, we -- we need strength, we need energy, we need quickness and we need brain in this country to turn it around. That, I can tell you right now. +p3858 +aVSo, if it weren't for me, you wouldn't even be talking about illegal immigration, Chris. You wouldn't even be talking about it. This was not a subject that was on anybody's mind until I brought it up at my announcement. And I said, Mexico is sending. Except the reporters, because they're a very dishonest lot, generally speaking, in the world of politics, they didn't cover my statement the way I said it. The fact is, since then, many killings ,murders, crime, drugs pouring across the border, are money going out and the drugs coming in. And I said we need to build a wall, and it has to be built quickly. And I don't mind having a big beautiful door in that wall so that people can come into this country legally. But we need, Jeb, to build a wall, we need to keep illegals out. +p3859 +aVBorder Patrol, I was at the border last week. Border Patrol, people that I deal with, that I talk to, they say this is what's happening. Because our leaders are stupid. Our politicians are stupid. And the Mexican government is much smarter, much sharper, much more cunning. And they send the bad ones over because they don't want to pay for them. They don't want to take care of them. Why should they when the stupid leaders of the United States will do it for them? And that's what is happening whether you like it or not. +p3860 +aVA complete disaster, yes. +p3861 +aVCorrect. +p3862 +aVFirst of all, I'd like to just go back to one. In July of 2004, I came out strongly against the war with Iraq, because it was going to destabilize the Middle East. And I'm the only one on this stage that knew that and had the vision to say it. And that's exactly what happened. +p3863 +aVAnd the Middle East became totally destabilized. So I just want to say. As far as single payer, it works in Canada. It works incredibly well in Scotland. It could have worked in a different age, which is the age you're talking about here. What I'd like to see is a private system without the artificial lines around every state. I have a big company with thousands and thousands of employees. And if I'm negotiating in New York or in New Jersey or in California, I have like one bidder. Nobody can bid. You know why? Because the insurance companies are making a fortune because they have control of the politicians, of course, with the exception of the politicians on this stage. But they have total control of the politicians. They're making a fortune. Get rid of the artificial lines and you will have......yourself great plans. And then we have to take care of the people that can't take care of themselves. And I will do that through a different system. +p3864 +aVI'm not -- I'm not are -- I don't think you heard me. You're having a hard time tonight. +p3865 +aVYou'd better believe it. +p3866 +aVIf I ask them, if I need them, you know, most of the people on this stage I've given to, just so you understand, a lot of money. +p3867 +aVMany of them. +p3868 +aVNot much. +p3869 +aVBut I... +p3870 +aVI have good... +p3871 +aVGood. +p3872 +aVSounds good. Sounds good to me, Governor. I will tell you that our system is broken. I gave to many people, before this, before two months ago, I was a businessman. I give to everybody. When they call, I give. And do you know what? When I need something from them two years later, three years later, I call them, they are there for me. +p3873 +aVAnd that's a broken system. +p3874 +aVWell, I'll tell you what, with Hillary Clinton, I said be at my wedding and she came to my wedding. You know why? She didn't have a choice because I gave. I gave to a foundation that, frankly, that foundation is supposed to do good. I didn't know her money would be used on private jets going all over the world. It was. But... +p3875 +aVBecause I have used the laws of this country just like the greatest people that you read about every day in business have used the laws of this country, the chapter laws, to do a great job for my company, for myself, for my employees, for my family, et cetera. I have never gone bankrupt, by the way. I have never. But out of hundreds of deals... +p3876 +aVExcuse me. Excuse me. +p3877 +aVExcuse me, what am I saying? Out of hundreds of deals that I've done, hundreds, on four occasions I've taken advantage of the laws of this country, like other people. I'm not going to name their names because I'm not going to embarrass, but virtually every person that you read about on the front page of the business sections, they've used the law. The difference is, when somebody else uses those laws, nobody writes about it. When I use it, they say, "Trump, Trump, Trump." The fact is, I built a net worth of more than $10 billion. I have a great, great company. I employ thousands of people. And I'm very proud of the job I did. Again Chris, hundreds and hundreds of deals. Four times, I've taken advantage of the laws. And frankly, so has everybody else in my position. +p3878 +aVWell, I... +p3879 +aVLet me just tell you about the lenders. First of all, these lenders aren't babies. These are total killers. These are not the nice, sweet little people that you think, OK? You know, I mean you're living in a world of the make-believe, Chris, you want to know the truth. And I had the good sense to leave Atlantic City, which by the way, Caesars just went bankrupt. Every company, Chris can tell you, every company virtually in Atlantic City went bankrupt. Every company. And let me just tell you. I had the good sense, and I've gotten a lot of credit in the financial pages, seven years ago I left Atlantic City before it totally cratered, and I made a lot of money in Atlantic City, and I'm very proud of it. I want to tell you that. Very, very proud of it. +p3880 +aVAnd by the way, this country right now owes $19 trillion. And they need somebody like me to straighten out that mess. +p3881 +aVI don't think they like me very much. I'll tell you what. I've evolved on many issues over the years. And you know who else has? Is Ronald Reagan evolved on many issues. And I am pro-life. And if you look at the question, I was in business. They asked me a question as to pro-life or choice. And I said if you let it run, that I hate the concept of abortion. I hate the concept of abortion. And then since then, I've very much evolved. And what happened is friends of mine years ago were going to have a child, and it was going to be aborted. And it wasn't aborted. And that child today is a total superstar, a great, great child. And I saw that. And I saw other instances. And I am very, very proud to say that I am pro-life. As far as being a Republican is concerned, I come from a place, New York City, which is virtually, I mean, it is almost exclusively Democrat. And I have really started to see some of the negatives -- as an example, and I have a lot of liking for this man, but the last number of months of his brother's administration were a catastrophe. And unfortunately, those few months gave us President Obama. And you can't be happy about that. +p3882 +aVFirst of all, Jeb, I am very happy that you denied that, and I appreciate that very much. He is a true gentleman. He really is. One thing he did say, and I mean that. The one thing he did say about me, however, was my tone. And I also understand that. But when you have people that are cutting Christians' heads off, when you have a world that the border and at so many places, that it is medieval times, we've never -- it almost has to be as bad as it ever was in terms of the violence and the horror, we don't have time for tone. We have to go out and get the job done. +p3883 +aVI would be so different from what you have right now. Like, the polar opposite. We have a president who doesn't have a clue. I would say he's incompetent, but I don't want to do that because that's not nice. But if you look at the deals we make, whether it's the nuclear deal with 24 hour periods -- and by the way, before you get to the 24 hours, you have to go through a system. You look at Sgt. Bergdahl, we get Bergdahl, a traitor, and they get five of the big, great killers leaders that they want. We have people in Washington that don't know what they're doing. Now... I agree. Now, with Iran, we're making a deal, you would say, we want him. We want out our prisoners. We want all these things, and we don't get anything. We're giving them $150 billion dollars plus, they are going to be -- I'll tell you what, if Iran was a stock, you folks should go out and buy it right now because you'll quadruple -- this, what's happening in Iran, is a disgrace, and it's going to lead to destruction in large portions of the world. +p3884 +aVOur country is in serious trouble. We don't win anymore. We don't beat China in trade. We don't beat Japan, with their millions and millions of cars coming into this country, in trade. We can't beat Mexico, at the border or in trade. We can't do anything right. Our military has to be strengthened. Our vets have to be taken care of. We have to end Obamacare, and we have to make our country great again, and I will do that. Thank you. +p3885 +asVPATAKI +p3886 +(lp3887 +VThank you, Wolf. I want to speak to you this evening not as a Republican or a presidential candidate, but as an American. As we saw today in L.A., we are at a crisis in our country. Radical Islam poses a threat to our safety not just overseas, but literally in every community in America. And yet at a time when we should be united, we have a president who has divided us, who refuses to call radical Islam what it is, let alone have a coherent strategy to defeat it. The leading Democrat, Hillary Clinton, won't call +p3888 +aVAbsolutely. It's one of many absurd things this President has said. To target a religion and say that regardless of whether you're an American soldier who has fought on our side or allies we have overseas, simply because of your religion we're going to ban you is un-American, it is unconstitutional and it is wrong. And by the way, Wolf, now there was a group that tried to do that 150 to 160 years ago, they were called the Know-Nothing Party. They wanted to ban Catholics. They thought they were going to destroy America. Well, Donald Trump is the Know-Nothing candidate of the 21st century and cannot be our nominee. By the way, though. I fault Hillary and Obama as well because by not distinguishing between Muslims and radicalized Jihadists, by refusing to acknowledge that it's radical Muslim, radical Islamists who are carrying out these attacks against America \u2014 they let Americans who are confused and angry lump everyone together. We have to embrace the Muslims who embrace our freedom and living and safety. We have to destroy those who embrace Jihad and want to engage in violence against us here or abroad. +p3889 +aVYes. +p3890 +aVYou know, I think it's very important that we do everything in our power to prevent radicalization of Americans right here. And it is happening, not just overseas, but it's happening here from Mosques on social media. And truth \u2014 interaction and community meetings. New York police department had a very active group, aggressively monitoring and using intelligence to \u2014 in certain Muslim communities, consistent with our constitution, consistent of our civil rights, so they could have the intelligence as to where these sermons are being given, and who is being radicalized. And, they stopped and prevented dozens, and dozens of attacks in New York. You know, I'm a great believer in the First Amendment, of Freedom of Speech. I wish we had more of it on our college campuses, but you can't shout fire in a crowded theater. Calling on Americans to engage in violence against their fellow Americans in the name of jihad is crying fire in a crowded theater. It is not constitutionally protected speech, it should be shut down. And, by the way, the two murders who went to Garland, Texas to massacre many Americans before the Texas police officer courageously killed them, had been radicalized here. Getting to that metadata question, one of those terrorists, the day before the attacks, had sent......109 message to a known terrorist overseas. We could not read those messages, we can not read those today... +p3891 +aV...We have got to do far better. +p3892 +aVYes, Wolf. +p3893 +aVI would pass a law requiring them to do that. Let me just give you one example. I mentioned in Garland, Texas, where that murderer, that terrorist, the day before sent 109 messages overseas to a known terrorist. But they were encrypted. So to this date we don't know what that said. Companies are entitled to encrypt and protect their knowledge and their intelligence. But what we need is a back door for law enforcement to be able, when they can establish that that communication poses a risk to our safety and engages in terrorism, to get a court order and go in and access those communications. Allow the companies to continue encryption, provide an entry way for law enforcement when they can prove to a court that there is a sufficient risk of an attack upon us that they have the right to look at those messages. +p3894 +aVAnd just one more thing, Wolf. When that murderer came from Pakistan to San Bernardino and committed those atrocious crimes just a few weeks ago, she applied for a visa. She had posted on social media jihadist messages. Because this administration is so politically correct, they have a rule that they cannot look at social media postings of people applying to come to the United States. That is utterly absurd. One of the things we must do, the next president must do is get rid of that law and make sure we do everything in our power to find out if someone poses a threat to our existence here. +p3895 +aVWolf, I think the answer is we have to send troops with allies and supporters. Wherever it is necessary to destroy the training centers, recruitment centers, planning hubs of +p3896 +aVYes. +p3897 +aVYou know, I don't think it's a function of years of going after +p3898 +aVYou know, I don't want to see us occupy a country. I've been to Iraq a couple of times and Afghanistan. The first time I went, I had an uneasy feeling that when we went there we were liberators. But as we stayed ,we became occupiers. I saw American troops move into some of Saddam's old hideous marble palaces. And I thought that was exactly the wrong message. We do not have to occupy. We do not have to nation build and try to create a democracy where one hasn't existed. WE have to destroy +p3899 +aVI'm not sure \u2014 ally with which groups? I didn't quite catch that. +p3900 +aVNot at all. Iran is our enemy. They are the number one sponsor of state terror. The Iranian Deal is a disaster. And by the way, I don't think the next president has to aggregate it. It was never ratified by the Iranians. They have tested long-range ballistic missiles in violation of U.N. resolutions. They have broken the agreement. It is void. They can never have a nuclear weapon and should not get relief. With respect to the other groups, like Hezbollah, of course we should not work with them. I'll tell you who we should work with in Syria. There are two groups. One are the PYD, the \u2014 the Kurds in Syria who led the defense of Kobani, and are in northern and eastern Syria and anti- +p3901 +aVI could create... +p3902 +aVI would create the no-fly zone, and let me tell you, something very simply. Putin is a bully, and the most important and effective thing you can do to a bully is punch him in the face. Create a no-fly zone. If Russian planes violate that space, either us, or the Turks, should shoot them down to keep our word. And, I guarantee you that Putin would back off. Bullies, when you stand up to them, back down. We have had, under Obama, and under Hillary as Secretary of State, nothing but weakness in the face of Russia, whether it was in the Crimea, whether it was in Ukraine, or now in the Middle East. I would give the Ukrainians lethal weapons so they could defend themselves. I would create the no-fly zone, and if Russian planes flew into it in violation of what we have declared, yes. +p3903 +aVI could create... +p3904 +aVI would create the no-fly zone, and let me tell you, something very simply. Putin is a bully, and the most important and effective thing you can do to a bully is punch him in the face. Create a no-fly zone. If Russian planes violate that space, either us, or the Turks, should shoot them down to keep our word. And, I guarantee you that Putin would back off. Bullies, when you stand up to them, back down. We have had, under Obama, and under Hillary as Secretary of State, nothing but weakness in the face of Russia, whether it was in the Crimea, whether it was in Ukraine, or now in the Middle East. I would give the Ukrainians lethal weapons so they could defend themselves. I would create the no-fly zone, and if Russian planes flew into it in violation of what we have declared, yes. +p3905 +aVNo, I completely disagree with Rick. This is America. And we've made enormous progress. And I don't care if you're a man or a woman. I care if you're good and capable of doing the job. If you can do the job \u2014 don't lower standards, don't lower the criteria \u2014 but if a woman is capable of doing these jobs, there is no reason why we should deny a patriot who wants to serve and help defend our country that right. +p3906 +aVIt's not. +p3907 +aVNo, you said you would reverse the policy which excluded women from those jobs whether or not they were able to do that. That is wrong. +p3908 +aVAh. +p3909 +aVYes, I think what Rick said is very different from what he said initially which was that, "he would reverse the policy that gave woman not the right but the opportunity to serve in combat." They can only do it if they're fit and capable and meet the same standards as men. And so, to reverse that policy and deny a woman who is prepared to risk her life to defend our freedom and is capable of doing everything a man could do is not the right thing for America in the 21st century. By the way, you see in Iraq, the Peshmerga, the Kurds ,many of their top fighters are women. This is the 21st century. We're not radical Islam. We want to give women the opportunity to do whatever they are capable of achieving in this country. +p3910 +aVOf course he's innocent until proven guilty. I happen to believe he's guilty. The military did a very clear and long study as to whether or not he deserted in the face of enemy and they are not court marshalling him. I don't think he should executed. I do think he will have a fair military trial, not a civilian trial, at which time, assuming he's found guilty as I think he would, he will be sentenced appropriately. But there's a bigger issue here, this administration has failed to protect us because they have treated radical Islamists as Americans who should be tried in civil court. That is ridiculous. They are enemy aliens engaged in terror against Americans. And by the way, the fact that this president is now threatening to close Guantanamo Bay when we know that time after time, terrorists he released are involved in a high level capacity helping +p3911 +aVYou know, again, it comes down to something that, as Mike said, breaks your heart. We clearly want to get them back. But the idea that by taking a journalist, for example, and holding him hostage in Iran, they're going to be able to get some of their terrorist leaders back, is simply bad policy. Israel has shown the way on this in rejecting hostage exchanges such as this and then not paying ransom. But, by the way, Mike is absolutely right. We have to do more to protect our people overseas, but then we also have to do more to help our veterans when they come back here today. We haven't talked about that. But more talking about defeating terrorism, one of the things we have to do is give our veterans the support and help that they require. What has happened at the VA is a disgrace. Give our veterans a medical card that they can use to get the best quality care anywhere, including outside of the VA system. +p3912 +aVAnd that \u2014 but that was involved in combat, where they were actually involved in a war against each other and exchanged prisoners. We have not been in a war with Iran. They have taken civilians as hostages. It's a totally different situation. And we cannot encourage them to do any more of that. +p3913 +aVYou know, I think what I said earlier is that I would create a no-fly zone in Syria. Turkey just agreed to take 3 million more Syrian refugees. The EU just came up with a funding program to provide camps for Syrian refugees, but I would also create that no-fly zone where refugees can be there. I have to say I agree with Rick, because this President is talking about taking 10,000 people from Syria, who we cannot vet. This administration, allegedly, vetted the woman who carried out the attacks in San Bernardino and never found out that she had a false address and was on social media talking about radical Jihad. Coming from Syria, it's impossible to do that check. And we know, by the way, that +p3914 +aVThank you. This debate has been about terrorism and appropriately so. I'm proud to have been governor of New York on September 11th and have led our state through and during the aftermath of that horrible attack. I vowed then that if I ever had the chance to lead this country, I would do everything in my power to make sure that Americans were safe. But I also saw a positive from that. New Yorkers and the American people came together and vowed that we weren't just going to defend ourselves. We were not going to live in fear. We were going to rise to new heights and celebrate our freedom. Come to Lower Manhattan today. You will see a magnificent tribute to those who died, the memorial and the museum. You will also see a new tower soaring 1,776 feet tall, the Freedom Tower, a symbol of our freedom, a symbol of our belief that as a free people we can soar to new heights. Give us the chance to unite Americans, not just Republicans. And this country's future is unlimited. +p3915 +aVWe need an outsider to run our party and to win the next election. Washington has become a corrupt insider game and everybody talks about how they're going to change the taxes, grow the economy. Nothing seems to change. But, by the way, Bobby, I shrunk the size of New York State's government when I left. We had reduced the employment by over 25,000 and cut taxes. But I understand that to change Washington you have to understand government as well. You can't just be an outsider. You can't just be someone who throws stones at Washington. You have to be someone who can actually bring people together across party lines. I can do that, I will do that if I have the chance to lead this party. +p3916 +aVBecky, can I comment on this question? +p3917 +aV...John, can I quickly comment on this one... +p3918 +aV...But, I want to speak on this issue... +p3919 +aV...I think it was a bad deal, but I would have voted for it for a very simple reason. Barack Obama is the first president in American history to hold our military hostage. He knew that we needed funding for overseas contingency operations, $40 million dollars that would go to support our troops. And, he was prepared, and had vetoed it, unless this deal went through. I have two sons, they both served overseas. One in Iraq, and one in Afghanistan, and I understand that we have got to do far more to help our military, help our veterans, and help protect our security. This is a bad deal, but to protect our military, I would have signed it. Uh, it's not going to be the case, if I have a chance to lead this country, we're going to reduce the deficit, shrink the government, lower the tax burden and grow the private sector because that's how you solve deficits. +p3920 +aVThank you. +p3921 +aVNo, I don't think we need a military response, but we need a coordinated response. And I have to say that I think the Obama administration has been completely lax, to say the least, in dealing with these cyber-attacks, not just by governments like North Korea, but by, particularly, Chinese and other companies. And what I would do is put in place a policy where if we know a company, say, a Chinese company, is hacking into American companies, stealing trade secrets, as we know they do every day, we will retaliate against that company and say that that company's not going to be allowed to continue to do trade with the United States. I would also look at what we're doing at the federal level and put in place what Israel has done: a \u2014 one federal agency dealing with cybersecurity and charged with working across silos to make sure we have the best technology. And, Jim, I've gotta tell you something, talking about cybersecurity. Hillary Clinton put a server, an unsecure server, in her home as secretary of state. We have no doubt that that was hacked, and that state secrets are out there to the Iranians, the Russians, the Chinese and others. That alone should disqualify her from being president of the United States. +p3922 +aVI think they have gone too far. I think we've seen Wall Street really blossom and do very well while the rest of the country is struggling, and it's because we have this corrupt connection between Wall Street and Washington. And, John, you were just talking about what loopholes would you get rid of. I would get rid of virtually every single one of them. They cost American taxpayers $1.4 trillion a year. I would throw them all out. +p3923 +aVNo, I wouldn't. I was going to say... +p3924 +aV...no, I would keep \u2014 first, yes, but what I would do is ii would lower the tax on manufacturing to the lowest in the developed world \u2014 12 percent. We all have plans. I have a plan. We all have plans. My plan, the Tax Foundation said, would create five and a half million new jobs over the next decade. The difference, though, is I will get my plan enacted because, when I was governor of New York, I passed sweeping tax code \u2014 cuts in a Democratic state with a Democratic legislature. I \u2014 you know, Bobby, you're talking about your tax cuts? I cut taxes more than everybody on this stage, more than everybody on the next stage, combined. By more than the other 49 states, in New York state. I don't just have a plan. I will enact tax cuts, get rid of those loopholes and make the system fairer for all Americans. +p3925 +aVThank you. +p3926 +aVLet me \u2014 let me try to get a word in edgewise. +p3927 +aVIn Washington, they talk over each other... +p3928 +aVYes. Very simply, you guys talk over each other in Washington all the time. I'm not used to that. I listen when people talk. We have a skills gap. You mentioned the construction company. The construction industry says one of their biggest problems are they can't find the craftsmen to do the work. What we have to... +p3929 +aV\u2014 do in America is honor blue collar work again. We have to honor the carpenter, the plumber, the electrician, who can actually build something and instead of just saying that a college degree live \u2014 delivers prestige, let's celebrate those who do things with their hands and elevate their skills using training in high school and community... +p3930 +aV\u2014 colleges so that we can... +p3931 +aV\u2014 have a better quality workforce that we honor... +p3932 +aV\u2014 as they build America's future. +p3933 +aVThank you. +p3934 +aVThank you. +p3935 +aVHey, Rick. +p3936 +aVI'm doing great. +p3937 +aVNot at all. +p3938 +aVNo, I don't support it. But let me go back a little bit here. We need to grow our economy faster. We've had the worst economic recovery since the Great Depression. And it's because of policy in Washington and policy at the Fed. And let me go back to Washington. In 2009 \u2014 +p3939 +aVJohn, no question Barack Obama inherited a economic disaster in 2009. But what did he do? Instead of focusing on pro-growth policies in the economy, he rammed through ObamaCare, the worst law of my lifetime, that hurt small businesses, hurt companies, raised taxes and almost completely eliminated one industry because of its taxes. The Fed had to act. And the Fed did act and appropriately in reducing interest rates but they've reduced them now for seven straight years, that's never happened before. They've been zero for way too long. They should raise the rates; the Fed should get out of manipulating the market and the Fed also, by the way, should reduce its balance sheet, $2.7 trillion. Let some of those bonds mature and put the money back in the banking system so our economy can grow. +p3940 +aVYeah, absolutely. I \u2014 one of the things that troubles me about the Republican Party is too often we question science that everyone accepts. I mean, it's ridiculous that, in the 21st century, we're questioning whether or not vaccines are the appropriate way to go. Of course they are. And it's also not appropriate to think that human activity, putting CO2 into the atmosphere, doesn't make the earth warmer. All things being equal, it does. It's uncontroverted. I think part of the problem is that Republicans think about climate change, say, "oh my God, we're gonna have higher taxes, more Obama, more big government, the EPA shutting down factories." That's not the solution that I see. I want Republicans to embrace innovation and technology. You know, there's one country in the world that has fewer greenhouse gas emissions than the rest of \u2014 of the world. You know what that is? The United States. Our emissions are lower than they were in 1995. Not because of a \u2014 of a government program, but because of fracking, private sector creation... +p3941 +aV...replace coal plants \u2014 government's roles \u2014 is to incentivize innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit in America. We could have far more clean energy. We could have next-generation nuclear, thorium reactors that have no risk of meltdown. We could have solar panels on every home that are four times more efficient than today. +p3942 +aVR&D \u2014 R&D credits. Let the private sector do this, develop this innovation. And not only would we solve our problems, we would have clean energy, cheaper energy here. We could export those technologies to places like China and like India so we would grow our economy, have a far greater impact globally, have a secure domestic source of energy, and cleaner, healthier air. That's the solution. Embrace science, embrace innovation and change. +p3943 +aVThe one I use the most is Uber. You know, I used to get driven......when I was governor, I had a driver. I don't anymore, but.... And it's an example of what millennials are doing to change America for the better. And I tweet a lot, too. So Uber, Tweet \u2014 Twitter and then I communicate with my family. +p3944 +aVI \u2014 I am a long suffering Jets fan. So my answer is obviously no, there's no reason to take off the day after the Super Bowl. But let me just add this. The Mets are going to win tonight. Let's go, Mets. +p3945 +aVThank you for the opportunity to be with this great audience tonight. I'm a limited government conservative and I mean by that that not just when it comes to economic issues leaving them to the state, but social issues, as well. And in that I differ from every single other candidate seeking the Republican nomination. I take the Tenth Amendment very, very seriously. I'm a Republican who embraces science and understands we have to work with the next generation of millennials to have the innovation and technology so that we can grow a 21st century economy. And I'm a Republican who understands in Washington, when you're a leader, you have to put aside partisan politics to do what's right for the people. We are one America. If we work together across party lines, there's no problem we can't solve and the 21st century will be America's greatest century. Thank you very much. +p3946 +aVThank you, Jake. Hi, I'm George Pataki, and I am honored to be here this afternoon with all of you at the Reagan Library. You know, when I think of Ronald Reagan, I think of his tremendous smile, a smile that reflected his optimism and his unending belief and faith in America and in Americans. And it was that belief in America that led to a great presidency, a presidency that led to decades of safety, security and prosperity for America. That's exactly the type of leadership we need in Washington today and that's why I'm running for President of the United States. Thank you. +p3947 +aVNo. Hugh, not at all. I have not broken the pledge because Donald Trump is not going to be the Republican nominee, period, flat out, I guarantee you that. I would vote... +p3948 +aV-- for the Republican nominee... +p3949 +aVHe's not going to be the nominee. +p3950 +aVHe's not going to be the nominee, Hugh. And let me just say one word here. This is an important election with an enormous number of challenges facing the American people. And the first four questions are about Donald Trump. +p3951 +aVNo, I would not vote for Hillary Clinton. +p3952 +aVNo, I will vote for the Republican nominee. But let me say this flat out, Donald Trump is unfit to be president of the United States or the Republican Party's nominee. Look at what he did in Atlantic City. He says he's going to make America great again? He invested four casinos in Atlantic City and he said, essentially, I'm going to make Atlantic City great again. Every one of those casinos went bankrupt. Over 5,000 Americans lost their job. And you know people who, in this difficult economic time, have lost their job and the pain that causes. He didn't lose anything, 5,000 lost their jobs. He will do for America what he did for Atlantic City and that is not someone we will nominate. +p3953 +aVThank you. +p3954 +aVOK. All right. Thank you. +p3955 +aVYeah, it's a small part of a very important issue, and let me comment on what my colleagues were saying here. We all agree you have to secure the border. We have to make sure that people come to America legally. That has got to be step one. Step two is, we have to stop releasing criminals into the communities. If you are charged with a crime as an illegal alien, you should either be in jail or be deported. You should not released, as the Obama administration has done. Of course, we should outlaw sanctuary cities and hold them responsible. But we can't ignore 11 million people who are here. What are we going to do? We're not going to send them back, despite somebody saying we're going to drag kids out of classrooms and send them back. But we have to send a message that we are a nation that depends on the rule of law, and when your first act is to break the law, there has to be a consequence. So what I would do is require those who want to have legal status, not citizenship, come forward, acknowledge they broke the law, and if they do it again, they can be immediately deported, and then do what we do in communities across America when we want to sanction someone... +p3956 +aV... and that is community service -- 200 hours working in a hospital... +p3957 +aV... working in a school, and then they could have legal... +p3958 +aVI don't -- I don't think that we should tell that child born in America that we're going to send them back. The way to avoid that is to have an intelligent immigration policy where we know who is coming here, why they are coming here, so we don't have this flood of people coming here for the wrong reasons. +p3959 +aVWe have to deal with the people who are here illegally. We can't just ignore them, or send them back. I think my policy would work to give them legal status, make them a part of an economy that will grow, and help America. +p3960 +aVLindsey, let me comment on this. Last week was the anniversary of September 11th and I was governor of New York on September 11th and led us through that horrible day. And I learned that we cannot assume that because radical Islam is a continent away, it doesn't pose a threat to us here in America. It did then, and today, I think, we are at greater risk of an attack than at any time since. We have got to destroy +p3961 +aVJake... +p3962 +aVJake, if I can comment on this. Yes, Kim Davis is different from Islamist radicalists from the Middle East. But on the other hand, we have run rule in America, an elected official can't say I'm not going to follow that law if it conflicts with my beliefs. I think she should have been fired and if she worked for me, I would have fired her. We have to uphold the rule of law. +p3963 +aVImagine one minute -- Jake, imagine one minute that was a Muslim who said I don't believe in gay marriage, and refused to perform that wedding. We wouldn't have had that outrage. There's a place where religion supersedes the rule of law. It's called Iran. It shouldn't be the United States. +p3964 +aVMy response is kind of, "Wow." You know, we're going to have a president who defies the Supreme Court because they don't agree? +p3965 +aVThen you don't have the rule of law... +p3966 +aVThe -- the elected representatives of the people always have the opportunity to change that law. The Supreme Court makes a determination, but it's ultimately the elected officials who decide whether or not that would be accepted. By the way, if I have a chance to lead this country, I will appoint judges who understand their role. They're not going to be making the law; they're going to be interpreting law that the elected officials passed. +p3967 +aVBut there's a huge difference between an individual standing up and saying I am going to stand for my religious freedom and my religious rights. I applaud that. This is America. You should be able to engage in your religious belief in the way you see fit. But when you are an elected official and you take an oath of office to uphold the law, all the laws, you cannot pick and choose or you no longer have a society that depends on the rule of law. +p3968 +aVYes, I -- I didn't agree with the Supreme Court's decision, but it is the law of this land. And I am a great admirer of Martin Luther King. And he was prepared to break the law. But it wasn't in an office of political power. It was civil disobedience, where what he was willing to do is voluntarily go to jail with his followers to send a message to the elected representatives that these laws were wrong and had to be changed. And because of his courage, we didn't ignore the courts, we changed the laws and made America a better place. That's the way to do it. +p3969 +aVYes? +p3970 +aVI would throw out the entire corrupt tax code. It's a symbol of the corruption and the power of the lobbyists and the special interests in Washington. It is 74,000 pages of incomprehensible gobbledygook. What I would do is get rid of the 1.4 million every year in exemptions and loopholes, dramatically lower the rates. The normal American person is paying higher taxes than they should because of loopholes, and one of them is that carried interest loophole. I would tax that income the same as ordinary income. I'd lower the rate to 24 percent for all Americans, but I would not give a special break to the Wall Street fat caps -- fat cats. +p3971 +aVIt's hard for me to say I'm with Donald trump on anything, but on this issue, I agree with him. But let me just make one other point. It's not just throwing out the tax code to break the back of the special interests that control Washington. It's other reforms. I would propose a law -- right now there are over 400 former members of the House and Senate who are registered lobbyists in Washington. I would propose a law on day one, you serve one day in the House or Senate, there's a lifetime ban on you ever being a lobbyist in Washington, D.C. You get elected, you go back home. You don't stay and support the special interests. +p3972 +aVCan I just... +p3973 +aVNo, I would not. I would keep that deduction. I would lower the rates dramatically, so, yes, that root that has a special carve out would pay more, but everybody else is going to pay less. I would keep the home mortgage deduction, the charitable deduction, and others. And, by the way, you know, I agree with Rick on manufacturing, but my approach is different. I would pass a rate on manufacturing of 12 percent, the lowest in the developed world so we can make this America again. I know how important those jobs are. When I work -- went through college, Christmas and summer vacations, I worked in a factory. My grandparents worked in a factory. We have the opportunity now with lower energy costs, with the world labor cost getting higher, to make things in America so we don't have to worry about China. Lower the tax burden on manufacturing, improve the work skills... +p3974 +aV...of Americans. Get rid of job killing regulations. If we're going to... +p3975 +aV...If we're going to make this America... +p3976 +aVNot on the table but I think there's a lot that does work. And that is to have a strong America, a strong military and a resolve where the Iranians know that not only are we going to reject this deal on day one and reimpose sanctions but, if they move forward with the nuclear program, their safety for those facilities will be at risk. I'll tell you a couple of things I'd do. I'd give the Israelis bombs called MOPs, massive ordnance penetrators. Give them to Israel. Let the Iranians know we're prepared to work with Israel to make sure they never have a nuclear weapon. And let me point out that Hillary Clinton, supporting this deal, she was the senator from New York on September 11th, she saw what happened at the hands of radical Islam. This is the senator who did the reset program with Russia, who allowed the Middle East to deteriorate to flames, who has lied about Benghazi and is now supporting the Iranian deal. That's the opponent we're going to have next November. We have got to win this election. Everything we say is wonderful. But we have to win and, once we win, we have to actually do what we say. I can do this. +p3977 +aVI think there are two things, Jake. Two things that we need as Republicans. First, we have to win the election. You're going to hear a lot of great ideas, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that. None of it matters unless you win the election. And the second is, once you win, you have to be able to govern successfully. You've heard a lot of fighting back and forth, you didn't get this done, you didn't get that done. That's the way Washington is today. You have to have a leader, a president, who will actually get a conservative agenda through. I'm running because I have done both those things, and I did them in one of the most liberal states in America. I got elected three times in the state of New York. Twice by the largest pluralities ever for a Republican. I ran as a Republican conservative. If I get the nomination, I will be able to get broad support and win this election, and take the White House back for our party. But more importantly, once I've won, I will put in place a sweeping conservative agenda. I did that in New York. Over $143 billion in tax cuts. More than the other 49 states combined. Taking one million people off welfare and putting them into jobs, in a state where the Democrats control the state assembly. +p3978 +aV103-47. I got them to support a conservative agenda. If I get elected president, I will make things work in Washington. +p3979 +aVFor the Republican party and for the United States. +p3980 +aVI think he means somebody who hasn't been a career politician, and who's been out of office for awhile. I think the last eight years in the private sector have allowed me to see government from the outside, and I think that is a positive thing. Yes, I thought about running four years ago. I was ready to lead, but I wasn't ready to run. But I look at this country today, and I look at how divided we are, I look at how politicians are always posturing and issuing sound bites but never solving problems. What I did in New York was bring people together, an overwhelmingly Democratic state. But I was able to get Democrats to support the most conservative sweeping policy changes in any state in America. And when I look at Washington today, we need to bring us together. We need to solve problems, we need to rebuild our military so we can stand up to radical Islam, we need to get our economy growing much faster by throwing out the corrupt tax code and lowering the rates. We have to end crony capitalism in Washington, where the lobbyists and the powerful can get tax breaks and tax credits, and the American people don't get laws in their interest. I can do that. And I can do it regardless of what the makeup of Congress is because I did it in New York state. So we need new leadership -- yes. I will be that new leader. Mac +p3981 +aVMartha, religious liberty doesn't include encouraging a fellow American to engage in violent jihad and kill an American here. That is not protected free speech. That is not protected religious belief. That is like shouting "fire" in a crowded theater, and that is illegal, and I would do everything in our power not just to go after those who are here who we know who are here, before they can radicalize other Americans to carry out attacks, and it's not just the ones they've arrested. Think back to Garland, Texas. But for that Texas police officer, we could have had a mass murder. We have to shut down their internet capability. We have to shut down, whether or not they're in prisons preaching or on -- in mosques preaching. No radical Islam that is allowed to engage in encouraging violence against Americans, that is not protected speech. Let me just add one thing about +p3982 +aVI think he is right. I don't think you expand entitlements when so many people are dependent on government and when the money the federal government is offering is going to be taken away from you after just a couple of years. But getting back to Martha's question about how we end dependency, do we have to have a cultural change? The answer is no. And I know this, because when I ran for governor of New York, one in 11 of every man, woman, and child in the state of New York was on welfare. On welfare. Think about that. And people said "you can't win, you can't change the culture." But I knew that good people who wanted to be a part of the American dream have become trapped in dependency because the federal government and the state government had made it in their economic interest not to take a job because the benefits that they didn't work were better. I changed that. We put in place mandatory work fair (ph). But we allowed people to keep health care. We put in place child care support. +p3983 +aVNo, it should be repealed. And by the way, when I left, there were over 1 million fewer people on welfare in New York state than when I took office... +p3984 +aV... replacing dependency with opportunity. +p3985 +aVYes. Mac +p3986 +aVMy heart has not changed, because I've always been appalled by abortion. I'm a Catholic, I believe life begins at conception. But as Bill said earlier, Roe v. Wade, it's has been the law for 42 years, and I don't think we should continue to try to change it. But we can do is defund Planned Parenthood, and by the way, put in place an absolute permanent ban on any taxpayer dollars ever being used to fund abortions. Also, when you look at these videos, they are horrific and show just a hideous disrespect for life. What else we can do is that we should believe in science. You know, Hillary Clinton's always saying how Republicans don't follow science? Well, they're the ones not listening to the scientists today, because doctors say that at 20 weeks that is a viable life inside the womb. And at that point, it's a life that we have the right to protect, and I think we should protect. So, I would pass legislation outlawing abortion after 20 weeks. It is Hillary, it is Biden, it is the others who insist on allowing abortion well into viable (inaudible) wrong, and that should be stopped. Mac +p3987 +aVBill, I defeated Mario Cuomo. In the first day in office, my first executive order, I revoked every one of the executive orders that he had -- he had enacted over the prior 12 years. I would do that to Barack Obama's executive orders. But I'd sign a second one, as I did in New York, as well, having a hard hiring freeze on adding new employees except for the military or defense-related positions. I'd sign that executive order. When I left the workforce, New York State had been reduced by over 15 percent. We can do that in Washington. I will do that in Washington. +p3988 +aVDivisive and with no vision. No vision at all. +p3989 +aVWith all the candidates, why me? My background is different. I look at Washington, and I hear the talk, and I see the promises and it seems nothing ever changes. Washington gets bigger, taxes get higher, and the American people feel more distance from our government. I have the opportunity not just to run, but to win in the deep blue state of New York three times. And not only did I win, but I then worked with a Democratic legislature to put in place the most sweeping conservative reforms of any state in America, taking us from the most dangerous state in America to the fourth safest; reducing our welfare rolls by over 1 million, and replacing over 700,000 private sector jobs. I can govern by bringing people together. And also, I've been tested in a way no one else has. I was governor on September 11th, and I'm proud of my leadership in bringing New York through that time. And when I left, we were stronger, we were safer, and we were more united than at any time in my lifetime. We need to bring people together in Washington. The talk has got to stop, the action has got to begin. People can promise you something, I delivered in the blue state of New York. I will deliver for the American people if I have the privilege of leading this country. +p3990 +asVCHRISTIE +p3991 +(lp3992 +VThank you Wolf. America has been betrayed. We've been betrayed by the leadership that Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton have provided to this country over the last number of years. Think about just what's happened today. The second largest school district in America in Los Angeles closed based on a threat. Think about the effect that, that's going to have on those children when they go back to school tomorrow wondering filled with anxiety to whether they're really going to be safe. Think about the mothers who will take those children tomorrow morning to the bus stop wondering whether their children will arrive back on that bus safe and sound. Think about the fathers of Los Angeles, who tomorrow will head off to work and wonder about the safety of their wives and their children. What is Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton done to this country? That the most basic responsibility of an administration is to protect the safety and security of the American people. I will tell you this, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I've fought terrorists and won and when we get back in the White House we will fight terrorists and win again and America will be safe. +p3993 +aVWolf, unfortunately, it's the new normal under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The fact is that if you listen to Hillary Clinton the other day, what she said to the American people was, as regards to +p3994 +aVListen, I want to talk to the audience at home for a second. If your eyes are glazing over like mine, this is what it's like to be on the floor of the United States Senate. I mean, endless debates about how many angels on the head of a pin from people who've never had to make a consequential decision in an executive position. The fact is, for seven years, I had to make these decisions after 9/11, make a decision about how to proceed forward with an investigation or how to pull back, whether you use certain actionable intelligence or whether not to. And yet they continue to debate about this bill and in the subcommittee and what \u2014 nobody in America cares about that. What they care about is, are we going to have a president who actually knows what they're doing to make these decisions? And for the seven years afterwards, New Jersey was threatened like no other region in this country and what we did was we took action within the constitution to make sure that law enforcement had all the information they needed. We prosecuted two of the biggest terrorism cases in the world and stopped Fort Dix from being attacked by six American radicalized Muslims from a Mosque in New Jersey because we worked with the Muslim American community to get intelligence and we used the Patriot Act to get other intelligence to make sure we did those cases. This is the difference between actually been a federal prosecutor, actually doing something, and not just spending your life as one of hundred debating it. Let's talk about how we do this, not about which bill, which one these guys like more. The American people don't care about that. +p3995 +aVWolf, you sit up here and you listen to this stuff, and you think that so many of these people have had so much to do in this national debate, they talk like they were bystanders. You know, we talk about our military being degraded over time, and yet we've had folks on this stage who've been a part of Congress who have participated in sequester; who participated in the degrading of this military over time. And that's why I think people get so frustrated with Washington, D.C. now. That's why they're so angry with the \u2014 the electorate is so angry with everybody who is involved in government in Washington, D.C. Because if you listen to the folks up here, you think that they weren't even there; they had nothing to do with this. This is a difference between being a governor and being in a legislature. See, because when something doesn't work in New Jersey, they look at me, say: "Why didn't it get done? Why didn't you do it?" You have to be responsible and accountable. And so on +p3996 +aVWell, I think we have to focus, Hugh, on exactly what the priorities are. And to me, what I've always said is that the president has set up an awful situation through his deal with Iran, because what his deal with Iran has done is empower them and enrich them. And that's the way +p3997 +aVNot only would I be prepared to do it, I would do it. A no-fly zone means a no-fly zone, Wolf. That's what it means. See, maybe \u2014 maybe because I'm from New Jersey, I just have this kind of plain language hangup. But I would make very clear \u2014 I would not talk to Vladimir Putin. In fact, I would talk to Vladimir Putin a lot. But I'd say to him, "Listen, Mr. President, there's a no-fly zone in Syria; you fly in, it applies to you." And yes, we would shoot down the planes of Russian pilots if in fact they were stupid enough to think that this president was the same feckless weakling that the president we have in the Oval Office is right now. +p3998 +aVWell, Wolf, I'll tell you what reckless is. What reckless is is calling Assad a reformer. What reckless is allowing Russia to come into Crimea and Ukraine. What reckless is is inviting Russia into Syria to team with Iran. That is reckless. And the reckless people are the folks in the White House right now. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are the reckless people. And if you think that a no-fly zone is a reckless policy, you're welcome to your opinion. But how is it working so far? As we have 250,000 Syrians murdered, slaughtered; millions running around the world, running for their lives. It's not working. We need to try something else. And that is not reckless. +p3999 +aVWhat I say to Carla is that the first job of the president of the United States is to protect your safety and your security and the security and safety of your family. And this debate stops with me in the discussions with the FBI director. Now, listen, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I know Jim Comey. We've worked together. He was the U.S. attorney in Manhattan when I was a U.S. attorney in New Jersey. And when Jim Comey gets up before Congress and says, we cannot effectively vet these people, for me as president, that's the end of the conversation. We have to put America's security first. The American people \u2014 we on this stage need to open our ears. We need to open our ears. The American people are not whispering to us. They are screaming to us. And they're screaming to us that it's our job to actually make this government work. It's so dysfunctional under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. It's so ineffective. It's so ineffectual that the American people say, we don't trust them to do anything anymore. So I'm not going to let Syrian refugees, any Syrian refugees in this country. And it was widows and orphans, by the way, and we now know from watching the San Bernardino attack that women can commit heinous, heinous acts against humanity just the same as men can do it. And so I don't back away from that position for a minute. When the FBI director tells me that he can vet those people, then we'll consider it and not a moment before because your safety and security is what's most important to me. +p4000 +aVWell, what it would like is, we have one of the great advantages of America being the open society that we are. It is, we are not hiding things from the American people, but China everyday is conducting business in a way that hides things from their people. So if they want to come in and attack all the personnel records in the federal government, which they've done, and which \u2014 they now have my Social Security number and my fingerprints, as well as maybe some other folks' who are on this stage. The fact is, they need to be fought back on. And what we need to do is go at the things that they are most sensitive and most embarrassing to them; that they're hiding; get that information and put it out in public. Let the Chinese people start to digest how corrupt the Chinese government is; how they steal from the Chinese people; and how they're enriching oligarchs all throughout China. They need to understand that. And we need to take those type of steps. This president has seen personnel records of people who have sacrificed for the American people and for the federal government stolen by the Chinese and he's done nothing in return. This is why \u2014 this is what I said at the beginning that this administration, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton through their foreign policy, have betrayed the American people, because the weakness they've displayed has led to Putin's incursions in the Middle East and in eastern Europe, and has led \u2014 has led to significant problems in the Middle East as well, and the death and murder of lots of folks. +p4001 +aVOn September 10th, 2001, I was named chief federal prosecutor in New Jersey and on September 11th, 2001, my wife and my brother who are in the audience tonight went through the World Trade Center and to their offices just blocks away from the Trade Center. I lost touch with them for six hours that day and prayed that they were alive. Luckily, they were sent home. But many of our friends and others in our neighborhood lost their lives that day. Terrorism \u2014 radical jihadist terrorism is not theoretical to me. It's real. And for seven years, I spent my life protecting our country against another one of those attacks. You won't have to worry when I'm President of the Untied States whether that can be done because I've already done it. I want the chance to do it again to protect you, your children and your families. If you give me the chance and give me your vote I will protect America from the wars that are being brought to our door step. +p4002 +aVI don't see a lot of weakness on this stage, quite frankly. Where I see the weakness is in those three people that are left on the Democratic stage. You know, I see a socialist, an isolationist and a pessimist. And for the sake of me, I can't figure out which one is which. But I will \u2014 but I will tell you this, the socialist says they're going to pay for everything and give you everything for free, except they don't say they're going to raise it through taxes to 90 percent to do it. The isolationist is the one who wants to continue to follow a foreign policy that has fewer democracies today than when Barack Obama came into office around the world. But I know who the pessimist is. It's Hillary Clinton. And you put me on that stage against her next September, she won't get within 10 miles of the White House. Take it to the bank. +p4003 +aVWell, I wish you would have asked that question years ago when they broke it. I mean, let me be honest with the people who are watching at home. The government has lied to you and they have stolen from you. They told you that your Social Security money is in a trust fund. All that's in that trust fund is a pile of IOUs for money they spent on something else a long time ago. And they've stolen from you because now they know they cannot pay these benefits and Social Security is going to be insolvent in seven to eight years. We're sitting up here talking about all these other things; 71 percent of federal spending today is on entitlements, and debt service. And, that's with zero percent interest rates. Now, I'm the only person that's put out a detailed plan on how to deal with entitlements. And we'll save a trillion dollars over the next 10 years. And, here's the difference between me and Hillary Clinton. What Hillary Clinton's going to say, and has said before is, she wants to raise Social Security taxes. Now, let me ask you a question everybody, and, this is for the guy, you know, who owns a landscaping business out there. If somebody's already stolen money from you, are you going to give them more? Or, are you going to deal with the problem by saying, I'm going to give people who've done well in this country less benefit on the backend. We need to get realistic about this. We're not \u2014 the American people \u2014 forget about anything else, they've already been lied to and stolen from. And... +p4004 +aV...I'm going to go to Washington to stop it... +p4005 +aV...The only way we're going to be morale, the only way we're going to keep our promise to seniors is start by following the first rule we should all follow, which is to look at them, treat them like adults, and tell them the truth. It isn't there anymore, Mike. They stole it. It got stolen from them. It's not theirs anymore. The government stole it, and spent it a long time ago... +p4006 +aVSo, let's stop fooling around about this, let's tell people the truth. For once, let's do that, and stop trying to give them some kind of fantasy that's never going to come true. +p4007 +aVYou bet they do. And if I were the prosecutor, that is exactly where they would be. The fact is that this Justice Department under this president has been a political Justice Department. It has been a Justice Department that decided that they want to pick who the winners and losers are. They like General Motors, so they give them a pass. They don't like somebody else like David Petraeus, they prosecute them and send a decorated general on to disgrace. It's a political Justice Department. And, Jim, you know full well that in the seven years I was U.S. attorney we went after pharmaceutical companies. We went after companies that were ripping off shareholders. We went after companies that were doing things that were against the law. And to expand on Mr. Carson's \u2014 or Dr. Carson's question, let's face it, we have laws already. We don't need newer (ph) laws. We don't need Hillary Clinton's price controls for \u2014 again, does anybody out there think that giving Washington, D.C., the opportunity to run the pharmaceutical industry is a good idea, given how well they have done running the government? So what we do, though, is, if there is somebody who is price- gouging, we have laws for prosecutors to take that on. Let's let a Justice Department \u2014 and I will make an attorney general who will enforce the law and make justice more than just a word. It will be a way of life. +p4008 +aVJohn, I'll tell you something. You want to talk about moral authority. Let's talk about something that happened this week in the news. You know, the FBI director, the president's appointed FBI director has said this week that because of a lack of support from politicians like the president of the United States, that police officers are afraid to get out of their cars; that they're afraid to enforce the law. And he says, the president's appointee, that crime is going up because of this. And when the president of the United States gets out to speak about it, does he support police officers? Does he stand up for law enforcement? No, he doesn't. I'll tell you this, the number one job of the president of the United States is to protect the safety and security of the American people. This president has failed, and when I'm in the Oval Office, police officers will know that they will have the support of the president of the Untied States. That's real moral authority that we need in the Oval Office. +p4009 +aVCarl, are we really talking about getting government involved in fantasy football? We have \u2014 wait a second, we have $19 trillion in debt. We have people out of work. We have +p4010 +aVWell, first off, what we don't do is do what Hillary Clinton and John Kerry and Barack Obama want us to do, which is their solution for everything, put more taxes on it, give more money to Washington, D.C., and then they will fix it. Well, there is no evidence that they can fix anything in Washington, D.C. +p4011 +aVWhat we should do is to be investing in all types of energy, John, all types of energy. I've laid out... +p4012 +aVNo, John. John, do you want me to answer or do you want to answer? How are we going to do this? Because, I've got to tell you the truth, even in New Jersey what you're doing is called rude. So... We've laid out a national energy plan that says that we should invest in all types of energy. I will tell you, you could win a bet at a bar tonight, since we're talking about fantasy football, if you ask who the top three states in America are that produce solar energy: California and Arizona are easy, but number three is New Jersey. Why? Because we work with the private sector to make solar energy affordable and available to businesses and individuals in our state. We need to make sure that we do everything across all kinds of energy: natural gas, oil, absolutely. But also where it's affordable, solar, wind in Iowa has become very affordable and it makes sense. That is the way we deal with global warming, climate change, or any of those problems, not through government intervention, not through government taxes, and for God's sake, don't send Washington another dime until they stop wasting the money they're already sending there. +p4013 +aVAnd \u2014 and \u2014 and I \u2014 you know, Ben is absolutely right in saying that what we don't need to do is to send more money to Washington, D.C. to fix this problem. And that's what you'll hear from Hillary Clinton \u2014 and I've already heard from her \u2014 is that, send more money in Social Security, send more money in Medicare taxes, send more money for Medicaid, and that's gonna solve the problem. What we know is we're living longer. That's a blessing. It's a blessing that we're living longer, so we have to increase the retirement age to reflect that blessing. We need to make sure that people understand, as Jeb said before, that if you've done extraordinarily well in this country, do you want them to take more out of your taxes now and think they're gonna give it back to you later? Or would you rather take less later on? +p4014 +aVI want to talk to the folks at home. I want to ask you: Are you fed up with how Washington taxes you? Are you fed up with how Washington wastes your money? Are you concerned like I am that the debt and deficits of Washington, D.C. are endangering America's future? I've got one more question for you then. Are you serious about this election? Because if you are, you need to elect someone who's deadly serious about changing this culture. I am deadly serious about changing this culture. I changed it in New Jersey. I'm deadly serious about doing this job the right way. I'm prepared. I'm tested. I'm ready. And I want to make this our government. For the people who say we can't do it, I say hell no, we can do it together. +p4015 +aVHi, my name is Chris Christie, and I'd like to you take the camera off me and put it on the audience because I'd like to ask all of you, how many of you, raise your hand, believe that in today's Barak Obama America your children will have a better life than you've had? You see? That's why I'm running for President. because leadership is not about me, it's about our country. And, what we talk about tonight, it's not about us, it's about the people in the audience tonight, because in seven short years this president has stripped away their trust, and their faith, and their belief that the next generation will have a better life. He's stolen that from us, and when I'm president, I'm going to take it back. +p4016 +aVWell, I know Ben wasn't talking about me, I'm sure he was talking about one of the other guys, not me. As far as being an outsider is concerned \u2014 as far as being an outsider is concerned, let me tell you this, Jake, I'm a Republican in New Jersey. I wake up every morning as an outsider. I wake up every morning with a Democratic legislature who trying to beat my head in and fight me because I'm trying to bring conservative change to a state that needed it desperately. And so, everyone can talk us here about their credentials. But the bottom line is, every morning I get up, I veto 400 bills from a crazy liberal Democratic legislature, not one of them has been overridden. I've vetoed more tax increases than any governor in American history, according to Americans for Tax Reform. What folks want in this country is somebody to go down there and get the job done. And that's exactly what I'll do. So, I know this much, that what the American people want to hire right now is somebody who believes in them. And believes that they are the ones who can fix our country. I will be the vessel through which they can fix this country, but it's not about me. It's about all of you. And getting this government off your back and out of your way, and letting you succeed. I know Ben wasn't talking about me. +p4017 +aVLook at him smiling at me right now. I know Ben didn't mean it about me. One of these other guys, I'm sure. +p4018 +aVBe honest, Ben, be honest. +p4019 +aVSee, Jake, it wasn't me. +p4020 +aVI was \u2014 +p4021 +aVShe is, and so if she, based on conscience, can't sign that \u2014 that marriage license, then there should be someone in her office to be able to do it, and if the law needs to be changed in the state of Kentucky, which is what she's advocating, it should be changed. +p4022 +aVAnd why don't we do the same thing with Planned Parenthood? +p4023 +aVWe elected a Republican Congress to do this. And they should be doing it, and they're not. And they're giving the president a pass. +p4024 +aVI put it in the list, Dana. We should be doing these things and forcing the president to take action. +p4025 +aVLet's force him to do what he says he's going to do. Now I don't know whether he'll do it or not, but let's force him to do it. +p4026 +aVFirst of, Jake, I don't yield to anybody on how to enforce the law. I'm the only person on this stage who spent seven years as a United States Attorney after September 11th, and I know how to do this. The fact is though that for 15,000 people a day to be deported every day for two years is an undertaking that almost none of us could accomplish given the current levels of funding, and the current number of law enforcement officers. Here's what we need to do, and I think this is where Donald is absolutely right. What we need to do is to secure our border, and we need to do it with more than just a wall. We need to use electronics, we need to use drones, we need to use FBI, DEA, and ATF, and yes, we need to take the fingerprint of every person who comes into this country on a visa, and when they overstay their visa, we need to tap them on the shoulder, and say, "You have overstayed your welcome, you're taking advantage of the American people. It's time for you to go." If we had that kind of system in place, we wouldn't have the 11 million people we have now. +p4027 +aVJake listen. While I'm as entertained as anyone by this personal back-and-forth about the history of Donald and Carly's career, for the 55-year-old construction worker out in that audience tonight who doesn't have a job, who can't fund his child's education, I've got to tell you the truth. They could care less about your careers, they care about theirs. Let's start talking about that on this stage and stop playing \u2014 and stop playing the games. Stop playing \u2014 +p4028 +aVJohn \u2014 I'm not done yet, John. +p4029 +aVStop \u2014 and stop playing \u2014 and Carly \u2014 Carly, listen. You can interrupt everybody else on this stage, you're not going to interrupt me, OK? The fact is that we don't want to hear about your careers, back and forth and volleying back and forth about who did well and who did poorly. You're both successful people. Congratulations. You know who's not successful? The middle class in this country who's getting plowed over by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Let's start talking about those issues tonight and stop this childish back-and-forth between the two of you. +p4030 +aVListen, you know, Hugh, it's an important point. And the question is, who is going to prosecute Hillary Clinton? The Obama White House seems to have in interest, the Justice Department seems to have no interest. I think it's time to put a former federal prosecutor on the same stage as Hillary Clinton. And I will prosecute her during those debates on that stage for the record we're talking about here. The fact she had a private email server in her basement, using national security secrets running through it, could have been hacked by the Russians, the Chinese, or two 18-year-olds on a toot (ph) wanting to have some fun. No one is answering that question from the Hillary Clinton campaign... +p4031 +aVYou know why? Because she knows she's wrong, and she cannot look in the mirror at herself, and she cannot tell the American people the truth. +p4032 +aVWell, Jake, I was named U.S. attorney by President Bush on September 10th, 2001. And that next day my wife Mary Pat did what she did every day, she traveled through the World Trade Center and went to her office two blocks from the World Trade Center. And after those planes hit, for five-and-a-half-hours after that, I couldn't reach her, didn't know whether she was dead or alive, and we had three children at the time, 8, 5 and 1. And I had to confront what so many thousands of others in my region had to confront, the idea I might become a single parent, the idea that my life and my children's life might be changed forever. We lost friends that day. We went to the funerals. And I will tell you that what those people wanted and what they deserved was for America to answer back against what had been done to them. And I support what President Bush did at that time, going into Afghanistan, hunting al Qaeda and its leaders, getting its sanctuary out of place, and making it as difficult around the world for them to move people and money. And then he went to prosecutors like us, and he said, never again. Don't prosecute these people after the crime is committed. Intervene before the crime happens. I absolutely believe that what the president did at the time was right. And I am proud to have been one of the people on the stage who was part of making sure that what Governor Bush said before was the truth. America was safe for those seven years and Barack Obama has taken that safety away from us. +p4033 +aVLet me say this, Jake, is that while that may have been a fine idea that Dr. Carson had, these people were out to kill us. I stood in that region with my family, and every time a plane went overhead in the weeks after that, people's heads jerked to the sky because they thought it was happening again. You do not need to go through subtle diplomacy at that point. That could be handled later on. What you need is a strong American leader who will take the steps that are necessary to protect our nation. That's what I would do as commander-in-chief in this circumstance. And that's what President George W. Bush did in 2001. +p4034 +aVJake, you brought my issue up. +p4035 +aVYou know, I enjoy the interplay. Thank you, gentlemen. I'll just say this, first off, New Jersey is the first state in the nation that now says if you are non-violent, non-dealing drug user, that you don't go to jail for your first offense. You go to mandatory treatment. You see, Jake, I'm pro-life. And I think you need to be pro-life for more than just the time in the womb. It gets tougher when they get out of the womb. And when they're the 16-year-old drug addict in the Florida county lockup, that life is just as precious as the life in the womb. And so, that's why I'm for rehabilitation, why I think the war on drugs has been a failure. But I'll end with this. That doesn't mean we should be legalizing gate way drugs. And if Senator Paul thinks that the only victim is the person, look at the decrease in productivity, look at the way people get used and move on to other drugs when they use marijuana as a gateway drug, it is not them that are the only victims. Their families are the victims too, their children are the victims too, and their employers are the victims also. That's why I'll enforce the federal law, while you can still put an emphasis on rehabilitation, which we've done in New Jersey. +p4036 +aVAnd Senator Paul knows that that's simply not the truth. In New Jersey, we have medical marijuana laws, which I supported and implemented. This is not medical marijuana. There's goes as much \u2014 a further step beyond. This is recreational use of marijuana. This is much different. And so, while he would like to use a sympathetic story to back up his point, it doesn't work. I'm not against medical marijuana. We do it in New Jersey. But I'm against the recreational use against marijuana. If he wants to change the federal law, get Congress to pass the law to change it, and get a president to sign it. +p4037 +aVNo, it's not. But with Donald, it's a good start. That's really good. No, listen. This is an issue that \u2014 that we've gotta talk about, and we haven't talked about yet. 71 percent of all federal spending is on entitlements and debt service. When John Kennedy was elected president in 1960, it was 26 percent. Harvard and Dartmouth says that Social Security's going to go insolvent in seven to eight years. So what I say is very simple. We need to save this program for the good people out there who have paid into the system and need it. And if that means making sure that folks like Donald and many of us on the stage don't get it, that's the right thing to do because here's what Hillary Clinton is going to want to do. She's going to want to put more money into a system that has already lied to us and stolen from us. This government doesn't need more money to make Social Security solvent. We need to be not paying out benefits to people who don't really need it. We need to protect the people who Social Security means the difference between picking between heat and rent and food. That's why I put out the proposal and that's the people I'm trying to... +p4038 +aVI don't think Senator Rubio is a skeptic of climate change. I think what Senator Rubio said I agree with. That in fact we don't need this massive government intervention to deal with the problem. Look at what we have done in New Jersey. We have already reached our clean air goals for 2020. And when I was governor, I pulled out of the regional cap and trade deal, the only state in the Northeast that did that. And we still reached our goals. Why? Because 53 percent of our electricity comes from nuclear. We use natural gas. We use solar power. We're the third-highest- using solar power state. You know why? Because we made all of those things economically feasible. I agree with Marco. We shouldn't be destroying our economy in order to chase some wild left-wing idea that somehow us by ourselves is going to fix the climate. We can contribute to that and be economically sound. We have proven we can do that in New Jersey. Nuclear needs to be back on the table in a significant way in this country if we want to go after this problem. +p4039 +aVI understand. No, no, listen, everybody makes a mistake every once in a while, Jake, even George Shultz. And if that's truly a representation of what he believes we should be doing, then with all due respect to the former secretary of state, I disagree with him. +p4040 +aVI think the Adams family has been shorted in the currency business. Our country wouldn't be here without John Adams, and he would not have been able to do it without Abigal Adams, so, I'd put Abigail Adams on the bill. +p4041 +aVYou know, I've been called a lot of names by a lot of different people, and now I got to get called by names by the Secret Service? I would just say True Heart. +p4042 +aVI turned 18 in 1980, and my first vote was for Ronald Reagan. Boy, am I glad I did it. And I think the country is, too. A Christie presidency won't be about me. It will be about you. Tonight, you sit at home in your living room, frustrated that you play by the rules, you pay the taxes, you do the hard things to raise your family, yet you feel like America's generosity is being taken advantage of. That you've been \u2014 system is being gamed, and that you're turning out to fall further and further behind. Our presidency \u2014 our presidency \u2014 will be about ending that, about enforcing the law, level the playing field for everybody, and once again reward those folks who play by the rules, and think that justice means more than just the word. But it means a way of life. And I will tell you this, around the world, I will not shake hands with, I will not meet with, and I will not agree to anything with a country that says death to us and death to Israel and holds our hostages while we sign agreements with them. It will be an America that be strong and resolute, and will once again be able to stick out its chest and say, "we truly are the greatest nation in the world, because we live our lives that way, each and every day." +p4043 +aVIf you think it's bad now, you should've seen it when I got there. The fact is -- the fact is, in the eight years before I became governor, taxes and fees were raised at the state level 115 times. In the eight years before I became governor, spending was increased 56 percent. And in the eight years before I become governor, taxes and fees were raised at the state level 115 times. In the eight years before I became Governor, spending was increased 56 percent, and in the eight years before I became governor, there was zero net private sector job growth in New Jersey. Zero. For eight years. So, what did we do? We came in, we balanced an $11 billion deficit on a $29 billion budget by cutting over 800 programs in the state budget. We brought the budget into balance with no tax increases. In fact, we vetoed five income tax increases during my time as governor. We cut business taxes $2.3 billion, and we cut regulation by one-third of what my predecessor put in place. And, what's happened since? A hundred ninety-two thousand private sector jobs in the five and a half years I've been governor. We have a lot of work to do in New Jersey, but I am darn proud we've brought our state back. +p4044 +aVYes, I do. And I'll tell you why: because I'm the only person on this stage who's actually filed applications under the Patriot Act, who has gone before the federal -- the Foreign Intelligence Service court, who has prosecuted and investigated and jailed terrorists in this country after September 11th. I was appointed U.S. attorney by President Bush on September 10th, 2001, and the world changed enormously the next day, and that happened in my state. This is not theoretical to me. I went to the funerals. We lost friends of ours in the Trade Center that day. My own wife was two blocks from the Trade Center that day, at her office, having gone through it that morning. When you actually have to be responsible for doing this, you can do it, and we did it, for seven years in my office, respecting civil liberties and protecting the homeland. And I will make no apologies, ever, for protecting the lives and the safety of the American people. We have to give more tools to our folks to be able to do that, not fewer, and then trust those people and oversee them to do it the right way. As president, that is exactly what I'll do. +p4045 +aVAnd -- and, Megyn? Megyn, that's a -- that, you know, that's a completely ridiculous answer. "I want to collect more records from terrorists, but less records from other people." How are you supposed to know, Megyn? +p4046 +aVWhat are you supposed to... +p4047 +aV...how are you supposed to -- no, I'll tell you how you, look... +p4048 +aVLet me tell you something, you go... +p4049 +aVWhen you -- you know, senator... +p4050 +aVListen, senator, you know, when you're sitting in a subcommittee, just blowing hot air about this, you can say things like that. When you're responsible for protecting the lives of the American people, then what you need to do is to make sure... +p4051 +aV...is to make sure that you use the system the way it's supposed to work. +p4052 +aVThere is no... +p4053 +aVAnd you know -- you know, Senator Paul? Senator Paul, you know, the hugs that I remember are the hugs that I gave to the families who lost their people on September 11th. Those are the hugs I remember, and those had nothing to do -- and those had nothing to do with politics, unlike what you're doing by cutting speeches on the floor of the Senate, then putting them on the Internet within half an hour to raise money for your campaign... +p4054 +aV...and while still putting our country at risk. +p4055 +aVYou know what, Megyn, can I... +p4056 +aVNo, he's not lying, he's just wrong. I mean, so, there's a difference -- I'm the only guy on this stage who's put out a detailed, 12 point plan on entitlement reform and here's why -- because 71% of federal spending right now is on entitlements, and debt service, 71%. And we have spent the last hour and five minutes talking about the other 29%, and no time on the 71%, and that makes no sense. Now, let me tell you exactly what we would do on Social Security. Yes, we'd raise the retirement age two years, and phase it in over 25 years, that means we'd raise it one month a year for 25 years when we're all living longer, and living better lives. Secondly, we would means test Social Security for those who are making over $200,000 dollars a year in retirement income, and have $4 to $5 million dollars in liquid assets saved. They don't need that Social Security check. Social Security is meant to be -- to make sure that no one who's worked hard, and played by the rules, and paid into the system grows old in poverty in America. If we don't deal with this problem, it will bankrupt our country, or lead to massive tax increases, neither one that we want in this country. +p4057 +aVChris... +p4058 +aVYeah, sure. And, I don't disagree with ending Congress' retirement program. I'm a governor, I don't have a retirement program in my state, and I don't disagree with that. But, here's the news to the American people, he's complaining about the lying and stealing. The lying and stealing has already occurred. The trust fund is filled with IOU's. We can't fix the problem just by ending Congress's retirement, that's worth about, "this" much. We need to go at the fundamental problem, and the fundamental problem is that this system is broken. It has been stolen from. We have been lied to, and we need a strong leader to tell the truth and fix... +p4059 +aVWell, listen. You know, if we want to deal with these issues, we have to deal with them in a way that makes sense. I agree with what Dr. Carson said earlier. The first thing we need to do to make America stronger is to strengthen our military, and I put out a really specific plan: no less than 500,000 active duty soldiers in the Army. No less than 185,000 active duty marines in the Marine Corps. Bring us to a 350 ship Navy again, and modernize the Ohio class of submarines, and bring our Air Force back to 2,600 aircraft that are ready to go. Those are the kind of things that are going to send a clear message around the world. Those are the things that we need to start working on immediately to make our country stronger and make it better. Those are the things that we need to be able to be doing. And as we move towards dealing with foreign aid, I don't disagree with Senator Paul's position that we shouldn't be funding our enemies. But I absolutely believe that Israel is a priority to be able to fund and keep them strong and safe after eight years of this administration. +p4060 +aVWell, thank you, Megyn. Listen, I was born into a middle class family in New Jersey. My dad came home from serving in the Army after having lost his father, worked in the Breyers ice cream plant in Newark, New Jersey. Was the first person to graduate from college. He put himself through college at night. My mom was a secretary. I was appointed United States attorney on September 10, 2001. And I spent the next seven years of my career fighting terrorism and putting terrorists in jail. I'm a conservative, pro-life governor in a state where it is really tough to be both. A state like New Jersey, with lots of Democrats, but still we cut taxes, we balanced budgets. We fought the teacher's union. This president has had weak leadership, which has led to bad choices. We have got to stop worrying about being loved and start worrying about being respected. And that's exactly how I'll lead our country. +p4061 +aVWell, first I want to share a story with you that relates to your question. I was in New Hampshire last week, and a woman approached me after the town hall meeting and she said to me, "Governor, I'm really concerned." I said, "What are your concerns?" And, she said, "I don't quite how to describe it," she said. "But, every month when my bills come in, I feel this awful anxiety in the pit of my stomach that I'm not going to have enough to pay them that month." There are tens of millions of Americans living that way after the worst recovery from an economic recession since World War II. And, let's be clear, if we do not change course, if we follow the President's lead, and that's exactly what Secretary Clinton will do, we're going to be in the same circumstance \u2014 with government picking the winners and losers. So, let me be clear about what we'll do. First, Make the tax code fairer, flatter, and simplier. Get rid of all the special interest deductions. You know, the American people feel like the tax code is rigged for the rich, and you know why they feel that way? Because it is. We'll get rid of all those special interest deductions except for the home mortgage interest deduction, and the charitable contribution deduction. Everyone will get lower rates, keep more of their own money, be able to file their tax returns in 15 minutes, and, by the way, the good thing, I'll be able to fire a whole bunch of IRS agents once we do that. And, in addition, we need to get the government off of our backs. Dodd-Frank, all the different regulations, 81,000 pages of new regulation by this administration just last year \u2014 it is suffocating small business, it is suffocating the folks who are trying to make a living. I will do what I did in New Jersey......lift if off their backs. +p4062 +aVYes, sure. If anybody believes the stuff they heard from that Democratic debate a few weeks ago, there's nothing for free. What they forgot to tell was that they're going to raise your tax rates to 70 or 80 percent in order to provide all of that stuff. But let me ask the folks at home one very simple question, do you want to give Washington more control over your life? Do you think they're doing such a great job that now let's have them control what our corporations pay their employees? Let's have them control every aspect of our economy? Is Washington doing that good a job for you right now? And the fact is that if you listen to Hillary Clinton, she has made it very clear, she believes that she can make decisions for you better than you can make them for yourself. She believes that Washington, D.C., should pick the winners and losers in our economy, and in our life. And here's what I believe as a Republican, I believe the greatness of America is not in its government. The greatness of America is in the American people. And what we need to do is get the government the hell out of the way and let the American people win once again. +p4063 +aVFirst off, let me, let me just say this in response to this back and forth. For the people who are out there right now, I want to guarantee you one thing real clearly. If you think that Mike Huckabee won't be the kind of President who will cut back spending, or Chris Christie, or John Kasich, wait 'til you see what Hillary Clinton will do to this country and how she will drown us in debt. She is the real adversary tonight and we'd better stay focused as Republicans on her. Now I've forward, I put forward an entitlement reform plan. We spend 71 cents of every dollar in America on entitlements and debt service, and if \u2014 you know, Willy Sutton used to say, when they asked him why he robbed banks, he said that's 'cause that's where the money is, OK? And where the money is in the federal government are these entitlement programs and debt service. What I've said is we need to get a hold of that. We cannot continue to go down the $19 trillion in debt. So our plan will save over $1 trillion over the next 10 years and make sure that Social Security and Medicare are there for those who truly need it and also make sure that we have money to be able to reduce taxes and spend on the things we need to spend. I will also, on my first day as \u2014 as president, sign a executive order that says no more regulation for the next 120 days by any government agency or department. We are drowning in regulations. Stop and then we'll go out there and we'll cut and reduce regulation that small business owners across this country want us to do. You'll grow the economy then. More money will come into the system and we'll get more closer to balance. But the bottom line is, believe me, Hillary Clinton's coming for your wallet, everybody. Don't worry about Huckabee or Jindal, worry about her. +p4064 +aVWell, let's start with this, remember why we're in the position we're in with China, because an absolutely weak and feckless foreign policy that was engineered by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. That's why we're in the position we're in......because the Chinese......the Chinese don't take us seriously and why should they? Why should they? They hacked into the American government's personnel file and took millions of records in cyberwarfare against this country. I'm one of the victims of that hack. They took my Social Security number, my fingerprints as a former United States attorney that was on file in there. And what has this president done? Not one thing. Let me be really clear about what I would do. If the Chinese commit cyberwarfare against us, they are going to see cyberwarfare like they have never seen before. And that is a closed society in China......where they're hiding information from their own people. The information we take, we'll make sure all the Chinese people see it. Then they'll have some real fun in Beijing when we start showing them how they're spending their money in China. And one last thing. One last thing. I will tell you this, they're building those artificial islands in the South China Sea and the president won't \u2014 up until recently, wouldn't sail a ship within 12 miles or fly a plane over it. I'll tell you this, the first thing I'll do with the Chinese is I'll throw \u2014 I'll fly Air Force One over those islands. They'll know we mean business. +p4065 +aVI'll tell you, Gerry, it's interesting, if you go to New Jersey, they'll call me lots of different things. A liberal is not one of them. Um, and......I would say this. I have great respect for Bobby's record in Louisiana. I think he's been a wonderful governor and I think he's provided outstanding leadership for that state and I respect him for what he's done. And I think that all of us deserve that same level of respect. And my point is this. You know, the differences between me and Bobby Jindal, we can talk about those, and obviously, Bobby wants to spent a lot of time tonight talking about that. I'll tell you what I want to talk about. I want to talk about what's going to happen to this country if we have another four years of Barack Obama's policies. And by the way, it will be even worse, because Hillary Clinton is running so far to the left to treaty to catch up to her socialist opponent, Bernie Sanders, it's hard to even see her anymore. The fact is \u2014 the fact is that we'd better be focused on it. And I'll tell you what I'll bring to the table, the fact that I've won in a blue state, that I've won in a state that has 750,000 more Democrats than Republicans......that I won in a state for reelection after governing as a pro-life conservative......and got 61 percent of the vote. That's the person you want on the stage prosecuting the case against Hillary Clinton. +p4066 +aVI don't... +p4067 +aV..Let me... +p4068 +aV...Let me just... +p4069 +aV...Sure. It's interesting. I complimented Bobby, imagine how much time he'd want if I actually criticized him. You know, the fact is, he's done \u2014 done a nice job down in Louisiana, and I don't have any problem with the job he's done. I've cut spending $2 billion dollars, except for our pension and health care in New Jersey, which was driven predominantly by Obamacare. We have reduce the number of employees we have on the state payroll by 15%, but, you know what? The people out there don't care about any of that. You know what they care about? They care about who's going to be able to beat Hillary Clinton......Who's going to keep their eye on the ball? I'm going to keep my eye on the ball. +p4070 +aVYeah, listen. We stopped Obamacare in New Jersey because we refused to participate in the federal exchange. But, here's the bigger issue. What do you think's going to happen when Hillary Clinton's elected president of the United States? The woman who tried to impose healthcare on this country over 20 years ago? And, she was stopped then by a strong group of republicans, and an American public that said, "No, thank you." What she will do \u2014 what she will do is move us towards a single payer system. She will completely nationalize the federal health care system. That's what she wanted to do 20 years ago, and I guarantee you that's what she'll do if you give her the keys to the White House one more time. The fact is we need someone who knows how to beat democrats, who knows how to beat democrats in a democratic area. I've done it twice as governor of New Jersey, and Hillary Clinton doesn't want one minute on that stage with me next September when I'm debating her, and prosecuting her for her vision for America... +p4071 +aVI'll continue in the pattern and just say... And just say this to everybody, since it seems to be an open question. I'll tell you the thing that disturbs me the most about what's going on with the Democratic Party in Washington, that they're not standing behind our police officers across this country. That they're allowing lawlessness... That they're allowing lawlessness to reign in this country. I spent seven years of my life in law enforcement, here's what every law enforcement, 700,000, should know tonight. When President Christie is in the Oval Office, I'll have your back. +p4072 +aVYes. You know, our tax plan puts forward a highest rate of 28 percent for those who are doing the most and making the most in this country and 8 percent on the low end. And I agree with Senator Santorum, we get rid of all of the deductions and loopholes, except for the home mortgage interest deduction and the charitable contribution deduction. That means getting rid of the state and local income tax deduction, as well, because that will put more pressure on governors and on local officials not to keep raising those taxes, saying we can deduct them. And so ours will be 28 on the high end, 8 on the low end. And I will tell you one other thing. Americans for Tax Reform came out with a report six weeks ago and said I vetoed more tax increases than any governor in American history. I will do exactly the same thing as president of the United States. +p4073 +aVGerry, this has been the most political Federal Reserve I've seen in my lifetime. Now, when they first cut interest rates during the economic recession and the crisis, that was the right thing to do. But they've kept those interest rates artificially low for one reason, and one reason only. Because they're trying to politically support Barack Obama and his agenda. And it's been wrong. And what it's done, in an administration where the President has talked about income inequality, he's had more income inequality in this administration than any previous administration. The middle class is doing worse than it's ever done before. And the investor class, the wealthy, are doing even better because of this cheap money from the Fed. And here's the worst part, we had one and a half percent GDP growth last quarter. If we slide back towards a recession, you cannot lower interest rates below zero. Where are we going to go if we need help if the economy slides back into recession? And with this government- controlled economy that Barack Obama, we're moving right towards it. The Fed should be audited and the Fed should stop playing politics with our money supply. That's what they've done. It's been the wrong thing to do. It's hurting the American economy. And......let me......let me add one other thing on this. Be very aware now, because what Hillary Clinton is talking about doing, if she's president of the United States, is to make sure that the government gets even more involved in the economy, even more involved in making choices for everybody. You do not want that to happen. You need someone who's going to stand up on that stage and prosecute the case against her and prosecute it strong. That's what I'll do. +p4074 +aVThe way to reconnect Americans to the men and women in uniform is to first, and foremost, give them a Commander in Chief who respects the military, and respects everyone who wears the uniform. Starts at the top there... And Secretary Clinton says, there's no crisis at the V.A.. That send a long, and hard message to our veterans that she doesn't get it, and she doesn't respect their service. When the President of the United States doesn't back up law enforcement officers in uniform, he loses the moral authority to any man or woman who is uniform. I spent seven years in law enforcement......I respect these folks, and I will do so as Commander in Chief of the military. +p4075 +aVI want to tell the American people who are watching tonight the truth. I saw the most disgraceful thing I've seen in this entire campaign a few weeks ago. Hillary Clinton was asked the enemy she's most proud of, and she said, "Republicans". In a world where we have Al-Qaeda, and +p4076 +asVCARSON +p4077 +(lp4078 +VThank you, Wolf. Please join me for a moment of silence and remembrance of the San Bernardino victims. Thank you. You know, our country since its inception has been at war, every 15 or 20 years. But the war that we are fighting now against radical Islamist jihadists is one that we must win. Our very existence is dependent upon that. You know, as a pediatric neurosurgeon, I frequently faced life and death situations, and had to come up with the right diagnosis, the right plan, and execute that plan frequently with other colleagues. Right now, the United States of America is the patient. And the patient is in critical condition and will not be cured by political correctness and will not be cured by timidity. And I am asking the Congress, which represents the people, to declare a war on +p4079 +aVFirst of all, let me just complain a little bit. This is the first time I've spoken and several people have had multiple questions so please try to pay attention to that. Now, as far as monitoring is concerned, what my point is, we need to make sure that any place \u2013 I don't care whether it's a mosque, a school, a supermarket, a theater, you know it doesn't matter. If there are a lot of people getting there and engaging in radicalizing activities then we need to be suspicious of it. We have to get rid of all this PC stuff. And people are worried about if somebody's going to say that I'm Islamophobic or what have you. This is craziness because we are at war. That's why I asked congress, go ahead and declare the war . We need to be on a war footing. We need to understand that our nation is in grave danger. You know, what the Muslim Brotherhood said in the explanatory memorandum that was discovered during the Holy Land Foundation Trial was that, "they will take advantage of our PC attitude to get us. :" We have to be better than this. We have to be smarter than they are. +p4080 +aVI think you have to ask them about that. I don't want to get in between them. Let them fight. +p4081 +aVNeurosurgeon. +p4082 +aVWell, interestingly enough, you should see the eyes of some of those children when I say to them we're going to have to open your head up and take out this tumor. They're not happy about it, believe me. And they don't like me very much at that point. But later on, they love me. Sometimes you \u2014 I sound like him. You know, later on, you know, they really realize what's going on. And by the same token, you have to be able to look at the big picture and understand that it's actually merciful if you go ahead and finish the job, rather than death by 1,000 pricks. +p4083 +aVYou got it. You got it. +p4084 +aVRuthless is not necessarily the word I would use, but tough, resolute, understanding what the problems are, and understanding that the job of the president of the United States is to protect the people of this country and to do what is necessary in order to get it done. +p4085 +aVFirst of all, I've been talking about this for over a year. We have to destroy their caliphate because that gives them legitimacy to go ahead with the global Jihad. We have to take their energy because they are \u2014 +p4086 +aVNo one is ever better off with dictators but there comes a time you know, when you're on an airplane, they always say, "in case of an emergency oxygen masks will drop down. Put yours on first and then administer help to your neighbor." We need oxygen right now. And we need to start thinking about the needs of the American people before we go and solve everybody else's problems. The fact of the matter is, is that the Middle East has been in turmoil for thousands of years. For us to think that we're going to in there and fix that with a couple of little bombs and a few little decorations is relatively foolish. +p4087 +aVWell, you know, there's a false narrative that only the political class has the wisdom and the ability to be commander-in- chief. But if you go back and you study the design of our country, it was really designed for the citizen statesman. And we need to be talking about where does your experience come from? You know, and I've had a lot of experience building things, organizing things, you know, a national scholarship program. One of the things that you'll notice if you look through my life is that I don't do a lot of talking. I do a lot of doing. And really, it says more about a person than how much they talk. And then some people say you're weak because, you know, you're not loud and you're not boisterous and you're not rude. But the fact of the matter is, look and see what I've done. And that speaks volumes about strength. +p4088 +aVWell, it was very interesting having an opportunity to talk to the Syrians themselves. And I asked them: What do you want? What is your supreme desire? Their supreme desire was to be settled back in their own country. I said, "What can Americans and other countries do?" They said, "Support the efforts of those who are trying to provide safety for us, including the Jordanians." Of course, they had a brand new hospital, for instance, that was unstaffed because there wasn't enough money to do it. But here's what's really neat. If you go into Hasakah province in northeast Syria, that's an area that's as big as Lebanon. It's controlled by the Kurds, the Christians and the moderate Sunnis. And there are airstrips and hotels. You could settle a lot of people there. All we would have to do is be willing to provide them with some weaponry, some defensive weaponry. And we seem to be afraid to give the Kurds weaponry. We like to send it for some strange reason through Baghdad, and then they only get a tenth of it. And if we would support them, we'd have a perfect ideal there. We don't need to set this up as we either take a bunch of refugees who will be infiltrated with terrorists, I guarantee you. For them not to be would be terrorist malpractice. And we need to \u2014 to choose the right choice, not these false choices. +p4089 +aVWell, I definitely believe that he is unstable, and I do, in fact, believe that China has a lot more influence with him than we do. But we also recognize that North Korea is in severe financial straits, and they have decided to use their resources to build their military, rather than to feed their people and to take care of the various humanitarian responsibilities that they have. We can capitalize upon that. You know, we should use our economic power in lots of different ways. I think we can use that in order to keep Putin contained, because he is a one-horse show. Energy. And we have an abundance of energy, but we have archaic energy exportation rules. We need to get rid of those, allow ourselves to really make Europe dependent on us and other parts of the world dependent on us for energy. Put him back in his little box where he belongs. And, you know, we need to be doing lots of other things with the resources that we have. So economic power works just as well as military power, perhaps even better. And speaking of that, our Military needs to be upgraded. You know, you look at things like our Ohio Class submarines, they're 25 years old. Our minuteman 3 missiles \u2014 they are 34 years old. Our B-52 bombers \u2014 50 years old. You know, if we don't get the military right nothing else matters. +p4090 +aVWell, you know, the statement that I made last week, that I would leave the party was contingent upon whether in fact the party acts like they have in the past with a lot of subterfuge and dishonesty, or like they're going act now because I spike to Reince Priebus, and he assured me that the Washington Post writer had it all wrong, and that they're not be engaging in anything to thwart the will of the people. That's why I got into this race, as a member of we the people, to try bring some honesty and integrity back to the process. +p4091 +aVI've been fortunate enough to travel to 58 different countries and I thank God everyday that I was born in this country. The most exceptional country that the world has ever known. And I want to make sure that we preserve that exceptionalism for the next generation. My mother told me if I work hard and I really believed in American principles and I believed in God, anything is possible. I believe that is true, and that's why I'm not anxious to give away American values and principles for the sake of political correctness. +p4092 +aVWell, first of all, delighted to be here. My family's here, and my little granddaughter, who's three years old, said she wanted to come to the debate. So this is very cool. As far as the minimum wage is concerned, people need to be educated on the minimum wage. Every time we raise the minimum wage, the number of jobless people increases. It's particularly a problem in the black community. Only 19.8 percent of black teenagers have a job, who are looking for one. You know, that \u2014 and that's because of those high wages. If you lower those wages, that comes down. You know, I can remember, as a youngster \u2014 you know, my first job working in a laboratory as a lab assistant, and multiple other jobs. But I would not have gotten those jobs if someone had to pay me a large amount of money. But what I did gain from those jobs is a tremendous amount of experience, and how to operate in the world and how to relate to different people, and how to become a responsible individual. And that's what gave me what I needed to ascend the ladder of opportunity in this country. That's what we need to be thinking about. How do we allow people to ascend the ladder of opportunity, rather than how do we give them everything and keep them dependent? +p4093 +aVI would not raise it. I would not raise it, specifically because I'm interested in making sure that people are able to enter the job market and take advantage of opportunities. +p4094 +aVWell, first of all, thank you not asking me what I said in the 10th grade. I appreciate that. +p4095 +aVThe fact of the matter is, you know, what \u2014 we should vet all candidates. I have no problem with being vetted. What I do have a problem with is being lied about and then putting that out there as truth. And I don't even mind that so much, if they do it about \u2014 with everybody, like people on the other side. But, you know, when I look at somebody like Hillary Clinton, who sits there and tells her daughter and a government official that no, this was a terrorist attack, and then tells everybody else that it was a video. Where I came from, they call that a lie. And... I think that's very different from, you know, somebody misinterpreting, when I said that I was offered a scholarship to West Point, that is the words that they used. But, I've had many people come and say the same thing to me. That is what people do in those situations. We have to start treating people the same, and finding out what people really think and what they're made of. People who know me know that I'm an honest person. +p4096 +aVWell, you know, when I say tithing, I'm talking about the concept of proportionality. +p4097 +aVEverybody should pay the same proportion of what they make. You make $10 billion, you pay a billion. You make $10, you pay one. You get same rights and privileges. I don't see how anything gets a whole lot fairer than that. But you also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes because that is the thing that tilts it in one direction or another. And you have to set the rate at an appropriate level. Now I will say that, there are a lot of people who say, if you get rid of the deductions, you ruin the American dream because, you know, home mortgage deduction. But the fact of the matter is, people had homes before 1913 when we introduced the federal income tax, and later after that started deductions. And they say there will be no more charitable giving. We had churches before that and charitable organizations before that. The fact of the matter is, I believe if you put more money in people's pockets that they will actually be more generous rather than less generous. And it's... ... the money that they earned. And, the other thing is, I do care about the poor people. And in the system that we're putting together, there will be a rebate for people at the poverty level. But I also want to emphasize the fact that as we get the economy moving, and I hope I get a question about how do we get the economy moving, there will be a lot more opportunities for poor people not to be poor people because this is America. This is the land of dreams. And our policies should be aimed at allowing people to realize that dream. +p4098 +aVWell, putting the special ops people in there is better than not having them there, because they \u2014 that's why they're called special ops, they're actually able to guide some of the other things that we're doing there. And what we have to recognize is that Putin is trying to really spread his influence throughout the Middle East. This is going to be his base. And we have to oppose him there in an effective way. We also must recognize that it's a very complex place. You know, the Chinese are there, as well as the Russians, and you have all kinds of factions there. What we've been doing so far is very ineffective, but we can't give up ground right there. But we have to look at this on a much more global scale. We're talking about global jihadists. And their desire is to destroy us and to destroy our way of life. So we have to be saying, how do we make them look like losers? Because that's the way that they're able to gather a lot of influence. And I think in order to make them look like losers, we have to destroy their caliphate. And you look for the easiest place to do that? It would be in Iraq. And if \u2014 outside of Anbar in Iraq, there's a big energy field. Take that from them. Take all of that land from them. We could do that, I believe, fairly easily, I've learned from talking to several generals, and then you move on from there. But you have to continue to face them, because our goal is not to contain them, but to destroy them before they destroy us. +p4099 +aVWell, I think we should have policies that don't allow them to just enlarge themselves at the expense of smaller entities. And certainly some of the policies, some of the monetary and Fed policies that we're using makes it very easy for them, makes it very easy for the big corporations, quite frankly, at these very low interest rates to buy back their stock and to drive the price of that up artificially. Those are the kinds of things that led to the problem in the first place. And I think this all really gets back to this whole regulation issue which is creating a very abnormal situation. This country was \u2014 declared its independence in 1776. In less than 100 years, it was the number-one economic power in the world. And the reason was because we had an atmosphere that encouraged entrepreneurial risk- taking and capital investment. Those are the fuels that drive it. And what we've done now is let the creep of regulation turn into a stampede of regulations, which is involved in every aspect of our lives. If we can get that out, it makes a big difference. And even for the average person, every single regulation costs money. And it's shifted to the individual. So \u2014 and it hurts the poor and the middle class much more than it does the rich. They go into the store and they buy a bar of soap, it costs 10 cents more, they notice it. And the middle class, when they come to the cash register, have a whole cart full of things that cost 5, 10 or 15 cents more, they notice it. It is hurting the poor. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton won't tell you that that's the thing that's really hurting middle class in the core. They'll say it's the rich, take their money, but that won't help. You can take all of the rich's money and it won't make a dent in the problem that we're having. We have to come back to the fundamental principles that made America great. +p4100 +aVI would have policies that wouldn't allow that to occur. I don't want to go in and tear anybody down. I mean, that doesn't help us. But what does help us is stop tinkering around the edges and fix the actual problems that exist that are creating the problem in the first place. +p4101 +aVIn the two hours of this \u2014 of this debate, five people have died from drug-related deaths, $100 million has been added to our national debt, 200 babies have been killed by abortionists, and two veterans have taken their lives out of despair. This is a narrative that we can change, not we the Democrats, not we the Republicans, but we the people of America, because there is something special about this nation, and we must embrace it and be proud of it and never give it away for the sake of political correctness. +p4102 +aVProbably in terms of the applying for the job of president, a weakness would be not really seeing myself in that position until hundreds of thousands of people began to tell me that I needed to do it. I do, however, believe in Reagan's 11th commandment, and will not be engaging in awful things about my compatriots here. And recognizing that it's so important, this election, because we're talking about America for the people versus America for the government. +p4103 +aVWell, first of all, I didn't say that the rate would be 10 percent. I used the tithing analogy. +p4104 +aVThe rate \u2014 the rate \u2014 the rate is gonna be much closer to 15 percent. +p4105 +aVYou also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes. You also have to some strategically cutting in several places. Remember, we have 645 federal agencies and sub-agencies. Anybody who tells me that we need every penny and every one of those is in a fantasy world. So, also, we can stimulate the economy. That's gonna be the real growth engine. Stimulating the economy \u2014 because it's tethered down right now with so many regulations... +p4106 +aVThat's not true. +p4107 +aVWhen \u2014 when we put all the facts down, you'll be able to see that it's not true, it works out very well. +p4108 +aVSince I was attacked too. +p4109 +aVLet me just say, if you're talking about an $18 trillion economy, you're talking about a 15 percent tax on your gross domestic product. You're talking about $2.7 trillion. We have a budget closer to $3.5 trillion. But if you also apply that same 15 percent to several other things, including corporate taxes, and including the capital gains taxes, you make that amount up pretty quickly. So that is not by any stretch a pie in the sky. +p4110 +aVWell, there is no question that some people go overboard when it comes to trying to make profits, and they don't take into consideration the American people. What we have to start thinking about, as leaders, particularly in government, is what can we do for the average American? And you think about the reasons that we're having such difficulty right now with our job market. Well, the average small manufacturer, whatever they're manufacturing, drugs or anything, if they have less than 50 employees, the average cost in terms of regulations is $34,000 per employee. Makes it a whole lot easier for them to want to go somewhere else. So what we're going to have to start doing instead of, you know, picking on this group or this group, is we're going to have to have a major reduction in the regulatory influence that is going on. The government is not supposed to be in every part of our lives, and that is what is causing the problem. +p4111 +aVWell, obviously, you don't understand my views on homosexuality. I believe that our Constitution protects everybody, regardless of their sexual orientation or any other aspect. I also believe that marriage is between one man and one woman. And there is no reason that you can't be perfectly fair to the gay community. They shouldn't automatically assume that because you believe that marriage is between one man and one woman that you are a homophobe. And this is one of the myths that the left perpetrates on our society, and this is how they frighten people and get people to shut up. You know, that's what the PC culture is all about, and it's destroying this nation. The fact of the matter is we the American people are not each other's enemies, it's those people who are trying to divide us who are the enemies. And we need to make that very clear to everybody. +p4112 +aVWell, that's easy to answer. I didn't have an involvement with them. That is total propaganda, and this is what happens in our society. Total propaganda. I did a couple of speeches for them, I do speeches for other people. They were paid speeches. It is absolutely absurd to say that I had any kind of a relationship with them. Do I take the product? Yes. I think it's a good product. +p4113 +aVIf somebody put me on their homepage, they did it without my permission. +p4114 +aVNo, it speaks to the fact that I don't know those \u2014 See? They know. +p4115 +aVWell, first of all, I was wrong about taking the oil subsidy. I have studied that issue in great detail. And what I have concluded is that the best policy is to get rid of all government subsidies, and get the government out of our lives, and let people rise and fall based on how good they are. And \u2014 you know, all of this too big to fail stuff and picking and choosing winners and losers \u2014 this is a bunch of crap, and it is really causing a great deal of \u2014 great deal of problems for our society right now. And \u2014 and \u2014 you know, it goes back to the whole concept of regulations, which are in everything. The reason that I \u2014 I hate them so much is because every single regulation costs in terms of goods and services. That cost gets passed on to the people. Now, who are the people who are hurt by that? It's poor people and middle class. Doesn't hurt rich people if their bar of soap goes up ten cents, but it hurts the poor and the middle class. And Bernie Sanders will tell them that it's because of the rich. Well, I'll tell you something: you can take everything from the top 1 percent, and you apply it to our fiscal gap, and you won't even make a dent in it. +p4116 +aVAbout Medicare? +p4117 +aVWell, first of all the \u2014 the plan gives people the option of \u2014 of opting out. But I think they will see a very good option here. You know, the annual Medicare budget is over $600 billion. And there are 48 million people involved \u2014 40 million, 65 and over, and 8 million other. Divide that out. That comes out to $12,500 for each one. Now, I can tell you there are a lot of private-sector things that you could do with $12,500, which will get you a lot more than you get from this government program. And that's really a theme of a lot of the things that I'm talking about. How do we utilize our intellect rather than allowing the government to use its, quote, "intellect," in order to help us to be able to live healthier and better lives? It was never intended that the government should be in every aspect of our lives. This is a country that is of, for and by the people. +p4118 +aVI just want to thank all my colleagues here for being civil, and not falling for the traps. And, I also just want to thank the audience for being attentive, and noticing the questions, and the noticing the answers. And, this is what I am finding throughout America. People are waking up because it is going to be us who will determine the direction of our country. And, it was made for we the people, we are the ones who decide who we are, and we should never give away the values and principles that made America into a great nation for the sake of political correctness. +p4119 +aVHi, I'm Ben Carson, and I'm a retired pediatric neurosurgeon. I'm here with my wife, Candy, of 40 years, and two of my sons, and their wives. I stress the pediatric part of my career because the reason that I've gotten involved in this race is because I'm very concerned about the future of our children, and the direction of our country is one that does not portend well, unless we, the people, intervene and retake our rightful place at the pinnacle. +p4120 +aVTypically, politicians do things that are politically expedient. And they are looking for whatever their particular goal is. That is not the reason that I have gotten into this thing. I'm extraordinary concerned about the direction of this country, the divisiveness that is going on, fiscal irresponsibility, the failure to take a leadership position in the world. All of those things will lead to a situation where the next generation will not have a chance that we've had now. So I don't \u2014 I don't want to really get into describing who's a politician and who's not a politician, but I think the people have kind of made that decision for themselves already, and will continue to do so as time goes on. +p4121 +aVJake, can I say something about that? +p4122 +aVYou know, when I entered this race, all the political pundits said it's impossible; you can't do it because you're not connected with the money. And there's no way that you can raise what you need in order to compete successfully. I in no way am willing to get in the bed with special interest group or lick the boots of billionaires. I have said to the people if they want me to do this, please get involved. And we now have over 500,000 donations, and the money is coming in. But the pundits forgot about one thing, and that is the people. And they are really in charge. +p4123 +aVWell, first of all, I recognize that we have an incredible illegal immigration problem. I was down in Arizona a few weeks ago at the border. I mean, the fences that were there were not manned, and those are the kind of fences when I was a kid that would barely slow us down. So, I don't see any purpose in having that. Now, what we need to do is look at something that actually works. Yuma County, Arizona. They stop 97 percent of the illegal immigrants through there. They put in a double fence with a road so that there was quick access by the enforcement people. If we don't seal the border, the rest of this stuff clearly doesn't matter. It's kind of ridiculous all the other things we talk about. We have the ability to do it, we don't have the will to do it. There was one area where they had cut a hole in the fence, and to repair it, they put a few strands of barb wire across. Well, the photographers who were there with us, they wanted to photograph us from the side of the Mexicans, and they went through there, and they were not physically fit people, and they took their cameras and things with them, and shot us from the other side. That's how easy it is to get across. And, the drugs, I mean, it goes on, and on, and on. ICE tells them to release these people, 67,000 criminals released... +p4124 +aV...on to our property, it's ridiculous. +p4125 +aVWell, I have also said, if anybody knows how to do that, that I would be willing to listen. And, if they can, you know, specify exactly how that's going to be done, and what the cost, and it sounds reasonable, then I think it's worth discussing... +p4126 +aVNot exactly what I said. +p4127 +aVWell, what I said, after we seal the borders, after we turn off the spigot that dispenses all the goodies so we don't have people coming in here, including employment, that people who had a pristine record, we should consider allowing them to become guest workers, primarily in the agricultural sphere, because that's the place where Americans don't seem to want to work. That's what I said. And they have a six-month period to do that. If they don't do it within that time period, then they become illegal, and as illegals, they will be treated as such. +p4128 +aVCan I \u2014 can I \u2014 can I just... +p4129 +aVCan I correct... +p4130 +aVOK. +p4131 +aVMy plan is not amnesty for a number of reasons. Number one, you know, I've talked to farmers, and they said they cannot hire Americans to do the kind of job that I'm talking about. And the second reason is because the individuals who register as guest workers, they don't get to vote, they are not American citizens, and they don't get the rights and privileges of American citizens. So that's key. But the other thing that I want to bring up is, I mentioned something earlier. I think it was just sort of glossed over. I talked about the success in Yuma County, I mean, incredible success, and the Department of Justice said, "No, we don't want to do that. That's too successful." We don't have to keep reinventing the wheel. All we have to do is look at things that work. All we have to do is use a little common sense. +p4132 +aVIt's all about America. You know, the people who say the guy who paid a billion dollars because he had 10, he has still got $9 billion left, that's not fair, we need to take more of his money. That's called socialism. That doesn't work so well. What made America into a great nation was the fact that we said, that guy just put in $1 billion, let's create an environment that's even more conducive to his success so that next year he can put in $2 billion. And that's the kind of thing that helps us to grow. We can't grow by continuing to take a piece of pie, and dividing it, and redistributing it. But, I'm also looking at what doctor \u2014 at what Governor Huckabee talked about... +p4133 +aVThe Fair Tax. Looking at both of them, and evaluating them both, and I'm talking to the American people because one of the things we must recognize is that this country is of, for, and by the people. And, it's really time that the government get out of the way, and let the people be the ones who decide how they want to run their country. +p4134 +aVWell, first of all, let me say what I actually said about raising the minimum wage. I was asked should it be raised, I said, probably, or possibly. But, what I added, which I think is the most important thing, so, I said we need to get both sides of this issue to sit down, and talk about it. Negotiate a reasonable minimum wage, and index that so that we never have to have this conversation again in the history of America. I think we also have to have two minimum wages, a starter, and a sustaining because how are young people ever going to get a job if you have such a high minimum wage that it makes it impractical to hire them... +p4135 +aVJake, Jake... +p4136 +aVI haven't had an opportunity to weigh in on foreign policy, and I just want to mention that when the war, when the issue occurred in 2003, I suggested to President Bush that he not go to war? OK. So I just want that on the record. And, you know, a lot of people are very much against us getting involved right now with global jihadism. And they refer back to our invasion of Iraq. And they seem to think that that was what caused it. What caused it was withdrawing from there and creating a vacuum which allowed this terrible situation to occur. But it is very different from what is going on today. We're talking about global jihadists who actually want to destroy us. They are an existential threat to our nation. And we have to be mature enough to recognize that our children will have no future if we put our heads in the sand. We have to recognize we have two choices. We either allow them the continue to progress and appear to be the winners, or we use every resource available to us to destroy... +p4137 +aV... them first. +p4138 +aVWell, recognize that, you know, President George W. Bush is a great friend of ours, and we spent many wonderful days at the White House. I haven't been there in the last seven years. I probably have to have a food-tester. But at any rate, I didn't suggest that nothing be done. What I suggested to President Bush is to be Kennedy-esque, in the sense that when the Russians got ahead of us in the space race, what we did is use the bully pulpit to galvanize everybody, business, industry, academia behind a national goal to put a man on the moon and bring him back safely. I said, you can do the same kind of thing. Declare that within five to 10 years we will become petroleum independent. The moderate Arab states would have been so concerned about that, they would have turned over Osama bin Laden and anybody else you wanted on a silver platter within two weeks. There are smart ways to do things and there are muscular ways to do things. And sometimes you have to look at both of those to come up with the right solution. +p4139 +aVI have no argument with having a strong leader, and to be aggressive where aggression is needed. But it is not needed in every circumstance. There is a time when you can use your intellect to come up with other ways to do things. And I think that's what we have to start thinking about. There is no question that a lot of these problems that we have been talking about in terms of the international situation is because we are weak. It is because our Navy is so small. It is because our Air Force is incapable of doing the same things that it did a few years ago. It's because our Marines Corps is not ready to be deployed. +p4140 +aVThere are a lot of problems that are going on, and we need to solve those problems, we need to build up our military... +p4141 +aVWell, let me put it this way, there has \u2014 there have been numerous studies, and they have not demonstrated that there is any correlation between vaccinations and autism. This was something that was spread widely 15 or 20 years ago, and it has not been adequately, you know, revealed to the public what's actually going on. Vaccines are very important. Certain ones. The ones that would prevent death or crippling. There are others, there are a multitude of vaccines which probably don't fit in that category, and there should be some discretion in those cases. But, you know, a lot of this is \u2014 is \u2014 is pushed by big government. And I think that's one of the things that people so vehemently want to get rid of, big government. You know, we have 4.1 million federal employees. Six hundred and fifty federal agencies and department (sic). That's why they have to take so much of our taxes. +p4142 +aVWell, you know, I've just explained it to him. He can read about it if he wants to. I think he's an intelligent man and will make the correct decision after getting the real facts. +p4143 +aVHe's an OK doctor. But, you know, the fact of the matter is, we have extremely well-documented proof that there's no autism associated with vaccinations. But it is true that we are probably giving way too many in too short a period of time. And a lot of pediatricians now recognize that, and, I think, are cutting down on the number and the proximity in which those are done, and I think that's appropriate. +p4144 +aVI'd put my mother on there. You know, she was one of 24 children, got married at age 13, had only a third grade education, had to raise two sons by herself, refused to be a victim. Wouldn't let us be victims, and has been an inspiration to many people. +p4145 +aVOne Nation. +p4146 +aVWell, you know, I was a radical Democrat before I started listening to Ronald Reagan. And he didn't sound like what they said Republicans were. He sounded logical. And I hope that I sound logical also. Because when I look at what is going on with the United States of America, I see a lot of things that are not logical. I see us allowing people to divide us, when in fact our strength is in our unity. I see people exercising the most irresponsible fiscal habits that anyone could possibly do. And hiding it from the American people, so that the majority of people have no idea what our financial situation is. So, when someone comes along and says, free college, free phones, free this and that, and the other, they say, "wow, that's nice," having no idea that they're destabilizing our position. And I think also that Ronald Reagan was a master at understanding that a pinnacle nation has to be a nation that leads. If we learn to lead in the Middle East right now, a coalition will form behind us, but never they do it if we just sit there and talk about it. Real leadership is what I would hopefully bring to America. +p4147 +aVWell, I could take issue with -- with all of those things, but we don't have time. But I will say, we have a debate here tonight, and we will have an opportunity to explore those areas, and I'm looking very much forward to demonstrating that, in fact, the thing that is probably most important is having a brain, and to be able to figure things out and learn things very rapidly. So, you know, experience comes from a large number of different arenas, and America became a great nation early on not because it was flooded with politicians, but because it was flooded with people who understood the value of personal responsibility, hard work, creativity, innovation, and that's what will get us on the right track now, as well. +p4148 +aVWell, thank you, Megyn, I wasn't sure I was going to get to talk again. +p4149 +aVAlright. You know, what we do in order to get the information that we need is our business, and I wouldn't necessarily be broadcasting what we're going to do. We. . .uh. . .we've gotten into this -- this mindset of fighting politically correct wars. There is no such thing as a politically correct war. And, the left, of course, will say Carson doesn't believe in the Geneva Convention. Carson doesn't believe in fighting stupid wars. And -- and what we have to remember is we want to utilize the tremendous intellect that we have in the military to win wars. And I've talked to a lot of the generals, a lot of our advanced people. And believe me, if we gave them the mission, which is what the commander-in-chief does, they would be able to carry it out. And if we don't tie their hands behind their back, they will do it......extremely effectively. +p4150 +aVWhat I agree with is that we need a significantly changed taxation system. And the one that I've advocated is based on tithing, because I think God is a pretty fair guy. And he said, you know, if you give me a tithe, it doesn't matter how much you made. If you've had a bumper crop, you don't owe me triple tithes. And if you've had no crops at all, you don't owe me no tithes. So there must be something inherently fair about that. And that's why I've advocated a proportional tax system. You make $10 billion, you pay a billion. You make $10, you pay one. And everybody gets treated the same way. And you get rid of the deductions, you get rid of all the loopholes, and... +p4151 +aVAnd I have a lot more to say about it. +p4152 +aVIf Hillary is the candidate, which I doubt, that would be a dream come true. But you know, the fact of the matter is, she is the epitome of the progressive -- the secular progressive movement. And she counts on the fact that people are uninformed, the Alinsky Model, taking advantage of useful idiots. Well, I just happen to believe that people are not stupid. And the way I will come at it is to educate people, help people to actually understand that it is that progressive movement that is causing them the problems. You know, you look at the -- the national debt and how it's being driven up. If I was trying to destroy this country, what I would do is find a way to drive wedges between all the people, drive the debt to an unsustainable level, and then step off the stage as a world leader and let our enemies increase while we decreased our capacity as a military person. And that's what she's doing. +p4153 +aVWell, what we have to stop and think about is that we have weakened ourselves militarily to such an extent that if affects all of our military policies. Our Navy is at its smallest size since 1917; our Air Force, since 1940. In recent testimony, the commandant of the Marine Corps said half of the non-deployed units were not ready and you know, the sequester is cutting the heart out of our personnel. Our generals are retiring because they don't want to be part of this, and at the same time, our enemies are increasing. Our -- our friends can't trust us anymore. You know, Ukraine was a nuclear-armed state. They gave away their nuclear arms with the understanding that we would protect them. We won't even give them offensive weapons. You know, we turned our back on Israel, our ally. You know, in a situation like that, of course Obama's not going to be able to do anything. I would shore up our military first, because if you don't get the military right, nothing else is going to work. +p4154 +aVWell, I think the bully pulpit is a wonderful place to start healing that divide. You know, we have the purveyors of hatred who take every single incident between people of two races and try to make a race war out of it, and drive wedges into people. And this does not need to be done. What we need to think about instead -- you know, I was asked by an NPR reporter once, why don't I talk about race that often. I said it's because I'm a neurosurgeon. And she thought that was a strange response. And you say -- I said, you see, when I take someone to the operating room, I'm actually operating on the thing that makes them who they are. The skin doesn't make them who they are. The hair doesn't make them who they are. And it's time for us to move beyond that. Because......our strength as a nation comes in our unity. We are the United States of America, not the divided states. And those who want to destroy us are trying to divide us, and we shouldn't let them do it. +p4155 +aVWell, I haven't said anything about me being the only one to do anything, so let me try that. I'm the only one to separate Siamese twins... The -- the only one to operate on babies while they were still in mother's womb, the only one to take out half of a brain, although you would think, if you go to Washington, that someone had beat me to it. But I -- but I'm very hopeful that I'm not the only one who's willing to pick up the baton of freedom, because freedom is not free, and we must fight for it every day. Every one of us must fight for it, because we're fighting for our children and the next generation. +p4156 +asVQUINTANILLA +p4157 +(lp4158 +VGood evening, I'm Carl Quintanilla, with my colleagues Becky Quick and John Harwood. We'll be joined tonight by some of +p4159 +aVGovernor? +p4160 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p4161 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Bush. +p4162 +aVSenator Rubio. +p4163 +aVMr. Trump? +p4164 +aVDr. Carson? +p4165 +aVMrs. Fiorina? +p4166 +aVFixed it. +p4167 +aVSenator Cruz? +p4168 +aVGovernor Christie? +p4169 +aVSenator Paul? +p4170 +aVThanks to all the candidates. John? +p4171 +aVHold it. We'll cut it back to you in just a minute. Becky's moving on. +p4172 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor. thank you, Governor. +p4173 +aVMr. Trump, 30 seconds. +p4174 +aVThank you, Governor. +p4175 +aVWe're going to try to move on. +p4176 +aVYou want to bring 70,000 pages to three? +p4177 +aVIs that using really small type? +p4178 +aVIs that using really small type? +p4179 +aVMrs. Fiorina \u2014 +p4180 +aVWe're going to \u2014 +p4181 +aVWe will come around the bend, i promise. This one is for Senator Rubio. You've been a young man in a hurry ever since you won your first election in your 20s. You've had a big accomplishment in the Senate, an immigration bill providing a path to citizenship the conservatives in your party hate, and even you don't support anymore. Now, you're skipping more votes than any senator to run for president. Why not slow down, get a few more things done first or least finish what you start? +p4182 +aVSo when the Sun-Sentinel says Rubio should resign, not rip us off, when they say Floridians sent you to Washington to do a job, when they say you act like you hate your job, do you? +p4183 +aVWell, do you hate your job? +p4184 +aVIs that the standard? +p4185 +aVSenator, thank you. John. +p4186 +aVThank you, Senator. +p4187 +aVSenator Cruz. Congressional Republicans, Democrats and the White House are about to strike a compromise that would raise the debt limit, prevent a government shutdown and calm financial markets that fear of \u2014 another Washington-created crisis is on the way. Does your opposition to it show that you're not the kind of problem-solver American voters want? +p4188 +aV do we get credit ? +p4189 +aVSo, this is a question about , which you have 30 seconds left to answer, should you choose to do so. +p4190 +aVOK. I asked you about the debt limit and I got no answer. +p4191 +aVWe promised we would get to everyone this block. Governor Huckabee, I'm going to give you 60 seconds on this. +p4192 +aV...Governor... +p4193 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p4194 +aV...Senator Cruz... +p4195 +aVOK, alright. +p4196 +aVSenator Cruz... +p4197 +aV...Before we go to break, we're clearly not having that beer you mentioned, but I'll give you 30 more seconds... +p4198 +aVOK. +p4199 +aVI'll give you 30 seconds to respond... +p4200 +aVRespond on the debt limit, or an answer to the governor, which ever you choose. +p4201 +aV30 seconds, Governor Huckabee. +p4202 +aVGovernor, thank you. We will take a break. The Republican Presidential debate, live from Boulder, Colorado, coming back after a break on +p4203 +aVMrs. Fiorina, in 2010, while running for Senate in Tech Ridge (ph), California, you called an Internet sales tax a bad idea. Traditional brick and mortar stores obviously disagree. Now that the Internet shopping playing field has matured, what would be a fair plan to even that playing field? +p4204 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p4205 +aVOK. +p4206 +aVThank you very much. +p4207 +aVDr. Carson, we know you as a physician, but we wanted to ask you about your involvement on some corporate boards, including Costco's. Last year, a marketing study called the warehouse retailer the number one gay-friendly brand in America, partly because of its domestic partner benefits. Why would you serve on a company whose policies seem to run counter to your views on homosexuality? +p4208 +aVOne more question. This is a company called Mannatech, a maker of nutritional supplements, with which you had a 10-year relationship. They offered claims that they could cure autism, cancer, they paid $7 million to settle a deceptive marketing lawsuit in Texas, and yet you're involvement continued. Why? +p4209 +aVTo be fair, you were on the homepage of their website with the logo over your shoulder \u2014 +p4210 +aVDoes that not speak to your vetting process or judgment in any way. +p4211 +aVApparently. We will take a break. We'll be back in Boulder in just a minute. +p4212 +aV...We'll come back around. I want to get to governor Kasich. +p4213 +aVGovernor Kasich, let's talk ... +p4214 +aV...about Marijuana, Governor Kasich... +p4215 +aVAlright, but 30 seconds, you made a case. Sure, 30 seconds. +p4216 +aVSenator, thank you. +p4217 +aVOh, no, no, no... +p4218 +aV...Ok... +p4219 +aV...We're going to go to... +p4220 +aVOK. Thank you, Senator. Governor Kasich, let's talk about marijuana. We're broadcasting from Colorado which has seen $150 million in new revenue for the state since legalizing last year. Governor Hickenlooper is not a big fan of legalization, but he's said the people who used to be smoking it are still smoking it, they're just now paying taxes. Given the budget pressures in Ohio, and other states, is this a revenue stream you'd like to have? +p4221 +aVThank you, Governor. +p4222 +aVThank you. We'll be back from Boulder, Colorado in just a moment. +p4223 +aVMr. Trump, you've said you have a special permit to carry a gun in New York. +p4224 +aVAfter the Oregon mass shooting on October 1st, you said, "By the way, it was a gun-free zone. If you had a couple of teachers with guns, you would have been a hell of a lot better off." +p4225 +aVWould you feel more comfortable if your employees brought guns to work? +p4226 +aVAre you carrying one now? +p4227 +aVWe called a few Trump resorts, a few Trump properties that \u2014 that do not allow guns with or without a permit. Would you change those policies? +p4228 +aVOK. All right. Thank you. John? +p4229 +aVGovernor Bush, daily fantasy sports has become a phenomenon in this country, will award billions of dollars in prize money this year. But to play you have to assess your odds, put money at risk, wait for an outcome that's out of your control. Isn't that the definition of gambling, and should the Federal Government treat it as such? +p4230 +aVI had a feeling you were going to brag about that. +p4231 +aVThis is the\u2014 well, we're going to take a break. We want to save time for closing statements after the break. So this is the Republican presidential debate in Boulder, and we'll be right back. +p4232 +aVSenator Rubio... +p4233 +aV...yeah, I just wanted . +p4234 +aVI want to give you 30 seconds here. +p4235 +aVThat concludes tonight's debate. On behalf of my colleagues Becky Quick, John Harwood, Sharon Epperson, Rick Santelli and Jim Cramer, we'd like to our host, the University of Colorado at Boulder, the Republican National Committee, the candidates and, of course, tonight's audience. +p4236 +aV...Question, in the meantime, for Senator Santorum. You have advocated a flat tax, so we'd like to ask you about fairness. Why is it fair to tax all Americans at the same rate, as opposed to taxing more affluent Americans at higher rates? +p4237 +aVSenator, thank you. John \u2014 Becky? +p4238 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live in boulder, Colorado, on cNBC. We resume our questions now with Jim Cramer, the host of +p4239 +aVSenator Graham. You have said you believe that climate change is real. You've said you accept tax increases as part of a budget deal with Democrats. You've co-sponsored a Senate immigration bill providing a path to citizenship for those in the country illegally. Are you in the wrong party's debate? +p4240 +aVMy question for Governor Jindal, Paul Ryan says he would take the speaker job if it did not take away from his family time. The Department of Labor says 13 percent of American workers are eligible for paid family leave and the U.S. is the only developed nation in the world not to have guaranteed paid maternity leave for new moms. Should the government work to change that? +p4241 +aVGovernor, thank you. John? +p4242 +ag3226 +aVWelcome back to the University of Colorado, and the Republican Presidential Debate on +p4243 +aVWell, let's get to that. I mean, another example, for example, is Walgreens. +p4244 +aVI'm sure you do. Walgreens/Rite Aid. Big deal, consolidation in drug stores, semiconductors, food. What is the line at which something becomes anti-competitive in your view? +p4245 +aVSenator. +p4246 +aVThank you. Becky. +p4247 +aVQuestion for Senator Santorum. +p4248 +aVAfter this question maybe. The 2015 Nobel Prize winner for economics argues that slow growth causes poverty, and that leads to inequality. What would you do to ease inequality? And what would you do solve poverty? By the way, thanks to Larry Kudlow, +p4249 +aVGovernor Jindal, I'll give you 30 seconds on this. +p4250 +aVWe've got one more. One more lightning round. Governor Jindal, should the day after the Super Bowl be a national holiday? +p4251 +aVSenator? +p4252 +aVGovernor? +p4253 +aVFinally, Senator? +p4254 +aVThat concludes our first part of the evening. +p4255 +asVGILMORE +p4256 +(lp4257 +VWell, Bill, can I first... +p4258 +aVWell, first of all, Bill, let me say one thing, I have been in Iowa. But this is not the place where I'm choosing to begin my campaign. I am beginning my campaign in New Hampshire and I decided to do that based upon the process that is in place in Iowa and the primary that's in place in New Hampshire. But never mind that, I want to return to something. I'm the only veteran, Bill and Martha in this race. And I'm not going to any Donald Trump event over across town on some sort of faux veteran sort of issue. I'm going to speak to you tonight about the issue that really confronts veterans. I'm going to talk to you about the concerns that they have got with the veterans administration. The lousy appeals process that they have got. The fact that sometimes they get good service at the V.A. and sometimes they don't and the fact that post traumatic stress syndrome is not properly recognized. That psychology positions are unavailable in the Veterans Administration. And I will say this to you -- as the only veteran in -- in this race, when I become president of the United States, the veterans are going to be treated with respect and competently in success in the Veterans' Administration in this country. +p4259 +aVFirst of all, Bill, I think that Gitmo ought to remain open. But I also want to point out to you that what you are saying is the exact right topic to all of these other candidates. And that's this international challenge that we are facing, the international war that America is in, even to this day. And I'm the candidate who is best qualified to deal with this issue. A degree in foreign policy in Russian area studies. I'm the only United States Army veteran having gone to Europe during the Cold War as United States Army Intelligence agent, the governor during the 9/11 attack, the chairman of the National Commission on Homeland Security for the United States for five years. And this is what I will do. If I become the president, I'm going to rebuild the United States military. We're going to take the sequester off the defense budget. Give the Navy the ships it needs. Refit the United States Army. Refit the United States Marine Corps. And on this international guerrilla war, we need to recognize our Special Forces, our intelligence community, and the people that we need in order to really protect us. And finally, this war of ideas, we must win this. We must say to the world that radical Islamism is the threat. It isn't just confined to +p4260 +aVHey, did you miss me? Did you skip me? +p4261 +aVI'm going to have something to say about this, but you just keep going. +p4262 +aVYes, I'll be there. +p4263 +aVYou know, Martha, it may be out of the barn in that the Iranians may be moving towards a nuclear program, because this nuclear deal actually gives them a time frame up the road when they are going to be able to do that kind of program. And that's very dangerous because it means people in the Middle East have to begin to react to that right now. The United States, I think, has to continue to exercise its influence in the Middle East, stay active, and not do this pull-back type of program that we are seeing all over the place with President Obama, which is creating this kind of danger. The world is a more dangerous place now than when I was an intelligence agent. We have not only this international guerrilla war but also these challenges from these other countries as well. But, Martha, I want to say one more thing to you and Bill. I disagree with Carly Fiorina when she says that it's just a political class in Washington. The truth is that the country has changed. And there are powerful forces at this point that are really controlling our lives. And that's why people are so angry. One of those is government, which is regulating everything through the Environmental Protection Agency, through other places. But the biggest one is the organized establishment media. And I just noticed just now you gave Carly Fiorina two one-minute answers in a row. This media across the country is manipulating and shaping and framing this campaign and has been for at least a year now in order to get the kind of choices that people are going to have an opportunity to see. This is wrong. It has to change. And when I'm president, it's going to change. +p4264 +aVI'll take it. +p4265 +aVMartha, I just visited a community mental health clinic in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, just three days ago, as a matter of fact. And when I was governor of Virginia, I tried to move more of those resources into the community, which will give us the facilities and the abilities to begin to identify people who actually might be dangerous and who abuse Second Amendment rights. But I do believe this is one of the really principle issues in this campaign. The president and Hillary Clinton are working very hard to change the culture of this country in order to put us in a position where we can't exercise Second Amendment rights. That's wrong. I am a board member of the National Rifle Association. The reason I'm a board member is because I believe that individuals in this country can be trusted to exercise their rights under the Second Amendment and under the Bill of Rights. To take away people's Second Amendment rights is to redefine the individual in the society, and I'm not going to put up with it. As President of the United States, when Jim Gilmore's President of the United States, I can tell you this. Gun control is not going to be an issue. If gun control... ... comes to the President's desk when I'm president, I'll veto it as fast as it takes Hillary Clinton to eliminate her emails. +p4266 +aVYou know Bill, that raises, I think, the question of the future of the Republican party. The question is -- first of all, I stand second to no one in standing up to radical Islamism. I understand that +p4267 +aVWell, thank you very much, Bill. And, thank you, and Fox and Google for including me in this debate tonight. I think it's been a wonderful opportunity. I'm the son of a meat cutter. My father worked for Safeway stores for 45 years. My mother was a secretary, she ended her career as the Secretary for the Methodist Bishop. I didn't have a father that could give me a million dollar loan to start my business. But, my father did talk character, and he provided for his family, and he was a wonderful example. And, I'm not about to go across town tonight to carry the coat for some billionaire. Instead, I intend to run for President of the United States, speak to the issue of this international war, and challenge that we're in. This issue of veterans rights, and the issue of Second Amendment rights, and I ask for your support... +p4268 +aVI think the times are different now. I think the times are much more serious. Because Obama and Clinton policies, the United States is moving further and further into a decline. I want to reverse that decline. That's why I've entered this race, and I think I have the experience to do it. Former elected prosecutor, attorney general, governor, I was elected to all of those offices. A person who, in fact, has a long experience in foreign-policy issues, which is different from many of the other governors and prospective governors who are running. I was an Army intelligence agent and a veteran during the Cold War, assigned to West Germany. I was the chairman of the National Commission on Homeland Security and Terrorism for the United States for five years. I was a person who has dealt extensively with these homeland security issues. I was a governor during the 9/11 attack. I understand both of these issues, how to build the economy and doing that as a governor who'd built jobs, had cut taxes and also a governor who understands foreign-policy, and that's why I entered this race. +p4269 +aVWell, yes, indeed. I chaired the National Commission on Homeland Security Committee for United States. We warned about the 9/11 attack before the 9/11 attack occurred. I was the governor during the 9/11 attack when the Pentagon was struck. And I'm going to tell you this, we need to use the benefit of our law enforcement people across this country, combined with our intelligence people across this country. We need to use our technological advantages, because what we've warned of is an international guerrilla movement that threatens this country. It's going to happen in this country, there are going to be further attacks. We have to be prepared to defend the American people, prepare them for a long war, stand up for the defense of this country, and stand up for the values of this country... +p4270 +aVI'll tell them that we're going to grow the economy so that we can give people better opportunities so they don't have to rely exclusively on benefit types of programs. Some do, but many Americans are dying to have an opportunity to grow and to create something inside this economy. And I'm glad that I have a chance to answer this question. I've had the growth code (ph) there for about five years, and it's this specific program. We're going to do a tax cut for all Americans. We're going to have a three-bracket tax code, 10, 15 and 25 percent. We're going to combine all commercial activity in business into one place in the tax code and charge it 15 percent, which is going to suddenly make us competitive with the rest of the world. And we're going to eliminate the death tax. With a couple of additional tweaks, we know what this will do. It will cause the economy to grow, to explode, to create more jobs. And first of all, we've got to recognize that there is problem that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have caused. And that problem is too big regulations like the EPA, too much new taxes on business that we have seen and "Obamacare." These are drags on the economy, it's a deliberate drag. I propose to reverse that and get this economy moving again. +p4271 +aVWell, as you know, I'm a former elected prosecutor, a former elected attorney general, trained at the University of Virginia in constitutional law, and I don't believe in litmus tests except this. I believe we should be appointing Supreme Court justices who will follow the law and not try to make the law. Now, the challenge we're seeing today is that the Supreme Court is being converted into some type of political body. They have to have some legal basis and precedence for being able to follow the law instead of making the law up, and my goal is -- in appointing Supreme Court justices, would be to point -- to appoint justices who would follow the law. Bill, I want to say one more thing about... +p4272 +aVNot -- not on that, no. But let me say one more thing. I want to -- before my time runs out I want to get back to this issue of +p4273 +aVWell, it's not a matter of what the first executive order would be, Bill. The matter is what orders exist now that shouldn't exist? The president has done an executive order with respect to illegal immigration that is illegal. Illegal. And it creates a -- a contempt for the law, for the rule of law. If i were the president of the United States, I would go and look at every executive order that exists right now and determine which ones want to be voided, because the president shouldn't be legislating: not through that vehicle or any other. We should be relying upon the leadership of the Congress to pass the laws. +p4274 +aVProfessional politician that can't be trusted. +p4275 +aVWell, I was a conservative governor of Virginia, I governed that way, and that's my track record. But the key thing that we're seeing now is serious challenges to this country that must change, the direction of this nation must change. And that's why I've offered a specific program to the people of America tonight to address the fundamental problem of getting our country growing again, getting our economy growing, wages up, opportunities for people. And second, the international crisis we are facing is most dreadful and most dangerous. I have the experience as a prosecutor, attorney general, governor, United States Army intelligence veteran, governor during the 9/11 attack, chairman of the Terrorism Commission for this country. It's time for real substance and real experience. And that's what I'll offer to the people of the United States in this candidacy for the presidency. Mac +p4276 +asVSANTELLI +p4277 +(lp4278 +VSenator Cruz, let's focus on our central bank, the Federal Reserve. You've been a fierce critic of the Fed, arguing for more transparency. Where do you want to take that? Do you want to get Congress involved in monetary policy, or is it time to slap the Fed back and downsize them completely? What are your thoughts? What do you believe? +p4279 +aVSenator Paul, the same question to you. +p4280 +aVThank you, Senator. Dr. Carson, you told The Des Moines Register that you don't like government subsidies, it interferes with the free market. But you've also said that you're in favor of taking oil subsidies and putting them towards ethanol processing. Isn't that just swapping one subsidy for another, Doctor? +p4281 +aVThank you, Doctor. Becky? +p4282 +aVThanks, John. Governor Pataki. +p4283 +aVHow are you doing tonight? +p4284 +aVListen, America's central bank, the Federal Reserve, they've kept interest rates near zero since the 2008 financial crisis. And, by the way, they had a meeting today, you think they raised rates? No. Shocking, isn't it? +p4285 +aVListen, it's been a rough ride for American savers and retirees, they really rely on this interest income. And it's been a bonanza for the stock market, a bonanza. And for investors that like the little bit more risk, it's been a bonanza for them as well. So I guess what I'm asking is, do you think this policy is fair and do you support it? +p4286 +aVThanks, Governor. Senator Santorum, in the 2012 presidential debate, you were for the export-import bank, which facilitates government funding for U.S. exports. American companies like GE and Boeing are among the beneficiaries. But you said that killing the bank here \u2014 and I'm going to quote you \u2014 "is the last thing a true conservative should be doing." I don't know, government-backed funding isn't normally what I hear from true conservatives. So why is this situation different? +p4287 +asVMACCALLUM +p4288 +(lp4289 +VSo it will come as no surprise that there is an idea out there that there is a civil war brewing within the GOP over the meaning of conservative and the question of who is electable. There are some in the GOP who are so outraged by Trump and Cruz that they say they would actually rather have Hillary Clinton in the White House. So, Carly Fiorina, I ask you this. Is your party in crisis? +p4290 +aVGovernor Huckabee, word is that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is considering getting into this race. If he does, that would make four New Yorkers, including Sanders, Clinton, and Trump. One candidate in this race has criticized so-called "New York values". So tell me, in your opinion, are New York values different than Iowa values? +p4291 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum, according to Google, the Paris terror attacks were the largest story that was searched in 2015, with nearly 1 billion searches of that story worldwide. There have been at 18 terror attacks so far this year -- in just January alone, in 2016, and it will likely, as we all know, get worse. But what can an American president do to stop these terrifying killings? +p4292 +aVThank you, Senator. +p4293 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you have said when it comes to +p4294 +aVThank you. +p4295 +aVComing up, we're going to have more on the top issues in this campaign, and you can engage in tonight's conversation right from home. Go to google.com, search "FOX News debate." You can vote on which candidate you think is winning so far in tonight's debate. And you can check results after the debate is over. We are back in a moment live from the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. +p4296 +aVAlright, Governor Huckabee, government grows and grows. In fact, neighborhoods in and around the Beltway get richer and richer all the time while our manufacturing towns are disappearing. Still Republicans from Reagan to Bush have bowed to shrink the size of government, but it never works. Is this Presidency, and presidency, simply too small a David to slay the Goliath of government? +p4297 +aVAlright, Carly Fiorina, you've said that you can get the tax code down to three short simple pages. But, when lobbyists who have twisted the arms of members of Congress come sit with you in the Oval Office and say, "Madam President, sorry, I cannot be with you on this one," you may understand what previous presidents have gone through. No? +p4298 +aVSenator Santorum, Bernie Sanders asked a woman in Iowa what it's like to live in poverty. She broke down in tears, saying that she lives on less than $10,000 a year and that she is ashamed every day. She leans on her parents for help. She says she can't buy presents for her children. We are all sympathetic to this woman's plight. On the other hand, the G.O.P. is supposed to be the party of smaller government. So what would you look her in the eye and say? +p4299 +aVThank you, Senator. +p4300 +aVGovernor Gilmore, thanks to the Iranian nuclear deal, President Rouhani is currently on a tour of Europe meeting with our closest allies in France and Italy. In fact, he has already landed some 50 to 85 billion are the estimates in deals with those countries, with our allies. More on the way. You and others say that you would rip up that deal. But, really, by the time the next president is in office, won't that horse be well out of the barn? +p4301 +aVWe have another question for you, Governor Gilmore, back to back, here we go. According to Google... +p4302 +aVYou got it. According to Google, gun control is the most searched issue last month, making up nearly 80 percent of all the U.S. searches. People are looking for information on guns. When it comes to the tragic mass killings that we have seen in this country, Donald Trump says that what we need to do is build quote "more institutions for people who are sickos." Charles Krauthammer also says that in some cases involuntary commitment would help. And you have agreed with that. Given that institutions would be extraordinarily expensive to begin building, how much is too much to ask on this from the American taxpayer? +p4303 +aVThank you, Governor Gilmore. +p4304 +aVStill more to come from the Republican Presidential debate tonight. And, see how the campaigns are responding to the debate in realtime, go to Google.com and open your google search app. Type in, "Fox News Debate". We'll see you, just a moment -- back. +p4305 +aVWe are back live at the Iowa events center and this question goes to Carly Fiorina. In the last debate you said as part of your introduction, quote, " And unlike the other woman candidate in this case I actually love spending time with my husband." +p4306 +aVBut back in September in an interview you said that you would stick only to the record, your record versus Hillary Clinton's record. And never resort to personal attacks. So what changed? +p4307 +aVAll right. Carly, I want to stay with you on this next question as well. You waded into the Planned Parenthood early on. You took some heat for it. Now the people who shot that undercover video are the ones who got indicted and Planned Parenthood is untouched. Hillary Clinton has been crowing about this. Any regrets about this? +p4308 +aVThank you Carly Fiorina. Let me just ask a quick question here to Senator Santorum. Carly Fiorina was the only one of the GOP candidates to attend the March for Life in Washington last week. Where were you. +p4309 +aVAll right. Coming up, we will have the closing statements from our candidates tonight as we continue live from the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. We'll be right back. +p4310 +aVAlright, let's go now to Senator Rick Santorum. +p4311 +aV +p4312 +aVCarly Fiorina. +p4313 +aVThank you, Carly. +p4314 +aVIn one hour, seven more candidates take the stage for a debate hosted by Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly, and Chris Wallace. But, up next, the O'Reilly Factor. Good night everybody. +p4315 +asVMCELVEEN +p4316 +(lp4317 +VSecretary Clinton, how does your plan differentiate from your opponents? +p4318 +aVThank you Secretary Clinton, thank you. +p4319 +aVBack to you David. +p4320 +as. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/downloads/data/script16.pickle b/downloads/data/script16.pickle new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ec3b658 --- /dev/null +++ b/downloads/data/script16.pickle @@ -0,0 +1,9009 @@ +(dp0 +VCRAMER +p1 +(lp2 +VDr. Carson, in recent weeks, a number of pharmaceutical companies has been accused of profiteering, for dramatically raising the prices of life-saving drugs. You have spent a lifetime in medicine. Have these companies gone too far? Should the government be involved in controlling some of these price increases? +p3 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Governor Christie, there has been a lot of political rhetoric that some bank executives should have gone to jail for the 2008 financial crisis. But General Motors paid more than $1 billion in fines and settlements for its ignition switch defect. One hundred and twenty- four people died as a result of these faulty switches. No one went to jail. As a former prosecutor, do you believe the people responsible for the switch and the cover-up belong behind bars? +p4 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. +p5 +aVThank you. Governor Pataki, in the wake of the Sony hack last year, you said, quote, "at the very least, we should declare cyber-war on North Korea." What does a cyber-war look like? And if our companies are getting attacked by foreign governments, do we need a military response? +p6 +aVSenator Graham, you're a hawk. Was that tough enough? +p7 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Santorum. We know that a troubling amount of air pollution on the west coast comes from China. Should we enact a pollution tax on products imported from China and give our manufacturers a level playing field? +p8 +aVThank you, Senator. John? +p9 +asVPERRY +p10 +(lp11 +VI will tell you one thing: I would whole lot rather had Carly Fiorina over there doing our negotiation than John Kerry. Maybe we would've gotten a deal where we didn't give everything away. But the issue for us is to have a Congress that stands up and says not only no, but hell no, to this money going to a regime that is going to use it for terror... +p12 +aVIt's good to be with you. +p13 +aVAfter those four years of looking back and being prepared, the preparation to be the most powerful individual in the world requires an extraordinary amount of work: not just having been the governor of the 12th largest economy in the world, which I might add, we added 1.5 million jobs during that period of time over that 2007 through 2014 period, a period when America was going through the most deep recession it had been through since the Great Depression. I think Americans want someone to have a track record of showing them how to get this country back on record, someone who will stand up and every day project that best days of America are in front of us. And I will assure you, as the governor of the state of Texas, and as those last four years have shown me, the preparation to be ready to stand on this stage and talk about those monetary policies, those domestic policies, and those foreign policies, Americans are going to see that I am ready to be that individual. +p14 +aVWell, when you look at the celebrity of Donald Trump, then I think that says a lot about it. One thing I like to remind people is, back in 2007, Rudy Giuliani was leading the polls for almost a year. I'll suggest a part of that was his celebrity. Fred Thompson was the other one, a man who had spent a lot of time on that screen. I've had my issues with Donald Trump. I talked about Donald Trump from the standpoint of being an individual who was using his celebrity rather than his conservatism. How can you run for the Republican nomination and be for single- payer health care? I mean, I ask that with all due respect. And nobody, nobody on either one of these stages has done more than I've done and the people of the State of Texas to deal with securing that border. We sent our Texas ranger recon teams. We sent our parks and wildlife wardens. I deployed the National Guard after I stood on the ramp in Dallas, Texas and looked the president of the United States in the eye and said, "Mr. President, if you won't secure the border, Texas will," and that's exactly what we did. We need a president that doesn't just talk a game, but a president that's got real results. Mac +p15 +aVBill, here's the interesting position on this. Americans are tired of hearing this debate -- want to go to, what are you going to do about illegal immigration? For 30 years this country has been baited with that. All the way back to when Ronald Reagan signed a piece of legislation that basically allowed for amnesty for over 4 million people, and the border is still not secure. The American people are never going to trust Washington, D.C., and for good reason. We hear all this discussion about well, I would do this, or I would do that, when the fact is, the border is still porous. Until we have a president of the United States that gets up every day and goes to the Oval Office with the intent purpose of securing that border, and there's not anybody on either one of these stages that has the experience of dealing with this as I have for over 14 years with that 1200-mile border. We have to put the personnel on that border in the right places; you have to put the strategic fencing in place; and you have to have aviation assets that fly all the way from Tijuana to El Paso to Brownsville, Texas -- 1,933 miles looking down 24/7, with the technology to be able to identify what individuals are doing, and ID when they are in obviously illegal activities or suspicious activities, and quick response teams come. At that particular point in time, then Americans will believe that Washington is up to a conversation to deal with the millions of people that are here illegally, but not until. If you elect me president of the United States, I will secure that southern border. +p16 +aVWe need to be on the side that keeps Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. That's the side we need to be on, and that's the side of the bulk of the -- of the Middle East. We need to have some coalitions in that part of the world to go after +p17 +aVIt'll be a pretty busy day, but that Iran negotiation is going to be torn up on day one. We're going to start the process of securing that border. I'm also going to take a bottle of White-Out with me to get started on all those executive orders that Mr. Obama has put his name to. +p18 +aVIt will be a long day. +p19 +aVWell, let's go with three. Good at email. +p20 +aVWell, this is going to be a show me, don't tell me election. I think America is just a few good decisions and a leadership change at the top away from the best years we've ever had. And I think that the record of the governor of the last 14 years of the 12th largest economy in the world is just the medicine America is looking for. 1.5 million jobs created during the worst economic time this country has had since the Great Depression while the rest of the country lost 400,000 jobs. We're talking about a state that moved graduation rates forward from 27th in the nation to second-highest. As a matter of fact, if you're Hispanic or African-American in Texas, you have the number one high school graduation rates in America. Americans are looking for somebody that's going to give them, and there is a place in this country over the last eight years in particular that talked about hope every day, and they didn't just talk about it, they delivered it. And that was the state of Texas. And if we can do that in Texas, that 12th largest economy in the world, we can do it in America. Our best days are in front of us. We can reform those entitlements, we can change that corporate tax code and lower it. We can put America back on track on a growth level and a growth rate that we've never seen in the history of this country. Manufacturing will flow back into this country. It just needs a corporate executive type at the top that's done it before. And I will suggest to you nobody's done it like Rick Perry has done it over the last eight years. And if you elect me president, we will bring incredible growth back to this country. And as someone who's worn the uniform of the country, that's how we build our military back up. +p21 +asVRADDATZ +p22 +(lp23 +VGood evening to you all. The rules for tonight are very basic and have been agreed to by all three campaigns in advance. Candidates can take up to a minute-and-a-half to respond directly to a question. For a rebuttal, for a follow-up, 45 seconds will be allowed. There are green, yellow, and red lights that each candidate will see to signal when time is running out and when they're supposed to be finished with their answers. +p24 +aVThank you, Secretary Clinton. Governor O'Malley? O' +p25 +aVSecretary Clinton, in the wake of the San Bernardino attack, you all emphasized gun control. But our latest poll shows that more Americans believe arming people, not stricter gun laws, is the best defense against terrorism. Are they wrong? +p26 +aVSecretary Clinton, can we stick to gun control? +p27 +aVAre they wrong? +p28 +aVSenator Sanders -- wait just a moment, please, Governor O'Malley. Senator Sanders, we've seen those long lines of people buying guns in record numbers after the Paris attacks. Would you discourage people from buying a gun? +p29 +aVThank you, Senator Sanders. I think we're going to go on... O' +p30 +aVGovernor, now -- and let me stay with gun control for a minute, then. You talk about assault weapons. Even if you were able to ban the purchase of assault weapons tomorrow, Americans already own an estimated 7 to 10 million semi-automatic rifles. Would you make it illegal to own those weapons, force people to turn them in? And if not, how would banning the sales really make a difference? O' +p31 +aVBut, again, I'm not talking about buying. Would you have them confiscated? The ones that are already here? O' +p32 +aVI want to move to another... O' +p33 +aVNo, no, not yet, Governor O'Malley. O' +p34 +aVNo, not yet, Governor O'Malley. O' +p35 +aVI'll come to you when we call on you. Thank you very much. O' +p36 +aVYou'll be happy. I'll let -- I'll let you talk then. Secretary Clinton, I want to talk about a new terrorist tool used in the Paris attacks, encryption. FBI Director James Comey says terrorists can hold secret communications which law enforcement cannot get to, even with a court order. You've talked a lot about bringing tech leaders and government officials together, but Apple CEO Tim Cook said removing encryption tools from our products altogether would only hurt law-abiding citizens who rely on us to protect their data. So would you force him to give law enforcement a key to encrypted technology by making it law? +p37 +aVAnd Governor O'Malley, where do you draw the line between national security and personal security? O' +p38 +aVThank you, Governor O'Malley. +p39 +aVSenator Sanders -- Senator Sanders, we're going to move on. We're going to move on. +p40 +aVWe're going to move on to the fight against +p41 +aVOK. Let's keep going. Thank you. +p42 +aVThank you. I do want to move to the fight against +p43 +aVFor the people of New Hampshire, the brutality of +p44 +aVBut why Al Qaida, why not +p45 +aVThe administration has tried that over and over again. If it doesn't work and this threat is so great, what's your plan B? +p46 +aVSecretary Clinton, you too have ruled out a large U.S. combat force, yet you support sending in special operations forces to Syria, and sending those 100 to 200 troops to Iraq to do exploitation kill raids. We've already lost one Delta Force member in a raid. It has looked very much to me like we're already in ground combat on frequent trips I've made there. So, are you fooling Americans when you say, we're not putting American combat troops back into Syria or Iraq? No. Not at all. I think that what we're facing with +p47 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want -- I want to follow up on that. You do support sending special operations forces there. You support what the president has done already. One of the lessons people draw from Vietnam and war since is that a little force can turn into a little more and a little more. President Obama certainly didn't expect to be sending 30,000 additional troops into Afghanistan the first year of his presidency. Are you prepared to run the risk of a bigger war to achieve your goals to destroy +p48 +aVGovernor O'Malley. You've emphasized the need for more human intelligence on the ground. What is it our intelligence community is not doing now that needs to be done? O' +p49 +aVThank you. +p50 +aVSecretary Clinton, I'd like to go back to that if I could. +p51 +aVBut isn't that a decision you should make now, whether... +p52 +aV... if you're advocating this? +p53 +aVAnd we're going to move on to health care. Secretary Clinton, the Department of Health and Human Services says more than 17 million Americans who are not insured now have health coverage because of Obamacare. But for Americans who already had health insurance the cost has gone up 27 percent in the last five years while deductibles are up 67 percent, health care costs are rising faster than many Americans can manage. What's broken in Obamacare that needs to be fixed right now? And what would you do to fix it? +p54 +aVBut you did say those were glitches. +p55 +aVJust glitches? +p56 +aVTwenty-seven percent in the last five years, deductibles up 67 percent? +p57 +aVSenator Sanders, I want you to respond to what she was saying, but you're instead calling for single-payer health care. +p58 +aVYou note people won't have to pay deductibles or premiums but they will have to pay new taxes. Can you tell us specifically how much people will be expected to pay? +p59 +aVSenator Sanders, you didn't really tell us specifically how much people will be expected to pay... +p60 +aVBut you can't tell us this specifically, even if you were... +p61 +aVOK. Let's go to talk about the high cost of college education and for that we turn to the executive director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics, right here at Saint Anselm college, Neil Levesque. Neil? +p62 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to circle back to something that your opponents here have brought up. Libya is falling apart. The country is a haven for +p63 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to go back. That -- government lacked institutions and experience. It had been a family business for 40 years. On the security side, we offered only a modest training effort and a very limited arms buy-back program. Let me ask you the question again. How much responsibility do you bear for the chaos that followed those elections? +p64 +aVBut were mistakes made? +p65 +aVSenator Sanders. +p66 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p67 +aVQuick Governor O'Malley. O' +p68 +aVThank you very much. Thank you. We're going to move on here. Governor O'Malley, thank you very much for that. And we're going to make a very sharp turn as we wrap things up here. Secretary Clinton, first ladies, as you well know, have used their position to work on important causes like literacy and drug abuse. But they also supervise the menus, the flowers, the holiday ornaments and White House decor. I know you think you know where I'm going here. You have said that Bill Clinton is a great host and loves giving tours but may opt out of picking flower arrangements if you're elected. Bill Clinton aside, is it time to change the role of a president's spouse? +p69 +aVGovernor O'Malley? Martha, thank you. I want to thank all of the people who have tuned in tonight. I want to thank the great people of New Hampshire, where despite all of the cynicism about big money and big banks taking over our politics, here in New Hampshire, the individual matters. You know, my wife Katie and I have four terrific kids, and like you, there's probably nothing we wouldn't do to give them a future that's safer, that's healthier, where they have more opportunity than our parents and grandparents gave to us. Tonight, what you listened to was a healthy exchange of ideas about how we'd do that, that which we have always proven, the capacity to do better than any nation in the world, to take actions that include more of our people more fully in the economic, social and political life of our country. When you listened to the Republican debate the other night, you heard a lot of anger and you had a lot of fear. Well, they can have their anger and they can have their fear, but anger and fear never built America. We build our country by adopting wage and labor policies, including comprehensive immigration reform with a pathway of citizenship for all. We do it by investing in our country, by investing in infrastructure, by investing in the skills and the talents of our people with debt-free college, and we can do it again. And we also create a better future for our kids when we square our shoulders to the great challenges of our times, whether it's terror trying to undermine our values or Republican presidential candidates trying to get us to surrender our freedoms and our values in the face of this threat. The other big challenge we have is climate change. The greatest business opportunity to come to the United States of America in 100 years. We need to embrace this. I have put forward a plan that does this, that moves us to 100 percent clean electric grid by 2050. Join this campaign for the future. New leadership is what our country needs to move us out of these divided and polarized times. Thank you. +p70 +asVANNOUNCER +p71 +(lp72 +VHello from MinuteEarth. Fossil fuels have long kept our cars moving and our light bulbs lit. But we know that burning these fuels releases heat-trapping gases that are warming the planet, causing seas to rise and contributing to extreme weather events, like South Carolina's devastating flooding last year. Fighting human-caused climate change means giving up our global addiction to fossil fuels and shifting the bulk of the world's energy supply to alternative sources. Some countries have acted decisively to make this transition. But here at home, we still get a whooping 82 percent of our energy from coal, oil, and natural gas. In the U.S., political gridlock, pressure from industry lobbyists and insufficient R&D have made an already tough battle against climate change even tougher. +p73 +aVABC News coverage of the New Hampshire Democratic debate will continue in a moment. ( +p74 +asVUNKNOWN +p75 +(lp76 +VIf you're not going to have my back, I'm going to have my back. +p77 +aVA couple things here. First of all... +p78 +aVWe have grown \u2014 we have grown... +p79 +aVTrue. It's true. +p80 +aV...let me follow up that... +p81 +aV +p82 +aVOh, great. +p83 +aV...In 2011, you told Forbes Magazine this: "I've used the laws of the country to my advantage." But at the same time, financial experts involved in those bankruptcies say that lenders to your companies lost billions of dollars. Question sir, with that record, why should we trust you to run the nation's business? +p84 +aVI do. +p85 +aVThank you. +p86 +aVSecretive and untrustworthy. +p87 +asVIFILL +p88 +(lp89 +VWe want to also extend our warm thanks to Milwaukee Public Radio and Milwaukee Public Television, as well as all of our friends at the PBS member stations across the country tuning in tonight. This is the sixth time the Democrats have met face to face. Each time, we learn more about them and the presidents they say they want to be. You know you're watching \u2014 whether you're a Democrat, a Republican, or neither \u2014 because you believe the outcome of the election is important to you. And we believe that, too. With that, let's welcome the candidates to the stage. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. +p90 +aVWelcome to you both. +p91 +aVWith Iowa and New Hampshire behind us, we are now broadening the conversation to America's heartland and beyond, including here in Wisconsin. Now let's turn to the candidates for their opening statements. The order was decided by coin toss. And, Senator Sanders, you go first. +p92 +aVThank you, Senator Sanders. Thank you, Senator Sanders. Secretary Clinton. +p93 +aVFinal thought, Senator. +p94 +aVI'd like to move along. I'd like to move along. Secretary Clinton, you might \u2014 you also have proposed fairly expansive ideas about government. You may remember this pledge from a State of the Union Address at which I believe you were present, in which these words were said: "The era of big government is over." You may remember that. When asked your feelings about the federal government this week, 61 percent of New Hampshire Democrats told exit pollsters that they are angry or at least dissatisfied. Given what you and Senator Sanders are proposing, an expanding government in almost every area of our lives, is it fair for Americans who fear government to fear you? +p95 +aVBut I haven't heard either of you put a price tag on your \u2014 you say... +p96 +aVSenator? +p97 +aVSenator, do you worry at all that you will be the instrument of thwarting history, as Senator Clinton keeps claiming, that she might be the first woman president? +p98 +aVThank you both. We turn now to the first of several questions from our partners at Facebook. They were selected from a curated group of people we've been following of undecided voters. The first comes from Claudia Looze, a 54-year-old woman who works as a program manager at a public affairs cable network in Madison, Wisconsin. And she writes: "Wisconsin is number one in African-American male incarceration, according to a University of Wisconsin study. They found that Wisconsin's incarceration rate for black men, which is at 13 percent, was nearly double the country's rate. What can we do across the nation to address this?" Senator Sanders. +p99 +aVLet me turn this on its head, because when we talk about race in this country, we always talk about African-Americans, people of color. I want to talk about white people, OK? +p100 +aVI know. So many people will be surprised to find out that we are sitting in one of the most racially polarized metropolitan areas in the country. By the middle of this century, the nation is going to be majority nonwhite. Our public schools are already there. If working-class, white Americans are about to be outnumbered, are already underemployed in many cases, and one study found they are dying sooner, don't they have a reason to be resentful, Senator \u2014 Secretary Clinton? +p101 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, I want you to respond to that, but I also want you to \u2014 am I wrong? Is it even right to be describing this as a matter of race? +p102 +aVIf you would allow me now to move on, we've been talking about children. I want to talk about seniors. That takes us to our second Facebook question from Farheen Hakeem, who writes, "My father" \u2014 she's a 40-year-old woman who works for a nonprofit here in Milwaukee. And she writes, "My father gets just $16 in food assistance per month as part of Medicaid's family community program in Milwaukee County for low-income seniors. How will you as president work to ensure low-income seniors get their basic needs met?" Start with you, Senator Sanders. +p103 +aVSenator Sanders, are you saying... +p104 +aVThere's a lot more to come in just a few minutes. Stay with us for more of the PBS NewsHour Democratic Debate. +p105 +aVHow about you, Senator Clinton \u2014 Secretary Clinton? +p106 +aVWe spent the first part of this debate talking about domestic insecurity. The second part, we want to talk about our foreign policy insecurities. And we want to start with a question for you, Secretary Clinton, about America's role in the world. Americans are becoming increasingly worried that attacks abroad are coming home, that they already are, in fact, here. According to exit polls from last week, from earlier this week, more than two-thirds of Democrats in New Hampshire are concerned about sending their children to fight in wars they can't win. They fret that the next attack is just around the corner and we are not ready. Are we? +p107 +aVSenator Sanders... +p108 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p109 +aVLet me move on. You have both mentioned the humanitarian tragedies which have been an outgrowth in part of what has happened in Syria and in Libya. More than a million refugees entered Europe in 2015. Another 76,000 just last month, that is about 2,000 arrivals every day. Nearly 400 people have been lost at sea so far this year, crossing the Mediterranean. And there are reports that 10,000 children are missing. If we are leaders in this world, where should the U.S. be on this? What should the United States be doing, Secretary Clinton? +p110 +aVSenator, if you would like respond to \u2014 you may respond to that but it is time for closing statements and you can use your time for closing statements to do that. +p111 +aVThank you. Thank you Senator Clinton. Thank you, Senator Sanders. We also want to thank our partners at Facebook and our hosts here at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. +p112 +aVI'm going to remain here in Milwaukee tomorrow evening for a special edition of Washington Week here on PBS. +p113 +asVWOODRUFF +p114 +(lp115 +VGood evening, and thank you. We are happy to welcome you to Milwaukee for this Democratic debate. We are especially pleased to thank our partners at Facebook, who have helped us set up a vibrant conversation among voters who are undecided. And tonight you're going to hear some of their questions for the candidates. And you can follow along at home on the PBS NewsHour page on Facebook. We also want to thank our hosts, the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, on whose campus we meet, here in the beautiful Helen Bader Concert Hall. +p116 +aVWelcome, Senator, great to see you. And former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Very good to be here with you. +p117 +aVNow, a word about format. There will be two short breaks, and the rules are simple: 90 seconds for each answer and 30 seconds for the other candidate to respond. +p118 +aVThank you both. Thank you both. And we'll be right back after a short break to begin questions. +p119 +aVAnd, welcome back to this PBS Newshour debate, Democratic debate, here in Milwaukee. Let's get right to the questions. Senator Sanders, to you first. Coming off the results in Iowa and New Hampshire, there are many voters who are taking a closer look at you, and your ideas, and they're asking how big a role do you foresee for the federal government? It's already spending 21% of the entire U.S. economy. How much larger would government be in the lives of Americans under a Sanders presidency? +p120 +aVBut, my question is how big would government be? Would there be any limit on the size of the role of government... +p121 +aVNext, we're going to... +p122 +aVVery brief, thank you. +p123 +aVSecretary Clinton, your campaign \u2014 you and your campaign have made a clear appeal to women voters. You have talked repeatedly about the fact, we know you would be, if elected, the first woman president. But in New Hampshire 55 percent of the women voters supported and voted for Senator Sanders. What are women missing about you? +p124 +aVAs you know, just quickly, as you know, your strong supporter, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, said the other day that there's a special place in Hell for women who don't support other women. Do you agree with what she said? +p125 +aVSenator Sanders, you're in the minority, but we still want to hear from you. +p126 +aVFinal comment. +p127 +aVSecretary Clinton, I was talking recently with a 23 year old black woman who voted for President Obama because she said she thought relations between the races would get better under his leadership, and his example. Hardly anyone believes that they have. Why do you think race relations would be better under a Clinton presidency? What would you do that the nation's first African American has not been able to? +p128 +aVSenator Sanders? +p129 +aVSo race relation was be better under a Sanders presidency than they've been? +p130 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders, one of the causes of anxiety for working class Americans is connected to immigrants. President Obama, as you know, has issued executive actions to permit some 5 million undocumented immigrants who are living now in the United States to come out of the shadows without fear of deportation to get work permits. Would you go further than that? And if so, how specifically would you do it? Should an undocumented family watching this debate tonight, say, in Nevada, rest easy, not fear of further deportations under a Sanders presidency? +p131 +aVI'd like... +p132 +aVWe're going to move on. Secretary Clinton, your campaign has recently ramped up criticism of Senator Sanders for attending Democratic Party fundraisers from which you say he benefited. But nearly half of your financial sector donations appear to come from just two wealthy financiers, George Soros and Donald Sussman, for a total of about $10 million. You have said that there's no quid pro quo involved. Is that also true of the donations that wealthy Republicans give to Republican candidates, contributors including the Koch Brothers? +p133 +aVI'm asking if Democratic donors are different than Republican donors. +p134 +aVWe have to go to a break. We... +p135 +aVAll right. Thank you both. It is time for a break. And when we come back, we're going to turn to some new topics, including how these candidates will keep America safe. +p136 +aVWelcome back to the Democratic presidential debate. Before we return to our questions, we have a follow-up question from our Facebook group. And it is to Senator Sanders. Senator, it comes from Bill Corfield. He is a 55-year-old musician from Troy, Ohio. And he asks: "Are there any areas of government you would like to reduce?" +p137 +aVJust a final word. +p138 +aVSenator, let me \u2014 let me move on to another country with which the U.S. has a complicated relationship, Senator Sanders, and that's Russia. On the one hand, we're aware that Russia is a country that the United States needs to cooperate with. Just tonight, Secretary of State John Kerry has announced what appears to be an agreement with the Russians to lead \u2014 that could lead toward a ceasefire in Syria, would be the first cessation of conflict in that country, in that civil war in five years, but it comes at a very high price, because not only have all \u2014 have we seen the deaths, the removal of so many people, millions of people, we now see the Russians in the last few weeks have bombed in a way that benefits President Assad, has not gone after +p139 +aVAnd we have a final question from our Facebook family. And it goes to Senator Sanders. It comes from Robert Andrews. He's a 40-year-old stay-at-home dad in Dover, Massachusetts. He says, "The world has seen many great leaders in the course of human history. Can you name two leaders \u2014 one American and one foreign \u2014 who would influence your foreign policy decisions? And why do you see them as \u2014 why are they influential?" +p140 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p141 +aVAnd we want to thank our audience, our quiet audience here in Helen Bader Concert Hall, and to all of you watching at home. Thank you all. Stay tuned for analysis of the debate and the overall race for the Democratic nomination. That's coming up next here on PBS stations and online atPBS.org/NewsHour. +p142 +aVAnd I'm going to be returning to Washington. I hope you'll join us for the PBS NewsHour tomorrow and every night. That's it from all of us here in Milwaukee. We thank you. +p143 +asVCORDES +p144 +(lp145 +VJohn, thanks so much. We've learned a lot during the course of this campaign about the things that you'd like to do that you say would help the middle class, but we haven't heard quite as much about who would pick up the tab. So Secretary Clinton, first to you. You want to cap individuals' prescription drug costs at $250 a month. You want to make public college debt-free. You want community college to be free altogether. And you want mandatory paid family leave. So who pays for all that? Is it employers? Is it the taxpayers, and which taxpayers? +p146 +aVBut a quick follow-up on that $250-a-month cap. Wouldn't the pharmaceutical companies and the insurance companies just pass that cost on to the consumers in the form of higher premiums? +p147 +aVGovernor O'Malley, you also want to make public college debt-free. You want... O' +p148 +aV... states to freeze tuition. You've got your own family leave plan. How would you pay for it? In Maryland, you raised the sales tax, you raised the gas tax and you raised taxes on families making over $150,000 a year. Is that the blueprint? O' +p149 +aVSenator Sanders, you want to make public college free altogether. You want to increase Social Security benefits and you want to spend $1 trillion on infrastructure. So you said that to do some of these things, you'll impose a tax on top earners. How high would their rate go in a Sanders administration? +p150 +aVBut let's get specific. How high would you go? You have said before you would go above 50 percent. How high? +p151 +aVSecretary Clinton, Americans say that health care costs and wages are their top financial concerns. And health care deductibles, alone, have risen 67 percent over the past five years. Is this something that Obamacare was designed to address? And if not, why not? +p152 +aVIt is -- it is a worthy debate. Senator Sanders, a quick response, and then we'll get into health care again later. +p153 +aVThere was a lot of conversation on twitter about guns, but also about your conversation on campaign finance. And Secretary Clinton, one of the tweets we saw said this, "I've never seen a candidate invoke 9/11 to justify millions of Wall Street donations until now." The idea being, yes, you were a champion of the community after 9/11, but what does that have to do with taking big donations? +p154 +aVHold on. O' +p155 +aVSenator Sanders -- I'm sorry. Senator Sanders, but what is it in Secretary Clinton's record that shows you that she's been influenced by those donations? +p156 +aVBack to health care, by popular demand. First to you, Senator Sanders. You'd prefer to scrap Obamacare and move to a single-payer system, essentially Medicare for all. You say you want to put the private insurance companies out of business. Is it realistic to think that you can pull the plug on a $1 trillion industry? +p157 +aVSecretary Clinton, back in -- Secretary Clinton, back in 1994, you said that momentum for a single-payer system would sweep the country. That sounds Sanders-esque. But you don't feel that way anymore, why not? +p158 +asVKELLY +p159 +(lp160 +VWelcome to the first debate night of the 2016 presidential campaign, live from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. I'm Megyn Kelly... ... along with my co-moderators, Brett Baier and Chris Wallace. Tonight... Nice. Tonight, thousands of people here in the Q, along with millions of voters at home will get their very first chance to see the candidates face off in a debate, answering the questions you want answered. +p161 +aVAs for the candidates who will be answering those questions? Here they are. Positioned on the stage by how they stand in the polls, in the center of the stage tonight, businessman Donald Trump. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. +p162 +aVGentlemen, our first round of questions is on the subject of electability in the general election, and we start tonight with you, Dr. Carson. You are a successful neurosurgeon, but you admit that you have had to study up on foreign policy, saying there's a lot to learn. Your critics say that your inexperience shows. You've suggested that the Baltic States are not a part of +p163 +aVMr. Trump, one of the things people love about you is you speak your mind and you don't use a politician's filter. However, that is not without its downsides, in particular, when it comes to women. You've called women you don't like "fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals." Your Twitter account... +p164 +aVNo, it wasn't. Your Twitter account... +p165 +aVFor the record, it was well beyond Rosie O'Donnell. +p166 +aVYour Twitter account has several disparaging comments about women's looks. You once told a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice it would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees. Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president, and how will you answer the charge from Hillary Clinton, who was likely to be the Democratic nominee, that you are part of the war on women? +p167 +aVGovernor Walker, you've consistently said that you want to make abortion illegal even in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother. You recently signed an abortion law in Wisconsin that does have an exception for the mother's life, but you're on the record as having objected to it. Would you really let a mother die rather than have an abortion, and with 83 percent of the American public in favor of a life exception, are you too out of the mainstream on this issue to win the general election? +p168 +aVGovernor Kasich, You chose to expand Medicaid in your state, unlike several other governors on this stage tonight, and it is already over budget by some estimates costing taxpayers an additional $1.4 billion in just the first 18 months. You defended your Medicaid expansion by invoking God, saying to skeptics that when they arrive in heaven, Saint Peter isn't going to ask them how small they've kept government, but what they have done for the poor. Why should Republican voters, who generally want to shrink government, believe that you won't use your Saint Peter rationale to expand every government program? +p169 +aVAlright, gentlemen, we're gonna switch topics now and talk a bit about terror and national security. Governor Christie. You've said that Senator Paul's opposition to the NSA's collection of phone records has made the United States weaker and more vulnerable, even going so far as to say that he should be called before Congress to answer for it if we should be hit by another terrorist attack. Do you really believe you can assign blame to Senator Paul just for opposing the bulk collection of people's phone records in the event of a terrorist attack? +p170 +aVGo ahead, sir. +p171 +aVGovernor Christie, make your point. +p172 +aVGo ahead, governor. +p173 +aVAlright. +p174 +aVAlright, we've gotta cut it off there. We have plenty more we want to get to. That was an interesting exchange, thank you for that. +p175 +aVWell, I want to move on, because I have -- we're gonna get to you, governor, but I -- I really wanna get to a Facebook questioner. His name is Alex Chalgren, and he has the following question: +p176 +aVSenator Cruz, I wanna talk to you about this, because many of the Facebook users and -- and -- the -- the folks on Facebook wanted the candidates to speak to +p177 +aVYou don't see it as... ...an ideological problem -- an ideological problem in addition to a military one? +p178 +aVGovernor Bush, for days on end in this campaign, you struggled to answer a question about whether knowing what we know now... +p179 +aV...we would've invaded Iraq... +p180 +aVI remember it too, and +p181 +aVGovernor Walker, in February you said that we needed to gain partners in the Arab world. Which Arab country not already in the U.S. led coalition has potential to be our greatest partner? +p182 +aVDr. Carson, in one of his first acts as commander in chief, President Obama signed an executive order banning enhanced interrogation techniques in fighting terror. As president, would you bring back water boarding? +p183 +aVWe have a lot for you, don't worry. Fear not, you may rue that request. +p184 +aVIt's just before 10:00 p.m. on the East Coast. Welcome back to Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, and the very first Republican primary debate of the 2016 presidential campaign. Ten candidates on the stage, selected based on their standing in five national polls. And tonight they are facing off, answering the questions you want asked. We hope. +p185 +aV Sounds like somebody's a little R-rated. +p186 +aVWell, the first debate night of the 2016 presidential campaign continues from Cleveland after a short time-out. Stick around. Social issues, next. +p187 +aVSenator Rubio, you favor a rape and incest exception to abortion bans. Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York just said yesterday those exceptions are preposterous. He said they discriminate against an entire class of human beings. If you believe that life begins at conception, as you say you do, how do you justify ending a life just because it begins violently, through no fault of the baby? +p188 +aVYou don't favor a rape and incest exception? +p189 +aVMr. Trump, in 1999, you said you were, quote, "very pro- choice." Even supporting partial-birth abortion. You favored an assault weapons ban as well. In 2004, you said in most cases you identified as a Democrat. Even in this campaign, your critics say you often sound more like a Democrat than a Republican, calling several of your opponents on the stage things like clowns and puppets. When did you actually become a Republican? +p190 +aVGovernor Bush, I want to ask you, on the subject of name calling of your fellow candidates, a story appeared today quoting an anonymous GOP donor who said you called Mr. Trump a clown, a buffoon, something else that cannot be repeated on television. +p191 +aVIs it true? +p192 +aVMr. Trump, 30 seconds. +p193 +aVThe subject of gay marriage and religious liberty. Governor Kasich, if you had a son or daughter who was gay or lesbian, how would you explain to them your opposition to same-sex marriage? +p194 +aVHow would you -- how would you explain it to a child? +p195 +aVSenator Paul, in the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling on same sex marriage, Carol Fox on Facebook want to know the following. Quote: what will you do to ensure Christians are not prosecuted for speaking out against gay marriage and will Christians be forced to conduct business that conflicts with their religious beliefs? +p196 +aVGovernor Walker, many in the Black Lives Matter movement, and beyond, believe that overly-aggressive police officers targeting young African Americans is the civil rights issue of our time. Do you agree? And if so, how do you plan to address it? And if not, why not? +p197 +aVThank you. +p198 +aVWe have to stand you by, because after the break, we're going to let the candidates make their closing statements, their final thoughts, and . . . God. Stay tuned for that. +p199 +aVWelcome back. In our final moments here together, we're going to allow the candidates to offer their final thoughts. But first, we want to ask them an interesting closing question from Chase Norton on Facebook, who wants to know this of the candidates: "I want to know if any of them have received a word from God on what they should do and take care of first." Senator Cruz, start from you. Any word from God? +p200 +aVGovernor Kasich, same question. +p201 +aVGovernor Walker, same question. +p202 +aVSenator Rubio, I want to ask you the same question. But I do want to mention, a woman just came here to the stage and asked, what about the veterans? I want to hear more about what these candidates are going to do for our nation's veterans. So I put the question to you about God and the veterans, which you may find to be related. +p203 +aVDr. Carson, a question to you about God and his role, but also, one of the issues that the public was very interested in, and we touched on it earlier, is race relations in this country, and how divided we seem right now. And what, if anything, you can do -- you would do as the next president to help heal that divide. +p204 +aVGovernor Christie? +p205 +aVSenator Ted Cruz. +p206 +aVGovernor Scott Walker. +p207 +aVIt's over! +p208 +aVAre you relieved? You were nervous before, they -- they don't look relieved. They look "get me outta here." Thank you all very much, and that will do it for the first Republican primary debate night of the 2016 presidential race. Our thanks to the candidates, who will now be joined by their families on stage. +p209 +asVRUBIO +p210 +(lp211 +VThank you Wolf. It's really amazing to be back in Las Vegas. I spent six years as a child growing not far from where we stand tonight. I use to sit on the porch of our home and listen to my grandfather tell stories as he smoked one of three daily cigars. One of the things my grandfather instilled in me, was that I was really blessed because I was a citizen of the greatest country in the history of our mankind. But there have always been people in American politics that wanted America to be more like the rest of the world. And In 2008, one of them was elected president of this country and the result has been a disaster. Today you have millions of Americans that feel left out and out of place in their own country, struggling to live paycheck to paycheck, called bigots because they hold on to traditional values. And around the world, America's influence has declined while this president has destroyed our military, our allies no longer trust us, and our adversaries no longer respect us. And that is why this election is so important. That is why I'm running for president. And that's why I'm going to ask you for your vote tonight. If you elect me president, we will have a president that believes America is the greatest country in the world and we will have a president that acts like it. +p212 +aVWell, I understand why they feel that way, because this president hasn't kept us safe. The problem is we had an attack in San Bernardino. And we were paying attention to the most important issue we have faced in a decade since 9/11, and then all the talk was about this proposal, which isn't going to happen. But this is what's important to do is we must deal frontally with this threat of radical Islamists, especially from +p213 +aVHe is and so are those that voted for it. There were some that voted for it because they wanted to keep it alive and they were afraid the whole program would expire. Here's the world we live in. This is a radical jihadist group that is increasingly sophisticated in its ability, for example, to radicalize American citizens, in its inability to exploit loopholes in our legal immigration system, in its ability to capture and hold territory in the Middle East, as I outlined earlier, in multiple countries. This is not just the most capable, it is the most sophisticated terror threat we have ever faced. We are now at a time when we need more tools, not less tools. And that took we lost, the metadata program, was a valuable tool that we no longer have at our disposal. +p214 +aVDana, may I interject here? +p215 +aVLet me be very careful when answering this, because I don't think national television in front of 15 million people is the place to discuss classified information. So let me just be very clear. There is nothing that we are allowed to do under this bill that we could not do before. This bill did, however, take away a valuable tool that allowed the National Security Agency and other law \u2014 and other intelligence agencies to quickly and rapidly access phone records and match them up with other phone records to see who terrorists have been calling. Because I promise you, the next time there is attack on \u2014 an attack on this country, the first thing people are going to want to know is, why didn't we know about it and why didn't we stop it? And the answer better not be because we didn't have access to records or information that would have allowed us to identify these killers before they attacked. +p216 +aVI want to thank Rand for another 30 seconds, because, number one, what he's pointing to is a bill last week that \u2014 amendment that he voted for that only 10 people voted for. You know why? Because it's not focused on terrorists. It would have banned anyone from coming here. Someone from Taiwan would not have been able to come here as a tourist. Number two, this program, this metadata program is actually more strict than what a regular law enforcement agency has now. If a regular law enforcement agency wants your phone records, all they have to do is issue a subpoena. But now the intelligence agency is not able to quickly gather records and look at them to see who these terrorists are calling. And the terrorists that attacked us in San Bernardino was an American citizen, born and raised in this country. And I bet you we wish we would have had access to five years of his records so we could see who he was working with... +p217 +aVDo I get another 30 seconds? He mentioned me. +p218 +aVWell, let me begin by saying that we have to understand who +p219 +aVThat is accurate. Three times he voted against the Defense Authorization Act, which is a bill that funds the troops. It also, by the way, funds the Iron Dome and other important programs. And I have to assume that if you vote against it in the Senate, you would also veto it as president. He has also supported, by the way, a budget that is called the containment budget. And it is a budget that would radically reduce the amount of money we spend on our military. You can't carpet bomb +p220 +aVYes, let me \u2014 three points of distinction. The first is, if you're an American citizen and you decide to join up with +p221 +aVWell, they most certainly will have to be worked on to provide more than what they are doing now. There's no doubt about it. And there's one \u2014 one major reason why they have not been willing to be a broader part of the coalition, and that is they have lost complete trust and confidence in this president. This president cut a deal with their moral enemy, the Shia, in Iran. And this is the reason why they no longer trust this president and are willing to work alongside them. But they have as much invested in this as we do. In fact, more so, for it is the king of Saudi Arabia they want to behead first. It's the king of Jordan that they want to dethrone. It's the \u2014 they want to go into Egypt the way they've already gone into Libya. And on another point that we need to talk about, Assad is one of the main reasons why +p222 +aVTo begin with, Moammar Gadhafi and the revolt against Gadhafi was not started by the United States. It was started by the Libyan people. And the reason why I argued we needed to get involved is because he was going to go one way or the other. And my argument then was proven true, and that is, the longer that civil war took, the more militias would be formed and the more unstable the country would be after the fact. As far as Moammar Gadhafi is concerned, by the way, Moammar Gadhafi is the man that killed those Americans over Lockerbie, Scotland. Moammar Gadhafi is also the man that bombed that cafe in Berlin and killed those Marines. And you want to know why Moammar Gadhafi started cooperating on his nuclear program? Because we got rid of Saddam Hussein. And so he got scared that he would be next, and that's why he started cooperating. Look, we will have to work around the world with less than ideal governments. The government in Saudi Arabia is not a democracy, but we will have to work with them. The government in Jordan is not perfect, but we will have to work with them. But anti-American dictators like Assad, who help Hezbollah, who helped get those IEDs into Iraq, if they go, I will not shed a tear. +p223 +aVYeah. Immigration is not an issue that I read about in the newspaper or watch a documentary on PBS or CNN. It's an issues I've lived around my whole life. My family are immigrants. My wife's family are immigrants. All of my neighbors are immigrants. I see every aspect of this problem. The good, the bad, and the ugly. And here's what we learned in 2013. The American people don't trust the Federal Government to enforce our immigration laws, and we will not be able to do anything on immigration until we first prove to the American people that illegal immigration is under control. And we can do that. We know what it takes to do that. It takes at least 20,000 more additional border agents. It takes completing those 700 miles of fencing. It takes a mandatory e-verify system and a mandatory entry/exit tracking system to prevent overstays. After we have done that, the second thing we have to do is reform and modernize the legal immigration system. And after we have done those two things, I think the American people are gonna be reasonable with what do you do with someone who has been in this country for 10 or 12 years who hasn't otherwise violated our laws \u2014 because if they're a criminal they can't stay. They'll have to undergo a background check, pay a fine, start paying taxes. And ultimately, they'll given a work permit and that's all they're gonna be allowed to have for at least 10 years. But you can't get to that third step until you have done the other two things, and that was the lesson we learned in 2013. There is no trust that the Federal Government will enforce the law. They will not support you until you see it done first. +p224 +aVBut I've answered that question repeatedly. I am personally open \u2014 after all that has happened and after ten years in that probationary status where all they have is a permit, I personally am open to allowing people to apply for a green card. That may not be a majority position in my party, but that's down the road. You can't even begin that process until you prove to people \u2014 not just pass a law that says you're gonna bring illegal immigration under control. You're gonna have to do it and prove to people that it's working. And that was the lesson of 2013. And it's more true today, than it was then. After a migratory crisis on the border with minors coming over that you're seeing start up again now, after all these executive orders the President has issued. More than ever we need to... +p225 +aV... prove to people that illegal immigration is under control. +p226 +aVYeah, a couple points. In 2013 we had never faced a crisis like the Syrian refugee crisis now. Up until that point, a refugee meant someone fleeing oppression, fleeing Communism like it is in my community. As far as Ted's record, I'm always puzzled by his attack on this issue. Ted, you support legalizing people who are in this country illegally. Ted Cruz supported a 500-percent increase in the number of H-1 visas, the guest workers that are allowed into this country, and Ted supports doubling the number of green cards. So I think what's important for us to understand and there is a way forward on this issue that we an bring our country together on. And while I'm president I will do it. And it will begin by bringing illegal immigration under control and proving to the American people. +p227 +aVNo, no, give him time. +p228 +aVTed, do you... +p229 +aVDid Ted Cruz fight to support legalizing people that are in this country illegally? +p230 +aVDoes Ted Cruz rule out ever legalizing people that are in this country now? +p231 +aVWould you rule it out? +p232 +aVWell, he's just admitted \u2014 as he's just admitted, the reason why those refugees were allowed in was because they messed up in how they used the actual database. They should have know. They didn't because they didn't run the actual law as it exists now. It didn't work well. As far as the refugees are concerned, it's not that America doesn't want to accept refugees, Wolf. It's that we may not be able to, because this is an issue we have to be 100 percent right on. If we allow 9,999 Syrian refugees into the United States, and all of them are good people, but we allow one person in who's an +p233 +aVI do. First, let's explain to people at home who the triad \u2014 what the triad is. Maybe a lot of people haven't heard that terminology before. The triad is our ability of the United States to conduct nuclear attacks using airplanes, using missiles launched from silos or from the ground, and also from our nuclear subs' ability to attack. And it's important \u2014 all three of them are critical. It gives us the ability at deterrence. Now, some have become more critical than others; for example, the submarines. And that's the Ohio Class submarine that needs to be modernized. The air component also needs to be modernized. The B-52, as someone earlier pointed out, is an outdated model that was flown by the grandparents of people that are flying it now. And we need a serious modernization program as well on our silo-launched missiles. All three are critical for the defense of the country. +p234 +aVThank you. As we near the end of this year, we enter one of the most important elections in a generation. For what's at stake in this election is not simply what party's going to be in charge. But our very identity as a people and as a nation. For over 200 years this has been a special country. A unique place where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything. But now millions of Americans feel like they're being left behind. Insecure in their future and unsafe in the face of terrorism. This election is about electing a president that will restore our economic vibrancy so that the American dream can expand to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And rebuild our Military and our intelligence programs so that we can remain the strongest nation on earth. Tonight I ask you for your vote. If you do this, we will rebuild this country, and together we will usher in a new American century \u2014 the greatest era in the history of this great land. +p235 +aVWell, let me begin by answering both the first question and this one, because they're related. As I've said many times before, my parents were never rich people. My father was a bartender. My mother was a maid. They worked for a living. But they were successful people, because, despite the fact that they weren't well educated and had those jobs, they made enough money to buy a home in a safe and stable neighborhood, retire with dignity, leave all four of their children better off than themselves. We call that the American dream, but in fact, it's a universal dream of a better life that people have all over the world. It is a reminder that every country in the world has rich people. What makes America special is that we have millions and millions of people that are not rich, that through hard work and perseverance are able to be successful. The problem is that today people are not successful working as hard as ever because the economy is not providing jobs that pay enough. If I thought that raising the minimum wage was the best way to help people increase their pay, I would be all for it, but it isn't. In the 20th century, it's a disaster. If you raise the minimum wage, you're going to make people more expensive than a machine. And that means all this automation that's replacing jobs and people right now is only going to be accelerated. Here's the best way to raise wages. Make America the best place in the world to start a business or expand an existing business, tax reform and regulatory reform, bring our debt under control, fully utilize our energy resources so we can reinvigorate manufacturing, repeal and replace Obamacare, and make higher education faster and easier to access, especially vocational training. For the life of me, I don't know why we have stigmatized vocational education. Welders make more money than philosophers. We need more welders and less philosophers. If we do that \u2014 and if we do this \u2014 if we do this, we will be able to increase wages for millions of Americans and we will be able to leave everyone better off without making anyone worse off. +p236 +aVWell, you know, that's an excellent question, because what we are going through in this country is not simply an economic downturn. We are living through a massive economic transformation. I mean, this economy is nothing like what it was like five years ago, not to mention 15 or 20 years ago. And it isn't just a different economy. It's changing faster than ever. You know, it took the telephone 75 years to reach 100 million users. It took Candy Crush one year to reach some 100 million users. So the world is changing faster than ever, and it is disruptive. Number one, we are in a global competition now, and several of the candidates have said that. There are now dozens of developed economies on this planet that we have to compete with. And we lose that competition because we have the highest business tax rate in the industrialized world, because we have regulations that continue to grow by the billions every single week, because we have a crazy health care law that discourages companies from hiring people, but because we're not fully utilizing our energy resources, that if we did, it would bring back all kinds of growth, especially in manufacturing, and because we have an outdated higher education system. Our higher education system is completely outdated. It is too expensive, too hard to access, and it doesn't teach 21st century skills. If we do what needs to be done \u2014 tax reform, regulatory reform, fully utilize our energy resources, repeal and replace Obamacare, and modernize higher education, then we can grasp the potential and the promise of this new economy. And we won't just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And then truly this new century can be a new American century. +p237 +aVThe most important job I'm ever going to have, the most important job anyone in this room will ever have, is the job of being a parent. Not the job of being president, or the job of being a senator, or the job of being a congressman. The most important job any of us will ever do is the job of being a president (sic), because the most important institution in society is the family. If the family breaks down, society breaks down. You can't have a strong nation without strong values, and no one is born with strong values. They have to be taught to you in strong families and reinforced in you in strong communities. And so when we set out to do tax reform, we endeavor to have a pro-family tax code, and we endeavor to do it because we know how difficult it is for families in the 21st century to afford the cost of living. It is expensive to raise children in the 21st century, and families that are raising children are raising the future taxpayers of the United States, and everything costs more. In 35 out of 50 states, child care costs more than college. There are millions of people watching this broadcast tonight that understand exactly what I'm talking about. They don't know how they're going to make that payment every month, and if they can't make it, they can't work, because someone needs to watch their kids during the day. They don't know how they're going to save for their kids' future, to go to college. And so, yes, I have a child tax credit increase, and I'm proud of it. I am proud that I have a pro-family tax code, because the pro- family tax plan I have will strengthen the most important institution in the \u2014 in the country, the family. +p238 +aVNow I get my 60 seconds to respond. He's talking about my tax plan. +p239 +aVSo let me begin with this. I actually believe \u2014 first of all, this is their money. They do pay. It is refundable, not just against the taxes they pay to the government, but also the \u2014 on their federal income tax, it's refundable against the payroll tax. Everyone pays payroll tax. This is their money. This is not our money. And here's what I don't understand \u2014 if you invest that money in a piece of equipment, if you invest that money in a business, you get to write it off your taxes. But if you invest it in your children, in the future of America and strengthening your family, we're not going to recognize that in our tax code? The family is the most important institution in society. And, yes... +p240 +aV... I do want to rebuild the American military. +p241 +aVI know that Rand is a committed isolationist. I'm not. I believe the world is a stronger and a better place, when the United States is the strongest military power in the world. +p242 +aVBecause... +p243 +aV...are you talking about the military, Rand? +p244 +aVWe can't even have an economy if we're not safe. There are radical jihadist in the Middle East beheading people and crucifying Christians. A radical Shia cleric in Iran trying to get a nuclear weapon, the Chinese taking over the South China Sea... ...Yes, I believe the world is a safer \u2014 no, no, I don't believe, I know that the world is a safer place when America is the strongest military power in the world. +p245 +aVYou know, if I may respond... +p246 +aVI need to add a couple of points to this. The first is, I've never met Vladimir Putin, but I know enough about him to know he is a gangster. He is basically an organized crime figure that runs a country, controls a $2 trillion economy. And is using to build up his military in a rapid way despite the fact his economy is a disaster. He understands only geopolitical strength. And every time he has acted anywhere in the world, whether it's in Ukraine or Georgia before that, or now in the Middle East, it's because he is trusting in weakness. His calculation in the Middle East is that he has seen what this president has done, which is nothing, the president has no strategy, our allies in the region do not trust us. For goodness sake, there is only one pro-American free enterprise democracy in the Middle East, it is the state of Israel. And we have a president that treats the prime minister of Israel with less respect than what he gives the ayatollah in Iran. And so our allies in the region don't trust us. Vladimir Putin is exploiting that weakness, for purposes of edging the Americans out as the most important geopolitical power broker in the region. And we do have a vested interest. And here's why. Because all those radical terrorist groups that, by the way, are not just in Syria and in Iraq, +p247 +aVCan I just add what \u2014 he's right on point there. Do you know why these banks are so big? The government made them big. The government made them big by adding thousands and thousands of pages of regulations. So the big banks, they have an army of lawyers, they have an army of compliance officers. They can deal with all these things. The small banks, like Governor Bush was saying, they can't deal with all these regulations. They can't deal with all \u2014 they cannot hire the fanciest law firm in Washington or the best lobbying firm to deal with all these regulations. And so the result is, the big banks get bigger, the small banks struggle to lend or even exist, and the result is what you have today. And in Dodd-Frank, you have actually codified too big to fail. We have actually created a category of systemically important institutions, and these banks go around bragging about it. You know what they say to people with a wink and a nod? We are so big, we are so important that if we get in trouble, the government has to bail us out. This is an outrage. We need to repeal Dodd-Frank as soon as possible. +p248 +aVWell, that's a great question, and let me begin by answering it. This election is about the future, about what kind of country this nation is gonna be in the 21st century. This next (ph) election is actually a generational choice. A choice about what kind of nation we will be in the 21st century. For over 2.5 centuries, America's been a special country, the one place on earth where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything, a nation that's been a force for good on this planet. But now, a growing number of Americans feel out of place in their own country. We have a society that stigmatizes those that hold cultural values that are traditional. We have a society where people \u2014 millions of people \u2014 are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, but they're living paycheck to paycheck because the economy has changed underneath their feet. We have young Americans who owe thousands of dollars in student loans for a degree that doesn't lead to a job. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses dying than starting, and around the world, every day brings news of a new humiliation for America \u2014 many the direct response \u2014 direct consequence of decisions made when Hillary Clinton was the secretary of the \u2014 of state. And so here's the truth: this election is about the future, and the Democratic Party, and the political left has no ideas about the future. All their ideas are the same, tired ideas of the past. More government, more spending. For every issue for America, their answer is a new tax on someone, and a new government program. This nation is going to turn the page, and that's what this election should be about, and, as I said at the first debate... ...If I am our nominee, they will be the party of the past, we will be the party of the 21st century. +p249 +aVOurs \u2014 the story of America is an extraordinary story. It is the story of a nation that for over two centuries each generation has left the next better off than themselves. But now, because Washington is out of touch, for the fault of both political parties, for the first time in our history, that is in doubt. And that is what this election must be about, because if the next four years are anything like the last eight years, our children will be the first Americans ever left worse off by their parents. This election is about making a different choice, about applying our principles of limited government and free enterprise to the unique issues of our time. And if we do, we will not just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And the 21st century can be a new American century. So tonight, I ask you for your vote and I ask you to join us at my website, marcorubio.com. +p250 +aVThank you for that question. I would begin by saying that I'm not sure it's a weakness, but I do believe that I share a sense of optimism for America's future that, today, is eroding from too many of our people. I think there's a sense in this country today that somehow our best days are behind us. And that doesn't have to be true. Our greatest days lie ahead if we are willing to do what it takes now. If we're willing to do what it takes now, the 21st century is going to be the new American century, greater than any other era we've had in the history of this great nation. +p251 +aVThat's an interesting question. That's exactly what the Republican establishment says too. Why don't you wait in line? Wait for what? This country is running out of time. We can't afford to have another four years like the last eight years. Watching this broadcast tonight are millions of people that are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, everything costs more, and they haven't had a raise in decades. You have small businesses in America that are struggling. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses closing than starting. We have a world that's out of control and has grown dangerous and a president that is weakening our military and making our foreign policy unstable and unreliable in the eyes of our allies. And our adversaries continue to grow stronger. We have a \u2014 they say there's no bipartisanship in Washington? We have a $19 trillion bipartisan debt and it continues to grow as we borrow money from countries that do not like us to pay for government we cannot afford. The time to act is now. The time to turn the page is now. If we \u2014 if we don't act now, we are going to be the first generation in American history that leaves our children worse off than ourselves. +p252 +aVLet me say, I read that editorial today with a great amusement. It's actually evidence of the bias that exists in the American media today. +p253 +aVLet me \u2014 let me answer your question on the Sun-Sentinel editorial today. Back in 2004, one of my predecessors to the Senate by the name of Bob Graham, a Democrat, ran for president missing over 30 percent of his votes. I don't recall them calling for his resignation \u2014 +p254 +aVLater that year, in 2004, John Kerry ran for president missing close to 60 to 70 percent of his votes. I don't recall the Sun \u2014 in fact, the Sun-Sentinel endorsed him. In 2008, Barack Obama missed 60 or 70 percent of his votes, and the same newspaper endorsed him again. So this is another example of the double standard that exists in this country between the mainstream media and the conservative movement. +p255 +aVI get to respond, right? +p256 +aVWell, it's interesting. Over the last few weeks, I've listened to Jeb as he walked around the country and said that you're modeling your campaign after John McCain, that you're going to launch a furious comeback the way he did, by fighting hard in New Hampshire and places like that, carrying your own bag at the airport. You know how many votes John McCain missed when he was carrying out that furious comeback that you're now modeling after? +p257 +aVNo Jeb, I don't remember \u2014 well, let me tell you. I don't remember you ever complaining about John McCain's vote record. The only reason why you're doing it now is because we're running for the same position, and someone has convinced you that attacking me is going to help you. +p258 +aVHere's the bottom line. I'm not \u2014 my campaign is going to be about the future of America, it's not going to be about attacking anyone else on this stage. I will continue to have tremendous admiration and respect for Governor Bush. I'm not running against Governor Bush, I'm not running against anyone on this stage. I'm running for president because there is no way we can elect Hillary Clinton to continue the policies of Barack Obama. +p259 +aVWell, you just \u2014 you just listed a litany of discredited attacks from Democrats and my political opponents, and I'm not gonna waste 60 seconds detailing them all. But I'm going to tell you the truth. Here's the truth. I didn't inherit any money. My dad was a bartender, my mother was a maid. They worked hard to provide us the chance at a better life. They didn't save enough money for us to go to school. I had to work my way through school. I had to borrow money to go to school. I tried (ph), early in my marriage, explaining to my wife why someone named Sallie Mae was taking $1,000 out of our bank account every month. I know what it's like to owe that money, and we've worked hard. We've worked hard our whole life to provide a better family \u2014 a better life for our family. We own a home four blocks away from the place that I grew up in. My four children have been able to receive a good Christian education, and I've been able to save for them to go to college so they never have to have the loans that I did. But I'm not worried about my finances, I'm worried about the finances of everyday Americans who today are struggling in an economy that is not producing good paying jobs while everything else costs more. And that's what this economy needs to \u2014 that's what this debate needs to be about. This debate needs to be about the men and women across this country that are struggling on a daily basis to provide for their families the better future that we've always said this country is all about. +p260 +aVAnd I used it to pay off my loans. And it's available on paperback, if you're interested in buying my book. +p261 +aVYeah, again, as I said, we're raising a family in the 21st century and it's one of the reasons why my tax plan is a pro- family tax plan. It increases the per child tax credit, because I didn't read about this in a book. I know for a fact how difficult it is to raise children, how expensive it's become for working families. And I make a lot more than the average American. Imagine how hard it is for these people out there that are making 40, 50, $60,000 a year, and they're trying to provide for their families at a time when this economy is not growing. We can't afford another four years of that. Which is what we're gonna get if we elect a big government liberal like Hillary Clinton to the White House. Thank you, senator. +p262 +aVWell, first of all, if a company gets caught doing that, they should never be able to use the program again. If you get caught abusing this program, you should never be able to use it again. The second thing I said is we need to add reforms, not just increase the numbers, but add reforms. For example, before you hire anyone from abroad, you should have to advertise that job for 180 days. You also have to prove that you're going to pay these people more than you would pay someone else, so that you're not undercutting it by bringing in cheap labor. But here's the best solution of all. We need to get back to training people in this country to do the jobs of the 21st century. Why, for the life of me, I do not understand why did we stop doing vocational education in America, people that can work with their hands; people you can train to do this work while they're still in high school so they can graduate ready to go work. But the best way to close this gap is to modernize higher education so Americans have the skills for those jobs. But in the interim, in the absence of that, what's happening is some of these tech companies are taking those \u2014 those centers (ph) to Canada because they can get people to go over there instead of here. But the ideal scenario is to train Americans to do the work so we don't have to rely on people from abroad. +p263 +aVWell, I believe that there are abuses, those companies should be permanently barred from ever using the program again and we should put strict standards in place to ensure that they're not being abused, like the prevailing wage requirement and like the advertising requirement. +p264 +aVSince I've been mentioned, can I respond? +p265 +aVOK. I know the Democrats have the ultimate SuperPac. It's called the mainstream media who every single day... ... and I'll tell you why. Last week, Hillary Clinton went before a committee. She admitted she had sent e-mails to her family saying, "Hey, this attack at Benghazi was caused by Al Qaida-like elements." She spent over a week telling the families of those victims and the American people that it was because of a video. And yet the mainstream media is going around saying it was the greatest week in Hillary Clinton's campaign. It was the week she got exposed as a liar. It was the week that she got exposed as a liar... But she has her super PAC helping her out, the American mainstream media. +p266 +aVNo, that's \u2014 you're wrong. In fact, the largest after- tax gains is for the people at the lower end of the tax spectrum under my plan. And there's a bunch of things my tax plan does to help them. Number one, you have people in this country that... +p267 +aV...you wrote a story on it, and you had to go back and correct it. +p268 +aVYou did. No, you did. +p269 +aVWell, you're talking about \u2014 yeah. +p270 +aVYeah, but that \u2014 because the math is, if you \u2014 5 percent of a million is a lot more than 5 percent of a thousand. So yeah, someone who makes more money... +p271 +aV...numerically, it's gonna be higher. But the greatest gains, percentage-wise, for people, are gonna be at the lower end of our plan, and here's why: because in addition to a general personal exemption, we are increasing the per-child tax credit for working families. We are lowering taxes on small business. You know, a lot of business activity in America is conducted like the guy that does my dry cleaning. He's an S corporation. He pays on his personal rate, and he is paying higher than the big dry-cleaning chain down the street, because he's paying at his personal rate. Under my plan, no business, big or small, will pay more than 25 percent flat rate on their business income. That is a dramatic tax decrease for hard-working people who run their own businesses. +p272 +aV...The other thing I'd like to make about our plan, one more point, it is the most pro growth tax plan that I can imagine because it doesn't tax investments at all. You know why? Because the more you tax something, the less of it you get. I want to be in \u2014 I want America to be the best... +p273 +aV...in the world for people... +p274 +aVI was mentioned in the question. +p275 +aVThank you. Well, I've learned the rules on this. Look, in addition to what Donald was saying is we also need to talk about the legal immigration system for permanent residents. Today, we have a legal immigration system for permanent residency that is largely based on whether or not you have a relative living here. And that's the way my parents came legally in 1956. But in 2015, we have a very different economy. Our legal immigration system from now on has to be merit-based. It has to be based on what skills you have, what you can contribute economically, and most important of all, on whether or not you're coming here to become an American, not just live in America, but be an American. +p276 +aVNo. No. What I said was that I think that Dr. Carson's ideas are good ideas. They're not my ideas, and I don't necessarily agree with all of them. But this is what you're seeing in the Republican debate that you didn't see in that Democrat debate. You didn't see it for a minute. You didn't see these kind of ideas being batted around, and being batted around in a way that's civil and smart and that's trying to help to inform the voter out there. What you saw was a parade of, "I'll give you this for free; I'll give you that for free." Let me tell you, everybody, when they say they want to give it to you for free, keep your hands on your wallets because they're coming to you to pay for it. And that's why I think these ideas up here are great, and that's what we should have is have more discussions like this and less gotcha. +p277 +aVI want to take off from that point and argue the same thing. And that is that one of the things you're watching tonight are 11 quality candidates debating an important issue. The Republican Party is blessed to have 11 good candidates, 10 good candidates. The Democrats can't even come up with one. And on this issue of the Medicare in particular, it's important because they're going to demagogue what we're saying here tonight. Everyone up here tonight that's talking about reforms, I think and I know for myself I speak to this, we're all talking about reforms for future generations. Nothing has to change for current beneficiaries. My mother is on Medicare and Social Security. I'm against anything that's bad for my mother. So, we're talking about \u2014 we're talking about reform for people like me and people like Senator Cruz, as he talked about earlier, who are years away from retirement that have a way to plan for these changes, and way that's very reasonable. And it's not too much to ask of our generation after everything our parents and our grandparents did for us. +p278 +aVYou know, America doesn't owe me anything. I have a debt to America I'll never repay. This isn't just the country I was born in, this is the nation that literally changed the history of my family. My parents in this country were able to give me the chance to do all the things they never did. We call that the American Dream, although, it's built on the universal dream of a better life. The fact that it's happened for so many people here throughout our history, that's what makes us special. But, now for millions of Americans, it's slipping away. And, we have a government and leaders in government that are completely out of touch, and that's why I'm running for president. Because we can't just save the American Dream, we can expand it to reach more people, and change more lives than ever before. And, that's why tonight I'm asking you for your vote. +p279 +aVThank you. My name is Marco Rubio. I'm from Florida. My wife Jeanette and I are the proud \u2014 we've been married 17 years, and we're the proud parents of four children, two of whom were able to join us here this evening. I'm honored to be here at the Reagan Library, at a place that honors the legacy of a man who inspired not just my interest in public service, but also our love for country. And I'm also aware that California has a drought, and so that's why I made sure I brought my own water. +p280 +aVWell, first of all, I have an understanding of exactly what it is Russia and Putin are doing, and it's pretty straightforward. He wants to reposition Russia, once again, as a geopolitical force. He himself said that the destruction of the Soviet Union \u2014 the fall of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century, and now he's trying to reverse that. He's trying to destroy +p281 +aVLet me tell you \u2014 I will tell you we have zero responsibility, because let's remember what the president said. He said the attack he would conduct would be a pinprick. Well, the United States military was not build to conduct pinprick attacks. If the United States military is going to be engaged by a commander-in-chief, it should only be engaged in an endeavor to win. And we're not going to authorize use of force if you're not put in a position where they can win. And quite frankly, people don't trust this president as commander-in-chief because of that. +p282 +aVHold on, a second, Jake, he asked me, as well. I'd like to actually... +p283 +aV... respond. I think I'm the first senator. The No. 1 test for use of military force should be the vital national security interest of the United States. The reason why I opposed President Obama bombing Syria, is because he couldn't answer the question what do you do if chemical weapons end up in the hands of radical Islamic terrorists like al-Nusra, like Al Qaida, like +p284 +aVIn the middle of negotiating this treaty, Khamenei led the assembled masses in chanting, death to America. I'm reminded of a great editorial cartoon. It shows the Ayatollah Khamenei saying, "Death to all Americans," and then it shows John Kerry coming back, saying, "Can we meet ya half way?" We need a commander-in-chief who will stand up and protect this country. And I'll tell you, I can't wait to stand on that debate stage with Hillary Clinton and to make abundantly clear if you vote for Hillary, you are voting for the Ayatollah Khomeini to possess a nuclear weapon and if you elect me as president, under no circumstances will a theocratic ayatollah who chants death to America ever be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon. +p285 +aVMs. Dana, I agree that English is the unifying language of our country, and everyone should learn to speak it. It's important. I want to tell you a story about someone that didn't speak English that well. It was my grandfather; he came to this country in the 1960s, as a \u2014 escaping Cuba. And he lived with us, growing up. And my grandfather loved America. He understood what was so special about this country. He loved Ronald Reagan; he would be very proud of the fact that we're here this evening. My grandfather instilled in me the belief that I was blessed to live in the one society in all of human history where even I, the son of a bartender and a maid, could aspire to have anything, and be anything that I was willing to work hard to achieve. But he taught me that in Spanish, because it was the language he was most comfortable in. And he became a conservative, even though he got his news in Spanish. And so, I do give interviews in Spanish, and here's why \u2014 because I believe that free enterprise and limited government is the best way to help people who are trying to achieve upward mobility. And if they get their news in Spanish, I want them to hear that directly from me. Not from a translator at Univision. +p286 +aVWell, let me say that legal immigration is not an issue I read about in the newspaper. Immigration, illegal immigration, all the good aspects of immigration and all the negative ones as well, I live with. My family's immigrants. My neighbors are all immigrants. My in-laws are all immigrants. So I've seen every aspect of it, and I can tell you America doesn't have one immigration problem, it has three. First, despite the fact that we are the most generous country in the history of the world in allowing people to come here legally, we have people still coming illegally. Second, we have a legal immigration system that no longer works. It primary is built on the basis of whether you have a relative living here instead of merit. And third, we have 11 million or 12 million people, many of whom have been here for longer than a decade who are already here illegally. And we must deal with all three of these problems. We cannot deal with all three of these problems in one massive piece of legislation. I learned that. We tried it that way. Here's the way forward: First, we must \u2014 we must secure our border, the physical border, with \u2014 with a wall, absolutely. But we also need to have an entry/exit tracking system. 40 percent of the people who come here illegally come legally, and then they overstay the visa. We also need a mandatory e-verify system. After we've done that, step two would be to modernize our legal immigration system so you come to America on the basis of what you can contribute economically, not whether or not simply you have a relative living here. And after we've done those two things, I believe the American people... +p287 +aV... will be very reasonable and responsible about what you do with someone who's been here and isn't a criminal. If you're a criminal, obviously, you will not be able to stay. +p288 +aVYes, well, it does. But it's in the following way, this is an important question. I think if you're running for president, these are important issues, because look at around the world today. There is a lunatic in North Korea with dozens of nuclear weapons and long-range rocket that can already hit the very place in which we stand tonight. The Chinese are rapidly expanding their military. They hack into our computers. They're building artificial islands in the South China Sea, the most important shipping lane in the world. A gangster in Moscow is not just threatening Europe, he's threatening to destroy and divide +p289 +aVWell, that's why we have a debate. I think that we should have a deeper debate about these issues, because there is no more important decision that a president will make. +p290 +aVWell, you should ask him questions in detail about the foreign policy issues our president will confront, because you had better be able to lead our country on the first day. Not six months from now, not a year from now, on the first day in office, our president could very well confront a national security crisis. You can't predict it. Sometimes you cannot control it. And it is the most \u2014 the federal government does all kinds of things it's not supposed to be doing. It regulates bathrooms. It regulates schools that belong to local communities. But the one thing that the federal government must do, the one thing that only the federal government can do is keep us safe. And a president better be up-to-date on those issues on his first day in office, on her first day in office. +p291 +aVTrust (ph) me, I get that. OK. +p292 +aVI never get to addressed, and... +p293 +aV...and when I do, I'm gonna jump in. +p294 +aVYeah. He did. Let me \u2014 I'm proud to serve in the United States Senate. You know, when I ran five years ago, the entire leadership of my party in Washington lined up against me. But I'm glad I won. And I'm glad that I ran, because this country's headed in the wrong direction. And if we keep electing the same people, nothing is going to change. And you're right, I have missed some votes, and I'll tell you why, Mr. Trump. Because in my years in the Senate, I've figured out very quickly that the political establishment in Washington, D.C. in both political parties is completely out of touch with the lives of our people. You have millions of people in this country living paycheck to paycheck, and nothing is being done about it. We are about to leave our children with $18 trillion in \u2014 in \u2014 in debt, and they're about to raise the debt limit again. We have a world that grows increasingly dangerous, and we are eviscerating our military spending and signing deals with Iran. And these \u2014 if this thing continues, we are going to be the first Americans to leave our children worse off than ourselves. That's why I'm missing votes. Because I am leaving the Senate, I'm not running for re-election, and I'm running for president because I know this: unless we have the right president, we cannot make America fulfill its potential, but with the right person in office, the 21st century can be the greatest era that our nation has ever known. +p295 +aVI want to go even deeper \u2014 and I want to go even deeper in that direction, because I think the belief that somehow by retreating, America makes the world safer has been disproven every single time it's ever been tried. Syria's a perfect example of it. The uprising in Syria was not started by the United States; it was started by the Syrian people. And I warned at the time \u2014 this was three and a half years ago \u2014 I openly and repeatedly warned that if we did not find moderate elements on the ground that we could equip and arm, that void would be filled by radical jihadists. Well, the president didn't listen, the administration didn't follow through, and that's exactly what happened. That is why +p296 +aV... as you asked earlier today. +p297 +aVBut radical terrorism cannot be solved by intellect. It cannot \u2014 they require \u2014 what they need, is they need an operating space. That's what Afghanistan was for Al Qaida. It was a vacuum that they filled, and they created an operating space. That's why they had to be drawn out of there. That's why they had to be destroyed. It is the reason why +p298 +aVThere's a broader issue here, Hugh. And there's a broader issue here as well. First of all, the only people that follow the law are law-abiding people. Criminals by definition ignore the law, so you can pass all the gun laws in the world, like the left wants. The criminals are going to ignore it because they are criminals. Here's the real issue. The real issue \u2014 the real issue is not what are people using to commit violence, but why are they committing the violence? And here's the truth: Because you cannot separate the social, moral wellbeing of your people from their economic and other wellbeing. You cannot separate it. You can't have a strong country without strong people, you cannot have strong people without strong values, and you cannot have strong values without strong families and the institutions in this country that defend and support those families. +p299 +aVWell, and today, we have a left-wing government under this president that is undermining all of the institutions and society that support the family and teach those values. +p300 +aVBecause we're not going to destroy our economy the way the left-wing government that we are under now wants to do. We're not going to... +p301 +aVWell, and I don't \u2014 he may have lined up with their positions on this issue. But here is the bottom line. Every proposal they put forward are going to be proposals that will make it harder to do business in America, that will make it harder to create jobs in America. Single parents are already struggling across this country to provide for their families. Maybe a billionaire here in California can afford an increase in their utility rates, but a working family in Tampa, Florida, or anywhere across this country cannot afford it. So we are not going to destroy our economy. We are not going to make America a harder place to create jobs in order to pursue policies that will do absolutely nothing, nothing to change our climate, to change our weather, because America is a lot of things, the greatest country in the world, absolutely. But America is not a planet. And we are not even the largest carbon producer anymore, China is. And they're drilling a hole and digging anywhere in the world that they can get a hold of. So the bottom line is, I am not in favor of any policies that make America a harder place for people to live, or to work, or to raise their families. +p302 +aVJake, you mentioned me and called me a denier. Let me say, climate change... +p303 +aVOK. A skeptic. You can measure the climate. You can measure it. That's not the issue we're discussing. Here is what I'm skeptical of. I'm skeptical of the decisions that the left wants us to make, because I know the impact those are going to have and they're all going to be on our economy. They will not do a thing to lower the rise of the sea. They will not do a thing to cure the drought here in California. But what they will do is they will make America a more expensive place to create jobs. And today with millions of people watching this broadcast that are struggling paycheck to paycheck that do not know how they're going to pay their bills at the end of this month, I'm not in favor of anything that is going to make it harder for them to raise their family. +p304 +aVSenator Rubio, you mean? +p305 +aVI know we all look alike. +p306 +aVThe \u2014 Rosa Parks, an everyday American that changed the course of history. +p307 +aVWell, there are some people in Florida upset at me over a joke I made about Florida State, but, what the heck, I want my codename to be Gator. +p308 +aVOne of the things that made Ronald Reagan a great president, is that he understood that America was a unique nation, like any other that had existed throughout human history. He knew it was founded on universal principles that were powerful, the dignity of all people, human rights, the rights of all to live in freedom and liberty, and choose their own path in life. He didn't just believe it, he acted on it. That's why bringing down communism was so important to him. If I'm honored with the opportunity to be president, I hope that our Air Force One will fly, first and foremost, to our allies; in Israel, in South Korea, and Japan. They know we stand with them. That America can be counted on. It would also fly to China, not just to meet with our enemies, not just to meet with those adversaries of ours that are there, but also to meet with those that aspire to freedom and liberty within China. I would even invite them to my inauguration. We would also fly into Moscow and into Russia. And not just meet with the leaders of Russia, but also meet with those who aspire to freedom and liberty in Russia. And ultimately, I hope that my Air Force One, if I become president, will one day land in a free Cuba, where its people can choose its leaders and its own destiny. +p309 +aVWell, thank you for the question, Chris, and it's great to be here tonight. Let me begin by saying this: I'm not new to the political process; I was making a contribution as the speaker of the third largest and most diverse state in the country well before I even got into the Senate. I would add to that that this election cannot be a resume competition. It's important to be qualified, but if this election is a resume competition, then Hillary Clinton's gonna be the next president, because she's been in office and in government longer than anybody else running here tonight. Here's what this election better be about: This election better be about the future, not the past. It better be about the issues our nation and the world is facing today, not simply the issues we once faced. This country is facing an economy that has been radically transformed. You know, the largest retailer in the country and the world today, Amazon, doesn't even own a single store? And these changes have been disruptive. They have changed people's lives. The jobs that once sustained our middle class, they either don't pay enough or they are gone, and we need someone that understands that as our nominee. If I'm our nominee, how is Hillary Clinton gonna lecture me about living paycheck to paycheck? I was raised paycheck to paycheck. How is she -- how is she gonna lecture me -- how is she gonna lecture me about student loans? I owed over $100,000 just four years ago. If I'm our nominee, we will be the party of the future. +p310 +aVLet me set the record straight on a couple of things. The first is, the evidence is now clear that the majority of people coming across the border are not from Mexico. They're coming from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras. Those countries are the source of the people that are now coming in its majority. I also believe we need a fence. The problem is if El Chapo builds a tunnel under the fence, we have to be able to deal with that too. And that's why you need an e-verify system and you need an entry-exit tracking system and all sorts of other things to prevent illegal immigration. But I agree with what Governor Kasich just said. People are frustrated. This is the most generous country in the world when it comes to immigration. There are a million people a year who legally immigrate to the United States, and people feel like we're being taken advantage of. We feel like despite our generosity, we're being taken advantage of. And let me tell you who never gets talked about in these debates. The people that call my office, who have been waiting for 15 years to come to the United States. And they've paid their fees, and they hired a lawyer, and they can't get in. And they're wondering, maybe they should come illegally. And so these are important issues, and we should address it. It's a serious problem that needs to be addressed, and otherwise we're going to keep talking about this for the next 30 years, like we have for the last 30 years. +p311 +aVNot me. +p312 +aVActually, to be clear......he supported Charlie Crist. +p313 +aVHey, Charlie... +p314 +aVWell, first off, I too believe in curriculum reform. It is critically important in the 21st Century. We do need curriculum reform. And it should happen at the state and local level. That's. . . that's. . . that is where educational policy belongs, because if a parent is unhappy with what their child is being taught in school, they can go to that local school board or their state legislature, or their governor and get it changed. Here's the problem with Common Core. The Department of Education, like every federal agency, will never be satisfied. They will not stop with it being a suggestion. They will turn it into a mandate. In fact, what they will begin to say to local communities is, you will not get federal money unless do you things the way we want you to do it. And they will use Common Core or any other requirements that exists nationally to force it down the throats of our people in our states. +p315 +aVThat's a great question. +p316 +aVThat's a great question. First of all, it begins by having leaders that recognize that the economy we live in today is dramatically different from the one we had five years ago. It's an economy that now has placed us in global competition with dozens of other countries around the world. Now, the big companies that have connections with Washington, they can affect policies to help them, but the small companies like the one Tania is talking about, they're the ones that are struggling. The first thing we need to do is we need to even out the tax code for small businesses so that we lower their tax rate to 25 percent, just as we need to lower it for all businesses. We need to have a regulatory budget in America that limits the amount of regulations on our economy. We need to repeal and replace Obamacare and we need to improve higher education so that people can have access to the skills they need for 21st century jobs. And last but not least, we need to repeal Dodd-Frank. It is eviscerating small businesses and small banks. 20 \u2014 over 40 percent of small and mid-size banks that loan money to small businesses have been wiped out over the \u2014 since Dodd-Frank has passed. We need to repeal and replace Dodd-Frank. We need to make America fair again for all businesses, but especially those being run by small business owners. +p317 +aVWell, Megyn, first of all, I'm not sure that that's a correct assessment of my record. I would go on to add that I believe all-- +p318 +aVI have never said that. And I have never advocated that. What I have advocated is that we pass law in this country that says all human life at every stage of its development is worthy of protection. In fact, I think that law already exists. It is called the Constitution of the United States. And let me go further. I believe that every single human being is entitled to the protection of our laws, whether they can vote or not. Whether they can speak or not. Whether they can hire a lawyer or not. Whether they have a birth certificate or not. And I think future generations will look back at this history of our country and call us barbarians for murdering millions of babies who we never gave them a chance to live. +p319 +aVWell, first, let me say I think God has blessed us. He has blessed the Republican Party with some very good candidates. The Democrats can't even find one. And I believe God has blessed our country. This country has been extraordinarily blessed. And we have honored that blessing. And that's why God has continued to bless us. And he has blessed us with young men and women willing to risk their lives and sometimes die in uniform for the safety and security of our people. Unfortunately today we have a VA that does not do enough for them. I am proud that last year we helped change the law. We changed the law to give the power to the VA secretary the ability to fire any executive that isn't doing their job. And it is outrageous they've only fired one person to date. When I'm president of the United States, we're going to have a VA that cares more about our veterans than about the bureaucrats who work at the VA. +p320 +aVThank you. You know, both of my parents were born into poor families on the island of Cuba. They came to America because it was the only place where people like them could have a chance. Here in this country, they never made it big, but the very purpose of their life was to give us the chance to do all the things they never could. My father was a bartender. And the journey from the back of that bar to this stage tonight, to me, that is the essence of the American dream. It is what makes our nation different. And I'm running for president because I want that to still be possible for the people trying to do that now. I run for president because I believe that we can't just save the American dream; we can expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And that's why I'm asking for your vote. So we can make America greater than it has ever been. And make of this century a new American century. +p321 +asVKASICH +p322 +(lp323 +VThank you, Wolf. Just last weekend, just last week, a friend asked one of my daughters, "Do you like politics?" And my daughter said, "No, I don't. And the reason I don't like it is because there's too much fighting, too much yelling. It's so loud, I don't like it." You know, I turned to my friend and I said, "You know, she's really on to something." And when we think about our country and the big issues that we face in this country; creating jobs, making sure people can keep their jobs, the need for rising wages, whether our children when they graduate from college can find a job, protecting the homeland, destroying +p324 +aVWell, first of all, Wolf, I said last February that we needed to have people on the ground, troops on the ground in a coalition similar to what we had in the first Gulf War. I remember when the Egyptian ambassador to the United States stood in the Rose Garden and pledged Arab commitment to removing Saddam Hussein from Kuwait. Before we came out here tonight, I am told that the Saudis have organized 34 countries who want to join in the battle against terrorism. First and foremost, we need to go and destroy +p325 +aVNo, I don't think it is. And I want to go back to two other issues. One is the metadata. We know we have to hold this data for a longer period of time. And, you know, in a lot of ways, Chris is right. Look, what a president has to do is take a position. We don't want to err on the side of having less. We want to err on the side of having more. That's good for our families. In addition to that, Wolf, there is a big problem. It's called encryption. And the people in San Bernardino were communicating with people who the FBI had been watching. But because their phone was encrypted, because the intelligence officials could not see who they were talking to, it was lost. We have to solve the encryption problem. It is not easy. A president of the United States, again, has to bring people together, have a position. We need to be able to penetrate these people when they are involved in these plots and these plans. And we have to give the local authorities the ability to penetrate to disrupt. That's what we need to do. Encryption is a major problem, and Congress has got to deal with this and so does the president to keep us safe. +p326 +aVYeah, let me \u2014 let me just suggest to everybody, and I hear \u2014 last February, I said we needed to have people on the ground in a coalition with Europe and our allies. This is not going to get done just by working with the Sunnis. And it is not going to get done if we just embed a few people. We have to go massively, like we did in the first Gulf War where we destroyed Saddam's ability to take Kuwait. We need to have a coalition that will stand for nothing less than the total destruction of +p327 +aVI don't understand this thing about Assad. He has to go. Assad is aligned with Iran and Russia. The one thing we want to prevent is we want to prevent Iran being able to extend a Shia crescent all across the Middle East. Assad has got to go. And there are moderates there. There are moderates in Syria who we should be supporting. I do not support a civil war. I don't want to be policeman of the world. But we can't back off of this. And let me tell you, at the end, the Saudis have agreed to put together a coalition inside of Syria to stabilize that country. +p328 +aVHe must go. It will be a blow to Iran and Russia. +p329 +aVThe foreign policy, you have to know how to pick and choose. There's no way, if Saddam had not had weapons of mass destruction, I would have gone, because I don't believe that the U.S. should be involved directly in civil wars. I opposed the U.S. involvement in Lebanon. We ended up having to withdraw our marines after our barracks were blown up. There is a difference between Iraq, where you have Sunni, Shia, and Kurds put together after the First World War by the Western powers. It doesn't work. It needs to break up into three parts. And for the Russians, frankly, it's time that we punched the Russians in the nose. They've gotten away with too much in this world and we need to stand up against them, not just there, but also in Eastern Europe where they threaten some of our most precious allies. +p330 +aVIt sounds more and more what my daughter said that I said in the beginning, all the fighting and arguing is not advancing us. +p331 +aVIt is not the way we're going to strengthen our country. We will strengthen our country when we come together. And, look, you've got Rand Paul, you've got Ted Cruz, you've got Marco, you've got a lot of people on this stage that have studied these issues. You know what a leader does? A leader has a sound program, has a good policy, and then brings people together to solve problems. Guess what? Both in Congress in balancing the budget and in Ohio fixing the economy \u2014 and, by the way, we talk about the fence. The first thing we better get going is strengthening our economy, because if we don't have a strong economy, we can't pay for all of this. And the world wants us to be able to function from strength, believe it or not. Get our economy going, get these people together in a room. We can fix this, ladies and gentlemen. We don't have to fight all the time. It can be done, and we will be great... +p332 +aV... when we join together. Thank you, Hugh. +p333 +aVYou know, obviously, as president of the United States, we've got to keep the people safe. That's first and foremost. But as governor of Ohio, I have an obligation to keep the 11.5 million people in Ohio safe. And we have been very effective with our Joint Terrorism Task Force, being able to make busts. In fact, we just made one three-four weeks ago against a person who was favorable to +p334 +aVNo Republican has ever been elected president of the United States without winning Ohio. Let me give you a little tip on how you win Ohio, it's reform, it's hope, it's growth, it's opportunity, and it's security. The people of Ohio are the people of America. The people of America are reflected in Ohio. Our message has to be big, and bold, and positive, and connect, not just with people's heads but also connect with their hearts. If we do it, we will beat Hillary Clinton, and we will run the White House, and we will strengthen and fix America, I promise you. +p335 +aVFirst of all, let me just say that, in the state of Ohio \u2014 and I'm the only acting executive on \u2014 on this stage today \u2014 we do have a moderate increase in the minimum wage. And I got to tell you, my father carried mail on his back. His father was a coal miner. He died of black lung. He was losing his eyesight. My mother's mother lived with us. She could barely speak English. I come from a town where if the wind blew the wrong way, people found themselves out of work. An economic theory is fine, but you know what? People need help. Now, I have a plan that, in fact, would cut taxes, but not $11 trillion or $12 trillion that would put my children further in debt. I have a plan that would not only cut taxes, lower the income tax rate for individuals, lower the tax for businesses so businesses will compete here and not move operations overseas, and also a plan \u2014 the only plan of anybody standing on this stage to get us to a balanced budget by the end of a second term. And, you know, the simple fact of the matter is, we hear a lot of promises in this debate, a lot of promises about these tax cuts or tax schemes sometimes that I call them. Hillary and the Democrats promise everything on the spending side. We've got to be responsible about what we propose on the tax side. Yes, lower taxes, lower spending. My website, JohnKasich.com, will show you exactly how we balance the budget. I balanced the budget in Washington as a chief architect, and I have balanced it in Ohio for one reason. When you balance the budget and you cut taxes, people get work. And our most important moral purpose as leaders in the political system is to make sure we create an environment for job creation so people can live their dreams and realize their God-given potential. That's why it's so important. And for those at the bottom, we've got to do what we can to train them so they can move up. But to just look the other way is not acceptable, because, you know what, as the governor of Ohio I have to deal with real challenges, and we've gotten it done in our state, and I will do it for America. +p336 +aVSure. We would move the Medicare system from a 7 percent growth down to about a 5 percent growth. And I have a whole series of ways to do that. In Ohio, we reduced Medicaid funding for the poor from 10 percent to 2.5 percent, didn't cut one benefit or didn't take anybody off the rolls. Why? Because we're innovators. I've been an innovator my entire career. And I really don't care what special interests or lobbyists have to say. I have a job to do when I take over a public office. Now, we freeze non-defense discretionary for eight years. We also put an increase in defense spending. Our tax cuts balance out. And at the end of the day, we will get to a balanced budget. And I want everybody here to know, when I was Budget Committee chairman in Washington, I stepped on every toe in that town, and we got to a balanced budget, and we had enormous job growth. And as governor of Ohio, we went from 350,000 lost jobs to a gain of 347,000 jobs. +p337 +aVI'll do it in Washington. I've done it twice; I'll do it thrice for the United States of America. +p338 +aVExcuse me. +p339 +aVYeah, I would like to make a comment. +p340 +aVI appreciate it, Jeb. I'm all of you. But I want at some point to talk about a value-added tax and $11 trillion, $12 trillion tax cuts that will put our kids way deeper in the hole than they have been at this point. So I would like to talk about it at some point, because that's what leadership is. +p341 +aVMaria, can we comment on that? +p342 +aVCan we comment on that? +p343 +aVWell, look, in 1986 Ronald Reagan basically said the people who were here, if they were law-abiding, could stay. But, what didn't happen is we didn't build the walls effectively and we didn't control the border. We need to. We need to control our border just like people have to control who goes in and out of their house. But if people think that we are going to ship 11 million people who are law-abiding, who are in this country, and somehow pick them up at their house and ship them out of Mexico \u2014 to Mexico, think about the families. Think about the children. So, you know what the answer really is? If they have been law- abiding, they pay a penalty. They get to stay. We protect the wall. Anybody else comes over, they go back. But for the 11 million people, come on, folks. We all know you can't pick them up and ship them across, back across the border. It's a silly argument. It is not an adult argument. It makes no sense. +p344 +aVJerry, Gerald, it was an attack. +p345 +aVIn the state of Ohio, the state of Ohio, we have grown 347,000 jobs. Our unemployment is half of what it was. Our fracking industry, energy industry may have contributed 20,000, but if Mr. Trump understood that the real jobs come in the downstream, not in the upstream, but in the downstream. And that's where we're going to get our jobs. But Ohio is diversified. And little false little things, sir, they don't really work when it comes to the truth. So the fact is, all I'm suggesting, we can't ship 11 million people out of this country. Children would be terrified, and it will not work. +p346 +aV...Mr. Baker, everybody got to talk about taxes... +p347 +aV...I think you were coming to me and then... +p348 +aV...Look, I hate to crash the party to you, Mr. Baker, but, you know, what's fair... +p349 +aV...Yes, sir... +p350 +aVLet me tell you this, Mr. Baker, in terms of the cyber attacks, we have the capability to not only have a defensive posture, but it also to make it clear to people that if you attack us with cyber attacks, we will destroy the mechanisms that you are using to attack us. I want to give you a little trip around the world. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years. In the Ukraine, arm the people there so they can fight for themselves. In the eastern part of Europe, make sure that Finland and the Baltics know that if the Russians move, we move. In Syria, yes, a no-fly zone in the north on the Turkish border, a no-fly zone on the south on the Jordanian border. Anybody flies in the first time, maybe they can fly out. They fly in there a second time, they will not fly out. And it also becomes a sanctuary for the people to be. And it also sends many messages in the Middle East that we're still involved. Saudi Arabia, cut off the funding for the radical clerics, the ones that preach against us. But they're fundamentally our friends. Jordan, we want the king to reign for 1,000 years. Egypt, they have been our ally and a moderating force in the Middle East throughout their history. In the groups \u2014 in the countries of the Gulf states of Bahrain, the Cleveland Clinic is opening an operation. Clearly we see the same with them. And in Israel, we have no better ally in the world, and no more criticizing them in public, we should support them. And finally China, China doesn't own the South China Sea, and I give the president some credit for being able to move a naval force in there to let the Chinese know that we're not going to put up with it any more. And in the trade agreement, the TPP, it's critical to us, not only for economic reasons and for jobs, because there are so many people who are connected to getting jobs because of trade, but it allows us to create not only economy alliances, but also potentially strategic alliances against the Chinese. They are not our enemy, but they are certainly not our friend. And finally, I will say to everyone in this room, we have been talking about taxes and economics. When the fall comes, and we run against Hillary, which will be a disaster if she got elected. I have two 16-year-old girls, and I want this country to be strong. We make promises we can't keep under the bright light of the fall, we will have trouble. We must make sure that economic programs and our military programs are solid. I served in Washington as the chairman of the Budget Committee, and we got the budget balanced. And in Ohio, as the CEO, and guess what, we have got to have a CEO mentality and a way to beat Hillary Clinton and the Democracies in the fall. And our ideas have to add up. They have to be solid. And people have to know we have the confidence to lead America. And as president, I will lead this country, as I have before in Washington and in Ohio, and will return both on domestic and international affairs. And I appreciate the opportunity to speak this time, Gerry. +p351 +aVLet me \u2014 let me also say, Gary \u2014 Gary, let me also say, Jeb is \u2014 what Jeb is talking about with the big banks is to force them to reserve their capital, people who invest it and they hold their capital, so that if the bank goes down, the people who are invested in the bank are the ones that pay. That's what he's trying to say. Secondly, I'll tell you about Wall Street: There's too much greed. And the fact is, a free enterprise system is a system that's produced the greatest wealth for the world. But you know Michael Novak, the great Catholic theologian, says that a free enterprise system that is not underlaid with values \u2014 and we should all think about the way we conduct our lives \u2014 yes, free enterprise is great, profits are great, but there have to be some values that underlay it, and they need a good ethics lesson on Wall Street on a regular basis to keep them in check so we, the people, do not lose. +p352 +aVNeil, that's the difference of being an executive. And let me just explain: when a bank is ready to go under and depositors are getting ready to lose their life savings, you just don't say we believe in philosophical concerns. You know what an executive has to decide? When there's a water crisis, how do we get water to the city? When there's a school shooting, how do you get there and help heal a community? When there are financial crisis, or a crisis with ebola, you got to go there and try to fix it. Philosophy doesn't work when you run something. And I gotta tell you, on-the-job training for president of the United States doesn't work. We've done it for 8 years, \u2014 and almost 8 years now. It does not work. We need an executive who's been tried, has been tested, and judge the decisions that that executive makes. I don't like what the Fed is doing, but I'll tell you what worries me more than anything else: turning the Fed over to the Congress of the United States... +p353 +aV...so they can print the money. That would be a very bad approach. +p354 +aVI wouldn't. I wouldn't. +p355 +aVNo. No, I didn't say that. +p356 +aVThey were \u2014 they were talking about what you would do with depositors. Would you let these banks shut down? My argument is, going forward, the banks have to reserve the capital, so that the \u2014 so that the people who own the capital start pressuring the banks to not take these risky approaches, Ted. But at the end of the day... +p357 +aV... I'm gonna tell you this. Let me tell you this. If during \u2014 if during... +p358 +aV...because if during \u2014 well, I'll tell you what (ph). +p359 +aVAs an executive \u2014 no. As an executive, I would figure out how to separate those people who can afford it versus those people, or the hard-working folks who put those money in those institutions...... let me \u2014 no, no. Let me say another thing. Here's what I mean by that. Here's what I mean by that. +p360 +aVWhen you are faced \u2014 when you are faced, in the last financial crisis, with banks going under \u2014 with banks going under, and people, people who put their \u2014 their life savings in there, you got to deal with it. You can't turn a blind eye to it. Now, going forward, that's one thing. If you had another financial crisis, perhaps there would be an effort to make sure that we do (ph). +p361 +aVWell, ladies and gentlemen, if Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders were to win this election, my 16-year-olds, I \u2014 I worry about what their life is going to be like. You know, the conservative movement is all about opportunity. It is about lower taxes. It's about balanced budgets. It's about less regulation. And it's about sending power, money and influence back to where we live so we can run America from the bottom up. In addition to that, once we have the power and the money and the influence with programs we shift out, that each of us have a responsibility to reach out and to rebuild our families, make them stronger, and connect our neighborhoods. All that together \u2014 wealth, connection, family \u2014 America's greatest days are ahead. We must win this election. +p362 +aVGood question, but I want to tell you, my great concern is that we are on the verge, perhaps, of picking someone who cannot do this job. I've watched to see people say that we should dismantle Medicare and Medicaid and leave the senior citizens out \u2014 out in the \u2014 in the cold. I've heard them talk about deporting 10 or 11 \u2014 people here from this country out of this country, splitting families. I've heard about tax schemes that don't add up, that put our kids in \u2014 in a deeper hole than they are today. We need somebody who can lead. We need somebody who can balance budgets, cut taxes... +p363 +aVYou know, frankly, I did it in Washington, in Ohio, and I will do it again in Washington, if I'm president, to get this country moving again. +p364 +aVcountry moving again. +p365 +aVListen, I want to just comment. +p366 +aVWell I want to comment on this. This is the fantasy... +p367 +aVThis is the fantasy that I talked about in the beginning. +p368 +aVI'm the only person on this stage that actually was involved in the chief architect of balancing the Federal Budget. You can't do it with empty promised. You know, these plans would put us trillions and trillions of dollars in debt. I actually have a plan. I'm the only one on this stage that has a plan that would create jobs, cut taxes, balance the budget and can get it done because I'm realistic. You just don't make promises like this. Why don't we just give a chicken in every pot, while we're, you know, coming up \u2014 coming up with these fantasy tax schemes. We'll just clean it up. Where are you gonna clean it up? You have to deal with entitlements, you have to be in a position to control discretionary spending. You gotta be creative and imaginative. Now, let me just be clear, John. I went into Ohio where we had an $8 billion hole and now we have a $2 billion surplus. We're up 347,000 jobs. When I was in Washington, I fought to get the budget balanced. I was the architect. It was the first time we did it since man walked on the moon. We cut taxes and we had a $5 trillion projected surplus when I left. That's was hard work. Fiscal discipline, know what you're doing. Creativity. This stuff is fantasy. Just like getting rid of Medicare and Medicaid. Come on, that's just not \u2014 you scare senior citizens with that. It's not responsible. +p369 +aVWell, I mean right here. To talk about we're just gonna have a 10 percent tithe and that's how we're gonna fund the government? And we're going to just fix everything with waste, fraud, and abuse? Or that we're just going to be great? Or we're going to ship 10 million Americans \u2014 or 10 million people out of this country, leaving their children here in this country and dividing families? Folks, we've got to wake up. We cannot elect somebody that doesn't know how to do the job. You have got to pick somebody who has experience, somebody that has the know-how, the discipline. And I spent my entire lifetime balancing federal budgets, growing jobs, the same in Ohio. And I will go back to Washington with my plan. +p370 +aVAnd I will have done it within 100 days, and it will pass. And we will be strong again. Thank you. +p371 +aVLet me just \u2014 let me respond. First of all, Ohio does have an energy industry, but we're diversified. We're one of the fastest growing states in the country. We came back from the dead. And you know what? It works very, very well. And secondly, when you talk about me being on the board of Lehman Brothers, I wasn't on the board of Lehman Brothers. I was a banker and I was proud of it. And I traveled the country and learned how people made jobs. We ought to have politicians who not only have government experience but know how the CEOs and the job creators work. My state is doing great across the board. And guess what, in 2011, I got a deal... +p372 +aV... an agreement with the... +p373 +aV... that he tried to take credit for four years later. It's a joke. +p374 +aVJohn Harwood, there's a bigger issue here. +p375 +aVWell, first of all, when we talk about the Import Export Bank, it's time to clean up corporate welfare. If we're gonna reform welfare for poor people, we ought to reform it for rich people, as well. Secondly, in our state, we went from a loss of 350,000 jobs to, now, a gain of 347,000 jobs to the positive. Our wages are growing faster than the national average, and I've cut taxes more than any sitting governor in this state \u2014 $5 billion, including no taxes on small business and killing the death tax. I want to go back to what we were talking about earlier, this budget deal in Washington. This is the same old stuff since I left. You spend the money today and then you hope you're going to save money tomorrow. I don't know if people understand, but I spent a lifetime with my colleagues getting us to a federal balanced budget. We actually did it. And I have a road map and a plan right now to get us to balance. Reforming entitlements, cutting taxes. You see, because if you really want to get to a balanced budget, you need to reduce your expenses and you need to grow your economy. So what I will tell you about our incentives \u2014 our incentives are tight, and at the end of the day we make sure that we gain more from the creation of jobs than what we lose. And you know what? Ohio, one of the best growing places in the country \u2014 I not only did it in Washington, I did it in Ohio, and I'll go back to Washington, and there will be no more silly deals... +p376 +aV... If I become President because we'll have a Constitutional Amendment to require a federally balanced budget so they will do their job. +p377 +aVWell, first of all, we're running a $2 billion dollar surplus, we're not having a revenue problem right now. And, sending mixed signals to kids about drugs is a disaster. Drugs is one of the greatest scourge in this country, and I spent five years of my administration working with my team to do a whole sort of things to try to reign in the problem of overdoses, and it goes on and on. We could do a whole show on that. I want to go back for a second thought on this issue of income inequality. My program would move the 104 programs of the federal Department of Education into four block grants, and send them back to the states because income inequality is driven by a lack of skills when kids don't get what they need to be able to compete and win in this country. The fact is, in order to get this economy moving again, I call for freezing regulations for a year except for the problem of public safety. I believe that we need to cut these taxes down, we need to be on a roadmap to balancing the budget, and we need to send power, money, and influence, the welfare department, the education department, job training, infrastructure, Medicaid, all of that out of Washington back to the states so we can run these programs from where we live to the top, not a one size fits all mentality that they have in Washington. And, that will get to the nub of opportunity for our children, and an ability to see wages rise. Again... +p378 +aV...One more time, in Ohio, our wages are growing faster than the national average. We've cut taxes, balanced budgets, changed the regulatory environment. Folks, you want to \u2014 +p379 +aV\u2014 fix America, this is the formula. It worked for Reagan and it works for our team in Ohio. Thank you. +p380 +aVJohn. +p381 +aVI wanna tell you, in my state, we took Medicaid, the hardest program to control, and we took it from a 10 percent growth rate to 2.5 percent without taking one person off the rolls or cutting one single benefit. And so much of what we did \u2014 to force competition, to use technology, to stand down the special interest groups \u2014 can you imagine taking Medicaid from 10 to 2.5 percent? We can take many of those same procedures, we can apply it to Medicare. We can make a stronger program. But I agree with Jeb, you can't just do this by growing the economy. You can't grow your way out of demographics. But we can give people better health care. And finally, on health care, why don't we start treating \u2014 keep giving... +p382 +aV...incentives for people to keep people healthy, rather than giving the incentives to treat them when they're sick? +p383 +aVI was on morning Joe at a town hall and a young student stood up and said, "Can I still be idealistic?" I said, absolutely, you can still change the world. And, you know the old inscription, if you save one life, you've changed the world. Folks, we have a problem here with the leadership in Washington, but I'll tell you another problem. We need to rebuild our families. We need to have stronger families. We need to know who our neighbors are. We need to come together as a country because we have to realize that America is great, not from the top-down. Oh yeah, we want to elect a good president, but America is great from the bottom-up, and the bottom-up is us in our families, in our communities, in our neighborhoods. We will renew America if we work together, and I am totally confident that we will. And God bless America. +p384 +aVHello, I'm John Kasich, the Governor of Ohio. Emma, and Reese, my children, and Karen, love 'ya girls. Thanks for watching tonight. By the way, I think I actually flew on this plane with Ronald Reagan when I was a congressman, and his goals, and mine, really much \u2014 are pretty much the same. Lift Americans, unify, give hope, grow America, and restore it is to that great, shining city on a hill. Yes, he was a great one, and I learned much from watching him. The most important thing, hope to Americans, unify, lift everyone in America. +p385 +aVJake, Jake. +p386 +aVListen, you know, I \u2014 if I were sitting at home and watch thing back and forth, I would be inclined to turn it off. I mean, people at home want to know across this country, they want to know what we're going to do to fix this place, how we'll balance a budget, how we're going to create more economic growth, how we'll pay down the debt. What we're going to do to strengthen the military. So, we just spent 10 minutes here... +p387 +aVBut \u2014 but wait a minute. It's a lot of ad hogshead. Now, I know that it may be buzzing out there, but I think it's important we get to the issues, because that's what people want, and they don't want all this fighting. +p388 +aV...Yeah, well... +p389 +aVWell, let me just say this. First of all, I think it's a bad agreement, I would never have done it. But, you know, a lot of our problems in the world today is that we don't have the relationship with our allies. If we want to go everywhere alone, we will not have the strength as (ph) if we could rebuild with our allies. Now, this agreement, we don't know what's going to happen in 18 months. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years. I've seen lots of issues in foreign affairs, and foreign \u2014 in terms of global politics, you have to be steady. Now, here's the \u2014 if they cheat, we slap the sanctions back on. If they help Hamas, and Hezbollah, we slap the sanctions back on. And, if we find out that they may be developing a nuclear weapon, than the military option is on the table. We are stronger when we work with the Western civilization, our friends in Europe, and just doing it on our own I don't think is the right policy. +p390 +aVNo, no, no. I want to \u2014 I want to \u2014 I want to say something about what the senator just said. +p391 +aVNo one is \u2014 no \u2014 let me \u2014 let me suggest to you we believe that we operate better in the world when our allies work with us. President Bush did it in the Gulf War. We work better when we are unified. Secondly, nobody's trusting Iran. They violate the deal, we put on the sanctions, and we have the high moral ground to talk to our allies in Europe to get them to go with us. If they don't go with us, we slap the sanctions on anyway. If they fund these radical groups that threaten Israel and all of the West, then we should rip up the deal and put the sanctions back on. And let me make it clear \u2014 let me make it clear... +p392 +aV... if we think \u2014 if we think they're getting close to a \u2014 to developing a nuclear weapon and we get that information, you better believe that I would do everything in my power as the commander-in-chief to stop them having a nuclear weapon. +p393 +aVWe can have it, and we can have our allies, and we can be strong as a country, and we can project across this globe with unity, not just doing it alone. That is not what gets us where we want to get as a nation. +p394 +aVWell, I agree that we should defund Planned Parenthood. I don't know many people in America who don't think that we should, and in my state, we're trying to figure out how to get it done, because we are threatened with the federal government taking all of our Medicaid money away. I think there is a way to get this done by giving governors the ability to be able to act to defund Planned Parenthood. But when (ph) it comes to closing down the federal government, you gotta be very careful about that. When we shut the government down \u2014 if we have a chance at success and it's a great principle, yes. The president of the United States is not going to sign this, and all we're gonna do is shut the government down, and then we're gonna open up \u2014 open it up, and the American people are gonna shake their heads and say, "what's the story with these Republicans?" So I think there is a way to get to cutting off the funding for Planned Parenthood. I was in the Congress for 18 years, balanced the budget, cut taxes, got it done. Changed welfare, went around the president to get welfare reform done. There are ways to do it without having to shut the government down, but I'm sympathetic to the fact that we don't want this organization to get funding, and the money ought to be reprogrammed for family planning in other organizations that don't support this tactic. But I would not be for shutting the government down... +p395 +aV...because I don't think it's going to work out. +p396 +aVWe're not \u2014 what I can tell you is this. We didn't surrender in New Jersey, six years ago, as the brand new first ever pro-life governor of New Jersey since Roe versus Wade, I defended Planned Parenthood. And I've vetoed Planned Parenthood funding, now, eight times in New Jersey. Since the day I walked in as governor, Planned Parenthood has not been funded in New Jersey. We stood up and every one of those vetoes has been sustained. But here's the problem, we're \u2014 we're fighting with each other up here. We agree. Let's ask Hillary Clinton. She believes in the systematic murder of children in the womb to preserve their body parts... +p397 +aV...Dana, in a way that maximizes their value for sale for profit. It is disgusting, and the American people need to hear it... +p398 +aV...we shouldn't be fighting with each other. She's the real opponent, she's the real problem. +p399 +aVI'll tell you what \u2014 I'll tell you what I'd be willing to fight for. I'll tell you what I'd be willing to fight for. Why will (ph) we put tax reform on the president's desk, so we can simplify this tax system? +p400 +aVNo, no, it's really important, Dana. We got to talk about what we would be willing to shut down for. Why don't we put tax reform on this president's desk, and make him veto it if that's what he wants to do? Why haven't we repealed and replaced Obamacare? Make him veto if that's what he wants to do. +p401 +aVThere's a \u2014 +p402 +aVJake \u2014 +p403 +aVOK, Jake. +p404 +aVI don't at this point in terms of changing the incentives for investment and risk-taking. But let's just stop for a second. There's one person on this stage that does have a record. I'm the only person on the stage and one of the few people in this country that led the effort as the chief architect of the last time we balanced the federal budget. We also cut taxes. And when I left Washington in 2000, we had a $5 trillion surplus, and the economy was booming. I had spent 10 years of my life to get us to that point, went out in the private sector, was a great experience, and went into Ohio and took an $8 billion hole and turned it into a $2 billion surplus. We've had the largest amount of tax cuts of any sitting governor. We've grown well over 300,000 jobs. You see, I've done it in both places. I'm the only one here that has done it in both places. It took a lot to get us to a balanced budget. It was legitimate. It was real. And we negotiated it. A lot of what we're talking about here tonight as we take this position and that position, you know what? At the end of the day, America has got to work. We've got to figure out how we come together to deal with this \u2014 with our fiscal problems because when we deal with that, we create a stronger economy for everybody. People have a chance to rise. So, you know, when we think about how we make a choice, it's the person that lands that plane. It's not somebody that talks about it. It's about the person who has done it. And I've done it in... +p405 +aV... both places. And I did it including people in the other party. And that's how we were successful. +p406 +aVAnd that's how I will be president, using that experience to drive this country forward. Thank you. +p407 +aVWell, look, people still have to get to know me, so I want to spend my time talking about my experience reforming welfare, balancing budgets, cutting taxes, providing economic growth when I was in Washington, turning Ohio around. Eight billion in the hole, $2 billion surplus, up over 300,000 jobs, big tax cuts, strengthening our credit. All those things matter but, you know, as a young man in my first election in 1978, I defeated an incumbent Democrat. I defeated an incumbent Democrat in 1982; running on the Reagan program, I was the only Republican in America to defeat an incumbent Democrat that year. And then, when I won for election of governor, I was the first Republican to defeat an incumbent in 36 years, and the first person to have never run statewide out of politics for 10 years to beat an incumbent. That hadn't happened for 96 years. So, we'll get to the point where we'll talk about Hillary Clinton, or whoever the nominee is, record. But right now, I want to give people sense of hope, sense of purpose, a sense of unity, sense that we can do it. So... +p408 +aVYou know, at the end of the day, I'm going to continue to talk about my record, because there is, did you ever notice when people run for office, they run for president, they make a lot of promises, they don't keep them. +p409 +aVI don't intend to do that, and I going to be out there pushing it out \u2014 don't worry about me and Hillary. That will all work out, and I'm from Ohio. She will not beat me there, I can promise you that. +p410 +aVCan I just \u2014 can I \u2014 Jake, can I just make one point on this whole military discussion? +p411 +aVI called for boots on the ground many months ago in a coalition with our friends who share our interest. You know, you win a battle with the military, and when we go somewhere, we need to be mobile, and lethal. We need to take care of business, and we need to come home. But, we face, also, a bigger war \u2014 and you win the bigger war with the battle of ideas. You wonder why young people, and educated people, rich people, schooled people, have tried to join +p412 +aV...to make (ph) centers (ph) of justice so that we can battle the radicals, call them out for what they are, and make sure that all of our people feel fulfilled in living in Western civilization... +p413 +aV...This is a giant battle in the world today... +p414 +aVWell, it's probably not, maybe, legal, but, I would pick Mother Theresa, the lady that I had a chance to meet, a woman who lived a life so much bigger than her own. An inspiration to everyone when we think about our responsibility to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. +p415 +aVWell, I have one now \u2014 they (ph) call me, "Unit One". My wife says, "You'll never be Unite One, I'm Unite One. You're Unit Two." +p416 +aVWell, as president, I will make this a nation that will solve problems. And how? By having the elected officials and the leaders realize they're Americans before they're Republicans or Democrats. I did it in Washington. And I've done it in Ohio by having the elected officials realize that they're Ohioans before anything else. Secondly, I will rebuild the relationships and show the respect to our allies around the world. We have no choice but to do that. We will be stronger when we are unified. And we'll fight for freedom and for human rights. And finally, a little bit of what Carly said. The people that are out there listening, America was never great because we ran America from the top down. America is great because we have run America from the bottom up, where we all live in the neighborhoods. One more time in America, we need to revive the concept of citizenship, where everybody's actions make a huge difference in changing the world. We have a Holocaust memorial on our state house grounds. And there is one line on there that stands out all the time. "If you've saved one life, you've changed the world." We need to adopt that as citizens and rebuild and reinspire our country. Thank you. +p417 +aVWell, first of all... ...first of all, Megyn, you should know that -- that President Reagan expanded Medicaid three or four times. Secondly, I had an opportunity to bring resources back to Ohio to do what? To treat the mentally ill. Ten thousand of them sit in our prisons. It costs $22,500 a year... ...to keep them in prison. I'd rather get them their medication so they could lead a decent life. Secondly, we are rehabbing the drug-addicted. Eighty percent of the people in our prisons have addictions or problems. We now treat them in the prisons, release them in the community and the recidivism rate is 10 percent and everybody across this country knows that the tsunami of drugs is -- is threatening their very families. So we're treating them and getting them on their feet. And, finally, the working poor, instead of them having come into the emergency rooms where it costs more, where they're sicker and we end up paying, we brought a program in here to make sure that people could get on their feet. And do you know what? Everybody has a right to their God-given purpose. And finally, our Medicaid is growing at one of the lowest rates in the country. And, finally, we went from $8 billion in the hole to $2 billion in the black. We've cut $5 billion in taxes... ...and we've grown 350,000 jobs. +p418 +aVChris, first of all, I was just saying to Chris Christie, they say we're outspoken, we need to take lessons from Donald Trump if we're really going to learn it. Here is the thing about Donald Trump. Donald Trump is hitting a nerve in this country. He is. He's hitting a nerve. People are frustrated. They're fed up. They don't think the government is working for them. And for people who want to just tune him out, they're making a mistake. Now, he's got his solutions. Some of us have other solutions. You know, look, I balanced the federal budget as one of the chief architects when I was in Washington. Hasn't been done since. I was a military reformer. I took the state of Ohio from an $8 billion hole and a 350,000 job loss to a $2 billion surplus and a gain of 350,000 jobs. +p419 +aVBut the point is that we all have solutions. Mr. Trump is touching a nerve because people want the wall to be built. They want to see an end to illegal immigration. They want to see it, and we all do. But we all have different ways of getting there. And you're going to hear from all of us tonight about what our ideas are. +p420 +aVDonald, if you... +p421 +aV-- this campaign, I hope you will give to me. +p422 +aVOK. +p423 +aVLet's start off with my father being a mailman. So I understand the concerns of all the folks across this country, some of whom have trouble, you know, making ends meet. But I think she will come in a narrow way. The nominee of this party, if they're going to win, has got to come at it in a big way, which is pro-growth. Which is balancing budgets. You know, we were talking about it. People were saying, could we do it? I was the chairman of the Budget Committee and the lead architect the last time it happened in Washington, and when we did it we had great economic growth, we cut taxes, and we had a big surplus. Economic growth is the key. Economic growth is the key to everything. But once you have economic growth, it is important that we reach out to people who live in the shadows, the people who don't seem to ever think that they get a fair deal. And that includes people in our minority community; that includes people who feel as though they don't have a chance to move up. You know, America is a miracle country. And we have to restore the sense that the "Amiracle" will apply to you. Each and every one of the people in this country who's watching tonight, lift everybody, unite everybody and build a stronger United States of America again. It will be and can be done. +p424 +aVWell, look, I'm an old-fashioned person here, and I happen to believe in traditional marriage. But I've also said the court has ruled -- +p425 +aVWait, Megyn, the court has ruled, and I said we'll accept it. And guess what, I just went to a wedding of a friend of mine who happens to be gay. Because somebody doesn't think the way I do, doesn't mean that I can't care about them or can't love them. So if one of my daughters happened to be that, of course I would love them and I would accept them. Because you know what? That's what we're taught when we have strong faith. So the issues like that, issues like that are planted to divide us. I think the simple fact of the matter is, and this is where I would agree with Jeb, and I've been saying it all along, we need to give everybody a chance, treat everybody with respect, and let them share in this great American dream that we have, Megan. So, look, I'm going to love my daughters, I'm going to love them no matter what they do. Because, you know what, God gives me unconditional love. I'm going to give it to my family and my friends and the people around me. +p426 +aVWell, Megyn, my father was a mailman. His father was a coal miner. My mother's mother could barely speak English. And their son today stands on this podium in the great state of Ohio not only as the governor, but a candidate for president of the United States. I do believe in miracles. You know, I've had a lot of elections. But my elections are really not about campaigns. I tell my people that these are about a movement. And a movement to do what? To restore common sense. A movement to do things like provide economic growth. And a movement not to let anybody be behind. You know, today the country is divided. You asked a question about the police and the difficulty in communities. We've got to unite our country again, because we're stronger when we are united and we are weaker when we are divided. And we've got to listen to other people's voices, respect them, but keep in mind, and I believe in terms of the things that I've read in my lifetime, the Lord'is not picking us. But because of how we respect human rights, because that we are a good force in the world, he wants America to be strong. He wants America to succeed. And he wants America to lead. And nothing is more important to me than my family, my faith, and my friends. +p427 +aVYou know, tonight we hear about what people want to do. I want to tell you what I've done. I was a member of the Armed Services Committee for 18 years. I spent a big chunk of my life studying national security issues and our role in the world. No. 2. I was the chairman of the House Budget Committee and one of the chief architects the last time we balanced a budget, and it was the first time we had done it since man walked on the moon. We had a $5 trillion surplus and we cut taxes. I spent ten years in the private sector, actually learning how business works. And now I'm the governor of Ohio, and I inherited a state that was on the brink of dying. And we turned it all around with jobs and balanced budgets and rising credit and tax cuts, and the state is unified, and people have hope again in Ohio. +p428 +asVQUICK +p429 +(lp430 +VGentlemen \u2014 we'll \u2014 we'll get back to this \u2014 just a minute \u2014 just a minute we're gonna continue this. I wanna talk taxes... +p431 +aVDr. Carson, let's talk about taxes. You have a flat tax plan of 10 percent flat taxes, and \u2014 I've looked at it \u2014 and this is something that is very appealing to a lot of voters, but I've had a really tough time trying to make the math work on this. If you were to took a 10 percent tax, with the numbers right now in total personal income, you're gonna come in with bring in $1.5 trillion. That is less than half of what we bring in right now. And by the way, it's gonna leave us in a $2 trillion hole. So what analysis got you to the point where you think this will work? +p432 +aVI \u2014 I understand that, but if you \u2014 if you look at the numbers you probably have to get to 28. +p433 +aV15 percent still leaves you with a $1.1 trillion hole. +p434 +aVYou'd have to cut \u2014 you'd have to cut government about 40 percent to make it work with a $1.1 trillion hole. +p435 +aVThat is true, I looked at the numbers. +p436 +aVDr. Carson, thank you. +p437 +aVGovernor... +p438 +aVDr. Carson, let me get 30 seconds with Dr. Carson... +p439 +aVThank you. +p440 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, thank you. +p441 +aVGentlemen, I'm sorry, we need to... +p442 +aVWe're going to move on. +p443 +aVThirty seconds. +p444 +aVWe'll get to everyone. Ms. Fiorina, I \u2014 I'd like to ask you a question. You are running for president of the United States because of your record running Hewlett-Packard. But the stock market is usually a fair indicator of the performance of a CEO, and the market was not kind to you. Someone who invested a dollar in your company the day you took office had lost half of the dollar by the day you left. Obviously, you've talked in the past about what a difficult time it was for technology companies, but anybody who was following the market knows that your stock was a much worse performer, if you looked at your competitors, if you looked at the overall market. I just wonder, in terms of all of that \u2014 you know, we look back, your board fired you. I just wondered why you think we should hire you now. +p445 +aVMrs. Fiorina, it's interesting that you bring up Mr. Perkins, because... ...he said a lot of very questionable things. Last year, in an interview, he said that he thinks wealthy people should get more votes than poor people. I think his quote was that, "if you pay zero dollars in taxes, you should get zero votes. If you pay a million dollars, you should get a million votes." Is this the type of person you want defending you? +p446 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p447 +aVThank you, we're out of time. Thank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Carl. +p448 +aVGovernor Christie, I'd like to a question next. Actually, I have a question for you . In your tell it like it is campaign, you've said a lot of tough things. You've said that we need to raise the retirement age for Social Security. You think that we need to cut benefits for people who make over $80,000 and eliminate them entirely for seniors who are making over $200,000. Governor Huckabee, who is here on the stage, has said that you and others who think this way are trying to rob seniors of the benefits that they've earned. It raises the question: When it is acceptable to break a social compact? +p449 +aV...Governor... +p450 +aV...Thank you. +p451 +aVWelcome back to the presidential debate for the Republicans. We are live in Boulder, Colorado, right here on +p452 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. +p453 +aVSenator Rubio, you yourself have said that you've had issues. You have a lack of bookkeeping skills. You accidentally inter-mingled campaign money with your personal money. You faced (ph) foreclosure on a second home that you bought. And just last year, you liquidated a $68,000 retirement fund. That's something that cost you thousands of dollars in taxes and penalties. In terms of all of that, it raises the question whether you have the maturity and wisdom to lead this $17 trillion economy. What do you say? +p454 +aVSenator, I understand all of that. I had a lot of student loans when I got out, too. But you've had a windfall that a lot of Americans haven't. You made over a million dollars on a book deal, and some of these problems came after that. +p455 +aVBut you \u2014 but you liquidated that retirement account after the fact, and that cost you about $24,000 out of that in taxes and feed. That \u2014 that was after you'd already come into that windfall. That's why I raised the question. +p456 +aVYes, thank you John. Senator Cruz, working women in this country still earn just 77 percent of what men earn. And I know that you've said you've been very sympathetic to our cause. But you've also you said that the Democrats' moves to try and change this are the political show votes. I just wonder what you would do as President to try and help in this cause? +p457 +aVMrs. Fiorina \u2014 +p458 +aVMrs. Fiorina, we will come back to you. +p459 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Carl? +p460 +aVMr. Trump, let's stay on this issue of immigration. You have been very critical of Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook who has wanted to increase the number of these H1Bs. +p461 +aVSo you're in favor of... +p462 +aVWhere did I read this and come up with this that you were... +p463 +aVYou know, Mr. \u2014 you know, Mr. Trump, if I may . You've been \u2014 you have been \u2014 you had talked a little bit about Marco Rubio. I think you called him Mark Zuckerberg's personal senator because he was in favor of the H1B. +p464 +aVSo this was an erroneous article the whole way around? +p465 +aVMy apologies. I'm sorry. +p466 +aVYes, you can. +p467 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you very much. I would like to introduce my colleague, Rick Santelli, he has some comments as well, sir. +p468 +aVRick, thank you very much. Governor Huckabee, you have railed against income inequality. You've said that some Wall Street executives should have gone to jail over the roles that they played during the financial crisis. Apart from your tax plan, are there specific steps you would require from corporate America to try and reduce the income inequality. +p469 +aVGovernor? +p470 +aVGovernor? +p471 +aVThank you. +p472 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee. +p473 +aVHow about 15 more seconds? +p474 +aVGovernor? +p475 +aVGovernor, I'm sorry... +p476 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p477 +aVGovernor, thank you. Appreciate it. John? +p478 +aVIt's at the moderator discretion. +p479 +aVWelcome back to the University of Colorado and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p480 +aVThank you, sir. +p481 +aVYou were. You get 30 seconds. +p482 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Carl? +p483 +aVHigher education is the example... +p484 +aVI want to go back, if I can, to the issue of... +p485 +aVI want to go back, if I may, to the... +p486 +aVSenator Paul, among the leading conservative opponents to the creation of Medicare back in the 1960s was Ronald Reagan. He warned that it would lead to socialism. Considering the mounting cost of Medicare, was he right to oppose it? +p487 +aVSenator, thank you. [ +p488 +aVWelcome back to Boulder, Colorado and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p489 +aVThank you, Governor. +p490 +aVGovernor. +p491 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Paul, let's go back to you. Do these solutions sound like they work? +p492 +aVDo these solutions sound like they would work? +p493 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Governor? +p494 +aVGood evening, everyone. I'm Becky Quick, along with my +p495 +aVGovernor Jindal, let's talk a little bit about the news of the day. Just a few hours ago, the Republicans and the Democrats in the House voted on a budget deal that will increase spending by about $80 billion dollars over the next two years. You, however, have called the Republicans who have been willing to work with the Democrats to do things like this the, "Surrender Party of the Republican caucus." Would you have shut the government down instead? +p496 +aV...But Governor... +p497 +aV...if you didn't have a choice, if you didn't control things in the house, would you take the choice of shutting things down, or would you go ahead and agree with them? +p498 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p499 +aVGovernor Pataki, let's get to your point. You wanted to make a comment on the budget. You want to get in on the idea, what would you do if you were in Washington? Would you compromise... +p500 +aVGovernor Pataki, thank you. John? +p501 +aVGovernor Pataki, let's talk a little bit about what's happened on Wall Street. Some of your colleagues in the Republican Party, including some of the people on this stage, have bashed Wall Street. They say that it was largely responsible for the financial crisis. You're a former governor of New York, and you relied very heavily on Wall Street for income. Do you think they've gone too far? +p502 +aVGovernor Pataki, thank you. +p503 +aVCarl? +p504 +aVWelcome back, everyone. This is the Republican Presidential Debate on +p505 +aVSenator, I'm sorry your minute is up. +p506 +aVThank you very much, Senator Santorum. +p507 +aVAnd Graham, Mr. Graham, yes, that was a question to you, too. +p508 +aVYou have 30 seconds. +p509 +aVSenator Graham, thank you. +p510 +aVI'm sorry. That's your 30 seconds... +p511 +aVSenator Graham... +p512 +aVThank you, Senator. +p513 +aVGentlemen, hold on a second. +p514 +aVGo ahead, +p515 +aVGovernor Pataki... +p516 +aV\u2014 I'm sorry, that was a... +p517 +aVGovernor Pataki... +p518 +aVI'm sorry to talk over you, sir. That was a minute. +p519 +aVThank you very much. +p520 +aVCarl? +p521 +aVYou guys are making this just like home. This is just like . +p522 +aVGovernor Jindal, I want to go back to something that you mentioned before with your tax plan. I know that you want to put a 2 percent tax on all families, just to make sure everyone has some skin in the game. But every working American pays 6.2 percent, when it comes to Social Security taxes. They pay another 1.45 percent of Medicare. Isn't that skin in the game? +p523 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p524 +aVWelcome back to Boulder, Colorado, and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p525 +aVNo, no. +p526 +aVI \u2014 I'm with you. I still have a BlackBerry, too. Senator \u2014 Senator Santorum, how about you? +p527 +aVThank you. Governor? +p528 +aVThank you. Senator Graham? +p529 +aVWe take your time back. Yes. +p530 +aVJohn? +p531 +asVGRAHAM +p532 +(lp533 +VThank you very much. I just returned from Iraq two weeks ago. It was my 36th trip to Iraq and Afghanistan in the last decade. Toward the end, I met a very impressive Special Forces sergeant. It was his job to train Iraqi Kurdish commandos. He was so proud of what he was doing and so proud of the people he was training. He was the replacement for Master Sergeant Wheeler, a Delta Force member who was killed two months ago in a raid against an +p534 +aVYou may think this makes us safe, but it doesn't. The good news for everybody in this room is, after 36 trips to Iraq and Afghanistan, most people over there, Wolf, are not buying what +p535 +aVI will support the Republican nominee, whoever he or she may be. Like Bob Dole, I may sleep late that day if it's Trump. But the bottom line, if it's Trump, so be it. That's who I'll support. Please understand we're in a war that we can't afford to lose, and what he said about banning Muslims coming here to America has made us all less safe, and it's the worst possible thing he could do in this war. He clearly doesn't understand this war and how to win it. For God's sakes, pick somebody who is worthy of the sacrifice of those who are fighting this war and who actually knows how to win, and I don't believe that's Mr. Trump, and I know it's not Hillary Clinton. +p536 +aVRick, please understand the only way we're gonna win the war against radical Islam is for the world to unite. Very few fathers and mothers want to turn their daughters and sons over to +p537 +aVWell, here's what I'm here to tell you, when I first started this process of running for president., I said, " if you didn't realize we need more America boots on the ground in Iraq and eventually in Syria as a part of the regional army - not ready to be commander in chief." Like nobody said a word, now everybody's on board except Senator Paul. Senator Paul and Senator Cruz, are isolationists. They both want to restrict the ability of the NSA to do the following; find out if somebody overseas is calling into America and if somebody is on the other end of the phone, don't you want to know who their talking to? IF a terrorist is calling into America and we can match up phone numbers we get a get a court order to find out what the content is. We're at war folks, they're not trying to steal your car, they're trying to kills us all. So yes, I would re-institute this program. There's four things you need to understand about this war, it's a religious war, them against the world, if you don't fight them over there, they're coming here. If you don't hit them first, they're going to hit us. If you're not determined to fight it as a ware, you're going to lose it. So if you're worried about somebody having your phone in the government, don't be. The only thing you need to worry about is if you're talking to terrorist and a judge gives an order to listen to what you're saying. That's all you need to worry about. +p538 +aVCan I say something? +p539 +aVYeah. There are at least 3,500 American muslims serving in the armed forces. Thank you for your service. You are not the enemy. Your religion is not the enemy. Let me make this real to you. I was at the second presidential election in Afghanistan. The guy guarding me was an American Muslim sergeant in the Army who grew up in Kabul, left when he was \u2014 graduated high school, joined the U.S. Army, went back to his high school where they were doing polling, people voting, he took me there and cried like a baby. I cried like a baby. He is the solution to this problem, folks. He is not the problem. Leave the faith alone. Go after the radicals that kill us all. +p540 +aVThank you. This is why I own a flip phone. You don't have to worry about all of this stuff. The bottom line is, we're at war. They're trying to come here to kill us all and it's up to the government to protect you within constitutional means. Any system that would allow a terrorist to communicate with somebody in our country and we can't find out what they're saying is stupid. If I'm president of the United States, and you join +p541 +aVWell, what you want to do is you want to knock them off line. How about this idea? If you pledge allegiance to al-Baghdadi, you can't get married in America? The bottom line is you have to go after them everywhere. The key to winning this war is to provide the capacity to those in the faith who reject the ideology. The key to fighting this war is to fight it in their backyard, not ours. Two years ago I came up with a plan that requires more American boots on the ground in Iraq. The first thing out of my mouth running for President was, if you don't understand we need 10,000 troops in Iraq, rather than 3,500, you're not ready. What would I do in Syria? I'd form a regional army of Arabs and Turkey. Ninety percent them, 10 percent us. Up to 10,000 U.S. forces to go in on the ground and destroy the caliphate and its roots. Take Raqqah away from +p542 +aVYeh, it's just you're not going to win that way, Rick. There's nobody left in Syria to train. Between the Russians and Assad, they have killed all the people we trained, and our President sat on the sidelines and watched people get killed that we enticed into the fight. There is nobody left to train. I would get the Arabs who are threatened by +p543 +aVWell, number one, dead men don't preach anything. If you don't understand we need a ground force to go into Syria, then you're not ready to destroy +p544 +aVYeah. I just don't make this up, Wolf. I talk to people who are combat trained who have won in Iraq who I trust. Here's what I want to tell the Arab world and Turkey. We're not going to send 100,000 troops. You're going to do the fighting this time and we're gonna help you. We paid for the last two wars, you're gonna pay for this one. And, by the way, they get it because +p545 +aVTwo years ago. +p546 +aVYes. +p547 +aVI think we need to have a military strategy regarding Libya. They've just take over Gaddafi's hometown called Sur. There's about 2000 of them. Here's what I've learned in my 36 visits, you can't deter these guys, they're ready to die, bring on the virgins. Dying is first place in their world. What we have to do is work with others over time to destroy to ideology. We have to offer a hopeful life to compete with the glory of this. Most young people folks want the same thing you do. They don't want to live in the 11th century. So yes, you have to destroy the caliphate. I want to work with Arabs and Turkey to do it, but here's the key is to not leave. If we left Germany and Japan only god knows what would've happened. If we have 10000 troops left in Iraq, there would be no +p548 +aVI want to talk to General Keane first. I want to find out, what do we need militarily to keep them contained and eventually destroy them in Libya. They're in nine countries. You want to deal with Libya, go to Iraq and Syria. You want to prevent another 9/11, take the caliphate headquarters away from +p549 +aVNo. What I would do is I would try to make friends throughout the world to destroy a common threat to the world. These people are religious Nazis. Most people in Islam don't buy what they're selling. I've told you a thousand times that I would partner with the Arabs in Turkey. But, the reason they don't partner with Obama is they just don't trust him. Do you think they would trust me? I know them all. I've been working for a decade to figure out how to win this war. To my good friend Ted Cruz, please ask him the following question, you say you would keep Assad in power, I will tell you that is the worst possible thing that could come out of an American leaders mouth. It would be disastrous. His favorite movie is, apparently, Princess Bride. Ted, getting in bed with Iran and Russia to save Assad is inconceivable. +p550 +aVPrincess Buttercup would not like this. +p551 +aV...I didn't get to say yes. Yes. +p552 +aVYeah, this is an important discussion. The American president is the strongest voice in the world \u2014 until Obama came along. Now, we're just one of many. When you ask people to help you, when you entice Syrians to join your cause, to take down the dictator they hate to destroy +p553 +aV...we'd better do something about it, and I have a plan. +p554 +aVI don't think it's necessary. If you don't want to be there, I don't want you to be there. I just retired after 33 years in the Air Force, 140 days on the ground as an Air Force Reservist. To those who are watching, thank you for your service. I've had a small walk in your shoes. We have the best military in the world. Obama has put it in a box. Let's take it out of the box and use it before we get attacked here. We don't need a draft, we need a commander in chief who knows what the hell they're doing. +p555 +aVAnd, I am that guy. +p556 +aVBut, the reason they don't partner with Obama is they just don't trust him. Do you think they would trust me? I know them all. I've been working for a decade to figure out how to win this war. To my good friend Ted Cruz, please ask him the following question, you say you would keep Assad in power, I will tell you that is the worst possible thing that could come out of an American leaders mouth. It would be disastrous. His favorite movie is, apparently, Princess Bride. Ted, getting in bed with Iran and Russia to save Assad is inconceivable. +p557 +aVPrincess Buttercup would not like this. +p558 +aV...I didn't get to say yes. Yes. +p559 +aVYeah, this is an important discussion. The American president is the strongest voice in the world \u2014 until Obama came along. Now, we're just one of many. When you ask people to help you, when you entice Syrians to join your cause, to take down the dictator they hate to destroy +p560 +aV...we'd better do something about it, and I have a plan. +p561 +aVI don't think it's necessary. If you don't want to be there, I don't want you to be there. I just retired after 33 years in the Air Force, 140 days on the ground as an Air Force Reservist. To those who are watching, thank you for your service. I've had a small walk in your shoes. We have the best military in the world. Obama has put it in a box. Let's take it out of the box and use it before we get attacked here. We don't need a draft, we need a commander in chief who knows what the hell they're doing. +p562 +aVAnd, I am that guy. +p563 +aVCan, can I... +p564 +aVThis is important. We're not fighting all the wars with our kids. If you've been to Iraq and Afghanistan and you made any friends, you've lots of bunch. Thousands have died in Iraq and Afghanistan fighting. +p565 +aVDon't belittle their sacrifice. +p566 +aVNo. +p567 +aVTo, to those the (well) times in the Army were a bigger problem than they are today. If you want to fix this, you get the Army to 500,000, not 420,000. You want to win this war, grow the Navy to 350 ships, not 275. Sequestration is Latin for doing really dumb things. We're going to have the smallest Navy since 1915, the smallest Army since 1940. I was yelling and screaming don't do sequestration. I was right. If I am President of the United States, Commander in Chief, we're going to rebuild our military without a draft... +p568 +aV...and we're going to go on the offense and they're ready to go. +p569 +aVThey are ready to go. They just need to be led. +p570 +aVWell I stand unique, having been a military lawyer for 33 years. I've been a defense attorney, a prosecutor, and a military judge. Mr. Trump, you don't have to speak about everything, that's not required. I would make sure that everybody had a fair trial. Does that make sense to you? We're at war folks and this stuff has to stop. It's bad for morale to hear somebody wanting to be Commander in Chief that would deny due process to somebody who's been charged in the military. For God's sakes Mr. Trump, you're asking to be the Commander in Chief , the leader of the free world, up your game. As to women, if you want to kill terrorists, I'm your guy. +p571 +aVWell, the first thing I would do is make adjustments to reality. I want to look and see if this was a terrorist arranged marriage between the couple in California. The fact that they met online accidentally is almost zero. So, no, I would have a time-out on Syrian refugees because you'd be crazy if you didn't after Paris. But, I've been to the refugee camps in Turkey, and Jordan. Trust me with your Christian \u2014 and I'm a lousy Christian saved by grace, but \u2014 this is important. We've got to stop this war. Do you realize that there are more Syrian refugees in Lebanon going to school than Lebanese children? Do you realize if this war goes for another year the King of Jordan could fall? Let's have a no-fly zone. +p572 +aVI would \u2014 make changes to that bill in light of what I know today. +p573 +aVThe next president is going to be a war-time president, whether they like it or not. I'm ready for that job. Two years ago isolationism led by Senator Paul and Cruz was white hot in our party. Now it is in retreat because events have proven me more right than wrong and has proven them to be wrong. In the first debate I called for American troops on the ground to protect our homeland. Nobody came forward. Now, most have. We've spent a lot of carnage to get them to where I have always been. Make me president, I will keep you and your family safe. +p574 +aVWell, number one, thank you for having me here tonight. How about a round of applause for Boulder, Colorado? This is a beautiful place. Looking at their academic standards, the only way I could have gotten into this university is to be invited to this debate tonight. But here's my take on things. Without national security, there is no economic security. Without the sacrifice of the veteran, all of our hopes and dreams are at risk. Just a few days ago, Hillary Clinton said that the problems with the V.A. are being exaggerated by Republicans. They are not, they are real. +p575 +aVWell, let me tell you what is real. The threat to our homeland. I've never seen so many threats to our homeland than I do today. Barack Obama is an incompetent Commander in Chief. There are more terrorist organizations with safe havens to attack the American homeland than anytime since 9/11. We're in the process of reducing our defense spending by half. I am looking at this budget with one view in mind, will it restore the ability to defend this nation. We're on track to have the smallest army since 1940, the smallest navy since 1915, this budget, if it is paid for, will put $40 billion dollars back in the defense department at a time we need it. The number one role of the federal government's to defend this nation, I intend to be a Commander in Chief that can win a war we cannot afford to lose. +p576 +aVHere's the problem. We're being walked all over because our commander in chief is weak in the eyes of our enemies. Do you think Putin would be in the Ukraine today if Ronald Reagan were president? Why are the Chinese stealing our intellectual property, hacking into our system? Why are they building islands over resource-rich waters? Because they can get away with it. At the end of the day, ladies and gentlemen, the foreign policy of Barack Obama needs to be replaced, and the last person you want to find to replace his foreign policy is his secretary of state. So to the Chinese, when it comes to dealing with me, you've got a clenched fist or an open hand. You pick. The party's over, to all the dictators. Make me commander-in-chief and this crap stops. +p577 +aVNo, I \u2014 I think I'm trying to solve problems that somebody had better solve. Now, you don't have to believe that climate change is real. I have been to the Antarctic. I've been to Alaska. I'm not a scientist, and I've got the grades to prove it. But I've talked to the climatologists of the world, and 90 percent of them are telling me that greenhouse gas effect is real. That we're heating up the planet. I just want a solution that would be good for the economy, that doesn't destroy it. I want to fix an immigration system. I'm not gonna tell you, if you like your doctor, you can keep it \u2014 keep him. Do you like your health care, you're gonna keep it. I'm tired of telling people things that they want to hear, that we know we're not gonna do. We're not gonna eliminate the corporate tax. But we can make it lower. We're going to fix immigration, only if we work together. I want to secure the border because, if we don't, we're going to get hurt and hit again. I want to fix a broken visa system. I want to increase legal immigration, because we're gonna have a shortage of workers over time. As to the 11 million, I want to talk about fixing the problem. We're not going to deport 11 million people and their legal citizen children. But we will deport felons. And those who stay will have to learn our language to stay, because I don't speak it well but look how far I've come. +p578 +aVAt the end of the day, folks, I am trying to solve a problem and win an election. I am tired of losing. Good God, look who we're running against. The number one candidate on the other side thought she was flat broke after her and her husband were in the White House for eight years. The number two guy went to the Soviet Union on his honeymoon and I don't think he ever came back. If we don't beat these people, who the hell are we going to beat? +p579 +aVThe first thing... +p580 +aV\u2014 that we have to do is come to grips with the reality that we're facing as Americans. In 1950, there were 16 workers for every Social Security recipient. Today, there's three. In 20 years, there are two. I want to make sure that no American company leaves America because you can't find a worker. American workers always get the first preference. But if you can't find an American worker, after you advertise at a competitive wage, I don't want you to be at a loss. Bring people in based on merit. Let's take a broken immigration... +p581 +aV\u2014 system... +p582 +aV\u2014 and make a merit-based immigration system that will help our economy. We're going to need workers in the future. +p583 +aVLet's just choose rationally. +p584 +aVWe owe to every businessperson and worker in America the best environment in the world to create a job. We owe that to American businesses. Thirty-five percent corporate tax rate is the second highest in the world. We need to lower it so they don't leave. The goal is to help the middle class. We can talk about corporations all day long but my goal is to help the middle class, somebody who makes too much to be on government assistance but still lives paycheck to paycheck. When the kid gets sick you don't go on vacation. +p585 +aVThat's the purpose of my presidency, to grow the economy here. And let me tell you, our Democratic friends have a list a mile long of more government. That's not going to grow the middle class, that's going to create a burden on your children, which they're already overburdened. The best way to grow the middle class is to make it a good place to create a job. You know why Boeing came to South Carolina when they could have gone anywhere to build the 787? Because we wanted them. We had a low-tax structure. +p586 +aVA permitting structure that allowed them to build the building even faster than they thought they could build it. We welcomed them there. I'm going to take the South Carolina attitude \u2014 +p587 +aVI think everybody owes an obligation to the country. The ones that I'm most worried about are the 1 percent of Americans in uniform, who have been fighting this war for 14 years. They need a commander in chief who knows what the hell they're doing. My first job as President of the United States is to rebuild the military and use it smartly. Admiral Mullen said the debt is a big threat to our national security. He's right. But people go where they're welcome when it comes to job creation. If I'm President of the United States you will be welcomed in America. +p588 +aVThis will be the place to come \u2014 +p589 +aVAnd if I'm president of the United States \u2014 +p590 +aV\u2014 our enemies \u2014 +p591 +aVWell, number one, Social Security is not just a concept to me. I know why it exists; 50 percent of today's seniors would be in poverty without a Social Security check. I promise you, if you make me your president, I will save Social Security because I know why it exists. Now, if you're looking for good beer policy, I'm your best bet. My dad owned a bar. I know beer. We grew up, my sister and myself, in the back of that bar in one room with my mom, my dad and my sister who's nine years younger. When I was 21, my mom was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease. Neither parent finished high school. She died within a year. We were wiped out from the medical bills. And if it wasn't for a Social Security survivor benefit check coming into my family, we wouldn't' have made it because my dad died 15 months later. So I... +p592 +aVWait a minute, please. I'm 22 and we're wiped out. I am 60. I'm not married. I have a military retirement. I'm in good shape. I would give up some of my benefits to help those who need it more than I do. To young people here, I will ask you to work a little bit longer because we have to. The purpose of my presidency is to save this country and to save Social Security by working across the aisle just like Ronald Reagan. This is the biggest issue facing this nation. +p593 +aVWell, number one, the only reason I have an iPhone is because I gave my number to Donald Trump. Don't do that. +p594 +aVDonald has done more to upgrade my technology than my whole staff. Number one, Fox News. Sorry about +p595 +aVWell, I think a national holiday would be the day that commander-in-chief Barack Obama doesn't have that job. But unlike these other three, I want to win New Hampshire. Go Tom Brady. Go Patriots. Sorry, Colorado is late in the... +p596 +aVSomebody said \u2014 or maybe I saw it on the bill of a cap \u2014 that let's make America great again. America is great. I intend to make America strong again. I'm going to be the champion of the middle class, where I came from. If you make me your president, our best days are ahead. I'm ready to be commander- in-chief, ladies and gentlemen, on day one. I intend to war \u2014 win a war that we cannot afford to lose. I will be a commander-in-chief worthy of the sacrifice of those brave Americans who have been defending our nation. They have had our back. God knows, they have had our back... +p597 +aV\u2014 and I intend to have their back as commander-in- chief. Make me commander-in-chief. +p598 +aVOne, thanks, CNN, for having people at this debate. I'm Lindsey Graham from South Carolina, in case you can't tell. I want to thank Ms. Reagan (ph) for inviting me. It means the world to me. I'm the only candidate tonight who served in the military while Ronald Reagan was our president and our commander in chief. It was one of the highlights of my life. I'm running for president to destroy radical Islam, to win the war on terror, to protect you and your family. And in that quest, I have an uncompromising determination to win this war, just like President Reagan had an uncompromising determination to destroy the evil empire, and win the Cold War. Above all others on both sides of the isle, I'm most qualified to be commander and chief on day one -- 33 years in the Air Force, 35 trips to Iraq and Afghanistan, I understand this war. I have a plan to win it, and I intend to win it. +p599 +aVWell, all I can say, if you looked at polling in 2012 and 2008 at this level, we'd have -- at this stage, we would have President Perry and President Giuliani. I have a long way to go. And here's what I'm going to try to do tonight -- convince you that I'm best qualified to be the commander-in-chief of the one percent who are doing the fighting for the rest of us. And we'll have a serious discussion tonight. All of us are going to say we want to destroy +p600 +aVWell, what I hope Republican voters, libertarian, vegetarians, Democrats, you name it, will look for somebody to lead us in a new direction, domestically, but particularly on the foreign policy front. President Obama is making a mess of the world. What I'm trying to tell you here tonight, that Syria is hell on Earth and it's not going to get fixed by insulting each other. I've been there 35 times to Iraq and Afghanistan. I am ready to be commander-in-chief on day one. I've been in the military 33 years, 140 days on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan. I am so ready to get on with winning a war that we can't afford to lose. I hope you believe that experience matters. It's an all- volunteer force of -- when you vote for commander-in-chief, they are stuck with your choice. We've had one novice being commander-in- chief. Let's don't replace one novice with another. And if I thought... +p601 +aV-- I could win this war without more American ground forces in Iraq and Syria, I would tell you, but we can't... +p602 +aV-- and if we don't get on with this, they are coming here. +p603 +aVThank you. +p604 +aVProbably for a good reason. +p605 +aVWell, let's talk about immigration. Number one, I like Rick. I don't remember the Santorum plan when I was in the Senate. The peanut gallery on this is interesting. I have been trying to solve this problem for a decade. There are no democrats here tonight. If you're here, raise your hand. You went to the wrong -- we'll, welcome. Thank you very much for coming. +p606 +aVThe bottom line, I'm trying to pitch the problem. We're not going to deport 11 million people here illegally, but we'll start with felons, and off they go. And, as to the rest, you can stay, but you got to learn our language. I don't speak it very well, well, look how far I've come? Speaking English is a good thing. You got to pay taxes, you got to pay a fine, you got to get in the back of the line. You've got to secure your border or they'll keep coming. If you don't control who gets a job that never ends -- so (ph) got two borders. One with Canadia -- Canada, one with Mexico. I never met an illegal Canadian. This is an economic problem, so, folks, let's solve it. Amnesty is doing nothing, and that's what we've been doing. As to birthright citizenship, once we clean up this mess, in the future, prospectively, I'm going to look at the following. There are people buying tourist visas that go to resorts with maternity wards with the expressed purpose of having a children here in America. There are rich Asians, there are rich people up in the Mid-East... +p607 +aV...That to me is bastardizing citizenship... +p608 +aV...Yeah, I'd like to stop that in the future... +p609 +aV...What do you do with the 11 million? +p610 +aV...What are you going to do with the 11 million? +p611 +aV...Well, what about the other half... +p612 +aV...How many democrats support yourplan... +p613 +aV...How many democrats did you have on your bill? +p614 +aV...I can tell you. None. +p615 +aV...That went nowhere. +p616 +aV...George W. Bush... +p617 +aV...Who won with hispanics. +p618 +aV...Compared to what we're doing... +p619 +aV...Hispanics... +p620 +aV...Are Americans... +p621 +aV...In my world, hispanics are Americans... +p622 +aV...I have a little different take on where the country is going on this issue. Number one, in 1950, there were 16 workers for every retiree. How many are there today? There's three. In 20 years, there's going to be two, and you're going to have 80 million baby boomers like me retiree in mass wanting a Social Security check, and their Medicare bills paid. We're going to need more legal immigration. Let's just make it logical. Let's pick people from all over the world on our terms, not just somebody from Mexico. Let's create a rational, legal immigration system because we have a declining workforce. +p623 +aV...Strom Thurmond had four kids after he was 67, if you're not willing to do that, we've got to come up with a new legal immigration system. +p624 +aVYes, number one, how does President Obama sleep at night? Look what you let happen on your watch. Your commanders told you, don't withdrawal from Iraq because we'll lose of our gains. Three years ago your entire national security team, Senator McCain and I begged you to do a no-fly zone and help the Free Syrian Army while it would matter. But you said no. I'm not blaming Bobby, I'm not blaming Rick, I'm not blaming anybody, I'm blaming Barack Obama for this mess. +p625 +aVRight. +p626 +aVI'm saying this, if they don't understand that Barack Obama's policies are not working, that we're not going to destroy +p627 +aV-- does that include American ground forces in Syria as part of a regional army? Are all of you willing to commit to American ground forces going into Syria as part of a regional army to destroy the caliphate and its headquarters? +p628 +aVWell, you know, Kim Davis, I'm not worried about her attacking me. I am worried about radical Islamic terrorists who are already here planning another 9/11. We're at war, folks. I'm not fighting a crime. I want to have a legal system that understands the difference between fighting a war and fighting a crime, and here's the reality. Young men from the Mid- East are different than Kim Davis. And we've got to understand that. +p629 +aVIslamic websites need to be monitored. +p630 +aVAnd if you are on one, I want to know what you're doing. +p631 +aVI wasn't the best law student. By the end of this debate, it would be the most time I've ever spent in any library. But on the first day in law school view (ph), it's called "Marbury v. Madison." The group in our constitutional democracy that interprets "The Constitution" as to what it means is the Supreme Court. In a 5-4 decision by the Supreme Court, they have ruled that same-sex marriage bans at the state level violate the Fourteenth Amendment to "The United States Constitution" equal protection clause. I don't agree with it, but that is the law of the land. But as president, what I want make sure of is that everybody in this room, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, whatever religion that you can practice your faith without government interference, you can marry people consistent with the tenets of your faith. That's the number one obligation of my presidency, is to protect religious people when they exercise their religious rights. But this decision is the law as it is of right now. And here's the one thing I want to tell you, Jake. +p632 +aVWait -- wait a minute. Whether you're the wedding cake baker or the gay couple or the Baptist preacher, radical Islam would kill you all if they could. +p633 +aVLet's don't lose sight of the big picture here. +p634 +aVHe's one of the most qualified men to ever come before the United States Senate and I don't agree with his decision, but 99 times out of 100, I will. To the Republicans, the biggest prize on the table in 2017 is the presidency. If it is Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders, they are going to pick people that we will disagree with all the time. Please understand, we have to win this election. The court's at stake. It is the most important reason for us to turn out, to make sure we don't lose the judiciary for decades to come. +p635 +aVI've been called a lot of things but never elite before. My dad owned a liquor store, a bar and a poolroom. So only in America can you go from the back of a liquor store to being an elite. +p636 +aVI introduced her at a conference about Africa. I thought Secretary Clinton did a good job when it came to dealing with our problems in Africa, particularly among women. George W. Bush set $40 billion aside and Rick Santorum helped him and President Bush wiped out an entire -- wiped out +p637 +aVWell, Ronald Reagan did a couple of really big things that we should all remember. He sat down with Tip O'Neill, the most liberal guy in the entire House. They started drinking together. That's the first thing I'm going to do as president. We're going to drink more. And what did this -- two great Irishmen do? They found a way to save Social Security from bankruptcy by adjusting the age of retirement from 65 to 67. So, yes, I will say nice things at times about Democrats. Yes, I will work them -- work with them. I will put the country ahead of party. Absolutely I want to work with them. At the end of the day, Hugh, I'm lucky to be standing here. I'm the first in my family to ever go to college. Neither one of my parents finished high school. Darline's here with me tonight. We owned a restaurant... +p638 +aVWell, wait a minute. We... +p639 +aVYou asked me a question. This is important. Republicans need to tell the American people we get it as to who you are. When my mom died, I was 21. When my dad died, when I was 22. We were wiped out financially. If it weren't for Social Security survivor benefit check coming into Darline, we wouldn't have made it. I don't need a lecture from Democrats about Social Security. +p640 +aVI want to save it, just like Ronald Reagan did. +p641 +aVIf you want to see manufacturing, come to South Carolina... +p642 +aV...We'll show 'ya. +p643 +aVWell, I know this. That when my mom and dad owned a restaurant, the bar, the pool room, that if you increased the minimum wage it'd been hard to hire more people. Hillary Clinton has a list a mile long to help the middle class. We're talking all around this. The middle class for the last six and a half years has been squeezed, and squeezed hard. To the middle class, I understand who you are. You're one broken down car from not going on vacation. You're from one sick child away from having to change your whole budget. Here's what I want to do as your president. I want to grow this economy. When Boeing came to South Carolina to build a 787, everybody paid more they would have lost their employees to Boeing. If you're a waitress out there wanting more money, I'm not going to increase the minimum wage, I'm going to try to create an environment where somebody else will open up a restaurant across the street to hire you away at a higher rate, or they'll have to pay you more to keep you. You got to borrow money to create jobs in this country. Banking is locked down because of Dodd-Frank. The tax code is a complete mess, but nobody's talked about the elephant in the room, which is debt. Not one more penny to the federal government until w2e come up with a plan to get out of debt. +p644 +aVIt's probably a small bit, but the ones that get it... +p645 +aVYeah, but I... +p646 +aV...Have you ever thought why all of us say that... +p647 +aVIf I believed they were trying to break out and get a bomb, absolutely. And here's the most important thing: they know I would if I had to. And none of us are going to be able to defend this country adequately until we rebuild our military. A weak economy, a military in decline, the world on fire, does that sound familiar to you? Michael, does that sound familiar to you? The first thing I'm going to do as commander in chief on day one is call the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and say, what do you need that you don't have? We're cutting our military; we're on track to have the smallest Army since 1940, the smallest Navy since 1915 and John Kasich says he wants to close more bases. I want to rebuild our military and I want the Iranians to know that, if I had to, I would use it. The worst nightmare in the world is a radical Islamic regime with a weapon of mass destruction. The only reason 3,000 of us died on 9/11 is not 3 million, not 3 million is because they couldn't get the weapons to kill us. They're on track to get a bomb even if they don't cheat. This deal is a nightmare for Israel. They are coming here if we don't watch it terrorism with a nuclear capability sponsored by Iran. So, yes, I would use military force to stop them. I would set this deal aside and I would get you a better deal. If you gave $100 billion, I could get almost anybody out of jail. We couldn't even get our hostages out of jail. +p648 +aVDo you think Putin would be in the Ukraine or Syria today if Ronald Reagan were president? No. This is what happens when you have a weak, unqualified commander- in-chief who doesn't understand the role America plays in the world. Why is it bad for you that Russia's helping Assad? He's the magnet for Sunni extremists. The Syrian people are not going to accept him as their legitimate leader. By Assad being helped by Russia, it means the war never ends. It means the next 9/11, which is most likely to occur from an attack from Syria. It's more likely. At the end of the day, if I'm president of the United States, I've told you what I'm going to do. There's nobody left in Syria to train. We're going to get a regional army who doesn't like +p649 +aV... and if the war in Syria continues, it is coming here. For God's sakes, let's get on with... +p650 +aV... with fixing the problem in Syria. +p651 +aVBobby, you were in the Congress, and all I can tell you, to everybody here, if you want to repeal Obamacare, get a new president. If you want to defund Planned Parenthood, elect a pro-life president, because that's the only way. If we pass the Cardin bill, Graham, Menendez, it would go to the president. He would veto it. 67 votes are required to override the veto. +p652 +aVWait a minute. Now, you asked me a question. So I don't want to take off the table the ability to slow down Obama in his last 13 to 14 months, because I want 60 votes to stop what I think he's going to do between now and January 2017. Five Republicans deflect -- leave -- we're in trouble. So folks, the world really is the way it is. President Obama is president. The goal is to get him out of there and pick somebody who would actually do something to repeal Obamacare, who would get you a better agreement. So Bobby, he would veto the bill, we don't have 67 votes, and you're giving away a defense against Obama for the rest of his presidency. No, I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to tell you things I can't do. I'm not going to tell you by shutting the government down, we're going to defund Obamacare as long as he's president. All that does is hurt us. I am trying to lead this party to winning. +p653 +aVAre you going to shut the government down? +p654 +aVAre you going to shut the government... +p655 +aVCan I just say something? You know, Bobby, we're running to be president of the United States, the most important job in the free world. With it comes a certain amount of honesty. I'm tired of telling people things they want to hear that I know we can't do. He is not going to sign a bill that would defund ObamaCare. If I am president of the United States, I wouldn't put one penny in -- in my budget for Planned Parenthood, not one penny. I'm as offended by these videos as you are. But the one thing I'm not going to do going into 2016 is shut the government down and tank our ability to win. What you're saying and what Senator Cruz is saying, I am really sick of hearing, trying to get the bottom... +p656 +aV-- the Republican Party in a position... +p657 +aV-- to win. That's what I'm trying to do. And that does matter to me ... +p658 +aVIt matters a lot. +p659 +aVWell, number one, I will win a war that we can't afford to lose. I have a plan to destroy radical Islam because it has to be. These are religious Nazis running while President Obama has made one mistake after another and it's caught up with us. What do I have to offer that's different? I get my foreign policy from being in on the ground. I've been to Iraq and Afghanistan in the Middle East 35 times in the last decade, trying to understand how we got in this mess. Our leading candidate gets his foreign policy from watching television. And what I heard last night is the Cartoon Network, oh, I'm big, I'm strong, we're going to hit them in the head. +p660 +aVThat's not foreign policy. That's a cartoon character. John Kasich, a good friend of mine, said in New Hampshire, we're going to close more bases on his watch. On my watch, we're going to open up more bases. The military is in decline, folks. We're going to have the smallest military in modern times, spending half of what we'd normally spend by the end of this decade. +p661 +aVWhat do I offer? What do I offer? To make your families safe and our country strong again, a vision and a determination to win a war that we cannot afford to lose. +p662 +aVYou can trust me to do the following: that when I get on change with Hillary Clinton, we won't be debating about the science, we'll be debating about the solutions. In her world, cap- and-trade would dominate, that we will destroy the economy in the name of helping the environment. In my world, we'll focus on energy independence and a clean environment. When it comes to fossil fuels, we're going to find more here and use less. Over time, we're going to become energy independent. I am tired of sending $300 billion overseas to buy oil from people who hate our guts. The choice between a weak economy and a strong environment is a false choice, that is not the choice I'll offer America. A healthy environment, a strong economy and energy independent America -- that would be the purpose of my presidency, is break the strangle hold that people enjoy on fossil fuels who hate our guts. +p663 +aVIf we don't stop them over there, they are coming here just as sure as I stand here in front of you. One thing I want to be clear about tonight. If you're running for president of the United States and you don't understand that we need more American ground forces in Iraq and that America has to be part of a regional ground force that will go into Syria and destroy +p664 +aVRight. Mac +p665 +aVI think America is dying to work, you just need to give them a chance. To all the Americans who want a better life, don't vote for Hillary Clinton. You're not going to get it. She's not going to repeal "Obamacare" and replace it. I will. She's not going to build the Keystone Pipeline. I will. She's not going to change Dodd-Frank. I will. Until you change the policies of Barack Obama, we're never going to grow this economy. Until you change the policies of Barack Obama, we're never going to be safe. She represents a third term of a failed presidency. I'm fluent in Clinton-speak; I've been dealing with this crowd for 20 years. You know, when Bill Clinton says it depends on what the meaning of is is, that means is is whatever Bill wants it to mean. When Hillary Clinton tells you I've given you all the emails you need, that means she hasn't. So to the people who are dying for a better America, you better change course, and she doesn't represent the change that we need. Do we all agree that +p666 +aVI don't think it's a war on women for all of us as Americans to stand up and stop harvesting organs from little babies. Let's take the money that we would give to Planned Parenthood and put it in women's health care without having to harvest the organs of the unborn. The only way we're going to defund Planned Parenthood is have a pro-life president. You want to see a war on women? Come with me to Iraq and Afghanistan, folks. I've been there 35 times. I will show you what they do to women. These mythical Arab armies that my friends talk about that are going to protect us don't exist. If I am president of the United States, we're going to send soldiers back to Iraq, back to Syria, to keep us from being attacked here and keep soldiers in Afghanistan because we must. I cannot tell you how much our nation is threatened and how we need a commander in chief who understands the threats to this nation. If you're running for president of the United States and you do not understand that we cannot defend this nation without more of our soldiers over there, you are not ready for this job. +p667 +aVChange the Mexico City policy, not take one dime of taxpayer money to fund abortion organizations overseas, and restore the NSA that's been gutted. We're going dark when it comes to detecting the next attack. We have gutted our ability to detect the next attack. And I would not stand for that as president of the United States. I would take the fight to these guys, whatever it took, as long as it took. +p668 +aVThank you. First thing I'd tell the American people, whatever it takes to defend our nation, I would do. To the 1 percent who have been fighting this war for over a decade, I'd try my best to be a commander-in-chief worthy of your sacrifice. We're going to lose Social Security and Medicare if Republicans and Democrats do not come together and find a solution like Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neill. I will be the Ronald Reagan if I can find a Tip O'Neill. When I was 21, my mom died. When I was 22, my dad died. We owned a liquor store, restaurant, bar and we lived in the back. Every penny we needed from -- every penny we got from Social Security, because my sister was a minor, we needed. Today, I'm 60, I'm not married, I don't have any kids. I would give up some Social Security to save a system that Americans are going to depend on now and in the future. Half of American seniors would be in poverty without a Social Security check. If you make your president, I'm going to put the country ahead of the party. I'm going to do what it takes to defend this nation. This nation has been great to me, and that's the only way I know to pay you back. Mac +p669 +aVNot the change we need at a time we need it. +p670 +aVWe need somebody ready to be commander-in-chief on day one, who understands there are no moderates in Iran, they've been killed a long time ago. That the Ayatollah is a radical jihadist who really means it when he chants, "Death to America, death to Israel." And this deal is giving him a pathway to a bomb, a missile to deliver it, and money to pay for it all. We need a president who can solve our problems, bring us together. We're becoming Greece if we don't work together. At the end of the day, ladies and gentlemen, our best days are ahead of us only if we work together, and I intend to put this country on a path of success by working together and doing the hard things that should have been done a very long time ago. +p671 +asVREGAN +p672 +(lp673 +VIn Tuesday's State of the Union Address, the president said that our economy is strong. He cited the significant decline we've seen in unemployment rate and the millions of jobs that have been created. What is your assessment of the economy right now? And I would like to hear from all of you on this one, beginning with Ms. Fiorina. +p674 +aVThank you Governor Huckabee. Senator Santorum? +p675 +aVThank you. Well, since we've been talking about the Middle East, Senator Santorum, conflicts between Saudi Arabia and Iran have certainly escalated, amid accusations that Saudi Arabia bombed the Iranian Embassy in Yemen after the Saudi Embassy in Tehran was attacked. As we confront an increasingly unstable Middle East, how will you, as president, navigate this administration's promises to Iran while standing by our historic allies in the region? +p676 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p677 +aVGovernor Huckabee, if I could just follow-up with that. Do we need to be in Afghanistan? +p678 +aVThank you Governor Huckabee. Ms. Fiorina, nearly 600 women say they were attacked in a German city on New Year's Eve by men of Arab or North African descent and 45 percent of those alleged attacks were sexual assaults. Twenty-two of those 32 men arrested so far are asylum-seekers. Are you worried about similar problems in the United States? +p679 +aVI want to stay with you on this. The world shares a common enemy right now in the way of +p680 +aVMs. Fiorina, thank you. +p681 +aVWelcome back, everyone, to the Republican presidential debate. On to the next round of questions \u2014 Sandra. +p682 +aVMs. Fiorina, the president has just issued an executive order to expand the gun laws and background checks. And none of you on stage agree with this. But recent polls show the majority of Americans are in favor of universal background checks. +p683 +aVIt's the poll data. +p684 +aVSo tell me......why, in your view, is the president's proposal a problem? +p685 +aVMs. Fiorina, you've said that was when you were CEO of HP, you actually worked with the government. +p686 +aV\u2014 to try and combat some of these terrorist threats. +p687 +aVWhat did you do? +p688 +aVMs. Fiorina, thank you. +p689 +aVGovernor Huckabee, an American in San Bernardino murdered 14 people while terrorists with Belgian and French passports murdered 130 people. Were facing a threat within our borders, and from outside the United States. Those European terrorists, they could have come here at any time given that we have a visa waiver program that enables people to travel back and forth. It exists within those countries, and 36 others. In countries around the world, including many in Europe, cannot ensure that their citizens are not jihadists, why are we waiving the visa requirement at all? +p690 +aVIf you get the visa waiver program, does that shut down international commerce? +p691 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p692 +aVSenator Santorum, thank you. +p693 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p694 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from North Charleston. We want to jump right back in. Sandra is kicking it off. +p695 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you know it used to be you could graduate from high school and get a pretty good job at the local factory, enough to take care of your family and yourself. Those days seem to be gone. It's pretty hard to do that nowadays. Businesses are increasingly turning to automation to increase their productivity levels. It's happening right here, in fact, at the Boeing factory in North Charleston. The president says automation threatens workers' ability to get higher wages. Do you agree with that? And if so, do you have a solution? +p696 +aVThank you very much, Governor Huckabee. Senator Santorum, 40% of babies born today are born to single moms. That's twice as high as reported back in 1980, and it's 11 times as high as in 1940. Studies show that children are always better off economically, most often \u2014 and emotionally, with two parents in a household. From a policy perspective, should the government be doing anything to encourage family formation? +p697 +aVThank you. +p698 +aVCarly Fiorina? +p699 +aVThank you to all the candidates. That does it, everyone for the first debate right here in North Charleston. +p700 +aVGood evening, and welcome to the historic Milwaukee Theater. Tonight, you'll hear from 12 Republican candidates vying to become the next President of the United States. I'm Trish Regan, along with my co-moderators, Sandra Smith, and from the Wall Street Journal, Jerry Seib. +p701 +aVLet's introduce them. New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie. Former Arkansas Governor, Mike Huckabee. Former Pennsylvania Senator, Rick Santorum. And, Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindal. +p702 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p703 +aVAll right, Governor Jindal, you have pushed Louisiana's energy resources as a means to grow jobs in your state. But as oil prices have plunged in recent months, so has jobs growth. Louisiana now has an unemployment rate above the national average. Will your energy-focused jobs plan for the country be subject to the same market ups and downs? +p704 +aVAll right, Governor Jindal, thank you. Governor Christie, you have said that the Democrats' message is one of, quote, "free stuff." In contrast, Republicans want to reduce spending. How do you win a national election when the Democrats are offering free health care, a free or subsidized college education, and you're the party that is seemingly offering nothing in the way of immediate tangible benefits? +p705 +aVSenator Santorum, a single mom with no job and two kids in New Hampshire, home of the first in the nation primary, is eligible for more than $30,000 a year in benefits. Even if she could find a job, she would need to find child care. And in many cases may conclude it's better for her to live off government benefits. Senator, how do you help and incentivize her to go to work? And if you're the one that's going to cut her benefits, why should she vote for you? +p706 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you. All right, we are just getting started. Medicare, Social Security and the future of ObamaCare \u2014 that is all straight ahead, live from Milwaukee and the Republican presidential debate. +p707 +aVWelcome back to the Milwaukee Theater, and the Republican Presidential Debate. On to the next round of questions, Gerry has the next question. +p708 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you differ from many of your GOP opponents on the stage tonight over accepting Syrian refugees into this country. You have said, "We don't have an obligation to just open our doors." As the Islamic state continues to expand, slaughtering and crucifying Christians, including women and children, refugees continue to flee their land by the thousands. Should America open its doors to accept any refugees in this country? If so, how many? +p709 +aVAlright, Governor Huckabee, thank you. +p710 +aVNext question to you, Governor... +p711 +aV...Next question to you, Governor... +p712 +aV...let me get in......Let me get in here, because the next question, it's to you, and it's on Obamacare. It is still unpopular with the American people. You've seen the polls, they've shown nearly half the country still opposes this law. You have been critical of your GOP opponents, some of them standing on the stage tonight, others later. Notably, Ted Cruz, for not having comprehensive plans. You say you do. What specifically makes your plan to replace Obamacare better than the opponents, some of them standing next to you. +p713 +aVGovernor Jindal, thank you. +p714 +aVWe'll get to that. +p715 +aVRonald Reagan did work with Tip O'Neill. Anyway, we are going to take a quick break. Coming up, one of the top issues for voters, how much you're paying in taxes. We are live from Milwaukee with the Republican presidential debate. See you right back here. +p716 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate. We are live from Milwaukee. A top issue on the campaign trail, taxes and how much you pay. All right, I've got a question for all of you here. When looking at the federal income tax, state income tax and local tax, in some cases, combined, some Americans are paying over 50 percent of their paycheck to the government. What is the highest percentage, all in, in the way of taxes, that any American should have to pay and what is the lowest? I'd like to, again, to hear from each of you. And I want those two all in numbers. I'm going to start with you, Senator Santorum. +p717 +aVAll in. OK, Governor Christie? +p718 +aVAnd we'll get back to you. Governor Jindal? +p719 +aVGovernor Huckabee, Americans, under your plan, would pay a tax on every single thing that they purchase. Given that consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of GDP, some economists worry that your tax plan would actually discourage spending, thereby slowing our economy. How do you respond? +p720 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p721 +aVSenator Santorum, you agree with Governor Christie. You also have said that the Fed should be audited. But many worry that given the Congressional challenges that they face, by having Congressional oversight of the Fed, which has been historically an independent body, you would be making the Fed much more political. How would you navigate that risk? +p722 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee, both Senator Santorum and Governor Christie were boat \u2014 both critical of the Federal Reserve. Also, many have questioned whether Janet Yellen is the right person to be running the Fed. If elected president, would you keep Janet Yellen? +p723 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee, thank you. All right, Senator Santorum, by the way, today is the 240th... +p724 +aV\u2014 of the United States... +p725 +aV\u2014 Marine Corps. Tomorrow is Veterans Day. We honor and recognize all those who have fought for, and served this great nation, Senator. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, meanwhile, which provides patient care, and federal benefits to those veterans, as well as their families, is beset by scandal. What new ideas do you have to fix the broken V.A. healthcare system? +p726 +asVHEMMER +p727 +(lp728 +VSo, here we go. Ninety-seven hours before Iowa chooses, in fact the last two winners in this state are on this stage tonight. Governor Huckabee, in 2008, you won by nine points here, but this time your support seems to be going to Senator Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. Why, Governor, is your message not working this time? +p729 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Santorum, four short years ago you won Iowa. You beat Mitt Romney, pretty much shocked the country. But, just the other day you talked about what is in the greater good for your campaign. Is Monday night your last stand? +p730 +aVOK. +p731 +aV... Senator, do you want to name... ... Senator, do you want to name that entertainer your refering to? +p732 +aVBut senator, since you mentioned... +p733 +aVSenator, quickly then, after this debate, you mentioned Donald trump's name. Immediately, you're going to event across town here in Des Moines as a guest of Donald Trump. +p734 +aVSo are you laying the groundwork for maybe your future? Perhaps an endorsement of Mr. Trump? +p735 +aVThank you, senator. One moment. We'll get to you in a moment, Governor. We have a few coming up. +p736 +aVThank you. Governor Gilmore. As of one week ago, you have not held a single campaign event here in the state of Iowa. As of one week ago, in fact, you were the only one in the Republican field who had not made a campaign visit to this state. You know how it works here. You know how it's worked over time. Why should anyone caucus for you on Monday night? +p737 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p738 +aVMs. Fiorina, same topic. The president says that many are exaggerating the threat from +p739 +aVThank you. +p740 +aVGovernor Gilmore, some time this spring 34 more detainees are cleared from release from Gitmo. If you were president, as you say, this president wants to close it. As president, if Gitmo were closed and an enemy combatant were found or captured in the field of battle, perhaps Syria or Iraq or Libya, and you don't have Gitmo, where would you put them? +p741 +aVGovernor, thank you for that. +p742 +aVWelcome back to Des Moines on what will be a long night here. Let's get back to the questions. Let's get back to the questions with Martha. +p743 +aVLet me stay with you, Ms. Fiorina. You've said you will shrink the federal government by 30 percent over the next two years, and those jobs will not be filled, and you'll do it through retirement. Your critics would argue that's exactly what you did at Hewlett Packard when 30,000 people lost their jobs. If it did not work at H.P., why would it work at the federal government? +p744 +aVThank you. +p745 +aVGovernor Huckabee, Nikki Haley, Republican governor from South Carolina, recently said... +p746 +aVI did not, but we... +p747 +aVWe have plenty for you -- you bet, Governor. We have a couple more in the hopper for you in a moment here. +p748 +aVFirst, Governor -- Governor Huckabee, Nikki Haley warned about listening to "the siren call of the angriest voices," to which Donald Trump said he is "very, very angry." Who is right, Governor? +p749 +aVThank you, Governor. +p750 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you've mentioned the economy several times tonight. Let's go back to that for a moment because in America today 50% of the American workers are making less than $30,000 dollars a year. Let's talk about what you could do for them. The Conservative Club for Growth has had an issue with your policy on taxes for years. In fact, it called you, "Tax Hike Mike". And, the record shows state spending in Arkansas increased 54% when you were in charge, 94% if you include federal dollars during that same period. When it comes to helping people at the margins, $30,000, $32,000 dollars a year, what's better? A tax and spend approach, or shrinking government? +p751 +aVGovernor Huckabee, thank you. Same issue, Senator Santorum. The President says criticism of his economic policy is political hot air. You consistently talk about manufacturing jobs leaving America. You support a flat tax of 20%. How would a flat tax bring back two million jobs to America? +p752 +aVSenator, thank you. +p753 +aVThank you Ms. Fiorina. Governor Gilmore. Who are the moderate Muslims do you seek advice and counsel from on how to deal with the threat from radical Islamic terrorism? +p754 +aVThank you governor. Governor Huckabee. Here in Iowa 43 percent of Democratic caucus goers describe themselves as socialist. That's a higher number than those who say they are capitalist. I guess you could say, they're feeling the burn. This is a country rooted in capitalism, the United States of America. How did we get here? +p755 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum, the president says politics in America have become meaner over the past several years with him in the White House. Two weeks ago at the State of the Union he said the following. "A president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide." Lincoln and Roosevelt, that's pretty good company. If he is right, do Republicans share some of the blame? +p756 +aVThank you, Senator. +p757 +aVIn the closing few moments, the candidates have an opportunity to make a closing statement, 30 seconds for each. And, we want to start tonight with the former Virginia Governor, Jim Gilmore. +p758 +aV... Thank you, Governor. +p759 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p760 +aVThank you, Governor. +p761 +aVThat concludes our debate tonight, but the night has just begun. +p762 +aVThis is first official event in the campaign for the Republican nomination for president. Welcome to Cleveland Ohio. It is debate night. I'm Bill Hemmer. Mac +p763 +aVSo you will hear from all 17 candidates tonight, and you'll meet seven of them right now, starting with three-time governor in the state of Texas, Rick Perry. Mac +p764 +aVTwo-time. Two-time governor of the State of Louisiana, Acting Governor Bobby Jindal. So you will hear from all 17 candidates tonight, and you'll meet seven of them right now, starting with three-time governor in the state of Texas, Rick Perry. Mac +p765 +aVTwo-time. Two-time governor of the State of Louisiana, Acting Governor Bobby Jindal. Mac +p766 +aVThe senior senator from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham. Mac +p767 +aVAnd former Virginia governor, Jim Gilmore. Mac +p768 +aVGentle. Mac +p769 +aVWait til you hear what the others are going to get later, huh? Mac +p770 +aVOne year from now, a Republican nominee will be standing on this stage in this very same arena. That person is in Cleveland today. So let's get started. First topic, electability. First question to Governor Perry from Texas. Welcome, Governor. +p771 +aVYou were in charge of the 12th largest economy in the world, and you recently said that four years ago, you weren't ready for this job. Why should someone vote for you now? +p772 +aVThank you, Governor. Mac +p773 +aVSenator Santorum, you won the Iowa caucus four years ago and 10 other states. But you failed to beat Mitt Romney for the nomination. And no one here tonight is going to question your conviction or your love for country. But has your moment passed, Senator? +p774 +aVThank you, Senator. Mac +p775 +aVSenator Lindsey Graham, you worked with Democrats and President Obama when it came to climate change, something you know is extremely unpopular with conservative Republicans. How can they trust you based on that record? +p776 +aVThank you, Senator. Mac +p777 +aVThank you, Governor. Mac +p778 +aVThis Saturday, August 8th, two days from now marks one year since the strikes began against +p779 +aVAnd the senator to your right has called for 20,000 American troops in Syria and Iraq so far today, Senator Graham, and I'll give this question to you. Why should the American people after two wars in Iraq sacrifice yet again on a third war? +p780 +aVSenator, thank you. Mac +p781 +aVIt is debate night, and welcome back to Cleveland, Ohio. Let's get back to the questions right now with Martha. Mac +p782 +aVExcuse me, Martha. I have not heard the bell just yet, so you're all very well behaved so far. Governor Gilmore, 30 seconds. +p783 +aVThank you, Governor. I've got to move on to immigration here. Senator Santorum, you would argue you have one of the tougher positions on illegal immigration in the entire 17 candidate field at the moment. We often talk about this issue on the abstract level in Washington, D.C., but you know how it's being talked about in states like Iowa and New Hampshire among illegals in our country today -- 11 million plus. And some are asking, what would you say to a child, born and raised in America, who could see their family broken apart by your policy? +p784 +aVGovernor Perry, try and answer this question again. What do you say to the family of illegals? Are you going to break them apart? +p785 +aVGovernor, thank you. Mac +p786 +aVAnd so right now, we're 30 minutes in. Going to jump back into the topics and continue our discussion of national issues on the domestic level. The issue that is really number one on the minds of many voters, that's the economy and jobs. Mac +p787 +aVThank you, Governor. Your last topic brings us to the state of Ohio. You know, the saying, right? No Republican wins the White House unless you win here in the Buckeye state. Well, here in the Buckeye state, the Governor John Kasich took the federal money for Medicaid expansion under Obamacare. And Governor Jindal of Louisiana, you passed on those tax dollars. Why do you think Governor Kasich got it wrong here? +p788 +aVSo Governor Kasich was wrong, just to be clear. +p789 +aVI didn't hear an answer regarding Governor Kasich, but for now I'll go to Governor Pataki. Yes or no? +p790 +aVGovernor Pataki, three term governor of New York. Is he right, Governor Jindal from Louisiana? +p791 +aVYes or no, would you have expanded Obamacare in the state of New York, had you been governor at that time? +p792 +aVOK. +p793 +aVThank you, Governor Pataki. In a moment here, we'll talk to the candidates about an issue today on Planned Parenthood, and also the U.S. Supreme Court. That's all next here in Cleveland. +p794 +aVWelcome back to Cleveland, Ohio. Want to get back to the questions and the issues in this debate now, with my co-anchor, Martha. Mac +p795 +aVNext question on the U.S. Supreme Court. It's been 42 years, Senator Santorum, since Roe v. Wade, and many consider, in this country, to be a case of settled law. Recently the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on same-sex marriage. Is that now settled law in America today? +p796 +aVAlright, Senator, thank you. To Governor Gilmore. For years, presidential candidates have not said they would have a litmus test for justices nominated to the Supreme Court. Recently, Hillary Clinton broke that precedent. She said she would apply that on the case of Citizens United, which deals with campaign finance laws in America today. Is it time for conservatives to impose a litmus test on abortion? +p797 +aVSo, no litmus test? +p798 +aVThank you, governor. Mac +p799 +aVAs the first debate of the nomination season continues, welcome back to Cleveland. Let's get back to the questions right now, and the issues here in the U.S. Martha? Mac +p800 +aVThank you, Senator. Executive power. It appears that you all have a little bit of an issue with it at the moment. I want to move through this as quickly as I can, from stage left to stage right. On the second day of his presidency, January 22nd 2009, President Obama signed one of his first executive orders. That was close Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Still open today. What would be your first executive order? Governor Gilmore, start. +p801 +aVSenator Graham. +p802 +aVGovernor Jindal, your first executive order would be in the White House would be what? +p803 +aVGovernor Perry. +p804 +aVThat will be a long day. +p805 +aVSenator Santorum? +p806 +aVFirst order, Carly Fiorina? +p807 +aVGovernor Pataki? +p808 +aVThank you all. Mac +p809 +aVThank you, senator. Mac +p810 +aVThank you, Senator. I need a two-word answer to the following query. In 2008, then-Senator Barack Obama described Hillary Clinton as, quote, "likable enough," end quote. What two words would you use to describe the Democratic frontrunner? Governor Pataki to start. +p811 +aVWow. Carly Fiorina. +p812 +aVGovernor Jindal? +p813 +aVGovernor? +p814 +aVNot a lot of compliments. To be continued. Mac +p815 +aVThank you Governor. Senator Santorum? +p816 +aVAll right. Senator thank you. Mac +p817 +aVCarly Fiorina, closing statement. +p818 +aVThank you. Mac +p819 +aVAnd to Governor Pataki, closing statement now. +p820 +aVThank you, Governor. Mac +p821 +aVThat concludes the first debate of the 2016 Republican primary. We would like to thank all seven of you for being here today. +p822 +asVUNIDENTIFIED +p823 +(lp824 +VWhy don't, why don't we... +p825 +asVBAIER +p826 +(lp827 +VLess than a year from now, in this very arena, one of these 10 candidates or one of the seven on the previous debate tonight will accept the Republican party's nomination. Tonight's candidates were selected based on an average of five national polls. Just a few hours ago, you heard from the candidates ranked 11th through 17. And now, the prime-time event, the top 10. +p828 +aVNeurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Florida Senator Marco Rubio. +p829 +aVIt might be. It might be. We'll see. [ +p830 +aVIt might be. The rules for tonight are simple. One minute for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups. And if a candidate runs over, you'll hear this. Pleasant, no? We also have a big crowd here with us tonight in the home of the Cavaliers, as I mentioned. And while we expect them... ... we expect them to be enthusiastic, as you heard, we don't want to take anything away from the valuable time for the candidate. So, we're looking for somewhere between a reaction to a LeBron James dunk and the Cleveland Public Library across the street. Somewhere there, we'll find a balance tonight. Without further ado, let's begin. +p831 +aVGentlemen, we know how much you love hand-raising questions. So we promise, this is the only one tonight: the only one. Is there anyone on stage, and can I see hands, who is unwilling tonight to pledge your support to the eventual nominee of the Republican party and pledge to not run an independent campaign against that person. Again, we're looking for you to raise your hand now -- raise your hand now if you won't make that pledge tonight. Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump to be clear, you're standing on a Republican primary debate stage. +p832 +aVThe place where the RNC will give the nominee the nod. +p833 +aVAnd that experts say an independent run would almost certainly hand the race over to Democrats and likely another Clinton. You can't say tonight that you can make that pledge? +p834 +aVSo tonight, you can't say if another one of these... +p835 +aVOK. +p836 +aVDr. Paul. +p837 +aVOK. +p838 +aVJust to be clear, you can't make a -- we're gonna -- we're going to move on. You're not gonna make the pledge tonight? +p839 +aVOK. Alright. +p840 +aVGovernor Bush, you have insisted that you're your own man. You say you have a life experience uniquely your own. Not your father's, not your brother's. But there are several opponents on this stage who get big- applause lines in early voting states with this line: quote, "the last thing the country needs is another Bush in the Oval Office." So do you understand the real concern in this country about dynastic politics? +p841 +aVGovernor Christie, you're not exactly the darling of conservatives. You tout your record as a Republican governor in a blue state. On Facebook, the most people talking about you, not surprisingly, come from your state of New Jersey, and one of the top issues they are talking about is the economy. This -- this may be why. Under your watch, New Jersey has undergone nine credit rating downgrades. The state's 44th in private sector growth. You face an employee pension crisis and the Garden State has the third highest foreclosure rate in the country. So why should voters believe that your management of the country's finances would be any different? +p842 +aVSenator Paul, you recently blamed the rise of +p843 +aVGentlemen, the next series of questions deals with ObamaCare and the role of the federal government. Mr. Trump, ObamaCare is one of the things you call a disaster. +p844 +aVSaying it needs to be repealed and replaced. +p845 +aVNow, 15 years ago, you called yourself a liberal on health care. You were for a single-payer system, a Canadian-style system. Why were you for that then and why aren't you for it now? +p846 +aVBut on ObamaCare... +p847 +aVMr. Trump, hold up one second. +p848 +aVAll right, now, hold on, Senator Paul... +p849 +aVOK. +p850 +aVAll right, let me... Mr. Trump, it's not just your past support for single- payer health care. You've also supported a host of other liberal policies. Use -- you've also donated to several Democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton included, Nancy Pelosi. You explained away those donations saying you did that to get business-related favors. And you said recently, quote, "When you give, they do whatever the hell you want them to do." +p851 +aVSo what specifically did... +p852 +aV-- they do? +p853 +aVHold on. We're going to -- we're going to move on. We'll come back to you, Governor Walker. +p854 +aVWe have many questions to come. +p855 +aVMany questions to come. Governor Huckabee, on Facebook, John Pietricone asked this, "Will you abolish or take away the powers and cut the size of the EPA, the IRS, the Department of Education?" Now, broadly... ...broadly, the size of government is a big concern for Facebook users, Facebook persons, as well as, obviously, conservatives. But year after year, decade after decade, there are promises from Republicans to shrink government. But year after year, decade after decade, it doesn't happen. In fact, it gets bigger, even under Republican politicians. So the question is, at this point, is the government simply too big for any one person, even a Republican, to shrink? +p856 +aVDr. Carson... +p857 +aVDr. Carson, do you agree with that? +p858 +aVGovernor Bush? +p859 +aVWe're going to come back to you, Dr. Carson. Governor Bush, you are one of the few people on the stage who advocates for Common Core education standards, reading and math. A lot of people on this stage vigorously oppose a federal involvement in education. They say it should all be handled locally. President Obama's secretary of education, Arnie Duncan, has said that most of the criticism of Common Core is due to a, quote, "fringe group of critics." Do you think that's accurate? +p860 +aVSenator Rubio, why is Governor Bush wrong on Common Core? +p861 +aVAnd do you agree with your old friend? +p862 +aVWe have many more questions coming on a host of topics, here from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Stay with us. +p863 +aVWe have many more questions coming on a host of topics. Here from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Stay with us. +p864 +aVGentlemen, another question for a few of you. Yesterday, just yesterday, President Obama criticized Republican lawmakers trying to block the Iran deal, calling them knee-jerk partisans, adding that hardliners in Iran who chant "death to America" were, quote, "making common cause with the Republican caucus." Here's what two of your opponents on the 5 p.m. debate stage said about Iran. +p865 +aVNow, I wanna ask a few of you this. First, Governor Walker. You've said that you would tear up the Iran deal on day one. If this deal is undone, what then? +p866 +aVSenator Paul, would you tear up the deal on day one? +p867 +aVGovernor Huckabee, what do you think about what Senator Paul just said? +p868 +aVThank you, gentlemen. +p869 +aVWelcome back to Cleveland. Our next topic is foreign policy. Candidates, you may not have seen the late developing news today our Fox Pentagon team broke earlier this evening about a top Iranian general traveling to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. His name is General Qassem Soleimani, he's blamed for hundreds of U.S. troop's deaths in Iraq, and Afghanistan. His trip to Russia appears to directly violate U.N. Security Council resolutions to confine him to Iran. So, Mr. Trump, if you were president, how would you respond to this? +p870 +aVAnother new development today, Senior Defense officials tell Fox they strongly suspect Russia was behind the cyber attack on the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs office... +p871 +aV...email. This comes in the wake of the Director of National Intelligence blaming the Chinese for the largest ever cyber attack, stealing personal data of tens of millions of Americans. Senator Cruz, in your view, have Russia and China committed acts of cyber war, and if you were president, what would you do about it? +p872 +aVDr. Carson, in August of 2012 President Obama famously declared Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons, quote, "that's a redline for us," and that there would be enormous consequences. One year later, with overwhelming evidence the Assad had, in fact, used chemical weapons and crossed that red line, President Obama declined to use military force against the Assad regime. As president, would you have used military force there? +p873 +aVGovernor Walker, as president, what would you do if Russian President Vladimir Putin started a campaign to destabilize +p874 +aVGovernor -- Governor Huckabee, the culture of the American military is definitely changing. Women are moving into combat roles. Don't Ask, Don't Tell has obviously been dropped. And now Defense Secretary Ashton Carter recently directed the military to prepare for a moment when it is welcoming transgender persons to serve openly. As commander in chief, how would you handle that? +p875 +aVSenator Paul, the first budget you proposed as senator cut all financial aid to Israel. You have since changed your view on that issue. What made you change your mind. +p876 +aVOK. But you still say that Israel could be one of the countries that is cut from financial aid? +p877 +aVGovernor Christie, what do you think of that answer? +p878 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p879 +aVSenator, we're going to finish up with some more questions, thank you. +p880 +aVNow each candidate will make a closing statement. You'll all have 30 seconds to make a closing statement for this debate. We'll start with Ohio Governor John Kasich. +p881 +aVSenator Marco Rubio. +p882 +aVThank you, Senator. +p883 +aVGovernor Mike Huckabee, closing statement. +p884 +aVMr. Trump, closing statement, sir. +p885 +aVGentlemen, thank you. +p886 +aVThat's it. +p887 +asVMADDOW +p888 +(lp889 +VWe are super excited to be here at the University of New Hampshire. Tonight, this is the first time that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have squared off exactly like this. Face-to-face, just one-on-one, just the two of them. +p890 +aVAnd we do hope that the candidates will take this opportunity to show us the distinctions\u2014show us the differences between them. That's the whole reason that we're here tonight. We're not here for talking points. We're to learn about the difference between the candidates. And with that, let's get going. Please join us in welcoming Secretary Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders. +p891 +aVAnd with that, that's it. We're going to begin with 60- second opening statements from each of the candidates. And as agreed to in advance by the two campaigns, we're going to begin tonight with Senator Sanders. +p892 +aVSecretary Clinton, Senator Sanders is campaigning against you now, at this point in the campaign, basically arguing that you are not progressive enough to be the Democratic nominee. He has said that if you voted for the Iraq war, if you are in favor of the death penalty, if you wobbled on things like the Keystone Pipeline or TPP, if you said single payer health care could never happen, then you're too far to the right of the Democratic Party to be the party's standard bearer. Given those policy positions, why should liberal Democrats support you and not Senator Sanders? +p893 +aVSenator Sanders, have you established a list of what it means to be a progressive that is unrealistic? +p894 +aVThank you Senator. +p895 +aVSenator Sanders, as a Vermonter, you have almost a home state advantage here in New Hampshire. But back home across the border, you also have a long history of running against Democrats as a third-party candidate, for governor, Senate, for Congress. In 1988 your candidacy as a third-party candidate arguably cost the Democrats a congressional seat and sent a Republican instead. How can you lead the Democratic Party nationally when you have not been a member of the Democratic Party until very recently? +p896 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p897 +aVSo, Senator, to that point, Secretary Clinton is raising the issue of endorsements by your home state Democrats. She's implying that that says something about the people who know you best. +p898 +aVHow do you see it? +p899 +aVSecretary. +p900 +aVSenator Sanders, you'll have 30 seconds to respond to that. +p901 +aVSenator Sanders, Secretary Clinton, obviously we've touched a nerve. We're going to be back with more on this subject, and much more, right after this. Stay with us. +p902 +aVSecretary Clinton, on the issue of Wall Street... +p903 +aV... on the issue of Wall Street, when our reporters go out and talk to people on the ground in the early states, what they tell us over and over again when they find voters who are leaning toward Senator Sanders rather than yourself is that the most frequent area of concern that they hear from those voters is the issue of Wall Street and whether or not you are too close to Wall Street. Last night, when you were asked about speaking fees and the amount of speaking fees you got from Goldman Sachs speeches, you said that's what they offered. Have you been too dismissive of voters' concerns about this issue in your own campaign and your own career? +p904 +aVSenator Sanders, you have been a critic of Secretary Clinton taking those speaking fees and having donations from Wall Street. What about her defense of her record? +p905 +aVSenator Sanders, let me turn to, I think, where this direction is heading anyway, which is the broader issue of big business and power in our political system. You on the campaign trail have railed against big name American corporations like Boeing, and General Electric, and Wal Mart. But, some big businesses in this country have also been part of advancing progressive goals like that nationwide initiative to expand employment opportunities for veterans. That was all about cooperation between the Obama administration and some very big business. The Affordable Care Act, some of the thorniest problems in that bill were worked out in cooperation with big business in order to accomplish progressive goals. Could you work with them, or have you made enemies of big business in this country with the way you've approached them in this campaign? +p906 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. And with that, we're going to take a break. +p907 +aVWelcome back\u2014welcome back to the Democratic candidates' debate. We're going to be talking about America in the world, both in terms of some trade issues, but also national security. And Secretary Clinton, we're going to start with you. There are more than 4,000 American troops back in Iraq right now as part of the fight against +p908 +aVTo be clear, to the specific question, if that strategic goal that you're describing requires considerably more of Americans\u2014an ever-increasing number of Americans in Iraq and maybe in Syria, are you OK with the numbers increasing? +p909 +aVThank you, Madam Secretary. +p910 +aVSecretary Clinton, at the\u2014at the last Democratic debate in Charleston\u2014I want to get specific here\u2014Senator Sanders called for moving as aggressively as we can to normalize relations with Iran. Your campaign has criticized him for saying that. Now that he's standing next to you here on this stage, can you explain why the U.S. shouldn't try to normalize relations in Iran in your view? +p911 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to ask you about a national security issue that is closer to home. There are thousands of veterans, over 100,000 veterans living in the state of New Hampshire. If either one of you is nominated as the Democratic Party's nominee, you will likely face a Republican opponent in the general election who wants to privatize or even abolish big parts of the V.A. It's a newly popular idea in conservative politics. How will you win the argument on that issue given the problems that have been exposed at the V.A. in the last few years? What's your argument that the V.A. should still exist and should not be privatized? +p912 +aVSenator Sanders, you, as a congressional leader on veterans issues and the Veterans Committee, you've worked in a very bipartisan way with Senator John McCain and others on veterans issues. Is the right contour of the fight, the way she's talking about this issue? +p913 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Sanders, Secretary Clinton, we're going to take another break. We'll be talking about Social Security and some of those other issues when we come back. +p914 +aVSenator\u2014Senator Sanders, in 1964... +p915 +aVIn 1964, I heard that the Republicans nominated Barry Goldwater, who was the hero of the conservative movement. He was, however, far to the right of most of that party. In 1972, the Democrats nominated George McGovern, who was a hero of liberals in the antiwar movement, but he was to the left of his party's mainstream. Both of those nominees made activists very excited, and they both got destroyed in the general election. Even Democrats who love you worry about your fate in a general election. And I know you have good head-to-head polling numbers against Republican frontrunners right now. We know that. But do you have a general election strategy that is different than the way you're running right now to try to get the nomination? +p916 +aVSecretary Clinton, your campaign surrogates, and people who have endorsed you, have suggested that or even said that if Senator Sanders is the nominee, that Democrats will suffer nationwide and the chances will go down of Democrats holding onto the White House. With him here standing next to you, can you tell us whether or not you believe he would win the general election if he were nominated? +p917 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. Senator, in December, one of your campaign staffers was fired from your campaign for taking voter data essentially from the Clinton campaign. You apologized for that when the incident was made public. Your campaign has now been criticized for its operatives essentially impersonating culinary union members wearing union pins in Nevada, and the Nashua Telegraph has complained recently that you falsely implied in an advertisement that they had endorsed you when they did not. None of these issues obviously is the end of the world, but they all are of a piece. Are you in some sense losing control of your campaign? +p918 +aVJust to follow up on that, the title of the ad in question was Endorsement. +p919 +aVSecretary Clinton, do you want 30 seconds on that issue? +p920 +aVAnd with that, we will . +p921 +aVWelcome back to the University of New Hampshire, and the Democratic candidates' debate. Secretary Clinton, on the issue of the death penalty, here in New Hampshire, the one person who is on death row is there for killing a police officer. It's a crime that has caused anguish in this state, both among death penalty opponents and death penalty supporters. The last time I had the chance to talk with you on this issue, on the death penalty, you said that capital punishment has a place in a very few federal cases, but you also said you would breathe a sigh of relief if the Supreme Court abolished the death penalty nationwide. Tonight, do you still support capital punishment, even if you do so reluctantly? +p922 +aVSenator Sanders, you have singled out the death penalty, and Senator Clinton's support for the death penalty, as an issue that makes it hard to consider as progressive in your mind... +p923 +aVAnother issue related to the proper role of government, and in this case, specifically the role of government between the federal government and the states. I want to talk for a moment about the issue of Flint, Michigan. On the Flint lead poisoning disaster, you have both been highly critical of Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan, and how the state in Michigan both caused the lead poisoning problem, and has not acted fast enough to fix it. You have both been outspoken on that. The fact is that Michigan though has not fixed it. There is no door to door delivery of clean water in Flint even today. Not a single lead pipe has been replaced in Flint, even today. If the state is failing, would you, Secretary Clinton, would you as President order a federal response to get it right over and above the wishes of the state? +p924 +aVSenator Sanders are there things the President could be doing? President Obama could be ordering, done, right now, in Flint, Michigan that are not being done that you as President would do? +p925 +aVSenator, thank you. +p926 +aVThe home stretch. +p927 +aVSecretary Clinton, Republicans, particularly in campaign years, often talk about which departments of government\u2014which agencies of government they would get rid of if they were elected president. The EPA, the Department of Education, the Commerce Department, oops\u2014is\u2014is there a department of government that you would get rid of? Or is there a whole new one that you would create? +p928 +aVThank you, Secretary Clinton. +p929 +aVThank you very much. Thank you. +p930 +aVWe also want to thank our host, the University of New Hampshire, and the people of New Hampshire. You guys get to vote in just five days. I can't wait to see how it turns out. Don't screw up. +p931 +asVSEIB +p932 +(lp933 +VThis evening Fox Business is partnering with the Wall Street Journal to bring you the fourth republican presidential debate of the 2016 campaign. For the next hour, four of the candidates will be here answering the question voters want answered. +p934 +aVSenator Santorum, you're all obviously highly critical of President Obama's economic record. But federal statistics show that payrolls have expanded by 8.7 million new jobs so far during his time in office. All the jobs lost in the recession were recovered by last year. And in October, the economy added jobs at the fastest rate since 2009. So what's wrong with the Obama jobs record? +p935 +aVGovernor Jindal, Republicans have now 32 of the nation's 50 governor seats. But, even while you're doing very well at the state level, you keep falling short nationally. You've lost the popular vote in five of the last six presidential elections. Are Democrats simply putting forward a better national economic message than the one Republicans are offering? And what should Republicans do about it. +p936 +aVSenator Santorum, we're in the Upper-Midwest, heart of the American auto industry. The Auto Alliance says the state of Wisconsin, where we are tonight, is home to 176 auto supplier companies. Back in 2008, you opposed the use of federal bailout funds for automakers as proposed then by the Bush administration. The automakers survived. In retrospect, do you still think that was the right position. +p937 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p938 +aVGovernor Jindal, there's a new trade deal the Obama administration has completed with 11 other Pacific nations. The U.S. Trade Representative's office says that deal will cut 18,000 different tariffs on American goods sent to the Pacific and will cut tariffs on goods made in your state of Louisiana by as much as 40 percent. Even a skeptical about \u2014 a skeptic about this deal, now that the details are public, are you going to be for it? +p939 +aVGovernor Christie? +p940 +aV...Guys... +p941 +aVGovernor Christie... +p942 +aV...last word, briefly +p943 +aV...Thank you both, Governors. +p944 +aV...No, no, Senator Santorum... +p945 +aV...I have a question for you. Just about everybody agrees that the nation's infrastructure is in bad shape. Urban highway congestion costs the economy more than $100 billion dollars annually, nearly one in four bridges in the National Highway System is structurally deficient, or obsolete. Congress is working on a six year highway bill to try to fix this problem. It only funds it for about three years. Should Americans be asked to pay more in federal gas taxes in order to address this problem? +p946 +aVSenator, I don't think we got to infrastructure, but I understand. +p947 +aVNo, no. To do the things you're talking about, that you're all talking about, getting things done in Washington, you have to work with the other side. So a question, who in Congress do you most admire on the Democratic side? I need one name from each of you. And let's start with Governor Jindal. +p948 +aVGovernor Huckabee? +p949 +aVGovernor Christie? +p950 +aVSenator Santorum? +p951 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p952 +aVGovernor Jindal, you've proposed something different. You've proposed eliminating the federal corporate income tax entirely. Why would have you wage-earners and investors pay an income tax but not a corporation? +p953 +aVWelcome back to the Republican Presidential Debate live from Milwaukee's historic theater. Let's get back to the questions. Governor Christie, by keeping interest rates so low for so long, is the Fed creating a new financial bubble in real estate or stock as prices that will burst and create problems down the road, or has it been right to err on the side of trying to help the recovery through low rates? +p954 +aVCandidates, it's time for closing statements, 30 seconds. Governor Jindal, we'll start with you. +p955 +aVSenator Santorum. +p956 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p957 +aVGovernor Christie. +p958 +asVTAPPER +p959 +(lp960 +VI'm Jake Tapper. We're live at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California for the main event. Round 2 of CNN's presidential debate starts now. The eleven leading Republican candidates for president are at their podiums. They are ready to face off, and if you've been watching this race, you know anything could happen over the next few hours. To viewers who are just joining us, welcome to the Air Force One Pavilion of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Our thanks to the staff here and especially to former first lady Nancy Reagan for this impressive setting with Ronald Reagan's presidential plane as our backdrop. This debate is airing on CNN networks in the United States and around the world. It's also being broadcast on the Salem Radio Network. I know everyone is very eager to get started. But first, I want to explain the ground rules tonight. My name is Jake Tapper. I'll be the moderator. I will be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt. He worked in the Reagan administration for six years. And by CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. I will ask follow-up questions, I will attempt to guide the discussion. Candidates, I will try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have one minute to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you've been singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. These 11 Republicans are positioned on the stage based on their ranking in recent national polls. Our goal for this evening is a debate. A true debate, with candidates addressing each other in areas where they differ. Where they disagree \u2014 on policy, on politics, on leadership. Now, let's begin. I'd like to invite each candidate to take 30 seconds to introduce him or herself to our audience. First to you, Senator Paul. +p961 +aVSenator Cruz? +p962 +aVThank you one and all for being here. There are many important policy issues facing our nation. We're going to get to many of them tonight, but I do want to start off with some current events in the news, and also some of the comments the candidates have recently made on the campaign trail. Mrs. Fiorina, I want to start with you. Fellow Republican candidate, and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, has suggested that your party's frontrunner, Mr. Donald Trump, would be dangerous as President. He said he wouldn't want, quote, "such a hot head with his finger on the nuclear codes." You, as well, have raised concerns about Mr. Trump's temperament. You've dismissed him as an entertainer. Would you feel comfortable with Donald trump's finger on the nuclear codes? +p963 +aVYou didn't answer my question. Would you feel comfortable with Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear codes? It's an issue that one of your fellow candidates has raised. +p964 +aVMr. Trump? +p965 +aVMr. \u2014 Senator Paul, your name has been invoked. +p966 +aVMr. Trump? +p967 +aVI want to \u2014 I want to give Mr. Trump... +p968 +aV... Mr. Trump, I want to give you another chance \u2014 Mr. Trump, I want to give you a chance to respond to something that your rival to your left, Governor Bush, said. Governor Bush told me last week when I read him the quote from Governor Jindal that he agrees you're not a serious candidate. Tell Governor Bush why you are a serious candidate and what your qualifications are to be commander-in-chief. +p969 +aVGovernor Bush, would you feel comfortable with Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear codes? +p970 +aVGovernor Walker? +p971 +aVLet's move on. +p972 +aVA phenomenon going on in the race right now is the political... OK, Governor Kasich, go ahead. +p973 +aVWe have a lot of issues coming up, sir. +p974 +aVWe are getting to the issues, sir. Phenomenon going on in the race is the political outsiders in the race, Dr. Carson, Donald Trump, Carly Fiorina, all together, have majority support in the polls. Governor Christie, I want to ask you about something that Dr. Carson said the other day. Dr. Carson said campaigning is easier for him, because he's not a politician. He can just tell the truth, therefore, while politicians, quote, "Have their finger in the air to see and do what is politically expedient." Governor Christie, tell Dr. Carson, is that a fair description of you? +p975 +aVWell, let's find out. Thank you. +p976 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. Dr. Carson, who were you thinking about on this stage when you said that? +p977 +aVAnd more broadly, is experience in government not important for a president to have? +p978 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p979 +aVThank you. +p980 +aVThank you. Thank you Ms. Fiorina. Governor Bush, in addition to the fact that he's an outsider, one of the reasons Mr. Trump is a frontrunner, Republican voters say, is because they like the fact that he is not bought and paid for by wealthy donors. Mr. Trump has repeatedly said that the $100 million you've raised for your campaign makes you a puppet for your donors. Are you? +p981 +aVIs there anything else you want to say about this? +p982 +aVGovernor \u2014 +p983 +aVSure Dr. Carson. +p984 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Let's move to Russia if we could. Russia is sending troops and tanks into Syria right now to prop up a U.S. enemy, Bashar al-Assad. President Obama's incoming top general says, quote, "Russia presents the greatest threat to our national security." Mr. Trump, you say you can do business with President Vladimir Putin, you say you will get along, quote, "very well." What would you do right now if you were president, to get the Russians out of Syria? +p985 +aVSo, you \u2014 just to clarify, the only answer I heard to the question I asked is that you would \u2014 you would reach out to Vladimir Putin, and you would do what? You would... +p986 +aVSenator Rubio, you've taken a very different approach to the \u2014 the question of Russia. You've called Vladimir Putin a, quote, "gangster." Why would President Rubio's approach be more effective than President Trump's? +p987 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. +p988 +aVI want to bring in Carly Fiorina. +p989 +aVMs. Fiorina, you have met... +p990 +aV...yeah, you've met Vladimir Putin. Yes. +p991 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p992 +aVThank you. +p993 +aVThank you. Thank you, Ms. Fiorina. While you're \u2014 while you brought up the subject of General Suleimani of the Quds forces from Iran, the next president, no matter who he or she may be, will inherit President Obama's Iran deal. Senator Cruz, Governor Kasich says that anyone who is promising to rip up the Iran deal on day one, as you have promised to do, is, quote, "inexperienced," and, quote, "playing to a crowd." Respond to Governor Kasich, please. +p994 +aVWhy is that not, as Governor Kasich says, playing to the crowd and an example of you being inexperienced? +p995 +aVGovernor Kasich... +p996 +aV...Did Senator Cruz just play to the crowd? +p997 +aV...Thank you, Governor. I want to go to Senator Paul. +p998 +aVI want to go to Senator Paul. Senator Paul, the White House is rolling out the red carpet next week for the President of China, President Xi. Governor Walker says that President Obama should cancel the state dinner because of China's currency manipulation, and because of China's alleged cyber attacks against the United States. Is Governor Walker right? +p999 +aVGovernor Walker, Senator Paul seemed to suggest... +p1000 +aV...that canceling the state dinner would be rash, and reckless. +p1001 +aV...Governor Bush... +p1002 +aVGovernor Bush, your father was the chief diplomatic envoy to China back when Nixon opened relations to China. Is Scott Walker's approach the right one, canceling the state dinner? +p1003 +aVI want to turn... +p1004 +aV...I want to turn to Governor Huckabee who has been very patient. Somebody had to be 11th, and he is, but, I do want to change the subject to the event that you had... +p1005 +aV... however you want, but I want to ask this question. +p1006 +aVAll right, sir, go ahead. +p1007 +aVOK. ( +p1008 +aVWe're going to turn now to Hugh Hewitt, from Salem Radio Network. +p1009 +aVThank you, Senator Paul. I want to turn now to my colleague Dana Bash. +p1010 +aVThat would be fair, you're right. You're the third senator. +p1011 +aVWe're going to go to Dana Bash... +p1012 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1013 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1014 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1015 +aVThank you, Senator. I want to... +p1016 +aV... turn back to Governor Huckabee... +p1017 +aVI want to turn back to Governor Huckabee. Governor Huckabee, last week, you held a rally for a county clerk in Kentucky who was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, as I don't need to tell you. You've called what happened to Kim Davis, that clerk, "an example of the criminalization of Christianity." There are several people on the stage who disagree with you. Governor Bush, for example, says that that clerk is sworn to uphold the law. Is Governor Bush on the wrong side of the criminalization of Christianity? +p1018 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1019 +aVWell, I'm not telling you that, Governor. But Governor Bush is, because he \u2014 because he disagrees. He thinks that Kim Davis swore to uphold the law. You disagree? You're not \u2014 you don't... +p1020 +aVOK. Please do. +p1021 +aVYou did... +p1022 +aVGovernor, you said, quote, "she is sworn to uphold the law." +p1023 +aVLet me go to my colleague Dana Bash, who has a question. +p1024 +aVDana, I want to continue on the subject. Governor Bush, you recently said while discussing Planned Parenthood, quote, you're "not sure we need a half billion for women's health issues." Now you've since said that you misspoke, you didn't mean to say "women's health issues." But Donald Trump said that quote, that comment, which Hillary Clinton did seize upon immediately, will haunt you the same way Mitt Romney's 47 percent video haunted him. Tell Donald Trump why he's wrong. +p1025 +aVThank you, Governor Bush. Donald Trump, let me just... +p1026 +aVThe quote was, "I'm not sure we need half a billion dollars for women's health issues." He said he misspoke. You said that that's going to haunt him. Why do you think that? +p1027 +aVGovernor Bush? +p1028 +aVI want to \u2014 we're going to get to \u2014 +p1029 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1030 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1031 +aVWe're going to \u2014 we're going to get to many of these issues. This \u2014 we're still in the first block, believe it or not. We're going to get to many of these issues, but before we end this block, Ms. Fiorina, I do want to ask you about this. In an interview last week in Rolling Stone magazine, Donald Trump said the following about you. Quote, "Look at that face. Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?" Mr. Trump later said he was talking about your persona, not your appearance. Please feel free to respond what you think about his persona. +p1032 +aVAll right. On that note, in less than two minutes \u2014 we're going to take a very quick break. In less than two minutes, the most contentious issue on the campaign trail. And the candidates on the stage are split over how to handle it. That's coming up next. Please give some applause to the candidates. +p1033 +aVWelcome to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate. No topic perhaps has been more combustible in this campaign than the issue of immigration. Mr. Trump, you have called for deporting every undocumented immigrant, Governor Christie has said, quote, "There are not enough law enforcement officers \u2014 local, county, state and federal combined \u2014 to forcibly deport 11 to 12 million people." Tell Governor Christie how much your plan will cost, and how you will get it done. +p1034 +aVGovernor Christie, you and I have talked about this in an interview. You say that his big wall, his plan to deport 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants, it sounds great, but it's never going to happen. Tell him why you're skeptical of his plans? +p1035 +aVThank you, Governor Christie... +p1036 +aVI want to bring in Dr. Carson because he too has been skeptical of your plan to immediately deport 11 to 12 million illegal immigrants. He said, quote, "People who say that have no idea what this entails." Why do you say that, Dr. Carson? +p1037 +aV...Dr. Carson... +p1038 +aVWith all due respect, you said about Donald Trump's plan to deport 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants, "People who say that have no idea what this entails." Why not? +p1039 +aV...let's continue the conversation about illegal immigration with Dana Bash. +p1040 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Senator Cruz \u2014 Senator Cruz, this week, we learned more about Dr. Carson's plan for the 11 million to 12 million undocumented immigrants in this country. Dr. Carson proposed giving these undocumented immigrants a six- month grace period to pay back taxes then to let them become guest workers and only to deport people who failed to do that. +p1041 +aVWell, how would you say it, sir? I was just reading the Wall Street Journal quote, but please tell us. +p1042 +aVOK, from the horse's mouth, Senator Cruz, does that fit your definition of amnesty? +p1043 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Rubio... +p1044 +aV... I'm not sure... +p1045 +aVWe'll come back to you \u2014 we'll come back to you in one second, sir. But Senator Rubio, I'm not sure exactly whose plan he's \u2014 he's saying is \u2014 constitutes amnesty, but I know he has said it about your plan in the past, so I want to give you a chance to respond, then, Dr. Carson, we'll come to you. +p1046 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1047 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator \u2014 Dr. Carson... ... I want to give you 30 seconds. I'd like you to answer the question. Senator Cruz describes plans such as yours as amnesty. Why is your plan not amnesty? +p1048 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. I want to talk about the issue of birthright citizenship, which \u2014 which has emerged since the first debate as \u2014 as an a \u2014 a major issue in this campaign. Mr. Trump, you say that babies born in the United States to undocumented immigrants should not any longer get automatic American citizenship. Ms. Fiorina says that you are pandering on this issue and acting like the politicians that you rail against. What's your message to Ms. Fiorina on birthright citizenship? +p1049 +aVMs. Fiorina, the vast majority of countries do not have birthright citizenship... ...Donald Trump is right about that. Why is it pandering when he's \u2014 he says this? +p1050 +aVMs. Fiorina... +p1051 +aVPlease. +p1052 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p1053 +aVThank you. +p1054 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Mr. Trump, I want to give you the chance to respond... +p1055 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. Senator Paul... +p1056 +aVSenator Paul, I want to bring you in. Where \u2014 where do you stand on the issue of birthright citizenship? +p1057 +aVAll right. Senator Paul, thank you so much. Let's turn to a new topic. We've received a lot of questions on social media about the economy and about jobs. We have two CEOs on stage right now. Ms. Fiorina, you were CEO of Hewlett Packard. Donald Trump says you, quote, "ran HP into the ground," you laid off tens of thousands of people, you got viciously fired. For voters looking to somebody with private-sector experience to create American jobs, why should they pick you and not Donald Trump? +p1058 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p1059 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p1060 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 Mr. Trump, why would you be better at creating jobs than Carly Fiorina? +p1061 +aVMs. Fiorina, I want to give you a chance to respond. +p1062 +aVMr. Trump. +p1063 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. +p1064 +aVGovernor Christie's name has been invoked. I'd like to give him a 30 second opportunity. +p1065 +aVMs. Fiorina, I want to give you +p1066 +aVGovernor Kasich, I'm coming to you next, but Ms. Fiorina's name was mentioned, and I have to give her the opportunity to respond if she wants it. +p1067 +aVThank you. +p1068 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Kasich, I want to come \u2014 I'm coming to you. I'm coming to you. Let me ask the question. You can use the time however you want. +p1069 +aVDonald Trump says that the hedge fund guys are getting away with murder by paying a lower tax rate. He wants to raise the taxes of hedge fund managers, as does Governor Bush. Do you agree? +p1070 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1071 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. +p1072 +aVGovernor Huckabee, I want to bring you in on the question of hedge fund managers and taxing them. You have said that you are bothered by the fact that hedge fund managers pay such a low tax rate and make 2,500 times what people who work for them make. Do you agree with what Donald Trump and Governor Bush have proposed, raising their tax rates? +p1073 +aVThank you, Governor. Dr. Carson, you support scrapping the entire tax code and replacing it with a flat tax based on the principal on tithing from the Bible. If you make $10 billion, you pay $1 billion in taxes, if you make $10, you pay $1 in taxes. Donald Trump believes in progressive taxation. He says it's not right that rich people pay the same as the poor. Tell Donald Trump why his ideas on taxes are wrong. +p1074 +aVMr. Trump... +p1075 +aV...What do you think of the flat tax? Do you think it's fair? +p1076 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. Senator Paul? +p1077 +aVGovernor Walker, I want to go to you. Dr. Carson wants to raise the Federal Minimum Wage, you have called it a lame idea. Why is raising the Federal Minimum Wage lame? +p1078 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1079 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1080 +aVDr. Carson, Governor Walker didn't really answer the question, but I'll let you respond. He called raising the Federal Minimum Wage lame, what do you think of that? +p1081 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson... +p1082 +aVLet me bring in our partner from Salem Radio Network, Hugh Hewitt. +p1083 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate. Let's turn to some issues now in foreign policy. Mr. Trump, Senator Rubio said it was, quote, "very concerning to him" that in a recent interview you didn't seem to know the details about some of the enemies the U.S. faces. Rubio said, if you don't know the answers to those questions, you will not be able to serve as commander-in-chief. Please respond to Senator Rubio. +p1084 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1085 +aVMr. Trump? Senator Rubio seemed to be suggesting that you don't know information that... +p1086 +aVAll right. Senator Rubio. +p1087 +aVBut are you saying that you have the knowledge to be the president that Mr. Trump does not have? +p1088 +aVMr. Trump? +p1089 +aVSenator Rubio, he did invoke your absentee record in the Senate. +p1090 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. I want to turn now to Hugh Hewitt. +p1091 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1092 +aVSenator... +p1093 +aVSenator Paul? +p1094 +aVSenator Paul... +p1095 +aVThank you, Senator Paul... +p1096 +aVThank you, Senator Paul... +p1097 +aVI understand that Governor Bush's name has been invoked, and then we can go to you, Senator Rubio. +p1098 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1099 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Rubio? +p1100 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1101 +aVDr. Carson? +p1102 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1103 +aVI mean, it is interesting that you say that, because I want to ask Governor Christie about something else that you have said. Governor Christie, we just marked the 14th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Now Dr. Carson has said that if he had been president at the time, the United States would not have gone to war in Afghanistan. What does that say to you about how Dr. Carson would respond as president if America were attacked again? +p1104 +aVDr. Carson? +p1105 +aV... Governor Christie. +p1106 +aVDr. Carson? +p1107 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1108 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1109 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee. +p1110 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1111 +aVThank you, governor, I want to turn to +p1112 +aVGovernor Walker, there is a big debate now, we have been talking about +p1113 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Paul, I want to go to you, because you have said that the boots on the ground to fight +p1114 +aVThank you, Senator. We're going to turn to some domestic issues now. I want to bring in my colleague, Dana Bash. +p1115 +aVSure.... +p1116 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1117 +aV...Thank you, Governor. Dana Bash... +p1118 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina... +p1119 +aV...Thank you, we're going to turn now to domestic issues with Dana Bash. +p1120 +aV...Dana Bash... +p1121 +aVThank you. Dana Bash? +p1122 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1123 +aV...Governor Bush... +p1124 +aV...I want to let you respond. +p1125 +aVThank you, Governor... ...And, that's what we should do, and I hope I'll be working members of the United States Senate to fight hard for the passage of people that have that kind of qualification. +p1126 +aVSenator Cruz, 30 seconds. +p1127 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1128 +aVThank you, Semator. +p1129 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee, I want to bring you in very quickly if you could. Will you have a litmus test when it comes to appointing Supreme Court nominees? +p1130 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1131 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1132 +aVThank you, Governor. We're going to take a quick break. Coming up, one of the hottest questions that you have been asking us via social media. We will pose it to the candidates. That's coming up right after this. +p1133 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican presidential debate at the Reagan Library here in Simi Valley \u2014 Simi Valley, California. Many people on social media wanted us to ask about marijuana legalization. Senator Paul, Governor Christie recently said, quote, "if you're getting high in Colorado today," where marijuana has been legalized, "enjoy it until January 2017, because I will enforce the federal laws against marijuana." Will you? +p1134 +aVI want to give that \u2014 I want to give the person that you called a hypocrite an opportunity to respond. Do you want to identify that person? +p1135 +aVIs there somebody you were specifically thinking of? +p1136 +aVThat's what I though, but I wanted to say it. +p1137 +aVOK. +p1138 +aVGovernor Bush, please. +p1139 +aVI want to go right now \u2014 I want to go right now... +p1140 +aVThat's true. Go ahead, Christie, please. +p1141 +aVYou may respond, and then I'll bring in you, Ms. Fiorina. +p1142 +aVYes, Senator Paul. +p1143 +aVI want to bring in Ms. Fiorina \u2014 I want to bring in Ms. Fiorina on this issue. +p1144 +aVHugh \u2014 Hugh, I'd like to... +p1145 +aVI'd like to turn it over \u2014 I'd like to turn to Dana Bush. +p1146 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1147 +aVI'm coming to you right now on a separate issue, sir. We received... ( +p1148 +aVWe received a lot of questions from social media about climate change. Senator Rubio, Ronald Reagan's secretary of state, George Shultz, reminds us that when Reagan was president he faced a similar situation to the one that we're facing now. There were dire warnings from the mass consensus of the scientific community about the ozone layer shrinking. Shultz says Ronald Reagan urged skeptics in industry to come up with a plan. He said, do it as an insurance policy in case the scientists are right. The scientists were right. Reagan and his approach worked. Secretary Shultz asks, why not take out an insurance policy and approach climate change the Reagan way? +p1149 +aVI'm citing George Shultz. +p1150 +aVGovernor Christie, you have said that climate change is real, and that humans help contribute to it. Without getting into the issue of China versus the United States, which I understand you've talked about before, what do you make of skeptics of climate change such as Senator Rubio? +p1151 +aVJust for the record, I was citing Secretary of State George Shultz, Ronald Reagan's secretary of state who I don't think anybody would call him left-wing. +p1152 +aVI called you a skeptic. +p1153 +aVI want to go another question right now. +p1154 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1155 +aVI'm turning to... +p1156 +aV...I'm turning to another \u2014 I'm turning to another issue right now. Senator Cruz. Well, I think we've heard from several this evening. A backlash against vaccines was blamed for a measles outbreak here in California. Dr. Carson, Donald Trump has publicly and repeatedly linked vaccines, childhood vaccines, to autism, which, as you know, the medical community adamantly disputes. You're a pediatric neurosurgeon. Should Mr. Trump stop saying this? +p1157 +aVShould he stop saying it? Should he stop saying that vaccines cause autism? +p1158 +aVMr. Trump, as president, you would... +p1159 +aVI'm going right to you. +p1160 +aVMr. Trump, as president, you would be in charge of the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health, both of which say you are wrong. How would you handle this as president? +p1161 +aVThank you. +p1162 +aVDr. \u2014 Dr. Carson? +p1163 +aVDr. Carson, you just heard his medical take. +p1164 +aVDr. Paul? Dr. Paul, I'd like to bring you in. +p1165 +aVAlright, thank you so much... +p1166 +aVComing up \u2014 I'm sorry, Governor Huckabee, please. +p1167 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1168 +aVWe have to take another quick break. Coming up, Ronald Reagan looming large over this debate. So how Reaganesque exactly are these Republicans? We will find out next. +p1169 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California. We have a few last questions for you. Two of them a little lighthearted, the other one more serious. We'll start with one of the more light questions. Senator Paul, I'm going to start with you and we're just going to go down the line. Earlier this year, the Treasury Department announced that a woman will appear on the $10 bill. What woman would you like to see on the $10 bill? +p1170 +aVGovernor Huckabee? +p1171 +aVSenator Paul (sic). +p1172 +aVI'm sorry. Senator Rubio? +p1173 +aVJust the senators. +p1174 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1175 +aVDr. Carson? +p1176 +aVMr. Trump. +p1177 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1178 +aVGovernor Walker. +p1179 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p1180 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1181 +aVGovernor Christie. +p1182 +aVAlright. Some good entries if anybody at the mint was listening. Here's the next lighthearted question, you all know that the United States Secret Service uses codenames for the president, and his family. Ronald Reagan's codename, for example, was, "Rawhide", an homage to his performances in Westerns. Nancy Reagan's was, "Rainbow". You don't have to come up the one for your spouse, but, what would you want, Governor Christie, I'll start with you, your Secret Service codename to be. +p1183 +aVGovernor Walker? +p1184 +aVMr. Trump? +p1185 +aVDr. Carson? +p1186 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1187 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1188 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p1189 +aVSenator Paul. +p1190 +aVThat's a mouthful, but OK. OK, here's the more serious question, Ronald Reagan, the 40th President, used the plane behind you to accomplish a great many things. Perhaps, most notably, to challenge Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the wall, and ultimately, to make peace with the +p1191 +aVThat concludes this Republican presidential debate. On behalf of everyone here at CNN, we want to thank the candidates, the Reagan Library, and the Republican National Committee. Thank you, also, to Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash. The next presidential debate will also be right here on CNN, among the Democratic candidates, who will face off for the first time on October the 13th. That debate, a partnership with Facebook, will be moderated by my colleague, Anderson Cooper. And Anderson picks up our coverage of tonight's debate right now. Before I throw to Anderson, let's have one final round of applause for the candidates. +p1192 +aVWe're live at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California for one of the most highly anticipated primary season debates ever. On this stage 15 candidates in two rounds of questioning with one goal, to show they have what it takes to be the Republican Presidential Nominee. Welcome to our viewers, I'm Jake Tapper. Tonight's debate is airing on CNN networks around the world, and, of course, here in the United States. It's also being broadcast across the country on the Salmen Radio Network. We want to thank our host, former First Lady Nancy Reagan, and the Reagan Library for this very impressive setting, the Air Force One pavilion. Behind me, you can see the actual plane... ...That Ronald Reagan flew in when he was president. Now, because the GOP field is so large, we have divided the candidates into two groups based on their rankings in recent national polls. Later this evening we will hear from the top 11 contenders. The other four candidates are taking part in the first round, and they are ready to join us now. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindal. The former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania, Rick Santorum. and former New York Governor, George Pataki. Ladies and gentleman, please welcome these Republican candidates for President of the United States. And, now, if you would, please rise for our national anthem performed by actress and singer, Natalie Hill. I'd like to ask the candidates to please take their podiums while I tell you a little more about how tonight debate will work. I'm Jake Tapper. I'll be the moderator. Joining me in the questioning, Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt; he worked in the Reagan administration for six years and CNN's chief political correspondent, Dana Bash. I will follow up and guide the discussion; candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have one minute to answer questions and 30 seconds for followups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you have been singled out for criticism. We have timing lights that are visible to the candidates. Those lights will warn them when their time is up. Our goal tonight is to have a true debate, candidates actually addressing each other in areas where they disagree, where they differ on policy, on politics and on leadership. Now that everyone is in place, it's time for the candidates to introduce themselves to our audience. Please keep it brief. Governor Pataki, you're first. +p1193 +aVThank you candidates. We're going to talk a lot about policy and your proposals this evening. But first, Governor Jindal, I want to start with you. You have said that the front runner, Donald Trump, is a, quote, "unstable, narcissistic, ego maniac." Now, we are in the house of Reagan, who made famous the so-called 11th Commandment, "Thou shalt not speak ill of thy fellow Republican." What drove you to violate that unofficial commandment? +p1194 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1195 +aVSenator Santorum, do you think Governor Jindal is wrong for attacking your party's front runner? +p1196 +aVThank you. Governor Jindal, do you want to respond to that? +p1197 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1198 +aVSenator Santorum, just to assure you, we will get to those issues. But just a couple more on this general subject. Senator Graham, you have called Donald Trump a, quote, "wrecking ball for the Republican party." Voters in your home state of South Carolina, in a recent poll, prefer Donald Trump 30 percent to your 4 percent. How do you explain why so many of your constituents would rather have Donald Trump as the Republican nominee than you? +p1199 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. We're going to bring in Hugh Hewitt now, who has a question for Governor Pataki. +p1200 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1201 +aVSenator Graham? One of the -- the reasons why Donald Trump, Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina are doing well is because they are political outsiders. In fact, that's one of the things -- in fact, there are two things that they have in common. They've never been elected to office before and they're doing better than all of you in the polls. The four of you have a combined seven decades in elected office. Senator Graham, in this election season, do Republican voters see your service in government as a liability and not an asset? +p1202 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1203 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1204 +aVThank you, Senator. Let's turn to the topic of immigration. For that, I want to bring in my colleague, Dana Bash. +p1205 +aVThank you, Governor. I -- I want to change the subject. We're staying on immigration, and I'm bringing you in, Governor Pataki... +p1206 +aV... and Senator Graham, I'm coming to you as well. +p1207 +aVGovernor Pataki, Republicans right now are -- are debating birthright citizenship, the policy of granting U.S. citizenship to every baby born in this country, even if they born to undocumented immigrants. Senator Graham wants to end the policy of birthright citizenship. Governor Pataki, you support keeping it. Tell him why he's wrong. +p1208 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1209 +aVGovernor... +p1210 +aVWhat I -- what I asked about was about birthright citizenship and why you think that we should preserve birthright... +p1211 +aVSenator Graham, most countries in the world do not have birthright citizenship. +p1212 +aVWhy do you think Governor Pataki is wrong? +p1213 +aVWas that a... +p1214 +aV...Thank you Senator... +p1215 +aV...Thank you Senator... +p1216 +aV...We'll come back to you Senator Santorum, I promise... +p1217 +aV...alright... +p1218 +aVThank you, Senator... +p1219 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Pataki, I want to let you have the final word here. +p1220 +aVGovernor Pataki? +p1221 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1222 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Graham, your response when it comes to Syrian refugees? +p1223 +aVThank you, Senator. I want to turn now -- +p1224 +aVWe're going to keep talking about the situation in the Middle East. Let me bring in my colleague, Dana Bash, again. +p1225 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1226 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1227 +aVThank you, thank you, Governor. +p1228 +aVGovernor Pataki -- +p1229 +aVThank you, Governor. Sorry. We have rules and timing. Governor Jindal, I do want to bring you in. I want to turn to a story in news in the story today. A 14-year-old Muslim high school student in Texas was arrested on Monday for bringing a homemade clock to school after it was mistaken for a fake bomb. Police released the young man after they determined it was, in fact, a clock. Today, President Obama invited that student to the White House. Governor Jindal, throughout your campaign, you've spoken many times about Muslim extremists in this country. How would you, as president, strike a balance between vigilance and discrimination? +p1230 +aVGovernor Jindal, I'm afraid you didn't answer the question. How do you strike the balance between vigilance and discrimination? Obviously, we know how you feel about the vigilance part of this. Do you ever see the discrimination part of it? +p1231 +aVThank you, Governor. We will get to that subject later in the debate. Senator Graham? +p1232 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1233 +aVGovernor Pataki? +p1234 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1235 +aVWe'll get to that subject in the next block. We're going to take a very quick break. When we come back, both Jeb Bush and Donald Trump agree on one thing when it comes to taxes. We'll see if any of the candidates on stage agree as well. +p1236 +aVThat's next. Stay with us. +p1237 +aVWelcome back to the CNN Republican Debate at the beautiful Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California. Before we took the break, you were all chomping at the bit to talk about Kim Davis, that Kentucky clerk. Governor Pataki said he would have fired Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk jailed for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses. Senator Santorum, do you agree with Governor Pataki? +p1238 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Pataki, your response? +p1239 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum? +p1240 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1241 +aVWe're coming to both of you. +p1242 +aVWhat... +p1243 +aVGovernor Jindal... +p1244 +aVSenator Graham, do you want to weigh in? +p1245 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1246 +aVSenator... +p1247 +aVThank you, Senator. I want to stay with the subject of Supreme Court judges -- justices. Governor Jindal, both Senators graham and Santorum voted to confirm chief justice of the United States, John Roberts, who has led with the majority twice to uphold ObamaCare. Do you think that Graham's and Santorum's votes to confirm John Roberts were a mistake? +p1248 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Graham, I want to give you an opportunity to respond -- -- I would note that Anthony Kennedy, was, of course, a Ronald Reagan appointee. Senator Graham, do you stand by your vote for John Roberts? +p1249 +aVSenator Santorum, do you stand by your vote for John Roberts? +p1250 +aVGovernor Jindal, I'm going to give you 30 seconds to respond. +p1251 +aVLet me bring back Hugh Hewitt. +p1252 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1253 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1254 +aV...I want to turn -- you're going to be involved in the next question... +p1255 +aV...Senator Graham... +p1256 +aV...Thank you, Senator... +p1257 +aV...Thank you Senator. Senator Graham, I want to turn to the minimum... +p1258 +aV...Well, let's talk about South Carolina... +p1259 +aV...Senator, let's turn to the minimum wage. Senator Santorum is the only person on the stage who has proposed increasing the federal minimum wage. How would that affect South Carolinians? Do you agree with Senator Santorum that the federal minimum wage should be increased? +p1260 +aVSenator Graham, thank you so much. Senator Santorum... Senator Graham is suggesting that your proposal would not allot South Carolinians to hire more workers. +p1261 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1262 +aVThank you, Senator. We have to take a quick break. When we come back, confrontation or negotiation? How will these candidates attempt to handle Russian President Vladimir Putin? That's next. +p1263 +aVAnd we're back at the CNN Republican Debate at the Reagan Library in beautiful Simi Valley, California. Let's turn now to some issues of foreign policy. Senator Graham, you all oppose the U.S. nuclear deal with Iran. Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton, a Republican, is pushing for a U.S. military strike against Iran, against its nuclear facilities. Senator Graham, would you authorize, as president, a nuclear strike against -- I mean, sorry -- a strike against Iran's nuclear facilities? +p1264 +aVGovernor -- -- Hugh -- I'm going to go to Hugh Hewitt for a question for Governor Pataki. +p1265 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1266 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Graham -- +p1267 +aVWe're bringing you in on this question as well. Senator Graham, Vladimir Putin in recent days has sent an estimated six more tanks, four helicopters and Russian ground troops into Syria to help support President Assad, an enemy of the United States. The Russian military is also buzzing American planes and Naval vessels around the world. Your front-runner, Donald Trump, says he can do details with President Putin, that the two of them will get along, quote, "very well." Why would your confrontational approach work better than Mr. Trump's negotiation? +p1268 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1269 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1270 +aVGovernor Jindal, how would President Jindal... ... get the Russians out of Syria? +p1271 +aV... +p1272 +aVWell... +p1273 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1274 +aVThank you, Senator... +p1275 +aVThank you, Senator. The final question... +p1276 +aVThe final questions for these four Republicans as the top contenders get ready to take their places on the debate stage when we come back right after this. Welcome back to the CNN Republican debates at the Reagan Library in beautiful Simi Valley, California. We have time for one more question for the candidates. Governor Pataki, let's start with you. You have all spent the last hour and a half debating each other. The other 11 candidates are on their way to the stage. What is the one thing as a candidate that you offer that no one at the next debate can offer? +p1277 +aVThank you, senator. +p1278 +aVThank you. +p1279 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum? +p1280 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1281 +aVThank you. +p1282 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1283 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Governor Jindal, what is something that you offer as a candidate that the other 11 candidates coming on stage in a few minutes cannot offer? +p1284 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Graham? +p1285 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1286 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. Our thanks to the candidates for a great debate. In just a moment, we're bringing the candidates from both of tonight's debates together for a group photo. That will be a first in this campaign. And then, of course, the main event, the top 11 candidates going head to head. I will be back as moderator. Right now, let's go to my colleague, Anderson Cooper. +p1287 +asVSANTORUM +p1288 +(lp1289 +VYou know, listening to what your network was talking about prior to this race, this debate, reminded me of the coverage that many on this floor are getting. This race, this debate, was called the, "Undercard Debate". The undercard debate. It wasn't advertised significantly. In fact, the entire hour lead up to this there was no conversation about any of the four people on this debate stage, and that is the chronic situation. In fact, they listed -- they put a poll up from Wall Street Journal/NBC News, they listed the candidates, and they failed to mention I wasn't listed. I got zero, why? Because they -- NBC, Wall Street Journal poll never includes my name on the list. This is what the media has been doing over the past year, and trying to segregate, and take Iowans out of the process. What Iowans deserve... ... is to hear from every candidate on equal footing. Had they applied the same rules four years ago, I would have been in the undercard debate. The guy who won the Iowa Caucuses would have been in the undercard debate, not talked about. We would have been talking about, maybe, an entertainer that may have been trying to run. Ladies and gentlemen, you have a chance on Monday to put the record straight about who you want, not who will entertain you. +p1290 +aVBut, who will fight for what you believe in, and I hope you do... +p1291 +aVWell, look. The entire lead up to this debate was talking about whether Donald Trump is going to show up for the next debate. The people of Iowa, who I know pretty darn well, care a lot about the issues. They care about who is going to be the leader of the free world. Who is going to be able to take on +p1292 +aVAnd we are not hearing any of those things. We are hearing about whether someone is going to show up for the next debate or not. +p1293 +aVYes, I am. +p1294 +aVYou know, this, again, more of the politics of trying to get people to throw stuff at each other. I'm not going to throw mud at anybody on this stage tonight. I'm not going to throw mud at anybody on the stage later. I'm not going to attack Donald Trump. What I'm -- Mike Huckabee and I were asked to come to an event where money was going to be raise to do help our veterans. You know, I thought about it. And I thought about. I said well, wait a minute, now, if there were no political considerations and I had some time because I'm not doing anything at 9:00 tonight. And so if I had some time, would I go... ... if I could help raise money for veterans? And the answer was yes, I would. And so I'm going. +p1295 +aVThank you for the question, Martha. We have to have an honest discussion with the American people about the nature of the threat that we confront. This president says that +p1296 +aVWhat I would say is that we have to create jobs that give people wages and benefits that can help them provide for themselves and their families. And that's why I announced from a factory floor in western Pennsylvania, I pledge to make America the number one manufacturing nation, again, in the world. And we can do it. China is starting to reorient itself away from a manufacturing economy that's dumping products on the -- overseas to providing more services to their people. This is an opportunity for America. It's an opportunity for us to get those jobs back. And by the way, do you want to solve global climate change? Take 2 million jobs from China in manufacturing and moving them back here to the United States, where we produce one-fifth the CO2 when we make things. We can help -- we can do every -- we can do it all. We can take care of the environment. We can create more jobs here. Seventy-four percent of Americans don't have a college degree. And unfortunately most folks who, in the Republican Party, don't talk about what we're going to do to create jobs for people who feel like neither political party cares about them. When you elect me, we'll create opportunities for working men and women in this country -- all over this country. +p1297 +aVWell, in fact, the plan that I put forward is scored by the Tax Foundation as bringing three and a half million jobs into this country, and we have provisions in the flat tax for the corporate side that actually has a phase in of manufacturing. Manufacturers initially don't pay any income tax. Ten percent the next year, and 20. We're going to also have a repatriation provision which says that if you have money overseas, and you're Apple, and you got a couple hundred billion dollars there, bring it back. The most you'll be taxed 10%, invest it here in America. Create jobs here in America with all that money that's sitting overseas. We also -- it's not just taxes. It's regulation. I've pledged to cut every single Obamacare -- I mean, excuse me, Obama regulation, including Obamacare, and remove those regulations that cost more than a hundred million dollars in the economy. That will liberate -- and that includes waters of the U.S., and the ozone regulations, they -- the mercury regulations. All of these just crush our manufactures and don't create an opportunity for us to survive. And, remember, China produces five times as much CO2 and other pollutants per dollar of GDP as we do. You want to help the environment? Bring jobs back to America. +p1298 +aVWell, I've been to the March for Life for about 25 years and I thought -- I think that's a pretty good record. Spoken at it a few times and I have shepherded every single piece of pro-life piece of legislation that's passed over the last 20 years. I've either authored it or shepherded it through the United States Congress and I'm pretty proud of that record too. But we have an election going on and there was some snow coming. So I decided that maybe it would be better for me to get out and do some campaigning and not be stuck as my wife and kids were for a week, piling out of two and a half feet of snow. So, here's what I would say. If you want someone that is going to talk a good game, there are a lot of folks on this stage that have talked a good game on the issue of life. Not only have I talked a good game on life and I've done some things. But I've also lived it. You know, one of the things Saint Francis said was, you know, if you preach the gospel, then if you have to, speak. The bottom line is, that twice in my life, we were counseled to have an abortion, one with our son Gabriel and one with our little girl Bella. And neither time did Karen and I for a moment think about it because we know that life begins at conception. We know the dignity of every human life and we know the potential of every child, no matter how long that life lives. And that is a message that can come across to all Americans and without having to say a word and defend the institution of life and the dignity of life in this country. +p1299 +aVThe president of the United States has been the most divisive president in -- certainly in my lifetime. This is a man who constantly... He is not trustworthy. You can't sit down and negotiate with him. He won't keep a deal. We have heard that over and over again. And here is what he does that really, really creates the friction in Washington. He personally attacks people. He ascribes motives to them that aren't true and then he tears them down. How are you going to work with someone if you don't treat them decently, honestly, and respectfully? I was a tough fighter when I was in Washington. I had very sharp elbows. I fought. I went there and joined a game named Jim Nussle here from Iowa with the "gang of seven." And we, in four years' time, took a Congress that had been controlled by Democrats for 40 years, and brought in the first Republican majority because we fought and we fought tough. But you know what? I was able to then work with those same people that we fought with and able to pass welfare reform. Unborn Victims of Violence Act. Pro-life bills. Health savings accounts. A whole laundry list of things not because I was mean, but because I was able to be respectful in the disagreements. And that's what we need in Washington, someone who can be respectful and still unite this country. +p1300 +aVI just want to thank the people of Iowa. Over the last five years I've done 700 speeches and town hall meetings all throughout the state of Iowa, and it has been an incredible right. Thank you. I want to thank all the wonderful folks like Pastor Carey Gordon who gave me a smooth stone and said you go slay Goliaths. Someone like Jim and Janet Cook who over this past Christmas gave up Christmas presents for their kids, and they have more than I do, just they can help me and my campaign. That's the kind of people... ... in Iowa. And, here's what I'm asking you to do. You're good people. You know good leaders. Lead. Pick the right person, not what the polls say. Not who the money give people to. Pick the leader you know is best for this country. Thank you. +p1301 +aVWell, all he has to do is listen to the Democratic debate and find out how bad the economy is. All they do is complain about the hollowing out of the middle of America, and how America is struggling so badly, and have to make these radical changes in Washington. But they've been in control for the last seven years, and what have we seen? The most important jobs, I believe, in this country are the ones that fill the middle. For the 74% of Americans who don't have a college degree between the age of 25 and 65 are manufacturing jobs. Your governor, and your legislature, and your team here have done an amazing job of bringing manufacturing jobs back to South Carolina. Right here. Right here in Charleston, right down in the street in Boeing. You've done a great job, and what's happened? You've grown this economy, you've strengthened the center of your state, the middle. That's because you know that if you're really going to create wealth and opportunity, you got to get jobs, and good paying jobs for everybody. And, so what's happened? Two million jobs, manufacturing jobs, have left this country because of Barack Obama. Regulations, EPA, workplace regulations, things driving people off-shore all because of his number one priority, global climate change. Well, let me tell you this, Mr. President. For every dollar of GDP, China creates five times as much pollution as we do here. You want to \u2014 lower global climate change, bring those jobs back to America and let American workers do that job with less pollution. +p1302 +aVWell, the historic promises that we have made to \u2014 to Iran in this agreement need to be torn up on the first day in office of the next president. And let me tell you why, because Iran has already torn it up. Iran has not approved the agreement that President Obama has said that they have approved. They have approved a different agreement in their parliament. The fact of the matter is they have violated this agreement. Carly just mentioned some of those violations. They have launched ballistic missiles, tested them, in clear violation. And here's the pathetic part. The president announced that they were going to impose sanctions. And then President Rouhani went on Twitter and said there would be retaliation. And what did we do? We backed down. Ladies and gentlemen, there are 50 some Citadel cadets in this audience tonight. I would ask them to stand up if they will. And here's what I want to tell each and every one of them, as you stand. Here's what I want to tell them. Whether it's you're watching that movie this weekend that just came out when we abandoned our men and women in Benghazi, or whether it's we treat Iran, that gave courtesies to our sailors, as they made them record a hostage video, let me tell you this, if you choose to serve this country, I will have your back. I will not let America be trampled upon anymore by these radical jihadists. +p1303 +aVI would just say that if we were doing a better job within the government, we wouldn't need the private sector to do the things that we're asking them to do. I've had a little experience in this in the private sector myself. And what I found was a government with layers and layers of bureaucracy, of people who had some technical expertise but they had no authority, number one. And one of the things I found out about in the bureaucracy is if a lot of people have authority, nobody has authority, number one. And number two, that if you don't do anything, you don't get fired. It's only when you do something and something goes wrong, you get fired. So they do nothing. And that's what is happening in our Defense Department right now. We have a capability that they're trying to develop to play defense. We have a lot of technologists that are very skilled. And they're trying to figure out how to play defense. But what we don't have is we don't have folks who are thinking about offense. We don't have war-fighters. We have technologists. Technologists are not war-fighters. Technologists are thinking, how do I protect cyber-security, how do I secure, how do I protect? And we need to have a much more dynamic, how do we \u2014 how do we go after them? How do we respond? And we need leadership that's willing to make sure that when someone attacks us \u2014 and ladies and gentlemen, they're attacking us as we speak. They're attacking us all day every day, not just the government, but they're attacking private sector companies all day every day. They have to learn that we're going to pay \u2014 they're going to pay a price when they do so. And then right now, just like in every other aspect of our national security, people who attack us are not paying a price. We need a leader who will make sure that they know when they mess with America, they're going to pay a price. +p1304 +aVLook, Facebook and Twitter can teach us things. We can cooperate with them. We can share ideas and information. But this is a \u2014 and this is a very dicey area for the government to go in and require the industry to do its job. It needs to develop that capability. We need to be \u2014 have responsible dialogue, but I don't think requirements are the order of the day. +p1305 +aVWell, the most devastating attack that could occur is an electromagnetic pulse attack, and that would be an attack that would be triggered by a nuclear explosion in the upper atmosphere of our country. The best way to stop that from happening is to make sure that those who contemplating and actually war-gaming and talking about using it, Iran, doesn't get a nuclear weapon so they can't explode that device. And the president of the United States has put Iran on a path to a nuclear weapon. And we have done nothing to do anything to harden our grid. There is actually a bill in Congress that would put money forward to try to put redundancy and harden our electric grid so it could actually survive an EMP. An EMP is a devastating explosion that sends a pulse that knocks out all electric, everything, everything that is connected to any kind \u2014 that is wired, that has a circuit board gets fried out. Everything is gone. Cars stop. Planes fall out of the sky. This is a devastating attack. And this president has done nothing, number one, to take the most probable person to \u2014 probable country to launch an attack and stop them, and has done nothing to try to defend us, particularly our electric grid. The bottom line is, I put the original sanctions on the Iranian nuclear program when I was in the United States Senate. I've been fighting for 12 years with one thing in mind, that we must stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. And......because they're different than every other country. They do not want a nuclear weapon to defend themselves. They want a nuclear weapon to have theological ends to bring about their mahdi so they can control the world. And that is the most serious threat facing this country right now. +p1306 +aVWell, the numbers just don't add up. I mean, they have not added manufacturing jobs. Manufacturing jobs have been lost in this country, 2 million of them. The bottom line is that this president has done more to take jobs away from the hard-working people who are struggling the most. And that's folks who are, as I said, the 74 percent of Americans who don't have a college degree. And they're out there talking about, well, we're going to provide free college for everybody. Well, who is going to pay for it? The 74 percent that don't have a college degree. They're not \u2014 nobody is focused. Let's just be honest, nobody is focused on the people who are struggling the most in America today. We talk about immigration. Talk about the president's immigration plan. He wants to bring in more and more people into this country. Let people who are here illegally stay in this country. Almost all of the people who are here illegally, and most of the people who came here legally over the last 20 years, they're working in wage-earning jobs. That is why wages have flat-lined. And we have unfortunately two political parties with most of the candidates in this field for some form of amnesty, some form of allowing people to stay here even though they're here illegally and for increasing levels of legal immigration. I'm someone who believes that we need to be the party that stands for the American worker. And when we say we need to send people back, I mean we send people back. And let me just make one point. I was in Storm Lake, Iowa, the other day, near a Tyson's plant, 91 percent of the kids that go to the elementary school there are minority kids. And they said, well, what are you going to do with all of these people, their families, they've lived here for a long time? I said, I'm going to give them a gift. I'm going to give them a gift of being able to help the country they were born in. And I'm going to export America, the education they were able to see. They learned English language. They learned about capitalism. They learned about democracy. You want to stop flow of immigrants? Let's send six million Mexicans, Hondurans, Guatemalans, El Savadorians......back into their country, so they can start a renaissance in their country so they won't be coming over here anymore. +p1307 +aVYou know, we've had this debate about the economy, and we haven't talked the one issue now increasingly even the right, and even the are coming to agreement. I've run around doing 300 town hall meetings talking about a book written by a liberal Harvard sociologist, not a normal thing for me to be talking about, but I now name Robert Putnam who wrote a book called, "Our Kids". And, he wrote this book, I think, ostensibly to support the Democratic argument that the middle of America's hollowing out, and income gap is widening, and rich are getting richer. When he studied all the information as to what was going on, he realized that the biggest reason that we're seeing the hollowing out of the middle of America is the breakdown of the American family. The reality is that if you're a single parent \u2014 a child of a single parent, and you grew up in a single parent family neighborhood, you went to that single parent family school, the chance of you ever, ever reaching the top 20% of income earners is 3% in America. At least \u2014 I don't know about you, but that's not good enough. And, we have been too politically correct in this country because we don't want to offend anybody to fight for the lives of our children. You want \u2014 You want to be shocked? You read the first few chapters of Mr. \u2014 Dr. Putnam' book. He talks about Port Clinton, Ohio and growing up there in the 1950's, and how poor kids actually survived and did well, even though they were poor and disadvantaged. But, then he goes to the towns today and these kids are failing, and failing miserably. They don't even have a shot, and we won't even have the courage to have leadership at the federal level \u2014 not with legislation, but the most powerful tool a president have, the bully pulpit to encourage each and everyone of you, churches and businesses, and educators, and community leaders to let's have a national campaign to rebuild the American family, and give every child its birthright which is a Mom and a Dad who loves them. That will change this economy. +p1308 +aVLadies and gentlemen, America is frustrated and angry and looking for someone who's a fighter, but I also think they're looking for someone who's a winner. Somebody who can go out there and take on the establishment and make a difference. And take on someone who's going to be the person who's going to be between a Republican holding the presidency and that's Hillary Clinton. And there's one person on this stage, one person in the race who's done it and done it repeatedly. I've taken on Hillary Clinton on the issues you care about. Partial-birth abortion. Go and google Rick Santorum and Hillary Clinton and there you'll see a five-minute debate. I'll let you decide who won the debate. I'll tell you who won, because we passed the bill and I know I'm out of time but I'm going to take some of Rand Paul's time here for a second. If you're looking for someone who fought Hillary Clinton on Iran's sanctions, she was one of four who voted \u2014 who's deciding vote who voted against Iran's sanctions, so we didn't get it in place as earlier as we should have. I've fought battles against her. In 1994, I ran against the Clinton machine. James Carville and Paul Begala, ran the race against me when I took on the author of Hillary care. And each one of those battles, I won. You want a fighter, you want a winner, I'd appreciate your vote. Thank you. +p1309 +aVThank you, Wolf. It's great to be here in Las Vegas. And I just want to thank everybody for the opportunity to be here. This is an important time in our country's history. We have entered World War III. World War III has begun and we have a leader who refuses to identify it and be truthful to the American people to the stakes that are involved, in part, because his policies have led us here. His policy toward Iran lit the fuse of a nuclear Iran. Just a few weeks ago the International Atomic Agency reported that Iran has had a nuclear program, but they don't know if it's continuing because they refuse to share any information about the current status. And this President marches on, forgiving them hundreds of billions of dollars to allow them to not just reconstitute their robust nuclear program, pursue their missile program, but also to foment terror around the world. And then his policies in the Middle East with Iraq create +p1310 +aVOf course I do. But what Donald Trump was saying was nothing against Muslims. His comment was against this administration who doesn't have a policy to properly vet people coming into this country. Let's just be honest about what's \u2014 what's being talked about here. And I know people will pile on because it makes sense to pile on, maybe from the polls. But he brings up a legitimate issue. The fact of the matter is not all Muslims are Jihadists and no one, including I suspect, Donald Trump would say that. But the reality is, all Jihadists are Muslims. That's a reality. And we have \u2014 we have to stop worrying about offending some people and start defending all Americans. Because we're not right now. +p1311 +aVI would agree \u2014 I would agree that Donald Trump's proposal was not the right proposal. But he brings up a very important issue that I think we've been ignoring for far too long in this country. The reality is that, yes, we need to get reformist Muslims to join us. We need to get those who are being persecuted and killed within the Middle East to join us. But we also have to protect this country from those who want to harm us and we have to defeat those who are radicalized in the Middle East and wherever we find them around the world. +p1312 +aVJust because it couldn't have prevented San Bernardino doesn't mean that we shouldn't have all tools available to us that doesn't impinge upon people's privacy. This sort of data collection is not collecting people's phones calls, their voices; they're not collecting information that's personal. There's no names attached to these numbers. They're simply numbers and times and relationships that throughout algorithms that computer technology can be able to sort through relationship about what numbers are calling what numbers and be able to track those down to see if there's any leakage's between someone who's potentially a terrorist. That is to me just fundamental that we have to have this type of data to be able to not impinge upon people's privacy. In fact, I would make the argument that the more data we can collect that's anonymous that we can through, through using algorithms, the less we need to involve people in and imposing themselves in people's privacy. +p1313 +aVLook, I agree with Governor Huckabee, that we should in fact be looking at people's social media posts. That's just common sense. But we've defunded and tied the hands behind the backs of our intelligence agencies because of political correctness. We're not allowed to ask any questions or really pursue, whether there's any mosque that they're attending that could be spreading Jihadism, and we know that in this country there are Imams that are doing that. But we're not allowed to ask those questions, we're not allowed to pursue to those things because we have a president who denies the reality of the enemy we confront. +p1314 +aVI don't. I don't think we should be able to deny someone's constitutional rights based on a list kept by the government that nobody knows how they get on it, or how they get off of it. If you're going to make that list public, if you're going to put criteria out there as to how you're going to get on it, if you're going to deny someone's constitutional right, than I think there has to be more transparency. Let's just be honest, when someone applies for a gun, you do a background check. And, if you're on the terrorist watch list, guess what very well may happen? You may get denied that. That's a discretion of the people \u2014 of the ATF in making that kind of decision. I want to leave that discretion \u2014 as long as this list is not well known, as long as it's not transparent, we have to leave that discretion. I want to make a comment about what Mike said, and George said, about mus \u2014 Islam. The fact of the matter is, Islam is different. I know this is going to come as a shock to a lot of people, and I mean the sincerely. Islam is not just a religion. It is also a political governing structure. The fact of the matter is, Islam is a religion, but it is also Sharia law, it is also a civil government, it is also a form of government. And, so, the idea that that is protected under the First Amendment is wrong. And, in fact, that political structure is what is the big problem. The imposition of Sharia law adherence to fundamental Islam as it was practiced in the Seventh Century... +p1315 +aV...There has to be a line drawn. +p1316 +aVWell, there's all sorts of theological reasons why we may not want to go into Syria right now to take +p1317 +aVI would have no problem with Sy \u2014 with boots on the ground in Syria in a training capacity. I do not want American troops on the front line in Syria because I don't believe that that would serve to the interest. Again, understanding what +p1318 +aVNo look, I'm committed to whatever is necessary understanding the nature of the enemy. The enemy is a theocracy and their allure is their theocracy. It's their doctrine and so we have to understand that doctrine. That's why, I love the fact that people are angry and outraged in Washington and want someone new and fresh. But we need someone who understands and has knowledge and experience in these areas. And I can see that you know, Senator Graham has that experience and we have a little difference of opinion. But frankly, it's not that big of difference in our opinion, we both want to defeat +p1319 +aVAnd the fact that we have a nuclear treaty with the Shiites in Iran, that we have now partnered with the Russians and appearing to allow Assad to stay, which is a satellite Alawites, very interrelated to the Shiites, this looks to +p1320 +aVWell, I would establish a no-fly zone. And, I think we just... +p1321 +aVWell \u2014 the first thing you have to do is establish a no-fly zone, and you don't do that by just sort of declaring it. You work through the process of making sure you work with people who, hopefully, have the same objective that you do. And, if they don't, then you establish the no-fly zone, and you take the consequences of whatever \u2014 who violates that law. +p1322 +aV...I don't think it's a war with Russia anymore than Turkey went to war with Russia when Turkey shot down a plane... +p1323 +aVThese are \u2014 these are incidents not something that we're threatening the motherland. This is a tactical decision within an area that we have an obligation for the refugees, for providing stability to the rebels, and an opportunity for the rebels to reconstitute. And, making sure that we stop the flow of refugees into Europe, and into the United States to establish a no-fly zone. And, Russia either is going to comply with it or not, and if they don't, I think it can be contained to that region. +p1324 +aVWell, I would establish a no-fly zone. And, I think we just... +p1325 +aVWell \u2014 the first thing you have to do is establish a no-fly zone, and you don't do that by just sort of declaring it. You work through the process of making sure you work with people who, hopefully, have the same objective that you do. And, if they don't, then you establish the no-fly zone, and you take the consequences of whatever \u2014 who violates that law. +p1326 +aV...I don't think it's a war with Russia anymore than Turkey went to war with Russia when Turkey shot down a plane... +p1327 +aVThese are \u2014 these are incidents not something that we're threatening the motherland. This is a tactical decision within an area that we have an obligation for the refugees, for providing stability to the rebels, and an opportunity for the rebels to reconstitute. And, making sure that we stop the flow of refugees into Europe, and into the United States to establish a no-fly zone. And, Russia either is going to comply with it or not, and if they don't, I think it can be contained to that region. +p1328 +aVI would use the studies that were done that were ignored by this military that there were certain positions that frankly were not suitable. And they pushed a political agenda above what is in the best interest of the safety, security, and effective of our, of our fighting units. So I would go back to using what we should be doing. Which is putting forth people on those front line positions who are best prepared to do the job, survive the job, and come back home safely. +p1329 +aVI would change the policy to reflect what is the best interest of the people that we're asking. I've got a son who's going, who's going into the Air Force right now, and I, as a father, I want to make sure that, if he's out there on the front line \u2014 and he may be a pilot flying an airplane \u2014 I want to make sure that the person who's responsible for, for his wing has the ability to do the job they're doing. And if they don't have that ability to do the job, if we're doing a social promotion as opposed to what's best for the efficacy of our fighting force and for the survivability of our men and women, I'll change that policy. +p1330 +aVSo what you just said is you agree with me. Because that's exactly what I said. +p1331 +aVI said if you can't do the job, you shouldn't be able to...you shouldn't have the position. +p1332 +aVNo, I did not say that, George. I mean, you may, you may have heard that, but I didn't say that. What I said was, if they can in fact do the job that any, any other person can do, I will allow them to do so. +p1333 +aVBut if they cannot, I would reverse the policy. And what happened here is there were many studies done, particularly in the Marine Corps, which begged this President not to move forward with this because people are going to get killed as a result of it. The President went forward anyway. +p1334 +aVOf course there is a proper way to vet refugees coming into the United States. But not from the +p1335 +aVLindsay says this is a real war, until it comes to immigration. And, then, all of a sudden it's not such a real war. The reality is that we've seen since the events of 9/11, the president talks about how he's worried about discrimination and acts against Muslims. There's four times as many acts of violence against Jews than there are against Muslims. I never hear the president talk about that. The reality is that under this president, since 9/11, this anti-Muslim United States of America has doubled the rate of Muslim immigration. Since 9/11. That's what we've done. So, the idea that we have an immigration system that is working... +p1336 +aVIs not \u2014 and, I'm out of time. +p1337 +aVHere's the problem. I was with, in fact, one my guests here today is the Sheriff in Cochise County, down on the border in Arizona. And, he talked with me last night when I was with him about all of the children coming across. All of the children, why? Because we've created a magnet. These children are not coming over, and in great shape, not coming over \u2014 and not in harms way, and \u2014 going through difficult times. We're attracting people. He's also the Sheriff that caught Syrian's at the border. We have through the policies supported by almost everybody in this field......A policy that says amnesty. The world hears this, and knows that if they can come across this border, by and large, they're going to be able to stay. That has to change. +p1338 +aVBarack Obama has not kept this country safe. Hillary Clinton will not keep this country safe. We need to nominate someone who America knows will keep this country safe. Ten years ago I put the sanctions on Iran's nuclear program. Before that, I gave speech after speech, including to President Bush, to identify the enemy and call these radical Islamists who they are. Ladies and gentlemen, this week +p1339 +aVThe middle of America is hollowing out. All you have to do is listen to the last Democratic debate and you would think there was a Republican president in office the way they complained about how bad things are in America and how the middle \u2014 the middle of America is hollowing out. I agree with Mike Huckabee. I spent this morning in Chicago at Fabtech, which is a sheet manufac \u2014 a sheet metal fabricators conference. Thousands of people there explained the latest and newest technologies. You know what I was told? I was told when I went to booth after booth that there are 250,000 welder jobs open in America \u2014 250,000 welder jobs paying anywhere from $50,000 to $70,000 a year, and if you want to weld pipe on a, you know, for oil and gas pipelines, you can make $100,000 a year. Every manufacturer \u2014 I go to one every single week. In fact, I have with me in the \u2014 in the crowd here today a gentleman who is a supporter of mine from Rockwall, Texas, Ed Grand-Lienard. He runs Special Products. And he tells me he has jobs open in every skill that he \u2014 he \u2014 he could possibly hire for in Rockwall, Texas, but he can't find people. So the issue is, yes, we need a tax code. I \u2014 I propose a 20 percent flat tax \u2014 20 percent on corporations, 20 percent on \u2014 on individuals, full expensing, which will be powerful for manufacturing, a 0 percent rate, initially, for manufacturers. We're going to have a very powerful tax code. We're going to do something about regulation. We're going to suspected every single ObamaCare regu \u2014 Obama regulation that cost over $100,000 to the economy. But we have to start doing something about training and employing people who are sitting on the sidelines because they don't see a path. And we have a \u2014 a bureaucracy in Washington and a president in Washington \u2014 and even among Republicans who think everybody has to go to college. People need to go to work and we need to provide......opportunities for them to go to work out of high school. +p1340 +aVWell, the answer is first that we need to do something about a tax code that doesn't penalize. One thing that I'm excited about our tax code, proposed changes, is it's very pro-family. You have a $2,700 tax credit, period, for every person in that family, so that family, you know, would have about an $8,000 tax credit, which would be refundable. So every dollar she works, she's still only losing 20 cents. The problem with the tax code today, because of all the different provisions, you're right, you go back to work, you lose welfare benefits, you're losing money. Throw on top of that the \u2014 even a bigger problem, over 50 percent of children being raised in a home today of a single mom are raised in a home where the father is born \u2014 father is (sic) living at the child \u2014 the time the child is born. Now what does that mean? That means we have incentivized people not to marry. We've incentivized people to cohabitate instead of not marry, why? Because mom will lose welfare benefits if she marries father. It's not just mom going back to work, but it's mother and father marrying to form a more stable family for that child to be raised in a two-parent family. So we've got all sorts of really corrupt incentives that were put in place, well meaning by the left. But we need to remove those. We need to remove those incentives. We need to adopt a tax code that says we're going to be pro-family and pro-work. And that's what we'll do. +p1341 +aVAbsolutely. I'm a capitalist, not a corporatist. I'm not someone who believes we should be bailing out corporations whether their auto industries, or banks. And, it is simply a matter that there's auto industry \u2014 the auto industry would have survived, it would have survived through a bankruptcy process of \u2014 instead of Washington picking a winner and a loser. And, in this case, the losers are the bondholders, and the winners were the unions. That's fine. They did it, the unions \u2014 the unions survived. We \u2014 we have not survived in continuing to grow manufacturing jobs. We have a \u2014 we have a president, and an economy right now, that is killing \u2014 choking our ability to be able to compete. I'm one of the few people up here who actually believes that we need a level playing field when it comes to manufacturing. That means a good tax code, a good regulatory environment, low energy prices, better opportunities for workers to get training, and, also, I'm \u2014 a supporter of the +p1342 +aV...Let me settle this argument... +p1343 +aV...Well... +p1344 +aVI'll answer that in a second, but, I want to answer this other problem because this is a real legitimate debate between Chris and Bobby, and if somebody says we need someone who can win in a blue state, and Bobby says we need a real principled conservative. Ninety-two percent conservative voting record, unlike some of the other senators that Bobby mentioned who hasn't done anything to cut federal spending, I was actually the author of welfare reform, which is the only time we've ever seen a federal entitlement actually cut. We cut it. Senate did exactly what every conservative says they want to do. We took the program, we eliminated the federal entitlement, we blocked (ph) to the state, we capped the amount of money, cut it by about 10%, and then put two requirements, work, and time limits. We need to do that with the rest of the \u2014 means (ph) tested federal entitlements. I've done it. And I did it with a bipartisan support in the House and Senate, and after fighting two presidential vetoes by Bill Clinton. So I had a democratic president we had to get this through. No record of accomplishment. I agree with the folks who are from the Congress in this race. I have a record of accomplishment of being a conservative on everything. National security, on moral and cultural issues, on the economy, and twice won a blue state. The first time I beat the author of Hillarycare. I had Bill and Hillary in my state, James Carville managed the race against me, a state with a million more Democrats than Republicans. And I ran on health savings accounts, on private sector health care, as a conservative, pro-life, pro-family, and I won. And then in 2000, I was the only senator to win a state as a conservative that George Bush lost. You want someone who can win Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, with a conservative message, I'm your guy. +p1345 +aVI'll be happy to answer that if you give me more time. +p1346 +aVI'm going to answer two questions for the price of one. The infrastructure question, the answer is... We need to get the federal government out of this infrastructure business, other than vital economic highways. It has been said that if we cut the gas tax to 3 to 5 cents and send the rest back to the states, and just take care of the federal infrastructure that's vital for our economy, let the \u2014 we don't need the federal government and the road business that it is today. Number one. Number two, you know who I respect in the Democratic Party? You know why I respect them? Because they fight! Because they're not willing to back down, and they're willing to stand up and fight and win. And so I respect them because they are willing to take it to us. +p1347 +aVWell, I'll tell you, I have a 20 percent flat tax. That's one all income \u2014 so capital gains, corporations, individuals, 20 percent. I think that's a fair number, one out of five, to be able to \u2014 to help support the federal government. By the way it also approximates, if you take out some of the deductions, it approximates how much the federal government is, on average, spent of GDP, which is about 18 to 19 percent of GDP. So it actually fits with shrinking the size of government down to more like post-World War II levels. So the second thing we do is I don't allow for deductibility of state and local taxes, which will require state and local taxes to go down in order to be treated for their \u2014 for their people to be treated fairly. So the answer is, 20 percent and probably 33 percent overall. +p1348 +aVWell, I don't \u2014 I agree with Governor Christie, I don't think you can make it any more political than it's been. They \u2014 they are protecting a president that is over-taxing and over- regulating, shutting down this economy. And he \u2014 and they're keeping it up like Atlas, trying to hold up the Earth by \u2014 by these ridiculously low interest rates. And it's hurting American seniors, who are seeing no Social Security increases, seeing no \u2014 no savings. They're \u2014 they're putting their money aside. They're getting nothing in their deposit accounts. This is hurting the people who have acted responsibly, all in favor of those who, um, you know, are \u2014 are speculators and \u2014 and those on Wall Street. It's not a good deal for \u2014 for the vast majority of responsible Americans. The other thing we have with the Fed is they've been given way too much authority. Under Dodd-Frank, they've been given this enormous new authority. I mean they \u2014 they now have almost become the most powerful entity in Washington, DC. We need to repeal Dodd-Frank, get away that authority from the Fed and put them under more \u2014 more scrutiny. That's only part of the problem. I understand the Fed is interesting for a business channel, but I think for most Americans, the most important business is the family. And we haven't really talked much about the importance of the family to the economy. And \u2014 and ladies and gentlemen, every single book, from left to right, that's been written over the last couple of years has said the biggest problem in America today at the hollowing out of the middle of America is the breakdown of the nuclear family in America. We'd better be the party that's out there talking about this issue and what we're going to do to help strengthen marriage and return dads into homes in all communities. You want to talk about the communities that are hurting the most, the ones you see the protests in......there are no dads. And we need to do something about it. +p1349 +aVHappy Birthday. +p1350 +aV\u2014 States Marine Corps. +p1351 +aVThat's very personal to me. I grew up on a V.A. grounds. I lived in apartments on V.A. grounds my entire childhood. Both my Mom and Dad, after World War II, marry \u2014 met at a V.A., married, and that's where I lived. Kitchen table discussion was, particularly when I was growing up in the 1960's and 1970's, was the decline of the V.A. When they joined in the early 1950's, the V.A. was the top. They were the best, they were the best and brightest coming in after the war. And, we believed in the cause that we fought, and we invested in our hospitals to make sure that our veterans who left World War II were taken care of. But, after Vietnam, and during Vietnam, that began to change, and it really hasn't recovered since. The bottom line is the V.A. is antiquated. There's no need for a V.A. healthcare system as it existed after World War \u2014 why? Because we have the best private healthcare system in the world, we didn't need \u2014 we needed it in 1950's, hospitals were not particularly advanced, so, we built the best. We didn't maintain the best. Government didn't keep its promises to its veterans. So, what we need to do is two things. Number one, we need to allow veterans to go to private sector hospitals for their routine and ordinary care to get the best care in their community possible. And, there is a place for the Veterans Administration. There are injuries, and there are \u2014 things like +p1352 +aVIt should come as no surprise to Chris, or anybody else, that Barack Obama doesn't stand behind our men and women in uniform here at home because he hasn't stood behind them overseas. The rules of engagement that we've allowed our soldiers to go and fight against have put them in harm's way for political purposes. This has been the most politicized wars that we've ever seen under this administration. He gets in, and gets out, based upon what the polls are saying, what pressure he's getting from groups. Talk about a Commander in Chief. We need a commander in chief who has a vision and plan of how we're going to execute the national security of our country. Commander in chief is not an entry level position. Experience matters, and that's why I would ask for your support as a Commander in Chief, because I have the experience against the enemy......to confront to do the job. +p1353 +aVI announced from a factory floor in Western Pennsylvania. This campaign has all been about two words for me, working families. Working. Getting people the opportunity to see those wages rise, to be on the side of the American workers so they can get good paying jobs, and that means we have to start making things in America again. We need a president who's going to not just put policies in place, but is going to stand up at the bully pulpit and talk about the dignity of being a welder. The dignity of being a carpenter, about going to work and earning success. And, also, the importance of families, the importance of families and fathers, and mothers raising their children, and committing to that so that they can give children in our country the best opportunity to success. Working families is the key for us to win this election. +p1354 +aVYes, I think it's one thing to shrink the size of a state government but it's another thing to actually get something accomplished in Washington. It's a much tougher field. And I'm the one in the \u2014 on this stage and, frankly, on both stages that has actually gone to Washington, said we would shrink government, said we would shake things up and actually delivered for the conservative cause, everything from welfare reform, which was the largest, most significant accomplishment in the last 25 years for conservatism. I authored the bill when I was in the House of Representatives; I managed the bill on the floor of the United States Senate. You need a conservative who can deliver and that's what I bring to the table. +p1355 +aVWell, if you look at my flat tax, it actually takes the best of what Steve Forbes, Art Laffer, many have been advocating for a long time, which is a very strong pro-growth tax code \u2014 very simple. And, it adjusts it to make sure that it is not regressive. We have a $2,750 per person tax credit \u2014 that's $2,750 off the taxes due, not a deduction, a credit. And, we think \u2014 in fact, if you run the numbers, no American who's going to be paying more taxes under our proposal, so, we've accomplished both. We have a system that has a low single rate, but we take care of American families. I'm talking about $2,750 per person. That means a family four, that's $11,000 dollar tax credit. That's a very, very strong pro-family \u2014 and if you looked at the Wall Street Journal today, and so many of the publications that have been out there, they've talked about how the biggest problem of the hollowing out of the middle of this country. For workers to be able to raise is actually, the breakdown of the American family. William Galston, a liberal, said that on the pages of the Wall Street Journal today that the key to poverty is families. So, we put forth a pro-growth \u2014 Steve Forbes plan, combined it with a pro- family plan, and that's why I think it's going to work out, and work effectively. +p1356 +aVWhat we should be \u2014 we shouldn't be putting tariffs on anything. That hurts working men and women in this country. What we should be doing is making our manufacturing more competitive. One of the reasons I introduced the 20/20 plan, a 20 percent flat tax on corporations, as well as on individuals, is so we can be competitive, so we can bring those manufacturing jobs back. You want to talk about cutting pollution? You do a little back- of-the-envelope. We \u2014 we produce, per dollar of GDP, about one-fifth of the CO2 and other pollutants that China produces. So we're five times more efficient in producing goods here, as far as the environment \u2014 environment is concerned. Why don't we \u2014 if we really want to tackle environmental problems, global warming, what we need to do is take those jobs from China and bring them back here to the United States, employ workers in this country. We've lost two million jobs \u2014 two million jobs \u2014 under this administration in manufacturing \u2014 15,000 manufacturers have left this country. Why? Because of bad tax policy, bad regulatory policy and, yes, bad trade policy. We need to have a president that's going to pledge, as I have \u2014 I'm going to make America the number-one manufacturer so working men and women can have good paying jobs again in America. +p1357 +aV\u2014 with competition... +p1358 +aV\u2014 for low wage workers. +p1359 +aV and I... +p1360 +aVThat's not what's happening. +p1361 +aVA true conservative wants to create a level playing field. That's what \u2014 that's what we're \u2014 that's what government is supposed to do. They're not supposed to favor one group over another. And when it comes to our manufacturers, the level playing field is not in the United States. It's international. And so the federal government should have laws, tax laws, regulatory laws and, yes, finance laws. There's 60 other ex-im banks all over \u2014 all over the world. Every major competitor for the United States' manufacturing dollar has one of those banks. And guess what? They use those banks a heck of a lot more than their \u2014 than the United States of America does, number one. So in order to have a level playing field, which is what conservatives talk about all the time, level playing field, then we have to have export financing and here's why.Because export financing doesn't help Boeing, or G.E. G.E. just lost a contract, you know what they did? They went to . They got the X.M. (ph) bank in France to support it, and what did they do? They moved manufacturing out of South Carolina, out of Texas, moved to \u2014 Hungary, and to France. G.E. is still making money. G.E. is still doing well, but American workers are out of jobs. That's why we have to have this level playing field so we can compete with the rest of the world. +p1362 +aVWell, first, since you mention Colorado, I want to thank the people of Colorado because four years ago you \u2014 gave me the honor of winning the nomination out here in the state of Colorado. On a night we won three states, and it catapulted us to win 11 states ultimately, so, I just want to thank you very, very much for that support, and \u2014 in response to that, I do drink a lot of Coors beer, so... I try to help. The answer is pretty simple. The answer is simple. There are no shortage of breweries around the United States of America. I \u2014 I do \u2014 as I travel around the country, I do pints and politics, and I go to breweries all over the place, and there \u2014 there's almost no town in America anymore that doesn't have a brewery, so I don't think we need to worry too much. They're obviously \u2014 if there's \u2014 if there's some anti- competitive issues, you know, we have agencies to look at that. But, no, I'm not \u2014 I'm not concerned that Americans are not going to have choices in beer. +p1363 +aVAnd I care about, by the way. I care about choices. +p1364 +aVWell, I \u2014 I would say this, that what you're seeing is \u2014 in health care, you're seeing a lot of consolidation, and that consolidation is occurring because of Obamacare. You're seeing it particularly in an area that I am concerned about, and that's in insurance \u2014 health insurance. You're seeing the big health insurance companies fold up. You've seen Obama try to seed health insurance companies, and they've all failed, I think, except one. Why? Because we have a system of Obamacare with minimum loss ratios that make it virtually impossible for a small insurer to operate effectively. And this was the motive behind Obamacare. This wasn't incidental. This was deliberate, to make it so impossible for small insurers to survive... +p1365 +aV...that they consolidate into a small group. Then the left can say, "there is no competition, we need a single payer." That's why we have to repeal Obamacare. +p1366 +aVThank you. Can I just say something about that? +p1367 +aVWell, if you look at our plan that I introduced, the 2020 Clear Vision for America, we increase growth by 10 percent, 1 percent a year. So we go from 2.3 to 3.3, in repealing Obamacare, it's another .7. So you're looking at 4 percent growth, according to the Tax Foundation. And unlike Donald Trump and Bobby Jindal, we don't add $10 trillion to the deficit. In fact, our plan, while it creates as many jobs as their plan does and grows the economy as much as theirs does, we are a revenue-neutral plan because I believe that we need to reduce the size of government, yes, but we also need to reduce our deficit, and we need to get our budget balanced so we can start paying down this debt. And adding a trillion dollars with a tax cut and getting no more growth is not the way to do it. But that's only half of it. The word "economy" comes from the Greek "euthokis" (ph) which means family. The family is the first economy. And the one thing that we do not talk about enough is how stable families are vitally important for the middle of America to be prosperous and to grow and be safe. And I will have policies, not just tax policies, but others that will make sure that families are strong again in America. +p1368 +aVMLB, NHL, so I'm a big sports fan. And "The Wall Street Journal." Those are the three apps I use the most. +p1369 +aVWell, since we're usually in the Super Bowl at the Pittsburgh Steelers... Steeler nation, anybody? +p1370 +aVNo. I was in......was in Kansas City over the weekend to watch the Steeler game and about a third of the crowd were Steeler fans. So I'm usually not alone when I call on Steeler Nation. But we are used to being in the Super Bowl, so actually, it is in Pennsylvania already. +p1371 +aVI grew up in a steel town of Western Pennsylvania, outside of Pittsburgh, and when I announced for president, I announced from the factory floor. When I talk about making America the number one manufacturer again in the world, it's not just talk. When I talk about having the opportunity for people to rise again, it's not just because it polls well. I represented the old steel valley of Pittsburgh. I represented a 70% Democratic district, and won with 60% of the vote. Why? Because I aligned myself with working men and women who feel that neither party, and certainly not Washington D.C. cares about them. You elect me, we will get American workers on the side of the Republican party, and we can not be stopped if we do. +p1372 +aVHi, I'm Rick Santorum. Some of you may know me because I led the fight to end partial birth abortion. Some of you may know me because the I led the fight to end welfare as we know it, put people back to work, reduce poverty and reduce the federal budget. Some of you may know me because I successfully put sanctions on the Iranian nuclear program in Congress, over opposition of both parties initially. But hopefully, most of you know me most because I'm the proud father of seven children with particularly a special little disabled girl, who is the heart and core of my heart and married to a wonderful woman named Karen for 25 years, who is the love of my life. +p1373 +aVI think personal attacks, just please one person, Hillary Clinton. And all we do when we go after each other -- and we've seen a bunch of it, from people up on this stage, people who are going to be on the stage afterwards, who go after and make personal attacks on people. There are plenty of policy differences between the candidates up here and the candidates later. Donald Trump has ever right to run for president as a Republican, as anybody else in this audience, and he may have positions I disagree with, but he has the right to do that and the people should be given the benefit of the doubt for people to see through these things. I don't think it helps when Republicans attack Republicans personally. I'll say some things tonight which will be very big differences. The issue of immigration is one that there are huge differences in this field, and I will be out there talking about how we have to control immigration. How we have to look after the American worker. The focus of this debate should be on how we're going to win this election and help improve the quality of life for American workers, and we aren't doing that, when we're out there picking at each other and calling each other names. The name we should call out is, what are we going to do for average Americans losing ground in America today. And that should be our focus. +p1374 +aVWell, in fact, just about everybody in this field supports some pathway to citizenship. There are just a few, Governor Jindal, Senator Cruz, Senator Rubio, Jeb Bush, a lot of others, Senator Graham, all support some sort of amnesty at some point in time or another. And this is really the interesting thing about this whole debate. This debate should not be about what we're going to do with someone who's here illegally. This debate should not be about what we're going to do with someone who's here illegally; This debate should be about what -- what every other debate on every other policy issue is in America. What's in the best interest of hardworking Americans? What's in the best interest of our country. We've had to focus because the other side has set up for us, here is who we have to be concerned about on the issue of immigration, someone who's here illegally and their family, and what are we going to do about it? A greater leader will see that the objection of every law in America is to do what's in the best interest of America. And what's in the best interest of America right now is to look at wages, look at employment among wager earners. 70 to 90 percent of people who've come into this country, 35 million over the last 20 years, are wage earners that are holding wages down, taking jobs away from America. +p1375 +aVWell, just because you don't call it amnesty doesn't mean that what -- what almost everybody in this field is for is allowing people who are in this country illegally, people who broke the law to come into this country, people who came here legally and overstayed, to stay in -- in America. Again, we have 35 million -- we have the highest percentage of -- of -- of immigrants in this country, as far as numbers ever, as far as percentage, the -- the highest in 105 years. Wages are flatlining. The reason that you're seeing the angst and the anger out there and the reason this issue has taken off is because workers in America know that their wages are being undermined. If you look at, from the year 2000 to the year 2014, there're 5.7 million net new jobs created. What percentage of those jobs are held by people who weren't born here? The answer is all of them. The fact is, American workers are -- are getting hurt by immigration... +p1376 +aV... and that's why they're upset. +p1377 +aV...Hold on, hold on, hold on... +p1378 +aV...He mentioned my name, and that i didn't have a plan. And, the fact of the matter is... +p1379 +aV...that I did have a plan back in 2006. I introduced a plan called, A Comprehensive Border Security Bill, which did, in fact, put the resources to build the fencing, and deploy the troops, and the technology necessary which... +p1380 +aVAs you know, Lindsay... +p1381 +aV...As you know, 40 to 60 percent of the 11 million are here on visa overstays. We know exactly who they are, we should know where they are, but we have a government that doesn't tell them to return home. You can solve half of the problem of the 11 million... +p1382 +aV...by simply telling the 11 million that they have to return to their country of origin, so, that's half your problem... +p1383 +aV...Now, it's not 11 million... +p1384 +aVI don't know how many democrats I had on my bill... +p1385 +aVBut, the point is -- the point is is that I had a bill... +p1386 +aVWell, you're right, Lindsay, it went no where because we had a president back then who was for more comprehensive immigration reform... +p1387 +aV...That's right... +p1388 +aVYou know what we need to do... +p1389 +aVLindsay, is we need to win -- we need to win fighting for Americans. We need to win fighting for the workers in this country... +p1390 +aV...who are hurting, including including hispanics... +p1391 +aV...the people who are hurt the most by illegal immigration are hispanics. +p1392 +aV...The folks -- the folks who are -- hurt the worst are recent immigrants. By illegal immigrants coming to this country last year alone, 700,000 illegal immigrants came into this country. Who do you think are most impacted? It's the folks who came into this country, played by the rules, did what they were supposed to do. Came here, and went to work, and now they're finding themselves out of work because someone illegally is willing to come in and work for less... +p1393 +aVI just want to say -- I just want to say, I have seven kids, I've done my part. +p1394 +aVI have proposed 10,000 troops, I did so about six or seven months ago, that we needed to deploy additional troops to do exactly what Lindsey said, arm the Kurds, arm -- +p1395 +aVI've said -- I've said 10,000 and, if more is necessary, look, the answer is this, once +p1396 +aV16 years ago, this country was tremendously inspired by a young woman who faced a gunman in Columbine and was challenged about her faith and she refused to deny God. We saw her as a hero. Today, someone who refuses to defy (sic) a judge's unconstitutional verdict is ridiculed and criticized, chastised because she's standing up and denying -- not denying her God and her faith. That is a huge difference in 16 years. People have a fundamental right in the First Amendment. There's no more important right. It is the right that is the trunk that all other rights come from, and that's the freedom of conscience. And when we say in America that we have no room -- how many bakers, how many florists, how many pastors, how many clerks are we going to throw in jail because they stand up and say, "I cannot violate what my faith says is against its teachings"? Is there not room in America? I believe there has to be room. First, I believe we have to pass the First Amendment Defense Act, which provides that room for government officials and others who do not want to be complicit in what they believe is against their faith. Second, we need as a president who's going to fight a court that is abusive, that has superseded their authority. Judicial supremacy is not in the Constitution, and we need a president and a Congress to stand up to a court when it exceeds its constitutional authority. +p1397 +aVI hope so. If they're wrong. +p1398 +aVNo, what you have is judicial supremacy. You don't have a rule of law when the court has the final say on everything. +p1399 +aVMartin Luther King wrote a letter from the Birmingham jail. And he said in that letter that there are just laws and there are unjust laws. And we have no obligation to -- to condone and accept unjust laws. And he -- and they -- then he followed up and said what's an unjust law? An unjust law is a job that -- a law that go against the moral code or God's law or the natural law. I would argue that what the Supreme Court did is against the natural law, it's against God's law and we have every obligation to stand in opposition to it. +p1400 +aVWell, contrary to what Governor Jindal said, Governor -- Justice Roberts had a long record and it was a long, good record. And so he made a bad decision on -- a couple of bad decisions on ObamaCare but he's made a lot of great decisions, too. And so I don't -- I don't regret at all standing up for John Roberts but, you know, it's easy to sit out in Louisiana and talk about how, you know, well, I'd be tougher. I fought when I was in the United States Senate. We fought, for the first time, to defeat justices and judges that Bill Clinton nominated and I fought with President Bush to defend his nominees, to push even a filibuster, breaking the filibuster. I led that fight against someone who didn't want to end the filibuster in order for us to get good, conservative justices. So I have been there on the front line, fighting for judges and conservative justices and I will do so as president like none other. +p1401 +aVActually, I'm going to be proposing a plan, I call it the 20/20 perfect vision for America as flat tax, a 20 percent flat tax on income, 20 percent flat tax on capital gains and on corporations. We eliminate all the deductions, special interest provisions and corporations. We deal with the carried interest issue, because everybody pays the same 20 percent. So, there's no advantage as to how you take your income. That will create growth. We're going to allow expensing for corporations. For manufacturing, again, I print -- I pledged, when I announced that I was going to run for president on the factory floor that I would make America the number one manufacturer in the world. Why? Because we need to put Americans back to work. Hard working Americans, who are not doing well in this economy, and we start creating jobs here, and manufacturing. These people from all skill levels are going to be able to work. We put a 20 percent rate on corporations, we're competitive with almost every country in the world. We allow for expensing, we have a three year phase in. We start at zero for manufacturers, phase it up to 20. You're going to see an enormous investment of capital, and equipment. You're going to see people -- you're going to have problems finding folks are going to be able to work in manufacturing. That's how many jobs we're going to create. So, the answer is, you know, we're going to lower, and flatten taxes. We're going to put government on a -- on a budget. A 10 percent across the board cut... +p1402 +aV...employment. We've got a lot of plans. +p1403 +aV...Let me just... +p1404 +aV...He talked about manufacturing, and the fact is that we have a zero percent rate that faces the 20, we'd have a seven percent repatriation, so money -- about two trillion dollars over seas... +p1405 +aV...Would come back, and be invested in equipment here. We will create more jobs with this plan, than any plan out... +p1406 +aVLindsay, what percentage of American workers make the minimum wage right now? +p1407 +aVIt's less than one percent. +p1408 +aV...So, what you're saying, what every Republican's up here saying is we're against the minimum wage because, if you're not for increasing it, than whoevers making the minimum wage right now... +p1409 +aV...The answer is Republicans don't believe in a floor wage in America. Fine, you go ahead and make that case to the American public, I'm not going to. Not from a party that supported bailouts. I didn't, but this party did. +p1410 +aVNot from a party that supports special interest tax provisions for a whole bunch of other businesses, and, but, when it comes to hardworking Americans who are at the bottom of the income scale, we can't provide some level of income support? What I've proposed is not anything but the (ph) presidents (ph) proposed (ph) I believe that would be harmful to the American public, but a $.50 cents an hour increase over three years, which is what I'm proposing. So we would have a minimum wage which would be roughly in the area of what it's been historically, about 5 percent of wages. To me, if you're going to talk to 90 percent of American workers -- by the way, 90 percent of American workers don't own a bar. They don't own a business. They work for a living. They're wage -- most of them are wage earners. And Republicans are losing elections because we're not talking about them. All we want to talk about is, what happened to our business? There are people who work in that business. I was at a -- I was at the convention four years ago, and on the signs -- on all of the seats the night I spoke was a sign that said, "We built that," because Barack Obama had talked about how businesses didn't build their own businesses. Then we trotted out one small-business person after another for almost an hour that night talking about how they built their businesses. And that's wonderful. But you know what we didn't do? We didn't bring one worker on that stage. How are you going to win, ladies and gentlemen? How are we going to win if 90 percent of Americans don't think we care at all... +p1411 +aV... about them and their chance to rise... +p1412 +aVAs you know, Hugh, 12 years ago I authored the Iran Freedom Support Act, which put sanctions on the Iran nuclear program as we came within four votes of passing a very strong version of that. The four people who opposed on the floor: Joe Biden, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. And we came four votes short. But for 12 years, I have been laser-beam focused on the issue of Iran with a nuclear weapon. Why? Because I understand who they are. Yes, they are radical Islamists, that's true. But their particular version of it, which is an apocalyptic version, which is a death cult, they believe in bringing about the end of the -- end of the world. If you -- if you poll Iranians and Iraqis, Shiites in the region, more than two-thirds of them believe that the end of the world is going to come within their lifetime. Why? Because their regime preaches it. They believe in bringing about the end of times. That's their theological goal and we are in the process of giving them a nuclear weapon to do just that. That's why, on day one, I would say to the Iranian government, you open up all of these facilities for inspection, you make them available to the U.N. and to the U.S., everything, we can go everywhere or else we will take out those facilities. And when people say, you're going to start a war -- +p1413 +aV-- my response is, no, I'm going to stop a war because a nuclear Iran is the end. +p1414 +aVI came to Washington in the most unlikely way. I defeated a 14-year incumbent, a 60 percent Democratic district. I went to Washington thinking I was only going to be there for one term, and so I just shook things up. We sent the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee to jail. We ended 40 years, 40 years of Democratic control of the Congress. And I led that fight with reforms, substantive reforms, welfare reform. I led the charge -- I wrote the bill when I was in the House. I led the charge in the United States Senate. Partial-birth abortion -- in fact, three pro-life bills, bipartisan pro-life bills. I mentioned the Iran bill. We also passed one on Syria. Health savings accounts, as many of you know, I authored the original bill on health savings accounts, pushed that through the Congress for private sector health care reform. An outsider who came to Washington from the tough state of Pennsylvania, and we got conservative things done. I made things happen in a town where things don't happen very much. Now, after 10 years of seeing the mess, the retreat that we see in the Republican party in Washington, D.C., it's time to get someone who is an outsider. +p1415 +aVWho can go to Washington, D.C., and get things done. You know what, you have a lot of folks who will tell you a lot of things. Look at their record. I went to Washington as an outsider. +p1416 +aVShook things up, got things done. +p1417 +aVAnd that's why you can trust me to do it again. +p1418 +aVI would say the message that got us the win in Iowa and 10 other states against pretty overwhelming odds, is the message that's going to deliver us in this election. You know, we didn't start out four years ago at the top of the heap. We were behind where we were today. But we stuck to our message. We stuck to the fact that Americans are tired of Washington corporate interests and Democrats who are interested in just politics and power and they're looking for someone who's going to fight for them; looking for someone who's going to grow manufacturing sector of our economy, so those 74 percent of Americans who don't have a college degree have a chance to rise again. Someone who's going to stand up, and be very clear with our enemies as to the lines their going to draw and stand with them. I've got a track record. The reason I did so well last time is not just because of the vision, it's because I have a track record in Washington, D.C. of getting things done. Iran sanctions -- the Iran sanctions that brought them to the table, those are sanctions that we put in place when I was in the United States Senate, and a whole host of other things that put me in a position of saying, I not only have a great vision, but I can govern effectively in Washington. +p1419 +aVMy father was born in Italy, and shortly after he was born my grandfather immigrated to this country. And under the laws of this country, he wasn't allowed to be with his father for seven years. Spent the first seven years of his life in Fascist Italy, under Benito Mussolini. Not a very pleasant place to be. I asked my dad after -- obviously, when I found out about this. And I said, "Didn't you resent America for not letting you be with your father in those formative and very threatening years?" You know what he said to me? "America was worth the wait." We're a country of laws, Bill. We're a country of laws, not of men, not of people who do whatever they want to do. I know we have a president who wants to do whatever he wants to do, and take his pen and his phone and just tell everybody what he thinks is best. But the reason America is a great country, the reason is because our compassion is in our laws. And when we live by those laws and we treat everybody equally under the law, that's when people feel good about being Americans. And I put forth an immigration policy that is as strong in favor of the folks who are struggling in America the most than anybody else. It's the strongest pro-worker immigration plan. It says that after 35 million people have come here over the last 20 years, almost all of whom are unskilled workers, flattening wages, creating horrible opportunity -- a lack of opportunities for unskilled workers, we're going to do something about reducing the level of immigration by 25 percent. We're going to be tough at the border, we're going to be tough on all of the illegal immigrants that everybody else in this field -- we're going to be different. We're going to be actually out there trying to create a better life for hard-working Americans. +p1420 +aVI think it's -- yeah, I think it's a one-two punch. Number one, we have to create better paying jobs. I mean, that's just the bottom line. We haven't. And that's the reason that I've said under my presidency, we'll create jobs and make American the number one manufacturing country in the world. If we want to create jobs for the folks that you're talking about, who are having trouble getting off government benefits, primarily because of their low skill level, there is no better way -- it's worked for 100 years in America -- putting people back to work in manufacturing is it. I'm going to be introducing a plan which I call the 2020 Perfect Vision for America. It's a 20 percent flat rate tax, it'll take a blowtorch to the -- to the IRS. It will create a manufacturing juggernaut in this country. And you combine that with reforms of our welfare system. You're looking at the -- at the man who introduced and fought on the floor as a freshman senator and passed the Welfare Reform Act of 1996 over two President Clinton vetoes. Got 70 votes in the United States Senate. Bipartisan issue. And I ended a federal entitlement. Never been done before, never been done since. What we need to do is take the rest of the federal entitlements, not just welfare, but food stamps and Medicaid and housing programs and do the same thing we did with welfare. Work requirements and time limits. That will change everything. Mac +p1421 +aVIt is not any more than Dred Scott was settled law to Abraham Lincoln, who, in his first inaugural address, said "it won't stand." And they went ahead and passed laws in direct contravention to a rogue Supreme Court. This is a rogue Supreme Court decision, just like Justice Roberts said. There is no constitutional basis for the Supreme Court's decision, and I know something about this. The -- one of the times the Supreme Court spoke that I thought they were acting outside of their authority was in a partial-birth abortion case. You know, these Planned Parenthood tapes, what they're showing are partial-birth abortions. Abortions being done where the baby's being delivered first, to preserve those organs, and then they crush the skull. Well, the Supreme Court found a bill that I was the author of unconstitutional. What did I do? I didn't stop. I didn't say "oh, well we lost. It's the law of the land." We worked together. The House and Senate, under my leadership, and we passed a bill, and we said, "Supreme Court, you're wrong." We're a coequal branch of the government. We have every right to be able to stand up and say what is constitutional. We passed a bill, bipartisan support, and the Supreme Court, they -- they sided with us. Sometimes it just takes someone to lead and stand up to the court. +p1422 +aVJust ditto to that. We're going to suspend -- I've -- I've said this for four years. We're going to suspend and repeal every executive order, every regulation that cost American jobs and is -- is -- is impacting our freedom. And second, the First Amendment Defense Act, which is protecting religious liberty, if it's not passed by then, which I suspect it won't, because the president will veto it, I will institute an executive order to make sure that people of faith are not being -- not being harassed and persecuted by the federal government for standing up for the religious beliefs. +p1423 +aVI came to Washington, D.C. in 1990. That sounds like a long time ago. It was. It was 25 years ago, and I came by defeating the Democratic incumbent. I came as a reformer. I started the Gang of Seven, and it led to the overtaking of the 40-year Democratic rule of Congress, because I didn't -- I stood up to the old-boy network in Washington, D.C. because I believed that Washington was not the solution, that Washington was the problem, just like Ronald Reagan said. I was a child of Ronald Reagan. And I went there, and for 16 years, I fought the insiders and was able to get things done. That's the difference. We need to elect someone who will stand with the American people, who understands its greatness, who understands what an open economy and freedom is all about, but at the same time, has a record of being able to get things done in Washington like we've never seen before. Reforms, everything from moral and cultural issues to economic issues. Those of you health savings accounts. Health savings accounts are something that we introduced. It's a private-sector solution that believes in freedom, not Obamacare that believes in government control. Those are the things we brought, and we were able to get things done. If you want someone who's not going to divide Washington, but gets things done, then you should make me your president. +p1424 +aVI'll tell you how optimistic I am about America. Karen and I have seven children. You don't have seven children and bring them into this world if you're not optimistic about the future of this country. I am, but people are upset, and they're upset for a reason about the future of this country. Donald Trump actually seized on it when he talked about immigration. And I think the reason he did is because immigration is sort of an example of what's broken and what's wrong in Washington, D..C. You see, you have one side, the Democrats, and with immigration, all they care about is votes. They don't care about American workers, they just care about bringing as many people in so they can get as many votes as they can. ON the other side, you have so many Republicans, and what do they care about? Helping business make profits. There's nobody out there looking out for the American worker. I'm looking out for the American worker. I'm the only one on this stage who has a plan that's actually reduced -- actually going to reduce immigration. Actually going to do something to help the American worker. And you combine that with a plan to make manufacturing -- this country number one in manufacturing, you've got someone who's going to help revitalize and give hope to America, the place -- the place is that is the most hopeless today. That's why I ask for your support for president. +p1425 +asVQUESTION +p1426 +(lp1427 +VMy name is Ashley Tofil. Ms. Fiorina, in November, you said that you would not talk to Vladimir Putin after you were elected because you would be communicating from a position of weakness. Do you believe that it is feasible to not communicate with another world leader? And do you think that that also is a sign of weakness? +p1428 +aVMy name is Carla Hernandez. I'm from the University of Texas at Austin. And my question is directed to all the candidates. If the Bible clearly states that we need to embrace those in need and not fear, how can we justify not accepting refugees? +p1429 +aVPlease describe one action you would do to make the economic environment more favorable for small businesses and entrepreneurs and anyone dreaming of opening their own business. +p1430 +aVHi, I'm Adithya Sivakumar. I'm from Vanderbilt University. And I was wondering with U.S. designated state sponsors of terrorism such as Iran and other traditional U.S. enemies fighting +p1431 +aVNew Hampshire has been hard hit by the heroin epidemic, and we're on track to have twice as many overdose deaths this year as in 2013. What specifically would you do to address this crisis? +p1432 +asVCAVUTO +p1433 +(lp1434 +VIt is 9:00 p.m. on the East Coast, 8:00 p.m. here inside the Milwaukee theater. Welcome to the Republican presidential debate here on the Fox Business Network. I'm Neil Cavuto, alongside my co-moderators, Maria Bartiromo, and the editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal, Gerard Baker. +p1435 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. +p1436 +aVIt sounds like a game show but it's not. Now I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the elephant in the room, and I'm not talking about your party's fine symbol. I'm talking about the purpose of tonight's debate. The economy and what each of you would do to improve it. No more, no less. We are focused on those issues, and what you have said on those issues in your words and what your opponents have said in their words about your words. That is the agenda tonight. How each of you plans to make America better tomorrow. And so we begin. Candidates, as we gather tonight in this very august theater, just outside and across the country, picketers are gathering as well. They're demanding an immediate hike in the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Just a few hours ago, near Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed doing the same for all state workers, the first governor to do so. Mr. Trump, as the leading presidential candidate on this stage and one whose tax plan exempts couples making up to $50,000 a year from paying any federal income taxes at all, are you sympathetic to the protesters cause since a $15 wage works out to about $31,000 a year? +p1437 +aVSo do not raise the minimum wage? +p1438 +aVDr. Carson, you have long bemoaned this lackluster recovery. And this Facebook map show Americans share your concern. The green represents how the jobs issue is resonating all across the nation, especially here in the state of Wisconsin. You suggested one minimum wage does not fit all, and that perhaps we should offer a lower or starter wage for young people. Those protesters outside are looking for $15 and nothing less. Where are you? +p1439 +aVSo, sir, just to be clear, you would not raise it? +p1440 +aVSenator Rubio, you called the recent Democratic debate in Las Vegas a night of giveaways, including free health care, free college and a host of other government-paid benefits. Since you aren't a fan of all they're giving away, tell us tonight what you would take back. +p1441 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. +p1442 +aVAll right. We're only just getting started. Coming up, your taxes. Stick around. You're watching FOX Business +p1443 +aVWelcome back to the Milwaukee Theater and the Republican presidential debate. Let's get right back to our questions. Dr. Carson, to you. You recently railed against the double- standard in the media, sir, that seems obsessed with inconsistencies and potential exaggerations in your life story, but looked the other way when it came to then-Senator Barack Obama's. Still, as a candidate whose brand has always been trust, are you worried your campaign \u2014 which you've always said, sir, is bigger than you \u2014 is now being hurt by you? +p1444 +aVI'll just forget that follow-up there. +p1445 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1446 +aVAlright, thank you. We're going to take a break here. Coming up, a big issue many Americans are facing, taxes. The Republican Presidential Debate continues now, live, from Milwaukee. +p1447 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from Milwaukee. Let's get back to the questions. And we want to touch on obviously one of the biggest of this issue in this year, taxes. And this will go to several of you. One of the biggest economic concerns of course in the country are taxes. Facebook data certainly backs that up. Once again the green on this map that we're going to see here shows how the conversation around taxes is resonating across the nation, especially here in Wisconsin. First off, Dr. Carson, to you. You say you are in favor of a tax system, I guess akin to tithing, sir, with a flat tax rate of up to 15 percent because you said, if everybody pays this, I think God is a pretty fair guy, so tithing is a pretty fair process. But Donald Trump says that is not fair. That wealthier taxpayers should pay a higher rate because it's a fair thing to do. So whose plan would God endorse then, Doctor? Yours or Mr. Trump's? +p1448 +aVRight. +p1449 +aVThank you very much. Senator Paul, you said you want to blow up the tax code and start over with an across-the-board 14.5 percent fair and flat tax. You happily offered that it is not revenue neutral and that's the idea. You want to choke off the amount of money coming into Washington. But don't you risk, sir, creating a near-term budget crisis just as your presidency would be beginning? +p1450 +aVThere are no deductions on your \u2014 under your plan? +p1451 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1452 +aVSenator Paul... Senator Paul, you have already said, sir, that that would be a mistake in not talking to Vladimir Putin, or to rule it out. You've argued that it's never a good idea to close down communication. With that in mind, do you think the same applies to administration efforts right now to include the Iranians in talks on Syria? +p1453 +aV...Well, then how would you respond? +p1454 +aVBut if you're not going to respond in a no-fly zone strategy, what would yours be? +p1455 +aVAll right. And look at the time, look at the time. You are watching FOX Business, we'll take a break. Stick around. +p1456 +aVSenator Cruz \u2014 and I will get to you \u2014 but, Senator Cruz, on that theme, Facebook data shows that over the last month alone, nearly 1 million people \u2014 nearly 1 million \u2014 have been concerned about reining in Wall Street, apparently believing that some have not been punished enough. So, as an accomplished litigator yourself and a former solicitor general, would you go after the very people who believe and fear that Wall Street has ignored, in other words, the crooks that Bernie Sanders say have gotten away with a financial murder? +p1457 +aVSenator......Senator, I really want to be clear here. Are you saying, sir, that if Bank of America were on the brink, you would let it fail? +p1458 +aVSir, I understand that. I just want to be clear, if you don't mind, that millions of depositors would be on the line with that decision. And I just want to be clear. If it were to happen again, for whatever the reason, you would let it go, you would let a Bank of America go? +p1459 +aVOK, I think it's fair to say you're not fans of Hillary Clinton's resume. Alright, Mr. Trump.... +p1460 +aVI had a feeling. Perhaps the most successful capitalist on this stage tonight, you've acknowledged that some give capitalism a bad name. You've been particularly critical of businesses that find all sorts of ways of paying their taxes by keeping money abroad, but your own plan includes an incentive to bring \u2014 that more the $2 trillion dollars home. Isn't that, like, a one-time bounty... +p1461 +aV...Some of the guys you all but call pirates, so they still keep the loot, and pay only a price to bring it back. +p1462 +aV...Alright, gentlemen, I know you want to \u2014 and I want to, be we also promised to get people home tonight, and we are going to take a quick break here. I think it is fair to say at this juncture that you can discuss these issues, and only business issues, but still keep it interesting. Stick around for these candidates closing statements. +p1463 +aVSenator Marco Rubio? +p1464 +aVDr. Ben Carson? +p1465 +aVDonald Trump? +p1466 +aVCandidates, we want to thank you all. We also appreciate your helping save time by talking over one another at times. That was welcomed. But by all means, it was a very riveting debate. Business issues can be \u2014 can be riveting, because it wasn't about us, it's about them. +p1467 +aVThat'll do it. Thank you for joining us. +p1468 +asVBLITZER +p1469 +(lp1470 +VWelcome to the CNN-Facebook Republican presidential debate here at the Venetian Las Vegas. We have a very enthusiastic audience. Everyone is here. They're looking forward to a serious and spirited discussion about the security of this nation. I'm Wolf Blitzer, your moderator tonight. This debate is airing on CNN networks here in the United States and around the world, and on the Salem Radio Network. The nine leading candidates, they are here. Let's welcome them right now. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Businessman and real estate developer Donald Trump. Retired neurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. And Ohio Governor John Kasich. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome these Republican candidates for president of the United States. This is the final Republican debate before the election year begins, and we're taking a moment for the photographs of the candidates together on the stage. Now, everyone, please rise for the national anthem sung by Ayla Brown. +p1471 +aVI know everyone is eager to get started. So, candidates, please take your places while I explain the ground rules for tonight. As moderator, I'll guide the discussion, and I'll be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt and CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. We also asked Republicans and independents nationwide to share their questions for the candidates. We teamed up with Facebook to send a campaign camper across the country over the past several weeks. Thousands of people stepped inside and recorded their questions on video. Millions more have weighed in on Facebook. Candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have a minute and 15 seconds to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you're singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know that we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. And as the candidates requested, a bell will sound like this. We know you are all eager to jump in and debate these important issues, so, please, wait until you're called on. These nine Republicans are positioned on stage based on their ranking in the recent polls, so let's begin right now. I'd like to invite each candidate to introduce himself or herself to our audience. You'll have one minute. First to you, Senator Paul. +p1472 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p1473 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1474 +aVMs. Fiorina? +p1475 +aVGovernor Bush? +p1476 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1477 +aVSenator Cruz. +p1478 +aVDr. Carson. +p1479 +aVMr. Trump. +p1480 +aVThank you. Since you last debated, Americans have witnessed terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino. The FBI director says the country now faces the greatest terror threat since 9/11. You all have different approaches to keeping the country safe. And that will be the focus of tonight's debate. Mr. Trump, as you mentioned in your opening statement, part of your strategy is to focus in on America's borders. To keep the country safe, you say you want to temporarily ban non-American Muslims from coming to the United States; ban refugees fleeing +p1481 +aVGovernor Bush, you called Mr. Trump "unhinged" when he proposed banning non-American Muslims from the United States. Why is that unhinged? +p1482 +aVMr. Trump? +p1483 +aVSenator Rubio \u2014 I'm going to go to Senator Rubio and get his thoughts. You have said banning Muslims is unconstitutional. But according to a recent ABC News-Washington Post poll, a majority of Republicans support Mr. Trump's idea. Why are they wrong? +p1484 +aVHugh Hewitt, you have a question. +p1485 +aVGovernor Christie, Americans are clearly more afraid today than at any time since 9/11. As you mentioned in your opening statement, today in Los Angeles, 650 schoolchildren didn't go to \u2014 650,000 schoolchildren didn't go to school because of an e-mail threat, this two weeks after an attack killed 14 people in San Bernardino. Is this the new normal? And if so, what steps would you take as president of the United States to ensure that fear does not paralyze America? +p1486 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, one of the killers in San Bernardino was an American who was not on anyone's watch list. How are you going to find that radicalized person and stop another such attack? +p1487 +aVThank you. Dana Bash, you have the next question. +p1488 +aVThank you. Dr. Carson, you're in favor of monitoring mosques and schools where there is anti-America sentiment, what do you consider anti- America? +p1489 +aVDr. Carson, who was right in that little debate that we just heard between Senator Rubio and Senator Paul? +p1490 +aVHold on a sec, we have a lot more to come and everybody's going to have their full opportunity. Governor Bush, six days after 9/11 your brother visited a mosque and said quote, "Islam is peace." The conversation tonight is about banning Muslims and surveillance of mosques, are President Bush's words still relevant in today's Republican party? +p1491 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you pointed out you were a CEO in Silicon Valley on 9/11. Companies there, they say they won't help the FBI now crack encrypted communication from +p1492 +aVBut my question was: Should these Silicon Valley companies be forced to cooperate with the FBI? +p1493 +aVMr. Trump, you recently suggested closing that Internet up, those were your words, as a way to stop +p1494 +aVLet me follow up, Mr. Trump. So, are you open to closing parts of the Internet? +p1495 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, is shutting down any part of the Internet a good idea? +p1496 +aVThank you, Governor. The fight against radical Islamic terrorists and +p1497 +aVThank you. To be clear, Senator Cruz, would you carpet bomb Raqqa, the +p1498 +aVThank you. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you've been critical of Senator Cruz's strategy. You say his voting record doesn't match his rhetoric. Why? +p1499 +aVBecause I asked the question, Senator, because you said this. You said he, referring to Senator Cruz, voted against the Defense Authorization Act every year that it came up, and I assume that if he voted against it, he would veto it as president. That's the bill that funds our troops. +p1500 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1501 +aVSenator Rubio. +p1502 +aVWe are going to have much more on this... +p1503 +aVWe're going to have much more on this. But I want to move now back to Mr. Trump. +p1504 +aVHold on. Hold on. Hold on. +p1505 +aVWe have a lot... +p1506 +aVWe have a lot to discuss. I want to move to Mr. Trump right now. We have a question on this war against +p1507 +aVMr. Trump. +p1508 +aVGovernor Bush. Governor Bush. +p1509 +aVMr. Trump. +p1510 +aVJust one at a time, go ahead... +p1511 +aVGo ahead, Mr. Trump. +p1512 +aVGovernor Bush, please. +p1513 +aVOne at a time. +p1514 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1515 +aVThank you. +p1516 +aVAll right. Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash, Hugh, go ahead with the next question. +p1517 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Rubio? Let's continue this conversation. This is a critically important issue. +p1518 +aVWe will get to \u2014 we have a lot of time, Ms. Fiorina. I want to get to Senator Rubio right now. Let's talk about, one of the aspects of your strategy, you say the only way to defeat +p1519 +aVThank you, Senator. Stand by. Ms. Fiorina, the former defense secretary, Bob Gates, says the chances of getting Sunni-Arab forces on the ground to get the job done, his words, "chances very remote." What's your strategy? +p1520 +aVThank you. Governor Christie, what's your strategy? +p1521 +aVDr. Carson, what is your strategy? +p1522 +aVThank you. Everyone stand by. We're only just beginning. Coming up, which candidates on this stage tonight want to move foreign policy in a dramatically new direction? We'll be right back. +p1523 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate here at the Venetian, Las Vegas. The war against +p1524 +aVThank you. +p1525 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you supported the removal of Moammar Gadhafi in Libya. Now that country is in turmoil, as +p1526 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1527 +aVStandby. Everybody standby for a moment. Governor Kasich, go ahead. +p1528 +aVThank you. +p1529 +aVWe're going to talk about Assad in a moment. Mr. Trump, are Americans safer with dictators running the world in the Middle East? +p1530 +aVThank you. Mr. Trump? +p1531 +aVAll right. +p1532 +aVThank you. +p1533 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East... +p1534 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East better off with dictators? +p1535 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1536 +aVHold on Governor Bush., here's the question. You said, "getting rid of Saddam Hussein in your words was a pretty good deal." In light of what has happened in Iraq, do you still feel that way? +p1537 +aVSenator Paul, was getting rid of Saddam Hussein a pretty good deal? +p1538 +aVThank you. Hugh Hewitt, go ahead. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hugh. +p1539 +aVSenator, Senator, we're going to get to you. Wait your turn. We have two hours of debate. We'll have plenty of time. Let Hugh ask his question. +p1540 +aVSenator, please. +p1541 +aVSenator... +p1542 +aVYou'll have plenty of opportunity. Hugh, go ahead. +p1543 +aVThese are the rules all of you agreed to. Hugh, go ahead with your question. +p1544 +aVLet's continue with Russia right now. We have another question from Facebook. Listen and watch. +p1545 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you know, U.S. and Russian warplanes are flying all over Syria right now. With so many lives on the line, is this a good time for the United States not to talk to Putin? +p1546 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Christie, if the U.S. imposed a no-fly zone over Syria and a Russian plane encroached, invaded that no-fly zone, would you be prepared to shoot down that Russian plane and risk war with Russia? +p1547 +aVSenator Paul \u2014 Senator Paul, I want you to respond to what we just heard from Governor Christie. If there was a no-fly zone, you say that potentially could lead to World War III. Why? +p1548 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1549 +aVAll right, let's go back \u2014 Hugh and Dana? +p1550 +aVOne at a time. Hugh, go ahead. +p1551 +aVGovernor, thank you very much. So, Dr. Carson, you recently visited a refugee camp in Jordan and you deemed it your words, "really quite nice." Saying the people there didn't want to come to the United States. Do you think these camps are a long-term solution of the problem of Syrian refugees? +p1552 +aVSenator Paul, you oppose letting in Syrian refugees at this time into the United States. The U.S. has already accepted 2,000 Syrian refugees, including 13 living here in Las Vegas right now. Would you send them back? What would you do with these people? +p1553 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1554 +aVSenator Paul, you didn't answer the question about the 2,000 Syrian refugees who are already here in the United States. Will you send them back or let them stay? +p1555 +aVWe have another \u2014 we have another question. We have another question from Facebook. Let's listen. +p1556 +aVGovernor Christie, you say there should be a pause in allowing new refugees to come into the United States, including orphans under the age of five. What do you say to Carla? +p1557 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1558 +aVThank you, Governor. There is much more coming up. We are only just beginning. Coming up, what other global hot spots await the next president of the United States. +p1559 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate. We're here at the Venetian Las Vegas. Tonight we have been focusing on the Middle East, but let's turn to some other world threats that you will potentially face as Commander in Chief. Ms. Fiorina, candidates here have called the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un a maniac who is mentally unstable. Last week he said he now has a hydrogen bomb. If you were elected president, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p1560 +aVDr. Carson, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p1561 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Dana and Hugh you have questions as well. +p1562 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Some of you on this stage have questioned whether your opponents have temperament, the right temperament, to be in control of the nuclear codes. Dana, you have a question on this? +p1563 +aVThank you, senator. Thank you. +p1564 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1565 +aVThank you, Senator. We're a month and a half away now from the first real test who will be the Republican presidential nominee. Hugh, you have a question? +p1566 +aVAll right. Candidates, we have more coming up. When we come back, everyone will have an opportunity to explain why this particular candidate, each of you on the stage, believes he or she should be the Republican presidential nominee. +p1567 +aVNow it's time for the closing statements from the candidates. Each one has 30 seconds. Senator Paul. +p1568 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1569 +aVGovernor Christie. +p1570 +aVMs. Fiorina. +p1571 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1572 +aVSenator Rubio. +p1573 +aVSenator Cruz. +p1574 +aVDr. Carson. +p1575 +aVThanks to all the Republican presidential candidates. That does it for this Republican presidential debate. +p1576 +aVI'd now like to ask the candidates to please take your places while I tell you a little bit more about how tonight's debate will work. As the moderator, I'll guide the discussion asking questions and follow-ups, as will Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt. Candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have a minutes and 15 seconds to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you're singled out for criticism. We have timing lights that are visible to the candidates, those lights will warn you when your time is up. And as the candidates requested, a bell will sound like this. We know you're all eager to jump in and debate these important issues, but please wait until you're called on. Now that everyone is this place, it's time for the candidates to introduce themselves to our audience. You'll each have one minute. Senator Graham, you're first. +p1577 +aVGovernor Pataki. +p1578 +aVSenator Santorum. +p1579 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p1580 +aVLet's begin. The United States just suffered the worst terrorist attack since 9-11, the murder of 14 people by two terrorists, one of whom was an American citizen. In response, Republican frontrunner Donald Trump proposed a temporary ban on all Muslims coming into the United States until the government can figure out what is going on. Senator Graham, the polls show most Republicans do support Mr. Trump. What do you say to them? +p1581 +aVSenator Graham, you say you'd rather lose the election without Trump than try to win with him. Does that mean you'll be voting for the Democratic nominee if Donald Trump wins the presidential nomination? +p1582 +aVGovernor Pataki, you mentioned Donald Trump in your opening statement. You've also suggested Mr. Trump's plan is un-American and absurd. Why? +p1583 +aVSenator Santorum, you object to Mr. Trump's proposals on the grounds that it's unworkable. You've made religious liberty a hallmark of your career. Do you believe in religious liberty for Muslims as well as Christians? +p1584 +aVSenator Graham. +p1585 +aVSenator Santorum. +p1586 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you called Mr. Trump's plan to ban Muslims impossible and unconstitutional. But what is your specific plan to prevent would-be Jihadists from carrying out attacks against Americans? +p1587 +aVThe terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino have sparked a debate here in the United States about the balance between privacy and security. I want to bring in CNN's Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt for more on this. +p1588 +aVGovernor Pataki. +p1589 +aVThere are a lot of people who have been frustrated, especially Senator Graham, that law enforcement can't tap into information on terrorist cell phones. Senator Graham has called on companies in Silicon Valley to change their business models. As president of the United States, would you force these companies to change their models so the government can better monitor the traffic on these cell phones? +p1590 +aVSenator Graham? +p1591 +aVSenator Graham. +p1592 +aVHere is a question we have on the fight against +p1593 +aVGovernor Huckabee, how would you defeat +p1594 +aVSenator Graham, you have an aggressive military plan to try to defeat +p1595 +aVSenator Santorum, following up on what we just heard from Senator Graham, at least one U.S. intelligence report from the White House has concluded that, in order to defeat +p1596 +aVSenator Graham, you're shaking your head. +p1597 +aVI'm going to bring Governor Pataki in a minute, but go ahead and respond, Senator Graham. +p1598 +aVGovernor Pataki, should the U.S. send ground troops into Syria? +p1599 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you have not put a number of how many U.S. ground troops would be needed to combat +p1600 +aVSenator Graham, and I just want to remind our viewers, you want 10,000 U.S. ground troops in Iraq, and 10,000 in Syria? +p1601 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you have said as president you would tell +p1602 +aVSenator Samtorum? +p1603 +aVGovernor Pataki, you support ground troops - deploying grounds troops. +p1604 +aVThe U.S. Army's Former Cheif of Staff, General Raymond Odierno said that, and I'm quoting, "now +p1605 +aVBut how long would you be willing to commit U.S. troops to fight +p1606 +aVSenator Graham, you called for U.S. ground troops as we know in Iraq and Syria. +p1607 +aVAs you know, there's a growing +p1608 +aVAre you ready to deploy U.S. troops to Libya to try to defeat +p1609 +aVSenator? Senator, are you ready to commit U.S. ground troops to Libya? +p1610 +aVAlright, gentleman, standby. The fight against +p1611 +aVWe're live here at the Venetian in Las Vegas. Welcome back. As the U.S. fight against +p1612 +aVWe have a video question from Facebook. Let's watch. +p1613 +aVGovernor Pataki. +p1614 +aVHe says he was wondering with U.S. designated state sponsors of terrorism like Iran and other traditional U.S. enemies fighting +p1615 +aVHugh Hewitt and Dana Bash have questions. Hugh go ahead. +p1616 +aVGovernor Pataki, let me stick with you. Governor Pataki, a U.S. Army Sargent Bowe Bergdahl now facing a court marshall after leaving his base in Afghanistan, getting captured by the Taliban - Donald Trump, has called for his execution. The former house speak John Boehner says "he's innocent until proven guilty." Where do you stand? +p1617 +aVSenator Graham, where do you stand? +p1618 +aVGovernor Huckabee? Governor Huckbee, +p1619 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Pataki, speaking of those four Americans being held in Iran right now. Iran has suggested they might be willing to have a prisoner swap, release Iranian prisoners held in the United States, in exchange for those four Americans. Would you support that? +p1620 +aVWe have to take a quick break, but, Governor, Israel has exchanged a lot of the prisoners it was holding for Israeli soldiers who were being held by Hamas, for example. +p1621 +aVThank you. Let's take another quick break. The scramble, the scramble to protect Americans after +p1622 +aVWelcome back to the Republican Presidential Debate here at the Venetian in Las Vegas. Gentlemen, in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks, the Obama Administration policy of allowing Syrian refugees to come into the United States has come under fire. Senator Santorum, you say accepting Syrian refugees is dangerous. You say it just takes one Jihadist to destroy the world. Do you think there is any way to properly vet refugees coming into the United States? +p1623 +aVGovernor Pataki, you have said you wouldn't accept a single Syrian refugee. What should become of them? +p1624 +aVLet's go back to Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt for more questions. Dana? +p1625 +aVThank you, Senator. Gentlemen, standby, we are going to take another very quick break. Coming up, with America on edge, who has what it takes to be the next Commander in Chief? These candidates, they will make their case. +p1626 +aVWelcome back. We're live here at the Venetian Las Vegas. Gentlemen, it's time for your closing statements. Each candidate will have 30 seconds. Senator graham, you're first. +p1627 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Pataki. +p1628 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum. +p1629 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee. +p1630 +aVThank you. Thanks to all of the candidates for a very important discussion on critically important issues. This debate night is just getting started here at the Venetian Las Vegas. The top nine candidates, they are standing by for their turn on this stage in just a little while. I'll be back as the moderator. +p1631 +asVMODERATOR +p1632 +(lp1633 +VComing up more of our debate, including questions about President Obama's foreign policy and these guys and their better ideas. Coming up. +p1634 +asVFIORINA +p1635 +(lp1636 +VLike all of you I'm angry. I'm angry at what's happening to our nation. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. Bombastic insults wont take it back. Political rhetoric that promises a lot and delivers little, won't take it back. All of our problems can be solved. All of our wounds can be healed by a tested leader who is willing to fight for the character of our nation. I have been tested. I have beaten breast cancer. I have buried a child. I started as a secretary. I fought my way to the top of corporate America while being called every B word in the book. I fought my way into this election and on to this debate stage while all the political insiders and the pundits told, "it couldn't be done." I've been told, "no,: all my life. And all my life, I've refused to accept no as an answer. Citizens, it is time to take our country back from the political class, from the media, from the liberal elite. It can be done, it must be done, join me and we will get it done. +p1637 +aVWhat I think we need to stand for are solutions. I offer myself as a leader to the people of this country because I think they're looking for solutions, not lawyers arguing over laws or entertainers throwing out sound bites that draw media attention. We need to solve the problem. To solve the problem, we need to do something here at home and something over there in their caliphate. We need to deny them territory. But here at home, we need to do two fundamental things. Number one, we need to recognize that technology has moved on. The Patriot Act was signed in 2001, roughly. The iPhone was invented in 2007. The iPad was invented in 2011. Snapchat and Twitter, all the rest of it, have been around just for several years. Technology has moved on, and the terrorists have moved on with it. Let me tell you a story. Soon after 9/11, I got a phone call from the NSA. They needed help. I gave them help. I stopped a truckload of equipment. I had it turned around. It was escorted by the NSA into headquarters. We need the private sector's help, because government is not innovating. Technology is running ahead by leaps and bound. The private sector will help, just as I helped after 9/11. But they must be engaged, and they must be asked. I will ask them. I know them. +p1638 +aVYou know, listening to this conversation, let me just say, we have a lot of argument about laws but none of it solves the problem. Let's examine what happened, why did we miss the Tsarnaev brothers, why did we miss the San Bernardino couple? It wasn't because we had stopped collected metadata it was because, I think, as someone who comes from the technology world, we were using the wrong algorithms. This is a place where the private sector could be helpful because the government is woefully behind the technology curve. But secondly, the bureaucratic processes that have been in place since 9/11 are woefully inadequate as well. What do we now know? That DHS vets people by going into databases of known or suspected terrorists. And yet, we also know that +p1639 +aVThey do not need to be forced. They need to be asked to bring the best and brightest, the most recent technology to the table. I was asked as a CEO. I complied happily. And they will as well. But they have not been asked. That's why it cost billions of dollars to build an Obama website that failed because the private sector wasn't asked. +p1640 +aVI hope at some point you're going to ask me my strategy. +p1641 +aVWell, first I'll just point out that talking tough is not the same as being strong. And to wage war, we need a commander in chief who has made tough calls in tough times and stood up to be held accountable over and over, not first-term senators who've never made an executive decision in their life. One of the things I would immediately do, in addition to defeating them here at home, is bring back the warrior class \u2014 Petraeus, McChrystal, Mattis, Keane, Flynn. Every single one of these generals I know. Every one was retired early because they told President Obama things that he didn't want to hear. We must have Sunni-Arabs involved in this coalition. We must commit leadership, strength, support and resolve. I'll just add that Margaret Thatcher once said, "If you want something talked about, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman." +p1642 +aVThat is exactly what President Obama said. I'm amazed to hear that from a republican presidential candidate. But let's just start with, who got it wrong? Who really got it wrong? Hillary Clinton has gotten every foreign policy challenge wrong. Hitting the reset button with Vladimir Putin \u2013 recall that she called Bashar Al-Assad a positive reformer and then she opened an embassy and then later she said, over, and over, and over again, "Bashar Al-Assad must go." Although she wasn't prepared to do anything about it. Recall that Hillary Clinton was all for toppling Gadhafi then didn't listen to her own people on the ground. And then of course, when she lied about the terrorist attack in Benghazi, she invited more terrorist attacks. +p1643 +aVWe've mismanaged going into Iraq. +p1644 +aVWe've mismanaged going out of Iraq. +p1645 +aVWe actually... +p1646 +aVI didn't say I would cut off all communication with Putin. What I said was as president of the United States, now is not the time to talk with him. Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. There is a time and a place for everything. There is a time and a place for talk. And there is a time and a place for action. I know Vladimir Putin. He respects strength. He lied to our president's face; didn't both to tell him about warplanes and troops going into Syria. We need to speak to him from a position of strength. So as commander in chief, I will not speak to him until we've set up that no-fly zone; until we've gathered our Sunni-Arab allies and begun to deny +p1647 +aVThis doesn't do a thing to solve the problems...It doesn't do a thing to solve the problems. +p1648 +aVIt will not solve the problem. +p1649 +aVLadies and gentleman, this is why the American people are standing up. +p1650 +aVThis is why the nation is fed up... +p1651 +aVWe have been talking about this... +p1652 +aVSorry, but you haven't gotten to me. This is why... +p1653 +aVthe people are fed up with the political class. +p1654 +aVWell, first, Kim Jong-Un is a dangerous leader, without a doubt. And both Republican and Democrat administrations have been completely ineffective in dealing with him. So we must continue to isolate him. We will need China as part of that strategy. China is a rising adversary. So one of the things we have to do if we want China's support is to push back on China. They, too, recognize one thing \u2014 strength and their own economic interest. I have done business in China for 25 years, so I know that in order to get China to cooperate with us, we must first actually retaliate against their cyber-attacks so they know we're serious. We have to push back on their desire to control the trade route through the South China Sea through which flows $5 trillion worth of goods and services every year. We cannot let them control the disputed islands, and we must work with the Australians, the South Koreans, the Japanese and the Filipinos to contain China. And then we must ask for their support and their help with North Korea. Because believe it or not, China is as concerned about Kim Jong-Un as we are. +p1655 +aVI too remember September 11th. I remember immediately putting into place security procedures all throughout our company that did business in 170 countries where we thought corporate interests would be attacked next. To take our country back, to keep our nation safe, we have to begin by beating Hillary Clinton. We need to unify our party. We need to better than our government, which 75 percent of the American people now think is corrupt and incompetent. They're right. We need to better than our politics. 80 percent think we have a professional/political class of both parties that cares more about its power, position and privilege than actually on getting anything done. We need to unify our party, we need a real Conservative in the White House, and we need to beat Hillary Clinton to take our country back and keep our nation safe. I can. I am. And together, if you join me, we will take our country back. +p1656 +aVWell, first of all, I must say as I think about that question, I think about a woman I met the other day. I would guess she was 40 years old. She had several children. And she said to me, you know, Carly, I go to bed every night afraid for my children's future. And that really struck me. This is America. A mother is going to bed afraid for her children's future. And the reason she's afraid for her children's future is because we've had problems for a long time. Yes, problems have gotten much worse under Democrats. But the truth is, this government has been growing bigger and bigger, more corrupt, less effective, crushing the engine of economic growth for a very long time. This isn't about just replacing a Democrat with a Republican now. It's about actually challenging the status quo of big government. Big government has created a big business called politics. And there are lots of people invested in the status quo of that big business called politics. Specifically, we need actually to do five things to really get this economy going again. We need to go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dollar is being spent, we can challenge any dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. We need to actually reform the tax code. Go to a three-page tax code. Yes, there are plans that would reform our tax code to three pages. In addition to rolling back what President Obama has done, we need to do a top-to-bottom review of every single regulation on the books. That hasn't been done in 50 years. We need to pass the +p1657 +aVWell, first Obamacare has to be repealed because it's failing... ...it's failing the very people it was intended to help, but, also, it is croney-capitalism at its worst. Who helped write this bill? Drug companies, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, every single one of those kinds of companies are bulking up to deal with big government. See, that's what happens. As government gets bigger, and bigger \u2014 and it has been for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike \u2014 and business have to bulk up to deal with big government. So, we have to repeal it. It's tens of thousands of pages long, no one can possible understand it except the big companies, the lawyers, the accountants, the lobbyists that they hire to protect their interests. Then, we have to give back to states the responsibility to manage a high risk pool. We need to try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried. Health insurance has always been a cozy, little game between regulators and health insurance companies. We need to try the free market. The free market. Where people actually have to compete. And, we 'ought to have the government ensure that you must \u2014 and I don't use that term often, that government 'ought to do something, but every healthcare provider 'ought to publish its costs, its prices, its outcomes, because as patients we don't know what we're buying. Now, let me just say \u2014 let me just say, I know more about innovation and entrepreneurship than anyone on this panel because I have led innovative businesses in the most highly competitive industry in the world for decades. The truth is the secret sauce of America is innovation, and entrepreneurship, it is why we must cut our government down to size, and hold it accountable. It's why we have to take our government back, because innovation and entrepreneurship is crushed by the crushing load of a 73,000 page tax code. It is crushed... ...by regulatory thicket that is so vast we don't even know what's in it anymore. It is crushed as well by government bureaucrats who don't do their jobs very well, and who are not held accountable, which is why I've said we got to take our government back, and to do that, we have to know where every dollar being spent, and be able to move any dollar. We have to hack through this regulatory thicket, repeal so much, but, also, know what's in that regulatory thicket \u2014 we don't even know what regulations have been passed. Third, we need to build a meritocracy \u2014 Scott Walker, by the way, is trying now to do in Wisconsin... ...Finally, we need to get to a three page tax code, and, yes, that plan exists. +p1658 +aVSorry, I can't hear you. +p1659 +aV...Absolutely... +p1660 +aV...You need to give... +p1661 +aVThe alternative is to allow states to manage high risk pools for those who really need help. Look, I'm a cancer survivor, OK? I understand that you cannot have someone who's battled cancer just become known as a pre-existing condition. I understand that you cannot allow families to go bankrupt if they truly need help. But, I also understand that Obamacare isn't helping anyone. We're throwing more, and more people into Medicaid, and fewer, and fewer doctors are taking those payments. The point is Obamacare is crushing small businesses, it is not helping the families it was intended to help. So, let us allow states to manage high risk pools. Let us try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried, the free market. Let us ensure that as patients, and customers... +p1662 +aV...that we have information to shop wisely for our health care. +p1663 +aV...Yes, the middle ground is this... +p1664 +aV...This is why \u2014 this is why we must combine, actually, zero-based budgeting with tax reform because unless we can examine, and cut, and move, every single dollar of discretionary spending in the federal government, we cannot reform taxes and reduce spending at the same time. Ask yourself this question, how is it possible that the federal government gets more money each and every year, which the federal government has been doing, receiving more money every year for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike, and yet, never has enough money to do the important things? The answer? All the money's always spoken for. All the money's spoken for. So, we have to go to zero-based budgeting, which is a simple idea \u2014 by the way, there's been a bill for zeros-based (ph) budgeting... ...It exists, it can be voted on. Every dollar must be examined. Any dollar can be cut. Any dollar can be cut, any dollar can be moved. We have to go to a three page tax code. You lower every rate, you close every loophole, why? Because the government uses the tax code to decide winners, and losers. You have to strip the corruption out of the tax code to pay for it. You have to know where every single dollar is being spent... +p1665 +aV...Cut where you need to, and invest where you need to... +p1666 +aV...The two go hand in hand... +p1667 +aVYou know, Mr. Trump fancies himself a very good negotiator. And, I accept that he's done a lot of good deals, so, Mr. Trump 'ought to know that we should not speak to people from a position of weakness. Senator Paul should know that as well. One of the reasons I've said that I would not be talking to Vladimir Putin right now, although I have met him as well, not in a green room for a show, but in a private meeting. One of the reasons I've said I wouldn't be talking to Vladimir Putin right now is because we are speaking to him from a position of weakness brought on by this administration, so, I wouldn't talk to him for awhile, but, I would do this. I would start rebuilding the Sixth Fleet right under his nose, rebuilding the military \u2014 the missile defense program in Poland right under his nose. I would conduct very aggressive military exercises in the Baltic States so that he understood we would protect our +p1668 +aV...we have the strongest military on the face of the planet, and everyone has to know it. +p1669 +aV...Ronald Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. +p1670 +aV...he walked away, he quit talks... +p1671 +aV...when it was time to quit talking... +p1672 +aVCan I just \u2014 could I just say, as a chief executive who's had to make tough calls to save jobs and to grow jobs, I think what's interesting about Dodd-Frank is it's a great example of how socialism starts. Socialism starts when government creates a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. Government created the problem. Government created the problem of a real estate boom. How did we create it? Under Republican and Democrats alike, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, everybody gathered together, Republicans and Democrats, and said, "home ownership is part of the American dream. Let's create a bubble," and then government stepped in \u2014 by the way, under president George W. Bush, banks were told \u2014 encouraged \u2014 told, really \u2014 to buy other banks, to take money. And now what do we have with Dodd-Frank? The classic of crony capitalism. The big have gotten bigger, 1,590 community banks have gone out of business, and on top of all that, we've created something called the Consumer Financial Production Bureau, a vast bureaucracy with no congressional oversight that's digging through hundreds of millions of your credit records to detect fraud. This is how socialism starts, ladies and gentlemen. We must take our government back. +p1673 +aVImagine a Clinton presidency. Our military will continue to deteriorate. Our veterans will not be cared for. And, no, Mrs. Clinton, that situation is not exaggerated. The rich will get richer. The poor will get poorer. The middle class will continue to get crushed. And as bad as that picture is, what's even worse is that a Clinton presidency will corrode the character of this nation. Why? Because of the Clinton way: Say whatever you have to, lie as long as you can get away with it. We must beat Hillary Clinton. Carly Fiorina can beat Hillary Clinton. I will beat Hillary Clinton. And under a President Fiorina, we will restore the character of this nation, the security of this nation, the prosperity of this nation, because as citizens, we will take our government back. +p1674 +aVWell, gee, after the last debate, I was told that I didn't smile enough. +p1675 +aVBut I also think that these are very serious times; 75 percent of the American people think the federal government is corrupt. I agree with them. And this big powerful, corrupt bureaucracy works now only for the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected. Meantime, wages have stagnated for 40 years. We have more Americans out of work or just Americans who quit looking for work for 40 years. Ours was intended to be a citizen government. This is about more than replacing a D with an R. We need a leader who will help us take our government back. +p1676 +aVLet me just say on taxes, how long have we been talking about tax reform in Washington, D.C.? We have been talking about it for decades. We now have a 73,000-page tax code. There have been more than 4,000 changes to the tax plan since 2001 alone. There are loads of great ideas, great conservative ideas from wonderful think tanks about how to reform the tax code. The problem is we never get it done. We have talked about tax reform in every single election for decades. It never happens. And the politicians always say it is so complicated, nobody but a politician can figure it out. The truth is this, the big problem, we need a leader in Washington who understands how to get something done, not to talk about it, not to propose it, to get it done. +p1677 +aVThat's right, three pages. +p1678 +aVYou know why three? +p1679 +aVNo. You know why three? Because only if it's about three pages are you leveling the playing field between the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected who can hire the armies of lawyers and accountants and, yes, lobbyists to help them navigate their way through 73,000 pages. Three pages is about the maximum that a single business owner or a farmer or just a couple can understand without hiring somebody. Almost 60 percent of American people now need to hire an expert to understand their taxes. So yes, you're going to hear a lot of talk about tax reform \u2014 +p1680 +aV\u2014 the issue is who is going to get it done. +p1681 +aVYou know, the +p1682 +aVWell, this is one of the reasons why Tom Perkins and I had disagreements in the boardroom, Becky. Nevertheless, one of the things that I think people don't always understand is how accountable a CEO actually is. So you know, I had to report results every 90 days in excruciating detail. I had to answer every single question about every single result and every single projection in public until there were no more questions. And if I misrepresented those results or those projections in any way, I was held criminally liable. Imagine \u2014 imagine \u2014 if a politician were held to that standard of account. I will run on my record all day long. And I believe people need a leader who is prepared to make tough calls in tough times and stand up... +p1683 +aV...and be held accountable. +p1684 +aVYou know, I want to go back for a moment to what we were just talking about. Crony capitalism is alive and well, and has been so in Washington, D.C. for decades. What's crony capitalism? Crony capitalism is what happens when government gets so big and so powerful that only the big and the powerful can handle it. So why are the pharmaceutical companies consolidating? Why are there five even bigger Wall Street banks now, instead of the ten we used to have on Wall Street? Because when government gets big and powerful, the big feel like they need to get even bigger to deal with all that power, and meanwhile, the small and the powerless \u2014 in this case, 1,590 community banks \u2014 go out of business. You see, folks, this is how socialism starts. Government causes a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. This is why, fundamentally, we have to take our government back. The student loan problem has been created by government. Government trying to level the playing field between Internet and brick-and-mortar creates a problem. The FCC jumping in now and saying, "we're going to put 400 pages of regulation over the Internet," is going to create massive problems. But guess who pushed for that regulation? The big Internet companies. This is what's going on. Big and powerful use big and powerful government to their advantage. It's why you see Walgreens buying Rite Aid. It's why you see the pharmaceuticals getting together. It's you see the health insurance companies getting together. It's why you see the banks consolidating. And meanwhile, small businesses are getting crushed. Community- based businesses and farms are getting crushed. Community banks are going out of business. Big government favors the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected, and crushes the small and the powerless. +p1685 +aVIt is why we have to simplify. It is why we have to reduce the size and power of government. +p1686 +aVIt's the only way to level the playing field between big and powerful and small and powerless. +p1687 +aVBecky, it is the height of hypocrisy for Mrs. Clinton to talk about being the first woman President, when every single policy she espouses, and every single policy of President Obama has been demonstrably bad for women. 92 percent \u2014 92 percent of the jobs lost during Barack Obama's first term belonged to women. Senator Cruz is precisely right. Three million women have fallen into poverty under this administration. The number of women \u2014 +p1688 +aV\u2014 living in extreme poverty is the highest level on record. I am a conservative because I know our values, our principles and our policies \u2014 +p1689 +aV\u2014 work better to lift everyone up, men and women. +p1690 +aVNo, the Federal Government should not play a larger role. Look, every time the Federal Government gets engaged in something it gets worse. And then the Government steps in to try and solve the problem and we get a little further down to that progressive vision that Hillary Clinton is talking about. Companies should, if they want to attract the best workers, provide a good set of benefits. But honestly, if you're a small business owner today you are being crushed. We have 400,000 small businesses forming every year in this country. How great is that? They are employing themselves, they are potentially employing others. The bad news is, we have 470,000 going out of business every year. And why? They cite Obamacare. They are refusing to... +p1691 +aVI think it's a wonderful that that businesses start a 401(k). The point I'm making is this, the Federal Government should not be in a lot of things. There is no Constitutional role for the Federal Government in setting up \u2014 retirement plans. There is no Constitutional role for the Federal Government to be setting minimum wages... +p1692 +aV... The more the Government gets engaged in the economy, the slower the economy becomes. The more the Government gets engaged in the economy, it is demonstrably true... +p1693 +aV... The more the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected are advantaged. +p1694 +aVJohn, I \u2014 if I \u2014 a lot of people have jumped in here. I'd like to jump in. A lot of people have jumped in here. +p1695 +aVI understand. +p1696 +aVI would just say that... ... I would just say this, we've heard a lot of great ideas up here, and I agree with what Senator Rubio said. Every election we talk about this. Every election we talk about Medicare and Social Security reform. It never happens. I would like to start with a basic. Let us actually go to zero- based budgeting so we know where the money is being spent. It's kind of basic. There is a bill sitting in the House that would actually pass and have us go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dime of your money is being spent instead of only talking about how much more we're going to spend year after year after year. My point is this. While there are lots of good ideas for reform, we have never tackled the basics. And we finally need to tackle the basics to cut this government down to size and hold it accountable. So let's start by knowing where your money is being spent by the federal government. +p1697 +aVYou know, every election we hear a lot of talk. We hear a lot of good plans. We hear actually a lot of good intentions. But somehow for decades, nothing really has changed. What we need now is a proven leader who has produced results. That's how you go from secretary to CEO. You lead and you produce results. I will cut this government down to size and hold it accountable, simplify the tax code, roll back the regulations that have been spewing out of Washington, D.C. for 50 years. I may not be your dream candidate just yet, but I can assure you I am Hillary Clinton's worst nightmare. And in your heart of hearts, you cannot wait to see a debate between Hillary Clinton and Carly Fiorina. I will tell you this, I will beat Hillary Clinton. And with your vote and your support and your prayers, I will lead with the citizens of this great nation the resurgence of this great nation. +p1698 +aVGood evening. My story, from secretary to CEO, is only possible in this nation, and proves that everyone of us has potential. My husband, Frank, of 30 years, started out driving a tow truck for a family owned auto body shop. We have come to a pivotal point in our nation's history where this nation's possibilities and potential are being crushed by a government grown so big, so powerful, so inept, so corrupt, and a political class that refuses to do anything about it. I am prepared to lead the resurgence of this great nation. +p1699 +aVYou know, I think Mr. Trump is a wonderful entertainer. He's been terrific at that business. I also think that one of the benefits of a presidential campaign is the character and capability, judgment and temperament of every single one of us is revealed over time and under pressure. All of us will be revealed over time and under pressure. I look forward to a long race. +p1700 +aVThat's not for me to answer; it is for the voters of this country to answer, and I have a lot of faith in the common sense and good judgment of the voters of the United States of America. +p1701 +aVJake, I'll tell you \u2014 I'll tell you why people are supporting outsiders. It's because you know what happens if someone's been in the system their whole life, they don't know how broken the system is. A fish swims in water, it doesn't know it's water. It's not that politicians are bad people, it's that they've been in that system forever. The truth is 75 percent of the American people think the government is corrupt; 82 percent of the American people think these problems that have festered for 50 years in some cases, 25 years in other cases. The border's been insecure for 25 years; 307,000 veterans have died waiting for health care. These things have gone on for so long because no one will challenge the status quo. You know what a leader does? They challenge the status quo, they solve problems that have festered for a long time and they produce results. That is what my whole life has been about. People know this is about far more than replacing a D with an R \u2014 +p1702 +aV\u2014 this is about changing the system. +p1703 +aVHaving... +p1704 +aVHaving met Vladimir Putin, if I may... +p1705 +aVHaving met Vladimir Putin, I wouldn't talk to him at all. We've talked way too much to him. What I would do, immediately, is begin rebuilding the Sixth Fleet, I would begin rebuilding the missile defense program in Poland, I would conduct regular, aggressive military exercises in the Baltic states. I'd probably send a few thousand more troops into Germany. Vladimir Putin would get the message. By the way, the reason it is so critically important that every one of us know General Suleimani's name is because Russia is in Syria right now, because the head of the Quds force traveled to Russia and talked Vladimir Putin into aligning themselves with Iran and Syria to prop up Bashar al- Assad. Russia is a bad actor, but Vladimir Putin is someone we should not talk to, because the only way he will stop is to sense strength and resolve on the other side, and we have all of that within our control. We could rebuild the Sixth Fleet. I will. We haven't. We could rebuild the missile defense program. We haven't. I will. We could also, to Senator Rubio's point, give the Egyptians what they've asked for, which is intelligence. We could give the Jordanians what they've asked for... +p1706 +aV...bombs and materiel. We have not supplied it... +p1707 +aV...I will. We could arm the Kurds. They've been asking us for three years. All of this is within our control. +p1708 +aV...Jake... +p1709 +aV...Jake, ... +p1710 +aVAnd then it'll be my turn. +p1711 +aVJake? +p1712 +aVJake? +p1713 +aVDana, I'd like to... +p1714 +aVDana, I would like to link these two issues, both of which are incredibly important, Iran and Planned Parenthood. One has something to do with the defense of the security of this nation. The other has something to do with the defense of the character of this nation. You have not heard a plan about Iran from any politician up here, here is my plan. On day one in the Oval Office, I will make two phone calls, the first to my good friend to Bibi Netanyahu to reassure him we will stand with the state of Israel. The second, to the supreme leader, to tell him that unless and until he opens every military and every nuclear facility to real anytime, anywhere inspections by our people, not his, we, the United States of America, will make it as difficult as possible and move money around the global financial system. We can do that, we don't need anyone's cooperation to do it. And every ally and every adversary we have in this world will know that the United States in America is back in the leadership business, which is how we must stand with our allies. As regards Planned Parenthood, anyone who has watched this videotape, I dare Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama to watch these tapes. Watch a fully formed fetus on the table, it's heart beating, it's legs kicking while someone says we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain. This is about the character of our nation, and if we will not stand up in and force President Obama to veto this bill, shame on us. +p1715 +aVYou know, it's interesting to me, Mr. Trump said that he heard Mr. Bush very clearly and what Mr. Bush said. I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said. +p1716 +aVDana, with all being said to Mr. Trump... +p1717 +aVImmigration did not come up in 2016 because Mr. Trump brought it up. We talked about it in 2012, we talked about it in 2008. We talked about it in 2004. +p1718 +aVWe have been talking about it for 25 years. This is why people are tired of politicians. +p1719 +aVFirst let me say, We have just spent a good bit of time discussing, as Republicans, how to solve this problem. I would ask your audience at home to ask a very basic question. Why have Democrats not solved this problem? President Obama campaigned in 2007 and 2008 on solving the immigration problem. He entered Washington with majorities in the House and the Senate. He could have chosen to do anything to solve this pro \u2014 this problem. Instead, he chose to do nothing. Why? because the Democrats don't want this issue solved. +p1720 +aVThey want it to be an issue that they can use. As to birthright citizenship... +p1721 +aV...the truth is, you can't just wave your hands and say "the 14th Amendment is gonna go away." It will take an extremely arduous vote in Congress, followed by two-thirds of the states, and if that doesn't work to amend the Constitution, then it is a long, arduous process in court. And meanwhile, what will continue to go on is what has gone on for 25 years. With all due respect, Mr. Trump, we've been talking about illegal immigration for 25 years. San Francisco has been a sanctuary city since 1989. There are 300 of them. And meanwhile, what has happened? Nothing. The border remains insecure. The legal immigration system remains broken. Look, we know what it takes to secure a border. We've heard a lot of great ideas here. Money, manpower, technology... +p1722 +aV...mostly, apparently, leadership... +p1723 +aV...the kind of leadership that understands how to get results. +p1724 +aVBut you \u2014 you would stipulate, Mr. Trump, but not everyone agrees with you. +p1725 +aVOK. +p1726 +aVI led Hewlett Packard through a very difficult time, the worst technology recession in 25 years. The +p1727 +aV\u2014 out a full-page ad in the New York Times to say he was wrong, I was right. I was a terrific CEO, the board was dysfunctional. And he thinks I will make a magnificent president of the United States. +p1728 +aVYou know, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld is a well-known Clintonite and honestly had it out for me from the moment that I arrived at Hewlett Packard. But honestly, Mr. Trump, I find it quite rich that you would talk about this. You know, there are a lot of us Americans who believe that we are going to have trouble someday paying back the interest on our debt because politicians have run up mountains of debt using other people's money. That is in fact precisely the way you ran your casinos. You ran up mountains of debt, as well as losses, using other people's money, and you were forced to file for bankruptcy not once \u2014 +p1729 +aV\u2014 not twice, four times, a record four times. Why should we trust you to manage the finances \u2014 +p1730 +aV\u2014 of this nation any differently than you managed the finances \u2014 +p1731 +aV\u2014 of your casinos? +p1732 +aVWell \u2014 +p1733 +aVWell, Mr. Trump \u2014 +p1734 +aVA track record of leadership is not a game. It is the issue in this election. +p1735 +aVWell, I thought we had been hearing quite a bit about Govenor Christie's record as governor, actually. I think track records are very important. I completely agree that what's at stake here is the future of this nation, and the future of every American. But I do think that a track record of leadership is vital because in the end this election is about leadership. And let's talk about what leadership is. It's not about braggadocio, it is about challenging the status quo, solving problems, producing results. And the highest calling of leadership is to unlock potential in others. +p1736 +aVProblems have festered in Washington for too long. And the potential of this nation is being crushed. +p1737 +aVYou see, Governor Christie, people spend time talking about their track records, and Mr. Trump and I have every right to do the same. And Mrs. Clinton has to defend her track record. Her track record of lying about Benghazi, of lying about her e- mails, about lying about her servers. She does not have a track record of accomplishment. Like Mrs. Clinton, I, too, have travels hundreds of thousands of miles around the globe. But unlike Mrs. Clinton, I know flying is an activity, not an accomplishment. Mrs. Clinton \u2014 if you want to stump a Democrat, ask them to name a accomplishment of Mrs. Clinton's. +p1738 +aVWe just spent \u2014 we just spent the last 10 minutes... +p1739 +aV...Jake, since everyone has gotten to weigh in on this military issue, I'd like to be able to do the same. We have spent probably 12 minutes talking about the past. Let's talk about the future. We need the strongest military on the face of the planet, and everyone has to know it. And, specifically, what that means is we need about 50 Army brigades, we need about 36 Marine battalions, we need somewhere between 300, and 350 naval ships, we need to upgrade every leg of the nuclear triad... +p1740 +aV...we need to reform the Department of Defense, we need as well... +p1741 +aV...to invest in our military technology, and we need to care for our veterans so 307,000... +p1742 +aV...aren't dying waiting for health care. +p1743 +aVJake, may I just say... +p1744 +aVJake \u2014 Jake... +p1745 +aVI very much hope I am the only person on this stage who can say this, but I know there are millions of Americans out there who will say the same thing. My husband Frank and I buried a child to drug addiction. So, we must invest more in the treatment of drugs. +p1746 +aVI agree with Senator Paul. I agree with states' rights. But we are misleading young people when we tell them that marijuana is just like having a beer. It's not. And the marijuana that kids are smoking today is not the same as the marijuana that Jeb Bush smoked 40 years ago. We do \u2014 sorry, Barbara. We do need \u2014 we do need criminal justice reform. We have the highest incarceration rates in the world. Two-thirds of the people in our prisons are there for non-violent offenses, mostly drug related. It's clearly not working. But we need to tell young people the truth. Drug addiction is an epidemic, and it is taking too many of our young people. I know this sadly from personal experience. +p1747 +aVI wouldn't change the $10 bill, or the $20 bill. I think, honestly, it's a gesture. I don't think it helps to change our history. What I would think is that we ought to recognize that women are not a special interest group. Women are the majority of this nation. We are half the potential of this nation, and this nation will be better off when every woman has the opportunity to live the life she chooses. +p1748 +aVSecretariat. +p1749 +aVI think what this nation can be and must be is symbolized by Lady Liberty and Lady Justice. Lady Liberty stands tall and strong. She is clear-eyed and resolute. She doesn't shield her eyes from the realities of the world, but she faces outward into the world nevertheless, as we always must. And she holds her torch high, because she knows she is a beacon of hope in a very troubled world. And Lady Justice, Lady Justice holds a sword by her side, because she is a fighter, a warrior for the values and the principles that have made this nation great. She holds a scale in her other hand. And with that scale she says all of us are equal in the eyes of God. And so all of us must be equal in the eyes of the law and the government, powerful and powerless alike. And she wears a blindfold. And with that blindfold she is saying to us that it must be true, it can be true that in this country, in this century, it doesn't matter who you are, it doesn't matter what you look like, it doesn't matter how you start, it doesn't matter your circumstances, here in this nation, every American's life must be filled with the possibilities that come from their God-given gifts. One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. +p1750 +aVWhen America does not lead, the world is a dangerous and a tragic place. This is a bad deal. Obama broke every rule of negotiation. Yes, our allies are not perfect, but Iran is at the heart of most of the evil that is going on in the Middle East through their proxy. +p1751 +aVYou know, when I started my campaign on May 4th of last year, I was 17 out of 16 candidates. Nobody polled my name. Nobody had ever heard of me. Less than 4 percent of you had ever heard of me. The people in Iowa showed up and they are still showing up. Hundreds and hundreds of them at every event. I have done over 150 events in the state of Iowa and I have 15 more coming up. Now, by the way, I start there because someone asked me about midway through my campaign, what's the biggest surprise to you on the campaign trail? And I will tell you what the biggest surprise is: the chasm, the yawning chasm, between what the national media talks about and what the people of Iowa and the people of this great nation talk about. That's the biggest surprise. So guess what, Martha? Guess what, sorry. The people of Iowa never ask me about a crisis in the GOP, they never ask me about the polls. They never ask me about the other candidates. What they ask me about is Carly, tell us why zero based budgeting is so important. Tell us why you are a leader who is going to produce results. Tell us how you are going to defeat +p1752 +aVWell let me tell you this: news flash, President Obama, news flash, Mrs. Clinton -- climate change is not our most pressing national security threat. Actually -- actually, it is +p1753 +aVYou know, we have a professional, political class of both parties. We have been talking about the same issues for election cycle after election cycle. Yeah, government is big and out of control, and the only way to get it under control is to control the money. And the only way to control the money is to ask the federal government to budget the way you do, to examine every dollar, to cut any dollar to spend -- to move any dollar. The fancy word for that is zero-base budgeting. I call it common sense. That three-page tax code I talk about all the time here in Iowa? It's been around for 20 years. But politicians don't want to talk about it, and you bet the lobbyists don't want to talk about it. In fact, nobody wants to vote on a three-page tax code or zero- base budgeting, although they've both been around for a long time. You know why? Because if you get those two things done, you are goring everybody's ox. You are taking the political establishment apart. You are actually challenging the status quo, which is what we need in the Oval Office. So you know who I'm going to count on? The citizens of this great nation, because you have extraordinary power. But when you do not use it... ... you are losing it. So take out your smartphones, folks. The people of Iowa know what I'm talking about. You take out your smartphones. if you agree with me that three-page tax code needs to be passed, lobbyists aren't going to be in my office. If you agree we gotta finally pass zero-base budgeting, take out your smartphones. Press one for yes, ladies and gentlemen. Press two for no. Citizens, we must take our country back. +p1754 +aVWell, first of all, I haven't said that. What I have said is that in the process of examining every dollar, cutting any dollar and moving any dollar, we happen to know that in this vast federal bureaucracy we have about 260,000 federal government employees who are going to retire, and we shouldn't replace them. Secondly, at Hewlett Packard, as you know -- the people of Iowa know this -- we went through a tough time. The worst technology recession in 25 years -- a great company called Gateway used to do be right here in Iowa. But they didn't make the tough calls necessary to save all those jobs, and so they lost every one of those jobs. Yes, I've had to make some tough calls. We saved 80,000 jobs. We went on to grow to 160,000 jobs. And, frankly, I think the American people know we need a president who's going to make some tough calls. So let me tell you where I'm going to start. The American people got a bill passed through Congress that said we could fire the top 400 senior executives at the V.A. for dereliction of duty. When we know that 307,000 veterans have died waiting for health care and the V.A. handed out $142 million worth of bonuses for superb performance, I'm going to start by firing 400... ... senior executives at the V.A. +p1755 +aVHe is right there. He is right there. +p1756 +aVIt wasn't a personal attack. I was pointing out the fact that Hillary Clinton will do anything to gain and hang on to power, anything. Listen, if my husband did what Bill Clinton did, I would have left him long ago. So, here's the deal. Hillary Clinton has been climbing the ladder to try and get power and here now she is trying for the White House. She is probably more qualified for the big house, honestly. She has escaped prosecution more times than El Chapo, perhaps Sean Penn should interview her. The woman should be prosecuted. And while Mrs. Clinton has flown hundreds of thousands of world around the global, I have too. And I know flying is an activity not an accomplishment. While I know that she has held many positions and many titles she has not accomplished much of anything in her life. She has gotten every single foreign policy challenge wrong. She continues to lie to the American people. It's called the Clinton way. Both Bill and Hillary practice it, the Clinton way. Say whatever you have to say, do whatever you have to say. Lie as long as you can get away with it. Hillary Clinton cannot be the president of these United States. +p1757 +aVWell, you know, Hillary Clinton hasn't been indicted either. So that tells us a lot about our justice system in this country. But, look, the facts of Planned Parenthood have not changed, folks, and I will not be rendered silent on this issue or any other issue. And it doesn't matter what stage I'm on. Here are the facts. Planned Parenthood engages in partial birth abortion, in late-term abortion. They alter those abortion techniques to harvest and sell body parts. They have admitted that they are not going to accept compensation for this anymore. The reality is, most Americans find this practice horrific. Most Americans find horrific that Hillary Clinton's position on this is it's not a life until it's born. Most Americans find horrific Hillary Clinton's position or the Democrat party's position, that a young woman does not need her mother's permission to get an abortion. But if you are 13 years old, you can get an abortion, but you can't go to a tanning salon without your mother's permission. A president Fiorina -- in a president Fiorina budget, there will not be one dime for Planned Parenthood, although there would be a lot of money for women's health and we will finally pass the pain capable unborn child protection act. I will always stand for life and religious liberty... ... because this is about the character of our nation. +p1758 +aVMartha, can I just say we've been talking tonight about a lot of issues and we've also been talking about the fact that the game is rigged and frankly, the media has a lot to do with that. It is outrageous frankly, that Fox News, and you, would question the pro-life credentials of Rick Santorum. That is outrageous. +p1759 +aVIn over 150 events I have come to know and love the people of Iowa. And the people of Iowa know what the rest of Americans have figured out, this ain't working anymore. The government no longer works for those who pay for it. The professional political class says and does whatever they need to do to win, and then does whatever they please. We need to return to a citizen government. That is why I am running for President. The media, the establishment, they all want to tell you this elections over, they know who's going to win it, except that you haven't... ... cast a single vote yet. So, the people of Iowa, stand with me, fight with me. Caucus for me. It is time to take our country back. +p1760 +aVWell, thank you. Good evening. If I may begin by saying how honored I am to be standing here with two former Iowa Caucus winners. Governor, Senator. And how honored I am to be talking with all of you. You know, I'm not a political insider. I haven't spent my lifetime running for office. The truth is I have had and been blessed by a lot of opportunities to do a lot of things in my life. And unlike another woman in this race, I actually love spending time with my husband. I'm standing here because I think we have to restore a citizen government in this country. I think we have to end crony capitalism. The crony capitalism that starts with both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. You know, Hillary Clinton sits inside government and rakes in millions, handing out access and favors. And Donald Trump sits outside government and rakes in billions buying people like Hillary Clinton. The state of our economy is not strong. We have record numbers of men out of work. We have record numbers of women living in poverty. We have young people who no longer believe that the American dream applies to them. We have working families whose wages have stagnated for decades, all while the rich get richer, the powerful get more powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected get more connected. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. +p1761 +aVAmerica must lead because when we do not lead, when this exceptional nation does not lead, the world is more dangerous and a more tragic place. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, they all refuse to lead. Worse, they refuse to respond when this nation is provoked. Hillary Clinton famously asked what difference does it make how four Americans died in Benghazi? Mrs. Clinton, here's what difference it makes. When you do not stand up and say the truth, that this was a purposeful terrorist attack, when you do not say the United States of America will retaliate for that attack, terrorists assume it's open season. We have refused to respond to every provocation. The President wouldn't even mention the fact that Iran had taken two Navy boats and our sailors \u2014 hostage. He didn't mention the fact that they violated the Geneva convention. He didn't respond to the fact that Iran launched two ballistic missile just a short time ago, in direct violation of a deal they had just signed. We didn't respond to the fact that North Korea attacked Sony Pictures. When we refuse to respond over, and over to provocation and bad behavior, we will get more provocation and bad behavior. I know most of our allies personally. I have met many of our adversaries. I know our military and our intelligence capability, and I know this. When we will not stand with our allies, when we will not respond to our adversaries, when we do not lead in the world the world is a dangerous and tragic place. I will be a Commander in Chief who will lead. +p1762 +aVOf course I'm worried about similar problems in the United States. We can not allow refugees to enter this country unless we can adequately vet them and we know we can't. Therefore we should stop allowing refugees into this country. And by the way, we do not need to be lectured about why we're angry and frustrated and fearful because we've had an illegal immigration problem in this country for 25 years. And we have every right to be frustrated about the fact that politicians stand up in election after election after election and promise us to fix the problem and yet, it has never been fixed. I offer leadership that understands that actions speak louder than words, that results count. We must secure our border. We must fix our broken immigration system. We must enforce a pro-American immigration system that serves our interests, not the rest of the world. I understand what it takes to translate goals into results and that is what I will do as president of the United States. Of course, we should be worried, for heavens sakes. This administration has now told us they don't know who has overstayed a visa. This administration has told us they don't even bother to check Facebook or Twitter to find out who's pledging allegiance to jihadis. We can do better than this, citizens. We need to take our country back. +p1763 +aVWe need to be very clear-eyed now about who are our allies and who are our adversaries. In the fight against +p1764 +aVAnd we all believe the polling data all the time, don't we? +p1765 +aVOh, it's a problem for so many reasons. First of all, it is yet another lawless executive order. You see, he doesn't like the fact that Congress has rejected his ideas twice on a bipartisan basis, so he's decided he just gets to override them. Sorry, Mr. President, not the way "The Constitution" works. Secondly......secondly, he basically admitted in that speech that he hasn't been paying much attention to enforcing the laws we have. He said, gee, we need a few more FBI agents. That would have helped, perhaps, stop a tragedy here in South Carolina with Dylann Roof, a guy who clearly never should have been sold a gun. In other words, Mr. President, you're right, we need to enforce the laws we have. Let's enforce the laws we have. There are criminals running around with guns who shouldn't have them. We don't prosecute any of them. Less than 1 percent. But I want to go back to the technology issue for a moment, if I may, as well, because in this regard, I disagree with Senator Santorum. Look, I come from the technology industry and I can tell you there is one thing that bureaucracies don't know how to do. They do not know how to innovate. We have come seven generations of technology since 2011. We have bureaucracies that are incapable of bringing in that innovation. So, yes, there are some very specific things that we should ask the private sector to help us with, including making sure we have the latest and greatest in algorithms to search through all these databases so that we find terrorists before they attack us, not after it's too late. And, finally, when a president who understands technology in the Oval Office. Mrs. Clinton, actually, you cannot wipe a server with a towel. +p1766 +aVYes, and see... +p1767 +aVAs CEO of Hewlett Packard... +p1768 +aVAs CEO of Hewlett Packard, I was asked very specifically for some very real help. The help I was asked to provide, this is now public information. So I am not revealing what \u2014 something that was \u2014 was classified. We had a very large shipment of equipment, software and hardware, headed to a retail outlet. And I was called by the head of the NSA, who had an urgent need for that capability, to begin laying out a program to track terrorists. We turned that truck around on a highway and it was escorted to the headquarters in San Jose. In World War II, our government went to the private sector and said, help us do things that we cannot do. The private sector has capabilities that the government does not have. There are some legal authorities that are required. The Sony attack could have been detected and repelled, had legal authorities been passed in Congress allowing private networks and public networks to work together. Those legal authorities have not yet been passed. Yes, I was asked to help. I know the technology industry. They will help again. But they must be asked by a president who understands what they have. +p1769 +aVFor decades, the professional political class in both parties has been talking about the middle class. For decades, Republicans in particular have been talking about reducing the size and scope of government, spending less money, reducing the complexity. And yet, for 40 years, the government has gotten bigger and more expensive. We now have a 75,000 plus page tax code, although politicians have run for office for decades promising reform. And all the while, middle class incomes have stagnated. You see, when government gets bigger and bigger, more powerful, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer and the middle class gets squeezed. We need to understand who the job creators are in this country, because we need more jobs to grow the middle class and to grow the wages of the middle class. Who creates jobs? Small businesses, new businesses, family-owned businesses. They create two thirds of the new jobs in this country and they employ half the people. I started out typing for a nine person real estate firm. My husband Frank started out driving a tow truck for a family-owned auto body shop. And we are crushing small businesses and destroying the middle class. So here's my blueprint to take back America. Let us first actually reform the tax code from 73,000 pages down to three. There's a 20-year-old plan to do exactly that. And then let us begin piece by piece to focus on every single dollar the government spends, so that we will spend less overall and still have enough for our priorities. And that requires the government to budget the way you do at home \u2014 examine every dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. The fancy term for that is zero- based budgeting, but I call it common sense. Citizens, we've got to take our country back. +p1770 +aVMy husband Frank, that I mentioned, I love spending time with. He's down there. He was real excited the other day because in New Hampshire, he was introduced as my eye candy. You know, everybody out there watching knows this. You cannot wait to see the debate between me and Hillary Clinton. You would pay to see that fight. And that's because you know I will win. And that's important. We've got to start by beating Hillary Clinton. All of my life, I have been told to sit down and be quiet. Settle. Settle. Don't challenge the system. That's what the American people are being told now and we have been told that for way too long \u2014 sit down and be quiet about our God, about our guns, about the abortion industry, settle for illegal immigration that's been a problem for decades, as so many of our problems have festered for decades. Accept a system of government and politics that no longer works for us. I will not sit down and be quiet. And neither will you. So I ask you to stand with me, fight with me, vote for me, citizens. It is time to take our future back, time to take our politics back. It is time to take our government back. Citizens, it is time. We must take our country back. +p1771 +aVWell, I would begin by reminding people that at this point in previous presidential elections, Jimmy Carter couldn't win, Ronald Reagan couldn't win, Bill Clinton couldn't win, and neither could've Barack Obama. I started as a secretary and became ultimately the chief executive of the largest technology company in the world, almost $90 billion in over 150 countries. I know personally how extraordinary and unique this nation is. I think to be commander in chief in the 21st century requires someone who understands how the economy works, someone who understands how the world works and who's in it; I know more world leaders on the stage today than anyone running, with the possible exception of Hillary Clinton; understands bureaucracies, how to cut them down to size and hold them accountable; and understands technology, which is a tool, but it's also a weapon that's being used against us. Most importantly, I think I understand leadership, which sometimes requires a tough call in a tough time. But mostly, the highest calling of leadership is to challenge the status-quo and unlock the potential of others. We need a leader who will lead the resurgence of this great nation and unlock its potential once again. Thank you. +p1772 +aVWell, I don't know. I didn't get a phone call from Bill Clinton before I jumped in the race. Did any of you get a phone call from Bill Clinton? I didn't. Maybe it's because I hadn't given money to the foundation or donated to his wife's Senate campaign. Here's the thing that I would ask Donald Trump in all seriousness. He is the party's frontrunner right now, and good for him. I think he's tapped into an anger that people feel. They're sick of politics as usual. You know, whatever your issue, your cause, the festering problem you hoped would resolved, the political class has failed you. That's just a fact, and that's what Donald Trump taps into. I would also just say this. Since he has changed his mind on amnesty, on health care and on abortion, I would just ask, what are the principles by which he will govern? Mac +p1773 +aVLet me say first that it is disturbing that every time one of these home-grown terrorist attacks occurs, and, as your question points out, they are occurring with far too great frequency, it turns out we had warning signals. It turns out we knew something was wrong. It turns out some dot wasn't connected, and so the first thing we have to do is make sure that everyone and every responsible agency is attuned to all of these possibilities and symptoms. We even had warnings about the Boston Marathon bombers, and yet the dots weren't connected. So we need to get on a different mindset. Secondly, I certainly support that we need to tear down cyber walls, not on a mass basis, but on a targeted basis. But let me just say that we also need down -- to tear down the cyber walls that China is erecting, that Russia is erecting. We need to be very well aware of the fact that China and Russia are using technology to attack us, just as +p1774 +aVI absolutely would call on them to collaborate and cooperate, yes. +p1775 +aVYeah. Sometimes it's a complicated situation, but some things are black and white. On day one in the Oval Office, I would make two phone calls. The first one would be to my good friend, Bibi Netanyahu, to reassure him we will stand with the State of Israel. The second will be to the supreme leader of Iran. He might not take my phone call, but he would get the message, and the message is this: Until you open every nuclear and every military facility to full, open, anytime/anywhere, for real, inspections, we are going to make it as difficult as possible for you to move money around the global financial system. I hope Congress says no to this deal. But realistically, even if they do, the money is flowing. China and Russia have never been on our side of the table. The Europeans have moved on. We have to stop the money flow. And by the way, as important as those two phone calls are, they are also very important because they say this. America is back in the leadership business. And when America does not lead, the world is a dangerous and a tragic place. This is a bad deal. Obama broke every rule of negotiation. Yes, our allies are not perfect. But Iran is at the heart of most of the evil that is going on in the Middle East through their proxies. Mac +p1776 +aVLet me tell you what I would do immediately, day two in the Oval Office. I would hold a Camp David summit with our Arab allies, not to talk them into this lousy deal with Iran, but to say to them, "what is it that you need to defeat +p1777 +aVI agree with my colleagues. We need to begin by undoing -- I would begin by undoing a whole set of things that President Obama has done, whether it's illegal amnesty or this latest round of EPA regulations. But let me go back to something that's very important. We have been debating right here the core difference between conservatism and progressivism. Conservatives, I am a conservative because I believe no one of us is any better than any other one of us. Every one of us is gifted by God, whether it is those poor babies being picked over or it's someone whose life is tangled up in a web of dependence. Progressives don't believe that. They believe some are smarter than others, some are better than others, so some are going to need to take care of others. That is the fight we have to have, and we have to undo a whole set of things that President Obama has done that get at the heart of his disrespect and disregard for too many Americans. +p1778 +aVThis is a great nation. It is a unique nation in all of human history and on the face of the planet, because here, our founders believed that everyone has a right to fulfill their potential and that that right --they called it life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness -- comes from God and cannot be taken away by government. We have arrived at a point in our nation's history where the potential of this nation and too many Americans is being crushed by the weight, the power, the cost, the complexity, the ineptitude, the corruption of the federal government, and only someone who will challenge the status quo of Washington, D.C. can lead the resurgence of this great nation. I will do that. Mac +p1779 +aVNot trustworthy. No accomplishment. +p1780 +aVHillary Clinton lies about Benghazi, she lies about e- mails. She is still defending Planned Parenthood, and she is still her party's frontrunner. 2016 is going to be a fight between conservatism, and a Democrat party that is undermining the very character of this nation. We need a nominee who is going to throw every punch, not pull punches, and someone who cannot stumble before he even gets into the ring. I am not a member of the political class. I am a conservative; I can win this job, I can do this job, I need your help, I need your support. I will, with your help and support, lead the resurgence of this great nation. Thank you. +p1781 +asVBUSH +p1782 +(lp1783 +VOur freedom is under attack. Our economy is under water. The leading democrat is under investigation. And America is under the gun to lead the free world to protect our civilized way of life. Serious times require strong leadership, that's what at stake right now. Regarding national security, we need to restore the defense cuts of Barack Obama to rebuild our military, to destroy +p1784 +aVWell, first of all, we need to destroy +p1785 +aVLook, he mentioned me. I can bring \u2014 I can talk. This is \u2014 this is the problem. Banning all Muslims will make it harder for us to do exactly what we need to do, which is to destroy +p1786 +aVThey are relevant if we want to destroy +p1787 +aVDonald, this has got... +p1788 +aVThis is another example of the lack of seriousness. Look, this is \u2014 this is troubling because we're at war. They've declared war on us and we need to have a serious strategy to destroy +p1789 +aVYou said on September 30th that +p1790 +aVI'm talking right now. I'm talking. +p1791 +aVSeptember 30th you said... +p1792 +aVA little of your own medicine there, Donald. +p1793 +aVDonald, you're not going to be able to insult your way to the presidency. That's not going to happen. And I do have the strength. Leadership, leadership is not about attacking people and disparaging people. Leadership is about creating a serious strategy to deal with the threat of our time. And I laid out that strategy before the attacks in Paris and before the attacks in San Bernardino. And it is the way forward. We need to increase our military spending. We need to deal with a no- fly zone in Syria, a safe zone. We need to focus on building a military that is second-to-none... +p1794 +aV... so that we can destroy Islamic terrorism. +p1795 +aVI think we're focusing a whole... +p1796 +aVI do. I think the lesson's learned are that we have to have to have a strategy to get and a strategy to get out. Which means, that you create a stable situation. This president and this is what the focus ought to be, it's not the differences between us, it's Barack Obama does not believe America's leadership in the world is a force for good. He does not believe that our strength is a place where security can take place. He leads from behind. He creates an environment that now we're creating the most unstable situation we've had since the World War II era. The focus ought to be on the single fact that Hillary Clinton wants to double down on a failed foreign policy and we need to be united to defeat that because we're going to be in a place that is far less secure than it is today. Don't you all agree? +p1797 +aVBecause I \u2014 first of all, I know what I don't know. I know what I don't know. I would seek out, as I have, the best advice that exists. I won't get my information from the shows. I don't know if that's Saturday morning or Sunday morning. I don't know which one. I will seek out the best advice, and I will create a strategy and I will persuade the American people what the role of America should be. I've laid out a policy of rebuilding our military. All of the talk that we're seeing here \u2014 most of which I agree on, frankly \u2014 requires a much stronger military. We now have a lack of readiness that is quite scary. We have planes that were \u2014 that Harry Truman inaugurated, the B-52. We have \u2014 the Navy has been gutted and decimated. The readiness of the Marines is way down. If we're serious about America's leadership in the world, then we need to make sure that we have the back of the armed forces. The Armed Forces Radio is here listening to this today. I hope they know that if I'm president, I'll be a commander-in-chief, not an agitator- in-chief or a divider-in-chief, that I will lead this country in a way that will create greater security and greater safety. +p1798 +aVSo I was \u2014 I was \u2014 I was mentioned, so I can bring up something, I think, right? Look, the simple fact is, if you think this is tough you're not being treated fairly... +p1799 +aV... imagine what it's going to be like dealing with Putin or dealing with President Xi. +p1800 +aVOr dealing with the Islamic terrorism that exists. +p1801 +aVThis is a tough business to run for president. +p1802 +aVAnd it's \u2014 and we need...... to have a leader that is... +p1803 +aVYou're never going to be president of the United States by insulting your way to the presidency. +p1804 +aVDoesn't matter. Doesn't matter. +p1805 +aVYes. +p1806 +aVNo it isn't but it is an important subject to talk about for sure. And I think people have good ideas on this. Clearly, we need to secure the border. Coming here legally needs to be a lot easier than coming here illegally. If you don't have that, you don't have the rule of law. We now have a national security consideration, public health issues, we have an epidemic of heroine overdoses in all places in this country because of the ease of bringing heroine in. We have to secure the border. It is a serious undertaking and yes, we do need more fencing and we do need to use technology, and we do need more border control. And we need to have better cooperation by the way with local law enforcement. There are 800,000 cops on the beat, they ought to be trained to be the eyes and ears for law enforcement for the threat against terror as well as for immigration. This is a serious challenge and if we can get it right, yes, we'll start winning votes again. The real problem isn't anybody on this stage, the real problem is Barack Obama has had six years to advocate a position to fix this and he's done nothing. The congress has funded these programs of building more fencing and doing all this and he hasn't done it. He wants to maintain it as a wedge issue and so does Hillary Clinton. Republicans need to fix it and when we do, we'll be better off. +p1807 +aVI completely agree with Chris. And this administration has been so lax. Think about it. Hillary Clinton is using a private server for \u2014 where classified information go by. This is a \u2014 this is a serious administration? The president receives an inspector general's report that the Office of Personnel Management could be hacked into; they had antiquated firewalls; 23 million files have been \u2014 are in the hands of the Chinese allegedly, including, by the way, members of the press, it turns out, last week. Maybe that's the only part that's good news, so that you guys can get a feel for what it's like now to see this type of attack. This is something \u2014 we have to have the best defensive capabilities. We need to coordinate all of our efforts with the private sector. We need to give them liability relief so that we can do that. And offensively, we need to have capabilities second to none. We need to create a situation where they know that there will be adverse impacts if they continue to do what they're doing. They'll respect that. They'll respect a United States that is serious about protecting our \u2014 our infrastructure. If we don't do it, we'll continue to see what's \u2014 exactly what's happening, not just from the Chinese, by the way. The Russians and rogue actors, including +p1808 +aVAsk yourself, which candidate will keep you and our country safer, stronger and freer? Hillary Clinton has aligned herself with Barack Obama on +p1809 +aVYou've already made two comments, John. It's my turn. +p1810 +aVI got about four minutes in the last debate. I'm going to get my question right now. +p1811 +aVYes. +p1812 +aVFirst of all, we could get to 4 percent growth. The new normal of 2 percent puts huge demands on government. The reason why we have structural deficits is that more and more people are relying on government and the growth that we don't have makes \u2014 makes the deficit grow. A 4 percent growth strategy starts with tax reform. And the proposal that I've laid out is the one the Wall Street Journal editorial board has said is the most pro-growth of all the proposals out there. We cut the \u2014 we eliminate a lot of deductions and cut the rates down. A corporate rate of 20 percent, which puts us 5 percent above \u2014 below that of China, and allows us full expensing of investing. It would create an explosion of investment back into this country, creating higher-wage jobs, and so that's part of it. On the regulatory side I think we need to repeal every rule that Barack Obama has in terms of work in progress, every one of them. And start over. For those that are already in existence, the regulation of the Internet, we have to start over, but we ought to do that. The clean power act, we ought to repeal that and \u2014 and start over on that. The waters of the United States act, which is going to be devastating for agriculture and many industries, we should repeal that. We should repeal the rules because the economic costs of this far exceed the social benefit. And if we're serious about being serious about high growth, then we have to recognize that small businesses right now, more of them are closing than \u2014 than are \u2014 than are being set up. Hillary Clinton has said that Barack Obama's policies get an A. Really? One in 10 people right now aren't working or have given up altogether, as you said. That's not an A. One in seven people are living in poverty. That's not an A. One in five children are on food stamps. That is not an A. It may be the best that Hillary Clinton can do, but it's not the best America can do. +p1813 +aVThank you, Donald, for allowing me to speak at the debate. That's really nice of you. Really appreciate that. What a generous man you are. Twelve million illegal immigrants, to send them back, 500,000 a month, is just not \u2014 not possible. And it's not embracing American values. And it would tear communities apart. And it would send a signal that we're not the kind of country that I know America is. And even having this conversation sends a powerful signal \u2014 they're doing high-fives in the Clinton campaign right now when they hear this. That's the problem with this. We have to win the presidency. And the way you win the presidency is to have practical plans. Lay them out there. What we need to do is allow people to earn legal status where they pay a fine, where they work, where they don't commit crimes, where they learn English, and over an extended period of time, they earn legal status. That's the path \u2014 a proper path... +p1814 +aVI'm gonna fight as hard as I can to make sure that we shift power away from Washington, simplify the tax code, to spur economic activity in this country. Of course it's the highest priority. If we don't do that, we're stuck with the "new normal" of 2 percent growth. Hillary Clinton says, basically, we just gotta get used to it. Two percent growth means declining income for the middle class. It means more than 6 million people are stuck in poverty than the day that Barack Obama was inaugurated. It means \u2014 it means more demands on government \u2014 growing the economy is the first job, if we're going to be serious about dealing with the deficit and debt. And more importantly, people are really struggling right now. In this economy, the disposable income of the great middle is down 2,300 bucks. So yeah, we've created jobs, your \u2014 argue (ph) \u2014 brought that up early, and it was a good question. Jobs are being created, but they're lower-income jobs than the jobs that were lost. And the net effect of this is we need to jump-start the economy. I think of Jonathan (ph) and Reagan Love (ph), who are supporters of mine. Jonathan has been deployed by the National Guard, he is \u2014 he's in Oklahoma. Reagan Love \u2014 by the way, pretty great name, I think \u2014 is a teacher. When \u2014 if they had this tax cut, what they told me was that that $2,300 of money in their pocket \u2014 they would go back to South Carolina and start a business. Imagine what it would be like, instead of having more businesses closed than started, we had it the exact opposite. We would grow our economy, and the government would get the revenue necessary to make things \u2014 make things better. Hillary Clinton's approach to this is more top-down, more regulation, more taxes, more government, and it will destroy our economy. +p1815 +aVIt is \u2014 I'd say it is Islamic terrorism, and, back to the question of what we are dealing with in Iraq, when we pull back voids are filled. That's the lesson of history, and, sadly, this president does not believe in American leadership. He does not believe it, and the net result is that we have a caliphate the size of Indiana that gains energy each and everyday to recruit Americans in our own country, and the threat to the homeland relates to the fact that we have not dealt with this threat of terror in the Middle East. We should have a no fly zone in Syria. We should have a support for the remnants of the Syrian Free Army, and create safe zones. If you want to deal with the four million refugees that are leaving Syria because of the devastation there, then we 'ought to create safe zones for them to stay in the region rather than go to Europe. And, that requires American leadership. Without American leadership every other country in the neighborhood beings to change their priorities. It is tragic that you see Iraq, and other countries now talking to Russia. It wasn't that long ago that Russia had no influence in the region at all. And, so, the United States needs to lead across the board. This president, and Hillary Clinton both do not believe the United States has a leadership role to play, and we're now paying a price, and it will have a huge impact on the economy of this country if we don't deal with this. +p1816 +aV...They're not doing that... +p1817 +aV +p1818 +aVDonald \u2014 Donald's wrong on this. He is absolutely wrong on this. We're not going to be the world's policeman, but we sure as heck better be the world's leader. That's \u2014 there's a huge difference where, without us leading... ...voids are filled, and the idea that it's a good idea for Putin to be in Syria, let +p1819 +aVWe're not \u2014 we shouldn't have another financial crisis. What we ought to do is raise the capital requirements so banks aren't too big to fail. Dodd-Frank has actually done the opposite, totally the opposite, where banks now have higher concentration of risk in assets and the capital requirements aren't high enough. If we were serious about it, we would raise the capital requirements and lessen the load on the community banks and other financial institutions. This vast overreach has created a huge problem for our country, and Hillary Clinton wants to double down on that. I was in Washington, Iowa, about three months ago talking about how bad Washington, D.C., is. It was \u2014 get the \u2014 kind of the \u2014 anyway. We had... It \u2014 and I talked to a banker there. This is a bank that had $125 million of assets, four branches. Their compliance costs because of Dodd-Frank went from $100,000 to $600,000 in a two-year period. The net effect of that is \u2014 and they had \u2014 they had not one loan that went bad during the financial crisis. They knew \u2014 they knew their borrowers. They gave back to the community. They were engaged in the community. And imagine America without its community banks. Well, that's what's happening because of Dodd-Frank. That's \u2014 that's my worry. My worry is that the real economy has been hurt by the vast overreach of the Obama administration. And Hillary Clinton, she wants to double down on that. She wants to create even more so. She is a captive of the left of her party to the point now where she is \u2014 she was for the trade agreement in \u2014 the Pacific agreement. Now she's against it. She was \u2014 hinted she was for the XL pipeline. Now she's opposed to it. All the things that would create sustained economic growth she's now doubling down against it. +p1820 +aVYou could, if you were serious about... +p1821 +aVNo, I can't say that. But I can say, if you created higher capital requirements, that's the solution to this, not having concentration of assets. The bigger banks now have more and more control over \u2014 over the financial assets of this country. And that is the wrong approach to take. +p1822 +aVMaria? +p1823 +aV...We've had a 10% reduction in carbon emissions, and it isn't because of Solyndra. It isn't because of the central planners in Washington D.C. It's because we've had a great American success story, the explosion of natural gas. Taking two existing technologies, and applying it through innovation has created lower carbon emissions, lower energy costs \u2014 40% of all the economic activity in the age of Obama has come from the energy sector, and Hillary Clinton wants to suppress that. We \u2014 I think we ought to be expanding this. High growth is the path to lower carbon, and more jobs. I know for a fact, as Governor of the State of Florida, we created the largest land purchasing programs, and environment clean-up programs because we had a growing economy. Our revenues were growing at 4.4%. It allowed for resources to be able to protect the natural system. We got to get to a conservation... ...in environmental policy that goes beyond just carbon... +p1824 +aVJane Horton is sitting with my wife here today. Her husband, Chris, was killed in action in Afghanistan. And Jane spends her time now defending and fighting for military families. They're both heroes. I don't think we need an agitator-in-chief or a divider-in-chief. We need a commander-in-chief that will rebuild our military and restore respect to our veterans by revamping and fixing a broken Veterans Administration, That's my pledge to you. I ask for your support. Thank you. +p1825 +aVYou know, I am by my nature impatient. And this is not an endeavor that rewards that. You gotta be patient. You gotta be \u2014 stick with it, and all that. But also, I can't fake anger. I believe this is still the most extraordinary country on the face of the Earth. And it troubles me that people are rewarded for tearing down our country. It's never been that way in American politics before. I can't do it. I just don't believe that this country's days are going to be deeply \u2014 you know, going down. I think we're on the verge of the greatest time, and I want to fix the things to let people rise up. +p1826 +aVCould I \u2014 could I bring something up here, because I'm a constituent of the senator and I helped him and I expected that he would do constituent service, which means that he shows up to work. He got endorsed by the Sun-Sentinel because he was the most talented guy in the field. He's a gifted politician. But Marco, when you signed up for this, this was a six-year term, and you should be showing up to work. I mean, literally, the Senate \u2014 what is it, like a French work week? You get, like, three days where you have to show up? You can campaign, or just resign and let someone else take the job. There are a lot of people living paycheck to paycheck in Florida as well, they're looking for a senator that will fight for them each and every day. +p1827 +aVHe wasn't my senator. +p1828 +aVWell, I've been \u2014 +p1829 +aVNo, no. What I said was I don't believe that I would be president of the United States and have the same dysfunction that exists in Washington, D.C. now. +p1830 +aVDon't vote for me if you want to keep the gridlock in Washington, D.C. +p1831 +aVBut if you want someone who has a proven, effective leadership, that was a governor of a state, that transformed the culture there, elect me so I can fight for the American people and change the culture in Washington, D.C. +p1832 +aV, the great majority of Republicans and Americans believe in a hopeful future. They don't believe in building walls and a pessimistic view of the future. They're concerned that Washington is so dysfunctional it is holding them back. There are lids on people's aspirations. Think about it: six and a half million people working part-time. Workforce participation rates lower than they were in 1977. Six million more people living in poverty than the day that Barack Obama got elected president, and the left just wants more of the same. We have to offer a compelling alternative that is based on hope and optimism and grounded in serious policy, which I've laid out. And you can go get it at jeb2016.com. +p1833 +aVWell, the deal was done. Barack Obama got his massive tax increase, and there was no spending cuts. You just see the recent deal announced today or yesterday, more spending, more tax increasing, more regulation. And now we have to accept 2 percent, the new normal for economic growth. And the net result is the middle class has $2,300 less in their pockets than the day that Barack Obama got elected president. And now they see Hillary Clinton proposing a third term of economic policy for our country. We need to reverse that. And my record was one of cutting taxes each and every year. You don't have to guess about it, because I actually have a record. $19 billion of tax cuts, 1.3 million jobs created. We were one of two states to go to AAA bond rating, and our government spending was far less than the spending in people's income. +p1834 +aVYou find me... +p1835 +aVYou find me a Democrat \u2014 you find me a Democrat that will cut spending ten dollars? Heck, find me a Republican in Congress that would cut spending ten dollars. I'll talk to them. +p1836 +aVLook, the \u2014 the deal is already done. The biggest tax increase happened under the watch of Barack Obama, and spending's gone up. You find a Democrat that's for cutting taxes \u2014 cutting spending ten dollars, I'll give them a warm kiss. +p1837 +aVLook, the \u2014 the simple fact is that my plan actually gives the middle class the greatest break: $2,000 per family. And if you make $40,000 a year, a family of four, you don't pay any income tax at all. Simplifying the code and lowering rates, both for corporations and \u2014 and personal rates, is exactly what we need to do. You think about the regulatory cost and the tax cost \u2014 that's why small businesses are closing, rather than being formed in our country right now. The big corporations have the scale to deal with all of this. And what I think all of us are saying is, our monetary policy, our tax policy, regulatory policy needs to be radically changed so we can create high sustained growth for income to rise. The government has tried it their way. Under \u2014 under Barack Obama and the proposals of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and others, they've tried it their way, and it has failed miserably. We need to take a new approach of taxing \u2014 reforming how we tax, and reforming the regulations in our \u2014 in our country before it's too late. +p1838 +aVWe don't need the federal government to be involved in this at all. +p1839 +aVWe don't need the Federal Government to be involved in this, because when they do we create a $1.2 trillion debt. In Florida, we have the lowest in-state tuition of any state, because there's accountability, just as John said. Let the states do this. You'll create a much better graduation rate at a lower cost, and you won't in debt the next generation with recourse debt on their backs. It's always a solution of the left to create more Government from the Federal Government. It is broke, it is not working. +p1840 +aVWell, first of all, I'm 7 and 0 in my fantasy league. +p1841 +aVGronkowski is still going strong. I have Ryan Tannehill, Marco, as my quarterback, he was 18 for 19 last week. So I'm doing great. But we're not gambling. And I think this has become something that needs to be looked at in terms of regulation. Effectively it is day trading without any regulation at all. And when you have insider information, which apparently has been the case, where people use that information and use big data to try to take advantage of it, there has to be some regulation. If they can't regulate themselves, then the NFL needs to look at just, you know, moving away from them a little bit. And there should be some regulation. I have no clue whether the federal government is the proper place, my instinct is to say, hell no, just about everything about the federal government. +p1842 +aVBecky \u2014 +p1843 +aV\u2014 the governor's absolutely right. But we also need to reform Medicare and Social Security. We can't just allow it to continue on its current path the way that Hillary Clinton wants to do because there'll be major reductions in benefits in the next decade if we do nothing. I have a concrete plan to do just that, which allows people to keep HSAs to encourage savings, it allows for people that are retiring with Social Security to be able to get a minimum of 125 percent of the poverty level so that there is a baseline that in this generous country of ours no one goes below. +p1844 +aVYou have to reform Social Security, and the simple way to do it is to make sure that the wealthiest don't receive the same benefits as people that are lower-income. And make sure you enhance savings in the private market. The idea of 401(k)s. I have a small business that I set up. It took \u2014 it took an arm and a leg to be able to set up a 401(k). Because of all the federal mandates and federal laws, it was too expensive. We need to incent private savings and make sure that Social Security is protected for those that have it. +p1845 +aVBut the idea that you can't \u2014 that you're just gonna grow your way out of this \u2014 I have a plan to grow the economy at 4 percent, but you're gonna have to make adjustments for both Medicare and Social Security. [ +p1846 +aVAmerica's at a crossroads. The D.C. politicians continue to make things worse. I have a proven record of success, 32 years in business, and 8 years as Governor of the state of Florida. I will change the culture in Washington, just as I changed the culture in Tallahassee. I will do so in a way that will bring people together. We need a unifier, not a cynical divider in chief, and that's exactly what I will do. Imagine a country where people are lifted out of poverty again. Imagine a country where the middle class can get rising income again. I know we can do this because we're still the most extraordinary country on the face of the Earth. +p1847 +aVI'm Jeb Bush, and I believe America's on the verge of its greatest century, and I'm ready to lead. I'm a committed, conservative reformer that cut taxes, that balanced budgets, that took on the special interest in Florida, and we won. I look forward to talking tonight about how we can fix a broken Washington D.C., and create an environment where people can rise up again in this great country. Thank you. +p1848 +aVI think the voters will make that determination. But what I know to be true is that the next president of the United States is going to have to fix an extraordinary difficult situation. This administration, with President Obama and Hillary Clinton, has created insecurity the likes of which we never would've imagined. There's not a place in the world where we're better off today than six and a half years ago. And that requires a steadiness. That requires an understanding of how the world works. That requires an understanding and appreciation of American leadership in the world. You can't just, you know, talk about this stuff and insult leaders around the world and expect a good result. You have to do this with a steady hand, and I believe I have those skills. +p1849 +aVNo. Absolutely not. People are supporting me because I have a proven record of conservative leadership where I cut taxes $19 billion over eight years. We shrunk the state government workforce, we created a climate that led the nation in job growth seven out of eight years. We were one of two states to go to AAA bond rating. People know that we need principle-centered leadership, a disrupter to go to Washington, D.C. The one guy that had some special interests that I know of that tried to get me to change my views on something \u2014 that was generous and gave me money \u2014 was Donald Trump. He wanted casino gambling in Florida \u2014 +p1850 +aVYes you did. +p1851 +aVYou wanted it and you didn't get it because I was opposed to \u2014 +p1852 +aV\u2014 casino gambling before \u2014 +p1853 +aVduring and after. And that's not \u2014 I'm not going to be bought by anybody. +p1854 +aVNo way. Believe me. +p1855 +aVNot even possible. +p1856 +aVYou've got, according to your \u2014 to what you said on one of the talk shows, you got Hillary Clinton to go to your wedding \u2014 +p1857 +aV\u2014 because you gave her money. Maybe it works for Hillary Clinton \u2014 +p1858 +aV\u2014 it doesn't work for anybody on this \u2014 on stage. +p1859 +aVBut the simple fact is \u2014 +p1860 +aVNo. The simple fact is, Donald, you could not take \u2014 +p1861 +aVI was asked the question. +p1862 +aVSo he supports Pelosi, he supports Schumer, he supports Clinton \u2014 +p1863 +aVWhen he \u2014 and he \u2014 when he asked \u2014 when he asked Florida to have casino gambling, we said no. +p1864 +aVWe said no. And that's the simple fact. The simple fact is \u2014 +p1865 +aVDon't cut me off. +p1866 +aVNo, I don't think so, but we need to be strong against China. We should use offensive tactics as it relates to cyber security, send a deterrent signal to China. There should be super sanctions in what President Obama has proposed. There's many other tools that we have without canceling a dinner. That's not going to change anything, but we can be much stronger as it relates to that. As it relates to Iran, it's not a strategy to tear up an agreement. A strategy would be how do we confront Iran? And, the first thing that we need to do is to establish our commitment to Israel which has been altered by this administration. And, make sure that they have the most sophisticated weapons to send a signal to Iran that we have Israel's back. If we do that, it's going to create a healthier deterrent effect than anything else I can think of. +p1867 +aVI don't think \u2014 you're not stating my views right. +p1868 +aVI think there needs to be accommodation for someone acting on faith. Religious conscience is \u2014 is \u2014 is a first freedom. It's \u2014 it's a powerful part of our \u2014 of our Bill of Rights. And, in a big, tolerant country, we should respect the rule of law, allow people in \u2014 in \u2014 in this country \u2014 I'm a \u2014 I was opposed to the decision, but we \u2014 you can't just say, "well, they \u2014 gays can't get married now." But this woman, there should be some accommodation for her conscience, just as there should be for people that are florists that don't want to participate in weddings, or bakers. A great country like us should find a way to have accommodations for people so that we can solve the problem in the right way. This should be solved at the local level... +p1869 +aVAnd so we do agree, Mike. +p1870 +aVWell, he's wrong on a lot of things, but on this he's wrong because I'm the most pro-life governor on this stage. I got to act on my core beliefs. It's part of who I am. Life is a gift from God. And from beginning end we need to respect it and err on the side of life. And so I defunded Planned Parenthood. We created a climate where parental notification took place. We were the only state to fund crisis pregnancy centers with state moneys. We were totally focused on this. And I would bring that kind of philosophy to Washington, D.C. So here is a solution to this. Title X of the HHS funding, there is something that was the "Reagan Rule." It was passed in 1988. And in that rule it was defined, and the courts approved this, that a Planned Parenthood, you couldn't separate the money between the actual abortion procedures, and there are 330,000 abortions that take place in this clinic, and their promotion of it. He interpreted it the right way, the courts ruled in his favor, and Planned Parenthood did not get funding during that time until President Clinton came in. When I'm elected president, we will restore that interpretation of Title X. And this deal will be finished. +p1871 +aVThere are 13,000 community-based organizations that provide health services to women, 13,000 in this country. I don't believe that Planned Parenthood should get a penny from the federal government. Those organizations should get funding, just as I increased funding when I was governor of the state. That's the way you do this is you improve the condition for people. And, Donald, when I was governor, we also increased the opportunities for women. Women's income grew three times faster than the national average when I was governor. +p1872 +aVWe improved \u2014 we improved \u2014 +p1873 +aV\u2014 we increased child support \u2014 we increased child support with a broken system by 90 percent. +p1874 +aVI have a proven record. I have a proven record. +p1875 +aVHe did, he did. You're proud of your family, just as I am. +p1876 +aVTo subject my wife into the middle of a raucous political conversation was completely inappropriate, and I hope you apologize for that, Donald. +p1877 +aVShe is. She's fantastic. +p1878 +aVShe is absolutely the love of my life, and she's right here... +p1879 +aVAnd why don't you apologize to her right now. +p1880 +aVYeah. +p1881 +aVSo, here's the deal. My wife is a Mexican-American. She's an American by choice. She loves this country as much as anybody in this room, and she wants a secure border. But she wants to embrace the traditional American values that make us special and make us unique. We're at a crossroads right now. Are we going to take the Reagan approach, the hopeful optimistic approach, the approach that says that, you come to our country legally, you pursue your dreams with a vengeance, you create opportunities for all of us? Or the Donald Trump approach? The approach that says that everything is bad, that everything is coming to an end. I... +p1882 +aVI'm on the Reagan side of this. +p1883 +aVLook, first of all, I wrote a book about this, three \u2014 four years ago, now. And I laid out a comprehensive, conservative approach for immigration reform. And it does require securing the border. No one disagrees with that. But to build a wall, and to deport people \u2014 half a million a month \u2014 would cost hundreds of billions of dollars, Donald. Hundreds of billions of dollars. It would destroy community life, it would tear families apart. And it would send a signal to the rest of the world that the United States values that are so important for our long-term success no longer matter in this country. +p1884 +aVWell, I've been speaking English here tonight, and I'll keep speaking English. But the simple fact is, if a high school kid asks me a question in Spanish, a school \u2014 by the way, a voucher program that was created under my watch, the largest voucher program in the country, where kids can go to a Christian school, and they ask me a question in Spanish, I'm going to show respect and answer that question in Spanish. Even though they do speak English, and even though they embrace American values. +p1885 +aVYeah. +p1886 +aVWell, first of all, Hugh, if you're looking at Republican advisers, you have to go to the last two administrations. That happened to be 41 and 43. So just by definition, if you're \u2014 and many of the people here that are seeking advice from the foreign policy experts in the Republican side, they \u2014 they served in my dad's administration, my brother's administration. Of course that's the case. But I'm my own man. I'm going to create a strategy that is based on the simple fact that the United States needs to lead the world. The first thing that we need to do is to stop the craziness of the sequester. Rebuild our military so that our \u2014 so that we don't deploy people over and over again without the necessary equipment to keep them safe, to send a signal to the world that we're serious. If we're going to lead the world, then we need to have the strongest military possible. We need to rebuild our counterintelligence and intelligence capabilities. We need to focus on the fact that the next president is going to start in 2017, not in 1990 \u2014 you know, 30 years ago, or when my brother started. The world is dramatically different. And I believe that we need to restore America's presence and leadership in the world. Name a country where our relationship is better today than it was the \u2014 the day that Barack Obama got elected president. Under Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama, we have seen a weakness that now creates huge problems for the next president of the United States. So I'll have a team that will be \u2014 that will be following the doctrine I set up, and it will be peace through strength. We're sitting here in this library, which is a wonderful place to talk about this, because that's exactly what happened in the 1980s, and the world was a lot safer because of... +p1887 +aVThe leadership of Ronald Reagan and my... +p1888 +aVSo you \u2014 the \u2014 the first chance... +p1889 +aVRight after me, and then I'll \u2014 I'll yield \u2014 yield the floor. What do you guys say in the Senate when you're talking and debating? +p1890 +aVHere's the facts: When Donald Trump talks about judgment, what was his position on who would've been the best negotiator to deal with Iran? It wasn't a Republican; it was Hillary Clinton. That's what you believe. I mean, the lack of judgment and the lack of understanding about how the world works is really dangerous in this kind of time that we're saying. So is that the judgment that you bring to the table, that Hillary Clinton... +p1891 +aV... is a great negotiator, that she could bring about a better deal on Iran? +p1892 +aVYou know what? As it relates to my brother, there's one thing I know for sure. He kept us safe. I don't know if you remember... ... Donald... ... you remember the \u2014 the rumble? You remember the fire fighter with his arms around it? He sent a clear signal that the United States would be strong and fight Islamic terrorism, and he did keep us safe. +p1893 +aVThat's \u2014 that's my brother. +p1894 +aVHere's the lessons of history: When we \u2014 we pull back, voids are created. We left Iraq. We should've had a \u2014 a forces agreement to stay there with a small force, and instead of that, we politically and militarily pulled back, and now we have the creation of +p1895 +aV... because of what President Obama's done by pulling back. +p1896 +aVWell, I'm surprised Senator Cruz would say that since he was as strong supporter of John Roberts at the time. I will talk about what I will do as it relates to appointing Supreme Court Justices. We need to make sure that we have justices that, with a proven experienced record of respect for upholding the constitution. That is what we need. We can't have \u2014 the history in recent past is appoint people that have no experience so that you can't get attacked. And, that makes it harder for people to have confidence that they won't veer off... +p1897 +aVJohn Roberts has made some really good decisions, for sure, but he did not have a proven, extensive record that would have made the clarity the important thing, and that's what we need to do. And, I'm willing to fight for those nominees to make sure that they get passed. You can't do it the politically expedient way anymore. This is the culture in Washington. You have to fight hard for these appointments. This is perhaps the most important thing that the next president will do. +p1898 +aVWell, first of all, he, as I said, supported John Roberts. He supported him, publicly. So, you can rewrite history, I guess, Ted, but the simple fact is that you supported him because he had all the criteria that you would have thought would have made a great justice. And, I think he is doing a good job. But, the simple fact is that going forward, what we need to do is to have someone that has a long standing set of rulings that consistently makes it clear that he is a focused, exclusively on upholding the Constitution of the United States so they won't try to use the bench as a means to which legislate. +p1899 +aVHe was talking about me. +p1900 +aVWell, I \u2014 I wanted to \u2014 be \u2014 make it easier for him. +p1901 +aVAnd I just did. +p1902 +aVSo, 40 years ago, I smoked marijuana, and I admit it. I'm sure that other people might have done it and may not want to say it in front of 25 million people. My mom's not happy that I just did. That's true. And here's the deal. Here's the deal. We have \u2014 we have a serious epidemic of drugs that goes way beyond marijuana. What goes on in Colorado, as far as I'm concerned, that should be a state decision. But if you look at the problem of drugs in this \u2014 in this society today, it's a serious problem. Rand, you know this because you're campaigning in New Hampshire like all of us, and you see the epidemic of heroin, the overdoses of heroin that's taking place. People's families are \u2014 are being torn apart. It is appropriate for the government to play a consistent role to be able to provide more treatment, more prevention \u2014 we're the state that has the most drug courts across every circuit in \u2014 in \u2014 in Florida, there are drug courts to give people a second chance. That's the best way to do this. +p1903 +aVNo, you're wrong \u2014 you're wrong about this. +p1904 +aVI don't want to put poor people in jail, Randy. +p1905 +aVHere's the deal. No, I did not oppose when the legislature passed the bill to deal with that very issue. That's the way to solve this problem. Medical marijuana on the ballot was opened up, there was a huge loophole, it was the first step to getting to a place. And as a citizen of Florida, I voted no. +p1906 +aVNot very far. I think we need to do this state by state. There are places that get this right, and we need to make sure that we protect the privacy laws. This is a complicated place. But I do think the natural impulse on the left \u2014 Hillary Clinton, immediately after one of these horrific violent acts took place, immediately said we need to have federal gun laws. President Obama almost reflexively always says the same thing. And the net result is, you're going to take away rights of \u2014 of law-abiding citizens, the 99.999 percent of the people that are law- abiding citizens. That's not the right approach to do it. In Florida, we have a background check. We have concealed-weapon permit holders, and in fact, there's 1,200,000 of them. We have a reduction in violent crime because we put people behind bars when they use a gun in the commission of the crime. That's the better approach. But we're living in a society today where despair kind of grows in isolation. +p1907 +aVI \u2014 I think there needs to be a hearing, but the fact is, we need to encourage that kind of involvement. That's \u2014 that's exactly what we need to do. +p1908 +aVI would go with Ronald Reagan's partner, Margaret Thatcher. Probably illegal, but what the heck? Since it's not going to happen. A strong leader is what we need in the White House, and she certainly was a strong leader that restored the United Kingdom into greatness. +p1909 +aVEver Ready, it's very high energy, Donald. +p1910 +aVSix million more people are living in poverty than the day that Barack Obama got elected president. Six million more people. The middle class has had declining income, workforce participation rates are lower than they were in 1977. For the first time in modern history, more businesses are failing than are being created. That is what the next president will have to deal with. And I believe we can reverse course by creating a strategy of high sustained economic growth, not the new normal of 2 percent that all the left says we just have to get used to, but a 4 percent growth strategy where we reform how we tax, fix the broken regulatory system, embrace the energy revolution in our midst, fix the immigration system so we can turn it into an economic driver, deal with the structural fiscal problems that exist because of our entitlement problems that will overwhelm and create way too much debt. If we grow at 4 percent, people are going to be lifted out of poverty. The great middle that defines our country will have a chance to be able to pursue their dreams as they see fit. That should be the great challenge and the great opportunity for the next president of the United States, to forge consensus to go back to a high-growth strategy. And then we'll be able to lead the world. Without a high-growth strategy, our country will never have the resources or the optimism to be able to lead the world, which the world desperately needs our leadership. +p1911 +aVAbsolutely, I do, and I'm gonna run hard, run with heart, and run to win. I'm gonna have to earn this. Maybe the barrier -- the bar's even higher for me. That's fine. I've got a record in Florida. I'm proud of my dad, and I'm certainly proud of my brother. In Florida, they called me Jeb, because I earned it. I cut taxes every year, totaling $19 billion. We were -- we had -- we balanced every budget. We went from $1 billion of reserves to $9 billion of reserves. We were one of two states that went to AAA bond rating. They keep -- they called me Veto Corleone. Because I vetoed 2,500 separate line-items in the budget. I am my own man. I governed as a conservative, and I govern effectively. And the net effect was, during my eight years, 1.3 million jobs were created. We left the state better off because I applied conservative principles in a purple state the right way, and people rose up. +p1912 +aVI do. I believe that the great majority of people coming here illegally have no other option. They want to provide for their family. But we need to control our border. It's not -- it's our responsibility to pick and choose who comes in. So I -- I've written a book about this and yet this week, I did come up with a comprehensive strategy that -- that really mirrored what we said in the book, which is that we need to deal with E-Verify, we need to deal with people that come with a legal visa and overstay. We need to be much more strategic on how we deal with border enforcement, border security. We need to eliminate the sanctuary cities in this country. It is ridiculous and tragic......that people are dying because of the fact that -- that local governments are not following the federal law. There's much to do. And I think rather than talking about this as a wedge issue, which Barack Obama has done now for six long years, the next president -- and I hope to be that president -- will fix this once and for all so that we can turn this into a driver for high sustained economic growth. And there should be a path to earned legal status... ...for those that are here. Not -- not amnesty, earned legal status, which means you pay a fine and do many things over an extended period of time. +p1913 +aV...I remember... +p1914 +aV...I remember, Megyn. +p1915 +aVKnowing what we know now, with faulty intelligence, and not having security be the first priority when -- when we invaded, it was a mistake. I wouldn't have gone in, however, for the people that did lose their lives, and the families that suffer because of it -- I know this full well because as governor of the state of Florida, I called every one of them. Every one of them that I could find to tell them that I was praying for them, that I cared about them, and it was really hard to do. And, every one of them said that their child did not die in vain, or their wife, of their husband did not die in vain. So, why it was difficult for me to do it was based on that. Here's the lesson that we should take from this, which relates to this whole subject. Barack Obama became president, and he abandoned Iraq. He left, and when he left Al Qaida was done for. +p1916 +aVNo, I don't. And I don't believe the federal government should be involved in the creation of standards directly or indirectly, the creation of curriculum or content. It is clearly a state responsibility. I'm for higher standards... ...measured in an intellectually honest way, with abundant school choice, ending social promotion. And I know how to do this because as governor of the state of Florida I created the first statewide voucher program in the country, the second statewide voucher program, in the country and the third statewide voucher program in the country. And we had rising student achievement across the board, because high standards, robust accountability, ending social promotion in third grade, real school choice across the board, challenging the teachers union and beating them is the way to go. And Florida's low income kids had the greatest gains inside the country. Our graduation rate improved by 50 percent. That's what I'm for. +p1917 +aVHe is definitely my friend. And I think the states ought to create these standards. And if states want to opt out of Common Core, fine. Just make sure your standards are high. Because today in America, a third of our kids, after we spend more per student than any country in the world other than a couple rounding errors, to be honest with you, 30 percent are college- and/or career-ready. If we are going to compete in this world we're in today, there is no possible way we can do it with lowering expectations and dumbing down everything. Children are going to suffer and families' hearts are going to be broken that their kids won't be able to get a job in the 21st Century. +p1918 +aVWe've done it 27 times since World War II. I think we need to lift our spirits and have high, lofty expectations for this great country of ours. The new normal of two percent that the left is saying you can't do anything about is so dangerous for our country. There's 6 million people living in poverty today, more than when Barack Obama got elected. 6.5 million people are working part-time, most of whom want to work full-time. We've created rules and taxes on top of every aspiration of people, and the net result is we're not growing fast, income's not growing. A four percent growth strategy means you fix a convoluted tax code. You get in and you change every aspect of regulations that are job killers. You get rid of Obamacare and replace it with something that doesn't suppress wages and kill jobs. You embrace the energy revolution in our country. This president and Hillary Clinton, who can't even say she's for the XL pipeline even after she's left? Give me a break. Of course we're for it. We should be for these things to create high sustained economic growth. And frankly, fixing our immigration system and turning it into an economic driver is part of this as well. We can do this. +p1919 +aVNone of which is true. +p1920 +aVNo. It's not true. But I have said that Mr. Trump's language is divisive. I want to win. I want one of these people here or the ones at 5:00, to be the next president of the United States. We're not going on win by doing what Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton do each and every day. Dividing the country. Saying, creating a grievance kind of environment. We're going to win when we unite people with a hopeful, optimistic message. I have that message because I was a governor of a state that saw people lifted up, because we had high sustained economic growth. Our economy grew at double the rate of the nation. We created 1.3 million jobs. We led the nation seven out of those eight years. We were only one of two states that went to AAA bond rating. I cut taxes, $19 billion. If you do that and apply conservative principles the right way, you create an environment where everybody rises up. That's how we're going to win. Campaigning in places to give people hope that their life is better because too many people are suffering today in America. +p1921 +aVHere's what I believe. I believe we're at the verge of the greatest time to be alive in this world. But Washington is holding us back. How we tax, how we regulate. We're not embracing the energy revolution in our midst, a broken immigration system that has been politicized rather than turning it into an economic driver. We're not protecting and preserving our entitlement system or reforming for the next generation. All these things languish while we have politicians in Washington using these as wedge issues. Here's my commitment to you, because I did it as Florida. We can fix these things. We can grow economically and restore America's leadership in the world, so that everybody has a chance to rise up. I humbly ask for your vote, whenever you're gonna get to vote, whenever the primary is. Thank you all very much. +p1922 +asVFRANTA +p1923 +(lp1924 +VHi, I'm Connor Franta, I'm 23 and my audience is around the same age. Getting my generation to vote should be a priority for any presidential candidate. Now I know Senator Sanders is pretty popular among my peers, but what I want to know is, how are all of you planning on engaging us further in this election? +p1925 +asVWALKER +p1926 +(lp1927 +VGood evening, I'm Scott Walker, and tonight, I want to thank and Mrs. Reagan, and the Reagan Library for hosting us. You see, in my lifetime, the greatest president was a governor from California. Ronald Reagan knew how to go big, and go bold. He understood the essence of moving this country forward, and that's what I did when I took on the status quo in my state, and the Washington based special interest. Now, more than ever, America needs a leader who will go big and bold again. Someone who's been tested. I'm ready to be that leader. Thank you. +p1928 +aVBut Jake, Jake, Jake, Jake... +p1929 +aVBut Jake, this \u2014 this is \u2014 this... +p1930 +aVJake, this is \u2014 this is \u2014 this is... +p1931 +aVThis is actually what's wrong \u2014 this is what's wrong with this debate. We're not talking about real issues. And Mr. Trump, we don't need an apprentice in the White House. We don't need an apprentice in the White House. We have one right now. He told us all the things we wanted to hear back in 2008. We don't know who you are or where you're going. We need someone who can actually get the job done. And you talked about business. +p1932 +aVYou \u2014 you \u2014 let me finish... +p1933 +aVNo, no... +p1934 +aVYou're using the talking... +p1935 +aVMr. Trump, you're using the talking points of the Democrats... +p1936 +aV... and as we all know... +p1937 +aV... that failed three times in four and a half years when I got elected, because it is working. We balanced a budget. You want to talk about balanced budgets? You took four major projects into bankruptcy over and over and over again. You can't take America into bankruptcy. That's what's wrong with the politicians in Washington right now. They think we can take a country into bankruptcy. +p1938 +aVJake, yeah, absolutely, I'll take this on, because this is an issue that's important in this race. Just because he says it doesn't make it true. The facts are the facts. We balanced a $3.6 billion budget deficit, we did it by cutting taxes \u2014 $4.7 billion to help working families, family farmers, small business owners and senior citizens. And it's about time people in America stand up and take note of this. If you want someone that can actually take on the special interest of Washington, which you yourself said you were part of, using the system, we need somebody that will stand up and fight for average Americans to put them back in charge of their government. I'm the one who is taking that on. I'll do that as your next president. +p1939 +aVTwo parts to that, one on China, one back for a second on Iran. When it comes to China, why would we be giving an official state visit to a country that's been involved in a massive cyber attack against the United States? That's not just a visit, that's a 21 gun salute on the South Lawn of the White House. It just doesn't make any sense. If we're ever going to send a message to them, wouldn't this be the time, when they've issued this, sort of, massive attack against us? And, Jake, for the question, I was one of the first ones to call for terminating the bad deal with Iran on day one. The President came after me and said I need to bone up. You know, the President who called +p1940 +aVJake, just one more moment. This is \u2014 there's something bigger to this. Now, I \u2014 like so many other governors here, I defunded Planned Parenthood four-and-a-half years ago, in a Blue State. But it's bigger than that. We did that in a Blue State, we took the money and put it into women's health, so we did exactly what we're talking about here. But I think the bigger issue here is we should be able to do this nationally, and this is precisely why so many Republicans are upset with Washington. They see the House and they see the Senate and they say why can't we pass this. Why can't we defund Planned \u2014 put it in a spending bill. Forget about the 60-vote rule, there's no reason \u2014 and the Constitution doesn't call for 60 votes. Pass it with 51 votes, put it on the desk of the president \u2014 +p1941 +aV\u2014 and go forward and actually make a point. This is why \u2014 +p1942 +aV\u2014 people are upset with Washington. +p1943 +aVSo, the best way to help people see their wages go up is to get them the education, the skill they need, to take on careers that pay more than minimum wage. And, it's why we talk about it, it's all about jobs. You want to help actually get jobs, it's why on that last question we were trying to jump in on taxes. To me, it's not just about taxes, cutting taxes. I've done it as much as anyone has. I've cut income taxes, I've cut property taxes. In fact, property taxes are lower today in my state than they were before we took office. The real issues about jobs. Ronald Reagan, our plan is based on the Ronald Reagan tax cuts of 1986. That brought about one of the longest sustained periods of economic growth in American history. All the things we should be talking about tonight are about how do we create jobs, helping people get the skills and the education qualifications they need to succeed. That's the way you help people create jobs. It's part of our large plan to reform the tax code, to cut taxes, to put in place an education system that gives people the skills and education that they need. To put in place all the above energy policy, but you start on day one with repealing Obamacare. I'm the only one on this stage that's actually got a plan, introduced an actual plan to repeal Obamacare on day one. I'll send a bill up to Congress, and to make sure enact it... +p1944 +aV...I'm going to sign an order that makes the Congress live by the same rules as everybody else. +p1945 +aV...That will ensure they repeal Obamacare... +p1946 +aV...Jake, Jake, Jake, I just want to address that issue because you said I didn't answer, and I did. I said, to me, I think the real focus shouldn't be \u2014 you know, Hillary Clinton talks about the minimum wage. That's her answer to grow the economy. The answer is to give people the skills and the education so they make far more than minimum wage. I don't want to argue about how low things are going to be, I want to talk about how do we lift everyone up in America. That's what Reagan talked about. It wasn't how bad things were, it was how to make it better for everyone. That's what we've done in Wisconsin, that's exactly what we'd do as... +p1947 +aV... the key issue here is talking about leadership. Now, there's a lot of greater people up here, and you've heard a lot of great ideas out there. But I would ask the American people, look at who's been tested. When there were 100,000 protesters in my capital, I didn't back down, when they issued death threats against me and threats against my family, I didn't back down, when they tried to recall me, I didn't back down, and when they made me the \u2014 one of their number-one targets last year, I didn't back down. Give me the chance to be your president. +p1948 +aVI won't back down... +p1949 +aV... on any of these issues. +p1950 +aVTo be clear, what I said the other day was that we need to lift the political restrictions that are already in play. Barack Obama's administration has put political restrictions on the military personnel already in Iraq. We need to lift those and then we need to listen to our military experts, not the political forces in the White House, but our military experts about how many more we sent in. And we certainly shouldn't have a commander-in-chief who sends a message to our adversaries as to how far we're going to go, and how far we're willing to fight, so I'm not putting a troop number. What I'm saying is lift the political restrictions. When you do that, you empower our military personnel already there to work with the Kurd and the Sunni allies, to reclaim the territory taken by +p1951 +aV... a lot of those people, though, and I'm going to echo what Senator Rubio just said. This is an issue where, we're talking about my state, it's thousands of manufacturing jobs. Thousands of manufacturing jobs for a rule the Obama administration, own EPA has said will have a marginal impact on climate change. So we're going to put thousands and thousands of jobs in my state, I think it's something like 30,000 in Ohio, other states across this country, we're going to put people \u2014 manufacturing jobs, the kind of jobs that are far greater than minimum wage, this administration is willing to put at risk for something its own EPA says is marginal (ph)... +p1952 +aVFirst of all, I got to say to Carson, Huckabee, thanks a lot for making the rest of us look like chumps up here, but, I'd pick Clara Barton. I once worked for the American Red Cross, she was a great founder of the Red Cross. +p1953 +aVHarley. I love riding Harley's. +p1954 +aVWell, I turned 13 years old two days before Ronald Reagan was first elected. A lot of people forget this, but just a few days before that election 1980, he was behind in the polls. And I think what changed things was people in America realized they didn't want to hear what was bad about America, they wanted to know how it was going to be better. Ronald Reagan wasn't just a conservative Republican, he was an eternal optimist in the American people. And I am too. So here's what I think will make America better. We need to live in a world where our children are free, are free from the threats of radical Islamic terrorism. We need to live in an America where we have an economy, where everyone can live their piece of the American dream, no matter what that dream is. And we need to live in an America where we have a federal government that is not too big to fail, but ultimately small enough to succeed, where we send powers back to the states and back to the people. That's what I did in Wisconsin. We took on the big government union bosses, the big government special interests, many of whom came in from Washington, to spend millions of dollars to try and take me out because we stood up to them, we didn't back down in any of those instances. If you give me the chance as your next president, I won't back down any day, anyway, anyhow. I'll fight and win for you and your families every single day I'm in office. +p1955 +aVWell, I'm pro-life, I've always been pro-life, and I've got a position that I think is consistent with many Americans out there in that... ...in that I believe that that is an unborn child that's in need of protection out there, and I've said many a time that that unborn child can be protected, and there are many other alternatives that can also protect the life of that mother. That's been consistently proven. Unlike Hillary Clinton, who has a radical position in terms of support for Planned Parenthood, I defunded Planned Parenthood more than four years ago, long before any of these videos came out... ...I've got a position that's in line with everyday America. +p1956 +aVChris, I actually said that on your show earlier this year. I acknowledged that. I said I actually listened to the American people. And I think people across America want a leader who's actually going to listen to them. I talked to border state governors and other elected officials. I look at how this president, particularly through last November, messed up the immigration system in this country. Most importantly, I listened to the people of America. I believe we need to secure the border. I've been to the border with Governor Abbott in Texas and others, seeing the problems that they have there. There is international criminal organizations penetrating our southern based borders, and we need to do something about it. Secure the border, enforce the law, no amnesty, and go forward with the legal immigration system that gives priority to American working families and wages. +p1957 +aVI don't know about additional ones. We need to focus on the ones we have. You look at Egypt, probably the best relationship we've had in Israel, at least in my lifetime, incredibly important. You look at the Saudis -- in fact, earlier this year, I met with Saudi leaders, and leaders from the United Arab Emirates, and I asked them what's the greatest challenge in the world today? Set aside the Iran deal. They said it's the disengagement of America. We are leading from behind under the Obama-Clinton doctrine -- America's a great country. We need to stand up and start leading again, and we need to have allies, not just in Israel, but throughout the Persian Gulf. +p1958 +aVJust one second on this, though. We -- we spent a lot of time talking about Hillary Clinton and ---and pitting us back and forth. Let's be clear, we should be talking about Hillary Clinton on that last subject, because everywhere in the world that Hillary Clinton touched is more messed up today than before she and the president . +p1959 +aVIt's true. +p1960 +aVWell, the voters in Wisconsin elected me last year for the third time because they wanted someone who aimed high, not aimed low. Before I came in, the unemployment rate was over eight percent. It's now down to 4.6 percent. We've more than made up for the jobs that were lost during the recession. And the rate in which people are working is almost five points higher than it is nationally. You know, people like Hillary Clinton think you grow the economy by growing Washington. One report last year showed that six of the top 10 wealthiest counties in America were in or around Washington, D.C.. I think most of us in America understand that people, not the government creates jobs. And one of the best things we can do is get the government out of the way, repeal Obamacare, put in -- reign in all the out of control regulations, put in place an all of the above energy policy, give people the education, the skills that the need to succeed, and lower the tax rate and reform the tax code. That's what I'll do as president, just like I did in Wisconsin. +p1961 +aVWell, first off, let's remember. I still remember, as a kid, tying a yellow ribbon around a tree in front of my house during the 444 days that Iran held 52 Americans hostage. Iran is not a place we should be doing business with. To me, you terminate the deal on day one, you reinstate the sanctions authorized by Congress, you go to Congress and put in place even more crippling sanctions in place, and then you convince our allies to do the same. This is not just bad with Iran, this is bad with +p1962 +aVWell, I think the most important thing we can do when it comes to policing -- it's something you've had a guest on who's a friend of mine Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clark, who's talked to me about this many times in the past -- it's about training. It's about making sure that law enforcement professionals, not only in the way in to their positions but all the way through their time, have the proper training, particularly when it comes to the use of force. And that we protect and stand up and support those men and women who are doing their jobs in law enforcement. And for the very few that don't, that there are consequences to show that we treat everyone the same here in America. +p1963 +aVWell first off, for the cyber attack with Russia the other day, it's sad to think right now, but probably the Russian and Chinese government know more about Hillary Clinton's e-mail server than do the members of the United States Congress. And -- and that has put our national security at risk. If I am president, he won't think about that. You know, Putin believes in the old Lenin adage: you probe with bayonets. When you find mush, you push. When you find steel, you stop. Under Obama and Clinton, we found a lot of mush over the last two years. We need to have a national security that puts steel in front of our enemies. I would send weapons to Ukraine. I would work with +p1964 +aVWell, thanks, Megyn. I'm certainly an imperfect man. And it's only by the blood of Jesus Christ that I've been redeemed from my sins. So I know that God doesn't call me to do a specific thing, God hasn't given me a list, a Ten Commandments, if you will, of things to act on the first day. What God calls us to do is follow his will. And ultimately that's what I'm going to try to do. And I hope people've seen it in my state, even in the big challenges I took on when I had over 100,000 protesters in and around our capital, trying to do what I thought was the right thing. It wasn't just how I took on those political battles. It was ultimately how I acted. Not responding in kind. Not lashing out. But just being decent going forward and living my life in a way that would be a testimony to him and our faith. +p1965 +aVThanks. I'm guy with a wife and two kids, and Harley. One article called me "aggressively normal." I ran for governor because I was worried about my kids' future. Then, I took on the big government union bosses, and we won. They tried to recall me, and we won. They target us again, and we won. We balanced the budget, cut taxes, and turned our state around with big, bold reforms. It wasn't too late for Wisconsin, and it's not too late for America. That's why I ask for your vote. +p1966 +asVMALE +p1967 +(lp1968 +VThat's a good one. +p1969 +aV +p1970 +asVMITCHELL +p1971 +(lp1972 +VThank you, Lester. Secretary Clinton, Senator Sanders favors what he calls "Medicare for all." Now, you said that what he is proposing would tear up Obamacare and replace it. Secretary Clinton, is it fair to say to say that Bernie Sanders wants to kill Obamacare? +p1973 +aVSenator Sanders? +p1974 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor Sanders... +p1975 +aVSenator Sanders, let me ask you this, though... +p1976 +aV... you've talked about Medicare for all... +p1977 +aV.. and tonight you've released a very detailed plan, just two... +p1978 +aV... well, two hours before the debate, you did. +p1979 +aVBut let me ask you about Vermont. Because in Vermont \u2014 you tried in the state of Vermont, and Vermont walked away from this kind of idea, of \u2014 of Medicare for all, single-payer, because they concluded it would require major tax increases... +p1980 +aV... and by some estimates, it would double the budget. If you couldn't sell it in Vermont, Senator... +p1981 +aV... how can you sell it to the country? +p1982 +aVSenator Sanders \u2014 Senator Sanders, you've talked a lot about things you want to do. You want free education for everyone, you want the Federal Minimum Wage raised to $15 an hour. You want to expand Social Security... +p1983 +aV... benefits. You've been specific about what you want, but let's talk about how to pay for all this. You now said that you would raise taxes today, two hours or so ago, you said you would raise taxes to pay for your health care plan. You haven't been specific about how to pay for the other things... +p1984 +aV... Will you tell us tonight? +p1985 +aV... OK... O' +p1986 +aV... Secretary Clinton, you mentioned earlier \u2014 Secretary Clinton, do you want to respond? +p1987 +aVOK, we're out of time. Senator Sanders, +p1988 +aVSenator Sanders... +p1989 +aV... Senator Sanders, let me ask you a question about taxes. +p1990 +aVThe most googled political issue... +p1991 +aVIn the last month was taxes. Now, in your healthcare plan, the plan you released tonight, you would not only raise taxes on the wealthy, but the details you released indicate you would raise taxes on the middle class also. Is that correct? +p1992 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, let me just follow up on that. +p1993 +aVOn Meet the Press on December 20th, you said that you would only raise taxes on the middle class to pay for family leave. And, having said that, now you say you're going to raise middle class taxes to pay for healthcare as well. Is that breaking your word? +p1994 +aVThank you Lester. Senator Sanders, the nuclear deal is now enforced. Iran is getting it's billions of dollars, several Americans who have been held are now going to be heading home. The president said today, "it's a good day. It's a good day for diplomacy. It's a time now to restore diplomatic relations for the first time since 1979 and actually re- opened a U.S. Embassy in Tehran." +p1995 +aVYour response Secretary Clinton? +p1996 +aVYou mentioned Syria. Let me ask you about Syria, all of you. Let's turn to Syria and the civil war that has been raging there. Are there any circumstances in which you could see deploying significant numbers of ground forces in Syria, not just specials forces but significant ground forces to combat +p1997 +aVSenator Sanders, ground forces yes or no? +p1998 +aVGovernor O'Malley? +p1999 +aVGovernor O'Malley. O' +p2000 +aVI have a question. I have a question for Senator Sanders. Did the policies of the Obama administration, in which Secretary Clinton of course was a part, create a vacuum in Iraq and Syria that helped +p2001 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to talk to you about red lines, because former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in a recent interview that President Obama's decision to stand down on planned missile strikes against Damascus after Assad had used chemical weapons hurt the president's credibility. Should the president have stuck to his red line once he drew it? +p2002 +aVBut should he \u2014 should he have stuck to his... +p2003 +aV... line? Did it hurt U.S. credibility? +p2004 +aVYour time is up. +p2005 +aVSenator.... +p2006 +aVYou're out of time. +p2007 +aVSenator Sanders. +p2008 +aVYour time is us. Lester. +p2009 +aVJust a \u2014 just a quick follow-up, though, Secretary Clinton. Just a moment, Governor. O' +p2010 +aVBut \u2014 but \u2014 Secretary Clinton, you said that the leaders from the intelligence community went to Silicon Valley, they were flatly turned down. They got nowhere. +p2011 +aVSenator Sanders, let me ask you a question. You called Bill Clinton's past transgressions, quote, "totally, totally, totally disgraceful and unacceptable." Senator, do you regret saying that? +p2012 +aV...too long. O' +p2013 +asVHEWITT +p2014 +(lp2015 +VSenator Cruz, you've said you disagree with Mr. Trump's policy. I don't want a cage match; you've tweeted you don't want a cage match. But Republican primary voters deserve to know, with the kind of specificity and responsiveness you delivered in your nine Supreme Court arguments, how you disagree with Mr. Trump. Would you spell that out with us? +p2016 +aVSo you're saying you disagree because he's too broad and you have a narrower focus? Why do you disagree with him? +p2017 +aVCarly Fiorina... ... this is the Christmas dinner debate. This will be the debate that Americans talk about at Christmas. And thus far, in the first 10 minutes, we haven't heard a lot about Ronald Reagan's city on a hill. We've heard a lot about keeping Americans out or keeping Americans safe and everyone else out. Is this what you want the party to stand for? +p2018 +aVDr. Carson...... you mentioned in your opening remarks that you're a pediatric neurologist surgeon... +p2019 +aVNeurosurgeon. And people admire and respect and are inspired by your life story, your kindness, your evangelical core support. We're talking about ruthless things tonight \u2014 carpet bombing, toughness, war. And people wonder, could you do that? Could you order air strikes that would kill innocent children by not the scores, but the hundreds and the thousands? Could you wage war as a commander-in-chief? +p2020 +aVSo you are OK with the deaths of thousands of innocent children and civilian? It's like... +p2021 +aVThat is what war \u2014 can you be as ruthless as Churchill was in prosecuting the war against the Nazis? +p2022 +aVMr. Trump, we are talking about the most important thing, that's why it's heated. And it's, you are OK with Mr. Assad staying in power, but you are also in favor of winning. If he stays in power, Iran is winning, Hezbollah is winning. Iran is winning in Yemen. They are winning everywhere. If they are winning how can we be winning? +p2023 +aVGovernor Christie, is he right? Because if we step back, Iran goes nuclear. Is Donald Trump right? +p2024 +aVSenator Paul, let me ask you, you heard Governor Kasich say Assad must go. Do you agree? +p2025 +aVGovernor Bush, a commander-in-chief question. You've said that Mr. Trump is not qualified to be president because he's not qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin. Why are you better qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin than Mr. Trump? +p2026 +aVMr. Trump? +p2027 +aVBut, Mr. Trump, it's not CNN \u2014 I was on CNN last night... +p2028 +aV... watching... +p2029 +aVBut it wasn't \u2014 it wasn't CNN. It was me. I watched you last night for 16 minutes. It's not CNN. +p2030 +aVIt's not CNN. It's America's watching you. +p2031 +aVIt's America's watching. +p2032 +aVGovernor \u2014 thank you, Governor. +p2033 +aVDr. Carson, commander-in-chief question again. You've been the head of neurosurgery for a big hospital. You're on a lot of boards of a lot of companies. You've traveled the world. You're going traveling again next week. But does that prepare you to command troops from Djibouti to Japan, troops from Afghanistan to Iraq to be in charge of the men and women watching on Armed Services Network tonight? +p2034 +aVMr. Trump...... Dr. Carson just referenced the single most important job of the president, the command, the control and the care of our nuclear forces. And he mentioned the triad. The B-52s are older than I am. The missiles are old. The submarines are aging out. It's an executive order. It's a commander-in-chief decision. What's your priority among our nuclear triad? +p2035 +aVOf the three legs of the triad, though, do you have a priority? I want to go to Senator Rubio after that and ask him. +p2036 +aVSenator Rubio, do you have a response? +p2037 +aVMy listeners tell me again and again they are worried that Hillary Clinton will win the White House because you'll run as an independent. Are you ready to assure Republicans tonight that you will run as a Republican and abide by the decision of the Republicans? +p2038 +aVDr. Carson, last week... +p2039 +aVPlease. +p2040 +aVDr. Carson, Mr. Trump just committed to stay the distance regardless of the result. How about you? +p2041 +aVThank you, Jake. Mr. Trump, two years ago, President Obama drew a red line that the Syrian dictator Bashar Assad crossed, President Obama threatened to strike. He did not, his knees buckled. We now have 4 million refugees, Syria is a living hell, and he turned to the Congress for the authority to back him up. You have three senators to your right that said, no. Do they bear responsibility for this refugee crisis, and what would you have done when Bashar Assad crossed the line? +p2042 +aVHow much responsibility, Mr. Trump, do the senators hold? +p2043 +aVSenator Rubio... +p2044 +aVSenator Paul? +p2045 +aVI'd like to talk about winning because I think all of you are more qualified than former Secretary of State Clinton, and as were the people in the first debate, but there are different styles, and Carly Fiorina, Governor Kasich, you're conveniently located next to each other, and you have different styles. Governor Kasich, you've been on my show a lot. You refused to attack Hillary Clinton, you just don't want to go there, you want to do the up with people. Go, Ohio, OK, and I like that. Carly Fiorina, I don't have to bring up the Secretary of State \u2014 you bring her up, so . Which one of you is wrong? Governor Kasich? +p2046 +aVGovernor. +p2047 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2048 +aVCarly Fiorina, your style? +p2049 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Christie, your name was mentioned. I want to give you a chance to respond. +p2050 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2051 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. There is a lot more coming up. Ahead, a world of trouble. The challenges that one of these candidates may face in the Oval Office, and how he or she will handle it. Stay with us. +p2052 +aVOh, you're the best interview in America. +p2053 +aV... makes an interesting case (ph) here (ph). +p2054 +aVThank you, Jake. I've done a lot of great interviews with all of you, but, Governor Bush, I talked to you in February about the biggest elephant in a room full of elephants, which is your last name. And you said you would not be burdened either by your brother or your father's legacy in the Middle East. And then, a week later, you rolled out your list of foreign policy advisers, and it was a lot of the band getting back together again. So on behalf of the military that is watching... +p2055 +aV...OK, the active duty military that are at the end of the sphere (ph), what kind of a commander in chief is Jeb Bush going to be, and who are the advisers that are new to your team? +p2056 +aVMr. \u2014 Mr. Trump. +p2057 +aVI want to ask you a question, though, you promised us great leaders. And I believe that. But Jeb Bush has laid out 20 different people that have experience around the world. There are 190 countries, you can't run the world by yourself. When are we going to get some names on your military and your foreign policy advisers? +p2058 +aVThank you, Jake. Tomorrow is \u2014 Republicans know this \u2014 tomorrow is Constitution Day. We've been talking about the 10th Amendment. Let's talk about the Second Amendment. Governor Bush, one of the things the Supreme Court has gotten right is that it's an individual right and it's protected for individuals to hold it. Last week, you said the next step in gun issues is to make sure they're not in the hands of mentally ill. In this state, there's a controversial law that allows guns to be taken away from people without a hearing. Where does it go \u2014 and the problem of violence is endemic, but where does it go from what you said last week, how far into people's lives to take guns away from them? +p2059 +aVIf a family member calls and says, "My child, my brother, my sister is disturbed," ought the state be able to go and get their weapon without a hearing? +p2060 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2061 +aVSenator Cruz, I want to go to you. Your constitutional litigant (ph), are you afraid of the next- step theory of what happens to Second Amendment rights? +p2062 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2063 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2064 +aVThank you, senator. +p2065 +aVWait, let's pursue that in fact Governor Pataki? +p2066 +aVYou called for following and finding those Imams who are preaching violence in mosques. How exactly would you do that and what Mosques would you shut down? How extensive of a surveillance program are you proposing? +p2067 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p2068 +aVGovernor Huckabee... ...As Governor Pataki noted earlier, we have a history of religious intoleration in this country. About the American Muslims who would be subject to this kind of surveillance, does it violate their First Amendment rights? +p2069 +aVSenator Santorum... ...I want to start then, not on the First Amendment, but on the Second Amendment. There is a terror watchlist. You can legally purchase a gun in the United States if you're on that watchlist. Your old colleague, Peter King in the House, wants to change that law. Do you agree with him? +p2070 +aVGovernor... +p2071 +aVGovernor, back to you. Your response? +p2072 +aVSenator Graham, are you trying to get in? +p2073 +aVThank you, Wolf. Governor Huckabee, ten minutes ago you blasted President Obama for destabilizing Iraq. You hit former Secretary of State Clinton for supporting the Muslim brotherhood in Egypt. But you have said recently you would sanction countries that don't join the fight aggressively against +p2074 +aVWhich country? +p2075 +aVWhich countries are those, governor, that you would sanction? +p2076 +aVThat's an easy, give. Are you going to sanction any of our allies who say, no this isn't our fight we're gonna let you do this. Are you going to leave our allies alone? For example, Indonesia and Malaysia \u2014 other Muslim countries \u2014 will you leave them alone? +p2077 +aVSenator Graham, I just named two Islamic countries... ...Senator Graham, I just named two Islamic countries that are allies that he suggested we sanction. Is that the appropriate approach to this war? +p2078 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you... +p2079 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you, the opposite of getting into bed is shooting down the prince's plane. Senator Santorum has \u2014 Senator Graham has said he would shoot down Russian planes bombing Syrian fighters on our side. Would you shoot down a Russian plane bombing American allied fighters in Syria? +p2080 +aVWhat \u2014 if they fly into it, would you shoot it down? +p2081 +aVThe consequences would be war with Russia. Would you risk... +p2082 +aVSenator Graham, do you agree? +p2083 +aVOK, we know you agree, Senator Graham. How about you, Governor Pataki, would you shoot down Russian planes? +p2084 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you... +p2085 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you, the opposite of getting into bed is shooting down the prince's plane. Senator Santorum has \u2014 Senator Graham has said he would shoot down Russian planes bombing Syrian fighters on our side. Would you shoot down a Russian plane bombing American allied fighters in Syria? +p2086 +aVWhat \u2014 if they fly into it, would you shoot it down? +p2087 +aVThe consequences would be war with Russia. Would you risk... +p2088 +aVSenator Graham, do you agree? +p2089 +aVOK, we know you agree, Senator Graham. How about you, Governor Pataki, would you shoot down Russian planes? +p2090 +aVSenator Graham, in 2013 you were part of the leadership that pushed through immigration reform, comprehensive immigration reform in the Senate of the United States. It died in the House. Many accused you of amnesty, and may have undermined your ability to get your message out on the war. Would you sign that bill again today? Would you \u2014 sponsor that bill again today? +p2091 +aVBut, Senator, I misunderstand, did you... +p2092 +aVSenator Santorum, is that sufficient for you? +p2093 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2094 +aVYep. Governor Huckabee, you have said that children of immigrants who came here illegally should not be punished by their parents actions. As president, would you continue President Obama's policy, vis-a-vis, the Dreamers? +p2095 +aVSenator... +p2096 +aVSenator Santorum, you... ...Your position on that policy, assuming that it was passed constitutionally, would you allow this, would you support such an act? +p2097 +aVThank you, Jake. Governor, you signed the pledge to support the Republican nominee and you promptly broke it. By doing so, by Tweeting out that you would not support Donald Trump, have you released Donald Trump to be a free agent again or anyone else in the field? +p2098 +aVGovernor... +p2099 +aV-- you said on Twitter that you would not support Donald Trump. If he's the nominee... +p2100 +aV-- will you support him? +p2101 +aVWould you really vote for Hillary Clinton... +p2102 +aV-- or vote for Donald Trump if he's the nominee? +p2103 +aVGovernor Jindal, Senator Graham just said it's all about winning and, in fact, if former Secretary of State Clinton is the successor to President Obama, none of this matters and all this conversation is beside the point. In the Washington elite, they have a habit of saying nice things about each other until election time. Senator Graham has praised Secretary of State Clinton as a great choice to be the secretary of state, as a national treasure. Can anyone from inside of Washington win this election cycle, having praised Secretary of State Clinton that way? +p2104 +aVSenator Graham, took a shot at there and you're having a good debate but there is this problem of Washington elites and saying wonderful things about each other. +p2105 +aVIs that responsive to calling Hillary Clinton a national treasure, Senator? +p2106 +aVBut Senator, can you go back and forth that way, and expect to have an argument with the American people to persuade them about that? +p2107 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2108 +aVThank you, senator. +p2109 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2110 +aVLet's talk about the economy, if We could. Governor Pataki. +p2111 +aVJeb Bush and Donald Trump are both proposing raising taxes on hedge fund managers who pay at a lower rate. Governor Pataki, you were the governor of New York, home of Wall Street. Do you agree that hedge fund managers need to be paying a higher rate? +p2112 +aVSo you are with Jeb Bush and Donald Trump on the hedge fund? +p2113 +aVGovernor Jindal -- Governor Jindal, that's three Republicans running for president who support hedge fund managers paying a higher rate. Are you the fourth? +p2114 +aVLet's stay on the topic of taxes. +p2115 +aVI want to bring in my colleague, Dana Bash. +p2116 +aVThere are other ways, Governor, than bombing Iran. I want to quote Rick Santorum. "We should send a very clear message that If you are a scientist and you're going to work on a nuclear program to develop a bomb for Iran, you are not safe." Does that message work? Is anything that works on the table? +p2117 +aVSenator Santorum, stay on that: any means necessary? Is that what you meant to say? Is that what's still on this table after this, what many of us believe is a catastrophic deal? +p2118 +asVJINDAL +p2119 +(lp2120 +V...Thank you. +p2121 +aVA couple of things. In Louisiana, we're actually a top 10 state for job growth. As we sit here today, we have more people working in Louisiana than ever before, earning a higher income than ever before. We've had 60 months in a row of consecutive job growth in our state. So the reality is, we have diversified our economy. Yes, I've got an interview plan that says all of the above, that creates good manufacturing jobs in America. We've also got one of the fastest growing IT sectors by percentage. We are growing Louisiana's economy. But let me get to the point that is, I think, the most important issue here tonight. You're going to have several hours of debate on the economy and we're going to have a great discussion about energy plans and tax rates. And that's all great. The most important thing we have to do, we have a fundamental choice to make, folks. Are we willing to cut the government economy so we can grow the American economy? That is the most fundamental question we've got to answer. We are on the path to socialism right now. These are mutually exclusive. The hour is late, but it is not too late for America. Though under President Obama, you asked about his economy. We've got record dependents, a record number of Americans on food stamps, record low participation rate in the work force. This is a fundamental choice. Sending a big government Republican to DC is not enough to fix this problem. It's not enough just to beat Hillary Clinton. We've got to change the direction of our country. What that means is let's shrink the government, not slow its growth rate, but actually shrink the government so we can grow the American economy. That is the fundamental issue we should be debating here tonight. +p2122 +aVNo, I think right now there's not much difference between the two parties. The reason we keep losing nationally is we try to be cheaper versions of the Democratic party. What if the Republicans, what if Republicans actually embraced our own principles? So I earlier said if you want bigger paychecks, you want more jobs, you want less government dependence, you're going to have to cut government spending. Here's the dirty little secret. You're going to hear a lot of Republicans tonight in this debate and the next one talk about cutting government spending. It's going to sound great. There's only one of us that's actually cut government spending. Not two, there's one, and you're looking at him. We've got four senators running. They've never cut anything in D.C. They give these long speeches called filibusters, they pat themselves on the back, nothing changes. When they go to relieve themselves their cause and the toilet get flushed at the same time, and the American people lose. We've got a bunch of governors running, we've got seven current former governors running. I'm the only one that has cut government spending. Everybody else can talk about it. If they haven't done it in their state capitals, what makes them thank that \u2014 what makes us think they'll do it if we send them to D.C. Look, when politicians talk, we need to look at what they have done, not what they have said. Otherwise, it's a bunch of hot air. We've cut our budget 26 percent. Record number of Louisianans working. If Republicans want to win national elections, let's be conservatives, let's be Republicans, let's not be a second version of the liberal party, let's cut government spending and grow the American economy. +p2123 +aVWait, wait, wait. I want to respond. He has criticized something I said. I want to respond to that. Mike, with all due respect, I admire your social views, I share many of those views, your record as Governor tells a different story. Was \u2014 your time as Governor spending in Arkansas went up 65 percent, number of state workers went up 20 percent, the taxes for the average citizen went up 47 percent. That's not a record of cutting. I'm saying we've actually cut. We reduced the size of our budget. So wanting to cut is one thing, actually cutting is a different thing. Facts don't lie. +p2124 +aVI was absolutely a skeptic of giving this president more power. He negotiated a bad deal with Iran. He breaks the law routinely. I don't know why Congress would want to concede more authority to him. Look, this trade deal is 6,000 pages long. Unlike ObamaCare, I think we should read it before we decide whether we would vote for it or not vote for it. I am for trade deals, but I want to make sure they are fair trade deals. I want to come back to something that Chris had said earlier. Look, I absolutely agree we've got to beat Hillary Clinton. But just sending any Republican is not good enough. We've had a Republican majority in the Senate and the House. What has changed? If we send another big government Republican to the White House, we will not do enough to fix what is wrong in this country. Chris, I think records matter. I think the way we govern matter. Under your leadership in New Jersey, your budget has gone up 15 percent. It's gone down 26 percent in Louisiana. It has gone up $5 million in New Jersey. It's gone down $9 billion in Louisiana. In New Jersey, you've had nine credit downgrades, setting a record. We've had eight credit upgrades in Louisiana. My point is this. If politicians say they're going to be conservative, they say they're going to cut spending but they don't do it, why should we send them to DC? It gets harder, not easier, when we send them to DC. Let's not be a second liberal party. Let's actually cut government spending. Let's grow the American economy. Let's not just beat Hillary, let's elect a conservative to the White House, not just any Republican. +p2125 +aVBut wait a minute, records matter. Records \u2014 records matter. Yes, we've got to... +p2126 +aV\u2014 beat Hillary Clinton. But Chris, it's also true that you expanded food stamps at a time that we've got record numbers of Americans on food stamps. It's also true you caved into ObamaCare. You expanded Medicaid. We've got a choice in front of us. This is an important debate. This is not about comparing Louisiana to New Jersey or Bobby to Chris. This is an important debate for the American people. This is supposed to be an economics debate. Let's have a debate. Do we want to grow government or do we want to grow the American economy? Do we want to grow dependence on government, or do we want to grow good paying jobs in the private sector... +p2127 +aV...you don't grow the economy by putting more people on food stamps, more people in Medicaid, you grow the economy by cutting government, cutting spending. That's what we've done in Louisiana, you haven't done that in New Jersey... +p2128 +aV...We need a conservative, not a big government republican in D.C. +p2129 +aV...This is how we.... +p2130 +aV...This is how we move our country forward, look, this is not about between me and Chris... +p2131 +aV...This is about......are we going to be the party... +p2132 +aVWell, look, only one other opponent, actually, one other candidate, actually, has a plan. That's Jeb Bush, and he creates a new entitlement program. My plan actually gets rid of all of Obamacare, it's great that Senator Cruz will shut down the government over Obamacare, but he still hasn't given us his plan to get rid of it. It's great that other republicans talk about getting rid of it. You go to a town hall in Iowa, or New Hampshire, ask them how they're actually going to get rid of it \u2014 my plan has been online for over a year. It gets rid of all of Obamacare, it reduces the cost. It actually puts Americans, their patients, their doctors back in control. And, it actually helps those that really need this help \u2014 but, this is one of the most critical issues we face domestically. I think I \u2014 look, right now, I think I am the only candidate running that refused to expand Medicaid. I'm the only one that turned down \u2014 that did what we could to fight Obamacare. This is an important point, and, look, I appreciate Chris's nice compliments to me. And, Chris, you look to me very well, I love Mary-pat, but this isn't about me and Chris. This is about the country, and this is about what direction \u2014 this is the most important election in our lifetimes. Folks, a couple of years ago they told us give them the republican majorities in the House and the Senate, they'd stop Obamacare, and amnesty, and the bad Iran deal \u2014 nothing changed. If they fooled us once, shame on them. If they fooled us twice, shame on us. Don't let them fool us again. Chris, look, I'll give you your ribbon for participation, and a juicebox, but in the real world, it's about results......but, in the real world it's about results. It's about actually cutting government spending, not just talking about cutting government spending. +p2133 +aVWe can waste our time. And I think this is why people were so frustrated with the last debate with these kinds of silly questions. We've only got a certain amount of time to talk about the economy. Let me use my time to say this. I want to fire everybody in D.C. in both parties. I think they all \u2014 we need term limits, get rid of them all, make them live under the same rules they passed on the rest of us. +p2134 +aVSo under our tax plan, look, the top rate is 25 percent, 10 percent, 2 percent. That 2 percent is the most important. I think everybody should pay something. I think everybody should have skin in the game. We shouldn't be creating one group of Americans that's dependent on government, another group that's paying taxes. I want to come back to an earlier point though, that Chris said. Look, we all agree Hillary Clinton is bad. We all agree we need to beat her. But let's not pretend that out-of-control government spending is only a Democratic issue. This is a bipartisan issue, and just sending another big government Republican to D.C. is not good enough. We need to actually cut government spending. We need to cut \u2014 and we're not going to do it just by sending any Republican. I'm glad he's vetoed taxes. The Tax Foundation graded New Jersey the 50th worst business climate due to taxes, high taxes in the state of New Jersey. +p2135 +aVWell, a couple of reasons. Look, we know big companies don't pay those taxes today. They hire lobbyists and accountants and lawyers. It's the small businesses that get hit. I want to get rid of the corporate tax, I want to bring the jobs and investment back to America. Make the CEOs pay the same rates as everybody else. Get rid of all the corporate welfare as well. Like I said, make everybody pay something, earned success is so much better than unearned success. And let's actually shrink the size of government. My plan purposely does that. Look, we can talk all night about tax plans, energy plans, I think you will find a lot of agreement among all the Republicans. We all want to get rid of the death tax, the marriage penalty. We all want lower, fewer brackets. We want to downsize, take away power from the IRS. What we really need to be talking about is this, these last seven years, we've had more government spending, more government dependence. Poverty has gone up. Inequality has gone up. Only the top 10 percent have seen their incomes go up \u2014 their median incomes go up. We actually have more inequality thanks to what we have seen, the largest most expensive experiment in progressive government. We can't keep spending money we don't have. And the reality is, the last couple of years it hasn't mattered whether Republicans or Democrats were in control. We keep stealing from our children. That is immoral. It is wrong. And we're creating more government dependence. If we really want to grow the economy, yes, you need a rational energy plan, and you've got to rein in the EPA, and you've got to repeal Obamacare, and you've got to cut taxes. But none of that will be enough if we're not serious about cutting government spending. We cannot afford to elect a big- government Republican. We need somebody. This is the most important election. Hillary Clinton is gift-wrapping this election to us. Let's not waste this opportunity to apply conservative principles and cut the size of government. +p2136 +aVWell, a couple things, first, I want to echo what others have said and thank those veterans that run towards danger, not away from it, so we can live in the greatest country in the history of the world. I think every veteran should get that card, and they should be allowed to get that health care wherever they want in the private sector. But, I also think \u2014 or the public sector, I also think we need to fire some of the V.A. bureaucrats. Somebody should go to jail over these scandals, and it is a crime that it has not happened. When it comes \u2014 when it comes to uniting the American people, one of the things we've done to honor our veterans in Louisiana, we've given thousands \u2014 and I've hand delivered these, to veterans \u2014 medals to veterans to thank them for their service. I'll just give you one quick example, I know my time is out, but, we've had Vietnam war veterans with tears in their eyes saying nobody has ever thanked them before. We've had World War II veterans, children, who said they never heard the stories of their parents heroic sacrifice. Whatever conflict, whenever they served, one of the things we can do is to teach our children we do live in the greatest country in the history of the world. We got a president who doesn't believe in American exceptionalism, but we still do, and it's because of those men and women in uniform. We should thank them everyday, not just veterans day. +p2137 +aVYou know, I have spent a lot of time tonight talking about the need to cut the size of government. The reason I'm doing that \u2014 it's not just about balancing the budget, or balancing a bunch of numbers. Because I believe in the American dream. I think President Obama's done a lot of damage to our country. I think that one of the worst things he has done is try to change the idea of America to be one of dependence. There are a lot of politicians that talk about cutting government spending, I'm the only one that's actually done it that's running for President. The rest of them, it's a lot of hot air. If you want your paychecks to go up, if you want more good paying jobs, if you want the government out of your lives, we've got to cut the size of government. It's not enough just to elect any republican, we've seen that. We've got to elect a republican that will take on the establishment in both parties. I'm asking for your support. Thank you. +p2138 +aVI think the reason voters are so frustrated is nothing seems to change in D.C. Look, over the next several hours, you're going to hear several Republicans all tell you they want to shrink the size of government and grow the American economy and it sounds great and we've got to do it. Here's the truth \u2014 of all these folks talking, I'm the only one that has cut the size of government. There's not two of us, there's one of us. The rest of it is all just hot air. When politicians talk, we need to pay attention to what they do, not what they say. I'm the only one that's reduced the size of government. Let's shrink the government economy. Let's grow the American economy. +p2139 +aVWell, look, I think that's a false choice. I think this is a very bad deal. Whenever they tell us in D.C. they're going to cut tomorrow, that means they're never going to cut. Tomorrow never seems to happen. Instead, why don't we actually follow our conservative principles? Why not insist on structural reforms? Why not cut spending? I don't mean strength (ph) the growth rate, I mean, actually spend less. Why not a balanced budget in the amendment \u2014 an amendment to the Constitution? Why not a super-majority vote before they grow our taxes, before they grow the government faster than the economy? Let's be honest, $18 trillion dollars of debt. Record low participation rate in the workforce, record number of Americans on food stamps. We are going the way of Europe. The left is trying to turn the American Dream into the European Nightmare. If you're a Republican... +p2140 +aV... willing to stand up and fight... +p2141 +aVI think that's a false choice. If I were \u2014 I were to lead, we would pass a conservative budget, challenge the President to do the right thing. And, here's the problem, the Republicans never want to fight. Give Pelosi and Reed credit, they forced Obamacare and socialism down our throats, why won't the Republicans fight half as hard for freedom and opportunity. This was a bad budget. +p2142 +aVAbsolutely, Jhon. And what we did is we cut state spending. We've cut our budget 26 percent, according to Cato and other analysis, the only candidate that's actually reduced government spending. Look, the left always complains there's not enough money for government. We have 30,000 fewer state employees than the day I took office, eight credit upgrades, we're a top 10 state for private sector job creation. We've got a choice. You grow the government economy or the American economy. When I became governor, we had 25 years in a row of outmigration. We were coming back from Katrina. The question many were asking, will Louisiana rebuild, should Louisiana rebuild? Seven years in a row, more people moving into the state than were leaving the state. We now have more people working than ever before, erg a higher income than ever before. Yes, we've reduced the size of government. That's exactly what we need to do in DC. In DC, the Republicans slowed the growth rate, they claimed victory. That's not enough. Let's be honest with where we are today. We are running off of a cliff. Look, we'll be the next Greece and we can talk and we can rearrange the chairs. Over over $18 trillion of debt, no wonder our economy has been stagnant. We haven't had real growth. If you're a young student here, you've not seen a robust American economy. +p2143 +aVWell, Jhon, a couple of things. Not only did we not raise taxes, we did the largest income tax cut in the state's history. And I'm proud of that record. I think that's the kind of leadership voters want in DC. Look, if you want a Republican that's going go grow government spending, if you want a \u2014 a president or if you want a candidate who's going to income taxes, I'm not your guy. If you want somebody that's going to do and say the things that can't be said, can't be done, I'm asking a vote for me to join my cause. That's how dangerous these times are. This is \u2014 this is a \u2014 this is \u2014 these are dangerous times for America. I think we have a chance to rescue the idea of America, but if we don't do it now, four years will be too late from now. So, yes, I'm proud we cut taxes, we cut spending, 30,000 fewer state government bureaucrats than the day I took office. I absolutely will do that in DC. +p2144 +aVThank you. +p2145 +aVAbsolutely, John. I'd go further. My tax plan, like everybody's, like a lot of Republicans' \u2014 look, I'd get rid of the death penalty and the marriage penalty, and I'd simplify the brackets to 25 percent, 10 percent, 2 percent, so that an average middle-class family \u2014 a teacher marries a law enforcement official (ph)... +p2146 +aV...I \u2014 I'm gonna get that. Pays 25 percent today, would pay 10 percent under my plan. But my plan does three things different from other people's plans. One \u2014 remember, I said 2 percent. I think everybody should pay something, even if it's only 2 percent. That's the most important 2 percent in my plan. I know a lot of Republicans brag \u2014 y'all can clap, it doesn't scare me. Go ahead. I heard some people. There are millions of \u2014 there are millions of folks that wouldn't pay taxes in Jeb's plan and Trump's plan. I think that's a mistake. In terms of the corporate tax, secondly, I'd get rid of the corporate tax. We do have the highest corporate tax rate in the developed world. I'd get rid of it. I'd get rid of all the corporate welfare. Make the CEOs pay their same tax rates the way the rest of us do. And third, I'd purposely shrink the size of government. You know, that is a \u2014 that is an intentional feature of my plan. We've got a choice: do we grow government \u2014 the government economy, or the American economy? So I say get rid of the corporate tax, bring those jobs and investment here to the United States, stop sending jobs and investment overseas. +p2147 +aVLook, I think the government should work to change that, but that doesn't \u2014 does not mean I'm for the government mandating that. We already have too many government mandates out of DC. Do I want people to have paid leave? Sure. Do I want people to earn higher wages? Sure. Do I want them to have better benefits? Sure. The government can't wave a magic wand and make that happen. Here's the problem. The last seven years, President Obama has tried to teach the American people that government is the answer to all of our problems. Where has that gotten us? We're on a path toward socialism. The way that folks can get better paying jobs with better benefits is if we have a growing economy. That means to repeal all of ObamaCare, a lower flatter tax code. That means that we have an energy plan that makes sense. That means that we embrace an all of the above approach to energy. Those are good paying jobs \u2014 $50,000, $70,000, $90,000 a year jobs with benefits. But this president won't let us produce more energy on our domestic federal lands and waters. He won't allow the Canadians to build the Keystone Pipeline. He's got an EPA that's doing everything they can to kill private sector jobs in America. So, yes, I want families to have better paying jobs and better benefits, but we're not going to get that with a government mandate, we're going to get that with a growing economy. +p2148 +aVA couple things. You're talking about payroll taxes that fund programs. People pay for their Medicare, they pay for their Social Security. I want every American to worry and care about how those folks in D.C. are spending our money. If $18 trillion of debt \u2014 they're misspending our money. Earned success is so much more fulfilling than unearned success. I don't want us to continue to create one class of Americans that pays income taxes, that pays for government, another class of Americans that's growing more and more dependent on government. That's what we have today. Socialism is bad, not only for taxpayers, but people that they say they're trying to help. There's dignity in work, dignity in self-sufficiency. I wanna quote you a president. Our previous president said this: he said, "the problem is, is that tax rates are too high, government income revenues are too low." He said, "paradoxically, lowering tax rates now is the best way to produce higher government revenues later." No, that wasn't President Reagan, as many are probably guessing at home. That was President Kennedy. I see you know the answer. That was President Kennedy. Imagine if he were alive today \u2014 and if he was at that last Democratic debate, imagine if you tried to say that in a party that's veering towards socialism. That wouldn't be welcome in today's Democratic party. +p2149 +aVWell, thank you. Look, if Senator Santorum wants to concede the tax cut wing of the Republican Party, I'm happy to fight for that side of the Republican Party. He's exactly right. I explicitly want to shrink the size of government; 22 percent over 10 years is not too much. We cut our state budget 26 percent in eight years. This is a fundamental choice. We mustn't become a cheaper version of the Democratic Party, a second liberal party. We need to proudly say we're willing to cut taxes, shrink government, grow the American economy. President Kennedy said it to the Democratic Party. Why can't we say it in the Republican Party in 2015, let's cut taxes. +p2150 +aVJohn, our budget is balanced. We balanced our budget every year for eight years. Yeah, we've had to cut spending. You know what? We privatized or closed nine of our 10 charity hospitals. We did statewide school choice; $1.6 billion (ph) budget cut. You're quoting an old number from the beginning of the year. We closed that gap. What they talk about, just like D.C., government's the only place where you give them less money than they wanted, they count it as a cut. They take last year's budget. They add inflation. They call it a baseline. We need to do zero-based budgets. We need to say just because you got money last year, you don't have it this year. Let me close, though. We balanced our budget. We didn't raise taxes. In eight years, we never raised taxes. We cut taxes. Our \u2014 our taxpayers, our families have been better off for it. +p2151 +aV absolutely they should be accountable. They should be accountable to their students through the market. Look, you either trust the American people to make their own choices or you don't. I know the Left thinks we need to be protected from ourselves. President Obama is trying to limit competition to the higher education market. As a result, you're going to see tuition prices continue to go up. We've had $1 trillion of student debt and counting. And he wants to exempt certain schools from the same oversight he wants to apply only to the for-profit market. For some reason, the private sector is a bad word to this president. It's not in the real world. In Louisiana, we fought so that the dollars follow the child and so the child following the dollar. What that means, from K-12, what that means is that parents and their families can decide what's the best way for their children to be educated. Higher education, we have a +p2152 +aVI was just saying to my colleagues, I may be the last person in this audience without an iPhone. I'm actually one of the last folks \u2014 I still have a BlackBerry in my pocket. And I basically use it for scheduling. I use it to keep up when my wife is here and my three kids at home. The only games on that phone are Bricklayer. I use it to keep up with the news through the Internet. I may be the last American out there without an iPhone. +p2153 +aVMy apologies. +p2154 +aVWell, absolutely, when the Saints go back to repeat, we were talking about beer sales earlier, all those folks from being hung over in Louisiana from drinking to celebrate Drew Brees winning this, I think it would be a great day to take off. No, look, on a serious note, I do want to say this about the Super Bowl and our athletes. They can be great role models for our children and I'm obviously a Saints fan. Drew Brees and his wife great role models, great Christians. So, yes, it should be a holiday. +p2155 +aVMy message is to conservatives, this is our hour. Thanks to the insanity, the incompetence of the Democratic party, the American people are ready to turn our government over to us. It's not enough to let just any Republican, however. The reality is the idea of America is slipping away. As Christians, we believe that the tomb is empty. As Americans, we believe that our best days are always ahead of us, and they can be again. We must win this election. We cannot allow Hillary Clinton to take us down this path towards socialism \u2014 further down this path. I've got the courage to apply our conservative principles. I can't do it alone. With your help, with God's grace, we can save the idea of America before it's too late. +p2156 +aVHi, I'm Bobby Jindal. Now, look, I don't have a famous last name. My daddy didn't run for president. I don't have a reality TV show. I'll tell you what I do have, I've got the backbone, I've got the bandwidth, I've got the experience to get us through these tough times, to make sure that we don't turn the American dream into the European nightmare. Thank you for having me today. +p2157 +aVWell, Jake, I'm in compliance with the 11th Commandment, and I would tell my fellow Republicans, let's stop treating Donald Trump like a Republican. If he were really a conservative... If he were really a conservative and 30 points ahead, I would endorse him. He's not a conservative. He's not a liberal. He's not a Democrat. He's not a Republican. He's not an independent. He believes in Donald Trump. Here is the reality, the idea of America is slipping away. Eighteen trillion dollars of debt, Planned Parenthood selling baby parts across our country. Our government is creating a new entitlement program, when we can't afford the government we've got today. We've got a president who won't even say the words radical Islamic terrorism. He has declared war on trans fats and a truce with Iran. Think about that. He's more worried about Twinkies than he is about the ayatollahs having a nuclear weapon. That's what is happening, the idea of America is slipping away. We must not let that happen on our watch. We have a once in a lifetime opportunity to rescue the idea of America, the choice for conservatives. Do we depend on proven conservative principles like Ronald Reagan did, or do we turn this over to a narcissist who only believes in himself... +p2158 +aVThank you, Jake. +p2159 +aVAbsolutely. Look, the reality is, Hillary Clinton is gift-wrapping this election to us. They are running their weakest candidate. They have got a socialist that is gaining on Hillary Clinton. Folks, you can't make that up. A socialist is doing well in the Democratic primary. The best way for us to give this election back would be to nominate a Donald Trump. He'll implode in the general election, or if, God forbid, if he were in the White House, we have no idea what he would do. You can't just attack him on policy. He doesn't care about policy. It's not enough to say he was for socialized medicine or higher taxes... +p2160 +aVHe's not serious. +p2161 +aVYeah, I wanted to clarify -- I want to make very clear that everybody understands my position is, we need to secure the border, period. Any talk of doing any more -- we don't need a comprehensive plan, don't need an 1,000-page bill, like the Gang of Eight. We don't need amnesty. Everybody in D.C. talks about it. We need to get it done. As president, I'll get it done in six months. It won't be perfect, but we can get it done. I'm not for amnesty. We do need to secure the border. A smart immigration makes our -- our country stronger. Right now, we've got a weak one. One of the things I've said -- I know the left -- I know Hillary didn't like this -- immigration without assimilation is invasion. We need to insist the people who come here come here legally, learn English, adopt our values, roll up their sleeves and get to work. We do need to secure the border. +p2162 +aVDana, that's not right. What I've said consistently is secure the border. I've said after that is done, the American people will deal with the folks that are here pragmatically and compassionately. Now, Rick, if he wants to say that Rubio, Senator Rubio, or Jeb or others are for amnesty, that's his right. I'm not for amnesty. I've never been for amnesty, will never be for amnesty. Secure the border. We don't need to do that as a comprehensive -- I've also said we need to put an end to sanctuary cities. It's not enough to defund them; I think we need to criminalize, accuse and jail those mayors and councilman as accessories... ( +p2163 +aV... for the crimes committed by people who shouldn't be here in the first place. +p2164 +aVJake, look, America's the most compassionate country in the entire world. We do more for folks around this world, and that's the nature of the American people. Two things. One, let us draw line, a direct line, between this refugee crisis, and this president's failed foreign policy. Jake, look, America is the most compassionate country in the entire world. We do more for folks around this world. And that's the nature of the American people. Two things: one, let us draw a line, a direct line between this refugee crisis and this president's failed foreign policy. He drew a red line in Syria and did not enforce it and now we're seeing millions of refugees potentially, hundreds of thousands going into Europe. The answer is not to put a Band-aid on this and allow even more people to come into America. We should not short-circuit; we have got a vetting process, we've got a normal refugee process. Simply allowing more into our country doesn't solve this problem. The way to solve this problem is for us to be clear to our friends and allies that we're going to replace Assad, we're going to hunt down and destroy +p2165 +aVWe -- it is important we insist on that in immigration going -- +p2166 +aVLook, absolutely. We need to do whatever is necessary to hunt down and kill these radical Islamic terrorists but this president has helped -- his policies have helped to contribute to this problem. He went to the Pentagon the same week they announced they were cutting back the number of troops in the Army to say that we're not going to win this through guns, it's going to be a change of hearts and minds. This will be a generational conflict, that is nonsense. These are barbarians. They are burning, crucifying people alive, Christians and other Muslims. We need to hunt them down and -- +p2167 +aV-- by having a president willing to -- +p2168 +aV-- Islamic -- +p2169 +aVWell, Jake, look, I think the American people -- we don't discriminate anybody based on the color of their skin or their creed. I think the way you strike that balance, you say to Muslim leaders, they have got two responsibilities. One, it's not enough to denounce just simply generic acts of violence. They have got to denounce the individuals by name, and say these are not martyrs. These terrorists are not martyrs; rather, they are going straight to hell. They are not going to enjoy a reward in their afterlife. Secondly, they have to explicitly embrace the same freedoms for everybody else they want for themselves. Look, I know it's politically incorrect to say this, the president says Fort Hood was an issue of workplace violence. We are at war with radical Islam. Our president loves to apologize for America, he goes to the National Prayer Breakfast, brings up the Crusades, criticizes Christians. We're at war today with radical Islamic extremists. It's not politically correct to say that, but the way you strike that balance, you say to Muslim leaders, denounce these fools, these radical terrorists by name, say they are not martyrs. +p2170 +aVSure, I don't think a 14-year-old should ever get arrested for bringing a clock to school. So, if you're asking me I'm glad he wasn't -- he was released. I'm glad that police are careful. I'm glad they are worried about security and safety issues. Look, in America we don't tolerate them. The biggest discrimination is going on against Christian business owners and individuals who believe in traditional forms of marriage. They are throwing this woman in jail in Kentucky. Let's talk about that. Let's talk about the Christian florist, the caterer, the musician, who simply want to say, don't arrest us for having -- or don't discriminate against us, don't shut down our businesses, don't fine us thousands of dollars for believing marriage is between a man and a woman. Lets talk about not discriminating against Christians. +p2171 +aVJake -- Jake... +p2172 +aVJake, I've got a practical question. +p2173 +aVI've got a practical question. I'd like the left to give us a list of jobs that Christians aren't allowed to have. If we're not allowed to be clerks, bakers, musicians, caterers, are we allowed to be pastors ? +p2174 +aVWe're not allowed to be elected officials. I firmly -- this is an important point. The First Amendment rights, the right to religious freedom is in the First Amendment of "The Constitution." It isn't breaking the law to exercise our constitutional rights. America did not create religious liberty, religious liberty created the United States of America. It is the reason we're here today. +p2175 +aVI think actually putting Roberts, I think putting Kennedy, I think putting -- before them, I think putting Souter on the bench was a mistake. But look, I think the -- the first responsibility starts in the White House. The reality is conservatives have not been willing to stand up for our beliefs, unlike the liberals -- look, you never worry about where the Democratic judges are going to vote, it's always the conservatives. You've never had a Democratic judge wake up and say, surprise, I've evolved, I've become a conservative. It's always the Republicans, because we have presidents that try to find judges with no records, no rulings, no writings. I'll tell you, I am going to have a litmus test. For judges, I'm going to find judges that are conservative, judges that are going to be pro-life, judges that are going to follow "The Constitution," judges, by the way, that are going to follow the American law, not international law. They're not appointed there to interpret international law, they're there to apply "The United States Constitution." Judges understand, their job is not to write law. If they want to write law, they should run for the Senate or the House. It's time for a Republican president as the next commander in chief, I will do as the Democrats have done. I will appoint bold judges that are actually consistent with my values that will be conservatives and enforce the Senate -- +p2176 +aVThank you, Jake. But look, it's not a minor ruling. Justice Roberts twice rewrote the law to save ObamaCare, the biggest expansion of government, creating a new entitlement when we can't afford the government we've got today, an expansion of socialism in our country. It's not that he got a minor ruling wrong. This is twice he rewrote the law. Now, look, I have a lot of respect for these senators that have big bladders. They give great speeches in the Senate. And I respect that. I've actually signed the executive order. I've actually signed a law protecting religious liberty in the state of Louisiana. It's not 99-1. The one that he got wrong was a big one. Twice he bent over backwards to save ObamaCare. If the Republicans had voted the way that we should -- they should have, we would still have our 19th Amendment rights and ObamaCare would not be the law of the land. +p2177 +aVNo. And it's not only whether they can win. They shouldn't win this election cycle. One of the things I do agree -- and I want to thank Donald Trump after I've criticized him for everything from being a narcissist to an egomaniac -- one of the things he was right about was to say nonsense to the D.C. establishment. It is time to fire all of them. You've got a choice between honest Socialists on the Left, like Bernie Sanders, and lying conservatives on the Right. We have got the majority; what good has it done us? See, they said they were going to stop amnesty. They said they were going to repeal ObamaCare. They didn't do either. Now they're not even willing to fight to defund Planned Parenthood. They've already -- McConnell has already waved the white flag of defeat. They are not willing to stand up to fight for the issues that count. I think it is time to have term limits. I think it's time to have part-time citizen legislators. Let's pay them a per diem instead of a six-figure salary, stop them from being seven-figure lobbyists. Let's also pay them a per diem for every day they don't go to D.C. Let's keep them out of D.C., working in the real -- -- let's make them live under the same rules and laws they apply to the rest of us. Not only shouldn't they be elected, they can't be elected. Let's fire all of them from their current positions. +p2178 +aVTwo things, Jake. One, I'm absolutely for all of these carve-outs and loopholes and special interests for as -- they get lobbyists. They get sweetheart deals you and I and the rest of this audience couldn't get. So as part of an overall comprehensive tax reform that has a lower, flatter tax code, sure. As a single, I am just to raise taxes, no. I don't want to give the government more money. The government has grown over this president where now, it's going to overwhelm the American economy. We've got to cut the size of the government economy. Nobody else running for president has done that. I'm the only candidate. I've cut my state budget 26 percent. Everybody else talks about it, we have done it. So, there's a part of overall tax reform that cuts rates, flattens and lowers the tax code, sure. But I'm not for raising taxes on anybody. We already have too much money going to D.C. +p2179 +aVJake, I'd like to answer that question. +p2180 +aVWell, Jake, I want to answer that question. I want to go back to Iran. I didn't get a chance to answer that as well. Look, on Russia, across the world, dictators walk all over this president. He treats our friends like dirt. He lets our enemies walk all over us. The only group he's able to out-negotiate are the Senate Republicans. They never should've passed this bad Corker bill. Instead of a two-thirds vote to reject -- to approve the Iran deal, now it takes a two-thirds vote to reject the Iran deal. I want to ask Lindsey a question. Will the Senate Republicans -- they still have time -- are they willing to use the nuclear option, meaning get rid of the filibusters, stop Iran from becoming a nuclear power? Now is the time for the Senate Republicans to stand up and fight. We are tired of the establishment saying there's nothing we can do. All night tonight, we've heard Republicans say things like, "Well, if the Supreme Court's ruled, there's nothing I can do about religious liberty," you know. "The president did this. There's nothing we can do about it for two more years." There is something we can do. We won the Senate. We won the House. What was the point of winning those chambers if we're not going to do anything with them? You're going back tonight. You still have time before the Thursday deadline. Will y'all use the nuclear option to stop Iran from becoming a nuclear power? +p2181 +aVLindsey... +p2182 +aVLindsey, well, that's my frustration. Listen to what you've heard. You -- you basically heard a Senate Republican say, "We can't defund Planned Parenthood, despite these barbaric videos." +p2183 +aV"We can't -- we can't..." +p2184 +aV"... we can't get rid of Obamacare" -- Lindsey, let me answer this question now. I wish the Senate Republicans had half the fight in them the Senate Democrats did. Look, President Obama didn't give up on Obamacare when they lost the Senate election in Massachusetts. I want my side to follow the Constitution. They broke the Constitution, they broke the law, but they forced Obamacare down our throats, even when they didn't have 60 votes. I wish Republicans in D.C. had half the fight of the Senate Democrats to get rid of Obamacare, to defund Planned Parenthood. If we can't defund Planned Parenthood now, if we can't stand for innocent human life after these barbaric videos, it is time to be done with the Republican Party. We defunded them in Louisiana. Let's defund them in D.C. If we can't win... +p2185 +aV-- on that issue, there is no point for being cheaper Democrats, no point grabbing a second liberal party. It is time to get rid of the Republican Party, start over with a new one that's at least conservative. Give Harry Reid and Pelosi credit. At least they fight for what they believe in. I want senators and House members in DC to fight for what we believe in, as well. It's time to have Republican... +p2186 +aV-- with a backbone in DC. +p2187 +aVJake, I'm a doer, not a talker. Look, the idea of America is slipping away from us. If you want somebody who is going to manage the slow decline of this country, makes incremental changes, vote for somebody else. If you want to vote for somebody who understands what is at stake -- Planned Parenthood is selling baby parts across this country, and the Senate Republicans have already given up, even without a fight. I am tired of this surrender (ph) caucus, I am angrier at the Republicans in D.C. than I am at the president. The president is a socialist. At least he fights for what we believe in. We don't need to just send any Republican to the White House. We need to sent somebody who understands that it's time to make big changes. It's time to take on the establishment, it's time to take on the D.C. permanent governing class. Every Republican says they will shrink the size of the government. I'm the only one that has done it. Cut our budget 26 percent. If you want somebody that's going to make incremental change, vote for somebody else. It's time to get the idea of America back. At some point, we're going to be held -- we'll be asked, what did you do when the idea of America was slipping away? I'll promise you this. I will give every ounce of blood, energy, sweat I've got to save the idea of America, the greatest country in the history of the world. +p2188 +aVWell, first of all, thank you all for having us. You know, I won two record elections. Last time I was elected governor, won a record margin in my state. Martha, we got a lot of politicians that will kiss babies, cut ribbons, do whatever it takes to be popular. That's not why I ran for office. I ran for office to make the generational changes in Louisiana. We've cut 26 percent of our budget. We have 30,000 fewer state bureaucrats than the day I took office. I don't think anybody has cut that much government anywhere, at any time. As a result, eight credit upgrades; as a result, a top ten state for private sector job creation. And we fought for statewide school choice, where the dollars follow the child, instead of the child following the dollars. We've been the most pro-life state six years in a row. My point is this: I won two landslide elections, I made big changes. I think our country is tired of the politicians who simply read the polls and fail to lead. Both Democrats and Republicans have gotten us in the mess we're in -- $18 trillion of debt, a bad deal with Iran, we're not staying with Israel. I think the American people are look for real leadership. That's what I've done in Louisiana, that's what I'll do in America. +p2189 +aVWell, to start with, unlike President Obama, I'll actually name the enemy that we confront. We've got a president who cannot bring himself to say the words "radical Islamic terrorism." Now, Bill, he loves to criticize America, apologize for us, criticize medieval Christians. How can we beat an enemy if our commander-in-chief doesn't have the moral honesty and clarity to say that Islam has a problem, and that problem is radical Islam, to say they've got to condemn not generic acts of violence, but the individual murderers who are committing these acts of violence. We've got a president who instead says, we're going to change hearts and minds. Well, you know what? Sometimes you win a war by killing murderous, evil terrorists. We're going to take the political handcuffs off the military. We will arm and train the Kurds. We will work with our Sunni allies. They know we will be committed to victory. We had this failed red line with Assad and it discouraged folks that want to help us on the ground. Finally, we'll take off the political handcuffs. We'll go to the Congress. This president has gone to Congress and said give me a three-year deadline, give me a ban on ground troops. I'm going to go to the commanders and say give me a plan to win. You can't send your troops into harm's way unless you give them every opportunity to be successful. +p2190 +aVWell, this goes to the question you were just asking. Look, under President Obama and Secretary Clinton, they're working hard to change the American dream into the European nightmare. They do celebrate more dependence on the government. Give Bernie Sanders credit. At least he's honest enough to call himself a socialist. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, they're no better. If we were to expand Medicaid, for every uninsured person we would cover, we'd kick more than one person out of private insurance or remove their opportunity to get private insurance. We're going to have too many people in the cart rather than pulling the cart. This isn't free money. I know some people like to say, "well, this is free money." We pay federal taxes. We are borrowing money from China today. Yesterday, the president stunningly admitted this. He said, "we don't have leverage with China to get a better deal on Iran because we need them to lend us money to continue operating our government." The president of the United States admitting that he's weakening our government's position, our foreign policy standing, because he can't control spending in D.C.. There is a better way to provide health care. The Oregon study showed this. Simply expanding Medicaid does not improve health care outcomes. In Louisiana, instead we're helping people getting better paying jobs so they can provide for their own health care. +p2191 +aVI don't -- look, I don't think anybody should be expanding Medicaid. I think it's a mistake to create new and more expensive entitlement programs when we can't afford the ones we've got today. We've got to stop this culture of government dependence. +p2192 +aVI'll say this. I don't think anybody should expand Medicaid. I think it was a mistake to expand Medicaid everywhere in Ohio and across the country. +p2193 +aVWell, a couple of things. Planned Parenthood had better hope that Hillary Clinton wins this election, because I guarantee under President Jindal, January 2017, the Department of Justice and the IRS and everybody else that we can send from the federal government will be going in to Planned Parenthood. This is absolutely disgusting, and revolts the conscience of the nation. Absolutely, we need to defund Planned Parenthood. In my own state, for example, we launched an investigation, asked the FBI to cooperate. We just, earlier this week, kicked them out of Medicaid in Louisiana as well, canceled their provider contract. They don't provide any abortions in Louisiana. But in terms of shutting down the government, I don't think President Obama should choose to shut down the government simply to send taxpayer dollars to this group that has been caught, I believe, breaking the law, but also offending our values and our ethics. It is time for Republicans in D.C. to fight. Too often, they give up, they negotiate with themselves. They said they would get rid of the unconstitutional amnesty. They didn't do that. They said they would repeal Obamacare if we gave them the majority. They didn't do that either. They said they'd shrink and balance the budget. They haven't done that. Absolutely, they should fight to fund -- defund Planned Parenthood, and I don't think the president should shut down the government simply to send our taxpayer dollars to this group. Mac +p2194 +aVTo repeal these unconstitutional illegal orders, whether it's amnesty or whether it's this president going around the Congress, whether it's in Obamacare, to restore the rule of law. I'd also go after these sanctuary cities, do everything we can to make sure that we are not -- that we are actually prosecuting and cutting off funding for cities that are harboring illegal aliens, and then finally making sure the IRS is not going after conservative or religious groups. I would sign an executive order protecting religious liberty, our first amendment rights, so Christian business owners and individuals don't face discrimination for having a traditional view of marriage. +p2195 +aVSocialist and government dependent. +p2196 +aVYou know, we've got a lot of great talkers running for president. We've already got a great talker in the White House. We cannot afford four more years of on the job training. We need a doer, not a talker. We also need a nominee, a candidate who will endorse our own principles. Jeb Bush says we've got to be willing to lose the primary in order to win the general. Let me translate that for you. That's the establishment telling us to hide our conservative principles to get the left and the media to like us. That never works. If we do that again, we will lose again, we will deserve to lose again. One principle, for example, we've got to embrace is on immigration. We must insist on assimilation -- immigration without assimilation is an invasion. We need to tell folks who want to come here, they need to come here legally. They need to learn English, adopt our values, roll up their sleeves and get to work. I'm tired of the hyphenated Americans and the division. I've got the backbone, I've got the band width, I've got the experience to get us through this. I'm asking folks not just to join my campaign, but join a cause. It is time to believe in America again. Mac +p2197 +asVMUIR +p2198 +(lp2199 +VWe will be tackling many critical issues right here tonight, and we begin with opening statements, in alphabetical order, and Secretary Clinton. +p2200 +aVSenator Sanders. +p2201 +aVSenator Sanders thank you and thank you all. We do have a lot of important issues to get here tonight and we want to address the controversy of the last 24 hours right off the top because we heard some of the most heated rhetoric of the campaign so far between two of the campaigns on this stage tonight. Senator Sanders, you fired a campaign staffer you have sued the Democratic National Committee; all of this after your campaign acknowledge that some of your staffers quote, "irresponsibly accessed data from another campaign." The Clinton campaign called this a very egregious breech of data of ethics and said, quote, "our data was stolen." Did they overstate this or were your staffers essentially stealing part of the Clinton playbook? +p2202 +aVBut Senator, you do mention the DNC -- the vender. But you said of your staff that they did the wrong thing. +p2203 +aVSo, does Secretary Clinton deserve an apology tonight? +p2204 +aVSecretary Clinton... +p2205 +aVSecretary Clinton, he has apologized. How do your react? +p2206 +aV(?): All three candidates are weighing in. +p2207 +aVGood let's move on -- Senator Sanders, let's move on right to some of those issues. It is just six days before Christmas, as we all know in this country. It's typically a joyful time, as it is this year, as well. But it's also an anxious time. President Obama has acknowledged that what we saw in San Bernardino was an act of terrorism. But we remember the president said, right before Thanksgiving, there is no known specific and credible intelligence indicating a plot on the homeland. We now know that this couple had assembled an arsenal. They were not on law enforcement's radar. They were completely undetected. So as we approach another holiday, with the president again saying, late this week, no credible threat, Secretary Clinton, how confident should the American people be, that there aren't others like that couple right now in the U.S. going undetected? And what would you do as president to find them? +p2208 +aV(inaudible) thank you. I am the very first post-9/11 mayor and the very first post-9/11 governor. I understand, from the ground up, that when attacks like San Bernardino happen, when attacks like the attacks of 9/11 happen, that when people call 911, the first people to show up are the local first responders. Many of the things Secretary Clinton said are absolutely true, but they underscore a lack of investment that we have, as a nation, failed to make over these last 15 years in intelligence gathering, intelligence analysis, intelligence sharing. Not only in theater, in Syria and Iraq and other places where we embalk ourselves in toppling dictators without having any idea what comes next, but here in the homeland, as we protect people from this threat of the lone wolves and these changing tactics and strategies. I believe that what's happened here is that the president had us on the right course, but it's a lack of battle tempo. We have to increase the battle tempo, we have to bring a modern way of getting things done and forcing the sharing of information and do a much better job of acting on it in order to prevent these sorts of attacks in the future. +p2209 +aVAnd we're going to break down these issues tonight, but I do want to go to Senator Sanders because the concern going into Christmas is significant, as you know. A new ABC News poll shows 77 percent of Americans have little or no confidence in the government's ability to prevent a lone wolf attack. How would you specifically find would-be terrorist who are going undetected? +p2210 +aVSenator, thank you. +p2211 +aVGovernor, we have to abide the rules here, we'll call on you here shortly, but... O' +p2212 +aVBut I do want pick up on something... O' +p2213 +aVWe will. +p2214 +aVBut let me just establish that for you, senator. Really quickly governor, we are going to call on you tonight and it's very clear you have a lot to say but please wait until you're called upon. And senator, he invoked your record and I'll let you respond. +p2215 +aVI'll let you respond. +p2216 +aVAnd you will get some to as well. +p2217 +aVSenator, thank you. I want to move on here. Secretary Clinton, you brought up Donald Trump a short time ago. +p2218 +aVSecretary Clinton, thank you. We're going to move on from guns here and go back to something you mentioned a short time ago. You brought up Donald Trump first here this evening. We've now seen the polling done well after his proposed ban on Muslims coming to America. Thirty-six percent of Americans, more than a third, agree with him. You have weighed in already on Donald Trump. You've weighed in on the proposed ban. But what would you say to the millions of Americans watching tonight who agree with him? Are they wrong? +p2219 +aVSecretary, thank you. Senator Sanders, I did want to ask you about a neighbor in San Bernardino who reportedly witnessed packages being delivered to that couple's home, that it set off red flags, but they didn't report it because they were afraid to profile. What would you say to Americans afraid to profile? Is it ever acceptable? +p2220 +aVBut I'm asking about -- I'm asking about profiling. Because a lot of people are afraid of that. +p2221 +aVSenator, thank you. +p2222 +aVMartha, we're going to turn now to refugees coming to America. And on the subject of refugees, more than half of all Americans now say they oppose taking in refugees from Syria and across the Middle East. Secretary Clinton, you have said that it would undermine who we are as Americans, shutting our doors. But New Hampshire's governor, where we are right here tonight, a democrat and a supporter of yours, is among more than 30 governors who are now concerned. Governor Maggie Hassan says, "we should halt acceptance of Syrian refugees until U.S. authorities can assure the vetting process, halt Syrian refugees." Is she wrong? +p2223 +aVBut a halt? +p2224 +aVGovernor O'Malley, obviously you were governor yourself at one time. What would you say to New Hampshire's governor tonight? Is she wrong on this? O' +p2225 +aVSo the idea of a halt or a pause? O' +p2226 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p2227 +aVI want to take this to Senator -- I'm going to take this to Senator Sanders next, because I think there... +p2228 +aVSenator, thank you. +p2229 +aVYeah, but, Secretary Clinton -- Secretary Clinton... +p2230 +aVSenator Sanders, Senator Sanders, hold on. One moment, please. I'm going to ask the secretary here, because there does appear to be some daylight here between the policies, at least in respect to when you take out Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Right now or do you wait? Do you tackle +p2231 +aVBut that's what he's saying, we should put that aside for now and go after +p2232 +aVShe says we have to proceed on both fronts at once. +p2233 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. O' +p2234 +aVGovernor O'Malley? O' +p2235 +aVBut -- you criticized -- you criticized Secretary Clinton for what came next. What's your proposal for what comes after Assad? O' +p2236 +aVSenator Sanders, please. Go ahead. Senator Sanders, a last word on this. +p2237 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. When we come back here tonight, the other major issues of this election: jobs, the economy, health care. Which candidates will make the best case for the middle class, as our coverage of the Democratic debate, here in New Hampshire, continues right after this on ABC. +p2238 +aVWelcome back tonight. As you can see, we have a packed audience here in New Hampshire and we're going to continue. We've already had a spirited conversation here at the top of the broadcast about +p2239 +aVWe're going to continue here, and Secretary, you'll get a chance on this too. But as I pointed out the CEO pay, 200 percent of their time -- for that family of just 2 percent. You've all said, "you would raise the minimum wage." But Senator Sanders what else - speak to that household tonight. 20 years, just a 2 percent raise, how as president would you get them a raise right away? +p2240 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. Governor O'Malley, what would propose that would be different, how would you get the middle class a raise and without waiting another 20 years for another 2 percent. O' +p2241 +aVGovernor, thank you. Secretary Clinton... As you were walking in, I was talking about the median American household getting a two percent raise over the last 20 years, that CEO pay in that same time frame has gone up 200 percent. So for those families watching tonight, how do you get them a raise if you're president? +p2242 +aVSecretary... +p2243 +aVSecretary, thank you. +p2244 +aVWe're going to -- we're going to... +p2245 +aVAnd we're going to talk about college education in a moment. But Secretary Clinton, I did want to ask you, the last time you ran for president, Fortune Magazine put you on its cover with the headline Business Loves Hillary, pointing out your support for many CEOs in corporate America. I'm curious, eight years later, should corporate America love Hillary Clinton? +p2246 +aVSecretary, thank you. Senator Sanders... I want to stay on this and ask you how big a role does corporate America play in a healthy economy and will corporate America love a President Sanders? +p2247 +aVSenator, thank you. I want to... Governor, let me just ask you, though, because it is an important question, how important a role do you think corporate America plays in a healthy economy here in the U.S.? O' +p2248 +aVGovernor O'Malley, thank you. I do want to ask you, Secretary Clinton. Let me just ask you... +p2249 +aVWe did -- we did -- Secretary Clinton, let me just ask you... +p2250 +aVAnd in particular... +p2251 +aVSecretary Clinton, thank you. +p2252 +aVSenator? +p2253 +aVSenator Sanders... +p2254 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2255 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p2256 +aVWe're going to get right into this Senator but I want to ask about taxes next. This is included. +p2257 +aVShe was asking about that... +p2258 +aVAre we back on health care - Secretary Clinton hold one moment. Senator Sanders... +p2259 +aVSecretary Clinton, please. +p2260 +aVSo let's ask about it. Secretary Clinton, let's turn to the taxes. +p2261 +aVThis is where we are going next, we are going next to taxes here... +p2262 +aVThis is fun. applause]This is democracy at work. Secretary Clinton, let me ask you about your tax plan because from the crushing cost of college education, the next question most families have; is will my taxes go up under the next president? You have said it's your goal not to raise taxes on families making under $200,000 a year a goal. But can you say that's a promise as you stand here tonight? +p2263 +aVA promise? +p2264 +aVSecretary Clinton... +p2265 +aVPlease. +p2266 +aVSenator, thank you. Let me bring in Governor O'Malley... +p2267 +aVYou've heard... +p2268 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p2269 +aVThank you. I want to bring in Governor O'Malley on this. We heard the promise from Secretary Clinton because people want to know about their taxes, will they go up. She has now promised here tonight not to raise them on families making $250,000 or less. Can you make that same promise if you're elected? O' +p2270 +aVGovernor O'Malley, thank you. A spirited debate on taxes. And there will be more with the Democratic debate in New Hampshire, when we come back right here on ABC. More in a moment. ( +p2271 +aVWelcome back tonight to New Hampshire. The Democratic debate continues here on ABC. And Secretary Clinton, we want to turn to race, now, in America. There is a real concern in this country from Black Lives Matter and from other community groups that we're just now seeing, with smartphones and cell phones, what many have been dealing with for years when they come in contact with police. But you also have many in law enforcement who now say there has been a so-called Ferguson effect, police holding back because they're afraid of backlash. +p2272 +aVIn fact, the FBI director is calling it a chill wind blowing through American law enforcement. So, if elected president, how would you bridge the divide between the two? +p2273 +aVSecretary, thank you. +p2274 +aVGovernor O'Malley, how would you bridge the divide? O' +p2275 +aVGovernor, thank you. And Senator Sanders, when you hear the FBI director calling it a chill wind blowing through American law enforcement, does that concern you as well when you -- +p2276 +aVSenator, thank you. We want to turn now to an issue. This next issue has destroyed so many families across the country, and in particular right here in New Hampshire, heroin. And there's a stunning new figure out. A recent poll -- 48 percent here, in this state alone, say they know someone who has abused heroin. We're going to turn tonight to Dan Tuohy of the New Hampshire Union Leader who has this question. +p2277 +aVSenator Sanders, I'm going to take this to you first because you've seen what's happened with heroin right on the border in your own state. +p2278 +aVSenator, thank you. Secretary Clinton? +p2279 +aVSecretary, thank you. O' +p2280 +aVGovernor O'Malley, thank you. Martha? +p2281 +aVI do want to follow up here for each of you. And a similar line of questioning. Senator Sanders, your wife Jane shares an office at your campaign headquarters in Burlington. We've seen the pictures, the desks right next to each other. Would she have a desk close by in the west wing? +p2282 +aVSenator, thank you. Governor O'Malley -- Governor O'Malley, you have talked about your wife, Katie, here tonight. She's a district court judge. And the question for you is, would she have to give that up as first lady, or will she share an office in the west wing as well? O' +p2283 +aVGovernor O'Malley, thank you, (inaudible). O' +p2284 +aVGovernor, thank you. We'll be back with much more from New Hampshire. The Democratic debate continues right after this. ( +p2285 +aVWelcome back tonight. It's been an evening of lively discussion among the candidates and it's time for closing statements. We began in alphabetical order, so we'll reverse the order at the end and begin with you, Senator Sanders. +p2286 +aVGovernor, thank you. Secretary Clinton? +p2287 +asVWALLACE +p2288 +(lp2289 +VAlso of note, Fox News is partnering for tonight's debate with Facebook. For the past several weeks, we've been asking you for questions for the candidates on Facebook. Nearly 6 million of you, 6 million, viewed the debate videos on our site, and more than 40,000 of you submitted questions: some of which you will hear us asking the candidates tonight. +p2290 +aVKentucky Senator Rand Paul. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. And your very own governor of Ohio... ... John Kasich. +p2291 +aVBrett -- Brett, I think you would call that a home field advantage. +p2292 +aVSenator Rubio, when Jeb Bush announced his candidacy for presidency, he said this: "There's no passing off responsibility when you're a governor, no blending into the legislative crowd." Could you please address Governor Bush across the stage here, and explain to him why you, someone who has never held executive office, are better prepared to be president than he is, a man who you say did a great job running your state of Florida for eight years. +p2293 +aVSenator Cruz, your colleague, Senator Paul, right there next to you, said a few months ago he agrees with you on a number of issues, but he says you do nothing to grow the party. He says you feed red meat to the base, but you don't reach out to minorities. You have a toxic relationship with GOP leaders in Congress. You even called the Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell a liar recently. How can you win in 2016 when you're such a divisive figure? +p2294 +aVGovernor Huckabee, like Governor Walker, you have staked out strong positions on social issues. You favor a constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage. You favor a constitutional amendment banning abortions, except for the life of the mother. Millions of people in this country agree with you, but according to the polls, and again this an electability question, according to the polls, more people don't, so how do you persuade enough Independents and Democrats to get elected in 2016? +p2295 +aVGentlemen, we're turning to a new subject that all of you have been talking about and some of you have been disagreeing about, and that is the issue of immigration. Governor Bush, you released a new plan this week on illegal immigration focusing on enforcement, which some suggest is your effort to show that you're not soft on that issue. I want to ask you about a statement that you made last year about illegal immigrants. And here's what you said. "They broke the law, but it's not a felony, it's an act of love. It's an act of commitment to your family." Do you stand by that statement and do you stand by your support for earned legal status? +p2296 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, it has not escaped anybody's notice that you say that the Mexican government, the Mexican government is sending criminals -- rapists, drug dealers, across the border. Governor Bush has called those remarks, quote, "extraordinarily ugly." I'd like you -- you're right next to him -- tell us -- talk to him directly and say how you respond to that and -- and you have repeatedly said that you have evidence that the Mexican government is doing this, but you have evidence you have refused or declined to share. Why not use this first Republican presidential debate to share your proof with the American people? +p2297 +aVMr. Trump, I'll give you 30 seconds -- I'll give you 30 seconds to answer my question, which was, what evidence do you have, specific evidence that the Mexican government is sending criminals across the border? Thirty seconds. +p2298 +aVAll right. Obviously there's a lot more to talk about this. We're going to have more questions for the candidates on illegal immigration, plus other key topics including your questions on Facebook. +p2299 +aVWelcome back to FOX News/Facebook Republican Debate Night. We're going to continue the questions now on illegal immigration. We kind of ended with a cliffhanger there. So let's continue the conversation. Governor Kasich, I know you don't like to talk about Donald Trump. But I do want to ask you about the merit of what he just said. When you say that the American government is stupid, that the Mexican government is sending criminals, that we're being bamboozled, is that an adequate response to the question of illegal immigration? +p2300 +aVRespectfully, can we talk about illegal immigration? +p2301 +aVAll right, well, Senator Rubio, let me see if I can do better with you. Is it as simple as our leaders are stupid, their leaders are smart, and all of these illegals coming over are criminals? +p2302 +aVGovernor Walker. Governor Walker, from 2002 until as recently as 2013, just two years ago, you supported comprehensive immigration reform, including a path to citizenship. Now you say that was a quick reaction to something you hadn't really thought about, and that you've changed your mind. Other than politics, could you explain why in the last two years you've changed your position on a path to citizenship, and are there other past positions that we shouldn't hold you to? +p2303 +aVSenator Cruz, some 1,400 people submitted questions on this very hot topic of illegal immigration on Facebook, and a number of them were about the murder of Kate Steinle in San Francisco, allegedly shot down by an illegal. Doug Bettencourt sent this question, "will you support Kate Steinle's Law," which would impose a mandatory five-year prison term for an illegal who is deported and then returns to this country? "And will you defund sanctuary cities for violating federal law?" +p2304 +aVGentlemen, we're obviously digging into some subjects in depth, but we're also going to change it up every once in a while throughout the next hour and have many rounds where we ask, you are not going to like it, only a couple of candidates questions on those subjects. This is the first of the many rounds, and it's about somebody whose name probably hasn't been mentioned enough so far tonight. Governor Kasich, let me start with you. Whoever the Republican nominee -- Whoever the Republican nominee is, it looks at least for now like whoever that nominee is, he or she, will be facing off against Hillary Clinton. You know how she will come after whoever the Republican nominee is. She will say that you, whoever it is, support the rich while she supports the middle class. That you want to suppress the rights of women and minorities. She wants to move the country forward while you, the Republicans, want to take the country back to the past. How will you, if you're the nominee, how will you answer that and take Hillary Clinton on? +p2305 +aVI know that all of you would like to answer this question, but we're only going to ask one other candidate before we move on to a different subject, Dr. Carson. Basically, same question to you. If Hillary Clinton is the nominee and she comes at you with that kind of line of attack, how will you take Iraq? +p2306 +aVGentlemen, we're going to turn now to the subject of the economy, jobs and money and the government. And Governor Bush, I'm going to start with you. You have made a bold promise in your announcement. You have promised four percent economic growth and 19 million new jobs if you are fortunate enough to serve two terms as president. That many jobs, 19 million, would be triple what your father and your brother accomplished together. And four percent growth, the last president to average that was Lyndon Johnson during the height of the Vietnam War. So question, how on Earth specifically would you pull that off? +p2307 +aVGovernor Walker. Governor Walker, when you ran for governor of Wisconsin back in 2010, you promised that you would create 250,000 jobs in your first term, first four years. In fact, Wisconsin added barely half that and ranked 35th in the country in job growth. Now you're running for president, and you're promising an economic plan in which everyone will earn a piece of the American dream. Given your record in Wisconsin, why should voters believe you? +p2308 +aVGovernor Christie, I want to engage you and Governor Huckabee in a subject that is a big issue in both of your campaigns, and that is entitlement reform. You say that you -- to save the system that you want to raise the retirement age -- have to raise the retirement age, and to cut benefits for Social Security and Medicare, and you say that some of the candidates here on the stage are lying. Governor Huckabee says he can save Social Security and Medicare without doing any of that. Is he lying? +p2309 +aVGovernor Huckabee? You say that changing entitlements, the kind of thing that Governor Christie is talking about, would be breaking a promise to the American people, and you say that you can keep those programs, save Social Security, save Medicare, without those kinds of reforms through a FairTax, which is a broad tax on consumption. Please explain to Governor Christie how that would work, and how you could save these programs without the kind of painful reforms he says we need? +p2310 +aV...Thirty seconds. +p2311 +aV...Alright, this is it. Thirty Seconds, finally. +p2312 +aVAll right. Enough. Mr. Trump. +p2313 +aVMr. Trump, you talk a lot about how you are the person on this stage to grow the economy, I want to ask you about your business records. From corporations, Trump corporations, casinos and hotels, have declared bankruptcy four times over the last quarter-century. +p2314 +aVNo, but the concept sir... +p2315 +aV... that's your line, but your companies have gone bankrupt. +p2316 +aVWell sir, let's just talk about the latest example......which is Trump Entertainment Resorts, which went bankrupt in 2009. In that case alone, lenders to your company lost over $1 billion and more than 1,100 people were laid off. +p2317 +aVIs that the way that you'd run the country? +p2318 +aVSo... +p2319 +aVSenator Rubio. Senator Rubio, more than 3,000 people sent us questions about the economy and jobs on Facebook. And here is a video question from Tania Cioloko from Philadelphia. Here she is. +p2320 +aVSenator, how do you answer Tania? +p2321 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. +p2322 +aVSenator Paul, closing statement. +p2323 +aVDr. Carson, closing statement. +p2324 +aVGovernor Bush, closing statement, sir. +p2325 +asVSMITH +p2326 +(lp2327 +VGovernor Huckabee, same question to you. Where do you see the country right now? +p2328 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Thank you, candidates. Moving to the world stage. The middle east is on the brink of chaos. Iran continues to provoke the United States, North Korea claims it's tested a hydrogen bomb, and Afghanistan is in danger of falling back into Taliban hands. Critics of the administration say it's all due to lack of U.S. leadership. To you, Mrs. Fiorina, how do you see America's role in the world today? +p2329 +aVGovernor Huckabee, in Afghanistan, the Taliban is strengthening. Attacks are on the rise and thousands more civilians have been wounded or killed. Much of the Taliban surge can be attributed to the withdrawal of U.S. forces there. You have expressed skepticism with the war there, saying you see no end game in sight. What, then, is your solution to the growing conflict there? +p2330 +aVAll right, thank you, candidates. We're just getting started. Jobs, Homeland Security, gun rights, all those issues are coming up straight ahead. We're live from North Charleston and the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back. +p2331 +aVAll right, let's get started. Senator Santorum, to you first. President Obama has urged technology leaders to make it hard for terrorists to use technology to escape from justice. Hillary Clinton says social media companies can help by swiftly shutting down terrorist accounts. The companies say that they're already working with law enforcement and any proposed legislation would do more harm than good. Should companies like Facebook and Twitter be required by law to more actively \u2014 be more actively engaged in fighting terror? +p2332 +aVSenator, would you \u2014 would you require anything of those companies like Facebook and Twitter if you were president? +p2333 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2334 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee, you called President Obama's executive orders on gun control unconstitutional and completely insane. +p2335 +aVYou even told gun store owners to ignore the President's orders. Yet, innocent people are dying from gun violence in cities like Detroit, Chicago, and Charleston everyday. Is there anything that can be done at the federal level to prevent guns from falling into the hands of criminals? +p2336 +aV +p2337 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p2338 +aVSenator Santorum, many of our military leaders believe America's critical infrastructure is vulnerable to a terrorist attack. This is the power in our homes, the water we drink, the Internet and phone systems by which we stay connected. If attacked, these essential services that underpin American society could come to a grinding halt. Do you have a specific plan to protect us from this type of attack? +p2339 +aVSenator Santorum, I want to stay with you on this, moving to jobs and the economy. In his State of the Union Address the other night, President Obama touted his record on jobs, citing more than 14 million new jobs and boasted of nearly 900,000 manufacturing jobs added in the past six years. Do you dispute his track record of creating jobs? +p2340 +aVGovernor Huckabee, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mike Mullen, has said the greatest threat to our security is our national debt. Our national debt is now on pace to top $19 trillion. Yet, you as well as Ms. Fiorina have laid forward no plan to reform entitlements. How can you say you're going to pay down our country's debt without cutting Social Security or Medicare? +p2341 +aVOK. We're going to continue this conversation. We're taking a quick break and then coming up, the candidates' plans for strengthening the middle class. We're live in North Charleston with the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back. +p2342 +aVAll right, thanks, Trish. Well, let's get started with Ms. Fiorina. Today, the middle class represents about 50 percent of the U.S. population, down from about 61 percent back in 1971. That's according to Pew Research. The same research revealed a widening income gap in America. The rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. What will you do to strengthen a middle class that is no longer the majority? +p2343 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p2344 +aVThank you, Senator. We're not finished yet. More Republican Presidential Debate in North Charleston after this. +p2345 +aVWelcome back, it's time for the closing statements. Candidates will each get one minute, starting with Senator Santorum. Thank you very much, I want to thank the people of Charleston, which has become a little bit of a second home to me, because I am very privileged to have two young men who go to the Citadel here and they're here tonight, my son John and my son Daniel. +p2346 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Governor Mike Huckabee. +p2347 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2348 +aVAlright, this debate will last one hour. Each candidate will have up to 90 seconds to respond to each question. One minute for each follow up. When your time is up, you're going to hear this bell. Alright, that's it, so let's begin with Governor Christie. Governor, economically, our country is struggling with some of the anemic growth we have seen on record. More than 90 million Americans are unemployed, or they are not in the workforce altogether. The number of people now willing, able, and wanting to go to work is at a level that has fallen to a level we have not been since the 1970's. For those that are working, wages aren't budging while other things, costs, like housing, remain high. As President, what concrete steps will you take to get America back to work. +p2349 +aVThank you. Governor Huckabee, we're here Wisconsin, a state that has seen the biggest decline in middle-class households of any American state. With more than 120,000 manufacturing jobs being lost in the last 15 years. As we move away from a manufacturing economy to a services based, technological economy, how are you going to help the millions of Americans that are stuck in this transition? +p2350 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee, you have characterized entitlement reform as both political and economic suicide. Taxpayers currently spend more than $600 billion per year on social welfare programs, with the intended goal of getting people back on their feet and working again. Today a record number of Americans aren't even looking for work. Are our social welfare programs, while well-intended, creating a culture of dependency? If so, how will you fix it? +p2351 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2352 +aVDo you have something to add, Governor? +p2353 +aVAll right. Let's, let's bring Governor Christie in next. +p2354 +aVAll right. Well, let's get the \u2014 let's keep the conversation going. Let's bring Governor Christie in here because we're talking about national debt, climbing toward $19 trillion, Governor. Our federal government employed nearly three million workers, our tax code is more than 74,000 pages long. If you're elected President, Governor Christie, what concrete steps would you take to reduce the size of the federal government? +p2355 +aVGovernor Christie, China is stealing our technology. China is pirating our intellectual property, and China's hacking into our computers, spying on American corporations, and spying on our citizens. China also slaps tariffs on U.S. goods, making it harder for us to sell our products. How are you going to stop them? +p2356 +aV...Alright... +p2357 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p2358 +aVAll right. Governor Jindal, thank you. All right. Well, we are not finished yet. More from the Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee, next. +p2359 +aVSo would you change leadership at the Fed? +p2360 +aVSenator Santorum, thank you. I have a question for all of you. Americans connection to the military has been increasingly fading. As a society, how do we restore that sense of duty, that sense of pride, that was the hallmark of the greatest generation. Again, I'd like to ask each of you, 30 seconds each, beginning with Governor Jindal. +p2361 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p2362 +aVGovernor Christie. +p2363 +aVSenator Santorum. +p2364 +aVAlright, thank you gentlemen. That does it, everyone, for the first debate here in Milwaukee. In just about one hour from now, at 9:00PM Eastern, eight more candidates are going to be taking to the stage. Right now though, special coverage of the Republican Presidential Debate, live from Milwaukee, continues right here on Fox Business. +p2365 +asVBAKER +p2366 +(lp2367 +VThe candidates on stage tonight were selected based on their standing in an average of four national polls. Those standings determining their position on the stage. And here they are. At center stage, businessman Donald Trump. Neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson. +p2368 +aVTonight's rules are simple. Up to 90 second for each answer. One minute for each follow-up response. And if a candidate goes over their allotted time, you'll here this. +p2369 +aVMs. Fiorina, while you've all pointed out how weak the current recovery has been and how disappointing by any historical standards, in the general election, the Democrats will inevitably ask you and voters to compare the recent president's jobs performance. Now, in seven years under President Obama, the U.S. has added an average of 107,000 jobs a month. Under President Clinton, the economy added about 240,000 jobs a month. Under George W. Bush, it was only 13,000 a month. If you win the nomination, you'll probably be facing a Democrat named Clinton. How are you going to respond to the claim that Democratic presidents are better at creating jobs than Republicans? +p2370 +aVThank you. Thank you. Senator Paul, income inequality has been rising in the United States. Fifty years ago, for example, the average CEO of a big corporation in this country earned 20 times the average salary of one of his or her workers. Today, that CEO earns about 300 times the average salary of a worker. Does it matter at all that the gap between the rich and everyone else is widening? +p2371 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2372 +aVSenator Rubio... +p2373 +aVYes, one quick comment, yes. +p2374 +aVGovernor Bush... +p2375 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor, you...You should let Jeb speak. +p2376 +aVMr. Trump, Mr. Trump, you yourself \u2014 you yourself said let Governor Bush speak. Governor Bush? +p2377 +aVSenator Rubio? Senator... +p2378 +aVSenator Rubio, Senator Rubio, let me \u2014 let me take you to a question that I think gets to the root of a lot of the anxiety that people have in this country. The economy is undergoing a transformation through information technology. Americans are anxious that the new economy isn't producing higher-paying jobs. Many are concerned that the new wealth seems to be going mainly to innovators and investors. Meanwhile, with factories run by robots and shopping done increasingly on smartphones, many traditional jobs are just going away. How do you reassure American workers that their jobs are not being steadily replaced by machines? +p2379 +aVThank you. Senator Cruz \u2014 Senator Cruz, entitlements. You've argued for raising the retirement age and reducing benefits for future retirees, but reducing any sort of benefits for the elderly has always been notoriously hard to do politically. When Speaker Paul Ryan proposed replacing traditional Medicare with federally funded private plans a few years ago, a liberal group responded with a commercial that featured a granny being pushed off a cliff. What's going to be different this time? +p2380 +aV...I said for future retirees was your statement... +p2381 +aVSenator Rubio. Can I just come to Senator Rubio? We're coming to you, Mr. Trump, in one second. I \u2014 I promise. +p2382 +aVSenator Rubio, your tax plan includes a large expansion of child tax credits to raise off (ph) the tax incomes for low-income parents. A similar tax credit that you previously proposed in the Senate was estimated to cost as much as $170 billion a year, according to the Tax Foundation. Isn't \u2014 isn't there a risk you're just adding another expensive entitle program to an already overburdened federal budget? +p2383 +aVGovernor Kasich? Let me come to Governor Kasich. +p2384 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p2385 +aVVery quickly, Senator. +p2386 +aVPlease. +p2387 +aV...Gentleman, we need to move on... +p2388 +aV...We need to move... +p2389 +aV...We need too... +p2390 +aV...We do need to move on. Mr. Trump... +p2391 +aV...Very quick. +p2392 +aVLet's talk about \u2014 No, no, Governor, I really must move on. I really want to move on. Mr. Trump, let's talk about the international economy... +p2393 +aV...We really need to move on... +p2394 +aV...No, governor, I promise I will come to you... +p2395 +aV...Listen... +p2396 +aV...Mr. Trump, can I ask you about... +p2397 +aV...the U.S. just concluded an international trade agreement with 11 countries in the Pacific. You've said that you'd rather have no deal... +p2398 +aV...than sign the one that's on the table... +p2399 +aV...Most economists \u2014 most economists say that trade is boosted growth, and every single post war president has supported the expansion of international trade, including the last three republican presidents. Why would you reverse more than 50 years of U.S. trade policy? +p2400 +aVThe \u2014 the deal, as you say, the terms of the deal were published \u2014 were published just last week, the details, 5,000 pages of it, and 80 percent of U.S. trade with countries in the Pacific, these countries, these 11 countries, is actually tariff-free, and these \u2014 the trade deal only affects the other 20 percent. Which \u2014 are there particular parts of the deal that you think were badly negotiated? +p2401 +aVThere was a separate \u2014 separate... +p2402 +aVBut isn't that \u2014 isn't that part of the problem? When I say, Senator, that if \u2014 if this deal is not ratified by \u2014 by the U.S. \u2014 by the Senate, then it would actually give China an opportunity to grow its economic leadership, which it's been seeking to do? And if the U.S. is unable to take part in this trade deal with these countries in Asia, China will take the lead? +p2403 +aVThank you. Thanks, Senator. +p2404 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich, I want to ask you about China, in particular hundreds of American companies have been subjected to cyber attacks from the Chinese military, yet state-backed Chinese companies, growing their presence in the United States, Chinese investments in U.S., which were nearly nonexistent a few years ago, are now over $50 billion. And as my newspaper recently reported, Chinese companies are planning to bid for one of the largest hotel chains in the United States, what would be the largest ever Chinese takeover of a U.S. company. Would you stop them? +p2405 +aVThank you, Governor. Plenty of opportunities. Thank you. Neil? +p2406 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate, live from Milwaukee. Now let's get straight back to the questions, and Governor Bush. Governor, Hillary Clinton recently said that if we had another financial crisis like the one in 2008, she wouldn't bail out the banks. Would you? +p2407 +aVBut, Governor, but can I just quickly \u2014 did \u2014 you can't seriously guarantee that there won't be another financial crisis, can you? +p2408 +aVEver? There will never be another financial crisis? +p2409 +aVDr. Carson, if I may, just on that point, despite measures taken, as the governor says, since the crisis to make the financial system safer, the major banks in the U.S., many of them are actually bigger than ever. Asset held by JPMorgan Chase, for example, the very largest bank, have increased by nearly 40 percent to over $2.6 trillion. Do you think JPMorgan and the other big banks should be broken up? +p2410 +aVBut just to be clear, just \u2014 just to be clear, then, you wouldn't \u2014 you wouldn't favor breaking up the big banks? You think they're big enough \u2014 they're OK as they are, as big as they are? +p2411 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p2412 +aVThank you. +p2413 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate. And now, candidates, it's time for your closing statements. You get 30 seconds each, and, Senator Paul, we will begin with you. +p2414 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p2415 +asVHOLT +p2416 +(lp2417 +VGood evening and welcome to the NBC News Youtube Democratic candidate's debate. After all the campaigning, soon, Americans will have their say with the first votes of the 2016 campaign just 15 days away in Iowa. And New Hampshire not far behind. Tonight will be the final opportunity to see these candidates face to face before the voting begins. Our purpose here tonight is to highlight and examine the differences among the three Democratic candidates. So let's get started. Please welcome Secretary Hillary Clinton, Senator Bernie Sanders and Governor Martin O'Malley. Well, welcome to all of you. Hope you're excited, we're excited. We want to thank our hosts, the Congressional Black Caucus Institute. I'm joined by my colleague Andrea Mitchell tonight. The rules are simple. Sixty seconds for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups or rebuttals. I know you'll all keep exactly to time, so our job should be pretty easy here tonight. We'll have questions from the Youtube community throughout the debate. This is a critical point in the race. You've been defining your differences with each other especially vigorously in the last week on the campaign trail. We're here to facilitate this conversation on behalf of the voters so that they know exactly where you stand as you face off tonight. Let's have a great debate. We'll begin with 45 second opening statements from each candidate, starting with Secretary Clinton. +p2418 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders, your opening statement, sir. +p2419 +aVSenator, thank you. And Governor O'Malley, your opening statement, sir. O' +p2420 +aVAll right. And Governor, thank you. All right, to our first question, now. The first question, I'll be addressing to all of the candidates. President Obama came to office determined to swing for the fences on health care reform. Voters want to know how you would define your presidency? How would you think big? So complete this sentence: in my first 100 days in office, my top three priorities will be \u2014 fill in the blank. Senator Sanders. +p2421 +aVSecretary Clinton, same question, my first 100 days in office, my top three priorities will be. +p2422 +aVGovernor O'Malley, same question. O' +p2423 +aVThank you. You've all... O' +p2424 +aVAll right governor thank you. We've all laid out large visions and we're going to cover a lot of the ground you talked about as we continue in the evening. The last couple of weeks of this campaign have featured some of the sharpest exchanges in the race. Let's start with one of them, the issue of guns. Senator Sanders, last week Secretary Clinton called you quote, "a pretty reliable vote for the gun lobby." Right before the debate you changed your position on immunity from lawsuits for gun manufacturers, can you tell us why? +p2425 +aVSenator, but you didn't answer the question that you did change your position on immunity from gun manufacturers. So can you... +p2426 +aVSecretary Clinton, would you like to respond to Senator Sanders. +p2427 +aVAll right, Governor O'Malley, you signed tough gun control measures as governor of Maryland and there are a lot Democrats in the audience here in South Carolina who own guns. This conversation might be worrying many of them. They may be hearing, "you want to take my guns. What would you say to them? O' +p2428 +aVAlright, Governor, thank you. Secretary Clinton, this is a community that has suffered a lot of heartache in the last year. Of course, as you mentioned, the church shootings. We won't forget the video of Walter Scott being shot in the back while running from police. We understand that a jury will decide whether that police officer was justified, but it plays straight to the fears of many African American men that their lives are cheap. Is that perception, or in your view, is it reality? +p2429 +aVYou time is up. Senator Sanders, my next question is... +p2430 +aV... It's actually \u2014 actually my next question is to you... +p2431 +aVSenator Sanders... +p2432 +aVSenator. Senator Sanders... +p2433 +aV... Just over a week ago the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus endorsed Secretary Clinton, not you. He said that choosing her over you was not a hard decision. In fact, our polling shows she's beating you more than two to one among minority voters. How can you be the nominee if you don't have that support? +p2434 +aVGovernor, I'm going to come to you in a second. Google searches for the words, "Black Lives Matter" surpassed, "civil rights movement". And, here in South Carolina, "black lives matter" was the number one trending political issue. +p2435 +aVAll right. Let's talk... O' +p2436 +aVLet's talk more about policing and the criminal justice system. Senator Sanders, a few times tonight we're going to hear from some of the most prominent voices on YouTube, starting with Franchesca Ramsey, who tackles racial stereotypes through her videos. Let's watch. +p2437 +aVSenator Sanders. +p2438 +aVWould you like me to read it back to you? +p2439 +aVProsecutors \u2014 "I believe there's a huge conflict of interest when local prosecutors investigate cases of police violence within their communities. Most recently, we saw this with a non- indictment of the officers involved in the case of 12-year-old Tamir Rice. How would you presidency ensure incidents of police violence are investigated and prosecuted fairly?" +p2440 +aVSecretary Clinton, this question is for you. Tonight parts of America are in the grip of a deadly heroin epidemic, spanning race and class, hitting small towns and cities alike. It has become a major issue in this race. In a lot of places where you've been campaigning, despite an estimated trillion dollars spent, many say the war on drugs has failed. So what would you do? +p2441 +aVAnd that's time. +p2442 +aVSenator... +p2443 +aVSenator Sanders, would you like to respond? +p2444 +aVThat's... +p2445 +aV... time. +p2446 +aVWe're going to get into all that coming up. O' +p2447 +aVBut we're going to take a break and we need to take a break... O' +p2448 +aV... and when we come back, the anger brewing in America. +p2449 +aVWelcome back to Charleston. Let's turn to another area where there has been fierce disagreement \u2014 that would be health care. Senator Sanders and Secretary Clinton, you both mentioned it in your 100-day priorities. Let's turn to my colleague, Andrea Mitchell now to lead that questioning. +p2450 +aVAnd that's time. We're gonna take a turn now. Secretary Clinton, in his final State of the Union address, President Obama said his biggest regret was his inability to bring the country together. If President Obama couldn't do it, how will you? O' +p2451 +aVThat's time. Senator Sanders, response. +p2452 +aVThat's time. But let me continue with the... +p2453 +aVSenator Sanders, let me continue, you call yourself a Democratic socialist... +p2454 +aVAnd throughout your career in politics, you've been critical of the Democratic party, you've been saying in a book you wrote, quote, "There wasn't a hell of a big difference between the the two major parties." How would you will a general election... +p2455 +aVHow will you win a general election labeling yourself a democratic socialist? +p2456 +aVYes, but senator, you can... +p2457 +aVAnd that is right. +p2458 +aVSecretary Clinton, our next question is for you. Here's another quantitative problem. +p2459 +aVAnd we're going to get into that coming up. But Secretary Clinton, here's a question from YouTube. It's from a young video blogger who has over 5 million subscribers. He has a question about the importance of younger voters. +p2460 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p2461 +aVThat's time... +p2462 +aVA quick follow up \u2014 a thirty second follow up. Why is Senator Sanders beating you to 2 to 1 among younger votes? +p2463 +aVWe're going to take... +p2464 +aVWe're going to take a break. When we come back; big banks, big business and big differences among the three candidates on the American Economy. We'll be right back. +p2465 +aVWelcome back from Charleston. Let's turn now to the economy. Senator Sanders, you released a tough new ad last week in which without mentioning Secretary Clinton by name, you talk about two Democratic visions for regulating Wall Street. "One says it's OK to take millions from big banks and tell them what to do. My plan, break up the big banks, close the tax loopholes and make them pay their fair share." What do you see as the difference between what you would do about the banks and what Secretary Clinton would do? +p2466 +aVSecretary Clinton, help the voter understand the daylight between the two of you here. +p2467 +aVSenator Sanders, your response. +p2468 +aVThat's time. Governor O'Malley... +p2469 +aVI have a question for you... +p2470 +aVThirty-second response. +p2471 +aVGovernor O'Malley. O' +p2472 +aVSecretary Clinton, 30-second response. +p2473 +aVThat's time. Andrea. +p2474 +aV... Senator... +p2475 +aVWe have got a lot to ground to cover here. Many Democratic voters are passionate about the need to do something to combat the threat of climate change, including the team of scientists from Youtube's MinuteEarth channel. Here's their take. +p2476 +aVSenator Sanders, Americans love their SUVs, which spiked in sales last year as gas prices plummeted. How do you convince Americans that the problem of climate change is so urgent that they need to change their behavior? +p2477 +aVGovernor O'Malley, 30 seconds. O' +p2478 +aVThat's time. We're going to take a break. +p2479 +aVWhen we return, the late-breaking developments regarding Iran. The threat of +p2480 +aVCharleston, Andrea Mitchell has questions now starting with Iran. +p2481 +aVSenator Sanders mentioned Russia a moment ago. Secretary Clinton, you famously handed Russia's foreign minister a reset button in 2009. Since then, Russia has annexed Crimea, fomented a war in Ukraine, provided weapons that downed an airliner and launched operations, as we just did discuss, to support Assad in Syria. As president, would you hand Vladimir Putin a reset button? +p2482 +aVWhat's your relationship with him? +p2483 +aVWe to want turn right now to the issue of balancing national security concerns with the privacy rights of Americans. That brings us to YouTube and this question. +p2484 +aVSo, Governor O'Malley. O' +p2485 +aVThat's time. You have all talked about what you would do fighting +p2486 +aVThat's a question to Senator Sanders. I wasn't clear, I apologize. +p2487 +aVBut in terms of lone wolves, the threat, how would you do it? +p2488 +aVWe have to go to a \u2014 we have to go to a break, and when we come back, we're going to get to some of the burning questions these candidates have yet to answer and are totally eager to talk about. +p2489 +aVAnd welcome back to Charleston. As we were going to a break, Secretary Clinton, I cut you off. I'll give you 30 seconds to respond on the issue of lone wolves. O' +p2490 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p2491 +aVAnd Andrea has a follow-up. O' +p2492 +aVAll right, that's time, and \u2014 and we do......we do have to move on. Secretary Clinton, this is the first time... +p2493 +aVThirty \u2014 30 \u2014 30 seconds, Senator. +p2494 +aVAll right. Secretary Clinton......this is the first time that a spouse of a former president could be elected president. You have said that President Clinton would advise you on economic issues, but be specific, if you can. Are you talking about a kitchen-table role on economics, or will he have a real policy role? +p2495 +aVSenator sanders, a 30 second response, sir. +p2496 +aVWe will take a break. We'll continue from Charleston right after this. +p2497 +aVWelcome back everybody. Finally, before we go tonight, we set out here to understand points of differences between you. We believe we've learned a lot here, but before we leave, is there anything that you really wanted to say tonight that you haven't gotten a chance to say. And, we'll start with Governor O'Malley. Didn't see that coming, did you? O' +p2498 +aVSixty seconds, we'd appreciate it. O' +p2499 +aVAnd that's time. O' +p2500 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p2501 +aVAnd that's time. +p2502 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders? +p2503 +asVBROWNLEE +p2504 +(lp2505 +VHi, my name Marques Brownlee, and I've been making YouTube videos about electronics and gadgets for the past seven years. I think America's future success is tied to getting all kinds of tech right. Tech companies are responsible for the encryption technology to protect personal data, but the government wants a back door into that information. So do you think it's possible to find common ground? And where do you stand on privacy versus security? +p2506 +asVHUCKABEE +p2507 +(lp2508 +VWell, John, I don't really have any weaknesses that I can think of. But my wife is down here in the front, and I'm sure, if you'd like to talk to her later, she can give you more than you'll ever be able to take care of. If I have a weakness, it's that I try to live by the rules. I try to live by the rules, no matter what they are, and I was brought up that way as a kid. Play by the rules. And I'll tell you what a weakness is of this country: there are a lot of people who are sick and tired because Washington does not play by the same rules that the American people have to play by. +p2509 +aVWell, I would really appreciate that. First of all, yes, we've stolen. Yes, we've lied to the American people about Social Security, and Medicare. But, you know what we're not telling them? It's their money. This isn't the governments money. This is not entitlement, it's not welfare. This is money that people have confiscated out of their paychecks. Everytime they got a paycheck, the government reached in and took something out of it before they ever saw it. Now, we're going to blame the people. Today congress decided to take another $150 billion dollars away from Social Security so they can borrow more money. That makes no sense to everybody. And, they're always going to say, "Well, we're going to fix this one day." No their not. It's like a 400 pound man saying, "I'm going to go on a diet, but I'm eating a sack of Krispy Kremes before I do." And, people are sick of believing that the government is never going to really address this. But, let me tell you who not to blame. Let's quit blaming the people on Social Security. Let's quit making it a problem for them. It's like them getting mugged, and then us saying, well, we're going to mug you some more. You ought to just be able to get over it, get used to it... +p2510 +aV...No, sir... +p2511 +aV...we need to honor our promises... +p2512 +aV...before I go. This is the only time I've had a chance, let me finish. +p2513 +aV...This is a matter not of math, this is a matter of morality. If this country that does not keep its promise to seniors then what promise can this country hope to be trusted to keep? And, the fact is, none of them. [ +p2514 +aVAnd, the only way \u2014 no... +p2515 +aV...Chris... +p2516 +aV...Chris... +p2517 +aVSince he brought me up, do I not get to respond? +p2518 +aVJohn, listen, let's keep in mind that for one-third of the 60 million Americans on Social Security it represents 90 percent of their income. And, when I hear people talking about means testing, let's just remember what that means. If we means test Social Security, it means that the government decides whether or not I deserve it. If a person lives in a seven room house, does the government get to say you don't need seven rooms, we're going to take two of them away? Folks, the government has no business stealing even more from the people who have paid this in. I just want to remind you, people paid their money. They expect to have it. And, if this government doesn't pay it, than tell me what's different between the government and Bernie Madolf, who sits in prison today for doing less than what the government has done to the people on social security and Medicare in this country. +p2519 +aVI don't think it's so much about when the government orders a corporation to do something. In fact, that's part of the problem. If you saw that blimp that got cut loose from Maryland today, it's a perfect example of government. I mean, what we had was something the government made \u2014 basically a bag of gas \u2014 that cut loose, destroyed everything in its path, left thousands of people powerless, but they couldn't get rid of it because we had too much money invested in it, so we had to keep it. That is our government today. We saw it in the blimp. That's exactly what we saw. So look, corporations ought to exercise some responsibility. When CEO income has risen 90 percent above the average worker, when the bottom 90 percent of this country's economy has had stagnant wages for the past 40 years, somebody is taking it in the teeth. And it's not the folks on Wall Street. I'm not anti-Wall Street, but I don't believe the government ought to wear a team jersey, pick winners and losers. +p2520 +aVThe government ought to wear a striped shirt and just make sure the game... +p2521 +aV...is paid \u2014 played fairly. +p2522 +aVNow, everybody else has fudged their time and gone over, so please, don't cut me off too quick, Becky. +p2523 +aVLet me just close it out this way. +p2524 +aVWe need to be focusing on what fixes this country. And I'll tell you one thing that we never talk about \u2014 we haven't talked about it tonight. Why aren't we talking about \u2014 instead of cutting benefits for old people, cutting benefits for sick people \u2014 why don't we say, "let's cure the four big cost-driving diseases... +p2525 +aV..."diabetes, heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer's?" +p2526 +aVIf you do that, you don't just change the economy, you transform the lives of millions of hurting Americans. +p2527 +aVGosh, I'd love for us to talk about something like that. Thank you. +p2528 +aVYou know, of the few questions I've got, the last one I need is to give him some more time. I love Donald Trump. He is a good man. I'm wearing a Trump tie tonight. Get over that one, OK? [ +p2529 +aVI don't know. [ +p2530 +aVI have no idea. +p2531 +aVYou're welcome. Let me tell you, Donald Trump would be a president every day of the week and twice on Sunday, rather than Hillary. I've spent a lifetime in politics fighting the Clinton machine. You want to talk about what we're going to be up against next year? I'm the only guy on this stage \u2014 you know, everybody has an "only guy" \u2014 "I'm the only guy this; I'm the only guy that." Well, let me tell you one thing that I am the only guy: The only guy that has consistently fought the Clinton machine every election I was ever in over the past 26 years. And not only did I fight them, but I beat them. Somebody says "I'm a fighter." Well, I want to know, did you win? Well, I did. And not only did I fight them and win, I lived to tell about it and I'm standing on this stage tonight as evidence of that. And I think that ought to be worth something. +p2532 +aVWell, and specifically to Medicare, Becky, because 85 percent of the cost of Medicare is chronic disease. The fact is if we don't address what's costing so much, we can't throw enough money at this. And it's why I've continued to focus on the fact that we need to declare war on the four big cost drivers because 80 percent of all medical costs in this country are chronic disease. We don't have a health care crisis in America, we have a health crisis. And until we deal with the health of Americans and do what we did with polio \u2014 when I was a little kid, we eradicated it. You know how much money we spent on polio last year in America? We didn't spend any. We've saved billions of dollars. You want to fix Medicare? Focus on the diseases that are costing us the trillions of dollars. Alzheimers, diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Eradicate those and you fix Medicare and you've fixed America, its economy and you've made people's lives a heck of a lot better. +p2533 +aVYou know, I know to a lot of people in the media, this is just a great big game, and we're the players. And, we come out here, and we do our thing. And, sometimes we're held up in contempt by people who write columns, but, I guarantee you to every person on this stage there's something deep inside of us that would cause us to give up our livelihoods and step out on this stage and fight for the people of America. I've got five grandkids. I do not want to walk my five grandkids through the charred remains of a once great country called America, and say, "Here you go, $20 trillion dollars of debt. Good luck making something out of this mess." And, for those of us who are serious enough to run for president, think long and hard why we're here, and hopefully you'll know we're not here for ourselves. We honest to god are here to get this country back on track. I know this, I certainly am. +p2534 +aV...Thank you. +p2535 +aVI'm Mike Huckabee. I'm delighted to be on this stage with some remarkable fellow Republicans. None of us are a self-professed socialist. None of us on this state are under investigation by the FBI because we destroyed government records, or because we leaked secrets. I know that there are some in the Wall-Street-to-Washington axis of power who speak of all of us contemptuously. But I'm here to say that I think we are, in fact, the A team. We have some remarkable people, and, in fact, not only are we the A team; we even have our own Mr. T, who doesn't mind saying about others, "you're a fool." And I'm delighted to be here with all of these guys, and would put any of them in an administration that I led. Thank you very much. +p2536 +aVI would certainly love to get in on this, because I think the single... +p2537 +aVI've been patiently waiting, and I'm going to just say this about Iran. +p2538 +aVBecause I think it is incredibly important. This is really about the survival of Western civilization. This is not just a little conflict with a Middle Eastern country that we've just now given over $100 billion to, the equivalent in U.S. terms is $5 trillion. This threatens Israel immediately, this threatens the entire Middle East, but it threatens the United States of America. And we can't treat a nuclear Iranian government as if it is just some government that would like to have power. This is a government for 36 years has killed Americans, they kidnapped Americans, they have maimed Americans. They have sponsored terrorist groups, Hamas and Hezbollah, and they threaten the very essence of Western civilization. To give them this agreement, that the president treats like the Magna Carta, but Iranians treat it like it's toilet paper, and we must, simply, make it very clear that the next president, one of us on this stage, will absolutely not honor that agreement, and will destroy it and will be tough with Iran, because otherwise, we put every person in this world in a very dangerous place. +p2539 +aVNo, I don't think he's on the wrong side of such an issue. Jeb is a friend. I'm not up here to fight with Jeb or to fight with anybody else. But I am here to fight for somebody who is a county clerk elected under the Kentucky constitution that 75 percent of the people of that state had voted for that said that marriage was between a man and a woman. The Supreme Court in a very, very divided decision decided out of thin air that they were just going to redefine marriage. It's a decision that the other justices in dissent said they didn't have and there wasn't a constitutional shred of capacity for them to do it. I thought that everybody here passed ninth-grade civics. The courts cannot legislate. That's what Roberts said. But heck, it's what we learned in civics. The courts can't make a law. They can interpret one. They can review one. They can't implement it. They can't force it. But here's what happened: Because the courts just decided that something was going to be and people relinquished it and the other two branches of government sat by silently \u2014 I thought we had three branches of government, they were all equal to each other, we have separation of powers, and we have checks and balances. If the court can just make a decision and we just all surrender to it, we have what Jefferson said was judicial tyranny. The reason that this is a real issue that we need to think about... +p2540 +aVNo, no. Let me finish this one thought, Jake. I haven't gotten that much time, so I'm going to take just what little I can here. We made accommodation to the Fort Hood shooter to let him grow a beard. We made accommodations to the detainees at Gitmo \u2014 I've been to Gitmo, and I've seen the accommodations that we made to the Muslim detainees who killed Americans. You're telling me that you cannot make an accommodation for an elected Democrat county clerk from Rowan County, Kentucky? What else is it other than the criminalization of her faith and the exaltation of the faith of everyone else who might be a Fort Hood shooter or a detainee at Gitmo? +p2541 +aVI have a different idea. I think we ought to get rid of all the taxes on people who produce. Why should we penalize productivity? And it's why I'm an unabashed supporter of the "fair tax," which would be a tax on our consumption, rather than a tax on our productivity. In other words, you're not going to tax anybody for what they earn, whether it's worker whose working by the hour or whether it's a hedge fund manager. If they can produce something and bring capital and labor to create jobs, we need some jobs. And I think the "fair tax" makes more sense. Now, Jake, I've been listening to everybody on the stage and there is a lot of back and forth about I'm the only one who has done this, the only one who has done that, I've done great things. We've all done great things or we wouldn't be on this stage. But it occurs to me as we're sitting here in the Reagan Library that most of us would like to pay tribute to a guy who, when he got elected, didn't get elected telling everybody how great he was. He got elected telling everybody how great the American people were. And he empowered them to live their dreams, which is what I'd love to see us do by no longer penalizing the people who are out there working because they are taking a gut punch right now. +p2542 +aV...You don't want me operating on you, I assure you. +p2543 +aVJust today \u2014 just today, there was a new report that 50 different intelligence analysts have said that what they sent up the ladder was doctored by senior officials, so that they could give some happy talk to the situation that we face. I love the idea of a good intellectual capacity to deal with our enemies, but the fact is, if you don't have good intelligence that is reliable and honest, you won't have good intelligence and you cannot make good decisions. The next president is primarily elected not just to know things, but to know what to do with the things that he knows. And the most dangerous person in any room is the person who doesn't know what he doesn't know. +p2544 +aVAnd the reason Barack Obama has been dangerous to this country and we better elect someone who had some executive experience, is because we cannot afford another eight years having a person in the office who doesn't know what he does not know. +p2545 +aVYou better believe I will, because I'm tired of liberals always having a litmus test and conservatives are supposed to pretend we don't. Well let me tell you what mine would be. Number one, I'd ask do you think that the unborn child is a human being or is it just a blob of tissue? I'd want to know the answer to that. I'd want to know do you believe in the First Amendment, do you believe that religious liberty is the fundamental liberty around which all the other freedoms of this country are based? And I'd want to know do you really believe in the Second Amendment, do you believe that we have an individual right to bear arms to protect ourselves and our family and to protect our country? And do you believe in the Fifth and the 14th Amendment? Do you believe that a person, before they're deprived of life and liberty, should in fact have due process and equal protection under the law? Because if you do, you're going to do more than defund Planned Parenthood. +p2546 +aVOne final thing. I'd make darn sure that we absolutely believe the 10th Amendment. Every governor on this stage would share this much with you. Every one of us \u2014 our biggest fight wasn't always with the legislature or even with the Democrats. My gosh, half the time, it was with the federal government who apparently never understood \u2014 +p2547 +aV\u2014 that if it's not reserved in the Constitution, then the 10th Amendment says it's left to the states. But somebody forgot to send a memo to Washington. +p2548 +aVJake? Jake? +p2549 +aVI think we need to remember that there are maybe some controversies about autism, but there is no controversy about the things that are really driving the medical costs in this country. And I would really believe that the next president ought to declare a war on cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer's, because those are the four things that are causing the greatest level of cost. John Kennedy said, "we'll go to the moon in a decade and bring a man back," and we did it. I grew up in the '50s. I remember the polio vaccine. We saved billions of dollars since that time, because we haven't had to treat for polio. Why doesn't this country focus on cures rather than treatment? Why don't we put a definitive focus scientifically on finding the cure for cancer, for heart disease, for diabetes and for Alzheimer's, a disease alone that will cost us \u2014 +p2550 +aV$1.1 trillion by the year 2050. We change the economy and the country. +p2551 +aVThat's an easy one. I'd put my wife on there. I've been married to her 41 years. She's fought cancer and lived through it. She's raised three kids, five great grandkids, and she's put up with me. I mean, who else could possibly be on that money other than my wife. And that way, she could spend her own money with her face. +p2552 +aVI'd go with Duck Hunter. +p2553 +aVAt the end of my presidency I would like to believe that the world would be a safe place, and there wouldn't be the threats. not only to the U.S., but to Israel and our allies, because we would have the most incredible well-trained, well-equipped, well- prepared military in the history of mankind. And they would know that the commander-in-chief would never send them to a mission without all the resources necessary, but people wouldn't bully us anymore. Because they would know that that would be an invitation to their destruction. Domestically, we would be operating under a tax system that eliminated the IRS. People wouldn't be punished for their work, and for what they produced. And life would be really deemed precious. Abortion would be no more. It would be as much of a scourge in our past as slavery is. And we would have a peaceful country, where people respected each other and people respected law enforcement. And we would focus on cures. And we would make this country not only safe from our enemies without, but safe from the enemies within. And it would be a good place to raise our kids and our grandkids. +p2554 +aVChris, I disagree with the idea that the real issue is a constitutional amendment. That's a long and difficult process. I've actually taken the position that's bolder than that. A lot of people are talking about defunding planned parenthood, as if that's a huge game changer. I think it's time to do something even more bold. I think the next president ought to invoke the Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the constitution now that we clearly know that that baby inside the mother's womb is a person at the moment of conception. The reason we know that it is is because of the DNA schedule that we now have clear scientific evidence on. And, this notion that we just continue to ignore the personhood of the individual is a violation of that unborn child's Fifth and 14th Amendment rights for due process and equal protection under the law. It's time that we recognize the Supreme Court is not the Supreme Being, and we change the policy to be pro-life and protect children instead of rip up their body parts and sell them like they're parts to a Buick. +p2555 +aVNot me. But you're welcome to give me a check, Donald if you'd like. +p2556 +aVIt's not too big to shrink. But the problem is we have a Wall Street-to-Washington axis of power that has controlled the political climate. The donor class feeds the political class who does the dance that the donor class wants. And the result is federal government keeps getting bigger. Every person on this stage who has been a governor will tell that you the biggest fight they had was not the other party. Wasn't even the legislature. It was the federal government, who continually put mandates on the states that we had to suck up and pay for. And the fact is there are a lot of things happening at the federal level that are absolutely beyond the jurisdiction of the Constitution. This is power that should be shifted back to the states, whether it's the EPA, there is no role at the federal level for the Department of Education. And I'm still one who says that we can get rid of the Internal Revenue Service if we would pass the FairTax, which is a tax on consumption rather than a tax on people's income, and move power back where the founders believed it should have been all along. +p2557 +aVWell, let's all be reminded, 60 million Americans are on Social Security, 60 million. A third of those people depend on 90% of their income from Social Security. Nobody in this country is on Social Security because they made the decision when they were starting work at 14 that they wanted to trust some of their money with the government. The government took it out of their check whether they wanted them to or not. And, if person goes to 65, they're going to spend 51 years with the government reaching into their pocket at every paycheck. Now, here's the point, whose fault is it that the system is screwed up? Is it the recipients, or is it the government? And, if Congress wants to mess with the retirement program, why don't we let them start by changing their retirement program, and not have one, instead of talking about getting rid of Social Security and Medicare that was robbed $700 billion dollars to pay for Obamacare. It's always that the government figures that they can do this off the backs of people, many of whom are poor, and depend on that money, and I just think it's fundamentally lying to the people and stealing from them, and we shouldn't be doing it. +p2558 +aVWell, you ask about how we fund it. One of the reasons that Social Security is in so much trouble is that the only funding stream comes from people who get a wage. The people who get wages is declining dramatically. Most of the income in this country is made by people at the top who get dividends and -- and capital gains. The FairTax transforms the process by which we fund Social Security and Medicare because the money paid in consumption is paid by everybody, including illegals, prostitutes, pimps, drug dealers, all the people that are freeloading off the system now. That's why it ought to be a transformed system. +p2559 +aVRonald Reagan said "trust, but verify." President Obama is "trust, but vilify." He trusts our enemies and vilifies everyone who disagrees with him. And the reason we disagree with him has nothing to do with party. +p2560 +aVIt has to do with the incredibly dangerous place that this world is gonna be as a result of a deal in which we got nothing. We didn't even get four hostages out. We got nothing, and Iran gets everything they want. We said we would have anywhere, anytime negotiations and inspections, we gave that up. We said that we would make sure that they didn't have any nuclear capacity, we gave that up. The president can't tell us what we got. I'll tell you what the world got. The world has a burgeoning nuclear power that didn't, as the Soviets, say "we might defend ourselves in a war." What the Iranians have said is, "we will wipe Israel off the face of the map, and we will bring death to America." When someone points a gun at your head and loads it, by God, you ought to take them seriously, and we need to take that seriously. +p2561 +aVThe military is not a social experiment. The purpose of the military is kill people and break things. It's not to transform the culture by trying out some ideas that some people think would make us a different country and more diverse. The purpose is to protect America. I'm not sure how paying for transgender surgery for soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines makes our country safer. We've reduced the military by 25 percent... ... under President Obama. The disaster is that we've forgotten why we have a military. The purpose of it is to make sure that we protect every American, wherever that American is, and if an American is calling out for help, whether it's in Benghazi or at the border, then we ought to be able to answer it. We've not done that because we've decimated our military. We're flying B-52s. The most recent one that was put in service was November of 1962. A lot of the B-52s we're flying, we've only got 44 that are in service combat ready, and the fact is, most of them are older than me. And that's pretty scary. +p2562 +aVIt seems like this election has been a whole lot about a person who's very high in the polls, that doesn't have a clue about how to govern. A person who has been filled with scandals, and who could not lead, and, of course, I'm talking about Hillary Clinton. I think America... +p2563 +aV...is in trouble, but it's not beyond repair. But it's going to take leadership who sees the greatness of this country, and who believes that once again we can be one nation, under God. I'll be my best to do that, and thank you for your support. +p2564 +aVI don't think it's that the message isn't working, I think it's the message isn't getting out because the message that I have this time, Bill, it's exactly what I said eight years ago. I talked about people who are standing on their feet on factory floors, people who lift heavy things, who sweat through their clothes, they're getting gut punched. They are not having a fair shake in this economy. I talked about that eight years ago, and I'm talking about it now. I talked about the importance of preserving life, of not just saying we're going to defund Planned Parenthood, but let's do something bolder. Let's get rid of abortion once and for all by applying the Fifth, and Fourteenth amendment to every person from conception because that means that we recognize that no person can be deprived of life or liberty unless they have due process. And, that's not happening in our country. And, I believe, and continue to practice that we need the Fair Tax to revive our economy. To make it so that people are able to be rewarded for their work rather than punished for it. +p2565 +aVYou know, I -- I would leave that to other people. I'm not going to get into an argument with all the New Yorkers, because there's a lot of them. This much I will tell you. I wish that some of those New Yorkers had funded as much of my campaign as they did the corporately funded candidates, but they didn't. And to be honest with you, when I say I'm -- wish they had, I'm glad they didn't. I'm not a New York-funded campaign. I'm not bankrolled by the corporatists, I'm not bankrolled by Goldman Sachs and Citibank and AIG and all the big brokers -- brokerage houses and the billionaires. I'm sponsored by people like Thomas, a part-time Uber driver in Pennsylvania who sent me $25 this week. He's between jobs. He's driving an Uber car. But he believed in what I'm talking about enough that, even on a limited, part-time income, he sent me $25 to help in my campaign. I'll stand with the Thomases of the world any day. I'll leave all the discussion of the big financiers to other candidates. But there's only a few of us in the entire Republican process who are not corporately funded by the same group. And let me just finish by saying, you want to know why things never change depending on whether Democrats or Republicans are in power, and why Republicans in Iowa and the rest of the country are so frustrated? The reason is, is because if you follow the money, the same folks who finance the Democrats finance the Republicans, and no matter what the speeches and the ads, they get the same results. If you want a different result, I'm available. +p2566 +aVWell, I don't trust him. I've never said I trusted him. But if somebody is willing to take a shot at the people we are taking shots at, I'm more than willing to let them use their own bullets to do it. But let's be very clear about how we take out +p2567 +aVNo, I don't think that it's impossible, but we're not going to do it by doing the same things we've been doing for all these many years. And, we've lost five million manufacturing jobs just since the year 2000. The other day I was in Newton, Iowa. It used to be a vibrant place where Maytag washers and dryers were built. Went out of business in 2007, all those shops went to Mexico. All those people lost their jobs. There was a guy in my forum that day, he lost his job. He still has never found an employment that got anywhere near the job that he had. Let me ask you, how many people do you think living around the Beltway know a guy like that? Care about a guy like that? Not many. And, that's because they're six of the ten richest counties in America that surround Washington D.C. People who live in the bubbles of the high finance world of New York, the government world of Washington, the entertainment world of Hollywood, don't have a clue about how hard people out here in Iowa are working every single day. And, I believe one of the values of campaigning in Iowa, you can't win unless you go out and talk to farmers and housewives -- and welders, and unemployed truck drivers, and I hate... ... That a president could become president who never met people who have to struggle to make a living and put food on the table. +p2568 +aVA lot of Americans are angry. And I think it's important to understand why they are mad. They are mad because they see a government that continues to do fine. They see people at the top. They are doing fine. But that person you asked Rick about a moment ago, that lady that's making 10,000 bucks a year, do you know what our poverty programs do to people? They keep them in poverty. They keep them in poverty because we have these arbitrary thresholds... ... that mean that if you go to work, you lose all the benefits for your kids, Medicaid, WIC, Section 8 housing, food stamps, and then your kids go hungry. I know a little about poverty. My sister is here tonight. Now both of us could tell you we did not grow up rich. My mother grew up in a house, oldest of seven kids. She had lived in a house that didn't have floors. Just dirt. No electricity. No running water. I resent it when people say, oh, people are poor because they want to be. No, they are not. Nobody wants to be poor. And that's a stupid, foolish thing, mean thing to say. People are poor because they don't know how to get out of the hole. And government shouldn't push them back in the hole which is what our policies do when they punish people who want to go to work and don't let them out. We can fix that, but it takes some leadership to get it done. +p2569 +aVWell, I didn't have a tax and spend approach. You got to understand where the Club for Growth comes from, a bunch of rich guys sitting around writing checks to go after people they don't like. And, they don't like me sometimes because I was fighting for the guys at the bottom, not just the guys at the top. I cut 94 taxes in a state that had never had a general major tax decrease in its history. I also was able to see per capita income growth in my state go up by 50%. I think that's a pretty darn good record. Look at the overall record and it was fine. But, it's not about stats from when I was governor. Look, one of the reasons I support the Fairtax is because it's the one thing, Bill, that would truly empower people at the bottom of the economy by no longer punishing them for their work. If a guy works an hourly job, and he works eight hours, gets paid for it, terrific. But, if he works 16 hours, he doesn't get a double paycheck because he's going to be bumped up into a new tax bracket, and the government will get more of his second shift than he will. So, we've actually punished him for being industrious, hardworking, and that is a foolish economic policy... ... that's hurting Americans about as much as anything. +p2570 +aVI honestly don't understand how anybody with IQ above plant life would honestly think... ... that we would be better off if we let the government have all of the private property and that the government would dole out what they thought we should have. I'm not "feeling the Bern," Bill. I'm not feeling it. And when Bernie Sanders promises these kids free college, I'm telling them, because I get asked, what about free college? I said, look, if we give you free college when you are 20, pal, you are going to be paying for it when you are 30, when you are 40, and when you are 50. There is no such thing as the government giving you anything. They will definitely make a mess of it. And I just think there are a lot of people who have never understood the basic understanding of economics, that you do not make people rich by tearing down those who are you providing jobs, and you don't help poor people by taking away. You give them jobs. Let them work. Let them earn. And then you let them keep the money that they earned. That's how we build a great economy. +p2571 +aVWell, this week there was a little dust up about a video we put together with the music of Adele, so I thought it'd be appropriate for me to begin tonight by saying, "Hello, Iowa. It's me." +p2572 +aVAnd, you know me. You gave me the largest number of votes in the history of the Iowa caucus eight years ago, and I think you did it because you trusted me, you believed that I had your best interest at heart. When I was governor I had a little plaque in my office in the Governor's office, and it simply said this. Come, let us reason together. I believe the next President needs to put that plaque in the oval office, and needs to lead this country by saying, "Come, let us reason together." God bless you, and thank you for your support. +p2573 +aVI wish I saw the country in the same place that the president presented it to be the other night in the State of the Union. He talked about how great the economy was doing. And I guess for the people he hangs out with, it's probably doing great. But the president should've stood in the line at the layaway counter at Walmart just before Christmas. He would have heard a very different story about the economy of America. I wish I could introduce him the lady who cleans the building where our campaign headquarters is located in Little Rock. Her name is Kathleen. She works all day at a local hospital cleaning, and then she goes to the building where a bank, and our headquarters, and other offices are she spends another seven hours. She works 15 hours a day. I guarantee you she's not working 15 hours a day because she loves scrubbing toilets, and sweeping floors. She's working that many hours because that's what it takes for her to make it work. And, she's not alone. There are people all over this country who are working like that. Many of them working two jobs \u2014 and they used to have one job, and that would take care of them. But, because of wage stagnation, which we've had for 40 years, because the fact that they're punished for working harder if they work that many hours. The government gets more of their second shift than they do. And, as a result there are a lot of people who are hurting today. I wish the President knew more of them. He might make a change in the economy and the way he's managing it. +p2574 +aVLet me put that in context. When I went to Afghanistan, I saw a land that looked like the land of the Flintstones. It was desolate. It was barren. It was primitive. And it's been that way for thousands of years. They want to take the world back to be just like that. We don't. We need to make a clear goal as to why we want to be anywhere in the Middle East, and I'll tell you why we want to be and need to be, is to destroy radical Islam and everything that threatens civilization. It's not just a threat......to Israel or to America, it's a threat to every civilized person on this Earth. And we need to be equipping not only the Kurds in Iraq, we need to be making sure that those who are willing to fight radical Muslims will do it, but we need to never ever spend a drop of American blood unless there is a clearly defined goal and we can't make sure we win unless we have a military that's the strongest in the history of mankind. We've got to rebuild our navy. It's the smallest navy we've had since 1915, when my grandfather got on a destroyer in World War I when he was in the U.S. Navy. We've got young men in Air Force B-52s, one in particular, he's flying a B-52 that his father flew in the '80s and his grandfather flew in the '50s. Those planes are older than me. We've got to have a military that the world is afraid of, use it sparingly, but when we do, the whole world will know that America is on their tail and they will be on their tail on the ground, never ever to rise up again. +p2575 +aVOnly if there is a concerted effort to destroy the advance of radical Islamists who are against us. As far as what are we going to make it look like. Frankly, I don't know what we can make it look like. You can't create for other people a desire for freedom and democracy. And frankly, that is not the role of the United States. The role of the United States military is not to build schools, it is not to build bridges, it is not to go around and pass out food packets. It is to kill and destroy our enemy and make America safe and that is the purpose we should be there if we're going to be there. +p2576 +aV Yes, I did. +p2577 +aVWell, why don't we start by making sure the Justice Department never does an idiotic program like Fast and Furious where the U.S. Government put guns......in the hands of Mexican drug lords......and end up killing one of our border agents. You know, they want to talk about law abiding citizens, I just find it amazing the President keeps saying the gun show loophole. There is no gun show loophole. I promise you I've been to more gun shows than President Obama. +p2578 +aVAnd, I've bought more weapons at them, and you fill out forms. The President also says things that it's easier to get a gun now than it is to grow trees. Again, I purchase guns, and I can assure you that it is much more difficult to purchase a firearm than it is to get the ingredients of a salad at the supermarket. What the President keeps pushing are ideas that have never worked. Ideas that would not have stopped San Bernadino, Sandy Hook, Aurora, and at some point you wonder if you keep retrying things that don't work, maybe we should just see if we could resell all those used lottery tickets that didn't work real well because that's the logic of just keep doing the same thing, but something that has failed. Of course, we want to stop gun violence, but the one common thing that has happened in most mass shootings is that they happened in gun- free zones where people who would have been law abiding citizens, who could have stood up and at least tried to stop it and we're not allowed to under the law. +p2579 +aVWell, we shouldn't be and that's one of the reasons that I think there a lot of voices in our country who are saying it's time to relook at the visa program. The European Union is a failure, it's not allowed for even the economic goals that they were trying to achieve. But, what we're not seeing is that it's making Europe less safe, and it's proven not to be exactly what they all thought it was going to be. Our first and foremost responsibility in this country, and the first responsibility of the President of the United States is protect America, and protect Americans. We have a President who seems to be more interested in protecting the reputation and image of Islam than he is protecting us. And, I want to be very clear......that this President. Makes comments like he did the other night, that we have to be so careful because we don't want to offend Muslims. He needs to read his own FBI crime stats from last year which would show him that of the hate crimes in the country, over 5,500, about 1,100 were religious hate crimes. And, of those, 58% were directed toward Jews. Only 16% directed toward Muslims. Maybe what the President should have talked about the other night is how we ought to be more careful in the anti-semitic comments that are going toward American Jews than toward Muslims because by three times as many......they're being targeted for religious hate crime. +p2580 +aVIt does not shut down international commerce, but it may slow it down. And, you don't want to slowdown commerce that is making us safer. It's worth it. This lady who came and joined with the San Bernardino killer had passed three background checks, and that's why a lot of Americans didn't buy it when the President said we'll bring in Syrian refugees, but don't worry we'll check them out. We have a lot of confidence in a president who told us that we could keep our doctor, we could keep our health insurance, and cost us less, and now the latest is if you like your gun you can keep it too, and frankly, we don't buy it. We don't believe it. He's lost his credibility, and his inept... ...inability to work with Congress and pass legislation has led him to do what I never even imagined doing as a governor, and that's just going and doing it my own way. That's why we elect a president, is to lead, is to be able to shepherd things through. And if I can do it with a 90 percent Democrat legislature in Arkansas, there is no excuse for any president not being able to lead in Washington if he knows what the heck he is doing when he gets there. +p2581 +aVWell, first of all, let's just remember that Social Security is not the government's money, it belongs to the people who had it taken out of their checks involuntarily their entire working lives. For the government to say, well it is fault of working people that we have a Social Security problem, no. It is the fault of a government that used those people's money for something other than protecting those people's accounts. So let's not blame them and punish them. But here is a fact, and I sometimes hear Republicans say well, we're going to have to cut this and extend the age. You know what I think a lot of times when I hear people say, well, let's make people work to their 70. That sounds great for white-collar people who sat at a desk most of their lives. You ever talk to somebody that stood on concrete floor for the first 40 years of their working life? Do you think they can stand another five years or 10 years, many of them will retired virtually crippled because they worked hard. And we're going to punish them some more? I don't think so. Here's the fact. Four percent economic growth, we fully fund Social Security and Medicare. Our problem is not that Social Security is just too generous to seniors. It isn't. Our problem is that our politicians have not created the kind of policies that would bring economic growth. And I still support strongly that we get rid of the 77,000 pages of the monstrous tax code......pass the fair tax, supercharge this economy with the rocket fuel that happens with the consumption tax and we don't have to cut Social Security to any senior who has worked their lifetime for it. +p2582 +aVLet me go back to the reason so many people are having a hard time getting ahead. The tax system punishes them. Think about this. If you work really hard and you start moving up the economic ladder, you get bumped into a different tax bracket. So the government thinks it deserves more of your hard work than you do. And it's one of the reasons that no matter how many different reforms you have to a tax on people's productivity, you're still taxing their work, their savings. You're taxing their capital gains, inheritance, dividends, you're taxing everything that produces something. And it's way I really believe it's time to do something bold, not something minute. This is no time for a tap of the hammer, a twist of the screwdriver. It's time for something big. That's why the fair tax transforms our economy. And we don't punish workers. It's the only way we're going to get middle class people moving ahead again, because the harder they work, the more they keep. No payroll tax deducted from their checks. They get their entire paycheck. And, one of the most important parts, it's built on the common sense with which we raised our kids, and trained dogs. You reward behavior you want more of. And, you punish behavior you want less of. That's how I raise kids, it's how I trained our dogs, and folks, it's not that difficult. We now punish the behavior we say we want more of by taxing it, and we reward the behavior that we say we want less of, so if you make a good investment, we punish you with a tax. If you make a bad investment you can write that off and the rest of the taxpayers will help subsidize you, and bail you out. +p2583 +aVWell, Rick, I'm pretty sure I did also fight the Clinton machine because every election I was ever in in Arkansas, I assure you, they were behind it, helping finance and campaign for every opponent. And I share with you the understanding that it's going to be a tough battle. But I spent the first half of my adult life in the private and nonprofit sector, raising a family, understanding how tough it is for people to make it. And that first half of my life is what led me to believe that America needs a different kind of leadership, not people who spent their whole life running from one office to the next, and living off the government dime. And I got involved because I got sick of what I saw. I also believe that there's got to be some leadership that not only addresses the monetary and military issues of this country, but the moral issues of this country. At the end of every political speech, most of us say, God bless America. But how can he do that when we continue to slaughter 4,000 babies a day? And I want to be the president that treats every person, including the unborn, as a person. And protect them under the 5th and 14th amendments of the constitution. I close with this word from a gentleman in East Texas named Butel Lucre. He's 100 years old and I met him down in East Texas. And he said this to me. "I sure wish, Mike, we had the days when The Ten Commandments were in all of our capitals and in every school, and we prayed again. You know, he may be 100 years old, but I believe some of those old ideas to get this country back where we unapologetically get on our knees before we get on our feet might be the best solutions we've ever sought as a country. And I ask for your support and your vote. Thank you. +p2584 +aVWolf, I want to say thanks to you and CNN for giving us the opportunity especially to focus on national security issues at a time when Americans are not only angry \u2014 angry at their government that they feel like has failed them, been indifferent to them, cost them their livelihoods \u2014 but they're in addition to angry, they're just plain scared. They're scared when they thing that they go to a Christmas party and get shot at by somebody who sat and had lunch with them an hour earlier. They're scared when they realize that our government, who promises that it can vet people and is begging us to approve bringing 10,000 Syrian refugees into this country, can't even catch somebody after a third background check, who had posted things on social media clearly indicating she wanted to kill Americans. And we couldn't catch that. We've lost confidence in our government. And when Americans lose confidence in their government, we're in a dangerous place. We're in danger because we have an enemy that is out to kill us, and we have a government that we don't trust any more. This election is about going back to having a government we can trust with leaders who have the courage and conviction to actually lead and not follow. +p2585 +aVWell, let me begin by saying I'm not that afraid of Donald Trump. And, in the sense that I'd rather him be President than I had Hillary be president any day. And so if he becomes president, I think he will do a whole lot more to protect us than Hillary will. And a whole lot more than Barack Obama has done in his eight years. So I want to make it very clear that when I was making that comment, I was simply speaking that I'm not sure that you can have a religious test per se. And it's very impractical because if somebody comes to our borders and says I'd like to come in. They say are you a Muslim? Well, they're \u2014 if they're going to come in here to kill us, they're not gonna say yeah, and I'm coming to kill you. They're going to lie about it. Anybody that will kill you, for God's sake, will lie to you. So that's why I say it's impractical. But what he has done, and I don't think a lot of people understand, he has touched a nerve because people are angry and afraid that we are facing an enemy that this administration refuses to acknowledge, refuses to want to go fight. And our only answer is to go after +p2586 +aVNo. I'm not taking it away, I just want to make sure that everything we use is going to be effective. We're spending billions of dollars, let's make sure it's effective. Let's use every tool, but let's also check out the Facebook posts, let's look at Twitter accounts. My gosh, we were told we couldn't do it because it might invade somebody's privacy. This lady who came over here and shot up San Bernardino was posting things on Facebook, yet, we were restricted from looking. Every college kid who goes to a frat party gets drunk and puts his picture on Facebook is going to have a potential employer looking at that photo before he gets hired. Why should we have more attention? I mean, for heaven's sake, towards some college kid who wants to one day ten years from to get a job, then we're going after who wants to come in with a semi automatic weapon or a pipe bomb and blow up a bunch of Americans. This is what I think a lot of Americans are frustrated with, it's the duplicity of our policy that is illogical and irrational. Our goal ought to be, "protect Americans and put Americans first not last," which is what I think this administration has done. +p2587 +aVNo, it does not violate their First Amendment rights to have someone go and listen to the sermons. You can go to any church in America, it's a public place, you can listen, and \u2014 you know, if you go to my church, you'll probably get a real blessing. Heck, it'll be a wonderful experience. You go to some people's church, you may go to sleep, I don't know what happens in every church, but, the point is that these are public places, and folks are invited to come. So, if it's a public place, and people are invited to come, how does it violate anybody's First Amendment rights that somebody shows up because they might want to just listen in and see is there something that is a little nefarious? And, if there is, then you take the second step of getting a search warrant, you do whatever you have to do. That's all protected under the constitution. So, Huge, I hear people act like there's something that is terrible about going and sitting in and listening to the sermons of a mosque. If Islam is as wonderful, and peaceful as its adherents say, shouldn't they be begging us to all come in and listen to these peaceful sermons? Shouldn't they be begging us all to come, and listen, and bring the FBI so we'd all want to convert to Islam? +p2588 +aVI don't disagree. I don't disagree with anything that the Senator just said because that's exactly right. But, I just want to go back to the point that when people say we can't go into the mosque, we can't listen. That's utter nonsense. Of course we can. And, if we can't, if there's something so secretive going on in there that somebody isn't allowed to go and hear it, maybe we do need for sure to send somebody in there and gather the intelligence. And, that's all to the world I'm saying, I think it stands to be true. +p2589 +aVThe way we defeat them ideologically is that we remind people that what their intent is is to kill us, and that it is our intent to use every means possible to get to them before they get to us. We are pretending that this is a war that is not that significant. We have a president who called it the JV team, said we had contained it. Nine hours after he said we contained it, there was a massacre in Paris. We've got to make it so untenable for somebody to join +p2590 +aVWolf, it may be sufficient, but rather than put a number \u2014 and I'm comfortable that we say 10,000, 20,000 \u2014 look, I think we make a mistake when we start telling the enemy what our limitations are. I think we make a huge mistake when we say we're gonna do up to this. I think what we say is, we're gonna do whatever it takes. If it's 10,000, if it's 100,000, if it's 3,000 sorties a day, if it's 5,000 sorties a day. We never tell our enemy what our limitations are, what we are willing and what we're unwilling to do. And that's one of the mistakes I believe that we're making militarily. But the biggest mistake we've made militarily is letting Barack Obama cut our defense forces by 25 percent and leaving us at the least prepared position we've been in since before World War II. We have to get our Military rebuilt from the ground up. And all over America I hear young people say, would you tell me what you're going to do? Would you give me free college? Will you make sure that I can have medical marijuana? You know what we ought to tell young people? We aren't going to give you anything. We're give you the opportunity to get off your butt and go serve your country and secure your freedom. Because if you don't, nobody else is. +p2591 +aVI'd sure want them to think we would. And I'd want to make sure that we did everything we could. But we can't do it with our current Military strength. We've got to build up and have the most robust, well trained, well equipped, well prepared and ample Military force in the history of the world because we're not fighting just a known enemy in one place. We're fighting people all over the world who can go anywhere. And the reason I say that is because if we tried to win this war on the cheap or we try to do it with the, "light footprint," we're making a huge mistake. When all of us were in grade school, one thing we all knew, the bully never picked on the kid except for the weak one. When all of us were in grade school, one thing we all knew, the bully never picked on the kid, except for the weak one. He never picked on the kid he knew, he'd whip him. We need to make to sure that we have the kind of military that +p2592 +aVWell, I want to be real clear, I don't trust Putin, I don't trust Assad. I'm not saying that I would endorse him for his reelection bid. The man is a tyrant, he's killed lots of people, but he wasn't killing Americans. And, the thing that I'm concerned about is that we have seen a complete destabilization, not only of Syria, but we've seen it in Yemen, that the President pronouncing great shape just before it collapsed. +p2593 +aVWell what we have done, and we created an impossible atmosphere. This administration has put more pressure on Israel to stop building bedrooms in Judea and Samaria than they've put on Iranians to stop building a nuclear bomb. And I'm just simply pointing out the obvious, that we need to recognize who our friends are, who our enemies are... +p2594 +aV... but I'm convinced... +p2595 +aVWell, first of all, it would be the Iranians. I would have never entered into this deal. I don't know why on God's earth that the senators gave it so that it was easier for Obama to have the agreement than it would be to make it a treaty. +p2596 +aVI would make sure that there was economic pressure put on them. Why not? Why should we fund every single battle against radical Islam? Why should we stand back and watch Israel get targeted, the United States get targeted and we watch with people with their hands in their pocket, and their hands in our pocket because we're getting them a lot of money. And let's say your hands can be in your pocket, you can stand still, but your hands aren't going to be in our pockets anymore. We're not going to give you another dime unless you engage the battle with us. We are not sending our sons and daughters, and grandsons and granddaughters to war to fight for your interest. You either get in with us or be on your own. But we're not gonna fight the battle for you. +p2597 +aVI wouldn't reinstate a draft, but, I think it's noteworthy that we are fighting all the battles we have with less than one percent of the American population. +p2598 +aVI wouldn't reinstate a draft, but, I think it's noteworthy that we are fighting all the battles we have with less than one percent of the American population. We have the lowest level of percentage of population participating in the military than ever. And they're over-deployed, they're over used, especially among our reserves and Guard troops. Any governor will tell you. +p2599 +aVWell, I would say that, if you want a college education, let's go back and reinstate the full-blown G.I. bill. You give something to your country; your country gives something back to you. We need to ask young people to step up and buy their own freedom because there's not going to be enough people left at less than one percent. And as my good friend Ken Howard, former Dean of the War College, has often said, we're fighting all the wars with other people's kids. And that's one of the things that's making us much less safe, is because we don't have enough Americans truly invested in the process of defeating our enemies. Therefore, I do think without a draft we do need to ask people to recognize we are at war. +p2600 +aVI'm not belittling their sacrifice, Lindsey, but I'm just making note that on the part of Americans we have sent National Guard troops over for an 18-month em \u2014 18-month deployment. They come back for five, they go back for another 18. We're wearing these guys out. They agreed to be citizen soldiers. We turned them into full time soldiers because we've not kept up the pace by recruiting enough people in the military to fully fill these forces, and that's what we need to be doing. +p2601 +aVThe horrors that those families have to go through, if that were my son, my daughter, I'd give my last drop of blood to get them back. You bet I would. Is it a good policy? No. It's a terrible policy because once we do it, we're only going to invite more and more hostages, more and more ransoms, and the diasters gets even worse. But I don't blame any of these families. You know who I blame? I blame a policy in our government that has made it so that families are so desperate that they're willing to pay ransom to terrorists organizations because they don't believe our government will fight the fight for them and they think they're out there on their own. My goodness people, this is America. When did we have to start telling people that you've got to bake your own bread in order to fight the battles? That's what we have a government for, it's what we pay taxes for. And I believe, those families ought to have a better expectation of what this government will do. We should never has sat at the table with the Iranians as long Sayed Abadnini is sitting in an Iranian prison. As long as the Washington Post report is over there. Until the four hostages of America were on an airplane safely out of Tehran. We should've told them, " we won't even walk into the room with you much less sit down and negotiate with you." That's what we ought to be doing. +p2602 +aVWe just need to take a real pause and all the people that coming here and we don't know who they are or what their affiliations are. What George just said is right. We can't take the risk. And why should we take the risk? And if it's such a doggone good idea to bring people here that we really don't know who they are and Obama thinks that we're being un-Christian to not do it, I've got a suggestion. Let's send the first wave of them to Chappaqua, Martha's Vineyard and the upper east side of Manhattan and to the south lawn of the White House where we'll set up a camp. Let's see how that works out. And if they behave wonderfully, that's fine. I want to say, I don't want someone lecturing me about what it means to be a Christian that I should invite a potential terrorist into my backyard. On one hand, the left says separation of church and state. Let's not have any discussion of religion, and then the left wants to tell me what it means to be a Christian. They need to figure out if they know more about being a Christian than I do, then tell me... On one hand, the left says separation of church and state. Let's not have any discussion of religion, and then the left wants to tell me what it means to be a Christian. They need to figure out if they know more about being a Christian than I do \u2014 then tell me. They are no longer going to say separation of church and state, but, we have the most fundamental right above everything else \u2014 is not to protect the reputation of Islam. It is to protect Americans first and foremost. That is our job. +p2603 +aVNo, because he did it unconstitutionally. Twenty-three times he's said he couldn't do it, and then one day he woke up and he found he had a pen in one hand, and a phone in another, and wow. That Constitution didn't mean much anymore. Look, President's can't just do what they want to do. That's the purpose of getting elected and working with other people who got elected, is that our system was designed to function with the power of persuasion, it's really what you elect a president to do. +p2604 +aV...Let me finish, Hugh. You elect him to lead which means that if you think it's a good idea to not punish the children for something their parents did, then you go to the members of Congress and you persuade them. And, you persuade the American people. You don't just jump up and shove it up the nostrils of Congress, and the American people because you think you have a superior intellect, and a superior will, and a superior theology than everybody else. Our system is not a system of tyranny. We don't elect kings, we elect servants. If I'm elected president, I don't consider myself to be elected to be the king of the country, but the servant of the country to work with other people who are elected to get things done that need to be done. +p2605 +aVThe terrorists don't win just because they kill us. The terrorists win when they make us change everything we do in our daily lives and alter our routines. And they're doing that, from getting on a plane to going in a building. And it is high time that we recognize that we have to take them out, not a little bit, but totally, because I want my grandkids to grow up not in fear, but in faith and in freedom. And if you give me the opportunity to be president of the United States, I will fight for your grandkids as much as I will for mine. Thank you and God bless you. +p2606 +aVWell, first of all, Trish, I don't know why we have to move away from manufacturing. The only reason we have is because... ...we have a tax code that has punished manufacturing. I hear a lot of people talk about the plans to simplify the tax code. I've got one better than any of the simplifications, it's called a, "Fair Tax", and it eliminates all of the taxes on our productivity. Here's what would happen. We'd get rid of taxes on people's work, so, we wouldn't punish people for working anymore. Yeah, we've lost five million manufacturing jobs just since the year 2000 \u2014 160,000 manufacturing plants have close in this country, which means a lot of people \u2014 that the governors talking about, he's exactly right. They don't have jobs anymore. And the reason they don't have jobs is because their jobs are in Mexico, they're in China, they're in Indonesia. Bring the jobs back. And with the fair tax, you do that, because you don't tax capital and labor and you bring a real sense of equity to the opportunity so that people will not only make it easier to function, they'll get the manufacturing jobs back. And here's the best part. We don't reduce the IRS, we get rid of the IRS. We completely eliminate them......because the government has no business knowing how much money we make and how we made it. It's none of their business. And that's why I believe that manufacturing is critical. If we can't feed ourselves, fuel ourselves and fight for ourselves, we can't be free. And by the way, fighting for ourselves means manufacturing our own weapons of self-defense. +p2607 +aVWell, Sandra, first of all, let me mention the fact that I think there's a big difference between welfare programs and what some people call entitlements. Namely, Social Security and Medicare. I just want to remind everybody out there who has ever had a paycheck, the government didn't ask you if you wanted them to take money out of your check for Social Security and Medicare. They did that involuntarily. Those are not entitlements and that's not welfare. That's an earned benefit. And by gosh, you paid for it. And if the government screwed it up, you shouldn't have to pay the penalty because of an incompetent government. That's different than the social programs that we've spent $2 trillion on since the War on Poverty began exactly 50 years ago this year. Now the reason we still have so much poverty is because it was never designed to get people out of poverty. It was designed to make sure that there was an industry of poverty, so that the people in the poverty industry would have a lot of jobs. But the people who are poor haven't been benefited. Having grown up poor, I know a little something about it. Nobody who is poor wants to be. That's a nonsense statement and I hear it all the time. Well, poor people ought to work harder. They're working as hard as they can, for gosh sake. But the problem is the system keeps pushing them down because, if they work, then they get punished. They lose all the benefits. When we did welfare reform in the '90s, you know what we did? We said you're not going to lose everything at once. There's not an arbitrary threshold. So as you move up the ladder from work and training, you'll actually always be better off than you were before. That's the American way. +p2608 +aVWell, I'd just like to respond, with all due respect to, to the Governor, to the state just south of me, I would say that a lot of us have cut things. And during the recession of 2001 to 2003, when 91 percent of our state budget was basically three things, educate, medicate and incarcerate, we ended up cutting 11 percent out of the state budget through that recession so we didn't have to go in and raise a bunch of taxes, and there were people who thought we should. So it's just not accurate to say that nobody else up here has ever cut. I believe every governor has probably had to make tough decisions. I'm, I'm guessing my colleague Governor Christie has, as I'm tossing him the ball like Arkansas did to Ol' Miss the other day. +p2609 +aVSandra, before we get too far away, he specifically brought out some things about the record that I need to correct. +p2610 +aVSandra, I've been concerned that this administration has not done anything to help stop the slaughter of Christians. We didn't help the Kurds, we said we would. But, the idea that we're just going to open our doors, and we have no idea who these people are \u2014 what we do know is that only one out of five of the so called, "Syrian Refugees", who went into Europe were actually Syrian. Many of them, we had no idea who they were. They weren't Syrian. Are we going to open the doors so that the +p2611 +aV...I'd like to get that opportunity to go... +p2612 +aVWell, since we're not going to answer the question, let me just remind everybody, tomorrow is Veterans Day. And here's what I would like to remind everybody. The VA has been a disaster in large part because the people in Congress have never bothered to fix it, and this president has certainly not... +p2613 +aVLet me finish, please. I'm going to ask you just this, what would happen if the Congress and the president had to get their health care from the VA? We would fix the problem and we would fix Congress. +p2614 +aVWell, thank you very much. I still want to go back to the fact that if we got rid of all the taxes on our work, got rid of the taxes on our savings, investments, capital gains, and inheritance, and made a zero tax, we'd pay at the point of consumption. Because why should we punish people for their productivity? And the fair tax doesn't punish people for doing well and building the economy. There's $31 trillion parked offshore. What happens if that money comes back to America? You'd think it'd goose the economy? I guarantee you it would. And that's why the fair tax is the best solution we have for economic growth in this country. +p2615 +aVWell, first of all, do you know an American that will just stop spending? I don't. No, that's not going to be the problem. Look, Americans will go to the marketplace with more money they've ever had. For the first time they'll be having their whole paycheck. You see, most people don't understand that when you buy something that is made in America, 22 percent of the cost of it is the embedded tax they never even know they paid. It's why China has beaten the daylights out of us, they can build stuff that we can't because they're not taxing it, when they don't tax capital and labor and we do. They bring something over here, it's automatically cheaper even without the regulatory environment because they're not embedding the taxes, we are. Take the embedded taxes out. Give a person his whole paycheck because every American would no longer have a payroll tax taken out. It means they'd see their real paycheck for the first time. When they go to spend that money, they'll actually have it. And they only pay taxes on the stuff that's new. So a lot of Americans will buy used stuff. Look, here's the point, Americans are not going to quit shopping. Americans are not going to quit buying. But it would be nice if Americans could control how much they paid in tax, rather than having the government reach into their pockets and take it out before they ever had a chance to even see it, much less spend it. And that's why the fair tax makes a heck of a lot more sense than punishing productivity and rewarding irresponsibility. +p2616 +aVWell, my wife's name is Janet and when you say Janet Yelling, I'm very familiar with what you mean. But, look, I think the Fed is in a big trouble because they haven't addressed the number one issue that's hurting Americans and that's the fact that wages for the bottom 90 percent of the economy have been stagnant for 40 years. In the 25 years after World War II, up to 1971, wages grew by 85 percent in this country. People were \u2014 were moving up in the middle class. There was a middle class. That's not happening any more, and in large measure, the Fed has manipulated the dollar so it doesn't have a standard. Tie the dollar to something fixed and if it's not going to be gold, make it the commodity basket. But here's what we've got to do. We absolutely have to get it where the people who go out there and work get something in return. And if the dollar keeps fluctuating, and this is as crazy as \u2014 as is the price of bread, well, the fact is, people can't get ahead then. +p2617 +aVAbsolutely. Absolutely, because what we need to is to make sure that they tie the monetary standard to something that makes sense, rather than to their own whims, because who's getting gut punched? It ain't the people in Wall Street, it's the folks on Main Street. They're the ones who's wages have been stagnant for 40 years. And the average American today has a total savings of 1,000 bucks. One root canal and they're in trouble. And if their car breaks down the same week......they're out of business. +p2618 +aVWell, I think thanking our veterans is a wonderful thing to do, but, they sure appreciate a better paycheck. They'd appreciate the fact that we kept our promises to them. The men and women in uniform put on the uniform of our nation, they went halfway around the world, they face dangers on our behalf, and we promised them if they did that, when they came home we'd take care of their medical care, we'd make is possible for their kids to go to college, and they'd be able to bind to a home. They kept their promises to us. We have not kept our promises to them, and today, less than one percent of Americans go to the military for service. We're fighting wars with other people's kids in large measure because we've not taken seriously the moral, not the monetary, the moral obligation to take care of the veterans and to keep America's promise to the ones who kept their promise to America. +p2619 +aVIn many ways, I feel like I'm the luckiest guy on Earth. I really do. It's a long way from a little brick rent house on second street in Hope, Arkansas to this stage where I'm running for President of the United States. It's not about me, not about these guys \u2014 'ought to be about you, and I've never been the favorite of the people who have the most money. But, I want to be the favorite of the people who still want to believe the American dream can work for them. Today in our office, I got a letter from a third grader in North Dakota, her name is Reese. She sent $6 dollars from her allowance, and said, "I want to help you be president." You know, I'm going to keep standing on this stage, and keep fighting for one reason, because somewhere out there in North Dakota, and all over America, there are kids like Reese who need a president who will never forget where they came from, and I promise I won't. +p2620 +asVCRUZ +p2621 +(lp2622 +VThank you, Wolf. America is at war. Our enemy is not violent extremism. It is not some unnamed malevolent force. It is radical Islamic terrorist. We have a president who is unwilling to utter its name. The men and women on this stage, every one of us, is better prepared to keep this nation safe than is Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. We need a president who understands the first obligation of the commander-in-chief is to keep America safe. If I am elected president, we will hunt down and kill the terrorists. We will utterly destroy +p2623 +aVWell, listen, Hugh, everyone understands why Donald has suggested what he has. We're looking at a president who's engaged in this double-speak where he doesn't call radical Islamic terrorism by its name. Indeed, he gives a speech after the San Bernardino attack where his approach is to try to go after the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens rather than to keep us safe. And even worse, President Obama and Hillary Clinton are proposing bringing tens of thousands of Syrian refugees to this country when the head of the FBI has told Congress they cannot vet those refugees. I understand why Donald made that proposal. I introduced legislation in the Senate that I believe is more narrowly focused at the actual threat, which is radical Islamic terrorism, and what my legislation would do is suspend all refugees for three years from countries where +p2624 +aVWell, you know, I'm reminded of what FDR's grandfather said. He said, "All horse-thieves are Democrats, but not all Democrats are horse-thieves." In this instance, there are millions of peaceful Muslims across the world, in countries like India, where there is not the problems we are seeing in nations that are controlled \u2014 have territory controlled by Al Qaida or +p2625 +aVWell, Dana, the premise of your question is not accurate. I'm very proud to have joined with conservatives in both the Senate and the House to reform how we target bad guys. And what the USA Freedom Act did is it did two things. Number one, it ended the federal government's bulk collection of phone metadata of millions of law-abiding citizens. But number two in the second half of it that is critical. It strengthened the tools of national security and law enforcement to go after terrorists. It gave us greater tools and we are seeing those tools work right now in San Bernardino. And in particular, what it did is the prior program only covered a relatively narrow slice of phone calls. When you had a terrorist, you could only search a relatively narrow slice of numbers, primarily land lines. The USA Freedom Act expands that so now we have cell phones, now we have Internet phones, now we have the phones that terrorists are likely to use and the focus of law enforcement is on targeting the bad guys. You know what the Obama administration keeps getting wrong is whenever anything bad happens they focus on law-abiding citizens instead of focusing on the bad guys. We need to focus on radical Islamic terrorists and we need to stop them before they carry out acts of terror. +p2626 +aVWell, you know, I would note that Marco knows what he's saying isn't true. You know, Mark Levin wrote a column last week that says that the attack ads his Super PAC is running that are saying the same thing, that they are knowingly false and they are, in fact, Alinsky-like attacks like Barack Obama. And the reason is simple. What he knows is that the old program covered 20 percent to 30 percent of phone numbers to search for terrorists. The new program covers nearly 100 percent. That gives us greater ability to stop acts of terrorism, and he knows that that's the case. +p2627 +aVWhat it means is using overwhelming air power to utterly and completely destroy +p2628 +aVYou would carpet bomb where +p2629 +aVWell, you know, Marco has continued these attacks, and he knows they're not true. Yes, it is true that I voted against the National Defense Authorization Act, because when I campaigned in Texas I told voters in Texas that I would oppose the federal government having the authority to detain U.S. citizens permanently with no due process. I have repeatedly supported an effort to take that out of that bill, and I honored that campaign commitment. +p2630 +aVBut more broadly, you know, the notion Marco is suggesting, that somehow \u2014 he also has tossed more than a few insults this direction \u2014 let's be absolutely clear. +p2631 +aVWolf, I believe in a America first foreign policy, that far too often President Obama and Hillary Clinton \u2014 and, unfortunately, more than a few Republicans \u2014 have gotten distracted from the central focus of keeping this country safe. So let's go back to the beginning of the Obama administration, when Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama led +p2632 +aV... we ought to hunt down our enemies and kill +p2633 +aVWell, it's more than not shedding a tear. It's actively getting involved to topple a government. And we keep hearing from President Obama and Hillary Clinton and Washington Republicans that they're searching for these mythical moderate rebels. It's like a purple unicorn. They never exist. These moderate rebels end up being jihadists. And I'll tell you whose view on Assad is the same as mine. It's Prime Minister Netanyahu. Prime Minister Netanyahu has said Israel doesn't have a dog in that fight because Assad is a puppet of Iran, a Shia radical Islamic terrorist, but at the same time, Prime Minister Netanyahu doesn't want to see Syria governed by +p2634 +aVThe question of whether we should toppling dictatorships is asking the wrong question. We should be defeating our enemies. So the problem with defeating... +p2635 +aVWell, but let me explain, the focus should be... +p2636 +aV... on defeating our enemies. So, for example... +p2637 +aV... a regime we should change is Iran... +p2638 +aV... because Iran has declared war on us. But we shouldn't be toppling regimes...... that are fighting radical Islamic terrorists that are helping... +p2639 +aVWell, he \u2014 he has attempted to muddy the waters, but I think that anyone who watched the battle that we had. You know, there was a time for choosing as Reagan put it. Where there was a battle over amnesty and some chose, like Senator Rubio to stand with Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer and support a massive amnesty plan. Others chose to stand with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and the American people and secure the border. And let me mention, this issue is actually directly connected to what we've been talking about. Because the front line with +p2640 +aVLook, I understand Marco wants to raise confusion, it is not accurate what he just said that I supported legalization. Indeed, I led the fight against his legalization and amnesty. And you know, there was one commentator that put it this way that, for Marco to suggest our record's the same is like suggesting "the fireman and the arsonist because they are both at the scene of the fire." He was fighting to grant amnesty and not to secure the border, I was fighting to secure the border. And this also goes to trust, listening on to campaign trails. Candidates all the time make promises. You know, Marco said," he learned that the American people didn't trust the federal government." +p2641 +aVIn Florida promising to... +p2642 +aVgo in the fight against amnesty... +p2643 +aVHe campaigned promising to lead the fight against amnesty. +p2644 +aVI have never supported a legalization... +p2645 +aVI have never supported legalization, and I do not intend to support legalization. Let me tell you how you do this, what you do is you enforce the law... +p2646 +aVWatt you do is enforcement the law... +p2647 +aVWhat you do... +p2648 +aVWhat you do is you enforce the law. I've laid out a very, very detailed immigration plan on my website, tedcruz.org. It's 11 pages of existing federal law and in particular the question of what to do with people who are here now? You enforce the law. That means you stop the Obama administration's policy of releasing criminal illegal aliens. Do you know how many aliens Bill Clinton deported? 12 million. Do you know how many illegal aliens, George W. Bush deported? 10 million. We can enforce the laws and if we secure the border, that solves the problem. And as president I will solve this problem and secure the border. +p2649 +aVDana, what I said in private is exactly what I'll say here, which is that the judgment that every voter is making of every one of us up here is who has the experience, who has the vision, who has the judgment to be commander in chief. That is the most important decision for the voters to make. That's a standard I'm held to. And it's a standard everyone else is held to. And I will note, you know, in the whole course of this discussion about our foreign policy threats, it actually illustrates the need for clarity of focus. You know, my daughters, Caroline and Catherine, came tonight. They're 7 and 5. And you think about the Los Angeles schools canceling their schools today. And every parent is wondering, how do we keep our kids safe? We need a commander in chief who does what Ronald Reagan did with communism, which is he set out a global strategy to defeat Soviet communism. And he directed all of his... I'm answering the question, Dana. He directed all of his forces to defeating communism. One of the things we've seen here is how easy it is for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to get distracted from dealing with radical Islamic terrorism. They won't even call it by its name. We need a president who stands up, number one, and says, we will defeat +p2650 +aVAnd we need to be focused on defeating... +p2651 +aV... defeating radical Islamic terrorists. +p2652 +aVWhat I'm saying, Dana, is that is a judgment for every voter to make. What I can tell you is all nine of the people here would make an infinitely better commander in chief than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. +p2653 +aVAnd there is a real danger, Dana, when people get distracted. I'm answering the question, Wolf. There's a real danger when people get distracted by peripheral issues. They get distracted by democracy building. They get distracted about military conflicts. We need to focus on defeating jihadism. +p2654 +aVAnd I will do everything necessary to keep our children safe. +p2655 +aVJudgment, strength, clarity and trust. Barack Obama has said he doesn't believe in American leadership or America winning \u2014 he is wrong. America can win again and we will win again. Ronald Reagan reignited the American economy, rebuilt the Military, bankrupted the Soviet Union and defeated Soviet Communism. I will do the same thing. Cutting taxes, cutting regulation, unleashing small businesses and rebuilding the Military to defeat radical Islamic terrorism \u2014 our strategy is simple. We win, they lose. We've done it before and we can do it again. +p2656 +aVWell, Maria, it's great to be with you. It's great to be here in Milwaukee. You know, the question you asked really I think is the most important question any of us can have \u2014 face, which is, how do we get the economy growing? How do we bring back economic growth? Because economic growth, it's foundational to every other challenge we have. As you rightly noted, from 2008 to today, our economy has grown 1.2 percent a year on average. The Obama economy is a disaster, and the IMF is telling us this is a new normal. It doesn't have to be. If you look at the history of America, there are three levers that government has had to facilitate economic growth. The first is tax reform. And as you noted, I have rolled out a bold and simple flat tax: 10 percent for every American that would produce booming growth and 4.9 million new jobs within a decade. The second element is regulatory reform, pulling back the armies of regulators that have descended like locusts on small businesses. And the third element is sound money. Every time we've pursued all three of those \u2014 whether in the 1920s with Calvin Coolidge or the 1960s with JFK or the 1980s with Ronald Reagan \u2014 the result has been incredible economic growth. We have done it before, and with leadership, we can do it again. +p2657 +aVWell, my Mom is here, so I don't think we should be pushing any grannies off cliffs. And, you miss-stated what I've said on entitlement reform. What I've said is for seniors we should make no changes whatsoever, for younger workers we should gradually raise the retirement age, we should have benefits grow more slowly, and we should allow them to keep a portion of their taxes in a personal account that they control, and can pass on to their kids... +p2658 +aVI want to go back to the discussion we had a minute ago because, you know, what was said was right. The democrats are laughing \u2014 because if republicans join democrats as the party of amnesty, we will lose. And, you know, I understand that when the mainstream media covers immigration, it doesn't often see it as an economic issue. But, I can tell you for millions \u2014 of Americans at home watching this, it is a very personal economic issue. And, I will say the politics of it will be very, very different if a bunch of lawyers or bankers were crossing the Rio Grande. Or if a bunch of people with journalism degrees were coming over and driving down the wages in the press. Then, we would see stories about the economic calamity that is befalling our nation. And, I will say for those of us who believe people 'ought to come to this country legally, and we should enforce the law, we're tired of being told it's anti-immigrant. It's offensive. I am the son of an immigrant who came legally from Cuba... ...to seek the American dream. And, we can embrace legal immigration while believing in the rule of law \u2014 and I would note, try going illegally to another country. Try going to China, or Japan. Try going to Mexico. See what they do. Every sovereign nation secures its borders, and it is not compassionate to say we're not going to enforce the laws... ...And we're going to drive down the wages for millions of hardworking men and women. That is abandoning the working... +p2659 +aVWell, sure, you put your finger on what the problem is. The current system isn't fair. Washington is fundamentally corrupt. There are more words in the IRS code than there are in the Bible \u2014 and \u2014 and not a one of them is as good. Every one of them reflects a carve-out or a subsidy, and it's all about empowering the Washington cartel. My simple Flat Tax says that, for a family of four, for the first $36,000 you earn, you pay no taxes whatsoever. No income taxes, no payroll taxes, no nothing. Above that, every American pays 10 percent across the board \u2014 a flat, fair tax. Which means that no longer do you have hedge-fund billionaires paying a lower tax rate than their secretaries. On the business side, I've got a business flat tax of 16 percent \u2014 again, that applies across the board. Right now, with our corporate income tax, giant corporations with armies of accountants regularly are paying little to no taxes while small businesses are getting hammered. This is fair and across-the-board. Now, you ask, how do the numbers add up? I would encourage folks, if you go to our website, tedcruz.org, we have the specific numbers on the website. This plan eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax, eliminates the corporate income tax, and it abolishes the IRS. And the effect of that is incredible economic growth. It means every income group will see double-digit increases, from the very poorest to the very weakest, of at least 14 percent. So if you're a single mom, if you're making $40,000 a year, what that means is an extra about $5,000 in your pocket to provide for your kids, to make ends meet. It has a powerful, powerful effect. And there's one other really powerful feature of my plan, which is that it's border-adjustable. Which means, if you're an exporter \u2014 if you're a farmer, if you're a rancher, if you're a manufacturer, you don't pay the businesses flat tax. Exports are free of that tax, but all imports pay that 16 percent business flat tax, which means this tax plan would cause jobs to boom, and it would let America compete with China and the world on a level playing field. +p2660 +aVWell, the numbers the Tax Foundation had put out is that the static cost of the plan is $3.6 trillion over 10 years, but the dynamic cost of the plan, which \u2014 which is the cost that factors in growth, is about $768 billion. It is less than a trillion. It costs less than virtually every other plan people have put up here, and yet it produces more growth and it's one of the very few plans that abolishes the IRS. But on top of that, today, we rolled out a spending plan. $500 billion in specific cuts \u2014 five major agencies that I would eliminate. The IRS, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Energy, the Department of Commerce, and HUD \u2014 and then 25 specific programs. Again, that's on our website at tedcruz.org. You want to look at specificity? It's easy for everyone to say, "cut spending". It's much harder and riskier to put out, chapter and verse, specifically the programs you would cut to stop bankrupting our kids and grandkids. +p2661 +aV...Middle ground that brings both of these together... +p2662 +aV...Exactly right, that we have to defend this nation. You think defending this nation is expensive, try not defending it. That's a lot more expensive. But, you can do that, and pay for it. You can do that, and also be fiscally responsible. You know, I mention that the 25 programs that I put today, that I would eliminate them. Among them are corporate welfare, like sugar subsidies. Let's take that as an example. Sugar subsidies. Sugar farmers farm under... ...under roughly 0.2% of the farmland in America, and yet they give 40% of the lobbying money. That sort of corporate welfare is why we're bankrupting our kids, and grandkids. I would end those subsidies to pay for defending this nation... +p2663 +aVAbsolutely yes. You know, I have spent much of my adult life enforcing the law and defending the Constitution. And the problem that underlies all of this is the cronyism and corruption of Washington. You know, the opening question Jerry asked, would you bail out the big banks again? Nobody gave you an answer to that. I'll give you an answer. Absolutely not. And what we have right now is we have Washington \u2014 as government gets bigger and bigger, you know, the biggest lie in all of Washington and in all of politics is that Republicans are the party of the rich. The truth is, the rich do great with big government. They get in bed with big government. The big banks get bigger and bigger and bigger under Dodd-Frank and community banks are going out of business. And, by the way, the consequence of that is small businesses can't get business loans, and it is that fundamental corruption that is why six of the 10 wealthiest counties in America are in and around Washington, D.C. And let me give you a contrast to Washington cronyism. Some weeks ago, a woman named Sabina Loving testified at a hearing that I chaired in the Senate. Sabina Loving is an African-American single mom who started a tax preparation business in the south side of Chicago. She found a store front, she wanted to have her own business. She started a business. But then the IRS promulgated new regulations targeting tax preparers. They did it under a more than 100-year-old statute called the Dead Horse Act. Now, this statute and the IRS in classic Washington crony fashion had exemptions for lawyers and big fancy accountants, but Sabina had to pay $1,000 an employee. It would have driven her out of business, and Ms. Loving sued the IRS. She took the Obama IRS to court, and she won, and they struck down the rule for picking the big guys over the little guys. +p2664 +aVYes. Now, let's be clear, there is a role for the Federal Reserve \u2014 what the Fed is doing now is it is a series of philosopher- kings trying to guess what's happening with the economy. You look at the Fed, one of the reasons we had the financial crash is throughout the 2000s, we had loose money, we had an asset bubble, it drove up the price of real estate, drove up the price of commodities, and then in the third quarter of 2008, the Fed tightened the money and crashed those asset prices, which caused a cascading collapse. That's why I am supporting getting back to rules-based monetary system not with a bunch of philosopher-kings deciding, but tied... +p2665 +aVSo let me be clear. I would not bail them out, but instead of adjusting monetary policy according to whims and getting it wrong over and over again and causing booms and busts, what the Fed should be doing is, number one, keeping our money tied to a stable level of gold, and, number two, serving as a lender of last resort. That's what central banks do. So if you have a run on the bank, the Fed can serve as a lender of last resort, but it's not a bailout. It is a loan at higher interest rates. That's how central banks have worked. And I'll point out \u2014 look, we had a gold standard under Bretton Woods, we had it for about 170 years of our nation's history, and enjoyed booming economic growth and lower inflation than we have had with the Fed now. We need to get back to sound money, which helps, in particular, working men and women. What Washington does \u2014 the people who are doing well in the Obama economy are those with power and influence in the Obama government. The people who working men and women... +p2666 +aVSo, Governor Kasich... +p2667 +aV...why would you then bail out rich Wall Street banks, but not Main street, not Mom and Pop, not Sabina Loving? +p2668 +aVBut you just said an executive... +p2669 +aV...knows to step in and bail out a bank. +p2670 +aVSo you said you'd abandon philosophy and abandon principle... +p2671 +aV...but what would you do if the bank was failing? +p2672 +aVSo you \u2014 you would bail them out. +p2673 +aVAnd, Maria, I will note, she's got a lot of experience, but her policies have proven disastrous. If you look at foreign policy, every region in the world has gotten worse. Under her leadership, we abandon the nation of Israel. Under her leadership, radical Islamic terrorism has been on to the rise. Under her leadership, and Obama's leadership, Iran is getting $100 billion dollars, and on the verge of getting a nuclear weapon. Everything she's put her hand to, or has touched \u2014 and when we talk about the cronyism of Washington, Hillary Clinton embodies the cronyism... ...of Washington. And, I'll give you an example of that, which is the Congressional exemption from Obamacare, which is fundamentally wrong, and I'll tell you this, if I'm elected president, I will veto any statute that exempts members of congress. The law should apply evenly to every American. +p2674 +aVMaria, critically, when it comes to climate change... +p2675 +aV...Our \u2014 our... +p2676 +aVFifty-eight years ago, my father fled Cuba. As he stood on the deck of that ferryboat with the wind and salt air blowing, he looked back at the oppression and torture he was escaping. And yet he looked forward to the promise of America. His story is our story. What ties Americans together is we are all the children of those who risked everything for freedom. America is in crisis now. I believe in America. And if we get back to the free market principles and constitutional liberties that built this country, we can turn this country around. I believe that 2016 will be an election like 1980, that we will win by following Reagan's admonition to paint in bold colors, not pale pastels. We're building a grassroots army. I ask you to join us at tedcruz.org. And we, the people, can turn this nation around. +p2677 +aVI'm too agreeable, easy going. You know, I think my biggest weakness is exactly the opposite. I'm a fighter. I am passionate about what I believe. I've been passionate my whole life about the Constitution. And, you know, for six-and-a-half years, we've had a gigantic party. If you want someone to grab a beer with, I may not be that guy. But if you want someone to drive you home, I will get the job done and I will get you home. +p2678 +aVBecky, if you want a 10 percent flat tax where the numbers add up, I rolled out my tax plan today, you can find it on line at tedcruz.org. It is a simple flat tax where for individuals, a family of four pays nothing on the first $36,000. After that you pay 10 percent as a flat tax going up. The billionaire and the working man, no hedge fund manager pays less than his secretary. On top of that, there is a business flat tax of 16 percent. Now that applies universally to giant corporations that with lobbyists right now are not paying taxes, and as small business. And you wanted to know the numbers, the Tax Foundation, which has scored every one of our plans, shows that this plan will allow the economy to generate 4.9 million jobs, to raise wages over 12 percent, and to generate 14 percent growth. And it costs, with dynamic scoring, less than a trillion dollars. Those are the hard numbers. And every single income decile sees a double-digit increase in after-tax income. +p2679 +aVGrowth is the answer. And as Reagan demonstrated, if we cut taxes, we can bring back growth. +p2680 +aVYou know, let me say something at the outset. The questions that have been asked so far in this debate illustrate why the American people don't trust the media. This is not a cage match. And, you look at the questions \u2014 "Donald Trump, are you a comic-book villain?" "Ben Carson, can you do math?" "John Kasich, will you insult two people over here?" "Marco Rubio, why don't you resign?" "Jeb Bush, why have your numbers fallen?" How about talking about the substantive issues the people care about? +p2681 +aVAnd Carl \u2014 Carl, I'm not finished yet. The contrast with the Democratic debate, where every fawning question from the media was, "Which of you is more handsome and why?" And let me be clear. +p2682 +aVLet me be clear. The men and women on this stage have more ideas, more experience, more common sense than every participant in the Democratic debate. That debate reflected a debate between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. And nobody watching at home believed that any of the moderators had any intention of voting in a Republican primary. The questions that are being asked shouldn't be trying to get people to tear into each other. It should be what are your substantive positions... +p2683 +aVYou want me to answer that question? I'm happy to answer the question... +p2684 +aVLet me tell you how that question... +p2685 +aVLet me tell you how that question... +p2686 +aV... so you don't actually want to hear the answer, John? +p2687 +aVYou don't want to hear the answer. You just want to... +p2688 +aVYou're not interested in an answer. +p2689 +aV...Then I'll buy you a tequila... +p2690 +aV...Or, even some famous Colorado brownies. +p2691 +aVWell, sure. This deal in Washington is an example of why Washington's broken. Republican leadership joined with every single Democrat, add $80 trillion to our debt to do nothing to fix the problems. And, let me now on Social Security because we were getting into a good substantive exchange, and I want to say I think both Chris, and Mike are right. Governor Huckabee's exactly right, we need to honor the promises made to our seniors, but for younger workers \u2014 look. I'm 44 years old. It is hard to find someone in my generation that thinks Social Security will be there for us. We can save and preserve and strengthen Social Security by making no changes for seniors, but for younger workers gradually increasing the retirement age, changing the rate of growth so that it matches inflation, and critically allowing younger workers to keep a portion of our tax payments in a personal account that we own, we control them, we can pass on to our kids. +p2692 +aVWell, we've gotta turn the economy around for people who are struggling. The Democrats' answer to everything is more government control over wages, and more empowering trial lawyers to file lawsuits. You know, you look at women working. I'll tell you, in my family there are a lot of single moms in my family. My sister was a single mom, both of my aunts who were a single moms. My mom who's here today, was a single mom when my father left us when I was 3 years old. Now, thank God, my father was invited to a Bible study and became born again and he came back to my mom and me and we were raised together. But I \u2014 the struggle of single moms is extraordinary. And you know, when you see Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and all the Democrats talking about wanting to address the plight of working women, not a one of them mentioned the fact that under Barack Obama, 3.7 million women have entered poverty. Not a one of them mentioned the fact that under Barack Obama and the big government economy, the median wage for women has dropped $733. The the truth of the matter is, big government benefits the wealthy, it benefits the lobbyists, it benefits the giant corporations. And the people who are getting hammered are small businesses, it's single moms, it's Hispanics. That is who I'm fighting for. The people that Washington leaves behind. +p2693 +aVWell, Rick, it's a very important question. I have got deep concerns about the Fed. The first thing I think we need to do is audit the Fed. And I am an original co-sponsor of Rand Paul's audit the Fed legislation. The second thing we need to do is I think we need to bring together a bipartisan commission to look at getting back to rules- based monetary policy, end this star chamber that has been engaging in this incredible experiment of quantitative easing, QE1, QE2, QE3, QE- infinity. And the people who are being impacted, you know, a question that was asked earlier, Becky asked, was about working women. You know, it's interesting, you look at on Wall Street, the Fed is doing great. It's driving up stock prices. Wall Street is doing great. You know, today, the top 1 percent earn a higher share of our income than any year since 1928. But if you look at working men and women. If you look at a single mom buying groceries, she sees hamburger prices have gone up nearly 40 percent. She sees her cost of electricity going up. She sees her health insurance going up. And loose money is one of the major problems. We need sound money. And I think the Fed should get out of the business of trying to juice our economy and simply be focused on sound money and monetary stability, ideally tied to gold. +p2694 +aVLet me say on that... +p2695 +aV...Rand is exactly right. His plan is a good plan, and I will note that my 10% plan also eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax, +p2696 +aV...eliminates the business... [ +p2697 +aV...income tax... [ +p2698 +aV...10% flat rate... +p2699 +aV...is the lowest personal rate any candidate up here has, and what it would also enable us to do is for every citizen to fill out their taxes on a postcard so we can eliminate the IRS. +p2700 +aVYou know, everyone here talks about the need to take on Washington. The natural next question is who actually has done so. Who actually has stood up not just to Democrats, but to leaders in our own party? When millions of Americans rose up against Obamacare, I was proud to lead that fight. When millions of Americans rose up against amnesty, I was proud to lead that fight. When millions of Americans rose up against Planned Parenthood, I was proud to lead that fight. If people are promising they're going to take on Washington and cronyism, you need to look to who has been doing it. In my family, my dad fled oppression in Cuba to come to America. Freedom is personal for me, and I will always keep my word and fight for freedom. +p2701 +aVI'm Ted Cruz. I am the son of an Irish-Italian mom and a Cuban immigrant dad who fled oppression and came to America seeking freedom. I'm a husband to my best friend, Heidi, who's here tonight. I'm a dad to two little girls who are the loves of my life, Caroline and Catherine. If you're fed up with Washington, if you're looking for someone to stand up to career politicians in both parties, I'm the only one on this stage who has done that over and over again, and if we stand together, we can bring America back. +p2702 +aVWell, let me tell you, Jake, the single biggest national security threat facing America right now is the threat of a nuclear Iran. We've seen six and a half years of President Obama leading from behind. Weakness is provocative, and this Iranian nuclear deal is nothing short of catastrophic. This deal, on its face, will send over $100 billion to the Ayatollah Khamenei, making the Obama administration the world's leading financier of radical Islamic terrorism. +p2703 +aVThis deal abandons four American hostages in Iran, and this deal will only accelerate Iran's acquiring nuclear weapons. You'd better believe it. If I am elected president, on the very first day in office, I will rip to shreds this catastrophic Iranian nuclear deal. +p2704 +aVWell, let's be clear when it comes to experience. What President Obama wants to do is he's run to the United Nations, and he wants to use the United Nations to bind the United States, and take away our sovereignty. Well, I spent five and a half years as a Solicitor General of Texas, the lead lawyer for the state, in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, and I went in front of the Supreme Court, and took on the world court of the United Nations in a case called Medellin v. Texas, and we won a historic victory saying the World Court, and the U.N., has no power to bind the United States, and no President of the United States, Republican or Democrat, has the authority to give away our sovereignty. And, so, if there's anyone up here who would be bound by this catastrophic deal with Iran, they're giving up the core responsibility of commander in chief, and as president, I would never do that. +p2705 +aVJake, Jake... +p2706 +aVJake, there is no more important topic in 2016 than this topic right here, and I've listened to several folks saying, "Well, gosh, if they cheat, we'll act." We won't know under this agreement \u2014 there are several facilities in Iran they designate as military facilities that are off limit all together. Beyond that, the other facilities, we give them 24 days notice before inspecting them. That is designed to allow them to hide the evidence. And most astonishingly, this agreement trusts the Iranians to inspect themselves. That makes no sense whatsoever. And let me know \u2014 President Obama is violating federal law... +p2707 +aV... by not handing over the side deals, and we ought to see the United States Congress... +p2708 +aV... stand up together and say, "Hand over this treaty, and protect this country." +p2709 +aVWell, let me tell you, Dana, number one, I'm proud to stand for life. These Planned Parenthood videos are horrifying. I would encourage every American to watch the videos. See \u2014 seeing your Planned Parenthood officials callously, heartlessly bartering and selling the body parts of human beings, and then ask yourself, "are these my values?" These are horrifying. On these videos, Planned Parenthood also essentially confesses to multiple felonies. It is a felony with ten years' jail term to sell the body parts of unborn children for profit. That's what these videos show Planned Parenthood doing. Absolutely we shouldn't be sending $500 million of taxpayer money to funding an ongoing criminal enterprise, and I'll tell you, the fact that Republican leadership in both houses has begun this discussion by preemptively surrendering to Barack Obama and saying, "we'll give in because Obama threatens a veto." You know, Obama's committed to his principles. His liberal principles, he will fight for them. He says... +p2710 +aVI will veto any budget that doesn't fund Planned Parenthood, and Republicans surrender. We need to stop surrendering and start standing... +p2711 +aV...for our principles. +p2712 +aVWell, Jake, you know, I'm \u2014 I'm very glad that Donald Trump's being in this race has forced the mainstream media finally to talk about illegal immigration. I think that's very important. I like and respect Ben Carson. I'll let him talk about his own plans. But I will say this: The natural next question that primary voters are asking, after we focus on illegal immigration is, okay, what are the records of the various candidates? And this is an issue on which there are stark differences. A majority of the men and women on this stage have previously and publicly embraced amnesty. I am the only candidate on this stage who has never supported amnesty and, in fact, who helped lead the fight to stop a massive amnesty plan. In 2013, when Barack Obama and Harry Reid joined the Washington Republicans in a massive, I stood shoulder to shoulder with Jeff Sessions helping lead the fight. You know, folks here have talked about, how do you secure the borders? Well, I've been leading the fight in the Senate to triple the Border Patrol, to put in place fencings and walls, to put in place a strong biometric exit/entry system... +p2713 +aVWell, Dana, I've known John Roberts for 20 years, he's amazingly talented lawyer, but, yes, it was a mistake when he was appointed to the Supreme Court. He's a good enough lawyer that he knows in these Obamacare cases he changed the statute, he changed the law in order to force that failed law on millions of Americans for a political outcome. And, you know, we're frustrated as conservatives. We keep winning elections, and then we don't get the outcome we want. And, let me focus on two moments in time. Number one, in 1990, in one room was David Souter, and in another room was Edith Jones, the rock ribbed (ph) conservative on the fifth circuit court of appeals. George Herbert Walker Bush appointed David Souter. And then in 2005, in one room was John Roberts, in another room was my former boss, Mike Luttig, the rock ribbed (ph) conservative on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals... +p2714 +aV...George W. Bush appointed John Roberts, and let me give you the consequences of that. If, instead, the President Bush had appointed Edith Jones, and Mike Luttig, which is who I would have appointed, Obamacare would have been struck down three years ago, and the marriage laws of all 50 states would be on the books. These matter, and I fought to defend the constitution my whole life... +p2715 +aV...and I will as president as well. +p2716 +aVIt is true that after George W. Bush nominated John Roberts, I supported his confirmation. That was a mistake and I regret that. I wouldn't have nominated John Roberts, and indeed, Governor Bush pointed out why. It wasn't that the President Bushes wanted to appoint a liberal to the court, it's that it was the easier choice. Both David Souter and John Roberts, they didn't have a long paper trail. If you had nominated Edith Jones or Mike Ludig (ph) you would have had a bloody fight and they weren't willing to spend political capital to put a strong judicial conservative on the court. I have spent my entire life, starting from clerking for Chief Justice William Rehnquist on the United States Supreme Court, one of the most principled jurists. We have an out-of-control Court, and I give you my word, if I'm elected president, every single Supreme Court justice will faithfully follow the law and will not act like philosopher kings \u2014 +p2717 +aV\u2014 imposing their liberal policies on millions of Americans \u2014 +p2718 +aV\u2014 who need to be trusted to govern ourselves. +p2719 +aVI \u2014 I am not, and \u2014 and you mentioned that the U.S. Supreme Court had rightly upheld the individual right to keep and bear arms. I was proud to lead 31 states before the U.S. Supreme Court defending the Second Amendment, and we won that landmark victory. And indeed, just a couple of years ago, when Harry Reid and Barack Obama came after the right to keep and bear arms of millions of Americans, I was proud to lead the fight in the United States Senate to protect our right to keep and bear arms, and for that reason... +p2720 +aV... I was honored to be endorsed by Gun Owners of America... +p2721 +aV... as the strongest supporter of the Second Amendment on this stage today, and I will... +p2722 +aV... fight every day to defend the Bill of Rights. +p2723 +aVWell, I wouldn't change the $10 bill, I'd change the $20. I'd take Jackson off and I'd leave Alexander Hamilton right where he is as one of our Founding Fathers. And I very much agree with Marco that it should be Rosa Parks. She was a principled pioneer that helped change this country, helped remedy racial injustice, and that would be an honor that would be entirely appropriate. +p2724 +aVYou know, as a Cuban, I might go with Cohiba (ph), and I'll tell you, I'd go with, for Heidi, Angel, because she is my angel. +p2725 +aVRonald Reagan believed in America. If I'm elected president our friends and allies across the globe will know that we stand with them. the bust of Winston Churchill will be back in the Oval Office, and the American embassy in Israel will be in Jerusalem. Enemies across this world will know the United States is not to be trifled with. +p2726 +aVChris, I believe the American people are looking for someone to speak the truth. If you're looking for someone to go to Washington, to go along to get along, to get -- to agree with the career politicians in both parties who get in bed with the lobbyists and special interests, then I ain't your guy. There is a reason... .... that we have $18 trillion in debt. Because as conservatives, as Republicans, we keep winning elections. We got a Republican House, we've got a Republican Senate, and we don't have leaders who honor their commitments. I will always tell the truth and do what I said I would do. +p2727 +aVChris, absolutely yes. And not only will I support it......I have authored Kate's law in the United States Senate and filed that legislation. I tried to get the Senate to vote to pass Kate's law on the floor of the Senate just one week ago, and the leader of our own party blocked a vote on Kate's law. You know, there was reference made to our leaders being stupid. It's not a question of stupidity. It's that they don't want to enforce the immigration laws. That there are far too many in the Washington cartel that support amnesty. President Obama has talked about fundamentally transforming this country. There's 7 billion people across the face of the globe, many of whom want to come to this country. If they come legally, great. But if they come illegally and they get amnesty, that is how we fundamentally change this country, and it really is striking. A majority of the candidates on this stage have supported amnesty. I have never supported amnesty, and I led the fight against Chuck Schumer's gang of eight amnesty legislation in the Senate. +p2728 +aVMegyn, we need a commander in chief that speaks the truth. We will not defeat radical Islamic terrorism so long as we have a president unwilling to utter the words, "radical Islamic terrorism". When I asked General Dempsey, the chairman of the joint chiefs, what would be required militarily to destroy +p2729 +aVMegyn, of course it's an ideological problem, that's one of the reasons I introduce the Expatriate Terrorist Act in the Senate that said if any American travels to the Middle East and joining +p2730 +aVWell, Bret, of course they have, and over the last six and a half years we've seen the consequences of the Obama-Clinton foreign policy. Leading from behind is a disaster. We have abandoned and alienated our friends and allies, and our enemies are stronger. Radical Islam is on the rise, Iran's on the verge of acquiring a nuclear weapon, China is waging cyber warfare against America, Russia -- General Soleimani, you just mentioned, the Iranian general is the head of the al Quds forces. He's directly responsible for the murder of over 500 American servicemen in Iraq, and part of this Iranian deal was lifting the international sanctions on General Soleimani. The day General Soleimani flew back from Moscow to Iran was the day we believed that Russia used cyber warfare against the Joint Chiefs. We need a new commander in chief that will stand up to our enemies, and that will have credibility... It is worth emphasizing that Iran released our hostages in 1981 the day Ronald Reagan was sworn into office. +p2731 +aVBrett, can I -- Brett, can I jump in on this one? +p2732 +aVWell, I am blessed to receive a word from God every day in receiving the scriptures and reading the scriptures. And God speaks through the Bible. I'm the son of a pastor and evangelist and I've described many times how my father, when I was a child, was an alcoholic. He wasn't a Christian. And my father left my mother and left me when I was just three years old. And someone invited him to Clay Road Baptist Church. And he gave his heart to Jesus and it turned him around. And he got on a plane and he flew back to my mother and me. I would also note that the scripture tells us, "you shall know them by their fruit." We see lots of "campaign conservatives." But if we're going to win in 2016, we need a consistent conservative, someone who has been a fiscal conservative, a social conservative, a national security conservative. There are real differences among the candidates on issues like amnesty, like Obamacare, like religious liberty, like life and marriage. And I have been proud to fight and stand for religious liberty, to stand against Planned Parenthood, to defend life for my entire career. And I will be proud to continue to do so as president of the United States. +p2733 +aVIf I'm elected president, let me tell you about my first day in office. The first thing I intend to do is to rescind every illegal and unconstitutional executive action taken by Barack Obama. The next thing I intend to do is instruct the Department of Justice to open an investigation into these videos and to prosecute Planned Parenthood for any criminal violations. The next thing I intend to do is instruct the Department of Justice and the IRS to start (sic) persecuting religious liberty, and then intend to cancel the Iran deal, and finally move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. I will keep my word. My father fled Cuba, and I will fight to defend liberty because my family knows what it's like to lose it. +p2734 +asVOBRADOVICH +p2735 +(lp2736 +VSenator Sanders, you've actually talked about immigration as being a wage issue in the United States. And I want to actually go directly to the wage issue now. You called for raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour everywhere in the country. But the President's former chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, Alan Krueger, has said a national increase of $15 could lead to undesirable and unintended consequences of job loss. What level of job loss would you consider unacceptable? +p2737 +aVYou said there are consequences... You said there are consequences for -- for any policy. Do you think job losses are a consequence that are... +p2738 +aVYou're calling for a $15 an hour wage now but why did you stop at $10.10 in your state? O' +p2739 +aVYes, Senator Sanders, you famously said in the last debate that you were sick and tired of hearing about your damn e- mails. But then you told the Wall Street Journal that the question about whether or not Secretary Clinton's e-mails compromised classified information were valid questions. So which is it? Is it an issue or is it not? +p2740 +aVI'm sorry, I couldn't hear you. Secretary Clinton, your response. +p2741 +asVTODD +p2742 +(lp2743 +VGood evening, and welcome to the +p2744 +aVAnd neither party has seen this yet. These candidates are both running for the Democratic nomination, but they are very different from each other when it comes to what matters most and how they would go about the job of being president. Our job tonight is to draw out those differences so you, the voters, can understand them and be fully informed. +p2745 +aVFirst, I want to say a special thanks to the New Hampshire Union Leader for helping make this debate possible, and the readers, who helped provide some of the questions and topics that we'll be addressing tonight. The rules tonight, by the way, are simple: 90 seconds for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. +p2746 +aVThank you, Senator. Secretary Clinton. +p2747 +aVAll right. Let's get started. Secretary Clinton, last night you cited the Concord Monitor when you said of Senator Sanders that, quote, "It's very hard to see how any of his proposals could ever be achievable." So please tell us why you think if he's elected president on a platform of promising things like free public college and universal healthcare, that he cannot achieve those things. +p2748 +aVThank you, Secretary. Senator Sanders, so just explain how you spent nearly two decades in Congress and haven't gotten any of these things passed. Why do you think as president you'll be able to achieve big, big new programs like this? +p2749 +aVGo. +p2750 +aVYes, go ahead. +p2751 +aVAll right, thank you both. Rachel. +p2752 +aVI'd like to follow up on a comment that Secretary Clinton said, Senator. President Obama has not called for abolishing the death penalty. President Obama is for the big Asian trade deal known as TPP, and just yesterday you said you can't be both a moderate or a progressive, but you can't be both. Is President Obama, in your judgment, based on these policies positions, a progressive? +p2753 +aV...Secretary Clinton, go ahead... +p2754 +aV 30 seconds, and then we'll move. +p2755 +aVThank you. +p2756 +aV... Secretary, we're gonna... +p2757 +aVThirty seconds. +p2758 +aVThank you both. +p2759 +aVAll right, welcome back. Let's get right to it. Senator Sanders, you were talking about all of your campaign contributions and campaign finance reform. You rail against big money in politics. But do you realize there is one public financing system that we do have in place, and it is\u2014it is in place to run for president. Why aren't you walking the walk on that? Why aren't you participating in the presidential public financing system which is designed to essentially keep big money out of presidential politics? +p2760 +aVWell, going on that then, why criticize her on Super PACs, and you got\u2014and all this when it is\u2014you know, that's the system? I mean, you could be participating in a publicly-financing\u2014public financing system... +p2761 +aV... and being able to set\u2014being able to set an example. +p2762 +aV... she has had more people praise her plan than yours. +p2763 +aVThank you both. Let me move on to our next question here, and in fact it comes to us through New England Cable News. Secretary Clinton, it's addressed to you, and it's about this issue of the speeches, particularly to Goldman Sachs. This is what the questioner wrote verbatim. "I am concerned with the abuses of Wall Street has taken with the American taxpayers money," and then she asks whether you would release the transcripts of your Goldman Sachs speeches, and then added, "Don't you think the voting public has a right to know what was said?" But, let's make that bigger. Are you willing to release the transcripts of all your paid speeches? We do know through reporting that there were transcription services for all of those paid speeches. In full disclosure, would you release all of them? +p2764 +aVSenator, you sound like you want to respond. Go ahead. +p2765 +aVWe'll be right back. And we're going to get to trade and a lot of other issues. +p2766 +aVGo ahead, Senator Sanders\u201430 seconds, your response. +p2767 +aVAll right. Senator, I want to stay, though... +p2768 +aVGo ahead. 30 seconds. +p2769 +aVLet me\u2014let\u2014we're gonna\u2014we're staying\u2014we're staying basically on this topic. Obviously you've been emphasizing this difference on the Iraq war, but one place where you do agree, and one place where you voted to authorize the use of force, was in favor of the war in Afghanistan. Right now, it is possible President Obama is going to be leaving the next president, perhaps President Sanders, at least 10,000 troops in Afghanistan. How long will those troops be in Afghanistan under President Sanders? +p2770 +aVCan you address a question on Afghanistan? How long are these troops going to be there? If President Obama leaves you 10,000 troops, how long do you think they're going to be there? +p2771 +aVSecretary Clinton, 30 seconds: How long are these troops going to be in Afghanistan? We have more American troops in Afghanistan than what we were talking about with Iraq. +p2772 +aVYou know, Senator Sanders, nobody knows who your foreign policy advisers are. You haven't given a major foreign policy speech. And it doesn't sound like all the time that foreign policy is a priority, other than when you're asked about it, and you say you're going to crush +p2773 +aVAll right, Senator, 30 seconds. +p2774 +aV30 seconds, madam secretary. +p2775 +aVAlright, as Commander in Chief, Senator Sanders, you've got to prioritize potential threats to the United States. Three countries, North Korea, Iran, Russia. How would you rank them in order of their threat to America's security right now... +p2776 +aV... Starting with the biggest threat. +p2777 +aV... I didn't say that... +p2778 +aV... No... +p2779 +aV... We already had that. I'm talking about these three countries. How would you orient our national security, our national defense posture. +p2780 +aVSecretary of Defense Ash Carter this week picked one of those three, and he has said Russia is, basically, the most important national security threat. Sort of reorienting the defense and the challenges to that. Do you agree with his decisions... +p2781 +aVSecretary Clinton, what do you think of Secretary of Defense Ash Carter. He's basically putting Russia above Iran, above North Korea, as sort of the chief national security challenge right now. +p2782 +aVThank you both, Rachel? +p2783 +aVAnd we are back. We're gonna get into a little bit of election politics, electability, in a little bit. Senator Sanders, The Iowa Democratic Party has declared Hillary Clinton the winner of Monday's Iowa caucuses\u2014narrowest of margins. Today, the Des Moines Register has an editorial that calls for the audit of the results, saying, quote, "what happened Monday night at the Democratic caucuses was a debacle, period. The results were too close not to do a complete audit." Senator Sanders, do you accept the idea that Hillary Clinton won Iowa? And do you\u2014or do you believe the caucuses are still an open question? +p2784 +aVSecretary Clinton, will you participate in some sort of audit, if that's what the party wants to do? You good with that? +p2785 +aVThat's fair enough. OK. +p2786 +aVGood, we move on. We're happy with that. We have more questions. +p2787 +aVWe'll stay on this issue. We'll stay on this topic. Secretary Clinton, just like there are some Democrats that question Senator Sanders' ability in the general election, many Democratic voters that our reporters have been running into in Iowa and New Hampshire, they tell our reporters over and over again they're worried about the emails issue, not because they don't believe your explanation, but because it's a drip-drip, because the cloud is hanging over your head and that it will impact the general election. They see your numbers right now and they think it's the email issue as to why you're not polling very well. So can you reassure these Democrats that somehow the email issue isn't going to blow up your candidacy if you're the nominee? +p2788 +aVAll right, Madam Secretary, there is an open\u2014there is an open FBI investigation into this matter about how you may have handled classified material. Are you 100 percent confident that nothing is going to come of this FBI investigation? +p2789 +aVWell, Senator sanders, you famously at the first debate said you didn't give a darn about her emails; I think you used another . +p2790 +aVYou're right. I'm trying to\u2014it's a\u2014it's a family hour still right now. After 11:00, I'll say it the other way. And you mostly have refrained from commenting on it, but recently you called it a very serious issue, and then the other day you said well she's getting slapped with the email controversy. Are you\u2014how are you feeling about these darn emails now? +p2791 +aVOK. Senator Sanders, thank you. +p2792 +aVSecretary Clinton, let me turn to the issue of trade. In the '90s you supported +p2793 +aVWell, Senator Sanders, I know you want to respond on this, you have never supported a trade deal since you've been in Congress. +p2794 +aVBut if you do that as president... If you do that as president, how are you not essentially letting China, who will do all of these deals around the world, how are you going to prevent China from essentially setting the rules of trade for the world? +p2795 +aVAll right. Thank you both. We're going to sneak in one more break here, and when we come back we'll squeeze as many questions as we can before we end this thing. We'll be right back. +p2796 +aVAll right. Welcome back here in the final minutes. +p2797 +aVThe home stretch of this only Democratic debate in the final week before the primary. Let me start with you, Secretary Clinton, on this question. Obviously, President Obama got a lot of ambitious stuff done in his first year and a half. You're going to have to make choices. And there's a lot of heavy lifts. And he made choices. He did healthcare and it came at the expense, arguably, of immigration reform. Had he put immigration reform first, perhaps that gets done and healthcare doesn't. So there are three big lifts that you've talked about: immigration, gun reform, climate change. What do you do first? Because you know the first one is the one you have the best shot at getting done. +p2798 +aVAll right, but Senator Sanders......you've still got to do something first. As you know, history said\u2014shows what you pick first is your best shot at getting, and how you prioritize things. +p2799 +aVImmigration reform, for instance, fell by the wayside in the first term because of this. +p2800 +aVOK. Thank you. +p2801 +aVAll right, before we go, I want to ask each one of these. Secretary Clinton, you've made it clear when you look at Senator Sanders, you do not see a president, but do you see\u2014 +p2802 +aVBut do you see\u2014do you see a vice president? +p2803 +aVWould you unite the party by trying to pick Senator Sanders as your running mate? +p2804 +aVSenator, would you consider the secretary? +p2805 +aVSecretary Clinton, closing statements. You are first. +p2806 +aVThank you, Madam Secretary. Senator Sanders. +p2807 +aVWell, there you have it. I promise you, Rachel and I have a lot more questions, but we just don't have any more time, unless we could a third hour, but I don't think so. Our debate coverage\u2014 debate coverage will continue in just a moment with our colleague . And we want to thank all of you for being here, and we want to thank the two candidates for taking part in this important event. +p2808 +aVWe'll see you in a few minutes. Thank you. +p2809 +asVLEVESQUE +p2810 +(lp2811 +VHere to New Hampshire again. As you know, this auditorium is filled with many Saint Anselm college students. They know the outstanding student debt right now in America is $1.3 trillion. That private education costs have gone up in the last decade 26 percent, and 40 percent for public education. So knowing that, we know you want to make public education more affordable but how do you really lower the cost? Senator Sanders, you mentioned a few minutes ago that you want free tuition for public colleges. +p2812 +aVHow does that really lower the cost other than just shifting the cost to taxpayers? +p2813 +aVGovernor O'Malley, how do you propose -- Governor O'Malley, how do you propose lowering some of these costs associated with higher education? O' +p2814 +asVHARWOOD +p2815 +(lp2816 +VMr. Trump, you've done very well in this campaign so far by promising to build a wall and make another country pay for it. +p2817 +aVSend 11 million people out of the country. Cut taxes $10 trillion without increasing the deficit. +p2818 +aVAnd make Americans better off because your greatness would replace the stupidity and incompetence of others. +p2819 +aVLet's be honest. Is this a comic book version of a presidential campaign? +p2820 +aVWe're at the 60 seconds. +p2821 +aVWe're at 60 seconds, but I gotta ask you, you talked about your tax plan. You say that it would not increase the deficit because you cut taxes $10 trillion in the economy would take off like... +p2822 +aVHold on, hold on. The economy would take off like a rocket ship. +p2823 +aVI talked to economic advisers who have served presidents of both parties. They said that you have as chance of cutting taxes that much without increasing the deficit as you would of flying away from that podium by flapping your arms. +p2824 +aVThe Tax Foundation says \u2014 has looked at all of our plans and \u2014 and his creates, even with the dynamic effect, $8 trillion dollar deficit... +p2825 +aVGovernor Kasich, hold it, I'm coming to you right now. The... +p2826 +aVWell, I'm asking you about this. +p2827 +aVI'm about to ask you about this. That is, you had some very strong words to say yesterday about what's happening in your party and what you're hearing from the two gentlemen we've just heard from. Would you repeat it? +p2828 +aVWell, let's just get more pointed about it. You said yesterday that you were hearing proposals that were just crazy from your colleagues. Who were you talking about? +p2829 +aVHold on. I think there's a \u2014 I've got question for \u2014 +p2830 +aVHold on, Governor. I've got a question for Governor Bush. +p2831 +aVNo, we're moving to Governor Bush. Governor, the fact that you're at the fifth lectern tonight shows how far your stock has fallen in this race, despite the big investment your donors have made. You noted recently, after slashing your payroll, that you had better things to do than sit around and be demonized by other people. I wanted to ask you \u2014 +p2832 +aVOK. +p2833 +aVGot it. +p2834 +aVBut it's a \u2014 OK. It's a \u2014 it's a question about why you're having difficulty. I want to ask you in this context. Ben Bernanke, who was appointed Fed chairman by your brother, recently wrote a book in which he said he no longer considers himself a Republican because the Republican Party has given in to know- nothingism. Is that why you're having a difficult time in this race? +p2835 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2836 +aVWe're gonna get down the line. Becky's got a question. +p2837 +aVSenator Paul, I've got a question for you on the same subject. +p2838 +aVSenator Paul? +p2839 +aVYou used your time on something else. Senator Paul? +p2840 +aVSenator Paul, the budget deal crafted by Speaker Boehner and passed by the House today makes cuts in entitlement programs, Medicare and Social Security disability, which are the very programs conservatives say need cutting to shrink government and solve our country's long-term budget deficit. Do you oppose that budget deal because it doesn't cut those programs enough? +p2841 +aVSenator, if what you just said is true, why did Speaker Boehner craft this deal and why did Paul Ryan, who has a strong reputation for fiscal discipline, vote for it? +p2842 +aVThank you, Senator . +p2843 +aVJim, thanks. Governor Bush, in a debate like this four years ago, every Republican running for president pledged to oppose a budget deal containing any tax increase even if it had spending cuts ten times as large. A few months later, you told Congress, put me in, coach, you said you would take that deal. Still feel that way? +p2844 +aVBut to \u2014 to the point that you made to Congress, if you were president and you were offered a bipartisan deal that had one dollar... +p2845 +aV...one dollar of tax increases per ten dollars of spending cuts, would you take it? +p2846 +aVSo you don't want the coach to put you in any more? +p2847 +aVThank you, governor. Carl? +p2848 +aVGovernor John Kasich, you've called for abolishing the Export Import Bank, which provides subsidies to help American companies compete with overseas competitors. You call that corporate welfare. One of the largest newspapers in your state wrote an editorial, said they found that strange, writing, that if that's corporate welfare, what does Kasich call the millions of dollars in financial incentives doled out to attract or retain jobs by his development effort \u2014 jobs Ohio. If subsidies are good enough for Ohio companies, why aren't they good enough for companies trying to compete overseas? +p2849 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2850 +aVThank you, Governor. Thank you. +p2851 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate on +p2852 +aVIt sounds like you think Senator Sessions is wrong to believe there is enough abuse in that program that we shouldn't... +p2853 +aVThank you, Senator. Becky? +p2854 +aVGovernor Bush, the tax reform bill that Ronald Reagan signed in 1986 cut the top personal income tax rate to 28 percent \u2014 just like your plan does. But President Reagan taxed capital gains at the same rate, while you would tax them at just 20 percent. Given the problems we've been discussing, growing gap between rich and poor, why would you tax labor at a higher rate than income from investments? +p2855 +aVSenator Rubio, 30 seconds to you. The Tax Foundation, which was alluded to earlier, scored your tax plan and concluded that you give nearly twice as much of a gain in after-tax income to the top 1 percent as to people in the middle of the income scale. Since you're the champion of Americans living paycheck-to- paycheck, don't you have that backward? +p2856 +aVThe Tax Foundation \u2014 just to be clear, they said the... +p2857 +aVNo, I did not. +p2858 +aVSenator, the Tax Foundation said after-tax income for the top 1 percent under your plan would go up 27.9 percent. +p2859 +aVAnd people in the middle of the income spectrum, about 15 percent. +p2860 +aV +p2861 +aVSenator, thank you. +p2862 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you've written about the huge divide in values between middle America and the big coastal cities like New York and Los Angeles. As a preacher as well as a politician, you know that presidents need the moral authority to bring the entire country together. The leading Republican candidate, when you look at the average of national polls right now, is Donald Trump. When you look at him, do you see someone with the moral authority to unite the country? +p2863 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2864 +aVThank you, Governor. Don't forget my colleague, Sharon Epperson. +p2865 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said something that many in your party do not believe, which is that climate change is undeniable, that human activity contributes to it, and you said, quote: "The question is, what do we do to deal with it?". So what do we do? +p2866 +aVWhat should we do? +p2867 +aVYou mean government? +p2868 +aVThank you, Governor. Becky. +p2869 +aVGovernor Bush, Mr. Trump says that he is capable of growing the economy so much that Social Security and Medicare don't have to be touched. Do you want to explain how that is going to happen, Mr. Trump? +p2870 +aVHold on, Governor. I've got a question for \u2014 for Dr. Carson. +p2871 +aVYes. You've said that you would like to replace Medicare with a system of individual family savings accounts, so that families could cover their own expenses. Obviously, that would be a very controversial idea. Explain how that would work, exactly. +p2872 +aVGovernor, do you also think that... +p2873 +aV...that Dr. Carson's right, that we can replace Medicare with individual savings accounts? +p2874 +aVMrs. Fiorina, we're right at the end of our time. +p2875 +aVYou all wanted us to limit . All right. Go ahead. +p2876 +aVWe have now reached the point in the program where candidates are going to give their closing statements, 30 seconds apiece. We're going to go right to left and start with you, Senator Paul. +p2877 +aVGovernor Christie? +p2878 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Cruz? +p2879 +aVThank you, Senator. Mrs. Fiorina? +p2880 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Dr. Carson? +p2881 +aVMr. Trump? +p2882 +aVJust for the record, the debate was always going to be two hours. Senator Rubio? +p2883 +aVSenator Rubio. +p2884 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Bush? +p2885 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Huckabee. +p2886 +aVThank you... +p2887 +aVGovernor Kasich? +p2888 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2889 +aVWe're going to pose this question to all candidates and go left to right, starting with Governor Jindal. Governor, a majority of Republican voters at this point in the campaign have made clear that they prefer someone from outside the political system. In 30 seconds, tell us why your experience inside the system would be more valuable than the fresh eyes an outsider would bring. +p2890 +aVThanks, Governor Jindal. Senator Santorum? +p2891 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Pataki? +p2892 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Graham. +p2893 +aVSenator Graham, thank you very much. Becky? +p2894 +aVJust hold on, Governor Pataki, we're going to go to Senator Graham on this question because we believe you are likely to be the only person on this stage tonight who supports this budget deal. Now, you just heard Governor Jindal say that it's a phony deal, it doesn't do anything, and people like you are surrendering rather than fighting by supporting it. Why is he wrong? +p2895 +aVThank you, Senator Graham... +p2896 +aV...Governor, we're going to get to you in just a moment, we're going to try to keep this shorter... +p2897 +aVGovernor Jindal, a question about fiscal policy, especially since you noted that this deal doesn't solve the long-term debt situation. When you came into office with a budget surplus in the state of Louisiana, now, years later, the state legislature faced a $1.6 billion budget gap and the Republican state treasurer called one of your approaches to that problem "nonsense on a stick," quoting him. Are you going to do for the federal budget what you did for the Louisiana budget? +p2898 +aVBut Governor Jindal, as you know, many Republicans are opposed to the approach that you've taken in Louisiana. They complain that you have tried so hard to avoid anything that could be called a tax increase so that you could run for president saying you'd never raised taxes, David Vitter, the Republican who's now running to succeed you, has told voters, I won't be like Jindal, I'm not using the governorship as a stepping stone to higher office. +p2899 +aVGovernor Jindal, thank you. +p2900 +aVWe're going to take a quick break. The Republican presidential debate continues live from Boulder, Colorado in a moment. +p2901 +aVGovernor Jindal, Senator Santorum just raised the issue of corporate taxes, and cutting corporate taxes is very popular in your party because our rate, at 35 percent, is one of the highest in the world. But nobody has figured out how to identify a set of loopholes that would allow that tax rate to be lowered. So can you tell us specifically what loopholes you'd do away with? +p2902 +aVWe're talking corporate taxes. +p2903 +aVThanks, Governor. Becky? +p2904 +aVSo the tax credit right now that we have for domestic manufacturing, which manufacturers say is... +p2905 +aV...important, you would get rid of that? +p2906 +aVSenator Graham, Americans have gotten used to seeing headlines about more and more big corporations relocating overseas to cut their tax bill. Now, many in Washington think the way to stop that is to lower our corporate tax rate. But as we've seen, tax reform takes time. It hasn't happened yet. In the meantime, do you fault those companies for leaving? Do companies owe anything to their country, as well as their shareholders? +p2907 +aVSenator Graham. +p2908 +aVI want to remind candidates, you've got a one-minute limit on the \u2014 on the response. But I just want to follow up, Senator Graham. Four years ago, the nominee of your party said that corporations are people, too. If that is true, the question is, do they owe any obligation to the country? +p2909 +aVSenator Graham \u2014 +p2910 +aV\u2014 thank you very much. +p2911 +aVWe're moving on. +p2912 +aVSenator, we're moving on. I'd like to bring on my colleague, Rick Santelli \u2014 Rick. +p2913 +aVSenator, that \u2014 I mean, Governor, if that's true, why was our economy limping six years ago and now it's the strongest in the world? +p2914 +aVGovernor Pataki, you've indicated you believe climate change is real and caused at least in part by human activity. So, in 60 seconds, tell us what the federal government should do about it. +p2915 +aVIs there a role for government? +p2916 +aVSo, subsidies for those programs? For \u2014 for those alternative energy sources? +p2917 +aVThank you, Governor. Thank you, Governor. Carl? +p2918 +aVGovernor, if you cut spending and cut government so much, why did your legislature have such a big deficit? +p2919 +aVNo, we're going to move on. I'm going to bring on my colleague Sharon Epperson. +p2920 +aVAnd thank you, Sharon. This is the Republican Presidential Debate, live from Boulder, Colorado. We'll be right back. +p2921 +aVOK, now we're at the point of the evening where we're just about to give our candidates a holiday from this debate, but not before they tell us in 30 seconds their closing statements. Senator Graham, you're first. +p2922 +aVSenator Graham... +p2923 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. Governor Pataki? +p2924 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum? +p2925 +aVSenator Santorum, thank you. Governor Jindal? +p2926 +aVGovernor Jindal, thank you very much. Carl? +p2927 +asVPAUL +p2928 +(lp2929 +VThe question is, how do we keep America safe from terrorism? Trump says we ought to close that Internet thing. The question really is, what does he mean by that? Like they do in North Korea? Like they do in China? Rubio says we should collect all Americans' records all of the time. The Constitution says otherwise. I think they're both wrong. I think we defeat terrorism by showing them that we do not fear them. I think if we ban certain religions, if we censor the Internet, I think that at that point the terrorists will have won. Regime change hasn't won. Toppling secular dictators in the Middle East has only led to chaos and the rise of radical Islam. I think if we want to defeat terrorism, I think if we truly are sincere about defeating terrorism, we need to quit arming the allies of +p2930 +aVYou know, I think Marco gets it completely wrong. We are not any safer through the bulk collection of all Americans' records. In fact, I think we're less safe. We get so distracted by all of the information, we're not spending enough time getting specific immigration \u2014 specific information on terrorists. The other thing is, is the one thing that might have stopped San Bernardino, that might have stopped 9/11 would have been stricter controls on those who came here. And Marco has opposed at every point increased security \u2014 border security for those who come to our country. On his Gang of Eight bill, he would have liberalized immigration, but he did not \u2014 and he steadfastly opposed any new border security requirements for refugees or students. Last week, I introduced another bill saying we need more security, we need more scrutiny. Once again, Marco opposed this. So Marco can't have it both ways. He thinks he wants to be this, "Oh, I'm great and strong on national defense." But he's the weakest of all the candidates on immigration. He is the one for an open border that is leaving us defenseless. If we want to defend the country, we have to defend against who's coming in, and Marco is \u2014 has more of an allegiance to Chuck Schumer and to the liberals than he does to conservative policy. +p2931 +aVIf I was mentioned in the question, can I respond? +p2932 +aVMarco still misunderstands the immigration issue. What I put forward was an amendment that would have temporarily halted immigration from high-risk terrorist countries, but would have started it up, but I wanted them to go through Global Entry, which is a program where we do background checks. The thing is, is that every terrorist attack we've had since 9/11 has been legal immigration. Marco wants to expand that. I want more rules, more scrutiny, and to defend the country, you have to defend the border. +p2933 +aVWolf... +p2934 +aVWolf, this legislation... +p2935 +aVThis legislation on indefinite detention... +p2936 +aV... I think deserves a little more attention. +p2937 +aVI think that by arming the allies of +p2938 +aVI think that if you believe in regime change, you're mistaken. In 2013, we put 600 tons of weapons \u2014 us, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar \u2014 into the war against Assad. By pushing Assad back, we did create a safe space. We had people coming to our Foreign Relations Committee and saying, "Oh, we need to arm the allies of Al Qaida." They are still saying this. It is a crazy notion. This is the biggest debate we should be having tonight is is regime change a good idea; has it been a good idea. There are still people \u2014 the majority on the stage, they want to topple Assad. And then there will be chaos, and I think +p2939 +aVThese are the fundamental questions of our time, these foreign policy questions, whether or not regime change is a good idea or a bad idea. I don't think because I think the regime change was a bad idea it means that Hussein was necessarily a good idea. There is often variations of evil on both sides of the war. What we have to decide is whether or not regime change is a good idea. It's what the neoconservatives have wanted. It's what the vast majority of those on the stage want. They still want regime change. They want it in Syria. They wanted it in Iraq. They want it in Libya. It has not worked. Out of regime change you get chaos. From the chaos you have seen repeatedly the rise of radical Islam. So we get this profession of, oh, my goodness, they want to do something about terrorism and yet they're the problem because they allow terrorism to arise out of that chaos. +p2940 +aVNo, I think it's a huge mistake. I think regime change in Syria, and this is what \u2014 I've been saying this for several years now. In 2013 when we first went in, I said, you are going to give arms to the allies of al Qaida, to radical jihadists? That's crazy. But the other thing I said is the great irony is you will be back fighting against your own weapons. Had Assad been bombed when he used chemical weapons two years ago, +p2941 +aVWell, I think if you're in favor of World War III, you have your candidate. You know, here's...... the thing. My goodness, what we want in a leader is someone with judgment, not someone who is so reckless as to stand on the stage and say, "Yes, I'm jumping up and down; I'm going to shoot down Russian planes." Russia already flies in that airspace. It may not be something we're in love with the fact that they're there, but they were invited by Iraq and by Syria to fly in that airspace. And so if we announce we're going to have a no-fly zone, and others have said this. Hillary Clinton is also for it. It is a recipe for disaster. It's a recipe for World War III. We need to confront Russia from a position of strength, but we don't need to confront Russia from a point of recklessness that would lead to war. This is something \u2014 this type of judgment, you know, it's having that kind of judgment; who you would appoint and how you're going to conduct affairs, that is incredibly important. I mean, I think when we think about the judgment of someone who might want World War III, we might think about someone who might shut down a bridge because they don't like their friends; they don't want to \u2014 you know, they want to a Democrat. So I think we need to be very careful. +p2942 +aVYou know, I think we need to set the record straight on this, because I think Marco misspoke about the bill. On the Gang of Eight bill, there was no provisions really for extra scrutiny or safety for refugees. At the time the bill came up, two Iraqi refugees came to my home town, Bowling Green, Kentucky. Their fingerprints were on a bomb from Iraq. They were in the database, but we didn't pick them up. We relocated them here, put them in government housing, got them on food stamps. And we began providing for them, but we didn't have adequate security. On the Gang of Eight bill, on Marco's bill, we had an opportunity. There was a conservative consensus for an amendment I put forward called Trust, But Verify that would have strengthened border security on both refugees, students and those coming here. And Marco sided and I guess was more sympathetic to Chuck Schumer and to the president than he was to conservative principles. But this goes directly to national defense. And if he wants to run as a national \u2014 national defense conservative, he's got to explain why he hasn't stepped up to support border security. +p2943 +aVWhat my bill would do would be only for refugees going forward. So I haven't taken a position on sending anyone home. But I have taken the position that we have a lot of problems here in our country. And that one of the things that we do \u2014 charity is about giving your own money. Charity isn't giving someone else's money. To put everyone in government housing and food stamps and bring them in from around the world I think is a mistake. To give of your own money, I've given to my church. My church has helped people that came from Bosnia. That's a good thing. But we shouldn't have a program where we just say that we're going to take care of the world's refugees. Nobody in the Middle East is doing anything. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait \u2014 all the Gulf nations are doing nothing. They need to step up and take... +p2944 +aVThe greatest threat to our national security is our debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. And whose fault is it? Well, frankly, it's both parties' fault. You have those on the right who clamor and say, oh, we will spend anything on the military, and those on the left who say the same for domestic welfare. But what most Americans don't realize is there is an unholy alliance. They come together. There's a secret handshake. We spend more money on everything. And we are not stronger nation if we go further into debt. We are not projecting power from bankruptcy court. To me, there is no greater threat than our debt. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage because I'm willing to hold the line on all spending. I hope you will consider me in the election. Thank you very much. +p2945 +aVAbsolutely. And I think that we ought to look where income inequality seems to be the worst. It seems to be worst in cities run by Democrats, governors of... States run by Democrats and countries currently run by Democrats. So the thing is, let's look for root causes. But I would also say \u2014 lay some blame at the \u2014 the feet of the Federal Reserve. I think the Federal Reserve has made this problem worse. By artificially keeping interest rates below the market rate, average ordinary citizens have a tough time earning interest, have a tough time making money. They're actually talking now about negative interest. The money as it's created through quantitative easing or other means tends to start out in the big banks in New York. And because we're now paying interest for them to keep the money there, much of that money has not filtered out into the economy. So what we're finding is there is increasing income disparity and income inequality. We also find that as the Federal Reserve destroys the value of the currency, what you're finding is that, if you're poor, if you make $20,000 a year and you have three or four kids, and you're trying to get by, as your prices rise or as the value of the dollar shrinks, these are the people that are hurt the worst. So really we need to reexamine whether we not \u2014 we want a Federal Reserve that's involved so much in determining interest rates. We also need to look at root causes as to what caused the housing boom and the housing collapse. But the bottom line is, if you want less income inequality, move to a city with a Republican mayor or a state with a Republican governor. +p2946 +aVWell, it's a great question, Neil, and thanks for including me in the tax debate. I think what's important about the tax debate is, is that we have to ask the question, where is money best spent, in the private sector or in the government sector? I want a government really, really small, so small you can barely see it. So I want lower taxes and much more money in the private sector. My tax plan, however, is the only tax plan among any of the candidates on the stage that is part of a balanced budget plan. I put forward three plans that actually balance the budget over a five-year period. Each of these plans have details on exactly where we would cut. The question came up earlier, where would you cut? Nobody likes to say where they would cut. I've put pencil to paper and done three budgets that actually balance. I'm also in favor of a plan called the penny plan where we'd just cut 1 percent across the board and the budget actually balances in less than five years. So I think what is extraordinary about my tax plan is it is in the context of balancing the budget. What is also extraordinary about my tax plan is it gets rid of the payroll tax. Democrats demagogue this issue to death, and when they do they say, oh, a millionaire would get a bigger tax cut than someone making $10,000. That's proportionality, as Ben is trying to explain to folks. But the thing is, is if we get rid of the payroll tax, everybody is going to get a tax cut. And this is something that I think the public at large will support and could win an election. +p2947 +aVOurs is 14.5 percent for corporations, 14.5 percent for individuals. No payroll tax for the employee. The business tax pays for social security, and there would be two remaining deductions \u2014 home mortgage and charity. +p2948 +aVThank you. +p2949 +aVNeil, there's a point I'd like to make here... ....Neil, a point that I'd like to make about the tax credits. We have to decide what is conservative and what isn't conservative. Is it fiscally conservative to have a trillion-dollar expenditure? We're not talking about giving people back their tax money. He's talking about giving people money they didn't pay. It's a welfare transfer payment. So here's what we have. Is it conservative to have $1 trillion in transfer payments \u2014 a new welfare program that's a refundable tax credit? Add that to Marco's plan for $1 trillion in new military spending, and you get something that looks, to me, not very conservative. Thank you. +p2950 +aVNevertheless, it's not very conservative, Marco. +p2951 +aVHow is it conservative? +p2952 +aVYeah, but, Marco! Marco! How is it conservative, how is it conservative to add a trillion-dollar expenditure for the federal government that you're not paying for? +p2953 +aVHow is it conservative? +p2954 +aVHow is it conservative to add a trillion dollars in military expenditures? You can not be a conservative if you're going to keep promoting new programs that you're not going to pay for. +p2955 +aVNo. I don't think we're any safer \u2014 I do not think we are any safer from bankruptcy court. As we go further, and further into debt, we become less, and less safe. This is the most important thing we're going to talk about tonight. Can you be a conservative, and be liberal on military spending? Can you be for unlimited military spending, and say, Oh, I'm going to make the country safe? No, we need a safe country, but, you know, we spend more on our military than the next ten countries combined? I want a strong national defense, but I don't want us to be bankrupt. +p2956 +aVHey, Gerard, you know, we might want to point out China is not part of this deal. +p2957 +aVBefore we get a little bit off-kilter here... +p2958 +aVThere is an argument that China doesn't like the deal, because in us doing the deal, we'll be trading with their competitors. You're exactly right. But I think we've sort of missed the point a little bit here. There is an important point, though, about how we discuss these trade treaties that I do agree with Mr. Trump on. We should negotiate from a position of strength. And we also should negotiate using the full force and the constitutional power that was given to us. I think it's a mistake that we give up power to the presidency on these trade deals. We give up the power to filibuster, and I'm kind of fond of that power. We give up the power to amend. And I think, really, one of the big problems we have in our country is, over the last century, really, so much power has gravitated to the executive branch. Really, Congress is kind of a bystander. We don't write the rules. We don't make the laws. The executive branch does. So even in trade \u2014 and I am for trade \u2014 I think we should be careful about giving so much power to the presidency. +p2959 +aVI'd like first to respond to the acquisition, we should \u2014 I think it's particularly naive, particularly foolish to think that we're not going to talk to Russia. The idea of a no fly zone, realize that this is also something that Hillary Clinton agrees with several on our side with, you're asking for a no fly zone in an area in which Russia already flies. Russia flies in that zone at the invitation of Iraq. I'm not saying it's a good thing, but you better know at least what we're getting into. So, when you think it's going to be a good idea to have a no fly zone over Iraq, realize that means you are saying we are going to shoot down Russian planes. If you're ready for that, be ready to send your sons and daughters to another war in Iraq. I don't want to see that happen. I think the first war in Iraq was a mistake... You can be strong without being involved in every civil war around the war... +p2960 +aVRonald Reagan was strong, but Ronald Reagan didn't... +p2961 +aV...send troops into the Middle East... +p2962 +aV...Can I finish... +p2963 +aV...Can I finish my time? Could I finish with my time? +p2964 +aVYes, I would like to finish my response, basically. +p2965 +aVThis is an important question. This is an incredibly important question. And the question goes to be, who do we want to be our commander-in-chief? Do you want a commander-in-chief who says something that we never did throughout the entire Cold War, to discontinue having conversations with the Russians? I am not happy about them flying over there. But I'm not naive enough to say, well, Iraq has them flying over their airspace, we're just going to announce that we're shooting them down? That is naive to the point of being something you might hear in junior high. But it's scary... +p2966 +aVThe first thing I would do is I wouldn't arm our enemies. I wouldn't arm +p2967 +aVGerard, can I comment... +p2968 +aVThe first thing I would do as president is repeal the regulations that are hampering our energy that the President has put in place. Including the Clean Power Act. While I do think that man may have a role in our climate, I think nature also has a role. The planet's 4.5 billion years old, we've been through geologic age after geologic age. We've had times when the temperatures been warmer, we've had times when the temperatures been colder. We've had times when the carbon in the atmosphere's been higher. So, I think before we \u2014 we need to look before we leap. President's often fond of saying he wants a balance solution, but, really we do need to balance both keeping the environment clean, and we will have some rules for that. We got to balance that with the economy. He's devastated my state. I say the President's not only destroying Kentucky, he's destroying the democrat party down there because nobody wants to associate with him. So, what we really need is somebody that understands that we do need energy of all forms, and that means we will have solar, and wind, and hydro, but we will still have coal, and we still will have natural gas. And, we've got to have an all of the above policy. But, it would be a mistake to shut down all of our industries in the coal fields, and shut down the coal power plants. If we did so we're going to have a day where we wake up and some of our big cities are either very cold, or very hot. So, I think it's a big danger, and we shouldn't do it. And, what we should do is say we want all of the above... ...We want to free up the energy sector, and let people produce, let them drill, let them explore. +p2969 +aVWe're the richest, freest, most humanitarian nation in the history of mankind. But we also borrow a million dollars a minute. And the question I have for all Americans is, think about it, can you be a fiscal conservative if you don't conserve all of the money? If you're a profligate spender, you spend money in an unlimited fashion for the military, is that a conservative notion? We have to be conservative with all spending, domestic spending and welfare spending. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage. +p2970 +aVYou know, I left my medical practice and ran for office because I was concerned about an $18 trillion debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. Now, on the floor of the Congress, the Washington establishment from both parties puts forward a bill that will explode the deficit. It allows President Obama to borrow unlimited amounts of money. I will stand firm. I will spend every ounce of energy to stop it. I will begin tomorrow to filibuster it. And I ask everyone in America to call Congress tomorrow and say enough is enough; no more debt. +p2971 +aVNo, I oppose it because you're taking money from the entitlement and then spending it immediately on other items. That's what they're doing. They're taking money from Social Security and they're going to spend it on the military and they're going to spend it on domestic spending. Here's the thing. When you look at raising the debt limit, it should be leverage to try to reform government. In 2011, the sequester was passed as a reform to slow down the rate of government. Instead, the Washington establishment raised both. We raised the military spending, took from entitlements, and raised domestic spending and the deficit will explode under this. This is the unholy alliance that people need to know about between right and left. Right and left are spending us into oblivion. We should use the debt ceiling, as precisely to Don, to force upon them budgetary reforms. +p2972 +aVWell, that's a real question. Is there going to be any change in the House with new leadership? I frankly don't think there will be much change because I think what's going to happen is you're going to get more of the same. People in Washington think they were sent there to be adults and govern and do all this. Well, you know what I'm worried about? Not keeping the government open. I'm worried about bankrupting the American people. We're borrowing a million dollars a minute. That is important. And that's what we have to contrast. Keeping the government open and continuing to borrow a million dollars a minute. +p2973 +aVWell, thank you very much. I would like to thank Ted for co-sponsoring my bill, audit the Fed. And I think it's precisely because of the arrogance of someone like Ben Bernanke, who now calls us all know-nothings, that is precisely why we need audit the Fed. I think it is really very much a huge problem that an organization as powerful as the Fed comes in, lobbies against them being audited on the Hill. I would prevent them lobbying Congress. I don't think the Fed should be involved with lobbying us. I think we should examine how the Fed has really been part of the problem. You want to study income inequality, let's bring the Fed forward and talk about Fed policy and how it causes income inequality. Let's also bring the Fed forward and have them explain how they caused the housing boom and the crisis, and what they've done to make us better or worse. I think the Fed has been a great problem in our society. What you need to do is free up interest rates. Interest rates are the price of money, and we shouldn't have price controls on the price of money. +p2974 +aV...John... +p2975 +aVJohn, I'd like to address this? John, could I follow up on this? +p2976 +aVWhat are the rules on who gets to follow up. How do we decide on who gets to follow up? I've seen plenty of other people follow up? +p2977 +aVI'd like to just mention something about my tax plan, and how it relates to the discussion... +p2978 +aVAlright. Much of the discussion is centered over whether or not the different tax plans help, or affect the middle class. In fact, it's the chief argument by democrats against many of the different flat tax proposals. Mine is unique in the sense that my tax plan actually gets rid of the payroll tax as well. It shifts it to the business, and it would allow middle class people to get a tax cut. If you just cut their income tax, there isn't much income tax to cut. Mine actually cuts the payroll tax, and I think it would spread the tax cut across all socioeconomic levels, and would allow then it to be something that would be broadly supported by the public in an election. +p2979 +aVThe question always is, what works better, the private marketplace or government? And what distributes goods better? It always seems to be the private marketplace does a better job. Is there an area for a safety net? Can you have Medicare or Social Security? Yes. But you ought to acknowledge the government doesn't do a very good job at it. The main problem with Medicare right now is that the average person pays in taxes over their whole lifetime about $100,000. But the average person takes out about $350,000. We have this enormous mismatch because we have smaller and smaller families. When people ask me, whose fault is it? Whose fault is it that Medicare is broken, out of money, that Social Security is broken, out of money? And I say, look, it's not Republicans' fault, it's not Democrats' fault, it's your grandparents' fault for having too many damn kids. After the war we had all of these kids, Baby Boomers. Now we're having smaller families. We used to have 16 workers for one retiree, now you have three workers for one retiree. It's not working. I have a bill to fix Medicare. I've a bill to fix Social Security. For both of them you have to gradually raise the age. If you're not willing to do that, nobody wants to do it, but if you're not willing to gradually raise the age, you're not serious about fixing either one of them. +p2980 +aVSay again? +p2981 +aVYou can't do nothing. And that's what I hear from some people, "we'll do nothing and it will just be fixed." That's absurd, and I think people who don't want to fix it, really, or unwilling to take the chance to say, "something has to change," are missing the boat here. The age will have to gradually rise, there is no question. It's the only way you fix Medicare, the only way you fix Social Security. You will also have to means-test the benefits and declare there's not enough money. It isn't "I put money in, I'm getting it back." There is no money, it's a stack of paper. There is no money in the Social Security account. There is no money in the Medicare account. There's only a promise to pay by the next generation, and the next generation's not big enough to pay it. [ +p2982 +aVLiberty thrives when government is small. I want a government so small I can barely see it. I want a government so small that the individual has a chance to thrive and prosper. I think, though, government is too big now. And what you're going to see in Washington this week is establishment Republicans have made an agreement with the president to raise the debt ceiling in an unlimited fashion; no limit to the debt ceiling raise. This is extraordinary. It's extraordinarily wrong. You'll see me on the floor of the Senate tomorrow filibustering this and saying enough is enough, no more debt. +p2983 +aVGood evening, everyone. I'm an eye surgeon from Bowling Green, Kentucky. My wife, Kelly, and I have been married for nearly 25 years, and I spend my days defending the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I think there's nothing more important than understanding that the Constitution restrains government, not the people. Thank you. +p2984 +aVI kind of have to laugh when I think of, "Mmm, sounds like a non sequitur." He was asked whether or not he would be capable and it would be in good hands to be in charge of the nuclear weapons, and all of a sudden, there's a sideways attack at me. I think that really goes to really the judgment. Do we want someone with that kind of character, that kind of careless language to be negotiating with Putin? Do we want someone like that to be negotiating with Iran? I think really there's a sophomoric quality that is entertaining about Mr. Trump, but I am worried. I'm very concerned about him \u2014 having him in charge of the nuclear weapons, because I think his response, his \u2014 his visceral response to attack people on their appearance \u2014 short, tall, fat, ugly \u2014 my goodness, that happened in junior high. Are we not way above that? Would we not all be worried to have someone like that in charge of the nuclear arsenal? +p2985 +aVI think this goes back to essentially what we've been saying for the last two or three questions. Carly Fiorina also said we're not going to talk with Putin. Well, think if Reagan had said that during the Cold War? We continued to talk with the Russians throughout the Cold War which is much more significant that where we are now. Should we continue to talk with Iran? Yes. Should we cut up the agreement immediately? That's absurd. Wouldn't you want to know if they complied? Now, I'm going to vote against the agreement because I don't think there's significant leverage, but it doesn't mean that I would immediately not look at the agreement, and cut it up without looking to see if whether or not Iran has complied. The same goes with China. I don't think we need to be rash, I don't think we need to be reckless, and I think need to leave lines of communication open. Often we talk about whether we should be engaged in the world, or disengaged in the world, and I think this is an example of some who want to isolate us, actually, and not be engaged. We do need to be engaged with Russia. It doesn't mean we give them a free pass, or China a free pass, but, to be engaged, to continue to talk. We did throughout the Cold War, and it would be a big mistake not to do it here. +p2986 +aVI think this gets to the point of wisdom on when to intervene and when we shouldn't. Had we bombed Assad at the time, like President Obama wanted, and like Hillary Clinton wanted and many Republicans wanted, I think +p2987 +aVWell, I hate to say it, but Donald Trump has a bit of a point here. The case that was decided around 1900 was, people had a green card, were here legally, and they said that their children were citizens. There's never been a direct Supreme Court case on people who were here illegally, whether or not their kids are citizens. So it hasn't really been completely adjudicated. The 14th Amendment says that "those who are here and under the jurisdiction." The original author of the \u2014 of the 14th Amendment said on the Senate floor that this was applying to slaves, and did not specifically apply to others. +p2988 +aVWell, I'm glad we're having a discussion about taxes because everybody laments that we lose jobs overseas, we have. Our companies, and our jobs are being chased overseas by a 70,000 page tax code, so, that's why I've chosen to get rid of the whole thing, and have one single rate, 14 and a-half percent for everybody, business, and for corporate income, and personal income. But, we also get rid of the payroll tax, so the working class would get a tax break as well. So, I think a flat tax, eliminating the tax code, getting rid of all the loopholes, is the way to go, and it's the way we get America going again. +p2989 +aVHugh, can I \u2014 can I make a response to that? +p2990 +aVCan I make a response to that? +p2991 +aVMay I make a response to that? +p2992 +aVHe's referred to me. +p2993 +aVHe's referred to me... +p2994 +aV... in his remarks. May I make a response? +p2995 +aVAbsolutely. Go ahead. +p2996 +aVMay I respond? +p2997 +aVThe remark was made that there hadn't been anyone else on the podium opposed to the Iraq War. I've made my career as being an opponent of the Iraq War. I was opposed to the Syria war. I was opposed to arming people who are our enemies. Iran is now stronger because Hussein is gone. Hussein was the great bulwark and counterbalance to the Iranians. So when we complain about the Iranians, you need to remember that the Iraq War made it worse. Originally, Governor Bush was asked, was the Iraq War a mistake, and he said, "No. We'd do it again." We have to learn sometimes the interventions backfire. The Iraq War backfired and did not help us. We're still paying the repercussions of a bad decision. +p2998 +aVWe have make the decision now in Syria, should we topple Assad? Many up here wanted to topple Assad, and it's like \u2014 I said no, because if you do... +p2999 +aV... +p3000 +aVIf you want boots on the ground, and you want them to be our sons and daughters, you got 14 other choices. There will always be a Bush or Clinton for you, if you want to go back to war in Iraq. But the thing is, the first war was a mistake. And I'm not sending our sons and our daughters back to Iraq. The war didn't work. We can amplify those who live there. The Kurds deserve to be armed and I'll arm them. We can use our Air Force to amplify the forces there. But the boots on the ground need to be the people who live there. My goodness, I'm still upset with the Saudi Arabians for everything they do over there. They've funded the arms that went to the jihadists. They're not accepting any of the people, any of the migrants that have been \u2014 the refugees that are being pushed out of Syria. Saudi Arabia is not accepting one. Why are we always the world's patsies that we have to go over there and fight their wars for them? They need to fight their wars, we need to defend American interests, but it is not in America's national security interests to have another war in Iraq. +p3001 +aVI think one of the great problems, and what American people don't like about politics, is hypocrisy. People have one standard for others and not for them \u2014 for themselves. There is at least one prominent example on the stage of someone who says they smoked pot in high school, and yet the people going to \u2014 to jail for this are poor people, often African-Americans and often Hispanics, and yet the rich kids who use drugs aren't. I personally think that this is a crime for which the only victim is the individual, and I think that America has to take a different attitude. I would like to see more rehabilitation and less incarceration. I'm a fan of the drug courts which try to direct you back towards work and less time in jail. But the bottom line is the states. We say we like the 10th Amendment, until we start talking about this. And I think the federal government has gone too far, I think that the war on drugs has had a racial outcome, and really has been something that has really damaged our inner cities. Not only do the drugs damage them, we damage them again by incarcerating them and then preventing them from getting employment over time. So I don't think that the federal government should override the states. I believe in the 10th Amendment and I really will say that the states are left to themselves. +p3002 +aVWell, I think if we left it open, we could see how many people smoked pot in high school. +p3003 +aVWell, you know, the thing is that... +p3004 +aVYeah, I was talking about \u2014 well, let me... +p3005 +aVBut let me respond. The thing is, is that in Florida, Governor Bush campaigned against medical marijuana. That means that a small child like Morgan Hintz (ph) that has seizures is day, is failing on non-traditional medications, is not allowed to use cannabis oil. And if they do that in Florida, they will take the child away, they will put the parents in jail. And that's what that means if you're against allowing people use medical marijuana, you'll actually put them in jail. +p3006 +aVAnd actually, under the current circumstances, kids who had privilege like you do, don't go to jail, but the poor kids in our inner cities go to jail. I don't think that's fair. And I think we need to acknowledge it, and it is hypocritical to still want to put poor people in jail... +p3007 +aVWell, you vote \u2014 you oppose medical marijuana... +p3008 +aVBut that means you'll put people in jail. +p3009 +aVMay I respond? +p3010 +aVUnderstand what they're saying. if they're going to say we are going to enforce the federal law against what the state law is, they aren't really believing in the Tenth Amendment. Governor Christie would go into Colorado, and if you're breaking any federal law on marijuana, even though the state law allows it, he would put you in jail. If a young mother is trying to give her child cannabis oil for medical marijuana for seizure treatment, he would put her in jail, if it violates federal law. I would let Colorado do what the Tenth Amendment says. This power \u2014 we were never intended to have crime dealing at the federal level. Crime was supposed to be left to the states. Colorado has made their decision. And I don't want the federal government interfering and putting moms in jail, who are trying to get medicine for their kid... +p3011 +aVMay I respond? May I respond? +p3012 +aVHere is the thing, he doesn't want to make it about medical marijuana, but what if New Jersey's medical marijuana contradicts the federal law? He's saying he'll send the federal government in, and he will enforce the federal law. That's not consistent with the Tenth Amendment. It is not consistent with states' rights. And it is not consistent with the conservative vision for the country. I don't think we should be sending the federal police in to arrest a mother and separate them from their child for giving a medicine to their child for seizures. +p3013 +aVIf you want a skeptic \u2014 if you want a skeptic, Jake, I will happily jump into that briar patch. If you want a real... +p3014 +aVA second opinion? One of the greatest \u2014 one of the greatest medical discoveries of all times was \u2014 were the vaccines, particularly for smallpox. And if you want to read a story, it's called The Speckled Monster, it's an amazing story, it was all done voluntary. But people came in by the droves. George Washington wouldn't let his wife visit until she got vaccinated. So I'm all for vaccines. But I'm also for freedom. I'm also a little concerned about how they're bunched up. My kids had all of their vaccines, and even if the science doesn't say bunching them up is a problem, I ought to have the right to spread out my vaccines out a little bit at the very least. +p3015 +aVOoh, that's a tough one. You know, I'm big on \u2014 that we were \u2014 and I love what Carly said about women's suffrage. I think Susan B. Anthony might be a good choice. +p3016 +aVJustice Never Sleeps. +p3017 +aVI met Ronald Reagan as a teenager, and my family, we're big supporters of him when he ran against Gerald Ford. It was a big deal because he was the grassroots, running against the establishment, and I'll never forget that. And, how he stood up and said, you know what, this is something new that our country needs, and our party needs. If I were president, I would try to be one who says, you know what, I'm a Reagan Conservative. I'm someone who believes in peace through strength, and I would try to lead the country in that way knowing that our goal is peace, and that war is the last resort, not the first resort. And, that when we go to war, we go to war in a constitutional way, which means that we have to vote on it, that war is initiated by congress, not by the president, that we go to war electively (ph). That when we go to war, we don't fight with one arm tied behind our back, we fight all out to win, but then we come home. +p3018 +aVThis is what's wrong! +p3019 +aVI mean, this is what's wrong. He buys and sells politicians of all stripes, he's already... +p3020 +aVHey, look, look! He's already hedging his bet on the Clintons, OK? So if he doesn't run as a Republican, maybe he supports Clinton, or maybe he runs as an independent... +p3021 +aV...but I'd say that he's already hedging his bets because he's used to buying politicians. +p3022 +aVFirst of all, only +p3023 +aVMegyn, may I respond? May I respond? +p3024 +aVI want to collect more records from terrorists, but less records from innocent Americans. The Fourth Amendment was what we fought the Revolution over! John Adams said it was the spark that led to our war for independence, and I'm proud of standing for the Bill of Rights, and I will continue to stand for the Bill of Rights. +p3025 +aVUse the Fourth Amendment! +p3026 +aVUse the Fourth Amendment! +p3027 +aVGet a warrant! +p3028 +aVGet a judge to sign the warrant! +p3029 +aVSee, here's the problem. +p3030 +aVHere's the problem, governor. Here's the problem, governor. You fundamentally misunderstand the Bill of Rights. Every time you did a case, you got a warrant from a judge. I'm talking about searches without warrants... +p3031 +aV...indiscriminately, of all Americans' records, and that's what I fought to end. I don't trust President Obama with our records. I know you gave him a big hug, and if you want to give him a big hug again, go right ahead. +p3032 +aVI've got a news flash... +p3033 +aVNews flash, the Republican Party's been fighting against a single-payer system... +p3034 +aV-- for a decade. So I think you're on the wrong side of this if you're still arguing for a single-payer system. +p3035 +aVI oppose the Iranian deal, and will vote against it. I don't think that the president negotiated from a position of strength, but I don't immediately discount negotiations. I'm a Reagan conservative. Reagan did negotiate with the Soviets. But you have to negotiate from a position of strength, and I think President Obama gave away too much, too early. If there's going to be a negotiation, you're going to have to believe somehow that the Iranians are going to comply. And I asked this question to John Kerry, I said "do you believe they're trustworthy?" and he said "No." And I said, "well, how are we gonna get them to comply?" I would have never released the sanctions before there was consistent evidence of compliance. +p3036 +aVLook, I don't want my marriage or my guns registered in Washington. And if people have an opinion, it's a religious opinion that is heartly felt, obviously they should be allowed to practice that and no government should interfere with them. One of the things, one of the things that really got to me was the thing in Houston where you had the government, the mayor actually, trying to get the sermons of ministers. When the government tries to invade the church to enforce its own opinion on marriage, that's when it's time to resist. +p3037 +aVWell, let's be clear, I'm the only one on the stage who actually has a five-year budget that balances. I've put pencil to paper... +p3038 +aV... and I've said -- and I've said I would cut spending, and I've said exactly where. Each one of my budgets has taken a meat axe to foreign aid, because I think we ought to quit sending it to countries that hate us. I think we ought to quit sending it to countries that burn our flag. Israel is not one of those. But even Benjamin Netanyahu said that ultimately, they will be stronger when they're independent. My position is exactly the same. We shouldn't borrow money from China to send it anywhere, but why don't we start with eliminating aid to our enemies. +p3039 +aVI still say exactly what my original opinion is. Do you borrow money from China to send it to anyone? Out of your surplus, you can help your allies, and Israel is a great ally. And this is no particular animus of Israel, but what I will say, and I will say over and over again, we cannot give away money we don't have. We do not project power from bankruptcy court. We're borrowing a million dollars a minute. It's got to stop somewhere. +p3040 +aVI'm a different kind of Republican. I've introduced a five-year balanced budget. I've introduced the largest tax cut in our history. I stood for ten and a half hours on the Senate floor to defend your right to be left alone. But I've also gone to Chicago. I've gone to Detroit. I've been to Ferguson, I've been to Baltimore, because I want our party to be bigger, better and bolder, and I'm the only one that leads Hillary Clinton in five states that were won by President Obama. I'm a different kind of Republican. +p3041 +asVBASH +p3042 +(lp3043 +VA crucial question is how to balance surveillance with privacy and keeping Americans safe. Senator Cruz, you voted for a bill that President Obama signed into law just this past June that made it harder for the government to access Americans' phone records. In light of the San Bernardino attack, was your vote a mistake? +p3044 +aVThank you. Senator Rubio, Senator Cruz is right there was bipartisan support for that. But you voted against it. So, is Senator Cruz wrong? +p3045 +aVSenator Cruz? +p3046 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator \u2014 Senator Rubio, please respond. +p3047 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I know this is \u2014 this has been a very big issue for you. You hear many of your colleagues are calling for increased surveillance by law enforcement. You call that hogwash. Why is that hogwash? +p3048 +aVSenator Rubio? +p3049 +aVGovernor Christie, Governor Christie... ...Governor Christie, I'll come to you in a minute. Go ahead, Senator Paul. +p3050 +aVGo ahead, please. +p3051 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about immigration in a while. But, Governor Christie, just listening to this... +p3052 +aVListening to this, you talked \u2014 you heard Senator Paul, Senator Cruz talk about how important it is to protect Americans' privacy, even in a time of grave danger. Why \u2014 what's wrong with that? +p3053 +aVSenator Paul, you said +p3054 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I want to go back to my initial question, which is you saying that +p3055 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about regime change in a bit. But Governor Kasich, would you like to respond to Senator Paul? +p3056 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. We've been talking tonight about programs and policy proposals that you all have to keep Americans safe and it's a big discussion on the campaign trail. Also about border security and immigration. So let's talk about immigration. Senator Rubio. You co-authored a bill with Democrats two years ago that allowed a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Do you still support that path to citizenship, which means giving those immigrants rights, like the right to vote? +p3057 +aVSenator, you haven't answered the question. You described a very long path but does that path end at citizenship? +p3058 +aVThank you, senator. +p3059 +aVThank you, senator. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, on the campaign trail, Senator Rubio has said that his immigration plan is not that different from yours. Is that true? +p3060 +aVSenator Rubio, please. +p3061 +aVSenator Cruz? +p3062 +aVSenator Cruz? +p3063 +aVSenator Cruz, can you answer that question please? +p3064 +aVSenator Cruz? +p3065 +aVOne at a time please. +p3066 +aVMs. Fiorina, please wait your turn, we're going to get to you. +p3067 +aVSenator Cruz go ahead. +p3068 +aVMr. Trump, you like to say that you restarted this conversation in the campaign. +p3069 +aVSo who do you side with? Who do you side with in this, Senator Rubio or Senator Cruz? +p3070 +aVThank you. Governor Bush? +p3071 +aVListening to this, do you think this is the tone \u2014 this immigration debate that republicans need to take to win back Hispanics into our party especially states like where we are in Nevada that has a pretty Hispanic community? +p3072 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said if China launches a cyber- attack against the U.S. on your watch, "they're going to see cyber- warfare like they have never seen before." What exactly would that response look like? +p3073 +aVGovernor Bush, what you just heard from Governor Christie, are you concerned that that could really escalate with China, that they would retaliate? And, for example, as the NSA has said, attack the U.S. and maybe it's power grid, which the Chinese have the capability to do? +p3074 +aVMr. Trump, just this weekend you said Senator Cruz is not qualified to be president because he doesn't have the right temperament and acted like a maniac when he arrived in the Senate. But last month you said you were open to naming Senator Cruz as your running mate. +p3075 +aVSo why would you be willing to put somebody who's a maniac one heartbeat away from the presidency? +p3076 +aVOkay. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, you have not been willing to attack Mr. Trump in public. +p3077 +aVBut you did question his judgment in having control of American's nuclear arsenal during a private meeting with supporters. Why are you willing to say things about him in private and not in public? +p3078 +aVSenator, senator, I just... +p3079 +aVSenator, a lot of people have seen... +p3080 +aV... a lot of people have seen these comments you made in private. I just want to clarify what you're saying right now is you do believe Mr. Trump has the judgment to be commander in chief? +p3081 +aVGovernor Kasich, Senator Cruz is so committed to stripping federal funds from Planned Parenthood that it could result in shutting down the federal government in just about two weeks. Do you agree with Senator Cruz's tactic? +p3082 +aVThank you. +p3083 +aVThank you. Senator Cruz, I would just add that, on this stage not that long ago, Senator Graham said that this tactic that you're pushing would tank the Republicans' ability to win in 2016. +p3084 +aVThank you, senator. +p3085 +aVThank you... +p3086 +aVGovernor \u2014 governor, I want to go to you. Is it what Senator Cruz says, a surrender by Republicans? +p3087 +aVBut... +p3088 +aVBut is it... +p3089 +aVBut, governor, the \u2014 but, governor, the reality is, in just two weeks' time... ...we are going to be facing a question about whether or not it's enough to shut down the government to make that statement, because there is still a Democrat in the White House. Do you oppose it or support it? +p3090 +aVYes or no, do you support this shutdown? +p3091 +aVWe're talking about Planned Parenthood right now. +p3092 +aVCan you answer yes or no? +p3093 +aVOne more time. I'm sorry, I just want to get the answer. +p3094 +aVSo you would support a shutdown. +p3095 +aVGovernor Bush, Mr. Trump has suggested that your views on immigration are influenced by your Mexican born wife. He said that, quote, "If my wife were from Mexico, I think I would have a soft spot for people from Mexico." Did Mr. Trump go to far in invoking your wife? +p3096 +aVMr. Trump? +p3097 +aVMr. Trump... +p3098 +aVGo ahead. +p3099 +aVMs. Fiorina \u2014 Ms. Fiorina, we're going to come to you, we're going to come to you. I just want to give Governor Bush a chance to respond to what Mr. Trump said. +p3100 +aVOK, on that note, you have criticized Governor Bush for speaking Spanish on the campaign trail. You said, quote, "He should really set an example by speaking English in the United States." What's wrong with speaking Spanish? +p3101 +aVThank you. +p3102 +aV...Thank you.... +p3103 +aVGovernor Bush, let's talk about the issue that's very important to Republican voters, and that's the Supreme Court. After Chief Justice John Roberts voted to uphold Obamacare twice, Senator Cruz criticized your brother for appointing John Roberts to the Supreme Court. Looking back on it, did your brother make a mistake? +p3104 +aV...Is John Roberts one of those people? +p3105 +aVDo you like what you just heard, Senator Cruz? +p3106 +aVMr. Trump, you have said once or twice that you are really rich, and you are by far the richest person on this stage. Chris Christie says billionaires like you and even people who make and earn far less should no longer get Social Security, or at least there should be limits based on \u2014 on their income. You think he's wrong, and if so, why? +p3107 +aVWhat about the country as a \u2014 as a policy? +p3108 +aVSo is a voluntary program the way to get the Social Security system solvent again like that. +p3109 +aVSenator Santorum, you want to give the intelligence community more power to collect American's phone data. But the government had this ability until just days before the San Bernardino attack. If it couldn't prevent San Bernardino, why will it protect America? +p3110 +aVSenator Graham, when this program was exposed, you said, " you have nothing to worry about if you're not talking to terrorist." Do you understand why though some Americans are concerned that the government is keeping tabs on them in any way? +p3111 +aVThank you. Governor Huckabee, you said, "not one terrorist plot has been foiled by the NSA's collection of American's phone records. The director of the CIA says,. "not having these programs makes it ability to find terrorists, quote, "much more challenging."" Are you taking a potential tool to fight terrorists? +p3112 +aVSenator Santorum? +p3113 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator Graham... +p3114 +aVSenator Graham... +p3115 +aVSenator Graham, we've heard here tonight a lot about the fact that you want to send U.S. troops, ground troops, into Iraq, and Syria to defeat +p3116 +aVGovernor Huckabee... +p3117 +aVGovernor Huckabee, would you reinstate the draft? +p3118 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator Graham... +p3119 +aVSenator Graham... +p3120 +aVSenator Graham, we've heard here tonight a lot about the fact that you want to send U.S. troops, ground troops, into Iraq, and Syria to defeat +p3121 +aVGovernor Huckabee... +p3122 +aVGovernor Huckabee, would you reinstate the draft? +p3123 +aVSo what would you do about it? +p3124 +aVSenator... +p3125 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. +p3126 +aVSenator Graham. +p3127 +aVSenator Graham, quick response. +p3128 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. +p3129 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. +p3130 +aVSenator Santorum, earlier this month the Pentagon opened all U.S. military combat positions to women. You previously opposed allowing women in combat roles. As President, would you change the Pentagon's new policy? +p3131 +aVSo, just to be clear, you're saying, yes, you would change the policy back? +p3132 +aVGovernor Pataki, as you mentioned earlier, you have two sons who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Would you maintain this new policy as President, or do you agree with Senator Santorum. +p3133 +aVSenator Santorum. +p3134 +aVNow Governor Pataki, do you a final response? +p3135 +aVGovernor Huckabee, the U.S. has a program that allows visitors from America's closest allies to travel to the U.S. without obtaining a visa. But new legislation in Congress says that privilege should not apply to those who have visited is hot spots like Iraq and Syria in the last five years. You say that legislation doesn't go far enough. Why? +p3136 +aVSenator Santorum, Governor Jindal has supported a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants once the border is secure. Why do you disagree with that? +p3137 +aVSenator, your time's up. I want to get the governor to respond to that. +p3138 +aVSenator -- Senator Santorum, do you buy that, that the governor's not for amnesty? +p3139 +aVSenator, your time is up... +p3140 +aVYour time is up. And Governor, I'm sorry. Just -- you -- you really need to clarify your position, because you say you're not for amnesty, but you have been for a path to citizenship... +p3141 +aVThank you. Senator Graham, you mentioned this earlier; you are calling for an additional 20,000 U.S. ground forces to fight +p3142 +aVNo one on this stage has gone that far. So are you saying, for Iraq and Syria, are you saying that everybody to your right is not fit for the Oval Office? +p3143 +aVSenator -- +p3144 +aV-- Senator Santorum, I know you're raising your hand. You're committing to this number of troops, both in Iraq and on the ground in Syria? +p3145 +aVAnd he's saying 20,000. Would you...? +p3146 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Jindal? +p3147 +aVSenator Santorum, you just heard Governor Jindal and Governor Pataki talk about tax reform. Jeb Bush has proposed a tax reform plan, and in it, he limits deductions, including the popular home mortgage deduction. Would you do the same as president? +p3148 +aV...times up, Senator. +p3149 +aV...OK, times up, Senator. Governor, just to bring you back into this, you said that you would be OK with what is effectively raising taxes on hedge fund managers as part of a tax reform plan. Would you aslo be for doing away with people's deductions for their mortgages. +p3150 +asVEPPERSON +p3151 +(lp3152 +VThank you, John. Mrs. Fiorina, you were the CEO of a large corporation that offers a 401(k) to its employees. But more than half of American have no access to an employer sponsored retirement plan. That includes the workers at small businesses, and the growing ranks of Uber drivers and other part-timers in the freelance economy. Should the Federal Government play a larger role in helping to set up retirement plans for these workers? +p3153 +aVSo you wouldn't agree \u2014 you wouldn't agree with a start for 401(k) for businesses or anything like that? +p3154 +aVThank you very much. +p3155 +aVThank you, the rules say one minute. +p3156 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. We appreciate it. Thank you, thank you. I want to turn my attention now, to you now, Governor Kasich. Most people can't get a college degree without going into debt. Over 40 million Americans have student loans and many of them cannot pay them back. This country has over $100 billion in student loan defaults. That's billion with a b. What will you do to make sure that students, their families, taxpayers, won't feel the economic impact of this burden for generations? Well, first of all, in Ohio we're changing the whole system. Universities will not get paid one dime unless the student graduates or \u2014 graduates or completes a course. Secondly, you can be in high school and complete almost an entire first year before you go to college and get credit to do that. And, of course, in addition to that, we are working now to go after the cost drivers in our universities. And let me give you an example. Universities today have so many non-academic assets. At Ohio State they sold the parking garage and the parking lot, and they got $500 million because they shouldn't be in the parking lot business. They shouldn't be in the ding business, they shouldn't be in the dorm business. And, of course, we need to take advantage of on-line education to reduce these costs and begin to dis-intermediate the cost of four years. Now, for those who that have these big high costs, I think we can seriously look at an idea of where you can do public service. I mean legitimate, public service and begin to pay off some of that debt through the public service that you do. And in the meantime, it may inspire us to care more about our country, more about ourselves. This is a big moral issue in America. Living a life bigger than yourself, and being a center of healing and justice. And people can learn it through public service. +p3157 +aVThank you, thank you. +p3158 +aVThank you, John. Senator Graham, one in every four workers has saved less than $1,000 for retirement. Millions of Americans rely on their Social Security benefits for the majority of their retirement income. Now, you called for reforms to Social Security, but what would you do to fix the other part of the problem for future retirees and get people to save more? +p3159 +aVBut Senator Graham... +p3160 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. Thank you, Senator Graham. Governor Jindal, you've been a strong supporter of for-profit colleges. These are institutions that educate many veterans, minorities and working class Americans. They make up about 11 percent of the college population at these schools, but they account for 44 percent of student loan defaults. Should for-profit schools be held accountable when they take taxpayer money and leave students deep in debt? +p3161 +asVSANDERS +p3162 +(lp3163 +VWell, Gwen and Judy, thank you very much for hosting this event. And, PBS, thank you. Nine months ago, our campaign began. And when it began, we had no political organization, no money, and not much name recognition outside of the state of Vermont. A lot has happened in nine months. And what has happened is, I think, the American people have responded to a series of basic truths, and that is that we have today a campaign finance system which is corrupt, which is undermining American democracy, which allows Wall Street and billionaires to pour huge sums of money into the political process to elect the candidates of their choice. And aligned with a corrupt campaign finance system is a rigged economy. And that's an economy where ordinary Americans are working longer hours for low wagers. They are worried to death about the future of their kids. And yet they are seeing almost all new income and all new wealth going to the top 1 percent. And then in addition to that, the American people are looking around and they see a broken criminal justice system. They see more people in jail in the United States of America than any other country on earth, 2.2 million. We're spending $80 billion a year locking up fellow Americans. They see kids getting arrested for marijuana, getting in prison, getting a criminal record, while they see executives on Wall Street who pay billions of dollars in settlements and get no prosecution at all. No criminal records for them. I think what our campaign is indicating is that the American people are tired of establishment politics, tired of establishment economics. They want a political revolution in which millions of Americans stand up, come together, not let the Trumps of the world divide us, and say, you know what, in this great country, we need a government that represents all of us, not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors. Thank you. +p3164 +aVWell, to put that in a context, Judy, I think we have to understand that in the last 30 years in this country there has been a massive transfer of wealth going from the hands of working families into the top one-tenth of 1% whose percentage of wealth has doubled. In other words, the very rich are getting richer, almost everybody is going \u2014 getting poorer. What I believe is the United States, in fact, should join the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee healthcare to all people. Our Medicare for all single-payer proposal will save the average middle class family $5,000 a year. I do believe that in the year 2016 we have to look in terms of public education as colleges as part of public education making public colleges and universities tuition free. I believe that when real unemployment is close to 10%, and when our infrastructure, our roads, our bridges, our water systems, Flint, Michigan comes to mind. Our waste water plants, our rail, our airports, in many places are disintegrating. Yeah, we can create 13 million jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure at a cost of a trillion dollars. +p3165 +aV... Of course there will be a limit, but when today you have massive levels of income and wealth inequality, when the middle class is disappearing, you have the highest rate of child poverty of almost any major country on Earth. Yes, in my view, the government of a democratic society has a moral responsibility to play a vital role in making sure all of our people have a decent standard of living. +p3166 +aVWell, let us level with the American people. Secretary Clinton has been going around the country saying Bernie Sanders wants to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, people are going to lose their MedicAid, they're going to lose their +p3167 +aVThat is absolutely inaccurate. Look, here is the reality, folks. There is one major country on Earth that does not guarantee health care to all people. There is one major country \u2014 the United States \u2014 which ends up spending almost three times per capita what they do in the U.K. guaranteeing health care to all people, 50 percent more than they do in France guaranteeing health care to all people, far more than our Canadian neighbors, who guarantee health care to all people. Please do not tell me that in this country, if \u2014 and here's the if \u2014 we have the courage to take on the drug companies, and have the courage to take on the insurance companies, and the medical equipment suppliers, if we do that, yes, we can guarantee health care to all people in a much more cost effective way. +p3168 +aVWell, Secretary Clinton, you're not in the White House yet. And let us be clear that every proposal that I have introduced has been paid for. For example, all right, who in America denies that we have an infrastructure that is crumbling? Roads, bridges, water systems, wastewater plants, who denies that? Who denies that real unemployment today, including those who have given up looking for work and are working part-time is close to 10 percent? Who denies that African-American youth unemployment, real, is over 50 percent. We need to create jobs. So yes, I will do away with the outrageous loopholes that allow profitable multinational corporations to stash billions of dollars in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda and in a given year pay zero, zero in federal income tax. Yes, I'm going to do away with that. We will use those proceeds, a hundred billion a year, to invest in rebuilding our infrastructure. Yes, I believe that as a result of the illegal behavior on Wall Street, that they are a Wall Street that drove this country into the worst economic downturn since the Great Recession \u2014 Great Depression. Yes, I do believe that now after the American people bailed Wall Street out, yes, they should pay a Wall Street speculation tax so that we can make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We bailed them out. Now it is their time to help the middle class. +p3169 +aVA brief response. +p3170 +aVHere is where we are with public education. A 100, 150 years ago incredibly brave Americans said, you know what, working class kids, low income kids should not have to work in factories or on the farms. Like rich kids, they deserve to get a free education. And that free education of extraordinary accomplishment was from first grade to 12th grade. The world has changed. This is 2016. In many ways, a college degree today is equivalent to what a high school degree was 50, 60 years ago. So, yes, I do believe that when we talk about public education in America, today, in a rapidly changing world, we should have free tuition at public colleges and universities. That should be a right of all Americans regardless of the income of their families. +p3171 +aVLook, we are fighting for every vote that we can get from women, from men, straight, gay, African-Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans. We are trying to bring America together around an agenda that works for working families and the middle class. I am very proud, if my memory is not correct \u2014 I think I am \u2014 that I have a lifetime \u2014 and I've been in Congress a few years \u2014 a lifetime 100 percent pro-choice voting record. I am very proud that over the years we have had the support in my state of Vermont from very significant majorities of women. I'm very proud that I support legislation that is currently in the Congress, got support of almost all progressive Democrats in the House and Senate, which says we will end the absurdity of women today making 79 cents on the dollar compared to men. And we will join the rest of the other \u2014 the industrialized world in saying that paid family and medical leave should be a right of all working families. +p3172 +aVWell, you know, I think, from a historical point of view, somebody with my background, somebody with my views, somebody who has spent his entire life taking on the big money interests, I think a Sanders victory would be of some historical accomplishment, as well. +p3173 +aVLet me concur with the secretary, no question women's rights are under fierce attack all over this country. And I will tell you something that really galls me. I will not shock anybody to suggest that in politics there is occasionally a little bit of hypocrisy. Just a little bit. All over this country we have Republican candidates for president saying we hate the government. Government is the enemy. We're going to cut Social Security to help you. We're going to cut Medicare and Medicaid, federal aid to education to help you, because the government is so terrible. But, by the way, when it comes to a woman having to make a very personal choice, ah, in that case, my Republican colleagues love the government and want the government to make that choice for every woman in America. If that's not hypocrisy, I don't know what hypocrisy is. +p3174 +aVThis is one of the great tragedies in our country today. And we can no longer continue to sweep it under the rug. It has to be dealt with. Today a male African-American baby born today stands a one-in-four chance of ending up in jail. That is beyond unspeakable. So what we have to do is the radical reform of a broken criminal justice system. What we have to do is end over-policing in African-American neighborhoods. The reality is that both the African-American community and the white community do marijuana at about equal rates. The reality is four times as many blacks get arrested for marijuana. Truth is that far more blacks get stopped for traffic violations. The truth is that sentencing for blacks is higher than for whites. We need fundamental police reform, clearly, clearly, when we talk about a criminal justice system. I would hope that we could all agree that we are sick and tired of seeing videos on television of unarmed people, often African-Americans, shot by police officers. What we have got to do is make it clear that any police officer who breaks the law will, in fact, be held accountable. +p3175 +aVNothing that Secretary Clinton said do I disagree with. This mandatory sentencing, a very bad idea. It takes away discretion from judges. We have got to demilitarize local police departments so they do not look like occupying armies. We have got to make sure that local police departments look like the communities they serve in their diversity. And, where we are failing abysmally is in the very high rate of recidivism we see. People are being released from jail without the education, without the job training, without the resources that they need to get their lives together, then they end up \u2014 we're shocked that they end up back in jail again. So, we have a lot of work to do. But, here is a pledge I've made throughout this campaign, and it's really not a very radical pledge. When we have more people in jail, disproportionately African American and Latino, than China does, a communist authoritarian society four times our size. Here's my promise, at the end of my first term as president we will not have more people in jail than any other country. We will invest in education, and jobs for our kids, not incarceration and more jails. +p3176 +aVWell, I think, Judy, what has to be appreciated is that, as a result of the disastrous and illegal behavior on Wall Street, millions of lives were hurt. People lost their jobs, their homes, their life savings. Turns out that the African-American community and the Latino community were hit especially hard. As I understand it, the African-American community lost half of their wealth as a result of the Wall Street collapse. So when you have childhood African-American poverty rates of 35 percent, when you have youth unemployment at 51 percent, when you have unbelievable rates of incarceration \u2014 which, by the way, leaves the children back home without a dad or even a mother \u2014 clearly, we are looking at institutional racism. We are looking at an economy in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. And sadly, in America today, in our economy, a whole lot of those poor people are African-American. +p3177 +aVAbsolutely, because what we will do is say, instead of giving tax breaks to billionaires, we are going to create millions of jobs for low-income kids so they're not hanging out on street corners. We're going to make sure that those kids stay in school or are able to get a college education. And I think when you give low-income kids \u2014 African-American, white, Latino kids \u2014 the opportunities to get their lives together, they are not going to end up in jail. They're going to end up in the productive economy, which is where we want them. +p3178 +aVWhite people? +p3179 +aVYeah, you can, because African-Americans and Latinos not only face the general economic crises of low wages, and high unemployment, and poor educational opportunities, but they face other problems, as well. So, yes, we can talk about it as a racial issue. But it is a general economic issue. And here's what the economic issue is. The wages that high school graduates receive today are significantly less, whether you are white or black, than they used to be. Why is that? Because of a series of disastrous trade policies which have allowed corporate America through +p3180 +aVThe answer is yes. We've got 11 million undocumented people in this country. I have talked to some of the young kids with tears rolling down their cheeks, are scared to death that today they may or their parents may be deported. I believe that we have got to pass comprehensive immigration reform, something that I strongly supported. I believe that we have got to move toward a path toward citizenship. I agree with President Obama who used executive orders to protect families because the Congress, the House was unable or refused to act. And in fact I would go further. What would motivate me and what would be the guiding light for me in terms of immigration reform, Judy, is to bring families together, not divide them up. And let me say this also. Somebody who is very fond of the president, agrees with him most of the time, I disagree with his recent deportation policies. And I would not support those. Bottom line is a path towards citizenship for 11 million undocumented people, if Congress doesn't do the right thing, we use the executive orders of the president. +p3181 +aVSecretary Clinton, I do have a disagreement here. If my memory is correct, I think when we saw children coming from these horrendous, horrendously violent areas of Honduras and neighboring countries, people who are fleeing drug violence and cartel violence, I thought it was a good idea to allow those children to stay in this country. That was not, as I understand it, the secretary's position. In terms of 2007 immigration reform, yeah, I did vote against it. I voted against it because the Southern Poverty Law Center, among other groups, said that the guest-worker programs that were embedded in this agreement were akin to slavery. Akin to slavery, where people came into this country to do guest work were abused, were exploited, and if they stood up for their rights, they'd be thrown out of this country. So it wasn't just me who opposed it. It was +p3182 +aVWell, let me just respond. I worked with Ted Kennedy. He was the chairman of my committee. And I loved Ted Kennedy. But on this issue, when you have one of the large Latino organizations in America saying vote no, and you have the AFL-CIO saying vote no, and you have leading progressive Democrats, in fact, voting no, I don't apologize for that vote. But in terms of the children, I don't know to whom you're sending a message. Who are you sending a message to? These are children who are leaving countries and neighborhoods where their lives are at stake. That was the fact. I don't think we use them to send a message. I think we welcome them into this country and do the best we can to help them get their lives together. +p3183 +aVOK. You know, you judge a nation not by the number of millionaires and billionaires it has, but by how you treat, we treat, the most vulnerable and fragile people in our nation. And by those standards, we're not doing particularly well. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty among almost any major country on Earth. And in terms of seniors, there are millions of seniors \u2014 and I've talked to them in my state of Vermont and all over this country \u2014 who are trying to get by on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year Social Security. And you know what? You do the arithmetic. You can't get by on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year. And here's an area where Secretary Clinton and I believe we have a difference. I have long supported the proposition that we should lift the cap on taxable income coming into the Social Security Trust Fund, starting at $250,000. And when we \u2014 and when we do that, we don't do what the Republicans want, which is to cut Social Security. We do what the American people want, to expand Social Security by $1,300 a year for people under $16,000, and we extend the life of Social Security for 58 years. Yes, the wealthiest people, the top 1.5 percent, will pay more in taxes. But a great nation like ours should not be in a position where elderly people are cutting their pills in half, where they don't have decent nutrition, where they can't heat their homes in the wintertime. That is not what America should be about. If elected president, I will do everything I can to expand Social Security benefits, not just for seniors, but for disabled veterans, as well. +p3184 +aVIn all due respect......In all due respect, Secretary Clinton, a lot of the progressive groups, the online groups have really asked you a simple question. Are you coming onboard a proposal? And what is that proposal? Now, the proposal that I have outlined, you know, should be familiar to you, because it is what essentially Barack Obama campaigned on in 2008. You opposed him then. I would hope that you would come onboard and say that this is the simple and straightforward thing to do. We're asking the top 1.5 percent, including passive income, to start paying a little bit more so that the elderly and disabled vets in this country can live with security and dignity. I hope you will make a decision soon on this. +p3185 +aVThat's my bill. Check it out. +p3186 +aVWhat we are talking about in reality is a corrupt campaign finance system, that's what we're talking about. We have to be honest about it. It is undermining American democracy. When extraordinarily wealthy people make very large contributions to Super PACs, and in many cases in this campaign, Super PACs have raised more money than individual candidates have, OK? We had a decision to make early on, do we do a Super PAC? And, we said no. We don't represent Wall Street, we don't represent the billionaire class, so it ends up I'm the only candidate up here of the many candidates who has no Super PAC. But, what we did is we said to the working families of this country, look, we know things are tough, but if you want to help us go beyond establishment politics, and establishment economics, send us something. And, it turns out that up until \u2014 and this has blown me away, never in a million years would I have believed that I would be standing here tonight telling you that we have received three and a half million individual contributions from well over a million people. Now, Secretary Clinton's Super PAC, as I understand it, received $25 million dollars last reporting period, $15 million dollars from Wall Street. Our average contribution is $27 dollars, I'm very proud of that. +p3187 +aVThe people aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street... But let's not \u2014 but let's not \u2014 let's not insult \u2014 let's not insult the intelligence of the American people. People aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street make huge campaign contributions? I guess just for the fun of it; they want to throw money around. Why does the pharmaceutical industry make huge campaign contributions? Any connection maybe to the fact that our people pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs? Why does the fossil fuel industry pay \u2014 spend huge amounts of money on campaign contributions? Any connection to the fact that not one Republican candidate for president thinks and agrees with the scientific community that climate change is real and that we have got to transform our energy system? And when we talk about Wall Street, let's talk about Wall Street. I voted for Dodd-Frank, got an important amendment in it. In my view, it doesn't go anywhere near far enough. But when we talk about Wall Street, you have Wall Street and major banks have paid $200 billion in fines since the great crash. No Wall Street executive has been prosecuted. +p3188 +aVLet me, you know, again, respectfully disagree with Secretary Clinton here. When you have three out of the four largest financial institutions in this country bigger today than they were when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, when you have six financial institutions having assets equivalent to 58 percent of the GDP of America, while issuing two-thirds of the credit cards and a third of the mortgages, look, I think if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, that great trust-buster would have said break them up. I think he would have been right. I think he would have said bring back a 21st-century Glass-Steagall legislation. I think that would have been right, as well. That's my view. +p3189 +aVHey, I'm in the United States Senate, and anyone who doesn't think that there is an enormous amount of waste and inefficiency and bureaucracy throughout government would be very, very mistaken. I believe in government, but I believe in efficient government, not wasteful government. +p3190 +aVIf I could just answer that, we have also got to take a look at the waste and inefficiencies in the Department of Defense, which is the one major agency of government that has not been able to be audited. And I have the feeling you're going to find a lot of cost overruns there and a lot of waste and duplicative activities. +p3191 +aVLet me \u2014 let me just say this. What a President of the United States has got to do and what is his or her major, I think, responsibility is to, a, make certain that we keep our people safe, that we work with allies around the world to protect democratic values, that we do all that we can to create a world of peace and prosperity. I voted against the war in Iraq because I listened very carefully to what President Bush and Vice President Cheney had to say and I didn't believe them. And if you go to my Web site,berniesanders.com, what you find is not only going to help lead the opposition to that war, but much of what I feared would happen when I spoke on the floor of the House, in fact, did happen in terms of the instability that occurred. Now I think an area in kind of a vague way, or not so vague, where Secretary Clinton and I disagree is the area of regime change. Look, the truth is that a powerful nation like the United States, certainly working with our allies, we can overthrow dictators all over the world. And God only knows Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator. We could overthrow Assad tomorrow if we wanted to. We got rid of Gadhafi. But the point about foreign policy is not just to know that you can overthrow a terrible dictator, it's to understand what happens the day after. And in Libya, for example, the United States, Secretary Clinton, as secretary of state, working with some other countries, did get rid of a terrible dictator named Gadhafi. But what happened is a political vacuum developed. +p3192 +aVJudy, if I can, there is no question, Secretary Clinton and I are friends, and I have a lot of respect for her, that she has enormous experience in foreign affairs. Secretary of state for four years. You've got a bit of experience, I would imagine. But judgment matters as well. Judgment matters as well. And she and I looked at the same evidence coming from the Bush administration regarding Iraq. I lead the opposition against it. She voted for it. But more importantly, in terms of this Libya resolution that you have noted before, this was a virtually unanimous consent. Everybody voted for it wanting to see Libya move toward democracy, of course we all wanted to do that. That is very different than talking about specific action for regime change, which I did not support. +p3193 +aVJudy, one area very briefly... +p3194 +aVWhere the secretary and I have a very profound difference, in the last debate \u2014 and I believe in her book \u2014 very good book, by the way \u2014 in her book and in this last debate, she talked about getting the approval or the support or the mentoring of Henry Kissinger. Now, I find it rather amazing, because I happen to believe that Henry Kissinger was one of the most destructive secretaries of state in the modern history of this country. I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend. I will not take advice from Henry Kissinger. And in fact, Kissinger's actions in Cambodia, when the United States bombed that country, overthrew Prince Sihanouk, created the instability for Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge to come in, who then butchered some 3 million innocent people, one of the worst genocides in the history of the world. So count me in as somebody who will not be listening to Henry Kissinger. +p3195 +aVWell, it ain't Henry Kissinger. That's for sure. +p3196 +aVIt is. +p3197 +aVI find \u2014 I mean, it's just a very different, you know, historical perspective here. Kissinger was one of those people during the Vietnam era who talked about the domino theory. Not everybody remembers that. You do. I do. The domino theory, you know, if Vietnam goes, China, da, da, da, da, da, da, da. That's what he talked about, the great threat of China. And then, after the war, this is the guy who, in fact, yes, you're right, he opened up relations with China, and now pushed various type of trade agreements, resulting in American workers losing their jobs as corporations moved to China. The terrible, authoritarian, Communist dictatorship he warned us about, now he's urging companies to shut down and move to China. Not my kind of guy. +p3198 +aVWell, this is what I would say. It is a complicated relationship. I congratulate Secretary of State John Kerry and the president for working on this agreement. As you've indicated, what is happening in Syria, the number of people, the hundreds of thousands of people who have been killed \u2014 men, women, 20,000 children, the people who are forced to flee their own country \u2014 their own country \u2014 it is unspeakable. It is a real horror. Now, what I think is that right now we have got to do our best in developing positive relations with Russia. But let's be clear: Russia's aggressive actions in the Crimea and in Ukraine have brought about a situation where President Obama and +p3199 +aVLet me just \u2014 just say this. For a start, the secretary and I disagree \u2014 and I think the president does not agree with her \u2014 in terms of the concept of a no-fly zone in Syria. I think you do have a humanitarian tragedy there, as I mentioned a moment ago. I applaud Secretary Kerry and the president for trying to put together this agreement. Let's hope that it holds. But furthermore, what we have got to do, I'm sorry, yes, I do believe that we have got to do everything that we can, and it will not happen tomorrow. But I do hope that in years to come, just as occurred with Cuba, 10, 20 years ago, people would say, reach normalized relations with Cuba. And by the way, I hope we can end the trade embargo with Cuba as well. But the idea that we some day maybe have decent relations with Iran, maybe put pressure on them so they end their support for terrorism around the world, yes, that is something I want to achieve. And I believe that the best way to do that is to be aggressive, to be principled, but to have the goal of trying to improve relations. That's how you make peace in the world. You sit down and you work with people, you make demands of people, in this case demanding Iran stop the support of international terrorism. +p3200 +aVWe have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of work to do. But I recall when Secretary Clinton ran against then-Senator Obama, she was critical of him for suggesting that maybe you want to talk to Iran, that you want to talk to our enemies. I have no illusion. Of course you are right. Iran is sponsoring terrorism in many parts of the world, destabilizing areas. Everybody knows that. But our goal is, in fact, to try over a period of time to, in fact, deal with our enemies, not just ignore that reality. +p3201 +aVNo, I think the idea was that president \u2014 then-Senator Obama was wrong for suggesting that it is a good idea to talk to your opponents. It's easier to talk to your friends. It's harder to talk to your enemies. I think we should do both. +p3202 +aVA couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to go on a congressional delegation. And I went to one of these Turkish refugee camps right on the border of Syria. And what a sad sight that was: Men, women, children forced out of their homes. And Turkey, by the way, did a very decent thing, providing what was reasonable housing and conditions for those people. It seems to me that given our history as a nation that has been a beacon of hope for the oppressed, for the downtrodden, that I very strongly disagree with those Republican candidates who say, you know what, we've got to turn our backs on women and children who left their home with nothing, nothing at all. That is not what America is supposed to be about. So I believe that working with Europe \u2014 and, by the way, you know, we've got some very wealthy countries there in that part of the world. You got Kuwait and you got Qatar and you got Saudi Arabia. They have a responsibility, as well. But I think this is a worldwide \u2014 that the entire world needs to come together to deal with this horrific refugee crisis we're seeing from Syria and Afghanistan, as well. +p3203 +aVYou know, Franklin Delano Roosevelt took the oath of office in 1933 at a time when 25 percent of the American people were unemployed, country was in incredible despair. And he stood before the American people and he said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself," a profound statement that gave the American people the courage to believe that, yes, we could get out of that terrible depression. And then what he did is redefine the role of government. You know, you had Herbert Hoover before that saying, no, we got to only worry about the deficit. So what if mass unemployment exists? So what if children are going hungry? That's not the role of the government. And when FDR said, "Yeah, it is," that we're going to use all of the resources that we have to create jobs, to build homes, to feed people, to protect the farmers, we are a nation which if we come together there is nothing that we could not accomplish. And kind of \u2014 that's what I see our campaign is about right now. In this particular moment of serious crises, saying to the American people don't give up on the political process. don't listen to the Trumps of the world and allowing them to divide us. If we reengage and get involved, yeah, we can have health care for all people, we can make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We do not have to have massive levels of income and wealth inequality. In the same light, as the foreign leader, Winston Churchill's politics were not my politics. He was kind of a conservative guy in many respects. But nobody can deny that as a wartime leader, he rallied the British people when they stood virtually alone against the Nazi juggernaut and rallied them and eventually won an extraordinary victory. Those are two leaders that I admire very much. +p3204 +aVThat is......Madam Secretary, that is a low blow. I have worked with President Obama for the last seven years. When President Obama came into office we were losing 800,000 jobs a month, 800,000 jobs a month. We had a $1.4 trillion deficit. And the world's financial system is on the verge of collapse. As a result of his efforts and the efforts of Joe Biden against unprecedented, I was there in the Senate, unprecedented Republican obstructionism, we have made enormous progress. But you know what? Last I heard we lived in a democratic society. Last I heard, a United States senator had the right to disagree with the president, including a president who has done such an extraordinary job. So I have voiced criticisms. You're right. Maybe you haven't. I have. But I think to suggest that I have voiced criticism, this blurb that you talk about, you know what the blurb said? The blurb said that the next president of the United States has got to be aggressive in bringing people into the political process. That's what I said. That is what I believe. President Obama and I are friends. As you know, he came to Vermont to campaign for me when he was a senator. I have worked for his re-election. His first election and his re-election. But I think it is really unfair to suggest that I have not been supportive of the president. I have been a strong ally with him on virtually every issue. Do senators have the right to disagree with the president? Have you ever disagreed with a president? I suspect you may have. +p3205 +aVWell, one of us ran against Barack Obama. I was not that candidate. All right, look, this has been a great debate. A lot of interesting issues have come together. Let me conclude by just saying this. There is no president, in my view, not Hillary Clinton, not Bernie Sanders, who has the capability or the power to take on Wall Street, large campaign donors, the corporate media, the big money interests in this country alone. This campaign is not just about electing a president. What this campaign is about is creating a process for a political revolution in which millions of Americans, working people who have given up on the political process, they don't think anybody hears their pains or their concerns. Young people for whom getting involved in politics is as, you know, it's like going to the moon. It ain't going to happen. Low income people who are not involved in the political process. What this campaign is not only about electing someone who has the most progressive agenda, it is about bringing tens of millions of people together to demand that we have a government that represents all of us and not just the 1 percent, who today have so much economic and political power. Thank you all very much. +p3206 +aVRachel, thank you very much. Millions of Americans are giving up on the political process. And they're giving up on the political process because they understand the economy is rigged. They are working longer hours for low wages. They're worried about the future of their kids, and yet almost all new income and wealth is going to the top 1 percent. Not what America is supposed to be about. Not the fairness that we grew up believing that America was about. And then sustaining that rigged economy is a corrupt campaign finance system undermining American democracy, where billionaire, Wall Street, corporate America can contribute unlimited sums of money into super PACs and into candidates. Our job, together, is to end a rigged economy, create an economy that works for all, and absolutely overturn Citizens United. One person, one vote. That's what American democracy is about. +p3207 +aVWell, I haven't quite run for president before. Let's deal with some of the comments that Secretary Clinton made. And by the way, you know, sometimes there's a lot of drama here. I have known Secretary Clinton for 25 years and respect her very much. Here is the issue. Every major country on earth, whether it's the U.K., whether it's France, whether it's Canada, has managed to provide healthcare to all people as a right and they are spending significantly less per capita on health care than we are. So I do not accept the belief that the United States of America can't do that. I do not accept the belief that the United States of America and our government can't stand up to the ripoffs of the pharmaceutical industry which charge us by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. Number two, in the economy today, everybody understands that we need a well educated workforce. This is 2016. When we talk about public education, it can no longer be K through 12th grade. I do believe that public colleges and universities should be tuition free. Well, how do we pay for that? It's an expensive proposition. I do believe that we should substantially lower student debt in this country, which is crushing millions of people. We pay for it, in my view, by a tax on Wall Street speculation. The middle class bailed out Wall Street in their time of need. Now, it is Wall Street's time to help the middle class. +p3208 +aVLet me... +p3209 +aV... this is a good discussion here. +p3210 +aVAnd let me just say this. As Secretary Clinton may know, I am on the Health Education Labor Committee. That committee wrote the Affordable Care Act. The idea I would dismantle health care in America while we're waiting to pass a Medicare for all is just not accurate. The Affordable Care Act has clearly, as Secretary Clinton made the point, done a lot of good things, but, what it has not done is dealt with the fact we have 29 million people today who have zero health insurance, we have even more who are underinsured with large deductibles and copayments and prescription drug prices are off the wall. So I do believe that in the future, not by dismantling what we have here\u2014I helped write that bill\u2014but by moving forward, rallying the American people, I do believe we should have health care for all. +p3211 +aVNo, not at all. Here's the reality of American economic life today. The reality is that we have one of lowest voter turnouts of any major country on earth because so many people have given up on the political process. The reality is that there has been trillions of dollars of wealth going from the middle class in the last 30 years to the top 1/10th of 1 percent. The reality is we that have a corrupt campaign finance system which separates the American people's needs and desires from what Congress is doing. So to my mind, what we have got to do is wage a political revolution where millions of people have given up on the political process, stand up and fight back, demand the government that represents us and not just a handful of campaign contribution\u2014contributors. Now all of the ideas that I'm talking about, they are not radical ideas. Making public colleges and universities tuition free, that exists in countries all over the world, used to exist in the United States. Rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, and creating 13 million jobs by doing away with tax loopholes that large corporations now enjoy by putting their money into the Cayman Islands and other tax havens. That is not a radical idea. What we need to do is to stand up to the big money interests, and the campaign contributors. When we do that, we can, in fact, transform America. +p3212 +aVLet me just pick up on this point. This whole discussion began because I commented, not making overall evaluation about the Secretary. She was in Ohio, I think, in September or November and she got up and said something like, I have been\u2014I'm paraphrasing, I have been criticized because people think I'm a moderate. Well, I am a moderate. That's where this came from. It wasn't me paraphrasing her. It is what she said, and all that I said was there's nothing wrong with being a moderate. But, you can't be a moderate, you can't a progressive. In terms of President Obama, I think if we remember where this country was seven years ago, 800,000 jobs being lost every month, $1.4 trillion dollar deficit. The world's financial system on the verge of collapse. I think that President Obama, Vice President Biden, and the Democratic leadership in the House and the Senate have done a fantastic job. We are in much better shape than we were seven years ago, although my Republican colleagues seem to have forgotten where we were seven years ago. That's the fact, but, we still have a very long way to go. Do I think President Obama is a progressive? Yes, I do. I disagree with him on a number of issues including the trade agreement. But, yes, I think he has done an excellent job. +p3213 +aVThat's right, I mean, instead of arguing about definitions, let's talk about... +p3214 +aV... What we should do, and one of the things we should do is not only talk the talk, but walk the walk. I am very proud to be the only candidate up here who does not have a Super PAC, who's not raising huge sums of money from Wall Street...... And special interests. I am enormously proud. Never believed it would happen that we have raised 3.5 million individual contributions, averaging $27 dollars a piece. That is what the political revolution means. +p3215 +aVWell, Rachel, actually, that wasn't accurate. In 1988 the Republican did win, I believe, by 3 points. I came in second. It was 34-31, I think, 19 for the Democrat. In that race the Democrat was the spoiler, not me. And it is true......it is true, it's not to be denied, I am the longest- serving independent in the history of the United States Congress. People of Vermont sent me to Washington as an independent. That is true. But on the other hand, I have\u2014when I was in the House for 16 years, I caucused with the Democrats. In the Senate for nine years caucused with the Democrats, of course. And I was elected by the Democrats to be chair of the Veterans Committee three years ago, which I'm very proud of. And now am the rankings member on the Budget Committee, leader of the Democrats in opposition to the majority Republicans. I am running for president as a Democrat. And if elected, not only do I hope to bring forth a major change in national priorities, but let me be frank, I do want to see major changes in the Democratic Party. I want to see working people and young people come into the party in a way that doesn't exist now. And you know what, I want a 50-state strategy so the Democratic Party is not just the party of 25 states. +p3216 +aVWell, I don't see it quite like that. +p3217 +aVI am\u2014will absolutely admit that Secretary Clinton has the support of far more governors, mayors, members of the House. She has the entire establishment or almost the entire establishment behind her. That's a fact. I don't deny it. But I am pretty proud that we have over a million people who have contributed to our campaign averaging 27 bucks apiece. That we have had meetings where 25,000-30,000 people have come out. That our campaign is a campaign of the people, by the people, and for the people. So, Rachel, yes, Secretary Clinton does represent the establishment. I represent, I hope, ordinary Americans, and by the way, who are not all that enamored with the establishment, but I am very proud to have people like Keith Ellison and Raul Grijalva in the House, the co-chairmen of the House Progressive Caucus. +p3218 +aVWhat being part of the establishment is, is, in the last quarter, having a super PAC that raised $15 million from Wall Street, that throughout one's life raised a whole lot of money from the drug companies and other special interests. To my mind, if we do not get a handle on money in politics and the degree to which big money controls the political process in this country, nobody is going to bring about the changes that is needed in this country for the middle class and working families. +p3219 +aVWhat... +p3220 +aV... you know... +p3221 +aV. +p3222 +aVLet's talk about\u2014OK, let's talk... +p3223 +aV... let us talk about issues. +p3224 +aVLet's talk about issues. +p3225 +aVLet's... +p3226 +aV... let's\u2014let's\u2014let's talk about issues. +p3227 +aVLet's talk\u2014let's talk about issues, all right? Let's talk about why, in the 1990s, Wall Street got deregulated. Did it have anything to do with the fact that Wall Street provided\u2014spent billions of dollars on lobbying and campaign contributions? Well, some people might think, yeah, that had some influence. Let's ask why it is that we pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, and your medicine can be doubled tomorrow, and there's nothing that the government can do to stop it. You think it has anything to do with the huge amounts of campaign contributions and lobbying from the fossil fuel industry? Let's talk about climate change. Do you think there's a reason why not one Republican has the guts to recognize that climate change is real, and that we need to transform our energy system? Do you think it has anything to do with the Koch brothers and ExxonMobil pouring huge amounts of money into the political system? That is what goes on in America. I am not\u2014I like......there is a reason. You know, there is a reason why these people are putting huge amounts of money into our political system. And in my view, it is undermining American democracy and it is allowing Congress to represent wealthy campaign contributors and not the working families of this country. +p3228 +aVI think as Secretary Clinton knows, there is nobody who fought harder. I was on the House Financial Committee at that time. I heard the arguments coming from Democrats and Republicans\u2014Robert Rubin, Alan Greenspan\u2014about great an idea it would be if we did away with Glass-Steagall and if we allowed investor banks and commercial banks and big insurance companies to merge. Go to YouTube today. Look up Greenspan-Sanders. Listen to what I told them then. I helped lead the effort against deregulation. Unfortunately, we lost that. The result is\u2014was the worst financial disaster since the Great Depression. +p3229 +aVChuck, actually we looked at it, but it turns out to be a disaster. The way it is structured right now, if you make it all the way to California, you could do pretty well. But in terms of the early states\u2014Iowa, New Hampshire, the other states\u2014it just doesn't work. Your point is well taken. I believe in public funding of elections, absolutely. But this system is\u2014I don't know if the secretary would agree\u2014is currently very antiquated and no longer applies to modern day politics. +p3230 +aVBut if the... +p3231 +aVLet me just say this. Wall Street is perhaps the most powerful economic and political force in this country. You have companies like Goldman Sachs, who just recently paid a settlement fine with the federal government for $5 billion for defrauding investors. Goldman Sachs was one of those companies whose illegal activity helped destroy our economy and ruin the lives of millions of Americans. But this is what a rigged economy and a corrupt campaign finance system and a broken criminal justice is about. These guys are so powerful that not one of the executives on Wall Street has been charged with anything after paying, in this case of Goldman Sachs, a $5 billion fine. Kid gets caught with marijuana, that kid has a police record. A Wall Street executive destroys the economy, $5 billion settlement with the government, no criminal record. That is what power is about. That is what corruption is about. And that is what has to change in the United States of America. +p3232 +aVI would say that\u2014that folks who have looked at this issue for a long time, whether it's Elizabeth Warren or many other economists, will tell you that right now, yes, we do need a 21st century Glass-Steagall legislation. And I would tell you also that when you have three out of the four largest banks in America today, bigger than they were\u2014significantly bigger than when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, I think if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, a good Republican by the way, what he would say is: Break them up; they are too powerful economically; they are too powerful politically. And that is what I believe and many economists believe. Time to break them up. +p3233 +aVWell, we've had a number of economists supporting our legislation. And here's where we are. The American people can judge. Six largest financial institutions in America today have assets of roughly $10 trillion; equivalent to 58 percent of the GDP of the United States of America. That is a lot of money. They issue two thirds of the credit cards, and by the way they're ripping off a whole lot of people with high interest rates on the credit cards, and they write about one third of the mortgages. That is a lot of power for six financial institutions. That's it. I think it is too much power. Too much economic power, too much political power, and the economists that I talk to say we should break them up. +p3234 +aVYeah, I do. I agree with much of what the Secretary said, but, madam Secretary, it is not one streak. Wall Street is an entity of unbelievable economic and political power. That's a fact. And, I want to say something, and it may sound harsh, not to you, but to the American people. In a sense, in my view, the business model of Wall Street is fraud. It's fraud. I believe that corruption is rampant, and the fact that major bank after major bank has reached multi billion dollar settlements with the United States government when we have a weak regulator system tells me that not only did we have to bail them out once, if we don't start breaking them up, we're going to have to bail them out again, and I do not want to see that happen... +p3235 +aVOf course I can work with them, but let's be clear. When I talked about Boeing and I talked about General Electric, what I was referring to is an outrage. I suspect the secretary agrees request me. Right now you have a loophole such that these guys are putting their profits, multi-billion dollar profitable corporations putting billions of dollars into the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, and other tax havens. And in a given year, Rachel, after making billions of dollars in profit, do you know how much they're paying in taxes to the United States government in a given year? Zero. Now explain to me how that makes any sense at all. So what I have said with regard to Boeing and GE and other multinationals that pay zero taxes, you know what we're going to do? We're going to end that loophole. They are going to pay their fair share of taxes. We're going to use that money to rebuild our infrastructure and create up to 13 million jobs. Can I work with corporations? Are there good corporations doing incredible cutting edge research and development? Absolutely they are. And we should be proud of them. But on the other hand, there are many corporations who have turned their backs on the American worker, who have said, if I can make another nickel in profit by going to China and shutting down in the United States of America, that's what I will do. I will do my best to transform our trade policy and take on these corporations who want to invest in low-income countries around the world rather than in the United States of America. +p3236 +aVOK. Let me agree with much of what the secretary said, but where we have a different background on this issue is we differ on the war in Iraq, which created barbaric organizations like +p3237 +aVWell, I think our great task is to make certain that our young men and women in the military do not get sucked into never- ending, perpetual warfare within the quagmire of Syria and Iraq. And I will do my very best to make sure that that doesn't happen. I agree with the secretary that I think what has to happen\u2014and let me just mention what King Abdullah of Jordan said. I think he hit the nail on the head. And what he said is essentially the war against +p3238 +aVWell, you can't simply withdraw tomorrow. Wish we could, and allow, you know, the Taliban or anybody else to reclaim that country. But what we must do, and what we have seen in recent months, is some progress in Iraq, where finally the Iraqi army, which has not been a particularly effective fighting force, retook Ramadi. +p3239 +aVWell, that's not quite accurate. I did give a speech at Georgetown where I talked about democratic socialism and foreign policy. Maybe I shouldn't have combined the two in the same speech, because the foreign policy part of it didn't get much attention. So, let me take this opportunity to give you a very short speech here on the issue. I think, while it is true that the secretary and I voted differently on the war in Iraq, what is important is that we learn the lesson of the war in Iraq. And that lesson is intrinsic to my foreign policy if elected president, is the United States cannot do it alone. We cannot be the policeman of the world. We are now spending more I believe than the next eight countries on defense. We have got to work in strong coalition with the major powers of the world and with those Muslim countries that are prepared to stand up and take on terrorism. So I would say that the key doctrine of the Sanders administration would be no, we cannot continue to do it alone; we need to work in coalition. +p3240 +aV I fully, fully concede that Secretary Clinton, who was secretary of State for four years, has more experience\u2014hat is not arguable\u2014in foreign affairs. But experience is not the only point, judgment is. And once again, back in 2002, when we both looked at the same evidence about the wisdom of the war in Iraq, one of us voted the right way and one of us didn't. In terms of Iran and in terms of Saudi Arabia, of course they hate each other. That's no great secret. But John Kerry, who is I think doing a very good job, has tried to at least get these people in the room together because both of them are being threatened by +p3241 +aVWell... +p3242 +aVWho said That think we should normalize relations with Iran tomorrow? I never said that. I think we should move forward as quickly as we can. And you're right. They are a sponsor of terrorism around the world and we have to address that. But you know, a number of years ago, people were saying normal relationship with Cuba, what a bad and silly idea. They're Communists, they are our enemy. Well guess what? Change has come. So please don't suggest that I think we normalize relations with Tehran tomorrow. We don't. But I would like to see us move forward, and hopefully some day that will happen. And I would say if I might, Madam Secretary\u2014and you can correct me if I'm wrong. When you ran against Senator Obama you thought him naive because he thought it was a good idea to talk to our enemies. I think those are exactly the people you have to talk to and you have to negotiate with. +p3243 +aVOK. +p3244 +aVI think President Obama had the right idea, and the bottom line is that of course there have to be conditions. But, of course it doesn't do us any good to not talk with our adversaries... +p3245 +aVJust to set the record straight, I very strongly supported the agreement which makes certain that Iran does not get a nuclear weapon. +p3246 +aV... +p3247 +aV +p3248 +aV... No, no... +p3249 +aV... +p3250 +aVClearly North Korea is a very strange situation because it is such an isolated country run by a handful of dictators, or maybe just one, who seems to be somewhat paranoid. And, who had nuclear weapons. And, our goal there, in my view, is to work and lean strongly on China to put as much pressure. China is one of the few major countries in the world that has significant support for North Korea, and I think we got to do everything we can to put pressure on China. I worry very much about an isolated, paranoid country with atomic bombs. I think, clearly, we got to work closely with China to resolve the serious problems we have, and I worry about Putin and his military adventurism in the Crimea and the Ukraine. +p3251 +aV... No, I don't. I worry very, very much about an isolated country. That's what makes me nervous. Russia lives in the world. China lives in the world. North Korea is a very, very strange country because it is so isolated, and I do feel that a nation with nuclear weapons, they have got to be dealt with. Dealt with effectively. +p3252 +aVLet me agree. You know, as the secretary knows, I chaired\u2014I had the privilege and the honor of chairing the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs. And it is interesting to me, you know, Republicans give a lot of speeches about how much they love veterans. I work with the American Legion, the VFW, the DAV, the Vietnam Vets, and virtually every veterans organization to put together the most comprehensive piece of the veterans legislation in the modern history of America. That's what I did. And I brought it to the floor of the Senate. Every Democrat voted for it, I got two Republicans. We ended up with 56 votes and I couldn't get the 60 votes that I needed. That is pathetic. This was legislation supported by all of the veterans organizations, addressing many of the serious problems that veterans face in health care and in how we deliver benefits to them. So Republicans talk a good game about veterans, but when it came to put money on the line to protect our veterans, frankly, they were not there. What I did next, Rachel, is I had to retreat a little bit, I had to compromise. I did work with John McCain. I did work with Jeff Miller over in the House. And we put together not the bill that I wanted, but probably the most comprehensive V.A. health care bill in the modern history of this country. Secretary Clinton is absolutely right, there are people, Koch brothers among others, who have a group called Concerned Veterans of America, funded by the Koch brothers. The Koch brothers, by the way, want to destroy Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, every governmental program passed since the 1930s. Yes, there are people out there who want to privatize it. The last point that I'd make. I had a hearing. I had all of the veterans groups in front of me. And I said to them, tell me when a veteran gets in to the V.A., understanding there are waiting lines and real problems, when a veteran gets into the system, is the quality of care good? Without exception, what they said, good, excellent, very good. We've got to strengthen the V.A. We do not privatize the V.A. +p3253 +aVWell, I agree with the Des Moines Register, but let's not blow this out of proportion. This is not a\u2014this is not, like, a winner-take-all thing. I think where we now stand\u2014correct me if I'm wrong\u2014you have 22 delegates, I have 20 delegates. We need 2,500 delegates to win the nomination. You know, so this is not\u2014this is not the biggest deal in the world. We think, by the way, based on talking to our precinct captains, we may have at least two more delegates. What the Des Moines Register said\u2014you know, there were coin\u2014I think there were half a dozen coin flips\u2014a fairly chaotic type situation. At the end of the day, no matter how it's recounted, it will break roughly even. And by the way, I love and respect the caucus process in Iowa. See, and I don't have to say it, because they voted already. And I love New Hampshire, too, because you haven't voted, but......but, look, I think people are blowing this up out of proportion. But I think we need improvements in the process by which results are determined. +p3254 +aVOh . See, when you are old, then they go back all these years. All right. What have you got? +p3255 +aVWell, you know, a general election is different than a primary and caucus process. But let me just say this. In terms of where we are right now, as you mention, Rachel, in a number of national and state, including New Hampshire. For example, the last poll I saw\u2014there may have been a new one\u2014last one I saw here in New Hampshire, a battleground state, had me defeating Trump by 19; the secretary defeating him by one. There were also pretty large margins in Iowa and Wisconsin. These are polls. Polls go up. Polls go down. But here's why I think I will be, if nominated, the strongest candidate. Democrats win when there is a large voter turnout; when people are excited; when working people, middle class people and young people are prepared to engage in the political process. Republicans win when people are demoralized and you have a small voter turnout, which by the way is why they love voter suppression. I believe that our campaign up to now has shown that we can create an enormous amount of enthusiasm from working people, from young people, who will get involved in the political process and which will drive us to a very large voter turnout. If there is a large voter turnout, not only do we retain the White House, but I think we regain the Senate. We win governors' chairs up and down the line. So I believe if you want to retain the White House, if you want to see Democrats do well across the board, I think our campaign is the one that creates the large voter turnout and helps us win. +p3256 +aV +p3257 +aVI am feeling exactly the way I felt at the first debate. There's a process under way. I will not politicize it. +p3258 +aVAnd by the way\u2014and by the way, if I may, the secretary probably doesn't know that there's not a day that goes by when I am not asked to attack her on that issue, and I have refrained from doing that and I will continue to refrain from doing that. +p3259 +aVNot losing control of our campaign. You know, we have hired a whole lot of people in a rapid way and I am familiar with the first two instances and they are unacceptable, and we have apologized and dealt with that. In terms of the last one, as I understand it, we did not suggest that we had the endorsement of a newspaper. Newspapers who make endorsements also say positive things about other candidates, and to the best of my knowledge, that is what we did. So we never said, never said that somebody, a newspaper endorsed us that did not. What we did say is blah blah blah blah was said by the newspaper. +p3260 +aVBut that was only for\u2014that was not to be on television. That's an important point. That was just something\u2014as the secretary knows, you put titles on ads and you send them out, but there was no word in that ad, none, that said that those newspapers had endorsed us. +p3261 +aV... Look, I hear what the Secretary said, and I understand, but look, there are\u2014all of us know that we have seen in recent years horrible, horrible crimes. It's hard to imagine how people can do, bomb, and kill 168 people in Oklahoma City, or do the Boston Marathon bombing, but this is what I believe, and for a couple of reasons. Number one, too many innocent people, including minorities, African Americans, have been executed when they were not guilty. That's number one. We have to be very careful about making sure about that. But, second of all, and maybe, in a deeper reason, of course there are barbaric acts out there. But, in a world of so much violence and killing, I just don't believe that government itself should be part of the killing. So, when somebody commits......somebody commits any of these terrible crimes that we have seen, you lock them up, and you toss away the key. They're never going to get out. But, I just don't' want to see government be part of killing. That's all. +p3262 +aVAbsolutely. I think the Secretary described the situation appropriately. You know, I don't go around asking for governor's resignations every day. In fact, I think I never have in my life. But I did ask for the resignation of Governor Snyder because his irresponsibility......was so outrageous. What we are talking about are children being poisoned. That's what we're talking about. We don't know, no one knows for sure because they haven't done the appropriate studies, but there's no question that kids' intellectual development may have been impacted. We don't know how many thousands. The idea that there has not been a dramatic response is beyond comprehension. And when you have one of the, I think, significant public health crises of recent years, of course the federal government comes in. And of course the federal government says, you're not going to be poisoning little kids and impacting their entire lives. Last point on this. And I suspect the secretary agrees. One wonders if this were a white suburban community what kind of response there would have been. Flint, Michigan, is a poor community. It is disproportionately African-American and minority. And what has happened there is absolutely unacceptable. +p3263 +aVAbsolutely right. +p3264 +aVChuck, I believe in trade, but I do not believe in unfettered free trade. I believe in fair trade which works for the middle class and working families of this country and not just large multinational corporations. I was not only in opposition to +p3265 +aVNo, let... +p3266 +aV... I am absolutely supportive of comprehensive immigration reform and a path towards citizenship for 11 million people today who are living in the shadows. All right? We got to do that. But you miss\u2014when you looked at the issues, you missed two of the most important. And that is you're not going to accomplish what has to be done for working families and the middle class unless there is campaign finance reform. So long as big money interests control the United States Congress, it is gonna be very hard to do what has to be done for working families. So let me be very clear. No nominee of mine, if I'm elected president, to the United States Supreme Court will get that nomination unless he or she is loud and clear, and says they will vote to overturn Citizens United. Second point\u2014second point is that the only way we make change in terms of health care, in terms of dealing with a broken criminal justice system which, today, allows us to have more people in jail than any other country\u2014largely African-American and Latino\u2014the only way we create millions of jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure or have a tax system that says to the wealthy that they are going to pay their fair share, is when millions of people become involved in the political process. No, you just can't negotiate with Mitch McConnell. Mitch is gonna have to look out the window and see a whole lot of people saying, "Mitch, stop representing the billionaire class. Start listening to working families." And as president, that's what I will work hard on. +p3267 +aVI agree with what the secretary said. We shouldn't be getting ahead of ourselves. And as I have said many times, you know, sometimes in these campaigns, things get a little bit out of hand. I happen to respect the secretary very much, I hope it's mutual. And on our worst days, I think it is fair to say we are 100 times better than any Republican candidate. +p3268 +aVI\u2014my dad came to this country at the age of 17 from Poland. Didn't have any money, couldn't speak English, he died pretty young, and I think it would have been beyond his wildest dreams to see his son up here on this stage today running for president. I love this country and my dad loved this country, and he was the most proud American because of what it gave him in terms of raising his family, even though we never had much money. But today in America, we are the only major country on earth that doesn't guarantee health care to all people, that doesn't guarantee paid family and medical leave. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth. We are seeing millions of families unable to send their kids to college in the United States of America. I'm running for president because I believe it is just too late for establishment politics and establishment economics. I do believe we need a political revolution where millions of people stand up and say loudly and clearly that our government belongs to all of us and not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors. Thank you all. +p3269 +aVThank you. As we honor the extraordinary life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., it's important not only that we remember what he stood for, but that we pledge to continue his vision to transform our country. As we look out at our country today, what the American people understand is we have an economy that's rigged, that ordinary Americans are working longer hours for lower wages, 47 million people living in poverty, and almost all of the new income and wealth going to the top one percent. And then, to make a bad situation worse, we have a corrupt campaign finance system where millionaires and billionaires are spending extraordinary amounts of money to buy elections. This campaign is about a political revolution to not only elect the president, but to transform this country. +p3270 +aVWell, that's what our campaign is about. It is thinking big. It is understanding that in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, we should have health care for every man, woman, and child as a right that we should raise the minimum wage to at least $15 an hour; that we have got to create millions of decent- paying jobs by rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure. So, what my first days are about is bringing America together, to end the decline of the middle class, to tell the wealthiest people in this country that yes, they are going to start paying their fair share of taxes, and that we are going to have a government that works for all of us, and not just big campaign contributors. +p3271 +aVWell, I think Secretary Clinton knows that what she says is very disingenuous. I have a D-minus voting record from the NRA. I was in 1988, there were three candidates running for congress in the state of Vermont, I stood up to the gun lobby and came out and maintained the position that in this country we should not be selling military style assault weapons. I have supported from day one and instant background check to make certain that people who should have guns do not have guns. And that includes people of criminal backgrounds, people who are mentally unstable. I support what President Obama is doing in terms of trying to close the gun show loop holes and I think it should be a federal crime if people act as dormant. We have seen in this city a horrendous tragedy of a crazed person praying with people in the coming up and shooting nine people. This should not be a political issue. What we should be doing is working together. And by the way, as a senator from a rural state that has virtually no gun control, I believe that I am in an excellent position to bring people together to fight the sensible... +p3272 +aVWhat I have said, is that gun manufacturer's liability bill has some good provisions among other things, we've prohibited ammunition that would've killed cops who had protection on. We have child safety protection work on guns in that legislation. And what we also said, "is a small mom and pop gun shop who sells a gun legally to somebody should not be held liable if somebody does something terrible with that gun." So what I said is, " I would re-look at it." We are going to re- look at it and I will support stronger provisions. +p3273 +aV...Well, I \u2014 look... +p3274 +aV... Let me respond to what the secretary said. We have a criminal justice system which is broken. Who in America is satisfied that we have more people in jail than any other country on Earth, including China? Disproportionately African American, and Latino. Who is satisfied that 51% of African American young people are either unemployed, or underemployed? Who is satisfied that millions of people have police records for possessing marijuana when the CEO's of Wall Street companies who destroyed our economy have no police records. +p3275 +aV... We need to take a very hard look at our... +p3276 +aV... criminal justice system, investing in jobs, and education not in jails and incarceration . +p3277 +aVWell, let me talk about polling. As Secretary Clinton well knows, when this campaign began she was 50 points ahead of me. We were all of three percentage points. Guess what? In Iowa, New Hampshire, the race is very, very close. Maybe we're ahead New Hampshire. In terms of polling, guess what? We are running ahead of Secretary Clinton. In terms of taking on my taking on my good friend, Donald Trump, beating him by 19 points in New Hampshire, 13 points in the last national poll that we saw. To answer your question. When the African American community becomes familiar with my Congressional record and with our agenda, and with our views on the economy, and criminal justice \u2014 just as the general population has become more supportive, so will the African American community, so will the Latino community. We have the momentum, we're on a path to a victory. O' +p3278 +aVI apologize for not hearing all of that question. +p3279 +aVYes. +p3280 +aVAbsolutely. This is a responsibility for the U.S. Justice Department to get involved. Whenever anybody in this country is killed while in police custody, it should automatically trigger a U.S. attorney general's investigation. Second of all, and I speak as a mayor who worked very closely and well with police officers, the vast majority of whom are honest, hard- working people trying to do a difficult job, but let us be clear. If a police officer breaks the law, like any public official, that officer must be held accountable. And thirdly, we have got to de-militarize our police departments so they don't look like occupying armies. We've got to move toward community policing. And fourthly, we have got to make our police departments look like the communities they serve in their diversity. +p3281 +aVSure. I agree... I agree with everything the Secretary said, but let me just add this, there is a responsibility on the part of the pharmaceutical industry and the drug companies who are producing all of these drugs and not looking at the consequence of it. And second of all, when we talk about addiction being a disease, the Secretary is right, what that means is we need a revolution in this country in terms of mental health treatment. People should be able to get the treatment that they need when they need it, not two months from now, which is why I believe in universal... +p3282 +aV... healthcare with mental health... +p3283 +aV... a part of that. +p3284 +aVOK. +p3285 +aVSecretary \u2014 Secretary Clinton didn't answer your question. Because what her campaign was saying \u2014 Bernie Sanders, who has fought for universal health care for my entire life, he wants to end Medicare, end Medicaid, end the children's health insurance program. That is nonsense. What a Medicare-for-all program does is finally provide in this country health care for every man, woman and child as a right. Now, the truth is, that Frank Delano Roosevelt, Harry Truman, do you know what they believed in? They believed that health care should be available to all of our people. I'm on the committee that wrote the Affordable Care Act. I made the Affordable Care Act along with Jim Clyburn a better piece of legislation. I voted for it, but right now, what we have to deal with is the fact that 29 million people still have no health insurance. We are paying the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, getting ripped off. And here's the important point, we are spending far more per person on health care than the people of any other country. My proposal, provide health care to all people, get private insurance out of health insurance, lower the cost of health care for middle class families by 5,000 bucks. That's the vision we need to take. +p3286 +aVBut \u2014 what if we have... +p3287 +aVIt is \u2014 it is absolutely inaccurate. O' +p3288 +aVNo one is tearing this up, we're going to go forward. But with the secretary neglected to mention, not just the 29 million still have no health insurance, that even more are underinsured with huge copayments and deductibles. Tell me why we are spending almost three times more than the British, who guarantee health care to all of their people? Fifty percent more than the French, more than the Canadians. The vision from FDR and Harry Truman was health care for all people as a right in a cost-effective way. We're not going to tear up the Affordable Care Act. I helped write it. But we are going to move on top of that to a Medicaid-for-all system. O' +p3289 +aVYeah. +p3290 +aVYes. +p3291 +aVNot all that detailed. +p3292 +aVWell. +p3293 +aVWell, that's \u2014 you might want to ask... +p3294 +aVAndrea, let me just say this. +p3295 +aVLet me just say that you might want to ask the governor of the state of Vermont why he could not do it. I'm not the governor. I'm the senator from the state of Vermont. But second of all \u2014 second of all...... here is what the real point is, in terms of all of the issues you've raised \u2014 the good questions you've raised. You know what it all comes down to? Do you know why we can't do what every other country \u2014 major country on Earth is doing? It's because we have a campaign finance system that is corrupt, we have super PACs, we have the pharmaceutical industry pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into campaign contributions and lobbying, and the private insurance companies as well. What this is really about is not the rational way to go forward \u2014 it's Medicare for all \u2014 it is whether we have the guts to stand up to the private insurance companies and all of their money, and the pharmaceutical industry. That's what this debate should be about. +p3296 +aVA couple of years ago, when we understood that veterans were not getting the quality care they needed in the timely manner, I worked with folks like John McCain and others to pass the most comprehensive veteran's health care legislation in modern history. But let me rephrase your question because I think, in all do respect, you're expression. In all do respect, you're missing the main point. And the main point in the Congress, it's not the Republicans and Democrats hate each other. That's a mythology from the media. The real issue is that Congress is owned by big money and refuses to do what the American people want them to do. The real issue is that in area after area, raising the minimum wage to $15 bucks an hour. The American people want it. Rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, creating 13 million jobs, the American people want it. The pay equity for women, the American people want it. Demanding that the wealthy start paying their fair share of taxes. The American people want it. +p3297 +aVThe point is, we have to make Congress respond to the needs of the people, not big money. +p3298 +aVI do. +p3299 +aVDid I say that? +p3300 +aVBecause of what I believe in what I was just saying. The Democratic party needs major reform. To those of you in South Carolina, you know what, in Mississippi, we need a 50-state strategy so that people in South Carolina and Mississippi can get the resources that they need. Instead of being dependent on super PACs, what we need is to be dependent on small, individual campaign contributors. We need an agenda that speaks to the needs of working families and low-income people. Not wealthy campaign contributors. +p3301 +aVWe need to expand what the input into the Democratic party. I am very proud that in this campaign, we have seen an enormous amount of excitement from young people, from working people. We have received more individual contributions than any candidate in the history of this country up to this point. O' +p3302 +aVAnd I respectfully disagree. +p3303 +aVAnd I respectfully disagree with my friend over here. And that is, you are right. All of us have denounced Trump's attempts to divide this country: the anti-Latino rhetoric, the racist rhetoric, he anti-Muslim rhetoric. But where I disagree with you, Governor O'Malley, is I do believe we have to deal with the fundamental issues of a handful of billionaires... O' +p3304 +aV... who control economic and political life of this country. O' +p3305 +aVNothing real will get happened. Unless we have a political revolution. Where millions of people finally stand up. +p3306 +aVIs that your strategy... +p3307 +aVWell, the first difference is I don't take money from big banks. I don't get personal speaking fees from Goldman Sachs. What I would do... What I would do is understand that when you have three out of the four largest banks today, bigger than they were when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, when you have the six largest financial institutions having assets of 60 percent of the GDP of America, it is very clear to me what you have to do. You've got to bring back the 21st century Glass-Steagall legislation and you've got to break up these huge financial institutions. They have too much economic power and they have too much financial power over our entire economy. If Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, the old Republican trust buster, what he would say is these guys are too powerful. Break them up. I believe that's what the American people to want see. That's my view. +p3308 +aVOK. First of all... +p3309 +aVSet the record right. In 2006 when I ran for the Senate, Senator Barack Obama was kind enough to campaign for me, 2008, I did my best to see that he was elected and in 2012, I worked as hard as I could to see that he was reelected. He and I are friends. We've worked together on many issues. We have some differences of opinion. But here is the issue, Secretary touched on it, can you really reform Wall Street when they are spending millions and millions of dollars on campaign contributions and when they are providing speaker fees to individuals? So it's easy to say, well, I'm going to do this and do that, but I have doubts when people receive huge amounts of money from Wall Street. I am very proud, I do not have a super PAC. I do not want Wall Street's money. I'll rely on the middle class and working families... +p3310 +aV... campaign contributions. +p3311 +aVLet me give you an example of how corrupt \u2014 how corrupt this system is. Goldman Sachs recently fined $5 billion. Goldman Sachs has given this country two secretaries of treasury, one on the Republicans, one under Democrats. O' +p3312 +aVThe leader of Goldman Sachs is a billionaire who comes to Congress and tells us we should cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Secretary Clinton \u2014 and you're not the only one, so I don't mean to just point the finger at you, you've received over $600,000 in speaking fees from Goldman Sachs in one year. I find it very strange that a major financial institution that pays $5 billion in fines for breaking the law, not one of their executives is prosecuted, while kids who smoke marijuana get a jail sentence. +p3313 +aVIf you want to... +p3314 +aVAnyone who wants to check my record in taking on Wall Street, in fighting against the deregulation of Wall Street when Wall Street put billions of dollars in lobbying, in campaign contributions to get the government off their backs. They got the government off their backs. Turns out that they were crooks, and they destroyed our economy. I think it's time to put the government back on their backs. +p3315 +aV... Yeah... +p3316 +aV... That's true. +p3317 +aVGood. You're right. I want to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, create 13 million jobs. We do that by doing away with the absurd loophole that now allows major profitable corporations to stash their money in the Cayman Islands, and not in some years, pay a nickel in taxes. Yes, I do. I plead guilty. I want every kid in this country who has the ability to be able to go to a public college, or university, tuition free. And, by the way, I want to substantially lower student debt interest rates in this country as well. How do I pay for it? I pay for it through a tax on Wall Street speculation. This country, and the middle class, bailed out Wall Street. Now, it is Wall Street's time to help the middle class. In fact... O' +p3318 +aV... we have documented, unlike Secretary Clinton, I have documented exactly how I would pay for our ambitious agenda. O' +p3319 +aV... Here is the main two points... +p3320 +aVYeah. +p3321 +aV... I got it. +p3322 +aVWhat is correct, and I'm disappointed that Secretary Clinton's campaign has made this criticism. It's a Republican criticism. Secretary Clinton does know a lot about healthcare, and she understands, I believe, that a medicare for all, single payer program will substantially lower the cost of healthcare for middle class families. So, what we have got to acknowledge, and I hope the Secretary does, is we are doing away with private health insurance premiums. So, instead of paying $10,000 dollars to Blue Cross, or Blue Shield, yes, some middle class families would be paying slightly more in taxes, but the result would be that that middle class family would be saving some $5,000 dollars in healthcare costs. A little bit more in taxes, do away with private health insurance premiums. It's a pretty good deal. +p3323 +aVYeah. +p3324 +aVNo, it is not breaking my word. When you are \u2014 it's one thing to say I'm raising taxes, it's another thing to say that we are doing away with private health insurance premiums. So, if I save you $10,000 in private health insurance, and you pay a little bit more in taxes in total, there are huge savings in what your family is spending. O' +p3325 +aVI was mayor for eight years, I did that as well. O' +p3326 +aVI think we already are. Younger generation understands it instinctively. I was home in Burlington, Vermont, on Christmas Eve, the temperature was 65 degrees. People in Vermont know what's going on. People who did ice fishing, where their ice is no longer there on the lake understand what's going on. I'm on both the Environmental and Energy Committees. The debate is over. Climate change is real. It is already causing major problems. And if we do not act boldly and decisively, a bad situation will become worse. It is amazing to me, and I think we'll have agreement on this up here, that we have a major party, called the Republican Party that is so owned by the fossil fuel industry and their campaign contributions that they don't even have the courage, the decency to listen to the scientists. It is beyond my comprehension how we can elect a president of the United States, somebody like Trump, who believes that climate change is a hoax invented by the Chinese. Bottom line is, we need to be bold and decisive, we can create millions of jobs. We must, for the sake of our kids and grandchildren, transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energy. I've got the most comprehensive legislation in the Senate to do that. And as president, I will fight to make that happen. +p3327 +aVI think what we've got to do is move as aggressively as we can to normalize relations with Iran. Understanding that Iran's behavior in so many ways is something that we disagree with; their support terrorism, the anti-American rhetoric that we're hearing from of their leadership is something that is not acceptable. On the other hand, the fact that we've managed to reach an agreement, something that I've very strongly supported that prevents Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and we did that without going to war. And that I believe we're seeing a fall in our relationships with Iran is a very positive step. So if your question is, do I want to see that relationship become more positive in the future? Yes. Can I tell that we should open an embassy in Tehran tomorrow? No, I don't think we should. But I think the goal has go to be as we've done with Cuba, to move in warm relations with a very powerful and important country in this world. +p3328 +aVAs everybody you know, this is incredibly complicated and difficult issue and I applaud. I know President Obama's been getting a lot of criticism on this. I think he is doing the right thing. What the nightmare is, which many of my Republican colleagues appear to want is to not have learned the lesson of Iraq. To get American young men and women involved in perpetual warfare in the quagmire of Syria and the Middle East would be an unmitigated disaster that as president, I will do everything in my power to avoid. O' +p3329 +aVWe should \u2014 we should learn \u2014 we should learn from King Abdullah of Jordan, one of the few heroes in a very unheroic place. And what Abdullah said is this is a war with a soul of Islam and that Muslim troops should be on the ground with our support and the support of other major countries. That is how we destroy +p3330 +aVNo. I think the vacuum was created by the disastrous war in Iraq, which I vigorously opposed. Not only did I vote against it, I helped lead the opposition. And what happened there is yes, it's easy to get rid of a two-bit dictator like Saddam Hussein, but there wasn't the kind of thought as to what happens the day after you get him and what kind of political vacuum occurs. And who rises up? Groups like +p3331 +aVLet me just... +p3332 +aVOK. Let me suggest... +p3333 +aVWhere Secretary Clinton and I think, I agree with most of what she said. But where I think we do have an honest disagreement, is that in the incredible quagmire of Syria, where it's hard to know who's fighting who and if you give arms to this guy, it may end up in +p3334 +aVOK. I just wanted to add, in the previous question, I voted against the USA Patriot Act for many of the reasons that Governor O'Malley mentioned. But it is not only the government that we have to worry about, it is private corporations. You would all be amazed, or maybe not, about the amount of information private companies and the government has in terms of the Web sites that you access, the products that you buy, where you are this very moment. And it is very clear to me that public policy has not caught up with the explosion of technology. So yes, we have to work with Silicon Valley to make sure that we do not allow +p3335 +aVRight. What we have got to do there is, among other things, as I was just saying, have Silicon Valley help us to make sure that information being transmitted through the Internet or in other ways by +p3336 +aVCan I get 50 seconds? +p3337 +aVCan I get a \u2014 can I just get a very brief response? Very brief. +p3338 +aVOK. One \u2014 and I agree with what the secretary said, and what Governor O'Malley said. But here's an issue that we also should talk about. We have a $600 billion military budget. It is a budget larger than the next eight countries'. Unfortunately, much of that budget continues to fight the old Cold War with the Soviet Union. Very little of that budget \u2014 less than 10 percent \u2014 actually goes into fighting +p3339 +aVGreat ideas, Governor O'Malley, Secretary Clinton, but here's the truth. If you have an administration stacked with Wall Street appointees, it ain't going to accomplish very much. So here's a promise that I make \u2014 and I mentioned a moment ago how corrupt the system is \u2014 Goldman Sachs, paying a $5 billion fine, gives this country, in recent history, a Republican secretary of treasury, a Democratic secretary of treasury. Here's a promise. If elected president, Goldman Sachs is not going to have \u2014 bring forth a secretary of treasury for a Sanders administration. +p3340 +aVI was asked a question. You know, one of the things, Andrea, and I \u2014 that question annoys me. I cannot walk down the street \u2014 Secretary Clinton knows this \u2014 without being told how much I have to attack secretary Clinton, want to get me on the front pages of the paper, I'd make some vicious attack. I have avoided doing that. Trying to run an issue-oriented campaign. +p3341 +aVI was asked a question. +p3342 +aVWell \u2014 then if I don't answer it, then there's another front page, so it's yes. And I mean this seriously. You know that. We've been through this. Yes, his behavior was deplorable. Have I ever once said a word about that issue? No, I have not. I'm going to debate Secretary Clinton, Governor O'Malley, on the issues facing the American people, not Bill Clinton's personal behavior. +p3343 +aVWell, Secretary Clinton was right and what I did which I think is also right, is demanded the resignation of governor. A man who acts that irresponsibly should not stay in power. Now, we are a great nation \u2014 and we've heard a lot of great ideas here tonight. Let's be honest and let's be truthful. Very little is going to be done to transform our economy and to create the kind of middle class we need unless we end a corrupt campaign finance system which is undermining American democracy. We've got to get rid of Super PACs, we've got to get rid of Citizens' United and what we've got to do is create a political revolution which revitalizes American democracy; which brings millions of young people and working people into the political process. To say loudly and clearly," that the government of the United States of America belongs to all of us and not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors." +p3344 +aVGood evening. I am running for president of the United States because it is too late for establishment politics and establishment economics. I'm running for president because our economy is rigged because working people are working longer hours for lower wages and almost all of new wealth and income being created is going to the top one percent. I'm running for president because I'm going to create an economy that works for working families not just billionaires. I'm running for president because we have a campaign finance system which is corrupt, where billionaires are spending hundreds of millionaires of dollars to buy candidates who will represent their interests rather than the middle class and working families. I'm running because we need to address the planetary crisis of climate change and take on the fossil fuel industry and transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energy. I'm running for president because I want a new foreign policy; one that takes on Isis, one that destroys +p3345 +aVDavid, let me give you a little bit of background here. The DNC has hired vendors. On two occasions, there were breeches in information two months ago. Our staff found information on our computers from the Clinton campaign. And when our staffers said, "whoa, what's going here?" They went to the DNC quietly. They went to the vendor and said, "hey, something is wrong," and that was quietly dealt with. None of that information was looked at. Our staffer at that point did exactly the right thing. A few days ago a similar incident happened. There was a breach because the DNC vendor screwed up, information came to our campaign. In this case, our staff did the wrong thing -- they looked at that information. As soon as we learned that they looked at that information - we fired that person. We are now doing an independent internal investigation to see who else was involved. Thirdly, what I have a really problem, and as you mentioned - this is a problem, I recognize it as a problem. But what the DNC did arbitrarily without discussing it with us is shut off our access to our information crippling our campaign. That is an egregious act. I'm glad that late last night, that was resolved. +p3346 +aVFourthly, I work -- look forward to working with Secretary Clinton for an investigation, an independent investigation, about all of the breaches that have occurred from day one in this campaign, because I am not convinced that information from our campaign may not have ended up in her campaign. Don't know that. But we need an independent investigation, and I hope Secretary Clinton will agree with me for the need of that. Last point. When we saw the breach two months, we didn't go running to the media and make a big deal about it. And it bothers me very much that, rather than working on this issue to resolve it, it has become many press releases from the Clinton campaign later. +p3347 +aVAbsolutely. +p3348 +aVYes, I apologize. +p3349 +aVNot only -- not only do I apologize to Secretary Clinton -- and I hope we can work together on an independent investigation from day one -- I want to apologize to my supporters. This is not the type of campaign that we run. And if I find anybody else involved in this, they will also be fired. +p3350 +aVLet me agree with Governor O'Malley and let me agree with Secretary Clinton. You know, we had this incident before, Secretary, with your famous e-mails. Right? And what I said and I think what Governor O'Malley is saying, and I hope you say, is when the middle class of this country is disappearing, when we have massive income and wealth inequality, when we're the only major country on earth not guaranteeing health care to all people, all the issues that the governor talked about, the secretary talked about, those are the issues. Media notwithstanding. Those are the issues that the American people want discussed. I hope those are the issues we'll discuss. +p3351 +aVI'm one of the 77 percent. I think this is a very difficult issue. Let me agree with much of what the secretary and the governor have said. Let me tell you what I think we have got to do. I think it's a two-pronged issue. Number one, our goal is to crush and destroy +p3352 +aVIt's a country in which people choose to buy guns. I think half of the -- more than half of the people in my own state of Vermont, my guess here in New Hampshire, are gun owners. That's the right of people. But this is what I do believe. I believe that when we have some 300 million guns in this country, I believe that when we have seen these horrific mass killings, not only in San Bernardino, but in Colorado and movie theaters in Colorado, I think we have got to bring together the vast majority of the people who do in fact believe in sensible gun safety regulations. For example, talking about polls, a poll recently came out, overwhelming majority of the American people say we should strengthen the instant background check. Who denies that it is crazy... Who denies that it is crazy to allow people to own guns who are criminals or are mentally unstable? We've got to eliminate the gun show loophole. In my view, we have got to see that weapons designed by the military to kill people are not in the hands of civilians. I think there is a consensus. I think -- I'm not going to say that everybody is in agreement. It's a divided country on guns. But there is a broad consensus on sensible gun safety regulations that I, coming from a state that has virtually no gun control, will do my best to bring together. O' +p3353 +aVWhoa, whoa, whoa. Let's calm down a little bit, Martin. +p3354 +aVFirst of all, let's have some rules here, commentators. +p3355 +aVAll right. +p3356 +aVHe sure did. +p3357 +aVSure did. All right. First off, we can do all the great speeches we want but you're not going to succeed unless there is a consensus. In 1988, just to set the record straight governor, I ran for the U.S. House. We have one House member from Vermont, three candidates in the race. One candidate said, you know what, I don't think it's a great idea that we sell automatic weapons in this country that are used by the military to kill people very rapidly. Gun people said, there were three candidates in the race, you vote for one of the others, but not Bernie Sanders. I lost that election by three percentage points. Quite likely, for that reason. So please, do not explain to me, coming from a state where democratic governors and republican governors have supported virtually no gun control. Excuse me. Do not tell me that I have not shown courage in standing up to the gun people, in voting to ban assault weapons, voting for instant background checks, voting to end the gun show loop hole and now we're in a position to create a consensus in America on gun safety. +p3358 +aVWell, the answer is, obviously, if you see suspicious activity, you report it. That's kind of a no-brainer. You know, somebody is loading guns and ammunition into a house, I think it's a good idea to call 911. Do it. +p3359 +aVBut I want to talk -- I want to talk about something else, because Secretary Clinton I think made some interesting and good points. What you have now is a very dangerous moment in American history. The secretary is right: Our people are fearful. They are anxious on a number of levels. They are anxious about international terrorism and the possibility of another attack on America. We all understand that. But you know what else they're anxious about? They're anxious about the fact that they are working incredibly long hours, they're worried about their kids, and they're seeing all the new income and wealth -- virtually all of it -- going to the top 1 percent. And they're looking around them, and they're looking at Washington, and they're saying the rich are getting much richer, I'm getting poorer, what are you going to do about it? What are you going to do for my kids? And somebody like a Trump comes along and says, "I know the answers. The answer is that all of the Mexicans, they're criminals and rapists, we've got to hate the Mexicans. Those are your enemies. We hate all the Muslims, because all of the Muslims are terrorists. We've got to hate the Muslims." Meanwhile, the rich get richer. So what I say to those people who go to Donald Trump's rallies, understand: He thinks a low minimum wage in America is a good idea. He thinks low wages are a good idea. I believe we stand together to address the real issues facing this country, not allow them to divide us by race or where we come from. Let's create an America that works for all of us, not the handful on top. +p3360 +aVExcuse me. May I have a chance to respond to this issue? +p3361 +aVYeah, but the rule includes equal -- got it. All right. +p3362 +aVAll right. Let's keep going. OK. +p3363 +aVYeah. +p3364 +aVAnd I also voted and helped lead the effort against the war in Iraq, which will go down in history as one of the worst foreign blunders -- foreign policy blunders in the history of our country. I voted against the first Gulf War, which set the stage, I believe, for the second Iraq war. And what I believe right now, and I believe this is terribly important, is the United States of America cannot succeed, or be thought of as the policeman of the world, that when there's an international crisis all over the world, in France and in the U.K. Or -- hey, just call up the American military and the American taxpayers, they're going to send the troops. And if they have to be in the Middle East for 20 or 30 years no problem. +p3365 +aVI have a problem with that, Martha. What I believe has got to happen is there must be an international coalition, including Russia, a well-coordinated effort. But I agree, as I mentioned a moment ago, with King Abdullah. This is a war for the soul of Islam. The troops on the ground should not be American troops. They should be Muslim troops. I believe that countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar have got to step up to the plate, have got to contribute the money that we need, and the troops that we need, to destroy +p3366 +aVMy plan is to make it work, to tell Saudi Arabia that instead of going to war in Yemen, they, one of the wealthiest countries on Earth, are going to have to go to war against +p3367 +aVI have a difference of opinion with Secretary Clinton on this. Our differences are fairly deep on this issue. We disagreed on the war in Iraq. We both listened to the information from Bush and Cheney. I voted against the war. But I think -- and I say this with due respect -- that I worry too much that Secretary Clinton is too much into regime change and a little bit too aggressive without knowing what the unintended consequences might be. Yes, we could get rid of Saddam Hussein, but that destabilized the entire region. Yes, we could get rid of Gadhafi, a terrible dictator, but that created a vacuum for +p3368 +aVI was not the secretary of state... +p3369 +aVI happen to think... O' +p3370 +aVSecretary Clinton is right. This is a complicated issue. I don't think anyone has a magical solution. But this is what I do believe. Yes, of course Assad is a terrible dictator. But I think we have got to get our foreign policies and priorities right. The immediate -- it is not Assad who is attacking the United States. It is +p3371 +aVDavid... +p3372 +aVCould I just say -- just say this... +p3373 +aVCan I just say this... +p3374 +aVOf course the United States must lead. But the United States is not the policeman of the world. The United States must not be involved in perpetual warfare in the Middle East. The United States, at the same time, cannot successfully fight Assad and +p3375 +aVFirst of all, we recognize that we have a rigged economy, as you've indicated. Middle class in this country for the last 40 years has been disappearing; are we better off today than we were when Bush left office? Absolutely. But as you've indicated for millions of American workers, people in New Hampshire -- all over America, they're working longer hours for lower wages deeply worried about their kids. So what do we do? First statement is, we tell the billionaire class, "they cannot have it all." For a start, they're going to start to pay their fair share of taxes. Second of all what we do, is you raise the minimum wage to living wage, 15 bucks an hour over the next several years. Next thing we do, pay equity for women workers. Women should not be making 79 cents on the dollar compared to that. Next thing that we do, real unemployment -- official unemployment, 5 percent, real employment 10 percent, youth unemployment, off the charts. We rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, our roads our bridges, our rail systems, we create 13 million jobs with a trillion-dollar investment. Furthermore, in a competitive global economy, it is imperative that we have the best educated workforce in the world. That is why I'm going to have a tax on Wall Street speculation to make certain that public colleges and universities in America are tuition free. +p3376 +aVNo, I think they won't. So Hillary and I have a difference. The CEOs of large multinationals may like Hillary. They ain't going to like me and Wall Street is going to like me even less. And the reason for that is we've got to deal with the elephant in the room, which is the greed, recklessness and illegal behavior on Wall Street. When you have six financial institutions in this country that issue two-thirds of the credit cards and one-third of the mortgages, when three out of four of them are larger today than when we bailed them out because they are too big to fail, we've got to re- establish Glass-Steagall, we have got to break the large financial institutions up. +p3377 +aVSo I don't think... ... having said that, I don't think I'm going to get a whole lot of campaign contributions from Wall Street. I don't have a super PAC. I don't want campaign contributions from corporate America. And let me be clear: While there are some great corporations creating jobs and trying to do the right thing, in my view -- and I say this very seriously -- the greed of the billionaire class, the greed of Wall Street is destroying this economy and is destroying the lives of millions of Americans. We need an economy that works for the middle class, not just a handful of billionaires, and I will fight and lead to make that happen. +p3378 +aVLet me just -- let me just... +p3379 +aVLet me just jump in. My name was invoked. +p3380 +aVSo with that invocation, let me say a few words. Secretary Clinton, I don't have a super PAC. I don't get any money from Wall Street. You have gotten a whole lot of money over the years from Wall Street. But most importantly, when you look at what happened in the 1990s, go to berniesanders.com. I'll advertise my Web site as well. And what you'll find is that I led -- helped lead the effort as a member of the House financial committee against Alan Greenspan, against a guy named Bill Clinton, maybe you know him, maybe you don't. Against the Republican leadership, who all thought it would be a great idea to merge investor banks and commercial banks and large insurance companies. What a brilliant idea that would be. Go to YouTube. Find out what I said to Greenspan. At the end of the day, if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, and the governor makes a good point about trade, anti-trade, anti-monopoly activities. Wall Street today has too much political power. It has too much economic power. To get deregulated -- listen to this, they spent $5 billion in lobbying and campaign contributions over a 10-year period. +p3381 +aVWall Street is a threat to the economy. They've got to be broken up. +p3382 +aVYes, exactly, exactly. +p3383 +aVYes, well, roughly. Let me say this. As a member of the Health Education Committee that helped write the Affordable Care Act, much of what Secretary Clinton said about what we have done, among other things, ending the obscenity of this pre-existing situation is a step forward. Seventeen more million more people have health care. It is a step forward. A step forward. But this is what we also have to say. Not only are deductibles rising, 29 million Americans still have no health insurance and millions of people can't afford to go to the doctor. Major crisis and primary health care. Here is the bottom line. Why is it that the United States of America today is the only major country on earth that does not guarantee health care to all people as a right? Why is it... +p3384 +aVWhy is it that we are -- why is it that we spend almost three times per capita as to what they spend in the U.K., 50 percent more than what they pay in France, countries that guarantee health care to all of their people and in many cases, have better health care outcomes. Bottom line. This ties into campaign finance reform. The insurance companies, the drug companies are bribing the United States Congress. We need to pass a Medicare for all single payer system. It will lower the cost of health care for a middle-class family by thousands of dollars a year. +p3385 +aVBut they will not be paying, Martha, any private insurance. So it's unfair to say in total... +p3386 +aVI can tell you that adding up the fact you're not paying any private insurance, businesses are not paying any private insurance. The average middle-class family will be saving thousands of dollars a year. +p3387 +aVAnd universities. +p3388 +aVWell, Neil, I think we've got to work on a two-pronged approach. And your point is absolutely well taken. The cost of college education is escalating a lot faster than the cost of inflation. There are a lot of factors involved in that. And that is that we have some colleges and universities that are spending a huge amount of money on fancy dormitories and on giant football stadiums. Maybe we should focus on quality education with well-paid faculty members. But... +p3389 +aVAnd I understand in many universities a heck of a lot of vice presidents who earn a big salary. But, bottom line is this is the year 2015. If we are going to be competitive in the global economy we need the best educated workforce. It is insane to my mind, hundreds of thousands of young people today, bright qualified people, cannot go to college because they cannot afford -- their families cannot afford to send them. Millions coming out of school as you indicated, deeply in debt. What do we do? My proposal is to put a speculation tax on wall street, raise very substantial sums of money, not only make public colleges and universities tuition-free, but also substantially lower interest rates on student debt. You have families out there paying 6 percent, 8 percent, 10 percent on student debt; refinance their homes at 3 percent. What sense is that? So I think we need radical changes in the funding of higher education. We should look at college today the way high school was looked at 60 years ago. All young people who have the ability should be able to get a college education. ( +p3390 +aVMay I respond to the critique on the ... +p3391 +aVI would just... +p3392 +aVBut Secretary Clinton is wrong. As you know, because I know you know a lot about health care. You know that the United States per capita pays far and away more than other country. And it is unfair simply to say how much more the program will cost without making sure that people know that, we are doing away with cost of private insurance and that the middle class will be paying substantially less for health care on the single payer than on the Secretary's Clinton proposal. +p3393 +aVNow, this is getting to be fun. +p3394 +aVLet me respond to... +p3395 +aVLet me respond to... +p3396 +aVNumber one, most important economic reality of today is that over the last 30 years, there has been a transfer of trillions of dollars from the middle class to the top one-tenth of one percent who are seeing a doubling of the percentage of wealth that they own. Now, when Secretary Clinton says, "I'm not going raise taxes on the middle class," let me tell you what she is saying. She is disagreeing with FDR on Social Security, LBJ on Medicare and with the vast majority of progressive Democrats in the House and the Senate, who today are fighting to end the disgrace of the United States being the only major country on Earth that doesn't provide paid family and medical leave. What the legislation is is $1.61 a week. Now, you can say that's a tax on the middle class. It will provide three months paid family and medical leave for the working families of this country. I think, Secretary Clinton, $1.61 a week is a pretty good investment. +p3397 +aVDavid, thank you. +p3398 +aVThen (inaudible)... +p3399 +aVEvery (inaudible) Democrat and senator in support of this proposal introduced by your good friend and my good friend, Kirsten Gillibrand, Rosa DeLauro, that is the legislation out there that will finally provide family and medical leave. +p3400 +aVWell, this whole issue concerns me. And I agree with much of what the secretary and the governor have said. But let's be clear. Today in America we have more people in jail than any other country on earth, 2.2 million people. Predominantly African-American and Hispanic. We are spending $80 billion a year locking up our fellow Americans. I think, and this is not easy, but I think we need to make wage a major effort, to come together as a country and end institutional racism. We need major, major reforms of a very broken criminal justice system. Now, what does that mean? Well, for a start it means that police officers should not be shooting unarmed people, predominantly African-Americans. +p3401 +aVIt means that we have to rethink the so-called war on drugs which has destroyed the lives of millions of people, which is why I have taken marijuana out of the Controlled Substance Act. So that it will not be a federal crime. +p3402 +aVThat is why we need to make... That is why we need to make police -- and I speak as a former mayor. I was a mayor for eight years, worked very closely with a great police department. And what we did is try to move that department toward community policing, so that the police officers become part of the community and not, as we see, in some cities an oppressive force. We need to make police departments look like the communities they serve in terms of diversity. We need to end minimal sentencing. We need, basically, to pledge that we're going to invest in this country, in jobs and education, not more jails and incarceration. +p3403 +aVYes. Look, this is a tragedy for New Hampshire. It is a tragedy for my state of Vermont. It is a tragedy all over this country. The number of heroin deaths are growing very, very significantly. What do we do? Well, for a start, this may seem like a radical idea, but I think we have got to tell the medical profession and doctors who are prescribing opiates and the pharmaceutical industry that they have got to start getting their act together, we cannot have this huge number of opiates out there throughout this country, where young people are taking them, getting hooked, and then going to heroin. Second of all, and the reason I believe in a health care for all program, we need to understand that addiction is a disease, not a criminal activity. And that means -- and that means radically changing the way we deal with mental health and addiction issues. When somebody is addicted and seeking help, they should not have to wait three, four months in order to get that help. They should be able to walk in the door tomorrow and get a variety of treatments that work for them. So those are some of the areas that I think we've got to move on. +p3404 +aVBut what... +p3405 +aVLook, the secretary is right. This is a terribly complicated issue. There are no simple solutions. But where we have a disagreement is that I think if you look at the history of regime changes, you go back to Mossadegh in Iran, you go back to Salvador Allende who we overthrew in Chile, you go back to overthrowing Saddam Hussein in Iraq, you go back to where we are today in Syria with a dictator named Assad. The truth is it is relatively easy for a powerful nation like America to overthrow a dictator but it is very hard to predict the unintended consequences and the turmoil and the instability that follows after you overthrow that dictator. So I think Secretary Clinton and I have a fundamental disagreement. I'm not quite the fan of regime change that I believe she is. O' +p3406 +aVGiven the fact that she's a lot smarter than me, yes, she would. And let me, by the way, take this moment to congratulate Hillary Clinton, who I thought not only did an outstanding job as our first lady, but redefined what that role could be. So, I thank you very much for that. My wife, Jane, has been -- way back when before I knew her, a foster parent. Many, many kids came into her home and received the kind of love that they desperately needed. And she turned around many lives. She is the best parent and grandmother that I know. She has devoted her life, when I was mayor of the city of Burlington, actually when I first met her, we started a youth office, which started a after-school programs for kids, started a child care center, started a youth newspaper. We got the kids involved in a whole lot of issues. She led that effort. So I think, at a time when so many of our kids are desperately looking for constructive activity, where too many of our kids are hanging around on street corners, potentially getting into trouble, I think we need a forceful advocate for the children, for teenagers, for the little children, to deal with the dysfunctional child care system, and I think my wife would do a great job in helping me accomplish those goals. +p3407 +aVWell, thank you very much for hosting this debate, and let me applaud my colleagues up here. Because I think frankly, maybe I'm wrong, but on our worst day, I think we have a lot more to offer the American people than the right wing's extremists. +p3408 +aVBut what my parents did accomplish is they were able to send both of their sons to college. We were the first in the family. So I know something about economic anxiety and living in a family does not have sufficient income. And that is why I am pledged, if elected president of the United States, to bring about a political revolution where millions of people begin to stand up and finally say enough is enough, this great country and our government belong to all of us, not just a handful of billionaires. Thank you very much. +p3409 +aVWell, John, let me concur with you and with all Americans who are shocked and disgusted by what we saw in Paris yesterday. Together, leading the world, this country will rid our planet of this barbarous organization called +p3410 +aVAbsolutely. In fact, climate change is directly related to the growth of terrorism. And if we do not get our act together and listen to what the scientists say, you're going to see countries all over the world -- this is what the CIA says -- they're going to be struggling over limited amounts of water, limited amounts of land to grow their crops ask you're going to see all kinds of international conflict. But, of course, international terrorism is a major issue that we have got to address today. And I agree with much of what the Secretary and the Governor have said. But let me have one area of disagreement with the Secretary. I think she said something like the bulk of the responsibility is not ours. Well, in fact, I would argue that the disastrous invasion of Iraq, something that I strongly opposed, has unraveled the region completely and led to the rise of al-Qaeda and to +p3411 +aVI don't think any -- I don't think any sensible person would disagree that the invasion of Iraq led to the massive level of instability we are seeing right now. I think that was one of the worst foreign policy blunders in the more than history of the United States. +p3412 +aVI think we have a disagreement, and the disagreement is that not only did I vote against the war in Iraq. If you look at history, John, you will find that regime change -- whether it was in the early '50s in Iran, whether it was toppling Salvador Allende in Chile, whether it is overthrowing the government of Guatemala way back when -- these invasions, these toppling of governments, regime changes have unintended consequences. I would say that on this issue, I'm a little bit more conservative than the Secretary... +p3413 +aV... And that I am not a great fan of regime change. +p3414 +aVThe Secretary's obviously right. It is enormously complicated. But here's something that I believe we have to do as we put together an international coalition, and that is we have to understand that the Muslim nations in the region -- Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, Jordan -- all of these nations, they're going to have to get their hands dirty, their boots on the ground. They are going to have to take on +p3415 +aVWhen you talk about the long-term consequences of war, let's talk about the men and women who came home from war. The 500,000 who came home with +p3416 +aVI don't think the term is what's important. What is important to understand is we have organizations, whether it is +p3417 +aVLet me do that but let me pick up on an issue, a very important issue that we have not yet discussed. This nation is the most powerful military in the world. We're spending over $600 billion a year on the military and yet, significantly less than 10 percent of that money is used to be fighting international terrorism. We are spending hundreds of billions of dollars maintaining 5,000 nuclear weapons. I think we need major reform in the military, making it more cost effective, but also focusing on the real crisis that faces us. The Cold War is over. And our focus has got to be on intelligence, increased manpower, fighting internationally targets. So, in terms of refugees, I believe that the United States has the moral responsibility with Europe, with Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia to make sure that when people leave countries like Afghanistan and Syria with nothing more than the clothing on their back that, of course, we reach out. Now, what the magic number is, I don't know, because we don't know the extent of the problem. But I certainly think that the United States should take its full responsibility in helping those people. +p3418 +aVLet me put those proposals-- and you're absolutely right. That is what I want to do. That is what is going to have to happen, if we want to revitalize and rebuild the crumbling middle class. In the last 30 years, there has been a massive redistribution of wealth. And I know that term gets my Republican friends nervous. The problem is, this redistribution has gone in the wrong direction. Trillions of dollars have gone from the middle class and working families to the top one-tenth of one percent who have doubled the percentage of wealth they now own. Yes, I do believe that we must end corporate loopholes, such that major corporations year after year pay virtually zero in federal income tax, because they're stashing the money in the Cayman Islands. Yes, I do believe there must be a tax on Wall Street speculation. We bailed out Wall Street. It's their time to bail out the middle class, help our kids be able to go to college tuition-free. So we pay for this by do demanding that the wealthiest people and the largest corporations, who have gotten away with murder for years, start paying their fair share. +p3419 +aVWe haven't come up with an exact number yet, but it will not be as high as the number under Dwight D. Eisenhower, which was 90 percent. But it will be... I'm not that much of a socialist compared to Eisenhower. But -- but we are going to end the absurdity, as Warren Buffet often remind us. O' +p3420 +aVThat billionaires pay an effective tax rate lower than nurses or truck drivers. That makes no sense at all. There has to be real tax reform, and the wealthiest and large corporations will pay when I'm president. O' +p3421 +aVI am on the committee that helped write the Affordable Care Act. We have made some good progress. Now what we have to take on is the pharmaceutical industry that is ripping off the American people every single day. I am proud that I was the first member of Congress to take Americans over the Canadian border to buy breast cancer drugs for one-tenth the price they were paying in the United States. But at the end of the day, no doubt, the Affordable Care Act is a step forward. I think we all support it. I believe we've got to go further. I want to end the international embarrassment of the United States of America being the only major country on earth that doesn't guarantee health care to all people as a right, not a privilege. And also -- also, what we should be clear about is we end up spending -- and I think the secretary knows this -- far more per capita on health care than any other major country, and our outcomes, health care outcomes are not necessarily that good. O' +p3422 +aVKathie, let me say this. You know, no public policy doesn't have, in some cases, negative consequences. But at the end of the day, what you have right now are millions of Americans working two or three jobs because their wages that they are earning are just too low. Real inflation accounted for wages has declined precipitously over the years. So I believe that, in fact, this country needs to move towards a living wage. It is not a radical idea to say that if somebody works 40 hours a week, that person should not be living in poverty. It is not a radical idea to say that a single mom should be earning enough money to take care of her kids. So I believe that over the next few years, not tomorrow, but over the next few years, we have got to move the minimum wage to a living wage, 15 bucks an hour. And I apologize to nobody for that. +p3423 +aVThis is what I think -- this is what many economists believe that one of the reasons that real unemployment in this country is 10 percent, one of the reasons that African American youth unemployment and underemployment is 51 percent is the average worker in America doesn't have any disposable income. You have no disposable income when you are make 10, 12 bucks an hour. When we put money into the hands of working people, they're going to go out and buy goods, they're going to buy services and they're going to create jobs in doing that. Kathie, that is the kind of economy I believe, put money in the hands of working people, raise the minimum wage to 15 buck an hour. O' +p3424 +aVLet me just... +p3425 +aVLet me just add to that. Just because this is not an esoteric argument. You're seeing cities like Seattle. You're seeing cities like San Francisco, cities like Los Angeles doing it, and they are doing it well and workers are able to have more disposable income. +p3426 +aVNot good enough. Here's the story. I mean, you know, let's not be naive about it. Why do -- why, over her political career has Wall Street been a major -- the major campaign contributor to Hillary Clinton? You know, maybe they're dumb and they don't know what they're going to get, but I don't think so. Here is the major issue when we talk about Wall Street. It ain't complicated. You have six financial institutions today that have assets of 56 percent, equivalent to 56 percent of the GDP In America. They issue two-thirds of the credit cards and one-third of the mortgages. If Teddy Roosevelt, a good Republican, were alive today, you know what he'd say? "Break them up." Reestablish Glass-Steagall. And Teddy Roosevelt is right. That is the issue. Now I am the only candidate up here that doesn't have a super PAC. I am not asking Wall Street or the billionaires for money. I will break up these banks. Support community banks and credit unions. That's the future of banking in America. +p3427 +aVI have never heard a candidate never, who has received huge amounts of money from oil, from coal, from Wall Street, from the military industrial complex, not one candidate say, oh, these campaign contributions will not influence me. I'm going to be independent. Well, why do they make millions of dollars of campaign contributions? they expect to get something. Everybody knows that. Once again, I am running a campaign differently than any other candidate. We are relying on small campaign donors, 750,000 of them, 30 bucks a piece. That's who I'm indebted to. +p3428 +aVNo, I have not. +p3429 +aVSo was I, John. Let me get a chance to respond. This issue touches on two broad issues. It's not just Wall Street. It's campaign -- a corrupt campaign finance system. And it is easy to talk the talk about ending Citizens United, but what I think we need to do is show by example that we are prepared to not rely on large corporations and Wall Street for campaign contributions, and that's what I'm doing. In terms of Wall Street, I respectfully disagree with you, madam secretary, in the sense that the issue here is when you have such incredible power and such incredible wealth. When you have Wall Street spending $5 billion over a 10-year period to get -- to get deregulated, the only answer they know is break them up, reestablish Glass-Stegall. +p3430 +aVThe big banks-- +p3431 +aVLook-- +p3432 +aVI don't know and with all due respect to the secretary, Wall Street played by the rules? Who are we kidding? The business model of Wall Street is fraud. That's what it is. And we have -- and let me make this promise. One of the problems we have had -- I think all Americans understand this, is whether it's Republican administrations or Democratic administrations, we have seen Wall Street and Goldman Sachs dominate administrations. Here's my promise-- Wall Street representatives will not be in my cabinet. +p3433 +aVLet's do more -- let's do more than reverse the immunity. Let's... +p3434 +aVLet me hear if there's any difference between the Secretary and myself. I have voted time and again to -- for -- for the background check, and I want to see it improved and expanded. I want to see us do away with the gun show loophole. In 1988, I lost an election because I said we should not have assault weapons on the streets of America. We have to do away with the strawman proposal. We need radical changes in mental health in America so somebody who is suicidal or homicidal can get the emergency care they need. We have -- I don't know that there's any disagreement here... O' +p3435 +aVWe have got to come forward with a consensus that in fact will work. +p3436 +aVThere were parts of that bill which agree with parts -- I disagree. I am certainly, absolutely, willing to look at that bill again and make sure there's a stronger bill. +p3437 +aVWith all -- with all due respect... I think it's fair to say that Baltimore is not now one of the safest cities in America, but the issue is... O' +p3438 +aVThe issue is -- I believe, and I believe this honestly, and I don't know that there's much difference on guns between us. But I believe coming from a state that has virtually no gun control, I believe that I am in position to reach out to the 60 or 70 percent of the American people who agree with us on those issues. The problem is... +p3439 +aV... people all over this country -- not you, Secretary Clinton -- are shouting at each other. And what we need to do is bring people together to work on the agreement where there is broad consensus and that's what I intend to do. O' +p3440 +aVAbsolutely. +p3441 +aVYes. +p3442 +aVYes. +p3443 +aVYes, I agree. +p3444 +aVWell, I -- if I might. I think the issue here is -- and I applaud Secretary Clinton. She did. She's the senator from New York. She worked -- and many of us supported you -- in trying to rebuild that devastation. But at the end of the day, Wall Street today has enormous economic and political power. Their business model is greed and fraud. And for the sake of our economy, they must -- the major banks must be broken up. +p3445 +aVWell, (inaudible) the major issue right now is whether or not we reestablish Glass-Steagall. I led the effort, unfortunately unsuccessfully, against deregulation because I knew when you merge large insurance companies and investment banks and commercial banks it was not going to be good. The issue now is do we break them ?up do we reestablish Glass-Steagall. And Secretary Clinton, unfortunately, is on the wrong side. +p3446 +aVLet me... O' +p3447 +aVThank you. Looking forward to it. +p3448 +aVYes. +p3449 +aVRight. +p3450 +aVAnd we are going to do a political revolution, which brings working people, young people, senior citizens, minorities together. Because every issue that I am talking about-- paid family and medical leave, breaking up the banks on Wall Street, asking the wealth to pay their fair share of taxes, rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, raising the minimum wage to 15 bucks an hour -- every one of those issues is supported by a significant majority of the American people. The problem is, that as a result of a corrupt campaign finance system, Congress is not listening to the American people. Its listening to the big money interest. What the political revolution is about is bringing people together to finally say, enough is enough. This government belongs to us. Not just the billionaires. +p3451 +aVYes. +p3452 +aVYes. +p3453 +aVYeah. +p3454 +aVWhat we need is leadership in this country which revitalizes American democracy, and makes people understand that if they stand up and fight back and take on the billionaire class, we can bring about the change that we need. If we are not successful, if we continue the same old, same old of Washington being run by corporate lobbyists and big-money interests, nothing changes. What I am very happy in this campaign that we have had rallies with tens of thousands of people, mostly young people. What the polls are showing is that we are actually defeating the secretary among younger people. We're giving young people and working people hope that real change can take place in America. That's what the political revolution is about. +p3455 +aVNo. That's just media stuff. I was sick and tired of Hillary Clinton's e-mail. I am still sick and tired of Hillary Clinton's e-mails. And the issue is, the problem is, the front pages every day were dealing with it. I didn't know I had so much power. But after I said that, we're not hearing so much about Hillary Clinton's e-mails. What I would like for the media now is for us to be talking about why the middle class is disappearing, why we have more people in jail than any other country, why we have massive levels of income and wealth inequality, and we're the only major country on Earth without paid family and medical leave. We've gotten off the Hillary's e-mails, good. Let's go to the major issues facing America. +p3456 +aVWell, this is what I would say, and the Congressman was right. According to the statistics that I'm familiar with, a black male baby born today stands a one in four chance of ending up in the criminal justice system. Fifty-one percent of high school African-American graduates are unemployed or underemployed. We have more people in jail today than any other country on earth. We're spending $80 billion locking people up, disproportionately Latino and African American. We need, very clearly, major, major reform in a broken criminal justice system. From top to bottom. And that means when police officers out in a community do illegal activity -- kill people who are unarmed who should not be killed, they must be held accountable. It means that we end minimum sentencing for those people arrested. It means that we take marijuana out of the federal law as a crime and give states the freedom to go forward with legalizing marijuana. +p3457 +aVNo, it is not throwing -- it is an extraordinary investment for this country. Germany, many other countries do it already. In fact, if you remember, 50, 60 years ago, the University of California, City University of New York were virtually tuition-free. Here is the story -- it's not just the college graduates should be $50,000 or $100,000 in debt. More importantly, I want kids in Burlington, Vermont, or Baltimore, Maryland, who are in the sixth grade or the eighth grade, who don't have a lot of money, whose parents -- like my parents -- may never have gone to college. Do you know where I'm going, Kevin? I want those kids to know that if they study hard, they do their homework, regardless of the income of their families, they will in fact be able to get a college education because we are going to make public colleges and universities tuition-free. This is revolutionary for education in America. It will give hope to millions of young people. +p3458 +aVYes. +p3459 +aVWell, I think that they're be pretty smart, because I think a lot of the states will do the right thing, and I think those states that don't will pay a heavy penalty. Bottom line here is, in the year 2015, we should look at a college degree the same way we looked at a high school degree 50 or 60 years ago. If you want to make it into the middle class -- I'm not saying in all cases -- we need plumbers, and we need carpenters, and electricians, that's for sure, and they should get help as well. But bottom line now, is in America, in the year 2015, any person who has the ability and the desire should be able to get an education, college education, regardless of the income of his or her family. And we must substantially lower, as my legislation does, interest rates on student debt. +p3460 +aVIt's not going to happen tomorrow. And it's probably not going to happen until we have real campaign finance reform and get rid of all these superpacs, and the power of the insurance companies and the drug companies. But at the end of the day, Nancy, here is the question -- in this great country of ours, with so much intelligence and so much capability, why do we remain the only major country on earth that does not guarantee health care to all people as a right? Why do we continue to get ripped off by the drug companies who can charge us any prices they want? Why is it that we are spending per capita far, far more than Canada, which is 100 miles away from my door, that guarantees health care to all people? It will not happen tomorrow. But when millions of people stand up and are prepared to take on the insurance companies and the drug companies, it will happen, and I will lead that effort. Medicare for all, single-payer system is the way we should go. +p3461 +aVWell, let me just say something. +p3462 +aVWe don't eliminate Medicare. We expand Medicare to all people. And we will not, under this proposal, have a situation that we have right now with the Affordable Care Act where you have states like South Carolina, and many other Republican states, that because of their right wing political ideology, are denying millions of people the expansion of Medicaid that we passed in the Affordable Care Act. Ultimately, we have got to say as a nation, Secretary Clinton, is health care a right of all people or is it not? I believe it is a right. O' +p3463 +aVJohn, I had the honor of being chairman of the U.S. Senate committee on Veterans' Affairs for two years. And in that capacity, I met with just an extraordinary group of people from World War II, from korea, vietnam, all of the wars. People came back from Iraq and Afghanistan without legs, without arms. And I was determined to do everything that I could to make VA health care the best in the world, to expand benefits to the men and women who put their lives on the line to defending. We brought together legislation supported by the American Legion, the VFW, the DOD, Vietnam Vets, all of the veterans organizations, which was comprehensive. Clearly the best piece of veterans' legislation brought forth in decades. I could only get two Republican votes on that. We ended up with 56 votes. We needed 60. So what I had to do then is go back and start working on a bill that wasn't the bill that I wanted. Sit down with people like John Mccain. Sit down with people like Jeff Miller, the Republican chairman of the house, and work on a bill. It wasn't the bill that I wanted, but yet it turned out to be one of the more significant pieces of veterans' legislation passed in recent history. So the crisis was I lost what I wanted. But I had to stand up and come back and get the best that we could. +p3464 +aVJohn -- John, this country today has more income and wealth inequality than any major country on Earth. We have a corrupt campaign finance system dominated by Super PACs. We are the only major country on Earth that doesn't guarantee healthcare to all people. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty, and we're the only country in the world -- virtually the only country that doesn't guarantee paid family and medical leave. That's not the America that I think we should be. But in order to bring about the changes that we need, we need a political revolution. Millions of people are going to have to stand up, turn off the TV, get involved in the political process and tell the big- money interest that we are taking back our country. Please go to berniesanders.com. Please become part of the political revolution. Thank you. +p3465 +asVBARTIROMO +p3466 +(lp3467 +VTonight we're partnering with the Wall Street Journal to ask questions on the economy that voters want answered. We're also working with Facebook, who tells us that since the first Republican debate, more than 58 million people have joined the political conversation online. More than 9 million are talking specifically about the economy. +p3468 +aVBusinesswoman Carly Fiorina. Ohio Governor John Kasich. And Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. +p3469 +aVWe've asked people on Facebook to submit their questions for the candidates. Seth Bell wrote, "We are approaching $20 trillion in national debt. Specifically, what plans do you have to cut federal spending?" Governor Kasich, you have spoken much about your success in balancing the budget under President Clinton. Today the national debt is at record highs and growing unsustainably. Interest will be the fastest-growing part of the federal budget, tripling over the next 10 years. Social Security, the lifeline of millions of American seniors, is rushing toward insolvency. With all of the tax plans presented tonight, estimated to cost anywhere between $2 trillion and $12 trillion over a decade, what specific steps will you take to balance the budget? +p3470 +aVDid you want to name any specific steps, sir? +p3471 +aVThank you, sir. +p3472 +aVSenator Cruz, the International Monetary Fund recently cut its expectations for economic growth. Many economists expect a recession to hit the U.S. within the next year due to the weakening of manufacturing. The next president will have to deal with it. You say tax reform is a powerful lever to spur economic expansion. You're calling for a 10 percent income tax and a 16 percent business tax. What other elements do you need in this plan to actually create jobs? +p3473 +aVThank you, sir. +p3474 +aVGovernor Bush... +p3475 +aVWe have more questions for you, Governor Kasich, coming up. We have more questions for you, Governor Kasich. +p3476 +aVWe will \u2014 we will certainly get to that. Governor Bush? +p3477 +aVAlmost 40 percent of Americans are without a job and are not looking. Many have given up. That's what the participation rate tells us. You've said your policies will drive the economy back to 4 percent growth, which we haven't seen since the year 2000. What specific regulations would you change? And how will that lead to jobs and growth? +p3478 +aVThank you, sir. +p3479 +aVMr. Trump, a federal appeals court just dealt a blow to the Obama administration's plan to prevent the deportation of 5 million people living in this country illegally. The White House is appealing to the Supreme Court. At the heart of this issue is the effect that illegal immigrants are having on our economy, what will you do about it? +p3480 +aVCan we just send 5 million people back with no effect on economy? +p3481 +aVSo what will you do? +p3482 +aVThank you, sir. +p3483 +aVWe go back to Facebook. Dewayne Wesley Cato asks on Facebook, how do we get rid of regulations choking our businesses? Ms. Fiorina? Specifically, under the president's Affordable Care Act, employers with 50 or more employees are required to offer health insurance, or be fined. Many are opting to pay the fine. Others are cutting back employee hours to duck the law altogether. What specific ways will you alleviate the pressure on small business? +p3484 +aVJust to be clear, you want to repeal Obamacare... ..but, what's the alternative? +p3485 +aVJust to be clear, you say you would repeal Obamacare... +p3486 +aV...But, what is the alternative... +p3487 +aV...and how does that help small business... +p3488 +aV...Thank you... +p3489 +aVSenator Cruz, there isn't anyone in this audience or watching at home tonight who would not like to pay less in taxes. Most people just want a fair shake, and they don't want their money to be wasted. But explain how your plan works. How can you cut taxes as much as you propose without running up debt and deficits? +p3490 +aVBut you haven't told us how to pay for it. +p3491 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Bush, Republican primary voters say tax reform should be a priority for Congress and the administration. But, Governor Bush, how important is tax reform in your domestic policy agenda? Will you guarantee it in the first year of your presidency? +p3492 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3493 +aVThat's right. That's right. +p3494 +aVComing up, the biggest threats facing the next commander-in-chief. You're watching the Republican presidential debate, live tonight from Milwaukee. We'll be right back. +p3495 +aVWelcome back. Welcome back to the Republican presidential debate. The candidates taking the questions you want answered. Also tonight, you can see what America is saying about the debate. Go to Facebook and type #gopdebate into the search box. Now, back to the questions. Americans face security threats at home and abroad. Last year, terrorist attacks rose 61 percent, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace, with the most deaths occurring in just five countries, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Syria. Dr. Carson, you were against putting troops on the ground in Iraq and against a large military force in Afghanistan. Do you support the president's decision to now put 50 special ops forces in Syria and leave 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan? +p3496 +aVWe asked Facebook to take a look at some of the major issues we're talking about, and tackling in this debate tonight. This word cloud shows what people are focusing on the most. The bigger the word, the more the talk. One of the most discussed issues in the last month, homeland security. Governor Bush, what is the biggest threat facing America today? +p3497 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, in 2012 debate, President Obama mocked Mitt Romney's assertion that Russia was the top geopolitical challenge facing the United States, saying he was a Cold War dinosaur. Now, Russia has invaded Ukraine, and has put troops in Syria. You have said you will have a good relationship with Mr. Putin. So, what does President Trump do in response to Russia's aggression? +p3498 +aVThank you, sir. +p3499 +aVThank you, governor. +p3500 +aVSenator Rubio. +p3501 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. +p3502 +aVMore questions \u2014 more questions coming up, when the Republican presidential debate comes right back, live from Milwaukee. Stay with us. +p3503 +aVWelcome back to the fourth Republican presidential debate. Senator Rubio, Hillary Clinton is the clear front runner for the Democratic nomination. If she is indeed the nominee, you will be facing a candidate with an impressive resume. She was the first lady of the United States, a U.S. senator from New York, and secretary of state under Barack Obama. She has arguably more experience, certainly more time in government than almost all of you on stage tonight. Why should the American people trust you to lead this country, even though she has been so much closer to the office? +p3504 +aVSenator Paul, you were one of 15 republicans to vote for an amendment which states that human activity contributed to climate change. President Obama has announced an aggressive plan to cut carbon emissions. At the same time, energy production in America has boomed. Is it possible to continue this boom, and move toward energy self-sufficiency, while at the same time pursuing a meaningful climate change program? +p3505 +aVCarly Fiorina? +p3506 +aVFormer Governor Jeb Bush? +p3507 +aVSenator Ted Cruz? +p3508 +aVHe's funny. +p3509 +aVThank you. +p3510 +asVCLINTON +p3511 +(lp3512 +VThank you. +p3513 +aVI'm running for president to knock down all the barriers that are holding Americans back, and to rebuild the ladders of opportunity that will give every American a chance to advance, especially those who have been left out and left behind. I know a lot of Americans are angry about the economy. And for good cause. Americans haven't had a raise in 15 years. There aren't enough good-paying jobs, especially for young people. And yes, the economy is rigged in favor of those at the top. We both agree that we have to get unaccountable money out of our political system and that we have to do much more to ensure that Wall Street never wrecks main street again. But I want to go further. I want to tackle those barriers that stand in the way of too many Americans right now. African-Americans who face discrimination in the job market, education, housing, and the criminal justice system. Hardworking immigrant families living in fear, who should be brought out of the shadows so they and their children can have a better future. Guaranteeing that women's work finally gets the pay, the equal pay that we deserve. I think America can only live up to its potential when we make sure that every American has a chance to live up to his or her potential. That will be my mission as president. And I think together we will make progress. +p3514 +aVJudy, I think that the best analysis that I've seen based on Senator Sanders plans is that it would probably increase the size of the federal government by about 40%, but what is most concerning to me is that in looking at the plans \u2014 let's take healthcare for example. Last week in a CNN town hall, the Senator told a questioner that the questioner would spend about $500 dollars in taxes to get about $5,000 dollars in healthcare. Every progressive economist who has analyzed that says that the numbers don't add up, and that's a promise that cannot be kept, and it's really important now that we are getting into the rest of the country that both of us are held to account for explaining what we are proposing because, especially with healthcare, this is not about math. This is about people's lives, and we should level with the American people about what we can do to make sure they get quality affordable healthcare. +p3515 +aVI can only say that we both share the goal of universal health care coverage. You know, before it was called Obamacare, it was called Hillarycare. And I took on the drug companies and I took on the insurance companies to try to get us universal health care coverage. And why I am a staunch supporter of President Obama's principal accomplishment \u2014 namely the Affordable Care Act \u2014 is because I know how hard it was to get that done. We are at 90 percent coverage. We have to get the remaining 10. I've set forth very specific plans about how to get costs down, especially prescription drug costs. And it is difficult to in any way argue with the goal that we both share. But I think the American people deserve to know specifically how this would work. If it's Medicare for all, then you no longer have the Affordable Care Act, because the Affordable Care Act, as you know very well, is based on the insurance system, based on exchanges, based on a subsidy system. The Children's Health Insurance Program, which I helped to create, which covers 8 million kids, is also a different kind of program. So if you're having Medicare for all, single-payer, you need to level with people about what they will have at the end of the process you are proposing. And based on every analysis that I can find by people who are sympathetic to the goal, the numbers don't add up, and many people will actually be worse off than they are right now. +p3516 +aVWell, let me just \u2014 let me just say, once again......that, having been in the trenches fighting for this, I believe strongly we have to guarantee health care. I believe we are on the path to doing that. The last thing we need is to throw our country into a contentious debate about health care again. And we are not England. We are not France. We inherited a system that was set up during World War II; 170 million Americans get health insurance right now through their employers. So what we have tried to do and what President Obama succeeded in doing was to build on the health care system we have, get us to 90 percent coverage. We have to get the other 10 percent of the way to 100. I far prefer that and the chances we have to be successful there than trying to start all over again, gridlocking our system, and trying to get from zero to 100 percent. +p3517 +aVNo. But it is absolutely fair and necessary for Americans to vet both of our proposals, to ask the really hard questions about, what is it we think we can accomplish, why do we believe that, and what would be the results for the average American family? In my case, whether it's health care, or getting us to debt-free tuition, or moving us toward paid family leave, I have been very specific about where I would raise the money, how much it would cost, and how I would move this agenda forward. I've tried to be as specific to answer questions so that my proposals can be vetted, because I feel like we have to level with people for the very reason, Gwen, that you are mentioning. There is a great deal of skepticism about the federal government. I'm aware of that. It comes from the right, from the left, from people on all sides of the political spectrum. So we have a special obligation to make clear what we stand for, which is why I think we should not make promises we can't keep, because that will further, I think, alienate Americans from understanding and believing we can together make some real changes in people's lives. +p3518 +aVI will put a price tag. My price tag is about $100 billion a year. And again, paid for. And what I have said is I will not throw us further into debt. I believe I can get the money that I need by taxing the wealthy, by closing loopholes, the things that we are way overdue for doing. And I think once I'm in the White House we will have enough political capital to be able to do that. But I am conscious of the fact that we have to also be very clear, especially with young people, about what kind of government is going to do what for them and what it will cost. +p3519 +aVYou know, I think, again, both of us share the goal of trying to make college affordable for all young Americans. And I have set forth a compact that would do just that for debt-free tuition. We differ, however, on a couple of key points. One of them being that if you don't have some agreement within the system from states and from families and from students, it's hard to get to where we need to go. And Senator Sanders's plan really rests on making sure that governors like Scott Walker contribute $23 billion on the first day to make college free. I am a little skeptical about your governor actually caring enough about higher education to make any kind of commitment like that. +p3520 +aVWell, first, Judy, I have spent my entire adult life working toward making sure that women are empowered to make their own choices, even if that choice is not to vote for me. I believe that it's most important that we unleash the full potential of women and girls in our society. And I feel very strongly that I have an agenda, I have a record that really does respond to a lot of the specific needs that the women in our country face. So I'm going to keep making that case. I'm going to keep making sure that everything I've done, everything that I stand for is going to be well known. But I have no argument with anyone making up her mind about who to support. I just hope that by the end of this campaign there will be a lot more supporting me. That's what I'm working towards. +p3521 +aVWell, look, I think that she's been saying that for as long as I've known her, which is about 25 years. But it doesn't change my view that we need to empower everyone, women and men, to make the best decisions in their minds that they can make. That's what I've always stood for. And when it comes to the issues that are really on the front lines as to whether we're going to have equal pay, paid family leave, some opportunity for, you know, women to go as far as their hard work and talent take them, I think that we still have some barriers to knock down, which is why that's at the core of my campaign. I would note, just for a historic aside, somebody told me earlier today we've had like 200 presidential primary debates, and this is the first time there have been a majority of women on the stage. So, you know, we'll take our progress wherever we can find it. +p3522 +aVYou know, I have said \u2014 I have said many times, you know, I'm not asking people to support me because I'm a woman. I'm asking people to support me because I think I'm the most qualified, experienced, and ready person to be the president and the commander-in-chief. And I appreciate greatly Senator Sanders' voting record. And I was very proud to get the endorsement of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, because I've been a leader on these issues. I have gone time and time again to take on the vested interests who would keep women's health care decisions the province of the government instead of women ourselves. I'm very proud that +p3523 +aVYou know, I completely agree with Senator Sanders. The first speech I gave in this campaign back in April was about criminal justice reform and ending the era of mass incarceration. The statistics from Wisconsin are particularly troubling, because it is the highest rate of incarceration for African-Americans in our nation, twice the national average. And we know of the tragic, terrible event that lead to the death of Dontre Hamilton right here in Milwaukee, a young man unarmed, who should still be with us. His family certainly believes that. And so do I. So we have work to do. There have been some good recommendations about what needs to happen. President Obama's policing commission came out with some. I have fully endorsed those. But we have to restore policing that will actually protect the communities that police officers are sworn to protect. And, then we have to go after sentencing, and that's one of the problems here in Wisconsin because so much of what happened in the criminal justice system doesn't happen at the federal level, it happens at the state and local level. But, I would also add this. There are other racial discrepancies. Really systemic racism in this state, as in others, education, in employment, in the kinds of factors that too often lead from a position where young people, particularly young men, are pushed out of school early, are denied employment opportunities. So, when we talk about criminal justice reform, and ending the era of mass incarceration, we also have to talk about jobs, education, housing, and other ways of helping communities. +p3524 +aVWell, I'm just not sure I agree completely with that assessment. I think under President Obama we have seen a lot of advances, the Affordable Care Act has helped more African Americans than any other group to get insurance, to be taken care of, but we also know a lot more than we did. We have a lot more social media, we have everybody with a cellphone. So, we are seeing the dark side of the remaining systemic racism that we have to root out in our society. I think President Obama has set a great example. I think he has addressed a lot of these issues that have been quite difficult, but he has gone forward. Now, what we have to do is to build on an honest conversation about where we go next. We now have much more information about what must be done to fix our criminal justice system. We now have some good models about how better to provide employment, housing and education. I think what President Obama did was to exemplify the importance of this issue as our first African American president, and to address it both from the President's office, and through his advocacy, such as working with young men, and Mrs. Obama's work with young women. But, we can't rest. We have work to do, and we now know a lot more than we ever did before. So, it's going to be my responsibility to make sure we move forward to solve these problems that are now out in the open. Nobody can deny them. To use the Justice Department, as we just saw, they have said they are going to sue Ferguson, that entered into a consent agreement, and then tried to back out. So, we're going to enforce the law, we're going to change policing practices, we're going to change incarceration practices, but we're also going to emphasize education, jobs, and housing. +p3525 +aVLook, I am deeply concerned about what's happening in every community in America, and that includes white communities, where we are seeing an increase in alcoholism, addiction, earlier deaths. People with a high school education or less are not even living as long as their parents lived. This is a remarkable and horrifying fact. And that's why I've come forward with, for example, a plan to revitalize coal country, the coalfield communities that have been so hard hit by the changing economy, by the reduction in the use of coal. You know, coal miners and their families who helped turn on the lights and power our factories for generations are now wondering, has our country forgotten us? Do people not care about all of our sacrifice? And I'm going to do everything I can to address distressed communities, whether they are communities of color, whether they are white communities, whether they are in any part of our country. I particularly appreciate the proposal that Congressman Jim Clyburn has \u2014 the 10-20-30 proposal \u2014 to try to spend more federal dollars in communities with persistent generational poverty. And you know what? If you look at the numbers, there are actually as many, if not more white communities that are truly being left behind and left out. So, yes, I do think it would be a terrible oversight not to try to address the very real problems that white Americans \u2014 particularly those without a lot of education whose jobs have \u2014 you know, no longer provided them or even no longer present in their communities, because we have to focus where the real hurt is. And that's why, as president, I will look at communities that need special help and try to deliver that. +p3526 +aVI strongly support the president's executive actions. I hope the Supreme Court upholds them. I think there is constitutional and legal authority for the president to have done what he did. I am against the raids. I'm against the kind of inhumane treatment that is now being visited upon families, waking them up in the middle of the night, rounding them up. We should be deporting criminals, not hardworking immigrant families who do the very best they can and often are keeping economies going in many places in our country. I'm a strong supporter of comprehensive immigration reform. Have been ever since I was in the Senate. I was one of the original sponsors of the +p3527 +aVTwo quick responses. One, with respect to the Central American children, I made it very clear that those children needed to be processed appropriately, but we also had to send a message to families and communities in Central America not to send their children on this dangerous journey in the hands of smugglers. I've also called for the end of family detention, for the end of privately-run detention centers, along with private prisons, which I think are really against the common good and the rule of law. And with respect to the 2007 bill, this was Ted Kennedy's bill. And I think Ted Kennedy had a very clear idea about what needed to be done. And I was proud to stand with him and support it. +p3528 +aVWell, that just wasn't \u2014 that just wasn't the fact, Senator. The fact is that there was a great effort made by the Obama administration and others to really send a clear message, because we knew that so many of these children were being abused, being treated terribly while they tried to get to our border. So we have a disagreement on this. I think now what I've called for is counsel for every child so that no child has to face any kind of process without someone who speaks and advocates for that child so that the right decision hopefully can be made. +p3529 +aVI think \u2014 I think it's fair to say we don't have a disagreement. We both believe there has to be more money going into the Social Security system. I've said I'm looking at a couple of different ways, one which you mentioned, Senator, but also trying to expand the existing tax to passive income that wealthy people have so that we do get more revenue into the Social Security Trust Fund. I have a slightly different approach, though, about what we should do with that initially. First, rather than expand benefits for everyone, I do want to take care of low-income seniors who worked at low-wage jobs. I want to take care of women. When the Social Security program was started in the 1930s, not very many women worked. And women have been disadvantaged ever since. They do not get any credit for their care-taking responsibilities. And the people who are often the most hard-hit are widows, because when their spouse dies, they can lose up to one-half of their Social Security monthly payment. So we have no disagreement about the need to buttress Social Security, get more revenue into the program. But I want to start by helping those people who are most at risk, the ones who, yes, are cutting their pills in half, who don't believe they can make the rent, who are worried about what comes next for them. +p3530 +aVWell, Senator, look, I think we're in vigorous agreement here. We both want to get more revenue in. I have yet to see a proposal that you're describing that the \u2014 raising the cap would apply to passive income. That has not been... +p3531 +aVWell, that has not been a part of most of the proposals that I've seen. I'm interested in making sure we get the maximum amount of revenue from those who can well afford to provide it. So I'm going to come up with the best way forward. We're going to end up in the same place. We're going to get more revenue. I'm going to prioritize those recipients who need the most help first. +p3532 +aVI can't speak for the Koch Brothers, you're referring to a Super PAC that we don't coordinate with, that was set up to support President Obama, that has now decided that they want to support me. They are the ones who should respond to any questions. Let's talk about our campaigns. I'm very proud of the fact that we have more than 750 thousand donors, and the vast majority of them are giving small contributions. So, I'm proud of Senator Sanders, and his supporters. I think it's great that Senator Sanders, President Obama and I have more donors than any three people who have every run, certainly on the Democratic side. That's the way it should be, and I'm going to continue to reach out to thank all my online contributors for everything they are doing for me, to encourage them and help me do more just as Senator Sanders is. I think that is the real key here. We both have a lot of small donors. I think that sets us apart from a lot of what's happening right now on the Republican side. The Koch Brothers have a very clear political agenda. It is an agenda, in my view, that would do great harm to our country. We're going to fight it as hard as we can, and we're going to fight whoever the Republicans nominate who will depend on the Koch Brothers, and others. +p3533 +aVWe are mixing apples and oranges. My 750,000 donors have contributed more than a million and a half donations. I'm very proud. That, I think, between the two of us demonstrates the strength of the support we have among people who want to see change in our country. But, the real issue, I think, that the Senator is injecting into this is that if you had a Super PAC, like President Obama has, which now says it wants to support me. It's not my PAC. If you take donations from Wall Street, you can't be independent. I would just say, I debated then Senator Obama numerous times on stages like this, and he was the recipient of the largest number of Wall Street donations of anybody running on the Democratic side ever. Now, when it mattered, he stood up and took on Wall Street. He pushed through, and he passed the Dodd-Frank regulation, the toughest regulations since the 1930's. So, let's not in anyway imply here that either President Obama or myself, would in anyway not take on any vested interested, whether it's Wall Street, or drug companies, or insurance companies, or frankly, the gun lobby to stand up to do what's best for the American people. +p3534 +aVWell, let's just \u2014 let's just follow up on this, because, you know, I've made it very clear that no bank is too big to fail, no executive too powerful to jail, and because of Dodd-Frank, we now have in law a process that the president, the Federal Reserve, and others can use if any bank poses a systemic risk. I think that's a major accomplishment. I agree, however, it doesn't go far enough, because what it focuses on are the big banks, which Senator Sanders has talked about a lot, for good reason. I go further in the plan that I've proposed, which has been called the toughest, most effective, comprehensive plan for reining in the other risks that the financial system could face. It was an investment bank, Lehman Brothers, that contributed to our collapse. It was a big insurance company, AIG. It was Countrywide Mortgage. My plan would sweep all of them into a regulatory framework so we can try to get ahead of what the next problems might be. And I believe that not only Barney Frank, Paul Krugman, and others, have said that what I have proposed is the most effective. It goes in the right direction. We have Dodd-Frank. We can use it to break up the banks, if that's appropriate. But let's not kid ourselves. As we speak, there are new problems on the horizon. I want to get ahead of those, and that's why I've proposed a much more comprehensive approach to deal with all of these... +p3535 +aVAbsolutely. And, you know, there are a number of programs that I think are duplicative and redundant and not producing the results that people deserve. There are a lot of training programs and education programs that I think can be streamlined and put into a much better format so that if we do continue them they can be more useful, in public schools, community colleges, and colleges and universities. I would like to take a hard look at every part of the federal government and really do the kind of analysis that would rebuild some confidence in people that we're taking a hard look about what we have, you know, and what we don't need anymore. And that's what I intend to do. +p3536 +aVLook, I think we are readier than we used to be, but it's a constant effort that has to be undertaken to make sure we are as ready as we need to be. We have made a lot of improvements in our domestic security since 9/11, and we have been able to foil and prevent attacks, yet we see the terrible attack in San Bernardino and know that we haven't done enough. So we have to go after this both abroad and at home. We have to go after terrorist networks, predominantly +p3537 +aVIf I could just respond. Two points. One, Senator Sanders voted in 1998 on what I think is fair to call a regime change resolution with respect to Iraq, calling for the end of Saddam Hussein's regime. He voted in favor of regime change with Libya, voted in favor of the Security Council being an active participate in setting the parameters for what we would do, which of course we followed through on. I do not believe a vote in 2002 is a plan to defeat +p3538 +aVYou did support a U.N. Security Council approach, which we did follow up on. And, look, I think it's important to look at what the most important counterterrorism judgment of the first four years of the Obama administration was, and that was the very difficult decision as to whether or not to advise the president to go after bin Laden. I looked at the evidence. I looked at the intelligence. I got the briefings. I recommended that the president go forward. It was a hard choice. Not all of his top national security advisors agreed with that. And at the end of the day, it was the president's decision. So he had to leave the Situation Room after hearing from the small group advising him and he had to make that decision. I'm proud that I gave him that advice. And I'm very grateful to the brave Navy +p3539 +aVWell, I know journalists have asked who you do listen to on foreign policy, and we have yet to know who that is. +p3540 +aVThat's fine. That's fine. You know, I listen to a wide variety of voices that have expertise in various areas. I think it is fair to say, whatever the complaints that you want to make about him are, that with respect to China, one of the most challenging relationships we have, his opening up China and his ongoing relationships with the leaders of China is an incredibly useful relationship for the United States of America. So if we want to pick and choose \u2014 and I certainly do \u2014 people I listen to, people I don't listen to, people I listen to for certain areas, then I think we have to be fair and look at the entire world, because it's a big, complicated world out there. +p3541 +aVAnd, yes, people we may disagree with on a number of things may have some insight, may have some relationships that are important for the president to understand in order to best protect the United States. +p3542 +aVWell, with respect to Syria, I really do appreciate the efforts that Secretary Kerry has made. The agreement on humanitarian relief now needs to be implemented, because there are enclaves that are literally filled with starving people throughout Syria. The agreement on a cease-fire, though, is something that has to be implemented more quickly than the schedule that the Russians agreed to. You know, the Russians wanted to buy time. Are they buying time to continue their bombardment on behalf of the Assad regime to further decimate what's left of the opposition, which would be a grave disservice to any kind of eventual cease-fire? So I know Secretary Kerry is working extremely hard to try to move that cease-fire up as quickly as possible. But I would add this. You know, the Security Council finally got around to adopting a resolution. At the core of that resolution is an agreement I negotiated in June of 2012 in Geneva, which set forth a cease-fire and moving toward a political resolution, trying to bring the parties at stake in Syria together. This is incredibly complicated, because we've got Iran as a big player, in addition to Russia. We have Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and others who have very important interests in their view. This is one of the areas I've disagreed with Senator Sanders on, who has called for Iranian troops trying to end civil war in Syria, which I think would be a grave mistake. Putting Iranian troops right on the border of the Golan right next to Israel would be a nonstarter for me. Trying to get Iran and Saudi Arabia to work together, as he has suggested in the past, is equally a nonstarter. So let's support what Secretary Kerry and the president are doing, but let's hope that we can accelerate the cease-fire, because I fear that the Russians will continue their bombing, try to do everything they can to destroy what's left of the opposition. And remember, the Russians have not gone after +p3543 +aVWell, I respectfully disagree. I think we have achieved a great deal with the Iranian nuclear agreement to put a lid on the Iranian nuclear weapons program. That has to be enforced absolutely with consequences for Iran at the slightest deviation from their requirements under the agreement. I do not think we should promise or even look toward normalizing relations because we have a lot of other business to get done with Iran. Yes, they have to stop being the main state sponsor of terrorism. Yes, they have to stop trying to destabilize the Middle East, causing even more chaos. Yes, they've got to get out of Syria. They've got to quit sponsoring Hezbollah and Hamas. They have got to quit trying to ship rockets into Gaza that can be used against Israel. We have a lot of work to do with Iran before we ever say that they could move toward normalized relations with us. +p3544 +aV... Senator Sanders, from a debate in 2008, quote what I said. The question was, would you meet with an adversary without conditions? I said no. And in fact, in Obama administration, we did not meet with anybody without conditions. That is the appropriate approach in order to get the results that you are seeking. +p3545 +aVWell, I was pleased that +p3546 +aVI certainly agree with FDR for all the reasons Senator Sanders said. And I agree about the role that he played both in war and in peace on the economy and defeating fascism around the world. I would choose Nelson Mandela for his generosity of heart, his understanding of the need for reconciliation. But I want to \u2014 I want to follow up on something having to do with leadership, because, you know, today Senator Sanders said that President Obama failed the presidential leadership test. And this is not the first time that he has criticized President Obama. In the past he has called him weak. He has called him a disappointment. He wrote a forward for a book that basically argued voters should have buyers' remorse when it comes to President Obama's leadership and legacy. And I just couldn't agree \u2014 disagree more with those kinds of comments. You know, from my perspective, maybe because I understand what President Obama inherited, not only the worst financial crisis but the antipathy of the Republicans in Congress, I don't think he gets the credit he deserves for being a president......who got us out of that......put us on firm ground, and has sent us into the future. And it is a \u2014 the kind of criticism that we've heard from Senator Sanders about our president I expect from Republicans. I do not expect from someone running for the Democratic nomination to succeed President Obama. +p3547 +aVYou know, Senator, what I am concerned about, is not disagreement on issues, saying that this is what I would rather do, I don't agree with the president on that, calling the president weak, calling him a disappointment, calling several times that he should have a primary opponent when he ran for re-election in 2012, you know, I think that goes further than saying we have our disagreements. As a senator, yes, I was a senator. I understand we can disagree on the path forward. But those kinds of personal assessments and charges are ones that I find particularly troubling. +p3548 +aVYou know, we \u2014 we agree that we've got to get unaccountable money out of politics. We agree that Wall Street should never be allowed to wreck Main Street again. But here's the point I want to make tonight. I am not a single-issue candidate, and I do not believe we live in a single-issue country. I think that a lot of what we have to overcome to break down the barriers that are holding people back, whether it's poison in the water of the children of Flint, or whether it's the poor miners who are being left out and left behind in coal country, or whether it is any other American today who feels somehow put down and oppressed by racism, by sexism, by discrimination against the +p3549 +aVWell, I'm happy to be here in New Hampshire for this debate, as we move toward the primary on Tuesday. I believe that America has the opportunity to once again live by our values, live up to our values in the 21st century, but I think that America can only do that if Americans can succeed. And there are lots of reasons why Americans today are feeling left out and left behind. Yes, of course, the economy has not been working for most Americans. Yes, of course, we have special interests that are unfortunately doing too much to rig the game. But there's also the continuing challenges of racism, of sexism, of discrimination against the +p3550 +aVWell, let me start by saying that Senator Sanders and I share some very big progressive goals. I've been fighting for universal healthcare for many years, and we're now on the path to achieving it. I don't want us to start over again. I think that would be a great mistake, to once again plunge our country into a contentious debate about whether we should have and what kind of system we should have for healthcare. I want to build on the progress we've made; got from 90 percent coverage to 100 percent coverage. And I don't want to rip away the security that people finally have; 18 million people now have healthcare; preexisting conditions are no longer a bar. So we have a difference. I also believe in affordable college, but I don't believe in free college, because every expert that I have talked to says, look, how will you ever control the costs. What I want to do is make sure middle class kids, not Donald Trump's kids, get to be able to afford college. I want to get the economy going again. It's not just enough about what we're against, as important as that is. I have a plan to create new jobs, manufacturing, infrastructure, clean energy jobs that will make us the 21st century clean energy super power. I also want to make sure small businesses can start and grow again. And of course, I believe in raising the minimum wage and equal pay for work. But the numbers just don't add up, from what Senator Sanders has been proposing. That's why all of the independent experts, all of the editorial boards that have vetted both of us have concluded that it is just not achievable. Let's go down a path where we can actually tell people what we will do. A progressive is someone who makes progress. That's what I intend to do. +p3551 +aVIf I could just follow up on that. There is no disagreement between us on universal coverage for health care, the disagreement is where do we start from and where do we end up. The Republicans want to repeal the Affordable Care Act, I want to improve it. I want to build on it, get the costs down, get prescription drug costs down. Senator Sanders wants us to start all over again. This was a major achievement of President Obama, of our country. It is helping people right now. I am not going to wait and have us plunge back into a contentious national debate that has very little chance of succeeding. Let's make the Affordable Care Act work for everybody. +p3552 +aVWell because I am a progressive who gets things done. And the root of that word, progressive, is progress. But I've heard Senator Sanders comments, and it's really caused me to wonder who's left in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Under his definition, President Obama is not progressive because he took donations from Wall Street; Vice President Biden is not progressive because she supported Keystone; Senator Shaheen is not progressive because she supports the trade pact. Even the late, great Senator Paul Wellstone would not fit this definition because he voted for +p3553 +aVWell, Chuck... +p3554 +aV... If I could, you know, in the very first debate I was asked am I a moderate or a progressive and I said I'm a progressive who likes to get things done. Cherry picking a quote here or there doesn't change my record of having fought for racial justice, having fought for kids rights, having fought the kind of inequities that fueled my interest in service in the first place going back to my days in the Children's Defense Fund. It certainly didn't stop me from taking on the drug companies and the insurance companies. Before it was called Hillarycare\u2014I mean, before it was called ObamaCare it was called Hillarycare because we took them on, and we weren't successful, but we kept fighting and we got the children's health insurance program. Every step along the way I have stood up, and fought, and have the scars to prove it. So, again......I think it's important that, look, I understand Senator Sanders really trying to distinguish himself. I understand that, that's what you do in campaigns, but at the same time let's not be\u2014in, I think an unfair way, making an accusation, or making an attack about where I stand and about where I've always stood. It is fair to say, Senator, that in your definition, as you being the self-proclaimed gatekeeper for progressivism, I don't know anyone else who fits that definition, but I know a lot of really hard fighting progressives in the Democratic party who have stood up time, and time again against special interests, against the powerful on behalf of those who are left behind and left out. And, that's what we ought to be celebrating. Let's talk about what we would do as President, and Commander in Chief to make sure the progress continues into the future. +p3555 +aV... Well, you began it yesterday with your comments... +p3556 +aVYou know, the person who first put out the idea of a 50-state party strategy is former Governor Howard Dean, who is with us tonight. And I'm very proud and grateful to have the support of so many elected Vermonters and former officials. Two former governors, the current governor, the current other senator. I really appreciate that. And I think it's because they've worked with me, they've seen what I do. They know what kind of a colleague I am. They want me as their partner in the White House. And that's exactly what I will do. We'll get things done together. Democrats, Republicans, independents, we're going to make progress together when I'm president. +p3557 +aVWell, look, I've got to just jump in here because, honestly, Senator Sanders is the only person who I think would characterize me, a woman running to be the first woman president, as exemplifying the establishment. And I've got to tell you that it is......it is really quite amusing to me. People support me because they know me. They know my life's work. They have worked with me and many have also worked with Senator Sanders. And at the end of the day they endorse me because they know I can get things done. I am not going to make promises I can't keep. I am not going to talk about big ideas like single-payer and then not level with people about how much it will cost. A respected health economist said that these plans would cost a trillion dollars more a year. I'm not going to tell people that I will raise your incomes and not your taxes, and not mean it, because I don't want to see the kind of struggle that the middle class is going through exemplified by these promises that would raise taxes and make it much more difficult for many, many Americans to get ahead and stay ahead. That is not my agenda. +p3558 +aVYeah, but I\u2014I think it's fair to really ask what's behind that comment. You know, Senator Sanders has said he wants to run a positive campaign. I've tried to keep my disagreements over issues, as it should be. But time and time again, by innuendo, by insinuation, there is this attack that he is putting forth, which really comes down to\u2014you know, anybody who ever took donations or speaking fees from any interest group has to be bought. And I just absolutely reject that, Senator. And I really don't think these kinds of attacks by insinuation are worthy of you. And enough is enough. If you've got something to say, say it directly. But you will not find that I ever changed a view or a vote because of any donation that I ever received. +p3559 +aVAnd I have stood up and I have represented my constituents to the best of my abilities, and I'm very proud of that. +p3560 +aVSo I think it's time to end the very artful smear that you and your campaign have been carrying out... +p3561 +aV... in recent weeks, and let's talk......let's talk about about the issues. Let's talk about the issues that divide us. +p3562 +aVAnd let's\u2014let's... +p3563 +aV... we both agree with campaign finance reform. +p3564 +aVI\u2014I worked hard for McCain-Feingold. +p3565 +aVI want to reverse Citizens United. +p3566 +aVAnd so\u2014let's talk about issues. +p3567 +aVWell, you know, Senator, I don't think\u2014I don't... +p3568 +aV... I don't think you could find any person in political life today who has been subjected to more attacks and had more money spent against her by special interests, among whom you have named a few, than I. And I'm proud of that. You know, when I took on the drug companies and the insurance companies for universal health care coverage, they went after me with a vengeance. Today, you've got hedge fund billionaires aligned with Karl Rove, running ads against me to try to get Democrats to vote for you. I know this game. I'm going to stop this game. But while we're talking about votes, you're the one who voted to deregulate swaps and derivatives in 2000, which contributed to the over-leveraging of Lehman Brothers, which was one of the culprits that brought down the economy. So I don't know\u2014I'm not impugning your motive because you voted to deregulate swaps and derivatives. People make mistakes and I'm certainly not saying you did it for any kind of financial advantage. What we've got to do as Democrats\u2014what we've got to do as Democrats is to be united to actually solve these problems. And what I believe is that I have a better track record and a better opportunity to actually get that job done. That's what this election should be about. +p3569 +aVOn the issue of Wall Street. +p3570 +aVWell you know, Rachel, I think I may not have done the job I should in explaining my record. You know, I did\u2014when I left the secretary of State's office, like so many former officials, military leaders, journalists, others, I did go on the speaking circuit. I spoke to heart doctors, I spoke to the American Camping Association, I spoke to auto dealers, and yes, I spoke to firms on Wall Street. They wanted me to talk about the world, what my experience had been as secretary of State. But what I want people to know is I went to Wall Street before the crash. I was the one saying you're going to wreck the economy because of these shenanigans with mortgages. I called to end the carried interest loophole that hedge fund managers enjoy. I proposed changes in CEO compensation. I called for a consumer protection financial bureau before it was created. And I think the best evidence that the Wall Street people at least know where I stand and where I have always stood is because they are trying to beat me in this primary. They have collected and spent as much as $6 million on these ads. Hedge fund billionaires, Karl Rove, another billionaire, jumped in. And why are they doing that? These are guys who try to make smart investments. They know my record, they know me, they know that I say what I believe and I will do it. And I also have a pretty good understanding about how to stop them. So I do want people to know that, and I think it's important for everybody to understand I have a record, I have stood firm and I will be the person who prevents them from ever wrecking the economy again. +p3571 +aVIf I could, let me just say that of course it has to change. It has to change. And that's why I have put forward a plan to do just that. And it's been judged to be the toughest, most effective and comprehensive one. I have great respect for Senator Sanders's commitment to try to restore Glass-Steagall. But I do not believe that that is enough. And in fact, I don't believe it really addresses a lot of the biggest issues we have. You know, we now have power under the Dodd-Frank legislation to break up banks. And I've said I will use that power if they pose a systemic risk. But I want to go further, because it was investment banks, it was insurance companies, it was mortgage companies, all of which contributed. So let's not just be narrowly focused on one part of the problem. We have a lot of issues with corporate power that have to be addressed. My plan takes us further and it would do the job. +p3572 +aVLook we have a law\u2014look, you know, I\u2014I appreciate the senator's advocacy. We have a law. It was passed. It was signed by President Obama. It lays out a process that you go through to determine whether a systemic risk is posed. And by the way, President Obama signed that, pushed it through, even though he took donations from Wall Street, because he's a responsible president. So we have a law in place. If the circumstances warrant it, I will certainly use it. And from what you say, I know you will as well. But that is not enough. And I keep going back to this because part of the reason the Wall Street guys are trying so hard to stop me\u2014the hedge fund guys, the shadow banking guys\u2014is because I've got their number on all of that. And my plan goes so much further to try to prevent the problems of the future. You know, we can't just fight the last war. We've got to be prepared to stop these guys if they ever try to use their economic power once again, to hurt the economy, and to hurt so many Americans. And my plan, Paul Krugman, Barney Frank, a lot of experts who understand what the new challenges might be, have said I am exactly on point, and the Wall Street guys actually know that. +p3573 +aVI will look into it. I don't know the status, but I will certainly look into it. But, I can only repeat what is the fact that I spoke to a lot of different groups with a lot of different constituents, a lot of different kinds of members about issues that had to do with world affairs. I probably described more times than I can remember how stressful it was advising the President about going after Bin Laden. My view on this is look at my record. Look at what I am proposing, and\u2014we have a vigorous agreement here. We both want to reign in the excesses of Wall Street. I also want to reign in the excesses of Johnson Controls that we bailed out when they were an autoparts company, and we saved the auto industry, and now they want to avoid paying taxes. I want to go after the pharmaceutical companies like Valeant, and Turns that are increasing prices without any regard to the impact on people's health. Now, if all we're going to talk about is one part of our economy, and indeed one streak in our economy, we're missing the big oil companies. We're missing other big energy companies. We're missing the big picture, and I have a record of trying to go at the problems that actually exist, and I will continue to do that. +p3574 +aV... Well, Senator, no one wants to see that happen. I mean, look, I care deeply about this because just like you I have met so many people who had their life savings wiped out, who lost their homes, who are barely back with their heads above water. This was a disaster for our country, and we can never let that happen again. We have no disagreement about this. But, I think it's a broader target list than just Wall Street, and I believe that we have to be very focused on how we try to take back the power and increase the empowerment of the American people. And, I think I have that kind of experience, maybe because they've beat me up for so many years, and I know exactly how to handle them because I've been in the arena with them time and time again. +p3575 +aVWell, I think what the president understands, and what he's trying to do, is that we have to support the Arab and Kurdish fighters on the ground who are actually doing the fighting. I agree with the president. I've said myself, we will not send American combat troops back to either Syria or Iraq\u2014that is off the table. But we do have special forces, we do have trainers, we do have the military personnel who are helping with the airstrikes that the United States is leading so that we can try to take out +p3576 +aVNo. I mean, of course that's a theoretical question, and we don't know what it would be for, and we don't know how many numbers there are. I am against American combat troops being in Syria and Iraq. I support special forces. I support trainers. I support the air campaign. And I think we're making some progress. I want to continue to intensify that, and that's exactly what the president is doing. +p3577 +aVIf I could\u2014if I could... +p3578 +aV... respectfully add\u2014look, we did differ. A vote in 2002 is not a plan to defeat +p3579 +aVOh, absolutely. The president decided to leave more troops than he had originally planned in Afghanistan. We have a very cooperative government there, with Ashraf Ghani and his top\u2014his top partner, Abdullah. And they are doing their very best. And the Afghan army is actually fighting. The Afghan army is taking heavy losses defending Afghan territory. And I would have to make an evaluation based on the circumstances at the time I took office as to how much help they continue to need. Because it's not just the Taliban. We now are seeing outposts of, you know, fighters claiming to be affiliated with +p3580 +aVA group of national security experts, military intelligence experts, issued a very concerning statement about Senator Sanders's views on foreign policy and national security, pointing out some of the comments he has made on these issues, such as inviting Iranian troops into Syria to try to resolve the conflict there; putting them right at the doorstep of Israel. Asking Saudi Arabia and Iran to work together, when they can't stand each other and are engaged in a proxy battle right at this moment. So I do think questions have been raised and questions have to be answered because when New Hampshire voters go on Tuesday to cast your vote, you are voting both for a president and a commander in chief. And there is no way to predict what comes in the door of that White House from day to day that can pose a threat to the United States or one of our friends and allies, and I think this is a big part of the job interview that we are all conducting with the voters here. +p3581 +aVWell, let me just add that, you know, I've said this before and I'm very proud of it, that when it comes to judgment, having run a hard race against Senator Obama at the time, he turned to me to be secretary of State. And when it comes to the biggest counterterrorism issues that we faced in this administration, namely whether or not to go after bin Laden, I was at that table, I was exercising my judgment to advise the president on what to do, on that, on Iran, on Russia on China, on a whole raft of issues. Because I know from my own experience that you've got to be ready on day one. There is just too much unpredictable threat and danger in the world today, you know, to try to just say wait, I'll get to that when I can. That is just not an acceptable approach. +p3582 +aVAbsolutely. You know, I did put together the coalition to impose sanctions. I actually started the negotiations that led to the nuclear agreement, sending some much my closest aides to begin the conversations with the Iranians. I'm very pleased we got that nuclear agreement. It puts a lid on the nuclear weapons program. We have to enforce it, there have to be consequences attached to it. But that is not our only problem with Iran. We have to figure out how to deal with Iran as the principal state sponsor of terrorism in the world. They are destabilizing governments in the region. They continue to support Hezbollah and Hamas in Lebanon against Israel. A lot of work that we have do is going to be incredibly hard. I'm prepared to do that work, but I believe, just as I did with imposing the sanctions, you have to get action for action. If we were to normalize relations right now, we would remove one of the biggest pieces of leverage we have to try to influence and change Iranian behavior. The president doesn't think we should. I certainly don't think we should. I believe we have to take this step by step to try to reign in Iranian aggression, their support for terrorism and the other bad behavior that can come back and haunt us. +p3583 +aVWell Senator, let me just correct the record if I can. You know\u2014let me correct the record. +p3584 +aVAs I\u2014as I certainly recall, the question was to meet with without conditions. And you're right, I was against that. I was against it then I would be against it now. +p3585 +aVPart of diplomacy, the hard work of diplomacy is trying to extract whatever concessions you can get, and giving something the other side wants. Of course you've got to try to make peace with, and work with those who are your adversaries, but you don't just rush in, open the door, and say, "Here I am. Let's talk and make a deal." That's not the way it works. +p3586 +aV... Well, we set conditions on Iran. We worked hard to get them established, and to be enforced, and then we talked. That's exactly the right......and, that's what I did with the President, so he and I are on the very same page. +p3587 +aVI haven't talked to Secretary Carter, but here's what I would think he's planning. We do have the nuclear weapons agreement with Iran, that's an enforcement consequence, action for action, follow on. We have a plan, we will watch them, we will be vigilant. We do have to worry about North Korea. They continue to develop their nuclear weapons capability, and they're working very hard on their ballistic missile capability. And, I know that some of those plans could very well lead to a missile that might reach Hawaii, if not the West Coast. We do have to try to get the countries in the region to work with us to do everything we can to confine, and constrain them. But, what Secretary Carter is looking at is the constant pressure that Russia's putting on our European allies. The way that Russia is trying to move the boundaries of the post-World War II Europe. The way that he is trying to set European countries against one another, seizing territory, holding it in Crimea. Beginning to explore whether they could make some inroads in the Baltics. We know that they are deeply engaged in supporting Assad because they want to have a place in the Middle East. They have a naval base, they have an air base in Syria. They want to hang on to that. I think what Secretary Carter is seeing, and I'm glad he is, is that we got to get +p3588 +aVWell, first of all, I'm absolutely against privatizing the V.A. And I am going do everything I can to build on the reforms that Senator Sanders and others in Congress have passed to try to fix what's wrong with the V.A. There are a lot of issues about wait times and services that have to be fixed because our veterans deserve nothing but the best. But you're absolutely right, you know, Rachel, this is another part of the Koch brothers agenda. They've actually formed an organization to try to begin to convince Americans we should no longer have guaranteed health care, specialized care for our veterans. I will fight that as hard as I can. I think there's where we can enlist the veterans service organizations, the veterans of America, because, yes, let's fix the V.A., but we will never let it be privatized, and that is a promise. +p3589 +aVWhatever they decide to do, that's fine. +p3590 +aVAll right. +p3591 +aVI can only tell you what I believe, and that is that I am the strongest candidate to take it to the Republicans and win in November. And I say that with great\u2014with great respect for the campaign that Senator Sanders has been running. I personally am thrilled at the numbers of people, and particularly young people who are coming to support your campaign. I hope that I will be able to earn their support. They may not support me now, but I support them and we'll work together. But what I'm concerned about is the views of many Democrats who know their states, who know how hard it is to win a general election. And it also will push whoever the nominee is into the spotlight. I've been vetted. There's hardly anything you don't know about me. And I think it's fair to say that whoever is in that position, Senator Sanders or anyone else who might have run, will face the most withering onslaught. So, I think that I am the person who can do all aspects of the job. I think I'm the person best prepared to take the case to the Republicans. And I think that at the end of the day, it's not so much electability. It is who the American people can believe can keep them safe, can get the economy moving again, can get incomes rising, can build on the progressive accomplishments of President Obama. And I think that the coalition that President Obama put together to win twice is a coalition that I can put together and add to. And that's what I'm prepared to... +p3592 +aVAbsolutely I can. You know, before it was emails, it was Benghazi, and the Republicans were stirring up so much controversy about that. And I testified for 11 hours, answered their questions. They basically said yeah, didn't get her. We tried. That was all a political ploy. Now, we had a development in the email matter today when it came out that Secretary Powell and close aides to Former Secretary Rice used private e-mail accounts. and now you have these people in the government who are doing the same thing to Secretary Powell and Secretary Rice's aide they've been doing to me, which is that I never sent or received any classified material. They are retroactively classifying it. I agree completely with Secretary Powell, who said today this is an absurdity. And so I think the American people will know it's an absurdity. I have absolutely no concerns about it whatsoever. +p3593 +aVI am 100 percent confident. This is a security review that was requested. It is being carried out. It will be resolved. But I have to add if there's going to be a security review about me, there's going to have to be security reviews about a lot of other people, including Republican office holders, because we've got this absurd situation of retroactive classifications. Honest to goodness, this is\u2014this just beggars the imagination. So I have absolutely no concerns about it, but we've got to get to the bottom of what's really going on here, and I hope that will happen. +p3594 +aVNo. +p3595 +aVYes, I do. And\u2014you know, what I hope the Supreme Court will do is make it absolutely clear that any state that continues capital punishment either must meet the highest standards of evidentiary proof of effective assistance of counsel or they cannot continue it because that, to me, is the real dividing line. I have much more confidence in the federal system, and I do reserve it for particularly heinous crimes in the federal system, like terrorism. I have strong feelings about that. I thought it was appropriate after a very thorough trial that Timothy McVeigh received the death penalty for blowing up the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people, including 19 children in a daycare center. I do for very limited, particularly heinous crimes believe it is an appropriate punishment, but I deeply disagree with the way that too many states are still implementing it. If it were possible to separate the federal from the state system by the Supreme Court, that would, I think, be an appropriate outcome. +p3596 +aVAbsolutely. Absolutely. You know, Rachel, you and I have talked about this before. I thank you for going to Flint to hold that town hall. I will be in Flint at the Mayor's invitation on Sunday to get an in depth briefing about what is, and is not happening. This is an emergency. Everyday that goes by that these people, particularly the children, are not tested so we can know what steps must be taken to try to remediate the effects of the poisoning that they have been living with is a day lost in a child's life. I know from the work that I've done over so many years, lead, the toxic nature of lead can affect you brain development, your body development, your behavior. I absolutely believe that what is being done is not sufficient. We need to be absolutely clear about everything that should be done from today to tomorrow, into the future to try to remedy the terrible burden that the people of Flint are barring. That includes fixing their pipes, it includes guaranteeing whatever healthcare and educational embellishments they may need going forward, and I think the federal government has way where it can bill the state of Michigan. If Michigan won't do it, there have to be ways that we can begin to move, and then make them pay for it, and hold them accountable. +p3597 +aVYou know, Chuck, I've only had responsibility for voting for trade agreements as a senator. And I voted a multinational trade agreement when I was senator, the +p3598 +aVWell, I\u2014I don't accept that premise, Chuck. I think that we've got so much business we have to do. We've talked a lot tonight about what we're against\u2014we're against income inequality. We're against the abuses of powerful interests. We're against a lot of things. I'm for a lot of things. I don't want to just stop bad things from happening, I want to start good things from happening. And I believe, if I'm so fortunate to get the nomination, I will begin to work immediately on putting together an agenda, beginning to talk with members of Congress and others about how we can push forward. I want to have half a billion more solar panels deployed, the first four years. I want to have enough clean energy to power every home the next four years. I want us to keep working on the Affordable Care Act, to get not only to 100 percent coverage, but bring down the costs of prescription drugs and out-of-pocket costs. I want to move forward on paid family leave, on early childhood education, I want us to do more for small businesses. Small businesses have to create most of the jobs, and we're not creating and growing small businesses. I think, if you have a smart agenda, you pick the committees that you know have to begin to work on these various pieces\u2014because that's the way Congress is set up. You go through different committees, and you really make a big push in the beginning. Immigration reform, economic revitalization with manufacturing, with infrastructure\u2014we put it out there, and we begin to work on an ambitious, big, bold agenda that will actually produce the results that I want to see for our country. +p3599 +aVThe answer to both of those is no. I'm interested in making what we have work better. I want to streamline programs that are duplicative and redundant. I want to have a top-to-bottom review about what works and what doesn't work, and be absolutely clear we're getting rid of what doesn't work. I have had the opportunity to run a big agency. I was very flattered when Henry Kissinger said I ran the State Department better\u2014better than anybody had run it in a long time. So I have an idea of what it's going to take to make our government work more efficiently. And when you put together a budget, you have to make a lot of hard decisions, but I think it's not appropriate to say "I'm going to get rid of this, get rid of that" until you have a very good process that gives you the information about what to do. But I want to add something else, you know, because look, we have so much work to do in our country, and I think it's the greatest work that Americans will be called to do. And of course, we have to have people in every community involved in it. We have to have the political voice, the political grassroots speaking up and speaking out about what we have to try to accomplish in Washington. But we also need to have a very clear set of goals that we are going to achieve, and we need to level with the American people about what they are, what they will cost, what will be expected of our citizenry. So I see as president having a constant dialogue with Americans here's what we're trying to get done, here's why I need your help, here's why you may think comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship isn't something you care about, but I'm telling you it will help fix the labor market, it will bring people out of the shadows\u2014 +p3600 +aVI never said that. +p3601 +aVLook... +p3602 +aVWell, I'm certainly going to unite the party, but I'm not\u2014I'm not getting ahead of myself. I think that would be a little bit presumptuous. If I'm so fortunate as to be the nominee, the first person I will call to talk to about where we go and how we get it done will be Senator Sanders. +p3603 +aVThat's true. That's true. +p3604 +aVWell first, thanks to +p3605 +aVWell, good evening. And I want to thank the Congressional Black Caucus Institute and the people of Charleston for hosting us here on the eve of Martin Luther King Day tomorrow. You know, I remember well when my youth minister took me to hear Dr. King. I was a teenager. And his moral clarity, the message that he conveyed that evening really stayed with me and helped to set me on a path to service. I also remember that he spent the last day of his life in Memphis, fighting for dignity and higher pay for working people. And that is our fight still. We have to get the economy working and incomes rising for everyone, including those who have been left out and left behind. We have to keep our communities and our country safe. We need a president who can do all aspects of the job. I understand that this is the hardest job in the world. I'm prepared and ready to take it on and I hope to earn your support to be the nominee of the Democratic Party and the next president of the United States. +p3606 +aVI would work quickly to present to the Congress my plans for creating more good jobs in manufacturing, infrastructure, clean and renewable energy, raising the minimum wage, and guaranteeing, finally, equal pay for women's work. I would also......I would also be presenting my plans to build on the Affordable Care Act and to improve it by decreasing the out-of-pocket costs by putting a cap on prescription drug costs; by looking for ways that we can put the prescription drug business and the health insurance company business on a more stable platform that doesn't take too much money out of the pockets of hard-working Americans. And third, I would be working, in every way that I knew, to bring our country together. We do have too much division, too much mean- spiritedness. There's a lot we have to do on immigration reform, on voting rights, on campaign finance reform, but we need to do it together. That's how we'll have the kind of country for the 21st century that we know will guarantee our children and grandchildren the kind of future they deserve. +p3607 +aVYes look, I have made it clear based on Senator Sanders' own record that he has voted with the NRA, with the gun lobby numerous times. He voted against the Brady Bill five times. He voted for what we call, the Charleston Loophole. He voted for immunity from gunmakers and sellers which the NRA said, "was the most important piece of gun legislation in 20 years. " He voted to let guns go onto the Amtrak, guns go into National Parks. He voted against doing research to figure out how we can save lives. Let's not forget what this is about, 90 people a day die from gun violence in our country. That's 33,000 people a year. One of the most horrific examples not a block from here where we had nine people murdered. Now, I am pleased to hear that Senator Sanders has reversed his position on immunity and I look forward to him joining with those members of congress who have already introduced legislation. There is no other industry in America that was given the total pass that the gun makers and dealers were and that needs to be reversed. +p3608 +aVWell, sadly it's reality, and it has been heartbreaking, and incredibly outraging to see the constant stories of young men like Walter Scott, as you said, who have been killed by police officers. Their needs to be a concerted effort to address the systemic racism in our criminal justice system. And, that requires a very clear, agenda for retraining police officers, looking at ways to end racial profiling, finding more ways to really bring the disparities that stalk our country into high relief. One out of three African American men may well end up going to prison. That's the statistic. I want people hear to think what we would be doing if it was one out of three white men, and very often, the black men are arrested, convicted and incarcerated ......for offensive that do not lead to the same results for white men. So, we have a very serious problem that we can no longer ignore. +p3609 +aVWell, Lester, you're right. Everywhere I go to campaign, I'm meeting families who are affected by the drug problem that mostly is opioids and heroin now, and lives are being lost and children are being orphaned. And I've met a lot of grandparents who are now taking care of grandchildren. So I have tried to come out with a comprehensive approach that, number one, does tell the states that we will work with you from the federal government putting more money, about a billion dollars a year, to help states have a different approach to dealing with this epidemic. The policing needs to change. Police officers must be equipped with the antidote to a heroin overdose or an opioid overdose, known as Narcan. They should be able to administer it. So should firefighters and others. We have to move away from treating the use of drugs as a crime and instead, move it to where it belongs, as a health issue. And we need to divert more people from the criminal justice system into drug courts, into treatment, and recovery. +p3610 +aVSo this is the kind of approach that we should take in dealing with what is now... +p3611 +aV... a growing epidemic. +p3612 +aVWell, Andrea, I am absolutely committed to universal health care. I have worked on this for a long time, people may remember that I took on the health insurance industry back in the '90s, and I didn't quit until we got the children's health insurance program that ensures eight million kids. And I certainly respect Senator Sanders' intentions, but when you're talking about health care, the details really matter. And therefore, we have been raising questions about the nine bills that he introduced over 20 years, as to how they would work and what would be the impact on people's health care? He didn't like that, his campaign didn't like it either. And tonight, he's come out with a new health care plan. And again, we need to get into the details. But here's what I believe, the Democratic Party and the United States worked since Harry Truman to get the Affordable Care Act passed. We finally have a path to universal health care. We have accomplished so much already. I do not to want see the Republicans repeal it, and I don't to want see us start over again with a contentious debate. I want us to defend and build on the Affordable Care Act and improve it. +p3613 +aVBut \u2014 Senator Sanders, if I can... You know, I have to say I'm not sure whether we're talking about the plan you just introduced tonight, or we're talking about the plan you introduced nine times in the Congress. But the fact is, we have the Affordable Care Act. That is one of the greatest accomplishments of President Obama, of the Democratic Party, and of our country. And we have already seen 19 million Americans get insurance. We have seen the end of pre-existing conditions keeping people from getting insurance. We have seen women no longer paying more for our insurance than men. And we have seen young people, up to the age of 26, being able to stay on their parent's policy. +p3614 +aVNow, there are things we can do to improve it, but to tear it up and start over again, pushing our country back into that kind of a contentious debate, I think is the wrong direction. +p3615 +aVAnd that's exactly what we are able to do based on the foundation of the Affordable Care Act \u2014 what Governor O'Malley just said is one of the models that we will be looking at to make sure we do get costs down, we do limit a lot of the unnecessary costs that we still have in the system. But, with all due respect, to start over again with a whole new debate is something that I think would set us back. The Republicans just voted last week to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and thank goodness, President Obama vetoed it and saved Obamacare for the American people. +p3616 +aVWell, as someone who \u2014 as someone who has a little bit of experience standing up to the health insurance industry, that spent, you know......many, many millions of dollars attacking me, and probably will so again, because of what I believe we can do building on the Affordable Care Act, I think it's important to point out that there are a lot of reasons we have the health care system we have today. I know how much money influences the political decision-making. That's why I'm for huge campaign finance reform. However, we started a system that had private health insurance. And even during the Affordable Care Act debate, there was an opportunity to vote for what was called the public option. In other words, people could buy in to Medicare, and even when the Democrats were in charge of the Congress, we couldn't get the votes for that. So, what I'm saying is really simple. This has been the fight of the Democratic Party for decades. We have the Affordable Care Act. Let's make it work. Let's take the models that states are doing. We now have driven costs down to the lowest they've been in 50 years. Now we've got to get individual costs down. That's what I'm planning to do. +p3617 +aVWell, I think it's an important point the president made in his State of the Union. And here's what I would say. I will go anywhere, to meet with anyone, at any time to find common ground. That's what I did as a first lady, when I worked with both Democrats and Republicans to get the Children's Health Insurance Program, when I worked with Tom DeLay, one of the most partisan of Republicans, to reform the adoption and foster care system. What I did, working in the Senate, where I crossed the aisle often, working even with the senator from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham, to get Tricare for national guardsmen and women. And it's what I did as Secretary of State, on numerous occasions, and most particularly, rounding up two-thirds votes in order to pass a treaty that lowered the nuclear weapons in both Russia and the United States. So I know it's hard, but I also know you've got to work at it every single day. I look out here, I see a lot of my friends from the Congress. And I know that they work at it every single day. Because maybe you can't only find a little sliver of common ground to cooperate with somebody from the other party, but who knows. If you're successful there, maybe you can build even more. That's what I would do. +p3618 +aVWell thanks for the question and congratulations on five million viewers on YouTube, that's quite an accomplishment. Look, this election is mostly about the future and therefore it is of greatest urgency for young people. I've laid out my ideas about what we can do to make college affordable; how we can help people pay off their student debts and save thousands of dollars, how we can create more good jobs because a lot of the young people that I talk with are pretty disappointed the economic prospects they feel their facing. So making community college free, making it possible to attend a public college or university with debt free tuition, looking for ways to protect our rights especially from the concerted Republican assault; on voting rights, on women's rights, on gay rights, on civil rights, on workers rights. And I know how much young people value their independence, their autonomy, and their rights. So I think this is an election where we have to pull young people and older people together to have a strategy about how we're going to encourage even more American's to vote because it absolutely clear to me... +p3619 +aVThat turning over our White House to the Republicans would be bad for everybody especially young people. +p3620 +aVLook, I have the greatest respect for Senator Sanders and for his supports and I'm going to keep working as hard as I can to reach as many people of all ages about what I will do, what the experience and the ideas that I have that I will bring to the White House and I hope to have their support when I'm the Democratic nominee. +p3621 +aVWell, there's no daylight on the basic premise that there should be no bank too big to fail and no individual too powerful to jail. We agree on that. But where we disagree is the comments that Senator Sanders has made that don't just affect me, I can take that, but he's criticized President Obama for taking donations from Wall Street, and President Obama has led our country out of the great recession. Senator Sanders called him weak, disappointing. He even, in 2011, publicly sought someone to run in a primary against President Obama. Now, I personally believe that President Obama's work to push through the Dodd-Frank... The Dodd-Frank bill and then to sign it was one of the most important regulatory schemes we've had since the 1930s. So I'm going to defend Dodd-Frank and I'm going to defend President Obama for taking on Wall Street, taking on the financial industry and getting results. +p3622 +aVYou know, I think since \u2014 since Senator Standers followed up on this... +p3623 +aVYour profusion of comments about your feelings towards President Obama are a little strange given what you said about him in 2011. But look, I have a plan that most commentators have said is tougher, more effective, and more comprehensive. O' +p3624 +aVIt builds on the Dodd-Frank \u2014 yes, it is. It builds on the Dodd-Frank, regulatory scheme... O' +p3625 +aV... but it goes much further, because... O' +p3626 +aV... both the governor and the senator have focused only on the big banks. Lehman Brothers, AIG, the shadow banking sector were as big a problem in what caused the Great Recession, I go after them. And I can tell you that the hedge fund billionaires who are running ads against me right now, and Karl Rove, who started running an ad against me right now, funded by money from the financial services sector, sure thing, I'm the one they don't want to be up against. +p3627 +aVYes, well, first of all \u2014 first of all, Paul Krugman, Barney Frank, others have all endorsed my plan. Secondly, we have Dodd-Frank. It gives us the authority already to break up big banks that pose... O' +p3628 +aVThat pose a risk to the financial sector. I want to go further and add to that. And, you know, Governor, you have raised money on Wall Street. You raised a lot of money on Wall Street when you were the head of the Democratic Governor's Association... O' +p3629 +aVAnd you were... O' +p3630 +aVYes, well, the point is that if we're going to be serious about this and not just try to score political points, we should know what's in Dodd-Frank, and what's in Dodd-Frank already gives the president the authority......with his regulators to make those decisions. +p3631 +aVWell, the last point on this is, Senator Sanders, you're the only one on this stage that voted to deregulate the financial market in 2000, to take the cops off the street, to use Governor O'Malley's phrase, to make the SEC and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission no longer able to regulate swaps and derivatives, which were one of the main cause of the collapse in '08. So there's plenty... +p3632 +aVThere's plenty of problems that we all have to face together. And the final thing I would say, we're at least having a vigorous debate about reining in Wall Street... +p3633 +aV... The Republicans want to give them more power, and repeal Dodd-Frank. That's what we need to stop... +p3634 +aVWell, I have actually documented every way that I'm going to pay for what I'm doing because I think the American public deserves to know. And, you can go to my website and actually see that. But, there are serious questions about how we're going to pay for what we want to see our country do. And, I'm the only candidate standing here tonight who has said I will not raise taxes on the middle class. I want to raise incomes, not taxes, and I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that the wealthy pay for debt free tuition, for child care, for paid family leave. To help us bring down student debt we're going to refinance that student debt, saving kids thousands of dollars. Yeah, and that will also come out of the \u2014 some of the pockets of people in the financial services industry... +p3635 +aVBut I will tell you exactly how I pay for everything I've proposed... +p3636 +aVAnd let me... +p3637 +aVWell, I'm very proud of the Iran Nuclear Agreement. I was very pleased to be part of what the president put into action when he took office. I was responsible for getting those sanctions imposed which put the pressure on Iran. It brought them to the negotiating table which resulted in this agreement. And so, they have been so far, following their requirements under the agreement. But I think we still have to carefully watch them. We've had one good day over 36 year and I think we need more good days before we move more rapidly toward any kind of normalization. And we have to be sure that they are truly going to implement the agreement. And then, we have to go after them on a lot of their other bad behavior in the region which is causing enormous problems in Syria, Yemen, Iraq and elsewhere. +p3638 +aVAbsolutely not. I have a three point plan that does not include American Ground forces. It includes the United States leading an air coalition which is what we're doing, supporting fighters on the ground; the Iraqi Army which is beginning to show more ability, the Sunni fighters that we are now helping to reconstitute and Kurdish on both sides of the border. I think we also have try to disrupt their supply chain of foreign fighters and foreign money and we do have to contest them in online space. So I'm very committed to both going after +p3639 +aVLook, I think that the president's decision to go after the chemical weapons once there was a potential opportunity to build on when the Russians opened that door resulted in a very positive outcome. We were able to get the chemical weapons out. I know from my own experience as secretary of State that we were deeply worried about Assad's forces using chemical weapons because it would have had not only a horrific affect on people in Syria, but it could very well have affected the surrounding states, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Turkey. So getting those chemical weapons out was a big deal, but... +p3640 +aVWell \u2014 but \u2014 but... +p3641 +aVI think, as commander in chief, you've got to constantly be evaluating the decisions you have to make. I know a little bit about this, having spent many hours in the situation room, advising President Obama. And I want to just add to something that Senator Sanders said, the United States had a very big interest in trying to help stabilize the region. If there is any blame to be spread around, it starts with the prime minister of Iraq, who sectarianized his military, setting Shia against Sunni. It is amplified by Assad, who has waged one of the bloodiest, most terrible attacks on his own people: 250,000-plus dead, millions fleeing. Causing this vacuum that has been filled unfortunately, by terrorist groups, including +p3642 +aV... and go after +p3643 +aVBut overall, a lot of the forces at work in the region are ones that we cannot directly influence, but we can... +p3644 +aVWell, it would depend on what I got for it and I can tell you what we got in the first term, we got a new start treaty to reduce nuclear weapons between the United States and Russia. We got permission to resupply our troops in Afghanistan by traveling across Russia. We got Russia to sign on to our sanctions against Iran and other very important commitments. So look, in diplomacy, you are always trying to see how you can figure out the interest of the other to see if there isn't some way you can advance your security and your values. When Putin came back in the fall of 2011, it was very clear he came back with a mission. And I began speaking out as soon as that happened because there were some fraudulent elections held, and Russians poured out into the streets to demand their freedom, and he cracked down. And in fact, accused me of fomenting it. So we now know that he has a mixed record to say the least and we have to figure out how to deal with him. +p3645 +aVWell, my relationship with him, it's \u2014 it's interesting. It's one, I think, of respect. We've had some very tough dealings with one another. And I know that he's someone that you have to continuingly stand up to because, like many bullies, he is somebody who will take as much as he possibly can unless you do. And we need to get the Europeans to be more willing to stand up, I was pleased they put sanctions on after Crimea and eastern Ukraine and the downing of the airliner, but we've got to be more united in preventing Putin from taking a more aggressive stance in Europe and the Middle East. +p3646 +aVOh, we're breaking? OK. +p3647 +aVWell, I wanted to say, and I'll do it quickly, I was very pleased that leaders of President Obama's administration went out to Silicon Valley last week and began exactly this conversation about what we can do, consistent with privacy and security. We need better intelligence cooperation, we need to be sure that we are getting the best intelligence that we can from friends and allies around the world. And then, we've got to recognize our first line of defense against lone wolf attacks is among Muslim Americans. And it is not only shameful, it is dangerous for the kinds of comments you're hearing from the Republican side. We need to be reaching out and unifying our country against terrorist attacks and lone wolves, and working with Muslim Americans. +p3648 +aVThat is not what I've heard. Let me leave it at that. O' +p3649 +aVWell, it'll start at the kitchen table, we'll see how it goes from there. And I......I'm going to have the very best advisers that I can possibly have, and when it comes to the economy and what was accomplished under my husband's leadership and the '90s \u2014 especially when it came to raising incomes for everybody and lifting more people out of poverty than at any time in recent history \u2014 you bet. I'm going to ask for his ideas, I'm going ask for his advice, and I'm going use him as a goodwill emissary to go around the country to find the best ideas we've got, because I do believe, as he said, everything that's wrong with America has been solved somewhere in America. We just have to do more of it, and we have to reach out, especially into poor communities and communities of color, to give more people their own chance to get ahead. +p3650 +aVWell Lester, I spent a lot of time last week being outraged by what's happening in Flint, Michigan and I think every single American should be outraged. We've had a city in the United States of America where the population which is poor in many ways and majority African American has been drinking and bathing in lead contaminated water. And the governor of that state acted as though he didn't really care. He had request for help and he had basically stone walled. I'll tell you what, if the kids in a rich suburb of Detroit had been drinking contaminated water and being bathed in it, there would've been action. So I sent my top campaign aide down there to talk to the mayor of Flint to see what I could to help. I issued a statement about what we needed to do and then I went on a T.V. show and I said, "it was outrageous that the governor hadn't acted and within two hours he had." +p3651 +aVI want to be a president who takes care of the big problems and the problems that are affecting the people of our country everyday. +p3652 +aVWell, thank you. And I'm delighted to be here in New Hampshire for this debate. You know, the American president has to both keep our families safe and make the economy grow in a way that helps everyone, not just those at the top. That's the job. I have a strategy to combat and defeat +p3653 +aVI very much appreciate that comment, Bernie. It really is important that we go forward on this. I know that you now have your data back, and that there has been an agreement for an independent inquiry into what did happen. Obviously, we were distressed when we learned of it, because we have worked very hard -- I said in the beginning of this campaign, we want to reach as many voters as possible, and we have tens of thousands of volunteers doing that, and entering data all the time to keep up with what people are telling us. And so, now that, I think, you know, we have resolved your data, we have agreed on an independent inquiry, we should move on. Because I don't think the American people are all that interested in this. I think they're more interested in what we have to say about all the big issues facing us. O' +p3654 +aVWell, first, the most important job of being president is obviously to keep our country safe and to keep the families of America safe. I have a plan that I've put forward to go after +p3655 +aVWell, I think you have to look at both the terrorism challenge that we face abroad and certainly at home and the role that guns play in delivering the violence that stalks us. Clearly, we have to have a very specific set of actions to take. You know, when Senator Sanders talks about a coalition, I agree with him about that. We've got to build a coalition abroad. We also have to build a coalition at home. Abroad, we need a coalition that is going to take on +p3656 +aVYes, I'm getting... +p3657 +aV... I'm getting to that. Because I think if you only think about the coalition abroad you're missing the main point, which is we need a coalition here at home. Guns, in and of themselves, in my opinion, will not make Americans safer. We lose 33,000 people a year already to gun violence, arming more people to do what I think is not the appropriate response to terrorism. I think what is... Is creating much deeper, closer relations and, yes, coalitions within our own country. The first line of defense against radicalization is in Muslim-American community. People who we should be welcoming and working with. I worry greatly that the rhetoric coming from the Republicans, particularly Donald Trump, is sending a message to Muslims here in the United States and literally around the world that there is a "clash of civilizations," that there is some kind of Western plot or even "war against Islam," which then I believe fans the flames of radicalization. So guns have to be looked at as its own problem, but we also have to figure out how we're going to deal with the radicalization here in the United States. +p3658 +aVYes, let's tell the truth, Martin. O' +p3659 +aVHe invoked mine as well. +p3660 +aVI do and this is an important issue and I know we'll get to a lot of other critical ones as well. I actually agree with Governor O'Malley about the need for common sense gun safety measures. And I applaud his record in Maryland. I just wish he wouldn't misrepresent mine. I have been for the Brady bill, I have been against assault weapons. I have voted not to give gun makers and sellers immunity. And I also know that -- and I'm glad to see this -- Senator Sanders has really moved in face of the facts about what we're confronting in our country. I know that he has said in the two previous that he wants to take on this immunity issue because we need to send a strong message to the gun manufacturers, to the sellers, to the gun lobby. And I would hope, Senator Sanders, that you would join the Democrats who are trying to close the Charleston loophole, that you would sponsor or co-sponsor legislation to remove the absolute immunity. We need to move on this consensus that exists in the country. It's no longer enough just to say the vast majority of Americans want common sense gun safety measures including gun owners. We need, and only the three of us will do this, nobody on the Republican side will even admit there's a problem. And in whatever way the three of us can we need to move this agenda forward and begin to deal with the gun lobby and the intimidation that they present. +p3661 +aVWell I think a lot of people are understandably reacting out of fear and anxiety about what they're seeing. First what they saw in Paris, now what they have seen in San Bernardino. And Mr. Trump has a great capacity to use bluster and bigotry to inflame people and to make think there are easy answers to very complex questions. So what I would say is, number one, we need to be united against the threats that we face. We need to have everybody in our country focused on watching what happens and reporting it if it's suspicious, reporting what you hear. Making sure that Muslim Americans don't feel left out or marginalized at the very moment when we need their help. +p3662 +aVYou know, I was a senator from New York after 9/11, and we spent countless hours trying to figure out how to protect the city and the state from perhaps additional attacks. One of the best things that was done, and George W. Bush did this and I give him credit, was to reach out to Muslim Americans and say, we're in this together. You are not our adversary, you are our partner. And we also need to make sure that the really discriminatory messages that Trump is sending around the world don't fall on receptive ears. He is becoming +p3663 +aVI would not want to go to that point. I would hope that, given the extraordinary capacities that the tech community has and the legitimate needs and questions from law enforcement, that there could be a Manhattan-like project, something that would bring the government and the tech communities together to see they're not adversaries, they've got to be partners. It doesn't do anybody any good if terrorists can move toward encrypted communication that no law enforcement agency can break into before or after. There must be some way. I don't know enough about the technology, Martha, to be able to say what it is, but I have a lot of confidence in our tech experts. And maybe the back door is the wrong door, and I understand what Apple and others are saying about that. But I also understand, when a law enforcement official charged with the responsibility of preventing attacks -- to go back to our early questions, how do we prevent attacks -- well, if we can't know what someone is planning, we are going to have to rely on the neighbor or, you know, the member of the mosque or the teacher, somebody to see something. +p3664 +aVI just think there's got to be a way, and I would hope that our tech companies would work with government to figure that out. Otherwise, law enforcement is blind -- blind before, blind during, and, unfortunately, in many instances, blind after. So we always have to balance liberty and security, privacy and safety, but I know that law enforcement needs the tools to keep us safe. And that's what I hope, there can be some understanding and cooperation to achieve. +p3665 +aVWell, I agree that we have to have the toughest screening and vetting... +p3666 +aVI don't think a halt is necessary. What we have to do is put all of our resources through the Department of Homeland Security, through the State Department, through our intelligence agencies, and we have to have an increased vetting and screening. Now, this takes, David, 18 months to 24 months, two years. So I know it's not going to happen overnight and everything that can be done should be done. But the process should move forward while we are also taking on +p3667 +aVSo, I think it's absolutely wrong policy for us to be even imagining we're going end up putting tens of thousands of American troops into Syria and Iraq to fight +p3668 +aVWell, I just think you're asking a question with a false choice. I believe if we lead an air coalition, which we are now in the position of doing and intensify it, if we continue to build back up the Iraqi army, which has had some recent success in Ramadi, as you know, if we get back talking to the tribal sheiks in Anbar to try to rebuild those relationships, which were very successful, in going after Al Qaida in Iraq, if we get the Turks to pay more attention to +p3669 +aVWell, I just want to quickly add... +p3670 +aVMartha, that -- you know, one of the reasons why I have advocated for a no-fly zone is in order to create those safe refuges within Syria, to try to protect people on the ground both from Assad's forces, who are continuing to drop barrel bombs, and from +p3671 +aVI do not think it would come to that. We are already de-conflicting air space. We know... +p3672 +aVNo, I don't think so. I am advocating... +p3673 +aVI am advocating the no-fly zone both because I think it would help us on the ground to protect Syrians; I'm also advocating it because I think it gives us some leverage in our conversations with Russia. Now that Russia has joined us in the Security Council, has adopted an agreement that we hashed out a long day in Geneva three years ago, now I think we can have those conversations. The no-fly zone, I would hope, would be also shared by Russia. If they will begin to turn their military attention away from going after the adversaries of Assad toward +p3674 +aVThat is exactly... +p3675 +aVThat is exactly what I just said and what I just described. +p3676 +aVAnd that is important, because now we have a U.N. Security Council that will enable us to do that. And, you know, with all due respect, Senator, you voted for regime change with respect to Libya. You joined the Senate in voting to get rid of Gadhafi, and you asked that there be a Security Council validation of that with a resolution. All of these are very difficult issues. I know that; I've been dealing with them for a long time. And, of course, we have to continue to do what is necessary when someone like Gadhafi, a despot with American blood on his hands, is overturned. But I'll tell you what would have happened, if we had not joined with our European partners and our Arab partners to assist the people in Libya, you would be looking at Syria. Now the Libyans are turning their attention to try to dislodge +p3677 +aVI think we're missing the point here. We are doing both at the same time. +p3678 +aVWell, I don't agree with that, because we will not get the support on the ground in Syria to dislodge +p3679 +aVSince he has been making all kinds of comments. I think it's fair to say, Assad has killed, by last count, about 250,000 Syrians. The reason we are in the mess we're in, that +p3680 +aVAnd we finally have a U.N. Security Council Resolution bringing the world together to go after a political transition in Syria. +p3681 +aVIf the United States does not lead, there is not another leader. There is a vacuum. +p3682 +aVAnd we have to lead, if we're going to be successful. +p3683 +aVSorry. +p3684 +aVWell, I've been talking to a lot of these families, and this is such an outrage, both because it's bad for our economy, we're a 70 percent consumption economy, people need to feel optimistic and confident, they need to believe their hard work is going to be rewarded, and it's bad for our democracy. It's absolutely the case that if people feel that the game is rigged, that has consequences. I think it's great standing up here with the senator and the governor talking about these issues, because you're not going to hear anything like this from any of the Republicans who are running for president. They don't want to raise the minimum wage; they don't want to do anything to increase incomes. At the center of my economic policy is raising incomes, because people haven't been able to get ahead, and the cost of everything, from college tuition to prescription drugs, has gone up. Of course we have to raise the minimum wage. Of course we have to do more to incentivize profit sharing, like we see with Market Basket right here in New Hampshire and New England, where all of the employees get a chance to share in the profits. And we've got to do more on equal pay for equal work. That means pass the Paycheck Fairness Act so we have transparency about how much people are making. That's the way to get women's wages up, and that's good for them and good for their families and good for our communities. And there is a lot we can do in college affordability. I have debt-free tuition plans, free community college plans, getting student debt down. I also am very committed to getting the price of drugs down. And there's a lot. You can go to my website... +p3685 +aV... hillaryclinton.com, and read about it. But I guess the final thing that -- that I would say is this is the kind of debate we need to take to the Republicans in the fall. +p3686 +aVThis is the election... +p3687 +aV... issues they have to respond to. +p3688 +aVEverybody should. Look, I have said I want to be the president for the struggling, the striving and the successful. I want to make sure the wealthy pay their fair share, which they have not been doing. I want the Buffett Rule to be in effect, where millionaires have to pay 30 percent tax rates instead of 10 percent to nothing in some cases. I want to make sure we rein in the excessive use of political power to feather the nest and support the super wealthy. But I also want to create jobs and I want to be a partner with the private sector. I'm particularly keen on creating jobs in small business. My dad was a small businessman, a really small business. I want to do more to help incentivize and create more small businesses. So if -- if people who are in the private sector know what I stand for, it's what I fought for as a senator, it's what I will do as president, and they want to be part of once again building our economy so it works for everybody, more power to them, because they are the kind of business leaders who understand that if we don't get the American economy moving and growing, we're not going to recognize our country and we're not going to give our kids the same opportunities that we had. +p3689 +aVOK... +p3690 +aVLet me respond... +p3691 +aVUnder the rules, I have been -- I have been invoked, David, so let me respond very quickly. Number one... +p3692 +aVNumber one, there are currently two hedge fund billionaires running ads against me here in New Hampshire. They started in Iowa. Now, you'd have to ask yourself, why are they running ads against me? And the answer is: Because they know I will go right after them, that I will not let their agenda be America's agenda. Secondly, I think it's important to point out that about 3 percent of my donations come from people in the finance and investment world. You can go to opensecrets.org and check that. I have more donations from students and teachers than I do from people associated with Wall Street. Now, number three -- and let me say this -- when Governor O'Malley was heading the Democratic Governors Association, he had no trouble at all going to Wall Street to raise money to run campaigns for Democratic governors. And he also had no trouble appointing an investment banker to be in charge of his consumer protection bureau when he was governor. So, you know, again, the difference between us and the Republicans is night and day. And there is only one person on this stage who voted to take away authority from the SEC and the Commodities Future Trading Commission that they could no longer regulate what are called swaps and derivatives, which actually contributed to the collapse of Lehman Brothers, and that was Senator Sanders. So if we're going to be talking like this, we can -- and maybe we can score some political points -- but the fact is: Every one of us stands for the kind of economy that will work better for every American. And if that means taking on Wall Street, I have a plan that is tough and comprehensive and praised by a lot of folks who say it goes further than what both Senator Sanders and Governor O'Malley are proposing. +p3693 +aVWell, I would certainly build on the successes of the Affordable Care Act and work to fix some of the glitches that you just referenced. Number one, we do have more people who have access to health care. We have ended the terrible situation that people with pre- existing conditions were faced with where they couldn't find at any affordable price health care. Women are not charged more than men any longer for our health insurance. And we keep young people on our policies until they turn 26. Those are all really positive developments. But out-of-pocket costs have gone up too much and prescription drug costs have gone through the roof. And so what I have proposed, number one, is a $5,000 tax credit to help people who have very large out-of-pocket costs be able to afford those. Number two, I want Medicare to be able to negotiate for lower drug prices just like they negotiate with other countries' health systems. We end up paying the highest prices in the world. And I want us to be absolutely clear about making sure the insurance companies in the private employer policy arena as well as in the Affordable Care exchanges are properly regulated so that we are not being gamed. And I think that's an important point to make because I'm going through and analyzing the points you were making, Martha. We don't have enough competition and we don't have enough oversight of what the insurance companies are charging everybody right now. +p3694 +aVYes. +p3695 +aVWell, they're glitches because... +p3696 +aVIt is. Because part of this is the startup challenges that this system is facing. We have fought, as Democrats, for decades to get a health care plan. I know. I've got the scars to show from the effort back in the early '90s. We want to build on it and fix it. And I'm confident we can do that. And it will have effects in the private market. And one of the reasons in some states why the percentage cost has gone up so much is because governors there would not extend Medicaid. And so people are still going to get health care, thankfully, in emergency rooms, in hospitals. Those costs are then added to the overall cost, which does increase the insurance premiums for people in the private system. +p3697 +aVRight. +p3698 +aVWell, I have what I call the new college compact. Because I think everybody has to have some skin in this game, you know. Number one, States have been dis-investing in higher education. In fact, I think New Hampshire, in state tuition for public colleges and universities, is among the highest if not the highest in the country. So states over a period of decades have put their money elsewhere; into prisons, into highways, into things other than higher education. So under my compact, the federal government will match money that the states begin to put back in to the higher education system. Secondly, I don't believe in free tuition for everybody. I believe we should focus on middle-class families, working families, and poor kids who have the ambition and the talent to go to college and get ahead. So I have proposed debt free tuition, which I think is affordable and I would move a lot of the Pell Grant and other aid into the arena where it could be used for living expense. So I put all of this together, again, on my website and I've gotten such a good response. But I want to quickly say, one of the areas that Senator Sanders touched on in talking about education and certainly talking about health care is his commitment to really changing the systems. Free college, a single payer system for health--and it's been estimated we're looking at 18 to $20 trillion, about a 40 percent in the federal budget. And I have looked at his proposed plans for health care for example, and it really does transfer every bit of our health care system including private health care, to the states to have the states run. And I think we've got to be really thoughtful about how we're going to afford what we proposed, which is why everything that I have proposed I will tell you exactly how I'm going to pay for it; including college. +p3699 +aVWell, the only thing - the only thing I can go on Senator Sanders... +p3700 +aVYour proposal is to go and send the health care system to the state. +p3701 +aVAnd my analysis is that you are going to get more taxes out of middle class families. I'm the only person... +p3702 +aV... saying, no middle class tax raises. That's off the table... +p3703 +aVThat is a pledge that I'm making. I made it when I ran in 2008. +p3704 +aVYes, and it was the same one that President Obama made. Because I don't think we should be imposing new big programs that are going to raise middle class families' taxes. We just heard that most families haven't had a wage increase since 2001. Since, you know, the end of the last Clinton administration when incomes did go up for everybody. And we've got to get back to where people can save money again, where they can invest in their families, and I don't think a middle-class tax should be part of anybody's plan right now. +p3705 +aVSenator, I have been -- I have been fighting for paid... +p3706 +aV... family leave for a very long time... +p3707 +aVI have a way to pay for it that actually makes the wealthiest pay for it... +p3708 +aV... not everybody else. +p3709 +aVWell, David, I think this is one of the most important challenges facing not just our next president but our country. We have systemic racism and injustice and inequities in our country and in particular, in our justice system that must be addressed and must be ended. I feel very strongly that we have to reform our criminal justice system and we have to find ways to try to bring law enforcement together again with the communities that they are sworn to protect. Trust has been totally lost in a lot of places. At the same time, we know that in many parts of our country police officers are bridging those divides and they're acting heroically. The young officer who was killed responding to the Planned Parenthood murders. The officer who told the victims of the San Bernardino killings that he would take a bullet before them. So I think that we need to build on the work of the policing commissioner that President Obama impaneled. We need to get a bipartisan commitment to work together on this. And we need to hear the voices of those men and women and boys and girls who feel like strangers in their own country and do whatever is necessary to not only deal with the immediate problems within the criminal justice system, but more opportunities, more jobs, better education so that we can begin to rebuild that very valuable asset known as trust. +p3710 +aVYou know, on my very first visit to New Hampshire in this campaign, I was in Keene, and I was asked, "what are you going to do about the heroin epidemic?" And all over New Hampshire, I met grandmothers who are raising children because they lost the father or the mother to an overdose. I met young people who are desperately trying to get clean and have nowhere to go, because there are not enough facilities. So this is a major epidemic, and it has hit New Hampshire and Vermont particularly hard. I've had had two town halls, one in Keene, one in Laconia, dedicated exclusively to talking about what we can do. And I've heard some great ideas about how law enforcement is changing its behavior, how the recovery community is reaching out. And I was proud to get the endorsement of Mayor Walsh of Boston, who has made his struggle with alcoholism a real clarion call for action in this arena. So, I've laid out a five-point plan about what we can do together. I would like the federal government to offer $10 billion over ten years to work with states, and I really applaud Governor Hassan for taking up this challenge and working with the legislature here to come up with a plan. We need to do more on the prescribing end of it. There are too many opioids being prescribed, and that leads directly now to heroin addiction. And we need to change the way we do law enforcement, and of course, we need more programs and facilities, so when somebody is ready to get help, there's a place for them to go. And every law enforcement should carry the antidote to overdose, Naloxone, so that they can save lives that are on the brink of expiring. +p3711 +aVWell, first, let's remember why we became part of a coalition to stop Gadhafi from committing massacres against his people. The United States was asked to support the Europeans and the Arab partners that we had and we did a lot of due diligence about whether we should or not, and eventually, yes, I recommended and the president decided that we would support the action to protect civilians on the ground and that led to the overthrow of Gadhafi. I think that what Libya then did by having a full free election, which elected moderates, was an indication of their crying need and desire to get on the right path. Now, the whole region has been rendered unstable, in part because of the aftermath of the Arab Spring, in part because of the very effective outreach and propagandizing that +p3712 +aVMartha, we offered a lot more than they were willing to take. We offered a lot more. We also got rid of their chemical weapons, which was a big help, and we also went after a lot of the shoulder-fired missiles to round them up. You know, we can't -- if we're not going to send American troops, which there was never any idea of doing that, then to try to send trainers, to try to send experts, is something we offered, Europeans offered, the U.N. offered, and there wasn't a lot of responsiveness at first. I think a lot of the Libyans who had been forced out of their country by Gadhafi who came back to try to be part of a new government, believed they knew what to do and it turned out that they were no match for some of the, you know, militaristic forces inside that country. But I'm not giving up on Libya and I don't think anybody should. We've been at this a couple of years. +p3713 +aVWell, there's always a retrospective to say what mistakes were made. But I know that we offered a lot of help and I know it was difficult for the Libyans to accept help. What we could have done if they had said yes would have been a lot more than what we were able to have done. +p3714 +aVWell, I would just repeat that. +p3715 +aVWait a minute. I think it's only fair to put on the record, Senator Sanders voted in the Senate for a resolution calling for ending the Gadhafi regime and asking that the U.N. be brought in, either a congressional vote or a U.N. Security Council vote. We got a U.N. Security council vote. Now, I understand that this is very difficult. And I'm not standing here today and saying that Libya is as far along as Tunisia. We saw what happened in Egypt. I cautioned about a quick overthrow of Mubarak, and we now are back with basically an army dictatorship. This is a part of the world where the United States has tried to play two different approaches. One, work with the tough men, the dictators, for our own benefit and promote democracy. That's a hard road to walk. But I think it's the right road for us to try to travel. O' +p3716 +aVWell, the role has been defined by each person who's held it. And I am very grateful for all my predecessors and my successors because each of them not only did what she could to support her husband and our country but often chose to work on important issues that were of particular concern. Obviously, Mrs. Obama has been a terrific leader when it comes to young people's health, particularly nutrition and exercise. And I think has had a big impact. So whoever is part of the family of a president has an extraordinary privilege of not only having a front row seat on history but making her or maybe his contribution. And with respect to my own husband, I am probably still going to pick the flowers and the china for state dinners and stuff like that. But I will certainly turn to him as prior presidents have for special missions, for advice, and in particular, how we're going to get the economy working again for everybody, which he knows a little bit about. +p3717 +aVOn January 20th, 2017, the next president of the United States will walk into the White House. If, heaven forbid, that next president is a Republican, I think it's pretty clear we know what will happen. A lot of the rights that have been won over years, from women's rights to voter rights to gay rights to worker rights, will be at risk. Social Security, which Republicans call a Ponzi scheme, may face privatization. Our vets may see the V.A. hospital that needs to be improved and made better for them turned over to privatization. Planned Parenthood will be defunded. The list goes on because the differences are so stark. You know, everybody says every election's important, and there's truth to that. This is a watershed election. I know how important it is that we have a Democrat succeed President Obama in the White House. And I will do all that I can in this campaign to reach out and explain what I stand for and what I will do as president. You know, I became a grandmother 15 months ago, and so I spent a lot of time thinking about my granddaughter's future. But as president, I will spend even more time thinking about the futures of all the kids and the grandchildren in this country because I want to make sure every single child has a chance to live up to his or her God-given potential. If you will join me in this campaign, we will make that a mission. Thank you, good night and may the force be with you. +p3718 +aVWell, our prayers are with the people of France tonight, but that is not enough. We need to have a resolve that will bring the world together to root out the kind of radical jihadist ideology that motivates organizations like +p3719 +aVWell, John, I think that we have to look at +p3720 +aVWell, John, look, I think that what happened when we abided by the agreement that George W. Bush made with the Iraqis to leave by 2011, is that an Iraqi army was left that had been trained and that was prepared to defend Iraq. Unfortunately, Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister, set about decimating it. And then, with the revolution against Assad -- and I did early on say we needed to try to find a way to train and equip moderates very early so that we would have a better idea of how to deal with Assad because I thought there would be extremist groups filling the vacuum. So, yes, this has developed. I think that there are many other reasons why it has in addition to what happened in the region, but I don't think that the United States has the bulk of the responsibility. I really put that on Assad and on the Iraqis and on the region itself. +p3721 +aVThank you, John. Well, thank you, John. I think it's important we put this in historic context. The United States has, unfortunately, been victimized by terrorism going back decades. In the 1980s, it was in Beirut, Lebanon, under President Reagan's administration, and 258 Americans, marines, embassy personnel, and others were murdered. We also had attacks on two of our embassies in Tanzania, Kenya, when my husband was president. Again, Americans murdered. And then, of course, 9/11 happened, which happened before there was an invasion of Iraq. I have said the invasion of Iraq was a mistake. But I think if we're ever going to really tackle the problems posed by jihadi extreme terrorism, we need to understand it and realize that it has antecedents to what happened in Iraq and we have to continue to be vigilant about it. +p3722 +aVWell, of course, each of these cases needs to be looked at individually and analyzed. Part of the problem that we have currently in the Middle East is that Assad has hung on to power with the very strong support of Russia and Iran and with the proxy of Hezbollah being there basically fighting his battles. So I don't think you can paint with a broad brush. This is an incredibly complicated region of the world. It's become more complicated. And many of the fights that are going on are not ones that the United States has either started or have a role in. The Shi'a-Sunni split. The dictatorships have suppressed people's aspirations. The increasing globalization without any real safety valve for people to have a better life. We saw that in Egypt. We saw a dictator overthrown. We saw a Muslim brotherhood president installed, and then we saw him ousted and the army back. So, I think we've got to understand the complexity of the world that we are facing and no place is more so than in the Middle East. +p3723 +aVWell, I think -- I think that is very unfair to a few you mentioned, most particularly Jordan, which has put a lot on the line for the United States, has also taken in hundreds of thousands of refugees from Syria, and has been, therefore, subjected to threats and attacks by extremists themselves. I do agree that in particular, Turkey and the Gulf nations have got to make up their minds. Are they going to stand with us against this kind of jihadi radicalism or not? And there are many ways of doing it. They can provide forces. They can provide resources. But they need to be absolutely clear about where they stand. +p3724 +aVWell, we did have a plan, and I think it's fair to say that of all of the Arab leaders, Gaddafi probably had more blood on his hands of Americans than anybody else. And when he moved on his own people, threatening a massacre, genocide, the Europeans and the Arabs, our allies and partners, did ask for American help and we provided it. And we didn't put a single boot on the ground, and Gaddafi was deposed. The Libyans turned out for one of the most successful, fairest elections that any Arab country has had. They elected moderate leaders. Now, there has been a lot of turmoil and trouble as they have tried to deal with these radical elements which you find in this arc of instability, from north Africa to Afghanistan. And it is imperative that we do more not only to help our friends and partners protect themselves and protect our own homeland, but also to work to try to deal with this arc of instability, which does have a lot of impact on what happens in a country like Libya. +p3725 +aVWell, I think it's perfectly fair to say that we invested quite a bit in development aid. Some of the bravest people that I had the privilege of working with as secretary of state were our development professionals who went sometimes alone, sometimes with our military, into very dangerous places in Iraq, in Afghanistan, elsewhere. So, there does need to be a whole of government approach, but just because we're involved and we have a strategy doesn't mean we're going to be able to dictate the outcome. These are often very long- term kinds of investments that have to be made. +p3726 +aVI don't think we're at war with Islam. I don't think we're at war with all Muslims. I think we're at war with jihadists who have -- +p3727 +aVI think +p3728 +aVI think with this kind of barbarism and nihilism, it's very hard to understand, other than the lust for power, the rejection of modernity, the total disregard for human rights, freedom, or any other value that we know and respect. Historically, it is important to try to understand your adversary in order to figure out how they are thinking, what they will be doing, how they will react. I plead that it's very difficult when you deal with +p3729 +aVYes. +p3730 +aVWell, we have an authorization to use military force against terrorists. We passed it after 9/11. +p3731 +aVIt certainly does cover it. I would like to see it updated. +p3732 +aVNo, it would have to go through the Congress, and I know the White House has actually been working with members of Congress. Maybe now we can get it moving again so that we can upgrade it so that it does include all the tools and everything in our arsenal that we can use to try to work with our allies and our friends, come up with better intelligence. You know, it is difficult finding intelligence that is actionable in a lot of these places, but we have to keep trying. And we have to do more to prevent the flood of foreign fighters that have gone to Syria, especially the ones with western passports, that come back. So there's a lot of work we need to do and I want to be sure what's called the +p3733 +aVI think that is the number one requirement. I also said that we should take increased numbers of refugees. The administration originally said 10. I said we should go to 65, but only if we have as careful a screening and vetting process as we can imagine, whatever resources it takes because I do not want us to, in any way, inadvertently allow people who wish us harm to come into our country. But I want to say a quick word about what Senator Sanders and then Governor O'Malley said. We do have to take a hard look at the defense budget and we do have to figure out how we get ready to fight the adversaries of the future, not the past. But we have to also be very clear that we do have some continuing challenges. We've got challenges in the South China Sea because of what China is doing in building up these military installations. We have problems with Russia. Just the other day, Russia allowed a television camera to see the plans for a drone submarine that could carry a tactical nuclear weapon. So we've got to look at the full range and then come to some smart decisions about having more streamlined and focused approach. +p3734 +aVWell, first of all, it isn't the middle class. I have made very clear that hardworking, middle-class families need a raise, not a tax increase. In fact, wages adjusted for inflation haven't risen since the turn of the last century, after my husband's administration. So we have a lot of work to do to get jobs going again, get incomes rising again. And I have laid out specific plans -- you can go to my web site, hillaryclinton.com, and read the details. And I will pay for it by, yes, taxing the wealthy more, closing corporate loopholes, deductions, and other kinds of favorable treatment. And I can do it without raising the debt, without raising taxes on the middle class and making it reasonably manageable within our budget so that we can be fiscally responsible at the same time. +p3735 +aVWell, we're going to have to redo the way the prescription drug industry does business. For example, it is outrageous that we don't have an opportunity for Medicare to negotiate for lower prices. In fact, American consumers pay the highest prices in the world for drugs that we help to be developed through the National Institute of Health and that we then tested through the FDA. So there's more to my plan than just the cap. We have to go after price gouging and monopolistic practices and get Medicare the authority to negotiate. +p3736 +aVWell, look, I believe that we've made great progress as a country with the Affordable Care Act. We've been struggling to get this done since Harry Truman. And it was not only a great accomplishment of the Democratic Party, but of President Obama. I do think that it's important to defend it. The Republicans have voted to repeal it nearly 60 times. They would like to rip it up and start all over again, throw our nation back into this really contentious debate that we've had about health care for quite some time now. I want to build on and improve the Affordable Care Act. I would certainly tackle the cost issues, because I think that once the foundation was laid with a system to try to get as many people as possible into it, to end insurance discrimination against people with preexisting conditions or women, for example, that, yes, we were going to have to figure out how to get more competition in the insurance market, how to get the costs of -- particularly, prescription drugs, but other out-of-pocket expenses down. But I think it's important to understand there's a significant difference that I have with Senator Sanders about how best to provide quality, affordable health care for everyone. And it's-- it's a worthy debate. It's an important one that we should be engaged in. +p3737 +aVWell, first of all, I know that the President has appealed the decision to the Supreme Court. And my reading of the law and the Constitution convinces me that the President has the authority that he is attempting to exercise with respect to dreamers and their parents, because I think all of us on this stage agree that we need comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship. Border security has always been a part of that debate. And it is a fact that the net immigration from Mexico and South has basically zeroed out. So, what we want to do is to say, look, we have 11 million people who have been here, many of them for decades. They have children who are doing so well, I've met and worked with dreamers. I think any parent would be so proud of them. So let's move toward what we should be doing as a nation and follow the values of our immigration history and begin to make it possible for them to come out of the shadows and to have a future that gives them a full chance of citizenship. +p3738 +aVKathie, I think -- Kathie the... +p3739 +aVBut I do take what Alan Krueger said seriously. He is the foremost expert in our country on the minimum wage, and what its effects are. And the overall message is that it doesn't result in job loss. However, what Alan Krueger said in the piece you're referring to is that if we went to $15, there are no international comparisons. That is why I support a $12 national federal minimum wage. That is what the Democrats in the Senate have put forward as a proposal. But I do believe that is a minimum. And places like Seattle, like Los Angeles, like New York City, they can go higher. It's what happened in Governor O'Malley's state. There was a minimum wage at the state level, and some places went higher. I think that is... O' +p3740 +aVI think that is the smartest way to be able to move forward because if you go to $12 it would be the highest historical average we've ever had. O' +p3741 +aVBut you would index it -- you would index it to the median wage. Of course, you would. Do the $12 and you would index it. But I... O' +p3742 +aVHe's not wall street. O' +p3743 +aVThat's not fair. He's a progressive economist. +p3744 +aVWell, I think it's pretty clear that they know that I will. You have two billionaire hedge fund managers who started a super PAC and they're advertising against me in Iowa as we speak. So they clearly think I'm going to do what I say I will do and you can look at what I did in the Senate. I did introduce legislation to reign in compensation. I looked at ways that the shareholders would have more control over what was going on in that arena. And specifically said to Wall Street, that what they were doing in the mortgage market was bringing our country down. I've laid out a very aggressive plan to reign in Wall Street -- not just the big banks. That's a part of the problem and I am going right at them. I have a comprehensive, tough plan. But I went further than that. We have to go after what is called the shadow banking industry. Those hedge funds. Look at what happened in '08, AIG, a big insurance company, Lehman Brothers, an investment bank helped to bring our economy down. So, I want to look at the whole problem and that's why my proposal is much more comprehensive than anything else that's been put forth. +p3745 +aVWell John, wait a minute. Wait a minute, he has basically used his answer to impune my integrity. Let's be frank here. +p3746 +aVOh, wait a minute, senator. You know, not only do I have hundreds of thousands of donors, most of them small. And I'm very proud that for the first time a majority of my donors are women, 60 percent. So, I represented New York, and I represented New York on 9/11 when we were attacked. Where were we attacked? We were attacked in downtown Manhattan where Wall Street is. I did spend a whole lot of time and effort helping them rebuild. That was good for New York. It was good for the economy and it was a way to rebuke the terrorists who had attacked our country. So, you know, it's fine for you to say what you're going to say, but I looked very carefully at your proposal. Reinstating Glass- Steagall is a part of what very well could help, but it is nowhere near enough. My proposal is tougher, more effective, and more comprehensive because I go after all of Wall Street not just the big banks. O' +p3747 +aVWell, you know, governor, I know that when you had a chance to appoint a commissioner for financial regulation, you chose an investment banker in 2010. So for me, it is looking at what works and what we need to do to try to move past what happened in '08. And I will go back and say again, AIG was not a big bank. It had to be bailed out and it nearly destroyed us. Lehman Brothers was not a big bank. It was an investment bank. And its bankruptcy and its failure nearly destroyed us. So I've said, if the big banks don't play by the rules, I will break them up. +p3748 +aVAnd I will also go after executives who are responsible for the decisions that have such bad consequences for our country. +p3749 +aVWell, I think that there are different records. I -- you know, know that Senator Sanders had a different vote than I did when it came to giving immunity to gun makers and sellers. That was a terrible mistake. It basically gave the gun lobby even more power to intimidate legislators, not just in Washington but across the country. But just think about this-- since we last debated in Las Vegas, nearly 3,000 people have been killed by guns. Twenty-one mass shootings, including one last weekend in Des Moins where three were murdered. Two hundred children have been killed. This is an emergency. There are a lot of things we've got to do in our country, reigning in Wall Street is certainly one of them. I agree with that. That's why I've got such a good plan. But we have to also go after the gun lobby and 92 percent of Americans agree we should have universal background checks. Close the gun show loophole, close the online loophole and... +p3750 +aVI will do everything I can as president to get that accomplished. +p3751 +aVI -- I said I made a mistake on Iraq, and I would love to see Senator Sanders join with some of my colleague in addition the Senate that I see in the audience. Let's reverse the immunity. Let's put the gun makers and sellers on notice that they're not going to get away with it. +p3752 +aVBut wait, I just want to say this Senator. There is broad consensus, 92 percent in the most recently poll of Americans want gun safety measures... +p3753 +aV... and 85 percent of gun owners agree. +p3754 +aVWe've got the consensus, what we're lacking is political leadership... +p3755 +aV... and that's what you and others can start providing in the Senate. +p3756 +aVWell, I'm sorry that whoever tweeted that had that impression because I worked closely with New Yorkers after 9/11 for my entire first term to rebuild. So, yes, I did know people. I've had a lot of folks give me donations from all kinds of backgrounds say, I don't agree with you on everything, but I like what you do. I like how you stand up. I'm going to support you, and I think that is absolutely appropriate. +p3757 +aVWell, I'll tell you who is on my side. Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize winning economist, who said my plan for what we should do to reign in Wall Street was more comprehensive and better. Paul Volcker, one of the leading lights of trying to reign in the excesses, has also said he does not support reinstating Glass-Steagall. So, I mean this may seem like a bit of an arcane discussion. I have nothing against the passion that my two friends here have about reinstating Glass-Steagall. I just don't think it would get the job done. I'm all about making sure we actually get results for whatever we do. +p3758 +aVI agree completely. I couldn't have said it better myself. But I did want to -- I wanted to follow up. Look, we need more Americans to be involved in the political process. And I give Senator Sanders a lot of credit for really lighting a fire under many people -- young, old, everybody -- who sees a chance to be involved and have their voice heard. Look at what's happening with the Republicans. They are doing everything they can to prevent the voices of Americans to be heard. They're trying to prevent people from registering to vote. So, we do need to take on the Republicans very clearly and directly. But the other thing I just wanted quickly to say is, I think President Obama deserves more credit than he gets for what he got done in Washington, despite the Republican obstructionists. +p3759 +aVI think after 11 hours, that's pretty clear, yes. And, you know, I do think it's important to do exactly what Senator Sanders said, and that is to start talking about the issues that the American people really care about, and that they talk to each of us about. And to contrast, even -- there are differences among us. You've heard some of those tonight. I still want to get back to health care, because I think that's a worthy topic to explore. But the differences among us pale compared to what's happening on the Republican side. And if you listen to what they say -- and I had a chance over those 11 hours to watch and listen, as well as what I see in their debates -- they are putting forth alarming plans. I mean, all of us support funding Planned Parenthood. All of us believe climate change is real. All of us want equal pay for equal work. They don't believe in any of that. So let's focus on what this election is really going to be about. +p3760 +aVWell, John, I come from the '60s, a long time ago. There was a lot of activism on campus -- Civil Rights activism, antiwar activism, women's rights activism -- and I do appreciate the way young people are standing up and speaking out. Obviously, I believe that on a college campus, there should be enough respect so people hear each other. But what happened at the university there, what's happening at other universities, I think reflects the deep sense of, you know, concern, even despair that so many young people, particularly of color, have... You know, I recently met with a group of mothers who lost their children to either killings by police or random killings in their neighborhoods, and hearing their stories was so incredibly, profoundly heartbreaking. Each one of them, you know, described their child, had a picture. You know, the mother of the young man with his friends in the car who was playing loud music and, you know, some older white man pulled out a gun and shot him because they wouldn't turn the radio down. Or a young woman who had been performing at President Obama's second inauguration coming home, absolutely stellar young woman, hanging out with her friends in a park getting shot by a gang member. And, of course, I met the mothers of Eric Garner and Tamir Rice, and Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin and so many of them who have lost their children. So, your original question is the right question. And it's not just a question for parents and grandparents to answer. It's really a question for all of us to answer, every single one of our children deserves the chance to live up to his or her god-given potential. And that's what we need to be doing to the best of our ability in our country. +p3761 +aVKevin, if I could just jump in. I -- I believe that we should make community college free. We should have debt-free college if you go to a public college or university. You should not have to borrow a dime to pay tuition. I want to use pell grants to help defray the living expenses that often make a difference, whether a young person can stay in school or not. I disagree with free college for everybody. I don't think taxpayers should be paying to send Donald Trump's kids to college. I think it ought to be a compact -- families contribute, kids contribute. And together we make it possible for a new generation of young people to refinance their debt and not come out with debt in the future. +p3762 +aVNo. Revolution never came. I waited and I got the scars to show for it. We now have this great accomplishment known as the Affordable Care Act, and I don't think we should have to be defending it among Democrats. We ought to be working to improve it and prevent Republicans from both underming it and even repealing it. I have looked at -- I have looked at the legislation that Senator Sanders has proposed, and basically, he does eliminate the Affordable Care Act, eliminates private insurance, eliminates Medicare, eliminates Medicaid, Tricare, children's health insurance program -- puts it all together in a big program which he then hands over to the states to administer. And I have to tell you, I would not want -- if I lived in Iowa, Terry Branstad administering my health care. I -- I think -- I think as Democrats we ought to proudly support the Affordable Care Act, improve it, and make it the model that we know it can be. +p3763 +aVWell, there are so many, I don't know where to start. I guess the one I -- I would pick is the fact that I was part of a very small group that had to advise the president about whether or not to go after Bin Laden. I spent a lot of time in the situation room as secretary of state and there were many very difficult choices presented to us. But probably that was the most challenging because there was no certainty attached to it. The intelligence was by no means absolute. We had all kinds of questions that we discussed and, you know, at the end, I recommended to the president that we take the chance to do what we could to find out whether that was bin Laden and to finally bring him to justice. It was an excruciating experience. I couldn't talk to anybody about it. In fact, after it happened, the president called my husband -- he called all the former presidents and he said to Bill, "Well I assume Hillary has told you about this." And Bill said, "No, no, she hasn't." There was nobody to talk to and it really did give me an insight into the very difficult problems presidents face. +p3764 +aVWell, thank you very much to CBS and everyone here this evening for giving us another chance to appear before you. I've heard a lot about me in this debate, and I'm going to keep talking and thinking about all of you because ultimately, I think the president's job is to do everything possible, everything that she can do to lift up the people of this country. Starting with our children and moving forward. I've spent my entire life, since I started as a young lawyer for the Children's Defense Fund, trying to figure out how we can even the odds for so many people in America, this great country of ours, who are behind, who don't have a chance. And that's what I will do as your president. I will work my heart out. I need your help. All of you in Iowa, I need you to caucus for me. Please go to hillaryclinton.com and be part of making this country what we know it can and should be. +p3765 +asVTRUMP +p3766 +(lp3767 +VThank you. I began this journey six months ago. My total focus was on building up our military, building up our strength, building up our borders, making sure that China, Japan, Mexico, both at the border and in trade, no longer takes advantage of our country. Certainly would never have made that horrible, disgusting, absolutely incompetent deal with Iran where they get $150 billion. They're a terrorist nation. But I began it talking about other things. And those things are things that I'm very good at and maybe that's why I'm center stage. People saw it. People liked it. People respected it. A month ago things changed. Radical Islamic terrorism came into effect even more so than it has been in the past. People like what I say. People respect what I say. And we've opened up a very big discussion that needed to be opened up. Thank you very much. +p3768 +aVWe are not talking about isolation. We're talking about security. We're not talking about religion. We're talking about security. Our country is out of control. People are pouring across the southern border. I will build a wall. It will be a great wall. People will not come in unless they come in legally. Drugs will not pour through that wall. As far as other people like in the migration, where they're going, tens of thousands of people having cell phones with +p3769 +aVJeb doesn't really believe I'm unhinged. He said that very simply because he has failed in this campaign. It's been a total disaster. Nobody cares. And frankly, I'm the most solid person up here. I built a tremendous company and all I want to do is make America great again. I don't want our country to be taken away from us, and that's what's happening. The policies that we've suffered under other presidents have been a disaster for our country. We want to make America great again. And Jeb, in all fairness, he doesn't believe that. +p3770 +aVWell, look, this is so easy to answer. +p3771 +aVI would certainly be open to closing areas where we are at war with somebody. I sure as hell don't want to let people that want to kill us and kill our nation use our Internet. Yes, sir, I am. +p3772 +aVWe have to be much tougher. We have to be much stronger than we've been. We have people that know what is going on. You take a look at just the attack in California the other day. There were numerous people, including the mother, that knew what was going on. They saw a pipe bomb sitting all over the floor. They saw ammunition all over the place. They knew exactly what was going on. When you had the World Trade Center go, people were put into planes that were friends, family, girlfriends, and they were put into planes and they were sent back, for the most part, to Saudi Arabia. They knew what was going on. They went home and they wanted to watch their boyfriends on television. I would be very, very firm with families. Frankly, that will make people think because they may not care much about their lives, but they do care, believe it or not, about their families' lives. +p3773 +aVLook, the problem is we need toughness. Honestly, I think Jeb is a very nice person. He's a very nice person. But we need tough people. We need toughness. We need intelligence and we need tough. Jeb said when they come across the southern border they come as an act of love. +p3774 +aVAm I talking or are you talking, Jeb? +p3775 +aVYou can go back. You're not talking. You interrupted me. +p3776 +aVAre you going to apologize, Jeb? No. Am I allowed to finish? +p3777 +aVExcuse me, am I allowed to finish? +p3778 +aVSo... +p3779 +aV... again... +p3780 +aVI know you're trying to build up your energy, Jeb, but it's not working very well. +p3781 +aVLook, look, look. We need a toughness. We need strength. We're not respected, you know, as a nation anymore. We don't have that level of respect that we need. And if we don't get it back fast, we're just going to go weaker, weaker and just disintegrate. We can't allow that to happen. We need strength. We don't have it. When Jeb comes out and he talks about the border, and I saw it and I was witness to it, and so was everyone else, and I was standing there, "they come across as an act of love," he's saying the same thing right now with radical Islam. And we can't have that in our country. It just won't work. We need strength. +p3782 +aVWith Jeb's attitude, we will never be great again, that I can tell you. We will never be great again. +p3783 +aVSo, they can kill us, but we can't kill them? That's what you're saying. And as far as the Internet is concerned, we're not talking about closing the Internet. I'm talking about parts of Syria, parts of Iraq, where +p3784 +aVIn my opinion, we've spent $4 trillion trying to topple various people that frankly, if they were there and if we could've spent that $4 trillion in the United States to fix our roads, our bridges, and all of the other problems; our airports and all of the other problems we've had, we would've been a lot better off. I can tell you that right now. We have done a tremendous disservice, not only to Middle East, we've done a tremendous disservice to humanity. The people that have been killed, the people that have wiped away, and for what? It's not like we had victory. It's a mess. The Middle East is totally destabilized. A total and complete mess. I wish we had the $4 trillion or $5 trillion. I wish it were spent right here in the United States, on our schools, hospitals, roads, airports, and everything else that are all falling apart. +p3785 +aVWell, there's nothing to respond to. Well, people feel differently. I mean, the fact is Benghazi was a disaster because of Libya, everything just fell into place. It could not have been worse. What do we have now? We have nothing. We've spent $3 trillion and probably much more \u2013 I have no idea what we've spent. Thousands and thousands of lives, we have nothing. Wounded warriors all over the place who I love, we have nothing for it. And by the way \u2013 and Ben said incorrectly \u2013 and I'm not saying this as a knock \u2013 he's one of finest men. You're not going to find a finer men. But I've been talking about oil for three years. I've been saying,, "take the oil, take the oil." I didn't say, "just bomb it," I said," take it and use it and distribute it so that the wounded warriors -" People, I've been saying this now for many years. +p3786 +aVNow, all of a sudden everybody's saying, "take the oil." It wasn't so fashionable to take the oil six months ago. I've been saying it for years. +p3787 +aVI think Assad is a bad guy, a very bad guy, all right? Lots of people killed. I think we are backing people we have no idea who they are. The rebels, we call them the rebels, the patriotic rebels. We have no idea. A lot of people think, Hugh, that they are +p3788 +aVI think it's very sad that CNN leads Jeb Bush, Governor Bush, down a road by starting off virtually all the questions, "Mr. Trump this, Mister" \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched the first debate, and the first long number of questions were, "Mr. Trump said this, Mr. Trump said that. Mr. Trump" \u2014 these poor guys \u2014 although, I must tell you, Santorum, good guy. Governor Huckabee, good guy. They were very nice, and I respect them greatly. But I thought it was very unfair that virtually the entire early portion of the debate was Trump this, Trump that, in order to get ratings, I guess. In order to get ratings, I guess. +p3789 +aVI just think it's very \u2014 excuse me. +p3790 +aVExcuse me. I think it's very unprofessional. +p3791 +aVWell, I think it's very unprofessional. +p3792 +aVOK, fine. +p3793 +aVThis isn't tough and easy. I wish it... +p3794 +aVI wish it was always this easy as you, Jeb. +p3795 +aVOh, yeah. +p3796 +aVOh, I know. You're a tough guy, Jeb. I know. +p3797 +aVYou're tough. +p3798 +aVWell, let's see. I'm at 42, and you're at 3. So, so far, I'm doing better. +p3799 +aVSo far, I'm doing better. You know, you started off over here, Jeb. You're moving over further and further. Pretty soon you're going to be off the end... +p3800 +aVI believe I did. +p3801 +aVI have a very hardline position, we have a country or we don't have a country. People that have come into our country illegally, they have to go. They have to come back into through a legal process. I want a strong border. I do want a wall. Walls do work, you just have to speak to the folks in Israel. Walls work if they're properly constructed. I know how to build, believe me, I know how to build. I feel a very, very strong bind, and really I'm bound to this country, we either have a border or we don't. People can come into the country, we welcome people to come but they have to come in legally. +p3802 +aVWell, first of all, I think we need somebody absolutely that we can trust, who is totally responsible; who really knows what he or she is doing. That is so powerful and so important. And one of the things that I'm frankly most proud of is that in 2003, 2004, I was totally against going into Iraq because you're going to destabilize the Middle East. I called it. I called it very strongly. And it was very important. But we have to be extremely vigilant and extremely careful when it comes to nuclear. Nuclear changes the whole ball game. Frankly, I would have said get out of Syria; get out \u2014 if we didn't have the power of weaponry today. The power is so massive that we can't just leave areas that 50 years ago or 75 years ago we wouldn't care. It was hand-to-hand combat. The biggest problem this world has today is not President Obama with global warming, which is inconceivable, this is what he's saying. The biggest problem we have is nuclear \u2014 nuclear proliferation and having some maniac, having some madman go out and get a nuclear weapon. That's in my opinion, that is the single biggest problem that our country faces right now. +p3803 +aVI think \u2014 I think, for me, nuclear is just the power, the devastation is very important to me. +p3804 +aVI did. +p3805 +aVLet me just say that I have gotten to know him over the last three or four days. He has a wonderful temperament. He's just fine. Don't worry about it. +p3806 +aVYou better not attack... +p3807 +aVI really am. I'll be honest, I really am. I mean, the people have been putting me... I really am. +p3808 +aVLet me just. Can I just finish my... +p3809 +aVI've gained great respect for the Republican leadership. I've gained great respect for many \u2014 and I'm going to even say \u2014 I mean, in different forms for the people on the dais, in different forms. In different forms. But I have great respect for the people I have met through this process. I've never done this process before. I've never been a politician. I mean, for the last six months I've been a politician. But I will tell you, I am totally committed to the Republican Party. I feel very honored to be the front runner. And I think I'll do very well if I'm chosen. If I'm so fortunate to be chosen, I think I'll do very well. Polls have come out recently saying I would beat Hillary. I will do everything in my power to beat Hillary Clinton, I promise you. +p3810 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We don't win on trade. We don't win on the military. We can't defeat +p3811 +aVI can't be Neil. And the and the reason I can't be is that we are a country that is being beaten on every front economically, militarily. There is nothing that we do now to win. We don't win anymore. Our taxes are too high. I've come up with a tax plan that many, many people like very much. It's going to be a tremendous plan. I think it'll make our country and our economy very dynamic. But, taxes too high, wages too high, we're not going to be able to compete against the world. I hate to say it, but we have to leave it the way it is. People have to go out, they have to work really hard and have to get into that upper stratum. But we can not do this if we are going to compete with the rest of the world. We just can't do it. +p3812 +aVI would not do it. +p3813 +aVI was so happy yesterday when I saw that decision come down. That was an unbelievable decision. And we don't have enough of those decisions coming down. He of the executive order, because nobody wants to listen to him, including the Democrats, so he just goes around signing executive orders. That was a great day. And, frankly, we have to stop illegal immigration. It's hurting us economically. It's hurting us from every standpoint. It's causing tremendous difficulty with respect to drugs and what that does to many of our inner cities in particular. And it really is \u2014 was such an unbelievable moment because the courts have not been ruling in our favor. And it was a 2-1 decision. And it was a terrific thing that happened. And I will tell you, we are a country of laws. We need borders. We will have a wall. The wall will be built. The wall will be successful. And if you think walls don't work, all you have to do is ask Israel. The wall works, believe me. Properly done. Believe me. +p3814 +aVYou are going to have to bring people \u2014 you are going to have to send people out. Look, we're a country... +p3815 +aVMaria, we're a country of laws. We either have a country or we don't have a country. We are a country of laws. Going to have to go out and they will come back but they are going to have to go out and hopefully they get back. But we have no choice if we're going to run our country properly and if we're going to be a country. +p3816 +aVAll I can say is, you're lucky in Ohio that you struck oil. That is for one thing. Let me just tell you that Dwight Eisenhower, good president, great president, people liked him. "I like Ike," right? The expression. "I like Ike." Moved a 1.5 million illegal immigrants out of this country, moved them just beyond the border. They came back. Moved them again beyond the border, they came back. Didn't like it. Moved them way south. They never came back. Dwight Eisenhower. You don't get nicer. You don't get friendlier. They moved a 1.5 million out. We have no choice. We have no choice. +p3817 +aVNo, it's unfair. +p3818 +aV... built an unbelievable company worth billions and billions of dollars. I don't have to hear from this man, believe me. I don't have to hear from him. +p3819 +aVWe have millions of people right now on line trying to come into this country. Very, very unfair to the people that want to come into our country legally. They've gone through the process. They're on line. They're waiting. Very, very unfair to them. That I can tell you. +p3820 +aVYes. +p3821 +aVNo, I'm sorry. No, excuse me. I was there. +p3822 +aVPlease, if I could just... +p3823 +aVWe have to make our military bigger, better, stronger than ever before so that nobody messes with us, and a long run, it's going to save us. I agree with Marco, I agree with Ted, we have no choice. And, I can tell you this with certainty. We all have a different tax plan. Some I don't totally agree with. One thing we understand, each one of those tax plans is better than the mess that we have right now. +p3824 +aV...Yes... +p3825 +aV...Yeah... +p3826 +aV...It's a horrible deal... +p3827 +aVThe TPP is horrible deal. It is a deal that is going to lead to nothing but trouble. It's a deal that was designed for China to come in, as they always do, through the back door and totally take advantage of everyone. It's 5,600 pages long. So complex that nobodies read it. It's like Obamacare; nobody ever read it. They passed it; nobody read it. And look at mess we have right now. And it will be repealed. But this is one of the worst trade deals. And I would, yes, rather not have it. With all of these countries, and all of the bad ones getting advantage and taking advantage of what the good ones would normally get, I'd rather make individual deals with individual countries. We will do much better. We lose a fortune on trade. The United States loses with everybody. We're losing now over $500 billion in terms of imbalance with China, $75 billion a year imbalance with Japan. By the way, Mexico, $50 billion a year imbalance. So I must say, Gerard, I just think it's a terrible deal. I love trade. I'm a free trader, 100 percent. But we need smart people making the deals, and we don't have smart people making the deals. +p3828 +aVYes. Well, the currency manipulation they don't discuss in the agreement, which is a disaster. If you look at the way China and India and almost everybody takes advantage of the United States \u2014 China in particular, because they're so good. It's the number-one abuser of this country. And if you look at the way they take advantage, it's through currency manipulation. It's not even discussed in the almost 6,000-page agreement. It's not even discussed. +p3829 +aVAnd as you understand, I mean, you understand very well from the Wall Street Journal, currency manipulation is the single great weapon people have. They don't even discuss it in this agreement. So I say, it's a very bad deal, should not be approved. If it is approved, it will just be more bad trade deals, more loss of jobs for our country. We are losing jobs like nobody's ever lost jobs before. I want to bring jobs back into this country. +p3830 +aVWell, first of all, it's not only Russia. We have problems with North Korea where they actually have nuclear weapons. You know, nobody talks about it, we talk about Iran, and that's one of the worst deals ever made. One of the worst contracts ever signed, ever, in anything, and it's a disgrace. But, we have somebody over there, a madman, who already has nuclear weapons we don't talk about that. That's a problem. China is a problem, both economically in what they're doing in the South China Sea, I mean, they are becoming a very, very major force. So, we have more than just Russia. But, as far as the Ukraine is concerned, and you could Syria \u2014 as far as Syria, I like \u2014 if Putin wants to go in, and I got to know him very well because we were both on 60 Minutes, we were stablemates, and we did very well that night. But, you know that. But, if Putin wants to go and knocked the hell out of +p3831 +aV...They blew up \u2014 hold it.... +p3832 +aV...They blew up, wait a minute... ...They blew up a Russian airplane. He cannot be in love with these people. He's going in, and we can go in, and everybody should go in. As far as the Ukraine is concerned, we have a group of people, and a group of countries, including Germany \u2014 tremendous economic behemoth \u2014 why are we always doing the work? We are \u2014 I'm all for protecting Ukraine and working \u2014 but, we have countries that are surrounding the Ukraine that aren't doing anything. They say, "Keep going, keep going, you dummies, keep going. Protect us..." ...And we have to get smart. We can't continue to be the policeman of the world. We are $19 trillion dollars, we have a country that's going to hell, we have an infrastructure that's falling apart. Our roads, our bridges, our schools, our airports, and we have to start investing money in our country. +p3833 +aVAssad is a bad guy, but we have no idea who the so-called rebels \u2014 I read about the rebels, nobody even knows who they are. I spoke to a general two weeks ago, he said \u2014 he was very up on exactly what we're talking about. He said, "You know, Mr. Trump? We're giving hundreds of millions of dollars of equipment to these people, we have no idea who they are." So, I don't like Assad. Who's going to like Assad? But, we have no idea who these people, and what they're going to be, and what they're going to represent. They may be far worse than Assad. Look at Libya. Look at Iraq. Look at the mess we have after spending $2 trillion dollars, thousands of lives, wounded warriors all over the place \u2014 who I love, OK? All over. We have nothing. And, I said, keep the oil. And we should have kept the oil, believe me. We should have kept the oil. And, you know what? We should have given the oil... ..We should've given big chunks to the people that lost their arms, their legs, and their families, and their sons, and daughters, because right now, you know who has a lot of that oil? Iran, and +p3834 +aVWhy does she keep interrupting everybody? Terrible. +p3835 +aVWe are not. +p3836 +aV...No, no, no... +p3837 +aVWell, what's happening right now, Neil, is something that not been a subject of conversation by politicians. As primarily the only politician, I guess other than Carly on the stage, they haven't talked about a corporate inversion. A corporate inversion \u2014 companies are leaving. You know, we used to leave New York to go to Florida. We got better taxes, we got, maybe, something else. Now, they're the United States to go to other countries. They have trillions of dollars in those other countries. They're going for two reasons, they can't get their money back in. It's something where the democrats and the republicans both agree, it's the only thing I can think of. They both agree, let the money come back in. Three and a half years, they still can't make a deal. They can't get the money in. It's probably two and a half trillion, but, I think it's much more than that. All of that money could become \u2014 could come right in and be used to rebuild our country, and investments in our country. They can't do it. What we have to do, and what I've done, is made the tax rate \u2014 and one of the reasons they don't the taxes so obnoxious, they can't do it. Where, I made it a 10% number, as you know. I've been very highly praised for it. A lot of money's going to come back in, we're going to get rid of the bureaucratic problems, and roadblocks, because that's also a problem. And, we're going to have all of this money pour back into the United States. It's going to be used to build businesses, for jobs, and everything else. And, as I say, my expression is, let's make America great again. +p3838 +aVThank you. Over the years, I've created tens of thousands of jobs and a great company. It's a company I'm very proud of. Some of the most iconic assets anywhere in the world. And I will tell you, I don't have to give you a website because I'm self-funding my campaign. I'm putting up my own money. I want to do something really special. I want to make our country greater than it's ever been. I think we have that potential. We cannot lose this election. We cannot let Hillary Clinton, who is the worst secretary of state in the history of our country, win this election. We will fight. We will win. And we truly will make this even more special. We have to make it better than ever before. And I will tell you, the United States can actually be better than ever before. Thank you. +p3839 +aVI think maybe my greatest weakness is that I trust people too much. I'm too trusting. And when they let me down, if they let me down, I never forgive. I find it very, very hard to forgive people that deceived me. So I don't know if you would call that a weakness, but my wife said "let up." +p3840 +aVRight. +p3841 +aVRight. +p3842 +aVThat's right. +p3843 +aVNo, not a comic book, and it's not a very nicely asked question the way you say that. Larry Kudlow is an example, who I have a lot of respect for, who loves my tax plan. We're reducing taxes to 15 percent. We're bringing corporate taxes down, bringing money back in, corporate inversions. We have $2.5 trillion outside of the United States which we want to bring back in. As far as the wall is concerned, we're going to build a wall. We're going to create a border. We're going to let people in, but they're going to come in legally. They're going to come in legally. And it's something that can be done, and I get questioned about that. They built the great wall of China. That's 13,000 miles. Here, we actually need 1,000 because we have natural barriers. So we need 1,000. We can do a wall. We're going to have a big, fat beautiful door right in the middle of the wall. We're going to have people come in, but they're coming in legally. And Mexico's going to pay for the wall because Mexico \u2014 I love the Mexican people; I respect the Mexican leaders \u2014 but the leaders are much sharper, smarter and more cunning than our leaders. And just to finish, people say, how will you get Mexico to pay? A politician other than the people in the states \u2014 I don't want to \u2014 a politician cannot get them to pay. I can. We lose, we have a trade imbalance... Excuse me, John. ... of $50 billion... +p3844 +aV... believe me the world is peanuts by comparison. +p3845 +aVRight. Dynamically. +p3846 +aVThen you have to get rid of Larry Kudlow, who sits on your panel, who's a great guy, who came out the other day and said, I love Trump's tax plan. +p3847 +aVFirst of all, John got lucky with a thing called fracking, OK? He hit oil. He got lucky with fracking. Believe me, that is why Ohio is doing well. Number \u2014 and that is important for you to know. Number two, this was the man that was a managing general partner at Lehman Brothers when it went down the tubes and almost took every one of us with it, including Ben and myself, because I was there and I watched what happened. And Lehman Brothers started it all. He was on the board. And he was a managing general partner. And just thirdly, he was so nice. He was such a nice guy. And he said, oh, I'm never going to attack. But then his poll numbers tanked. He has got \u2014 that is why he is on the end. And he got nasty. And he got nasty. So you know what? You can have him. +p3848 +aVI think you're \u2014 +p3849 +aVWell, first of all, like many other very big businessmen, I could name them here, but I'm not going to do that for a lot of obvious reasons, but the biggest, and almost all of them, they've all used the chapter laws, the bankruptcy laws to their own benefit. Before this, I was a very successful person as a developer and as a businessman. Atlantic City has gone bad. I mean, Chris will know about that. I'm not blaming Chris, by the way, but he will know about that. Caesar's \u2014 excuse me \u2014 Caesar's, the Rolls-Royce, as you know, is in bankruptcy. Almost every hotel in Atlantic City has either been in bankruptcy or will be in bankruptcy \u2014 the biggest. But also the biggest people (ph) \u2014 now I've used that to my advantage as a business man, for my family, for myself. I never filed for bankruptcy. But many, many people did. What happened with Atlantic City is very, very disgraceful. Now hundreds of companies I've opened. I've used it three times, maybe four times. Came out great. But I guess I'm supposed to come out great. That is what I could do for the country. We owe $19 trillion, boy am I good at solving debt problems. Nobody can solve it like me. But I will tell you this, Atlantic City, you're using that, hundreds of companies that I have opened have thrived. I built a net worth of way over $10 billion, and I have done it four times out of hundreds. And I'm glad I did it. I used the laws of the country to my benefit, I'm sorry. +p3850 +aVThank you. +p3851 +aVI was not at all critical of him. I was not at all. In fact, frankly, he's complaining about the fact that we're losing some of the most talented people. They go to Harvard. They go to Yale. They go to Princeton. They come from another country and they're immediately sent out. I am all in favor of keeping these talented people here so they can go to work in Silicon Valley. +p3852 +aVSo I have nothing at all critical of him. +p3853 +aVProbably, I don't know \u2014 you people write the stuff. I don't know where you... And if I could say just one thing. I am the only person in either campaign that's self-funding. I'm putting up 100 percent of my own money. And right now, I will be putting up a tremendous \u2014 so far, I've put up less than anybody and I have the best results. Wouldn't that be nice if the country could do that? But I will be putting \u2014 I will be putting up, you know, tremendous amounts of money. SuperPacs are a disaster. They're a scam. They cause dishonesty. And you better get rid of them because they are causing a lot of bad decisions to be made by some very good people. And I'm not blaming these folks \u2014 well, I guess I could. Very good people are making very bad decisions right now. And if anything comes out of this whole thing with some of these nasty and ridiculous questions, I will tell you, you better get rid of the SuperPacs because they causing a big problem with this country, not only in dishonesty and what's going on, but also in a lot of bad decisions that have been made for the benefit of lobbyists and special interests. +p3854 +aVI never said that. I never said that. +p3855 +aVYou've got another gentleman in Florida, who happens to be a very nice guy, but not... +p3856 +aV... he's really doing some bad... +p3857 +aVI'm in favor of people coming into this country legally. And you know what? They can have it anyway you want. You can call it visas, you can call it work permits, you can call it anything you want. I've created tens of thousands of jobs, and in all due respect \u2014 and actually some of these folks I really like a lot \u2014 but I'm the only one that can say that. I have created tens of thousands of jobs, and I'll be creating many millions of jobs if I'm given \u2014 if I'm given the opportunity to be president. As far as Mark is concerned, as far as the visas are concerned, if we need people, they have \u2014 it's fine. They have to come into this country legally. We have a country of borders. We have a country of laws. We have to obey the laws. It's fine if they come in, but they have to come in legally. +p3858 +aVYes. +p3859 +aVOr somebody else. Right. +p3860 +aVYes, I might feel more comfortable. I would say that I would and I have a permit, which is very unusual in New York \u2014 a permit to carry. And I do carry on occasion, sometimes a lot. But I like to be unpredictable so that people don't know exactly... +p3861 +aVBy the way, unlike our country where we're totally predictable and the enemy, whether it's +p3862 +aVI would change them. I would change them. +p3863 +aVSuch a nasty \u2014 such a nasty question, but thank you, Governor. +p3864 +aVYes, it's very simple. We're going to make a really dynamic economy from what we have right now, which is not at all dynamic. We're going to bring jobs back from Japan, we're going to bring jobs back from China, we're going to bring, frankly, jobs back from Mexico where, as you probably saw, Nabisco is leaving Chicago with one of their biggest plants, and they're moving it to Mexico. We're going to bring jobs and manufacturing back. We're going to cut costs. We're going to save Social Security, and we're going to save Medicare. [ +p3865 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We used to win, we don't win anymore. We lose on trade. We lose with +p3866 +aVAnd, I'll do that with the country. We will make America great again. And, thank you everybody. Just for the record. +p3867 +aVThat's not right. That is absolutely not right. You know that. That is not right. [ +p3868 +aVI'm Donald Trump. I wrote "The Art of the Deal". I say not in a braggadocious way, I've made billions and billions of dollars dealing with people all over the world, and I want to put whatever that talent is to work for this country so we have great trade deals, we make our country rich again, we make it great again. We build our military, we take care of our vets, we get rid of Obamacare, and we have a great life altogether. Thank you. Thank you. +p3869 +aVWell, first of all, Rand Paul shouldn't even be on this stage. He's number 11, he's got 1 percent in the polls, and how he got up here, there's far too many people anyway. As far as temperament \u2014 and we all know that \u2014 as far as temperament, I think I have a great temperament. I built a phenomenal business with incredible, iconic assets, one of the really truly great real-estate businesses. And I may be an entertainer, because I've had tremendous success with number-one bestsellers all over the place, with "The Apprentice" and everything else I've done. But I will tell you this: What I am far and away greater than an entertainer is a businessman, and that's the kind of mindset this country needs to bring it back, because we owe $19 trillion right now, $19 trillion, and you need this kind of thinking to bring our country back. And believe me, my temperament is very good, very calm. But we will be respected outside of this country. We are not respected now. +p3870 +aVI never attacked him on his look, and believe me, there's plenty of subject matter right there. That I can tell you. +p3871 +aVI've actually been in politics all my life, although I've been on that side as opposed to this side. I'm now a politician for about three months. Obviously, I'm doing pretty well. I'm number one in every poll by a lot. But the qualification is that I've dealt with people all over the world, been successful all over the world. Everything I've done virtually has been a tremendous success. When markets changed, when things turned, I heard Governor Pataki, who, by the way, was a failed governor in New York, a very seriously failed \u2014 he wouldn't be elected dog catcher right now. I heard what he had to say. And I will tell you this: Atlantic City, I've made a tremendous amount of money in Atlantic City. I left seven years ago, I've gotten great credit for my timing, and that's what I'm all about. I'm a businessman, did really well, really well, and Jeb, what I want to do is put that ability into this country to make our country rich again. And I can do that, and I'm not sure that anybody else in the group will be able to do that. +p3872 +aVBut I have to say... +p3873 +aVWell, in Wisconsin... +p3874 +aVExcuse me. +p3875 +aVIn Wisconsin, you're losing $2.2 billion right now. +p3876 +aVI would do so much better than that. +p3877 +aVNo. +p3878 +aVI'm using facts. +p3879 +aVEvery major business leader has used the \u2014 I never went bankrupt, by the way, as you know, everybody knows. But we \u2014 hundreds of companies, hundreds of deals, I've used ???: ... into bankruptcy. That's what's wrong with politicians in Washington right now. They think we can take a country into bankruptcy. +p3880 +aVEvery major business leader, has used the \u2014 I never went bank bankrupt, by the way, as you know, everybody knows. But \u2014 hundreds of companies, hundreds of deals, I used the law four times and made a tremendous thing. I'm in business. I did a very good job. But I will say this, and people are very, very impressed with what I've done, the business people. But when the folks of Iowa found out the true facts of the job that you've done in Wisconsin, all of a sudden you, tubed (ph), he was No. 1 and now he's No. 6 or seven in the polls. So, look, we brought it out, you were supposed to make a billion dollars in the state. You lost 2.2 \u2014 you have right now, a huge budget deficit. That's not a Democratic point. That's a point. That's a fact. And when the people of Iowa found that out, I went to No. 1 and you went down the tubes. +p3881 +aVI didn't \u2014 +p3882 +aVTotally false. +p3883 +aVI would have gotten it. +p3884 +aVI promise I would have gotten it. +p3885 +aVI promise if I wanted it, I would have gotten it. +p3886 +aVI know my people. +p3887 +aVI know my people. +p3888 +aVNo. I just will tell you that, you know, Jeb made the statement. I'm not only referring to him. I \u2014 a lot of money was raised by a lot of different people that are standing up here. And the donors, the special interests, the lobbyists have very strong power over these people. I'm spending all of my money, I'm not spending \u2014 I'm not getting any \u2014 I turned down \u2014 I turn down so much, I could have right now from special interests and donors, I could have double and triple what he's got. I've turned it down. I turned down last week $5 million from somebody. So I will tell you I understand the game, I've been on the other side all of my life. And they have a lot of control over our politicians. And I don't say that favorably, and I'm not sure if there's another system, but I say this. I am not accepting any money from anybody. Nobody has control of me other than the people of this country. I'm going to do the right thing. +p3889 +aVThat's true. That's true. +p3890 +aVI was \u2014 excuse me, Jeb. +p3891 +aVI was a businessman, I got along with Clinton, I got along with everybody. That was my job, to get along with people. +p3892 +aVI didn't want to \u2014 excuse me. One second. +p3893 +aVOK, more energy tonight. I like that. Look \u2014 +p3894 +aVI didn't want \u2014 it was my obligation as a businessman to my family, to my company, to my employees, to get along with all politicians. I get along with all of them, and I did a damn good job in doing it. Go ahead. +p3895 +aVGot along with everybody. +p3896 +aVWrong. +p3897 +aVDon't make things up. Jeb, don't make things up. Come on. +p3898 +aVDon't make things up. +p3899 +aVSo, number one, they have to respect you. He has absolutely no respect for President Obama. Zero. Syria's a mess. You look at what's going on with +p3900 +aVI believe that I will get along \u2014 we will do \u2014 between that, Ukraine, all of the other problems, we won't have the kind of problems that our country has right now with Russia and many other nations. +p3901 +aVI wouldn't have drawn the line, but once he drew it, he had no choice but to go across. They do bear some responsibility, but I think he probably didn't do it, not for that reason. Somehow, he just doesn't have courage. There is something missing from our president. Had he crossed the line and really gone in with force, done something to Assad \u2014 if he had gone in with tremendous force, you wouldn't have millions of people displaced all over the world. +p3902 +aVThey had a responsibility, absolutely. I think we have three of them here... +p3903 +aVI think they had a responsibility, yes. +p3904 +aVJeb, just... +p3905 +aVI think it will haunt him. I think it's a terrible. I think it's going to haunt him absolutely. He came back later and he said he misspoke. There was no question because I heard when he said the statement. I was watching and he said the statement. And I said, wow, I can't believe it. I will take care of women. I respect women. I will take care of women. One thing we will say and I would like to get back to the Iran situation. We're talking about Iran. The agreement was terrible. It was incompetent. I've never seen anything like it. One of the worst contracts of any kind I've ever seen. And nobody ever mentions North Korea where you have this maniac sitting there and he actually has nuclear weapons and somebody better start thinking about North Korea and perhaps a couple of other places. But certainly North Korea. And Ted and I have spoken. We've \u2014 a lot of us have spoken. We're talking about Iran. They are bad actors, bad things are going to happen. But in the meantime, you have somebody right now in North Korea who has got nuclear weapons and who is saying almost every other week, I'm ready to use them. And we don't even mention it. +p3906 +aVSo why didn't you say it? Why didn't you say it? +p3907 +aVI know, but why did you say it? I heard it myself. Why did you say it? +p3908 +aVYou said you're going to cut funding for women's health. You said it. +p3909 +aVYou said it. +p3910 +aVI think she's got a beautiful face, and I think she's a beautiful woman. +p3911 +aVCorrect. First of all, I want to build a wall, a wall that works. So important, and it's a big part of it. Second of all, we have a lot of really bad dudes in this country from outside, and I think Chris knows that, maybe as well as anybody. They go, if I get elected, first day they're gone. Gangs all over the place. Chicago, Baltimore, no matter where you look. We have a country based on laws. I will make sure that those laws are adhered to. These are illegal immigrants. I don't think you'd even be asking this question if I didn't run because when I ran, and I brought this up, my opening remarks at Trump Tower, I took heat like nobody has taken heat in a long time. And, then they found out with the killing of Katie, from San Francisco, and so many other crimes, they found out that I was right. And, most people, many people, apologized to me. I don't think you'd even be talking about illegal immigration if it weren't for me. So, we have a country of laws, they're going to go out, and they'll come back if they deserve to come back. If they've had a bad record, if they've been arrested, if they've been in jail, they're never coming back. We're going to have a country again. Right now, we don't have a country, we don't have a border, and we're going to do something about it, and it can be done with proper management, and it can be done with heart. +p3912 +aV...By the way, I agree with \u2014 with what Chris is saying, but, I will say this. Illegal immigration is costing us more than $200 billion dollars a year just to maintain what we have. +p3913 +aVCorrect. +p3914 +aVWell, I have to tell you, I hear phenomenal things. I hear your wife is a lovely woman... +p3915 +aVI don't know her, and this is a total mischaracterization... +p3916 +aVGood. +p3917 +aVNo, I won't do that, because I've said nothing wrong. +p3918 +aVBut I do hear she's a lovely woman. +p3919 +aVJeb said... +p3920 +aV... that they come into our country as an act of love. With all of the problems we that we have, in so many instances \u2014 we have wonderful people coming in. But with all of the problems \u2014 this is not an act of love. He's weak on immigration \u2014 by the way, in favor of Common Core, which is also a disaster, but weak on immigration. He doesn't get my vote. +p3921 +aVNot with this intensity. +p3922 +aVAs I said, we are spending $200 billion \u2014 we are spending $200 billion a year on maintaining what we have. We will move them out. The great ones will come back, the good ones will come back. They'll be expedited, they'll be back, they'll come back legally. We'll have a country \u2014 they'll come back, legally. +p3923 +aVWell, I think it's wonderful and all, but I did it a little bit half-heartedly, but I do mean it to a large extent. We have a country, where, to assimilate, you have to speak English. And I think that where he was, and the way it came out didn't sound right to me. We have to have assimilation \u2014 to have a country, we have to have assimilation. I'm not the first one to say this, Dana. We've had many people over the years, for many, many years, saying the same thing. This is a country where we speak English, not Spanish. +p3924 +aVThis is a reporter, not a high school kid. +p3925 +aVWell, first of all, the \u2014 the 14th Amendment says very, very clearly to a lot of great legal scholars \u2014 not television scholars, but legal scholars \u2014 that it is wrong. It can be corrected with an act of Congress, probably doesn't even need that. A woman gets pregnant. She's nine months, she walks across the border, she has the baby in the United States, and we take care of the baby for 85 years. I don't think so. And by the way, Mexico and almost every other country anywhere in the world doesn't have that. We're the only ones dumb enough, stupid enough to have it. And people \u2014 and by the way, this is not just with respect to Mexico. They are coming from Asia to have babies here, and all of a sudden, we have to take care of the babies for the life of the baby. The 14th Amendment, it reads properly, you can go and \u2014 it's probably going to be have to be check \u2014 go through a process of court, probably ends up at the Supreme Court, but there are a lot of great legal scholars that say that is not correct. And in my opinion, it makes absolutely no \u2014 we're the only \u2014 one of the only countries, we're going to take care of those babies for 70, 75, 80, 90 years? I don't think so. +p3926 +aVI agree 100 percent, by the way, with Carly on the fact that the Democrats do not want to solve this problem, for the obvious reasons, but they do not. But I believe that a reading of the 14th Amendment allows you to have an interpretation where this is not legal and where it can't be done. I've seen both sides, but some of the greatest scholars agree with me, without having to go through Congress. If you do go through Congress, you can absolutely solve the problem. +p3927 +aVThat's true, sure. +p3928 +aVWell \u2014 +p3929 +aV\u2014 let me \u2014 well, let me just explain. The head of the Yale Business School, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, wrote a paper recently, one of the worst tenures for a CEO that he has ever seen, ranked one of the top 20 in the history of business. The company is a disaster and continues to be a disaster. They still haven't recovered. In fact, today, on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, they fired another 25 or 30,000 people saying we still haven't recovered from the catastrophe. When Carly says the revenues went up, that's because she bought Compaq, it was a terrible deal, and it really led to the destruction of the company. Now one other company before that was Lucent. Carly was at Lucent before that. And Lucent turned out to be a catastrophe also. So I only say this. She can't run any of my companies. That I can tell you. +p3930 +aVI never filed for bankruptcy. +p3931 +aVI'll tell you why; it's very simple. +p3932 +aVI'll tell you. I was running \u2014 +p3933 +aV\u2014 Carly, Carly \u2014 +p3934 +aV\u2014 I've made over $10 billion. I had a casino company \u2014 Caesars just filed for bankruptcy. Chris will tell you \u2014 it's not Chris' fault either \u2014 but almost everybody in Atlantic City is either in trouble or filed for \u2014 maybe I'll blame Chris. +p3935 +aVBut Atlantic City is a disaster \u2014 +p3936 +aVWait a minute, Carly. Wait. I let you speak. Atlantic City is a disaster, and I did great in Atlantic City. I knew when to get out. My timing was great. And I got a lot of credit for it. Many of the great business people that you know \u2014 and Carl Icon (ph) is going to work with me on making great deals for this country. But whether it's Carl or so many others that we read about all the time \u2014 +p3937 +aV\u2014 they have used the laws of the land, which is the \u2014 +p3938 +aV...Well, I'd like to respond, I'd like to respond... +p3939 +aVWell, I think the thing about the flat tax, I know it very well. What I don't like is that if you make $200 million a year, you pay ten percent, you're paying very little relatively to somebody that's making $50,000 a year, and has to hire H&R Block to do the \u2014 because it's so complicated. One thing I'll say to Ben is that we've had a graduated tax system for many years, so it's not a socialistic thing. What I'd like to do, and I'll be putting in the plan in about two weeks, and I think people are going to like it, it's a major reduction in taxes. It's a major reduction for the middle class. The hedge fund guys won't like me as much as they like me right now. I know them all, but they'll pay more. I know people that are making a tremendous amount of money and paying virtually no tax, and I think it's unfair. +p3940 +aVWell, I heard Hugh Hewitt, a nice man, he apologized because he actually said that we had a misunderstanding. And he said today that Donald Trump is maybe the best interview there is anywhere that he has ever done. Now unless he was just saying that on CNN to be nice, but he did say that... +p3941 +aVAnd we had a legitimate misunderstanding in terms of his pronunciation of a word. But I would say just... +p3942 +aVWell, I think it was. And he actually said that. Did you say that? +p3943 +aVOK. So I will say this, though, Hugh was giving me name after name, Arab name, Arab name, and there are few people anywhere, anywhere that would have known those names. I think he was reading them off a sheet. And frankly I will have \u2014 and I told him, I will have the finest team that anybody has put together and we will solve a lot of problems. You know, right now they know a lot and look at what is happening. The world is blowing up around us. We will have great teams and great people. +p3944 +aVI hope that answers your question. I mean, you are in the Senate, but I hope that answers your question. +p3945 +aVNo, I don't think he's suggesting that at all. I mean... +p3946 +aVI don't think he's suggesting that at all. +p3947 +aVWell, you have to understand, I am not sitting in the United States Senate with, by the way, the worst voting record there is today. Number one. I am not sitting in the United States Senate. I'm a businessman doing business transactions. +p3948 +aVI am doing business transactions. I will know more about this \u2014 and, as you said, that was very acceptable, and when you listen to that whole interview, it's a great interview, you said it, I didn't. Well, now I did. But... +p3949 +aVListen, just one second. Just one second. +p3950 +aVI will know... +p3951 +aV...I will know more about the problems of this world by the time I sit, and you look at what's going in this world right now by people that supposedly know, this world is a mess. +p3952 +aV +p3953 +aV I'm \u2014 and I'm meeting with people that are terrific people, but I have to say something because it's about judgment. I am the only person on this dais \u2014 the only person \u2014 that fought very, very hard against us (ph), and I wasn't a sitting politician going into Iraq, because I said going into Iraq \u2014 that was in 2003, you can check it out, check out \u2014 I'll give you 25 different stories. In fact, a delegation was sent to my office to see me because I was so vocal about it. I'm a very militaristic person, but you have to know when to use the military. I'm the only person up here that fought against going into Iraq. +p3954 +aVJust excuse me, one second, Rand... +p3955 +aVIf you don't mind, Rand \u2014 you know, you are on last \u2014 you do have your 1 percent. I would like \u2014 and I think it's very important. I think it's important, because it's about judgment. It's about judgment. I didn't want to go into Iraq, and I fought it, because what I said \u2014 what I said... +p3956 +aV... was you're going to \u2014 you're going to destabilize... +p3957 +aV... the Middle East, and that's what happened. +p3958 +aVIf you think about it... +p3959 +aVYour brother \u2014 and your brother's administration gave us Barack Obama, because it was such a disaster, those last three months, that Abraham Lincoln couldn't have been elected. +p3960 +aVI don't know. You feel safe right now? I don't feel so safe. +p3961 +aVOr the collapse of the economy. +p3962 +aVSpeaking for myself, I'm OK with it. I think there's a certain truth to it. I know people that, frankly, it has no impact on their life whatsoever. There are many people. I would almost say leave it up to them, but I would be willing to check it off, and say I will not get Social Security. I do not... +p3963 +aVAs a policy, I would almost leave it up to the people. Don't forget they pay in and they pay in, and maybe they do well, and maybe some people want it. But the fact is that there are people that truly don't need it, and there are many people that do need it very, very badly. And I would be willing to write mine off 100 percent, Dana. +p3964 +aVWell, I \u2014 I \u2014 I'd like to respond. +p3965 +aVI'd like to respond. +p3966 +aVAutism has become an epidemic. Twenty-five years ago, 35 years ago, you look at the statistics, not even close. It has gotten totally out of control. I am totally in favor of vaccines. But I want smaller doses over a longer period of time. Because you take a baby in \u2014 and I've seen it \u2014 and I've seen it, and I had my children taken care of over a long period of time, over a two or three year period of time. Same exact amount, but you take this little beautiful baby, and you pump \u2014 I mean, it looks just like it's meant for a horse, not for a child, and we've had so many instances, people that work for me. Just the other day, two years old, two and a half years old, a child, a beautiful child went to have the vaccine, and came back, and a week later got a tremendous fever, got very, very sick, now is autistic. I only say it's not \u2014 I'm in favor of vaccines, do them over a longer period of time, same amount. +p3967 +aVBut just in \u2014 in little sections. +p3968 +aVI think \u2014 and I think you're going to have \u2014 I think you're going to see a big impact on autism. +p3969 +aVAnd that's all I'm saying, Jake. That's all I'm saying. +p3970 +aVWell, because she's been sitting for three hours, I think my daughter, Ivanka, who's right here. +p3971 +aVOther than that we'll go with Rosa Parks. I like that. +p3972 +aVHumble. +p3973 +aVIf I become president, we will do something really special. We will make this country greater than ever before. We'll have more jobs. We'll have more of everything. We were discussing disease, we were discussing all sorts of things tonight, many of which will just be words, it will just pass on. I don't want to say politicians, all talk, no action. But a lot of what we talked about is words and it will be forgotten very quickly. If I'm president, many of the things that we discussed tonight will not be forgotten. We'll find solutions. And the world will respect us. They will respect us like never before. And it will be actually a friendlier world. And I have to say, it is a great honor to be here tonight. +p3974 +aVI fully understand. +p3975 +aVI fully understand. +p3976 +aVI cannot say. I have to respect the person that, if it's not me, the person that wins, if I do win, and I'm leading by quite a bit, that's what I want to do. I can totally make that pledge. If I'm the nominee, I will pledge I will not run as an independent. But -- and I am discussing it with everybody, but I'm, you know, talking about a lot of leverage. We want to win, and we will win. But I want to win as the Republican. I want to run as the Republican nominee. +p3977 +aVWell, I've given him plenty of money. +p3978 +aVI will not make the pledge at this time. +p3979 +aVOnly Rosie O'Donnell. +p3980 +aVThank you. +p3981 +aVYes, I'm sure it was. +p3982 +aVI think the big problem this country has is being politically correct. I've been challenged by so many people, and I don't frankly have time for total political correctness. And to be honest with you, this country doesn't have time either. This country is in big trouble. We don't win anymore. We lose to China. We lose to Mexico both in trade and at the border. We lose to everybody. And frankly, what I say, and oftentimes it's fun, it's kidding. We have a good time. What I say is what I say. And honestly Megyn, if you don't like it, I'm sorry. I've been very nice to you, although I could probably maybe not be, based on the way you have treated me. But I wouldn't do that. But you know what, we -- we need strength, we need energy, we need quickness and we need brain in this country to turn it around. That, I can tell you right now. +p3983 +aVSo, if it weren't for me, you wouldn't even be talking about illegal immigration, Chris. You wouldn't even be talking about it. This was not a subject that was on anybody's mind until I brought it up at my announcement. And I said, Mexico is sending. Except the reporters, because they're a very dishonest lot, generally speaking, in the world of politics, they didn't cover my statement the way I said it. The fact is, since then, many killings ,murders, crime, drugs pouring across the border, are money going out and the drugs coming in. And I said we need to build a wall, and it has to be built quickly. And I don't mind having a big beautiful door in that wall so that people can come into this country legally. But we need, Jeb, to build a wall, we need to keep illegals out. +p3984 +aVBorder Patrol, I was at the border last week. Border Patrol, people that I deal with, that I talk to, they say this is what's happening. Because our leaders are stupid. Our politicians are stupid. And the Mexican government is much smarter, much sharper, much more cunning. And they send the bad ones over because they don't want to pay for them. They don't want to take care of them. Why should they when the stupid leaders of the United States will do it for them? And that's what is happening whether you like it or not. +p3985 +aVA complete disaster, yes. +p3986 +aVCorrect. +p3987 +aVFirst of all, I'd like to just go back to one. In July of 2004, I came out strongly against the war with Iraq, because it was going to destabilize the Middle East. And I'm the only one on this stage that knew that and had the vision to say it. And that's exactly what happened. +p3988 +aVAnd the Middle East became totally destabilized. So I just want to say. As far as single payer, it works in Canada. It works incredibly well in Scotland. It could have worked in a different age, which is the age you're talking about here. What I'd like to see is a private system without the artificial lines around every state. I have a big company with thousands and thousands of employees. And if I'm negotiating in New York or in New Jersey or in California, I have like one bidder. Nobody can bid. You know why? Because the insurance companies are making a fortune because they have control of the politicians, of course, with the exception of the politicians on this stage. But they have total control of the politicians. They're making a fortune. Get rid of the artificial lines and you will have......yourself great plans. And then we have to take care of the people that can't take care of themselves. And I will do that through a different system. +p3989 +aVI'm not -- I'm not are -- I don't think you heard me. You're having a hard time tonight. +p3990 +aVYou'd better believe it. +p3991 +aVIf I ask them, if I need them, you know, most of the people on this stage I've given to, just so you understand, a lot of money. +p3992 +aVMany of them. +p3993 +aVNot much. +p3994 +aVBut I... +p3995 +aVI have good... +p3996 +aVGood. +p3997 +aVSounds good. Sounds good to me, Governor. I will tell you that our system is broken. I gave to many people, before this, before two months ago, I was a businessman. I give to everybody. When they call, I give. And do you know what? When I need something from them two years later, three years later, I call them, they are there for me. +p3998 +aVAnd that's a broken system. +p3999 +aVWell, I'll tell you what, with Hillary Clinton, I said be at my wedding and she came to my wedding. You know why? She didn't have a choice because I gave. I gave to a foundation that, frankly, that foundation is supposed to do good. I didn't know her money would be used on private jets going all over the world. It was. But... +p4000 +aVBecause I have used the laws of this country just like the greatest people that you read about every day in business have used the laws of this country, the chapter laws, to do a great job for my company, for myself, for my employees, for my family, et cetera. I have never gone bankrupt, by the way. I have never. But out of hundreds of deals... +p4001 +aVExcuse me. Excuse me. +p4002 +aVExcuse me, what am I saying? Out of hundreds of deals that I've done, hundreds, on four occasions I've taken advantage of the laws of this country, like other people. I'm not going to name their names because I'm not going to embarrass, but virtually every person that you read about on the front page of the business sections, they've used the law. The difference is, when somebody else uses those laws, nobody writes about it. When I use it, they say, "Trump, Trump, Trump." The fact is, I built a net worth of more than $10 billion. I have a great, great company. I employ thousands of people. And I'm very proud of the job I did. Again Chris, hundreds and hundreds of deals. Four times, I've taken advantage of the laws. And frankly, so has everybody else in my position. +p4003 +aVWell, I... +p4004 +aVLet me just tell you about the lenders. First of all, these lenders aren't babies. These are total killers. These are not the nice, sweet little people that you think, OK? You know, I mean you're living in a world of the make-believe, Chris, you want to know the truth. And I had the good sense to leave Atlantic City, which by the way, Caesars just went bankrupt. Every company, Chris can tell you, every company virtually in Atlantic City went bankrupt. Every company. And let me just tell you. I had the good sense, and I've gotten a lot of credit in the financial pages, seven years ago I left Atlantic City before it totally cratered, and I made a lot of money in Atlantic City, and I'm very proud of it. I want to tell you that. Very, very proud of it. +p4005 +aVAnd by the way, this country right now owes $19 trillion. And they need somebody like me to straighten out that mess. +p4006 +aVI don't think they like me very much. I'll tell you what. I've evolved on many issues over the years. And you know who else has? Is Ronald Reagan evolved on many issues. And I am pro-life. And if you look at the question, I was in business. They asked me a question as to pro-life or choice. And I said if you let it run, that I hate the concept of abortion. I hate the concept of abortion. And then since then, I've very much evolved. And what happened is friends of mine years ago were going to have a child, and it was going to be aborted. And it wasn't aborted. And that child today is a total superstar, a great, great child. And I saw that. And I saw other instances. And I am very, very proud to say that I am pro-life. As far as being a Republican is concerned, I come from a place, New York City, which is virtually, I mean, it is almost exclusively Democrat. And I have really started to see some of the negatives -- as an example, and I have a lot of liking for this man, but the last number of months of his brother's administration were a catastrophe. And unfortunately, those few months gave us President Obama. And you can't be happy about that. +p4007 +aVFirst of all, Jeb, I am very happy that you denied that, and I appreciate that very much. He is a true gentleman. He really is. One thing he did say, and I mean that. The one thing he did say about me, however, was my tone. And I also understand that. But when you have people that are cutting Christians' heads off, when you have a world that the border and at so many places, that it is medieval times, we've never -- it almost has to be as bad as it ever was in terms of the violence and the horror, we don't have time for tone. We have to go out and get the job done. +p4008 +aVI would be so different from what you have right now. Like, the polar opposite. We have a president who doesn't have a clue. I would say he's incompetent, but I don't want to do that because that's not nice. But if you look at the deals we make, whether it's the nuclear deal with 24 hour periods -- and by the way, before you get to the 24 hours, you have to go through a system. You look at Sgt. Bergdahl, we get Bergdahl, a traitor, and they get five of the big, great killers leaders that they want. We have people in Washington that don't know what they're doing. Now... I agree. Now, with Iran, we're making a deal, you would say, we want him. We want out our prisoners. We want all these things, and we don't get anything. We're giving them $150 billion dollars plus, they are going to be -- I'll tell you what, if Iran was a stock, you folks should go out and buy it right now because you'll quadruple -- this, what's happening in Iran, is a disgrace, and it's going to lead to destruction in large portions of the world. +p4009 +aVOur country is in serious trouble. We don't win anymore. We don't beat China in trade. We don't beat Japan, with their millions and millions of cars coming into this country, in trade. We can't beat Mexico, at the border or in trade. We can't do anything right. Our military has to be strengthened. Our vets have to be taken care of. We have to end Obamacare, and we have to make our country great again, and I will do that. Thank you. +p4010 +asVPATAKI +p4011 +(lp4012 +VThank you, Wolf. I want to speak to you this evening not as a Republican or a presidential candidate, but as an American. As we saw today in L.A., we are at a crisis in our country. Radical Islam poses a threat to our safety not just overseas, but literally in every community in America. And yet at a time when we should be united, we have a president who has divided us, who refuses to call radical Islam what it is, let alone have a coherent strategy to defeat it. The leading Democrat, Hillary Clinton, won't call +p4013 +aVAbsolutely. It's one of many absurd things this President has said. To target a religion and say that regardless of whether you're an American soldier who has fought on our side or allies we have overseas, simply because of your religion we're going to ban you is un-American, it is unconstitutional and it is wrong. And by the way, Wolf, now there was a group that tried to do that 150 to 160 years ago, they were called the Know-Nothing Party. They wanted to ban Catholics. They thought they were going to destroy America. Well, Donald Trump is the Know-Nothing candidate of the 21st century and cannot be our nominee. By the way, though. I fault Hillary and Obama as well because by not distinguishing between Muslims and radicalized Jihadists, by refusing to acknowledge that it's radical Muslim, radical Islamists who are carrying out these attacks against America \u2014 they let Americans who are confused and angry lump everyone together. We have to embrace the Muslims who embrace our freedom and living and safety. We have to destroy those who embrace Jihad and want to engage in violence against us here or abroad. +p4014 +aVYes. +p4015 +aVYou know, I think it's very important that we do everything in our power to prevent radicalization of Americans right here. And it is happening, not just overseas, but it's happening here from Mosques on social media. And truth \u2014 interaction and community meetings. New York police department had a very active group, aggressively monitoring and using intelligence to \u2014 in certain Muslim communities, consistent with our constitution, consistent of our civil rights, so they could have the intelligence as to where these sermons are being given, and who is being radicalized. And, they stopped and prevented dozens, and dozens of attacks in New York. You know, I'm a great believer in the First Amendment, of Freedom of Speech. I wish we had more of it on our college campuses, but you can't shout fire in a crowded theater. Calling on Americans to engage in violence against their fellow Americans in the name of jihad is crying fire in a crowded theater. It is not constitutionally protected speech, it should be shut down. And, by the way, the two murders who went to Garland, Texas to massacre many Americans before the Texas police officer courageously killed them, had been radicalized here. Getting to that metadata question, one of those terrorists, the day before the attacks, had sent......109 message to a known terrorist overseas. We could not read those messages, we can not read those today... +p4016 +aV...We have got to do far better. +p4017 +aVYes, Wolf. +p4018 +aVI would pass a law requiring them to do that. Let me just give you one example. I mentioned in Garland, Texas, where that murderer, that terrorist, the day before sent 109 messages overseas to a known terrorist. But they were encrypted. So to this date we don't know what that said. Companies are entitled to encrypt and protect their knowledge and their intelligence. But what we need is a back door for law enforcement to be able, when they can establish that that communication poses a risk to our safety and engages in terrorism, to get a court order and go in and access those communications. Allow the companies to continue encryption, provide an entry way for law enforcement when they can prove to a court that there is a sufficient risk of an attack upon us that they have the right to look at those messages. +p4019 +aVAnd just one more thing, Wolf. When that murderer came from Pakistan to San Bernardino and committed those atrocious crimes just a few weeks ago, she applied for a visa. She had posted on social media jihadist messages. Because this administration is so politically correct, they have a rule that they cannot look at social media postings of people applying to come to the United States. That is utterly absurd. One of the things we must do, the next president must do is get rid of that law and make sure we do everything in our power to find out if someone poses a threat to our existence here. +p4020 +aVWolf, I think the answer is we have to send troops with allies and supporters. Wherever it is necessary to destroy the training centers, recruitment centers, planning hubs of +p4021 +aVYes. +p4022 +aVYou know, I don't think it's a function of years of going after +p4023 +aVYou know, I don't want to see us occupy a country. I've been to Iraq a couple of times and Afghanistan. The first time I went, I had an uneasy feeling that when we went there we were liberators. But as we stayed ,we became occupiers. I saw American troops move into some of Saddam's old hideous marble palaces. And I thought that was exactly the wrong message. We do not have to occupy. We do not have to nation build and try to create a democracy where one hasn't existed. WE have to destroy +p4024 +aVI'm not sure \u2014 ally with which groups? I didn't quite catch that. +p4025 +aVNot at all. Iran is our enemy. They are the number one sponsor of state terror. The Iranian Deal is a disaster. And by the way, I don't think the next president has to aggregate it. It was never ratified by the Iranians. They have tested long-range ballistic missiles in violation of U.N. resolutions. They have broken the agreement. It is void. They can never have a nuclear weapon and should not get relief. With respect to the other groups, like Hezbollah, of course we should not work with them. I'll tell you who we should work with in Syria. There are two groups. One are the PYD, the \u2014 the Kurds in Syria who led the defense of Kobani, and are in northern and eastern Syria and anti- +p4026 +aVI could create... +p4027 +aVI would create the no-fly zone, and let me tell you, something very simply. Putin is a bully, and the most important and effective thing you can do to a bully is punch him in the face. Create a no-fly zone. If Russian planes violate that space, either us, or the Turks, should shoot them down to keep our word. And, I guarantee you that Putin would back off. Bullies, when you stand up to them, back down. We have had, under Obama, and under Hillary as Secretary of State, nothing but weakness in the face of Russia, whether it was in the Crimea, whether it was in Ukraine, or now in the Middle East. I would give the Ukrainians lethal weapons so they could defend themselves. I would create the no-fly zone, and if Russian planes flew into it in violation of what we have declared, yes. +p4028 +aVI could create... +p4029 +aVI would create the no-fly zone, and let me tell you, something very simply. Putin is a bully, and the most important and effective thing you can do to a bully is punch him in the face. Create a no-fly zone. If Russian planes violate that space, either us, or the Turks, should shoot them down to keep our word. And, I guarantee you that Putin would back off. Bullies, when you stand up to them, back down. We have had, under Obama, and under Hillary as Secretary of State, nothing but weakness in the face of Russia, whether it was in the Crimea, whether it was in Ukraine, or now in the Middle East. I would give the Ukrainians lethal weapons so they could defend themselves. I would create the no-fly zone, and if Russian planes flew into it in violation of what we have declared, yes. +p4030 +aVNo, I completely disagree with Rick. This is America. And we've made enormous progress. And I don't care if you're a man or a woman. I care if you're good and capable of doing the job. If you can do the job \u2014 don't lower standards, don't lower the criteria \u2014 but if a woman is capable of doing these jobs, there is no reason why we should deny a patriot who wants to serve and help defend our country that right. +p4031 +aVIt's not. +p4032 +aVNo, you said you would reverse the policy which excluded women from those jobs whether or not they were able to do that. That is wrong. +p4033 +aVAh. +p4034 +aVYes, I think what Rick said is very different from what he said initially which was that, "he would reverse the policy that gave woman not the right but the opportunity to serve in combat." They can only do it if they're fit and capable and meet the same standards as men. And so, to reverse that policy and deny a woman who is prepared to risk her life to defend our freedom and is capable of doing everything a man could do is not the right thing for America in the 21st century. By the way, you see in Iraq, the Peshmerga, the Kurds ,many of their top fighters are women. This is the 21st century. We're not radical Islam. We want to give women the opportunity to do whatever they are capable of achieving in this country. +p4035 +aVOf course he's innocent until proven guilty. I happen to believe he's guilty. The military did a very clear and long study as to whether or not he deserted in the face of enemy and they are not court marshalling him. I don't think he should executed. I do think he will have a fair military trial, not a civilian trial, at which time, assuming he's found guilty as I think he would, he will be sentenced appropriately. But there's a bigger issue here, this administration has failed to protect us because they have treated radical Islamists as Americans who should be tried in civil court. That is ridiculous. They are enemy aliens engaged in terror against Americans. And by the way, the fact that this president is now threatening to close Guantanamo Bay when we know that time after time, terrorists he released are involved in a high level capacity helping +p4036 +aVYou know, again, it comes down to something that, as Mike said, breaks your heart. We clearly want to get them back. But the idea that by taking a journalist, for example, and holding him hostage in Iran, they're going to be able to get some of their terrorist leaders back, is simply bad policy. Israel has shown the way on this in rejecting hostage exchanges such as this and then not paying ransom. But, by the way, Mike is absolutely right. We have to do more to protect our people overseas, but then we also have to do more to help our veterans when they come back here today. We haven't talked about that. But more talking about defeating terrorism, one of the things we have to do is give our veterans the support and help that they require. What has happened at the VA is a disgrace. Give our veterans a medical card that they can use to get the best quality care anywhere, including outside of the VA system. +p4037 +aVAnd that \u2014 but that was involved in combat, where they were actually involved in a war against each other and exchanged prisoners. We have not been in a war with Iran. They have taken civilians as hostages. It's a totally different situation. And we cannot encourage them to do any more of that. +p4038 +aVYou know, I think what I said earlier is that I would create a no-fly zone in Syria. Turkey just agreed to take 3 million more Syrian refugees. The EU just came up with a funding program to provide camps for Syrian refugees, but I would also create that no-fly zone where refugees can be there. I have to say I agree with Rick, because this President is talking about taking 10,000 people from Syria, who we cannot vet. This administration, allegedly, vetted the woman who carried out the attacks in San Bernardino and never found out that she had a false address and was on social media talking about radical Jihad. Coming from Syria, it's impossible to do that check. And we know, by the way, that +p4039 +aVThank you. This debate has been about terrorism and appropriately so. I'm proud to have been governor of New York on September 11th and have led our state through and during the aftermath of that horrible attack. I vowed then that if I ever had the chance to lead this country, I would do everything in my power to make sure that Americans were safe. But I also saw a positive from that. New Yorkers and the American people came together and vowed that we weren't just going to defend ourselves. We were not going to live in fear. We were going to rise to new heights and celebrate our freedom. Come to Lower Manhattan today. You will see a magnificent tribute to those who died, the memorial and the museum. You will also see a new tower soaring 1,776 feet tall, the Freedom Tower, a symbol of our freedom, a symbol of our belief that as a free people we can soar to new heights. Give us the chance to unite Americans, not just Republicans. And this country's future is unlimited. +p4040 +aVWe need an outsider to run our party and to win the next election. Washington has become a corrupt insider game and everybody talks about how they're going to change the taxes, grow the economy. Nothing seems to change. But, by the way, Bobby, I shrunk the size of New York State's government when I left. We had reduced the employment by over 25,000 and cut taxes. But I understand that to change Washington you have to understand government as well. You can't just be an outsider. You can't just be someone who throws stones at Washington. You have to be someone who can actually bring people together across party lines. I can do that, I will do that if I have the chance to lead this party. +p4041 +aVBecky, can I comment on this question? +p4042 +aV...John, can I quickly comment on this one... +p4043 +aV...But, I want to speak on this issue... +p4044 +aV...I think it was a bad deal, but I would have voted for it for a very simple reason. Barack Obama is the first president in American history to hold our military hostage. He knew that we needed funding for overseas contingency operations, $40 million dollars that would go to support our troops. And, he was prepared, and had vetoed it, unless this deal went through. I have two sons, they both served overseas. One in Iraq, and one in Afghanistan, and I understand that we have got to do far more to help our military, help our veterans, and help protect our security. This is a bad deal, but to protect our military, I would have signed it. Uh, it's not going to be the case, if I have a chance to lead this country, we're going to reduce the deficit, shrink the government, lower the tax burden and grow the private sector because that's how you solve deficits. +p4045 +aVThank you. +p4046 +aVNo, I don't think we need a military response, but we need a coordinated response. And I have to say that I think the Obama administration has been completely lax, to say the least, in dealing with these cyber-attacks, not just by governments like North Korea, but by, particularly, Chinese and other companies. And what I would do is put in place a policy where if we know a company, say, a Chinese company, is hacking into American companies, stealing trade secrets, as we know they do every day, we will retaliate against that company and say that that company's not going to be allowed to continue to do trade with the United States. I would also look at what we're doing at the federal level and put in place what Israel has done: a \u2014 one federal agency dealing with cybersecurity and charged with working across silos to make sure we have the best technology. And, Jim, I've gotta tell you something, talking about cybersecurity. Hillary Clinton put a server, an unsecure server, in her home as secretary of state. We have no doubt that that was hacked, and that state secrets are out there to the Iranians, the Russians, the Chinese and others. That alone should disqualify her from being president of the United States. +p4047 +aVI think they have gone too far. I think we've seen Wall Street really blossom and do very well while the rest of the country is struggling, and it's because we have this corrupt connection between Wall Street and Washington. And, John, you were just talking about what loopholes would you get rid of. I would get rid of virtually every single one of them. They cost American taxpayers $1.4 trillion a year. I would throw them all out. +p4048 +aVNo, I wouldn't. I was going to say... +p4049 +aV...no, I would keep \u2014 first, yes, but what I would do is ii would lower the tax on manufacturing to the lowest in the developed world \u2014 12 percent. We all have plans. I have a plan. We all have plans. My plan, the Tax Foundation said, would create five and a half million new jobs over the next decade. The difference, though, is I will get my plan enacted because, when I was governor of New York, I passed sweeping tax code \u2014 cuts in a Democratic state with a Democratic legislature. I \u2014 you know, Bobby, you're talking about your tax cuts? I cut taxes more than everybody on this stage, more than everybody on the next stage, combined. By more than the other 49 states, in New York state. I don't just have a plan. I will enact tax cuts, get rid of those loopholes and make the system fairer for all Americans. +p4050 +aVThank you. +p4051 +aVLet me \u2014 let me try to get a word in edgewise. +p4052 +aVIn Washington, they talk over each other... +p4053 +aVYes. Very simply, you guys talk over each other in Washington all the time. I'm not used to that. I listen when people talk. We have a skills gap. You mentioned the construction company. The construction industry says one of their biggest problems are they can't find the craftsmen to do the work. What we have to... +p4054 +aV\u2014 do in America is honor blue collar work again. We have to honor the carpenter, the plumber, the electrician, who can actually build something and instead of just saying that a college degree live \u2014 delivers prestige, let's celebrate those who do things with their hands and elevate their skills using training in high school and community... +p4055 +aV\u2014 colleges so that we can... +p4056 +aV\u2014 have a better quality workforce that we honor... +p4057 +aV\u2014 as they build America's future. +p4058 +aVThank you. +p4059 +aVThank you. +p4060 +aVHey, Rick. +p4061 +aVI'm doing great. +p4062 +aVNot at all. +p4063 +aVNo, I don't support it. But let me go back a little bit here. We need to grow our economy faster. We've had the worst economic recovery since the Great Depression. And it's because of policy in Washington and policy at the Fed. And let me go back to Washington. In 2009 \u2014 +p4064 +aVJohn, no question Barack Obama inherited a economic disaster in 2009. But what did he do? Instead of focusing on pro-growth policies in the economy, he rammed through ObamaCare, the worst law of my lifetime, that hurt small businesses, hurt companies, raised taxes and almost completely eliminated one industry because of its taxes. The Fed had to act. And the Fed did act and appropriately in reducing interest rates but they've reduced them now for seven straight years, that's never happened before. They've been zero for way too long. They should raise the rates; the Fed should get out of manipulating the market and the Fed also, by the way, should reduce its balance sheet, $2.7 trillion. Let some of those bonds mature and put the money back in the banking system so our economy can grow. +p4065 +aVYeah, absolutely. I \u2014 one of the things that troubles me about the Republican Party is too often we question science that everyone accepts. I mean, it's ridiculous that, in the 21st century, we're questioning whether or not vaccines are the appropriate way to go. Of course they are. And it's also not appropriate to think that human activity, putting CO2 into the atmosphere, doesn't make the earth warmer. All things being equal, it does. It's uncontroverted. I think part of the problem is that Republicans think about climate change, say, "oh my God, we're gonna have higher taxes, more Obama, more big government, the EPA shutting down factories." That's not the solution that I see. I want Republicans to embrace innovation and technology. You know, there's one country in the world that has fewer greenhouse gas emissions than the rest of \u2014 of the world. You know what that is? The United States. Our emissions are lower than they were in 1995. Not because of a \u2014 of a government program, but because of fracking, private sector creation... +p4066 +aV...replace coal plants \u2014 government's roles \u2014 is to incentivize innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit in America. We could have far more clean energy. We could have next-generation nuclear, thorium reactors that have no risk of meltdown. We could have solar panels on every home that are four times more efficient than today. +p4067 +aVR&D \u2014 R&D credits. Let the private sector do this, develop this innovation. And not only would we solve our problems, we would have clean energy, cheaper energy here. We could export those technologies to places like China and like India so we would grow our economy, have a far greater impact globally, have a secure domestic source of energy, and cleaner, healthier air. That's the solution. Embrace science, embrace innovation and change. +p4068 +aVThe one I use the most is Uber. You know, I used to get driven......when I was governor, I had a driver. I don't anymore, but.... And it's an example of what millennials are doing to change America for the better. And I tweet a lot, too. So Uber, Tweet \u2014 Twitter and then I communicate with my family. +p4069 +aVI \u2014 I am a long suffering Jets fan. So my answer is obviously no, there's no reason to take off the day after the Super Bowl. But let me just add this. The Mets are going to win tonight. Let's go, Mets. +p4070 +aVThank you for the opportunity to be with this great audience tonight. I'm a limited government conservative and I mean by that that not just when it comes to economic issues leaving them to the state, but social issues, as well. And in that I differ from every single other candidate seeking the Republican nomination. I take the Tenth Amendment very, very seriously. I'm a Republican who embraces science and understands we have to work with the next generation of millennials to have the innovation and technology so that we can grow a 21st century economy. And I'm a Republican who understands in Washington, when you're a leader, you have to put aside partisan politics to do what's right for the people. We are one America. If we work together across party lines, there's no problem we can't solve and the 21st century will be America's greatest century. Thank you very much. +p4071 +aVThank you, Jake. Hi, I'm George Pataki, and I am honored to be here this afternoon with all of you at the Reagan Library. You know, when I think of Ronald Reagan, I think of his tremendous smile, a smile that reflected his optimism and his unending belief and faith in America and in Americans. And it was that belief in America that led to a great presidency, a presidency that led to decades of safety, security and prosperity for America. That's exactly the type of leadership we need in Washington today and that's why I'm running for President of the United States. Thank you. +p4072 +aVNo. Hugh, not at all. I have not broken the pledge because Donald Trump is not going to be the Republican nominee, period, flat out, I guarantee you that. I would vote... +p4073 +aV-- for the Republican nominee... +p4074 +aVHe's not going to be the nominee. +p4075 +aVHe's not going to be the nominee, Hugh. And let me just say one word here. This is an important election with an enormous number of challenges facing the American people. And the first four questions are about Donald Trump. +p4076 +aVNo, I would not vote for Hillary Clinton. +p4077 +aVNo, I will vote for the Republican nominee. But let me say this flat out, Donald Trump is unfit to be president of the United States or the Republican Party's nominee. Look at what he did in Atlantic City. He says he's going to make America great again? He invested four casinos in Atlantic City and he said, essentially, I'm going to make Atlantic City great again. Every one of those casinos went bankrupt. Over 5,000 Americans lost their job. And you know people who, in this difficult economic time, have lost their job and the pain that causes. He didn't lose anything, 5,000 lost their jobs. He will do for America what he did for Atlantic City and that is not someone we will nominate. +p4078 +aVThank you. +p4079 +aVOK. All right. Thank you. +p4080 +aVYeah, it's a small part of a very important issue, and let me comment on what my colleagues were saying here. We all agree you have to secure the border. We have to make sure that people come to America legally. That has got to be step one. Step two is, we have to stop releasing criminals into the communities. If you are charged with a crime as an illegal alien, you should either be in jail or be deported. You should not released, as the Obama administration has done. Of course, we should outlaw sanctuary cities and hold them responsible. But we can't ignore 11 million people who are here. What are we going to do? We're not going to send them back, despite somebody saying we're going to drag kids out of classrooms and send them back. But we have to send a message that we are a nation that depends on the rule of law, and when your first act is to break the law, there has to be a consequence. So what I would do is require those who want to have legal status, not citizenship, come forward, acknowledge they broke the law, and if they do it again, they can be immediately deported, and then do what we do in communities across America when we want to sanction someone... +p4081 +aV... and that is community service -- 200 hours working in a hospital... +p4082 +aV... working in a school, and then they could have legal... +p4083 +aVI don't -- I don't think that we should tell that child born in America that we're going to send them back. The way to avoid that is to have an intelligent immigration policy where we know who is coming here, why they are coming here, so we don't have this flood of people coming here for the wrong reasons. +p4084 +aVWe have to deal with the people who are here illegally. We can't just ignore them, or send them back. I think my policy would work to give them legal status, make them a part of an economy that will grow, and help America. +p4085 +aVLindsey, let me comment on this. Last week was the anniversary of September 11th and I was governor of New York on September 11th and led us through that horrible day. And I learned that we cannot assume that because radical Islam is a continent away, it doesn't pose a threat to us here in America. It did then, and today, I think, we are at greater risk of an attack than at any time since. We have got to destroy +p4086 +aVJake... +p4087 +aVJake, if I can comment on this. Yes, Kim Davis is different from Islamist radicalists from the Middle East. But on the other hand, we have run rule in America, an elected official can't say I'm not going to follow that law if it conflicts with my beliefs. I think she should have been fired and if she worked for me, I would have fired her. We have to uphold the rule of law. +p4088 +aVImagine one minute -- Jake, imagine one minute that was a Muslim who said I don't believe in gay marriage, and refused to perform that wedding. We wouldn't have had that outrage. There's a place where religion supersedes the rule of law. It's called Iran. It shouldn't be the United States. +p4089 +aVMy response is kind of, "Wow." You know, we're going to have a president who defies the Supreme Court because they don't agree? +p4090 +aVThen you don't have the rule of law... +p4091 +aVThe -- the elected representatives of the people always have the opportunity to change that law. The Supreme Court makes a determination, but it's ultimately the elected officials who decide whether or not that would be accepted. By the way, if I have a chance to lead this country, I will appoint judges who understand their role. They're not going to be making the law; they're going to be interpreting law that the elected officials passed. +p4092 +aVBut there's a huge difference between an individual standing up and saying I am going to stand for my religious freedom and my religious rights. I applaud that. This is America. You should be able to engage in your religious belief in the way you see fit. But when you are an elected official and you take an oath of office to uphold the law, all the laws, you cannot pick and choose or you no longer have a society that depends on the rule of law. +p4093 +aVYes, I -- I didn't agree with the Supreme Court's decision, but it is the law of this land. And I am a great admirer of Martin Luther King. And he was prepared to break the law. But it wasn't in an office of political power. It was civil disobedience, where what he was willing to do is voluntarily go to jail with his followers to send a message to the elected representatives that these laws were wrong and had to be changed. And because of his courage, we didn't ignore the courts, we changed the laws and made America a better place. That's the way to do it. +p4094 +aVYes? +p4095 +aVI would throw out the entire corrupt tax code. It's a symbol of the corruption and the power of the lobbyists and the special interests in Washington. It is 74,000 pages of incomprehensible gobbledygook. What I would do is get rid of the 1.4 million every year in exemptions and loopholes, dramatically lower the rates. The normal American person is paying higher taxes than they should because of loopholes, and one of them is that carried interest loophole. I would tax that income the same as ordinary income. I'd lower the rate to 24 percent for all Americans, but I would not give a special break to the Wall Street fat caps -- fat cats. +p4096 +aVIt's hard for me to say I'm with Donald trump on anything, but on this issue, I agree with him. But let me just make one other point. It's not just throwing out the tax code to break the back of the special interests that control Washington. It's other reforms. I would propose a law -- right now there are over 400 former members of the House and Senate who are registered lobbyists in Washington. I would propose a law on day one, you serve one day in the House or Senate, there's a lifetime ban on you ever being a lobbyist in Washington, D.C. You get elected, you go back home. You don't stay and support the special interests. +p4097 +aVCan I just... +p4098 +aVNo, I would not. I would keep that deduction. I would lower the rates dramatically, so, yes, that root that has a special carve out would pay more, but everybody else is going to pay less. I would keep the home mortgage deduction, the charitable deduction, and others. And, by the way, you know, I agree with Rick on manufacturing, but my approach is different. I would pass a rate on manufacturing of 12 percent, the lowest in the developed world so we can make this America again. I know how important those jobs are. When I work -- went through college, Christmas and summer vacations, I worked in a factory. My grandparents worked in a factory. We have the opportunity now with lower energy costs, with the world labor cost getting higher, to make things in America so we don't have to worry about China. Lower the tax burden on manufacturing, improve the work skills... +p4099 +aV...of Americans. Get rid of job killing regulations. If we're going to... +p4100 +aV...If we're going to make this America... +p4101 +aVNot on the table but I think there's a lot that does work. And that is to have a strong America, a strong military and a resolve where the Iranians know that not only are we going to reject this deal on day one and reimpose sanctions but, if they move forward with the nuclear program, their safety for those facilities will be at risk. I'll tell you a couple of things I'd do. I'd give the Israelis bombs called MOPs, massive ordnance penetrators. Give them to Israel. Let the Iranians know we're prepared to work with Israel to make sure they never have a nuclear weapon. And let me point out that Hillary Clinton, supporting this deal, she was the senator from New York on September 11th, she saw what happened at the hands of radical Islam. This is the senator who did the reset program with Russia, who allowed the Middle East to deteriorate to flames, who has lied about Benghazi and is now supporting the Iranian deal. That's the opponent we're going to have next November. We have got to win this election. Everything we say is wonderful. But we have to win and, once we win, we have to actually do what we say. I can do this. +p4102 +aVI think there are two things, Jake. Two things that we need as Republicans. First, we have to win the election. You're going to hear a lot of great ideas, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that. None of it matters unless you win the election. And the second is, once you win, you have to be able to govern successfully. You've heard a lot of fighting back and forth, you didn't get this done, you didn't get that done. That's the way Washington is today. You have to have a leader, a president, who will actually get a conservative agenda through. I'm running because I have done both those things, and I did them in one of the most liberal states in America. I got elected three times in the state of New York. Twice by the largest pluralities ever for a Republican. I ran as a Republican conservative. If I get the nomination, I will be able to get broad support and win this election, and take the White House back for our party. But more importantly, once I've won, I will put in place a sweeping conservative agenda. I did that in New York. Over $143 billion in tax cuts. More than the other 49 states combined. Taking one million people off welfare and putting them into jobs, in a state where the Democrats control the state assembly. +p4103 +aV103-47. I got them to support a conservative agenda. If I get elected president, I will make things work in Washington. +p4104 +aVFor the Republican party and for the United States. +p4105 +aVI think he means somebody who hasn't been a career politician, and who's been out of office for awhile. I think the last eight years in the private sector have allowed me to see government from the outside, and I think that is a positive thing. Yes, I thought about running four years ago. I was ready to lead, but I wasn't ready to run. But I look at this country today, and I look at how divided we are, I look at how politicians are always posturing and issuing sound bites but never solving problems. What I did in New York was bring people together, an overwhelmingly Democratic state. But I was able to get Democrats to support the most conservative sweeping policy changes in any state in America. And when I look at Washington today, we need to bring us together. We need to solve problems, we need to rebuild our military so we can stand up to radical Islam, we need to get our economy growing much faster by throwing out the corrupt tax code and lowering the rates. We have to end crony capitalism in Washington, where the lobbyists and the powerful can get tax breaks and tax credits, and the American people don't get laws in their interest. I can do that. And I can do it regardless of what the makeup of Congress is because I did it in New York state. So we need new leadership -- yes. I will be that new leader. Mac +p4106 +aVMartha, religious liberty doesn't include encouraging a fellow American to engage in violent jihad and kill an American here. That is not protected free speech. That is not protected religious belief. That is like shouting "fire" in a crowded theater, and that is illegal, and I would do everything in our power not just to go after those who are here who we know who are here, before they can radicalize other Americans to carry out attacks, and it's not just the ones they've arrested. Think back to Garland, Texas. But for that Texas police officer, we could have had a mass murder. We have to shut down their internet capability. We have to shut down, whether or not they're in prisons preaching or on -- in mosques preaching. No radical Islam that is allowed to engage in encouraging violence against Americans, that is not protected speech. Let me just add one thing about +p4107 +aVI think he is right. I don't think you expand entitlements when so many people are dependent on government and when the money the federal government is offering is going to be taken away from you after just a couple of years. But getting back to Martha's question about how we end dependency, do we have to have a cultural change? The answer is no. And I know this, because when I ran for governor of New York, one in 11 of every man, woman, and child in the state of New York was on welfare. On welfare. Think about that. And people said "you can't win, you can't change the culture." But I knew that good people who wanted to be a part of the American dream have become trapped in dependency because the federal government and the state government had made it in their economic interest not to take a job because the benefits that they didn't work were better. I changed that. We put in place mandatory work fair (ph). But we allowed people to keep health care. We put in place child care support. +p4108 +aVNo, it should be repealed. And by the way, when I left, there were over 1 million fewer people on welfare in New York state than when I took office... +p4109 +aV... replacing dependency with opportunity. +p4110 +aVYes. Mac +p4111 +aVMy heart has not changed, because I've always been appalled by abortion. I'm a Catholic, I believe life begins at conception. But as Bill said earlier, Roe v. Wade, it's has been the law for 42 years, and I don't think we should continue to try to change it. But we can do is defund Planned Parenthood, and by the way, put in place an absolute permanent ban on any taxpayer dollars ever being used to fund abortions. Also, when you look at these videos, they are horrific and show just a hideous disrespect for life. What else we can do is that we should believe in science. You know, Hillary Clinton's always saying how Republicans don't follow science? Well, they're the ones not listening to the scientists today, because doctors say that at 20 weeks that is a viable life inside the womb. And at that point, it's a life that we have the right to protect, and I think we should protect. So, I would pass legislation outlawing abortion after 20 weeks. It is Hillary, it is Biden, it is the others who insist on allowing abortion well into viable (inaudible) wrong, and that should be stopped. Mac +p4112 +aVBill, I defeated Mario Cuomo. In the first day in office, my first executive order, I revoked every one of the executive orders that he had -- he had enacted over the prior 12 years. I would do that to Barack Obama's executive orders. But I'd sign a second one, as I did in New York, as well, having a hard hiring freeze on adding new employees except for the military or defense-related positions. I'd sign that executive order. When I left the workforce, New York State had been reduced by over 15 percent. We can do that in Washington. I will do that in Washington. +p4113 +aVDivisive and with no vision. No vision at all. +p4114 +aVWith all the candidates, why me? My background is different. I look at Washington, and I hear the talk, and I see the promises and it seems nothing ever changes. Washington gets bigger, taxes get higher, and the American people feel more distance from our government. I have the opportunity not just to run, but to win in the deep blue state of New York three times. And not only did I win, but I then worked with a Democratic legislature to put in place the most sweeping conservative reforms of any state in America, taking us from the most dangerous state in America to the fourth safest; reducing our welfare rolls by over 1 million, and replacing over 700,000 private sector jobs. I can govern by bringing people together. And also, I've been tested in a way no one else has. I was governor on September 11th, and I'm proud of my leadership in bringing New York through that time. And when I left, we were stronger, we were safer, and we were more united than at any time in my lifetime. We need to bring people together in Washington. The talk has got to stop, the action has got to begin. People can promise you something, I delivered in the blue state of New York. I will deliver for the American people if I have the privilege of leading this country. +p4115 +asVCHRISTIE +p4116 +(lp4117 +VThank you Wolf. America has been betrayed. We've been betrayed by the leadership that Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton have provided to this country over the last number of years. Think about just what's happened today. The second largest school district in America in Los Angeles closed based on a threat. Think about the effect that, that's going to have on those children when they go back to school tomorrow wondering filled with anxiety to whether they're really going to be safe. Think about the mothers who will take those children tomorrow morning to the bus stop wondering whether their children will arrive back on that bus safe and sound. Think about the fathers of Los Angeles, who tomorrow will head off to work and wonder about the safety of their wives and their children. What is Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton done to this country? That the most basic responsibility of an administration is to protect the safety and security of the American people. I will tell you this, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I've fought terrorists and won and when we get back in the White House we will fight terrorists and win again and America will be safe. +p4118 +aVWolf, unfortunately, it's the new normal under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The fact is that if you listen to Hillary Clinton the other day, what she said to the American people was, as regards to +p4119 +aVListen, I want to talk to the audience at home for a second. If your eyes are glazing over like mine, this is what it's like to be on the floor of the United States Senate. I mean, endless debates about how many angels on the head of a pin from people who've never had to make a consequential decision in an executive position. The fact is, for seven years, I had to make these decisions after 9/11, make a decision about how to proceed forward with an investigation or how to pull back, whether you use certain actionable intelligence or whether not to. And yet they continue to debate about this bill and in the subcommittee and what \u2014 nobody in America cares about that. What they care about is, are we going to have a president who actually knows what they're doing to make these decisions? And for the seven years afterwards, New Jersey was threatened like no other region in this country and what we did was we took action within the constitution to make sure that law enforcement had all the information they needed. We prosecuted two of the biggest terrorism cases in the world and stopped Fort Dix from being attacked by six American radicalized Muslims from a Mosque in New Jersey because we worked with the Muslim American community to get intelligence and we used the Patriot Act to get other intelligence to make sure we did those cases. This is the difference between actually been a federal prosecutor, actually doing something, and not just spending your life as one of hundred debating it. Let's talk about how we do this, not about which bill, which one these guys like more. The American people don't care about that. +p4120 +aVWolf, you sit up here and you listen to this stuff, and you think that so many of these people have had so much to do in this national debate, they talk like they were bystanders. You know, we talk about our military being degraded over time, and yet we've had folks on this stage who've been a part of Congress who have participated in sequester; who participated in the degrading of this military over time. And that's why I think people get so frustrated with Washington, D.C. now. That's why they're so angry with the \u2014 the electorate is so angry with everybody who is involved in government in Washington, D.C. Because if you listen to the folks up here, you think that they weren't even there; they had nothing to do with this. This is a difference between being a governor and being in a legislature. See, because when something doesn't work in New Jersey, they look at me, say: "Why didn't it get done? Why didn't you do it?" You have to be responsible and accountable. And so on +p4121 +aVWell, I think we have to focus, Hugh, on exactly what the priorities are. And to me, what I've always said is that the president has set up an awful situation through his deal with Iran, because what his deal with Iran has done is empower them and enrich them. And that's the way +p4122 +aVNot only would I be prepared to do it, I would do it. A no-fly zone means a no-fly zone, Wolf. That's what it means. See, maybe \u2014 maybe because I'm from New Jersey, I just have this kind of plain language hangup. But I would make very clear \u2014 I would not talk to Vladimir Putin. In fact, I would talk to Vladimir Putin a lot. But I'd say to him, "Listen, Mr. President, there's a no-fly zone in Syria; you fly in, it applies to you." And yes, we would shoot down the planes of Russian pilots if in fact they were stupid enough to think that this president was the same feckless weakling that the president we have in the Oval Office is right now. +p4123 +aVWell, Wolf, I'll tell you what reckless is. What reckless is is calling Assad a reformer. What reckless is allowing Russia to come into Crimea and Ukraine. What reckless is is inviting Russia into Syria to team with Iran. That is reckless. And the reckless people are the folks in the White House right now. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are the reckless people. And if you think that a no-fly zone is a reckless policy, you're welcome to your opinion. But how is it working so far? As we have 250,000 Syrians murdered, slaughtered; millions running around the world, running for their lives. It's not working. We need to try something else. And that is not reckless. +p4124 +aVWhat I say to Carla is that the first job of the president of the United States is to protect your safety and your security and the security and safety of your family. And this debate stops with me in the discussions with the FBI director. Now, listen, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I know Jim Comey. We've worked together. He was the U.S. attorney in Manhattan when I was a U.S. attorney in New Jersey. And when Jim Comey gets up before Congress and says, we cannot effectively vet these people, for me as president, that's the end of the conversation. We have to put America's security first. The American people \u2014 we on this stage need to open our ears. We need to open our ears. The American people are not whispering to us. They are screaming to us. And they're screaming to us that it's our job to actually make this government work. It's so dysfunctional under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. It's so ineffective. It's so ineffectual that the American people say, we don't trust them to do anything anymore. So I'm not going to let Syrian refugees, any Syrian refugees in this country. And it was widows and orphans, by the way, and we now know from watching the San Bernardino attack that women can commit heinous, heinous acts against humanity just the same as men can do it. And so I don't back away from that position for a minute. When the FBI director tells me that he can vet those people, then we'll consider it and not a moment before because your safety and security is what's most important to me. +p4125 +aVWell, what it would like is, we have one of the great advantages of America being the open society that we are. It is, we are not hiding things from the American people, but China everyday is conducting business in a way that hides things from their people. So if they want to come in and attack all the personnel records in the federal government, which they've done, and which \u2014 they now have my Social Security number and my fingerprints, as well as maybe some other folks' who are on this stage. The fact is, they need to be fought back on. And what we need to do is go at the things that they are most sensitive and most embarrassing to them; that they're hiding; get that information and put it out in public. Let the Chinese people start to digest how corrupt the Chinese government is; how they steal from the Chinese people; and how they're enriching oligarchs all throughout China. They need to understand that. And we need to take those type of steps. This president has seen personnel records of people who have sacrificed for the American people and for the federal government stolen by the Chinese and he's done nothing in return. This is why \u2014 this is what I said at the beginning that this administration, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton through their foreign policy, have betrayed the American people, because the weakness they've displayed has led to Putin's incursions in the Middle East and in eastern Europe, and has led \u2014 has led to significant problems in the Middle East as well, and the death and murder of lots of folks. +p4126 +aVOn September 10th, 2001, I was named chief federal prosecutor in New Jersey and on September 11th, 2001, my wife and my brother who are in the audience tonight went through the World Trade Center and to their offices just blocks away from the Trade Center. I lost touch with them for six hours that day and prayed that they were alive. Luckily, they were sent home. But many of our friends and others in our neighborhood lost their lives that day. Terrorism \u2014 radical jihadist terrorism is not theoretical to me. It's real. And for seven years, I spent my life protecting our country against another one of those attacks. You won't have to worry when I'm President of the Untied States whether that can be done because I've already done it. I want the chance to do it again to protect you, your children and your families. If you give me the chance and give me your vote I will protect America from the wars that are being brought to our door step. +p4127 +aVI don't see a lot of weakness on this stage, quite frankly. Where I see the weakness is in those three people that are left on the Democratic stage. You know, I see a socialist, an isolationist and a pessimist. And for the sake of me, I can't figure out which one is which. But I will \u2014 but I will tell you this, the socialist says they're going to pay for everything and give you everything for free, except they don't say they're going to raise it through taxes to 90 percent to do it. The isolationist is the one who wants to continue to follow a foreign policy that has fewer democracies today than when Barack Obama came into office around the world. But I know who the pessimist is. It's Hillary Clinton. And you put me on that stage against her next September, she won't get within 10 miles of the White House. Take it to the bank. +p4128 +aVWell, I wish you would have asked that question years ago when they broke it. I mean, let me be honest with the people who are watching at home. The government has lied to you and they have stolen from you. They told you that your Social Security money is in a trust fund. All that's in that trust fund is a pile of IOUs for money they spent on something else a long time ago. And they've stolen from you because now they know they cannot pay these benefits and Social Security is going to be insolvent in seven to eight years. We're sitting up here talking about all these other things; 71 percent of federal spending today is on entitlements, and debt service. And, that's with zero percent interest rates. Now, I'm the only person that's put out a detailed plan on how to deal with entitlements. And we'll save a trillion dollars over the next 10 years. And, here's the difference between me and Hillary Clinton. What Hillary Clinton's going to say, and has said before is, she wants to raise Social Security taxes. Now, let me ask you a question everybody, and, this is for the guy, you know, who owns a landscaping business out there. If somebody's already stolen money from you, are you going to give them more? Or, are you going to deal with the problem by saying, I'm going to give people who've done well in this country less benefit on the backend. We need to get realistic about this. We're not \u2014 the American people \u2014 forget about anything else, they've already been lied to and stolen from. And... +p4129 +aV...I'm going to go to Washington to stop it... +p4130 +aV...The only way we're going to be morale, the only way we're going to keep our promise to seniors is start by following the first rule we should all follow, which is to look at them, treat them like adults, and tell them the truth. It isn't there anymore, Mike. They stole it. It got stolen from them. It's not theirs anymore. The government stole it, and spent it a long time ago... +p4131 +aVSo, let's stop fooling around about this, let's tell people the truth. For once, let's do that, and stop trying to give them some kind of fantasy that's never going to come true. +p4132 +aVYou bet they do. And if I were the prosecutor, that is exactly where they would be. The fact is that this Justice Department under this president has been a political Justice Department. It has been a Justice Department that decided that they want to pick who the winners and losers are. They like General Motors, so they give them a pass. They don't like somebody else like David Petraeus, they prosecute them and send a decorated general on to disgrace. It's a political Justice Department. And, Jim, you know full well that in the seven years I was U.S. attorney we went after pharmaceutical companies. We went after companies that were ripping off shareholders. We went after companies that were doing things that were against the law. And to expand on Mr. Carson's \u2014 or Dr. Carson's question, let's face it, we have laws already. We don't need newer (ph) laws. We don't need Hillary Clinton's price controls for \u2014 again, does anybody out there think that giving Washington, D.C., the opportunity to run the pharmaceutical industry is a good idea, given how well they have done running the government? So what we do, though, is, if there is somebody who is price- gouging, we have laws for prosecutors to take that on. Let's let a Justice Department \u2014 and I will make an attorney general who will enforce the law and make justice more than just a word. It will be a way of life. +p4133 +aVJohn, I'll tell you something. You want to talk about moral authority. Let's talk about something that happened this week in the news. You know, the FBI director, the president's appointed FBI director has said this week that because of a lack of support from politicians like the president of the United States, that police officers are afraid to get out of their cars; that they're afraid to enforce the law. And he says, the president's appointee, that crime is going up because of this. And when the president of the United States gets out to speak about it, does he support police officers? Does he stand up for law enforcement? No, he doesn't. I'll tell you this, the number one job of the president of the United States is to protect the safety and security of the American people. This president has failed, and when I'm in the Oval Office, police officers will know that they will have the support of the president of the Untied States. That's real moral authority that we need in the Oval Office. +p4134 +aVCarl, are we really talking about getting government involved in fantasy football? We have \u2014 wait a second, we have $19 trillion in debt. We have people out of work. We have +p4135 +aVWell, first off, what we don't do is do what Hillary Clinton and John Kerry and Barack Obama want us to do, which is their solution for everything, put more taxes on it, give more money to Washington, D.C., and then they will fix it. Well, there is no evidence that they can fix anything in Washington, D.C. +p4136 +aVWhat we should do is to be investing in all types of energy, John, all types of energy. I've laid out... +p4137 +aVNo, John. John, do you want me to answer or do you want to answer? How are we going to do this? Because, I've got to tell you the truth, even in New Jersey what you're doing is called rude. So... We've laid out a national energy plan that says that we should invest in all types of energy. I will tell you, you could win a bet at a bar tonight, since we're talking about fantasy football, if you ask who the top three states in America are that produce solar energy: California and Arizona are easy, but number three is New Jersey. Why? Because we work with the private sector to make solar energy affordable and available to businesses and individuals in our state. We need to make sure that we do everything across all kinds of energy: natural gas, oil, absolutely. But also where it's affordable, solar, wind in Iowa has become very affordable and it makes sense. That is the way we deal with global warming, climate change, or any of those problems, not through government intervention, not through government taxes, and for God's sake, don't send Washington another dime until they stop wasting the money they're already sending there. +p4138 +aVAnd \u2014 and \u2014 and I \u2014 you know, Ben is absolutely right in saying that what we don't need to do is to send more money to Washington, D.C. to fix this problem. And that's what you'll hear from Hillary Clinton \u2014 and I've already heard from her \u2014 is that, send more money in Social Security, send more money in Medicare taxes, send more money for Medicaid, and that's gonna solve the problem. What we know is we're living longer. That's a blessing. It's a blessing that we're living longer, so we have to increase the retirement age to reflect that blessing. We need to make sure that people understand, as Jeb said before, that if you've done extraordinarily well in this country, do you want them to take more out of your taxes now and think they're gonna give it back to you later? Or would you rather take less later on? +p4139 +aVI want to talk to the folks at home. I want to ask you: Are you fed up with how Washington taxes you? Are you fed up with how Washington wastes your money? Are you concerned like I am that the debt and deficits of Washington, D.C. are endangering America's future? I've got one more question for you then. Are you serious about this election? Because if you are, you need to elect someone who's deadly serious about changing this culture. I am deadly serious about changing this culture. I changed it in New Jersey. I'm deadly serious about doing this job the right way. I'm prepared. I'm tested. I'm ready. And I want to make this our government. For the people who say we can't do it, I say hell no, we can do it together. +p4140 +aVHi, my name is Chris Christie, and I'd like to you take the camera off me and put it on the audience because I'd like to ask all of you, how many of you, raise your hand, believe that in today's Barak Obama America your children will have a better life than you've had? You see? That's why I'm running for President. because leadership is not about me, it's about our country. And, what we talk about tonight, it's not about us, it's about the people in the audience tonight, because in seven short years this president has stripped away their trust, and their faith, and their belief that the next generation will have a better life. He's stolen that from us, and when I'm president, I'm going to take it back. +p4141 +aVWell, I know Ben wasn't talking about me, I'm sure he was talking about one of the other guys, not me. As far as being an outsider is concerned \u2014 as far as being an outsider is concerned, let me tell you this, Jake, I'm a Republican in New Jersey. I wake up every morning as an outsider. I wake up every morning with a Democratic legislature who trying to beat my head in and fight me because I'm trying to bring conservative change to a state that needed it desperately. And so, everyone can talk us here about their credentials. But the bottom line is, every morning I get up, I veto 400 bills from a crazy liberal Democratic legislature, not one of them has been overridden. I've vetoed more tax increases than any governor in American history, according to Americans for Tax Reform. What folks want in this country is somebody to go down there and get the job done. And that's exactly what I'll do. So, I know this much, that what the American people want to hire right now is somebody who believes in them. And believes that they are the ones who can fix our country. I will be the vessel through which they can fix this country, but it's not about me. It's about all of you. And getting this government off your back and out of your way, and letting you succeed. I know Ben wasn't talking about me. +p4142 +aVLook at him smiling at me right now. I know Ben didn't mean it about me. One of these other guys, I'm sure. +p4143 +aVBe honest, Ben, be honest. +p4144 +aVSee, Jake, it wasn't me. +p4145 +aVI was \u2014 +p4146 +aVShe is, and so if she, based on conscience, can't sign that \u2014 that marriage license, then there should be someone in her office to be able to do it, and if the law needs to be changed in the state of Kentucky, which is what she's advocating, it should be changed. +p4147 +aVAnd why don't we do the same thing with Planned Parenthood? +p4148 +aVWe elected a Republican Congress to do this. And they should be doing it, and they're not. And they're giving the president a pass. +p4149 +aVI put it in the list, Dana. We should be doing these things and forcing the president to take action. +p4150 +aVLet's force him to do what he says he's going to do. Now I don't know whether he'll do it or not, but let's force him to do it. +p4151 +aVFirst of, Jake, I don't yield to anybody on how to enforce the law. I'm the only person on this stage who spent seven years as a United States Attorney after September 11th, and I know how to do this. The fact is though that for 15,000 people a day to be deported every day for two years is an undertaking that almost none of us could accomplish given the current levels of funding, and the current number of law enforcement officers. Here's what we need to do, and I think this is where Donald is absolutely right. What we need to do is to secure our border, and we need to do it with more than just a wall. We need to use electronics, we need to use drones, we need to use FBI, DEA, and ATF, and yes, we need to take the fingerprint of every person who comes into this country on a visa, and when they overstay their visa, we need to tap them on the shoulder, and say, "You have overstayed your welcome, you're taking advantage of the American people. It's time for you to go." If we had that kind of system in place, we wouldn't have the 11 million people we have now. +p4152 +aVJake listen. While I'm as entertained as anyone by this personal back-and-forth about the history of Donald and Carly's career, for the 55-year-old construction worker out in that audience tonight who doesn't have a job, who can't fund his child's education, I've got to tell you the truth. They could care less about your careers, they care about theirs. Let's start talking about that on this stage and stop playing \u2014 and stop playing the games. Stop playing \u2014 +p4153 +aVJohn \u2014 I'm not done yet, John. +p4154 +aVStop \u2014 and stop playing \u2014 and Carly \u2014 Carly, listen. You can interrupt everybody else on this stage, you're not going to interrupt me, OK? The fact is that we don't want to hear about your careers, back and forth and volleying back and forth about who did well and who did poorly. You're both successful people. Congratulations. You know who's not successful? The middle class in this country who's getting plowed over by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Let's start talking about those issues tonight and stop this childish back-and-forth between the two of you. +p4155 +aVListen, you know, Hugh, it's an important point. And the question is, who is going to prosecute Hillary Clinton? The Obama White House seems to have in interest, the Justice Department seems to have no interest. I think it's time to put a former federal prosecutor on the same stage as Hillary Clinton. And I will prosecute her during those debates on that stage for the record we're talking about here. The fact she had a private email server in her basement, using national security secrets running through it, could have been hacked by the Russians, the Chinese, or two 18-year-olds on a toot (ph) wanting to have some fun. No one is answering that question from the Hillary Clinton campaign... +p4156 +aVYou know why? Because she knows she's wrong, and she cannot look in the mirror at herself, and she cannot tell the American people the truth. +p4157 +aVWell, Jake, I was named U.S. attorney by President Bush on September 10th, 2001. And that next day my wife Mary Pat did what she did every day, she traveled through the World Trade Center and went to her office two blocks from the World Trade Center. And after those planes hit, for five-and-a-half-hours after that, I couldn't reach her, didn't know whether she was dead or alive, and we had three children at the time, 8, 5 and 1. And I had to confront what so many thousands of others in my region had to confront, the idea I might become a single parent, the idea that my life and my children's life might be changed forever. We lost friends that day. We went to the funerals. And I will tell you that what those people wanted and what they deserved was for America to answer back against what had been done to them. And I support what President Bush did at that time, going into Afghanistan, hunting al Qaeda and its leaders, getting its sanctuary out of place, and making it as difficult around the world for them to move people and money. And then he went to prosecutors like us, and he said, never again. Don't prosecute these people after the crime is committed. Intervene before the crime happens. I absolutely believe that what the president did at the time was right. And I am proud to have been one of the people on the stage who was part of making sure that what Governor Bush said before was the truth. America was safe for those seven years and Barack Obama has taken that safety away from us. +p4158 +aVLet me say this, Jake, is that while that may have been a fine idea that Dr. Carson had, these people were out to kill us. I stood in that region with my family, and every time a plane went overhead in the weeks after that, people's heads jerked to the sky because they thought it was happening again. You do not need to go through subtle diplomacy at that point. That could be handled later on. What you need is a strong American leader who will take the steps that are necessary to protect our nation. That's what I would do as commander-in-chief in this circumstance. And that's what President George W. Bush did in 2001. +p4159 +aVJake, you brought my issue up. +p4160 +aVYou know, I enjoy the interplay. Thank you, gentlemen. I'll just say this, first off, New Jersey is the first state in the nation that now says if you are non-violent, non-dealing drug user, that you don't go to jail for your first offense. You go to mandatory treatment. You see, Jake, I'm pro-life. And I think you need to be pro-life for more than just the time in the womb. It gets tougher when they get out of the womb. And when they're the 16-year-old drug addict in the Florida county lockup, that life is just as precious as the life in the womb. And so, that's why I'm for rehabilitation, why I think the war on drugs has been a failure. But I'll end with this. That doesn't mean we should be legalizing gate way drugs. And if Senator Paul thinks that the only victim is the person, look at the decrease in productivity, look at the way people get used and move on to other drugs when they use marijuana as a gateway drug, it is not them that are the only victims. Their families are the victims too, their children are the victims too, and their employers are the victims also. That's why I'll enforce the federal law, while you can still put an emphasis on rehabilitation, which we've done in New Jersey. +p4161 +aVAnd Senator Paul knows that that's simply not the truth. In New Jersey, we have medical marijuana laws, which I supported and implemented. This is not medical marijuana. There's goes as much \u2014 a further step beyond. This is recreational use of marijuana. This is much different. And so, while he would like to use a sympathetic story to back up his point, it doesn't work. I'm not against medical marijuana. We do it in New Jersey. But I'm against the recreational use against marijuana. If he wants to change the federal law, get Congress to pass the law to change it, and get a president to sign it. +p4162 +aVNo, it's not. But with Donald, it's a good start. That's really good. No, listen. This is an issue that \u2014 that we've gotta talk about, and we haven't talked about yet. 71 percent of all federal spending is on entitlements and debt service. When John Kennedy was elected president in 1960, it was 26 percent. Harvard and Dartmouth says that Social Security's going to go insolvent in seven to eight years. So what I say is very simple. We need to save this program for the good people out there who have paid into the system and need it. And if that means making sure that folks like Donald and many of us on the stage don't get it, that's the right thing to do because here's what Hillary Clinton is going to want to do. She's going to want to put more money into a system that has already lied to us and stolen from us. This government doesn't need more money to make Social Security solvent. We need to be not paying out benefits to people who don't really need it. We need to protect the people who Social Security means the difference between picking between heat and rent and food. That's why I put out the proposal and that's the people I'm trying to... +p4163 +aVI don't think Senator Rubio is a skeptic of climate change. I think what Senator Rubio said I agree with. That in fact we don't need this massive government intervention to deal with the problem. Look at what we have done in New Jersey. We have already reached our clean air goals for 2020. And when I was governor, I pulled out of the regional cap and trade deal, the only state in the Northeast that did that. And we still reached our goals. Why? Because 53 percent of our electricity comes from nuclear. We use natural gas. We use solar power. We're the third-highest- using solar power state. You know why? Because we made all of those things economically feasible. I agree with Marco. We shouldn't be destroying our economy in order to chase some wild left-wing idea that somehow us by ourselves is going to fix the climate. We can contribute to that and be economically sound. We have proven we can do that in New Jersey. Nuclear needs to be back on the table in a significant way in this country if we want to go after this problem. +p4164 +aVI understand. No, no, listen, everybody makes a mistake every once in a while, Jake, even George Shultz. And if that's truly a representation of what he believes we should be doing, then with all due respect to the former secretary of state, I disagree with him. +p4165 +aVI think the Adams family has been shorted in the currency business. Our country wouldn't be here without John Adams, and he would not have been able to do it without Abigal Adams, so, I'd put Abigail Adams on the bill. +p4166 +aVYou know, I've been called a lot of names by a lot of different people, and now I got to get called by names by the Secret Service? I would just say True Heart. +p4167 +aVI turned 18 in 1980, and my first vote was for Ronald Reagan. Boy, am I glad I did it. And I think the country is, too. A Christie presidency won't be about me. It will be about you. Tonight, you sit at home in your living room, frustrated that you play by the rules, you pay the taxes, you do the hard things to raise your family, yet you feel like America's generosity is being taken advantage of. That you've been \u2014 system is being gamed, and that you're turning out to fall further and further behind. Our presidency \u2014 our presidency \u2014 will be about ending that, about enforcing the law, level the playing field for everybody, and once again reward those folks who play by the rules, and think that justice means more than just the word. But it means a way of life. And I will tell you this, around the world, I will not shake hands with, I will not meet with, and I will not agree to anything with a country that says death to us and death to Israel and holds our hostages while we sign agreements with them. It will be an America that be strong and resolute, and will once again be able to stick out its chest and say, "we truly are the greatest nation in the world, because we live our lives that way, each and every day." +p4168 +aVIf you think it's bad now, you should've seen it when I got there. The fact is -- the fact is, in the eight years before I became governor, taxes and fees were raised at the state level 115 times. In the eight years before I became governor, spending was increased 56 percent. And in the eight years before I become governor, taxes and fees were raised at the state level 115 times. In the eight years before I became Governor, spending was increased 56 percent, and in the eight years before I became governor, there was zero net private sector job growth in New Jersey. Zero. For eight years. So, what did we do? We came in, we balanced an $11 billion deficit on a $29 billion budget by cutting over 800 programs in the state budget. We brought the budget into balance with no tax increases. In fact, we vetoed five income tax increases during my time as governor. We cut business taxes $2.3 billion, and we cut regulation by one-third of what my predecessor put in place. And, what's happened since? A hundred ninety-two thousand private sector jobs in the five and a half years I've been governor. We have a lot of work to do in New Jersey, but I am darn proud we've brought our state back. +p4169 +aVYes, I do. And I'll tell you why: because I'm the only person on this stage who's actually filed applications under the Patriot Act, who has gone before the federal -- the Foreign Intelligence Service court, who has prosecuted and investigated and jailed terrorists in this country after September 11th. I was appointed U.S. attorney by President Bush on September 10th, 2001, and the world changed enormously the next day, and that happened in my state. This is not theoretical to me. I went to the funerals. We lost friends of ours in the Trade Center that day. My own wife was two blocks from the Trade Center that day, at her office, having gone through it that morning. When you actually have to be responsible for doing this, you can do it, and we did it, for seven years in my office, respecting civil liberties and protecting the homeland. And I will make no apologies, ever, for protecting the lives and the safety of the American people. We have to give more tools to our folks to be able to do that, not fewer, and then trust those people and oversee them to do it the right way. As president, that is exactly what I'll do. +p4170 +aVAnd -- and, Megyn? Megyn, that's a -- that, you know, that's a completely ridiculous answer. "I want to collect more records from terrorists, but less records from other people." How are you supposed to know, Megyn? +p4171 +aVWhat are you supposed to... +p4172 +aV...how are you supposed to -- no, I'll tell you how you, look... +p4173 +aVLet me tell you something, you go... +p4174 +aVWhen you -- you know, senator... +p4175 +aVListen, senator, you know, when you're sitting in a subcommittee, just blowing hot air about this, you can say things like that. When you're responsible for protecting the lives of the American people, then what you need to do is to make sure... +p4176 +aV...is to make sure that you use the system the way it's supposed to work. +p4177 +aVThere is no... +p4178 +aVAnd you know -- you know, Senator Paul? Senator Paul, you know, the hugs that I remember are the hugs that I gave to the families who lost their people on September 11th. Those are the hugs I remember, and those had nothing to do -- and those had nothing to do with politics, unlike what you're doing by cutting speeches on the floor of the Senate, then putting them on the Internet within half an hour to raise money for your campaign... +p4179 +aV...and while still putting our country at risk. +p4180 +aVYou know what, Megyn, can I... +p4181 +aVNo, he's not lying, he's just wrong. I mean, so, there's a difference -- I'm the only guy on this stage who's put out a detailed, 12 point plan on entitlement reform and here's why -- because 71% of federal spending right now is on entitlements, and debt service, 71%. And we have spent the last hour and five minutes talking about the other 29%, and no time on the 71%, and that makes no sense. Now, let me tell you exactly what we would do on Social Security. Yes, we'd raise the retirement age two years, and phase it in over 25 years, that means we'd raise it one month a year for 25 years when we're all living longer, and living better lives. Secondly, we would means test Social Security for those who are making over $200,000 dollars a year in retirement income, and have $4 to $5 million dollars in liquid assets saved. They don't need that Social Security check. Social Security is meant to be -- to make sure that no one who's worked hard, and played by the rules, and paid into the system grows old in poverty in America. If we don't deal with this problem, it will bankrupt our country, or lead to massive tax increases, neither one that we want in this country. +p4182 +aVChris... +p4183 +aVYeah, sure. And, I don't disagree with ending Congress' retirement program. I'm a governor, I don't have a retirement program in my state, and I don't disagree with that. But, here's the news to the American people, he's complaining about the lying and stealing. The lying and stealing has already occurred. The trust fund is filled with IOU's. We can't fix the problem just by ending Congress's retirement, that's worth about, "this" much. We need to go at the fundamental problem, and the fundamental problem is that this system is broken. It has been stolen from. We have been lied to, and we need a strong leader to tell the truth and fix... +p4184 +aVWell, listen. You know, if we want to deal with these issues, we have to deal with them in a way that makes sense. I agree with what Dr. Carson said earlier. The first thing we need to do to make America stronger is to strengthen our military, and I put out a really specific plan: no less than 500,000 active duty soldiers in the Army. No less than 185,000 active duty marines in the Marine Corps. Bring us to a 350 ship Navy again, and modernize the Ohio class of submarines, and bring our Air Force back to 2,600 aircraft that are ready to go. Those are the kind of things that are going to send a clear message around the world. Those are the things that we need to start working on immediately to make our country stronger and make it better. Those are the things that we need to be able to be doing. And as we move towards dealing with foreign aid, I don't disagree with Senator Paul's position that we shouldn't be funding our enemies. But I absolutely believe that Israel is a priority to be able to fund and keep them strong and safe after eight years of this administration. +p4185 +aVWell, thank you, Megyn. Listen, I was born into a middle class family in New Jersey. My dad came home from serving in the Army after having lost his father, worked in the Breyers ice cream plant in Newark, New Jersey. Was the first person to graduate from college. He put himself through college at night. My mom was a secretary. I was appointed United States attorney on September 10, 2001. And I spent the next seven years of my career fighting terrorism and putting terrorists in jail. I'm a conservative, pro-life governor in a state where it is really tough to be both. A state like New Jersey, with lots of Democrats, but still we cut taxes, we balanced budgets. We fought the teacher's union. This president has had weak leadership, which has led to bad choices. We have got to stop worrying about being loved and start worrying about being respected. And that's exactly how I'll lead our country. +p4186 +aVWell, first I want to share a story with you that relates to your question. I was in New Hampshire last week, and a woman approached me after the town hall meeting and she said to me, "Governor, I'm really concerned." I said, "What are your concerns?" And, she said, "I don't quite how to describe it," she said. "But, every month when my bills come in, I feel this awful anxiety in the pit of my stomach that I'm not going to have enough to pay them that month." There are tens of millions of Americans living that way after the worst recovery from an economic recession since World War II. And, let's be clear, if we do not change course, if we follow the President's lead, and that's exactly what Secretary Clinton will do, we're going to be in the same circumstance \u2014 with government picking the winners and losers. So, let me be clear about what we'll do. First, Make the tax code fairer, flatter, and simplier. Get rid of all the special interest deductions. You know, the American people feel like the tax code is rigged for the rich, and you know why they feel that way? Because it is. We'll get rid of all those special interest deductions except for the home mortgage interest deduction, and the charitable contribution deduction. Everyone will get lower rates, keep more of their own money, be able to file their tax returns in 15 minutes, and, by the way, the good thing, I'll be able to fire a whole bunch of IRS agents once we do that. And, in addition, we need to get the government off of our backs. Dodd-Frank, all the different regulations, 81,000 pages of new regulation by this administration just last year \u2014 it is suffocating small business, it is suffocating the folks who are trying to make a living. I will do what I did in New Jersey......lift if off their backs. +p4187 +aVYes, sure. If anybody believes the stuff they heard from that Democratic debate a few weeks ago, there's nothing for free. What they forgot to tell was that they're going to raise your tax rates to 70 or 80 percent in order to provide all of that stuff. But let me ask the folks at home one very simple question, do you want to give Washington more control over your life? Do you think they're doing such a great job that now let's have them control what our corporations pay their employees? Let's have them control every aspect of our economy? Is Washington doing that good a job for you right now? And the fact is that if you listen to Hillary Clinton, she has made it very clear, she believes that she can make decisions for you better than you can make them for yourself. She believes that Washington, D.C., should pick the winners and losers in our economy, and in our life. And here's what I believe as a Republican, I believe the greatness of America is not in its government. The greatness of America is in the American people. And what we need to do is get the government the hell out of the way and let the American people win once again. +p4188 +aVFirst off, let me, let me just say this in response to this back and forth. For the people who are out there right now, I want to guarantee you one thing real clearly. If you think that Mike Huckabee won't be the kind of President who will cut back spending, or Chris Christie, or John Kasich, wait 'til you see what Hillary Clinton will do to this country and how she will drown us in debt. She is the real adversary tonight and we'd better stay focused as Republicans on her. Now I've forward, I put forward an entitlement reform plan. We spend 71 cents of every dollar in America on entitlements and debt service, and if \u2014 you know, Willy Sutton used to say, when they asked him why he robbed banks, he said that's 'cause that's where the money is, OK? And where the money is in the federal government are these entitlement programs and debt service. What I've said is we need to get a hold of that. We cannot continue to go down the $19 trillion in debt. So our plan will save over $1 trillion over the next 10 years and make sure that Social Security and Medicare are there for those who truly need it and also make sure that we have money to be able to reduce taxes and spend on the things we need to spend. I will also, on my first day as \u2014 as president, sign a executive order that says no more regulation for the next 120 days by any government agency or department. We are drowning in regulations. Stop and then we'll go out there and we'll cut and reduce regulation that small business owners across this country want us to do. You'll grow the economy then. More money will come into the system and we'll get more closer to balance. But the bottom line is, believe me, Hillary Clinton's coming for your wallet, everybody. Don't worry about Huckabee or Jindal, worry about her. +p4189 +aVWell, let's start with this, remember why we're in the position we're in with China, because an absolutely weak and feckless foreign policy that was engineered by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. That's why we're in the position we're in......because the Chinese......the Chinese don't take us seriously and why should they? Why should they? They hacked into the American government's personnel file and took millions of records in cyberwarfare against this country. I'm one of the victims of that hack. They took my Social Security number, my fingerprints as a former United States attorney that was on file in there. And what has this president done? Not one thing. Let me be really clear about what I would do. If the Chinese commit cyberwarfare against us, they are going to see cyberwarfare like they have never seen before. And that is a closed society in China......where they're hiding information from their own people. The information we take, we'll make sure all the Chinese people see it. Then they'll have some real fun in Beijing when we start showing them how they're spending their money in China. And one last thing. One last thing. I will tell you this, they're building those artificial islands in the South China Sea and the president won't \u2014 up until recently, wouldn't sail a ship within 12 miles or fly a plane over it. I'll tell you this, the first thing I'll do with the Chinese is I'll throw \u2014 I'll fly Air Force One over those islands. They'll know we mean business. +p4190 +aVI'll tell you, Gerry, it's interesting, if you go to New Jersey, they'll call me lots of different things. A liberal is not one of them. Um, and......I would say this. I have great respect for Bobby's record in Louisiana. I think he's been a wonderful governor and I think he's provided outstanding leadership for that state and I respect him for what he's done. And I think that all of us deserve that same level of respect. And my point is this. You know, the differences between me and Bobby Jindal, we can talk about those, and obviously, Bobby wants to spent a lot of time tonight talking about that. I'll tell you what I want to talk about. I want to talk about what's going to happen to this country if we have another four years of Barack Obama's policies. And by the way, it will be even worse, because Hillary Clinton is running so far to the left to treaty to catch up to her socialist opponent, Bernie Sanders, it's hard to even see her anymore. The fact is \u2014 the fact is that we'd better be focused on it. And I'll tell you what I'll bring to the table, the fact that I've won in a blue state, that I've won in a state that has 750,000 more Democrats than Republicans......that I won in a state for reelection after governing as a pro-life conservative......and got 61 percent of the vote. That's the person you want on the stage prosecuting the case against Hillary Clinton. +p4191 +aVI don't... +p4192 +aV..Let me... +p4193 +aV...Let me just... +p4194 +aV...Sure. It's interesting. I complimented Bobby, imagine how much time he'd want if I actually criticized him. You know, the fact is, he's done \u2014 done a nice job down in Louisiana, and I don't have any problem with the job he's done. I've cut spending $2 billion dollars, except for our pension and health care in New Jersey, which was driven predominantly by Obamacare. We have reduce the number of employees we have on the state payroll by 15%, but, you know what? The people out there don't care about any of that. You know what they care about? They care about who's going to be able to beat Hillary Clinton......Who's going to keep their eye on the ball? I'm going to keep my eye on the ball. +p4195 +aVYeah, listen. We stopped Obamacare in New Jersey because we refused to participate in the federal exchange. But, here's the bigger issue. What do you think's going to happen when Hillary Clinton's elected president of the United States? The woman who tried to impose healthcare on this country over 20 years ago? And, she was stopped then by a strong group of republicans, and an American public that said, "No, thank you." What she will do \u2014 what she will do is move us towards a single payer system. She will completely nationalize the federal health care system. That's what she wanted to do 20 years ago, and I guarantee you that's what she'll do if you give her the keys to the White House one more time. The fact is we need someone who knows how to beat democrats, who knows how to beat democrats in a democratic area. I've done it twice as governor of New Jersey, and Hillary Clinton doesn't want one minute on that stage with me next September when I'm debating her, and prosecuting her for her vision for America... +p4196 +aVI'll continue in the pattern and just say... And just say this to everybody, since it seems to be an open question. I'll tell you the thing that disturbs me the most about what's going on with the Democratic Party in Washington, that they're not standing behind our police officers across this country. That they're allowing lawlessness... That they're allowing lawlessness to reign in this country. I spent seven years of my life in law enforcement, here's what every law enforcement, 700,000, should know tonight. When President Christie is in the Oval Office, I'll have your back. +p4197 +aVYes. You know, our tax plan puts forward a highest rate of 28 percent for those who are doing the most and making the most in this country and 8 percent on the low end. And I agree with Senator Santorum, we get rid of all of the deductions and loopholes, except for the home mortgage interest deduction and the charitable contribution deduction. That means getting rid of the state and local income tax deduction, as well, because that will put more pressure on governors and on local officials not to keep raising those taxes, saying we can deduct them. And so ours will be 28 on the high end, 8 on the low end. And I will tell you one other thing. Americans for Tax Reform came out with a report six weeks ago and said I vetoed more tax increases than any governor in American history. I will do exactly the same thing as president of the United States. +p4198 +aVGerry, this has been the most political Federal Reserve I've seen in my lifetime. Now, when they first cut interest rates during the economic recession and the crisis, that was the right thing to do. But they've kept those interest rates artificially low for one reason, and one reason only. Because they're trying to politically support Barack Obama and his agenda. And it's been wrong. And what it's done, in an administration where the President has talked about income inequality, he's had more income inequality in this administration than any previous administration. The middle class is doing worse than it's ever done before. And the investor class, the wealthy, are doing even better because of this cheap money from the Fed. And here's the worst part, we had one and a half percent GDP growth last quarter. If we slide back towards a recession, you cannot lower interest rates below zero. Where are we going to go if we need help if the economy slides back into recession? And with this government- controlled economy that Barack Obama, we're moving right towards it. The Fed should be audited and the Fed should stop playing politics with our money supply. That's what they've done. It's been the wrong thing to do. It's hurting the American economy. And......let me......let me add one other thing on this. Be very aware now, because what Hillary Clinton is talking about doing, if she's president of the United States, is to make sure that the government gets even more involved in the economy, even more involved in making choices for everybody. You do not want that to happen. You need someone who's going to stand up on that stage and prosecute the case against her and prosecute it strong. That's what I'll do. +p4199 +aVThe way to reconnect Americans to the men and women in uniform is to first, and foremost, give them a Commander in Chief who respects the military, and respects everyone who wears the uniform. Starts at the top there... And Secretary Clinton says, there's no crisis at the V.A.. That send a long, and hard message to our veterans that she doesn't get it, and she doesn't respect their service. When the President of the United States doesn't back up law enforcement officers in uniform, he loses the moral authority to any man or woman who is uniform. I spent seven years in law enforcement......I respect these folks, and I will do so as Commander in Chief of the military. +p4200 +aVI want to tell the American people who are watching tonight the truth. I saw the most disgraceful thing I've seen in this entire campaign a few weeks ago. Hillary Clinton was asked the enemy she's most proud of, and she said, "Republicans". In a world where we have Al-Qaeda, and +p4201 +asVCARSON +p4202 +(lp4203 +VThank you, Wolf. Please join me for a moment of silence and remembrance of the San Bernardino victims. Thank you. You know, our country since its inception has been at war, every 15 or 20 years. But the war that we are fighting now against radical Islamist jihadists is one that we must win. Our very existence is dependent upon that. You know, as a pediatric neurosurgeon, I frequently faced life and death situations, and had to come up with the right diagnosis, the right plan, and execute that plan frequently with other colleagues. Right now, the United States of America is the patient. And the patient is in critical condition and will not be cured by political correctness and will not be cured by timidity. And I am asking the Congress, which represents the people, to declare a war on +p4204 +aVFirst of all, let me just complain a little bit. This is the first time I've spoken and several people have had multiple questions so please try to pay attention to that. Now, as far as monitoring is concerned, what my point is, we need to make sure that any place \u2013 I don't care whether it's a mosque, a school, a supermarket, a theater, you know it doesn't matter. If there are a lot of people getting there and engaging in radicalizing activities then we need to be suspicious of it. We have to get rid of all this PC stuff. And people are worried about if somebody's going to say that I'm Islamophobic or what have you. This is craziness because we are at war. That's why I asked congress, go ahead and declare the war . We need to be on a war footing. We need to understand that our nation is in grave danger. You know, what the Muslim Brotherhood said in the explanatory memorandum that was discovered during the Holy Land Foundation Trial was that, "they will take advantage of our PC attitude to get us. :" We have to be better than this. We have to be smarter than they are. +p4205 +aVI think you have to ask them about that. I don't want to get in between them. Let them fight. +p4206 +aVNeurosurgeon. +p4207 +aVWell, interestingly enough, you should see the eyes of some of those children when I say to them we're going to have to open your head up and take out this tumor. They're not happy about it, believe me. And they don't like me very much at that point. But later on, they love me. Sometimes you \u2014 I sound like him. You know, later on, you know, they really realize what's going on. And by the same token, you have to be able to look at the big picture and understand that it's actually merciful if you go ahead and finish the job, rather than death by 1,000 pricks. +p4208 +aVYou got it. You got it. +p4209 +aVRuthless is not necessarily the word I would use, but tough, resolute, understanding what the problems are, and understanding that the job of the president of the United States is to protect the people of this country and to do what is necessary in order to get it done. +p4210 +aVFirst of all, I've been talking about this for over a year. We have to destroy their caliphate because that gives them legitimacy to go ahead with the global Jihad. We have to take their energy because they are \u2014 +p4211 +aVNo one is ever better off with dictators but there comes a time you know, when you're on an airplane, they always say, "in case of an emergency oxygen masks will drop down. Put yours on first and then administer help to your neighbor." We need oxygen right now. And we need to start thinking about the needs of the American people before we go and solve everybody else's problems. The fact of the matter is, is that the Middle East has been in turmoil for thousands of years. For us to think that we're going to in there and fix that with a couple of little bombs and a few little decorations is relatively foolish. +p4212 +aVWell, you know, there's a false narrative that only the political class has the wisdom and the ability to be commander-in- chief. But if you go back and you study the design of our country, it was really designed for the citizen statesman. And we need to be talking about where does your experience come from? You know, and I've had a lot of experience building things, organizing things, you know, a national scholarship program. One of the things that you'll notice if you look through my life is that I don't do a lot of talking. I do a lot of doing. And really, it says more about a person than how much they talk. And then some people say you're weak because, you know, you're not loud and you're not boisterous and you're not rude. But the fact of the matter is, look and see what I've done. And that speaks volumes about strength. +p4213 +aVWell, it was very interesting having an opportunity to talk to the Syrians themselves. And I asked them: What do you want? What is your supreme desire? Their supreme desire was to be settled back in their own country. I said, "What can Americans and other countries do?" They said, "Support the efforts of those who are trying to provide safety for us, including the Jordanians." Of course, they had a brand new hospital, for instance, that was unstaffed because there wasn't enough money to do it. But here's what's really neat. If you go into Hasakah province in northeast Syria, that's an area that's as big as Lebanon. It's controlled by the Kurds, the Christians and the moderate Sunnis. And there are airstrips and hotels. You could settle a lot of people there. All we would have to do is be willing to provide them with some weaponry, some defensive weaponry. And we seem to be afraid to give the Kurds weaponry. We like to send it for some strange reason through Baghdad, and then they only get a tenth of it. And if we would support them, we'd have a perfect ideal there. We don't need to set this up as we either take a bunch of refugees who will be infiltrated with terrorists, I guarantee you. For them not to be would be terrorist malpractice. And we need to \u2014 to choose the right choice, not these false choices. +p4214 +aVWell, I definitely believe that he is unstable, and I do, in fact, believe that China has a lot more influence with him than we do. But we also recognize that North Korea is in severe financial straits, and they have decided to use their resources to build their military, rather than to feed their people and to take care of the various humanitarian responsibilities that they have. We can capitalize upon that. You know, we should use our economic power in lots of different ways. I think we can use that in order to keep Putin contained, because he is a one-horse show. Energy. And we have an abundance of energy, but we have archaic energy exportation rules. We need to get rid of those, allow ourselves to really make Europe dependent on us and other parts of the world dependent on us for energy. Put him back in his little box where he belongs. And, you know, we need to be doing lots of other things with the resources that we have. So economic power works just as well as military power, perhaps even better. And speaking of that, our Military needs to be upgraded. You know, you look at things like our Ohio Class submarines, they're 25 years old. Our minuteman 3 missiles \u2014 they are 34 years old. Our B-52 bombers \u2014 50 years old. You know, if we don't get the military right nothing else matters. +p4215 +aVWell, you know, the statement that I made last week, that I would leave the party was contingent upon whether in fact the party acts like they have in the past with a lot of subterfuge and dishonesty, or like they're going act now because I spike to Reince Priebus, and he assured me that the Washington Post writer had it all wrong, and that they're not be engaging in anything to thwart the will of the people. That's why I got into this race, as a member of we the people, to try bring some honesty and integrity back to the process. +p4216 +aVI've been fortunate enough to travel to 58 different countries and I thank God everyday that I was born in this country. The most exceptional country that the world has ever known. And I want to make sure that we preserve that exceptionalism for the next generation. My mother told me if I work hard and I really believed in American principles and I believed in God, anything is possible. I believe that is true, and that's why I'm not anxious to give away American values and principles for the sake of political correctness. +p4217 +aVWell, first of all, delighted to be here. My family's here, and my little granddaughter, who's three years old, said she wanted to come to the debate. So this is very cool. As far as the minimum wage is concerned, people need to be educated on the minimum wage. Every time we raise the minimum wage, the number of jobless people increases. It's particularly a problem in the black community. Only 19.8 percent of black teenagers have a job, who are looking for one. You know, that \u2014 and that's because of those high wages. If you lower those wages, that comes down. You know, I can remember, as a youngster \u2014 you know, my first job working in a laboratory as a lab assistant, and multiple other jobs. But I would not have gotten those jobs if someone had to pay me a large amount of money. But what I did gain from those jobs is a tremendous amount of experience, and how to operate in the world and how to relate to different people, and how to become a responsible individual. And that's what gave me what I needed to ascend the ladder of opportunity in this country. That's what we need to be thinking about. How do we allow people to ascend the ladder of opportunity, rather than how do we give them everything and keep them dependent? +p4218 +aVI would not raise it. I would not raise it, specifically because I'm interested in making sure that people are able to enter the job market and take advantage of opportunities. +p4219 +aVWell, first of all, thank you not asking me what I said in the 10th grade. I appreciate that. +p4220 +aVThe fact of the matter is, you know, what \u2014 we should vet all candidates. I have no problem with being vetted. What I do have a problem with is being lied about and then putting that out there as truth. And I don't even mind that so much, if they do it about \u2014 with everybody, like people on the other side. But, you know, when I look at somebody like Hillary Clinton, who sits there and tells her daughter and a government official that no, this was a terrorist attack, and then tells everybody else that it was a video. Where I came from, they call that a lie. And... I think that's very different from, you know, somebody misinterpreting, when I said that I was offered a scholarship to West Point, that is the words that they used. But, I've had many people come and say the same thing to me. That is what people do in those situations. We have to start treating people the same, and finding out what people really think and what they're made of. People who know me know that I'm an honest person. +p4221 +aVWell, you know, when I say tithing, I'm talking about the concept of proportionality. +p4222 +aVEverybody should pay the same proportion of what they make. You make $10 billion, you pay a billion. You make $10, you pay one. You get same rights and privileges. I don't see how anything gets a whole lot fairer than that. But you also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes because that is the thing that tilts it in one direction or another. And you have to set the rate at an appropriate level. Now I will say that, there are a lot of people who say, if you get rid of the deductions, you ruin the American dream because, you know, home mortgage deduction. But the fact of the matter is, people had homes before 1913 when we introduced the federal income tax, and later after that started deductions. And they say there will be no more charitable giving. We had churches before that and charitable organizations before that. The fact of the matter is, I believe if you put more money in people's pockets that they will actually be more generous rather than less generous. And it's... ... the money that they earned. And, the other thing is, I do care about the poor people. And in the system that we're putting together, there will be a rebate for people at the poverty level. But I also want to emphasize the fact that as we get the economy moving, and I hope I get a question about how do we get the economy moving, there will be a lot more opportunities for poor people not to be poor people because this is America. This is the land of dreams. And our policies should be aimed at allowing people to realize that dream. +p4223 +aVWell, putting the special ops people in there is better than not having them there, because they \u2014 that's why they're called special ops, they're actually able to guide some of the other things that we're doing there. And what we have to recognize is that Putin is trying to really spread his influence throughout the Middle East. This is going to be his base. And we have to oppose him there in an effective way. We also must recognize that it's a very complex place. You know, the Chinese are there, as well as the Russians, and you have all kinds of factions there. What we've been doing so far is very ineffective, but we can't give up ground right there. But we have to look at this on a much more global scale. We're talking about global jihadists. And their desire is to destroy us and to destroy our way of life. So we have to be saying, how do we make them look like losers? Because that's the way that they're able to gather a lot of influence. And I think in order to make them look like losers, we have to destroy their caliphate. And you look for the easiest place to do that? It would be in Iraq. And if \u2014 outside of Anbar in Iraq, there's a big energy field. Take that from them. Take all of that land from them. We could do that, I believe, fairly easily, I've learned from talking to several generals, and then you move on from there. But you have to continue to face them, because our goal is not to contain them, but to destroy them before they destroy us. +p4224 +aVWell, I think we should have policies that don't allow them to just enlarge themselves at the expense of smaller entities. And certainly some of the policies, some of the monetary and Fed policies that we're using makes it very easy for them, makes it very easy for the big corporations, quite frankly, at these very low interest rates to buy back their stock and to drive the price of that up artificially. Those are the kinds of things that led to the problem in the first place. And I think this all really gets back to this whole regulation issue which is creating a very abnormal situation. This country was \u2014 declared its independence in 1776. In less than 100 years, it was the number-one economic power in the world. And the reason was because we had an atmosphere that encouraged entrepreneurial risk- taking and capital investment. Those are the fuels that drive it. And what we've done now is let the creep of regulation turn into a stampede of regulations, which is involved in every aspect of our lives. If we can get that out, it makes a big difference. And even for the average person, every single regulation costs money. And it's shifted to the individual. So \u2014 and it hurts the poor and the middle class much more than it does the rich. They go into the store and they buy a bar of soap, it costs 10 cents more, they notice it. And the middle class, when they come to the cash register, have a whole cart full of things that cost 5, 10 or 15 cents more, they notice it. It is hurting the poor. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton won't tell you that that's the thing that's really hurting middle class in the core. They'll say it's the rich, take their money, but that won't help. You can take all of the rich's money and it won't make a dent in the problem that we're having. We have to come back to the fundamental principles that made America great. +p4225 +aVI would have policies that wouldn't allow that to occur. I don't want to go in and tear anybody down. I mean, that doesn't help us. But what does help us is stop tinkering around the edges and fix the actual problems that exist that are creating the problem in the first place. +p4226 +aVIn the two hours of this \u2014 of this debate, five people have died from drug-related deaths, $100 million has been added to our national debt, 200 babies have been killed by abortionists, and two veterans have taken their lives out of despair. This is a narrative that we can change, not we the Democrats, not we the Republicans, but we the people of America, because there is something special about this nation, and we must embrace it and be proud of it and never give it away for the sake of political correctness. +p4227 +aVProbably in terms of the applying for the job of president, a weakness would be not really seeing myself in that position until hundreds of thousands of people began to tell me that I needed to do it. I do, however, believe in Reagan's 11th commandment, and will not be engaging in awful things about my compatriots here. And recognizing that it's so important, this election, because we're talking about America for the people versus America for the government. +p4228 +aVWell, first of all, I didn't say that the rate would be 10 percent. I used the tithing analogy. +p4229 +aVThe rate \u2014 the rate \u2014 the rate is gonna be much closer to 15 percent. +p4230 +aVYou also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes. You also have to some strategically cutting in several places. Remember, we have 645 federal agencies and sub-agencies. Anybody who tells me that we need every penny and every one of those is in a fantasy world. So, also, we can stimulate the economy. That's gonna be the real growth engine. Stimulating the economy \u2014 because it's tethered down right now with so many regulations... +p4231 +aVThat's not true. +p4232 +aVWhen \u2014 when we put all the facts down, you'll be able to see that it's not true, it works out very well. +p4233 +aVSince I was attacked too. +p4234 +aVLet me just say, if you're talking about an $18 trillion economy, you're talking about a 15 percent tax on your gross domestic product. You're talking about $2.7 trillion. We have a budget closer to $3.5 trillion. But if you also apply that same 15 percent to several other things, including corporate taxes, and including the capital gains taxes, you make that amount up pretty quickly. So that is not by any stretch a pie in the sky. +p4235 +aVWell, there is no question that some people go overboard when it comes to trying to make profits, and they don't take into consideration the American people. What we have to start thinking about, as leaders, particularly in government, is what can we do for the average American? And you think about the reasons that we're having such difficulty right now with our job market. Well, the average small manufacturer, whatever they're manufacturing, drugs or anything, if they have less than 50 employees, the average cost in terms of regulations is $34,000 per employee. Makes it a whole lot easier for them to want to go somewhere else. So what we're going to have to start doing instead of, you know, picking on this group or this group, is we're going to have to have a major reduction in the regulatory influence that is going on. The government is not supposed to be in every part of our lives, and that is what is causing the problem. +p4236 +aVWell, obviously, you don't understand my views on homosexuality. I believe that our Constitution protects everybody, regardless of their sexual orientation or any other aspect. I also believe that marriage is between one man and one woman. And there is no reason that you can't be perfectly fair to the gay community. They shouldn't automatically assume that because you believe that marriage is between one man and one woman that you are a homophobe. And this is one of the myths that the left perpetrates on our society, and this is how they frighten people and get people to shut up. You know, that's what the PC culture is all about, and it's destroying this nation. The fact of the matter is we the American people are not each other's enemies, it's those people who are trying to divide us who are the enemies. And we need to make that very clear to everybody. +p4237 +aVWell, that's easy to answer. I didn't have an involvement with them. That is total propaganda, and this is what happens in our society. Total propaganda. I did a couple of speeches for them, I do speeches for other people. They were paid speeches. It is absolutely absurd to say that I had any kind of a relationship with them. Do I take the product? Yes. I think it's a good product. +p4238 +aVIf somebody put me on their homepage, they did it without my permission. +p4239 +aVNo, it speaks to the fact that I don't know those \u2014 See? They know. +p4240 +aVWell, first of all, I was wrong about taking the oil subsidy. I have studied that issue in great detail. And what I have concluded is that the best policy is to get rid of all government subsidies, and get the government out of our lives, and let people rise and fall based on how good they are. And \u2014 you know, all of this too big to fail stuff and picking and choosing winners and losers \u2014 this is a bunch of crap, and it is really causing a great deal of \u2014 great deal of problems for our society right now. And \u2014 and \u2014 you know, it goes back to the whole concept of regulations, which are in everything. The reason that I \u2014 I hate them so much is because every single regulation costs in terms of goods and services. That cost gets passed on to the people. Now, who are the people who are hurt by that? It's poor people and middle class. Doesn't hurt rich people if their bar of soap goes up ten cents, but it hurts the poor and the middle class. And Bernie Sanders will tell them that it's because of the rich. Well, I'll tell you something: you can take everything from the top 1 percent, and you apply it to our fiscal gap, and you won't even make a dent in it. +p4241 +aVAbout Medicare? +p4242 +aVWell, first of all the \u2014 the plan gives people the option of \u2014 of opting out. But I think they will see a very good option here. You know, the annual Medicare budget is over $600 billion. And there are 48 million people involved \u2014 40 million, 65 and over, and 8 million other. Divide that out. That comes out to $12,500 for each one. Now, I can tell you there are a lot of private-sector things that you could do with $12,500, which will get you a lot more than you get from this government program. And that's really a theme of a lot of the things that I'm talking about. How do we utilize our intellect rather than allowing the government to use its, quote, "intellect," in order to help us to be able to live healthier and better lives? It was never intended that the government should be in every aspect of our lives. This is a country that is of, for and by the people. +p4243 +aVI just want to thank all my colleagues here for being civil, and not falling for the traps. And, I also just want to thank the audience for being attentive, and noticing the questions, and the noticing the answers. And, this is what I am finding throughout America. People are waking up because it is going to be us who will determine the direction of our country. And, it was made for we the people, we are the ones who decide who we are, and we should never give away the values and principles that made America into a great nation for the sake of political correctness. +p4244 +aVHi, I'm Ben Carson, and I'm a retired pediatric neurosurgeon. I'm here with my wife, Candy, of 40 years, and two of my sons, and their wives. I stress the pediatric part of my career because the reason that I've gotten involved in this race is because I'm very concerned about the future of our children, and the direction of our country is one that does not portend well, unless we, the people, intervene and retake our rightful place at the pinnacle. +p4245 +aVTypically, politicians do things that are politically expedient. And they are looking for whatever their particular goal is. That is not the reason that I have gotten into this thing. I'm extraordinary concerned about the direction of this country, the divisiveness that is going on, fiscal irresponsibility, the failure to take a leadership position in the world. All of those things will lead to a situation where the next generation will not have a chance that we've had now. So I don't \u2014 I don't want to really get into describing who's a politician and who's not a politician, but I think the people have kind of made that decision for themselves already, and will continue to do so as time goes on. +p4246 +aVJake, can I say something about that? +p4247 +aVYou know, when I entered this race, all the political pundits said it's impossible; you can't do it because you're not connected with the money. And there's no way that you can raise what you need in order to compete successfully. I in no way am willing to get in the bed with special interest group or lick the boots of billionaires. I have said to the people if they want me to do this, please get involved. And we now have over 500,000 donations, and the money is coming in. But the pundits forgot about one thing, and that is the people. And they are really in charge. +p4248 +aVWell, first of all, I recognize that we have an incredible illegal immigration problem. I was down in Arizona a few weeks ago at the border. I mean, the fences that were there were not manned, and those are the kind of fences when I was a kid that would barely slow us down. So, I don't see any purpose in having that. Now, what we need to do is look at something that actually works. Yuma County, Arizona. They stop 97 percent of the illegal immigrants through there. They put in a double fence with a road so that there was quick access by the enforcement people. If we don't seal the border, the rest of this stuff clearly doesn't matter. It's kind of ridiculous all the other things we talk about. We have the ability to do it, we don't have the will to do it. There was one area where they had cut a hole in the fence, and to repair it, they put a few strands of barb wire across. Well, the photographers who were there with us, they wanted to photograph us from the side of the Mexicans, and they went through there, and they were not physically fit people, and they took their cameras and things with them, and shot us from the other side. That's how easy it is to get across. And, the drugs, I mean, it goes on, and on, and on. ICE tells them to release these people, 67,000 criminals released... +p4249 +aV...on to our property, it's ridiculous. +p4250 +aVWell, I have also said, if anybody knows how to do that, that I would be willing to listen. And, if they can, you know, specify exactly how that's going to be done, and what the cost, and it sounds reasonable, then I think it's worth discussing... +p4251 +aVNot exactly what I said. +p4252 +aVWell, what I said, after we seal the borders, after we turn off the spigot that dispenses all the goodies so we don't have people coming in here, including employment, that people who had a pristine record, we should consider allowing them to become guest workers, primarily in the agricultural sphere, because that's the place where Americans don't seem to want to work. That's what I said. And they have a six-month period to do that. If they don't do it within that time period, then they become illegal, and as illegals, they will be treated as such. +p4253 +aVCan I \u2014 can I \u2014 can I just... +p4254 +aVCan I correct... +p4255 +aVOK. +p4256 +aVMy plan is not amnesty for a number of reasons. Number one, you know, I've talked to farmers, and they said they cannot hire Americans to do the kind of job that I'm talking about. And the second reason is because the individuals who register as guest workers, they don't get to vote, they are not American citizens, and they don't get the rights and privileges of American citizens. So that's key. But the other thing that I want to bring up is, I mentioned something earlier. I think it was just sort of glossed over. I talked about the success in Yuma County, I mean, incredible success, and the Department of Justice said, "No, we don't want to do that. That's too successful." We don't have to keep reinventing the wheel. All we have to do is look at things that work. All we have to do is use a little common sense. +p4257 +aVIt's all about America. You know, the people who say the guy who paid a billion dollars because he had 10, he has still got $9 billion left, that's not fair, we need to take more of his money. That's called socialism. That doesn't work so well. What made America into a great nation was the fact that we said, that guy just put in $1 billion, let's create an environment that's even more conducive to his success so that next year he can put in $2 billion. And that's the kind of thing that helps us to grow. We can't grow by continuing to take a piece of pie, and dividing it, and redistributing it. But, I'm also looking at what doctor \u2014 at what Governor Huckabee talked about... +p4258 +aVThe Fair Tax. Looking at both of them, and evaluating them both, and I'm talking to the American people because one of the things we must recognize is that this country is of, for, and by the people. And, it's really time that the government get out of the way, and let the people be the ones who decide how they want to run their country. +p4259 +aVWell, first of all, let me say what I actually said about raising the minimum wage. I was asked should it be raised, I said, probably, or possibly. But, what I added, which I think is the most important thing, so, I said we need to get both sides of this issue to sit down, and talk about it. Negotiate a reasonable minimum wage, and index that so that we never have to have this conversation again in the history of America. I think we also have to have two minimum wages, a starter, and a sustaining because how are young people ever going to get a job if you have such a high minimum wage that it makes it impractical to hire them... +p4260 +aVJake, Jake... +p4261 +aVI haven't had an opportunity to weigh in on foreign policy, and I just want to mention that when the war, when the issue occurred in 2003, I suggested to President Bush that he not go to war? OK. So I just want that on the record. And, you know, a lot of people are very much against us getting involved right now with global jihadism. And they refer back to our invasion of Iraq. And they seem to think that that was what caused it. What caused it was withdrawing from there and creating a vacuum which allowed this terrible situation to occur. But it is very different from what is going on today. We're talking about global jihadists who actually want to destroy us. They are an existential threat to our nation. And we have to be mature enough to recognize that our children will have no future if we put our heads in the sand. We have to recognize we have two choices. We either allow them the continue to progress and appear to be the winners, or we use every resource available to us to destroy... +p4262 +aV... them first. +p4263 +aVWell, recognize that, you know, President George W. Bush is a great friend of ours, and we spent many wonderful days at the White House. I haven't been there in the last seven years. I probably have to have a food-tester. But at any rate, I didn't suggest that nothing be done. What I suggested to President Bush is to be Kennedy-esque, in the sense that when the Russians got ahead of us in the space race, what we did is use the bully pulpit to galvanize everybody, business, industry, academia behind a national goal to put a man on the moon and bring him back safely. I said, you can do the same kind of thing. Declare that within five to 10 years we will become petroleum independent. The moderate Arab states would have been so concerned about that, they would have turned over Osama bin Laden and anybody else you wanted on a silver platter within two weeks. There are smart ways to do things and there are muscular ways to do things. And sometimes you have to look at both of those to come up with the right solution. +p4264 +aVI have no argument with having a strong leader, and to be aggressive where aggression is needed. But it is not needed in every circumstance. There is a time when you can use your intellect to come up with other ways to do things. And I think that's what we have to start thinking about. There is no question that a lot of these problems that we have been talking about in terms of the international situation is because we are weak. It is because our Navy is so small. It is because our Air Force is incapable of doing the same things that it did a few years ago. It's because our Marines Corps is not ready to be deployed. +p4265 +aVThere are a lot of problems that are going on, and we need to solve those problems, we need to build up our military... +p4266 +aVWell, let me put it this way, there has \u2014 there have been numerous studies, and they have not demonstrated that there is any correlation between vaccinations and autism. This was something that was spread widely 15 or 20 years ago, and it has not been adequately, you know, revealed to the public what's actually going on. Vaccines are very important. Certain ones. The ones that would prevent death or crippling. There are others, there are a multitude of vaccines which probably don't fit in that category, and there should be some discretion in those cases. But, you know, a lot of this is \u2014 is \u2014 is pushed by big government. And I think that's one of the things that people so vehemently want to get rid of, big government. You know, we have 4.1 million federal employees. Six hundred and fifty federal agencies and department (sic). That's why they have to take so much of our taxes. +p4267 +aVWell, you know, I've just explained it to him. He can read about it if he wants to. I think he's an intelligent man and will make the correct decision after getting the real facts. +p4268 +aVHe's an OK doctor. But, you know, the fact of the matter is, we have extremely well-documented proof that there's no autism associated with vaccinations. But it is true that we are probably giving way too many in too short a period of time. And a lot of pediatricians now recognize that, and, I think, are cutting down on the number and the proximity in which those are done, and I think that's appropriate. +p4269 +aVI'd put my mother on there. You know, she was one of 24 children, got married at age 13, had only a third grade education, had to raise two sons by herself, refused to be a victim. Wouldn't let us be victims, and has been an inspiration to many people. +p4270 +aVOne Nation. +p4271 +aVWell, you know, I was a radical Democrat before I started listening to Ronald Reagan. And he didn't sound like what they said Republicans were. He sounded logical. And I hope that I sound logical also. Because when I look at what is going on with the United States of America, I see a lot of things that are not logical. I see us allowing people to divide us, when in fact our strength is in our unity. I see people exercising the most irresponsible fiscal habits that anyone could possibly do. And hiding it from the American people, so that the majority of people have no idea what our financial situation is. So, when someone comes along and says, free college, free phones, free this and that, and the other, they say, "wow, that's nice," having no idea that they're destabilizing our position. And I think also that Ronald Reagan was a master at understanding that a pinnacle nation has to be a nation that leads. If we learn to lead in the Middle East right now, a coalition will form behind us, but never they do it if we just sit there and talk about it. Real leadership is what I would hopefully bring to America. +p4272 +aVWell, I could take issue with -- with all of those things, but we don't have time. But I will say, we have a debate here tonight, and we will have an opportunity to explore those areas, and I'm looking very much forward to demonstrating that, in fact, the thing that is probably most important is having a brain, and to be able to figure things out and learn things very rapidly. So, you know, experience comes from a large number of different arenas, and America became a great nation early on not because it was flooded with politicians, but because it was flooded with people who understood the value of personal responsibility, hard work, creativity, innovation, and that's what will get us on the right track now, as well. +p4273 +aVWell, thank you, Megyn, I wasn't sure I was going to get to talk again. +p4274 +aVAlright. You know, what we do in order to get the information that we need is our business, and I wouldn't necessarily be broadcasting what we're going to do. We. . .uh. . .we've gotten into this -- this mindset of fighting politically correct wars. There is no such thing as a politically correct war. And, the left, of course, will say Carson doesn't believe in the Geneva Convention. Carson doesn't believe in fighting stupid wars. And -- and what we have to remember is we want to utilize the tremendous intellect that we have in the military to win wars. And I've talked to a lot of the generals, a lot of our advanced people. And believe me, if we gave them the mission, which is what the commander-in-chief does, they would be able to carry it out. And if we don't tie their hands behind their back, they will do it......extremely effectively. +p4275 +aVWhat I agree with is that we need a significantly changed taxation system. And the one that I've advocated is based on tithing, because I think God is a pretty fair guy. And he said, you know, if you give me a tithe, it doesn't matter how much you made. If you've had a bumper crop, you don't owe me triple tithes. And if you've had no crops at all, you don't owe me no tithes. So there must be something inherently fair about that. And that's why I've advocated a proportional tax system. You make $10 billion, you pay a billion. You make $10, you pay one. And everybody gets treated the same way. And you get rid of the deductions, you get rid of all the loopholes, and... +p4276 +aVAnd I have a lot more to say about it. +p4277 +aVIf Hillary is the candidate, which I doubt, that would be a dream come true. But you know, the fact of the matter is, she is the epitome of the progressive -- the secular progressive movement. And she counts on the fact that people are uninformed, the Alinsky Model, taking advantage of useful idiots. Well, I just happen to believe that people are not stupid. And the way I will come at it is to educate people, help people to actually understand that it is that progressive movement that is causing them the problems. You know, you look at the -- the national debt and how it's being driven up. If I was trying to destroy this country, what I would do is find a way to drive wedges between all the people, drive the debt to an unsustainable level, and then step off the stage as a world leader and let our enemies increase while we decreased our capacity as a military person. And that's what she's doing. +p4278 +aVWell, what we have to stop and think about is that we have weakened ourselves militarily to such an extent that if affects all of our military policies. Our Navy is at its smallest size since 1917; our Air Force, since 1940. In recent testimony, the commandant of the Marine Corps said half of the non-deployed units were not ready and you know, the sequester is cutting the heart out of our personnel. Our generals are retiring because they don't want to be part of this, and at the same time, our enemies are increasing. Our -- our friends can't trust us anymore. You know, Ukraine was a nuclear-armed state. They gave away their nuclear arms with the understanding that we would protect them. We won't even give them offensive weapons. You know, we turned our back on Israel, our ally. You know, in a situation like that, of course Obama's not going to be able to do anything. I would shore up our military first, because if you don't get the military right, nothing else is going to work. +p4279 +aVWell, I think the bully pulpit is a wonderful place to start healing that divide. You know, we have the purveyors of hatred who take every single incident between people of two races and try to make a race war out of it, and drive wedges into people. And this does not need to be done. What we need to think about instead -- you know, I was asked by an NPR reporter once, why don't I talk about race that often. I said it's because I'm a neurosurgeon. And she thought that was a strange response. And you say -- I said, you see, when I take someone to the operating room, I'm actually operating on the thing that makes them who they are. The skin doesn't make them who they are. The hair doesn't make them who they are. And it's time for us to move beyond that. Because......our strength as a nation comes in our unity. We are the United States of America, not the divided states. And those who want to destroy us are trying to divide us, and we shouldn't let them do it. +p4280 +aVWell, I haven't said anything about me being the only one to do anything, so let me try that. I'm the only one to separate Siamese twins... The -- the only one to operate on babies while they were still in mother's womb, the only one to take out half of a brain, although you would think, if you go to Washington, that someone had beat me to it. But I -- but I'm very hopeful that I'm not the only one who's willing to pick up the baton of freedom, because freedom is not free, and we must fight for it every day. Every one of us must fight for it, because we're fighting for our children and the next generation. +p4281 +asVQUINTANILLA +p4282 +(lp4283 +VGood evening, I'm Carl Quintanilla, with my colleagues Becky Quick and John Harwood. We'll be joined tonight by some of +p4284 +aVGovernor? +p4285 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p4286 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Bush. +p4287 +aVSenator Rubio. +p4288 +aVMr. Trump? +p4289 +aVDr. Carson? +p4290 +aVMrs. Fiorina? +p4291 +aVFixed it. +p4292 +aVSenator Cruz? +p4293 +aVGovernor Christie? +p4294 +aVSenator Paul? +p4295 +aVThanks to all the candidates. John? +p4296 +aVHold it. We'll cut it back to you in just a minute. Becky's moving on. +p4297 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor. thank you, Governor. +p4298 +aVMr. Trump, 30 seconds. +p4299 +aVThank you, Governor. +p4300 +aVWe're going to try to move on. +p4301 +aVYou want to bring 70,000 pages to three? +p4302 +aVIs that using really small type? +p4303 +aVIs that using really small type? +p4304 +aVMrs. Fiorina \u2014 +p4305 +aVWe're going to \u2014 +p4306 +aVWe will come around the bend, i promise. This one is for Senator Rubio. You've been a young man in a hurry ever since you won your first election in your 20s. You've had a big accomplishment in the Senate, an immigration bill providing a path to citizenship the conservatives in your party hate, and even you don't support anymore. Now, you're skipping more votes than any senator to run for president. Why not slow down, get a few more things done first or least finish what you start? +p4307 +aVSo when the Sun-Sentinel says Rubio should resign, not rip us off, when they say Floridians sent you to Washington to do a job, when they say you act like you hate your job, do you? +p4308 +aVWell, do you hate your job? +p4309 +aVIs that the standard? +p4310 +aVSenator, thank you. John. +p4311 +aVThank you, Senator. +p4312 +aVSenator Cruz. Congressional Republicans, Democrats and the White House are about to strike a compromise that would raise the debt limit, prevent a government shutdown and calm financial markets that fear of \u2014 another Washington-created crisis is on the way. Does your opposition to it show that you're not the kind of problem-solver American voters want? +p4313 +aV do we get credit ? +p4314 +aVSo, this is a question about , which you have 30 seconds left to answer, should you choose to do so. +p4315 +aVOK. I asked you about the debt limit and I got no answer. +p4316 +aVWe promised we would get to everyone this block. Governor Huckabee, I'm going to give you 60 seconds on this. +p4317 +aV...Governor... +p4318 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p4319 +aV...Senator Cruz... +p4320 +aVOK, alright. +p4321 +aVSenator Cruz... +p4322 +aV...Before we go to break, we're clearly not having that beer you mentioned, but I'll give you 30 more seconds... +p4323 +aVOK. +p4324 +aVI'll give you 30 seconds to respond... +p4325 +aVRespond on the debt limit, or an answer to the governor, which ever you choose. +p4326 +aV30 seconds, Governor Huckabee. +p4327 +aVGovernor, thank you. We will take a break. The Republican Presidential debate, live from Boulder, Colorado, coming back after a break on +p4328 +aVMrs. Fiorina, in 2010, while running for Senate in Tech Ridge (ph), California, you called an Internet sales tax a bad idea. Traditional brick and mortar stores obviously disagree. Now that the Internet shopping playing field has matured, what would be a fair plan to even that playing field? +p4329 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p4330 +aVOK. +p4331 +aVThank you very much. +p4332 +aVDr. Carson, we know you as a physician, but we wanted to ask you about your involvement on some corporate boards, including Costco's. Last year, a marketing study called the warehouse retailer the number one gay-friendly brand in America, partly because of its domestic partner benefits. Why would you serve on a company whose policies seem to run counter to your views on homosexuality? +p4333 +aVOne more question. This is a company called Mannatech, a maker of nutritional supplements, with which you had a 10-year relationship. They offered claims that they could cure autism, cancer, they paid $7 million to settle a deceptive marketing lawsuit in Texas, and yet you're involvement continued. Why? +p4334 +aVTo be fair, you were on the homepage of their website with the logo over your shoulder \u2014 +p4335 +aVDoes that not speak to your vetting process or judgment in any way. +p4336 +aVApparently. We will take a break. We'll be back in Boulder in just a minute. +p4337 +aV...We'll come back around. I want to get to governor Kasich. +p4338 +aVGovernor Kasich, let's talk ... +p4339 +aV...about Marijuana, Governor Kasich... +p4340 +aVAlright, but 30 seconds, you made a case. Sure, 30 seconds. +p4341 +aVSenator, thank you. +p4342 +aVOh, no, no, no... +p4343 +aV...Ok... +p4344 +aV...We're going to go to... +p4345 +aVOK. Thank you, Senator. Governor Kasich, let's talk about marijuana. We're broadcasting from Colorado which has seen $150 million in new revenue for the state since legalizing last year. Governor Hickenlooper is not a big fan of legalization, but he's said the people who used to be smoking it are still smoking it, they're just now paying taxes. Given the budget pressures in Ohio, and other states, is this a revenue stream you'd like to have? +p4346 +aVThank you, Governor. +p4347 +aVThank you. We'll be back from Boulder, Colorado in just a moment. +p4348 +aVMr. Trump, you've said you have a special permit to carry a gun in New York. +p4349 +aVAfter the Oregon mass shooting on October 1st, you said, "By the way, it was a gun-free zone. If you had a couple of teachers with guns, you would have been a hell of a lot better off." +p4350 +aVWould you feel more comfortable if your employees brought guns to work? +p4351 +aVAre you carrying one now? +p4352 +aVWe called a few Trump resorts, a few Trump properties that \u2014 that do not allow guns with or without a permit. Would you change those policies? +p4353 +aVOK. All right. Thank you. John? +p4354 +aVGovernor Bush, daily fantasy sports has become a phenomenon in this country, will award billions of dollars in prize money this year. But to play you have to assess your odds, put money at risk, wait for an outcome that's out of your control. Isn't that the definition of gambling, and should the Federal Government treat it as such? +p4355 +aVI had a feeling you were going to brag about that. +p4356 +aVThis is the\u2014 well, we're going to take a break. We want to save time for closing statements after the break. So this is the Republican presidential debate in Boulder, and we'll be right back. +p4357 +aVSenator Rubio... +p4358 +aV...yeah, I just wanted . +p4359 +aVI want to give you 30 seconds here. +p4360 +aVThat concludes tonight's debate. On behalf of my colleagues Becky Quick, John Harwood, Sharon Epperson, Rick Santelli and Jim Cramer, we'd like to our host, the University of Colorado at Boulder, the Republican National Committee, the candidates and, of course, tonight's audience. +p4361 +aV...Question, in the meantime, for Senator Santorum. You have advocated a flat tax, so we'd like to ask you about fairness. Why is it fair to tax all Americans at the same rate, as opposed to taxing more affluent Americans at higher rates? +p4362 +aVSenator, thank you. John \u2014 Becky? +p4363 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live in boulder, Colorado, on cNBC. We resume our questions now with Jim Cramer, the host of +p4364 +aVSenator Graham. You have said you believe that climate change is real. You've said you accept tax increases as part of a budget deal with Democrats. You've co-sponsored a Senate immigration bill providing a path to citizenship for those in the country illegally. Are you in the wrong party's debate? +p4365 +aVMy question for Governor Jindal, Paul Ryan says he would take the speaker job if it did not take away from his family time. The Department of Labor says 13 percent of American workers are eligible for paid family leave and the U.S. is the only developed nation in the world not to have guaranteed paid maternity leave for new moms. Should the government work to change that? +p4366 +aVGovernor, thank you. John? +p4367 +ag3248 +aVWelcome back to the University of Colorado, and the Republican Presidential Debate on +p4368 +aVWell, let's get to that. I mean, another example, for example, is Walgreens. +p4369 +aVI'm sure you do. Walgreens/Rite Aid. Big deal, consolidation in drug stores, semiconductors, food. What is the line at which something becomes anti-competitive in your view? +p4370 +aVSenator. +p4371 +aVThank you. Becky. +p4372 +aVQuestion for Senator Santorum. +p4373 +aVAfter this question maybe. The 2015 Nobel Prize winner for economics argues that slow growth causes poverty, and that leads to inequality. What would you do to ease inequality? And what would you do solve poverty? By the way, thanks to Larry Kudlow, +p4374 +aVGovernor Jindal, I'll give you 30 seconds on this. +p4375 +aVWe've got one more. One more lightning round. Governor Jindal, should the day after the Super Bowl be a national holiday? +p4376 +aVSenator? +p4377 +aVGovernor? +p4378 +aVFinally, Senator? +p4379 +aVThat concludes our first part of the evening. +p4380 +asVGILMORE +p4381 +(lp4382 +VWell, Bill, can I first... +p4383 +aVWell, first of all, Bill, let me say one thing, I have been in Iowa. But this is not the place where I'm choosing to begin my campaign. I am beginning my campaign in New Hampshire and I decided to do that based upon the process that is in place in Iowa and the primary that's in place in New Hampshire. But never mind that, I want to return to something. I'm the only veteran, Bill and Martha in this race. And I'm not going to any Donald Trump event over across town on some sort of faux veteran sort of issue. I'm going to speak to you tonight about the issue that really confronts veterans. I'm going to talk to you about the concerns that they have got with the veterans administration. The lousy appeals process that they have got. The fact that sometimes they get good service at the V.A. and sometimes they don't and the fact that post traumatic stress syndrome is not properly recognized. That psychology positions are unavailable in the Veterans Administration. And I will say this to you -- as the only veteran in -- in this race, when I become president of the United States, the veterans are going to be treated with respect and competently in success in the Veterans' Administration in this country. +p4384 +aVFirst of all, Bill, I think that Gitmo ought to remain open. But I also want to point out to you that what you are saying is the exact right topic to all of these other candidates. And that's this international challenge that we are facing, the international war that America is in, even to this day. And I'm the candidate who is best qualified to deal with this issue. A degree in foreign policy in Russian area studies. I'm the only United States Army veteran having gone to Europe during the Cold War as United States Army Intelligence agent, the governor during the 9/11 attack, the chairman of the National Commission on Homeland Security for the United States for five years. And this is what I will do. If I become the president, I'm going to rebuild the United States military. We're going to take the sequester off the defense budget. Give the Navy the ships it needs. Refit the United States Army. Refit the United States Marine Corps. And on this international guerrilla war, we need to recognize our Special Forces, our intelligence community, and the people that we need in order to really protect us. And finally, this war of ideas, we must win this. We must say to the world that radical Islamism is the threat. It isn't just confined to +p4385 +aVHey, did you miss me? Did you skip me? +p4386 +aVI'm going to have something to say about this, but you just keep going. +p4387 +aVYes, I'll be there. +p4388 +aVYou know, Martha, it may be out of the barn in that the Iranians may be moving towards a nuclear program, because this nuclear deal actually gives them a time frame up the road when they are going to be able to do that kind of program. And that's very dangerous because it means people in the Middle East have to begin to react to that right now. The United States, I think, has to continue to exercise its influence in the Middle East, stay active, and not do this pull-back type of program that we are seeing all over the place with President Obama, which is creating this kind of danger. The world is a more dangerous place now than when I was an intelligence agent. We have not only this international guerrilla war but also these challenges from these other countries as well. But, Martha, I want to say one more thing to you and Bill. I disagree with Carly Fiorina when she says that it's just a political class in Washington. The truth is that the country has changed. And there are powerful forces at this point that are really controlling our lives. And that's why people are so angry. One of those is government, which is regulating everything through the Environmental Protection Agency, through other places. But the biggest one is the organized establishment media. And I just noticed just now you gave Carly Fiorina two one-minute answers in a row. This media across the country is manipulating and shaping and framing this campaign and has been for at least a year now in order to get the kind of choices that people are going to have an opportunity to see. This is wrong. It has to change. And when I'm president, it's going to change. +p4389 +aVI'll take it. +p4390 +aVMartha, I just visited a community mental health clinic in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, just three days ago, as a matter of fact. And when I was governor of Virginia, I tried to move more of those resources into the community, which will give us the facilities and the abilities to begin to identify people who actually might be dangerous and who abuse Second Amendment rights. But I do believe this is one of the really principle issues in this campaign. The president and Hillary Clinton are working very hard to change the culture of this country in order to put us in a position where we can't exercise Second Amendment rights. That's wrong. I am a board member of the National Rifle Association. The reason I'm a board member is because I believe that individuals in this country can be trusted to exercise their rights under the Second Amendment and under the Bill of Rights. To take away people's Second Amendment rights is to redefine the individual in the society, and I'm not going to put up with it. As President of the United States, when Jim Gilmore's President of the United States, I can tell you this. Gun control is not going to be an issue. If gun control... ... comes to the President's desk when I'm president, I'll veto it as fast as it takes Hillary Clinton to eliminate her emails. +p4391 +aVYou know Bill, that raises, I think, the question of the future of the Republican party. The question is -- first of all, I stand second to no one in standing up to radical Islamism. I understand that +p4392 +aVWell, thank you very much, Bill. And, thank you, and Fox and Google for including me in this debate tonight. I think it's been a wonderful opportunity. I'm the son of a meat cutter. My father worked for Safeway stores for 45 years. My mother was a secretary, she ended her career as the Secretary for the Methodist Bishop. I didn't have a father that could give me a million dollar loan to start my business. But, my father did talk character, and he provided for his family, and he was a wonderful example. And, I'm not about to go across town tonight to carry the coat for some billionaire. Instead, I intend to run for President of the United States, speak to the issue of this international war, and challenge that we're in. This issue of veterans rights, and the issue of Second Amendment rights, and I ask for your support... +p4393 +aVI think the times are different now. I think the times are much more serious. Because Obama and Clinton policies, the United States is moving further and further into a decline. I want to reverse that decline. That's why I've entered this race, and I think I have the experience to do it. Former elected prosecutor, attorney general, governor, I was elected to all of those offices. A person who, in fact, has a long experience in foreign-policy issues, which is different from many of the other governors and prospective governors who are running. I was an Army intelligence agent and a veteran during the Cold War, assigned to West Germany. I was the chairman of the National Commission on Homeland Security and Terrorism for the United States for five years. I was a person who has dealt extensively with these homeland security issues. I was a governor during the 9/11 attack. I understand both of these issues, how to build the economy and doing that as a governor who'd built jobs, had cut taxes and also a governor who understands foreign-policy, and that's why I entered this race. +p4394 +aVWell, yes, indeed. I chaired the National Commission on Homeland Security Committee for United States. We warned about the 9/11 attack before the 9/11 attack occurred. I was the governor during the 9/11 attack when the Pentagon was struck. And I'm going to tell you this, we need to use the benefit of our law enforcement people across this country, combined with our intelligence people across this country. We need to use our technological advantages, because what we've warned of is an international guerrilla movement that threatens this country. It's going to happen in this country, there are going to be further attacks. We have to be prepared to defend the American people, prepare them for a long war, stand up for the defense of this country, and stand up for the values of this country... +p4395 +aVI'll tell them that we're going to grow the economy so that we can give people better opportunities so they don't have to rely exclusively on benefit types of programs. Some do, but many Americans are dying to have an opportunity to grow and to create something inside this economy. And I'm glad that I have a chance to answer this question. I've had the growth code (ph) there for about five years, and it's this specific program. We're going to do a tax cut for all Americans. We're going to have a three-bracket tax code, 10, 15 and 25 percent. We're going to combine all commercial activity in business into one place in the tax code and charge it 15 percent, which is going to suddenly make us competitive with the rest of the world. And we're going to eliminate the death tax. With a couple of additional tweaks, we know what this will do. It will cause the economy to grow, to explode, to create more jobs. And first of all, we've got to recognize that there is problem that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have caused. And that problem is too big regulations like the EPA, too much new taxes on business that we have seen and "Obamacare." These are drags on the economy, it's a deliberate drag. I propose to reverse that and get this economy moving again. +p4396 +aVWell, as you know, I'm a former elected prosecutor, a former elected attorney general, trained at the University of Virginia in constitutional law, and I don't believe in litmus tests except this. I believe we should be appointing Supreme Court justices who will follow the law and not try to make the law. Now, the challenge we're seeing today is that the Supreme Court is being converted into some type of political body. They have to have some legal basis and precedence for being able to follow the law instead of making the law up, and my goal is -- in appointing Supreme Court justices, would be to point -- to appoint justices who would follow the law. Bill, I want to say one more thing about... +p4397 +aVNot -- not on that, no. But let me say one more thing. I want to -- before my time runs out I want to get back to this issue of +p4398 +aVWell, it's not a matter of what the first executive order would be, Bill. The matter is what orders exist now that shouldn't exist? The president has done an executive order with respect to illegal immigration that is illegal. Illegal. And it creates a -- a contempt for the law, for the rule of law. If i were the president of the United States, I would go and look at every executive order that exists right now and determine which ones want to be voided, because the president shouldn't be legislating: not through that vehicle or any other. We should be relying upon the leadership of the Congress to pass the laws. +p4399 +aVProfessional politician that can't be trusted. +p4400 +aVWell, I was a conservative governor of Virginia, I governed that way, and that's my track record. But the key thing that we're seeing now is serious challenges to this country that must change, the direction of this nation must change. And that's why I've offered a specific program to the people of America tonight to address the fundamental problem of getting our country growing again, getting our economy growing, wages up, opportunities for people. And second, the international crisis we are facing is most dreadful and most dangerous. I have the experience as a prosecutor, attorney general, governor, United States Army intelligence veteran, governor during the 9/11 attack, chairman of the Terrorism Commission for this country. It's time for real substance and real experience. And that's what I'll offer to the people of the United States in this candidacy for the presidency. Mac +p4401 +asVSANTELLI +p4402 +(lp4403 +VSenator Cruz, let's focus on our central bank, the Federal Reserve. You've been a fierce critic of the Fed, arguing for more transparency. Where do you want to take that? Do you want to get Congress involved in monetary policy, or is it time to slap the Fed back and downsize them completely? What are your thoughts? What do you believe? +p4404 +aVSenator Paul, the same question to you. +p4405 +aVThank you, Senator. Dr. Carson, you told The Des Moines Register that you don't like government subsidies, it interferes with the free market. But you've also said that you're in favor of taking oil subsidies and putting them towards ethanol processing. Isn't that just swapping one subsidy for another, Doctor? +p4406 +aVThank you, Doctor. Becky? +p4407 +aVThanks, John. Governor Pataki. +p4408 +aVHow are you doing tonight? +p4409 +aVListen, America's central bank, the Federal Reserve, they've kept interest rates near zero since the 2008 financial crisis. And, by the way, they had a meeting today, you think they raised rates? No. Shocking, isn't it? +p4410 +aVListen, it's been a rough ride for American savers and retirees, they really rely on this interest income. And it's been a bonanza for the stock market, a bonanza. And for investors that like the little bit more risk, it's been a bonanza for them as well. So I guess what I'm asking is, do you think this policy is fair and do you support it? +p4411 +aVThanks, Governor. Senator Santorum, in the 2012 presidential debate, you were for the export-import bank, which facilitates government funding for U.S. exports. American companies like GE and Boeing are among the beneficiaries. But you said that killing the bank here \u2014 and I'm going to quote you \u2014 "is the last thing a true conservative should be doing." I don't know, government-backed funding isn't normally what I hear from true conservatives. So why is this situation different? +p4412 +asVMACCALLUM +p4413 +(lp4414 +VSo it will come as no surprise that there is an idea out there that there is a civil war brewing within the GOP over the meaning of conservative and the question of who is electable. There are some in the GOP who are so outraged by Trump and Cruz that they say they would actually rather have Hillary Clinton in the White House. So, Carly Fiorina, I ask you this. Is your party in crisis? +p4415 +aVGovernor Huckabee, word is that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is considering getting into this race. If he does, that would make four New Yorkers, including Sanders, Clinton, and Trump. One candidate in this race has criticized so-called "New York values". So tell me, in your opinion, are New York values different than Iowa values? +p4416 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum, according to Google, the Paris terror attacks were the largest story that was searched in 2015, with nearly 1 billion searches of that story worldwide. There have been at 18 terror attacks so far this year -- in just January alone, in 2016, and it will likely, as we all know, get worse. But what can an American president do to stop these terrifying killings? +p4417 +aVThank you, Senator. +p4418 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you have said when it comes to +p4419 +aVThank you. +p4420 +aVComing up, we're going to have more on the top issues in this campaign, and you can engage in tonight's conversation right from home. Go to google.com, search "FOX News debate." You can vote on which candidate you think is winning so far in tonight's debate. And you can check results after the debate is over. We are back in a moment live from the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. +p4421 +aVAlright, Governor Huckabee, government grows and grows. In fact, neighborhoods in and around the Beltway get richer and richer all the time while our manufacturing towns are disappearing. Still Republicans from Reagan to Bush have bowed to shrink the size of government, but it never works. Is this Presidency, and presidency, simply too small a David to slay the Goliath of government? +p4422 +aVAlright, Carly Fiorina, you've said that you can get the tax code down to three short simple pages. But, when lobbyists who have twisted the arms of members of Congress come sit with you in the Oval Office and say, "Madam President, sorry, I cannot be with you on this one," you may understand what previous presidents have gone through. No? +p4423 +aVSenator Santorum, Bernie Sanders asked a woman in Iowa what it's like to live in poverty. She broke down in tears, saying that she lives on less than $10,000 a year and that she is ashamed every day. She leans on her parents for help. She says she can't buy presents for her children. We are all sympathetic to this woman's plight. On the other hand, the G.O.P. is supposed to be the party of smaller government. So what would you look her in the eye and say? +p4424 +aVThank you, Senator. +p4425 +aVGovernor Gilmore, thanks to the Iranian nuclear deal, President Rouhani is currently on a tour of Europe meeting with our closest allies in France and Italy. In fact, he has already landed some 50 to 85 billion are the estimates in deals with those countries, with our allies. More on the way. You and others say that you would rip up that deal. But, really, by the time the next president is in office, won't that horse be well out of the barn? +p4426 +aVWe have another question for you, Governor Gilmore, back to back, here we go. According to Google... +p4427 +aVYou got it. According to Google, gun control is the most searched issue last month, making up nearly 80 percent of all the U.S. searches. People are looking for information on guns. When it comes to the tragic mass killings that we have seen in this country, Donald Trump says that what we need to do is build quote "more institutions for people who are sickos." Charles Krauthammer also says that in some cases involuntary commitment would help. And you have agreed with that. Given that institutions would be extraordinarily expensive to begin building, how much is too much to ask on this from the American taxpayer? +p4428 +aVThank you, Governor Gilmore. +p4429 +aVStill more to come from the Republican Presidential debate tonight. And, see how the campaigns are responding to the debate in realtime, go to Google.com and open your google search app. Type in, "Fox News Debate". We'll see you, just a moment -- back. +p4430 +aVWe are back live at the Iowa events center and this question goes to Carly Fiorina. In the last debate you said as part of your introduction, quote, " And unlike the other woman candidate in this case I actually love spending time with my husband." +p4431 +aVBut back in September in an interview you said that you would stick only to the record, your record versus Hillary Clinton's record. And never resort to personal attacks. So what changed? +p4432 +aVAll right. Carly, I want to stay with you on this next question as well. You waded into the Planned Parenthood early on. You took some heat for it. Now the people who shot that undercover video are the ones who got indicted and Planned Parenthood is untouched. Hillary Clinton has been crowing about this. Any regrets about this? +p4433 +aVThank you Carly Fiorina. Let me just ask a quick question here to Senator Santorum. Carly Fiorina was the only one of the GOP candidates to attend the March for Life in Washington last week. Where were you. +p4434 +aVAll right. Coming up, we will have the closing statements from our candidates tonight as we continue live from the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. We'll be right back. +p4435 +aVAlright, let's go now to Senator Rick Santorum. +p4436 +aV +p4437 +aVCarly Fiorina. +p4438 +aVThank you, Carly. +p4439 +aVIn one hour, seven more candidates take the stage for a debate hosted by Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly, and Chris Wallace. But, up next, the O'Reilly Factor. Good night everybody. +p4440 +asVCOONEY +p4441 +(lp4442 +VThanks, John. Candidates, we've already heard your answers on what you would do with Syrian refugees, but a crucial part of the immigration debate here at home is control of our own borders. Republicans say the borders -- securing borders is a top priority. Democrats say they want to plan for comprehensive immigration reform. So, Governor O'Malley, are you willing to compromise on this particular issue to focus on border security first in favor of keeping the country safe? O' +p4443 +aVThank you. Now, Secretary Clinton said you would go further than the President when it comes to taking executive action to implement immigration reforms. But the President's already facing legal trouble on this. We've seen it more just in the past week. Realistically, how could you go further with executive action? +p4444 +aVKathie. +p4445 +aVSenator -- Senator Sanders, we've heard a lot about this, your offer -- you want to offer free tuition to public universities and colleges. A couple of questions about this. 63 percent of those who enroll graduate. First question, isn't this throwing a lot of money away if we're looking at a third of these people are not going to complete college? +p4446 +aVWell, one of the things you want to do is to have the states pay for about a third of this $70 billion plan, correct? +p4447 +aVThere are 16 states that are running budget deficits right now. Where are are they expected to come up with this? +p4448 +aVGovernor O'Malley, jump in now. O' +p4449 +aVAll right, Nancy Cordes has a question. +p4450 +asVMCELVEEN +p4451 +(lp4452 +VSecretary Clinton, how does your plan differentiate from your opponents? +p4453 +aVThank you Secretary Clinton, thank you. +p4454 +aVBack to you David. +p4455 +asVDICKERSON +p4456 +(lp4457 +VBefore we start the debate here are the rules. The candidates have one minute to respond to our questions and 30 seconds to respond to our follow-up. Any candidate who is attacked by another candidate gets 30 seconds for rebuttal. Here's how we'll keep time, after a question is asked the green light goes on. When there are 15 seconds left the candidate gets a yellow warning light. And when time's up the light turns red. That means stop talking. Those are the rules. So let's get started. You will each have one minute for an opening statement to share your thoughts about the attacks in your Paris and lay out your visions for America. First, Senator Sanders. +p4458 +aVAll right, Senator Sanders. Secretary Clinton. +p4459 +aVGovernor O'Malley. O' +p4460 +aVAll right, thank you, Governor. Thank all of you. The terror attacks last night underscore biggest challenge facing the next president of the United States. At a time of crisis, the country and the world look to the president for leadership and for answers. So, Secretary Clinton, I'd like to start with you. Hours before the attacks, President Obama said, "I don't think +p4461 +aVBut as -- Secretary Clinton, the question was about, was +p4462 +aVOkay, Governor O'Malley, would you critique the administration's response to +p4463 +aVSenator Sanders, you said you want to rid the planet of +p4464 +aVQuickly, just let me ask you a follow-up on that, Senator Sanders. When you say the disastrous vote on Iraq, let's just be clear about what you're saying. You're saying Secretary Clinton, who was then Senator Clinton, voted for the Iraq war. And are you making a direct link between her vote for that or and what's happening now for +p4465 +aVAlright. Let's let Secretary Clinton respond to that. +p4466 +aVSenator Sanders let me just follow this line of thinking. You criticized then, Senator Clinton's vote. Do you have anything to criticize in the way she performed as Secretary of State? +p4467 +aVAlright. +p4468 +aVSenator let me... O' +p4469 +aVAll right, Secretary Clinton. +p4470 +aVI understand. Quickly, Senator. +p4471 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p4472 +aVLet me ask you, Secretary Clinton, a question about leadership. We're talking about what role does America take? Let me ask you about Libya. So Libya is a country in which +p4473 +aVGovernor O' Malley I want to ask you a question and you can add whatever you'd like to. But let me ask you, is the world too dangerous a place for a governor who has no foreign policy experience? O' +p4474 +aVSecretary Clinton, you mentioned radical jihadists. Marco Rubio, also running for president, said that this attack showed and the attack in Paris showed that we are at war with radical Islam. Do you agree with that characterization, radical Islam? +p4475 +aVJust to interrupt. He didn't say all Muslims. He just said radical Islam. Is that a phrase you don't... +p4476 +aVThe reason I ask is you gave a speech at Georgetown University in which you said, that it was important to show, quote, "respect, even for one's enemies. Trying to understand and in so far as psychologically possible, empathize with their perspective and point of view." Can you explain what that means in the context of this kind of barbarism? +p4477 +aVJust quickly, do either of you, radical Islam, do either of you use that phrase? +p4478 +aVGovernor O' Malley, you have been making the case when you talk about lack of forward vision, you're essentially saying that Secretary Clinton lacks that vision and this critique matches up with this discussion of language. The critique is that the softness of language betrays a softness of approach. So if this language -- if you don't call it by what it is, how can your approach be effective to the cause? that's the critique. O' +p4479 +aVSecretary Clinton, the French president has called this attack an act of war. +p4480 +aVA couple of days ago you were asked if you would declare war on +p4481 +aVAnd you think that covers all of this? +p4482 +aVIf you were in the Senate, would you be okay with the commander in chief doing that without it coming back to you? +p4483 +aVSenator, let me just -- let's add to whatever you've got to say. Refugees. You've been a little vague on what you would do about the Syrian refugees. What's your view on them now? +p4484 +aVGovernor O'Malley, you have a magic number. I think it's 65,000. Does that number go up or down based on what happened yesterday? O' +p4485 +aVJust very quickly, 65,000, the number stays? O' +p4486 +aVBut for you, what would you want? O' +p4487 +aVSecretary Clinton, let me ask you a question from twitter which has come in and this is a question on this issue of refugees. The question is, with the U.S. preparing to absorb Syrian refugees, how do you propose we screen those coming in to keep citizens safe? +p4488 +aVAlright. Senator Sanders, I'm sorry. We're going to have to take a break now. We will have more of the Democratic debate here from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. +p4489 +aVWant to turn now from terrorism to another important issue for many Americans, the financial squeeze on the the middle class. For that, we go to my CBS News Colleague, Nancy Cordes. Nancy? +p4490 +aVAll right, I am sorry, Governor, we're going to have to go, I apologize. O' +p4491 +aVGovernor -- Governor, you're breaking the rules. I'm sorry, we're going to have to cut for a commercial. We'll be right back here from Drake University here in Des Moines, Iowa. O' +p4492 +aVThere is a lot of presidential history here in Iowa. It hosted the first in the nation caucuses. Herbert Hoover was born in West Branch, and tonight, we are in Polk County, named for our 11th president, with three people who hope to be number 45. Joining my now to question them are Iowans Kevin Cooney of +p4493 +aVYou have -- you have given me the perfect segue. We are going to talk about Wall Street, but now we've got to go do a commercial. We're coming to the end of the first hour. But there's another hour behind it and we're going to talk about Wall Street so hang with us. +p4494 +aVGood evening again, as we begin the second half of the debate. Joining me in the questioning are the candidates -- of the candidates are CBS news congressional correspondent Nancy Cordes, Kevin Cooney of CBS Des Moines affiliate +p4495 +aVSenator Sanders you said that the donations to Secretary Clinton are compromising. So what did you think of her answer? +p4496 +aVGreat follow up because you -- and Secretary Clinton, you will get a chance to respond. You said they know what they're going to get. What are they going to get? +p4497 +aVHold on. He was attacked. O' +p4498 +aVHold on, he was attacked. Glass-Steagall... +p4499 +aVAll right. Senator, we have to get Governor O' Malley in. Governor, along with your answer, how many Wall Street veterans would you have in your administration? O' +p4500 +aVAnyone from Wall Street? O' +p4501 +aVHold on. +p4502 +aVAll right, I want to switch to the -- switch to the issue of guns here. Secretary Clinton, you said that Senator Sanders is not tough enough on guns, but basically he now supports roughly the same things you do. So can tell us what the exact difference is going forward between the two of you on the issue of gun control? +p4503 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to... +p4504 +aVSecretary Clinton, just a quick follow-up. You say that Senator Sanders took a vote that -- on immunity that you don't like. So if he can be tattooed by a single vote and that ruins all future opinions by him on this issue, why then isn't he right when he says your wrong vote on Iraq tattoos you forever in your judgment? +p4505 +aVBut was that a mistake, Senator? +p4506 +aVSenator, a mistake or not, your immunity vote? Quickly, before I go to... +p4507 +aVSo not a mistake? O' +p4508 +aVHold on. +p4509 +aVSorry. I'm going to bring in Nancy Cordes with a question from twitter about this exchange. +p4510 +aVFinal word. Final word, Governor O'Malley, before we go to commercial. O' +p4511 +aVWe have to -- we have to go for a commercial, Senator. I'm sorry. We have to go for a commercial here. We'll be right back with the Democratic debate here in Des Moines, Iowa on CBS. +p4512 +aVBack now in Des Moines with the candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination. Senator Sanders, I want to start with you. Let's say you're elected president. Congratulations. +p4513 +aVYou've said you'll have a revolution. +p4514 +aVBut there's a conservative revolution going on in America right now. As John Boehner knows and as Democrats know, who have lost in state houses across the country. +p4515 +aVThose conservatives are watching tonight and probably shaking their heads. So how do you deal with that part of the country? The revolution's already happening, but on the other side? +p4516 +aVSenator, as a 30-second follow-up, we've heard already tonight this figure, 92 percent of support for background checks. Let's look at that as an example. There was something 92 percent of the public was for. There had been these mass shootings. There was emotional support behind it. +p4517 +aVBipartisan support. +p4518 +aVThe president, the full force of his office. +p4519 +aVIt went nowhere. That's the model you're talking about. Nothing happened. +p4520 +aVA question from Kathie Obradovich. +p4521 +aVSecretary Clinton, just one more question on the e- mail question. For Democrats, there's an FBI investigation going on. Can you satisfy Democrats, who might worry about an another shoe dropping, that you and your staff have been totally truthful to them, and that another shoe is not going to drop? +p4522 +aVRace relations is another issue everyone cares about, and we're going to switch to that now. Governor O'Malley, let me ask you a question. The head of the FBI recently said it might be possible that some police forces are not enforcing the law, because they're worried about being caught on camera. The acting head of the drug enforcement administration said a similar thing. Where are you on this question? And what would do you if you were president, and two top members of your administration were floating that idea? O' +p4523 +aVAll right, Governor... Senator Sanders, one of your former colleagues, an African- American member of Congress, said to me recently that a young African- American man had asked him where to find hope in life. And he said, "I just don't know what to tell him about being young and black in America today." What would you tell that young African-American man? +p4524 +aVSecretary Clinton, you told some Black Lives Matter activists recently that there's a difference between rhetoric in activism and what you were trying to do, was -- get laws passed that would help what they were pushing for. But recently, at the University of Missouri, that activism was very, very effective. So would you suggest that kind of activism take place at other universities across the country? +p4525 +aVAll right, over to Kevin Cooney. +p4526 +aVThirty seconds. +p4527 +aVI'm sorry, governor. We've got to take a break or the machine breaks down. You're watching the Democratic debate here on CBS. +p4528 +aVWe begin the final segment of this debate with something none of you saw coming. Something quite unexpected. Soon after your inauguration, you will face a crisis. All presidents do. What crisis you have experienced in your life that suggests you've been testd and can face that inevitable challenge? Secretary Clinton, you first. +p4529 +aVGovernor O' Malley, what crisis proves that you're tested? O' +p4530 +aVSenator Sanders what, experience would you draw on in a crisis? +p4531 +aVAll right, Senator Sanders... We've ended the evening on crisis, which underscores and reminds us again of what happened last night. Now, let's move to closing statements. Governor O'Malley, you're first. O' +p4532 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p4533 +aVSenator Sanders? +p4534 +as. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/downloads/data/script17.pickle b/downloads/data/script17.pickle new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2b0c1b2 --- /dev/null +++ b/downloads/data/script17.pickle @@ -0,0 +1,9823 @@ +(dp0 +VWEBB +p1 +(lp2 +VThank you. You know, people are disgusted with the way that money has corrupted our political process, intimidating incumbents and empowering Wall Street every day, the turnstile government that we see, and also the power of the financial sector in both parties. They're looking for a leader who understands how the system works, who has not been coopted by it, and also has a proven record of accomplishing different things. I have a record of working across the political aisle. I've also spent more than half of my professional life away from politics in the independent world of being an author, a journalist, and a sole proprietor. In government service, I've fought and bled for our country in Vietnam as a Marine. I spent years as Assistant Secretary of Defense, Secretary of the Navy \u2014 in the Reagan administration. In the senate, I spoke about economic fairness and social justice from day one. I also wrote and passed the best piece of veterans education legislation in history, the Post 9/11 G.I. Bill. I brought criminal justice reform out of the political shadows and into the national discussion. I led what later became called the Strategic Pivot to Asia two years before President Obama was elected. I know where my loyalties are. My mother grew up in the poverty of east Arkansas chopping cotton, picking strawberries. Three of her seven siblings died in childhood. My wife, Hong, came to this country as a refugee from war torn Vietnam \u2014 learned English, a language that was not spoken at home, and earned her way into Cornell Law School. I have five daughters. Amy works with disabled veterans, Sarah is an emergency room nurse, Julia is a massage therapist, Emily and Georgia are still in school. My son Jim fought as an infantry Marine on the bloody streets of Ramadi. You may be sure that in a Webb administration, the highest priority will be the working people who every day go out and make this country stronger at home, and who give us the right reputation and security overseas under a common sense foreign policy. +p3 +aVNo, actually I believe that I am where the Democratic Party traditionally has been. The Democratic Party, and the reason I've decided to run as a Democrat, has been the party that gives people who otherwise have no voice in the corridors of power a voice. And that is not determined by race. And as a clarification, I have always supported affirmative action for African Americans. That's the way the program was originally designed because of their unique history in this country, with slavery and the Jim Crow laws that followed. What I have discussed a number of times is the idea that when we create diversity programs that include everyone, quote, "of color," other than whites, struggling whites like the families in the Appalachian mountains, we're not being true to the Democratic Party principle of elevating the level of consciousness among our people about the hardships that a lot of people who happen to be have \u2014 by culture, by the way. +p4 +aVLook, there are two fundamental issues that are involved in this discussion. We need to pay respect to both of them. The first is the issue of who should be kept from having guns and using firearms. And we have done not a good job on that. A lot of them are criminals. And a lot of the people are getting killed are members of gangs inside our urban areas. And a lot of them are mentally incapacitated. And the shooting in Virginia Tech in '07, this individual had received medical care for mental illness from three different professionals who were not allowed to share the information. So we do need background checks. We need to keep the people who should not have guns away from them. But we have to respect the tradition in this country of people who want to defend themselves and their family from violence. +p5 +aVMay I? People are going back and forth here for 10 minutes here. There are people at high levels in this government who have bodyguards 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The average American does not have that, and deserves the right to be able to protect their family. +p6 +aVAnderson, can I come into this discussion at some point? +p7 +aVThank you. I've been standing over here for about ten minutes, trying. +p8 +aVIt's just \u2014 it's gone back and forth over there. +p9 +aVYou got the lucky . +p10 +aVLook, let's start \u2014 I've been trying to get in this conversation for about 10 minutes \u2014 let's start with why Russia is in Syria right now. There are three strategic failings that have allowed this to occur. The first was the invasion of Iraq, which destabilized ethnic elements in Iraq and empowered Iran. The second was the Arab Spring, which created huge vacuums in Libya and in Syria that allowed terrorist movements to move in there. And the third was the recent deal allowing Iran to move forward and eventually acquire a nuclear weapon, which sent bad signals, bad body language into the region about whether we are acquiescing in Iran becoming a stronger piece of the formula in that part of the world. Now, I say this as someone who spent five years in the Pentagon and who opposed the war in Iraq, whose son fought in Iraq, I've fought in Vietnam. But if you want a place where we need to be in terms of our national strategy, a focus, the greatest strategic threat that we have right now is resolving our relationship with China. And we need to do this because of their aggression in the region. We need to do it because of the way they treat their own people. +p11 +aVAnd I would say this. I've been waiting for 10 minutes. I will say this. +p12 +aVI will \u2014 well, you've let a lot of people go over their time. I would say this... +p13 +aV... to the unelected, authoritarian government of China: You do not own the South China Sea. You do not have the right to conduct cyber warfare against tens of millions of American citizens. And in a Webb administration, we will do something about that. +p14 +aVCan I... O' +p15 +aVThank you. +p16 +aVThis is not about Benghazi per se. To me it is the inevitability of something like Benghazi occurring in the way that we intervened in Libya. We had no treaties at risk. We had no Americans at risk. There was no threat of attack or imminent attack. There is plenty of time for a president to come to the Congress and request authority to use military force in that situation. I called for it on the Senate floor again and again. I called for it in Senate hearings. It is not a wise thing to do. And if people think it was a wise thing to do, try to get to the Tripoli airport today. You can't do it. +p17 +aVEverybody makes their decisions when the time there is conscription. And as long as they go through the legal process that our country requires, I respect that. And it would be for the voters to decide whether Senator Sanders or anyone else should be president. I will say this, coming from the position that I've come from, from a military family, with my brother a marine, my son was a marine in Iraq, I served as a marine, spending five years in the Pentagon, I am comfortable that I am the most qualified person standing up here today to be your commander-in-chief. +p18 +aVI believe that the signal that we sent to the region when the Iran nuclear deal was concluded was that we are accepting Iran's greater position on this very important balance of power, among our greatest ally Israel, and the Sunnis represented by the Saudi regime, and Iran. It was a position of weakness and I think it encouraged the acts that we've seen in the past several weeks. +p19 +aVOur greatest long-term strategic challenge is our relation with China. Our greatest day-to-day threat is cyber warfare against this country. Our greatest military-operational threat is resolving the situations in the Middle East. +p20 +aVI hope I can get that kind of time here. As a President of the United States, every life in this country matters. At the same time, I believe I can say to you, I have had a long history of working with the situation of African Americans. We're talking about criminal justice reform, I risked my political life raising the issue of criminal justice reform when I ran for the Senate in Virginia in 2006. I had democratic party political consultants telling me I was committing political suicide. We led that issue in the congress. We started a national debate on it. And it wasn't until then that the Republican Party started joining in. I also represented a so-called war criminal, an African American Marine who was wounded \u2014 who was convicted of murder in Vietnam, for six years. He took his life three years into this. I cleared his name after \u2014 after three years. +p21 +aVAnd I put the African American soldier on the Mall. I made that recommendation and fought for it. So, if you want someone who is \u2014 can stand up in front of you right now and say I have done the hard job, I have taken the risks, I am your person. +p22 +aVBernie, say my name so I can get into this. +p23 +aVOK. Thank you. +p24 +aVAnderson, I need to jump in (inaudible). +p25 +aVThere is a reality that I think we all need to recognize with respect to the power of the financial sector. And let me just go back a minute and say that on this +p26 +aVAll right. Well, I'm trying to set a mark here so maybe we can get into a little more later on. This hasn't been equal time. But if you want to look at what has happened, if we look at the facts in terms of how we're going to deal with this, since that crash, in the last 10 years, the amount of the world's capital economy that Wall Street manages has gone from 44 percent to 55 percent. That means the Wall Street money managers are not risking themselves as the same way the American people are when they're going to get their compensation. They're managing money from all over the world. We have to take that into consideration when we're looking at ways to regulate it. +p27 +aVI wouldn't have a problem with that. Let me start by saying my wife is an immigrant. She was a refugee, her family escaped from Vietnam on a boat-- her entire extended family, after the communists took over, when hundreds of thousands of people were out there and thousands of them were dying. Went to two refugee camps, she never spoke English in her home, and she ended, as I said, graduating from Cornell Law School. That's not only American dream, that's a value that we have with a good immigration system in place. No country has \u2014 is a country without defining its borders. We need to resolve this issue. I actually introduced an amendment in the 2007 immigration bill... +p28 +aV...Giving a pathway to citizenship to those people who had come here, and put down their roots, and met as a series of standards... +p29 +aV...lost (ph) \u2014 I introduced that in 2007 \u2014 We need a comprehensive reform, and we need to be able to define our borders. +p30 +aVI \u2014 well, I \u2014 I would leave his ultimate judgment to the legal system. Here's what I do believe. We have a serious problem in terms of the collection of personal information in this country. And one of the things that I did during the +p31 +aVI got a great deal of admiration and affection for Senator Sanders, but I \u2014 Bernie, I don't think the revolution's going to come. And I don't think the Congress is going to pay for a lot of this stuff. And if there would be a major difference between my administration and the Obama administration, it would be in the use of executive authority. I came up as a committee counsel in the Congress, used to put dozens of bills through the House floor every year as a committee counsel on the Veterans Committee. I have a very strong feeling about how our federal system works and how we need to lead and energize the congressional process instead of allowing these divisions to continue to paralyze what we're doing. So I would lead \u2014 working with both parties in the Congress and working through them in the traditional way that our Constitution sets (ph). +p32 +aVWell, the \u2014 the question really is how are we going to solve energy problems here and in the global environment if you really want to address climate change? And when I was in the Senate, I was an all-of-the-above energy voter. We introduced legislation to bring in alternate energy as well as nuclear power. I'm a strong proponent of nuclear power. It is safe, it is clean. And really, we are not going to solve climate change simply with the laws here. We've done a good job in this country since 1970. If you look at China and India, they're the greatest polluters in the world. Fifteen out of the 20 most polluted cities in the world are in one of those two countries. We need to solve this in a global way. It's a global problem and I have been very strong on \u2014 on doing that. The \u2014 the agreements \u2014 the so-called agreements that we have had with China are illusory in terms of the immediate requirements of the \u2014 of the Chinese government itself. So let's solve this problem in an international way, and then we really will have a \u2014 a way to address climate change. +p33 +aVI'd have to say the enemy soldier that threw the grenade that wounded me, but he's not around right now to talk to. +p34 +aVThank you. Ladies and gentlemen, it's been a pleasure to be with you tonight. You've heard a lot of promises up here; you've heard a lot of rhetoric. They all seem to happen during campaigns, and then once the election's over, people start from scratch again and try to get things done. One of the things I can promise you, if you look at my record, in and out of government, is that I've always been willing to take on a complicated, something unpopular issues, and work them through, the complex issues, and work them through in order to have the solution. We did it with criminal justice reform. We've had a lot of discussion here about criminal justice reform. We did it in other ways. We need a national political strategy for our economy, for our social policy, for social justice, and, by the way, for how you run and manage the most complex bureaucracy in the world, which is the federal government. I know how to lead. I did it in Vietnam, I did it in the Pentagon, I did it in the Senate, and if you will help me overcome this cavalcade of \u2014 of financial irregularities and money that is poisoning our political process, I am ready to do that for you in the White House. +p35 +asVCRAMER +p36 +(lp37 +VDr. Carson, in recent weeks, a number of pharmaceutical companies has been accused of profiteering, for dramatically raising the prices of life-saving drugs. You have spent a lifetime in medicine. Have these companies gone too far? Should the government be involved in controlling some of these price increases? +p38 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Governor Christie, there has been a lot of political rhetoric that some bank executives should have gone to jail for the 2008 financial crisis. But General Motors paid more than $1 billion in fines and settlements for its ignition switch defect. One hundred and twenty- four people died as a result of these faulty switches. No one went to jail. As a former prosecutor, do you believe the people responsible for the switch and the cover-up belong behind bars? +p39 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. +p40 +aVThank you. Governor Pataki, in the wake of the Sony hack last year, you said, quote, "at the very least, we should declare cyber-war on North Korea." What does a cyber-war look like? And if our companies are getting attacked by foreign governments, do we need a military response? +p41 +aVSenator Graham, you're a hawk. Was that tough enough? +p42 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Santorum. We know that a troubling amount of air pollution on the west coast comes from China. Should we enact a pollution tax on products imported from China and give our manufacturers a level playing field? +p43 +aVThank you, Senator. John? +p44 +asVPERRY +p45 +(lp46 +VI will tell you one thing: I would whole lot rather had Carly Fiorina over there doing our negotiation than John Kerry. Maybe we would've gotten a deal where we didn't give everything away. But the issue for us is to have a Congress that stands up and says not only no, but hell no, to this money going to a regime that is going to use it for terror... +p47 +aVIt's good to be with you. +p48 +aVAfter those four years of looking back and being prepared, the preparation to be the most powerful individual in the world requires an extraordinary amount of work: not just having been the governor of the 12th largest economy in the world, which I might add, we added 1.5 million jobs during that period of time over that 2007 through 2014 period, a period when America was going through the most deep recession it had been through since the Great Depression. I think Americans want someone to have a track record of showing them how to get this country back on record, someone who will stand up and every day project that best days of America are in front of us. And I will assure you, as the governor of the state of Texas, and as those last four years have shown me, the preparation to be ready to stand on this stage and talk about those monetary policies, those domestic policies, and those foreign policies, Americans are going to see that I am ready to be that individual. +p49 +aVWell, when you look at the celebrity of Donald Trump, then I think that says a lot about it. One thing I like to remind people is, back in 2007, Rudy Giuliani was leading the polls for almost a year. I'll suggest a part of that was his celebrity. Fred Thompson was the other one, a man who had spent a lot of time on that screen. I've had my issues with Donald Trump. I talked about Donald Trump from the standpoint of being an individual who was using his celebrity rather than his conservatism. How can you run for the Republican nomination and be for single- payer health care? I mean, I ask that with all due respect. And nobody, nobody on either one of these stages has done more than I've done and the people of the State of Texas to deal with securing that border. We sent our Texas ranger recon teams. We sent our parks and wildlife wardens. I deployed the National Guard after I stood on the ramp in Dallas, Texas and looked the president of the United States in the eye and said, "Mr. President, if you won't secure the border, Texas will," and that's exactly what we did. We need a president that doesn't just talk a game, but a president that's got real results. Mac +p50 +aVBill, here's the interesting position on this. Americans are tired of hearing this debate -- want to go to, what are you going to do about illegal immigration? For 30 years this country has been baited with that. All the way back to when Ronald Reagan signed a piece of legislation that basically allowed for amnesty for over 4 million people, and the border is still not secure. The American people are never going to trust Washington, D.C., and for good reason. We hear all this discussion about well, I would do this, or I would do that, when the fact is, the border is still porous. Until we have a president of the United States that gets up every day and goes to the Oval Office with the intent purpose of securing that border, and there's not anybody on either one of these stages that has the experience of dealing with this as I have for over 14 years with that 1200-mile border. We have to put the personnel on that border in the right places; you have to put the strategic fencing in place; and you have to have aviation assets that fly all the way from Tijuana to El Paso to Brownsville, Texas -- 1,933 miles looking down 24/7, with the technology to be able to identify what individuals are doing, and ID when they are in obviously illegal activities or suspicious activities, and quick response teams come. At that particular point in time, then Americans will believe that Washington is up to a conversation to deal with the millions of people that are here illegally, but not until. If you elect me president of the United States, I will secure that southern border. +p51 +aVWe need to be on the side that keeps Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. That's the side we need to be on, and that's the side of the bulk of the -- of the Middle East. We need to have some coalitions in that part of the world to go after +p52 +aVIt'll be a pretty busy day, but that Iran negotiation is going to be torn up on day one. We're going to start the process of securing that border. I'm also going to take a bottle of White-Out with me to get started on all those executive orders that Mr. Obama has put his name to. +p53 +aVIt will be a long day. +p54 +aVWell, let's go with three. Good at email. +p55 +aVWell, this is going to be a show me, don't tell me election. I think America is just a few good decisions and a leadership change at the top away from the best years we've ever had. And I think that the record of the governor of the last 14 years of the 12th largest economy in the world is just the medicine America is looking for. 1.5 million jobs created during the worst economic time this country has had since the Great Depression while the rest of the country lost 400,000 jobs. We're talking about a state that moved graduation rates forward from 27th in the nation to second-highest. As a matter of fact, if you're Hispanic or African-American in Texas, you have the number one high school graduation rates in America. Americans are looking for somebody that's going to give them, and there is a place in this country over the last eight years in particular that talked about hope every day, and they didn't just talk about it, they delivered it. And that was the state of Texas. And if we can do that in Texas, that 12th largest economy in the world, we can do it in America. Our best days are in front of us. We can reform those entitlements, we can change that corporate tax code and lower it. We can put America back on track on a growth level and a growth rate that we've never seen in the history of this country. Manufacturing will flow back into this country. It just needs a corporate executive type at the top that's done it before. And I will suggest to you nobody's done it like Rick Perry has done it over the last eight years. And if you elect me president, we will bring incredible growth back to this country. And as someone who's worn the uniform of the country, that's how we build our military back up. +p56 +asVLEMON +p57 +(lp58 +VAlright, Anderson, thank you very much. I'm not sure how to follow that, but this question is about something that has tripped some of the candidates up out on the campaign trail. Can you hear me? Can't hear me in the room. OK, here we go again, as I said... +p59 +aV...There we go... +p60 +aVAll right. This one is for Martin O'Malley. Anderson, Governor O'Malley, this is from Anna Bettis from Tempe, Arizona. Here it is. ( +p61 +aVSo, Governor O'Malley, please tell Anna how you would protect the environment better than all the other candidates up on that stage. O' +p62 +aVAlright, Anderson. This is for Senator Sanders, OK? This is from Carrie (ph) Kang (ph) from Manassas, Virginia, would like would like to ask the Senator, "President Obama has had a difficult time getting Republicans to compromise on just about every agenda. How will you approach this going forward, and will it be any different?" Senator? +p63 +asVRADDATZ +p64 +(lp65 +VGood evening to you all. The rules for tonight are very basic and have been agreed to by all three campaigns in advance. Candidates can take up to a minute-and-a-half to respond directly to a question. For a rebuttal, for a follow-up, 45 seconds will be allowed. There are green, yellow, and red lights that each candidate will see to signal when time is running out and when they're supposed to be finished with their answers. +p66 +aVThank you, Secretary Clinton. Governor O'Malley? O' +p67 +aVSecretary Clinton, in the wake of the San Bernardino attack, you all emphasized gun control. But our latest poll shows that more Americans believe arming people, not stricter gun laws, is the best defense against terrorism. Are they wrong? +p68 +aVSecretary Clinton, can we stick to gun control? +p69 +aVAre they wrong? +p70 +aVSenator Sanders -- wait just a moment, please, Governor O'Malley. Senator Sanders, we've seen those long lines of people buying guns in record numbers after the Paris attacks. Would you discourage people from buying a gun? +p71 +aVThank you, Senator Sanders. I think we're going to go on... O' +p72 +aVGovernor, now -- and let me stay with gun control for a minute, then. You talk about assault weapons. Even if you were able to ban the purchase of assault weapons tomorrow, Americans already own an estimated 7 to 10 million semi-automatic rifles. Would you make it illegal to own those weapons, force people to turn them in? And if not, how would banning the sales really make a difference? O' +p73 +aVBut, again, I'm not talking about buying. Would you have them confiscated? The ones that are already here? O' +p74 +aVI want to move to another... O' +p75 +aVNo, no, not yet, Governor O'Malley. O' +p76 +aVNo, not yet, Governor O'Malley. O' +p77 +aVI'll come to you when we call on you. Thank you very much. O' +p78 +aVYou'll be happy. I'll let -- I'll let you talk then. Secretary Clinton, I want to talk about a new terrorist tool used in the Paris attacks, encryption. FBI Director James Comey says terrorists can hold secret communications which law enforcement cannot get to, even with a court order. You've talked a lot about bringing tech leaders and government officials together, but Apple CEO Tim Cook said removing encryption tools from our products altogether would only hurt law-abiding citizens who rely on us to protect their data. So would you force him to give law enforcement a key to encrypted technology by making it law? +p79 +aVAnd Governor O'Malley, where do you draw the line between national security and personal security? O' +p80 +aVThank you, Governor O'Malley. +p81 +aVSenator Sanders -- Senator Sanders, we're going to move on. We're going to move on. +p82 +aVWe're going to move on to the fight against +p83 +aVOK. Let's keep going. Thank you. +p84 +aVThank you. I do want to move to the fight against +p85 +aVFor the people of New Hampshire, the brutality of +p86 +aVBut why Al Qaida, why not +p87 +aVThe administration has tried that over and over again. If it doesn't work and this threat is so great, what's your plan B? +p88 +aVSecretary Clinton, you too have ruled out a large U.S. combat force, yet you support sending in special operations forces to Syria, and sending those 100 to 200 troops to Iraq to do exploitation kill raids. We've already lost one Delta Force member in a raid. It has looked very much to me like we're already in ground combat on frequent trips I've made there. So, are you fooling Americans when you say, we're not putting American combat troops back into Syria or Iraq? No. Not at all. I think that what we're facing with +p89 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want -- I want to follow up on that. You do support sending special operations forces there. You support what the president has done already. One of the lessons people draw from Vietnam and war since is that a little force can turn into a little more and a little more. President Obama certainly didn't expect to be sending 30,000 additional troops into Afghanistan the first year of his presidency. Are you prepared to run the risk of a bigger war to achieve your goals to destroy +p90 +aVGovernor O'Malley. You've emphasized the need for more human intelligence on the ground. What is it our intelligence community is not doing now that needs to be done? O' +p91 +aVThank you. +p92 +aVSecretary Clinton, I'd like to go back to that if I could. +p93 +aVBut isn't that a decision you should make now, whether... +p94 +aV... if you're advocating this? +p95 +aVAnd we're going to move on to health care. Secretary Clinton, the Department of Health and Human Services says more than 17 million Americans who are not insured now have health coverage because of Obamacare. But for Americans who already had health insurance the cost has gone up 27 percent in the last five years while deductibles are up 67 percent, health care costs are rising faster than many Americans can manage. What's broken in Obamacare that needs to be fixed right now? And what would you do to fix it? +p96 +aVBut you did say those were glitches. +p97 +aVJust glitches? +p98 +aVTwenty-seven percent in the last five years, deductibles up 67 percent? +p99 +aVSenator Sanders, I want you to respond to what she was saying, but you're instead calling for single-payer health care. +p100 +aVYou note people won't have to pay deductibles or premiums but they will have to pay new taxes. Can you tell us specifically how much people will be expected to pay? +p101 +aVSenator Sanders, you didn't really tell us specifically how much people will be expected to pay... +p102 +aVBut you can't tell us this specifically, even if you were... +p103 +aVOK. Let's go to talk about the high cost of college education and for that we turn to the executive director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics, right here at Saint Anselm college, Neil Levesque. Neil? +p104 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to circle back to something that your opponents here have brought up. Libya is falling apart. The country is a haven for +p105 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to go back. That -- government lacked institutions and experience. It had been a family business for 40 years. On the security side, we offered only a modest training effort and a very limited arms buy-back program. Let me ask you the question again. How much responsibility do you bear for the chaos that followed those elections? +p106 +aVBut were mistakes made? +p107 +aVSenator Sanders. +p108 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p109 +aVQuick Governor O'Malley. O' +p110 +aVThank you very much. Thank you. We're going to move on here. Governor O'Malley, thank you very much for that. And we're going to make a very sharp turn as we wrap things up here. Secretary Clinton, first ladies, as you well know, have used their position to work on important causes like literacy and drug abuse. But they also supervise the menus, the flowers, the holiday ornaments and White House decor. I know you think you know where I'm going here. You have said that Bill Clinton is a great host and loves giving tours but may opt out of picking flower arrangements if you're elected. Bill Clinton aside, is it time to change the role of a president's spouse? +p111 +aVGovernor O'Malley? Martha, thank you. I want to thank all of the people who have tuned in tonight. I want to thank the great people of New Hampshire, where despite all of the cynicism about big money and big banks taking over our politics, here in New Hampshire, the individual matters. You know, my wife Katie and I have four terrific kids, and like you, there's probably nothing we wouldn't do to give them a future that's safer, that's healthier, where they have more opportunity than our parents and grandparents gave to us. Tonight, what you listened to was a healthy exchange of ideas about how we'd do that, that which we have always proven, the capacity to do better than any nation in the world, to take actions that include more of our people more fully in the economic, social and political life of our country. When you listened to the Republican debate the other night, you heard a lot of anger and you had a lot of fear. Well, they can have their anger and they can have their fear, but anger and fear never built America. We build our country by adopting wage and labor policies, including comprehensive immigration reform with a pathway of citizenship for all. We do it by investing in our country, by investing in infrastructure, by investing in the skills and the talents of our people with debt-free college, and we can do it again. And we also create a better future for our kids when we square our shoulders to the great challenges of our times, whether it's terror trying to undermine our values or Republican presidential candidates trying to get us to surrender our freedoms and our values in the face of this threat. The other big challenge we have is climate change. The greatest business opportunity to come to the United States of America in 100 years. We need to embrace this. I have put forward a plan that does this, that moves us to 100 percent clean electric grid by 2050. Join this campaign for the future. New leadership is what our country needs to move us out of these divided and polarized times. Thank you. +p112 +asVANNOUNCER +p113 +(lp114 +VHello from MinuteEarth. Fossil fuels have long kept our cars moving and our light bulbs lit. But we know that burning these fuels releases heat-trapping gases that are warming the planet, causing seas to rise and contributing to extreme weather events, like South Carolina's devastating flooding last year. Fighting human-caused climate change means giving up our global addiction to fossil fuels and shifting the bulk of the world's energy supply to alternative sources. Some countries have acted decisively to make this transition. But here at home, we still get a whooping 82 percent of our energy from coal, oil, and natural gas. In the U.S., political gridlock, pressure from industry lobbyists and insufficient R&D have made an already tough battle against climate change even tougher. +p115 +aVABC News coverage of the New Hampshire Democratic debate will continue in a moment. ( +p116 +asVUNKNOWN +p117 +(lp118 +VIf you're not going to have my back, I'm going to have my back. +p119 +aVA couple things here. First of all... +p120 +aVWe have grown \u2014 we have grown... +p121 +aVTrue. It's true. +p122 +aV...let me follow up that... +p123 +aV +p124 +aVOh, great. +p125 +aV...In 2011, you told Forbes Magazine this: "I've used the laws of the country to my advantage." But at the same time, financial experts involved in those bankruptcies say that lenders to your companies lost billions of dollars. Question sir, with that record, why should we trust you to run the nation's business? +p126 +aVI do. +p127 +aVThank you. +p128 +aVSecretive and untrustworthy. +p129 +asVIFILL +p130 +(lp131 +VWe want to also extend our warm thanks to Milwaukee Public Radio and Milwaukee Public Television, as well as all of our friends at the PBS member stations across the country tuning in tonight. This is the sixth time the Democrats have met face to face. Each time, we learn more about them and the presidents they say they want to be. You know you're watching \u2014 whether you're a Democrat, a Republican, or neither \u2014 because you believe the outcome of the election is important to you. And we believe that, too. With that, let's welcome the candidates to the stage. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. +p132 +aVWelcome to you both. +p133 +aVWith Iowa and New Hampshire behind us, we are now broadening the conversation to America's heartland and beyond, including here in Wisconsin. Now let's turn to the candidates for their opening statements. The order was decided by coin toss. And, Senator Sanders, you go first. +p134 +aVThank you, Senator Sanders. Thank you, Senator Sanders. Secretary Clinton. +p135 +aVFinal thought, Senator. +p136 +aVI'd like to move along. I'd like to move along. Secretary Clinton, you might \u2014 you also have proposed fairly expansive ideas about government. You may remember this pledge from a State of the Union Address at which I believe you were present, in which these words were said: "The era of big government is over." You may remember that. When asked your feelings about the federal government this week, 61 percent of New Hampshire Democrats told exit pollsters that they are angry or at least dissatisfied. Given what you and Senator Sanders are proposing, an expanding government in almost every area of our lives, is it fair for Americans who fear government to fear you? +p137 +aVBut I haven't heard either of you put a price tag on your \u2014 you say... +p138 +aVSenator? +p139 +aVSenator, do you worry at all that you will be the instrument of thwarting history, as Senator Clinton keeps claiming, that she might be the first woman president? +p140 +aVThank you both. We turn now to the first of several questions from our partners at Facebook. They were selected from a curated group of people we've been following of undecided voters. The first comes from Claudia Looze, a 54-year-old woman who works as a program manager at a public affairs cable network in Madison, Wisconsin. And she writes: "Wisconsin is number one in African-American male incarceration, according to a University of Wisconsin study. They found that Wisconsin's incarceration rate for black men, which is at 13 percent, was nearly double the country's rate. What can we do across the nation to address this?" Senator Sanders. +p141 +aVLet me turn this on its head, because when we talk about race in this country, we always talk about African-Americans, people of color. I want to talk about white people, OK? +p142 +aVI know. So many people will be surprised to find out that we are sitting in one of the most racially polarized metropolitan areas in the country. By the middle of this century, the nation is going to be majority nonwhite. Our public schools are already there. If working-class, white Americans are about to be outnumbered, are already underemployed in many cases, and one study found they are dying sooner, don't they have a reason to be resentful, Senator \u2014 Secretary Clinton? +p143 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, I want you to respond to that, but I also want you to \u2014 am I wrong? Is it even right to be describing this as a matter of race? +p144 +aVIf you would allow me now to move on, we've been talking about children. I want to talk about seniors. That takes us to our second Facebook question from Farheen Hakeem, who writes, "My father" \u2014 she's a 40-year-old woman who works for a nonprofit here in Milwaukee. And she writes, "My father gets just $16 in food assistance per month as part of Medicaid's family community program in Milwaukee County for low-income seniors. How will you as president work to ensure low-income seniors get their basic needs met?" Start with you, Senator Sanders. +p145 +aVSenator Sanders, are you saying... +p146 +aVThere's a lot more to come in just a few minutes. Stay with us for more of the PBS NewsHour Democratic Debate. +p147 +aVHow about you, Senator Clinton \u2014 Secretary Clinton? +p148 +aVWe spent the first part of this debate talking about domestic insecurity. The second part, we want to talk about our foreign policy insecurities. And we want to start with a question for you, Secretary Clinton, about America's role in the world. Americans are becoming increasingly worried that attacks abroad are coming home, that they already are, in fact, here. According to exit polls from last week, from earlier this week, more than two-thirds of Democrats in New Hampshire are concerned about sending their children to fight in wars they can't win. They fret that the next attack is just around the corner and we are not ready. Are we? +p149 +aVSenator Sanders... +p150 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p151 +aVLet me move on. You have both mentioned the humanitarian tragedies which have been an outgrowth in part of what has happened in Syria and in Libya. More than a million refugees entered Europe in 2015. Another 76,000 just last month, that is about 2,000 arrivals every day. Nearly 400 people have been lost at sea so far this year, crossing the Mediterranean. And there are reports that 10,000 children are missing. If we are leaders in this world, where should the U.S. be on this? What should the United States be doing, Secretary Clinton? +p152 +aVSenator, if you would like respond to \u2014 you may respond to that but it is time for closing statements and you can use your time for closing statements to do that. +p153 +aVThank you. Thank you Senator Clinton. Thank you, Senator Sanders. We also want to thank our partners at Facebook and our hosts here at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. +p154 +aVI'm going to remain here in Milwaukee tomorrow evening for a special edition of Washington Week here on PBS. +p155 +asVWOODRUFF +p156 +(lp157 +VGood evening, and thank you. We are happy to welcome you to Milwaukee for this Democratic debate. We are especially pleased to thank our partners at Facebook, who have helped us set up a vibrant conversation among voters who are undecided. And tonight you're going to hear some of their questions for the candidates. And you can follow along at home on the PBS NewsHour page on Facebook. We also want to thank our hosts, the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, on whose campus we meet, here in the beautiful Helen Bader Concert Hall. +p158 +aVWelcome, Senator, great to see you. And former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Very good to be here with you. +p159 +aVNow, a word about format. There will be two short breaks, and the rules are simple: 90 seconds for each answer and 30 seconds for the other candidate to respond. +p160 +aVThank you both. Thank you both. And we'll be right back after a short break to begin questions. +p161 +aVAnd, welcome back to this PBS Newshour debate, Democratic debate, here in Milwaukee. Let's get right to the questions. Senator Sanders, to you first. Coming off the results in Iowa and New Hampshire, there are many voters who are taking a closer look at you, and your ideas, and they're asking how big a role do you foresee for the federal government? It's already spending 21% of the entire U.S. economy. How much larger would government be in the lives of Americans under a Sanders presidency? +p162 +aVBut, my question is how big would government be? Would there be any limit on the size of the role of government... +p163 +aVNext, we're going to... +p164 +aVVery brief, thank you. +p165 +aVSecretary Clinton, your campaign \u2014 you and your campaign have made a clear appeal to women voters. You have talked repeatedly about the fact, we know you would be, if elected, the first woman president. But in New Hampshire 55 percent of the women voters supported and voted for Senator Sanders. What are women missing about you? +p166 +aVAs you know, just quickly, as you know, your strong supporter, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, said the other day that there's a special place in Hell for women who don't support other women. Do you agree with what she said? +p167 +aVSenator Sanders, you're in the minority, but we still want to hear from you. +p168 +aVFinal comment. +p169 +aVSecretary Clinton, I was talking recently with a 23 year old black woman who voted for President Obama because she said she thought relations between the races would get better under his leadership, and his example. Hardly anyone believes that they have. Why do you think race relations would be better under a Clinton presidency? What would you do that the nation's first African American has not been able to? +p170 +aVSenator Sanders? +p171 +aVSo race relation was be better under a Sanders presidency than they've been? +p172 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders, one of the causes of anxiety for working class Americans is connected to immigrants. President Obama, as you know, has issued executive actions to permit some 5 million undocumented immigrants who are living now in the United States to come out of the shadows without fear of deportation to get work permits. Would you go further than that? And if so, how specifically would you do it? Should an undocumented family watching this debate tonight, say, in Nevada, rest easy, not fear of further deportations under a Sanders presidency? +p173 +aVI'd like... +p174 +aVWe're going to move on. Secretary Clinton, your campaign has recently ramped up criticism of Senator Sanders for attending Democratic Party fundraisers from which you say he benefited. But nearly half of your financial sector donations appear to come from just two wealthy financiers, George Soros and Donald Sussman, for a total of about $10 million. You have said that there's no quid pro quo involved. Is that also true of the donations that wealthy Republicans give to Republican candidates, contributors including the Koch Brothers? +p175 +aVI'm asking if Democratic donors are different than Republican donors. +p176 +aVWe have to go to a break. We... +p177 +aVAll right. Thank you both. It is time for a break. And when we come back, we're going to turn to some new topics, including how these candidates will keep America safe. +p178 +aVWelcome back to the Democratic presidential debate. Before we return to our questions, we have a follow-up question from our Facebook group. And it is to Senator Sanders. Senator, it comes from Bill Corfield. He is a 55-year-old musician from Troy, Ohio. And he asks: "Are there any areas of government you would like to reduce?" +p179 +aVJust a final word. +p180 +aVSenator, let me \u2014 let me move on to another country with which the U.S. has a complicated relationship, Senator Sanders, and that's Russia. On the one hand, we're aware that Russia is a country that the United States needs to cooperate with. Just tonight, Secretary of State John Kerry has announced what appears to be an agreement with the Russians to lead \u2014 that could lead toward a ceasefire in Syria, would be the first cessation of conflict in that country, in that civil war in five years, but it comes at a very high price, because not only have all \u2014 have we seen the deaths, the removal of so many people, millions of people, we now see the Russians in the last few weeks have bombed in a way that benefits President Assad, has not gone after +p181 +aVAnd we have a final question from our Facebook family. And it goes to Senator Sanders. It comes from Robert Andrews. He's a 40-year-old stay-at-home dad in Dover, Massachusetts. He says, "The world has seen many great leaders in the course of human history. Can you name two leaders \u2014 one American and one foreign \u2014 who would influence your foreign policy decisions? And why do you see them as \u2014 why are they influential?" +p182 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p183 +aVAnd we want to thank our audience, our quiet audience here in Helen Bader Concert Hall, and to all of you watching at home. Thank you all. Stay tuned for analysis of the debate and the overall race for the Democratic nomination. That's coming up next here on PBS stations and online atPBS.org/NewsHour. +p184 +aVAnd I'm going to be returning to Washington. I hope you'll join us for the PBS NewsHour tomorrow and every night. That's it from all of us here in Milwaukee. We thank you. +p185 +asVCORDES +p186 +(lp187 +VJohn, thanks so much. We've learned a lot during the course of this campaign about the things that you'd like to do that you say would help the middle class, but we haven't heard quite as much about who would pick up the tab. So Secretary Clinton, first to you. You want to cap individuals' prescription drug costs at $250 a month. You want to make public college debt-free. You want community college to be free altogether. And you want mandatory paid family leave. So who pays for all that? Is it employers? Is it the taxpayers, and which taxpayers? +p188 +aVBut a quick follow-up on that $250-a-month cap. Wouldn't the pharmaceutical companies and the insurance companies just pass that cost on to the consumers in the form of higher premiums? +p189 +aVGovernor O'Malley, you also want to make public college debt-free. You want... O' +p190 +aV... states to freeze tuition. You've got your own family leave plan. How would you pay for it? In Maryland, you raised the sales tax, you raised the gas tax and you raised taxes on families making over $150,000 a year. Is that the blueprint? O' +p191 +aVSenator Sanders, you want to make public college free altogether. You want to increase Social Security benefits and you want to spend $1 trillion on infrastructure. So you said that to do some of these things, you'll impose a tax on top earners. How high would their rate go in a Sanders administration? +p192 +aVBut let's get specific. How high would you go? You have said before you would go above 50 percent. How high? +p193 +aVSecretary Clinton, Americans say that health care costs and wages are their top financial concerns. And health care deductibles, alone, have risen 67 percent over the past five years. Is this something that Obamacare was designed to address? And if not, why not? +p194 +aVIt is -- it is a worthy debate. Senator Sanders, a quick response, and then we'll get into health care again later. +p195 +aVThere was a lot of conversation on twitter about guns, but also about your conversation on campaign finance. And Secretary Clinton, one of the tweets we saw said this, "I've never seen a candidate invoke 9/11 to justify millions of Wall Street donations until now." The idea being, yes, you were a champion of the community after 9/11, but what does that have to do with taking big donations? +p196 +aVHold on. O' +p197 +aVSenator Sanders -- I'm sorry. Senator Sanders, but what is it in Secretary Clinton's record that shows you that she's been influenced by those donations? +p198 +aVBack to health care, by popular demand. First to you, Senator Sanders. You'd prefer to scrap Obamacare and move to a single-payer system, essentially Medicare for all. You say you want to put the private insurance companies out of business. Is it realistic to think that you can pull the plug on a $1 trillion industry? +p199 +aVSecretary Clinton, back in -- Secretary Clinton, back in 1994, you said that momentum for a single-payer system would sweep the country. That sounds Sanders-esque. But you don't feel that way anymore, why not? +p200 +asVKELLY +p201 +(lp202 +VWelcome to the first debate night of the 2016 presidential campaign, live from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. I'm Megyn Kelly... ... along with my co-moderators, Brett Baier and Chris Wallace. Tonight... Nice. Tonight, thousands of people here in the Q, along with millions of voters at home will get their very first chance to see the candidates face off in a debate, answering the questions you want answered. +p203 +aVAs for the candidates who will be answering those questions? Here they are. Positioned on the stage by how they stand in the polls, in the center of the stage tonight, businessman Donald Trump. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. +p204 +aVGentlemen, our first round of questions is on the subject of electability in the general election, and we start tonight with you, Dr. Carson. You are a successful neurosurgeon, but you admit that you have had to study up on foreign policy, saying there's a lot to learn. Your critics say that your inexperience shows. You've suggested that the Baltic States are not a part of +p205 +aVMr. Trump, one of the things people love about you is you speak your mind and you don't use a politician's filter. However, that is not without its downsides, in particular, when it comes to women. You've called women you don't like "fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals." Your Twitter account... +p206 +aVNo, it wasn't. Your Twitter account... +p207 +aVFor the record, it was well beyond Rosie O'Donnell. +p208 +aVYour Twitter account has several disparaging comments about women's looks. You once told a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice it would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees. Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president, and how will you answer the charge from Hillary Clinton, who was likely to be the Democratic nominee, that you are part of the war on women? +p209 +aVGovernor Walker, you've consistently said that you want to make abortion illegal even in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother. You recently signed an abortion law in Wisconsin that does have an exception for the mother's life, but you're on the record as having objected to it. Would you really let a mother die rather than have an abortion, and with 83 percent of the American public in favor of a life exception, are you too out of the mainstream on this issue to win the general election? +p210 +aVGovernor Kasich, You chose to expand Medicaid in your state, unlike several other governors on this stage tonight, and it is already over budget by some estimates costing taxpayers an additional $1.4 billion in just the first 18 months. You defended your Medicaid expansion by invoking God, saying to skeptics that when they arrive in heaven, Saint Peter isn't going to ask them how small they've kept government, but what they have done for the poor. Why should Republican voters, who generally want to shrink government, believe that you won't use your Saint Peter rationale to expand every government program? +p211 +aVAlright, gentlemen, we're gonna switch topics now and talk a bit about terror and national security. Governor Christie. You've said that Senator Paul's opposition to the NSA's collection of phone records has made the United States weaker and more vulnerable, even going so far as to say that he should be called before Congress to answer for it if we should be hit by another terrorist attack. Do you really believe you can assign blame to Senator Paul just for opposing the bulk collection of people's phone records in the event of a terrorist attack? +p212 +aVGo ahead, sir. +p213 +aVGovernor Christie, make your point. +p214 +aVGo ahead, governor. +p215 +aVAlright. +p216 +aVAlright, we've gotta cut it off there. We have plenty more we want to get to. That was an interesting exchange, thank you for that. +p217 +aVWell, I want to move on, because I have -- we're gonna get to you, governor, but I -- I really wanna get to a Facebook questioner. His name is Alex Chalgren, and he has the following question: +p218 +aVSenator Cruz, I wanna talk to you about this, because many of the Facebook users and -- and -- the -- the folks on Facebook wanted the candidates to speak to +p219 +aVYou don't see it as... ...an ideological problem -- an ideological problem in addition to a military one? +p220 +aVGovernor Bush, for days on end in this campaign, you struggled to answer a question about whether knowing what we know now... +p221 +aV...we would've invaded Iraq... +p222 +aVI remember it too, and +p223 +aVGovernor Walker, in February you said that we needed to gain partners in the Arab world. Which Arab country not already in the U.S. led coalition has potential to be our greatest partner? +p224 +aVDr. Carson, in one of his first acts as commander in chief, President Obama signed an executive order banning enhanced interrogation techniques in fighting terror. As president, would you bring back water boarding? +p225 +aVWe have a lot for you, don't worry. Fear not, you may rue that request. +p226 +aVIt's just before 10:00 p.m. on the East Coast. Welcome back to Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, and the very first Republican primary debate of the 2016 presidential campaign. Ten candidates on the stage, selected based on their standing in five national polls. And tonight they are facing off, answering the questions you want asked. We hope. +p227 +aV Sounds like somebody's a little R-rated. +p228 +aVWell, the first debate night of the 2016 presidential campaign continues from Cleveland after a short time-out. Stick around. Social issues, next. +p229 +aVSenator Rubio, you favor a rape and incest exception to abortion bans. Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York just said yesterday those exceptions are preposterous. He said they discriminate against an entire class of human beings. If you believe that life begins at conception, as you say you do, how do you justify ending a life just because it begins violently, through no fault of the baby? +p230 +aVYou don't favor a rape and incest exception? +p231 +aVMr. Trump, in 1999, you said you were, quote, "very pro- choice." Even supporting partial-birth abortion. You favored an assault weapons ban as well. In 2004, you said in most cases you identified as a Democrat. Even in this campaign, your critics say you often sound more like a Democrat than a Republican, calling several of your opponents on the stage things like clowns and puppets. When did you actually become a Republican? +p232 +aVGovernor Bush, I want to ask you, on the subject of name calling of your fellow candidates, a story appeared today quoting an anonymous GOP donor who said you called Mr. Trump a clown, a buffoon, something else that cannot be repeated on television. +p233 +aVIs it true? +p234 +aVMr. Trump, 30 seconds. +p235 +aVThe subject of gay marriage and religious liberty. Governor Kasich, if you had a son or daughter who was gay or lesbian, how would you explain to them your opposition to same-sex marriage? +p236 +aVHow would you -- how would you explain it to a child? +p237 +aVSenator Paul, in the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling on same sex marriage, Carol Fox on Facebook want to know the following. Quote: what will you do to ensure Christians are not prosecuted for speaking out against gay marriage and will Christians be forced to conduct business that conflicts with their religious beliefs? +p238 +aVGovernor Walker, many in the Black Lives Matter movement, and beyond, believe that overly-aggressive police officers targeting young African Americans is the civil rights issue of our time. Do you agree? And if so, how do you plan to address it? And if not, why not? +p239 +aVThank you. +p240 +aVWe have to stand you by, because after the break, we're going to let the candidates make their closing statements, their final thoughts, and . . . God. Stay tuned for that. +p241 +aVWelcome back. In our final moments here together, we're going to allow the candidates to offer their final thoughts. But first, we want to ask them an interesting closing question from Chase Norton on Facebook, who wants to know this of the candidates: "I want to know if any of them have received a word from God on what they should do and take care of first." Senator Cruz, start from you. Any word from God? +p242 +aVGovernor Kasich, same question. +p243 +aVGovernor Walker, same question. +p244 +aVSenator Rubio, I want to ask you the same question. But I do want to mention, a woman just came here to the stage and asked, what about the veterans? I want to hear more about what these candidates are going to do for our nation's veterans. So I put the question to you about God and the veterans, which you may find to be related. +p245 +aVDr. Carson, a question to you about God and his role, but also, one of the issues that the public was very interested in, and we touched on it earlier, is race relations in this country, and how divided we seem right now. And what, if anything, you can do -- you would do as the next president to help heal that divide. +p246 +aVGovernor Christie? +p247 +aVSenator Ted Cruz. +p248 +aVGovernor Scott Walker. +p249 +aVIt's over! +p250 +aVAre you relieved? You were nervous before, they -- they don't look relieved. They look "get me outta here." Thank you all very much, and that will do it for the first Republican primary debate night of the 2016 presidential race. Our thanks to the candidates, who will now be joined by their families on stage. +p251 +asVRUBIO +p252 +(lp253 +VThank you Wolf. It's really amazing to be back in Las Vegas. I spent six years as a child growing not far from where we stand tonight. I use to sit on the porch of our home and listen to my grandfather tell stories as he smoked one of three daily cigars. One of the things my grandfather instilled in me, was that I was really blessed because I was a citizen of the greatest country in the history of our mankind. But there have always been people in American politics that wanted America to be more like the rest of the world. And In 2008, one of them was elected president of this country and the result has been a disaster. Today you have millions of Americans that feel left out and out of place in their own country, struggling to live paycheck to paycheck, called bigots because they hold on to traditional values. And around the world, America's influence has declined while this president has destroyed our military, our allies no longer trust us, and our adversaries no longer respect us. And that is why this election is so important. That is why I'm running for president. And that's why I'm going to ask you for your vote tonight. If you elect me president, we will have a president that believes America is the greatest country in the world and we will have a president that acts like it. +p254 +aVWell, I understand why they feel that way, because this president hasn't kept us safe. The problem is we had an attack in San Bernardino. And we were paying attention to the most important issue we have faced in a decade since 9/11, and then all the talk was about this proposal, which isn't going to happen. But this is what's important to do is we must deal frontally with this threat of radical Islamists, especially from +p255 +aVHe is and so are those that voted for it. There were some that voted for it because they wanted to keep it alive and they were afraid the whole program would expire. Here's the world we live in. This is a radical jihadist group that is increasingly sophisticated in its ability, for example, to radicalize American citizens, in its inability to exploit loopholes in our legal immigration system, in its ability to capture and hold territory in the Middle East, as I outlined earlier, in multiple countries. This is not just the most capable, it is the most sophisticated terror threat we have ever faced. We are now at a time when we need more tools, not less tools. And that took we lost, the metadata program, was a valuable tool that we no longer have at our disposal. +p256 +aVDana, may I interject here? +p257 +aVLet me be very careful when answering this, because I don't think national television in front of 15 million people is the place to discuss classified information. So let me just be very clear. There is nothing that we are allowed to do under this bill that we could not do before. This bill did, however, take away a valuable tool that allowed the National Security Agency and other law \u2014 and other intelligence agencies to quickly and rapidly access phone records and match them up with other phone records to see who terrorists have been calling. Because I promise you, the next time there is attack on \u2014 an attack on this country, the first thing people are going to want to know is, why didn't we know about it and why didn't we stop it? And the answer better not be because we didn't have access to records or information that would have allowed us to identify these killers before they attacked. +p258 +aVI want to thank Rand for another 30 seconds, because, number one, what he's pointing to is a bill last week that \u2014 amendment that he voted for that only 10 people voted for. You know why? Because it's not focused on terrorists. It would have banned anyone from coming here. Someone from Taiwan would not have been able to come here as a tourist. Number two, this program, this metadata program is actually more strict than what a regular law enforcement agency has now. If a regular law enforcement agency wants your phone records, all they have to do is issue a subpoena. But now the intelligence agency is not able to quickly gather records and look at them to see who these terrorists are calling. And the terrorists that attacked us in San Bernardino was an American citizen, born and raised in this country. And I bet you we wish we would have had access to five years of his records so we could see who he was working with... +p259 +aVDo I get another 30 seconds? He mentioned me. +p260 +aVWell, let me begin by saying that we have to understand who +p261 +aVThat is accurate. Three times he voted against the Defense Authorization Act, which is a bill that funds the troops. It also, by the way, funds the Iron Dome and other important programs. And I have to assume that if you vote against it in the Senate, you would also veto it as president. He has also supported, by the way, a budget that is called the containment budget. And it is a budget that would radically reduce the amount of money we spend on our military. You can't carpet bomb +p262 +aVYes, let me \u2014 three points of distinction. The first is, if you're an American citizen and you decide to join up with +p263 +aVWell, they most certainly will have to be worked on to provide more than what they are doing now. There's no doubt about it. And there's one \u2014 one major reason why they have not been willing to be a broader part of the coalition, and that is they have lost complete trust and confidence in this president. This president cut a deal with their moral enemy, the Shia, in Iran. And this is the reason why they no longer trust this president and are willing to work alongside them. But they have as much invested in this as we do. In fact, more so, for it is the king of Saudi Arabia they want to behead first. It's the king of Jordan that they want to dethrone. It's the \u2014 they want to go into Egypt the way they've already gone into Libya. And on another point that we need to talk about, Assad is one of the main reasons why +p264 +aVTo begin with, Moammar Gadhafi and the revolt against Gadhafi was not started by the United States. It was started by the Libyan people. And the reason why I argued we needed to get involved is because he was going to go one way or the other. And my argument then was proven true, and that is, the longer that civil war took, the more militias would be formed and the more unstable the country would be after the fact. As far as Moammar Gadhafi is concerned, by the way, Moammar Gadhafi is the man that killed those Americans over Lockerbie, Scotland. Moammar Gadhafi is also the man that bombed that cafe in Berlin and killed those Marines. And you want to know why Moammar Gadhafi started cooperating on his nuclear program? Because we got rid of Saddam Hussein. And so he got scared that he would be next, and that's why he started cooperating. Look, we will have to work around the world with less than ideal governments. The government in Saudi Arabia is not a democracy, but we will have to work with them. The government in Jordan is not perfect, but we will have to work with them. But anti-American dictators like Assad, who help Hezbollah, who helped get those IEDs into Iraq, if they go, I will not shed a tear. +p265 +aVYeah. Immigration is not an issue that I read about in the newspaper or watch a documentary on PBS or CNN. It's an issues I've lived around my whole life. My family are immigrants. My wife's family are immigrants. All of my neighbors are immigrants. I see every aspect of this problem. The good, the bad, and the ugly. And here's what we learned in 2013. The American people don't trust the Federal Government to enforce our immigration laws, and we will not be able to do anything on immigration until we first prove to the American people that illegal immigration is under control. And we can do that. We know what it takes to do that. It takes at least 20,000 more additional border agents. It takes completing those 700 miles of fencing. It takes a mandatory e-verify system and a mandatory entry/exit tracking system to prevent overstays. After we have done that, the second thing we have to do is reform and modernize the legal immigration system. And after we have done those two things, I think the American people are gonna be reasonable with what do you do with someone who has been in this country for 10 or 12 years who hasn't otherwise violated our laws \u2014 because if they're a criminal they can't stay. They'll have to undergo a background check, pay a fine, start paying taxes. And ultimately, they'll given a work permit and that's all they're gonna be allowed to have for at least 10 years. But you can't get to that third step until you have done the other two things, and that was the lesson we learned in 2013. There is no trust that the Federal Government will enforce the law. They will not support you until you see it done first. +p266 +aVBut I've answered that question repeatedly. I am personally open \u2014 after all that has happened and after ten years in that probationary status where all they have is a permit, I personally am open to allowing people to apply for a green card. That may not be a majority position in my party, but that's down the road. You can't even begin that process until you prove to people \u2014 not just pass a law that says you're gonna bring illegal immigration under control. You're gonna have to do it and prove to people that it's working. And that was the lesson of 2013. And it's more true today, than it was then. After a migratory crisis on the border with minors coming over that you're seeing start up again now, after all these executive orders the President has issued. More than ever we need to... +p267 +aV... prove to people that illegal immigration is under control. +p268 +aVYeah, a couple points. In 2013 we had never faced a crisis like the Syrian refugee crisis now. Up until that point, a refugee meant someone fleeing oppression, fleeing Communism like it is in my community. As far as Ted's record, I'm always puzzled by his attack on this issue. Ted, you support legalizing people who are in this country illegally. Ted Cruz supported a 500-percent increase in the number of H-1 visas, the guest workers that are allowed into this country, and Ted supports doubling the number of green cards. So I think what's important for us to understand and there is a way forward on this issue that we an bring our country together on. And while I'm president I will do it. And it will begin by bringing illegal immigration under control and proving to the American people. +p269 +aVNo, no, give him time. +p270 +aVTed, do you... +p271 +aVDid Ted Cruz fight to support legalizing people that are in this country illegally? +p272 +aVDoes Ted Cruz rule out ever legalizing people that are in this country now? +p273 +aVWould you rule it out? +p274 +aVWell, he's just admitted \u2014 as he's just admitted, the reason why those refugees were allowed in was because they messed up in how they used the actual database. They should have know. They didn't because they didn't run the actual law as it exists now. It didn't work well. As far as the refugees are concerned, it's not that America doesn't want to accept refugees, Wolf. It's that we may not be able to, because this is an issue we have to be 100 percent right on. If we allow 9,999 Syrian refugees into the United States, and all of them are good people, but we allow one person in who's an +p275 +aVI do. First, let's explain to people at home who the triad \u2014 what the triad is. Maybe a lot of people haven't heard that terminology before. The triad is our ability of the United States to conduct nuclear attacks using airplanes, using missiles launched from silos or from the ground, and also from our nuclear subs' ability to attack. And it's important \u2014 all three of them are critical. It gives us the ability at deterrence. Now, some have become more critical than others; for example, the submarines. And that's the Ohio Class submarine that needs to be modernized. The air component also needs to be modernized. The B-52, as someone earlier pointed out, is an outdated model that was flown by the grandparents of people that are flying it now. And we need a serious modernization program as well on our silo-launched missiles. All three are critical for the defense of the country. +p276 +aVThank you. As we near the end of this year, we enter one of the most important elections in a generation. For what's at stake in this election is not simply what party's going to be in charge. But our very identity as a people and as a nation. For over 200 years this has been a special country. A unique place where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything. But now millions of Americans feel like they're being left behind. Insecure in their future and unsafe in the face of terrorism. This election is about electing a president that will restore our economic vibrancy so that the American dream can expand to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And rebuild our Military and our intelligence programs so that we can remain the strongest nation on earth. Tonight I ask you for your vote. If you do this, we will rebuild this country, and together we will usher in a new American century \u2014 the greatest era in the history of this great land. +p277 +aVWell, let me begin by answering both the first question and this one, because they're related. As I've said many times before, my parents were never rich people. My father was a bartender. My mother was a maid. They worked for a living. But they were successful people, because, despite the fact that they weren't well educated and had those jobs, they made enough money to buy a home in a safe and stable neighborhood, retire with dignity, leave all four of their children better off than themselves. We call that the American dream, but in fact, it's a universal dream of a better life that people have all over the world. It is a reminder that every country in the world has rich people. What makes America special is that we have millions and millions of people that are not rich, that through hard work and perseverance are able to be successful. The problem is that today people are not successful working as hard as ever because the economy is not providing jobs that pay enough. If I thought that raising the minimum wage was the best way to help people increase their pay, I would be all for it, but it isn't. In the 20th century, it's a disaster. If you raise the minimum wage, you're going to make people more expensive than a machine. And that means all this automation that's replacing jobs and people right now is only going to be accelerated. Here's the best way to raise wages. Make America the best place in the world to start a business or expand an existing business, tax reform and regulatory reform, bring our debt under control, fully utilize our energy resources so we can reinvigorate manufacturing, repeal and replace Obamacare, and make higher education faster and easier to access, especially vocational training. For the life of me, I don't know why we have stigmatized vocational education. Welders make more money than philosophers. We need more welders and less philosophers. If we do that \u2014 and if we do this \u2014 if we do this, we will be able to increase wages for millions of Americans and we will be able to leave everyone better off without making anyone worse off. +p278 +aVWell, you know, that's an excellent question, because what we are going through in this country is not simply an economic downturn. We are living through a massive economic transformation. I mean, this economy is nothing like what it was like five years ago, not to mention 15 or 20 years ago. And it isn't just a different economy. It's changing faster than ever. You know, it took the telephone 75 years to reach 100 million users. It took Candy Crush one year to reach some 100 million users. So the world is changing faster than ever, and it is disruptive. Number one, we are in a global competition now, and several of the candidates have said that. There are now dozens of developed economies on this planet that we have to compete with. And we lose that competition because we have the highest business tax rate in the industrialized world, because we have regulations that continue to grow by the billions every single week, because we have a crazy health care law that discourages companies from hiring people, but because we're not fully utilizing our energy resources, that if we did, it would bring back all kinds of growth, especially in manufacturing, and because we have an outdated higher education system. Our higher education system is completely outdated. It is too expensive, too hard to access, and it doesn't teach 21st century skills. If we do what needs to be done \u2014 tax reform, regulatory reform, fully utilize our energy resources, repeal and replace Obamacare, and modernize higher education, then we can grasp the potential and the promise of this new economy. And we won't just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And then truly this new century can be a new American century. +p279 +aVThe most important job I'm ever going to have, the most important job anyone in this room will ever have, is the job of being a parent. Not the job of being president, or the job of being a senator, or the job of being a congressman. The most important job any of us will ever do is the job of being a president (sic), because the most important institution in society is the family. If the family breaks down, society breaks down. You can't have a strong nation without strong values, and no one is born with strong values. They have to be taught to you in strong families and reinforced in you in strong communities. And so when we set out to do tax reform, we endeavor to have a pro-family tax code, and we endeavor to do it because we know how difficult it is for families in the 21st century to afford the cost of living. It is expensive to raise children in the 21st century, and families that are raising children are raising the future taxpayers of the United States, and everything costs more. In 35 out of 50 states, child care costs more than college. There are millions of people watching this broadcast tonight that understand exactly what I'm talking about. They don't know how they're going to make that payment every month, and if they can't make it, they can't work, because someone needs to watch their kids during the day. They don't know how they're going to save for their kids' future, to go to college. And so, yes, I have a child tax credit increase, and I'm proud of it. I am proud that I have a pro-family tax code, because the pro- family tax plan I have will strengthen the most important institution in the \u2014 in the country, the family. +p280 +aVNow I get my 60 seconds to respond. He's talking about my tax plan. +p281 +aVSo let me begin with this. I actually believe \u2014 first of all, this is their money. They do pay. It is refundable, not just against the taxes they pay to the government, but also the \u2014 on their federal income tax, it's refundable against the payroll tax. Everyone pays payroll tax. This is their money. This is not our money. And here's what I don't understand \u2014 if you invest that money in a piece of equipment, if you invest that money in a business, you get to write it off your taxes. But if you invest it in your children, in the future of America and strengthening your family, we're not going to recognize that in our tax code? The family is the most important institution in society. And, yes... +p282 +aV... I do want to rebuild the American military. +p283 +aVI know that Rand is a committed isolationist. I'm not. I believe the world is a stronger and a better place, when the United States is the strongest military power in the world. +p284 +aVBecause... +p285 +aV...are you talking about the military, Rand? +p286 +aVWe can't even have an economy if we're not safe. There are radical jihadist in the Middle East beheading people and crucifying Christians. A radical Shia cleric in Iran trying to get a nuclear weapon, the Chinese taking over the South China Sea... ...Yes, I believe the world is a safer \u2014 no, no, I don't believe, I know that the world is a safer place when America is the strongest military power in the world. +p287 +aVYou know, if I may respond... +p288 +aVI need to add a couple of points to this. The first is, I've never met Vladimir Putin, but I know enough about him to know he is a gangster. He is basically an organized crime figure that runs a country, controls a $2 trillion economy. And is using to build up his military in a rapid way despite the fact his economy is a disaster. He understands only geopolitical strength. And every time he has acted anywhere in the world, whether it's in Ukraine or Georgia before that, or now in the Middle East, it's because he is trusting in weakness. His calculation in the Middle East is that he has seen what this president has done, which is nothing, the president has no strategy, our allies in the region do not trust us. For goodness sake, there is only one pro-American free enterprise democracy in the Middle East, it is the state of Israel. And we have a president that treats the prime minister of Israel with less respect than what he gives the ayatollah in Iran. And so our allies in the region don't trust us. Vladimir Putin is exploiting that weakness, for purposes of edging the Americans out as the most important geopolitical power broker in the region. And we do have a vested interest. And here's why. Because all those radical terrorist groups that, by the way, are not just in Syria and in Iraq, +p289 +aVCan I just add what \u2014 he's right on point there. Do you know why these banks are so big? The government made them big. The government made them big by adding thousands and thousands of pages of regulations. So the big banks, they have an army of lawyers, they have an army of compliance officers. They can deal with all these things. The small banks, like Governor Bush was saying, they can't deal with all these regulations. They can't deal with all \u2014 they cannot hire the fanciest law firm in Washington or the best lobbying firm to deal with all these regulations. And so the result is, the big banks get bigger, the small banks struggle to lend or even exist, and the result is what you have today. And in Dodd-Frank, you have actually codified too big to fail. We have actually created a category of systemically important institutions, and these banks go around bragging about it. You know what they say to people with a wink and a nod? We are so big, we are so important that if we get in trouble, the government has to bail us out. This is an outrage. We need to repeal Dodd-Frank as soon as possible. +p290 +aVWell, that's a great question, and let me begin by answering it. This election is about the future, about what kind of country this nation is gonna be in the 21st century. This next (ph) election is actually a generational choice. A choice about what kind of nation we will be in the 21st century. For over 2.5 centuries, America's been a special country, the one place on earth where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything, a nation that's been a force for good on this planet. But now, a growing number of Americans feel out of place in their own country. We have a society that stigmatizes those that hold cultural values that are traditional. We have a society where people \u2014 millions of people \u2014 are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, but they're living paycheck to paycheck because the economy has changed underneath their feet. We have young Americans who owe thousands of dollars in student loans for a degree that doesn't lead to a job. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses dying than starting, and around the world, every day brings news of a new humiliation for America \u2014 many the direct response \u2014 direct consequence of decisions made when Hillary Clinton was the secretary of the \u2014 of state. And so here's the truth: this election is about the future, and the Democratic Party, and the political left has no ideas about the future. All their ideas are the same, tired ideas of the past. More government, more spending. For every issue for America, their answer is a new tax on someone, and a new government program. This nation is going to turn the page, and that's what this election should be about, and, as I said at the first debate... ...If I am our nominee, they will be the party of the past, we will be the party of the 21st century. +p291 +aVOurs \u2014 the story of America is an extraordinary story. It is the story of a nation that for over two centuries each generation has left the next better off than themselves. But now, because Washington is out of touch, for the fault of both political parties, for the first time in our history, that is in doubt. And that is what this election must be about, because if the next four years are anything like the last eight years, our children will be the first Americans ever left worse off by their parents. This election is about making a different choice, about applying our principles of limited government and free enterprise to the unique issues of our time. And if we do, we will not just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And the 21st century can be a new American century. So tonight, I ask you for your vote and I ask you to join us at my website, marcorubio.com. +p292 +aVThank you for that question. I would begin by saying that I'm not sure it's a weakness, but I do believe that I share a sense of optimism for America's future that, today, is eroding from too many of our people. I think there's a sense in this country today that somehow our best days are behind us. And that doesn't have to be true. Our greatest days lie ahead if we are willing to do what it takes now. If we're willing to do what it takes now, the 21st century is going to be the new American century, greater than any other era we've had in the history of this great nation. +p293 +aVThat's an interesting question. That's exactly what the Republican establishment says too. Why don't you wait in line? Wait for what? This country is running out of time. We can't afford to have another four years like the last eight years. Watching this broadcast tonight are millions of people that are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, everything costs more, and they haven't had a raise in decades. You have small businesses in America that are struggling. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses closing than starting. We have a world that's out of control and has grown dangerous and a president that is weakening our military and making our foreign policy unstable and unreliable in the eyes of our allies. And our adversaries continue to grow stronger. We have a \u2014 they say there's no bipartisanship in Washington? We have a $19 trillion bipartisan debt and it continues to grow as we borrow money from countries that do not like us to pay for government we cannot afford. The time to act is now. The time to turn the page is now. If we \u2014 if we don't act now, we are going to be the first generation in American history that leaves our children worse off than ourselves. +p294 +aVLet me say, I read that editorial today with a great amusement. It's actually evidence of the bias that exists in the American media today. +p295 +aVLet me \u2014 let me answer your question on the Sun-Sentinel editorial today. Back in 2004, one of my predecessors to the Senate by the name of Bob Graham, a Democrat, ran for president missing over 30 percent of his votes. I don't recall them calling for his resignation \u2014 +p296 +aVLater that year, in 2004, John Kerry ran for president missing close to 60 to 70 percent of his votes. I don't recall the Sun \u2014 in fact, the Sun-Sentinel endorsed him. In 2008, Barack Obama missed 60 or 70 percent of his votes, and the same newspaper endorsed him again. So this is another example of the double standard that exists in this country between the mainstream media and the conservative movement. +p297 +aVI get to respond, right? +p298 +aVWell, it's interesting. Over the last few weeks, I've listened to Jeb as he walked around the country and said that you're modeling your campaign after John McCain, that you're going to launch a furious comeback the way he did, by fighting hard in New Hampshire and places like that, carrying your own bag at the airport. You know how many votes John McCain missed when he was carrying out that furious comeback that you're now modeling after? +p299 +aVNo Jeb, I don't remember \u2014 well, let me tell you. I don't remember you ever complaining about John McCain's vote record. The only reason why you're doing it now is because we're running for the same position, and someone has convinced you that attacking me is going to help you. +p300 +aVHere's the bottom line. I'm not \u2014 my campaign is going to be about the future of America, it's not going to be about attacking anyone else on this stage. I will continue to have tremendous admiration and respect for Governor Bush. I'm not running against Governor Bush, I'm not running against anyone on this stage. I'm running for president because there is no way we can elect Hillary Clinton to continue the policies of Barack Obama. +p301 +aVWell, you just \u2014 you just listed a litany of discredited attacks from Democrats and my political opponents, and I'm not gonna waste 60 seconds detailing them all. But I'm going to tell you the truth. Here's the truth. I didn't inherit any money. My dad was a bartender, my mother was a maid. They worked hard to provide us the chance at a better life. They didn't save enough money for us to go to school. I had to work my way through school. I had to borrow money to go to school. I tried (ph), early in my marriage, explaining to my wife why someone named Sallie Mae was taking $1,000 out of our bank account every month. I know what it's like to owe that money, and we've worked hard. We've worked hard our whole life to provide a better family \u2014 a better life for our family. We own a home four blocks away from the place that I grew up in. My four children have been able to receive a good Christian education, and I've been able to save for them to go to college so they never have to have the loans that I did. But I'm not worried about my finances, I'm worried about the finances of everyday Americans who today are struggling in an economy that is not producing good paying jobs while everything else costs more. And that's what this economy needs to \u2014 that's what this debate needs to be about. This debate needs to be about the men and women across this country that are struggling on a daily basis to provide for their families the better future that we've always said this country is all about. +p302 +aVAnd I used it to pay off my loans. And it's available on paperback, if you're interested in buying my book. +p303 +aVYeah, again, as I said, we're raising a family in the 21st century and it's one of the reasons why my tax plan is a pro- family tax plan. It increases the per child tax credit, because I didn't read about this in a book. I know for a fact how difficult it is to raise children, how expensive it's become for working families. And I make a lot more than the average American. Imagine how hard it is for these people out there that are making 40, 50, $60,000 a year, and they're trying to provide for their families at a time when this economy is not growing. We can't afford another four years of that. Which is what we're gonna get if we elect a big government liberal like Hillary Clinton to the White House. Thank you, senator. +p304 +aVWell, first of all, if a company gets caught doing that, they should never be able to use the program again. If you get caught abusing this program, you should never be able to use it again. The second thing I said is we need to add reforms, not just increase the numbers, but add reforms. For example, before you hire anyone from abroad, you should have to advertise that job for 180 days. You also have to prove that you're going to pay these people more than you would pay someone else, so that you're not undercutting it by bringing in cheap labor. But here's the best solution of all. We need to get back to training people in this country to do the jobs of the 21st century. Why, for the life of me, I do not understand why did we stop doing vocational education in America, people that can work with their hands; people you can train to do this work while they're still in high school so they can graduate ready to go work. But the best way to close this gap is to modernize higher education so Americans have the skills for those jobs. But in the interim, in the absence of that, what's happening is some of these tech companies are taking those \u2014 those centers (ph) to Canada because they can get people to go over there instead of here. But the ideal scenario is to train Americans to do the work so we don't have to rely on people from abroad. +p305 +aVWell, I believe that there are abuses, those companies should be permanently barred from ever using the program again and we should put strict standards in place to ensure that they're not being abused, like the prevailing wage requirement and like the advertising requirement. +p306 +aVSince I've been mentioned, can I respond? +p307 +aVOK. I know the Democrats have the ultimate SuperPac. It's called the mainstream media who every single day... ... and I'll tell you why. Last week, Hillary Clinton went before a committee. She admitted she had sent e-mails to her family saying, "Hey, this attack at Benghazi was caused by Al Qaida-like elements." She spent over a week telling the families of those victims and the American people that it was because of a video. And yet the mainstream media is going around saying it was the greatest week in Hillary Clinton's campaign. It was the week she got exposed as a liar. It was the week that she got exposed as a liar... But she has her super PAC helping her out, the American mainstream media. +p308 +aVNo, that's \u2014 you're wrong. In fact, the largest after- tax gains is for the people at the lower end of the tax spectrum under my plan. And there's a bunch of things my tax plan does to help them. Number one, you have people in this country that... +p309 +aV...you wrote a story on it, and you had to go back and correct it. +p310 +aVYou did. No, you did. +p311 +aVWell, you're talking about \u2014 yeah. +p312 +aVYeah, but that \u2014 because the math is, if you \u2014 5 percent of a million is a lot more than 5 percent of a thousand. So yeah, someone who makes more money... +p313 +aV...numerically, it's gonna be higher. But the greatest gains, percentage-wise, for people, are gonna be at the lower end of our plan, and here's why: because in addition to a general personal exemption, we are increasing the per-child tax credit for working families. We are lowering taxes on small business. You know, a lot of business activity in America is conducted like the guy that does my dry cleaning. He's an S corporation. He pays on his personal rate, and he is paying higher than the big dry-cleaning chain down the street, because he's paying at his personal rate. Under my plan, no business, big or small, will pay more than 25 percent flat rate on their business income. That is a dramatic tax decrease for hard-working people who run their own businesses. +p314 +aV...The other thing I'd like to make about our plan, one more point, it is the most pro growth tax plan that I can imagine because it doesn't tax investments at all. You know why? Because the more you tax something, the less of it you get. I want to be in \u2014 I want America to be the best... +p315 +aV...in the world for people... +p316 +aVI was mentioned in the question. +p317 +aVThank you. Well, I've learned the rules on this. Look, in addition to what Donald was saying is we also need to talk about the legal immigration system for permanent residents. Today, we have a legal immigration system for permanent residency that is largely based on whether or not you have a relative living here. And that's the way my parents came legally in 1956. But in 2015, we have a very different economy. Our legal immigration system from now on has to be merit-based. It has to be based on what skills you have, what you can contribute economically, and most important of all, on whether or not you're coming here to become an American, not just live in America, but be an American. +p318 +aVNo. No. What I said was that I think that Dr. Carson's ideas are good ideas. They're not my ideas, and I don't necessarily agree with all of them. But this is what you're seeing in the Republican debate that you didn't see in that Democrat debate. You didn't see it for a minute. You didn't see these kind of ideas being batted around, and being batted around in a way that's civil and smart and that's trying to help to inform the voter out there. What you saw was a parade of, "I'll give you this for free; I'll give you that for free." Let me tell you, everybody, when they say they want to give it to you for free, keep your hands on your wallets because they're coming to you to pay for it. And that's why I think these ideas up here are great, and that's what we should have is have more discussions like this and less gotcha. +p319 +aVI want to take off from that point and argue the same thing. And that is that one of the things you're watching tonight are 11 quality candidates debating an important issue. The Republican Party is blessed to have 11 good candidates, 10 good candidates. The Democrats can't even come up with one. And on this issue of the Medicare in particular, it's important because they're going to demagogue what we're saying here tonight. Everyone up here tonight that's talking about reforms, I think and I know for myself I speak to this, we're all talking about reforms for future generations. Nothing has to change for current beneficiaries. My mother is on Medicare and Social Security. I'm against anything that's bad for my mother. So, we're talking about \u2014 we're talking about reform for people like me and people like Senator Cruz, as he talked about earlier, who are years away from retirement that have a way to plan for these changes, and way that's very reasonable. And it's not too much to ask of our generation after everything our parents and our grandparents did for us. +p320 +aVYou know, America doesn't owe me anything. I have a debt to America I'll never repay. This isn't just the country I was born in, this is the nation that literally changed the history of my family. My parents in this country were able to give me the chance to do all the things they never did. We call that the American Dream, although, it's built on the universal dream of a better life. The fact that it's happened for so many people here throughout our history, that's what makes us special. But, now for millions of Americans, it's slipping away. And, we have a government and leaders in government that are completely out of touch, and that's why I'm running for president. Because we can't just save the American Dream, we can expand it to reach more people, and change more lives than ever before. And, that's why tonight I'm asking you for your vote. +p321 +aVThank you. My name is Marco Rubio. I'm from Florida. My wife Jeanette and I are the proud \u2014 we've been married 17 years, and we're the proud parents of four children, two of whom were able to join us here this evening. I'm honored to be here at the Reagan Library, at a place that honors the legacy of a man who inspired not just my interest in public service, but also our love for country. And I'm also aware that California has a drought, and so that's why I made sure I brought my own water. +p322 +aVWell, first of all, I have an understanding of exactly what it is Russia and Putin are doing, and it's pretty straightforward. He wants to reposition Russia, once again, as a geopolitical force. He himself said that the destruction of the Soviet Union \u2014 the fall of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century, and now he's trying to reverse that. He's trying to destroy +p323 +aVLet me tell you \u2014 I will tell you we have zero responsibility, because let's remember what the president said. He said the attack he would conduct would be a pinprick. Well, the United States military was not build to conduct pinprick attacks. If the United States military is going to be engaged by a commander-in-chief, it should only be engaged in an endeavor to win. And we're not going to authorize use of force if you're not put in a position where they can win. And quite frankly, people don't trust this president as commander-in-chief because of that. +p324 +aVHold on, a second, Jake, he asked me, as well. I'd like to actually... +p325 +aV... respond. I think I'm the first senator. The No. 1 test for use of military force should be the vital national security interest of the United States. The reason why I opposed President Obama bombing Syria, is because he couldn't answer the question what do you do if chemical weapons end up in the hands of radical Islamic terrorists like al-Nusra, like Al Qaida, like +p326 +aVIn the middle of negotiating this treaty, Khamenei led the assembled masses in chanting, death to America. I'm reminded of a great editorial cartoon. It shows the Ayatollah Khamenei saying, "Death to all Americans," and then it shows John Kerry coming back, saying, "Can we meet ya half way?" We need a commander-in-chief who will stand up and protect this country. And I'll tell you, I can't wait to stand on that debate stage with Hillary Clinton and to make abundantly clear if you vote for Hillary, you are voting for the Ayatollah Khomeini to possess a nuclear weapon and if you elect me as president, under no circumstances will a theocratic ayatollah who chants death to America ever be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon. +p327 +aVMs. Dana, I agree that English is the unifying language of our country, and everyone should learn to speak it. It's important. I want to tell you a story about someone that didn't speak English that well. It was my grandfather; he came to this country in the 1960s, as a \u2014 escaping Cuba. And he lived with us, growing up. And my grandfather loved America. He understood what was so special about this country. He loved Ronald Reagan; he would be very proud of the fact that we're here this evening. My grandfather instilled in me the belief that I was blessed to live in the one society in all of human history where even I, the son of a bartender and a maid, could aspire to have anything, and be anything that I was willing to work hard to achieve. But he taught me that in Spanish, because it was the language he was most comfortable in. And he became a conservative, even though he got his news in Spanish. And so, I do give interviews in Spanish, and here's why \u2014 because I believe that free enterprise and limited government is the best way to help people who are trying to achieve upward mobility. And if they get their news in Spanish, I want them to hear that directly from me. Not from a translator at Univision. +p328 +aVWell, let me say that legal immigration is not an issue I read about in the newspaper. Immigration, illegal immigration, all the good aspects of immigration and all the negative ones as well, I live with. My family's immigrants. My neighbors are all immigrants. My in-laws are all immigrants. So I've seen every aspect of it, and I can tell you America doesn't have one immigration problem, it has three. First, despite the fact that we are the most generous country in the history of the world in allowing people to come here legally, we have people still coming illegally. Second, we have a legal immigration system that no longer works. It primary is built on the basis of whether you have a relative living here instead of merit. And third, we have 11 million or 12 million people, many of whom have been here for longer than a decade who are already here illegally. And we must deal with all three of these problems. We cannot deal with all three of these problems in one massive piece of legislation. I learned that. We tried it that way. Here's the way forward: First, we must \u2014 we must secure our border, the physical border, with \u2014 with a wall, absolutely. But we also need to have an entry/exit tracking system. 40 percent of the people who come here illegally come legally, and then they overstay the visa. We also need a mandatory e-verify system. After we've done that, step two would be to modernize our legal immigration system so you come to America on the basis of what you can contribute economically, not whether or not simply you have a relative living here. And after we've done those two things, I believe the American people... +p329 +aV... will be very reasonable and responsible about what you do with someone who's been here and isn't a criminal. If you're a criminal, obviously, you will not be able to stay. +p330 +aVYes, well, it does. But it's in the following way, this is an important question. I think if you're running for president, these are important issues, because look at around the world today. There is a lunatic in North Korea with dozens of nuclear weapons and long-range rocket that can already hit the very place in which we stand tonight. The Chinese are rapidly expanding their military. They hack into our computers. They're building artificial islands in the South China Sea, the most important shipping lane in the world. A gangster in Moscow is not just threatening Europe, he's threatening to destroy and divide +p331 +aVWell, that's why we have a debate. I think that we should have a deeper debate about these issues, because there is no more important decision that a president will make. +p332 +aVWell, you should ask him questions in detail about the foreign policy issues our president will confront, because you had better be able to lead our country on the first day. Not six months from now, not a year from now, on the first day in office, our president could very well confront a national security crisis. You can't predict it. Sometimes you cannot control it. And it is the most \u2014 the federal government does all kinds of things it's not supposed to be doing. It regulates bathrooms. It regulates schools that belong to local communities. But the one thing that the federal government must do, the one thing that only the federal government can do is keep us safe. And a president better be up-to-date on those issues on his first day in office, on her first day in office. +p333 +aVTrust (ph) me, I get that. OK. +p334 +aVI never get to addressed, and... +p335 +aV...and when I do, I'm gonna jump in. +p336 +aVYeah. He did. Let me \u2014 I'm proud to serve in the United States Senate. You know, when I ran five years ago, the entire leadership of my party in Washington lined up against me. But I'm glad I won. And I'm glad that I ran, because this country's headed in the wrong direction. And if we keep electing the same people, nothing is going to change. And you're right, I have missed some votes, and I'll tell you why, Mr. Trump. Because in my years in the Senate, I've figured out very quickly that the political establishment in Washington, D.C. in both political parties is completely out of touch with the lives of our people. You have millions of people in this country living paycheck to paycheck, and nothing is being done about it. We are about to leave our children with $18 trillion in \u2014 in \u2014 in debt, and they're about to raise the debt limit again. We have a world that grows increasingly dangerous, and we are eviscerating our military spending and signing deals with Iran. And these \u2014 if this thing continues, we are going to be the first Americans to leave our children worse off than ourselves. That's why I'm missing votes. Because I am leaving the Senate, I'm not running for re-election, and I'm running for president because I know this: unless we have the right president, we cannot make America fulfill its potential, but with the right person in office, the 21st century can be the greatest era that our nation has ever known. +p337 +aVI want to go even deeper \u2014 and I want to go even deeper in that direction, because I think the belief that somehow by retreating, America makes the world safer has been disproven every single time it's ever been tried. Syria's a perfect example of it. The uprising in Syria was not started by the United States; it was started by the Syrian people. And I warned at the time \u2014 this was three and a half years ago \u2014 I openly and repeatedly warned that if we did not find moderate elements on the ground that we could equip and arm, that void would be filled by radical jihadists. Well, the president didn't listen, the administration didn't follow through, and that's exactly what happened. That is why +p338 +aV... as you asked earlier today. +p339 +aVBut radical terrorism cannot be solved by intellect. It cannot \u2014 they require \u2014 what they need, is they need an operating space. That's what Afghanistan was for Al Qaida. It was a vacuum that they filled, and they created an operating space. That's why they had to be drawn out of there. That's why they had to be destroyed. It is the reason why +p340 +aVThere's a broader issue here, Hugh. And there's a broader issue here as well. First of all, the only people that follow the law are law-abiding people. Criminals by definition ignore the law, so you can pass all the gun laws in the world, like the left wants. The criminals are going to ignore it because they are criminals. Here's the real issue. The real issue \u2014 the real issue is not what are people using to commit violence, but why are they committing the violence? And here's the truth: Because you cannot separate the social, moral wellbeing of your people from their economic and other wellbeing. You cannot separate it. You can't have a strong country without strong people, you cannot have strong people without strong values, and you cannot have strong values without strong families and the institutions in this country that defend and support those families. +p341 +aVWell, and today, we have a left-wing government under this president that is undermining all of the institutions and society that support the family and teach those values. +p342 +aVBecause we're not going to destroy our economy the way the left-wing government that we are under now wants to do. We're not going to... +p343 +aVWell, and I don't \u2014 he may have lined up with their positions on this issue. But here is the bottom line. Every proposal they put forward are going to be proposals that will make it harder to do business in America, that will make it harder to create jobs in America. Single parents are already struggling across this country to provide for their families. Maybe a billionaire here in California can afford an increase in their utility rates, but a working family in Tampa, Florida, or anywhere across this country cannot afford it. So we are not going to destroy our economy. We are not going to make America a harder place to create jobs in order to pursue policies that will do absolutely nothing, nothing to change our climate, to change our weather, because America is a lot of things, the greatest country in the world, absolutely. But America is not a planet. And we are not even the largest carbon producer anymore, China is. And they're drilling a hole and digging anywhere in the world that they can get a hold of. So the bottom line is, I am not in favor of any policies that make America a harder place for people to live, or to work, or to raise their families. +p344 +aVJake, you mentioned me and called me a denier. Let me say, climate change... +p345 +aVOK. A skeptic. You can measure the climate. You can measure it. That's not the issue we're discussing. Here is what I'm skeptical of. I'm skeptical of the decisions that the left wants us to make, because I know the impact those are going to have and they're all going to be on our economy. They will not do a thing to lower the rise of the sea. They will not do a thing to cure the drought here in California. But what they will do is they will make America a more expensive place to create jobs. And today with millions of people watching this broadcast that are struggling paycheck to paycheck that do not know how they're going to pay their bills at the end of this month, I'm not in favor of anything that is going to make it harder for them to raise their family. +p346 +aVSenator Rubio, you mean? +p347 +aVI know we all look alike. +p348 +aVThe \u2014 Rosa Parks, an everyday American that changed the course of history. +p349 +aVWell, there are some people in Florida upset at me over a joke I made about Florida State, but, what the heck, I want my codename to be Gator. +p350 +aVOne of the things that made Ronald Reagan a great president, is that he understood that America was a unique nation, like any other that had existed throughout human history. He knew it was founded on universal principles that were powerful, the dignity of all people, human rights, the rights of all to live in freedom and liberty, and choose their own path in life. He didn't just believe it, he acted on it. That's why bringing down communism was so important to him. If I'm honored with the opportunity to be president, I hope that our Air Force One will fly, first and foremost, to our allies; in Israel, in South Korea, and Japan. They know we stand with them. That America can be counted on. It would also fly to China, not just to meet with our enemies, not just to meet with those adversaries of ours that are there, but also to meet with those that aspire to freedom and liberty within China. I would even invite them to my inauguration. We would also fly into Moscow and into Russia. And not just meet with the leaders of Russia, but also meet with those who aspire to freedom and liberty in Russia. And ultimately, I hope that my Air Force One, if I become president, will one day land in a free Cuba, where its people can choose its leaders and its own destiny. +p351 +aVWell, thank you for the question, Chris, and it's great to be here tonight. Let me begin by saying this: I'm not new to the political process; I was making a contribution as the speaker of the third largest and most diverse state in the country well before I even got into the Senate. I would add to that that this election cannot be a resume competition. It's important to be qualified, but if this election is a resume competition, then Hillary Clinton's gonna be the next president, because she's been in office and in government longer than anybody else running here tonight. Here's what this election better be about: This election better be about the future, not the past. It better be about the issues our nation and the world is facing today, not simply the issues we once faced. This country is facing an economy that has been radically transformed. You know, the largest retailer in the country and the world today, Amazon, doesn't even own a single store? And these changes have been disruptive. They have changed people's lives. The jobs that once sustained our middle class, they either don't pay enough or they are gone, and we need someone that understands that as our nominee. If I'm our nominee, how is Hillary Clinton gonna lecture me about living paycheck to paycheck? I was raised paycheck to paycheck. How is she -- how is she gonna lecture me -- how is she gonna lecture me about student loans? I owed over $100,000 just four years ago. If I'm our nominee, we will be the party of the future. +p352 +aVLet me set the record straight on a couple of things. The first is, the evidence is now clear that the majority of people coming across the border are not from Mexico. They're coming from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras. Those countries are the source of the people that are now coming in its majority. I also believe we need a fence. The problem is if El Chapo builds a tunnel under the fence, we have to be able to deal with that too. And that's why you need an e-verify system and you need an entry-exit tracking system and all sorts of other things to prevent illegal immigration. But I agree with what Governor Kasich just said. People are frustrated. This is the most generous country in the world when it comes to immigration. There are a million people a year who legally immigrate to the United States, and people feel like we're being taken advantage of. We feel like despite our generosity, we're being taken advantage of. And let me tell you who never gets talked about in these debates. The people that call my office, who have been waiting for 15 years to come to the United States. And they've paid their fees, and they hired a lawyer, and they can't get in. And they're wondering, maybe they should come illegally. And so these are important issues, and we should address it. It's a serious problem that needs to be addressed, and otherwise we're going to keep talking about this for the next 30 years, like we have for the last 30 years. +p353 +aVNot me. +p354 +aVActually, to be clear......he supported Charlie Crist. +p355 +aVHey, Charlie... +p356 +aVWell, first off, I too believe in curriculum reform. It is critically important in the 21st Century. We do need curriculum reform. And it should happen at the state and local level. That's. . . that's. . . that is where educational policy belongs, because if a parent is unhappy with what their child is being taught in school, they can go to that local school board or their state legislature, or their governor and get it changed. Here's the problem with Common Core. The Department of Education, like every federal agency, will never be satisfied. They will not stop with it being a suggestion. They will turn it into a mandate. In fact, what they will begin to say to local communities is, you will not get federal money unless do you things the way we want you to do it. And they will use Common Core or any other requirements that exists nationally to force it down the throats of our people in our states. +p357 +aVThat's a great question. +p358 +aVThat's a great question. First of all, it begins by having leaders that recognize that the economy we live in today is dramatically different from the one we had five years ago. It's an economy that now has placed us in global competition with dozens of other countries around the world. Now, the big companies that have connections with Washington, they can affect policies to help them, but the small companies like the one Tania is talking about, they're the ones that are struggling. The first thing we need to do is we need to even out the tax code for small businesses so that we lower their tax rate to 25 percent, just as we need to lower it for all businesses. We need to have a regulatory budget in America that limits the amount of regulations on our economy. We need to repeal and replace Obamacare and we need to improve higher education so that people can have access to the skills they need for 21st century jobs. And last but not least, we need to repeal Dodd-Frank. It is eviscerating small businesses and small banks. 20 \u2014 over 40 percent of small and mid-size banks that loan money to small businesses have been wiped out over the \u2014 since Dodd-Frank has passed. We need to repeal and replace Dodd-Frank. We need to make America fair again for all businesses, but especially those being run by small business owners. +p359 +aVWell, Megyn, first of all, I'm not sure that that's a correct assessment of my record. I would go on to add that I believe all-- +p360 +aVI have never said that. And I have never advocated that. What I have advocated is that we pass law in this country that says all human life at every stage of its development is worthy of protection. In fact, I think that law already exists. It is called the Constitution of the United States. And let me go further. I believe that every single human being is entitled to the protection of our laws, whether they can vote or not. Whether they can speak or not. Whether they can hire a lawyer or not. Whether they have a birth certificate or not. And I think future generations will look back at this history of our country and call us barbarians for murdering millions of babies who we never gave them a chance to live. +p361 +aVWell, first, let me say I think God has blessed us. He has blessed the Republican Party with some very good candidates. The Democrats can't even find one. And I believe God has blessed our country. This country has been extraordinarily blessed. And we have honored that blessing. And that's why God has continued to bless us. And he has blessed us with young men and women willing to risk their lives and sometimes die in uniform for the safety and security of our people. Unfortunately today we have a VA that does not do enough for them. I am proud that last year we helped change the law. We changed the law to give the power to the VA secretary the ability to fire any executive that isn't doing their job. And it is outrageous they've only fired one person to date. When I'm president of the United States, we're going to have a VA that cares more about our veterans than about the bureaucrats who work at the VA. +p362 +aVThank you. You know, both of my parents were born into poor families on the island of Cuba. They came to America because it was the only place where people like them could have a chance. Here in this country, they never made it big, but the very purpose of their life was to give us the chance to do all the things they never could. My father was a bartender. And the journey from the back of that bar to this stage tonight, to me, that is the essence of the American dream. It is what makes our nation different. And I'm running for president because I want that to still be possible for the people trying to do that now. I run for president because I believe that we can't just save the American dream; we can expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And that's why I'm asking for your vote. So we can make America greater than it has ever been. And make of this century a new American century. +p363 +asVKASICH +p364 +(lp365 +VThank you, Wolf. Just last weekend, just last week, a friend asked one of my daughters, "Do you like politics?" And my daughter said, "No, I don't. And the reason I don't like it is because there's too much fighting, too much yelling. It's so loud, I don't like it." You know, I turned to my friend and I said, "You know, she's really on to something." And when we think about our country and the big issues that we face in this country; creating jobs, making sure people can keep their jobs, the need for rising wages, whether our children when they graduate from college can find a job, protecting the homeland, destroying +p366 +aVWell, first of all, Wolf, I said last February that we needed to have people on the ground, troops on the ground in a coalition similar to what we had in the first Gulf War. I remember when the Egyptian ambassador to the United States stood in the Rose Garden and pledged Arab commitment to removing Saddam Hussein from Kuwait. Before we came out here tonight, I am told that the Saudis have organized 34 countries who want to join in the battle against terrorism. First and foremost, we need to go and destroy +p367 +aVNo, I don't think it is. And I want to go back to two other issues. One is the metadata. We know we have to hold this data for a longer period of time. And, you know, in a lot of ways, Chris is right. Look, what a president has to do is take a position. We don't want to err on the side of having less. We want to err on the side of having more. That's good for our families. In addition to that, Wolf, there is a big problem. It's called encryption. And the people in San Bernardino were communicating with people who the FBI had been watching. But because their phone was encrypted, because the intelligence officials could not see who they were talking to, it was lost. We have to solve the encryption problem. It is not easy. A president of the United States, again, has to bring people together, have a position. We need to be able to penetrate these people when they are involved in these plots and these plans. And we have to give the local authorities the ability to penetrate to disrupt. That's what we need to do. Encryption is a major problem, and Congress has got to deal with this and so does the president to keep us safe. +p368 +aVYeah, let me \u2014 let me just suggest to everybody, and I hear \u2014 last February, I said we needed to have people on the ground in a coalition with Europe and our allies. This is not going to get done just by working with the Sunnis. And it is not going to get done if we just embed a few people. We have to go massively, like we did in the first Gulf War where we destroyed Saddam's ability to take Kuwait. We need to have a coalition that will stand for nothing less than the total destruction of +p369 +aVI don't understand this thing about Assad. He has to go. Assad is aligned with Iran and Russia. The one thing we want to prevent is we want to prevent Iran being able to extend a Shia crescent all across the Middle East. Assad has got to go. And there are moderates there. There are moderates in Syria who we should be supporting. I do not support a civil war. I don't want to be policeman of the world. But we can't back off of this. And let me tell you, at the end, the Saudis have agreed to put together a coalition inside of Syria to stabilize that country. +p370 +aVHe must go. It will be a blow to Iran and Russia. +p371 +aVThe foreign policy, you have to know how to pick and choose. There's no way, if Saddam had not had weapons of mass destruction, I would have gone, because I don't believe that the U.S. should be involved directly in civil wars. I opposed the U.S. involvement in Lebanon. We ended up having to withdraw our marines after our barracks were blown up. There is a difference between Iraq, where you have Sunni, Shia, and Kurds put together after the First World War by the Western powers. It doesn't work. It needs to break up into three parts. And for the Russians, frankly, it's time that we punched the Russians in the nose. They've gotten away with too much in this world and we need to stand up against them, not just there, but also in Eastern Europe where they threaten some of our most precious allies. +p372 +aVIt sounds more and more what my daughter said that I said in the beginning, all the fighting and arguing is not advancing us. +p373 +aVIt is not the way we're going to strengthen our country. We will strengthen our country when we come together. And, look, you've got Rand Paul, you've got Ted Cruz, you've got Marco, you've got a lot of people on this stage that have studied these issues. You know what a leader does? A leader has a sound program, has a good policy, and then brings people together to solve problems. Guess what? Both in Congress in balancing the budget and in Ohio fixing the economy \u2014 and, by the way, we talk about the fence. The first thing we better get going is strengthening our economy, because if we don't have a strong economy, we can't pay for all of this. And the world wants us to be able to function from strength, believe it or not. Get our economy going, get these people together in a room. We can fix this, ladies and gentlemen. We don't have to fight all the time. It can be done, and we will be great... +p374 +aV... when we join together. Thank you, Hugh. +p375 +aVYou know, obviously, as president of the United States, we've got to keep the people safe. That's first and foremost. But as governor of Ohio, I have an obligation to keep the 11.5 million people in Ohio safe. And we have been very effective with our Joint Terrorism Task Force, being able to make busts. In fact, we just made one three-four weeks ago against a person who was favorable to +p376 +aVNo Republican has ever been elected president of the United States without winning Ohio. Let me give you a little tip on how you win Ohio, it's reform, it's hope, it's growth, it's opportunity, and it's security. The people of Ohio are the people of America. The people of America are reflected in Ohio. Our message has to be big, and bold, and positive, and connect, not just with people's heads but also connect with their hearts. If we do it, we will beat Hillary Clinton, and we will run the White House, and we will strengthen and fix America, I promise you. +p377 +aVFirst of all, let me just say that, in the state of Ohio \u2014 and I'm the only acting executive on \u2014 on this stage today \u2014 we do have a moderate increase in the minimum wage. And I got to tell you, my father carried mail on his back. His father was a coal miner. He died of black lung. He was losing his eyesight. My mother's mother lived with us. She could barely speak English. I come from a town where if the wind blew the wrong way, people found themselves out of work. An economic theory is fine, but you know what? People need help. Now, I have a plan that, in fact, would cut taxes, but not $11 trillion or $12 trillion that would put my children further in debt. I have a plan that would not only cut taxes, lower the income tax rate for individuals, lower the tax for businesses so businesses will compete here and not move operations overseas, and also a plan \u2014 the only plan of anybody standing on this stage to get us to a balanced budget by the end of a second term. And, you know, the simple fact of the matter is, we hear a lot of promises in this debate, a lot of promises about these tax cuts or tax schemes sometimes that I call them. Hillary and the Democrats promise everything on the spending side. We've got to be responsible about what we propose on the tax side. Yes, lower taxes, lower spending. My website, JohnKasich.com, will show you exactly how we balance the budget. I balanced the budget in Washington as a chief architect, and I have balanced it in Ohio for one reason. When you balance the budget and you cut taxes, people get work. And our most important moral purpose as leaders in the political system is to make sure we create an environment for job creation so people can live their dreams and realize their God-given potential. That's why it's so important. And for those at the bottom, we've got to do what we can to train them so they can move up. But to just look the other way is not acceptable, because, you know what, as the governor of Ohio I have to deal with real challenges, and we've gotten it done in our state, and I will do it for America. +p378 +aVSure. We would move the Medicare system from a 7 percent growth down to about a 5 percent growth. And I have a whole series of ways to do that. In Ohio, we reduced Medicaid funding for the poor from 10 percent to 2.5 percent, didn't cut one benefit or didn't take anybody off the rolls. Why? Because we're innovators. I've been an innovator my entire career. And I really don't care what special interests or lobbyists have to say. I have a job to do when I take over a public office. Now, we freeze non-defense discretionary for eight years. We also put an increase in defense spending. Our tax cuts balance out. And at the end of the day, we will get to a balanced budget. And I want everybody here to know, when I was Budget Committee chairman in Washington, I stepped on every toe in that town, and we got to a balanced budget, and we had enormous job growth. And as governor of Ohio, we went from 350,000 lost jobs to a gain of 347,000 jobs. +p379 +aVI'll do it in Washington. I've done it twice; I'll do it thrice for the United States of America. +p380 +aVExcuse me. +p381 +aVYeah, I would like to make a comment. +p382 +aVI appreciate it, Jeb. I'm all of you. But I want at some point to talk about a value-added tax and $11 trillion, $12 trillion tax cuts that will put our kids way deeper in the hole than they have been at this point. So I would like to talk about it at some point, because that's what leadership is. +p383 +aVMaria, can we comment on that? +p384 +aVCan we comment on that? +p385 +aVWell, look, in 1986 Ronald Reagan basically said the people who were here, if they were law-abiding, could stay. But, what didn't happen is we didn't build the walls effectively and we didn't control the border. We need to. We need to control our border just like people have to control who goes in and out of their house. But if people think that we are going to ship 11 million people who are law-abiding, who are in this country, and somehow pick them up at their house and ship them out of Mexico \u2014 to Mexico, think about the families. Think about the children. So, you know what the answer really is? If they have been law- abiding, they pay a penalty. They get to stay. We protect the wall. Anybody else comes over, they go back. But for the 11 million people, come on, folks. We all know you can't pick them up and ship them across, back across the border. It's a silly argument. It is not an adult argument. It makes no sense. +p386 +aVJerry, Gerald, it was an attack. +p387 +aVIn the state of Ohio, the state of Ohio, we have grown 347,000 jobs. Our unemployment is half of what it was. Our fracking industry, energy industry may have contributed 20,000, but if Mr. Trump understood that the real jobs come in the downstream, not in the upstream, but in the downstream. And that's where we're going to get our jobs. But Ohio is diversified. And little false little things, sir, they don't really work when it comes to the truth. So the fact is, all I'm suggesting, we can't ship 11 million people out of this country. Children would be terrified, and it will not work. +p388 +aV...Mr. Baker, everybody got to talk about taxes... +p389 +aV...I think you were coming to me and then... +p390 +aV...Look, I hate to crash the party to you, Mr. Baker, but, you know, what's fair... +p391 +aV...Yes, sir... +p392 +aVLet me tell you this, Mr. Baker, in terms of the cyber attacks, we have the capability to not only have a defensive posture, but it also to make it clear to people that if you attack us with cyber attacks, we will destroy the mechanisms that you are using to attack us. I want to give you a little trip around the world. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years. In the Ukraine, arm the people there so they can fight for themselves. In the eastern part of Europe, make sure that Finland and the Baltics know that if the Russians move, we move. In Syria, yes, a no-fly zone in the north on the Turkish border, a no-fly zone on the south on the Jordanian border. Anybody flies in the first time, maybe they can fly out. They fly in there a second time, they will not fly out. And it also becomes a sanctuary for the people to be. And it also sends many messages in the Middle East that we're still involved. Saudi Arabia, cut off the funding for the radical clerics, the ones that preach against us. But they're fundamentally our friends. Jordan, we want the king to reign for 1,000 years. Egypt, they have been our ally and a moderating force in the Middle East throughout their history. In the groups \u2014 in the countries of the Gulf states of Bahrain, the Cleveland Clinic is opening an operation. Clearly we see the same with them. And in Israel, we have no better ally in the world, and no more criticizing them in public, we should support them. And finally China, China doesn't own the South China Sea, and I give the president some credit for being able to move a naval force in there to let the Chinese know that we're not going to put up with it any more. And in the trade agreement, the TPP, it's critical to us, not only for economic reasons and for jobs, because there are so many people who are connected to getting jobs because of trade, but it allows us to create not only economy alliances, but also potentially strategic alliances against the Chinese. They are not our enemy, but they are certainly not our friend. And finally, I will say to everyone in this room, we have been talking about taxes and economics. When the fall comes, and we run against Hillary, which will be a disaster if she got elected. I have two 16-year-old girls, and I want this country to be strong. We make promises we can't keep under the bright light of the fall, we will have trouble. We must make sure that economic programs and our military programs are solid. I served in Washington as the chairman of the Budget Committee, and we got the budget balanced. And in Ohio, as the CEO, and guess what, we have got to have a CEO mentality and a way to beat Hillary Clinton and the Democracies in the fall. And our ideas have to add up. They have to be solid. And people have to know we have the confidence to lead America. And as president, I will lead this country, as I have before in Washington and in Ohio, and will return both on domestic and international affairs. And I appreciate the opportunity to speak this time, Gerry. +p393 +aVLet me \u2014 let me also say, Gary \u2014 Gary, let me also say, Jeb is \u2014 what Jeb is talking about with the big banks is to force them to reserve their capital, people who invest it and they hold their capital, so that if the bank goes down, the people who are invested in the bank are the ones that pay. That's what he's trying to say. Secondly, I'll tell you about Wall Street: There's too much greed. And the fact is, a free enterprise system is a system that's produced the greatest wealth for the world. But you know Michael Novak, the great Catholic theologian, says that a free enterprise system that is not underlaid with values \u2014 and we should all think about the way we conduct our lives \u2014 yes, free enterprise is great, profits are great, but there have to be some values that underlay it, and they need a good ethics lesson on Wall Street on a regular basis to keep them in check so we, the people, do not lose. +p394 +aVNeil, that's the difference of being an executive. And let me just explain: when a bank is ready to go under and depositors are getting ready to lose their life savings, you just don't say we believe in philosophical concerns. You know what an executive has to decide? When there's a water crisis, how do we get water to the city? When there's a school shooting, how do you get there and help heal a community? When there are financial crisis, or a crisis with ebola, you got to go there and try to fix it. Philosophy doesn't work when you run something. And I gotta tell you, on-the-job training for president of the United States doesn't work. We've done it for 8 years, \u2014 and almost 8 years now. It does not work. We need an executive who's been tried, has been tested, and judge the decisions that that executive makes. I don't like what the Fed is doing, but I'll tell you what worries me more than anything else: turning the Fed over to the Congress of the United States... +p395 +aV...so they can print the money. That would be a very bad approach. +p396 +aVI wouldn't. I wouldn't. +p397 +aVNo. No, I didn't say that. +p398 +aVThey were \u2014 they were talking about what you would do with depositors. Would you let these banks shut down? My argument is, going forward, the banks have to reserve the capital, so that the \u2014 so that the people who own the capital start pressuring the banks to not take these risky approaches, Ted. But at the end of the day... +p399 +aV... I'm gonna tell you this. Let me tell you this. If during \u2014 if during... +p400 +aV...because if during \u2014 well, I'll tell you what (ph). +p401 +aVAs an executive \u2014 no. As an executive, I would figure out how to separate those people who can afford it versus those people, or the hard-working folks who put those money in those institutions...... let me \u2014 no, no. Let me say another thing. Here's what I mean by that. Here's what I mean by that. +p402 +aVWhen you are faced \u2014 when you are faced, in the last financial crisis, with banks going under \u2014 with banks going under, and people, people who put their \u2014 their life savings in there, you got to deal with it. You can't turn a blind eye to it. Now, going forward, that's one thing. If you had another financial crisis, perhaps there would be an effort to make sure that we do (ph). +p403 +aVWell, ladies and gentlemen, if Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders were to win this election, my 16-year-olds, I \u2014 I worry about what their life is going to be like. You know, the conservative movement is all about opportunity. It is about lower taxes. It's about balanced budgets. It's about less regulation. And it's about sending power, money and influence back to where we live so we can run America from the bottom up. In addition to that, once we have the power and the money and the influence with programs we shift out, that each of us have a responsibility to reach out and to rebuild our families, make them stronger, and connect our neighborhoods. All that together \u2014 wealth, connection, family \u2014 America's greatest days are ahead. We must win this election. +p404 +aVGood question, but I want to tell you, my great concern is that we are on the verge, perhaps, of picking someone who cannot do this job. I've watched to see people say that we should dismantle Medicare and Medicaid and leave the senior citizens out \u2014 out in the \u2014 in the cold. I've heard them talk about deporting 10 or 11 \u2014 people here from this country out of this country, splitting families. I've heard about tax schemes that don't add up, that put our kids in \u2014 in a deeper hole than they are today. We need somebody who can lead. We need somebody who can balance budgets, cut taxes... +p405 +aVYou know, frankly, I did it in Washington, in Ohio, and I will do it again in Washington, if I'm president, to get this country moving again. +p406 +aVcountry moving again. +p407 +aVListen, I want to just comment. +p408 +aVWell I want to comment on this. This is the fantasy... +p409 +aVThis is the fantasy that I talked about in the beginning. +p410 +aVI'm the only person on this stage that actually was involved in the chief architect of balancing the Federal Budget. You can't do it with empty promised. You know, these plans would put us trillions and trillions of dollars in debt. I actually have a plan. I'm the only one on this stage that has a plan that would create jobs, cut taxes, balance the budget and can get it done because I'm realistic. You just don't make promises like this. Why don't we just give a chicken in every pot, while we're, you know, coming up \u2014 coming up with these fantasy tax schemes. We'll just clean it up. Where are you gonna clean it up? You have to deal with entitlements, you have to be in a position to control discretionary spending. You gotta be creative and imaginative. Now, let me just be clear, John. I went into Ohio where we had an $8 billion hole and now we have a $2 billion surplus. We're up 347,000 jobs. When I was in Washington, I fought to get the budget balanced. I was the architect. It was the first time we did it since man walked on the moon. We cut taxes and we had a $5 trillion projected surplus when I left. That's was hard work. Fiscal discipline, know what you're doing. Creativity. This stuff is fantasy. Just like getting rid of Medicare and Medicaid. Come on, that's just not \u2014 you scare senior citizens with that. It's not responsible. +p411 +aVWell, I mean right here. To talk about we're just gonna have a 10 percent tithe and that's how we're gonna fund the government? And we're going to just fix everything with waste, fraud, and abuse? Or that we're just going to be great? Or we're going to ship 10 million Americans \u2014 or 10 million people out of this country, leaving their children here in this country and dividing families? Folks, we've got to wake up. We cannot elect somebody that doesn't know how to do the job. You have got to pick somebody who has experience, somebody that has the know-how, the discipline. And I spent my entire lifetime balancing federal budgets, growing jobs, the same in Ohio. And I will go back to Washington with my plan. +p412 +aVAnd I will have done it within 100 days, and it will pass. And we will be strong again. Thank you. +p413 +aVLet me just \u2014 let me respond. First of all, Ohio does have an energy industry, but we're diversified. We're one of the fastest growing states in the country. We came back from the dead. And you know what? It works very, very well. And secondly, when you talk about me being on the board of Lehman Brothers, I wasn't on the board of Lehman Brothers. I was a banker and I was proud of it. And I traveled the country and learned how people made jobs. We ought to have politicians who not only have government experience but know how the CEOs and the job creators work. My state is doing great across the board. And guess what, in 2011, I got a deal... +p414 +aV... an agreement with the... +p415 +aV... that he tried to take credit for four years later. It's a joke. +p416 +aVJohn Harwood, there's a bigger issue here. +p417 +aVWell, first of all, when we talk about the Import Export Bank, it's time to clean up corporate welfare. If we're gonna reform welfare for poor people, we ought to reform it for rich people, as well. Secondly, in our state, we went from a loss of 350,000 jobs to, now, a gain of 347,000 jobs to the positive. Our wages are growing faster than the national average, and I've cut taxes more than any sitting governor in this state \u2014 $5 billion, including no taxes on small business and killing the death tax. I want to go back to what we were talking about earlier, this budget deal in Washington. This is the same old stuff since I left. You spend the money today and then you hope you're going to save money tomorrow. I don't know if people understand, but I spent a lifetime with my colleagues getting us to a federal balanced budget. We actually did it. And I have a road map and a plan right now to get us to balance. Reforming entitlements, cutting taxes. You see, because if you really want to get to a balanced budget, you need to reduce your expenses and you need to grow your economy. So what I will tell you about our incentives \u2014 our incentives are tight, and at the end of the day we make sure that we gain more from the creation of jobs than what we lose. And you know what? Ohio, one of the best growing places in the country \u2014 I not only did it in Washington, I did it in Ohio, and I'll go back to Washington, and there will be no more silly deals... +p418 +aV... If I become President because we'll have a Constitutional Amendment to require a federally balanced budget so they will do their job. +p419 +aVWell, first of all, we're running a $2 billion dollar surplus, we're not having a revenue problem right now. And, sending mixed signals to kids about drugs is a disaster. Drugs is one of the greatest scourge in this country, and I spent five years of my administration working with my team to do a whole sort of things to try to reign in the problem of overdoses, and it goes on and on. We could do a whole show on that. I want to go back for a second thought on this issue of income inequality. My program would move the 104 programs of the federal Department of Education into four block grants, and send them back to the states because income inequality is driven by a lack of skills when kids don't get what they need to be able to compete and win in this country. The fact is, in order to get this economy moving again, I call for freezing regulations for a year except for the problem of public safety. I believe that we need to cut these taxes down, we need to be on a roadmap to balancing the budget, and we need to send power, money, and influence, the welfare department, the education department, job training, infrastructure, Medicaid, all of that out of Washington back to the states so we can run these programs from where we live to the top, not a one size fits all mentality that they have in Washington. And, that will get to the nub of opportunity for our children, and an ability to see wages rise. Again... +p420 +aV...One more time, in Ohio, our wages are growing faster than the national average. We've cut taxes, balanced budgets, changed the regulatory environment. Folks, you want to \u2014 +p421 +aV\u2014 fix America, this is the formula. It worked for Reagan and it works for our team in Ohio. Thank you. +p422 +aVJohn. +p423 +aVI wanna tell you, in my state, we took Medicaid, the hardest program to control, and we took it from a 10 percent growth rate to 2.5 percent without taking one person off the rolls or cutting one single benefit. And so much of what we did \u2014 to force competition, to use technology, to stand down the special interest groups \u2014 can you imagine taking Medicaid from 10 to 2.5 percent? We can take many of those same procedures, we can apply it to Medicare. We can make a stronger program. But I agree with Jeb, you can't just do this by growing the economy. You can't grow your way out of demographics. But we can give people better health care. And finally, on health care, why don't we start treating \u2014 keep giving... +p424 +aV...incentives for people to keep people healthy, rather than giving the incentives to treat them when they're sick? +p425 +aVI was on morning Joe at a town hall and a young student stood up and said, "Can I still be idealistic?" I said, absolutely, you can still change the world. And, you know the old inscription, if you save one life, you've changed the world. Folks, we have a problem here with the leadership in Washington, but I'll tell you another problem. We need to rebuild our families. We need to have stronger families. We need to know who our neighbors are. We need to come together as a country because we have to realize that America is great, not from the top-down. Oh yeah, we want to elect a good president, but America is great from the bottom-up, and the bottom-up is us in our families, in our communities, in our neighborhoods. We will renew America if we work together, and I am totally confident that we will. And God bless America. +p426 +aVHello, I'm John Kasich, the Governor of Ohio. Emma, and Reese, my children, and Karen, love 'ya girls. Thanks for watching tonight. By the way, I think I actually flew on this plane with Ronald Reagan when I was a congressman, and his goals, and mine, really much \u2014 are pretty much the same. Lift Americans, unify, give hope, grow America, and restore it is to that great, shining city on a hill. Yes, he was a great one, and I learned much from watching him. The most important thing, hope to Americans, unify, lift everyone in America. +p427 +aVJake, Jake. +p428 +aVListen, you know, I \u2014 if I were sitting at home and watch thing back and forth, I would be inclined to turn it off. I mean, people at home want to know across this country, they want to know what we're going to do to fix this place, how we'll balance a budget, how we're going to create more economic growth, how we'll pay down the debt. What we're going to do to strengthen the military. So, we just spent 10 minutes here... +p429 +aVBut \u2014 but wait a minute. It's a lot of ad hogshead. Now, I know that it may be buzzing out there, but I think it's important we get to the issues, because that's what people want, and they don't want all this fighting. +p430 +aV...Yeah, well... +p431 +aVWell, let me just say this. First of all, I think it's a bad agreement, I would never have done it. But, you know, a lot of our problems in the world today is that we don't have the relationship with our allies. If we want to go everywhere alone, we will not have the strength as (ph) if we could rebuild with our allies. Now, this agreement, we don't know what's going to happen in 18 months. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years. I've seen lots of issues in foreign affairs, and foreign \u2014 in terms of global politics, you have to be steady. Now, here's the \u2014 if they cheat, we slap the sanctions back on. If they help Hamas, and Hezbollah, we slap the sanctions back on. And, if we find out that they may be developing a nuclear weapon, than the military option is on the table. We are stronger when we work with the Western civilization, our friends in Europe, and just doing it on our own I don't think is the right policy. +p432 +aVNo, no, no. I want to \u2014 I want to \u2014 I want to say something about what the senator just said. +p433 +aVNo one is \u2014 no \u2014 let me \u2014 let me suggest to you we believe that we operate better in the world when our allies work with us. President Bush did it in the Gulf War. We work better when we are unified. Secondly, nobody's trusting Iran. They violate the deal, we put on the sanctions, and we have the high moral ground to talk to our allies in Europe to get them to go with us. If they don't go with us, we slap the sanctions on anyway. If they fund these radical groups that threaten Israel and all of the West, then we should rip up the deal and put the sanctions back on. And let me make it clear \u2014 let me make it clear... +p434 +aV... if we think \u2014 if we think they're getting close to a \u2014 to developing a nuclear weapon and we get that information, you better believe that I would do everything in my power as the commander-in-chief to stop them having a nuclear weapon. +p435 +aVWe can have it, and we can have our allies, and we can be strong as a country, and we can project across this globe with unity, not just doing it alone. That is not what gets us where we want to get as a nation. +p436 +aVWell, I agree that we should defund Planned Parenthood. I don't know many people in America who don't think that we should, and in my state, we're trying to figure out how to get it done, because we are threatened with the federal government taking all of our Medicaid money away. I think there is a way to get this done by giving governors the ability to be able to act to defund Planned Parenthood. But when (ph) it comes to closing down the federal government, you gotta be very careful about that. When we shut the government down \u2014 if we have a chance at success and it's a great principle, yes. The president of the United States is not going to sign this, and all we're gonna do is shut the government down, and then we're gonna open up \u2014 open it up, and the American people are gonna shake their heads and say, "what's the story with these Republicans?" So I think there is a way to get to cutting off the funding for Planned Parenthood. I was in the Congress for 18 years, balanced the budget, cut taxes, got it done. Changed welfare, went around the president to get welfare reform done. There are ways to do it without having to shut the government down, but I'm sympathetic to the fact that we don't want this organization to get funding, and the money ought to be reprogrammed for family planning in other organizations that don't support this tactic. But I would not be for shutting the government down... +p437 +aV...because I don't think it's going to work out. +p438 +aVWe're not \u2014 what I can tell you is this. We didn't surrender in New Jersey, six years ago, as the brand new first ever pro-life governor of New Jersey since Roe versus Wade, I defended Planned Parenthood. And I've vetoed Planned Parenthood funding, now, eight times in New Jersey. Since the day I walked in as governor, Planned Parenthood has not been funded in New Jersey. We stood up and every one of those vetoes has been sustained. But here's the problem, we're \u2014 we're fighting with each other up here. We agree. Let's ask Hillary Clinton. She believes in the systematic murder of children in the womb to preserve their body parts... +p439 +aV...Dana, in a way that maximizes their value for sale for profit. It is disgusting, and the American people need to hear it... +p440 +aV...we shouldn't be fighting with each other. She's the real opponent, she's the real problem. +p441 +aVI'll tell you what \u2014 I'll tell you what I'd be willing to fight for. I'll tell you what I'd be willing to fight for. Why will (ph) we put tax reform on the president's desk, so we can simplify this tax system? +p442 +aVNo, no, it's really important, Dana. We got to talk about what we would be willing to shut down for. Why don't we put tax reform on this president's desk, and make him veto it if that's what he wants to do? Why haven't we repealed and replaced Obamacare? Make him veto if that's what he wants to do. +p443 +aVThere's a \u2014 +p444 +aVJake \u2014 +p445 +aVOK, Jake. +p446 +aVI don't at this point in terms of changing the incentives for investment and risk-taking. But let's just stop for a second. There's one person on this stage that does have a record. I'm the only person on the stage and one of the few people in this country that led the effort as the chief architect of the last time we balanced the federal budget. We also cut taxes. And when I left Washington in 2000, we had a $5 trillion surplus, and the economy was booming. I had spent 10 years of my life to get us to that point, went out in the private sector, was a great experience, and went into Ohio and took an $8 billion hole and turned it into a $2 billion surplus. We've had the largest amount of tax cuts of any sitting governor. We've grown well over 300,000 jobs. You see, I've done it in both places. I'm the only one here that has done it in both places. It took a lot to get us to a balanced budget. It was legitimate. It was real. And we negotiated it. A lot of what we're talking about here tonight as we take this position and that position, you know what? At the end of the day, America has got to work. We've got to figure out how we come together to deal with this \u2014 with our fiscal problems because when we deal with that, we create a stronger economy for everybody. People have a chance to rise. So, you know, when we think about how we make a choice, it's the person that lands that plane. It's not somebody that talks about it. It's about the person who has done it. And I've done it in... +p447 +aV... both places. And I did it including people in the other party. And that's how we were successful. +p448 +aVAnd that's how I will be president, using that experience to drive this country forward. Thank you. +p449 +aVWell, look, people still have to get to know me, so I want to spend my time talking about my experience reforming welfare, balancing budgets, cutting taxes, providing economic growth when I was in Washington, turning Ohio around. Eight billion in the hole, $2 billion surplus, up over 300,000 jobs, big tax cuts, strengthening our credit. All those things matter but, you know, as a young man in my first election in 1978, I defeated an incumbent Democrat. I defeated an incumbent Democrat in 1982; running on the Reagan program, I was the only Republican in America to defeat an incumbent Democrat that year. And then, when I won for election of governor, I was the first Republican to defeat an incumbent in 36 years, and the first person to have never run statewide out of politics for 10 years to beat an incumbent. That hadn't happened for 96 years. So, we'll get to the point where we'll talk about Hillary Clinton, or whoever the nominee is, record. But right now, I want to give people sense of hope, sense of purpose, a sense of unity, sense that we can do it. So... +p450 +aVYou know, at the end of the day, I'm going to continue to talk about my record, because there is, did you ever notice when people run for office, they run for president, they make a lot of promises, they don't keep them. +p451 +aVI don't intend to do that, and I going to be out there pushing it out \u2014 don't worry about me and Hillary. That will all work out, and I'm from Ohio. She will not beat me there, I can promise you that. +p452 +aVCan I just \u2014 can I \u2014 Jake, can I just make one point on this whole military discussion? +p453 +aVI called for boots on the ground many months ago in a coalition with our friends who share our interest. You know, you win a battle with the military, and when we go somewhere, we need to be mobile, and lethal. We need to take care of business, and we need to come home. But, we face, also, a bigger war \u2014 and you win the bigger war with the battle of ideas. You wonder why young people, and educated people, rich people, schooled people, have tried to join +p454 +aV...to make (ph) centers (ph) of justice so that we can battle the radicals, call them out for what they are, and make sure that all of our people feel fulfilled in living in Western civilization... +p455 +aV...This is a giant battle in the world today... +p456 +aVWell, it's probably not, maybe, legal, but, I would pick Mother Theresa, the lady that I had a chance to meet, a woman who lived a life so much bigger than her own. An inspiration to everyone when we think about our responsibility to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. +p457 +aVWell, I have one now \u2014 they (ph) call me, "Unit One". My wife says, "You'll never be Unite One, I'm Unite One. You're Unit Two." +p458 +aVWell, as president, I will make this a nation that will solve problems. And how? By having the elected officials and the leaders realize they're Americans before they're Republicans or Democrats. I did it in Washington. And I've done it in Ohio by having the elected officials realize that they're Ohioans before anything else. Secondly, I will rebuild the relationships and show the respect to our allies around the world. We have no choice but to do that. We will be stronger when we are unified. And we'll fight for freedom and for human rights. And finally, a little bit of what Carly said. The people that are out there listening, America was never great because we ran America from the top down. America is great because we have run America from the bottom up, where we all live in the neighborhoods. One more time in America, we need to revive the concept of citizenship, where everybody's actions make a huge difference in changing the world. We have a Holocaust memorial on our state house grounds. And there is one line on there that stands out all the time. "If you've saved one life, you've changed the world." We need to adopt that as citizens and rebuild and reinspire our country. Thank you. +p459 +aVWell, first of all... ...first of all, Megyn, you should know that -- that President Reagan expanded Medicaid three or four times. Secondly, I had an opportunity to bring resources back to Ohio to do what? To treat the mentally ill. Ten thousand of them sit in our prisons. It costs $22,500 a year... ...to keep them in prison. I'd rather get them their medication so they could lead a decent life. Secondly, we are rehabbing the drug-addicted. Eighty percent of the people in our prisons have addictions or problems. We now treat them in the prisons, release them in the community and the recidivism rate is 10 percent and everybody across this country knows that the tsunami of drugs is -- is threatening their very families. So we're treating them and getting them on their feet. And, finally, the working poor, instead of them having come into the emergency rooms where it costs more, where they're sicker and we end up paying, we brought a program in here to make sure that people could get on their feet. And do you know what? Everybody has a right to their God-given purpose. And finally, our Medicaid is growing at one of the lowest rates in the country. And, finally, we went from $8 billion in the hole to $2 billion in the black. We've cut $5 billion in taxes... ...and we've grown 350,000 jobs. +p460 +aVChris, first of all, I was just saying to Chris Christie, they say we're outspoken, we need to take lessons from Donald Trump if we're really going to learn it. Here is the thing about Donald Trump. Donald Trump is hitting a nerve in this country. He is. He's hitting a nerve. People are frustrated. They're fed up. They don't think the government is working for them. And for people who want to just tune him out, they're making a mistake. Now, he's got his solutions. Some of us have other solutions. You know, look, I balanced the federal budget as one of the chief architects when I was in Washington. Hasn't been done since. I was a military reformer. I took the state of Ohio from an $8 billion hole and a 350,000 job loss to a $2 billion surplus and a gain of 350,000 jobs. +p461 +aVBut the point is that we all have solutions. Mr. Trump is touching a nerve because people want the wall to be built. They want to see an end to illegal immigration. They want to see it, and we all do. But we all have different ways of getting there. And you're going to hear from all of us tonight about what our ideas are. +p462 +aVDonald, if you... +p463 +aV-- this campaign, I hope you will give to me. +p464 +aVOK. +p465 +aVLet's start off with my father being a mailman. So I understand the concerns of all the folks across this country, some of whom have trouble, you know, making ends meet. But I think she will come in a narrow way. The nominee of this party, if they're going to win, has got to come at it in a big way, which is pro-growth. Which is balancing budgets. You know, we were talking about it. People were saying, could we do it? I was the chairman of the Budget Committee and the lead architect the last time it happened in Washington, and when we did it we had great economic growth, we cut taxes, and we had a big surplus. Economic growth is the key. Economic growth is the key to everything. But once you have economic growth, it is important that we reach out to people who live in the shadows, the people who don't seem to ever think that they get a fair deal. And that includes people in our minority community; that includes people who feel as though they don't have a chance to move up. You know, America is a miracle country. And we have to restore the sense that the "Amiracle" will apply to you. Each and every one of the people in this country who's watching tonight, lift everybody, unite everybody and build a stronger United States of America again. It will be and can be done. +p466 +aVWell, look, I'm an old-fashioned person here, and I happen to believe in traditional marriage. But I've also said the court has ruled -- +p467 +aVWait, Megyn, the court has ruled, and I said we'll accept it. And guess what, I just went to a wedding of a friend of mine who happens to be gay. Because somebody doesn't think the way I do, doesn't mean that I can't care about them or can't love them. So if one of my daughters happened to be that, of course I would love them and I would accept them. Because you know what? That's what we're taught when we have strong faith. So the issues like that, issues like that are planted to divide us. I think the simple fact of the matter is, and this is where I would agree with Jeb, and I've been saying it all along, we need to give everybody a chance, treat everybody with respect, and let them share in this great American dream that we have, Megan. So, look, I'm going to love my daughters, I'm going to love them no matter what they do. Because, you know what, God gives me unconditional love. I'm going to give it to my family and my friends and the people around me. +p468 +aVWell, Megyn, my father was a mailman. His father was a coal miner. My mother's mother could barely speak English. And their son today stands on this podium in the great state of Ohio not only as the governor, but a candidate for president of the United States. I do believe in miracles. You know, I've had a lot of elections. But my elections are really not about campaigns. I tell my people that these are about a movement. And a movement to do what? To restore common sense. A movement to do things like provide economic growth. And a movement not to let anybody be behind. You know, today the country is divided. You asked a question about the police and the difficulty in communities. We've got to unite our country again, because we're stronger when we are united and we are weaker when we are divided. And we've got to listen to other people's voices, respect them, but keep in mind, and I believe in terms of the things that I've read in my lifetime, the Lord'is not picking us. But because of how we respect human rights, because that we are a good force in the world, he wants America to be strong. He wants America to succeed. And he wants America to lead. And nothing is more important to me than my family, my faith, and my friends. +p469 +aVYou know, tonight we hear about what people want to do. I want to tell you what I've done. I was a member of the Armed Services Committee for 18 years. I spent a big chunk of my life studying national security issues and our role in the world. No. 2. I was the chairman of the House Budget Committee and one of the chief architects the last time we balanced a budget, and it was the first time we had done it since man walked on the moon. We had a $5 trillion surplus and we cut taxes. I spent ten years in the private sector, actually learning how business works. And now I'm the governor of Ohio, and I inherited a state that was on the brink of dying. And we turned it all around with jobs and balanced budgets and rising credit and tax cuts, and the state is unified, and people have hope again in Ohio. +p470 +asVQUICK +p471 +(lp472 +VGentlemen \u2014 we'll \u2014 we'll get back to this \u2014 just a minute \u2014 just a minute we're gonna continue this. I wanna talk taxes... +p473 +aVDr. Carson, let's talk about taxes. You have a flat tax plan of 10 percent flat taxes, and \u2014 I've looked at it \u2014 and this is something that is very appealing to a lot of voters, but I've had a really tough time trying to make the math work on this. If you were to took a 10 percent tax, with the numbers right now in total personal income, you're gonna come in with bring in $1.5 trillion. That is less than half of what we bring in right now. And by the way, it's gonna leave us in a $2 trillion hole. So what analysis got you to the point where you think this will work? +p474 +aVI \u2014 I understand that, but if you \u2014 if you look at the numbers you probably have to get to 28. +p475 +aV15 percent still leaves you with a $1.1 trillion hole. +p476 +aVYou'd have to cut \u2014 you'd have to cut government about 40 percent to make it work with a $1.1 trillion hole. +p477 +aVThat is true, I looked at the numbers. +p478 +aVDr. Carson, thank you. +p479 +aVGovernor... +p480 +aVDr. Carson, let me get 30 seconds with Dr. Carson... +p481 +aVThank you. +p482 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, thank you. +p483 +aVGentlemen, I'm sorry, we need to... +p484 +aVWe're going to move on. +p485 +aVThirty seconds. +p486 +aVWe'll get to everyone. Ms. Fiorina, I \u2014 I'd like to ask you a question. You are running for president of the United States because of your record running Hewlett-Packard. But the stock market is usually a fair indicator of the performance of a CEO, and the market was not kind to you. Someone who invested a dollar in your company the day you took office had lost half of the dollar by the day you left. Obviously, you've talked in the past about what a difficult time it was for technology companies, but anybody who was following the market knows that your stock was a much worse performer, if you looked at your competitors, if you looked at the overall market. I just wonder, in terms of all of that \u2014 you know, we look back, your board fired you. I just wondered why you think we should hire you now. +p487 +aVMrs. Fiorina, it's interesting that you bring up Mr. Perkins, because... ...he said a lot of very questionable things. Last year, in an interview, he said that he thinks wealthy people should get more votes than poor people. I think his quote was that, "if you pay zero dollars in taxes, you should get zero votes. If you pay a million dollars, you should get a million votes." Is this the type of person you want defending you? +p488 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p489 +aVThank you, we're out of time. Thank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Carl. +p490 +aVGovernor Christie, I'd like to a question next. Actually, I have a question for you . In your tell it like it is campaign, you've said a lot of tough things. You've said that we need to raise the retirement age for Social Security. You think that we need to cut benefits for people who make over $80,000 and eliminate them entirely for seniors who are making over $200,000. Governor Huckabee, who is here on the stage, has said that you and others who think this way are trying to rob seniors of the benefits that they've earned. It raises the question: When it is acceptable to break a social compact? +p491 +aV...Governor... +p492 +aV...Thank you. +p493 +aVWelcome back to the presidential debate for the Republicans. We are live in Boulder, Colorado, right here on +p494 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. +p495 +aVSenator Rubio, you yourself have said that you've had issues. You have a lack of bookkeeping skills. You accidentally inter-mingled campaign money with your personal money. You faced (ph) foreclosure on a second home that you bought. And just last year, you liquidated a $68,000 retirement fund. That's something that cost you thousands of dollars in taxes and penalties. In terms of all of that, it raises the question whether you have the maturity and wisdom to lead this $17 trillion economy. What do you say? +p496 +aVSenator, I understand all of that. I had a lot of student loans when I got out, too. But you've had a windfall that a lot of Americans haven't. You made over a million dollars on a book deal, and some of these problems came after that. +p497 +aVBut you \u2014 but you liquidated that retirement account after the fact, and that cost you about $24,000 out of that in taxes and feed. That \u2014 that was after you'd already come into that windfall. That's why I raised the question. +p498 +aVYes, thank you John. Senator Cruz, working women in this country still earn just 77 percent of what men earn. And I know that you've said you've been very sympathetic to our cause. But you've also you said that the Democrats' moves to try and change this are the political show votes. I just wonder what you would do as President to try and help in this cause? +p499 +aVMrs. Fiorina \u2014 +p500 +aVMrs. Fiorina, we will come back to you. +p501 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Carl? +p502 +aVMr. Trump, let's stay on this issue of immigration. You have been very critical of Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook who has wanted to increase the number of these H1Bs. +p503 +aVSo you're in favor of... +p504 +aVWhere did I read this and come up with this that you were... +p505 +aVYou know, Mr. \u2014 you know, Mr. Trump, if I may . You've been \u2014 you have been \u2014 you had talked a little bit about Marco Rubio. I think you called him Mark Zuckerberg's personal senator because he was in favor of the H1B. +p506 +aVSo this was an erroneous article the whole way around? +p507 +aVMy apologies. I'm sorry. +p508 +aVYes, you can. +p509 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you very much. I would like to introduce my colleague, Rick Santelli, he has some comments as well, sir. +p510 +aVRick, thank you very much. Governor Huckabee, you have railed against income inequality. You've said that some Wall Street executives should have gone to jail over the roles that they played during the financial crisis. Apart from your tax plan, are there specific steps you would require from corporate America to try and reduce the income inequality. +p511 +aVGovernor? +p512 +aVGovernor? +p513 +aVThank you. +p514 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee. +p515 +aVHow about 15 more seconds? +p516 +aVGovernor? +p517 +aVGovernor, I'm sorry... +p518 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p519 +aVGovernor, thank you. Appreciate it. John? +p520 +aVIt's at the moderator discretion. +p521 +aVWelcome back to the University of Colorado and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p522 +aVThank you, sir. +p523 +aVYou were. You get 30 seconds. +p524 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Carl? +p525 +aVHigher education is the example... +p526 +aVI want to go back, if I can, to the issue of... +p527 +aVI want to go back, if I may, to the... +p528 +aVSenator Paul, among the leading conservative opponents to the creation of Medicare back in the 1960s was Ronald Reagan. He warned that it would lead to socialism. Considering the mounting cost of Medicare, was he right to oppose it? +p529 +aVSenator, thank you. [ +p530 +aVWelcome back to Boulder, Colorado and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p531 +aVThank you, Governor. +p532 +aVGovernor. +p533 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Paul, let's go back to you. Do these solutions sound like they work? +p534 +aVDo these solutions sound like they would work? +p535 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Governor? +p536 +aVGood evening, everyone. I'm Becky Quick, along with my +p537 +aVGovernor Jindal, let's talk a little bit about the news of the day. Just a few hours ago, the Republicans and the Democrats in the House voted on a budget deal that will increase spending by about $80 billion dollars over the next two years. You, however, have called the Republicans who have been willing to work with the Democrats to do things like this the, "Surrender Party of the Republican caucus." Would you have shut the government down instead? +p538 +aV...But Governor... +p539 +aV...if you didn't have a choice, if you didn't control things in the house, would you take the choice of shutting things down, or would you go ahead and agree with them? +p540 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p541 +aVGovernor Pataki, let's get to your point. You wanted to make a comment on the budget. You want to get in on the idea, what would you do if you were in Washington? Would you compromise... +p542 +aVGovernor Pataki, thank you. John? +p543 +aVGovernor Pataki, let's talk a little bit about what's happened on Wall Street. Some of your colleagues in the Republican Party, including some of the people on this stage, have bashed Wall Street. They say that it was largely responsible for the financial crisis. You're a former governor of New York, and you relied very heavily on Wall Street for income. Do you think they've gone too far? +p544 +aVGovernor Pataki, thank you. +p545 +aVCarl? +p546 +aVWelcome back, everyone. This is the Republican Presidential Debate on +p547 +aVSenator, I'm sorry your minute is up. +p548 +aVThank you very much, Senator Santorum. +p549 +aVAnd Graham, Mr. Graham, yes, that was a question to you, too. +p550 +aVYou have 30 seconds. +p551 +aVSenator Graham, thank you. +p552 +aVI'm sorry. That's your 30 seconds... +p553 +aVSenator Graham... +p554 +aVThank you, Senator. +p555 +aVGentlemen, hold on a second. +p556 +aVGo ahead, +p557 +aVGovernor Pataki... +p558 +aV\u2014 I'm sorry, that was a... +p559 +aVGovernor Pataki... +p560 +aVI'm sorry to talk over you, sir. That was a minute. +p561 +aVThank you very much. +p562 +aVCarl? +p563 +aVYou guys are making this just like home. This is just like . +p564 +aVGovernor Jindal, I want to go back to something that you mentioned before with your tax plan. I know that you want to put a 2 percent tax on all families, just to make sure everyone has some skin in the game. But every working American pays 6.2 percent, when it comes to Social Security taxes. They pay another 1.45 percent of Medicare. Isn't that skin in the game? +p565 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p566 +aVWelcome back to Boulder, Colorado, and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p567 +aVNo, no. +p568 +aVI \u2014 I'm with you. I still have a BlackBerry, too. Senator \u2014 Senator Santorum, how about you? +p569 +aVThank you. Governor? +p570 +aVThank you. Senator Graham? +p571 +aVWe take your time back. Yes. +p572 +aVJohn? +p573 +asVGRAHAM +p574 +(lp575 +VThank you very much. I just returned from Iraq two weeks ago. It was my 36th trip to Iraq and Afghanistan in the last decade. Toward the end, I met a very impressive Special Forces sergeant. It was his job to train Iraqi Kurdish commandos. He was so proud of what he was doing and so proud of the people he was training. He was the replacement for Master Sergeant Wheeler, a Delta Force member who was killed two months ago in a raid against an +p576 +aVYou may think this makes us safe, but it doesn't. The good news for everybody in this room is, after 36 trips to Iraq and Afghanistan, most people over there, Wolf, are not buying what +p577 +aVI will support the Republican nominee, whoever he or she may be. Like Bob Dole, I may sleep late that day if it's Trump. But the bottom line, if it's Trump, so be it. That's who I'll support. Please understand we're in a war that we can't afford to lose, and what he said about banning Muslims coming here to America has made us all less safe, and it's the worst possible thing he could do in this war. He clearly doesn't understand this war and how to win it. For God's sakes, pick somebody who is worthy of the sacrifice of those who are fighting this war and who actually knows how to win, and I don't believe that's Mr. Trump, and I know it's not Hillary Clinton. +p578 +aVRick, please understand the only way we're gonna win the war against radical Islam is for the world to unite. Very few fathers and mothers want to turn their daughters and sons over to +p579 +aVWell, here's what I'm here to tell you, when I first started this process of running for president., I said, " if you didn't realize we need more America boots on the ground in Iraq and eventually in Syria as a part of the regional army - not ready to be commander in chief." Like nobody said a word, now everybody's on board except Senator Paul. Senator Paul and Senator Cruz, are isolationists. They both want to restrict the ability of the NSA to do the following; find out if somebody overseas is calling into America and if somebody is on the other end of the phone, don't you want to know who their talking to? IF a terrorist is calling into America and we can match up phone numbers we get a get a court order to find out what the content is. We're at war folks, they're not trying to steal your car, they're trying to kills us all. So yes, I would re-institute this program. There's four things you need to understand about this war, it's a religious war, them against the world, if you don't fight them over there, they're coming here. If you don't hit them first, they're going to hit us. If you're not determined to fight it as a ware, you're going to lose it. So if you're worried about somebody having your phone in the government, don't be. The only thing you need to worry about is if you're talking to terrorist and a judge gives an order to listen to what you're saying. That's all you need to worry about. +p580 +aVCan I say something? +p581 +aVYeah. There are at least 3,500 American muslims serving in the armed forces. Thank you for your service. You are not the enemy. Your religion is not the enemy. Let me make this real to you. I was at the second presidential election in Afghanistan. The guy guarding me was an American Muslim sergeant in the Army who grew up in Kabul, left when he was \u2014 graduated high school, joined the U.S. Army, went back to his high school where they were doing polling, people voting, he took me there and cried like a baby. I cried like a baby. He is the solution to this problem, folks. He is not the problem. Leave the faith alone. Go after the radicals that kill us all. +p582 +aVThank you. This is why I own a flip phone. You don't have to worry about all of this stuff. The bottom line is, we're at war. They're trying to come here to kill us all and it's up to the government to protect you within constitutional means. Any system that would allow a terrorist to communicate with somebody in our country and we can't find out what they're saying is stupid. If I'm president of the United States, and you join +p583 +aVWell, what you want to do is you want to knock them off line. How about this idea? If you pledge allegiance to al-Baghdadi, you can't get married in America? The bottom line is you have to go after them everywhere. The key to winning this war is to provide the capacity to those in the faith who reject the ideology. The key to fighting this war is to fight it in their backyard, not ours. Two years ago I came up with a plan that requires more American boots on the ground in Iraq. The first thing out of my mouth running for President was, if you don't understand we need 10,000 troops in Iraq, rather than 3,500, you're not ready. What would I do in Syria? I'd form a regional army of Arabs and Turkey. Ninety percent them, 10 percent us. Up to 10,000 U.S. forces to go in on the ground and destroy the caliphate and its roots. Take Raqqah away from +p584 +aVYeh, it's just you're not going to win that way, Rick. There's nobody left in Syria to train. Between the Russians and Assad, they have killed all the people we trained, and our President sat on the sidelines and watched people get killed that we enticed into the fight. There is nobody left to train. I would get the Arabs who are threatened by +p585 +aVWell, number one, dead men don't preach anything. If you don't understand we need a ground force to go into Syria, then you're not ready to destroy +p586 +aVYeah. I just don't make this up, Wolf. I talk to people who are combat trained who have won in Iraq who I trust. Here's what I want to tell the Arab world and Turkey. We're not going to send 100,000 troops. You're going to do the fighting this time and we're gonna help you. We paid for the last two wars, you're gonna pay for this one. And, by the way, they get it because +p587 +aVTwo years ago. +p588 +aVYes. +p589 +aVI think we need to have a military strategy regarding Libya. They've just take over Gaddafi's hometown called Sur. There's about 2000 of them. Here's what I've learned in my 36 visits, you can't deter these guys, they're ready to die, bring on the virgins. Dying is first place in their world. What we have to do is work with others over time to destroy to ideology. We have to offer a hopeful life to compete with the glory of this. Most young people folks want the same thing you do. They don't want to live in the 11th century. So yes, you have to destroy the caliphate. I want to work with Arabs and Turkey to do it, but here's the key is to not leave. If we left Germany and Japan only god knows what would've happened. If we have 10000 troops left in Iraq, there would be no +p590 +aVI want to talk to General Keane first. I want to find out, what do we need militarily to keep them contained and eventually destroy them in Libya. They're in nine countries. You want to deal with Libya, go to Iraq and Syria. You want to prevent another 9/11, take the caliphate headquarters away from +p591 +aVNo. What I would do is I would try to make friends throughout the world to destroy a common threat to the world. These people are religious Nazis. Most people in Islam don't buy what they're selling. I've told you a thousand times that I would partner with the Arabs in Turkey. But, the reason they don't partner with Obama is they just don't trust him. Do you think they would trust me? I know them all. I've been working for a decade to figure out how to win this war. To my good friend Ted Cruz, please ask him the following question, you say you would keep Assad in power, I will tell you that is the worst possible thing that could come out of an American leaders mouth. It would be disastrous. His favorite movie is, apparently, Princess Bride. Ted, getting in bed with Iran and Russia to save Assad is inconceivable. +p592 +aVPrincess Buttercup would not like this. +p593 +aV...I didn't get to say yes. Yes. +p594 +aVYeah, this is an important discussion. The American president is the strongest voice in the world \u2014 until Obama came along. Now, we're just one of many. When you ask people to help you, when you entice Syrians to join your cause, to take down the dictator they hate to destroy +p595 +aV...we'd better do something about it, and I have a plan. +p596 +aVI don't think it's necessary. If you don't want to be there, I don't want you to be there. I just retired after 33 years in the Air Force, 140 days on the ground as an Air Force Reservist. To those who are watching, thank you for your service. I've had a small walk in your shoes. We have the best military in the world. Obama has put it in a box. Let's take it out of the box and use it before we get attacked here. We don't need a draft, we need a commander in chief who knows what the hell they're doing. +p597 +aVAnd, I am that guy. +p598 +aVBut, the reason they don't partner with Obama is they just don't trust him. Do you think they would trust me? I know them all. I've been working for a decade to figure out how to win this war. To my good friend Ted Cruz, please ask him the following question, you say you would keep Assad in power, I will tell you that is the worst possible thing that could come out of an American leaders mouth. It would be disastrous. His favorite movie is, apparently, Princess Bride. Ted, getting in bed with Iran and Russia to save Assad is inconceivable. +p599 +aVPrincess Buttercup would not like this. +p600 +aV...I didn't get to say yes. Yes. +p601 +aVYeah, this is an important discussion. The American president is the strongest voice in the world \u2014 until Obama came along. Now, we're just one of many. When you ask people to help you, when you entice Syrians to join your cause, to take down the dictator they hate to destroy +p602 +aV...we'd better do something about it, and I have a plan. +p603 +aVI don't think it's necessary. If you don't want to be there, I don't want you to be there. I just retired after 33 years in the Air Force, 140 days on the ground as an Air Force Reservist. To those who are watching, thank you for your service. I've had a small walk in your shoes. We have the best military in the world. Obama has put it in a box. Let's take it out of the box and use it before we get attacked here. We don't need a draft, we need a commander in chief who knows what the hell they're doing. +p604 +aVAnd, I am that guy. +p605 +aVCan, can I... +p606 +aVThis is important. We're not fighting all the wars with our kids. If you've been to Iraq and Afghanistan and you made any friends, you've lots of bunch. Thousands have died in Iraq and Afghanistan fighting. +p607 +aVDon't belittle their sacrifice. +p608 +aVNo. +p609 +aVTo, to those the (well) times in the Army were a bigger problem than they are today. If you want to fix this, you get the Army to 500,000, not 420,000. You want to win this war, grow the Navy to 350 ships, not 275. Sequestration is Latin for doing really dumb things. We're going to have the smallest Navy since 1915, the smallest Army since 1940. I was yelling and screaming don't do sequestration. I was right. If I am President of the United States, Commander in Chief, we're going to rebuild our military without a draft... +p610 +aV...and we're going to go on the offense and they're ready to go. +p611 +aVThey are ready to go. They just need to be led. +p612 +aVWell I stand unique, having been a military lawyer for 33 years. I've been a defense attorney, a prosecutor, and a military judge. Mr. Trump, you don't have to speak about everything, that's not required. I would make sure that everybody had a fair trial. Does that make sense to you? We're at war folks and this stuff has to stop. It's bad for morale to hear somebody wanting to be Commander in Chief that would deny due process to somebody who's been charged in the military. For God's sakes Mr. Trump, you're asking to be the Commander in Chief , the leader of the free world, up your game. As to women, if you want to kill terrorists, I'm your guy. +p613 +aVWell, the first thing I would do is make adjustments to reality. I want to look and see if this was a terrorist arranged marriage between the couple in California. The fact that they met online accidentally is almost zero. So, no, I would have a time-out on Syrian refugees because you'd be crazy if you didn't after Paris. But, I've been to the refugee camps in Turkey, and Jordan. Trust me with your Christian \u2014 and I'm a lousy Christian saved by grace, but \u2014 this is important. We've got to stop this war. Do you realize that there are more Syrian refugees in Lebanon going to school than Lebanese children? Do you realize if this war goes for another year the King of Jordan could fall? Let's have a no-fly zone. +p614 +aVI would \u2014 make changes to that bill in light of what I know today. +p615 +aVThe next president is going to be a war-time president, whether they like it or not. I'm ready for that job. Two years ago isolationism led by Senator Paul and Cruz was white hot in our party. Now it is in retreat because events have proven me more right than wrong and has proven them to be wrong. In the first debate I called for American troops on the ground to protect our homeland. Nobody came forward. Now, most have. We've spent a lot of carnage to get them to where I have always been. Make me president, I will keep you and your family safe. +p616 +aVWell, number one, thank you for having me here tonight. How about a round of applause for Boulder, Colorado? This is a beautiful place. Looking at their academic standards, the only way I could have gotten into this university is to be invited to this debate tonight. But here's my take on things. Without national security, there is no economic security. Without the sacrifice of the veteran, all of our hopes and dreams are at risk. Just a few days ago, Hillary Clinton said that the problems with the V.A. are being exaggerated by Republicans. They are not, they are real. +p617 +aVWell, let me tell you what is real. The threat to our homeland. I've never seen so many threats to our homeland than I do today. Barack Obama is an incompetent Commander in Chief. There are more terrorist organizations with safe havens to attack the American homeland than anytime since 9/11. We're in the process of reducing our defense spending by half. I am looking at this budget with one view in mind, will it restore the ability to defend this nation. We're on track to have the smallest army since 1940, the smallest navy since 1915, this budget, if it is paid for, will put $40 billion dollars back in the defense department at a time we need it. The number one role of the federal government's to defend this nation, I intend to be a Commander in Chief that can win a war we cannot afford to lose. +p618 +aVHere's the problem. We're being walked all over because our commander in chief is weak in the eyes of our enemies. Do you think Putin would be in the Ukraine today if Ronald Reagan were president? Why are the Chinese stealing our intellectual property, hacking into our system? Why are they building islands over resource-rich waters? Because they can get away with it. At the end of the day, ladies and gentlemen, the foreign policy of Barack Obama needs to be replaced, and the last person you want to find to replace his foreign policy is his secretary of state. So to the Chinese, when it comes to dealing with me, you've got a clenched fist or an open hand. You pick. The party's over, to all the dictators. Make me commander-in-chief and this crap stops. +p619 +aVNo, I \u2014 I think I'm trying to solve problems that somebody had better solve. Now, you don't have to believe that climate change is real. I have been to the Antarctic. I've been to Alaska. I'm not a scientist, and I've got the grades to prove it. But I've talked to the climatologists of the world, and 90 percent of them are telling me that greenhouse gas effect is real. That we're heating up the planet. I just want a solution that would be good for the economy, that doesn't destroy it. I want to fix an immigration system. I'm not gonna tell you, if you like your doctor, you can keep it \u2014 keep him. Do you like your health care, you're gonna keep it. I'm tired of telling people things that they want to hear, that we know we're not gonna do. We're not gonna eliminate the corporate tax. But we can make it lower. We're going to fix immigration, only if we work together. I want to secure the border because, if we don't, we're going to get hurt and hit again. I want to fix a broken visa system. I want to increase legal immigration, because we're gonna have a shortage of workers over time. As to the 11 million, I want to talk about fixing the problem. We're not going to deport 11 million people and their legal citizen children. But we will deport felons. And those who stay will have to learn our language to stay, because I don't speak it well but look how far I've come. +p620 +aVAt the end of the day, folks, I am trying to solve a problem and win an election. I am tired of losing. Good God, look who we're running against. The number one candidate on the other side thought she was flat broke after her and her husband were in the White House for eight years. The number two guy went to the Soviet Union on his honeymoon and I don't think he ever came back. If we don't beat these people, who the hell are we going to beat? +p621 +aVThe first thing... +p622 +aV\u2014 that we have to do is come to grips with the reality that we're facing as Americans. In 1950, there were 16 workers for every Social Security recipient. Today, there's three. In 20 years, there are two. I want to make sure that no American company leaves America because you can't find a worker. American workers always get the first preference. But if you can't find an American worker, after you advertise at a competitive wage, I don't want you to be at a loss. Bring people in based on merit. Let's take a broken immigration... +p623 +aV\u2014 system... +p624 +aV\u2014 and make a merit-based immigration system that will help our economy. We're going to need workers in the future. +p625 +aVLet's just choose rationally. +p626 +aVWe owe to every businessperson and worker in America the best environment in the world to create a job. We owe that to American businesses. Thirty-five percent corporate tax rate is the second highest in the world. We need to lower it so they don't leave. The goal is to help the middle class. We can talk about corporations all day long but my goal is to help the middle class, somebody who makes too much to be on government assistance but still lives paycheck to paycheck. When the kid gets sick you don't go on vacation. +p627 +aVThat's the purpose of my presidency, to grow the economy here. And let me tell you, our Democratic friends have a list a mile long of more government. That's not going to grow the middle class, that's going to create a burden on your children, which they're already overburdened. The best way to grow the middle class is to make it a good place to create a job. You know why Boeing came to South Carolina when they could have gone anywhere to build the 787? Because we wanted them. We had a low-tax structure. +p628 +aVA permitting structure that allowed them to build the building even faster than they thought they could build it. We welcomed them there. I'm going to take the South Carolina attitude \u2014 +p629 +aVI think everybody owes an obligation to the country. The ones that I'm most worried about are the 1 percent of Americans in uniform, who have been fighting this war for 14 years. They need a commander in chief who knows what the hell they're doing. My first job as President of the United States is to rebuild the military and use it smartly. Admiral Mullen said the debt is a big threat to our national security. He's right. But people go where they're welcome when it comes to job creation. If I'm President of the United States you will be welcomed in America. +p630 +aVThis will be the place to come \u2014 +p631 +aVAnd if I'm president of the United States \u2014 +p632 +aV\u2014 our enemies \u2014 +p633 +aVWell, number one, Social Security is not just a concept to me. I know why it exists; 50 percent of today's seniors would be in poverty without a Social Security check. I promise you, if you make me your president, I will save Social Security because I know why it exists. Now, if you're looking for good beer policy, I'm your best bet. My dad owned a bar. I know beer. We grew up, my sister and myself, in the back of that bar in one room with my mom, my dad and my sister who's nine years younger. When I was 21, my mom was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease. Neither parent finished high school. She died within a year. We were wiped out from the medical bills. And if it wasn't for a Social Security survivor benefit check coming into my family, we wouldn't' have made it because my dad died 15 months later. So I... +p634 +aVWait a minute, please. I'm 22 and we're wiped out. I am 60. I'm not married. I have a military retirement. I'm in good shape. I would give up some of my benefits to help those who need it more than I do. To young people here, I will ask you to work a little bit longer because we have to. The purpose of my presidency is to save this country and to save Social Security by working across the aisle just like Ronald Reagan. This is the biggest issue facing this nation. +p635 +aVWell, number one, the only reason I have an iPhone is because I gave my number to Donald Trump. Don't do that. +p636 +aVDonald has done more to upgrade my technology than my whole staff. Number one, Fox News. Sorry about +p637 +aVWell, I think a national holiday would be the day that commander-in-chief Barack Obama doesn't have that job. But unlike these other three, I want to win New Hampshire. Go Tom Brady. Go Patriots. Sorry, Colorado is late in the... +p638 +aVSomebody said \u2014 or maybe I saw it on the bill of a cap \u2014 that let's make America great again. America is great. I intend to make America strong again. I'm going to be the champion of the middle class, where I came from. If you make me your president, our best days are ahead. I'm ready to be commander- in-chief, ladies and gentlemen, on day one. I intend to war \u2014 win a war that we cannot afford to lose. I will be a commander-in-chief worthy of the sacrifice of those brave Americans who have been defending our nation. They have had our back. God knows, they have had our back... +p639 +aV\u2014 and I intend to have their back as commander-in- chief. Make me commander-in-chief. +p640 +aVOne, thanks, CNN, for having people at this debate. I'm Lindsey Graham from South Carolina, in case you can't tell. I want to thank Ms. Reagan (ph) for inviting me. It means the world to me. I'm the only candidate tonight who served in the military while Ronald Reagan was our president and our commander in chief. It was one of the highlights of my life. I'm running for president to destroy radical Islam, to win the war on terror, to protect you and your family. And in that quest, I have an uncompromising determination to win this war, just like President Reagan had an uncompromising determination to destroy the evil empire, and win the Cold War. Above all others on both sides of the isle, I'm most qualified to be commander and chief on day one -- 33 years in the Air Force, 35 trips to Iraq and Afghanistan, I understand this war. I have a plan to win it, and I intend to win it. +p641 +aVWell, all I can say, if you looked at polling in 2012 and 2008 at this level, we'd have -- at this stage, we would have President Perry and President Giuliani. I have a long way to go. And here's what I'm going to try to do tonight -- convince you that I'm best qualified to be the commander-in-chief of the one percent who are doing the fighting for the rest of us. And we'll have a serious discussion tonight. All of us are going to say we want to destroy +p642 +aVWell, what I hope Republican voters, libertarian, vegetarians, Democrats, you name it, will look for somebody to lead us in a new direction, domestically, but particularly on the foreign policy front. President Obama is making a mess of the world. What I'm trying to tell you here tonight, that Syria is hell on Earth and it's not going to get fixed by insulting each other. I've been there 35 times to Iraq and Afghanistan. I am ready to be commander-in-chief on day one. I've been in the military 33 years, 140 days on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan. I am so ready to get on with winning a war that we can't afford to lose. I hope you believe that experience matters. It's an all- volunteer force of -- when you vote for commander-in-chief, they are stuck with your choice. We've had one novice being commander-in- chief. Let's don't replace one novice with another. And if I thought... +p643 +aV-- I could win this war without more American ground forces in Iraq and Syria, I would tell you, but we can't... +p644 +aV-- and if we don't get on with this, they are coming here. +p645 +aVThank you. +p646 +aVProbably for a good reason. +p647 +aVWell, let's talk about immigration. Number one, I like Rick. I don't remember the Santorum plan when I was in the Senate. The peanut gallery on this is interesting. I have been trying to solve this problem for a decade. There are no democrats here tonight. If you're here, raise your hand. You went to the wrong -- we'll, welcome. Thank you very much for coming. +p648 +aVThe bottom line, I'm trying to pitch the problem. We're not going to deport 11 million people here illegally, but we'll start with felons, and off they go. And, as to the rest, you can stay, but you got to learn our language. I don't speak it very well, well, look how far I've come? Speaking English is a good thing. You got to pay taxes, you got to pay a fine, you got to get in the back of the line. You've got to secure your border or they'll keep coming. If you don't control who gets a job that never ends -- so (ph) got two borders. One with Canadia -- Canada, one with Mexico. I never met an illegal Canadian. This is an economic problem, so, folks, let's solve it. Amnesty is doing nothing, and that's what we've been doing. As to birthright citizenship, once we clean up this mess, in the future, prospectively, I'm going to look at the following. There are people buying tourist visas that go to resorts with maternity wards with the expressed purpose of having a children here in America. There are rich Asians, there are rich people up in the Mid-East... +p649 +aV...That to me is bastardizing citizenship... +p650 +aV...Yeah, I'd like to stop that in the future... +p651 +aV...What do you do with the 11 million? +p652 +aV...What are you going to do with the 11 million? +p653 +aV...Well, what about the other half... +p654 +aV...How many democrats support yourplan... +p655 +aV...How many democrats did you have on your bill? +p656 +aV...I can tell you. None. +p657 +aV...That went nowhere. +p658 +aV...George W. Bush... +p659 +aV...Who won with hispanics. +p660 +aV...Compared to what we're doing... +p661 +aV...Hispanics... +p662 +aV...Are Americans... +p663 +aV...In my world, hispanics are Americans... +p664 +aV...I have a little different take on where the country is going on this issue. Number one, in 1950, there were 16 workers for every retiree. How many are there today? There's three. In 20 years, there's going to be two, and you're going to have 80 million baby boomers like me retiree in mass wanting a Social Security check, and their Medicare bills paid. We're going to need more legal immigration. Let's just make it logical. Let's pick people from all over the world on our terms, not just somebody from Mexico. Let's create a rational, legal immigration system because we have a declining workforce. +p665 +aV...Strom Thurmond had four kids after he was 67, if you're not willing to do that, we've got to come up with a new legal immigration system. +p666 +aVYes, number one, how does President Obama sleep at night? Look what you let happen on your watch. Your commanders told you, don't withdrawal from Iraq because we'll lose of our gains. Three years ago your entire national security team, Senator McCain and I begged you to do a no-fly zone and help the Free Syrian Army while it would matter. But you said no. I'm not blaming Bobby, I'm not blaming Rick, I'm not blaming anybody, I'm blaming Barack Obama for this mess. +p667 +aVRight. +p668 +aVI'm saying this, if they don't understand that Barack Obama's policies are not working, that we're not going to destroy +p669 +aV-- does that include American ground forces in Syria as part of a regional army? Are all of you willing to commit to American ground forces going into Syria as part of a regional army to destroy the caliphate and its headquarters? +p670 +aVWell, you know, Kim Davis, I'm not worried about her attacking me. I am worried about radical Islamic terrorists who are already here planning another 9/11. We're at war, folks. I'm not fighting a crime. I want to have a legal system that understands the difference between fighting a war and fighting a crime, and here's the reality. Young men from the Mid- East are different than Kim Davis. And we've got to understand that. +p671 +aVIslamic websites need to be monitored. +p672 +aVAnd if you are on one, I want to know what you're doing. +p673 +aVI wasn't the best law student. By the end of this debate, it would be the most time I've ever spent in any library. But on the first day in law school view (ph), it's called "Marbury v. Madison." The group in our constitutional democracy that interprets "The Constitution" as to what it means is the Supreme Court. In a 5-4 decision by the Supreme Court, they have ruled that same-sex marriage bans at the state level violate the Fourteenth Amendment to "The United States Constitution" equal protection clause. I don't agree with it, but that is the law of the land. But as president, what I want make sure of is that everybody in this room, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, whatever religion that you can practice your faith without government interference, you can marry people consistent with the tenets of your faith. That's the number one obligation of my presidency, is to protect religious people when they exercise their religious rights. But this decision is the law as it is of right now. And here's the one thing I want to tell you, Jake. +p674 +aVWait -- wait a minute. Whether you're the wedding cake baker or the gay couple or the Baptist preacher, radical Islam would kill you all if they could. +p675 +aVLet's don't lose sight of the big picture here. +p676 +aVHe's one of the most qualified men to ever come before the United States Senate and I don't agree with his decision, but 99 times out of 100, I will. To the Republicans, the biggest prize on the table in 2017 is the presidency. If it is Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders, they are going to pick people that we will disagree with all the time. Please understand, we have to win this election. The court's at stake. It is the most important reason for us to turn out, to make sure we don't lose the judiciary for decades to come. +p677 +aVI've been called a lot of things but never elite before. My dad owned a liquor store, a bar and a poolroom. So only in America can you go from the back of a liquor store to being an elite. +p678 +aVI introduced her at a conference about Africa. I thought Secretary Clinton did a good job when it came to dealing with our problems in Africa, particularly among women. George W. Bush set $40 billion aside and Rick Santorum helped him and President Bush wiped out an entire -- wiped out +p679 +aVWell, Ronald Reagan did a couple of really big things that we should all remember. He sat down with Tip O'Neill, the most liberal guy in the entire House. They started drinking together. That's the first thing I'm going to do as president. We're going to drink more. And what did this -- two great Irishmen do? They found a way to save Social Security from bankruptcy by adjusting the age of retirement from 65 to 67. So, yes, I will say nice things at times about Democrats. Yes, I will work them -- work with them. I will put the country ahead of party. Absolutely I want to work with them. At the end of the day, Hugh, I'm lucky to be standing here. I'm the first in my family to ever go to college. Neither one of my parents finished high school. Darline's here with me tonight. We owned a restaurant... +p680 +aVWell, wait a minute. We... +p681 +aVYou asked me a question. This is important. Republicans need to tell the American people we get it as to who you are. When my mom died, I was 21. When my dad died, when I was 22. We were wiped out financially. If it weren't for Social Security survivor benefit check coming into Darline, we wouldn't have made it. I don't need a lecture from Democrats about Social Security. +p682 +aVI want to save it, just like Ronald Reagan did. +p683 +aVIf you want to see manufacturing, come to South Carolina... +p684 +aV...We'll show 'ya. +p685 +aVWell, I know this. That when my mom and dad owned a restaurant, the bar, the pool room, that if you increased the minimum wage it'd been hard to hire more people. Hillary Clinton has a list a mile long to help the middle class. We're talking all around this. The middle class for the last six and a half years has been squeezed, and squeezed hard. To the middle class, I understand who you are. You're one broken down car from not going on vacation. You're from one sick child away from having to change your whole budget. Here's what I want to do as your president. I want to grow this economy. When Boeing came to South Carolina to build a 787, everybody paid more they would have lost their employees to Boeing. If you're a waitress out there wanting more money, I'm not going to increase the minimum wage, I'm going to try to create an environment where somebody else will open up a restaurant across the street to hire you away at a higher rate, or they'll have to pay you more to keep you. You got to borrow money to create jobs in this country. Banking is locked down because of Dodd-Frank. The tax code is a complete mess, but nobody's talked about the elephant in the room, which is debt. Not one more penny to the federal government until w2e come up with a plan to get out of debt. +p686 +aVIt's probably a small bit, but the ones that get it... +p687 +aVYeah, but I... +p688 +aV...Have you ever thought why all of us say that... +p689 +aVIf I believed they were trying to break out and get a bomb, absolutely. And here's the most important thing: they know I would if I had to. And none of us are going to be able to defend this country adequately until we rebuild our military. A weak economy, a military in decline, the world on fire, does that sound familiar to you? Michael, does that sound familiar to you? The first thing I'm going to do as commander in chief on day one is call the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and say, what do you need that you don't have? We're cutting our military; we're on track to have the smallest Army since 1940, the smallest Navy since 1915 and John Kasich says he wants to close more bases. I want to rebuild our military and I want the Iranians to know that, if I had to, I would use it. The worst nightmare in the world is a radical Islamic regime with a weapon of mass destruction. The only reason 3,000 of us died on 9/11 is not 3 million, not 3 million is because they couldn't get the weapons to kill us. They're on track to get a bomb even if they don't cheat. This deal is a nightmare for Israel. They are coming here if we don't watch it terrorism with a nuclear capability sponsored by Iran. So, yes, I would use military force to stop them. I would set this deal aside and I would get you a better deal. If you gave $100 billion, I could get almost anybody out of jail. We couldn't even get our hostages out of jail. +p690 +aVDo you think Putin would be in the Ukraine or Syria today if Ronald Reagan were president? No. This is what happens when you have a weak, unqualified commander- in-chief who doesn't understand the role America plays in the world. Why is it bad for you that Russia's helping Assad? He's the magnet for Sunni extremists. The Syrian people are not going to accept him as their legitimate leader. By Assad being helped by Russia, it means the war never ends. It means the next 9/11, which is most likely to occur from an attack from Syria. It's more likely. At the end of the day, if I'm president of the United States, I've told you what I'm going to do. There's nobody left in Syria to train. We're going to get a regional army who doesn't like +p691 +aV... and if the war in Syria continues, it is coming here. For God's sakes, let's get on with... +p692 +aV... with fixing the problem in Syria. +p693 +aVBobby, you were in the Congress, and all I can tell you, to everybody here, if you want to repeal Obamacare, get a new president. If you want to defund Planned Parenthood, elect a pro-life president, because that's the only way. If we pass the Cardin bill, Graham, Menendez, it would go to the president. He would veto it. 67 votes are required to override the veto. +p694 +aVWait a minute. Now, you asked me a question. So I don't want to take off the table the ability to slow down Obama in his last 13 to 14 months, because I want 60 votes to stop what I think he's going to do between now and January 2017. Five Republicans deflect -- leave -- we're in trouble. So folks, the world really is the way it is. President Obama is president. The goal is to get him out of there and pick somebody who would actually do something to repeal Obamacare, who would get you a better agreement. So Bobby, he would veto the bill, we don't have 67 votes, and you're giving away a defense against Obama for the rest of his presidency. No, I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to tell you things I can't do. I'm not going to tell you by shutting the government down, we're going to defund Obamacare as long as he's president. All that does is hurt us. I am trying to lead this party to winning. +p695 +aVAre you going to shut the government down? +p696 +aVAre you going to shut the government... +p697 +aVCan I just say something? You know, Bobby, we're running to be president of the United States, the most important job in the free world. With it comes a certain amount of honesty. I'm tired of telling people things they want to hear that I know we can't do. He is not going to sign a bill that would defund ObamaCare. If I am president of the United States, I wouldn't put one penny in -- in my budget for Planned Parenthood, not one penny. I'm as offended by these videos as you are. But the one thing I'm not going to do going into 2016 is shut the government down and tank our ability to win. What you're saying and what Senator Cruz is saying, I am really sick of hearing, trying to get the bottom... +p698 +aV-- the Republican Party in a position... +p699 +aV-- to win. That's what I'm trying to do. And that does matter to me ... +p700 +aVIt matters a lot. +p701 +aVWell, number one, I will win a war that we can't afford to lose. I have a plan to destroy radical Islam because it has to be. These are religious Nazis running while President Obama has made one mistake after another and it's caught up with us. What do I have to offer that's different? I get my foreign policy from being in on the ground. I've been to Iraq and Afghanistan in the Middle East 35 times in the last decade, trying to understand how we got in this mess. Our leading candidate gets his foreign policy from watching television. And what I heard last night is the Cartoon Network, oh, I'm big, I'm strong, we're going to hit them in the head. +p702 +aVThat's not foreign policy. That's a cartoon character. John Kasich, a good friend of mine, said in New Hampshire, we're going to close more bases on his watch. On my watch, we're going to open up more bases. The military is in decline, folks. We're going to have the smallest military in modern times, spending half of what we'd normally spend by the end of this decade. +p703 +aVWhat do I offer? What do I offer? To make your families safe and our country strong again, a vision and a determination to win a war that we cannot afford to lose. +p704 +aVYou can trust me to do the following: that when I get on change with Hillary Clinton, we won't be debating about the science, we'll be debating about the solutions. In her world, cap- and-trade would dominate, that we will destroy the economy in the name of helping the environment. In my world, we'll focus on energy independence and a clean environment. When it comes to fossil fuels, we're going to find more here and use less. Over time, we're going to become energy independent. I am tired of sending $300 billion overseas to buy oil from people who hate our guts. The choice between a weak economy and a strong environment is a false choice, that is not the choice I'll offer America. A healthy environment, a strong economy and energy independent America -- that would be the purpose of my presidency, is break the strangle hold that people enjoy on fossil fuels who hate our guts. +p705 +aVIf we don't stop them over there, they are coming here just as sure as I stand here in front of you. One thing I want to be clear about tonight. If you're running for president of the United States and you don't understand that we need more American ground forces in Iraq and that America has to be part of a regional ground force that will go into Syria and destroy +p706 +aVRight. Mac +p707 +aVI think America is dying to work, you just need to give them a chance. To all the Americans who want a better life, don't vote for Hillary Clinton. You're not going to get it. She's not going to repeal "Obamacare" and replace it. I will. She's not going to build the Keystone Pipeline. I will. She's not going to change Dodd-Frank. I will. Until you change the policies of Barack Obama, we're never going to grow this economy. Until you change the policies of Barack Obama, we're never going to be safe. She represents a third term of a failed presidency. I'm fluent in Clinton-speak; I've been dealing with this crowd for 20 years. You know, when Bill Clinton says it depends on what the meaning of is is, that means is is whatever Bill wants it to mean. When Hillary Clinton tells you I've given you all the emails you need, that means she hasn't. So to the people who are dying for a better America, you better change course, and she doesn't represent the change that we need. Do we all agree that +p708 +aVI don't think it's a war on women for all of us as Americans to stand up and stop harvesting organs from little babies. Let's take the money that we would give to Planned Parenthood and put it in women's health care without having to harvest the organs of the unborn. The only way we're going to defund Planned Parenthood is have a pro-life president. You want to see a war on women? Come with me to Iraq and Afghanistan, folks. I've been there 35 times. I will show you what they do to women. These mythical Arab armies that my friends talk about that are going to protect us don't exist. If I am president of the United States, we're going to send soldiers back to Iraq, back to Syria, to keep us from being attacked here and keep soldiers in Afghanistan because we must. I cannot tell you how much our nation is threatened and how we need a commander in chief who understands the threats to this nation. If you're running for president of the United States and you do not understand that we cannot defend this nation without more of our soldiers over there, you are not ready for this job. +p709 +aVChange the Mexico City policy, not take one dime of taxpayer money to fund abortion organizations overseas, and restore the NSA that's been gutted. We're going dark when it comes to detecting the next attack. We have gutted our ability to detect the next attack. And I would not stand for that as president of the United States. I would take the fight to these guys, whatever it took, as long as it took. +p710 +aVThank you. First thing I'd tell the American people, whatever it takes to defend our nation, I would do. To the 1 percent who have been fighting this war for over a decade, I'd try my best to be a commander-in-chief worthy of your sacrifice. We're going to lose Social Security and Medicare if Republicans and Democrats do not come together and find a solution like Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neill. I will be the Ronald Reagan if I can find a Tip O'Neill. When I was 21, my mom died. When I was 22, my dad died. We owned a liquor store, restaurant, bar and we lived in the back. Every penny we needed from -- every penny we got from Social Security, because my sister was a minor, we needed. Today, I'm 60, I'm not married, I don't have any kids. I would give up some Social Security to save a system that Americans are going to depend on now and in the future. Half of American seniors would be in poverty without a Social Security check. If you make your president, I'm going to put the country ahead of the party. I'm going to do what it takes to defend this nation. This nation has been great to me, and that's the only way I know to pay you back. Mac +p711 +aVNot the change we need at a time we need it. +p712 +aVWe need somebody ready to be commander-in-chief on day one, who understands there are no moderates in Iran, they've been killed a long time ago. That the Ayatollah is a radical jihadist who really means it when he chants, "Death to America, death to Israel." And this deal is giving him a pathway to a bomb, a missile to deliver it, and money to pay for it all. We need a president who can solve our problems, bring us together. We're becoming Greece if we don't work together. At the end of the day, ladies and gentlemen, our best days are ahead of us only if we work together, and I intend to put this country on a path of success by working together and doing the hard things that should have been done a very long time ago. +p713 +asVREGAN +p714 +(lp715 +VIn Tuesday's State of the Union Address, the president said that our economy is strong. He cited the significant decline we've seen in unemployment rate and the millions of jobs that have been created. What is your assessment of the economy right now? And I would like to hear from all of you on this one, beginning with Ms. Fiorina. +p716 +aVThank you Governor Huckabee. Senator Santorum? +p717 +aVThank you. Well, since we've been talking about the Middle East, Senator Santorum, conflicts between Saudi Arabia and Iran have certainly escalated, amid accusations that Saudi Arabia bombed the Iranian Embassy in Yemen after the Saudi Embassy in Tehran was attacked. As we confront an increasingly unstable Middle East, how will you, as president, navigate this administration's promises to Iran while standing by our historic allies in the region? +p718 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p719 +aVGovernor Huckabee, if I could just follow-up with that. Do we need to be in Afghanistan? +p720 +aVThank you Governor Huckabee. Ms. Fiorina, nearly 600 women say they were attacked in a German city on New Year's Eve by men of Arab or North African descent and 45 percent of those alleged attacks were sexual assaults. Twenty-two of those 32 men arrested so far are asylum-seekers. Are you worried about similar problems in the United States? +p721 +aVI want to stay with you on this. The world shares a common enemy right now in the way of +p722 +aVMs. Fiorina, thank you. +p723 +aVWelcome back, everyone, to the Republican presidential debate. On to the next round of questions \u2014 Sandra. +p724 +aVMs. Fiorina, the president has just issued an executive order to expand the gun laws and background checks. And none of you on stage agree with this. But recent polls show the majority of Americans are in favor of universal background checks. +p725 +aVIt's the poll data. +p726 +aVSo tell me......why, in your view, is the president's proposal a problem? +p727 +aVMs. Fiorina, you've said that was when you were CEO of HP, you actually worked with the government. +p728 +aV\u2014 to try and combat some of these terrorist threats. +p729 +aVWhat did you do? +p730 +aVMs. Fiorina, thank you. +p731 +aVGovernor Huckabee, an American in San Bernardino murdered 14 people while terrorists with Belgian and French passports murdered 130 people. Were facing a threat within our borders, and from outside the United States. Those European terrorists, they could have come here at any time given that we have a visa waiver program that enables people to travel back and forth. It exists within those countries, and 36 others. In countries around the world, including many in Europe, cannot ensure that their citizens are not jihadists, why are we waiving the visa requirement at all? +p732 +aVIf you get the visa waiver program, does that shut down international commerce? +p733 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p734 +aVSenator Santorum, thank you. +p735 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p736 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from North Charleston. We want to jump right back in. Sandra is kicking it off. +p737 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you know it used to be you could graduate from high school and get a pretty good job at the local factory, enough to take care of your family and yourself. Those days seem to be gone. It's pretty hard to do that nowadays. Businesses are increasingly turning to automation to increase their productivity levels. It's happening right here, in fact, at the Boeing factory in North Charleston. The president says automation threatens workers' ability to get higher wages. Do you agree with that? And if so, do you have a solution? +p738 +aVThank you very much, Governor Huckabee. Senator Santorum, 40% of babies born today are born to single moms. That's twice as high as reported back in 1980, and it's 11 times as high as in 1940. Studies show that children are always better off economically, most often \u2014 and emotionally, with two parents in a household. From a policy perspective, should the government be doing anything to encourage family formation? +p739 +aVThank you. +p740 +aVCarly Fiorina? +p741 +aVThank you to all the candidates. That does it, everyone for the first debate right here in North Charleston. +p742 +aVGood evening, and welcome to the historic Milwaukee Theater. Tonight, you'll hear from 12 Republican candidates vying to become the next President of the United States. I'm Trish Regan, along with my co-moderators, Sandra Smith, and from the Wall Street Journal, Jerry Seib. +p743 +aVLet's introduce them. New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie. Former Arkansas Governor, Mike Huckabee. Former Pennsylvania Senator, Rick Santorum. And, Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindal. +p744 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p745 +aVAll right, Governor Jindal, you have pushed Louisiana's energy resources as a means to grow jobs in your state. But as oil prices have plunged in recent months, so has jobs growth. Louisiana now has an unemployment rate above the national average. Will your energy-focused jobs plan for the country be subject to the same market ups and downs? +p746 +aVAll right, Governor Jindal, thank you. Governor Christie, you have said that the Democrats' message is one of, quote, "free stuff." In contrast, Republicans want to reduce spending. How do you win a national election when the Democrats are offering free health care, a free or subsidized college education, and you're the party that is seemingly offering nothing in the way of immediate tangible benefits? +p747 +aVSenator Santorum, a single mom with no job and two kids in New Hampshire, home of the first in the nation primary, is eligible for more than $30,000 a year in benefits. Even if she could find a job, she would need to find child care. And in many cases may conclude it's better for her to live off government benefits. Senator, how do you help and incentivize her to go to work? And if you're the one that's going to cut her benefits, why should she vote for you? +p748 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you. All right, we are just getting started. Medicare, Social Security and the future of ObamaCare \u2014 that is all straight ahead, live from Milwaukee and the Republican presidential debate. +p749 +aVWelcome back to the Milwaukee Theater, and the Republican Presidential Debate. On to the next round of questions, Gerry has the next question. +p750 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you differ from many of your GOP opponents on the stage tonight over accepting Syrian refugees into this country. You have said, "We don't have an obligation to just open our doors." As the Islamic state continues to expand, slaughtering and crucifying Christians, including women and children, refugees continue to flee their land by the thousands. Should America open its doors to accept any refugees in this country? If so, how many? +p751 +aVAlright, Governor Huckabee, thank you. +p752 +aVNext question to you, Governor... +p753 +aV...Next question to you, Governor... +p754 +aV...let me get in......Let me get in here, because the next question, it's to you, and it's on Obamacare. It is still unpopular with the American people. You've seen the polls, they've shown nearly half the country still opposes this law. You have been critical of your GOP opponents, some of them standing on the stage tonight, others later. Notably, Ted Cruz, for not having comprehensive plans. You say you do. What specifically makes your plan to replace Obamacare better than the opponents, some of them standing next to you. +p755 +aVGovernor Jindal, thank you. +p756 +aVWe'll get to that. +p757 +aVRonald Reagan did work with Tip O'Neill. Anyway, we are going to take a quick break. Coming up, one of the top issues for voters, how much you're paying in taxes. We are live from Milwaukee with the Republican presidential debate. See you right back here. +p758 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate. We are live from Milwaukee. A top issue on the campaign trail, taxes and how much you pay. All right, I've got a question for all of you here. When looking at the federal income tax, state income tax and local tax, in some cases, combined, some Americans are paying over 50 percent of their paycheck to the government. What is the highest percentage, all in, in the way of taxes, that any American should have to pay and what is the lowest? I'd like to, again, to hear from each of you. And I want those two all in numbers. I'm going to start with you, Senator Santorum. +p759 +aVAll in. OK, Governor Christie? +p760 +aVAnd we'll get back to you. Governor Jindal? +p761 +aVGovernor Huckabee, Americans, under your plan, would pay a tax on every single thing that they purchase. Given that consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of GDP, some economists worry that your tax plan would actually discourage spending, thereby slowing our economy. How do you respond? +p762 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p763 +aVSenator Santorum, you agree with Governor Christie. You also have said that the Fed should be audited. But many worry that given the Congressional challenges that they face, by having Congressional oversight of the Fed, which has been historically an independent body, you would be making the Fed much more political. How would you navigate that risk? +p764 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee, both Senator Santorum and Governor Christie were boat \u2014 both critical of the Federal Reserve. Also, many have questioned whether Janet Yellen is the right person to be running the Fed. If elected president, would you keep Janet Yellen? +p765 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee, thank you. All right, Senator Santorum, by the way, today is the 240th... +p766 +aV\u2014 of the United States... +p767 +aV\u2014 Marine Corps. Tomorrow is Veterans Day. We honor and recognize all those who have fought for, and served this great nation, Senator. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, meanwhile, which provides patient care, and federal benefits to those veterans, as well as their families, is beset by scandal. What new ideas do you have to fix the broken V.A. healthcare system? +p768 +asVHEMMER +p769 +(lp770 +VSo, here we go. Ninety-seven hours before Iowa chooses, in fact the last two winners in this state are on this stage tonight. Governor Huckabee, in 2008, you won by nine points here, but this time your support seems to be going to Senator Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. Why, Governor, is your message not working this time? +p771 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Santorum, four short years ago you won Iowa. You beat Mitt Romney, pretty much shocked the country. But, just the other day you talked about what is in the greater good for your campaign. Is Monday night your last stand? +p772 +aVOK. +p773 +aV... Senator, do you want to name... ... Senator, do you want to name that entertainer your refering to? +p774 +aVBut senator, since you mentioned... +p775 +aVSenator, quickly then, after this debate, you mentioned Donald trump's name. Immediately, you're going to event across town here in Des Moines as a guest of Donald Trump. +p776 +aVSo are you laying the groundwork for maybe your future? Perhaps an endorsement of Mr. Trump? +p777 +aVThank you, senator. One moment. We'll get to you in a moment, Governor. We have a few coming up. +p778 +aVThank you. Governor Gilmore. As of one week ago, you have not held a single campaign event here in the state of Iowa. As of one week ago, in fact, you were the only one in the Republican field who had not made a campaign visit to this state. You know how it works here. You know how it's worked over time. Why should anyone caucus for you on Monday night? +p779 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p780 +aVMs. Fiorina, same topic. The president says that many are exaggerating the threat from +p781 +aVThank you. +p782 +aVGovernor Gilmore, some time this spring 34 more detainees are cleared from release from Gitmo. If you were president, as you say, this president wants to close it. As president, if Gitmo were closed and an enemy combatant were found or captured in the field of battle, perhaps Syria or Iraq or Libya, and you don't have Gitmo, where would you put them? +p783 +aVGovernor, thank you for that. +p784 +aVWelcome back to Des Moines on what will be a long night here. Let's get back to the questions. Let's get back to the questions with Martha. +p785 +aVLet me stay with you, Ms. Fiorina. You've said you will shrink the federal government by 30 percent over the next two years, and those jobs will not be filled, and you'll do it through retirement. Your critics would argue that's exactly what you did at Hewlett Packard when 30,000 people lost their jobs. If it did not work at H.P., why would it work at the federal government? +p786 +aVThank you. +p787 +aVGovernor Huckabee, Nikki Haley, Republican governor from South Carolina, recently said... +p788 +aVI did not, but we... +p789 +aVWe have plenty for you -- you bet, Governor. We have a couple more in the hopper for you in a moment here. +p790 +aVFirst, Governor -- Governor Huckabee, Nikki Haley warned about listening to "the siren call of the angriest voices," to which Donald Trump said he is "very, very angry." Who is right, Governor? +p791 +aVThank you, Governor. +p792 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you've mentioned the economy several times tonight. Let's go back to that for a moment because in America today 50% of the American workers are making less than $30,000 dollars a year. Let's talk about what you could do for them. The Conservative Club for Growth has had an issue with your policy on taxes for years. In fact, it called you, "Tax Hike Mike". And, the record shows state spending in Arkansas increased 54% when you were in charge, 94% if you include federal dollars during that same period. When it comes to helping people at the margins, $30,000, $32,000 dollars a year, what's better? A tax and spend approach, or shrinking government? +p793 +aVGovernor Huckabee, thank you. Same issue, Senator Santorum. The President says criticism of his economic policy is political hot air. You consistently talk about manufacturing jobs leaving America. You support a flat tax of 20%. How would a flat tax bring back two million jobs to America? +p794 +aVSenator, thank you. +p795 +aVThank you Ms. Fiorina. Governor Gilmore. Who are the moderate Muslims do you seek advice and counsel from on how to deal with the threat from radical Islamic terrorism? +p796 +aVThank you governor. Governor Huckabee. Here in Iowa 43 percent of Democratic caucus goers describe themselves as socialist. That's a higher number than those who say they are capitalist. I guess you could say, they're feeling the burn. This is a country rooted in capitalism, the United States of America. How did we get here? +p797 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum, the president says politics in America have become meaner over the past several years with him in the White House. Two weeks ago at the State of the Union he said the following. "A president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide." Lincoln and Roosevelt, that's pretty good company. If he is right, do Republicans share some of the blame? +p798 +aVThank you, Senator. +p799 +aVIn the closing few moments, the candidates have an opportunity to make a closing statement, 30 seconds for each. And, we want to start tonight with the former Virginia Governor, Jim Gilmore. +p800 +aV... Thank you, Governor. +p801 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p802 +aVThank you, Governor. +p803 +aVThat concludes our debate tonight, but the night has just begun. +p804 +aVThis is first official event in the campaign for the Republican nomination for president. Welcome to Cleveland Ohio. It is debate night. I'm Bill Hemmer. Mac +p805 +aVSo you will hear from all 17 candidates tonight, and you'll meet seven of them right now, starting with three-time governor in the state of Texas, Rick Perry. Mac +p806 +aVTwo-time. Two-time governor of the State of Louisiana, Acting Governor Bobby Jindal. So you will hear from all 17 candidates tonight, and you'll meet seven of them right now, starting with three-time governor in the state of Texas, Rick Perry. Mac +p807 +aVTwo-time. Two-time governor of the State of Louisiana, Acting Governor Bobby Jindal. Mac +p808 +aVThe senior senator from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham. Mac +p809 +aVAnd former Virginia governor, Jim Gilmore. Mac +p810 +aVGentle. Mac +p811 +aVWait til you hear what the others are going to get later, huh? Mac +p812 +aVOne year from now, a Republican nominee will be standing on this stage in this very same arena. That person is in Cleveland today. So let's get started. First topic, electability. First question to Governor Perry from Texas. Welcome, Governor. +p813 +aVYou were in charge of the 12th largest economy in the world, and you recently said that four years ago, you weren't ready for this job. Why should someone vote for you now? +p814 +aVThank you, Governor. Mac +p815 +aVSenator Santorum, you won the Iowa caucus four years ago and 10 other states. But you failed to beat Mitt Romney for the nomination. And no one here tonight is going to question your conviction or your love for country. But has your moment passed, Senator? +p816 +aVThank you, Senator. Mac +p817 +aVSenator Lindsey Graham, you worked with Democrats and President Obama when it came to climate change, something you know is extremely unpopular with conservative Republicans. How can they trust you based on that record? +p818 +aVThank you, Senator. Mac +p819 +aVThank you, Governor. Mac +p820 +aVThis Saturday, August 8th, two days from now marks one year since the strikes began against +p821 +aVAnd the senator to your right has called for 20,000 American troops in Syria and Iraq so far today, Senator Graham, and I'll give this question to you. Why should the American people after two wars in Iraq sacrifice yet again on a third war? +p822 +aVSenator, thank you. Mac +p823 +aVIt is debate night, and welcome back to Cleveland, Ohio. Let's get back to the questions right now with Martha. Mac +p824 +aVExcuse me, Martha. I have not heard the bell just yet, so you're all very well behaved so far. Governor Gilmore, 30 seconds. +p825 +aVThank you, Governor. I've got to move on to immigration here. Senator Santorum, you would argue you have one of the tougher positions on illegal immigration in the entire 17 candidate field at the moment. We often talk about this issue on the abstract level in Washington, D.C., but you know how it's being talked about in states like Iowa and New Hampshire among illegals in our country today -- 11 million plus. And some are asking, what would you say to a child, born and raised in America, who could see their family broken apart by your policy? +p826 +aVGovernor Perry, try and answer this question again. What do you say to the family of illegals? Are you going to break them apart? +p827 +aVGovernor, thank you. Mac +p828 +aVAnd so right now, we're 30 minutes in. Going to jump back into the topics and continue our discussion of national issues on the domestic level. The issue that is really number one on the minds of many voters, that's the economy and jobs. Mac +p829 +aVThank you, Governor. Your last topic brings us to the state of Ohio. You know, the saying, right? No Republican wins the White House unless you win here in the Buckeye state. Well, here in the Buckeye state, the Governor John Kasich took the federal money for Medicaid expansion under Obamacare. And Governor Jindal of Louisiana, you passed on those tax dollars. Why do you think Governor Kasich got it wrong here? +p830 +aVSo Governor Kasich was wrong, just to be clear. +p831 +aVI didn't hear an answer regarding Governor Kasich, but for now I'll go to Governor Pataki. Yes or no? +p832 +aVGovernor Pataki, three term governor of New York. Is he right, Governor Jindal from Louisiana? +p833 +aVYes or no, would you have expanded Obamacare in the state of New York, had you been governor at that time? +p834 +aVOK. +p835 +aVThank you, Governor Pataki. In a moment here, we'll talk to the candidates about an issue today on Planned Parenthood, and also the U.S. Supreme Court. That's all next here in Cleveland. +p836 +aVWelcome back to Cleveland, Ohio. Want to get back to the questions and the issues in this debate now, with my co-anchor, Martha. Mac +p837 +aVNext question on the U.S. Supreme Court. It's been 42 years, Senator Santorum, since Roe v. Wade, and many consider, in this country, to be a case of settled law. Recently the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on same-sex marriage. Is that now settled law in America today? +p838 +aVAlright, Senator, thank you. To Governor Gilmore. For years, presidential candidates have not said they would have a litmus test for justices nominated to the Supreme Court. Recently, Hillary Clinton broke that precedent. She said she would apply that on the case of Citizens United, which deals with campaign finance laws in America today. Is it time for conservatives to impose a litmus test on abortion? +p839 +aVSo, no litmus test? +p840 +aVThank you, governor. Mac +p841 +aVAs the first debate of the nomination season continues, welcome back to Cleveland. Let's get back to the questions right now, and the issues here in the U.S. Martha? Mac +p842 +aVThank you, Senator. Executive power. It appears that you all have a little bit of an issue with it at the moment. I want to move through this as quickly as I can, from stage left to stage right. On the second day of his presidency, January 22nd 2009, President Obama signed one of his first executive orders. That was close Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Still open today. What would be your first executive order? Governor Gilmore, start. +p843 +aVSenator Graham. +p844 +aVGovernor Jindal, your first executive order would be in the White House would be what? +p845 +aVGovernor Perry. +p846 +aVThat will be a long day. +p847 +aVSenator Santorum? +p848 +aVFirst order, Carly Fiorina? +p849 +aVGovernor Pataki? +p850 +aVThank you all. Mac +p851 +aVThank you, senator. Mac +p852 +aVThank you, Senator. I need a two-word answer to the following query. In 2008, then-Senator Barack Obama described Hillary Clinton as, quote, "likable enough," end quote. What two words would you use to describe the Democratic frontrunner? Governor Pataki to start. +p853 +aVWow. Carly Fiorina. +p854 +aVGovernor Jindal? +p855 +aVGovernor? +p856 +aVNot a lot of compliments. To be continued. Mac +p857 +aVThank you Governor. Senator Santorum? +p858 +aVAll right. Senator thank you. Mac +p859 +aVCarly Fiorina, closing statement. +p860 +aVThank you. Mac +p861 +aVAnd to Governor Pataki, closing statement now. +p862 +aVThank you, Governor. Mac +p863 +aVThat concludes the first debate of the 2016 Republican primary. We would like to thank all seven of you for being here today. +p864 +asVUNIDENTIFIED +p865 +(lp866 +VWhy don't, why don't we... +p867 +asVBAIER +p868 +(lp869 +VLess than a year from now, in this very arena, one of these 10 candidates or one of the seven on the previous debate tonight will accept the Republican party's nomination. Tonight's candidates were selected based on an average of five national polls. Just a few hours ago, you heard from the candidates ranked 11th through 17. And now, the prime-time event, the top 10. +p870 +aVNeurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Florida Senator Marco Rubio. +p871 +aVIt might be. It might be. We'll see. [ +p872 +aVIt might be. The rules for tonight are simple. One minute for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups. And if a candidate runs over, you'll hear this. Pleasant, no? We also have a big crowd here with us tonight in the home of the Cavaliers, as I mentioned. And while we expect them... ... we expect them to be enthusiastic, as you heard, we don't want to take anything away from the valuable time for the candidate. So, we're looking for somewhere between a reaction to a LeBron James dunk and the Cleveland Public Library across the street. Somewhere there, we'll find a balance tonight. Without further ado, let's begin. +p873 +aVGentlemen, we know how much you love hand-raising questions. So we promise, this is the only one tonight: the only one. Is there anyone on stage, and can I see hands, who is unwilling tonight to pledge your support to the eventual nominee of the Republican party and pledge to not run an independent campaign against that person. Again, we're looking for you to raise your hand now -- raise your hand now if you won't make that pledge tonight. Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump to be clear, you're standing on a Republican primary debate stage. +p874 +aVThe place where the RNC will give the nominee the nod. +p875 +aVAnd that experts say an independent run would almost certainly hand the race over to Democrats and likely another Clinton. You can't say tonight that you can make that pledge? +p876 +aVSo tonight, you can't say if another one of these... +p877 +aVOK. +p878 +aVDr. Paul. +p879 +aVOK. +p880 +aVJust to be clear, you can't make a -- we're gonna -- we're going to move on. You're not gonna make the pledge tonight? +p881 +aVOK. Alright. +p882 +aVGovernor Bush, you have insisted that you're your own man. You say you have a life experience uniquely your own. Not your father's, not your brother's. But there are several opponents on this stage who get big- applause lines in early voting states with this line: quote, "the last thing the country needs is another Bush in the Oval Office." So do you understand the real concern in this country about dynastic politics? +p883 +aVGovernor Christie, you're not exactly the darling of conservatives. You tout your record as a Republican governor in a blue state. On Facebook, the most people talking about you, not surprisingly, come from your state of New Jersey, and one of the top issues they are talking about is the economy. This -- this may be why. Under your watch, New Jersey has undergone nine credit rating downgrades. The state's 44th in private sector growth. You face an employee pension crisis and the Garden State has the third highest foreclosure rate in the country. So why should voters believe that your management of the country's finances would be any different? +p884 +aVSenator Paul, you recently blamed the rise of +p885 +aVGentlemen, the next series of questions deals with ObamaCare and the role of the federal government. Mr. Trump, ObamaCare is one of the things you call a disaster. +p886 +aVSaying it needs to be repealed and replaced. +p887 +aVNow, 15 years ago, you called yourself a liberal on health care. You were for a single-payer system, a Canadian-style system. Why were you for that then and why aren't you for it now? +p888 +aVBut on ObamaCare... +p889 +aVMr. Trump, hold up one second. +p890 +aVAll right, now, hold on, Senator Paul... +p891 +aVOK. +p892 +aVAll right, let me... Mr. Trump, it's not just your past support for single- payer health care. You've also supported a host of other liberal policies. Use -- you've also donated to several Democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton included, Nancy Pelosi. You explained away those donations saying you did that to get business-related favors. And you said recently, quote, "When you give, they do whatever the hell you want them to do." +p893 +aVSo what specifically did... +p894 +aV-- they do? +p895 +aVHold on. We're going to -- we're going to move on. We'll come back to you, Governor Walker. +p896 +aVWe have many questions to come. +p897 +aVMany questions to come. Governor Huckabee, on Facebook, John Pietricone asked this, "Will you abolish or take away the powers and cut the size of the EPA, the IRS, the Department of Education?" Now, broadly... ...broadly, the size of government is a big concern for Facebook users, Facebook persons, as well as, obviously, conservatives. But year after year, decade after decade, there are promises from Republicans to shrink government. But year after year, decade after decade, it doesn't happen. In fact, it gets bigger, even under Republican politicians. So the question is, at this point, is the government simply too big for any one person, even a Republican, to shrink? +p898 +aVDr. Carson... +p899 +aVDr. Carson, do you agree with that? +p900 +aVGovernor Bush? +p901 +aVWe're going to come back to you, Dr. Carson. Governor Bush, you are one of the few people on the stage who advocates for Common Core education standards, reading and math. A lot of people on this stage vigorously oppose a federal involvement in education. They say it should all be handled locally. President Obama's secretary of education, Arnie Duncan, has said that most of the criticism of Common Core is due to a, quote, "fringe group of critics." Do you think that's accurate? +p902 +aVSenator Rubio, why is Governor Bush wrong on Common Core? +p903 +aVAnd do you agree with your old friend? +p904 +aVWe have many more questions coming on a host of topics, here from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Stay with us. +p905 +aVWe have many more questions coming on a host of topics. Here from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Stay with us. +p906 +aVGentlemen, another question for a few of you. Yesterday, just yesterday, President Obama criticized Republican lawmakers trying to block the Iran deal, calling them knee-jerk partisans, adding that hardliners in Iran who chant "death to America" were, quote, "making common cause with the Republican caucus." Here's what two of your opponents on the 5 p.m. debate stage said about Iran. +p907 +aVNow, I wanna ask a few of you this. First, Governor Walker. You've said that you would tear up the Iran deal on day one. If this deal is undone, what then? +p908 +aVSenator Paul, would you tear up the deal on day one? +p909 +aVGovernor Huckabee, what do you think about what Senator Paul just said? +p910 +aVThank you, gentlemen. +p911 +aVWelcome back to Cleveland. Our next topic is foreign policy. Candidates, you may not have seen the late developing news today our Fox Pentagon team broke earlier this evening about a top Iranian general traveling to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. His name is General Qassem Soleimani, he's blamed for hundreds of U.S. troop's deaths in Iraq, and Afghanistan. His trip to Russia appears to directly violate U.N. Security Council resolutions to confine him to Iran. So, Mr. Trump, if you were president, how would you respond to this? +p912 +aVAnother new development today, Senior Defense officials tell Fox they strongly suspect Russia was behind the cyber attack on the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs office... +p913 +aV...email. This comes in the wake of the Director of National Intelligence blaming the Chinese for the largest ever cyber attack, stealing personal data of tens of millions of Americans. Senator Cruz, in your view, have Russia and China committed acts of cyber war, and if you were president, what would you do about it? +p914 +aVDr. Carson, in August of 2012 President Obama famously declared Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons, quote, "that's a redline for us," and that there would be enormous consequences. One year later, with overwhelming evidence the Assad had, in fact, used chemical weapons and crossed that red line, President Obama declined to use military force against the Assad regime. As president, would you have used military force there? +p915 +aVGovernor Walker, as president, what would you do if Russian President Vladimir Putin started a campaign to destabilize +p916 +aVGovernor -- Governor Huckabee, the culture of the American military is definitely changing. Women are moving into combat roles. Don't Ask, Don't Tell has obviously been dropped. And now Defense Secretary Ashton Carter recently directed the military to prepare for a moment when it is welcoming transgender persons to serve openly. As commander in chief, how would you handle that? +p917 +aVSenator Paul, the first budget you proposed as senator cut all financial aid to Israel. You have since changed your view on that issue. What made you change your mind. +p918 +aVOK. But you still say that Israel could be one of the countries that is cut from financial aid? +p919 +aVGovernor Christie, what do you think of that answer? +p920 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p921 +aVSenator, we're going to finish up with some more questions, thank you. +p922 +aVNow each candidate will make a closing statement. You'll all have 30 seconds to make a closing statement for this debate. We'll start with Ohio Governor John Kasich. +p923 +aVSenator Marco Rubio. +p924 +aVThank you, Senator. +p925 +aVGovernor Mike Huckabee, closing statement. +p926 +aVMr. Trump, closing statement, sir. +p927 +aVGentlemen, thank you. +p928 +aVThat's it. +p929 +asVMADDOW +p930 +(lp931 +VWe are super excited to be here at the University of New Hampshire. Tonight, this is the first time that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have squared off exactly like this. Face-to-face, just one-on-one, just the two of them. +p932 +aVAnd we do hope that the candidates will take this opportunity to show us the distinctions\u2014show us the differences between them. That's the whole reason that we're here tonight. We're not here for talking points. We're to learn about the difference between the candidates. And with that, let's get going. Please join us in welcoming Secretary Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders. +p933 +aVAnd with that, that's it. We're going to begin with 60- second opening statements from each of the candidates. And as agreed to in advance by the two campaigns, we're going to begin tonight with Senator Sanders. +p934 +aVSecretary Clinton, Senator Sanders is campaigning against you now, at this point in the campaign, basically arguing that you are not progressive enough to be the Democratic nominee. He has said that if you voted for the Iraq war, if you are in favor of the death penalty, if you wobbled on things like the Keystone Pipeline or TPP, if you said single payer health care could never happen, then you're too far to the right of the Democratic Party to be the party's standard bearer. Given those policy positions, why should liberal Democrats support you and not Senator Sanders? +p935 +aVSenator Sanders, have you established a list of what it means to be a progressive that is unrealistic? +p936 +aVThank you Senator. +p937 +aVSenator Sanders, as a Vermonter, you have almost a home state advantage here in New Hampshire. But back home across the border, you also have a long history of running against Democrats as a third-party candidate, for governor, Senate, for Congress. In 1988 your candidacy as a third-party candidate arguably cost the Democrats a congressional seat and sent a Republican instead. How can you lead the Democratic Party nationally when you have not been a member of the Democratic Party until very recently? +p938 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p939 +aVSo, Senator, to that point, Secretary Clinton is raising the issue of endorsements by your home state Democrats. She's implying that that says something about the people who know you best. +p940 +aVHow do you see it? +p941 +aVSecretary. +p942 +aVSenator Sanders, you'll have 30 seconds to respond to that. +p943 +aVSenator Sanders, Secretary Clinton, obviously we've touched a nerve. We're going to be back with more on this subject, and much more, right after this. Stay with us. +p944 +aVSecretary Clinton, on the issue of Wall Street... +p945 +aV... on the issue of Wall Street, when our reporters go out and talk to people on the ground in the early states, what they tell us over and over again when they find voters who are leaning toward Senator Sanders rather than yourself is that the most frequent area of concern that they hear from those voters is the issue of Wall Street and whether or not you are too close to Wall Street. Last night, when you were asked about speaking fees and the amount of speaking fees you got from Goldman Sachs speeches, you said that's what they offered. Have you been too dismissive of voters' concerns about this issue in your own campaign and your own career? +p946 +aVSenator Sanders, you have been a critic of Secretary Clinton taking those speaking fees and having donations from Wall Street. What about her defense of her record? +p947 +aVSenator Sanders, let me turn to, I think, where this direction is heading anyway, which is the broader issue of big business and power in our political system. You on the campaign trail have railed against big name American corporations like Boeing, and General Electric, and Wal Mart. But, some big businesses in this country have also been part of advancing progressive goals like that nationwide initiative to expand employment opportunities for veterans. That was all about cooperation between the Obama administration and some very big business. The Affordable Care Act, some of the thorniest problems in that bill were worked out in cooperation with big business in order to accomplish progressive goals. Could you work with them, or have you made enemies of big business in this country with the way you've approached them in this campaign? +p948 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. And with that, we're going to take a break. +p949 +aVWelcome back\u2014welcome back to the Democratic candidates' debate. We're going to be talking about America in the world, both in terms of some trade issues, but also national security. And Secretary Clinton, we're going to start with you. There are more than 4,000 American troops back in Iraq right now as part of the fight against +p950 +aVTo be clear, to the specific question, if that strategic goal that you're describing requires considerably more of Americans\u2014an ever-increasing number of Americans in Iraq and maybe in Syria, are you OK with the numbers increasing? +p951 +aVThank you, Madam Secretary. +p952 +aVSecretary Clinton, at the\u2014at the last Democratic debate in Charleston\u2014I want to get specific here\u2014Senator Sanders called for moving as aggressively as we can to normalize relations with Iran. Your campaign has criticized him for saying that. Now that he's standing next to you here on this stage, can you explain why the U.S. shouldn't try to normalize relations in Iran in your view? +p953 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to ask you about a national security issue that is closer to home. There are thousands of veterans, over 100,000 veterans living in the state of New Hampshire. If either one of you is nominated as the Democratic Party's nominee, you will likely face a Republican opponent in the general election who wants to privatize or even abolish big parts of the V.A. It's a newly popular idea in conservative politics. How will you win the argument on that issue given the problems that have been exposed at the V.A. in the last few years? What's your argument that the V.A. should still exist and should not be privatized? +p954 +aVSenator Sanders, you, as a congressional leader on veterans issues and the Veterans Committee, you've worked in a very bipartisan way with Senator John McCain and others on veterans issues. Is the right contour of the fight, the way she's talking about this issue? +p955 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Sanders, Secretary Clinton, we're going to take another break. We'll be talking about Social Security and some of those other issues when we come back. +p956 +aVSenator\u2014Senator Sanders, in 1964... +p957 +aVIn 1964, I heard that the Republicans nominated Barry Goldwater, who was the hero of the conservative movement. He was, however, far to the right of most of that party. In 1972, the Democrats nominated George McGovern, who was a hero of liberals in the antiwar movement, but he was to the left of his party's mainstream. Both of those nominees made activists very excited, and they both got destroyed in the general election. Even Democrats who love you worry about your fate in a general election. And I know you have good head-to-head polling numbers against Republican frontrunners right now. We know that. But do you have a general election strategy that is different than the way you're running right now to try to get the nomination? +p958 +aVSecretary Clinton, your campaign surrogates, and people who have endorsed you, have suggested that or even said that if Senator Sanders is the nominee, that Democrats will suffer nationwide and the chances will go down of Democrats holding onto the White House. With him here standing next to you, can you tell us whether or not you believe he would win the general election if he were nominated? +p959 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. Senator, in December, one of your campaign staffers was fired from your campaign for taking voter data essentially from the Clinton campaign. You apologized for that when the incident was made public. Your campaign has now been criticized for its operatives essentially impersonating culinary union members wearing union pins in Nevada, and the Nashua Telegraph has complained recently that you falsely implied in an advertisement that they had endorsed you when they did not. None of these issues obviously is the end of the world, but they all are of a piece. Are you in some sense losing control of your campaign? +p960 +aVJust to follow up on that, the title of the ad in question was Endorsement. +p961 +aVSecretary Clinton, do you want 30 seconds on that issue? +p962 +aVAnd with that, we will . +p963 +aVWelcome back to the University of New Hampshire, and the Democratic candidates' debate. Secretary Clinton, on the issue of the death penalty, here in New Hampshire, the one person who is on death row is there for killing a police officer. It's a crime that has caused anguish in this state, both among death penalty opponents and death penalty supporters. The last time I had the chance to talk with you on this issue, on the death penalty, you said that capital punishment has a place in a very few federal cases, but you also said you would breathe a sigh of relief if the Supreme Court abolished the death penalty nationwide. Tonight, do you still support capital punishment, even if you do so reluctantly? +p964 +aVSenator Sanders, you have singled out the death penalty, and Senator Clinton's support for the death penalty, as an issue that makes it hard to consider as progressive in your mind... +p965 +aVAnother issue related to the proper role of government, and in this case, specifically the role of government between the federal government and the states. I want to talk for a moment about the issue of Flint, Michigan. On the Flint lead poisoning disaster, you have both been highly critical of Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan, and how the state in Michigan both caused the lead poisoning problem, and has not acted fast enough to fix it. You have both been outspoken on that. The fact is that Michigan though has not fixed it. There is no door to door delivery of clean water in Flint even today. Not a single lead pipe has been replaced in Flint, even today. If the state is failing, would you, Secretary Clinton, would you as President order a federal response to get it right over and above the wishes of the state? +p966 +aVSenator Sanders are there things the President could be doing? President Obama could be ordering, done, right now, in Flint, Michigan that are not being done that you as President would do? +p967 +aVSenator, thank you. +p968 +aVThe home stretch. +p969 +aVSecretary Clinton, Republicans, particularly in campaign years, often talk about which departments of government\u2014which agencies of government they would get rid of if they were elected president. The EPA, the Department of Education, the Commerce Department, oops\u2014is\u2014is there a department of government that you would get rid of? Or is there a whole new one that you would create? +p970 +aVThank you, Secretary Clinton. +p971 +aVThank you very much. Thank you. +p972 +aVWe also want to thank our host, the University of New Hampshire, and the people of New Hampshire. You guys get to vote in just five days. I can't wait to see how it turns out. Don't screw up. +p973 +asVSEIB +p974 +(lp975 +VThis evening Fox Business is partnering with the Wall Street Journal to bring you the fourth republican presidential debate of the 2016 campaign. For the next hour, four of the candidates will be here answering the question voters want answered. +p976 +aVSenator Santorum, you're all obviously highly critical of President Obama's economic record. But federal statistics show that payrolls have expanded by 8.7 million new jobs so far during his time in office. All the jobs lost in the recession were recovered by last year. And in October, the economy added jobs at the fastest rate since 2009. So what's wrong with the Obama jobs record? +p977 +aVGovernor Jindal, Republicans have now 32 of the nation's 50 governor seats. But, even while you're doing very well at the state level, you keep falling short nationally. You've lost the popular vote in five of the last six presidential elections. Are Democrats simply putting forward a better national economic message than the one Republicans are offering? And what should Republicans do about it. +p978 +aVSenator Santorum, we're in the Upper-Midwest, heart of the American auto industry. The Auto Alliance says the state of Wisconsin, where we are tonight, is home to 176 auto supplier companies. Back in 2008, you opposed the use of federal bailout funds for automakers as proposed then by the Bush administration. The automakers survived. In retrospect, do you still think that was the right position. +p979 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p980 +aVGovernor Jindal, there's a new trade deal the Obama administration has completed with 11 other Pacific nations. The U.S. Trade Representative's office says that deal will cut 18,000 different tariffs on American goods sent to the Pacific and will cut tariffs on goods made in your state of Louisiana by as much as 40 percent. Even a skeptical about \u2014 a skeptic about this deal, now that the details are public, are you going to be for it? +p981 +aVGovernor Christie? +p982 +aV...Guys... +p983 +aVGovernor Christie... +p984 +aV...last word, briefly +p985 +aV...Thank you both, Governors. +p986 +aV...No, no, Senator Santorum... +p987 +aV...I have a question for you. Just about everybody agrees that the nation's infrastructure is in bad shape. Urban highway congestion costs the economy more than $100 billion dollars annually, nearly one in four bridges in the National Highway System is structurally deficient, or obsolete. Congress is working on a six year highway bill to try to fix this problem. It only funds it for about three years. Should Americans be asked to pay more in federal gas taxes in order to address this problem? +p988 +aVSenator, I don't think we got to infrastructure, but I understand. +p989 +aVNo, no. To do the things you're talking about, that you're all talking about, getting things done in Washington, you have to work with the other side. So a question, who in Congress do you most admire on the Democratic side? I need one name from each of you. And let's start with Governor Jindal. +p990 +aVGovernor Huckabee? +p991 +aVGovernor Christie? +p992 +aVSenator Santorum? +p993 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p994 +aVGovernor Jindal, you've proposed something different. You've proposed eliminating the federal corporate income tax entirely. Why would have you wage-earners and investors pay an income tax but not a corporation? +p995 +aVWelcome back to the Republican Presidential Debate live from Milwaukee's historic theater. Let's get back to the questions. Governor Christie, by keeping interest rates so low for so long, is the Fed creating a new financial bubble in real estate or stock as prices that will burst and create problems down the road, or has it been right to err on the side of trying to help the recovery through low rates? +p996 +aVCandidates, it's time for closing statements, 30 seconds. Governor Jindal, we'll start with you. +p997 +aVSenator Santorum. +p998 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p999 +aVGovernor Christie. +p1000 +asVTAPPER +p1001 +(lp1002 +VI'm Jake Tapper. We're live at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California for the main event. Round 2 of CNN's presidential debate starts now. The eleven leading Republican candidates for president are at their podiums. They are ready to face off, and if you've been watching this race, you know anything could happen over the next few hours. To viewers who are just joining us, welcome to the Air Force One Pavilion of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Our thanks to the staff here and especially to former first lady Nancy Reagan for this impressive setting with Ronald Reagan's presidential plane as our backdrop. This debate is airing on CNN networks in the United States and around the world. It's also being broadcast on the Salem Radio Network. I know everyone is very eager to get started. But first, I want to explain the ground rules tonight. My name is Jake Tapper. I'll be the moderator. I will be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt. He worked in the Reagan administration for six years. And by CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. I will ask follow-up questions, I will attempt to guide the discussion. Candidates, I will try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have one minute to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you've been singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. These 11 Republicans are positioned on the stage based on their ranking in recent national polls. Our goal for this evening is a debate. A true debate, with candidates addressing each other in areas where they differ. Where they disagree \u2014 on policy, on politics, on leadership. Now, let's begin. I'd like to invite each candidate to take 30 seconds to introduce him or herself to our audience. First to you, Senator Paul. +p1003 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1004 +aVThank you one and all for being here. There are many important policy issues facing our nation. We're going to get to many of them tonight, but I do want to start off with some current events in the news, and also some of the comments the candidates have recently made on the campaign trail. Mrs. Fiorina, I want to start with you. Fellow Republican candidate, and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, has suggested that your party's frontrunner, Mr. Donald Trump, would be dangerous as President. He said he wouldn't want, quote, "such a hot head with his finger on the nuclear codes." You, as well, have raised concerns about Mr. Trump's temperament. You've dismissed him as an entertainer. Would you feel comfortable with Donald trump's finger on the nuclear codes? +p1005 +aVYou didn't answer my question. Would you feel comfortable with Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear codes? It's an issue that one of your fellow candidates has raised. +p1006 +aVMr. Trump? +p1007 +aVMr. \u2014 Senator Paul, your name has been invoked. +p1008 +aVMr. Trump? +p1009 +aVI want to \u2014 I want to give Mr. Trump... +p1010 +aV... Mr. Trump, I want to give you another chance \u2014 Mr. Trump, I want to give you a chance to respond to something that your rival to your left, Governor Bush, said. Governor Bush told me last week when I read him the quote from Governor Jindal that he agrees you're not a serious candidate. Tell Governor Bush why you are a serious candidate and what your qualifications are to be commander-in-chief. +p1011 +aVGovernor Bush, would you feel comfortable with Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear codes? +p1012 +aVGovernor Walker? +p1013 +aVLet's move on. +p1014 +aVA phenomenon going on in the race right now is the political... OK, Governor Kasich, go ahead. +p1015 +aVWe have a lot of issues coming up, sir. +p1016 +aVWe are getting to the issues, sir. Phenomenon going on in the race is the political outsiders in the race, Dr. Carson, Donald Trump, Carly Fiorina, all together, have majority support in the polls. Governor Christie, I want to ask you about something that Dr. Carson said the other day. Dr. Carson said campaigning is easier for him, because he's not a politician. He can just tell the truth, therefore, while politicians, quote, "Have their finger in the air to see and do what is politically expedient." Governor Christie, tell Dr. Carson, is that a fair description of you? +p1017 +aVWell, let's find out. Thank you. +p1018 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. Dr. Carson, who were you thinking about on this stage when you said that? +p1019 +aVAnd more broadly, is experience in government not important for a president to have? +p1020 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1021 +aVThank you. +p1022 +aVThank you. Thank you Ms. Fiorina. Governor Bush, in addition to the fact that he's an outsider, one of the reasons Mr. Trump is a frontrunner, Republican voters say, is because they like the fact that he is not bought and paid for by wealthy donors. Mr. Trump has repeatedly said that the $100 million you've raised for your campaign makes you a puppet for your donors. Are you? +p1023 +aVIs there anything else you want to say about this? +p1024 +aVGovernor \u2014 +p1025 +aVSure Dr. Carson. +p1026 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Let's move to Russia if we could. Russia is sending troops and tanks into Syria right now to prop up a U.S. enemy, Bashar al-Assad. President Obama's incoming top general says, quote, "Russia presents the greatest threat to our national security." Mr. Trump, you say you can do business with President Vladimir Putin, you say you will get along, quote, "very well." What would you do right now if you were president, to get the Russians out of Syria? +p1027 +aVSo, you \u2014 just to clarify, the only answer I heard to the question I asked is that you would \u2014 you would reach out to Vladimir Putin, and you would do what? You would... +p1028 +aVSenator Rubio, you've taken a very different approach to the \u2014 the question of Russia. You've called Vladimir Putin a, quote, "gangster." Why would President Rubio's approach be more effective than President Trump's? +p1029 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. +p1030 +aVI want to bring in Carly Fiorina. +p1031 +aVMs. Fiorina, you have met... +p1032 +aV...yeah, you've met Vladimir Putin. Yes. +p1033 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p1034 +aVThank you. +p1035 +aVThank you. Thank you, Ms. Fiorina. While you're \u2014 while you brought up the subject of General Suleimani of the Quds forces from Iran, the next president, no matter who he or she may be, will inherit President Obama's Iran deal. Senator Cruz, Governor Kasich says that anyone who is promising to rip up the Iran deal on day one, as you have promised to do, is, quote, "inexperienced," and, quote, "playing to a crowd." Respond to Governor Kasich, please. +p1036 +aVWhy is that not, as Governor Kasich says, playing to the crowd and an example of you being inexperienced? +p1037 +aVGovernor Kasich... +p1038 +aV...Did Senator Cruz just play to the crowd? +p1039 +aV...Thank you, Governor. I want to go to Senator Paul. +p1040 +aVI want to go to Senator Paul. Senator Paul, the White House is rolling out the red carpet next week for the President of China, President Xi. Governor Walker says that President Obama should cancel the state dinner because of China's currency manipulation, and because of China's alleged cyber attacks against the United States. Is Governor Walker right? +p1041 +aVGovernor Walker, Senator Paul seemed to suggest... +p1042 +aV...that canceling the state dinner would be rash, and reckless. +p1043 +aV...Governor Bush... +p1044 +aVGovernor Bush, your father was the chief diplomatic envoy to China back when Nixon opened relations to China. Is Scott Walker's approach the right one, canceling the state dinner? +p1045 +aVI want to turn... +p1046 +aV...I want to turn to Governor Huckabee who has been very patient. Somebody had to be 11th, and he is, but, I do want to change the subject to the event that you had... +p1047 +aV... however you want, but I want to ask this question. +p1048 +aVAll right, sir, go ahead. +p1049 +aVOK. ( +p1050 +aVWe're going to turn now to Hugh Hewitt, from Salem Radio Network. +p1051 +aVThank you, Senator Paul. I want to turn now to my colleague Dana Bash. +p1052 +aVThat would be fair, you're right. You're the third senator. +p1053 +aVWe're going to go to Dana Bash... +p1054 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1055 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1056 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1057 +aVThank you, Senator. I want to... +p1058 +aV... turn back to Governor Huckabee... +p1059 +aVI want to turn back to Governor Huckabee. Governor Huckabee, last week, you held a rally for a county clerk in Kentucky who was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, as I don't need to tell you. You've called what happened to Kim Davis, that clerk, "an example of the criminalization of Christianity." There are several people on the stage who disagree with you. Governor Bush, for example, says that that clerk is sworn to uphold the law. Is Governor Bush on the wrong side of the criminalization of Christianity? +p1060 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1061 +aVWell, I'm not telling you that, Governor. But Governor Bush is, because he \u2014 because he disagrees. He thinks that Kim Davis swore to uphold the law. You disagree? You're not \u2014 you don't... +p1062 +aVOK. Please do. +p1063 +aVYou did... +p1064 +aVGovernor, you said, quote, "she is sworn to uphold the law." +p1065 +aVLet me go to my colleague Dana Bash, who has a question. +p1066 +aVDana, I want to continue on the subject. Governor Bush, you recently said while discussing Planned Parenthood, quote, you're "not sure we need a half billion for women's health issues." Now you've since said that you misspoke, you didn't mean to say "women's health issues." But Donald Trump said that quote, that comment, which Hillary Clinton did seize upon immediately, will haunt you the same way Mitt Romney's 47 percent video haunted him. Tell Donald Trump why he's wrong. +p1067 +aVThank you, Governor Bush. Donald Trump, let me just... +p1068 +aVThe quote was, "I'm not sure we need half a billion dollars for women's health issues." He said he misspoke. You said that that's going to haunt him. Why do you think that? +p1069 +aVGovernor Bush? +p1070 +aVI want to \u2014 we're going to get to \u2014 +p1071 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1072 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1073 +aVWe're going to \u2014 we're going to get to many of these issues. This \u2014 we're still in the first block, believe it or not. We're going to get to many of these issues, but before we end this block, Ms. Fiorina, I do want to ask you about this. In an interview last week in Rolling Stone magazine, Donald Trump said the following about you. Quote, "Look at that face. Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?" Mr. Trump later said he was talking about your persona, not your appearance. Please feel free to respond what you think about his persona. +p1074 +aVAll right. On that note, in less than two minutes \u2014 we're going to take a very quick break. In less than two minutes, the most contentious issue on the campaign trail. And the candidates on the stage are split over how to handle it. That's coming up next. Please give some applause to the candidates. +p1075 +aVWelcome to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate. No topic perhaps has been more combustible in this campaign than the issue of immigration. Mr. Trump, you have called for deporting every undocumented immigrant, Governor Christie has said, quote, "There are not enough law enforcement officers \u2014 local, county, state and federal combined \u2014 to forcibly deport 11 to 12 million people." Tell Governor Christie how much your plan will cost, and how you will get it done. +p1076 +aVGovernor Christie, you and I have talked about this in an interview. You say that his big wall, his plan to deport 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants, it sounds great, but it's never going to happen. Tell him why you're skeptical of his plans? +p1077 +aVThank you, Governor Christie... +p1078 +aVI want to bring in Dr. Carson because he too has been skeptical of your plan to immediately deport 11 to 12 million illegal immigrants. He said, quote, "People who say that have no idea what this entails." Why do you say that, Dr. Carson? +p1079 +aV...Dr. Carson... +p1080 +aVWith all due respect, you said about Donald Trump's plan to deport 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants, "People who say that have no idea what this entails." Why not? +p1081 +aV...let's continue the conversation about illegal immigration with Dana Bash. +p1082 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Senator Cruz \u2014 Senator Cruz, this week, we learned more about Dr. Carson's plan for the 11 million to 12 million undocumented immigrants in this country. Dr. Carson proposed giving these undocumented immigrants a six- month grace period to pay back taxes then to let them become guest workers and only to deport people who failed to do that. +p1083 +aVWell, how would you say it, sir? I was just reading the Wall Street Journal quote, but please tell us. +p1084 +aVOK, from the horse's mouth, Senator Cruz, does that fit your definition of amnesty? +p1085 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Rubio... +p1086 +aV... I'm not sure... +p1087 +aVWe'll come back to you \u2014 we'll come back to you in one second, sir. But Senator Rubio, I'm not sure exactly whose plan he's \u2014 he's saying is \u2014 constitutes amnesty, but I know he has said it about your plan in the past, so I want to give you a chance to respond, then, Dr. Carson, we'll come to you. +p1088 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1089 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator \u2014 Dr. Carson... ... I want to give you 30 seconds. I'd like you to answer the question. Senator Cruz describes plans such as yours as amnesty. Why is your plan not amnesty? +p1090 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. I want to talk about the issue of birthright citizenship, which \u2014 which has emerged since the first debate as \u2014 as an a \u2014 a major issue in this campaign. Mr. Trump, you say that babies born in the United States to undocumented immigrants should not any longer get automatic American citizenship. Ms. Fiorina says that you are pandering on this issue and acting like the politicians that you rail against. What's your message to Ms. Fiorina on birthright citizenship? +p1091 +aVMs. Fiorina, the vast majority of countries do not have birthright citizenship... ...Donald Trump is right about that. Why is it pandering when he's \u2014 he says this? +p1092 +aVMs. Fiorina... +p1093 +aVPlease. +p1094 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p1095 +aVThank you. +p1096 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Mr. Trump, I want to give you the chance to respond... +p1097 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. Senator Paul... +p1098 +aVSenator Paul, I want to bring you in. Where \u2014 where do you stand on the issue of birthright citizenship? +p1099 +aVAll right. Senator Paul, thank you so much. Let's turn to a new topic. We've received a lot of questions on social media about the economy and about jobs. We have two CEOs on stage right now. Ms. Fiorina, you were CEO of Hewlett Packard. Donald Trump says you, quote, "ran HP into the ground," you laid off tens of thousands of people, you got viciously fired. For voters looking to somebody with private-sector experience to create American jobs, why should they pick you and not Donald Trump? +p1100 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p1101 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p1102 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 Mr. Trump, why would you be better at creating jobs than Carly Fiorina? +p1103 +aVMs. Fiorina, I want to give you a chance to respond. +p1104 +aVMr. Trump. +p1105 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. +p1106 +aVGovernor Christie's name has been invoked. I'd like to give him a 30 second opportunity. +p1107 +aVMs. Fiorina, I want to give you +p1108 +aVGovernor Kasich, I'm coming to you next, but Ms. Fiorina's name was mentioned, and I have to give her the opportunity to respond if she wants it. +p1109 +aVThank you. +p1110 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Kasich, I want to come \u2014 I'm coming to you. I'm coming to you. Let me ask the question. You can use the time however you want. +p1111 +aVDonald Trump says that the hedge fund guys are getting away with murder by paying a lower tax rate. He wants to raise the taxes of hedge fund managers, as does Governor Bush. Do you agree? +p1112 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1113 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. +p1114 +aVGovernor Huckabee, I want to bring you in on the question of hedge fund managers and taxing them. You have said that you are bothered by the fact that hedge fund managers pay such a low tax rate and make 2,500 times what people who work for them make. Do you agree with what Donald Trump and Governor Bush have proposed, raising their tax rates? +p1115 +aVThank you, Governor. Dr. Carson, you support scrapping the entire tax code and replacing it with a flat tax based on the principal on tithing from the Bible. If you make $10 billion, you pay $1 billion in taxes, if you make $10, you pay $1 in taxes. Donald Trump believes in progressive taxation. He says it's not right that rich people pay the same as the poor. Tell Donald Trump why his ideas on taxes are wrong. +p1116 +aVMr. Trump... +p1117 +aV...What do you think of the flat tax? Do you think it's fair? +p1118 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. Senator Paul? +p1119 +aVGovernor Walker, I want to go to you. Dr. Carson wants to raise the Federal Minimum Wage, you have called it a lame idea. Why is raising the Federal Minimum Wage lame? +p1120 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1121 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1122 +aVDr. Carson, Governor Walker didn't really answer the question, but I'll let you respond. He called raising the Federal Minimum Wage lame, what do you think of that? +p1123 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson... +p1124 +aVLet me bring in our partner from Salem Radio Network, Hugh Hewitt. +p1125 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate. Let's turn to some issues now in foreign policy. Mr. Trump, Senator Rubio said it was, quote, "very concerning to him" that in a recent interview you didn't seem to know the details about some of the enemies the U.S. faces. Rubio said, if you don't know the answers to those questions, you will not be able to serve as commander-in-chief. Please respond to Senator Rubio. +p1126 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1127 +aVMr. Trump? Senator Rubio seemed to be suggesting that you don't know information that... +p1128 +aVAll right. Senator Rubio. +p1129 +aVBut are you saying that you have the knowledge to be the president that Mr. Trump does not have? +p1130 +aVMr. Trump? +p1131 +aVSenator Rubio, he did invoke your absentee record in the Senate. +p1132 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. I want to turn now to Hugh Hewitt. +p1133 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1134 +aVSenator... +p1135 +aVSenator Paul? +p1136 +aVSenator Paul... +p1137 +aVThank you, Senator Paul... +p1138 +aVThank you, Senator Paul... +p1139 +aVI understand that Governor Bush's name has been invoked, and then we can go to you, Senator Rubio. +p1140 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1141 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Rubio? +p1142 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1143 +aVDr. Carson? +p1144 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1145 +aVI mean, it is interesting that you say that, because I want to ask Governor Christie about something else that you have said. Governor Christie, we just marked the 14th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Now Dr. Carson has said that if he had been president at the time, the United States would not have gone to war in Afghanistan. What does that say to you about how Dr. Carson would respond as president if America were attacked again? +p1146 +aVDr. Carson? +p1147 +aV... Governor Christie. +p1148 +aVDr. Carson? +p1149 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1150 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1151 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee. +p1152 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1153 +aVThank you, governor, I want to turn to +p1154 +aVGovernor Walker, there is a big debate now, we have been talking about +p1155 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Paul, I want to go to you, because you have said that the boots on the ground to fight +p1156 +aVThank you, Senator. We're going to turn to some domestic issues now. I want to bring in my colleague, Dana Bash. +p1157 +aVSure.... +p1158 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1159 +aV...Thank you, Governor. Dana Bash... +p1160 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina... +p1161 +aV...Thank you, we're going to turn now to domestic issues with Dana Bash. +p1162 +aV...Dana Bash... +p1163 +aVThank you. Dana Bash? +p1164 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1165 +aV...Governor Bush... +p1166 +aV...I want to let you respond. +p1167 +aVThank you, Governor... ...And, that's what we should do, and I hope I'll be working members of the United States Senate to fight hard for the passage of people that have that kind of qualification. +p1168 +aVSenator Cruz, 30 seconds. +p1169 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1170 +aVThank you, Semator. +p1171 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee, I want to bring you in very quickly if you could. Will you have a litmus test when it comes to appointing Supreme Court nominees? +p1172 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1173 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1174 +aVThank you, Governor. We're going to take a quick break. Coming up, one of the hottest questions that you have been asking us via social media. We will pose it to the candidates. That's coming up right after this. +p1175 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican presidential debate at the Reagan Library here in Simi Valley \u2014 Simi Valley, California. Many people on social media wanted us to ask about marijuana legalization. Senator Paul, Governor Christie recently said, quote, "if you're getting high in Colorado today," where marijuana has been legalized, "enjoy it until January 2017, because I will enforce the federal laws against marijuana." Will you? +p1176 +aVI want to give that \u2014 I want to give the person that you called a hypocrite an opportunity to respond. Do you want to identify that person? +p1177 +aVIs there somebody you were specifically thinking of? +p1178 +aVThat's what I though, but I wanted to say it. +p1179 +aVOK. +p1180 +aVGovernor Bush, please. +p1181 +aVI want to go right now \u2014 I want to go right now... +p1182 +aVThat's true. Go ahead, Christie, please. +p1183 +aVYou may respond, and then I'll bring in you, Ms. Fiorina. +p1184 +aVYes, Senator Paul. +p1185 +aVI want to bring in Ms. Fiorina \u2014 I want to bring in Ms. Fiorina on this issue. +p1186 +aVHugh \u2014 Hugh, I'd like to... +p1187 +aVI'd like to turn it over \u2014 I'd like to turn to Dana Bush. +p1188 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1189 +aVI'm coming to you right now on a separate issue, sir. We received... ( +p1190 +aVWe received a lot of questions from social media about climate change. Senator Rubio, Ronald Reagan's secretary of state, George Shultz, reminds us that when Reagan was president he faced a similar situation to the one that we're facing now. There were dire warnings from the mass consensus of the scientific community about the ozone layer shrinking. Shultz says Ronald Reagan urged skeptics in industry to come up with a plan. He said, do it as an insurance policy in case the scientists are right. The scientists were right. Reagan and his approach worked. Secretary Shultz asks, why not take out an insurance policy and approach climate change the Reagan way? +p1191 +aVI'm citing George Shultz. +p1192 +aVGovernor Christie, you have said that climate change is real, and that humans help contribute to it. Without getting into the issue of China versus the United States, which I understand you've talked about before, what do you make of skeptics of climate change such as Senator Rubio? +p1193 +aVJust for the record, I was citing Secretary of State George Shultz, Ronald Reagan's secretary of state who I don't think anybody would call him left-wing. +p1194 +aVI called you a skeptic. +p1195 +aVI want to go another question right now. +p1196 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1197 +aVI'm turning to... +p1198 +aV...I'm turning to another \u2014 I'm turning to another issue right now. Senator Cruz. Well, I think we've heard from several this evening. A backlash against vaccines was blamed for a measles outbreak here in California. Dr. Carson, Donald Trump has publicly and repeatedly linked vaccines, childhood vaccines, to autism, which, as you know, the medical community adamantly disputes. You're a pediatric neurosurgeon. Should Mr. Trump stop saying this? +p1199 +aVShould he stop saying it? Should he stop saying that vaccines cause autism? +p1200 +aVMr. Trump, as president, you would... +p1201 +aVI'm going right to you. +p1202 +aVMr. Trump, as president, you would be in charge of the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health, both of which say you are wrong. How would you handle this as president? +p1203 +aVThank you. +p1204 +aVDr. \u2014 Dr. Carson? +p1205 +aVDr. Carson, you just heard his medical take. +p1206 +aVDr. Paul? Dr. Paul, I'd like to bring you in. +p1207 +aVAlright, thank you so much... +p1208 +aVComing up \u2014 I'm sorry, Governor Huckabee, please. +p1209 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1210 +aVWe have to take another quick break. Coming up, Ronald Reagan looming large over this debate. So how Reaganesque exactly are these Republicans? We will find out next. +p1211 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California. We have a few last questions for you. Two of them a little lighthearted, the other one more serious. We'll start with one of the more light questions. Senator Paul, I'm going to start with you and we're just going to go down the line. Earlier this year, the Treasury Department announced that a woman will appear on the $10 bill. What woman would you like to see on the $10 bill? +p1212 +aVGovernor Huckabee? +p1213 +aVSenator Paul (sic). +p1214 +aVI'm sorry. Senator Rubio? +p1215 +aVJust the senators. +p1216 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1217 +aVDr. Carson? +p1218 +aVMr. Trump. +p1219 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1220 +aVGovernor Walker. +p1221 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p1222 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1223 +aVGovernor Christie. +p1224 +aVAlright. Some good entries if anybody at the mint was listening. Here's the next lighthearted question, you all know that the United States Secret Service uses codenames for the president, and his family. Ronald Reagan's codename, for example, was, "Rawhide", an homage to his performances in Westerns. Nancy Reagan's was, "Rainbow". You don't have to come up the one for your spouse, but, what would you want, Governor Christie, I'll start with you, your Secret Service codename to be. +p1225 +aVGovernor Walker? +p1226 +aVMr. Trump? +p1227 +aVDr. Carson? +p1228 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1229 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1230 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p1231 +aVSenator Paul. +p1232 +aVThat's a mouthful, but OK. OK, here's the more serious question, Ronald Reagan, the 40th President, used the plane behind you to accomplish a great many things. Perhaps, most notably, to challenge Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the wall, and ultimately, to make peace with the +p1233 +aVThat concludes this Republican presidential debate. On behalf of everyone here at CNN, we want to thank the candidates, the Reagan Library, and the Republican National Committee. Thank you, also, to Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash. The next presidential debate will also be right here on CNN, among the Democratic candidates, who will face off for the first time on October the 13th. That debate, a partnership with Facebook, will be moderated by my colleague, Anderson Cooper. And Anderson picks up our coverage of tonight's debate right now. Before I throw to Anderson, let's have one final round of applause for the candidates. +p1234 +aVWe're live at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California for one of the most highly anticipated primary season debates ever. On this stage 15 candidates in two rounds of questioning with one goal, to show they have what it takes to be the Republican Presidential Nominee. Welcome to our viewers, I'm Jake Tapper. Tonight's debate is airing on CNN networks around the world, and, of course, here in the United States. It's also being broadcast across the country on the Salmen Radio Network. We want to thank our host, former First Lady Nancy Reagan, and the Reagan Library for this very impressive setting, the Air Force One pavilion. Behind me, you can see the actual plane... ...That Ronald Reagan flew in when he was president. Now, because the GOP field is so large, we have divided the candidates into two groups based on their rankings in recent national polls. Later this evening we will hear from the top 11 contenders. The other four candidates are taking part in the first round, and they are ready to join us now. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindal. The former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania, Rick Santorum. and former New York Governor, George Pataki. Ladies and gentleman, please welcome these Republican candidates for President of the United States. And, now, if you would, please rise for our national anthem performed by actress and singer, Natalie Hill. I'd like to ask the candidates to please take their podiums while I tell you a little more about how tonight debate will work. I'm Jake Tapper. I'll be the moderator. Joining me in the questioning, Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt; he worked in the Reagan administration for six years and CNN's chief political correspondent, Dana Bash. I will follow up and guide the discussion; candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have one minute to answer questions and 30 seconds for followups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you have been singled out for criticism. We have timing lights that are visible to the candidates. Those lights will warn them when their time is up. Our goal tonight is to have a true debate, candidates actually addressing each other in areas where they disagree, where they differ on policy, on politics and on leadership. Now that everyone is in place, it's time for the candidates to introduce themselves to our audience. Please keep it brief. Governor Pataki, you're first. +p1235 +aVThank you candidates. We're going to talk a lot about policy and your proposals this evening. But first, Governor Jindal, I want to start with you. You have said that the front runner, Donald Trump, is a, quote, "unstable, narcissistic, ego maniac." Now, we are in the house of Reagan, who made famous the so-called 11th Commandment, "Thou shalt not speak ill of thy fellow Republican." What drove you to violate that unofficial commandment? +p1236 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1237 +aVSenator Santorum, do you think Governor Jindal is wrong for attacking your party's front runner? +p1238 +aVThank you. Governor Jindal, do you want to respond to that? +p1239 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1240 +aVSenator Santorum, just to assure you, we will get to those issues. But just a couple more on this general subject. Senator Graham, you have called Donald Trump a, quote, "wrecking ball for the Republican party." Voters in your home state of South Carolina, in a recent poll, prefer Donald Trump 30 percent to your 4 percent. How do you explain why so many of your constituents would rather have Donald Trump as the Republican nominee than you? +p1241 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. We're going to bring in Hugh Hewitt now, who has a question for Governor Pataki. +p1242 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1243 +aVSenator Graham? One of the -- the reasons why Donald Trump, Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina are doing well is because they are political outsiders. In fact, that's one of the things -- in fact, there are two things that they have in common. They've never been elected to office before and they're doing better than all of you in the polls. The four of you have a combined seven decades in elected office. Senator Graham, in this election season, do Republican voters see your service in government as a liability and not an asset? +p1244 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1245 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1246 +aVThank you, Senator. Let's turn to the topic of immigration. For that, I want to bring in my colleague, Dana Bash. +p1247 +aVThank you, Governor. I -- I want to change the subject. We're staying on immigration, and I'm bringing you in, Governor Pataki... +p1248 +aV... and Senator Graham, I'm coming to you as well. +p1249 +aVGovernor Pataki, Republicans right now are -- are debating birthright citizenship, the policy of granting U.S. citizenship to every baby born in this country, even if they born to undocumented immigrants. Senator Graham wants to end the policy of birthright citizenship. Governor Pataki, you support keeping it. Tell him why he's wrong. +p1250 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1251 +aVGovernor... +p1252 +aVWhat I -- what I asked about was about birthright citizenship and why you think that we should preserve birthright... +p1253 +aVSenator Graham, most countries in the world do not have birthright citizenship. +p1254 +aVWhy do you think Governor Pataki is wrong? +p1255 +aVWas that a... +p1256 +aV...Thank you Senator... +p1257 +aV...Thank you Senator... +p1258 +aV...We'll come back to you Senator Santorum, I promise... +p1259 +aV...alright... +p1260 +aVThank you, Senator... +p1261 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Pataki, I want to let you have the final word here. +p1262 +aVGovernor Pataki? +p1263 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1264 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Graham, your response when it comes to Syrian refugees? +p1265 +aVThank you, Senator. I want to turn now -- +p1266 +aVWe're going to keep talking about the situation in the Middle East. Let me bring in my colleague, Dana Bash, again. +p1267 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1268 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1269 +aVThank you, thank you, Governor. +p1270 +aVGovernor Pataki -- +p1271 +aVThank you, Governor. Sorry. We have rules and timing. Governor Jindal, I do want to bring you in. I want to turn to a story in news in the story today. A 14-year-old Muslim high school student in Texas was arrested on Monday for bringing a homemade clock to school after it was mistaken for a fake bomb. Police released the young man after they determined it was, in fact, a clock. Today, President Obama invited that student to the White House. Governor Jindal, throughout your campaign, you've spoken many times about Muslim extremists in this country. How would you, as president, strike a balance between vigilance and discrimination? +p1272 +aVGovernor Jindal, I'm afraid you didn't answer the question. How do you strike the balance between vigilance and discrimination? Obviously, we know how you feel about the vigilance part of this. Do you ever see the discrimination part of it? +p1273 +aVThank you, Governor. We will get to that subject later in the debate. Senator Graham? +p1274 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1275 +aVGovernor Pataki? +p1276 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1277 +aVWe'll get to that subject in the next block. We're going to take a very quick break. When we come back, both Jeb Bush and Donald Trump agree on one thing when it comes to taxes. We'll see if any of the candidates on stage agree as well. +p1278 +aVThat's next. Stay with us. +p1279 +aVWelcome back to the CNN Republican Debate at the beautiful Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California. Before we took the break, you were all chomping at the bit to talk about Kim Davis, that Kentucky clerk. Governor Pataki said he would have fired Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk jailed for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses. Senator Santorum, do you agree with Governor Pataki? +p1280 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Pataki, your response? +p1281 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum? +p1282 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1283 +aVWe're coming to both of you. +p1284 +aVWhat... +p1285 +aVGovernor Jindal... +p1286 +aVSenator Graham, do you want to weigh in? +p1287 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1288 +aVSenator... +p1289 +aVThank you, Senator. I want to stay with the subject of Supreme Court judges -- justices. Governor Jindal, both Senators graham and Santorum voted to confirm chief justice of the United States, John Roberts, who has led with the majority twice to uphold ObamaCare. Do you think that Graham's and Santorum's votes to confirm John Roberts were a mistake? +p1290 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Graham, I want to give you an opportunity to respond -- -- I would note that Anthony Kennedy, was, of course, a Ronald Reagan appointee. Senator Graham, do you stand by your vote for John Roberts? +p1291 +aVSenator Santorum, do you stand by your vote for John Roberts? +p1292 +aVGovernor Jindal, I'm going to give you 30 seconds to respond. +p1293 +aVLet me bring back Hugh Hewitt. +p1294 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1295 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1296 +aV...I want to turn -- you're going to be involved in the next question... +p1297 +aV...Senator Graham... +p1298 +aV...Thank you, Senator... +p1299 +aV...Thank you Senator. Senator Graham, I want to turn to the minimum... +p1300 +aV...Well, let's talk about South Carolina... +p1301 +aV...Senator, let's turn to the minimum wage. Senator Santorum is the only person on the stage who has proposed increasing the federal minimum wage. How would that affect South Carolinians? Do you agree with Senator Santorum that the federal minimum wage should be increased? +p1302 +aVSenator Graham, thank you so much. Senator Santorum... Senator Graham is suggesting that your proposal would not allot South Carolinians to hire more workers. +p1303 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1304 +aVThank you, Senator. We have to take a quick break. When we come back, confrontation or negotiation? How will these candidates attempt to handle Russian President Vladimir Putin? That's next. +p1305 +aVAnd we're back at the CNN Republican Debate at the Reagan Library in beautiful Simi Valley, California. Let's turn now to some issues of foreign policy. Senator Graham, you all oppose the U.S. nuclear deal with Iran. Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton, a Republican, is pushing for a U.S. military strike against Iran, against its nuclear facilities. Senator Graham, would you authorize, as president, a nuclear strike against -- I mean, sorry -- a strike against Iran's nuclear facilities? +p1306 +aVGovernor -- -- Hugh -- I'm going to go to Hugh Hewitt for a question for Governor Pataki. +p1307 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1308 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Graham -- +p1309 +aVWe're bringing you in on this question as well. Senator Graham, Vladimir Putin in recent days has sent an estimated six more tanks, four helicopters and Russian ground troops into Syria to help support President Assad, an enemy of the United States. The Russian military is also buzzing American planes and Naval vessels around the world. Your front-runner, Donald Trump, says he can do details with President Putin, that the two of them will get along, quote, "very well." Why would your confrontational approach work better than Mr. Trump's negotiation? +p1310 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1311 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1312 +aVGovernor Jindal, how would President Jindal... ... get the Russians out of Syria? +p1313 +aV... +p1314 +aVWell... +p1315 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1316 +aVThank you, Senator... +p1317 +aVThank you, Senator. The final question... +p1318 +aVThe final questions for these four Republicans as the top contenders get ready to take their places on the debate stage when we come back right after this. Welcome back to the CNN Republican debates at the Reagan Library in beautiful Simi Valley, California. We have time for one more question for the candidates. Governor Pataki, let's start with you. You have all spent the last hour and a half debating each other. The other 11 candidates are on their way to the stage. What is the one thing as a candidate that you offer that no one at the next debate can offer? +p1319 +aVThank you, senator. +p1320 +aVThank you. +p1321 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum? +p1322 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1323 +aVThank you. +p1324 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1325 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Governor Jindal, what is something that you offer as a candidate that the other 11 candidates coming on stage in a few minutes cannot offer? +p1326 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Graham? +p1327 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1328 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. Our thanks to the candidates for a great debate. In just a moment, we're bringing the candidates from both of tonight's debates together for a group photo. That will be a first in this campaign. And then, of course, the main event, the top 11 candidates going head to head. I will be back as moderator. Right now, let's go to my colleague, Anderson Cooper. +p1329 +asVSANTORUM +p1330 +(lp1331 +VYou know, listening to what your network was talking about prior to this race, this debate, reminded me of the coverage that many on this floor are getting. This race, this debate, was called the, "Undercard Debate". The undercard debate. It wasn't advertised significantly. In fact, the entire hour lead up to this there was no conversation about any of the four people on this debate stage, and that is the chronic situation. In fact, they listed -- they put a poll up from Wall Street Journal/NBC News, they listed the candidates, and they failed to mention I wasn't listed. I got zero, why? Because they -- NBC, Wall Street Journal poll never includes my name on the list. This is what the media has been doing over the past year, and trying to segregate, and take Iowans out of the process. What Iowans deserve... ... is to hear from every candidate on equal footing. Had they applied the same rules four years ago, I would have been in the undercard debate. The guy who won the Iowa Caucuses would have been in the undercard debate, not talked about. We would have been talking about, maybe, an entertainer that may have been trying to run. Ladies and gentlemen, you have a chance on Monday to put the record straight about who you want, not who will entertain you. +p1332 +aVBut, who will fight for what you believe in, and I hope you do... +p1333 +aVWell, look. The entire lead up to this debate was talking about whether Donald Trump is going to show up for the next debate. The people of Iowa, who I know pretty darn well, care a lot about the issues. They care about who is going to be the leader of the free world. Who is going to be able to take on +p1334 +aVAnd we are not hearing any of those things. We are hearing about whether someone is going to show up for the next debate or not. +p1335 +aVYes, I am. +p1336 +aVYou know, this, again, more of the politics of trying to get people to throw stuff at each other. I'm not going to throw mud at anybody on this stage tonight. I'm not going to throw mud at anybody on the stage later. I'm not going to attack Donald Trump. What I'm -- Mike Huckabee and I were asked to come to an event where money was going to be raise to do help our veterans. You know, I thought about it. And I thought about. I said well, wait a minute, now, if there were no political considerations and I had some time because I'm not doing anything at 9:00 tonight. And so if I had some time, would I go... ... if I could help raise money for veterans? And the answer was yes, I would. And so I'm going. +p1337 +aVThank you for the question, Martha. We have to have an honest discussion with the American people about the nature of the threat that we confront. This president says that +p1338 +aVWhat I would say is that we have to create jobs that give people wages and benefits that can help them provide for themselves and their families. And that's why I announced from a factory floor in western Pennsylvania, I pledge to make America the number one manufacturing nation, again, in the world. And we can do it. China is starting to reorient itself away from a manufacturing economy that's dumping products on the -- overseas to providing more services to their people. This is an opportunity for America. It's an opportunity for us to get those jobs back. And by the way, do you want to solve global climate change? Take 2 million jobs from China in manufacturing and moving them back here to the United States, where we produce one-fifth the CO2 when we make things. We can help -- we can do every -- we can do it all. We can take care of the environment. We can create more jobs here. Seventy-four percent of Americans don't have a college degree. And unfortunately most folks who, in the Republican Party, don't talk about what we're going to do to create jobs for people who feel like neither political party cares about them. When you elect me, we'll create opportunities for working men and women in this country -- all over this country. +p1339 +aVWell, in fact, the plan that I put forward is scored by the Tax Foundation as bringing three and a half million jobs into this country, and we have provisions in the flat tax for the corporate side that actually has a phase in of manufacturing. Manufacturers initially don't pay any income tax. Ten percent the next year, and 20. We're going to also have a repatriation provision which says that if you have money overseas, and you're Apple, and you got a couple hundred billion dollars there, bring it back. The most you'll be taxed 10%, invest it here in America. Create jobs here in America with all that money that's sitting overseas. We also -- it's not just taxes. It's regulation. I've pledged to cut every single Obamacare -- I mean, excuse me, Obama regulation, including Obamacare, and remove those regulations that cost more than a hundred million dollars in the economy. That will liberate -- and that includes waters of the U.S., and the ozone regulations, they -- the mercury regulations. All of these just crush our manufactures and don't create an opportunity for us to survive. And, remember, China produces five times as much CO2 and other pollutants per dollar of GDP as we do. You want to help the environment? Bring jobs back to America. +p1340 +aVWell, I've been to the March for Life for about 25 years and I thought -- I think that's a pretty good record. Spoken at it a few times and I have shepherded every single piece of pro-life piece of legislation that's passed over the last 20 years. I've either authored it or shepherded it through the United States Congress and I'm pretty proud of that record too. But we have an election going on and there was some snow coming. So I decided that maybe it would be better for me to get out and do some campaigning and not be stuck as my wife and kids were for a week, piling out of two and a half feet of snow. So, here's what I would say. If you want someone that is going to talk a good game, there are a lot of folks on this stage that have talked a good game on the issue of life. Not only have I talked a good game on life and I've done some things. But I've also lived it. You know, one of the things Saint Francis said was, you know, if you preach the gospel, then if you have to, speak. The bottom line is, that twice in my life, we were counseled to have an abortion, one with our son Gabriel and one with our little girl Bella. And neither time did Karen and I for a moment think about it because we know that life begins at conception. We know the dignity of every human life and we know the potential of every child, no matter how long that life lives. And that is a message that can come across to all Americans and without having to say a word and defend the institution of life and the dignity of life in this country. +p1341 +aVThe president of the United States has been the most divisive president in -- certainly in my lifetime. This is a man who constantly... He is not trustworthy. You can't sit down and negotiate with him. He won't keep a deal. We have heard that over and over again. And here is what he does that really, really creates the friction in Washington. He personally attacks people. He ascribes motives to them that aren't true and then he tears them down. How are you going to work with someone if you don't treat them decently, honestly, and respectfully? I was a tough fighter when I was in Washington. I had very sharp elbows. I fought. I went there and joined a game named Jim Nussle here from Iowa with the "gang of seven." And we, in four years' time, took a Congress that had been controlled by Democrats for 40 years, and brought in the first Republican majority because we fought and we fought tough. But you know what? I was able to then work with those same people that we fought with and able to pass welfare reform. Unborn Victims of Violence Act. Pro-life bills. Health savings accounts. A whole laundry list of things not because I was mean, but because I was able to be respectful in the disagreements. And that's what we need in Washington, someone who can be respectful and still unite this country. +p1342 +aVI just want to thank the people of Iowa. Over the last five years I've done 700 speeches and town hall meetings all throughout the state of Iowa, and it has been an incredible right. Thank you. I want to thank all the wonderful folks like Pastor Carey Gordon who gave me a smooth stone and said you go slay Goliaths. Someone like Jim and Janet Cook who over this past Christmas gave up Christmas presents for their kids, and they have more than I do, just they can help me and my campaign. That's the kind of people... ... in Iowa. And, here's what I'm asking you to do. You're good people. You know good leaders. Lead. Pick the right person, not what the polls say. Not who the money give people to. Pick the leader you know is best for this country. Thank you. +p1343 +aVWell, all he has to do is listen to the Democratic debate and find out how bad the economy is. All they do is complain about the hollowing out of the middle of America, and how America is struggling so badly, and have to make these radical changes in Washington. But they've been in control for the last seven years, and what have we seen? The most important jobs, I believe, in this country are the ones that fill the middle. For the 74% of Americans who don't have a college degree between the age of 25 and 65 are manufacturing jobs. Your governor, and your legislature, and your team here have done an amazing job of bringing manufacturing jobs back to South Carolina. Right here. Right here in Charleston, right down in the street in Boeing. You've done a great job, and what's happened? You've grown this economy, you've strengthened the center of your state, the middle. That's because you know that if you're really going to create wealth and opportunity, you got to get jobs, and good paying jobs for everybody. And, so what's happened? Two million jobs, manufacturing jobs, have left this country because of Barack Obama. Regulations, EPA, workplace regulations, things driving people off-shore all because of his number one priority, global climate change. Well, let me tell you this, Mr. President. For every dollar of GDP, China creates five times as much pollution as we do here. You want to \u2014 lower global climate change, bring those jobs back to America and let American workers do that job with less pollution. +p1344 +aVWell, the historic promises that we have made to \u2014 to Iran in this agreement need to be torn up on the first day in office of the next president. And let me tell you why, because Iran has already torn it up. Iran has not approved the agreement that President Obama has said that they have approved. They have approved a different agreement in their parliament. The fact of the matter is they have violated this agreement. Carly just mentioned some of those violations. They have launched ballistic missiles, tested them, in clear violation. And here's the pathetic part. The president announced that they were going to impose sanctions. And then President Rouhani went on Twitter and said there would be retaliation. And what did we do? We backed down. Ladies and gentlemen, there are 50 some Citadel cadets in this audience tonight. I would ask them to stand up if they will. And here's what I want to tell each and every one of them, as you stand. Here's what I want to tell them. Whether it's you're watching that movie this weekend that just came out when we abandoned our men and women in Benghazi, or whether it's we treat Iran, that gave courtesies to our sailors, as they made them record a hostage video, let me tell you this, if you choose to serve this country, I will have your back. I will not let America be trampled upon anymore by these radical jihadists. +p1345 +aVI would just say that if we were doing a better job within the government, we wouldn't need the private sector to do the things that we're asking them to do. I've had a little experience in this in the private sector myself. And what I found was a government with layers and layers of bureaucracy, of people who had some technical expertise but they had no authority, number one. And one of the things I found out about in the bureaucracy is if a lot of people have authority, nobody has authority, number one. And number two, that if you don't do anything, you don't get fired. It's only when you do something and something goes wrong, you get fired. So they do nothing. And that's what is happening in our Defense Department right now. We have a capability that they're trying to develop to play defense. We have a lot of technologists that are very skilled. And they're trying to figure out how to play defense. But what we don't have is we don't have folks who are thinking about offense. We don't have war-fighters. We have technologists. Technologists are not war-fighters. Technologists are thinking, how do I protect cyber-security, how do I secure, how do I protect? And we need to have a much more dynamic, how do we \u2014 how do we go after them? How do we respond? And we need leadership that's willing to make sure that when someone attacks us \u2014 and ladies and gentlemen, they're attacking us as we speak. They're attacking us all day every day, not just the government, but they're attacking private sector companies all day every day. They have to learn that we're going to pay \u2014 they're going to pay a price when they do so. And then right now, just like in every other aspect of our national security, people who attack us are not paying a price. We need a leader who will make sure that they know when they mess with America, they're going to pay a price. +p1346 +aVLook, Facebook and Twitter can teach us things. We can cooperate with them. We can share ideas and information. But this is a \u2014 and this is a very dicey area for the government to go in and require the industry to do its job. It needs to develop that capability. We need to be \u2014 have responsible dialogue, but I don't think requirements are the order of the day. +p1347 +aVWell, the most devastating attack that could occur is an electromagnetic pulse attack, and that would be an attack that would be triggered by a nuclear explosion in the upper atmosphere of our country. The best way to stop that from happening is to make sure that those who contemplating and actually war-gaming and talking about using it, Iran, doesn't get a nuclear weapon so they can't explode that device. And the president of the United States has put Iran on a path to a nuclear weapon. And we have done nothing to do anything to harden our grid. There is actually a bill in Congress that would put money forward to try to put redundancy and harden our electric grid so it could actually survive an EMP. An EMP is a devastating explosion that sends a pulse that knocks out all electric, everything, everything that is connected to any kind \u2014 that is wired, that has a circuit board gets fried out. Everything is gone. Cars stop. Planes fall out of the sky. This is a devastating attack. And this president has done nothing, number one, to take the most probable person to \u2014 probable country to launch an attack and stop them, and has done nothing to try to defend us, particularly our electric grid. The bottom line is, I put the original sanctions on the Iranian nuclear program when I was in the United States Senate. I've been fighting for 12 years with one thing in mind, that we must stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. And......because they're different than every other country. They do not want a nuclear weapon to defend themselves. They want a nuclear weapon to have theological ends to bring about their mahdi so they can control the world. And that is the most serious threat facing this country right now. +p1348 +aVWell, the numbers just don't add up. I mean, they have not added manufacturing jobs. Manufacturing jobs have been lost in this country, 2 million of them. The bottom line is that this president has done more to take jobs away from the hard-working people who are struggling the most. And that's folks who are, as I said, the 74 percent of Americans who don't have a college degree. And they're out there talking about, well, we're going to provide free college for everybody. Well, who is going to pay for it? The 74 percent that don't have a college degree. They're not \u2014 nobody is focused. Let's just be honest, nobody is focused on the people who are struggling the most in America today. We talk about immigration. Talk about the president's immigration plan. He wants to bring in more and more people into this country. Let people who are here illegally stay in this country. Almost all of the people who are here illegally, and most of the people who came here legally over the last 20 years, they're working in wage-earning jobs. That is why wages have flat-lined. And we have unfortunately two political parties with most of the candidates in this field for some form of amnesty, some form of allowing people to stay here even though they're here illegally and for increasing levels of legal immigration. I'm someone who believes that we need to be the party that stands for the American worker. And when we say we need to send people back, I mean we send people back. And let me just make one point. I was in Storm Lake, Iowa, the other day, near a Tyson's plant, 91 percent of the kids that go to the elementary school there are minority kids. And they said, well, what are you going to do with all of these people, their families, they've lived here for a long time? I said, I'm going to give them a gift. I'm going to give them a gift of being able to help the country they were born in. And I'm going to export America, the education they were able to see. They learned English language. They learned about capitalism. They learned about democracy. You want to stop flow of immigrants? Let's send six million Mexicans, Hondurans, Guatemalans, El Savadorians......back into their country, so they can start a renaissance in their country so they won't be coming over here anymore. +p1349 +aVYou know, we've had this debate about the economy, and we haven't talked the one issue now increasingly even the right, and even the are coming to agreement. I've run around doing 300 town hall meetings talking about a book written by a liberal Harvard sociologist, not a normal thing for me to be talking about, but I now name Robert Putnam who wrote a book called, "Our Kids". And, he wrote this book, I think, ostensibly to support the Democratic argument that the middle of America's hollowing out, and income gap is widening, and rich are getting richer. When he studied all the information as to what was going on, he realized that the biggest reason that we're seeing the hollowing out of the middle of America is the breakdown of the American family. The reality is that if you're a single parent \u2014 a child of a single parent, and you grew up in a single parent family neighborhood, you went to that single parent family school, the chance of you ever, ever reaching the top 20% of income earners is 3% in America. At least \u2014 I don't know about you, but that's not good enough. And, we have been too politically correct in this country because we don't want to offend anybody to fight for the lives of our children. You want \u2014 You want to be shocked? You read the first few chapters of Mr. \u2014 Dr. Putnam' book. He talks about Port Clinton, Ohio and growing up there in the 1950's, and how poor kids actually survived and did well, even though they were poor and disadvantaged. But, then he goes to the towns today and these kids are failing, and failing miserably. They don't even have a shot, and we won't even have the courage to have leadership at the federal level \u2014 not with legislation, but the most powerful tool a president have, the bully pulpit to encourage each and everyone of you, churches and businesses, and educators, and community leaders to let's have a national campaign to rebuild the American family, and give every child its birthright which is a Mom and a Dad who loves them. That will change this economy. +p1350 +aVLadies and gentlemen, America is frustrated and angry and looking for someone who's a fighter, but I also think they're looking for someone who's a winner. Somebody who can go out there and take on the establishment and make a difference. And take on someone who's going to be the person who's going to be between a Republican holding the presidency and that's Hillary Clinton. And there's one person on this stage, one person in the race who's done it and done it repeatedly. I've taken on Hillary Clinton on the issues you care about. Partial-birth abortion. Go and google Rick Santorum and Hillary Clinton and there you'll see a five-minute debate. I'll let you decide who won the debate. I'll tell you who won, because we passed the bill and I know I'm out of time but I'm going to take some of Rand Paul's time here for a second. If you're looking for someone who fought Hillary Clinton on Iran's sanctions, she was one of four who voted \u2014 who's deciding vote who voted against Iran's sanctions, so we didn't get it in place as earlier as we should have. I've fought battles against her. In 1994, I ran against the Clinton machine. James Carville and Paul Begala, ran the race against me when I took on the author of Hillary care. And each one of those battles, I won. You want a fighter, you want a winner, I'd appreciate your vote. Thank you. +p1351 +aVThank you, Wolf. It's great to be here in Las Vegas. And I just want to thank everybody for the opportunity to be here. This is an important time in our country's history. We have entered World War III. World War III has begun and we have a leader who refuses to identify it and be truthful to the American people to the stakes that are involved, in part, because his policies have led us here. His policy toward Iran lit the fuse of a nuclear Iran. Just a few weeks ago the International Atomic Agency reported that Iran has had a nuclear program, but they don't know if it's continuing because they refuse to share any information about the current status. And this President marches on, forgiving them hundreds of billions of dollars to allow them to not just reconstitute their robust nuclear program, pursue their missile program, but also to foment terror around the world. And then his policies in the Middle East with Iraq create +p1352 +aVOf course I do. But what Donald Trump was saying was nothing against Muslims. His comment was against this administration who doesn't have a policy to properly vet people coming into this country. Let's just be honest about what's \u2014 what's being talked about here. And I know people will pile on because it makes sense to pile on, maybe from the polls. But he brings up a legitimate issue. The fact of the matter is not all Muslims are Jihadists and no one, including I suspect, Donald Trump would say that. But the reality is, all Jihadists are Muslims. That's a reality. And we have \u2014 we have to stop worrying about offending some people and start defending all Americans. Because we're not right now. +p1353 +aVI would agree \u2014 I would agree that Donald Trump's proposal was not the right proposal. But he brings up a very important issue that I think we've been ignoring for far too long in this country. The reality is that, yes, we need to get reformist Muslims to join us. We need to get those who are being persecuted and killed within the Middle East to join us. But we also have to protect this country from those who want to harm us and we have to defeat those who are radicalized in the Middle East and wherever we find them around the world. +p1354 +aVJust because it couldn't have prevented San Bernardino doesn't mean that we shouldn't have all tools available to us that doesn't impinge upon people's privacy. This sort of data collection is not collecting people's phones calls, their voices; they're not collecting information that's personal. There's no names attached to these numbers. They're simply numbers and times and relationships that throughout algorithms that computer technology can be able to sort through relationship about what numbers are calling what numbers and be able to track those down to see if there's any leakage's between someone who's potentially a terrorist. That is to me just fundamental that we have to have this type of data to be able to not impinge upon people's privacy. In fact, I would make the argument that the more data we can collect that's anonymous that we can through, through using algorithms, the less we need to involve people in and imposing themselves in people's privacy. +p1355 +aVLook, I agree with Governor Huckabee, that we should in fact be looking at people's social media posts. That's just common sense. But we've defunded and tied the hands behind the backs of our intelligence agencies because of political correctness. We're not allowed to ask any questions or really pursue, whether there's any mosque that they're attending that could be spreading Jihadism, and we know that in this country there are Imams that are doing that. But we're not allowed to ask those questions, we're not allowed to pursue to those things because we have a president who denies the reality of the enemy we confront. +p1356 +aVI don't. I don't think we should be able to deny someone's constitutional rights based on a list kept by the government that nobody knows how they get on it, or how they get off of it. If you're going to make that list public, if you're going to put criteria out there as to how you're going to get on it, if you're going to deny someone's constitutional right, than I think there has to be more transparency. Let's just be honest, when someone applies for a gun, you do a background check. And, if you're on the terrorist watch list, guess what very well may happen? You may get denied that. That's a discretion of the people \u2014 of the ATF in making that kind of decision. I want to leave that discretion \u2014 as long as this list is not well known, as long as it's not transparent, we have to leave that discretion. I want to make a comment about what Mike said, and George said, about mus \u2014 Islam. The fact of the matter is, Islam is different. I know this is going to come as a shock to a lot of people, and I mean the sincerely. Islam is not just a religion. It is also a political governing structure. The fact of the matter is, Islam is a religion, but it is also Sharia law, it is also a civil government, it is also a form of government. And, so, the idea that that is protected under the First Amendment is wrong. And, in fact, that political structure is what is the big problem. The imposition of Sharia law adherence to fundamental Islam as it was practiced in the Seventh Century... +p1357 +aV...There has to be a line drawn. +p1358 +aVWell, there's all sorts of theological reasons why we may not want to go into Syria right now to take +p1359 +aVI would have no problem with Sy \u2014 with boots on the ground in Syria in a training capacity. I do not want American troops on the front line in Syria because I don't believe that that would serve to the interest. Again, understanding what +p1360 +aVNo look, I'm committed to whatever is necessary understanding the nature of the enemy. The enemy is a theocracy and their allure is their theocracy. It's their doctrine and so we have to understand that doctrine. That's why, I love the fact that people are angry and outraged in Washington and want someone new and fresh. But we need someone who understands and has knowledge and experience in these areas. And I can see that you know, Senator Graham has that experience and we have a little difference of opinion. But frankly, it's not that big of difference in our opinion, we both want to defeat +p1361 +aVAnd the fact that we have a nuclear treaty with the Shiites in Iran, that we have now partnered with the Russians and appearing to allow Assad to stay, which is a satellite Alawites, very interrelated to the Shiites, this looks to +p1362 +aVWell, I would establish a no-fly zone. And, I think we just... +p1363 +aVWell \u2014 the first thing you have to do is establish a no-fly zone, and you don't do that by just sort of declaring it. You work through the process of making sure you work with people who, hopefully, have the same objective that you do. And, if they don't, then you establish the no-fly zone, and you take the consequences of whatever \u2014 who violates that law. +p1364 +aV...I don't think it's a war with Russia anymore than Turkey went to war with Russia when Turkey shot down a plane... +p1365 +aVThese are \u2014 these are incidents not something that we're threatening the motherland. This is a tactical decision within an area that we have an obligation for the refugees, for providing stability to the rebels, and an opportunity for the rebels to reconstitute. And, making sure that we stop the flow of refugees into Europe, and into the United States to establish a no-fly zone. And, Russia either is going to comply with it or not, and if they don't, I think it can be contained to that region. +p1366 +aVWell, I would establish a no-fly zone. And, I think we just... +p1367 +aVWell \u2014 the first thing you have to do is establish a no-fly zone, and you don't do that by just sort of declaring it. You work through the process of making sure you work with people who, hopefully, have the same objective that you do. And, if they don't, then you establish the no-fly zone, and you take the consequences of whatever \u2014 who violates that law. +p1368 +aV...I don't think it's a war with Russia anymore than Turkey went to war with Russia when Turkey shot down a plane... +p1369 +aVThese are \u2014 these are incidents not something that we're threatening the motherland. This is a tactical decision within an area that we have an obligation for the refugees, for providing stability to the rebels, and an opportunity for the rebels to reconstitute. And, making sure that we stop the flow of refugees into Europe, and into the United States to establish a no-fly zone. And, Russia either is going to comply with it or not, and if they don't, I think it can be contained to that region. +p1370 +aVI would use the studies that were done that were ignored by this military that there were certain positions that frankly were not suitable. And they pushed a political agenda above what is in the best interest of the safety, security, and effective of our, of our fighting units. So I would go back to using what we should be doing. Which is putting forth people on those front line positions who are best prepared to do the job, survive the job, and come back home safely. +p1371 +aVI would change the policy to reflect what is the best interest of the people that we're asking. I've got a son who's going, who's going into the Air Force right now, and I, as a father, I want to make sure that, if he's out there on the front line \u2014 and he may be a pilot flying an airplane \u2014 I want to make sure that the person who's responsible for, for his wing has the ability to do the job they're doing. And if they don't have that ability to do the job, if we're doing a social promotion as opposed to what's best for the efficacy of our fighting force and for the survivability of our men and women, I'll change that policy. +p1372 +aVSo what you just said is you agree with me. Because that's exactly what I said. +p1373 +aVI said if you can't do the job, you shouldn't be able to...you shouldn't have the position. +p1374 +aVNo, I did not say that, George. I mean, you may, you may have heard that, but I didn't say that. What I said was, if they can in fact do the job that any, any other person can do, I will allow them to do so. +p1375 +aVBut if they cannot, I would reverse the policy. And what happened here is there were many studies done, particularly in the Marine Corps, which begged this President not to move forward with this because people are going to get killed as a result of it. The President went forward anyway. +p1376 +aVOf course there is a proper way to vet refugees coming into the United States. But not from the +p1377 +aVLindsay says this is a real war, until it comes to immigration. And, then, all of a sudden it's not such a real war. The reality is that we've seen since the events of 9/11, the president talks about how he's worried about discrimination and acts against Muslims. There's four times as many acts of violence against Jews than there are against Muslims. I never hear the president talk about that. The reality is that under this president, since 9/11, this anti-Muslim United States of America has doubled the rate of Muslim immigration. Since 9/11. That's what we've done. So, the idea that we have an immigration system that is working... +p1378 +aVIs not \u2014 and, I'm out of time. +p1379 +aVHere's the problem. I was with, in fact, one my guests here today is the Sheriff in Cochise County, down on the border in Arizona. And, he talked with me last night when I was with him about all of the children coming across. All of the children, why? Because we've created a magnet. These children are not coming over, and in great shape, not coming over \u2014 and not in harms way, and \u2014 going through difficult times. We're attracting people. He's also the Sheriff that caught Syrian's at the border. We have through the policies supported by almost everybody in this field......A policy that says amnesty. The world hears this, and knows that if they can come across this border, by and large, they're going to be able to stay. That has to change. +p1380 +aVBarack Obama has not kept this country safe. Hillary Clinton will not keep this country safe. We need to nominate someone who America knows will keep this country safe. Ten years ago I put the sanctions on Iran's nuclear program. Before that, I gave speech after speech, including to President Bush, to identify the enemy and call these radical Islamists who they are. Ladies and gentlemen, this week +p1381 +aVThe middle of America is hollowing out. All you have to do is listen to the last Democratic debate and you would think there was a Republican president in office the way they complained about how bad things are in America and how the middle \u2014 the middle of America is hollowing out. I agree with Mike Huckabee. I spent this morning in Chicago at Fabtech, which is a sheet manufac \u2014 a sheet metal fabricators conference. Thousands of people there explained the latest and newest technologies. You know what I was told? I was told when I went to booth after booth that there are 250,000 welder jobs open in America \u2014 250,000 welder jobs paying anywhere from $50,000 to $70,000 a year, and if you want to weld pipe on a, you know, for oil and gas pipelines, you can make $100,000 a year. Every manufacturer \u2014 I go to one every single week. In fact, I have with me in the \u2014 in the crowd here today a gentleman who is a supporter of mine from Rockwall, Texas, Ed Grand-Lienard. He runs Special Products. And he tells me he has jobs open in every skill that he \u2014 he \u2014 he could possibly hire for in Rockwall, Texas, but he can't find people. So the issue is, yes, we need a tax code. I \u2014 I propose a 20 percent flat tax \u2014 20 percent on corporations, 20 percent on \u2014 on individuals, full expensing, which will be powerful for manufacturing, a 0 percent rate, initially, for manufacturers. We're going to have a very powerful tax code. We're going to do something about regulation. We're going to suspected every single ObamaCare regu \u2014 Obama regulation that cost over $100,000 to the economy. But we have to start doing something about training and employing people who are sitting on the sidelines because they don't see a path. And we have a \u2014 a bureaucracy in Washington and a president in Washington \u2014 and even among Republicans who think everybody has to go to college. People need to go to work and we need to provide......opportunities for them to go to work out of high school. +p1382 +aVWell, the answer is first that we need to do something about a tax code that doesn't penalize. One thing that I'm excited about our tax code, proposed changes, is it's very pro-family. You have a $2,700 tax credit, period, for every person in that family, so that family, you know, would have about an $8,000 tax credit, which would be refundable. So every dollar she works, she's still only losing 20 cents. The problem with the tax code today, because of all the different provisions, you're right, you go back to work, you lose welfare benefits, you're losing money. Throw on top of that the \u2014 even a bigger problem, over 50 percent of children being raised in a home today of a single mom are raised in a home where the father is born \u2014 father is (sic) living at the child \u2014 the time the child is born. Now what does that mean? That means we have incentivized people not to marry. We've incentivized people to cohabitate instead of not marry, why? Because mom will lose welfare benefits if she marries father. It's not just mom going back to work, but it's mother and father marrying to form a more stable family for that child to be raised in a two-parent family. So we've got all sorts of really corrupt incentives that were put in place, well meaning by the left. But we need to remove those. We need to remove those incentives. We need to adopt a tax code that says we're going to be pro-family and pro-work. And that's what we'll do. +p1383 +aVAbsolutely. I'm a capitalist, not a corporatist. I'm not someone who believes we should be bailing out corporations whether their auto industries, or banks. And, it is simply a matter that there's auto industry \u2014 the auto industry would have survived, it would have survived through a bankruptcy process of \u2014 instead of Washington picking a winner and a loser. And, in this case, the losers are the bondholders, and the winners were the unions. That's fine. They did it, the unions \u2014 the unions survived. We \u2014 we have not survived in continuing to grow manufacturing jobs. We have a \u2014 we have a president, and an economy right now, that is killing \u2014 choking our ability to be able to compete. I'm one of the few people up here who actually believes that we need a level playing field when it comes to manufacturing. That means a good tax code, a good regulatory environment, low energy prices, better opportunities for workers to get training, and, also, I'm \u2014 a supporter of the +p1384 +aV...Let me settle this argument... +p1385 +aV...Well... +p1386 +aVI'll answer that in a second, but, I want to answer this other problem because this is a real legitimate debate between Chris and Bobby, and if somebody says we need someone who can win in a blue state, and Bobby says we need a real principled conservative. Ninety-two percent conservative voting record, unlike some of the other senators that Bobby mentioned who hasn't done anything to cut federal spending, I was actually the author of welfare reform, which is the only time we've ever seen a federal entitlement actually cut. We cut it. Senate did exactly what every conservative says they want to do. We took the program, we eliminated the federal entitlement, we blocked (ph) to the state, we capped the amount of money, cut it by about 10%, and then put two requirements, work, and time limits. We need to do that with the rest of the \u2014 means (ph) tested federal entitlements. I've done it. And I did it with a bipartisan support in the House and Senate, and after fighting two presidential vetoes by Bill Clinton. So I had a democratic president we had to get this through. No record of accomplishment. I agree with the folks who are from the Congress in this race. I have a record of accomplishment of being a conservative on everything. National security, on moral and cultural issues, on the economy, and twice won a blue state. The first time I beat the author of Hillarycare. I had Bill and Hillary in my state, James Carville managed the race against me, a state with a million more Democrats than Republicans. And I ran on health savings accounts, on private sector health care, as a conservative, pro-life, pro-family, and I won. And then in 2000, I was the only senator to win a state as a conservative that George Bush lost. You want someone who can win Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, with a conservative message, I'm your guy. +p1387 +aVI'll be happy to answer that if you give me more time. +p1388 +aVI'm going to answer two questions for the price of one. The infrastructure question, the answer is... We need to get the federal government out of this infrastructure business, other than vital economic highways. It has been said that if we cut the gas tax to 3 to 5 cents and send the rest back to the states, and just take care of the federal infrastructure that's vital for our economy, let the \u2014 we don't need the federal government and the road business that it is today. Number one. Number two, you know who I respect in the Democratic Party? You know why I respect them? Because they fight! Because they're not willing to back down, and they're willing to stand up and fight and win. And so I respect them because they are willing to take it to us. +p1389 +aVWell, I'll tell you, I have a 20 percent flat tax. That's one all income \u2014 so capital gains, corporations, individuals, 20 percent. I think that's a fair number, one out of five, to be able to \u2014 to help support the federal government. By the way it also approximates, if you take out some of the deductions, it approximates how much the federal government is, on average, spent of GDP, which is about 18 to 19 percent of GDP. So it actually fits with shrinking the size of government down to more like post-World War II levels. So the second thing we do is I don't allow for deductibility of state and local taxes, which will require state and local taxes to go down in order to be treated for their \u2014 for their people to be treated fairly. So the answer is, 20 percent and probably 33 percent overall. +p1390 +aVWell, I don't \u2014 I agree with Governor Christie, I don't think you can make it any more political than it's been. They \u2014 they are protecting a president that is over-taxing and over- regulating, shutting down this economy. And he \u2014 and they're keeping it up like Atlas, trying to hold up the Earth by \u2014 by these ridiculously low interest rates. And it's hurting American seniors, who are seeing no Social Security increases, seeing no \u2014 no savings. They're \u2014 they're putting their money aside. They're getting nothing in their deposit accounts. This is hurting the people who have acted responsibly, all in favor of those who, um, you know, are \u2014 are speculators and \u2014 and those on Wall Street. It's not a good deal for \u2014 for the vast majority of responsible Americans. The other thing we have with the Fed is they've been given way too much authority. Under Dodd-Frank, they've been given this enormous new authority. I mean they \u2014 they now have almost become the most powerful entity in Washington, DC. We need to repeal Dodd-Frank, get away that authority from the Fed and put them under more \u2014 more scrutiny. That's only part of the problem. I understand the Fed is interesting for a business channel, but I think for most Americans, the most important business is the family. And we haven't really talked much about the importance of the family to the economy. And \u2014 and ladies and gentlemen, every single book, from left to right, that's been written over the last couple of years has said the biggest problem in America today at the hollowing out of the middle of America is the breakdown of the nuclear family in America. We'd better be the party that's out there talking about this issue and what we're going to do to help strengthen marriage and return dads into homes in all communities. You want to talk about the communities that are hurting the most, the ones you see the protests in......there are no dads. And we need to do something about it. +p1391 +aVHappy Birthday. +p1392 +aV\u2014 States Marine Corps. +p1393 +aVThat's very personal to me. I grew up on a V.A. grounds. I lived in apartments on V.A. grounds my entire childhood. Both my Mom and Dad, after World War II, marry \u2014 met at a V.A., married, and that's where I lived. Kitchen table discussion was, particularly when I was growing up in the 1960's and 1970's, was the decline of the V.A. When they joined in the early 1950's, the V.A. was the top. They were the best, they were the best and brightest coming in after the war. And, we believed in the cause that we fought, and we invested in our hospitals to make sure that our veterans who left World War II were taken care of. But, after Vietnam, and during Vietnam, that began to change, and it really hasn't recovered since. The bottom line is the V.A. is antiquated. There's no need for a V.A. healthcare system as it existed after World War \u2014 why? Because we have the best private healthcare system in the world, we didn't need \u2014 we needed it in 1950's, hospitals were not particularly advanced, so, we built the best. We didn't maintain the best. Government didn't keep its promises to its veterans. So, what we need to do is two things. Number one, we need to allow veterans to go to private sector hospitals for their routine and ordinary care to get the best care in their community possible. And, there is a place for the Veterans Administration. There are injuries, and there are \u2014 things like +p1394 +aVIt should come as no surprise to Chris, or anybody else, that Barack Obama doesn't stand behind our men and women in uniform here at home because he hasn't stood behind them overseas. The rules of engagement that we've allowed our soldiers to go and fight against have put them in harm's way for political purposes. This has been the most politicized wars that we've ever seen under this administration. He gets in, and gets out, based upon what the polls are saying, what pressure he's getting from groups. Talk about a Commander in Chief. We need a commander in chief who has a vision and plan of how we're going to execute the national security of our country. Commander in chief is not an entry level position. Experience matters, and that's why I would ask for your support as a Commander in Chief, because I have the experience against the enemy......to confront to do the job. +p1395 +aVI announced from a factory floor in Western Pennsylvania. This campaign has all been about two words for me, working families. Working. Getting people the opportunity to see those wages rise, to be on the side of the American workers so they can get good paying jobs, and that means we have to start making things in America again. We need a president who's going to not just put policies in place, but is going to stand up at the bully pulpit and talk about the dignity of being a welder. The dignity of being a carpenter, about going to work and earning success. And, also, the importance of families, the importance of families and fathers, and mothers raising their children, and committing to that so that they can give children in our country the best opportunity to success. Working families is the key for us to win this election. +p1396 +aVYes, I think it's one thing to shrink the size of a state government but it's another thing to actually get something accomplished in Washington. It's a much tougher field. And I'm the one in the \u2014 on this stage and, frankly, on both stages that has actually gone to Washington, said we would shrink government, said we would shake things up and actually delivered for the conservative cause, everything from welfare reform, which was the largest, most significant accomplishment in the last 25 years for conservatism. I authored the bill when I was in the House of Representatives; I managed the bill on the floor of the United States Senate. You need a conservative who can deliver and that's what I bring to the table. +p1397 +aVWell, if you look at my flat tax, it actually takes the best of what Steve Forbes, Art Laffer, many have been advocating for a long time, which is a very strong pro-growth tax code \u2014 very simple. And, it adjusts it to make sure that it is not regressive. We have a $2,750 per person tax credit \u2014 that's $2,750 off the taxes due, not a deduction, a credit. And, we think \u2014 in fact, if you run the numbers, no American who's going to be paying more taxes under our proposal, so, we've accomplished both. We have a system that has a low single rate, but we take care of American families. I'm talking about $2,750 per person. That means a family four, that's $11,000 dollar tax credit. That's a very, very strong pro-family \u2014 and if you looked at the Wall Street Journal today, and so many of the publications that have been out there, they've talked about how the biggest problem of the hollowing out of the middle of this country. For workers to be able to raise is actually, the breakdown of the American family. William Galston, a liberal, said that on the pages of the Wall Street Journal today that the key to poverty is families. So, we put forth a pro-growth \u2014 Steve Forbes plan, combined it with a pro- family plan, and that's why I think it's going to work out, and work effectively. +p1398 +aVWhat we should be \u2014 we shouldn't be putting tariffs on anything. That hurts working men and women in this country. What we should be doing is making our manufacturing more competitive. One of the reasons I introduced the 20/20 plan, a 20 percent flat tax on corporations, as well as on individuals, is so we can be competitive, so we can bring those manufacturing jobs back. You want to talk about cutting pollution? You do a little back- of-the-envelope. We \u2014 we produce, per dollar of GDP, about one-fifth of the CO2 and other pollutants that China produces. So we're five times more efficient in producing goods here, as far as the environment \u2014 environment is concerned. Why don't we \u2014 if we really want to tackle environmental problems, global warming, what we need to do is take those jobs from China and bring them back here to the United States, employ workers in this country. We've lost two million jobs \u2014 two million jobs \u2014 under this administration in manufacturing \u2014 15,000 manufacturers have left this country. Why? Because of bad tax policy, bad regulatory policy and, yes, bad trade policy. We need to have a president that's going to pledge, as I have \u2014 I'm going to make America the number-one manufacturer so working men and women can have good paying jobs again in America. +p1399 +aV\u2014 with competition... +p1400 +aV\u2014 for low wage workers. +p1401 +aV and I... +p1402 +aVThat's not what's happening. +p1403 +aVA true conservative wants to create a level playing field. That's what \u2014 that's what we're \u2014 that's what government is supposed to do. They're not supposed to favor one group over another. And when it comes to our manufacturers, the level playing field is not in the United States. It's international. And so the federal government should have laws, tax laws, regulatory laws and, yes, finance laws. There's 60 other ex-im banks all over \u2014 all over the world. Every major competitor for the United States' manufacturing dollar has one of those banks. And guess what? They use those banks a heck of a lot more than their \u2014 than the United States of America does, number one. So in order to have a level playing field, which is what conservatives talk about all the time, level playing field, then we have to have export financing and here's why.Because export financing doesn't help Boeing, or G.E. G.E. just lost a contract, you know what they did? They went to . They got the X.M. (ph) bank in France to support it, and what did they do? They moved manufacturing out of South Carolina, out of Texas, moved to \u2014 Hungary, and to France. G.E. is still making money. G.E. is still doing well, but American workers are out of jobs. That's why we have to have this level playing field so we can compete with the rest of the world. +p1404 +aVWell, first, since you mention Colorado, I want to thank the people of Colorado because four years ago you \u2014 gave me the honor of winning the nomination out here in the state of Colorado. On a night we won three states, and it catapulted us to win 11 states ultimately, so, I just want to thank you very, very much for that support, and \u2014 in response to that, I do drink a lot of Coors beer, so... I try to help. The answer is pretty simple. The answer is simple. There are no shortage of breweries around the United States of America. I \u2014 I do \u2014 as I travel around the country, I do pints and politics, and I go to breweries all over the place, and there \u2014 there's almost no town in America anymore that doesn't have a brewery, so I don't think we need to worry too much. They're obviously \u2014 if there's \u2014 if there's some anti- competitive issues, you know, we have agencies to look at that. But, no, I'm not \u2014 I'm not concerned that Americans are not going to have choices in beer. +p1405 +aVAnd I care about, by the way. I care about choices. +p1406 +aVWell, I \u2014 I would say this, that what you're seeing is \u2014 in health care, you're seeing a lot of consolidation, and that consolidation is occurring because of Obamacare. You're seeing it particularly in an area that I am concerned about, and that's in insurance \u2014 health insurance. You're seeing the big health insurance companies fold up. You've seen Obama try to seed health insurance companies, and they've all failed, I think, except one. Why? Because we have a system of Obamacare with minimum loss ratios that make it virtually impossible for a small insurer to operate effectively. And this was the motive behind Obamacare. This wasn't incidental. This was deliberate, to make it so impossible for small insurers to survive... +p1407 +aV...that they consolidate into a small group. Then the left can say, "there is no competition, we need a single payer." That's why we have to repeal Obamacare. +p1408 +aVThank you. Can I just say something about that? +p1409 +aVWell, if you look at our plan that I introduced, the 2020 Clear Vision for America, we increase growth by 10 percent, 1 percent a year. So we go from 2.3 to 3.3, in repealing Obamacare, it's another .7. So you're looking at 4 percent growth, according to the Tax Foundation. And unlike Donald Trump and Bobby Jindal, we don't add $10 trillion to the deficit. In fact, our plan, while it creates as many jobs as their plan does and grows the economy as much as theirs does, we are a revenue-neutral plan because I believe that we need to reduce the size of government, yes, but we also need to reduce our deficit, and we need to get our budget balanced so we can start paying down this debt. And adding a trillion dollars with a tax cut and getting no more growth is not the way to do it. But that's only half of it. The word "economy" comes from the Greek "euthokis" (ph) which means family. The family is the first economy. And the one thing that we do not talk about enough is how stable families are vitally important for the middle of America to be prosperous and to grow and be safe. And I will have policies, not just tax policies, but others that will make sure that families are strong again in America. +p1410 +aVMLB, NHL, so I'm a big sports fan. And "The Wall Street Journal." Those are the three apps I use the most. +p1411 +aVWell, since we're usually in the Super Bowl at the Pittsburgh Steelers... Steeler nation, anybody? +p1412 +aVNo. I was in......was in Kansas City over the weekend to watch the Steeler game and about a third of the crowd were Steeler fans. So I'm usually not alone when I call on Steeler Nation. But we are used to being in the Super Bowl, so actually, it is in Pennsylvania already. +p1413 +aVI grew up in a steel town of Western Pennsylvania, outside of Pittsburgh, and when I announced for president, I announced from the factory floor. When I talk about making America the number one manufacturer again in the world, it's not just talk. When I talk about having the opportunity for people to rise again, it's not just because it polls well. I represented the old steel valley of Pittsburgh. I represented a 70% Democratic district, and won with 60% of the vote. Why? Because I aligned myself with working men and women who feel that neither party, and certainly not Washington D.C. cares about them. You elect me, we will get American workers on the side of the Republican party, and we can not be stopped if we do. +p1414 +aVHi, I'm Rick Santorum. Some of you may know me because I led the fight to end partial birth abortion. Some of you may know me because the I led the fight to end welfare as we know it, put people back to work, reduce poverty and reduce the federal budget. Some of you may know me because I successfully put sanctions on the Iranian nuclear program in Congress, over opposition of both parties initially. But hopefully, most of you know me most because I'm the proud father of seven children with particularly a special little disabled girl, who is the heart and core of my heart and married to a wonderful woman named Karen for 25 years, who is the love of my life. +p1415 +aVI think personal attacks, just please one person, Hillary Clinton. And all we do when we go after each other -- and we've seen a bunch of it, from people up on this stage, people who are going to be on the stage afterwards, who go after and make personal attacks on people. There are plenty of policy differences between the candidates up here and the candidates later. Donald Trump has ever right to run for president as a Republican, as anybody else in this audience, and he may have positions I disagree with, but he has the right to do that and the people should be given the benefit of the doubt for people to see through these things. I don't think it helps when Republicans attack Republicans personally. I'll say some things tonight which will be very big differences. The issue of immigration is one that there are huge differences in this field, and I will be out there talking about how we have to control immigration. How we have to look after the American worker. The focus of this debate should be on how we're going to win this election and help improve the quality of life for American workers, and we aren't doing that, when we're out there picking at each other and calling each other names. The name we should call out is, what are we going to do for average Americans losing ground in America today. And that should be our focus. +p1416 +aVWell, in fact, just about everybody in this field supports some pathway to citizenship. There are just a few, Governor Jindal, Senator Cruz, Senator Rubio, Jeb Bush, a lot of others, Senator Graham, all support some sort of amnesty at some point in time or another. And this is really the interesting thing about this whole debate. This debate should not be about what we're going to do with someone who's here illegally. This debate should not be about what we're going to do with someone who's here illegally; This debate should be about what -- what every other debate on every other policy issue is in America. What's in the best interest of hardworking Americans? What's in the best interest of our country. We've had to focus because the other side has set up for us, here is who we have to be concerned about on the issue of immigration, someone who's here illegally and their family, and what are we going to do about it? A greater leader will see that the objection of every law in America is to do what's in the best interest of America. And what's in the best interest of America right now is to look at wages, look at employment among wager earners. 70 to 90 percent of people who've come into this country, 35 million over the last 20 years, are wage earners that are holding wages down, taking jobs away from America. +p1417 +aVWell, just because you don't call it amnesty doesn't mean that what -- what almost everybody in this field is for is allowing people who are in this country illegally, people who broke the law to come into this country, people who came here legally and overstayed, to stay in -- in America. Again, we have 35 million -- we have the highest percentage of -- of -- of immigrants in this country, as far as numbers ever, as far as percentage, the -- the highest in 105 years. Wages are flatlining. The reason that you're seeing the angst and the anger out there and the reason this issue has taken off is because workers in America know that their wages are being undermined. If you look at, from the year 2000 to the year 2014, there're 5.7 million net new jobs created. What percentage of those jobs are held by people who weren't born here? The answer is all of them. The fact is, American workers are -- are getting hurt by immigration... +p1418 +aV... and that's why they're upset. +p1419 +aV...Hold on, hold on, hold on... +p1420 +aV...He mentioned my name, and that i didn't have a plan. And, the fact of the matter is... +p1421 +aV...that I did have a plan back in 2006. I introduced a plan called, A Comprehensive Border Security Bill, which did, in fact, put the resources to build the fencing, and deploy the troops, and the technology necessary which... +p1422 +aVAs you know, Lindsay... +p1423 +aV...As you know, 40 to 60 percent of the 11 million are here on visa overstays. We know exactly who they are, we should know where they are, but we have a government that doesn't tell them to return home. You can solve half of the problem of the 11 million... +p1424 +aV...by simply telling the 11 million that they have to return to their country of origin, so, that's half your problem... +p1425 +aV...Now, it's not 11 million... +p1426 +aVI don't know how many democrats I had on my bill... +p1427 +aVBut, the point is -- the point is is that I had a bill... +p1428 +aVWell, you're right, Lindsay, it went no where because we had a president back then who was for more comprehensive immigration reform... +p1429 +aV...That's right... +p1430 +aVYou know what we need to do... +p1431 +aVLindsay, is we need to win -- we need to win fighting for Americans. We need to win fighting for the workers in this country... +p1432 +aV...who are hurting, including including hispanics... +p1433 +aV...the people who are hurt the most by illegal immigration are hispanics. +p1434 +aV...The folks -- the folks who are -- hurt the worst are recent immigrants. By illegal immigrants coming to this country last year alone, 700,000 illegal immigrants came into this country. Who do you think are most impacted? It's the folks who came into this country, played by the rules, did what they were supposed to do. Came here, and went to work, and now they're finding themselves out of work because someone illegally is willing to come in and work for less... +p1435 +aVI just want to say -- I just want to say, I have seven kids, I've done my part. +p1436 +aVI have proposed 10,000 troops, I did so about six or seven months ago, that we needed to deploy additional troops to do exactly what Lindsey said, arm the Kurds, arm -- +p1437 +aVI've said -- I've said 10,000 and, if more is necessary, look, the answer is this, once +p1438 +aV16 years ago, this country was tremendously inspired by a young woman who faced a gunman in Columbine and was challenged about her faith and she refused to deny God. We saw her as a hero. Today, someone who refuses to defy (sic) a judge's unconstitutional verdict is ridiculed and criticized, chastised because she's standing up and denying -- not denying her God and her faith. That is a huge difference in 16 years. People have a fundamental right in the First Amendment. There's no more important right. It is the right that is the trunk that all other rights come from, and that's the freedom of conscience. And when we say in America that we have no room -- how many bakers, how many florists, how many pastors, how many clerks are we going to throw in jail because they stand up and say, "I cannot violate what my faith says is against its teachings"? Is there not room in America? I believe there has to be room. First, I believe we have to pass the First Amendment Defense Act, which provides that room for government officials and others who do not want to be complicit in what they believe is against their faith. Second, we need as a president who's going to fight a court that is abusive, that has superseded their authority. Judicial supremacy is not in the Constitution, and we need a president and a Congress to stand up to a court when it exceeds its constitutional authority. +p1439 +aVI hope so. If they're wrong. +p1440 +aVNo, what you have is judicial supremacy. You don't have a rule of law when the court has the final say on everything. +p1441 +aVMartin Luther King wrote a letter from the Birmingham jail. And he said in that letter that there are just laws and there are unjust laws. And we have no obligation to -- to condone and accept unjust laws. And he -- and they -- then he followed up and said what's an unjust law? An unjust law is a job that -- a law that go against the moral code or God's law or the natural law. I would argue that what the Supreme Court did is against the natural law, it's against God's law and we have every obligation to stand in opposition to it. +p1442 +aVWell, contrary to what Governor Jindal said, Governor -- Justice Roberts had a long record and it was a long, good record. And so he made a bad decision on -- a couple of bad decisions on ObamaCare but he's made a lot of great decisions, too. And so I don't -- I don't regret at all standing up for John Roberts but, you know, it's easy to sit out in Louisiana and talk about how, you know, well, I'd be tougher. I fought when I was in the United States Senate. We fought, for the first time, to defeat justices and judges that Bill Clinton nominated and I fought with President Bush to defend his nominees, to push even a filibuster, breaking the filibuster. I led that fight against someone who didn't want to end the filibuster in order for us to get good, conservative justices. So I have been there on the front line, fighting for judges and conservative justices and I will do so as president like none other. +p1443 +aVActually, I'm going to be proposing a plan, I call it the 20/20 perfect vision for America as flat tax, a 20 percent flat tax on income, 20 percent flat tax on capital gains and on corporations. We eliminate all the deductions, special interest provisions and corporations. We deal with the carried interest issue, because everybody pays the same 20 percent. So, there's no advantage as to how you take your income. That will create growth. We're going to allow expensing for corporations. For manufacturing, again, I print -- I pledged, when I announced that I was going to run for president on the factory floor that I would make America the number one manufacturer in the world. Why? Because we need to put Americans back to work. Hard working Americans, who are not doing well in this economy, and we start creating jobs here, and manufacturing. These people from all skill levels are going to be able to work. We put a 20 percent rate on corporations, we're competitive with almost every country in the world. We allow for expensing, we have a three year phase in. We start at zero for manufacturers, phase it up to 20. You're going to see an enormous investment of capital, and equipment. You're going to see people -- you're going to have problems finding folks are going to be able to work in manufacturing. That's how many jobs we're going to create. So, the answer is, you know, we're going to lower, and flatten taxes. We're going to put government on a -- on a budget. A 10 percent across the board cut... +p1444 +aV...employment. We've got a lot of plans. +p1445 +aV...Let me just... +p1446 +aV...He talked about manufacturing, and the fact is that we have a zero percent rate that faces the 20, we'd have a seven percent repatriation, so money -- about two trillion dollars over seas... +p1447 +aV...Would come back, and be invested in equipment here. We will create more jobs with this plan, than any plan out... +p1448 +aVLindsay, what percentage of American workers make the minimum wage right now? +p1449 +aVIt's less than one percent. +p1450 +aV...So, what you're saying, what every Republican's up here saying is we're against the minimum wage because, if you're not for increasing it, than whoevers making the minimum wage right now... +p1451 +aV...The answer is Republicans don't believe in a floor wage in America. Fine, you go ahead and make that case to the American public, I'm not going to. Not from a party that supported bailouts. I didn't, but this party did. +p1452 +aVNot from a party that supports special interest tax provisions for a whole bunch of other businesses, and, but, when it comes to hardworking Americans who are at the bottom of the income scale, we can't provide some level of income support? What I've proposed is not anything but the (ph) presidents (ph) proposed (ph) I believe that would be harmful to the American public, but a $.50 cents an hour increase over three years, which is what I'm proposing. So we would have a minimum wage which would be roughly in the area of what it's been historically, about 5 percent of wages. To me, if you're going to talk to 90 percent of American workers -- by the way, 90 percent of American workers don't own a bar. They don't own a business. They work for a living. They're wage -- most of them are wage earners. And Republicans are losing elections because we're not talking about them. All we want to talk about is, what happened to our business? There are people who work in that business. I was at a -- I was at the convention four years ago, and on the signs -- on all of the seats the night I spoke was a sign that said, "We built that," because Barack Obama had talked about how businesses didn't build their own businesses. Then we trotted out one small-business person after another for almost an hour that night talking about how they built their businesses. And that's wonderful. But you know what we didn't do? We didn't bring one worker on that stage. How are you going to win, ladies and gentlemen? How are we going to win if 90 percent of Americans don't think we care at all... +p1453 +aV... about them and their chance to rise... +p1454 +aVAs you know, Hugh, 12 years ago I authored the Iran Freedom Support Act, which put sanctions on the Iran nuclear program as we came within four votes of passing a very strong version of that. The four people who opposed on the floor: Joe Biden, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. And we came four votes short. But for 12 years, I have been laser-beam focused on the issue of Iran with a nuclear weapon. Why? Because I understand who they are. Yes, they are radical Islamists, that's true. But their particular version of it, which is an apocalyptic version, which is a death cult, they believe in bringing about the end of the -- end of the world. If you -- if you poll Iranians and Iraqis, Shiites in the region, more than two-thirds of them believe that the end of the world is going to come within their lifetime. Why? Because their regime preaches it. They believe in bringing about the end of times. That's their theological goal and we are in the process of giving them a nuclear weapon to do just that. That's why, on day one, I would say to the Iranian government, you open up all of these facilities for inspection, you make them available to the U.N. and to the U.S., everything, we can go everywhere or else we will take out those facilities. And when people say, you're going to start a war -- +p1455 +aV-- my response is, no, I'm going to stop a war because a nuclear Iran is the end. +p1456 +aVI came to Washington in the most unlikely way. I defeated a 14-year incumbent, a 60 percent Democratic district. I went to Washington thinking I was only going to be there for one term, and so I just shook things up. We sent the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee to jail. We ended 40 years, 40 years of Democratic control of the Congress. And I led that fight with reforms, substantive reforms, welfare reform. I led the charge -- I wrote the bill when I was in the House. I led the charge in the United States Senate. Partial-birth abortion -- in fact, three pro-life bills, bipartisan pro-life bills. I mentioned the Iran bill. We also passed one on Syria. Health savings accounts, as many of you know, I authored the original bill on health savings accounts, pushed that through the Congress for private sector health care reform. An outsider who came to Washington from the tough state of Pennsylvania, and we got conservative things done. I made things happen in a town where things don't happen very much. Now, after 10 years of seeing the mess, the retreat that we see in the Republican party in Washington, D.C., it's time to get someone who is an outsider. +p1457 +aVWho can go to Washington, D.C., and get things done. You know what, you have a lot of folks who will tell you a lot of things. Look at their record. I went to Washington as an outsider. +p1458 +aVShook things up, got things done. +p1459 +aVAnd that's why you can trust me to do it again. +p1460 +aVI would say the message that got us the win in Iowa and 10 other states against pretty overwhelming odds, is the message that's going to deliver us in this election. You know, we didn't start out four years ago at the top of the heap. We were behind where we were today. But we stuck to our message. We stuck to the fact that Americans are tired of Washington corporate interests and Democrats who are interested in just politics and power and they're looking for someone who's going to fight for them; looking for someone who's going to grow manufacturing sector of our economy, so those 74 percent of Americans who don't have a college degree have a chance to rise again. Someone who's going to stand up, and be very clear with our enemies as to the lines their going to draw and stand with them. I've got a track record. The reason I did so well last time is not just because of the vision, it's because I have a track record in Washington, D.C. of getting things done. Iran sanctions -- the Iran sanctions that brought them to the table, those are sanctions that we put in place when I was in the United States Senate, and a whole host of other things that put me in a position of saying, I not only have a great vision, but I can govern effectively in Washington. +p1461 +aVMy father was born in Italy, and shortly after he was born my grandfather immigrated to this country. And under the laws of this country, he wasn't allowed to be with his father for seven years. Spent the first seven years of his life in Fascist Italy, under Benito Mussolini. Not a very pleasant place to be. I asked my dad after -- obviously, when I found out about this. And I said, "Didn't you resent America for not letting you be with your father in those formative and very threatening years?" You know what he said to me? "America was worth the wait." We're a country of laws, Bill. We're a country of laws, not of men, not of people who do whatever they want to do. I know we have a president who wants to do whatever he wants to do, and take his pen and his phone and just tell everybody what he thinks is best. But the reason America is a great country, the reason is because our compassion is in our laws. And when we live by those laws and we treat everybody equally under the law, that's when people feel good about being Americans. And I put forth an immigration policy that is as strong in favor of the folks who are struggling in America the most than anybody else. It's the strongest pro-worker immigration plan. It says that after 35 million people have come here over the last 20 years, almost all of whom are unskilled workers, flattening wages, creating horrible opportunity -- a lack of opportunities for unskilled workers, we're going to do something about reducing the level of immigration by 25 percent. We're going to be tough at the border, we're going to be tough on all of the illegal immigrants that everybody else in this field -- we're going to be different. We're going to be actually out there trying to create a better life for hard-working Americans. +p1462 +aVI think it's -- yeah, I think it's a one-two punch. Number one, we have to create better paying jobs. I mean, that's just the bottom line. We haven't. And that's the reason that I've said under my presidency, we'll create jobs and make American the number one manufacturing country in the world. If we want to create jobs for the folks that you're talking about, who are having trouble getting off government benefits, primarily because of their low skill level, there is no better way -- it's worked for 100 years in America -- putting people back to work in manufacturing is it. I'm going to be introducing a plan which I call the 2020 Perfect Vision for America. It's a 20 percent flat rate tax, it'll take a blowtorch to the -- to the IRS. It will create a manufacturing juggernaut in this country. And you combine that with reforms of our welfare system. You're looking at the -- at the man who introduced and fought on the floor as a freshman senator and passed the Welfare Reform Act of 1996 over two President Clinton vetoes. Got 70 votes in the United States Senate. Bipartisan issue. And I ended a federal entitlement. Never been done before, never been done since. What we need to do is take the rest of the federal entitlements, not just welfare, but food stamps and Medicaid and housing programs and do the same thing we did with welfare. Work requirements and time limits. That will change everything. Mac +p1463 +aVIt is not any more than Dred Scott was settled law to Abraham Lincoln, who, in his first inaugural address, said "it won't stand." And they went ahead and passed laws in direct contravention to a rogue Supreme Court. This is a rogue Supreme Court decision, just like Justice Roberts said. There is no constitutional basis for the Supreme Court's decision, and I know something about this. The -- one of the times the Supreme Court spoke that I thought they were acting outside of their authority was in a partial-birth abortion case. You know, these Planned Parenthood tapes, what they're showing are partial-birth abortions. Abortions being done where the baby's being delivered first, to preserve those organs, and then they crush the skull. Well, the Supreme Court found a bill that I was the author of unconstitutional. What did I do? I didn't stop. I didn't say "oh, well we lost. It's the law of the land." We worked together. The House and Senate, under my leadership, and we passed a bill, and we said, "Supreme Court, you're wrong." We're a coequal branch of the government. We have every right to be able to stand up and say what is constitutional. We passed a bill, bipartisan support, and the Supreme Court, they -- they sided with us. Sometimes it just takes someone to lead and stand up to the court. +p1464 +aVJust ditto to that. We're going to suspend -- I've -- I've said this for four years. We're going to suspend and repeal every executive order, every regulation that cost American jobs and is -- is -- is impacting our freedom. And second, the First Amendment Defense Act, which is protecting religious liberty, if it's not passed by then, which I suspect it won't, because the president will veto it, I will institute an executive order to make sure that people of faith are not being -- not being harassed and persecuted by the federal government for standing up for the religious beliefs. +p1465 +aVI came to Washington, D.C. in 1990. That sounds like a long time ago. It was. It was 25 years ago, and I came by defeating the Democratic incumbent. I came as a reformer. I started the Gang of Seven, and it led to the overtaking of the 40-year Democratic rule of Congress, because I didn't -- I stood up to the old-boy network in Washington, D.C. because I believed that Washington was not the solution, that Washington was the problem, just like Ronald Reagan said. I was a child of Ronald Reagan. And I went there, and for 16 years, I fought the insiders and was able to get things done. That's the difference. We need to elect someone who will stand with the American people, who understands its greatness, who understands what an open economy and freedom is all about, but at the same time, has a record of being able to get things done in Washington like we've never seen before. Reforms, everything from moral and cultural issues to economic issues. Those of you health savings accounts. Health savings accounts are something that we introduced. It's a private-sector solution that believes in freedom, not Obamacare that believes in government control. Those are the things we brought, and we were able to get things done. If you want someone who's not going to divide Washington, but gets things done, then you should make me your president. +p1466 +aVI'll tell you how optimistic I am about America. Karen and I have seven children. You don't have seven children and bring them into this world if you're not optimistic about the future of this country. I am, but people are upset, and they're upset for a reason about the future of this country. Donald Trump actually seized on it when he talked about immigration. And I think the reason he did is because immigration is sort of an example of what's broken and what's wrong in Washington, D..C. You see, you have one side, the Democrats, and with immigration, all they care about is votes. They don't care about American workers, they just care about bringing as many people in so they can get as many votes as they can. ON the other side, you have so many Republicans, and what do they care about? Helping business make profits. There's nobody out there looking out for the American worker. I'm looking out for the American worker. I'm the only one on this stage who has a plan that's actually reduced -- actually going to reduce immigration. Actually going to do something to help the American worker. And you combine that with a plan to make manufacturing -- this country number one in manufacturing, you've got someone who's going to help revitalize and give hope to America, the place -- the place is that is the most hopeless today. That's why I ask for your support for president. +p1467 +asVQUESTION +p1468 +(lp1469 +VMy name is Ashley Tofil. Ms. Fiorina, in November, you said that you would not talk to Vladimir Putin after you were elected because you would be communicating from a position of weakness. Do you believe that it is feasible to not communicate with another world leader? And do you think that that also is a sign of weakness? +p1470 +aVMy name is Carla Hernandez. I'm from the University of Texas at Austin. And my question is directed to all the candidates. If the Bible clearly states that we need to embrace those in need and not fear, how can we justify not accepting refugees? +p1471 +aVPlease describe one action you would do to make the economic environment more favorable for small businesses and entrepreneurs and anyone dreaming of opening their own business. +p1472 +aVHi, I'm Adithya Sivakumar. I'm from Vanderbilt University. And I was wondering with U.S. designated state sponsors of terrorism such as Iran and other traditional U.S. enemies fighting +p1473 +aVNew Hampshire has been hard hit by the heroin epidemic, and we're on track to have twice as many overdose deaths this year as in 2013. What specifically would you do to address this crisis? +p1474 +aVAs a young person, I'm very concerned about climate change and how it will affect my future. As a presidential candidate, what will you do to address climate change? (END +p1475 +asVCAVUTO +p1476 +(lp1477 +VIt is 9:00 p.m. on the East Coast, 8:00 p.m. here inside the Milwaukee theater. Welcome to the Republican presidential debate here on the Fox Business Network. I'm Neil Cavuto, alongside my co-moderators, Maria Bartiromo, and the editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal, Gerard Baker. +p1478 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. +p1479 +aVIt sounds like a game show but it's not. Now I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the elephant in the room, and I'm not talking about your party's fine symbol. I'm talking about the purpose of tonight's debate. The economy and what each of you would do to improve it. No more, no less. We are focused on those issues, and what you have said on those issues in your words and what your opponents have said in their words about your words. That is the agenda tonight. How each of you plans to make America better tomorrow. And so we begin. Candidates, as we gather tonight in this very august theater, just outside and across the country, picketers are gathering as well. They're demanding an immediate hike in the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Just a few hours ago, near Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed doing the same for all state workers, the first governor to do so. Mr. Trump, as the leading presidential candidate on this stage and one whose tax plan exempts couples making up to $50,000 a year from paying any federal income taxes at all, are you sympathetic to the protesters cause since a $15 wage works out to about $31,000 a year? +p1480 +aVSo do not raise the minimum wage? +p1481 +aVDr. Carson, you have long bemoaned this lackluster recovery. And this Facebook map show Americans share your concern. The green represents how the jobs issue is resonating all across the nation, especially here in the state of Wisconsin. You suggested one minimum wage does not fit all, and that perhaps we should offer a lower or starter wage for young people. Those protesters outside are looking for $15 and nothing less. Where are you? +p1482 +aVSo, sir, just to be clear, you would not raise it? +p1483 +aVSenator Rubio, you called the recent Democratic debate in Las Vegas a night of giveaways, including free health care, free college and a host of other government-paid benefits. Since you aren't a fan of all they're giving away, tell us tonight what you would take back. +p1484 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. +p1485 +aVAll right. We're only just getting started. Coming up, your taxes. Stick around. You're watching FOX Business +p1486 +aVWelcome back to the Milwaukee Theater and the Republican presidential debate. Let's get right back to our questions. Dr. Carson, to you. You recently railed against the double- standard in the media, sir, that seems obsessed with inconsistencies and potential exaggerations in your life story, but looked the other way when it came to then-Senator Barack Obama's. Still, as a candidate whose brand has always been trust, are you worried your campaign \u2014 which you've always said, sir, is bigger than you \u2014 is now being hurt by you? +p1487 +aVI'll just forget that follow-up there. +p1488 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1489 +aVAlright, thank you. We're going to take a break here. Coming up, a big issue many Americans are facing, taxes. The Republican Presidential Debate continues now, live, from Milwaukee. +p1490 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from Milwaukee. Let's get back to the questions. And we want to touch on obviously one of the biggest of this issue in this year, taxes. And this will go to several of you. One of the biggest economic concerns of course in the country are taxes. Facebook data certainly backs that up. Once again the green on this map that we're going to see here shows how the conversation around taxes is resonating across the nation, especially here in Wisconsin. First off, Dr. Carson, to you. You say you are in favor of a tax system, I guess akin to tithing, sir, with a flat tax rate of up to 15 percent because you said, if everybody pays this, I think God is a pretty fair guy, so tithing is a pretty fair process. But Donald Trump says that is not fair. That wealthier taxpayers should pay a higher rate because it's a fair thing to do. So whose plan would God endorse then, Doctor? Yours or Mr. Trump's? +p1491 +aVRight. +p1492 +aVThank you very much. Senator Paul, you said you want to blow up the tax code and start over with an across-the-board 14.5 percent fair and flat tax. You happily offered that it is not revenue neutral and that's the idea. You want to choke off the amount of money coming into Washington. But don't you risk, sir, creating a near-term budget crisis just as your presidency would be beginning? +p1493 +aVThere are no deductions on your \u2014 under your plan? +p1494 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1495 +aVSenator Paul... Senator Paul, you have already said, sir, that that would be a mistake in not talking to Vladimir Putin, or to rule it out. You've argued that it's never a good idea to close down communication. With that in mind, do you think the same applies to administration efforts right now to include the Iranians in talks on Syria? +p1496 +aV...Well, then how would you respond? +p1497 +aVBut if you're not going to respond in a no-fly zone strategy, what would yours be? +p1498 +aVAll right. And look at the time, look at the time. You are watching FOX Business, we'll take a break. Stick around. +p1499 +aVSenator Cruz \u2014 and I will get to you \u2014 but, Senator Cruz, on that theme, Facebook data shows that over the last month alone, nearly 1 million people \u2014 nearly 1 million \u2014 have been concerned about reining in Wall Street, apparently believing that some have not been punished enough. So, as an accomplished litigator yourself and a former solicitor general, would you go after the very people who believe and fear that Wall Street has ignored, in other words, the crooks that Bernie Sanders say have gotten away with a financial murder? +p1500 +aVSenator......Senator, I really want to be clear here. Are you saying, sir, that if Bank of America were on the brink, you would let it fail? +p1501 +aVSir, I understand that. I just want to be clear, if you don't mind, that millions of depositors would be on the line with that decision. And I just want to be clear. If it were to happen again, for whatever the reason, you would let it go, you would let a Bank of America go? +p1502 +aVOK, I think it's fair to say you're not fans of Hillary Clinton's resume. Alright, Mr. Trump.... +p1503 +aVI had a feeling. Perhaps the most successful capitalist on this stage tonight, you've acknowledged that some give capitalism a bad name. You've been particularly critical of businesses that find all sorts of ways of paying their taxes by keeping money abroad, but your own plan includes an incentive to bring \u2014 that more the $2 trillion dollars home. Isn't that, like, a one-time bounty... +p1504 +aV...Some of the guys you all but call pirates, so they still keep the loot, and pay only a price to bring it back. +p1505 +aV...Alright, gentlemen, I know you want to \u2014 and I want to, be we also promised to get people home tonight, and we are going to take a quick break here. I think it is fair to say at this juncture that you can discuss these issues, and only business issues, but still keep it interesting. Stick around for these candidates closing statements. +p1506 +aVSenator Marco Rubio? +p1507 +aVDr. Ben Carson? +p1508 +aVDonald Trump? +p1509 +aVCandidates, we want to thank you all. We also appreciate your helping save time by talking over one another at times. That was welcomed. But by all means, it was a very riveting debate. Business issues can be \u2014 can be riveting, because it wasn't about us, it's about them. +p1510 +aVThat'll do it. Thank you for joining us. +p1511 +asVBLITZER +p1512 +(lp1513 +VWelcome to the CNN-Facebook Republican presidential debate here at the Venetian Las Vegas. We have a very enthusiastic audience. Everyone is here. They're looking forward to a serious and spirited discussion about the security of this nation. I'm Wolf Blitzer, your moderator tonight. This debate is airing on CNN networks here in the United States and around the world, and on the Salem Radio Network. The nine leading candidates, they are here. Let's welcome them right now. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Businessman and real estate developer Donald Trump. Retired neurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. And Ohio Governor John Kasich. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome these Republican candidates for president of the United States. This is the final Republican debate before the election year begins, and we're taking a moment for the photographs of the candidates together on the stage. Now, everyone, please rise for the national anthem sung by Ayla Brown. +p1514 +aVI know everyone is eager to get started. So, candidates, please take your places while I explain the ground rules for tonight. As moderator, I'll guide the discussion, and I'll be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt and CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. We also asked Republicans and independents nationwide to share their questions for the candidates. We teamed up with Facebook to send a campaign camper across the country over the past several weeks. Thousands of people stepped inside and recorded their questions on video. Millions more have weighed in on Facebook. Candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have a minute and 15 seconds to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you're singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know that we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. And as the candidates requested, a bell will sound like this. We know you are all eager to jump in and debate these important issues, so, please, wait until you're called on. These nine Republicans are positioned on stage based on their ranking in the recent polls, so let's begin right now. I'd like to invite each candidate to introduce himself or herself to our audience. You'll have one minute. First to you, Senator Paul. +p1515 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p1516 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1517 +aVMs. Fiorina? +p1518 +aVGovernor Bush? +p1519 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1520 +aVSenator Cruz. +p1521 +aVDr. Carson. +p1522 +aVMr. Trump. +p1523 +aVThank you. Since you last debated, Americans have witnessed terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino. The FBI director says the country now faces the greatest terror threat since 9/11. You all have different approaches to keeping the country safe. And that will be the focus of tonight's debate. Mr. Trump, as you mentioned in your opening statement, part of your strategy is to focus in on America's borders. To keep the country safe, you say you want to temporarily ban non-American Muslims from coming to the United States; ban refugees fleeing +p1524 +aVGovernor Bush, you called Mr. Trump "unhinged" when he proposed banning non-American Muslims from the United States. Why is that unhinged? +p1525 +aVMr. Trump? +p1526 +aVSenator Rubio \u2014 I'm going to go to Senator Rubio and get his thoughts. You have said banning Muslims is unconstitutional. But according to a recent ABC News-Washington Post poll, a majority of Republicans support Mr. Trump's idea. Why are they wrong? +p1527 +aVHugh Hewitt, you have a question. +p1528 +aVGovernor Christie, Americans are clearly more afraid today than at any time since 9/11. As you mentioned in your opening statement, today in Los Angeles, 650 schoolchildren didn't go to \u2014 650,000 schoolchildren didn't go to school because of an e-mail threat, this two weeks after an attack killed 14 people in San Bernardino. Is this the new normal? And if so, what steps would you take as president of the United States to ensure that fear does not paralyze America? +p1529 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, one of the killers in San Bernardino was an American who was not on anyone's watch list. How are you going to find that radicalized person and stop another such attack? +p1530 +aVThank you. Dana Bash, you have the next question. +p1531 +aVThank you. Dr. Carson, you're in favor of monitoring mosques and schools where there is anti-America sentiment, what do you consider anti- America? +p1532 +aVDr. Carson, who was right in that little debate that we just heard between Senator Rubio and Senator Paul? +p1533 +aVHold on a sec, we have a lot more to come and everybody's going to have their full opportunity. Governor Bush, six days after 9/11 your brother visited a mosque and said quote, "Islam is peace." The conversation tonight is about banning Muslims and surveillance of mosques, are President Bush's words still relevant in today's Republican party? +p1534 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you pointed out you were a CEO in Silicon Valley on 9/11. Companies there, they say they won't help the FBI now crack encrypted communication from +p1535 +aVBut my question was: Should these Silicon Valley companies be forced to cooperate with the FBI? +p1536 +aVMr. Trump, you recently suggested closing that Internet up, those were your words, as a way to stop +p1537 +aVLet me follow up, Mr. Trump. So, are you open to closing parts of the Internet? +p1538 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, is shutting down any part of the Internet a good idea? +p1539 +aVThank you, Governor. The fight against radical Islamic terrorists and +p1540 +aVThank you. To be clear, Senator Cruz, would you carpet bomb Raqqa, the +p1541 +aVThank you. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you've been critical of Senator Cruz's strategy. You say his voting record doesn't match his rhetoric. Why? +p1542 +aVBecause I asked the question, Senator, because you said this. You said he, referring to Senator Cruz, voted against the Defense Authorization Act every year that it came up, and I assume that if he voted against it, he would veto it as president. That's the bill that funds our troops. +p1543 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1544 +aVSenator Rubio. +p1545 +aVWe are going to have much more on this... +p1546 +aVWe're going to have much more on this. But I want to move now back to Mr. Trump. +p1547 +aVHold on. Hold on. Hold on. +p1548 +aVWe have a lot... +p1549 +aVWe have a lot to discuss. I want to move to Mr. Trump right now. We have a question on this war against +p1550 +aVMr. Trump. +p1551 +aVGovernor Bush. Governor Bush. +p1552 +aVMr. Trump. +p1553 +aVJust one at a time, go ahead... +p1554 +aVGo ahead, Mr. Trump. +p1555 +aVGovernor Bush, please. +p1556 +aVOne at a time. +p1557 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1558 +aVThank you. +p1559 +aVAll right. Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash, Hugh, go ahead with the next question. +p1560 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Rubio? Let's continue this conversation. This is a critically important issue. +p1561 +aVWe will get to \u2014 we have a lot of time, Ms. Fiorina. I want to get to Senator Rubio right now. Let's talk about, one of the aspects of your strategy, you say the only way to defeat +p1562 +aVThank you, Senator. Stand by. Ms. Fiorina, the former defense secretary, Bob Gates, says the chances of getting Sunni-Arab forces on the ground to get the job done, his words, "chances very remote." What's your strategy? +p1563 +aVThank you. Governor Christie, what's your strategy? +p1564 +aVDr. Carson, what is your strategy? +p1565 +aVThank you. Everyone stand by. We're only just beginning. Coming up, which candidates on this stage tonight want to move foreign policy in a dramatically new direction? We'll be right back. +p1566 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate here at the Venetian, Las Vegas. The war against +p1567 +aVThank you. +p1568 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you supported the removal of Moammar Gadhafi in Libya. Now that country is in turmoil, as +p1569 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1570 +aVStandby. Everybody standby for a moment. Governor Kasich, go ahead. +p1571 +aVThank you. +p1572 +aVWe're going to talk about Assad in a moment. Mr. Trump, are Americans safer with dictators running the world in the Middle East? +p1573 +aVThank you. Mr. Trump? +p1574 +aVAll right. +p1575 +aVThank you. +p1576 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East... +p1577 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East better off with dictators? +p1578 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1579 +aVHold on Governor Bush., here's the question. You said, "getting rid of Saddam Hussein in your words was a pretty good deal." In light of what has happened in Iraq, do you still feel that way? +p1580 +aVSenator Paul, was getting rid of Saddam Hussein a pretty good deal? +p1581 +aVThank you. Hugh Hewitt, go ahead. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hugh. +p1582 +aVSenator, Senator, we're going to get to you. Wait your turn. We have two hours of debate. We'll have plenty of time. Let Hugh ask his question. +p1583 +aVSenator, please. +p1584 +aVSenator... +p1585 +aVYou'll have plenty of opportunity. Hugh, go ahead. +p1586 +aVThese are the rules all of you agreed to. Hugh, go ahead with your question. +p1587 +aVLet's continue with Russia right now. We have another question from Facebook. Listen and watch. +p1588 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you know, U.S. and Russian warplanes are flying all over Syria right now. With so many lives on the line, is this a good time for the United States not to talk to Putin? +p1589 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Christie, if the U.S. imposed a no-fly zone over Syria and a Russian plane encroached, invaded that no-fly zone, would you be prepared to shoot down that Russian plane and risk war with Russia? +p1590 +aVSenator Paul \u2014 Senator Paul, I want you to respond to what we just heard from Governor Christie. If there was a no-fly zone, you say that potentially could lead to World War III. Why? +p1591 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1592 +aVAll right, let's go back \u2014 Hugh and Dana? +p1593 +aVOne at a time. Hugh, go ahead. +p1594 +aVGovernor, thank you very much. So, Dr. Carson, you recently visited a refugee camp in Jordan and you deemed it your words, "really quite nice." Saying the people there didn't want to come to the United States. Do you think these camps are a long-term solution of the problem of Syrian refugees? +p1595 +aVSenator Paul, you oppose letting in Syrian refugees at this time into the United States. The U.S. has already accepted 2,000 Syrian refugees, including 13 living here in Las Vegas right now. Would you send them back? What would you do with these people? +p1596 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1597 +aVSenator Paul, you didn't answer the question about the 2,000 Syrian refugees who are already here in the United States. Will you send them back or let them stay? +p1598 +aVWe have another \u2014 we have another question. We have another question from Facebook. Let's listen. +p1599 +aVGovernor Christie, you say there should be a pause in allowing new refugees to come into the United States, including orphans under the age of five. What do you say to Carla? +p1600 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1601 +aVThank you, Governor. There is much more coming up. We are only just beginning. Coming up, what other global hot spots await the next president of the United States. +p1602 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate. We're here at the Venetian Las Vegas. Tonight we have been focusing on the Middle East, but let's turn to some other world threats that you will potentially face as Commander in Chief. Ms. Fiorina, candidates here have called the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un a maniac who is mentally unstable. Last week he said he now has a hydrogen bomb. If you were elected president, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p1603 +aVDr. Carson, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p1604 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Dana and Hugh you have questions as well. +p1605 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Some of you on this stage have questioned whether your opponents have temperament, the right temperament, to be in control of the nuclear codes. Dana, you have a question on this? +p1606 +aVThank you, senator. Thank you. +p1607 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1608 +aVThank you, Senator. We're a month and a half away now from the first real test who will be the Republican presidential nominee. Hugh, you have a question? +p1609 +aVAll right. Candidates, we have more coming up. When we come back, everyone will have an opportunity to explain why this particular candidate, each of you on the stage, believes he or she should be the Republican presidential nominee. +p1610 +aVNow it's time for the closing statements from the candidates. Each one has 30 seconds. Senator Paul. +p1611 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1612 +aVGovernor Christie. +p1613 +aVMs. Fiorina. +p1614 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1615 +aVSenator Rubio. +p1616 +aVSenator Cruz. +p1617 +aVDr. Carson. +p1618 +aVThanks to all the Republican presidential candidates. That does it for this Republican presidential debate. +p1619 +aVI'd now like to ask the candidates to please take your places while I tell you a little bit more about how tonight's debate will work. As the moderator, I'll guide the discussion asking questions and follow-ups, as will Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt. Candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have a minutes and 15 seconds to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you're singled out for criticism. We have timing lights that are visible to the candidates, those lights will warn you when your time is up. And as the candidates requested, a bell will sound like this. We know you're all eager to jump in and debate these important issues, but please wait until you're called on. Now that everyone is this place, it's time for the candidates to introduce themselves to our audience. You'll each have one minute. Senator Graham, you're first. +p1620 +aVGovernor Pataki. +p1621 +aVSenator Santorum. +p1622 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p1623 +aVLet's begin. The United States just suffered the worst terrorist attack since 9-11, the murder of 14 people by two terrorists, one of whom was an American citizen. In response, Republican frontrunner Donald Trump proposed a temporary ban on all Muslims coming into the United States until the government can figure out what is going on. Senator Graham, the polls show most Republicans do support Mr. Trump. What do you say to them? +p1624 +aVSenator Graham, you say you'd rather lose the election without Trump than try to win with him. Does that mean you'll be voting for the Democratic nominee if Donald Trump wins the presidential nomination? +p1625 +aVGovernor Pataki, you mentioned Donald Trump in your opening statement. You've also suggested Mr. Trump's plan is un-American and absurd. Why? +p1626 +aVSenator Santorum, you object to Mr. Trump's proposals on the grounds that it's unworkable. You've made religious liberty a hallmark of your career. Do you believe in religious liberty for Muslims as well as Christians? +p1627 +aVSenator Graham. +p1628 +aVSenator Santorum. +p1629 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you called Mr. Trump's plan to ban Muslims impossible and unconstitutional. But what is your specific plan to prevent would-be Jihadists from carrying out attacks against Americans? +p1630 +aVThe terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino have sparked a debate here in the United States about the balance between privacy and security. I want to bring in CNN's Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt for more on this. +p1631 +aVGovernor Pataki. +p1632 +aVThere are a lot of people who have been frustrated, especially Senator Graham, that law enforcement can't tap into information on terrorist cell phones. Senator Graham has called on companies in Silicon Valley to change their business models. As president of the United States, would you force these companies to change their models so the government can better monitor the traffic on these cell phones? +p1633 +aVSenator Graham? +p1634 +aVSenator Graham. +p1635 +aVHere is a question we have on the fight against +p1636 +aVGovernor Huckabee, how would you defeat +p1637 +aVSenator Graham, you have an aggressive military plan to try to defeat +p1638 +aVSenator Santorum, following up on what we just heard from Senator Graham, at least one U.S. intelligence report from the White House has concluded that, in order to defeat +p1639 +aVSenator Graham, you're shaking your head. +p1640 +aVI'm going to bring Governor Pataki in a minute, but go ahead and respond, Senator Graham. +p1641 +aVGovernor Pataki, should the U.S. send ground troops into Syria? +p1642 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you have not put a number of how many U.S. ground troops would be needed to combat +p1643 +aVSenator Graham, and I just want to remind our viewers, you want 10,000 U.S. ground troops in Iraq, and 10,000 in Syria? +p1644 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you have said as president you would tell +p1645 +aVSenator Samtorum? +p1646 +aVGovernor Pataki, you support ground troops - deploying grounds troops. +p1647 +aVThe U.S. Army's Former Cheif of Staff, General Raymond Odierno said that, and I'm quoting, "now +p1648 +aVBut how long would you be willing to commit U.S. troops to fight +p1649 +aVSenator Graham, you called for U.S. ground troops as we know in Iraq and Syria. +p1650 +aVAs you know, there's a growing +p1651 +aVAre you ready to deploy U.S. troops to Libya to try to defeat +p1652 +aVSenator? Senator, are you ready to commit U.S. ground troops to Libya? +p1653 +aVAlright, gentleman, standby. The fight against +p1654 +aVWe're live here at the Venetian in Las Vegas. Welcome back. As the U.S. fight against +p1655 +aVWe have a video question from Facebook. Let's watch. +p1656 +aVGovernor Pataki. +p1657 +aVHe says he was wondering with U.S. designated state sponsors of terrorism like Iran and other traditional U.S. enemies fighting +p1658 +aVHugh Hewitt and Dana Bash have questions. Hugh go ahead. +p1659 +aVGovernor Pataki, let me stick with you. Governor Pataki, a U.S. Army Sargent Bowe Bergdahl now facing a court marshall after leaving his base in Afghanistan, getting captured by the Taliban - Donald Trump, has called for his execution. The former house speak John Boehner says "he's innocent until proven guilty." Where do you stand? +p1660 +aVSenator Graham, where do you stand? +p1661 +aVGovernor Huckabee? Governor Huckbee, +p1662 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Pataki, speaking of those four Americans being held in Iran right now. Iran has suggested they might be willing to have a prisoner swap, release Iranian prisoners held in the United States, in exchange for those four Americans. Would you support that? +p1663 +aVWe have to take a quick break, but, Governor, Israel has exchanged a lot of the prisoners it was holding for Israeli soldiers who were being held by Hamas, for example. +p1664 +aVThank you. Let's take another quick break. The scramble, the scramble to protect Americans after +p1665 +aVWelcome back to the Republican Presidential Debate here at the Venetian in Las Vegas. Gentlemen, in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks, the Obama Administration policy of allowing Syrian refugees to come into the United States has come under fire. Senator Santorum, you say accepting Syrian refugees is dangerous. You say it just takes one Jihadist to destroy the world. Do you think there is any way to properly vet refugees coming into the United States? +p1666 +aVGovernor Pataki, you have said you wouldn't accept a single Syrian refugee. What should become of them? +p1667 +aVLet's go back to Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt for more questions. Dana? +p1668 +aVThank you, Senator. Gentlemen, standby, we are going to take another very quick break. Coming up, with America on edge, who has what it takes to be the next Commander in Chief? These candidates, they will make their case. +p1669 +aVWelcome back. We're live here at the Venetian Las Vegas. Gentlemen, it's time for your closing statements. Each candidate will have 30 seconds. Senator graham, you're first. +p1670 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Pataki. +p1671 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum. +p1672 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee. +p1673 +aVThank you. Thanks to all of the candidates for a very important discussion on critically important issues. This debate night is just getting started here at the Venetian Las Vegas. The top nine candidates, they are standing by for their turn on this stage in just a little while. I'll be back as the moderator. +p1674 +asVMODERATOR +p1675 +(lp1676 +VComing up more of our debate, including questions about President Obama's foreign policy and these guys and their better ideas. Coming up. +p1677 +asVFIORINA +p1678 +(lp1679 +VLike all of you I'm angry. I'm angry at what's happening to our nation. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. Bombastic insults wont take it back. Political rhetoric that promises a lot and delivers little, won't take it back. All of our problems can be solved. All of our wounds can be healed by a tested leader who is willing to fight for the character of our nation. I have been tested. I have beaten breast cancer. I have buried a child. I started as a secretary. I fought my way to the top of corporate America while being called every B word in the book. I fought my way into this election and on to this debate stage while all the political insiders and the pundits told, "it couldn't be done." I've been told, "no,: all my life. And all my life, I've refused to accept no as an answer. Citizens, it is time to take our country back from the political class, from the media, from the liberal elite. It can be done, it must be done, join me and we will get it done. +p1680 +aVWhat I think we need to stand for are solutions. I offer myself as a leader to the people of this country because I think they're looking for solutions, not lawyers arguing over laws or entertainers throwing out sound bites that draw media attention. We need to solve the problem. To solve the problem, we need to do something here at home and something over there in their caliphate. We need to deny them territory. But here at home, we need to do two fundamental things. Number one, we need to recognize that technology has moved on. The Patriot Act was signed in 2001, roughly. The iPhone was invented in 2007. The iPad was invented in 2011. Snapchat and Twitter, all the rest of it, have been around just for several years. Technology has moved on, and the terrorists have moved on with it. Let me tell you a story. Soon after 9/11, I got a phone call from the NSA. They needed help. I gave them help. I stopped a truckload of equipment. I had it turned around. It was escorted by the NSA into headquarters. We need the private sector's help, because government is not innovating. Technology is running ahead by leaps and bound. The private sector will help, just as I helped after 9/11. But they must be engaged, and they must be asked. I will ask them. I know them. +p1681 +aVYou know, listening to this conversation, let me just say, we have a lot of argument about laws but none of it solves the problem. Let's examine what happened, why did we miss the Tsarnaev brothers, why did we miss the San Bernardino couple? It wasn't because we had stopped collected metadata it was because, I think, as someone who comes from the technology world, we were using the wrong algorithms. This is a place where the private sector could be helpful because the government is woefully behind the technology curve. But secondly, the bureaucratic processes that have been in place since 9/11 are woefully inadequate as well. What do we now know? That DHS vets people by going into databases of known or suspected terrorists. And yet, we also know that +p1682 +aVThey do not need to be forced. They need to be asked to bring the best and brightest, the most recent technology to the table. I was asked as a CEO. I complied happily. And they will as well. But they have not been asked. That's why it cost billions of dollars to build an Obama website that failed because the private sector wasn't asked. +p1683 +aVI hope at some point you're going to ask me my strategy. +p1684 +aVWell, first I'll just point out that talking tough is not the same as being strong. And to wage war, we need a commander in chief who has made tough calls in tough times and stood up to be held accountable over and over, not first-term senators who've never made an executive decision in their life. One of the things I would immediately do, in addition to defeating them here at home, is bring back the warrior class \u2014 Petraeus, McChrystal, Mattis, Keane, Flynn. Every single one of these generals I know. Every one was retired early because they told President Obama things that he didn't want to hear. We must have Sunni-Arabs involved in this coalition. We must commit leadership, strength, support and resolve. I'll just add that Margaret Thatcher once said, "If you want something talked about, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman." +p1685 +aVThat is exactly what President Obama said. I'm amazed to hear that from a republican presidential candidate. But let's just start with, who got it wrong? Who really got it wrong? Hillary Clinton has gotten every foreign policy challenge wrong. Hitting the reset button with Vladimir Putin \u2013 recall that she called Bashar Al-Assad a positive reformer and then she opened an embassy and then later she said, over, and over, and over again, "Bashar Al-Assad must go." Although she wasn't prepared to do anything about it. Recall that Hillary Clinton was all for toppling Gadhafi then didn't listen to her own people on the ground. And then of course, when she lied about the terrorist attack in Benghazi, she invited more terrorist attacks. +p1686 +aVWe've mismanaged going into Iraq. +p1687 +aVWe've mismanaged going out of Iraq. +p1688 +aVWe actually... +p1689 +aVI didn't say I would cut off all communication with Putin. What I said was as president of the United States, now is not the time to talk with him. Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. There is a time and a place for everything. There is a time and a place for talk. And there is a time and a place for action. I know Vladimir Putin. He respects strength. He lied to our president's face; didn't both to tell him about warplanes and troops going into Syria. We need to speak to him from a position of strength. So as commander in chief, I will not speak to him until we've set up that no-fly zone; until we've gathered our Sunni-Arab allies and begun to deny +p1690 +aVThis doesn't do a thing to solve the problems...It doesn't do a thing to solve the problems. +p1691 +aVIt will not solve the problem. +p1692 +aVLadies and gentleman, this is why the American people are standing up. +p1693 +aVThis is why the nation is fed up... +p1694 +aVWe have been talking about this... +p1695 +aVSorry, but you haven't gotten to me. This is why... +p1696 +aVthe people are fed up with the political class. +p1697 +aVWell, first, Kim Jong-Un is a dangerous leader, without a doubt. And both Republican and Democrat administrations have been completely ineffective in dealing with him. So we must continue to isolate him. We will need China as part of that strategy. China is a rising adversary. So one of the things we have to do if we want China's support is to push back on China. They, too, recognize one thing \u2014 strength and their own economic interest. I have done business in China for 25 years, so I know that in order to get China to cooperate with us, we must first actually retaliate against their cyber-attacks so they know we're serious. We have to push back on their desire to control the trade route through the South China Sea through which flows $5 trillion worth of goods and services every year. We cannot let them control the disputed islands, and we must work with the Australians, the South Koreans, the Japanese and the Filipinos to contain China. And then we must ask for their support and their help with North Korea. Because believe it or not, China is as concerned about Kim Jong-Un as we are. +p1698 +aVI too remember September 11th. I remember immediately putting into place security procedures all throughout our company that did business in 170 countries where we thought corporate interests would be attacked next. To take our country back, to keep our nation safe, we have to begin by beating Hillary Clinton. We need to unify our party. We need to better than our government, which 75 percent of the American people now think is corrupt and incompetent. They're right. We need to better than our politics. 80 percent think we have a professional/political class of both parties that cares more about its power, position and privilege than actually on getting anything done. We need to unify our party, we need a real Conservative in the White House, and we need to beat Hillary Clinton to take our country back and keep our nation safe. I can. I am. And together, if you join me, we will take our country back. +p1699 +aVWell, first of all, I must say as I think about that question, I think about a woman I met the other day. I would guess she was 40 years old. She had several children. And she said to me, you know, Carly, I go to bed every night afraid for my children's future. And that really struck me. This is America. A mother is going to bed afraid for her children's future. And the reason she's afraid for her children's future is because we've had problems for a long time. Yes, problems have gotten much worse under Democrats. But the truth is, this government has been growing bigger and bigger, more corrupt, less effective, crushing the engine of economic growth for a very long time. This isn't about just replacing a Democrat with a Republican now. It's about actually challenging the status quo of big government. Big government has created a big business called politics. And there are lots of people invested in the status quo of that big business called politics. Specifically, we need actually to do five things to really get this economy going again. We need to go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dollar is being spent, we can challenge any dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. We need to actually reform the tax code. Go to a three-page tax code. Yes, there are plans that would reform our tax code to three pages. In addition to rolling back what President Obama has done, we need to do a top-to-bottom review of every single regulation on the books. That hasn't been done in 50 years. We need to pass the +p1700 +aVWell, first Obamacare has to be repealed because it's failing... ...it's failing the very people it was intended to help, but, also, it is croney-capitalism at its worst. Who helped write this bill? Drug companies, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, every single one of those kinds of companies are bulking up to deal with big government. See, that's what happens. As government gets bigger, and bigger \u2014 and it has been for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike \u2014 and business have to bulk up to deal with big government. So, we have to repeal it. It's tens of thousands of pages long, no one can possible understand it except the big companies, the lawyers, the accountants, the lobbyists that they hire to protect their interests. Then, we have to give back to states the responsibility to manage a high risk pool. We need to try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried. Health insurance has always been a cozy, little game between regulators and health insurance companies. We need to try the free market. The free market. Where people actually have to compete. And, we 'ought to have the government ensure that you must \u2014 and I don't use that term often, that government 'ought to do something, but every healthcare provider 'ought to publish its costs, its prices, its outcomes, because as patients we don't know what we're buying. Now, let me just say \u2014 let me just say, I know more about innovation and entrepreneurship than anyone on this panel because I have led innovative businesses in the most highly competitive industry in the world for decades. The truth is the secret sauce of America is innovation, and entrepreneurship, it is why we must cut our government down to size, and hold it accountable. It's why we have to take our government back, because innovation and entrepreneurship is crushed by the crushing load of a 73,000 page tax code. It is crushed... ...by regulatory thicket that is so vast we don't even know what's in it anymore. It is crushed as well by government bureaucrats who don't do their jobs very well, and who are not held accountable, which is why I've said we got to take our government back, and to do that, we have to know where every dollar being spent, and be able to move any dollar. We have to hack through this regulatory thicket, repeal so much, but, also, know what's in that regulatory thicket \u2014 we don't even know what regulations have been passed. Third, we need to build a meritocracy \u2014 Scott Walker, by the way, is trying now to do in Wisconsin... ...Finally, we need to get to a three page tax code, and, yes, that plan exists. +p1701 +aVSorry, I can't hear you. +p1702 +aV...Absolutely... +p1703 +aV...You need to give... +p1704 +aVThe alternative is to allow states to manage high risk pools for those who really need help. Look, I'm a cancer survivor, OK? I understand that you cannot have someone who's battled cancer just become known as a pre-existing condition. I understand that you cannot allow families to go bankrupt if they truly need help. But, I also understand that Obamacare isn't helping anyone. We're throwing more, and more people into Medicaid, and fewer, and fewer doctors are taking those payments. The point is Obamacare is crushing small businesses, it is not helping the families it was intended to help. So, let us allow states to manage high risk pools. Let us try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried, the free market. Let us ensure that as patients, and customers... +p1705 +aV...that we have information to shop wisely for our health care. +p1706 +aV...Yes, the middle ground is this... +p1707 +aV...This is why \u2014 this is why we must combine, actually, zero-based budgeting with tax reform because unless we can examine, and cut, and move, every single dollar of discretionary spending in the federal government, we cannot reform taxes and reduce spending at the same time. Ask yourself this question, how is it possible that the federal government gets more money each and every year, which the federal government has been doing, receiving more money every year for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike, and yet, never has enough money to do the important things? The answer? All the money's always spoken for. All the money's spoken for. So, we have to go to zero-based budgeting, which is a simple idea \u2014 by the way, there's been a bill for zeros-based (ph) budgeting... ...It exists, it can be voted on. Every dollar must be examined. Any dollar can be cut. Any dollar can be cut, any dollar can be moved. We have to go to a three page tax code. You lower every rate, you close every loophole, why? Because the government uses the tax code to decide winners, and losers. You have to strip the corruption out of the tax code to pay for it. You have to know where every single dollar is being spent... +p1708 +aV...Cut where you need to, and invest where you need to... +p1709 +aV...The two go hand in hand... +p1710 +aVYou know, Mr. Trump fancies himself a very good negotiator. And, I accept that he's done a lot of good deals, so, Mr. Trump 'ought to know that we should not speak to people from a position of weakness. Senator Paul should know that as well. One of the reasons I've said that I would not be talking to Vladimir Putin right now, although I have met him as well, not in a green room for a show, but in a private meeting. One of the reasons I've said I wouldn't be talking to Vladimir Putin right now is because we are speaking to him from a position of weakness brought on by this administration, so, I wouldn't talk to him for awhile, but, I would do this. I would start rebuilding the Sixth Fleet right under his nose, rebuilding the military \u2014 the missile defense program in Poland right under his nose. I would conduct very aggressive military exercises in the Baltic States so that he understood we would protect our +p1711 +aV...we have the strongest military on the face of the planet, and everyone has to know it. +p1712 +aV...Ronald Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. +p1713 +aV...he walked away, he quit talks... +p1714 +aV...when it was time to quit talking... +p1715 +aVCan I just \u2014 could I just say, as a chief executive who's had to make tough calls to save jobs and to grow jobs, I think what's interesting about Dodd-Frank is it's a great example of how socialism starts. Socialism starts when government creates a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. Government created the problem. Government created the problem of a real estate boom. How did we create it? Under Republican and Democrats alike, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, everybody gathered together, Republicans and Democrats, and said, "home ownership is part of the American dream. Let's create a bubble," and then government stepped in \u2014 by the way, under president George W. Bush, banks were told \u2014 encouraged \u2014 told, really \u2014 to buy other banks, to take money. And now what do we have with Dodd-Frank? The classic of crony capitalism. The big have gotten bigger, 1,590 community banks have gone out of business, and on top of all that, we've created something called the Consumer Financial Production Bureau, a vast bureaucracy with no congressional oversight that's digging through hundreds of millions of your credit records to detect fraud. This is how socialism starts, ladies and gentlemen. We must take our government back. +p1716 +aVImagine a Clinton presidency. Our military will continue to deteriorate. Our veterans will not be cared for. And, no, Mrs. Clinton, that situation is not exaggerated. The rich will get richer. The poor will get poorer. The middle class will continue to get crushed. And as bad as that picture is, what's even worse is that a Clinton presidency will corrode the character of this nation. Why? Because of the Clinton way: Say whatever you have to, lie as long as you can get away with it. We must beat Hillary Clinton. Carly Fiorina can beat Hillary Clinton. I will beat Hillary Clinton. And under a President Fiorina, we will restore the character of this nation, the security of this nation, the prosperity of this nation, because as citizens, we will take our government back. +p1717 +aVWell, gee, after the last debate, I was told that I didn't smile enough. +p1718 +aVBut I also think that these are very serious times; 75 percent of the American people think the federal government is corrupt. I agree with them. And this big powerful, corrupt bureaucracy works now only for the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected. Meantime, wages have stagnated for 40 years. We have more Americans out of work or just Americans who quit looking for work for 40 years. Ours was intended to be a citizen government. This is about more than replacing a D with an R. We need a leader who will help us take our government back. +p1719 +aVLet me just say on taxes, how long have we been talking about tax reform in Washington, D.C.? We have been talking about it for decades. We now have a 73,000-page tax code. There have been more than 4,000 changes to the tax plan since 2001 alone. There are loads of great ideas, great conservative ideas from wonderful think tanks about how to reform the tax code. The problem is we never get it done. We have talked about tax reform in every single election for decades. It never happens. And the politicians always say it is so complicated, nobody but a politician can figure it out. The truth is this, the big problem, we need a leader in Washington who understands how to get something done, not to talk about it, not to propose it, to get it done. +p1720 +aVThat's right, three pages. +p1721 +aVYou know why three? +p1722 +aVNo. You know why three? Because only if it's about three pages are you leveling the playing field between the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected who can hire the armies of lawyers and accountants and, yes, lobbyists to help them navigate their way through 73,000 pages. Three pages is about the maximum that a single business owner or a farmer or just a couple can understand without hiring somebody. Almost 60 percent of American people now need to hire an expert to understand their taxes. So yes, you're going to hear a lot of talk about tax reform \u2014 +p1723 +aV\u2014 the issue is who is going to get it done. +p1724 +aVYou know, the +p1725 +aVWell, this is one of the reasons why Tom Perkins and I had disagreements in the boardroom, Becky. Nevertheless, one of the things that I think people don't always understand is how accountable a CEO actually is. So you know, I had to report results every 90 days in excruciating detail. I had to answer every single question about every single result and every single projection in public until there were no more questions. And if I misrepresented those results or those projections in any way, I was held criminally liable. Imagine \u2014 imagine \u2014 if a politician were held to that standard of account. I will run on my record all day long. And I believe people need a leader who is prepared to make tough calls in tough times and stand up... +p1726 +aV...and be held accountable. +p1727 +aVYou know, I want to go back for a moment to what we were just talking about. Crony capitalism is alive and well, and has been so in Washington, D.C. for decades. What's crony capitalism? Crony capitalism is what happens when government gets so big and so powerful that only the big and the powerful can handle it. So why are the pharmaceutical companies consolidating? Why are there five even bigger Wall Street banks now, instead of the ten we used to have on Wall Street? Because when government gets big and powerful, the big feel like they need to get even bigger to deal with all that power, and meanwhile, the small and the powerless \u2014 in this case, 1,590 community banks \u2014 go out of business. You see, folks, this is how socialism starts. Government causes a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. This is why, fundamentally, we have to take our government back. The student loan problem has been created by government. Government trying to level the playing field between Internet and brick-and-mortar creates a problem. The FCC jumping in now and saying, "we're going to put 400 pages of regulation over the Internet," is going to create massive problems. But guess who pushed for that regulation? The big Internet companies. This is what's going on. Big and powerful use big and powerful government to their advantage. It's why you see Walgreens buying Rite Aid. It's why you see the pharmaceuticals getting together. It's you see the health insurance companies getting together. It's why you see the banks consolidating. And meanwhile, small businesses are getting crushed. Community- based businesses and farms are getting crushed. Community banks are going out of business. Big government favors the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected, and crushes the small and the powerless. +p1728 +aVIt is why we have to simplify. It is why we have to reduce the size and power of government. +p1729 +aVIt's the only way to level the playing field between big and powerful and small and powerless. +p1730 +aVBecky, it is the height of hypocrisy for Mrs. Clinton to talk about being the first woman President, when every single policy she espouses, and every single policy of President Obama has been demonstrably bad for women. 92 percent \u2014 92 percent of the jobs lost during Barack Obama's first term belonged to women. Senator Cruz is precisely right. Three million women have fallen into poverty under this administration. The number of women \u2014 +p1731 +aV\u2014 living in extreme poverty is the highest level on record. I am a conservative because I know our values, our principles and our policies \u2014 +p1732 +aV\u2014 work better to lift everyone up, men and women. +p1733 +aVNo, the Federal Government should not play a larger role. Look, every time the Federal Government gets engaged in something it gets worse. And then the Government steps in to try and solve the problem and we get a little further down to that progressive vision that Hillary Clinton is talking about. Companies should, if they want to attract the best workers, provide a good set of benefits. But honestly, if you're a small business owner today you are being crushed. We have 400,000 small businesses forming every year in this country. How great is that? They are employing themselves, they are potentially employing others. The bad news is, we have 470,000 going out of business every year. And why? They cite Obamacare. They are refusing to... +p1734 +aVI think it's a wonderful that that businesses start a 401(k). The point I'm making is this, the Federal Government should not be in a lot of things. There is no Constitutional role for the Federal Government in setting up \u2014 retirement plans. There is no Constitutional role for the Federal Government to be setting minimum wages... +p1735 +aV... The more the Government gets engaged in the economy, the slower the economy becomes. The more the Government gets engaged in the economy, it is demonstrably true... +p1736 +aV... The more the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected are advantaged. +p1737 +aVJohn, I \u2014 if I \u2014 a lot of people have jumped in here. I'd like to jump in. A lot of people have jumped in here. +p1738 +aVI understand. +p1739 +aVI would just say that... ... I would just say this, we've heard a lot of great ideas up here, and I agree with what Senator Rubio said. Every election we talk about this. Every election we talk about Medicare and Social Security reform. It never happens. I would like to start with a basic. Let us actually go to zero- based budgeting so we know where the money is being spent. It's kind of basic. There is a bill sitting in the House that would actually pass and have us go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dime of your money is being spent instead of only talking about how much more we're going to spend year after year after year. My point is this. While there are lots of good ideas for reform, we have never tackled the basics. And we finally need to tackle the basics to cut this government down to size and hold it accountable. So let's start by knowing where your money is being spent by the federal government. +p1740 +aVYou know, every election we hear a lot of talk. We hear a lot of good plans. We hear actually a lot of good intentions. But somehow for decades, nothing really has changed. What we need now is a proven leader who has produced results. That's how you go from secretary to CEO. You lead and you produce results. I will cut this government down to size and hold it accountable, simplify the tax code, roll back the regulations that have been spewing out of Washington, D.C. for 50 years. I may not be your dream candidate just yet, but I can assure you I am Hillary Clinton's worst nightmare. And in your heart of hearts, you cannot wait to see a debate between Hillary Clinton and Carly Fiorina. I will tell you this, I will beat Hillary Clinton. And with your vote and your support and your prayers, I will lead with the citizens of this great nation the resurgence of this great nation. +p1741 +aVGood evening. My story, from secretary to CEO, is only possible in this nation, and proves that everyone of us has potential. My husband, Frank, of 30 years, started out driving a tow truck for a family owned auto body shop. We have come to a pivotal point in our nation's history where this nation's possibilities and potential are being crushed by a government grown so big, so powerful, so inept, so corrupt, and a political class that refuses to do anything about it. I am prepared to lead the resurgence of this great nation. +p1742 +aVYou know, I think Mr. Trump is a wonderful entertainer. He's been terrific at that business. I also think that one of the benefits of a presidential campaign is the character and capability, judgment and temperament of every single one of us is revealed over time and under pressure. All of us will be revealed over time and under pressure. I look forward to a long race. +p1743 +aVThat's not for me to answer; it is for the voters of this country to answer, and I have a lot of faith in the common sense and good judgment of the voters of the United States of America. +p1744 +aVJake, I'll tell you \u2014 I'll tell you why people are supporting outsiders. It's because you know what happens if someone's been in the system their whole life, they don't know how broken the system is. A fish swims in water, it doesn't know it's water. It's not that politicians are bad people, it's that they've been in that system forever. The truth is 75 percent of the American people think the government is corrupt; 82 percent of the American people think these problems that have festered for 50 years in some cases, 25 years in other cases. The border's been insecure for 25 years; 307,000 veterans have died waiting for health care. These things have gone on for so long because no one will challenge the status quo. You know what a leader does? They challenge the status quo, they solve problems that have festered for a long time and they produce results. That is what my whole life has been about. People know this is about far more than replacing a D with an R \u2014 +p1745 +aV\u2014 this is about changing the system. +p1746 +aVHaving... +p1747 +aVHaving met Vladimir Putin, if I may... +p1748 +aVHaving met Vladimir Putin, I wouldn't talk to him at all. We've talked way too much to him. What I would do, immediately, is begin rebuilding the Sixth Fleet, I would begin rebuilding the missile defense program in Poland, I would conduct regular, aggressive military exercises in the Baltic states. I'd probably send a few thousand more troops into Germany. Vladimir Putin would get the message. By the way, the reason it is so critically important that every one of us know General Suleimani's name is because Russia is in Syria right now, because the head of the Quds force traveled to Russia and talked Vladimir Putin into aligning themselves with Iran and Syria to prop up Bashar al- Assad. Russia is a bad actor, but Vladimir Putin is someone we should not talk to, because the only way he will stop is to sense strength and resolve on the other side, and we have all of that within our control. We could rebuild the Sixth Fleet. I will. We haven't. We could rebuild the missile defense program. We haven't. I will. We could also, to Senator Rubio's point, give the Egyptians what they've asked for, which is intelligence. We could give the Jordanians what they've asked for... +p1749 +aV...bombs and materiel. We have not supplied it... +p1750 +aV...I will. We could arm the Kurds. They've been asking us for three years. All of this is within our control. +p1751 +aV...Jake... +p1752 +aV...Jake, ... +p1753 +aVAnd then it'll be my turn. +p1754 +aVJake? +p1755 +aVJake? +p1756 +aVDana, I'd like to... +p1757 +aVDana, I would like to link these two issues, both of which are incredibly important, Iran and Planned Parenthood. One has something to do with the defense of the security of this nation. The other has something to do with the defense of the character of this nation. You have not heard a plan about Iran from any politician up here, here is my plan. On day one in the Oval Office, I will make two phone calls, the first to my good friend to Bibi Netanyahu to reassure him we will stand with the state of Israel. The second, to the supreme leader, to tell him that unless and until he opens every military and every nuclear facility to real anytime, anywhere inspections by our people, not his, we, the United States of America, will make it as difficult as possible and move money around the global financial system. We can do that, we don't need anyone's cooperation to do it. And every ally and every adversary we have in this world will know that the United States in America is back in the leadership business, which is how we must stand with our allies. As regards Planned Parenthood, anyone who has watched this videotape, I dare Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama to watch these tapes. Watch a fully formed fetus on the table, it's heart beating, it's legs kicking while someone says we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain. This is about the character of our nation, and if we will not stand up in and force President Obama to veto this bill, shame on us. +p1758 +aVYou know, it's interesting to me, Mr. Trump said that he heard Mr. Bush very clearly and what Mr. Bush said. I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said. +p1759 +aVDana, with all being said to Mr. Trump... +p1760 +aVImmigration did not come up in 2016 because Mr. Trump brought it up. We talked about it in 2012, we talked about it in 2008. We talked about it in 2004. +p1761 +aVWe have been talking about it for 25 years. This is why people are tired of politicians. +p1762 +aVFirst let me say, We have just spent a good bit of time discussing, as Republicans, how to solve this problem. I would ask your audience at home to ask a very basic question. Why have Democrats not solved this problem? President Obama campaigned in 2007 and 2008 on solving the immigration problem. He entered Washington with majorities in the House and the Senate. He could have chosen to do anything to solve this pro \u2014 this problem. Instead, he chose to do nothing. Why? because the Democrats don't want this issue solved. +p1763 +aVThey want it to be an issue that they can use. As to birthright citizenship... +p1764 +aV...the truth is, you can't just wave your hands and say "the 14th Amendment is gonna go away." It will take an extremely arduous vote in Congress, followed by two-thirds of the states, and if that doesn't work to amend the Constitution, then it is a long, arduous process in court. And meanwhile, what will continue to go on is what has gone on for 25 years. With all due respect, Mr. Trump, we've been talking about illegal immigration for 25 years. San Francisco has been a sanctuary city since 1989. There are 300 of them. And meanwhile, what has happened? Nothing. The border remains insecure. The legal immigration system remains broken. Look, we know what it takes to secure a border. We've heard a lot of great ideas here. Money, manpower, technology... +p1765 +aV...mostly, apparently, leadership... +p1766 +aV...the kind of leadership that understands how to get results. +p1767 +aVBut you \u2014 you would stipulate, Mr. Trump, but not everyone agrees with you. +p1768 +aVOK. +p1769 +aVI led Hewlett Packard through a very difficult time, the worst technology recession in 25 years. The +p1770 +aV\u2014 out a full-page ad in the New York Times to say he was wrong, I was right. I was a terrific CEO, the board was dysfunctional. And he thinks I will make a magnificent president of the United States. +p1771 +aVYou know, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld is a well-known Clintonite and honestly had it out for me from the moment that I arrived at Hewlett Packard. But honestly, Mr. Trump, I find it quite rich that you would talk about this. You know, there are a lot of us Americans who believe that we are going to have trouble someday paying back the interest on our debt because politicians have run up mountains of debt using other people's money. That is in fact precisely the way you ran your casinos. You ran up mountains of debt, as well as losses, using other people's money, and you were forced to file for bankruptcy not once \u2014 +p1772 +aV\u2014 not twice, four times, a record four times. Why should we trust you to manage the finances \u2014 +p1773 +aV\u2014 of this nation any differently than you managed the finances \u2014 +p1774 +aV\u2014 of your casinos? +p1775 +aVWell \u2014 +p1776 +aVWell, Mr. Trump \u2014 +p1777 +aVA track record of leadership is not a game. It is the issue in this election. +p1778 +aVWell, I thought we had been hearing quite a bit about Govenor Christie's record as governor, actually. I think track records are very important. I completely agree that what's at stake here is the future of this nation, and the future of every American. But I do think that a track record of leadership is vital because in the end this election is about leadership. And let's talk about what leadership is. It's not about braggadocio, it is about challenging the status quo, solving problems, producing results. And the highest calling of leadership is to unlock potential in others. +p1779 +aVProblems have festered in Washington for too long. And the potential of this nation is being crushed. +p1780 +aVYou see, Governor Christie, people spend time talking about their track records, and Mr. Trump and I have every right to do the same. And Mrs. Clinton has to defend her track record. Her track record of lying about Benghazi, of lying about her e- mails, about lying about her servers. She does not have a track record of accomplishment. Like Mrs. Clinton, I, too, have travels hundreds of thousands of miles around the globe. But unlike Mrs. Clinton, I know flying is an activity, not an accomplishment. Mrs. Clinton \u2014 if you want to stump a Democrat, ask them to name a accomplishment of Mrs. Clinton's. +p1781 +aVWe just spent \u2014 we just spent the last 10 minutes... +p1782 +aV...Jake, since everyone has gotten to weigh in on this military issue, I'd like to be able to do the same. We have spent probably 12 minutes talking about the past. Let's talk about the future. We need the strongest military on the face of the planet, and everyone has to know it. And, specifically, what that means is we need about 50 Army brigades, we need about 36 Marine battalions, we need somewhere between 300, and 350 naval ships, we need to upgrade every leg of the nuclear triad... +p1783 +aV...we need to reform the Department of Defense, we need as well... +p1784 +aV...to invest in our military technology, and we need to care for our veterans so 307,000... +p1785 +aV...aren't dying waiting for health care. +p1786 +aVJake, may I just say... +p1787 +aVJake \u2014 Jake... +p1788 +aVI very much hope I am the only person on this stage who can say this, but I know there are millions of Americans out there who will say the same thing. My husband Frank and I buried a child to drug addiction. So, we must invest more in the treatment of drugs. +p1789 +aVI agree with Senator Paul. I agree with states' rights. But we are misleading young people when we tell them that marijuana is just like having a beer. It's not. And the marijuana that kids are smoking today is not the same as the marijuana that Jeb Bush smoked 40 years ago. We do \u2014 sorry, Barbara. We do need \u2014 we do need criminal justice reform. We have the highest incarceration rates in the world. Two-thirds of the people in our prisons are there for non-violent offenses, mostly drug related. It's clearly not working. But we need to tell young people the truth. Drug addiction is an epidemic, and it is taking too many of our young people. I know this sadly from personal experience. +p1790 +aVI wouldn't change the $10 bill, or the $20 bill. I think, honestly, it's a gesture. I don't think it helps to change our history. What I would think is that we ought to recognize that women are not a special interest group. Women are the majority of this nation. We are half the potential of this nation, and this nation will be better off when every woman has the opportunity to live the life she chooses. +p1791 +aVSecretariat. +p1792 +aVI think what this nation can be and must be is symbolized by Lady Liberty and Lady Justice. Lady Liberty stands tall and strong. She is clear-eyed and resolute. She doesn't shield her eyes from the realities of the world, but she faces outward into the world nevertheless, as we always must. And she holds her torch high, because she knows she is a beacon of hope in a very troubled world. And Lady Justice, Lady Justice holds a sword by her side, because she is a fighter, a warrior for the values and the principles that have made this nation great. She holds a scale in her other hand. And with that scale she says all of us are equal in the eyes of God. And so all of us must be equal in the eyes of the law and the government, powerful and powerless alike. And she wears a blindfold. And with that blindfold she is saying to us that it must be true, it can be true that in this country, in this century, it doesn't matter who you are, it doesn't matter what you look like, it doesn't matter how you start, it doesn't matter your circumstances, here in this nation, every American's life must be filled with the possibilities that come from their God-given gifts. One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. +p1793 +aVWhen America does not lead, the world is a dangerous and a tragic place. This is a bad deal. Obama broke every rule of negotiation. Yes, our allies are not perfect, but Iran is at the heart of most of the evil that is going on in the Middle East through their proxy. +p1794 +aVYou know, when I started my campaign on May 4th of last year, I was 17 out of 16 candidates. Nobody polled my name. Nobody had ever heard of me. Less than 4 percent of you had ever heard of me. The people in Iowa showed up and they are still showing up. Hundreds and hundreds of them at every event. I have done over 150 events in the state of Iowa and I have 15 more coming up. Now, by the way, I start there because someone asked me about midway through my campaign, what's the biggest surprise to you on the campaign trail? And I will tell you what the biggest surprise is: the chasm, the yawning chasm, between what the national media talks about and what the people of Iowa and the people of this great nation talk about. That's the biggest surprise. So guess what, Martha? Guess what, sorry. The people of Iowa never ask me about a crisis in the GOP, they never ask me about the polls. They never ask me about the other candidates. What they ask me about is Carly, tell us why zero based budgeting is so important. Tell us why you are a leader who is going to produce results. Tell us how you are going to defeat +p1795 +aVWell let me tell you this: news flash, President Obama, news flash, Mrs. Clinton -- climate change is not our most pressing national security threat. Actually -- actually, it is +p1796 +aVYou know, we have a professional, political class of both parties. We have been talking about the same issues for election cycle after election cycle. Yeah, government is big and out of control, and the only way to get it under control is to control the money. And the only way to control the money is to ask the federal government to budget the way you do, to examine every dollar, to cut any dollar to spend -- to move any dollar. The fancy word for that is zero-base budgeting. I call it common sense. That three-page tax code I talk about all the time here in Iowa? It's been around for 20 years. But politicians don't want to talk about it, and you bet the lobbyists don't want to talk about it. In fact, nobody wants to vote on a three-page tax code or zero- base budgeting, although they've both been around for a long time. You know why? Because if you get those two things done, you are goring everybody's ox. You are taking the political establishment apart. You are actually challenging the status quo, which is what we need in the Oval Office. So you know who I'm going to count on? The citizens of this great nation, because you have extraordinary power. But when you do not use it... ... you are losing it. So take out your smartphones, folks. The people of Iowa know what I'm talking about. You take out your smartphones. if you agree with me that three-page tax code needs to be passed, lobbyists aren't going to be in my office. If you agree we gotta finally pass zero-base budgeting, take out your smartphones. Press one for yes, ladies and gentlemen. Press two for no. Citizens, we must take our country back. +p1797 +aVWell, first of all, I haven't said that. What I have said is that in the process of examining every dollar, cutting any dollar and moving any dollar, we happen to know that in this vast federal bureaucracy we have about 260,000 federal government employees who are going to retire, and we shouldn't replace them. Secondly, at Hewlett Packard, as you know -- the people of Iowa know this -- we went through a tough time. The worst technology recession in 25 years -- a great company called Gateway used to do be right here in Iowa. But they didn't make the tough calls necessary to save all those jobs, and so they lost every one of those jobs. Yes, I've had to make some tough calls. We saved 80,000 jobs. We went on to grow to 160,000 jobs. And, frankly, I think the American people know we need a president who's going to make some tough calls. So let me tell you where I'm going to start. The American people got a bill passed through Congress that said we could fire the top 400 senior executives at the V.A. for dereliction of duty. When we know that 307,000 veterans have died waiting for health care and the V.A. handed out $142 million worth of bonuses for superb performance, I'm going to start by firing 400... ... senior executives at the V.A. +p1798 +aVHe is right there. He is right there. +p1799 +aVIt wasn't a personal attack. I was pointing out the fact that Hillary Clinton will do anything to gain and hang on to power, anything. Listen, if my husband did what Bill Clinton did, I would have left him long ago. So, here's the deal. Hillary Clinton has been climbing the ladder to try and get power and here now she is trying for the White House. She is probably more qualified for the big house, honestly. She has escaped prosecution more times than El Chapo, perhaps Sean Penn should interview her. The woman should be prosecuted. And while Mrs. Clinton has flown hundreds of thousands of world around the global, I have too. And I know flying is an activity not an accomplishment. While I know that she has held many positions and many titles she has not accomplished much of anything in her life. She has gotten every single foreign policy challenge wrong. She continues to lie to the American people. It's called the Clinton way. Both Bill and Hillary practice it, the Clinton way. Say whatever you have to say, do whatever you have to say. Lie as long as you can get away with it. Hillary Clinton cannot be the president of these United States. +p1800 +aVWell, you know, Hillary Clinton hasn't been indicted either. So that tells us a lot about our justice system in this country. But, look, the facts of Planned Parenthood have not changed, folks, and I will not be rendered silent on this issue or any other issue. And it doesn't matter what stage I'm on. Here are the facts. Planned Parenthood engages in partial birth abortion, in late-term abortion. They alter those abortion techniques to harvest and sell body parts. They have admitted that they are not going to accept compensation for this anymore. The reality is, most Americans find this practice horrific. Most Americans find horrific that Hillary Clinton's position on this is it's not a life until it's born. Most Americans find horrific Hillary Clinton's position or the Democrat party's position, that a young woman does not need her mother's permission to get an abortion. But if you are 13 years old, you can get an abortion, but you can't go to a tanning salon without your mother's permission. A president Fiorina -- in a president Fiorina budget, there will not be one dime for Planned Parenthood, although there would be a lot of money for women's health and we will finally pass the pain capable unborn child protection act. I will always stand for life and religious liberty... ... because this is about the character of our nation. +p1801 +aVMartha, can I just say we've been talking tonight about a lot of issues and we've also been talking about the fact that the game is rigged and frankly, the media has a lot to do with that. It is outrageous frankly, that Fox News, and you, would question the pro-life credentials of Rick Santorum. That is outrageous. +p1802 +aVIn over 150 events I have come to know and love the people of Iowa. And the people of Iowa know what the rest of Americans have figured out, this ain't working anymore. The government no longer works for those who pay for it. The professional political class says and does whatever they need to do to win, and then does whatever they please. We need to return to a citizen government. That is why I am running for President. The media, the establishment, they all want to tell you this elections over, they know who's going to win it, except that you haven't... ... cast a single vote yet. So, the people of Iowa, stand with me, fight with me. Caucus for me. It is time to take our country back. +p1803 +aVWell, thank you. Good evening. If I may begin by saying how honored I am to be standing here with two former Iowa Caucus winners. Governor, Senator. And how honored I am to be talking with all of you. You know, I'm not a political insider. I haven't spent my lifetime running for office. The truth is I have had and been blessed by a lot of opportunities to do a lot of things in my life. And unlike another woman in this race, I actually love spending time with my husband. I'm standing here because I think we have to restore a citizen government in this country. I think we have to end crony capitalism. The crony capitalism that starts with both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. You know, Hillary Clinton sits inside government and rakes in millions, handing out access and favors. And Donald Trump sits outside government and rakes in billions buying people like Hillary Clinton. The state of our economy is not strong. We have record numbers of men out of work. We have record numbers of women living in poverty. We have young people who no longer believe that the American dream applies to them. We have working families whose wages have stagnated for decades, all while the rich get richer, the powerful get more powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected get more connected. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. +p1804 +aVAmerica must lead because when we do not lead, when this exceptional nation does not lead, the world is more dangerous and a more tragic place. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, they all refuse to lead. Worse, they refuse to respond when this nation is provoked. Hillary Clinton famously asked what difference does it make how four Americans died in Benghazi? Mrs. Clinton, here's what difference it makes. When you do not stand up and say the truth, that this was a purposeful terrorist attack, when you do not say the United States of America will retaliate for that attack, terrorists assume it's open season. We have refused to respond to every provocation. The President wouldn't even mention the fact that Iran had taken two Navy boats and our sailors \u2014 hostage. He didn't mention the fact that they violated the Geneva convention. He didn't respond to the fact that Iran launched two ballistic missile just a short time ago, in direct violation of a deal they had just signed. We didn't respond to the fact that North Korea attacked Sony Pictures. When we refuse to respond over, and over to provocation and bad behavior, we will get more provocation and bad behavior. I know most of our allies personally. I have met many of our adversaries. I know our military and our intelligence capability, and I know this. When we will not stand with our allies, when we will not respond to our adversaries, when we do not lead in the world the world is a dangerous and tragic place. I will be a Commander in Chief who will lead. +p1805 +aVOf course I'm worried about similar problems in the United States. We can not allow refugees to enter this country unless we can adequately vet them and we know we can't. Therefore we should stop allowing refugees into this country. And by the way, we do not need to be lectured about why we're angry and frustrated and fearful because we've had an illegal immigration problem in this country for 25 years. And we have every right to be frustrated about the fact that politicians stand up in election after election after election and promise us to fix the problem and yet, it has never been fixed. I offer leadership that understands that actions speak louder than words, that results count. We must secure our border. We must fix our broken immigration system. We must enforce a pro-American immigration system that serves our interests, not the rest of the world. I understand what it takes to translate goals into results and that is what I will do as president of the United States. Of course, we should be worried, for heavens sakes. This administration has now told us they don't know who has overstayed a visa. This administration has told us they don't even bother to check Facebook or Twitter to find out who's pledging allegiance to jihadis. We can do better than this, citizens. We need to take our country back. +p1806 +aVWe need to be very clear-eyed now about who are our allies and who are our adversaries. In the fight against +p1807 +aVAnd we all believe the polling data all the time, don't we? +p1808 +aVOh, it's a problem for so many reasons. First of all, it is yet another lawless executive order. You see, he doesn't like the fact that Congress has rejected his ideas twice on a bipartisan basis, so he's decided he just gets to override them. Sorry, Mr. President, not the way "The Constitution" works. Secondly......secondly, he basically admitted in that speech that he hasn't been paying much attention to enforcing the laws we have. He said, gee, we need a few more FBI agents. That would have helped, perhaps, stop a tragedy here in South Carolina with Dylann Roof, a guy who clearly never should have been sold a gun. In other words, Mr. President, you're right, we need to enforce the laws we have. Let's enforce the laws we have. There are criminals running around with guns who shouldn't have them. We don't prosecute any of them. Less than 1 percent. But I want to go back to the technology issue for a moment, if I may, as well, because in this regard, I disagree with Senator Santorum. Look, I come from the technology industry and I can tell you there is one thing that bureaucracies don't know how to do. They do not know how to innovate. We have come seven generations of technology since 2011. We have bureaucracies that are incapable of bringing in that innovation. So, yes, there are some very specific things that we should ask the private sector to help us with, including making sure we have the latest and greatest in algorithms to search through all these databases so that we find terrorists before they attack us, not after it's too late. And, finally, when a president who understands technology in the Oval Office. Mrs. Clinton, actually, you cannot wipe a server with a towel. +p1809 +aVYes, and see... +p1810 +aVAs CEO of Hewlett Packard... +p1811 +aVAs CEO of Hewlett Packard, I was asked very specifically for some very real help. The help I was asked to provide, this is now public information. So I am not revealing what \u2014 something that was \u2014 was classified. We had a very large shipment of equipment, software and hardware, headed to a retail outlet. And I was called by the head of the NSA, who had an urgent need for that capability, to begin laying out a program to track terrorists. We turned that truck around on a highway and it was escorted to the headquarters in San Jose. In World War II, our government went to the private sector and said, help us do things that we cannot do. The private sector has capabilities that the government does not have. There are some legal authorities that are required. The Sony attack could have been detected and repelled, had legal authorities been passed in Congress allowing private networks and public networks to work together. Those legal authorities have not yet been passed. Yes, I was asked to help. I know the technology industry. They will help again. But they must be asked by a president who understands what they have. +p1812 +aVFor decades, the professional political class in both parties has been talking about the middle class. For decades, Republicans in particular have been talking about reducing the size and scope of government, spending less money, reducing the complexity. And yet, for 40 years, the government has gotten bigger and more expensive. We now have a 75,000 plus page tax code, although politicians have run for office for decades promising reform. And all the while, middle class incomes have stagnated. You see, when government gets bigger and bigger, more powerful, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer and the middle class gets squeezed. We need to understand who the job creators are in this country, because we need more jobs to grow the middle class and to grow the wages of the middle class. Who creates jobs? Small businesses, new businesses, family-owned businesses. They create two thirds of the new jobs in this country and they employ half the people. I started out typing for a nine person real estate firm. My husband Frank started out driving a tow truck for a family-owned auto body shop. And we are crushing small businesses and destroying the middle class. So here's my blueprint to take back America. Let us first actually reform the tax code from 73,000 pages down to three. There's a 20-year-old plan to do exactly that. And then let us begin piece by piece to focus on every single dollar the government spends, so that we will spend less overall and still have enough for our priorities. And that requires the government to budget the way you do at home \u2014 examine every dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. The fancy term for that is zero- based budgeting, but I call it common sense. Citizens, we've got to take our country back. +p1813 +aVMy husband Frank, that I mentioned, I love spending time with. He's down there. He was real excited the other day because in New Hampshire, he was introduced as my eye candy. You know, everybody out there watching knows this. You cannot wait to see the debate between me and Hillary Clinton. You would pay to see that fight. And that's because you know I will win. And that's important. We've got to start by beating Hillary Clinton. All of my life, I have been told to sit down and be quiet. Settle. Settle. Don't challenge the system. That's what the American people are being told now and we have been told that for way too long \u2014 sit down and be quiet about our God, about our guns, about the abortion industry, settle for illegal immigration that's been a problem for decades, as so many of our problems have festered for decades. Accept a system of government and politics that no longer works for us. I will not sit down and be quiet. And neither will you. So I ask you to stand with me, fight with me, vote for me, citizens. It is time to take our future back, time to take our politics back. It is time to take our government back. Citizens, it is time. We must take our country back. +p1814 +aVWell, I would begin by reminding people that at this point in previous presidential elections, Jimmy Carter couldn't win, Ronald Reagan couldn't win, Bill Clinton couldn't win, and neither could've Barack Obama. I started as a secretary and became ultimately the chief executive of the largest technology company in the world, almost $90 billion in over 150 countries. I know personally how extraordinary and unique this nation is. I think to be commander in chief in the 21st century requires someone who understands how the economy works, someone who understands how the world works and who's in it; I know more world leaders on the stage today than anyone running, with the possible exception of Hillary Clinton; understands bureaucracies, how to cut them down to size and hold them accountable; and understands technology, which is a tool, but it's also a weapon that's being used against us. Most importantly, I think I understand leadership, which sometimes requires a tough call in a tough time. But mostly, the highest calling of leadership is to challenge the status-quo and unlock the potential of others. We need a leader who will lead the resurgence of this great nation and unlock its potential once again. Thank you. +p1815 +aVWell, I don't know. I didn't get a phone call from Bill Clinton before I jumped in the race. Did any of you get a phone call from Bill Clinton? I didn't. Maybe it's because I hadn't given money to the foundation or donated to his wife's Senate campaign. Here's the thing that I would ask Donald Trump in all seriousness. He is the party's frontrunner right now, and good for him. I think he's tapped into an anger that people feel. They're sick of politics as usual. You know, whatever your issue, your cause, the festering problem you hoped would resolved, the political class has failed you. That's just a fact, and that's what Donald Trump taps into. I would also just say this. Since he has changed his mind on amnesty, on health care and on abortion, I would just ask, what are the principles by which he will govern? Mac +p1816 +aVLet me say first that it is disturbing that every time one of these home-grown terrorist attacks occurs, and, as your question points out, they are occurring with far too great frequency, it turns out we had warning signals. It turns out we knew something was wrong. It turns out some dot wasn't connected, and so the first thing we have to do is make sure that everyone and every responsible agency is attuned to all of these possibilities and symptoms. We even had warnings about the Boston Marathon bombers, and yet the dots weren't connected. So we need to get on a different mindset. Secondly, I certainly support that we need to tear down cyber walls, not on a mass basis, but on a targeted basis. But let me just say that we also need down -- to tear down the cyber walls that China is erecting, that Russia is erecting. We need to be very well aware of the fact that China and Russia are using technology to attack us, just as +p1817 +aVI absolutely would call on them to collaborate and cooperate, yes. +p1818 +aVYeah. Sometimes it's a complicated situation, but some things are black and white. On day one in the Oval Office, I would make two phone calls. The first one would be to my good friend, Bibi Netanyahu, to reassure him we will stand with the State of Israel. The second will be to the supreme leader of Iran. He might not take my phone call, but he would get the message, and the message is this: Until you open every nuclear and every military facility to full, open, anytime/anywhere, for real, inspections, we are going to make it as difficult as possible for you to move money around the global financial system. I hope Congress says no to this deal. But realistically, even if they do, the money is flowing. China and Russia have never been on our side of the table. The Europeans have moved on. We have to stop the money flow. And by the way, as important as those two phone calls are, they are also very important because they say this. America is back in the leadership business. And when America does not lead, the world is a dangerous and a tragic place. This is a bad deal. Obama broke every rule of negotiation. Yes, our allies are not perfect. But Iran is at the heart of most of the evil that is going on in the Middle East through their proxies. Mac +p1819 +aVLet me tell you what I would do immediately, day two in the Oval Office. I would hold a Camp David summit with our Arab allies, not to talk them into this lousy deal with Iran, but to say to them, "what is it that you need to defeat +p1820 +aVI agree with my colleagues. We need to begin by undoing -- I would begin by undoing a whole set of things that President Obama has done, whether it's illegal amnesty or this latest round of EPA regulations. But let me go back to something that's very important. We have been debating right here the core difference between conservatism and progressivism. Conservatives, I am a conservative because I believe no one of us is any better than any other one of us. Every one of us is gifted by God, whether it is those poor babies being picked over or it's someone whose life is tangled up in a web of dependence. Progressives don't believe that. They believe some are smarter than others, some are better than others, so some are going to need to take care of others. That is the fight we have to have, and we have to undo a whole set of things that President Obama has done that get at the heart of his disrespect and disregard for too many Americans. +p1821 +aVThis is a great nation. It is a unique nation in all of human history and on the face of the planet, because here, our founders believed that everyone has a right to fulfill their potential and that that right --they called it life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness -- comes from God and cannot be taken away by government. We have arrived at a point in our nation's history where the potential of this nation and too many Americans is being crushed by the weight, the power, the cost, the complexity, the ineptitude, the corruption of the federal government, and only someone who will challenge the status quo of Washington, D.C. can lead the resurgence of this great nation. I will do that. Mac +p1822 +aVNot trustworthy. No accomplishment. +p1823 +aVHillary Clinton lies about Benghazi, she lies about e- mails. She is still defending Planned Parenthood, and she is still her party's frontrunner. 2016 is going to be a fight between conservatism, and a Democrat party that is undermining the very character of this nation. We need a nominee who is going to throw every punch, not pull punches, and someone who cannot stumble before he even gets into the ring. I am not a member of the political class. I am a conservative; I can win this job, I can do this job, I need your help, I need your support. I will, with your help and support, lead the resurgence of this great nation. Thank you. +p1824 +asVBUSH +p1825 +(lp1826 +VOur freedom is under attack. Our economy is under water. The leading democrat is under investigation. And America is under the gun to lead the free world to protect our civilized way of life. Serious times require strong leadership, that's what at stake right now. Regarding national security, we need to restore the defense cuts of Barack Obama to rebuild our military, to destroy +p1827 +aVWell, first of all, we need to destroy +p1828 +aVLook, he mentioned me. I can bring \u2014 I can talk. This is \u2014 this is the problem. Banning all Muslims will make it harder for us to do exactly what we need to do, which is to destroy +p1829 +aVThey are relevant if we want to destroy +p1830 +aVDonald, this has got... +p1831 +aVThis is another example of the lack of seriousness. Look, this is \u2014 this is troubling because we're at war. They've declared war on us and we need to have a serious strategy to destroy +p1832 +aVYou said on September 30th that +p1833 +aVI'm talking right now. I'm talking. +p1834 +aVSeptember 30th you said... +p1835 +aVA little of your own medicine there, Donald. +p1836 +aVDonald, you're not going to be able to insult your way to the presidency. That's not going to happen. And I do have the strength. Leadership, leadership is not about attacking people and disparaging people. Leadership is about creating a serious strategy to deal with the threat of our time. And I laid out that strategy before the attacks in Paris and before the attacks in San Bernardino. And it is the way forward. We need to increase our military spending. We need to deal with a no- fly zone in Syria, a safe zone. We need to focus on building a military that is second-to-none... +p1837 +aV... so that we can destroy Islamic terrorism. +p1838 +aVI think we're focusing a whole... +p1839 +aVI do. I think the lesson's learned are that we have to have to have a strategy to get and a strategy to get out. Which means, that you create a stable situation. This president and this is what the focus ought to be, it's not the differences between us, it's Barack Obama does not believe America's leadership in the world is a force for good. He does not believe that our strength is a place where security can take place. He leads from behind. He creates an environment that now we're creating the most unstable situation we've had since the World War II era. The focus ought to be on the single fact that Hillary Clinton wants to double down on a failed foreign policy and we need to be united to defeat that because we're going to be in a place that is far less secure than it is today. Don't you all agree? +p1840 +aVBecause I \u2014 first of all, I know what I don't know. I know what I don't know. I would seek out, as I have, the best advice that exists. I won't get my information from the shows. I don't know if that's Saturday morning or Sunday morning. I don't know which one. I will seek out the best advice, and I will create a strategy and I will persuade the American people what the role of America should be. I've laid out a policy of rebuilding our military. All of the talk that we're seeing here \u2014 most of which I agree on, frankly \u2014 requires a much stronger military. We now have a lack of readiness that is quite scary. We have planes that were \u2014 that Harry Truman inaugurated, the B-52. We have \u2014 the Navy has been gutted and decimated. The readiness of the Marines is way down. If we're serious about America's leadership in the world, then we need to make sure that we have the back of the armed forces. The Armed Forces Radio is here listening to this today. I hope they know that if I'm president, I'll be a commander-in-chief, not an agitator- in-chief or a divider-in-chief, that I will lead this country in a way that will create greater security and greater safety. +p1841 +aVSo I was \u2014 I was \u2014 I was mentioned, so I can bring up something, I think, right? Look, the simple fact is, if you think this is tough you're not being treated fairly... +p1842 +aV... imagine what it's going to be like dealing with Putin or dealing with President Xi. +p1843 +aVOr dealing with the Islamic terrorism that exists. +p1844 +aVThis is a tough business to run for president. +p1845 +aVAnd it's \u2014 and we need...... to have a leader that is... +p1846 +aVYou're never going to be president of the United States by insulting your way to the presidency. +p1847 +aVDoesn't matter. Doesn't matter. +p1848 +aVYes. +p1849 +aVNo it isn't but it is an important subject to talk about for sure. And I think people have good ideas on this. Clearly, we need to secure the border. Coming here legally needs to be a lot easier than coming here illegally. If you don't have that, you don't have the rule of law. We now have a national security consideration, public health issues, we have an epidemic of heroine overdoses in all places in this country because of the ease of bringing heroine in. We have to secure the border. It is a serious undertaking and yes, we do need more fencing and we do need to use technology, and we do need more border control. And we need to have better cooperation by the way with local law enforcement. There are 800,000 cops on the beat, they ought to be trained to be the eyes and ears for law enforcement for the threat against terror as well as for immigration. This is a serious challenge and if we can get it right, yes, we'll start winning votes again. The real problem isn't anybody on this stage, the real problem is Barack Obama has had six years to advocate a position to fix this and he's done nothing. The congress has funded these programs of building more fencing and doing all this and he hasn't done it. He wants to maintain it as a wedge issue and so does Hillary Clinton. Republicans need to fix it and when we do, we'll be better off. +p1850 +aVI completely agree with Chris. And this administration has been so lax. Think about it. Hillary Clinton is using a private server for \u2014 where classified information go by. This is a \u2014 this is a serious administration? The president receives an inspector general's report that the Office of Personnel Management could be hacked into; they had antiquated firewalls; 23 million files have been \u2014 are in the hands of the Chinese allegedly, including, by the way, members of the press, it turns out, last week. Maybe that's the only part that's good news, so that you guys can get a feel for what it's like now to see this type of attack. This is something \u2014 we have to have the best defensive capabilities. We need to coordinate all of our efforts with the private sector. We need to give them liability relief so that we can do that. And offensively, we need to have capabilities second to none. We need to create a situation where they know that there will be adverse impacts if they continue to do what they're doing. They'll respect that. They'll respect a United States that is serious about protecting our \u2014 our infrastructure. If we don't do it, we'll continue to see what's \u2014 exactly what's happening, not just from the Chinese, by the way. The Russians and rogue actors, including +p1851 +aVAsk yourself, which candidate will keep you and our country safer, stronger and freer? Hillary Clinton has aligned herself with Barack Obama on +p1852 +aVYou've already made two comments, John. It's my turn. +p1853 +aVI got about four minutes in the last debate. I'm going to get my question right now. +p1854 +aVYes. +p1855 +aVFirst of all, we could get to 4 percent growth. The new normal of 2 percent puts huge demands on government. The reason why we have structural deficits is that more and more people are relying on government and the growth that we don't have makes \u2014 makes the deficit grow. A 4 percent growth strategy starts with tax reform. And the proposal that I've laid out is the one the Wall Street Journal editorial board has said is the most pro-growth of all the proposals out there. We cut the \u2014 we eliminate a lot of deductions and cut the rates down. A corporate rate of 20 percent, which puts us 5 percent above \u2014 below that of China, and allows us full expensing of investing. It would create an explosion of investment back into this country, creating higher-wage jobs, and so that's part of it. On the regulatory side I think we need to repeal every rule that Barack Obama has in terms of work in progress, every one of them. And start over. For those that are already in existence, the regulation of the Internet, we have to start over, but we ought to do that. The clean power act, we ought to repeal that and \u2014 and start over on that. The waters of the United States act, which is going to be devastating for agriculture and many industries, we should repeal that. We should repeal the rules because the economic costs of this far exceed the social benefit. And if we're serious about being serious about high growth, then we have to recognize that small businesses right now, more of them are closing than \u2014 than are \u2014 than are being set up. Hillary Clinton has said that Barack Obama's policies get an A. Really? One in 10 people right now aren't working or have given up altogether, as you said. That's not an A. One in seven people are living in poverty. That's not an A. One in five children are on food stamps. That is not an A. It may be the best that Hillary Clinton can do, but it's not the best America can do. +p1856 +aVThank you, Donald, for allowing me to speak at the debate. That's really nice of you. Really appreciate that. What a generous man you are. Twelve million illegal immigrants, to send them back, 500,000 a month, is just not \u2014 not possible. And it's not embracing American values. And it would tear communities apart. And it would send a signal that we're not the kind of country that I know America is. And even having this conversation sends a powerful signal \u2014 they're doing high-fives in the Clinton campaign right now when they hear this. That's the problem with this. We have to win the presidency. And the way you win the presidency is to have practical plans. Lay them out there. What we need to do is allow people to earn legal status where they pay a fine, where they work, where they don't commit crimes, where they learn English, and over an extended period of time, they earn legal status. That's the path \u2014 a proper path... +p1857 +aVI'm gonna fight as hard as I can to make sure that we shift power away from Washington, simplify the tax code, to spur economic activity in this country. Of course it's the highest priority. If we don't do that, we're stuck with the "new normal" of 2 percent growth. Hillary Clinton says, basically, we just gotta get used to it. Two percent growth means declining income for the middle class. It means more than 6 million people are stuck in poverty than the day that Barack Obama was inaugurated. It means \u2014 it means more demands on government \u2014 growing the economy is the first job, if we're going to be serious about dealing with the deficit and debt. And more importantly, people are really struggling right now. In this economy, the disposable income of the great middle is down 2,300 bucks. So yeah, we've created jobs, your \u2014 argue (ph) \u2014 brought that up early, and it was a good question. Jobs are being created, but they're lower-income jobs than the jobs that were lost. And the net effect of this is we need to jump-start the economy. I think of Jonathan (ph) and Reagan Love (ph), who are supporters of mine. Jonathan has been deployed by the National Guard, he is \u2014 he's in Oklahoma. Reagan Love \u2014 by the way, pretty great name, I think \u2014 is a teacher. When \u2014 if they had this tax cut, what they told me was that that $2,300 of money in their pocket \u2014 they would go back to South Carolina and start a business. Imagine what it would be like, instead of having more businesses closed than started, we had it the exact opposite. We would grow our economy, and the government would get the revenue necessary to make things \u2014 make things better. Hillary Clinton's approach to this is more top-down, more regulation, more taxes, more government, and it will destroy our economy. +p1858 +aVIt is \u2014 I'd say it is Islamic terrorism, and, back to the question of what we are dealing with in Iraq, when we pull back voids are filled. That's the lesson of history, and, sadly, this president does not believe in American leadership. He does not believe it, and the net result is that we have a caliphate the size of Indiana that gains energy each and everyday to recruit Americans in our own country, and the threat to the homeland relates to the fact that we have not dealt with this threat of terror in the Middle East. We should have a no fly zone in Syria. We should have a support for the remnants of the Syrian Free Army, and create safe zones. If you want to deal with the four million refugees that are leaving Syria because of the devastation there, then we 'ought to create safe zones for them to stay in the region rather than go to Europe. And, that requires American leadership. Without American leadership every other country in the neighborhood beings to change their priorities. It is tragic that you see Iraq, and other countries now talking to Russia. It wasn't that long ago that Russia had no influence in the region at all. And, so, the United States needs to lead across the board. This president, and Hillary Clinton both do not believe the United States has a leadership role to play, and we're now paying a price, and it will have a huge impact on the economy of this country if we don't deal with this. +p1859 +aV...They're not doing that... +p1860 +aV +p1861 +aVDonald \u2014 Donald's wrong on this. He is absolutely wrong on this. We're not going to be the world's policeman, but we sure as heck better be the world's leader. That's \u2014 there's a huge difference where, without us leading... ...voids are filled, and the idea that it's a good idea for Putin to be in Syria, let +p1862 +aVWe're not \u2014 we shouldn't have another financial crisis. What we ought to do is raise the capital requirements so banks aren't too big to fail. Dodd-Frank has actually done the opposite, totally the opposite, where banks now have higher concentration of risk in assets and the capital requirements aren't high enough. If we were serious about it, we would raise the capital requirements and lessen the load on the community banks and other financial institutions. This vast overreach has created a huge problem for our country, and Hillary Clinton wants to double down on that. I was in Washington, Iowa, about three months ago talking about how bad Washington, D.C., is. It was \u2014 get the \u2014 kind of the \u2014 anyway. We had... It \u2014 and I talked to a banker there. This is a bank that had $125 million of assets, four branches. Their compliance costs because of Dodd-Frank went from $100,000 to $600,000 in a two-year period. The net effect of that is \u2014 and they had \u2014 they had not one loan that went bad during the financial crisis. They knew \u2014 they knew their borrowers. They gave back to the community. They were engaged in the community. And imagine America without its community banks. Well, that's what's happening because of Dodd-Frank. That's \u2014 that's my worry. My worry is that the real economy has been hurt by the vast overreach of the Obama administration. And Hillary Clinton, she wants to double down on that. She wants to create even more so. She is a captive of the left of her party to the point now where she is \u2014 she was for the trade agreement in \u2014 the Pacific agreement. Now she's against it. She was \u2014 hinted she was for the XL pipeline. Now she's opposed to it. All the things that would create sustained economic growth she's now doubling down against it. +p1863 +aVYou could, if you were serious about... +p1864 +aVNo, I can't say that. But I can say, if you created higher capital requirements, that's the solution to this, not having concentration of assets. The bigger banks now have more and more control over \u2014 over the financial assets of this country. And that is the wrong approach to take. +p1865 +aVMaria? +p1866 +aV...We've had a 10% reduction in carbon emissions, and it isn't because of Solyndra. It isn't because of the central planners in Washington D.C. It's because we've had a great American success story, the explosion of natural gas. Taking two existing technologies, and applying it through innovation has created lower carbon emissions, lower energy costs \u2014 40% of all the economic activity in the age of Obama has come from the energy sector, and Hillary Clinton wants to suppress that. We \u2014 I think we ought to be expanding this. High growth is the path to lower carbon, and more jobs. I know for a fact, as Governor of the State of Florida, we created the largest land purchasing programs, and environment clean-up programs because we had a growing economy. Our revenues were growing at 4.4%. It allowed for resources to be able to protect the natural system. We got to get to a conservation... ...in environmental policy that goes beyond just carbon... +p1867 +aVJane Horton is sitting with my wife here today. Her husband, Chris, was killed in action in Afghanistan. And Jane spends her time now defending and fighting for military families. They're both heroes. I don't think we need an agitator-in-chief or a divider-in-chief. We need a commander-in-chief that will rebuild our military and restore respect to our veterans by revamping and fixing a broken Veterans Administration, That's my pledge to you. I ask for your support. Thank you. +p1868 +aVYou know, I am by my nature impatient. And this is not an endeavor that rewards that. You gotta be patient. You gotta be \u2014 stick with it, and all that. But also, I can't fake anger. I believe this is still the most extraordinary country on the face of the Earth. And it troubles me that people are rewarded for tearing down our country. It's never been that way in American politics before. I can't do it. I just don't believe that this country's days are going to be deeply \u2014 you know, going down. I think we're on the verge of the greatest time, and I want to fix the things to let people rise up. +p1869 +aVCould I \u2014 could I bring something up here, because I'm a constituent of the senator and I helped him and I expected that he would do constituent service, which means that he shows up to work. He got endorsed by the Sun-Sentinel because he was the most talented guy in the field. He's a gifted politician. But Marco, when you signed up for this, this was a six-year term, and you should be showing up to work. I mean, literally, the Senate \u2014 what is it, like a French work week? You get, like, three days where you have to show up? You can campaign, or just resign and let someone else take the job. There are a lot of people living paycheck to paycheck in Florida as well, they're looking for a senator that will fight for them each and every day. +p1870 +aVHe wasn't my senator. +p1871 +aVWell, I've been \u2014 +p1872 +aVNo, no. What I said was I don't believe that I would be president of the United States and have the same dysfunction that exists in Washington, D.C. now. +p1873 +aVDon't vote for me if you want to keep the gridlock in Washington, D.C. +p1874 +aVBut if you want someone who has a proven, effective leadership, that was a governor of a state, that transformed the culture there, elect me so I can fight for the American people and change the culture in Washington, D.C. +p1875 +aV, the great majority of Republicans and Americans believe in a hopeful future. They don't believe in building walls and a pessimistic view of the future. They're concerned that Washington is so dysfunctional it is holding them back. There are lids on people's aspirations. Think about it: six and a half million people working part-time. Workforce participation rates lower than they were in 1977. Six million more people living in poverty than the day that Barack Obama got elected president, and the left just wants more of the same. We have to offer a compelling alternative that is based on hope and optimism and grounded in serious policy, which I've laid out. And you can go get it at jeb2016.com. +p1876 +aVWell, the deal was done. Barack Obama got his massive tax increase, and there was no spending cuts. You just see the recent deal announced today or yesterday, more spending, more tax increasing, more regulation. And now we have to accept 2 percent, the new normal for economic growth. And the net result is the middle class has $2,300 less in their pockets than the day that Barack Obama got elected president. And now they see Hillary Clinton proposing a third term of economic policy for our country. We need to reverse that. And my record was one of cutting taxes each and every year. You don't have to guess about it, because I actually have a record. $19 billion of tax cuts, 1.3 million jobs created. We were one of two states to go to AAA bond rating, and our government spending was far less than the spending in people's income. +p1877 +aVYou find me... +p1878 +aVYou find me a Democrat \u2014 you find me a Democrat that will cut spending ten dollars? Heck, find me a Republican in Congress that would cut spending ten dollars. I'll talk to them. +p1879 +aVLook, the \u2014 the deal is already done. The biggest tax increase happened under the watch of Barack Obama, and spending's gone up. You find a Democrat that's for cutting taxes \u2014 cutting spending ten dollars, I'll give them a warm kiss. +p1880 +aVLook, the \u2014 the simple fact is that my plan actually gives the middle class the greatest break: $2,000 per family. And if you make $40,000 a year, a family of four, you don't pay any income tax at all. Simplifying the code and lowering rates, both for corporations and \u2014 and personal rates, is exactly what we need to do. You think about the regulatory cost and the tax cost \u2014 that's why small businesses are closing, rather than being formed in our country right now. The big corporations have the scale to deal with all of this. And what I think all of us are saying is, our monetary policy, our tax policy, regulatory policy needs to be radically changed so we can create high sustained growth for income to rise. The government has tried it their way. Under \u2014 under Barack Obama and the proposals of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and others, they've tried it their way, and it has failed miserably. We need to take a new approach of taxing \u2014 reforming how we tax, and reforming the regulations in our \u2014 in our country before it's too late. +p1881 +aVWe don't need the federal government to be involved in this at all. +p1882 +aVWe don't need the Federal Government to be involved in this, because when they do we create a $1.2 trillion debt. In Florida, we have the lowest in-state tuition of any state, because there's accountability, just as John said. Let the states do this. You'll create a much better graduation rate at a lower cost, and you won't in debt the next generation with recourse debt on their backs. It's always a solution of the left to create more Government from the Federal Government. It is broke, it is not working. +p1883 +aVWell, first of all, I'm 7 and 0 in my fantasy league. +p1884 +aVGronkowski is still going strong. I have Ryan Tannehill, Marco, as my quarterback, he was 18 for 19 last week. So I'm doing great. But we're not gambling. And I think this has become something that needs to be looked at in terms of regulation. Effectively it is day trading without any regulation at all. And when you have insider information, which apparently has been the case, where people use that information and use big data to try to take advantage of it, there has to be some regulation. If they can't regulate themselves, then the NFL needs to look at just, you know, moving away from them a little bit. And there should be some regulation. I have no clue whether the federal government is the proper place, my instinct is to say, hell no, just about everything about the federal government. +p1885 +aVBecky \u2014 +p1886 +aV\u2014 the governor's absolutely right. But we also need to reform Medicare and Social Security. We can't just allow it to continue on its current path the way that Hillary Clinton wants to do because there'll be major reductions in benefits in the next decade if we do nothing. I have a concrete plan to do just that, which allows people to keep HSAs to encourage savings, it allows for people that are retiring with Social Security to be able to get a minimum of 125 percent of the poverty level so that there is a baseline that in this generous country of ours no one goes below. +p1887 +aVYou have to reform Social Security, and the simple way to do it is to make sure that the wealthiest don't receive the same benefits as people that are lower-income. And make sure you enhance savings in the private market. The idea of 401(k)s. I have a small business that I set up. It took \u2014 it took an arm and a leg to be able to set up a 401(k). Because of all the federal mandates and federal laws, it was too expensive. We need to incent private savings and make sure that Social Security is protected for those that have it. +p1888 +aVBut the idea that you can't \u2014 that you're just gonna grow your way out of this \u2014 I have a plan to grow the economy at 4 percent, but you're gonna have to make adjustments for both Medicare and Social Security. [ +p1889 +aVAmerica's at a crossroads. The D.C. politicians continue to make things worse. I have a proven record of success, 32 years in business, and 8 years as Governor of the state of Florida. I will change the culture in Washington, just as I changed the culture in Tallahassee. I will do so in a way that will bring people together. We need a unifier, not a cynical divider in chief, and that's exactly what I will do. Imagine a country where people are lifted out of poverty again. Imagine a country where the middle class can get rising income again. I know we can do this because we're still the most extraordinary country on the face of the Earth. +p1890 +aVI'm Jeb Bush, and I believe America's on the verge of its greatest century, and I'm ready to lead. I'm a committed, conservative reformer that cut taxes, that balanced budgets, that took on the special interest in Florida, and we won. I look forward to talking tonight about how we can fix a broken Washington D.C., and create an environment where people can rise up again in this great country. Thank you. +p1891 +aVI think the voters will make that determination. But what I know to be true is that the next president of the United States is going to have to fix an extraordinary difficult situation. This administration, with President Obama and Hillary Clinton, has created insecurity the likes of which we never would've imagined. There's not a place in the world where we're better off today than six and a half years ago. And that requires a steadiness. That requires an understanding of how the world works. That requires an understanding and appreciation of American leadership in the world. You can't just, you know, talk about this stuff and insult leaders around the world and expect a good result. You have to do this with a steady hand, and I believe I have those skills. +p1892 +aVNo. Absolutely not. People are supporting me because I have a proven record of conservative leadership where I cut taxes $19 billion over eight years. We shrunk the state government workforce, we created a climate that led the nation in job growth seven out of eight years. We were one of two states to go to AAA bond rating. People know that we need principle-centered leadership, a disrupter to go to Washington, D.C. The one guy that had some special interests that I know of that tried to get me to change my views on something \u2014 that was generous and gave me money \u2014 was Donald Trump. He wanted casino gambling in Florida \u2014 +p1893 +aVYes you did. +p1894 +aVYou wanted it and you didn't get it because I was opposed to \u2014 +p1895 +aV\u2014 casino gambling before \u2014 +p1896 +aVduring and after. And that's not \u2014 I'm not going to be bought by anybody. +p1897 +aVNo way. Believe me. +p1898 +aVNot even possible. +p1899 +aVYou've got, according to your \u2014 to what you said on one of the talk shows, you got Hillary Clinton to go to your wedding \u2014 +p1900 +aV\u2014 because you gave her money. Maybe it works for Hillary Clinton \u2014 +p1901 +aV\u2014 it doesn't work for anybody on this \u2014 on stage. +p1902 +aVBut the simple fact is \u2014 +p1903 +aVNo. The simple fact is, Donald, you could not take \u2014 +p1904 +aVI was asked the question. +p1905 +aVSo he supports Pelosi, he supports Schumer, he supports Clinton \u2014 +p1906 +aVWhen he \u2014 and he \u2014 when he asked \u2014 when he asked Florida to have casino gambling, we said no. +p1907 +aVWe said no. And that's the simple fact. The simple fact is \u2014 +p1908 +aVDon't cut me off. +p1909 +aVNo, I don't think so, but we need to be strong against China. We should use offensive tactics as it relates to cyber security, send a deterrent signal to China. There should be super sanctions in what President Obama has proposed. There's many other tools that we have without canceling a dinner. That's not going to change anything, but we can be much stronger as it relates to that. As it relates to Iran, it's not a strategy to tear up an agreement. A strategy would be how do we confront Iran? And, the first thing that we need to do is to establish our commitment to Israel which has been altered by this administration. And, make sure that they have the most sophisticated weapons to send a signal to Iran that we have Israel's back. If we do that, it's going to create a healthier deterrent effect than anything else I can think of. +p1910 +aVI don't think \u2014 you're not stating my views right. +p1911 +aVI think there needs to be accommodation for someone acting on faith. Religious conscience is \u2014 is \u2014 is a first freedom. It's \u2014 it's a powerful part of our \u2014 of our Bill of Rights. And, in a big, tolerant country, we should respect the rule of law, allow people in \u2014 in \u2014 in this country \u2014 I'm a \u2014 I was opposed to the decision, but we \u2014 you can't just say, "well, they \u2014 gays can't get married now." But this woman, there should be some accommodation for her conscience, just as there should be for people that are florists that don't want to participate in weddings, or bakers. A great country like us should find a way to have accommodations for people so that we can solve the problem in the right way. This should be solved at the local level... +p1912 +aVAnd so we do agree, Mike. +p1913 +aVWell, he's wrong on a lot of things, but on this he's wrong because I'm the most pro-life governor on this stage. I got to act on my core beliefs. It's part of who I am. Life is a gift from God. And from beginning end we need to respect it and err on the side of life. And so I defunded Planned Parenthood. We created a climate where parental notification took place. We were the only state to fund crisis pregnancy centers with state moneys. We were totally focused on this. And I would bring that kind of philosophy to Washington, D.C. So here is a solution to this. Title X of the HHS funding, there is something that was the "Reagan Rule." It was passed in 1988. And in that rule it was defined, and the courts approved this, that a Planned Parenthood, you couldn't separate the money between the actual abortion procedures, and there are 330,000 abortions that take place in this clinic, and their promotion of it. He interpreted it the right way, the courts ruled in his favor, and Planned Parenthood did not get funding during that time until President Clinton came in. When I'm elected president, we will restore that interpretation of Title X. And this deal will be finished. +p1914 +aVThere are 13,000 community-based organizations that provide health services to women, 13,000 in this country. I don't believe that Planned Parenthood should get a penny from the federal government. Those organizations should get funding, just as I increased funding when I was governor of the state. That's the way you do this is you improve the condition for people. And, Donald, when I was governor, we also increased the opportunities for women. Women's income grew three times faster than the national average when I was governor. +p1915 +aVWe improved \u2014 we improved \u2014 +p1916 +aV\u2014 we increased child support \u2014 we increased child support with a broken system by 90 percent. +p1917 +aVI have a proven record. I have a proven record. +p1918 +aVHe did, he did. You're proud of your family, just as I am. +p1919 +aVTo subject my wife into the middle of a raucous political conversation was completely inappropriate, and I hope you apologize for that, Donald. +p1920 +aVShe is. She's fantastic. +p1921 +aVShe is absolutely the love of my life, and she's right here... +p1922 +aVAnd why don't you apologize to her right now. +p1923 +aVYeah. +p1924 +aVSo, here's the deal. My wife is a Mexican-American. She's an American by choice. She loves this country as much as anybody in this room, and she wants a secure border. But she wants to embrace the traditional American values that make us special and make us unique. We're at a crossroads right now. Are we going to take the Reagan approach, the hopeful optimistic approach, the approach that says that, you come to our country legally, you pursue your dreams with a vengeance, you create opportunities for all of us? Or the Donald Trump approach? The approach that says that everything is bad, that everything is coming to an end. I... +p1925 +aVI'm on the Reagan side of this. +p1926 +aVLook, first of all, I wrote a book about this, three \u2014 four years ago, now. And I laid out a comprehensive, conservative approach for immigration reform. And it does require securing the border. No one disagrees with that. But to build a wall, and to deport people \u2014 half a million a month \u2014 would cost hundreds of billions of dollars, Donald. Hundreds of billions of dollars. It would destroy community life, it would tear families apart. And it would send a signal to the rest of the world that the United States values that are so important for our long-term success no longer matter in this country. +p1927 +aVWell, I've been speaking English here tonight, and I'll keep speaking English. But the simple fact is, if a high school kid asks me a question in Spanish, a school \u2014 by the way, a voucher program that was created under my watch, the largest voucher program in the country, where kids can go to a Christian school, and they ask me a question in Spanish, I'm going to show respect and answer that question in Spanish. Even though they do speak English, and even though they embrace American values. +p1928 +aVYeah. +p1929 +aVWell, first of all, Hugh, if you're looking at Republican advisers, you have to go to the last two administrations. That happened to be 41 and 43. So just by definition, if you're \u2014 and many of the people here that are seeking advice from the foreign policy experts in the Republican side, they \u2014 they served in my dad's administration, my brother's administration. Of course that's the case. But I'm my own man. I'm going to create a strategy that is based on the simple fact that the United States needs to lead the world. The first thing that we need to do is to stop the craziness of the sequester. Rebuild our military so that our \u2014 so that we don't deploy people over and over again without the necessary equipment to keep them safe, to send a signal to the world that we're serious. If we're going to lead the world, then we need to have the strongest military possible. We need to rebuild our counterintelligence and intelligence capabilities. We need to focus on the fact that the next president is going to start in 2017, not in 1990 \u2014 you know, 30 years ago, or when my brother started. The world is dramatically different. And I believe that we need to restore America's presence and leadership in the world. Name a country where our relationship is better today than it was the \u2014 the day that Barack Obama got elected president. Under Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama, we have seen a weakness that now creates huge problems for the next president of the United States. So I'll have a team that will be \u2014 that will be following the doctrine I set up, and it will be peace through strength. We're sitting here in this library, which is a wonderful place to talk about this, because that's exactly what happened in the 1980s, and the world was a lot safer because of... +p1930 +aVThe leadership of Ronald Reagan and my... +p1931 +aVSo you \u2014 the \u2014 the first chance... +p1932 +aVRight after me, and then I'll \u2014 I'll yield \u2014 yield the floor. What do you guys say in the Senate when you're talking and debating? +p1933 +aVHere's the facts: When Donald Trump talks about judgment, what was his position on who would've been the best negotiator to deal with Iran? It wasn't a Republican; it was Hillary Clinton. That's what you believe. I mean, the lack of judgment and the lack of understanding about how the world works is really dangerous in this kind of time that we're saying. So is that the judgment that you bring to the table, that Hillary Clinton... +p1934 +aV... is a great negotiator, that she could bring about a better deal on Iran? +p1935 +aVYou know what? As it relates to my brother, there's one thing I know for sure. He kept us safe. I don't know if you remember... ... Donald... ... you remember the \u2014 the rumble? You remember the fire fighter with his arms around it? He sent a clear signal that the United States would be strong and fight Islamic terrorism, and he did keep us safe. +p1936 +aVThat's \u2014 that's my brother. +p1937 +aVHere's the lessons of history: When we \u2014 we pull back, voids are created. We left Iraq. We should've had a \u2014 a forces agreement to stay there with a small force, and instead of that, we politically and militarily pulled back, and now we have the creation of +p1938 +aV... because of what President Obama's done by pulling back. +p1939 +aVWell, I'm surprised Senator Cruz would say that since he was as strong supporter of John Roberts at the time. I will talk about what I will do as it relates to appointing Supreme Court Justices. We need to make sure that we have justices that, with a proven experienced record of respect for upholding the constitution. That is what we need. We can't have \u2014 the history in recent past is appoint people that have no experience so that you can't get attacked. And, that makes it harder for people to have confidence that they won't veer off... +p1940 +aVJohn Roberts has made some really good decisions, for sure, but he did not have a proven, extensive record that would have made the clarity the important thing, and that's what we need to do. And, I'm willing to fight for those nominees to make sure that they get passed. You can't do it the politically expedient way anymore. This is the culture in Washington. You have to fight hard for these appointments. This is perhaps the most important thing that the next president will do. +p1941 +aVWell, first of all, he, as I said, supported John Roberts. He supported him, publicly. So, you can rewrite history, I guess, Ted, but the simple fact is that you supported him because he had all the criteria that you would have thought would have made a great justice. And, I think he is doing a good job. But, the simple fact is that going forward, what we need to do is to have someone that has a long standing set of rulings that consistently makes it clear that he is a focused, exclusively on upholding the Constitution of the United States so they won't try to use the bench as a means to which legislate. +p1942 +aVHe was talking about me. +p1943 +aVWell, I \u2014 I wanted to \u2014 be \u2014 make it easier for him. +p1944 +aVAnd I just did. +p1945 +aVSo, 40 years ago, I smoked marijuana, and I admit it. I'm sure that other people might have done it and may not want to say it in front of 25 million people. My mom's not happy that I just did. That's true. And here's the deal. Here's the deal. We have \u2014 we have a serious epidemic of drugs that goes way beyond marijuana. What goes on in Colorado, as far as I'm concerned, that should be a state decision. But if you look at the problem of drugs in this \u2014 in this society today, it's a serious problem. Rand, you know this because you're campaigning in New Hampshire like all of us, and you see the epidemic of heroin, the overdoses of heroin that's taking place. People's families are \u2014 are being torn apart. It is appropriate for the government to play a consistent role to be able to provide more treatment, more prevention \u2014 we're the state that has the most drug courts across every circuit in \u2014 in \u2014 in Florida, there are drug courts to give people a second chance. That's the best way to do this. +p1946 +aVNo, you're wrong \u2014 you're wrong about this. +p1947 +aVI don't want to put poor people in jail, Randy. +p1948 +aVHere's the deal. No, I did not oppose when the legislature passed the bill to deal with that very issue. That's the way to solve this problem. Medical marijuana on the ballot was opened up, there was a huge loophole, it was the first step to getting to a place. And as a citizen of Florida, I voted no. +p1949 +aVNot very far. I think we need to do this state by state. There are places that get this right, and we need to make sure that we protect the privacy laws. This is a complicated place. But I do think the natural impulse on the left \u2014 Hillary Clinton, immediately after one of these horrific violent acts took place, immediately said we need to have federal gun laws. President Obama almost reflexively always says the same thing. And the net result is, you're going to take away rights of \u2014 of law-abiding citizens, the 99.999 percent of the people that are law- abiding citizens. That's not the right approach to do it. In Florida, we have a background check. We have concealed-weapon permit holders, and in fact, there's 1,200,000 of them. We have a reduction in violent crime because we put people behind bars when they use a gun in the commission of the crime. That's the better approach. But we're living in a society today where despair kind of grows in isolation. +p1950 +aVI \u2014 I think there needs to be a hearing, but the fact is, we need to encourage that kind of involvement. That's \u2014 that's exactly what we need to do. +p1951 +aVI would go with Ronald Reagan's partner, Margaret Thatcher. Probably illegal, but what the heck? Since it's not going to happen. A strong leader is what we need in the White House, and she certainly was a strong leader that restored the United Kingdom into greatness. +p1952 +aVEver Ready, it's very high energy, Donald. +p1953 +aVSix million more people are living in poverty than the day that Barack Obama got elected president. Six million more people. The middle class has had declining income, workforce participation rates are lower than they were in 1977. For the first time in modern history, more businesses are failing than are being created. That is what the next president will have to deal with. And I believe we can reverse course by creating a strategy of high sustained economic growth, not the new normal of 2 percent that all the left says we just have to get used to, but a 4 percent growth strategy where we reform how we tax, fix the broken regulatory system, embrace the energy revolution in our midst, fix the immigration system so we can turn it into an economic driver, deal with the structural fiscal problems that exist because of our entitlement problems that will overwhelm and create way too much debt. If we grow at 4 percent, people are going to be lifted out of poverty. The great middle that defines our country will have a chance to be able to pursue their dreams as they see fit. That should be the great challenge and the great opportunity for the next president of the United States, to forge consensus to go back to a high-growth strategy. And then we'll be able to lead the world. Without a high-growth strategy, our country will never have the resources or the optimism to be able to lead the world, which the world desperately needs our leadership. +p1954 +aVAbsolutely, I do, and I'm gonna run hard, run with heart, and run to win. I'm gonna have to earn this. Maybe the barrier -- the bar's even higher for me. That's fine. I've got a record in Florida. I'm proud of my dad, and I'm certainly proud of my brother. In Florida, they called me Jeb, because I earned it. I cut taxes every year, totaling $19 billion. We were -- we had -- we balanced every budget. We went from $1 billion of reserves to $9 billion of reserves. We were one of two states that went to AAA bond rating. They keep -- they called me Veto Corleone. Because I vetoed 2,500 separate line-items in the budget. I am my own man. I governed as a conservative, and I govern effectively. And the net effect was, during my eight years, 1.3 million jobs were created. We left the state better off because I applied conservative principles in a purple state the right way, and people rose up. +p1955 +aVI do. I believe that the great majority of people coming here illegally have no other option. They want to provide for their family. But we need to control our border. It's not -- it's our responsibility to pick and choose who comes in. So I -- I've written a book about this and yet this week, I did come up with a comprehensive strategy that -- that really mirrored what we said in the book, which is that we need to deal with E-Verify, we need to deal with people that come with a legal visa and overstay. We need to be much more strategic on how we deal with border enforcement, border security. We need to eliminate the sanctuary cities in this country. It is ridiculous and tragic......that people are dying because of the fact that -- that local governments are not following the federal law. There's much to do. And I think rather than talking about this as a wedge issue, which Barack Obama has done now for six long years, the next president -- and I hope to be that president -- will fix this once and for all so that we can turn this into a driver for high sustained economic growth. And there should be a path to earned legal status... ...for those that are here. Not -- not amnesty, earned legal status, which means you pay a fine and do many things over an extended period of time. +p1956 +aV...I remember... +p1957 +aV...I remember, Megyn. +p1958 +aVKnowing what we know now, with faulty intelligence, and not having security be the first priority when -- when we invaded, it was a mistake. I wouldn't have gone in, however, for the people that did lose their lives, and the families that suffer because of it -- I know this full well because as governor of the state of Florida, I called every one of them. Every one of them that I could find to tell them that I was praying for them, that I cared about them, and it was really hard to do. And, every one of them said that their child did not die in vain, or their wife, of their husband did not die in vain. So, why it was difficult for me to do it was based on that. Here's the lesson that we should take from this, which relates to this whole subject. Barack Obama became president, and he abandoned Iraq. He left, and when he left Al Qaida was done for. +p1959 +aVNo, I don't. And I don't believe the federal government should be involved in the creation of standards directly or indirectly, the creation of curriculum or content. It is clearly a state responsibility. I'm for higher standards... ...measured in an intellectually honest way, with abundant school choice, ending social promotion. And I know how to do this because as governor of the state of Florida I created the first statewide voucher program in the country, the second statewide voucher program, in the country and the third statewide voucher program in the country. And we had rising student achievement across the board, because high standards, robust accountability, ending social promotion in third grade, real school choice across the board, challenging the teachers union and beating them is the way to go. And Florida's low income kids had the greatest gains inside the country. Our graduation rate improved by 50 percent. That's what I'm for. +p1960 +aVHe is definitely my friend. And I think the states ought to create these standards. And if states want to opt out of Common Core, fine. Just make sure your standards are high. Because today in America, a third of our kids, after we spend more per student than any country in the world other than a couple rounding errors, to be honest with you, 30 percent are college- and/or career-ready. If we are going to compete in this world we're in today, there is no possible way we can do it with lowering expectations and dumbing down everything. Children are going to suffer and families' hearts are going to be broken that their kids won't be able to get a job in the 21st Century. +p1961 +aVWe've done it 27 times since World War II. I think we need to lift our spirits and have high, lofty expectations for this great country of ours. The new normal of two percent that the left is saying you can't do anything about is so dangerous for our country. There's 6 million people living in poverty today, more than when Barack Obama got elected. 6.5 million people are working part-time, most of whom want to work full-time. We've created rules and taxes on top of every aspiration of people, and the net result is we're not growing fast, income's not growing. A four percent growth strategy means you fix a convoluted tax code. You get in and you change every aspect of regulations that are job killers. You get rid of Obamacare and replace it with something that doesn't suppress wages and kill jobs. You embrace the energy revolution in our country. This president and Hillary Clinton, who can't even say she's for the XL pipeline even after she's left? Give me a break. Of course we're for it. We should be for these things to create high sustained economic growth. And frankly, fixing our immigration system and turning it into an economic driver is part of this as well. We can do this. +p1962 +aVNone of which is true. +p1963 +aVNo. It's not true. But I have said that Mr. Trump's language is divisive. I want to win. I want one of these people here or the ones at 5:00, to be the next president of the United States. We're not going on win by doing what Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton do each and every day. Dividing the country. Saying, creating a grievance kind of environment. We're going to win when we unite people with a hopeful, optimistic message. I have that message because I was a governor of a state that saw people lifted up, because we had high sustained economic growth. Our economy grew at double the rate of the nation. We created 1.3 million jobs. We led the nation seven out of those eight years. We were only one of two states that went to AAA bond rating. I cut taxes, $19 billion. If you do that and apply conservative principles the right way, you create an environment where everybody rises up. That's how we're going to win. Campaigning in places to give people hope that their life is better because too many people are suffering today in America. +p1964 +aVHere's what I believe. I believe we're at the verge of the greatest time to be alive in this world. But Washington is holding us back. How we tax, how we regulate. We're not embracing the energy revolution in our midst, a broken immigration system that has been politicized rather than turning it into an economic driver. We're not protecting and preserving our entitlement system or reforming for the next generation. All these things languish while we have politicians in Washington using these as wedge issues. Here's my commitment to you, because I did it as Florida. We can fix these things. We can grow economically and restore America's leadership in the world, so that everybody has a chance to rise up. I humbly ask for your vote, whenever you're gonna get to vote, whenever the primary is. Thank you all very much. +p1965 +asVFRANTA +p1966 +(lp1967 +VHi, I'm Connor Franta, I'm 23 and my audience is around the same age. Getting my generation to vote should be a priority for any presidential candidate. Now I know Senator Sanders is pretty popular among my peers, but what I want to know is, how are all of you planning on engaging us further in this election? +p1968 +asVWALKER +p1969 +(lp1970 +VGood evening, I'm Scott Walker, and tonight, I want to thank and Mrs. Reagan, and the Reagan Library for hosting us. You see, in my lifetime, the greatest president was a governor from California. Ronald Reagan knew how to go big, and go bold. He understood the essence of moving this country forward, and that's what I did when I took on the status quo in my state, and the Washington based special interest. Now, more than ever, America needs a leader who will go big and bold again. Someone who's been tested. I'm ready to be that leader. Thank you. +p1971 +aVBut Jake, Jake, Jake, Jake... +p1972 +aVBut Jake, this \u2014 this is \u2014 this... +p1973 +aVJake, this is \u2014 this is \u2014 this is... +p1974 +aVThis is actually what's wrong \u2014 this is what's wrong with this debate. We're not talking about real issues. And Mr. Trump, we don't need an apprentice in the White House. We don't need an apprentice in the White House. We have one right now. He told us all the things we wanted to hear back in 2008. We don't know who you are or where you're going. We need someone who can actually get the job done. And you talked about business. +p1975 +aVYou \u2014 you \u2014 let me finish... +p1976 +aVNo, no... +p1977 +aVYou're using the talking... +p1978 +aVMr. Trump, you're using the talking points of the Democrats... +p1979 +aV... and as we all know... +p1980 +aV... that failed three times in four and a half years when I got elected, because it is working. We balanced a budget. You want to talk about balanced budgets? You took four major projects into bankruptcy over and over and over again. You can't take America into bankruptcy. That's what's wrong with the politicians in Washington right now. They think we can take a country into bankruptcy. +p1981 +aVJake, yeah, absolutely, I'll take this on, because this is an issue that's important in this race. Just because he says it doesn't make it true. The facts are the facts. We balanced a $3.6 billion budget deficit, we did it by cutting taxes \u2014 $4.7 billion to help working families, family farmers, small business owners and senior citizens. And it's about time people in America stand up and take note of this. If you want someone that can actually take on the special interest of Washington, which you yourself said you were part of, using the system, we need somebody that will stand up and fight for average Americans to put them back in charge of their government. I'm the one who is taking that on. I'll do that as your next president. +p1982 +aVTwo parts to that, one on China, one back for a second on Iran. When it comes to China, why would we be giving an official state visit to a country that's been involved in a massive cyber attack against the United States? That's not just a visit, that's a 21 gun salute on the South Lawn of the White House. It just doesn't make any sense. If we're ever going to send a message to them, wouldn't this be the time, when they've issued this, sort of, massive attack against us? And, Jake, for the question, I was one of the first ones to call for terminating the bad deal with Iran on day one. The President came after me and said I need to bone up. You know, the President who called +p1983 +aVJake, just one more moment. This is \u2014 there's something bigger to this. Now, I \u2014 like so many other governors here, I defunded Planned Parenthood four-and-a-half years ago, in a Blue State. But it's bigger than that. We did that in a Blue State, we took the money and put it into women's health, so we did exactly what we're talking about here. But I think the bigger issue here is we should be able to do this nationally, and this is precisely why so many Republicans are upset with Washington. They see the House and they see the Senate and they say why can't we pass this. Why can't we defund Planned \u2014 put it in a spending bill. Forget about the 60-vote rule, there's no reason \u2014 and the Constitution doesn't call for 60 votes. Pass it with 51 votes, put it on the desk of the president \u2014 +p1984 +aV\u2014 and go forward and actually make a point. This is why \u2014 +p1985 +aV\u2014 people are upset with Washington. +p1986 +aVSo, the best way to help people see their wages go up is to get them the education, the skill they need, to take on careers that pay more than minimum wage. And, it's why we talk about it, it's all about jobs. You want to help actually get jobs, it's why on that last question we were trying to jump in on taxes. To me, it's not just about taxes, cutting taxes. I've done it as much as anyone has. I've cut income taxes, I've cut property taxes. In fact, property taxes are lower today in my state than they were before we took office. The real issues about jobs. Ronald Reagan, our plan is based on the Ronald Reagan tax cuts of 1986. That brought about one of the longest sustained periods of economic growth in American history. All the things we should be talking about tonight are about how do we create jobs, helping people get the skills and the education qualifications they need to succeed. That's the way you help people create jobs. It's part of our large plan to reform the tax code, to cut taxes, to put in place an education system that gives people the skills and education that they need. To put in place all the above energy policy, but you start on day one with repealing Obamacare. I'm the only one on this stage that's actually got a plan, introduced an actual plan to repeal Obamacare on day one. I'll send a bill up to Congress, and to make sure enact it... +p1987 +aV...I'm going to sign an order that makes the Congress live by the same rules as everybody else. +p1988 +aV...That will ensure they repeal Obamacare... +p1989 +aV...Jake, Jake, Jake, I just want to address that issue because you said I didn't answer, and I did. I said, to me, I think the real focus shouldn't be \u2014 you know, Hillary Clinton talks about the minimum wage. That's her answer to grow the economy. The answer is to give people the skills and the education so they make far more than minimum wage. I don't want to argue about how low things are going to be, I want to talk about how do we lift everyone up in America. That's what Reagan talked about. It wasn't how bad things were, it was how to make it better for everyone. That's what we've done in Wisconsin, that's exactly what we'd do as... +p1990 +aV... the key issue here is talking about leadership. Now, there's a lot of greater people up here, and you've heard a lot of great ideas out there. But I would ask the American people, look at who's been tested. When there were 100,000 protesters in my capital, I didn't back down, when they issued death threats against me and threats against my family, I didn't back down, when they tried to recall me, I didn't back down, and when they made me the \u2014 one of their number-one targets last year, I didn't back down. Give me the chance to be your president. +p1991 +aVI won't back down... +p1992 +aV... on any of these issues. +p1993 +aVTo be clear, what I said the other day was that we need to lift the political restrictions that are already in play. Barack Obama's administration has put political restrictions on the military personnel already in Iraq. We need to lift those and then we need to listen to our military experts, not the political forces in the White House, but our military experts about how many more we sent in. And we certainly shouldn't have a commander-in-chief who sends a message to our adversaries as to how far we're going to go, and how far we're willing to fight, so I'm not putting a troop number. What I'm saying is lift the political restrictions. When you do that, you empower our military personnel already there to work with the Kurd and the Sunni allies, to reclaim the territory taken by +p1994 +aV... a lot of those people, though, and I'm going to echo what Senator Rubio just said. This is an issue where, we're talking about my state, it's thousands of manufacturing jobs. Thousands of manufacturing jobs for a rule the Obama administration, own EPA has said will have a marginal impact on climate change. So we're going to put thousands and thousands of jobs in my state, I think it's something like 30,000 in Ohio, other states across this country, we're going to put people \u2014 manufacturing jobs, the kind of jobs that are far greater than minimum wage, this administration is willing to put at risk for something its own EPA says is marginal (ph)... +p1995 +aVFirst of all, I got to say to Carson, Huckabee, thanks a lot for making the rest of us look like chumps up here, but, I'd pick Clara Barton. I once worked for the American Red Cross, she was a great founder of the Red Cross. +p1996 +aVHarley. I love riding Harley's. +p1997 +aVWell, I turned 13 years old two days before Ronald Reagan was first elected. A lot of people forget this, but just a few days before that election 1980, he was behind in the polls. And I think what changed things was people in America realized they didn't want to hear what was bad about America, they wanted to know how it was going to be better. Ronald Reagan wasn't just a conservative Republican, he was an eternal optimist in the American people. And I am too. So here's what I think will make America better. We need to live in a world where our children are free, are free from the threats of radical Islamic terrorism. We need to live in an America where we have an economy, where everyone can live their piece of the American dream, no matter what that dream is. And we need to live in an America where we have a federal government that is not too big to fail, but ultimately small enough to succeed, where we send powers back to the states and back to the people. That's what I did in Wisconsin. We took on the big government union bosses, the big government special interests, many of whom came in from Washington, to spend millions of dollars to try and take me out because we stood up to them, we didn't back down in any of those instances. If you give me the chance as your next president, I won't back down any day, anyway, anyhow. I'll fight and win for you and your families every single day I'm in office. +p1998 +aVWell, I'm pro-life, I've always been pro-life, and I've got a position that I think is consistent with many Americans out there in that... ...in that I believe that that is an unborn child that's in need of protection out there, and I've said many a time that that unborn child can be protected, and there are many other alternatives that can also protect the life of that mother. That's been consistently proven. Unlike Hillary Clinton, who has a radical position in terms of support for Planned Parenthood, I defunded Planned Parenthood more than four years ago, long before any of these videos came out... ...I've got a position that's in line with everyday America. +p1999 +aVChris, I actually said that on your show earlier this year. I acknowledged that. I said I actually listened to the American people. And I think people across America want a leader who's actually going to listen to them. I talked to border state governors and other elected officials. I look at how this president, particularly through last November, messed up the immigration system in this country. Most importantly, I listened to the people of America. I believe we need to secure the border. I've been to the border with Governor Abbott in Texas and others, seeing the problems that they have there. There is international criminal organizations penetrating our southern based borders, and we need to do something about it. Secure the border, enforce the law, no amnesty, and go forward with the legal immigration system that gives priority to American working families and wages. +p2000 +aVI don't know about additional ones. We need to focus on the ones we have. You look at Egypt, probably the best relationship we've had in Israel, at least in my lifetime, incredibly important. You look at the Saudis -- in fact, earlier this year, I met with Saudi leaders, and leaders from the United Arab Emirates, and I asked them what's the greatest challenge in the world today? Set aside the Iran deal. They said it's the disengagement of America. We are leading from behind under the Obama-Clinton doctrine -- America's a great country. We need to stand up and start leading again, and we need to have allies, not just in Israel, but throughout the Persian Gulf. +p2001 +aVJust one second on this, though. We -- we spent a lot of time talking about Hillary Clinton and ---and pitting us back and forth. Let's be clear, we should be talking about Hillary Clinton on that last subject, because everywhere in the world that Hillary Clinton touched is more messed up today than before she and the president . +p2002 +aVIt's true. +p2003 +aVWell, the voters in Wisconsin elected me last year for the third time because they wanted someone who aimed high, not aimed low. Before I came in, the unemployment rate was over eight percent. It's now down to 4.6 percent. We've more than made up for the jobs that were lost during the recession. And the rate in which people are working is almost five points higher than it is nationally. You know, people like Hillary Clinton think you grow the economy by growing Washington. One report last year showed that six of the top 10 wealthiest counties in America were in or around Washington, D.C.. I think most of us in America understand that people, not the government creates jobs. And one of the best things we can do is get the government out of the way, repeal Obamacare, put in -- reign in all the out of control regulations, put in place an all of the above energy policy, give people the education, the skills that the need to succeed, and lower the tax rate and reform the tax code. That's what I'll do as president, just like I did in Wisconsin. +p2004 +aVWell, first off, let's remember. I still remember, as a kid, tying a yellow ribbon around a tree in front of my house during the 444 days that Iran held 52 Americans hostage. Iran is not a place we should be doing business with. To me, you terminate the deal on day one, you reinstate the sanctions authorized by Congress, you go to Congress and put in place even more crippling sanctions in place, and then you convince our allies to do the same. This is not just bad with Iran, this is bad with +p2005 +aVWell, I think the most important thing we can do when it comes to policing -- it's something you've had a guest on who's a friend of mine Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clark, who's talked to me about this many times in the past -- it's about training. It's about making sure that law enforcement professionals, not only in the way in to their positions but all the way through their time, have the proper training, particularly when it comes to the use of force. And that we protect and stand up and support those men and women who are doing their jobs in law enforcement. And for the very few that don't, that there are consequences to show that we treat everyone the same here in America. +p2006 +aVWell first off, for the cyber attack with Russia the other day, it's sad to think right now, but probably the Russian and Chinese government know more about Hillary Clinton's e-mail server than do the members of the United States Congress. And -- and that has put our national security at risk. If I am president, he won't think about that. You know, Putin believes in the old Lenin adage: you probe with bayonets. When you find mush, you push. When you find steel, you stop. Under Obama and Clinton, we found a lot of mush over the last two years. We need to have a national security that puts steel in front of our enemies. I would send weapons to Ukraine. I would work with +p2007 +aVWell, thanks, Megyn. I'm certainly an imperfect man. And it's only by the blood of Jesus Christ that I've been redeemed from my sins. So I know that God doesn't call me to do a specific thing, God hasn't given me a list, a Ten Commandments, if you will, of things to act on the first day. What God calls us to do is follow his will. And ultimately that's what I'm going to try to do. And I hope people've seen it in my state, even in the big challenges I took on when I had over 100,000 protesters in and around our capital, trying to do what I thought was the right thing. It wasn't just how I took on those political battles. It was ultimately how I acted. Not responding in kind. Not lashing out. But just being decent going forward and living my life in a way that would be a testimony to him and our faith. +p2008 +aVThanks. I'm guy with a wife and two kids, and Harley. One article called me "aggressively normal." I ran for governor because I was worried about my kids' future. Then, I took on the big government union bosses, and we won. They tried to recall me, and we won. They target us again, and we won. We balanced the budget, cut taxes, and turned our state around with big, bold reforms. It wasn't too late for Wisconsin, and it's not too late for America. That's why I ask for your vote. +p2009 +asVMALE +p2010 +(lp2011 +VThat's a good one. +p2012 +aV +p2013 +asVMITCHELL +p2014 +(lp2015 +VThank you, Lester. Secretary Clinton, Senator Sanders favors what he calls "Medicare for all." Now, you said that what he is proposing would tear up Obamacare and replace it. Secretary Clinton, is it fair to say to say that Bernie Sanders wants to kill Obamacare? +p2016 +aVSenator Sanders? +p2017 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor Sanders... +p2018 +aVSenator Sanders, let me ask you this, though... +p2019 +aV... you've talked about Medicare for all... +p2020 +aV.. and tonight you've released a very detailed plan, just two... +p2021 +aV... well, two hours before the debate, you did. +p2022 +aVBut let me ask you about Vermont. Because in Vermont \u2014 you tried in the state of Vermont, and Vermont walked away from this kind of idea, of \u2014 of Medicare for all, single-payer, because they concluded it would require major tax increases... +p2023 +aV... and by some estimates, it would double the budget. If you couldn't sell it in Vermont, Senator... +p2024 +aV... how can you sell it to the country? +p2025 +aVSenator Sanders \u2014 Senator Sanders, you've talked a lot about things you want to do. You want free education for everyone, you want the Federal Minimum Wage raised to $15 an hour. You want to expand Social Security... +p2026 +aV... benefits. You've been specific about what you want, but let's talk about how to pay for all this. You now said that you would raise taxes today, two hours or so ago, you said you would raise taxes to pay for your health care plan. You haven't been specific about how to pay for the other things... +p2027 +aV... Will you tell us tonight? +p2028 +aV... OK... O' +p2029 +aV... Secretary Clinton, you mentioned earlier \u2014 Secretary Clinton, do you want to respond? +p2030 +aVOK, we're out of time. Senator Sanders, +p2031 +aVSenator Sanders... +p2032 +aV... Senator Sanders, let me ask you a question about taxes. +p2033 +aVThe most googled political issue... +p2034 +aVIn the last month was taxes. Now, in your healthcare plan, the plan you released tonight, you would not only raise taxes on the wealthy, but the details you released indicate you would raise taxes on the middle class also. Is that correct? +p2035 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, let me just follow up on that. +p2036 +aVOn Meet the Press on December 20th, you said that you would only raise taxes on the middle class to pay for family leave. And, having said that, now you say you're going to raise middle class taxes to pay for healthcare as well. Is that breaking your word? +p2037 +aVThank you Lester. Senator Sanders, the nuclear deal is now enforced. Iran is getting it's billions of dollars, several Americans who have been held are now going to be heading home. The president said today, "it's a good day. It's a good day for diplomacy. It's a time now to restore diplomatic relations for the first time since 1979 and actually re- opened a U.S. Embassy in Tehran." +p2038 +aVYour response Secretary Clinton? +p2039 +aVYou mentioned Syria. Let me ask you about Syria, all of you. Let's turn to Syria and the civil war that has been raging there. Are there any circumstances in which you could see deploying significant numbers of ground forces in Syria, not just specials forces but significant ground forces to combat +p2040 +aVSenator Sanders, ground forces yes or no? +p2041 +aVGovernor O'Malley? +p2042 +aVGovernor O'Malley. O' +p2043 +aVI have a question. I have a question for Senator Sanders. Did the policies of the Obama administration, in which Secretary Clinton of course was a part, create a vacuum in Iraq and Syria that helped +p2044 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to talk to you about red lines, because former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in a recent interview that President Obama's decision to stand down on planned missile strikes against Damascus after Assad had used chemical weapons hurt the president's credibility. Should the president have stuck to his red line once he drew it? +p2045 +aVBut should he \u2014 should he have stuck to his... +p2046 +aV... line? Did it hurt U.S. credibility? +p2047 +aVYour time is up. +p2048 +aVSenator.... +p2049 +aVYou're out of time. +p2050 +aVSenator Sanders. +p2051 +aVYour time is us. Lester. +p2052 +aVJust a \u2014 just a quick follow-up, though, Secretary Clinton. Just a moment, Governor. O' +p2053 +aVBut \u2014 but \u2014 Secretary Clinton, you said that the leaders from the intelligence community went to Silicon Valley, they were flatly turned down. They got nowhere. +p2054 +aVSenator Sanders, let me ask you a question. You called Bill Clinton's past transgressions, quote, "totally, totally, totally disgraceful and unacceptable." Senator, do you regret saying that? +p2055 +aV...too long. O' +p2056 +asVHEWITT +p2057 +(lp2058 +VSenator Cruz, you've said you disagree with Mr. Trump's policy. I don't want a cage match; you've tweeted you don't want a cage match. But Republican primary voters deserve to know, with the kind of specificity and responsiveness you delivered in your nine Supreme Court arguments, how you disagree with Mr. Trump. Would you spell that out with us? +p2059 +aVSo you're saying you disagree because he's too broad and you have a narrower focus? Why do you disagree with him? +p2060 +aVCarly Fiorina... ... this is the Christmas dinner debate. This will be the debate that Americans talk about at Christmas. And thus far, in the first 10 minutes, we haven't heard a lot about Ronald Reagan's city on a hill. We've heard a lot about keeping Americans out or keeping Americans safe and everyone else out. Is this what you want the party to stand for? +p2061 +aVDr. Carson...... you mentioned in your opening remarks that you're a pediatric neurologist surgeon... +p2062 +aVNeurosurgeon. And people admire and respect and are inspired by your life story, your kindness, your evangelical core support. We're talking about ruthless things tonight \u2014 carpet bombing, toughness, war. And people wonder, could you do that? Could you order air strikes that would kill innocent children by not the scores, but the hundreds and the thousands? Could you wage war as a commander-in-chief? +p2063 +aVSo you are OK with the deaths of thousands of innocent children and civilian? It's like... +p2064 +aVThat is what war \u2014 can you be as ruthless as Churchill was in prosecuting the war against the Nazis? +p2065 +aVMr. Trump, we are talking about the most important thing, that's why it's heated. And it's, you are OK with Mr. Assad staying in power, but you are also in favor of winning. If he stays in power, Iran is winning, Hezbollah is winning. Iran is winning in Yemen. They are winning everywhere. If they are winning how can we be winning? +p2066 +aVGovernor Christie, is he right? Because if we step back, Iran goes nuclear. Is Donald Trump right? +p2067 +aVSenator Paul, let me ask you, you heard Governor Kasich say Assad must go. Do you agree? +p2068 +aVGovernor Bush, a commander-in-chief question. You've said that Mr. Trump is not qualified to be president because he's not qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin. Why are you better qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin than Mr. Trump? +p2069 +aVMr. Trump? +p2070 +aVBut, Mr. Trump, it's not CNN \u2014 I was on CNN last night... +p2071 +aV... watching... +p2072 +aVBut it wasn't \u2014 it wasn't CNN. It was me. I watched you last night for 16 minutes. It's not CNN. +p2073 +aVIt's not CNN. It's America's watching you. +p2074 +aVIt's America's watching. +p2075 +aVGovernor \u2014 thank you, Governor. +p2076 +aVDr. Carson, commander-in-chief question again. You've been the head of neurosurgery for a big hospital. You're on a lot of boards of a lot of companies. You've traveled the world. You're going traveling again next week. But does that prepare you to command troops from Djibouti to Japan, troops from Afghanistan to Iraq to be in charge of the men and women watching on Armed Services Network tonight? +p2077 +aVMr. Trump...... Dr. Carson just referenced the single most important job of the president, the command, the control and the care of our nuclear forces. And he mentioned the triad. The B-52s are older than I am. The missiles are old. The submarines are aging out. It's an executive order. It's a commander-in-chief decision. What's your priority among our nuclear triad? +p2078 +aVOf the three legs of the triad, though, do you have a priority? I want to go to Senator Rubio after that and ask him. +p2079 +aVSenator Rubio, do you have a response? +p2080 +aVMy listeners tell me again and again they are worried that Hillary Clinton will win the White House because you'll run as an independent. Are you ready to assure Republicans tonight that you will run as a Republican and abide by the decision of the Republicans? +p2081 +aVDr. Carson, last week... +p2082 +aVPlease. +p2083 +aVDr. Carson, Mr. Trump just committed to stay the distance regardless of the result. How about you? +p2084 +aVThank you, Jake. Mr. Trump, two years ago, President Obama drew a red line that the Syrian dictator Bashar Assad crossed, President Obama threatened to strike. He did not, his knees buckled. We now have 4 million refugees, Syria is a living hell, and he turned to the Congress for the authority to back him up. You have three senators to your right that said, no. Do they bear responsibility for this refugee crisis, and what would you have done when Bashar Assad crossed the line? +p2085 +aVHow much responsibility, Mr. Trump, do the senators hold? +p2086 +aVSenator Rubio... +p2087 +aVSenator Paul? +p2088 +aVI'd like to talk about winning because I think all of you are more qualified than former Secretary of State Clinton, and as were the people in the first debate, but there are different styles, and Carly Fiorina, Governor Kasich, you're conveniently located next to each other, and you have different styles. Governor Kasich, you've been on my show a lot. You refused to attack Hillary Clinton, you just don't want to go there, you want to do the up with people. Go, Ohio, OK, and I like that. Carly Fiorina, I don't have to bring up the Secretary of State \u2014 you bring her up, so . Which one of you is wrong? Governor Kasich? +p2089 +aVGovernor. +p2090 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2091 +aVCarly Fiorina, your style? +p2092 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Christie, your name was mentioned. I want to give you a chance to respond. +p2093 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2094 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. There is a lot more coming up. Ahead, a world of trouble. The challenges that one of these candidates may face in the Oval Office, and how he or she will handle it. Stay with us. +p2095 +aVOh, you're the best interview in America. +p2096 +aV... makes an interesting case (ph) here (ph). +p2097 +aVThank you, Jake. I've done a lot of great interviews with all of you, but, Governor Bush, I talked to you in February about the biggest elephant in a room full of elephants, which is your last name. And you said you would not be burdened either by your brother or your father's legacy in the Middle East. And then, a week later, you rolled out your list of foreign policy advisers, and it was a lot of the band getting back together again. So on behalf of the military that is watching... +p2098 +aV...OK, the active duty military that are at the end of the sphere (ph), what kind of a commander in chief is Jeb Bush going to be, and who are the advisers that are new to your team? +p2099 +aVMr. \u2014 Mr. Trump. +p2100 +aVI want to ask you a question, though, you promised us great leaders. And I believe that. But Jeb Bush has laid out 20 different people that have experience around the world. There are 190 countries, you can't run the world by yourself. When are we going to get some names on your military and your foreign policy advisers? +p2101 +aVThank you, Jake. Tomorrow is \u2014 Republicans know this \u2014 tomorrow is Constitution Day. We've been talking about the 10th Amendment. Let's talk about the Second Amendment. Governor Bush, one of the things the Supreme Court has gotten right is that it's an individual right and it's protected for individuals to hold it. Last week, you said the next step in gun issues is to make sure they're not in the hands of mentally ill. In this state, there's a controversial law that allows guns to be taken away from people without a hearing. Where does it go \u2014 and the problem of violence is endemic, but where does it go from what you said last week, how far into people's lives to take guns away from them? +p2102 +aVIf a family member calls and says, "My child, my brother, my sister is disturbed," ought the state be able to go and get their weapon without a hearing? +p2103 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2104 +aVSenator Cruz, I want to go to you. Your constitutional litigant (ph), are you afraid of the next- step theory of what happens to Second Amendment rights? +p2105 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2106 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2107 +aVThank you, senator. +p2108 +aVWait, let's pursue that in fact Governor Pataki? +p2109 +aVYou called for following and finding those Imams who are preaching violence in mosques. How exactly would you do that and what Mosques would you shut down? How extensive of a surveillance program are you proposing? +p2110 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p2111 +aVGovernor Huckabee... ...As Governor Pataki noted earlier, we have a history of religious intoleration in this country. About the American Muslims who would be subject to this kind of surveillance, does it violate their First Amendment rights? +p2112 +aVSenator Santorum... ...I want to start then, not on the First Amendment, but on the Second Amendment. There is a terror watchlist. You can legally purchase a gun in the United States if you're on that watchlist. Your old colleague, Peter King in the House, wants to change that law. Do you agree with him? +p2113 +aVGovernor... +p2114 +aVGovernor, back to you. Your response? +p2115 +aVSenator Graham, are you trying to get in? +p2116 +aVThank you, Wolf. Governor Huckabee, ten minutes ago you blasted President Obama for destabilizing Iraq. You hit former Secretary of State Clinton for supporting the Muslim brotherhood in Egypt. But you have said recently you would sanction countries that don't join the fight aggressively against +p2117 +aVWhich country? +p2118 +aVWhich countries are those, governor, that you would sanction? +p2119 +aVThat's an easy, give. Are you going to sanction any of our allies who say, no this isn't our fight we're gonna let you do this. Are you going to leave our allies alone? For example, Indonesia and Malaysia \u2014 other Muslim countries \u2014 will you leave them alone? +p2120 +aVSenator Graham, I just named two Islamic countries... ...Senator Graham, I just named two Islamic countries that are allies that he suggested we sanction. Is that the appropriate approach to this war? +p2121 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you... +p2122 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you, the opposite of getting into bed is shooting down the prince's plane. Senator Santorum has \u2014 Senator Graham has said he would shoot down Russian planes bombing Syrian fighters on our side. Would you shoot down a Russian plane bombing American allied fighters in Syria? +p2123 +aVWhat \u2014 if they fly into it, would you shoot it down? +p2124 +aVThe consequences would be war with Russia. Would you risk... +p2125 +aVSenator Graham, do you agree? +p2126 +aVOK, we know you agree, Senator Graham. How about you, Governor Pataki, would you shoot down Russian planes? +p2127 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you... +p2128 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you, the opposite of getting into bed is shooting down the prince's plane. Senator Santorum has \u2014 Senator Graham has said he would shoot down Russian planes bombing Syrian fighters on our side. Would you shoot down a Russian plane bombing American allied fighters in Syria? +p2129 +aVWhat \u2014 if they fly into it, would you shoot it down? +p2130 +aVThe consequences would be war with Russia. Would you risk... +p2131 +aVSenator Graham, do you agree? +p2132 +aVOK, we know you agree, Senator Graham. How about you, Governor Pataki, would you shoot down Russian planes? +p2133 +aVSenator Graham, in 2013 you were part of the leadership that pushed through immigration reform, comprehensive immigration reform in the Senate of the United States. It died in the House. Many accused you of amnesty, and may have undermined your ability to get your message out on the war. Would you sign that bill again today? Would you \u2014 sponsor that bill again today? +p2134 +aVBut, Senator, I misunderstand, did you... +p2135 +aVSenator Santorum, is that sufficient for you? +p2136 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2137 +aVYep. Governor Huckabee, you have said that children of immigrants who came here illegally should not be punished by their parents actions. As president, would you continue President Obama's policy, vis-a-vis, the Dreamers? +p2138 +aVSenator... +p2139 +aVSenator Santorum, you... ...Your position on that policy, assuming that it was passed constitutionally, would you allow this, would you support such an act? +p2140 +aVThank you, Jake. Governor, you signed the pledge to support the Republican nominee and you promptly broke it. By doing so, by Tweeting out that you would not support Donald Trump, have you released Donald Trump to be a free agent again or anyone else in the field? +p2141 +aVGovernor... +p2142 +aV-- you said on Twitter that you would not support Donald Trump. If he's the nominee... +p2143 +aV-- will you support him? +p2144 +aVWould you really vote for Hillary Clinton... +p2145 +aV-- or vote for Donald Trump if he's the nominee? +p2146 +aVGovernor Jindal, Senator Graham just said it's all about winning and, in fact, if former Secretary of State Clinton is the successor to President Obama, none of this matters and all this conversation is beside the point. In the Washington elite, they have a habit of saying nice things about each other until election time. Senator Graham has praised Secretary of State Clinton as a great choice to be the secretary of state, as a national treasure. Can anyone from inside of Washington win this election cycle, having praised Secretary of State Clinton that way? +p2147 +aVSenator Graham, took a shot at there and you're having a good debate but there is this problem of Washington elites and saying wonderful things about each other. +p2148 +aVIs that responsive to calling Hillary Clinton a national treasure, Senator? +p2149 +aVBut Senator, can you go back and forth that way, and expect to have an argument with the American people to persuade them about that? +p2150 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2151 +aVThank you, senator. +p2152 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2153 +aVLet's talk about the economy, if We could. Governor Pataki. +p2154 +aVJeb Bush and Donald Trump are both proposing raising taxes on hedge fund managers who pay at a lower rate. Governor Pataki, you were the governor of New York, home of Wall Street. Do you agree that hedge fund managers need to be paying a higher rate? +p2155 +aVSo you are with Jeb Bush and Donald Trump on the hedge fund? +p2156 +aVGovernor Jindal -- Governor Jindal, that's three Republicans running for president who support hedge fund managers paying a higher rate. Are you the fourth? +p2157 +aVLet's stay on the topic of taxes. +p2158 +aVI want to bring in my colleague, Dana Bash. +p2159 +aVThere are other ways, Governor, than bombing Iran. I want to quote Rick Santorum. "We should send a very clear message that If you are a scientist and you're going to work on a nuclear program to develop a bomb for Iran, you are not safe." Does that message work? Is anything that works on the table? +p2160 +aVSenator Santorum, stay on that: any means necessary? Is that what you meant to say? Is that what's still on this table after this, what many of us believe is a catastrophic deal? +p2161 +asVJINDAL +p2162 +(lp2163 +V...Thank you. +p2164 +aVA couple of things. In Louisiana, we're actually a top 10 state for job growth. As we sit here today, we have more people working in Louisiana than ever before, earning a higher income than ever before. We've had 60 months in a row of consecutive job growth in our state. So the reality is, we have diversified our economy. Yes, I've got an interview plan that says all of the above, that creates good manufacturing jobs in America. We've also got one of the fastest growing IT sectors by percentage. We are growing Louisiana's economy. But let me get to the point that is, I think, the most important issue here tonight. You're going to have several hours of debate on the economy and we're going to have a great discussion about energy plans and tax rates. And that's all great. The most important thing we have to do, we have a fundamental choice to make, folks. Are we willing to cut the government economy so we can grow the American economy? That is the most fundamental question we've got to answer. We are on the path to socialism right now. These are mutually exclusive. The hour is late, but it is not too late for America. Though under President Obama, you asked about his economy. We've got record dependents, a record number of Americans on food stamps, record low participation rate in the work force. This is a fundamental choice. Sending a big government Republican to DC is not enough to fix this problem. It's not enough just to beat Hillary Clinton. We've got to change the direction of our country. What that means is let's shrink the government, not slow its growth rate, but actually shrink the government so we can grow the American economy. That is the fundamental issue we should be debating here tonight. +p2165 +aVNo, I think right now there's not much difference between the two parties. The reason we keep losing nationally is we try to be cheaper versions of the Democratic party. What if the Republicans, what if Republicans actually embraced our own principles? So I earlier said if you want bigger paychecks, you want more jobs, you want less government dependence, you're going to have to cut government spending. Here's the dirty little secret. You're going to hear a lot of Republicans tonight in this debate and the next one talk about cutting government spending. It's going to sound great. There's only one of us that's actually cut government spending. Not two, there's one, and you're looking at him. We've got four senators running. They've never cut anything in D.C. They give these long speeches called filibusters, they pat themselves on the back, nothing changes. When they go to relieve themselves their cause and the toilet get flushed at the same time, and the American people lose. We've got a bunch of governors running, we've got seven current former governors running. I'm the only one that has cut government spending. Everybody else can talk about it. If they haven't done it in their state capitals, what makes them thank that \u2014 what makes us think they'll do it if we send them to D.C. Look, when politicians talk, we need to look at what they have done, not what they have said. Otherwise, it's a bunch of hot air. We've cut our budget 26 percent. Record number of Louisianans working. If Republicans want to win national elections, let's be conservatives, let's be Republicans, let's not be a second version of the liberal party, let's cut government spending and grow the American economy. +p2166 +aVWait, wait, wait. I want to respond. He has criticized something I said. I want to respond to that. Mike, with all due respect, I admire your social views, I share many of those views, your record as Governor tells a different story. Was \u2014 your time as Governor spending in Arkansas went up 65 percent, number of state workers went up 20 percent, the taxes for the average citizen went up 47 percent. That's not a record of cutting. I'm saying we've actually cut. We reduced the size of our budget. So wanting to cut is one thing, actually cutting is a different thing. Facts don't lie. +p2167 +aVI was absolutely a skeptic of giving this president more power. He negotiated a bad deal with Iran. He breaks the law routinely. I don't know why Congress would want to concede more authority to him. Look, this trade deal is 6,000 pages long. Unlike ObamaCare, I think we should read it before we decide whether we would vote for it or not vote for it. I am for trade deals, but I want to make sure they are fair trade deals. I want to come back to something that Chris had said earlier. Look, I absolutely agree we've got to beat Hillary Clinton. But just sending any Republican is not good enough. We've had a Republican majority in the Senate and the House. What has changed? If we send another big government Republican to the White House, we will not do enough to fix what is wrong in this country. Chris, I think records matter. I think the way we govern matter. Under your leadership in New Jersey, your budget has gone up 15 percent. It's gone down 26 percent in Louisiana. It has gone up $5 million in New Jersey. It's gone down $9 billion in Louisiana. In New Jersey, you've had nine credit downgrades, setting a record. We've had eight credit upgrades in Louisiana. My point is this. If politicians say they're going to be conservative, they say they're going to cut spending but they don't do it, why should we send them to DC? It gets harder, not easier, when we send them to DC. Let's not be a second liberal party. Let's actually cut government spending. Let's grow the American economy. Let's not just beat Hillary, let's elect a conservative to the White House, not just any Republican. +p2168 +aVBut wait a minute, records matter. Records \u2014 records matter. Yes, we've got to... +p2169 +aV\u2014 beat Hillary Clinton. But Chris, it's also true that you expanded food stamps at a time that we've got record numbers of Americans on food stamps. It's also true you caved into ObamaCare. You expanded Medicaid. We've got a choice in front of us. This is an important debate. This is not about comparing Louisiana to New Jersey or Bobby to Chris. This is an important debate for the American people. This is supposed to be an economics debate. Let's have a debate. Do we want to grow government or do we want to grow the American economy? Do we want to grow dependence on government, or do we want to grow good paying jobs in the private sector... +p2170 +aV...you don't grow the economy by putting more people on food stamps, more people in Medicaid, you grow the economy by cutting government, cutting spending. That's what we've done in Louisiana, you haven't done that in New Jersey... +p2171 +aV...We need a conservative, not a big government republican in D.C. +p2172 +aV...This is how we.... +p2173 +aV...This is how we move our country forward, look, this is not about between me and Chris... +p2174 +aV...This is about......are we going to be the party... +p2175 +aVWell, look, only one other opponent, actually, one other candidate, actually, has a plan. That's Jeb Bush, and he creates a new entitlement program. My plan actually gets rid of all of Obamacare, it's great that Senator Cruz will shut down the government over Obamacare, but he still hasn't given us his plan to get rid of it. It's great that other republicans talk about getting rid of it. You go to a town hall in Iowa, or New Hampshire, ask them how they're actually going to get rid of it \u2014 my plan has been online for over a year. It gets rid of all of Obamacare, it reduces the cost. It actually puts Americans, their patients, their doctors back in control. And, it actually helps those that really need this help \u2014 but, this is one of the most critical issues we face domestically. I think I \u2014 look, right now, I think I am the only candidate running that refused to expand Medicaid. I'm the only one that turned down \u2014 that did what we could to fight Obamacare. This is an important point, and, look, I appreciate Chris's nice compliments to me. And, Chris, you look to me very well, I love Mary-pat, but this isn't about me and Chris. This is about the country, and this is about what direction \u2014 this is the most important election in our lifetimes. Folks, a couple of years ago they told us give them the republican majorities in the House and the Senate, they'd stop Obamacare, and amnesty, and the bad Iran deal \u2014 nothing changed. If they fooled us once, shame on them. If they fooled us twice, shame on us. Don't let them fool us again. Chris, look, I'll give you your ribbon for participation, and a juicebox, but in the real world, it's about results......but, in the real world it's about results. It's about actually cutting government spending, not just talking about cutting government spending. +p2176 +aVWe can waste our time. And I think this is why people were so frustrated with the last debate with these kinds of silly questions. We've only got a certain amount of time to talk about the economy. Let me use my time to say this. I want to fire everybody in D.C. in both parties. I think they all \u2014 we need term limits, get rid of them all, make them live under the same rules they passed on the rest of us. +p2177 +aVSo under our tax plan, look, the top rate is 25 percent, 10 percent, 2 percent. That 2 percent is the most important. I think everybody should pay something. I think everybody should have skin in the game. We shouldn't be creating one group of Americans that's dependent on government, another group that's paying taxes. I want to come back to an earlier point though, that Chris said. Look, we all agree Hillary Clinton is bad. We all agree we need to beat her. But let's not pretend that out-of-control government spending is only a Democratic issue. This is a bipartisan issue, and just sending another big government Republican to D.C. is not good enough. We need to actually cut government spending. We need to cut \u2014 and we're not going to do it just by sending any Republican. I'm glad he's vetoed taxes. The Tax Foundation graded New Jersey the 50th worst business climate due to taxes, high taxes in the state of New Jersey. +p2178 +aVWell, a couple of reasons. Look, we know big companies don't pay those taxes today. They hire lobbyists and accountants and lawyers. It's the small businesses that get hit. I want to get rid of the corporate tax, I want to bring the jobs and investment back to America. Make the CEOs pay the same rates as everybody else. Get rid of all the corporate welfare as well. Like I said, make everybody pay something, earned success is so much better than unearned success. And let's actually shrink the size of government. My plan purposely does that. Look, we can talk all night about tax plans, energy plans, I think you will find a lot of agreement among all the Republicans. We all want to get rid of the death tax, the marriage penalty. We all want lower, fewer brackets. We want to downsize, take away power from the IRS. What we really need to be talking about is this, these last seven years, we've had more government spending, more government dependence. Poverty has gone up. Inequality has gone up. Only the top 10 percent have seen their incomes go up \u2014 their median incomes go up. We actually have more inequality thanks to what we have seen, the largest most expensive experiment in progressive government. We can't keep spending money we don't have. And the reality is, the last couple of years it hasn't mattered whether Republicans or Democrats were in control. We keep stealing from our children. That is immoral. It is wrong. And we're creating more government dependence. If we really want to grow the economy, yes, you need a rational energy plan, and you've got to rein in the EPA, and you've got to repeal Obamacare, and you've got to cut taxes. But none of that will be enough if we're not serious about cutting government spending. We cannot afford to elect a big- government Republican. We need somebody. This is the most important election. Hillary Clinton is gift-wrapping this election to us. Let's not waste this opportunity to apply conservative principles and cut the size of government. +p2179 +aVWell, a couple things, first, I want to echo what others have said and thank those veterans that run towards danger, not away from it, so we can live in the greatest country in the history of the world. I think every veteran should get that card, and they should be allowed to get that health care wherever they want in the private sector. But, I also think \u2014 or the public sector, I also think we need to fire some of the V.A. bureaucrats. Somebody should go to jail over these scandals, and it is a crime that it has not happened. When it comes \u2014 when it comes to uniting the American people, one of the things we've done to honor our veterans in Louisiana, we've given thousands \u2014 and I've hand delivered these, to veterans \u2014 medals to veterans to thank them for their service. I'll just give you one quick example, I know my time is out, but, we've had Vietnam war veterans with tears in their eyes saying nobody has ever thanked them before. We've had World War II veterans, children, who said they never heard the stories of their parents heroic sacrifice. Whatever conflict, whenever they served, one of the things we can do is to teach our children we do live in the greatest country in the history of the world. We got a president who doesn't believe in American exceptionalism, but we still do, and it's because of those men and women in uniform. We should thank them everyday, not just veterans day. +p2180 +aVYou know, I have spent a lot of time tonight talking about the need to cut the size of government. The reason I'm doing that \u2014 it's not just about balancing the budget, or balancing a bunch of numbers. Because I believe in the American dream. I think President Obama's done a lot of damage to our country. I think that one of the worst things he has done is try to change the idea of America to be one of dependence. There are a lot of politicians that talk about cutting government spending, I'm the only one that's actually done it that's running for President. The rest of them, it's a lot of hot air. If you want your paychecks to go up, if you want more good paying jobs, if you want the government out of your lives, we've got to cut the size of government. It's not enough just to elect any republican, we've seen that. We've got to elect a republican that will take on the establishment in both parties. I'm asking for your support. Thank you. +p2181 +aVI think the reason voters are so frustrated is nothing seems to change in D.C. Look, over the next several hours, you're going to hear several Republicans all tell you they want to shrink the size of government and grow the American economy and it sounds great and we've got to do it. Here's the truth \u2014 of all these folks talking, I'm the only one that has cut the size of government. There's not two of us, there's one of us. The rest of it is all just hot air. When politicians talk, we need to pay attention to what they do, not what they say. I'm the only one that's reduced the size of government. Let's shrink the government economy. Let's grow the American economy. +p2182 +aVWell, look, I think that's a false choice. I think this is a very bad deal. Whenever they tell us in D.C. they're going to cut tomorrow, that means they're never going to cut. Tomorrow never seems to happen. Instead, why don't we actually follow our conservative principles? Why not insist on structural reforms? Why not cut spending? I don't mean strength (ph) the growth rate, I mean, actually spend less. Why not a balanced budget in the amendment \u2014 an amendment to the Constitution? Why not a super-majority vote before they grow our taxes, before they grow the government faster than the economy? Let's be honest, $18 trillion dollars of debt. Record low participation rate in the workforce, record number of Americans on food stamps. We are going the way of Europe. The left is trying to turn the American Dream into the European Nightmare. If you're a Republican... +p2183 +aV... willing to stand up and fight... +p2184 +aVI think that's a false choice. If I were \u2014 I were to lead, we would pass a conservative budget, challenge the President to do the right thing. And, here's the problem, the Republicans never want to fight. Give Pelosi and Reed credit, they forced Obamacare and socialism down our throats, why won't the Republicans fight half as hard for freedom and opportunity. This was a bad budget. +p2185 +aVAbsolutely, Jhon. And what we did is we cut state spending. We've cut our budget 26 percent, according to Cato and other analysis, the only candidate that's actually reduced government spending. Look, the left always complains there's not enough money for government. We have 30,000 fewer state employees than the day I took office, eight credit upgrades, we're a top 10 state for private sector job creation. We've got a choice. You grow the government economy or the American economy. When I became governor, we had 25 years in a row of outmigration. We were coming back from Katrina. The question many were asking, will Louisiana rebuild, should Louisiana rebuild? Seven years in a row, more people moving into the state than were leaving the state. We now have more people working than ever before, erg a higher income than ever before. Yes, we've reduced the size of government. That's exactly what we need to do in DC. In DC, the Republicans slowed the growth rate, they claimed victory. That's not enough. Let's be honest with where we are today. We are running off of a cliff. Look, we'll be the next Greece and we can talk and we can rearrange the chairs. Over over $18 trillion of debt, no wonder our economy has been stagnant. We haven't had real growth. If you're a young student here, you've not seen a robust American economy. +p2186 +aVWell, Jhon, a couple of things. Not only did we not raise taxes, we did the largest income tax cut in the state's history. And I'm proud of that record. I think that's the kind of leadership voters want in DC. Look, if you want a Republican that's going go grow government spending, if you want a \u2014 a president or if you want a candidate who's going to income taxes, I'm not your guy. If you want somebody that's going to do and say the things that can't be said, can't be done, I'm asking a vote for me to join my cause. That's how dangerous these times are. This is \u2014 this is a \u2014 this is \u2014 these are dangerous times for America. I think we have a chance to rescue the idea of America, but if we don't do it now, four years will be too late from now. So, yes, I'm proud we cut taxes, we cut spending, 30,000 fewer state government bureaucrats than the day I took office. I absolutely will do that in DC. +p2187 +aVThank you. +p2188 +aVAbsolutely, John. I'd go further. My tax plan, like everybody's, like a lot of Republicans' \u2014 look, I'd get rid of the death penalty and the marriage penalty, and I'd simplify the brackets to 25 percent, 10 percent, 2 percent, so that an average middle-class family \u2014 a teacher marries a law enforcement official (ph)... +p2189 +aV...I \u2014 I'm gonna get that. Pays 25 percent today, would pay 10 percent under my plan. But my plan does three things different from other people's plans. One \u2014 remember, I said 2 percent. I think everybody should pay something, even if it's only 2 percent. That's the most important 2 percent in my plan. I know a lot of Republicans brag \u2014 y'all can clap, it doesn't scare me. Go ahead. I heard some people. There are millions of \u2014 there are millions of folks that wouldn't pay taxes in Jeb's plan and Trump's plan. I think that's a mistake. In terms of the corporate tax, secondly, I'd get rid of the corporate tax. We do have the highest corporate tax rate in the developed world. I'd get rid of it. I'd get rid of all the corporate welfare. Make the CEOs pay their same tax rates the way the rest of us do. And third, I'd purposely shrink the size of government. You know, that is a \u2014 that is an intentional feature of my plan. We've got a choice: do we grow government \u2014 the government economy, or the American economy? So I say get rid of the corporate tax, bring those jobs and investment here to the United States, stop sending jobs and investment overseas. +p2190 +aVLook, I think the government should work to change that, but that doesn't \u2014 does not mean I'm for the government mandating that. We already have too many government mandates out of DC. Do I want people to have paid leave? Sure. Do I want people to earn higher wages? Sure. Do I want them to have better benefits? Sure. The government can't wave a magic wand and make that happen. Here's the problem. The last seven years, President Obama has tried to teach the American people that government is the answer to all of our problems. Where has that gotten us? We're on a path toward socialism. The way that folks can get better paying jobs with better benefits is if we have a growing economy. That means to repeal all of ObamaCare, a lower flatter tax code. That means that we have an energy plan that makes sense. That means that we embrace an all of the above approach to energy. Those are good paying jobs \u2014 $50,000, $70,000, $90,000 a year jobs with benefits. But this president won't let us produce more energy on our domestic federal lands and waters. He won't allow the Canadians to build the Keystone Pipeline. He's got an EPA that's doing everything they can to kill private sector jobs in America. So, yes, I want families to have better paying jobs and better benefits, but we're not going to get that with a government mandate, we're going to get that with a growing economy. +p2191 +aVA couple things. You're talking about payroll taxes that fund programs. People pay for their Medicare, they pay for their Social Security. I want every American to worry and care about how those folks in D.C. are spending our money. If $18 trillion of debt \u2014 they're misspending our money. Earned success is so much more fulfilling than unearned success. I don't want us to continue to create one class of Americans that pays income taxes, that pays for government, another class of Americans that's growing more and more dependent on government. That's what we have today. Socialism is bad, not only for taxpayers, but people that they say they're trying to help. There's dignity in work, dignity in self-sufficiency. I wanna quote you a president. Our previous president said this: he said, "the problem is, is that tax rates are too high, government income revenues are too low." He said, "paradoxically, lowering tax rates now is the best way to produce higher government revenues later." No, that wasn't President Reagan, as many are probably guessing at home. That was President Kennedy. I see you know the answer. That was President Kennedy. Imagine if he were alive today \u2014 and if he was at that last Democratic debate, imagine if you tried to say that in a party that's veering towards socialism. That wouldn't be welcome in today's Democratic party. +p2192 +aVWell, thank you. Look, if Senator Santorum wants to concede the tax cut wing of the Republican Party, I'm happy to fight for that side of the Republican Party. He's exactly right. I explicitly want to shrink the size of government; 22 percent over 10 years is not too much. We cut our state budget 26 percent in eight years. This is a fundamental choice. We mustn't become a cheaper version of the Democratic Party, a second liberal party. We need to proudly say we're willing to cut taxes, shrink government, grow the American economy. President Kennedy said it to the Democratic Party. Why can't we say it in the Republican Party in 2015, let's cut taxes. +p2193 +aVJohn, our budget is balanced. We balanced our budget every year for eight years. Yeah, we've had to cut spending. You know what? We privatized or closed nine of our 10 charity hospitals. We did statewide school choice; $1.6 billion (ph) budget cut. You're quoting an old number from the beginning of the year. We closed that gap. What they talk about, just like D.C., government's the only place where you give them less money than they wanted, they count it as a cut. They take last year's budget. They add inflation. They call it a baseline. We need to do zero-based budgets. We need to say just because you got money last year, you don't have it this year. Let me close, though. We balanced our budget. We didn't raise taxes. In eight years, we never raised taxes. We cut taxes. Our \u2014 our taxpayers, our families have been better off for it. +p2194 +aV absolutely they should be accountable. They should be accountable to their students through the market. Look, you either trust the American people to make their own choices or you don't. I know the Left thinks we need to be protected from ourselves. President Obama is trying to limit competition to the higher education market. As a result, you're going to see tuition prices continue to go up. We've had $1 trillion of student debt and counting. And he wants to exempt certain schools from the same oversight he wants to apply only to the for-profit market. For some reason, the private sector is a bad word to this president. It's not in the real world. In Louisiana, we fought so that the dollars follow the child and so the child following the dollar. What that means, from K-12, what that means is that parents and their families can decide what's the best way for their children to be educated. Higher education, we have a +p2195 +aVI was just saying to my colleagues, I may be the last person in this audience without an iPhone. I'm actually one of the last folks \u2014 I still have a BlackBerry in my pocket. And I basically use it for scheduling. I use it to keep up when my wife is here and my three kids at home. The only games on that phone are Bricklayer. I use it to keep up with the news through the Internet. I may be the last American out there without an iPhone. +p2196 +aVMy apologies. +p2197 +aVWell, absolutely, when the Saints go back to repeat, we were talking about beer sales earlier, all those folks from being hung over in Louisiana from drinking to celebrate Drew Brees winning this, I think it would be a great day to take off. No, look, on a serious note, I do want to say this about the Super Bowl and our athletes. They can be great role models for our children and I'm obviously a Saints fan. Drew Brees and his wife great role models, great Christians. So, yes, it should be a holiday. +p2198 +aVMy message is to conservatives, this is our hour. Thanks to the insanity, the incompetence of the Democratic party, the American people are ready to turn our government over to us. It's not enough to let just any Republican, however. The reality is the idea of America is slipping away. As Christians, we believe that the tomb is empty. As Americans, we believe that our best days are always ahead of us, and they can be again. We must win this election. We cannot allow Hillary Clinton to take us down this path towards socialism \u2014 further down this path. I've got the courage to apply our conservative principles. I can't do it alone. With your help, with God's grace, we can save the idea of America before it's too late. +p2199 +aVHi, I'm Bobby Jindal. Now, look, I don't have a famous last name. My daddy didn't run for president. I don't have a reality TV show. I'll tell you what I do have, I've got the backbone, I've got the bandwidth, I've got the experience to get us through these tough times, to make sure that we don't turn the American dream into the European nightmare. Thank you for having me today. +p2200 +aVWell, Jake, I'm in compliance with the 11th Commandment, and I would tell my fellow Republicans, let's stop treating Donald Trump like a Republican. If he were really a conservative... If he were really a conservative and 30 points ahead, I would endorse him. He's not a conservative. He's not a liberal. He's not a Democrat. He's not a Republican. He's not an independent. He believes in Donald Trump. Here is the reality, the idea of America is slipping away. Eighteen trillion dollars of debt, Planned Parenthood selling baby parts across our country. Our government is creating a new entitlement program, when we can't afford the government we've got today. We've got a president who won't even say the words radical Islamic terrorism. He has declared war on trans fats and a truce with Iran. Think about that. He's more worried about Twinkies than he is about the ayatollahs having a nuclear weapon. That's what is happening, the idea of America is slipping away. We must not let that happen on our watch. We have a once in a lifetime opportunity to rescue the idea of America, the choice for conservatives. Do we depend on proven conservative principles like Ronald Reagan did, or do we turn this over to a narcissist who only believes in himself... +p2201 +aVThank you, Jake. +p2202 +aVAbsolutely. Look, the reality is, Hillary Clinton is gift-wrapping this election to us. They are running their weakest candidate. They have got a socialist that is gaining on Hillary Clinton. Folks, you can't make that up. A socialist is doing well in the Democratic primary. The best way for us to give this election back would be to nominate a Donald Trump. He'll implode in the general election, or if, God forbid, if he were in the White House, we have no idea what he would do. You can't just attack him on policy. He doesn't care about policy. It's not enough to say he was for socialized medicine or higher taxes... +p2203 +aVHe's not serious. +p2204 +aVYeah, I wanted to clarify -- I want to make very clear that everybody understands my position is, we need to secure the border, period. Any talk of doing any more -- we don't need a comprehensive plan, don't need an 1,000-page bill, like the Gang of Eight. We don't need amnesty. Everybody in D.C. talks about it. We need to get it done. As president, I'll get it done in six months. It won't be perfect, but we can get it done. I'm not for amnesty. We do need to secure the border. A smart immigration makes our -- our country stronger. Right now, we've got a weak one. One of the things I've said -- I know the left -- I know Hillary didn't like this -- immigration without assimilation is invasion. We need to insist the people who come here come here legally, learn English, adopt our values, roll up their sleeves and get to work. We do need to secure the border. +p2205 +aVDana, that's not right. What I've said consistently is secure the border. I've said after that is done, the American people will deal with the folks that are here pragmatically and compassionately. Now, Rick, if he wants to say that Rubio, Senator Rubio, or Jeb or others are for amnesty, that's his right. I'm not for amnesty. I've never been for amnesty, will never be for amnesty. Secure the border. We don't need to do that as a comprehensive -- I've also said we need to put an end to sanctuary cities. It's not enough to defund them; I think we need to criminalize, accuse and jail those mayors and councilman as accessories... ( +p2206 +aV... for the crimes committed by people who shouldn't be here in the first place. +p2207 +aVJake, look, America's the most compassionate country in the entire world. We do more for folks around this world, and that's the nature of the American people. Two things. One, let us draw line, a direct line, between this refugee crisis, and this president's failed foreign policy. Jake, look, America is the most compassionate country in the entire world. We do more for folks around this world. And that's the nature of the American people. Two things: one, let us draw a line, a direct line between this refugee crisis and this president's failed foreign policy. He drew a red line in Syria and did not enforce it and now we're seeing millions of refugees potentially, hundreds of thousands going into Europe. The answer is not to put a Band-aid on this and allow even more people to come into America. We should not short-circuit; we have got a vetting process, we've got a normal refugee process. Simply allowing more into our country doesn't solve this problem. The way to solve this problem is for us to be clear to our friends and allies that we're going to replace Assad, we're going to hunt down and destroy +p2208 +aVWe -- it is important we insist on that in immigration going -- +p2209 +aVLook, absolutely. We need to do whatever is necessary to hunt down and kill these radical Islamic terrorists but this president has helped -- his policies have helped to contribute to this problem. He went to the Pentagon the same week they announced they were cutting back the number of troops in the Army to say that we're not going to win this through guns, it's going to be a change of hearts and minds. This will be a generational conflict, that is nonsense. These are barbarians. They are burning, crucifying people alive, Christians and other Muslims. We need to hunt them down and -- +p2210 +aV-- by having a president willing to -- +p2211 +aV-- Islamic -- +p2212 +aVWell, Jake, look, I think the American people -- we don't discriminate anybody based on the color of their skin or their creed. I think the way you strike that balance, you say to Muslim leaders, they have got two responsibilities. One, it's not enough to denounce just simply generic acts of violence. They have got to denounce the individuals by name, and say these are not martyrs. These terrorists are not martyrs; rather, they are going straight to hell. They are not going to enjoy a reward in their afterlife. Secondly, they have to explicitly embrace the same freedoms for everybody else they want for themselves. Look, I know it's politically incorrect to say this, the president says Fort Hood was an issue of workplace violence. We are at war with radical Islam. Our president loves to apologize for America, he goes to the National Prayer Breakfast, brings up the Crusades, criticizes Christians. We're at war today with radical Islamic extremists. It's not politically correct to say that, but the way you strike that balance, you say to Muslim leaders, denounce these fools, these radical terrorists by name, say they are not martyrs. +p2213 +aVSure, I don't think a 14-year-old should ever get arrested for bringing a clock to school. So, if you're asking me I'm glad he wasn't -- he was released. I'm glad that police are careful. I'm glad they are worried about security and safety issues. Look, in America we don't tolerate them. The biggest discrimination is going on against Christian business owners and individuals who believe in traditional forms of marriage. They are throwing this woman in jail in Kentucky. Let's talk about that. Let's talk about the Christian florist, the caterer, the musician, who simply want to say, don't arrest us for having -- or don't discriminate against us, don't shut down our businesses, don't fine us thousands of dollars for believing marriage is between a man and a woman. Lets talk about not discriminating against Christians. +p2214 +aVJake -- Jake... +p2215 +aVJake, I've got a practical question. +p2216 +aVI've got a practical question. I'd like the left to give us a list of jobs that Christians aren't allowed to have. If we're not allowed to be clerks, bakers, musicians, caterers, are we allowed to be pastors ? +p2217 +aVWe're not allowed to be elected officials. I firmly -- this is an important point. The First Amendment rights, the right to religious freedom is in the First Amendment of "The Constitution." It isn't breaking the law to exercise our constitutional rights. America did not create religious liberty, religious liberty created the United States of America. It is the reason we're here today. +p2218 +aVI think actually putting Roberts, I think putting Kennedy, I think putting -- before them, I think putting Souter on the bench was a mistake. But look, I think the -- the first responsibility starts in the White House. The reality is conservatives have not been willing to stand up for our beliefs, unlike the liberals -- look, you never worry about where the Democratic judges are going to vote, it's always the conservatives. You've never had a Democratic judge wake up and say, surprise, I've evolved, I've become a conservative. It's always the Republicans, because we have presidents that try to find judges with no records, no rulings, no writings. I'll tell you, I am going to have a litmus test. For judges, I'm going to find judges that are conservative, judges that are going to be pro-life, judges that are going to follow "The Constitution," judges, by the way, that are going to follow the American law, not international law. They're not appointed there to interpret international law, they're there to apply "The United States Constitution." Judges understand, their job is not to write law. If they want to write law, they should run for the Senate or the House. It's time for a Republican president as the next commander in chief, I will do as the Democrats have done. I will appoint bold judges that are actually consistent with my values that will be conservatives and enforce the Senate -- +p2219 +aVThank you, Jake. But look, it's not a minor ruling. Justice Roberts twice rewrote the law to save ObamaCare, the biggest expansion of government, creating a new entitlement when we can't afford the government we've got today, an expansion of socialism in our country. It's not that he got a minor ruling wrong. This is twice he rewrote the law. Now, look, I have a lot of respect for these senators that have big bladders. They give great speeches in the Senate. And I respect that. I've actually signed the executive order. I've actually signed a law protecting religious liberty in the state of Louisiana. It's not 99-1. The one that he got wrong was a big one. Twice he bent over backwards to save ObamaCare. If the Republicans had voted the way that we should -- they should have, we would still have our 19th Amendment rights and ObamaCare would not be the law of the land. +p2220 +aVNo. And it's not only whether they can win. They shouldn't win this election cycle. One of the things I do agree -- and I want to thank Donald Trump after I've criticized him for everything from being a narcissist to an egomaniac -- one of the things he was right about was to say nonsense to the D.C. establishment. It is time to fire all of them. You've got a choice between honest Socialists on the Left, like Bernie Sanders, and lying conservatives on the Right. We have got the majority; what good has it done us? See, they said they were going to stop amnesty. They said they were going to repeal ObamaCare. They didn't do either. Now they're not even willing to fight to defund Planned Parenthood. They've already -- McConnell has already waved the white flag of defeat. They are not willing to stand up to fight for the issues that count. I think it is time to have term limits. I think it's time to have part-time citizen legislators. Let's pay them a per diem instead of a six-figure salary, stop them from being seven-figure lobbyists. Let's also pay them a per diem for every day they don't go to D.C. Let's keep them out of D.C., working in the real -- -- let's make them live under the same rules and laws they apply to the rest of us. Not only shouldn't they be elected, they can't be elected. Let's fire all of them from their current positions. +p2221 +aVTwo things, Jake. One, I'm absolutely for all of these carve-outs and loopholes and special interests for as -- they get lobbyists. They get sweetheart deals you and I and the rest of this audience couldn't get. So as part of an overall comprehensive tax reform that has a lower, flatter tax code, sure. As a single, I am just to raise taxes, no. I don't want to give the government more money. The government has grown over this president where now, it's going to overwhelm the American economy. We've got to cut the size of the government economy. Nobody else running for president has done that. I'm the only candidate. I've cut my state budget 26 percent. Everybody else talks about it, we have done it. So, there's a part of overall tax reform that cuts rates, flattens and lowers the tax code, sure. But I'm not for raising taxes on anybody. We already have too much money going to D.C. +p2222 +aVJake, I'd like to answer that question. +p2223 +aVWell, Jake, I want to answer that question. I want to go back to Iran. I didn't get a chance to answer that as well. Look, on Russia, across the world, dictators walk all over this president. He treats our friends like dirt. He lets our enemies walk all over us. The only group he's able to out-negotiate are the Senate Republicans. They never should've passed this bad Corker bill. Instead of a two-thirds vote to reject -- to approve the Iran deal, now it takes a two-thirds vote to reject the Iran deal. I want to ask Lindsey a question. Will the Senate Republicans -- they still have time -- are they willing to use the nuclear option, meaning get rid of the filibusters, stop Iran from becoming a nuclear power? Now is the time for the Senate Republicans to stand up and fight. We are tired of the establishment saying there's nothing we can do. All night tonight, we've heard Republicans say things like, "Well, if the Supreme Court's ruled, there's nothing I can do about religious liberty," you know. "The president did this. There's nothing we can do about it for two more years." There is something we can do. We won the Senate. We won the House. What was the point of winning those chambers if we're not going to do anything with them? You're going back tonight. You still have time before the Thursday deadline. Will y'all use the nuclear option to stop Iran from becoming a nuclear power? +p2224 +aVLindsey... +p2225 +aVLindsey, well, that's my frustration. Listen to what you've heard. You -- you basically heard a Senate Republican say, "We can't defund Planned Parenthood, despite these barbaric videos." +p2226 +aV"We can't -- we can't..." +p2227 +aV"... we can't get rid of Obamacare" -- Lindsey, let me answer this question now. I wish the Senate Republicans had half the fight in them the Senate Democrats did. Look, President Obama didn't give up on Obamacare when they lost the Senate election in Massachusetts. I want my side to follow the Constitution. They broke the Constitution, they broke the law, but they forced Obamacare down our throats, even when they didn't have 60 votes. I wish Republicans in D.C. had half the fight of the Senate Democrats to get rid of Obamacare, to defund Planned Parenthood. If we can't defund Planned Parenthood now, if we can't stand for innocent human life after these barbaric videos, it is time to be done with the Republican Party. We defunded them in Louisiana. Let's defund them in D.C. If we can't win... +p2228 +aV-- on that issue, there is no point for being cheaper Democrats, no point grabbing a second liberal party. It is time to get rid of the Republican Party, start over with a new one that's at least conservative. Give Harry Reid and Pelosi credit. At least they fight for what they believe in. I want senators and House members in DC to fight for what we believe in, as well. It's time to have Republican... +p2229 +aV-- with a backbone in DC. +p2230 +aVJake, I'm a doer, not a talker. Look, the idea of America is slipping away from us. If you want somebody who is going to manage the slow decline of this country, makes incremental changes, vote for somebody else. If you want to vote for somebody who understands what is at stake -- Planned Parenthood is selling baby parts across this country, and the Senate Republicans have already given up, even without a fight. I am tired of this surrender (ph) caucus, I am angrier at the Republicans in D.C. than I am at the president. The president is a socialist. At least he fights for what we believe in. We don't need to just send any Republican to the White House. We need to sent somebody who understands that it's time to make big changes. It's time to take on the establishment, it's time to take on the D.C. permanent governing class. Every Republican says they will shrink the size of the government. I'm the only one that has done it. Cut our budget 26 percent. If you want somebody that's going to make incremental change, vote for somebody else. It's time to get the idea of America back. At some point, we're going to be held -- we'll be asked, what did you do when the idea of America was slipping away? I'll promise you this. I will give every ounce of blood, energy, sweat I've got to save the idea of America, the greatest country in the history of the world. +p2231 +aVWell, first of all, thank you all for having us. You know, I won two record elections. Last time I was elected governor, won a record margin in my state. Martha, we got a lot of politicians that will kiss babies, cut ribbons, do whatever it takes to be popular. That's not why I ran for office. I ran for office to make the generational changes in Louisiana. We've cut 26 percent of our budget. We have 30,000 fewer state bureaucrats than the day I took office. I don't think anybody has cut that much government anywhere, at any time. As a result, eight credit upgrades; as a result, a top ten state for private sector job creation. And we fought for statewide school choice, where the dollars follow the child, instead of the child following the dollars. We've been the most pro-life state six years in a row. My point is this: I won two landslide elections, I made big changes. I think our country is tired of the politicians who simply read the polls and fail to lead. Both Democrats and Republicans have gotten us in the mess we're in -- $18 trillion of debt, a bad deal with Iran, we're not staying with Israel. I think the American people are look for real leadership. That's what I've done in Louisiana, that's what I'll do in America. +p2232 +aVWell, to start with, unlike President Obama, I'll actually name the enemy that we confront. We've got a president who cannot bring himself to say the words "radical Islamic terrorism." Now, Bill, he loves to criticize America, apologize for us, criticize medieval Christians. How can we beat an enemy if our commander-in-chief doesn't have the moral honesty and clarity to say that Islam has a problem, and that problem is radical Islam, to say they've got to condemn not generic acts of violence, but the individual murderers who are committing these acts of violence. We've got a president who instead says, we're going to change hearts and minds. Well, you know what? Sometimes you win a war by killing murderous, evil terrorists. We're going to take the political handcuffs off the military. We will arm and train the Kurds. We will work with our Sunni allies. They know we will be committed to victory. We had this failed red line with Assad and it discouraged folks that want to help us on the ground. Finally, we'll take off the political handcuffs. We'll go to the Congress. This president has gone to Congress and said give me a three-year deadline, give me a ban on ground troops. I'm going to go to the commanders and say give me a plan to win. You can't send your troops into harm's way unless you give them every opportunity to be successful. +p2233 +aVWell, this goes to the question you were just asking. Look, under President Obama and Secretary Clinton, they're working hard to change the American dream into the European nightmare. They do celebrate more dependence on the government. Give Bernie Sanders credit. At least he's honest enough to call himself a socialist. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, they're no better. If we were to expand Medicaid, for every uninsured person we would cover, we'd kick more than one person out of private insurance or remove their opportunity to get private insurance. We're going to have too many people in the cart rather than pulling the cart. This isn't free money. I know some people like to say, "well, this is free money." We pay federal taxes. We are borrowing money from China today. Yesterday, the president stunningly admitted this. He said, "we don't have leverage with China to get a better deal on Iran because we need them to lend us money to continue operating our government." The president of the United States admitting that he's weakening our government's position, our foreign policy standing, because he can't control spending in D.C.. There is a better way to provide health care. The Oregon study showed this. Simply expanding Medicaid does not improve health care outcomes. In Louisiana, instead we're helping people getting better paying jobs so they can provide for their own health care. +p2234 +aVI don't -- look, I don't think anybody should be expanding Medicaid. I think it's a mistake to create new and more expensive entitlement programs when we can't afford the ones we've got today. We've got to stop this culture of government dependence. +p2235 +aVI'll say this. I don't think anybody should expand Medicaid. I think it was a mistake to expand Medicaid everywhere in Ohio and across the country. +p2236 +aVWell, a couple of things. Planned Parenthood had better hope that Hillary Clinton wins this election, because I guarantee under President Jindal, January 2017, the Department of Justice and the IRS and everybody else that we can send from the federal government will be going in to Planned Parenthood. This is absolutely disgusting, and revolts the conscience of the nation. Absolutely, we need to defund Planned Parenthood. In my own state, for example, we launched an investigation, asked the FBI to cooperate. We just, earlier this week, kicked them out of Medicaid in Louisiana as well, canceled their provider contract. They don't provide any abortions in Louisiana. But in terms of shutting down the government, I don't think President Obama should choose to shut down the government simply to send taxpayer dollars to this group that has been caught, I believe, breaking the law, but also offending our values and our ethics. It is time for Republicans in D.C. to fight. Too often, they give up, they negotiate with themselves. They said they would get rid of the unconstitutional amnesty. They didn't do that. They said they would repeal Obamacare if we gave them the majority. They didn't do that either. They said they'd shrink and balance the budget. They haven't done that. Absolutely, they should fight to fund -- defund Planned Parenthood, and I don't think the president should shut down the government simply to send our taxpayer dollars to this group. Mac +p2237 +aVTo repeal these unconstitutional illegal orders, whether it's amnesty or whether it's this president going around the Congress, whether it's in Obamacare, to restore the rule of law. I'd also go after these sanctuary cities, do everything we can to make sure that we are not -- that we are actually prosecuting and cutting off funding for cities that are harboring illegal aliens, and then finally making sure the IRS is not going after conservative or religious groups. I would sign an executive order protecting religious liberty, our first amendment rights, so Christian business owners and individuals don't face discrimination for having a traditional view of marriage. +p2238 +aVSocialist and government dependent. +p2239 +aVYou know, we've got a lot of great talkers running for president. We've already got a great talker in the White House. We cannot afford four more years of on the job training. We need a doer, not a talker. We also need a nominee, a candidate who will endorse our own principles. Jeb Bush says we've got to be willing to lose the primary in order to win the general. Let me translate that for you. That's the establishment telling us to hide our conservative principles to get the left and the media to like us. That never works. If we do that again, we will lose again, we will deserve to lose again. One principle, for example, we've got to embrace is on immigration. We must insist on assimilation -- immigration without assimilation is an invasion. We need to tell folks who want to come here, they need to come here legally. They need to learn English, adopt our values, roll up their sleeves and get to work. I'm tired of the hyphenated Americans and the division. I've got the backbone, I've got the band width, I've got the experience to get us through this. I'm asking folks not just to join my campaign, but join a cause. It is time to believe in America again. Mac +p2240 +asVMUIR +p2241 +(lp2242 +VWe will be tackling many critical issues right here tonight, and we begin with opening statements, in alphabetical order, and Secretary Clinton. +p2243 +aVSenator Sanders. +p2244 +aVSenator Sanders thank you and thank you all. We do have a lot of important issues to get here tonight and we want to address the controversy of the last 24 hours right off the top because we heard some of the most heated rhetoric of the campaign so far between two of the campaigns on this stage tonight. Senator Sanders, you fired a campaign staffer you have sued the Democratic National Committee; all of this after your campaign acknowledge that some of your staffers quote, "irresponsibly accessed data from another campaign." The Clinton campaign called this a very egregious breech of data of ethics and said, quote, "our data was stolen." Did they overstate this or were your staffers essentially stealing part of the Clinton playbook? +p2245 +aVBut Senator, you do mention the DNC -- the vender. But you said of your staff that they did the wrong thing. +p2246 +aVSo, does Secretary Clinton deserve an apology tonight? +p2247 +aVSecretary Clinton... +p2248 +aVSecretary Clinton, he has apologized. How do your react? +p2249 +aV(?): All three candidates are weighing in. +p2250 +aVGood let's move on -- Senator Sanders, let's move on right to some of those issues. It is just six days before Christmas, as we all know in this country. It's typically a joyful time, as it is this year, as well. But it's also an anxious time. President Obama has acknowledged that what we saw in San Bernardino was an act of terrorism. But we remember the president said, right before Thanksgiving, there is no known specific and credible intelligence indicating a plot on the homeland. We now know that this couple had assembled an arsenal. They were not on law enforcement's radar. They were completely undetected. So as we approach another holiday, with the president again saying, late this week, no credible threat, Secretary Clinton, how confident should the American people be, that there aren't others like that couple right now in the U.S. going undetected? And what would you do as president to find them? +p2251 +aV(inaudible) thank you. I am the very first post-9/11 mayor and the very first post-9/11 governor. I understand, from the ground up, that when attacks like San Bernardino happen, when attacks like the attacks of 9/11 happen, that when people call 911, the first people to show up are the local first responders. Many of the things Secretary Clinton said are absolutely true, but they underscore a lack of investment that we have, as a nation, failed to make over these last 15 years in intelligence gathering, intelligence analysis, intelligence sharing. Not only in theater, in Syria and Iraq and other places where we embalk ourselves in toppling dictators without having any idea what comes next, but here in the homeland, as we protect people from this threat of the lone wolves and these changing tactics and strategies. I believe that what's happened here is that the president had us on the right course, but it's a lack of battle tempo. We have to increase the battle tempo, we have to bring a modern way of getting things done and forcing the sharing of information and do a much better job of acting on it in order to prevent these sorts of attacks in the future. +p2252 +aVAnd we're going to break down these issues tonight, but I do want to go to Senator Sanders because the concern going into Christmas is significant, as you know. A new ABC News poll shows 77 percent of Americans have little or no confidence in the government's ability to prevent a lone wolf attack. How would you specifically find would-be terrorist who are going undetected? +p2253 +aVSenator, thank you. +p2254 +aVGovernor, we have to abide the rules here, we'll call on you here shortly, but... O' +p2255 +aVBut I do want pick up on something... O' +p2256 +aVWe will. +p2257 +aVBut let me just establish that for you, senator. Really quickly governor, we are going to call on you tonight and it's very clear you have a lot to say but please wait until you're called upon. And senator, he invoked your record and I'll let you respond. +p2258 +aVI'll let you respond. +p2259 +aVAnd you will get some to as well. +p2260 +aVSenator, thank you. I want to move on here. Secretary Clinton, you brought up Donald Trump a short time ago. +p2261 +aVSecretary Clinton, thank you. We're going to move on from guns here and go back to something you mentioned a short time ago. You brought up Donald Trump first here this evening. We've now seen the polling done well after his proposed ban on Muslims coming to America. Thirty-six percent of Americans, more than a third, agree with him. You have weighed in already on Donald Trump. You've weighed in on the proposed ban. But what would you say to the millions of Americans watching tonight who agree with him? Are they wrong? +p2262 +aVSecretary, thank you. Senator Sanders, I did want to ask you about a neighbor in San Bernardino who reportedly witnessed packages being delivered to that couple's home, that it set off red flags, but they didn't report it because they were afraid to profile. What would you say to Americans afraid to profile? Is it ever acceptable? +p2263 +aVBut I'm asking about -- I'm asking about profiling. Because a lot of people are afraid of that. +p2264 +aVSenator, thank you. +p2265 +aVMartha, we're going to turn now to refugees coming to America. And on the subject of refugees, more than half of all Americans now say they oppose taking in refugees from Syria and across the Middle East. Secretary Clinton, you have said that it would undermine who we are as Americans, shutting our doors. But New Hampshire's governor, where we are right here tonight, a democrat and a supporter of yours, is among more than 30 governors who are now concerned. Governor Maggie Hassan says, "we should halt acceptance of Syrian refugees until U.S. authorities can assure the vetting process, halt Syrian refugees." Is she wrong? +p2266 +aVBut a halt? +p2267 +aVGovernor O'Malley, obviously you were governor yourself at one time. What would you say to New Hampshire's governor tonight? Is she wrong on this? O' +p2268 +aVSo the idea of a halt or a pause? O' +p2269 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p2270 +aVI want to take this to Senator -- I'm going to take this to Senator Sanders next, because I think there... +p2271 +aVSenator, thank you. +p2272 +aVYeah, but, Secretary Clinton -- Secretary Clinton... +p2273 +aVSenator Sanders, Senator Sanders, hold on. One moment, please. I'm going to ask the secretary here, because there does appear to be some daylight here between the policies, at least in respect to when you take out Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Right now or do you wait? Do you tackle +p2274 +aVBut that's what he's saying, we should put that aside for now and go after +p2275 +aVShe says we have to proceed on both fronts at once. +p2276 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. O' +p2277 +aVGovernor O'Malley? O' +p2278 +aVBut -- you criticized -- you criticized Secretary Clinton for what came next. What's your proposal for what comes after Assad? O' +p2279 +aVSenator Sanders, please. Go ahead. Senator Sanders, a last word on this. +p2280 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. When we come back here tonight, the other major issues of this election: jobs, the economy, health care. Which candidates will make the best case for the middle class, as our coverage of the Democratic debate, here in New Hampshire, continues right after this on ABC. +p2281 +aVWelcome back tonight. As you can see, we have a packed audience here in New Hampshire and we're going to continue. We've already had a spirited conversation here at the top of the broadcast about +p2282 +aVWe're going to continue here, and Secretary, you'll get a chance on this too. But as I pointed out the CEO pay, 200 percent of their time -- for that family of just 2 percent. You've all said, "you would raise the minimum wage." But Senator Sanders what else - speak to that household tonight. 20 years, just a 2 percent raise, how as president would you get them a raise right away? +p2283 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. Governor O'Malley, what would propose that would be different, how would you get the middle class a raise and without waiting another 20 years for another 2 percent. O' +p2284 +aVGovernor, thank you. Secretary Clinton... As you were walking in, I was talking about the median American household getting a two percent raise over the last 20 years, that CEO pay in that same time frame has gone up 200 percent. So for those families watching tonight, how do you get them a raise if you're president? +p2285 +aVSecretary... +p2286 +aVSecretary, thank you. +p2287 +aVWe're going to -- we're going to... +p2288 +aVAnd we're going to talk about college education in a moment. But Secretary Clinton, I did want to ask you, the last time you ran for president, Fortune Magazine put you on its cover with the headline Business Loves Hillary, pointing out your support for many CEOs in corporate America. I'm curious, eight years later, should corporate America love Hillary Clinton? +p2289 +aVSecretary, thank you. Senator Sanders... I want to stay on this and ask you how big a role does corporate America play in a healthy economy and will corporate America love a President Sanders? +p2290 +aVSenator, thank you. I want to... Governor, let me just ask you, though, because it is an important question, how important a role do you think corporate America plays in a healthy economy here in the U.S.? O' +p2291 +aVGovernor O'Malley, thank you. I do want to ask you, Secretary Clinton. Let me just ask you... +p2292 +aVWe did -- we did -- Secretary Clinton, let me just ask you... +p2293 +aVAnd in particular... +p2294 +aVSecretary Clinton, thank you. +p2295 +aVSenator? +p2296 +aVSenator Sanders... +p2297 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2298 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p2299 +aVWe're going to get right into this Senator but I want to ask about taxes next. This is included. +p2300 +aVShe was asking about that... +p2301 +aVAre we back on health care - Secretary Clinton hold one moment. Senator Sanders... +p2302 +aVSecretary Clinton, please. +p2303 +aVSo let's ask about it. Secretary Clinton, let's turn to the taxes. +p2304 +aVThis is where we are going next, we are going next to taxes here... +p2305 +aVThis is fun. applause]This is democracy at work. Secretary Clinton, let me ask you about your tax plan because from the crushing cost of college education, the next question most families have; is will my taxes go up under the next president? You have said it's your goal not to raise taxes on families making under $200,000 a year a goal. But can you say that's a promise as you stand here tonight? +p2306 +aVA promise? +p2307 +aVSecretary Clinton... +p2308 +aVPlease. +p2309 +aVSenator, thank you. Let me bring in Governor O'Malley... +p2310 +aVYou've heard... +p2311 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p2312 +aVThank you. I want to bring in Governor O'Malley on this. We heard the promise from Secretary Clinton because people want to know about their taxes, will they go up. She has now promised here tonight not to raise them on families making $250,000 or less. Can you make that same promise if you're elected? O' +p2313 +aVGovernor O'Malley, thank you. A spirited debate on taxes. And there will be more with the Democratic debate in New Hampshire, when we come back right here on ABC. More in a moment. ( +p2314 +aVWelcome back tonight to New Hampshire. The Democratic debate continues here on ABC. And Secretary Clinton, we want to turn to race, now, in America. There is a real concern in this country from Black Lives Matter and from other community groups that we're just now seeing, with smartphones and cell phones, what many have been dealing with for years when they come in contact with police. But you also have many in law enforcement who now say there has been a so-called Ferguson effect, police holding back because they're afraid of backlash. +p2315 +aVIn fact, the FBI director is calling it a chill wind blowing through American law enforcement. So, if elected president, how would you bridge the divide between the two? +p2316 +aVSecretary, thank you. +p2317 +aVGovernor O'Malley, how would you bridge the divide? O' +p2318 +aVGovernor, thank you. And Senator Sanders, when you hear the FBI director calling it a chill wind blowing through American law enforcement, does that concern you as well when you -- +p2319 +aVSenator, thank you. We want to turn now to an issue. This next issue has destroyed so many families across the country, and in particular right here in New Hampshire, heroin. And there's a stunning new figure out. A recent poll -- 48 percent here, in this state alone, say they know someone who has abused heroin. We're going to turn tonight to Dan Tuohy of the New Hampshire Union Leader who has this question. +p2320 +aVSenator Sanders, I'm going to take this to you first because you've seen what's happened with heroin right on the border in your own state. +p2321 +aVSenator, thank you. Secretary Clinton? +p2322 +aVSecretary, thank you. O' +p2323 +aVGovernor O'Malley, thank you. Martha? +p2324 +aVI do want to follow up here for each of you. And a similar line of questioning. Senator Sanders, your wife Jane shares an office at your campaign headquarters in Burlington. We've seen the pictures, the desks right next to each other. Would she have a desk close by in the west wing? +p2325 +aVSenator, thank you. Governor O'Malley -- Governor O'Malley, you have talked about your wife, Katie, here tonight. She's a district court judge. And the question for you is, would she have to give that up as first lady, or will she share an office in the west wing as well? O' +p2326 +aVGovernor O'Malley, thank you, (inaudible). O' +p2327 +aVGovernor, thank you. We'll be back with much more from New Hampshire. The Democratic debate continues right after this. ( +p2328 +aVWelcome back tonight. It's been an evening of lively discussion among the candidates and it's time for closing statements. We began in alphabetical order, so we'll reverse the order at the end and begin with you, Senator Sanders. +p2329 +aVGovernor, thank you. Secretary Clinton? +p2330 +asVWALLACE +p2331 +(lp2332 +VAlso of note, Fox News is partnering for tonight's debate with Facebook. For the past several weeks, we've been asking you for questions for the candidates on Facebook. Nearly 6 million of you, 6 million, viewed the debate videos on our site, and more than 40,000 of you submitted questions: some of which you will hear us asking the candidates tonight. +p2333 +aVKentucky Senator Rand Paul. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. And your very own governor of Ohio... ... John Kasich. +p2334 +aVBrett -- Brett, I think you would call that a home field advantage. +p2335 +aVSenator Rubio, when Jeb Bush announced his candidacy for presidency, he said this: "There's no passing off responsibility when you're a governor, no blending into the legislative crowd." Could you please address Governor Bush across the stage here, and explain to him why you, someone who has never held executive office, are better prepared to be president than he is, a man who you say did a great job running your state of Florida for eight years. +p2336 +aVSenator Cruz, your colleague, Senator Paul, right there next to you, said a few months ago he agrees with you on a number of issues, but he says you do nothing to grow the party. He says you feed red meat to the base, but you don't reach out to minorities. You have a toxic relationship with GOP leaders in Congress. You even called the Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell a liar recently. How can you win in 2016 when you're such a divisive figure? +p2337 +aVGovernor Huckabee, like Governor Walker, you have staked out strong positions on social issues. You favor a constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage. You favor a constitutional amendment banning abortions, except for the life of the mother. Millions of people in this country agree with you, but according to the polls, and again this an electability question, according to the polls, more people don't, so how do you persuade enough Independents and Democrats to get elected in 2016? +p2338 +aVGentlemen, we're turning to a new subject that all of you have been talking about and some of you have been disagreeing about, and that is the issue of immigration. Governor Bush, you released a new plan this week on illegal immigration focusing on enforcement, which some suggest is your effort to show that you're not soft on that issue. I want to ask you about a statement that you made last year about illegal immigrants. And here's what you said. "They broke the law, but it's not a felony, it's an act of love. It's an act of commitment to your family." Do you stand by that statement and do you stand by your support for earned legal status? +p2339 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, it has not escaped anybody's notice that you say that the Mexican government, the Mexican government is sending criminals -- rapists, drug dealers, across the border. Governor Bush has called those remarks, quote, "extraordinarily ugly." I'd like you -- you're right next to him -- tell us -- talk to him directly and say how you respond to that and -- and you have repeatedly said that you have evidence that the Mexican government is doing this, but you have evidence you have refused or declined to share. Why not use this first Republican presidential debate to share your proof with the American people? +p2340 +aVMr. Trump, I'll give you 30 seconds -- I'll give you 30 seconds to answer my question, which was, what evidence do you have, specific evidence that the Mexican government is sending criminals across the border? Thirty seconds. +p2341 +aVAll right. Obviously there's a lot more to talk about this. We're going to have more questions for the candidates on illegal immigration, plus other key topics including your questions on Facebook. +p2342 +aVWelcome back to FOX News/Facebook Republican Debate Night. We're going to continue the questions now on illegal immigration. We kind of ended with a cliffhanger there. So let's continue the conversation. Governor Kasich, I know you don't like to talk about Donald Trump. But I do want to ask you about the merit of what he just said. When you say that the American government is stupid, that the Mexican government is sending criminals, that we're being bamboozled, is that an adequate response to the question of illegal immigration? +p2343 +aVRespectfully, can we talk about illegal immigration? +p2344 +aVAll right, well, Senator Rubio, let me see if I can do better with you. Is it as simple as our leaders are stupid, their leaders are smart, and all of these illegals coming over are criminals? +p2345 +aVGovernor Walker. Governor Walker, from 2002 until as recently as 2013, just two years ago, you supported comprehensive immigration reform, including a path to citizenship. Now you say that was a quick reaction to something you hadn't really thought about, and that you've changed your mind. Other than politics, could you explain why in the last two years you've changed your position on a path to citizenship, and are there other past positions that we shouldn't hold you to? +p2346 +aVSenator Cruz, some 1,400 people submitted questions on this very hot topic of illegal immigration on Facebook, and a number of them were about the murder of Kate Steinle in San Francisco, allegedly shot down by an illegal. Doug Bettencourt sent this question, "will you support Kate Steinle's Law," which would impose a mandatory five-year prison term for an illegal who is deported and then returns to this country? "And will you defund sanctuary cities for violating federal law?" +p2347 +aVGentlemen, we're obviously digging into some subjects in depth, but we're also going to change it up every once in a while throughout the next hour and have many rounds where we ask, you are not going to like it, only a couple of candidates questions on those subjects. This is the first of the many rounds, and it's about somebody whose name probably hasn't been mentioned enough so far tonight. Governor Kasich, let me start with you. Whoever the Republican nominee -- Whoever the Republican nominee is, it looks at least for now like whoever that nominee is, he or she, will be facing off against Hillary Clinton. You know how she will come after whoever the Republican nominee is. She will say that you, whoever it is, support the rich while she supports the middle class. That you want to suppress the rights of women and minorities. She wants to move the country forward while you, the Republicans, want to take the country back to the past. How will you, if you're the nominee, how will you answer that and take Hillary Clinton on? +p2348 +aVI know that all of you would like to answer this question, but we're only going to ask one other candidate before we move on to a different subject, Dr. Carson. Basically, same question to you. If Hillary Clinton is the nominee and she comes at you with that kind of line of attack, how will you take Iraq? +p2349 +aVGentlemen, we're going to turn now to the subject of the economy, jobs and money and the government. And Governor Bush, I'm going to start with you. You have made a bold promise in your announcement. You have promised four percent economic growth and 19 million new jobs if you are fortunate enough to serve two terms as president. That many jobs, 19 million, would be triple what your father and your brother accomplished together. And four percent growth, the last president to average that was Lyndon Johnson during the height of the Vietnam War. So question, how on Earth specifically would you pull that off? +p2350 +aVGovernor Walker. Governor Walker, when you ran for governor of Wisconsin back in 2010, you promised that you would create 250,000 jobs in your first term, first four years. In fact, Wisconsin added barely half that and ranked 35th in the country in job growth. Now you're running for president, and you're promising an economic plan in which everyone will earn a piece of the American dream. Given your record in Wisconsin, why should voters believe you? +p2351 +aVGovernor Christie, I want to engage you and Governor Huckabee in a subject that is a big issue in both of your campaigns, and that is entitlement reform. You say that you -- to save the system that you want to raise the retirement age -- have to raise the retirement age, and to cut benefits for Social Security and Medicare, and you say that some of the candidates here on the stage are lying. Governor Huckabee says he can save Social Security and Medicare without doing any of that. Is he lying? +p2352 +aVGovernor Huckabee? You say that changing entitlements, the kind of thing that Governor Christie is talking about, would be breaking a promise to the American people, and you say that you can keep those programs, save Social Security, save Medicare, without those kinds of reforms through a FairTax, which is a broad tax on consumption. Please explain to Governor Christie how that would work, and how you could save these programs without the kind of painful reforms he says we need? +p2353 +aV...Thirty seconds. +p2354 +aV...Alright, this is it. Thirty Seconds, finally. +p2355 +aVAll right. Enough. Mr. Trump. +p2356 +aVMr. Trump, you talk a lot about how you are the person on this stage to grow the economy, I want to ask you about your business records. From corporations, Trump corporations, casinos and hotels, have declared bankruptcy four times over the last quarter-century. +p2357 +aVNo, but the concept sir... +p2358 +aV... that's your line, but your companies have gone bankrupt. +p2359 +aVWell sir, let's just talk about the latest example......which is Trump Entertainment Resorts, which went bankrupt in 2009. In that case alone, lenders to your company lost over $1 billion and more than 1,100 people were laid off. +p2360 +aVIs that the way that you'd run the country? +p2361 +aVSo... +p2362 +aVSenator Rubio. Senator Rubio, more than 3,000 people sent us questions about the economy and jobs on Facebook. And here is a video question from Tania Cioloko from Philadelphia. Here she is. +p2363 +aVSenator, how do you answer Tania? +p2364 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. +p2365 +aVSenator Paul, closing statement. +p2366 +aVDr. Carson, closing statement. +p2367 +aVGovernor Bush, closing statement, sir. +p2368 +asVSMITH +p2369 +(lp2370 +VGovernor Huckabee, same question to you. Where do you see the country right now? +p2371 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Thank you, candidates. Moving to the world stage. The middle east is on the brink of chaos. Iran continues to provoke the United States, North Korea claims it's tested a hydrogen bomb, and Afghanistan is in danger of falling back into Taliban hands. Critics of the administration say it's all due to lack of U.S. leadership. To you, Mrs. Fiorina, how do you see America's role in the world today? +p2372 +aVGovernor Huckabee, in Afghanistan, the Taliban is strengthening. Attacks are on the rise and thousands more civilians have been wounded or killed. Much of the Taliban surge can be attributed to the withdrawal of U.S. forces there. You have expressed skepticism with the war there, saying you see no end game in sight. What, then, is your solution to the growing conflict there? +p2373 +aVAll right, thank you, candidates. We're just getting started. Jobs, Homeland Security, gun rights, all those issues are coming up straight ahead. We're live from North Charleston and the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back. +p2374 +aVAll right, let's get started. Senator Santorum, to you first. President Obama has urged technology leaders to make it hard for terrorists to use technology to escape from justice. Hillary Clinton says social media companies can help by swiftly shutting down terrorist accounts. The companies say that they're already working with law enforcement and any proposed legislation would do more harm than good. Should companies like Facebook and Twitter be required by law to more actively \u2014 be more actively engaged in fighting terror? +p2375 +aVSenator, would you \u2014 would you require anything of those companies like Facebook and Twitter if you were president? +p2376 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2377 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee, you called President Obama's executive orders on gun control unconstitutional and completely insane. +p2378 +aVYou even told gun store owners to ignore the President's orders. Yet, innocent people are dying from gun violence in cities like Detroit, Chicago, and Charleston everyday. Is there anything that can be done at the federal level to prevent guns from falling into the hands of criminals? +p2379 +aV +p2380 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p2381 +aVSenator Santorum, many of our military leaders believe America's critical infrastructure is vulnerable to a terrorist attack. This is the power in our homes, the water we drink, the Internet and phone systems by which we stay connected. If attacked, these essential services that underpin American society could come to a grinding halt. Do you have a specific plan to protect us from this type of attack? +p2382 +aVSenator Santorum, I want to stay with you on this, moving to jobs and the economy. In his State of the Union Address the other night, President Obama touted his record on jobs, citing more than 14 million new jobs and boasted of nearly 900,000 manufacturing jobs added in the past six years. Do you dispute his track record of creating jobs? +p2383 +aVGovernor Huckabee, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mike Mullen, has said the greatest threat to our security is our national debt. Our national debt is now on pace to top $19 trillion. Yet, you as well as Ms. Fiorina have laid forward no plan to reform entitlements. How can you say you're going to pay down our country's debt without cutting Social Security or Medicare? +p2384 +aVOK. We're going to continue this conversation. We're taking a quick break and then coming up, the candidates' plans for strengthening the middle class. We're live in North Charleston with the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back. +p2385 +aVAll right, thanks, Trish. Well, let's get started with Ms. Fiorina. Today, the middle class represents about 50 percent of the U.S. population, down from about 61 percent back in 1971. That's according to Pew Research. The same research revealed a widening income gap in America. The rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. What will you do to strengthen a middle class that is no longer the majority? +p2386 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p2387 +aVThank you, Senator. We're not finished yet. More Republican Presidential Debate in North Charleston after this. +p2388 +aVWelcome back, it's time for the closing statements. Candidates will each get one minute, starting with Senator Santorum. Thank you very much, I want to thank the people of Charleston, which has become a little bit of a second home to me, because I am very privileged to have two young men who go to the Citadel here and they're here tonight, my son John and my son Daniel. +p2389 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Governor Mike Huckabee. +p2390 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2391 +aVAlright, this debate will last one hour. Each candidate will have up to 90 seconds to respond to each question. One minute for each follow up. When your time is up, you're going to hear this bell. Alright, that's it, so let's begin with Governor Christie. Governor, economically, our country is struggling with some of the anemic growth we have seen on record. More than 90 million Americans are unemployed, or they are not in the workforce altogether. The number of people now willing, able, and wanting to go to work is at a level that has fallen to a level we have not been since the 1970's. For those that are working, wages aren't budging while other things, costs, like housing, remain high. As President, what concrete steps will you take to get America back to work. +p2392 +aVThank you. Governor Huckabee, we're here Wisconsin, a state that has seen the biggest decline in middle-class households of any American state. With more than 120,000 manufacturing jobs being lost in the last 15 years. As we move away from a manufacturing economy to a services based, technological economy, how are you going to help the millions of Americans that are stuck in this transition? +p2393 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee, you have characterized entitlement reform as both political and economic suicide. Taxpayers currently spend more than $600 billion per year on social welfare programs, with the intended goal of getting people back on their feet and working again. Today a record number of Americans aren't even looking for work. Are our social welfare programs, while well-intended, creating a culture of dependency? If so, how will you fix it? +p2394 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2395 +aVDo you have something to add, Governor? +p2396 +aVAll right. Let's, let's bring Governor Christie in next. +p2397 +aVAll right. Well, let's get the \u2014 let's keep the conversation going. Let's bring Governor Christie in here because we're talking about national debt, climbing toward $19 trillion, Governor. Our federal government employed nearly three million workers, our tax code is more than 74,000 pages long. If you're elected President, Governor Christie, what concrete steps would you take to reduce the size of the federal government? +p2398 +aVGovernor Christie, China is stealing our technology. China is pirating our intellectual property, and China's hacking into our computers, spying on American corporations, and spying on our citizens. China also slaps tariffs on U.S. goods, making it harder for us to sell our products. How are you going to stop them? +p2399 +aV...Alright... +p2400 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p2401 +aVAll right. Governor Jindal, thank you. All right. Well, we are not finished yet. More from the Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee, next. +p2402 +aVSo would you change leadership at the Fed? +p2403 +aVSenator Santorum, thank you. I have a question for all of you. Americans connection to the military has been increasingly fading. As a society, how do we restore that sense of duty, that sense of pride, that was the hallmark of the greatest generation. Again, I'd like to ask each of you, 30 seconds each, beginning with Governor Jindal. +p2404 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p2405 +aVGovernor Christie. +p2406 +aVSenator Santorum. +p2407 +aVAlright, thank you gentlemen. That does it, everyone, for the first debate here in Milwaukee. In just about one hour from now, at 9:00PM Eastern, eight more candidates are going to be taking to the stage. Right now though, special coverage of the Republican Presidential Debate, live from Milwaukee, continues right here on Fox Business. +p2408 +asVBAKER +p2409 +(lp2410 +VThe candidates on stage tonight were selected based on their standing in an average of four national polls. Those standings determining their position on the stage. And here they are. At center stage, businessman Donald Trump. Neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson. +p2411 +aVTonight's rules are simple. Up to 90 second for each answer. One minute for each follow-up response. And if a candidate goes over their allotted time, you'll here this. +p2412 +aVMs. Fiorina, while you've all pointed out how weak the current recovery has been and how disappointing by any historical standards, in the general election, the Democrats will inevitably ask you and voters to compare the recent president's jobs performance. Now, in seven years under President Obama, the U.S. has added an average of 107,000 jobs a month. Under President Clinton, the economy added about 240,000 jobs a month. Under George W. Bush, it was only 13,000 a month. If you win the nomination, you'll probably be facing a Democrat named Clinton. How are you going to respond to the claim that Democratic presidents are better at creating jobs than Republicans? +p2413 +aVThank you. Thank you. Senator Paul, income inequality has been rising in the United States. Fifty years ago, for example, the average CEO of a big corporation in this country earned 20 times the average salary of one of his or her workers. Today, that CEO earns about 300 times the average salary of a worker. Does it matter at all that the gap between the rich and everyone else is widening? +p2414 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2415 +aVSenator Rubio... +p2416 +aVYes, one quick comment, yes. +p2417 +aVGovernor Bush... +p2418 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor, you...You should let Jeb speak. +p2419 +aVMr. Trump, Mr. Trump, you yourself \u2014 you yourself said let Governor Bush speak. Governor Bush? +p2420 +aVSenator Rubio? Senator... +p2421 +aVSenator Rubio, Senator Rubio, let me \u2014 let me take you to a question that I think gets to the root of a lot of the anxiety that people have in this country. The economy is undergoing a transformation through information technology. Americans are anxious that the new economy isn't producing higher-paying jobs. Many are concerned that the new wealth seems to be going mainly to innovators and investors. Meanwhile, with factories run by robots and shopping done increasingly on smartphones, many traditional jobs are just going away. How do you reassure American workers that their jobs are not being steadily replaced by machines? +p2422 +aVThank you. Senator Cruz \u2014 Senator Cruz, entitlements. You've argued for raising the retirement age and reducing benefits for future retirees, but reducing any sort of benefits for the elderly has always been notoriously hard to do politically. When Speaker Paul Ryan proposed replacing traditional Medicare with federally funded private plans a few years ago, a liberal group responded with a commercial that featured a granny being pushed off a cliff. What's going to be different this time? +p2423 +aV...I said for future retirees was your statement... +p2424 +aVSenator Rubio. Can I just come to Senator Rubio? We're coming to you, Mr. Trump, in one second. I \u2014 I promise. +p2425 +aVSenator Rubio, your tax plan includes a large expansion of child tax credits to raise off (ph) the tax incomes for low-income parents. A similar tax credit that you previously proposed in the Senate was estimated to cost as much as $170 billion a year, according to the Tax Foundation. Isn't \u2014 isn't there a risk you're just adding another expensive entitle program to an already overburdened federal budget? +p2426 +aVGovernor Kasich? Let me come to Governor Kasich. +p2427 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p2428 +aVVery quickly, Senator. +p2429 +aVPlease. +p2430 +aV...Gentleman, we need to move on... +p2431 +aV...We need to move... +p2432 +aV...We need too... +p2433 +aV...We do need to move on. Mr. Trump... +p2434 +aV...Very quick. +p2435 +aVLet's talk about \u2014 No, no, Governor, I really must move on. I really want to move on. Mr. Trump, let's talk about the international economy... +p2436 +aV...We really need to move on... +p2437 +aV...No, governor, I promise I will come to you... +p2438 +aV...Listen... +p2439 +aV...Mr. Trump, can I ask you about... +p2440 +aV...the U.S. just concluded an international trade agreement with 11 countries in the Pacific. You've said that you'd rather have no deal... +p2441 +aV...than sign the one that's on the table... +p2442 +aV...Most economists \u2014 most economists say that trade is boosted growth, and every single post war president has supported the expansion of international trade, including the last three republican presidents. Why would you reverse more than 50 years of U.S. trade policy? +p2443 +aVThe \u2014 the deal, as you say, the terms of the deal were published \u2014 were published just last week, the details, 5,000 pages of it, and 80 percent of U.S. trade with countries in the Pacific, these countries, these 11 countries, is actually tariff-free, and these \u2014 the trade deal only affects the other 20 percent. Which \u2014 are there particular parts of the deal that you think were badly negotiated? +p2444 +aVThere was a separate \u2014 separate... +p2445 +aVBut isn't that \u2014 isn't that part of the problem? When I say, Senator, that if \u2014 if this deal is not ratified by \u2014 by the U.S. \u2014 by the Senate, then it would actually give China an opportunity to grow its economic leadership, which it's been seeking to do? And if the U.S. is unable to take part in this trade deal with these countries in Asia, China will take the lead? +p2446 +aVThank you. Thanks, Senator. +p2447 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich, I want to ask you about China, in particular hundreds of American companies have been subjected to cyber attacks from the Chinese military, yet state-backed Chinese companies, growing their presence in the United States, Chinese investments in U.S., which were nearly nonexistent a few years ago, are now over $50 billion. And as my newspaper recently reported, Chinese companies are planning to bid for one of the largest hotel chains in the United States, what would be the largest ever Chinese takeover of a U.S. company. Would you stop them? +p2448 +aVThank you, Governor. Plenty of opportunities. Thank you. Neil? +p2449 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate, live from Milwaukee. Now let's get straight back to the questions, and Governor Bush. Governor, Hillary Clinton recently said that if we had another financial crisis like the one in 2008, she wouldn't bail out the banks. Would you? +p2450 +aVBut, Governor, but can I just quickly \u2014 did \u2014 you can't seriously guarantee that there won't be another financial crisis, can you? +p2451 +aVEver? There will never be another financial crisis? +p2452 +aVDr. Carson, if I may, just on that point, despite measures taken, as the governor says, since the crisis to make the financial system safer, the major banks in the U.S., many of them are actually bigger than ever. Asset held by JPMorgan Chase, for example, the very largest bank, have increased by nearly 40 percent to over $2.6 trillion. Do you think JPMorgan and the other big banks should be broken up? +p2453 +aVBut just to be clear, just \u2014 just to be clear, then, you wouldn't \u2014 you wouldn't favor breaking up the big banks? You think they're big enough \u2014 they're OK as they are, as big as they are? +p2454 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p2455 +aVThank you. +p2456 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate. And now, candidates, it's time for your closing statements. You get 30 seconds each, and, Senator Paul, we will begin with you. +p2457 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p2458 +asVHOLT +p2459 +(lp2460 +VGood evening and welcome to the NBC News Youtube Democratic candidate's debate. After all the campaigning, soon, Americans will have their say with the first votes of the 2016 campaign just 15 days away in Iowa. And New Hampshire not far behind. Tonight will be the final opportunity to see these candidates face to face before the voting begins. Our purpose here tonight is to highlight and examine the differences among the three Democratic candidates. So let's get started. Please welcome Secretary Hillary Clinton, Senator Bernie Sanders and Governor Martin O'Malley. Well, welcome to all of you. Hope you're excited, we're excited. We want to thank our hosts, the Congressional Black Caucus Institute. I'm joined by my colleague Andrea Mitchell tonight. The rules are simple. Sixty seconds for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups or rebuttals. I know you'll all keep exactly to time, so our job should be pretty easy here tonight. We'll have questions from the Youtube community throughout the debate. This is a critical point in the race. You've been defining your differences with each other especially vigorously in the last week on the campaign trail. We're here to facilitate this conversation on behalf of the voters so that they know exactly where you stand as you face off tonight. Let's have a great debate. We'll begin with 45 second opening statements from each candidate, starting with Secretary Clinton. +p2461 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders, your opening statement, sir. +p2462 +aVSenator, thank you. And Governor O'Malley, your opening statement, sir. O' +p2463 +aVAll right. And Governor, thank you. All right, to our first question, now. The first question, I'll be addressing to all of the candidates. President Obama came to office determined to swing for the fences on health care reform. Voters want to know how you would define your presidency? How would you think big? So complete this sentence: in my first 100 days in office, my top three priorities will be \u2014 fill in the blank. Senator Sanders. +p2464 +aVSecretary Clinton, same question, my first 100 days in office, my top three priorities will be. +p2465 +aVGovernor O'Malley, same question. O' +p2466 +aVThank you. You've all... O' +p2467 +aVAll right governor thank you. We've all laid out large visions and we're going to cover a lot of the ground you talked about as we continue in the evening. The last couple of weeks of this campaign have featured some of the sharpest exchanges in the race. Let's start with one of them, the issue of guns. Senator Sanders, last week Secretary Clinton called you quote, "a pretty reliable vote for the gun lobby." Right before the debate you changed your position on immunity from lawsuits for gun manufacturers, can you tell us why? +p2468 +aVSenator, but you didn't answer the question that you did change your position on immunity from gun manufacturers. So can you... +p2469 +aVSecretary Clinton, would you like to respond to Senator Sanders. +p2470 +aVAll right, Governor O'Malley, you signed tough gun control measures as governor of Maryland and there are a lot Democrats in the audience here in South Carolina who own guns. This conversation might be worrying many of them. They may be hearing, "you want to take my guns. What would you say to them? O' +p2471 +aVAlright, Governor, thank you. Secretary Clinton, this is a community that has suffered a lot of heartache in the last year. Of course, as you mentioned, the church shootings. We won't forget the video of Walter Scott being shot in the back while running from police. We understand that a jury will decide whether that police officer was justified, but it plays straight to the fears of many African American men that their lives are cheap. Is that perception, or in your view, is it reality? +p2472 +aVYou time is up. Senator Sanders, my next question is... +p2473 +aV... It's actually \u2014 actually my next question is to you... +p2474 +aVSenator Sanders... +p2475 +aVSenator. Senator Sanders... +p2476 +aV... Just over a week ago the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus endorsed Secretary Clinton, not you. He said that choosing her over you was not a hard decision. In fact, our polling shows she's beating you more than two to one among minority voters. How can you be the nominee if you don't have that support? +p2477 +aVGovernor, I'm going to come to you in a second. Google searches for the words, "Black Lives Matter" surpassed, "civil rights movement". And, here in South Carolina, "black lives matter" was the number one trending political issue. +p2478 +aVAll right. Let's talk... O' +p2479 +aVLet's talk more about policing and the criminal justice system. Senator Sanders, a few times tonight we're going to hear from some of the most prominent voices on YouTube, starting with Franchesca Ramsey, who tackles racial stereotypes through her videos. Let's watch. +p2480 +aVSenator Sanders. +p2481 +aVWould you like me to read it back to you? +p2482 +aVProsecutors \u2014 "I believe there's a huge conflict of interest when local prosecutors investigate cases of police violence within their communities. Most recently, we saw this with a non- indictment of the officers involved in the case of 12-year-old Tamir Rice. How would you presidency ensure incidents of police violence are investigated and prosecuted fairly?" +p2483 +aVSecretary Clinton, this question is for you. Tonight parts of America are in the grip of a deadly heroin epidemic, spanning race and class, hitting small towns and cities alike. It has become a major issue in this race. In a lot of places where you've been campaigning, despite an estimated trillion dollars spent, many say the war on drugs has failed. So what would you do? +p2484 +aVAnd that's time. +p2485 +aVSenator... +p2486 +aVSenator Sanders, would you like to respond? +p2487 +aVThat's... +p2488 +aV... time. +p2489 +aVWe're going to get into all that coming up. O' +p2490 +aVBut we're going to take a break and we need to take a break... O' +p2491 +aV... and when we come back, the anger brewing in America. +p2492 +aVWelcome back to Charleston. Let's turn to another area where there has been fierce disagreement \u2014 that would be health care. Senator Sanders and Secretary Clinton, you both mentioned it in your 100-day priorities. Let's turn to my colleague, Andrea Mitchell now to lead that questioning. +p2493 +aVAnd that's time. We're gonna take a turn now. Secretary Clinton, in his final State of the Union address, President Obama said his biggest regret was his inability to bring the country together. If President Obama couldn't do it, how will you? O' +p2494 +aVThat's time. Senator Sanders, response. +p2495 +aVThat's time. But let me continue with the... +p2496 +aVSenator Sanders, let me continue, you call yourself a Democratic socialist... +p2497 +aVAnd throughout your career in politics, you've been critical of the Democratic party, you've been saying in a book you wrote, quote, "There wasn't a hell of a big difference between the the two major parties." How would you will a general election... +p2498 +aVHow will you win a general election labeling yourself a democratic socialist? +p2499 +aVYes, but senator, you can... +p2500 +aVAnd that is right. +p2501 +aVSecretary Clinton, our next question is for you. Here's another quantitative problem. +p2502 +aVAnd we're going to get into that coming up. But Secretary Clinton, here's a question from YouTube. It's from a young video blogger who has over 5 million subscribers. He has a question about the importance of younger voters. +p2503 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p2504 +aVThat's time... +p2505 +aVA quick follow up \u2014 a thirty second follow up. Why is Senator Sanders beating you to 2 to 1 among younger votes? +p2506 +aVWe're going to take... +p2507 +aVWe're going to take a break. When we come back; big banks, big business and big differences among the three candidates on the American Economy. We'll be right back. +p2508 +aVWelcome back from Charleston. Let's turn now to the economy. Senator Sanders, you released a tough new ad last week in which without mentioning Secretary Clinton by name, you talk about two Democratic visions for regulating Wall Street. "One says it's OK to take millions from big banks and tell them what to do. My plan, break up the big banks, close the tax loopholes and make them pay their fair share." What do you see as the difference between what you would do about the banks and what Secretary Clinton would do? +p2509 +aVSecretary Clinton, help the voter understand the daylight between the two of you here. +p2510 +aVSenator Sanders, your response. +p2511 +aVThat's time. Governor O'Malley... +p2512 +aVI have a question for you... +p2513 +aVThirty-second response. +p2514 +aVGovernor O'Malley. O' +p2515 +aVSecretary Clinton, 30-second response. +p2516 +aVThat's time. Andrea. +p2517 +aV... Senator... +p2518 +aVWe have got a lot to ground to cover here. Many Democratic voters are passionate about the need to do something to combat the threat of climate change, including the team of scientists from Youtube's MinuteEarth channel. Here's their take. +p2519 +aVSenator Sanders, Americans love their SUVs, which spiked in sales last year as gas prices plummeted. How do you convince Americans that the problem of climate change is so urgent that they need to change their behavior? +p2520 +aVGovernor O'Malley, 30 seconds. O' +p2521 +aVThat's time. We're going to take a break. +p2522 +aVWhen we return, the late-breaking developments regarding Iran. The threat of +p2523 +aVCharleston, Andrea Mitchell has questions now starting with Iran. +p2524 +aVSenator Sanders mentioned Russia a moment ago. Secretary Clinton, you famously handed Russia's foreign minister a reset button in 2009. Since then, Russia has annexed Crimea, fomented a war in Ukraine, provided weapons that downed an airliner and launched operations, as we just did discuss, to support Assad in Syria. As president, would you hand Vladimir Putin a reset button? +p2525 +aVWhat's your relationship with him? +p2526 +aVWe to want turn right now to the issue of balancing national security concerns with the privacy rights of Americans. That brings us to YouTube and this question. +p2527 +aVSo, Governor O'Malley. O' +p2528 +aVThat's time. You have all talked about what you would do fighting +p2529 +aVThat's a question to Senator Sanders. I wasn't clear, I apologize. +p2530 +aVBut in terms of lone wolves, the threat, how would you do it? +p2531 +aVWe have to go to a \u2014 we have to go to a break, and when we come back, we're going to get to some of the burning questions these candidates have yet to answer and are totally eager to talk about. +p2532 +aVAnd welcome back to Charleston. As we were going to a break, Secretary Clinton, I cut you off. I'll give you 30 seconds to respond on the issue of lone wolves. O' +p2533 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p2534 +aVAnd Andrea has a follow-up. O' +p2535 +aVAll right, that's time, and \u2014 and we do......we do have to move on. Secretary Clinton, this is the first time... +p2536 +aVThirty \u2014 30 \u2014 30 seconds, Senator. +p2537 +aVAll right. Secretary Clinton......this is the first time that a spouse of a former president could be elected president. You have said that President Clinton would advise you on economic issues, but be specific, if you can. Are you talking about a kitchen-table role on economics, or will he have a real policy role? +p2538 +aVSenator sanders, a 30 second response, sir. +p2539 +aVWe will take a break. We'll continue from Charleston right after this. +p2540 +aVWelcome back everybody. Finally, before we go tonight, we set out here to understand points of differences between you. We believe we've learned a lot here, but before we leave, is there anything that you really wanted to say tonight that you haven't gotten a chance to say. And, we'll start with Governor O'Malley. Didn't see that coming, did you? O' +p2541 +aVSixty seconds, we'd appreciate it. O' +p2542 +aVAnd that's time. O' +p2543 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p2544 +aVAnd that's time. +p2545 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders? +p2546 +asVCHAFEE +p2547 +(lp2548 +VThank you, Anderson. Thank you, CNN, and thank you Facebook for organizing this debate. Not only will Americans be electing a new president next year, we also will be electing a world leader. Voters should assess the candidate's experience, character and vision for the future as they make this important decision. I'm the only one running for president that has been a mayor, a United States senator, and a governor. As mayor, I brought labor peace to my city and kept taxes down. I was reelected three times. As a senator, I earned a reputation for courageous votes against the Bush-Cheney tax cuts the favored the wealthy, against the tragedy of the Iraq war, for environmental stewardship, for protection of our civil liberties. I served on the Foreign Relations Committee and I chaired the Middle East Subcommittee for four years. As governor, I came in at the depths of the recession and we turned my state around. Rhode Island had the biggest drop of the unemployment rate over my four budgets of all but one state. It happens to be Nevada, where we're having this debate. I'm very proud that over my almost 30 years of public service, I have had no scandals. I've always been honest. I have the courage to take the long-term view, and I've shown good judgment. I have high ethical standards. As we look to the future, I want to address the income inequality, close the gap between the haves and the have-nots. I want to address climate change, a real threat to our planet. And I believe in prosperity through peace. I want to end these wars. I look forward to the discussion ahead. Thank you +p2549 +aVAnderson, you're looking at a block of granite when it comes to the issues. Whether it's... +p2550 +aVDid you hear what I said? On the issues. I have not changed on the issues. I was a liberal Republican, then I was an independent, and now I'm a proud Democrat. But I have not changed on the issues. And I open my record to scrutiny. Whether it's on the environment, a woman's right to choose, gay marriage, fiscal responsibility, aversion to foreign entanglements, using the tools of government to help the less fortunate. Time and time again, I have never changed. You're looking at a block of granite when it comes to the issues. So I have not changed. +p2551 +aVThe party left me. There's no doubt about that. There was no room for a liberal moderate Republican in that party. I even had a primary for my reelection in 2006. I won it. But the money poured in to defeat me in Rhode Island as a Republican. That's what we were up against. +p2552 +aVYes, I have a good record of voting for gun commonsense safety legislation, but the reality is, despite these tragedies that happen time and time again, when legislators step up to pass commonsense gun safety legislation, the gun lobby moves in and tells the people they're coming to take away your guns. And, they're successful at it, in Colorado and others states, the legislators that vote for commonsense gun safety measures then get defeated. I even saw in Rhode Island. So, I would bring the gun lobby in and say we've got to change this. Where can we find common ground? Wayne Lapierre from the NRA, whoever it is, the leaders. Come one, we've go to change this. We're not coming to take away your guns, we believe in the Second Amendment, but let's find common ground here. +p2553 +aVWell, we just heard Senator Sanders say that it's the worst decision in American history. That's very significant, the worst decision in American history, I just heard from Senator Sanders. So, as we look ahead, if you're going to make those poor judgment calls, a critical time in our history, we just finished with the Vietnam era, getting back into another quagmire \u2014 if you're looking ahead, and you're looking at someone who made that poor decision in 2002 to go into Iraq when there was no real evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq \u2014 I know because I did my homework, and, so, that's an indication of how someone will perform in the future. And that's what's important. +p2554 +aVOK. I just have to answer one thing that Senator Webb said about the Iran deal, because I'm a strong proponent of what President Obama \u2014 and he said that because of that the Iran deal that enabled Russia to come in. No, that's not true, Senator Webb. I respect your foreign policy chops. But Russia is aligned with Iran and with Assad and the Alawite Shias in Syria. So that Iran deal did not allow Russia to come in. +p2555 +aVIt's certainly the chaos in the Middle East. There's no doubt about it. +p2556 +aVAnd it all started with the Iraq invasion. +p2557 +aVAbsolutely. We have to repair American credibility after we told the world that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, which he didn't. So there's an issue of American credibility out there. So any time someone is running to be our leader, and a world leader, which the American president is, credibility is an issue out there with the world. And we have repair work to be done. I think we need someone that has the best in ethical standards as our next president. That's how I feel. +p2558 +aVThe Glass-Steagall was my very first vote, I'd just arrived, my dad had died in office, I was appointed to the office, it was my very first vote. +p2559 +aVI'd just arrived at the Senate. I think we'd get some takeovers, and that was one. It was my very first vote, and it was 92-5. It was the... +p2560 +aVBut let me just say... +p2561 +aVI think you're being a little rough. I'd just arrived at the United States Senate. I'd been mayor of my city. My dad had died. I'd been appointed by the governor. It was the first vote and it was 90-5, because it was a conference report. But let me just say about income inequality. We've had a lot of talk over the last few minutes, hours, or tens of minutes, but no one is saying how we're going to fix it. And it all started with the Bush tax cuts that favored the wealthy. So let's go back to the tax code. And 0.6 percent of Americans are at the top echelon, over 464,000, 0.6 Americans. That's less than 1 percent. But they generate 30 percent of the revenue. And they're doing fine. +p2562 +aVSo there's still a lot more money to be had from this top echelon. I'm saying let's have another tier and put that back into the tax bracket. And that will generate $42 billion. +p2563 +aVAnd then we can help the middle class and hard-earning Americans \u2014 hard-working Americans. +p2564 +aVNo, that was another 99 to one vote for the Patriot Act, and it was seen as at the time modernizing our ability to do what we've always done to tap phones which always required a warrant. And I voted for that. +p2565 +aVNo, no. As long as you're getting a warrant, I believe that under the Fourth Amendment, you should be able to do surveillance, but you need a warrant. That's what the Fourth Amendment says. And in the Patriot Act, section 215 started to get broadened too far. So I would be in favor of addressing and reforming section 215 of the Patriot Act. +p2566 +aVNo, I would bring him home. The courts have ruled that what he did \u2014 what he did was say the American... +p2567 +aV... the American government was acting illegally. That's what the federal courts have said; what Snowden did showed that the American government was acting illegally for the Fourth Amendment. So I would bring him home. +p2568 +aVCertainly, ending the wars. We've got to stop these wars. You have to have a new dynamic, a new paradigm. We just spent a half-billion dollars arming and training soldiers, the rebel soldiers in Syria. They quickly join the other side. We bombed the... +p2569 +aVI'd like to finish my question \u2014 my answer. And also we just bombed a hospital. We've had drone strikes that hit civilian weddings. So I would change how we \u2014 our approach to the Middle East. We need a new paradigm in the Middle East. +p2570 +aVI guess the coal lobby. I've worked hard for climate change and I want to work with the coal lobby. But in my time in the Senate, tried to bring them to the table so that we could address carbon dioxide. I'm proud to be at odds with the coal lobby. +p2571 +aVThank you, Anderson. Thank you, CNN. And thank you, Facebook, for sponsoring this debate. America has many challenges confronting us \u2014 ending the perpetual wars, addressing climate change, addressing income inequality, funding education, funding infrastructure, funding healthcare, helping black Americans, helping Native Americans. We have many challenges. Who is best able to confront these challenges? I've served in government at many levels. I know what it's like to solve problems at the local level because I did it as mayor. I know how to get legislation passed through Congress because I did it as a senator. I know how to turn around a state because I did as governor of Rhode Island. But what I'm most proud of is that in 30 years of public service, I have had no scandals. I have high ethical standards. And what I'm most proud of is my judgment, particularly in the Iraq war vote. There was a lot of pressure \u2014 political pressure, public pressure. But I did my homework and I did not believe that the evidence was there that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. And we live now with the consequences. So that kind of judgment is what we want in a president going forward. And I'm running for president to end the wars. I want to be the peacemaker. I am a proven peacemaker. Please go to Chafee 2016 to learn more about me. Thank you. +p2572 +asVBROWNLEE +p2573 +(lp2574 +VHi, my name Marques Brownlee, and I've been making YouTube videos about electronics and gadgets for the past seven years. I think America's future success is tied to getting all kinds of tech right. Tech companies are responsible for the encryption technology to protect personal data, but the government wants a back door into that information. So do you think it's possible to find common ground? And where do you stand on privacy versus security? +p2575 +asVCOOPER +p2576 +(lp2577 +VI'm Anderson Cooper. Thanks for joining us. We've already welcomed the candidates on stage. They are in place at their podiums. Before we dive into the issues, I want to quickly explain some of the groundrules tonight. As the moderator, I'll ask questions, followups and guide the discussion. I'll be joined in the questioning by CNN's Juan Carlos Lopez and Dana Bash, a well as Don Lemon who will share questions from Democrats around the country. Each candidate will get one minute to answer questions, and 30 seconds for followups and rebuttals. I'll give candidates time to respond if they have been singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know that we have lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. I want the candidates to be able to introduce themselves to our audience. Each candidate will have two minutes to introduce themselves. Let's begin with Governor Chafee. Governor? +p2578 +aVThank you very much, Governor. Senator Webb, you have two minutes. +p2579 +aVGovernor O'Malley, you have two minutes. O' +p2580 +aVGovernor O'Malley, thank you very much. Senator Sanders. +p2581 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p2582 +aVThank you, all. It is time to start the debate. Are you all ready? All right. Let's begin. We're going to be discussing a lot of the issues, many of the issues, important issues that you have brought up. But I want to begin with concerns that voters have about each of the candidates here on this stage that they have about each of you. Secretary Clinton, I want to start with you. Plenty of politicians evolve on issues, but even some Democrats believe you change your positions based on political expediency. You were against same-sex marriage. Now you're for it. You defended President Obama's immigration policies. Now you say they're too harsh. You supported his trade deal dozen of times. You even called it the "gold standard". Now, suddenly, last week, you're against it. Will you say anything to get elected? +p2583 +aVSecretary Clinton, though, with all due respect, the question is really about political expediency. Just in July, New Hampshire, you told the crowd you'd, quote, "take a back seat to no one when it comes to progressive values." Last month in Ohio, you said you plead guilty to, quote, "being kind of moderate and center." Do you change your political identity based on who you're talking to? +p2584 +aVJust for the record, are you a progressive, or are you a moderate? +p2585 +aVSecretary... +p2586 +aV...thank you... +p2587 +aV...Senator... +p2588 +aVSenator Sanders. A Gallup poll says half the country would not put a socialist in the White House. You call yourself a democratic socialist. How can any kind of socialist win a general election in the United States? +p2589 +aVDenmark is a country that has a population \u2014 Denmark is a country that has a population of 5.6 million people. The question is really about electability here, and that's what I'm trying to get at. You \u2014 the \u2014 the Republican attack ad against you in a general election \u2014 it writes itself. You supported the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. You honeymooned in the Soviet Union. And just this weekend, you said you're not a capitalist. Doesn't \u2014 doesn't that ad write itself? +p2590 +aVYou don't consider yourself a capitalist, though? +p2591 +aVJust let me just be clear. Is there anybody else on the stage who is not a capitalist? +p2592 +aVSenator Sanders? +p2593 +aVWe're going to get... +p2594 +aVWe're going to have a lot more on these issues. But I do want to just quickly get everybody in on the question of electability. Governor Chafee, you've been everything but a socialist. When you were senator from Rhode Island, you were a Republican. When you were elected governor, you were an independent. You've only been a Democrat for little more than two years. Why should Democratic voters trust you won't change again? +p2595 +aVIt seems like pretty soft granite. I mean, you've been a Republican, you've been an independent. +p2596 +aVThen why change labels? +p2597 +aVGovernor O'Malley, the concern of voters about you is that you tout our record as Baltimore's mayor. As we all know, we all saw it. That city exploded in riots and violence in April. The current top prosecutor in Baltimore, also a Democrat, blames your zero tolerance policies for sowing the seeds of unrest. Why should Americans trust you with the country when they see what's going on in the city that you ran for more than seven years? O' +p2598 +aVShe actually \u2014 just for the record, when she was asked which policies, to name two, she said zero tolerance. I mean, there's a number of old policies that we're seeing the results of. That distress of communities, where communities don't want to step forward and say who killed a 3-year-old, it's a direct result of these failed policies. O' +p2599 +aVIn one year alone, though, 100,000 arrests were made in your city, a city of 640,000 people. The +p2600 +aVThank you, Governor. O' +p2601 +aVSenator Webb, in 2006, you called affirmative action "state-sponsored racism." In 2010, you wrote an op/ed saying it discriminates against whites. Given that nearly half the Democratic Party is non-white, aren't you out of step with where the Democratic Party is now? +p2602 +aVSenator Webb, thank you very much. Let's move on to some of the most pressing issues facing our country right now, some of the biggest issues right now in the headlines today. We're going to start with guns. The shooting in Oregon earlier this month, once again it brought the issue of guns into the national conversation. Over the last week, guns have been the most discussed political topic on Facebook by two to one. Senator Sanders, you voted against the Brady bill that mandated background checks and a waiting period. You also supported allowing riders to bring guns in checked bags on Amtrak trains. For a decade, you said that holding gun manufacturers legally responsible for mass shootings is a bad idea. Now, you say you're reconsidering that. Which is it: shield the gun companies from lawsuits or not? +p2603 +aVDo you want to shield gun companies from lawsuits? +p2604 +aVSecretary Clinton, is Bernie Sanders tough enough on guns? +p2605 +aVWe're going to bring you all in on this. But, Senator Sanders, you have to give a response. +p2606 +aVGovernor O'Malley, you passed gun legislation as governor of Maryland, but you had a Democratic-controlled legislature. President Obama couldn't convince Congress to pass gun legislation after the massacres in Aurora, in Newtown, and Charleston. How can you? O' +p2607 +aVSenator Sanders, I want you to be able to respond, 30 seconds. +p2608 +aVLet me bring in somebody who has a different viewpoint. Senator Webb, your rating from the NRA, you once had an A rating from the NRA. You've said gun violence goes down when more people are allowed to carry guns. Would encouraging more people to be armed be part of your response to a mass shooting? +p2609 +aVSenator... +p2610 +aVSenator \u2014 Governor Chafee, you have an F rating from the NRA, what do you think about what Senator Webb just said? +p2611 +aVI want to... O' +p2612 +aV...I want to move on to another issue, which is in the headlines right now, another crisis making headlines. Secretary Clinton, Russia, they're challenging the U.S. in Syria. According to U.S. intelligence, they've lied about who they're bombing. You spearheaded the reset with Russia. Did you underestimate the Russians, and as president, what would your response to Vladimir Putin be right now in Syria? +p2613 +aVSenator Sanders, what would you do differently. +p2614 +aVOn this issue of foreign policy, I want to go to... +p2615 +aVI want to go to Dana Bash. Dana? +p2616 +aVBut, Senator Sanders, you didn't answer the question. Under what \u2014 under what circumstances would you actually use force? +p2617 +aVI'm gonna bring you all in on this. Governor \u2014 Governor O'Malley, Secretary Clinton... +p2618 +aVSecretary Clinton voted to authorize military force in Iraq, supported more troops in Afghanistan. As Secretary of State, she wanted to arm Syrian rebels and push for the bombing of Libya. Is she too quick to use military force? O' +p2619 +aVDoes she \u2014 does she want to use military force too rapidly? O' +p2620 +aVGovernor O'Malley, just for the record, on the campaign trail, you've been saying that Secretary Clinton is always quick for the \u2014 for the military intervention. Senator \u2014 Secretary Clinton, you can respond. +p2621 +aVWell \u2014 yes, you'll be coming in next, but she was directly quoted, Senator. +p2622 +aVOK. +p2623 +aVSecretary? +p2624 +aVThank you. +p2625 +aVThank you, Secretary. +p2626 +aVSenator Webb, you said as president you would never have used military force in Libya and that the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi was, in your words, "inevitable." Should Secretary Clinton have seen that attack coming? +p2627 +aVSenator... +p2628 +aVYou're over your time as of now. +p2629 +aVYou agreed to these debate rules. +p2630 +aVSenator Sanders, I want you to be able to respond. +p2631 +aVI'd like you to be able to respond and get in on this. +p2632 +aVHe doesn't seem to be the type of guy to regret a lot. +p2633 +aVSecretary Clinton, on the campaign trail, Governor Webb has said that he would never have used military force in Libya and that the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi was inevitable. Should you have seen that attack coming? +p2634 +aVBut American citizens did lose their lives in Benghazi. +p2635 +aVGovernor O'Malley? +p2636 +aVSenator Webb, I want you to be able to respond. +p2637 +aVSenator Webb? +p2638 +aVSecretary (sic) Webb, you served in Vietnam. You're a marine. Once a marine, always a marine. You served as a marine in Vietnam. You're a decorated war hero. You eventually became secretary of the navy. During the Vietnam War, the man standing next to you, Senator Sanders, applied for status as a conscientious objector. Given his history, can he serve as a credible commander-in-chief? +p2639 +aVSenator Sanders, tell an American soldier who is watching right now tonight in Afghanistan why you can be commander-in- chief given that you applied for conscientious objector status. +p2640 +aVVery quickly, 30 seconds for each of you. Governor Chafee, who or what is the greatest national security threat to the United States? I want to go down the line. +p2641 +aVOK. Senator, I can give you 30 seconds to respond. +p2642 +aVThirty seconds for each of you. Governor Chafee, what is the greatest national security threat to the United States? +p2643 +aVOK. +p2644 +aVGovernor O'Malley? O' +p2645 +aVSecretary Clinton, the greatest national security threat? +p2646 +aVSenator Sanders, greatest national security threat? +p2647 +aVSenator Webb? +p2648 +aVAll right. We're going to take a short break. Do these candidates see eye to eye on an issue that is driving a big wedge between Republicans? That is next. We'll be right back. +p2649 +aVAnd welcome back. We are live in Nevada, in Las Vegas, at the Wynn Resort for the first Democratic presidential debate. The questions continue. We begin with Secretary Clinton. Secretary Clinton, you are going to be testifying before Congress next week about your e-mails. For the last eight months, you haven't been able to put this issue behind you. You dismissed it; you joked about it; you called it a mistake. What does that say about your ability to handle far more challenging crises as president? +p2650 +aVSecretary... +p2651 +aVSecretary Clinton, Secretary Clinton, with all due respect, it's a little hard \u2014 I mean, isn't it a little bit hard to call this just a partisan issue? There's an FBI investigation, and President Obama himself just two days ago said this is a legitimate issue. +p2652 +aVThank you. +p2653 +aVSenator Sanders? +p2654 +aVIt's obviously very popular in this crowd, and it's \u2014 hold on. I know that plays well in this room. But I got to be honest, Governor Chafee, for the record, on the campaign trail, you've said a different thing. You said this is a huge issue. Standing here in front of Secretary Clinton, are you willing to say that to her face? +p2655 +aVSecretary Clinton, do you want to respond? +p2656 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor... Governor O'Malley... Governor, it's popular in the room, but a lot of people do want to know these answers. Governor O'Malley, you expressed concern on the campaign trail that the Democratic Party is, and I quote, "being defined by Hillary Clinton's email scandal." You heard her answer, do you still feel that way tonight? O' +p2657 +aV...Thank you, governor. O' +p2658 +aVI want to talk about issues of race in America, for that I want to start of with Don Lemon. +p2659 +aVThe question from Arthur... +p2660 +aV...Do black lives matter, or do all lives matter? Let's put that question to Senator Sanders. +p2661 +aVGovernor O'Malley, the question from Arthur was do black lives matter, or do all lives matter? O' +p2662 +aVSecretary Clinton, what would you do for African Americans in this country that President Obama couldn't? +p2663 +aV...Thank you, Senator... +p2664 +aVSenator... +p2665 +aVSenator Webb? +p2666 +aVThanks, sir. +p2667 +aVSenator Sanders, let's talk about income inequality. Wages and incomes are flat. You've argued that the gap between rich and poor is wider than at any time since the 1920s. We've had a Democratic president for seven years. What are you going to be able to do that President Obama didn't? +p2668 +aVSecretary Clinton... +p2669 +aVI'll let you jump in a moment. Everybody will get in on this in a moment. Secretary Clinton, how would you address this issue? In all candor, you and your husband are part of the one percent. How can you credibly represent the views of the middle class? +p2670 +aVGovernor O'Malley, (inaudible). O' +p2671 +aVJust for viewers at home who may not be reading up on this, Glass-Steagall is the Depression-era banking law repealed in 1999 that prevented commercial banks from engaging in investment banking and insurance activities. Secretary Clinton, he raises a fundamental difference on this stage. Senator Sanders wants to break up the big Wall Street banks. You don't. You say charge the banks more, continue to monitor them. Why is your plan better? +p2672 +aVSenator Sanders, Secretary Clinton just said that her policy is tougher than yours. +p2673 +aVWhy? +p2674 +aVSenator... +p2675 +aVSecretary Clinton, you have to be able to respond. He brought you up. +p2676 +aV +p2677 +aVThank you. Thank you. Senator Sanders... +p2678 +aVGovernor O'Malley? Where do you stand? +p2679 +aVSecretary Clinton... O' +p2680 +aVI have to let you respond. +p2681 +aVThank you. +p2682 +aVThank... +p2683 +aVSenator Sanders... Senator Sanders, in 2008, congressional leaders were told, without the 2008 bailout, the U.S. was possibly days away from a complete meltdown. Despite that, you still voted against it. As president, would you stand by your principles if it risked the country's financial stability? +p2684 +aVWe're going to talk about that in a minute. But, Senator Webb, I want to get you in. You have said neither party has the guts to take on Wall Street. Is the system rigged? +p2685 +aVYou agreed to these rules and you're wasting time. So if you would finish your answer, we'll move on. +p2686 +aVGovernor Chafee, you have attacked Secretary Clinton for being too close to Wall Street banks. In 1999 you voted for the very bill that made banks bigger. +p2687 +aVAre you saying you didn't know what you were voting for? +p2688 +aVWell, with all due respect, Governor... +p2689 +aV... what does that say about you that you're casting a vote for something you weren't really sure about? +p2690 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2691 +aVI want to bring in Dana Bash. +p2692 +aVDana? +p2693 +aVSenator Sanders, I want to bring it over to Juan Carlos Lopez from CNN en Espanol. We're obviously in Nevada. It's had the highest percentage of undocumented immigrants of any state in the country as of last year. Juan Carlos? +p2694 +aVSenator Webb... O' +p2695 +aV...Thank you, Senator. +p2696 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p2697 +aV...Secretary... +p2698 +aVSecretary Clinton, let me ask you. Two of your rivals from your left, Governor O'Malley, and Senator Sanders, want to provide instate college tuition to undocumented immigrants. Where do you stand on that? +p2699 +aVSo, on the record, you believe that undocumented immigrants should get instate college tuition. +p2700 +aVGovernor O'Malley? O' +p2701 +aV...Senator... O' +p2702 +aVSenator Sanders, you talked about your record on the Veteran affairs committee. You served on that committee for the last eight years, including two years as its chairman while veterans died waiting for health care. You and Senator McCain ultimately addressed the issue with bi-partisan legislation. Why did it take 18 Inspector General reports, and a CNN investigation, and others, before you and your colleagues took action? +p2703 +aVGovernor Chafee, you and Hillary Clinton both voted for the Patriot Act which created the NSA surveillance program. You've emphasized civil liberties, privacy during your campaign. Aren't these two things in conflict? +p2704 +aVDo you regret that vote? +p2705 +aVSecretary Clinton, do you regret your vote on the Patriot Act? +p2706 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator Sanders, you're the only one on this stage who voted against the Patriot Act in 2001... +p2707 +aV... and the reauthorization votes. Let me ask you, if elected, would you shut down the NSA surveillance program? +p2708 +aVWould you shut down the NSA surveillance program? +p2709 +aVYou would, point blank. +p2710 +aVGovernor Chafee, Edward Snowden, is he a traitor or a hero? +p2711 +aVBring him home, no jail time? +p2712 +aVSecretary Clinton, hero or traitor? +p2713 +aVShould he do jail time? Cl +p2714 +aVGovernor O'Malley, Snowden? O' +p2715 +aVSenator Sanders, Edward Snowden? +p2716 +aVIs he a hero? +p2717 +aVSenator Webb, Edward Snowden? +p2718 +aVAnother \u2014 another question for each of you, starting with Governor Chafee. Name the one thing \u2014 the one way that your administration would not be a third term of President Obama. +p2719 +aVPresident Obama's generals right now are suggesting keeping troops in Afghanistan after the time he wanted them pulled out. Would you keep them there? +p2720 +aVGovernor O'Malley, how would you be different than President Obama's administration? O' +p2721 +aVSecretary Clinton, how would you not be a third term of President Obama? +p2722 +aVIs there a policy difference? +p2723 +aVSenator Sanders? +p2724 +aVSenator Webb, how would you not be a third term for Obama? +p2725 +aVSenator Sanders, he cited you. You don't hear a lot of Democratic presidential candidates talking about revolution. What do you mean? +p2726 +aVAnd we want to \u2014 and we're going to talk more about climate change and environmental issues coming up. Some of the candidates have tried marijuana, as have pretty much \u2014 probably everybody in this room. ( +p2727 +aVAnd welcome back to this CNN Democratic presidential debate. It has been quite a night so far. We are in the final block of this debate. All the candidates are back, which I'm very happy to see. ( +p2728 +aVIt's a long story. Let's continue, shall we? Secretary Clinton, welcome back. +p2729 +aVThat's right. Secretary Clinton, Governor O'Malley says the presidency is not a crown to be passed back and forth between two royal families. This year has been the year of the outsider in politics, just ask Bernie Sanders. Why should Democrats embrace an insider like yourself? +p2730 +aVGovernor O'Malley, do you want to tell Secretary Clinton why she shouldn't get the crown? O' +p2731 +aVSecretary Clinton, you have to be able to respond, if you want. +p2732 +aV(inaudible). Senator Sanders, does she have the right stuff? +p2733 +aVwe've got \u2014 we \u2014 a lot of questions we've got about climate change, and we're gonna go to Don Lemon. Don? +p2734 +aVGovernor... O' +p2735 +aV...Governor O'Malley, thank you very much. Senator Webb, you have a very different view than just about anybody else on this stage, and unlike a lot of Democrats. You're pro-coal, you're pro-offshore drilling, you're pro-Keystone pipeline. Are \u2014 again, are you \u2014 the question is, are you out of step with the Democratic party? +p2736 +aVSenator Sanders, are you tougher on \u2014 on climate change than Secretary Clinton? +p2737 +aVSenator \u2014 thank you, Senator. +p2738 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want you to be able to respond, then I'm gonna go to (ph) (inaudible). +p2739 +aVThank you. +p2740 +aVDana Bash? +p2741 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders? +p2742 +aVGovernor O'Malley? O' +p2743 +aVGovernor, thank you. The issue now, particularly in this state, is recreational marijuana. I want to go to Juan Carlos Lopez. +p2744 +aVSecretary Clinton, thank you. I want to go to Don Lemon with another Facebook question. +p2745 +aVWe're going to hear from all the candidates coming up. We're going to take a short break. More from the candidates in a moment. +p2746 +aVAnd welcome back to the final round of the CNN Democratic presidential debate. This is a question to each of you. Each of you, by the way, are going to have closing statements to make. Each of you will have 90 seconds. But a final question to each of you. If you can, just try to \u2014 15 seconds if you can. Governor Chafee, Franklin Delano Roosevelt once said, "I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made." You've all made a few people upset over your political careers. Which enemy are you most proud of? +p2747 +aVGovernor O'Malley? O' +p2748 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p2749 +aVSenator Sanders? +p2750 +aVSenator Webb? +p2751 +aVAll right. Time for closing statements. Each of you will have 90 seconds. Governor Chafee, let's begin with you. +p2752 +aVGovernor Chafee, thank you very much. Senator Webb, your final statement for 90 seconds. +p2753 +aVSenator Webb, thank you very much. Governor O'Malley, you have 90 seconds. O' +p2754 +aVGovernor O'Malley, thank you very much. Senator Sanders, final, closing thoughts, 90 seconds. +p2755 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p2756 +asVHUCKABEE +p2757 +(lp2758 +VWell, John, I don't really have any weaknesses that I can think of. But my wife is down here in the front, and I'm sure, if you'd like to talk to her later, she can give you more than you'll ever be able to take care of. If I have a weakness, it's that I try to live by the rules. I try to live by the rules, no matter what they are, and I was brought up that way as a kid. Play by the rules. And I'll tell you what a weakness is of this country: there are a lot of people who are sick and tired because Washington does not play by the same rules that the American people have to play by. +p2759 +aVWell, I would really appreciate that. First of all, yes, we've stolen. Yes, we've lied to the American people about Social Security, and Medicare. But, you know what we're not telling them? It's their money. This isn't the governments money. This is not entitlement, it's not welfare. This is money that people have confiscated out of their paychecks. Everytime they got a paycheck, the government reached in and took something out of it before they ever saw it. Now, we're going to blame the people. Today congress decided to take another $150 billion dollars away from Social Security so they can borrow more money. That makes no sense to everybody. And, they're always going to say, "Well, we're going to fix this one day." No their not. It's like a 400 pound man saying, "I'm going to go on a diet, but I'm eating a sack of Krispy Kremes before I do." And, people are sick of believing that the government is never going to really address this. But, let me tell you who not to blame. Let's quit blaming the people on Social Security. Let's quit making it a problem for them. It's like them getting mugged, and then us saying, well, we're going to mug you some more. You ought to just be able to get over it, get used to it... +p2760 +aV...No, sir... +p2761 +aV...we need to honor our promises... +p2762 +aV...before I go. This is the only time I've had a chance, let me finish. +p2763 +aV...This is a matter not of math, this is a matter of morality. If this country that does not keep its promise to seniors then what promise can this country hope to be trusted to keep? And, the fact is, none of them. [ +p2764 +aVAnd, the only way \u2014 no... +p2765 +aV...Chris... +p2766 +aV...Chris... +p2767 +aVSince he brought me up, do I not get to respond? +p2768 +aVJohn, listen, let's keep in mind that for one-third of the 60 million Americans on Social Security it represents 90 percent of their income. And, when I hear people talking about means testing, let's just remember what that means. If we means test Social Security, it means that the government decides whether or not I deserve it. If a person lives in a seven room house, does the government get to say you don't need seven rooms, we're going to take two of them away? Folks, the government has no business stealing even more from the people who have paid this in. I just want to remind you, people paid their money. They expect to have it. And, if this government doesn't pay it, than tell me what's different between the government and Bernie Madolf, who sits in prison today for doing less than what the government has done to the people on social security and Medicare in this country. +p2769 +aVI don't think it's so much about when the government orders a corporation to do something. In fact, that's part of the problem. If you saw that blimp that got cut loose from Maryland today, it's a perfect example of government. I mean, what we had was something the government made \u2014 basically a bag of gas \u2014 that cut loose, destroyed everything in its path, left thousands of people powerless, but they couldn't get rid of it because we had too much money invested in it, so we had to keep it. That is our government today. We saw it in the blimp. That's exactly what we saw. So look, corporations ought to exercise some responsibility. When CEO income has risen 90 percent above the average worker, when the bottom 90 percent of this country's economy has had stagnant wages for the past 40 years, somebody is taking it in the teeth. And it's not the folks on Wall Street. I'm not anti-Wall Street, but I don't believe the government ought to wear a team jersey, pick winners and losers. +p2770 +aVThe government ought to wear a striped shirt and just make sure the game... +p2771 +aV...is paid \u2014 played fairly. +p2772 +aVNow, everybody else has fudged their time and gone over, so please, don't cut me off too quick, Becky. +p2773 +aVLet me just close it out this way. +p2774 +aVWe need to be focusing on what fixes this country. And I'll tell you one thing that we never talk about \u2014 we haven't talked about it tonight. Why aren't we talking about \u2014 instead of cutting benefits for old people, cutting benefits for sick people \u2014 why don't we say, "let's cure the four big cost-driving diseases... +p2775 +aV..."diabetes, heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer's?" +p2776 +aVIf you do that, you don't just change the economy, you transform the lives of millions of hurting Americans. +p2777 +aVGosh, I'd love for us to talk about something like that. Thank you. +p2778 +aVYou know, of the few questions I've got, the last one I need is to give him some more time. I love Donald Trump. He is a good man. I'm wearing a Trump tie tonight. Get over that one, OK? [ +p2779 +aVI don't know. [ +p2780 +aVI have no idea. +p2781 +aVYou're welcome. Let me tell you, Donald Trump would be a president every day of the week and twice on Sunday, rather than Hillary. I've spent a lifetime in politics fighting the Clinton machine. You want to talk about what we're going to be up against next year? I'm the only guy on this stage \u2014 you know, everybody has an "only guy" \u2014 "I'm the only guy this; I'm the only guy that." Well, let me tell you one thing that I am the only guy: The only guy that has consistently fought the Clinton machine every election I was ever in over the past 26 years. And not only did I fight them, but I beat them. Somebody says "I'm a fighter." Well, I want to know, did you win? Well, I did. And not only did I fight them and win, I lived to tell about it and I'm standing on this stage tonight as evidence of that. And I think that ought to be worth something. +p2782 +aVWell, and specifically to Medicare, Becky, because 85 percent of the cost of Medicare is chronic disease. The fact is if we don't address what's costing so much, we can't throw enough money at this. And it's why I've continued to focus on the fact that we need to declare war on the four big cost drivers because 80 percent of all medical costs in this country are chronic disease. We don't have a health care crisis in America, we have a health crisis. And until we deal with the health of Americans and do what we did with polio \u2014 when I was a little kid, we eradicated it. You know how much money we spent on polio last year in America? We didn't spend any. We've saved billions of dollars. You want to fix Medicare? Focus on the diseases that are costing us the trillions of dollars. Alzheimers, diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Eradicate those and you fix Medicare and you've fixed America, its economy and you've made people's lives a heck of a lot better. +p2783 +aVYou know, I know to a lot of people in the media, this is just a great big game, and we're the players. And, we come out here, and we do our thing. And, sometimes we're held up in contempt by people who write columns, but, I guarantee you to every person on this stage there's something deep inside of us that would cause us to give up our livelihoods and step out on this stage and fight for the people of America. I've got five grandkids. I do not want to walk my five grandkids through the charred remains of a once great country called America, and say, "Here you go, $20 trillion dollars of debt. Good luck making something out of this mess." And, for those of us who are serious enough to run for president, think long and hard why we're here, and hopefully you'll know we're not here for ourselves. We honest to god are here to get this country back on track. I know this, I certainly am. +p2784 +aV...Thank you. +p2785 +aVI'm Mike Huckabee. I'm delighted to be on this stage with some remarkable fellow Republicans. None of us are a self-professed socialist. None of us on this state are under investigation by the FBI because we destroyed government records, or because we leaked secrets. I know that there are some in the Wall-Street-to-Washington axis of power who speak of all of us contemptuously. But I'm here to say that I think we are, in fact, the A team. We have some remarkable people, and, in fact, not only are we the A team; we even have our own Mr. T, who doesn't mind saying about others, "you're a fool." And I'm delighted to be here with all of these guys, and would put any of them in an administration that I led. Thank you very much. +p2786 +aVI would certainly love to get in on this, because I think the single... +p2787 +aVI've been patiently waiting, and I'm going to just say this about Iran. +p2788 +aVBecause I think it is incredibly important. This is really about the survival of Western civilization. This is not just a little conflict with a Middle Eastern country that we've just now given over $100 billion to, the equivalent in U.S. terms is $5 trillion. This threatens Israel immediately, this threatens the entire Middle East, but it threatens the United States of America. And we can't treat a nuclear Iranian government as if it is just some government that would like to have power. This is a government for 36 years has killed Americans, they kidnapped Americans, they have maimed Americans. They have sponsored terrorist groups, Hamas and Hezbollah, and they threaten the very essence of Western civilization. To give them this agreement, that the president treats like the Magna Carta, but Iranians treat it like it's toilet paper, and we must, simply, make it very clear that the next president, one of us on this stage, will absolutely not honor that agreement, and will destroy it and will be tough with Iran, because otherwise, we put every person in this world in a very dangerous place. +p2789 +aVNo, I don't think he's on the wrong side of such an issue. Jeb is a friend. I'm not up here to fight with Jeb or to fight with anybody else. But I am here to fight for somebody who is a county clerk elected under the Kentucky constitution that 75 percent of the people of that state had voted for that said that marriage was between a man and a woman. The Supreme Court in a very, very divided decision decided out of thin air that they were just going to redefine marriage. It's a decision that the other justices in dissent said they didn't have and there wasn't a constitutional shred of capacity for them to do it. I thought that everybody here passed ninth-grade civics. The courts cannot legislate. That's what Roberts said. But heck, it's what we learned in civics. The courts can't make a law. They can interpret one. They can review one. They can't implement it. They can't force it. But here's what happened: Because the courts just decided that something was going to be and people relinquished it and the other two branches of government sat by silently \u2014 I thought we had three branches of government, they were all equal to each other, we have separation of powers, and we have checks and balances. If the court can just make a decision and we just all surrender to it, we have what Jefferson said was judicial tyranny. The reason that this is a real issue that we need to think about... +p2790 +aVNo, no. Let me finish this one thought, Jake. I haven't gotten that much time, so I'm going to take just what little I can here. We made accommodation to the Fort Hood shooter to let him grow a beard. We made accommodations to the detainees at Gitmo \u2014 I've been to Gitmo, and I've seen the accommodations that we made to the Muslim detainees who killed Americans. You're telling me that you cannot make an accommodation for an elected Democrat county clerk from Rowan County, Kentucky? What else is it other than the criminalization of her faith and the exaltation of the faith of everyone else who might be a Fort Hood shooter or a detainee at Gitmo? +p2791 +aVI have a different idea. I think we ought to get rid of all the taxes on people who produce. Why should we penalize productivity? And it's why I'm an unabashed supporter of the "fair tax," which would be a tax on our consumption, rather than a tax on our productivity. In other words, you're not going to tax anybody for what they earn, whether it's worker whose working by the hour or whether it's a hedge fund manager. If they can produce something and bring capital and labor to create jobs, we need some jobs. And I think the "fair tax" makes more sense. Now, Jake, I've been listening to everybody on the stage and there is a lot of back and forth about I'm the only one who has done this, the only one who has done that, I've done great things. We've all done great things or we wouldn't be on this stage. But it occurs to me as we're sitting here in the Reagan Library that most of us would like to pay tribute to a guy who, when he got elected, didn't get elected telling everybody how great he was. He got elected telling everybody how great the American people were. And he empowered them to live their dreams, which is what I'd love to see us do by no longer penalizing the people who are out there working because they are taking a gut punch right now. +p2792 +aV...You don't want me operating on you, I assure you. +p2793 +aVJust today \u2014 just today, there was a new report that 50 different intelligence analysts have said that what they sent up the ladder was doctored by senior officials, so that they could give some happy talk to the situation that we face. I love the idea of a good intellectual capacity to deal with our enemies, but the fact is, if you don't have good intelligence that is reliable and honest, you won't have good intelligence and you cannot make good decisions. The next president is primarily elected not just to know things, but to know what to do with the things that he knows. And the most dangerous person in any room is the person who doesn't know what he doesn't know. +p2794 +aVAnd the reason Barack Obama has been dangerous to this country and we better elect someone who had some executive experience, is because we cannot afford another eight years having a person in the office who doesn't know what he does not know. +p2795 +aVYou better believe I will, because I'm tired of liberals always having a litmus test and conservatives are supposed to pretend we don't. Well let me tell you what mine would be. Number one, I'd ask do you think that the unborn child is a human being or is it just a blob of tissue? I'd want to know the answer to that. I'd want to know do you believe in the First Amendment, do you believe that religious liberty is the fundamental liberty around which all the other freedoms of this country are based? And I'd want to know do you really believe in the Second Amendment, do you believe that we have an individual right to bear arms to protect ourselves and our family and to protect our country? And do you believe in the Fifth and the 14th Amendment? Do you believe that a person, before they're deprived of life and liberty, should in fact have due process and equal protection under the law? Because if you do, you're going to do more than defund Planned Parenthood. +p2796 +aVOne final thing. I'd make darn sure that we absolutely believe the 10th Amendment. Every governor on this stage would share this much with you. Every one of us \u2014 our biggest fight wasn't always with the legislature or even with the Democrats. My gosh, half the time, it was with the federal government who apparently never understood \u2014 +p2797 +aV\u2014 that if it's not reserved in the Constitution, then the 10th Amendment says it's left to the states. But somebody forgot to send a memo to Washington. +p2798 +aVJake? Jake? +p2799 +aVI think we need to remember that there are maybe some controversies about autism, but there is no controversy about the things that are really driving the medical costs in this country. And I would really believe that the next president ought to declare a war on cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer's, because those are the four things that are causing the greatest level of cost. John Kennedy said, "we'll go to the moon in a decade and bring a man back," and we did it. I grew up in the '50s. I remember the polio vaccine. We saved billions of dollars since that time, because we haven't had to treat for polio. Why doesn't this country focus on cures rather than treatment? Why don't we put a definitive focus scientifically on finding the cure for cancer, for heart disease, for diabetes and for Alzheimer's, a disease alone that will cost us \u2014 +p2800 +aV$1.1 trillion by the year 2050. We change the economy and the country. +p2801 +aVThat's an easy one. I'd put my wife on there. I've been married to her 41 years. She's fought cancer and lived through it. She's raised three kids, five great grandkids, and she's put up with me. I mean, who else could possibly be on that money other than my wife. And that way, she could spend her own money with her face. +p2802 +aVI'd go with Duck Hunter. +p2803 +aVAt the end of my presidency I would like to believe that the world would be a safe place, and there wouldn't be the threats. not only to the U.S., but to Israel and our allies, because we would have the most incredible well-trained, well-equipped, well- prepared military in the history of mankind. And they would know that the commander-in-chief would never send them to a mission without all the resources necessary, but people wouldn't bully us anymore. Because they would know that that would be an invitation to their destruction. Domestically, we would be operating under a tax system that eliminated the IRS. People wouldn't be punished for their work, and for what they produced. And life would be really deemed precious. Abortion would be no more. It would be as much of a scourge in our past as slavery is. And we would have a peaceful country, where people respected each other and people respected law enforcement. And we would focus on cures. And we would make this country not only safe from our enemies without, but safe from the enemies within. And it would be a good place to raise our kids and our grandkids. +p2804 +aVChris, I disagree with the idea that the real issue is a constitutional amendment. That's a long and difficult process. I've actually taken the position that's bolder than that. A lot of people are talking about defunding planned parenthood, as if that's a huge game changer. I think it's time to do something even more bold. I think the next president ought to invoke the Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the constitution now that we clearly know that that baby inside the mother's womb is a person at the moment of conception. The reason we know that it is is because of the DNA schedule that we now have clear scientific evidence on. And, this notion that we just continue to ignore the personhood of the individual is a violation of that unborn child's Fifth and 14th Amendment rights for due process and equal protection under the law. It's time that we recognize the Supreme Court is not the Supreme Being, and we change the policy to be pro-life and protect children instead of rip up their body parts and sell them like they're parts to a Buick. +p2805 +aVNot me. But you're welcome to give me a check, Donald if you'd like. +p2806 +aVIt's not too big to shrink. But the problem is we have a Wall Street-to-Washington axis of power that has controlled the political climate. The donor class feeds the political class who does the dance that the donor class wants. And the result is federal government keeps getting bigger. Every person on this stage who has been a governor will tell that you the biggest fight they had was not the other party. Wasn't even the legislature. It was the federal government, who continually put mandates on the states that we had to suck up and pay for. And the fact is there are a lot of things happening at the federal level that are absolutely beyond the jurisdiction of the Constitution. This is power that should be shifted back to the states, whether it's the EPA, there is no role at the federal level for the Department of Education. And I'm still one who says that we can get rid of the Internal Revenue Service if we would pass the FairTax, which is a tax on consumption rather than a tax on people's income, and move power back where the founders believed it should have been all along. +p2807 +aVWell, let's all be reminded, 60 million Americans are on Social Security, 60 million. A third of those people depend on 90% of their income from Social Security. Nobody in this country is on Social Security because they made the decision when they were starting work at 14 that they wanted to trust some of their money with the government. The government took it out of their check whether they wanted them to or not. And, if person goes to 65, they're going to spend 51 years with the government reaching into their pocket at every paycheck. Now, here's the point, whose fault is it that the system is screwed up? Is it the recipients, or is it the government? And, if Congress wants to mess with the retirement program, why don't we let them start by changing their retirement program, and not have one, instead of talking about getting rid of Social Security and Medicare that was robbed $700 billion dollars to pay for Obamacare. It's always that the government figures that they can do this off the backs of people, many of whom are poor, and depend on that money, and I just think it's fundamentally lying to the people and stealing from them, and we shouldn't be doing it. +p2808 +aVWell, you ask about how we fund it. One of the reasons that Social Security is in so much trouble is that the only funding stream comes from people who get a wage. The people who get wages is declining dramatically. Most of the income in this country is made by people at the top who get dividends and -- and capital gains. The FairTax transforms the process by which we fund Social Security and Medicare because the money paid in consumption is paid by everybody, including illegals, prostitutes, pimps, drug dealers, all the people that are freeloading off the system now. That's why it ought to be a transformed system. +p2809 +aVRonald Reagan said "trust, but verify." President Obama is "trust, but vilify." He trusts our enemies and vilifies everyone who disagrees with him. And the reason we disagree with him has nothing to do with party. +p2810 +aVIt has to do with the incredibly dangerous place that this world is gonna be as a result of a deal in which we got nothing. We didn't even get four hostages out. We got nothing, and Iran gets everything they want. We said we would have anywhere, anytime negotiations and inspections, we gave that up. We said that we would make sure that they didn't have any nuclear capacity, we gave that up. The president can't tell us what we got. I'll tell you what the world got. The world has a burgeoning nuclear power that didn't, as the Soviets, say "we might defend ourselves in a war." What the Iranians have said is, "we will wipe Israel off the face of the map, and we will bring death to America." When someone points a gun at your head and loads it, by God, you ought to take them seriously, and we need to take that seriously. +p2811 +aVThe military is not a social experiment. The purpose of the military is kill people and break things. It's not to transform the culture by trying out some ideas that some people think would make us a different country and more diverse. The purpose is to protect America. I'm not sure how paying for transgender surgery for soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines makes our country safer. We've reduced the military by 25 percent... ... under President Obama. The disaster is that we've forgotten why we have a military. The purpose of it is to make sure that we protect every American, wherever that American is, and if an American is calling out for help, whether it's in Benghazi or at the border, then we ought to be able to answer it. We've not done that because we've decimated our military. We're flying B-52s. The most recent one that was put in service was November of 1962. A lot of the B-52s we're flying, we've only got 44 that are in service combat ready, and the fact is, most of them are older than me. And that's pretty scary. +p2812 +aVIt seems like this election has been a whole lot about a person who's very high in the polls, that doesn't have a clue about how to govern. A person who has been filled with scandals, and who could not lead, and, of course, I'm talking about Hillary Clinton. I think America... +p2813 +aV...is in trouble, but it's not beyond repair. But it's going to take leadership who sees the greatness of this country, and who believes that once again we can be one nation, under God. I'll be my best to do that, and thank you for your support. +p2814 +aVI don't think it's that the message isn't working, I think it's the message isn't getting out because the message that I have this time, Bill, it's exactly what I said eight years ago. I talked about people who are standing on their feet on factory floors, people who lift heavy things, who sweat through their clothes, they're getting gut punched. They are not having a fair shake in this economy. I talked about that eight years ago, and I'm talking about it now. I talked about the importance of preserving life, of not just saying we're going to defund Planned Parenthood, but let's do something bolder. Let's get rid of abortion once and for all by applying the Fifth, and Fourteenth amendment to every person from conception because that means that we recognize that no person can be deprived of life or liberty unless they have due process. And, that's not happening in our country. And, I believe, and continue to practice that we need the Fair Tax to revive our economy. To make it so that people are able to be rewarded for their work rather than punished for it. +p2815 +aVYou know, I -- I would leave that to other people. I'm not going to get into an argument with all the New Yorkers, because there's a lot of them. This much I will tell you. I wish that some of those New Yorkers had funded as much of my campaign as they did the corporately funded candidates, but they didn't. And to be honest with you, when I say I'm -- wish they had, I'm glad they didn't. I'm not a New York-funded campaign. I'm not bankrolled by the corporatists, I'm not bankrolled by Goldman Sachs and Citibank and AIG and all the big brokers -- brokerage houses and the billionaires. I'm sponsored by people like Thomas, a part-time Uber driver in Pennsylvania who sent me $25 this week. He's between jobs. He's driving an Uber car. But he believed in what I'm talking about enough that, even on a limited, part-time income, he sent me $25 to help in my campaign. I'll stand with the Thomases of the world any day. I'll leave all the discussion of the big financiers to other candidates. But there's only a few of us in the entire Republican process who are not corporately funded by the same group. And let me just finish by saying, you want to know why things never change depending on whether Democrats or Republicans are in power, and why Republicans in Iowa and the rest of the country are so frustrated? The reason is, is because if you follow the money, the same folks who finance the Democrats finance the Republicans, and no matter what the speeches and the ads, they get the same results. If you want a different result, I'm available. +p2816 +aVWell, I don't trust him. I've never said I trusted him. But if somebody is willing to take a shot at the people we are taking shots at, I'm more than willing to let them use their own bullets to do it. But let's be very clear about how we take out +p2817 +aVNo, I don't think that it's impossible, but we're not going to do it by doing the same things we've been doing for all these many years. And, we've lost five million manufacturing jobs just since the year 2000. The other day I was in Newton, Iowa. It used to be a vibrant place where Maytag washers and dryers were built. Went out of business in 2007, all those shops went to Mexico. All those people lost their jobs. There was a guy in my forum that day, he lost his job. He still has never found an employment that got anywhere near the job that he had. Let me ask you, how many people do you think living around the Beltway know a guy like that? Care about a guy like that? Not many. And, that's because they're six of the ten richest counties in America that surround Washington D.C. People who live in the bubbles of the high finance world of New York, the government world of Washington, the entertainment world of Hollywood, don't have a clue about how hard people out here in Iowa are working every single day. And, I believe one of the values of campaigning in Iowa, you can't win unless you go out and talk to farmers and housewives -- and welders, and unemployed truck drivers, and I hate... ... That a president could become president who never met people who have to struggle to make a living and put food on the table. +p2818 +aVA lot of Americans are angry. And I think it's important to understand why they are mad. They are mad because they see a government that continues to do fine. They see people at the top. They are doing fine. But that person you asked Rick about a moment ago, that lady that's making 10,000 bucks a year, do you know what our poverty programs do to people? They keep them in poverty. They keep them in poverty because we have these arbitrary thresholds... ... that mean that if you go to work, you lose all the benefits for your kids, Medicaid, WIC, Section 8 housing, food stamps, and then your kids go hungry. I know a little about poverty. My sister is here tonight. Now both of us could tell you we did not grow up rich. My mother grew up in a house, oldest of seven kids. She had lived in a house that didn't have floors. Just dirt. No electricity. No running water. I resent it when people say, oh, people are poor because they want to be. No, they are not. Nobody wants to be poor. And that's a stupid, foolish thing, mean thing to say. People are poor because they don't know how to get out of the hole. And government shouldn't push them back in the hole which is what our policies do when they punish people who want to go to work and don't let them out. We can fix that, but it takes some leadership to get it done. +p2819 +aVWell, I didn't have a tax and spend approach. You got to understand where the Club for Growth comes from, a bunch of rich guys sitting around writing checks to go after people they don't like. And, they don't like me sometimes because I was fighting for the guys at the bottom, not just the guys at the top. I cut 94 taxes in a state that had never had a general major tax decrease in its history. I also was able to see per capita income growth in my state go up by 50%. I think that's a pretty darn good record. Look at the overall record and it was fine. But, it's not about stats from when I was governor. Look, one of the reasons I support the Fairtax is because it's the one thing, Bill, that would truly empower people at the bottom of the economy by no longer punishing them for their work. If a guy works an hourly job, and he works eight hours, gets paid for it, terrific. But, if he works 16 hours, he doesn't get a double paycheck because he's going to be bumped up into a new tax bracket, and the government will get more of his second shift than he will. So, we've actually punished him for being industrious, hardworking, and that is a foolish economic policy... ... that's hurting Americans about as much as anything. +p2820 +aVI honestly don't understand how anybody with IQ above plant life would honestly think... ... that we would be better off if we let the government have all of the private property and that the government would dole out what they thought we should have. I'm not "feeling the Bern," Bill. I'm not feeling it. And when Bernie Sanders promises these kids free college, I'm telling them, because I get asked, what about free college? I said, look, if we give you free college when you are 20, pal, you are going to be paying for it when you are 30, when you are 40, and when you are 50. There is no such thing as the government giving you anything. They will definitely make a mess of it. And I just think there are a lot of people who have never understood the basic understanding of economics, that you do not make people rich by tearing down those who are you providing jobs, and you don't help poor people by taking away. You give them jobs. Let them work. Let them earn. And then you let them keep the money that they earned. That's how we build a great economy. +p2821 +aVWell, this week there was a little dust up about a video we put together with the music of Adele, so I thought it'd be appropriate for me to begin tonight by saying, "Hello, Iowa. It's me." +p2822 +aVAnd, you know me. You gave me the largest number of votes in the history of the Iowa caucus eight years ago, and I think you did it because you trusted me, you believed that I had your best interest at heart. When I was governor I had a little plaque in my office in the Governor's office, and it simply said this. Come, let us reason together. I believe the next President needs to put that plaque in the oval office, and needs to lead this country by saying, "Come, let us reason together." God bless you, and thank you for your support. +p2823 +aVI wish I saw the country in the same place that the president presented it to be the other night in the State of the Union. He talked about how great the economy was doing. And I guess for the people he hangs out with, it's probably doing great. But the president should've stood in the line at the layaway counter at Walmart just before Christmas. He would have heard a very different story about the economy of America. I wish I could introduce him the lady who cleans the building where our campaign headquarters is located in Little Rock. Her name is Kathleen. She works all day at a local hospital cleaning, and then she goes to the building where a bank, and our headquarters, and other offices are she spends another seven hours. She works 15 hours a day. I guarantee you she's not working 15 hours a day because she loves scrubbing toilets, and sweeping floors. She's working that many hours because that's what it takes for her to make it work. And, she's not alone. There are people all over this country who are working like that. Many of them working two jobs \u2014 and they used to have one job, and that would take care of them. But, because of wage stagnation, which we've had for 40 years, because the fact that they're punished for working harder if they work that many hours. The government gets more of their second shift than they do. And, as a result there are a lot of people who are hurting today. I wish the President knew more of them. He might make a change in the economy and the way he's managing it. +p2824 +aVLet me put that in context. When I went to Afghanistan, I saw a land that looked like the land of the Flintstones. It was desolate. It was barren. It was primitive. And it's been that way for thousands of years. They want to take the world back to be just like that. We don't. We need to make a clear goal as to why we want to be anywhere in the Middle East, and I'll tell you why we want to be and need to be, is to destroy radical Islam and everything that threatens civilization. It's not just a threat......to Israel or to America, it's a threat to every civilized person on this Earth. And we need to be equipping not only the Kurds in Iraq, we need to be making sure that those who are willing to fight radical Muslims will do it, but we need to never ever spend a drop of American blood unless there is a clearly defined goal and we can't make sure we win unless we have a military that's the strongest in the history of mankind. We've got to rebuild our navy. It's the smallest navy we've had since 1915, when my grandfather got on a destroyer in World War I when he was in the U.S. Navy. We've got young men in Air Force B-52s, one in particular, he's flying a B-52 that his father flew in the '80s and his grandfather flew in the '50s. Those planes are older than me. We've got to have a military that the world is afraid of, use it sparingly, but when we do, the whole world will know that America is on their tail and they will be on their tail on the ground, never ever to rise up again. +p2825 +aVOnly if there is a concerted effort to destroy the advance of radical Islamists who are against us. As far as what are we going to make it look like. Frankly, I don't know what we can make it look like. You can't create for other people a desire for freedom and democracy. And frankly, that is not the role of the United States. The role of the United States military is not to build schools, it is not to build bridges, it is not to go around and pass out food packets. It is to kill and destroy our enemy and make America safe and that is the purpose we should be there if we're going to be there. +p2826 +aV Yes, I did. +p2827 +aVWell, why don't we start by making sure the Justice Department never does an idiotic program like Fast and Furious where the U.S. Government put guns......in the hands of Mexican drug lords......and end up killing one of our border agents. You know, they want to talk about law abiding citizens, I just find it amazing the President keeps saying the gun show loophole. There is no gun show loophole. I promise you I've been to more gun shows than President Obama. +p2828 +aVAnd, I've bought more weapons at them, and you fill out forms. The President also says things that it's easier to get a gun now than it is to grow trees. Again, I purchase guns, and I can assure you that it is much more difficult to purchase a firearm than it is to get the ingredients of a salad at the supermarket. What the President keeps pushing are ideas that have never worked. Ideas that would not have stopped San Bernadino, Sandy Hook, Aurora, and at some point you wonder if you keep retrying things that don't work, maybe we should just see if we could resell all those used lottery tickets that didn't work real well because that's the logic of just keep doing the same thing, but something that has failed. Of course, we want to stop gun violence, but the one common thing that has happened in most mass shootings is that they happened in gun- free zones where people who would have been law abiding citizens, who could have stood up and at least tried to stop it and we're not allowed to under the law. +p2829 +aVWell, we shouldn't be and that's one of the reasons that I think there a lot of voices in our country who are saying it's time to relook at the visa program. The European Union is a failure, it's not allowed for even the economic goals that they were trying to achieve. But, what we're not seeing is that it's making Europe less safe, and it's proven not to be exactly what they all thought it was going to be. Our first and foremost responsibility in this country, and the first responsibility of the President of the United States is protect America, and protect Americans. We have a President who seems to be more interested in protecting the reputation and image of Islam than he is protecting us. And, I want to be very clear......that this President. Makes comments like he did the other night, that we have to be so careful because we don't want to offend Muslims. He needs to read his own FBI crime stats from last year which would show him that of the hate crimes in the country, over 5,500, about 1,100 were religious hate crimes. And, of those, 58% were directed toward Jews. Only 16% directed toward Muslims. Maybe what the President should have talked about the other night is how we ought to be more careful in the anti-semitic comments that are going toward American Jews than toward Muslims because by three times as many......they're being targeted for religious hate crime. +p2830 +aVIt does not shut down international commerce, but it may slow it down. And, you don't want to slowdown commerce that is making us safer. It's worth it. This lady who came and joined with the San Bernardino killer had passed three background checks, and that's why a lot of Americans didn't buy it when the President said we'll bring in Syrian refugees, but don't worry we'll check them out. We have a lot of confidence in a president who told us that we could keep our doctor, we could keep our health insurance, and cost us less, and now the latest is if you like your gun you can keep it too, and frankly, we don't buy it. We don't believe it. He's lost his credibility, and his inept... ...inability to work with Congress and pass legislation has led him to do what I never even imagined doing as a governor, and that's just going and doing it my own way. That's why we elect a president, is to lead, is to be able to shepherd things through. And if I can do it with a 90 percent Democrat legislature in Arkansas, there is no excuse for any president not being able to lead in Washington if he knows what the heck he is doing when he gets there. +p2831 +aVWell, first of all, let's just remember that Social Security is not the government's money, it belongs to the people who had it taken out of their checks involuntarily their entire working lives. For the government to say, well it is fault of working people that we have a Social Security problem, no. It is the fault of a government that used those people's money for something other than protecting those people's accounts. So let's not blame them and punish them. But here is a fact, and I sometimes hear Republicans say well, we're going to have to cut this and extend the age. You know what I think a lot of times when I hear people say, well, let's make people work to their 70. That sounds great for white-collar people who sat at a desk most of their lives. You ever talk to somebody that stood on concrete floor for the first 40 years of their working life? Do you think they can stand another five years or 10 years, many of them will retired virtually crippled because they worked hard. And we're going to punish them some more? I don't think so. Here's the fact. Four percent economic growth, we fully fund Social Security and Medicare. Our problem is not that Social Security is just too generous to seniors. It isn't. Our problem is that our politicians have not created the kind of policies that would bring economic growth. And I still support strongly that we get rid of the 77,000 pages of the monstrous tax code......pass the fair tax, supercharge this economy with the rocket fuel that happens with the consumption tax and we don't have to cut Social Security to any senior who has worked their lifetime for it. +p2832 +aVLet me go back to the reason so many people are having a hard time getting ahead. The tax system punishes them. Think about this. If you work really hard and you start moving up the economic ladder, you get bumped into a different tax bracket. So the government thinks it deserves more of your hard work than you do. And it's one of the reasons that no matter how many different reforms you have to a tax on people's productivity, you're still taxing their work, their savings. You're taxing their capital gains, inheritance, dividends, you're taxing everything that produces something. And it's way I really believe it's time to do something bold, not something minute. This is no time for a tap of the hammer, a twist of the screwdriver. It's time for something big. That's why the fair tax transforms our economy. And we don't punish workers. It's the only way we're going to get middle class people moving ahead again, because the harder they work, the more they keep. No payroll tax deducted from their checks. They get their entire paycheck. And, one of the most important parts, it's built on the common sense with which we raised our kids, and trained dogs. You reward behavior you want more of. And, you punish behavior you want less of. That's how I raise kids, it's how I trained our dogs, and folks, it's not that difficult. We now punish the behavior we say we want more of by taxing it, and we reward the behavior that we say we want less of, so if you make a good investment, we punish you with a tax. If you make a bad investment you can write that off and the rest of the taxpayers will help subsidize you, and bail you out. +p2833 +aVWell, Rick, I'm pretty sure I did also fight the Clinton machine because every election I was ever in in Arkansas, I assure you, they were behind it, helping finance and campaign for every opponent. And I share with you the understanding that it's going to be a tough battle. But I spent the first half of my adult life in the private and nonprofit sector, raising a family, understanding how tough it is for people to make it. And that first half of my life is what led me to believe that America needs a different kind of leadership, not people who spent their whole life running from one office to the next, and living off the government dime. And I got involved because I got sick of what I saw. I also believe that there's got to be some leadership that not only addresses the monetary and military issues of this country, but the moral issues of this country. At the end of every political speech, most of us say, God bless America. But how can he do that when we continue to slaughter 4,000 babies a day? And I want to be the president that treats every person, including the unborn, as a person. And protect them under the 5th and 14th amendments of the constitution. I close with this word from a gentleman in East Texas named Butel Lucre. He's 100 years old and I met him down in East Texas. And he said this to me. "I sure wish, Mike, we had the days when The Ten Commandments were in all of our capitals and in every school, and we prayed again. You know, he may be 100 years old, but I believe some of those old ideas to get this country back where we unapologetically get on our knees before we get on our feet might be the best solutions we've ever sought as a country. And I ask for your support and your vote. Thank you. +p2834 +aVWolf, I want to say thanks to you and CNN for giving us the opportunity especially to focus on national security issues at a time when Americans are not only angry \u2014 angry at their government that they feel like has failed them, been indifferent to them, cost them their livelihoods \u2014 but they're in addition to angry, they're just plain scared. They're scared when they thing that they go to a Christmas party and get shot at by somebody who sat and had lunch with them an hour earlier. They're scared when they realize that our government, who promises that it can vet people and is begging us to approve bringing 10,000 Syrian refugees into this country, can't even catch somebody after a third background check, who had posted things on social media clearly indicating she wanted to kill Americans. And we couldn't catch that. We've lost confidence in our government. And when Americans lose confidence in their government, we're in a dangerous place. We're in danger because we have an enemy that is out to kill us, and we have a government that we don't trust any more. This election is about going back to having a government we can trust with leaders who have the courage and conviction to actually lead and not follow. +p2835 +aVWell, let me begin by saying I'm not that afraid of Donald Trump. And, in the sense that I'd rather him be President than I had Hillary be president any day. And so if he becomes president, I think he will do a whole lot more to protect us than Hillary will. And a whole lot more than Barack Obama has done in his eight years. So I want to make it very clear that when I was making that comment, I was simply speaking that I'm not sure that you can have a religious test per se. And it's very impractical because if somebody comes to our borders and says I'd like to come in. They say are you a Muslim? Well, they're \u2014 if they're going to come in here to kill us, they're not gonna say yeah, and I'm coming to kill you. They're going to lie about it. Anybody that will kill you, for God's sake, will lie to you. So that's why I say it's impractical. But what he has done, and I don't think a lot of people understand, he has touched a nerve because people are angry and afraid that we are facing an enemy that this administration refuses to acknowledge, refuses to want to go fight. And our only answer is to go after +p2836 +aVNo. I'm not taking it away, I just want to make sure that everything we use is going to be effective. We're spending billions of dollars, let's make sure it's effective. Let's use every tool, but let's also check out the Facebook posts, let's look at Twitter accounts. My gosh, we were told we couldn't do it because it might invade somebody's privacy. This lady who came over here and shot up San Bernardino was posting things on Facebook, yet, we were restricted from looking. Every college kid who goes to a frat party gets drunk and puts his picture on Facebook is going to have a potential employer looking at that photo before he gets hired. Why should we have more attention? I mean, for heaven's sake, towards some college kid who wants to one day ten years from to get a job, then we're going after who wants to come in with a semi automatic weapon or a pipe bomb and blow up a bunch of Americans. This is what I think a lot of Americans are frustrated with, it's the duplicity of our policy that is illogical and irrational. Our goal ought to be, "protect Americans and put Americans first not last," which is what I think this administration has done. +p2837 +aVNo, it does not violate their First Amendment rights to have someone go and listen to the sermons. You can go to any church in America, it's a public place, you can listen, and \u2014 you know, if you go to my church, you'll probably get a real blessing. Heck, it'll be a wonderful experience. You go to some people's church, you may go to sleep, I don't know what happens in every church, but, the point is that these are public places, and folks are invited to come. So, if it's a public place, and people are invited to come, how does it violate anybody's First Amendment rights that somebody shows up because they might want to just listen in and see is there something that is a little nefarious? And, if there is, then you take the second step of getting a search warrant, you do whatever you have to do. That's all protected under the constitution. So, Huge, I hear people act like there's something that is terrible about going and sitting in and listening to the sermons of a mosque. If Islam is as wonderful, and peaceful as its adherents say, shouldn't they be begging us to all come in and listen to these peaceful sermons? Shouldn't they be begging us all to come, and listen, and bring the FBI so we'd all want to convert to Islam? +p2838 +aVI don't disagree. I don't disagree with anything that the Senator just said because that's exactly right. But, I just want to go back to the point that when people say we can't go into the mosque, we can't listen. That's utter nonsense. Of course we can. And, if we can't, if there's something so secretive going on in there that somebody isn't allowed to go and hear it, maybe we do need for sure to send somebody in there and gather the intelligence. And, that's all to the world I'm saying, I think it stands to be true. +p2839 +aVThe way we defeat them ideologically is that we remind people that what their intent is is to kill us, and that it is our intent to use every means possible to get to them before they get to us. We are pretending that this is a war that is not that significant. We have a president who called it the JV team, said we had contained it. Nine hours after he said we contained it, there was a massacre in Paris. We've got to make it so untenable for somebody to join +p2840 +aVWolf, it may be sufficient, but rather than put a number \u2014 and I'm comfortable that we say 10,000, 20,000 \u2014 look, I think we make a mistake when we start telling the enemy what our limitations are. I think we make a huge mistake when we say we're gonna do up to this. I think what we say is, we're gonna do whatever it takes. If it's 10,000, if it's 100,000, if it's 3,000 sorties a day, if it's 5,000 sorties a day. We never tell our enemy what our limitations are, what we are willing and what we're unwilling to do. And that's one of the mistakes I believe that we're making militarily. But the biggest mistake we've made militarily is letting Barack Obama cut our defense forces by 25 percent and leaving us at the least prepared position we've been in since before World War II. We have to get our Military rebuilt from the ground up. And all over America I hear young people say, would you tell me what you're going to do? Would you give me free college? Will you make sure that I can have medical marijuana? You know what we ought to tell young people? We aren't going to give you anything. We're give you the opportunity to get off your butt and go serve your country and secure your freedom. Because if you don't, nobody else is. +p2841 +aVI'd sure want them to think we would. And I'd want to make sure that we did everything we could. But we can't do it with our current Military strength. We've got to build up and have the most robust, well trained, well equipped, well prepared and ample Military force in the history of the world because we're not fighting just a known enemy in one place. We're fighting people all over the world who can go anywhere. And the reason I say that is because if we tried to win this war on the cheap or we try to do it with the, "light footprint," we're making a huge mistake. When all of us were in grade school, one thing we all knew, the bully never picked on the kid except for the weak one. When all of us were in grade school, one thing we all knew, the bully never picked on the kid, except for the weak one. He never picked on the kid he knew, he'd whip him. We need to make to sure that we have the kind of military that +p2842 +aVWell, I want to be real clear, I don't trust Putin, I don't trust Assad. I'm not saying that I would endorse him for his reelection bid. The man is a tyrant, he's killed lots of people, but he wasn't killing Americans. And, the thing that I'm concerned about is that we have seen a complete destabilization, not only of Syria, but we've seen it in Yemen, that the President pronouncing great shape just before it collapsed. +p2843 +aVWell what we have done, and we created an impossible atmosphere. This administration has put more pressure on Israel to stop building bedrooms in Judea and Samaria than they've put on Iranians to stop building a nuclear bomb. And I'm just simply pointing out the obvious, that we need to recognize who our friends are, who our enemies are... +p2844 +aV... but I'm convinced... +p2845 +aVWell, first of all, it would be the Iranians. I would have never entered into this deal. I don't know why on God's earth that the senators gave it so that it was easier for Obama to have the agreement than it would be to make it a treaty. +p2846 +aVI would make sure that there was economic pressure put on them. Why not? Why should we fund every single battle against radical Islam? Why should we stand back and watch Israel get targeted, the United States get targeted and we watch with people with their hands in their pocket, and their hands in our pocket because we're getting them a lot of money. And let's say your hands can be in your pocket, you can stand still, but your hands aren't going to be in our pockets anymore. We're not going to give you another dime unless you engage the battle with us. We are not sending our sons and daughters, and grandsons and granddaughters to war to fight for your interest. You either get in with us or be on your own. But we're not gonna fight the battle for you. +p2847 +aVI wouldn't reinstate a draft, but, I think it's noteworthy that we are fighting all the battles we have with less than one percent of the American population. +p2848 +aVI wouldn't reinstate a draft, but, I think it's noteworthy that we are fighting all the battles we have with less than one percent of the American population. We have the lowest level of percentage of population participating in the military than ever. And they're over-deployed, they're over used, especially among our reserves and Guard troops. Any governor will tell you. +p2849 +aVWell, I would say that, if you want a college education, let's go back and reinstate the full-blown G.I. bill. You give something to your country; your country gives something back to you. We need to ask young people to step up and buy their own freedom because there's not going to be enough people left at less than one percent. And as my good friend Ken Howard, former Dean of the War College, has often said, we're fighting all the wars with other people's kids. And that's one of the things that's making us much less safe, is because we don't have enough Americans truly invested in the process of defeating our enemies. Therefore, I do think without a draft we do need to ask people to recognize we are at war. +p2850 +aVI'm not belittling their sacrifice, Lindsey, but I'm just making note that on the part of Americans we have sent National Guard troops over for an 18-month em \u2014 18-month deployment. They come back for five, they go back for another 18. We're wearing these guys out. They agreed to be citizen soldiers. We turned them into full time soldiers because we've not kept up the pace by recruiting enough people in the military to fully fill these forces, and that's what we need to be doing. +p2851 +aVThe horrors that those families have to go through, if that were my son, my daughter, I'd give my last drop of blood to get them back. You bet I would. Is it a good policy? No. It's a terrible policy because once we do it, we're only going to invite more and more hostages, more and more ransoms, and the diasters gets even worse. But I don't blame any of these families. You know who I blame? I blame a policy in our government that has made it so that families are so desperate that they're willing to pay ransom to terrorists organizations because they don't believe our government will fight the fight for them and they think they're out there on their own. My goodness people, this is America. When did we have to start telling people that you've got to bake your own bread in order to fight the battles? That's what we have a government for, it's what we pay taxes for. And I believe, those families ought to have a better expectation of what this government will do. We should never has sat at the table with the Iranians as long Sayed Abadnini is sitting in an Iranian prison. As long as the Washington Post report is over there. Until the four hostages of America were on an airplane safely out of Tehran. We should've told them, " we won't even walk into the room with you much less sit down and negotiate with you." That's what we ought to be doing. +p2852 +aVWe just need to take a real pause and all the people that coming here and we don't know who they are or what their affiliations are. What George just said is right. We can't take the risk. And why should we take the risk? And if it's such a doggone good idea to bring people here that we really don't know who they are and Obama thinks that we're being un-Christian to not do it, I've got a suggestion. Let's send the first wave of them to Chappaqua, Martha's Vineyard and the upper east side of Manhattan and to the south lawn of the White House where we'll set up a camp. Let's see how that works out. And if they behave wonderfully, that's fine. I want to say, I don't want someone lecturing me about what it means to be a Christian that I should invite a potential terrorist into my backyard. On one hand, the left says separation of church and state. Let's not have any discussion of religion, and then the left wants to tell me what it means to be a Christian. They need to figure out if they know more about being a Christian than I do, then tell me... On one hand, the left says separation of church and state. Let's not have any discussion of religion, and then the left wants to tell me what it means to be a Christian. They need to figure out if they know more about being a Christian than I do \u2014 then tell me. They are no longer going to say separation of church and state, but, we have the most fundamental right above everything else \u2014 is not to protect the reputation of Islam. It is to protect Americans first and foremost. That is our job. +p2853 +aVNo, because he did it unconstitutionally. Twenty-three times he's said he couldn't do it, and then one day he woke up and he found he had a pen in one hand, and a phone in another, and wow. That Constitution didn't mean much anymore. Look, President's can't just do what they want to do. That's the purpose of getting elected and working with other people who got elected, is that our system was designed to function with the power of persuasion, it's really what you elect a president to do. +p2854 +aV...Let me finish, Hugh. You elect him to lead which means that if you think it's a good idea to not punish the children for something their parents did, then you go to the members of Congress and you persuade them. And, you persuade the American people. You don't just jump up and shove it up the nostrils of Congress, and the American people because you think you have a superior intellect, and a superior will, and a superior theology than everybody else. Our system is not a system of tyranny. We don't elect kings, we elect servants. If I'm elected president, I don't consider myself to be elected to be the king of the country, but the servant of the country to work with other people who are elected to get things done that need to be done. +p2855 +aVThe terrorists don't win just because they kill us. The terrorists win when they make us change everything we do in our daily lives and alter our routines. And they're doing that, from getting on a plane to going in a building. And it is high time that we recognize that we have to take them out, not a little bit, but totally, because I want my grandkids to grow up not in fear, but in faith and in freedom. And if you give me the opportunity to be president of the United States, I will fight for your grandkids as much as I will for mine. Thank you and God bless you. +p2856 +aVWell, first of all, Trish, I don't know why we have to move away from manufacturing. The only reason we have is because... ...we have a tax code that has punished manufacturing. I hear a lot of people talk about the plans to simplify the tax code. I've got one better than any of the simplifications, it's called a, "Fair Tax", and it eliminates all of the taxes on our productivity. Here's what would happen. We'd get rid of taxes on people's work, so, we wouldn't punish people for working anymore. Yeah, we've lost five million manufacturing jobs just since the year 2000 \u2014 160,000 manufacturing plants have close in this country, which means a lot of people \u2014 that the governors talking about, he's exactly right. They don't have jobs anymore. And the reason they don't have jobs is because their jobs are in Mexico, they're in China, they're in Indonesia. Bring the jobs back. And with the fair tax, you do that, because you don't tax capital and labor and you bring a real sense of equity to the opportunity so that people will not only make it easier to function, they'll get the manufacturing jobs back. And here's the best part. We don't reduce the IRS, we get rid of the IRS. We completely eliminate them......because the government has no business knowing how much money we make and how we made it. It's none of their business. And that's why I believe that manufacturing is critical. If we can't feed ourselves, fuel ourselves and fight for ourselves, we can't be free. And by the way, fighting for ourselves means manufacturing our own weapons of self-defense. +p2857 +aVWell, Sandra, first of all, let me mention the fact that I think there's a big difference between welfare programs and what some people call entitlements. Namely, Social Security and Medicare. I just want to remind everybody out there who has ever had a paycheck, the government didn't ask you if you wanted them to take money out of your check for Social Security and Medicare. They did that involuntarily. Those are not entitlements and that's not welfare. That's an earned benefit. And by gosh, you paid for it. And if the government screwed it up, you shouldn't have to pay the penalty because of an incompetent government. That's different than the social programs that we've spent $2 trillion on since the War on Poverty began exactly 50 years ago this year. Now the reason we still have so much poverty is because it was never designed to get people out of poverty. It was designed to make sure that there was an industry of poverty, so that the people in the poverty industry would have a lot of jobs. But the people who are poor haven't been benefited. Having grown up poor, I know a little something about it. Nobody who is poor wants to be. That's a nonsense statement and I hear it all the time. Well, poor people ought to work harder. They're working as hard as they can, for gosh sake. But the problem is the system keeps pushing them down because, if they work, then they get punished. They lose all the benefits. When we did welfare reform in the '90s, you know what we did? We said you're not going to lose everything at once. There's not an arbitrary threshold. So as you move up the ladder from work and training, you'll actually always be better off than you were before. That's the American way. +p2858 +aVWell, I'd just like to respond, with all due respect to, to the Governor, to the state just south of me, I would say that a lot of us have cut things. And during the recession of 2001 to 2003, when 91 percent of our state budget was basically three things, educate, medicate and incarcerate, we ended up cutting 11 percent out of the state budget through that recession so we didn't have to go in and raise a bunch of taxes, and there were people who thought we should. So it's just not accurate to say that nobody else up here has ever cut. I believe every governor has probably had to make tough decisions. I'm, I'm guessing my colleague Governor Christie has, as I'm tossing him the ball like Arkansas did to Ol' Miss the other day. +p2859 +aVSandra, before we get too far away, he specifically brought out some things about the record that I need to correct. +p2860 +aVSandra, I've been concerned that this administration has not done anything to help stop the slaughter of Christians. We didn't help the Kurds, we said we would. But, the idea that we're just going to open our doors, and we have no idea who these people are \u2014 what we do know is that only one out of five of the so called, "Syrian Refugees", who went into Europe were actually Syrian. Many of them, we had no idea who they were. They weren't Syrian. Are we going to open the doors so that the +p2861 +aV...I'd like to get that opportunity to go... +p2862 +aVWell, since we're not going to answer the question, let me just remind everybody, tomorrow is Veterans Day. And here's what I would like to remind everybody. The VA has been a disaster in large part because the people in Congress have never bothered to fix it, and this president has certainly not... +p2863 +aVLet me finish, please. I'm going to ask you just this, what would happen if the Congress and the president had to get their health care from the VA? We would fix the problem and we would fix Congress. +p2864 +aVWell, thank you very much. I still want to go back to the fact that if we got rid of all the taxes on our work, got rid of the taxes on our savings, investments, capital gains, and inheritance, and made a zero tax, we'd pay at the point of consumption. Because why should we punish people for their productivity? And the fair tax doesn't punish people for doing well and building the economy. There's $31 trillion parked offshore. What happens if that money comes back to America? You'd think it'd goose the economy? I guarantee you it would. And that's why the fair tax is the best solution we have for economic growth in this country. +p2865 +aVWell, first of all, do you know an American that will just stop spending? I don't. No, that's not going to be the problem. Look, Americans will go to the marketplace with more money they've ever had. For the first time they'll be having their whole paycheck. You see, most people don't understand that when you buy something that is made in America, 22 percent of the cost of it is the embedded tax they never even know they paid. It's why China has beaten the daylights out of us, they can build stuff that we can't because they're not taxing it, when they don't tax capital and labor and we do. They bring something over here, it's automatically cheaper even without the regulatory environment because they're not embedding the taxes, we are. Take the embedded taxes out. Give a person his whole paycheck because every American would no longer have a payroll tax taken out. It means they'd see their real paycheck for the first time. When they go to spend that money, they'll actually have it. And they only pay taxes on the stuff that's new. So a lot of Americans will buy used stuff. Look, here's the point, Americans are not going to quit shopping. Americans are not going to quit buying. But it would be nice if Americans could control how much they paid in tax, rather than having the government reach into their pockets and take it out before they ever had a chance to even see it, much less spend it. And that's why the fair tax makes a heck of a lot more sense than punishing productivity and rewarding irresponsibility. +p2866 +aVWell, my wife's name is Janet and when you say Janet Yelling, I'm very familiar with what you mean. But, look, I think the Fed is in a big trouble because they haven't addressed the number one issue that's hurting Americans and that's the fact that wages for the bottom 90 percent of the economy have been stagnant for 40 years. In the 25 years after World War II, up to 1971, wages grew by 85 percent in this country. People were \u2014 were moving up in the middle class. There was a middle class. That's not happening any more, and in large measure, the Fed has manipulated the dollar so it doesn't have a standard. Tie the dollar to something fixed and if it's not going to be gold, make it the commodity basket. But here's what we've got to do. We absolutely have to get it where the people who go out there and work get something in return. And if the dollar keeps fluctuating, and this is as crazy as \u2014 as is the price of bread, well, the fact is, people can't get ahead then. +p2867 +aVAbsolutely. Absolutely, because what we need to is to make sure that they tie the monetary standard to something that makes sense, rather than to their own whims, because who's getting gut punched? It ain't the people in Wall Street, it's the folks on Main Street. They're the ones who's wages have been stagnant for 40 years. And the average American today has a total savings of 1,000 bucks. One root canal and they're in trouble. And if their car breaks down the same week......they're out of business. +p2868 +aVWell, I think thanking our veterans is a wonderful thing to do, but, they sure appreciate a better paycheck. They'd appreciate the fact that we kept our promises to them. The men and women in uniform put on the uniform of our nation, they went halfway around the world, they face dangers on our behalf, and we promised them if they did that, when they came home we'd take care of their medical care, we'd make is possible for their kids to go to college, and they'd be able to bind to a home. They kept their promises to us. We have not kept our promises to them, and today, less than one percent of Americans go to the military for service. We're fighting wars with other people's kids in large measure because we've not taken seriously the moral, not the monetary, the moral obligation to take care of the veterans and to keep America's promise to the ones who kept their promise to America. +p2869 +aVIn many ways, I feel like I'm the luckiest guy on Earth. I really do. It's a long way from a little brick rent house on second street in Hope, Arkansas to this stage where I'm running for President of the United States. It's not about me, not about these guys \u2014 'ought to be about you, and I've never been the favorite of the people who have the most money. But, I want to be the favorite of the people who still want to believe the American dream can work for them. Today in our office, I got a letter from a third grader in North Dakota, her name is Reese. She sent $6 dollars from her allowance, and said, "I want to help you be president." You know, I'm going to keep standing on this stage, and keep fighting for one reason, because somewhere out there in North Dakota, and all over America, there are kids like Reese who need a president who will never forget where they came from, and I promise I won't. +p2870 +asVCRUZ +p2871 +(lp2872 +VThank you, Wolf. America is at war. Our enemy is not violent extremism. It is not some unnamed malevolent force. It is radical Islamic terrorist. We have a president who is unwilling to utter its name. The men and women on this stage, every one of us, is better prepared to keep this nation safe than is Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. We need a president who understands the first obligation of the commander-in-chief is to keep America safe. If I am elected president, we will hunt down and kill the terrorists. We will utterly destroy +p2873 +aVWell, listen, Hugh, everyone understands why Donald has suggested what he has. We're looking at a president who's engaged in this double-speak where he doesn't call radical Islamic terrorism by its name. Indeed, he gives a speech after the San Bernardino attack where his approach is to try to go after the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens rather than to keep us safe. And even worse, President Obama and Hillary Clinton are proposing bringing tens of thousands of Syrian refugees to this country when the head of the FBI has told Congress they cannot vet those refugees. I understand why Donald made that proposal. I introduced legislation in the Senate that I believe is more narrowly focused at the actual threat, which is radical Islamic terrorism, and what my legislation would do is suspend all refugees for three years from countries where +p2874 +aVWell, you know, I'm reminded of what FDR's grandfather said. He said, "All horse-thieves are Democrats, but not all Democrats are horse-thieves." In this instance, there are millions of peaceful Muslims across the world, in countries like India, where there is not the problems we are seeing in nations that are controlled \u2014 have territory controlled by Al Qaida or +p2875 +aVWell, Dana, the premise of your question is not accurate. I'm very proud to have joined with conservatives in both the Senate and the House to reform how we target bad guys. And what the USA Freedom Act did is it did two things. Number one, it ended the federal government's bulk collection of phone metadata of millions of law-abiding citizens. But number two in the second half of it that is critical. It strengthened the tools of national security and law enforcement to go after terrorists. It gave us greater tools and we are seeing those tools work right now in San Bernardino. And in particular, what it did is the prior program only covered a relatively narrow slice of phone calls. When you had a terrorist, you could only search a relatively narrow slice of numbers, primarily land lines. The USA Freedom Act expands that so now we have cell phones, now we have Internet phones, now we have the phones that terrorists are likely to use and the focus of law enforcement is on targeting the bad guys. You know what the Obama administration keeps getting wrong is whenever anything bad happens they focus on law-abiding citizens instead of focusing on the bad guys. We need to focus on radical Islamic terrorists and we need to stop them before they carry out acts of terror. +p2876 +aVWell, you know, I would note that Marco knows what he's saying isn't true. You know, Mark Levin wrote a column last week that says that the attack ads his Super PAC is running that are saying the same thing, that they are knowingly false and they are, in fact, Alinsky-like attacks like Barack Obama. And the reason is simple. What he knows is that the old program covered 20 percent to 30 percent of phone numbers to search for terrorists. The new program covers nearly 100 percent. That gives us greater ability to stop acts of terrorism, and he knows that that's the case. +p2877 +aVWhat it means is using overwhelming air power to utterly and completely destroy +p2878 +aVYou would carpet bomb where +p2879 +aVWell, you know, Marco has continued these attacks, and he knows they're not true. Yes, it is true that I voted against the National Defense Authorization Act, because when I campaigned in Texas I told voters in Texas that I would oppose the federal government having the authority to detain U.S. citizens permanently with no due process. I have repeatedly supported an effort to take that out of that bill, and I honored that campaign commitment. +p2880 +aVBut more broadly, you know, the notion Marco is suggesting, that somehow \u2014 he also has tossed more than a few insults this direction \u2014 let's be absolutely clear. +p2881 +aVWolf, I believe in a America first foreign policy, that far too often President Obama and Hillary Clinton \u2014 and, unfortunately, more than a few Republicans \u2014 have gotten distracted from the central focus of keeping this country safe. So let's go back to the beginning of the Obama administration, when Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama led +p2882 +aV... we ought to hunt down our enemies and kill +p2883 +aVWell, it's more than not shedding a tear. It's actively getting involved to topple a government. And we keep hearing from President Obama and Hillary Clinton and Washington Republicans that they're searching for these mythical moderate rebels. It's like a purple unicorn. They never exist. These moderate rebels end up being jihadists. And I'll tell you whose view on Assad is the same as mine. It's Prime Minister Netanyahu. Prime Minister Netanyahu has said Israel doesn't have a dog in that fight because Assad is a puppet of Iran, a Shia radical Islamic terrorist, but at the same time, Prime Minister Netanyahu doesn't want to see Syria governed by +p2884 +aVThe question of whether we should toppling dictatorships is asking the wrong question. We should be defeating our enemies. So the problem with defeating... +p2885 +aVWell, but let me explain, the focus should be... +p2886 +aV... on defeating our enemies. So, for example... +p2887 +aV... a regime we should change is Iran... +p2888 +aV... because Iran has declared war on us. But we shouldn't be toppling regimes...... that are fighting radical Islamic terrorists that are helping... +p2889 +aVWell, he \u2014 he has attempted to muddy the waters, but I think that anyone who watched the battle that we had. You know, there was a time for choosing as Reagan put it. Where there was a battle over amnesty and some chose, like Senator Rubio to stand with Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer and support a massive amnesty plan. Others chose to stand with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and the American people and secure the border. And let me mention, this issue is actually directly connected to what we've been talking about. Because the front line with +p2890 +aVLook, I understand Marco wants to raise confusion, it is not accurate what he just said that I supported legalization. Indeed, I led the fight against his legalization and amnesty. And you know, there was one commentator that put it this way that, for Marco to suggest our record's the same is like suggesting "the fireman and the arsonist because they are both at the scene of the fire." He was fighting to grant amnesty and not to secure the border, I was fighting to secure the border. And this also goes to trust, listening on to campaign trails. Candidates all the time make promises. You know, Marco said," he learned that the American people didn't trust the federal government." +p2891 +aVIn Florida promising to... +p2892 +aVgo in the fight against amnesty... +p2893 +aVHe campaigned promising to lead the fight against amnesty. +p2894 +aVI have never supported a legalization... +p2895 +aVI have never supported legalization, and I do not intend to support legalization. Let me tell you how you do this, what you do is you enforce the law... +p2896 +aVWatt you do is enforcement the law... +p2897 +aVWhat you do... +p2898 +aVWhat you do is you enforce the law. I've laid out a very, very detailed immigration plan on my website, tedcruz.org. It's 11 pages of existing federal law and in particular the question of what to do with people who are here now? You enforce the law. That means you stop the Obama administration's policy of releasing criminal illegal aliens. Do you know how many aliens Bill Clinton deported? 12 million. Do you know how many illegal aliens, George W. Bush deported? 10 million. We can enforce the laws and if we secure the border, that solves the problem. And as president I will solve this problem and secure the border. +p2899 +aVDana, what I said in private is exactly what I'll say here, which is that the judgment that every voter is making of every one of us up here is who has the experience, who has the vision, who has the judgment to be commander in chief. That is the most important decision for the voters to make. That's a standard I'm held to. And it's a standard everyone else is held to. And I will note, you know, in the whole course of this discussion about our foreign policy threats, it actually illustrates the need for clarity of focus. You know, my daughters, Caroline and Catherine, came tonight. They're 7 and 5. And you think about the Los Angeles schools canceling their schools today. And every parent is wondering, how do we keep our kids safe? We need a commander in chief who does what Ronald Reagan did with communism, which is he set out a global strategy to defeat Soviet communism. And he directed all of his... I'm answering the question, Dana. He directed all of his forces to defeating communism. One of the things we've seen here is how easy it is for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to get distracted from dealing with radical Islamic terrorism. They won't even call it by its name. We need a president who stands up, number one, and says, we will defeat +p2900 +aVAnd we need to be focused on defeating... +p2901 +aV... defeating radical Islamic terrorists. +p2902 +aVWhat I'm saying, Dana, is that is a judgment for every voter to make. What I can tell you is all nine of the people here would make an infinitely better commander in chief than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. +p2903 +aVAnd there is a real danger, Dana, when people get distracted. I'm answering the question, Wolf. There's a real danger when people get distracted by peripheral issues. They get distracted by democracy building. They get distracted about military conflicts. We need to focus on defeating jihadism. +p2904 +aVAnd I will do everything necessary to keep our children safe. +p2905 +aVJudgment, strength, clarity and trust. Barack Obama has said he doesn't believe in American leadership or America winning \u2014 he is wrong. America can win again and we will win again. Ronald Reagan reignited the American economy, rebuilt the Military, bankrupted the Soviet Union and defeated Soviet Communism. I will do the same thing. Cutting taxes, cutting regulation, unleashing small businesses and rebuilding the Military to defeat radical Islamic terrorism \u2014 our strategy is simple. We win, they lose. We've done it before and we can do it again. +p2906 +aVWell, Maria, it's great to be with you. It's great to be here in Milwaukee. You know, the question you asked really I think is the most important question any of us can have \u2014 face, which is, how do we get the economy growing? How do we bring back economic growth? Because economic growth, it's foundational to every other challenge we have. As you rightly noted, from 2008 to today, our economy has grown 1.2 percent a year on average. The Obama economy is a disaster, and the IMF is telling us this is a new normal. It doesn't have to be. If you look at the history of America, there are three levers that government has had to facilitate economic growth. The first is tax reform. And as you noted, I have rolled out a bold and simple flat tax: 10 percent for every American that would produce booming growth and 4.9 million new jobs within a decade. The second element is regulatory reform, pulling back the armies of regulators that have descended like locusts on small businesses. And the third element is sound money. Every time we've pursued all three of those \u2014 whether in the 1920s with Calvin Coolidge or the 1960s with JFK or the 1980s with Ronald Reagan \u2014 the result has been incredible economic growth. We have done it before, and with leadership, we can do it again. +p2907 +aVWell, my Mom is here, so I don't think we should be pushing any grannies off cliffs. And, you miss-stated what I've said on entitlement reform. What I've said is for seniors we should make no changes whatsoever, for younger workers we should gradually raise the retirement age, we should have benefits grow more slowly, and we should allow them to keep a portion of their taxes in a personal account that they control, and can pass on to their kids... +p2908 +aVI want to go back to the discussion we had a minute ago because, you know, what was said was right. The democrats are laughing \u2014 because if republicans join democrats as the party of amnesty, we will lose. And, you know, I understand that when the mainstream media covers immigration, it doesn't often see it as an economic issue. But, I can tell you for millions \u2014 of Americans at home watching this, it is a very personal economic issue. And, I will say the politics of it will be very, very different if a bunch of lawyers or bankers were crossing the Rio Grande. Or if a bunch of people with journalism degrees were coming over and driving down the wages in the press. Then, we would see stories about the economic calamity that is befalling our nation. And, I will say for those of us who believe people 'ought to come to this country legally, and we should enforce the law, we're tired of being told it's anti-immigrant. It's offensive. I am the son of an immigrant who came legally from Cuba... ...to seek the American dream. And, we can embrace legal immigration while believing in the rule of law \u2014 and I would note, try going illegally to another country. Try going to China, or Japan. Try going to Mexico. See what they do. Every sovereign nation secures its borders, and it is not compassionate to say we're not going to enforce the laws... ...And we're going to drive down the wages for millions of hardworking men and women. That is abandoning the working... +p2909 +aVWell, sure, you put your finger on what the problem is. The current system isn't fair. Washington is fundamentally corrupt. There are more words in the IRS code than there are in the Bible \u2014 and \u2014 and not a one of them is as good. Every one of them reflects a carve-out or a subsidy, and it's all about empowering the Washington cartel. My simple Flat Tax says that, for a family of four, for the first $36,000 you earn, you pay no taxes whatsoever. No income taxes, no payroll taxes, no nothing. Above that, every American pays 10 percent across the board \u2014 a flat, fair tax. Which means that no longer do you have hedge-fund billionaires paying a lower tax rate than their secretaries. On the business side, I've got a business flat tax of 16 percent \u2014 again, that applies across the board. Right now, with our corporate income tax, giant corporations with armies of accountants regularly are paying little to no taxes while small businesses are getting hammered. This is fair and across-the-board. Now, you ask, how do the numbers add up? I would encourage folks, if you go to our website, tedcruz.org, we have the specific numbers on the website. This plan eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax, eliminates the corporate income tax, and it abolishes the IRS. And the effect of that is incredible economic growth. It means every income group will see double-digit increases, from the very poorest to the very weakest, of at least 14 percent. So if you're a single mom, if you're making $40,000 a year, what that means is an extra about $5,000 in your pocket to provide for your kids, to make ends meet. It has a powerful, powerful effect. And there's one other really powerful feature of my plan, which is that it's border-adjustable. Which means, if you're an exporter \u2014 if you're a farmer, if you're a rancher, if you're a manufacturer, you don't pay the businesses flat tax. Exports are free of that tax, but all imports pay that 16 percent business flat tax, which means this tax plan would cause jobs to boom, and it would let America compete with China and the world on a level playing field. +p2910 +aVWell, the numbers the Tax Foundation had put out is that the static cost of the plan is $3.6 trillion over 10 years, but the dynamic cost of the plan, which \u2014 which is the cost that factors in growth, is about $768 billion. It is less than a trillion. It costs less than virtually every other plan people have put up here, and yet it produces more growth and it's one of the very few plans that abolishes the IRS. But on top of that, today, we rolled out a spending plan. $500 billion in specific cuts \u2014 five major agencies that I would eliminate. The IRS, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Energy, the Department of Commerce, and HUD \u2014 and then 25 specific programs. Again, that's on our website at tedcruz.org. You want to look at specificity? It's easy for everyone to say, "cut spending". It's much harder and riskier to put out, chapter and verse, specifically the programs you would cut to stop bankrupting our kids and grandkids. +p2911 +aV...Middle ground that brings both of these together... +p2912 +aV...Exactly right, that we have to defend this nation. You think defending this nation is expensive, try not defending it. That's a lot more expensive. But, you can do that, and pay for it. You can do that, and also be fiscally responsible. You know, I mention that the 25 programs that I put today, that I would eliminate them. Among them are corporate welfare, like sugar subsidies. Let's take that as an example. Sugar subsidies. Sugar farmers farm under... ...under roughly 0.2% of the farmland in America, and yet they give 40% of the lobbying money. That sort of corporate welfare is why we're bankrupting our kids, and grandkids. I would end those subsidies to pay for defending this nation... +p2913 +aVAbsolutely yes. You know, I have spent much of my adult life enforcing the law and defending the Constitution. And the problem that underlies all of this is the cronyism and corruption of Washington. You know, the opening question Jerry asked, would you bail out the big banks again? Nobody gave you an answer to that. I'll give you an answer. Absolutely not. And what we have right now is we have Washington \u2014 as government gets bigger and bigger, you know, the biggest lie in all of Washington and in all of politics is that Republicans are the party of the rich. The truth is, the rich do great with big government. They get in bed with big government. The big banks get bigger and bigger and bigger under Dodd-Frank and community banks are going out of business. And, by the way, the consequence of that is small businesses can't get business loans, and it is that fundamental corruption that is why six of the 10 wealthiest counties in America are in and around Washington, D.C. And let me give you a contrast to Washington cronyism. Some weeks ago, a woman named Sabina Loving testified at a hearing that I chaired in the Senate. Sabina Loving is an African-American single mom who started a tax preparation business in the south side of Chicago. She found a store front, she wanted to have her own business. She started a business. But then the IRS promulgated new regulations targeting tax preparers. They did it under a more than 100-year-old statute called the Dead Horse Act. Now, this statute and the IRS in classic Washington crony fashion had exemptions for lawyers and big fancy accountants, but Sabina had to pay $1,000 an employee. It would have driven her out of business, and Ms. Loving sued the IRS. She took the Obama IRS to court, and she won, and they struck down the rule for picking the big guys over the little guys. +p2914 +aVYes. Now, let's be clear, there is a role for the Federal Reserve \u2014 what the Fed is doing now is it is a series of philosopher- kings trying to guess what's happening with the economy. You look at the Fed, one of the reasons we had the financial crash is throughout the 2000s, we had loose money, we had an asset bubble, it drove up the price of real estate, drove up the price of commodities, and then in the third quarter of 2008, the Fed tightened the money and crashed those asset prices, which caused a cascading collapse. That's why I am supporting getting back to rules-based monetary system not with a bunch of philosopher-kings deciding, but tied... +p2915 +aVSo let me be clear. I would not bail them out, but instead of adjusting monetary policy according to whims and getting it wrong over and over again and causing booms and busts, what the Fed should be doing is, number one, keeping our money tied to a stable level of gold, and, number two, serving as a lender of last resort. That's what central banks do. So if you have a run on the bank, the Fed can serve as a lender of last resort, but it's not a bailout. It is a loan at higher interest rates. That's how central banks have worked. And I'll point out \u2014 look, we had a gold standard under Bretton Woods, we had it for about 170 years of our nation's history, and enjoyed booming economic growth and lower inflation than we have had with the Fed now. We need to get back to sound money, which helps, in particular, working men and women. What Washington does \u2014 the people who are doing well in the Obama economy are those with power and influence in the Obama government. The people who working men and women... +p2916 +aVSo, Governor Kasich... +p2917 +aV...why would you then bail out rich Wall Street banks, but not Main street, not Mom and Pop, not Sabina Loving? +p2918 +aVBut you just said an executive... +p2919 +aV...knows to step in and bail out a bank. +p2920 +aVSo you said you'd abandon philosophy and abandon principle... +p2921 +aV...but what would you do if the bank was failing? +p2922 +aVSo you \u2014 you would bail them out. +p2923 +aVAnd, Maria, I will note, she's got a lot of experience, but her policies have proven disastrous. If you look at foreign policy, every region in the world has gotten worse. Under her leadership, we abandon the nation of Israel. Under her leadership, radical Islamic terrorism has been on to the rise. Under her leadership, and Obama's leadership, Iran is getting $100 billion dollars, and on the verge of getting a nuclear weapon. Everything she's put her hand to, or has touched \u2014 and when we talk about the cronyism of Washington, Hillary Clinton embodies the cronyism... ...of Washington. And, I'll give you an example of that, which is the Congressional exemption from Obamacare, which is fundamentally wrong, and I'll tell you this, if I'm elected president, I will veto any statute that exempts members of congress. The law should apply evenly to every American. +p2924 +aVMaria, critically, when it comes to climate change... +p2925 +aV...Our \u2014 our... +p2926 +aVFifty-eight years ago, my father fled Cuba. As he stood on the deck of that ferryboat with the wind and salt air blowing, he looked back at the oppression and torture he was escaping. And yet he looked forward to the promise of America. His story is our story. What ties Americans together is we are all the children of those who risked everything for freedom. America is in crisis now. I believe in America. And if we get back to the free market principles and constitutional liberties that built this country, we can turn this country around. I believe that 2016 will be an election like 1980, that we will win by following Reagan's admonition to paint in bold colors, not pale pastels. We're building a grassroots army. I ask you to join us at tedcruz.org. And we, the people, can turn this nation around. +p2927 +aVI'm too agreeable, easy going. You know, I think my biggest weakness is exactly the opposite. I'm a fighter. I am passionate about what I believe. I've been passionate my whole life about the Constitution. And, you know, for six-and-a-half years, we've had a gigantic party. If you want someone to grab a beer with, I may not be that guy. But if you want someone to drive you home, I will get the job done and I will get you home. +p2928 +aVBecky, if you want a 10 percent flat tax where the numbers add up, I rolled out my tax plan today, you can find it on line at tedcruz.org. It is a simple flat tax where for individuals, a family of four pays nothing on the first $36,000. After that you pay 10 percent as a flat tax going up. The billionaire and the working man, no hedge fund manager pays less than his secretary. On top of that, there is a business flat tax of 16 percent. Now that applies universally to giant corporations that with lobbyists right now are not paying taxes, and as small business. And you wanted to know the numbers, the Tax Foundation, which has scored every one of our plans, shows that this plan will allow the economy to generate 4.9 million jobs, to raise wages over 12 percent, and to generate 14 percent growth. And it costs, with dynamic scoring, less than a trillion dollars. Those are the hard numbers. And every single income decile sees a double-digit increase in after-tax income. +p2929 +aVGrowth is the answer. And as Reagan demonstrated, if we cut taxes, we can bring back growth. +p2930 +aVYou know, let me say something at the outset. The questions that have been asked so far in this debate illustrate why the American people don't trust the media. This is not a cage match. And, you look at the questions \u2014 "Donald Trump, are you a comic-book villain?" "Ben Carson, can you do math?" "John Kasich, will you insult two people over here?" "Marco Rubio, why don't you resign?" "Jeb Bush, why have your numbers fallen?" How about talking about the substantive issues the people care about? +p2931 +aVAnd Carl \u2014 Carl, I'm not finished yet. The contrast with the Democratic debate, where every fawning question from the media was, "Which of you is more handsome and why?" And let me be clear. +p2932 +aVLet me be clear. The men and women on this stage have more ideas, more experience, more common sense than every participant in the Democratic debate. That debate reflected a debate between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. And nobody watching at home believed that any of the moderators had any intention of voting in a Republican primary. The questions that are being asked shouldn't be trying to get people to tear into each other. It should be what are your substantive positions... +p2933 +aVYou want me to answer that question? I'm happy to answer the question... +p2934 +aVLet me tell you how that question... +p2935 +aVLet me tell you how that question... +p2936 +aV... so you don't actually want to hear the answer, John? +p2937 +aVYou don't want to hear the answer. You just want to... +p2938 +aVYou're not interested in an answer. +p2939 +aV...Then I'll buy you a tequila... +p2940 +aV...Or, even some famous Colorado brownies. +p2941 +aVWell, sure. This deal in Washington is an example of why Washington's broken. Republican leadership joined with every single Democrat, add $80 trillion to our debt to do nothing to fix the problems. And, let me now on Social Security because we were getting into a good substantive exchange, and I want to say I think both Chris, and Mike are right. Governor Huckabee's exactly right, we need to honor the promises made to our seniors, but for younger workers \u2014 look. I'm 44 years old. It is hard to find someone in my generation that thinks Social Security will be there for us. We can save and preserve and strengthen Social Security by making no changes for seniors, but for younger workers gradually increasing the retirement age, changing the rate of growth so that it matches inflation, and critically allowing younger workers to keep a portion of our tax payments in a personal account that we own, we control them, we can pass on to our kids. +p2942 +aVWell, we've gotta turn the economy around for people who are struggling. The Democrats' answer to everything is more government control over wages, and more empowering trial lawyers to file lawsuits. You know, you look at women working. I'll tell you, in my family there are a lot of single moms in my family. My sister was a single mom, both of my aunts who were a single moms. My mom who's here today, was a single mom when my father left us when I was 3 years old. Now, thank God, my father was invited to a Bible study and became born again and he came back to my mom and me and we were raised together. But I \u2014 the struggle of single moms is extraordinary. And you know, when you see Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and all the Democrats talking about wanting to address the plight of working women, not a one of them mentioned the fact that under Barack Obama, 3.7 million women have entered poverty. Not a one of them mentioned the fact that under Barack Obama and the big government economy, the median wage for women has dropped $733. The the truth of the matter is, big government benefits the wealthy, it benefits the lobbyists, it benefits the giant corporations. And the people who are getting hammered are small businesses, it's single moms, it's Hispanics. That is who I'm fighting for. The people that Washington leaves behind. +p2943 +aVWell, Rick, it's a very important question. I have got deep concerns about the Fed. The first thing I think we need to do is audit the Fed. And I am an original co-sponsor of Rand Paul's audit the Fed legislation. The second thing we need to do is I think we need to bring together a bipartisan commission to look at getting back to rules- based monetary policy, end this star chamber that has been engaging in this incredible experiment of quantitative easing, QE1, QE2, QE3, QE- infinity. And the people who are being impacted, you know, a question that was asked earlier, Becky asked, was about working women. You know, it's interesting, you look at on Wall Street, the Fed is doing great. It's driving up stock prices. Wall Street is doing great. You know, today, the top 1 percent earn a higher share of our income than any year since 1928. But if you look at working men and women. If you look at a single mom buying groceries, she sees hamburger prices have gone up nearly 40 percent. She sees her cost of electricity going up. She sees her health insurance going up. And loose money is one of the major problems. We need sound money. And I think the Fed should get out of the business of trying to juice our economy and simply be focused on sound money and monetary stability, ideally tied to gold. +p2944 +aVLet me say on that... +p2945 +aV...Rand is exactly right. His plan is a good plan, and I will note that my 10% plan also eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax, +p2946 +aV...eliminates the business... [ +p2947 +aV...income tax... [ +p2948 +aV...10% flat rate... +p2949 +aV...is the lowest personal rate any candidate up here has, and what it would also enable us to do is for every citizen to fill out their taxes on a postcard so we can eliminate the IRS. +p2950 +aVYou know, everyone here talks about the need to take on Washington. The natural next question is who actually has done so. Who actually has stood up not just to Democrats, but to leaders in our own party? When millions of Americans rose up against Obamacare, I was proud to lead that fight. When millions of Americans rose up against amnesty, I was proud to lead that fight. When millions of Americans rose up against Planned Parenthood, I was proud to lead that fight. If people are promising they're going to take on Washington and cronyism, you need to look to who has been doing it. In my family, my dad fled oppression in Cuba to come to America. Freedom is personal for me, and I will always keep my word and fight for freedom. +p2951 +aVI'm Ted Cruz. I am the son of an Irish-Italian mom and a Cuban immigrant dad who fled oppression and came to America seeking freedom. I'm a husband to my best friend, Heidi, who's here tonight. I'm a dad to two little girls who are the loves of my life, Caroline and Catherine. If you're fed up with Washington, if you're looking for someone to stand up to career politicians in both parties, I'm the only one on this stage who has done that over and over again, and if we stand together, we can bring America back. +p2952 +aVWell, let me tell you, Jake, the single biggest national security threat facing America right now is the threat of a nuclear Iran. We've seen six and a half years of President Obama leading from behind. Weakness is provocative, and this Iranian nuclear deal is nothing short of catastrophic. This deal, on its face, will send over $100 billion to the Ayatollah Khamenei, making the Obama administration the world's leading financier of radical Islamic terrorism. +p2953 +aVThis deal abandons four American hostages in Iran, and this deal will only accelerate Iran's acquiring nuclear weapons. You'd better believe it. If I am elected president, on the very first day in office, I will rip to shreds this catastrophic Iranian nuclear deal. +p2954 +aVWell, let's be clear when it comes to experience. What President Obama wants to do is he's run to the United Nations, and he wants to use the United Nations to bind the United States, and take away our sovereignty. Well, I spent five and a half years as a Solicitor General of Texas, the lead lawyer for the state, in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, and I went in front of the Supreme Court, and took on the world court of the United Nations in a case called Medellin v. Texas, and we won a historic victory saying the World Court, and the U.N., has no power to bind the United States, and no President of the United States, Republican or Democrat, has the authority to give away our sovereignty. And, so, if there's anyone up here who would be bound by this catastrophic deal with Iran, they're giving up the core responsibility of commander in chief, and as president, I would never do that. +p2955 +aVJake, Jake... +p2956 +aVJake, there is no more important topic in 2016 than this topic right here, and I've listened to several folks saying, "Well, gosh, if they cheat, we'll act." We won't know under this agreement \u2014 there are several facilities in Iran they designate as military facilities that are off limit all together. Beyond that, the other facilities, we give them 24 days notice before inspecting them. That is designed to allow them to hide the evidence. And most astonishingly, this agreement trusts the Iranians to inspect themselves. That makes no sense whatsoever. And let me know \u2014 President Obama is violating federal law... +p2957 +aV... by not handing over the side deals, and we ought to see the United States Congress... +p2958 +aV... stand up together and say, "Hand over this treaty, and protect this country." +p2959 +aVWell, let me tell you, Dana, number one, I'm proud to stand for life. These Planned Parenthood videos are horrifying. I would encourage every American to watch the videos. See \u2014 seeing your Planned Parenthood officials callously, heartlessly bartering and selling the body parts of human beings, and then ask yourself, "are these my values?" These are horrifying. On these videos, Planned Parenthood also essentially confesses to multiple felonies. It is a felony with ten years' jail term to sell the body parts of unborn children for profit. That's what these videos show Planned Parenthood doing. Absolutely we shouldn't be sending $500 million of taxpayer money to funding an ongoing criminal enterprise, and I'll tell you, the fact that Republican leadership in both houses has begun this discussion by preemptively surrendering to Barack Obama and saying, "we'll give in because Obama threatens a veto." You know, Obama's committed to his principles. His liberal principles, he will fight for them. He says... +p2960 +aVI will veto any budget that doesn't fund Planned Parenthood, and Republicans surrender. We need to stop surrendering and start standing... +p2961 +aV...for our principles. +p2962 +aVWell, Jake, you know, I'm \u2014 I'm very glad that Donald Trump's being in this race has forced the mainstream media finally to talk about illegal immigration. I think that's very important. I like and respect Ben Carson. I'll let him talk about his own plans. But I will say this: The natural next question that primary voters are asking, after we focus on illegal immigration is, okay, what are the records of the various candidates? And this is an issue on which there are stark differences. A majority of the men and women on this stage have previously and publicly embraced amnesty. I am the only candidate on this stage who has never supported amnesty and, in fact, who helped lead the fight to stop a massive amnesty plan. In 2013, when Barack Obama and Harry Reid joined the Washington Republicans in a massive, I stood shoulder to shoulder with Jeff Sessions helping lead the fight. You know, folks here have talked about, how do you secure the borders? Well, I've been leading the fight in the Senate to triple the Border Patrol, to put in place fencings and walls, to put in place a strong biometric exit/entry system... +p2963 +aVWell, Dana, I've known John Roberts for 20 years, he's amazingly talented lawyer, but, yes, it was a mistake when he was appointed to the Supreme Court. He's a good enough lawyer that he knows in these Obamacare cases he changed the statute, he changed the law in order to force that failed law on millions of Americans for a political outcome. And, you know, we're frustrated as conservatives. We keep winning elections, and then we don't get the outcome we want. And, let me focus on two moments in time. Number one, in 1990, in one room was David Souter, and in another room was Edith Jones, the rock ribbed (ph) conservative on the fifth circuit court of appeals. George Herbert Walker Bush appointed David Souter. And then in 2005, in one room was John Roberts, in another room was my former boss, Mike Luttig, the rock ribbed (ph) conservative on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals... +p2964 +aV...George W. Bush appointed John Roberts, and let me give you the consequences of that. If, instead, the President Bush had appointed Edith Jones, and Mike Luttig, which is who I would have appointed, Obamacare would have been struck down three years ago, and the marriage laws of all 50 states would be on the books. These matter, and I fought to defend the constitution my whole life... +p2965 +aV...and I will as president as well. +p2966 +aVIt is true that after George W. Bush nominated John Roberts, I supported his confirmation. That was a mistake and I regret that. I wouldn't have nominated John Roberts, and indeed, Governor Bush pointed out why. It wasn't that the President Bushes wanted to appoint a liberal to the court, it's that it was the easier choice. Both David Souter and John Roberts, they didn't have a long paper trail. If you had nominated Edith Jones or Mike Ludig (ph) you would have had a bloody fight and they weren't willing to spend political capital to put a strong judicial conservative on the court. I have spent my entire life, starting from clerking for Chief Justice William Rehnquist on the United States Supreme Court, one of the most principled jurists. We have an out-of-control Court, and I give you my word, if I'm elected president, every single Supreme Court justice will faithfully follow the law and will not act like philosopher kings \u2014 +p2967 +aV\u2014 imposing their liberal policies on millions of Americans \u2014 +p2968 +aV\u2014 who need to be trusted to govern ourselves. +p2969 +aVI \u2014 I am not, and \u2014 and you mentioned that the U.S. Supreme Court had rightly upheld the individual right to keep and bear arms. I was proud to lead 31 states before the U.S. Supreme Court defending the Second Amendment, and we won that landmark victory. And indeed, just a couple of years ago, when Harry Reid and Barack Obama came after the right to keep and bear arms of millions of Americans, I was proud to lead the fight in the United States Senate to protect our right to keep and bear arms, and for that reason... +p2970 +aV... I was honored to be endorsed by Gun Owners of America... +p2971 +aV... as the strongest supporter of the Second Amendment on this stage today, and I will... +p2972 +aV... fight every day to defend the Bill of Rights. +p2973 +aVWell, I wouldn't change the $10 bill, I'd change the $20. I'd take Jackson off and I'd leave Alexander Hamilton right where he is as one of our Founding Fathers. And I very much agree with Marco that it should be Rosa Parks. She was a principled pioneer that helped change this country, helped remedy racial injustice, and that would be an honor that would be entirely appropriate. +p2974 +aVYou know, as a Cuban, I might go with Cohiba (ph), and I'll tell you, I'd go with, for Heidi, Angel, because she is my angel. +p2975 +aVRonald Reagan believed in America. If I'm elected president our friends and allies across the globe will know that we stand with them. the bust of Winston Churchill will be back in the Oval Office, and the American embassy in Israel will be in Jerusalem. Enemies across this world will know the United States is not to be trifled with. +p2976 +aVChris, I believe the American people are looking for someone to speak the truth. If you're looking for someone to go to Washington, to go along to get along, to get -- to agree with the career politicians in both parties who get in bed with the lobbyists and special interests, then I ain't your guy. There is a reason... .... that we have $18 trillion in debt. Because as conservatives, as Republicans, we keep winning elections. We got a Republican House, we've got a Republican Senate, and we don't have leaders who honor their commitments. I will always tell the truth and do what I said I would do. +p2977 +aVChris, absolutely yes. And not only will I support it......I have authored Kate's law in the United States Senate and filed that legislation. I tried to get the Senate to vote to pass Kate's law on the floor of the Senate just one week ago, and the leader of our own party blocked a vote on Kate's law. You know, there was reference made to our leaders being stupid. It's not a question of stupidity. It's that they don't want to enforce the immigration laws. That there are far too many in the Washington cartel that support amnesty. President Obama has talked about fundamentally transforming this country. There's 7 billion people across the face of the globe, many of whom want to come to this country. If they come legally, great. But if they come illegally and they get amnesty, that is how we fundamentally change this country, and it really is striking. A majority of the candidates on this stage have supported amnesty. I have never supported amnesty, and I led the fight against Chuck Schumer's gang of eight amnesty legislation in the Senate. +p2978 +aVMegyn, we need a commander in chief that speaks the truth. We will not defeat radical Islamic terrorism so long as we have a president unwilling to utter the words, "radical Islamic terrorism". When I asked General Dempsey, the chairman of the joint chiefs, what would be required militarily to destroy +p2979 +aVMegyn, of course it's an ideological problem, that's one of the reasons I introduce the Expatriate Terrorist Act in the Senate that said if any American travels to the Middle East and joining +p2980 +aVWell, Bret, of course they have, and over the last six and a half years we've seen the consequences of the Obama-Clinton foreign policy. Leading from behind is a disaster. We have abandoned and alienated our friends and allies, and our enemies are stronger. Radical Islam is on the rise, Iran's on the verge of acquiring a nuclear weapon, China is waging cyber warfare against America, Russia -- General Soleimani, you just mentioned, the Iranian general is the head of the al Quds forces. He's directly responsible for the murder of over 500 American servicemen in Iraq, and part of this Iranian deal was lifting the international sanctions on General Soleimani. The day General Soleimani flew back from Moscow to Iran was the day we believed that Russia used cyber warfare against the Joint Chiefs. We need a new commander in chief that will stand up to our enemies, and that will have credibility... It is worth emphasizing that Iran released our hostages in 1981 the day Ronald Reagan was sworn into office. +p2981 +aVBrett, can I -- Brett, can I jump in on this one? +p2982 +aVWell, I am blessed to receive a word from God every day in receiving the scriptures and reading the scriptures. And God speaks through the Bible. I'm the son of a pastor and evangelist and I've described many times how my father, when I was a child, was an alcoholic. He wasn't a Christian. And my father left my mother and left me when I was just three years old. And someone invited him to Clay Road Baptist Church. And he gave his heart to Jesus and it turned him around. And he got on a plane and he flew back to my mother and me. I would also note that the scripture tells us, "you shall know them by their fruit." We see lots of "campaign conservatives." But if we're going to win in 2016, we need a consistent conservative, someone who has been a fiscal conservative, a social conservative, a national security conservative. There are real differences among the candidates on issues like amnesty, like Obamacare, like religious liberty, like life and marriage. And I have been proud to fight and stand for religious liberty, to stand against Planned Parenthood, to defend life for my entire career. And I will be proud to continue to do so as president of the United States. +p2983 +aVIf I'm elected president, let me tell you about my first day in office. The first thing I intend to do is to rescind every illegal and unconstitutional executive action taken by Barack Obama. The next thing I intend to do is instruct the Department of Justice to open an investigation into these videos and to prosecute Planned Parenthood for any criminal violations. The next thing I intend to do is instruct the Department of Justice and the IRS to start (sic) persecuting religious liberty, and then intend to cancel the Iran deal, and finally move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. I will keep my word. My father fled Cuba, and I will fight to defend liberty because my family knows what it's like to lose it. +p2984 +asVOBRADOVICH +p2985 +(lp2986 +VSenator Sanders, you've actually talked about immigration as being a wage issue in the United States. And I want to actually go directly to the wage issue now. You called for raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour everywhere in the country. But the President's former chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, Alan Krueger, has said a national increase of $15 could lead to undesirable and unintended consequences of job loss. What level of job loss would you consider unacceptable? +p2987 +aVYou said there are consequences... You said there are consequences for -- for any policy. Do you think job losses are a consequence that are... +p2988 +aVYou're calling for a $15 an hour wage now but why did you stop at $10.10 in your state? O' +p2989 +aVYes, Senator Sanders, you famously said in the last debate that you were sick and tired of hearing about your damn e- mails. But then you told the Wall Street Journal that the question about whether or not Secretary Clinton's e-mails compromised classified information were valid questions. So which is it? Is it an issue or is it not? +p2990 +aVI'm sorry, I couldn't hear you. Secretary Clinton, your response. +p2991 +asVTODD +p2992 +(lp2993 +VGood evening, and welcome to the +p2994 +aVAnd neither party has seen this yet. These candidates are both running for the Democratic nomination, but they are very different from each other when it comes to what matters most and how they would go about the job of being president. Our job tonight is to draw out those differences so you, the voters, can understand them and be fully informed. +p2995 +aVFirst, I want to say a special thanks to the New Hampshire Union Leader for helping make this debate possible, and the readers, who helped provide some of the questions and topics that we'll be addressing tonight. The rules tonight, by the way, are simple: 90 seconds for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. +p2996 +aVThank you, Senator. Secretary Clinton. +p2997 +aVAll right. Let's get started. Secretary Clinton, last night you cited the Concord Monitor when you said of Senator Sanders that, quote, "It's very hard to see how any of his proposals could ever be achievable." So please tell us why you think if he's elected president on a platform of promising things like free public college and universal healthcare, that he cannot achieve those things. +p2998 +aVThank you, Secretary. Senator Sanders, so just explain how you spent nearly two decades in Congress and haven't gotten any of these things passed. Why do you think as president you'll be able to achieve big, big new programs like this? +p2999 +aVGo. +p3000 +aVYes, go ahead. +p3001 +aVAll right, thank you both. Rachel. +p3002 +aVI'd like to follow up on a comment that Secretary Clinton said, Senator. President Obama has not called for abolishing the death penalty. President Obama is for the big Asian trade deal known as TPP, and just yesterday you said you can't be both a moderate or a progressive, but you can't be both. Is President Obama, in your judgment, based on these policies positions, a progressive? +p3003 +aV...Secretary Clinton, go ahead... +p3004 +aV 30 seconds, and then we'll move. +p3005 +aVThank you. +p3006 +aV... Secretary, we're gonna... +p3007 +aVThirty seconds. +p3008 +aVThank you both. +p3009 +aVAll right, welcome back. Let's get right to it. Senator Sanders, you were talking about all of your campaign contributions and campaign finance reform. You rail against big money in politics. But do you realize there is one public financing system that we do have in place, and it is\u2014it is in place to run for president. Why aren't you walking the walk on that? Why aren't you participating in the presidential public financing system which is designed to essentially keep big money out of presidential politics? +p3010 +aVWell, going on that then, why criticize her on Super PACs, and you got\u2014and all this when it is\u2014you know, that's the system? I mean, you could be participating in a publicly-financing\u2014public financing system... +p3011 +aV... and being able to set\u2014being able to set an example. +p3012 +aV... she has had more people praise her plan than yours. +p3013 +aVThank you both. Let me move on to our next question here, and in fact it comes to us through New England Cable News. Secretary Clinton, it's addressed to you, and it's about this issue of the speeches, particularly to Goldman Sachs. This is what the questioner wrote verbatim. "I am concerned with the abuses of Wall Street has taken with the American taxpayers money," and then she asks whether you would release the transcripts of your Goldman Sachs speeches, and then added, "Don't you think the voting public has a right to know what was said?" But, let's make that bigger. Are you willing to release the transcripts of all your paid speeches? We do know through reporting that there were transcription services for all of those paid speeches. In full disclosure, would you release all of them? +p3014 +aVSenator, you sound like you want to respond. Go ahead. +p3015 +aVWe'll be right back. And we're going to get to trade and a lot of other issues. +p3016 +aVGo ahead, Senator Sanders\u201430 seconds, your response. +p3017 +aVAll right. Senator, I want to stay, though... +p3018 +aVGo ahead. 30 seconds. +p3019 +aVLet me\u2014let\u2014we're gonna\u2014we're staying\u2014we're staying basically on this topic. Obviously you've been emphasizing this difference on the Iraq war, but one place where you do agree, and one place where you voted to authorize the use of force, was in favor of the war in Afghanistan. Right now, it is possible President Obama is going to be leaving the next president, perhaps President Sanders, at least 10,000 troops in Afghanistan. How long will those troops be in Afghanistan under President Sanders? +p3020 +aVCan you address a question on Afghanistan? How long are these troops going to be there? If President Obama leaves you 10,000 troops, how long do you think they're going to be there? +p3021 +aVSecretary Clinton, 30 seconds: How long are these troops going to be in Afghanistan? We have more American troops in Afghanistan than what we were talking about with Iraq. +p3022 +aVYou know, Senator Sanders, nobody knows who your foreign policy advisers are. You haven't given a major foreign policy speech. And it doesn't sound like all the time that foreign policy is a priority, other than when you're asked about it, and you say you're going to crush +p3023 +aVAll right, Senator, 30 seconds. +p3024 +aV30 seconds, madam secretary. +p3025 +aVAlright, as Commander in Chief, Senator Sanders, you've got to prioritize potential threats to the United States. Three countries, North Korea, Iran, Russia. How would you rank them in order of their threat to America's security right now... +p3026 +aV... Starting with the biggest threat. +p3027 +aV... I didn't say that... +p3028 +aV... No... +p3029 +aV... We already had that. I'm talking about these three countries. How would you orient our national security, our national defense posture. +p3030 +aVSecretary of Defense Ash Carter this week picked one of those three, and he has said Russia is, basically, the most important national security threat. Sort of reorienting the defense and the challenges to that. Do you agree with his decisions... +p3031 +aVSecretary Clinton, what do you think of Secretary of Defense Ash Carter. He's basically putting Russia above Iran, above North Korea, as sort of the chief national security challenge right now. +p3032 +aVThank you both, Rachel? +p3033 +aVAnd we are back. We're gonna get into a little bit of election politics, electability, in a little bit. Senator Sanders, The Iowa Democratic Party has declared Hillary Clinton the winner of Monday's Iowa caucuses\u2014narrowest of margins. Today, the Des Moines Register has an editorial that calls for the audit of the results, saying, quote, "what happened Monday night at the Democratic caucuses was a debacle, period. The results were too close not to do a complete audit." Senator Sanders, do you accept the idea that Hillary Clinton won Iowa? And do you\u2014or do you believe the caucuses are still an open question? +p3034 +aVSecretary Clinton, will you participate in some sort of audit, if that's what the party wants to do? You good with that? +p3035 +aVThat's fair enough. OK. +p3036 +aVGood, we move on. We're happy with that. We have more questions. +p3037 +aVWe'll stay on this issue. We'll stay on this topic. Secretary Clinton, just like there are some Democrats that question Senator Sanders' ability in the general election, many Democratic voters that our reporters have been running into in Iowa and New Hampshire, they tell our reporters over and over again they're worried about the emails issue, not because they don't believe your explanation, but because it's a drip-drip, because the cloud is hanging over your head and that it will impact the general election. They see your numbers right now and they think it's the email issue as to why you're not polling very well. So can you reassure these Democrats that somehow the email issue isn't going to blow up your candidacy if you're the nominee? +p3038 +aVAll right, Madam Secretary, there is an open\u2014there is an open FBI investigation into this matter about how you may have handled classified material. Are you 100 percent confident that nothing is going to come of this FBI investigation? +p3039 +aVWell, Senator sanders, you famously at the first debate said you didn't give a darn about her emails; I think you used another . +p3040 +aVYou're right. I'm trying to\u2014it's a\u2014it's a family hour still right now. After 11:00, I'll say it the other way. And you mostly have refrained from commenting on it, but recently you called it a very serious issue, and then the other day you said well she's getting slapped with the email controversy. Are you\u2014how are you feeling about these darn emails now? +p3041 +aVOK. Senator Sanders, thank you. +p3042 +aVSecretary Clinton, let me turn to the issue of trade. In the '90s you supported +p3043 +aVWell, Senator Sanders, I know you want to respond on this, you have never supported a trade deal since you've been in Congress. +p3044 +aVBut if you do that as president... If you do that as president, how are you not essentially letting China, who will do all of these deals around the world, how are you going to prevent China from essentially setting the rules of trade for the world? +p3045 +aVAll right. Thank you both. We're going to sneak in one more break here, and when we come back we'll squeeze as many questions as we can before we end this thing. We'll be right back. +p3046 +aVAll right. Welcome back here in the final minutes. +p3047 +aVThe home stretch of this only Democratic debate in the final week before the primary. Let me start with you, Secretary Clinton, on this question. Obviously, President Obama got a lot of ambitious stuff done in his first year and a half. You're going to have to make choices. And there's a lot of heavy lifts. And he made choices. He did healthcare and it came at the expense, arguably, of immigration reform. Had he put immigration reform first, perhaps that gets done and healthcare doesn't. So there are three big lifts that you've talked about: immigration, gun reform, climate change. What do you do first? Because you know the first one is the one you have the best shot at getting done. +p3048 +aVAll right, but Senator Sanders......you've still got to do something first. As you know, history said\u2014shows what you pick first is your best shot at getting, and how you prioritize things. +p3049 +aVImmigration reform, for instance, fell by the wayside in the first term because of this. +p3050 +aVOK. Thank you. +p3051 +aVAll right, before we go, I want to ask each one of these. Secretary Clinton, you've made it clear when you look at Senator Sanders, you do not see a president, but do you see\u2014 +p3052 +aVBut do you see\u2014do you see a vice president? +p3053 +aVWould you unite the party by trying to pick Senator Sanders as your running mate? +p3054 +aVSenator, would you consider the secretary? +p3055 +aVSecretary Clinton, closing statements. You are first. +p3056 +aVThank you, Madam Secretary. Senator Sanders. +p3057 +aVWell, there you have it. I promise you, Rachel and I have a lot more questions, but we just don't have any more time, unless we could a third hour, but I don't think so. Our debate coverage\u2014 debate coverage will continue in just a moment with our colleague . And we want to thank all of you for being here, and we want to thank the two candidates for taking part in this important event. +p3058 +aVWe'll see you in a few minutes. Thank you. +p3059 +asVLEVESQUE +p3060 +(lp3061 +VHere to New Hampshire again. As you know, this auditorium is filled with many Saint Anselm college students. They know the outstanding student debt right now in America is $1.3 trillion. That private education costs have gone up in the last decade 26 percent, and 40 percent for public education. So knowing that, we know you want to make public education more affordable but how do you really lower the cost? Senator Sanders, you mentioned a few minutes ago that you want free tuition for public colleges. +p3062 +aVHow does that really lower the cost other than just shifting the cost to taxpayers? +p3063 +aVGovernor O'Malley, how do you propose -- Governor O'Malley, how do you propose lowering some of these costs associated with higher education? O' +p3064 +asVHARWOOD +p3065 +(lp3066 +VMr. Trump, you've done very well in this campaign so far by promising to build a wall and make another country pay for it. +p3067 +aVSend 11 million people out of the country. Cut taxes $10 trillion without increasing the deficit. +p3068 +aVAnd make Americans better off because your greatness would replace the stupidity and incompetence of others. +p3069 +aVLet's be honest. Is this a comic book version of a presidential campaign? +p3070 +aVWe're at the 60 seconds. +p3071 +aVWe're at 60 seconds, but I gotta ask you, you talked about your tax plan. You say that it would not increase the deficit because you cut taxes $10 trillion in the economy would take off like... +p3072 +aVHold on, hold on. The economy would take off like a rocket ship. +p3073 +aVI talked to economic advisers who have served presidents of both parties. They said that you have as chance of cutting taxes that much without increasing the deficit as you would of flying away from that podium by flapping your arms. +p3074 +aVThe Tax Foundation says \u2014 has looked at all of our plans and \u2014 and his creates, even with the dynamic effect, $8 trillion dollar deficit... +p3075 +aVGovernor Kasich, hold it, I'm coming to you right now. The... +p3076 +aVWell, I'm asking you about this. +p3077 +aVI'm about to ask you about this. That is, you had some very strong words to say yesterday about what's happening in your party and what you're hearing from the two gentlemen we've just heard from. Would you repeat it? +p3078 +aVWell, let's just get more pointed about it. You said yesterday that you were hearing proposals that were just crazy from your colleagues. Who were you talking about? +p3079 +aVHold on. I think there's a \u2014 I've got question for \u2014 +p3080 +aVHold on, Governor. I've got a question for Governor Bush. +p3081 +aVNo, we're moving to Governor Bush. Governor, the fact that you're at the fifth lectern tonight shows how far your stock has fallen in this race, despite the big investment your donors have made. You noted recently, after slashing your payroll, that you had better things to do than sit around and be demonized by other people. I wanted to ask you \u2014 +p3082 +aVOK. +p3083 +aVGot it. +p3084 +aVBut it's a \u2014 OK. It's a \u2014 it's a question about why you're having difficulty. I want to ask you in this context. Ben Bernanke, who was appointed Fed chairman by your brother, recently wrote a book in which he said he no longer considers himself a Republican because the Republican Party has given in to know- nothingism. Is that why you're having a difficult time in this race? +p3085 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3086 +aVWe're gonna get down the line. Becky's got a question. +p3087 +aVSenator Paul, I've got a question for you on the same subject. +p3088 +aVSenator Paul? +p3089 +aVYou used your time on something else. Senator Paul? +p3090 +aVSenator Paul, the budget deal crafted by Speaker Boehner and passed by the House today makes cuts in entitlement programs, Medicare and Social Security disability, which are the very programs conservatives say need cutting to shrink government and solve our country's long-term budget deficit. Do you oppose that budget deal because it doesn't cut those programs enough? +p3091 +aVSenator, if what you just said is true, why did Speaker Boehner craft this deal and why did Paul Ryan, who has a strong reputation for fiscal discipline, vote for it? +p3092 +aVThank you, Senator . +p3093 +aVJim, thanks. Governor Bush, in a debate like this four years ago, every Republican running for president pledged to oppose a budget deal containing any tax increase even if it had spending cuts ten times as large. A few months later, you told Congress, put me in, coach, you said you would take that deal. Still feel that way? +p3094 +aVBut to \u2014 to the point that you made to Congress, if you were president and you were offered a bipartisan deal that had one dollar... +p3095 +aV...one dollar of tax increases per ten dollars of spending cuts, would you take it? +p3096 +aVSo you don't want the coach to put you in any more? +p3097 +aVThank you, governor. Carl? +p3098 +aVGovernor John Kasich, you've called for abolishing the Export Import Bank, which provides subsidies to help American companies compete with overseas competitors. You call that corporate welfare. One of the largest newspapers in your state wrote an editorial, said they found that strange, writing, that if that's corporate welfare, what does Kasich call the millions of dollars in financial incentives doled out to attract or retain jobs by his development effort \u2014 jobs Ohio. If subsidies are good enough for Ohio companies, why aren't they good enough for companies trying to compete overseas? +p3099 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3100 +aVThank you, Governor. Thank you. +p3101 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate on +p3102 +aVIt sounds like you think Senator Sessions is wrong to believe there is enough abuse in that program that we shouldn't... +p3103 +aVThank you, Senator. Becky? +p3104 +aVGovernor Bush, the tax reform bill that Ronald Reagan signed in 1986 cut the top personal income tax rate to 28 percent \u2014 just like your plan does. But President Reagan taxed capital gains at the same rate, while you would tax them at just 20 percent. Given the problems we've been discussing, growing gap between rich and poor, why would you tax labor at a higher rate than income from investments? +p3105 +aVSenator Rubio, 30 seconds to you. The Tax Foundation, which was alluded to earlier, scored your tax plan and concluded that you give nearly twice as much of a gain in after-tax income to the top 1 percent as to people in the middle of the income scale. Since you're the champion of Americans living paycheck-to- paycheck, don't you have that backward? +p3106 +aVThe Tax Foundation \u2014 just to be clear, they said the... +p3107 +aVNo, I did not. +p3108 +aVSenator, the Tax Foundation said after-tax income for the top 1 percent under your plan would go up 27.9 percent. +p3109 +aVAnd people in the middle of the income spectrum, about 15 percent. +p3110 +aV +p3111 +aVSenator, thank you. +p3112 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you've written about the huge divide in values between middle America and the big coastal cities like New York and Los Angeles. As a preacher as well as a politician, you know that presidents need the moral authority to bring the entire country together. The leading Republican candidate, when you look at the average of national polls right now, is Donald Trump. When you look at him, do you see someone with the moral authority to unite the country? +p3113 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3114 +aVThank you, Governor. Don't forget my colleague, Sharon Epperson. +p3115 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said something that many in your party do not believe, which is that climate change is undeniable, that human activity contributes to it, and you said, quote: "The question is, what do we do to deal with it?". So what do we do? +p3116 +aVWhat should we do? +p3117 +aVYou mean government? +p3118 +aVThank you, Governor. Becky. +p3119 +aVGovernor Bush, Mr. Trump says that he is capable of growing the economy so much that Social Security and Medicare don't have to be touched. Do you want to explain how that is going to happen, Mr. Trump? +p3120 +aVHold on, Governor. I've got a question for \u2014 for Dr. Carson. +p3121 +aVYes. You've said that you would like to replace Medicare with a system of individual family savings accounts, so that families could cover their own expenses. Obviously, that would be a very controversial idea. Explain how that would work, exactly. +p3122 +aVGovernor, do you also think that... +p3123 +aV...that Dr. Carson's right, that we can replace Medicare with individual savings accounts? +p3124 +aVMrs. Fiorina, we're right at the end of our time. +p3125 +aVYou all wanted us to limit . All right. Go ahead. +p3126 +aVWe have now reached the point in the program where candidates are going to give their closing statements, 30 seconds apiece. We're going to go right to left and start with you, Senator Paul. +p3127 +aVGovernor Christie? +p3128 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Cruz? +p3129 +aVThank you, Senator. Mrs. Fiorina? +p3130 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Dr. Carson? +p3131 +aVMr. Trump? +p3132 +aVJust for the record, the debate was always going to be two hours. Senator Rubio? +p3133 +aVSenator Rubio. +p3134 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Bush? +p3135 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Huckabee. +p3136 +aVThank you... +p3137 +aVGovernor Kasich? +p3138 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3139 +aVWe're going to pose this question to all candidates and go left to right, starting with Governor Jindal. Governor, a majority of Republican voters at this point in the campaign have made clear that they prefer someone from outside the political system. In 30 seconds, tell us why your experience inside the system would be more valuable than the fresh eyes an outsider would bring. +p3140 +aVThanks, Governor Jindal. Senator Santorum? +p3141 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Pataki? +p3142 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Graham. +p3143 +aVSenator Graham, thank you very much. Becky? +p3144 +aVJust hold on, Governor Pataki, we're going to go to Senator Graham on this question because we believe you are likely to be the only person on this stage tonight who supports this budget deal. Now, you just heard Governor Jindal say that it's a phony deal, it doesn't do anything, and people like you are surrendering rather than fighting by supporting it. Why is he wrong? +p3145 +aVThank you, Senator Graham... +p3146 +aV...Governor, we're going to get to you in just a moment, we're going to try to keep this shorter... +p3147 +aVGovernor Jindal, a question about fiscal policy, especially since you noted that this deal doesn't solve the long-term debt situation. When you came into office with a budget surplus in the state of Louisiana, now, years later, the state legislature faced a $1.6 billion budget gap and the Republican state treasurer called one of your approaches to that problem "nonsense on a stick," quoting him. Are you going to do for the federal budget what you did for the Louisiana budget? +p3148 +aVBut Governor Jindal, as you know, many Republicans are opposed to the approach that you've taken in Louisiana. They complain that you have tried so hard to avoid anything that could be called a tax increase so that you could run for president saying you'd never raised taxes, David Vitter, the Republican who's now running to succeed you, has told voters, I won't be like Jindal, I'm not using the governorship as a stepping stone to higher office. +p3149 +aVGovernor Jindal, thank you. +p3150 +aVWe're going to take a quick break. The Republican presidential debate continues live from Boulder, Colorado in a moment. +p3151 +aVGovernor Jindal, Senator Santorum just raised the issue of corporate taxes, and cutting corporate taxes is very popular in your party because our rate, at 35 percent, is one of the highest in the world. But nobody has figured out how to identify a set of loopholes that would allow that tax rate to be lowered. So can you tell us specifically what loopholes you'd do away with? +p3152 +aVWe're talking corporate taxes. +p3153 +aVThanks, Governor. Becky? +p3154 +aVSo the tax credit right now that we have for domestic manufacturing, which manufacturers say is... +p3155 +aV...important, you would get rid of that? +p3156 +aVSenator Graham, Americans have gotten used to seeing headlines about more and more big corporations relocating overseas to cut their tax bill. Now, many in Washington think the way to stop that is to lower our corporate tax rate. But as we've seen, tax reform takes time. It hasn't happened yet. In the meantime, do you fault those companies for leaving? Do companies owe anything to their country, as well as their shareholders? +p3157 +aVSenator Graham. +p3158 +aVI want to remind candidates, you've got a one-minute limit on the \u2014 on the response. But I just want to follow up, Senator Graham. Four years ago, the nominee of your party said that corporations are people, too. If that is true, the question is, do they owe any obligation to the country? +p3159 +aVSenator Graham \u2014 +p3160 +aV\u2014 thank you very much. +p3161 +aVWe're moving on. +p3162 +aVSenator, we're moving on. I'd like to bring on my colleague, Rick Santelli \u2014 Rick. +p3163 +aVSenator, that \u2014 I mean, Governor, if that's true, why was our economy limping six years ago and now it's the strongest in the world? +p3164 +aVGovernor Pataki, you've indicated you believe climate change is real and caused at least in part by human activity. So, in 60 seconds, tell us what the federal government should do about it. +p3165 +aVIs there a role for government? +p3166 +aVSo, subsidies for those programs? For \u2014 for those alternative energy sources? +p3167 +aVThank you, Governor. Thank you, Governor. Carl? +p3168 +aVGovernor, if you cut spending and cut government so much, why did your legislature have such a big deficit? +p3169 +aVNo, we're going to move on. I'm going to bring on my colleague Sharon Epperson. +p3170 +aVAnd thank you, Sharon. This is the Republican Presidential Debate, live from Boulder, Colorado. We'll be right back. +p3171 +aVOK, now we're at the point of the evening where we're just about to give our candidates a holiday from this debate, but not before they tell us in 30 seconds their closing statements. Senator Graham, you're first. +p3172 +aVSenator Graham... +p3173 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. Governor Pataki? +p3174 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum? +p3175 +aVSenator Santorum, thank you. Governor Jindal? +p3176 +aVGovernor Jindal, thank you very much. Carl? +p3177 +asVPAUL +p3178 +(lp3179 +VThe question is, how do we keep America safe from terrorism? Trump says we ought to close that Internet thing. The question really is, what does he mean by that? Like they do in North Korea? Like they do in China? Rubio says we should collect all Americans' records all of the time. The Constitution says otherwise. I think they're both wrong. I think we defeat terrorism by showing them that we do not fear them. I think if we ban certain religions, if we censor the Internet, I think that at that point the terrorists will have won. Regime change hasn't won. Toppling secular dictators in the Middle East has only led to chaos and the rise of radical Islam. I think if we want to defeat terrorism, I think if we truly are sincere about defeating terrorism, we need to quit arming the allies of +p3180 +aVYou know, I think Marco gets it completely wrong. We are not any safer through the bulk collection of all Americans' records. In fact, I think we're less safe. We get so distracted by all of the information, we're not spending enough time getting specific immigration \u2014 specific information on terrorists. The other thing is, is the one thing that might have stopped San Bernardino, that might have stopped 9/11 would have been stricter controls on those who came here. And Marco has opposed at every point increased security \u2014 border security for those who come to our country. On his Gang of Eight bill, he would have liberalized immigration, but he did not \u2014 and he steadfastly opposed any new border security requirements for refugees or students. Last week, I introduced another bill saying we need more security, we need more scrutiny. Once again, Marco opposed this. So Marco can't have it both ways. He thinks he wants to be this, "Oh, I'm great and strong on national defense." But he's the weakest of all the candidates on immigration. He is the one for an open border that is leaving us defenseless. If we want to defend the country, we have to defend against who's coming in, and Marco is \u2014 has more of an allegiance to Chuck Schumer and to the liberals than he does to conservative policy. +p3181 +aVIf I was mentioned in the question, can I respond? +p3182 +aVMarco still misunderstands the immigration issue. What I put forward was an amendment that would have temporarily halted immigration from high-risk terrorist countries, but would have started it up, but I wanted them to go through Global Entry, which is a program where we do background checks. The thing is, is that every terrorist attack we've had since 9/11 has been legal immigration. Marco wants to expand that. I want more rules, more scrutiny, and to defend the country, you have to defend the border. +p3183 +aVWolf... +p3184 +aVWolf, this legislation... +p3185 +aVThis legislation on indefinite detention... +p3186 +aV... I think deserves a little more attention. +p3187 +aVI think that by arming the allies of +p3188 +aVI think that if you believe in regime change, you're mistaken. In 2013, we put 600 tons of weapons \u2014 us, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar \u2014 into the war against Assad. By pushing Assad back, we did create a safe space. We had people coming to our Foreign Relations Committee and saying, "Oh, we need to arm the allies of Al Qaida." They are still saying this. It is a crazy notion. This is the biggest debate we should be having tonight is is regime change a good idea; has it been a good idea. There are still people \u2014 the majority on the stage, they want to topple Assad. And then there will be chaos, and I think +p3189 +aVThese are the fundamental questions of our time, these foreign policy questions, whether or not regime change is a good idea or a bad idea. I don't think because I think the regime change was a bad idea it means that Hussein was necessarily a good idea. There is often variations of evil on both sides of the war. What we have to decide is whether or not regime change is a good idea. It's what the neoconservatives have wanted. It's what the vast majority of those on the stage want. They still want regime change. They want it in Syria. They wanted it in Iraq. They want it in Libya. It has not worked. Out of regime change you get chaos. From the chaos you have seen repeatedly the rise of radical Islam. So we get this profession of, oh, my goodness, they want to do something about terrorism and yet they're the problem because they allow terrorism to arise out of that chaos. +p3190 +aVNo, I think it's a huge mistake. I think regime change in Syria, and this is what \u2014 I've been saying this for several years now. In 2013 when we first went in, I said, you are going to give arms to the allies of al Qaida, to radical jihadists? That's crazy. But the other thing I said is the great irony is you will be back fighting against your own weapons. Had Assad been bombed when he used chemical weapons two years ago, +p3191 +aVWell, I think if you're in favor of World War III, you have your candidate. You know, here's...... the thing. My goodness, what we want in a leader is someone with judgment, not someone who is so reckless as to stand on the stage and say, "Yes, I'm jumping up and down; I'm going to shoot down Russian planes." Russia already flies in that airspace. It may not be something we're in love with the fact that they're there, but they were invited by Iraq and by Syria to fly in that airspace. And so if we announce we're going to have a no-fly zone, and others have said this. Hillary Clinton is also for it. It is a recipe for disaster. It's a recipe for World War III. We need to confront Russia from a position of strength, but we don't need to confront Russia from a point of recklessness that would lead to war. This is something \u2014 this type of judgment, you know, it's having that kind of judgment; who you would appoint and how you're going to conduct affairs, that is incredibly important. I mean, I think when we think about the judgment of someone who might want World War III, we might think about someone who might shut down a bridge because they don't like their friends; they don't want to \u2014 you know, they want to a Democrat. So I think we need to be very careful. +p3192 +aVYou know, I think we need to set the record straight on this, because I think Marco misspoke about the bill. On the Gang of Eight bill, there was no provisions really for extra scrutiny or safety for refugees. At the time the bill came up, two Iraqi refugees came to my home town, Bowling Green, Kentucky. Their fingerprints were on a bomb from Iraq. They were in the database, but we didn't pick them up. We relocated them here, put them in government housing, got them on food stamps. And we began providing for them, but we didn't have adequate security. On the Gang of Eight bill, on Marco's bill, we had an opportunity. There was a conservative consensus for an amendment I put forward called Trust, But Verify that would have strengthened border security on both refugees, students and those coming here. And Marco sided and I guess was more sympathetic to Chuck Schumer and to the president than he was to conservative principles. But this goes directly to national defense. And if he wants to run as a national \u2014 national defense conservative, he's got to explain why he hasn't stepped up to support border security. +p3193 +aVWhat my bill would do would be only for refugees going forward. So I haven't taken a position on sending anyone home. But I have taken the position that we have a lot of problems here in our country. And that one of the things that we do \u2014 charity is about giving your own money. Charity isn't giving someone else's money. To put everyone in government housing and food stamps and bring them in from around the world I think is a mistake. To give of your own money, I've given to my church. My church has helped people that came from Bosnia. That's a good thing. But we shouldn't have a program where we just say that we're going to take care of the world's refugees. Nobody in the Middle East is doing anything. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait \u2014 all the Gulf nations are doing nothing. They need to step up and take... +p3194 +aVThe greatest threat to our national security is our debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. And whose fault is it? Well, frankly, it's both parties' fault. You have those on the right who clamor and say, oh, we will spend anything on the military, and those on the left who say the same for domestic welfare. But what most Americans don't realize is there is an unholy alliance. They come together. There's a secret handshake. We spend more money on everything. And we are not stronger nation if we go further into debt. We are not projecting power from bankruptcy court. To me, there is no greater threat than our debt. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage because I'm willing to hold the line on all spending. I hope you will consider me in the election. Thank you very much. +p3195 +aVAbsolutely. And I think that we ought to look where income inequality seems to be the worst. It seems to be worst in cities run by Democrats, governors of... States run by Democrats and countries currently run by Democrats. So the thing is, let's look for root causes. But I would also say \u2014 lay some blame at the \u2014 the feet of the Federal Reserve. I think the Federal Reserve has made this problem worse. By artificially keeping interest rates below the market rate, average ordinary citizens have a tough time earning interest, have a tough time making money. They're actually talking now about negative interest. The money as it's created through quantitative easing or other means tends to start out in the big banks in New York. And because we're now paying interest for them to keep the money there, much of that money has not filtered out into the economy. So what we're finding is there is increasing income disparity and income inequality. We also find that as the Federal Reserve destroys the value of the currency, what you're finding is that, if you're poor, if you make $20,000 a year and you have three or four kids, and you're trying to get by, as your prices rise or as the value of the dollar shrinks, these are the people that are hurt the worst. So really we need to reexamine whether we not \u2014 we want a Federal Reserve that's involved so much in determining interest rates. We also need to look at root causes as to what caused the housing boom and the housing collapse. But the bottom line is, if you want less income inequality, move to a city with a Republican mayor or a state with a Republican governor. +p3196 +aVWell, it's a great question, Neil, and thanks for including me in the tax debate. I think what's important about the tax debate is, is that we have to ask the question, where is money best spent, in the private sector or in the government sector? I want a government really, really small, so small you can barely see it. So I want lower taxes and much more money in the private sector. My tax plan, however, is the only tax plan among any of the candidates on the stage that is part of a balanced budget plan. I put forward three plans that actually balance the budget over a five-year period. Each of these plans have details on exactly where we would cut. The question came up earlier, where would you cut? Nobody likes to say where they would cut. I've put pencil to paper and done three budgets that actually balance. I'm also in favor of a plan called the penny plan where we'd just cut 1 percent across the board and the budget actually balances in less than five years. So I think what is extraordinary about my tax plan is it is in the context of balancing the budget. What is also extraordinary about my tax plan is it gets rid of the payroll tax. Democrats demagogue this issue to death, and when they do they say, oh, a millionaire would get a bigger tax cut than someone making $10,000. That's proportionality, as Ben is trying to explain to folks. But the thing is, is if we get rid of the payroll tax, everybody is going to get a tax cut. And this is something that I think the public at large will support and could win an election. +p3197 +aVOurs is 14.5 percent for corporations, 14.5 percent for individuals. No payroll tax for the employee. The business tax pays for social security, and there would be two remaining deductions \u2014 home mortgage and charity. +p3198 +aVThank you. +p3199 +aVNeil, there's a point I'd like to make here... ....Neil, a point that I'd like to make about the tax credits. We have to decide what is conservative and what isn't conservative. Is it fiscally conservative to have a trillion-dollar expenditure? We're not talking about giving people back their tax money. He's talking about giving people money they didn't pay. It's a welfare transfer payment. So here's what we have. Is it conservative to have $1 trillion in transfer payments \u2014 a new welfare program that's a refundable tax credit? Add that to Marco's plan for $1 trillion in new military spending, and you get something that looks, to me, not very conservative. Thank you. +p3200 +aVNevertheless, it's not very conservative, Marco. +p3201 +aVHow is it conservative? +p3202 +aVYeah, but, Marco! Marco! How is it conservative, how is it conservative to add a trillion-dollar expenditure for the federal government that you're not paying for? +p3203 +aVHow is it conservative? +p3204 +aVHow is it conservative to add a trillion dollars in military expenditures? You can not be a conservative if you're going to keep promoting new programs that you're not going to pay for. +p3205 +aVNo. I don't think we're any safer \u2014 I do not think we are any safer from bankruptcy court. As we go further, and further into debt, we become less, and less safe. This is the most important thing we're going to talk about tonight. Can you be a conservative, and be liberal on military spending? Can you be for unlimited military spending, and say, Oh, I'm going to make the country safe? No, we need a safe country, but, you know, we spend more on our military than the next ten countries combined? I want a strong national defense, but I don't want us to be bankrupt. +p3206 +aVHey, Gerard, you know, we might want to point out China is not part of this deal. +p3207 +aVBefore we get a little bit off-kilter here... +p3208 +aVThere is an argument that China doesn't like the deal, because in us doing the deal, we'll be trading with their competitors. You're exactly right. But I think we've sort of missed the point a little bit here. There is an important point, though, about how we discuss these trade treaties that I do agree with Mr. Trump on. We should negotiate from a position of strength. And we also should negotiate using the full force and the constitutional power that was given to us. I think it's a mistake that we give up power to the presidency on these trade deals. We give up the power to filibuster, and I'm kind of fond of that power. We give up the power to amend. And I think, really, one of the big problems we have in our country is, over the last century, really, so much power has gravitated to the executive branch. Really, Congress is kind of a bystander. We don't write the rules. We don't make the laws. The executive branch does. So even in trade \u2014 and I am for trade \u2014 I think we should be careful about giving so much power to the presidency. +p3209 +aVI'd like first to respond to the acquisition, we should \u2014 I think it's particularly naive, particularly foolish to think that we're not going to talk to Russia. The idea of a no fly zone, realize that this is also something that Hillary Clinton agrees with several on our side with, you're asking for a no fly zone in an area in which Russia already flies. Russia flies in that zone at the invitation of Iraq. I'm not saying it's a good thing, but you better know at least what we're getting into. So, when you think it's going to be a good idea to have a no fly zone over Iraq, realize that means you are saying we are going to shoot down Russian planes. If you're ready for that, be ready to send your sons and daughters to another war in Iraq. I don't want to see that happen. I think the first war in Iraq was a mistake... You can be strong without being involved in every civil war around the war... +p3210 +aVRonald Reagan was strong, but Ronald Reagan didn't... +p3211 +aV...send troops into the Middle East... +p3212 +aV...Can I finish... +p3213 +aV...Can I finish my time? Could I finish with my time? +p3214 +aVYes, I would like to finish my response, basically. +p3215 +aVThis is an important question. This is an incredibly important question. And the question goes to be, who do we want to be our commander-in-chief? Do you want a commander-in-chief who says something that we never did throughout the entire Cold War, to discontinue having conversations with the Russians? I am not happy about them flying over there. But I'm not naive enough to say, well, Iraq has them flying over their airspace, we're just going to announce that we're shooting them down? That is naive to the point of being something you might hear in junior high. But it's scary... +p3216 +aVThe first thing I would do is I wouldn't arm our enemies. I wouldn't arm +p3217 +aVGerard, can I comment... +p3218 +aVThe first thing I would do as president is repeal the regulations that are hampering our energy that the President has put in place. Including the Clean Power Act. While I do think that man may have a role in our climate, I think nature also has a role. The planet's 4.5 billion years old, we've been through geologic age after geologic age. We've had times when the temperatures been warmer, we've had times when the temperatures been colder. We've had times when the carbon in the atmosphere's been higher. So, I think before we \u2014 we need to look before we leap. President's often fond of saying he wants a balance solution, but, really we do need to balance both keeping the environment clean, and we will have some rules for that. We got to balance that with the economy. He's devastated my state. I say the President's not only destroying Kentucky, he's destroying the democrat party down there because nobody wants to associate with him. So, what we really need is somebody that understands that we do need energy of all forms, and that means we will have solar, and wind, and hydro, but we will still have coal, and we still will have natural gas. And, we've got to have an all of the above policy. But, it would be a mistake to shut down all of our industries in the coal fields, and shut down the coal power plants. If we did so we're going to have a day where we wake up and some of our big cities are either very cold, or very hot. So, I think it's a big danger, and we shouldn't do it. And, what we should do is say we want all of the above... ...We want to free up the energy sector, and let people produce, let them drill, let them explore. +p3219 +aVWe're the richest, freest, most humanitarian nation in the history of mankind. But we also borrow a million dollars a minute. And the question I have for all Americans is, think about it, can you be a fiscal conservative if you don't conserve all of the money? If you're a profligate spender, you spend money in an unlimited fashion for the military, is that a conservative notion? We have to be conservative with all spending, domestic spending and welfare spending. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage. +p3220 +aVYou know, I left my medical practice and ran for office because I was concerned about an $18 trillion debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. Now, on the floor of the Congress, the Washington establishment from both parties puts forward a bill that will explode the deficit. It allows President Obama to borrow unlimited amounts of money. I will stand firm. I will spend every ounce of energy to stop it. I will begin tomorrow to filibuster it. And I ask everyone in America to call Congress tomorrow and say enough is enough; no more debt. +p3221 +aVNo, I oppose it because you're taking money from the entitlement and then spending it immediately on other items. That's what they're doing. They're taking money from Social Security and they're going to spend it on the military and they're going to spend it on domestic spending. Here's the thing. When you look at raising the debt limit, it should be leverage to try to reform government. In 2011, the sequester was passed as a reform to slow down the rate of government. Instead, the Washington establishment raised both. We raised the military spending, took from entitlements, and raised domestic spending and the deficit will explode under this. This is the unholy alliance that people need to know about between right and left. Right and left are spending us into oblivion. We should use the debt ceiling, as precisely to Don, to force upon them budgetary reforms. +p3222 +aVWell, that's a real question. Is there going to be any change in the House with new leadership? I frankly don't think there will be much change because I think what's going to happen is you're going to get more of the same. People in Washington think they were sent there to be adults and govern and do all this. Well, you know what I'm worried about? Not keeping the government open. I'm worried about bankrupting the American people. We're borrowing a million dollars a minute. That is important. And that's what we have to contrast. Keeping the government open and continuing to borrow a million dollars a minute. +p3223 +aVWell, thank you very much. I would like to thank Ted for co-sponsoring my bill, audit the Fed. And I think it's precisely because of the arrogance of someone like Ben Bernanke, who now calls us all know-nothings, that is precisely why we need audit the Fed. I think it is really very much a huge problem that an organization as powerful as the Fed comes in, lobbies against them being audited on the Hill. I would prevent them lobbying Congress. I don't think the Fed should be involved with lobbying us. I think we should examine how the Fed has really been part of the problem. You want to study income inequality, let's bring the Fed forward and talk about Fed policy and how it causes income inequality. Let's also bring the Fed forward and have them explain how they caused the housing boom and the crisis, and what they've done to make us better or worse. I think the Fed has been a great problem in our society. What you need to do is free up interest rates. Interest rates are the price of money, and we shouldn't have price controls on the price of money. +p3224 +aV...John... +p3225 +aVJohn, I'd like to address this? John, could I follow up on this? +p3226 +aVWhat are the rules on who gets to follow up. How do we decide on who gets to follow up? I've seen plenty of other people follow up? +p3227 +aVI'd like to just mention something about my tax plan, and how it relates to the discussion... +p3228 +aVAlright. Much of the discussion is centered over whether or not the different tax plans help, or affect the middle class. In fact, it's the chief argument by democrats against many of the different flat tax proposals. Mine is unique in the sense that my tax plan actually gets rid of the payroll tax as well. It shifts it to the business, and it would allow middle class people to get a tax cut. If you just cut their income tax, there isn't much income tax to cut. Mine actually cuts the payroll tax, and I think it would spread the tax cut across all socioeconomic levels, and would allow then it to be something that would be broadly supported by the public in an election. +p3229 +aVThe question always is, what works better, the private marketplace or government? And what distributes goods better? It always seems to be the private marketplace does a better job. Is there an area for a safety net? Can you have Medicare or Social Security? Yes. But you ought to acknowledge the government doesn't do a very good job at it. The main problem with Medicare right now is that the average person pays in taxes over their whole lifetime about $100,000. But the average person takes out about $350,000. We have this enormous mismatch because we have smaller and smaller families. When people ask me, whose fault is it? Whose fault is it that Medicare is broken, out of money, that Social Security is broken, out of money? And I say, look, it's not Republicans' fault, it's not Democrats' fault, it's your grandparents' fault for having too many damn kids. After the war we had all of these kids, Baby Boomers. Now we're having smaller families. We used to have 16 workers for one retiree, now you have three workers for one retiree. It's not working. I have a bill to fix Medicare. I've a bill to fix Social Security. For both of them you have to gradually raise the age. If you're not willing to do that, nobody wants to do it, but if you're not willing to gradually raise the age, you're not serious about fixing either one of them. +p3230 +aVSay again? +p3231 +aVYou can't do nothing. And that's what I hear from some people, "we'll do nothing and it will just be fixed." That's absurd, and I think people who don't want to fix it, really, or unwilling to take the chance to say, "something has to change," are missing the boat here. The age will have to gradually rise, there is no question. It's the only way you fix Medicare, the only way you fix Social Security. You will also have to means-test the benefits and declare there's not enough money. It isn't "I put money in, I'm getting it back." There is no money, it's a stack of paper. There is no money in the Social Security account. There is no money in the Medicare account. There's only a promise to pay by the next generation, and the next generation's not big enough to pay it. [ +p3232 +aVLiberty thrives when government is small. I want a government so small I can barely see it. I want a government so small that the individual has a chance to thrive and prosper. I think, though, government is too big now. And what you're going to see in Washington this week is establishment Republicans have made an agreement with the president to raise the debt ceiling in an unlimited fashion; no limit to the debt ceiling raise. This is extraordinary. It's extraordinarily wrong. You'll see me on the floor of the Senate tomorrow filibustering this and saying enough is enough, no more debt. +p3233 +aVGood evening, everyone. I'm an eye surgeon from Bowling Green, Kentucky. My wife, Kelly, and I have been married for nearly 25 years, and I spend my days defending the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I think there's nothing more important than understanding that the Constitution restrains government, not the people. Thank you. +p3234 +aVI kind of have to laugh when I think of, "Mmm, sounds like a non sequitur." He was asked whether or not he would be capable and it would be in good hands to be in charge of the nuclear weapons, and all of a sudden, there's a sideways attack at me. I think that really goes to really the judgment. Do we want someone with that kind of character, that kind of careless language to be negotiating with Putin? Do we want someone like that to be negotiating with Iran? I think really there's a sophomoric quality that is entertaining about Mr. Trump, but I am worried. I'm very concerned about him \u2014 having him in charge of the nuclear weapons, because I think his response, his \u2014 his visceral response to attack people on their appearance \u2014 short, tall, fat, ugly \u2014 my goodness, that happened in junior high. Are we not way above that? Would we not all be worried to have someone like that in charge of the nuclear arsenal? +p3235 +aVI think this goes back to essentially what we've been saying for the last two or three questions. Carly Fiorina also said we're not going to talk with Putin. Well, think if Reagan had said that during the Cold War? We continued to talk with the Russians throughout the Cold War which is much more significant that where we are now. Should we continue to talk with Iran? Yes. Should we cut up the agreement immediately? That's absurd. Wouldn't you want to know if they complied? Now, I'm going to vote against the agreement because I don't think there's significant leverage, but it doesn't mean that I would immediately not look at the agreement, and cut it up without looking to see if whether or not Iran has complied. The same goes with China. I don't think we need to be rash, I don't think we need to be reckless, and I think need to leave lines of communication open. Often we talk about whether we should be engaged in the world, or disengaged in the world, and I think this is an example of some who want to isolate us, actually, and not be engaged. We do need to be engaged with Russia. It doesn't mean we give them a free pass, or China a free pass, but, to be engaged, to continue to talk. We did throughout the Cold War, and it would be a big mistake not to do it here. +p3236 +aVI think this gets to the point of wisdom on when to intervene and when we shouldn't. Had we bombed Assad at the time, like President Obama wanted, and like Hillary Clinton wanted and many Republicans wanted, I think +p3237 +aVWell, I hate to say it, but Donald Trump has a bit of a point here. The case that was decided around 1900 was, people had a green card, were here legally, and they said that their children were citizens. There's never been a direct Supreme Court case on people who were here illegally, whether or not their kids are citizens. So it hasn't really been completely adjudicated. The 14th Amendment says that "those who are here and under the jurisdiction." The original author of the \u2014 of the 14th Amendment said on the Senate floor that this was applying to slaves, and did not specifically apply to others. +p3238 +aVWell, I'm glad we're having a discussion about taxes because everybody laments that we lose jobs overseas, we have. Our companies, and our jobs are being chased overseas by a 70,000 page tax code, so, that's why I've chosen to get rid of the whole thing, and have one single rate, 14 and a-half percent for everybody, business, and for corporate income, and personal income. But, we also get rid of the payroll tax, so the working class would get a tax break as well. So, I think a flat tax, eliminating the tax code, getting rid of all the loopholes, is the way to go, and it's the way we get America going again. +p3239 +aVHugh, can I \u2014 can I make a response to that? +p3240 +aVCan I make a response to that? +p3241 +aVMay I make a response to that? +p3242 +aVHe's referred to me. +p3243 +aVHe's referred to me... +p3244 +aV... in his remarks. May I make a response? +p3245 +aVAbsolutely. Go ahead. +p3246 +aVMay I respond? +p3247 +aVThe remark was made that there hadn't been anyone else on the podium opposed to the Iraq War. I've made my career as being an opponent of the Iraq War. I was opposed to the Syria war. I was opposed to arming people who are our enemies. Iran is now stronger because Hussein is gone. Hussein was the great bulwark and counterbalance to the Iranians. So when we complain about the Iranians, you need to remember that the Iraq War made it worse. Originally, Governor Bush was asked, was the Iraq War a mistake, and he said, "No. We'd do it again." We have to learn sometimes the interventions backfire. The Iraq War backfired and did not help us. We're still paying the repercussions of a bad decision. +p3248 +aVWe have make the decision now in Syria, should we topple Assad? Many up here wanted to topple Assad, and it's like \u2014 I said no, because if you do... +p3249 +aV... +p3250 +aVIf you want boots on the ground, and you want them to be our sons and daughters, you got 14 other choices. There will always be a Bush or Clinton for you, if you want to go back to war in Iraq. But the thing is, the first war was a mistake. And I'm not sending our sons and our daughters back to Iraq. The war didn't work. We can amplify those who live there. The Kurds deserve to be armed and I'll arm them. We can use our Air Force to amplify the forces there. But the boots on the ground need to be the people who live there. My goodness, I'm still upset with the Saudi Arabians for everything they do over there. They've funded the arms that went to the jihadists. They're not accepting any of the people, any of the migrants that have been \u2014 the refugees that are being pushed out of Syria. Saudi Arabia is not accepting one. Why are we always the world's patsies that we have to go over there and fight their wars for them? They need to fight their wars, we need to defend American interests, but it is not in America's national security interests to have another war in Iraq. +p3251 +aVI think one of the great problems, and what American people don't like about politics, is hypocrisy. People have one standard for others and not for them \u2014 for themselves. There is at least one prominent example on the stage of someone who says they smoked pot in high school, and yet the people going to \u2014 to jail for this are poor people, often African-Americans and often Hispanics, and yet the rich kids who use drugs aren't. I personally think that this is a crime for which the only victim is the individual, and I think that America has to take a different attitude. I would like to see more rehabilitation and less incarceration. I'm a fan of the drug courts which try to direct you back towards work and less time in jail. But the bottom line is the states. We say we like the 10th Amendment, until we start talking about this. And I think the federal government has gone too far, I think that the war on drugs has had a racial outcome, and really has been something that has really damaged our inner cities. Not only do the drugs damage them, we damage them again by incarcerating them and then preventing them from getting employment over time. So I don't think that the federal government should override the states. I believe in the 10th Amendment and I really will say that the states are left to themselves. +p3252 +aVWell, I think if we left it open, we could see how many people smoked pot in high school. +p3253 +aVWell, you know, the thing is that... +p3254 +aVYeah, I was talking about \u2014 well, let me... +p3255 +aVBut let me respond. The thing is, is that in Florida, Governor Bush campaigned against medical marijuana. That means that a small child like Morgan Hintz (ph) that has seizures is day, is failing on non-traditional medications, is not allowed to use cannabis oil. And if they do that in Florida, they will take the child away, they will put the parents in jail. And that's what that means if you're against allowing people use medical marijuana, you'll actually put them in jail. +p3256 +aVAnd actually, under the current circumstances, kids who had privilege like you do, don't go to jail, but the poor kids in our inner cities go to jail. I don't think that's fair. And I think we need to acknowledge it, and it is hypocritical to still want to put poor people in jail... +p3257 +aVWell, you vote \u2014 you oppose medical marijuana... +p3258 +aVBut that means you'll put people in jail. +p3259 +aVMay I respond? +p3260 +aVUnderstand what they're saying. if they're going to say we are going to enforce the federal law against what the state law is, they aren't really believing in the Tenth Amendment. Governor Christie would go into Colorado, and if you're breaking any federal law on marijuana, even though the state law allows it, he would put you in jail. If a young mother is trying to give her child cannabis oil for medical marijuana for seizure treatment, he would put her in jail, if it violates federal law. I would let Colorado do what the Tenth Amendment says. This power \u2014 we were never intended to have crime dealing at the federal level. Crime was supposed to be left to the states. Colorado has made their decision. And I don't want the federal government interfering and putting moms in jail, who are trying to get medicine for their kid... +p3261 +aVMay I respond? May I respond? +p3262 +aVHere is the thing, he doesn't want to make it about medical marijuana, but what if New Jersey's medical marijuana contradicts the federal law? He's saying he'll send the federal government in, and he will enforce the federal law. That's not consistent with the Tenth Amendment. It is not consistent with states' rights. And it is not consistent with the conservative vision for the country. I don't think we should be sending the federal police in to arrest a mother and separate them from their child for giving a medicine to their child for seizures. +p3263 +aVIf you want a skeptic \u2014 if you want a skeptic, Jake, I will happily jump into that briar patch. If you want a real... +p3264 +aVA second opinion? One of the greatest \u2014 one of the greatest medical discoveries of all times was \u2014 were the vaccines, particularly for smallpox. And if you want to read a story, it's called The Speckled Monster, it's an amazing story, it was all done voluntary. But people came in by the droves. George Washington wouldn't let his wife visit until she got vaccinated. So I'm all for vaccines. But I'm also for freedom. I'm also a little concerned about how they're bunched up. My kids had all of their vaccines, and even if the science doesn't say bunching them up is a problem, I ought to have the right to spread out my vaccines out a little bit at the very least. +p3265 +aVOoh, that's a tough one. You know, I'm big on \u2014 that we were \u2014 and I love what Carly said about women's suffrage. I think Susan B. Anthony might be a good choice. +p3266 +aVJustice Never Sleeps. +p3267 +aVI met Ronald Reagan as a teenager, and my family, we're big supporters of him when he ran against Gerald Ford. It was a big deal because he was the grassroots, running against the establishment, and I'll never forget that. And, how he stood up and said, you know what, this is something new that our country needs, and our party needs. If I were president, I would try to be one who says, you know what, I'm a Reagan Conservative. I'm someone who believes in peace through strength, and I would try to lead the country in that way knowing that our goal is peace, and that war is the last resort, not the first resort. And, that when we go to war, we go to war in a constitutional way, which means that we have to vote on it, that war is initiated by congress, not by the president, that we go to war electively (ph). That when we go to war, we don't fight with one arm tied behind our back, we fight all out to win, but then we come home. +p3268 +aVThis is what's wrong! +p3269 +aVI mean, this is what's wrong. He buys and sells politicians of all stripes, he's already... +p3270 +aVHey, look, look! He's already hedging his bet on the Clintons, OK? So if he doesn't run as a Republican, maybe he supports Clinton, or maybe he runs as an independent... +p3271 +aV...but I'd say that he's already hedging his bets because he's used to buying politicians. +p3272 +aVFirst of all, only +p3273 +aVMegyn, may I respond? May I respond? +p3274 +aVI want to collect more records from terrorists, but less records from innocent Americans. The Fourth Amendment was what we fought the Revolution over! John Adams said it was the spark that led to our war for independence, and I'm proud of standing for the Bill of Rights, and I will continue to stand for the Bill of Rights. +p3275 +aVUse the Fourth Amendment! +p3276 +aVUse the Fourth Amendment! +p3277 +aVGet a warrant! +p3278 +aVGet a judge to sign the warrant! +p3279 +aVSee, here's the problem. +p3280 +aVHere's the problem, governor. Here's the problem, governor. You fundamentally misunderstand the Bill of Rights. Every time you did a case, you got a warrant from a judge. I'm talking about searches without warrants... +p3281 +aV...indiscriminately, of all Americans' records, and that's what I fought to end. I don't trust President Obama with our records. I know you gave him a big hug, and if you want to give him a big hug again, go right ahead. +p3282 +aVI've got a news flash... +p3283 +aVNews flash, the Republican Party's been fighting against a single-payer system... +p3284 +aV-- for a decade. So I think you're on the wrong side of this if you're still arguing for a single-payer system. +p3285 +aVI oppose the Iranian deal, and will vote against it. I don't think that the president negotiated from a position of strength, but I don't immediately discount negotiations. I'm a Reagan conservative. Reagan did negotiate with the Soviets. But you have to negotiate from a position of strength, and I think President Obama gave away too much, too early. If there's going to be a negotiation, you're going to have to believe somehow that the Iranians are going to comply. And I asked this question to John Kerry, I said "do you believe they're trustworthy?" and he said "No." And I said, "well, how are we gonna get them to comply?" I would have never released the sanctions before there was consistent evidence of compliance. +p3286 +aVLook, I don't want my marriage or my guns registered in Washington. And if people have an opinion, it's a religious opinion that is heartly felt, obviously they should be allowed to practice that and no government should interfere with them. One of the things, one of the things that really got to me was the thing in Houston where you had the government, the mayor actually, trying to get the sermons of ministers. When the government tries to invade the church to enforce its own opinion on marriage, that's when it's time to resist. +p3287 +aVWell, let's be clear, I'm the only one on the stage who actually has a five-year budget that balances. I've put pencil to paper... +p3288 +aV... and I've said -- and I've said I would cut spending, and I've said exactly where. Each one of my budgets has taken a meat axe to foreign aid, because I think we ought to quit sending it to countries that hate us. I think we ought to quit sending it to countries that burn our flag. Israel is not one of those. But even Benjamin Netanyahu said that ultimately, they will be stronger when they're independent. My position is exactly the same. We shouldn't borrow money from China to send it anywhere, but why don't we start with eliminating aid to our enemies. +p3289 +aVI still say exactly what my original opinion is. Do you borrow money from China to send it to anyone? Out of your surplus, you can help your allies, and Israel is a great ally. And this is no particular animus of Israel, but what I will say, and I will say over and over again, we cannot give away money we don't have. We do not project power from bankruptcy court. We're borrowing a million dollars a minute. It's got to stop somewhere. +p3290 +aVI'm a different kind of Republican. I've introduced a five-year balanced budget. I've introduced the largest tax cut in our history. I stood for ten and a half hours on the Senate floor to defend your right to be left alone. But I've also gone to Chicago. I've gone to Detroit. I've been to Ferguson, I've been to Baltimore, because I want our party to be bigger, better and bolder, and I'm the only one that leads Hillary Clinton in five states that were won by President Obama. I'm a different kind of Republican. +p3291 +asVBASH +p3292 +(lp3293 +VA crucial question is how to balance surveillance with privacy and keeping Americans safe. Senator Cruz, you voted for a bill that President Obama signed into law just this past June that made it harder for the government to access Americans' phone records. In light of the San Bernardino attack, was your vote a mistake? +p3294 +aVThank you. Senator Rubio, Senator Cruz is right there was bipartisan support for that. But you voted against it. So, is Senator Cruz wrong? +p3295 +aVSenator Cruz? +p3296 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator \u2014 Senator Rubio, please respond. +p3297 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I know this is \u2014 this has been a very big issue for you. You hear many of your colleagues are calling for increased surveillance by law enforcement. You call that hogwash. Why is that hogwash? +p3298 +aVSenator Rubio? +p3299 +aVGovernor Christie, Governor Christie... ...Governor Christie, I'll come to you in a minute. Go ahead, Senator Paul. +p3300 +aVGo ahead, please. +p3301 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about immigration in a while. But, Governor Christie, just listening to this... +p3302 +aVListening to this, you talked \u2014 you heard Senator Paul, Senator Cruz talk about how important it is to protect Americans' privacy, even in a time of grave danger. Why \u2014 what's wrong with that? +p3303 +aVSenator Paul, you said +p3304 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I want to go back to my initial question, which is you saying that +p3305 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about regime change in a bit. But Governor Kasich, would you like to respond to Senator Paul? +p3306 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. We've been talking tonight about programs and policy proposals that you all have to keep Americans safe and it's a big discussion on the campaign trail. Also about border security and immigration. So let's talk about immigration. Senator Rubio. You co-authored a bill with Democrats two years ago that allowed a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Do you still support that path to citizenship, which means giving those immigrants rights, like the right to vote? +p3307 +aVSenator, you haven't answered the question. You described a very long path but does that path end at citizenship? +p3308 +aVThank you, senator. +p3309 +aVThank you, senator. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, on the campaign trail, Senator Rubio has said that his immigration plan is not that different from yours. Is that true? +p3310 +aVSenator Rubio, please. +p3311 +aVSenator Cruz? +p3312 +aVSenator Cruz? +p3313 +aVSenator Cruz, can you answer that question please? +p3314 +aVSenator Cruz? +p3315 +aVOne at a time please. +p3316 +aVMs. Fiorina, please wait your turn, we're going to get to you. +p3317 +aVSenator Cruz go ahead. +p3318 +aVMr. Trump, you like to say that you restarted this conversation in the campaign. +p3319 +aVSo who do you side with? Who do you side with in this, Senator Rubio or Senator Cruz? +p3320 +aVThank you. Governor Bush? +p3321 +aVListening to this, do you think this is the tone \u2014 this immigration debate that republicans need to take to win back Hispanics into our party especially states like where we are in Nevada that has a pretty Hispanic community? +p3322 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said if China launches a cyber- attack against the U.S. on your watch, "they're going to see cyber- warfare like they have never seen before." What exactly would that response look like? +p3323 +aVGovernor Bush, what you just heard from Governor Christie, are you concerned that that could really escalate with China, that they would retaliate? And, for example, as the NSA has said, attack the U.S. and maybe it's power grid, which the Chinese have the capability to do? +p3324 +aVMr. Trump, just this weekend you said Senator Cruz is not qualified to be president because he doesn't have the right temperament and acted like a maniac when he arrived in the Senate. But last month you said you were open to naming Senator Cruz as your running mate. +p3325 +aVSo why would you be willing to put somebody who's a maniac one heartbeat away from the presidency? +p3326 +aVOkay. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, you have not been willing to attack Mr. Trump in public. +p3327 +aVBut you did question his judgment in having control of American's nuclear arsenal during a private meeting with supporters. Why are you willing to say things about him in private and not in public? +p3328 +aVSenator, senator, I just... +p3329 +aVSenator, a lot of people have seen... +p3330 +aV... a lot of people have seen these comments you made in private. I just want to clarify what you're saying right now is you do believe Mr. Trump has the judgment to be commander in chief? +p3331 +aVGovernor Kasich, Senator Cruz is so committed to stripping federal funds from Planned Parenthood that it could result in shutting down the federal government in just about two weeks. Do you agree with Senator Cruz's tactic? +p3332 +aVThank you. +p3333 +aVThank you. Senator Cruz, I would just add that, on this stage not that long ago, Senator Graham said that this tactic that you're pushing would tank the Republicans' ability to win in 2016. +p3334 +aVThank you, senator. +p3335 +aVThank you... +p3336 +aVGovernor \u2014 governor, I want to go to you. Is it what Senator Cruz says, a surrender by Republicans? +p3337 +aVBut... +p3338 +aVBut is it... +p3339 +aVBut, governor, the \u2014 but, governor, the reality is, in just two weeks' time... ...we are going to be facing a question about whether or not it's enough to shut down the government to make that statement, because there is still a Democrat in the White House. Do you oppose it or support it? +p3340 +aVYes or no, do you support this shutdown? +p3341 +aVWe're talking about Planned Parenthood right now. +p3342 +aVCan you answer yes or no? +p3343 +aVOne more time. I'm sorry, I just want to get the answer. +p3344 +aVSo you would support a shutdown. +p3345 +aVGovernor Bush, Mr. Trump has suggested that your views on immigration are influenced by your Mexican born wife. He said that, quote, "If my wife were from Mexico, I think I would have a soft spot for people from Mexico." Did Mr. Trump go to far in invoking your wife? +p3346 +aVMr. Trump? +p3347 +aVMr. Trump... +p3348 +aVGo ahead. +p3349 +aVMs. Fiorina \u2014 Ms. Fiorina, we're going to come to you, we're going to come to you. I just want to give Governor Bush a chance to respond to what Mr. Trump said. +p3350 +aVOK, on that note, you have criticized Governor Bush for speaking Spanish on the campaign trail. You said, quote, "He should really set an example by speaking English in the United States." What's wrong with speaking Spanish? +p3351 +aVThank you. +p3352 +aV...Thank you.... +p3353 +aVGovernor Bush, let's talk about the issue that's very important to Republican voters, and that's the Supreme Court. After Chief Justice John Roberts voted to uphold Obamacare twice, Senator Cruz criticized your brother for appointing John Roberts to the Supreme Court. Looking back on it, did your brother make a mistake? +p3354 +aV...Is John Roberts one of those people? +p3355 +aVDo you like what you just heard, Senator Cruz? +p3356 +aVMr. Trump, you have said once or twice that you are really rich, and you are by far the richest person on this stage. Chris Christie says billionaires like you and even people who make and earn far less should no longer get Social Security, or at least there should be limits based on \u2014 on their income. You think he's wrong, and if so, why? +p3357 +aVWhat about the country as a \u2014 as a policy? +p3358 +aVSo is a voluntary program the way to get the Social Security system solvent again like that. +p3359 +aVSenator Santorum, you want to give the intelligence community more power to collect American's phone data. But the government had this ability until just days before the San Bernardino attack. If it couldn't prevent San Bernardino, why will it protect America? +p3360 +aVSenator Graham, when this program was exposed, you said, " you have nothing to worry about if you're not talking to terrorist." Do you understand why though some Americans are concerned that the government is keeping tabs on them in any way? +p3361 +aVThank you. Governor Huckabee, you said, "not one terrorist plot has been foiled by the NSA's collection of American's phone records. The director of the CIA says,. "not having these programs makes it ability to find terrorists, quote, "much more challenging."" Are you taking a potential tool to fight terrorists? +p3362 +aVSenator Santorum? +p3363 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator Graham... +p3364 +aVSenator Graham... +p3365 +aVSenator Graham, we've heard here tonight a lot about the fact that you want to send U.S. troops, ground troops, into Iraq, and Syria to defeat +p3366 +aVGovernor Huckabee... +p3367 +aVGovernor Huckabee, would you reinstate the draft? +p3368 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator Graham... +p3369 +aVSenator Graham... +p3370 +aVSenator Graham, we've heard here tonight a lot about the fact that you want to send U.S. troops, ground troops, into Iraq, and Syria to defeat +p3371 +aVGovernor Huckabee... +p3372 +aVGovernor Huckabee, would you reinstate the draft? +p3373 +aVSo what would you do about it? +p3374 +aVSenator... +p3375 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. +p3376 +aVSenator Graham. +p3377 +aVSenator Graham, quick response. +p3378 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. +p3379 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. +p3380 +aVSenator Santorum, earlier this month the Pentagon opened all U.S. military combat positions to women. You previously opposed allowing women in combat roles. As President, would you change the Pentagon's new policy? +p3381 +aVSo, just to be clear, you're saying, yes, you would change the policy back? +p3382 +aVGovernor Pataki, as you mentioned earlier, you have two sons who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Would you maintain this new policy as President, or do you agree with Senator Santorum. +p3383 +aVSenator Santorum. +p3384 +aVNow Governor Pataki, do you a final response? +p3385 +aVGovernor Huckabee, the U.S. has a program that allows visitors from America's closest allies to travel to the U.S. without obtaining a visa. But new legislation in Congress says that privilege should not apply to those who have visited is hot spots like Iraq and Syria in the last five years. You say that legislation doesn't go far enough. Why? +p3386 +aVSenator Santorum, Governor Jindal has supported a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants once the border is secure. Why do you disagree with that? +p3387 +aVSenator, your time's up. I want to get the governor to respond to that. +p3388 +aVSenator -- Senator Santorum, do you buy that, that the governor's not for amnesty? +p3389 +aVSenator, your time is up... +p3390 +aVYour time is up. And Governor, I'm sorry. Just -- you -- you really need to clarify your position, because you say you're not for amnesty, but you have been for a path to citizenship... +p3391 +aVThank you. Senator Graham, you mentioned this earlier; you are calling for an additional 20,000 U.S. ground forces to fight +p3392 +aVNo one on this stage has gone that far. So are you saying, for Iraq and Syria, are you saying that everybody to your right is not fit for the Oval Office? +p3393 +aVSenator -- +p3394 +aV-- Senator Santorum, I know you're raising your hand. You're committing to this number of troops, both in Iraq and on the ground in Syria? +p3395 +aVAnd he's saying 20,000. Would you...? +p3396 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Jindal? +p3397 +aVSenator Santorum, you just heard Governor Jindal and Governor Pataki talk about tax reform. Jeb Bush has proposed a tax reform plan, and in it, he limits deductions, including the popular home mortgage deduction. Would you do the same as president? +p3398 +aV...times up, Senator. +p3399 +aV...OK, times up, Senator. Governor, just to bring you back into this, you said that you would be OK with what is effectively raising taxes on hedge fund managers as part of a tax reform plan. Would you aslo be for doing away with people's deductions for their mortgages. +p3400 +aVGovernor Chafee, you were the only Republican in the Senate to vote against the Iraq war. You say Secretary Clinton should be disqualified from the presidency because she voted in favor of using force in Iraq. She has since said that her vote was a mistake. Why isn't that good enough? +p3401 +aVSecretary Clinton, he's questioning your judgment. +p3402 +aVSenator Sanders \u2014 Senator Sanders, I want to bring you in here. My question for you is, as a congressman, you voted against the Iraq War. You voted against the Gulf War. You're just talking about Syria, but under what circumstances would a President Sanders actually use force? +p3403 +aVAll right. +p3404 +aVThank you. CNN visited college campuses, along with Facebook. And not surprisingly college affordability was among the most pressing issue. Senator Sanders, you've mentioned a couple of times you do have a plan to make public colleges free for everyone. Secretary Clinton has criticized that in saying she's not in favor of making a college free for Donald Trump's kids. Do you think taxpayers should pick up the tab for wealthy children? +p3405 +aVAnd, Secretary Clinton, it's not just college tuition that Senator Sanders is talking about, expanding Social Security and giving all Americans Medicare. What's wrong with that? +p3406 +aVSecretary Clinton... +p3407 +aVCan you answer the... +p3408 +aVSecretary Clinton, the question was not just about tuition, though. It was about Senator Sanders' plan to expand Social Security, to make Medicare available to all Americans. Is that something that you would support? And if not, why not? +p3409 +aVDo you want to expand it? +p3410 +aVSecretary Clinton, you now support mandated paid family leave. +p3411 +aVCarly Fiorina, the first female CEO of a Fortune 50 company, argues, if the government requires paid leave, it will force small businesses to, quote, "hire fewer people and create fewer jobs." What do you say not only to Carly Fiorina, but also a small-business owner out there who says, you know, I like this idea, but I just can't afford it? +p3412 +aVIt's on the federal level. +p3413 +aVBut Secretary \u2014 Secretary Clinton, even many people who agree with you might say, look, this is very hard to do, especially in today's day and age. There are so many people who say, "Really? Another government program? Is that what you're proposing? And at the expense of taxpayer money?" +p3414 +asVEPPERSON +p3415 +(lp3416 +VThank you, John. Mrs. Fiorina, you were the CEO of a large corporation that offers a 401(k) to its employees. But more than half of American have no access to an employer sponsored retirement plan. That includes the workers at small businesses, and the growing ranks of Uber drivers and other part-timers in the freelance economy. Should the Federal Government play a larger role in helping to set up retirement plans for these workers? +p3417 +aVSo you wouldn't agree \u2014 you wouldn't agree with a start for 401(k) for businesses or anything like that? +p3418 +aVThank you very much. +p3419 +aVThank you, the rules say one minute. +p3420 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. We appreciate it. Thank you, thank you. I want to turn my attention now, to you now, Governor Kasich. Most people can't get a college degree without going into debt. Over 40 million Americans have student loans and many of them cannot pay them back. This country has over $100 billion in student loan defaults. That's billion with a b. What will you do to make sure that students, their families, taxpayers, won't feel the economic impact of this burden for generations? Well, first of all, in Ohio we're changing the whole system. Universities will not get paid one dime unless the student graduates or \u2014 graduates or completes a course. Secondly, you can be in high school and complete almost an entire first year before you go to college and get credit to do that. And, of course, in addition to that, we are working now to go after the cost drivers in our universities. And let me give you an example. Universities today have so many non-academic assets. At Ohio State they sold the parking garage and the parking lot, and they got $500 million because they shouldn't be in the parking lot business. They shouldn't be in the ding business, they shouldn't be in the dorm business. And, of course, we need to take advantage of on-line education to reduce these costs and begin to dis-intermediate the cost of four years. Now, for those who that have these big high costs, I think we can seriously look at an idea of where you can do public service. I mean legitimate, public service and begin to pay off some of that debt through the public service that you do. And in the meantime, it may inspire us to care more about our country, more about ourselves. This is a big moral issue in America. Living a life bigger than yourself, and being a center of healing and justice. And people can learn it through public service. +p3421 +aVThank you, thank you. +p3422 +aVThank you, John. Senator Graham, one in every four workers has saved less than $1,000 for retirement. Millions of Americans rely on their Social Security benefits for the majority of their retirement income. Now, you called for reforms to Social Security, but what would you do to fix the other part of the problem for future retirees and get people to save more? +p3423 +aVBut Senator Graham... +p3424 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. Thank you, Senator Graham. Governor Jindal, you've been a strong supporter of for-profit colleges. These are institutions that educate many veterans, minorities and working class Americans. They make up about 11 percent of the college population at these schools, but they account for 44 percent of student loan defaults. Should for-profit schools be held accountable when they take taxpayer money and leave students deep in debt? +p3425 +asVSANDERS +p3426 +(lp3427 +VWell, Gwen and Judy, thank you very much for hosting this event. And, PBS, thank you. Nine months ago, our campaign began. And when it began, we had no political organization, no money, and not much name recognition outside of the state of Vermont. A lot has happened in nine months. And what has happened is, I think, the American people have responded to a series of basic truths, and that is that we have today a campaign finance system which is corrupt, which is undermining American democracy, which allows Wall Street and billionaires to pour huge sums of money into the political process to elect the candidates of their choice. And aligned with a corrupt campaign finance system is a rigged economy. And that's an economy where ordinary Americans are working longer hours for low wagers. They are worried to death about the future of their kids. And yet they are seeing almost all new income and all new wealth going to the top 1 percent. And then in addition to that, the American people are looking around and they see a broken criminal justice system. They see more people in jail in the United States of America than any other country on earth, 2.2 million. We're spending $80 billion a year locking up fellow Americans. They see kids getting arrested for marijuana, getting in prison, getting a criminal record, while they see executives on Wall Street who pay billions of dollars in settlements and get no prosecution at all. No criminal records for them. I think what our campaign is indicating is that the American people are tired of establishment politics, tired of establishment economics. They want a political revolution in which millions of Americans stand up, come together, not let the Trumps of the world divide us, and say, you know what, in this great country, we need a government that represents all of us, not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors. Thank you. +p3428 +aVWell, to put that in a context, Judy, I think we have to understand that in the last 30 years in this country there has been a massive transfer of wealth going from the hands of working families into the top one-tenth of 1% whose percentage of wealth has doubled. In other words, the very rich are getting richer, almost everybody is going \u2014 getting poorer. What I believe is the United States, in fact, should join the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee healthcare to all people. Our Medicare for all single-payer proposal will save the average middle class family $5,000 a year. I do believe that in the year 2016 we have to look in terms of public education as colleges as part of public education making public colleges and universities tuition free. I believe that when real unemployment is close to 10%, and when our infrastructure, our roads, our bridges, our water systems, Flint, Michigan comes to mind. Our waste water plants, our rail, our airports, in many places are disintegrating. Yeah, we can create 13 million jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure at a cost of a trillion dollars. +p3429 +aV... Of course there will be a limit, but when today you have massive levels of income and wealth inequality, when the middle class is disappearing, you have the highest rate of child poverty of almost any major country on Earth. Yes, in my view, the government of a democratic society has a moral responsibility to play a vital role in making sure all of our people have a decent standard of living. +p3430 +aVWell, let us level with the American people. Secretary Clinton has been going around the country saying Bernie Sanders wants to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, people are going to lose their MedicAid, they're going to lose their +p3431 +aVThat is absolutely inaccurate. Look, here is the reality, folks. There is one major country on Earth that does not guarantee health care to all people. There is one major country \u2014 the United States \u2014 which ends up spending almost three times per capita what they do in the U.K. guaranteeing health care to all people, 50 percent more than they do in France guaranteeing health care to all people, far more than our Canadian neighbors, who guarantee health care to all people. Please do not tell me that in this country, if \u2014 and here's the if \u2014 we have the courage to take on the drug companies, and have the courage to take on the insurance companies, and the medical equipment suppliers, if we do that, yes, we can guarantee health care to all people in a much more cost effective way. +p3432 +aVWell, Secretary Clinton, you're not in the White House yet. And let us be clear that every proposal that I have introduced has been paid for. For example, all right, who in America denies that we have an infrastructure that is crumbling? Roads, bridges, water systems, wastewater plants, who denies that? Who denies that real unemployment today, including those who have given up looking for work and are working part-time is close to 10 percent? Who denies that African-American youth unemployment, real, is over 50 percent. We need to create jobs. So yes, I will do away with the outrageous loopholes that allow profitable multinational corporations to stash billions of dollars in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda and in a given year pay zero, zero in federal income tax. Yes, I'm going to do away with that. We will use those proceeds, a hundred billion a year, to invest in rebuilding our infrastructure. Yes, I believe that as a result of the illegal behavior on Wall Street, that they are a Wall Street that drove this country into the worst economic downturn since the Great Recession \u2014 Great Depression. Yes, I do believe that now after the American people bailed Wall Street out, yes, they should pay a Wall Street speculation tax so that we can make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We bailed them out. Now it is their time to help the middle class. +p3433 +aVA brief response. +p3434 +aVHere is where we are with public education. A 100, 150 years ago incredibly brave Americans said, you know what, working class kids, low income kids should not have to work in factories or on the farms. Like rich kids, they deserve to get a free education. And that free education of extraordinary accomplishment was from first grade to 12th grade. The world has changed. This is 2016. In many ways, a college degree today is equivalent to what a high school degree was 50, 60 years ago. So, yes, I do believe that when we talk about public education in America, today, in a rapidly changing world, we should have free tuition at public colleges and universities. That should be a right of all Americans regardless of the income of their families. +p3435 +aVLook, we are fighting for every vote that we can get from women, from men, straight, gay, African-Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans. We are trying to bring America together around an agenda that works for working families and the middle class. I am very proud, if my memory is not correct \u2014 I think I am \u2014 that I have a lifetime \u2014 and I've been in Congress a few years \u2014 a lifetime 100 percent pro-choice voting record. I am very proud that over the years we have had the support in my state of Vermont from very significant majorities of women. I'm very proud that I support legislation that is currently in the Congress, got support of almost all progressive Democrats in the House and Senate, which says we will end the absurdity of women today making 79 cents on the dollar compared to men. And we will join the rest of the other \u2014 the industrialized world in saying that paid family and medical leave should be a right of all working families. +p3436 +aVWell, you know, I think, from a historical point of view, somebody with my background, somebody with my views, somebody who has spent his entire life taking on the big money interests, I think a Sanders victory would be of some historical accomplishment, as well. +p3437 +aVLet me concur with the secretary, no question women's rights are under fierce attack all over this country. And I will tell you something that really galls me. I will not shock anybody to suggest that in politics there is occasionally a little bit of hypocrisy. Just a little bit. All over this country we have Republican candidates for president saying we hate the government. Government is the enemy. We're going to cut Social Security to help you. We're going to cut Medicare and Medicaid, federal aid to education to help you, because the government is so terrible. But, by the way, when it comes to a woman having to make a very personal choice, ah, in that case, my Republican colleagues love the government and want the government to make that choice for every woman in America. If that's not hypocrisy, I don't know what hypocrisy is. +p3438 +aVThis is one of the great tragedies in our country today. And we can no longer continue to sweep it under the rug. It has to be dealt with. Today a male African-American baby born today stands a one-in-four chance of ending up in jail. That is beyond unspeakable. So what we have to do is the radical reform of a broken criminal justice system. What we have to do is end over-policing in African-American neighborhoods. The reality is that both the African-American community and the white community do marijuana at about equal rates. The reality is four times as many blacks get arrested for marijuana. Truth is that far more blacks get stopped for traffic violations. The truth is that sentencing for blacks is higher than for whites. We need fundamental police reform, clearly, clearly, when we talk about a criminal justice system. I would hope that we could all agree that we are sick and tired of seeing videos on television of unarmed people, often African-Americans, shot by police officers. What we have got to do is make it clear that any police officer who breaks the law will, in fact, be held accountable. +p3439 +aVNothing that Secretary Clinton said do I disagree with. This mandatory sentencing, a very bad idea. It takes away discretion from judges. We have got to demilitarize local police departments so they do not look like occupying armies. We have got to make sure that local police departments look like the communities they serve in their diversity. And, where we are failing abysmally is in the very high rate of recidivism we see. People are being released from jail without the education, without the job training, without the resources that they need to get their lives together, then they end up \u2014 we're shocked that they end up back in jail again. So, we have a lot of work to do. But, here is a pledge I've made throughout this campaign, and it's really not a very radical pledge. When we have more people in jail, disproportionately African American and Latino, than China does, a communist authoritarian society four times our size. Here's my promise, at the end of my first term as president we will not have more people in jail than any other country. We will invest in education, and jobs for our kids, not incarceration and more jails. +p3440 +aVWell, I think, Judy, what has to be appreciated is that, as a result of the disastrous and illegal behavior on Wall Street, millions of lives were hurt. People lost their jobs, their homes, their life savings. Turns out that the African-American community and the Latino community were hit especially hard. As I understand it, the African-American community lost half of their wealth as a result of the Wall Street collapse. So when you have childhood African-American poverty rates of 35 percent, when you have youth unemployment at 51 percent, when you have unbelievable rates of incarceration \u2014 which, by the way, leaves the children back home without a dad or even a mother \u2014 clearly, we are looking at institutional racism. We are looking at an economy in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. And sadly, in America today, in our economy, a whole lot of those poor people are African-American. +p3441 +aVAbsolutely, because what we will do is say, instead of giving tax breaks to billionaires, we are going to create millions of jobs for low-income kids so they're not hanging out on street corners. We're going to make sure that those kids stay in school or are able to get a college education. And I think when you give low-income kids \u2014 African-American, white, Latino kids \u2014 the opportunities to get their lives together, they are not going to end up in jail. They're going to end up in the productive economy, which is where we want them. +p3442 +aVWhite people? +p3443 +aVYeah, you can, because African-Americans and Latinos not only face the general economic crises of low wages, and high unemployment, and poor educational opportunities, but they face other problems, as well. So, yes, we can talk about it as a racial issue. But it is a general economic issue. And here's what the economic issue is. The wages that high school graduates receive today are significantly less, whether you are white or black, than they used to be. Why is that? Because of a series of disastrous trade policies which have allowed corporate America through +p3444 +aVThe answer is yes. We've got 11 million undocumented people in this country. I have talked to some of the young kids with tears rolling down their cheeks, are scared to death that today they may or their parents may be deported. I believe that we have got to pass comprehensive immigration reform, something that I strongly supported. I believe that we have got to move toward a path toward citizenship. I agree with President Obama who used executive orders to protect families because the Congress, the House was unable or refused to act. And in fact I would go further. What would motivate me and what would be the guiding light for me in terms of immigration reform, Judy, is to bring families together, not divide them up. And let me say this also. Somebody who is very fond of the president, agrees with him most of the time, I disagree with his recent deportation policies. And I would not support those. Bottom line is a path towards citizenship for 11 million undocumented people, if Congress doesn't do the right thing, we use the executive orders of the president. +p3445 +aVSecretary Clinton, I do have a disagreement here. If my memory is correct, I think when we saw children coming from these horrendous, horrendously violent areas of Honduras and neighboring countries, people who are fleeing drug violence and cartel violence, I thought it was a good idea to allow those children to stay in this country. That was not, as I understand it, the secretary's position. In terms of 2007 immigration reform, yeah, I did vote against it. I voted against it because the Southern Poverty Law Center, among other groups, said that the guest-worker programs that were embedded in this agreement were akin to slavery. Akin to slavery, where people came into this country to do guest work were abused, were exploited, and if they stood up for their rights, they'd be thrown out of this country. So it wasn't just me who opposed it. It was +p3446 +aVWell, let me just respond. I worked with Ted Kennedy. He was the chairman of my committee. And I loved Ted Kennedy. But on this issue, when you have one of the large Latino organizations in America saying vote no, and you have the AFL-CIO saying vote no, and you have leading progressive Democrats, in fact, voting no, I don't apologize for that vote. But in terms of the children, I don't know to whom you're sending a message. Who are you sending a message to? These are children who are leaving countries and neighborhoods where their lives are at stake. That was the fact. I don't think we use them to send a message. I think we welcome them into this country and do the best we can to help them get their lives together. +p3447 +aVOK. You know, you judge a nation not by the number of millionaires and billionaires it has, but by how you treat, we treat, the most vulnerable and fragile people in our nation. And by those standards, we're not doing particularly well. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty among almost any major country on Earth. And in terms of seniors, there are millions of seniors \u2014 and I've talked to them in my state of Vermont and all over this country \u2014 who are trying to get by on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year Social Security. And you know what? You do the arithmetic. You can't get by on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year. And here's an area where Secretary Clinton and I believe we have a difference. I have long supported the proposition that we should lift the cap on taxable income coming into the Social Security Trust Fund, starting at $250,000. And when we \u2014 and when we do that, we don't do what the Republicans want, which is to cut Social Security. We do what the American people want, to expand Social Security by $1,300 a year for people under $16,000, and we extend the life of Social Security for 58 years. Yes, the wealthiest people, the top 1.5 percent, will pay more in taxes. But a great nation like ours should not be in a position where elderly people are cutting their pills in half, where they don't have decent nutrition, where they can't heat their homes in the wintertime. That is not what America should be about. If elected president, I will do everything I can to expand Social Security benefits, not just for seniors, but for disabled veterans, as well. +p3448 +aVIn all due respect......In all due respect, Secretary Clinton, a lot of the progressive groups, the online groups have really asked you a simple question. Are you coming onboard a proposal? And what is that proposal? Now, the proposal that I have outlined, you know, should be familiar to you, because it is what essentially Barack Obama campaigned on in 2008. You opposed him then. I would hope that you would come onboard and say that this is the simple and straightforward thing to do. We're asking the top 1.5 percent, including passive income, to start paying a little bit more so that the elderly and disabled vets in this country can live with security and dignity. I hope you will make a decision soon on this. +p3449 +aVThat's my bill. Check it out. +p3450 +aVWhat we are talking about in reality is a corrupt campaign finance system, that's what we're talking about. We have to be honest about it. It is undermining American democracy. When extraordinarily wealthy people make very large contributions to Super PACs, and in many cases in this campaign, Super PACs have raised more money than individual candidates have, OK? We had a decision to make early on, do we do a Super PAC? And, we said no. We don't represent Wall Street, we don't represent the billionaire class, so it ends up I'm the only candidate up here of the many candidates who has no Super PAC. But, what we did is we said to the working families of this country, look, we know things are tough, but if you want to help us go beyond establishment politics, and establishment economics, send us something. And, it turns out that up until \u2014 and this has blown me away, never in a million years would I have believed that I would be standing here tonight telling you that we have received three and a half million individual contributions from well over a million people. Now, Secretary Clinton's Super PAC, as I understand it, received $25 million dollars last reporting period, $15 million dollars from Wall Street. Our average contribution is $27 dollars, I'm very proud of that. +p3451 +aVThe people aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street... But let's not \u2014 but let's not \u2014 let's not insult \u2014 let's not insult the intelligence of the American people. People aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street make huge campaign contributions? I guess just for the fun of it; they want to throw money around. Why does the pharmaceutical industry make huge campaign contributions? Any connection maybe to the fact that our people pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs? Why does the fossil fuel industry pay \u2014 spend huge amounts of money on campaign contributions? Any connection to the fact that not one Republican candidate for president thinks and agrees with the scientific community that climate change is real and that we have got to transform our energy system? And when we talk about Wall Street, let's talk about Wall Street. I voted for Dodd-Frank, got an important amendment in it. In my view, it doesn't go anywhere near far enough. But when we talk about Wall Street, you have Wall Street and major banks have paid $200 billion in fines since the great crash. No Wall Street executive has been prosecuted. +p3452 +aVLet me, you know, again, respectfully disagree with Secretary Clinton here. When you have three out of the four largest financial institutions in this country bigger today than they were when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, when you have six financial institutions having assets equivalent to 58 percent of the GDP of America, while issuing two-thirds of the credit cards and a third of the mortgages, look, I think if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, that great trust-buster would have said break them up. I think he would have been right. I think he would have said bring back a 21st-century Glass-Steagall legislation. I think that would have been right, as well. That's my view. +p3453 +aVHey, I'm in the United States Senate, and anyone who doesn't think that there is an enormous amount of waste and inefficiency and bureaucracy throughout government would be very, very mistaken. I believe in government, but I believe in efficient government, not wasteful government. +p3454 +aVIf I could just answer that, we have also got to take a look at the waste and inefficiencies in the Department of Defense, which is the one major agency of government that has not been able to be audited. And I have the feeling you're going to find a lot of cost overruns there and a lot of waste and duplicative activities. +p3455 +aVLet me \u2014 let me just say this. What a President of the United States has got to do and what is his or her major, I think, responsibility is to, a, make certain that we keep our people safe, that we work with allies around the world to protect democratic values, that we do all that we can to create a world of peace and prosperity. I voted against the war in Iraq because I listened very carefully to what President Bush and Vice President Cheney had to say and I didn't believe them. And if you go to my Web site,berniesanders.com, what you find is not only going to help lead the opposition to that war, but much of what I feared would happen when I spoke on the floor of the House, in fact, did happen in terms of the instability that occurred. Now I think an area in kind of a vague way, or not so vague, where Secretary Clinton and I disagree is the area of regime change. Look, the truth is that a powerful nation like the United States, certainly working with our allies, we can overthrow dictators all over the world. And God only knows Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator. We could overthrow Assad tomorrow if we wanted to. We got rid of Gadhafi. But the point about foreign policy is not just to know that you can overthrow a terrible dictator, it's to understand what happens the day after. And in Libya, for example, the United States, Secretary Clinton, as secretary of state, working with some other countries, did get rid of a terrible dictator named Gadhafi. But what happened is a political vacuum developed. +p3456 +aVJudy, if I can, there is no question, Secretary Clinton and I are friends, and I have a lot of respect for her, that she has enormous experience in foreign affairs. Secretary of state for four years. You've got a bit of experience, I would imagine. But judgment matters as well. Judgment matters as well. And she and I looked at the same evidence coming from the Bush administration regarding Iraq. I lead the opposition against it. She voted for it. But more importantly, in terms of this Libya resolution that you have noted before, this was a virtually unanimous consent. Everybody voted for it wanting to see Libya move toward democracy, of course we all wanted to do that. That is very different than talking about specific action for regime change, which I did not support. +p3457 +aVJudy, one area very briefly... +p3458 +aVWhere the secretary and I have a very profound difference, in the last debate \u2014 and I believe in her book \u2014 very good book, by the way \u2014 in her book and in this last debate, she talked about getting the approval or the support or the mentoring of Henry Kissinger. Now, I find it rather amazing, because I happen to believe that Henry Kissinger was one of the most destructive secretaries of state in the modern history of this country. I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend. I will not take advice from Henry Kissinger. And in fact, Kissinger's actions in Cambodia, when the United States bombed that country, overthrew Prince Sihanouk, created the instability for Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge to come in, who then butchered some 3 million innocent people, one of the worst genocides in the history of the world. So count me in as somebody who will not be listening to Henry Kissinger. +p3459 +aVWell, it ain't Henry Kissinger. That's for sure. +p3460 +aVIt is. +p3461 +aVI find \u2014 I mean, it's just a very different, you know, historical perspective here. Kissinger was one of those people during the Vietnam era who talked about the domino theory. Not everybody remembers that. You do. I do. The domino theory, you know, if Vietnam goes, China, da, da, da, da, da, da, da. That's what he talked about, the great threat of China. And then, after the war, this is the guy who, in fact, yes, you're right, he opened up relations with China, and now pushed various type of trade agreements, resulting in American workers losing their jobs as corporations moved to China. The terrible, authoritarian, Communist dictatorship he warned us about, now he's urging companies to shut down and move to China. Not my kind of guy. +p3462 +aVWell, this is what I would say. It is a complicated relationship. I congratulate Secretary of State John Kerry and the president for working on this agreement. As you've indicated, what is happening in Syria, the number of people, the hundreds of thousands of people who have been killed \u2014 men, women, 20,000 children, the people who are forced to flee their own country \u2014 their own country \u2014 it is unspeakable. It is a real horror. Now, what I think is that right now we have got to do our best in developing positive relations with Russia. But let's be clear: Russia's aggressive actions in the Crimea and in Ukraine have brought about a situation where President Obama and +p3463 +aVLet me just \u2014 just say this. For a start, the secretary and I disagree \u2014 and I think the president does not agree with her \u2014 in terms of the concept of a no-fly zone in Syria. I think you do have a humanitarian tragedy there, as I mentioned a moment ago. I applaud Secretary Kerry and the president for trying to put together this agreement. Let's hope that it holds. But furthermore, what we have got to do, I'm sorry, yes, I do believe that we have got to do everything that we can, and it will not happen tomorrow. But I do hope that in years to come, just as occurred with Cuba, 10, 20 years ago, people would say, reach normalized relations with Cuba. And by the way, I hope we can end the trade embargo with Cuba as well. But the idea that we some day maybe have decent relations with Iran, maybe put pressure on them so they end their support for terrorism around the world, yes, that is something I want to achieve. And I believe that the best way to do that is to be aggressive, to be principled, but to have the goal of trying to improve relations. That's how you make peace in the world. You sit down and you work with people, you make demands of people, in this case demanding Iran stop the support of international terrorism. +p3464 +aVWe have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of work to do. But I recall when Secretary Clinton ran against then-Senator Obama, she was critical of him for suggesting that maybe you want to talk to Iran, that you want to talk to our enemies. I have no illusion. Of course you are right. Iran is sponsoring terrorism in many parts of the world, destabilizing areas. Everybody knows that. But our goal is, in fact, to try over a period of time to, in fact, deal with our enemies, not just ignore that reality. +p3465 +aVNo, I think the idea was that president \u2014 then-Senator Obama was wrong for suggesting that it is a good idea to talk to your opponents. It's easier to talk to your friends. It's harder to talk to your enemies. I think we should do both. +p3466 +aVA couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to go on a congressional delegation. And I went to one of these Turkish refugee camps right on the border of Syria. And what a sad sight that was: Men, women, children forced out of their homes. And Turkey, by the way, did a very decent thing, providing what was reasonable housing and conditions for those people. It seems to me that given our history as a nation that has been a beacon of hope for the oppressed, for the downtrodden, that I very strongly disagree with those Republican candidates who say, you know what, we've got to turn our backs on women and children who left their home with nothing, nothing at all. That is not what America is supposed to be about. So I believe that working with Europe \u2014 and, by the way, you know, we've got some very wealthy countries there in that part of the world. You got Kuwait and you got Qatar and you got Saudi Arabia. They have a responsibility, as well. But I think this is a worldwide \u2014 that the entire world needs to come together to deal with this horrific refugee crisis we're seeing from Syria and Afghanistan, as well. +p3467 +aVYou know, Franklin Delano Roosevelt took the oath of office in 1933 at a time when 25 percent of the American people were unemployed, country was in incredible despair. And he stood before the American people and he said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself," a profound statement that gave the American people the courage to believe that, yes, we could get out of that terrible depression. And then what he did is redefine the role of government. You know, you had Herbert Hoover before that saying, no, we got to only worry about the deficit. So what if mass unemployment exists? So what if children are going hungry? That's not the role of the government. And when FDR said, "Yeah, it is," that we're going to use all of the resources that we have to create jobs, to build homes, to feed people, to protect the farmers, we are a nation which if we come together there is nothing that we could not accomplish. And kind of \u2014 that's what I see our campaign is about right now. In this particular moment of serious crises, saying to the American people don't give up on the political process. don't listen to the Trumps of the world and allowing them to divide us. If we reengage and get involved, yeah, we can have health care for all people, we can make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We do not have to have massive levels of income and wealth inequality. In the same light, as the foreign leader, Winston Churchill's politics were not my politics. He was kind of a conservative guy in many respects. But nobody can deny that as a wartime leader, he rallied the British people when they stood virtually alone against the Nazi juggernaut and rallied them and eventually won an extraordinary victory. Those are two leaders that I admire very much. +p3468 +aVThat is......Madam Secretary, that is a low blow. I have worked with President Obama for the last seven years. When President Obama came into office we were losing 800,000 jobs a month, 800,000 jobs a month. We had a $1.4 trillion deficit. And the world's financial system is on the verge of collapse. As a result of his efforts and the efforts of Joe Biden against unprecedented, I was there in the Senate, unprecedented Republican obstructionism, we have made enormous progress. But you know what? Last I heard we lived in a democratic society. Last I heard, a United States senator had the right to disagree with the president, including a president who has done such an extraordinary job. So I have voiced criticisms. You're right. Maybe you haven't. I have. But I think to suggest that I have voiced criticism, this blurb that you talk about, you know what the blurb said? The blurb said that the next president of the United States has got to be aggressive in bringing people into the political process. That's what I said. That is what I believe. President Obama and I are friends. As you know, he came to Vermont to campaign for me when he was a senator. I have worked for his re-election. His first election and his re-election. But I think it is really unfair to suggest that I have not been supportive of the president. I have been a strong ally with him on virtually every issue. Do senators have the right to disagree with the president? Have you ever disagreed with a president? I suspect you may have. +p3469 +aVWell, one of us ran against Barack Obama. I was not that candidate. All right, look, this has been a great debate. A lot of interesting issues have come together. Let me conclude by just saying this. There is no president, in my view, not Hillary Clinton, not Bernie Sanders, who has the capability or the power to take on Wall Street, large campaign donors, the corporate media, the big money interests in this country alone. This campaign is not just about electing a president. What this campaign is about is creating a process for a political revolution in which millions of Americans, working people who have given up on the political process, they don't think anybody hears their pains or their concerns. Young people for whom getting involved in politics is as, you know, it's like going to the moon. It ain't going to happen. Low income people who are not involved in the political process. What this campaign is not only about electing someone who has the most progressive agenda, it is about bringing tens of millions of people together to demand that we have a government that represents all of us and not just the 1 percent, who today have so much economic and political power. Thank you all very much. +p3470 +aVRachel, thank you very much. Millions of Americans are giving up on the political process. And they're giving up on the political process because they understand the economy is rigged. They are working longer hours for low wages. They're worried about the future of their kids, and yet almost all new income and wealth is going to the top 1 percent. Not what America is supposed to be about. Not the fairness that we grew up believing that America was about. And then sustaining that rigged economy is a corrupt campaign finance system undermining American democracy, where billionaire, Wall Street, corporate America can contribute unlimited sums of money into super PACs and into candidates. Our job, together, is to end a rigged economy, create an economy that works for all, and absolutely overturn Citizens United. One person, one vote. That's what American democracy is about. +p3471 +aVWell, I haven't quite run for president before. Let's deal with some of the comments that Secretary Clinton made. And by the way, you know, sometimes there's a lot of drama here. I have known Secretary Clinton for 25 years and respect her very much. Here is the issue. Every major country on earth, whether it's the U.K., whether it's France, whether it's Canada, has managed to provide healthcare to all people as a right and they are spending significantly less per capita on health care than we are. So I do not accept the belief that the United States of America can't do that. I do not accept the belief that the United States of America and our government can't stand up to the ripoffs of the pharmaceutical industry which charge us by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. Number two, in the economy today, everybody understands that we need a well educated workforce. This is 2016. When we talk about public education, it can no longer be K through 12th grade. I do believe that public colleges and universities should be tuition free. Well, how do we pay for that? It's an expensive proposition. I do believe that we should substantially lower student debt in this country, which is crushing millions of people. We pay for it, in my view, by a tax on Wall Street speculation. The middle class bailed out Wall Street in their time of need. Now, it is Wall Street's time to help the middle class. +p3472 +aVLet me... +p3473 +aV... this is a good discussion here. +p3474 +aVAnd let me just say this. As Secretary Clinton may know, I am on the Health Education Labor Committee. That committee wrote the Affordable Care Act. The idea I would dismantle health care in America while we're waiting to pass a Medicare for all is just not accurate. The Affordable Care Act has clearly, as Secretary Clinton made the point, done a lot of good things, but, what it has not done is dealt with the fact we have 29 million people today who have zero health insurance, we have even more who are underinsured with large deductibles and copayments and prescription drug prices are off the wall. So I do believe that in the future, not by dismantling what we have here\u2014I helped write that bill\u2014but by moving forward, rallying the American people, I do believe we should have health care for all. +p3475 +aVNo, not at all. Here's the reality of American economic life today. The reality is that we have one of lowest voter turnouts of any major country on earth because so many people have given up on the political process. The reality is that there has been trillions of dollars of wealth going from the middle class in the last 30 years to the top 1/10th of 1 percent. The reality is we that have a corrupt campaign finance system which separates the American people's needs and desires from what Congress is doing. So to my mind, what we have got to do is wage a political revolution where millions of people have given up on the political process, stand up and fight back, demand the government that represents us and not just a handful of campaign contribution\u2014contributors. Now all of the ideas that I'm talking about, they are not radical ideas. Making public colleges and universities tuition free, that exists in countries all over the world, used to exist in the United States. Rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, and creating 13 million jobs by doing away with tax loopholes that large corporations now enjoy by putting their money into the Cayman Islands and other tax havens. That is not a radical idea. What we need to do is to stand up to the big money interests, and the campaign contributors. When we do that, we can, in fact, transform America. +p3476 +aVLet me just pick up on this point. This whole discussion began because I commented, not making overall evaluation about the Secretary. She was in Ohio, I think, in September or November and she got up and said something like, I have been\u2014I'm paraphrasing, I have been criticized because people think I'm a moderate. Well, I am a moderate. That's where this came from. It wasn't me paraphrasing her. It is what she said, and all that I said was there's nothing wrong with being a moderate. But, you can't be a moderate, you can't a progressive. In terms of President Obama, I think if we remember where this country was seven years ago, 800,000 jobs being lost every month, $1.4 trillion dollar deficit. The world's financial system on the verge of collapse. I think that President Obama, Vice President Biden, and the Democratic leadership in the House and the Senate have done a fantastic job. We are in much better shape than we were seven years ago, although my Republican colleagues seem to have forgotten where we were seven years ago. That's the fact, but, we still have a very long way to go. Do I think President Obama is a progressive? Yes, I do. I disagree with him on a number of issues including the trade agreement. But, yes, I think he has done an excellent job. +p3477 +aVThat's right, I mean, instead of arguing about definitions, let's talk about... +p3478 +aV... What we should do, and one of the things we should do is not only talk the talk, but walk the walk. I am very proud to be the only candidate up here who does not have a Super PAC, who's not raising huge sums of money from Wall Street...... And special interests. I am enormously proud. Never believed it would happen that we have raised 3.5 million individual contributions, averaging $27 dollars a piece. That is what the political revolution means. +p3479 +aVWell, Rachel, actually, that wasn't accurate. In 1988 the Republican did win, I believe, by 3 points. I came in second. It was 34-31, I think, 19 for the Democrat. In that race the Democrat was the spoiler, not me. And it is true......it is true, it's not to be denied, I am the longest- serving independent in the history of the United States Congress. People of Vermont sent me to Washington as an independent. That is true. But on the other hand, I have\u2014when I was in the House for 16 years, I caucused with the Democrats. In the Senate for nine years caucused with the Democrats, of course. And I was elected by the Democrats to be chair of the Veterans Committee three years ago, which I'm very proud of. And now am the rankings member on the Budget Committee, leader of the Democrats in opposition to the majority Republicans. I am running for president as a Democrat. And if elected, not only do I hope to bring forth a major change in national priorities, but let me be frank, I do want to see major changes in the Democratic Party. I want to see working people and young people come into the party in a way that doesn't exist now. And you know what, I want a 50-state strategy so the Democratic Party is not just the party of 25 states. +p3480 +aVWell, I don't see it quite like that. +p3481 +aVI am\u2014will absolutely admit that Secretary Clinton has the support of far more governors, mayors, members of the House. She has the entire establishment or almost the entire establishment behind her. That's a fact. I don't deny it. But I am pretty proud that we have over a million people who have contributed to our campaign averaging 27 bucks apiece. That we have had meetings where 25,000-30,000 people have come out. That our campaign is a campaign of the people, by the people, and for the people. So, Rachel, yes, Secretary Clinton does represent the establishment. I represent, I hope, ordinary Americans, and by the way, who are not all that enamored with the establishment, but I am very proud to have people like Keith Ellison and Raul Grijalva in the House, the co-chairmen of the House Progressive Caucus. +p3482 +aVWhat being part of the establishment is, is, in the last quarter, having a super PAC that raised $15 million from Wall Street, that throughout one's life raised a whole lot of money from the drug companies and other special interests. To my mind, if we do not get a handle on money in politics and the degree to which big money controls the political process in this country, nobody is going to bring about the changes that is needed in this country for the middle class and working families. +p3483 +aVWhat... +p3484 +aV... you know... +p3485 +aV. +p3486 +aVLet's talk about\u2014OK, let's talk... +p3487 +aV... let us talk about issues. +p3488 +aVLet's talk about issues. +p3489 +aVLet's... +p3490 +aV... let's\u2014let's\u2014let's talk about issues. +p3491 +aVLet's talk\u2014let's talk about issues, all right? Let's talk about why, in the 1990s, Wall Street got deregulated. Did it have anything to do with the fact that Wall Street provided\u2014spent billions of dollars on lobbying and campaign contributions? Well, some people might think, yeah, that had some influence. Let's ask why it is that we pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, and your medicine can be doubled tomorrow, and there's nothing that the government can do to stop it. You think it has anything to do with the huge amounts of campaign contributions and lobbying from the fossil fuel industry? Let's talk about climate change. Do you think there's a reason why not one Republican has the guts to recognize that climate change is real, and that we need to transform our energy system? Do you think it has anything to do with the Koch brothers and ExxonMobil pouring huge amounts of money into the political system? That is what goes on in America. I am not\u2014I like......there is a reason. You know, there is a reason why these people are putting huge amounts of money into our political system. And in my view, it is undermining American democracy and it is allowing Congress to represent wealthy campaign contributors and not the working families of this country. +p3492 +aVI think as Secretary Clinton knows, there is nobody who fought harder. I was on the House Financial Committee at that time. I heard the arguments coming from Democrats and Republicans\u2014Robert Rubin, Alan Greenspan\u2014about great an idea it would be if we did away with Glass-Steagall and if we allowed investor banks and commercial banks and big insurance companies to merge. Go to YouTube today. Look up Greenspan-Sanders. Listen to what I told them then. I helped lead the effort against deregulation. Unfortunately, we lost that. The result is\u2014was the worst financial disaster since the Great Depression. +p3493 +aVChuck, actually we looked at it, but it turns out to be a disaster. The way it is structured right now, if you make it all the way to California, you could do pretty well. But in terms of the early states\u2014Iowa, New Hampshire, the other states\u2014it just doesn't work. Your point is well taken. I believe in public funding of elections, absolutely. But this system is\u2014I don't know if the secretary would agree\u2014is currently very antiquated and no longer applies to modern day politics. +p3494 +aVBut if the... +p3495 +aVLet me just say this. Wall Street is perhaps the most powerful economic and political force in this country. You have companies like Goldman Sachs, who just recently paid a settlement fine with the federal government for $5 billion for defrauding investors. Goldman Sachs was one of those companies whose illegal activity helped destroy our economy and ruin the lives of millions of Americans. But this is what a rigged economy and a corrupt campaign finance system and a broken criminal justice is about. These guys are so powerful that not one of the executives on Wall Street has been charged with anything after paying, in this case of Goldman Sachs, a $5 billion fine. Kid gets caught with marijuana, that kid has a police record. A Wall Street executive destroys the economy, $5 billion settlement with the government, no criminal record. That is what power is about. That is what corruption is about. And that is what has to change in the United States of America. +p3496 +aVI would say that\u2014that folks who have looked at this issue for a long time, whether it's Elizabeth Warren or many other economists, will tell you that right now, yes, we do need a 21st century Glass-Steagall legislation. And I would tell you also that when you have three out of the four largest banks in America today, bigger than they were\u2014significantly bigger than when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, I think if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, a good Republican by the way, what he would say is: Break them up; they are too powerful economically; they are too powerful politically. And that is what I believe and many economists believe. Time to break them up. +p3497 +aVWell, we've had a number of economists supporting our legislation. And here's where we are. The American people can judge. Six largest financial institutions in America today have assets of roughly $10 trillion; equivalent to 58 percent of the GDP of the United States of America. That is a lot of money. They issue two thirds of the credit cards, and by the way they're ripping off a whole lot of people with high interest rates on the credit cards, and they write about one third of the mortgages. That is a lot of power for six financial institutions. That's it. I think it is too much power. Too much economic power, too much political power, and the economists that I talk to say we should break them up. +p3498 +aVYeah, I do. I agree with much of what the Secretary said, but, madam Secretary, it is not one streak. Wall Street is an entity of unbelievable economic and political power. That's a fact. And, I want to say something, and it may sound harsh, not to you, but to the American people. In a sense, in my view, the business model of Wall Street is fraud. It's fraud. I believe that corruption is rampant, and the fact that major bank after major bank has reached multi billion dollar settlements with the United States government when we have a weak regulator system tells me that not only did we have to bail them out once, if we don't start breaking them up, we're going to have to bail them out again, and I do not want to see that happen... +p3499 +aVOf course I can work with them, but let's be clear. When I talked about Boeing and I talked about General Electric, what I was referring to is an outrage. I suspect the secretary agrees request me. Right now you have a loophole such that these guys are putting their profits, multi-billion dollar profitable corporations putting billions of dollars into the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, and other tax havens. And in a given year, Rachel, after making billions of dollars in profit, do you know how much they're paying in taxes to the United States government in a given year? Zero. Now explain to me how that makes any sense at all. So what I have said with regard to Boeing and GE and other multinationals that pay zero taxes, you know what we're going to do? We're going to end that loophole. They are going to pay their fair share of taxes. We're going to use that money to rebuild our infrastructure and create up to 13 million jobs. Can I work with corporations? Are there good corporations doing incredible cutting edge research and development? Absolutely they are. And we should be proud of them. But on the other hand, there are many corporations who have turned their backs on the American worker, who have said, if I can make another nickel in profit by going to China and shutting down in the United States of America, that's what I will do. I will do my best to transform our trade policy and take on these corporations who want to invest in low-income countries around the world rather than in the United States of America. +p3500 +aVOK. Let me agree with much of what the secretary said, but where we have a different background on this issue is we differ on the war in Iraq, which created barbaric organizations like +p3501 +aVWell, I think our great task is to make certain that our young men and women in the military do not get sucked into never- ending, perpetual warfare within the quagmire of Syria and Iraq. And I will do my very best to make sure that that doesn't happen. I agree with the secretary that I think what has to happen\u2014and let me just mention what King Abdullah of Jordan said. I think he hit the nail on the head. And what he said is essentially the war against +p3502 +aVWell, you can't simply withdraw tomorrow. Wish we could, and allow, you know, the Taliban or anybody else to reclaim that country. But what we must do, and what we have seen in recent months, is some progress in Iraq, where finally the Iraqi army, which has not been a particularly effective fighting force, retook Ramadi. +p3503 +aVWell, that's not quite accurate. I did give a speech at Georgetown where I talked about democratic socialism and foreign policy. Maybe I shouldn't have combined the two in the same speech, because the foreign policy part of it didn't get much attention. So, let me take this opportunity to give you a very short speech here on the issue. I think, while it is true that the secretary and I voted differently on the war in Iraq, what is important is that we learn the lesson of the war in Iraq. And that lesson is intrinsic to my foreign policy if elected president, is the United States cannot do it alone. We cannot be the policeman of the world. We are now spending more I believe than the next eight countries on defense. We have got to work in strong coalition with the major powers of the world and with those Muslim countries that are prepared to stand up and take on terrorism. So I would say that the key doctrine of the Sanders administration would be no, we cannot continue to do it alone; we need to work in coalition. +p3504 +aV I fully, fully concede that Secretary Clinton, who was secretary of State for four years, has more experience\u2014hat is not arguable\u2014in foreign affairs. But experience is not the only point, judgment is. And once again, back in 2002, when we both looked at the same evidence about the wisdom of the war in Iraq, one of us voted the right way and one of us didn't. In terms of Iran and in terms of Saudi Arabia, of course they hate each other. That's no great secret. But John Kerry, who is I think doing a very good job, has tried to at least get these people in the room together because both of them are being threatened by +p3505 +aVWell... +p3506 +aVWho said That think we should normalize relations with Iran tomorrow? I never said that. I think we should move forward as quickly as we can. And you're right. They are a sponsor of terrorism around the world and we have to address that. But you know, a number of years ago, people were saying normal relationship with Cuba, what a bad and silly idea. They're Communists, they are our enemy. Well guess what? Change has come. So please don't suggest that I think we normalize relations with Tehran tomorrow. We don't. But I would like to see us move forward, and hopefully some day that will happen. And I would say if I might, Madam Secretary\u2014and you can correct me if I'm wrong. When you ran against Senator Obama you thought him naive because he thought it was a good idea to talk to our enemies. I think those are exactly the people you have to talk to and you have to negotiate with. +p3507 +aVOK. +p3508 +aVI think President Obama had the right idea, and the bottom line is that of course there have to be conditions. But, of course it doesn't do us any good to not talk with our adversaries... +p3509 +aVJust to set the record straight, I very strongly supported the agreement which makes certain that Iran does not get a nuclear weapon. +p3510 +aV... +p3511 +aV +p3512 +aV... No, no... +p3513 +aV... +p3514 +aVClearly North Korea is a very strange situation because it is such an isolated country run by a handful of dictators, or maybe just one, who seems to be somewhat paranoid. And, who had nuclear weapons. And, our goal there, in my view, is to work and lean strongly on China to put as much pressure. China is one of the few major countries in the world that has significant support for North Korea, and I think we got to do everything we can to put pressure on China. I worry very much about an isolated, paranoid country with atomic bombs. I think, clearly, we got to work closely with China to resolve the serious problems we have, and I worry about Putin and his military adventurism in the Crimea and the Ukraine. +p3515 +aV... No, I don't. I worry very, very much about an isolated country. That's what makes me nervous. Russia lives in the world. China lives in the world. North Korea is a very, very strange country because it is so isolated, and I do feel that a nation with nuclear weapons, they have got to be dealt with. Dealt with effectively. +p3516 +aVLet me agree. You know, as the secretary knows, I chaired\u2014I had the privilege and the honor of chairing the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs. And it is interesting to me, you know, Republicans give a lot of speeches about how much they love veterans. I work with the American Legion, the VFW, the DAV, the Vietnam Vets, and virtually every veterans organization to put together the most comprehensive piece of the veterans legislation in the modern history of America. That's what I did. And I brought it to the floor of the Senate. Every Democrat voted for it, I got two Republicans. We ended up with 56 votes and I couldn't get the 60 votes that I needed. That is pathetic. This was legislation supported by all of the veterans organizations, addressing many of the serious problems that veterans face in health care and in how we deliver benefits to them. So Republicans talk a good game about veterans, but when it came to put money on the line to protect our veterans, frankly, they were not there. What I did next, Rachel, is I had to retreat a little bit, I had to compromise. I did work with John McCain. I did work with Jeff Miller over in the House. And we put together not the bill that I wanted, but probably the most comprehensive V.A. health care bill in the modern history of this country. Secretary Clinton is absolutely right, there are people, Koch brothers among others, who have a group called Concerned Veterans of America, funded by the Koch brothers. The Koch brothers, by the way, want to destroy Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, every governmental program passed since the 1930s. Yes, there are people out there who want to privatize it. The last point that I'd make. I had a hearing. I had all of the veterans groups in front of me. And I said to them, tell me when a veteran gets in to the V.A., understanding there are waiting lines and real problems, when a veteran gets into the system, is the quality of care good? Without exception, what they said, good, excellent, very good. We've got to strengthen the V.A. We do not privatize the V.A. +p3517 +aVWell, I agree with the Des Moines Register, but let's not blow this out of proportion. This is not a\u2014this is not, like, a winner-take-all thing. I think where we now stand\u2014correct me if I'm wrong\u2014you have 22 delegates, I have 20 delegates. We need 2,500 delegates to win the nomination. You know, so this is not\u2014this is not the biggest deal in the world. We think, by the way, based on talking to our precinct captains, we may have at least two more delegates. What the Des Moines Register said\u2014you know, there were coin\u2014I think there were half a dozen coin flips\u2014a fairly chaotic type situation. At the end of the day, no matter how it's recounted, it will break roughly even. And by the way, I love and respect the caucus process in Iowa. See, and I don't have to say it, because they voted already. And I love New Hampshire, too, because you haven't voted, but......but, look, I think people are blowing this up out of proportion. But I think we need improvements in the process by which results are determined. +p3518 +aVOh . See, when you are old, then they go back all these years. All right. What have you got? +p3519 +aVWell, you know, a general election is different than a primary and caucus process. But let me just say this. In terms of where we are right now, as you mention, Rachel, in a number of national and state, including New Hampshire. For example, the last poll I saw\u2014there may have been a new one\u2014last one I saw here in New Hampshire, a battleground state, had me defeating Trump by 19; the secretary defeating him by one. There were also pretty large margins in Iowa and Wisconsin. These are polls. Polls go up. Polls go down. But here's why I think I will be, if nominated, the strongest candidate. Democrats win when there is a large voter turnout; when people are excited; when working people, middle class people and young people are prepared to engage in the political process. Republicans win when people are demoralized and you have a small voter turnout, which by the way is why they love voter suppression. I believe that our campaign up to now has shown that we can create an enormous amount of enthusiasm from working people, from young people, who will get involved in the political process and which will drive us to a very large voter turnout. If there is a large voter turnout, not only do we retain the White House, but I think we regain the Senate. We win governors' chairs up and down the line. So I believe if you want to retain the White House, if you want to see Democrats do well across the board, I think our campaign is the one that creates the large voter turnout and helps us win. +p3520 +aV +p3521 +aVI am feeling exactly the way I felt at the first debate. There's a process under way. I will not politicize it. +p3522 +aVAnd by the way\u2014and by the way, if I may, the secretary probably doesn't know that there's not a day that goes by when I am not asked to attack her on that issue, and I have refrained from doing that and I will continue to refrain from doing that. +p3523 +aVNot losing control of our campaign. You know, we have hired a whole lot of people in a rapid way and I am familiar with the first two instances and they are unacceptable, and we have apologized and dealt with that. In terms of the last one, as I understand it, we did not suggest that we had the endorsement of a newspaper. Newspapers who make endorsements also say positive things about other candidates, and to the best of my knowledge, that is what we did. So we never said, never said that somebody, a newspaper endorsed us that did not. What we did say is blah blah blah blah was said by the newspaper. +p3524 +aVBut that was only for\u2014that was not to be on television. That's an important point. That was just something\u2014as the secretary knows, you put titles on ads and you send them out, but there was no word in that ad, none, that said that those newspapers had endorsed us. +p3525 +aV... Look, I hear what the Secretary said, and I understand, but look, there are\u2014all of us know that we have seen in recent years horrible, horrible crimes. It's hard to imagine how people can do, bomb, and kill 168 people in Oklahoma City, or do the Boston Marathon bombing, but this is what I believe, and for a couple of reasons. Number one, too many innocent people, including minorities, African Americans, have been executed when they were not guilty. That's number one. We have to be very careful about making sure about that. But, second of all, and maybe, in a deeper reason, of course there are barbaric acts out there. But, in a world of so much violence and killing, I just don't believe that government itself should be part of the killing. So, when somebody commits......somebody commits any of these terrible crimes that we have seen, you lock them up, and you toss away the key. They're never going to get out. But, I just don't' want to see government be part of killing. That's all. +p3526 +aVAbsolutely. I think the Secretary described the situation appropriately. You know, I don't go around asking for governor's resignations every day. In fact, I think I never have in my life. But I did ask for the resignation of Governor Snyder because his irresponsibility......was so outrageous. What we are talking about are children being poisoned. That's what we're talking about. We don't know, no one knows for sure because they haven't done the appropriate studies, but there's no question that kids' intellectual development may have been impacted. We don't know how many thousands. The idea that there has not been a dramatic response is beyond comprehension. And when you have one of the, I think, significant public health crises of recent years, of course the federal government comes in. And of course the federal government says, you're not going to be poisoning little kids and impacting their entire lives. Last point on this. And I suspect the secretary agrees. One wonders if this were a white suburban community what kind of response there would have been. Flint, Michigan, is a poor community. It is disproportionately African-American and minority. And what has happened there is absolutely unacceptable. +p3527 +aVAbsolutely right. +p3528 +aVChuck, I believe in trade, but I do not believe in unfettered free trade. I believe in fair trade which works for the middle class and working families of this country and not just large multinational corporations. I was not only in opposition to +p3529 +aVNo, let... +p3530 +aV... I am absolutely supportive of comprehensive immigration reform and a path towards citizenship for 11 million people today who are living in the shadows. All right? We got to do that. But you miss\u2014when you looked at the issues, you missed two of the most important. And that is you're not going to accomplish what has to be done for working families and the middle class unless there is campaign finance reform. So long as big money interests control the United States Congress, it is gonna be very hard to do what has to be done for working families. So let me be very clear. No nominee of mine, if I'm elected president, to the United States Supreme Court will get that nomination unless he or she is loud and clear, and says they will vote to overturn Citizens United. Second point\u2014second point is that the only way we make change in terms of health care, in terms of dealing with a broken criminal justice system which, today, allows us to have more people in jail than any other country\u2014largely African-American and Latino\u2014the only way we create millions of jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure or have a tax system that says to the wealthy that they are going to pay their fair share, is when millions of people become involved in the political process. No, you just can't negotiate with Mitch McConnell. Mitch is gonna have to look out the window and see a whole lot of people saying, "Mitch, stop representing the billionaire class. Start listening to working families." And as president, that's what I will work hard on. +p3531 +aVI agree with what the secretary said. We shouldn't be getting ahead of ourselves. And as I have said many times, you know, sometimes in these campaigns, things get a little bit out of hand. I happen to respect the secretary very much, I hope it's mutual. And on our worst days, I think it is fair to say we are 100 times better than any Republican candidate. +p3532 +aVI\u2014my dad came to this country at the age of 17 from Poland. Didn't have any money, couldn't speak English, he died pretty young, and I think it would have been beyond his wildest dreams to see his son up here on this stage today running for president. I love this country and my dad loved this country, and he was the most proud American because of what it gave him in terms of raising his family, even though we never had much money. But today in America, we are the only major country on earth that doesn't guarantee health care to all people, that doesn't guarantee paid family and medical leave. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth. We are seeing millions of families unable to send their kids to college in the United States of America. I'm running for president because I believe it is just too late for establishment politics and establishment economics. I do believe we need a political revolution where millions of people stand up and say loudly and clearly that our government belongs to all of us and not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors. Thank you all. +p3533 +aVThank you. As we honor the extraordinary life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., it's important not only that we remember what he stood for, but that we pledge to continue his vision to transform our country. As we look out at our country today, what the American people understand is we have an economy that's rigged, that ordinary Americans are working longer hours for lower wages, 47 million people living in poverty, and almost all of the new income and wealth going to the top one percent. And then, to make a bad situation worse, we have a corrupt campaign finance system where millionaires and billionaires are spending extraordinary amounts of money to buy elections. This campaign is about a political revolution to not only elect the president, but to transform this country. +p3534 +aVWell, that's what our campaign is about. It is thinking big. It is understanding that in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, we should have health care for every man, woman, and child as a right that we should raise the minimum wage to at least $15 an hour; that we have got to create millions of decent- paying jobs by rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure. So, what my first days are about is bringing America together, to end the decline of the middle class, to tell the wealthiest people in this country that yes, they are going to start paying their fair share of taxes, and that we are going to have a government that works for all of us, and not just big campaign contributors. +p3535 +aVWell, I think Secretary Clinton knows that what she says is very disingenuous. I have a D-minus voting record from the NRA. I was in 1988, there were three candidates running for congress in the state of Vermont, I stood up to the gun lobby and came out and maintained the position that in this country we should not be selling military style assault weapons. I have supported from day one and instant background check to make certain that people who should have guns do not have guns. And that includes people of criminal backgrounds, people who are mentally unstable. I support what President Obama is doing in terms of trying to close the gun show loop holes and I think it should be a federal crime if people act as dormant. We have seen in this city a horrendous tragedy of a crazed person praying with people in the coming up and shooting nine people. This should not be a political issue. What we should be doing is working together. And by the way, as a senator from a rural state that has virtually no gun control, I believe that I am in an excellent position to bring people together to fight the sensible... +p3536 +aVWhat I have said, is that gun manufacturer's liability bill has some good provisions among other things, we've prohibited ammunition that would've killed cops who had protection on. We have child safety protection work on guns in that legislation. And what we also said, "is a small mom and pop gun shop who sells a gun legally to somebody should not be held liable if somebody does something terrible with that gun." So what I said is, " I would re-look at it." We are going to re- look at it and I will support stronger provisions. +p3537 +aV...Well, I \u2014 look... +p3538 +aV... Let me respond to what the secretary said. We have a criminal justice system which is broken. Who in America is satisfied that we have more people in jail than any other country on Earth, including China? Disproportionately African American, and Latino. Who is satisfied that 51% of African American young people are either unemployed, or underemployed? Who is satisfied that millions of people have police records for possessing marijuana when the CEO's of Wall Street companies who destroyed our economy have no police records. +p3539 +aV... We need to take a very hard look at our... +p3540 +aV... criminal justice system, investing in jobs, and education not in jails and incarceration . +p3541 +aVWell, let me talk about polling. As Secretary Clinton well knows, when this campaign began she was 50 points ahead of me. We were all of three percentage points. Guess what? In Iowa, New Hampshire, the race is very, very close. Maybe we're ahead New Hampshire. In terms of polling, guess what? We are running ahead of Secretary Clinton. In terms of taking on my taking on my good friend, Donald Trump, beating him by 19 points in New Hampshire, 13 points in the last national poll that we saw. To answer your question. When the African American community becomes familiar with my Congressional record and with our agenda, and with our views on the economy, and criminal justice \u2014 just as the general population has become more supportive, so will the African American community, so will the Latino community. We have the momentum, we're on a path to a victory. O' +p3542 +aVI apologize for not hearing all of that question. +p3543 +aVYes. +p3544 +aVAbsolutely. This is a responsibility for the U.S. Justice Department to get involved. Whenever anybody in this country is killed while in police custody, it should automatically trigger a U.S. attorney general's investigation. Second of all, and I speak as a mayor who worked very closely and well with police officers, the vast majority of whom are honest, hard- working people trying to do a difficult job, but let us be clear. If a police officer breaks the law, like any public official, that officer must be held accountable. And thirdly, we have got to de-militarize our police departments so they don't look like occupying armies. We've got to move toward community policing. And fourthly, we have got to make our police departments look like the communities they serve in their diversity. +p3545 +aVSure. I agree... I agree with everything the Secretary said, but let me just add this, there is a responsibility on the part of the pharmaceutical industry and the drug companies who are producing all of these drugs and not looking at the consequence of it. And second of all, when we talk about addiction being a disease, the Secretary is right, what that means is we need a revolution in this country in terms of mental health treatment. People should be able to get the treatment that they need when they need it, not two months from now, which is why I believe in universal... +p3546 +aV... healthcare with mental health... +p3547 +aV... a part of that. +p3548 +aVOK. +p3549 +aVSecretary \u2014 Secretary Clinton didn't answer your question. Because what her campaign was saying \u2014 Bernie Sanders, who has fought for universal health care for my entire life, he wants to end Medicare, end Medicaid, end the children's health insurance program. That is nonsense. What a Medicare-for-all program does is finally provide in this country health care for every man, woman and child as a right. Now, the truth is, that Frank Delano Roosevelt, Harry Truman, do you know what they believed in? They believed that health care should be available to all of our people. I'm on the committee that wrote the Affordable Care Act. I made the Affordable Care Act along with Jim Clyburn a better piece of legislation. I voted for it, but right now, what we have to deal with is the fact that 29 million people still have no health insurance. We are paying the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, getting ripped off. And here's the important point, we are spending far more per person on health care than the people of any other country. My proposal, provide health care to all people, get private insurance out of health insurance, lower the cost of health care for middle class families by 5,000 bucks. That's the vision we need to take. +p3550 +aVBut \u2014 what if we have... +p3551 +aVIt is \u2014 it is absolutely inaccurate. O' +p3552 +aVNo one is tearing this up, we're going to go forward. But with the secretary neglected to mention, not just the 29 million still have no health insurance, that even more are underinsured with huge copayments and deductibles. Tell me why we are spending almost three times more than the British, who guarantee health care to all of their people? Fifty percent more than the French, more than the Canadians. The vision from FDR and Harry Truman was health care for all people as a right in a cost-effective way. We're not going to tear up the Affordable Care Act. I helped write it. But we are going to move on top of that to a Medicaid-for-all system. O' +p3553 +aVYeah. +p3554 +aVYes. +p3555 +aVNot all that detailed. +p3556 +aVWell. +p3557 +aVWell, that's \u2014 you might want to ask... +p3558 +aVAndrea, let me just say this. +p3559 +aVLet me just say that you might want to ask the governor of the state of Vermont why he could not do it. I'm not the governor. I'm the senator from the state of Vermont. But second of all \u2014 second of all...... here is what the real point is, in terms of all of the issues you've raised \u2014 the good questions you've raised. You know what it all comes down to? Do you know why we can't do what every other country \u2014 major country on Earth is doing? It's because we have a campaign finance system that is corrupt, we have super PACs, we have the pharmaceutical industry pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into campaign contributions and lobbying, and the private insurance companies as well. What this is really about is not the rational way to go forward \u2014 it's Medicare for all \u2014 it is whether we have the guts to stand up to the private insurance companies and all of their money, and the pharmaceutical industry. That's what this debate should be about. +p3560 +aVA couple of years ago, when we understood that veterans were not getting the quality care they needed in the timely manner, I worked with folks like John McCain and others to pass the most comprehensive veteran's health care legislation in modern history. But let me rephrase your question because I think, in all do respect, you're expression. In all do respect, you're missing the main point. And the main point in the Congress, it's not the Republicans and Democrats hate each other. That's a mythology from the media. The real issue is that Congress is owned by big money and refuses to do what the American people want them to do. The real issue is that in area after area, raising the minimum wage to $15 bucks an hour. The American people want it. Rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, creating 13 million jobs, the American people want it. The pay equity for women, the American people want it. Demanding that the wealthy start paying their fair share of taxes. The American people want it. +p3561 +aVThe point is, we have to make Congress respond to the needs of the people, not big money. +p3562 +aVI do. +p3563 +aVDid I say that? +p3564 +aVBecause of what I believe in what I was just saying. The Democratic party needs major reform. To those of you in South Carolina, you know what, in Mississippi, we need a 50-state strategy so that people in South Carolina and Mississippi can get the resources that they need. Instead of being dependent on super PACs, what we need is to be dependent on small, individual campaign contributors. We need an agenda that speaks to the needs of working families and low-income people. Not wealthy campaign contributors. +p3565 +aVWe need to expand what the input into the Democratic party. I am very proud that in this campaign, we have seen an enormous amount of excitement from young people, from working people. We have received more individual contributions than any candidate in the history of this country up to this point. O' +p3566 +aVAnd I respectfully disagree. +p3567 +aVAnd I respectfully disagree with my friend over here. And that is, you are right. All of us have denounced Trump's attempts to divide this country: the anti-Latino rhetoric, the racist rhetoric, he anti-Muslim rhetoric. But where I disagree with you, Governor O'Malley, is I do believe we have to deal with the fundamental issues of a handful of billionaires... O' +p3568 +aV... who control economic and political life of this country. O' +p3569 +aVNothing real will get happened. Unless we have a political revolution. Where millions of people finally stand up. +p3570 +aVIs that your strategy... +p3571 +aVWell, the first difference is I don't take money from big banks. I don't get personal speaking fees from Goldman Sachs. What I would do... What I would do is understand that when you have three out of the four largest banks today, bigger than they were when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, when you have the six largest financial institutions having assets of 60 percent of the GDP of America, it is very clear to me what you have to do. You've got to bring back the 21st century Glass-Steagall legislation and you've got to break up these huge financial institutions. They have too much economic power and they have too much financial power over our entire economy. If Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, the old Republican trust buster, what he would say is these guys are too powerful. Break them up. I believe that's what the American people to want see. That's my view. +p3572 +aVOK. First of all... +p3573 +aVSet the record right. In 2006 when I ran for the Senate, Senator Barack Obama was kind enough to campaign for me, 2008, I did my best to see that he was elected and in 2012, I worked as hard as I could to see that he was reelected. He and I are friends. We've worked together on many issues. We have some differences of opinion. But here is the issue, Secretary touched on it, can you really reform Wall Street when they are spending millions and millions of dollars on campaign contributions and when they are providing speaker fees to individuals? So it's easy to say, well, I'm going to do this and do that, but I have doubts when people receive huge amounts of money from Wall Street. I am very proud, I do not have a super PAC. I do not want Wall Street's money. I'll rely on the middle class and working families... +p3574 +aV... campaign contributions. +p3575 +aVLet me give you an example of how corrupt \u2014 how corrupt this system is. Goldman Sachs recently fined $5 billion. Goldman Sachs has given this country two secretaries of treasury, one on the Republicans, one under Democrats. O' +p3576 +aVThe leader of Goldman Sachs is a billionaire who comes to Congress and tells us we should cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Secretary Clinton \u2014 and you're not the only one, so I don't mean to just point the finger at you, you've received over $600,000 in speaking fees from Goldman Sachs in one year. I find it very strange that a major financial institution that pays $5 billion in fines for breaking the law, not one of their executives is prosecuted, while kids who smoke marijuana get a jail sentence. +p3577 +aVIf you want to... +p3578 +aVAnyone who wants to check my record in taking on Wall Street, in fighting against the deregulation of Wall Street when Wall Street put billions of dollars in lobbying, in campaign contributions to get the government off their backs. They got the government off their backs. Turns out that they were crooks, and they destroyed our economy. I think it's time to put the government back on their backs. +p3579 +aV... Yeah... +p3580 +aV... That's true. +p3581 +aVGood. You're right. I want to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, create 13 million jobs. We do that by doing away with the absurd loophole that now allows major profitable corporations to stash their money in the Cayman Islands, and not in some years, pay a nickel in taxes. Yes, I do. I plead guilty. I want every kid in this country who has the ability to be able to go to a public college, or university, tuition free. And, by the way, I want to substantially lower student debt interest rates in this country as well. How do I pay for it? I pay for it through a tax on Wall Street speculation. This country, and the middle class, bailed out Wall Street. Now, it is Wall Street's time to help the middle class. In fact... O' +p3582 +aV... we have documented, unlike Secretary Clinton, I have documented exactly how I would pay for our ambitious agenda. O' +p3583 +aV... Here is the main two points... +p3584 +aVYeah. +p3585 +aV... I got it. +p3586 +aVWhat is correct, and I'm disappointed that Secretary Clinton's campaign has made this criticism. It's a Republican criticism. Secretary Clinton does know a lot about healthcare, and she understands, I believe, that a medicare for all, single payer program will substantially lower the cost of healthcare for middle class families. So, what we have got to acknowledge, and I hope the Secretary does, is we are doing away with private health insurance premiums. So, instead of paying $10,000 dollars to Blue Cross, or Blue Shield, yes, some middle class families would be paying slightly more in taxes, but the result would be that that middle class family would be saving some $5,000 dollars in healthcare costs. A little bit more in taxes, do away with private health insurance premiums. It's a pretty good deal. +p3587 +aVYeah. +p3588 +aVNo, it is not breaking my word. When you are \u2014 it's one thing to say I'm raising taxes, it's another thing to say that we are doing away with private health insurance premiums. So, if I save you $10,000 in private health insurance, and you pay a little bit more in taxes in total, there are huge savings in what your family is spending. O' +p3589 +aVI was mayor for eight years, I did that as well. O' +p3590 +aVI think we already are. Younger generation understands it instinctively. I was home in Burlington, Vermont, on Christmas Eve, the temperature was 65 degrees. People in Vermont know what's going on. People who did ice fishing, where their ice is no longer there on the lake understand what's going on. I'm on both the Environmental and Energy Committees. The debate is over. Climate change is real. It is already causing major problems. And if we do not act boldly and decisively, a bad situation will become worse. It is amazing to me, and I think we'll have agreement on this up here, that we have a major party, called the Republican Party that is so owned by the fossil fuel industry and their campaign contributions that they don't even have the courage, the decency to listen to the scientists. It is beyond my comprehension how we can elect a president of the United States, somebody like Trump, who believes that climate change is a hoax invented by the Chinese. Bottom line is, we need to be bold and decisive, we can create millions of jobs. We must, for the sake of our kids and grandchildren, transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energy. I've got the most comprehensive legislation in the Senate to do that. And as president, I will fight to make that happen. +p3591 +aVI think what we've got to do is move as aggressively as we can to normalize relations with Iran. Understanding that Iran's behavior in so many ways is something that we disagree with; their support terrorism, the anti-American rhetoric that we're hearing from of their leadership is something that is not acceptable. On the other hand, the fact that we've managed to reach an agreement, something that I've very strongly supported that prevents Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and we did that without going to war. And that I believe we're seeing a fall in our relationships with Iran is a very positive step. So if your question is, do I want to see that relationship become more positive in the future? Yes. Can I tell that we should open an embassy in Tehran tomorrow? No, I don't think we should. But I think the goal has go to be as we've done with Cuba, to move in warm relations with a very powerful and important country in this world. +p3592 +aVAs everybody you know, this is incredibly complicated and difficult issue and I applaud. I know President Obama's been getting a lot of criticism on this. I think he is doing the right thing. What the nightmare is, which many of my Republican colleagues appear to want is to not have learned the lesson of Iraq. To get American young men and women involved in perpetual warfare in the quagmire of Syria and the Middle East would be an unmitigated disaster that as president, I will do everything in my power to avoid. O' +p3593 +aVWe should \u2014 we should learn \u2014 we should learn from King Abdullah of Jordan, one of the few heroes in a very unheroic place. And what Abdullah said is this is a war with a soul of Islam and that Muslim troops should be on the ground with our support and the support of other major countries. That is how we destroy +p3594 +aVNo. I think the vacuum was created by the disastrous war in Iraq, which I vigorously opposed. Not only did I vote against it, I helped lead the opposition. And what happened there is yes, it's easy to get rid of a two-bit dictator like Saddam Hussein, but there wasn't the kind of thought as to what happens the day after you get him and what kind of political vacuum occurs. And who rises up? Groups like +p3595 +aVLet me just... +p3596 +aVOK. Let me suggest... +p3597 +aVWhere Secretary Clinton and I think, I agree with most of what she said. But where I think we do have an honest disagreement, is that in the incredible quagmire of Syria, where it's hard to know who's fighting who and if you give arms to this guy, it may end up in +p3598 +aVOK. I just wanted to add, in the previous question, I voted against the USA Patriot Act for many of the reasons that Governor O'Malley mentioned. But it is not only the government that we have to worry about, it is private corporations. You would all be amazed, or maybe not, about the amount of information private companies and the government has in terms of the Web sites that you access, the products that you buy, where you are this very moment. And it is very clear to me that public policy has not caught up with the explosion of technology. So yes, we have to work with Silicon Valley to make sure that we do not allow +p3599 +aVRight. What we have got to do there is, among other things, as I was just saying, have Silicon Valley help us to make sure that information being transmitted through the Internet or in other ways by +p3600 +aVCan I get 50 seconds? +p3601 +aVCan I get a \u2014 can I just get a very brief response? Very brief. +p3602 +aVOK. One \u2014 and I agree with what the secretary said, and what Governor O'Malley said. But here's an issue that we also should talk about. We have a $600 billion military budget. It is a budget larger than the next eight countries'. Unfortunately, much of that budget continues to fight the old Cold War with the Soviet Union. Very little of that budget \u2014 less than 10 percent \u2014 actually goes into fighting +p3603 +aVGreat ideas, Governor O'Malley, Secretary Clinton, but here's the truth. If you have an administration stacked with Wall Street appointees, it ain't going to accomplish very much. So here's a promise that I make \u2014 and I mentioned a moment ago how corrupt the system is \u2014 Goldman Sachs, paying a $5 billion fine, gives this country, in recent history, a Republican secretary of treasury, a Democratic secretary of treasury. Here's a promise. If elected president, Goldman Sachs is not going to have \u2014 bring forth a secretary of treasury for a Sanders administration. +p3604 +aVI was asked a question. You know, one of the things, Andrea, and I \u2014 that question annoys me. I cannot walk down the street \u2014 Secretary Clinton knows this \u2014 without being told how much I have to attack secretary Clinton, want to get me on the front pages of the paper, I'd make some vicious attack. I have avoided doing that. Trying to run an issue-oriented campaign. +p3605 +aVI was asked a question. +p3606 +aVWell \u2014 then if I don't answer it, then there's another front page, so it's yes. And I mean this seriously. You know that. We've been through this. Yes, his behavior was deplorable. Have I ever once said a word about that issue? No, I have not. I'm going to debate Secretary Clinton, Governor O'Malley, on the issues facing the American people, not Bill Clinton's personal behavior. +p3607 +aVWell, Secretary Clinton was right and what I did which I think is also right, is demanded the resignation of governor. A man who acts that irresponsibly should not stay in power. Now, we are a great nation \u2014 and we've heard a lot of great ideas here tonight. Let's be honest and let's be truthful. Very little is going to be done to transform our economy and to create the kind of middle class we need unless we end a corrupt campaign finance system which is undermining American democracy. We've got to get rid of Super PACs, we've got to get rid of Citizens' United and what we've got to do is create a political revolution which revitalizes American democracy; which brings millions of young people and working people into the political process. To say loudly and clearly," that the government of the United States of America belongs to all of us and not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors." +p3608 +aVGood evening. I am running for president of the United States because it is too late for establishment politics and establishment economics. I'm running for president because our economy is rigged because working people are working longer hours for lower wages and almost all of new wealth and income being created is going to the top one percent. I'm running for president because I'm going to create an economy that works for working families not just billionaires. I'm running for president because we have a campaign finance system which is corrupt, where billionaires are spending hundreds of millionaires of dollars to buy candidates who will represent their interests rather than the middle class and working families. I'm running because we need to address the planetary crisis of climate change and take on the fossil fuel industry and transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energy. I'm running for president because I want a new foreign policy; one that takes on Isis, one that destroys +p3609 +aVDavid, let me give you a little bit of background here. The DNC has hired vendors. On two occasions, there were breeches in information two months ago. Our staff found information on our computers from the Clinton campaign. And when our staffers said, "whoa, what's going here?" They went to the DNC quietly. They went to the vendor and said, "hey, something is wrong," and that was quietly dealt with. None of that information was looked at. Our staffer at that point did exactly the right thing. A few days ago a similar incident happened. There was a breach because the DNC vendor screwed up, information came to our campaign. In this case, our staff did the wrong thing -- they looked at that information. As soon as we learned that they looked at that information - we fired that person. We are now doing an independent internal investigation to see who else was involved. Thirdly, what I have a really problem, and as you mentioned - this is a problem, I recognize it as a problem. But what the DNC did arbitrarily without discussing it with us is shut off our access to our information crippling our campaign. That is an egregious act. I'm glad that late last night, that was resolved. +p3610 +aVFourthly, I work -- look forward to working with Secretary Clinton for an investigation, an independent investigation, about all of the breaches that have occurred from day one in this campaign, because I am not convinced that information from our campaign may not have ended up in her campaign. Don't know that. But we need an independent investigation, and I hope Secretary Clinton will agree with me for the need of that. Last point. When we saw the breach two months, we didn't go running to the media and make a big deal about it. And it bothers me very much that, rather than working on this issue to resolve it, it has become many press releases from the Clinton campaign later. +p3611 +aVAbsolutely. +p3612 +aVYes, I apologize. +p3613 +aVNot only -- not only do I apologize to Secretary Clinton -- and I hope we can work together on an independent investigation from day one -- I want to apologize to my supporters. This is not the type of campaign that we run. And if I find anybody else involved in this, they will also be fired. +p3614 +aVLet me agree with Governor O'Malley and let me agree with Secretary Clinton. You know, we had this incident before, Secretary, with your famous e-mails. Right? And what I said and I think what Governor O'Malley is saying, and I hope you say, is when the middle class of this country is disappearing, when we have massive income and wealth inequality, when we're the only major country on earth not guaranteeing health care to all people, all the issues that the governor talked about, the secretary talked about, those are the issues. Media notwithstanding. Those are the issues that the American people want discussed. I hope those are the issues we'll discuss. +p3615 +aVI'm one of the 77 percent. I think this is a very difficult issue. Let me agree with much of what the secretary and the governor have said. Let me tell you what I think we have got to do. I think it's a two-pronged issue. Number one, our goal is to crush and destroy +p3616 +aVIt's a country in which people choose to buy guns. I think half of the -- more than half of the people in my own state of Vermont, my guess here in New Hampshire, are gun owners. That's the right of people. But this is what I do believe. I believe that when we have some 300 million guns in this country, I believe that when we have seen these horrific mass killings, not only in San Bernardino, but in Colorado and movie theaters in Colorado, I think we have got to bring together the vast majority of the people who do in fact believe in sensible gun safety regulations. For example, talking about polls, a poll recently came out, overwhelming majority of the American people say we should strengthen the instant background check. Who denies that it is crazy... Who denies that it is crazy to allow people to own guns who are criminals or are mentally unstable? We've got to eliminate the gun show loophole. In my view, we have got to see that weapons designed by the military to kill people are not in the hands of civilians. I think there is a consensus. I think -- I'm not going to say that everybody is in agreement. It's a divided country on guns. But there is a broad consensus on sensible gun safety regulations that I, coming from a state that has virtually no gun control, will do my best to bring together. O' +p3617 +aVWhoa, whoa, whoa. Let's calm down a little bit, Martin. +p3618 +aVFirst of all, let's have some rules here, commentators. +p3619 +aVAll right. +p3620 +aVHe sure did. +p3621 +aVSure did. All right. First off, we can do all the great speeches we want but you're not going to succeed unless there is a consensus. In 1988, just to set the record straight governor, I ran for the U.S. House. We have one House member from Vermont, three candidates in the race. One candidate said, you know what, I don't think it's a great idea that we sell automatic weapons in this country that are used by the military to kill people very rapidly. Gun people said, there were three candidates in the race, you vote for one of the others, but not Bernie Sanders. I lost that election by three percentage points. Quite likely, for that reason. So please, do not explain to me, coming from a state where democratic governors and republican governors have supported virtually no gun control. Excuse me. Do not tell me that I have not shown courage in standing up to the gun people, in voting to ban assault weapons, voting for instant background checks, voting to end the gun show loop hole and now we're in a position to create a consensus in America on gun safety. +p3622 +aVWell, the answer is, obviously, if you see suspicious activity, you report it. That's kind of a no-brainer. You know, somebody is loading guns and ammunition into a house, I think it's a good idea to call 911. Do it. +p3623 +aVBut I want to talk -- I want to talk about something else, because Secretary Clinton I think made some interesting and good points. What you have now is a very dangerous moment in American history. The secretary is right: Our people are fearful. They are anxious on a number of levels. They are anxious about international terrorism and the possibility of another attack on America. We all understand that. But you know what else they're anxious about? They're anxious about the fact that they are working incredibly long hours, they're worried about their kids, and they're seeing all the new income and wealth -- virtually all of it -- going to the top 1 percent. And they're looking around them, and they're looking at Washington, and they're saying the rich are getting much richer, I'm getting poorer, what are you going to do about it? What are you going to do for my kids? And somebody like a Trump comes along and says, "I know the answers. The answer is that all of the Mexicans, they're criminals and rapists, we've got to hate the Mexicans. Those are your enemies. We hate all the Muslims, because all of the Muslims are terrorists. We've got to hate the Muslims." Meanwhile, the rich get richer. So what I say to those people who go to Donald Trump's rallies, understand: He thinks a low minimum wage in America is a good idea. He thinks low wages are a good idea. I believe we stand together to address the real issues facing this country, not allow them to divide us by race or where we come from. Let's create an America that works for all of us, not the handful on top. +p3624 +aVExcuse me. May I have a chance to respond to this issue? +p3625 +aVYeah, but the rule includes equal -- got it. All right. +p3626 +aVAll right. Let's keep going. OK. +p3627 +aVYeah. +p3628 +aVAnd I also voted and helped lead the effort against the war in Iraq, which will go down in history as one of the worst foreign blunders -- foreign policy blunders in the history of our country. I voted against the first Gulf War, which set the stage, I believe, for the second Iraq war. And what I believe right now, and I believe this is terribly important, is the United States of America cannot succeed, or be thought of as the policeman of the world, that when there's an international crisis all over the world, in France and in the U.K. Or -- hey, just call up the American military and the American taxpayers, they're going to send the troops. And if they have to be in the Middle East for 20 or 30 years no problem. +p3629 +aVI have a problem with that, Martha. What I believe has got to happen is there must be an international coalition, including Russia, a well-coordinated effort. But I agree, as I mentioned a moment ago, with King Abdullah. This is a war for the soul of Islam. The troops on the ground should not be American troops. They should be Muslim troops. I believe that countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar have got to step up to the plate, have got to contribute the money that we need, and the troops that we need, to destroy +p3630 +aVMy plan is to make it work, to tell Saudi Arabia that instead of going to war in Yemen, they, one of the wealthiest countries on Earth, are going to have to go to war against +p3631 +aVI have a difference of opinion with Secretary Clinton on this. Our differences are fairly deep on this issue. We disagreed on the war in Iraq. We both listened to the information from Bush and Cheney. I voted against the war. But I think -- and I say this with due respect -- that I worry too much that Secretary Clinton is too much into regime change and a little bit too aggressive without knowing what the unintended consequences might be. Yes, we could get rid of Saddam Hussein, but that destabilized the entire region. Yes, we could get rid of Gadhafi, a terrible dictator, but that created a vacuum for +p3632 +aVI was not the secretary of state... +p3633 +aVI happen to think... O' +p3634 +aVSecretary Clinton is right. This is a complicated issue. I don't think anyone has a magical solution. But this is what I do believe. Yes, of course Assad is a terrible dictator. But I think we have got to get our foreign policies and priorities right. The immediate -- it is not Assad who is attacking the United States. It is +p3635 +aVDavid... +p3636 +aVCould I just say -- just say this... +p3637 +aVCan I just say this... +p3638 +aVOf course the United States must lead. But the United States is not the policeman of the world. The United States must not be involved in perpetual warfare in the Middle East. The United States, at the same time, cannot successfully fight Assad and +p3639 +aVFirst of all, we recognize that we have a rigged economy, as you've indicated. Middle class in this country for the last 40 years has been disappearing; are we better off today than we were when Bush left office? Absolutely. But as you've indicated for millions of American workers, people in New Hampshire -- all over America, they're working longer hours for lower wages deeply worried about their kids. So what do we do? First statement is, we tell the billionaire class, "they cannot have it all." For a start, they're going to start to pay their fair share of taxes. Second of all what we do, is you raise the minimum wage to living wage, 15 bucks an hour over the next several years. Next thing we do, pay equity for women workers. Women should not be making 79 cents on the dollar compared to that. Next thing that we do, real unemployment -- official unemployment, 5 percent, real employment 10 percent, youth unemployment, off the charts. We rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, our roads our bridges, our rail systems, we create 13 million jobs with a trillion-dollar investment. Furthermore, in a competitive global economy, it is imperative that we have the best educated workforce in the world. That is why I'm going to have a tax on Wall Street speculation to make certain that public colleges and universities in America are tuition free. +p3640 +aVNo, I think they won't. So Hillary and I have a difference. The CEOs of large multinationals may like Hillary. They ain't going to like me and Wall Street is going to like me even less. And the reason for that is we've got to deal with the elephant in the room, which is the greed, recklessness and illegal behavior on Wall Street. When you have six financial institutions in this country that issue two-thirds of the credit cards and one-third of the mortgages, when three out of four of them are larger today than when we bailed them out because they are too big to fail, we've got to re- establish Glass-Steagall, we have got to break the large financial institutions up. +p3641 +aVSo I don't think... ... having said that, I don't think I'm going to get a whole lot of campaign contributions from Wall Street. I don't have a super PAC. I don't want campaign contributions from corporate America. And let me be clear: While there are some great corporations creating jobs and trying to do the right thing, in my view -- and I say this very seriously -- the greed of the billionaire class, the greed of Wall Street is destroying this economy and is destroying the lives of millions of Americans. We need an economy that works for the middle class, not just a handful of billionaires, and I will fight and lead to make that happen. +p3642 +aVLet me just -- let me just... +p3643 +aVLet me just jump in. My name was invoked. +p3644 +aVSo with that invocation, let me say a few words. Secretary Clinton, I don't have a super PAC. I don't get any money from Wall Street. You have gotten a whole lot of money over the years from Wall Street. But most importantly, when you look at what happened in the 1990s, go to berniesanders.com. I'll advertise my Web site as well. And what you'll find is that I led -- helped lead the effort as a member of the House financial committee against Alan Greenspan, against a guy named Bill Clinton, maybe you know him, maybe you don't. Against the Republican leadership, who all thought it would be a great idea to merge investor banks and commercial banks and large insurance companies. What a brilliant idea that would be. Go to YouTube. Find out what I said to Greenspan. At the end of the day, if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, and the governor makes a good point about trade, anti-trade, anti-monopoly activities. Wall Street today has too much political power. It has too much economic power. To get deregulated -- listen to this, they spent $5 billion in lobbying and campaign contributions over a 10-year period. +p3645 +aVWall Street is a threat to the economy. They've got to be broken up. +p3646 +aVYes, exactly, exactly. +p3647 +aVYes, well, roughly. Let me say this. As a member of the Health Education Committee that helped write the Affordable Care Act, much of what Secretary Clinton said about what we have done, among other things, ending the obscenity of this pre-existing situation is a step forward. Seventeen more million more people have health care. It is a step forward. A step forward. But this is what we also have to say. Not only are deductibles rising, 29 million Americans still have no health insurance and millions of people can't afford to go to the doctor. Major crisis and primary health care. Here is the bottom line. Why is it that the United States of America today is the only major country on earth that does not guarantee health care to all people as a right? Why is it... +p3648 +aVWhy is it that we are -- why is it that we spend almost three times per capita as to what they spend in the U.K., 50 percent more than what they pay in France, countries that guarantee health care to all of their people and in many cases, have better health care outcomes. Bottom line. This ties into campaign finance reform. The insurance companies, the drug companies are bribing the United States Congress. We need to pass a Medicare for all single payer system. It will lower the cost of health care for a middle-class family by thousands of dollars a year. +p3649 +aVBut they will not be paying, Martha, any private insurance. So it's unfair to say in total... +p3650 +aVI can tell you that adding up the fact you're not paying any private insurance, businesses are not paying any private insurance. The average middle-class family will be saving thousands of dollars a year. +p3651 +aVAnd universities. +p3652 +aVWell, Neil, I think we've got to work on a two-pronged approach. And your point is absolutely well taken. The cost of college education is escalating a lot faster than the cost of inflation. There are a lot of factors involved in that. And that is that we have some colleges and universities that are spending a huge amount of money on fancy dormitories and on giant football stadiums. Maybe we should focus on quality education with well-paid faculty members. But... +p3653 +aVAnd I understand in many universities a heck of a lot of vice presidents who earn a big salary. But, bottom line is this is the year 2015. If we are going to be competitive in the global economy we need the best educated workforce. It is insane to my mind, hundreds of thousands of young people today, bright qualified people, cannot go to college because they cannot afford -- their families cannot afford to send them. Millions coming out of school as you indicated, deeply in debt. What do we do? My proposal is to put a speculation tax on wall street, raise very substantial sums of money, not only make public colleges and universities tuition-free, but also substantially lower interest rates on student debt. You have families out there paying 6 percent, 8 percent, 10 percent on student debt; refinance their homes at 3 percent. What sense is that? So I think we need radical changes in the funding of higher education. We should look at college today the way high school was looked at 60 years ago. All young people who have the ability should be able to get a college education. ( +p3654 +aVMay I respond to the critique on the ... +p3655 +aVI would just... +p3656 +aVBut Secretary Clinton is wrong. As you know, because I know you know a lot about health care. You know that the United States per capita pays far and away more than other country. And it is unfair simply to say how much more the program will cost without making sure that people know that, we are doing away with cost of private insurance and that the middle class will be paying substantially less for health care on the single payer than on the Secretary's Clinton proposal. +p3657 +aVNow, this is getting to be fun. +p3658 +aVLet me respond to... +p3659 +aVLet me respond to... +p3660 +aVNumber one, most important economic reality of today is that over the last 30 years, there has been a transfer of trillions of dollars from the middle class to the top one-tenth of one percent who are seeing a doubling of the percentage of wealth that they own. Now, when Secretary Clinton says, "I'm not going raise taxes on the middle class," let me tell you what she is saying. She is disagreeing with FDR on Social Security, LBJ on Medicare and with the vast majority of progressive Democrats in the House and the Senate, who today are fighting to end the disgrace of the United States being the only major country on Earth that doesn't provide paid family and medical leave. What the legislation is is $1.61 a week. Now, you can say that's a tax on the middle class. It will provide three months paid family and medical leave for the working families of this country. I think, Secretary Clinton, $1.61 a week is a pretty good investment. +p3661 +aVDavid, thank you. +p3662 +aVThen (inaudible)... +p3663 +aVEvery (inaudible) Democrat and senator in support of this proposal introduced by your good friend and my good friend, Kirsten Gillibrand, Rosa DeLauro, that is the legislation out there that will finally provide family and medical leave. +p3664 +aVWell, this whole issue concerns me. And I agree with much of what the secretary and the governor have said. But let's be clear. Today in America we have more people in jail than any other country on earth, 2.2 million people. Predominantly African-American and Hispanic. We are spending $80 billion a year locking up our fellow Americans. I think, and this is not easy, but I think we need to make wage a major effort, to come together as a country and end institutional racism. We need major, major reforms of a very broken criminal justice system. Now, what does that mean? Well, for a start it means that police officers should not be shooting unarmed people, predominantly African-Americans. +p3665 +aVIt means that we have to rethink the so-called war on drugs which has destroyed the lives of millions of people, which is why I have taken marijuana out of the Controlled Substance Act. So that it will not be a federal crime. +p3666 +aVThat is why we need to make... That is why we need to make police -- and I speak as a former mayor. I was a mayor for eight years, worked very closely with a great police department. And what we did is try to move that department toward community policing, so that the police officers become part of the community and not, as we see, in some cities an oppressive force. We need to make police departments look like the communities they serve in terms of diversity. We need to end minimal sentencing. We need, basically, to pledge that we're going to invest in this country, in jobs and education, not more jails and incarceration. +p3667 +aVYes. Look, this is a tragedy for New Hampshire. It is a tragedy for my state of Vermont. It is a tragedy all over this country. The number of heroin deaths are growing very, very significantly. What do we do? Well, for a start, this may seem like a radical idea, but I think we have got to tell the medical profession and doctors who are prescribing opiates and the pharmaceutical industry that they have got to start getting their act together, we cannot have this huge number of opiates out there throughout this country, where young people are taking them, getting hooked, and then going to heroin. Second of all, and the reason I believe in a health care for all program, we need to understand that addiction is a disease, not a criminal activity. And that means -- and that means radically changing the way we deal with mental health and addiction issues. When somebody is addicted and seeking help, they should not have to wait three, four months in order to get that help. They should be able to walk in the door tomorrow and get a variety of treatments that work for them. So those are some of the areas that I think we've got to move on. +p3668 +aVBut what... +p3669 +aVLook, the secretary is right. This is a terribly complicated issue. There are no simple solutions. But where we have a disagreement is that I think if you look at the history of regime changes, you go back to Mossadegh in Iran, you go back to Salvador Allende who we overthrew in Chile, you go back to overthrowing Saddam Hussein in Iraq, you go back to where we are today in Syria with a dictator named Assad. The truth is it is relatively easy for a powerful nation like America to overthrow a dictator but it is very hard to predict the unintended consequences and the turmoil and the instability that follows after you overthrow that dictator. So I think Secretary Clinton and I have a fundamental disagreement. I'm not quite the fan of regime change that I believe she is. O' +p3670 +aVGiven the fact that she's a lot smarter than me, yes, she would. And let me, by the way, take this moment to congratulate Hillary Clinton, who I thought not only did an outstanding job as our first lady, but redefined what that role could be. So, I thank you very much for that. My wife, Jane, has been -- way back when before I knew her, a foster parent. Many, many kids came into her home and received the kind of love that they desperately needed. And she turned around many lives. She is the best parent and grandmother that I know. She has devoted her life, when I was mayor of the city of Burlington, actually when I first met her, we started a youth office, which started a after-school programs for kids, started a child care center, started a youth newspaper. We got the kids involved in a whole lot of issues. She led that effort. So I think, at a time when so many of our kids are desperately looking for constructive activity, where too many of our kids are hanging around on street corners, potentially getting into trouble, I think we need a forceful advocate for the children, for teenagers, for the little children, to deal with the dysfunctional child care system, and I think my wife would do a great job in helping me accomplish those goals. +p3671 +aVWell, thank you very much for hosting this debate, and let me applaud my colleagues up here. Because I think frankly, maybe I'm wrong, but on our worst day, I think we have a lot more to offer the American people than the right wing's extremists. +p3672 +aVBut what my parents did accomplish is they were able to send both of their sons to college. We were the first in the family. So I know something about economic anxiety and living in a family does not have sufficient income. And that is why I am pledged, if elected president of the United States, to bring about a political revolution where millions of people begin to stand up and finally say enough is enough, this great country and our government belong to all of us, not just a handful of billionaires. Thank you very much. +p3673 +aVWell, John, let me concur with you and with all Americans who are shocked and disgusted by what we saw in Paris yesterday. Together, leading the world, this country will rid our planet of this barbarous organization called +p3674 +aVAbsolutely. In fact, climate change is directly related to the growth of terrorism. And if we do not get our act together and listen to what the scientists say, you're going to see countries all over the world -- this is what the CIA says -- they're going to be struggling over limited amounts of water, limited amounts of land to grow their crops ask you're going to see all kinds of international conflict. But, of course, international terrorism is a major issue that we have got to address today. And I agree with much of what the Secretary and the Governor have said. But let me have one area of disagreement with the Secretary. I think she said something like the bulk of the responsibility is not ours. Well, in fact, I would argue that the disastrous invasion of Iraq, something that I strongly opposed, has unraveled the region completely and led to the rise of al-Qaeda and to +p3675 +aVI don't think any -- I don't think any sensible person would disagree that the invasion of Iraq led to the massive level of instability we are seeing right now. I think that was one of the worst foreign policy blunders in the more than history of the United States. +p3676 +aVI think we have a disagreement, and the disagreement is that not only did I vote against the war in Iraq. If you look at history, John, you will find that regime change -- whether it was in the early '50s in Iran, whether it was toppling Salvador Allende in Chile, whether it is overthrowing the government of Guatemala way back when -- these invasions, these toppling of governments, regime changes have unintended consequences. I would say that on this issue, I'm a little bit more conservative than the Secretary... +p3677 +aV... And that I am not a great fan of regime change. +p3678 +aVThe Secretary's obviously right. It is enormously complicated. But here's something that I believe we have to do as we put together an international coalition, and that is we have to understand that the Muslim nations in the region -- Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, Jordan -- all of these nations, they're going to have to get their hands dirty, their boots on the ground. They are going to have to take on +p3679 +aVWhen you talk about the long-term consequences of war, let's talk about the men and women who came home from war. The 500,000 who came home with +p3680 +aVI don't think the term is what's important. What is important to understand is we have organizations, whether it is +p3681 +aVLet me do that but let me pick up on an issue, a very important issue that we have not yet discussed. This nation is the most powerful military in the world. We're spending over $600 billion a year on the military and yet, significantly less than 10 percent of that money is used to be fighting international terrorism. We are spending hundreds of billions of dollars maintaining 5,000 nuclear weapons. I think we need major reform in the military, making it more cost effective, but also focusing on the real crisis that faces us. The Cold War is over. And our focus has got to be on intelligence, increased manpower, fighting internationally targets. So, in terms of refugees, I believe that the United States has the moral responsibility with Europe, with Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia to make sure that when people leave countries like Afghanistan and Syria with nothing more than the clothing on their back that, of course, we reach out. Now, what the magic number is, I don't know, because we don't know the extent of the problem. But I certainly think that the United States should take its full responsibility in helping those people. +p3682 +aVLet me put those proposals-- and you're absolutely right. That is what I want to do. That is what is going to have to happen, if we want to revitalize and rebuild the crumbling middle class. In the last 30 years, there has been a massive redistribution of wealth. And I know that term gets my Republican friends nervous. The problem is, this redistribution has gone in the wrong direction. Trillions of dollars have gone from the middle class and working families to the top one-tenth of one percent who have doubled the percentage of wealth they now own. Yes, I do believe that we must end corporate loopholes, such that major corporations year after year pay virtually zero in federal income tax, because they're stashing the money in the Cayman Islands. Yes, I do believe there must be a tax on Wall Street speculation. We bailed out Wall Street. It's their time to bail out the middle class, help our kids be able to go to college tuition-free. So we pay for this by do demanding that the wealthiest people and the largest corporations, who have gotten away with murder for years, start paying their fair share. +p3683 +aVWe haven't come up with an exact number yet, but it will not be as high as the number under Dwight D. Eisenhower, which was 90 percent. But it will be... I'm not that much of a socialist compared to Eisenhower. But -- but we are going to end the absurdity, as Warren Buffet often remind us. O' +p3684 +aVThat billionaires pay an effective tax rate lower than nurses or truck drivers. That makes no sense at all. There has to be real tax reform, and the wealthiest and large corporations will pay when I'm president. O' +p3685 +aVI am on the committee that helped write the Affordable Care Act. We have made some good progress. Now what we have to take on is the pharmaceutical industry that is ripping off the American people every single day. I am proud that I was the first member of Congress to take Americans over the Canadian border to buy breast cancer drugs for one-tenth the price they were paying in the United States. But at the end of the day, no doubt, the Affordable Care Act is a step forward. I think we all support it. I believe we've got to go further. I want to end the international embarrassment of the United States of America being the only major country on earth that doesn't guarantee health care to all people as a right, not a privilege. And also -- also, what we should be clear about is we end up spending -- and I think the secretary knows this -- far more per capita on health care than any other major country, and our outcomes, health care outcomes are not necessarily that good. O' +p3686 +aVKathie, let me say this. You know, no public policy doesn't have, in some cases, negative consequences. But at the end of the day, what you have right now are millions of Americans working two or three jobs because their wages that they are earning are just too low. Real inflation accounted for wages has declined precipitously over the years. So I believe that, in fact, this country needs to move towards a living wage. It is not a radical idea to say that if somebody works 40 hours a week, that person should not be living in poverty. It is not a radical idea to say that a single mom should be earning enough money to take care of her kids. So I believe that over the next few years, not tomorrow, but over the next few years, we have got to move the minimum wage to a living wage, 15 bucks an hour. And I apologize to nobody for that. +p3687 +aVThis is what I think -- this is what many economists believe that one of the reasons that real unemployment in this country is 10 percent, one of the reasons that African American youth unemployment and underemployment is 51 percent is the average worker in America doesn't have any disposable income. You have no disposable income when you are make 10, 12 bucks an hour. When we put money into the hands of working people, they're going to go out and buy goods, they're going to buy services and they're going to create jobs in doing that. Kathie, that is the kind of economy I believe, put money in the hands of working people, raise the minimum wage to 15 buck an hour. O' +p3688 +aVLet me just... +p3689 +aVLet me just add to that. Just because this is not an esoteric argument. You're seeing cities like Seattle. You're seeing cities like San Francisco, cities like Los Angeles doing it, and they are doing it well and workers are able to have more disposable income. +p3690 +aVNot good enough. Here's the story. I mean, you know, let's not be naive about it. Why do -- why, over her political career has Wall Street been a major -- the major campaign contributor to Hillary Clinton? You know, maybe they're dumb and they don't know what they're going to get, but I don't think so. Here is the major issue when we talk about Wall Street. It ain't complicated. You have six financial institutions today that have assets of 56 percent, equivalent to 56 percent of the GDP In America. They issue two-thirds of the credit cards and one-third of the mortgages. If Teddy Roosevelt, a good Republican, were alive today, you know what he'd say? "Break them up." Reestablish Glass-Steagall. And Teddy Roosevelt is right. That is the issue. Now I am the only candidate up here that doesn't have a super PAC. I am not asking Wall Street or the billionaires for money. I will break up these banks. Support community banks and credit unions. That's the future of banking in America. +p3691 +aVI have never heard a candidate never, who has received huge amounts of money from oil, from coal, from Wall Street, from the military industrial complex, not one candidate say, oh, these campaign contributions will not influence me. I'm going to be independent. Well, why do they make millions of dollars of campaign contributions? they expect to get something. Everybody knows that. Once again, I am running a campaign differently than any other candidate. We are relying on small campaign donors, 750,000 of them, 30 bucks a piece. That's who I'm indebted to. +p3692 +aVNo, I have not. +p3693 +aVSo was I, John. Let me get a chance to respond. This issue touches on two broad issues. It's not just Wall Street. It's campaign -- a corrupt campaign finance system. And it is easy to talk the talk about ending Citizens United, but what I think we need to do is show by example that we are prepared to not rely on large corporations and Wall Street for campaign contributions, and that's what I'm doing. In terms of Wall Street, I respectfully disagree with you, madam secretary, in the sense that the issue here is when you have such incredible power and such incredible wealth. When you have Wall Street spending $5 billion over a 10-year period to get -- to get deregulated, the only answer they know is break them up, reestablish Glass-Stegall. +p3694 +aVThe big banks-- +p3695 +aVLook-- +p3696 +aVI don't know and with all due respect to the secretary, Wall Street played by the rules? Who are we kidding? The business model of Wall Street is fraud. That's what it is. And we have -- and let me make this promise. One of the problems we have had -- I think all Americans understand this, is whether it's Republican administrations or Democratic administrations, we have seen Wall Street and Goldman Sachs dominate administrations. Here's my promise-- Wall Street representatives will not be in my cabinet. +p3697 +aVLet's do more -- let's do more than reverse the immunity. Let's... +p3698 +aVLet me hear if there's any difference between the Secretary and myself. I have voted time and again to -- for -- for the background check, and I want to see it improved and expanded. I want to see us do away with the gun show loophole. In 1988, I lost an election because I said we should not have assault weapons on the streets of America. We have to do away with the strawman proposal. We need radical changes in mental health in America so somebody who is suicidal or homicidal can get the emergency care they need. We have -- I don't know that there's any disagreement here... O' +p3699 +aVWe have got to come forward with a consensus that in fact will work. +p3700 +aVThere were parts of that bill which agree with parts -- I disagree. I am certainly, absolutely, willing to look at that bill again and make sure there's a stronger bill. +p3701 +aVWith all -- with all due respect... I think it's fair to say that Baltimore is not now one of the safest cities in America, but the issue is... O' +p3702 +aVThe issue is -- I believe, and I believe this honestly, and I don't know that there's much difference on guns between us. But I believe coming from a state that has virtually no gun control, I believe that I am in position to reach out to the 60 or 70 percent of the American people who agree with us on those issues. The problem is... +p3703 +aV... people all over this country -- not you, Secretary Clinton -- are shouting at each other. And what we need to do is bring people together to work on the agreement where there is broad consensus and that's what I intend to do. O' +p3704 +aVAbsolutely. +p3705 +aVYes. +p3706 +aVYes. +p3707 +aVYes, I agree. +p3708 +aVWell, I -- if I might. I think the issue here is -- and I applaud Secretary Clinton. She did. She's the senator from New York. She worked -- and many of us supported you -- in trying to rebuild that devastation. But at the end of the day, Wall Street today has enormous economic and political power. Their business model is greed and fraud. And for the sake of our economy, they must -- the major banks must be broken up. +p3709 +aVWell, (inaudible) the major issue right now is whether or not we reestablish Glass-Steagall. I led the effort, unfortunately unsuccessfully, against deregulation because I knew when you merge large insurance companies and investment banks and commercial banks it was not going to be good. The issue now is do we break them ?up do we reestablish Glass-Steagall. And Secretary Clinton, unfortunately, is on the wrong side. +p3710 +aVLet me... O' +p3711 +aVThank you. Looking forward to it. +p3712 +aVYes. +p3713 +aVRight. +p3714 +aVAnd we are going to do a political revolution, which brings working people, young people, senior citizens, minorities together. Because every issue that I am talking about-- paid family and medical leave, breaking up the banks on Wall Street, asking the wealth to pay their fair share of taxes, rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, raising the minimum wage to 15 bucks an hour -- every one of those issues is supported by a significant majority of the American people. The problem is, that as a result of a corrupt campaign finance system, Congress is not listening to the American people. Its listening to the big money interest. What the political revolution is about is bringing people together to finally say, enough is enough. This government belongs to us. Not just the billionaires. +p3715 +aVYes. +p3716 +aVYes. +p3717 +aVYeah. +p3718 +aVWhat we need is leadership in this country which revitalizes American democracy, and makes people understand that if they stand up and fight back and take on the billionaire class, we can bring about the change that we need. If we are not successful, if we continue the same old, same old of Washington being run by corporate lobbyists and big-money interests, nothing changes. What I am very happy in this campaign that we have had rallies with tens of thousands of people, mostly young people. What the polls are showing is that we are actually defeating the secretary among younger people. We're giving young people and working people hope that real change can take place in America. That's what the political revolution is about. +p3719 +aVNo. That's just media stuff. I was sick and tired of Hillary Clinton's e-mail. I am still sick and tired of Hillary Clinton's e-mails. And the issue is, the problem is, the front pages every day were dealing with it. I didn't know I had so much power. But after I said that, we're not hearing so much about Hillary Clinton's e-mails. What I would like for the media now is for us to be talking about why the middle class is disappearing, why we have more people in jail than any other country, why we have massive levels of income and wealth inequality, and we're the only major country on Earth without paid family and medical leave. We've gotten off the Hillary's e-mails, good. Let's go to the major issues facing America. +p3720 +aVWell, this is what I would say, and the Congressman was right. According to the statistics that I'm familiar with, a black male baby born today stands a one in four chance of ending up in the criminal justice system. Fifty-one percent of high school African-American graduates are unemployed or underemployed. We have more people in jail today than any other country on earth. We're spending $80 billion locking people up, disproportionately Latino and African American. We need, very clearly, major, major reform in a broken criminal justice system. From top to bottom. And that means when police officers out in a community do illegal activity -- kill people who are unarmed who should not be killed, they must be held accountable. It means that we end minimum sentencing for those people arrested. It means that we take marijuana out of the federal law as a crime and give states the freedom to go forward with legalizing marijuana. +p3721 +aVNo, it is not throwing -- it is an extraordinary investment for this country. Germany, many other countries do it already. In fact, if you remember, 50, 60 years ago, the University of California, City University of New York were virtually tuition-free. Here is the story -- it's not just the college graduates should be $50,000 or $100,000 in debt. More importantly, I want kids in Burlington, Vermont, or Baltimore, Maryland, who are in the sixth grade or the eighth grade, who don't have a lot of money, whose parents -- like my parents -- may never have gone to college. Do you know where I'm going, Kevin? I want those kids to know that if they study hard, they do their homework, regardless of the income of their families, they will in fact be able to get a college education because we are going to make public colleges and universities tuition-free. This is revolutionary for education in America. It will give hope to millions of young people. +p3722 +aVYes. +p3723 +aVWell, I think that they're be pretty smart, because I think a lot of the states will do the right thing, and I think those states that don't will pay a heavy penalty. Bottom line here is, in the year 2015, we should look at a college degree the same way we looked at a high school degree 50 or 60 years ago. If you want to make it into the middle class -- I'm not saying in all cases -- we need plumbers, and we need carpenters, and electricians, that's for sure, and they should get help as well. But bottom line now, is in America, in the year 2015, any person who has the ability and the desire should be able to get an education, college education, regardless of the income of his or her family. And we must substantially lower, as my legislation does, interest rates on student debt. +p3724 +aVIt's not going to happen tomorrow. And it's probably not going to happen until we have real campaign finance reform and get rid of all these superpacs, and the power of the insurance companies and the drug companies. But at the end of the day, Nancy, here is the question -- in this great country of ours, with so much intelligence and so much capability, why do we remain the only major country on earth that does not guarantee health care to all people as a right? Why do we continue to get ripped off by the drug companies who can charge us any prices they want? Why is it that we are spending per capita far, far more than Canada, which is 100 miles away from my door, that guarantees health care to all people? It will not happen tomorrow. But when millions of people stand up and are prepared to take on the insurance companies and the drug companies, it will happen, and I will lead that effort. Medicare for all, single-payer system is the way we should go. +p3725 +aVWell, let me just say something. +p3726 +aVWe don't eliminate Medicare. We expand Medicare to all people. And we will not, under this proposal, have a situation that we have right now with the Affordable Care Act where you have states like South Carolina, and many other Republican states, that because of their right wing political ideology, are denying millions of people the expansion of Medicaid that we passed in the Affordable Care Act. Ultimately, we have got to say as a nation, Secretary Clinton, is health care a right of all people or is it not? I believe it is a right. O' +p3727 +aVJohn, I had the honor of being chairman of the U.S. Senate committee on Veterans' Affairs for two years. And in that capacity, I met with just an extraordinary group of people from World War II, from korea, vietnam, all of the wars. People came back from Iraq and Afghanistan without legs, without arms. And I was determined to do everything that I could to make VA health care the best in the world, to expand benefits to the men and women who put their lives on the line to defending. We brought together legislation supported by the American Legion, the VFW, the DOD, Vietnam Vets, all of the veterans organizations, which was comprehensive. Clearly the best piece of veterans' legislation brought forth in decades. I could only get two Republican votes on that. We ended up with 56 votes. We needed 60. So what I had to do then is go back and start working on a bill that wasn't the bill that I wanted. Sit down with people like John Mccain. Sit down with people like Jeff Miller, the Republican chairman of the house, and work on a bill. It wasn't the bill that I wanted, but yet it turned out to be one of the more significant pieces of veterans' legislation passed in recent history. So the crisis was I lost what I wanted. But I had to stand up and come back and get the best that we could. +p3728 +aVJohn -- John, this country today has more income and wealth inequality than any major country on Earth. We have a corrupt campaign finance system dominated by Super PACs. We are the only major country on Earth that doesn't guarantee healthcare to all people. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty, and we're the only country in the world -- virtually the only country that doesn't guarantee paid family and medical leave. That's not the America that I think we should be. But in order to bring about the changes that we need, we need a political revolution. Millions of people are going to have to stand up, turn off the TV, get involved in the political process and tell the big- money interest that we are taking back our country. Please go to berniesanders.com. Please become part of the political revolution. Thank you. +p3729 +aVAnderson, thank you very much. I think most Americans understand that our country today faces a series of unprecedented crises. The middle class of this country for the last 40 years has been disappearing. Millions of Americans are working longer hours for lower wages, and yet almost all of the new income and wealth being created is going to the top one percent. As a result of this disastrous Citizens United Supreme Court decision, our campaign finance system is corrupt and is undermining American democracy. Millionaires and billionaires are pouring unbelievable sums of money into the political process in order to fund super PACs and to elect candidates who represent their interests, not the interests of working people. Today, the scientific community is virtually unanimous: climate change is real, it is caused by human activity, and we have a moral responsibility to transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energy and leave this planet a habitable planet for our children and our grandchildren. Today in America, we have more people in jail than any other country on Earth. African-American youth unemployment is 51 percent. Hispanic youth unemployment is 36 percent. It seems to me that instead of building more jails and providing more incarceration, maybe \u2014 just maybe \u2014 we should be putting money into education and jobs for our kids. What this campaign is about is whether we can mobilize our people to take back our government from a handful of billionaires and create the vibrant democracy we know we can and should have. Thank you. +p3730 +aVWell, we're gonna win because first, we're gonna explain what democratic socialism is. And what democratic socialism is about is saying that it is immoral and wrong that the top one-tenth of 1 percent in this country own almost 90 percent \u2014 almost \u2014 own almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent. That it is wrong, today, in a rigged economy, that 57 percent of all new income is going to the top 1 percent. That when you look around the world, you see every other major country providing health care to all people as a right, except the United States. You see every other major country saying to moms that, when you have a baby, we're not gonna separate you from your newborn baby, because we are going to have \u2014 we are gonna have medical and family paid leave, like every other country on Earth. Those are some of the principles that I believe in, and I think we should look to countries like Denmark, like Sweden and Norway, and learn from what they have accomplished for their working people. +p3731 +aVWell, first of all, let's look at the facts. The facts that are very simple. Republicans win when there is a low voter turnout, and that is what happened last November. Sixty-three percent of the American people didn't vote, Anderson. Eighty percent of young people didn't vote. We are bringing out huge turnouts, and creating excitement all over this country. Democrats at the White House on down will win, when there is excitement and a large voter turnout, and that is what this campaign is doing. +p3732 +aVDo I consider myself part of the casino capitalist process by which so few have so much and so many have so little by which Wall Street's greed and recklessness wrecked this economy? No, I don't. I believe in a society where all people do well. Not just a handful of billionaires. +p3733 +aVI think everybody is in agreement that we are a great entrepreneurial nation. We have got to encourage that. Of course, we have to support small and medium-sized businesses. But you can have all of the growth that you want and it doesn't mean anything if all of the new income and wealth is going to the top 1 percent. So what we need to do is support small and medium-sized businesses, the backbone of our economy, but we have to make sure that every family in this country gets a fair shake... +p3734 +aV... not just for billionaires. +p3735 +aVLet's begin, Anderson, by understanding that Bernie Sanders has a D-minus voting rating (ph) from the NRA. Let's also understand that back in 1988 when I first ran for the United States Congress, way back then, I told the gun owners of the state of Vermont and I told the people of the state of Vermont, a state which has virtually no gun control, that I supported a ban on assault weapons. And over the years, I have strongly avoided instant background checks, doing away with this terrible gun show loophole. And I think we've got to move aggressively at the federal level in dealing with the straw man purchasers. Also I believe, and I've fought for, to understand that there are thousands of people in this country today who are suicidal, who are homicidal, but can't get the healthcare that they need, the mental healthcare, because they don't have insurance or they're too poor. I believe that everybody in this country who has a mental crisis has got to get mental health counseling immediately. +p3736 +aVOf course not. This was a large and complicated bill. There were provisions in it that I think made sense. For example, do I think that a gun shop in the state of Vermont that sells legally a gun to somebody, and that somebody goes out and does something crazy, that that gun shop owner should be held responsible? I don't. On the other hand, where you have manufacturers and where you have gun shops knowingly giving guns to criminals or aiding and abetting that, of course we should take action. +p3737 +aVAs a senator from a rural state, what I can tell Secretary Clinton, that all the shouting in the world is not going to do what I would hope all of us want, and that is keep guns out of the hands of people who should not have those guns and end this horrible violence that we are seeing. I believe that there is a consensus in this country. A consensus has said we need to strengthen and expand instant background checks, do away with this gun show loophole, that we have to address the issue of mental health, that we have to deal with the strawman purchasing issue, and that when we develop that consensus, we can finally, finally do something to address this issue. +p3738 +aVI think the governor gave a very good example about the weaknesses in that law and I think we have to take another look at it. But here is the point, Governor. We can raise our voices, but I come from a rural state, and the views on gun control in rural states are different than in urban states, whether we like it or not. Our job is to bring people together around strong, commonsense gun legislation. I think there is a vast majority in this country who want to do the right thing, and I intend to lead the country in bringing our people together. O' +p3739 +aVIt's exactly about rural. O' +p3740 +aVGovernor... O' +p3741 +aVWell, as somebody who has a D-minus voting record... O' +p3742 +aVI don't think I am pandering. But you have not been in the United States Congress. O' +p3743 +aVAnd when you want to, check it out. And if you think \u2014 if you think that we can simply go forward and pass something tomorrow without bringing people together, you are sorely mistaken. +p3744 +aV...Excuse me... O' +p3745 +aV...I want to make... O' +p3746 +aVWell, let's understand that when we talk about Syria, you're talking about a quagmire in a quagmire. You're talking about groups of people trying to overthrow Assad, other groups of people fighting +p3747 +aVLet me just respond to something the secretary said. First of all, she is talking about, as I understand it, a no-fly zone in Syria, which I think is a very dangerous situation. Could lead to real problems. Second of all, I heard the same evidence from President Bush and Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld about why we should overthrow Saddam Hussein and get involved in the \u2014 I would urge people to go to berniesanders.com, hear what I said in 2002. And I say, without any joy in my heart, that much of what I thought would happen about the destabilization, in fact, did happen. So I think... +p3748 +aVI think the president is trying very hard to thread a tough needle here, and that is to support those people who are against Assad, against +p3749 +aVWell, obviously, I voted, when President Clinton said, "let's stop ethnic cleansing in Kosovo," I voted for that. I voted to make sure that Osama bin Laden was held accountable in Afghanistan. When our country is threatened, or when our allies are threatened, I believe that we need coalitions to come together to address the major crises of this country. I do not support the United States getting involved in unilateral action. ( +p3750 +aVI don't believe that any... +p3751 +aVPardon me? +p3752 +aVWell, I think Mr. Putin is going to regret what he is doing. I think that when he gets into that... +p3753 +aVWell, I think he's already regretting what he did in Crimea and what he is doing in the Ukraine. I think he is really regretting the decline of his economy. And I think what he is trying to do now is save some face. But I think when Russians get killed in Syria and when he gets bogged down, I think the Russian people are going to give him a message that maybe they should come home, maybe they should start working with the United States to rectify the situation now. +p3754 +aVWell, first of all, let me applaud my good friend Jim Webb for his service to this country in so many ways. Jim and I, under Jim's leadership, as he indicated, passed the most significant veterans education bill in recent history. We followed suit with a few years later passing, under my leadership, the most significant veterans' health care legislation in the modern history of this country. When I was a young man \u2014 I'm not a young man today. When I was a young man, I strongly opposed the war in Vietnam. Not the brave men like Jim who fought in that war, but the policy which got us involved in that war. That was my view then. I am not a pacifist, Anderson. I supported the war in Afghanistan. I supported President Clinton's effort to deal with ethnic cleansing in Kosovo. I support air strikes in Syria and what the president is trying to do. Yes, I happen to believe from the bottom of my heart that war should be the last resort that we have got to exercise diplomacy. But yes, I am prepared to take this country into war if that is necessary. +p3755 +aVThe scientific community is telling us that if we do not address the global crisis of climate change, transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to sustainable energy, the planet that we're going to be leaving our kids and our grandchildren may well not be habitable. That is a major crisis. +p3756 +aVLet me say this. Let me say \u2014 let me say something that may not be great politics. But I think the secretary is right, and that is that the American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn e-mails. +p3757 +aVYou know? The middle class \u2014 Anderson, and let me say something about the media, as well. I go around the country, talk to a whole lot of people. Middle class in this country is collapsing. We have 27 million people living in poverty. We have massive wealth and income inequality. Our trade policies have cost us millions of decent jobs. The American people want to know whether we're going to have a democracy or an oligarchy as a result of Citizens Union. Enough of the e-mails. Let's talk about the real issues facing America. +p3758 +aVBlack lives matter. And the reason \u2014 the reason those words matter is the African American community knows that on any given day some innocent person like Sandra Bland can get into a car, and then three days later she's going to end up dead in jail, or their kids... ...are going to get shot. We need to combat institutional racism from top to bottom, and we need major, major reforms in a broken criminal justice system... ...In which we have more people in jail than China. And, I intended to tackle that issue. To make sure that our people have education and jobs rather than jail cells. +p3759 +aVWell, first of all, let's remember where we were when Bush left office. We were losing 800,000 jobs a month. And I know my Republican friends seem to have some amnesia on this issue, but the world's financial crisis was on \u2014 the world's financial markets system was on the verge of collapse. That's where we were. Are we better off today than we were then? Absolutely. But the truth is that for the 40 years, the great middle class of this country has been disappearing. And in my view what we need to do is create millions of jobs by rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure; raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour; pay equity for women workers; and our disastrous trade policies, which have cost us millions of jobs; and make every public college and university in this country tuition free. +p3760 +aVWell, that's not true. +p3761 +aVLet us be clear that the greed and recklessness and illegal behavior of Wall Street, where fraud is a business model, helped to destroy this economy and the lives of millions of people. Check the record. In the 1990s \u2014 and all due respect \u2014 in the 1990s, when I had the Republican leadership and Wall Street spending billions of dollars in lobbying, when the Clinton administration, when Alan Greenspan said, "what a great idea it would be to allow these huge banks to merge," Bernie Sanders fought them, and helped lead the opposition to deregulation. Today, it is my view that when you have the three... +p3762 +aV...largest banks in America \u2014 are much bigger than they were when we bailed them out for being too big to fail, we have got to break them up. +p3763 +aVI will, just a second. +p3764 +aVI'll tell him. In my view, Secretary Clinton, you do not \u2014 Congress does not regulate Wall Street. Wall Street regulates Congress. And we have gotta break off these banks. Going to them... +p3765 +aV...and saying, "please, do the right thing"... +p3766 +aV...is kind of naive. +p3767 +aVWell, I remember that meeting very well. I remember it like it was yesterday. Hank Paulson, Bernanke came in, and they say, "guys, the economy is going to collapse because Wall Street is going under. It's gonna take the economy with them." And you know what I said to Hank Paulson? I said, "Hank, your guys \u2014 you come from Goldman Sachs. Your millionaire and billionaire friends caused this problem. How about your millionaire and billionaire friends paying for the bailout, not working families in this country?" So to answer your question, no, I would not have let the economy collapse. But it was wrong to ask the middle class to bail out Wall Street. And by the way, I want Wall Street now to help kids in this country go to college, public colleges and universities, free with a Wall Street speculation tax. +p3768 +aVWell, let me tell you, Donald Trump and his billionaire friends under my policies are going to pay a hell of a lot more in taxes today \u2014 taxes in the future than they're paying today. But in terms of education, this is what I think. This is the year 2015. A college degree today, Dana, is the equivalent of what a high school degree was 50 years ago. And what we said 50 years ago and a hundred years ago is that every kid in this country should be able to get a high school education regardless of the income of their family. I think we have to say that is true for everybody going to college. I think we don't need a complicated system, which the secretary is talking about, the income goes down, the income goes down, if you're poor you have to work, and so forth and so on. I pay for my program, by the way, through a tax on Wall Street speculation, which will not only make public colleges and universities tuition-free, it will substantially lower interest rates on college debt, a major crisis in this country. +p3769 +aV... in order to make it possible for them to afford their education. And I want colleges to get their costs down. They are outrageously high in what they're charging. +p3770 +aVWhen the Republicans \u2014 when the Republicans in the Congress and some Democrats were talking about cutting Social Security and benefits for disabled veterans, for the so-called chained CPI, I founded a caucus called the Defending Social Security Caucus. My view is that when you have millions of seniors in this country trying to get by \u2014 and I don't know how they do on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year \u2014 you don't cut Social Security, you expand it. And the way you expand it is by lifting the cap on taxable incomes so that you do away with the absurdity of a millionaire paying the same amount into the system as somebody making $118,000. You do that, Social Security is solvent until 2061 and you can expand benefits. +p3771 +aVI didn't leave anybody at the altar. I voted against that piece of legislation because it had guest-worker provisions in it which the Southern Poverty Law Center talked about being semi-slavery. Guest workers are coming in, they're working under terrible conditions, but if they stand up for their rights, they're thrown out of the country. I was not the only progressive to vote against that legislation for that reason. Tom Harkin, a very good friend of Hillary Clinton's and mine, one of the leading labor advocates, also voted against that. +p3772 +aVI know that. But point being is that progressives did vote against that for that reason. My view right now \u2014 and always has been \u2014 is that when you have 11 million undocumented people in this country, we need comprehensive immigration reform, we need a path toward citizenship, we need to take people out of the shadows. O' +p3773 +aVWell, I was chairman for two years, and when I was chairman we did take action. What we did is pass a $15 billion dollar piece of legislation which brought in many, many new doctors, and nurses into the V.A. so that veterans in this country could get the health care when they needed it, and not be on long waiting lines. And, the other part of that legislation said that if a veteran is living more than 40 miles away from a V.A. facility, that veteran could get health care from the community health center, or the private sector. As a result of that legislation, we went further in than any time in recent history in improving health care for the men and women of this country who put their lives on the line to defend them. +p3774 +aVIt was 99 to one and I was maybe the one. I don't know. +p3775 +aVI'm sorry? +p3776 +aVAbsolutely. Of course. +p3777 +aVWell, I would shut down \u2014 make \u2014 I'd shut down what exists right now is that virtually every telephone call in this country ends up in a file at the NSA. That is unacceptable to me. But it's not just government surveillance. I think the government is involved in our e-mails; is involved in our websites. Corporate America is doing it as well. If we are a free country, we have the right to be free. Yes, we have to defend ourselves against terrorism, but there are ways to do that without impinging on our constitutional rights and our privacy rights. O' +p3778 +aVI think Snowden played a very important role in educating the American people to the degree in which our civil liberties and our constitutional rights are being undermined. +p3779 +aVHe did \u2014 he did break the law, and I think there should be a penalty to that. But I think what he did in educating us should be taken into consideration before he is (inaudible). +p3780 +aVI have a lot of respect for president Obama. I have worked with him time and time again on many, many issues. But here's where I do disagree. I believe that the power of corporate America, the power of Wall Street, the power of the drug companies, the power of the corporate media is so great that the only way we really transform America and do the things that the middle class and working class desperately need is through a political revolution when millions of people begin to come together and stand up and say: Our government is going to work for all of us, not just a handful of billionaires. +p3781 +aVWhat I mean is that we need to have one of the larger voter turnouts in the world, not one of the lowest. We need to raise public consciousness. We need the American people to know what's going on in Washington in a way that today they do not know. And when people come together in a way that does not exist now and are prepared to take on the big money interest, then we could bring the kind of change we need. O' +p3782 +aVI think \u2014 I think that there is profound frustration all over this country with establishment politics. I am the only candidate running for president who is not a billionaire, who has raised substantial sums of money, and I do not have a super PAC. I am not raising money from millionaires and billionaires, and in fact, tonight, in terms of what a political revolution is about, there are 4,000 house parties \u2014 100,000 people in this country \u2014 watching this debate tonight who want real change in this country. +p3783 +aVWell, I will tell you this. I believe \u2014 and Pope Francis made this point. This is a moral issue. The scientists are telling us that we need to move extremely boldly. I am proud that, along with Senator Barbara Boxer, a few years ago, we introduced the first piece of climate change legislation which called for a tax on carbon. And let me also tell you that nothing is gonna happen unless we are prepared to deal with campaign finance reform, because the fossil fuel industry is funding the Republican Party, which denies the reality of climate change... ...and certainly is not prepared to go forward aggressively. This is a moral issue. We have got to be extremely aggressive in working with China, India, Russia. +p3784 +aVThe planet \u2014 the future of the planet is at stake. +p3785 +aVYeah, Dana, here's the point: Every other major country on Earth, every one, including some small countries, say that when a mother has a baby, she should stay home with that baby. We are the only major country. That is an international embarrassment that we do not provide family \u2014 paid family and medical leave. Second of all, the secretary is right. Republicans tell us we can't do anything except give tax breaks to billionaires and cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. That's not what the American people want. +p3786 +aVI suspect I would vote yes. And I would vote yes because I am seeing in this country too many lives being destroyed for non-violent offenses. We have a criminal justice system that lets CEOs on Wall Street walk away, and yet we are imprisoning or giving jail sentences to young people who are smoking marijuana. I think we have to think through this war on drugs... ...which has done an enormous amount of damage. We need to rethink our criminal justice system, we we've got a lot of work to do in that area. O' +p3787 +aVThe Republican party, since I've been in the Senate, and since President Obama has been in office, has played a terrible, terrible role of being total obstructionists. Every effort that he has made, that some of us have made, they have said no, no, no. Now, in my view, the only way we can take on the right wing republicans who are, by the way, I hope will not continue to control the Senate and the House when one of us elected President... ...But the only way we can get things done is by having millions of people coming together. If we want free tuition at public colleges and universities, millions of young people are going to have to demand it, and give the Republicans an offer they can't refuse. If we want to raise the minimum wage to $15 bucks an hour, workers are going to have to come together and look the Republicans in the eye, and say, "We know what's going on. You vote against us, you are out of your job." +p3788 +aVAs someone who has taken on probably every special interest that there is in Washington, I would lump Wall Street and the pharmaceutical industry at the top of my life of people who do not like me. +p3789 +aVThis is a great country, but we have many, many serious problems. We should not be the country that has the highest rate of childhood poverty of any major country and more wealth and income inequality than any other country. We should not be the only major country on Earth that does not guarantee health care to all of our people as a right of citizenship and we should not be the only major country that does not provide medical and \u2014 and parental leave \u2014 family and parental leave to all of our families. Now, at the end of our day, here is the truth that very few candidates will say, is that nobody up here, certainly no Republican, can address the major crises facing our country unless millions of people begin to stand up to the billionaire class that has so much power over our economy and our political life. Jim Webb is right: Money is pouring in to this campaign through super PACs. We are doing it the old-fashioned way: 650,000 individual contributions. And if people want to help us out, BernieSanders.com. We are averaging $30 bucks apiece. We would appreciate your help. +p3790 +asVBARTIROMO +p3791 +(lp3792 +VTonight we're partnering with the Wall Street Journal to ask questions on the economy that voters want answered. We're also working with Facebook, who tells us that since the first Republican debate, more than 58 million people have joined the political conversation online. More than 9 million are talking specifically about the economy. +p3793 +aVBusinesswoman Carly Fiorina. Ohio Governor John Kasich. And Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. +p3794 +aVWe've asked people on Facebook to submit their questions for the candidates. Seth Bell wrote, "We are approaching $20 trillion in national debt. Specifically, what plans do you have to cut federal spending?" Governor Kasich, you have spoken much about your success in balancing the budget under President Clinton. Today the national debt is at record highs and growing unsustainably. Interest will be the fastest-growing part of the federal budget, tripling over the next 10 years. Social Security, the lifeline of millions of American seniors, is rushing toward insolvency. With all of the tax plans presented tonight, estimated to cost anywhere between $2 trillion and $12 trillion over a decade, what specific steps will you take to balance the budget? +p3795 +aVDid you want to name any specific steps, sir? +p3796 +aVThank you, sir. +p3797 +aVSenator Cruz, the International Monetary Fund recently cut its expectations for economic growth. Many economists expect a recession to hit the U.S. within the next year due to the weakening of manufacturing. The next president will have to deal with it. You say tax reform is a powerful lever to spur economic expansion. You're calling for a 10 percent income tax and a 16 percent business tax. What other elements do you need in this plan to actually create jobs? +p3798 +aVThank you, sir. +p3799 +aVGovernor Bush... +p3800 +aVWe have more questions for you, Governor Kasich, coming up. We have more questions for you, Governor Kasich. +p3801 +aVWe will \u2014 we will certainly get to that. Governor Bush? +p3802 +aVAlmost 40 percent of Americans are without a job and are not looking. Many have given up. That's what the participation rate tells us. You've said your policies will drive the economy back to 4 percent growth, which we haven't seen since the year 2000. What specific regulations would you change? And how will that lead to jobs and growth? +p3803 +aVThank you, sir. +p3804 +aVMr. Trump, a federal appeals court just dealt a blow to the Obama administration's plan to prevent the deportation of 5 million people living in this country illegally. The White House is appealing to the Supreme Court. At the heart of this issue is the effect that illegal immigrants are having on our economy, what will you do about it? +p3805 +aVCan we just send 5 million people back with no effect on economy? +p3806 +aVSo what will you do? +p3807 +aVThank you, sir. +p3808 +aVWe go back to Facebook. Dewayne Wesley Cato asks on Facebook, how do we get rid of regulations choking our businesses? Ms. Fiorina? Specifically, under the president's Affordable Care Act, employers with 50 or more employees are required to offer health insurance, or be fined. Many are opting to pay the fine. Others are cutting back employee hours to duck the law altogether. What specific ways will you alleviate the pressure on small business? +p3809 +aVJust to be clear, you want to repeal Obamacare... ..but, what's the alternative? +p3810 +aVJust to be clear, you say you would repeal Obamacare... +p3811 +aV...But, what is the alternative... +p3812 +aV...and how does that help small business... +p3813 +aV...Thank you... +p3814 +aVSenator Cruz, there isn't anyone in this audience or watching at home tonight who would not like to pay less in taxes. Most people just want a fair shake, and they don't want their money to be wasted. But explain how your plan works. How can you cut taxes as much as you propose without running up debt and deficits? +p3815 +aVBut you haven't told us how to pay for it. +p3816 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Bush, Republican primary voters say tax reform should be a priority for Congress and the administration. But, Governor Bush, how important is tax reform in your domestic policy agenda? Will you guarantee it in the first year of your presidency? +p3817 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3818 +aVThat's right. That's right. +p3819 +aVComing up, the biggest threats facing the next commander-in-chief. You're watching the Republican presidential debate, live tonight from Milwaukee. We'll be right back. +p3820 +aVWelcome back. Welcome back to the Republican presidential debate. The candidates taking the questions you want answered. Also tonight, you can see what America is saying about the debate. Go to Facebook and type #gopdebate into the search box. Now, back to the questions. Americans face security threats at home and abroad. Last year, terrorist attacks rose 61 percent, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace, with the most deaths occurring in just five countries, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Syria. Dr. Carson, you were against putting troops on the ground in Iraq and against a large military force in Afghanistan. Do you support the president's decision to now put 50 special ops forces in Syria and leave 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan? +p3821 +aVWe asked Facebook to take a look at some of the major issues we're talking about, and tackling in this debate tonight. This word cloud shows what people are focusing on the most. The bigger the word, the more the talk. One of the most discussed issues in the last month, homeland security. Governor Bush, what is the biggest threat facing America today? +p3822 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, in 2012 debate, President Obama mocked Mitt Romney's assertion that Russia was the top geopolitical challenge facing the United States, saying he was a Cold War dinosaur. Now, Russia has invaded Ukraine, and has put troops in Syria. You have said you will have a good relationship with Mr. Putin. So, what does President Trump do in response to Russia's aggression? +p3823 +aVThank you, sir. +p3824 +aVThank you, governor. +p3825 +aVSenator Rubio. +p3826 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. +p3827 +aVMore questions \u2014 more questions coming up, when the Republican presidential debate comes right back, live from Milwaukee. Stay with us. +p3828 +aVWelcome back to the fourth Republican presidential debate. Senator Rubio, Hillary Clinton is the clear front runner for the Democratic nomination. If she is indeed the nominee, you will be facing a candidate with an impressive resume. She was the first lady of the United States, a U.S. senator from New York, and secretary of state under Barack Obama. She has arguably more experience, certainly more time in government than almost all of you on stage tonight. Why should the American people trust you to lead this country, even though she has been so much closer to the office? +p3829 +aVSenator Paul, you were one of 15 republicans to vote for an amendment which states that human activity contributed to climate change. President Obama has announced an aggressive plan to cut carbon emissions. At the same time, energy production in America has boomed. Is it possible to continue this boom, and move toward energy self-sufficiency, while at the same time pursuing a meaningful climate change program? +p3830 +aVCarly Fiorina? +p3831 +aVFormer Governor Jeb Bush? +p3832 +aVSenator Ted Cruz? +p3833 +aVHe's funny. +p3834 +aVThank you. +p3835 +asVCLINTON +p3836 +(lp3837 +VThank you. +p3838 +aVI'm running for president to knock down all the barriers that are holding Americans back, and to rebuild the ladders of opportunity that will give every American a chance to advance, especially those who have been left out and left behind. I know a lot of Americans are angry about the economy. And for good cause. Americans haven't had a raise in 15 years. There aren't enough good-paying jobs, especially for young people. And yes, the economy is rigged in favor of those at the top. We both agree that we have to get unaccountable money out of our political system and that we have to do much more to ensure that Wall Street never wrecks main street again. But I want to go further. I want to tackle those barriers that stand in the way of too many Americans right now. African-Americans who face discrimination in the job market, education, housing, and the criminal justice system. Hardworking immigrant families living in fear, who should be brought out of the shadows so they and their children can have a better future. Guaranteeing that women's work finally gets the pay, the equal pay that we deserve. I think America can only live up to its potential when we make sure that every American has a chance to live up to his or her potential. That will be my mission as president. And I think together we will make progress. +p3839 +aVJudy, I think that the best analysis that I've seen based on Senator Sanders plans is that it would probably increase the size of the federal government by about 40%, but what is most concerning to me is that in looking at the plans \u2014 let's take healthcare for example. Last week in a CNN town hall, the Senator told a questioner that the questioner would spend about $500 dollars in taxes to get about $5,000 dollars in healthcare. Every progressive economist who has analyzed that says that the numbers don't add up, and that's a promise that cannot be kept, and it's really important now that we are getting into the rest of the country that both of us are held to account for explaining what we are proposing because, especially with healthcare, this is not about math. This is about people's lives, and we should level with the American people about what we can do to make sure they get quality affordable healthcare. +p3840 +aVI can only say that we both share the goal of universal health care coverage. You know, before it was called Obamacare, it was called Hillarycare. And I took on the drug companies and I took on the insurance companies to try to get us universal health care coverage. And why I am a staunch supporter of President Obama's principal accomplishment \u2014 namely the Affordable Care Act \u2014 is because I know how hard it was to get that done. We are at 90 percent coverage. We have to get the remaining 10. I've set forth very specific plans about how to get costs down, especially prescription drug costs. And it is difficult to in any way argue with the goal that we both share. But I think the American people deserve to know specifically how this would work. If it's Medicare for all, then you no longer have the Affordable Care Act, because the Affordable Care Act, as you know very well, is based on the insurance system, based on exchanges, based on a subsidy system. The Children's Health Insurance Program, which I helped to create, which covers 8 million kids, is also a different kind of program. So if you're having Medicare for all, single-payer, you need to level with people about what they will have at the end of the process you are proposing. And based on every analysis that I can find by people who are sympathetic to the goal, the numbers don't add up, and many people will actually be worse off than they are right now. +p3841 +aVWell, let me just \u2014 let me just say, once again......that, having been in the trenches fighting for this, I believe strongly we have to guarantee health care. I believe we are on the path to doing that. The last thing we need is to throw our country into a contentious debate about health care again. And we are not England. We are not France. We inherited a system that was set up during World War II; 170 million Americans get health insurance right now through their employers. So what we have tried to do and what President Obama succeeded in doing was to build on the health care system we have, get us to 90 percent coverage. We have to get the other 10 percent of the way to 100. I far prefer that and the chances we have to be successful there than trying to start all over again, gridlocking our system, and trying to get from zero to 100 percent. +p3842 +aVNo. But it is absolutely fair and necessary for Americans to vet both of our proposals, to ask the really hard questions about, what is it we think we can accomplish, why do we believe that, and what would be the results for the average American family? In my case, whether it's health care, or getting us to debt-free tuition, or moving us toward paid family leave, I have been very specific about where I would raise the money, how much it would cost, and how I would move this agenda forward. I've tried to be as specific to answer questions so that my proposals can be vetted, because I feel like we have to level with people for the very reason, Gwen, that you are mentioning. There is a great deal of skepticism about the federal government. I'm aware of that. It comes from the right, from the left, from people on all sides of the political spectrum. So we have a special obligation to make clear what we stand for, which is why I think we should not make promises we can't keep, because that will further, I think, alienate Americans from understanding and believing we can together make some real changes in people's lives. +p3843 +aVI will put a price tag. My price tag is about $100 billion a year. And again, paid for. And what I have said is I will not throw us further into debt. I believe I can get the money that I need by taxing the wealthy, by closing loopholes, the things that we are way overdue for doing. And I think once I'm in the White House we will have enough political capital to be able to do that. But I am conscious of the fact that we have to also be very clear, especially with young people, about what kind of government is going to do what for them and what it will cost. +p3844 +aVYou know, I think, again, both of us share the goal of trying to make college affordable for all young Americans. And I have set forth a compact that would do just that for debt-free tuition. We differ, however, on a couple of key points. One of them being that if you don't have some agreement within the system from states and from families and from students, it's hard to get to where we need to go. And Senator Sanders's plan really rests on making sure that governors like Scott Walker contribute $23 billion on the first day to make college free. I am a little skeptical about your governor actually caring enough about higher education to make any kind of commitment like that. +p3845 +aVWell, first, Judy, I have spent my entire adult life working toward making sure that women are empowered to make their own choices, even if that choice is not to vote for me. I believe that it's most important that we unleash the full potential of women and girls in our society. And I feel very strongly that I have an agenda, I have a record that really does respond to a lot of the specific needs that the women in our country face. So I'm going to keep making that case. I'm going to keep making sure that everything I've done, everything that I stand for is going to be well known. But I have no argument with anyone making up her mind about who to support. I just hope that by the end of this campaign there will be a lot more supporting me. That's what I'm working towards. +p3846 +aVWell, look, I think that she's been saying that for as long as I've known her, which is about 25 years. But it doesn't change my view that we need to empower everyone, women and men, to make the best decisions in their minds that they can make. That's what I've always stood for. And when it comes to the issues that are really on the front lines as to whether we're going to have equal pay, paid family leave, some opportunity for, you know, women to go as far as their hard work and talent take them, I think that we still have some barriers to knock down, which is why that's at the core of my campaign. I would note, just for a historic aside, somebody told me earlier today we've had like 200 presidential primary debates, and this is the first time there have been a majority of women on the stage. So, you know, we'll take our progress wherever we can find it. +p3847 +aVYou know, I have said \u2014 I have said many times, you know, I'm not asking people to support me because I'm a woman. I'm asking people to support me because I think I'm the most qualified, experienced, and ready person to be the president and the commander-in-chief. And I appreciate greatly Senator Sanders' voting record. And I was very proud to get the endorsement of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, because I've been a leader on these issues. I have gone time and time again to take on the vested interests who would keep women's health care decisions the province of the government instead of women ourselves. I'm very proud that +p3848 +aVYou know, I completely agree with Senator Sanders. The first speech I gave in this campaign back in April was about criminal justice reform and ending the era of mass incarceration. The statistics from Wisconsin are particularly troubling, because it is the highest rate of incarceration for African-Americans in our nation, twice the national average. And we know of the tragic, terrible event that lead to the death of Dontre Hamilton right here in Milwaukee, a young man unarmed, who should still be with us. His family certainly believes that. And so do I. So we have work to do. There have been some good recommendations about what needs to happen. President Obama's policing commission came out with some. I have fully endorsed those. But we have to restore policing that will actually protect the communities that police officers are sworn to protect. And, then we have to go after sentencing, and that's one of the problems here in Wisconsin because so much of what happened in the criminal justice system doesn't happen at the federal level, it happens at the state and local level. But, I would also add this. There are other racial discrepancies. Really systemic racism in this state, as in others, education, in employment, in the kinds of factors that too often lead from a position where young people, particularly young men, are pushed out of school early, are denied employment opportunities. So, when we talk about criminal justice reform, and ending the era of mass incarceration, we also have to talk about jobs, education, housing, and other ways of helping communities. +p3849 +aVWell, I'm just not sure I agree completely with that assessment. I think under President Obama we have seen a lot of advances, the Affordable Care Act has helped more African Americans than any other group to get insurance, to be taken care of, but we also know a lot more than we did. We have a lot more social media, we have everybody with a cellphone. So, we are seeing the dark side of the remaining systemic racism that we have to root out in our society. I think President Obama has set a great example. I think he has addressed a lot of these issues that have been quite difficult, but he has gone forward. Now, what we have to do is to build on an honest conversation about where we go next. We now have much more information about what must be done to fix our criminal justice system. We now have some good models about how better to provide employment, housing and education. I think what President Obama did was to exemplify the importance of this issue as our first African American president, and to address it both from the President's office, and through his advocacy, such as working with young men, and Mrs. Obama's work with young women. But, we can't rest. We have work to do, and we now know a lot more than we ever did before. So, it's going to be my responsibility to make sure we move forward to solve these problems that are now out in the open. Nobody can deny them. To use the Justice Department, as we just saw, they have said they are going to sue Ferguson, that entered into a consent agreement, and then tried to back out. So, we're going to enforce the law, we're going to change policing practices, we're going to change incarceration practices, but we're also going to emphasize education, jobs, and housing. +p3850 +aVLook, I am deeply concerned about what's happening in every community in America, and that includes white communities, where we are seeing an increase in alcoholism, addiction, earlier deaths. People with a high school education or less are not even living as long as their parents lived. This is a remarkable and horrifying fact. And that's why I've come forward with, for example, a plan to revitalize coal country, the coalfield communities that have been so hard hit by the changing economy, by the reduction in the use of coal. You know, coal miners and their families who helped turn on the lights and power our factories for generations are now wondering, has our country forgotten us? Do people not care about all of our sacrifice? And I'm going to do everything I can to address distressed communities, whether they are communities of color, whether they are white communities, whether they are in any part of our country. I particularly appreciate the proposal that Congressman Jim Clyburn has \u2014 the 10-20-30 proposal \u2014 to try to spend more federal dollars in communities with persistent generational poverty. And you know what? If you look at the numbers, there are actually as many, if not more white communities that are truly being left behind and left out. So, yes, I do think it would be a terrible oversight not to try to address the very real problems that white Americans \u2014 particularly those without a lot of education whose jobs have \u2014 you know, no longer provided them or even no longer present in their communities, because we have to focus where the real hurt is. And that's why, as president, I will look at communities that need special help and try to deliver that. +p3851 +aVI strongly support the president's executive actions. I hope the Supreme Court upholds them. I think there is constitutional and legal authority for the president to have done what he did. I am against the raids. I'm against the kind of inhumane treatment that is now being visited upon families, waking them up in the middle of the night, rounding them up. We should be deporting criminals, not hardworking immigrant families who do the very best they can and often are keeping economies going in many places in our country. I'm a strong supporter of comprehensive immigration reform. Have been ever since I was in the Senate. I was one of the original sponsors of the +p3852 +aVTwo quick responses. One, with respect to the Central American children, I made it very clear that those children needed to be processed appropriately, but we also had to send a message to families and communities in Central America not to send their children on this dangerous journey in the hands of smugglers. I've also called for the end of family detention, for the end of privately-run detention centers, along with private prisons, which I think are really against the common good and the rule of law. And with respect to the 2007 bill, this was Ted Kennedy's bill. And I think Ted Kennedy had a very clear idea about what needed to be done. And I was proud to stand with him and support it. +p3853 +aVWell, that just wasn't \u2014 that just wasn't the fact, Senator. The fact is that there was a great effort made by the Obama administration and others to really send a clear message, because we knew that so many of these children were being abused, being treated terribly while they tried to get to our border. So we have a disagreement on this. I think now what I've called for is counsel for every child so that no child has to face any kind of process without someone who speaks and advocates for that child so that the right decision hopefully can be made. +p3854 +aVI think \u2014 I think it's fair to say we don't have a disagreement. We both believe there has to be more money going into the Social Security system. I've said I'm looking at a couple of different ways, one which you mentioned, Senator, but also trying to expand the existing tax to passive income that wealthy people have so that we do get more revenue into the Social Security Trust Fund. I have a slightly different approach, though, about what we should do with that initially. First, rather than expand benefits for everyone, I do want to take care of low-income seniors who worked at low-wage jobs. I want to take care of women. When the Social Security program was started in the 1930s, not very many women worked. And women have been disadvantaged ever since. They do not get any credit for their care-taking responsibilities. And the people who are often the most hard-hit are widows, because when their spouse dies, they can lose up to one-half of their Social Security monthly payment. So we have no disagreement about the need to buttress Social Security, get more revenue into the program. But I want to start by helping those people who are most at risk, the ones who, yes, are cutting their pills in half, who don't believe they can make the rent, who are worried about what comes next for them. +p3855 +aVWell, Senator, look, I think we're in vigorous agreement here. We both want to get more revenue in. I have yet to see a proposal that you're describing that the \u2014 raising the cap would apply to passive income. That has not been... +p3856 +aVWell, that has not been a part of most of the proposals that I've seen. I'm interested in making sure we get the maximum amount of revenue from those who can well afford to provide it. So I'm going to come up with the best way forward. We're going to end up in the same place. We're going to get more revenue. I'm going to prioritize those recipients who need the most help first. +p3857 +aVI can't speak for the Koch Brothers, you're referring to a Super PAC that we don't coordinate with, that was set up to support President Obama, that has now decided that they want to support me. They are the ones who should respond to any questions. Let's talk about our campaigns. I'm very proud of the fact that we have more than 750 thousand donors, and the vast majority of them are giving small contributions. So, I'm proud of Senator Sanders, and his supporters. I think it's great that Senator Sanders, President Obama and I have more donors than any three people who have every run, certainly on the Democratic side. That's the way it should be, and I'm going to continue to reach out to thank all my online contributors for everything they are doing for me, to encourage them and help me do more just as Senator Sanders is. I think that is the real key here. We both have a lot of small donors. I think that sets us apart from a lot of what's happening right now on the Republican side. The Koch Brothers have a very clear political agenda. It is an agenda, in my view, that would do great harm to our country. We're going to fight it as hard as we can, and we're going to fight whoever the Republicans nominate who will depend on the Koch Brothers, and others. +p3858 +aVWe are mixing apples and oranges. My 750,000 donors have contributed more than a million and a half donations. I'm very proud. That, I think, between the two of us demonstrates the strength of the support we have among people who want to see change in our country. But, the real issue, I think, that the Senator is injecting into this is that if you had a Super PAC, like President Obama has, which now says it wants to support me. It's not my PAC. If you take donations from Wall Street, you can't be independent. I would just say, I debated then Senator Obama numerous times on stages like this, and he was the recipient of the largest number of Wall Street donations of anybody running on the Democratic side ever. Now, when it mattered, he stood up and took on Wall Street. He pushed through, and he passed the Dodd-Frank regulation, the toughest regulations since the 1930's. So, let's not in anyway imply here that either President Obama or myself, would in anyway not take on any vested interested, whether it's Wall Street, or drug companies, or insurance companies, or frankly, the gun lobby to stand up to do what's best for the American people. +p3859 +aVWell, let's just \u2014 let's just follow up on this, because, you know, I've made it very clear that no bank is too big to fail, no executive too powerful to jail, and because of Dodd-Frank, we now have in law a process that the president, the Federal Reserve, and others can use if any bank poses a systemic risk. I think that's a major accomplishment. I agree, however, it doesn't go far enough, because what it focuses on are the big banks, which Senator Sanders has talked about a lot, for good reason. I go further in the plan that I've proposed, which has been called the toughest, most effective, comprehensive plan for reining in the other risks that the financial system could face. It was an investment bank, Lehman Brothers, that contributed to our collapse. It was a big insurance company, AIG. It was Countrywide Mortgage. My plan would sweep all of them into a regulatory framework so we can try to get ahead of what the next problems might be. And I believe that not only Barney Frank, Paul Krugman, and others, have said that what I have proposed is the most effective. It goes in the right direction. We have Dodd-Frank. We can use it to break up the banks, if that's appropriate. But let's not kid ourselves. As we speak, there are new problems on the horizon. I want to get ahead of those, and that's why I've proposed a much more comprehensive approach to deal with all of these... +p3860 +aVAbsolutely. And, you know, there are a number of programs that I think are duplicative and redundant and not producing the results that people deserve. There are a lot of training programs and education programs that I think can be streamlined and put into a much better format so that if we do continue them they can be more useful, in public schools, community colleges, and colleges and universities. I would like to take a hard look at every part of the federal government and really do the kind of analysis that would rebuild some confidence in people that we're taking a hard look about what we have, you know, and what we don't need anymore. And that's what I intend to do. +p3861 +aVLook, I think we are readier than we used to be, but it's a constant effort that has to be undertaken to make sure we are as ready as we need to be. We have made a lot of improvements in our domestic security since 9/11, and we have been able to foil and prevent attacks, yet we see the terrible attack in San Bernardino and know that we haven't done enough. So we have to go after this both abroad and at home. We have to go after terrorist networks, predominantly +p3862 +aVIf I could just respond. Two points. One, Senator Sanders voted in 1998 on what I think is fair to call a regime change resolution with respect to Iraq, calling for the end of Saddam Hussein's regime. He voted in favor of regime change with Libya, voted in favor of the Security Council being an active participate in setting the parameters for what we would do, which of course we followed through on. I do not believe a vote in 2002 is a plan to defeat +p3863 +aVYou did support a U.N. Security Council approach, which we did follow up on. And, look, I think it's important to look at what the most important counterterrorism judgment of the first four years of the Obama administration was, and that was the very difficult decision as to whether or not to advise the president to go after bin Laden. I looked at the evidence. I looked at the intelligence. I got the briefings. I recommended that the president go forward. It was a hard choice. Not all of his top national security advisors agreed with that. And at the end of the day, it was the president's decision. So he had to leave the Situation Room after hearing from the small group advising him and he had to make that decision. I'm proud that I gave him that advice. And I'm very grateful to the brave Navy +p3864 +aVWell, I know journalists have asked who you do listen to on foreign policy, and we have yet to know who that is. +p3865 +aVThat's fine. That's fine. You know, I listen to a wide variety of voices that have expertise in various areas. I think it is fair to say, whatever the complaints that you want to make about him are, that with respect to China, one of the most challenging relationships we have, his opening up China and his ongoing relationships with the leaders of China is an incredibly useful relationship for the United States of America. So if we want to pick and choose \u2014 and I certainly do \u2014 people I listen to, people I don't listen to, people I listen to for certain areas, then I think we have to be fair and look at the entire world, because it's a big, complicated world out there. +p3866 +aVAnd, yes, people we may disagree with on a number of things may have some insight, may have some relationships that are important for the president to understand in order to best protect the United States. +p3867 +aVWell, with respect to Syria, I really do appreciate the efforts that Secretary Kerry has made. The agreement on humanitarian relief now needs to be implemented, because there are enclaves that are literally filled with starving people throughout Syria. The agreement on a cease-fire, though, is something that has to be implemented more quickly than the schedule that the Russians agreed to. You know, the Russians wanted to buy time. Are they buying time to continue their bombardment on behalf of the Assad regime to further decimate what's left of the opposition, which would be a grave disservice to any kind of eventual cease-fire? So I know Secretary Kerry is working extremely hard to try to move that cease-fire up as quickly as possible. But I would add this. You know, the Security Council finally got around to adopting a resolution. At the core of that resolution is an agreement I negotiated in June of 2012 in Geneva, which set forth a cease-fire and moving toward a political resolution, trying to bring the parties at stake in Syria together. This is incredibly complicated, because we've got Iran as a big player, in addition to Russia. We have Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and others who have very important interests in their view. This is one of the areas I've disagreed with Senator Sanders on, who has called for Iranian troops trying to end civil war in Syria, which I think would be a grave mistake. Putting Iranian troops right on the border of the Golan right next to Israel would be a nonstarter for me. Trying to get Iran and Saudi Arabia to work together, as he has suggested in the past, is equally a nonstarter. So let's support what Secretary Kerry and the president are doing, but let's hope that we can accelerate the cease-fire, because I fear that the Russians will continue their bombing, try to do everything they can to destroy what's left of the opposition. And remember, the Russians have not gone after +p3868 +aVWell, I respectfully disagree. I think we have achieved a great deal with the Iranian nuclear agreement to put a lid on the Iranian nuclear weapons program. That has to be enforced absolutely with consequences for Iran at the slightest deviation from their requirements under the agreement. I do not think we should promise or even look toward normalizing relations because we have a lot of other business to get done with Iran. Yes, they have to stop being the main state sponsor of terrorism. Yes, they have to stop trying to destabilize the Middle East, causing even more chaos. Yes, they've got to get out of Syria. They've got to quit sponsoring Hezbollah and Hamas. They have got to quit trying to ship rockets into Gaza that can be used against Israel. We have a lot of work to do with Iran before we ever say that they could move toward normalized relations with us. +p3869 +aV... Senator Sanders, from a debate in 2008, quote what I said. The question was, would you meet with an adversary without conditions? I said no. And in fact, in Obama administration, we did not meet with anybody without conditions. That is the appropriate approach in order to get the results that you are seeking. +p3870 +aVWell, I was pleased that +p3871 +aVI certainly agree with FDR for all the reasons Senator Sanders said. And I agree about the role that he played both in war and in peace on the economy and defeating fascism around the world. I would choose Nelson Mandela for his generosity of heart, his understanding of the need for reconciliation. But I want to \u2014 I want to follow up on something having to do with leadership, because, you know, today Senator Sanders said that President Obama failed the presidential leadership test. And this is not the first time that he has criticized President Obama. In the past he has called him weak. He has called him a disappointment. He wrote a forward for a book that basically argued voters should have buyers' remorse when it comes to President Obama's leadership and legacy. And I just couldn't agree \u2014 disagree more with those kinds of comments. You know, from my perspective, maybe because I understand what President Obama inherited, not only the worst financial crisis but the antipathy of the Republicans in Congress, I don't think he gets the credit he deserves for being a president......who got us out of that......put us on firm ground, and has sent us into the future. And it is a \u2014 the kind of criticism that we've heard from Senator Sanders about our president I expect from Republicans. I do not expect from someone running for the Democratic nomination to succeed President Obama. +p3872 +aVYou know, Senator, what I am concerned about, is not disagreement on issues, saying that this is what I would rather do, I don't agree with the president on that, calling the president weak, calling him a disappointment, calling several times that he should have a primary opponent when he ran for re-election in 2012, you know, I think that goes further than saying we have our disagreements. As a senator, yes, I was a senator. I understand we can disagree on the path forward. But those kinds of personal assessments and charges are ones that I find particularly troubling. +p3873 +aVYou know, we \u2014 we agree that we've got to get unaccountable money out of politics. We agree that Wall Street should never be allowed to wreck Main Street again. But here's the point I want to make tonight. I am not a single-issue candidate, and I do not believe we live in a single-issue country. I think that a lot of what we have to overcome to break down the barriers that are holding people back, whether it's poison in the water of the children of Flint, or whether it's the poor miners who are being left out and left behind in coal country, or whether it is any other American today who feels somehow put down and oppressed by racism, by sexism, by discrimination against the +p3874 +aVWell, I'm happy to be here in New Hampshire for this debate, as we move toward the primary on Tuesday. I believe that America has the opportunity to once again live by our values, live up to our values in the 21st century, but I think that America can only do that if Americans can succeed. And there are lots of reasons why Americans today are feeling left out and left behind. Yes, of course, the economy has not been working for most Americans. Yes, of course, we have special interests that are unfortunately doing too much to rig the game. But there's also the continuing challenges of racism, of sexism, of discrimination against the +p3875 +aVWell, let me start by saying that Senator Sanders and I share some very big progressive goals. I've been fighting for universal healthcare for many years, and we're now on the path to achieving it. I don't want us to start over again. I think that would be a great mistake, to once again plunge our country into a contentious debate about whether we should have and what kind of system we should have for healthcare. I want to build on the progress we've made; got from 90 percent coverage to 100 percent coverage. And I don't want to rip away the security that people finally have; 18 million people now have healthcare; preexisting conditions are no longer a bar. So we have a difference. I also believe in affordable college, but I don't believe in free college, because every expert that I have talked to says, look, how will you ever control the costs. What I want to do is make sure middle class kids, not Donald Trump's kids, get to be able to afford college. I want to get the economy going again. It's not just enough about what we're against, as important as that is. I have a plan to create new jobs, manufacturing, infrastructure, clean energy jobs that will make us the 21st century clean energy super power. I also want to make sure small businesses can start and grow again. And of course, I believe in raising the minimum wage and equal pay for work. But the numbers just don't add up, from what Senator Sanders has been proposing. That's why all of the independent experts, all of the editorial boards that have vetted both of us have concluded that it is just not achievable. Let's go down a path where we can actually tell people what we will do. A progressive is someone who makes progress. That's what I intend to do. +p3876 +aVIf I could just follow up on that. There is no disagreement between us on universal coverage for health care, the disagreement is where do we start from and where do we end up. The Republicans want to repeal the Affordable Care Act, I want to improve it. I want to build on it, get the costs down, get prescription drug costs down. Senator Sanders wants us to start all over again. This was a major achievement of President Obama, of our country. It is helping people right now. I am not going to wait and have us plunge back into a contentious national debate that has very little chance of succeeding. Let's make the Affordable Care Act work for everybody. +p3877 +aVWell because I am a progressive who gets things done. And the root of that word, progressive, is progress. But I've heard Senator Sanders comments, and it's really caused me to wonder who's left in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Under his definition, President Obama is not progressive because he took donations from Wall Street; Vice President Biden is not progressive because she supported Keystone; Senator Shaheen is not progressive because she supports the trade pact. Even the late, great Senator Paul Wellstone would not fit this definition because he voted for +p3878 +aVWell, Chuck... +p3879 +aV... If I could, you know, in the very first debate I was asked am I a moderate or a progressive and I said I'm a progressive who likes to get things done. Cherry picking a quote here or there doesn't change my record of having fought for racial justice, having fought for kids rights, having fought the kind of inequities that fueled my interest in service in the first place going back to my days in the Children's Defense Fund. It certainly didn't stop me from taking on the drug companies and the insurance companies. Before it was called Hillarycare\u2014I mean, before it was called ObamaCare it was called Hillarycare because we took them on, and we weren't successful, but we kept fighting and we got the children's health insurance program. Every step along the way I have stood up, and fought, and have the scars to prove it. So, again......I think it's important that, look, I understand Senator Sanders really trying to distinguish himself. I understand that, that's what you do in campaigns, but at the same time let's not be\u2014in, I think an unfair way, making an accusation, or making an attack about where I stand and about where I've always stood. It is fair to say, Senator, that in your definition, as you being the self-proclaimed gatekeeper for progressivism, I don't know anyone else who fits that definition, but I know a lot of really hard fighting progressives in the Democratic party who have stood up time, and time again against special interests, against the powerful on behalf of those who are left behind and left out. And, that's what we ought to be celebrating. Let's talk about what we would do as President, and Commander in Chief to make sure the progress continues into the future. +p3880 +aV... Well, you began it yesterday with your comments... +p3881 +aVYou know, the person who first put out the idea of a 50-state party strategy is former Governor Howard Dean, who is with us tonight. And I'm very proud and grateful to have the support of so many elected Vermonters and former officials. Two former governors, the current governor, the current other senator. I really appreciate that. And I think it's because they've worked with me, they've seen what I do. They know what kind of a colleague I am. They want me as their partner in the White House. And that's exactly what I will do. We'll get things done together. Democrats, Republicans, independents, we're going to make progress together when I'm president. +p3882 +aVWell, look, I've got to just jump in here because, honestly, Senator Sanders is the only person who I think would characterize me, a woman running to be the first woman president, as exemplifying the establishment. And I've got to tell you that it is......it is really quite amusing to me. People support me because they know me. They know my life's work. They have worked with me and many have also worked with Senator Sanders. And at the end of the day they endorse me because they know I can get things done. I am not going to make promises I can't keep. I am not going to talk about big ideas like single-payer and then not level with people about how much it will cost. A respected health economist said that these plans would cost a trillion dollars more a year. I'm not going to tell people that I will raise your incomes and not your taxes, and not mean it, because I don't want to see the kind of struggle that the middle class is going through exemplified by these promises that would raise taxes and make it much more difficult for many, many Americans to get ahead and stay ahead. That is not my agenda. +p3883 +aVYeah, but I\u2014I think it's fair to really ask what's behind that comment. You know, Senator Sanders has said he wants to run a positive campaign. I've tried to keep my disagreements over issues, as it should be. But time and time again, by innuendo, by insinuation, there is this attack that he is putting forth, which really comes down to\u2014you know, anybody who ever took donations or speaking fees from any interest group has to be bought. And I just absolutely reject that, Senator. And I really don't think these kinds of attacks by insinuation are worthy of you. And enough is enough. If you've got something to say, say it directly. But you will not find that I ever changed a view or a vote because of any donation that I ever received. +p3884 +aVAnd I have stood up and I have represented my constituents to the best of my abilities, and I'm very proud of that. +p3885 +aVSo I think it's time to end the very artful smear that you and your campaign have been carrying out... +p3886 +aV... in recent weeks, and let's talk......let's talk about about the issues. Let's talk about the issues that divide us. +p3887 +aVAnd let's\u2014let's... +p3888 +aV... we both agree with campaign finance reform. +p3889 +aVI\u2014I worked hard for McCain-Feingold. +p3890 +aVI want to reverse Citizens United. +p3891 +aVAnd so\u2014let's talk about issues. +p3892 +aVWell, you know, Senator, I don't think\u2014I don't... +p3893 +aV... I don't think you could find any person in political life today who has been subjected to more attacks and had more money spent against her by special interests, among whom you have named a few, than I. And I'm proud of that. You know, when I took on the drug companies and the insurance companies for universal health care coverage, they went after me with a vengeance. Today, you've got hedge fund billionaires aligned with Karl Rove, running ads against me to try to get Democrats to vote for you. I know this game. I'm going to stop this game. But while we're talking about votes, you're the one who voted to deregulate swaps and derivatives in 2000, which contributed to the over-leveraging of Lehman Brothers, which was one of the culprits that brought down the economy. So I don't know\u2014I'm not impugning your motive because you voted to deregulate swaps and derivatives. People make mistakes and I'm certainly not saying you did it for any kind of financial advantage. What we've got to do as Democrats\u2014what we've got to do as Democrats is to be united to actually solve these problems. And what I believe is that I have a better track record and a better opportunity to actually get that job done. That's what this election should be about. +p3894 +aVOn the issue of Wall Street. +p3895 +aVWell you know, Rachel, I think I may not have done the job I should in explaining my record. You know, I did\u2014when I left the secretary of State's office, like so many former officials, military leaders, journalists, others, I did go on the speaking circuit. I spoke to heart doctors, I spoke to the American Camping Association, I spoke to auto dealers, and yes, I spoke to firms on Wall Street. They wanted me to talk about the world, what my experience had been as secretary of State. But what I want people to know is I went to Wall Street before the crash. I was the one saying you're going to wreck the economy because of these shenanigans with mortgages. I called to end the carried interest loophole that hedge fund managers enjoy. I proposed changes in CEO compensation. I called for a consumer protection financial bureau before it was created. And I think the best evidence that the Wall Street people at least know where I stand and where I have always stood is because they are trying to beat me in this primary. They have collected and spent as much as $6 million on these ads. Hedge fund billionaires, Karl Rove, another billionaire, jumped in. And why are they doing that? These are guys who try to make smart investments. They know my record, they know me, they know that I say what I believe and I will do it. And I also have a pretty good understanding about how to stop them. So I do want people to know that, and I think it's important for everybody to understand I have a record, I have stood firm and I will be the person who prevents them from ever wrecking the economy again. +p3896 +aVIf I could, let me just say that of course it has to change. It has to change. And that's why I have put forward a plan to do just that. And it's been judged to be the toughest, most effective and comprehensive one. I have great respect for Senator Sanders's commitment to try to restore Glass-Steagall. But I do not believe that that is enough. And in fact, I don't believe it really addresses a lot of the biggest issues we have. You know, we now have power under the Dodd-Frank legislation to break up banks. And I've said I will use that power if they pose a systemic risk. But I want to go further, because it was investment banks, it was insurance companies, it was mortgage companies, all of which contributed. So let's not just be narrowly focused on one part of the problem. We have a lot of issues with corporate power that have to be addressed. My plan takes us further and it would do the job. +p3897 +aVLook we have a law\u2014look, you know, I\u2014I appreciate the senator's advocacy. We have a law. It was passed. It was signed by President Obama. It lays out a process that you go through to determine whether a systemic risk is posed. And by the way, President Obama signed that, pushed it through, even though he took donations from Wall Street, because he's a responsible president. So we have a law in place. If the circumstances warrant it, I will certainly use it. And from what you say, I know you will as well. But that is not enough. And I keep going back to this because part of the reason the Wall Street guys are trying so hard to stop me\u2014the hedge fund guys, the shadow banking guys\u2014is because I've got their number on all of that. And my plan goes so much further to try to prevent the problems of the future. You know, we can't just fight the last war. We've got to be prepared to stop these guys if they ever try to use their economic power once again, to hurt the economy, and to hurt so many Americans. And my plan, Paul Krugman, Barney Frank, a lot of experts who understand what the new challenges might be, have said I am exactly on point, and the Wall Street guys actually know that. +p3898 +aVI will look into it. I don't know the status, but I will certainly look into it. But, I can only repeat what is the fact that I spoke to a lot of different groups with a lot of different constituents, a lot of different kinds of members about issues that had to do with world affairs. I probably described more times than I can remember how stressful it was advising the President about going after Bin Laden. My view on this is look at my record. Look at what I am proposing, and\u2014we have a vigorous agreement here. We both want to reign in the excesses of Wall Street. I also want to reign in the excesses of Johnson Controls that we bailed out when they were an autoparts company, and we saved the auto industry, and now they want to avoid paying taxes. I want to go after the pharmaceutical companies like Valeant, and Turns that are increasing prices without any regard to the impact on people's health. Now, if all we're going to talk about is one part of our economy, and indeed one streak in our economy, we're missing the big oil companies. We're missing other big energy companies. We're missing the big picture, and I have a record of trying to go at the problems that actually exist, and I will continue to do that. +p3899 +aV... Well, Senator, no one wants to see that happen. I mean, look, I care deeply about this because just like you I have met so many people who had their life savings wiped out, who lost their homes, who are barely back with their heads above water. This was a disaster for our country, and we can never let that happen again. We have no disagreement about this. But, I think it's a broader target list than just Wall Street, and I believe that we have to be very focused on how we try to take back the power and increase the empowerment of the American people. And, I think I have that kind of experience, maybe because they've beat me up for so many years, and I know exactly how to handle them because I've been in the arena with them time and time again. +p3900 +aVWell, I think what the president understands, and what he's trying to do, is that we have to support the Arab and Kurdish fighters on the ground who are actually doing the fighting. I agree with the president. I've said myself, we will not send American combat troops back to either Syria or Iraq\u2014that is off the table. But we do have special forces, we do have trainers, we do have the military personnel who are helping with the airstrikes that the United States is leading so that we can try to take out +p3901 +aVNo. I mean, of course that's a theoretical question, and we don't know what it would be for, and we don't know how many numbers there are. I am against American combat troops being in Syria and Iraq. I support special forces. I support trainers. I support the air campaign. And I think we're making some progress. I want to continue to intensify that, and that's exactly what the president is doing. +p3902 +aVIf I could\u2014if I could... +p3903 +aV... respectfully add\u2014look, we did differ. A vote in 2002 is not a plan to defeat +p3904 +aVOh, absolutely. The president decided to leave more troops than he had originally planned in Afghanistan. We have a very cooperative government there, with Ashraf Ghani and his top\u2014his top partner, Abdullah. And they are doing their very best. And the Afghan army is actually fighting. The Afghan army is taking heavy losses defending Afghan territory. And I would have to make an evaluation based on the circumstances at the time I took office as to how much help they continue to need. Because it's not just the Taliban. We now are seeing outposts of, you know, fighters claiming to be affiliated with +p3905 +aVA group of national security experts, military intelligence experts, issued a very concerning statement about Senator Sanders's views on foreign policy and national security, pointing out some of the comments he has made on these issues, such as inviting Iranian troops into Syria to try to resolve the conflict there; putting them right at the doorstep of Israel. Asking Saudi Arabia and Iran to work together, when they can't stand each other and are engaged in a proxy battle right at this moment. So I do think questions have been raised and questions have to be answered because when New Hampshire voters go on Tuesday to cast your vote, you are voting both for a president and a commander in chief. And there is no way to predict what comes in the door of that White House from day to day that can pose a threat to the United States or one of our friends and allies, and I think this is a big part of the job interview that we are all conducting with the voters here. +p3906 +aVWell, let me just add that, you know, I've said this before and I'm very proud of it, that when it comes to judgment, having run a hard race against Senator Obama at the time, he turned to me to be secretary of State. And when it comes to the biggest counterterrorism issues that we faced in this administration, namely whether or not to go after bin Laden, I was at that table, I was exercising my judgment to advise the president on what to do, on that, on Iran, on Russia on China, on a whole raft of issues. Because I know from my own experience that you've got to be ready on day one. There is just too much unpredictable threat and danger in the world today, you know, to try to just say wait, I'll get to that when I can. That is just not an acceptable approach. +p3907 +aVAbsolutely. You know, I did put together the coalition to impose sanctions. I actually started the negotiations that led to the nuclear agreement, sending some much my closest aides to begin the conversations with the Iranians. I'm very pleased we got that nuclear agreement. It puts a lid on the nuclear weapons program. We have to enforce it, there have to be consequences attached to it. But that is not our only problem with Iran. We have to figure out how to deal with Iran as the principal state sponsor of terrorism in the world. They are destabilizing governments in the region. They continue to support Hezbollah and Hamas in Lebanon against Israel. A lot of work that we have do is going to be incredibly hard. I'm prepared to do that work, but I believe, just as I did with imposing the sanctions, you have to get action for action. If we were to normalize relations right now, we would remove one of the biggest pieces of leverage we have to try to influence and change Iranian behavior. The president doesn't think we should. I certainly don't think we should. I believe we have to take this step by step to try to reign in Iranian aggression, their support for terrorism and the other bad behavior that can come back and haunt us. +p3908 +aVWell Senator, let me just correct the record if I can. You know\u2014let me correct the record. +p3909 +aVAs I\u2014as I certainly recall, the question was to meet with without conditions. And you're right, I was against that. I was against it then I would be against it now. +p3910 +aVPart of diplomacy, the hard work of diplomacy is trying to extract whatever concessions you can get, and giving something the other side wants. Of course you've got to try to make peace with, and work with those who are your adversaries, but you don't just rush in, open the door, and say, "Here I am. Let's talk and make a deal." That's not the way it works. +p3911 +aV... Well, we set conditions on Iran. We worked hard to get them established, and to be enforced, and then we talked. That's exactly the right......and, that's what I did with the President, so he and I are on the very same page. +p3912 +aVI haven't talked to Secretary Carter, but here's what I would think he's planning. We do have the nuclear weapons agreement with Iran, that's an enforcement consequence, action for action, follow on. We have a plan, we will watch them, we will be vigilant. We do have to worry about North Korea. They continue to develop their nuclear weapons capability, and they're working very hard on their ballistic missile capability. And, I know that some of those plans could very well lead to a missile that might reach Hawaii, if not the West Coast. We do have to try to get the countries in the region to work with us to do everything we can to confine, and constrain them. But, what Secretary Carter is looking at is the constant pressure that Russia's putting on our European allies. The way that Russia is trying to move the boundaries of the post-World War II Europe. The way that he is trying to set European countries against one another, seizing territory, holding it in Crimea. Beginning to explore whether they could make some inroads in the Baltics. We know that they are deeply engaged in supporting Assad because they want to have a place in the Middle East. They have a naval base, they have an air base in Syria. They want to hang on to that. I think what Secretary Carter is seeing, and I'm glad he is, is that we got to get +p3913 +aVWell, first of all, I'm absolutely against privatizing the V.A. And I am going do everything I can to build on the reforms that Senator Sanders and others in Congress have passed to try to fix what's wrong with the V.A. There are a lot of issues about wait times and services that have to be fixed because our veterans deserve nothing but the best. But you're absolutely right, you know, Rachel, this is another part of the Koch brothers agenda. They've actually formed an organization to try to begin to convince Americans we should no longer have guaranteed health care, specialized care for our veterans. I will fight that as hard as I can. I think there's where we can enlist the veterans service organizations, the veterans of America, because, yes, let's fix the V.A., but we will never let it be privatized, and that is a promise. +p3914 +aVWhatever they decide to do, that's fine. +p3915 +aVAll right. +p3916 +aVI can only tell you what I believe, and that is that I am the strongest candidate to take it to the Republicans and win in November. And I say that with great\u2014with great respect for the campaign that Senator Sanders has been running. I personally am thrilled at the numbers of people, and particularly young people who are coming to support your campaign. I hope that I will be able to earn their support. They may not support me now, but I support them and we'll work together. But what I'm concerned about is the views of many Democrats who know their states, who know how hard it is to win a general election. And it also will push whoever the nominee is into the spotlight. I've been vetted. There's hardly anything you don't know about me. And I think it's fair to say that whoever is in that position, Senator Sanders or anyone else who might have run, will face the most withering onslaught. So, I think that I am the person who can do all aspects of the job. I think I'm the person best prepared to take the case to the Republicans. And I think that at the end of the day, it's not so much electability. It is who the American people can believe can keep them safe, can get the economy moving again, can get incomes rising, can build on the progressive accomplishments of President Obama. And I think that the coalition that President Obama put together to win twice is a coalition that I can put together and add to. And that's what I'm prepared to... +p3917 +aVAbsolutely I can. You know, before it was emails, it was Benghazi, and the Republicans were stirring up so much controversy about that. And I testified for 11 hours, answered their questions. They basically said yeah, didn't get her. We tried. That was all a political ploy. Now, we had a development in the email matter today when it came out that Secretary Powell and close aides to Former Secretary Rice used private e-mail accounts. and now you have these people in the government who are doing the same thing to Secretary Powell and Secretary Rice's aide they've been doing to me, which is that I never sent or received any classified material. They are retroactively classifying it. I agree completely with Secretary Powell, who said today this is an absurdity. And so I think the American people will know it's an absurdity. I have absolutely no concerns about it whatsoever. +p3918 +aVI am 100 percent confident. This is a security review that was requested. It is being carried out. It will be resolved. But I have to add if there's going to be a security review about me, there's going to have to be security reviews about a lot of other people, including Republican office holders, because we've got this absurd situation of retroactive classifications. Honest to goodness, this is\u2014this just beggars the imagination. So I have absolutely no concerns about it, but we've got to get to the bottom of what's really going on here, and I hope that will happen. +p3919 +aVNo. +p3920 +aVYes, I do. And\u2014you know, what I hope the Supreme Court will do is make it absolutely clear that any state that continues capital punishment either must meet the highest standards of evidentiary proof of effective assistance of counsel or they cannot continue it because that, to me, is the real dividing line. I have much more confidence in the federal system, and I do reserve it for particularly heinous crimes in the federal system, like terrorism. I have strong feelings about that. I thought it was appropriate after a very thorough trial that Timothy McVeigh received the death penalty for blowing up the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people, including 19 children in a daycare center. I do for very limited, particularly heinous crimes believe it is an appropriate punishment, but I deeply disagree with the way that too many states are still implementing it. If it were possible to separate the federal from the state system by the Supreme Court, that would, I think, be an appropriate outcome. +p3921 +aVAbsolutely. Absolutely. You know, Rachel, you and I have talked about this before. I thank you for going to Flint to hold that town hall. I will be in Flint at the Mayor's invitation on Sunday to get an in depth briefing about what is, and is not happening. This is an emergency. Everyday that goes by that these people, particularly the children, are not tested so we can know what steps must be taken to try to remediate the effects of the poisoning that they have been living with is a day lost in a child's life. I know from the work that I've done over so many years, lead, the toxic nature of lead can affect you brain development, your body development, your behavior. I absolutely believe that what is being done is not sufficient. We need to be absolutely clear about everything that should be done from today to tomorrow, into the future to try to remedy the terrible burden that the people of Flint are barring. That includes fixing their pipes, it includes guaranteeing whatever healthcare and educational embellishments they may need going forward, and I think the federal government has way where it can bill the state of Michigan. If Michigan won't do it, there have to be ways that we can begin to move, and then make them pay for it, and hold them accountable. +p3922 +aVYou know, Chuck, I've only had responsibility for voting for trade agreements as a senator. And I voted a multinational trade agreement when I was senator, the +p3923 +aVWell, I\u2014I don't accept that premise, Chuck. I think that we've got so much business we have to do. We've talked a lot tonight about what we're against\u2014we're against income inequality. We're against the abuses of powerful interests. We're against a lot of things. I'm for a lot of things. I don't want to just stop bad things from happening, I want to start good things from happening. And I believe, if I'm so fortunate to get the nomination, I will begin to work immediately on putting together an agenda, beginning to talk with members of Congress and others about how we can push forward. I want to have half a billion more solar panels deployed, the first four years. I want to have enough clean energy to power every home the next four years. I want us to keep working on the Affordable Care Act, to get not only to 100 percent coverage, but bring down the costs of prescription drugs and out-of-pocket costs. I want to move forward on paid family leave, on early childhood education, I want us to do more for small businesses. Small businesses have to create most of the jobs, and we're not creating and growing small businesses. I think, if you have a smart agenda, you pick the committees that you know have to begin to work on these various pieces\u2014because that's the way Congress is set up. You go through different committees, and you really make a big push in the beginning. Immigration reform, economic revitalization with manufacturing, with infrastructure\u2014we put it out there, and we begin to work on an ambitious, big, bold agenda that will actually produce the results that I want to see for our country. +p3924 +aVThe answer to both of those is no. I'm interested in making what we have work better. I want to streamline programs that are duplicative and redundant. I want to have a top-to-bottom review about what works and what doesn't work, and be absolutely clear we're getting rid of what doesn't work. I have had the opportunity to run a big agency. I was very flattered when Henry Kissinger said I ran the State Department better\u2014better than anybody had run it in a long time. So I have an idea of what it's going to take to make our government work more efficiently. And when you put together a budget, you have to make a lot of hard decisions, but I think it's not appropriate to say "I'm going to get rid of this, get rid of that" until you have a very good process that gives you the information about what to do. But I want to add something else, you know, because look, we have so much work to do in our country, and I think it's the greatest work that Americans will be called to do. And of course, we have to have people in every community involved in it. We have to have the political voice, the political grassroots speaking up and speaking out about what we have to try to accomplish in Washington. But we also need to have a very clear set of goals that we are going to achieve, and we need to level with the American people about what they are, what they will cost, what will be expected of our citizenry. So I see as president having a constant dialogue with Americans here's what we're trying to get done, here's why I need your help, here's why you may think comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship isn't something you care about, but I'm telling you it will help fix the labor market, it will bring people out of the shadows\u2014 +p3925 +aVI never said that. +p3926 +aVLook... +p3927 +aVWell, I'm certainly going to unite the party, but I'm not\u2014I'm not getting ahead of myself. I think that would be a little bit presumptuous. If I'm so fortunate as to be the nominee, the first person I will call to talk to about where we go and how we get it done will be Senator Sanders. +p3928 +aVThat's true. That's true. +p3929 +aVWell first, thanks to +p3930 +aVWell, good evening. And I want to thank the Congressional Black Caucus Institute and the people of Charleston for hosting us here on the eve of Martin Luther King Day tomorrow. You know, I remember well when my youth minister took me to hear Dr. King. I was a teenager. And his moral clarity, the message that he conveyed that evening really stayed with me and helped to set me on a path to service. I also remember that he spent the last day of his life in Memphis, fighting for dignity and higher pay for working people. And that is our fight still. We have to get the economy working and incomes rising for everyone, including those who have been left out and left behind. We have to keep our communities and our country safe. We need a president who can do all aspects of the job. I understand that this is the hardest job in the world. I'm prepared and ready to take it on and I hope to earn your support to be the nominee of the Democratic Party and the next president of the United States. +p3931 +aVI would work quickly to present to the Congress my plans for creating more good jobs in manufacturing, infrastructure, clean and renewable energy, raising the minimum wage, and guaranteeing, finally, equal pay for women's work. I would also......I would also be presenting my plans to build on the Affordable Care Act and to improve it by decreasing the out-of-pocket costs by putting a cap on prescription drug costs; by looking for ways that we can put the prescription drug business and the health insurance company business on a more stable platform that doesn't take too much money out of the pockets of hard-working Americans. And third, I would be working, in every way that I knew, to bring our country together. We do have too much division, too much mean- spiritedness. There's a lot we have to do on immigration reform, on voting rights, on campaign finance reform, but we need to do it together. That's how we'll have the kind of country for the 21st century that we know will guarantee our children and grandchildren the kind of future they deserve. +p3932 +aVYes look, I have made it clear based on Senator Sanders' own record that he has voted with the NRA, with the gun lobby numerous times. He voted against the Brady Bill five times. He voted for what we call, the Charleston Loophole. He voted for immunity from gunmakers and sellers which the NRA said, "was the most important piece of gun legislation in 20 years. " He voted to let guns go onto the Amtrak, guns go into National Parks. He voted against doing research to figure out how we can save lives. Let's not forget what this is about, 90 people a day die from gun violence in our country. That's 33,000 people a year. One of the most horrific examples not a block from here where we had nine people murdered. Now, I am pleased to hear that Senator Sanders has reversed his position on immunity and I look forward to him joining with those members of congress who have already introduced legislation. There is no other industry in America that was given the total pass that the gun makers and dealers were and that needs to be reversed. +p3933 +aVWell, sadly it's reality, and it has been heartbreaking, and incredibly outraging to see the constant stories of young men like Walter Scott, as you said, who have been killed by police officers. Their needs to be a concerted effort to address the systemic racism in our criminal justice system. And, that requires a very clear, agenda for retraining police officers, looking at ways to end racial profiling, finding more ways to really bring the disparities that stalk our country into high relief. One out of three African American men may well end up going to prison. That's the statistic. I want people hear to think what we would be doing if it was one out of three white men, and very often, the black men are arrested, convicted and incarcerated ......for offensive that do not lead to the same results for white men. So, we have a very serious problem that we can no longer ignore. +p3934 +aVWell, Lester, you're right. Everywhere I go to campaign, I'm meeting families who are affected by the drug problem that mostly is opioids and heroin now, and lives are being lost and children are being orphaned. And I've met a lot of grandparents who are now taking care of grandchildren. So I have tried to come out with a comprehensive approach that, number one, does tell the states that we will work with you from the federal government putting more money, about a billion dollars a year, to help states have a different approach to dealing with this epidemic. The policing needs to change. Police officers must be equipped with the antidote to a heroin overdose or an opioid overdose, known as Narcan. They should be able to administer it. So should firefighters and others. We have to move away from treating the use of drugs as a crime and instead, move it to where it belongs, as a health issue. And we need to divert more people from the criminal justice system into drug courts, into treatment, and recovery. +p3935 +aVSo this is the kind of approach that we should take in dealing with what is now... +p3936 +aV... a growing epidemic. +p3937 +aVWell, Andrea, I am absolutely committed to universal health care. I have worked on this for a long time, people may remember that I took on the health insurance industry back in the '90s, and I didn't quit until we got the children's health insurance program that ensures eight million kids. And I certainly respect Senator Sanders' intentions, but when you're talking about health care, the details really matter. And therefore, we have been raising questions about the nine bills that he introduced over 20 years, as to how they would work and what would be the impact on people's health care? He didn't like that, his campaign didn't like it either. And tonight, he's come out with a new health care plan. And again, we need to get into the details. But here's what I believe, the Democratic Party and the United States worked since Harry Truman to get the Affordable Care Act passed. We finally have a path to universal health care. We have accomplished so much already. I do not to want see the Republicans repeal it, and I don't to want see us start over again with a contentious debate. I want us to defend and build on the Affordable Care Act and improve it. +p3938 +aVBut \u2014 Senator Sanders, if I can... You know, I have to say I'm not sure whether we're talking about the plan you just introduced tonight, or we're talking about the plan you introduced nine times in the Congress. But the fact is, we have the Affordable Care Act. That is one of the greatest accomplishments of President Obama, of the Democratic Party, and of our country. And we have already seen 19 million Americans get insurance. We have seen the end of pre-existing conditions keeping people from getting insurance. We have seen women no longer paying more for our insurance than men. And we have seen young people, up to the age of 26, being able to stay on their parent's policy. +p3939 +aVNow, there are things we can do to improve it, but to tear it up and start over again, pushing our country back into that kind of a contentious debate, I think is the wrong direction. +p3940 +aVAnd that's exactly what we are able to do based on the foundation of the Affordable Care Act \u2014 what Governor O'Malley just said is one of the models that we will be looking at to make sure we do get costs down, we do limit a lot of the unnecessary costs that we still have in the system. But, with all due respect, to start over again with a whole new debate is something that I think would set us back. The Republicans just voted last week to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and thank goodness, President Obama vetoed it and saved Obamacare for the American people. +p3941 +aVWell, as someone who \u2014 as someone who has a little bit of experience standing up to the health insurance industry, that spent, you know......many, many millions of dollars attacking me, and probably will so again, because of what I believe we can do building on the Affordable Care Act, I think it's important to point out that there are a lot of reasons we have the health care system we have today. I know how much money influences the political decision-making. That's why I'm for huge campaign finance reform. However, we started a system that had private health insurance. And even during the Affordable Care Act debate, there was an opportunity to vote for what was called the public option. In other words, people could buy in to Medicare, and even when the Democrats were in charge of the Congress, we couldn't get the votes for that. So, what I'm saying is really simple. This has been the fight of the Democratic Party for decades. We have the Affordable Care Act. Let's make it work. Let's take the models that states are doing. We now have driven costs down to the lowest they've been in 50 years. Now we've got to get individual costs down. That's what I'm planning to do. +p3942 +aVWell, I think it's an important point the president made in his State of the Union. And here's what I would say. I will go anywhere, to meet with anyone, at any time to find common ground. That's what I did as a first lady, when I worked with both Democrats and Republicans to get the Children's Health Insurance Program, when I worked with Tom DeLay, one of the most partisan of Republicans, to reform the adoption and foster care system. What I did, working in the Senate, where I crossed the aisle often, working even with the senator from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham, to get Tricare for national guardsmen and women. And it's what I did as Secretary of State, on numerous occasions, and most particularly, rounding up two-thirds votes in order to pass a treaty that lowered the nuclear weapons in both Russia and the United States. So I know it's hard, but I also know you've got to work at it every single day. I look out here, I see a lot of my friends from the Congress. And I know that they work at it every single day. Because maybe you can't only find a little sliver of common ground to cooperate with somebody from the other party, but who knows. If you're successful there, maybe you can build even more. That's what I would do. +p3943 +aVWell thanks for the question and congratulations on five million viewers on YouTube, that's quite an accomplishment. Look, this election is mostly about the future and therefore it is of greatest urgency for young people. I've laid out my ideas about what we can do to make college affordable; how we can help people pay off their student debts and save thousands of dollars, how we can create more good jobs because a lot of the young people that I talk with are pretty disappointed the economic prospects they feel their facing. So making community college free, making it possible to attend a public college or university with debt free tuition, looking for ways to protect our rights especially from the concerted Republican assault; on voting rights, on women's rights, on gay rights, on civil rights, on workers rights. And I know how much young people value their independence, their autonomy, and their rights. So I think this is an election where we have to pull young people and older people together to have a strategy about how we're going to encourage even more American's to vote because it absolutely clear to me... +p3944 +aVThat turning over our White House to the Republicans would be bad for everybody especially young people. +p3945 +aVLook, I have the greatest respect for Senator Sanders and for his supports and I'm going to keep working as hard as I can to reach as many people of all ages about what I will do, what the experience and the ideas that I have that I will bring to the White House and I hope to have their support when I'm the Democratic nominee. +p3946 +aVWell, there's no daylight on the basic premise that there should be no bank too big to fail and no individual too powerful to jail. We agree on that. But where we disagree is the comments that Senator Sanders has made that don't just affect me, I can take that, but he's criticized President Obama for taking donations from Wall Street, and President Obama has led our country out of the great recession. Senator Sanders called him weak, disappointing. He even, in 2011, publicly sought someone to run in a primary against President Obama. Now, I personally believe that President Obama's work to push through the Dodd-Frank... The Dodd-Frank bill and then to sign it was one of the most important regulatory schemes we've had since the 1930s. So I'm going to defend Dodd-Frank and I'm going to defend President Obama for taking on Wall Street, taking on the financial industry and getting results. +p3947 +aVYou know, I think since \u2014 since Senator Standers followed up on this... +p3948 +aVYour profusion of comments about your feelings towards President Obama are a little strange given what you said about him in 2011. But look, I have a plan that most commentators have said is tougher, more effective, and more comprehensive. O' +p3949 +aVIt builds on the Dodd-Frank \u2014 yes, it is. It builds on the Dodd-Frank, regulatory scheme... O' +p3950 +aV... but it goes much further, because... O' +p3951 +aV... both the governor and the senator have focused only on the big banks. Lehman Brothers, AIG, the shadow banking sector were as big a problem in what caused the Great Recession, I go after them. And I can tell you that the hedge fund billionaires who are running ads against me right now, and Karl Rove, who started running an ad against me right now, funded by money from the financial services sector, sure thing, I'm the one they don't want to be up against. +p3952 +aVYes, well, first of all \u2014 first of all, Paul Krugman, Barney Frank, others have all endorsed my plan. Secondly, we have Dodd-Frank. It gives us the authority already to break up big banks that pose... O' +p3953 +aVThat pose a risk to the financial sector. I want to go further and add to that. And, you know, Governor, you have raised money on Wall Street. You raised a lot of money on Wall Street when you were the head of the Democratic Governor's Association... O' +p3954 +aVAnd you were... O' +p3955 +aVYes, well, the point is that if we're going to be serious about this and not just try to score political points, we should know what's in Dodd-Frank, and what's in Dodd-Frank already gives the president the authority......with his regulators to make those decisions. +p3956 +aVWell, the last point on this is, Senator Sanders, you're the only one on this stage that voted to deregulate the financial market in 2000, to take the cops off the street, to use Governor O'Malley's phrase, to make the SEC and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission no longer able to regulate swaps and derivatives, which were one of the main cause of the collapse in '08. So there's plenty... +p3957 +aVThere's plenty of problems that we all have to face together. And the final thing I would say, we're at least having a vigorous debate about reining in Wall Street... +p3958 +aV... The Republicans want to give them more power, and repeal Dodd-Frank. That's what we need to stop... +p3959 +aVWell, I have actually documented every way that I'm going to pay for what I'm doing because I think the American public deserves to know. And, you can go to my website and actually see that. But, there are serious questions about how we're going to pay for what we want to see our country do. And, I'm the only candidate standing here tonight who has said I will not raise taxes on the middle class. I want to raise incomes, not taxes, and I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that the wealthy pay for debt free tuition, for child care, for paid family leave. To help us bring down student debt we're going to refinance that student debt, saving kids thousands of dollars. Yeah, and that will also come out of the \u2014 some of the pockets of people in the financial services industry... +p3960 +aVBut I will tell you exactly how I pay for everything I've proposed... +p3961 +aVAnd let me... +p3962 +aVWell, I'm very proud of the Iran Nuclear Agreement. I was very pleased to be part of what the president put into action when he took office. I was responsible for getting those sanctions imposed which put the pressure on Iran. It brought them to the negotiating table which resulted in this agreement. And so, they have been so far, following their requirements under the agreement. But I think we still have to carefully watch them. We've had one good day over 36 year and I think we need more good days before we move more rapidly toward any kind of normalization. And we have to be sure that they are truly going to implement the agreement. And then, we have to go after them on a lot of their other bad behavior in the region which is causing enormous problems in Syria, Yemen, Iraq and elsewhere. +p3963 +aVAbsolutely not. I have a three point plan that does not include American Ground forces. It includes the United States leading an air coalition which is what we're doing, supporting fighters on the ground; the Iraqi Army which is beginning to show more ability, the Sunni fighters that we are now helping to reconstitute and Kurdish on both sides of the border. I think we also have try to disrupt their supply chain of foreign fighters and foreign money and we do have to contest them in online space. So I'm very committed to both going after +p3964 +aVLook, I think that the president's decision to go after the chemical weapons once there was a potential opportunity to build on when the Russians opened that door resulted in a very positive outcome. We were able to get the chemical weapons out. I know from my own experience as secretary of State that we were deeply worried about Assad's forces using chemical weapons because it would have had not only a horrific affect on people in Syria, but it could very well have affected the surrounding states, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Turkey. So getting those chemical weapons out was a big deal, but... +p3965 +aVWell \u2014 but \u2014 but... +p3966 +aVI think, as commander in chief, you've got to constantly be evaluating the decisions you have to make. I know a little bit about this, having spent many hours in the situation room, advising President Obama. And I want to just add to something that Senator Sanders said, the United States had a very big interest in trying to help stabilize the region. If there is any blame to be spread around, it starts with the prime minister of Iraq, who sectarianized his military, setting Shia against Sunni. It is amplified by Assad, who has waged one of the bloodiest, most terrible attacks on his own people: 250,000-plus dead, millions fleeing. Causing this vacuum that has been filled unfortunately, by terrorist groups, including +p3967 +aV... and go after +p3968 +aVBut overall, a lot of the forces at work in the region are ones that we cannot directly influence, but we can... +p3969 +aVWell, it would depend on what I got for it and I can tell you what we got in the first term, we got a new start treaty to reduce nuclear weapons between the United States and Russia. We got permission to resupply our troops in Afghanistan by traveling across Russia. We got Russia to sign on to our sanctions against Iran and other very important commitments. So look, in diplomacy, you are always trying to see how you can figure out the interest of the other to see if there isn't some way you can advance your security and your values. When Putin came back in the fall of 2011, it was very clear he came back with a mission. And I began speaking out as soon as that happened because there were some fraudulent elections held, and Russians poured out into the streets to demand their freedom, and he cracked down. And in fact, accused me of fomenting it. So we now know that he has a mixed record to say the least and we have to figure out how to deal with him. +p3970 +aVWell, my relationship with him, it's \u2014 it's interesting. It's one, I think, of respect. We've had some very tough dealings with one another. And I know that he's someone that you have to continuingly stand up to because, like many bullies, he is somebody who will take as much as he possibly can unless you do. And we need to get the Europeans to be more willing to stand up, I was pleased they put sanctions on after Crimea and eastern Ukraine and the downing of the airliner, but we've got to be more united in preventing Putin from taking a more aggressive stance in Europe and the Middle East. +p3971 +aVOh, we're breaking? OK. +p3972 +aVWell, I wanted to say, and I'll do it quickly, I was very pleased that leaders of President Obama's administration went out to Silicon Valley last week and began exactly this conversation about what we can do, consistent with privacy and security. We need better intelligence cooperation, we need to be sure that we are getting the best intelligence that we can from friends and allies around the world. And then, we've got to recognize our first line of defense against lone wolf attacks is among Muslim Americans. And it is not only shameful, it is dangerous for the kinds of comments you're hearing from the Republican side. We need to be reaching out and unifying our country against terrorist attacks and lone wolves, and working with Muslim Americans. +p3973 +aVThat is not what I've heard. Let me leave it at that. O' +p3974 +aVWell, it'll start at the kitchen table, we'll see how it goes from there. And I......I'm going to have the very best advisers that I can possibly have, and when it comes to the economy and what was accomplished under my husband's leadership and the '90s \u2014 especially when it came to raising incomes for everybody and lifting more people out of poverty than at any time in recent history \u2014 you bet. I'm going to ask for his ideas, I'm going ask for his advice, and I'm going use him as a goodwill emissary to go around the country to find the best ideas we've got, because I do believe, as he said, everything that's wrong with America has been solved somewhere in America. We just have to do more of it, and we have to reach out, especially into poor communities and communities of color, to give more people their own chance to get ahead. +p3975 +aVWell Lester, I spent a lot of time last week being outraged by what's happening in Flint, Michigan and I think every single American should be outraged. We've had a city in the United States of America where the population which is poor in many ways and majority African American has been drinking and bathing in lead contaminated water. And the governor of that state acted as though he didn't really care. He had request for help and he had basically stone walled. I'll tell you what, if the kids in a rich suburb of Detroit had been drinking contaminated water and being bathed in it, there would've been action. So I sent my top campaign aide down there to talk to the mayor of Flint to see what I could to help. I issued a statement about what we needed to do and then I went on a T.V. show and I said, "it was outrageous that the governor hadn't acted and within two hours he had." +p3976 +aVI want to be a president who takes care of the big problems and the problems that are affecting the people of our country everyday. +p3977 +aVWell, thank you. And I'm delighted to be here in New Hampshire for this debate. You know, the American president has to both keep our families safe and make the economy grow in a way that helps everyone, not just those at the top. That's the job. I have a strategy to combat and defeat +p3978 +aVI very much appreciate that comment, Bernie. It really is important that we go forward on this. I know that you now have your data back, and that there has been an agreement for an independent inquiry into what did happen. Obviously, we were distressed when we learned of it, because we have worked very hard -- I said in the beginning of this campaign, we want to reach as many voters as possible, and we have tens of thousands of volunteers doing that, and entering data all the time to keep up with what people are telling us. And so, now that, I think, you know, we have resolved your data, we have agreed on an independent inquiry, we should move on. Because I don't think the American people are all that interested in this. I think they're more interested in what we have to say about all the big issues facing us. O' +p3979 +aVWell, first, the most important job of being president is obviously to keep our country safe and to keep the families of America safe. I have a plan that I've put forward to go after +p3980 +aVWell, I think you have to look at both the terrorism challenge that we face abroad and certainly at home and the role that guns play in delivering the violence that stalks us. Clearly, we have to have a very specific set of actions to take. You know, when Senator Sanders talks about a coalition, I agree with him about that. We've got to build a coalition abroad. We also have to build a coalition at home. Abroad, we need a coalition that is going to take on +p3981 +aVYes, I'm getting... +p3982 +aV... I'm getting to that. Because I think if you only think about the coalition abroad you're missing the main point, which is we need a coalition here at home. Guns, in and of themselves, in my opinion, will not make Americans safer. We lose 33,000 people a year already to gun violence, arming more people to do what I think is not the appropriate response to terrorism. I think what is... Is creating much deeper, closer relations and, yes, coalitions within our own country. The first line of defense against radicalization is in Muslim-American community. People who we should be welcoming and working with. I worry greatly that the rhetoric coming from the Republicans, particularly Donald Trump, is sending a message to Muslims here in the United States and literally around the world that there is a "clash of civilizations," that there is some kind of Western plot or even "war against Islam," which then I believe fans the flames of radicalization. So guns have to be looked at as its own problem, but we also have to figure out how we're going to deal with the radicalization here in the United States. +p3983 +aVYes, let's tell the truth, Martin. O' +p3984 +aVHe invoked mine as well. +p3985 +aVI do and this is an important issue and I know we'll get to a lot of other critical ones as well. I actually agree with Governor O'Malley about the need for common sense gun safety measures. And I applaud his record in Maryland. I just wish he wouldn't misrepresent mine. I have been for the Brady bill, I have been against assault weapons. I have voted not to give gun makers and sellers immunity. And I also know that -- and I'm glad to see this -- Senator Sanders has really moved in face of the facts about what we're confronting in our country. I know that he has said in the two previous that he wants to take on this immunity issue because we need to send a strong message to the gun manufacturers, to the sellers, to the gun lobby. And I would hope, Senator Sanders, that you would join the Democrats who are trying to close the Charleston loophole, that you would sponsor or co-sponsor legislation to remove the absolute immunity. We need to move on this consensus that exists in the country. It's no longer enough just to say the vast majority of Americans want common sense gun safety measures including gun owners. We need, and only the three of us will do this, nobody on the Republican side will even admit there's a problem. And in whatever way the three of us can we need to move this agenda forward and begin to deal with the gun lobby and the intimidation that they present. +p3986 +aVWell I think a lot of people are understandably reacting out of fear and anxiety about what they're seeing. First what they saw in Paris, now what they have seen in San Bernardino. And Mr. Trump has a great capacity to use bluster and bigotry to inflame people and to make think there are easy answers to very complex questions. So what I would say is, number one, we need to be united against the threats that we face. We need to have everybody in our country focused on watching what happens and reporting it if it's suspicious, reporting what you hear. Making sure that Muslim Americans don't feel left out or marginalized at the very moment when we need their help. +p3987 +aVYou know, I was a senator from New York after 9/11, and we spent countless hours trying to figure out how to protect the city and the state from perhaps additional attacks. One of the best things that was done, and George W. Bush did this and I give him credit, was to reach out to Muslim Americans and say, we're in this together. You are not our adversary, you are our partner. And we also need to make sure that the really discriminatory messages that Trump is sending around the world don't fall on receptive ears. He is becoming +p3988 +aVI would not want to go to that point. I would hope that, given the extraordinary capacities that the tech community has and the legitimate needs and questions from law enforcement, that there could be a Manhattan-like project, something that would bring the government and the tech communities together to see they're not adversaries, they've got to be partners. It doesn't do anybody any good if terrorists can move toward encrypted communication that no law enforcement agency can break into before or after. There must be some way. I don't know enough about the technology, Martha, to be able to say what it is, but I have a lot of confidence in our tech experts. And maybe the back door is the wrong door, and I understand what Apple and others are saying about that. But I also understand, when a law enforcement official charged with the responsibility of preventing attacks -- to go back to our early questions, how do we prevent attacks -- well, if we can't know what someone is planning, we are going to have to rely on the neighbor or, you know, the member of the mosque or the teacher, somebody to see something. +p3989 +aVI just think there's got to be a way, and I would hope that our tech companies would work with government to figure that out. Otherwise, law enforcement is blind -- blind before, blind during, and, unfortunately, in many instances, blind after. So we always have to balance liberty and security, privacy and safety, but I know that law enforcement needs the tools to keep us safe. And that's what I hope, there can be some understanding and cooperation to achieve. +p3990 +aVWell, I agree that we have to have the toughest screening and vetting... +p3991 +aVI don't think a halt is necessary. What we have to do is put all of our resources through the Department of Homeland Security, through the State Department, through our intelligence agencies, and we have to have an increased vetting and screening. Now, this takes, David, 18 months to 24 months, two years. So I know it's not going to happen overnight and everything that can be done should be done. But the process should move forward while we are also taking on +p3992 +aVSo, I think it's absolutely wrong policy for us to be even imagining we're going end up putting tens of thousands of American troops into Syria and Iraq to fight +p3993 +aVWell, I just think you're asking a question with a false choice. I believe if we lead an air coalition, which we are now in the position of doing and intensify it, if we continue to build back up the Iraqi army, which has had some recent success in Ramadi, as you know, if we get back talking to the tribal sheiks in Anbar to try to rebuild those relationships, which were very successful, in going after Al Qaida in Iraq, if we get the Turks to pay more attention to +p3994 +aVWell, I just want to quickly add... +p3995 +aVMartha, that -- you know, one of the reasons why I have advocated for a no-fly zone is in order to create those safe refuges within Syria, to try to protect people on the ground both from Assad's forces, who are continuing to drop barrel bombs, and from +p3996 +aVI do not think it would come to that. We are already de-conflicting air space. We know... +p3997 +aVNo, I don't think so. I am advocating... +p3998 +aVI am advocating the no-fly zone both because I think it would help us on the ground to protect Syrians; I'm also advocating it because I think it gives us some leverage in our conversations with Russia. Now that Russia has joined us in the Security Council, has adopted an agreement that we hashed out a long day in Geneva three years ago, now I think we can have those conversations. The no-fly zone, I would hope, would be also shared by Russia. If they will begin to turn their military attention away from going after the adversaries of Assad toward +p3999 +aVThat is exactly... +p4000 +aVThat is exactly what I just said and what I just described. +p4001 +aVAnd that is important, because now we have a U.N. Security Council that will enable us to do that. And, you know, with all due respect, Senator, you voted for regime change with respect to Libya. You joined the Senate in voting to get rid of Gadhafi, and you asked that there be a Security Council validation of that with a resolution. All of these are very difficult issues. I know that; I've been dealing with them for a long time. And, of course, we have to continue to do what is necessary when someone like Gadhafi, a despot with American blood on his hands, is overturned. But I'll tell you what would have happened, if we had not joined with our European partners and our Arab partners to assist the people in Libya, you would be looking at Syria. Now the Libyans are turning their attention to try to dislodge +p4002 +aVI think we're missing the point here. We are doing both at the same time. +p4003 +aVWell, I don't agree with that, because we will not get the support on the ground in Syria to dislodge +p4004 +aVSince he has been making all kinds of comments. I think it's fair to say, Assad has killed, by last count, about 250,000 Syrians. The reason we are in the mess we're in, that +p4005 +aVAnd we finally have a U.N. Security Council Resolution bringing the world together to go after a political transition in Syria. +p4006 +aVIf the United States does not lead, there is not another leader. There is a vacuum. +p4007 +aVAnd we have to lead, if we're going to be successful. +p4008 +aVSorry. +p4009 +aVWell, I've been talking to a lot of these families, and this is such an outrage, both because it's bad for our economy, we're a 70 percent consumption economy, people need to feel optimistic and confident, they need to believe their hard work is going to be rewarded, and it's bad for our democracy. It's absolutely the case that if people feel that the game is rigged, that has consequences. I think it's great standing up here with the senator and the governor talking about these issues, because you're not going to hear anything like this from any of the Republicans who are running for president. They don't want to raise the minimum wage; they don't want to do anything to increase incomes. At the center of my economic policy is raising incomes, because people haven't been able to get ahead, and the cost of everything, from college tuition to prescription drugs, has gone up. Of course we have to raise the minimum wage. Of course we have to do more to incentivize profit sharing, like we see with Market Basket right here in New Hampshire and New England, where all of the employees get a chance to share in the profits. And we've got to do more on equal pay for equal work. That means pass the Paycheck Fairness Act so we have transparency about how much people are making. That's the way to get women's wages up, and that's good for them and good for their families and good for our communities. And there is a lot we can do in college affordability. I have debt-free tuition plans, free community college plans, getting student debt down. I also am very committed to getting the price of drugs down. And there's a lot. You can go to my website... +p4010 +aV... hillaryclinton.com, and read about it. But I guess the final thing that -- that I would say is this is the kind of debate we need to take to the Republicans in the fall. +p4011 +aVThis is the election... +p4012 +aV... issues they have to respond to. +p4013 +aVEverybody should. Look, I have said I want to be the president for the struggling, the striving and the successful. I want to make sure the wealthy pay their fair share, which they have not been doing. I want the Buffett Rule to be in effect, where millionaires have to pay 30 percent tax rates instead of 10 percent to nothing in some cases. I want to make sure we rein in the excessive use of political power to feather the nest and support the super wealthy. But I also want to create jobs and I want to be a partner with the private sector. I'm particularly keen on creating jobs in small business. My dad was a small businessman, a really small business. I want to do more to help incentivize and create more small businesses. So if -- if people who are in the private sector know what I stand for, it's what I fought for as a senator, it's what I will do as president, and they want to be part of once again building our economy so it works for everybody, more power to them, because they are the kind of business leaders who understand that if we don't get the American economy moving and growing, we're not going to recognize our country and we're not going to give our kids the same opportunities that we had. +p4014 +aVOK... +p4015 +aVLet me respond... +p4016 +aVUnder the rules, I have been -- I have been invoked, David, so let me respond very quickly. Number one... +p4017 +aVNumber one, there are currently two hedge fund billionaires running ads against me here in New Hampshire. They started in Iowa. Now, you'd have to ask yourself, why are they running ads against me? And the answer is: Because they know I will go right after them, that I will not let their agenda be America's agenda. Secondly, I think it's important to point out that about 3 percent of my donations come from people in the finance and investment world. You can go to opensecrets.org and check that. I have more donations from students and teachers than I do from people associated with Wall Street. Now, number three -- and let me say this -- when Governor O'Malley was heading the Democratic Governors Association, he had no trouble at all going to Wall Street to raise money to run campaigns for Democratic governors. And he also had no trouble appointing an investment banker to be in charge of his consumer protection bureau when he was governor. So, you know, again, the difference between us and the Republicans is night and day. And there is only one person on this stage who voted to take away authority from the SEC and the Commodities Future Trading Commission that they could no longer regulate what are called swaps and derivatives, which actually contributed to the collapse of Lehman Brothers, and that was Senator Sanders. So if we're going to be talking like this, we can -- and maybe we can score some political points -- but the fact is: Every one of us stands for the kind of economy that will work better for every American. And if that means taking on Wall Street, I have a plan that is tough and comprehensive and praised by a lot of folks who say it goes further than what both Senator Sanders and Governor O'Malley are proposing. +p4018 +aVWell, I would certainly build on the successes of the Affordable Care Act and work to fix some of the glitches that you just referenced. Number one, we do have more people who have access to health care. We have ended the terrible situation that people with pre- existing conditions were faced with where they couldn't find at any affordable price health care. Women are not charged more than men any longer for our health insurance. And we keep young people on our policies until they turn 26. Those are all really positive developments. But out-of-pocket costs have gone up too much and prescription drug costs have gone through the roof. And so what I have proposed, number one, is a $5,000 tax credit to help people who have very large out-of-pocket costs be able to afford those. Number two, I want Medicare to be able to negotiate for lower drug prices just like they negotiate with other countries' health systems. We end up paying the highest prices in the world. And I want us to be absolutely clear about making sure the insurance companies in the private employer policy arena as well as in the Affordable Care exchanges are properly regulated so that we are not being gamed. And I think that's an important point to make because I'm going through and analyzing the points you were making, Martha. We don't have enough competition and we don't have enough oversight of what the insurance companies are charging everybody right now. +p4019 +aVYes. +p4020 +aVWell, they're glitches because... +p4021 +aVIt is. Because part of this is the startup challenges that this system is facing. We have fought, as Democrats, for decades to get a health care plan. I know. I've got the scars to show from the effort back in the early '90s. We want to build on it and fix it. And I'm confident we can do that. And it will have effects in the private market. And one of the reasons in some states why the percentage cost has gone up so much is because governors there would not extend Medicaid. And so people are still going to get health care, thankfully, in emergency rooms, in hospitals. Those costs are then added to the overall cost, which does increase the insurance premiums for people in the private system. +p4022 +aVRight. +p4023 +aVWell, I have what I call the new college compact. Because I think everybody has to have some skin in this game, you know. Number one, States have been dis-investing in higher education. In fact, I think New Hampshire, in state tuition for public colleges and universities, is among the highest if not the highest in the country. So states over a period of decades have put their money elsewhere; into prisons, into highways, into things other than higher education. So under my compact, the federal government will match money that the states begin to put back in to the higher education system. Secondly, I don't believe in free tuition for everybody. I believe we should focus on middle-class families, working families, and poor kids who have the ambition and the talent to go to college and get ahead. So I have proposed debt free tuition, which I think is affordable and I would move a lot of the Pell Grant and other aid into the arena where it could be used for living expense. So I put all of this together, again, on my website and I've gotten such a good response. But I want to quickly say, one of the areas that Senator Sanders touched on in talking about education and certainly talking about health care is his commitment to really changing the systems. Free college, a single payer system for health--and it's been estimated we're looking at 18 to $20 trillion, about a 40 percent in the federal budget. And I have looked at his proposed plans for health care for example, and it really does transfer every bit of our health care system including private health care, to the states to have the states run. And I think we've got to be really thoughtful about how we're going to afford what we proposed, which is why everything that I have proposed I will tell you exactly how I'm going to pay for it; including college. +p4024 +aVWell, the only thing - the only thing I can go on Senator Sanders... +p4025 +aVYour proposal is to go and send the health care system to the state. +p4026 +aVAnd my analysis is that you are going to get more taxes out of middle class families. I'm the only person... +p4027 +aV... saying, no middle class tax raises. That's off the table... +p4028 +aVThat is a pledge that I'm making. I made it when I ran in 2008. +p4029 +aVYes, and it was the same one that President Obama made. Because I don't think we should be imposing new big programs that are going to raise middle class families' taxes. We just heard that most families haven't had a wage increase since 2001. Since, you know, the end of the last Clinton administration when incomes did go up for everybody. And we've got to get back to where people can save money again, where they can invest in their families, and I don't think a middle-class tax should be part of anybody's plan right now. +p4030 +aVSenator, I have been -- I have been fighting for paid... +p4031 +aV... family leave for a very long time... +p4032 +aVI have a way to pay for it that actually makes the wealthiest pay for it... +p4033 +aV... not everybody else. +p4034 +aVWell, David, I think this is one of the most important challenges facing not just our next president but our country. We have systemic racism and injustice and inequities in our country and in particular, in our justice system that must be addressed and must be ended. I feel very strongly that we have to reform our criminal justice system and we have to find ways to try to bring law enforcement together again with the communities that they are sworn to protect. Trust has been totally lost in a lot of places. At the same time, we know that in many parts of our country police officers are bridging those divides and they're acting heroically. The young officer who was killed responding to the Planned Parenthood murders. The officer who told the victims of the San Bernardino killings that he would take a bullet before them. So I think that we need to build on the work of the policing commissioner that President Obama impaneled. We need to get a bipartisan commitment to work together on this. And we need to hear the voices of those men and women and boys and girls who feel like strangers in their own country and do whatever is necessary to not only deal with the immediate problems within the criminal justice system, but more opportunities, more jobs, better education so that we can begin to rebuild that very valuable asset known as trust. +p4035 +aVYou know, on my very first visit to New Hampshire in this campaign, I was in Keene, and I was asked, "what are you going to do about the heroin epidemic?" And all over New Hampshire, I met grandmothers who are raising children because they lost the father or the mother to an overdose. I met young people who are desperately trying to get clean and have nowhere to go, because there are not enough facilities. So this is a major epidemic, and it has hit New Hampshire and Vermont particularly hard. I've had had two town halls, one in Keene, one in Laconia, dedicated exclusively to talking about what we can do. And I've heard some great ideas about how law enforcement is changing its behavior, how the recovery community is reaching out. And I was proud to get the endorsement of Mayor Walsh of Boston, who has made his struggle with alcoholism a real clarion call for action in this arena. So, I've laid out a five-point plan about what we can do together. I would like the federal government to offer $10 billion over ten years to work with states, and I really applaud Governor Hassan for taking up this challenge and working with the legislature here to come up with a plan. We need to do more on the prescribing end of it. There are too many opioids being prescribed, and that leads directly now to heroin addiction. And we need to change the way we do law enforcement, and of course, we need more programs and facilities, so when somebody is ready to get help, there's a place for them to go. And every law enforcement should carry the antidote to overdose, Naloxone, so that they can save lives that are on the brink of expiring. +p4036 +aVWell, first, let's remember why we became part of a coalition to stop Gadhafi from committing massacres against his people. The United States was asked to support the Europeans and the Arab partners that we had and we did a lot of due diligence about whether we should or not, and eventually, yes, I recommended and the president decided that we would support the action to protect civilians on the ground and that led to the overthrow of Gadhafi. I think that what Libya then did by having a full free election, which elected moderates, was an indication of their crying need and desire to get on the right path. Now, the whole region has been rendered unstable, in part because of the aftermath of the Arab Spring, in part because of the very effective outreach and propagandizing that +p4037 +aVMartha, we offered a lot more than they were willing to take. We offered a lot more. We also got rid of their chemical weapons, which was a big help, and we also went after a lot of the shoulder-fired missiles to round them up. You know, we can't -- if we're not going to send American troops, which there was never any idea of doing that, then to try to send trainers, to try to send experts, is something we offered, Europeans offered, the U.N. offered, and there wasn't a lot of responsiveness at first. I think a lot of the Libyans who had been forced out of their country by Gadhafi who came back to try to be part of a new government, believed they knew what to do and it turned out that they were no match for some of the, you know, militaristic forces inside that country. But I'm not giving up on Libya and I don't think anybody should. We've been at this a couple of years. +p4038 +aVWell, there's always a retrospective to say what mistakes were made. But I know that we offered a lot of help and I know it was difficult for the Libyans to accept help. What we could have done if they had said yes would have been a lot more than what we were able to have done. +p4039 +aVWell, I would just repeat that. +p4040 +aVWait a minute. I think it's only fair to put on the record, Senator Sanders voted in the Senate for a resolution calling for ending the Gadhafi regime and asking that the U.N. be brought in, either a congressional vote or a U.N. Security Council vote. We got a U.N. Security council vote. Now, I understand that this is very difficult. And I'm not standing here today and saying that Libya is as far along as Tunisia. We saw what happened in Egypt. I cautioned about a quick overthrow of Mubarak, and we now are back with basically an army dictatorship. This is a part of the world where the United States has tried to play two different approaches. One, work with the tough men, the dictators, for our own benefit and promote democracy. That's a hard road to walk. But I think it's the right road for us to try to travel. O' +p4041 +aVWell, the role has been defined by each person who's held it. And I am very grateful for all my predecessors and my successors because each of them not only did what she could to support her husband and our country but often chose to work on important issues that were of particular concern. Obviously, Mrs. Obama has been a terrific leader when it comes to young people's health, particularly nutrition and exercise. And I think has had a big impact. So whoever is part of the family of a president has an extraordinary privilege of not only having a front row seat on history but making her or maybe his contribution. And with respect to my own husband, I am probably still going to pick the flowers and the china for state dinners and stuff like that. But I will certainly turn to him as prior presidents have for special missions, for advice, and in particular, how we're going to get the economy working again for everybody, which he knows a little bit about. +p4042 +aVOn January 20th, 2017, the next president of the United States will walk into the White House. If, heaven forbid, that next president is a Republican, I think it's pretty clear we know what will happen. A lot of the rights that have been won over years, from women's rights to voter rights to gay rights to worker rights, will be at risk. Social Security, which Republicans call a Ponzi scheme, may face privatization. Our vets may see the V.A. hospital that needs to be improved and made better for them turned over to privatization. Planned Parenthood will be defunded. The list goes on because the differences are so stark. You know, everybody says every election's important, and there's truth to that. This is a watershed election. I know how important it is that we have a Democrat succeed President Obama in the White House. And I will do all that I can in this campaign to reach out and explain what I stand for and what I will do as president. You know, I became a grandmother 15 months ago, and so I spent a lot of time thinking about my granddaughter's future. But as president, I will spend even more time thinking about the futures of all the kids and the grandchildren in this country because I want to make sure every single child has a chance to live up to his or her God-given potential. If you will join me in this campaign, we will make that a mission. Thank you, good night and may the force be with you. +p4043 +aVWell, our prayers are with the people of France tonight, but that is not enough. We need to have a resolve that will bring the world together to root out the kind of radical jihadist ideology that motivates organizations like +p4044 +aVWell, John, I think that we have to look at +p4045 +aVWell, John, look, I think that what happened when we abided by the agreement that George W. Bush made with the Iraqis to leave by 2011, is that an Iraqi army was left that had been trained and that was prepared to defend Iraq. Unfortunately, Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister, set about decimating it. And then, with the revolution against Assad -- and I did early on say we needed to try to find a way to train and equip moderates very early so that we would have a better idea of how to deal with Assad because I thought there would be extremist groups filling the vacuum. So, yes, this has developed. I think that there are many other reasons why it has in addition to what happened in the region, but I don't think that the United States has the bulk of the responsibility. I really put that on Assad and on the Iraqis and on the region itself. +p4046 +aVThank you, John. Well, thank you, John. I think it's important we put this in historic context. The United States has, unfortunately, been victimized by terrorism going back decades. In the 1980s, it was in Beirut, Lebanon, under President Reagan's administration, and 258 Americans, marines, embassy personnel, and others were murdered. We also had attacks on two of our embassies in Tanzania, Kenya, when my husband was president. Again, Americans murdered. And then, of course, 9/11 happened, which happened before there was an invasion of Iraq. I have said the invasion of Iraq was a mistake. But I think if we're ever going to really tackle the problems posed by jihadi extreme terrorism, we need to understand it and realize that it has antecedents to what happened in Iraq and we have to continue to be vigilant about it. +p4047 +aVWell, of course, each of these cases needs to be looked at individually and analyzed. Part of the problem that we have currently in the Middle East is that Assad has hung on to power with the very strong support of Russia and Iran and with the proxy of Hezbollah being there basically fighting his battles. So I don't think you can paint with a broad brush. This is an incredibly complicated region of the world. It's become more complicated. And many of the fights that are going on are not ones that the United States has either started or have a role in. The Shi'a-Sunni split. The dictatorships have suppressed people's aspirations. The increasing globalization without any real safety valve for people to have a better life. We saw that in Egypt. We saw a dictator overthrown. We saw a Muslim brotherhood president installed, and then we saw him ousted and the army back. So, I think we've got to understand the complexity of the world that we are facing and no place is more so than in the Middle East. +p4048 +aVWell, I think -- I think that is very unfair to a few you mentioned, most particularly Jordan, which has put a lot on the line for the United States, has also taken in hundreds of thousands of refugees from Syria, and has been, therefore, subjected to threats and attacks by extremists themselves. I do agree that in particular, Turkey and the Gulf nations have got to make up their minds. Are they going to stand with us against this kind of jihadi radicalism or not? And there are many ways of doing it. They can provide forces. They can provide resources. But they need to be absolutely clear about where they stand. +p4049 +aVWell, we did have a plan, and I think it's fair to say that of all of the Arab leaders, Gaddafi probably had more blood on his hands of Americans than anybody else. And when he moved on his own people, threatening a massacre, genocide, the Europeans and the Arabs, our allies and partners, did ask for American help and we provided it. And we didn't put a single boot on the ground, and Gaddafi was deposed. The Libyans turned out for one of the most successful, fairest elections that any Arab country has had. They elected moderate leaders. Now, there has been a lot of turmoil and trouble as they have tried to deal with these radical elements which you find in this arc of instability, from north Africa to Afghanistan. And it is imperative that we do more not only to help our friends and partners protect themselves and protect our own homeland, but also to work to try to deal with this arc of instability, which does have a lot of impact on what happens in a country like Libya. +p4050 +aVWell, I think it's perfectly fair to say that we invested quite a bit in development aid. Some of the bravest people that I had the privilege of working with as secretary of state were our development professionals who went sometimes alone, sometimes with our military, into very dangerous places in Iraq, in Afghanistan, elsewhere. So, there does need to be a whole of government approach, but just because we're involved and we have a strategy doesn't mean we're going to be able to dictate the outcome. These are often very long- term kinds of investments that have to be made. +p4051 +aVI don't think we're at war with Islam. I don't think we're at war with all Muslims. I think we're at war with jihadists who have -- +p4052 +aVI think +p4053 +aVI think with this kind of barbarism and nihilism, it's very hard to understand, other than the lust for power, the rejection of modernity, the total disregard for human rights, freedom, or any other value that we know and respect. Historically, it is important to try to understand your adversary in order to figure out how they are thinking, what they will be doing, how they will react. I plead that it's very difficult when you deal with +p4054 +aVYes. +p4055 +aVWell, we have an authorization to use military force against terrorists. We passed it after 9/11. +p4056 +aVIt certainly does cover it. I would like to see it updated. +p4057 +aVNo, it would have to go through the Congress, and I know the White House has actually been working with members of Congress. Maybe now we can get it moving again so that we can upgrade it so that it does include all the tools and everything in our arsenal that we can use to try to work with our allies and our friends, come up with better intelligence. You know, it is difficult finding intelligence that is actionable in a lot of these places, but we have to keep trying. And we have to do more to prevent the flood of foreign fighters that have gone to Syria, especially the ones with western passports, that come back. So there's a lot of work we need to do and I want to be sure what's called the +p4058 +aVI think that is the number one requirement. I also said that we should take increased numbers of refugees. The administration originally said 10. I said we should go to 65, but only if we have as careful a screening and vetting process as we can imagine, whatever resources it takes because I do not want us to, in any way, inadvertently allow people who wish us harm to come into our country. But I want to say a quick word about what Senator Sanders and then Governor O'Malley said. We do have to take a hard look at the defense budget and we do have to figure out how we get ready to fight the adversaries of the future, not the past. But we have to also be very clear that we do have some continuing challenges. We've got challenges in the South China Sea because of what China is doing in building up these military installations. We have problems with Russia. Just the other day, Russia allowed a television camera to see the plans for a drone submarine that could carry a tactical nuclear weapon. So we've got to look at the full range and then come to some smart decisions about having more streamlined and focused approach. +p4059 +aVWell, first of all, it isn't the middle class. I have made very clear that hardworking, middle-class families need a raise, not a tax increase. In fact, wages adjusted for inflation haven't risen since the turn of the last century, after my husband's administration. So we have a lot of work to do to get jobs going again, get incomes rising again. And I have laid out specific plans -- you can go to my web site, hillaryclinton.com, and read the details. And I will pay for it by, yes, taxing the wealthy more, closing corporate loopholes, deductions, and other kinds of favorable treatment. And I can do it without raising the debt, without raising taxes on the middle class and making it reasonably manageable within our budget so that we can be fiscally responsible at the same time. +p4060 +aVWell, we're going to have to redo the way the prescription drug industry does business. For example, it is outrageous that we don't have an opportunity for Medicare to negotiate for lower prices. In fact, American consumers pay the highest prices in the world for drugs that we help to be developed through the National Institute of Health and that we then tested through the FDA. So there's more to my plan than just the cap. We have to go after price gouging and monopolistic practices and get Medicare the authority to negotiate. +p4061 +aVWell, look, I believe that we've made great progress as a country with the Affordable Care Act. We've been struggling to get this done since Harry Truman. And it was not only a great accomplishment of the Democratic Party, but of President Obama. I do think that it's important to defend it. The Republicans have voted to repeal it nearly 60 times. They would like to rip it up and start all over again, throw our nation back into this really contentious debate that we've had about health care for quite some time now. I want to build on and improve the Affordable Care Act. I would certainly tackle the cost issues, because I think that once the foundation was laid with a system to try to get as many people as possible into it, to end insurance discrimination against people with preexisting conditions or women, for example, that, yes, we were going to have to figure out how to get more competition in the insurance market, how to get the costs of -- particularly, prescription drugs, but other out-of-pocket expenses down. But I think it's important to understand there's a significant difference that I have with Senator Sanders about how best to provide quality, affordable health care for everyone. And it's-- it's a worthy debate. It's an important one that we should be engaged in. +p4062 +aVWell, first of all, I know that the President has appealed the decision to the Supreme Court. And my reading of the law and the Constitution convinces me that the President has the authority that he is attempting to exercise with respect to dreamers and their parents, because I think all of us on this stage agree that we need comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship. Border security has always been a part of that debate. And it is a fact that the net immigration from Mexico and South has basically zeroed out. So, what we want to do is to say, look, we have 11 million people who have been here, many of them for decades. They have children who are doing so well, I've met and worked with dreamers. I think any parent would be so proud of them. So let's move toward what we should be doing as a nation and follow the values of our immigration history and begin to make it possible for them to come out of the shadows and to have a future that gives them a full chance of citizenship. +p4063 +aVKathie, I think -- Kathie the... +p4064 +aVBut I do take what Alan Krueger said seriously. He is the foremost expert in our country on the minimum wage, and what its effects are. And the overall message is that it doesn't result in job loss. However, what Alan Krueger said in the piece you're referring to is that if we went to $15, there are no international comparisons. That is why I support a $12 national federal minimum wage. That is what the Democrats in the Senate have put forward as a proposal. But I do believe that is a minimum. And places like Seattle, like Los Angeles, like New York City, they can go higher. It's what happened in Governor O'Malley's state. There was a minimum wage at the state level, and some places went higher. I think that is... O' +p4065 +aVI think that is the smartest way to be able to move forward because if you go to $12 it would be the highest historical average we've ever had. O' +p4066 +aVBut you would index it -- you would index it to the median wage. Of course, you would. Do the $12 and you would index it. But I... O' +p4067 +aVHe's not wall street. O' +p4068 +aVThat's not fair. He's a progressive economist. +p4069 +aVWell, I think it's pretty clear that they know that I will. You have two billionaire hedge fund managers who started a super PAC and they're advertising against me in Iowa as we speak. So they clearly think I'm going to do what I say I will do and you can look at what I did in the Senate. I did introduce legislation to reign in compensation. I looked at ways that the shareholders would have more control over what was going on in that arena. And specifically said to Wall Street, that what they were doing in the mortgage market was bringing our country down. I've laid out a very aggressive plan to reign in Wall Street -- not just the big banks. That's a part of the problem and I am going right at them. I have a comprehensive, tough plan. But I went further than that. We have to go after what is called the shadow banking industry. Those hedge funds. Look at what happened in '08, AIG, a big insurance company, Lehman Brothers, an investment bank helped to bring our economy down. So, I want to look at the whole problem and that's why my proposal is much more comprehensive than anything else that's been put forth. +p4070 +aVWell John, wait a minute. Wait a minute, he has basically used his answer to impune my integrity. Let's be frank here. +p4071 +aVOh, wait a minute, senator. You know, not only do I have hundreds of thousands of donors, most of them small. And I'm very proud that for the first time a majority of my donors are women, 60 percent. So, I represented New York, and I represented New York on 9/11 when we were attacked. Where were we attacked? We were attacked in downtown Manhattan where Wall Street is. I did spend a whole lot of time and effort helping them rebuild. That was good for New York. It was good for the economy and it was a way to rebuke the terrorists who had attacked our country. So, you know, it's fine for you to say what you're going to say, but I looked very carefully at your proposal. Reinstating Glass- Steagall is a part of what very well could help, but it is nowhere near enough. My proposal is tougher, more effective, and more comprehensive because I go after all of Wall Street not just the big banks. O' +p4072 +aVWell, you know, governor, I know that when you had a chance to appoint a commissioner for financial regulation, you chose an investment banker in 2010. So for me, it is looking at what works and what we need to do to try to move past what happened in '08. And I will go back and say again, AIG was not a big bank. It had to be bailed out and it nearly destroyed us. Lehman Brothers was not a big bank. It was an investment bank. And its bankruptcy and its failure nearly destroyed us. So I've said, if the big banks don't play by the rules, I will break them up. +p4073 +aVAnd I will also go after executives who are responsible for the decisions that have such bad consequences for our country. +p4074 +aVWell, I think that there are different records. I -- you know, know that Senator Sanders had a different vote than I did when it came to giving immunity to gun makers and sellers. That was a terrible mistake. It basically gave the gun lobby even more power to intimidate legislators, not just in Washington but across the country. But just think about this-- since we last debated in Las Vegas, nearly 3,000 people have been killed by guns. Twenty-one mass shootings, including one last weekend in Des Moins where three were murdered. Two hundred children have been killed. This is an emergency. There are a lot of things we've got to do in our country, reigning in Wall Street is certainly one of them. I agree with that. That's why I've got such a good plan. But we have to also go after the gun lobby and 92 percent of Americans agree we should have universal background checks. Close the gun show loophole, close the online loophole and... +p4075 +aVI will do everything I can as president to get that accomplished. +p4076 +aVI -- I said I made a mistake on Iraq, and I would love to see Senator Sanders join with some of my colleague in addition the Senate that I see in the audience. Let's reverse the immunity. Let's put the gun makers and sellers on notice that they're not going to get away with it. +p4077 +aVBut wait, I just want to say this Senator. There is broad consensus, 92 percent in the most recently poll of Americans want gun safety measures... +p4078 +aV... and 85 percent of gun owners agree. +p4079 +aVWe've got the consensus, what we're lacking is political leadership... +p4080 +aV... and that's what you and others can start providing in the Senate. +p4081 +aVWell, I'm sorry that whoever tweeted that had that impression because I worked closely with New Yorkers after 9/11 for my entire first term to rebuild. So, yes, I did know people. I've had a lot of folks give me donations from all kinds of backgrounds say, I don't agree with you on everything, but I like what you do. I like how you stand up. I'm going to support you, and I think that is absolutely appropriate. +p4082 +aVWell, I'll tell you who is on my side. Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize winning economist, who said my plan for what we should do to reign in Wall Street was more comprehensive and better. Paul Volcker, one of the leading lights of trying to reign in the excesses, has also said he does not support reinstating Glass-Steagall. So, I mean this may seem like a bit of an arcane discussion. I have nothing against the passion that my two friends here have about reinstating Glass-Steagall. I just don't think it would get the job done. I'm all about making sure we actually get results for whatever we do. +p4083 +aVI agree completely. I couldn't have said it better myself. But I did want to -- I wanted to follow up. Look, we need more Americans to be involved in the political process. And I give Senator Sanders a lot of credit for really lighting a fire under many people -- young, old, everybody -- who sees a chance to be involved and have their voice heard. Look at what's happening with the Republicans. They are doing everything they can to prevent the voices of Americans to be heard. They're trying to prevent people from registering to vote. So, we do need to take on the Republicans very clearly and directly. But the other thing I just wanted quickly to say is, I think President Obama deserves more credit than he gets for what he got done in Washington, despite the Republican obstructionists. +p4084 +aVI think after 11 hours, that's pretty clear, yes. And, you know, I do think it's important to do exactly what Senator Sanders said, and that is to start talking about the issues that the American people really care about, and that they talk to each of us about. And to contrast, even -- there are differences among us. You've heard some of those tonight. I still want to get back to health care, because I think that's a worthy topic to explore. But the differences among us pale compared to what's happening on the Republican side. And if you listen to what they say -- and I had a chance over those 11 hours to watch and listen, as well as what I see in their debates -- they are putting forth alarming plans. I mean, all of us support funding Planned Parenthood. All of us believe climate change is real. All of us want equal pay for equal work. They don't believe in any of that. So let's focus on what this election is really going to be about. +p4085 +aVWell, John, I come from the '60s, a long time ago. There was a lot of activism on campus -- Civil Rights activism, antiwar activism, women's rights activism -- and I do appreciate the way young people are standing up and speaking out. Obviously, I believe that on a college campus, there should be enough respect so people hear each other. But what happened at the university there, what's happening at other universities, I think reflects the deep sense of, you know, concern, even despair that so many young people, particularly of color, have... You know, I recently met with a group of mothers who lost their children to either killings by police or random killings in their neighborhoods, and hearing their stories was so incredibly, profoundly heartbreaking. Each one of them, you know, described their child, had a picture. You know, the mother of the young man with his friends in the car who was playing loud music and, you know, some older white man pulled out a gun and shot him because they wouldn't turn the radio down. Or a young woman who had been performing at President Obama's second inauguration coming home, absolutely stellar young woman, hanging out with her friends in a park getting shot by a gang member. And, of course, I met the mothers of Eric Garner and Tamir Rice, and Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin and so many of them who have lost their children. So, your original question is the right question. And it's not just a question for parents and grandparents to answer. It's really a question for all of us to answer, every single one of our children deserves the chance to live up to his or her god-given potential. And that's what we need to be doing to the best of our ability in our country. +p4086 +aVKevin, if I could just jump in. I -- I believe that we should make community college free. We should have debt-free college if you go to a public college or university. You should not have to borrow a dime to pay tuition. I want to use pell grants to help defray the living expenses that often make a difference, whether a young person can stay in school or not. I disagree with free college for everybody. I don't think taxpayers should be paying to send Donald Trump's kids to college. I think it ought to be a compact -- families contribute, kids contribute. And together we make it possible for a new generation of young people to refinance their debt and not come out with debt in the future. +p4087 +aVNo. Revolution never came. I waited and I got the scars to show for it. We now have this great accomplishment known as the Affordable Care Act, and I don't think we should have to be defending it among Democrats. We ought to be working to improve it and prevent Republicans from both underming it and even repealing it. I have looked at -- I have looked at the legislation that Senator Sanders has proposed, and basically, he does eliminate the Affordable Care Act, eliminates private insurance, eliminates Medicare, eliminates Medicaid, Tricare, children's health insurance program -- puts it all together in a big program which he then hands over to the states to administer. And I have to tell you, I would not want -- if I lived in Iowa, Terry Branstad administering my health care. I -- I think -- I think as Democrats we ought to proudly support the Affordable Care Act, improve it, and make it the model that we know it can be. +p4088 +aVWell, there are so many, I don't know where to start. I guess the one I -- I would pick is the fact that I was part of a very small group that had to advise the president about whether or not to go after Bin Laden. I spent a lot of time in the situation room as secretary of state and there were many very difficult choices presented to us. But probably that was the most challenging because there was no certainty attached to it. The intelligence was by no means absolute. We had all kinds of questions that we discussed and, you know, at the end, I recommended to the president that we take the chance to do what we could to find out whether that was bin Laden and to finally bring him to justice. It was an excruciating experience. I couldn't talk to anybody about it. In fact, after it happened, the president called my husband -- he called all the former presidents and he said to Bill, "Well I assume Hillary has told you about this." And Bill said, "No, no, she hasn't." There was nobody to talk to and it really did give me an insight into the very difficult problems presidents face. +p4089 +aVWell, thank you very much to CBS and everyone here this evening for giving us another chance to appear before you. I've heard a lot about me in this debate, and I'm going to keep talking and thinking about all of you because ultimately, I think the president's job is to do everything possible, everything that she can do to lift up the people of this country. Starting with our children and moving forward. I've spent my entire life, since I started as a young lawyer for the Children's Defense Fund, trying to figure out how we can even the odds for so many people in America, this great country of ours, who are behind, who don't have a chance. And that's what I will do as your president. I will work my heart out. I need your help. All of you in Iowa, I need you to caucus for me. Please go to hillaryclinton.com and be part of making this country what we know it can and should be. +p4090 +aVWell, thank you, and thanks to everyone for hosting this first of the Democratic debates. I'm Hillary Clinton. I have been proud and privileged to serve as first lady, as a senator from New York, and as secretary of state. I'm the granddaughter of a factory worker and the grandmother of a wonderful one-year-old child. And every day, I think about what we need to do to make sure that opportunity is available not just for her, but for all of our children. I have spent a very long time \u2014 my entire adult life \u2014 looking for ways to even the odds to help people have a chance to get ahead, and, in particular, to find the ways for each child to live up to his or her God-given potential. I've traveled across our country over the last months listening and learning, and I've put forward specific plans about how we're going to create more good-paying jobs: by investing in infrastructure and clean energy, by making it possible once again to invest in science and research, and taking the opportunity posed by climate change to grow our economy. At the center of my campaign is how we're going to raise wages. Yes, of course, raise the minimum wage, but we have to do so much more, including finding ways so that companies share profits with the workers who helped to make them. And then we have to figure out how we're going to make the tax system a fairer one. Right now, the wealthy pay too little and the middle class pays too much. So I have specific recommendations about how we're going to close those loopholes, make it clear that the wealthy will have to pay their fair share, and have a series of tax cuts for middle-class families. And I want to do more to help us balance family and work. I believe in equal pay for equal work for women, but I also believe it's about time we had paid family leave for American families and join the rest of the world. During the course of the evening tonight, I'll have a chance to lay out all of my plans and the work that I've done behind them. But for me, this is about bringing our country together again. And I will do everything I can to heal the divides \u2014 the divides economically, because there's too much inequality; the racial divides; the continuing discrimination against the +p4091 +aVWell, actually, I have been very consistent. Over the course of my entire life, I have always fought for the same values and principles, but, like most human beings \u2014 including those of us who run for office \u2014 I do absorb new information. I do look at what's happening in the world. You know, take the trade deal. I did say, when I was secretary of state, three years ago, that I hoped it would be the gold standard. It was just finally negotiated last week, and in looking at it, it didn't meet my standards. My standards for more new, good jobs for Americans, for raising wages for Americans. And I want to make sure that I can look into the eyes of any middle-class American and say, "this will help raise your wages." And I concluded I could not. +p4092 +aVNo. I think that, like most people that I know, I have a range of views, but they are rooted in my values and my experience. And I don't take a back seat to anyone when it comes to progressive experience and progressive commitment. You know, when I left law school, my first job was with the Children's Defense Fund, and for all the years since, I have been focused on how we're going to un-stack the deck, and how we're gonna make it possible for more people to have the experience I had. You know, to be able to come from a grandfather who was a factory worker, a father who was a small business person, and now asking the people of America to elect me president. +p4093 +aVI'm a progressive. But I'm a progressive who likes to get things done. And I know... ...how to find common ground, and I know how to stand my ground, and I have proved that in every position that I've had, even dealing with Republicans who never had a good word to say about me, honestly. But we found ways to work together on everything from... +p4094 +aV...reforming foster care and adoption to the Children's Health Insurance Program, which insures... +p4095 +aV...8 million kids. So I have a long history of getting things done, rooted in the same values... +p4096 +aV...I've always had. +p4097 +aVWell, let me just follow-up on that, Anderson, because when I think about capitalism, I think about all the small businesses that were started because we have the opportunity and the freedom in our country for people to do that and to make a good living for themselves and their families. And I don't think we should confuse what we have to do every so often in America, which is save capitalism from itself. And I think what Senator Sanders is saying certainly makes sense in the terms of the inequality that we have. But we are not Denmark. I love Denmark. We are the United States of America. And it's our job to rein in the excesses of capitalism so that it doesn't run amok and doesn't cause the kind of inequities we're seeing in our economic system. But we would be making a grave mistake to turn our backs on what built the greatest middle class in the history... +p4098 +aV... of the world. +p4099 +aVNo, not at all. I think that we have to look at the fact that we lose 90 people a day from gun violence. This has gone on too long and it's time the entire country stood up against the NRA. The majority of our country... ... supports background checks, and even the majority of gun owners do. Senator Sanders did vote five times against the Brady bill. Since it was passed, more than 2 million prohibited purchases have been prevented. He also did vote, as he said, for this immunity provision. I voted against it. I was in the Senate at the same time. It wasn't that complicated to me. It was pretty straightforward to me that he was going to give immunity to the only industry in America. Everybody else has to be accountable, but not the gun manufacturers. And we need to stand up and say: Enough of that. We're not going to let it continue. +p4100 +aVWell, first of all, we got a lot of business done with the Russians when Medvedev was the president, and not Putin. We got a nuclear arms deal, we got the Iranian sanctions, we got an ability to bring important material and equipment to our soldiers in Afghanistan. There's no doubt that when Putin came back in and said he was going to be President, that did change the relationship. We have to stand up to his bullying, and specifically in Syria, it is important \u2014 and I applaud the administration because they are engaged in talks right now with the Russians to make it clear that they've got to be part of the solution to try to end that bloody conflict. And, to \u2014 provide safe zones so that people are not going to have to be flooding out of Syria at the rate they are. And, I think it's important too that the United States make it very clear to Putin that it's not acceptable for him to be in Syria creating more chaos, bombing people on behalf of Assad, and we can't do that if we don't take more of a leadership position, which is what I'm advocating. +p4101 +aV...Well, nobody does. Nobody does, Senator Sanders. +p4102 +aVWell, I recall very well being on a debate stage, I think, about 25 times with then Senator Obama, debating this very issue. After the election, he asked me to become Secretary of State. He valued my judgment, and I spent a lot of time with him... ...in the Situation Room, going over some very difficult issues. You know, I \u2014 I agree completely. We don't want American troops on the ground in Syria. I never said that. What I said was we had to put together a coalition \u2014 in fact, something that I worked on before I left the State Department \u2014 to do, and yes, that it should include Arabs, people in the region. Because what I worry about is what will happen with +p4103 +aVWell, first of all, I... +p4104 +aVWell, I am in the middle, here, and... Lots of things coming from all directions. +p4105 +aVYou know, I have to say, I was very pleased when Governor O'Malley endorsed me for president in 2008, and I enjoyed his strong support in that campaign. And I consider him, obviously, a friend. Let me say \u2014 because there's a lot of loose talk going on here \u2014 we are already flying in Syria just as we are flying in Iraq. The president has made a very tough decision. What I believe and why I have advocated that the no-fly zone \u2014 which of course would be in a coalition \u2014 be put on the table is because I'm trying to figure out what leverage we have to get Russia to the table. You know, diplomacy is not about getting to the perfect solution. It's about how you balance the risks. +p4106 +aVAnd I think we have an opportunity here \u2014 and I know that inside the administration this is being hotly debated \u2014 to get that leverage to try to get the Russians to have to deal with everybody in the region and begin to move toward a political, diplomatic solution in Syria. +p4107 +aVWell, let's remember what was going on. We had a murderous dictator, Gadhafi, who had American blood on his hands, as I'm sure you remember, threatening to massacre large numbers of the Libyan people. We had our closest allies in Europe burning up the phone lines begging us to help them try to prevent what they saw as a mass genocide, in their words. And we had the Arabs standing by our side saying, "We want you to help us deal with Gadhafi." Our response, which I think was smart power at its best, is that the United States will not lead this. We will provide essential, unique capabilities that we have, but the Europeans and the Arabs had to be first over the line. We did not put one single American soldier on the ground in Libya. And I'll say this for the Libyan people... +p4108 +aVBut let \u2014 I'll get to that. But I think it's important, since I understand Senator Webb's very strong feelings about this, to explain where we were then and to point out that I think President Obama made the right decision at the time. And the Libyan people had a free election the first time since 1951. And you know what, they voted for moderates, they voted with the hope of democracy. Because of the Arab Spring, because of a lot of other things, there was turmoil to be followed. But unless you believe the United States should not send diplomats to any place that is dangerous, which I do not, then when we send them forth, there is always the potential for danger and risk. +p4109 +aVI \u2014 I think it has to be continued threat from the spread of nuclear weapons, nuclear material that can fall into the wrong hands. I know the terrorists are constantly seeking it, and that's why we have to stay vigilant, but also united around the world to prevent that. +p4110 +aVWell, I've taken responsibility for it. I did say it was a mistake. What I did was allowed by the State Department, but it wasn't the best choice. And I have been as transparent as I know to be, turning over 55,000 pages of my e-mails, asking that they be made public. And you're right. I am going to be testifying. I've been asking to testify for some time and to do it in public, which was not originally agreed to. But let's just take a minute here and point out that this committee is basically an arm of the Republican National Committee. It is a partisan vehicle, as admitted by the House Republican majority leader, Mr. McCarthy, to drive down my poll numbers. Big surprise. And that's what they have attempted to do. I am still standing. I am happy to be part of this debate. And I intend to keep talking about the issues that matter to the American people. You know, I believe strongly that we need to be talking about what people talk to me about, like how are we going to make college affordable? How are we going to pay down student debt? +p4111 +aVHow are we going to get health care for everybody... +p4112 +aVWell, I never said it wasn't legitimate. I said that I have answered all the questions and I will certainly be doing so again before this committee. But I think it would be really unfair not to look at the entire picture. This committee has spent $4.5 million of taxpayer money, and they said that they were trying to figure out what we could do better to protect our diplomats so that something like Benghazi wouldn't happen again. There were already seven committee reports about what to do. So I think it's pretty clear what their obvious goal is. +p4113 +aVBut I'll be there. I'll answer their questions. But tonight, I want to talk not about my e-mails, but about what the American people want from the next president of the United States. +p4114 +aVThank you. Me, too. Me, too. +p4115 +aVThank you, Bernie. Thank you. +p4116 +aVNo. +p4117 +aVWell, I think that President Obama has been a great moral leader on these issues, and has laid out an agenda that has been obstructed by the Republicans at every turn, so... ...So, what we need to be doing is not only reforming criminal justice \u2014 I have talked about that at some length, including things like body cameras, but we also need to be following the recommendations of the commissioner that President Obama empanelled on policing. There is an agenda there that we need to be following up on. Similarly, we need to tackle mass incarceration, and this may be the only bi-partisan issue in the congress this year. We actually have people on both sides of the aisle who have reached the same conclusion, that we can not keep imprisoning more people than anybody else in the world. But, I believe that the debate, and the discussion has to go further, Anderson, because we've got to do more about the lives of these children. That's why I started off by saying we need to be committed to making it possible for every child to live up to his or her god given potential. That is... +p4118 +aV...really hard to do if you don't have early childhood education... +p4119 +aV...if you don't have schools that are able to meet the needs of the people, or good housing, there's a long list... ...We need a new New Deal for communities of color... +p4120 +aVWell, you know, both Bill and I have been very blessed. Neither of us came from wealthy families and we've worked really hard our entire lives. And I want to make sure every single person in this country has the same opportunities that he and I have had, to make the most of their God-given potential and to have the chances that they should have in America for a good education, good job training, and then good jobs. I have a five point economic plan, because this inequality challenge we face, we have faced it at other points. It's absolutely right. It hasn't been this bad since the 1920s. But if you look at the Republicans versus the Democrats when it comes to economic policy, there is no comparison. The economy does better when you have a Democrat in the White House and that's why we need to have a Democrat in the White House in January 2017. +p4121 +aVWell, my plan is more comprehensive. And frankly, it's tougher because of course we have to deal with the problem that the banks are still too big to fail. We can never let the American taxpayer and middle class families ever have to bail out the kind of speculative behavior that we saw. But we also have to worry about some of the other players \u2014 AIG, a big insurance company; Lehman Brothers, an investment bank. There's this whole area called "shadow banking." That's where the experts tell me the next potential problem could come from. +p4122 +aVSo I'm with both Senator Sanders and Governor O'Malley in putting a lot of attention onto the banks. And the plan that I have put forward would actually empower regulators to break up big banks if we thought they posed a risk. But I want to make sure we're going to cover everybody, not what caused the problem last time, but what could cause it next time. +p4123 +aVYeah. You know, I \u2014 I respect the passion an intensity. I represented Wall Street, as a senator from New York, and I went to Wall Street in December of 2007 \u2014 before the big crash that we had \u2014 and I basically said, "cut it out! Quit foreclosing on homes! Quit engaging in these kinds of speculative behaviors." I took on the Bush administration for the same thing. So I have thought deeply and long about what we're gonna do to do exactly what I think both the senator and the governor want, which is to rein in and stop this risk. And my plan would have the potential of actually sending the executives to jail. Nobody went to jail after $100 billion in fines were paid... +p4124 +aV...and would give regulators the authority to go after the big banks. +p4125 +aVBut I'm telling you \u2014 I will say it tonight. If only you look at the big banks, you may be missing the forest for the trees. +p4126 +aVSo... +p4127 +aV...no, that's not what... +p4128 +aV...that \u2014 I think Dodd-Frank was a very... +p4129 +aV...good start, and I think that we have to implement it. We have to prevent the Republicans from ripping it apart. We have to save the Consumer Financial Protection board, which is finally beginning to act to protect consumers. We have work to do. You've got no argument from me. But I know, if we don't come in with a very tough and comprehensive approach, like the plan I'm recommending, we're gonna be behind instead of ahead... +p4130 +aV...on what the next crisis could be. O' +p4131 +aVWell, you know, everybody on this stage has changed a position or two. We've been around a cumulative quite some period of time. You know, we know that if you are learning, you're gonna change your position. I never took a position on Keystone until I took a position on Keystone. But I have been on the forefront of dealing with climate change, starting in 2009, when President Obama and I crashed (ph) a meeting with the Chinese and got them to sign up to the first international agreement to combat climate change that they'd ever joined. So I'm... +p4132 +aV...not taking a back seat to anybody on my values... +p4133 +aV...my principles and the results that I get. +p4134 +aVWell, let me address college affordability, because I have a plan that I think will really zero in on what the problems are. First, all the 40 million Americans who currently have student debt will be able to refinance their debt to a low interest rate. That will save thousands of dollars for people who are now struggling under this cumbersome, burdensome college debt. As a young student in Nevada said to me, the hardest thing about going to college should not be paying for it. So then we have to make it more affordable. How do we make it more affordable? My plan would enable anyone to go to a public college or university tuition free. You would not have to borrow money for tuition. But I do believe \u2014 and maybe it's because I worked when I went through college; I worked when I went through law school \u2014 I think it's important for everybody to have some part of getting this accomplished. That's why I call it a compact. +p4135 +aVBut, yes, I would like students to work 10 hours a week... +p4136 +aVWell, I fully support Social Security. And the most important fight we're going to have is defending it against continuing Republican efforts to privatize it. +p4137 +aVI want to enhance the benefits for the poorest recipients of Social Security. We have a lot of women on Social Security, particularly widowed and single women who didn't make a lot of money during their careers, and they are impoverished, and they need more help from the Social Security system. And I will focus \u2014 I will focus on helping those people who need it the most. And of course I'm going to defend Social Security. I'm going to look for ways to try to make sure it's solvent into the future. And we also need to talk about health care at some time, because we agree on the goals, we just disagree on the means. +p4138 +aVWell, first of all, I want to make sure every child gets health care. That's why I helped to create the Children's Health Insurance Program, and I want to support states that are expanding health care and including undocumented children and others. I want to open up the opportunity for immigrants to be able to buy in to the exchanges under the Affordable Care Act. I think to go beyond that, as I understand what Governor O'Malley has recommended, so that they would get the same subsidies. I think that is \u2014 it raises so many issues. It would be very difficult to administer, it needs to be part of a comprehensive immigration reform, when we finally do get to it. +p4139 +aVI want to follow up because I think underneath Juan Carlos' important questions, there is such a difference between everything you're hearing here on this stage, and what we hear from the Republicans. O' +p4140 +aVDemonize hard-working immigrants who have insulted them. You know, I came to Las Vegas in, I think, May. Early may. Met with a group of +p4141 +aV...than even the executive orders that President Obama has signed when I'm president. ( +p4142 +aVMy plan would support any state that takes that position, and would work with those states and encourage more states to do the same thing. +p4143 +aVIf their states agree, then we want more states to do the same thing. +p4144 +aVNo, I don't. I think that it was necessary to make sure that we were able after 9/11 to put in place the security that we needed. And it is true that it did require that there be a process. What happened, however, is that the Bush administration began to chip away at that process. And I began to speak out about their use of warrantless surveillance and the other behavior that they engaged in. We always have to keep the balance of civil liberties, privacy and security. It's not easy in a democracy, but we have to keep it in mind. +p4145 +aVHe broke the laws of the United States. He could have been a whistleblower. He could have gotten all of the protections of being a whistleblower. He could have raised all the issues that he has raised. And I think there would have been a positive response to that. +p4146 +aVWell, I think that's pretty obvious. I think being the first woman president would be quite a change from the presidents we've had up until this point, including President Obama. +p4147 +aVWell, there's a lot that I would like to do to build on the successes of President Obama, but also, as I'm laying out, to go beyond. And that's in my economic plans, how I would deal with the prescription drug companies, how I would deal with college, how I would deal with a full range of issues that I've been talking about throughout this campaign to go further. +p4148 +aVWell, thank you. ( +p4149 +aVYou know, it does take me a little longer. That's all I can say. +p4150 +aVWell, I can't think of anything more of an outsider than electing the first woman president, but I'm not just running because I would be the first woman president. +p4151 +aVI'm running because I have a lifetime of experience in getting results and fighting for people, fighting for kids, for women, for families, fighting to even the odds. And I know what it takes to get things done. I know how to find common ground and I know how to stand my ground. And I think we're going to need both of those in Washington to get anything that we're talking about up here accomplished. So I'm very happy that I have both the commitment of a lifetime and the experience of a lifetime to bring together to offer the American people. +p4152 +aVWell, I would not ask anyone to vote for me based on my last name. I would ask them to listen to what I'm proposing, look at what I've accomplished in the Senate, as secretary of of state, and then draw your own conclusion. I certainly am not campaigning to become president because my last name is Clinton. I'm campaigning because I think I have the right combination of what the country needs, at this point, and I think I can take the fight to the Republicans, because we cannot afford a Republican to succeed Barack Obama as president of the United States. +p4153 +aVWell, that \u2014 that's exactly what I've been doing. When we met in Copenhagen in 2009 and, literally, President Obama and I were hunting for the Chinese, going throughout this huge convention center, because we knew we had to get them to agree to something. Because there will be no effective efforts against climate change unless China and India join with the rest of the world. They told us they'd left for the airport; we found out they were having a secret meeting. We marched up, we broke in, we said, "We've been looking all over for you. Let's sit down and talk about what we need to do." And we did come up with the first international agreement that China has signed. Thanks to President Obama's leadership, it's now gone much further. +p4154 +aVAnd I do think that the bilateral agreement that President Obama made with the Chinese was significant. Now, it needs to go further, and there will be an international meeting at the end of this year, and we must get verifiable commitments to fight climate change from every country gathered there. +p4155 +aVMm-hmm. +p4156 +aVWell, I'm surprised she says that, because California has had a paid leave program for a number of years. And it's... +p4157 +aVWell, but all \u2014 well, on a state level, a state as big as many countries in the world. And it has not had the ill effects that the Republicans are always saying it will have. And I think this is \u2014 this is typical Republican scare tactics. We can design a system and pay for it that does not put the burden on small businesses. I remember as a young mother, you know, having a baby wake up who was sick and I'm supposed to be in court, because I was practicing law. I know what it's like. And I think we need to recognize the incredible challenges that so many parents face, particularly working moms. I see my good friend, Senator Gillibrand, in the front row. She's been a champion of this. We need to get a consensus through this campaign, which is why I'm talking about it everywhere I go, and we need to join the rest of the advanced world in having it. +p4158 +aVWell, look, you know, when people say that \u2014 it's always the Republicans or their sympathizers who say, "You can't have paid leave, you can't provide health care." They don't mind having big government to interfere with a woman's right to choose and to try to take down Planned Parenthood. They're fine with big government when it comes to that. I'm sick of it. You know, we can do these things. We should not be paralyzed \u2014 we should not be paralyzed by the Republicans and their constant refrain, "big government this, big government that," that except for what they want to impose on the American people. I know we can afford it, because we're going to make the wealthy pay for it. That is the way to get it done. +p4159 +aVNo. I think that we have the opportunity through the states that are pursuing recreational marijuana to find out a lot more than we know today. I do support the use of medical marijuana, and I think even there we need to do a lot more research so that we know exactly how we're going to help people for whom medical marijuana provides relief. So, I think we're just at the beginning, but I agree completely with the idea that we have got to stop imprisoning people who use marijuana. Therefore, we need more states, cities, and the federal government to begin to address this so that we don't have this terrible result that Senator Sanders was talking about where we have a huge population in our prisons for nonviolent, low-level offenses that are primarily due to marijuana. +p4160 +aVWell, in addition to the NRA, the health insurance companies, the drug companies, the Iranians. Probably the Republicans. +p4161 +aVThank you very much, Anderson. And thanks to all the viewers who tuned in tonight. I think what you did see is that, in this debate, we tried to deal with some of the very tough issues facing our country. That's in stark contrast to the Republicans who are currently running for president. What you have to ask yourself is: Who amongst us has the vision for actually making the changes that are going to improve the lives of the American people? Who has the tenacity and the ability and the proven track record of getting that done? Now, I revere my late mother, and she gave me a lot of good advice. But one of the best pieces of advice she gave me was, you know, the issue is not whether or not you get knocked down. It's whether you get back up. America's been knocked down. That Great Recession, 9 million people lost their jobs, 5 million lost their homes, $13 trillion in wealth disappeared. And although we've made progress, we're standing but not running the way America needs to. My mission as president will be to raise incomes for hard-working middle-class families and to make sure that we get back to the basic bargain I was raised with: If you work hard and you do your part, you should be able to get ahead and stay ahead. Please join me in this campaign. Please come and make it clear that America's best days are still ahead. Thank you very much. +p4162 +asVTRUMP +p4163 +(lp4164 +VThank you. I began this journey six months ago. My total focus was on building up our military, building up our strength, building up our borders, making sure that China, Japan, Mexico, both at the border and in trade, no longer takes advantage of our country. Certainly would never have made that horrible, disgusting, absolutely incompetent deal with Iran where they get $150 billion. They're a terrorist nation. But I began it talking about other things. And those things are things that I'm very good at and maybe that's why I'm center stage. People saw it. People liked it. People respected it. A month ago things changed. Radical Islamic terrorism came into effect even more so than it has been in the past. People like what I say. People respect what I say. And we've opened up a very big discussion that needed to be opened up. Thank you very much. +p4165 +aVWe are not talking about isolation. We're talking about security. We're not talking about religion. We're talking about security. Our country is out of control. People are pouring across the southern border. I will build a wall. It will be a great wall. People will not come in unless they come in legally. Drugs will not pour through that wall. As far as other people like in the migration, where they're going, tens of thousands of people having cell phones with +p4166 +aVJeb doesn't really believe I'm unhinged. He said that very simply because he has failed in this campaign. It's been a total disaster. Nobody cares. And frankly, I'm the most solid person up here. I built a tremendous company and all I want to do is make America great again. I don't want our country to be taken away from us, and that's what's happening. The policies that we've suffered under other presidents have been a disaster for our country. We want to make America great again. And Jeb, in all fairness, he doesn't believe that. +p4167 +aVWell, look, this is so easy to answer. +p4168 +aVI would certainly be open to closing areas where we are at war with somebody. I sure as hell don't want to let people that want to kill us and kill our nation use our Internet. Yes, sir, I am. +p4169 +aVWe have to be much tougher. We have to be much stronger than we've been. We have people that know what is going on. You take a look at just the attack in California the other day. There were numerous people, including the mother, that knew what was going on. They saw a pipe bomb sitting all over the floor. They saw ammunition all over the place. They knew exactly what was going on. When you had the World Trade Center go, people were put into planes that were friends, family, girlfriends, and they were put into planes and they were sent back, for the most part, to Saudi Arabia. They knew what was going on. They went home and they wanted to watch their boyfriends on television. I would be very, very firm with families. Frankly, that will make people think because they may not care much about their lives, but they do care, believe it or not, about their families' lives. +p4170 +aVLook, the problem is we need toughness. Honestly, I think Jeb is a very nice person. He's a very nice person. But we need tough people. We need toughness. We need intelligence and we need tough. Jeb said when they come across the southern border they come as an act of love. +p4171 +aVAm I talking or are you talking, Jeb? +p4172 +aVYou can go back. You're not talking. You interrupted me. +p4173 +aVAre you going to apologize, Jeb? No. Am I allowed to finish? +p4174 +aVExcuse me, am I allowed to finish? +p4175 +aVSo... +p4176 +aV... again... +p4177 +aVI know you're trying to build up your energy, Jeb, but it's not working very well. +p4178 +aVLook, look, look. We need a toughness. We need strength. We're not respected, you know, as a nation anymore. We don't have that level of respect that we need. And if we don't get it back fast, we're just going to go weaker, weaker and just disintegrate. We can't allow that to happen. We need strength. We don't have it. When Jeb comes out and he talks about the border, and I saw it and I was witness to it, and so was everyone else, and I was standing there, "they come across as an act of love," he's saying the same thing right now with radical Islam. And we can't have that in our country. It just won't work. We need strength. +p4179 +aVWith Jeb's attitude, we will never be great again, that I can tell you. We will never be great again. +p4180 +aVSo, they can kill us, but we can't kill them? That's what you're saying. And as far as the Internet is concerned, we're not talking about closing the Internet. I'm talking about parts of Syria, parts of Iraq, where +p4181 +aVIn my opinion, we've spent $4 trillion trying to topple various people that frankly, if they were there and if we could've spent that $4 trillion in the United States to fix our roads, our bridges, and all of the other problems; our airports and all of the other problems we've had, we would've been a lot better off. I can tell you that right now. We have done a tremendous disservice, not only to Middle East, we've done a tremendous disservice to humanity. The people that have been killed, the people that have wiped away, and for what? It's not like we had victory. It's a mess. The Middle East is totally destabilized. A total and complete mess. I wish we had the $4 trillion or $5 trillion. I wish it were spent right here in the United States, on our schools, hospitals, roads, airports, and everything else that are all falling apart. +p4182 +aVWell, there's nothing to respond to. Well, people feel differently. I mean, the fact is Benghazi was a disaster because of Libya, everything just fell into place. It could not have been worse. What do we have now? We have nothing. We've spent $3 trillion and probably much more \u2013 I have no idea what we've spent. Thousands and thousands of lives, we have nothing. Wounded warriors all over the place who I love, we have nothing for it. And by the way \u2013 and Ben said incorrectly \u2013 and I'm not saying this as a knock \u2013 he's one of finest men. You're not going to find a finer men. But I've been talking about oil for three years. I've been saying,, "take the oil, take the oil." I didn't say, "just bomb it," I said," take it and use it and distribute it so that the wounded warriors -" People, I've been saying this now for many years. +p4183 +aVNow, all of a sudden everybody's saying, "take the oil." It wasn't so fashionable to take the oil six months ago. I've been saying it for years. +p4184 +aVI think Assad is a bad guy, a very bad guy, all right? Lots of people killed. I think we are backing people we have no idea who they are. The rebels, we call them the rebels, the patriotic rebels. We have no idea. A lot of people think, Hugh, that they are +p4185 +aVI think it's very sad that CNN leads Jeb Bush, Governor Bush, down a road by starting off virtually all the questions, "Mr. Trump this, Mister" \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched the first debate, and the first long number of questions were, "Mr. Trump said this, Mr. Trump said that. Mr. Trump" \u2014 these poor guys \u2014 although, I must tell you, Santorum, good guy. Governor Huckabee, good guy. They were very nice, and I respect them greatly. But I thought it was very unfair that virtually the entire early portion of the debate was Trump this, Trump that, in order to get ratings, I guess. In order to get ratings, I guess. +p4186 +aVI just think it's very \u2014 excuse me. +p4187 +aVExcuse me. I think it's very unprofessional. +p4188 +aVWell, I think it's very unprofessional. +p4189 +aVOK, fine. +p4190 +aVThis isn't tough and easy. I wish it... +p4191 +aVI wish it was always this easy as you, Jeb. +p4192 +aVOh, yeah. +p4193 +aVOh, I know. You're a tough guy, Jeb. I know. +p4194 +aVYou're tough. +p4195 +aVWell, let's see. I'm at 42, and you're at 3. So, so far, I'm doing better. +p4196 +aVSo far, I'm doing better. You know, you started off over here, Jeb. You're moving over further and further. Pretty soon you're going to be off the end... +p4197 +aVI believe I did. +p4198 +aVI have a very hardline position, we have a country or we don't have a country. People that have come into our country illegally, they have to go. They have to come back into through a legal process. I want a strong border. I do want a wall. Walls do work, you just have to speak to the folks in Israel. Walls work if they're properly constructed. I know how to build, believe me, I know how to build. I feel a very, very strong bind, and really I'm bound to this country, we either have a border or we don't. People can come into the country, we welcome people to come but they have to come in legally. +p4199 +aVWell, first of all, I think we need somebody absolutely that we can trust, who is totally responsible; who really knows what he or she is doing. That is so powerful and so important. And one of the things that I'm frankly most proud of is that in 2003, 2004, I was totally against going into Iraq because you're going to destabilize the Middle East. I called it. I called it very strongly. And it was very important. But we have to be extremely vigilant and extremely careful when it comes to nuclear. Nuclear changes the whole ball game. Frankly, I would have said get out of Syria; get out \u2014 if we didn't have the power of weaponry today. The power is so massive that we can't just leave areas that 50 years ago or 75 years ago we wouldn't care. It was hand-to-hand combat. The biggest problem this world has today is not President Obama with global warming, which is inconceivable, this is what he's saying. The biggest problem we have is nuclear \u2014 nuclear proliferation and having some maniac, having some madman go out and get a nuclear weapon. That's in my opinion, that is the single biggest problem that our country faces right now. +p4200 +aVI think \u2014 I think, for me, nuclear is just the power, the devastation is very important to me. +p4201 +aVI did. +p4202 +aVLet me just say that I have gotten to know him over the last three or four days. He has a wonderful temperament. He's just fine. Don't worry about it. +p4203 +aVYou better not attack... +p4204 +aVI really am. I'll be honest, I really am. I mean, the people have been putting me... I really am. +p4205 +aVLet me just. Can I just finish my... +p4206 +aVI've gained great respect for the Republican leadership. I've gained great respect for many \u2014 and I'm going to even say \u2014 I mean, in different forms for the people on the dais, in different forms. In different forms. But I have great respect for the people I have met through this process. I've never done this process before. I've never been a politician. I mean, for the last six months I've been a politician. But I will tell you, I am totally committed to the Republican Party. I feel very honored to be the front runner. And I think I'll do very well if I'm chosen. If I'm so fortunate to be chosen, I think I'll do very well. Polls have come out recently saying I would beat Hillary. I will do everything in my power to beat Hillary Clinton, I promise you. +p4207 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We don't win on trade. We don't win on the military. We can't defeat +p4208 +aVI can't be Neil. And the and the reason I can't be is that we are a country that is being beaten on every front economically, militarily. There is nothing that we do now to win. We don't win anymore. Our taxes are too high. I've come up with a tax plan that many, many people like very much. It's going to be a tremendous plan. I think it'll make our country and our economy very dynamic. But, taxes too high, wages too high, we're not going to be able to compete against the world. I hate to say it, but we have to leave it the way it is. People have to go out, they have to work really hard and have to get into that upper stratum. But we can not do this if we are going to compete with the rest of the world. We just can't do it. +p4209 +aVI would not do it. +p4210 +aVI was so happy yesterday when I saw that decision come down. That was an unbelievable decision. And we don't have enough of those decisions coming down. He of the executive order, because nobody wants to listen to him, including the Democrats, so he just goes around signing executive orders. That was a great day. And, frankly, we have to stop illegal immigration. It's hurting us economically. It's hurting us from every standpoint. It's causing tremendous difficulty with respect to drugs and what that does to many of our inner cities in particular. And it really is \u2014 was such an unbelievable moment because the courts have not been ruling in our favor. And it was a 2-1 decision. And it was a terrific thing that happened. And I will tell you, we are a country of laws. We need borders. We will have a wall. The wall will be built. The wall will be successful. And if you think walls don't work, all you have to do is ask Israel. The wall works, believe me. Properly done. Believe me. +p4211 +aVYou are going to have to bring people \u2014 you are going to have to send people out. Look, we're a country... +p4212 +aVMaria, we're a country of laws. We either have a country or we don't have a country. We are a country of laws. Going to have to go out and they will come back but they are going to have to go out and hopefully they get back. But we have no choice if we're going to run our country properly and if we're going to be a country. +p4213 +aVAll I can say is, you're lucky in Ohio that you struck oil. That is for one thing. Let me just tell you that Dwight Eisenhower, good president, great president, people liked him. "I like Ike," right? The expression. "I like Ike." Moved a 1.5 million illegal immigrants out of this country, moved them just beyond the border. They came back. Moved them again beyond the border, they came back. Didn't like it. Moved them way south. They never came back. Dwight Eisenhower. You don't get nicer. You don't get friendlier. They moved a 1.5 million out. We have no choice. We have no choice. +p4214 +aVNo, it's unfair. +p4215 +aV... built an unbelievable company worth billions and billions of dollars. I don't have to hear from this man, believe me. I don't have to hear from him. +p4216 +aVWe have millions of people right now on line trying to come into this country. Very, very unfair to the people that want to come into our country legally. They've gone through the process. They're on line. They're waiting. Very, very unfair to them. That I can tell you. +p4217 +aVYes. +p4218 +aVNo, I'm sorry. No, excuse me. I was there. +p4219 +aVPlease, if I could just... +p4220 +aVWe have to make our military bigger, better, stronger than ever before so that nobody messes with us, and a long run, it's going to save us. I agree with Marco, I agree with Ted, we have no choice. And, I can tell you this with certainty. We all have a different tax plan. Some I don't totally agree with. One thing we understand, each one of those tax plans is better than the mess that we have right now. +p4221 +aV...Yes... +p4222 +aV...Yeah... +p4223 +aV...It's a horrible deal... +p4224 +aVThe TPP is horrible deal. It is a deal that is going to lead to nothing but trouble. It's a deal that was designed for China to come in, as they always do, through the back door and totally take advantage of everyone. It's 5,600 pages long. So complex that nobodies read it. It's like Obamacare; nobody ever read it. They passed it; nobody read it. And look at mess we have right now. And it will be repealed. But this is one of the worst trade deals. And I would, yes, rather not have it. With all of these countries, and all of the bad ones getting advantage and taking advantage of what the good ones would normally get, I'd rather make individual deals with individual countries. We will do much better. We lose a fortune on trade. The United States loses with everybody. We're losing now over $500 billion in terms of imbalance with China, $75 billion a year imbalance with Japan. By the way, Mexico, $50 billion a year imbalance. So I must say, Gerard, I just think it's a terrible deal. I love trade. I'm a free trader, 100 percent. But we need smart people making the deals, and we don't have smart people making the deals. +p4225 +aVYes. Well, the currency manipulation they don't discuss in the agreement, which is a disaster. If you look at the way China and India and almost everybody takes advantage of the United States \u2014 China in particular, because they're so good. It's the number-one abuser of this country. And if you look at the way they take advantage, it's through currency manipulation. It's not even discussed in the almost 6,000-page agreement. It's not even discussed. +p4226 +aVAnd as you understand, I mean, you understand very well from the Wall Street Journal, currency manipulation is the single great weapon people have. They don't even discuss it in this agreement. So I say, it's a very bad deal, should not be approved. If it is approved, it will just be more bad trade deals, more loss of jobs for our country. We are losing jobs like nobody's ever lost jobs before. I want to bring jobs back into this country. +p4227 +aVWell, first of all, it's not only Russia. We have problems with North Korea where they actually have nuclear weapons. You know, nobody talks about it, we talk about Iran, and that's one of the worst deals ever made. One of the worst contracts ever signed, ever, in anything, and it's a disgrace. But, we have somebody over there, a madman, who already has nuclear weapons we don't talk about that. That's a problem. China is a problem, both economically in what they're doing in the South China Sea, I mean, they are becoming a very, very major force. So, we have more than just Russia. But, as far as the Ukraine is concerned, and you could Syria \u2014 as far as Syria, I like \u2014 if Putin wants to go in, and I got to know him very well because we were both on 60 Minutes, we were stablemates, and we did very well that night. But, you know that. But, if Putin wants to go and knocked the hell out of +p4228 +aV...They blew up \u2014 hold it.... +p4229 +aV...They blew up, wait a minute... ...They blew up a Russian airplane. He cannot be in love with these people. He's going in, and we can go in, and everybody should go in. As far as the Ukraine is concerned, we have a group of people, and a group of countries, including Germany \u2014 tremendous economic behemoth \u2014 why are we always doing the work? We are \u2014 I'm all for protecting Ukraine and working \u2014 but, we have countries that are surrounding the Ukraine that aren't doing anything. They say, "Keep going, keep going, you dummies, keep going. Protect us..." ...And we have to get smart. We can't continue to be the policeman of the world. We are $19 trillion dollars, we have a country that's going to hell, we have an infrastructure that's falling apart. Our roads, our bridges, our schools, our airports, and we have to start investing money in our country. +p4230 +aVAssad is a bad guy, but we have no idea who the so-called rebels \u2014 I read about the rebels, nobody even knows who they are. I spoke to a general two weeks ago, he said \u2014 he was very up on exactly what we're talking about. He said, "You know, Mr. Trump? We're giving hundreds of millions of dollars of equipment to these people, we have no idea who they are." So, I don't like Assad. Who's going to like Assad? But, we have no idea who these people, and what they're going to be, and what they're going to represent. They may be far worse than Assad. Look at Libya. Look at Iraq. Look at the mess we have after spending $2 trillion dollars, thousands of lives, wounded warriors all over the place \u2014 who I love, OK? All over. We have nothing. And, I said, keep the oil. And we should have kept the oil, believe me. We should have kept the oil. And, you know what? We should have given the oil... ..We should've given big chunks to the people that lost their arms, their legs, and their families, and their sons, and daughters, because right now, you know who has a lot of that oil? Iran, and +p4231 +aVWhy does she keep interrupting everybody? Terrible. +p4232 +aVWe are not. +p4233 +aV...No, no, no... +p4234 +aVWell, what's happening right now, Neil, is something that not been a subject of conversation by politicians. As primarily the only politician, I guess other than Carly on the stage, they haven't talked about a corporate inversion. A corporate inversion \u2014 companies are leaving. You know, we used to leave New York to go to Florida. We got better taxes, we got, maybe, something else. Now, they're the United States to go to other countries. They have trillions of dollars in those other countries. They're going for two reasons, they can't get their money back in. It's something where the democrats and the republicans both agree, it's the only thing I can think of. They both agree, let the money come back in. Three and a half years, they still can't make a deal. They can't get the money in. It's probably two and a half trillion, but, I think it's much more than that. All of that money could become \u2014 could come right in and be used to rebuild our country, and investments in our country. They can't do it. What we have to do, and what I've done, is made the tax rate \u2014 and one of the reasons they don't the taxes so obnoxious, they can't do it. Where, I made it a 10% number, as you know. I've been very highly praised for it. A lot of money's going to come back in, we're going to get rid of the bureaucratic problems, and roadblocks, because that's also a problem. And, we're going to have all of this money pour back into the United States. It's going to be used to build businesses, for jobs, and everything else. And, as I say, my expression is, let's make America great again. +p4235 +aVThank you. Over the years, I've created tens of thousands of jobs and a great company. It's a company I'm very proud of. Some of the most iconic assets anywhere in the world. And I will tell you, I don't have to give you a website because I'm self-funding my campaign. I'm putting up my own money. I want to do something really special. I want to make our country greater than it's ever been. I think we have that potential. We cannot lose this election. We cannot let Hillary Clinton, who is the worst secretary of state in the history of our country, win this election. We will fight. We will win. And we truly will make this even more special. We have to make it better than ever before. And I will tell you, the United States can actually be better than ever before. Thank you. +p4236 +aVI think maybe my greatest weakness is that I trust people too much. I'm too trusting. And when they let me down, if they let me down, I never forgive. I find it very, very hard to forgive people that deceived me. So I don't know if you would call that a weakness, but my wife said "let up." +p4237 +aVRight. +p4238 +aVRight. +p4239 +aVThat's right. +p4240 +aVNo, not a comic book, and it's not a very nicely asked question the way you say that. Larry Kudlow is an example, who I have a lot of respect for, who loves my tax plan. We're reducing taxes to 15 percent. We're bringing corporate taxes down, bringing money back in, corporate inversions. We have $2.5 trillion outside of the United States which we want to bring back in. As far as the wall is concerned, we're going to build a wall. We're going to create a border. We're going to let people in, but they're going to come in legally. They're going to come in legally. And it's something that can be done, and I get questioned about that. They built the great wall of China. That's 13,000 miles. Here, we actually need 1,000 because we have natural barriers. So we need 1,000. We can do a wall. We're going to have a big, fat beautiful door right in the middle of the wall. We're going to have people come in, but they're coming in legally. And Mexico's going to pay for the wall because Mexico \u2014 I love the Mexican people; I respect the Mexican leaders \u2014 but the leaders are much sharper, smarter and more cunning than our leaders. And just to finish, people say, how will you get Mexico to pay? A politician other than the people in the states \u2014 I don't want to \u2014 a politician cannot get them to pay. I can. We lose, we have a trade imbalance... Excuse me, John. ... of $50 billion... +p4241 +aV... believe me the world is peanuts by comparison. +p4242 +aVRight. Dynamically. +p4243 +aVThen you have to get rid of Larry Kudlow, who sits on your panel, who's a great guy, who came out the other day and said, I love Trump's tax plan. +p4244 +aVFirst of all, John got lucky with a thing called fracking, OK? He hit oil. He got lucky with fracking. Believe me, that is why Ohio is doing well. Number \u2014 and that is important for you to know. Number two, this was the man that was a managing general partner at Lehman Brothers when it went down the tubes and almost took every one of us with it, including Ben and myself, because I was there and I watched what happened. And Lehman Brothers started it all. He was on the board. And he was a managing general partner. And just thirdly, he was so nice. He was such a nice guy. And he said, oh, I'm never going to attack. But then his poll numbers tanked. He has got \u2014 that is why he is on the end. And he got nasty. And he got nasty. So you know what? You can have him. +p4245 +aVI think you're \u2014 +p4246 +aVWell, first of all, like many other very big businessmen, I could name them here, but I'm not going to do that for a lot of obvious reasons, but the biggest, and almost all of them, they've all used the chapter laws, the bankruptcy laws to their own benefit. Before this, I was a very successful person as a developer and as a businessman. Atlantic City has gone bad. I mean, Chris will know about that. I'm not blaming Chris, by the way, but he will know about that. Caesar's \u2014 excuse me \u2014 Caesar's, the Rolls-Royce, as you know, is in bankruptcy. Almost every hotel in Atlantic City has either been in bankruptcy or will be in bankruptcy \u2014 the biggest. But also the biggest people (ph) \u2014 now I've used that to my advantage as a business man, for my family, for myself. I never filed for bankruptcy. But many, many people did. What happened with Atlantic City is very, very disgraceful. Now hundreds of companies I've opened. I've used it three times, maybe four times. Came out great. But I guess I'm supposed to come out great. That is what I could do for the country. We owe $19 trillion, boy am I good at solving debt problems. Nobody can solve it like me. But I will tell you this, Atlantic City, you're using that, hundreds of companies that I have opened have thrived. I built a net worth of way over $10 billion, and I have done it four times out of hundreds. And I'm glad I did it. I used the laws of the country to my benefit, I'm sorry. +p4247 +aVThank you. +p4248 +aVI was not at all critical of him. I was not at all. In fact, frankly, he's complaining about the fact that we're losing some of the most talented people. They go to Harvard. They go to Yale. They go to Princeton. They come from another country and they're immediately sent out. I am all in favor of keeping these talented people here so they can go to work in Silicon Valley. +p4249 +aVSo I have nothing at all critical of him. +p4250 +aVProbably, I don't know \u2014 you people write the stuff. I don't know where you... And if I could say just one thing. I am the only person in either campaign that's self-funding. I'm putting up 100 percent of my own money. And right now, I will be putting up a tremendous \u2014 so far, I've put up less than anybody and I have the best results. Wouldn't that be nice if the country could do that? But I will be putting \u2014 I will be putting up, you know, tremendous amounts of money. SuperPacs are a disaster. They're a scam. They cause dishonesty. And you better get rid of them because they are causing a lot of bad decisions to be made by some very good people. And I'm not blaming these folks \u2014 well, I guess I could. Very good people are making very bad decisions right now. And if anything comes out of this whole thing with some of these nasty and ridiculous questions, I will tell you, you better get rid of the SuperPacs because they causing a big problem with this country, not only in dishonesty and what's going on, but also in a lot of bad decisions that have been made for the benefit of lobbyists and special interests. +p4251 +aVI never said that. I never said that. +p4252 +aVYou've got another gentleman in Florida, who happens to be a very nice guy, but not... +p4253 +aV... he's really doing some bad... +p4254 +aVI'm in favor of people coming into this country legally. And you know what? They can have it anyway you want. You can call it visas, you can call it work permits, you can call it anything you want. I've created tens of thousands of jobs, and in all due respect \u2014 and actually some of these folks I really like a lot \u2014 but I'm the only one that can say that. I have created tens of thousands of jobs, and I'll be creating many millions of jobs if I'm given \u2014 if I'm given the opportunity to be president. As far as Mark is concerned, as far as the visas are concerned, if we need people, they have \u2014 it's fine. They have to come into this country legally. We have a country of borders. We have a country of laws. We have to obey the laws. It's fine if they come in, but they have to come in legally. +p4255 +aVYes. +p4256 +aVOr somebody else. Right. +p4257 +aVYes, I might feel more comfortable. I would say that I would and I have a permit, which is very unusual in New York \u2014 a permit to carry. And I do carry on occasion, sometimes a lot. But I like to be unpredictable so that people don't know exactly... +p4258 +aVBy the way, unlike our country where we're totally predictable and the enemy, whether it's +p4259 +aVI would change them. I would change them. +p4260 +aVSuch a nasty \u2014 such a nasty question, but thank you, Governor. +p4261 +aVYes, it's very simple. We're going to make a really dynamic economy from what we have right now, which is not at all dynamic. We're going to bring jobs back from Japan, we're going to bring jobs back from China, we're going to bring, frankly, jobs back from Mexico where, as you probably saw, Nabisco is leaving Chicago with one of their biggest plants, and they're moving it to Mexico. We're going to bring jobs and manufacturing back. We're going to cut costs. We're going to save Social Security, and we're going to save Medicare. [ +p4262 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We used to win, we don't win anymore. We lose on trade. We lose with +p4263 +aVAnd, I'll do that with the country. We will make America great again. And, thank you everybody. Just for the record. +p4264 +aVThat's not right. That is absolutely not right. You know that. That is not right. [ +p4265 +aVI'm Donald Trump. I wrote "The Art of the Deal". I say not in a braggadocious way, I've made billions and billions of dollars dealing with people all over the world, and I want to put whatever that talent is to work for this country so we have great trade deals, we make our country rich again, we make it great again. We build our military, we take care of our vets, we get rid of Obamacare, and we have a great life altogether. Thank you. Thank you. +p4266 +aVWell, first of all, Rand Paul shouldn't even be on this stage. He's number 11, he's got 1 percent in the polls, and how he got up here, there's far too many people anyway. As far as temperament \u2014 and we all know that \u2014 as far as temperament, I think I have a great temperament. I built a phenomenal business with incredible, iconic assets, one of the really truly great real-estate businesses. And I may be an entertainer, because I've had tremendous success with number-one bestsellers all over the place, with "The Apprentice" and everything else I've done. But I will tell you this: What I am far and away greater than an entertainer is a businessman, and that's the kind of mindset this country needs to bring it back, because we owe $19 trillion right now, $19 trillion, and you need this kind of thinking to bring our country back. And believe me, my temperament is very good, very calm. But we will be respected outside of this country. We are not respected now. +p4267 +aVI never attacked him on his look, and believe me, there's plenty of subject matter right there. That I can tell you. +p4268 +aVI've actually been in politics all my life, although I've been on that side as opposed to this side. I'm now a politician for about three months. Obviously, I'm doing pretty well. I'm number one in every poll by a lot. But the qualification is that I've dealt with people all over the world, been successful all over the world. Everything I've done virtually has been a tremendous success. When markets changed, when things turned, I heard Governor Pataki, who, by the way, was a failed governor in New York, a very seriously failed \u2014 he wouldn't be elected dog catcher right now. I heard what he had to say. And I will tell you this: Atlantic City, I've made a tremendous amount of money in Atlantic City. I left seven years ago, I've gotten great credit for my timing, and that's what I'm all about. I'm a businessman, did really well, really well, and Jeb, what I want to do is put that ability into this country to make our country rich again. And I can do that, and I'm not sure that anybody else in the group will be able to do that. +p4269 +aVBut I have to say... +p4270 +aVWell, in Wisconsin... +p4271 +aVExcuse me. +p4272 +aVIn Wisconsin, you're losing $2.2 billion right now. +p4273 +aVI would do so much better than that. +p4274 +aVNo. +p4275 +aVI'm using facts. +p4276 +aVEvery major business leader has used the \u2014 I never went bankrupt, by the way, as you know, everybody knows. But we \u2014 hundreds of companies, hundreds of deals, I've used ???: ... into bankruptcy. That's what's wrong with politicians in Washington right now. They think we can take a country into bankruptcy. +p4277 +aVEvery major business leader, has used the \u2014 I never went bank bankrupt, by the way, as you know, everybody knows. But \u2014 hundreds of companies, hundreds of deals, I used the law four times and made a tremendous thing. I'm in business. I did a very good job. But I will say this, and people are very, very impressed with what I've done, the business people. But when the folks of Iowa found out the true facts of the job that you've done in Wisconsin, all of a sudden you, tubed (ph), he was No. 1 and now he's No. 6 or seven in the polls. So, look, we brought it out, you were supposed to make a billion dollars in the state. You lost 2.2 \u2014 you have right now, a huge budget deficit. That's not a Democratic point. That's a point. That's a fact. And when the people of Iowa found that out, I went to No. 1 and you went down the tubes. +p4278 +aVI didn't \u2014 +p4279 +aVTotally false. +p4280 +aVI would have gotten it. +p4281 +aVI promise I would have gotten it. +p4282 +aVI promise if I wanted it, I would have gotten it. +p4283 +aVI know my people. +p4284 +aVI know my people. +p4285 +aVNo. I just will tell you that, you know, Jeb made the statement. I'm not only referring to him. I \u2014 a lot of money was raised by a lot of different people that are standing up here. And the donors, the special interests, the lobbyists have very strong power over these people. I'm spending all of my money, I'm not spending \u2014 I'm not getting any \u2014 I turned down \u2014 I turn down so much, I could have right now from special interests and donors, I could have double and triple what he's got. I've turned it down. I turned down last week $5 million from somebody. So I will tell you I understand the game, I've been on the other side all of my life. And they have a lot of control over our politicians. And I don't say that favorably, and I'm not sure if there's another system, but I say this. I am not accepting any money from anybody. Nobody has control of me other than the people of this country. I'm going to do the right thing. +p4286 +aVThat's true. That's true. +p4287 +aVI was \u2014 excuse me, Jeb. +p4288 +aVI was a businessman, I got along with Clinton, I got along with everybody. That was my job, to get along with people. +p4289 +aVI didn't want to \u2014 excuse me. One second. +p4290 +aVOK, more energy tonight. I like that. Look \u2014 +p4291 +aVI didn't want \u2014 it was my obligation as a businessman to my family, to my company, to my employees, to get along with all politicians. I get along with all of them, and I did a damn good job in doing it. Go ahead. +p4292 +aVGot along with everybody. +p4293 +aVWrong. +p4294 +aVDon't make things up. Jeb, don't make things up. Come on. +p4295 +aVDon't make things up. +p4296 +aVSo, number one, they have to respect you. He has absolutely no respect for President Obama. Zero. Syria's a mess. You look at what's going on with +p4297 +aVI believe that I will get along \u2014 we will do \u2014 between that, Ukraine, all of the other problems, we won't have the kind of problems that our country has right now with Russia and many other nations. +p4298 +aVI wouldn't have drawn the line, but once he drew it, he had no choice but to go across. They do bear some responsibility, but I think he probably didn't do it, not for that reason. Somehow, he just doesn't have courage. There is something missing from our president. Had he crossed the line and really gone in with force, done something to Assad \u2014 if he had gone in with tremendous force, you wouldn't have millions of people displaced all over the world. +p4299 +aVThey had a responsibility, absolutely. I think we have three of them here... +p4300 +aVI think they had a responsibility, yes. +p4301 +aVJeb, just... +p4302 +aVI think it will haunt him. I think it's a terrible. I think it's going to haunt him absolutely. He came back later and he said he misspoke. There was no question because I heard when he said the statement. I was watching and he said the statement. And I said, wow, I can't believe it. I will take care of women. I respect women. I will take care of women. One thing we will say and I would like to get back to the Iran situation. We're talking about Iran. The agreement was terrible. It was incompetent. I've never seen anything like it. One of the worst contracts of any kind I've ever seen. And nobody ever mentions North Korea where you have this maniac sitting there and he actually has nuclear weapons and somebody better start thinking about North Korea and perhaps a couple of other places. But certainly North Korea. And Ted and I have spoken. We've \u2014 a lot of us have spoken. We're talking about Iran. They are bad actors, bad things are going to happen. But in the meantime, you have somebody right now in North Korea who has got nuclear weapons and who is saying almost every other week, I'm ready to use them. And we don't even mention it. +p4303 +aVSo why didn't you say it? Why didn't you say it? +p4304 +aVI know, but why did you say it? I heard it myself. Why did you say it? +p4305 +aVYou said you're going to cut funding for women's health. You said it. +p4306 +aVYou said it. +p4307 +aVI think she's got a beautiful face, and I think she's a beautiful woman. +p4308 +aVCorrect. First of all, I want to build a wall, a wall that works. So important, and it's a big part of it. Second of all, we have a lot of really bad dudes in this country from outside, and I think Chris knows that, maybe as well as anybody. They go, if I get elected, first day they're gone. Gangs all over the place. Chicago, Baltimore, no matter where you look. We have a country based on laws. I will make sure that those laws are adhered to. These are illegal immigrants. I don't think you'd even be asking this question if I didn't run because when I ran, and I brought this up, my opening remarks at Trump Tower, I took heat like nobody has taken heat in a long time. And, then they found out with the killing of Katie, from San Francisco, and so many other crimes, they found out that I was right. And, most people, many people, apologized to me. I don't think you'd even be talking about illegal immigration if it weren't for me. So, we have a country of laws, they're going to go out, and they'll come back if they deserve to come back. If they've had a bad record, if they've been arrested, if they've been in jail, they're never coming back. We're going to have a country again. Right now, we don't have a country, we don't have a border, and we're going to do something about it, and it can be done with proper management, and it can be done with heart. +p4309 +aV...By the way, I agree with \u2014 with what Chris is saying, but, I will say this. Illegal immigration is costing us more than $200 billion dollars a year just to maintain what we have. +p4310 +aVCorrect. +p4311 +aVWell, I have to tell you, I hear phenomenal things. I hear your wife is a lovely woman... +p4312 +aVI don't know her, and this is a total mischaracterization... +p4313 +aVGood. +p4314 +aVNo, I won't do that, because I've said nothing wrong. +p4315 +aVBut I do hear she's a lovely woman. +p4316 +aVJeb said... +p4317 +aV... that they come into our country as an act of love. With all of the problems we that we have, in so many instances \u2014 we have wonderful people coming in. But with all of the problems \u2014 this is not an act of love. He's weak on immigration \u2014 by the way, in favor of Common Core, which is also a disaster, but weak on immigration. He doesn't get my vote. +p4318 +aVNot with this intensity. +p4319 +aVAs I said, we are spending $200 billion \u2014 we are spending $200 billion a year on maintaining what we have. We will move them out. The great ones will come back, the good ones will come back. They'll be expedited, they'll be back, they'll come back legally. We'll have a country \u2014 they'll come back, legally. +p4320 +aVWell, I think it's wonderful and all, but I did it a little bit half-heartedly, but I do mean it to a large extent. We have a country, where, to assimilate, you have to speak English. And I think that where he was, and the way it came out didn't sound right to me. We have to have assimilation \u2014 to have a country, we have to have assimilation. I'm not the first one to say this, Dana. We've had many people over the years, for many, many years, saying the same thing. This is a country where we speak English, not Spanish. +p4321 +aVThis is a reporter, not a high school kid. +p4322 +aVWell, first of all, the \u2014 the 14th Amendment says very, very clearly to a lot of great legal scholars \u2014 not television scholars, but legal scholars \u2014 that it is wrong. It can be corrected with an act of Congress, probably doesn't even need that. A woman gets pregnant. She's nine months, she walks across the border, she has the baby in the United States, and we take care of the baby for 85 years. I don't think so. And by the way, Mexico and almost every other country anywhere in the world doesn't have that. We're the only ones dumb enough, stupid enough to have it. And people \u2014 and by the way, this is not just with respect to Mexico. They are coming from Asia to have babies here, and all of a sudden, we have to take care of the babies for the life of the baby. The 14th Amendment, it reads properly, you can go and \u2014 it's probably going to be have to be check \u2014 go through a process of court, probably ends up at the Supreme Court, but there are a lot of great legal scholars that say that is not correct. And in my opinion, it makes absolutely no \u2014 we're the only \u2014 one of the only countries, we're going to take care of those babies for 70, 75, 80, 90 years? I don't think so. +p4323 +aVI agree 100 percent, by the way, with Carly on the fact that the Democrats do not want to solve this problem, for the obvious reasons, but they do not. But I believe that a reading of the 14th Amendment allows you to have an interpretation where this is not legal and where it can't be done. I've seen both sides, but some of the greatest scholars agree with me, without having to go through Congress. If you do go through Congress, you can absolutely solve the problem. +p4324 +aVThat's true, sure. +p4325 +aVWell \u2014 +p4326 +aV\u2014 let me \u2014 well, let me just explain. The head of the Yale Business School, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, wrote a paper recently, one of the worst tenures for a CEO that he has ever seen, ranked one of the top 20 in the history of business. The company is a disaster and continues to be a disaster. They still haven't recovered. In fact, today, on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, they fired another 25 or 30,000 people saying we still haven't recovered from the catastrophe. When Carly says the revenues went up, that's because she bought Compaq, it was a terrible deal, and it really led to the destruction of the company. Now one other company before that was Lucent. Carly was at Lucent before that. And Lucent turned out to be a catastrophe also. So I only say this. She can't run any of my companies. That I can tell you. +p4327 +aVI never filed for bankruptcy. +p4328 +aVI'll tell you why; it's very simple. +p4329 +aVI'll tell you. I was running \u2014 +p4330 +aV\u2014 Carly, Carly \u2014 +p4331 +aV\u2014 I've made over $10 billion. I had a casino company \u2014 Caesars just filed for bankruptcy. Chris will tell you \u2014 it's not Chris' fault either \u2014 but almost everybody in Atlantic City is either in trouble or filed for \u2014 maybe I'll blame Chris. +p4332 +aVBut Atlantic City is a disaster \u2014 +p4333 +aVWait a minute, Carly. Wait. I let you speak. Atlantic City is a disaster, and I did great in Atlantic City. I knew when to get out. My timing was great. And I got a lot of credit for it. Many of the great business people that you know \u2014 and Carl Icon (ph) is going to work with me on making great deals for this country. But whether it's Carl or so many others that we read about all the time \u2014 +p4334 +aV\u2014 they have used the laws of the land, which is the \u2014 +p4335 +aV...Well, I'd like to respond, I'd like to respond... +p4336 +aVWell, I think the thing about the flat tax, I know it very well. What I don't like is that if you make $200 million a year, you pay ten percent, you're paying very little relatively to somebody that's making $50,000 a year, and has to hire H&R Block to do the \u2014 because it's so complicated. One thing I'll say to Ben is that we've had a graduated tax system for many years, so it's not a socialistic thing. What I'd like to do, and I'll be putting in the plan in about two weeks, and I think people are going to like it, it's a major reduction in taxes. It's a major reduction for the middle class. The hedge fund guys won't like me as much as they like me right now. I know them all, but they'll pay more. I know people that are making a tremendous amount of money and paying virtually no tax, and I think it's unfair. +p4337 +aVWell, I heard Hugh Hewitt, a nice man, he apologized because he actually said that we had a misunderstanding. And he said today that Donald Trump is maybe the best interview there is anywhere that he has ever done. Now unless he was just saying that on CNN to be nice, but he did say that... +p4338 +aVAnd we had a legitimate misunderstanding in terms of his pronunciation of a word. But I would say just... +p4339 +aVWell, I think it was. And he actually said that. Did you say that? +p4340 +aVOK. So I will say this, though, Hugh was giving me name after name, Arab name, Arab name, and there are few people anywhere, anywhere that would have known those names. I think he was reading them off a sheet. And frankly I will have \u2014 and I told him, I will have the finest team that anybody has put together and we will solve a lot of problems. You know, right now they know a lot and look at what is happening. The world is blowing up around us. We will have great teams and great people. +p4341 +aVI hope that answers your question. I mean, you are in the Senate, but I hope that answers your question. +p4342 +aVNo, I don't think he's suggesting that at all. I mean... +p4343 +aVI don't think he's suggesting that at all. +p4344 +aVWell, you have to understand, I am not sitting in the United States Senate with, by the way, the worst voting record there is today. Number one. I am not sitting in the United States Senate. I'm a businessman doing business transactions. +p4345 +aVI am doing business transactions. I will know more about this \u2014 and, as you said, that was very acceptable, and when you listen to that whole interview, it's a great interview, you said it, I didn't. Well, now I did. But... +p4346 +aVListen, just one second. Just one second. +p4347 +aVI will know... +p4348 +aV...I will know more about the problems of this world by the time I sit, and you look at what's going in this world right now by people that supposedly know, this world is a mess. +p4349 +aV +p4350 +aV I'm \u2014 and I'm meeting with people that are terrific people, but I have to say something because it's about judgment. I am the only person on this dais \u2014 the only person \u2014 that fought very, very hard against us (ph), and I wasn't a sitting politician going into Iraq, because I said going into Iraq \u2014 that was in 2003, you can check it out, check out \u2014 I'll give you 25 different stories. In fact, a delegation was sent to my office to see me because I was so vocal about it. I'm a very militaristic person, but you have to know when to use the military. I'm the only person up here that fought against going into Iraq. +p4351 +aVJust excuse me, one second, Rand... +p4352 +aVIf you don't mind, Rand \u2014 you know, you are on last \u2014 you do have your 1 percent. I would like \u2014 and I think it's very important. I think it's important, because it's about judgment. It's about judgment. I didn't want to go into Iraq, and I fought it, because what I said \u2014 what I said... +p4353 +aV... was you're going to \u2014 you're going to destabilize... +p4354 +aV... the Middle East, and that's what happened. +p4355 +aVIf you think about it... +p4356 +aVYour brother \u2014 and your brother's administration gave us Barack Obama, because it was such a disaster, those last three months, that Abraham Lincoln couldn't have been elected. +p4357 +aVI don't know. You feel safe right now? I don't feel so safe. +p4358 +aVOr the collapse of the economy. +p4359 +aVSpeaking for myself, I'm OK with it. I think there's a certain truth to it. I know people that, frankly, it has no impact on their life whatsoever. There are many people. I would almost say leave it up to them, but I would be willing to check it off, and say I will not get Social Security. I do not... +p4360 +aVAs a policy, I would almost leave it up to the people. Don't forget they pay in and they pay in, and maybe they do well, and maybe some people want it. But the fact is that there are people that truly don't need it, and there are many people that do need it very, very badly. And I would be willing to write mine off 100 percent, Dana. +p4361 +aVWell, I \u2014 I \u2014 I'd like to respond. +p4362 +aVI'd like to respond. +p4363 +aVAutism has become an epidemic. Twenty-five years ago, 35 years ago, you look at the statistics, not even close. It has gotten totally out of control. I am totally in favor of vaccines. But I want smaller doses over a longer period of time. Because you take a baby in \u2014 and I've seen it \u2014 and I've seen it, and I had my children taken care of over a long period of time, over a two or three year period of time. Same exact amount, but you take this little beautiful baby, and you pump \u2014 I mean, it looks just like it's meant for a horse, not for a child, and we've had so many instances, people that work for me. Just the other day, two years old, two and a half years old, a child, a beautiful child went to have the vaccine, and came back, and a week later got a tremendous fever, got very, very sick, now is autistic. I only say it's not \u2014 I'm in favor of vaccines, do them over a longer period of time, same amount. +p4364 +aVBut just in \u2014 in little sections. +p4365 +aVI think \u2014 and I think you're going to have \u2014 I think you're going to see a big impact on autism. +p4366 +aVAnd that's all I'm saying, Jake. That's all I'm saying. +p4367 +aVWell, because she's been sitting for three hours, I think my daughter, Ivanka, who's right here. +p4368 +aVOther than that we'll go with Rosa Parks. I like that. +p4369 +aVHumble. +p4370 +aVIf I become president, we will do something really special. We will make this country greater than ever before. We'll have more jobs. We'll have more of everything. We were discussing disease, we were discussing all sorts of things tonight, many of which will just be words, it will just pass on. I don't want to say politicians, all talk, no action. But a lot of what we talked about is words and it will be forgotten very quickly. If I'm president, many of the things that we discussed tonight will not be forgotten. We'll find solutions. And the world will respect us. They will respect us like never before. And it will be actually a friendlier world. And I have to say, it is a great honor to be here tonight. +p4371 +aVI fully understand. +p4372 +aVI fully understand. +p4373 +aVI cannot say. I have to respect the person that, if it's not me, the person that wins, if I do win, and I'm leading by quite a bit, that's what I want to do. I can totally make that pledge. If I'm the nominee, I will pledge I will not run as an independent. But -- and I am discussing it with everybody, but I'm, you know, talking about a lot of leverage. We want to win, and we will win. But I want to win as the Republican. I want to run as the Republican nominee. +p4374 +aVWell, I've given him plenty of money. +p4375 +aVI will not make the pledge at this time. +p4376 +aVOnly Rosie O'Donnell. +p4377 +aVThank you. +p4378 +aVYes, I'm sure it was. +p4379 +aVI think the big problem this country has is being politically correct. I've been challenged by so many people, and I don't frankly have time for total political correctness. And to be honest with you, this country doesn't have time either. This country is in big trouble. We don't win anymore. We lose to China. We lose to Mexico both in trade and at the border. We lose to everybody. And frankly, what I say, and oftentimes it's fun, it's kidding. We have a good time. What I say is what I say. And honestly Megyn, if you don't like it, I'm sorry. I've been very nice to you, although I could probably maybe not be, based on the way you have treated me. But I wouldn't do that. But you know what, we -- we need strength, we need energy, we need quickness and we need brain in this country to turn it around. That, I can tell you right now. +p4380 +aVSo, if it weren't for me, you wouldn't even be talking about illegal immigration, Chris. You wouldn't even be talking about it. This was not a subject that was on anybody's mind until I brought it up at my announcement. And I said, Mexico is sending. Except the reporters, because they're a very dishonest lot, generally speaking, in the world of politics, they didn't cover my statement the way I said it. The fact is, since then, many killings ,murders, crime, drugs pouring across the border, are money going out and the drugs coming in. And I said we need to build a wall, and it has to be built quickly. And I don't mind having a big beautiful door in that wall so that people can come into this country legally. But we need, Jeb, to build a wall, we need to keep illegals out. +p4381 +aVBorder Patrol, I was at the border last week. Border Patrol, people that I deal with, that I talk to, they say this is what's happening. Because our leaders are stupid. Our politicians are stupid. And the Mexican government is much smarter, much sharper, much more cunning. And they send the bad ones over because they don't want to pay for them. They don't want to take care of them. Why should they when the stupid leaders of the United States will do it for them? And that's what is happening whether you like it or not. +p4382 +aVA complete disaster, yes. +p4383 +aVCorrect. +p4384 +aVFirst of all, I'd like to just go back to one. In July of 2004, I came out strongly against the war with Iraq, because it was going to destabilize the Middle East. And I'm the only one on this stage that knew that and had the vision to say it. And that's exactly what happened. +p4385 +aVAnd the Middle East became totally destabilized. So I just want to say. As far as single payer, it works in Canada. It works incredibly well in Scotland. It could have worked in a different age, which is the age you're talking about here. What I'd like to see is a private system without the artificial lines around every state. I have a big company with thousands and thousands of employees. And if I'm negotiating in New York or in New Jersey or in California, I have like one bidder. Nobody can bid. You know why? Because the insurance companies are making a fortune because they have control of the politicians, of course, with the exception of the politicians on this stage. But they have total control of the politicians. They're making a fortune. Get rid of the artificial lines and you will have......yourself great plans. And then we have to take care of the people that can't take care of themselves. And I will do that through a different system. +p4386 +aVI'm not -- I'm not are -- I don't think you heard me. You're having a hard time tonight. +p4387 +aVYou'd better believe it. +p4388 +aVIf I ask them, if I need them, you know, most of the people on this stage I've given to, just so you understand, a lot of money. +p4389 +aVMany of them. +p4390 +aVNot much. +p4391 +aVBut I... +p4392 +aVI have good... +p4393 +aVGood. +p4394 +aVSounds good. Sounds good to me, Governor. I will tell you that our system is broken. I gave to many people, before this, before two months ago, I was a businessman. I give to everybody. When they call, I give. And do you know what? When I need something from them two years later, three years later, I call them, they are there for me. +p4395 +aVAnd that's a broken system. +p4396 +aVWell, I'll tell you what, with Hillary Clinton, I said be at my wedding and she came to my wedding. You know why? She didn't have a choice because I gave. I gave to a foundation that, frankly, that foundation is supposed to do good. I didn't know her money would be used on private jets going all over the world. It was. But... +p4397 +aVBecause I have used the laws of this country just like the greatest people that you read about every day in business have used the laws of this country, the chapter laws, to do a great job for my company, for myself, for my employees, for my family, et cetera. I have never gone bankrupt, by the way. I have never. But out of hundreds of deals... +p4398 +aVExcuse me. Excuse me. +p4399 +aVExcuse me, what am I saying? Out of hundreds of deals that I've done, hundreds, on four occasions I've taken advantage of the laws of this country, like other people. I'm not going to name their names because I'm not going to embarrass, but virtually every person that you read about on the front page of the business sections, they've used the law. The difference is, when somebody else uses those laws, nobody writes about it. When I use it, they say, "Trump, Trump, Trump." The fact is, I built a net worth of more than $10 billion. I have a great, great company. I employ thousands of people. And I'm very proud of the job I did. Again Chris, hundreds and hundreds of deals. Four times, I've taken advantage of the laws. And frankly, so has everybody else in my position. +p4400 +aVWell, I... +p4401 +aVLet me just tell you about the lenders. First of all, these lenders aren't babies. These are total killers. These are not the nice, sweet little people that you think, OK? You know, I mean you're living in a world of the make-believe, Chris, you want to know the truth. And I had the good sense to leave Atlantic City, which by the way, Caesars just went bankrupt. Every company, Chris can tell you, every company virtually in Atlantic City went bankrupt. Every company. And let me just tell you. I had the good sense, and I've gotten a lot of credit in the financial pages, seven years ago I left Atlantic City before it totally cratered, and I made a lot of money in Atlantic City, and I'm very proud of it. I want to tell you that. Very, very proud of it. +p4402 +aVAnd by the way, this country right now owes $19 trillion. And they need somebody like me to straighten out that mess. +p4403 +aVI don't think they like me very much. I'll tell you what. I've evolved on many issues over the years. And you know who else has? Is Ronald Reagan evolved on many issues. And I am pro-life. And if you look at the question, I was in business. They asked me a question as to pro-life or choice. And I said if you let it run, that I hate the concept of abortion. I hate the concept of abortion. And then since then, I've very much evolved. And what happened is friends of mine years ago were going to have a child, and it was going to be aborted. And it wasn't aborted. And that child today is a total superstar, a great, great child. And I saw that. And I saw other instances. And I am very, very proud to say that I am pro-life. As far as being a Republican is concerned, I come from a place, New York City, which is virtually, I mean, it is almost exclusively Democrat. And I have really started to see some of the negatives -- as an example, and I have a lot of liking for this man, but the last number of months of his brother's administration were a catastrophe. And unfortunately, those few months gave us President Obama. And you can't be happy about that. +p4404 +aVFirst of all, Jeb, I am very happy that you denied that, and I appreciate that very much. He is a true gentleman. He really is. One thing he did say, and I mean that. The one thing he did say about me, however, was my tone. And I also understand that. But when you have people that are cutting Christians' heads off, when you have a world that the border and at so many places, that it is medieval times, we've never -- it almost has to be as bad as it ever was in terms of the violence and the horror, we don't have time for tone. We have to go out and get the job done. +p4405 +aVI would be so different from what you have right now. Like, the polar opposite. We have a president who doesn't have a clue. I would say he's incompetent, but I don't want to do that because that's not nice. But if you look at the deals we make, whether it's the nuclear deal with 24 hour periods -- and by the way, before you get to the 24 hours, you have to go through a system. You look at Sgt. Bergdahl, we get Bergdahl, a traitor, and they get five of the big, great killers leaders that they want. We have people in Washington that don't know what they're doing. Now... I agree. Now, with Iran, we're making a deal, you would say, we want him. We want out our prisoners. We want all these things, and we don't get anything. We're giving them $150 billion dollars plus, they are going to be -- I'll tell you what, if Iran was a stock, you folks should go out and buy it right now because you'll quadruple -- this, what's happening in Iran, is a disgrace, and it's going to lead to destruction in large portions of the world. +p4406 +aVOur country is in serious trouble. We don't win anymore. We don't beat China in trade. We don't beat Japan, with their millions and millions of cars coming into this country, in trade. We can't beat Mexico, at the border or in trade. We can't do anything right. Our military has to be strengthened. Our vets have to be taken care of. We have to end Obamacare, and we have to make our country great again, and I will do that. Thank you. +p4407 +asVPATAKI +p4408 +(lp4409 +VThank you, Wolf. I want to speak to you this evening not as a Republican or a presidential candidate, but as an American. As we saw today in L.A., we are at a crisis in our country. Radical Islam poses a threat to our safety not just overseas, but literally in every community in America. And yet at a time when we should be united, we have a president who has divided us, who refuses to call radical Islam what it is, let alone have a coherent strategy to defeat it. The leading Democrat, Hillary Clinton, won't call +p4410 +aVAbsolutely. It's one of many absurd things this President has said. To target a religion and say that regardless of whether you're an American soldier who has fought on our side or allies we have overseas, simply because of your religion we're going to ban you is un-American, it is unconstitutional and it is wrong. And by the way, Wolf, now there was a group that tried to do that 150 to 160 years ago, they were called the Know-Nothing Party. They wanted to ban Catholics. They thought they were going to destroy America. Well, Donald Trump is the Know-Nothing candidate of the 21st century and cannot be our nominee. By the way, though. I fault Hillary and Obama as well because by not distinguishing between Muslims and radicalized Jihadists, by refusing to acknowledge that it's radical Muslim, radical Islamists who are carrying out these attacks against America \u2014 they let Americans who are confused and angry lump everyone together. We have to embrace the Muslims who embrace our freedom and living and safety. We have to destroy those who embrace Jihad and want to engage in violence against us here or abroad. +p4411 +aVYes. +p4412 +aVYou know, I think it's very important that we do everything in our power to prevent radicalization of Americans right here. And it is happening, not just overseas, but it's happening here from Mosques on social media. And truth \u2014 interaction and community meetings. New York police department had a very active group, aggressively monitoring and using intelligence to \u2014 in certain Muslim communities, consistent with our constitution, consistent of our civil rights, so they could have the intelligence as to where these sermons are being given, and who is being radicalized. And, they stopped and prevented dozens, and dozens of attacks in New York. You know, I'm a great believer in the First Amendment, of Freedom of Speech. I wish we had more of it on our college campuses, but you can't shout fire in a crowded theater. Calling on Americans to engage in violence against their fellow Americans in the name of jihad is crying fire in a crowded theater. It is not constitutionally protected speech, it should be shut down. And, by the way, the two murders who went to Garland, Texas to massacre many Americans before the Texas police officer courageously killed them, had been radicalized here. Getting to that metadata question, one of those terrorists, the day before the attacks, had sent......109 message to a known terrorist overseas. We could not read those messages, we can not read those today... +p4413 +aV...We have got to do far better. +p4414 +aVYes, Wolf. +p4415 +aVI would pass a law requiring them to do that. Let me just give you one example. I mentioned in Garland, Texas, where that murderer, that terrorist, the day before sent 109 messages overseas to a known terrorist. But they were encrypted. So to this date we don't know what that said. Companies are entitled to encrypt and protect their knowledge and their intelligence. But what we need is a back door for law enforcement to be able, when they can establish that that communication poses a risk to our safety and engages in terrorism, to get a court order and go in and access those communications. Allow the companies to continue encryption, provide an entry way for law enforcement when they can prove to a court that there is a sufficient risk of an attack upon us that they have the right to look at those messages. +p4416 +aVAnd just one more thing, Wolf. When that murderer came from Pakistan to San Bernardino and committed those atrocious crimes just a few weeks ago, she applied for a visa. She had posted on social media jihadist messages. Because this administration is so politically correct, they have a rule that they cannot look at social media postings of people applying to come to the United States. That is utterly absurd. One of the things we must do, the next president must do is get rid of that law and make sure we do everything in our power to find out if someone poses a threat to our existence here. +p4417 +aVWolf, I think the answer is we have to send troops with allies and supporters. Wherever it is necessary to destroy the training centers, recruitment centers, planning hubs of +p4418 +aVYes. +p4419 +aVYou know, I don't think it's a function of years of going after +p4420 +aVYou know, I don't want to see us occupy a country. I've been to Iraq a couple of times and Afghanistan. The first time I went, I had an uneasy feeling that when we went there we were liberators. But as we stayed ,we became occupiers. I saw American troops move into some of Saddam's old hideous marble palaces. And I thought that was exactly the wrong message. We do not have to occupy. We do not have to nation build and try to create a democracy where one hasn't existed. WE have to destroy +p4421 +aVI'm not sure \u2014 ally with which groups? I didn't quite catch that. +p4422 +aVNot at all. Iran is our enemy. They are the number one sponsor of state terror. The Iranian Deal is a disaster. And by the way, I don't think the next president has to aggregate it. It was never ratified by the Iranians. They have tested long-range ballistic missiles in violation of U.N. resolutions. They have broken the agreement. It is void. They can never have a nuclear weapon and should not get relief. With respect to the other groups, like Hezbollah, of course we should not work with them. I'll tell you who we should work with in Syria. There are two groups. One are the PYD, the \u2014 the Kurds in Syria who led the defense of Kobani, and are in northern and eastern Syria and anti- +p4423 +aVI could create... +p4424 +aVI would create the no-fly zone, and let me tell you, something very simply. Putin is a bully, and the most important and effective thing you can do to a bully is punch him in the face. Create a no-fly zone. If Russian planes violate that space, either us, or the Turks, should shoot them down to keep our word. And, I guarantee you that Putin would back off. Bullies, when you stand up to them, back down. We have had, under Obama, and under Hillary as Secretary of State, nothing but weakness in the face of Russia, whether it was in the Crimea, whether it was in Ukraine, or now in the Middle East. I would give the Ukrainians lethal weapons so they could defend themselves. I would create the no-fly zone, and if Russian planes flew into it in violation of what we have declared, yes. +p4425 +aVI could create... +p4426 +aVI would create the no-fly zone, and let me tell you, something very simply. Putin is a bully, and the most important and effective thing you can do to a bully is punch him in the face. Create a no-fly zone. If Russian planes violate that space, either us, or the Turks, should shoot them down to keep our word. And, I guarantee you that Putin would back off. Bullies, when you stand up to them, back down. We have had, under Obama, and under Hillary as Secretary of State, nothing but weakness in the face of Russia, whether it was in the Crimea, whether it was in Ukraine, or now in the Middle East. I would give the Ukrainians lethal weapons so they could defend themselves. I would create the no-fly zone, and if Russian planes flew into it in violation of what we have declared, yes. +p4427 +aVNo, I completely disagree with Rick. This is America. And we've made enormous progress. And I don't care if you're a man or a woman. I care if you're good and capable of doing the job. If you can do the job \u2014 don't lower standards, don't lower the criteria \u2014 but if a woman is capable of doing these jobs, there is no reason why we should deny a patriot who wants to serve and help defend our country that right. +p4428 +aVIt's not. +p4429 +aVNo, you said you would reverse the policy which excluded women from those jobs whether or not they were able to do that. That is wrong. +p4430 +aVAh. +p4431 +aVYes, I think what Rick said is very different from what he said initially which was that, "he would reverse the policy that gave woman not the right but the opportunity to serve in combat." They can only do it if they're fit and capable and meet the same standards as men. And so, to reverse that policy and deny a woman who is prepared to risk her life to defend our freedom and is capable of doing everything a man could do is not the right thing for America in the 21st century. By the way, you see in Iraq, the Peshmerga, the Kurds ,many of their top fighters are women. This is the 21st century. We're not radical Islam. We want to give women the opportunity to do whatever they are capable of achieving in this country. +p4432 +aVOf course he's innocent until proven guilty. I happen to believe he's guilty. The military did a very clear and long study as to whether or not he deserted in the face of enemy and they are not court marshalling him. I don't think he should executed. I do think he will have a fair military trial, not a civilian trial, at which time, assuming he's found guilty as I think he would, he will be sentenced appropriately. But there's a bigger issue here, this administration has failed to protect us because they have treated radical Islamists as Americans who should be tried in civil court. That is ridiculous. They are enemy aliens engaged in terror against Americans. And by the way, the fact that this president is now threatening to close Guantanamo Bay when we know that time after time, terrorists he released are involved in a high level capacity helping +p4433 +aVYou know, again, it comes down to something that, as Mike said, breaks your heart. We clearly want to get them back. But the idea that by taking a journalist, for example, and holding him hostage in Iran, they're going to be able to get some of their terrorist leaders back, is simply bad policy. Israel has shown the way on this in rejecting hostage exchanges such as this and then not paying ransom. But, by the way, Mike is absolutely right. We have to do more to protect our people overseas, but then we also have to do more to help our veterans when they come back here today. We haven't talked about that. But more talking about defeating terrorism, one of the things we have to do is give our veterans the support and help that they require. What has happened at the VA is a disgrace. Give our veterans a medical card that they can use to get the best quality care anywhere, including outside of the VA system. +p4434 +aVAnd that \u2014 but that was involved in combat, where they were actually involved in a war against each other and exchanged prisoners. We have not been in a war with Iran. They have taken civilians as hostages. It's a totally different situation. And we cannot encourage them to do any more of that. +p4435 +aVYou know, I think what I said earlier is that I would create a no-fly zone in Syria. Turkey just agreed to take 3 million more Syrian refugees. The EU just came up with a funding program to provide camps for Syrian refugees, but I would also create that no-fly zone where refugees can be there. I have to say I agree with Rick, because this President is talking about taking 10,000 people from Syria, who we cannot vet. This administration, allegedly, vetted the woman who carried out the attacks in San Bernardino and never found out that she had a false address and was on social media talking about radical Jihad. Coming from Syria, it's impossible to do that check. And we know, by the way, that +p4436 +aVThank you. This debate has been about terrorism and appropriately so. I'm proud to have been governor of New York on September 11th and have led our state through and during the aftermath of that horrible attack. I vowed then that if I ever had the chance to lead this country, I would do everything in my power to make sure that Americans were safe. But I also saw a positive from that. New Yorkers and the American people came together and vowed that we weren't just going to defend ourselves. We were not going to live in fear. We were going to rise to new heights and celebrate our freedom. Come to Lower Manhattan today. You will see a magnificent tribute to those who died, the memorial and the museum. You will also see a new tower soaring 1,776 feet tall, the Freedom Tower, a symbol of our freedom, a symbol of our belief that as a free people we can soar to new heights. Give us the chance to unite Americans, not just Republicans. And this country's future is unlimited. +p4437 +aVWe need an outsider to run our party and to win the next election. Washington has become a corrupt insider game and everybody talks about how they're going to change the taxes, grow the economy. Nothing seems to change. But, by the way, Bobby, I shrunk the size of New York State's government when I left. We had reduced the employment by over 25,000 and cut taxes. But I understand that to change Washington you have to understand government as well. You can't just be an outsider. You can't just be someone who throws stones at Washington. You have to be someone who can actually bring people together across party lines. I can do that, I will do that if I have the chance to lead this party. +p4438 +aVBecky, can I comment on this question? +p4439 +aV...John, can I quickly comment on this one... +p4440 +aV...But, I want to speak on this issue... +p4441 +aV...I think it was a bad deal, but I would have voted for it for a very simple reason. Barack Obama is the first president in American history to hold our military hostage. He knew that we needed funding for overseas contingency operations, $40 million dollars that would go to support our troops. And, he was prepared, and had vetoed it, unless this deal went through. I have two sons, they both served overseas. One in Iraq, and one in Afghanistan, and I understand that we have got to do far more to help our military, help our veterans, and help protect our security. This is a bad deal, but to protect our military, I would have signed it. Uh, it's not going to be the case, if I have a chance to lead this country, we're going to reduce the deficit, shrink the government, lower the tax burden and grow the private sector because that's how you solve deficits. +p4442 +aVThank you. +p4443 +aVNo, I don't think we need a military response, but we need a coordinated response. And I have to say that I think the Obama administration has been completely lax, to say the least, in dealing with these cyber-attacks, not just by governments like North Korea, but by, particularly, Chinese and other companies. And what I would do is put in place a policy where if we know a company, say, a Chinese company, is hacking into American companies, stealing trade secrets, as we know they do every day, we will retaliate against that company and say that that company's not going to be allowed to continue to do trade with the United States. I would also look at what we're doing at the federal level and put in place what Israel has done: a \u2014 one federal agency dealing with cybersecurity and charged with working across silos to make sure we have the best technology. And, Jim, I've gotta tell you something, talking about cybersecurity. Hillary Clinton put a server, an unsecure server, in her home as secretary of state. We have no doubt that that was hacked, and that state secrets are out there to the Iranians, the Russians, the Chinese and others. That alone should disqualify her from being president of the United States. +p4444 +aVI think they have gone too far. I think we've seen Wall Street really blossom and do very well while the rest of the country is struggling, and it's because we have this corrupt connection between Wall Street and Washington. And, John, you were just talking about what loopholes would you get rid of. I would get rid of virtually every single one of them. They cost American taxpayers $1.4 trillion a year. I would throw them all out. +p4445 +aVNo, I wouldn't. I was going to say... +p4446 +aV...no, I would keep \u2014 first, yes, but what I would do is ii would lower the tax on manufacturing to the lowest in the developed world \u2014 12 percent. We all have plans. I have a plan. We all have plans. My plan, the Tax Foundation said, would create five and a half million new jobs over the next decade. The difference, though, is I will get my plan enacted because, when I was governor of New York, I passed sweeping tax code \u2014 cuts in a Democratic state with a Democratic legislature. I \u2014 you know, Bobby, you're talking about your tax cuts? I cut taxes more than everybody on this stage, more than everybody on the next stage, combined. By more than the other 49 states, in New York state. I don't just have a plan. I will enact tax cuts, get rid of those loopholes and make the system fairer for all Americans. +p4447 +aVThank you. +p4448 +aVLet me \u2014 let me try to get a word in edgewise. +p4449 +aVIn Washington, they talk over each other... +p4450 +aVYes. Very simply, you guys talk over each other in Washington all the time. I'm not used to that. I listen when people talk. We have a skills gap. You mentioned the construction company. The construction industry says one of their biggest problems are they can't find the craftsmen to do the work. What we have to... +p4451 +aV\u2014 do in America is honor blue collar work again. We have to honor the carpenter, the plumber, the electrician, who can actually build something and instead of just saying that a college degree live \u2014 delivers prestige, let's celebrate those who do things with their hands and elevate their skills using training in high school and community... +p4452 +aV\u2014 colleges so that we can... +p4453 +aV\u2014 have a better quality workforce that we honor... +p4454 +aV\u2014 as they build America's future. +p4455 +aVThank you. +p4456 +aVThank you. +p4457 +aVHey, Rick. +p4458 +aVI'm doing great. +p4459 +aVNot at all. +p4460 +aVNo, I don't support it. But let me go back a little bit here. We need to grow our economy faster. We've had the worst economic recovery since the Great Depression. And it's because of policy in Washington and policy at the Fed. And let me go back to Washington. In 2009 \u2014 +p4461 +aVJohn, no question Barack Obama inherited a economic disaster in 2009. But what did he do? Instead of focusing on pro-growth policies in the economy, he rammed through ObamaCare, the worst law of my lifetime, that hurt small businesses, hurt companies, raised taxes and almost completely eliminated one industry because of its taxes. The Fed had to act. And the Fed did act and appropriately in reducing interest rates but they've reduced them now for seven straight years, that's never happened before. They've been zero for way too long. They should raise the rates; the Fed should get out of manipulating the market and the Fed also, by the way, should reduce its balance sheet, $2.7 trillion. Let some of those bonds mature and put the money back in the banking system so our economy can grow. +p4462 +aVYeah, absolutely. I \u2014 one of the things that troubles me about the Republican Party is too often we question science that everyone accepts. I mean, it's ridiculous that, in the 21st century, we're questioning whether or not vaccines are the appropriate way to go. Of course they are. And it's also not appropriate to think that human activity, putting CO2 into the atmosphere, doesn't make the earth warmer. All things being equal, it does. It's uncontroverted. I think part of the problem is that Republicans think about climate change, say, "oh my God, we're gonna have higher taxes, more Obama, more big government, the EPA shutting down factories." That's not the solution that I see. I want Republicans to embrace innovation and technology. You know, there's one country in the world that has fewer greenhouse gas emissions than the rest of \u2014 of the world. You know what that is? The United States. Our emissions are lower than they were in 1995. Not because of a \u2014 of a government program, but because of fracking, private sector creation... +p4463 +aV...replace coal plants \u2014 government's roles \u2014 is to incentivize innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit in America. We could have far more clean energy. We could have next-generation nuclear, thorium reactors that have no risk of meltdown. We could have solar panels on every home that are four times more efficient than today. +p4464 +aVR&D \u2014 R&D credits. Let the private sector do this, develop this innovation. And not only would we solve our problems, we would have clean energy, cheaper energy here. We could export those technologies to places like China and like India so we would grow our economy, have a far greater impact globally, have a secure domestic source of energy, and cleaner, healthier air. That's the solution. Embrace science, embrace innovation and change. +p4465 +aVThe one I use the most is Uber. You know, I used to get driven......when I was governor, I had a driver. I don't anymore, but.... And it's an example of what millennials are doing to change America for the better. And I tweet a lot, too. So Uber, Tweet \u2014 Twitter and then I communicate with my family. +p4466 +aVI \u2014 I am a long suffering Jets fan. So my answer is obviously no, there's no reason to take off the day after the Super Bowl. But let me just add this. The Mets are going to win tonight. Let's go, Mets. +p4467 +aVThank you for the opportunity to be with this great audience tonight. I'm a limited government conservative and I mean by that that not just when it comes to economic issues leaving them to the state, but social issues, as well. And in that I differ from every single other candidate seeking the Republican nomination. I take the Tenth Amendment very, very seriously. I'm a Republican who embraces science and understands we have to work with the next generation of millennials to have the innovation and technology so that we can grow a 21st century economy. And I'm a Republican who understands in Washington, when you're a leader, you have to put aside partisan politics to do what's right for the people. We are one America. If we work together across party lines, there's no problem we can't solve and the 21st century will be America's greatest century. Thank you very much. +p4468 +aVThank you, Jake. Hi, I'm George Pataki, and I am honored to be here this afternoon with all of you at the Reagan Library. You know, when I think of Ronald Reagan, I think of his tremendous smile, a smile that reflected his optimism and his unending belief and faith in America and in Americans. And it was that belief in America that led to a great presidency, a presidency that led to decades of safety, security and prosperity for America. That's exactly the type of leadership we need in Washington today and that's why I'm running for President of the United States. Thank you. +p4469 +aVNo. Hugh, not at all. I have not broken the pledge because Donald Trump is not going to be the Republican nominee, period, flat out, I guarantee you that. I would vote... +p4470 +aV-- for the Republican nominee... +p4471 +aVHe's not going to be the nominee. +p4472 +aVHe's not going to be the nominee, Hugh. And let me just say one word here. This is an important election with an enormous number of challenges facing the American people. And the first four questions are about Donald Trump. +p4473 +aVNo, I would not vote for Hillary Clinton. +p4474 +aVNo, I will vote for the Republican nominee. But let me say this flat out, Donald Trump is unfit to be president of the United States or the Republican Party's nominee. Look at what he did in Atlantic City. He says he's going to make America great again? He invested four casinos in Atlantic City and he said, essentially, I'm going to make Atlantic City great again. Every one of those casinos went bankrupt. Over 5,000 Americans lost their job. And you know people who, in this difficult economic time, have lost their job and the pain that causes. He didn't lose anything, 5,000 lost their jobs. He will do for America what he did for Atlantic City and that is not someone we will nominate. +p4475 +aVThank you. +p4476 +aVOK. All right. Thank you. +p4477 +aVYeah, it's a small part of a very important issue, and let me comment on what my colleagues were saying here. We all agree you have to secure the border. We have to make sure that people come to America legally. That has got to be step one. Step two is, we have to stop releasing criminals into the communities. If you are charged with a crime as an illegal alien, you should either be in jail or be deported. You should not released, as the Obama administration has done. Of course, we should outlaw sanctuary cities and hold them responsible. But we can't ignore 11 million people who are here. What are we going to do? We're not going to send them back, despite somebody saying we're going to drag kids out of classrooms and send them back. But we have to send a message that we are a nation that depends on the rule of law, and when your first act is to break the law, there has to be a consequence. So what I would do is require those who want to have legal status, not citizenship, come forward, acknowledge they broke the law, and if they do it again, they can be immediately deported, and then do what we do in communities across America when we want to sanction someone... +p4478 +aV... and that is community service -- 200 hours working in a hospital... +p4479 +aV... working in a school, and then they could have legal... +p4480 +aVI don't -- I don't think that we should tell that child born in America that we're going to send them back. The way to avoid that is to have an intelligent immigration policy where we know who is coming here, why they are coming here, so we don't have this flood of people coming here for the wrong reasons. +p4481 +aVWe have to deal with the people who are here illegally. We can't just ignore them, or send them back. I think my policy would work to give them legal status, make them a part of an economy that will grow, and help America. +p4482 +aVLindsey, let me comment on this. Last week was the anniversary of September 11th and I was governor of New York on September 11th and led us through that horrible day. And I learned that we cannot assume that because radical Islam is a continent away, it doesn't pose a threat to us here in America. It did then, and today, I think, we are at greater risk of an attack than at any time since. We have got to destroy +p4483 +aVJake... +p4484 +aVJake, if I can comment on this. Yes, Kim Davis is different from Islamist radicalists from the Middle East. But on the other hand, we have run rule in America, an elected official can't say I'm not going to follow that law if it conflicts with my beliefs. I think she should have been fired and if she worked for me, I would have fired her. We have to uphold the rule of law. +p4485 +aVImagine one minute -- Jake, imagine one minute that was a Muslim who said I don't believe in gay marriage, and refused to perform that wedding. We wouldn't have had that outrage. There's a place where religion supersedes the rule of law. It's called Iran. It shouldn't be the United States. +p4486 +aVMy response is kind of, "Wow." You know, we're going to have a president who defies the Supreme Court because they don't agree? +p4487 +aVThen you don't have the rule of law... +p4488 +aVThe -- the elected representatives of the people always have the opportunity to change that law. The Supreme Court makes a determination, but it's ultimately the elected officials who decide whether or not that would be accepted. By the way, if I have a chance to lead this country, I will appoint judges who understand their role. They're not going to be making the law; they're going to be interpreting law that the elected officials passed. +p4489 +aVBut there's a huge difference between an individual standing up and saying I am going to stand for my religious freedom and my religious rights. I applaud that. This is America. You should be able to engage in your religious belief in the way you see fit. But when you are an elected official and you take an oath of office to uphold the law, all the laws, you cannot pick and choose or you no longer have a society that depends on the rule of law. +p4490 +aVYes, I -- I didn't agree with the Supreme Court's decision, but it is the law of this land. And I am a great admirer of Martin Luther King. And he was prepared to break the law. But it wasn't in an office of political power. It was civil disobedience, where what he was willing to do is voluntarily go to jail with his followers to send a message to the elected representatives that these laws were wrong and had to be changed. And because of his courage, we didn't ignore the courts, we changed the laws and made America a better place. That's the way to do it. +p4491 +aVYes? +p4492 +aVI would throw out the entire corrupt tax code. It's a symbol of the corruption and the power of the lobbyists and the special interests in Washington. It is 74,000 pages of incomprehensible gobbledygook. What I would do is get rid of the 1.4 million every year in exemptions and loopholes, dramatically lower the rates. The normal American person is paying higher taxes than they should because of loopholes, and one of them is that carried interest loophole. I would tax that income the same as ordinary income. I'd lower the rate to 24 percent for all Americans, but I would not give a special break to the Wall Street fat caps -- fat cats. +p4493 +aVIt's hard for me to say I'm with Donald trump on anything, but on this issue, I agree with him. But let me just make one other point. It's not just throwing out the tax code to break the back of the special interests that control Washington. It's other reforms. I would propose a law -- right now there are over 400 former members of the House and Senate who are registered lobbyists in Washington. I would propose a law on day one, you serve one day in the House or Senate, there's a lifetime ban on you ever being a lobbyist in Washington, D.C. You get elected, you go back home. You don't stay and support the special interests. +p4494 +aVCan I just... +p4495 +aVNo, I would not. I would keep that deduction. I would lower the rates dramatically, so, yes, that root that has a special carve out would pay more, but everybody else is going to pay less. I would keep the home mortgage deduction, the charitable deduction, and others. And, by the way, you know, I agree with Rick on manufacturing, but my approach is different. I would pass a rate on manufacturing of 12 percent, the lowest in the developed world so we can make this America again. I know how important those jobs are. When I work -- went through college, Christmas and summer vacations, I worked in a factory. My grandparents worked in a factory. We have the opportunity now with lower energy costs, with the world labor cost getting higher, to make things in America so we don't have to worry about China. Lower the tax burden on manufacturing, improve the work skills... +p4496 +aV...of Americans. Get rid of job killing regulations. If we're going to... +p4497 +aV...If we're going to make this America... +p4498 +aVNot on the table but I think there's a lot that does work. And that is to have a strong America, a strong military and a resolve where the Iranians know that not only are we going to reject this deal on day one and reimpose sanctions but, if they move forward with the nuclear program, their safety for those facilities will be at risk. I'll tell you a couple of things I'd do. I'd give the Israelis bombs called MOPs, massive ordnance penetrators. Give them to Israel. Let the Iranians know we're prepared to work with Israel to make sure they never have a nuclear weapon. And let me point out that Hillary Clinton, supporting this deal, she was the senator from New York on September 11th, she saw what happened at the hands of radical Islam. This is the senator who did the reset program with Russia, who allowed the Middle East to deteriorate to flames, who has lied about Benghazi and is now supporting the Iranian deal. That's the opponent we're going to have next November. We have got to win this election. Everything we say is wonderful. But we have to win and, once we win, we have to actually do what we say. I can do this. +p4499 +aVI think there are two things, Jake. Two things that we need as Republicans. First, we have to win the election. You're going to hear a lot of great ideas, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that. None of it matters unless you win the election. And the second is, once you win, you have to be able to govern successfully. You've heard a lot of fighting back and forth, you didn't get this done, you didn't get that done. That's the way Washington is today. You have to have a leader, a president, who will actually get a conservative agenda through. I'm running because I have done both those things, and I did them in one of the most liberal states in America. I got elected three times in the state of New York. Twice by the largest pluralities ever for a Republican. I ran as a Republican conservative. If I get the nomination, I will be able to get broad support and win this election, and take the White House back for our party. But more importantly, once I've won, I will put in place a sweeping conservative agenda. I did that in New York. Over $143 billion in tax cuts. More than the other 49 states combined. Taking one million people off welfare and putting them into jobs, in a state where the Democrats control the state assembly. +p4500 +aV103-47. I got them to support a conservative agenda. If I get elected president, I will make things work in Washington. +p4501 +aVFor the Republican party and for the United States. +p4502 +aVI think he means somebody who hasn't been a career politician, and who's been out of office for awhile. I think the last eight years in the private sector have allowed me to see government from the outside, and I think that is a positive thing. Yes, I thought about running four years ago. I was ready to lead, but I wasn't ready to run. But I look at this country today, and I look at how divided we are, I look at how politicians are always posturing and issuing sound bites but never solving problems. What I did in New York was bring people together, an overwhelmingly Democratic state. But I was able to get Democrats to support the most conservative sweeping policy changes in any state in America. And when I look at Washington today, we need to bring us together. We need to solve problems, we need to rebuild our military so we can stand up to radical Islam, we need to get our economy growing much faster by throwing out the corrupt tax code and lowering the rates. We have to end crony capitalism in Washington, where the lobbyists and the powerful can get tax breaks and tax credits, and the American people don't get laws in their interest. I can do that. And I can do it regardless of what the makeup of Congress is because I did it in New York state. So we need new leadership -- yes. I will be that new leader. Mac +p4503 +aVMartha, religious liberty doesn't include encouraging a fellow American to engage in violent jihad and kill an American here. That is not protected free speech. That is not protected religious belief. That is like shouting "fire" in a crowded theater, and that is illegal, and I would do everything in our power not just to go after those who are here who we know who are here, before they can radicalize other Americans to carry out attacks, and it's not just the ones they've arrested. Think back to Garland, Texas. But for that Texas police officer, we could have had a mass murder. We have to shut down their internet capability. We have to shut down, whether or not they're in prisons preaching or on -- in mosques preaching. No radical Islam that is allowed to engage in encouraging violence against Americans, that is not protected speech. Let me just add one thing about +p4504 +aVI think he is right. I don't think you expand entitlements when so many people are dependent on government and when the money the federal government is offering is going to be taken away from you after just a couple of years. But getting back to Martha's question about how we end dependency, do we have to have a cultural change? The answer is no. And I know this, because when I ran for governor of New York, one in 11 of every man, woman, and child in the state of New York was on welfare. On welfare. Think about that. And people said "you can't win, you can't change the culture." But I knew that good people who wanted to be a part of the American dream have become trapped in dependency because the federal government and the state government had made it in their economic interest not to take a job because the benefits that they didn't work were better. I changed that. We put in place mandatory work fair (ph). But we allowed people to keep health care. We put in place child care support. +p4505 +aVNo, it should be repealed. And by the way, when I left, there were over 1 million fewer people on welfare in New York state than when I took office... +p4506 +aV... replacing dependency with opportunity. +p4507 +aVYes. Mac +p4508 +aVMy heart has not changed, because I've always been appalled by abortion. I'm a Catholic, I believe life begins at conception. But as Bill said earlier, Roe v. Wade, it's has been the law for 42 years, and I don't think we should continue to try to change it. But we can do is defund Planned Parenthood, and by the way, put in place an absolute permanent ban on any taxpayer dollars ever being used to fund abortions. Also, when you look at these videos, they are horrific and show just a hideous disrespect for life. What else we can do is that we should believe in science. You know, Hillary Clinton's always saying how Republicans don't follow science? Well, they're the ones not listening to the scientists today, because doctors say that at 20 weeks that is a viable life inside the womb. And at that point, it's a life that we have the right to protect, and I think we should protect. So, I would pass legislation outlawing abortion after 20 weeks. It is Hillary, it is Biden, it is the others who insist on allowing abortion well into viable (inaudible) wrong, and that should be stopped. Mac +p4509 +aVBill, I defeated Mario Cuomo. In the first day in office, my first executive order, I revoked every one of the executive orders that he had -- he had enacted over the prior 12 years. I would do that to Barack Obama's executive orders. But I'd sign a second one, as I did in New York, as well, having a hard hiring freeze on adding new employees except for the military or defense-related positions. I'd sign that executive order. When I left the workforce, New York State had been reduced by over 15 percent. We can do that in Washington. I will do that in Washington. +p4510 +aVDivisive and with no vision. No vision at all. +p4511 +aVWith all the candidates, why me? My background is different. I look at Washington, and I hear the talk, and I see the promises and it seems nothing ever changes. Washington gets bigger, taxes get higher, and the American people feel more distance from our government. I have the opportunity not just to run, but to win in the deep blue state of New York three times. And not only did I win, but I then worked with a Democratic legislature to put in place the most sweeping conservative reforms of any state in America, taking us from the most dangerous state in America to the fourth safest; reducing our welfare rolls by over 1 million, and replacing over 700,000 private sector jobs. I can govern by bringing people together. And also, I've been tested in a way no one else has. I was governor on September 11th, and I'm proud of my leadership in bringing New York through that time. And when I left, we were stronger, we were safer, and we were more united than at any time in my lifetime. We need to bring people together in Washington. The talk has got to stop, the action has got to begin. People can promise you something, I delivered in the blue state of New York. I will deliver for the American people if I have the privilege of leading this country. +p4512 +asVCHRISTIE +p4513 +(lp4514 +VThank you Wolf. America has been betrayed. We've been betrayed by the leadership that Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton have provided to this country over the last number of years. Think about just what's happened today. The second largest school district in America in Los Angeles closed based on a threat. Think about the effect that, that's going to have on those children when they go back to school tomorrow wondering filled with anxiety to whether they're really going to be safe. Think about the mothers who will take those children tomorrow morning to the bus stop wondering whether their children will arrive back on that bus safe and sound. Think about the fathers of Los Angeles, who tomorrow will head off to work and wonder about the safety of their wives and their children. What is Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton done to this country? That the most basic responsibility of an administration is to protect the safety and security of the American people. I will tell you this, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I've fought terrorists and won and when we get back in the White House we will fight terrorists and win again and America will be safe. +p4515 +aVWolf, unfortunately, it's the new normal under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The fact is that if you listen to Hillary Clinton the other day, what she said to the American people was, as regards to +p4516 +aVListen, I want to talk to the audience at home for a second. If your eyes are glazing over like mine, this is what it's like to be on the floor of the United States Senate. I mean, endless debates about how many angels on the head of a pin from people who've never had to make a consequential decision in an executive position. The fact is, for seven years, I had to make these decisions after 9/11, make a decision about how to proceed forward with an investigation or how to pull back, whether you use certain actionable intelligence or whether not to. And yet they continue to debate about this bill and in the subcommittee and what \u2014 nobody in America cares about that. What they care about is, are we going to have a president who actually knows what they're doing to make these decisions? And for the seven years afterwards, New Jersey was threatened like no other region in this country and what we did was we took action within the constitution to make sure that law enforcement had all the information they needed. We prosecuted two of the biggest terrorism cases in the world and stopped Fort Dix from being attacked by six American radicalized Muslims from a Mosque in New Jersey because we worked with the Muslim American community to get intelligence and we used the Patriot Act to get other intelligence to make sure we did those cases. This is the difference between actually been a federal prosecutor, actually doing something, and not just spending your life as one of hundred debating it. Let's talk about how we do this, not about which bill, which one these guys like more. The American people don't care about that. +p4517 +aVWolf, you sit up here and you listen to this stuff, and you think that so many of these people have had so much to do in this national debate, they talk like they were bystanders. You know, we talk about our military being degraded over time, and yet we've had folks on this stage who've been a part of Congress who have participated in sequester; who participated in the degrading of this military over time. And that's why I think people get so frustrated with Washington, D.C. now. That's why they're so angry with the \u2014 the electorate is so angry with everybody who is involved in government in Washington, D.C. Because if you listen to the folks up here, you think that they weren't even there; they had nothing to do with this. This is a difference between being a governor and being in a legislature. See, because when something doesn't work in New Jersey, they look at me, say: "Why didn't it get done? Why didn't you do it?" You have to be responsible and accountable. And so on +p4518 +aVWell, I think we have to focus, Hugh, on exactly what the priorities are. And to me, what I've always said is that the president has set up an awful situation through his deal with Iran, because what his deal with Iran has done is empower them and enrich them. And that's the way +p4519 +aVNot only would I be prepared to do it, I would do it. A no-fly zone means a no-fly zone, Wolf. That's what it means. See, maybe \u2014 maybe because I'm from New Jersey, I just have this kind of plain language hangup. But I would make very clear \u2014 I would not talk to Vladimir Putin. In fact, I would talk to Vladimir Putin a lot. But I'd say to him, "Listen, Mr. President, there's a no-fly zone in Syria; you fly in, it applies to you." And yes, we would shoot down the planes of Russian pilots if in fact they were stupid enough to think that this president was the same feckless weakling that the president we have in the Oval Office is right now. +p4520 +aVWell, Wolf, I'll tell you what reckless is. What reckless is is calling Assad a reformer. What reckless is allowing Russia to come into Crimea and Ukraine. What reckless is is inviting Russia into Syria to team with Iran. That is reckless. And the reckless people are the folks in the White House right now. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are the reckless people. And if you think that a no-fly zone is a reckless policy, you're welcome to your opinion. But how is it working so far? As we have 250,000 Syrians murdered, slaughtered; millions running around the world, running for their lives. It's not working. We need to try something else. And that is not reckless. +p4521 +aVWhat I say to Carla is that the first job of the president of the United States is to protect your safety and your security and the security and safety of your family. And this debate stops with me in the discussions with the FBI director. Now, listen, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I know Jim Comey. We've worked together. He was the U.S. attorney in Manhattan when I was a U.S. attorney in New Jersey. And when Jim Comey gets up before Congress and says, we cannot effectively vet these people, for me as president, that's the end of the conversation. We have to put America's security first. The American people \u2014 we on this stage need to open our ears. We need to open our ears. The American people are not whispering to us. They are screaming to us. And they're screaming to us that it's our job to actually make this government work. It's so dysfunctional under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. It's so ineffective. It's so ineffectual that the American people say, we don't trust them to do anything anymore. So I'm not going to let Syrian refugees, any Syrian refugees in this country. And it was widows and orphans, by the way, and we now know from watching the San Bernardino attack that women can commit heinous, heinous acts against humanity just the same as men can do it. And so I don't back away from that position for a minute. When the FBI director tells me that he can vet those people, then we'll consider it and not a moment before because your safety and security is what's most important to me. +p4522 +aVWell, what it would like is, we have one of the great advantages of America being the open society that we are. It is, we are not hiding things from the American people, but China everyday is conducting business in a way that hides things from their people. So if they want to come in and attack all the personnel records in the federal government, which they've done, and which \u2014 they now have my Social Security number and my fingerprints, as well as maybe some other folks' who are on this stage. The fact is, they need to be fought back on. And what we need to do is go at the things that they are most sensitive and most embarrassing to them; that they're hiding; get that information and put it out in public. Let the Chinese people start to digest how corrupt the Chinese government is; how they steal from the Chinese people; and how they're enriching oligarchs all throughout China. They need to understand that. And we need to take those type of steps. This president has seen personnel records of people who have sacrificed for the American people and for the federal government stolen by the Chinese and he's done nothing in return. This is why \u2014 this is what I said at the beginning that this administration, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton through their foreign policy, have betrayed the American people, because the weakness they've displayed has led to Putin's incursions in the Middle East and in eastern Europe, and has led \u2014 has led to significant problems in the Middle East as well, and the death and murder of lots of folks. +p4523 +aVOn September 10th, 2001, I was named chief federal prosecutor in New Jersey and on September 11th, 2001, my wife and my brother who are in the audience tonight went through the World Trade Center and to their offices just blocks away from the Trade Center. I lost touch with them for six hours that day and prayed that they were alive. Luckily, they were sent home. But many of our friends and others in our neighborhood lost their lives that day. Terrorism \u2014 radical jihadist terrorism is not theoretical to me. It's real. And for seven years, I spent my life protecting our country against another one of those attacks. You won't have to worry when I'm President of the Untied States whether that can be done because I've already done it. I want the chance to do it again to protect you, your children and your families. If you give me the chance and give me your vote I will protect America from the wars that are being brought to our door step. +p4524 +aVI don't see a lot of weakness on this stage, quite frankly. Where I see the weakness is in those three people that are left on the Democratic stage. You know, I see a socialist, an isolationist and a pessimist. And for the sake of me, I can't figure out which one is which. But I will \u2014 but I will tell you this, the socialist says they're going to pay for everything and give you everything for free, except they don't say they're going to raise it through taxes to 90 percent to do it. The isolationist is the one who wants to continue to follow a foreign policy that has fewer democracies today than when Barack Obama came into office around the world. But I know who the pessimist is. It's Hillary Clinton. And you put me on that stage against her next September, she won't get within 10 miles of the White House. Take it to the bank. +p4525 +aVWell, I wish you would have asked that question years ago when they broke it. I mean, let me be honest with the people who are watching at home. The government has lied to you and they have stolen from you. They told you that your Social Security money is in a trust fund. All that's in that trust fund is a pile of IOUs for money they spent on something else a long time ago. And they've stolen from you because now they know they cannot pay these benefits and Social Security is going to be insolvent in seven to eight years. We're sitting up here talking about all these other things; 71 percent of federal spending today is on entitlements, and debt service. And, that's with zero percent interest rates. Now, I'm the only person that's put out a detailed plan on how to deal with entitlements. And we'll save a trillion dollars over the next 10 years. And, here's the difference between me and Hillary Clinton. What Hillary Clinton's going to say, and has said before is, she wants to raise Social Security taxes. Now, let me ask you a question everybody, and, this is for the guy, you know, who owns a landscaping business out there. If somebody's already stolen money from you, are you going to give them more? Or, are you going to deal with the problem by saying, I'm going to give people who've done well in this country less benefit on the backend. We need to get realistic about this. We're not \u2014 the American people \u2014 forget about anything else, they've already been lied to and stolen from. And... +p4526 +aV...I'm going to go to Washington to stop it... +p4527 +aV...The only way we're going to be morale, the only way we're going to keep our promise to seniors is start by following the first rule we should all follow, which is to look at them, treat them like adults, and tell them the truth. It isn't there anymore, Mike. They stole it. It got stolen from them. It's not theirs anymore. The government stole it, and spent it a long time ago... +p4528 +aVSo, let's stop fooling around about this, let's tell people the truth. For once, let's do that, and stop trying to give them some kind of fantasy that's never going to come true. +p4529 +aVYou bet they do. And if I were the prosecutor, that is exactly where they would be. The fact is that this Justice Department under this president has been a political Justice Department. It has been a Justice Department that decided that they want to pick who the winners and losers are. They like General Motors, so they give them a pass. They don't like somebody else like David Petraeus, they prosecute them and send a decorated general on to disgrace. It's a political Justice Department. And, Jim, you know full well that in the seven years I was U.S. attorney we went after pharmaceutical companies. We went after companies that were ripping off shareholders. We went after companies that were doing things that were against the law. And to expand on Mr. Carson's \u2014 or Dr. Carson's question, let's face it, we have laws already. We don't need newer (ph) laws. We don't need Hillary Clinton's price controls for \u2014 again, does anybody out there think that giving Washington, D.C., the opportunity to run the pharmaceutical industry is a good idea, given how well they have done running the government? So what we do, though, is, if there is somebody who is price- gouging, we have laws for prosecutors to take that on. Let's let a Justice Department \u2014 and I will make an attorney general who will enforce the law and make justice more than just a word. It will be a way of life. +p4530 +aVJohn, I'll tell you something. You want to talk about moral authority. Let's talk about something that happened this week in the news. You know, the FBI director, the president's appointed FBI director has said this week that because of a lack of support from politicians like the president of the United States, that police officers are afraid to get out of their cars; that they're afraid to enforce the law. And he says, the president's appointee, that crime is going up because of this. And when the president of the United States gets out to speak about it, does he support police officers? Does he stand up for law enforcement? No, he doesn't. I'll tell you this, the number one job of the president of the United States is to protect the safety and security of the American people. This president has failed, and when I'm in the Oval Office, police officers will know that they will have the support of the president of the Untied States. That's real moral authority that we need in the Oval Office. +p4531 +aVCarl, are we really talking about getting government involved in fantasy football? We have \u2014 wait a second, we have $19 trillion in debt. We have people out of work. We have +p4532 +aVWell, first off, what we don't do is do what Hillary Clinton and John Kerry and Barack Obama want us to do, which is their solution for everything, put more taxes on it, give more money to Washington, D.C., and then they will fix it. Well, there is no evidence that they can fix anything in Washington, D.C. +p4533 +aVWhat we should do is to be investing in all types of energy, John, all types of energy. I've laid out... +p4534 +aVNo, John. John, do you want me to answer or do you want to answer? How are we going to do this? Because, I've got to tell you the truth, even in New Jersey what you're doing is called rude. So... We've laid out a national energy plan that says that we should invest in all types of energy. I will tell you, you could win a bet at a bar tonight, since we're talking about fantasy football, if you ask who the top three states in America are that produce solar energy: California and Arizona are easy, but number three is New Jersey. Why? Because we work with the private sector to make solar energy affordable and available to businesses and individuals in our state. We need to make sure that we do everything across all kinds of energy: natural gas, oil, absolutely. But also where it's affordable, solar, wind in Iowa has become very affordable and it makes sense. That is the way we deal with global warming, climate change, or any of those problems, not through government intervention, not through government taxes, and for God's sake, don't send Washington another dime until they stop wasting the money they're already sending there. +p4535 +aVAnd \u2014 and \u2014 and I \u2014 you know, Ben is absolutely right in saying that what we don't need to do is to send more money to Washington, D.C. to fix this problem. And that's what you'll hear from Hillary Clinton \u2014 and I've already heard from her \u2014 is that, send more money in Social Security, send more money in Medicare taxes, send more money for Medicaid, and that's gonna solve the problem. What we know is we're living longer. That's a blessing. It's a blessing that we're living longer, so we have to increase the retirement age to reflect that blessing. We need to make sure that people understand, as Jeb said before, that if you've done extraordinarily well in this country, do you want them to take more out of your taxes now and think they're gonna give it back to you later? Or would you rather take less later on? +p4536 +aVI want to talk to the folks at home. I want to ask you: Are you fed up with how Washington taxes you? Are you fed up with how Washington wastes your money? Are you concerned like I am that the debt and deficits of Washington, D.C. are endangering America's future? I've got one more question for you then. Are you serious about this election? Because if you are, you need to elect someone who's deadly serious about changing this culture. I am deadly serious about changing this culture. I changed it in New Jersey. I'm deadly serious about doing this job the right way. I'm prepared. I'm tested. I'm ready. And I want to make this our government. For the people who say we can't do it, I say hell no, we can do it together. +p4537 +aVHi, my name is Chris Christie, and I'd like to you take the camera off me and put it on the audience because I'd like to ask all of you, how many of you, raise your hand, believe that in today's Barak Obama America your children will have a better life than you've had? You see? That's why I'm running for President. because leadership is not about me, it's about our country. And, what we talk about tonight, it's not about us, it's about the people in the audience tonight, because in seven short years this president has stripped away their trust, and their faith, and their belief that the next generation will have a better life. He's stolen that from us, and when I'm president, I'm going to take it back. +p4538 +aVWell, I know Ben wasn't talking about me, I'm sure he was talking about one of the other guys, not me. As far as being an outsider is concerned \u2014 as far as being an outsider is concerned, let me tell you this, Jake, I'm a Republican in New Jersey. I wake up every morning as an outsider. I wake up every morning with a Democratic legislature who trying to beat my head in and fight me because I'm trying to bring conservative change to a state that needed it desperately. And so, everyone can talk us here about their credentials. But the bottom line is, every morning I get up, I veto 400 bills from a crazy liberal Democratic legislature, not one of them has been overridden. I've vetoed more tax increases than any governor in American history, according to Americans for Tax Reform. What folks want in this country is somebody to go down there and get the job done. And that's exactly what I'll do. So, I know this much, that what the American people want to hire right now is somebody who believes in them. And believes that they are the ones who can fix our country. I will be the vessel through which they can fix this country, but it's not about me. It's about all of you. And getting this government off your back and out of your way, and letting you succeed. I know Ben wasn't talking about me. +p4539 +aVLook at him smiling at me right now. I know Ben didn't mean it about me. One of these other guys, I'm sure. +p4540 +aVBe honest, Ben, be honest. +p4541 +aVSee, Jake, it wasn't me. +p4542 +aVI was \u2014 +p4543 +aVShe is, and so if she, based on conscience, can't sign that \u2014 that marriage license, then there should be someone in her office to be able to do it, and if the law needs to be changed in the state of Kentucky, which is what she's advocating, it should be changed. +p4544 +aVAnd why don't we do the same thing with Planned Parenthood? +p4545 +aVWe elected a Republican Congress to do this. And they should be doing it, and they're not. And they're giving the president a pass. +p4546 +aVI put it in the list, Dana. We should be doing these things and forcing the president to take action. +p4547 +aVLet's force him to do what he says he's going to do. Now I don't know whether he'll do it or not, but let's force him to do it. +p4548 +aVFirst of, Jake, I don't yield to anybody on how to enforce the law. I'm the only person on this stage who spent seven years as a United States Attorney after September 11th, and I know how to do this. The fact is though that for 15,000 people a day to be deported every day for two years is an undertaking that almost none of us could accomplish given the current levels of funding, and the current number of law enforcement officers. Here's what we need to do, and I think this is where Donald is absolutely right. What we need to do is to secure our border, and we need to do it with more than just a wall. We need to use electronics, we need to use drones, we need to use FBI, DEA, and ATF, and yes, we need to take the fingerprint of every person who comes into this country on a visa, and when they overstay their visa, we need to tap them on the shoulder, and say, "You have overstayed your welcome, you're taking advantage of the American people. It's time for you to go." If we had that kind of system in place, we wouldn't have the 11 million people we have now. +p4549 +aVJake listen. While I'm as entertained as anyone by this personal back-and-forth about the history of Donald and Carly's career, for the 55-year-old construction worker out in that audience tonight who doesn't have a job, who can't fund his child's education, I've got to tell you the truth. They could care less about your careers, they care about theirs. Let's start talking about that on this stage and stop playing \u2014 and stop playing the games. Stop playing \u2014 +p4550 +aVJohn \u2014 I'm not done yet, John. +p4551 +aVStop \u2014 and stop playing \u2014 and Carly \u2014 Carly, listen. You can interrupt everybody else on this stage, you're not going to interrupt me, OK? The fact is that we don't want to hear about your careers, back and forth and volleying back and forth about who did well and who did poorly. You're both successful people. Congratulations. You know who's not successful? The middle class in this country who's getting plowed over by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Let's start talking about those issues tonight and stop this childish back-and-forth between the two of you. +p4552 +aVListen, you know, Hugh, it's an important point. And the question is, who is going to prosecute Hillary Clinton? The Obama White House seems to have in interest, the Justice Department seems to have no interest. I think it's time to put a former federal prosecutor on the same stage as Hillary Clinton. And I will prosecute her during those debates on that stage for the record we're talking about here. The fact she had a private email server in her basement, using national security secrets running through it, could have been hacked by the Russians, the Chinese, or two 18-year-olds on a toot (ph) wanting to have some fun. No one is answering that question from the Hillary Clinton campaign... +p4553 +aVYou know why? Because she knows she's wrong, and she cannot look in the mirror at herself, and she cannot tell the American people the truth. +p4554 +aVWell, Jake, I was named U.S. attorney by President Bush on September 10th, 2001. And that next day my wife Mary Pat did what she did every day, she traveled through the World Trade Center and went to her office two blocks from the World Trade Center. And after those planes hit, for five-and-a-half-hours after that, I couldn't reach her, didn't know whether she was dead or alive, and we had three children at the time, 8, 5 and 1. And I had to confront what so many thousands of others in my region had to confront, the idea I might become a single parent, the idea that my life and my children's life might be changed forever. We lost friends that day. We went to the funerals. And I will tell you that what those people wanted and what they deserved was for America to answer back against what had been done to them. And I support what President Bush did at that time, going into Afghanistan, hunting al Qaeda and its leaders, getting its sanctuary out of place, and making it as difficult around the world for them to move people and money. And then he went to prosecutors like us, and he said, never again. Don't prosecute these people after the crime is committed. Intervene before the crime happens. I absolutely believe that what the president did at the time was right. And I am proud to have been one of the people on the stage who was part of making sure that what Governor Bush said before was the truth. America was safe for those seven years and Barack Obama has taken that safety away from us. +p4555 +aVLet me say this, Jake, is that while that may have been a fine idea that Dr. Carson had, these people were out to kill us. I stood in that region with my family, and every time a plane went overhead in the weeks after that, people's heads jerked to the sky because they thought it was happening again. You do not need to go through subtle diplomacy at that point. That could be handled later on. What you need is a strong American leader who will take the steps that are necessary to protect our nation. That's what I would do as commander-in-chief in this circumstance. And that's what President George W. Bush did in 2001. +p4556 +aVJake, you brought my issue up. +p4557 +aVYou know, I enjoy the interplay. Thank you, gentlemen. I'll just say this, first off, New Jersey is the first state in the nation that now says if you are non-violent, non-dealing drug user, that you don't go to jail for your first offense. You go to mandatory treatment. You see, Jake, I'm pro-life. And I think you need to be pro-life for more than just the time in the womb. It gets tougher when they get out of the womb. And when they're the 16-year-old drug addict in the Florida county lockup, that life is just as precious as the life in the womb. And so, that's why I'm for rehabilitation, why I think the war on drugs has been a failure. But I'll end with this. That doesn't mean we should be legalizing gate way drugs. And if Senator Paul thinks that the only victim is the person, look at the decrease in productivity, look at the way people get used and move on to other drugs when they use marijuana as a gateway drug, it is not them that are the only victims. Their families are the victims too, their children are the victims too, and their employers are the victims also. That's why I'll enforce the federal law, while you can still put an emphasis on rehabilitation, which we've done in New Jersey. +p4558 +aVAnd Senator Paul knows that that's simply not the truth. In New Jersey, we have medical marijuana laws, which I supported and implemented. This is not medical marijuana. There's goes as much \u2014 a further step beyond. This is recreational use of marijuana. This is much different. And so, while he would like to use a sympathetic story to back up his point, it doesn't work. I'm not against medical marijuana. We do it in New Jersey. But I'm against the recreational use against marijuana. If he wants to change the federal law, get Congress to pass the law to change it, and get a president to sign it. +p4559 +aVNo, it's not. But with Donald, it's a good start. That's really good. No, listen. This is an issue that \u2014 that we've gotta talk about, and we haven't talked about yet. 71 percent of all federal spending is on entitlements and debt service. When John Kennedy was elected president in 1960, it was 26 percent. Harvard and Dartmouth says that Social Security's going to go insolvent in seven to eight years. So what I say is very simple. We need to save this program for the good people out there who have paid into the system and need it. And if that means making sure that folks like Donald and many of us on the stage don't get it, that's the right thing to do because here's what Hillary Clinton is going to want to do. She's going to want to put more money into a system that has already lied to us and stolen from us. This government doesn't need more money to make Social Security solvent. We need to be not paying out benefits to people who don't really need it. We need to protect the people who Social Security means the difference between picking between heat and rent and food. That's why I put out the proposal and that's the people I'm trying to... +p4560 +aVI don't think Senator Rubio is a skeptic of climate change. I think what Senator Rubio said I agree with. That in fact we don't need this massive government intervention to deal with the problem. Look at what we have done in New Jersey. We have already reached our clean air goals for 2020. And when I was governor, I pulled out of the regional cap and trade deal, the only state in the Northeast that did that. And we still reached our goals. Why? Because 53 percent of our electricity comes from nuclear. We use natural gas. We use solar power. We're the third-highest- using solar power state. You know why? Because we made all of those things economically feasible. I agree with Marco. We shouldn't be destroying our economy in order to chase some wild left-wing idea that somehow us by ourselves is going to fix the climate. We can contribute to that and be economically sound. We have proven we can do that in New Jersey. Nuclear needs to be back on the table in a significant way in this country if we want to go after this problem. +p4561 +aVI understand. No, no, listen, everybody makes a mistake every once in a while, Jake, even George Shultz. And if that's truly a representation of what he believes we should be doing, then with all due respect to the former secretary of state, I disagree with him. +p4562 +aVI think the Adams family has been shorted in the currency business. Our country wouldn't be here without John Adams, and he would not have been able to do it without Abigal Adams, so, I'd put Abigail Adams on the bill. +p4563 +aVYou know, I've been called a lot of names by a lot of different people, and now I got to get called by names by the Secret Service? I would just say True Heart. +p4564 +aVI turned 18 in 1980, and my first vote was for Ronald Reagan. Boy, am I glad I did it. And I think the country is, too. A Christie presidency won't be about me. It will be about you. Tonight, you sit at home in your living room, frustrated that you play by the rules, you pay the taxes, you do the hard things to raise your family, yet you feel like America's generosity is being taken advantage of. That you've been \u2014 system is being gamed, and that you're turning out to fall further and further behind. Our presidency \u2014 our presidency \u2014 will be about ending that, about enforcing the law, level the playing field for everybody, and once again reward those folks who play by the rules, and think that justice means more than just the word. But it means a way of life. And I will tell you this, around the world, I will not shake hands with, I will not meet with, and I will not agree to anything with a country that says death to us and death to Israel and holds our hostages while we sign agreements with them. It will be an America that be strong and resolute, and will once again be able to stick out its chest and say, "we truly are the greatest nation in the world, because we live our lives that way, each and every day." +p4565 +aVIf you think it's bad now, you should've seen it when I got there. The fact is -- the fact is, in the eight years before I became governor, taxes and fees were raised at the state level 115 times. In the eight years before I became governor, spending was increased 56 percent. And in the eight years before I become governor, taxes and fees were raised at the state level 115 times. In the eight years before I became Governor, spending was increased 56 percent, and in the eight years before I became governor, there was zero net private sector job growth in New Jersey. Zero. For eight years. So, what did we do? We came in, we balanced an $11 billion deficit on a $29 billion budget by cutting over 800 programs in the state budget. We brought the budget into balance with no tax increases. In fact, we vetoed five income tax increases during my time as governor. We cut business taxes $2.3 billion, and we cut regulation by one-third of what my predecessor put in place. And, what's happened since? A hundred ninety-two thousand private sector jobs in the five and a half years I've been governor. We have a lot of work to do in New Jersey, but I am darn proud we've brought our state back. +p4566 +aVYes, I do. And I'll tell you why: because I'm the only person on this stage who's actually filed applications under the Patriot Act, who has gone before the federal -- the Foreign Intelligence Service court, who has prosecuted and investigated and jailed terrorists in this country after September 11th. I was appointed U.S. attorney by President Bush on September 10th, 2001, and the world changed enormously the next day, and that happened in my state. This is not theoretical to me. I went to the funerals. We lost friends of ours in the Trade Center that day. My own wife was two blocks from the Trade Center that day, at her office, having gone through it that morning. When you actually have to be responsible for doing this, you can do it, and we did it, for seven years in my office, respecting civil liberties and protecting the homeland. And I will make no apologies, ever, for protecting the lives and the safety of the American people. We have to give more tools to our folks to be able to do that, not fewer, and then trust those people and oversee them to do it the right way. As president, that is exactly what I'll do. +p4567 +aVAnd -- and, Megyn? Megyn, that's a -- that, you know, that's a completely ridiculous answer. "I want to collect more records from terrorists, but less records from other people." How are you supposed to know, Megyn? +p4568 +aVWhat are you supposed to... +p4569 +aV...how are you supposed to -- no, I'll tell you how you, look... +p4570 +aVLet me tell you something, you go... +p4571 +aVWhen you -- you know, senator... +p4572 +aVListen, senator, you know, when you're sitting in a subcommittee, just blowing hot air about this, you can say things like that. When you're responsible for protecting the lives of the American people, then what you need to do is to make sure... +p4573 +aV...is to make sure that you use the system the way it's supposed to work. +p4574 +aVThere is no... +p4575 +aVAnd you know -- you know, Senator Paul? Senator Paul, you know, the hugs that I remember are the hugs that I gave to the families who lost their people on September 11th. Those are the hugs I remember, and those had nothing to do -- and those had nothing to do with politics, unlike what you're doing by cutting speeches on the floor of the Senate, then putting them on the Internet within half an hour to raise money for your campaign... +p4576 +aV...and while still putting our country at risk. +p4577 +aVYou know what, Megyn, can I... +p4578 +aVNo, he's not lying, he's just wrong. I mean, so, there's a difference -- I'm the only guy on this stage who's put out a detailed, 12 point plan on entitlement reform and here's why -- because 71% of federal spending right now is on entitlements, and debt service, 71%. And we have spent the last hour and five minutes talking about the other 29%, and no time on the 71%, and that makes no sense. Now, let me tell you exactly what we would do on Social Security. Yes, we'd raise the retirement age two years, and phase it in over 25 years, that means we'd raise it one month a year for 25 years when we're all living longer, and living better lives. Secondly, we would means test Social Security for those who are making over $200,000 dollars a year in retirement income, and have $4 to $5 million dollars in liquid assets saved. They don't need that Social Security check. Social Security is meant to be -- to make sure that no one who's worked hard, and played by the rules, and paid into the system grows old in poverty in America. If we don't deal with this problem, it will bankrupt our country, or lead to massive tax increases, neither one that we want in this country. +p4579 +aVChris... +p4580 +aVYeah, sure. And, I don't disagree with ending Congress' retirement program. I'm a governor, I don't have a retirement program in my state, and I don't disagree with that. But, here's the news to the American people, he's complaining about the lying and stealing. The lying and stealing has already occurred. The trust fund is filled with IOU's. We can't fix the problem just by ending Congress's retirement, that's worth about, "this" much. We need to go at the fundamental problem, and the fundamental problem is that this system is broken. It has been stolen from. We have been lied to, and we need a strong leader to tell the truth and fix... +p4581 +aVWell, listen. You know, if we want to deal with these issues, we have to deal with them in a way that makes sense. I agree with what Dr. Carson said earlier. The first thing we need to do to make America stronger is to strengthen our military, and I put out a really specific plan: no less than 500,000 active duty soldiers in the Army. No less than 185,000 active duty marines in the Marine Corps. Bring us to a 350 ship Navy again, and modernize the Ohio class of submarines, and bring our Air Force back to 2,600 aircraft that are ready to go. Those are the kind of things that are going to send a clear message around the world. Those are the things that we need to start working on immediately to make our country stronger and make it better. Those are the things that we need to be able to be doing. And as we move towards dealing with foreign aid, I don't disagree with Senator Paul's position that we shouldn't be funding our enemies. But I absolutely believe that Israel is a priority to be able to fund and keep them strong and safe after eight years of this administration. +p4582 +aVWell, thank you, Megyn. Listen, I was born into a middle class family in New Jersey. My dad came home from serving in the Army after having lost his father, worked in the Breyers ice cream plant in Newark, New Jersey. Was the first person to graduate from college. He put himself through college at night. My mom was a secretary. I was appointed United States attorney on September 10, 2001. And I spent the next seven years of my career fighting terrorism and putting terrorists in jail. I'm a conservative, pro-life governor in a state where it is really tough to be both. A state like New Jersey, with lots of Democrats, but still we cut taxes, we balanced budgets. We fought the teacher's union. This president has had weak leadership, which has led to bad choices. We have got to stop worrying about being loved and start worrying about being respected. And that's exactly how I'll lead our country. +p4583 +aVWell, first I want to share a story with you that relates to your question. I was in New Hampshire last week, and a woman approached me after the town hall meeting and she said to me, "Governor, I'm really concerned." I said, "What are your concerns?" And, she said, "I don't quite how to describe it," she said. "But, every month when my bills come in, I feel this awful anxiety in the pit of my stomach that I'm not going to have enough to pay them that month." There are tens of millions of Americans living that way after the worst recovery from an economic recession since World War II. And, let's be clear, if we do not change course, if we follow the President's lead, and that's exactly what Secretary Clinton will do, we're going to be in the same circumstance \u2014 with government picking the winners and losers. So, let me be clear about what we'll do. First, Make the tax code fairer, flatter, and simplier. Get rid of all the special interest deductions. You know, the American people feel like the tax code is rigged for the rich, and you know why they feel that way? Because it is. We'll get rid of all those special interest deductions except for the home mortgage interest deduction, and the charitable contribution deduction. Everyone will get lower rates, keep more of their own money, be able to file their tax returns in 15 minutes, and, by the way, the good thing, I'll be able to fire a whole bunch of IRS agents once we do that. And, in addition, we need to get the government off of our backs. Dodd-Frank, all the different regulations, 81,000 pages of new regulation by this administration just last year \u2014 it is suffocating small business, it is suffocating the folks who are trying to make a living. I will do what I did in New Jersey......lift if off their backs. +p4584 +aVYes, sure. If anybody believes the stuff they heard from that Democratic debate a few weeks ago, there's nothing for free. What they forgot to tell was that they're going to raise your tax rates to 70 or 80 percent in order to provide all of that stuff. But let me ask the folks at home one very simple question, do you want to give Washington more control over your life? Do you think they're doing such a great job that now let's have them control what our corporations pay their employees? Let's have them control every aspect of our economy? Is Washington doing that good a job for you right now? And the fact is that if you listen to Hillary Clinton, she has made it very clear, she believes that she can make decisions for you better than you can make them for yourself. She believes that Washington, D.C., should pick the winners and losers in our economy, and in our life. And here's what I believe as a Republican, I believe the greatness of America is not in its government. The greatness of America is in the American people. And what we need to do is get the government the hell out of the way and let the American people win once again. +p4585 +aVFirst off, let me, let me just say this in response to this back and forth. For the people who are out there right now, I want to guarantee you one thing real clearly. If you think that Mike Huckabee won't be the kind of President who will cut back spending, or Chris Christie, or John Kasich, wait 'til you see what Hillary Clinton will do to this country and how she will drown us in debt. She is the real adversary tonight and we'd better stay focused as Republicans on her. Now I've forward, I put forward an entitlement reform plan. We spend 71 cents of every dollar in America on entitlements and debt service, and if \u2014 you know, Willy Sutton used to say, when they asked him why he robbed banks, he said that's 'cause that's where the money is, OK? And where the money is in the federal government are these entitlement programs and debt service. What I've said is we need to get a hold of that. We cannot continue to go down the $19 trillion in debt. So our plan will save over $1 trillion over the next 10 years and make sure that Social Security and Medicare are there for those who truly need it and also make sure that we have money to be able to reduce taxes and spend on the things we need to spend. I will also, on my first day as \u2014 as president, sign a executive order that says no more regulation for the next 120 days by any government agency or department. We are drowning in regulations. Stop and then we'll go out there and we'll cut and reduce regulation that small business owners across this country want us to do. You'll grow the economy then. More money will come into the system and we'll get more closer to balance. But the bottom line is, believe me, Hillary Clinton's coming for your wallet, everybody. Don't worry about Huckabee or Jindal, worry about her. +p4586 +aVWell, let's start with this, remember why we're in the position we're in with China, because an absolutely weak and feckless foreign policy that was engineered by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. That's why we're in the position we're in......because the Chinese......the Chinese don't take us seriously and why should they? Why should they? They hacked into the American government's personnel file and took millions of records in cyberwarfare against this country. I'm one of the victims of that hack. They took my Social Security number, my fingerprints as a former United States attorney that was on file in there. And what has this president done? Not one thing. Let me be really clear about what I would do. If the Chinese commit cyberwarfare against us, they are going to see cyberwarfare like they have never seen before. And that is a closed society in China......where they're hiding information from their own people. The information we take, we'll make sure all the Chinese people see it. Then they'll have some real fun in Beijing when we start showing them how they're spending their money in China. And one last thing. One last thing. I will tell you this, they're building those artificial islands in the South China Sea and the president won't \u2014 up until recently, wouldn't sail a ship within 12 miles or fly a plane over it. I'll tell you this, the first thing I'll do with the Chinese is I'll throw \u2014 I'll fly Air Force One over those islands. They'll know we mean business. +p4587 +aVI'll tell you, Gerry, it's interesting, if you go to New Jersey, they'll call me lots of different things. A liberal is not one of them. Um, and......I would say this. I have great respect for Bobby's record in Louisiana. I think he's been a wonderful governor and I think he's provided outstanding leadership for that state and I respect him for what he's done. And I think that all of us deserve that same level of respect. And my point is this. You know, the differences between me and Bobby Jindal, we can talk about those, and obviously, Bobby wants to spent a lot of time tonight talking about that. I'll tell you what I want to talk about. I want to talk about what's going to happen to this country if we have another four years of Barack Obama's policies. And by the way, it will be even worse, because Hillary Clinton is running so far to the left to treaty to catch up to her socialist opponent, Bernie Sanders, it's hard to even see her anymore. The fact is \u2014 the fact is that we'd better be focused on it. And I'll tell you what I'll bring to the table, the fact that I've won in a blue state, that I've won in a state that has 750,000 more Democrats than Republicans......that I won in a state for reelection after governing as a pro-life conservative......and got 61 percent of the vote. That's the person you want on the stage prosecuting the case against Hillary Clinton. +p4588 +aVI don't... +p4589 +aV..Let me... +p4590 +aV...Let me just... +p4591 +aV...Sure. It's interesting. I complimented Bobby, imagine how much time he'd want if I actually criticized him. You know, the fact is, he's done \u2014 done a nice job down in Louisiana, and I don't have any problem with the job he's done. I've cut spending $2 billion dollars, except for our pension and health care in New Jersey, which was driven predominantly by Obamacare. We have reduce the number of employees we have on the state payroll by 15%, but, you know what? The people out there don't care about any of that. You know what they care about? They care about who's going to be able to beat Hillary Clinton......Who's going to keep their eye on the ball? I'm going to keep my eye on the ball. +p4592 +aVYeah, listen. We stopped Obamacare in New Jersey because we refused to participate in the federal exchange. But, here's the bigger issue. What do you think's going to happen when Hillary Clinton's elected president of the United States? The woman who tried to impose healthcare on this country over 20 years ago? And, she was stopped then by a strong group of republicans, and an American public that said, "No, thank you." What she will do \u2014 what she will do is move us towards a single payer system. She will completely nationalize the federal health care system. That's what she wanted to do 20 years ago, and I guarantee you that's what she'll do if you give her the keys to the White House one more time. The fact is we need someone who knows how to beat democrats, who knows how to beat democrats in a democratic area. I've done it twice as governor of New Jersey, and Hillary Clinton doesn't want one minute on that stage with me next September when I'm debating her, and prosecuting her for her vision for America... +p4593 +aVI'll continue in the pattern and just say... And just say this to everybody, since it seems to be an open question. I'll tell you the thing that disturbs me the most about what's going on with the Democratic Party in Washington, that they're not standing behind our police officers across this country. That they're allowing lawlessness... That they're allowing lawlessness to reign in this country. I spent seven years of my life in law enforcement, here's what every law enforcement, 700,000, should know tonight. When President Christie is in the Oval Office, I'll have your back. +p4594 +aVYes. You know, our tax plan puts forward a highest rate of 28 percent for those who are doing the most and making the most in this country and 8 percent on the low end. And I agree with Senator Santorum, we get rid of all of the deductions and loopholes, except for the home mortgage interest deduction and the charitable contribution deduction. That means getting rid of the state and local income tax deduction, as well, because that will put more pressure on governors and on local officials not to keep raising those taxes, saying we can deduct them. And so ours will be 28 on the high end, 8 on the low end. And I will tell you one other thing. Americans for Tax Reform came out with a report six weeks ago and said I vetoed more tax increases than any governor in American history. I will do exactly the same thing as president of the United States. +p4595 +aVGerry, this has been the most political Federal Reserve I've seen in my lifetime. Now, when they first cut interest rates during the economic recession and the crisis, that was the right thing to do. But they've kept those interest rates artificially low for one reason, and one reason only. Because they're trying to politically support Barack Obama and his agenda. And it's been wrong. And what it's done, in an administration where the President has talked about income inequality, he's had more income inequality in this administration than any previous administration. The middle class is doing worse than it's ever done before. And the investor class, the wealthy, are doing even better because of this cheap money from the Fed. And here's the worst part, we had one and a half percent GDP growth last quarter. If we slide back towards a recession, you cannot lower interest rates below zero. Where are we going to go if we need help if the economy slides back into recession? And with this government- controlled economy that Barack Obama, we're moving right towards it. The Fed should be audited and the Fed should stop playing politics with our money supply. That's what they've done. It's been the wrong thing to do. It's hurting the American economy. And......let me......let me add one other thing on this. Be very aware now, because what Hillary Clinton is talking about doing, if she's president of the United States, is to make sure that the government gets even more involved in the economy, even more involved in making choices for everybody. You do not want that to happen. You need someone who's going to stand up on that stage and prosecute the case against her and prosecute it strong. That's what I'll do. +p4596 +aVThe way to reconnect Americans to the men and women in uniform is to first, and foremost, give them a Commander in Chief who respects the military, and respects everyone who wears the uniform. Starts at the top there... And Secretary Clinton says, there's no crisis at the V.A.. That send a long, and hard message to our veterans that she doesn't get it, and she doesn't respect their service. When the President of the United States doesn't back up law enforcement officers in uniform, he loses the moral authority to any man or woman who is uniform. I spent seven years in law enforcement......I respect these folks, and I will do so as Commander in Chief of the military. +p4597 +aVI want to tell the American people who are watching tonight the truth. I saw the most disgraceful thing I've seen in this entire campaign a few weeks ago. Hillary Clinton was asked the enemy she's most proud of, and she said, "Republicans". In a world where we have Al-Qaeda, and +p4598 +asVWILKINS +p4599 +(lp4600 +V...law school. My question for the candidates is, do black lives matter, or do all lives matter? +p4601 +asVCARSON +p4602 +(lp4603 +VThank you, Wolf. Please join me for a moment of silence and remembrance of the San Bernardino victims. Thank you. You know, our country since its inception has been at war, every 15 or 20 years. But the war that we are fighting now against radical Islamist jihadists is one that we must win. Our very existence is dependent upon that. You know, as a pediatric neurosurgeon, I frequently faced life and death situations, and had to come up with the right diagnosis, the right plan, and execute that plan frequently with other colleagues. Right now, the United States of America is the patient. And the patient is in critical condition and will not be cured by political correctness and will not be cured by timidity. And I am asking the Congress, which represents the people, to declare a war on +p4604 +aVFirst of all, let me just complain a little bit. This is the first time I've spoken and several people have had multiple questions so please try to pay attention to that. Now, as far as monitoring is concerned, what my point is, we need to make sure that any place \u2013 I don't care whether it's a mosque, a school, a supermarket, a theater, you know it doesn't matter. If there are a lot of people getting there and engaging in radicalizing activities then we need to be suspicious of it. We have to get rid of all this PC stuff. And people are worried about if somebody's going to say that I'm Islamophobic or what have you. This is craziness because we are at war. That's why I asked congress, go ahead and declare the war . We need to be on a war footing. We need to understand that our nation is in grave danger. You know, what the Muslim Brotherhood said in the explanatory memorandum that was discovered during the Holy Land Foundation Trial was that, "they will take advantage of our PC attitude to get us. :" We have to be better than this. We have to be smarter than they are. +p4605 +aVI think you have to ask them about that. I don't want to get in between them. Let them fight. +p4606 +aVNeurosurgeon. +p4607 +aVWell, interestingly enough, you should see the eyes of some of those children when I say to them we're going to have to open your head up and take out this tumor. They're not happy about it, believe me. And they don't like me very much at that point. But later on, they love me. Sometimes you \u2014 I sound like him. You know, later on, you know, they really realize what's going on. And by the same token, you have to be able to look at the big picture and understand that it's actually merciful if you go ahead and finish the job, rather than death by 1,000 pricks. +p4608 +aVYou got it. You got it. +p4609 +aVRuthless is not necessarily the word I would use, but tough, resolute, understanding what the problems are, and understanding that the job of the president of the United States is to protect the people of this country and to do what is necessary in order to get it done. +p4610 +aVFirst of all, I've been talking about this for over a year. We have to destroy their caliphate because that gives them legitimacy to go ahead with the global Jihad. We have to take their energy because they are \u2014 +p4611 +aVNo one is ever better off with dictators but there comes a time you know, when you're on an airplane, they always say, "in case of an emergency oxygen masks will drop down. Put yours on first and then administer help to your neighbor." We need oxygen right now. And we need to start thinking about the needs of the American people before we go and solve everybody else's problems. The fact of the matter is, is that the Middle East has been in turmoil for thousands of years. For us to think that we're going to in there and fix that with a couple of little bombs and a few little decorations is relatively foolish. +p4612 +aVWell, you know, there's a false narrative that only the political class has the wisdom and the ability to be commander-in- chief. But if you go back and you study the design of our country, it was really designed for the citizen statesman. And we need to be talking about where does your experience come from? You know, and I've had a lot of experience building things, organizing things, you know, a national scholarship program. One of the things that you'll notice if you look through my life is that I don't do a lot of talking. I do a lot of doing. And really, it says more about a person than how much they talk. And then some people say you're weak because, you know, you're not loud and you're not boisterous and you're not rude. But the fact of the matter is, look and see what I've done. And that speaks volumes about strength. +p4613 +aVWell, it was very interesting having an opportunity to talk to the Syrians themselves. And I asked them: What do you want? What is your supreme desire? Their supreme desire was to be settled back in their own country. I said, "What can Americans and other countries do?" They said, "Support the efforts of those who are trying to provide safety for us, including the Jordanians." Of course, they had a brand new hospital, for instance, that was unstaffed because there wasn't enough money to do it. But here's what's really neat. If you go into Hasakah province in northeast Syria, that's an area that's as big as Lebanon. It's controlled by the Kurds, the Christians and the moderate Sunnis. And there are airstrips and hotels. You could settle a lot of people there. All we would have to do is be willing to provide them with some weaponry, some defensive weaponry. And we seem to be afraid to give the Kurds weaponry. We like to send it for some strange reason through Baghdad, and then they only get a tenth of it. And if we would support them, we'd have a perfect ideal there. We don't need to set this up as we either take a bunch of refugees who will be infiltrated with terrorists, I guarantee you. For them not to be would be terrorist malpractice. And we need to \u2014 to choose the right choice, not these false choices. +p4614 +aVWell, I definitely believe that he is unstable, and I do, in fact, believe that China has a lot more influence with him than we do. But we also recognize that North Korea is in severe financial straits, and they have decided to use their resources to build their military, rather than to feed their people and to take care of the various humanitarian responsibilities that they have. We can capitalize upon that. You know, we should use our economic power in lots of different ways. I think we can use that in order to keep Putin contained, because he is a one-horse show. Energy. And we have an abundance of energy, but we have archaic energy exportation rules. We need to get rid of those, allow ourselves to really make Europe dependent on us and other parts of the world dependent on us for energy. Put him back in his little box where he belongs. And, you know, we need to be doing lots of other things with the resources that we have. So economic power works just as well as military power, perhaps even better. And speaking of that, our Military needs to be upgraded. You know, you look at things like our Ohio Class submarines, they're 25 years old. Our minuteman 3 missiles \u2014 they are 34 years old. Our B-52 bombers \u2014 50 years old. You know, if we don't get the military right nothing else matters. +p4615 +aVWell, you know, the statement that I made last week, that I would leave the party was contingent upon whether in fact the party acts like they have in the past with a lot of subterfuge and dishonesty, or like they're going act now because I spike to Reince Priebus, and he assured me that the Washington Post writer had it all wrong, and that they're not be engaging in anything to thwart the will of the people. That's why I got into this race, as a member of we the people, to try bring some honesty and integrity back to the process. +p4616 +aVI've been fortunate enough to travel to 58 different countries and I thank God everyday that I was born in this country. The most exceptional country that the world has ever known. And I want to make sure that we preserve that exceptionalism for the next generation. My mother told me if I work hard and I really believed in American principles and I believed in God, anything is possible. I believe that is true, and that's why I'm not anxious to give away American values and principles for the sake of political correctness. +p4617 +aVWell, first of all, delighted to be here. My family's here, and my little granddaughter, who's three years old, said she wanted to come to the debate. So this is very cool. As far as the minimum wage is concerned, people need to be educated on the minimum wage. Every time we raise the minimum wage, the number of jobless people increases. It's particularly a problem in the black community. Only 19.8 percent of black teenagers have a job, who are looking for one. You know, that \u2014 and that's because of those high wages. If you lower those wages, that comes down. You know, I can remember, as a youngster \u2014 you know, my first job working in a laboratory as a lab assistant, and multiple other jobs. But I would not have gotten those jobs if someone had to pay me a large amount of money. But what I did gain from those jobs is a tremendous amount of experience, and how to operate in the world and how to relate to different people, and how to become a responsible individual. And that's what gave me what I needed to ascend the ladder of opportunity in this country. That's what we need to be thinking about. How do we allow people to ascend the ladder of opportunity, rather than how do we give them everything and keep them dependent? +p4618 +aVI would not raise it. I would not raise it, specifically because I'm interested in making sure that people are able to enter the job market and take advantage of opportunities. +p4619 +aVWell, first of all, thank you not asking me what I said in the 10th grade. I appreciate that. +p4620 +aVThe fact of the matter is, you know, what \u2014 we should vet all candidates. I have no problem with being vetted. What I do have a problem with is being lied about and then putting that out there as truth. And I don't even mind that so much, if they do it about \u2014 with everybody, like people on the other side. But, you know, when I look at somebody like Hillary Clinton, who sits there and tells her daughter and a government official that no, this was a terrorist attack, and then tells everybody else that it was a video. Where I came from, they call that a lie. And... I think that's very different from, you know, somebody misinterpreting, when I said that I was offered a scholarship to West Point, that is the words that they used. But, I've had many people come and say the same thing to me. That is what people do in those situations. We have to start treating people the same, and finding out what people really think and what they're made of. People who know me know that I'm an honest person. +p4621 +aVWell, you know, when I say tithing, I'm talking about the concept of proportionality. +p4622 +aVEverybody should pay the same proportion of what they make. You make $10 billion, you pay a billion. You make $10, you pay one. You get same rights and privileges. I don't see how anything gets a whole lot fairer than that. But you also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes because that is the thing that tilts it in one direction or another. And you have to set the rate at an appropriate level. Now I will say that, there are a lot of people who say, if you get rid of the deductions, you ruin the American dream because, you know, home mortgage deduction. But the fact of the matter is, people had homes before 1913 when we introduced the federal income tax, and later after that started deductions. And they say there will be no more charitable giving. We had churches before that and charitable organizations before that. The fact of the matter is, I believe if you put more money in people's pockets that they will actually be more generous rather than less generous. And it's... ... the money that they earned. And, the other thing is, I do care about the poor people. And in the system that we're putting together, there will be a rebate for people at the poverty level. But I also want to emphasize the fact that as we get the economy moving, and I hope I get a question about how do we get the economy moving, there will be a lot more opportunities for poor people not to be poor people because this is America. This is the land of dreams. And our policies should be aimed at allowing people to realize that dream. +p4623 +aVWell, putting the special ops people in there is better than not having them there, because they \u2014 that's why they're called special ops, they're actually able to guide some of the other things that we're doing there. And what we have to recognize is that Putin is trying to really spread his influence throughout the Middle East. This is going to be his base. And we have to oppose him there in an effective way. We also must recognize that it's a very complex place. You know, the Chinese are there, as well as the Russians, and you have all kinds of factions there. What we've been doing so far is very ineffective, but we can't give up ground right there. But we have to look at this on a much more global scale. We're talking about global jihadists. And their desire is to destroy us and to destroy our way of life. So we have to be saying, how do we make them look like losers? Because that's the way that they're able to gather a lot of influence. And I think in order to make them look like losers, we have to destroy their caliphate. And you look for the easiest place to do that? It would be in Iraq. And if \u2014 outside of Anbar in Iraq, there's a big energy field. Take that from them. Take all of that land from them. We could do that, I believe, fairly easily, I've learned from talking to several generals, and then you move on from there. But you have to continue to face them, because our goal is not to contain them, but to destroy them before they destroy us. +p4624 +aVWell, I think we should have policies that don't allow them to just enlarge themselves at the expense of smaller entities. And certainly some of the policies, some of the monetary and Fed policies that we're using makes it very easy for them, makes it very easy for the big corporations, quite frankly, at these very low interest rates to buy back their stock and to drive the price of that up artificially. Those are the kinds of things that led to the problem in the first place. And I think this all really gets back to this whole regulation issue which is creating a very abnormal situation. This country was \u2014 declared its independence in 1776. In less than 100 years, it was the number-one economic power in the world. And the reason was because we had an atmosphere that encouraged entrepreneurial risk- taking and capital investment. Those are the fuels that drive it. And what we've done now is let the creep of regulation turn into a stampede of regulations, which is involved in every aspect of our lives. If we can get that out, it makes a big difference. And even for the average person, every single regulation costs money. And it's shifted to the individual. So \u2014 and it hurts the poor and the middle class much more than it does the rich. They go into the store and they buy a bar of soap, it costs 10 cents more, they notice it. And the middle class, when they come to the cash register, have a whole cart full of things that cost 5, 10 or 15 cents more, they notice it. It is hurting the poor. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton won't tell you that that's the thing that's really hurting middle class in the core. They'll say it's the rich, take their money, but that won't help. You can take all of the rich's money and it won't make a dent in the problem that we're having. We have to come back to the fundamental principles that made America great. +p4625 +aVI would have policies that wouldn't allow that to occur. I don't want to go in and tear anybody down. I mean, that doesn't help us. But what does help us is stop tinkering around the edges and fix the actual problems that exist that are creating the problem in the first place. +p4626 +aVIn the two hours of this \u2014 of this debate, five people have died from drug-related deaths, $100 million has been added to our national debt, 200 babies have been killed by abortionists, and two veterans have taken their lives out of despair. This is a narrative that we can change, not we the Democrats, not we the Republicans, but we the people of America, because there is something special about this nation, and we must embrace it and be proud of it and never give it away for the sake of political correctness. +p4627 +aVProbably in terms of the applying for the job of president, a weakness would be not really seeing myself in that position until hundreds of thousands of people began to tell me that I needed to do it. I do, however, believe in Reagan's 11th commandment, and will not be engaging in awful things about my compatriots here. And recognizing that it's so important, this election, because we're talking about America for the people versus America for the government. +p4628 +aVWell, first of all, I didn't say that the rate would be 10 percent. I used the tithing analogy. +p4629 +aVThe rate \u2014 the rate \u2014 the rate is gonna be much closer to 15 percent. +p4630 +aVYou also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes. You also have to some strategically cutting in several places. Remember, we have 645 federal agencies and sub-agencies. Anybody who tells me that we need every penny and every one of those is in a fantasy world. So, also, we can stimulate the economy. That's gonna be the real growth engine. Stimulating the economy \u2014 because it's tethered down right now with so many regulations... +p4631 +aVThat's not true. +p4632 +aVWhen \u2014 when we put all the facts down, you'll be able to see that it's not true, it works out very well. +p4633 +aVSince I was attacked too. +p4634 +aVLet me just say, if you're talking about an $18 trillion economy, you're talking about a 15 percent tax on your gross domestic product. You're talking about $2.7 trillion. We have a budget closer to $3.5 trillion. But if you also apply that same 15 percent to several other things, including corporate taxes, and including the capital gains taxes, you make that amount up pretty quickly. So that is not by any stretch a pie in the sky. +p4635 +aVWell, there is no question that some people go overboard when it comes to trying to make profits, and they don't take into consideration the American people. What we have to start thinking about, as leaders, particularly in government, is what can we do for the average American? And you think about the reasons that we're having such difficulty right now with our job market. Well, the average small manufacturer, whatever they're manufacturing, drugs or anything, if they have less than 50 employees, the average cost in terms of regulations is $34,000 per employee. Makes it a whole lot easier for them to want to go somewhere else. So what we're going to have to start doing instead of, you know, picking on this group or this group, is we're going to have to have a major reduction in the regulatory influence that is going on. The government is not supposed to be in every part of our lives, and that is what is causing the problem. +p4636 +aVWell, obviously, you don't understand my views on homosexuality. I believe that our Constitution protects everybody, regardless of their sexual orientation or any other aspect. I also believe that marriage is between one man and one woman. And there is no reason that you can't be perfectly fair to the gay community. They shouldn't automatically assume that because you believe that marriage is between one man and one woman that you are a homophobe. And this is one of the myths that the left perpetrates on our society, and this is how they frighten people and get people to shut up. You know, that's what the PC culture is all about, and it's destroying this nation. The fact of the matter is we the American people are not each other's enemies, it's those people who are trying to divide us who are the enemies. And we need to make that very clear to everybody. +p4637 +aVWell, that's easy to answer. I didn't have an involvement with them. That is total propaganda, and this is what happens in our society. Total propaganda. I did a couple of speeches for them, I do speeches for other people. They were paid speeches. It is absolutely absurd to say that I had any kind of a relationship with them. Do I take the product? Yes. I think it's a good product. +p4638 +aVIf somebody put me on their homepage, they did it without my permission. +p4639 +aVNo, it speaks to the fact that I don't know those \u2014 See? They know. +p4640 +aVWell, first of all, I was wrong about taking the oil subsidy. I have studied that issue in great detail. And what I have concluded is that the best policy is to get rid of all government subsidies, and get the government out of our lives, and let people rise and fall based on how good they are. And \u2014 you know, all of this too big to fail stuff and picking and choosing winners and losers \u2014 this is a bunch of crap, and it is really causing a great deal of \u2014 great deal of problems for our society right now. And \u2014 and \u2014 you know, it goes back to the whole concept of regulations, which are in everything. The reason that I \u2014 I hate them so much is because every single regulation costs in terms of goods and services. That cost gets passed on to the people. Now, who are the people who are hurt by that? It's poor people and middle class. Doesn't hurt rich people if their bar of soap goes up ten cents, but it hurts the poor and the middle class. And Bernie Sanders will tell them that it's because of the rich. Well, I'll tell you something: you can take everything from the top 1 percent, and you apply it to our fiscal gap, and you won't even make a dent in it. +p4641 +aVAbout Medicare? +p4642 +aVWell, first of all the \u2014 the plan gives people the option of \u2014 of opting out. But I think they will see a very good option here. You know, the annual Medicare budget is over $600 billion. And there are 48 million people involved \u2014 40 million, 65 and over, and 8 million other. Divide that out. That comes out to $12,500 for each one. Now, I can tell you there are a lot of private-sector things that you could do with $12,500, which will get you a lot more than you get from this government program. And that's really a theme of a lot of the things that I'm talking about. How do we utilize our intellect rather than allowing the government to use its, quote, "intellect," in order to help us to be able to live healthier and better lives? It was never intended that the government should be in every aspect of our lives. This is a country that is of, for and by the people. +p4643 +aVI just want to thank all my colleagues here for being civil, and not falling for the traps. And, I also just want to thank the audience for being attentive, and noticing the questions, and the noticing the answers. And, this is what I am finding throughout America. People are waking up because it is going to be us who will determine the direction of our country. And, it was made for we the people, we are the ones who decide who we are, and we should never give away the values and principles that made America into a great nation for the sake of political correctness. +p4644 +aVHi, I'm Ben Carson, and I'm a retired pediatric neurosurgeon. I'm here with my wife, Candy, of 40 years, and two of my sons, and their wives. I stress the pediatric part of my career because the reason that I've gotten involved in this race is because I'm very concerned about the future of our children, and the direction of our country is one that does not portend well, unless we, the people, intervene and retake our rightful place at the pinnacle. +p4645 +aVTypically, politicians do things that are politically expedient. And they are looking for whatever their particular goal is. That is not the reason that I have gotten into this thing. I'm extraordinary concerned about the direction of this country, the divisiveness that is going on, fiscal irresponsibility, the failure to take a leadership position in the world. All of those things will lead to a situation where the next generation will not have a chance that we've had now. So I don't \u2014 I don't want to really get into describing who's a politician and who's not a politician, but I think the people have kind of made that decision for themselves already, and will continue to do so as time goes on. +p4646 +aVJake, can I say something about that? +p4647 +aVYou know, when I entered this race, all the political pundits said it's impossible; you can't do it because you're not connected with the money. And there's no way that you can raise what you need in order to compete successfully. I in no way am willing to get in the bed with special interest group or lick the boots of billionaires. I have said to the people if they want me to do this, please get involved. And we now have over 500,000 donations, and the money is coming in. But the pundits forgot about one thing, and that is the people. And they are really in charge. +p4648 +aVWell, first of all, I recognize that we have an incredible illegal immigration problem. I was down in Arizona a few weeks ago at the border. I mean, the fences that were there were not manned, and those are the kind of fences when I was a kid that would barely slow us down. So, I don't see any purpose in having that. Now, what we need to do is look at something that actually works. Yuma County, Arizona. They stop 97 percent of the illegal immigrants through there. They put in a double fence with a road so that there was quick access by the enforcement people. If we don't seal the border, the rest of this stuff clearly doesn't matter. It's kind of ridiculous all the other things we talk about. We have the ability to do it, we don't have the will to do it. There was one area where they had cut a hole in the fence, and to repair it, they put a few strands of barb wire across. Well, the photographers who were there with us, they wanted to photograph us from the side of the Mexicans, and they went through there, and they were not physically fit people, and they took their cameras and things with them, and shot us from the other side. That's how easy it is to get across. And, the drugs, I mean, it goes on, and on, and on. ICE tells them to release these people, 67,000 criminals released... +p4649 +aV...on to our property, it's ridiculous. +p4650 +aVWell, I have also said, if anybody knows how to do that, that I would be willing to listen. And, if they can, you know, specify exactly how that's going to be done, and what the cost, and it sounds reasonable, then I think it's worth discussing... +p4651 +aVNot exactly what I said. +p4652 +aVWell, what I said, after we seal the borders, after we turn off the spigot that dispenses all the goodies so we don't have people coming in here, including employment, that people who had a pristine record, we should consider allowing them to become guest workers, primarily in the agricultural sphere, because that's the place where Americans don't seem to want to work. That's what I said. And they have a six-month period to do that. If they don't do it within that time period, then they become illegal, and as illegals, they will be treated as such. +p4653 +aVCan I \u2014 can I \u2014 can I just... +p4654 +aVCan I correct... +p4655 +aVOK. +p4656 +aVMy plan is not amnesty for a number of reasons. Number one, you know, I've talked to farmers, and they said they cannot hire Americans to do the kind of job that I'm talking about. And the second reason is because the individuals who register as guest workers, they don't get to vote, they are not American citizens, and they don't get the rights and privileges of American citizens. So that's key. But the other thing that I want to bring up is, I mentioned something earlier. I think it was just sort of glossed over. I talked about the success in Yuma County, I mean, incredible success, and the Department of Justice said, "No, we don't want to do that. That's too successful." We don't have to keep reinventing the wheel. All we have to do is look at things that work. All we have to do is use a little common sense. +p4657 +aVIt's all about America. You know, the people who say the guy who paid a billion dollars because he had 10, he has still got $9 billion left, that's not fair, we need to take more of his money. That's called socialism. That doesn't work so well. What made America into a great nation was the fact that we said, that guy just put in $1 billion, let's create an environment that's even more conducive to his success so that next year he can put in $2 billion. And that's the kind of thing that helps us to grow. We can't grow by continuing to take a piece of pie, and dividing it, and redistributing it. But, I'm also looking at what doctor \u2014 at what Governor Huckabee talked about... +p4658 +aVThe Fair Tax. Looking at both of them, and evaluating them both, and I'm talking to the American people because one of the things we must recognize is that this country is of, for, and by the people. And, it's really time that the government get out of the way, and let the people be the ones who decide how they want to run their country. +p4659 +aVWell, first of all, let me say what I actually said about raising the minimum wage. I was asked should it be raised, I said, probably, or possibly. But, what I added, which I think is the most important thing, so, I said we need to get both sides of this issue to sit down, and talk about it. Negotiate a reasonable minimum wage, and index that so that we never have to have this conversation again in the history of America. I think we also have to have two minimum wages, a starter, and a sustaining because how are young people ever going to get a job if you have such a high minimum wage that it makes it impractical to hire them... +p4660 +aVJake, Jake... +p4661 +aVI haven't had an opportunity to weigh in on foreign policy, and I just want to mention that when the war, when the issue occurred in 2003, I suggested to President Bush that he not go to war? OK. So I just want that on the record. And, you know, a lot of people are very much against us getting involved right now with global jihadism. And they refer back to our invasion of Iraq. And they seem to think that that was what caused it. What caused it was withdrawing from there and creating a vacuum which allowed this terrible situation to occur. But it is very different from what is going on today. We're talking about global jihadists who actually want to destroy us. They are an existential threat to our nation. And we have to be mature enough to recognize that our children will have no future if we put our heads in the sand. We have to recognize we have two choices. We either allow them the continue to progress and appear to be the winners, or we use every resource available to us to destroy... +p4662 +aV... them first. +p4663 +aVWell, recognize that, you know, President George W. Bush is a great friend of ours, and we spent many wonderful days at the White House. I haven't been there in the last seven years. I probably have to have a food-tester. But at any rate, I didn't suggest that nothing be done. What I suggested to President Bush is to be Kennedy-esque, in the sense that when the Russians got ahead of us in the space race, what we did is use the bully pulpit to galvanize everybody, business, industry, academia behind a national goal to put a man on the moon and bring him back safely. I said, you can do the same kind of thing. Declare that within five to 10 years we will become petroleum independent. The moderate Arab states would have been so concerned about that, they would have turned over Osama bin Laden and anybody else you wanted on a silver platter within two weeks. There are smart ways to do things and there are muscular ways to do things. And sometimes you have to look at both of those to come up with the right solution. +p4664 +aVI have no argument with having a strong leader, and to be aggressive where aggression is needed. But it is not needed in every circumstance. There is a time when you can use your intellect to come up with other ways to do things. And I think that's what we have to start thinking about. There is no question that a lot of these problems that we have been talking about in terms of the international situation is because we are weak. It is because our Navy is so small. It is because our Air Force is incapable of doing the same things that it did a few years ago. It's because our Marines Corps is not ready to be deployed. +p4665 +aVThere are a lot of problems that are going on, and we need to solve those problems, we need to build up our military... +p4666 +aVWell, let me put it this way, there has \u2014 there have been numerous studies, and they have not demonstrated that there is any correlation between vaccinations and autism. This was something that was spread widely 15 or 20 years ago, and it has not been adequately, you know, revealed to the public what's actually going on. Vaccines are very important. Certain ones. The ones that would prevent death or crippling. There are others, there are a multitude of vaccines which probably don't fit in that category, and there should be some discretion in those cases. But, you know, a lot of this is \u2014 is \u2014 is pushed by big government. And I think that's one of the things that people so vehemently want to get rid of, big government. You know, we have 4.1 million federal employees. Six hundred and fifty federal agencies and department (sic). That's why they have to take so much of our taxes. +p4667 +aVWell, you know, I've just explained it to him. He can read about it if he wants to. I think he's an intelligent man and will make the correct decision after getting the real facts. +p4668 +aVHe's an OK doctor. But, you know, the fact of the matter is, we have extremely well-documented proof that there's no autism associated with vaccinations. But it is true that we are probably giving way too many in too short a period of time. And a lot of pediatricians now recognize that, and, I think, are cutting down on the number and the proximity in which those are done, and I think that's appropriate. +p4669 +aVI'd put my mother on there. You know, she was one of 24 children, got married at age 13, had only a third grade education, had to raise two sons by herself, refused to be a victim. Wouldn't let us be victims, and has been an inspiration to many people. +p4670 +aVOne Nation. +p4671 +aVWell, you know, I was a radical Democrat before I started listening to Ronald Reagan. And he didn't sound like what they said Republicans were. He sounded logical. And I hope that I sound logical also. Because when I look at what is going on with the United States of America, I see a lot of things that are not logical. I see us allowing people to divide us, when in fact our strength is in our unity. I see people exercising the most irresponsible fiscal habits that anyone could possibly do. And hiding it from the American people, so that the majority of people have no idea what our financial situation is. So, when someone comes along and says, free college, free phones, free this and that, and the other, they say, "wow, that's nice," having no idea that they're destabilizing our position. And I think also that Ronald Reagan was a master at understanding that a pinnacle nation has to be a nation that leads. If we learn to lead in the Middle East right now, a coalition will form behind us, but never they do it if we just sit there and talk about it. Real leadership is what I would hopefully bring to America. +p4672 +aVWell, I could take issue with -- with all of those things, but we don't have time. But I will say, we have a debate here tonight, and we will have an opportunity to explore those areas, and I'm looking very much forward to demonstrating that, in fact, the thing that is probably most important is having a brain, and to be able to figure things out and learn things very rapidly. So, you know, experience comes from a large number of different arenas, and America became a great nation early on not because it was flooded with politicians, but because it was flooded with people who understood the value of personal responsibility, hard work, creativity, innovation, and that's what will get us on the right track now, as well. +p4673 +aVWell, thank you, Megyn, I wasn't sure I was going to get to talk again. +p4674 +aVAlright. You know, what we do in order to get the information that we need is our business, and I wouldn't necessarily be broadcasting what we're going to do. We. . .uh. . .we've gotten into this -- this mindset of fighting politically correct wars. There is no such thing as a politically correct war. And, the left, of course, will say Carson doesn't believe in the Geneva Convention. Carson doesn't believe in fighting stupid wars. And -- and what we have to remember is we want to utilize the tremendous intellect that we have in the military to win wars. And I've talked to a lot of the generals, a lot of our advanced people. And believe me, if we gave them the mission, which is what the commander-in-chief does, they would be able to carry it out. And if we don't tie their hands behind their back, they will do it......extremely effectively. +p4675 +aVWhat I agree with is that we need a significantly changed taxation system. And the one that I've advocated is based on tithing, because I think God is a pretty fair guy. And he said, you know, if you give me a tithe, it doesn't matter how much you made. If you've had a bumper crop, you don't owe me triple tithes. And if you've had no crops at all, you don't owe me no tithes. So there must be something inherently fair about that. And that's why I've advocated a proportional tax system. You make $10 billion, you pay a billion. You make $10, you pay one. And everybody gets treated the same way. And you get rid of the deductions, you get rid of all the loopholes, and... +p4676 +aVAnd I have a lot more to say about it. +p4677 +aVIf Hillary is the candidate, which I doubt, that would be a dream come true. But you know, the fact of the matter is, she is the epitome of the progressive -- the secular progressive movement. And she counts on the fact that people are uninformed, the Alinsky Model, taking advantage of useful idiots. Well, I just happen to believe that people are not stupid. And the way I will come at it is to educate people, help people to actually understand that it is that progressive movement that is causing them the problems. You know, you look at the -- the national debt and how it's being driven up. If I was trying to destroy this country, what I would do is find a way to drive wedges between all the people, drive the debt to an unsustainable level, and then step off the stage as a world leader and let our enemies increase while we decreased our capacity as a military person. And that's what she's doing. +p4678 +aVWell, what we have to stop and think about is that we have weakened ourselves militarily to such an extent that if affects all of our military policies. Our Navy is at its smallest size since 1917; our Air Force, since 1940. In recent testimony, the commandant of the Marine Corps said half of the non-deployed units were not ready and you know, the sequester is cutting the heart out of our personnel. Our generals are retiring because they don't want to be part of this, and at the same time, our enemies are increasing. Our -- our friends can't trust us anymore. You know, Ukraine was a nuclear-armed state. They gave away their nuclear arms with the understanding that we would protect them. We won't even give them offensive weapons. You know, we turned our back on Israel, our ally. You know, in a situation like that, of course Obama's not going to be able to do anything. I would shore up our military first, because if you don't get the military right, nothing else is going to work. +p4679 +aVWell, I think the bully pulpit is a wonderful place to start healing that divide. You know, we have the purveyors of hatred who take every single incident between people of two races and try to make a race war out of it, and drive wedges into people. And this does not need to be done. What we need to think about instead -- you know, I was asked by an NPR reporter once, why don't I talk about race that often. I said it's because I'm a neurosurgeon. And she thought that was a strange response. And you say -- I said, you see, when I take someone to the operating room, I'm actually operating on the thing that makes them who they are. The skin doesn't make them who they are. The hair doesn't make them who they are. And it's time for us to move beyond that. Because......our strength as a nation comes in our unity. We are the United States of America, not the divided states. And those who want to destroy us are trying to divide us, and we shouldn't let them do it. +p4680 +aVWell, I haven't said anything about me being the only one to do anything, so let me try that. I'm the only one to separate Siamese twins... The -- the only one to operate on babies while they were still in mother's womb, the only one to take out half of a brain, although you would think, if you go to Washington, that someone had beat me to it. But I -- but I'm very hopeful that I'm not the only one who's willing to pick up the baton of freedom, because freedom is not free, and we must fight for it every day. Every one of us must fight for it, because we're fighting for our children and the next generation. +p4681 +asVQUINTANILLA +p4682 +(lp4683 +VGood evening, I'm Carl Quintanilla, with my colleagues Becky Quick and John Harwood. We'll be joined tonight by some of +p4684 +aVGovernor? +p4685 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p4686 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Bush. +p4687 +aVSenator Rubio. +p4688 +aVMr. Trump? +p4689 +aVDr. Carson? +p4690 +aVMrs. Fiorina? +p4691 +aVFixed it. +p4692 +aVSenator Cruz? +p4693 +aVGovernor Christie? +p4694 +aVSenator Paul? +p4695 +aVThanks to all the candidates. John? +p4696 +aVHold it. We'll cut it back to you in just a minute. Becky's moving on. +p4697 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor. thank you, Governor. +p4698 +aVMr. Trump, 30 seconds. +p4699 +aVThank you, Governor. +p4700 +aVWe're going to try to move on. +p4701 +aVYou want to bring 70,000 pages to three? +p4702 +aVIs that using really small type? +p4703 +aVIs that using really small type? +p4704 +aVMrs. Fiorina \u2014 +p4705 +aVWe're going to \u2014 +p4706 +aVWe will come around the bend, i promise. This one is for Senator Rubio. You've been a young man in a hurry ever since you won your first election in your 20s. You've had a big accomplishment in the Senate, an immigration bill providing a path to citizenship the conservatives in your party hate, and even you don't support anymore. Now, you're skipping more votes than any senator to run for president. Why not slow down, get a few more things done first or least finish what you start? +p4707 +aVSo when the Sun-Sentinel says Rubio should resign, not rip us off, when they say Floridians sent you to Washington to do a job, when they say you act like you hate your job, do you? +p4708 +aVWell, do you hate your job? +p4709 +aVIs that the standard? +p4710 +aVSenator, thank you. John. +p4711 +aVThank you, Senator. +p4712 +aVSenator Cruz. Congressional Republicans, Democrats and the White House are about to strike a compromise that would raise the debt limit, prevent a government shutdown and calm financial markets that fear of \u2014 another Washington-created crisis is on the way. Does your opposition to it show that you're not the kind of problem-solver American voters want? +p4713 +aV do we get credit ? +p4714 +aVSo, this is a question about , which you have 30 seconds left to answer, should you choose to do so. +p4715 +aVOK. I asked you about the debt limit and I got no answer. +p4716 +aVWe promised we would get to everyone this block. Governor Huckabee, I'm going to give you 60 seconds on this. +p4717 +aV...Governor... +p4718 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p4719 +aV...Senator Cruz... +p4720 +aVOK, alright. +p4721 +aVSenator Cruz... +p4722 +aV...Before we go to break, we're clearly not having that beer you mentioned, but I'll give you 30 more seconds... +p4723 +aVOK. +p4724 +aVI'll give you 30 seconds to respond... +p4725 +aVRespond on the debt limit, or an answer to the governor, which ever you choose. +p4726 +aV30 seconds, Governor Huckabee. +p4727 +aVGovernor, thank you. We will take a break. The Republican Presidential debate, live from Boulder, Colorado, coming back after a break on +p4728 +aVMrs. Fiorina, in 2010, while running for Senate in Tech Ridge (ph), California, you called an Internet sales tax a bad idea. Traditional brick and mortar stores obviously disagree. Now that the Internet shopping playing field has matured, what would be a fair plan to even that playing field? +p4729 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p4730 +aVOK. +p4731 +aVThank you very much. +p4732 +aVDr. Carson, we know you as a physician, but we wanted to ask you about your involvement on some corporate boards, including Costco's. Last year, a marketing study called the warehouse retailer the number one gay-friendly brand in America, partly because of its domestic partner benefits. Why would you serve on a company whose policies seem to run counter to your views on homosexuality? +p4733 +aVOne more question. This is a company called Mannatech, a maker of nutritional supplements, with which you had a 10-year relationship. They offered claims that they could cure autism, cancer, they paid $7 million to settle a deceptive marketing lawsuit in Texas, and yet you're involvement continued. Why? +p4734 +aVTo be fair, you were on the homepage of their website with the logo over your shoulder \u2014 +p4735 +aVDoes that not speak to your vetting process or judgment in any way. +p4736 +aVApparently. We will take a break. We'll be back in Boulder in just a minute. +p4737 +aV...We'll come back around. I want to get to governor Kasich. +p4738 +aVGovernor Kasich, let's talk ... +p4739 +aV...about Marijuana, Governor Kasich... +p4740 +aVAlright, but 30 seconds, you made a case. Sure, 30 seconds. +p4741 +aVSenator, thank you. +p4742 +aVOh, no, no, no... +p4743 +aV...Ok... +p4744 +aV...We're going to go to... +p4745 +aVOK. Thank you, Senator. Governor Kasich, let's talk about marijuana. We're broadcasting from Colorado which has seen $150 million in new revenue for the state since legalizing last year. Governor Hickenlooper is not a big fan of legalization, but he's said the people who used to be smoking it are still smoking it, they're just now paying taxes. Given the budget pressures in Ohio, and other states, is this a revenue stream you'd like to have? +p4746 +aVThank you, Governor. +p4747 +aVThank you. We'll be back from Boulder, Colorado in just a moment. +p4748 +aVMr. Trump, you've said you have a special permit to carry a gun in New York. +p4749 +aVAfter the Oregon mass shooting on October 1st, you said, "By the way, it was a gun-free zone. If you had a couple of teachers with guns, you would have been a hell of a lot better off." +p4750 +aVWould you feel more comfortable if your employees brought guns to work? +p4751 +aVAre you carrying one now? +p4752 +aVWe called a few Trump resorts, a few Trump properties that \u2014 that do not allow guns with or without a permit. Would you change those policies? +p4753 +aVOK. All right. Thank you. John? +p4754 +aVGovernor Bush, daily fantasy sports has become a phenomenon in this country, will award billions of dollars in prize money this year. But to play you have to assess your odds, put money at risk, wait for an outcome that's out of your control. Isn't that the definition of gambling, and should the Federal Government treat it as such? +p4755 +aVI had a feeling you were going to brag about that. +p4756 +aVThis is the\u2014 well, we're going to take a break. We want to save time for closing statements after the break. So this is the Republican presidential debate in Boulder, and we'll be right back. +p4757 +aVSenator Rubio... +p4758 +aV...yeah, I just wanted . +p4759 +aVI want to give you 30 seconds here. +p4760 +aVThat concludes tonight's debate. On behalf of my colleagues Becky Quick, John Harwood, Sharon Epperson, Rick Santelli and Jim Cramer, we'd like to our host, the University of Colorado at Boulder, the Republican National Committee, the candidates and, of course, tonight's audience. +p4761 +aV...Question, in the meantime, for Senator Santorum. You have advocated a flat tax, so we'd like to ask you about fairness. Why is it fair to tax all Americans at the same rate, as opposed to taxing more affluent Americans at higher rates? +p4762 +aVSenator, thank you. John \u2014 Becky? +p4763 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live in boulder, Colorado, on cNBC. We resume our questions now with Jim Cramer, the host of +p4764 +aVSenator Graham. You have said you believe that climate change is real. You've said you accept tax increases as part of a budget deal with Democrats. You've co-sponsored a Senate immigration bill providing a path to citizenship for those in the country illegally. Are you in the wrong party's debate? +p4765 +aVMy question for Governor Jindal, Paul Ryan says he would take the speaker job if it did not take away from his family time. The Department of Labor says 13 percent of American workers are eligible for paid family leave and the U.S. is the only developed nation in the world not to have guaranteed paid maternity leave for new moms. Should the government work to change that? +p4766 +aVGovernor, thank you. John? +p4767 +ag3512 +aVWelcome back to the University of Colorado, and the Republican Presidential Debate on +p4768 +aVWell, let's get to that. I mean, another example, for example, is Walgreens. +p4769 +aVI'm sure you do. Walgreens/Rite Aid. Big deal, consolidation in drug stores, semiconductors, food. What is the line at which something becomes anti-competitive in your view? +p4770 +aVSenator. +p4771 +aVThank you. Becky. +p4772 +aVQuestion for Senator Santorum. +p4773 +aVAfter this question maybe. The 2015 Nobel Prize winner for economics argues that slow growth causes poverty, and that leads to inequality. What would you do to ease inequality? And what would you do solve poverty? By the way, thanks to Larry Kudlow, +p4774 +aVGovernor Jindal, I'll give you 30 seconds on this. +p4775 +aVWe've got one more. One more lightning round. Governor Jindal, should the day after the Super Bowl be a national holiday? +p4776 +aVSenator? +p4777 +aVGovernor? +p4778 +aVFinally, Senator? +p4779 +aVThat concludes our first part of the evening. +p4780 +asVGILMORE +p4781 +(lp4782 +VWell, Bill, can I first... +p4783 +aVWell, first of all, Bill, let me say one thing, I have been in Iowa. But this is not the place where I'm choosing to begin my campaign. I am beginning my campaign in New Hampshire and I decided to do that based upon the process that is in place in Iowa and the primary that's in place in New Hampshire. But never mind that, I want to return to something. I'm the only veteran, Bill and Martha in this race. And I'm not going to any Donald Trump event over across town on some sort of faux veteran sort of issue. I'm going to speak to you tonight about the issue that really confronts veterans. I'm going to talk to you about the concerns that they have got with the veterans administration. The lousy appeals process that they have got. The fact that sometimes they get good service at the V.A. and sometimes they don't and the fact that post traumatic stress syndrome is not properly recognized. That psychology positions are unavailable in the Veterans Administration. And I will say this to you -- as the only veteran in -- in this race, when I become president of the United States, the veterans are going to be treated with respect and competently in success in the Veterans' Administration in this country. +p4784 +aVFirst of all, Bill, I think that Gitmo ought to remain open. But I also want to point out to you that what you are saying is the exact right topic to all of these other candidates. And that's this international challenge that we are facing, the international war that America is in, even to this day. And I'm the candidate who is best qualified to deal with this issue. A degree in foreign policy in Russian area studies. I'm the only United States Army veteran having gone to Europe during the Cold War as United States Army Intelligence agent, the governor during the 9/11 attack, the chairman of the National Commission on Homeland Security for the United States for five years. And this is what I will do. If I become the president, I'm going to rebuild the United States military. We're going to take the sequester off the defense budget. Give the Navy the ships it needs. Refit the United States Army. Refit the United States Marine Corps. And on this international guerrilla war, we need to recognize our Special Forces, our intelligence community, and the people that we need in order to really protect us. And finally, this war of ideas, we must win this. We must say to the world that radical Islamism is the threat. It isn't just confined to +p4785 +aVHey, did you miss me? Did you skip me? +p4786 +aVI'm going to have something to say about this, but you just keep going. +p4787 +aVYes, I'll be there. +p4788 +aVYou know, Martha, it may be out of the barn in that the Iranians may be moving towards a nuclear program, because this nuclear deal actually gives them a time frame up the road when they are going to be able to do that kind of program. And that's very dangerous because it means people in the Middle East have to begin to react to that right now. The United States, I think, has to continue to exercise its influence in the Middle East, stay active, and not do this pull-back type of program that we are seeing all over the place with President Obama, which is creating this kind of danger. The world is a more dangerous place now than when I was an intelligence agent. We have not only this international guerrilla war but also these challenges from these other countries as well. But, Martha, I want to say one more thing to you and Bill. I disagree with Carly Fiorina when she says that it's just a political class in Washington. The truth is that the country has changed. And there are powerful forces at this point that are really controlling our lives. And that's why people are so angry. One of those is government, which is regulating everything through the Environmental Protection Agency, through other places. But the biggest one is the organized establishment media. And I just noticed just now you gave Carly Fiorina two one-minute answers in a row. This media across the country is manipulating and shaping and framing this campaign and has been for at least a year now in order to get the kind of choices that people are going to have an opportunity to see. This is wrong. It has to change. And when I'm president, it's going to change. +p4789 +aVI'll take it. +p4790 +aVMartha, I just visited a community mental health clinic in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, just three days ago, as a matter of fact. And when I was governor of Virginia, I tried to move more of those resources into the community, which will give us the facilities and the abilities to begin to identify people who actually might be dangerous and who abuse Second Amendment rights. But I do believe this is one of the really principle issues in this campaign. The president and Hillary Clinton are working very hard to change the culture of this country in order to put us in a position where we can't exercise Second Amendment rights. That's wrong. I am a board member of the National Rifle Association. The reason I'm a board member is because I believe that individuals in this country can be trusted to exercise their rights under the Second Amendment and under the Bill of Rights. To take away people's Second Amendment rights is to redefine the individual in the society, and I'm not going to put up with it. As President of the United States, when Jim Gilmore's President of the United States, I can tell you this. Gun control is not going to be an issue. If gun control... ... comes to the President's desk when I'm president, I'll veto it as fast as it takes Hillary Clinton to eliminate her emails. +p4791 +aVYou know Bill, that raises, I think, the question of the future of the Republican party. The question is -- first of all, I stand second to no one in standing up to radical Islamism. I understand that +p4792 +aVWell, thank you very much, Bill. And, thank you, and Fox and Google for including me in this debate tonight. I think it's been a wonderful opportunity. I'm the son of a meat cutter. My father worked for Safeway stores for 45 years. My mother was a secretary, she ended her career as the Secretary for the Methodist Bishop. I didn't have a father that could give me a million dollar loan to start my business. But, my father did talk character, and he provided for his family, and he was a wonderful example. And, I'm not about to go across town tonight to carry the coat for some billionaire. Instead, I intend to run for President of the United States, speak to the issue of this international war, and challenge that we're in. This issue of veterans rights, and the issue of Second Amendment rights, and I ask for your support... +p4793 +aVI think the times are different now. I think the times are much more serious. Because Obama and Clinton policies, the United States is moving further and further into a decline. I want to reverse that decline. That's why I've entered this race, and I think I have the experience to do it. Former elected prosecutor, attorney general, governor, I was elected to all of those offices. A person who, in fact, has a long experience in foreign-policy issues, which is different from many of the other governors and prospective governors who are running. I was an Army intelligence agent and a veteran during the Cold War, assigned to West Germany. I was the chairman of the National Commission on Homeland Security and Terrorism for the United States for five years. I was a person who has dealt extensively with these homeland security issues. I was a governor during the 9/11 attack. I understand both of these issues, how to build the economy and doing that as a governor who'd built jobs, had cut taxes and also a governor who understands foreign-policy, and that's why I entered this race. +p4794 +aVWell, yes, indeed. I chaired the National Commission on Homeland Security Committee for United States. We warned about the 9/11 attack before the 9/11 attack occurred. I was the governor during the 9/11 attack when the Pentagon was struck. And I'm going to tell you this, we need to use the benefit of our law enforcement people across this country, combined with our intelligence people across this country. We need to use our technological advantages, because what we've warned of is an international guerrilla movement that threatens this country. It's going to happen in this country, there are going to be further attacks. We have to be prepared to defend the American people, prepare them for a long war, stand up for the defense of this country, and stand up for the values of this country... +p4795 +aVI'll tell them that we're going to grow the economy so that we can give people better opportunities so they don't have to rely exclusively on benefit types of programs. Some do, but many Americans are dying to have an opportunity to grow and to create something inside this economy. And I'm glad that I have a chance to answer this question. I've had the growth code (ph) there for about five years, and it's this specific program. We're going to do a tax cut for all Americans. We're going to have a three-bracket tax code, 10, 15 and 25 percent. We're going to combine all commercial activity in business into one place in the tax code and charge it 15 percent, which is going to suddenly make us competitive with the rest of the world. And we're going to eliminate the death tax. With a couple of additional tweaks, we know what this will do. It will cause the economy to grow, to explode, to create more jobs. And first of all, we've got to recognize that there is problem that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have caused. And that problem is too big regulations like the EPA, too much new taxes on business that we have seen and "Obamacare." These are drags on the economy, it's a deliberate drag. I propose to reverse that and get this economy moving again. +p4796 +aVWell, as you know, I'm a former elected prosecutor, a former elected attorney general, trained at the University of Virginia in constitutional law, and I don't believe in litmus tests except this. I believe we should be appointing Supreme Court justices who will follow the law and not try to make the law. Now, the challenge we're seeing today is that the Supreme Court is being converted into some type of political body. They have to have some legal basis and precedence for being able to follow the law instead of making the law up, and my goal is -- in appointing Supreme Court justices, would be to point -- to appoint justices who would follow the law. Bill, I want to say one more thing about... +p4797 +aVNot -- not on that, no. But let me say one more thing. I want to -- before my time runs out I want to get back to this issue of +p4798 +aVWell, it's not a matter of what the first executive order would be, Bill. The matter is what orders exist now that shouldn't exist? The president has done an executive order with respect to illegal immigration that is illegal. Illegal. And it creates a -- a contempt for the law, for the rule of law. If i were the president of the United States, I would go and look at every executive order that exists right now and determine which ones want to be voided, because the president shouldn't be legislating: not through that vehicle or any other. We should be relying upon the leadership of the Congress to pass the laws. +p4799 +aVProfessional politician that can't be trusted. +p4800 +aVWell, I was a conservative governor of Virginia, I governed that way, and that's my track record. But the key thing that we're seeing now is serious challenges to this country that must change, the direction of this nation must change. And that's why I've offered a specific program to the people of America tonight to address the fundamental problem of getting our country growing again, getting our economy growing, wages up, opportunities for people. And second, the international crisis we are facing is most dreadful and most dangerous. I have the experience as a prosecutor, attorney general, governor, United States Army intelligence veteran, governor during the 9/11 attack, chairman of the Terrorism Commission for this country. It's time for real substance and real experience. And that's what I'll offer to the people of the United States in this candidacy for the presidency. Mac +p4801 +asVSANTELLI +p4802 +(lp4803 +VSenator Cruz, let's focus on our central bank, the Federal Reserve. You've been a fierce critic of the Fed, arguing for more transparency. Where do you want to take that? Do you want to get Congress involved in monetary policy, or is it time to slap the Fed back and downsize them completely? What are your thoughts? What do you believe? +p4804 +aVSenator Paul, the same question to you. +p4805 +aVThank you, Senator. Dr. Carson, you told The Des Moines Register that you don't like government subsidies, it interferes with the free market. But you've also said that you're in favor of taking oil subsidies and putting them towards ethanol processing. Isn't that just swapping one subsidy for another, Doctor? +p4806 +aVThank you, Doctor. Becky? +p4807 +aVThanks, John. Governor Pataki. +p4808 +aVHow are you doing tonight? +p4809 +aVListen, America's central bank, the Federal Reserve, they've kept interest rates near zero since the 2008 financial crisis. And, by the way, they had a meeting today, you think they raised rates? No. Shocking, isn't it? +p4810 +aVListen, it's been a rough ride for American savers and retirees, they really rely on this interest income. And it's been a bonanza for the stock market, a bonanza. And for investors that like the little bit more risk, it's been a bonanza for them as well. So I guess what I'm asking is, do you think this policy is fair and do you support it? +p4811 +aVThanks, Governor. Senator Santorum, in the 2012 presidential debate, you were for the export-import bank, which facilitates government funding for U.S. exports. American companies like GE and Boeing are among the beneficiaries. But you said that killing the bank here \u2014 and I'm going to quote you \u2014 "is the last thing a true conservative should be doing." I don't know, government-backed funding isn't normally what I hear from true conservatives. So why is this situation different? +p4812 +asVMACCALLUM +p4813 +(lp4814 +VSo it will come as no surprise that there is an idea out there that there is a civil war brewing within the GOP over the meaning of conservative and the question of who is electable. There are some in the GOP who are so outraged by Trump and Cruz that they say they would actually rather have Hillary Clinton in the White House. So, Carly Fiorina, I ask you this. Is your party in crisis? +p4815 +aVGovernor Huckabee, word is that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is considering getting into this race. If he does, that would make four New Yorkers, including Sanders, Clinton, and Trump. One candidate in this race has criticized so-called "New York values". So tell me, in your opinion, are New York values different than Iowa values? +p4816 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum, according to Google, the Paris terror attacks were the largest story that was searched in 2015, with nearly 1 billion searches of that story worldwide. There have been at 18 terror attacks so far this year -- in just January alone, in 2016, and it will likely, as we all know, get worse. But what can an American president do to stop these terrifying killings? +p4817 +aVThank you, Senator. +p4818 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you have said when it comes to +p4819 +aVThank you. +p4820 +aVComing up, we're going to have more on the top issues in this campaign, and you can engage in tonight's conversation right from home. Go to google.com, search "FOX News debate." You can vote on which candidate you think is winning so far in tonight's debate. And you can check results after the debate is over. We are back in a moment live from the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. +p4821 +aVAlright, Governor Huckabee, government grows and grows. In fact, neighborhoods in and around the Beltway get richer and richer all the time while our manufacturing towns are disappearing. Still Republicans from Reagan to Bush have bowed to shrink the size of government, but it never works. Is this Presidency, and presidency, simply too small a David to slay the Goliath of government? +p4822 +aVAlright, Carly Fiorina, you've said that you can get the tax code down to three short simple pages. But, when lobbyists who have twisted the arms of members of Congress come sit with you in the Oval Office and say, "Madam President, sorry, I cannot be with you on this one," you may understand what previous presidents have gone through. No? +p4823 +aVSenator Santorum, Bernie Sanders asked a woman in Iowa what it's like to live in poverty. She broke down in tears, saying that she lives on less than $10,000 a year and that she is ashamed every day. She leans on her parents for help. She says she can't buy presents for her children. We are all sympathetic to this woman's plight. On the other hand, the G.O.P. is supposed to be the party of smaller government. So what would you look her in the eye and say? +p4824 +aVThank you, Senator. +p4825 +aVGovernor Gilmore, thanks to the Iranian nuclear deal, President Rouhani is currently on a tour of Europe meeting with our closest allies in France and Italy. In fact, he has already landed some 50 to 85 billion are the estimates in deals with those countries, with our allies. More on the way. You and others say that you would rip up that deal. But, really, by the time the next president is in office, won't that horse be well out of the barn? +p4826 +aVWe have another question for you, Governor Gilmore, back to back, here we go. According to Google... +p4827 +aVYou got it. According to Google, gun control is the most searched issue last month, making up nearly 80 percent of all the U.S. searches. People are looking for information on guns. When it comes to the tragic mass killings that we have seen in this country, Donald Trump says that what we need to do is build quote "more institutions for people who are sickos." Charles Krauthammer also says that in some cases involuntary commitment would help. And you have agreed with that. Given that institutions would be extraordinarily expensive to begin building, how much is too much to ask on this from the American taxpayer? +p4828 +aVThank you, Governor Gilmore. +p4829 +aVStill more to come from the Republican Presidential debate tonight. And, see how the campaigns are responding to the debate in realtime, go to Google.com and open your google search app. Type in, "Fox News Debate". We'll see you, just a moment -- back. +p4830 +aVWe are back live at the Iowa events center and this question goes to Carly Fiorina. In the last debate you said as part of your introduction, quote, " And unlike the other woman candidate in this case I actually love spending time with my husband." +p4831 +aVBut back in September in an interview you said that you would stick only to the record, your record versus Hillary Clinton's record. And never resort to personal attacks. So what changed? +p4832 +aVAll right. Carly, I want to stay with you on this next question as well. You waded into the Planned Parenthood early on. You took some heat for it. Now the people who shot that undercover video are the ones who got indicted and Planned Parenthood is untouched. Hillary Clinton has been crowing about this. Any regrets about this? +p4833 +aVThank you Carly Fiorina. Let me just ask a quick question here to Senator Santorum. Carly Fiorina was the only one of the GOP candidates to attend the March for Life in Washington last week. Where were you. +p4834 +aVAll right. Coming up, we will have the closing statements from our candidates tonight as we continue live from the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. We'll be right back. +p4835 +aVAlright, let's go now to Senator Rick Santorum. +p4836 +aV +p4837 +aVCarly Fiorina. +p4838 +aVThank you, Carly. +p4839 +aVIn one hour, seven more candidates take the stage for a debate hosted by Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly, and Chris Wallace. But, up next, the O'Reilly Factor. Good night everybody. +p4840 +asVCOONEY +p4841 +(lp4842 +VThanks, John. Candidates, we've already heard your answers on what you would do with Syrian refugees, but a crucial part of the immigration debate here at home is control of our own borders. Republicans say the borders -- securing borders is a top priority. Democrats say they want to plan for comprehensive immigration reform. So, Governor O'Malley, are you willing to compromise on this particular issue to focus on border security first in favor of keeping the country safe? O' +p4843 +aVThank you. Now, Secretary Clinton said you would go further than the President when it comes to taking executive action to implement immigration reforms. But the President's already facing legal trouble on this. We've seen it more just in the past week. Realistically, how could you go further with executive action? +p4844 +aVKathie. +p4845 +aVSenator -- Senator Sanders, we've heard a lot about this, your offer -- you want to offer free tuition to public universities and colleges. A couple of questions about this. 63 percent of those who enroll graduate. First question, isn't this throwing a lot of money away if we're looking at a third of these people are not going to complete college? +p4846 +aVWell, one of the things you want to do is to have the states pay for about a third of this $70 billion plan, correct? +p4847 +aVThere are 16 states that are running budget deficits right now. Where are are they expected to come up with this? +p4848 +aVGovernor O'Malley, jump in now. O' +p4849 +aVAll right, Nancy Cordes has a question. +p4850 +asVMCELVEEN +p4851 +(lp4852 +VSecretary Clinton, how does your plan differentiate from your opponents? +p4853 +aVThank you Secretary Clinton, thank you. +p4854 +aVBack to you David. +p4855 +asVLOPEZ +p4856 +(lp4857 +VGracias, Anderson. Senator Sanders, in 2013, you voted for immigration reform. But in 2007, when Democrats controlled Congress and the Bush White House was onboard, you voted against it. Why should Latino voters trust you now when you left them at the altar at the moment when reform was very close? +p4858 +aVTom Harkin isn't running for president. You are. +p4859 +aVSecretary Clinton \u2014 Secretary Clinton, Governor O'Malley wants to open up Obamacare to millions of undocumented immigrants and their children, including almost 90,000 people right here in Nevada. Do you? +p4860 +aVGovernor O'Malley? O' +p4861 +aVSenator Webb, do you support the undocumented immigrants getting Obamacare? +p4862 +aV...Thank you, Senator. +p4863 +aVThank you, Anderson. Senator Sanders, right here in Nevada, there will be a measure to legalize recreational marijuana on the 2016 ballot. You've said you smoked marijuana twice; it didn't quite work for you. If you were a Nevada resident, how would you vote? +p4864 +aVSecretary Clinton, you told Christiane Amanpour you didn't smoke pot when you were young, and you're not going to start now. When asked about legalizing recreational marijuana, you told her let's wait and see how it plays out in Colorado and Washington. It's been more than a year since you've said that. Are you ready to take a position tonight? +p4865 +asVDICKERSON +p4866 +(lp4867 +VBefore we start the debate here are the rules. The candidates have one minute to respond to our questions and 30 seconds to respond to our follow-up. Any candidate who is attacked by another candidate gets 30 seconds for rebuttal. Here's how we'll keep time, after a question is asked the green light goes on. When there are 15 seconds left the candidate gets a yellow warning light. And when time's up the light turns red. That means stop talking. Those are the rules. So let's get started. You will each have one minute for an opening statement to share your thoughts about the attacks in your Paris and lay out your visions for America. First, Senator Sanders. +p4868 +aVAll right, Senator Sanders. Secretary Clinton. +p4869 +aVGovernor O'Malley. O' +p4870 +aVAll right, thank you, Governor. Thank all of you. The terror attacks last night underscore biggest challenge facing the next president of the United States. At a time of crisis, the country and the world look to the president for leadership and for answers. So, Secretary Clinton, I'd like to start with you. Hours before the attacks, President Obama said, "I don't think +p4871 +aVBut as -- Secretary Clinton, the question was about, was +p4872 +aVOkay, Governor O'Malley, would you critique the administration's response to +p4873 +aVSenator Sanders, you said you want to rid the planet of +p4874 +aVQuickly, just let me ask you a follow-up on that, Senator Sanders. When you say the disastrous vote on Iraq, let's just be clear about what you're saying. You're saying Secretary Clinton, who was then Senator Clinton, voted for the Iraq war. And are you making a direct link between her vote for that or and what's happening now for +p4875 +aVAlright. Let's let Secretary Clinton respond to that. +p4876 +aVSenator Sanders let me just follow this line of thinking. You criticized then, Senator Clinton's vote. Do you have anything to criticize in the way she performed as Secretary of State? +p4877 +aVAlright. +p4878 +aVSenator let me... O' +p4879 +aVAll right, Secretary Clinton. +p4880 +aVI understand. Quickly, Senator. +p4881 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p4882 +aVLet me ask you, Secretary Clinton, a question about leadership. We're talking about what role does America take? Let me ask you about Libya. So Libya is a country in which +p4883 +aVGovernor O' Malley I want to ask you a question and you can add whatever you'd like to. But let me ask you, is the world too dangerous a place for a governor who has no foreign policy experience? O' +p4884 +aVSecretary Clinton, you mentioned radical jihadists. Marco Rubio, also running for president, said that this attack showed and the attack in Paris showed that we are at war with radical Islam. Do you agree with that characterization, radical Islam? +p4885 +aVJust to interrupt. He didn't say all Muslims. He just said radical Islam. Is that a phrase you don't... +p4886 +aVThe reason I ask is you gave a speech at Georgetown University in which you said, that it was important to show, quote, "respect, even for one's enemies. Trying to understand and in so far as psychologically possible, empathize with their perspective and point of view." Can you explain what that means in the context of this kind of barbarism? +p4887 +aVJust quickly, do either of you, radical Islam, do either of you use that phrase? +p4888 +aVGovernor O' Malley, you have been making the case when you talk about lack of forward vision, you're essentially saying that Secretary Clinton lacks that vision and this critique matches up with this discussion of language. The critique is that the softness of language betrays a softness of approach. So if this language -- if you don't call it by what it is, how can your approach be effective to the cause? that's the critique. O' +p4889 +aVSecretary Clinton, the French president has called this attack an act of war. +p4890 +aVA couple of days ago you were asked if you would declare war on +p4891 +aVAnd you think that covers all of this? +p4892 +aVIf you were in the Senate, would you be okay with the commander in chief doing that without it coming back to you? +p4893 +aVSenator, let me just -- let's add to whatever you've got to say. Refugees. You've been a little vague on what you would do about the Syrian refugees. What's your view on them now? +p4894 +aVGovernor O'Malley, you have a magic number. I think it's 65,000. Does that number go up or down based on what happened yesterday? O' +p4895 +aVJust very quickly, 65,000, the number stays? O' +p4896 +aVBut for you, what would you want? O' +p4897 +aVSecretary Clinton, let me ask you a question from twitter which has come in and this is a question on this issue of refugees. The question is, with the U.S. preparing to absorb Syrian refugees, how do you propose we screen those coming in to keep citizens safe? +p4898 +aVAlright. Senator Sanders, I'm sorry. We're going to have to take a break now. We will have more of the Democratic debate here from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. +p4899 +aVWant to turn now from terrorism to another important issue for many Americans, the financial squeeze on the the middle class. For that, we go to my CBS News Colleague, Nancy Cordes. Nancy? +p4900 +aVAll right, I am sorry, Governor, we're going to have to go, I apologize. O' +p4901 +aVGovernor -- Governor, you're breaking the rules. I'm sorry, we're going to have to cut for a commercial. We'll be right back here from Drake University here in Des Moines, Iowa. O' +p4902 +aVThere is a lot of presidential history here in Iowa. It hosted the first in the nation caucuses. Herbert Hoover was born in West Branch, and tonight, we are in Polk County, named for our 11th president, with three people who hope to be number 45. Joining my now to question them are Iowans Kevin Cooney of +p4903 +aVYou have -- you have given me the perfect segue. We are going to talk about Wall Street, but now we've got to go do a commercial. We're coming to the end of the first hour. But there's another hour behind it and we're going to talk about Wall Street so hang with us. +p4904 +aVGood evening again, as we begin the second half of the debate. Joining me in the questioning are the candidates -- of the candidates are CBS news congressional correspondent Nancy Cordes, Kevin Cooney of CBS Des Moines affiliate +p4905 +aVSenator Sanders you said that the donations to Secretary Clinton are compromising. So what did you think of her answer? +p4906 +aVGreat follow up because you -- and Secretary Clinton, you will get a chance to respond. You said they know what they're going to get. What are they going to get? +p4907 +aVHold on. He was attacked. O' +p4908 +aVHold on, he was attacked. Glass-Steagall... +p4909 +aVAll right. Senator, we have to get Governor O' Malley in. Governor, along with your answer, how many Wall Street veterans would you have in your administration? O' +p4910 +aVAnyone from Wall Street? O' +p4911 +aVHold on. +p4912 +aVAll right, I want to switch to the -- switch to the issue of guns here. Secretary Clinton, you said that Senator Sanders is not tough enough on guns, but basically he now supports roughly the same things you do. So can tell us what the exact difference is going forward between the two of you on the issue of gun control? +p4913 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to... +p4914 +aVSecretary Clinton, just a quick follow-up. You say that Senator Sanders took a vote that -- on immunity that you don't like. So if he can be tattooed by a single vote and that ruins all future opinions by him on this issue, why then isn't he right when he says your wrong vote on Iraq tattoos you forever in your judgment? +p4915 +aVBut was that a mistake, Senator? +p4916 +aVSenator, a mistake or not, your immunity vote? Quickly, before I go to... +p4917 +aVSo not a mistake? O' +p4918 +aVHold on. +p4919 +aVSorry. I'm going to bring in Nancy Cordes with a question from twitter about this exchange. +p4920 +aVFinal word. Final word, Governor O'Malley, before we go to commercial. O' +p4921 +aVWe have to -- we have to go for a commercial, Senator. I'm sorry. We have to go for a commercial here. We'll be right back with the Democratic debate here in Des Moines, Iowa on CBS. +p4922 +aVBack now in Des Moines with the candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination. Senator Sanders, I want to start with you. Let's say you're elected president. Congratulations. +p4923 +aVYou've said you'll have a revolution. +p4924 +aVBut there's a conservative revolution going on in America right now. As John Boehner knows and as Democrats know, who have lost in state houses across the country. +p4925 +aVThose conservatives are watching tonight and probably shaking their heads. So how do you deal with that part of the country? The revolution's already happening, but on the other side? +p4926 +aVSenator, as a 30-second follow-up, we've heard already tonight this figure, 92 percent of support for background checks. Let's look at that as an example. There was something 92 percent of the public was for. There had been these mass shootings. There was emotional support behind it. +p4927 +aVBipartisan support. +p4928 +aVThe president, the full force of his office. +p4929 +aVIt went nowhere. That's the model you're talking about. Nothing happened. +p4930 +aVA question from Kathie Obradovich. +p4931 +aVSecretary Clinton, just one more question on the e- mail question. For Democrats, there's an FBI investigation going on. Can you satisfy Democrats, who might worry about an another shoe dropping, that you and your staff have been totally truthful to them, and that another shoe is not going to drop? +p4932 +aVRace relations is another issue everyone cares about, and we're going to switch to that now. Governor O'Malley, let me ask you a question. The head of the FBI recently said it might be possible that some police forces are not enforcing the law, because they're worried about being caught on camera. The acting head of the drug enforcement administration said a similar thing. Where are you on this question? And what would do you if you were president, and two top members of your administration were floating that idea? O' +p4933 +aVAll right, Governor... Senator Sanders, one of your former colleagues, an African- American member of Congress, said to me recently that a young African- American man had asked him where to find hope in life. And he said, "I just don't know what to tell him about being young and black in America today." What would you tell that young African-American man? +p4934 +aVSecretary Clinton, you told some Black Lives Matter activists recently that there's a difference between rhetoric in activism and what you were trying to do, was -- get laws passed that would help what they were pushing for. But recently, at the University of Missouri, that activism was very, very effective. So would you suggest that kind of activism take place at other universities across the country? +p4935 +aVAll right, over to Kevin Cooney. +p4936 +aVThirty seconds. +p4937 +aVI'm sorry, governor. We've got to take a break or the machine breaks down. You're watching the Democratic debate here on CBS. +p4938 +aVWe begin the final segment of this debate with something none of you saw coming. Something quite unexpected. Soon after your inauguration, you will face a crisis. All presidents do. What crisis you have experienced in your life that suggests you've been testd and can face that inevitable challenge? Secretary Clinton, you first. +p4939 +aVGovernor O' Malley, what crisis proves that you're tested? O' +p4940 +aVSenator Sanders what, experience would you draw on in a crisis? +p4941 +aVAll right, Senator Sanders... We've ended the evening on crisis, which underscores and reminds us again of what happened last night. Now, let's move to closing statements. Governor O'Malley, you're first. O' +p4942 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p4943 +aVSenator Sanders? +p4944 +as. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/downloads/data/script18.pickle b/downloads/data/script18.pickle new file mode 100644 index 0000000..45e2ebf --- /dev/null +++ b/downloads/data/script18.pickle @@ -0,0 +1,10545 @@ +(dp0 +VWEBB +p1 +(lp2 +VThank you. You know, people are disgusted with the way that money has corrupted our political process, intimidating incumbents and empowering Wall Street every day, the turnstile government that we see, and also the power of the financial sector in both parties. They're looking for a leader who understands how the system works, who has not been coopted by it, and also has a proven record of accomplishing different things. I have a record of working across the political aisle. I've also spent more than half of my professional life away from politics in the independent world of being an author, a journalist, and a sole proprietor. In government service, I've fought and bled for our country in Vietnam as a Marine. I spent years as Assistant Secretary of Defense, Secretary of the Navy \u2014 in the Reagan administration. In the senate, I spoke about economic fairness and social justice from day one. I also wrote and passed the best piece of veterans education legislation in history, the Post 9/11 G.I. Bill. I brought criminal justice reform out of the political shadows and into the national discussion. I led what later became called the Strategic Pivot to Asia two years before President Obama was elected. I know where my loyalties are. My mother grew up in the poverty of east Arkansas chopping cotton, picking strawberries. Three of her seven siblings died in childhood. My wife, Hong, came to this country as a refugee from war torn Vietnam \u2014 learned English, a language that was not spoken at home, and earned her way into Cornell Law School. I have five daughters. Amy works with disabled veterans, Sarah is an emergency room nurse, Julia is a massage therapist, Emily and Georgia are still in school. My son Jim fought as an infantry Marine on the bloody streets of Ramadi. You may be sure that in a Webb administration, the highest priority will be the working people who every day go out and make this country stronger at home, and who give us the right reputation and security overseas under a common sense foreign policy. +p3 +aVNo, actually I believe that I am where the Democratic Party traditionally has been. The Democratic Party, and the reason I've decided to run as a Democrat, has been the party that gives people who otherwise have no voice in the corridors of power a voice. And that is not determined by race. And as a clarification, I have always supported affirmative action for African Americans. That's the way the program was originally designed because of their unique history in this country, with slavery and the Jim Crow laws that followed. What I have discussed a number of times is the idea that when we create diversity programs that include everyone, quote, "of color," other than whites, struggling whites like the families in the Appalachian mountains, we're not being true to the Democratic Party principle of elevating the level of consciousness among our people about the hardships that a lot of people who happen to be have \u2014 by culture, by the way. +p4 +aVLook, there are two fundamental issues that are involved in this discussion. We need to pay respect to both of them. The first is the issue of who should be kept from having guns and using firearms. And we have done not a good job on that. A lot of them are criminals. And a lot of the people are getting killed are members of gangs inside our urban areas. And a lot of them are mentally incapacitated. And the shooting in Virginia Tech in '07, this individual had received medical care for mental illness from three different professionals who were not allowed to share the information. So we do need background checks. We need to keep the people who should not have guns away from them. But we have to respect the tradition in this country of people who want to defend themselves and their family from violence. +p5 +aVMay I? People are going back and forth here for 10 minutes here. There are people at high levels in this government who have bodyguards 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The average American does not have that, and deserves the right to be able to protect their family. +p6 +aVAnderson, can I come into this discussion at some point? +p7 +aVThank you. I've been standing over here for about ten minutes, trying. +p8 +aVIt's just \u2014 it's gone back and forth over there. +p9 +aVYou got the lucky . +p10 +aVLook, let's start \u2014 I've been trying to get in this conversation for about 10 minutes \u2014 let's start with why Russia is in Syria right now. There are three strategic failings that have allowed this to occur. The first was the invasion of Iraq, which destabilized ethnic elements in Iraq and empowered Iran. The second was the Arab Spring, which created huge vacuums in Libya and in Syria that allowed terrorist movements to move in there. And the third was the recent deal allowing Iran to move forward and eventually acquire a nuclear weapon, which sent bad signals, bad body language into the region about whether we are acquiescing in Iran becoming a stronger piece of the formula in that part of the world. Now, I say this as someone who spent five years in the Pentagon and who opposed the war in Iraq, whose son fought in Iraq, I've fought in Vietnam. But if you want a place where we need to be in terms of our national strategy, a focus, the greatest strategic threat that we have right now is resolving our relationship with China. And we need to do this because of their aggression in the region. We need to do it because of the way they treat their own people. +p11 +aVAnd I would say this. I've been waiting for 10 minutes. I will say this. +p12 +aVI will \u2014 well, you've let a lot of people go over their time. I would say this... +p13 +aV... to the unelected, authoritarian government of China: You do not own the South China Sea. You do not have the right to conduct cyber warfare against tens of millions of American citizens. And in a Webb administration, we will do something about that. +p14 +aVCan I... O' +p15 +aVThank you. +p16 +aVThis is not about Benghazi per se. To me it is the inevitability of something like Benghazi occurring in the way that we intervened in Libya. We had no treaties at risk. We had no Americans at risk. There was no threat of attack or imminent attack. There is plenty of time for a president to come to the Congress and request authority to use military force in that situation. I called for it on the Senate floor again and again. I called for it in Senate hearings. It is not a wise thing to do. And if people think it was a wise thing to do, try to get to the Tripoli airport today. You can't do it. +p17 +aVEverybody makes their decisions when the time there is conscription. And as long as they go through the legal process that our country requires, I respect that. And it would be for the voters to decide whether Senator Sanders or anyone else should be president. I will say this, coming from the position that I've come from, from a military family, with my brother a marine, my son was a marine in Iraq, I served as a marine, spending five years in the Pentagon, I am comfortable that I am the most qualified person standing up here today to be your commander-in-chief. +p18 +aVI believe that the signal that we sent to the region when the Iran nuclear deal was concluded was that we are accepting Iran's greater position on this very important balance of power, among our greatest ally Israel, and the Sunnis represented by the Saudi regime, and Iran. It was a position of weakness and I think it encouraged the acts that we've seen in the past several weeks. +p19 +aVOur greatest long-term strategic challenge is our relation with China. Our greatest day-to-day threat is cyber warfare against this country. Our greatest military-operational threat is resolving the situations in the Middle East. +p20 +aVI hope I can get that kind of time here. As a President of the United States, every life in this country matters. At the same time, I believe I can say to you, I have had a long history of working with the situation of African Americans. We're talking about criminal justice reform, I risked my political life raising the issue of criminal justice reform when I ran for the Senate in Virginia in 2006. I had democratic party political consultants telling me I was committing political suicide. We led that issue in the congress. We started a national debate on it. And it wasn't until then that the Republican Party started joining in. I also represented a so-called war criminal, an African American Marine who was wounded \u2014 who was convicted of murder in Vietnam, for six years. He took his life three years into this. I cleared his name after \u2014 after three years. +p21 +aVAnd I put the African American soldier on the Mall. I made that recommendation and fought for it. So, if you want someone who is \u2014 can stand up in front of you right now and say I have done the hard job, I have taken the risks, I am your person. +p22 +aVBernie, say my name so I can get into this. +p23 +aVOK. Thank you. +p24 +aVAnderson, I need to jump in (inaudible). +p25 +aVThere is a reality that I think we all need to recognize with respect to the power of the financial sector. And let me just go back a minute and say that on this +p26 +aVAll right. Well, I'm trying to set a mark here so maybe we can get into a little more later on. This hasn't been equal time. But if you want to look at what has happened, if we look at the facts in terms of how we're going to deal with this, since that crash, in the last 10 years, the amount of the world's capital economy that Wall Street manages has gone from 44 percent to 55 percent. That means the Wall Street money managers are not risking themselves as the same way the American people are when they're going to get their compensation. They're managing money from all over the world. We have to take that into consideration when we're looking at ways to regulate it. +p27 +aVI wouldn't have a problem with that. Let me start by saying my wife is an immigrant. She was a refugee, her family escaped from Vietnam on a boat-- her entire extended family, after the communists took over, when hundreds of thousands of people were out there and thousands of them were dying. Went to two refugee camps, she never spoke English in her home, and she ended, as I said, graduating from Cornell Law School. That's not only American dream, that's a value that we have with a good immigration system in place. No country has \u2014 is a country without defining its borders. We need to resolve this issue. I actually introduced an amendment in the 2007 immigration bill... +p28 +aV...Giving a pathway to citizenship to those people who had come here, and put down their roots, and met as a series of standards... +p29 +aV...lost (ph) \u2014 I introduced that in 2007 \u2014 We need a comprehensive reform, and we need to be able to define our borders. +p30 +aVI \u2014 well, I \u2014 I would leave his ultimate judgment to the legal system. Here's what I do believe. We have a serious problem in terms of the collection of personal information in this country. And one of the things that I did during the +p31 +aVI got a great deal of admiration and affection for Senator Sanders, but I \u2014 Bernie, I don't think the revolution's going to come. And I don't think the Congress is going to pay for a lot of this stuff. And if there would be a major difference between my administration and the Obama administration, it would be in the use of executive authority. I came up as a committee counsel in the Congress, used to put dozens of bills through the House floor every year as a committee counsel on the Veterans Committee. I have a very strong feeling about how our federal system works and how we need to lead and energize the congressional process instead of allowing these divisions to continue to paralyze what we're doing. So I would lead \u2014 working with both parties in the Congress and working through them in the traditional way that our Constitution sets (ph). +p32 +aVWell, the \u2014 the question really is how are we going to solve energy problems here and in the global environment if you really want to address climate change? And when I was in the Senate, I was an all-of-the-above energy voter. We introduced legislation to bring in alternate energy as well as nuclear power. I'm a strong proponent of nuclear power. It is safe, it is clean. And really, we are not going to solve climate change simply with the laws here. We've done a good job in this country since 1970. If you look at China and India, they're the greatest polluters in the world. Fifteen out of the 20 most polluted cities in the world are in one of those two countries. We need to solve this in a global way. It's a global problem and I have been very strong on \u2014 on doing that. The \u2014 the agreements \u2014 the so-called agreements that we have had with China are illusory in terms of the immediate requirements of the \u2014 of the Chinese government itself. So let's solve this problem in an international way, and then we really will have a \u2014 a way to address climate change. +p33 +aVI'd have to say the enemy soldier that threw the grenade that wounded me, but he's not around right now to talk to. +p34 +aVThank you. Ladies and gentlemen, it's been a pleasure to be with you tonight. You've heard a lot of promises up here; you've heard a lot of rhetoric. They all seem to happen during campaigns, and then once the election's over, people start from scratch again and try to get things done. One of the things I can promise you, if you look at my record, in and out of government, is that I've always been willing to take on a complicated, something unpopular issues, and work them through, the complex issues, and work them through in order to have the solution. We did it with criminal justice reform. We've had a lot of discussion here about criminal justice reform. We did it in other ways. We need a national political strategy for our economy, for our social policy, for social justice, and, by the way, for how you run and manage the most complex bureaucracy in the world, which is the federal government. I know how to lead. I did it in Vietnam, I did it in the Pentagon, I did it in the Senate, and if you will help me overcome this cavalcade of \u2014 of financial irregularities and money that is poisoning our political process, I am ready to do that for you in the White House. +p35 +asVCRAMER +p36 +(lp37 +VDr. Carson, in recent weeks, a number of pharmaceutical companies has been accused of profiteering, for dramatically raising the prices of life-saving drugs. You have spent a lifetime in medicine. Have these companies gone too far? Should the government be involved in controlling some of these price increases? +p38 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Governor Christie, there has been a lot of political rhetoric that some bank executives should have gone to jail for the 2008 financial crisis. But General Motors paid more than $1 billion in fines and settlements for its ignition switch defect. One hundred and twenty- four people died as a result of these faulty switches. No one went to jail. As a former prosecutor, do you believe the people responsible for the switch and the cover-up belong behind bars? +p39 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. +p40 +aVThank you. Governor Pataki, in the wake of the Sony hack last year, you said, quote, "at the very least, we should declare cyber-war on North Korea." What does a cyber-war look like? And if our companies are getting attacked by foreign governments, do we need a military response? +p41 +aVSenator Graham, you're a hawk. Was that tough enough? +p42 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Santorum. We know that a troubling amount of air pollution on the west coast comes from China. Should we enact a pollution tax on products imported from China and give our manufacturers a level playing field? +p43 +aVThank you, Senator. John? +p44 +asVPERRY +p45 +(lp46 +VI will tell you one thing: I would whole lot rather had Carly Fiorina over there doing our negotiation than John Kerry. Maybe we would've gotten a deal where we didn't give everything away. But the issue for us is to have a Congress that stands up and says not only no, but hell no, to this money going to a regime that is going to use it for terror... +p47 +aVIt's good to be with you. +p48 +aVAfter those four years of looking back and being prepared, the preparation to be the most powerful individual in the world requires an extraordinary amount of work: not just having been the governor of the 12th largest economy in the world, which I might add, we added 1.5 million jobs during that period of time over that 2007 through 2014 period, a period when America was going through the most deep recession it had been through since the Great Depression. I think Americans want someone to have a track record of showing them how to get this country back on record, someone who will stand up and every day project that best days of America are in front of us. And I will assure you, as the governor of the state of Texas, and as those last four years have shown me, the preparation to be ready to stand on this stage and talk about those monetary policies, those domestic policies, and those foreign policies, Americans are going to see that I am ready to be that individual. +p49 +aVWell, when you look at the celebrity of Donald Trump, then I think that says a lot about it. One thing I like to remind people is, back in 2007, Rudy Giuliani was leading the polls for almost a year. I'll suggest a part of that was his celebrity. Fred Thompson was the other one, a man who had spent a lot of time on that screen. I've had my issues with Donald Trump. I talked about Donald Trump from the standpoint of being an individual who was using his celebrity rather than his conservatism. How can you run for the Republican nomination and be for single- payer health care? I mean, I ask that with all due respect. And nobody, nobody on either one of these stages has done more than I've done and the people of the State of Texas to deal with securing that border. We sent our Texas ranger recon teams. We sent our parks and wildlife wardens. I deployed the National Guard after I stood on the ramp in Dallas, Texas and looked the president of the United States in the eye and said, "Mr. President, if you won't secure the border, Texas will," and that's exactly what we did. We need a president that doesn't just talk a game, but a president that's got real results. Mac +p50 +aVBill, here's the interesting position on this. Americans are tired of hearing this debate -- want to go to, what are you going to do about illegal immigration? For 30 years this country has been baited with that. All the way back to when Ronald Reagan signed a piece of legislation that basically allowed for amnesty for over 4 million people, and the border is still not secure. The American people are never going to trust Washington, D.C., and for good reason. We hear all this discussion about well, I would do this, or I would do that, when the fact is, the border is still porous. Until we have a president of the United States that gets up every day and goes to the Oval Office with the intent purpose of securing that border, and there's not anybody on either one of these stages that has the experience of dealing with this as I have for over 14 years with that 1200-mile border. We have to put the personnel on that border in the right places; you have to put the strategic fencing in place; and you have to have aviation assets that fly all the way from Tijuana to El Paso to Brownsville, Texas -- 1,933 miles looking down 24/7, with the technology to be able to identify what individuals are doing, and ID when they are in obviously illegal activities or suspicious activities, and quick response teams come. At that particular point in time, then Americans will believe that Washington is up to a conversation to deal with the millions of people that are here illegally, but not until. If you elect me president of the United States, I will secure that southern border. +p51 +aVWe need to be on the side that keeps Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. That's the side we need to be on, and that's the side of the bulk of the -- of the Middle East. We need to have some coalitions in that part of the world to go after +p52 +aVIt'll be a pretty busy day, but that Iran negotiation is going to be torn up on day one. We're going to start the process of securing that border. I'm also going to take a bottle of White-Out with me to get started on all those executive orders that Mr. Obama has put his name to. +p53 +aVIt will be a long day. +p54 +aVWell, let's go with three. Good at email. +p55 +aVWell, this is going to be a show me, don't tell me election. I think America is just a few good decisions and a leadership change at the top away from the best years we've ever had. And I think that the record of the governor of the last 14 years of the 12th largest economy in the world is just the medicine America is looking for. 1.5 million jobs created during the worst economic time this country has had since the Great Depression while the rest of the country lost 400,000 jobs. We're talking about a state that moved graduation rates forward from 27th in the nation to second-highest. As a matter of fact, if you're Hispanic or African-American in Texas, you have the number one high school graduation rates in America. Americans are looking for somebody that's going to give them, and there is a place in this country over the last eight years in particular that talked about hope every day, and they didn't just talk about it, they delivered it. And that was the state of Texas. And if we can do that in Texas, that 12th largest economy in the world, we can do it in America. Our best days are in front of us. We can reform those entitlements, we can change that corporate tax code and lower it. We can put America back on track on a growth level and a growth rate that we've never seen in the history of this country. Manufacturing will flow back into this country. It just needs a corporate executive type at the top that's done it before. And I will suggest to you nobody's done it like Rick Perry has done it over the last eight years. And if you elect me president, we will bring incredible growth back to this country. And as someone who's worn the uniform of the country, that's how we build our military back up. +p56 +asVLEMON +p57 +(lp58 +VAlright, Anderson, thank you very much. I'm not sure how to follow that, but this question is about something that has tripped some of the candidates up out on the campaign trail. Can you hear me? Can't hear me in the room. OK, here we go again, as I said... +p59 +aV...There we go... +p60 +aVAll right. This one is for Martin O'Malley. Anderson, Governor O'Malley, this is from Anna Bettis from Tempe, Arizona. Here it is. ( +p61 +aVSo, Governor O'Malley, please tell Anna how you would protect the environment better than all the other candidates up on that stage. O' +p62 +aVAlright, Anderson. This is for Senator Sanders, OK? This is from Carrie (ph) Kang (ph) from Manassas, Virginia, would like would like to ask the Senator, "President Obama has had a difficult time getting Republicans to compromise on just about every agenda. How will you approach this going forward, and will it be any different?" Senator? +p63 +asVRADDATZ +p64 +(lp65 +VGood evening to you all. The rules for tonight are very basic and have been agreed to by all three campaigns in advance. Candidates can take up to a minute-and-a-half to respond directly to a question. For a rebuttal, for a follow-up, 45 seconds will be allowed. There are green, yellow, and red lights that each candidate will see to signal when time is running out and when they're supposed to be finished with their answers. +p66 +aVThank you, Secretary Clinton. Governor O'Malley? O' +p67 +aVSecretary Clinton, in the wake of the San Bernardino attack, you all emphasized gun control. But our latest poll shows that more Americans believe arming people, not stricter gun laws, is the best defense against terrorism. Are they wrong? +p68 +aVSecretary Clinton, can we stick to gun control? +p69 +aVAre they wrong? +p70 +aVSenator Sanders -- wait just a moment, please, Governor O'Malley. Senator Sanders, we've seen those long lines of people buying guns in record numbers after the Paris attacks. Would you discourage people from buying a gun? +p71 +aVThank you, Senator Sanders. I think we're going to go on... O' +p72 +aVGovernor, now -- and let me stay with gun control for a minute, then. You talk about assault weapons. Even if you were able to ban the purchase of assault weapons tomorrow, Americans already own an estimated 7 to 10 million semi-automatic rifles. Would you make it illegal to own those weapons, force people to turn them in? And if not, how would banning the sales really make a difference? O' +p73 +aVBut, again, I'm not talking about buying. Would you have them confiscated? The ones that are already here? O' +p74 +aVI want to move to another... O' +p75 +aVNo, no, not yet, Governor O'Malley. O' +p76 +aVNo, not yet, Governor O'Malley. O' +p77 +aVI'll come to you when we call on you. Thank you very much. O' +p78 +aVYou'll be happy. I'll let -- I'll let you talk then. Secretary Clinton, I want to talk about a new terrorist tool used in the Paris attacks, encryption. FBI Director James Comey says terrorists can hold secret communications which law enforcement cannot get to, even with a court order. You've talked a lot about bringing tech leaders and government officials together, but Apple CEO Tim Cook said removing encryption tools from our products altogether would only hurt law-abiding citizens who rely on us to protect their data. So would you force him to give law enforcement a key to encrypted technology by making it law? +p79 +aVAnd Governor O'Malley, where do you draw the line between national security and personal security? O' +p80 +aVThank you, Governor O'Malley. +p81 +aVSenator Sanders -- Senator Sanders, we're going to move on. We're going to move on. +p82 +aVWe're going to move on to the fight against +p83 +aVOK. Let's keep going. Thank you. +p84 +aVThank you. I do want to move to the fight against +p85 +aVFor the people of New Hampshire, the brutality of +p86 +aVBut why Al Qaida, why not +p87 +aVThe administration has tried that over and over again. If it doesn't work and this threat is so great, what's your plan B? +p88 +aVSecretary Clinton, you too have ruled out a large U.S. combat force, yet you support sending in special operations forces to Syria, and sending those 100 to 200 troops to Iraq to do exploitation kill raids. We've already lost one Delta Force member in a raid. It has looked very much to me like we're already in ground combat on frequent trips I've made there. So, are you fooling Americans when you say, we're not putting American combat troops back into Syria or Iraq? No. Not at all. I think that what we're facing with +p89 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want -- I want to follow up on that. You do support sending special operations forces there. You support what the president has done already. One of the lessons people draw from Vietnam and war since is that a little force can turn into a little more and a little more. President Obama certainly didn't expect to be sending 30,000 additional troops into Afghanistan the first year of his presidency. Are you prepared to run the risk of a bigger war to achieve your goals to destroy +p90 +aVGovernor O'Malley. You've emphasized the need for more human intelligence on the ground. What is it our intelligence community is not doing now that needs to be done? O' +p91 +aVThank you. +p92 +aVSecretary Clinton, I'd like to go back to that if I could. +p93 +aVBut isn't that a decision you should make now, whether... +p94 +aV... if you're advocating this? +p95 +aVAnd we're going to move on to health care. Secretary Clinton, the Department of Health and Human Services says more than 17 million Americans who are not insured now have health coverage because of Obamacare. But for Americans who already had health insurance the cost has gone up 27 percent in the last five years while deductibles are up 67 percent, health care costs are rising faster than many Americans can manage. What's broken in Obamacare that needs to be fixed right now? And what would you do to fix it? +p96 +aVBut you did say those were glitches. +p97 +aVJust glitches? +p98 +aVTwenty-seven percent in the last five years, deductibles up 67 percent? +p99 +aVSenator Sanders, I want you to respond to what she was saying, but you're instead calling for single-payer health care. +p100 +aVYou note people won't have to pay deductibles or premiums but they will have to pay new taxes. Can you tell us specifically how much people will be expected to pay? +p101 +aVSenator Sanders, you didn't really tell us specifically how much people will be expected to pay... +p102 +aVBut you can't tell us this specifically, even if you were... +p103 +aVOK. Let's go to talk about the high cost of college education and for that we turn to the executive director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics, right here at Saint Anselm college, Neil Levesque. Neil? +p104 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to circle back to something that your opponents here have brought up. Libya is falling apart. The country is a haven for +p105 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to go back. That -- government lacked institutions and experience. It had been a family business for 40 years. On the security side, we offered only a modest training effort and a very limited arms buy-back program. Let me ask you the question again. How much responsibility do you bear for the chaos that followed those elections? +p106 +aVBut were mistakes made? +p107 +aVSenator Sanders. +p108 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p109 +aVQuick Governor O'Malley. O' +p110 +aVThank you very much. Thank you. We're going to move on here. Governor O'Malley, thank you very much for that. And we're going to make a very sharp turn as we wrap things up here. Secretary Clinton, first ladies, as you well know, have used their position to work on important causes like literacy and drug abuse. But they also supervise the menus, the flowers, the holiday ornaments and White House decor. I know you think you know where I'm going here. You have said that Bill Clinton is a great host and loves giving tours but may opt out of picking flower arrangements if you're elected. Bill Clinton aside, is it time to change the role of a president's spouse? +p111 +aVGovernor O'Malley? Martha, thank you. I want to thank all of the people who have tuned in tonight. I want to thank the great people of New Hampshire, where despite all of the cynicism about big money and big banks taking over our politics, here in New Hampshire, the individual matters. You know, my wife Katie and I have four terrific kids, and like you, there's probably nothing we wouldn't do to give them a future that's safer, that's healthier, where they have more opportunity than our parents and grandparents gave to us. Tonight, what you listened to was a healthy exchange of ideas about how we'd do that, that which we have always proven, the capacity to do better than any nation in the world, to take actions that include more of our people more fully in the economic, social and political life of our country. When you listened to the Republican debate the other night, you heard a lot of anger and you had a lot of fear. Well, they can have their anger and they can have their fear, but anger and fear never built America. We build our country by adopting wage and labor policies, including comprehensive immigration reform with a pathway of citizenship for all. We do it by investing in our country, by investing in infrastructure, by investing in the skills and the talents of our people with debt-free college, and we can do it again. And we also create a better future for our kids when we square our shoulders to the great challenges of our times, whether it's terror trying to undermine our values or Republican presidential candidates trying to get us to surrender our freedoms and our values in the face of this threat. The other big challenge we have is climate change. The greatest business opportunity to come to the United States of America in 100 years. We need to embrace this. I have put forward a plan that does this, that moves us to 100 percent clean electric grid by 2050. Join this campaign for the future. New leadership is what our country needs to move us out of these divided and polarized times. Thank you. +p112 +asVANNOUNCER +p113 +(lp114 +VHello from MinuteEarth. Fossil fuels have long kept our cars moving and our light bulbs lit. But we know that burning these fuels releases heat-trapping gases that are warming the planet, causing seas to rise and contributing to extreme weather events, like South Carolina's devastating flooding last year. Fighting human-caused climate change means giving up our global addiction to fossil fuels and shifting the bulk of the world's energy supply to alternative sources. Some countries have acted decisively to make this transition. But here at home, we still get a whooping 82 percent of our energy from coal, oil, and natural gas. In the U.S., political gridlock, pressure from industry lobbyists and insufficient R&D have made an already tough battle against climate change even tougher. +p115 +aVABC News coverage of the New Hampshire Democratic debate will continue in a moment. ( +p116 +asVUNKNOWN +p117 +(lp118 +VIf you're not going to have my back, I'm going to have my back. +p119 +aVA couple things here. First of all... +p120 +aVWe have grown \u2014 we have grown... +p121 +aVTrue. It's true. +p122 +aV...let me follow up that... +p123 +aV +p124 +aVOh, great. +p125 +aV...In 2011, you told Forbes Magazine this: "I've used the laws of the country to my advantage." But at the same time, financial experts involved in those bankruptcies say that lenders to your companies lost billions of dollars. Question sir, with that record, why should we trust you to run the nation's business? +p126 +aVI do. +p127 +aVThank you. +p128 +aVSecretive and untrustworthy. +p129 +asVIFILL +p130 +(lp131 +VWe want to also extend our warm thanks to Milwaukee Public Radio and Milwaukee Public Television, as well as all of our friends at the PBS member stations across the country tuning in tonight. This is the sixth time the Democrats have met face to face. Each time, we learn more about them and the presidents they say they want to be. You know you're watching \u2014 whether you're a Democrat, a Republican, or neither \u2014 because you believe the outcome of the election is important to you. And we believe that, too. With that, let's welcome the candidates to the stage. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. +p132 +aVWelcome to you both. +p133 +aVWith Iowa and New Hampshire behind us, we are now broadening the conversation to America's heartland and beyond, including here in Wisconsin. Now let's turn to the candidates for their opening statements. The order was decided by coin toss. And, Senator Sanders, you go first. +p134 +aVThank you, Senator Sanders. Thank you, Senator Sanders. Secretary Clinton. +p135 +aVFinal thought, Senator. +p136 +aVI'd like to move along. I'd like to move along. Secretary Clinton, you might \u2014 you also have proposed fairly expansive ideas about government. You may remember this pledge from a State of the Union Address at which I believe you were present, in which these words were said: "The era of big government is over." You may remember that. When asked your feelings about the federal government this week, 61 percent of New Hampshire Democrats told exit pollsters that they are angry or at least dissatisfied. Given what you and Senator Sanders are proposing, an expanding government in almost every area of our lives, is it fair for Americans who fear government to fear you? +p137 +aVBut I haven't heard either of you put a price tag on your \u2014 you say... +p138 +aVSenator? +p139 +aVSenator, do you worry at all that you will be the instrument of thwarting history, as Senator Clinton keeps claiming, that she might be the first woman president? +p140 +aVThank you both. We turn now to the first of several questions from our partners at Facebook. They were selected from a curated group of people we've been following of undecided voters. The first comes from Claudia Looze, a 54-year-old woman who works as a program manager at a public affairs cable network in Madison, Wisconsin. And she writes: "Wisconsin is number one in African-American male incarceration, according to a University of Wisconsin study. They found that Wisconsin's incarceration rate for black men, which is at 13 percent, was nearly double the country's rate. What can we do across the nation to address this?" Senator Sanders. +p141 +aVLet me turn this on its head, because when we talk about race in this country, we always talk about African-Americans, people of color. I want to talk about white people, OK? +p142 +aVI know. So many people will be surprised to find out that we are sitting in one of the most racially polarized metropolitan areas in the country. By the middle of this century, the nation is going to be majority nonwhite. Our public schools are already there. If working-class, white Americans are about to be outnumbered, are already underemployed in many cases, and one study found they are dying sooner, don't they have a reason to be resentful, Senator \u2014 Secretary Clinton? +p143 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, I want you to respond to that, but I also want you to \u2014 am I wrong? Is it even right to be describing this as a matter of race? +p144 +aVIf you would allow me now to move on, we've been talking about children. I want to talk about seniors. That takes us to our second Facebook question from Farheen Hakeem, who writes, "My father" \u2014 she's a 40-year-old woman who works for a nonprofit here in Milwaukee. And she writes, "My father gets just $16 in food assistance per month as part of Medicaid's family community program in Milwaukee County for low-income seniors. How will you as president work to ensure low-income seniors get their basic needs met?" Start with you, Senator Sanders. +p145 +aVSenator Sanders, are you saying... +p146 +aVThere's a lot more to come in just a few minutes. Stay with us for more of the PBS NewsHour Democratic Debate. +p147 +aVHow about you, Senator Clinton \u2014 Secretary Clinton? +p148 +aVWe spent the first part of this debate talking about domestic insecurity. The second part, we want to talk about our foreign policy insecurities. And we want to start with a question for you, Secretary Clinton, about America's role in the world. Americans are becoming increasingly worried that attacks abroad are coming home, that they already are, in fact, here. According to exit polls from last week, from earlier this week, more than two-thirds of Democrats in New Hampshire are concerned about sending their children to fight in wars they can't win. They fret that the next attack is just around the corner and we are not ready. Are we? +p149 +aVSenator Sanders... +p150 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p151 +aVLet me move on. You have both mentioned the humanitarian tragedies which have been an outgrowth in part of what has happened in Syria and in Libya. More than a million refugees entered Europe in 2015. Another 76,000 just last month, that is about 2,000 arrivals every day. Nearly 400 people have been lost at sea so far this year, crossing the Mediterranean. And there are reports that 10,000 children are missing. If we are leaders in this world, where should the U.S. be on this? What should the United States be doing, Secretary Clinton? +p152 +aVSenator, if you would like respond to \u2014 you may respond to that but it is time for closing statements and you can use your time for closing statements to do that. +p153 +aVThank you. Thank you Senator Clinton. Thank you, Senator Sanders. We also want to thank our partners at Facebook and our hosts here at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. +p154 +aVI'm going to remain here in Milwaukee tomorrow evening for a special edition of Washington Week here on PBS. +p155 +asVWOODRUFF +p156 +(lp157 +VGood evening, and thank you. We are happy to welcome you to Milwaukee for this Democratic debate. We are especially pleased to thank our partners at Facebook, who have helped us set up a vibrant conversation among voters who are undecided. And tonight you're going to hear some of their questions for the candidates. And you can follow along at home on the PBS NewsHour page on Facebook. We also want to thank our hosts, the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, on whose campus we meet, here in the beautiful Helen Bader Concert Hall. +p158 +aVWelcome, Senator, great to see you. And former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Very good to be here with you. +p159 +aVNow, a word about format. There will be two short breaks, and the rules are simple: 90 seconds for each answer and 30 seconds for the other candidate to respond. +p160 +aVThank you both. Thank you both. And we'll be right back after a short break to begin questions. +p161 +aVAnd, welcome back to this PBS Newshour debate, Democratic debate, here in Milwaukee. Let's get right to the questions. Senator Sanders, to you first. Coming off the results in Iowa and New Hampshire, there are many voters who are taking a closer look at you, and your ideas, and they're asking how big a role do you foresee for the federal government? It's already spending 21% of the entire U.S. economy. How much larger would government be in the lives of Americans under a Sanders presidency? +p162 +aVBut, my question is how big would government be? Would there be any limit on the size of the role of government... +p163 +aVNext, we're going to... +p164 +aVVery brief, thank you. +p165 +aVSecretary Clinton, your campaign \u2014 you and your campaign have made a clear appeal to women voters. You have talked repeatedly about the fact, we know you would be, if elected, the first woman president. But in New Hampshire 55 percent of the women voters supported and voted for Senator Sanders. What are women missing about you? +p166 +aVAs you know, just quickly, as you know, your strong supporter, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, said the other day that there's a special place in Hell for women who don't support other women. Do you agree with what she said? +p167 +aVSenator Sanders, you're in the minority, but we still want to hear from you. +p168 +aVFinal comment. +p169 +aVSecretary Clinton, I was talking recently with a 23 year old black woman who voted for President Obama because she said she thought relations between the races would get better under his leadership, and his example. Hardly anyone believes that they have. Why do you think race relations would be better under a Clinton presidency? What would you do that the nation's first African American has not been able to? +p170 +aVSenator Sanders? +p171 +aVSo race relation was be better under a Sanders presidency than they've been? +p172 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders, one of the causes of anxiety for working class Americans is connected to immigrants. President Obama, as you know, has issued executive actions to permit some 5 million undocumented immigrants who are living now in the United States to come out of the shadows without fear of deportation to get work permits. Would you go further than that? And if so, how specifically would you do it? Should an undocumented family watching this debate tonight, say, in Nevada, rest easy, not fear of further deportations under a Sanders presidency? +p173 +aVI'd like... +p174 +aVWe're going to move on. Secretary Clinton, your campaign has recently ramped up criticism of Senator Sanders for attending Democratic Party fundraisers from which you say he benefited. But nearly half of your financial sector donations appear to come from just two wealthy financiers, George Soros and Donald Sussman, for a total of about $10 million. You have said that there's no quid pro quo involved. Is that also true of the donations that wealthy Republicans give to Republican candidates, contributors including the Koch Brothers? +p175 +aVI'm asking if Democratic donors are different than Republican donors. +p176 +aVWe have to go to a break. We... +p177 +aVAll right. Thank you both. It is time for a break. And when we come back, we're going to turn to some new topics, including how these candidates will keep America safe. +p178 +aVWelcome back to the Democratic presidential debate. Before we return to our questions, we have a follow-up question from our Facebook group. And it is to Senator Sanders. Senator, it comes from Bill Corfield. He is a 55-year-old musician from Troy, Ohio. And he asks: "Are there any areas of government you would like to reduce?" +p179 +aVJust a final word. +p180 +aVSenator, let me \u2014 let me move on to another country with which the U.S. has a complicated relationship, Senator Sanders, and that's Russia. On the one hand, we're aware that Russia is a country that the United States needs to cooperate with. Just tonight, Secretary of State John Kerry has announced what appears to be an agreement with the Russians to lead \u2014 that could lead toward a ceasefire in Syria, would be the first cessation of conflict in that country, in that civil war in five years, but it comes at a very high price, because not only have all \u2014 have we seen the deaths, the removal of so many people, millions of people, we now see the Russians in the last few weeks have bombed in a way that benefits President Assad, has not gone after +p181 +aVAnd we have a final question from our Facebook family. And it goes to Senator Sanders. It comes from Robert Andrews. He's a 40-year-old stay-at-home dad in Dover, Massachusetts. He says, "The world has seen many great leaders in the course of human history. Can you name two leaders \u2014 one American and one foreign \u2014 who would influence your foreign policy decisions? And why do you see them as \u2014 why are they influential?" +p182 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p183 +aVAnd we want to thank our audience, our quiet audience here in Helen Bader Concert Hall, and to all of you watching at home. Thank you all. Stay tuned for analysis of the debate and the overall race for the Democratic nomination. That's coming up next here on PBS stations and online atPBS.org/NewsHour. +p184 +aVAnd I'm going to be returning to Washington. I hope you'll join us for the PBS NewsHour tomorrow and every night. That's it from all of us here in Milwaukee. We thank you. +p185 +asVCORDES +p186 +(lp187 +VJohn, thanks so much. We've learned a lot during the course of this campaign about the things that you'd like to do that you say would help the middle class, but we haven't heard quite as much about who would pick up the tab. So Secretary Clinton, first to you. You want to cap individuals' prescription drug costs at $250 a month. You want to make public college debt-free. You want community college to be free altogether. And you want mandatory paid family leave. So who pays for all that? Is it employers? Is it the taxpayers, and which taxpayers? +p188 +aVBut a quick follow-up on that $250-a-month cap. Wouldn't the pharmaceutical companies and the insurance companies just pass that cost on to the consumers in the form of higher premiums? +p189 +aVGovernor O'Malley, you also want to make public college debt-free. You want... O' +p190 +aV... states to freeze tuition. You've got your own family leave plan. How would you pay for it? In Maryland, you raised the sales tax, you raised the gas tax and you raised taxes on families making over $150,000 a year. Is that the blueprint? O' +p191 +aVSenator Sanders, you want to make public college free altogether. You want to increase Social Security benefits and you want to spend $1 trillion on infrastructure. So you said that to do some of these things, you'll impose a tax on top earners. How high would their rate go in a Sanders administration? +p192 +aVBut let's get specific. How high would you go? You have said before you would go above 50 percent. How high? +p193 +aVSecretary Clinton, Americans say that health care costs and wages are their top financial concerns. And health care deductibles, alone, have risen 67 percent over the past five years. Is this something that Obamacare was designed to address? And if not, why not? +p194 +aVIt is -- it is a worthy debate. Senator Sanders, a quick response, and then we'll get into health care again later. +p195 +aVThere was a lot of conversation on twitter about guns, but also about your conversation on campaign finance. And Secretary Clinton, one of the tweets we saw said this, "I've never seen a candidate invoke 9/11 to justify millions of Wall Street donations until now." The idea being, yes, you were a champion of the community after 9/11, but what does that have to do with taking big donations? +p196 +aVHold on. O' +p197 +aVSenator Sanders -- I'm sorry. Senator Sanders, but what is it in Secretary Clinton's record that shows you that she's been influenced by those donations? +p198 +aVBack to health care, by popular demand. First to you, Senator Sanders. You'd prefer to scrap Obamacare and move to a single-payer system, essentially Medicare for all. You say you want to put the private insurance companies out of business. Is it realistic to think that you can pull the plug on a $1 trillion industry? +p199 +aVSecretary Clinton, back in -- Secretary Clinton, back in 1994, you said that momentum for a single-payer system would sweep the country. That sounds Sanders-esque. But you don't feel that way anymore, why not? +p200 +asVKELLY +p201 +(lp202 +VWelcome to the first debate night of the 2016 presidential campaign, live from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. I'm Megyn Kelly... ... along with my co-moderators, Brett Baier and Chris Wallace. Tonight... Nice. Tonight, thousands of people here in the Q, along with millions of voters at home will get their very first chance to see the candidates face off in a debate, answering the questions you want answered. +p203 +aVAs for the candidates who will be answering those questions? Here they are. Positioned on the stage by how they stand in the polls, in the center of the stage tonight, businessman Donald Trump. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. +p204 +aVGentlemen, our first round of questions is on the subject of electability in the general election, and we start tonight with you, Dr. Carson. You are a successful neurosurgeon, but you admit that you have had to study up on foreign policy, saying there's a lot to learn. Your critics say that your inexperience shows. You've suggested that the Baltic States are not a part of +p205 +aVMr. Trump, one of the things people love about you is you speak your mind and you don't use a politician's filter. However, that is not without its downsides, in particular, when it comes to women. You've called women you don't like "fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals." Your Twitter account... +p206 +aVNo, it wasn't. Your Twitter account... +p207 +aVFor the record, it was well beyond Rosie O'Donnell. +p208 +aVYour Twitter account has several disparaging comments about women's looks. You once told a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice it would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees. Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president, and how will you answer the charge from Hillary Clinton, who was likely to be the Democratic nominee, that you are part of the war on women? +p209 +aVGovernor Walker, you've consistently said that you want to make abortion illegal even in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother. You recently signed an abortion law in Wisconsin that does have an exception for the mother's life, but you're on the record as having objected to it. Would you really let a mother die rather than have an abortion, and with 83 percent of the American public in favor of a life exception, are you too out of the mainstream on this issue to win the general election? +p210 +aVGovernor Kasich, You chose to expand Medicaid in your state, unlike several other governors on this stage tonight, and it is already over budget by some estimates costing taxpayers an additional $1.4 billion in just the first 18 months. You defended your Medicaid expansion by invoking God, saying to skeptics that when they arrive in heaven, Saint Peter isn't going to ask them how small they've kept government, but what they have done for the poor. Why should Republican voters, who generally want to shrink government, believe that you won't use your Saint Peter rationale to expand every government program? +p211 +aVAlright, gentlemen, we're gonna switch topics now and talk a bit about terror and national security. Governor Christie. You've said that Senator Paul's opposition to the NSA's collection of phone records has made the United States weaker and more vulnerable, even going so far as to say that he should be called before Congress to answer for it if we should be hit by another terrorist attack. Do you really believe you can assign blame to Senator Paul just for opposing the bulk collection of people's phone records in the event of a terrorist attack? +p212 +aVGo ahead, sir. +p213 +aVGovernor Christie, make your point. +p214 +aVGo ahead, governor. +p215 +aVAlright. +p216 +aVAlright, we've gotta cut it off there. We have plenty more we want to get to. That was an interesting exchange, thank you for that. +p217 +aVWell, I want to move on, because I have -- we're gonna get to you, governor, but I -- I really wanna get to a Facebook questioner. His name is Alex Chalgren, and he has the following question: +p218 +aVSenator Cruz, I wanna talk to you about this, because many of the Facebook users and -- and -- the -- the folks on Facebook wanted the candidates to speak to +p219 +aVYou don't see it as... ...an ideological problem -- an ideological problem in addition to a military one? +p220 +aVGovernor Bush, for days on end in this campaign, you struggled to answer a question about whether knowing what we know now... +p221 +aV...we would've invaded Iraq... +p222 +aVI remember it too, and +p223 +aVGovernor Walker, in February you said that we needed to gain partners in the Arab world. Which Arab country not already in the U.S. led coalition has potential to be our greatest partner? +p224 +aVDr. Carson, in one of his first acts as commander in chief, President Obama signed an executive order banning enhanced interrogation techniques in fighting terror. As president, would you bring back water boarding? +p225 +aVWe have a lot for you, don't worry. Fear not, you may rue that request. +p226 +aVIt's just before 10:00 p.m. on the East Coast. Welcome back to Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, and the very first Republican primary debate of the 2016 presidential campaign. Ten candidates on the stage, selected based on their standing in five national polls. And tonight they are facing off, answering the questions you want asked. We hope. +p227 +aV Sounds like somebody's a little R-rated. +p228 +aVWell, the first debate night of the 2016 presidential campaign continues from Cleveland after a short time-out. Stick around. Social issues, next. +p229 +aVSenator Rubio, you favor a rape and incest exception to abortion bans. Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York just said yesterday those exceptions are preposterous. He said they discriminate against an entire class of human beings. If you believe that life begins at conception, as you say you do, how do you justify ending a life just because it begins violently, through no fault of the baby? +p230 +aVYou don't favor a rape and incest exception? +p231 +aVMr. Trump, in 1999, you said you were, quote, "very pro- choice." Even supporting partial-birth abortion. You favored an assault weapons ban as well. In 2004, you said in most cases you identified as a Democrat. Even in this campaign, your critics say you often sound more like a Democrat than a Republican, calling several of your opponents on the stage things like clowns and puppets. When did you actually become a Republican? +p232 +aVGovernor Bush, I want to ask you, on the subject of name calling of your fellow candidates, a story appeared today quoting an anonymous GOP donor who said you called Mr. Trump a clown, a buffoon, something else that cannot be repeated on television. +p233 +aVIs it true? +p234 +aVMr. Trump, 30 seconds. +p235 +aVThe subject of gay marriage and religious liberty. Governor Kasich, if you had a son or daughter who was gay or lesbian, how would you explain to them your opposition to same-sex marriage? +p236 +aVHow would you -- how would you explain it to a child? +p237 +aVSenator Paul, in the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling on same sex marriage, Carol Fox on Facebook want to know the following. Quote: what will you do to ensure Christians are not prosecuted for speaking out against gay marriage and will Christians be forced to conduct business that conflicts with their religious beliefs? +p238 +aVGovernor Walker, many in the Black Lives Matter movement, and beyond, believe that overly-aggressive police officers targeting young African Americans is the civil rights issue of our time. Do you agree? And if so, how do you plan to address it? And if not, why not? +p239 +aVThank you. +p240 +aVWe have to stand you by, because after the break, we're going to let the candidates make their closing statements, their final thoughts, and . . . God. Stay tuned for that. +p241 +aVWelcome back. In our final moments here together, we're going to allow the candidates to offer their final thoughts. But first, we want to ask them an interesting closing question from Chase Norton on Facebook, who wants to know this of the candidates: "I want to know if any of them have received a word from God on what they should do and take care of first." Senator Cruz, start from you. Any word from God? +p242 +aVGovernor Kasich, same question. +p243 +aVGovernor Walker, same question. +p244 +aVSenator Rubio, I want to ask you the same question. But I do want to mention, a woman just came here to the stage and asked, what about the veterans? I want to hear more about what these candidates are going to do for our nation's veterans. So I put the question to you about God and the veterans, which you may find to be related. +p245 +aVDr. Carson, a question to you about God and his role, but also, one of the issues that the public was very interested in, and we touched on it earlier, is race relations in this country, and how divided we seem right now. And what, if anything, you can do -- you would do as the next president to help heal that divide. +p246 +aVGovernor Christie? +p247 +aVSenator Ted Cruz. +p248 +aVGovernor Scott Walker. +p249 +aVIt's over! +p250 +aVAre you relieved? You were nervous before, they -- they don't look relieved. They look "get me outta here." Thank you all very much, and that will do it for the first Republican primary debate night of the 2016 presidential race. Our thanks to the candidates, who will now be joined by their families on stage. +p251 +asVRUBIO +p252 +(lp253 +VThank you Wolf. It's really amazing to be back in Las Vegas. I spent six years as a child growing not far from where we stand tonight. I use to sit on the porch of our home and listen to my grandfather tell stories as he smoked one of three daily cigars. One of the things my grandfather instilled in me, was that I was really blessed because I was a citizen of the greatest country in the history of our mankind. But there have always been people in American politics that wanted America to be more like the rest of the world. And In 2008, one of them was elected president of this country and the result has been a disaster. Today you have millions of Americans that feel left out and out of place in their own country, struggling to live paycheck to paycheck, called bigots because they hold on to traditional values. And around the world, America's influence has declined while this president has destroyed our military, our allies no longer trust us, and our adversaries no longer respect us. And that is why this election is so important. That is why I'm running for president. And that's why I'm going to ask you for your vote tonight. If you elect me president, we will have a president that believes America is the greatest country in the world and we will have a president that acts like it. +p254 +aVWell, I understand why they feel that way, because this president hasn't kept us safe. The problem is we had an attack in San Bernardino. And we were paying attention to the most important issue we have faced in a decade since 9/11, and then all the talk was about this proposal, which isn't going to happen. But this is what's important to do is we must deal frontally with this threat of radical Islamists, especially from +p255 +aVHe is and so are those that voted for it. There were some that voted for it because they wanted to keep it alive and they were afraid the whole program would expire. Here's the world we live in. This is a radical jihadist group that is increasingly sophisticated in its ability, for example, to radicalize American citizens, in its inability to exploit loopholes in our legal immigration system, in its ability to capture and hold territory in the Middle East, as I outlined earlier, in multiple countries. This is not just the most capable, it is the most sophisticated terror threat we have ever faced. We are now at a time when we need more tools, not less tools. And that took we lost, the metadata program, was a valuable tool that we no longer have at our disposal. +p256 +aVDana, may I interject here? +p257 +aVLet me be very careful when answering this, because I don't think national television in front of 15 million people is the place to discuss classified information. So let me just be very clear. There is nothing that we are allowed to do under this bill that we could not do before. This bill did, however, take away a valuable tool that allowed the National Security Agency and other law \u2014 and other intelligence agencies to quickly and rapidly access phone records and match them up with other phone records to see who terrorists have been calling. Because I promise you, the next time there is attack on \u2014 an attack on this country, the first thing people are going to want to know is, why didn't we know about it and why didn't we stop it? And the answer better not be because we didn't have access to records or information that would have allowed us to identify these killers before they attacked. +p258 +aVI want to thank Rand for another 30 seconds, because, number one, what he's pointing to is a bill last week that \u2014 amendment that he voted for that only 10 people voted for. You know why? Because it's not focused on terrorists. It would have banned anyone from coming here. Someone from Taiwan would not have been able to come here as a tourist. Number two, this program, this metadata program is actually more strict than what a regular law enforcement agency has now. If a regular law enforcement agency wants your phone records, all they have to do is issue a subpoena. But now the intelligence agency is not able to quickly gather records and look at them to see who these terrorists are calling. And the terrorists that attacked us in San Bernardino was an American citizen, born and raised in this country. And I bet you we wish we would have had access to five years of his records so we could see who he was working with... +p259 +aVDo I get another 30 seconds? He mentioned me. +p260 +aVWell, let me begin by saying that we have to understand who +p261 +aVThat is accurate. Three times he voted against the Defense Authorization Act, which is a bill that funds the troops. It also, by the way, funds the Iron Dome and other important programs. And I have to assume that if you vote against it in the Senate, you would also veto it as president. He has also supported, by the way, a budget that is called the containment budget. And it is a budget that would radically reduce the amount of money we spend on our military. You can't carpet bomb +p262 +aVYes, let me \u2014 three points of distinction. The first is, if you're an American citizen and you decide to join up with +p263 +aVWell, they most certainly will have to be worked on to provide more than what they are doing now. There's no doubt about it. And there's one \u2014 one major reason why they have not been willing to be a broader part of the coalition, and that is they have lost complete trust and confidence in this president. This president cut a deal with their moral enemy, the Shia, in Iran. And this is the reason why they no longer trust this president and are willing to work alongside them. But they have as much invested in this as we do. In fact, more so, for it is the king of Saudi Arabia they want to behead first. It's the king of Jordan that they want to dethrone. It's the \u2014 they want to go into Egypt the way they've already gone into Libya. And on another point that we need to talk about, Assad is one of the main reasons why +p264 +aVTo begin with, Moammar Gadhafi and the revolt against Gadhafi was not started by the United States. It was started by the Libyan people. And the reason why I argued we needed to get involved is because he was going to go one way or the other. And my argument then was proven true, and that is, the longer that civil war took, the more militias would be formed and the more unstable the country would be after the fact. As far as Moammar Gadhafi is concerned, by the way, Moammar Gadhafi is the man that killed those Americans over Lockerbie, Scotland. Moammar Gadhafi is also the man that bombed that cafe in Berlin and killed those Marines. And you want to know why Moammar Gadhafi started cooperating on his nuclear program? Because we got rid of Saddam Hussein. And so he got scared that he would be next, and that's why he started cooperating. Look, we will have to work around the world with less than ideal governments. The government in Saudi Arabia is not a democracy, but we will have to work with them. The government in Jordan is not perfect, but we will have to work with them. But anti-American dictators like Assad, who help Hezbollah, who helped get those IEDs into Iraq, if they go, I will not shed a tear. +p265 +aVYeah. Immigration is not an issue that I read about in the newspaper or watch a documentary on PBS or CNN. It's an issues I've lived around my whole life. My family are immigrants. My wife's family are immigrants. All of my neighbors are immigrants. I see every aspect of this problem. The good, the bad, and the ugly. And here's what we learned in 2013. The American people don't trust the Federal Government to enforce our immigration laws, and we will not be able to do anything on immigration until we first prove to the American people that illegal immigration is under control. And we can do that. We know what it takes to do that. It takes at least 20,000 more additional border agents. It takes completing those 700 miles of fencing. It takes a mandatory e-verify system and a mandatory entry/exit tracking system to prevent overstays. After we have done that, the second thing we have to do is reform and modernize the legal immigration system. And after we have done those two things, I think the American people are gonna be reasonable with what do you do with someone who has been in this country for 10 or 12 years who hasn't otherwise violated our laws \u2014 because if they're a criminal they can't stay. They'll have to undergo a background check, pay a fine, start paying taxes. And ultimately, they'll given a work permit and that's all they're gonna be allowed to have for at least 10 years. But you can't get to that third step until you have done the other two things, and that was the lesson we learned in 2013. There is no trust that the Federal Government will enforce the law. They will not support you until you see it done first. +p266 +aVBut I've answered that question repeatedly. I am personally open \u2014 after all that has happened and after ten years in that probationary status where all they have is a permit, I personally am open to allowing people to apply for a green card. That may not be a majority position in my party, but that's down the road. You can't even begin that process until you prove to people \u2014 not just pass a law that says you're gonna bring illegal immigration under control. You're gonna have to do it and prove to people that it's working. And that was the lesson of 2013. And it's more true today, than it was then. After a migratory crisis on the border with minors coming over that you're seeing start up again now, after all these executive orders the President has issued. More than ever we need to... +p267 +aV... prove to people that illegal immigration is under control. +p268 +aVYeah, a couple points. In 2013 we had never faced a crisis like the Syrian refugee crisis now. Up until that point, a refugee meant someone fleeing oppression, fleeing Communism like it is in my community. As far as Ted's record, I'm always puzzled by his attack on this issue. Ted, you support legalizing people who are in this country illegally. Ted Cruz supported a 500-percent increase in the number of H-1 visas, the guest workers that are allowed into this country, and Ted supports doubling the number of green cards. So I think what's important for us to understand and there is a way forward on this issue that we an bring our country together on. And while I'm president I will do it. And it will begin by bringing illegal immigration under control and proving to the American people. +p269 +aVNo, no, give him time. +p270 +aVTed, do you... +p271 +aVDid Ted Cruz fight to support legalizing people that are in this country illegally? +p272 +aVDoes Ted Cruz rule out ever legalizing people that are in this country now? +p273 +aVWould you rule it out? +p274 +aVWell, he's just admitted \u2014 as he's just admitted, the reason why those refugees were allowed in was because they messed up in how they used the actual database. They should have know. They didn't because they didn't run the actual law as it exists now. It didn't work well. As far as the refugees are concerned, it's not that America doesn't want to accept refugees, Wolf. It's that we may not be able to, because this is an issue we have to be 100 percent right on. If we allow 9,999 Syrian refugees into the United States, and all of them are good people, but we allow one person in who's an +p275 +aVI do. First, let's explain to people at home who the triad \u2014 what the triad is. Maybe a lot of people haven't heard that terminology before. The triad is our ability of the United States to conduct nuclear attacks using airplanes, using missiles launched from silos or from the ground, and also from our nuclear subs' ability to attack. And it's important \u2014 all three of them are critical. It gives us the ability at deterrence. Now, some have become more critical than others; for example, the submarines. And that's the Ohio Class submarine that needs to be modernized. The air component also needs to be modernized. The B-52, as someone earlier pointed out, is an outdated model that was flown by the grandparents of people that are flying it now. And we need a serious modernization program as well on our silo-launched missiles. All three are critical for the defense of the country. +p276 +aVThank you. As we near the end of this year, we enter one of the most important elections in a generation. For what's at stake in this election is not simply what party's going to be in charge. But our very identity as a people and as a nation. For over 200 years this has been a special country. A unique place where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything. But now millions of Americans feel like they're being left behind. Insecure in their future and unsafe in the face of terrorism. This election is about electing a president that will restore our economic vibrancy so that the American dream can expand to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And rebuild our Military and our intelligence programs so that we can remain the strongest nation on earth. Tonight I ask you for your vote. If you do this, we will rebuild this country, and together we will usher in a new American century \u2014 the greatest era in the history of this great land. +p277 +aVWell, let me begin by answering both the first question and this one, because they're related. As I've said many times before, my parents were never rich people. My father was a bartender. My mother was a maid. They worked for a living. But they were successful people, because, despite the fact that they weren't well educated and had those jobs, they made enough money to buy a home in a safe and stable neighborhood, retire with dignity, leave all four of their children better off than themselves. We call that the American dream, but in fact, it's a universal dream of a better life that people have all over the world. It is a reminder that every country in the world has rich people. What makes America special is that we have millions and millions of people that are not rich, that through hard work and perseverance are able to be successful. The problem is that today people are not successful working as hard as ever because the economy is not providing jobs that pay enough. If I thought that raising the minimum wage was the best way to help people increase their pay, I would be all for it, but it isn't. In the 20th century, it's a disaster. If you raise the minimum wage, you're going to make people more expensive than a machine. And that means all this automation that's replacing jobs and people right now is only going to be accelerated. Here's the best way to raise wages. Make America the best place in the world to start a business or expand an existing business, tax reform and regulatory reform, bring our debt under control, fully utilize our energy resources so we can reinvigorate manufacturing, repeal and replace Obamacare, and make higher education faster and easier to access, especially vocational training. For the life of me, I don't know why we have stigmatized vocational education. Welders make more money than philosophers. We need more welders and less philosophers. If we do that \u2014 and if we do this \u2014 if we do this, we will be able to increase wages for millions of Americans and we will be able to leave everyone better off without making anyone worse off. +p278 +aVWell, you know, that's an excellent question, because what we are going through in this country is not simply an economic downturn. We are living through a massive economic transformation. I mean, this economy is nothing like what it was like five years ago, not to mention 15 or 20 years ago. And it isn't just a different economy. It's changing faster than ever. You know, it took the telephone 75 years to reach 100 million users. It took Candy Crush one year to reach some 100 million users. So the world is changing faster than ever, and it is disruptive. Number one, we are in a global competition now, and several of the candidates have said that. There are now dozens of developed economies on this planet that we have to compete with. And we lose that competition because we have the highest business tax rate in the industrialized world, because we have regulations that continue to grow by the billions every single week, because we have a crazy health care law that discourages companies from hiring people, but because we're not fully utilizing our energy resources, that if we did, it would bring back all kinds of growth, especially in manufacturing, and because we have an outdated higher education system. Our higher education system is completely outdated. It is too expensive, too hard to access, and it doesn't teach 21st century skills. If we do what needs to be done \u2014 tax reform, regulatory reform, fully utilize our energy resources, repeal and replace Obamacare, and modernize higher education, then we can grasp the potential and the promise of this new economy. And we won't just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And then truly this new century can be a new American century. +p279 +aVThe most important job I'm ever going to have, the most important job anyone in this room will ever have, is the job of being a parent. Not the job of being president, or the job of being a senator, or the job of being a congressman. The most important job any of us will ever do is the job of being a president (sic), because the most important institution in society is the family. If the family breaks down, society breaks down. You can't have a strong nation without strong values, and no one is born with strong values. They have to be taught to you in strong families and reinforced in you in strong communities. And so when we set out to do tax reform, we endeavor to have a pro-family tax code, and we endeavor to do it because we know how difficult it is for families in the 21st century to afford the cost of living. It is expensive to raise children in the 21st century, and families that are raising children are raising the future taxpayers of the United States, and everything costs more. In 35 out of 50 states, child care costs more than college. There are millions of people watching this broadcast tonight that understand exactly what I'm talking about. They don't know how they're going to make that payment every month, and if they can't make it, they can't work, because someone needs to watch their kids during the day. They don't know how they're going to save for their kids' future, to go to college. And so, yes, I have a child tax credit increase, and I'm proud of it. I am proud that I have a pro-family tax code, because the pro- family tax plan I have will strengthen the most important institution in the \u2014 in the country, the family. +p280 +aVNow I get my 60 seconds to respond. He's talking about my tax plan. +p281 +aVSo let me begin with this. I actually believe \u2014 first of all, this is their money. They do pay. It is refundable, not just against the taxes they pay to the government, but also the \u2014 on their federal income tax, it's refundable against the payroll tax. Everyone pays payroll tax. This is their money. This is not our money. And here's what I don't understand \u2014 if you invest that money in a piece of equipment, if you invest that money in a business, you get to write it off your taxes. But if you invest it in your children, in the future of America and strengthening your family, we're not going to recognize that in our tax code? The family is the most important institution in society. And, yes... +p282 +aV... I do want to rebuild the American military. +p283 +aVI know that Rand is a committed isolationist. I'm not. I believe the world is a stronger and a better place, when the United States is the strongest military power in the world. +p284 +aVBecause... +p285 +aV...are you talking about the military, Rand? +p286 +aVWe can't even have an economy if we're not safe. There are radical jihadist in the Middle East beheading people and crucifying Christians. A radical Shia cleric in Iran trying to get a nuclear weapon, the Chinese taking over the South China Sea... ...Yes, I believe the world is a safer \u2014 no, no, I don't believe, I know that the world is a safer place when America is the strongest military power in the world. +p287 +aVYou know, if I may respond... +p288 +aVI need to add a couple of points to this. The first is, I've never met Vladimir Putin, but I know enough about him to know he is a gangster. He is basically an organized crime figure that runs a country, controls a $2 trillion economy. And is using to build up his military in a rapid way despite the fact his economy is a disaster. He understands only geopolitical strength. And every time he has acted anywhere in the world, whether it's in Ukraine or Georgia before that, or now in the Middle East, it's because he is trusting in weakness. His calculation in the Middle East is that he has seen what this president has done, which is nothing, the president has no strategy, our allies in the region do not trust us. For goodness sake, there is only one pro-American free enterprise democracy in the Middle East, it is the state of Israel. And we have a president that treats the prime minister of Israel with less respect than what he gives the ayatollah in Iran. And so our allies in the region don't trust us. Vladimir Putin is exploiting that weakness, for purposes of edging the Americans out as the most important geopolitical power broker in the region. And we do have a vested interest. And here's why. Because all those radical terrorist groups that, by the way, are not just in Syria and in Iraq, +p289 +aVCan I just add what \u2014 he's right on point there. Do you know why these banks are so big? The government made them big. The government made them big by adding thousands and thousands of pages of regulations. So the big banks, they have an army of lawyers, they have an army of compliance officers. They can deal with all these things. The small banks, like Governor Bush was saying, they can't deal with all these regulations. They can't deal with all \u2014 they cannot hire the fanciest law firm in Washington or the best lobbying firm to deal with all these regulations. And so the result is, the big banks get bigger, the small banks struggle to lend or even exist, and the result is what you have today. And in Dodd-Frank, you have actually codified too big to fail. We have actually created a category of systemically important institutions, and these banks go around bragging about it. You know what they say to people with a wink and a nod? We are so big, we are so important that if we get in trouble, the government has to bail us out. This is an outrage. We need to repeal Dodd-Frank as soon as possible. +p290 +aVWell, that's a great question, and let me begin by answering it. This election is about the future, about what kind of country this nation is gonna be in the 21st century. This next (ph) election is actually a generational choice. A choice about what kind of nation we will be in the 21st century. For over 2.5 centuries, America's been a special country, the one place on earth where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything, a nation that's been a force for good on this planet. But now, a growing number of Americans feel out of place in their own country. We have a society that stigmatizes those that hold cultural values that are traditional. We have a society where people \u2014 millions of people \u2014 are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, but they're living paycheck to paycheck because the economy has changed underneath their feet. We have young Americans who owe thousands of dollars in student loans for a degree that doesn't lead to a job. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses dying than starting, and around the world, every day brings news of a new humiliation for America \u2014 many the direct response \u2014 direct consequence of decisions made when Hillary Clinton was the secretary of the \u2014 of state. And so here's the truth: this election is about the future, and the Democratic Party, and the political left has no ideas about the future. All their ideas are the same, tired ideas of the past. More government, more spending. For every issue for America, their answer is a new tax on someone, and a new government program. This nation is going to turn the page, and that's what this election should be about, and, as I said at the first debate... ...If I am our nominee, they will be the party of the past, we will be the party of the 21st century. +p291 +aVOurs \u2014 the story of America is an extraordinary story. It is the story of a nation that for over two centuries each generation has left the next better off than themselves. But now, because Washington is out of touch, for the fault of both political parties, for the first time in our history, that is in doubt. And that is what this election must be about, because if the next four years are anything like the last eight years, our children will be the first Americans ever left worse off by their parents. This election is about making a different choice, about applying our principles of limited government and free enterprise to the unique issues of our time. And if we do, we will not just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And the 21st century can be a new American century. So tonight, I ask you for your vote and I ask you to join us at my website, marcorubio.com. +p292 +aVThank you for that question. I would begin by saying that I'm not sure it's a weakness, but I do believe that I share a sense of optimism for America's future that, today, is eroding from too many of our people. I think there's a sense in this country today that somehow our best days are behind us. And that doesn't have to be true. Our greatest days lie ahead if we are willing to do what it takes now. If we're willing to do what it takes now, the 21st century is going to be the new American century, greater than any other era we've had in the history of this great nation. +p293 +aVThat's an interesting question. That's exactly what the Republican establishment says too. Why don't you wait in line? Wait for what? This country is running out of time. We can't afford to have another four years like the last eight years. Watching this broadcast tonight are millions of people that are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, everything costs more, and they haven't had a raise in decades. You have small businesses in America that are struggling. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses closing than starting. We have a world that's out of control and has grown dangerous and a president that is weakening our military and making our foreign policy unstable and unreliable in the eyes of our allies. And our adversaries continue to grow stronger. We have a \u2014 they say there's no bipartisanship in Washington? We have a $19 trillion bipartisan debt and it continues to grow as we borrow money from countries that do not like us to pay for government we cannot afford. The time to act is now. The time to turn the page is now. If we \u2014 if we don't act now, we are going to be the first generation in American history that leaves our children worse off than ourselves. +p294 +aVLet me say, I read that editorial today with a great amusement. It's actually evidence of the bias that exists in the American media today. +p295 +aVLet me \u2014 let me answer your question on the Sun-Sentinel editorial today. Back in 2004, one of my predecessors to the Senate by the name of Bob Graham, a Democrat, ran for president missing over 30 percent of his votes. I don't recall them calling for his resignation \u2014 +p296 +aVLater that year, in 2004, John Kerry ran for president missing close to 60 to 70 percent of his votes. I don't recall the Sun \u2014 in fact, the Sun-Sentinel endorsed him. In 2008, Barack Obama missed 60 or 70 percent of his votes, and the same newspaper endorsed him again. So this is another example of the double standard that exists in this country between the mainstream media and the conservative movement. +p297 +aVI get to respond, right? +p298 +aVWell, it's interesting. Over the last few weeks, I've listened to Jeb as he walked around the country and said that you're modeling your campaign after John McCain, that you're going to launch a furious comeback the way he did, by fighting hard in New Hampshire and places like that, carrying your own bag at the airport. You know how many votes John McCain missed when he was carrying out that furious comeback that you're now modeling after? +p299 +aVNo Jeb, I don't remember \u2014 well, let me tell you. I don't remember you ever complaining about John McCain's vote record. The only reason why you're doing it now is because we're running for the same position, and someone has convinced you that attacking me is going to help you. +p300 +aVHere's the bottom line. I'm not \u2014 my campaign is going to be about the future of America, it's not going to be about attacking anyone else on this stage. I will continue to have tremendous admiration and respect for Governor Bush. I'm not running against Governor Bush, I'm not running against anyone on this stage. I'm running for president because there is no way we can elect Hillary Clinton to continue the policies of Barack Obama. +p301 +aVWell, you just \u2014 you just listed a litany of discredited attacks from Democrats and my political opponents, and I'm not gonna waste 60 seconds detailing them all. But I'm going to tell you the truth. Here's the truth. I didn't inherit any money. My dad was a bartender, my mother was a maid. They worked hard to provide us the chance at a better life. They didn't save enough money for us to go to school. I had to work my way through school. I had to borrow money to go to school. I tried (ph), early in my marriage, explaining to my wife why someone named Sallie Mae was taking $1,000 out of our bank account every month. I know what it's like to owe that money, and we've worked hard. We've worked hard our whole life to provide a better family \u2014 a better life for our family. We own a home four blocks away from the place that I grew up in. My four children have been able to receive a good Christian education, and I've been able to save for them to go to college so they never have to have the loans that I did. But I'm not worried about my finances, I'm worried about the finances of everyday Americans who today are struggling in an economy that is not producing good paying jobs while everything else costs more. And that's what this economy needs to \u2014 that's what this debate needs to be about. This debate needs to be about the men and women across this country that are struggling on a daily basis to provide for their families the better future that we've always said this country is all about. +p302 +aVAnd I used it to pay off my loans. And it's available on paperback, if you're interested in buying my book. +p303 +aVYeah, again, as I said, we're raising a family in the 21st century and it's one of the reasons why my tax plan is a pro- family tax plan. It increases the per child tax credit, because I didn't read about this in a book. I know for a fact how difficult it is to raise children, how expensive it's become for working families. And I make a lot more than the average American. Imagine how hard it is for these people out there that are making 40, 50, $60,000 a year, and they're trying to provide for their families at a time when this economy is not growing. We can't afford another four years of that. Which is what we're gonna get if we elect a big government liberal like Hillary Clinton to the White House. Thank you, senator. +p304 +aVWell, first of all, if a company gets caught doing that, they should never be able to use the program again. If you get caught abusing this program, you should never be able to use it again. The second thing I said is we need to add reforms, not just increase the numbers, but add reforms. For example, before you hire anyone from abroad, you should have to advertise that job for 180 days. You also have to prove that you're going to pay these people more than you would pay someone else, so that you're not undercutting it by bringing in cheap labor. But here's the best solution of all. We need to get back to training people in this country to do the jobs of the 21st century. Why, for the life of me, I do not understand why did we stop doing vocational education in America, people that can work with their hands; people you can train to do this work while they're still in high school so they can graduate ready to go work. But the best way to close this gap is to modernize higher education so Americans have the skills for those jobs. But in the interim, in the absence of that, what's happening is some of these tech companies are taking those \u2014 those centers (ph) to Canada because they can get people to go over there instead of here. But the ideal scenario is to train Americans to do the work so we don't have to rely on people from abroad. +p305 +aVWell, I believe that there are abuses, those companies should be permanently barred from ever using the program again and we should put strict standards in place to ensure that they're not being abused, like the prevailing wage requirement and like the advertising requirement. +p306 +aVSince I've been mentioned, can I respond? +p307 +aVOK. I know the Democrats have the ultimate SuperPac. It's called the mainstream media who every single day... ... and I'll tell you why. Last week, Hillary Clinton went before a committee. She admitted she had sent e-mails to her family saying, "Hey, this attack at Benghazi was caused by Al Qaida-like elements." She spent over a week telling the families of those victims and the American people that it was because of a video. And yet the mainstream media is going around saying it was the greatest week in Hillary Clinton's campaign. It was the week she got exposed as a liar. It was the week that she got exposed as a liar... But she has her super PAC helping her out, the American mainstream media. +p308 +aVNo, that's \u2014 you're wrong. In fact, the largest after- tax gains is for the people at the lower end of the tax spectrum under my plan. And there's a bunch of things my tax plan does to help them. Number one, you have people in this country that... +p309 +aV...you wrote a story on it, and you had to go back and correct it. +p310 +aVYou did. No, you did. +p311 +aVWell, you're talking about \u2014 yeah. +p312 +aVYeah, but that \u2014 because the math is, if you \u2014 5 percent of a million is a lot more than 5 percent of a thousand. So yeah, someone who makes more money... +p313 +aV...numerically, it's gonna be higher. But the greatest gains, percentage-wise, for people, are gonna be at the lower end of our plan, and here's why: because in addition to a general personal exemption, we are increasing the per-child tax credit for working families. We are lowering taxes on small business. You know, a lot of business activity in America is conducted like the guy that does my dry cleaning. He's an S corporation. He pays on his personal rate, and he is paying higher than the big dry-cleaning chain down the street, because he's paying at his personal rate. Under my plan, no business, big or small, will pay more than 25 percent flat rate on their business income. That is a dramatic tax decrease for hard-working people who run their own businesses. +p314 +aV...The other thing I'd like to make about our plan, one more point, it is the most pro growth tax plan that I can imagine because it doesn't tax investments at all. You know why? Because the more you tax something, the less of it you get. I want to be in \u2014 I want America to be the best... +p315 +aV...in the world for people... +p316 +aVI was mentioned in the question. +p317 +aVThank you. Well, I've learned the rules on this. Look, in addition to what Donald was saying is we also need to talk about the legal immigration system for permanent residents. Today, we have a legal immigration system for permanent residency that is largely based on whether or not you have a relative living here. And that's the way my parents came legally in 1956. But in 2015, we have a very different economy. Our legal immigration system from now on has to be merit-based. It has to be based on what skills you have, what you can contribute economically, and most important of all, on whether or not you're coming here to become an American, not just live in America, but be an American. +p318 +aVNo. No. What I said was that I think that Dr. Carson's ideas are good ideas. They're not my ideas, and I don't necessarily agree with all of them. But this is what you're seeing in the Republican debate that you didn't see in that Democrat debate. You didn't see it for a minute. You didn't see these kind of ideas being batted around, and being batted around in a way that's civil and smart and that's trying to help to inform the voter out there. What you saw was a parade of, "I'll give you this for free; I'll give you that for free." Let me tell you, everybody, when they say they want to give it to you for free, keep your hands on your wallets because they're coming to you to pay for it. And that's why I think these ideas up here are great, and that's what we should have is have more discussions like this and less gotcha. +p319 +aVI want to take off from that point and argue the same thing. And that is that one of the things you're watching tonight are 11 quality candidates debating an important issue. The Republican Party is blessed to have 11 good candidates, 10 good candidates. The Democrats can't even come up with one. And on this issue of the Medicare in particular, it's important because they're going to demagogue what we're saying here tonight. Everyone up here tonight that's talking about reforms, I think and I know for myself I speak to this, we're all talking about reforms for future generations. Nothing has to change for current beneficiaries. My mother is on Medicare and Social Security. I'm against anything that's bad for my mother. So, we're talking about \u2014 we're talking about reform for people like me and people like Senator Cruz, as he talked about earlier, who are years away from retirement that have a way to plan for these changes, and way that's very reasonable. And it's not too much to ask of our generation after everything our parents and our grandparents did for us. +p320 +aVYou know, America doesn't owe me anything. I have a debt to America I'll never repay. This isn't just the country I was born in, this is the nation that literally changed the history of my family. My parents in this country were able to give me the chance to do all the things they never did. We call that the American Dream, although, it's built on the universal dream of a better life. The fact that it's happened for so many people here throughout our history, that's what makes us special. But, now for millions of Americans, it's slipping away. And, we have a government and leaders in government that are completely out of touch, and that's why I'm running for president. Because we can't just save the American Dream, we can expand it to reach more people, and change more lives than ever before. And, that's why tonight I'm asking you for your vote. +p321 +aVThank you. My name is Marco Rubio. I'm from Florida. My wife Jeanette and I are the proud \u2014 we've been married 17 years, and we're the proud parents of four children, two of whom were able to join us here this evening. I'm honored to be here at the Reagan Library, at a place that honors the legacy of a man who inspired not just my interest in public service, but also our love for country. And I'm also aware that California has a drought, and so that's why I made sure I brought my own water. +p322 +aVWell, first of all, I have an understanding of exactly what it is Russia and Putin are doing, and it's pretty straightforward. He wants to reposition Russia, once again, as a geopolitical force. He himself said that the destruction of the Soviet Union \u2014 the fall of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century, and now he's trying to reverse that. He's trying to destroy +p323 +aVLet me tell you \u2014 I will tell you we have zero responsibility, because let's remember what the president said. He said the attack he would conduct would be a pinprick. Well, the United States military was not build to conduct pinprick attacks. If the United States military is going to be engaged by a commander-in-chief, it should only be engaged in an endeavor to win. And we're not going to authorize use of force if you're not put in a position where they can win. And quite frankly, people don't trust this president as commander-in-chief because of that. +p324 +aVHold on, a second, Jake, he asked me, as well. I'd like to actually... +p325 +aV... respond. I think I'm the first senator. The No. 1 test for use of military force should be the vital national security interest of the United States. The reason why I opposed President Obama bombing Syria, is because he couldn't answer the question what do you do if chemical weapons end up in the hands of radical Islamic terrorists like al-Nusra, like Al Qaida, like +p326 +aVIn the middle of negotiating this treaty, Khamenei led the assembled masses in chanting, death to America. I'm reminded of a great editorial cartoon. It shows the Ayatollah Khamenei saying, "Death to all Americans," and then it shows John Kerry coming back, saying, "Can we meet ya half way?" We need a commander-in-chief who will stand up and protect this country. And I'll tell you, I can't wait to stand on that debate stage with Hillary Clinton and to make abundantly clear if you vote for Hillary, you are voting for the Ayatollah Khomeini to possess a nuclear weapon and if you elect me as president, under no circumstances will a theocratic ayatollah who chants death to America ever be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon. +p327 +aVMs. Dana, I agree that English is the unifying language of our country, and everyone should learn to speak it. It's important. I want to tell you a story about someone that didn't speak English that well. It was my grandfather; he came to this country in the 1960s, as a \u2014 escaping Cuba. And he lived with us, growing up. And my grandfather loved America. He understood what was so special about this country. He loved Ronald Reagan; he would be very proud of the fact that we're here this evening. My grandfather instilled in me the belief that I was blessed to live in the one society in all of human history where even I, the son of a bartender and a maid, could aspire to have anything, and be anything that I was willing to work hard to achieve. But he taught me that in Spanish, because it was the language he was most comfortable in. And he became a conservative, even though he got his news in Spanish. And so, I do give interviews in Spanish, and here's why \u2014 because I believe that free enterprise and limited government is the best way to help people who are trying to achieve upward mobility. And if they get their news in Spanish, I want them to hear that directly from me. Not from a translator at Univision. +p328 +aVWell, let me say that legal immigration is not an issue I read about in the newspaper. Immigration, illegal immigration, all the good aspects of immigration and all the negative ones as well, I live with. My family's immigrants. My neighbors are all immigrants. My in-laws are all immigrants. So I've seen every aspect of it, and I can tell you America doesn't have one immigration problem, it has three. First, despite the fact that we are the most generous country in the history of the world in allowing people to come here legally, we have people still coming illegally. Second, we have a legal immigration system that no longer works. It primary is built on the basis of whether you have a relative living here instead of merit. And third, we have 11 million or 12 million people, many of whom have been here for longer than a decade who are already here illegally. And we must deal with all three of these problems. We cannot deal with all three of these problems in one massive piece of legislation. I learned that. We tried it that way. Here's the way forward: First, we must \u2014 we must secure our border, the physical border, with \u2014 with a wall, absolutely. But we also need to have an entry/exit tracking system. 40 percent of the people who come here illegally come legally, and then they overstay the visa. We also need a mandatory e-verify system. After we've done that, step two would be to modernize our legal immigration system so you come to America on the basis of what you can contribute economically, not whether or not simply you have a relative living here. And after we've done those two things, I believe the American people... +p329 +aV... will be very reasonable and responsible about what you do with someone who's been here and isn't a criminal. If you're a criminal, obviously, you will not be able to stay. +p330 +aVYes, well, it does. But it's in the following way, this is an important question. I think if you're running for president, these are important issues, because look at around the world today. There is a lunatic in North Korea with dozens of nuclear weapons and long-range rocket that can already hit the very place in which we stand tonight. The Chinese are rapidly expanding their military. They hack into our computers. They're building artificial islands in the South China Sea, the most important shipping lane in the world. A gangster in Moscow is not just threatening Europe, he's threatening to destroy and divide +p331 +aVWell, that's why we have a debate. I think that we should have a deeper debate about these issues, because there is no more important decision that a president will make. +p332 +aVWell, you should ask him questions in detail about the foreign policy issues our president will confront, because you had better be able to lead our country on the first day. Not six months from now, not a year from now, on the first day in office, our president could very well confront a national security crisis. You can't predict it. Sometimes you cannot control it. And it is the most \u2014 the federal government does all kinds of things it's not supposed to be doing. It regulates bathrooms. It regulates schools that belong to local communities. But the one thing that the federal government must do, the one thing that only the federal government can do is keep us safe. And a president better be up-to-date on those issues on his first day in office, on her first day in office. +p333 +aVTrust (ph) me, I get that. OK. +p334 +aVI never get to addressed, and... +p335 +aV...and when I do, I'm gonna jump in. +p336 +aVYeah. He did. Let me \u2014 I'm proud to serve in the United States Senate. You know, when I ran five years ago, the entire leadership of my party in Washington lined up against me. But I'm glad I won. And I'm glad that I ran, because this country's headed in the wrong direction. And if we keep electing the same people, nothing is going to change. And you're right, I have missed some votes, and I'll tell you why, Mr. Trump. Because in my years in the Senate, I've figured out very quickly that the political establishment in Washington, D.C. in both political parties is completely out of touch with the lives of our people. You have millions of people in this country living paycheck to paycheck, and nothing is being done about it. We are about to leave our children with $18 trillion in \u2014 in \u2014 in debt, and they're about to raise the debt limit again. We have a world that grows increasingly dangerous, and we are eviscerating our military spending and signing deals with Iran. And these \u2014 if this thing continues, we are going to be the first Americans to leave our children worse off than ourselves. That's why I'm missing votes. Because I am leaving the Senate, I'm not running for re-election, and I'm running for president because I know this: unless we have the right president, we cannot make America fulfill its potential, but with the right person in office, the 21st century can be the greatest era that our nation has ever known. +p337 +aVI want to go even deeper \u2014 and I want to go even deeper in that direction, because I think the belief that somehow by retreating, America makes the world safer has been disproven every single time it's ever been tried. Syria's a perfect example of it. The uprising in Syria was not started by the United States; it was started by the Syrian people. And I warned at the time \u2014 this was three and a half years ago \u2014 I openly and repeatedly warned that if we did not find moderate elements on the ground that we could equip and arm, that void would be filled by radical jihadists. Well, the president didn't listen, the administration didn't follow through, and that's exactly what happened. That is why +p338 +aV... as you asked earlier today. +p339 +aVBut radical terrorism cannot be solved by intellect. It cannot \u2014 they require \u2014 what they need, is they need an operating space. That's what Afghanistan was for Al Qaida. It was a vacuum that they filled, and they created an operating space. That's why they had to be drawn out of there. That's why they had to be destroyed. It is the reason why +p340 +aVThere's a broader issue here, Hugh. And there's a broader issue here as well. First of all, the only people that follow the law are law-abiding people. Criminals by definition ignore the law, so you can pass all the gun laws in the world, like the left wants. The criminals are going to ignore it because they are criminals. Here's the real issue. The real issue \u2014 the real issue is not what are people using to commit violence, but why are they committing the violence? And here's the truth: Because you cannot separate the social, moral wellbeing of your people from their economic and other wellbeing. You cannot separate it. You can't have a strong country without strong people, you cannot have strong people without strong values, and you cannot have strong values without strong families and the institutions in this country that defend and support those families. +p341 +aVWell, and today, we have a left-wing government under this president that is undermining all of the institutions and society that support the family and teach those values. +p342 +aVBecause we're not going to destroy our economy the way the left-wing government that we are under now wants to do. We're not going to... +p343 +aVWell, and I don't \u2014 he may have lined up with their positions on this issue. But here is the bottom line. Every proposal they put forward are going to be proposals that will make it harder to do business in America, that will make it harder to create jobs in America. Single parents are already struggling across this country to provide for their families. Maybe a billionaire here in California can afford an increase in their utility rates, but a working family in Tampa, Florida, or anywhere across this country cannot afford it. So we are not going to destroy our economy. We are not going to make America a harder place to create jobs in order to pursue policies that will do absolutely nothing, nothing to change our climate, to change our weather, because America is a lot of things, the greatest country in the world, absolutely. But America is not a planet. And we are not even the largest carbon producer anymore, China is. And they're drilling a hole and digging anywhere in the world that they can get a hold of. So the bottom line is, I am not in favor of any policies that make America a harder place for people to live, or to work, or to raise their families. +p344 +aVJake, you mentioned me and called me a denier. Let me say, climate change... +p345 +aVOK. A skeptic. You can measure the climate. You can measure it. That's not the issue we're discussing. Here is what I'm skeptical of. I'm skeptical of the decisions that the left wants us to make, because I know the impact those are going to have and they're all going to be on our economy. They will not do a thing to lower the rise of the sea. They will not do a thing to cure the drought here in California. But what they will do is they will make America a more expensive place to create jobs. And today with millions of people watching this broadcast that are struggling paycheck to paycheck that do not know how they're going to pay their bills at the end of this month, I'm not in favor of anything that is going to make it harder for them to raise their family. +p346 +aVSenator Rubio, you mean? +p347 +aVI know we all look alike. +p348 +aVThe \u2014 Rosa Parks, an everyday American that changed the course of history. +p349 +aVWell, there are some people in Florida upset at me over a joke I made about Florida State, but, what the heck, I want my codename to be Gator. +p350 +aVOne of the things that made Ronald Reagan a great president, is that he understood that America was a unique nation, like any other that had existed throughout human history. He knew it was founded on universal principles that were powerful, the dignity of all people, human rights, the rights of all to live in freedom and liberty, and choose their own path in life. He didn't just believe it, he acted on it. That's why bringing down communism was so important to him. If I'm honored with the opportunity to be president, I hope that our Air Force One will fly, first and foremost, to our allies; in Israel, in South Korea, and Japan. They know we stand with them. That America can be counted on. It would also fly to China, not just to meet with our enemies, not just to meet with those adversaries of ours that are there, but also to meet with those that aspire to freedom and liberty within China. I would even invite them to my inauguration. We would also fly into Moscow and into Russia. And not just meet with the leaders of Russia, but also meet with those who aspire to freedom and liberty in Russia. And ultimately, I hope that my Air Force One, if I become president, will one day land in a free Cuba, where its people can choose its leaders and its own destiny. +p351 +aVWell, thank you for the question, Chris, and it's great to be here tonight. Let me begin by saying this: I'm not new to the political process; I was making a contribution as the speaker of the third largest and most diverse state in the country well before I even got into the Senate. I would add to that that this election cannot be a resume competition. It's important to be qualified, but if this election is a resume competition, then Hillary Clinton's gonna be the next president, because she's been in office and in government longer than anybody else running here tonight. Here's what this election better be about: This election better be about the future, not the past. It better be about the issues our nation and the world is facing today, not simply the issues we once faced. This country is facing an economy that has been radically transformed. You know, the largest retailer in the country and the world today, Amazon, doesn't even own a single store? And these changes have been disruptive. They have changed people's lives. The jobs that once sustained our middle class, they either don't pay enough or they are gone, and we need someone that understands that as our nominee. If I'm our nominee, how is Hillary Clinton gonna lecture me about living paycheck to paycheck? I was raised paycheck to paycheck. How is she -- how is she gonna lecture me -- how is she gonna lecture me about student loans? I owed over $100,000 just four years ago. If I'm our nominee, we will be the party of the future. +p352 +aVLet me set the record straight on a couple of things. The first is, the evidence is now clear that the majority of people coming across the border are not from Mexico. They're coming from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras. Those countries are the source of the people that are now coming in its majority. I also believe we need a fence. The problem is if El Chapo builds a tunnel under the fence, we have to be able to deal with that too. And that's why you need an e-verify system and you need an entry-exit tracking system and all sorts of other things to prevent illegal immigration. But I agree with what Governor Kasich just said. People are frustrated. This is the most generous country in the world when it comes to immigration. There are a million people a year who legally immigrate to the United States, and people feel like we're being taken advantage of. We feel like despite our generosity, we're being taken advantage of. And let me tell you who never gets talked about in these debates. The people that call my office, who have been waiting for 15 years to come to the United States. And they've paid their fees, and they hired a lawyer, and they can't get in. And they're wondering, maybe they should come illegally. And so these are important issues, and we should address it. It's a serious problem that needs to be addressed, and otherwise we're going to keep talking about this for the next 30 years, like we have for the last 30 years. +p353 +aVNot me. +p354 +aVActually, to be clear......he supported Charlie Crist. +p355 +aVHey, Charlie... +p356 +aVWell, first off, I too believe in curriculum reform. It is critically important in the 21st Century. We do need curriculum reform. And it should happen at the state and local level. That's. . . that's. . . that is where educational policy belongs, because if a parent is unhappy with what their child is being taught in school, they can go to that local school board or their state legislature, or their governor and get it changed. Here's the problem with Common Core. The Department of Education, like every federal agency, will never be satisfied. They will not stop with it being a suggestion. They will turn it into a mandate. In fact, what they will begin to say to local communities is, you will not get federal money unless do you things the way we want you to do it. And they will use Common Core or any other requirements that exists nationally to force it down the throats of our people in our states. +p357 +aVThat's a great question. +p358 +aVThat's a great question. First of all, it begins by having leaders that recognize that the economy we live in today is dramatically different from the one we had five years ago. It's an economy that now has placed us in global competition with dozens of other countries around the world. Now, the big companies that have connections with Washington, they can affect policies to help them, but the small companies like the one Tania is talking about, they're the ones that are struggling. The first thing we need to do is we need to even out the tax code for small businesses so that we lower their tax rate to 25 percent, just as we need to lower it for all businesses. We need to have a regulatory budget in America that limits the amount of regulations on our economy. We need to repeal and replace Obamacare and we need to improve higher education so that people can have access to the skills they need for 21st century jobs. And last but not least, we need to repeal Dodd-Frank. It is eviscerating small businesses and small banks. 20 \u2014 over 40 percent of small and mid-size banks that loan money to small businesses have been wiped out over the \u2014 since Dodd-Frank has passed. We need to repeal and replace Dodd-Frank. We need to make America fair again for all businesses, but especially those being run by small business owners. +p359 +aVWell, Megyn, first of all, I'm not sure that that's a correct assessment of my record. I would go on to add that I believe all-- +p360 +aVI have never said that. And I have never advocated that. What I have advocated is that we pass law in this country that says all human life at every stage of its development is worthy of protection. In fact, I think that law already exists. It is called the Constitution of the United States. And let me go further. I believe that every single human being is entitled to the protection of our laws, whether they can vote or not. Whether they can speak or not. Whether they can hire a lawyer or not. Whether they have a birth certificate or not. And I think future generations will look back at this history of our country and call us barbarians for murdering millions of babies who we never gave them a chance to live. +p361 +aVWell, first, let me say I think God has blessed us. He has blessed the Republican Party with some very good candidates. The Democrats can't even find one. And I believe God has blessed our country. This country has been extraordinarily blessed. And we have honored that blessing. And that's why God has continued to bless us. And he has blessed us with young men and women willing to risk their lives and sometimes die in uniform for the safety and security of our people. Unfortunately today we have a VA that does not do enough for them. I am proud that last year we helped change the law. We changed the law to give the power to the VA secretary the ability to fire any executive that isn't doing their job. And it is outrageous they've only fired one person to date. When I'm president of the United States, we're going to have a VA that cares more about our veterans than about the bureaucrats who work at the VA. +p362 +aVThank you. You know, both of my parents were born into poor families on the island of Cuba. They came to America because it was the only place where people like them could have a chance. Here in this country, they never made it big, but the very purpose of their life was to give us the chance to do all the things they never could. My father was a bartender. And the journey from the back of that bar to this stage tonight, to me, that is the essence of the American dream. It is what makes our nation different. And I'm running for president because I want that to still be possible for the people trying to do that now. I run for president because I believe that we can't just save the American dream; we can expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And that's why I'm asking for your vote. So we can make America greater than it has ever been. And make of this century a new American century. +p363 +aVWell, let me first talk about Justice Scalia. His loss is tremendous, and obviously our hearts and prayers go out to his family. He will go down as one of the great justices in the history of this republic. You talk about someone who defended consistently the original meaning of the Constitution, who understood that the Constitution was not there to be interpreted based on the fads of the moment, but it was there to be interpreted according to its original meaning. Justice Scalia understood that better than anyone in the history of this republic. His dissent, for example, on the independent counsel case is a brilliant piece of jurist work. And, of course, his dissent on Obergefell as well. No. 2, I do not believe the president should appoint someone. And it's not unprecedented. In fact, it has been over 80 years since a lame duck president has appointed a Supreme Court justice. And it remind us of this, how important this election is. Someone on this stage will get to choose the balance of the Supreme Court, and it will begin by filling this vacancy that's there now. And we need to put people on the bench that understand that the Constitution is not a living and breathing document. It is to be interpreted as originally meant. +p364 +aVThat's not accurate. +p365 +aVNo, I've never \u2014 there has been, for example, today, according to the changes Harry Reid made, appellate judges can now be appointed by a simple majority, but not Supreme Court justices. And I think today you see the wisdom of why we don't want that to change. Because if that were the case and we were not in charge of the Senate, Harry Reid and Barack Obama would ram down our throat a liberal justice, like the ones Barack Obama has imposed on us already. +p366 +aVNo. I think there are three major threats that you want to immediately get on top of. No. 1 is, what are we doing in the Asia-Pacific region, where both North Korea and China pose threats to the national security of the United States. No. 2 is, what are we doing in the Middle East with the combination of the Sunni-Shia conflict driven by the Shia arc that Iran is now trying to establish in the Middle East, also the growing threat of +p367 +aVWell, let me tell you what has happened a couple of years ago. One of the hardest decisions you'll ever make in Congress is when you are asked by the president to authorize the use of force in a conflict, because you are now putting your name, on behalf of the people of your state, behind a military action, where Americans in uniform could lose their life. So, in 2014, Barack Obama said he would not take military action against Assad unless it was authorized by the Senate, beginning on the Committee of Foreign Relations, where I am one of its members. And it was hard because you looked at the pictures. I saw the same images people saw. I'm the father of children. I saw the images of these little children \u2014 been gassed and poisoned by their own leaders, and we were angry. Something had to happen, and there was the sense that we needed to seek retribution. And then I looked at Barack Obama's plan. Barack Obama's plan, which John Kerry later described as unbelievably small, and I concluded that that attack would not only not help the situation, it would make it actually worse. It would allow Assad to stand up to the United States of America, survive a strike, stay in power and actually strengthen his grip. So it was a difficult decision to make, and when we only had a few days to look at and make a decision on it, and I voted against Barack Obama's plan to use force, and it was the right decision. +p368 +aVI just want to say, at least on behalf of me and my family, I thank God all the time it was George W. Bush in the White House on 9/11 and not Al Gore. And you can \u2014 I think you can look back in hindsight and say a couple of things, but he kept us safe. And not only did he keep us safe, but no matter what you want to say about weapons of mass destruction, Saddam Hussein was in violation of U.N. resolutions, in open violation, and the world wouldn't do anything about it, and George W. Bush enforced what the international community refused to do. And again, he kept us safe, and I am forever grateful to what he did for this country. +p369 +aVThe World Trade Center came down because Bill Clinton didn't kill Osama bin Laden when he had the chance to kill him. +p370 +aVWell, because I'm influencing social policy \u2014 this is their money. This is the money of parents. You don't earn the tax credit unless you're working. That's your money, it doesn't belong to government. Here's what I don't understand. If a business takes their money and they invest in the piece of the equipment, they get to write off their taxes. But if a parent takes money that they have earned to work and invests in their children, they don't? This makes no sense. Parenting is the most important job any of us will ever have. Family formation is the most important thing in society. So what my tax plan does, is it does create, especially for working families, an additional Child Tax Credit. So that parents who are working get to keep more of their own money, not the government's money, to invest in their children to go to school, to go to a private school, to buy a new backpack. Let me tell you, if you're a parent that's struggling, then you know that $50 a month is the difference between a new pair of shoes this month or not getting a new pair of shoes for your kids. I'm going to have a tax plan that is pro-family, because the family is the most important institution in society. You cannot have a strong country without strong families. +p371 +aVWell, first of all, I think amnesty is the forgiveness of a wrongdoing without consequence and that \u2014 I've never supported that. I do not support that. I think there has to be consequences for violating our immigration laws. What I think is clear about this issue to begin with is we're not going to be able to make progress on illegal immigration until first, illegal immigration is brought under control. You go back to 1986, when they legalized three million people and they promised to secure the border. It didn't happen, and as a result, people have lost trust in the federal government. It is now clear that the only way to make progress on immigration is not just to pass a law that enforces the law, but actually prove to people that it's working. They want to see the wall built. They want to see the additional border agents. They want to see E-Verify. They want to see an entry-exit tracking system. Forty percent of the people in this country illegally are entering legally and overstaying visas. And only after all of that is in place, then we'll see what the American people are willing to support on this issue. I think the American people will be very reasonable, but responsible, about how you handle someone who has been here a long time, who can pass a background check, who pays a fine and starts paying taxes and all they want is a work permit. But you can't do any of that until you prove to people that illegal immigration is under control once and for all. +p372 +aVWe're going to have to do this again, O.K.? When that issue was being debated, Ted Cruz, at a committee hearing, very passionately said, I want immigration reform to pass, I want people to be able to come out of the shadows. And he proposed an amendment that would legalized people here. Not only that, he proposed doubling the number of green cards. He proposed a 500 percent increase on guest workers. Now his position is different. Now he is a passionate opponent of all those things. So he either wasn't telling the truth then or he isn't telling the truth now, but to argue he is a purist on immigration is just not true. +p373 +aVWell, first of all, I don't know how he knows what I said on Univision, because he doesn't speak Spanish. And second of all, the other point that I would make... +p374 +aVLook, this is a disturbing pattern now, because for a number of weeks now, Ted Cruz has just been telling lies. He lied about Ben Carson in Iowa. He lies about Planned Parenthood. He lies about marriage. He's lying about all sorts of things. And now he makes things up. The bottom line is this is a campaign and people are watching it. And they see the truth behind all these issues. And here is the truth, Ted Cruz supported legalizing people that were in this country... +p375 +aV... and only now does he say... +p376 +aVWell, we'll put on our website, marcorubio.com. We're going to... +p377 +aVOn anything I want? +p378 +aVWell, let me talk about poverty. +p379 +aVI do. +p380 +aVI had something important. +p381 +aVThe issue of poverty is critical, because for me, poverty is the \u2014 is \u2014 is free enterprise not reaching people. Today, we have antipoverty programs that don't cure poverty. We don't cure poverty in America. Our antipoverty programs have become, in some instances, a way of life, a lifestyle. Now, we do need antipoverty programs, you can't have free enterprise programs without them, but not as a way of life. And so I have a very specific proposal on this and I don't \u2014 in 60 seconds, I can't describe it all, but it basically turns the program over to states. It allows states to design innovative programs that cure poverty, because I think Nikki Haley will do a better job curing poverty than Barack Obama. +p382 +aVWell, no. It's not the case. It didn't pass, and we haven't solved immigration in this country. It's still a problem. It is worse today than it was three years ago, which is worse than it was five years ago. And it has to be confronted and solved. But the only way forward on this issue \u2014 you asked a question about flexibility. Let me tell you about that. One of the things that you need in leadership is the ability to understand that to get things done, you must figure out the way to get it done. You will not pass comprehensive immigration reform. People do not trust the federal government. They want to see the law being enforced. They want to see illegal immigration come under control. They want to see that wall. They want to see E-Verify. They want to see all of these things working, and then they will have a conversation with you about what do you do with people that have been here a long time that are otherwise, you know, not criminals. But they're not going to do it until you first enforce the law. +p383 +aVThirty seconds. +p384 +aVI speak fast. +p385 +aVWell, I think one of the presidents \u2014 well, the president I grew up under was Ronald Reagan. And Reagan had a vision for America's future. And if you think about what Ronald Reagan inherited, it's not unlike what the next president is going to inherit. This is the worst president we've had in 35 years, 35 years back would have made it Jimmy Carter. That's what Ronald Reagan inherited. And I think the question you would ask is, how did you inspire again the American people to believe in the future? How did you \u2014 what did it take to ensure that the American people, despite all of the difficulties of the time \u2014 you know, you look back at that time, the American military was in decline. Our standing in the world was in decline. We had hostages being held in Iran. Our economy was in bad shape. The American people were scared about the future. They were scared about what kind of country their children were going to live in and inherit. And yet somehow Ronald Reagan was able to instill in our nation and in our people a sense of optimism. And he turned America around because of that vision and ultimately because of that leadership. I wish Ronald Reagan was still around. This country needs someone just like that. And if our next president is even half the president Ronald Reagan was, America is going to be greater than it has ever been. +p386 +aVThank you, and thank you for watching tonight. This is a difficult time in our country. Our economy's flat, it's not creating the jobs it once did, and people struggle living paycheck to paycheck. Our culture's in trouble. Wrong is considered right and right is considered wrong. All the things that once held our families together are now under constant assault. And around the world, America's reputation is in decline. Our allies don't trust us, our adversaries don't fear us, Iran captures our sailors and parades them before the world on video. These are difficult times, but 2016 can be a turning point. That's why I'm running for president, and that's why I'm here today to ask you for your vote. If you elect me president, we are going to re-embrace free enterprise so that everyone can go as far as their talent and their work will take them. We are going to be a country that says that "life begins at conception and life is worthy of the protection of our laws." We're going to be a country that says "that marriage is between one man and one woman." We are going to be a country that says, "The constitution and the rights that it talks about do not come from our president, they come from our creator." We are going to be loyal to our allies like Israel, not enemies like Iran. And we will rebuild the U.S. military so no one will there test it. Vote for me. I will unify this party. I will grow it. We will win this election, and we will make the 21st century a new American century. +p387 +asVKASICH +p388 +(lp389 +VThank you, Wolf. Just last weekend, just last week, a friend asked one of my daughters, "Do you like politics?" And my daughter said, "No, I don't. And the reason I don't like it is because there's too much fighting, too much yelling. It's so loud, I don't like it." You know, I turned to my friend and I said, "You know, she's really on to something." And when we think about our country and the big issues that we face in this country; creating jobs, making sure people can keep their jobs, the need for rising wages, whether our children when they graduate from college can find a job, protecting the homeland, destroying +p390 +aVWell, first of all, Wolf, I said last February that we needed to have people on the ground, troops on the ground in a coalition similar to what we had in the first Gulf War. I remember when the Egyptian ambassador to the United States stood in the Rose Garden and pledged Arab commitment to removing Saddam Hussein from Kuwait. Before we came out here tonight, I am told that the Saudis have organized 34 countries who want to join in the battle against terrorism. First and foremost, we need to go and destroy +p391 +aVNo, I don't think it is. And I want to go back to two other issues. One is the metadata. We know we have to hold this data for a longer period of time. And, you know, in a lot of ways, Chris is right. Look, what a president has to do is take a position. We don't want to err on the side of having less. We want to err on the side of having more. That's good for our families. In addition to that, Wolf, there is a big problem. It's called encryption. And the people in San Bernardino were communicating with people who the FBI had been watching. But because their phone was encrypted, because the intelligence officials could not see who they were talking to, it was lost. We have to solve the encryption problem. It is not easy. A president of the United States, again, has to bring people together, have a position. We need to be able to penetrate these people when they are involved in these plots and these plans. And we have to give the local authorities the ability to penetrate to disrupt. That's what we need to do. Encryption is a major problem, and Congress has got to deal with this and so does the president to keep us safe. +p392 +aVYeah, let me \u2014 let me just suggest to everybody, and I hear \u2014 last February, I said we needed to have people on the ground in a coalition with Europe and our allies. This is not going to get done just by working with the Sunnis. And it is not going to get done if we just embed a few people. We have to go massively, like we did in the first Gulf War where we destroyed Saddam's ability to take Kuwait. We need to have a coalition that will stand for nothing less than the total destruction of +p393 +aVI don't understand this thing about Assad. He has to go. Assad is aligned with Iran and Russia. The one thing we want to prevent is we want to prevent Iran being able to extend a Shia crescent all across the Middle East. Assad has got to go. And there are moderates there. There are moderates in Syria who we should be supporting. I do not support a civil war. I don't want to be policeman of the world. But we can't back off of this. And let me tell you, at the end, the Saudis have agreed to put together a coalition inside of Syria to stabilize that country. +p394 +aVHe must go. It will be a blow to Iran and Russia. +p395 +aVThe foreign policy, you have to know how to pick and choose. There's no way, if Saddam had not had weapons of mass destruction, I would have gone, because I don't believe that the U.S. should be involved directly in civil wars. I opposed the U.S. involvement in Lebanon. We ended up having to withdraw our marines after our barracks were blown up. There is a difference between Iraq, where you have Sunni, Shia, and Kurds put together after the First World War by the Western powers. It doesn't work. It needs to break up into three parts. And for the Russians, frankly, it's time that we punched the Russians in the nose. They've gotten away with too much in this world and we need to stand up against them, not just there, but also in Eastern Europe where they threaten some of our most precious allies. +p396 +aVIt sounds more and more what my daughter said that I said in the beginning, all the fighting and arguing is not advancing us. +p397 +aVIt is not the way we're going to strengthen our country. We will strengthen our country when we come together. And, look, you've got Rand Paul, you've got Ted Cruz, you've got Marco, you've got a lot of people on this stage that have studied these issues. You know what a leader does? A leader has a sound program, has a good policy, and then brings people together to solve problems. Guess what? Both in Congress in balancing the budget and in Ohio fixing the economy \u2014 and, by the way, we talk about the fence. The first thing we better get going is strengthening our economy, because if we don't have a strong economy, we can't pay for all of this. And the world wants us to be able to function from strength, believe it or not. Get our economy going, get these people together in a room. We can fix this, ladies and gentlemen. We don't have to fight all the time. It can be done, and we will be great... +p398 +aV... when we join together. Thank you, Hugh. +p399 +aVYou know, obviously, as president of the United States, we've got to keep the people safe. That's first and foremost. But as governor of Ohio, I have an obligation to keep the 11.5 million people in Ohio safe. And we have been very effective with our Joint Terrorism Task Force, being able to make busts. In fact, we just made one three-four weeks ago against a person who was favorable to +p400 +aVNo Republican has ever been elected president of the United States without winning Ohio. Let me give you a little tip on how you win Ohio, it's reform, it's hope, it's growth, it's opportunity, and it's security. The people of Ohio are the people of America. The people of America are reflected in Ohio. Our message has to be big, and bold, and positive, and connect, not just with people's heads but also connect with their hearts. If we do it, we will beat Hillary Clinton, and we will run the White House, and we will strengthen and fix America, I promise you. +p401 +aVFirst of all, let me just say that, in the state of Ohio \u2014 and I'm the only acting executive on \u2014 on this stage today \u2014 we do have a moderate increase in the minimum wage. And I got to tell you, my father carried mail on his back. His father was a coal miner. He died of black lung. He was losing his eyesight. My mother's mother lived with us. She could barely speak English. I come from a town where if the wind blew the wrong way, people found themselves out of work. An economic theory is fine, but you know what? People need help. Now, I have a plan that, in fact, would cut taxes, but not $11 trillion or $12 trillion that would put my children further in debt. I have a plan that would not only cut taxes, lower the income tax rate for individuals, lower the tax for businesses so businesses will compete here and not move operations overseas, and also a plan \u2014 the only plan of anybody standing on this stage to get us to a balanced budget by the end of a second term. And, you know, the simple fact of the matter is, we hear a lot of promises in this debate, a lot of promises about these tax cuts or tax schemes sometimes that I call them. Hillary and the Democrats promise everything on the spending side. We've got to be responsible about what we propose on the tax side. Yes, lower taxes, lower spending. My website, JohnKasich.com, will show you exactly how we balance the budget. I balanced the budget in Washington as a chief architect, and I have balanced it in Ohio for one reason. When you balance the budget and you cut taxes, people get work. And our most important moral purpose as leaders in the political system is to make sure we create an environment for job creation so people can live their dreams and realize their God-given potential. That's why it's so important. And for those at the bottom, we've got to do what we can to train them so they can move up. But to just look the other way is not acceptable, because, you know what, as the governor of Ohio I have to deal with real challenges, and we've gotten it done in our state, and I will do it for America. +p402 +aVSure. We would move the Medicare system from a 7 percent growth down to about a 5 percent growth. And I have a whole series of ways to do that. In Ohio, we reduced Medicaid funding for the poor from 10 percent to 2.5 percent, didn't cut one benefit or didn't take anybody off the rolls. Why? Because we're innovators. I've been an innovator my entire career. And I really don't care what special interests or lobbyists have to say. I have a job to do when I take over a public office. Now, we freeze non-defense discretionary for eight years. We also put an increase in defense spending. Our tax cuts balance out. And at the end of the day, we will get to a balanced budget. And I want everybody here to know, when I was Budget Committee chairman in Washington, I stepped on every toe in that town, and we got to a balanced budget, and we had enormous job growth. And as governor of Ohio, we went from 350,000 lost jobs to a gain of 347,000 jobs. +p403 +aVI'll do it in Washington. I've done it twice; I'll do it thrice for the United States of America. +p404 +aVExcuse me. +p405 +aVYeah, I would like to make a comment. +p406 +aVI appreciate it, Jeb. I'm all of you. But I want at some point to talk about a value-added tax and $11 trillion, $12 trillion tax cuts that will put our kids way deeper in the hole than they have been at this point. So I would like to talk about it at some point, because that's what leadership is. +p407 +aVMaria, can we comment on that? +p408 +aVCan we comment on that? +p409 +aVWell, look, in 1986 Ronald Reagan basically said the people who were here, if they were law-abiding, could stay. But, what didn't happen is we didn't build the walls effectively and we didn't control the border. We need to. We need to control our border just like people have to control who goes in and out of their house. But if people think that we are going to ship 11 million people who are law-abiding, who are in this country, and somehow pick them up at their house and ship them out of Mexico \u2014 to Mexico, think about the families. Think about the children. So, you know what the answer really is? If they have been law- abiding, they pay a penalty. They get to stay. We protect the wall. Anybody else comes over, they go back. But for the 11 million people, come on, folks. We all know you can't pick them up and ship them across, back across the border. It's a silly argument. It is not an adult argument. It makes no sense. +p410 +aVJerry, Gerald, it was an attack. +p411 +aVIn the state of Ohio, the state of Ohio, we have grown 347,000 jobs. Our unemployment is half of what it was. Our fracking industry, energy industry may have contributed 20,000, but if Mr. Trump understood that the real jobs come in the downstream, not in the upstream, but in the downstream. And that's where we're going to get our jobs. But Ohio is diversified. And little false little things, sir, they don't really work when it comes to the truth. So the fact is, all I'm suggesting, we can't ship 11 million people out of this country. Children would be terrified, and it will not work. +p412 +aV...Mr. Baker, everybody got to talk about taxes... +p413 +aV...I think you were coming to me and then... +p414 +aV...Look, I hate to crash the party to you, Mr. Baker, but, you know, what's fair... +p415 +aV...Yes, sir... +p416 +aVLet me tell you this, Mr. Baker, in terms of the cyber attacks, we have the capability to not only have a defensive posture, but it also to make it clear to people that if you attack us with cyber attacks, we will destroy the mechanisms that you are using to attack us. I want to give you a little trip around the world. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years. In the Ukraine, arm the people there so they can fight for themselves. In the eastern part of Europe, make sure that Finland and the Baltics know that if the Russians move, we move. In Syria, yes, a no-fly zone in the north on the Turkish border, a no-fly zone on the south on the Jordanian border. Anybody flies in the first time, maybe they can fly out. They fly in there a second time, they will not fly out. And it also becomes a sanctuary for the people to be. And it also sends many messages in the Middle East that we're still involved. Saudi Arabia, cut off the funding for the radical clerics, the ones that preach against us. But they're fundamentally our friends. Jordan, we want the king to reign for 1,000 years. Egypt, they have been our ally and a moderating force in the Middle East throughout their history. In the groups \u2014 in the countries of the Gulf states of Bahrain, the Cleveland Clinic is opening an operation. Clearly we see the same with them. And in Israel, we have no better ally in the world, and no more criticizing them in public, we should support them. And finally China, China doesn't own the South China Sea, and I give the president some credit for being able to move a naval force in there to let the Chinese know that we're not going to put up with it any more. And in the trade agreement, the TPP, it's critical to us, not only for economic reasons and for jobs, because there are so many people who are connected to getting jobs because of trade, but it allows us to create not only economy alliances, but also potentially strategic alliances against the Chinese. They are not our enemy, but they are certainly not our friend. And finally, I will say to everyone in this room, we have been talking about taxes and economics. When the fall comes, and we run against Hillary, which will be a disaster if she got elected. I have two 16-year-old girls, and I want this country to be strong. We make promises we can't keep under the bright light of the fall, we will have trouble. We must make sure that economic programs and our military programs are solid. I served in Washington as the chairman of the Budget Committee, and we got the budget balanced. And in Ohio, as the CEO, and guess what, we have got to have a CEO mentality and a way to beat Hillary Clinton and the Democracies in the fall. And our ideas have to add up. They have to be solid. And people have to know we have the confidence to lead America. And as president, I will lead this country, as I have before in Washington and in Ohio, and will return both on domestic and international affairs. And I appreciate the opportunity to speak this time, Gerry. +p417 +aVLet me \u2014 let me also say, Gary \u2014 Gary, let me also say, Jeb is \u2014 what Jeb is talking about with the big banks is to force them to reserve their capital, people who invest it and they hold their capital, so that if the bank goes down, the people who are invested in the bank are the ones that pay. That's what he's trying to say. Secondly, I'll tell you about Wall Street: There's too much greed. And the fact is, a free enterprise system is a system that's produced the greatest wealth for the world. But you know Michael Novak, the great Catholic theologian, says that a free enterprise system that is not underlaid with values \u2014 and we should all think about the way we conduct our lives \u2014 yes, free enterprise is great, profits are great, but there have to be some values that underlay it, and they need a good ethics lesson on Wall Street on a regular basis to keep them in check so we, the people, do not lose. +p418 +aVNeil, that's the difference of being an executive. And let me just explain: when a bank is ready to go under and depositors are getting ready to lose their life savings, you just don't say we believe in philosophical concerns. You know what an executive has to decide? When there's a water crisis, how do we get water to the city? When there's a school shooting, how do you get there and help heal a community? When there are financial crisis, or a crisis with ebola, you got to go there and try to fix it. Philosophy doesn't work when you run something. And I gotta tell you, on-the-job training for president of the United States doesn't work. We've done it for 8 years, \u2014 and almost 8 years now. It does not work. We need an executive who's been tried, has been tested, and judge the decisions that that executive makes. I don't like what the Fed is doing, but I'll tell you what worries me more than anything else: turning the Fed over to the Congress of the United States... +p419 +aV...so they can print the money. That would be a very bad approach. +p420 +aVI wouldn't. I wouldn't. +p421 +aVNo. No, I didn't say that. +p422 +aVThey were \u2014 they were talking about what you would do with depositors. Would you let these banks shut down? My argument is, going forward, the banks have to reserve the capital, so that the \u2014 so that the people who own the capital start pressuring the banks to not take these risky approaches, Ted. But at the end of the day... +p423 +aV... I'm gonna tell you this. Let me tell you this. If during \u2014 if during... +p424 +aV...because if during \u2014 well, I'll tell you what (ph). +p425 +aVAs an executive \u2014 no. As an executive, I would figure out how to separate those people who can afford it versus those people, or the hard-working folks who put those money in those institutions...... let me \u2014 no, no. Let me say another thing. Here's what I mean by that. Here's what I mean by that. +p426 +aVWhen you are faced \u2014 when you are faced, in the last financial crisis, with banks going under \u2014 with banks going under, and people, people who put their \u2014 their life savings in there, you got to deal with it. You can't turn a blind eye to it. Now, going forward, that's one thing. If you had another financial crisis, perhaps there would be an effort to make sure that we do (ph). +p427 +aVWell, ladies and gentlemen, if Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders were to win this election, my 16-year-olds, I \u2014 I worry about what their life is going to be like. You know, the conservative movement is all about opportunity. It is about lower taxes. It's about balanced budgets. It's about less regulation. And it's about sending power, money and influence back to where we live so we can run America from the bottom up. In addition to that, once we have the power and the money and the influence with programs we shift out, that each of us have a responsibility to reach out and to rebuild our families, make them stronger, and connect our neighborhoods. All that together \u2014 wealth, connection, family \u2014 America's greatest days are ahead. We must win this election. +p428 +aVGood question, but I want to tell you, my great concern is that we are on the verge, perhaps, of picking someone who cannot do this job. I've watched to see people say that we should dismantle Medicare and Medicaid and leave the senior citizens out \u2014 out in the \u2014 in the cold. I've heard them talk about deporting 10 or 11 \u2014 people here from this country out of this country, splitting families. I've heard about tax schemes that don't add up, that put our kids in \u2014 in a deeper hole than they are today. We need somebody who can lead. We need somebody who can balance budgets, cut taxes... +p429 +aVYou know, frankly, I did it in Washington, in Ohio, and I will do it again in Washington, if I'm president, to get this country moving again. +p430 +aVcountry moving again. +p431 +aVListen, I want to just comment. +p432 +aVWell I want to comment on this. This is the fantasy... +p433 +aVThis is the fantasy that I talked about in the beginning. +p434 +aVI'm the only person on this stage that actually was involved in the chief architect of balancing the Federal Budget. You can't do it with empty promised. You know, these plans would put us trillions and trillions of dollars in debt. I actually have a plan. I'm the only one on this stage that has a plan that would create jobs, cut taxes, balance the budget and can get it done because I'm realistic. You just don't make promises like this. Why don't we just give a chicken in every pot, while we're, you know, coming up \u2014 coming up with these fantasy tax schemes. We'll just clean it up. Where are you gonna clean it up? You have to deal with entitlements, you have to be in a position to control discretionary spending. You gotta be creative and imaginative. Now, let me just be clear, John. I went into Ohio where we had an $8 billion hole and now we have a $2 billion surplus. We're up 347,000 jobs. When I was in Washington, I fought to get the budget balanced. I was the architect. It was the first time we did it since man walked on the moon. We cut taxes and we had a $5 trillion projected surplus when I left. That's was hard work. Fiscal discipline, know what you're doing. Creativity. This stuff is fantasy. Just like getting rid of Medicare and Medicaid. Come on, that's just not \u2014 you scare senior citizens with that. It's not responsible. +p435 +aVWell, I mean right here. To talk about we're just gonna have a 10 percent tithe and that's how we're gonna fund the government? And we're going to just fix everything with waste, fraud, and abuse? Or that we're just going to be great? Or we're going to ship 10 million Americans \u2014 or 10 million people out of this country, leaving their children here in this country and dividing families? Folks, we've got to wake up. We cannot elect somebody that doesn't know how to do the job. You have got to pick somebody who has experience, somebody that has the know-how, the discipline. And I spent my entire lifetime balancing federal budgets, growing jobs, the same in Ohio. And I will go back to Washington with my plan. +p436 +aVAnd I will have done it within 100 days, and it will pass. And we will be strong again. Thank you. +p437 +aVLet me just \u2014 let me respond. First of all, Ohio does have an energy industry, but we're diversified. We're one of the fastest growing states in the country. We came back from the dead. And you know what? It works very, very well. And secondly, when you talk about me being on the board of Lehman Brothers, I wasn't on the board of Lehman Brothers. I was a banker and I was proud of it. And I traveled the country and learned how people made jobs. We ought to have politicians who not only have government experience but know how the CEOs and the job creators work. My state is doing great across the board. And guess what, in 2011, I got a deal... +p438 +aV... an agreement with the... +p439 +aV... that he tried to take credit for four years later. It's a joke. +p440 +aVJohn Harwood, there's a bigger issue here. +p441 +aVWell, first of all, when we talk about the Import Export Bank, it's time to clean up corporate welfare. If we're gonna reform welfare for poor people, we ought to reform it for rich people, as well. Secondly, in our state, we went from a loss of 350,000 jobs to, now, a gain of 347,000 jobs to the positive. Our wages are growing faster than the national average, and I've cut taxes more than any sitting governor in this state \u2014 $5 billion, including no taxes on small business and killing the death tax. I want to go back to what we were talking about earlier, this budget deal in Washington. This is the same old stuff since I left. You spend the money today and then you hope you're going to save money tomorrow. I don't know if people understand, but I spent a lifetime with my colleagues getting us to a federal balanced budget. We actually did it. And I have a road map and a plan right now to get us to balance. Reforming entitlements, cutting taxes. You see, because if you really want to get to a balanced budget, you need to reduce your expenses and you need to grow your economy. So what I will tell you about our incentives \u2014 our incentives are tight, and at the end of the day we make sure that we gain more from the creation of jobs than what we lose. And you know what? Ohio, one of the best growing places in the country \u2014 I not only did it in Washington, I did it in Ohio, and I'll go back to Washington, and there will be no more silly deals... +p442 +aV... If I become President because we'll have a Constitutional Amendment to require a federally balanced budget so they will do their job. +p443 +aVWell, first of all, we're running a $2 billion dollar surplus, we're not having a revenue problem right now. And, sending mixed signals to kids about drugs is a disaster. Drugs is one of the greatest scourge in this country, and I spent five years of my administration working with my team to do a whole sort of things to try to reign in the problem of overdoses, and it goes on and on. We could do a whole show on that. I want to go back for a second thought on this issue of income inequality. My program would move the 104 programs of the federal Department of Education into four block grants, and send them back to the states because income inequality is driven by a lack of skills when kids don't get what they need to be able to compete and win in this country. The fact is, in order to get this economy moving again, I call for freezing regulations for a year except for the problem of public safety. I believe that we need to cut these taxes down, we need to be on a roadmap to balancing the budget, and we need to send power, money, and influence, the welfare department, the education department, job training, infrastructure, Medicaid, all of that out of Washington back to the states so we can run these programs from where we live to the top, not a one size fits all mentality that they have in Washington. And, that will get to the nub of opportunity for our children, and an ability to see wages rise. Again... +p444 +aV...One more time, in Ohio, our wages are growing faster than the national average. We've cut taxes, balanced budgets, changed the regulatory environment. Folks, you want to \u2014 +p445 +aV\u2014 fix America, this is the formula. It worked for Reagan and it works for our team in Ohio. Thank you. +p446 +aVJohn. +p447 +aVI wanna tell you, in my state, we took Medicaid, the hardest program to control, and we took it from a 10 percent growth rate to 2.5 percent without taking one person off the rolls or cutting one single benefit. And so much of what we did \u2014 to force competition, to use technology, to stand down the special interest groups \u2014 can you imagine taking Medicaid from 10 to 2.5 percent? We can take many of those same procedures, we can apply it to Medicare. We can make a stronger program. But I agree with Jeb, you can't just do this by growing the economy. You can't grow your way out of demographics. But we can give people better health care. And finally, on health care, why don't we start treating \u2014 keep giving... +p448 +aV...incentives for people to keep people healthy, rather than giving the incentives to treat them when they're sick? +p449 +aVI was on morning Joe at a town hall and a young student stood up and said, "Can I still be idealistic?" I said, absolutely, you can still change the world. And, you know the old inscription, if you save one life, you've changed the world. Folks, we have a problem here with the leadership in Washington, but I'll tell you another problem. We need to rebuild our families. We need to have stronger families. We need to know who our neighbors are. We need to come together as a country because we have to realize that America is great, not from the top-down. Oh yeah, we want to elect a good president, but America is great from the bottom-up, and the bottom-up is us in our families, in our communities, in our neighborhoods. We will renew America if we work together, and I am totally confident that we will. And God bless America. +p450 +aVHello, I'm John Kasich, the Governor of Ohio. Emma, and Reese, my children, and Karen, love 'ya girls. Thanks for watching tonight. By the way, I think I actually flew on this plane with Ronald Reagan when I was a congressman, and his goals, and mine, really much \u2014 are pretty much the same. Lift Americans, unify, give hope, grow America, and restore it is to that great, shining city on a hill. Yes, he was a great one, and I learned much from watching him. The most important thing, hope to Americans, unify, lift everyone in America. +p451 +aVJake, Jake. +p452 +aVListen, you know, I \u2014 if I were sitting at home and watch thing back and forth, I would be inclined to turn it off. I mean, people at home want to know across this country, they want to know what we're going to do to fix this place, how we'll balance a budget, how we're going to create more economic growth, how we'll pay down the debt. What we're going to do to strengthen the military. So, we just spent 10 minutes here... +p453 +aVBut \u2014 but wait a minute. It's a lot of ad hogshead. Now, I know that it may be buzzing out there, but I think it's important we get to the issues, because that's what people want, and they don't want all this fighting. +p454 +aV...Yeah, well... +p455 +aVWell, let me just say this. First of all, I think it's a bad agreement, I would never have done it. But, you know, a lot of our problems in the world today is that we don't have the relationship with our allies. If we want to go everywhere alone, we will not have the strength as (ph) if we could rebuild with our allies. Now, this agreement, we don't know what's going to happen in 18 months. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years. I've seen lots of issues in foreign affairs, and foreign \u2014 in terms of global politics, you have to be steady. Now, here's the \u2014 if they cheat, we slap the sanctions back on. If they help Hamas, and Hezbollah, we slap the sanctions back on. And, if we find out that they may be developing a nuclear weapon, than the military option is on the table. We are stronger when we work with the Western civilization, our friends in Europe, and just doing it on our own I don't think is the right policy. +p456 +aVNo, no, no. I want to \u2014 I want to \u2014 I want to say something about what the senator just said. +p457 +aVNo one is \u2014 no \u2014 let me \u2014 let me suggest to you we believe that we operate better in the world when our allies work with us. President Bush did it in the Gulf War. We work better when we are unified. Secondly, nobody's trusting Iran. They violate the deal, we put on the sanctions, and we have the high moral ground to talk to our allies in Europe to get them to go with us. If they don't go with us, we slap the sanctions on anyway. If they fund these radical groups that threaten Israel and all of the West, then we should rip up the deal and put the sanctions back on. And let me make it clear \u2014 let me make it clear... +p458 +aV... if we think \u2014 if we think they're getting close to a \u2014 to developing a nuclear weapon and we get that information, you better believe that I would do everything in my power as the commander-in-chief to stop them having a nuclear weapon. +p459 +aVWe can have it, and we can have our allies, and we can be strong as a country, and we can project across this globe with unity, not just doing it alone. That is not what gets us where we want to get as a nation. +p460 +aVWell, I agree that we should defund Planned Parenthood. I don't know many people in America who don't think that we should, and in my state, we're trying to figure out how to get it done, because we are threatened with the federal government taking all of our Medicaid money away. I think there is a way to get this done by giving governors the ability to be able to act to defund Planned Parenthood. But when (ph) it comes to closing down the federal government, you gotta be very careful about that. When we shut the government down \u2014 if we have a chance at success and it's a great principle, yes. The president of the United States is not going to sign this, and all we're gonna do is shut the government down, and then we're gonna open up \u2014 open it up, and the American people are gonna shake their heads and say, "what's the story with these Republicans?" So I think there is a way to get to cutting off the funding for Planned Parenthood. I was in the Congress for 18 years, balanced the budget, cut taxes, got it done. Changed welfare, went around the president to get welfare reform done. There are ways to do it without having to shut the government down, but I'm sympathetic to the fact that we don't want this organization to get funding, and the money ought to be reprogrammed for family planning in other organizations that don't support this tactic. But I would not be for shutting the government down... +p461 +aV...because I don't think it's going to work out. +p462 +aVWe're not \u2014 what I can tell you is this. We didn't surrender in New Jersey, six years ago, as the brand new first ever pro-life governor of New Jersey since Roe versus Wade, I defended Planned Parenthood. And I've vetoed Planned Parenthood funding, now, eight times in New Jersey. Since the day I walked in as governor, Planned Parenthood has not been funded in New Jersey. We stood up and every one of those vetoes has been sustained. But here's the problem, we're \u2014 we're fighting with each other up here. We agree. Let's ask Hillary Clinton. She believes in the systematic murder of children in the womb to preserve their body parts... +p463 +aV...Dana, in a way that maximizes their value for sale for profit. It is disgusting, and the American people need to hear it... +p464 +aV...we shouldn't be fighting with each other. She's the real opponent, she's the real problem. +p465 +aVI'll tell you what \u2014 I'll tell you what I'd be willing to fight for. I'll tell you what I'd be willing to fight for. Why will (ph) we put tax reform on the president's desk, so we can simplify this tax system? +p466 +aVNo, no, it's really important, Dana. We got to talk about what we would be willing to shut down for. Why don't we put tax reform on this president's desk, and make him veto it if that's what he wants to do? Why haven't we repealed and replaced Obamacare? Make him veto if that's what he wants to do. +p467 +aVThere's a \u2014 +p468 +aVJake \u2014 +p469 +aVOK, Jake. +p470 +aVI don't at this point in terms of changing the incentives for investment and risk-taking. But let's just stop for a second. There's one person on this stage that does have a record. I'm the only person on the stage and one of the few people in this country that led the effort as the chief architect of the last time we balanced the federal budget. We also cut taxes. And when I left Washington in 2000, we had a $5 trillion surplus, and the economy was booming. I had spent 10 years of my life to get us to that point, went out in the private sector, was a great experience, and went into Ohio and took an $8 billion hole and turned it into a $2 billion surplus. We've had the largest amount of tax cuts of any sitting governor. We've grown well over 300,000 jobs. You see, I've done it in both places. I'm the only one here that has done it in both places. It took a lot to get us to a balanced budget. It was legitimate. It was real. And we negotiated it. A lot of what we're talking about here tonight as we take this position and that position, you know what? At the end of the day, America has got to work. We've got to figure out how we come together to deal with this \u2014 with our fiscal problems because when we deal with that, we create a stronger economy for everybody. People have a chance to rise. So, you know, when we think about how we make a choice, it's the person that lands that plane. It's not somebody that talks about it. It's about the person who has done it. And I've done it in... +p471 +aV... both places. And I did it including people in the other party. And that's how we were successful. +p472 +aVAnd that's how I will be president, using that experience to drive this country forward. Thank you. +p473 +aVWell, look, people still have to get to know me, so I want to spend my time talking about my experience reforming welfare, balancing budgets, cutting taxes, providing economic growth when I was in Washington, turning Ohio around. Eight billion in the hole, $2 billion surplus, up over 300,000 jobs, big tax cuts, strengthening our credit. All those things matter but, you know, as a young man in my first election in 1978, I defeated an incumbent Democrat. I defeated an incumbent Democrat in 1982; running on the Reagan program, I was the only Republican in America to defeat an incumbent Democrat that year. And then, when I won for election of governor, I was the first Republican to defeat an incumbent in 36 years, and the first person to have never run statewide out of politics for 10 years to beat an incumbent. That hadn't happened for 96 years. So, we'll get to the point where we'll talk about Hillary Clinton, or whoever the nominee is, record. But right now, I want to give people sense of hope, sense of purpose, a sense of unity, sense that we can do it. So... +p474 +aVYou know, at the end of the day, I'm going to continue to talk about my record, because there is, did you ever notice when people run for office, they run for president, they make a lot of promises, they don't keep them. +p475 +aVI don't intend to do that, and I going to be out there pushing it out \u2014 don't worry about me and Hillary. That will all work out, and I'm from Ohio. She will not beat me there, I can promise you that. +p476 +aVCan I just \u2014 can I \u2014 Jake, can I just make one point on this whole military discussion? +p477 +aVI called for boots on the ground many months ago in a coalition with our friends who share our interest. You know, you win a battle with the military, and when we go somewhere, we need to be mobile, and lethal. We need to take care of business, and we need to come home. But, we face, also, a bigger war \u2014 and you win the bigger war with the battle of ideas. You wonder why young people, and educated people, rich people, schooled people, have tried to join +p478 +aV...to make (ph) centers (ph) of justice so that we can battle the radicals, call them out for what they are, and make sure that all of our people feel fulfilled in living in Western civilization... +p479 +aV...This is a giant battle in the world today... +p480 +aVWell, it's probably not, maybe, legal, but, I would pick Mother Theresa, the lady that I had a chance to meet, a woman who lived a life so much bigger than her own. An inspiration to everyone when we think about our responsibility to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. +p481 +aVWell, I have one now \u2014 they (ph) call me, "Unit One". My wife says, "You'll never be Unite One, I'm Unite One. You're Unit Two." +p482 +aVWell, as president, I will make this a nation that will solve problems. And how? By having the elected officials and the leaders realize they're Americans before they're Republicans or Democrats. I did it in Washington. And I've done it in Ohio by having the elected officials realize that they're Ohioans before anything else. Secondly, I will rebuild the relationships and show the respect to our allies around the world. We have no choice but to do that. We will be stronger when we are unified. And we'll fight for freedom and for human rights. And finally, a little bit of what Carly said. The people that are out there listening, America was never great because we ran America from the top down. America is great because we have run America from the bottom up, where we all live in the neighborhoods. One more time in America, we need to revive the concept of citizenship, where everybody's actions make a huge difference in changing the world. We have a Holocaust memorial on our state house grounds. And there is one line on there that stands out all the time. "If you've saved one life, you've changed the world." We need to adopt that as citizens and rebuild and reinspire our country. Thank you. +p483 +aVWell, first of all... ...first of all, Megyn, you should know that -- that President Reagan expanded Medicaid three or four times. Secondly, I had an opportunity to bring resources back to Ohio to do what? To treat the mentally ill. Ten thousand of them sit in our prisons. It costs $22,500 a year... ...to keep them in prison. I'd rather get them their medication so they could lead a decent life. Secondly, we are rehabbing the drug-addicted. Eighty percent of the people in our prisons have addictions or problems. We now treat them in the prisons, release them in the community and the recidivism rate is 10 percent and everybody across this country knows that the tsunami of drugs is -- is threatening their very families. So we're treating them and getting them on their feet. And, finally, the working poor, instead of them having come into the emergency rooms where it costs more, where they're sicker and we end up paying, we brought a program in here to make sure that people could get on their feet. And do you know what? Everybody has a right to their God-given purpose. And finally, our Medicaid is growing at one of the lowest rates in the country. And, finally, we went from $8 billion in the hole to $2 billion in the black. We've cut $5 billion in taxes... ...and we've grown 350,000 jobs. +p484 +aVChris, first of all, I was just saying to Chris Christie, they say we're outspoken, we need to take lessons from Donald Trump if we're really going to learn it. Here is the thing about Donald Trump. Donald Trump is hitting a nerve in this country. He is. He's hitting a nerve. People are frustrated. They're fed up. They don't think the government is working for them. And for people who want to just tune him out, they're making a mistake. Now, he's got his solutions. Some of us have other solutions. You know, look, I balanced the federal budget as one of the chief architects when I was in Washington. Hasn't been done since. I was a military reformer. I took the state of Ohio from an $8 billion hole and a 350,000 job loss to a $2 billion surplus and a gain of 350,000 jobs. +p485 +aVBut the point is that we all have solutions. Mr. Trump is touching a nerve because people want the wall to be built. They want to see an end to illegal immigration. They want to see it, and we all do. But we all have different ways of getting there. And you're going to hear from all of us tonight about what our ideas are. +p486 +aVDonald, if you... +p487 +aV-- this campaign, I hope you will give to me. +p488 +aVOK. +p489 +aVLet's start off with my father being a mailman. So I understand the concerns of all the folks across this country, some of whom have trouble, you know, making ends meet. But I think she will come in a narrow way. The nominee of this party, if they're going to win, has got to come at it in a big way, which is pro-growth. Which is balancing budgets. You know, we were talking about it. People were saying, could we do it? I was the chairman of the Budget Committee and the lead architect the last time it happened in Washington, and when we did it we had great economic growth, we cut taxes, and we had a big surplus. Economic growth is the key. Economic growth is the key to everything. But once you have economic growth, it is important that we reach out to people who live in the shadows, the people who don't seem to ever think that they get a fair deal. And that includes people in our minority community; that includes people who feel as though they don't have a chance to move up. You know, America is a miracle country. And we have to restore the sense that the "Amiracle" will apply to you. Each and every one of the people in this country who's watching tonight, lift everybody, unite everybody and build a stronger United States of America again. It will be and can be done. +p490 +aVWell, look, I'm an old-fashioned person here, and I happen to believe in traditional marriage. But I've also said the court has ruled -- +p491 +aVWait, Megyn, the court has ruled, and I said we'll accept it. And guess what, I just went to a wedding of a friend of mine who happens to be gay. Because somebody doesn't think the way I do, doesn't mean that I can't care about them or can't love them. So if one of my daughters happened to be that, of course I would love them and I would accept them. Because you know what? That's what we're taught when we have strong faith. So the issues like that, issues like that are planted to divide us. I think the simple fact of the matter is, and this is where I would agree with Jeb, and I've been saying it all along, we need to give everybody a chance, treat everybody with respect, and let them share in this great American dream that we have, Megan. So, look, I'm going to love my daughters, I'm going to love them no matter what they do. Because, you know what, God gives me unconditional love. I'm going to give it to my family and my friends and the people around me. +p492 +aVWell, Megyn, my father was a mailman. His father was a coal miner. My mother's mother could barely speak English. And their son today stands on this podium in the great state of Ohio not only as the governor, but a candidate for president of the United States. I do believe in miracles. You know, I've had a lot of elections. But my elections are really not about campaigns. I tell my people that these are about a movement. And a movement to do what? To restore common sense. A movement to do things like provide economic growth. And a movement not to let anybody be behind. You know, today the country is divided. You asked a question about the police and the difficulty in communities. We've got to unite our country again, because we're stronger when we are united and we are weaker when we are divided. And we've got to listen to other people's voices, respect them, but keep in mind, and I believe in terms of the things that I've read in my lifetime, the Lord'is not picking us. But because of how we respect human rights, because that we are a good force in the world, he wants America to be strong. He wants America to succeed. And he wants America to lead. And nothing is more important to me than my family, my faith, and my friends. +p493 +aVYou know, tonight we hear about what people want to do. I want to tell you what I've done. I was a member of the Armed Services Committee for 18 years. I spent a big chunk of my life studying national security issues and our role in the world. No. 2. I was the chairman of the House Budget Committee and one of the chief architects the last time we balanced a budget, and it was the first time we had done it since man walked on the moon. We had a $5 trillion surplus and we cut taxes. I spent ten years in the private sector, actually learning how business works. And now I'm the governor of Ohio, and I inherited a state that was on the brink of dying. And we turned it all around with jobs and balanced budgets and rising credit and tax cuts, and the state is unified, and people have hope again in Ohio. +p494 +aVWell, John, first of all, if I were president, we wouldn't have the divisions in the country we have today. I do want to take a second as we reflected on Judge Scalia, it's amazing \u2014 it's not even two minutes after the death of Judge Scalia, nine children here today, their father didn't wake up. His wife, sad, but I just wish we hadn't run so fast into politics. Here's my concern about this. The country is so divided right now, and now we're going to see another partisan fight take place. I really wish the president would think about not nominating somebody. If you were to nominate somebody, let's have him pick somebody that's going to have unanimous approval, and such widespread approval across the country that this could happen without a lot of recrimination. I don't think that's going to happen, and I would like the president just to, for once here, put the country first. We're going to have an election for president very soon, and the people will understand what is at stake in that election. And so I believe the president should not move forward, and I think that we ought to let the next president of the United States decide who is going to run that Supreme Court with a vote by the people of the United......States of America. +p495 +aVFirst of all \u2014 yes. First of all, look, we have to make it clear to Russia what we expect. We don't have to declare an enemy, rattle a sword or threaten, but we need to make it clear what we expect. No. 1 is we will arm the folks in Ukraine who are fighting for their freedom. They deserve it. There will be no ifs, ands or buts about it. Secondly, an attack on +p496 +aVI've got to tell you, this is just crazy, huh? This is just nuts, O.K.? Jeez, oh, man. I'm sorry, John. +p497 +aVOh, well, listen, I think being in Iraq, look, we thought there were weapons of mass destruction. Colin Powell, who is one of the most distinguished generals in modern time, said there were weapons there. But, but, the fact is we got ourselves in the middle of a civil war. The Sunni, the Shia and the Kurds, never gotten along. In fact, that country was drawn \u2014 the borders of that country were drawn after World War I by Westerners that didn't understand what was happening there. The tragedy of it is that we're still embroiled. And, frankly, if there weren't weapons of mass destruction, we should never have gone. I don't believe the United States should involve itself in civil wars. Civil wars are not in our direct interest, and if you \u2014 and look, I served on a defense committee for 18 years and was called into the Pentagon after 9/11 by Secretary Rumsfeld to deal with some of the most serious problems that we faced. The fact is, is that we should go to war when it is our direct interest. We should not be policemen of the world, but when we go, we mean business. We'll do our job. We'll tell our soldiers, our people in the service, take care of your job and then come home once we've accomplished our goals. That's what we need to do. +p498 +aVYeah. Well, first of all, those numbers, incorrect. We are \u2014 our Medicaid programs are coming in below cost estimates, and our Medicaid program in the second year grew at 2.5 percent. And Kimberley, let me tell you, when we expand Medicaid and we treat the mentally ill, then they don't live under a bridge or live in a prison, where they cost $22,500 a year. When we take the drug addicted and we treat them in the prisons, we stop the revolving door of people in and out of prisons, and we save $22,500 a year. Guess what else? They get their lives back. And the working poor, they're now getting health care. And you know that about a third of the people who are now getting that health care are people who are suffering very serious illnesses, particularly cancer. So, what I would tell you is, we've gone from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. We've cut taxes by more than any governor in America by $5 billion. We have grown the number of jobs by 400,000 private-sector jobs since I've been governor. Our credit is strong. Our pensions are strong. And frankly, we leave no one behind. Economic growth is not an end unto itself. We want everyone to rise, and we will make them personally responsible for the help that they get. And that is exactly the program we're driving in Ohio. And, boy, people ought to look at Ohio, because it has got a good formula. +p499 +aVYeah, let me say a couple of things. First of all, when Jeb was governor, his first four years as governor, he expand \u2014 his Medicaid program grew twice as fast as mine. O.K.? It's just a fact. Now, with Obamacare, I've not only sued the administration, I did not set up an exchange. And he knows that I'm not for Obamacare, never have been. But here's what's interesting about Medicaid. You know who expanded Medicaid five times to try to help the folks and give them opportunity so that you could rise and get a job? President Ronald Reagan. Now, the fact of the matter is, we expanded to get people on their feet, and once they're on their feet, we are giving them the training and the efforts that they need to be able to get work and pull out of that situation. +p500 +aVThat's what we're doing in our state. +p501 +aVLet me \u2014 let's tell you... +p502 +aVMajor \u2014 Major, we can't \u2014 we've got to \u2014 look, I have got to correct the record. And the fact of the matter is, we went from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. We're up 400,000 jobs. Our credit is rock solid. And I don't know... +p503 +aVLook, the bottom line is the people of this \u2014 of this country and this state want to see everybody rise, and they want to see unity, and I don't want to get into all this fighting tonight, because people are frankly sick of the negative campaigning. +p504 +aVAnd I'm going to stay positive about what I want to do from the... +p505 +aVBefore I get to that, this is the ninth or 10th debate. What I've been watching here, this back and forth, and these attacks, some of them are personal. I think we're fixing to lose the election to Hillary Clinton if we don't stop this. I mean, the fact is \u2014 you know what? I would suggest, why don't we take off all the negative ads and all the negative comments down from television and let us just talk about what we're for, and let's sell that, and the Republican Party will be stronger as a result... +p506 +aV... First of all, I'm for sealing the border, O.K.? And then I'm for a guest worker program. People can come in, work and go back home. We haven't closed the border because special interests, I believe, blocked it. Then, we have 11 and a half million people here. If they have not committed a crime since they've been here, make them pay a fine and some back taxes, and give them a path to legalization, never to citizenship. It is not going to happen that we're going to run around and try to drag 11 and a half million people out of their homes. I'll tell you this. Within the first hundred days, I will send a plan like this to the Congress of the United States, and if I'm president, I'll bet you dollar to doughnuts right now, it will pass. That is a reasonable proposal that the people of this country, in my judgment, will support, and so will the bulk of the Congress of the United States. +p507 +aVYou know, John, I think all people are the same. Look, I did 106 town halls, and I've been doing them left and right here in South Carolina. The first thing we have to do is grow the economy, and I know the formula because I was chairman in Washington when we balanced the budget and created so many jobs, and the same that we've been able to do in Ohio. You need common-sense regulations so small business can flourish, you need lower taxes both on business and individuals, and you need a fiscal plan to be able to get ourselves in a situation where people can predict a little bit about the future when it comes to the fiscal issues. And when you have that formula, combined with work force that's trained, you can explode the economy and create many jobs. I have done it twice, and I want to go back to Washington and do it again. John, the thing is, is I think that there are people now, these blue-collar Democrats \u2014 my dad was a blue-collar Democrat \u2014 the Democratic Party has left them. When they're arguing about being socialists, they've left \u2014 they have lost those blue-collar Democrats. And you know what I think they get out of me \u2014 is my sense of what they get out of me, and it's embarrassment about campaigns, you brag about yourself. But I think I'm a uniter, I think people sense it. I think they know I have the experience, and that I'm a man that can give people hope and a sense that they have the opportunity rise. And I'll tell you, I love these blue-collar Democrats, because they're going to vote for us come next fall, promise you that. +p508 +aVWell, I want to thank the people of South Carolina. You've been fantastic. And look, what I want you to know is I'm going to send a lot of power, money and influence back to where we all live. But as I've traveled around South Carolina, I've noticed something. You know, it's that people have a sense that you're not going to wait on a president. You know, when I was a kid, we didn't wait on presidents to come to that little blue-collar town and fix things. You know, the Lord made all of us special. The Lord wants us to be connected. I believe we're part of a very big mosaic. And I'll send the power back. And whoever gets elected president here, hopefully will take care of the issue of jobs and wages and Social Security and the border. But the spirit of the America rests in all of us. It's in our guts. It's taking care of our children. It's taking care of the lady next door who just lost her husband. It's fixing the schools where we live and telling kids to stay off drugs. You see, I think what the Lord wants is for to us engage, and in America, the spirit of America doesn't come from the top down. The spirit of America rests in us. And I want to call on everyone in America to double down and realize that you were made special to heal this country and lift it for everyone. Thank you all very much. And I hope I can have your vote in South Carolina. +p509 +asVQUICK +p510 +(lp511 +VGentlemen \u2014 we'll \u2014 we'll get back to this \u2014 just a minute \u2014 just a minute we're gonna continue this. I wanna talk taxes... +p512 +aVDr. Carson, let's talk about taxes. You have a flat tax plan of 10 percent flat taxes, and \u2014 I've looked at it \u2014 and this is something that is very appealing to a lot of voters, but I've had a really tough time trying to make the math work on this. If you were to took a 10 percent tax, with the numbers right now in total personal income, you're gonna come in with bring in $1.5 trillion. That is less than half of what we bring in right now. And by the way, it's gonna leave us in a $2 trillion hole. So what analysis got you to the point where you think this will work? +p513 +aVI \u2014 I understand that, but if you \u2014 if you look at the numbers you probably have to get to 28. +p514 +aV15 percent still leaves you with a $1.1 trillion hole. +p515 +aVYou'd have to cut \u2014 you'd have to cut government about 40 percent to make it work with a $1.1 trillion hole. +p516 +aVThat is true, I looked at the numbers. +p517 +aVDr. Carson, thank you. +p518 +aVGovernor... +p519 +aVDr. Carson, let me get 30 seconds with Dr. Carson... +p520 +aVThank you. +p521 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, thank you. +p522 +aVGentlemen, I'm sorry, we need to... +p523 +aVWe're going to move on. +p524 +aVThirty seconds. +p525 +aVWe'll get to everyone. Ms. Fiorina, I \u2014 I'd like to ask you a question. You are running for president of the United States because of your record running Hewlett-Packard. But the stock market is usually a fair indicator of the performance of a CEO, and the market was not kind to you. Someone who invested a dollar in your company the day you took office had lost half of the dollar by the day you left. Obviously, you've talked in the past about what a difficult time it was for technology companies, but anybody who was following the market knows that your stock was a much worse performer, if you looked at your competitors, if you looked at the overall market. I just wonder, in terms of all of that \u2014 you know, we look back, your board fired you. I just wondered why you think we should hire you now. +p526 +aVMrs. Fiorina, it's interesting that you bring up Mr. Perkins, because... ...he said a lot of very questionable things. Last year, in an interview, he said that he thinks wealthy people should get more votes than poor people. I think his quote was that, "if you pay zero dollars in taxes, you should get zero votes. If you pay a million dollars, you should get a million votes." Is this the type of person you want defending you? +p527 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p528 +aVThank you, we're out of time. Thank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Carl. +p529 +aVGovernor Christie, I'd like to a question next. Actually, I have a question for you . In your tell it like it is campaign, you've said a lot of tough things. You've said that we need to raise the retirement age for Social Security. You think that we need to cut benefits for people who make over $80,000 and eliminate them entirely for seniors who are making over $200,000. Governor Huckabee, who is here on the stage, has said that you and others who think this way are trying to rob seniors of the benefits that they've earned. It raises the question: When it is acceptable to break a social compact? +p530 +aV...Governor... +p531 +aV...Thank you. +p532 +aVWelcome back to the presidential debate for the Republicans. We are live in Boulder, Colorado, right here on +p533 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. +p534 +aVSenator Rubio, you yourself have said that you've had issues. You have a lack of bookkeeping skills. You accidentally inter-mingled campaign money with your personal money. You faced (ph) foreclosure on a second home that you bought. And just last year, you liquidated a $68,000 retirement fund. That's something that cost you thousands of dollars in taxes and penalties. In terms of all of that, it raises the question whether you have the maturity and wisdom to lead this $17 trillion economy. What do you say? +p535 +aVSenator, I understand all of that. I had a lot of student loans when I got out, too. But you've had a windfall that a lot of Americans haven't. You made over a million dollars on a book deal, and some of these problems came after that. +p536 +aVBut you \u2014 but you liquidated that retirement account after the fact, and that cost you about $24,000 out of that in taxes and feed. That \u2014 that was after you'd already come into that windfall. That's why I raised the question. +p537 +aVYes, thank you John. Senator Cruz, working women in this country still earn just 77 percent of what men earn. And I know that you've said you've been very sympathetic to our cause. But you've also you said that the Democrats' moves to try and change this are the political show votes. I just wonder what you would do as President to try and help in this cause? +p538 +aVMrs. Fiorina \u2014 +p539 +aVMrs. Fiorina, we will come back to you. +p540 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Carl? +p541 +aVMr. Trump, let's stay on this issue of immigration. You have been very critical of Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook who has wanted to increase the number of these H1Bs. +p542 +aVSo you're in favor of... +p543 +aVWhere did I read this and come up with this that you were... +p544 +aVYou know, Mr. \u2014 you know, Mr. Trump, if I may . You've been \u2014 you have been \u2014 you had talked a little bit about Marco Rubio. I think you called him Mark Zuckerberg's personal senator because he was in favor of the H1B. +p545 +aVSo this was an erroneous article the whole way around? +p546 +aVMy apologies. I'm sorry. +p547 +aVYes, you can. +p548 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you very much. I would like to introduce my colleague, Rick Santelli, he has some comments as well, sir. +p549 +aVRick, thank you very much. Governor Huckabee, you have railed against income inequality. You've said that some Wall Street executives should have gone to jail over the roles that they played during the financial crisis. Apart from your tax plan, are there specific steps you would require from corporate America to try and reduce the income inequality. +p550 +aVGovernor? +p551 +aVGovernor? +p552 +aVThank you. +p553 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee. +p554 +aVHow about 15 more seconds? +p555 +aVGovernor? +p556 +aVGovernor, I'm sorry... +p557 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p558 +aVGovernor, thank you. Appreciate it. John? +p559 +aVIt's at the moderator discretion. +p560 +aVWelcome back to the University of Colorado and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p561 +aVThank you, sir. +p562 +aVYou were. You get 30 seconds. +p563 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Carl? +p564 +aVHigher education is the example... +p565 +aVI want to go back, if I can, to the issue of... +p566 +aVI want to go back, if I may, to the... +p567 +aVSenator Paul, among the leading conservative opponents to the creation of Medicare back in the 1960s was Ronald Reagan. He warned that it would lead to socialism. Considering the mounting cost of Medicare, was he right to oppose it? +p568 +aVSenator, thank you. [ +p569 +aVWelcome back to Boulder, Colorado and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p570 +aVThank you, Governor. +p571 +aVGovernor. +p572 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Paul, let's go back to you. Do these solutions sound like they work? +p573 +aVDo these solutions sound like they would work? +p574 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Governor? +p575 +aVGood evening, everyone. I'm Becky Quick, along with my +p576 +aVGovernor Jindal, let's talk a little bit about the news of the day. Just a few hours ago, the Republicans and the Democrats in the House voted on a budget deal that will increase spending by about $80 billion dollars over the next two years. You, however, have called the Republicans who have been willing to work with the Democrats to do things like this the, "Surrender Party of the Republican caucus." Would you have shut the government down instead? +p577 +aV...But Governor... +p578 +aV...if you didn't have a choice, if you didn't control things in the house, would you take the choice of shutting things down, or would you go ahead and agree with them? +p579 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p580 +aVGovernor Pataki, let's get to your point. You wanted to make a comment on the budget. You want to get in on the idea, what would you do if you were in Washington? Would you compromise... +p581 +aVGovernor Pataki, thank you. John? +p582 +aVGovernor Pataki, let's talk a little bit about what's happened on Wall Street. Some of your colleagues in the Republican Party, including some of the people on this stage, have bashed Wall Street. They say that it was largely responsible for the financial crisis. You're a former governor of New York, and you relied very heavily on Wall Street for income. Do you think they've gone too far? +p583 +aVGovernor Pataki, thank you. +p584 +aVCarl? +p585 +aVWelcome back, everyone. This is the Republican Presidential Debate on +p586 +aVSenator, I'm sorry your minute is up. +p587 +aVThank you very much, Senator Santorum. +p588 +aVAnd Graham, Mr. Graham, yes, that was a question to you, too. +p589 +aVYou have 30 seconds. +p590 +aVSenator Graham, thank you. +p591 +aVI'm sorry. That's your 30 seconds... +p592 +aVSenator Graham... +p593 +aVThank you, Senator. +p594 +aVGentlemen, hold on a second. +p595 +aVGo ahead, +p596 +aVGovernor Pataki... +p597 +aV\u2014 I'm sorry, that was a... +p598 +aVGovernor Pataki... +p599 +aVI'm sorry to talk over you, sir. That was a minute. +p600 +aVThank you very much. +p601 +aVCarl? +p602 +aVYou guys are making this just like home. This is just like . +p603 +aVGovernor Jindal, I want to go back to something that you mentioned before with your tax plan. I know that you want to put a 2 percent tax on all families, just to make sure everyone has some skin in the game. But every working American pays 6.2 percent, when it comes to Social Security taxes. They pay another 1.45 percent of Medicare. Isn't that skin in the game? +p604 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p605 +aVWelcome back to Boulder, Colorado, and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p606 +aVNo, no. +p607 +aVI \u2014 I'm with you. I still have a BlackBerry, too. Senator \u2014 Senator Santorum, how about you? +p608 +aVThank you. Governor? +p609 +aVThank you. Senator Graham? +p610 +aVWe take your time back. Yes. +p611 +aVJohn? +p612 +asVGRAHAM +p613 +(lp614 +VThank you very much. I just returned from Iraq two weeks ago. It was my 36th trip to Iraq and Afghanistan in the last decade. Toward the end, I met a very impressive Special Forces sergeant. It was his job to train Iraqi Kurdish commandos. He was so proud of what he was doing and so proud of the people he was training. He was the replacement for Master Sergeant Wheeler, a Delta Force member who was killed two months ago in a raid against an +p615 +aVYou may think this makes us safe, but it doesn't. The good news for everybody in this room is, after 36 trips to Iraq and Afghanistan, most people over there, Wolf, are not buying what +p616 +aVI will support the Republican nominee, whoever he or she may be. Like Bob Dole, I may sleep late that day if it's Trump. But the bottom line, if it's Trump, so be it. That's who I'll support. Please understand we're in a war that we can't afford to lose, and what he said about banning Muslims coming here to America has made us all less safe, and it's the worst possible thing he could do in this war. He clearly doesn't understand this war and how to win it. For God's sakes, pick somebody who is worthy of the sacrifice of those who are fighting this war and who actually knows how to win, and I don't believe that's Mr. Trump, and I know it's not Hillary Clinton. +p617 +aVRick, please understand the only way we're gonna win the war against radical Islam is for the world to unite. Very few fathers and mothers want to turn their daughters and sons over to +p618 +aVWell, here's what I'm here to tell you, when I first started this process of running for president., I said, " if you didn't realize we need more America boots on the ground in Iraq and eventually in Syria as a part of the regional army - not ready to be commander in chief." Like nobody said a word, now everybody's on board except Senator Paul. Senator Paul and Senator Cruz, are isolationists. They both want to restrict the ability of the NSA to do the following; find out if somebody overseas is calling into America and if somebody is on the other end of the phone, don't you want to know who their talking to? IF a terrorist is calling into America and we can match up phone numbers we get a get a court order to find out what the content is. We're at war folks, they're not trying to steal your car, they're trying to kills us all. So yes, I would re-institute this program. There's four things you need to understand about this war, it's a religious war, them against the world, if you don't fight them over there, they're coming here. If you don't hit them first, they're going to hit us. If you're not determined to fight it as a ware, you're going to lose it. So if you're worried about somebody having your phone in the government, don't be. The only thing you need to worry about is if you're talking to terrorist and a judge gives an order to listen to what you're saying. That's all you need to worry about. +p619 +aVCan I say something? +p620 +aVYeah. There are at least 3,500 American muslims serving in the armed forces. Thank you for your service. You are not the enemy. Your religion is not the enemy. Let me make this real to you. I was at the second presidential election in Afghanistan. The guy guarding me was an American Muslim sergeant in the Army who grew up in Kabul, left when he was \u2014 graduated high school, joined the U.S. Army, went back to his high school where they were doing polling, people voting, he took me there and cried like a baby. I cried like a baby. He is the solution to this problem, folks. He is not the problem. Leave the faith alone. Go after the radicals that kill us all. +p621 +aVThank you. This is why I own a flip phone. You don't have to worry about all of this stuff. The bottom line is, we're at war. They're trying to come here to kill us all and it's up to the government to protect you within constitutional means. Any system that would allow a terrorist to communicate with somebody in our country and we can't find out what they're saying is stupid. If I'm president of the United States, and you join +p622 +aVWell, what you want to do is you want to knock them off line. How about this idea? If you pledge allegiance to al-Baghdadi, you can't get married in America? The bottom line is you have to go after them everywhere. The key to winning this war is to provide the capacity to those in the faith who reject the ideology. The key to fighting this war is to fight it in their backyard, not ours. Two years ago I came up with a plan that requires more American boots on the ground in Iraq. The first thing out of my mouth running for President was, if you don't understand we need 10,000 troops in Iraq, rather than 3,500, you're not ready. What would I do in Syria? I'd form a regional army of Arabs and Turkey. Ninety percent them, 10 percent us. Up to 10,000 U.S. forces to go in on the ground and destroy the caliphate and its roots. Take Raqqah away from +p623 +aVYeh, it's just you're not going to win that way, Rick. There's nobody left in Syria to train. Between the Russians and Assad, they have killed all the people we trained, and our President sat on the sidelines and watched people get killed that we enticed into the fight. There is nobody left to train. I would get the Arabs who are threatened by +p624 +aVWell, number one, dead men don't preach anything. If you don't understand we need a ground force to go into Syria, then you're not ready to destroy +p625 +aVYeah. I just don't make this up, Wolf. I talk to people who are combat trained who have won in Iraq who I trust. Here's what I want to tell the Arab world and Turkey. We're not going to send 100,000 troops. You're going to do the fighting this time and we're gonna help you. We paid for the last two wars, you're gonna pay for this one. And, by the way, they get it because +p626 +aVTwo years ago. +p627 +aVYes. +p628 +aVI think we need to have a military strategy regarding Libya. They've just take over Gaddafi's hometown called Sur. There's about 2000 of them. Here's what I've learned in my 36 visits, you can't deter these guys, they're ready to die, bring on the virgins. Dying is first place in their world. What we have to do is work with others over time to destroy to ideology. We have to offer a hopeful life to compete with the glory of this. Most young people folks want the same thing you do. They don't want to live in the 11th century. So yes, you have to destroy the caliphate. I want to work with Arabs and Turkey to do it, but here's the key is to not leave. If we left Germany and Japan only god knows what would've happened. If we have 10000 troops left in Iraq, there would be no +p629 +aVI want to talk to General Keane first. I want to find out, what do we need militarily to keep them contained and eventually destroy them in Libya. They're in nine countries. You want to deal with Libya, go to Iraq and Syria. You want to prevent another 9/11, take the caliphate headquarters away from +p630 +aVNo. What I would do is I would try to make friends throughout the world to destroy a common threat to the world. These people are religious Nazis. Most people in Islam don't buy what they're selling. I've told you a thousand times that I would partner with the Arabs in Turkey. But, the reason they don't partner with Obama is they just don't trust him. Do you think they would trust me? I know them all. I've been working for a decade to figure out how to win this war. To my good friend Ted Cruz, please ask him the following question, you say you would keep Assad in power, I will tell you that is the worst possible thing that could come out of an American leaders mouth. It would be disastrous. His favorite movie is, apparently, Princess Bride. Ted, getting in bed with Iran and Russia to save Assad is inconceivable. +p631 +aVPrincess Buttercup would not like this. +p632 +aV...I didn't get to say yes. Yes. +p633 +aVYeah, this is an important discussion. The American president is the strongest voice in the world \u2014 until Obama came along. Now, we're just one of many. When you ask people to help you, when you entice Syrians to join your cause, to take down the dictator they hate to destroy +p634 +aV...we'd better do something about it, and I have a plan. +p635 +aVI don't think it's necessary. If you don't want to be there, I don't want you to be there. I just retired after 33 years in the Air Force, 140 days on the ground as an Air Force Reservist. To those who are watching, thank you for your service. I've had a small walk in your shoes. We have the best military in the world. Obama has put it in a box. Let's take it out of the box and use it before we get attacked here. We don't need a draft, we need a commander in chief who knows what the hell they're doing. +p636 +aVAnd, I am that guy. +p637 +aVBut, the reason they don't partner with Obama is they just don't trust him. Do you think they would trust me? I know them all. I've been working for a decade to figure out how to win this war. To my good friend Ted Cruz, please ask him the following question, you say you would keep Assad in power, I will tell you that is the worst possible thing that could come out of an American leaders mouth. It would be disastrous. His favorite movie is, apparently, Princess Bride. Ted, getting in bed with Iran and Russia to save Assad is inconceivable. +p638 +aVPrincess Buttercup would not like this. +p639 +aV...I didn't get to say yes. Yes. +p640 +aVYeah, this is an important discussion. The American president is the strongest voice in the world \u2014 until Obama came along. Now, we're just one of many. When you ask people to help you, when you entice Syrians to join your cause, to take down the dictator they hate to destroy +p641 +aV...we'd better do something about it, and I have a plan. +p642 +aVI don't think it's necessary. If you don't want to be there, I don't want you to be there. I just retired after 33 years in the Air Force, 140 days on the ground as an Air Force Reservist. To those who are watching, thank you for your service. I've had a small walk in your shoes. We have the best military in the world. Obama has put it in a box. Let's take it out of the box and use it before we get attacked here. We don't need a draft, we need a commander in chief who knows what the hell they're doing. +p643 +aVAnd, I am that guy. +p644 +aVCan, can I... +p645 +aVThis is important. We're not fighting all the wars with our kids. If you've been to Iraq and Afghanistan and you made any friends, you've lots of bunch. Thousands have died in Iraq and Afghanistan fighting. +p646 +aVDon't belittle their sacrifice. +p647 +aVNo. +p648 +aVTo, to those the (well) times in the Army were a bigger problem than they are today. If you want to fix this, you get the Army to 500,000, not 420,000. You want to win this war, grow the Navy to 350 ships, not 275. Sequestration is Latin for doing really dumb things. We're going to have the smallest Navy since 1915, the smallest Army since 1940. I was yelling and screaming don't do sequestration. I was right. If I am President of the United States, Commander in Chief, we're going to rebuild our military without a draft... +p649 +aV...and we're going to go on the offense and they're ready to go. +p650 +aVThey are ready to go. They just need to be led. +p651 +aVWell I stand unique, having been a military lawyer for 33 years. I've been a defense attorney, a prosecutor, and a military judge. Mr. Trump, you don't have to speak about everything, that's not required. I would make sure that everybody had a fair trial. Does that make sense to you? We're at war folks and this stuff has to stop. It's bad for morale to hear somebody wanting to be Commander in Chief that would deny due process to somebody who's been charged in the military. For God's sakes Mr. Trump, you're asking to be the Commander in Chief , the leader of the free world, up your game. As to women, if you want to kill terrorists, I'm your guy. +p652 +aVWell, the first thing I would do is make adjustments to reality. I want to look and see if this was a terrorist arranged marriage between the couple in California. The fact that they met online accidentally is almost zero. So, no, I would have a time-out on Syrian refugees because you'd be crazy if you didn't after Paris. But, I've been to the refugee camps in Turkey, and Jordan. Trust me with your Christian \u2014 and I'm a lousy Christian saved by grace, but \u2014 this is important. We've got to stop this war. Do you realize that there are more Syrian refugees in Lebanon going to school than Lebanese children? Do you realize if this war goes for another year the King of Jordan could fall? Let's have a no-fly zone. +p653 +aVI would \u2014 make changes to that bill in light of what I know today. +p654 +aVThe next president is going to be a war-time president, whether they like it or not. I'm ready for that job. Two years ago isolationism led by Senator Paul and Cruz was white hot in our party. Now it is in retreat because events have proven me more right than wrong and has proven them to be wrong. In the first debate I called for American troops on the ground to protect our homeland. Nobody came forward. Now, most have. We've spent a lot of carnage to get them to where I have always been. Make me president, I will keep you and your family safe. +p655 +aVWell, number one, thank you for having me here tonight. How about a round of applause for Boulder, Colorado? This is a beautiful place. Looking at their academic standards, the only way I could have gotten into this university is to be invited to this debate tonight. But here's my take on things. Without national security, there is no economic security. Without the sacrifice of the veteran, all of our hopes and dreams are at risk. Just a few days ago, Hillary Clinton said that the problems with the V.A. are being exaggerated by Republicans. They are not, they are real. +p656 +aVWell, let me tell you what is real. The threat to our homeland. I've never seen so many threats to our homeland than I do today. Barack Obama is an incompetent Commander in Chief. There are more terrorist organizations with safe havens to attack the American homeland than anytime since 9/11. We're in the process of reducing our defense spending by half. I am looking at this budget with one view in mind, will it restore the ability to defend this nation. We're on track to have the smallest army since 1940, the smallest navy since 1915, this budget, if it is paid for, will put $40 billion dollars back in the defense department at a time we need it. The number one role of the federal government's to defend this nation, I intend to be a Commander in Chief that can win a war we cannot afford to lose. +p657 +aVHere's the problem. We're being walked all over because our commander in chief is weak in the eyes of our enemies. Do you think Putin would be in the Ukraine today if Ronald Reagan were president? Why are the Chinese stealing our intellectual property, hacking into our system? Why are they building islands over resource-rich waters? Because they can get away with it. At the end of the day, ladies and gentlemen, the foreign policy of Barack Obama needs to be replaced, and the last person you want to find to replace his foreign policy is his secretary of state. So to the Chinese, when it comes to dealing with me, you've got a clenched fist or an open hand. You pick. The party's over, to all the dictators. Make me commander-in-chief and this crap stops. +p658 +aVNo, I \u2014 I think I'm trying to solve problems that somebody had better solve. Now, you don't have to believe that climate change is real. I have been to the Antarctic. I've been to Alaska. I'm not a scientist, and I've got the grades to prove it. But I've talked to the climatologists of the world, and 90 percent of them are telling me that greenhouse gas effect is real. That we're heating up the planet. I just want a solution that would be good for the economy, that doesn't destroy it. I want to fix an immigration system. I'm not gonna tell you, if you like your doctor, you can keep it \u2014 keep him. Do you like your health care, you're gonna keep it. I'm tired of telling people things that they want to hear, that we know we're not gonna do. We're not gonna eliminate the corporate tax. But we can make it lower. We're going to fix immigration, only if we work together. I want to secure the border because, if we don't, we're going to get hurt and hit again. I want to fix a broken visa system. I want to increase legal immigration, because we're gonna have a shortage of workers over time. As to the 11 million, I want to talk about fixing the problem. We're not going to deport 11 million people and their legal citizen children. But we will deport felons. And those who stay will have to learn our language to stay, because I don't speak it well but look how far I've come. +p659 +aVAt the end of the day, folks, I am trying to solve a problem and win an election. I am tired of losing. Good God, look who we're running against. The number one candidate on the other side thought she was flat broke after her and her husband were in the White House for eight years. The number two guy went to the Soviet Union on his honeymoon and I don't think he ever came back. If we don't beat these people, who the hell are we going to beat? +p660 +aVThe first thing... +p661 +aV\u2014 that we have to do is come to grips with the reality that we're facing as Americans. In 1950, there were 16 workers for every Social Security recipient. Today, there's three. In 20 years, there are two. I want to make sure that no American company leaves America because you can't find a worker. American workers always get the first preference. But if you can't find an American worker, after you advertise at a competitive wage, I don't want you to be at a loss. Bring people in based on merit. Let's take a broken immigration... +p662 +aV\u2014 system... +p663 +aV\u2014 and make a merit-based immigration system that will help our economy. We're going to need workers in the future. +p664 +aVLet's just choose rationally. +p665 +aVWe owe to every businessperson and worker in America the best environment in the world to create a job. We owe that to American businesses. Thirty-five percent corporate tax rate is the second highest in the world. We need to lower it so they don't leave. The goal is to help the middle class. We can talk about corporations all day long but my goal is to help the middle class, somebody who makes too much to be on government assistance but still lives paycheck to paycheck. When the kid gets sick you don't go on vacation. +p666 +aVThat's the purpose of my presidency, to grow the economy here. And let me tell you, our Democratic friends have a list a mile long of more government. That's not going to grow the middle class, that's going to create a burden on your children, which they're already overburdened. The best way to grow the middle class is to make it a good place to create a job. You know why Boeing came to South Carolina when they could have gone anywhere to build the 787? Because we wanted them. We had a low-tax structure. +p667 +aVA permitting structure that allowed them to build the building even faster than they thought they could build it. We welcomed them there. I'm going to take the South Carolina attitude \u2014 +p668 +aVI think everybody owes an obligation to the country. The ones that I'm most worried about are the 1 percent of Americans in uniform, who have been fighting this war for 14 years. They need a commander in chief who knows what the hell they're doing. My first job as President of the United States is to rebuild the military and use it smartly. Admiral Mullen said the debt is a big threat to our national security. He's right. But people go where they're welcome when it comes to job creation. If I'm President of the United States you will be welcomed in America. +p669 +aVThis will be the place to come \u2014 +p670 +aVAnd if I'm president of the United States \u2014 +p671 +aV\u2014 our enemies \u2014 +p672 +aVWell, number one, Social Security is not just a concept to me. I know why it exists; 50 percent of today's seniors would be in poverty without a Social Security check. I promise you, if you make me your president, I will save Social Security because I know why it exists. Now, if you're looking for good beer policy, I'm your best bet. My dad owned a bar. I know beer. We grew up, my sister and myself, in the back of that bar in one room with my mom, my dad and my sister who's nine years younger. When I was 21, my mom was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease. Neither parent finished high school. She died within a year. We were wiped out from the medical bills. And if it wasn't for a Social Security survivor benefit check coming into my family, we wouldn't' have made it because my dad died 15 months later. So I... +p673 +aVWait a minute, please. I'm 22 and we're wiped out. I am 60. I'm not married. I have a military retirement. I'm in good shape. I would give up some of my benefits to help those who need it more than I do. To young people here, I will ask you to work a little bit longer because we have to. The purpose of my presidency is to save this country and to save Social Security by working across the aisle just like Ronald Reagan. This is the biggest issue facing this nation. +p674 +aVWell, number one, the only reason I have an iPhone is because I gave my number to Donald Trump. Don't do that. +p675 +aVDonald has done more to upgrade my technology than my whole staff. Number one, Fox News. Sorry about +p676 +aVWell, I think a national holiday would be the day that commander-in-chief Barack Obama doesn't have that job. But unlike these other three, I want to win New Hampshire. Go Tom Brady. Go Patriots. Sorry, Colorado is late in the... +p677 +aVSomebody said \u2014 or maybe I saw it on the bill of a cap \u2014 that let's make America great again. America is great. I intend to make America strong again. I'm going to be the champion of the middle class, where I came from. If you make me your president, our best days are ahead. I'm ready to be commander- in-chief, ladies and gentlemen, on day one. I intend to war \u2014 win a war that we cannot afford to lose. I will be a commander-in-chief worthy of the sacrifice of those brave Americans who have been defending our nation. They have had our back. God knows, they have had our back... +p678 +aV\u2014 and I intend to have their back as commander-in- chief. Make me commander-in-chief. +p679 +aVOne, thanks, CNN, for having people at this debate. I'm Lindsey Graham from South Carolina, in case you can't tell. I want to thank Ms. Reagan (ph) for inviting me. It means the world to me. I'm the only candidate tonight who served in the military while Ronald Reagan was our president and our commander in chief. It was one of the highlights of my life. I'm running for president to destroy radical Islam, to win the war on terror, to protect you and your family. And in that quest, I have an uncompromising determination to win this war, just like President Reagan had an uncompromising determination to destroy the evil empire, and win the Cold War. Above all others on both sides of the isle, I'm most qualified to be commander and chief on day one -- 33 years in the Air Force, 35 trips to Iraq and Afghanistan, I understand this war. I have a plan to win it, and I intend to win it. +p680 +aVWell, all I can say, if you looked at polling in 2012 and 2008 at this level, we'd have -- at this stage, we would have President Perry and President Giuliani. I have a long way to go. And here's what I'm going to try to do tonight -- convince you that I'm best qualified to be the commander-in-chief of the one percent who are doing the fighting for the rest of us. And we'll have a serious discussion tonight. All of us are going to say we want to destroy +p681 +aVWell, what I hope Republican voters, libertarian, vegetarians, Democrats, you name it, will look for somebody to lead us in a new direction, domestically, but particularly on the foreign policy front. President Obama is making a mess of the world. What I'm trying to tell you here tonight, that Syria is hell on Earth and it's not going to get fixed by insulting each other. I've been there 35 times to Iraq and Afghanistan. I am ready to be commander-in-chief on day one. I've been in the military 33 years, 140 days on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan. I am so ready to get on with winning a war that we can't afford to lose. I hope you believe that experience matters. It's an all- volunteer force of -- when you vote for commander-in-chief, they are stuck with your choice. We've had one novice being commander-in- chief. Let's don't replace one novice with another. And if I thought... +p682 +aV-- I could win this war without more American ground forces in Iraq and Syria, I would tell you, but we can't... +p683 +aV-- and if we don't get on with this, they are coming here. +p684 +aVThank you. +p685 +aVProbably for a good reason. +p686 +aVWell, let's talk about immigration. Number one, I like Rick. I don't remember the Santorum plan when I was in the Senate. The peanut gallery on this is interesting. I have been trying to solve this problem for a decade. There are no democrats here tonight. If you're here, raise your hand. You went to the wrong -- we'll, welcome. Thank you very much for coming. +p687 +aVThe bottom line, I'm trying to pitch the problem. We're not going to deport 11 million people here illegally, but we'll start with felons, and off they go. And, as to the rest, you can stay, but you got to learn our language. I don't speak it very well, well, look how far I've come? Speaking English is a good thing. You got to pay taxes, you got to pay a fine, you got to get in the back of the line. You've got to secure your border or they'll keep coming. If you don't control who gets a job that never ends -- so (ph) got two borders. One with Canadia -- Canada, one with Mexico. I never met an illegal Canadian. This is an economic problem, so, folks, let's solve it. Amnesty is doing nothing, and that's what we've been doing. As to birthright citizenship, once we clean up this mess, in the future, prospectively, I'm going to look at the following. There are people buying tourist visas that go to resorts with maternity wards with the expressed purpose of having a children here in America. There are rich Asians, there are rich people up in the Mid-East... +p688 +aV...That to me is bastardizing citizenship... +p689 +aV...Yeah, I'd like to stop that in the future... +p690 +aV...What do you do with the 11 million? +p691 +aV...What are you going to do with the 11 million? +p692 +aV...Well, what about the other half... +p693 +aV...How many democrats support yourplan... +p694 +aV...How many democrats did you have on your bill? +p695 +aV...I can tell you. None. +p696 +aV...That went nowhere. +p697 +aV...George W. Bush... +p698 +aV...Who won with hispanics. +p699 +aV...Compared to what we're doing... +p700 +aV...Hispanics... +p701 +aV...Are Americans... +p702 +aV...In my world, hispanics are Americans... +p703 +aV...I have a little different take on where the country is going on this issue. Number one, in 1950, there were 16 workers for every retiree. How many are there today? There's three. In 20 years, there's going to be two, and you're going to have 80 million baby boomers like me retiree in mass wanting a Social Security check, and their Medicare bills paid. We're going to need more legal immigration. Let's just make it logical. Let's pick people from all over the world on our terms, not just somebody from Mexico. Let's create a rational, legal immigration system because we have a declining workforce. +p704 +aV...Strom Thurmond had four kids after he was 67, if you're not willing to do that, we've got to come up with a new legal immigration system. +p705 +aVYes, number one, how does President Obama sleep at night? Look what you let happen on your watch. Your commanders told you, don't withdrawal from Iraq because we'll lose of our gains. Three years ago your entire national security team, Senator McCain and I begged you to do a no-fly zone and help the Free Syrian Army while it would matter. But you said no. I'm not blaming Bobby, I'm not blaming Rick, I'm not blaming anybody, I'm blaming Barack Obama for this mess. +p706 +aVRight. +p707 +aVI'm saying this, if they don't understand that Barack Obama's policies are not working, that we're not going to destroy +p708 +aV-- does that include American ground forces in Syria as part of a regional army? Are all of you willing to commit to American ground forces going into Syria as part of a regional army to destroy the caliphate and its headquarters? +p709 +aVWell, you know, Kim Davis, I'm not worried about her attacking me. I am worried about radical Islamic terrorists who are already here planning another 9/11. We're at war, folks. I'm not fighting a crime. I want to have a legal system that understands the difference between fighting a war and fighting a crime, and here's the reality. Young men from the Mid- East are different than Kim Davis. And we've got to understand that. +p710 +aVIslamic websites need to be monitored. +p711 +aVAnd if you are on one, I want to know what you're doing. +p712 +aVI wasn't the best law student. By the end of this debate, it would be the most time I've ever spent in any library. But on the first day in law school view (ph), it's called "Marbury v. Madison." The group in our constitutional democracy that interprets "The Constitution" as to what it means is the Supreme Court. In a 5-4 decision by the Supreme Court, they have ruled that same-sex marriage bans at the state level violate the Fourteenth Amendment to "The United States Constitution" equal protection clause. I don't agree with it, but that is the law of the land. But as president, what I want make sure of is that everybody in this room, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, whatever religion that you can practice your faith without government interference, you can marry people consistent with the tenets of your faith. That's the number one obligation of my presidency, is to protect religious people when they exercise their religious rights. But this decision is the law as it is of right now. And here's the one thing I want to tell you, Jake. +p713 +aVWait -- wait a minute. Whether you're the wedding cake baker or the gay couple or the Baptist preacher, radical Islam would kill you all if they could. +p714 +aVLet's don't lose sight of the big picture here. +p715 +aVHe's one of the most qualified men to ever come before the United States Senate and I don't agree with his decision, but 99 times out of 100, I will. To the Republicans, the biggest prize on the table in 2017 is the presidency. If it is Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders, they are going to pick people that we will disagree with all the time. Please understand, we have to win this election. The court's at stake. It is the most important reason for us to turn out, to make sure we don't lose the judiciary for decades to come. +p716 +aVI've been called a lot of things but never elite before. My dad owned a liquor store, a bar and a poolroom. So only in America can you go from the back of a liquor store to being an elite. +p717 +aVI introduced her at a conference about Africa. I thought Secretary Clinton did a good job when it came to dealing with our problems in Africa, particularly among women. George W. Bush set $40 billion aside and Rick Santorum helped him and President Bush wiped out an entire -- wiped out +p718 +aVWell, Ronald Reagan did a couple of really big things that we should all remember. He sat down with Tip O'Neill, the most liberal guy in the entire House. They started drinking together. That's the first thing I'm going to do as president. We're going to drink more. And what did this -- two great Irishmen do? They found a way to save Social Security from bankruptcy by adjusting the age of retirement from 65 to 67. So, yes, I will say nice things at times about Democrats. Yes, I will work them -- work with them. I will put the country ahead of party. Absolutely I want to work with them. At the end of the day, Hugh, I'm lucky to be standing here. I'm the first in my family to ever go to college. Neither one of my parents finished high school. Darline's here with me tonight. We owned a restaurant... +p719 +aVWell, wait a minute. We... +p720 +aVYou asked me a question. This is important. Republicans need to tell the American people we get it as to who you are. When my mom died, I was 21. When my dad died, when I was 22. We were wiped out financially. If it weren't for Social Security survivor benefit check coming into Darline, we wouldn't have made it. I don't need a lecture from Democrats about Social Security. +p721 +aVI want to save it, just like Ronald Reagan did. +p722 +aVIf you want to see manufacturing, come to South Carolina... +p723 +aV...We'll show 'ya. +p724 +aVWell, I know this. That when my mom and dad owned a restaurant, the bar, the pool room, that if you increased the minimum wage it'd been hard to hire more people. Hillary Clinton has a list a mile long to help the middle class. We're talking all around this. The middle class for the last six and a half years has been squeezed, and squeezed hard. To the middle class, I understand who you are. You're one broken down car from not going on vacation. You're from one sick child away from having to change your whole budget. Here's what I want to do as your president. I want to grow this economy. When Boeing came to South Carolina to build a 787, everybody paid more they would have lost their employees to Boeing. If you're a waitress out there wanting more money, I'm not going to increase the minimum wage, I'm going to try to create an environment where somebody else will open up a restaurant across the street to hire you away at a higher rate, or they'll have to pay you more to keep you. You got to borrow money to create jobs in this country. Banking is locked down because of Dodd-Frank. The tax code is a complete mess, but nobody's talked about the elephant in the room, which is debt. Not one more penny to the federal government until w2e come up with a plan to get out of debt. +p725 +aVIt's probably a small bit, but the ones that get it... +p726 +aVYeah, but I... +p727 +aV...Have you ever thought why all of us say that... +p728 +aVIf I believed they were trying to break out and get a bomb, absolutely. And here's the most important thing: they know I would if I had to. And none of us are going to be able to defend this country adequately until we rebuild our military. A weak economy, a military in decline, the world on fire, does that sound familiar to you? Michael, does that sound familiar to you? The first thing I'm going to do as commander in chief on day one is call the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and say, what do you need that you don't have? We're cutting our military; we're on track to have the smallest Army since 1940, the smallest Navy since 1915 and John Kasich says he wants to close more bases. I want to rebuild our military and I want the Iranians to know that, if I had to, I would use it. The worst nightmare in the world is a radical Islamic regime with a weapon of mass destruction. The only reason 3,000 of us died on 9/11 is not 3 million, not 3 million is because they couldn't get the weapons to kill us. They're on track to get a bomb even if they don't cheat. This deal is a nightmare for Israel. They are coming here if we don't watch it terrorism with a nuclear capability sponsored by Iran. So, yes, I would use military force to stop them. I would set this deal aside and I would get you a better deal. If you gave $100 billion, I could get almost anybody out of jail. We couldn't even get our hostages out of jail. +p729 +aVDo you think Putin would be in the Ukraine or Syria today if Ronald Reagan were president? No. This is what happens when you have a weak, unqualified commander- in-chief who doesn't understand the role America plays in the world. Why is it bad for you that Russia's helping Assad? He's the magnet for Sunni extremists. The Syrian people are not going to accept him as their legitimate leader. By Assad being helped by Russia, it means the war never ends. It means the next 9/11, which is most likely to occur from an attack from Syria. It's more likely. At the end of the day, if I'm president of the United States, I've told you what I'm going to do. There's nobody left in Syria to train. We're going to get a regional army who doesn't like +p730 +aV... and if the war in Syria continues, it is coming here. For God's sakes, let's get on with... +p731 +aV... with fixing the problem in Syria. +p732 +aVBobby, you were in the Congress, and all I can tell you, to everybody here, if you want to repeal Obamacare, get a new president. If you want to defund Planned Parenthood, elect a pro-life president, because that's the only way. If we pass the Cardin bill, Graham, Menendez, it would go to the president. He would veto it. 67 votes are required to override the veto. +p733 +aVWait a minute. Now, you asked me a question. So I don't want to take off the table the ability to slow down Obama in his last 13 to 14 months, because I want 60 votes to stop what I think he's going to do between now and January 2017. Five Republicans deflect -- leave -- we're in trouble. So folks, the world really is the way it is. President Obama is president. The goal is to get him out of there and pick somebody who would actually do something to repeal Obamacare, who would get you a better agreement. So Bobby, he would veto the bill, we don't have 67 votes, and you're giving away a defense against Obama for the rest of his presidency. No, I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to tell you things I can't do. I'm not going to tell you by shutting the government down, we're going to defund Obamacare as long as he's president. All that does is hurt us. I am trying to lead this party to winning. +p734 +aVAre you going to shut the government down? +p735 +aVAre you going to shut the government... +p736 +aVCan I just say something? You know, Bobby, we're running to be president of the United States, the most important job in the free world. With it comes a certain amount of honesty. I'm tired of telling people things they want to hear that I know we can't do. He is not going to sign a bill that would defund ObamaCare. If I am president of the United States, I wouldn't put one penny in -- in my budget for Planned Parenthood, not one penny. I'm as offended by these videos as you are. But the one thing I'm not going to do going into 2016 is shut the government down and tank our ability to win. What you're saying and what Senator Cruz is saying, I am really sick of hearing, trying to get the bottom... +p737 +aV-- the Republican Party in a position... +p738 +aV-- to win. That's what I'm trying to do. And that does matter to me ... +p739 +aVIt matters a lot. +p740 +aVWell, number one, I will win a war that we can't afford to lose. I have a plan to destroy radical Islam because it has to be. These are religious Nazis running while President Obama has made one mistake after another and it's caught up with us. What do I have to offer that's different? I get my foreign policy from being in on the ground. I've been to Iraq and Afghanistan in the Middle East 35 times in the last decade, trying to understand how we got in this mess. Our leading candidate gets his foreign policy from watching television. And what I heard last night is the Cartoon Network, oh, I'm big, I'm strong, we're going to hit them in the head. +p741 +aVThat's not foreign policy. That's a cartoon character. John Kasich, a good friend of mine, said in New Hampshire, we're going to close more bases on his watch. On my watch, we're going to open up more bases. The military is in decline, folks. We're going to have the smallest military in modern times, spending half of what we'd normally spend by the end of this decade. +p742 +aVWhat do I offer? What do I offer? To make your families safe and our country strong again, a vision and a determination to win a war that we cannot afford to lose. +p743 +aVYou can trust me to do the following: that when I get on change with Hillary Clinton, we won't be debating about the science, we'll be debating about the solutions. In her world, cap- and-trade would dominate, that we will destroy the economy in the name of helping the environment. In my world, we'll focus on energy independence and a clean environment. When it comes to fossil fuels, we're going to find more here and use less. Over time, we're going to become energy independent. I am tired of sending $300 billion overseas to buy oil from people who hate our guts. The choice between a weak economy and a strong environment is a false choice, that is not the choice I'll offer America. A healthy environment, a strong economy and energy independent America -- that would be the purpose of my presidency, is break the strangle hold that people enjoy on fossil fuels who hate our guts. +p744 +aVIf we don't stop them over there, they are coming here just as sure as I stand here in front of you. One thing I want to be clear about tonight. If you're running for president of the United States and you don't understand that we need more American ground forces in Iraq and that America has to be part of a regional ground force that will go into Syria and destroy +p745 +aVRight. Mac +p746 +aVI think America is dying to work, you just need to give them a chance. To all the Americans who want a better life, don't vote for Hillary Clinton. You're not going to get it. She's not going to repeal "Obamacare" and replace it. I will. She's not going to build the Keystone Pipeline. I will. She's not going to change Dodd-Frank. I will. Until you change the policies of Barack Obama, we're never going to grow this economy. Until you change the policies of Barack Obama, we're never going to be safe. She represents a third term of a failed presidency. I'm fluent in Clinton-speak; I've been dealing with this crowd for 20 years. You know, when Bill Clinton says it depends on what the meaning of is is, that means is is whatever Bill wants it to mean. When Hillary Clinton tells you I've given you all the emails you need, that means she hasn't. So to the people who are dying for a better America, you better change course, and she doesn't represent the change that we need. Do we all agree that +p747 +aVI don't think it's a war on women for all of us as Americans to stand up and stop harvesting organs from little babies. Let's take the money that we would give to Planned Parenthood and put it in women's health care without having to harvest the organs of the unborn. The only way we're going to defund Planned Parenthood is have a pro-life president. You want to see a war on women? Come with me to Iraq and Afghanistan, folks. I've been there 35 times. I will show you what they do to women. These mythical Arab armies that my friends talk about that are going to protect us don't exist. If I am president of the United States, we're going to send soldiers back to Iraq, back to Syria, to keep us from being attacked here and keep soldiers in Afghanistan because we must. I cannot tell you how much our nation is threatened and how we need a commander in chief who understands the threats to this nation. If you're running for president of the United States and you do not understand that we cannot defend this nation without more of our soldiers over there, you are not ready for this job. +p748 +aVChange the Mexico City policy, not take one dime of taxpayer money to fund abortion organizations overseas, and restore the NSA that's been gutted. We're going dark when it comes to detecting the next attack. We have gutted our ability to detect the next attack. And I would not stand for that as president of the United States. I would take the fight to these guys, whatever it took, as long as it took. +p749 +aVThank you. First thing I'd tell the American people, whatever it takes to defend our nation, I would do. To the 1 percent who have been fighting this war for over a decade, I'd try my best to be a commander-in-chief worthy of your sacrifice. We're going to lose Social Security and Medicare if Republicans and Democrats do not come together and find a solution like Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neill. I will be the Ronald Reagan if I can find a Tip O'Neill. When I was 21, my mom died. When I was 22, my dad died. We owned a liquor store, restaurant, bar and we lived in the back. Every penny we needed from -- every penny we got from Social Security, because my sister was a minor, we needed. Today, I'm 60, I'm not married, I don't have any kids. I would give up some Social Security to save a system that Americans are going to depend on now and in the future. Half of American seniors would be in poverty without a Social Security check. If you make your president, I'm going to put the country ahead of the party. I'm going to do what it takes to defend this nation. This nation has been great to me, and that's the only way I know to pay you back. Mac +p750 +aVNot the change we need at a time we need it. +p751 +aVWe need somebody ready to be commander-in-chief on day one, who understands there are no moderates in Iran, they've been killed a long time ago. That the Ayatollah is a radical jihadist who really means it when he chants, "Death to America, death to Israel." And this deal is giving him a pathway to a bomb, a missile to deliver it, and money to pay for it all. We need a president who can solve our problems, bring us together. We're becoming Greece if we don't work together. At the end of the day, ladies and gentlemen, our best days are ahead of us only if we work together, and I intend to put this country on a path of success by working together and doing the hard things that should have been done a very long time ago. +p752 +asVREGAN +p753 +(lp754 +VIn Tuesday's State of the Union Address, the president said that our economy is strong. He cited the significant decline we've seen in unemployment rate and the millions of jobs that have been created. What is your assessment of the economy right now? And I would like to hear from all of you on this one, beginning with Ms. Fiorina. +p755 +aVThank you Governor Huckabee. Senator Santorum? +p756 +aVThank you. Well, since we've been talking about the Middle East, Senator Santorum, conflicts between Saudi Arabia and Iran have certainly escalated, amid accusations that Saudi Arabia bombed the Iranian Embassy in Yemen after the Saudi Embassy in Tehran was attacked. As we confront an increasingly unstable Middle East, how will you, as president, navigate this administration's promises to Iran while standing by our historic allies in the region? +p757 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p758 +aVGovernor Huckabee, if I could just follow-up with that. Do we need to be in Afghanistan? +p759 +aVThank you Governor Huckabee. Ms. Fiorina, nearly 600 women say they were attacked in a German city on New Year's Eve by men of Arab or North African descent and 45 percent of those alleged attacks were sexual assaults. Twenty-two of those 32 men arrested so far are asylum-seekers. Are you worried about similar problems in the United States? +p760 +aVI want to stay with you on this. The world shares a common enemy right now in the way of +p761 +aVMs. Fiorina, thank you. +p762 +aVWelcome back, everyone, to the Republican presidential debate. On to the next round of questions \u2014 Sandra. +p763 +aVMs. Fiorina, the president has just issued an executive order to expand the gun laws and background checks. And none of you on stage agree with this. But recent polls show the majority of Americans are in favor of universal background checks. +p764 +aVIt's the poll data. +p765 +aVSo tell me......why, in your view, is the president's proposal a problem? +p766 +aVMs. Fiorina, you've said that was when you were CEO of HP, you actually worked with the government. +p767 +aV\u2014 to try and combat some of these terrorist threats. +p768 +aVWhat did you do? +p769 +aVMs. Fiorina, thank you. +p770 +aVGovernor Huckabee, an American in San Bernardino murdered 14 people while terrorists with Belgian and French passports murdered 130 people. Were facing a threat within our borders, and from outside the United States. Those European terrorists, they could have come here at any time given that we have a visa waiver program that enables people to travel back and forth. It exists within those countries, and 36 others. In countries around the world, including many in Europe, cannot ensure that their citizens are not jihadists, why are we waiving the visa requirement at all? +p771 +aVIf you get the visa waiver program, does that shut down international commerce? +p772 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p773 +aVSenator Santorum, thank you. +p774 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p775 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from North Charleston. We want to jump right back in. Sandra is kicking it off. +p776 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you know it used to be you could graduate from high school and get a pretty good job at the local factory, enough to take care of your family and yourself. Those days seem to be gone. It's pretty hard to do that nowadays. Businesses are increasingly turning to automation to increase their productivity levels. It's happening right here, in fact, at the Boeing factory in North Charleston. The president says automation threatens workers' ability to get higher wages. Do you agree with that? And if so, do you have a solution? +p777 +aVThank you very much, Governor Huckabee. Senator Santorum, 40% of babies born today are born to single moms. That's twice as high as reported back in 1980, and it's 11 times as high as in 1940. Studies show that children are always better off economically, most often \u2014 and emotionally, with two parents in a household. From a policy perspective, should the government be doing anything to encourage family formation? +p778 +aVThank you. +p779 +aVCarly Fiorina? +p780 +aVThank you to all the candidates. That does it, everyone for the first debate right here in North Charleston. +p781 +aVGood evening, and welcome to the historic Milwaukee Theater. Tonight, you'll hear from 12 Republican candidates vying to become the next President of the United States. I'm Trish Regan, along with my co-moderators, Sandra Smith, and from the Wall Street Journal, Jerry Seib. +p782 +aVLet's introduce them. New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie. Former Arkansas Governor, Mike Huckabee. Former Pennsylvania Senator, Rick Santorum. And, Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindal. +p783 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p784 +aVAll right, Governor Jindal, you have pushed Louisiana's energy resources as a means to grow jobs in your state. But as oil prices have plunged in recent months, so has jobs growth. Louisiana now has an unemployment rate above the national average. Will your energy-focused jobs plan for the country be subject to the same market ups and downs? +p785 +aVAll right, Governor Jindal, thank you. Governor Christie, you have said that the Democrats' message is one of, quote, "free stuff." In contrast, Republicans want to reduce spending. How do you win a national election when the Democrats are offering free health care, a free or subsidized college education, and you're the party that is seemingly offering nothing in the way of immediate tangible benefits? +p786 +aVSenator Santorum, a single mom with no job and two kids in New Hampshire, home of the first in the nation primary, is eligible for more than $30,000 a year in benefits. Even if she could find a job, she would need to find child care. And in many cases may conclude it's better for her to live off government benefits. Senator, how do you help and incentivize her to go to work? And if you're the one that's going to cut her benefits, why should she vote for you? +p787 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you. All right, we are just getting started. Medicare, Social Security and the future of ObamaCare \u2014 that is all straight ahead, live from Milwaukee and the Republican presidential debate. +p788 +aVWelcome back to the Milwaukee Theater, and the Republican Presidential Debate. On to the next round of questions, Gerry has the next question. +p789 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you differ from many of your GOP opponents on the stage tonight over accepting Syrian refugees into this country. You have said, "We don't have an obligation to just open our doors." As the Islamic state continues to expand, slaughtering and crucifying Christians, including women and children, refugees continue to flee their land by the thousands. Should America open its doors to accept any refugees in this country? If so, how many? +p790 +aVAlright, Governor Huckabee, thank you. +p791 +aVNext question to you, Governor... +p792 +aV...Next question to you, Governor... +p793 +aV...let me get in......Let me get in here, because the next question, it's to you, and it's on Obamacare. It is still unpopular with the American people. You've seen the polls, they've shown nearly half the country still opposes this law. You have been critical of your GOP opponents, some of them standing on the stage tonight, others later. Notably, Ted Cruz, for not having comprehensive plans. You say you do. What specifically makes your plan to replace Obamacare better than the opponents, some of them standing next to you. +p794 +aVGovernor Jindal, thank you. +p795 +aVWe'll get to that. +p796 +aVRonald Reagan did work with Tip O'Neill. Anyway, we are going to take a quick break. Coming up, one of the top issues for voters, how much you're paying in taxes. We are live from Milwaukee with the Republican presidential debate. See you right back here. +p797 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate. We are live from Milwaukee. A top issue on the campaign trail, taxes and how much you pay. All right, I've got a question for all of you here. When looking at the federal income tax, state income tax and local tax, in some cases, combined, some Americans are paying over 50 percent of their paycheck to the government. What is the highest percentage, all in, in the way of taxes, that any American should have to pay and what is the lowest? I'd like to, again, to hear from each of you. And I want those two all in numbers. I'm going to start with you, Senator Santorum. +p798 +aVAll in. OK, Governor Christie? +p799 +aVAnd we'll get back to you. Governor Jindal? +p800 +aVGovernor Huckabee, Americans, under your plan, would pay a tax on every single thing that they purchase. Given that consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of GDP, some economists worry that your tax plan would actually discourage spending, thereby slowing our economy. How do you respond? +p801 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p802 +aVSenator Santorum, you agree with Governor Christie. You also have said that the Fed should be audited. But many worry that given the Congressional challenges that they face, by having Congressional oversight of the Fed, which has been historically an independent body, you would be making the Fed much more political. How would you navigate that risk? +p803 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee, both Senator Santorum and Governor Christie were boat \u2014 both critical of the Federal Reserve. Also, many have questioned whether Janet Yellen is the right person to be running the Fed. If elected president, would you keep Janet Yellen? +p804 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee, thank you. All right, Senator Santorum, by the way, today is the 240th... +p805 +aV\u2014 of the United States... +p806 +aV\u2014 Marine Corps. Tomorrow is Veterans Day. We honor and recognize all those who have fought for, and served this great nation, Senator. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, meanwhile, which provides patient care, and federal benefits to those veterans, as well as their families, is beset by scandal. What new ideas do you have to fix the broken V.A. healthcare system? +p807 +asVHEMMER +p808 +(lp809 +VSo, here we go. Ninety-seven hours before Iowa chooses, in fact the last two winners in this state are on this stage tonight. Governor Huckabee, in 2008, you won by nine points here, but this time your support seems to be going to Senator Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. Why, Governor, is your message not working this time? +p810 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Santorum, four short years ago you won Iowa. You beat Mitt Romney, pretty much shocked the country. But, just the other day you talked about what is in the greater good for your campaign. Is Monday night your last stand? +p811 +aVOK. +p812 +aV... Senator, do you want to name... ... Senator, do you want to name that entertainer your refering to? +p813 +aVBut senator, since you mentioned... +p814 +aVSenator, quickly then, after this debate, you mentioned Donald trump's name. Immediately, you're going to event across town here in Des Moines as a guest of Donald Trump. +p815 +aVSo are you laying the groundwork for maybe your future? Perhaps an endorsement of Mr. Trump? +p816 +aVThank you, senator. One moment. We'll get to you in a moment, Governor. We have a few coming up. +p817 +aVThank you. Governor Gilmore. As of one week ago, you have not held a single campaign event here in the state of Iowa. As of one week ago, in fact, you were the only one in the Republican field who had not made a campaign visit to this state. You know how it works here. You know how it's worked over time. Why should anyone caucus for you on Monday night? +p818 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p819 +aVMs. Fiorina, same topic. The president says that many are exaggerating the threat from +p820 +aVThank you. +p821 +aVGovernor Gilmore, some time this spring 34 more detainees are cleared from release from Gitmo. If you were president, as you say, this president wants to close it. As president, if Gitmo were closed and an enemy combatant were found or captured in the field of battle, perhaps Syria or Iraq or Libya, and you don't have Gitmo, where would you put them? +p822 +aVGovernor, thank you for that. +p823 +aVWelcome back to Des Moines on what will be a long night here. Let's get back to the questions. Let's get back to the questions with Martha. +p824 +aVLet me stay with you, Ms. Fiorina. You've said you will shrink the federal government by 30 percent over the next two years, and those jobs will not be filled, and you'll do it through retirement. Your critics would argue that's exactly what you did at Hewlett Packard when 30,000 people lost their jobs. If it did not work at H.P., why would it work at the federal government? +p825 +aVThank you. +p826 +aVGovernor Huckabee, Nikki Haley, Republican governor from South Carolina, recently said... +p827 +aVI did not, but we... +p828 +aVWe have plenty for you -- you bet, Governor. We have a couple more in the hopper for you in a moment here. +p829 +aVFirst, Governor -- Governor Huckabee, Nikki Haley warned about listening to "the siren call of the angriest voices," to which Donald Trump said he is "very, very angry." Who is right, Governor? +p830 +aVThank you, Governor. +p831 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you've mentioned the economy several times tonight. Let's go back to that for a moment because in America today 50% of the American workers are making less than $30,000 dollars a year. Let's talk about what you could do for them. The Conservative Club for Growth has had an issue with your policy on taxes for years. In fact, it called you, "Tax Hike Mike". And, the record shows state spending in Arkansas increased 54% when you were in charge, 94% if you include federal dollars during that same period. When it comes to helping people at the margins, $30,000, $32,000 dollars a year, what's better? A tax and spend approach, or shrinking government? +p832 +aVGovernor Huckabee, thank you. Same issue, Senator Santorum. The President says criticism of his economic policy is political hot air. You consistently talk about manufacturing jobs leaving America. You support a flat tax of 20%. How would a flat tax bring back two million jobs to America? +p833 +aVSenator, thank you. +p834 +aVThank you Ms. Fiorina. Governor Gilmore. Who are the moderate Muslims do you seek advice and counsel from on how to deal with the threat from radical Islamic terrorism? +p835 +aVThank you governor. Governor Huckabee. Here in Iowa 43 percent of Democratic caucus goers describe themselves as socialist. That's a higher number than those who say they are capitalist. I guess you could say, they're feeling the burn. This is a country rooted in capitalism, the United States of America. How did we get here? +p836 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum, the president says politics in America have become meaner over the past several years with him in the White House. Two weeks ago at the State of the Union he said the following. "A president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide." Lincoln and Roosevelt, that's pretty good company. If he is right, do Republicans share some of the blame? +p837 +aVThank you, Senator. +p838 +aVIn the closing few moments, the candidates have an opportunity to make a closing statement, 30 seconds for each. And, we want to start tonight with the former Virginia Governor, Jim Gilmore. +p839 +aV... Thank you, Governor. +p840 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p841 +aVThank you, Governor. +p842 +aVThat concludes our debate tonight, but the night has just begun. +p843 +aVThis is first official event in the campaign for the Republican nomination for president. Welcome to Cleveland Ohio. It is debate night. I'm Bill Hemmer. Mac +p844 +aVSo you will hear from all 17 candidates tonight, and you'll meet seven of them right now, starting with three-time governor in the state of Texas, Rick Perry. Mac +p845 +aVTwo-time. Two-time governor of the State of Louisiana, Acting Governor Bobby Jindal. So you will hear from all 17 candidates tonight, and you'll meet seven of them right now, starting with three-time governor in the state of Texas, Rick Perry. Mac +p846 +aVTwo-time. Two-time governor of the State of Louisiana, Acting Governor Bobby Jindal. Mac +p847 +aVThe senior senator from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham. Mac +p848 +aVAnd former Virginia governor, Jim Gilmore. Mac +p849 +aVGentle. Mac +p850 +aVWait til you hear what the others are going to get later, huh? Mac +p851 +aVOne year from now, a Republican nominee will be standing on this stage in this very same arena. That person is in Cleveland today. So let's get started. First topic, electability. First question to Governor Perry from Texas. Welcome, Governor. +p852 +aVYou were in charge of the 12th largest economy in the world, and you recently said that four years ago, you weren't ready for this job. Why should someone vote for you now? +p853 +aVThank you, Governor. Mac +p854 +aVSenator Santorum, you won the Iowa caucus four years ago and 10 other states. But you failed to beat Mitt Romney for the nomination. And no one here tonight is going to question your conviction or your love for country. But has your moment passed, Senator? +p855 +aVThank you, Senator. Mac +p856 +aVSenator Lindsey Graham, you worked with Democrats and President Obama when it came to climate change, something you know is extremely unpopular with conservative Republicans. How can they trust you based on that record? +p857 +aVThank you, Senator. Mac +p858 +aVThank you, Governor. Mac +p859 +aVThis Saturday, August 8th, two days from now marks one year since the strikes began against +p860 +aVAnd the senator to your right has called for 20,000 American troops in Syria and Iraq so far today, Senator Graham, and I'll give this question to you. Why should the American people after two wars in Iraq sacrifice yet again on a third war? +p861 +aVSenator, thank you. Mac +p862 +aVIt is debate night, and welcome back to Cleveland, Ohio. Let's get back to the questions right now with Martha. Mac +p863 +aVExcuse me, Martha. I have not heard the bell just yet, so you're all very well behaved so far. Governor Gilmore, 30 seconds. +p864 +aVThank you, Governor. I've got to move on to immigration here. Senator Santorum, you would argue you have one of the tougher positions on illegal immigration in the entire 17 candidate field at the moment. We often talk about this issue on the abstract level in Washington, D.C., but you know how it's being talked about in states like Iowa and New Hampshire among illegals in our country today -- 11 million plus. And some are asking, what would you say to a child, born and raised in America, who could see their family broken apart by your policy? +p865 +aVGovernor Perry, try and answer this question again. What do you say to the family of illegals? Are you going to break them apart? +p866 +aVGovernor, thank you. Mac +p867 +aVAnd so right now, we're 30 minutes in. Going to jump back into the topics and continue our discussion of national issues on the domestic level. The issue that is really number one on the minds of many voters, that's the economy and jobs. Mac +p868 +aVThank you, Governor. Your last topic brings us to the state of Ohio. You know, the saying, right? No Republican wins the White House unless you win here in the Buckeye state. Well, here in the Buckeye state, the Governor John Kasich took the federal money for Medicaid expansion under Obamacare. And Governor Jindal of Louisiana, you passed on those tax dollars. Why do you think Governor Kasich got it wrong here? +p869 +aVSo Governor Kasich was wrong, just to be clear. +p870 +aVI didn't hear an answer regarding Governor Kasich, but for now I'll go to Governor Pataki. Yes or no? +p871 +aVGovernor Pataki, three term governor of New York. Is he right, Governor Jindal from Louisiana? +p872 +aVYes or no, would you have expanded Obamacare in the state of New York, had you been governor at that time? +p873 +aVOK. +p874 +aVThank you, Governor Pataki. In a moment here, we'll talk to the candidates about an issue today on Planned Parenthood, and also the U.S. Supreme Court. That's all next here in Cleveland. +p875 +aVWelcome back to Cleveland, Ohio. Want to get back to the questions and the issues in this debate now, with my co-anchor, Martha. Mac +p876 +aVNext question on the U.S. Supreme Court. It's been 42 years, Senator Santorum, since Roe v. Wade, and many consider, in this country, to be a case of settled law. Recently the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on same-sex marriage. Is that now settled law in America today? +p877 +aVAlright, Senator, thank you. To Governor Gilmore. For years, presidential candidates have not said they would have a litmus test for justices nominated to the Supreme Court. Recently, Hillary Clinton broke that precedent. She said she would apply that on the case of Citizens United, which deals with campaign finance laws in America today. Is it time for conservatives to impose a litmus test on abortion? +p878 +aVSo, no litmus test? +p879 +aVThank you, governor. Mac +p880 +aVAs the first debate of the nomination season continues, welcome back to Cleveland. Let's get back to the questions right now, and the issues here in the U.S. Martha? Mac +p881 +aVThank you, Senator. Executive power. It appears that you all have a little bit of an issue with it at the moment. I want to move through this as quickly as I can, from stage left to stage right. On the second day of his presidency, January 22nd 2009, President Obama signed one of his first executive orders. That was close Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Still open today. What would be your first executive order? Governor Gilmore, start. +p882 +aVSenator Graham. +p883 +aVGovernor Jindal, your first executive order would be in the White House would be what? +p884 +aVGovernor Perry. +p885 +aVThat will be a long day. +p886 +aVSenator Santorum? +p887 +aVFirst order, Carly Fiorina? +p888 +aVGovernor Pataki? +p889 +aVThank you all. Mac +p890 +aVThank you, senator. Mac +p891 +aVThank you, Senator. I need a two-word answer to the following query. In 2008, then-Senator Barack Obama described Hillary Clinton as, quote, "likable enough," end quote. What two words would you use to describe the Democratic frontrunner? Governor Pataki to start. +p892 +aVWow. Carly Fiorina. +p893 +aVGovernor Jindal? +p894 +aVGovernor? +p895 +aVNot a lot of compliments. To be continued. Mac +p896 +aVThank you Governor. Senator Santorum? +p897 +aVAll right. Senator thank you. Mac +p898 +aVCarly Fiorina, closing statement. +p899 +aVThank you. Mac +p900 +aVAnd to Governor Pataki, closing statement now. +p901 +aVThank you, Governor. Mac +p902 +aVThat concludes the first debate of the 2016 Republican primary. We would like to thank all seven of you for being here today. +p903 +asVUNIDENTIFIED +p904 +(lp905 +VWhy don't, why don't we... +p906 +asVBAIER +p907 +(lp908 +VLess than a year from now, in this very arena, one of these 10 candidates or one of the seven on the previous debate tonight will accept the Republican party's nomination. Tonight's candidates were selected based on an average of five national polls. Just a few hours ago, you heard from the candidates ranked 11th through 17. And now, the prime-time event, the top 10. +p909 +aVNeurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Florida Senator Marco Rubio. +p910 +aVIt might be. It might be. We'll see. [ +p911 +aVIt might be. The rules for tonight are simple. One minute for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups. And if a candidate runs over, you'll hear this. Pleasant, no? We also have a big crowd here with us tonight in the home of the Cavaliers, as I mentioned. And while we expect them... ... we expect them to be enthusiastic, as you heard, we don't want to take anything away from the valuable time for the candidate. So, we're looking for somewhere between a reaction to a LeBron James dunk and the Cleveland Public Library across the street. Somewhere there, we'll find a balance tonight. Without further ado, let's begin. +p912 +aVGentlemen, we know how much you love hand-raising questions. So we promise, this is the only one tonight: the only one. Is there anyone on stage, and can I see hands, who is unwilling tonight to pledge your support to the eventual nominee of the Republican party and pledge to not run an independent campaign against that person. Again, we're looking for you to raise your hand now -- raise your hand now if you won't make that pledge tonight. Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump to be clear, you're standing on a Republican primary debate stage. +p913 +aVThe place where the RNC will give the nominee the nod. +p914 +aVAnd that experts say an independent run would almost certainly hand the race over to Democrats and likely another Clinton. You can't say tonight that you can make that pledge? +p915 +aVSo tonight, you can't say if another one of these... +p916 +aVOK. +p917 +aVDr. Paul. +p918 +aVOK. +p919 +aVJust to be clear, you can't make a -- we're gonna -- we're going to move on. You're not gonna make the pledge tonight? +p920 +aVOK. Alright. +p921 +aVGovernor Bush, you have insisted that you're your own man. You say you have a life experience uniquely your own. Not your father's, not your brother's. But there are several opponents on this stage who get big- applause lines in early voting states with this line: quote, "the last thing the country needs is another Bush in the Oval Office." So do you understand the real concern in this country about dynastic politics? +p922 +aVGovernor Christie, you're not exactly the darling of conservatives. You tout your record as a Republican governor in a blue state. On Facebook, the most people talking about you, not surprisingly, come from your state of New Jersey, and one of the top issues they are talking about is the economy. This -- this may be why. Under your watch, New Jersey has undergone nine credit rating downgrades. The state's 44th in private sector growth. You face an employee pension crisis and the Garden State has the third highest foreclosure rate in the country. So why should voters believe that your management of the country's finances would be any different? +p923 +aVSenator Paul, you recently blamed the rise of +p924 +aVGentlemen, the next series of questions deals with ObamaCare and the role of the federal government. Mr. Trump, ObamaCare is one of the things you call a disaster. +p925 +aVSaying it needs to be repealed and replaced. +p926 +aVNow, 15 years ago, you called yourself a liberal on health care. You were for a single-payer system, a Canadian-style system. Why were you for that then and why aren't you for it now? +p927 +aVBut on ObamaCare... +p928 +aVMr. Trump, hold up one second. +p929 +aVAll right, now, hold on, Senator Paul... +p930 +aVOK. +p931 +aVAll right, let me... Mr. Trump, it's not just your past support for single- payer health care. You've also supported a host of other liberal policies. Use -- you've also donated to several Democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton included, Nancy Pelosi. You explained away those donations saying you did that to get business-related favors. And you said recently, quote, "When you give, they do whatever the hell you want them to do." +p932 +aVSo what specifically did... +p933 +aV-- they do? +p934 +aVHold on. We're going to -- we're going to move on. We'll come back to you, Governor Walker. +p935 +aVWe have many questions to come. +p936 +aVMany questions to come. Governor Huckabee, on Facebook, John Pietricone asked this, "Will you abolish or take away the powers and cut the size of the EPA, the IRS, the Department of Education?" Now, broadly... ...broadly, the size of government is a big concern for Facebook users, Facebook persons, as well as, obviously, conservatives. But year after year, decade after decade, there are promises from Republicans to shrink government. But year after year, decade after decade, it doesn't happen. In fact, it gets bigger, even under Republican politicians. So the question is, at this point, is the government simply too big for any one person, even a Republican, to shrink? +p937 +aVDr. Carson... +p938 +aVDr. Carson, do you agree with that? +p939 +aVGovernor Bush? +p940 +aVWe're going to come back to you, Dr. Carson. Governor Bush, you are one of the few people on the stage who advocates for Common Core education standards, reading and math. A lot of people on this stage vigorously oppose a federal involvement in education. They say it should all be handled locally. President Obama's secretary of education, Arnie Duncan, has said that most of the criticism of Common Core is due to a, quote, "fringe group of critics." Do you think that's accurate? +p941 +aVSenator Rubio, why is Governor Bush wrong on Common Core? +p942 +aVAnd do you agree with your old friend? +p943 +aVWe have many more questions coming on a host of topics, here from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Stay with us. +p944 +aVWe have many more questions coming on a host of topics. Here from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Stay with us. +p945 +aVGentlemen, another question for a few of you. Yesterday, just yesterday, President Obama criticized Republican lawmakers trying to block the Iran deal, calling them knee-jerk partisans, adding that hardliners in Iran who chant "death to America" were, quote, "making common cause with the Republican caucus." Here's what two of your opponents on the 5 p.m. debate stage said about Iran. +p946 +aVNow, I wanna ask a few of you this. First, Governor Walker. You've said that you would tear up the Iran deal on day one. If this deal is undone, what then? +p947 +aVSenator Paul, would you tear up the deal on day one? +p948 +aVGovernor Huckabee, what do you think about what Senator Paul just said? +p949 +aVThank you, gentlemen. +p950 +aVWelcome back to Cleveland. Our next topic is foreign policy. Candidates, you may not have seen the late developing news today our Fox Pentagon team broke earlier this evening about a top Iranian general traveling to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. His name is General Qassem Soleimani, he's blamed for hundreds of U.S. troop's deaths in Iraq, and Afghanistan. His trip to Russia appears to directly violate U.N. Security Council resolutions to confine him to Iran. So, Mr. Trump, if you were president, how would you respond to this? +p951 +aVAnother new development today, Senior Defense officials tell Fox they strongly suspect Russia was behind the cyber attack on the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs office... +p952 +aV...email. This comes in the wake of the Director of National Intelligence blaming the Chinese for the largest ever cyber attack, stealing personal data of tens of millions of Americans. Senator Cruz, in your view, have Russia and China committed acts of cyber war, and if you were president, what would you do about it? +p953 +aVDr. Carson, in August of 2012 President Obama famously declared Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons, quote, "that's a redline for us," and that there would be enormous consequences. One year later, with overwhelming evidence the Assad had, in fact, used chemical weapons and crossed that red line, President Obama declined to use military force against the Assad regime. As president, would you have used military force there? +p954 +aVGovernor Walker, as president, what would you do if Russian President Vladimir Putin started a campaign to destabilize +p955 +aVGovernor -- Governor Huckabee, the culture of the American military is definitely changing. Women are moving into combat roles. Don't Ask, Don't Tell has obviously been dropped. And now Defense Secretary Ashton Carter recently directed the military to prepare for a moment when it is welcoming transgender persons to serve openly. As commander in chief, how would you handle that? +p956 +aVSenator Paul, the first budget you proposed as senator cut all financial aid to Israel. You have since changed your view on that issue. What made you change your mind. +p957 +aVOK. But you still say that Israel could be one of the countries that is cut from financial aid? +p958 +aVGovernor Christie, what do you think of that answer? +p959 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p960 +aVSenator, we're going to finish up with some more questions, thank you. +p961 +aVNow each candidate will make a closing statement. You'll all have 30 seconds to make a closing statement for this debate. We'll start with Ohio Governor John Kasich. +p962 +aVSenator Marco Rubio. +p963 +aVThank you, Senator. +p964 +aVGovernor Mike Huckabee, closing statement. +p965 +aVMr. Trump, closing statement, sir. +p966 +aVGentlemen, thank you. +p967 +aVThat's it. +p968 +asVMADDOW +p969 +(lp970 +VWe are super excited to be here at the University of New Hampshire. Tonight, this is the first time that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have squared off exactly like this. Face-to-face, just one-on-one, just the two of them. +p971 +aVAnd we do hope that the candidates will take this opportunity to show us the distinctions\u2014show us the differences between them. That's the whole reason that we're here tonight. We're not here for talking points. We're to learn about the difference between the candidates. And with that, let's get going. Please join us in welcoming Secretary Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders. +p972 +aVAnd with that, that's it. We're going to begin with 60- second opening statements from each of the candidates. And as agreed to in advance by the two campaigns, we're going to begin tonight with Senator Sanders. +p973 +aVSecretary Clinton, Senator Sanders is campaigning against you now, at this point in the campaign, basically arguing that you are not progressive enough to be the Democratic nominee. He has said that if you voted for the Iraq war, if you are in favor of the death penalty, if you wobbled on things like the Keystone Pipeline or TPP, if you said single payer health care could never happen, then you're too far to the right of the Democratic Party to be the party's standard bearer. Given those policy positions, why should liberal Democrats support you and not Senator Sanders? +p974 +aVSenator Sanders, have you established a list of what it means to be a progressive that is unrealistic? +p975 +aVThank you Senator. +p976 +aVSenator Sanders, as a Vermonter, you have almost a home state advantage here in New Hampshire. But back home across the border, you also have a long history of running against Democrats as a third-party candidate, for governor, Senate, for Congress. In 1988 your candidacy as a third-party candidate arguably cost the Democrats a congressional seat and sent a Republican instead. How can you lead the Democratic Party nationally when you have not been a member of the Democratic Party until very recently? +p977 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p978 +aVSo, Senator, to that point, Secretary Clinton is raising the issue of endorsements by your home state Democrats. She's implying that that says something about the people who know you best. +p979 +aVHow do you see it? +p980 +aVSecretary. +p981 +aVSenator Sanders, you'll have 30 seconds to respond to that. +p982 +aVSenator Sanders, Secretary Clinton, obviously we've touched a nerve. We're going to be back with more on this subject, and much more, right after this. Stay with us. +p983 +aVSecretary Clinton, on the issue of Wall Street... +p984 +aV... on the issue of Wall Street, when our reporters go out and talk to people on the ground in the early states, what they tell us over and over again when they find voters who are leaning toward Senator Sanders rather than yourself is that the most frequent area of concern that they hear from those voters is the issue of Wall Street and whether or not you are too close to Wall Street. Last night, when you were asked about speaking fees and the amount of speaking fees you got from Goldman Sachs speeches, you said that's what they offered. Have you been too dismissive of voters' concerns about this issue in your own campaign and your own career? +p985 +aVSenator Sanders, you have been a critic of Secretary Clinton taking those speaking fees and having donations from Wall Street. What about her defense of her record? +p986 +aVSenator Sanders, let me turn to, I think, where this direction is heading anyway, which is the broader issue of big business and power in our political system. You on the campaign trail have railed against big name American corporations like Boeing, and General Electric, and Wal Mart. But, some big businesses in this country have also been part of advancing progressive goals like that nationwide initiative to expand employment opportunities for veterans. That was all about cooperation between the Obama administration and some very big business. The Affordable Care Act, some of the thorniest problems in that bill were worked out in cooperation with big business in order to accomplish progressive goals. Could you work with them, or have you made enemies of big business in this country with the way you've approached them in this campaign? +p987 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. And with that, we're going to take a break. +p988 +aVWelcome back\u2014welcome back to the Democratic candidates' debate. We're going to be talking about America in the world, both in terms of some trade issues, but also national security. And Secretary Clinton, we're going to start with you. There are more than 4,000 American troops back in Iraq right now as part of the fight against +p989 +aVTo be clear, to the specific question, if that strategic goal that you're describing requires considerably more of Americans\u2014an ever-increasing number of Americans in Iraq and maybe in Syria, are you OK with the numbers increasing? +p990 +aVThank you, Madam Secretary. +p991 +aVSecretary Clinton, at the\u2014at the last Democratic debate in Charleston\u2014I want to get specific here\u2014Senator Sanders called for moving as aggressively as we can to normalize relations with Iran. Your campaign has criticized him for saying that. Now that he's standing next to you here on this stage, can you explain why the U.S. shouldn't try to normalize relations in Iran in your view? +p992 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to ask you about a national security issue that is closer to home. There are thousands of veterans, over 100,000 veterans living in the state of New Hampshire. If either one of you is nominated as the Democratic Party's nominee, you will likely face a Republican opponent in the general election who wants to privatize or even abolish big parts of the V.A. It's a newly popular idea in conservative politics. How will you win the argument on that issue given the problems that have been exposed at the V.A. in the last few years? What's your argument that the V.A. should still exist and should not be privatized? +p993 +aVSenator Sanders, you, as a congressional leader on veterans issues and the Veterans Committee, you've worked in a very bipartisan way with Senator John McCain and others on veterans issues. Is the right contour of the fight, the way she's talking about this issue? +p994 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Sanders, Secretary Clinton, we're going to take another break. We'll be talking about Social Security and some of those other issues when we come back. +p995 +aVSenator\u2014Senator Sanders, in 1964... +p996 +aVIn 1964, I heard that the Republicans nominated Barry Goldwater, who was the hero of the conservative movement. He was, however, far to the right of most of that party. In 1972, the Democrats nominated George McGovern, who was a hero of liberals in the antiwar movement, but he was to the left of his party's mainstream. Both of those nominees made activists very excited, and they both got destroyed in the general election. Even Democrats who love you worry about your fate in a general election. And I know you have good head-to-head polling numbers against Republican frontrunners right now. We know that. But do you have a general election strategy that is different than the way you're running right now to try to get the nomination? +p997 +aVSecretary Clinton, your campaign surrogates, and people who have endorsed you, have suggested that or even said that if Senator Sanders is the nominee, that Democrats will suffer nationwide and the chances will go down of Democrats holding onto the White House. With him here standing next to you, can you tell us whether or not you believe he would win the general election if he were nominated? +p998 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. Senator, in December, one of your campaign staffers was fired from your campaign for taking voter data essentially from the Clinton campaign. You apologized for that when the incident was made public. Your campaign has now been criticized for its operatives essentially impersonating culinary union members wearing union pins in Nevada, and the Nashua Telegraph has complained recently that you falsely implied in an advertisement that they had endorsed you when they did not. None of these issues obviously is the end of the world, but they all are of a piece. Are you in some sense losing control of your campaign? +p999 +aVJust to follow up on that, the title of the ad in question was Endorsement. +p1000 +aVSecretary Clinton, do you want 30 seconds on that issue? +p1001 +aVAnd with that, we will . +p1002 +aVWelcome back to the University of New Hampshire, and the Democratic candidates' debate. Secretary Clinton, on the issue of the death penalty, here in New Hampshire, the one person who is on death row is there for killing a police officer. It's a crime that has caused anguish in this state, both among death penalty opponents and death penalty supporters. The last time I had the chance to talk with you on this issue, on the death penalty, you said that capital punishment has a place in a very few federal cases, but you also said you would breathe a sigh of relief if the Supreme Court abolished the death penalty nationwide. Tonight, do you still support capital punishment, even if you do so reluctantly? +p1003 +aVSenator Sanders, you have singled out the death penalty, and Senator Clinton's support for the death penalty, as an issue that makes it hard to consider as progressive in your mind... +p1004 +aVAnother issue related to the proper role of government, and in this case, specifically the role of government between the federal government and the states. I want to talk for a moment about the issue of Flint, Michigan. On the Flint lead poisoning disaster, you have both been highly critical of Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan, and how the state in Michigan both caused the lead poisoning problem, and has not acted fast enough to fix it. You have both been outspoken on that. The fact is that Michigan though has not fixed it. There is no door to door delivery of clean water in Flint even today. Not a single lead pipe has been replaced in Flint, even today. If the state is failing, would you, Secretary Clinton, would you as President order a federal response to get it right over and above the wishes of the state? +p1005 +aVSenator Sanders are there things the President could be doing? President Obama could be ordering, done, right now, in Flint, Michigan that are not being done that you as President would do? +p1006 +aVSenator, thank you. +p1007 +aVThe home stretch. +p1008 +aVSecretary Clinton, Republicans, particularly in campaign years, often talk about which departments of government\u2014which agencies of government they would get rid of if they were elected president. The EPA, the Department of Education, the Commerce Department, oops\u2014is\u2014is there a department of government that you would get rid of? Or is there a whole new one that you would create? +p1009 +aVThank you, Secretary Clinton. +p1010 +aVThank you very much. Thank you. +p1011 +aVWe also want to thank our host, the University of New Hampshire, and the people of New Hampshire. You guys get to vote in just five days. I can't wait to see how it turns out. Don't screw up. +p1012 +asVSEIB +p1013 +(lp1014 +VThis evening Fox Business is partnering with the Wall Street Journal to bring you the fourth republican presidential debate of the 2016 campaign. For the next hour, four of the candidates will be here answering the question voters want answered. +p1015 +aVSenator Santorum, you're all obviously highly critical of President Obama's economic record. But federal statistics show that payrolls have expanded by 8.7 million new jobs so far during his time in office. All the jobs lost in the recession were recovered by last year. And in October, the economy added jobs at the fastest rate since 2009. So what's wrong with the Obama jobs record? +p1016 +aVGovernor Jindal, Republicans have now 32 of the nation's 50 governor seats. But, even while you're doing very well at the state level, you keep falling short nationally. You've lost the popular vote in five of the last six presidential elections. Are Democrats simply putting forward a better national economic message than the one Republicans are offering? And what should Republicans do about it. +p1017 +aVSenator Santorum, we're in the Upper-Midwest, heart of the American auto industry. The Auto Alliance says the state of Wisconsin, where we are tonight, is home to 176 auto supplier companies. Back in 2008, you opposed the use of federal bailout funds for automakers as proposed then by the Bush administration. The automakers survived. In retrospect, do you still think that was the right position. +p1018 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p1019 +aVGovernor Jindal, there's a new trade deal the Obama administration has completed with 11 other Pacific nations. The U.S. Trade Representative's office says that deal will cut 18,000 different tariffs on American goods sent to the Pacific and will cut tariffs on goods made in your state of Louisiana by as much as 40 percent. Even a skeptical about \u2014 a skeptic about this deal, now that the details are public, are you going to be for it? +p1020 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1021 +aV...Guys... +p1022 +aVGovernor Christie... +p1023 +aV...last word, briefly +p1024 +aV...Thank you both, Governors. +p1025 +aV...No, no, Senator Santorum... +p1026 +aV...I have a question for you. Just about everybody agrees that the nation's infrastructure is in bad shape. Urban highway congestion costs the economy more than $100 billion dollars annually, nearly one in four bridges in the National Highway System is structurally deficient, or obsolete. Congress is working on a six year highway bill to try to fix this problem. It only funds it for about three years. Should Americans be asked to pay more in federal gas taxes in order to address this problem? +p1027 +aVSenator, I don't think we got to infrastructure, but I understand. +p1028 +aVNo, no. To do the things you're talking about, that you're all talking about, getting things done in Washington, you have to work with the other side. So a question, who in Congress do you most admire on the Democratic side? I need one name from each of you. And let's start with Governor Jindal. +p1029 +aVGovernor Huckabee? +p1030 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1031 +aVSenator Santorum? +p1032 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p1033 +aVGovernor Jindal, you've proposed something different. You've proposed eliminating the federal corporate income tax entirely. Why would have you wage-earners and investors pay an income tax but not a corporation? +p1034 +aVWelcome back to the Republican Presidential Debate live from Milwaukee's historic theater. Let's get back to the questions. Governor Christie, by keeping interest rates so low for so long, is the Fed creating a new financial bubble in real estate or stock as prices that will burst and create problems down the road, or has it been right to err on the side of trying to help the recovery through low rates? +p1035 +aVCandidates, it's time for closing statements, 30 seconds. Governor Jindal, we'll start with you. +p1036 +aVSenator Santorum. +p1037 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p1038 +aVGovernor Christie. +p1039 +asVTAPPER +p1040 +(lp1041 +VI'm Jake Tapper. We're live at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California for the main event. Round 2 of CNN's presidential debate starts now. The eleven leading Republican candidates for president are at their podiums. They are ready to face off, and if you've been watching this race, you know anything could happen over the next few hours. To viewers who are just joining us, welcome to the Air Force One Pavilion of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Our thanks to the staff here and especially to former first lady Nancy Reagan for this impressive setting with Ronald Reagan's presidential plane as our backdrop. This debate is airing on CNN networks in the United States and around the world. It's also being broadcast on the Salem Radio Network. I know everyone is very eager to get started. But first, I want to explain the ground rules tonight. My name is Jake Tapper. I'll be the moderator. I will be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt. He worked in the Reagan administration for six years. And by CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. I will ask follow-up questions, I will attempt to guide the discussion. Candidates, I will try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have one minute to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you've been singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. These 11 Republicans are positioned on the stage based on their ranking in recent national polls. Our goal for this evening is a debate. A true debate, with candidates addressing each other in areas where they differ. Where they disagree \u2014 on policy, on politics, on leadership. Now, let's begin. I'd like to invite each candidate to take 30 seconds to introduce him or herself to our audience. First to you, Senator Paul. +p1042 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1043 +aVThank you one and all for being here. There are many important policy issues facing our nation. We're going to get to many of them tonight, but I do want to start off with some current events in the news, and also some of the comments the candidates have recently made on the campaign trail. Mrs. Fiorina, I want to start with you. Fellow Republican candidate, and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, has suggested that your party's frontrunner, Mr. Donald Trump, would be dangerous as President. He said he wouldn't want, quote, "such a hot head with his finger on the nuclear codes." You, as well, have raised concerns about Mr. Trump's temperament. You've dismissed him as an entertainer. Would you feel comfortable with Donald trump's finger on the nuclear codes? +p1044 +aVYou didn't answer my question. Would you feel comfortable with Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear codes? It's an issue that one of your fellow candidates has raised. +p1045 +aVMr. Trump? +p1046 +aVMr. \u2014 Senator Paul, your name has been invoked. +p1047 +aVMr. Trump? +p1048 +aVI want to \u2014 I want to give Mr. Trump... +p1049 +aV... Mr. Trump, I want to give you another chance \u2014 Mr. Trump, I want to give you a chance to respond to something that your rival to your left, Governor Bush, said. Governor Bush told me last week when I read him the quote from Governor Jindal that he agrees you're not a serious candidate. Tell Governor Bush why you are a serious candidate and what your qualifications are to be commander-in-chief. +p1050 +aVGovernor Bush, would you feel comfortable with Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear codes? +p1051 +aVGovernor Walker? +p1052 +aVLet's move on. +p1053 +aVA phenomenon going on in the race right now is the political... OK, Governor Kasich, go ahead. +p1054 +aVWe have a lot of issues coming up, sir. +p1055 +aVWe are getting to the issues, sir. Phenomenon going on in the race is the political outsiders in the race, Dr. Carson, Donald Trump, Carly Fiorina, all together, have majority support in the polls. Governor Christie, I want to ask you about something that Dr. Carson said the other day. Dr. Carson said campaigning is easier for him, because he's not a politician. He can just tell the truth, therefore, while politicians, quote, "Have their finger in the air to see and do what is politically expedient." Governor Christie, tell Dr. Carson, is that a fair description of you? +p1056 +aVWell, let's find out. Thank you. +p1057 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. Dr. Carson, who were you thinking about on this stage when you said that? +p1058 +aVAnd more broadly, is experience in government not important for a president to have? +p1059 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1060 +aVThank you. +p1061 +aVThank you. Thank you Ms. Fiorina. Governor Bush, in addition to the fact that he's an outsider, one of the reasons Mr. Trump is a frontrunner, Republican voters say, is because they like the fact that he is not bought and paid for by wealthy donors. Mr. Trump has repeatedly said that the $100 million you've raised for your campaign makes you a puppet for your donors. Are you? +p1062 +aVIs there anything else you want to say about this? +p1063 +aVGovernor \u2014 +p1064 +aVSure Dr. Carson. +p1065 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Let's move to Russia if we could. Russia is sending troops and tanks into Syria right now to prop up a U.S. enemy, Bashar al-Assad. President Obama's incoming top general says, quote, "Russia presents the greatest threat to our national security." Mr. Trump, you say you can do business with President Vladimir Putin, you say you will get along, quote, "very well." What would you do right now if you were president, to get the Russians out of Syria? +p1066 +aVSo, you \u2014 just to clarify, the only answer I heard to the question I asked is that you would \u2014 you would reach out to Vladimir Putin, and you would do what? You would... +p1067 +aVSenator Rubio, you've taken a very different approach to the \u2014 the question of Russia. You've called Vladimir Putin a, quote, "gangster." Why would President Rubio's approach be more effective than President Trump's? +p1068 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. +p1069 +aVI want to bring in Carly Fiorina. +p1070 +aVMs. Fiorina, you have met... +p1071 +aV...yeah, you've met Vladimir Putin. Yes. +p1072 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p1073 +aVThank you. +p1074 +aVThank you. Thank you, Ms. Fiorina. While you're \u2014 while you brought up the subject of General Suleimani of the Quds forces from Iran, the next president, no matter who he or she may be, will inherit President Obama's Iran deal. Senator Cruz, Governor Kasich says that anyone who is promising to rip up the Iran deal on day one, as you have promised to do, is, quote, "inexperienced," and, quote, "playing to a crowd." Respond to Governor Kasich, please. +p1075 +aVWhy is that not, as Governor Kasich says, playing to the crowd and an example of you being inexperienced? +p1076 +aVGovernor Kasich... +p1077 +aV...Did Senator Cruz just play to the crowd? +p1078 +aV...Thank you, Governor. I want to go to Senator Paul. +p1079 +aVI want to go to Senator Paul. Senator Paul, the White House is rolling out the red carpet next week for the President of China, President Xi. Governor Walker says that President Obama should cancel the state dinner because of China's currency manipulation, and because of China's alleged cyber attacks against the United States. Is Governor Walker right? +p1080 +aVGovernor Walker, Senator Paul seemed to suggest... +p1081 +aV...that canceling the state dinner would be rash, and reckless. +p1082 +aV...Governor Bush... +p1083 +aVGovernor Bush, your father was the chief diplomatic envoy to China back when Nixon opened relations to China. Is Scott Walker's approach the right one, canceling the state dinner? +p1084 +aVI want to turn... +p1085 +aV...I want to turn to Governor Huckabee who has been very patient. Somebody had to be 11th, and he is, but, I do want to change the subject to the event that you had... +p1086 +aV... however you want, but I want to ask this question. +p1087 +aVAll right, sir, go ahead. +p1088 +aVOK. ( +p1089 +aVWe're going to turn now to Hugh Hewitt, from Salem Radio Network. +p1090 +aVThank you, Senator Paul. I want to turn now to my colleague Dana Bash. +p1091 +aVThat would be fair, you're right. You're the third senator. +p1092 +aVWe're going to go to Dana Bash... +p1093 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1094 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1095 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1096 +aVThank you, Senator. I want to... +p1097 +aV... turn back to Governor Huckabee... +p1098 +aVI want to turn back to Governor Huckabee. Governor Huckabee, last week, you held a rally for a county clerk in Kentucky who was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, as I don't need to tell you. You've called what happened to Kim Davis, that clerk, "an example of the criminalization of Christianity." There are several people on the stage who disagree with you. Governor Bush, for example, says that that clerk is sworn to uphold the law. Is Governor Bush on the wrong side of the criminalization of Christianity? +p1099 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1100 +aVWell, I'm not telling you that, Governor. But Governor Bush is, because he \u2014 because he disagrees. He thinks that Kim Davis swore to uphold the law. You disagree? You're not \u2014 you don't... +p1101 +aVOK. Please do. +p1102 +aVYou did... +p1103 +aVGovernor, you said, quote, "she is sworn to uphold the law." +p1104 +aVLet me go to my colleague Dana Bash, who has a question. +p1105 +aVDana, I want to continue on the subject. Governor Bush, you recently said while discussing Planned Parenthood, quote, you're "not sure we need a half billion for women's health issues." Now you've since said that you misspoke, you didn't mean to say "women's health issues." But Donald Trump said that quote, that comment, which Hillary Clinton did seize upon immediately, will haunt you the same way Mitt Romney's 47 percent video haunted him. Tell Donald Trump why he's wrong. +p1106 +aVThank you, Governor Bush. Donald Trump, let me just... +p1107 +aVThe quote was, "I'm not sure we need half a billion dollars for women's health issues." He said he misspoke. You said that that's going to haunt him. Why do you think that? +p1108 +aVGovernor Bush? +p1109 +aVI want to \u2014 we're going to get to \u2014 +p1110 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1111 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1112 +aVWe're going to \u2014 we're going to get to many of these issues. This \u2014 we're still in the first block, believe it or not. We're going to get to many of these issues, but before we end this block, Ms. Fiorina, I do want to ask you about this. In an interview last week in Rolling Stone magazine, Donald Trump said the following about you. Quote, "Look at that face. Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?" Mr. Trump later said he was talking about your persona, not your appearance. Please feel free to respond what you think about his persona. +p1113 +aVAll right. On that note, in less than two minutes \u2014 we're going to take a very quick break. In less than two minutes, the most contentious issue on the campaign trail. And the candidates on the stage are split over how to handle it. That's coming up next. Please give some applause to the candidates. +p1114 +aVWelcome to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate. No topic perhaps has been more combustible in this campaign than the issue of immigration. Mr. Trump, you have called for deporting every undocumented immigrant, Governor Christie has said, quote, "There are not enough law enforcement officers \u2014 local, county, state and federal combined \u2014 to forcibly deport 11 to 12 million people." Tell Governor Christie how much your plan will cost, and how you will get it done. +p1115 +aVGovernor Christie, you and I have talked about this in an interview. You say that his big wall, his plan to deport 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants, it sounds great, but it's never going to happen. Tell him why you're skeptical of his plans? +p1116 +aVThank you, Governor Christie... +p1117 +aVI want to bring in Dr. Carson because he too has been skeptical of your plan to immediately deport 11 to 12 million illegal immigrants. He said, quote, "People who say that have no idea what this entails." Why do you say that, Dr. Carson? +p1118 +aV...Dr. Carson... +p1119 +aVWith all due respect, you said about Donald Trump's plan to deport 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants, "People who say that have no idea what this entails." Why not? +p1120 +aV...let's continue the conversation about illegal immigration with Dana Bash. +p1121 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Senator Cruz \u2014 Senator Cruz, this week, we learned more about Dr. Carson's plan for the 11 million to 12 million undocumented immigrants in this country. Dr. Carson proposed giving these undocumented immigrants a six- month grace period to pay back taxes then to let them become guest workers and only to deport people who failed to do that. +p1122 +aVWell, how would you say it, sir? I was just reading the Wall Street Journal quote, but please tell us. +p1123 +aVOK, from the horse's mouth, Senator Cruz, does that fit your definition of amnesty? +p1124 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Rubio... +p1125 +aV... I'm not sure... +p1126 +aVWe'll come back to you \u2014 we'll come back to you in one second, sir. But Senator Rubio, I'm not sure exactly whose plan he's \u2014 he's saying is \u2014 constitutes amnesty, but I know he has said it about your plan in the past, so I want to give you a chance to respond, then, Dr. Carson, we'll come to you. +p1127 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1128 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator \u2014 Dr. Carson... ... I want to give you 30 seconds. I'd like you to answer the question. Senator Cruz describes plans such as yours as amnesty. Why is your plan not amnesty? +p1129 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. I want to talk about the issue of birthright citizenship, which \u2014 which has emerged since the first debate as \u2014 as an a \u2014 a major issue in this campaign. Mr. Trump, you say that babies born in the United States to undocumented immigrants should not any longer get automatic American citizenship. Ms. Fiorina says that you are pandering on this issue and acting like the politicians that you rail against. What's your message to Ms. Fiorina on birthright citizenship? +p1130 +aVMs. Fiorina, the vast majority of countries do not have birthright citizenship... ...Donald Trump is right about that. Why is it pandering when he's \u2014 he says this? +p1131 +aVMs. Fiorina... +p1132 +aVPlease. +p1133 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p1134 +aVThank you. +p1135 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Mr. Trump, I want to give you the chance to respond... +p1136 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. Senator Paul... +p1137 +aVSenator Paul, I want to bring you in. Where \u2014 where do you stand on the issue of birthright citizenship? +p1138 +aVAll right. Senator Paul, thank you so much. Let's turn to a new topic. We've received a lot of questions on social media about the economy and about jobs. We have two CEOs on stage right now. Ms. Fiorina, you were CEO of Hewlett Packard. Donald Trump says you, quote, "ran HP into the ground," you laid off tens of thousands of people, you got viciously fired. For voters looking to somebody with private-sector experience to create American jobs, why should they pick you and not Donald Trump? +p1139 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p1140 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p1141 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 Mr. Trump, why would you be better at creating jobs than Carly Fiorina? +p1142 +aVMs. Fiorina, I want to give you a chance to respond. +p1143 +aVMr. Trump. +p1144 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. +p1145 +aVGovernor Christie's name has been invoked. I'd like to give him a 30 second opportunity. +p1146 +aVMs. Fiorina, I want to give you +p1147 +aVGovernor Kasich, I'm coming to you next, but Ms. Fiorina's name was mentioned, and I have to give her the opportunity to respond if she wants it. +p1148 +aVThank you. +p1149 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Kasich, I want to come \u2014 I'm coming to you. I'm coming to you. Let me ask the question. You can use the time however you want. +p1150 +aVDonald Trump says that the hedge fund guys are getting away with murder by paying a lower tax rate. He wants to raise the taxes of hedge fund managers, as does Governor Bush. Do you agree? +p1151 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1152 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. +p1153 +aVGovernor Huckabee, I want to bring you in on the question of hedge fund managers and taxing them. You have said that you are bothered by the fact that hedge fund managers pay such a low tax rate and make 2,500 times what people who work for them make. Do you agree with what Donald Trump and Governor Bush have proposed, raising their tax rates? +p1154 +aVThank you, Governor. Dr. Carson, you support scrapping the entire tax code and replacing it with a flat tax based on the principal on tithing from the Bible. If you make $10 billion, you pay $1 billion in taxes, if you make $10, you pay $1 in taxes. Donald Trump believes in progressive taxation. He says it's not right that rich people pay the same as the poor. Tell Donald Trump why his ideas on taxes are wrong. +p1155 +aVMr. Trump... +p1156 +aV...What do you think of the flat tax? Do you think it's fair? +p1157 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. Senator Paul? +p1158 +aVGovernor Walker, I want to go to you. Dr. Carson wants to raise the Federal Minimum Wage, you have called it a lame idea. Why is raising the Federal Minimum Wage lame? +p1159 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1160 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1161 +aVDr. Carson, Governor Walker didn't really answer the question, but I'll let you respond. He called raising the Federal Minimum Wage lame, what do you think of that? +p1162 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson... +p1163 +aVLet me bring in our partner from Salem Radio Network, Hugh Hewitt. +p1164 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate. Let's turn to some issues now in foreign policy. Mr. Trump, Senator Rubio said it was, quote, "very concerning to him" that in a recent interview you didn't seem to know the details about some of the enemies the U.S. faces. Rubio said, if you don't know the answers to those questions, you will not be able to serve as commander-in-chief. Please respond to Senator Rubio. +p1165 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1166 +aVMr. Trump? Senator Rubio seemed to be suggesting that you don't know information that... +p1167 +aVAll right. Senator Rubio. +p1168 +aVBut are you saying that you have the knowledge to be the president that Mr. Trump does not have? +p1169 +aVMr. Trump? +p1170 +aVSenator Rubio, he did invoke your absentee record in the Senate. +p1171 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. I want to turn now to Hugh Hewitt. +p1172 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1173 +aVSenator... +p1174 +aVSenator Paul? +p1175 +aVSenator Paul... +p1176 +aVThank you, Senator Paul... +p1177 +aVThank you, Senator Paul... +p1178 +aVI understand that Governor Bush's name has been invoked, and then we can go to you, Senator Rubio. +p1179 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1180 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Rubio? +p1181 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1182 +aVDr. Carson? +p1183 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1184 +aVI mean, it is interesting that you say that, because I want to ask Governor Christie about something else that you have said. Governor Christie, we just marked the 14th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Now Dr. Carson has said that if he had been president at the time, the United States would not have gone to war in Afghanistan. What does that say to you about how Dr. Carson would respond as president if America were attacked again? +p1185 +aVDr. Carson? +p1186 +aV... Governor Christie. +p1187 +aVDr. Carson? +p1188 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1189 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1190 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee. +p1191 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1192 +aVThank you, governor, I want to turn to +p1193 +aVGovernor Walker, there is a big debate now, we have been talking about +p1194 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Paul, I want to go to you, because you have said that the boots on the ground to fight +p1195 +aVThank you, Senator. We're going to turn to some domestic issues now. I want to bring in my colleague, Dana Bash. +p1196 +aVSure.... +p1197 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1198 +aV...Thank you, Governor. Dana Bash... +p1199 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina... +p1200 +aV...Thank you, we're going to turn now to domestic issues with Dana Bash. +p1201 +aV...Dana Bash... +p1202 +aVThank you. Dana Bash? +p1203 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1204 +aV...Governor Bush... +p1205 +aV...I want to let you respond. +p1206 +aVThank you, Governor... ...And, that's what we should do, and I hope I'll be working members of the United States Senate to fight hard for the passage of people that have that kind of qualification. +p1207 +aVSenator Cruz, 30 seconds. +p1208 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1209 +aVThank you, Semator. +p1210 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee, I want to bring you in very quickly if you could. Will you have a litmus test when it comes to appointing Supreme Court nominees? +p1211 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1212 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1213 +aVThank you, Governor. We're going to take a quick break. Coming up, one of the hottest questions that you have been asking us via social media. We will pose it to the candidates. That's coming up right after this. +p1214 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican presidential debate at the Reagan Library here in Simi Valley \u2014 Simi Valley, California. Many people on social media wanted us to ask about marijuana legalization. Senator Paul, Governor Christie recently said, quote, "if you're getting high in Colorado today," where marijuana has been legalized, "enjoy it until January 2017, because I will enforce the federal laws against marijuana." Will you? +p1215 +aVI want to give that \u2014 I want to give the person that you called a hypocrite an opportunity to respond. Do you want to identify that person? +p1216 +aVIs there somebody you were specifically thinking of? +p1217 +aVThat's what I though, but I wanted to say it. +p1218 +aVOK. +p1219 +aVGovernor Bush, please. +p1220 +aVI want to go right now \u2014 I want to go right now... +p1221 +aVThat's true. Go ahead, Christie, please. +p1222 +aVYou may respond, and then I'll bring in you, Ms. Fiorina. +p1223 +aVYes, Senator Paul. +p1224 +aVI want to bring in Ms. Fiorina \u2014 I want to bring in Ms. Fiorina on this issue. +p1225 +aVHugh \u2014 Hugh, I'd like to... +p1226 +aVI'd like to turn it over \u2014 I'd like to turn to Dana Bush. +p1227 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1228 +aVI'm coming to you right now on a separate issue, sir. We received... ( +p1229 +aVWe received a lot of questions from social media about climate change. Senator Rubio, Ronald Reagan's secretary of state, George Shultz, reminds us that when Reagan was president he faced a similar situation to the one that we're facing now. There were dire warnings from the mass consensus of the scientific community about the ozone layer shrinking. Shultz says Ronald Reagan urged skeptics in industry to come up with a plan. He said, do it as an insurance policy in case the scientists are right. The scientists were right. Reagan and his approach worked. Secretary Shultz asks, why not take out an insurance policy and approach climate change the Reagan way? +p1230 +aVI'm citing George Shultz. +p1231 +aVGovernor Christie, you have said that climate change is real, and that humans help contribute to it. Without getting into the issue of China versus the United States, which I understand you've talked about before, what do you make of skeptics of climate change such as Senator Rubio? +p1232 +aVJust for the record, I was citing Secretary of State George Shultz, Ronald Reagan's secretary of state who I don't think anybody would call him left-wing. +p1233 +aVI called you a skeptic. +p1234 +aVI want to go another question right now. +p1235 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1236 +aVI'm turning to... +p1237 +aV...I'm turning to another \u2014 I'm turning to another issue right now. Senator Cruz. Well, I think we've heard from several this evening. A backlash against vaccines was blamed for a measles outbreak here in California. Dr. Carson, Donald Trump has publicly and repeatedly linked vaccines, childhood vaccines, to autism, which, as you know, the medical community adamantly disputes. You're a pediatric neurosurgeon. Should Mr. Trump stop saying this? +p1238 +aVShould he stop saying it? Should he stop saying that vaccines cause autism? +p1239 +aVMr. Trump, as president, you would... +p1240 +aVI'm going right to you. +p1241 +aVMr. Trump, as president, you would be in charge of the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health, both of which say you are wrong. How would you handle this as president? +p1242 +aVThank you. +p1243 +aVDr. \u2014 Dr. Carson? +p1244 +aVDr. Carson, you just heard his medical take. +p1245 +aVDr. Paul? Dr. Paul, I'd like to bring you in. +p1246 +aVAlright, thank you so much... +p1247 +aVComing up \u2014 I'm sorry, Governor Huckabee, please. +p1248 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1249 +aVWe have to take another quick break. Coming up, Ronald Reagan looming large over this debate. So how Reaganesque exactly are these Republicans? We will find out next. +p1250 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California. We have a few last questions for you. Two of them a little lighthearted, the other one more serious. We'll start with one of the more light questions. Senator Paul, I'm going to start with you and we're just going to go down the line. Earlier this year, the Treasury Department announced that a woman will appear on the $10 bill. What woman would you like to see on the $10 bill? +p1251 +aVGovernor Huckabee? +p1252 +aVSenator Paul (sic). +p1253 +aVI'm sorry. Senator Rubio? +p1254 +aVJust the senators. +p1255 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1256 +aVDr. Carson? +p1257 +aVMr. Trump. +p1258 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1259 +aVGovernor Walker. +p1260 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p1261 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1262 +aVGovernor Christie. +p1263 +aVAlright. Some good entries if anybody at the mint was listening. Here's the next lighthearted question, you all know that the United States Secret Service uses codenames for the president, and his family. Ronald Reagan's codename, for example, was, "Rawhide", an homage to his performances in Westerns. Nancy Reagan's was, "Rainbow". You don't have to come up the one for your spouse, but, what would you want, Governor Christie, I'll start with you, your Secret Service codename to be. +p1264 +aVGovernor Walker? +p1265 +aVMr. Trump? +p1266 +aVDr. Carson? +p1267 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1268 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1269 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p1270 +aVSenator Paul. +p1271 +aVThat's a mouthful, but OK. OK, here's the more serious question, Ronald Reagan, the 40th President, used the plane behind you to accomplish a great many things. Perhaps, most notably, to challenge Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the wall, and ultimately, to make peace with the +p1272 +aVThat concludes this Republican presidential debate. On behalf of everyone here at CNN, we want to thank the candidates, the Reagan Library, and the Republican National Committee. Thank you, also, to Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash. The next presidential debate will also be right here on CNN, among the Democratic candidates, who will face off for the first time on October the 13th. That debate, a partnership with Facebook, will be moderated by my colleague, Anderson Cooper. And Anderson picks up our coverage of tonight's debate right now. Before I throw to Anderson, let's have one final round of applause for the candidates. +p1273 +aVWe're live at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California for one of the most highly anticipated primary season debates ever. On this stage 15 candidates in two rounds of questioning with one goal, to show they have what it takes to be the Republican Presidential Nominee. Welcome to our viewers, I'm Jake Tapper. Tonight's debate is airing on CNN networks around the world, and, of course, here in the United States. It's also being broadcast across the country on the Salmen Radio Network. We want to thank our host, former First Lady Nancy Reagan, and the Reagan Library for this very impressive setting, the Air Force One pavilion. Behind me, you can see the actual plane... ...That Ronald Reagan flew in when he was president. Now, because the GOP field is so large, we have divided the candidates into two groups based on their rankings in recent national polls. Later this evening we will hear from the top 11 contenders. The other four candidates are taking part in the first round, and they are ready to join us now. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindal. The former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania, Rick Santorum. and former New York Governor, George Pataki. Ladies and gentleman, please welcome these Republican candidates for President of the United States. And, now, if you would, please rise for our national anthem performed by actress and singer, Natalie Hill. I'd like to ask the candidates to please take their podiums while I tell you a little more about how tonight debate will work. I'm Jake Tapper. I'll be the moderator. Joining me in the questioning, Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt; he worked in the Reagan administration for six years and CNN's chief political correspondent, Dana Bash. I will follow up and guide the discussion; candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have one minute to answer questions and 30 seconds for followups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you have been singled out for criticism. We have timing lights that are visible to the candidates. Those lights will warn them when their time is up. Our goal tonight is to have a true debate, candidates actually addressing each other in areas where they disagree, where they differ on policy, on politics and on leadership. Now that everyone is in place, it's time for the candidates to introduce themselves to our audience. Please keep it brief. Governor Pataki, you're first. +p1274 +aVThank you candidates. We're going to talk a lot about policy and your proposals this evening. But first, Governor Jindal, I want to start with you. You have said that the front runner, Donald Trump, is a, quote, "unstable, narcissistic, ego maniac." Now, we are in the house of Reagan, who made famous the so-called 11th Commandment, "Thou shalt not speak ill of thy fellow Republican." What drove you to violate that unofficial commandment? +p1275 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1276 +aVSenator Santorum, do you think Governor Jindal is wrong for attacking your party's front runner? +p1277 +aVThank you. Governor Jindal, do you want to respond to that? +p1278 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1279 +aVSenator Santorum, just to assure you, we will get to those issues. But just a couple more on this general subject. Senator Graham, you have called Donald Trump a, quote, "wrecking ball for the Republican party." Voters in your home state of South Carolina, in a recent poll, prefer Donald Trump 30 percent to your 4 percent. How do you explain why so many of your constituents would rather have Donald Trump as the Republican nominee than you? +p1280 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. We're going to bring in Hugh Hewitt now, who has a question for Governor Pataki. +p1281 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1282 +aVSenator Graham? One of the -- the reasons why Donald Trump, Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina are doing well is because they are political outsiders. In fact, that's one of the things -- in fact, there are two things that they have in common. They've never been elected to office before and they're doing better than all of you in the polls. The four of you have a combined seven decades in elected office. Senator Graham, in this election season, do Republican voters see your service in government as a liability and not an asset? +p1283 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1284 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1285 +aVThank you, Senator. Let's turn to the topic of immigration. For that, I want to bring in my colleague, Dana Bash. +p1286 +aVThank you, Governor. I -- I want to change the subject. We're staying on immigration, and I'm bringing you in, Governor Pataki... +p1287 +aV... and Senator Graham, I'm coming to you as well. +p1288 +aVGovernor Pataki, Republicans right now are -- are debating birthright citizenship, the policy of granting U.S. citizenship to every baby born in this country, even if they born to undocumented immigrants. Senator Graham wants to end the policy of birthright citizenship. Governor Pataki, you support keeping it. Tell him why he's wrong. +p1289 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1290 +aVGovernor... +p1291 +aVWhat I -- what I asked about was about birthright citizenship and why you think that we should preserve birthright... +p1292 +aVSenator Graham, most countries in the world do not have birthright citizenship. +p1293 +aVWhy do you think Governor Pataki is wrong? +p1294 +aVWas that a... +p1295 +aV...Thank you Senator... +p1296 +aV...Thank you Senator... +p1297 +aV...We'll come back to you Senator Santorum, I promise... +p1298 +aV...alright... +p1299 +aVThank you, Senator... +p1300 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Pataki, I want to let you have the final word here. +p1301 +aVGovernor Pataki? +p1302 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1303 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Graham, your response when it comes to Syrian refugees? +p1304 +aVThank you, Senator. I want to turn now -- +p1305 +aVWe're going to keep talking about the situation in the Middle East. Let me bring in my colleague, Dana Bash, again. +p1306 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1307 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1308 +aVThank you, thank you, Governor. +p1309 +aVGovernor Pataki -- +p1310 +aVThank you, Governor. Sorry. We have rules and timing. Governor Jindal, I do want to bring you in. I want to turn to a story in news in the story today. A 14-year-old Muslim high school student in Texas was arrested on Monday for bringing a homemade clock to school after it was mistaken for a fake bomb. Police released the young man after they determined it was, in fact, a clock. Today, President Obama invited that student to the White House. Governor Jindal, throughout your campaign, you've spoken many times about Muslim extremists in this country. How would you, as president, strike a balance between vigilance and discrimination? +p1311 +aVGovernor Jindal, I'm afraid you didn't answer the question. How do you strike the balance between vigilance and discrimination? Obviously, we know how you feel about the vigilance part of this. Do you ever see the discrimination part of it? +p1312 +aVThank you, Governor. We will get to that subject later in the debate. Senator Graham? +p1313 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1314 +aVGovernor Pataki? +p1315 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1316 +aVWe'll get to that subject in the next block. We're going to take a very quick break. When we come back, both Jeb Bush and Donald Trump agree on one thing when it comes to taxes. We'll see if any of the candidates on stage agree as well. +p1317 +aVThat's next. Stay with us. +p1318 +aVWelcome back to the CNN Republican Debate at the beautiful Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California. Before we took the break, you were all chomping at the bit to talk about Kim Davis, that Kentucky clerk. Governor Pataki said he would have fired Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk jailed for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses. Senator Santorum, do you agree with Governor Pataki? +p1319 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Pataki, your response? +p1320 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum? +p1321 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1322 +aVWe're coming to both of you. +p1323 +aVWhat... +p1324 +aVGovernor Jindal... +p1325 +aVSenator Graham, do you want to weigh in? +p1326 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1327 +aVSenator... +p1328 +aVThank you, Senator. I want to stay with the subject of Supreme Court judges -- justices. Governor Jindal, both Senators graham and Santorum voted to confirm chief justice of the United States, John Roberts, who has led with the majority twice to uphold ObamaCare. Do you think that Graham's and Santorum's votes to confirm John Roberts were a mistake? +p1329 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Graham, I want to give you an opportunity to respond -- -- I would note that Anthony Kennedy, was, of course, a Ronald Reagan appointee. Senator Graham, do you stand by your vote for John Roberts? +p1330 +aVSenator Santorum, do you stand by your vote for John Roberts? +p1331 +aVGovernor Jindal, I'm going to give you 30 seconds to respond. +p1332 +aVLet me bring back Hugh Hewitt. +p1333 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1334 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1335 +aV...I want to turn -- you're going to be involved in the next question... +p1336 +aV...Senator Graham... +p1337 +aV...Thank you, Senator... +p1338 +aV...Thank you Senator. Senator Graham, I want to turn to the minimum... +p1339 +aV...Well, let's talk about South Carolina... +p1340 +aV...Senator, let's turn to the minimum wage. Senator Santorum is the only person on the stage who has proposed increasing the federal minimum wage. How would that affect South Carolinians? Do you agree with Senator Santorum that the federal minimum wage should be increased? +p1341 +aVSenator Graham, thank you so much. Senator Santorum... Senator Graham is suggesting that your proposal would not allot South Carolinians to hire more workers. +p1342 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1343 +aVThank you, Senator. We have to take a quick break. When we come back, confrontation or negotiation? How will these candidates attempt to handle Russian President Vladimir Putin? That's next. +p1344 +aVAnd we're back at the CNN Republican Debate at the Reagan Library in beautiful Simi Valley, California. Let's turn now to some issues of foreign policy. Senator Graham, you all oppose the U.S. nuclear deal with Iran. Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton, a Republican, is pushing for a U.S. military strike against Iran, against its nuclear facilities. Senator Graham, would you authorize, as president, a nuclear strike against -- I mean, sorry -- a strike against Iran's nuclear facilities? +p1345 +aVGovernor -- -- Hugh -- I'm going to go to Hugh Hewitt for a question for Governor Pataki. +p1346 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1347 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Graham -- +p1348 +aVWe're bringing you in on this question as well. Senator Graham, Vladimir Putin in recent days has sent an estimated six more tanks, four helicopters and Russian ground troops into Syria to help support President Assad, an enemy of the United States. The Russian military is also buzzing American planes and Naval vessels around the world. Your front-runner, Donald Trump, says he can do details with President Putin, that the two of them will get along, quote, "very well." Why would your confrontational approach work better than Mr. Trump's negotiation? +p1349 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1350 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1351 +aVGovernor Jindal, how would President Jindal... ... get the Russians out of Syria? +p1352 +aV... +p1353 +aVWell... +p1354 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1355 +aVThank you, Senator... +p1356 +aVThank you, Senator. The final question... +p1357 +aVThe final questions for these four Republicans as the top contenders get ready to take their places on the debate stage when we come back right after this. Welcome back to the CNN Republican debates at the Reagan Library in beautiful Simi Valley, California. We have time for one more question for the candidates. Governor Pataki, let's start with you. You have all spent the last hour and a half debating each other. The other 11 candidates are on their way to the stage. What is the one thing as a candidate that you offer that no one at the next debate can offer? +p1358 +aVThank you, senator. +p1359 +aVThank you. +p1360 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum? +p1361 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1362 +aVThank you. +p1363 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1364 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Governor Jindal, what is something that you offer as a candidate that the other 11 candidates coming on stage in a few minutes cannot offer? +p1365 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Graham? +p1366 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1367 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. Our thanks to the candidates for a great debate. In just a moment, we're bringing the candidates from both of tonight's debates together for a group photo. That will be a first in this campaign. And then, of course, the main event, the top 11 candidates going head to head. I will be back as moderator. Right now, let's go to my colleague, Anderson Cooper. +p1368 +asVSANTORUM +p1369 +(lp1370 +VYou know, listening to what your network was talking about prior to this race, this debate, reminded me of the coverage that many on this floor are getting. This race, this debate, was called the, "Undercard Debate". The undercard debate. It wasn't advertised significantly. In fact, the entire hour lead up to this there was no conversation about any of the four people on this debate stage, and that is the chronic situation. In fact, they listed -- they put a poll up from Wall Street Journal/NBC News, they listed the candidates, and they failed to mention I wasn't listed. I got zero, why? Because they -- NBC, Wall Street Journal poll never includes my name on the list. This is what the media has been doing over the past year, and trying to segregate, and take Iowans out of the process. What Iowans deserve... ... is to hear from every candidate on equal footing. Had they applied the same rules four years ago, I would have been in the undercard debate. The guy who won the Iowa Caucuses would have been in the undercard debate, not talked about. We would have been talking about, maybe, an entertainer that may have been trying to run. Ladies and gentlemen, you have a chance on Monday to put the record straight about who you want, not who will entertain you. +p1371 +aVBut, who will fight for what you believe in, and I hope you do... +p1372 +aVWell, look. The entire lead up to this debate was talking about whether Donald Trump is going to show up for the next debate. The people of Iowa, who I know pretty darn well, care a lot about the issues. They care about who is going to be the leader of the free world. Who is going to be able to take on +p1373 +aVAnd we are not hearing any of those things. We are hearing about whether someone is going to show up for the next debate or not. +p1374 +aVYes, I am. +p1375 +aVYou know, this, again, more of the politics of trying to get people to throw stuff at each other. I'm not going to throw mud at anybody on this stage tonight. I'm not going to throw mud at anybody on the stage later. I'm not going to attack Donald Trump. What I'm -- Mike Huckabee and I were asked to come to an event where money was going to be raise to do help our veterans. You know, I thought about it. And I thought about. I said well, wait a minute, now, if there were no political considerations and I had some time because I'm not doing anything at 9:00 tonight. And so if I had some time, would I go... ... if I could help raise money for veterans? And the answer was yes, I would. And so I'm going. +p1376 +aVThank you for the question, Martha. We have to have an honest discussion with the American people about the nature of the threat that we confront. This president says that +p1377 +aVWhat I would say is that we have to create jobs that give people wages and benefits that can help them provide for themselves and their families. And that's why I announced from a factory floor in western Pennsylvania, I pledge to make America the number one manufacturing nation, again, in the world. And we can do it. China is starting to reorient itself away from a manufacturing economy that's dumping products on the -- overseas to providing more services to their people. This is an opportunity for America. It's an opportunity for us to get those jobs back. And by the way, do you want to solve global climate change? Take 2 million jobs from China in manufacturing and moving them back here to the United States, where we produce one-fifth the CO2 when we make things. We can help -- we can do every -- we can do it all. We can take care of the environment. We can create more jobs here. Seventy-four percent of Americans don't have a college degree. And unfortunately most folks who, in the Republican Party, don't talk about what we're going to do to create jobs for people who feel like neither political party cares about them. When you elect me, we'll create opportunities for working men and women in this country -- all over this country. +p1378 +aVWell, in fact, the plan that I put forward is scored by the Tax Foundation as bringing three and a half million jobs into this country, and we have provisions in the flat tax for the corporate side that actually has a phase in of manufacturing. Manufacturers initially don't pay any income tax. Ten percent the next year, and 20. We're going to also have a repatriation provision which says that if you have money overseas, and you're Apple, and you got a couple hundred billion dollars there, bring it back. The most you'll be taxed 10%, invest it here in America. Create jobs here in America with all that money that's sitting overseas. We also -- it's not just taxes. It's regulation. I've pledged to cut every single Obamacare -- I mean, excuse me, Obama regulation, including Obamacare, and remove those regulations that cost more than a hundred million dollars in the economy. That will liberate -- and that includes waters of the U.S., and the ozone regulations, they -- the mercury regulations. All of these just crush our manufactures and don't create an opportunity for us to survive. And, remember, China produces five times as much CO2 and other pollutants per dollar of GDP as we do. You want to help the environment? Bring jobs back to America. +p1379 +aVWell, I've been to the March for Life for about 25 years and I thought -- I think that's a pretty good record. Spoken at it a few times and I have shepherded every single piece of pro-life piece of legislation that's passed over the last 20 years. I've either authored it or shepherded it through the United States Congress and I'm pretty proud of that record too. But we have an election going on and there was some snow coming. So I decided that maybe it would be better for me to get out and do some campaigning and not be stuck as my wife and kids were for a week, piling out of two and a half feet of snow. So, here's what I would say. If you want someone that is going to talk a good game, there are a lot of folks on this stage that have talked a good game on the issue of life. Not only have I talked a good game on life and I've done some things. But I've also lived it. You know, one of the things Saint Francis said was, you know, if you preach the gospel, then if you have to, speak. The bottom line is, that twice in my life, we were counseled to have an abortion, one with our son Gabriel and one with our little girl Bella. And neither time did Karen and I for a moment think about it because we know that life begins at conception. We know the dignity of every human life and we know the potential of every child, no matter how long that life lives. And that is a message that can come across to all Americans and without having to say a word and defend the institution of life and the dignity of life in this country. +p1380 +aVThe president of the United States has been the most divisive president in -- certainly in my lifetime. This is a man who constantly... He is not trustworthy. You can't sit down and negotiate with him. He won't keep a deal. We have heard that over and over again. And here is what he does that really, really creates the friction in Washington. He personally attacks people. He ascribes motives to them that aren't true and then he tears them down. How are you going to work with someone if you don't treat them decently, honestly, and respectfully? I was a tough fighter when I was in Washington. I had very sharp elbows. I fought. I went there and joined a game named Jim Nussle here from Iowa with the "gang of seven." And we, in four years' time, took a Congress that had been controlled by Democrats for 40 years, and brought in the first Republican majority because we fought and we fought tough. But you know what? I was able to then work with those same people that we fought with and able to pass welfare reform. Unborn Victims of Violence Act. Pro-life bills. Health savings accounts. A whole laundry list of things not because I was mean, but because I was able to be respectful in the disagreements. And that's what we need in Washington, someone who can be respectful and still unite this country. +p1381 +aVI just want to thank the people of Iowa. Over the last five years I've done 700 speeches and town hall meetings all throughout the state of Iowa, and it has been an incredible right. Thank you. I want to thank all the wonderful folks like Pastor Carey Gordon who gave me a smooth stone and said you go slay Goliaths. Someone like Jim and Janet Cook who over this past Christmas gave up Christmas presents for their kids, and they have more than I do, just they can help me and my campaign. That's the kind of people... ... in Iowa. And, here's what I'm asking you to do. You're good people. You know good leaders. Lead. Pick the right person, not what the polls say. Not who the money give people to. Pick the leader you know is best for this country. Thank you. +p1382 +aVWell, all he has to do is listen to the Democratic debate and find out how bad the economy is. All they do is complain about the hollowing out of the middle of America, and how America is struggling so badly, and have to make these radical changes in Washington. But they've been in control for the last seven years, and what have we seen? The most important jobs, I believe, in this country are the ones that fill the middle. For the 74% of Americans who don't have a college degree between the age of 25 and 65 are manufacturing jobs. Your governor, and your legislature, and your team here have done an amazing job of bringing manufacturing jobs back to South Carolina. Right here. Right here in Charleston, right down in the street in Boeing. You've done a great job, and what's happened? You've grown this economy, you've strengthened the center of your state, the middle. That's because you know that if you're really going to create wealth and opportunity, you got to get jobs, and good paying jobs for everybody. And, so what's happened? Two million jobs, manufacturing jobs, have left this country because of Barack Obama. Regulations, EPA, workplace regulations, things driving people off-shore all because of his number one priority, global climate change. Well, let me tell you this, Mr. President. For every dollar of GDP, China creates five times as much pollution as we do here. You want to \u2014 lower global climate change, bring those jobs back to America and let American workers do that job with less pollution. +p1383 +aVWell, the historic promises that we have made to \u2014 to Iran in this agreement need to be torn up on the first day in office of the next president. And let me tell you why, because Iran has already torn it up. Iran has not approved the agreement that President Obama has said that they have approved. They have approved a different agreement in their parliament. The fact of the matter is they have violated this agreement. Carly just mentioned some of those violations. They have launched ballistic missiles, tested them, in clear violation. And here's the pathetic part. The president announced that they were going to impose sanctions. And then President Rouhani went on Twitter and said there would be retaliation. And what did we do? We backed down. Ladies and gentlemen, there are 50 some Citadel cadets in this audience tonight. I would ask them to stand up if they will. And here's what I want to tell each and every one of them, as you stand. Here's what I want to tell them. Whether it's you're watching that movie this weekend that just came out when we abandoned our men and women in Benghazi, or whether it's we treat Iran, that gave courtesies to our sailors, as they made them record a hostage video, let me tell you this, if you choose to serve this country, I will have your back. I will not let America be trampled upon anymore by these radical jihadists. +p1384 +aVI would just say that if we were doing a better job within the government, we wouldn't need the private sector to do the things that we're asking them to do. I've had a little experience in this in the private sector myself. And what I found was a government with layers and layers of bureaucracy, of people who had some technical expertise but they had no authority, number one. And one of the things I found out about in the bureaucracy is if a lot of people have authority, nobody has authority, number one. And number two, that if you don't do anything, you don't get fired. It's only when you do something and something goes wrong, you get fired. So they do nothing. And that's what is happening in our Defense Department right now. We have a capability that they're trying to develop to play defense. We have a lot of technologists that are very skilled. And they're trying to figure out how to play defense. But what we don't have is we don't have folks who are thinking about offense. We don't have war-fighters. We have technologists. Technologists are not war-fighters. Technologists are thinking, how do I protect cyber-security, how do I secure, how do I protect? And we need to have a much more dynamic, how do we \u2014 how do we go after them? How do we respond? And we need leadership that's willing to make sure that when someone attacks us \u2014 and ladies and gentlemen, they're attacking us as we speak. They're attacking us all day every day, not just the government, but they're attacking private sector companies all day every day. They have to learn that we're going to pay \u2014 they're going to pay a price when they do so. And then right now, just like in every other aspect of our national security, people who attack us are not paying a price. We need a leader who will make sure that they know when they mess with America, they're going to pay a price. +p1385 +aVLook, Facebook and Twitter can teach us things. We can cooperate with them. We can share ideas and information. But this is a \u2014 and this is a very dicey area for the government to go in and require the industry to do its job. It needs to develop that capability. We need to be \u2014 have responsible dialogue, but I don't think requirements are the order of the day. +p1386 +aVWell, the most devastating attack that could occur is an electromagnetic pulse attack, and that would be an attack that would be triggered by a nuclear explosion in the upper atmosphere of our country. The best way to stop that from happening is to make sure that those who contemplating and actually war-gaming and talking about using it, Iran, doesn't get a nuclear weapon so they can't explode that device. And the president of the United States has put Iran on a path to a nuclear weapon. And we have done nothing to do anything to harden our grid. There is actually a bill in Congress that would put money forward to try to put redundancy and harden our electric grid so it could actually survive an EMP. An EMP is a devastating explosion that sends a pulse that knocks out all electric, everything, everything that is connected to any kind \u2014 that is wired, that has a circuit board gets fried out. Everything is gone. Cars stop. Planes fall out of the sky. This is a devastating attack. And this president has done nothing, number one, to take the most probable person to \u2014 probable country to launch an attack and stop them, and has done nothing to try to defend us, particularly our electric grid. The bottom line is, I put the original sanctions on the Iranian nuclear program when I was in the United States Senate. I've been fighting for 12 years with one thing in mind, that we must stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. And......because they're different than every other country. They do not want a nuclear weapon to defend themselves. They want a nuclear weapon to have theological ends to bring about their mahdi so they can control the world. And that is the most serious threat facing this country right now. +p1387 +aVWell, the numbers just don't add up. I mean, they have not added manufacturing jobs. Manufacturing jobs have been lost in this country, 2 million of them. The bottom line is that this president has done more to take jobs away from the hard-working people who are struggling the most. And that's folks who are, as I said, the 74 percent of Americans who don't have a college degree. And they're out there talking about, well, we're going to provide free college for everybody. Well, who is going to pay for it? The 74 percent that don't have a college degree. They're not \u2014 nobody is focused. Let's just be honest, nobody is focused on the people who are struggling the most in America today. We talk about immigration. Talk about the president's immigration plan. He wants to bring in more and more people into this country. Let people who are here illegally stay in this country. Almost all of the people who are here illegally, and most of the people who came here legally over the last 20 years, they're working in wage-earning jobs. That is why wages have flat-lined. And we have unfortunately two political parties with most of the candidates in this field for some form of amnesty, some form of allowing people to stay here even though they're here illegally and for increasing levels of legal immigration. I'm someone who believes that we need to be the party that stands for the American worker. And when we say we need to send people back, I mean we send people back. And let me just make one point. I was in Storm Lake, Iowa, the other day, near a Tyson's plant, 91 percent of the kids that go to the elementary school there are minority kids. And they said, well, what are you going to do with all of these people, their families, they've lived here for a long time? I said, I'm going to give them a gift. I'm going to give them a gift of being able to help the country they were born in. And I'm going to export America, the education they were able to see. They learned English language. They learned about capitalism. They learned about democracy. You want to stop flow of immigrants? Let's send six million Mexicans, Hondurans, Guatemalans, El Savadorians......back into their country, so they can start a renaissance in their country so they won't be coming over here anymore. +p1388 +aVYou know, we've had this debate about the economy, and we haven't talked the one issue now increasingly even the right, and even the are coming to agreement. I've run around doing 300 town hall meetings talking about a book written by a liberal Harvard sociologist, not a normal thing for me to be talking about, but I now name Robert Putnam who wrote a book called, "Our Kids". And, he wrote this book, I think, ostensibly to support the Democratic argument that the middle of America's hollowing out, and income gap is widening, and rich are getting richer. When he studied all the information as to what was going on, he realized that the biggest reason that we're seeing the hollowing out of the middle of America is the breakdown of the American family. The reality is that if you're a single parent \u2014 a child of a single parent, and you grew up in a single parent family neighborhood, you went to that single parent family school, the chance of you ever, ever reaching the top 20% of income earners is 3% in America. At least \u2014 I don't know about you, but that's not good enough. And, we have been too politically correct in this country because we don't want to offend anybody to fight for the lives of our children. You want \u2014 You want to be shocked? You read the first few chapters of Mr. \u2014 Dr. Putnam' book. He talks about Port Clinton, Ohio and growing up there in the 1950's, and how poor kids actually survived and did well, even though they were poor and disadvantaged. But, then he goes to the towns today and these kids are failing, and failing miserably. They don't even have a shot, and we won't even have the courage to have leadership at the federal level \u2014 not with legislation, but the most powerful tool a president have, the bully pulpit to encourage each and everyone of you, churches and businesses, and educators, and community leaders to let's have a national campaign to rebuild the American family, and give every child its birthright which is a Mom and a Dad who loves them. That will change this economy. +p1389 +aVLadies and gentlemen, America is frustrated and angry and looking for someone who's a fighter, but I also think they're looking for someone who's a winner. Somebody who can go out there and take on the establishment and make a difference. And take on someone who's going to be the person who's going to be between a Republican holding the presidency and that's Hillary Clinton. And there's one person on this stage, one person in the race who's done it and done it repeatedly. I've taken on Hillary Clinton on the issues you care about. Partial-birth abortion. Go and google Rick Santorum and Hillary Clinton and there you'll see a five-minute debate. I'll let you decide who won the debate. I'll tell you who won, because we passed the bill and I know I'm out of time but I'm going to take some of Rand Paul's time here for a second. If you're looking for someone who fought Hillary Clinton on Iran's sanctions, she was one of four who voted \u2014 who's deciding vote who voted against Iran's sanctions, so we didn't get it in place as earlier as we should have. I've fought battles against her. In 1994, I ran against the Clinton machine. James Carville and Paul Begala, ran the race against me when I took on the author of Hillary care. And each one of those battles, I won. You want a fighter, you want a winner, I'd appreciate your vote. Thank you. +p1390 +aVThank you, Wolf. It's great to be here in Las Vegas. And I just want to thank everybody for the opportunity to be here. This is an important time in our country's history. We have entered World War III. World War III has begun and we have a leader who refuses to identify it and be truthful to the American people to the stakes that are involved, in part, because his policies have led us here. His policy toward Iran lit the fuse of a nuclear Iran. Just a few weeks ago the International Atomic Agency reported that Iran has had a nuclear program, but they don't know if it's continuing because they refuse to share any information about the current status. And this President marches on, forgiving them hundreds of billions of dollars to allow them to not just reconstitute their robust nuclear program, pursue their missile program, but also to foment terror around the world. And then his policies in the Middle East with Iraq create +p1391 +aVOf course I do. But what Donald Trump was saying was nothing against Muslims. His comment was against this administration who doesn't have a policy to properly vet people coming into this country. Let's just be honest about what's \u2014 what's being talked about here. And I know people will pile on because it makes sense to pile on, maybe from the polls. But he brings up a legitimate issue. The fact of the matter is not all Muslims are Jihadists and no one, including I suspect, Donald Trump would say that. But the reality is, all Jihadists are Muslims. That's a reality. And we have \u2014 we have to stop worrying about offending some people and start defending all Americans. Because we're not right now. +p1392 +aVI would agree \u2014 I would agree that Donald Trump's proposal was not the right proposal. But he brings up a very important issue that I think we've been ignoring for far too long in this country. The reality is that, yes, we need to get reformist Muslims to join us. We need to get those who are being persecuted and killed within the Middle East to join us. But we also have to protect this country from those who want to harm us and we have to defeat those who are radicalized in the Middle East and wherever we find them around the world. +p1393 +aVJust because it couldn't have prevented San Bernardino doesn't mean that we shouldn't have all tools available to us that doesn't impinge upon people's privacy. This sort of data collection is not collecting people's phones calls, their voices; they're not collecting information that's personal. There's no names attached to these numbers. They're simply numbers and times and relationships that throughout algorithms that computer technology can be able to sort through relationship about what numbers are calling what numbers and be able to track those down to see if there's any leakage's between someone who's potentially a terrorist. That is to me just fundamental that we have to have this type of data to be able to not impinge upon people's privacy. In fact, I would make the argument that the more data we can collect that's anonymous that we can through, through using algorithms, the less we need to involve people in and imposing themselves in people's privacy. +p1394 +aVLook, I agree with Governor Huckabee, that we should in fact be looking at people's social media posts. That's just common sense. But we've defunded and tied the hands behind the backs of our intelligence agencies because of political correctness. We're not allowed to ask any questions or really pursue, whether there's any mosque that they're attending that could be spreading Jihadism, and we know that in this country there are Imams that are doing that. But we're not allowed to ask those questions, we're not allowed to pursue to those things because we have a president who denies the reality of the enemy we confront. +p1395 +aVI don't. I don't think we should be able to deny someone's constitutional rights based on a list kept by the government that nobody knows how they get on it, or how they get off of it. If you're going to make that list public, if you're going to put criteria out there as to how you're going to get on it, if you're going to deny someone's constitutional right, than I think there has to be more transparency. Let's just be honest, when someone applies for a gun, you do a background check. And, if you're on the terrorist watch list, guess what very well may happen? You may get denied that. That's a discretion of the people \u2014 of the ATF in making that kind of decision. I want to leave that discretion \u2014 as long as this list is not well known, as long as it's not transparent, we have to leave that discretion. I want to make a comment about what Mike said, and George said, about mus \u2014 Islam. The fact of the matter is, Islam is different. I know this is going to come as a shock to a lot of people, and I mean the sincerely. Islam is not just a religion. It is also a political governing structure. The fact of the matter is, Islam is a religion, but it is also Sharia law, it is also a civil government, it is also a form of government. And, so, the idea that that is protected under the First Amendment is wrong. And, in fact, that political structure is what is the big problem. The imposition of Sharia law adherence to fundamental Islam as it was practiced in the Seventh Century... +p1396 +aV...There has to be a line drawn. +p1397 +aVWell, there's all sorts of theological reasons why we may not want to go into Syria right now to take +p1398 +aVI would have no problem with Sy \u2014 with boots on the ground in Syria in a training capacity. I do not want American troops on the front line in Syria because I don't believe that that would serve to the interest. Again, understanding what +p1399 +aVNo look, I'm committed to whatever is necessary understanding the nature of the enemy. The enemy is a theocracy and their allure is their theocracy. It's their doctrine and so we have to understand that doctrine. That's why, I love the fact that people are angry and outraged in Washington and want someone new and fresh. But we need someone who understands and has knowledge and experience in these areas. And I can see that you know, Senator Graham has that experience and we have a little difference of opinion. But frankly, it's not that big of difference in our opinion, we both want to defeat +p1400 +aVAnd the fact that we have a nuclear treaty with the Shiites in Iran, that we have now partnered with the Russians and appearing to allow Assad to stay, which is a satellite Alawites, very interrelated to the Shiites, this looks to +p1401 +aVWell, I would establish a no-fly zone. And, I think we just... +p1402 +aVWell \u2014 the first thing you have to do is establish a no-fly zone, and you don't do that by just sort of declaring it. You work through the process of making sure you work with people who, hopefully, have the same objective that you do. And, if they don't, then you establish the no-fly zone, and you take the consequences of whatever \u2014 who violates that law. +p1403 +aV...I don't think it's a war with Russia anymore than Turkey went to war with Russia when Turkey shot down a plane... +p1404 +aVThese are \u2014 these are incidents not something that we're threatening the motherland. This is a tactical decision within an area that we have an obligation for the refugees, for providing stability to the rebels, and an opportunity for the rebels to reconstitute. And, making sure that we stop the flow of refugees into Europe, and into the United States to establish a no-fly zone. And, Russia either is going to comply with it or not, and if they don't, I think it can be contained to that region. +p1405 +aVWell, I would establish a no-fly zone. And, I think we just... +p1406 +aVWell \u2014 the first thing you have to do is establish a no-fly zone, and you don't do that by just sort of declaring it. You work through the process of making sure you work with people who, hopefully, have the same objective that you do. And, if they don't, then you establish the no-fly zone, and you take the consequences of whatever \u2014 who violates that law. +p1407 +aV...I don't think it's a war with Russia anymore than Turkey went to war with Russia when Turkey shot down a plane... +p1408 +aVThese are \u2014 these are incidents not something that we're threatening the motherland. This is a tactical decision within an area that we have an obligation for the refugees, for providing stability to the rebels, and an opportunity for the rebels to reconstitute. And, making sure that we stop the flow of refugees into Europe, and into the United States to establish a no-fly zone. And, Russia either is going to comply with it or not, and if they don't, I think it can be contained to that region. +p1409 +aVI would use the studies that were done that were ignored by this military that there were certain positions that frankly were not suitable. And they pushed a political agenda above what is in the best interest of the safety, security, and effective of our, of our fighting units. So I would go back to using what we should be doing. Which is putting forth people on those front line positions who are best prepared to do the job, survive the job, and come back home safely. +p1410 +aVI would change the policy to reflect what is the best interest of the people that we're asking. I've got a son who's going, who's going into the Air Force right now, and I, as a father, I want to make sure that, if he's out there on the front line \u2014 and he may be a pilot flying an airplane \u2014 I want to make sure that the person who's responsible for, for his wing has the ability to do the job they're doing. And if they don't have that ability to do the job, if we're doing a social promotion as opposed to what's best for the efficacy of our fighting force and for the survivability of our men and women, I'll change that policy. +p1411 +aVSo what you just said is you agree with me. Because that's exactly what I said. +p1412 +aVI said if you can't do the job, you shouldn't be able to...you shouldn't have the position. +p1413 +aVNo, I did not say that, George. I mean, you may, you may have heard that, but I didn't say that. What I said was, if they can in fact do the job that any, any other person can do, I will allow them to do so. +p1414 +aVBut if they cannot, I would reverse the policy. And what happened here is there were many studies done, particularly in the Marine Corps, which begged this President not to move forward with this because people are going to get killed as a result of it. The President went forward anyway. +p1415 +aVOf course there is a proper way to vet refugees coming into the United States. But not from the +p1416 +aVLindsay says this is a real war, until it comes to immigration. And, then, all of a sudden it's not such a real war. The reality is that we've seen since the events of 9/11, the president talks about how he's worried about discrimination and acts against Muslims. There's four times as many acts of violence against Jews than there are against Muslims. I never hear the president talk about that. The reality is that under this president, since 9/11, this anti-Muslim United States of America has doubled the rate of Muslim immigration. Since 9/11. That's what we've done. So, the idea that we have an immigration system that is working... +p1417 +aVIs not \u2014 and, I'm out of time. +p1418 +aVHere's the problem. I was with, in fact, one my guests here today is the Sheriff in Cochise County, down on the border in Arizona. And, he talked with me last night when I was with him about all of the children coming across. All of the children, why? Because we've created a magnet. These children are not coming over, and in great shape, not coming over \u2014 and not in harms way, and \u2014 going through difficult times. We're attracting people. He's also the Sheriff that caught Syrian's at the border. We have through the policies supported by almost everybody in this field......A policy that says amnesty. The world hears this, and knows that if they can come across this border, by and large, they're going to be able to stay. That has to change. +p1419 +aVBarack Obama has not kept this country safe. Hillary Clinton will not keep this country safe. We need to nominate someone who America knows will keep this country safe. Ten years ago I put the sanctions on Iran's nuclear program. Before that, I gave speech after speech, including to President Bush, to identify the enemy and call these radical Islamists who they are. Ladies and gentlemen, this week +p1420 +aVThe middle of America is hollowing out. All you have to do is listen to the last Democratic debate and you would think there was a Republican president in office the way they complained about how bad things are in America and how the middle \u2014 the middle of America is hollowing out. I agree with Mike Huckabee. I spent this morning in Chicago at Fabtech, which is a sheet manufac \u2014 a sheet metal fabricators conference. Thousands of people there explained the latest and newest technologies. You know what I was told? I was told when I went to booth after booth that there are 250,000 welder jobs open in America \u2014 250,000 welder jobs paying anywhere from $50,000 to $70,000 a year, and if you want to weld pipe on a, you know, for oil and gas pipelines, you can make $100,000 a year. Every manufacturer \u2014 I go to one every single week. In fact, I have with me in the \u2014 in the crowd here today a gentleman who is a supporter of mine from Rockwall, Texas, Ed Grand-Lienard. He runs Special Products. And he tells me he has jobs open in every skill that he \u2014 he \u2014 he could possibly hire for in Rockwall, Texas, but he can't find people. So the issue is, yes, we need a tax code. I \u2014 I propose a 20 percent flat tax \u2014 20 percent on corporations, 20 percent on \u2014 on individuals, full expensing, which will be powerful for manufacturing, a 0 percent rate, initially, for manufacturers. We're going to have a very powerful tax code. We're going to do something about regulation. We're going to suspected every single ObamaCare regu \u2014 Obama regulation that cost over $100,000 to the economy. But we have to start doing something about training and employing people who are sitting on the sidelines because they don't see a path. And we have a \u2014 a bureaucracy in Washington and a president in Washington \u2014 and even among Republicans who think everybody has to go to college. People need to go to work and we need to provide......opportunities for them to go to work out of high school. +p1421 +aVWell, the answer is first that we need to do something about a tax code that doesn't penalize. One thing that I'm excited about our tax code, proposed changes, is it's very pro-family. You have a $2,700 tax credit, period, for every person in that family, so that family, you know, would have about an $8,000 tax credit, which would be refundable. So every dollar she works, she's still only losing 20 cents. The problem with the tax code today, because of all the different provisions, you're right, you go back to work, you lose welfare benefits, you're losing money. Throw on top of that the \u2014 even a bigger problem, over 50 percent of children being raised in a home today of a single mom are raised in a home where the father is born \u2014 father is (sic) living at the child \u2014 the time the child is born. Now what does that mean? That means we have incentivized people not to marry. We've incentivized people to cohabitate instead of not marry, why? Because mom will lose welfare benefits if she marries father. It's not just mom going back to work, but it's mother and father marrying to form a more stable family for that child to be raised in a two-parent family. So we've got all sorts of really corrupt incentives that were put in place, well meaning by the left. But we need to remove those. We need to remove those incentives. We need to adopt a tax code that says we're going to be pro-family and pro-work. And that's what we'll do. +p1422 +aVAbsolutely. I'm a capitalist, not a corporatist. I'm not someone who believes we should be bailing out corporations whether their auto industries, or banks. And, it is simply a matter that there's auto industry \u2014 the auto industry would have survived, it would have survived through a bankruptcy process of \u2014 instead of Washington picking a winner and a loser. And, in this case, the losers are the bondholders, and the winners were the unions. That's fine. They did it, the unions \u2014 the unions survived. We \u2014 we have not survived in continuing to grow manufacturing jobs. We have a \u2014 we have a president, and an economy right now, that is killing \u2014 choking our ability to be able to compete. I'm one of the few people up here who actually believes that we need a level playing field when it comes to manufacturing. That means a good tax code, a good regulatory environment, low energy prices, better opportunities for workers to get training, and, also, I'm \u2014 a supporter of the +p1423 +aV...Let me settle this argument... +p1424 +aV...Well... +p1425 +aVI'll answer that in a second, but, I want to answer this other problem because this is a real legitimate debate between Chris and Bobby, and if somebody says we need someone who can win in a blue state, and Bobby says we need a real principled conservative. Ninety-two percent conservative voting record, unlike some of the other senators that Bobby mentioned who hasn't done anything to cut federal spending, I was actually the author of welfare reform, which is the only time we've ever seen a federal entitlement actually cut. We cut it. Senate did exactly what every conservative says they want to do. We took the program, we eliminated the federal entitlement, we blocked (ph) to the state, we capped the amount of money, cut it by about 10%, and then put two requirements, work, and time limits. We need to do that with the rest of the \u2014 means (ph) tested federal entitlements. I've done it. And I did it with a bipartisan support in the House and Senate, and after fighting two presidential vetoes by Bill Clinton. So I had a democratic president we had to get this through. No record of accomplishment. I agree with the folks who are from the Congress in this race. I have a record of accomplishment of being a conservative on everything. National security, on moral and cultural issues, on the economy, and twice won a blue state. The first time I beat the author of Hillarycare. I had Bill and Hillary in my state, James Carville managed the race against me, a state with a million more Democrats than Republicans. And I ran on health savings accounts, on private sector health care, as a conservative, pro-life, pro-family, and I won. And then in 2000, I was the only senator to win a state as a conservative that George Bush lost. You want someone who can win Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, with a conservative message, I'm your guy. +p1426 +aVI'll be happy to answer that if you give me more time. +p1427 +aVI'm going to answer two questions for the price of one. The infrastructure question, the answer is... We need to get the federal government out of this infrastructure business, other than vital economic highways. It has been said that if we cut the gas tax to 3 to 5 cents and send the rest back to the states, and just take care of the federal infrastructure that's vital for our economy, let the \u2014 we don't need the federal government and the road business that it is today. Number one. Number two, you know who I respect in the Democratic Party? You know why I respect them? Because they fight! Because they're not willing to back down, and they're willing to stand up and fight and win. And so I respect them because they are willing to take it to us. +p1428 +aVWell, I'll tell you, I have a 20 percent flat tax. That's one all income \u2014 so capital gains, corporations, individuals, 20 percent. I think that's a fair number, one out of five, to be able to \u2014 to help support the federal government. By the way it also approximates, if you take out some of the deductions, it approximates how much the federal government is, on average, spent of GDP, which is about 18 to 19 percent of GDP. So it actually fits with shrinking the size of government down to more like post-World War II levels. So the second thing we do is I don't allow for deductibility of state and local taxes, which will require state and local taxes to go down in order to be treated for their \u2014 for their people to be treated fairly. So the answer is, 20 percent and probably 33 percent overall. +p1429 +aVWell, I don't \u2014 I agree with Governor Christie, I don't think you can make it any more political than it's been. They \u2014 they are protecting a president that is over-taxing and over- regulating, shutting down this economy. And he \u2014 and they're keeping it up like Atlas, trying to hold up the Earth by \u2014 by these ridiculously low interest rates. And it's hurting American seniors, who are seeing no Social Security increases, seeing no \u2014 no savings. They're \u2014 they're putting their money aside. They're getting nothing in their deposit accounts. This is hurting the people who have acted responsibly, all in favor of those who, um, you know, are \u2014 are speculators and \u2014 and those on Wall Street. It's not a good deal for \u2014 for the vast majority of responsible Americans. The other thing we have with the Fed is they've been given way too much authority. Under Dodd-Frank, they've been given this enormous new authority. I mean they \u2014 they now have almost become the most powerful entity in Washington, DC. We need to repeal Dodd-Frank, get away that authority from the Fed and put them under more \u2014 more scrutiny. That's only part of the problem. I understand the Fed is interesting for a business channel, but I think for most Americans, the most important business is the family. And we haven't really talked much about the importance of the family to the economy. And \u2014 and ladies and gentlemen, every single book, from left to right, that's been written over the last couple of years has said the biggest problem in America today at the hollowing out of the middle of America is the breakdown of the nuclear family in America. We'd better be the party that's out there talking about this issue and what we're going to do to help strengthen marriage and return dads into homes in all communities. You want to talk about the communities that are hurting the most, the ones you see the protests in......there are no dads. And we need to do something about it. +p1430 +aVHappy Birthday. +p1431 +aV\u2014 States Marine Corps. +p1432 +aVThat's very personal to me. I grew up on a V.A. grounds. I lived in apartments on V.A. grounds my entire childhood. Both my Mom and Dad, after World War II, marry \u2014 met at a V.A., married, and that's where I lived. Kitchen table discussion was, particularly when I was growing up in the 1960's and 1970's, was the decline of the V.A. When they joined in the early 1950's, the V.A. was the top. They were the best, they were the best and brightest coming in after the war. And, we believed in the cause that we fought, and we invested in our hospitals to make sure that our veterans who left World War II were taken care of. But, after Vietnam, and during Vietnam, that began to change, and it really hasn't recovered since. The bottom line is the V.A. is antiquated. There's no need for a V.A. healthcare system as it existed after World War \u2014 why? Because we have the best private healthcare system in the world, we didn't need \u2014 we needed it in 1950's, hospitals were not particularly advanced, so, we built the best. We didn't maintain the best. Government didn't keep its promises to its veterans. So, what we need to do is two things. Number one, we need to allow veterans to go to private sector hospitals for their routine and ordinary care to get the best care in their community possible. And, there is a place for the Veterans Administration. There are injuries, and there are \u2014 things like +p1433 +aVIt should come as no surprise to Chris, or anybody else, that Barack Obama doesn't stand behind our men and women in uniform here at home because he hasn't stood behind them overseas. The rules of engagement that we've allowed our soldiers to go and fight against have put them in harm's way for political purposes. This has been the most politicized wars that we've ever seen under this administration. He gets in, and gets out, based upon what the polls are saying, what pressure he's getting from groups. Talk about a Commander in Chief. We need a commander in chief who has a vision and plan of how we're going to execute the national security of our country. Commander in chief is not an entry level position. Experience matters, and that's why I would ask for your support as a Commander in Chief, because I have the experience against the enemy......to confront to do the job. +p1434 +aVI announced from a factory floor in Western Pennsylvania. This campaign has all been about two words for me, working families. Working. Getting people the opportunity to see those wages rise, to be on the side of the American workers so they can get good paying jobs, and that means we have to start making things in America again. We need a president who's going to not just put policies in place, but is going to stand up at the bully pulpit and talk about the dignity of being a welder. The dignity of being a carpenter, about going to work and earning success. And, also, the importance of families, the importance of families and fathers, and mothers raising their children, and committing to that so that they can give children in our country the best opportunity to success. Working families is the key for us to win this election. +p1435 +aVYes, I think it's one thing to shrink the size of a state government but it's another thing to actually get something accomplished in Washington. It's a much tougher field. And I'm the one in the \u2014 on this stage and, frankly, on both stages that has actually gone to Washington, said we would shrink government, said we would shake things up and actually delivered for the conservative cause, everything from welfare reform, which was the largest, most significant accomplishment in the last 25 years for conservatism. I authored the bill when I was in the House of Representatives; I managed the bill on the floor of the United States Senate. You need a conservative who can deliver and that's what I bring to the table. +p1436 +aVWell, if you look at my flat tax, it actually takes the best of what Steve Forbes, Art Laffer, many have been advocating for a long time, which is a very strong pro-growth tax code \u2014 very simple. And, it adjusts it to make sure that it is not regressive. We have a $2,750 per person tax credit \u2014 that's $2,750 off the taxes due, not a deduction, a credit. And, we think \u2014 in fact, if you run the numbers, no American who's going to be paying more taxes under our proposal, so, we've accomplished both. We have a system that has a low single rate, but we take care of American families. I'm talking about $2,750 per person. That means a family four, that's $11,000 dollar tax credit. That's a very, very strong pro-family \u2014 and if you looked at the Wall Street Journal today, and so many of the publications that have been out there, they've talked about how the biggest problem of the hollowing out of the middle of this country. For workers to be able to raise is actually, the breakdown of the American family. William Galston, a liberal, said that on the pages of the Wall Street Journal today that the key to poverty is families. So, we put forth a pro-growth \u2014 Steve Forbes plan, combined it with a pro- family plan, and that's why I think it's going to work out, and work effectively. +p1437 +aVWhat we should be \u2014 we shouldn't be putting tariffs on anything. That hurts working men and women in this country. What we should be doing is making our manufacturing more competitive. One of the reasons I introduced the 20/20 plan, a 20 percent flat tax on corporations, as well as on individuals, is so we can be competitive, so we can bring those manufacturing jobs back. You want to talk about cutting pollution? You do a little back- of-the-envelope. We \u2014 we produce, per dollar of GDP, about one-fifth of the CO2 and other pollutants that China produces. So we're five times more efficient in producing goods here, as far as the environment \u2014 environment is concerned. Why don't we \u2014 if we really want to tackle environmental problems, global warming, what we need to do is take those jobs from China and bring them back here to the United States, employ workers in this country. We've lost two million jobs \u2014 two million jobs \u2014 under this administration in manufacturing \u2014 15,000 manufacturers have left this country. Why? Because of bad tax policy, bad regulatory policy and, yes, bad trade policy. We need to have a president that's going to pledge, as I have \u2014 I'm going to make America the number-one manufacturer so working men and women can have good paying jobs again in America. +p1438 +aV\u2014 with competition... +p1439 +aV\u2014 for low wage workers. +p1440 +aV and I... +p1441 +aVThat's not what's happening. +p1442 +aVA true conservative wants to create a level playing field. That's what \u2014 that's what we're \u2014 that's what government is supposed to do. They're not supposed to favor one group over another. And when it comes to our manufacturers, the level playing field is not in the United States. It's international. And so the federal government should have laws, tax laws, regulatory laws and, yes, finance laws. There's 60 other ex-im banks all over \u2014 all over the world. Every major competitor for the United States' manufacturing dollar has one of those banks. And guess what? They use those banks a heck of a lot more than their \u2014 than the United States of America does, number one. So in order to have a level playing field, which is what conservatives talk about all the time, level playing field, then we have to have export financing and here's why.Because export financing doesn't help Boeing, or G.E. G.E. just lost a contract, you know what they did? They went to . They got the X.M. (ph) bank in France to support it, and what did they do? They moved manufacturing out of South Carolina, out of Texas, moved to \u2014 Hungary, and to France. G.E. is still making money. G.E. is still doing well, but American workers are out of jobs. That's why we have to have this level playing field so we can compete with the rest of the world. +p1443 +aVWell, first, since you mention Colorado, I want to thank the people of Colorado because four years ago you \u2014 gave me the honor of winning the nomination out here in the state of Colorado. On a night we won three states, and it catapulted us to win 11 states ultimately, so, I just want to thank you very, very much for that support, and \u2014 in response to that, I do drink a lot of Coors beer, so... I try to help. The answer is pretty simple. The answer is simple. There are no shortage of breweries around the United States of America. I \u2014 I do \u2014 as I travel around the country, I do pints and politics, and I go to breweries all over the place, and there \u2014 there's almost no town in America anymore that doesn't have a brewery, so I don't think we need to worry too much. They're obviously \u2014 if there's \u2014 if there's some anti- competitive issues, you know, we have agencies to look at that. But, no, I'm not \u2014 I'm not concerned that Americans are not going to have choices in beer. +p1444 +aVAnd I care about, by the way. I care about choices. +p1445 +aVWell, I \u2014 I would say this, that what you're seeing is \u2014 in health care, you're seeing a lot of consolidation, and that consolidation is occurring because of Obamacare. You're seeing it particularly in an area that I am concerned about, and that's in insurance \u2014 health insurance. You're seeing the big health insurance companies fold up. You've seen Obama try to seed health insurance companies, and they've all failed, I think, except one. Why? Because we have a system of Obamacare with minimum loss ratios that make it virtually impossible for a small insurer to operate effectively. And this was the motive behind Obamacare. This wasn't incidental. This was deliberate, to make it so impossible for small insurers to survive... +p1446 +aV...that they consolidate into a small group. Then the left can say, "there is no competition, we need a single payer." That's why we have to repeal Obamacare. +p1447 +aVThank you. Can I just say something about that? +p1448 +aVWell, if you look at our plan that I introduced, the 2020 Clear Vision for America, we increase growth by 10 percent, 1 percent a year. So we go from 2.3 to 3.3, in repealing Obamacare, it's another .7. So you're looking at 4 percent growth, according to the Tax Foundation. And unlike Donald Trump and Bobby Jindal, we don't add $10 trillion to the deficit. In fact, our plan, while it creates as many jobs as their plan does and grows the economy as much as theirs does, we are a revenue-neutral plan because I believe that we need to reduce the size of government, yes, but we also need to reduce our deficit, and we need to get our budget balanced so we can start paying down this debt. And adding a trillion dollars with a tax cut and getting no more growth is not the way to do it. But that's only half of it. The word "economy" comes from the Greek "euthokis" (ph) which means family. The family is the first economy. And the one thing that we do not talk about enough is how stable families are vitally important for the middle of America to be prosperous and to grow and be safe. And I will have policies, not just tax policies, but others that will make sure that families are strong again in America. +p1449 +aVMLB, NHL, so I'm a big sports fan. And "The Wall Street Journal." Those are the three apps I use the most. +p1450 +aVWell, since we're usually in the Super Bowl at the Pittsburgh Steelers... Steeler nation, anybody? +p1451 +aVNo. I was in......was in Kansas City over the weekend to watch the Steeler game and about a third of the crowd were Steeler fans. So I'm usually not alone when I call on Steeler Nation. But we are used to being in the Super Bowl, so actually, it is in Pennsylvania already. +p1452 +aVI grew up in a steel town of Western Pennsylvania, outside of Pittsburgh, and when I announced for president, I announced from the factory floor. When I talk about making America the number one manufacturer again in the world, it's not just talk. When I talk about having the opportunity for people to rise again, it's not just because it polls well. I represented the old steel valley of Pittsburgh. I represented a 70% Democratic district, and won with 60% of the vote. Why? Because I aligned myself with working men and women who feel that neither party, and certainly not Washington D.C. cares about them. You elect me, we will get American workers on the side of the Republican party, and we can not be stopped if we do. +p1453 +aVHi, I'm Rick Santorum. Some of you may know me because I led the fight to end partial birth abortion. Some of you may know me because the I led the fight to end welfare as we know it, put people back to work, reduce poverty and reduce the federal budget. Some of you may know me because I successfully put sanctions on the Iranian nuclear program in Congress, over opposition of both parties initially. But hopefully, most of you know me most because I'm the proud father of seven children with particularly a special little disabled girl, who is the heart and core of my heart and married to a wonderful woman named Karen for 25 years, who is the love of my life. +p1454 +aVI think personal attacks, just please one person, Hillary Clinton. And all we do when we go after each other -- and we've seen a bunch of it, from people up on this stage, people who are going to be on the stage afterwards, who go after and make personal attacks on people. There are plenty of policy differences between the candidates up here and the candidates later. Donald Trump has ever right to run for president as a Republican, as anybody else in this audience, and he may have positions I disagree with, but he has the right to do that and the people should be given the benefit of the doubt for people to see through these things. I don't think it helps when Republicans attack Republicans personally. I'll say some things tonight which will be very big differences. The issue of immigration is one that there are huge differences in this field, and I will be out there talking about how we have to control immigration. How we have to look after the American worker. The focus of this debate should be on how we're going to win this election and help improve the quality of life for American workers, and we aren't doing that, when we're out there picking at each other and calling each other names. The name we should call out is, what are we going to do for average Americans losing ground in America today. And that should be our focus. +p1455 +aVWell, in fact, just about everybody in this field supports some pathway to citizenship. There are just a few, Governor Jindal, Senator Cruz, Senator Rubio, Jeb Bush, a lot of others, Senator Graham, all support some sort of amnesty at some point in time or another. And this is really the interesting thing about this whole debate. This debate should not be about what we're going to do with someone who's here illegally. This debate should not be about what we're going to do with someone who's here illegally; This debate should be about what -- what every other debate on every other policy issue is in America. What's in the best interest of hardworking Americans? What's in the best interest of our country. We've had to focus because the other side has set up for us, here is who we have to be concerned about on the issue of immigration, someone who's here illegally and their family, and what are we going to do about it? A greater leader will see that the objection of every law in America is to do what's in the best interest of America. And what's in the best interest of America right now is to look at wages, look at employment among wager earners. 70 to 90 percent of people who've come into this country, 35 million over the last 20 years, are wage earners that are holding wages down, taking jobs away from America. +p1456 +aVWell, just because you don't call it amnesty doesn't mean that what -- what almost everybody in this field is for is allowing people who are in this country illegally, people who broke the law to come into this country, people who came here legally and overstayed, to stay in -- in America. Again, we have 35 million -- we have the highest percentage of -- of -- of immigrants in this country, as far as numbers ever, as far as percentage, the -- the highest in 105 years. Wages are flatlining. The reason that you're seeing the angst and the anger out there and the reason this issue has taken off is because workers in America know that their wages are being undermined. If you look at, from the year 2000 to the year 2014, there're 5.7 million net new jobs created. What percentage of those jobs are held by people who weren't born here? The answer is all of them. The fact is, American workers are -- are getting hurt by immigration... +p1457 +aV... and that's why they're upset. +p1458 +aV...Hold on, hold on, hold on... +p1459 +aV...He mentioned my name, and that i didn't have a plan. And, the fact of the matter is... +p1460 +aV...that I did have a plan back in 2006. I introduced a plan called, A Comprehensive Border Security Bill, which did, in fact, put the resources to build the fencing, and deploy the troops, and the technology necessary which... +p1461 +aVAs you know, Lindsay... +p1462 +aV...As you know, 40 to 60 percent of the 11 million are here on visa overstays. We know exactly who they are, we should know where they are, but we have a government that doesn't tell them to return home. You can solve half of the problem of the 11 million... +p1463 +aV...by simply telling the 11 million that they have to return to their country of origin, so, that's half your problem... +p1464 +aV...Now, it's not 11 million... +p1465 +aVI don't know how many democrats I had on my bill... +p1466 +aVBut, the point is -- the point is is that I had a bill... +p1467 +aVWell, you're right, Lindsay, it went no where because we had a president back then who was for more comprehensive immigration reform... +p1468 +aV...That's right... +p1469 +aVYou know what we need to do... +p1470 +aVLindsay, is we need to win -- we need to win fighting for Americans. We need to win fighting for the workers in this country... +p1471 +aV...who are hurting, including including hispanics... +p1472 +aV...the people who are hurt the most by illegal immigration are hispanics. +p1473 +aV...The folks -- the folks who are -- hurt the worst are recent immigrants. By illegal immigrants coming to this country last year alone, 700,000 illegal immigrants came into this country. Who do you think are most impacted? It's the folks who came into this country, played by the rules, did what they were supposed to do. Came here, and went to work, and now they're finding themselves out of work because someone illegally is willing to come in and work for less... +p1474 +aVI just want to say -- I just want to say, I have seven kids, I've done my part. +p1475 +aVI have proposed 10,000 troops, I did so about six or seven months ago, that we needed to deploy additional troops to do exactly what Lindsey said, arm the Kurds, arm -- +p1476 +aVI've said -- I've said 10,000 and, if more is necessary, look, the answer is this, once +p1477 +aV16 years ago, this country was tremendously inspired by a young woman who faced a gunman in Columbine and was challenged about her faith and she refused to deny God. We saw her as a hero. Today, someone who refuses to defy (sic) a judge's unconstitutional verdict is ridiculed and criticized, chastised because she's standing up and denying -- not denying her God and her faith. That is a huge difference in 16 years. People have a fundamental right in the First Amendment. There's no more important right. It is the right that is the trunk that all other rights come from, and that's the freedom of conscience. And when we say in America that we have no room -- how many bakers, how many florists, how many pastors, how many clerks are we going to throw in jail because they stand up and say, "I cannot violate what my faith says is against its teachings"? Is there not room in America? I believe there has to be room. First, I believe we have to pass the First Amendment Defense Act, which provides that room for government officials and others who do not want to be complicit in what they believe is against their faith. Second, we need as a president who's going to fight a court that is abusive, that has superseded their authority. Judicial supremacy is not in the Constitution, and we need a president and a Congress to stand up to a court when it exceeds its constitutional authority. +p1478 +aVI hope so. If they're wrong. +p1479 +aVNo, what you have is judicial supremacy. You don't have a rule of law when the court has the final say on everything. +p1480 +aVMartin Luther King wrote a letter from the Birmingham jail. And he said in that letter that there are just laws and there are unjust laws. And we have no obligation to -- to condone and accept unjust laws. And he -- and they -- then he followed up and said what's an unjust law? An unjust law is a job that -- a law that go against the moral code or God's law or the natural law. I would argue that what the Supreme Court did is against the natural law, it's against God's law and we have every obligation to stand in opposition to it. +p1481 +aVWell, contrary to what Governor Jindal said, Governor -- Justice Roberts had a long record and it was a long, good record. And so he made a bad decision on -- a couple of bad decisions on ObamaCare but he's made a lot of great decisions, too. And so I don't -- I don't regret at all standing up for John Roberts but, you know, it's easy to sit out in Louisiana and talk about how, you know, well, I'd be tougher. I fought when I was in the United States Senate. We fought, for the first time, to defeat justices and judges that Bill Clinton nominated and I fought with President Bush to defend his nominees, to push even a filibuster, breaking the filibuster. I led that fight against someone who didn't want to end the filibuster in order for us to get good, conservative justices. So I have been there on the front line, fighting for judges and conservative justices and I will do so as president like none other. +p1482 +aVActually, I'm going to be proposing a plan, I call it the 20/20 perfect vision for America as flat tax, a 20 percent flat tax on income, 20 percent flat tax on capital gains and on corporations. We eliminate all the deductions, special interest provisions and corporations. We deal with the carried interest issue, because everybody pays the same 20 percent. So, there's no advantage as to how you take your income. That will create growth. We're going to allow expensing for corporations. For manufacturing, again, I print -- I pledged, when I announced that I was going to run for president on the factory floor that I would make America the number one manufacturer in the world. Why? Because we need to put Americans back to work. Hard working Americans, who are not doing well in this economy, and we start creating jobs here, and manufacturing. These people from all skill levels are going to be able to work. We put a 20 percent rate on corporations, we're competitive with almost every country in the world. We allow for expensing, we have a three year phase in. We start at zero for manufacturers, phase it up to 20. You're going to see an enormous investment of capital, and equipment. You're going to see people -- you're going to have problems finding folks are going to be able to work in manufacturing. That's how many jobs we're going to create. So, the answer is, you know, we're going to lower, and flatten taxes. We're going to put government on a -- on a budget. A 10 percent across the board cut... +p1483 +aV...employment. We've got a lot of plans. +p1484 +aV...Let me just... +p1485 +aV...He talked about manufacturing, and the fact is that we have a zero percent rate that faces the 20, we'd have a seven percent repatriation, so money -- about two trillion dollars over seas... +p1486 +aV...Would come back, and be invested in equipment here. We will create more jobs with this plan, than any plan out... +p1487 +aVLindsay, what percentage of American workers make the minimum wage right now? +p1488 +aVIt's less than one percent. +p1489 +aV...So, what you're saying, what every Republican's up here saying is we're against the minimum wage because, if you're not for increasing it, than whoevers making the minimum wage right now... +p1490 +aV...The answer is Republicans don't believe in a floor wage in America. Fine, you go ahead and make that case to the American public, I'm not going to. Not from a party that supported bailouts. I didn't, but this party did. +p1491 +aVNot from a party that supports special interest tax provisions for a whole bunch of other businesses, and, but, when it comes to hardworking Americans who are at the bottom of the income scale, we can't provide some level of income support? What I've proposed is not anything but the (ph) presidents (ph) proposed (ph) I believe that would be harmful to the American public, but a $.50 cents an hour increase over three years, which is what I'm proposing. So we would have a minimum wage which would be roughly in the area of what it's been historically, about 5 percent of wages. To me, if you're going to talk to 90 percent of American workers -- by the way, 90 percent of American workers don't own a bar. They don't own a business. They work for a living. They're wage -- most of them are wage earners. And Republicans are losing elections because we're not talking about them. All we want to talk about is, what happened to our business? There are people who work in that business. I was at a -- I was at the convention four years ago, and on the signs -- on all of the seats the night I spoke was a sign that said, "We built that," because Barack Obama had talked about how businesses didn't build their own businesses. Then we trotted out one small-business person after another for almost an hour that night talking about how they built their businesses. And that's wonderful. But you know what we didn't do? We didn't bring one worker on that stage. How are you going to win, ladies and gentlemen? How are we going to win if 90 percent of Americans don't think we care at all... +p1492 +aV... about them and their chance to rise... +p1493 +aVAs you know, Hugh, 12 years ago I authored the Iran Freedom Support Act, which put sanctions on the Iran nuclear program as we came within four votes of passing a very strong version of that. The four people who opposed on the floor: Joe Biden, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. And we came four votes short. But for 12 years, I have been laser-beam focused on the issue of Iran with a nuclear weapon. Why? Because I understand who they are. Yes, they are radical Islamists, that's true. But their particular version of it, which is an apocalyptic version, which is a death cult, they believe in bringing about the end of the -- end of the world. If you -- if you poll Iranians and Iraqis, Shiites in the region, more than two-thirds of them believe that the end of the world is going to come within their lifetime. Why? Because their regime preaches it. They believe in bringing about the end of times. That's their theological goal and we are in the process of giving them a nuclear weapon to do just that. That's why, on day one, I would say to the Iranian government, you open up all of these facilities for inspection, you make them available to the U.N. and to the U.S., everything, we can go everywhere or else we will take out those facilities. And when people say, you're going to start a war -- +p1494 +aV-- my response is, no, I'm going to stop a war because a nuclear Iran is the end. +p1495 +aVI came to Washington in the most unlikely way. I defeated a 14-year incumbent, a 60 percent Democratic district. I went to Washington thinking I was only going to be there for one term, and so I just shook things up. We sent the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee to jail. We ended 40 years, 40 years of Democratic control of the Congress. And I led that fight with reforms, substantive reforms, welfare reform. I led the charge -- I wrote the bill when I was in the House. I led the charge in the United States Senate. Partial-birth abortion -- in fact, three pro-life bills, bipartisan pro-life bills. I mentioned the Iran bill. We also passed one on Syria. Health savings accounts, as many of you know, I authored the original bill on health savings accounts, pushed that through the Congress for private sector health care reform. An outsider who came to Washington from the tough state of Pennsylvania, and we got conservative things done. I made things happen in a town where things don't happen very much. Now, after 10 years of seeing the mess, the retreat that we see in the Republican party in Washington, D.C., it's time to get someone who is an outsider. +p1496 +aVWho can go to Washington, D.C., and get things done. You know what, you have a lot of folks who will tell you a lot of things. Look at their record. I went to Washington as an outsider. +p1497 +aVShook things up, got things done. +p1498 +aVAnd that's why you can trust me to do it again. +p1499 +aVI would say the message that got us the win in Iowa and 10 other states against pretty overwhelming odds, is the message that's going to deliver us in this election. You know, we didn't start out four years ago at the top of the heap. We were behind where we were today. But we stuck to our message. We stuck to the fact that Americans are tired of Washington corporate interests and Democrats who are interested in just politics and power and they're looking for someone who's going to fight for them; looking for someone who's going to grow manufacturing sector of our economy, so those 74 percent of Americans who don't have a college degree have a chance to rise again. Someone who's going to stand up, and be very clear with our enemies as to the lines their going to draw and stand with them. I've got a track record. The reason I did so well last time is not just because of the vision, it's because I have a track record in Washington, D.C. of getting things done. Iran sanctions -- the Iran sanctions that brought them to the table, those are sanctions that we put in place when I was in the United States Senate, and a whole host of other things that put me in a position of saying, I not only have a great vision, but I can govern effectively in Washington. +p1500 +aVMy father was born in Italy, and shortly after he was born my grandfather immigrated to this country. And under the laws of this country, he wasn't allowed to be with his father for seven years. Spent the first seven years of his life in Fascist Italy, under Benito Mussolini. Not a very pleasant place to be. I asked my dad after -- obviously, when I found out about this. And I said, "Didn't you resent America for not letting you be with your father in those formative and very threatening years?" You know what he said to me? "America was worth the wait." We're a country of laws, Bill. We're a country of laws, not of men, not of people who do whatever they want to do. I know we have a president who wants to do whatever he wants to do, and take his pen and his phone and just tell everybody what he thinks is best. But the reason America is a great country, the reason is because our compassion is in our laws. And when we live by those laws and we treat everybody equally under the law, that's when people feel good about being Americans. And I put forth an immigration policy that is as strong in favor of the folks who are struggling in America the most than anybody else. It's the strongest pro-worker immigration plan. It says that after 35 million people have come here over the last 20 years, almost all of whom are unskilled workers, flattening wages, creating horrible opportunity -- a lack of opportunities for unskilled workers, we're going to do something about reducing the level of immigration by 25 percent. We're going to be tough at the border, we're going to be tough on all of the illegal immigrants that everybody else in this field -- we're going to be different. We're going to be actually out there trying to create a better life for hard-working Americans. +p1501 +aVI think it's -- yeah, I think it's a one-two punch. Number one, we have to create better paying jobs. I mean, that's just the bottom line. We haven't. And that's the reason that I've said under my presidency, we'll create jobs and make American the number one manufacturing country in the world. If we want to create jobs for the folks that you're talking about, who are having trouble getting off government benefits, primarily because of their low skill level, there is no better way -- it's worked for 100 years in America -- putting people back to work in manufacturing is it. I'm going to be introducing a plan which I call the 2020 Perfect Vision for America. It's a 20 percent flat rate tax, it'll take a blowtorch to the -- to the IRS. It will create a manufacturing juggernaut in this country. And you combine that with reforms of our welfare system. You're looking at the -- at the man who introduced and fought on the floor as a freshman senator and passed the Welfare Reform Act of 1996 over two President Clinton vetoes. Got 70 votes in the United States Senate. Bipartisan issue. And I ended a federal entitlement. Never been done before, never been done since. What we need to do is take the rest of the federal entitlements, not just welfare, but food stamps and Medicaid and housing programs and do the same thing we did with welfare. Work requirements and time limits. That will change everything. Mac +p1502 +aVIt is not any more than Dred Scott was settled law to Abraham Lincoln, who, in his first inaugural address, said "it won't stand." And they went ahead and passed laws in direct contravention to a rogue Supreme Court. This is a rogue Supreme Court decision, just like Justice Roberts said. There is no constitutional basis for the Supreme Court's decision, and I know something about this. The -- one of the times the Supreme Court spoke that I thought they were acting outside of their authority was in a partial-birth abortion case. You know, these Planned Parenthood tapes, what they're showing are partial-birth abortions. Abortions being done where the baby's being delivered first, to preserve those organs, and then they crush the skull. Well, the Supreme Court found a bill that I was the author of unconstitutional. What did I do? I didn't stop. I didn't say "oh, well we lost. It's the law of the land." We worked together. The House and Senate, under my leadership, and we passed a bill, and we said, "Supreme Court, you're wrong." We're a coequal branch of the government. We have every right to be able to stand up and say what is constitutional. We passed a bill, bipartisan support, and the Supreme Court, they -- they sided with us. Sometimes it just takes someone to lead and stand up to the court. +p1503 +aVJust ditto to that. We're going to suspend -- I've -- I've said this for four years. We're going to suspend and repeal every executive order, every regulation that cost American jobs and is -- is -- is impacting our freedom. And second, the First Amendment Defense Act, which is protecting religious liberty, if it's not passed by then, which I suspect it won't, because the president will veto it, I will institute an executive order to make sure that people of faith are not being -- not being harassed and persecuted by the federal government for standing up for the religious beliefs. +p1504 +aVI came to Washington, D.C. in 1990. That sounds like a long time ago. It was. It was 25 years ago, and I came by defeating the Democratic incumbent. I came as a reformer. I started the Gang of Seven, and it led to the overtaking of the 40-year Democratic rule of Congress, because I didn't -- I stood up to the old-boy network in Washington, D.C. because I believed that Washington was not the solution, that Washington was the problem, just like Ronald Reagan said. I was a child of Ronald Reagan. And I went there, and for 16 years, I fought the insiders and was able to get things done. That's the difference. We need to elect someone who will stand with the American people, who understands its greatness, who understands what an open economy and freedom is all about, but at the same time, has a record of being able to get things done in Washington like we've never seen before. Reforms, everything from moral and cultural issues to economic issues. Those of you health savings accounts. Health savings accounts are something that we introduced. It's a private-sector solution that believes in freedom, not Obamacare that believes in government control. Those are the things we brought, and we were able to get things done. If you want someone who's not going to divide Washington, but gets things done, then you should make me your president. +p1505 +aVI'll tell you how optimistic I am about America. Karen and I have seven children. You don't have seven children and bring them into this world if you're not optimistic about the future of this country. I am, but people are upset, and they're upset for a reason about the future of this country. Donald Trump actually seized on it when he talked about immigration. And I think the reason he did is because immigration is sort of an example of what's broken and what's wrong in Washington, D..C. You see, you have one side, the Democrats, and with immigration, all they care about is votes. They don't care about American workers, they just care about bringing as many people in so they can get as many votes as they can. ON the other side, you have so many Republicans, and what do they care about? Helping business make profits. There's nobody out there looking out for the American worker. I'm looking out for the American worker. I'm the only one on this stage who has a plan that's actually reduced -- actually going to reduce immigration. Actually going to do something to help the American worker. And you combine that with a plan to make manufacturing -- this country number one in manufacturing, you've got someone who's going to help revitalize and give hope to America, the place -- the place is that is the most hopeless today. That's why I ask for your support for president. +p1506 +asVQUESTION +p1507 +(lp1508 +VMy name is Ashley Tofil. Ms. Fiorina, in November, you said that you would not talk to Vladimir Putin after you were elected because you would be communicating from a position of weakness. Do you believe that it is feasible to not communicate with another world leader? And do you think that that also is a sign of weakness? +p1509 +aVMy name is Carla Hernandez. I'm from the University of Texas at Austin. And my question is directed to all the candidates. If the Bible clearly states that we need to embrace those in need and not fear, how can we justify not accepting refugees? +p1510 +aVPlease describe one action you would do to make the economic environment more favorable for small businesses and entrepreneurs and anyone dreaming of opening their own business. +p1511 +aVHi, I'm Adithya Sivakumar. I'm from Vanderbilt University. And I was wondering with U.S. designated state sponsors of terrorism such as Iran and other traditional U.S. enemies fighting +p1512 +aVNew Hampshire has been hard hit by the heroin epidemic, and we're on track to have twice as many overdose deaths this year as in 2013. What specifically would you do to address this crisis? +p1513 +aVAs a young person, I'm very concerned about climate change and how it will affect my future. As a presidential candidate, what will you do to address climate change? (END +p1514 +asVCAVUTO +p1515 +(lp1516 +VIt is 9:00 p.m. on the East Coast, 8:00 p.m. here inside the Milwaukee theater. Welcome to the Republican presidential debate here on the Fox Business Network. I'm Neil Cavuto, alongside my co-moderators, Maria Bartiromo, and the editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal, Gerard Baker. +p1517 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. +p1518 +aVIt sounds like a game show but it's not. Now I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the elephant in the room, and I'm not talking about your party's fine symbol. I'm talking about the purpose of tonight's debate. The economy and what each of you would do to improve it. No more, no less. We are focused on those issues, and what you have said on those issues in your words and what your opponents have said in their words about your words. That is the agenda tonight. How each of you plans to make America better tomorrow. And so we begin. Candidates, as we gather tonight in this very august theater, just outside and across the country, picketers are gathering as well. They're demanding an immediate hike in the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Just a few hours ago, near Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed doing the same for all state workers, the first governor to do so. Mr. Trump, as the leading presidential candidate on this stage and one whose tax plan exempts couples making up to $50,000 a year from paying any federal income taxes at all, are you sympathetic to the protesters cause since a $15 wage works out to about $31,000 a year? +p1519 +aVSo do not raise the minimum wage? +p1520 +aVDr. Carson, you have long bemoaned this lackluster recovery. And this Facebook map show Americans share your concern. The green represents how the jobs issue is resonating all across the nation, especially here in the state of Wisconsin. You suggested one minimum wage does not fit all, and that perhaps we should offer a lower or starter wage for young people. Those protesters outside are looking for $15 and nothing less. Where are you? +p1521 +aVSo, sir, just to be clear, you would not raise it? +p1522 +aVSenator Rubio, you called the recent Democratic debate in Las Vegas a night of giveaways, including free health care, free college and a host of other government-paid benefits. Since you aren't a fan of all they're giving away, tell us tonight what you would take back. +p1523 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. +p1524 +aVAll right. We're only just getting started. Coming up, your taxes. Stick around. You're watching FOX Business +p1525 +aVWelcome back to the Milwaukee Theater and the Republican presidential debate. Let's get right back to our questions. Dr. Carson, to you. You recently railed against the double- standard in the media, sir, that seems obsessed with inconsistencies and potential exaggerations in your life story, but looked the other way when it came to then-Senator Barack Obama's. Still, as a candidate whose brand has always been trust, are you worried your campaign \u2014 which you've always said, sir, is bigger than you \u2014 is now being hurt by you? +p1526 +aVI'll just forget that follow-up there. +p1527 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1528 +aVAlright, thank you. We're going to take a break here. Coming up, a big issue many Americans are facing, taxes. The Republican Presidential Debate continues now, live, from Milwaukee. +p1529 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from Milwaukee. Let's get back to the questions. And we want to touch on obviously one of the biggest of this issue in this year, taxes. And this will go to several of you. One of the biggest economic concerns of course in the country are taxes. Facebook data certainly backs that up. Once again the green on this map that we're going to see here shows how the conversation around taxes is resonating across the nation, especially here in Wisconsin. First off, Dr. Carson, to you. You say you are in favor of a tax system, I guess akin to tithing, sir, with a flat tax rate of up to 15 percent because you said, if everybody pays this, I think God is a pretty fair guy, so tithing is a pretty fair process. But Donald Trump says that is not fair. That wealthier taxpayers should pay a higher rate because it's a fair thing to do. So whose plan would God endorse then, Doctor? Yours or Mr. Trump's? +p1530 +aVRight. +p1531 +aVThank you very much. Senator Paul, you said you want to blow up the tax code and start over with an across-the-board 14.5 percent fair and flat tax. You happily offered that it is not revenue neutral and that's the idea. You want to choke off the amount of money coming into Washington. But don't you risk, sir, creating a near-term budget crisis just as your presidency would be beginning? +p1532 +aVThere are no deductions on your \u2014 under your plan? +p1533 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1534 +aVSenator Paul... Senator Paul, you have already said, sir, that that would be a mistake in not talking to Vladimir Putin, or to rule it out. You've argued that it's never a good idea to close down communication. With that in mind, do you think the same applies to administration efforts right now to include the Iranians in talks on Syria? +p1535 +aV...Well, then how would you respond? +p1536 +aVBut if you're not going to respond in a no-fly zone strategy, what would yours be? +p1537 +aVAll right. And look at the time, look at the time. You are watching FOX Business, we'll take a break. Stick around. +p1538 +aVSenator Cruz \u2014 and I will get to you \u2014 but, Senator Cruz, on that theme, Facebook data shows that over the last month alone, nearly 1 million people \u2014 nearly 1 million \u2014 have been concerned about reining in Wall Street, apparently believing that some have not been punished enough. So, as an accomplished litigator yourself and a former solicitor general, would you go after the very people who believe and fear that Wall Street has ignored, in other words, the crooks that Bernie Sanders say have gotten away with a financial murder? +p1539 +aVSenator......Senator, I really want to be clear here. Are you saying, sir, that if Bank of America were on the brink, you would let it fail? +p1540 +aVSir, I understand that. I just want to be clear, if you don't mind, that millions of depositors would be on the line with that decision. And I just want to be clear. If it were to happen again, for whatever the reason, you would let it go, you would let a Bank of America go? +p1541 +aVOK, I think it's fair to say you're not fans of Hillary Clinton's resume. Alright, Mr. Trump.... +p1542 +aVI had a feeling. Perhaps the most successful capitalist on this stage tonight, you've acknowledged that some give capitalism a bad name. You've been particularly critical of businesses that find all sorts of ways of paying their taxes by keeping money abroad, but your own plan includes an incentive to bring \u2014 that more the $2 trillion dollars home. Isn't that, like, a one-time bounty... +p1543 +aV...Some of the guys you all but call pirates, so they still keep the loot, and pay only a price to bring it back. +p1544 +aV...Alright, gentlemen, I know you want to \u2014 and I want to, be we also promised to get people home tonight, and we are going to take a quick break here. I think it is fair to say at this juncture that you can discuss these issues, and only business issues, but still keep it interesting. Stick around for these candidates closing statements. +p1545 +aVSenator Marco Rubio? +p1546 +aVDr. Ben Carson? +p1547 +aVDonald Trump? +p1548 +aVCandidates, we want to thank you all. We also appreciate your helping save time by talking over one another at times. That was welcomed. But by all means, it was a very riveting debate. Business issues can be \u2014 can be riveting, because it wasn't about us, it's about them. +p1549 +aVThat'll do it. Thank you for joining us. +p1550 +asVBLITZER +p1551 +(lp1552 +VWelcome to the CNN-Facebook Republican presidential debate here at the Venetian Las Vegas. We have a very enthusiastic audience. Everyone is here. They're looking forward to a serious and spirited discussion about the security of this nation. I'm Wolf Blitzer, your moderator tonight. This debate is airing on CNN networks here in the United States and around the world, and on the Salem Radio Network. The nine leading candidates, they are here. Let's welcome them right now. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Businessman and real estate developer Donald Trump. Retired neurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. And Ohio Governor John Kasich. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome these Republican candidates for president of the United States. This is the final Republican debate before the election year begins, and we're taking a moment for the photographs of the candidates together on the stage. Now, everyone, please rise for the national anthem sung by Ayla Brown. +p1553 +aVI know everyone is eager to get started. So, candidates, please take your places while I explain the ground rules for tonight. As moderator, I'll guide the discussion, and I'll be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt and CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. We also asked Republicans and independents nationwide to share their questions for the candidates. We teamed up with Facebook to send a campaign camper across the country over the past several weeks. Thousands of people stepped inside and recorded their questions on video. Millions more have weighed in on Facebook. Candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have a minute and 15 seconds to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you're singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know that we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. And as the candidates requested, a bell will sound like this. We know you are all eager to jump in and debate these important issues, so, please, wait until you're called on. These nine Republicans are positioned on stage based on their ranking in the recent polls, so let's begin right now. I'd like to invite each candidate to introduce himself or herself to our audience. You'll have one minute. First to you, Senator Paul. +p1554 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p1555 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1556 +aVMs. Fiorina? +p1557 +aVGovernor Bush? +p1558 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1559 +aVSenator Cruz. +p1560 +aVDr. Carson. +p1561 +aVMr. Trump. +p1562 +aVThank you. Since you last debated, Americans have witnessed terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino. The FBI director says the country now faces the greatest terror threat since 9/11. You all have different approaches to keeping the country safe. And that will be the focus of tonight's debate. Mr. Trump, as you mentioned in your opening statement, part of your strategy is to focus in on America's borders. To keep the country safe, you say you want to temporarily ban non-American Muslims from coming to the United States; ban refugees fleeing +p1563 +aVGovernor Bush, you called Mr. Trump "unhinged" when he proposed banning non-American Muslims from the United States. Why is that unhinged? +p1564 +aVMr. Trump? +p1565 +aVSenator Rubio \u2014 I'm going to go to Senator Rubio and get his thoughts. You have said banning Muslims is unconstitutional. But according to a recent ABC News-Washington Post poll, a majority of Republicans support Mr. Trump's idea. Why are they wrong? +p1566 +aVHugh Hewitt, you have a question. +p1567 +aVGovernor Christie, Americans are clearly more afraid today than at any time since 9/11. As you mentioned in your opening statement, today in Los Angeles, 650 schoolchildren didn't go to \u2014 650,000 schoolchildren didn't go to school because of an e-mail threat, this two weeks after an attack killed 14 people in San Bernardino. Is this the new normal? And if so, what steps would you take as president of the United States to ensure that fear does not paralyze America? +p1568 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, one of the killers in San Bernardino was an American who was not on anyone's watch list. How are you going to find that radicalized person and stop another such attack? +p1569 +aVThank you. Dana Bash, you have the next question. +p1570 +aVThank you. Dr. Carson, you're in favor of monitoring mosques and schools where there is anti-America sentiment, what do you consider anti- America? +p1571 +aVDr. Carson, who was right in that little debate that we just heard between Senator Rubio and Senator Paul? +p1572 +aVHold on a sec, we have a lot more to come and everybody's going to have their full opportunity. Governor Bush, six days after 9/11 your brother visited a mosque and said quote, "Islam is peace." The conversation tonight is about banning Muslims and surveillance of mosques, are President Bush's words still relevant in today's Republican party? +p1573 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you pointed out you were a CEO in Silicon Valley on 9/11. Companies there, they say they won't help the FBI now crack encrypted communication from +p1574 +aVBut my question was: Should these Silicon Valley companies be forced to cooperate with the FBI? +p1575 +aVMr. Trump, you recently suggested closing that Internet up, those were your words, as a way to stop +p1576 +aVLet me follow up, Mr. Trump. So, are you open to closing parts of the Internet? +p1577 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, is shutting down any part of the Internet a good idea? +p1578 +aVThank you, Governor. The fight against radical Islamic terrorists and +p1579 +aVThank you. To be clear, Senator Cruz, would you carpet bomb Raqqa, the +p1580 +aVThank you. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you've been critical of Senator Cruz's strategy. You say his voting record doesn't match his rhetoric. Why? +p1581 +aVBecause I asked the question, Senator, because you said this. You said he, referring to Senator Cruz, voted against the Defense Authorization Act every year that it came up, and I assume that if he voted against it, he would veto it as president. That's the bill that funds our troops. +p1582 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1583 +aVSenator Rubio. +p1584 +aVWe are going to have much more on this... +p1585 +aVWe're going to have much more on this. But I want to move now back to Mr. Trump. +p1586 +aVHold on. Hold on. Hold on. +p1587 +aVWe have a lot... +p1588 +aVWe have a lot to discuss. I want to move to Mr. Trump right now. We have a question on this war against +p1589 +aVMr. Trump. +p1590 +aVGovernor Bush. Governor Bush. +p1591 +aVMr. Trump. +p1592 +aVJust one at a time, go ahead... +p1593 +aVGo ahead, Mr. Trump. +p1594 +aVGovernor Bush, please. +p1595 +aVOne at a time. +p1596 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1597 +aVThank you. +p1598 +aVAll right. Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash, Hugh, go ahead with the next question. +p1599 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Rubio? Let's continue this conversation. This is a critically important issue. +p1600 +aVWe will get to \u2014 we have a lot of time, Ms. Fiorina. I want to get to Senator Rubio right now. Let's talk about, one of the aspects of your strategy, you say the only way to defeat +p1601 +aVThank you, Senator. Stand by. Ms. Fiorina, the former defense secretary, Bob Gates, says the chances of getting Sunni-Arab forces on the ground to get the job done, his words, "chances very remote." What's your strategy? +p1602 +aVThank you. Governor Christie, what's your strategy? +p1603 +aVDr. Carson, what is your strategy? +p1604 +aVThank you. Everyone stand by. We're only just beginning. Coming up, which candidates on this stage tonight want to move foreign policy in a dramatically new direction? We'll be right back. +p1605 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate here at the Venetian, Las Vegas. The war against +p1606 +aVThank you. +p1607 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you supported the removal of Moammar Gadhafi in Libya. Now that country is in turmoil, as +p1608 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1609 +aVStandby. Everybody standby for a moment. Governor Kasich, go ahead. +p1610 +aVThank you. +p1611 +aVWe're going to talk about Assad in a moment. Mr. Trump, are Americans safer with dictators running the world in the Middle East? +p1612 +aVThank you. Mr. Trump? +p1613 +aVAll right. +p1614 +aVThank you. +p1615 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East... +p1616 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East better off with dictators? +p1617 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1618 +aVHold on Governor Bush., here's the question. You said, "getting rid of Saddam Hussein in your words was a pretty good deal." In light of what has happened in Iraq, do you still feel that way? +p1619 +aVSenator Paul, was getting rid of Saddam Hussein a pretty good deal? +p1620 +aVThank you. Hugh Hewitt, go ahead. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hugh. +p1621 +aVSenator, Senator, we're going to get to you. Wait your turn. We have two hours of debate. We'll have plenty of time. Let Hugh ask his question. +p1622 +aVSenator, please. +p1623 +aVSenator... +p1624 +aVYou'll have plenty of opportunity. Hugh, go ahead. +p1625 +aVThese are the rules all of you agreed to. Hugh, go ahead with your question. +p1626 +aVLet's continue with Russia right now. We have another question from Facebook. Listen and watch. +p1627 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you know, U.S. and Russian warplanes are flying all over Syria right now. With so many lives on the line, is this a good time for the United States not to talk to Putin? +p1628 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Christie, if the U.S. imposed a no-fly zone over Syria and a Russian plane encroached, invaded that no-fly zone, would you be prepared to shoot down that Russian plane and risk war with Russia? +p1629 +aVSenator Paul \u2014 Senator Paul, I want you to respond to what we just heard from Governor Christie. If there was a no-fly zone, you say that potentially could lead to World War III. Why? +p1630 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1631 +aVAll right, let's go back \u2014 Hugh and Dana? +p1632 +aVOne at a time. Hugh, go ahead. +p1633 +aVGovernor, thank you very much. So, Dr. Carson, you recently visited a refugee camp in Jordan and you deemed it your words, "really quite nice." Saying the people there didn't want to come to the United States. Do you think these camps are a long-term solution of the problem of Syrian refugees? +p1634 +aVSenator Paul, you oppose letting in Syrian refugees at this time into the United States. The U.S. has already accepted 2,000 Syrian refugees, including 13 living here in Las Vegas right now. Would you send them back? What would you do with these people? +p1635 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1636 +aVSenator Paul, you didn't answer the question about the 2,000 Syrian refugees who are already here in the United States. Will you send them back or let them stay? +p1637 +aVWe have another \u2014 we have another question. We have another question from Facebook. Let's listen. +p1638 +aVGovernor Christie, you say there should be a pause in allowing new refugees to come into the United States, including orphans under the age of five. What do you say to Carla? +p1639 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1640 +aVThank you, Governor. There is much more coming up. We are only just beginning. Coming up, what other global hot spots await the next president of the United States. +p1641 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate. We're here at the Venetian Las Vegas. Tonight we have been focusing on the Middle East, but let's turn to some other world threats that you will potentially face as Commander in Chief. Ms. Fiorina, candidates here have called the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un a maniac who is mentally unstable. Last week he said he now has a hydrogen bomb. If you were elected president, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p1642 +aVDr. Carson, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p1643 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Dana and Hugh you have questions as well. +p1644 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Some of you on this stage have questioned whether your opponents have temperament, the right temperament, to be in control of the nuclear codes. Dana, you have a question on this? +p1645 +aVThank you, senator. Thank you. +p1646 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1647 +aVThank you, Senator. We're a month and a half away now from the first real test who will be the Republican presidential nominee. Hugh, you have a question? +p1648 +aVAll right. Candidates, we have more coming up. When we come back, everyone will have an opportunity to explain why this particular candidate, each of you on the stage, believes he or she should be the Republican presidential nominee. +p1649 +aVNow it's time for the closing statements from the candidates. Each one has 30 seconds. Senator Paul. +p1650 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1651 +aVGovernor Christie. +p1652 +aVMs. Fiorina. +p1653 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1654 +aVSenator Rubio. +p1655 +aVSenator Cruz. +p1656 +aVDr. Carson. +p1657 +aVThanks to all the Republican presidential candidates. That does it for this Republican presidential debate. +p1658 +aVI'd now like to ask the candidates to please take your places while I tell you a little bit more about how tonight's debate will work. As the moderator, I'll guide the discussion asking questions and follow-ups, as will Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt. Candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have a minutes and 15 seconds to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you're singled out for criticism. We have timing lights that are visible to the candidates, those lights will warn you when your time is up. And as the candidates requested, a bell will sound like this. We know you're all eager to jump in and debate these important issues, but please wait until you're called on. Now that everyone is this place, it's time for the candidates to introduce themselves to our audience. You'll each have one minute. Senator Graham, you're first. +p1659 +aVGovernor Pataki. +p1660 +aVSenator Santorum. +p1661 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p1662 +aVLet's begin. The United States just suffered the worst terrorist attack since 9-11, the murder of 14 people by two terrorists, one of whom was an American citizen. In response, Republican frontrunner Donald Trump proposed a temporary ban on all Muslims coming into the United States until the government can figure out what is going on. Senator Graham, the polls show most Republicans do support Mr. Trump. What do you say to them? +p1663 +aVSenator Graham, you say you'd rather lose the election without Trump than try to win with him. Does that mean you'll be voting for the Democratic nominee if Donald Trump wins the presidential nomination? +p1664 +aVGovernor Pataki, you mentioned Donald Trump in your opening statement. You've also suggested Mr. Trump's plan is un-American and absurd. Why? +p1665 +aVSenator Santorum, you object to Mr. Trump's proposals on the grounds that it's unworkable. You've made religious liberty a hallmark of your career. Do you believe in religious liberty for Muslims as well as Christians? +p1666 +aVSenator Graham. +p1667 +aVSenator Santorum. +p1668 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you called Mr. Trump's plan to ban Muslims impossible and unconstitutional. But what is your specific plan to prevent would-be Jihadists from carrying out attacks against Americans? +p1669 +aVThe terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino have sparked a debate here in the United States about the balance between privacy and security. I want to bring in CNN's Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt for more on this. +p1670 +aVGovernor Pataki. +p1671 +aVThere are a lot of people who have been frustrated, especially Senator Graham, that law enforcement can't tap into information on terrorist cell phones. Senator Graham has called on companies in Silicon Valley to change their business models. As president of the United States, would you force these companies to change their models so the government can better monitor the traffic on these cell phones? +p1672 +aVSenator Graham? +p1673 +aVSenator Graham. +p1674 +aVHere is a question we have on the fight against +p1675 +aVGovernor Huckabee, how would you defeat +p1676 +aVSenator Graham, you have an aggressive military plan to try to defeat +p1677 +aVSenator Santorum, following up on what we just heard from Senator Graham, at least one U.S. intelligence report from the White House has concluded that, in order to defeat +p1678 +aVSenator Graham, you're shaking your head. +p1679 +aVI'm going to bring Governor Pataki in a minute, but go ahead and respond, Senator Graham. +p1680 +aVGovernor Pataki, should the U.S. send ground troops into Syria? +p1681 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you have not put a number of how many U.S. ground troops would be needed to combat +p1682 +aVSenator Graham, and I just want to remind our viewers, you want 10,000 U.S. ground troops in Iraq, and 10,000 in Syria? +p1683 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you have said as president you would tell +p1684 +aVSenator Samtorum? +p1685 +aVGovernor Pataki, you support ground troops - deploying grounds troops. +p1686 +aVThe U.S. Army's Former Cheif of Staff, General Raymond Odierno said that, and I'm quoting, "now +p1687 +aVBut how long would you be willing to commit U.S. troops to fight +p1688 +aVSenator Graham, you called for U.S. ground troops as we know in Iraq and Syria. +p1689 +aVAs you know, there's a growing +p1690 +aVAre you ready to deploy U.S. troops to Libya to try to defeat +p1691 +aVSenator? Senator, are you ready to commit U.S. ground troops to Libya? +p1692 +aVAlright, gentleman, standby. The fight against +p1693 +aVWe're live here at the Venetian in Las Vegas. Welcome back. As the U.S. fight against +p1694 +aVWe have a video question from Facebook. Let's watch. +p1695 +aVGovernor Pataki. +p1696 +aVHe says he was wondering with U.S. designated state sponsors of terrorism like Iran and other traditional U.S. enemies fighting +p1697 +aVHugh Hewitt and Dana Bash have questions. Hugh go ahead. +p1698 +aVGovernor Pataki, let me stick with you. Governor Pataki, a U.S. Army Sargent Bowe Bergdahl now facing a court marshall after leaving his base in Afghanistan, getting captured by the Taliban - Donald Trump, has called for his execution. The former house speak John Boehner says "he's innocent until proven guilty." Where do you stand? +p1699 +aVSenator Graham, where do you stand? +p1700 +aVGovernor Huckabee? Governor Huckbee, +p1701 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Pataki, speaking of those four Americans being held in Iran right now. Iran has suggested they might be willing to have a prisoner swap, release Iranian prisoners held in the United States, in exchange for those four Americans. Would you support that? +p1702 +aVWe have to take a quick break, but, Governor, Israel has exchanged a lot of the prisoners it was holding for Israeli soldiers who were being held by Hamas, for example. +p1703 +aVThank you. Let's take another quick break. The scramble, the scramble to protect Americans after +p1704 +aVWelcome back to the Republican Presidential Debate here at the Venetian in Las Vegas. Gentlemen, in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks, the Obama Administration policy of allowing Syrian refugees to come into the United States has come under fire. Senator Santorum, you say accepting Syrian refugees is dangerous. You say it just takes one Jihadist to destroy the world. Do you think there is any way to properly vet refugees coming into the United States? +p1705 +aVGovernor Pataki, you have said you wouldn't accept a single Syrian refugee. What should become of them? +p1706 +aVLet's go back to Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt for more questions. Dana? +p1707 +aVThank you, Senator. Gentlemen, standby, we are going to take another very quick break. Coming up, with America on edge, who has what it takes to be the next Commander in Chief? These candidates, they will make their case. +p1708 +aVWelcome back. We're live here at the Venetian Las Vegas. Gentlemen, it's time for your closing statements. Each candidate will have 30 seconds. Senator graham, you're first. +p1709 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Pataki. +p1710 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum. +p1711 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee. +p1712 +aVThank you. Thanks to all of the candidates for a very important discussion on critically important issues. This debate night is just getting started here at the Venetian Las Vegas. The top nine candidates, they are standing by for their turn on this stage in just a little while. I'll be back as the moderator. +p1713 +asVMODERATOR +p1714 +(lp1715 +VComing up more of our debate, including questions about President Obama's foreign policy and these guys and their better ideas. Coming up. +p1716 +asVFIORINA +p1717 +(lp1718 +VLike all of you I'm angry. I'm angry at what's happening to our nation. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. Bombastic insults wont take it back. Political rhetoric that promises a lot and delivers little, won't take it back. All of our problems can be solved. All of our wounds can be healed by a tested leader who is willing to fight for the character of our nation. I have been tested. I have beaten breast cancer. I have buried a child. I started as a secretary. I fought my way to the top of corporate America while being called every B word in the book. I fought my way into this election and on to this debate stage while all the political insiders and the pundits told, "it couldn't be done." I've been told, "no,: all my life. And all my life, I've refused to accept no as an answer. Citizens, it is time to take our country back from the political class, from the media, from the liberal elite. It can be done, it must be done, join me and we will get it done. +p1719 +aVWhat I think we need to stand for are solutions. I offer myself as a leader to the people of this country because I think they're looking for solutions, not lawyers arguing over laws or entertainers throwing out sound bites that draw media attention. We need to solve the problem. To solve the problem, we need to do something here at home and something over there in their caliphate. We need to deny them territory. But here at home, we need to do two fundamental things. Number one, we need to recognize that technology has moved on. The Patriot Act was signed in 2001, roughly. The iPhone was invented in 2007. The iPad was invented in 2011. Snapchat and Twitter, all the rest of it, have been around just for several years. Technology has moved on, and the terrorists have moved on with it. Let me tell you a story. Soon after 9/11, I got a phone call from the NSA. They needed help. I gave them help. I stopped a truckload of equipment. I had it turned around. It was escorted by the NSA into headquarters. We need the private sector's help, because government is not innovating. Technology is running ahead by leaps and bound. The private sector will help, just as I helped after 9/11. But they must be engaged, and they must be asked. I will ask them. I know them. +p1720 +aVYou know, listening to this conversation, let me just say, we have a lot of argument about laws but none of it solves the problem. Let's examine what happened, why did we miss the Tsarnaev brothers, why did we miss the San Bernardino couple? It wasn't because we had stopped collected metadata it was because, I think, as someone who comes from the technology world, we were using the wrong algorithms. This is a place where the private sector could be helpful because the government is woefully behind the technology curve. But secondly, the bureaucratic processes that have been in place since 9/11 are woefully inadequate as well. What do we now know? That DHS vets people by going into databases of known or suspected terrorists. And yet, we also know that +p1721 +aVThey do not need to be forced. They need to be asked to bring the best and brightest, the most recent technology to the table. I was asked as a CEO. I complied happily. And they will as well. But they have not been asked. That's why it cost billions of dollars to build an Obama website that failed because the private sector wasn't asked. +p1722 +aVI hope at some point you're going to ask me my strategy. +p1723 +aVWell, first I'll just point out that talking tough is not the same as being strong. And to wage war, we need a commander in chief who has made tough calls in tough times and stood up to be held accountable over and over, not first-term senators who've never made an executive decision in their life. One of the things I would immediately do, in addition to defeating them here at home, is bring back the warrior class \u2014 Petraeus, McChrystal, Mattis, Keane, Flynn. Every single one of these generals I know. Every one was retired early because they told President Obama things that he didn't want to hear. We must have Sunni-Arabs involved in this coalition. We must commit leadership, strength, support and resolve. I'll just add that Margaret Thatcher once said, "If you want something talked about, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman." +p1724 +aVThat is exactly what President Obama said. I'm amazed to hear that from a republican presidential candidate. But let's just start with, who got it wrong? Who really got it wrong? Hillary Clinton has gotten every foreign policy challenge wrong. Hitting the reset button with Vladimir Putin \u2013 recall that she called Bashar Al-Assad a positive reformer and then she opened an embassy and then later she said, over, and over, and over again, "Bashar Al-Assad must go." Although she wasn't prepared to do anything about it. Recall that Hillary Clinton was all for toppling Gadhafi then didn't listen to her own people on the ground. And then of course, when she lied about the terrorist attack in Benghazi, she invited more terrorist attacks. +p1725 +aVWe've mismanaged going into Iraq. +p1726 +aVWe've mismanaged going out of Iraq. +p1727 +aVWe actually... +p1728 +aVI didn't say I would cut off all communication with Putin. What I said was as president of the United States, now is not the time to talk with him. Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. There is a time and a place for everything. There is a time and a place for talk. And there is a time and a place for action. I know Vladimir Putin. He respects strength. He lied to our president's face; didn't both to tell him about warplanes and troops going into Syria. We need to speak to him from a position of strength. So as commander in chief, I will not speak to him until we've set up that no-fly zone; until we've gathered our Sunni-Arab allies and begun to deny +p1729 +aVThis doesn't do a thing to solve the problems...It doesn't do a thing to solve the problems. +p1730 +aVIt will not solve the problem. +p1731 +aVLadies and gentleman, this is why the American people are standing up. +p1732 +aVThis is why the nation is fed up... +p1733 +aVWe have been talking about this... +p1734 +aVSorry, but you haven't gotten to me. This is why... +p1735 +aVthe people are fed up with the political class. +p1736 +aVWell, first, Kim Jong-Un is a dangerous leader, without a doubt. And both Republican and Democrat administrations have been completely ineffective in dealing with him. So we must continue to isolate him. We will need China as part of that strategy. China is a rising adversary. So one of the things we have to do if we want China's support is to push back on China. They, too, recognize one thing \u2014 strength and their own economic interest. I have done business in China for 25 years, so I know that in order to get China to cooperate with us, we must first actually retaliate against their cyber-attacks so they know we're serious. We have to push back on their desire to control the trade route through the South China Sea through which flows $5 trillion worth of goods and services every year. We cannot let them control the disputed islands, and we must work with the Australians, the South Koreans, the Japanese and the Filipinos to contain China. And then we must ask for their support and their help with North Korea. Because believe it or not, China is as concerned about Kim Jong-Un as we are. +p1737 +aVI too remember September 11th. I remember immediately putting into place security procedures all throughout our company that did business in 170 countries where we thought corporate interests would be attacked next. To take our country back, to keep our nation safe, we have to begin by beating Hillary Clinton. We need to unify our party. We need to better than our government, which 75 percent of the American people now think is corrupt and incompetent. They're right. We need to better than our politics. 80 percent think we have a professional/political class of both parties that cares more about its power, position and privilege than actually on getting anything done. We need to unify our party, we need a real Conservative in the White House, and we need to beat Hillary Clinton to take our country back and keep our nation safe. I can. I am. And together, if you join me, we will take our country back. +p1738 +aVWell, first of all, I must say as I think about that question, I think about a woman I met the other day. I would guess she was 40 years old. She had several children. And she said to me, you know, Carly, I go to bed every night afraid for my children's future. And that really struck me. This is America. A mother is going to bed afraid for her children's future. And the reason she's afraid for her children's future is because we've had problems for a long time. Yes, problems have gotten much worse under Democrats. But the truth is, this government has been growing bigger and bigger, more corrupt, less effective, crushing the engine of economic growth for a very long time. This isn't about just replacing a Democrat with a Republican now. It's about actually challenging the status quo of big government. Big government has created a big business called politics. And there are lots of people invested in the status quo of that big business called politics. Specifically, we need actually to do five things to really get this economy going again. We need to go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dollar is being spent, we can challenge any dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. We need to actually reform the tax code. Go to a three-page tax code. Yes, there are plans that would reform our tax code to three pages. In addition to rolling back what President Obama has done, we need to do a top-to-bottom review of every single regulation on the books. That hasn't been done in 50 years. We need to pass the +p1739 +aVWell, first Obamacare has to be repealed because it's failing... ...it's failing the very people it was intended to help, but, also, it is croney-capitalism at its worst. Who helped write this bill? Drug companies, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, every single one of those kinds of companies are bulking up to deal with big government. See, that's what happens. As government gets bigger, and bigger \u2014 and it has been for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike \u2014 and business have to bulk up to deal with big government. So, we have to repeal it. It's tens of thousands of pages long, no one can possible understand it except the big companies, the lawyers, the accountants, the lobbyists that they hire to protect their interests. Then, we have to give back to states the responsibility to manage a high risk pool. We need to try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried. Health insurance has always been a cozy, little game between regulators and health insurance companies. We need to try the free market. The free market. Where people actually have to compete. And, we 'ought to have the government ensure that you must \u2014 and I don't use that term often, that government 'ought to do something, but every healthcare provider 'ought to publish its costs, its prices, its outcomes, because as patients we don't know what we're buying. Now, let me just say \u2014 let me just say, I know more about innovation and entrepreneurship than anyone on this panel because I have led innovative businesses in the most highly competitive industry in the world for decades. The truth is the secret sauce of America is innovation, and entrepreneurship, it is why we must cut our government down to size, and hold it accountable. It's why we have to take our government back, because innovation and entrepreneurship is crushed by the crushing load of a 73,000 page tax code. It is crushed... ...by regulatory thicket that is so vast we don't even know what's in it anymore. It is crushed as well by government bureaucrats who don't do their jobs very well, and who are not held accountable, which is why I've said we got to take our government back, and to do that, we have to know where every dollar being spent, and be able to move any dollar. We have to hack through this regulatory thicket, repeal so much, but, also, know what's in that regulatory thicket \u2014 we don't even know what regulations have been passed. Third, we need to build a meritocracy \u2014 Scott Walker, by the way, is trying now to do in Wisconsin... ...Finally, we need to get to a three page tax code, and, yes, that plan exists. +p1740 +aVSorry, I can't hear you. +p1741 +aV...Absolutely... +p1742 +aV...You need to give... +p1743 +aVThe alternative is to allow states to manage high risk pools for those who really need help. Look, I'm a cancer survivor, OK? I understand that you cannot have someone who's battled cancer just become known as a pre-existing condition. I understand that you cannot allow families to go bankrupt if they truly need help. But, I also understand that Obamacare isn't helping anyone. We're throwing more, and more people into Medicaid, and fewer, and fewer doctors are taking those payments. The point is Obamacare is crushing small businesses, it is not helping the families it was intended to help. So, let us allow states to manage high risk pools. Let us try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried, the free market. Let us ensure that as patients, and customers... +p1744 +aV...that we have information to shop wisely for our health care. +p1745 +aV...Yes, the middle ground is this... +p1746 +aV...This is why \u2014 this is why we must combine, actually, zero-based budgeting with tax reform because unless we can examine, and cut, and move, every single dollar of discretionary spending in the federal government, we cannot reform taxes and reduce spending at the same time. Ask yourself this question, how is it possible that the federal government gets more money each and every year, which the federal government has been doing, receiving more money every year for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike, and yet, never has enough money to do the important things? The answer? All the money's always spoken for. All the money's spoken for. So, we have to go to zero-based budgeting, which is a simple idea \u2014 by the way, there's been a bill for zeros-based (ph) budgeting... ...It exists, it can be voted on. Every dollar must be examined. Any dollar can be cut. Any dollar can be cut, any dollar can be moved. We have to go to a three page tax code. You lower every rate, you close every loophole, why? Because the government uses the tax code to decide winners, and losers. You have to strip the corruption out of the tax code to pay for it. You have to know where every single dollar is being spent... +p1747 +aV...Cut where you need to, and invest where you need to... +p1748 +aV...The two go hand in hand... +p1749 +aVYou know, Mr. Trump fancies himself a very good negotiator. And, I accept that he's done a lot of good deals, so, Mr. Trump 'ought to know that we should not speak to people from a position of weakness. Senator Paul should know that as well. One of the reasons I've said that I would not be talking to Vladimir Putin right now, although I have met him as well, not in a green room for a show, but in a private meeting. One of the reasons I've said I wouldn't be talking to Vladimir Putin right now is because we are speaking to him from a position of weakness brought on by this administration, so, I wouldn't talk to him for awhile, but, I would do this. I would start rebuilding the Sixth Fleet right under his nose, rebuilding the military \u2014 the missile defense program in Poland right under his nose. I would conduct very aggressive military exercises in the Baltic States so that he understood we would protect our +p1750 +aV...we have the strongest military on the face of the planet, and everyone has to know it. +p1751 +aV...Ronald Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. +p1752 +aV...he walked away, he quit talks... +p1753 +aV...when it was time to quit talking... +p1754 +aVCan I just \u2014 could I just say, as a chief executive who's had to make tough calls to save jobs and to grow jobs, I think what's interesting about Dodd-Frank is it's a great example of how socialism starts. Socialism starts when government creates a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. Government created the problem. Government created the problem of a real estate boom. How did we create it? Under Republican and Democrats alike, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, everybody gathered together, Republicans and Democrats, and said, "home ownership is part of the American dream. Let's create a bubble," and then government stepped in \u2014 by the way, under president George W. Bush, banks were told \u2014 encouraged \u2014 told, really \u2014 to buy other banks, to take money. And now what do we have with Dodd-Frank? The classic of crony capitalism. The big have gotten bigger, 1,590 community banks have gone out of business, and on top of all that, we've created something called the Consumer Financial Production Bureau, a vast bureaucracy with no congressional oversight that's digging through hundreds of millions of your credit records to detect fraud. This is how socialism starts, ladies and gentlemen. We must take our government back. +p1755 +aVImagine a Clinton presidency. Our military will continue to deteriorate. Our veterans will not be cared for. And, no, Mrs. Clinton, that situation is not exaggerated. The rich will get richer. The poor will get poorer. The middle class will continue to get crushed. And as bad as that picture is, what's even worse is that a Clinton presidency will corrode the character of this nation. Why? Because of the Clinton way: Say whatever you have to, lie as long as you can get away with it. We must beat Hillary Clinton. Carly Fiorina can beat Hillary Clinton. I will beat Hillary Clinton. And under a President Fiorina, we will restore the character of this nation, the security of this nation, the prosperity of this nation, because as citizens, we will take our government back. +p1756 +aVWell, gee, after the last debate, I was told that I didn't smile enough. +p1757 +aVBut I also think that these are very serious times; 75 percent of the American people think the federal government is corrupt. I agree with them. And this big powerful, corrupt bureaucracy works now only for the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected. Meantime, wages have stagnated for 40 years. We have more Americans out of work or just Americans who quit looking for work for 40 years. Ours was intended to be a citizen government. This is about more than replacing a D with an R. We need a leader who will help us take our government back. +p1758 +aVLet me just say on taxes, how long have we been talking about tax reform in Washington, D.C.? We have been talking about it for decades. We now have a 73,000-page tax code. There have been more than 4,000 changes to the tax plan since 2001 alone. There are loads of great ideas, great conservative ideas from wonderful think tanks about how to reform the tax code. The problem is we never get it done. We have talked about tax reform in every single election for decades. It never happens. And the politicians always say it is so complicated, nobody but a politician can figure it out. The truth is this, the big problem, we need a leader in Washington who understands how to get something done, not to talk about it, not to propose it, to get it done. +p1759 +aVThat's right, three pages. +p1760 +aVYou know why three? +p1761 +aVNo. You know why three? Because only if it's about three pages are you leveling the playing field between the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected who can hire the armies of lawyers and accountants and, yes, lobbyists to help them navigate their way through 73,000 pages. Three pages is about the maximum that a single business owner or a farmer or just a couple can understand without hiring somebody. Almost 60 percent of American people now need to hire an expert to understand their taxes. So yes, you're going to hear a lot of talk about tax reform \u2014 +p1762 +aV\u2014 the issue is who is going to get it done. +p1763 +aVYou know, the +p1764 +aVWell, this is one of the reasons why Tom Perkins and I had disagreements in the boardroom, Becky. Nevertheless, one of the things that I think people don't always understand is how accountable a CEO actually is. So you know, I had to report results every 90 days in excruciating detail. I had to answer every single question about every single result and every single projection in public until there were no more questions. And if I misrepresented those results or those projections in any way, I was held criminally liable. Imagine \u2014 imagine \u2014 if a politician were held to that standard of account. I will run on my record all day long. And I believe people need a leader who is prepared to make tough calls in tough times and stand up... +p1765 +aV...and be held accountable. +p1766 +aVYou know, I want to go back for a moment to what we were just talking about. Crony capitalism is alive and well, and has been so in Washington, D.C. for decades. What's crony capitalism? Crony capitalism is what happens when government gets so big and so powerful that only the big and the powerful can handle it. So why are the pharmaceutical companies consolidating? Why are there five even bigger Wall Street banks now, instead of the ten we used to have on Wall Street? Because when government gets big and powerful, the big feel like they need to get even bigger to deal with all that power, and meanwhile, the small and the powerless \u2014 in this case, 1,590 community banks \u2014 go out of business. You see, folks, this is how socialism starts. Government causes a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. This is why, fundamentally, we have to take our government back. The student loan problem has been created by government. Government trying to level the playing field between Internet and brick-and-mortar creates a problem. The FCC jumping in now and saying, "we're going to put 400 pages of regulation over the Internet," is going to create massive problems. But guess who pushed for that regulation? The big Internet companies. This is what's going on. Big and powerful use big and powerful government to their advantage. It's why you see Walgreens buying Rite Aid. It's why you see the pharmaceuticals getting together. It's you see the health insurance companies getting together. It's why you see the banks consolidating. And meanwhile, small businesses are getting crushed. Community- based businesses and farms are getting crushed. Community banks are going out of business. Big government favors the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected, and crushes the small and the powerless. +p1767 +aVIt is why we have to simplify. It is why we have to reduce the size and power of government. +p1768 +aVIt's the only way to level the playing field between big and powerful and small and powerless. +p1769 +aVBecky, it is the height of hypocrisy for Mrs. Clinton to talk about being the first woman President, when every single policy she espouses, and every single policy of President Obama has been demonstrably bad for women. 92 percent \u2014 92 percent of the jobs lost during Barack Obama's first term belonged to women. Senator Cruz is precisely right. Three million women have fallen into poverty under this administration. The number of women \u2014 +p1770 +aV\u2014 living in extreme poverty is the highest level on record. I am a conservative because I know our values, our principles and our policies \u2014 +p1771 +aV\u2014 work better to lift everyone up, men and women. +p1772 +aVNo, the Federal Government should not play a larger role. Look, every time the Federal Government gets engaged in something it gets worse. And then the Government steps in to try and solve the problem and we get a little further down to that progressive vision that Hillary Clinton is talking about. Companies should, if they want to attract the best workers, provide a good set of benefits. But honestly, if you're a small business owner today you are being crushed. We have 400,000 small businesses forming every year in this country. How great is that? They are employing themselves, they are potentially employing others. The bad news is, we have 470,000 going out of business every year. And why? They cite Obamacare. They are refusing to... +p1773 +aVI think it's a wonderful that that businesses start a 401(k). The point I'm making is this, the Federal Government should not be in a lot of things. There is no Constitutional role for the Federal Government in setting up \u2014 retirement plans. There is no Constitutional role for the Federal Government to be setting minimum wages... +p1774 +aV... The more the Government gets engaged in the economy, the slower the economy becomes. The more the Government gets engaged in the economy, it is demonstrably true... +p1775 +aV... The more the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected are advantaged. +p1776 +aVJohn, I \u2014 if I \u2014 a lot of people have jumped in here. I'd like to jump in. A lot of people have jumped in here. +p1777 +aVI understand. +p1778 +aVI would just say that... ... I would just say this, we've heard a lot of great ideas up here, and I agree with what Senator Rubio said. Every election we talk about this. Every election we talk about Medicare and Social Security reform. It never happens. I would like to start with a basic. Let us actually go to zero- based budgeting so we know where the money is being spent. It's kind of basic. There is a bill sitting in the House that would actually pass and have us go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dime of your money is being spent instead of only talking about how much more we're going to spend year after year after year. My point is this. While there are lots of good ideas for reform, we have never tackled the basics. And we finally need to tackle the basics to cut this government down to size and hold it accountable. So let's start by knowing where your money is being spent by the federal government. +p1779 +aVYou know, every election we hear a lot of talk. We hear a lot of good plans. We hear actually a lot of good intentions. But somehow for decades, nothing really has changed. What we need now is a proven leader who has produced results. That's how you go from secretary to CEO. You lead and you produce results. I will cut this government down to size and hold it accountable, simplify the tax code, roll back the regulations that have been spewing out of Washington, D.C. for 50 years. I may not be your dream candidate just yet, but I can assure you I am Hillary Clinton's worst nightmare. And in your heart of hearts, you cannot wait to see a debate between Hillary Clinton and Carly Fiorina. I will tell you this, I will beat Hillary Clinton. And with your vote and your support and your prayers, I will lead with the citizens of this great nation the resurgence of this great nation. +p1780 +aVGood evening. My story, from secretary to CEO, is only possible in this nation, and proves that everyone of us has potential. My husband, Frank, of 30 years, started out driving a tow truck for a family owned auto body shop. We have come to a pivotal point in our nation's history where this nation's possibilities and potential are being crushed by a government grown so big, so powerful, so inept, so corrupt, and a political class that refuses to do anything about it. I am prepared to lead the resurgence of this great nation. +p1781 +aVYou know, I think Mr. Trump is a wonderful entertainer. He's been terrific at that business. I also think that one of the benefits of a presidential campaign is the character and capability, judgment and temperament of every single one of us is revealed over time and under pressure. All of us will be revealed over time and under pressure. I look forward to a long race. +p1782 +aVThat's not for me to answer; it is for the voters of this country to answer, and I have a lot of faith in the common sense and good judgment of the voters of the United States of America. +p1783 +aVJake, I'll tell you \u2014 I'll tell you why people are supporting outsiders. It's because you know what happens if someone's been in the system their whole life, they don't know how broken the system is. A fish swims in water, it doesn't know it's water. It's not that politicians are bad people, it's that they've been in that system forever. The truth is 75 percent of the American people think the government is corrupt; 82 percent of the American people think these problems that have festered for 50 years in some cases, 25 years in other cases. The border's been insecure for 25 years; 307,000 veterans have died waiting for health care. These things have gone on for so long because no one will challenge the status quo. You know what a leader does? They challenge the status quo, they solve problems that have festered for a long time and they produce results. That is what my whole life has been about. People know this is about far more than replacing a D with an R \u2014 +p1784 +aV\u2014 this is about changing the system. +p1785 +aVHaving... +p1786 +aVHaving met Vladimir Putin, if I may... +p1787 +aVHaving met Vladimir Putin, I wouldn't talk to him at all. We've talked way too much to him. What I would do, immediately, is begin rebuilding the Sixth Fleet, I would begin rebuilding the missile defense program in Poland, I would conduct regular, aggressive military exercises in the Baltic states. I'd probably send a few thousand more troops into Germany. Vladimir Putin would get the message. By the way, the reason it is so critically important that every one of us know General Suleimani's name is because Russia is in Syria right now, because the head of the Quds force traveled to Russia and talked Vladimir Putin into aligning themselves with Iran and Syria to prop up Bashar al- Assad. Russia is a bad actor, but Vladimir Putin is someone we should not talk to, because the only way he will stop is to sense strength and resolve on the other side, and we have all of that within our control. We could rebuild the Sixth Fleet. I will. We haven't. We could rebuild the missile defense program. We haven't. I will. We could also, to Senator Rubio's point, give the Egyptians what they've asked for, which is intelligence. We could give the Jordanians what they've asked for... +p1788 +aV...bombs and materiel. We have not supplied it... +p1789 +aV...I will. We could arm the Kurds. They've been asking us for three years. All of this is within our control. +p1790 +aV...Jake... +p1791 +aV...Jake, ... +p1792 +aVAnd then it'll be my turn. +p1793 +aVJake? +p1794 +aVJake? +p1795 +aVDana, I'd like to... +p1796 +aVDana, I would like to link these two issues, both of which are incredibly important, Iran and Planned Parenthood. One has something to do with the defense of the security of this nation. The other has something to do with the defense of the character of this nation. You have not heard a plan about Iran from any politician up here, here is my plan. On day one in the Oval Office, I will make two phone calls, the first to my good friend to Bibi Netanyahu to reassure him we will stand with the state of Israel. The second, to the supreme leader, to tell him that unless and until he opens every military and every nuclear facility to real anytime, anywhere inspections by our people, not his, we, the United States of America, will make it as difficult as possible and move money around the global financial system. We can do that, we don't need anyone's cooperation to do it. And every ally and every adversary we have in this world will know that the United States in America is back in the leadership business, which is how we must stand with our allies. As regards Planned Parenthood, anyone who has watched this videotape, I dare Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama to watch these tapes. Watch a fully formed fetus on the table, it's heart beating, it's legs kicking while someone says we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain. This is about the character of our nation, and if we will not stand up in and force President Obama to veto this bill, shame on us. +p1797 +aVYou know, it's interesting to me, Mr. Trump said that he heard Mr. Bush very clearly and what Mr. Bush said. I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said. +p1798 +aVDana, with all being said to Mr. Trump... +p1799 +aVImmigration did not come up in 2016 because Mr. Trump brought it up. We talked about it in 2012, we talked about it in 2008. We talked about it in 2004. +p1800 +aVWe have been talking about it for 25 years. This is why people are tired of politicians. +p1801 +aVFirst let me say, We have just spent a good bit of time discussing, as Republicans, how to solve this problem. I would ask your audience at home to ask a very basic question. Why have Democrats not solved this problem? President Obama campaigned in 2007 and 2008 on solving the immigration problem. He entered Washington with majorities in the House and the Senate. He could have chosen to do anything to solve this pro \u2014 this problem. Instead, he chose to do nothing. Why? because the Democrats don't want this issue solved. +p1802 +aVThey want it to be an issue that they can use. As to birthright citizenship... +p1803 +aV...the truth is, you can't just wave your hands and say "the 14th Amendment is gonna go away." It will take an extremely arduous vote in Congress, followed by two-thirds of the states, and if that doesn't work to amend the Constitution, then it is a long, arduous process in court. And meanwhile, what will continue to go on is what has gone on for 25 years. With all due respect, Mr. Trump, we've been talking about illegal immigration for 25 years. San Francisco has been a sanctuary city since 1989. There are 300 of them. And meanwhile, what has happened? Nothing. The border remains insecure. The legal immigration system remains broken. Look, we know what it takes to secure a border. We've heard a lot of great ideas here. Money, manpower, technology... +p1804 +aV...mostly, apparently, leadership... +p1805 +aV...the kind of leadership that understands how to get results. +p1806 +aVBut you \u2014 you would stipulate, Mr. Trump, but not everyone agrees with you. +p1807 +aVOK. +p1808 +aVI led Hewlett Packard through a very difficult time, the worst technology recession in 25 years. The +p1809 +aV\u2014 out a full-page ad in the New York Times to say he was wrong, I was right. I was a terrific CEO, the board was dysfunctional. And he thinks I will make a magnificent president of the United States. +p1810 +aVYou know, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld is a well-known Clintonite and honestly had it out for me from the moment that I arrived at Hewlett Packard. But honestly, Mr. Trump, I find it quite rich that you would talk about this. You know, there are a lot of us Americans who believe that we are going to have trouble someday paying back the interest on our debt because politicians have run up mountains of debt using other people's money. That is in fact precisely the way you ran your casinos. You ran up mountains of debt, as well as losses, using other people's money, and you were forced to file for bankruptcy not once \u2014 +p1811 +aV\u2014 not twice, four times, a record four times. Why should we trust you to manage the finances \u2014 +p1812 +aV\u2014 of this nation any differently than you managed the finances \u2014 +p1813 +aV\u2014 of your casinos? +p1814 +aVWell \u2014 +p1815 +aVWell, Mr. Trump \u2014 +p1816 +aVA track record of leadership is not a game. It is the issue in this election. +p1817 +aVWell, I thought we had been hearing quite a bit about Govenor Christie's record as governor, actually. I think track records are very important. I completely agree that what's at stake here is the future of this nation, and the future of every American. But I do think that a track record of leadership is vital because in the end this election is about leadership. And let's talk about what leadership is. It's not about braggadocio, it is about challenging the status quo, solving problems, producing results. And the highest calling of leadership is to unlock potential in others. +p1818 +aVProblems have festered in Washington for too long. And the potential of this nation is being crushed. +p1819 +aVYou see, Governor Christie, people spend time talking about their track records, and Mr. Trump and I have every right to do the same. And Mrs. Clinton has to defend her track record. Her track record of lying about Benghazi, of lying about her e- mails, about lying about her servers. She does not have a track record of accomplishment. Like Mrs. Clinton, I, too, have travels hundreds of thousands of miles around the globe. But unlike Mrs. Clinton, I know flying is an activity, not an accomplishment. Mrs. Clinton \u2014 if you want to stump a Democrat, ask them to name a accomplishment of Mrs. Clinton's. +p1820 +aVWe just spent \u2014 we just spent the last 10 minutes... +p1821 +aV...Jake, since everyone has gotten to weigh in on this military issue, I'd like to be able to do the same. We have spent probably 12 minutes talking about the past. Let's talk about the future. We need the strongest military on the face of the planet, and everyone has to know it. And, specifically, what that means is we need about 50 Army brigades, we need about 36 Marine battalions, we need somewhere between 300, and 350 naval ships, we need to upgrade every leg of the nuclear triad... +p1822 +aV...we need to reform the Department of Defense, we need as well... +p1823 +aV...to invest in our military technology, and we need to care for our veterans so 307,000... +p1824 +aV...aren't dying waiting for health care. +p1825 +aVJake, may I just say... +p1826 +aVJake \u2014 Jake... +p1827 +aVI very much hope I am the only person on this stage who can say this, but I know there are millions of Americans out there who will say the same thing. My husband Frank and I buried a child to drug addiction. So, we must invest more in the treatment of drugs. +p1828 +aVI agree with Senator Paul. I agree with states' rights. But we are misleading young people when we tell them that marijuana is just like having a beer. It's not. And the marijuana that kids are smoking today is not the same as the marijuana that Jeb Bush smoked 40 years ago. We do \u2014 sorry, Barbara. We do need \u2014 we do need criminal justice reform. We have the highest incarceration rates in the world. Two-thirds of the people in our prisons are there for non-violent offenses, mostly drug related. It's clearly not working. But we need to tell young people the truth. Drug addiction is an epidemic, and it is taking too many of our young people. I know this sadly from personal experience. +p1829 +aVI wouldn't change the $10 bill, or the $20 bill. I think, honestly, it's a gesture. I don't think it helps to change our history. What I would think is that we ought to recognize that women are not a special interest group. Women are the majority of this nation. We are half the potential of this nation, and this nation will be better off when every woman has the opportunity to live the life she chooses. +p1830 +aVSecretariat. +p1831 +aVI think what this nation can be and must be is symbolized by Lady Liberty and Lady Justice. Lady Liberty stands tall and strong. She is clear-eyed and resolute. She doesn't shield her eyes from the realities of the world, but she faces outward into the world nevertheless, as we always must. And she holds her torch high, because she knows she is a beacon of hope in a very troubled world. And Lady Justice, Lady Justice holds a sword by her side, because she is a fighter, a warrior for the values and the principles that have made this nation great. She holds a scale in her other hand. And with that scale she says all of us are equal in the eyes of God. And so all of us must be equal in the eyes of the law and the government, powerful and powerless alike. And she wears a blindfold. And with that blindfold she is saying to us that it must be true, it can be true that in this country, in this century, it doesn't matter who you are, it doesn't matter what you look like, it doesn't matter how you start, it doesn't matter your circumstances, here in this nation, every American's life must be filled with the possibilities that come from their God-given gifts. One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. +p1832 +aVWhen America does not lead, the world is a dangerous and a tragic place. This is a bad deal. Obama broke every rule of negotiation. Yes, our allies are not perfect, but Iran is at the heart of most of the evil that is going on in the Middle East through their proxy. +p1833 +aVYou know, when I started my campaign on May 4th of last year, I was 17 out of 16 candidates. Nobody polled my name. Nobody had ever heard of me. Less than 4 percent of you had ever heard of me. The people in Iowa showed up and they are still showing up. Hundreds and hundreds of them at every event. I have done over 150 events in the state of Iowa and I have 15 more coming up. Now, by the way, I start there because someone asked me about midway through my campaign, what's the biggest surprise to you on the campaign trail? And I will tell you what the biggest surprise is: the chasm, the yawning chasm, between what the national media talks about and what the people of Iowa and the people of this great nation talk about. That's the biggest surprise. So guess what, Martha? Guess what, sorry. The people of Iowa never ask me about a crisis in the GOP, they never ask me about the polls. They never ask me about the other candidates. What they ask me about is Carly, tell us why zero based budgeting is so important. Tell us why you are a leader who is going to produce results. Tell us how you are going to defeat +p1834 +aVWell let me tell you this: news flash, President Obama, news flash, Mrs. Clinton -- climate change is not our most pressing national security threat. Actually -- actually, it is +p1835 +aVYou know, we have a professional, political class of both parties. We have been talking about the same issues for election cycle after election cycle. Yeah, government is big and out of control, and the only way to get it under control is to control the money. And the only way to control the money is to ask the federal government to budget the way you do, to examine every dollar, to cut any dollar to spend -- to move any dollar. The fancy word for that is zero-base budgeting. I call it common sense. That three-page tax code I talk about all the time here in Iowa? It's been around for 20 years. But politicians don't want to talk about it, and you bet the lobbyists don't want to talk about it. In fact, nobody wants to vote on a three-page tax code or zero- base budgeting, although they've both been around for a long time. You know why? Because if you get those two things done, you are goring everybody's ox. You are taking the political establishment apart. You are actually challenging the status quo, which is what we need in the Oval Office. So you know who I'm going to count on? The citizens of this great nation, because you have extraordinary power. But when you do not use it... ... you are losing it. So take out your smartphones, folks. The people of Iowa know what I'm talking about. You take out your smartphones. if you agree with me that three-page tax code needs to be passed, lobbyists aren't going to be in my office. If you agree we gotta finally pass zero-base budgeting, take out your smartphones. Press one for yes, ladies and gentlemen. Press two for no. Citizens, we must take our country back. +p1836 +aVWell, first of all, I haven't said that. What I have said is that in the process of examining every dollar, cutting any dollar and moving any dollar, we happen to know that in this vast federal bureaucracy we have about 260,000 federal government employees who are going to retire, and we shouldn't replace them. Secondly, at Hewlett Packard, as you know -- the people of Iowa know this -- we went through a tough time. The worst technology recession in 25 years -- a great company called Gateway used to do be right here in Iowa. But they didn't make the tough calls necessary to save all those jobs, and so they lost every one of those jobs. Yes, I've had to make some tough calls. We saved 80,000 jobs. We went on to grow to 160,000 jobs. And, frankly, I think the American people know we need a president who's going to make some tough calls. So let me tell you where I'm going to start. The American people got a bill passed through Congress that said we could fire the top 400 senior executives at the V.A. for dereliction of duty. When we know that 307,000 veterans have died waiting for health care and the V.A. handed out $142 million worth of bonuses for superb performance, I'm going to start by firing 400... ... senior executives at the V.A. +p1837 +aVHe is right there. He is right there. +p1838 +aVIt wasn't a personal attack. I was pointing out the fact that Hillary Clinton will do anything to gain and hang on to power, anything. Listen, if my husband did what Bill Clinton did, I would have left him long ago. So, here's the deal. Hillary Clinton has been climbing the ladder to try and get power and here now she is trying for the White House. She is probably more qualified for the big house, honestly. She has escaped prosecution more times than El Chapo, perhaps Sean Penn should interview her. The woman should be prosecuted. And while Mrs. Clinton has flown hundreds of thousands of world around the global, I have too. And I know flying is an activity not an accomplishment. While I know that she has held many positions and many titles she has not accomplished much of anything in her life. She has gotten every single foreign policy challenge wrong. She continues to lie to the American people. It's called the Clinton way. Both Bill and Hillary practice it, the Clinton way. Say whatever you have to say, do whatever you have to say. Lie as long as you can get away with it. Hillary Clinton cannot be the president of these United States. +p1839 +aVWell, you know, Hillary Clinton hasn't been indicted either. So that tells us a lot about our justice system in this country. But, look, the facts of Planned Parenthood have not changed, folks, and I will not be rendered silent on this issue or any other issue. And it doesn't matter what stage I'm on. Here are the facts. Planned Parenthood engages in partial birth abortion, in late-term abortion. They alter those abortion techniques to harvest and sell body parts. They have admitted that they are not going to accept compensation for this anymore. The reality is, most Americans find this practice horrific. Most Americans find horrific that Hillary Clinton's position on this is it's not a life until it's born. Most Americans find horrific Hillary Clinton's position or the Democrat party's position, that a young woman does not need her mother's permission to get an abortion. But if you are 13 years old, you can get an abortion, but you can't go to a tanning salon without your mother's permission. A president Fiorina -- in a president Fiorina budget, there will not be one dime for Planned Parenthood, although there would be a lot of money for women's health and we will finally pass the pain capable unborn child protection act. I will always stand for life and religious liberty... ... because this is about the character of our nation. +p1840 +aVMartha, can I just say we've been talking tonight about a lot of issues and we've also been talking about the fact that the game is rigged and frankly, the media has a lot to do with that. It is outrageous frankly, that Fox News, and you, would question the pro-life credentials of Rick Santorum. That is outrageous. +p1841 +aVIn over 150 events I have come to know and love the people of Iowa. And the people of Iowa know what the rest of Americans have figured out, this ain't working anymore. The government no longer works for those who pay for it. The professional political class says and does whatever they need to do to win, and then does whatever they please. We need to return to a citizen government. That is why I am running for President. The media, the establishment, they all want to tell you this elections over, they know who's going to win it, except that you haven't... ... cast a single vote yet. So, the people of Iowa, stand with me, fight with me. Caucus for me. It is time to take our country back. +p1842 +aVWell, thank you. Good evening. If I may begin by saying how honored I am to be standing here with two former Iowa Caucus winners. Governor, Senator. And how honored I am to be talking with all of you. You know, I'm not a political insider. I haven't spent my lifetime running for office. The truth is I have had and been blessed by a lot of opportunities to do a lot of things in my life. And unlike another woman in this race, I actually love spending time with my husband. I'm standing here because I think we have to restore a citizen government in this country. I think we have to end crony capitalism. The crony capitalism that starts with both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. You know, Hillary Clinton sits inside government and rakes in millions, handing out access and favors. And Donald Trump sits outside government and rakes in billions buying people like Hillary Clinton. The state of our economy is not strong. We have record numbers of men out of work. We have record numbers of women living in poverty. We have young people who no longer believe that the American dream applies to them. We have working families whose wages have stagnated for decades, all while the rich get richer, the powerful get more powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected get more connected. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. +p1843 +aVAmerica must lead because when we do not lead, when this exceptional nation does not lead, the world is more dangerous and a more tragic place. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, they all refuse to lead. Worse, they refuse to respond when this nation is provoked. Hillary Clinton famously asked what difference does it make how four Americans died in Benghazi? Mrs. Clinton, here's what difference it makes. When you do not stand up and say the truth, that this was a purposeful terrorist attack, when you do not say the United States of America will retaliate for that attack, terrorists assume it's open season. We have refused to respond to every provocation. The President wouldn't even mention the fact that Iran had taken two Navy boats and our sailors \u2014 hostage. He didn't mention the fact that they violated the Geneva convention. He didn't respond to the fact that Iran launched two ballistic missile just a short time ago, in direct violation of a deal they had just signed. We didn't respond to the fact that North Korea attacked Sony Pictures. When we refuse to respond over, and over to provocation and bad behavior, we will get more provocation and bad behavior. I know most of our allies personally. I have met many of our adversaries. I know our military and our intelligence capability, and I know this. When we will not stand with our allies, when we will not respond to our adversaries, when we do not lead in the world the world is a dangerous and tragic place. I will be a Commander in Chief who will lead. +p1844 +aVOf course I'm worried about similar problems in the United States. We can not allow refugees to enter this country unless we can adequately vet them and we know we can't. Therefore we should stop allowing refugees into this country. And by the way, we do not need to be lectured about why we're angry and frustrated and fearful because we've had an illegal immigration problem in this country for 25 years. And we have every right to be frustrated about the fact that politicians stand up in election after election after election and promise us to fix the problem and yet, it has never been fixed. I offer leadership that understands that actions speak louder than words, that results count. We must secure our border. We must fix our broken immigration system. We must enforce a pro-American immigration system that serves our interests, not the rest of the world. I understand what it takes to translate goals into results and that is what I will do as president of the United States. Of course, we should be worried, for heavens sakes. This administration has now told us they don't know who has overstayed a visa. This administration has told us they don't even bother to check Facebook or Twitter to find out who's pledging allegiance to jihadis. We can do better than this, citizens. We need to take our country back. +p1845 +aVWe need to be very clear-eyed now about who are our allies and who are our adversaries. In the fight against +p1846 +aVAnd we all believe the polling data all the time, don't we? +p1847 +aVOh, it's a problem for so many reasons. First of all, it is yet another lawless executive order. You see, he doesn't like the fact that Congress has rejected his ideas twice on a bipartisan basis, so he's decided he just gets to override them. Sorry, Mr. President, not the way "The Constitution" works. Secondly......secondly, he basically admitted in that speech that he hasn't been paying much attention to enforcing the laws we have. He said, gee, we need a few more FBI agents. That would have helped, perhaps, stop a tragedy here in South Carolina with Dylann Roof, a guy who clearly never should have been sold a gun. In other words, Mr. President, you're right, we need to enforce the laws we have. Let's enforce the laws we have. There are criminals running around with guns who shouldn't have them. We don't prosecute any of them. Less than 1 percent. But I want to go back to the technology issue for a moment, if I may, as well, because in this regard, I disagree with Senator Santorum. Look, I come from the technology industry and I can tell you there is one thing that bureaucracies don't know how to do. They do not know how to innovate. We have come seven generations of technology since 2011. We have bureaucracies that are incapable of bringing in that innovation. So, yes, there are some very specific things that we should ask the private sector to help us with, including making sure we have the latest and greatest in algorithms to search through all these databases so that we find terrorists before they attack us, not after it's too late. And, finally, when a president who understands technology in the Oval Office. Mrs. Clinton, actually, you cannot wipe a server with a towel. +p1848 +aVYes, and see... +p1849 +aVAs CEO of Hewlett Packard... +p1850 +aVAs CEO of Hewlett Packard, I was asked very specifically for some very real help. The help I was asked to provide, this is now public information. So I am not revealing what \u2014 something that was \u2014 was classified. We had a very large shipment of equipment, software and hardware, headed to a retail outlet. And I was called by the head of the NSA, who had an urgent need for that capability, to begin laying out a program to track terrorists. We turned that truck around on a highway and it was escorted to the headquarters in San Jose. In World War II, our government went to the private sector and said, help us do things that we cannot do. The private sector has capabilities that the government does not have. There are some legal authorities that are required. The Sony attack could have been detected and repelled, had legal authorities been passed in Congress allowing private networks and public networks to work together. Those legal authorities have not yet been passed. Yes, I was asked to help. I know the technology industry. They will help again. But they must be asked by a president who understands what they have. +p1851 +aVFor decades, the professional political class in both parties has been talking about the middle class. For decades, Republicans in particular have been talking about reducing the size and scope of government, spending less money, reducing the complexity. And yet, for 40 years, the government has gotten bigger and more expensive. We now have a 75,000 plus page tax code, although politicians have run for office for decades promising reform. And all the while, middle class incomes have stagnated. You see, when government gets bigger and bigger, more powerful, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer and the middle class gets squeezed. We need to understand who the job creators are in this country, because we need more jobs to grow the middle class and to grow the wages of the middle class. Who creates jobs? Small businesses, new businesses, family-owned businesses. They create two thirds of the new jobs in this country and they employ half the people. I started out typing for a nine person real estate firm. My husband Frank started out driving a tow truck for a family-owned auto body shop. And we are crushing small businesses and destroying the middle class. So here's my blueprint to take back America. Let us first actually reform the tax code from 73,000 pages down to three. There's a 20-year-old plan to do exactly that. And then let us begin piece by piece to focus on every single dollar the government spends, so that we will spend less overall and still have enough for our priorities. And that requires the government to budget the way you do at home \u2014 examine every dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. The fancy term for that is zero- based budgeting, but I call it common sense. Citizens, we've got to take our country back. +p1852 +aVMy husband Frank, that I mentioned, I love spending time with. He's down there. He was real excited the other day because in New Hampshire, he was introduced as my eye candy. You know, everybody out there watching knows this. You cannot wait to see the debate between me and Hillary Clinton. You would pay to see that fight. And that's because you know I will win. And that's important. We've got to start by beating Hillary Clinton. All of my life, I have been told to sit down and be quiet. Settle. Settle. Don't challenge the system. That's what the American people are being told now and we have been told that for way too long \u2014 sit down and be quiet about our God, about our guns, about the abortion industry, settle for illegal immigration that's been a problem for decades, as so many of our problems have festered for decades. Accept a system of government and politics that no longer works for us. I will not sit down and be quiet. And neither will you. So I ask you to stand with me, fight with me, vote for me, citizens. It is time to take our future back, time to take our politics back. It is time to take our government back. Citizens, it is time. We must take our country back. +p1853 +aVWell, I would begin by reminding people that at this point in previous presidential elections, Jimmy Carter couldn't win, Ronald Reagan couldn't win, Bill Clinton couldn't win, and neither could've Barack Obama. I started as a secretary and became ultimately the chief executive of the largest technology company in the world, almost $90 billion in over 150 countries. I know personally how extraordinary and unique this nation is. I think to be commander in chief in the 21st century requires someone who understands how the economy works, someone who understands how the world works and who's in it; I know more world leaders on the stage today than anyone running, with the possible exception of Hillary Clinton; understands bureaucracies, how to cut them down to size and hold them accountable; and understands technology, which is a tool, but it's also a weapon that's being used against us. Most importantly, I think I understand leadership, which sometimes requires a tough call in a tough time. But mostly, the highest calling of leadership is to challenge the status-quo and unlock the potential of others. We need a leader who will lead the resurgence of this great nation and unlock its potential once again. Thank you. +p1854 +aVWell, I don't know. I didn't get a phone call from Bill Clinton before I jumped in the race. Did any of you get a phone call from Bill Clinton? I didn't. Maybe it's because I hadn't given money to the foundation or donated to his wife's Senate campaign. Here's the thing that I would ask Donald Trump in all seriousness. He is the party's frontrunner right now, and good for him. I think he's tapped into an anger that people feel. They're sick of politics as usual. You know, whatever your issue, your cause, the festering problem you hoped would resolved, the political class has failed you. That's just a fact, and that's what Donald Trump taps into. I would also just say this. Since he has changed his mind on amnesty, on health care and on abortion, I would just ask, what are the principles by which he will govern? Mac +p1855 +aVLet me say first that it is disturbing that every time one of these home-grown terrorist attacks occurs, and, as your question points out, they are occurring with far too great frequency, it turns out we had warning signals. It turns out we knew something was wrong. It turns out some dot wasn't connected, and so the first thing we have to do is make sure that everyone and every responsible agency is attuned to all of these possibilities and symptoms. We even had warnings about the Boston Marathon bombers, and yet the dots weren't connected. So we need to get on a different mindset. Secondly, I certainly support that we need to tear down cyber walls, not on a mass basis, but on a targeted basis. But let me just say that we also need down -- to tear down the cyber walls that China is erecting, that Russia is erecting. We need to be very well aware of the fact that China and Russia are using technology to attack us, just as +p1856 +aVI absolutely would call on them to collaborate and cooperate, yes. +p1857 +aVYeah. Sometimes it's a complicated situation, but some things are black and white. On day one in the Oval Office, I would make two phone calls. The first one would be to my good friend, Bibi Netanyahu, to reassure him we will stand with the State of Israel. The second will be to the supreme leader of Iran. He might not take my phone call, but he would get the message, and the message is this: Until you open every nuclear and every military facility to full, open, anytime/anywhere, for real, inspections, we are going to make it as difficult as possible for you to move money around the global financial system. I hope Congress says no to this deal. But realistically, even if they do, the money is flowing. China and Russia have never been on our side of the table. The Europeans have moved on. We have to stop the money flow. And by the way, as important as those two phone calls are, they are also very important because they say this. America is back in the leadership business. And when America does not lead, the world is a dangerous and a tragic place. This is a bad deal. Obama broke every rule of negotiation. Yes, our allies are not perfect. But Iran is at the heart of most of the evil that is going on in the Middle East through their proxies. Mac +p1858 +aVLet me tell you what I would do immediately, day two in the Oval Office. I would hold a Camp David summit with our Arab allies, not to talk them into this lousy deal with Iran, but to say to them, "what is it that you need to defeat +p1859 +aVI agree with my colleagues. We need to begin by undoing -- I would begin by undoing a whole set of things that President Obama has done, whether it's illegal amnesty or this latest round of EPA regulations. But let me go back to something that's very important. We have been debating right here the core difference between conservatism and progressivism. Conservatives, I am a conservative because I believe no one of us is any better than any other one of us. Every one of us is gifted by God, whether it is those poor babies being picked over or it's someone whose life is tangled up in a web of dependence. Progressives don't believe that. They believe some are smarter than others, some are better than others, so some are going to need to take care of others. That is the fight we have to have, and we have to undo a whole set of things that President Obama has done that get at the heart of his disrespect and disregard for too many Americans. +p1860 +aVThis is a great nation. It is a unique nation in all of human history and on the face of the planet, because here, our founders believed that everyone has a right to fulfill their potential and that that right --they called it life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness -- comes from God and cannot be taken away by government. We have arrived at a point in our nation's history where the potential of this nation and too many Americans is being crushed by the weight, the power, the cost, the complexity, the ineptitude, the corruption of the federal government, and only someone who will challenge the status quo of Washington, D.C. can lead the resurgence of this great nation. I will do that. Mac +p1861 +aVNot trustworthy. No accomplishment. +p1862 +aVHillary Clinton lies about Benghazi, she lies about e- mails. She is still defending Planned Parenthood, and she is still her party's frontrunner. 2016 is going to be a fight between conservatism, and a Democrat party that is undermining the very character of this nation. We need a nominee who is going to throw every punch, not pull punches, and someone who cannot stumble before he even gets into the ring. I am not a member of the political class. I am a conservative; I can win this job, I can do this job, I need your help, I need your support. I will, with your help and support, lead the resurgence of this great nation. Thank you. +p1863 +asVBUSH +p1864 +(lp1865 +VOur freedom is under attack. Our economy is under water. The leading democrat is under investigation. And America is under the gun to lead the free world to protect our civilized way of life. Serious times require strong leadership, that's what at stake right now. Regarding national security, we need to restore the defense cuts of Barack Obama to rebuild our military, to destroy +p1866 +aVWell, first of all, we need to destroy +p1867 +aVLook, he mentioned me. I can bring \u2014 I can talk. This is \u2014 this is the problem. Banning all Muslims will make it harder for us to do exactly what we need to do, which is to destroy +p1868 +aVThey are relevant if we want to destroy +p1869 +aVDonald, this has got... +p1870 +aVThis is another example of the lack of seriousness. Look, this is \u2014 this is troubling because we're at war. They've declared war on us and we need to have a serious strategy to destroy +p1871 +aVYou said on September 30th that +p1872 +aVI'm talking right now. I'm talking. +p1873 +aVSeptember 30th you said... +p1874 +aVA little of your own medicine there, Donald. +p1875 +aVDonald, you're not going to be able to insult your way to the presidency. That's not going to happen. And I do have the strength. Leadership, leadership is not about attacking people and disparaging people. Leadership is about creating a serious strategy to deal with the threat of our time. And I laid out that strategy before the attacks in Paris and before the attacks in San Bernardino. And it is the way forward. We need to increase our military spending. We need to deal with a no- fly zone in Syria, a safe zone. We need to focus on building a military that is second-to-none... +p1876 +aV... so that we can destroy Islamic terrorism. +p1877 +aVI think we're focusing a whole... +p1878 +aVI do. I think the lesson's learned are that we have to have to have a strategy to get and a strategy to get out. Which means, that you create a stable situation. This president and this is what the focus ought to be, it's not the differences between us, it's Barack Obama does not believe America's leadership in the world is a force for good. He does not believe that our strength is a place where security can take place. He leads from behind. He creates an environment that now we're creating the most unstable situation we've had since the World War II era. The focus ought to be on the single fact that Hillary Clinton wants to double down on a failed foreign policy and we need to be united to defeat that because we're going to be in a place that is far less secure than it is today. Don't you all agree? +p1879 +aVBecause I \u2014 first of all, I know what I don't know. I know what I don't know. I would seek out, as I have, the best advice that exists. I won't get my information from the shows. I don't know if that's Saturday morning or Sunday morning. I don't know which one. I will seek out the best advice, and I will create a strategy and I will persuade the American people what the role of America should be. I've laid out a policy of rebuilding our military. All of the talk that we're seeing here \u2014 most of which I agree on, frankly \u2014 requires a much stronger military. We now have a lack of readiness that is quite scary. We have planes that were \u2014 that Harry Truman inaugurated, the B-52. We have \u2014 the Navy has been gutted and decimated. The readiness of the Marines is way down. If we're serious about America's leadership in the world, then we need to make sure that we have the back of the armed forces. The Armed Forces Radio is here listening to this today. I hope they know that if I'm president, I'll be a commander-in-chief, not an agitator- in-chief or a divider-in-chief, that I will lead this country in a way that will create greater security and greater safety. +p1880 +aVSo I was \u2014 I was \u2014 I was mentioned, so I can bring up something, I think, right? Look, the simple fact is, if you think this is tough you're not being treated fairly... +p1881 +aV... imagine what it's going to be like dealing with Putin or dealing with President Xi. +p1882 +aVOr dealing with the Islamic terrorism that exists. +p1883 +aVThis is a tough business to run for president. +p1884 +aVAnd it's \u2014 and we need...... to have a leader that is... +p1885 +aVYou're never going to be president of the United States by insulting your way to the presidency. +p1886 +aVDoesn't matter. Doesn't matter. +p1887 +aVYes. +p1888 +aVNo it isn't but it is an important subject to talk about for sure. And I think people have good ideas on this. Clearly, we need to secure the border. Coming here legally needs to be a lot easier than coming here illegally. If you don't have that, you don't have the rule of law. We now have a national security consideration, public health issues, we have an epidemic of heroine overdoses in all places in this country because of the ease of bringing heroine in. We have to secure the border. It is a serious undertaking and yes, we do need more fencing and we do need to use technology, and we do need more border control. And we need to have better cooperation by the way with local law enforcement. There are 800,000 cops on the beat, they ought to be trained to be the eyes and ears for law enforcement for the threat against terror as well as for immigration. This is a serious challenge and if we can get it right, yes, we'll start winning votes again. The real problem isn't anybody on this stage, the real problem is Barack Obama has had six years to advocate a position to fix this and he's done nothing. The congress has funded these programs of building more fencing and doing all this and he hasn't done it. He wants to maintain it as a wedge issue and so does Hillary Clinton. Republicans need to fix it and when we do, we'll be better off. +p1889 +aVI completely agree with Chris. And this administration has been so lax. Think about it. Hillary Clinton is using a private server for \u2014 where classified information go by. This is a \u2014 this is a serious administration? The president receives an inspector general's report that the Office of Personnel Management could be hacked into; they had antiquated firewalls; 23 million files have been \u2014 are in the hands of the Chinese allegedly, including, by the way, members of the press, it turns out, last week. Maybe that's the only part that's good news, so that you guys can get a feel for what it's like now to see this type of attack. This is something \u2014 we have to have the best defensive capabilities. We need to coordinate all of our efforts with the private sector. We need to give them liability relief so that we can do that. And offensively, we need to have capabilities second to none. We need to create a situation where they know that there will be adverse impacts if they continue to do what they're doing. They'll respect that. They'll respect a United States that is serious about protecting our \u2014 our infrastructure. If we don't do it, we'll continue to see what's \u2014 exactly what's happening, not just from the Chinese, by the way. The Russians and rogue actors, including +p1890 +aVAsk yourself, which candidate will keep you and our country safer, stronger and freer? Hillary Clinton has aligned herself with Barack Obama on +p1891 +aVYou've already made two comments, John. It's my turn. +p1892 +aVI got about four minutes in the last debate. I'm going to get my question right now. +p1893 +aVYes. +p1894 +aVFirst of all, we could get to 4 percent growth. The new normal of 2 percent puts huge demands on government. The reason why we have structural deficits is that more and more people are relying on government and the growth that we don't have makes \u2014 makes the deficit grow. A 4 percent growth strategy starts with tax reform. And the proposal that I've laid out is the one the Wall Street Journal editorial board has said is the most pro-growth of all the proposals out there. We cut the \u2014 we eliminate a lot of deductions and cut the rates down. A corporate rate of 20 percent, which puts us 5 percent above \u2014 below that of China, and allows us full expensing of investing. It would create an explosion of investment back into this country, creating higher-wage jobs, and so that's part of it. On the regulatory side I think we need to repeal every rule that Barack Obama has in terms of work in progress, every one of them. And start over. For those that are already in existence, the regulation of the Internet, we have to start over, but we ought to do that. The clean power act, we ought to repeal that and \u2014 and start over on that. The waters of the United States act, which is going to be devastating for agriculture and many industries, we should repeal that. We should repeal the rules because the economic costs of this far exceed the social benefit. And if we're serious about being serious about high growth, then we have to recognize that small businesses right now, more of them are closing than \u2014 than are \u2014 than are being set up. Hillary Clinton has said that Barack Obama's policies get an A. Really? One in 10 people right now aren't working or have given up altogether, as you said. That's not an A. One in seven people are living in poverty. That's not an A. One in five children are on food stamps. That is not an A. It may be the best that Hillary Clinton can do, but it's not the best America can do. +p1895 +aVThank you, Donald, for allowing me to speak at the debate. That's really nice of you. Really appreciate that. What a generous man you are. Twelve million illegal immigrants, to send them back, 500,000 a month, is just not \u2014 not possible. And it's not embracing American values. And it would tear communities apart. And it would send a signal that we're not the kind of country that I know America is. And even having this conversation sends a powerful signal \u2014 they're doing high-fives in the Clinton campaign right now when they hear this. That's the problem with this. We have to win the presidency. And the way you win the presidency is to have practical plans. Lay them out there. What we need to do is allow people to earn legal status where they pay a fine, where they work, where they don't commit crimes, where they learn English, and over an extended period of time, they earn legal status. That's the path \u2014 a proper path... +p1896 +aVI'm gonna fight as hard as I can to make sure that we shift power away from Washington, simplify the tax code, to spur economic activity in this country. Of course it's the highest priority. If we don't do that, we're stuck with the "new normal" of 2 percent growth. Hillary Clinton says, basically, we just gotta get used to it. Two percent growth means declining income for the middle class. It means more than 6 million people are stuck in poverty than the day that Barack Obama was inaugurated. It means \u2014 it means more demands on government \u2014 growing the economy is the first job, if we're going to be serious about dealing with the deficit and debt. And more importantly, people are really struggling right now. In this economy, the disposable income of the great middle is down 2,300 bucks. So yeah, we've created jobs, your \u2014 argue (ph) \u2014 brought that up early, and it was a good question. Jobs are being created, but they're lower-income jobs than the jobs that were lost. And the net effect of this is we need to jump-start the economy. I think of Jonathan (ph) and Reagan Love (ph), who are supporters of mine. Jonathan has been deployed by the National Guard, he is \u2014 he's in Oklahoma. Reagan Love \u2014 by the way, pretty great name, I think \u2014 is a teacher. When \u2014 if they had this tax cut, what they told me was that that $2,300 of money in their pocket \u2014 they would go back to South Carolina and start a business. Imagine what it would be like, instead of having more businesses closed than started, we had it the exact opposite. We would grow our economy, and the government would get the revenue necessary to make things \u2014 make things better. Hillary Clinton's approach to this is more top-down, more regulation, more taxes, more government, and it will destroy our economy. +p1897 +aVIt is \u2014 I'd say it is Islamic terrorism, and, back to the question of what we are dealing with in Iraq, when we pull back voids are filled. That's the lesson of history, and, sadly, this president does not believe in American leadership. He does not believe it, and the net result is that we have a caliphate the size of Indiana that gains energy each and everyday to recruit Americans in our own country, and the threat to the homeland relates to the fact that we have not dealt with this threat of terror in the Middle East. We should have a no fly zone in Syria. We should have a support for the remnants of the Syrian Free Army, and create safe zones. If you want to deal with the four million refugees that are leaving Syria because of the devastation there, then we 'ought to create safe zones for them to stay in the region rather than go to Europe. And, that requires American leadership. Without American leadership every other country in the neighborhood beings to change their priorities. It is tragic that you see Iraq, and other countries now talking to Russia. It wasn't that long ago that Russia had no influence in the region at all. And, so, the United States needs to lead across the board. This president, and Hillary Clinton both do not believe the United States has a leadership role to play, and we're now paying a price, and it will have a huge impact on the economy of this country if we don't deal with this. +p1898 +aV...They're not doing that... +p1899 +aV +p1900 +aVDonald \u2014 Donald's wrong on this. He is absolutely wrong on this. We're not going to be the world's policeman, but we sure as heck better be the world's leader. That's \u2014 there's a huge difference where, without us leading... ...voids are filled, and the idea that it's a good idea for Putin to be in Syria, let +p1901 +aVWe're not \u2014 we shouldn't have another financial crisis. What we ought to do is raise the capital requirements so banks aren't too big to fail. Dodd-Frank has actually done the opposite, totally the opposite, where banks now have higher concentration of risk in assets and the capital requirements aren't high enough. If we were serious about it, we would raise the capital requirements and lessen the load on the community banks and other financial institutions. This vast overreach has created a huge problem for our country, and Hillary Clinton wants to double down on that. I was in Washington, Iowa, about three months ago talking about how bad Washington, D.C., is. It was \u2014 get the \u2014 kind of the \u2014 anyway. We had... It \u2014 and I talked to a banker there. This is a bank that had $125 million of assets, four branches. Their compliance costs because of Dodd-Frank went from $100,000 to $600,000 in a two-year period. The net effect of that is \u2014 and they had \u2014 they had not one loan that went bad during the financial crisis. They knew \u2014 they knew their borrowers. They gave back to the community. They were engaged in the community. And imagine America without its community banks. Well, that's what's happening because of Dodd-Frank. That's \u2014 that's my worry. My worry is that the real economy has been hurt by the vast overreach of the Obama administration. And Hillary Clinton, she wants to double down on that. She wants to create even more so. She is a captive of the left of her party to the point now where she is \u2014 she was for the trade agreement in \u2014 the Pacific agreement. Now she's against it. She was \u2014 hinted she was for the XL pipeline. Now she's opposed to it. All the things that would create sustained economic growth she's now doubling down against it. +p1902 +aVYou could, if you were serious about... +p1903 +aVNo, I can't say that. But I can say, if you created higher capital requirements, that's the solution to this, not having concentration of assets. The bigger banks now have more and more control over \u2014 over the financial assets of this country. And that is the wrong approach to take. +p1904 +aVMaria? +p1905 +aV...We've had a 10% reduction in carbon emissions, and it isn't because of Solyndra. It isn't because of the central planners in Washington D.C. It's because we've had a great American success story, the explosion of natural gas. Taking two existing technologies, and applying it through innovation has created lower carbon emissions, lower energy costs \u2014 40% of all the economic activity in the age of Obama has come from the energy sector, and Hillary Clinton wants to suppress that. We \u2014 I think we ought to be expanding this. High growth is the path to lower carbon, and more jobs. I know for a fact, as Governor of the State of Florida, we created the largest land purchasing programs, and environment clean-up programs because we had a growing economy. Our revenues were growing at 4.4%. It allowed for resources to be able to protect the natural system. We got to get to a conservation... ...in environmental policy that goes beyond just carbon... +p1906 +aVJane Horton is sitting with my wife here today. Her husband, Chris, was killed in action in Afghanistan. And Jane spends her time now defending and fighting for military families. They're both heroes. I don't think we need an agitator-in-chief or a divider-in-chief. We need a commander-in-chief that will rebuild our military and restore respect to our veterans by revamping and fixing a broken Veterans Administration, That's my pledge to you. I ask for your support. Thank you. +p1907 +aVYou know, I am by my nature impatient. And this is not an endeavor that rewards that. You gotta be patient. You gotta be \u2014 stick with it, and all that. But also, I can't fake anger. I believe this is still the most extraordinary country on the face of the Earth. And it troubles me that people are rewarded for tearing down our country. It's never been that way in American politics before. I can't do it. I just don't believe that this country's days are going to be deeply \u2014 you know, going down. I think we're on the verge of the greatest time, and I want to fix the things to let people rise up. +p1908 +aVCould I \u2014 could I bring something up here, because I'm a constituent of the senator and I helped him and I expected that he would do constituent service, which means that he shows up to work. He got endorsed by the Sun-Sentinel because he was the most talented guy in the field. He's a gifted politician. But Marco, when you signed up for this, this was a six-year term, and you should be showing up to work. I mean, literally, the Senate \u2014 what is it, like a French work week? You get, like, three days where you have to show up? You can campaign, or just resign and let someone else take the job. There are a lot of people living paycheck to paycheck in Florida as well, they're looking for a senator that will fight for them each and every day. +p1909 +aVHe wasn't my senator. +p1910 +aVWell, I've been \u2014 +p1911 +aVNo, no. What I said was I don't believe that I would be president of the United States and have the same dysfunction that exists in Washington, D.C. now. +p1912 +aVDon't vote for me if you want to keep the gridlock in Washington, D.C. +p1913 +aVBut if you want someone who has a proven, effective leadership, that was a governor of a state, that transformed the culture there, elect me so I can fight for the American people and change the culture in Washington, D.C. +p1914 +aV, the great majority of Republicans and Americans believe in a hopeful future. They don't believe in building walls and a pessimistic view of the future. They're concerned that Washington is so dysfunctional it is holding them back. There are lids on people's aspirations. Think about it: six and a half million people working part-time. Workforce participation rates lower than they were in 1977. Six million more people living in poverty than the day that Barack Obama got elected president, and the left just wants more of the same. We have to offer a compelling alternative that is based on hope and optimism and grounded in serious policy, which I've laid out. And you can go get it at jeb2016.com. +p1915 +aVWell, the deal was done. Barack Obama got his massive tax increase, and there was no spending cuts. You just see the recent deal announced today or yesterday, more spending, more tax increasing, more regulation. And now we have to accept 2 percent, the new normal for economic growth. And the net result is the middle class has $2,300 less in their pockets than the day that Barack Obama got elected president. And now they see Hillary Clinton proposing a third term of economic policy for our country. We need to reverse that. And my record was one of cutting taxes each and every year. You don't have to guess about it, because I actually have a record. $19 billion of tax cuts, 1.3 million jobs created. We were one of two states to go to AAA bond rating, and our government spending was far less than the spending in people's income. +p1916 +aVYou find me... +p1917 +aVYou find me a Democrat \u2014 you find me a Democrat that will cut spending ten dollars? Heck, find me a Republican in Congress that would cut spending ten dollars. I'll talk to them. +p1918 +aVLook, the \u2014 the deal is already done. The biggest tax increase happened under the watch of Barack Obama, and spending's gone up. You find a Democrat that's for cutting taxes \u2014 cutting spending ten dollars, I'll give them a warm kiss. +p1919 +aVLook, the \u2014 the simple fact is that my plan actually gives the middle class the greatest break: $2,000 per family. And if you make $40,000 a year, a family of four, you don't pay any income tax at all. Simplifying the code and lowering rates, both for corporations and \u2014 and personal rates, is exactly what we need to do. You think about the regulatory cost and the tax cost \u2014 that's why small businesses are closing, rather than being formed in our country right now. The big corporations have the scale to deal with all of this. And what I think all of us are saying is, our monetary policy, our tax policy, regulatory policy needs to be radically changed so we can create high sustained growth for income to rise. The government has tried it their way. Under \u2014 under Barack Obama and the proposals of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and others, they've tried it their way, and it has failed miserably. We need to take a new approach of taxing \u2014 reforming how we tax, and reforming the regulations in our \u2014 in our country before it's too late. +p1920 +aVWe don't need the federal government to be involved in this at all. +p1921 +aVWe don't need the Federal Government to be involved in this, because when they do we create a $1.2 trillion debt. In Florida, we have the lowest in-state tuition of any state, because there's accountability, just as John said. Let the states do this. You'll create a much better graduation rate at a lower cost, and you won't in debt the next generation with recourse debt on their backs. It's always a solution of the left to create more Government from the Federal Government. It is broke, it is not working. +p1922 +aVWell, first of all, I'm 7 and 0 in my fantasy league. +p1923 +aVGronkowski is still going strong. I have Ryan Tannehill, Marco, as my quarterback, he was 18 for 19 last week. So I'm doing great. But we're not gambling. And I think this has become something that needs to be looked at in terms of regulation. Effectively it is day trading without any regulation at all. And when you have insider information, which apparently has been the case, where people use that information and use big data to try to take advantage of it, there has to be some regulation. If they can't regulate themselves, then the NFL needs to look at just, you know, moving away from them a little bit. And there should be some regulation. I have no clue whether the federal government is the proper place, my instinct is to say, hell no, just about everything about the federal government. +p1924 +aVBecky \u2014 +p1925 +aV\u2014 the governor's absolutely right. But we also need to reform Medicare and Social Security. We can't just allow it to continue on its current path the way that Hillary Clinton wants to do because there'll be major reductions in benefits in the next decade if we do nothing. I have a concrete plan to do just that, which allows people to keep HSAs to encourage savings, it allows for people that are retiring with Social Security to be able to get a minimum of 125 percent of the poverty level so that there is a baseline that in this generous country of ours no one goes below. +p1926 +aVYou have to reform Social Security, and the simple way to do it is to make sure that the wealthiest don't receive the same benefits as people that are lower-income. And make sure you enhance savings in the private market. The idea of 401(k)s. I have a small business that I set up. It took \u2014 it took an arm and a leg to be able to set up a 401(k). Because of all the federal mandates and federal laws, it was too expensive. We need to incent private savings and make sure that Social Security is protected for those that have it. +p1927 +aVBut the idea that you can't \u2014 that you're just gonna grow your way out of this \u2014 I have a plan to grow the economy at 4 percent, but you're gonna have to make adjustments for both Medicare and Social Security. [ +p1928 +aVAmerica's at a crossroads. The D.C. politicians continue to make things worse. I have a proven record of success, 32 years in business, and 8 years as Governor of the state of Florida. I will change the culture in Washington, just as I changed the culture in Tallahassee. I will do so in a way that will bring people together. We need a unifier, not a cynical divider in chief, and that's exactly what I will do. Imagine a country where people are lifted out of poverty again. Imagine a country where the middle class can get rising income again. I know we can do this because we're still the most extraordinary country on the face of the Earth. +p1929 +aVI'm Jeb Bush, and I believe America's on the verge of its greatest century, and I'm ready to lead. I'm a committed, conservative reformer that cut taxes, that balanced budgets, that took on the special interest in Florida, and we won. I look forward to talking tonight about how we can fix a broken Washington D.C., and create an environment where people can rise up again in this great country. Thank you. +p1930 +aVI think the voters will make that determination. But what I know to be true is that the next president of the United States is going to have to fix an extraordinary difficult situation. This administration, with President Obama and Hillary Clinton, has created insecurity the likes of which we never would've imagined. There's not a place in the world where we're better off today than six and a half years ago. And that requires a steadiness. That requires an understanding of how the world works. That requires an understanding and appreciation of American leadership in the world. You can't just, you know, talk about this stuff and insult leaders around the world and expect a good result. You have to do this with a steady hand, and I believe I have those skills. +p1931 +aVNo. Absolutely not. People are supporting me because I have a proven record of conservative leadership where I cut taxes $19 billion over eight years. We shrunk the state government workforce, we created a climate that led the nation in job growth seven out of eight years. We were one of two states to go to AAA bond rating. People know that we need principle-centered leadership, a disrupter to go to Washington, D.C. The one guy that had some special interests that I know of that tried to get me to change my views on something \u2014 that was generous and gave me money \u2014 was Donald Trump. He wanted casino gambling in Florida \u2014 +p1932 +aVYes you did. +p1933 +aVYou wanted it and you didn't get it because I was opposed to \u2014 +p1934 +aV\u2014 casino gambling before \u2014 +p1935 +aVduring and after. And that's not \u2014 I'm not going to be bought by anybody. +p1936 +aVNo way. Believe me. +p1937 +aVNot even possible. +p1938 +aVYou've got, according to your \u2014 to what you said on one of the talk shows, you got Hillary Clinton to go to your wedding \u2014 +p1939 +aV\u2014 because you gave her money. Maybe it works for Hillary Clinton \u2014 +p1940 +aV\u2014 it doesn't work for anybody on this \u2014 on stage. +p1941 +aVBut the simple fact is \u2014 +p1942 +aVNo. The simple fact is, Donald, you could not take \u2014 +p1943 +aVI was asked the question. +p1944 +aVSo he supports Pelosi, he supports Schumer, he supports Clinton \u2014 +p1945 +aVWhen he \u2014 and he \u2014 when he asked \u2014 when he asked Florida to have casino gambling, we said no. +p1946 +aVWe said no. And that's the simple fact. The simple fact is \u2014 +p1947 +aVDon't cut me off. +p1948 +aVNo, I don't think so, but we need to be strong against China. We should use offensive tactics as it relates to cyber security, send a deterrent signal to China. There should be super sanctions in what President Obama has proposed. There's many other tools that we have without canceling a dinner. That's not going to change anything, but we can be much stronger as it relates to that. As it relates to Iran, it's not a strategy to tear up an agreement. A strategy would be how do we confront Iran? And, the first thing that we need to do is to establish our commitment to Israel which has been altered by this administration. And, make sure that they have the most sophisticated weapons to send a signal to Iran that we have Israel's back. If we do that, it's going to create a healthier deterrent effect than anything else I can think of. +p1949 +aVI don't think \u2014 you're not stating my views right. +p1950 +aVI think there needs to be accommodation for someone acting on faith. Religious conscience is \u2014 is \u2014 is a first freedom. It's \u2014 it's a powerful part of our \u2014 of our Bill of Rights. And, in a big, tolerant country, we should respect the rule of law, allow people in \u2014 in \u2014 in this country \u2014 I'm a \u2014 I was opposed to the decision, but we \u2014 you can't just say, "well, they \u2014 gays can't get married now." But this woman, there should be some accommodation for her conscience, just as there should be for people that are florists that don't want to participate in weddings, or bakers. A great country like us should find a way to have accommodations for people so that we can solve the problem in the right way. This should be solved at the local level... +p1951 +aVAnd so we do agree, Mike. +p1952 +aVWell, he's wrong on a lot of things, but on this he's wrong because I'm the most pro-life governor on this stage. I got to act on my core beliefs. It's part of who I am. Life is a gift from God. And from beginning end we need to respect it and err on the side of life. And so I defunded Planned Parenthood. We created a climate where parental notification took place. We were the only state to fund crisis pregnancy centers with state moneys. We were totally focused on this. And I would bring that kind of philosophy to Washington, D.C. So here is a solution to this. Title X of the HHS funding, there is something that was the "Reagan Rule." It was passed in 1988. And in that rule it was defined, and the courts approved this, that a Planned Parenthood, you couldn't separate the money between the actual abortion procedures, and there are 330,000 abortions that take place in this clinic, and their promotion of it. He interpreted it the right way, the courts ruled in his favor, and Planned Parenthood did not get funding during that time until President Clinton came in. When I'm elected president, we will restore that interpretation of Title X. And this deal will be finished. +p1953 +aVThere are 13,000 community-based organizations that provide health services to women, 13,000 in this country. I don't believe that Planned Parenthood should get a penny from the federal government. Those organizations should get funding, just as I increased funding when I was governor of the state. That's the way you do this is you improve the condition for people. And, Donald, when I was governor, we also increased the opportunities for women. Women's income grew three times faster than the national average when I was governor. +p1954 +aVWe improved \u2014 we improved \u2014 +p1955 +aV\u2014 we increased child support \u2014 we increased child support with a broken system by 90 percent. +p1956 +aVI have a proven record. I have a proven record. +p1957 +aVHe did, he did. You're proud of your family, just as I am. +p1958 +aVTo subject my wife into the middle of a raucous political conversation was completely inappropriate, and I hope you apologize for that, Donald. +p1959 +aVShe is. She's fantastic. +p1960 +aVShe is absolutely the love of my life, and she's right here... +p1961 +aVAnd why don't you apologize to her right now. +p1962 +aVYeah. +p1963 +aVSo, here's the deal. My wife is a Mexican-American. She's an American by choice. She loves this country as much as anybody in this room, and she wants a secure border. But she wants to embrace the traditional American values that make us special and make us unique. We're at a crossroads right now. Are we going to take the Reagan approach, the hopeful optimistic approach, the approach that says that, you come to our country legally, you pursue your dreams with a vengeance, you create opportunities for all of us? Or the Donald Trump approach? The approach that says that everything is bad, that everything is coming to an end. I... +p1964 +aVI'm on the Reagan side of this. +p1965 +aVLook, first of all, I wrote a book about this, three \u2014 four years ago, now. And I laid out a comprehensive, conservative approach for immigration reform. And it does require securing the border. No one disagrees with that. But to build a wall, and to deport people \u2014 half a million a month \u2014 would cost hundreds of billions of dollars, Donald. Hundreds of billions of dollars. It would destroy community life, it would tear families apart. And it would send a signal to the rest of the world that the United States values that are so important for our long-term success no longer matter in this country. +p1966 +aVWell, I've been speaking English here tonight, and I'll keep speaking English. But the simple fact is, if a high school kid asks me a question in Spanish, a school \u2014 by the way, a voucher program that was created under my watch, the largest voucher program in the country, where kids can go to a Christian school, and they ask me a question in Spanish, I'm going to show respect and answer that question in Spanish. Even though they do speak English, and even though they embrace American values. +p1967 +aVYeah. +p1968 +aVWell, first of all, Hugh, if you're looking at Republican advisers, you have to go to the last two administrations. That happened to be 41 and 43. So just by definition, if you're \u2014 and many of the people here that are seeking advice from the foreign policy experts in the Republican side, they \u2014 they served in my dad's administration, my brother's administration. Of course that's the case. But I'm my own man. I'm going to create a strategy that is based on the simple fact that the United States needs to lead the world. The first thing that we need to do is to stop the craziness of the sequester. Rebuild our military so that our \u2014 so that we don't deploy people over and over again without the necessary equipment to keep them safe, to send a signal to the world that we're serious. If we're going to lead the world, then we need to have the strongest military possible. We need to rebuild our counterintelligence and intelligence capabilities. We need to focus on the fact that the next president is going to start in 2017, not in 1990 \u2014 you know, 30 years ago, or when my brother started. The world is dramatically different. And I believe that we need to restore America's presence and leadership in the world. Name a country where our relationship is better today than it was the \u2014 the day that Barack Obama got elected president. Under Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama, we have seen a weakness that now creates huge problems for the next president of the United States. So I'll have a team that will be \u2014 that will be following the doctrine I set up, and it will be peace through strength. We're sitting here in this library, which is a wonderful place to talk about this, because that's exactly what happened in the 1980s, and the world was a lot safer because of... +p1969 +aVThe leadership of Ronald Reagan and my... +p1970 +aVSo you \u2014 the \u2014 the first chance... +p1971 +aVRight after me, and then I'll \u2014 I'll yield \u2014 yield the floor. What do you guys say in the Senate when you're talking and debating? +p1972 +aVHere's the facts: When Donald Trump talks about judgment, what was his position on who would've been the best negotiator to deal with Iran? It wasn't a Republican; it was Hillary Clinton. That's what you believe. I mean, the lack of judgment and the lack of understanding about how the world works is really dangerous in this kind of time that we're saying. So is that the judgment that you bring to the table, that Hillary Clinton... +p1973 +aV... is a great negotiator, that she could bring about a better deal on Iran? +p1974 +aVYou know what? As it relates to my brother, there's one thing I know for sure. He kept us safe. I don't know if you remember... ... Donald... ... you remember the \u2014 the rumble? You remember the fire fighter with his arms around it? He sent a clear signal that the United States would be strong and fight Islamic terrorism, and he did keep us safe. +p1975 +aVThat's \u2014 that's my brother. +p1976 +aVHere's the lessons of history: When we \u2014 we pull back, voids are created. We left Iraq. We should've had a \u2014 a forces agreement to stay there with a small force, and instead of that, we politically and militarily pulled back, and now we have the creation of +p1977 +aV... because of what President Obama's done by pulling back. +p1978 +aVWell, I'm surprised Senator Cruz would say that since he was as strong supporter of John Roberts at the time. I will talk about what I will do as it relates to appointing Supreme Court Justices. We need to make sure that we have justices that, with a proven experienced record of respect for upholding the constitution. That is what we need. We can't have \u2014 the history in recent past is appoint people that have no experience so that you can't get attacked. And, that makes it harder for people to have confidence that they won't veer off... +p1979 +aVJohn Roberts has made some really good decisions, for sure, but he did not have a proven, extensive record that would have made the clarity the important thing, and that's what we need to do. And, I'm willing to fight for those nominees to make sure that they get passed. You can't do it the politically expedient way anymore. This is the culture in Washington. You have to fight hard for these appointments. This is perhaps the most important thing that the next president will do. +p1980 +aVWell, first of all, he, as I said, supported John Roberts. He supported him, publicly. So, you can rewrite history, I guess, Ted, but the simple fact is that you supported him because he had all the criteria that you would have thought would have made a great justice. And, I think he is doing a good job. But, the simple fact is that going forward, what we need to do is to have someone that has a long standing set of rulings that consistently makes it clear that he is a focused, exclusively on upholding the Constitution of the United States so they won't try to use the bench as a means to which legislate. +p1981 +aVHe was talking about me. +p1982 +aVWell, I \u2014 I wanted to \u2014 be \u2014 make it easier for him. +p1983 +aVAnd I just did. +p1984 +aVSo, 40 years ago, I smoked marijuana, and I admit it. I'm sure that other people might have done it and may not want to say it in front of 25 million people. My mom's not happy that I just did. That's true. And here's the deal. Here's the deal. We have \u2014 we have a serious epidemic of drugs that goes way beyond marijuana. What goes on in Colorado, as far as I'm concerned, that should be a state decision. But if you look at the problem of drugs in this \u2014 in this society today, it's a serious problem. Rand, you know this because you're campaigning in New Hampshire like all of us, and you see the epidemic of heroin, the overdoses of heroin that's taking place. People's families are \u2014 are being torn apart. It is appropriate for the government to play a consistent role to be able to provide more treatment, more prevention \u2014 we're the state that has the most drug courts across every circuit in \u2014 in \u2014 in Florida, there are drug courts to give people a second chance. That's the best way to do this. +p1985 +aVNo, you're wrong \u2014 you're wrong about this. +p1986 +aVI don't want to put poor people in jail, Randy. +p1987 +aVHere's the deal. No, I did not oppose when the legislature passed the bill to deal with that very issue. That's the way to solve this problem. Medical marijuana on the ballot was opened up, there was a huge loophole, it was the first step to getting to a place. And as a citizen of Florida, I voted no. +p1988 +aVNot very far. I think we need to do this state by state. There are places that get this right, and we need to make sure that we protect the privacy laws. This is a complicated place. But I do think the natural impulse on the left \u2014 Hillary Clinton, immediately after one of these horrific violent acts took place, immediately said we need to have federal gun laws. President Obama almost reflexively always says the same thing. And the net result is, you're going to take away rights of \u2014 of law-abiding citizens, the 99.999 percent of the people that are law- abiding citizens. That's not the right approach to do it. In Florida, we have a background check. We have concealed-weapon permit holders, and in fact, there's 1,200,000 of them. We have a reduction in violent crime because we put people behind bars when they use a gun in the commission of the crime. That's the better approach. But we're living in a society today where despair kind of grows in isolation. +p1989 +aVI \u2014 I think there needs to be a hearing, but the fact is, we need to encourage that kind of involvement. That's \u2014 that's exactly what we need to do. +p1990 +aVI would go with Ronald Reagan's partner, Margaret Thatcher. Probably illegal, but what the heck? Since it's not going to happen. A strong leader is what we need in the White House, and she certainly was a strong leader that restored the United Kingdom into greatness. +p1991 +aVEver Ready, it's very high energy, Donald. +p1992 +aVSix million more people are living in poverty than the day that Barack Obama got elected president. Six million more people. The middle class has had declining income, workforce participation rates are lower than they were in 1977. For the first time in modern history, more businesses are failing than are being created. That is what the next president will have to deal with. And I believe we can reverse course by creating a strategy of high sustained economic growth, not the new normal of 2 percent that all the left says we just have to get used to, but a 4 percent growth strategy where we reform how we tax, fix the broken regulatory system, embrace the energy revolution in our midst, fix the immigration system so we can turn it into an economic driver, deal with the structural fiscal problems that exist because of our entitlement problems that will overwhelm and create way too much debt. If we grow at 4 percent, people are going to be lifted out of poverty. The great middle that defines our country will have a chance to be able to pursue their dreams as they see fit. That should be the great challenge and the great opportunity for the next president of the United States, to forge consensus to go back to a high-growth strategy. And then we'll be able to lead the world. Without a high-growth strategy, our country will never have the resources or the optimism to be able to lead the world, which the world desperately needs our leadership. +p1993 +aVAbsolutely, I do, and I'm gonna run hard, run with heart, and run to win. I'm gonna have to earn this. Maybe the barrier -- the bar's even higher for me. That's fine. I've got a record in Florida. I'm proud of my dad, and I'm certainly proud of my brother. In Florida, they called me Jeb, because I earned it. I cut taxes every year, totaling $19 billion. We were -- we had -- we balanced every budget. We went from $1 billion of reserves to $9 billion of reserves. We were one of two states that went to AAA bond rating. They keep -- they called me Veto Corleone. Because I vetoed 2,500 separate line-items in the budget. I am my own man. I governed as a conservative, and I govern effectively. And the net effect was, during my eight years, 1.3 million jobs were created. We left the state better off because I applied conservative principles in a purple state the right way, and people rose up. +p1994 +aVI do. I believe that the great majority of people coming here illegally have no other option. They want to provide for their family. But we need to control our border. It's not -- it's our responsibility to pick and choose who comes in. So I -- I've written a book about this and yet this week, I did come up with a comprehensive strategy that -- that really mirrored what we said in the book, which is that we need to deal with E-Verify, we need to deal with people that come with a legal visa and overstay. We need to be much more strategic on how we deal with border enforcement, border security. We need to eliminate the sanctuary cities in this country. It is ridiculous and tragic......that people are dying because of the fact that -- that local governments are not following the federal law. There's much to do. And I think rather than talking about this as a wedge issue, which Barack Obama has done now for six long years, the next president -- and I hope to be that president -- will fix this once and for all so that we can turn this into a driver for high sustained economic growth. And there should be a path to earned legal status... ...for those that are here. Not -- not amnesty, earned legal status, which means you pay a fine and do many things over an extended period of time. +p1995 +aV...I remember... +p1996 +aV...I remember, Megyn. +p1997 +aVKnowing what we know now, with faulty intelligence, and not having security be the first priority when -- when we invaded, it was a mistake. I wouldn't have gone in, however, for the people that did lose their lives, and the families that suffer because of it -- I know this full well because as governor of the state of Florida, I called every one of them. Every one of them that I could find to tell them that I was praying for them, that I cared about them, and it was really hard to do. And, every one of them said that their child did not die in vain, or their wife, of their husband did not die in vain. So, why it was difficult for me to do it was based on that. Here's the lesson that we should take from this, which relates to this whole subject. Barack Obama became president, and he abandoned Iraq. He left, and when he left Al Qaida was done for. +p1998 +aVNo, I don't. And I don't believe the federal government should be involved in the creation of standards directly or indirectly, the creation of curriculum or content. It is clearly a state responsibility. I'm for higher standards... ...measured in an intellectually honest way, with abundant school choice, ending social promotion. And I know how to do this because as governor of the state of Florida I created the first statewide voucher program in the country, the second statewide voucher program, in the country and the third statewide voucher program in the country. And we had rising student achievement across the board, because high standards, robust accountability, ending social promotion in third grade, real school choice across the board, challenging the teachers union and beating them is the way to go. And Florida's low income kids had the greatest gains inside the country. Our graduation rate improved by 50 percent. That's what I'm for. +p1999 +aVHe is definitely my friend. And I think the states ought to create these standards. And if states want to opt out of Common Core, fine. Just make sure your standards are high. Because today in America, a third of our kids, after we spend more per student than any country in the world other than a couple rounding errors, to be honest with you, 30 percent are college- and/or career-ready. If we are going to compete in this world we're in today, there is no possible way we can do it with lowering expectations and dumbing down everything. Children are going to suffer and families' hearts are going to be broken that their kids won't be able to get a job in the 21st Century. +p2000 +aVWe've done it 27 times since World War II. I think we need to lift our spirits and have high, lofty expectations for this great country of ours. The new normal of two percent that the left is saying you can't do anything about is so dangerous for our country. There's 6 million people living in poverty today, more than when Barack Obama got elected. 6.5 million people are working part-time, most of whom want to work full-time. We've created rules and taxes on top of every aspiration of people, and the net result is we're not growing fast, income's not growing. A four percent growth strategy means you fix a convoluted tax code. You get in and you change every aspect of regulations that are job killers. You get rid of Obamacare and replace it with something that doesn't suppress wages and kill jobs. You embrace the energy revolution in our country. This president and Hillary Clinton, who can't even say she's for the XL pipeline even after she's left? Give me a break. Of course we're for it. We should be for these things to create high sustained economic growth. And frankly, fixing our immigration system and turning it into an economic driver is part of this as well. We can do this. +p2001 +aVNone of which is true. +p2002 +aVNo. It's not true. But I have said that Mr. Trump's language is divisive. I want to win. I want one of these people here or the ones at 5:00, to be the next president of the United States. We're not going on win by doing what Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton do each and every day. Dividing the country. Saying, creating a grievance kind of environment. We're going to win when we unite people with a hopeful, optimistic message. I have that message because I was a governor of a state that saw people lifted up, because we had high sustained economic growth. Our economy grew at double the rate of the nation. We created 1.3 million jobs. We led the nation seven out of those eight years. We were only one of two states that went to AAA bond rating. I cut taxes, $19 billion. If you do that and apply conservative principles the right way, you create an environment where everybody rises up. That's how we're going to win. Campaigning in places to give people hope that their life is better because too many people are suffering today in America. +p2003 +aVHere's what I believe. I believe we're at the verge of the greatest time to be alive in this world. But Washington is holding us back. How we tax, how we regulate. We're not embracing the energy revolution in our midst, a broken immigration system that has been politicized rather than turning it into an economic driver. We're not protecting and preserving our entitlement system or reforming for the next generation. All these things languish while we have politicians in Washington using these as wedge issues. Here's my commitment to you, because I did it as Florida. We can fix these things. We can grow economically and restore America's leadership in the world, so that everybody has a chance to rise up. I humbly ask for your vote, whenever you're gonna get to vote, whenever the primary is. Thank you all very much. +p2004 +aVRight. +p2005 +aVNot on specific issues, not at all. I think the next president \u2014 if I'm president, I will appoint people \u2014 I'll nominate people that have a proven record in the judiciary. The problem in the past has been we have appointed people thinking you can get it through the Senate because they didn't have a record. And the problem is that sometimes we're surprised. The simple fact is the next president needs to appoint someone with a proven conservative record, similar to Justice Scalia, that is a lover of liberty, that believes in limited government, that consistently applied that kind of philosophy, that didn't try to legislator from the bench, that was respectful of the Constitution. And then fight and fight, and fight for that nomination to make sure that that nomination passes. Of course, the president, by the way, has every right to nominate Supreme Court justices. I'm an Article II guy in the Constitution. We're running for the president of the United States. We want a strong executive for sure. But in return for that, there should be a consensus orientation on that nomination, and there's no doubt in my mind that Barack Obama will not have a consensus pick when he submits that person to the Senate. +p2006 +aVYes. +p2007 +aVNo, it doesn't, and that's the problem. The lack of leadership in this country by Barack Obama, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, thinking that this is a policy that works, this policy of containment with +p2008 +aVThe very basic fact is that Vladimir Putin is not going to be an ally of the United States. The whole world knows this. It's a simple, basic fact. They're not taking out \u2014 they're not even attempting to take out +p2009 +aV... Let me finish... +p2010 +aV... This is ridiculous... +p2011 +aV... This is coming from a guy who gets his foreign policy from the shows. +p2012 +aV... This is a guy who thinks that Hillary Clinton is a great negotiator in Iran... +p2013 +aV... This is a man who insults his way to the nomination... +p2014 +aVI think it's my turn, isn't it? +p2015 +aVI've got about five or six... +p2016 +aVDo I get to do it five or six times or just once, responding to that? +p2017 +aVSo here's the deal. I'm sick and tired of Barack Obama blaming my brother for all of the problems that he has had. And, frankly, I could care less about the insults that Donald Trump gives to me. It's blood sport for him. He enjoys it. And I'm glad he's happy about it. But I am sick and tired... +p2018 +aVI am sick and tired of him going after my family. My dad is the greatest man alive in my mind. And while Donald Trump was building a reality TV show, my brother was building a security apparatus to keep us safe. And I'm proud of what he did. And he has had the gall to go after my brother. +p2019 +aVHe has had the gall to go after my mother. Hold on. Let me finish. He has had the gall to go after my mother. +p2020 +aVLook, I won the lottery when I was born 63 years ago, looked up, and I saw my mom. My mom is the strongest woman I know. +p2021 +aVThis is not about my family or his family. This is about the South Carolina families that need someone to be a commander in chief that can lead. I'm that person. +p2022 +aVCan I just... +p2023 +aVI'm not going to invite Donald Trump to the rally in Charleston on Monday afternoon when my brother is coming to speak. +p2024 +aVI'm rescinding the invitation. I thought you might want to come, but I guess not. +p2025 +aVI'd like \u2014 can I \u2014 can I... +p2026 +aVLook, I admire the fact that Governor Kasich is supporting spending more money on drug treatment and mental health. I think that's a high priority all across this country, but expanding Obamacare is what we're talking about, and Obamacare's expansion, even though the federal government is paying for the great majority of it, is creating further debt on the backs of our children and grandchildren. We should be fighting Obamacare, repealing Obamacare, replacing it with something totally different. When I was \u2014 as a private citizen, Florida was confronted with the choice. The governor was supportive of doing what John did. So was the Florida Senate. A committed speaker of the House asked me to go as a private citizen to make the case against the expansion. I did, and it wasn't expanded there, just as it wasn't expanded in South Carolina under Governor Haley. +p2027 +aVSouth Carolina \u2014 South Carolinians need to know this, because the Cato Institute, which grades governors based on their spending, rank him right at the bottom. +p2028 +aVAnd Governor Haley is ranked at the top. +p2029 +aVNo. He mentioned my name. +p2030 +aVLet me finish, though. No, no, no \u2014 hey, wait, wait, wait. Just hold, Major, hold, Major. Hold on, Major. +p2031 +aVSouth Carolinians want to make that, they elect the most conservative governor or candidate that can win. +p2032 +aVOf course not. It won't have an impact on hedge funds managers paying ordinary income. In fact, it's not just hedge fund people, but people that are doing \u2014 they're in the business of investing other people's money, getting capital gains treatment is not appropriate. They should be paying ordinary income. That's their business. They're grateful to be able to make a lot of money, I'm sure. And what we do is lower the rates. It's not the end of the world that private equity people and hedge fund folks that are, right now, getting capital gains treatment for the income they earn, pay ordinary income like everybody else in this room. That's not a problem at all. What we need to do is reform the tax code to simplify the rates, to shift power away from Washington, D.C. That's what I did as governor of the state of Florida, $19 billion dollars of tax cuts, and it stimulated seven out of the eight years. Florida led the nation in job growth. +p2033 +aVThank you. +p2034 +aVGreat question. I feel like I have to get into my inner Chris Christie, and point out that the reason why I should be president is listening to two senators talk about arcane amendments to bills that didn't pass. This is \u2014 this is the problem. We need a leader to fix this problem. And I have a detailed plan to do just that, including controlling the border, dealing with the visa over-stayers, making sure that we have a path to legal status, not to citizenship, for those that come out from the shadows and pay a fine, learn English, don't commit crimes, work and pay taxes. That is the better approach. +p2035 +aVThe great majority of people that come to this country come because they have no other choice. They want to come to provide for their families. That doesn't mean it's right. That doesn't mean it's right. We should pick who comes to our country. We should control our border. Coming here legally should be a lot easier than coming here illegally. But the motivation, they're not all rapists, as you-know-who said. They're not that. These are people that are coming to provide for their families. And we should show a little more respect for the fact that they're struggling. It doesn't mean we shouldn't be controlling the border. That's exactly what we should be doing. +p2036 +aV... So, you know......This is the standard operating procedure, to disparage me. That's fine... +p2037 +aV... But, if you want to talk about weakness, you want to talk about weakness? It's weak to disparage women. +p2038 +aVIt's weak to denigrate the disabled. And,it's really weak to call John McCain a loser because he was a... +p2039 +aV... That is outrageous. The guy's an American hero. +p2040 +aV... The simple fact is I've also laid out my plans on immigration... +p2041 +aV Just, for the record make sure my mother's listening, if she's watching the debate. I didn't say that I was going to moon somebody... +p2042 +aVSo, there \u2014 so, there is all sorts of intrigue about where I disagree with my brother, there would be one right there. You should not use eminent domain for private purposes. A baseball stadium or a parking lot for a limo... +p2043 +aVIt's very different. Transmission lines, pipe lines, bridges and highways. All of that is proper use of imminent domain. Not to take an elderly woman's home to build a parking lot so that high-rollers can come from New York City to build casinos in Atlantic City. +p2044 +aVMy name was mentioned twice. +p2045 +aVHe called me a liar. +p2046 +aVAlso, he talked about one of my heroes, Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan was a liberal maybe in the 1950s. He was a conservative reformed governor for eight years before he became president, and no one should suggest he made an evolution for political purposes. He was a conservative, and he didn't tear down people like Donald Trump is. He tore down the Berlin Wall. +p2047 +aVHe was a great guy. +p2048 +aVThat was me. +p2049 +aVYeah, well, I have got to respond to this. +p2050 +aVSounds like a good plan. +p2051 +aVOr you could ask me two questions, so I could get two minutes instead of one. +p2052 +aVI think the dysfunction in Washington is really dangerous, that's what I think. And we need a proven leader that has a record of solving problems, someone who doesn't cut and run; someone who could be a commander in chief to unite our country around common purposes; someone who doesn't disparage people. Someone that doesn't brag, for example, that he has been bankrupt four times and it was great, because he could use the legal system. Someone... +p2053 +aVWe need someone with a proven record to be able to forge consensus to solve problems. And right now, both Republicans and Democrats in Washington don't get it. People are struggling \u2014 63 percent of Americans can't make a $500 car payment. Most Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. And we need someone has a proven record of growing the economy, reforming the things that are broken. And I'm that person. +p2054 +aVYeah... +p2055 +aVYeah. +p2056 +aVHere we go. +p2057 +aVHere's the record. Here's the record. We led the nation in job growth seven out of eight years. When I left there was $9 billion of reserves, 35 percent of general revenue. No state came close to that. +p2058 +aVWhen I \u2014 during my time, we were one of the two states to go to AAA bond rating. We didn't go bankrupt like Trump did and call it success when people are laid off, when vendors don't get paid. That's not success. What we did was create an environment where people had a chance to have income. Personal income during my time went up by 4.4 percent. +p2059 +aVThe government grew by... +p2060 +aV... half of that. +p2061 +aVThank you all very much. The next president is going to be confronted with an unforeseen challenge. That's almost certain. It could be a pandemic, a major natural disaster or an attack on our country. The question for South Carolinians and Americans is who do you want to have sitting behind the big desk in the Oval Office? Because that's the question. It's not the things we're talking about today. It's the great challenge that may happen. I believe I will have a steady hand as commander in chief and president of the United States. I will unite this country around common purposes because I did it as governor of the state of Florida. When I was governor, we had eight hurricanes and four tropical storms in 16 months. Our state was on its back. We recovered far faster than what people thought because we led. We want to challenge rather than cutting and running. That's what we need in Washington, D.C. We need someone with a servant's heart that has a backbone, that isn't going to focus on polls and focus groups. The focus will be on the American people to keep them safe and secure. I ask for your vote next Saturday. +p2062 +asVFRANTA +p2063 +(lp2064 +VHi, I'm Connor Franta, I'm 23 and my audience is around the same age. Getting my generation to vote should be a priority for any presidential candidate. Now I know Senator Sanders is pretty popular among my peers, but what I want to know is, how are all of you planning on engaging us further in this election? +p2065 +asVWALKER +p2066 +(lp2067 +VGood evening, I'm Scott Walker, and tonight, I want to thank and Mrs. Reagan, and the Reagan Library for hosting us. You see, in my lifetime, the greatest president was a governor from California. Ronald Reagan knew how to go big, and go bold. He understood the essence of moving this country forward, and that's what I did when I took on the status quo in my state, and the Washington based special interest. Now, more than ever, America needs a leader who will go big and bold again. Someone who's been tested. I'm ready to be that leader. Thank you. +p2068 +aVBut Jake, Jake, Jake, Jake... +p2069 +aVBut Jake, this \u2014 this is \u2014 this... +p2070 +aVJake, this is \u2014 this is \u2014 this is... +p2071 +aVThis is actually what's wrong \u2014 this is what's wrong with this debate. We're not talking about real issues. And Mr. Trump, we don't need an apprentice in the White House. We don't need an apprentice in the White House. We have one right now. He told us all the things we wanted to hear back in 2008. We don't know who you are or where you're going. We need someone who can actually get the job done. And you talked about business. +p2072 +aVYou \u2014 you \u2014 let me finish... +p2073 +aVNo, no... +p2074 +aVYou're using the talking... +p2075 +aVMr. Trump, you're using the talking points of the Democrats... +p2076 +aV... and as we all know... +p2077 +aV... that failed three times in four and a half years when I got elected, because it is working. We balanced a budget. You want to talk about balanced budgets? You took four major projects into bankruptcy over and over and over again. You can't take America into bankruptcy. That's what's wrong with the politicians in Washington right now. They think we can take a country into bankruptcy. +p2078 +aVJake, yeah, absolutely, I'll take this on, because this is an issue that's important in this race. Just because he says it doesn't make it true. The facts are the facts. We balanced a $3.6 billion budget deficit, we did it by cutting taxes \u2014 $4.7 billion to help working families, family farmers, small business owners and senior citizens. And it's about time people in America stand up and take note of this. If you want someone that can actually take on the special interest of Washington, which you yourself said you were part of, using the system, we need somebody that will stand up and fight for average Americans to put them back in charge of their government. I'm the one who is taking that on. I'll do that as your next president. +p2079 +aVTwo parts to that, one on China, one back for a second on Iran. When it comes to China, why would we be giving an official state visit to a country that's been involved in a massive cyber attack against the United States? That's not just a visit, that's a 21 gun salute on the South Lawn of the White House. It just doesn't make any sense. If we're ever going to send a message to them, wouldn't this be the time, when they've issued this, sort of, massive attack against us? And, Jake, for the question, I was one of the first ones to call for terminating the bad deal with Iran on day one. The President came after me and said I need to bone up. You know, the President who called +p2080 +aVJake, just one more moment. This is \u2014 there's something bigger to this. Now, I \u2014 like so many other governors here, I defunded Planned Parenthood four-and-a-half years ago, in a Blue State. But it's bigger than that. We did that in a Blue State, we took the money and put it into women's health, so we did exactly what we're talking about here. But I think the bigger issue here is we should be able to do this nationally, and this is precisely why so many Republicans are upset with Washington. They see the House and they see the Senate and they say why can't we pass this. Why can't we defund Planned \u2014 put it in a spending bill. Forget about the 60-vote rule, there's no reason \u2014 and the Constitution doesn't call for 60 votes. Pass it with 51 votes, put it on the desk of the president \u2014 +p2081 +aV\u2014 and go forward and actually make a point. This is why \u2014 +p2082 +aV\u2014 people are upset with Washington. +p2083 +aVSo, the best way to help people see their wages go up is to get them the education, the skill they need, to take on careers that pay more than minimum wage. And, it's why we talk about it, it's all about jobs. You want to help actually get jobs, it's why on that last question we were trying to jump in on taxes. To me, it's not just about taxes, cutting taxes. I've done it as much as anyone has. I've cut income taxes, I've cut property taxes. In fact, property taxes are lower today in my state than they were before we took office. The real issues about jobs. Ronald Reagan, our plan is based on the Ronald Reagan tax cuts of 1986. That brought about one of the longest sustained periods of economic growth in American history. All the things we should be talking about tonight are about how do we create jobs, helping people get the skills and the education qualifications they need to succeed. That's the way you help people create jobs. It's part of our large plan to reform the tax code, to cut taxes, to put in place an education system that gives people the skills and education that they need. To put in place all the above energy policy, but you start on day one with repealing Obamacare. I'm the only one on this stage that's actually got a plan, introduced an actual plan to repeal Obamacare on day one. I'll send a bill up to Congress, and to make sure enact it... +p2084 +aV...I'm going to sign an order that makes the Congress live by the same rules as everybody else. +p2085 +aV...That will ensure they repeal Obamacare... +p2086 +aV...Jake, Jake, Jake, I just want to address that issue because you said I didn't answer, and I did. I said, to me, I think the real focus shouldn't be \u2014 you know, Hillary Clinton talks about the minimum wage. That's her answer to grow the economy. The answer is to give people the skills and the education so they make far more than minimum wage. I don't want to argue about how low things are going to be, I want to talk about how do we lift everyone up in America. That's what Reagan talked about. It wasn't how bad things were, it was how to make it better for everyone. That's what we've done in Wisconsin, that's exactly what we'd do as... +p2087 +aV... the key issue here is talking about leadership. Now, there's a lot of greater people up here, and you've heard a lot of great ideas out there. But I would ask the American people, look at who's been tested. When there were 100,000 protesters in my capital, I didn't back down, when they issued death threats against me and threats against my family, I didn't back down, when they tried to recall me, I didn't back down, and when they made me the \u2014 one of their number-one targets last year, I didn't back down. Give me the chance to be your president. +p2088 +aVI won't back down... +p2089 +aV... on any of these issues. +p2090 +aVTo be clear, what I said the other day was that we need to lift the political restrictions that are already in play. Barack Obama's administration has put political restrictions on the military personnel already in Iraq. We need to lift those and then we need to listen to our military experts, not the political forces in the White House, but our military experts about how many more we sent in. And we certainly shouldn't have a commander-in-chief who sends a message to our adversaries as to how far we're going to go, and how far we're willing to fight, so I'm not putting a troop number. What I'm saying is lift the political restrictions. When you do that, you empower our military personnel already there to work with the Kurd and the Sunni allies, to reclaim the territory taken by +p2091 +aV... a lot of those people, though, and I'm going to echo what Senator Rubio just said. This is an issue where, we're talking about my state, it's thousands of manufacturing jobs. Thousands of manufacturing jobs for a rule the Obama administration, own EPA has said will have a marginal impact on climate change. So we're going to put thousands and thousands of jobs in my state, I think it's something like 30,000 in Ohio, other states across this country, we're going to put people \u2014 manufacturing jobs, the kind of jobs that are far greater than minimum wage, this administration is willing to put at risk for something its own EPA says is marginal (ph)... +p2092 +aVFirst of all, I got to say to Carson, Huckabee, thanks a lot for making the rest of us look like chumps up here, but, I'd pick Clara Barton. I once worked for the American Red Cross, she was a great founder of the Red Cross. +p2093 +aVHarley. I love riding Harley's. +p2094 +aVWell, I turned 13 years old two days before Ronald Reagan was first elected. A lot of people forget this, but just a few days before that election 1980, he was behind in the polls. And I think what changed things was people in America realized they didn't want to hear what was bad about America, they wanted to know how it was going to be better. Ronald Reagan wasn't just a conservative Republican, he was an eternal optimist in the American people. And I am too. So here's what I think will make America better. We need to live in a world where our children are free, are free from the threats of radical Islamic terrorism. We need to live in an America where we have an economy, where everyone can live their piece of the American dream, no matter what that dream is. And we need to live in an America where we have a federal government that is not too big to fail, but ultimately small enough to succeed, where we send powers back to the states and back to the people. That's what I did in Wisconsin. We took on the big government union bosses, the big government special interests, many of whom came in from Washington, to spend millions of dollars to try and take me out because we stood up to them, we didn't back down in any of those instances. If you give me the chance as your next president, I won't back down any day, anyway, anyhow. I'll fight and win for you and your families every single day I'm in office. +p2095 +aVWell, I'm pro-life, I've always been pro-life, and I've got a position that I think is consistent with many Americans out there in that... ...in that I believe that that is an unborn child that's in need of protection out there, and I've said many a time that that unborn child can be protected, and there are many other alternatives that can also protect the life of that mother. That's been consistently proven. Unlike Hillary Clinton, who has a radical position in terms of support for Planned Parenthood, I defunded Planned Parenthood more than four years ago, long before any of these videos came out... ...I've got a position that's in line with everyday America. +p2096 +aVChris, I actually said that on your show earlier this year. I acknowledged that. I said I actually listened to the American people. And I think people across America want a leader who's actually going to listen to them. I talked to border state governors and other elected officials. I look at how this president, particularly through last November, messed up the immigration system in this country. Most importantly, I listened to the people of America. I believe we need to secure the border. I've been to the border with Governor Abbott in Texas and others, seeing the problems that they have there. There is international criminal organizations penetrating our southern based borders, and we need to do something about it. Secure the border, enforce the law, no amnesty, and go forward with the legal immigration system that gives priority to American working families and wages. +p2097 +aVI don't know about additional ones. We need to focus on the ones we have. You look at Egypt, probably the best relationship we've had in Israel, at least in my lifetime, incredibly important. You look at the Saudis -- in fact, earlier this year, I met with Saudi leaders, and leaders from the United Arab Emirates, and I asked them what's the greatest challenge in the world today? Set aside the Iran deal. They said it's the disengagement of America. We are leading from behind under the Obama-Clinton doctrine -- America's a great country. We need to stand up and start leading again, and we need to have allies, not just in Israel, but throughout the Persian Gulf. +p2098 +aVJust one second on this, though. We -- we spent a lot of time talking about Hillary Clinton and ---and pitting us back and forth. Let's be clear, we should be talking about Hillary Clinton on that last subject, because everywhere in the world that Hillary Clinton touched is more messed up today than before she and the president . +p2099 +aVIt's true. +p2100 +aVWell, the voters in Wisconsin elected me last year for the third time because they wanted someone who aimed high, not aimed low. Before I came in, the unemployment rate was over eight percent. It's now down to 4.6 percent. We've more than made up for the jobs that were lost during the recession. And the rate in which people are working is almost five points higher than it is nationally. You know, people like Hillary Clinton think you grow the economy by growing Washington. One report last year showed that six of the top 10 wealthiest counties in America were in or around Washington, D.C.. I think most of us in America understand that people, not the government creates jobs. And one of the best things we can do is get the government out of the way, repeal Obamacare, put in -- reign in all the out of control regulations, put in place an all of the above energy policy, give people the education, the skills that the need to succeed, and lower the tax rate and reform the tax code. That's what I'll do as president, just like I did in Wisconsin. +p2101 +aVWell, first off, let's remember. I still remember, as a kid, tying a yellow ribbon around a tree in front of my house during the 444 days that Iran held 52 Americans hostage. Iran is not a place we should be doing business with. To me, you terminate the deal on day one, you reinstate the sanctions authorized by Congress, you go to Congress and put in place even more crippling sanctions in place, and then you convince our allies to do the same. This is not just bad with Iran, this is bad with +p2102 +aVWell, I think the most important thing we can do when it comes to policing -- it's something you've had a guest on who's a friend of mine Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clark, who's talked to me about this many times in the past -- it's about training. It's about making sure that law enforcement professionals, not only in the way in to their positions but all the way through their time, have the proper training, particularly when it comes to the use of force. And that we protect and stand up and support those men and women who are doing their jobs in law enforcement. And for the very few that don't, that there are consequences to show that we treat everyone the same here in America. +p2103 +aVWell first off, for the cyber attack with Russia the other day, it's sad to think right now, but probably the Russian and Chinese government know more about Hillary Clinton's e-mail server than do the members of the United States Congress. And -- and that has put our national security at risk. If I am president, he won't think about that. You know, Putin believes in the old Lenin adage: you probe with bayonets. When you find mush, you push. When you find steel, you stop. Under Obama and Clinton, we found a lot of mush over the last two years. We need to have a national security that puts steel in front of our enemies. I would send weapons to Ukraine. I would work with +p2104 +aVWell, thanks, Megyn. I'm certainly an imperfect man. And it's only by the blood of Jesus Christ that I've been redeemed from my sins. So I know that God doesn't call me to do a specific thing, God hasn't given me a list, a Ten Commandments, if you will, of things to act on the first day. What God calls us to do is follow his will. And ultimately that's what I'm going to try to do. And I hope people've seen it in my state, even in the big challenges I took on when I had over 100,000 protesters in and around our capital, trying to do what I thought was the right thing. It wasn't just how I took on those political battles. It was ultimately how I acted. Not responding in kind. Not lashing out. But just being decent going forward and living my life in a way that would be a testimony to him and our faith. +p2105 +aVThanks. I'm guy with a wife and two kids, and Harley. One article called me "aggressively normal." I ran for governor because I was worried about my kids' future. Then, I took on the big government union bosses, and we won. They tried to recall me, and we won. They target us again, and we won. We balanced the budget, cut taxes, and turned our state around with big, bold reforms. It wasn't too late for Wisconsin, and it's not too late for America. That's why I ask for your vote. +p2106 +asVMALE +p2107 +(lp2108 +VThat's a good one. +p2109 +aV +p2110 +asVMITCHELL +p2111 +(lp2112 +VThank you, Lester. Secretary Clinton, Senator Sanders favors what he calls "Medicare for all." Now, you said that what he is proposing would tear up Obamacare and replace it. Secretary Clinton, is it fair to say to say that Bernie Sanders wants to kill Obamacare? +p2113 +aVSenator Sanders? +p2114 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor Sanders... +p2115 +aVSenator Sanders, let me ask you this, though... +p2116 +aV... you've talked about Medicare for all... +p2117 +aV.. and tonight you've released a very detailed plan, just two... +p2118 +aV... well, two hours before the debate, you did. +p2119 +aVBut let me ask you about Vermont. Because in Vermont \u2014 you tried in the state of Vermont, and Vermont walked away from this kind of idea, of \u2014 of Medicare for all, single-payer, because they concluded it would require major tax increases... +p2120 +aV... and by some estimates, it would double the budget. If you couldn't sell it in Vermont, Senator... +p2121 +aV... how can you sell it to the country? +p2122 +aVSenator Sanders \u2014 Senator Sanders, you've talked a lot about things you want to do. You want free education for everyone, you want the Federal Minimum Wage raised to $15 an hour. You want to expand Social Security... +p2123 +aV... benefits. You've been specific about what you want, but let's talk about how to pay for all this. You now said that you would raise taxes today, two hours or so ago, you said you would raise taxes to pay for your health care plan. You haven't been specific about how to pay for the other things... +p2124 +aV... Will you tell us tonight? +p2125 +aV... OK... O' +p2126 +aV... Secretary Clinton, you mentioned earlier \u2014 Secretary Clinton, do you want to respond? +p2127 +aVOK, we're out of time. Senator Sanders, +p2128 +aVSenator Sanders... +p2129 +aV... Senator Sanders, let me ask you a question about taxes. +p2130 +aVThe most googled political issue... +p2131 +aVIn the last month was taxes. Now, in your healthcare plan, the plan you released tonight, you would not only raise taxes on the wealthy, but the details you released indicate you would raise taxes on the middle class also. Is that correct? +p2132 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, let me just follow up on that. +p2133 +aVOn Meet the Press on December 20th, you said that you would only raise taxes on the middle class to pay for family leave. And, having said that, now you say you're going to raise middle class taxes to pay for healthcare as well. Is that breaking your word? +p2134 +aVThank you Lester. Senator Sanders, the nuclear deal is now enforced. Iran is getting it's billions of dollars, several Americans who have been held are now going to be heading home. The president said today, "it's a good day. It's a good day for diplomacy. It's a time now to restore diplomatic relations for the first time since 1979 and actually re- opened a U.S. Embassy in Tehran." +p2135 +aVYour response Secretary Clinton? +p2136 +aVYou mentioned Syria. Let me ask you about Syria, all of you. Let's turn to Syria and the civil war that has been raging there. Are there any circumstances in which you could see deploying significant numbers of ground forces in Syria, not just specials forces but significant ground forces to combat +p2137 +aVSenator Sanders, ground forces yes or no? +p2138 +aVGovernor O'Malley? +p2139 +aVGovernor O'Malley. O' +p2140 +aVI have a question. I have a question for Senator Sanders. Did the policies of the Obama administration, in which Secretary Clinton of course was a part, create a vacuum in Iraq and Syria that helped +p2141 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to talk to you about red lines, because former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in a recent interview that President Obama's decision to stand down on planned missile strikes against Damascus after Assad had used chemical weapons hurt the president's credibility. Should the president have stuck to his red line once he drew it? +p2142 +aVBut should he \u2014 should he have stuck to his... +p2143 +aV... line? Did it hurt U.S. credibility? +p2144 +aVYour time is up. +p2145 +aVSenator.... +p2146 +aVYou're out of time. +p2147 +aVSenator Sanders. +p2148 +aVYour time is us. Lester. +p2149 +aVJust a \u2014 just a quick follow-up, though, Secretary Clinton. Just a moment, Governor. O' +p2150 +aVBut \u2014 but \u2014 Secretary Clinton, you said that the leaders from the intelligence community went to Silicon Valley, they were flatly turned down. They got nowhere. +p2151 +aVSenator Sanders, let me ask you a question. You called Bill Clinton's past transgressions, quote, "totally, totally, totally disgraceful and unacceptable." Senator, do you regret saying that? +p2152 +aV...too long. O' +p2153 +asVGARRETT +p2154 +(lp2155 +VSenator Cruz. John mentioned this is about dollars and incentives. We also want to talk about economic growth engagements. You have proposed a consumption tax, you called it the "back tax." Some analysts compare it more to an attributed "value-added tax." From the perspective from economic growth in building wages, how does that work, and how would you address those longstanding conservative concerns that something approaching the "value-added tax" would be used to constantly increase those rates to pay for future government spending and become an escalator of taxation, not of growth? +p2156 +aVNow, the question \u2014 conservatives have sort of this idea conceptually for a long time, but especially on this consumption value-added tax system. In Europe, where it exists, it has become an escalator of taxation to feed government spending, and that's why conservatives have long resisted it. Why and what would you do as president to make sure that doesn't happen? +p2157 +aVGovernor Bush, a question for you \u2014 but if you want to jump in, please. +p2158 +aVJump in, and then I've got a question for you. +p2159 +aVReal quickly, jump in, because I have got a question for Governor Bush, but jump in. +p2160 +aVUnderstood, Governor Kasich. +p2161 +aVYeah, Governor Bush, fine. +p2162 +aVLet me get in a question from... +p2163 +aVI understand, I understand. +p2164 +aVI have a question on economic growth, Governor Bush. +p2165 +aVA , Governor. +p2166 +aVI know, understood. Governor Bush. +p2167 +aVGovernor Bush, from the perspective, economic growth \u2014 viewed from this perspective of economic growth, you have proposed a tax on hedge fund managers. The Americans for Tax Reform, a conservative tax group you're probably aware of, has said no Republican should be for higher taxes on capital gains. And many conservatives wonder if this proposal of yours would undermine not only that philosophy, but undercut your projection of 4 percent economic growth annually under your presidency? +p2168 +aV... Dr. Carson... +p2169 +aVSenator Rubio... For the purposes of the lines \u2014 lines you would draw legislatively as a president on immigration reform, define amnesty. +p2170 +aVVery quickly, Senator Cruz. +p2171 +aVGovernor Bush, I want to bring this out to a little wider philosophical aspect, if you will. +p2172 +aVYou have said illegal immigrants, quote, "broke the law, but it's not a felony," still quoting you, "it's an act of love, it's an act of commitment to your family." Mr. Trump has, as you are well aware, denounced that statement over and over. Do you still believe it? What does that mean to you? And how does that inform your approach to immigration reform? +p2173 +aVFundamentally, do you believe this rhetoric is insufficiently compassionate to this issue? +p2174 +aVMr. Trump... +p2175 +aV... Governor Kasich, here in South Carolina earlier this week, you said the idea, the concept of deporting 11 million undocumented workers... +p2176 +aV... We will leave the moon metaphors to be adjudicated later, I assure you. Governor Kasich, you said earlier this week in South Carolina, the concept, the idea of deporting 11 million undocumented workers in this country is nuts. Why is it you are so opposed to that idea? Senator Cruz has said it's a simple application of existing law. The application of that is not inhumane, it is just. Why do you disagree? +p2177 +aV... What are you for on immigration? +p2178 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 Mr. Trump. I was with you in Pendleton, South Carolina, earlier this week at the Rodeo Arena. It was a bit chilly there. You promised the crowd, and they rose to their feet, that if Ford or a company like were to move a factory to Mexico, you would try to stop it or threaten them with a 35 percent tax or tariff on every car sold. +p2179 +aVRight. So my question is, based on your understanding of the presidency, where do you derive that power? Would you need the consent of Congress to go along? And do you see the presidency as a perch from which you can cajole and/or threaten private industry to do something you think is better for the U.S. economy? +p2180 +aVThank you, governor. +p2181 +asVHEWITT +p2182 +(lp2183 +VSenator Cruz, you've said you disagree with Mr. Trump's policy. I don't want a cage match; you've tweeted you don't want a cage match. But Republican primary voters deserve to know, with the kind of specificity and responsiveness you delivered in your nine Supreme Court arguments, how you disagree with Mr. Trump. Would you spell that out with us? +p2184 +aVSo you're saying you disagree because he's too broad and you have a narrower focus? Why do you disagree with him? +p2185 +aVCarly Fiorina... ... this is the Christmas dinner debate. This will be the debate that Americans talk about at Christmas. And thus far, in the first 10 minutes, we haven't heard a lot about Ronald Reagan's city on a hill. We've heard a lot about keeping Americans out or keeping Americans safe and everyone else out. Is this what you want the party to stand for? +p2186 +aVDr. Carson...... you mentioned in your opening remarks that you're a pediatric neurologist surgeon... +p2187 +aVNeurosurgeon. And people admire and respect and are inspired by your life story, your kindness, your evangelical core support. We're talking about ruthless things tonight \u2014 carpet bombing, toughness, war. And people wonder, could you do that? Could you order air strikes that would kill innocent children by not the scores, but the hundreds and the thousands? Could you wage war as a commander-in-chief? +p2188 +aVSo you are OK with the deaths of thousands of innocent children and civilian? It's like... +p2189 +aVThat is what war \u2014 can you be as ruthless as Churchill was in prosecuting the war against the Nazis? +p2190 +aVMr. Trump, we are talking about the most important thing, that's why it's heated. And it's, you are OK with Mr. Assad staying in power, but you are also in favor of winning. If he stays in power, Iran is winning, Hezbollah is winning. Iran is winning in Yemen. They are winning everywhere. If they are winning how can we be winning? +p2191 +aVGovernor Christie, is he right? Because if we step back, Iran goes nuclear. Is Donald Trump right? +p2192 +aVSenator Paul, let me ask you, you heard Governor Kasich say Assad must go. Do you agree? +p2193 +aVGovernor Bush, a commander-in-chief question. You've said that Mr. Trump is not qualified to be president because he's not qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin. Why are you better qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin than Mr. Trump? +p2194 +aVMr. Trump? +p2195 +aVBut, Mr. Trump, it's not CNN \u2014 I was on CNN last night... +p2196 +aV... watching... +p2197 +aVBut it wasn't \u2014 it wasn't CNN. It was me. I watched you last night for 16 minutes. It's not CNN. +p2198 +aVIt's not CNN. It's America's watching you. +p2199 +aVIt's America's watching. +p2200 +aVGovernor \u2014 thank you, Governor. +p2201 +aVDr. Carson, commander-in-chief question again. You've been the head of neurosurgery for a big hospital. You're on a lot of boards of a lot of companies. You've traveled the world. You're going traveling again next week. But does that prepare you to command troops from Djibouti to Japan, troops from Afghanistan to Iraq to be in charge of the men and women watching on Armed Services Network tonight? +p2202 +aVMr. Trump...... Dr. Carson just referenced the single most important job of the president, the command, the control and the care of our nuclear forces. And he mentioned the triad. The B-52s are older than I am. The missiles are old. The submarines are aging out. It's an executive order. It's a commander-in-chief decision. What's your priority among our nuclear triad? +p2203 +aVOf the three legs of the triad, though, do you have a priority? I want to go to Senator Rubio after that and ask him. +p2204 +aVSenator Rubio, do you have a response? +p2205 +aVMy listeners tell me again and again they are worried that Hillary Clinton will win the White House because you'll run as an independent. Are you ready to assure Republicans tonight that you will run as a Republican and abide by the decision of the Republicans? +p2206 +aVDr. Carson, last week... +p2207 +aVPlease. +p2208 +aVDr. Carson, Mr. Trump just committed to stay the distance regardless of the result. How about you? +p2209 +aVThank you, Jake. Mr. Trump, two years ago, President Obama drew a red line that the Syrian dictator Bashar Assad crossed, President Obama threatened to strike. He did not, his knees buckled. We now have 4 million refugees, Syria is a living hell, and he turned to the Congress for the authority to back him up. You have three senators to your right that said, no. Do they bear responsibility for this refugee crisis, and what would you have done when Bashar Assad crossed the line? +p2210 +aVHow much responsibility, Mr. Trump, do the senators hold? +p2211 +aVSenator Rubio... +p2212 +aVSenator Paul? +p2213 +aVI'd like to talk about winning because I think all of you are more qualified than former Secretary of State Clinton, and as were the people in the first debate, but there are different styles, and Carly Fiorina, Governor Kasich, you're conveniently located next to each other, and you have different styles. Governor Kasich, you've been on my show a lot. You refused to attack Hillary Clinton, you just don't want to go there, you want to do the up with people. Go, Ohio, OK, and I like that. Carly Fiorina, I don't have to bring up the Secretary of State \u2014 you bring her up, so . Which one of you is wrong? Governor Kasich? +p2214 +aVGovernor. +p2215 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2216 +aVCarly Fiorina, your style? +p2217 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Christie, your name was mentioned. I want to give you a chance to respond. +p2218 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2219 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. There is a lot more coming up. Ahead, a world of trouble. The challenges that one of these candidates may face in the Oval Office, and how he or she will handle it. Stay with us. +p2220 +aVOh, you're the best interview in America. +p2221 +aV... makes an interesting case (ph) here (ph). +p2222 +aVThank you, Jake. I've done a lot of great interviews with all of you, but, Governor Bush, I talked to you in February about the biggest elephant in a room full of elephants, which is your last name. And you said you would not be burdened either by your brother or your father's legacy in the Middle East. And then, a week later, you rolled out your list of foreign policy advisers, and it was a lot of the band getting back together again. So on behalf of the military that is watching... +p2223 +aV...OK, the active duty military that are at the end of the sphere (ph), what kind of a commander in chief is Jeb Bush going to be, and who are the advisers that are new to your team? +p2224 +aVMr. \u2014 Mr. Trump. +p2225 +aVI want to ask you a question, though, you promised us great leaders. And I believe that. But Jeb Bush has laid out 20 different people that have experience around the world. There are 190 countries, you can't run the world by yourself. When are we going to get some names on your military and your foreign policy advisers? +p2226 +aVThank you, Jake. Tomorrow is \u2014 Republicans know this \u2014 tomorrow is Constitution Day. We've been talking about the 10th Amendment. Let's talk about the Second Amendment. Governor Bush, one of the things the Supreme Court has gotten right is that it's an individual right and it's protected for individuals to hold it. Last week, you said the next step in gun issues is to make sure they're not in the hands of mentally ill. In this state, there's a controversial law that allows guns to be taken away from people without a hearing. Where does it go \u2014 and the problem of violence is endemic, but where does it go from what you said last week, how far into people's lives to take guns away from them? +p2227 +aVIf a family member calls and says, "My child, my brother, my sister is disturbed," ought the state be able to go and get their weapon without a hearing? +p2228 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2229 +aVSenator Cruz, I want to go to you. Your constitutional litigant (ph), are you afraid of the next- step theory of what happens to Second Amendment rights? +p2230 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2231 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2232 +aVThank you, senator. +p2233 +aVWait, let's pursue that in fact Governor Pataki? +p2234 +aVYou called for following and finding those Imams who are preaching violence in mosques. How exactly would you do that and what Mosques would you shut down? How extensive of a surveillance program are you proposing? +p2235 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p2236 +aVGovernor Huckabee... ...As Governor Pataki noted earlier, we have a history of religious intoleration in this country. About the American Muslims who would be subject to this kind of surveillance, does it violate their First Amendment rights? +p2237 +aVSenator Santorum... ...I want to start then, not on the First Amendment, but on the Second Amendment. There is a terror watchlist. You can legally purchase a gun in the United States if you're on that watchlist. Your old colleague, Peter King in the House, wants to change that law. Do you agree with him? +p2238 +aVGovernor... +p2239 +aVGovernor, back to you. Your response? +p2240 +aVSenator Graham, are you trying to get in? +p2241 +aVThank you, Wolf. Governor Huckabee, ten minutes ago you blasted President Obama for destabilizing Iraq. You hit former Secretary of State Clinton for supporting the Muslim brotherhood in Egypt. But you have said recently you would sanction countries that don't join the fight aggressively against +p2242 +aVWhich country? +p2243 +aVWhich countries are those, governor, that you would sanction? +p2244 +aVThat's an easy, give. Are you going to sanction any of our allies who say, no this isn't our fight we're gonna let you do this. Are you going to leave our allies alone? For example, Indonesia and Malaysia \u2014 other Muslim countries \u2014 will you leave them alone? +p2245 +aVSenator Graham, I just named two Islamic countries... ...Senator Graham, I just named two Islamic countries that are allies that he suggested we sanction. Is that the appropriate approach to this war? +p2246 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you... +p2247 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you, the opposite of getting into bed is shooting down the prince's plane. Senator Santorum has \u2014 Senator Graham has said he would shoot down Russian planes bombing Syrian fighters on our side. Would you shoot down a Russian plane bombing American allied fighters in Syria? +p2248 +aVWhat \u2014 if they fly into it, would you shoot it down? +p2249 +aVThe consequences would be war with Russia. Would you risk... +p2250 +aVSenator Graham, do you agree? +p2251 +aVOK, we know you agree, Senator Graham. How about you, Governor Pataki, would you shoot down Russian planes? +p2252 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you... +p2253 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you, the opposite of getting into bed is shooting down the prince's plane. Senator Santorum has \u2014 Senator Graham has said he would shoot down Russian planes bombing Syrian fighters on our side. Would you shoot down a Russian plane bombing American allied fighters in Syria? +p2254 +aVWhat \u2014 if they fly into it, would you shoot it down? +p2255 +aVThe consequences would be war with Russia. Would you risk... +p2256 +aVSenator Graham, do you agree? +p2257 +aVOK, we know you agree, Senator Graham. How about you, Governor Pataki, would you shoot down Russian planes? +p2258 +aVSenator Graham, in 2013 you were part of the leadership that pushed through immigration reform, comprehensive immigration reform in the Senate of the United States. It died in the House. Many accused you of amnesty, and may have undermined your ability to get your message out on the war. Would you sign that bill again today? Would you \u2014 sponsor that bill again today? +p2259 +aVBut, Senator, I misunderstand, did you... +p2260 +aVSenator Santorum, is that sufficient for you? +p2261 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2262 +aVYep. Governor Huckabee, you have said that children of immigrants who came here illegally should not be punished by their parents actions. As president, would you continue President Obama's policy, vis-a-vis, the Dreamers? +p2263 +aVSenator... +p2264 +aVSenator Santorum, you... ...Your position on that policy, assuming that it was passed constitutionally, would you allow this, would you support such an act? +p2265 +aVThank you, Jake. Governor, you signed the pledge to support the Republican nominee and you promptly broke it. By doing so, by Tweeting out that you would not support Donald Trump, have you released Donald Trump to be a free agent again or anyone else in the field? +p2266 +aVGovernor... +p2267 +aV-- you said on Twitter that you would not support Donald Trump. If he's the nominee... +p2268 +aV-- will you support him? +p2269 +aVWould you really vote for Hillary Clinton... +p2270 +aV-- or vote for Donald Trump if he's the nominee? +p2271 +aVGovernor Jindal, Senator Graham just said it's all about winning and, in fact, if former Secretary of State Clinton is the successor to President Obama, none of this matters and all this conversation is beside the point. In the Washington elite, they have a habit of saying nice things about each other until election time. Senator Graham has praised Secretary of State Clinton as a great choice to be the secretary of state, as a national treasure. Can anyone from inside of Washington win this election cycle, having praised Secretary of State Clinton that way? +p2272 +aVSenator Graham, took a shot at there and you're having a good debate but there is this problem of Washington elites and saying wonderful things about each other. +p2273 +aVIs that responsive to calling Hillary Clinton a national treasure, Senator? +p2274 +aVBut Senator, can you go back and forth that way, and expect to have an argument with the American people to persuade them about that? +p2275 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2276 +aVThank you, senator. +p2277 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2278 +aVLet's talk about the economy, if We could. Governor Pataki. +p2279 +aVJeb Bush and Donald Trump are both proposing raising taxes on hedge fund managers who pay at a lower rate. Governor Pataki, you were the governor of New York, home of Wall Street. Do you agree that hedge fund managers need to be paying a higher rate? +p2280 +aVSo you are with Jeb Bush and Donald Trump on the hedge fund? +p2281 +aVGovernor Jindal -- Governor Jindal, that's three Republicans running for president who support hedge fund managers paying a higher rate. Are you the fourth? +p2282 +aVLet's stay on the topic of taxes. +p2283 +aVI want to bring in my colleague, Dana Bash. +p2284 +aVThere are other ways, Governor, than bombing Iran. I want to quote Rick Santorum. "We should send a very clear message that If you are a scientist and you're going to work on a nuclear program to develop a bomb for Iran, you are not safe." Does that message work? Is anything that works on the table? +p2285 +aVSenator Santorum, stay on that: any means necessary? Is that what you meant to say? Is that what's still on this table after this, what many of us believe is a catastrophic deal? +p2286 +asVJINDAL +p2287 +(lp2288 +V...Thank you. +p2289 +aVA couple of things. In Louisiana, we're actually a top 10 state for job growth. As we sit here today, we have more people working in Louisiana than ever before, earning a higher income than ever before. We've had 60 months in a row of consecutive job growth in our state. So the reality is, we have diversified our economy. Yes, I've got an interview plan that says all of the above, that creates good manufacturing jobs in America. We've also got one of the fastest growing IT sectors by percentage. We are growing Louisiana's economy. But let me get to the point that is, I think, the most important issue here tonight. You're going to have several hours of debate on the economy and we're going to have a great discussion about energy plans and tax rates. And that's all great. The most important thing we have to do, we have a fundamental choice to make, folks. Are we willing to cut the government economy so we can grow the American economy? That is the most fundamental question we've got to answer. We are on the path to socialism right now. These are mutually exclusive. The hour is late, but it is not too late for America. Though under President Obama, you asked about his economy. We've got record dependents, a record number of Americans on food stamps, record low participation rate in the work force. This is a fundamental choice. Sending a big government Republican to DC is not enough to fix this problem. It's not enough just to beat Hillary Clinton. We've got to change the direction of our country. What that means is let's shrink the government, not slow its growth rate, but actually shrink the government so we can grow the American economy. That is the fundamental issue we should be debating here tonight. +p2290 +aVNo, I think right now there's not much difference between the two parties. The reason we keep losing nationally is we try to be cheaper versions of the Democratic party. What if the Republicans, what if Republicans actually embraced our own principles? So I earlier said if you want bigger paychecks, you want more jobs, you want less government dependence, you're going to have to cut government spending. Here's the dirty little secret. You're going to hear a lot of Republicans tonight in this debate and the next one talk about cutting government spending. It's going to sound great. There's only one of us that's actually cut government spending. Not two, there's one, and you're looking at him. We've got four senators running. They've never cut anything in D.C. They give these long speeches called filibusters, they pat themselves on the back, nothing changes. When they go to relieve themselves their cause and the toilet get flushed at the same time, and the American people lose. We've got a bunch of governors running, we've got seven current former governors running. I'm the only one that has cut government spending. Everybody else can talk about it. If they haven't done it in their state capitals, what makes them thank that \u2014 what makes us think they'll do it if we send them to D.C. Look, when politicians talk, we need to look at what they have done, not what they have said. Otherwise, it's a bunch of hot air. We've cut our budget 26 percent. Record number of Louisianans working. If Republicans want to win national elections, let's be conservatives, let's be Republicans, let's not be a second version of the liberal party, let's cut government spending and grow the American economy. +p2291 +aVWait, wait, wait. I want to respond. He has criticized something I said. I want to respond to that. Mike, with all due respect, I admire your social views, I share many of those views, your record as Governor tells a different story. Was \u2014 your time as Governor spending in Arkansas went up 65 percent, number of state workers went up 20 percent, the taxes for the average citizen went up 47 percent. That's not a record of cutting. I'm saying we've actually cut. We reduced the size of our budget. So wanting to cut is one thing, actually cutting is a different thing. Facts don't lie. +p2292 +aVI was absolutely a skeptic of giving this president more power. He negotiated a bad deal with Iran. He breaks the law routinely. I don't know why Congress would want to concede more authority to him. Look, this trade deal is 6,000 pages long. Unlike ObamaCare, I think we should read it before we decide whether we would vote for it or not vote for it. I am for trade deals, but I want to make sure they are fair trade deals. I want to come back to something that Chris had said earlier. Look, I absolutely agree we've got to beat Hillary Clinton. But just sending any Republican is not good enough. We've had a Republican majority in the Senate and the House. What has changed? If we send another big government Republican to the White House, we will not do enough to fix what is wrong in this country. Chris, I think records matter. I think the way we govern matter. Under your leadership in New Jersey, your budget has gone up 15 percent. It's gone down 26 percent in Louisiana. It has gone up $5 million in New Jersey. It's gone down $9 billion in Louisiana. In New Jersey, you've had nine credit downgrades, setting a record. We've had eight credit upgrades in Louisiana. My point is this. If politicians say they're going to be conservative, they say they're going to cut spending but they don't do it, why should we send them to DC? It gets harder, not easier, when we send them to DC. Let's not be a second liberal party. Let's actually cut government spending. Let's grow the American economy. Let's not just beat Hillary, let's elect a conservative to the White House, not just any Republican. +p2293 +aVBut wait a minute, records matter. Records \u2014 records matter. Yes, we've got to... +p2294 +aV\u2014 beat Hillary Clinton. But Chris, it's also true that you expanded food stamps at a time that we've got record numbers of Americans on food stamps. It's also true you caved into ObamaCare. You expanded Medicaid. We've got a choice in front of us. This is an important debate. This is not about comparing Louisiana to New Jersey or Bobby to Chris. This is an important debate for the American people. This is supposed to be an economics debate. Let's have a debate. Do we want to grow government or do we want to grow the American economy? Do we want to grow dependence on government, or do we want to grow good paying jobs in the private sector... +p2295 +aV...you don't grow the economy by putting more people on food stamps, more people in Medicaid, you grow the economy by cutting government, cutting spending. That's what we've done in Louisiana, you haven't done that in New Jersey... +p2296 +aV...We need a conservative, not a big government republican in D.C. +p2297 +aV...This is how we.... +p2298 +aV...This is how we move our country forward, look, this is not about between me and Chris... +p2299 +aV...This is about......are we going to be the party... +p2300 +aVWell, look, only one other opponent, actually, one other candidate, actually, has a plan. That's Jeb Bush, and he creates a new entitlement program. My plan actually gets rid of all of Obamacare, it's great that Senator Cruz will shut down the government over Obamacare, but he still hasn't given us his plan to get rid of it. It's great that other republicans talk about getting rid of it. You go to a town hall in Iowa, or New Hampshire, ask them how they're actually going to get rid of it \u2014 my plan has been online for over a year. It gets rid of all of Obamacare, it reduces the cost. It actually puts Americans, their patients, their doctors back in control. And, it actually helps those that really need this help \u2014 but, this is one of the most critical issues we face domestically. I think I \u2014 look, right now, I think I am the only candidate running that refused to expand Medicaid. I'm the only one that turned down \u2014 that did what we could to fight Obamacare. This is an important point, and, look, I appreciate Chris's nice compliments to me. And, Chris, you look to me very well, I love Mary-pat, but this isn't about me and Chris. This is about the country, and this is about what direction \u2014 this is the most important election in our lifetimes. Folks, a couple of years ago they told us give them the republican majorities in the House and the Senate, they'd stop Obamacare, and amnesty, and the bad Iran deal \u2014 nothing changed. If they fooled us once, shame on them. If they fooled us twice, shame on us. Don't let them fool us again. Chris, look, I'll give you your ribbon for participation, and a juicebox, but in the real world, it's about results......but, in the real world it's about results. It's about actually cutting government spending, not just talking about cutting government spending. +p2301 +aVWe can waste our time. And I think this is why people were so frustrated with the last debate with these kinds of silly questions. We've only got a certain amount of time to talk about the economy. Let me use my time to say this. I want to fire everybody in D.C. in both parties. I think they all \u2014 we need term limits, get rid of them all, make them live under the same rules they passed on the rest of us. +p2302 +aVSo under our tax plan, look, the top rate is 25 percent, 10 percent, 2 percent. That 2 percent is the most important. I think everybody should pay something. I think everybody should have skin in the game. We shouldn't be creating one group of Americans that's dependent on government, another group that's paying taxes. I want to come back to an earlier point though, that Chris said. Look, we all agree Hillary Clinton is bad. We all agree we need to beat her. But let's not pretend that out-of-control government spending is only a Democratic issue. This is a bipartisan issue, and just sending another big government Republican to D.C. is not good enough. We need to actually cut government spending. We need to cut \u2014 and we're not going to do it just by sending any Republican. I'm glad he's vetoed taxes. The Tax Foundation graded New Jersey the 50th worst business climate due to taxes, high taxes in the state of New Jersey. +p2303 +aVWell, a couple of reasons. Look, we know big companies don't pay those taxes today. They hire lobbyists and accountants and lawyers. It's the small businesses that get hit. I want to get rid of the corporate tax, I want to bring the jobs and investment back to America. Make the CEOs pay the same rates as everybody else. Get rid of all the corporate welfare as well. Like I said, make everybody pay something, earned success is so much better than unearned success. And let's actually shrink the size of government. My plan purposely does that. Look, we can talk all night about tax plans, energy plans, I think you will find a lot of agreement among all the Republicans. We all want to get rid of the death tax, the marriage penalty. We all want lower, fewer brackets. We want to downsize, take away power from the IRS. What we really need to be talking about is this, these last seven years, we've had more government spending, more government dependence. Poverty has gone up. Inequality has gone up. Only the top 10 percent have seen their incomes go up \u2014 their median incomes go up. We actually have more inequality thanks to what we have seen, the largest most expensive experiment in progressive government. We can't keep spending money we don't have. And the reality is, the last couple of years it hasn't mattered whether Republicans or Democrats were in control. We keep stealing from our children. That is immoral. It is wrong. And we're creating more government dependence. If we really want to grow the economy, yes, you need a rational energy plan, and you've got to rein in the EPA, and you've got to repeal Obamacare, and you've got to cut taxes. But none of that will be enough if we're not serious about cutting government spending. We cannot afford to elect a big- government Republican. We need somebody. This is the most important election. Hillary Clinton is gift-wrapping this election to us. Let's not waste this opportunity to apply conservative principles and cut the size of government. +p2304 +aVWell, a couple things, first, I want to echo what others have said and thank those veterans that run towards danger, not away from it, so we can live in the greatest country in the history of the world. I think every veteran should get that card, and they should be allowed to get that health care wherever they want in the private sector. But, I also think \u2014 or the public sector, I also think we need to fire some of the V.A. bureaucrats. Somebody should go to jail over these scandals, and it is a crime that it has not happened. When it comes \u2014 when it comes to uniting the American people, one of the things we've done to honor our veterans in Louisiana, we've given thousands \u2014 and I've hand delivered these, to veterans \u2014 medals to veterans to thank them for their service. I'll just give you one quick example, I know my time is out, but, we've had Vietnam war veterans with tears in their eyes saying nobody has ever thanked them before. We've had World War II veterans, children, who said they never heard the stories of their parents heroic sacrifice. Whatever conflict, whenever they served, one of the things we can do is to teach our children we do live in the greatest country in the history of the world. We got a president who doesn't believe in American exceptionalism, but we still do, and it's because of those men and women in uniform. We should thank them everyday, not just veterans day. +p2305 +aVYou know, I have spent a lot of time tonight talking about the need to cut the size of government. The reason I'm doing that \u2014 it's not just about balancing the budget, or balancing a bunch of numbers. Because I believe in the American dream. I think President Obama's done a lot of damage to our country. I think that one of the worst things he has done is try to change the idea of America to be one of dependence. There are a lot of politicians that talk about cutting government spending, I'm the only one that's actually done it that's running for President. The rest of them, it's a lot of hot air. If you want your paychecks to go up, if you want more good paying jobs, if you want the government out of your lives, we've got to cut the size of government. It's not enough just to elect any republican, we've seen that. We've got to elect a republican that will take on the establishment in both parties. I'm asking for your support. Thank you. +p2306 +aVI think the reason voters are so frustrated is nothing seems to change in D.C. Look, over the next several hours, you're going to hear several Republicans all tell you they want to shrink the size of government and grow the American economy and it sounds great and we've got to do it. Here's the truth \u2014 of all these folks talking, I'm the only one that has cut the size of government. There's not two of us, there's one of us. The rest of it is all just hot air. When politicians talk, we need to pay attention to what they do, not what they say. I'm the only one that's reduced the size of government. Let's shrink the government economy. Let's grow the American economy. +p2307 +aVWell, look, I think that's a false choice. I think this is a very bad deal. Whenever they tell us in D.C. they're going to cut tomorrow, that means they're never going to cut. Tomorrow never seems to happen. Instead, why don't we actually follow our conservative principles? Why not insist on structural reforms? Why not cut spending? I don't mean strength (ph) the growth rate, I mean, actually spend less. Why not a balanced budget in the amendment \u2014 an amendment to the Constitution? Why not a super-majority vote before they grow our taxes, before they grow the government faster than the economy? Let's be honest, $18 trillion dollars of debt. Record low participation rate in the workforce, record number of Americans on food stamps. We are going the way of Europe. The left is trying to turn the American Dream into the European Nightmare. If you're a Republican... +p2308 +aV... willing to stand up and fight... +p2309 +aVI think that's a false choice. If I were \u2014 I were to lead, we would pass a conservative budget, challenge the President to do the right thing. And, here's the problem, the Republicans never want to fight. Give Pelosi and Reed credit, they forced Obamacare and socialism down our throats, why won't the Republicans fight half as hard for freedom and opportunity. This was a bad budget. +p2310 +aVAbsolutely, Jhon. And what we did is we cut state spending. We've cut our budget 26 percent, according to Cato and other analysis, the only candidate that's actually reduced government spending. Look, the left always complains there's not enough money for government. We have 30,000 fewer state employees than the day I took office, eight credit upgrades, we're a top 10 state for private sector job creation. We've got a choice. You grow the government economy or the American economy. When I became governor, we had 25 years in a row of outmigration. We were coming back from Katrina. The question many were asking, will Louisiana rebuild, should Louisiana rebuild? Seven years in a row, more people moving into the state than were leaving the state. We now have more people working than ever before, erg a higher income than ever before. Yes, we've reduced the size of government. That's exactly what we need to do in DC. In DC, the Republicans slowed the growth rate, they claimed victory. That's not enough. Let's be honest with where we are today. We are running off of a cliff. Look, we'll be the next Greece and we can talk and we can rearrange the chairs. Over over $18 trillion of debt, no wonder our economy has been stagnant. We haven't had real growth. If you're a young student here, you've not seen a robust American economy. +p2311 +aVWell, Jhon, a couple of things. Not only did we not raise taxes, we did the largest income tax cut in the state's history. And I'm proud of that record. I think that's the kind of leadership voters want in DC. Look, if you want a Republican that's going go grow government spending, if you want a \u2014 a president or if you want a candidate who's going to income taxes, I'm not your guy. If you want somebody that's going to do and say the things that can't be said, can't be done, I'm asking a vote for me to join my cause. That's how dangerous these times are. This is \u2014 this is a \u2014 this is \u2014 these are dangerous times for America. I think we have a chance to rescue the idea of America, but if we don't do it now, four years will be too late from now. So, yes, I'm proud we cut taxes, we cut spending, 30,000 fewer state government bureaucrats than the day I took office. I absolutely will do that in DC. +p2312 +aVThank you. +p2313 +aVAbsolutely, John. I'd go further. My tax plan, like everybody's, like a lot of Republicans' \u2014 look, I'd get rid of the death penalty and the marriage penalty, and I'd simplify the brackets to 25 percent, 10 percent, 2 percent, so that an average middle-class family \u2014 a teacher marries a law enforcement official (ph)... +p2314 +aV...I \u2014 I'm gonna get that. Pays 25 percent today, would pay 10 percent under my plan. But my plan does three things different from other people's plans. One \u2014 remember, I said 2 percent. I think everybody should pay something, even if it's only 2 percent. That's the most important 2 percent in my plan. I know a lot of Republicans brag \u2014 y'all can clap, it doesn't scare me. Go ahead. I heard some people. There are millions of \u2014 there are millions of folks that wouldn't pay taxes in Jeb's plan and Trump's plan. I think that's a mistake. In terms of the corporate tax, secondly, I'd get rid of the corporate tax. We do have the highest corporate tax rate in the developed world. I'd get rid of it. I'd get rid of all the corporate welfare. Make the CEOs pay their same tax rates the way the rest of us do. And third, I'd purposely shrink the size of government. You know, that is a \u2014 that is an intentional feature of my plan. We've got a choice: do we grow government \u2014 the government economy, or the American economy? So I say get rid of the corporate tax, bring those jobs and investment here to the United States, stop sending jobs and investment overseas. +p2315 +aVLook, I think the government should work to change that, but that doesn't \u2014 does not mean I'm for the government mandating that. We already have too many government mandates out of DC. Do I want people to have paid leave? Sure. Do I want people to earn higher wages? Sure. Do I want them to have better benefits? Sure. The government can't wave a magic wand and make that happen. Here's the problem. The last seven years, President Obama has tried to teach the American people that government is the answer to all of our problems. Where has that gotten us? We're on a path toward socialism. The way that folks can get better paying jobs with better benefits is if we have a growing economy. That means to repeal all of ObamaCare, a lower flatter tax code. That means that we have an energy plan that makes sense. That means that we embrace an all of the above approach to energy. Those are good paying jobs \u2014 $50,000, $70,000, $90,000 a year jobs with benefits. But this president won't let us produce more energy on our domestic federal lands and waters. He won't allow the Canadians to build the Keystone Pipeline. He's got an EPA that's doing everything they can to kill private sector jobs in America. So, yes, I want families to have better paying jobs and better benefits, but we're not going to get that with a government mandate, we're going to get that with a growing economy. +p2316 +aVA couple things. You're talking about payroll taxes that fund programs. People pay for their Medicare, they pay for their Social Security. I want every American to worry and care about how those folks in D.C. are spending our money. If $18 trillion of debt \u2014 they're misspending our money. Earned success is so much more fulfilling than unearned success. I don't want us to continue to create one class of Americans that pays income taxes, that pays for government, another class of Americans that's growing more and more dependent on government. That's what we have today. Socialism is bad, not only for taxpayers, but people that they say they're trying to help. There's dignity in work, dignity in self-sufficiency. I wanna quote you a president. Our previous president said this: he said, "the problem is, is that tax rates are too high, government income revenues are too low." He said, "paradoxically, lowering tax rates now is the best way to produce higher government revenues later." No, that wasn't President Reagan, as many are probably guessing at home. That was President Kennedy. I see you know the answer. That was President Kennedy. Imagine if he were alive today \u2014 and if he was at that last Democratic debate, imagine if you tried to say that in a party that's veering towards socialism. That wouldn't be welcome in today's Democratic party. +p2317 +aVWell, thank you. Look, if Senator Santorum wants to concede the tax cut wing of the Republican Party, I'm happy to fight for that side of the Republican Party. He's exactly right. I explicitly want to shrink the size of government; 22 percent over 10 years is not too much. We cut our state budget 26 percent in eight years. This is a fundamental choice. We mustn't become a cheaper version of the Democratic Party, a second liberal party. We need to proudly say we're willing to cut taxes, shrink government, grow the American economy. President Kennedy said it to the Democratic Party. Why can't we say it in the Republican Party in 2015, let's cut taxes. +p2318 +aVJohn, our budget is balanced. We balanced our budget every year for eight years. Yeah, we've had to cut spending. You know what? We privatized or closed nine of our 10 charity hospitals. We did statewide school choice; $1.6 billion (ph) budget cut. You're quoting an old number from the beginning of the year. We closed that gap. What they talk about, just like D.C., government's the only place where you give them less money than they wanted, they count it as a cut. They take last year's budget. They add inflation. They call it a baseline. We need to do zero-based budgets. We need to say just because you got money last year, you don't have it this year. Let me close, though. We balanced our budget. We didn't raise taxes. In eight years, we never raised taxes. We cut taxes. Our \u2014 our taxpayers, our families have been better off for it. +p2319 +aV absolutely they should be accountable. They should be accountable to their students through the market. Look, you either trust the American people to make their own choices or you don't. I know the Left thinks we need to be protected from ourselves. President Obama is trying to limit competition to the higher education market. As a result, you're going to see tuition prices continue to go up. We've had $1 trillion of student debt and counting. And he wants to exempt certain schools from the same oversight he wants to apply only to the for-profit market. For some reason, the private sector is a bad word to this president. It's not in the real world. In Louisiana, we fought so that the dollars follow the child and so the child following the dollar. What that means, from K-12, what that means is that parents and their families can decide what's the best way for their children to be educated. Higher education, we have a +p2320 +aVI was just saying to my colleagues, I may be the last person in this audience without an iPhone. I'm actually one of the last folks \u2014 I still have a BlackBerry in my pocket. And I basically use it for scheduling. I use it to keep up when my wife is here and my three kids at home. The only games on that phone are Bricklayer. I use it to keep up with the news through the Internet. I may be the last American out there without an iPhone. +p2321 +aVMy apologies. +p2322 +aVWell, absolutely, when the Saints go back to repeat, we were talking about beer sales earlier, all those folks from being hung over in Louisiana from drinking to celebrate Drew Brees winning this, I think it would be a great day to take off. No, look, on a serious note, I do want to say this about the Super Bowl and our athletes. They can be great role models for our children and I'm obviously a Saints fan. Drew Brees and his wife great role models, great Christians. So, yes, it should be a holiday. +p2323 +aVMy message is to conservatives, this is our hour. Thanks to the insanity, the incompetence of the Democratic party, the American people are ready to turn our government over to us. It's not enough to let just any Republican, however. The reality is the idea of America is slipping away. As Christians, we believe that the tomb is empty. As Americans, we believe that our best days are always ahead of us, and they can be again. We must win this election. We cannot allow Hillary Clinton to take us down this path towards socialism \u2014 further down this path. I've got the courage to apply our conservative principles. I can't do it alone. With your help, with God's grace, we can save the idea of America before it's too late. +p2324 +aVHi, I'm Bobby Jindal. Now, look, I don't have a famous last name. My daddy didn't run for president. I don't have a reality TV show. I'll tell you what I do have, I've got the backbone, I've got the bandwidth, I've got the experience to get us through these tough times, to make sure that we don't turn the American dream into the European nightmare. Thank you for having me today. +p2325 +aVWell, Jake, I'm in compliance with the 11th Commandment, and I would tell my fellow Republicans, let's stop treating Donald Trump like a Republican. If he were really a conservative... If he were really a conservative and 30 points ahead, I would endorse him. He's not a conservative. He's not a liberal. He's not a Democrat. He's not a Republican. He's not an independent. He believes in Donald Trump. Here is the reality, the idea of America is slipping away. Eighteen trillion dollars of debt, Planned Parenthood selling baby parts across our country. Our government is creating a new entitlement program, when we can't afford the government we've got today. We've got a president who won't even say the words radical Islamic terrorism. He has declared war on trans fats and a truce with Iran. Think about that. He's more worried about Twinkies than he is about the ayatollahs having a nuclear weapon. That's what is happening, the idea of America is slipping away. We must not let that happen on our watch. We have a once in a lifetime opportunity to rescue the idea of America, the choice for conservatives. Do we depend on proven conservative principles like Ronald Reagan did, or do we turn this over to a narcissist who only believes in himself... +p2326 +aVThank you, Jake. +p2327 +aVAbsolutely. Look, the reality is, Hillary Clinton is gift-wrapping this election to us. They are running their weakest candidate. They have got a socialist that is gaining on Hillary Clinton. Folks, you can't make that up. A socialist is doing well in the Democratic primary. The best way for us to give this election back would be to nominate a Donald Trump. He'll implode in the general election, or if, God forbid, if he were in the White House, we have no idea what he would do. You can't just attack him on policy. He doesn't care about policy. It's not enough to say he was for socialized medicine or higher taxes... +p2328 +aVHe's not serious. +p2329 +aVYeah, I wanted to clarify -- I want to make very clear that everybody understands my position is, we need to secure the border, period. Any talk of doing any more -- we don't need a comprehensive plan, don't need an 1,000-page bill, like the Gang of Eight. We don't need amnesty. Everybody in D.C. talks about it. We need to get it done. As president, I'll get it done in six months. It won't be perfect, but we can get it done. I'm not for amnesty. We do need to secure the border. A smart immigration makes our -- our country stronger. Right now, we've got a weak one. One of the things I've said -- I know the left -- I know Hillary didn't like this -- immigration without assimilation is invasion. We need to insist the people who come here come here legally, learn English, adopt our values, roll up their sleeves and get to work. We do need to secure the border. +p2330 +aVDana, that's not right. What I've said consistently is secure the border. I've said after that is done, the American people will deal with the folks that are here pragmatically and compassionately. Now, Rick, if he wants to say that Rubio, Senator Rubio, or Jeb or others are for amnesty, that's his right. I'm not for amnesty. I've never been for amnesty, will never be for amnesty. Secure the border. We don't need to do that as a comprehensive -- I've also said we need to put an end to sanctuary cities. It's not enough to defund them; I think we need to criminalize, accuse and jail those mayors and councilman as accessories... ( +p2331 +aV... for the crimes committed by people who shouldn't be here in the first place. +p2332 +aVJake, look, America's the most compassionate country in the entire world. We do more for folks around this world, and that's the nature of the American people. Two things. One, let us draw line, a direct line, between this refugee crisis, and this president's failed foreign policy. Jake, look, America is the most compassionate country in the entire world. We do more for folks around this world. And that's the nature of the American people. Two things: one, let us draw a line, a direct line between this refugee crisis and this president's failed foreign policy. He drew a red line in Syria and did not enforce it and now we're seeing millions of refugees potentially, hundreds of thousands going into Europe. The answer is not to put a Band-aid on this and allow even more people to come into America. We should not short-circuit; we have got a vetting process, we've got a normal refugee process. Simply allowing more into our country doesn't solve this problem. The way to solve this problem is for us to be clear to our friends and allies that we're going to replace Assad, we're going to hunt down and destroy +p2333 +aVWe -- it is important we insist on that in immigration going -- +p2334 +aVLook, absolutely. We need to do whatever is necessary to hunt down and kill these radical Islamic terrorists but this president has helped -- his policies have helped to contribute to this problem. He went to the Pentagon the same week they announced they were cutting back the number of troops in the Army to say that we're not going to win this through guns, it's going to be a change of hearts and minds. This will be a generational conflict, that is nonsense. These are barbarians. They are burning, crucifying people alive, Christians and other Muslims. We need to hunt them down and -- +p2335 +aV-- by having a president willing to -- +p2336 +aV-- Islamic -- +p2337 +aVWell, Jake, look, I think the American people -- we don't discriminate anybody based on the color of their skin or their creed. I think the way you strike that balance, you say to Muslim leaders, they have got two responsibilities. One, it's not enough to denounce just simply generic acts of violence. They have got to denounce the individuals by name, and say these are not martyrs. These terrorists are not martyrs; rather, they are going straight to hell. They are not going to enjoy a reward in their afterlife. Secondly, they have to explicitly embrace the same freedoms for everybody else they want for themselves. Look, I know it's politically incorrect to say this, the president says Fort Hood was an issue of workplace violence. We are at war with radical Islam. Our president loves to apologize for America, he goes to the National Prayer Breakfast, brings up the Crusades, criticizes Christians. We're at war today with radical Islamic extremists. It's not politically correct to say that, but the way you strike that balance, you say to Muslim leaders, denounce these fools, these radical terrorists by name, say they are not martyrs. +p2338 +aVSure, I don't think a 14-year-old should ever get arrested for bringing a clock to school. So, if you're asking me I'm glad he wasn't -- he was released. I'm glad that police are careful. I'm glad they are worried about security and safety issues. Look, in America we don't tolerate them. The biggest discrimination is going on against Christian business owners and individuals who believe in traditional forms of marriage. They are throwing this woman in jail in Kentucky. Let's talk about that. Let's talk about the Christian florist, the caterer, the musician, who simply want to say, don't arrest us for having -- or don't discriminate against us, don't shut down our businesses, don't fine us thousands of dollars for believing marriage is between a man and a woman. Lets talk about not discriminating against Christians. +p2339 +aVJake -- Jake... +p2340 +aVJake, I've got a practical question. +p2341 +aVI've got a practical question. I'd like the left to give us a list of jobs that Christians aren't allowed to have. If we're not allowed to be clerks, bakers, musicians, caterers, are we allowed to be pastors ? +p2342 +aVWe're not allowed to be elected officials. I firmly -- this is an important point. The First Amendment rights, the right to religious freedom is in the First Amendment of "The Constitution." It isn't breaking the law to exercise our constitutional rights. America did not create religious liberty, religious liberty created the United States of America. It is the reason we're here today. +p2343 +aVI think actually putting Roberts, I think putting Kennedy, I think putting -- before them, I think putting Souter on the bench was a mistake. But look, I think the -- the first responsibility starts in the White House. The reality is conservatives have not been willing to stand up for our beliefs, unlike the liberals -- look, you never worry about where the Democratic judges are going to vote, it's always the conservatives. You've never had a Democratic judge wake up and say, surprise, I've evolved, I've become a conservative. It's always the Republicans, because we have presidents that try to find judges with no records, no rulings, no writings. I'll tell you, I am going to have a litmus test. For judges, I'm going to find judges that are conservative, judges that are going to be pro-life, judges that are going to follow "The Constitution," judges, by the way, that are going to follow the American law, not international law. They're not appointed there to interpret international law, they're there to apply "The United States Constitution." Judges understand, their job is not to write law. If they want to write law, they should run for the Senate or the House. It's time for a Republican president as the next commander in chief, I will do as the Democrats have done. I will appoint bold judges that are actually consistent with my values that will be conservatives and enforce the Senate -- +p2344 +aVThank you, Jake. But look, it's not a minor ruling. Justice Roberts twice rewrote the law to save ObamaCare, the biggest expansion of government, creating a new entitlement when we can't afford the government we've got today, an expansion of socialism in our country. It's not that he got a minor ruling wrong. This is twice he rewrote the law. Now, look, I have a lot of respect for these senators that have big bladders. They give great speeches in the Senate. And I respect that. I've actually signed the executive order. I've actually signed a law protecting religious liberty in the state of Louisiana. It's not 99-1. The one that he got wrong was a big one. Twice he bent over backwards to save ObamaCare. If the Republicans had voted the way that we should -- they should have, we would still have our 19th Amendment rights and ObamaCare would not be the law of the land. +p2345 +aVNo. And it's not only whether they can win. They shouldn't win this election cycle. One of the things I do agree -- and I want to thank Donald Trump after I've criticized him for everything from being a narcissist to an egomaniac -- one of the things he was right about was to say nonsense to the D.C. establishment. It is time to fire all of them. You've got a choice between honest Socialists on the Left, like Bernie Sanders, and lying conservatives on the Right. We have got the majority; what good has it done us? See, they said they were going to stop amnesty. They said they were going to repeal ObamaCare. They didn't do either. Now they're not even willing to fight to defund Planned Parenthood. They've already -- McConnell has already waved the white flag of defeat. They are not willing to stand up to fight for the issues that count. I think it is time to have term limits. I think it's time to have part-time citizen legislators. Let's pay them a per diem instead of a six-figure salary, stop them from being seven-figure lobbyists. Let's also pay them a per diem for every day they don't go to D.C. Let's keep them out of D.C., working in the real -- -- let's make them live under the same rules and laws they apply to the rest of us. Not only shouldn't they be elected, they can't be elected. Let's fire all of them from their current positions. +p2346 +aVTwo things, Jake. One, I'm absolutely for all of these carve-outs and loopholes and special interests for as -- they get lobbyists. They get sweetheart deals you and I and the rest of this audience couldn't get. So as part of an overall comprehensive tax reform that has a lower, flatter tax code, sure. As a single, I am just to raise taxes, no. I don't want to give the government more money. The government has grown over this president where now, it's going to overwhelm the American economy. We've got to cut the size of the government economy. Nobody else running for president has done that. I'm the only candidate. I've cut my state budget 26 percent. Everybody else talks about it, we have done it. So, there's a part of overall tax reform that cuts rates, flattens and lowers the tax code, sure. But I'm not for raising taxes on anybody. We already have too much money going to D.C. +p2347 +aVJake, I'd like to answer that question. +p2348 +aVWell, Jake, I want to answer that question. I want to go back to Iran. I didn't get a chance to answer that as well. Look, on Russia, across the world, dictators walk all over this president. He treats our friends like dirt. He lets our enemies walk all over us. The only group he's able to out-negotiate are the Senate Republicans. They never should've passed this bad Corker bill. Instead of a two-thirds vote to reject -- to approve the Iran deal, now it takes a two-thirds vote to reject the Iran deal. I want to ask Lindsey a question. Will the Senate Republicans -- they still have time -- are they willing to use the nuclear option, meaning get rid of the filibusters, stop Iran from becoming a nuclear power? Now is the time for the Senate Republicans to stand up and fight. We are tired of the establishment saying there's nothing we can do. All night tonight, we've heard Republicans say things like, "Well, if the Supreme Court's ruled, there's nothing I can do about religious liberty," you know. "The president did this. There's nothing we can do about it for two more years." There is something we can do. We won the Senate. We won the House. What was the point of winning those chambers if we're not going to do anything with them? You're going back tonight. You still have time before the Thursday deadline. Will y'all use the nuclear option to stop Iran from becoming a nuclear power? +p2349 +aVLindsey... +p2350 +aVLindsey, well, that's my frustration. Listen to what you've heard. You -- you basically heard a Senate Republican say, "We can't defund Planned Parenthood, despite these barbaric videos." +p2351 +aV"We can't -- we can't..." +p2352 +aV"... we can't get rid of Obamacare" -- Lindsey, let me answer this question now. I wish the Senate Republicans had half the fight in them the Senate Democrats did. Look, President Obama didn't give up on Obamacare when they lost the Senate election in Massachusetts. I want my side to follow the Constitution. They broke the Constitution, they broke the law, but they forced Obamacare down our throats, even when they didn't have 60 votes. I wish Republicans in D.C. had half the fight of the Senate Democrats to get rid of Obamacare, to defund Planned Parenthood. If we can't defund Planned Parenthood now, if we can't stand for innocent human life after these barbaric videos, it is time to be done with the Republican Party. We defunded them in Louisiana. Let's defund them in D.C. If we can't win... +p2353 +aV-- on that issue, there is no point for being cheaper Democrats, no point grabbing a second liberal party. It is time to get rid of the Republican Party, start over with a new one that's at least conservative. Give Harry Reid and Pelosi credit. At least they fight for what they believe in. I want senators and House members in DC to fight for what we believe in, as well. It's time to have Republican... +p2354 +aV-- with a backbone in DC. +p2355 +aVJake, I'm a doer, not a talker. Look, the idea of America is slipping away from us. If you want somebody who is going to manage the slow decline of this country, makes incremental changes, vote for somebody else. If you want to vote for somebody who understands what is at stake -- Planned Parenthood is selling baby parts across this country, and the Senate Republicans have already given up, even without a fight. I am tired of this surrender (ph) caucus, I am angrier at the Republicans in D.C. than I am at the president. The president is a socialist. At least he fights for what we believe in. We don't need to just send any Republican to the White House. We need to sent somebody who understands that it's time to make big changes. It's time to take on the establishment, it's time to take on the D.C. permanent governing class. Every Republican says they will shrink the size of the government. I'm the only one that has done it. Cut our budget 26 percent. If you want somebody that's going to make incremental change, vote for somebody else. It's time to get the idea of America back. At some point, we're going to be held -- we'll be asked, what did you do when the idea of America was slipping away? I'll promise you this. I will give every ounce of blood, energy, sweat I've got to save the idea of America, the greatest country in the history of the world. +p2356 +aVWell, first of all, thank you all for having us. You know, I won two record elections. Last time I was elected governor, won a record margin in my state. Martha, we got a lot of politicians that will kiss babies, cut ribbons, do whatever it takes to be popular. That's not why I ran for office. I ran for office to make the generational changes in Louisiana. We've cut 26 percent of our budget. We have 30,000 fewer state bureaucrats than the day I took office. I don't think anybody has cut that much government anywhere, at any time. As a result, eight credit upgrades; as a result, a top ten state for private sector job creation. And we fought for statewide school choice, where the dollars follow the child, instead of the child following the dollars. We've been the most pro-life state six years in a row. My point is this: I won two landslide elections, I made big changes. I think our country is tired of the politicians who simply read the polls and fail to lead. Both Democrats and Republicans have gotten us in the mess we're in -- $18 trillion of debt, a bad deal with Iran, we're not staying with Israel. I think the American people are look for real leadership. That's what I've done in Louisiana, that's what I'll do in America. +p2357 +aVWell, to start with, unlike President Obama, I'll actually name the enemy that we confront. We've got a president who cannot bring himself to say the words "radical Islamic terrorism." Now, Bill, he loves to criticize America, apologize for us, criticize medieval Christians. How can we beat an enemy if our commander-in-chief doesn't have the moral honesty and clarity to say that Islam has a problem, and that problem is radical Islam, to say they've got to condemn not generic acts of violence, but the individual murderers who are committing these acts of violence. We've got a president who instead says, we're going to change hearts and minds. Well, you know what? Sometimes you win a war by killing murderous, evil terrorists. We're going to take the political handcuffs off the military. We will arm and train the Kurds. We will work with our Sunni allies. They know we will be committed to victory. We had this failed red line with Assad and it discouraged folks that want to help us on the ground. Finally, we'll take off the political handcuffs. We'll go to the Congress. This president has gone to Congress and said give me a three-year deadline, give me a ban on ground troops. I'm going to go to the commanders and say give me a plan to win. You can't send your troops into harm's way unless you give them every opportunity to be successful. +p2358 +aVWell, this goes to the question you were just asking. Look, under President Obama and Secretary Clinton, they're working hard to change the American dream into the European nightmare. They do celebrate more dependence on the government. Give Bernie Sanders credit. At least he's honest enough to call himself a socialist. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, they're no better. If we were to expand Medicaid, for every uninsured person we would cover, we'd kick more than one person out of private insurance or remove their opportunity to get private insurance. We're going to have too many people in the cart rather than pulling the cart. This isn't free money. I know some people like to say, "well, this is free money." We pay federal taxes. We are borrowing money from China today. Yesterday, the president stunningly admitted this. He said, "we don't have leverage with China to get a better deal on Iran because we need them to lend us money to continue operating our government." The president of the United States admitting that he's weakening our government's position, our foreign policy standing, because he can't control spending in D.C.. There is a better way to provide health care. The Oregon study showed this. Simply expanding Medicaid does not improve health care outcomes. In Louisiana, instead we're helping people getting better paying jobs so they can provide for their own health care. +p2359 +aVI don't -- look, I don't think anybody should be expanding Medicaid. I think it's a mistake to create new and more expensive entitlement programs when we can't afford the ones we've got today. We've got to stop this culture of government dependence. +p2360 +aVI'll say this. I don't think anybody should expand Medicaid. I think it was a mistake to expand Medicaid everywhere in Ohio and across the country. +p2361 +aVWell, a couple of things. Planned Parenthood had better hope that Hillary Clinton wins this election, because I guarantee under President Jindal, January 2017, the Department of Justice and the IRS and everybody else that we can send from the federal government will be going in to Planned Parenthood. This is absolutely disgusting, and revolts the conscience of the nation. Absolutely, we need to defund Planned Parenthood. In my own state, for example, we launched an investigation, asked the FBI to cooperate. We just, earlier this week, kicked them out of Medicaid in Louisiana as well, canceled their provider contract. They don't provide any abortions in Louisiana. But in terms of shutting down the government, I don't think President Obama should choose to shut down the government simply to send taxpayer dollars to this group that has been caught, I believe, breaking the law, but also offending our values and our ethics. It is time for Republicans in D.C. to fight. Too often, they give up, they negotiate with themselves. They said they would get rid of the unconstitutional amnesty. They didn't do that. They said they would repeal Obamacare if we gave them the majority. They didn't do that either. They said they'd shrink and balance the budget. They haven't done that. Absolutely, they should fight to fund -- defund Planned Parenthood, and I don't think the president should shut down the government simply to send our taxpayer dollars to this group. Mac +p2362 +aVTo repeal these unconstitutional illegal orders, whether it's amnesty or whether it's this president going around the Congress, whether it's in Obamacare, to restore the rule of law. I'd also go after these sanctuary cities, do everything we can to make sure that we are not -- that we are actually prosecuting and cutting off funding for cities that are harboring illegal aliens, and then finally making sure the IRS is not going after conservative or religious groups. I would sign an executive order protecting religious liberty, our first amendment rights, so Christian business owners and individuals don't face discrimination for having a traditional view of marriage. +p2363 +aVSocialist and government dependent. +p2364 +aVYou know, we've got a lot of great talkers running for president. We've already got a great talker in the White House. We cannot afford four more years of on the job training. We need a doer, not a talker. We also need a nominee, a candidate who will endorse our own principles. Jeb Bush says we've got to be willing to lose the primary in order to win the general. Let me translate that for you. That's the establishment telling us to hide our conservative principles to get the left and the media to like us. That never works. If we do that again, we will lose again, we will deserve to lose again. One principle, for example, we've got to embrace is on immigration. We must insist on assimilation -- immigration without assimilation is an invasion. We need to tell folks who want to come here, they need to come here legally. They need to learn English, adopt our values, roll up their sleeves and get to work. I'm tired of the hyphenated Americans and the division. I've got the backbone, I've got the band width, I've got the experience to get us through this. I'm asking folks not just to join my campaign, but join a cause. It is time to believe in America again. Mac +p2365 +asVMUIR +p2366 +(lp2367 +VWe will be tackling many critical issues right here tonight, and we begin with opening statements, in alphabetical order, and Secretary Clinton. +p2368 +aVSenator Sanders. +p2369 +aVSenator Sanders thank you and thank you all. We do have a lot of important issues to get here tonight and we want to address the controversy of the last 24 hours right off the top because we heard some of the most heated rhetoric of the campaign so far between two of the campaigns on this stage tonight. Senator Sanders, you fired a campaign staffer you have sued the Democratic National Committee; all of this after your campaign acknowledge that some of your staffers quote, "irresponsibly accessed data from another campaign." The Clinton campaign called this a very egregious breech of data of ethics and said, quote, "our data was stolen." Did they overstate this or were your staffers essentially stealing part of the Clinton playbook? +p2370 +aVBut Senator, you do mention the DNC -- the vender. But you said of your staff that they did the wrong thing. +p2371 +aVSo, does Secretary Clinton deserve an apology tonight? +p2372 +aVSecretary Clinton... +p2373 +aVSecretary Clinton, he has apologized. How do your react? +p2374 +aV(?): All three candidates are weighing in. +p2375 +aVGood let's move on -- Senator Sanders, let's move on right to some of those issues. It is just six days before Christmas, as we all know in this country. It's typically a joyful time, as it is this year, as well. But it's also an anxious time. President Obama has acknowledged that what we saw in San Bernardino was an act of terrorism. But we remember the president said, right before Thanksgiving, there is no known specific and credible intelligence indicating a plot on the homeland. We now know that this couple had assembled an arsenal. They were not on law enforcement's radar. They were completely undetected. So as we approach another holiday, with the president again saying, late this week, no credible threat, Secretary Clinton, how confident should the American people be, that there aren't others like that couple right now in the U.S. going undetected? And what would you do as president to find them? +p2376 +aV(inaudible) thank you. I am the very first post-9/11 mayor and the very first post-9/11 governor. I understand, from the ground up, that when attacks like San Bernardino happen, when attacks like the attacks of 9/11 happen, that when people call 911, the first people to show up are the local first responders. Many of the things Secretary Clinton said are absolutely true, but they underscore a lack of investment that we have, as a nation, failed to make over these last 15 years in intelligence gathering, intelligence analysis, intelligence sharing. Not only in theater, in Syria and Iraq and other places where we embalk ourselves in toppling dictators without having any idea what comes next, but here in the homeland, as we protect people from this threat of the lone wolves and these changing tactics and strategies. I believe that what's happened here is that the president had us on the right course, but it's a lack of battle tempo. We have to increase the battle tempo, we have to bring a modern way of getting things done and forcing the sharing of information and do a much better job of acting on it in order to prevent these sorts of attacks in the future. +p2377 +aVAnd we're going to break down these issues tonight, but I do want to go to Senator Sanders because the concern going into Christmas is significant, as you know. A new ABC News poll shows 77 percent of Americans have little or no confidence in the government's ability to prevent a lone wolf attack. How would you specifically find would-be terrorist who are going undetected? +p2378 +aVSenator, thank you. +p2379 +aVGovernor, we have to abide the rules here, we'll call on you here shortly, but... O' +p2380 +aVBut I do want pick up on something... O' +p2381 +aVWe will. +p2382 +aVBut let me just establish that for you, senator. Really quickly governor, we are going to call on you tonight and it's very clear you have a lot to say but please wait until you're called upon. And senator, he invoked your record and I'll let you respond. +p2383 +aVI'll let you respond. +p2384 +aVAnd you will get some to as well. +p2385 +aVSenator, thank you. I want to move on here. Secretary Clinton, you brought up Donald Trump a short time ago. +p2386 +aVSecretary Clinton, thank you. We're going to move on from guns here and go back to something you mentioned a short time ago. You brought up Donald Trump first here this evening. We've now seen the polling done well after his proposed ban on Muslims coming to America. Thirty-six percent of Americans, more than a third, agree with him. You have weighed in already on Donald Trump. You've weighed in on the proposed ban. But what would you say to the millions of Americans watching tonight who agree with him? Are they wrong? +p2387 +aVSecretary, thank you. Senator Sanders, I did want to ask you about a neighbor in San Bernardino who reportedly witnessed packages being delivered to that couple's home, that it set off red flags, but they didn't report it because they were afraid to profile. What would you say to Americans afraid to profile? Is it ever acceptable? +p2388 +aVBut I'm asking about -- I'm asking about profiling. Because a lot of people are afraid of that. +p2389 +aVSenator, thank you. +p2390 +aVMartha, we're going to turn now to refugees coming to America. And on the subject of refugees, more than half of all Americans now say they oppose taking in refugees from Syria and across the Middle East. Secretary Clinton, you have said that it would undermine who we are as Americans, shutting our doors. But New Hampshire's governor, where we are right here tonight, a democrat and a supporter of yours, is among more than 30 governors who are now concerned. Governor Maggie Hassan says, "we should halt acceptance of Syrian refugees until U.S. authorities can assure the vetting process, halt Syrian refugees." Is she wrong? +p2391 +aVBut a halt? +p2392 +aVGovernor O'Malley, obviously you were governor yourself at one time. What would you say to New Hampshire's governor tonight? Is she wrong on this? O' +p2393 +aVSo the idea of a halt or a pause? O' +p2394 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p2395 +aVI want to take this to Senator -- I'm going to take this to Senator Sanders next, because I think there... +p2396 +aVSenator, thank you. +p2397 +aVYeah, but, Secretary Clinton -- Secretary Clinton... +p2398 +aVSenator Sanders, Senator Sanders, hold on. One moment, please. I'm going to ask the secretary here, because there does appear to be some daylight here between the policies, at least in respect to when you take out Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Right now or do you wait? Do you tackle +p2399 +aVBut that's what he's saying, we should put that aside for now and go after +p2400 +aVShe says we have to proceed on both fronts at once. +p2401 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. O' +p2402 +aVGovernor O'Malley? O' +p2403 +aVBut -- you criticized -- you criticized Secretary Clinton for what came next. What's your proposal for what comes after Assad? O' +p2404 +aVSenator Sanders, please. Go ahead. Senator Sanders, a last word on this. +p2405 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. When we come back here tonight, the other major issues of this election: jobs, the economy, health care. Which candidates will make the best case for the middle class, as our coverage of the Democratic debate, here in New Hampshire, continues right after this on ABC. +p2406 +aVWelcome back tonight. As you can see, we have a packed audience here in New Hampshire and we're going to continue. We've already had a spirited conversation here at the top of the broadcast about +p2407 +aVWe're going to continue here, and Secretary, you'll get a chance on this too. But as I pointed out the CEO pay, 200 percent of their time -- for that family of just 2 percent. You've all said, "you would raise the minimum wage." But Senator Sanders what else - speak to that household tonight. 20 years, just a 2 percent raise, how as president would you get them a raise right away? +p2408 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. Governor O'Malley, what would propose that would be different, how would you get the middle class a raise and without waiting another 20 years for another 2 percent. O' +p2409 +aVGovernor, thank you. Secretary Clinton... As you were walking in, I was talking about the median American household getting a two percent raise over the last 20 years, that CEO pay in that same time frame has gone up 200 percent. So for those families watching tonight, how do you get them a raise if you're president? +p2410 +aVSecretary... +p2411 +aVSecretary, thank you. +p2412 +aVWe're going to -- we're going to... +p2413 +aVAnd we're going to talk about college education in a moment. But Secretary Clinton, I did want to ask you, the last time you ran for president, Fortune Magazine put you on its cover with the headline Business Loves Hillary, pointing out your support for many CEOs in corporate America. I'm curious, eight years later, should corporate America love Hillary Clinton? +p2414 +aVSecretary, thank you. Senator Sanders... I want to stay on this and ask you how big a role does corporate America play in a healthy economy and will corporate America love a President Sanders? +p2415 +aVSenator, thank you. I want to... Governor, let me just ask you, though, because it is an important question, how important a role do you think corporate America plays in a healthy economy here in the U.S.? O' +p2416 +aVGovernor O'Malley, thank you. I do want to ask you, Secretary Clinton. Let me just ask you... +p2417 +aVWe did -- we did -- Secretary Clinton, let me just ask you... +p2418 +aVAnd in particular... +p2419 +aVSecretary Clinton, thank you. +p2420 +aVSenator? +p2421 +aVSenator Sanders... +p2422 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2423 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p2424 +aVWe're going to get right into this Senator but I want to ask about taxes next. This is included. +p2425 +aVShe was asking about that... +p2426 +aVAre we back on health care - Secretary Clinton hold one moment. Senator Sanders... +p2427 +aVSecretary Clinton, please. +p2428 +aVSo let's ask about it. Secretary Clinton, let's turn to the taxes. +p2429 +aVThis is where we are going next, we are going next to taxes here... +p2430 +aVThis is fun. applause]This is democracy at work. Secretary Clinton, let me ask you about your tax plan because from the crushing cost of college education, the next question most families have; is will my taxes go up under the next president? You have said it's your goal not to raise taxes on families making under $200,000 a year a goal. But can you say that's a promise as you stand here tonight? +p2431 +aVA promise? +p2432 +aVSecretary Clinton... +p2433 +aVPlease. +p2434 +aVSenator, thank you. Let me bring in Governor O'Malley... +p2435 +aVYou've heard... +p2436 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p2437 +aVThank you. I want to bring in Governor O'Malley on this. We heard the promise from Secretary Clinton because people want to know about their taxes, will they go up. She has now promised here tonight not to raise them on families making $250,000 or less. Can you make that same promise if you're elected? O' +p2438 +aVGovernor O'Malley, thank you. A spirited debate on taxes. And there will be more with the Democratic debate in New Hampshire, when we come back right here on ABC. More in a moment. ( +p2439 +aVWelcome back tonight to New Hampshire. The Democratic debate continues here on ABC. And Secretary Clinton, we want to turn to race, now, in America. There is a real concern in this country from Black Lives Matter and from other community groups that we're just now seeing, with smartphones and cell phones, what many have been dealing with for years when they come in contact with police. But you also have many in law enforcement who now say there has been a so-called Ferguson effect, police holding back because they're afraid of backlash. +p2440 +aVIn fact, the FBI director is calling it a chill wind blowing through American law enforcement. So, if elected president, how would you bridge the divide between the two? +p2441 +aVSecretary, thank you. +p2442 +aVGovernor O'Malley, how would you bridge the divide? O' +p2443 +aVGovernor, thank you. And Senator Sanders, when you hear the FBI director calling it a chill wind blowing through American law enforcement, does that concern you as well when you -- +p2444 +aVSenator, thank you. We want to turn now to an issue. This next issue has destroyed so many families across the country, and in particular right here in New Hampshire, heroin. And there's a stunning new figure out. A recent poll -- 48 percent here, in this state alone, say they know someone who has abused heroin. We're going to turn tonight to Dan Tuohy of the New Hampshire Union Leader who has this question. +p2445 +aVSenator Sanders, I'm going to take this to you first because you've seen what's happened with heroin right on the border in your own state. +p2446 +aVSenator, thank you. Secretary Clinton? +p2447 +aVSecretary, thank you. O' +p2448 +aVGovernor O'Malley, thank you. Martha? +p2449 +aVI do want to follow up here for each of you. And a similar line of questioning. Senator Sanders, your wife Jane shares an office at your campaign headquarters in Burlington. We've seen the pictures, the desks right next to each other. Would she have a desk close by in the west wing? +p2450 +aVSenator, thank you. Governor O'Malley -- Governor O'Malley, you have talked about your wife, Katie, here tonight. She's a district court judge. And the question for you is, would she have to give that up as first lady, or will she share an office in the west wing as well? O' +p2451 +aVGovernor O'Malley, thank you, (inaudible). O' +p2452 +aVGovernor, thank you. We'll be back with much more from New Hampshire. The Democratic debate continues right after this. ( +p2453 +aVWelcome back tonight. It's been an evening of lively discussion among the candidates and it's time for closing statements. We began in alphabetical order, so we'll reverse the order at the end and begin with you, Senator Sanders. +p2454 +aVGovernor, thank you. Secretary Clinton? +p2455 +asVWALLACE +p2456 +(lp2457 +VAlso of note, Fox News is partnering for tonight's debate with Facebook. For the past several weeks, we've been asking you for questions for the candidates on Facebook. Nearly 6 million of you, 6 million, viewed the debate videos on our site, and more than 40,000 of you submitted questions: some of which you will hear us asking the candidates tonight. +p2458 +aVKentucky Senator Rand Paul. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. And your very own governor of Ohio... ... John Kasich. +p2459 +aVBrett -- Brett, I think you would call that a home field advantage. +p2460 +aVSenator Rubio, when Jeb Bush announced his candidacy for presidency, he said this: "There's no passing off responsibility when you're a governor, no blending into the legislative crowd." Could you please address Governor Bush across the stage here, and explain to him why you, someone who has never held executive office, are better prepared to be president than he is, a man who you say did a great job running your state of Florida for eight years. +p2461 +aVSenator Cruz, your colleague, Senator Paul, right there next to you, said a few months ago he agrees with you on a number of issues, but he says you do nothing to grow the party. He says you feed red meat to the base, but you don't reach out to minorities. You have a toxic relationship with GOP leaders in Congress. You even called the Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell a liar recently. How can you win in 2016 when you're such a divisive figure? +p2462 +aVGovernor Huckabee, like Governor Walker, you have staked out strong positions on social issues. You favor a constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage. You favor a constitutional amendment banning abortions, except for the life of the mother. Millions of people in this country agree with you, but according to the polls, and again this an electability question, according to the polls, more people don't, so how do you persuade enough Independents and Democrats to get elected in 2016? +p2463 +aVGentlemen, we're turning to a new subject that all of you have been talking about and some of you have been disagreeing about, and that is the issue of immigration. Governor Bush, you released a new plan this week on illegal immigration focusing on enforcement, which some suggest is your effort to show that you're not soft on that issue. I want to ask you about a statement that you made last year about illegal immigrants. And here's what you said. "They broke the law, but it's not a felony, it's an act of love. It's an act of commitment to your family." Do you stand by that statement and do you stand by your support for earned legal status? +p2464 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, it has not escaped anybody's notice that you say that the Mexican government, the Mexican government is sending criminals -- rapists, drug dealers, across the border. Governor Bush has called those remarks, quote, "extraordinarily ugly." I'd like you -- you're right next to him -- tell us -- talk to him directly and say how you respond to that and -- and you have repeatedly said that you have evidence that the Mexican government is doing this, but you have evidence you have refused or declined to share. Why not use this first Republican presidential debate to share your proof with the American people? +p2465 +aVMr. Trump, I'll give you 30 seconds -- I'll give you 30 seconds to answer my question, which was, what evidence do you have, specific evidence that the Mexican government is sending criminals across the border? Thirty seconds. +p2466 +aVAll right. Obviously there's a lot more to talk about this. We're going to have more questions for the candidates on illegal immigration, plus other key topics including your questions on Facebook. +p2467 +aVWelcome back to FOX News/Facebook Republican Debate Night. We're going to continue the questions now on illegal immigration. We kind of ended with a cliffhanger there. So let's continue the conversation. Governor Kasich, I know you don't like to talk about Donald Trump. But I do want to ask you about the merit of what he just said. When you say that the American government is stupid, that the Mexican government is sending criminals, that we're being bamboozled, is that an adequate response to the question of illegal immigration? +p2468 +aVRespectfully, can we talk about illegal immigration? +p2469 +aVAll right, well, Senator Rubio, let me see if I can do better with you. Is it as simple as our leaders are stupid, their leaders are smart, and all of these illegals coming over are criminals? +p2470 +aVGovernor Walker. Governor Walker, from 2002 until as recently as 2013, just two years ago, you supported comprehensive immigration reform, including a path to citizenship. Now you say that was a quick reaction to something you hadn't really thought about, and that you've changed your mind. Other than politics, could you explain why in the last two years you've changed your position on a path to citizenship, and are there other past positions that we shouldn't hold you to? +p2471 +aVSenator Cruz, some 1,400 people submitted questions on this very hot topic of illegal immigration on Facebook, and a number of them were about the murder of Kate Steinle in San Francisco, allegedly shot down by an illegal. Doug Bettencourt sent this question, "will you support Kate Steinle's Law," which would impose a mandatory five-year prison term for an illegal who is deported and then returns to this country? "And will you defund sanctuary cities for violating federal law?" +p2472 +aVGentlemen, we're obviously digging into some subjects in depth, but we're also going to change it up every once in a while throughout the next hour and have many rounds where we ask, you are not going to like it, only a couple of candidates questions on those subjects. This is the first of the many rounds, and it's about somebody whose name probably hasn't been mentioned enough so far tonight. Governor Kasich, let me start with you. Whoever the Republican nominee -- Whoever the Republican nominee is, it looks at least for now like whoever that nominee is, he or she, will be facing off against Hillary Clinton. You know how she will come after whoever the Republican nominee is. She will say that you, whoever it is, support the rich while she supports the middle class. That you want to suppress the rights of women and minorities. She wants to move the country forward while you, the Republicans, want to take the country back to the past. How will you, if you're the nominee, how will you answer that and take Hillary Clinton on? +p2473 +aVI know that all of you would like to answer this question, but we're only going to ask one other candidate before we move on to a different subject, Dr. Carson. Basically, same question to you. If Hillary Clinton is the nominee and she comes at you with that kind of line of attack, how will you take Iraq? +p2474 +aVGentlemen, we're going to turn now to the subject of the economy, jobs and money and the government. And Governor Bush, I'm going to start with you. You have made a bold promise in your announcement. You have promised four percent economic growth and 19 million new jobs if you are fortunate enough to serve two terms as president. That many jobs, 19 million, would be triple what your father and your brother accomplished together. And four percent growth, the last president to average that was Lyndon Johnson during the height of the Vietnam War. So question, how on Earth specifically would you pull that off? +p2475 +aVGovernor Walker. Governor Walker, when you ran for governor of Wisconsin back in 2010, you promised that you would create 250,000 jobs in your first term, first four years. In fact, Wisconsin added barely half that and ranked 35th in the country in job growth. Now you're running for president, and you're promising an economic plan in which everyone will earn a piece of the American dream. Given your record in Wisconsin, why should voters believe you? +p2476 +aVGovernor Christie, I want to engage you and Governor Huckabee in a subject that is a big issue in both of your campaigns, and that is entitlement reform. You say that you -- to save the system that you want to raise the retirement age -- have to raise the retirement age, and to cut benefits for Social Security and Medicare, and you say that some of the candidates here on the stage are lying. Governor Huckabee says he can save Social Security and Medicare without doing any of that. Is he lying? +p2477 +aVGovernor Huckabee? You say that changing entitlements, the kind of thing that Governor Christie is talking about, would be breaking a promise to the American people, and you say that you can keep those programs, save Social Security, save Medicare, without those kinds of reforms through a FairTax, which is a broad tax on consumption. Please explain to Governor Christie how that would work, and how you could save these programs without the kind of painful reforms he says we need? +p2478 +aV...Thirty seconds. +p2479 +aV...Alright, this is it. Thirty Seconds, finally. +p2480 +aVAll right. Enough. Mr. Trump. +p2481 +aVMr. Trump, you talk a lot about how you are the person on this stage to grow the economy, I want to ask you about your business records. From corporations, Trump corporations, casinos and hotels, have declared bankruptcy four times over the last quarter-century. +p2482 +aVNo, but the concept sir... +p2483 +aV... that's your line, but your companies have gone bankrupt. +p2484 +aVWell sir, let's just talk about the latest example......which is Trump Entertainment Resorts, which went bankrupt in 2009. In that case alone, lenders to your company lost over $1 billion and more than 1,100 people were laid off. +p2485 +aVIs that the way that you'd run the country? +p2486 +aVSo... +p2487 +aVSenator Rubio. Senator Rubio, more than 3,000 people sent us questions about the economy and jobs on Facebook. And here is a video question from Tania Cioloko from Philadelphia. Here she is. +p2488 +aVSenator, how do you answer Tania? +p2489 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. +p2490 +aVSenator Paul, closing statement. +p2491 +aVDr. Carson, closing statement. +p2492 +aVGovernor Bush, closing statement, sir. +p2493 +asVSMITH +p2494 +(lp2495 +VGovernor Huckabee, same question to you. Where do you see the country right now? +p2496 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Thank you, candidates. Moving to the world stage. The middle east is on the brink of chaos. Iran continues to provoke the United States, North Korea claims it's tested a hydrogen bomb, and Afghanistan is in danger of falling back into Taliban hands. Critics of the administration say it's all due to lack of U.S. leadership. To you, Mrs. Fiorina, how do you see America's role in the world today? +p2497 +aVGovernor Huckabee, in Afghanistan, the Taliban is strengthening. Attacks are on the rise and thousands more civilians have been wounded or killed. Much of the Taliban surge can be attributed to the withdrawal of U.S. forces there. You have expressed skepticism with the war there, saying you see no end game in sight. What, then, is your solution to the growing conflict there? +p2498 +aVAll right, thank you, candidates. We're just getting started. Jobs, Homeland Security, gun rights, all those issues are coming up straight ahead. We're live from North Charleston and the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back. +p2499 +aVAll right, let's get started. Senator Santorum, to you first. President Obama has urged technology leaders to make it hard for terrorists to use technology to escape from justice. Hillary Clinton says social media companies can help by swiftly shutting down terrorist accounts. The companies say that they're already working with law enforcement and any proposed legislation would do more harm than good. Should companies like Facebook and Twitter be required by law to more actively \u2014 be more actively engaged in fighting terror? +p2500 +aVSenator, would you \u2014 would you require anything of those companies like Facebook and Twitter if you were president? +p2501 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2502 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee, you called President Obama's executive orders on gun control unconstitutional and completely insane. +p2503 +aVYou even told gun store owners to ignore the President's orders. Yet, innocent people are dying from gun violence in cities like Detroit, Chicago, and Charleston everyday. Is there anything that can be done at the federal level to prevent guns from falling into the hands of criminals? +p2504 +aV +p2505 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p2506 +aVSenator Santorum, many of our military leaders believe America's critical infrastructure is vulnerable to a terrorist attack. This is the power in our homes, the water we drink, the Internet and phone systems by which we stay connected. If attacked, these essential services that underpin American society could come to a grinding halt. Do you have a specific plan to protect us from this type of attack? +p2507 +aVSenator Santorum, I want to stay with you on this, moving to jobs and the economy. In his State of the Union Address the other night, President Obama touted his record on jobs, citing more than 14 million new jobs and boasted of nearly 900,000 manufacturing jobs added in the past six years. Do you dispute his track record of creating jobs? +p2508 +aVGovernor Huckabee, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mike Mullen, has said the greatest threat to our security is our national debt. Our national debt is now on pace to top $19 trillion. Yet, you as well as Ms. Fiorina have laid forward no plan to reform entitlements. How can you say you're going to pay down our country's debt without cutting Social Security or Medicare? +p2509 +aVOK. We're going to continue this conversation. We're taking a quick break and then coming up, the candidates' plans for strengthening the middle class. We're live in North Charleston with the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back. +p2510 +aVAll right, thanks, Trish. Well, let's get started with Ms. Fiorina. Today, the middle class represents about 50 percent of the U.S. population, down from about 61 percent back in 1971. That's according to Pew Research. The same research revealed a widening income gap in America. The rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. What will you do to strengthen a middle class that is no longer the majority? +p2511 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p2512 +aVThank you, Senator. We're not finished yet. More Republican Presidential Debate in North Charleston after this. +p2513 +aVWelcome back, it's time for the closing statements. Candidates will each get one minute, starting with Senator Santorum. Thank you very much, I want to thank the people of Charleston, which has become a little bit of a second home to me, because I am very privileged to have two young men who go to the Citadel here and they're here tonight, my son John and my son Daniel. +p2514 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Governor Mike Huckabee. +p2515 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2516 +aVAlright, this debate will last one hour. Each candidate will have up to 90 seconds to respond to each question. One minute for each follow up. When your time is up, you're going to hear this bell. Alright, that's it, so let's begin with Governor Christie. Governor, economically, our country is struggling with some of the anemic growth we have seen on record. More than 90 million Americans are unemployed, or they are not in the workforce altogether. The number of people now willing, able, and wanting to go to work is at a level that has fallen to a level we have not been since the 1970's. For those that are working, wages aren't budging while other things, costs, like housing, remain high. As President, what concrete steps will you take to get America back to work. +p2517 +aVThank you. Governor Huckabee, we're here Wisconsin, a state that has seen the biggest decline in middle-class households of any American state. With more than 120,000 manufacturing jobs being lost in the last 15 years. As we move away from a manufacturing economy to a services based, technological economy, how are you going to help the millions of Americans that are stuck in this transition? +p2518 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee, you have characterized entitlement reform as both political and economic suicide. Taxpayers currently spend more than $600 billion per year on social welfare programs, with the intended goal of getting people back on their feet and working again. Today a record number of Americans aren't even looking for work. Are our social welfare programs, while well-intended, creating a culture of dependency? If so, how will you fix it? +p2519 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2520 +aVDo you have something to add, Governor? +p2521 +aVAll right. Let's, let's bring Governor Christie in next. +p2522 +aVAll right. Well, let's get the \u2014 let's keep the conversation going. Let's bring Governor Christie in here because we're talking about national debt, climbing toward $19 trillion, Governor. Our federal government employed nearly three million workers, our tax code is more than 74,000 pages long. If you're elected President, Governor Christie, what concrete steps would you take to reduce the size of the federal government? +p2523 +aVGovernor Christie, China is stealing our technology. China is pirating our intellectual property, and China's hacking into our computers, spying on American corporations, and spying on our citizens. China also slaps tariffs on U.S. goods, making it harder for us to sell our products. How are you going to stop them? +p2524 +aV...Alright... +p2525 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p2526 +aVAll right. Governor Jindal, thank you. All right. Well, we are not finished yet. More from the Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee, next. +p2527 +aVSo would you change leadership at the Fed? +p2528 +aVSenator Santorum, thank you. I have a question for all of you. Americans connection to the military has been increasingly fading. As a society, how do we restore that sense of duty, that sense of pride, that was the hallmark of the greatest generation. Again, I'd like to ask each of you, 30 seconds each, beginning with Governor Jindal. +p2529 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p2530 +aVGovernor Christie. +p2531 +aVSenator Santorum. +p2532 +aVAlright, thank you gentlemen. That does it, everyone, for the first debate here in Milwaukee. In just about one hour from now, at 9:00PM Eastern, eight more candidates are going to be taking to the stage. Right now though, special coverage of the Republican Presidential Debate, live from Milwaukee, continues right here on Fox Business. +p2533 +asVBAKER +p2534 +(lp2535 +VThe candidates on stage tonight were selected based on their standing in an average of four national polls. Those standings determining their position on the stage. And here they are. At center stage, businessman Donald Trump. Neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson. +p2536 +aVTonight's rules are simple. Up to 90 second for each answer. One minute for each follow-up response. And if a candidate goes over their allotted time, you'll here this. +p2537 +aVMs. Fiorina, while you've all pointed out how weak the current recovery has been and how disappointing by any historical standards, in the general election, the Democrats will inevitably ask you and voters to compare the recent president's jobs performance. Now, in seven years under President Obama, the U.S. has added an average of 107,000 jobs a month. Under President Clinton, the economy added about 240,000 jobs a month. Under George W. Bush, it was only 13,000 a month. If you win the nomination, you'll probably be facing a Democrat named Clinton. How are you going to respond to the claim that Democratic presidents are better at creating jobs than Republicans? +p2538 +aVThank you. Thank you. Senator Paul, income inequality has been rising in the United States. Fifty years ago, for example, the average CEO of a big corporation in this country earned 20 times the average salary of one of his or her workers. Today, that CEO earns about 300 times the average salary of a worker. Does it matter at all that the gap between the rich and everyone else is widening? +p2539 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2540 +aVSenator Rubio... +p2541 +aVYes, one quick comment, yes. +p2542 +aVGovernor Bush... +p2543 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor, you...You should let Jeb speak. +p2544 +aVMr. Trump, Mr. Trump, you yourself \u2014 you yourself said let Governor Bush speak. Governor Bush? +p2545 +aVSenator Rubio? Senator... +p2546 +aVSenator Rubio, Senator Rubio, let me \u2014 let me take you to a question that I think gets to the root of a lot of the anxiety that people have in this country. The economy is undergoing a transformation through information technology. Americans are anxious that the new economy isn't producing higher-paying jobs. Many are concerned that the new wealth seems to be going mainly to innovators and investors. Meanwhile, with factories run by robots and shopping done increasingly on smartphones, many traditional jobs are just going away. How do you reassure American workers that their jobs are not being steadily replaced by machines? +p2547 +aVThank you. Senator Cruz \u2014 Senator Cruz, entitlements. You've argued for raising the retirement age and reducing benefits for future retirees, but reducing any sort of benefits for the elderly has always been notoriously hard to do politically. When Speaker Paul Ryan proposed replacing traditional Medicare with federally funded private plans a few years ago, a liberal group responded with a commercial that featured a granny being pushed off a cliff. What's going to be different this time? +p2548 +aV...I said for future retirees was your statement... +p2549 +aVSenator Rubio. Can I just come to Senator Rubio? We're coming to you, Mr. Trump, in one second. I \u2014 I promise. +p2550 +aVSenator Rubio, your tax plan includes a large expansion of child tax credits to raise off (ph) the tax incomes for low-income parents. A similar tax credit that you previously proposed in the Senate was estimated to cost as much as $170 billion a year, according to the Tax Foundation. Isn't \u2014 isn't there a risk you're just adding another expensive entitle program to an already overburdened federal budget? +p2551 +aVGovernor Kasich? Let me come to Governor Kasich. +p2552 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p2553 +aVVery quickly, Senator. +p2554 +aVPlease. +p2555 +aV...Gentleman, we need to move on... +p2556 +aV...We need to move... +p2557 +aV...We need too... +p2558 +aV...We do need to move on. Mr. Trump... +p2559 +aV...Very quick. +p2560 +aVLet's talk about \u2014 No, no, Governor, I really must move on. I really want to move on. Mr. Trump, let's talk about the international economy... +p2561 +aV...We really need to move on... +p2562 +aV...No, governor, I promise I will come to you... +p2563 +aV...Listen... +p2564 +aV...Mr. Trump, can I ask you about... +p2565 +aV...the U.S. just concluded an international trade agreement with 11 countries in the Pacific. You've said that you'd rather have no deal... +p2566 +aV...than sign the one that's on the table... +p2567 +aV...Most economists \u2014 most economists say that trade is boosted growth, and every single post war president has supported the expansion of international trade, including the last three republican presidents. Why would you reverse more than 50 years of U.S. trade policy? +p2568 +aVThe \u2014 the deal, as you say, the terms of the deal were published \u2014 were published just last week, the details, 5,000 pages of it, and 80 percent of U.S. trade with countries in the Pacific, these countries, these 11 countries, is actually tariff-free, and these \u2014 the trade deal only affects the other 20 percent. Which \u2014 are there particular parts of the deal that you think were badly negotiated? +p2569 +aVThere was a separate \u2014 separate... +p2570 +aVBut isn't that \u2014 isn't that part of the problem? When I say, Senator, that if \u2014 if this deal is not ratified by \u2014 by the U.S. \u2014 by the Senate, then it would actually give China an opportunity to grow its economic leadership, which it's been seeking to do? And if the U.S. is unable to take part in this trade deal with these countries in Asia, China will take the lead? +p2571 +aVThank you. Thanks, Senator. +p2572 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich, I want to ask you about China, in particular hundreds of American companies have been subjected to cyber attacks from the Chinese military, yet state-backed Chinese companies, growing their presence in the United States, Chinese investments in U.S., which were nearly nonexistent a few years ago, are now over $50 billion. And as my newspaper recently reported, Chinese companies are planning to bid for one of the largest hotel chains in the United States, what would be the largest ever Chinese takeover of a U.S. company. Would you stop them? +p2573 +aVThank you, Governor. Plenty of opportunities. Thank you. Neil? +p2574 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate, live from Milwaukee. Now let's get straight back to the questions, and Governor Bush. Governor, Hillary Clinton recently said that if we had another financial crisis like the one in 2008, she wouldn't bail out the banks. Would you? +p2575 +aVBut, Governor, but can I just quickly \u2014 did \u2014 you can't seriously guarantee that there won't be another financial crisis, can you? +p2576 +aVEver? There will never be another financial crisis? +p2577 +aVDr. Carson, if I may, just on that point, despite measures taken, as the governor says, since the crisis to make the financial system safer, the major banks in the U.S., many of them are actually bigger than ever. Asset held by JPMorgan Chase, for example, the very largest bank, have increased by nearly 40 percent to over $2.6 trillion. Do you think JPMorgan and the other big banks should be broken up? +p2578 +aVBut just to be clear, just \u2014 just to be clear, then, you wouldn't \u2014 you wouldn't favor breaking up the big banks? You think they're big enough \u2014 they're OK as they are, as big as they are? +p2579 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p2580 +aVThank you. +p2581 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate. And now, candidates, it's time for your closing statements. You get 30 seconds each, and, Senator Paul, we will begin with you. +p2582 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p2583 +asVHOLT +p2584 +(lp2585 +VGood evening and welcome to the NBC News Youtube Democratic candidate's debate. After all the campaigning, soon, Americans will have their say with the first votes of the 2016 campaign just 15 days away in Iowa. And New Hampshire not far behind. Tonight will be the final opportunity to see these candidates face to face before the voting begins. Our purpose here tonight is to highlight and examine the differences among the three Democratic candidates. So let's get started. Please welcome Secretary Hillary Clinton, Senator Bernie Sanders and Governor Martin O'Malley. Well, welcome to all of you. Hope you're excited, we're excited. We want to thank our hosts, the Congressional Black Caucus Institute. I'm joined by my colleague Andrea Mitchell tonight. The rules are simple. Sixty seconds for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups or rebuttals. I know you'll all keep exactly to time, so our job should be pretty easy here tonight. We'll have questions from the Youtube community throughout the debate. This is a critical point in the race. You've been defining your differences with each other especially vigorously in the last week on the campaign trail. We're here to facilitate this conversation on behalf of the voters so that they know exactly where you stand as you face off tonight. Let's have a great debate. We'll begin with 45 second opening statements from each candidate, starting with Secretary Clinton. +p2586 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders, your opening statement, sir. +p2587 +aVSenator, thank you. And Governor O'Malley, your opening statement, sir. O' +p2588 +aVAll right. And Governor, thank you. All right, to our first question, now. The first question, I'll be addressing to all of the candidates. President Obama came to office determined to swing for the fences on health care reform. Voters want to know how you would define your presidency? How would you think big? So complete this sentence: in my first 100 days in office, my top three priorities will be \u2014 fill in the blank. Senator Sanders. +p2589 +aVSecretary Clinton, same question, my first 100 days in office, my top three priorities will be. +p2590 +aVGovernor O'Malley, same question. O' +p2591 +aVThank you. You've all... O' +p2592 +aVAll right governor thank you. We've all laid out large visions and we're going to cover a lot of the ground you talked about as we continue in the evening. The last couple of weeks of this campaign have featured some of the sharpest exchanges in the race. Let's start with one of them, the issue of guns. Senator Sanders, last week Secretary Clinton called you quote, "a pretty reliable vote for the gun lobby." Right before the debate you changed your position on immunity from lawsuits for gun manufacturers, can you tell us why? +p2593 +aVSenator, but you didn't answer the question that you did change your position on immunity from gun manufacturers. So can you... +p2594 +aVSecretary Clinton, would you like to respond to Senator Sanders. +p2595 +aVAll right, Governor O'Malley, you signed tough gun control measures as governor of Maryland and there are a lot Democrats in the audience here in South Carolina who own guns. This conversation might be worrying many of them. They may be hearing, "you want to take my guns. What would you say to them? O' +p2596 +aVAlright, Governor, thank you. Secretary Clinton, this is a community that has suffered a lot of heartache in the last year. Of course, as you mentioned, the church shootings. We won't forget the video of Walter Scott being shot in the back while running from police. We understand that a jury will decide whether that police officer was justified, but it plays straight to the fears of many African American men that their lives are cheap. Is that perception, or in your view, is it reality? +p2597 +aVYou time is up. Senator Sanders, my next question is... +p2598 +aV... It's actually \u2014 actually my next question is to you... +p2599 +aVSenator Sanders... +p2600 +aVSenator. Senator Sanders... +p2601 +aV... Just over a week ago the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus endorsed Secretary Clinton, not you. He said that choosing her over you was not a hard decision. In fact, our polling shows she's beating you more than two to one among minority voters. How can you be the nominee if you don't have that support? +p2602 +aVGovernor, I'm going to come to you in a second. Google searches for the words, "Black Lives Matter" surpassed, "civil rights movement". And, here in South Carolina, "black lives matter" was the number one trending political issue. +p2603 +aVAll right. Let's talk... O' +p2604 +aVLet's talk more about policing and the criminal justice system. Senator Sanders, a few times tonight we're going to hear from some of the most prominent voices on YouTube, starting with Franchesca Ramsey, who tackles racial stereotypes through her videos. Let's watch. +p2605 +aVSenator Sanders. +p2606 +aVWould you like me to read it back to you? +p2607 +aVProsecutors \u2014 "I believe there's a huge conflict of interest when local prosecutors investigate cases of police violence within their communities. Most recently, we saw this with a non- indictment of the officers involved in the case of 12-year-old Tamir Rice. How would you presidency ensure incidents of police violence are investigated and prosecuted fairly?" +p2608 +aVSecretary Clinton, this question is for you. Tonight parts of America are in the grip of a deadly heroin epidemic, spanning race and class, hitting small towns and cities alike. It has become a major issue in this race. In a lot of places where you've been campaigning, despite an estimated trillion dollars spent, many say the war on drugs has failed. So what would you do? +p2609 +aVAnd that's time. +p2610 +aVSenator... +p2611 +aVSenator Sanders, would you like to respond? +p2612 +aVThat's... +p2613 +aV... time. +p2614 +aVWe're going to get into all that coming up. O' +p2615 +aVBut we're going to take a break and we need to take a break... O' +p2616 +aV... and when we come back, the anger brewing in America. +p2617 +aVWelcome back to Charleston. Let's turn to another area where there has been fierce disagreement \u2014 that would be health care. Senator Sanders and Secretary Clinton, you both mentioned it in your 100-day priorities. Let's turn to my colleague, Andrea Mitchell now to lead that questioning. +p2618 +aVAnd that's time. We're gonna take a turn now. Secretary Clinton, in his final State of the Union address, President Obama said his biggest regret was his inability to bring the country together. If President Obama couldn't do it, how will you? O' +p2619 +aVThat's time. Senator Sanders, response. +p2620 +aVThat's time. But let me continue with the... +p2621 +aVSenator Sanders, let me continue, you call yourself a Democratic socialist... +p2622 +aVAnd throughout your career in politics, you've been critical of the Democratic party, you've been saying in a book you wrote, quote, "There wasn't a hell of a big difference between the the two major parties." How would you will a general election... +p2623 +aVHow will you win a general election labeling yourself a democratic socialist? +p2624 +aVYes, but senator, you can... +p2625 +aVAnd that is right. +p2626 +aVSecretary Clinton, our next question is for you. Here's another quantitative problem. +p2627 +aVAnd we're going to get into that coming up. But Secretary Clinton, here's a question from YouTube. It's from a young video blogger who has over 5 million subscribers. He has a question about the importance of younger voters. +p2628 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p2629 +aVThat's time... +p2630 +aVA quick follow up \u2014 a thirty second follow up. Why is Senator Sanders beating you to 2 to 1 among younger votes? +p2631 +aVWe're going to take... +p2632 +aVWe're going to take a break. When we come back; big banks, big business and big differences among the three candidates on the American Economy. We'll be right back. +p2633 +aVWelcome back from Charleston. Let's turn now to the economy. Senator Sanders, you released a tough new ad last week in which without mentioning Secretary Clinton by name, you talk about two Democratic visions for regulating Wall Street. "One says it's OK to take millions from big banks and tell them what to do. My plan, break up the big banks, close the tax loopholes and make them pay their fair share." What do you see as the difference between what you would do about the banks and what Secretary Clinton would do? +p2634 +aVSecretary Clinton, help the voter understand the daylight between the two of you here. +p2635 +aVSenator Sanders, your response. +p2636 +aVThat's time. Governor O'Malley... +p2637 +aVI have a question for you... +p2638 +aVThirty-second response. +p2639 +aVGovernor O'Malley. O' +p2640 +aVSecretary Clinton, 30-second response. +p2641 +aVThat's time. Andrea. +p2642 +aV... Senator... +p2643 +aVWe have got a lot to ground to cover here. Many Democratic voters are passionate about the need to do something to combat the threat of climate change, including the team of scientists from Youtube's MinuteEarth channel. Here's their take. +p2644 +aVSenator Sanders, Americans love their SUVs, which spiked in sales last year as gas prices plummeted. How do you convince Americans that the problem of climate change is so urgent that they need to change their behavior? +p2645 +aVGovernor O'Malley, 30 seconds. O' +p2646 +aVThat's time. We're going to take a break. +p2647 +aVWhen we return, the late-breaking developments regarding Iran. The threat of +p2648 +aVCharleston, Andrea Mitchell has questions now starting with Iran. +p2649 +aVSenator Sanders mentioned Russia a moment ago. Secretary Clinton, you famously handed Russia's foreign minister a reset button in 2009. Since then, Russia has annexed Crimea, fomented a war in Ukraine, provided weapons that downed an airliner and launched operations, as we just did discuss, to support Assad in Syria. As president, would you hand Vladimir Putin a reset button? +p2650 +aVWhat's your relationship with him? +p2651 +aVWe to want turn right now to the issue of balancing national security concerns with the privacy rights of Americans. That brings us to YouTube and this question. +p2652 +aVSo, Governor O'Malley. O' +p2653 +aVThat's time. You have all talked about what you would do fighting +p2654 +aVThat's a question to Senator Sanders. I wasn't clear, I apologize. +p2655 +aVBut in terms of lone wolves, the threat, how would you do it? +p2656 +aVWe have to go to a \u2014 we have to go to a break, and when we come back, we're going to get to some of the burning questions these candidates have yet to answer and are totally eager to talk about. +p2657 +aVAnd welcome back to Charleston. As we were going to a break, Secretary Clinton, I cut you off. I'll give you 30 seconds to respond on the issue of lone wolves. O' +p2658 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p2659 +aVAnd Andrea has a follow-up. O' +p2660 +aVAll right, that's time, and \u2014 and we do......we do have to move on. Secretary Clinton, this is the first time... +p2661 +aVThirty \u2014 30 \u2014 30 seconds, Senator. +p2662 +aVAll right. Secretary Clinton......this is the first time that a spouse of a former president could be elected president. You have said that President Clinton would advise you on economic issues, but be specific, if you can. Are you talking about a kitchen-table role on economics, or will he have a real policy role? +p2663 +aVSenator sanders, a 30 second response, sir. +p2664 +aVWe will take a break. We'll continue from Charleston right after this. +p2665 +aVWelcome back everybody. Finally, before we go tonight, we set out here to understand points of differences between you. We believe we've learned a lot here, but before we leave, is there anything that you really wanted to say tonight that you haven't gotten a chance to say. And, we'll start with Governor O'Malley. Didn't see that coming, did you? O' +p2666 +aVSixty seconds, we'd appreciate it. O' +p2667 +aVAnd that's time. O' +p2668 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p2669 +aVAnd that's time. +p2670 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders? +p2671 +asVCHAFEE +p2672 +(lp2673 +VThank you, Anderson. Thank you, CNN, and thank you Facebook for organizing this debate. Not only will Americans be electing a new president next year, we also will be electing a world leader. Voters should assess the candidate's experience, character and vision for the future as they make this important decision. I'm the only one running for president that has been a mayor, a United States senator, and a governor. As mayor, I brought labor peace to my city and kept taxes down. I was reelected three times. As a senator, I earned a reputation for courageous votes against the Bush-Cheney tax cuts the favored the wealthy, against the tragedy of the Iraq war, for environmental stewardship, for protection of our civil liberties. I served on the Foreign Relations Committee and I chaired the Middle East Subcommittee for four years. As governor, I came in at the depths of the recession and we turned my state around. Rhode Island had the biggest drop of the unemployment rate over my four budgets of all but one state. It happens to be Nevada, where we're having this debate. I'm very proud that over my almost 30 years of public service, I have had no scandals. I've always been honest. I have the courage to take the long-term view, and I've shown good judgment. I have high ethical standards. As we look to the future, I want to address the income inequality, close the gap between the haves and the have-nots. I want to address climate change, a real threat to our planet. And I believe in prosperity through peace. I want to end these wars. I look forward to the discussion ahead. Thank you +p2674 +aVAnderson, you're looking at a block of granite when it comes to the issues. Whether it's... +p2675 +aVDid you hear what I said? On the issues. I have not changed on the issues. I was a liberal Republican, then I was an independent, and now I'm a proud Democrat. But I have not changed on the issues. And I open my record to scrutiny. Whether it's on the environment, a woman's right to choose, gay marriage, fiscal responsibility, aversion to foreign entanglements, using the tools of government to help the less fortunate. Time and time again, I have never changed. You're looking at a block of granite when it comes to the issues. So I have not changed. +p2676 +aVThe party left me. There's no doubt about that. There was no room for a liberal moderate Republican in that party. I even had a primary for my reelection in 2006. I won it. But the money poured in to defeat me in Rhode Island as a Republican. That's what we were up against. +p2677 +aVYes, I have a good record of voting for gun commonsense safety legislation, but the reality is, despite these tragedies that happen time and time again, when legislators step up to pass commonsense gun safety legislation, the gun lobby moves in and tells the people they're coming to take away your guns. And, they're successful at it, in Colorado and others states, the legislators that vote for commonsense gun safety measures then get defeated. I even saw in Rhode Island. So, I would bring the gun lobby in and say we've got to change this. Where can we find common ground? Wayne Lapierre from the NRA, whoever it is, the leaders. Come one, we've go to change this. We're not coming to take away your guns, we believe in the Second Amendment, but let's find common ground here. +p2678 +aVWell, we just heard Senator Sanders say that it's the worst decision in American history. That's very significant, the worst decision in American history, I just heard from Senator Sanders. So, as we look ahead, if you're going to make those poor judgment calls, a critical time in our history, we just finished with the Vietnam era, getting back into another quagmire \u2014 if you're looking ahead, and you're looking at someone who made that poor decision in 2002 to go into Iraq when there was no real evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq \u2014 I know because I did my homework, and, so, that's an indication of how someone will perform in the future. And that's what's important. +p2679 +aVOK. I just have to answer one thing that Senator Webb said about the Iran deal, because I'm a strong proponent of what President Obama \u2014 and he said that because of that the Iran deal that enabled Russia to come in. No, that's not true, Senator Webb. I respect your foreign policy chops. But Russia is aligned with Iran and with Assad and the Alawite Shias in Syria. So that Iran deal did not allow Russia to come in. +p2680 +aVIt's certainly the chaos in the Middle East. There's no doubt about it. +p2681 +aVAnd it all started with the Iraq invasion. +p2682 +aVAbsolutely. We have to repair American credibility after we told the world that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, which he didn't. So there's an issue of American credibility out there. So any time someone is running to be our leader, and a world leader, which the American president is, credibility is an issue out there with the world. And we have repair work to be done. I think we need someone that has the best in ethical standards as our next president. That's how I feel. +p2683 +aVThe Glass-Steagall was my very first vote, I'd just arrived, my dad had died in office, I was appointed to the office, it was my very first vote. +p2684 +aVI'd just arrived at the Senate. I think we'd get some takeovers, and that was one. It was my very first vote, and it was 92-5. It was the... +p2685 +aVBut let me just say... +p2686 +aVI think you're being a little rough. I'd just arrived at the United States Senate. I'd been mayor of my city. My dad had died. I'd been appointed by the governor. It was the first vote and it was 90-5, because it was a conference report. But let me just say about income inequality. We've had a lot of talk over the last few minutes, hours, or tens of minutes, but no one is saying how we're going to fix it. And it all started with the Bush tax cuts that favored the wealthy. So let's go back to the tax code. And 0.6 percent of Americans are at the top echelon, over 464,000, 0.6 Americans. That's less than 1 percent. But they generate 30 percent of the revenue. And they're doing fine. +p2687 +aVSo there's still a lot more money to be had from this top echelon. I'm saying let's have another tier and put that back into the tax bracket. And that will generate $42 billion. +p2688 +aVAnd then we can help the middle class and hard-earning Americans \u2014 hard-working Americans. +p2689 +aVNo, that was another 99 to one vote for the Patriot Act, and it was seen as at the time modernizing our ability to do what we've always done to tap phones which always required a warrant. And I voted for that. +p2690 +aVNo, no. As long as you're getting a warrant, I believe that under the Fourth Amendment, you should be able to do surveillance, but you need a warrant. That's what the Fourth Amendment says. And in the Patriot Act, section 215 started to get broadened too far. So I would be in favor of addressing and reforming section 215 of the Patriot Act. +p2691 +aVNo, I would bring him home. The courts have ruled that what he did \u2014 what he did was say the American... +p2692 +aV... the American government was acting illegally. That's what the federal courts have said; what Snowden did showed that the American government was acting illegally for the Fourth Amendment. So I would bring him home. +p2693 +aVCertainly, ending the wars. We've got to stop these wars. You have to have a new dynamic, a new paradigm. We just spent a half-billion dollars arming and training soldiers, the rebel soldiers in Syria. They quickly join the other side. We bombed the... +p2694 +aVI'd like to finish my question \u2014 my answer. And also we just bombed a hospital. We've had drone strikes that hit civilian weddings. So I would change how we \u2014 our approach to the Middle East. We need a new paradigm in the Middle East. +p2695 +aVI guess the coal lobby. I've worked hard for climate change and I want to work with the coal lobby. But in my time in the Senate, tried to bring them to the table so that we could address carbon dioxide. I'm proud to be at odds with the coal lobby. +p2696 +aVThank you, Anderson. Thank you, CNN. And thank you, Facebook, for sponsoring this debate. America has many challenges confronting us \u2014 ending the perpetual wars, addressing climate change, addressing income inequality, funding education, funding infrastructure, funding healthcare, helping black Americans, helping Native Americans. We have many challenges. Who is best able to confront these challenges? I've served in government at many levels. I know what it's like to solve problems at the local level because I did it as mayor. I know how to get legislation passed through Congress because I did it as a senator. I know how to turn around a state because I did as governor of Rhode Island. But what I'm most proud of is that in 30 years of public service, I have had no scandals. I have high ethical standards. And what I'm most proud of is my judgment, particularly in the Iraq war vote. There was a lot of pressure \u2014 political pressure, public pressure. But I did my homework and I did not believe that the evidence was there that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. And we live now with the consequences. So that kind of judgment is what we want in a president going forward. And I'm running for president to end the wars. I want to be the peacemaker. I am a proven peacemaker. Please go to Chafee 2016 to learn more about me. Thank you. +p2697 +asVBROWNLEE +p2698 +(lp2699 +VHi, my name Marques Brownlee, and I've been making YouTube videos about electronics and gadgets for the past seven years. I think America's future success is tied to getting all kinds of tech right. Tech companies are responsible for the encryption technology to protect personal data, but the government wants a back door into that information. So do you think it's possible to find common ground? And where do you stand on privacy versus security? +p2700 +asVCOOPER +p2701 +(lp2702 +VI'm Anderson Cooper. Thanks for joining us. We've already welcomed the candidates on stage. They are in place at their podiums. Before we dive into the issues, I want to quickly explain some of the groundrules tonight. As the moderator, I'll ask questions, followups and guide the discussion. I'll be joined in the questioning by CNN's Juan Carlos Lopez and Dana Bash, a well as Don Lemon who will share questions from Democrats around the country. Each candidate will get one minute to answer questions, and 30 seconds for followups and rebuttals. I'll give candidates time to respond if they have been singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know that we have lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. I want the candidates to be able to introduce themselves to our audience. Each candidate will have two minutes to introduce themselves. Let's begin with Governor Chafee. Governor? +p2703 +aVThank you very much, Governor. Senator Webb, you have two minutes. +p2704 +aVGovernor O'Malley, you have two minutes. O' +p2705 +aVGovernor O'Malley, thank you very much. Senator Sanders. +p2706 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p2707 +aVThank you, all. It is time to start the debate. Are you all ready? All right. Let's begin. We're going to be discussing a lot of the issues, many of the issues, important issues that you have brought up. But I want to begin with concerns that voters have about each of the candidates here on this stage that they have about each of you. Secretary Clinton, I want to start with you. Plenty of politicians evolve on issues, but even some Democrats believe you change your positions based on political expediency. You were against same-sex marriage. Now you're for it. You defended President Obama's immigration policies. Now you say they're too harsh. You supported his trade deal dozen of times. You even called it the "gold standard". Now, suddenly, last week, you're against it. Will you say anything to get elected? +p2708 +aVSecretary Clinton, though, with all due respect, the question is really about political expediency. Just in July, New Hampshire, you told the crowd you'd, quote, "take a back seat to no one when it comes to progressive values." Last month in Ohio, you said you plead guilty to, quote, "being kind of moderate and center." Do you change your political identity based on who you're talking to? +p2709 +aVJust for the record, are you a progressive, or are you a moderate? +p2710 +aVSecretary... +p2711 +aV...thank you... +p2712 +aV...Senator... +p2713 +aVSenator Sanders. A Gallup poll says half the country would not put a socialist in the White House. You call yourself a democratic socialist. How can any kind of socialist win a general election in the United States? +p2714 +aVDenmark is a country that has a population \u2014 Denmark is a country that has a population of 5.6 million people. The question is really about electability here, and that's what I'm trying to get at. You \u2014 the \u2014 the Republican attack ad against you in a general election \u2014 it writes itself. You supported the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. You honeymooned in the Soviet Union. And just this weekend, you said you're not a capitalist. Doesn't \u2014 doesn't that ad write itself? +p2715 +aVYou don't consider yourself a capitalist, though? +p2716 +aVJust let me just be clear. Is there anybody else on the stage who is not a capitalist? +p2717 +aVSenator Sanders? +p2718 +aVWe're going to get... +p2719 +aVWe're going to have a lot more on these issues. But I do want to just quickly get everybody in on the question of electability. Governor Chafee, you've been everything but a socialist. When you were senator from Rhode Island, you were a Republican. When you were elected governor, you were an independent. You've only been a Democrat for little more than two years. Why should Democratic voters trust you won't change again? +p2720 +aVIt seems like pretty soft granite. I mean, you've been a Republican, you've been an independent. +p2721 +aVThen why change labels? +p2722 +aVGovernor O'Malley, the concern of voters about you is that you tout our record as Baltimore's mayor. As we all know, we all saw it. That city exploded in riots and violence in April. The current top prosecutor in Baltimore, also a Democrat, blames your zero tolerance policies for sowing the seeds of unrest. Why should Americans trust you with the country when they see what's going on in the city that you ran for more than seven years? O' +p2723 +aVShe actually \u2014 just for the record, when she was asked which policies, to name two, she said zero tolerance. I mean, there's a number of old policies that we're seeing the results of. That distress of communities, where communities don't want to step forward and say who killed a 3-year-old, it's a direct result of these failed policies. O' +p2724 +aVIn one year alone, though, 100,000 arrests were made in your city, a city of 640,000 people. The +p2725 +aVThank you, Governor. O' +p2726 +aVSenator Webb, in 2006, you called affirmative action "state-sponsored racism." In 2010, you wrote an op/ed saying it discriminates against whites. Given that nearly half the Democratic Party is non-white, aren't you out of step with where the Democratic Party is now? +p2727 +aVSenator Webb, thank you very much. Let's move on to some of the most pressing issues facing our country right now, some of the biggest issues right now in the headlines today. We're going to start with guns. The shooting in Oregon earlier this month, once again it brought the issue of guns into the national conversation. Over the last week, guns have been the most discussed political topic on Facebook by two to one. Senator Sanders, you voted against the Brady bill that mandated background checks and a waiting period. You also supported allowing riders to bring guns in checked bags on Amtrak trains. For a decade, you said that holding gun manufacturers legally responsible for mass shootings is a bad idea. Now, you say you're reconsidering that. Which is it: shield the gun companies from lawsuits or not? +p2728 +aVDo you want to shield gun companies from lawsuits? +p2729 +aVSecretary Clinton, is Bernie Sanders tough enough on guns? +p2730 +aVWe're going to bring you all in on this. But, Senator Sanders, you have to give a response. +p2731 +aVGovernor O'Malley, you passed gun legislation as governor of Maryland, but you had a Democratic-controlled legislature. President Obama couldn't convince Congress to pass gun legislation after the massacres in Aurora, in Newtown, and Charleston. How can you? O' +p2732 +aVSenator Sanders, I want you to be able to respond, 30 seconds. +p2733 +aVLet me bring in somebody who has a different viewpoint. Senator Webb, your rating from the NRA, you once had an A rating from the NRA. You've said gun violence goes down when more people are allowed to carry guns. Would encouraging more people to be armed be part of your response to a mass shooting? +p2734 +aVSenator... +p2735 +aVSenator \u2014 Governor Chafee, you have an F rating from the NRA, what do you think about what Senator Webb just said? +p2736 +aVI want to... O' +p2737 +aV...I want to move on to another issue, which is in the headlines right now, another crisis making headlines. Secretary Clinton, Russia, they're challenging the U.S. in Syria. According to U.S. intelligence, they've lied about who they're bombing. You spearheaded the reset with Russia. Did you underestimate the Russians, and as president, what would your response to Vladimir Putin be right now in Syria? +p2738 +aVSenator Sanders, what would you do differently. +p2739 +aVOn this issue of foreign policy, I want to go to... +p2740 +aVI want to go to Dana Bash. Dana? +p2741 +aVBut, Senator Sanders, you didn't answer the question. Under what \u2014 under what circumstances would you actually use force? +p2742 +aVI'm gonna bring you all in on this. Governor \u2014 Governor O'Malley, Secretary Clinton... +p2743 +aVSecretary Clinton voted to authorize military force in Iraq, supported more troops in Afghanistan. As Secretary of State, she wanted to arm Syrian rebels and push for the bombing of Libya. Is she too quick to use military force? O' +p2744 +aVDoes she \u2014 does she want to use military force too rapidly? O' +p2745 +aVGovernor O'Malley, just for the record, on the campaign trail, you've been saying that Secretary Clinton is always quick for the \u2014 for the military intervention. Senator \u2014 Secretary Clinton, you can respond. +p2746 +aVWell \u2014 yes, you'll be coming in next, but she was directly quoted, Senator. +p2747 +aVOK. +p2748 +aVSecretary? +p2749 +aVThank you. +p2750 +aVThank you, Secretary. +p2751 +aVSenator Webb, you said as president you would never have used military force in Libya and that the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi was, in your words, "inevitable." Should Secretary Clinton have seen that attack coming? +p2752 +aVSenator... +p2753 +aVYou're over your time as of now. +p2754 +aVYou agreed to these debate rules. +p2755 +aVSenator Sanders, I want you to be able to respond. +p2756 +aVI'd like you to be able to respond and get in on this. +p2757 +aVHe doesn't seem to be the type of guy to regret a lot. +p2758 +aVSecretary Clinton, on the campaign trail, Governor Webb has said that he would never have used military force in Libya and that the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi was inevitable. Should you have seen that attack coming? +p2759 +aVBut American citizens did lose their lives in Benghazi. +p2760 +aVGovernor O'Malley? +p2761 +aVSenator Webb, I want you to be able to respond. +p2762 +aVSenator Webb? +p2763 +aVSecretary (sic) Webb, you served in Vietnam. You're a marine. Once a marine, always a marine. You served as a marine in Vietnam. You're a decorated war hero. You eventually became secretary of the navy. During the Vietnam War, the man standing next to you, Senator Sanders, applied for status as a conscientious objector. Given his history, can he serve as a credible commander-in-chief? +p2764 +aVSenator Sanders, tell an American soldier who is watching right now tonight in Afghanistan why you can be commander-in- chief given that you applied for conscientious objector status. +p2765 +aVVery quickly, 30 seconds for each of you. Governor Chafee, who or what is the greatest national security threat to the United States? I want to go down the line. +p2766 +aVOK. Senator, I can give you 30 seconds to respond. +p2767 +aVThirty seconds for each of you. Governor Chafee, what is the greatest national security threat to the United States? +p2768 +aVOK. +p2769 +aVGovernor O'Malley? O' +p2770 +aVSecretary Clinton, the greatest national security threat? +p2771 +aVSenator Sanders, greatest national security threat? +p2772 +aVSenator Webb? +p2773 +aVAll right. We're going to take a short break. Do these candidates see eye to eye on an issue that is driving a big wedge between Republicans? That is next. We'll be right back. +p2774 +aVAnd welcome back. We are live in Nevada, in Las Vegas, at the Wynn Resort for the first Democratic presidential debate. The questions continue. We begin with Secretary Clinton. Secretary Clinton, you are going to be testifying before Congress next week about your e-mails. For the last eight months, you haven't been able to put this issue behind you. You dismissed it; you joked about it; you called it a mistake. What does that say about your ability to handle far more challenging crises as president? +p2775 +aVSecretary... +p2776 +aVSecretary Clinton, Secretary Clinton, with all due respect, it's a little hard \u2014 I mean, isn't it a little bit hard to call this just a partisan issue? There's an FBI investigation, and President Obama himself just two days ago said this is a legitimate issue. +p2777 +aVThank you. +p2778 +aVSenator Sanders? +p2779 +aVIt's obviously very popular in this crowd, and it's \u2014 hold on. I know that plays well in this room. But I got to be honest, Governor Chafee, for the record, on the campaign trail, you've said a different thing. You said this is a huge issue. Standing here in front of Secretary Clinton, are you willing to say that to her face? +p2780 +aVSecretary Clinton, do you want to respond? +p2781 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor... Governor O'Malley... Governor, it's popular in the room, but a lot of people do want to know these answers. Governor O'Malley, you expressed concern on the campaign trail that the Democratic Party is, and I quote, "being defined by Hillary Clinton's email scandal." You heard her answer, do you still feel that way tonight? O' +p2782 +aV...Thank you, governor. O' +p2783 +aVI want to talk about issues of race in America, for that I want to start of with Don Lemon. +p2784 +aVThe question from Arthur... +p2785 +aV...Do black lives matter, or do all lives matter? Let's put that question to Senator Sanders. +p2786 +aVGovernor O'Malley, the question from Arthur was do black lives matter, or do all lives matter? O' +p2787 +aVSecretary Clinton, what would you do for African Americans in this country that President Obama couldn't? +p2788 +aV...Thank you, Senator... +p2789 +aVSenator... +p2790 +aVSenator Webb? +p2791 +aVThanks, sir. +p2792 +aVSenator Sanders, let's talk about income inequality. Wages and incomes are flat. You've argued that the gap between rich and poor is wider than at any time since the 1920s. We've had a Democratic president for seven years. What are you going to be able to do that President Obama didn't? +p2793 +aVSecretary Clinton... +p2794 +aVI'll let you jump in a moment. Everybody will get in on this in a moment. Secretary Clinton, how would you address this issue? In all candor, you and your husband are part of the one percent. How can you credibly represent the views of the middle class? +p2795 +aVGovernor O'Malley, (inaudible). O' +p2796 +aVJust for viewers at home who may not be reading up on this, Glass-Steagall is the Depression-era banking law repealed in 1999 that prevented commercial banks from engaging in investment banking and insurance activities. Secretary Clinton, he raises a fundamental difference on this stage. Senator Sanders wants to break up the big Wall Street banks. You don't. You say charge the banks more, continue to monitor them. Why is your plan better? +p2797 +aVSenator Sanders, Secretary Clinton just said that her policy is tougher than yours. +p2798 +aVWhy? +p2799 +aVSenator... +p2800 +aVSecretary Clinton, you have to be able to respond. He brought you up. +p2801 +aV +p2802 +aVThank you. Thank you. Senator Sanders... +p2803 +aVGovernor O'Malley? Where do you stand? +p2804 +aVSecretary Clinton... O' +p2805 +aVI have to let you respond. +p2806 +aVThank you. +p2807 +aVThank... +p2808 +aVSenator Sanders... Senator Sanders, in 2008, congressional leaders were told, without the 2008 bailout, the U.S. was possibly days away from a complete meltdown. Despite that, you still voted against it. As president, would you stand by your principles if it risked the country's financial stability? +p2809 +aVWe're going to talk about that in a minute. But, Senator Webb, I want to get you in. You have said neither party has the guts to take on Wall Street. Is the system rigged? +p2810 +aVYou agreed to these rules and you're wasting time. So if you would finish your answer, we'll move on. +p2811 +aVGovernor Chafee, you have attacked Secretary Clinton for being too close to Wall Street banks. In 1999 you voted for the very bill that made banks bigger. +p2812 +aVAre you saying you didn't know what you were voting for? +p2813 +aVWell, with all due respect, Governor... +p2814 +aV... what does that say about you that you're casting a vote for something you weren't really sure about? +p2815 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2816 +aVI want to bring in Dana Bash. +p2817 +aVDana? +p2818 +aVSenator Sanders, I want to bring it over to Juan Carlos Lopez from CNN en Espanol. We're obviously in Nevada. It's had the highest percentage of undocumented immigrants of any state in the country as of last year. Juan Carlos? +p2819 +aVSenator Webb... O' +p2820 +aV...Thank you, Senator. +p2821 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p2822 +aV...Secretary... +p2823 +aVSecretary Clinton, let me ask you. Two of your rivals from your left, Governor O'Malley, and Senator Sanders, want to provide instate college tuition to undocumented immigrants. Where do you stand on that? +p2824 +aVSo, on the record, you believe that undocumented immigrants should get instate college tuition. +p2825 +aVGovernor O'Malley? O' +p2826 +aV...Senator... O' +p2827 +aVSenator Sanders, you talked about your record on the Veteran affairs committee. You served on that committee for the last eight years, including two years as its chairman while veterans died waiting for health care. You and Senator McCain ultimately addressed the issue with bi-partisan legislation. Why did it take 18 Inspector General reports, and a CNN investigation, and others, before you and your colleagues took action? +p2828 +aVGovernor Chafee, you and Hillary Clinton both voted for the Patriot Act which created the NSA surveillance program. You've emphasized civil liberties, privacy during your campaign. Aren't these two things in conflict? +p2829 +aVDo you regret that vote? +p2830 +aVSecretary Clinton, do you regret your vote on the Patriot Act? +p2831 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator Sanders, you're the only one on this stage who voted against the Patriot Act in 2001... +p2832 +aV... and the reauthorization votes. Let me ask you, if elected, would you shut down the NSA surveillance program? +p2833 +aVWould you shut down the NSA surveillance program? +p2834 +aVYou would, point blank. +p2835 +aVGovernor Chafee, Edward Snowden, is he a traitor or a hero? +p2836 +aVBring him home, no jail time? +p2837 +aVSecretary Clinton, hero or traitor? +p2838 +aVShould he do jail time? Cl +p2839 +aVGovernor O'Malley, Snowden? O' +p2840 +aVSenator Sanders, Edward Snowden? +p2841 +aVIs he a hero? +p2842 +aVSenator Webb, Edward Snowden? +p2843 +aVAnother \u2014 another question for each of you, starting with Governor Chafee. Name the one thing \u2014 the one way that your administration would not be a third term of President Obama. +p2844 +aVPresident Obama's generals right now are suggesting keeping troops in Afghanistan after the time he wanted them pulled out. Would you keep them there? +p2845 +aVGovernor O'Malley, how would you be different than President Obama's administration? O' +p2846 +aVSecretary Clinton, how would you not be a third term of President Obama? +p2847 +aVIs there a policy difference? +p2848 +aVSenator Sanders? +p2849 +aVSenator Webb, how would you not be a third term for Obama? +p2850 +aVSenator Sanders, he cited you. You don't hear a lot of Democratic presidential candidates talking about revolution. What do you mean? +p2851 +aVAnd we want to \u2014 and we're going to talk more about climate change and environmental issues coming up. Some of the candidates have tried marijuana, as have pretty much \u2014 probably everybody in this room. ( +p2852 +aVAnd welcome back to this CNN Democratic presidential debate. It has been quite a night so far. We are in the final block of this debate. All the candidates are back, which I'm very happy to see. ( +p2853 +aVIt's a long story. Let's continue, shall we? Secretary Clinton, welcome back. +p2854 +aVThat's right. Secretary Clinton, Governor O'Malley says the presidency is not a crown to be passed back and forth between two royal families. This year has been the year of the outsider in politics, just ask Bernie Sanders. Why should Democrats embrace an insider like yourself? +p2855 +aVGovernor O'Malley, do you want to tell Secretary Clinton why she shouldn't get the crown? O' +p2856 +aVSecretary Clinton, you have to be able to respond, if you want. +p2857 +aV(inaudible). Senator Sanders, does she have the right stuff? +p2858 +aVwe've got \u2014 we \u2014 a lot of questions we've got about climate change, and we're gonna go to Don Lemon. Don? +p2859 +aVGovernor... O' +p2860 +aV...Governor O'Malley, thank you very much. Senator Webb, you have a very different view than just about anybody else on this stage, and unlike a lot of Democrats. You're pro-coal, you're pro-offshore drilling, you're pro-Keystone pipeline. Are \u2014 again, are you \u2014 the question is, are you out of step with the Democratic party? +p2861 +aVSenator Sanders, are you tougher on \u2014 on climate change than Secretary Clinton? +p2862 +aVSenator \u2014 thank you, Senator. +p2863 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want you to be able to respond, then I'm gonna go to (ph) (inaudible). +p2864 +aVThank you. +p2865 +aVDana Bash? +p2866 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders? +p2867 +aVGovernor O'Malley? O' +p2868 +aVGovernor, thank you. The issue now, particularly in this state, is recreational marijuana. I want to go to Juan Carlos Lopez. +p2869 +aVSecretary Clinton, thank you. I want to go to Don Lemon with another Facebook question. +p2870 +aVWe're going to hear from all the candidates coming up. We're going to take a short break. More from the candidates in a moment. +p2871 +aVAnd welcome back to the final round of the CNN Democratic presidential debate. This is a question to each of you. Each of you, by the way, are going to have closing statements to make. Each of you will have 90 seconds. But a final question to each of you. If you can, just try to \u2014 15 seconds if you can. Governor Chafee, Franklin Delano Roosevelt once said, "I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made." You've all made a few people upset over your political careers. Which enemy are you most proud of? +p2872 +aVGovernor O'Malley? O' +p2873 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p2874 +aVSenator Sanders? +p2875 +aVSenator Webb? +p2876 +aVAll right. Time for closing statements. Each of you will have 90 seconds. Governor Chafee, let's begin with you. +p2877 +aVGovernor Chafee, thank you very much. Senator Webb, your final statement for 90 seconds. +p2878 +aVSenator Webb, thank you very much. Governor O'Malley, you have 90 seconds. O' +p2879 +aVGovernor O'Malley, thank you very much. Senator Sanders, final, closing thoughts, 90 seconds. +p2880 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p2881 +asVHUCKABEE +p2882 +(lp2883 +VWell, John, I don't really have any weaknesses that I can think of. But my wife is down here in the front, and I'm sure, if you'd like to talk to her later, she can give you more than you'll ever be able to take care of. If I have a weakness, it's that I try to live by the rules. I try to live by the rules, no matter what they are, and I was brought up that way as a kid. Play by the rules. And I'll tell you what a weakness is of this country: there are a lot of people who are sick and tired because Washington does not play by the same rules that the American people have to play by. +p2884 +aVWell, I would really appreciate that. First of all, yes, we've stolen. Yes, we've lied to the American people about Social Security, and Medicare. But, you know what we're not telling them? It's their money. This isn't the governments money. This is not entitlement, it's not welfare. This is money that people have confiscated out of their paychecks. Everytime they got a paycheck, the government reached in and took something out of it before they ever saw it. Now, we're going to blame the people. Today congress decided to take another $150 billion dollars away from Social Security so they can borrow more money. That makes no sense to everybody. And, they're always going to say, "Well, we're going to fix this one day." No their not. It's like a 400 pound man saying, "I'm going to go on a diet, but I'm eating a sack of Krispy Kremes before I do." And, people are sick of believing that the government is never going to really address this. But, let me tell you who not to blame. Let's quit blaming the people on Social Security. Let's quit making it a problem for them. It's like them getting mugged, and then us saying, well, we're going to mug you some more. You ought to just be able to get over it, get used to it... +p2885 +aV...No, sir... +p2886 +aV...we need to honor our promises... +p2887 +aV...before I go. This is the only time I've had a chance, let me finish. +p2888 +aV...This is a matter not of math, this is a matter of morality. If this country that does not keep its promise to seniors then what promise can this country hope to be trusted to keep? And, the fact is, none of them. [ +p2889 +aVAnd, the only way \u2014 no... +p2890 +aV...Chris... +p2891 +aV...Chris... +p2892 +aVSince he brought me up, do I not get to respond? +p2893 +aVJohn, listen, let's keep in mind that for one-third of the 60 million Americans on Social Security it represents 90 percent of their income. And, when I hear people talking about means testing, let's just remember what that means. If we means test Social Security, it means that the government decides whether or not I deserve it. If a person lives in a seven room house, does the government get to say you don't need seven rooms, we're going to take two of them away? Folks, the government has no business stealing even more from the people who have paid this in. I just want to remind you, people paid their money. They expect to have it. And, if this government doesn't pay it, than tell me what's different between the government and Bernie Madolf, who sits in prison today for doing less than what the government has done to the people on social security and Medicare in this country. +p2894 +aVI don't think it's so much about when the government orders a corporation to do something. In fact, that's part of the problem. If you saw that blimp that got cut loose from Maryland today, it's a perfect example of government. I mean, what we had was something the government made \u2014 basically a bag of gas \u2014 that cut loose, destroyed everything in its path, left thousands of people powerless, but they couldn't get rid of it because we had too much money invested in it, so we had to keep it. That is our government today. We saw it in the blimp. That's exactly what we saw. So look, corporations ought to exercise some responsibility. When CEO income has risen 90 percent above the average worker, when the bottom 90 percent of this country's economy has had stagnant wages for the past 40 years, somebody is taking it in the teeth. And it's not the folks on Wall Street. I'm not anti-Wall Street, but I don't believe the government ought to wear a team jersey, pick winners and losers. +p2895 +aVThe government ought to wear a striped shirt and just make sure the game... +p2896 +aV...is paid \u2014 played fairly. +p2897 +aVNow, everybody else has fudged their time and gone over, so please, don't cut me off too quick, Becky. +p2898 +aVLet me just close it out this way. +p2899 +aVWe need to be focusing on what fixes this country. And I'll tell you one thing that we never talk about \u2014 we haven't talked about it tonight. Why aren't we talking about \u2014 instead of cutting benefits for old people, cutting benefits for sick people \u2014 why don't we say, "let's cure the four big cost-driving diseases... +p2900 +aV..."diabetes, heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer's?" +p2901 +aVIf you do that, you don't just change the economy, you transform the lives of millions of hurting Americans. +p2902 +aVGosh, I'd love for us to talk about something like that. Thank you. +p2903 +aVYou know, of the few questions I've got, the last one I need is to give him some more time. I love Donald Trump. He is a good man. I'm wearing a Trump tie tonight. Get over that one, OK? [ +p2904 +aVI don't know. [ +p2905 +aVI have no idea. +p2906 +aVYou're welcome. Let me tell you, Donald Trump would be a president every day of the week and twice on Sunday, rather than Hillary. I've spent a lifetime in politics fighting the Clinton machine. You want to talk about what we're going to be up against next year? I'm the only guy on this stage \u2014 you know, everybody has an "only guy" \u2014 "I'm the only guy this; I'm the only guy that." Well, let me tell you one thing that I am the only guy: The only guy that has consistently fought the Clinton machine every election I was ever in over the past 26 years. And not only did I fight them, but I beat them. Somebody says "I'm a fighter." Well, I want to know, did you win? Well, I did. And not only did I fight them and win, I lived to tell about it and I'm standing on this stage tonight as evidence of that. And I think that ought to be worth something. +p2907 +aVWell, and specifically to Medicare, Becky, because 85 percent of the cost of Medicare is chronic disease. The fact is if we don't address what's costing so much, we can't throw enough money at this. And it's why I've continued to focus on the fact that we need to declare war on the four big cost drivers because 80 percent of all medical costs in this country are chronic disease. We don't have a health care crisis in America, we have a health crisis. And until we deal with the health of Americans and do what we did with polio \u2014 when I was a little kid, we eradicated it. You know how much money we spent on polio last year in America? We didn't spend any. We've saved billions of dollars. You want to fix Medicare? Focus on the diseases that are costing us the trillions of dollars. Alzheimers, diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Eradicate those and you fix Medicare and you've fixed America, its economy and you've made people's lives a heck of a lot better. +p2908 +aVYou know, I know to a lot of people in the media, this is just a great big game, and we're the players. And, we come out here, and we do our thing. And, sometimes we're held up in contempt by people who write columns, but, I guarantee you to every person on this stage there's something deep inside of us that would cause us to give up our livelihoods and step out on this stage and fight for the people of America. I've got five grandkids. I do not want to walk my five grandkids through the charred remains of a once great country called America, and say, "Here you go, $20 trillion dollars of debt. Good luck making something out of this mess." And, for those of us who are serious enough to run for president, think long and hard why we're here, and hopefully you'll know we're not here for ourselves. We honest to god are here to get this country back on track. I know this, I certainly am. +p2909 +aV...Thank you. +p2910 +aVI'm Mike Huckabee. I'm delighted to be on this stage with some remarkable fellow Republicans. None of us are a self-professed socialist. None of us on this state are under investigation by the FBI because we destroyed government records, or because we leaked secrets. I know that there are some in the Wall-Street-to-Washington axis of power who speak of all of us contemptuously. But I'm here to say that I think we are, in fact, the A team. We have some remarkable people, and, in fact, not only are we the A team; we even have our own Mr. T, who doesn't mind saying about others, "you're a fool." And I'm delighted to be here with all of these guys, and would put any of them in an administration that I led. Thank you very much. +p2911 +aVI would certainly love to get in on this, because I think the single... +p2912 +aVI've been patiently waiting, and I'm going to just say this about Iran. +p2913 +aVBecause I think it is incredibly important. This is really about the survival of Western civilization. This is not just a little conflict with a Middle Eastern country that we've just now given over $100 billion to, the equivalent in U.S. terms is $5 trillion. This threatens Israel immediately, this threatens the entire Middle East, but it threatens the United States of America. And we can't treat a nuclear Iranian government as if it is just some government that would like to have power. This is a government for 36 years has killed Americans, they kidnapped Americans, they have maimed Americans. They have sponsored terrorist groups, Hamas and Hezbollah, and they threaten the very essence of Western civilization. To give them this agreement, that the president treats like the Magna Carta, but Iranians treat it like it's toilet paper, and we must, simply, make it very clear that the next president, one of us on this stage, will absolutely not honor that agreement, and will destroy it and will be tough with Iran, because otherwise, we put every person in this world in a very dangerous place. +p2914 +aVNo, I don't think he's on the wrong side of such an issue. Jeb is a friend. I'm not up here to fight with Jeb or to fight with anybody else. But I am here to fight for somebody who is a county clerk elected under the Kentucky constitution that 75 percent of the people of that state had voted for that said that marriage was between a man and a woman. The Supreme Court in a very, very divided decision decided out of thin air that they were just going to redefine marriage. It's a decision that the other justices in dissent said they didn't have and there wasn't a constitutional shred of capacity for them to do it. I thought that everybody here passed ninth-grade civics. The courts cannot legislate. That's what Roberts said. But heck, it's what we learned in civics. The courts can't make a law. They can interpret one. They can review one. They can't implement it. They can't force it. But here's what happened: Because the courts just decided that something was going to be and people relinquished it and the other two branches of government sat by silently \u2014 I thought we had three branches of government, they were all equal to each other, we have separation of powers, and we have checks and balances. If the court can just make a decision and we just all surrender to it, we have what Jefferson said was judicial tyranny. The reason that this is a real issue that we need to think about... +p2915 +aVNo, no. Let me finish this one thought, Jake. I haven't gotten that much time, so I'm going to take just what little I can here. We made accommodation to the Fort Hood shooter to let him grow a beard. We made accommodations to the detainees at Gitmo \u2014 I've been to Gitmo, and I've seen the accommodations that we made to the Muslim detainees who killed Americans. You're telling me that you cannot make an accommodation for an elected Democrat county clerk from Rowan County, Kentucky? What else is it other than the criminalization of her faith and the exaltation of the faith of everyone else who might be a Fort Hood shooter or a detainee at Gitmo? +p2916 +aVI have a different idea. I think we ought to get rid of all the taxes on people who produce. Why should we penalize productivity? And it's why I'm an unabashed supporter of the "fair tax," which would be a tax on our consumption, rather than a tax on our productivity. In other words, you're not going to tax anybody for what they earn, whether it's worker whose working by the hour or whether it's a hedge fund manager. If they can produce something and bring capital and labor to create jobs, we need some jobs. And I think the "fair tax" makes more sense. Now, Jake, I've been listening to everybody on the stage and there is a lot of back and forth about I'm the only one who has done this, the only one who has done that, I've done great things. We've all done great things or we wouldn't be on this stage. But it occurs to me as we're sitting here in the Reagan Library that most of us would like to pay tribute to a guy who, when he got elected, didn't get elected telling everybody how great he was. He got elected telling everybody how great the American people were. And he empowered them to live their dreams, which is what I'd love to see us do by no longer penalizing the people who are out there working because they are taking a gut punch right now. +p2917 +aV...You don't want me operating on you, I assure you. +p2918 +aVJust today \u2014 just today, there was a new report that 50 different intelligence analysts have said that what they sent up the ladder was doctored by senior officials, so that they could give some happy talk to the situation that we face. I love the idea of a good intellectual capacity to deal with our enemies, but the fact is, if you don't have good intelligence that is reliable and honest, you won't have good intelligence and you cannot make good decisions. The next president is primarily elected not just to know things, but to know what to do with the things that he knows. And the most dangerous person in any room is the person who doesn't know what he doesn't know. +p2919 +aVAnd the reason Barack Obama has been dangerous to this country and we better elect someone who had some executive experience, is because we cannot afford another eight years having a person in the office who doesn't know what he does not know. +p2920 +aVYou better believe I will, because I'm tired of liberals always having a litmus test and conservatives are supposed to pretend we don't. Well let me tell you what mine would be. Number one, I'd ask do you think that the unborn child is a human being or is it just a blob of tissue? I'd want to know the answer to that. I'd want to know do you believe in the First Amendment, do you believe that religious liberty is the fundamental liberty around which all the other freedoms of this country are based? And I'd want to know do you really believe in the Second Amendment, do you believe that we have an individual right to bear arms to protect ourselves and our family and to protect our country? And do you believe in the Fifth and the 14th Amendment? Do you believe that a person, before they're deprived of life and liberty, should in fact have due process and equal protection under the law? Because if you do, you're going to do more than defund Planned Parenthood. +p2921 +aVOne final thing. I'd make darn sure that we absolutely believe the 10th Amendment. Every governor on this stage would share this much with you. Every one of us \u2014 our biggest fight wasn't always with the legislature or even with the Democrats. My gosh, half the time, it was with the federal government who apparently never understood \u2014 +p2922 +aV\u2014 that if it's not reserved in the Constitution, then the 10th Amendment says it's left to the states. But somebody forgot to send a memo to Washington. +p2923 +aVJake? Jake? +p2924 +aVI think we need to remember that there are maybe some controversies about autism, but there is no controversy about the things that are really driving the medical costs in this country. And I would really believe that the next president ought to declare a war on cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer's, because those are the four things that are causing the greatest level of cost. John Kennedy said, "we'll go to the moon in a decade and bring a man back," and we did it. I grew up in the '50s. I remember the polio vaccine. We saved billions of dollars since that time, because we haven't had to treat for polio. Why doesn't this country focus on cures rather than treatment? Why don't we put a definitive focus scientifically on finding the cure for cancer, for heart disease, for diabetes and for Alzheimer's, a disease alone that will cost us \u2014 +p2925 +aV$1.1 trillion by the year 2050. We change the economy and the country. +p2926 +aVThat's an easy one. I'd put my wife on there. I've been married to her 41 years. She's fought cancer and lived through it. She's raised three kids, five great grandkids, and she's put up with me. I mean, who else could possibly be on that money other than my wife. And that way, she could spend her own money with her face. +p2927 +aVI'd go with Duck Hunter. +p2928 +aVAt the end of my presidency I would like to believe that the world would be a safe place, and there wouldn't be the threats. not only to the U.S., but to Israel and our allies, because we would have the most incredible well-trained, well-equipped, well- prepared military in the history of mankind. And they would know that the commander-in-chief would never send them to a mission without all the resources necessary, but people wouldn't bully us anymore. Because they would know that that would be an invitation to their destruction. Domestically, we would be operating under a tax system that eliminated the IRS. People wouldn't be punished for their work, and for what they produced. And life would be really deemed precious. Abortion would be no more. It would be as much of a scourge in our past as slavery is. And we would have a peaceful country, where people respected each other and people respected law enforcement. And we would focus on cures. And we would make this country not only safe from our enemies without, but safe from the enemies within. And it would be a good place to raise our kids and our grandkids. +p2929 +aVChris, I disagree with the idea that the real issue is a constitutional amendment. That's a long and difficult process. I've actually taken the position that's bolder than that. A lot of people are talking about defunding planned parenthood, as if that's a huge game changer. I think it's time to do something even more bold. I think the next president ought to invoke the Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the constitution now that we clearly know that that baby inside the mother's womb is a person at the moment of conception. The reason we know that it is is because of the DNA schedule that we now have clear scientific evidence on. And, this notion that we just continue to ignore the personhood of the individual is a violation of that unborn child's Fifth and 14th Amendment rights for due process and equal protection under the law. It's time that we recognize the Supreme Court is not the Supreme Being, and we change the policy to be pro-life and protect children instead of rip up their body parts and sell them like they're parts to a Buick. +p2930 +aVNot me. But you're welcome to give me a check, Donald if you'd like. +p2931 +aVIt's not too big to shrink. But the problem is we have a Wall Street-to-Washington axis of power that has controlled the political climate. The donor class feeds the political class who does the dance that the donor class wants. And the result is federal government keeps getting bigger. Every person on this stage who has been a governor will tell that you the biggest fight they had was not the other party. Wasn't even the legislature. It was the federal government, who continually put mandates on the states that we had to suck up and pay for. And the fact is there are a lot of things happening at the federal level that are absolutely beyond the jurisdiction of the Constitution. This is power that should be shifted back to the states, whether it's the EPA, there is no role at the federal level for the Department of Education. And I'm still one who says that we can get rid of the Internal Revenue Service if we would pass the FairTax, which is a tax on consumption rather than a tax on people's income, and move power back where the founders believed it should have been all along. +p2932 +aVWell, let's all be reminded, 60 million Americans are on Social Security, 60 million. A third of those people depend on 90% of their income from Social Security. Nobody in this country is on Social Security because they made the decision when they were starting work at 14 that they wanted to trust some of their money with the government. The government took it out of their check whether they wanted them to or not. And, if person goes to 65, they're going to spend 51 years with the government reaching into their pocket at every paycheck. Now, here's the point, whose fault is it that the system is screwed up? Is it the recipients, or is it the government? And, if Congress wants to mess with the retirement program, why don't we let them start by changing their retirement program, and not have one, instead of talking about getting rid of Social Security and Medicare that was robbed $700 billion dollars to pay for Obamacare. It's always that the government figures that they can do this off the backs of people, many of whom are poor, and depend on that money, and I just think it's fundamentally lying to the people and stealing from them, and we shouldn't be doing it. +p2933 +aVWell, you ask about how we fund it. One of the reasons that Social Security is in so much trouble is that the only funding stream comes from people who get a wage. The people who get wages is declining dramatically. Most of the income in this country is made by people at the top who get dividends and -- and capital gains. The FairTax transforms the process by which we fund Social Security and Medicare because the money paid in consumption is paid by everybody, including illegals, prostitutes, pimps, drug dealers, all the people that are freeloading off the system now. That's why it ought to be a transformed system. +p2934 +aVRonald Reagan said "trust, but verify." President Obama is "trust, but vilify." He trusts our enemies and vilifies everyone who disagrees with him. And the reason we disagree with him has nothing to do with party. +p2935 +aVIt has to do with the incredibly dangerous place that this world is gonna be as a result of a deal in which we got nothing. We didn't even get four hostages out. We got nothing, and Iran gets everything they want. We said we would have anywhere, anytime negotiations and inspections, we gave that up. We said that we would make sure that they didn't have any nuclear capacity, we gave that up. The president can't tell us what we got. I'll tell you what the world got. The world has a burgeoning nuclear power that didn't, as the Soviets, say "we might defend ourselves in a war." What the Iranians have said is, "we will wipe Israel off the face of the map, and we will bring death to America." When someone points a gun at your head and loads it, by God, you ought to take them seriously, and we need to take that seriously. +p2936 +aVThe military is not a social experiment. The purpose of the military is kill people and break things. It's not to transform the culture by trying out some ideas that some people think would make us a different country and more diverse. The purpose is to protect America. I'm not sure how paying for transgender surgery for soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines makes our country safer. We've reduced the military by 25 percent... ... under President Obama. The disaster is that we've forgotten why we have a military. The purpose of it is to make sure that we protect every American, wherever that American is, and if an American is calling out for help, whether it's in Benghazi or at the border, then we ought to be able to answer it. We've not done that because we've decimated our military. We're flying B-52s. The most recent one that was put in service was November of 1962. A lot of the B-52s we're flying, we've only got 44 that are in service combat ready, and the fact is, most of them are older than me. And that's pretty scary. +p2937 +aVIt seems like this election has been a whole lot about a person who's very high in the polls, that doesn't have a clue about how to govern. A person who has been filled with scandals, and who could not lead, and, of course, I'm talking about Hillary Clinton. I think America... +p2938 +aV...is in trouble, but it's not beyond repair. But it's going to take leadership who sees the greatness of this country, and who believes that once again we can be one nation, under God. I'll be my best to do that, and thank you for your support. +p2939 +aVI don't think it's that the message isn't working, I think it's the message isn't getting out because the message that I have this time, Bill, it's exactly what I said eight years ago. I talked about people who are standing on their feet on factory floors, people who lift heavy things, who sweat through their clothes, they're getting gut punched. They are not having a fair shake in this economy. I talked about that eight years ago, and I'm talking about it now. I talked about the importance of preserving life, of not just saying we're going to defund Planned Parenthood, but let's do something bolder. Let's get rid of abortion once and for all by applying the Fifth, and Fourteenth amendment to every person from conception because that means that we recognize that no person can be deprived of life or liberty unless they have due process. And, that's not happening in our country. And, I believe, and continue to practice that we need the Fair Tax to revive our economy. To make it so that people are able to be rewarded for their work rather than punished for it. +p2940 +aVYou know, I -- I would leave that to other people. I'm not going to get into an argument with all the New Yorkers, because there's a lot of them. This much I will tell you. I wish that some of those New Yorkers had funded as much of my campaign as they did the corporately funded candidates, but they didn't. And to be honest with you, when I say I'm -- wish they had, I'm glad they didn't. I'm not a New York-funded campaign. I'm not bankrolled by the corporatists, I'm not bankrolled by Goldman Sachs and Citibank and AIG and all the big brokers -- brokerage houses and the billionaires. I'm sponsored by people like Thomas, a part-time Uber driver in Pennsylvania who sent me $25 this week. He's between jobs. He's driving an Uber car. But he believed in what I'm talking about enough that, even on a limited, part-time income, he sent me $25 to help in my campaign. I'll stand with the Thomases of the world any day. I'll leave all the discussion of the big financiers to other candidates. But there's only a few of us in the entire Republican process who are not corporately funded by the same group. And let me just finish by saying, you want to know why things never change depending on whether Democrats or Republicans are in power, and why Republicans in Iowa and the rest of the country are so frustrated? The reason is, is because if you follow the money, the same folks who finance the Democrats finance the Republicans, and no matter what the speeches and the ads, they get the same results. If you want a different result, I'm available. +p2941 +aVWell, I don't trust him. I've never said I trusted him. But if somebody is willing to take a shot at the people we are taking shots at, I'm more than willing to let them use their own bullets to do it. But let's be very clear about how we take out +p2942 +aVNo, I don't think that it's impossible, but we're not going to do it by doing the same things we've been doing for all these many years. And, we've lost five million manufacturing jobs just since the year 2000. The other day I was in Newton, Iowa. It used to be a vibrant place where Maytag washers and dryers were built. Went out of business in 2007, all those shops went to Mexico. All those people lost their jobs. There was a guy in my forum that day, he lost his job. He still has never found an employment that got anywhere near the job that he had. Let me ask you, how many people do you think living around the Beltway know a guy like that? Care about a guy like that? Not many. And, that's because they're six of the ten richest counties in America that surround Washington D.C. People who live in the bubbles of the high finance world of New York, the government world of Washington, the entertainment world of Hollywood, don't have a clue about how hard people out here in Iowa are working every single day. And, I believe one of the values of campaigning in Iowa, you can't win unless you go out and talk to farmers and housewives -- and welders, and unemployed truck drivers, and I hate... ... That a president could become president who never met people who have to struggle to make a living and put food on the table. +p2943 +aVA lot of Americans are angry. And I think it's important to understand why they are mad. They are mad because they see a government that continues to do fine. They see people at the top. They are doing fine. But that person you asked Rick about a moment ago, that lady that's making 10,000 bucks a year, do you know what our poverty programs do to people? They keep them in poverty. They keep them in poverty because we have these arbitrary thresholds... ... that mean that if you go to work, you lose all the benefits for your kids, Medicaid, WIC, Section 8 housing, food stamps, and then your kids go hungry. I know a little about poverty. My sister is here tonight. Now both of us could tell you we did not grow up rich. My mother grew up in a house, oldest of seven kids. She had lived in a house that didn't have floors. Just dirt. No electricity. No running water. I resent it when people say, oh, people are poor because they want to be. No, they are not. Nobody wants to be poor. And that's a stupid, foolish thing, mean thing to say. People are poor because they don't know how to get out of the hole. And government shouldn't push them back in the hole which is what our policies do when they punish people who want to go to work and don't let them out. We can fix that, but it takes some leadership to get it done. +p2944 +aVWell, I didn't have a tax and spend approach. You got to understand where the Club for Growth comes from, a bunch of rich guys sitting around writing checks to go after people they don't like. And, they don't like me sometimes because I was fighting for the guys at the bottom, not just the guys at the top. I cut 94 taxes in a state that had never had a general major tax decrease in its history. I also was able to see per capita income growth in my state go up by 50%. I think that's a pretty darn good record. Look at the overall record and it was fine. But, it's not about stats from when I was governor. Look, one of the reasons I support the Fairtax is because it's the one thing, Bill, that would truly empower people at the bottom of the economy by no longer punishing them for their work. If a guy works an hourly job, and he works eight hours, gets paid for it, terrific. But, if he works 16 hours, he doesn't get a double paycheck because he's going to be bumped up into a new tax bracket, and the government will get more of his second shift than he will. So, we've actually punished him for being industrious, hardworking, and that is a foolish economic policy... ... that's hurting Americans about as much as anything. +p2945 +aVI honestly don't understand how anybody with IQ above plant life would honestly think... ... that we would be better off if we let the government have all of the private property and that the government would dole out what they thought we should have. I'm not "feeling the Bern," Bill. I'm not feeling it. And when Bernie Sanders promises these kids free college, I'm telling them, because I get asked, what about free college? I said, look, if we give you free college when you are 20, pal, you are going to be paying for it when you are 30, when you are 40, and when you are 50. There is no such thing as the government giving you anything. They will definitely make a mess of it. And I just think there are a lot of people who have never understood the basic understanding of economics, that you do not make people rich by tearing down those who are you providing jobs, and you don't help poor people by taking away. You give them jobs. Let them work. Let them earn. And then you let them keep the money that they earned. That's how we build a great economy. +p2946 +aVWell, this week there was a little dust up about a video we put together with the music of Adele, so I thought it'd be appropriate for me to begin tonight by saying, "Hello, Iowa. It's me." +p2947 +aVAnd, you know me. You gave me the largest number of votes in the history of the Iowa caucus eight years ago, and I think you did it because you trusted me, you believed that I had your best interest at heart. When I was governor I had a little plaque in my office in the Governor's office, and it simply said this. Come, let us reason together. I believe the next President needs to put that plaque in the oval office, and needs to lead this country by saying, "Come, let us reason together." God bless you, and thank you for your support. +p2948 +aVI wish I saw the country in the same place that the president presented it to be the other night in the State of the Union. He talked about how great the economy was doing. And I guess for the people he hangs out with, it's probably doing great. But the president should've stood in the line at the layaway counter at Walmart just before Christmas. He would have heard a very different story about the economy of America. I wish I could introduce him the lady who cleans the building where our campaign headquarters is located in Little Rock. Her name is Kathleen. She works all day at a local hospital cleaning, and then she goes to the building where a bank, and our headquarters, and other offices are she spends another seven hours. She works 15 hours a day. I guarantee you she's not working 15 hours a day because she loves scrubbing toilets, and sweeping floors. She's working that many hours because that's what it takes for her to make it work. And, she's not alone. There are people all over this country who are working like that. Many of them working two jobs \u2014 and they used to have one job, and that would take care of them. But, because of wage stagnation, which we've had for 40 years, because the fact that they're punished for working harder if they work that many hours. The government gets more of their second shift than they do. And, as a result there are a lot of people who are hurting today. I wish the President knew more of them. He might make a change in the economy and the way he's managing it. +p2949 +aVLet me put that in context. When I went to Afghanistan, I saw a land that looked like the land of the Flintstones. It was desolate. It was barren. It was primitive. And it's been that way for thousands of years. They want to take the world back to be just like that. We don't. We need to make a clear goal as to why we want to be anywhere in the Middle East, and I'll tell you why we want to be and need to be, is to destroy radical Islam and everything that threatens civilization. It's not just a threat......to Israel or to America, it's a threat to every civilized person on this Earth. And we need to be equipping not only the Kurds in Iraq, we need to be making sure that those who are willing to fight radical Muslims will do it, but we need to never ever spend a drop of American blood unless there is a clearly defined goal and we can't make sure we win unless we have a military that's the strongest in the history of mankind. We've got to rebuild our navy. It's the smallest navy we've had since 1915, when my grandfather got on a destroyer in World War I when he was in the U.S. Navy. We've got young men in Air Force B-52s, one in particular, he's flying a B-52 that his father flew in the '80s and his grandfather flew in the '50s. Those planes are older than me. We've got to have a military that the world is afraid of, use it sparingly, but when we do, the whole world will know that America is on their tail and they will be on their tail on the ground, never ever to rise up again. +p2950 +aVOnly if there is a concerted effort to destroy the advance of radical Islamists who are against us. As far as what are we going to make it look like. Frankly, I don't know what we can make it look like. You can't create for other people a desire for freedom and democracy. And frankly, that is not the role of the United States. The role of the United States military is not to build schools, it is not to build bridges, it is not to go around and pass out food packets. It is to kill and destroy our enemy and make America safe and that is the purpose we should be there if we're going to be there. +p2951 +aV Yes, I did. +p2952 +aVWell, why don't we start by making sure the Justice Department never does an idiotic program like Fast and Furious where the U.S. Government put guns......in the hands of Mexican drug lords......and end up killing one of our border agents. You know, they want to talk about law abiding citizens, I just find it amazing the President keeps saying the gun show loophole. There is no gun show loophole. I promise you I've been to more gun shows than President Obama. +p2953 +aVAnd, I've bought more weapons at them, and you fill out forms. The President also says things that it's easier to get a gun now than it is to grow trees. Again, I purchase guns, and I can assure you that it is much more difficult to purchase a firearm than it is to get the ingredients of a salad at the supermarket. What the President keeps pushing are ideas that have never worked. Ideas that would not have stopped San Bernadino, Sandy Hook, Aurora, and at some point you wonder if you keep retrying things that don't work, maybe we should just see if we could resell all those used lottery tickets that didn't work real well because that's the logic of just keep doing the same thing, but something that has failed. Of course, we want to stop gun violence, but the one common thing that has happened in most mass shootings is that they happened in gun- free zones where people who would have been law abiding citizens, who could have stood up and at least tried to stop it and we're not allowed to under the law. +p2954 +aVWell, we shouldn't be and that's one of the reasons that I think there a lot of voices in our country who are saying it's time to relook at the visa program. The European Union is a failure, it's not allowed for even the economic goals that they were trying to achieve. But, what we're not seeing is that it's making Europe less safe, and it's proven not to be exactly what they all thought it was going to be. Our first and foremost responsibility in this country, and the first responsibility of the President of the United States is protect America, and protect Americans. We have a President who seems to be more interested in protecting the reputation and image of Islam than he is protecting us. And, I want to be very clear......that this President. Makes comments like he did the other night, that we have to be so careful because we don't want to offend Muslims. He needs to read his own FBI crime stats from last year which would show him that of the hate crimes in the country, over 5,500, about 1,100 were religious hate crimes. And, of those, 58% were directed toward Jews. Only 16% directed toward Muslims. Maybe what the President should have talked about the other night is how we ought to be more careful in the anti-semitic comments that are going toward American Jews than toward Muslims because by three times as many......they're being targeted for religious hate crime. +p2955 +aVIt does not shut down international commerce, but it may slow it down. And, you don't want to slowdown commerce that is making us safer. It's worth it. This lady who came and joined with the San Bernardino killer had passed three background checks, and that's why a lot of Americans didn't buy it when the President said we'll bring in Syrian refugees, but don't worry we'll check them out. We have a lot of confidence in a president who told us that we could keep our doctor, we could keep our health insurance, and cost us less, and now the latest is if you like your gun you can keep it too, and frankly, we don't buy it. We don't believe it. He's lost his credibility, and his inept... ...inability to work with Congress and pass legislation has led him to do what I never even imagined doing as a governor, and that's just going and doing it my own way. That's why we elect a president, is to lead, is to be able to shepherd things through. And if I can do it with a 90 percent Democrat legislature in Arkansas, there is no excuse for any president not being able to lead in Washington if he knows what the heck he is doing when he gets there. +p2956 +aVWell, first of all, let's just remember that Social Security is not the government's money, it belongs to the people who had it taken out of their checks involuntarily their entire working lives. For the government to say, well it is fault of working people that we have a Social Security problem, no. It is the fault of a government that used those people's money for something other than protecting those people's accounts. So let's not blame them and punish them. But here is a fact, and I sometimes hear Republicans say well, we're going to have to cut this and extend the age. You know what I think a lot of times when I hear people say, well, let's make people work to their 70. That sounds great for white-collar people who sat at a desk most of their lives. You ever talk to somebody that stood on concrete floor for the first 40 years of their working life? Do you think they can stand another five years or 10 years, many of them will retired virtually crippled because they worked hard. And we're going to punish them some more? I don't think so. Here's the fact. Four percent economic growth, we fully fund Social Security and Medicare. Our problem is not that Social Security is just too generous to seniors. It isn't. Our problem is that our politicians have not created the kind of policies that would bring economic growth. And I still support strongly that we get rid of the 77,000 pages of the monstrous tax code......pass the fair tax, supercharge this economy with the rocket fuel that happens with the consumption tax and we don't have to cut Social Security to any senior who has worked their lifetime for it. +p2957 +aVLet me go back to the reason so many people are having a hard time getting ahead. The tax system punishes them. Think about this. If you work really hard and you start moving up the economic ladder, you get bumped into a different tax bracket. So the government thinks it deserves more of your hard work than you do. And it's one of the reasons that no matter how many different reforms you have to a tax on people's productivity, you're still taxing their work, their savings. You're taxing their capital gains, inheritance, dividends, you're taxing everything that produces something. And it's way I really believe it's time to do something bold, not something minute. This is no time for a tap of the hammer, a twist of the screwdriver. It's time for something big. That's why the fair tax transforms our economy. And we don't punish workers. It's the only way we're going to get middle class people moving ahead again, because the harder they work, the more they keep. No payroll tax deducted from their checks. They get their entire paycheck. And, one of the most important parts, it's built on the common sense with which we raised our kids, and trained dogs. You reward behavior you want more of. And, you punish behavior you want less of. That's how I raise kids, it's how I trained our dogs, and folks, it's not that difficult. We now punish the behavior we say we want more of by taxing it, and we reward the behavior that we say we want less of, so if you make a good investment, we punish you with a tax. If you make a bad investment you can write that off and the rest of the taxpayers will help subsidize you, and bail you out. +p2958 +aVWell, Rick, I'm pretty sure I did also fight the Clinton machine because every election I was ever in in Arkansas, I assure you, they were behind it, helping finance and campaign for every opponent. And I share with you the understanding that it's going to be a tough battle. But I spent the first half of my adult life in the private and nonprofit sector, raising a family, understanding how tough it is for people to make it. And that first half of my life is what led me to believe that America needs a different kind of leadership, not people who spent their whole life running from one office to the next, and living off the government dime. And I got involved because I got sick of what I saw. I also believe that there's got to be some leadership that not only addresses the monetary and military issues of this country, but the moral issues of this country. At the end of every political speech, most of us say, God bless America. But how can he do that when we continue to slaughter 4,000 babies a day? And I want to be the president that treats every person, including the unborn, as a person. And protect them under the 5th and 14th amendments of the constitution. I close with this word from a gentleman in East Texas named Butel Lucre. He's 100 years old and I met him down in East Texas. And he said this to me. "I sure wish, Mike, we had the days when The Ten Commandments were in all of our capitals and in every school, and we prayed again. You know, he may be 100 years old, but I believe some of those old ideas to get this country back where we unapologetically get on our knees before we get on our feet might be the best solutions we've ever sought as a country. And I ask for your support and your vote. Thank you. +p2959 +aVWolf, I want to say thanks to you and CNN for giving us the opportunity especially to focus on national security issues at a time when Americans are not only angry \u2014 angry at their government that they feel like has failed them, been indifferent to them, cost them their livelihoods \u2014 but they're in addition to angry, they're just plain scared. They're scared when they thing that they go to a Christmas party and get shot at by somebody who sat and had lunch with them an hour earlier. They're scared when they realize that our government, who promises that it can vet people and is begging us to approve bringing 10,000 Syrian refugees into this country, can't even catch somebody after a third background check, who had posted things on social media clearly indicating she wanted to kill Americans. And we couldn't catch that. We've lost confidence in our government. And when Americans lose confidence in their government, we're in a dangerous place. We're in danger because we have an enemy that is out to kill us, and we have a government that we don't trust any more. This election is about going back to having a government we can trust with leaders who have the courage and conviction to actually lead and not follow. +p2960 +aVWell, let me begin by saying I'm not that afraid of Donald Trump. And, in the sense that I'd rather him be President than I had Hillary be president any day. And so if he becomes president, I think he will do a whole lot more to protect us than Hillary will. And a whole lot more than Barack Obama has done in his eight years. So I want to make it very clear that when I was making that comment, I was simply speaking that I'm not sure that you can have a religious test per se. And it's very impractical because if somebody comes to our borders and says I'd like to come in. They say are you a Muslim? Well, they're \u2014 if they're going to come in here to kill us, they're not gonna say yeah, and I'm coming to kill you. They're going to lie about it. Anybody that will kill you, for God's sake, will lie to you. So that's why I say it's impractical. But what he has done, and I don't think a lot of people understand, he has touched a nerve because people are angry and afraid that we are facing an enemy that this administration refuses to acknowledge, refuses to want to go fight. And our only answer is to go after +p2961 +aVNo. I'm not taking it away, I just want to make sure that everything we use is going to be effective. We're spending billions of dollars, let's make sure it's effective. Let's use every tool, but let's also check out the Facebook posts, let's look at Twitter accounts. My gosh, we were told we couldn't do it because it might invade somebody's privacy. This lady who came over here and shot up San Bernardino was posting things on Facebook, yet, we were restricted from looking. Every college kid who goes to a frat party gets drunk and puts his picture on Facebook is going to have a potential employer looking at that photo before he gets hired. Why should we have more attention? I mean, for heaven's sake, towards some college kid who wants to one day ten years from to get a job, then we're going after who wants to come in with a semi automatic weapon or a pipe bomb and blow up a bunch of Americans. This is what I think a lot of Americans are frustrated with, it's the duplicity of our policy that is illogical and irrational. Our goal ought to be, "protect Americans and put Americans first not last," which is what I think this administration has done. +p2962 +aVNo, it does not violate their First Amendment rights to have someone go and listen to the sermons. You can go to any church in America, it's a public place, you can listen, and \u2014 you know, if you go to my church, you'll probably get a real blessing. Heck, it'll be a wonderful experience. You go to some people's church, you may go to sleep, I don't know what happens in every church, but, the point is that these are public places, and folks are invited to come. So, if it's a public place, and people are invited to come, how does it violate anybody's First Amendment rights that somebody shows up because they might want to just listen in and see is there something that is a little nefarious? And, if there is, then you take the second step of getting a search warrant, you do whatever you have to do. That's all protected under the constitution. So, Huge, I hear people act like there's something that is terrible about going and sitting in and listening to the sermons of a mosque. If Islam is as wonderful, and peaceful as its adherents say, shouldn't they be begging us to all come in and listen to these peaceful sermons? Shouldn't they be begging us all to come, and listen, and bring the FBI so we'd all want to convert to Islam? +p2963 +aVI don't disagree. I don't disagree with anything that the Senator just said because that's exactly right. But, I just want to go back to the point that when people say we can't go into the mosque, we can't listen. That's utter nonsense. Of course we can. And, if we can't, if there's something so secretive going on in there that somebody isn't allowed to go and hear it, maybe we do need for sure to send somebody in there and gather the intelligence. And, that's all to the world I'm saying, I think it stands to be true. +p2964 +aVThe way we defeat them ideologically is that we remind people that what their intent is is to kill us, and that it is our intent to use every means possible to get to them before they get to us. We are pretending that this is a war that is not that significant. We have a president who called it the JV team, said we had contained it. Nine hours after he said we contained it, there was a massacre in Paris. We've got to make it so untenable for somebody to join +p2965 +aVWolf, it may be sufficient, but rather than put a number \u2014 and I'm comfortable that we say 10,000, 20,000 \u2014 look, I think we make a mistake when we start telling the enemy what our limitations are. I think we make a huge mistake when we say we're gonna do up to this. I think what we say is, we're gonna do whatever it takes. If it's 10,000, if it's 100,000, if it's 3,000 sorties a day, if it's 5,000 sorties a day. We never tell our enemy what our limitations are, what we are willing and what we're unwilling to do. And that's one of the mistakes I believe that we're making militarily. But the biggest mistake we've made militarily is letting Barack Obama cut our defense forces by 25 percent and leaving us at the least prepared position we've been in since before World War II. We have to get our Military rebuilt from the ground up. And all over America I hear young people say, would you tell me what you're going to do? Would you give me free college? Will you make sure that I can have medical marijuana? You know what we ought to tell young people? We aren't going to give you anything. We're give you the opportunity to get off your butt and go serve your country and secure your freedom. Because if you don't, nobody else is. +p2966 +aVI'd sure want them to think we would. And I'd want to make sure that we did everything we could. But we can't do it with our current Military strength. We've got to build up and have the most robust, well trained, well equipped, well prepared and ample Military force in the history of the world because we're not fighting just a known enemy in one place. We're fighting people all over the world who can go anywhere. And the reason I say that is because if we tried to win this war on the cheap or we try to do it with the, "light footprint," we're making a huge mistake. When all of us were in grade school, one thing we all knew, the bully never picked on the kid except for the weak one. When all of us were in grade school, one thing we all knew, the bully never picked on the kid, except for the weak one. He never picked on the kid he knew, he'd whip him. We need to make to sure that we have the kind of military that +p2967 +aVWell, I want to be real clear, I don't trust Putin, I don't trust Assad. I'm not saying that I would endorse him for his reelection bid. The man is a tyrant, he's killed lots of people, but he wasn't killing Americans. And, the thing that I'm concerned about is that we have seen a complete destabilization, not only of Syria, but we've seen it in Yemen, that the President pronouncing great shape just before it collapsed. +p2968 +aVWell what we have done, and we created an impossible atmosphere. This administration has put more pressure on Israel to stop building bedrooms in Judea and Samaria than they've put on Iranians to stop building a nuclear bomb. And I'm just simply pointing out the obvious, that we need to recognize who our friends are, who our enemies are... +p2969 +aV... but I'm convinced... +p2970 +aVWell, first of all, it would be the Iranians. I would have never entered into this deal. I don't know why on God's earth that the senators gave it so that it was easier for Obama to have the agreement than it would be to make it a treaty. +p2971 +aVI would make sure that there was economic pressure put on them. Why not? Why should we fund every single battle against radical Islam? Why should we stand back and watch Israel get targeted, the United States get targeted and we watch with people with their hands in their pocket, and their hands in our pocket because we're getting them a lot of money. And let's say your hands can be in your pocket, you can stand still, but your hands aren't going to be in our pockets anymore. We're not going to give you another dime unless you engage the battle with us. We are not sending our sons and daughters, and grandsons and granddaughters to war to fight for your interest. You either get in with us or be on your own. But we're not gonna fight the battle for you. +p2972 +aVI wouldn't reinstate a draft, but, I think it's noteworthy that we are fighting all the battles we have with less than one percent of the American population. +p2973 +aVI wouldn't reinstate a draft, but, I think it's noteworthy that we are fighting all the battles we have with less than one percent of the American population. We have the lowest level of percentage of population participating in the military than ever. And they're over-deployed, they're over used, especially among our reserves and Guard troops. Any governor will tell you. +p2974 +aVWell, I would say that, if you want a college education, let's go back and reinstate the full-blown G.I. bill. You give something to your country; your country gives something back to you. We need to ask young people to step up and buy their own freedom because there's not going to be enough people left at less than one percent. And as my good friend Ken Howard, former Dean of the War College, has often said, we're fighting all the wars with other people's kids. And that's one of the things that's making us much less safe, is because we don't have enough Americans truly invested in the process of defeating our enemies. Therefore, I do think without a draft we do need to ask people to recognize we are at war. +p2975 +aVI'm not belittling their sacrifice, Lindsey, but I'm just making note that on the part of Americans we have sent National Guard troops over for an 18-month em \u2014 18-month deployment. They come back for five, they go back for another 18. We're wearing these guys out. They agreed to be citizen soldiers. We turned them into full time soldiers because we've not kept up the pace by recruiting enough people in the military to fully fill these forces, and that's what we need to be doing. +p2976 +aVThe horrors that those families have to go through, if that were my son, my daughter, I'd give my last drop of blood to get them back. You bet I would. Is it a good policy? No. It's a terrible policy because once we do it, we're only going to invite more and more hostages, more and more ransoms, and the diasters gets even worse. But I don't blame any of these families. You know who I blame? I blame a policy in our government that has made it so that families are so desperate that they're willing to pay ransom to terrorists organizations because they don't believe our government will fight the fight for them and they think they're out there on their own. My goodness people, this is America. When did we have to start telling people that you've got to bake your own bread in order to fight the battles? That's what we have a government for, it's what we pay taxes for. And I believe, those families ought to have a better expectation of what this government will do. We should never has sat at the table with the Iranians as long Sayed Abadnini is sitting in an Iranian prison. As long as the Washington Post report is over there. Until the four hostages of America were on an airplane safely out of Tehran. We should've told them, " we won't even walk into the room with you much less sit down and negotiate with you." That's what we ought to be doing. +p2977 +aVWe just need to take a real pause and all the people that coming here and we don't know who they are or what their affiliations are. What George just said is right. We can't take the risk. And why should we take the risk? And if it's such a doggone good idea to bring people here that we really don't know who they are and Obama thinks that we're being un-Christian to not do it, I've got a suggestion. Let's send the first wave of them to Chappaqua, Martha's Vineyard and the upper east side of Manhattan and to the south lawn of the White House where we'll set up a camp. Let's see how that works out. And if they behave wonderfully, that's fine. I want to say, I don't want someone lecturing me about what it means to be a Christian that I should invite a potential terrorist into my backyard. On one hand, the left says separation of church and state. Let's not have any discussion of religion, and then the left wants to tell me what it means to be a Christian. They need to figure out if they know more about being a Christian than I do, then tell me... On one hand, the left says separation of church and state. Let's not have any discussion of religion, and then the left wants to tell me what it means to be a Christian. They need to figure out if they know more about being a Christian than I do \u2014 then tell me. They are no longer going to say separation of church and state, but, we have the most fundamental right above everything else \u2014 is not to protect the reputation of Islam. It is to protect Americans first and foremost. That is our job. +p2978 +aVNo, because he did it unconstitutionally. Twenty-three times he's said he couldn't do it, and then one day he woke up and he found he had a pen in one hand, and a phone in another, and wow. That Constitution didn't mean much anymore. Look, President's can't just do what they want to do. That's the purpose of getting elected and working with other people who got elected, is that our system was designed to function with the power of persuasion, it's really what you elect a president to do. +p2979 +aV...Let me finish, Hugh. You elect him to lead which means that if you think it's a good idea to not punish the children for something their parents did, then you go to the members of Congress and you persuade them. And, you persuade the American people. You don't just jump up and shove it up the nostrils of Congress, and the American people because you think you have a superior intellect, and a superior will, and a superior theology than everybody else. Our system is not a system of tyranny. We don't elect kings, we elect servants. If I'm elected president, I don't consider myself to be elected to be the king of the country, but the servant of the country to work with other people who are elected to get things done that need to be done. +p2980 +aVThe terrorists don't win just because they kill us. The terrorists win when they make us change everything we do in our daily lives and alter our routines. And they're doing that, from getting on a plane to going in a building. And it is high time that we recognize that we have to take them out, not a little bit, but totally, because I want my grandkids to grow up not in fear, but in faith and in freedom. And if you give me the opportunity to be president of the United States, I will fight for your grandkids as much as I will for mine. Thank you and God bless you. +p2981 +aVWell, first of all, Trish, I don't know why we have to move away from manufacturing. The only reason we have is because... ...we have a tax code that has punished manufacturing. I hear a lot of people talk about the plans to simplify the tax code. I've got one better than any of the simplifications, it's called a, "Fair Tax", and it eliminates all of the taxes on our productivity. Here's what would happen. We'd get rid of taxes on people's work, so, we wouldn't punish people for working anymore. Yeah, we've lost five million manufacturing jobs just since the year 2000 \u2014 160,000 manufacturing plants have close in this country, which means a lot of people \u2014 that the governors talking about, he's exactly right. They don't have jobs anymore. And the reason they don't have jobs is because their jobs are in Mexico, they're in China, they're in Indonesia. Bring the jobs back. And with the fair tax, you do that, because you don't tax capital and labor and you bring a real sense of equity to the opportunity so that people will not only make it easier to function, they'll get the manufacturing jobs back. And here's the best part. We don't reduce the IRS, we get rid of the IRS. We completely eliminate them......because the government has no business knowing how much money we make and how we made it. It's none of their business. And that's why I believe that manufacturing is critical. If we can't feed ourselves, fuel ourselves and fight for ourselves, we can't be free. And by the way, fighting for ourselves means manufacturing our own weapons of self-defense. +p2982 +aVWell, Sandra, first of all, let me mention the fact that I think there's a big difference between welfare programs and what some people call entitlements. Namely, Social Security and Medicare. I just want to remind everybody out there who has ever had a paycheck, the government didn't ask you if you wanted them to take money out of your check for Social Security and Medicare. They did that involuntarily. Those are not entitlements and that's not welfare. That's an earned benefit. And by gosh, you paid for it. And if the government screwed it up, you shouldn't have to pay the penalty because of an incompetent government. That's different than the social programs that we've spent $2 trillion on since the War on Poverty began exactly 50 years ago this year. Now the reason we still have so much poverty is because it was never designed to get people out of poverty. It was designed to make sure that there was an industry of poverty, so that the people in the poverty industry would have a lot of jobs. But the people who are poor haven't been benefited. Having grown up poor, I know a little something about it. Nobody who is poor wants to be. That's a nonsense statement and I hear it all the time. Well, poor people ought to work harder. They're working as hard as they can, for gosh sake. But the problem is the system keeps pushing them down because, if they work, then they get punished. They lose all the benefits. When we did welfare reform in the '90s, you know what we did? We said you're not going to lose everything at once. There's not an arbitrary threshold. So as you move up the ladder from work and training, you'll actually always be better off than you were before. That's the American way. +p2983 +aVWell, I'd just like to respond, with all due respect to, to the Governor, to the state just south of me, I would say that a lot of us have cut things. And during the recession of 2001 to 2003, when 91 percent of our state budget was basically three things, educate, medicate and incarcerate, we ended up cutting 11 percent out of the state budget through that recession so we didn't have to go in and raise a bunch of taxes, and there were people who thought we should. So it's just not accurate to say that nobody else up here has ever cut. I believe every governor has probably had to make tough decisions. I'm, I'm guessing my colleague Governor Christie has, as I'm tossing him the ball like Arkansas did to Ol' Miss the other day. +p2984 +aVSandra, before we get too far away, he specifically brought out some things about the record that I need to correct. +p2985 +aVSandra, I've been concerned that this administration has not done anything to help stop the slaughter of Christians. We didn't help the Kurds, we said we would. But, the idea that we're just going to open our doors, and we have no idea who these people are \u2014 what we do know is that only one out of five of the so called, "Syrian Refugees", who went into Europe were actually Syrian. Many of them, we had no idea who they were. They weren't Syrian. Are we going to open the doors so that the +p2986 +aV...I'd like to get that opportunity to go... +p2987 +aVWell, since we're not going to answer the question, let me just remind everybody, tomorrow is Veterans Day. And here's what I would like to remind everybody. The VA has been a disaster in large part because the people in Congress have never bothered to fix it, and this president has certainly not... +p2988 +aVLet me finish, please. I'm going to ask you just this, what would happen if the Congress and the president had to get their health care from the VA? We would fix the problem and we would fix Congress. +p2989 +aVWell, thank you very much. I still want to go back to the fact that if we got rid of all the taxes on our work, got rid of the taxes on our savings, investments, capital gains, and inheritance, and made a zero tax, we'd pay at the point of consumption. Because why should we punish people for their productivity? And the fair tax doesn't punish people for doing well and building the economy. There's $31 trillion parked offshore. What happens if that money comes back to America? You'd think it'd goose the economy? I guarantee you it would. And that's why the fair tax is the best solution we have for economic growth in this country. +p2990 +aVWell, first of all, do you know an American that will just stop spending? I don't. No, that's not going to be the problem. Look, Americans will go to the marketplace with more money they've ever had. For the first time they'll be having their whole paycheck. You see, most people don't understand that when you buy something that is made in America, 22 percent of the cost of it is the embedded tax they never even know they paid. It's why China has beaten the daylights out of us, they can build stuff that we can't because they're not taxing it, when they don't tax capital and labor and we do. They bring something over here, it's automatically cheaper even without the regulatory environment because they're not embedding the taxes, we are. Take the embedded taxes out. Give a person his whole paycheck because every American would no longer have a payroll tax taken out. It means they'd see their real paycheck for the first time. When they go to spend that money, they'll actually have it. And they only pay taxes on the stuff that's new. So a lot of Americans will buy used stuff. Look, here's the point, Americans are not going to quit shopping. Americans are not going to quit buying. But it would be nice if Americans could control how much they paid in tax, rather than having the government reach into their pockets and take it out before they ever had a chance to even see it, much less spend it. And that's why the fair tax makes a heck of a lot more sense than punishing productivity and rewarding irresponsibility. +p2991 +aVWell, my wife's name is Janet and when you say Janet Yelling, I'm very familiar with what you mean. But, look, I think the Fed is in a big trouble because they haven't addressed the number one issue that's hurting Americans and that's the fact that wages for the bottom 90 percent of the economy have been stagnant for 40 years. In the 25 years after World War II, up to 1971, wages grew by 85 percent in this country. People were \u2014 were moving up in the middle class. There was a middle class. That's not happening any more, and in large measure, the Fed has manipulated the dollar so it doesn't have a standard. Tie the dollar to something fixed and if it's not going to be gold, make it the commodity basket. But here's what we've got to do. We absolutely have to get it where the people who go out there and work get something in return. And if the dollar keeps fluctuating, and this is as crazy as \u2014 as is the price of bread, well, the fact is, people can't get ahead then. +p2992 +aVAbsolutely. Absolutely, because what we need to is to make sure that they tie the monetary standard to something that makes sense, rather than to their own whims, because who's getting gut punched? It ain't the people in Wall Street, it's the folks on Main Street. They're the ones who's wages have been stagnant for 40 years. And the average American today has a total savings of 1,000 bucks. One root canal and they're in trouble. And if their car breaks down the same week......they're out of business. +p2993 +aVWell, I think thanking our veterans is a wonderful thing to do, but, they sure appreciate a better paycheck. They'd appreciate the fact that we kept our promises to them. The men and women in uniform put on the uniform of our nation, they went halfway around the world, they face dangers on our behalf, and we promised them if they did that, when they came home we'd take care of their medical care, we'd make is possible for their kids to go to college, and they'd be able to bind to a home. They kept their promises to us. We have not kept our promises to them, and today, less than one percent of Americans go to the military for service. We're fighting wars with other people's kids in large measure because we've not taken seriously the moral, not the monetary, the moral obligation to take care of the veterans and to keep America's promise to the ones who kept their promise to America. +p2994 +aVIn many ways, I feel like I'm the luckiest guy on Earth. I really do. It's a long way from a little brick rent house on second street in Hope, Arkansas to this stage where I'm running for President of the United States. It's not about me, not about these guys \u2014 'ought to be about you, and I've never been the favorite of the people who have the most money. But, I want to be the favorite of the people who still want to believe the American dream can work for them. Today in our office, I got a letter from a third grader in North Dakota, her name is Reese. She sent $6 dollars from her allowance, and said, "I want to help you be president." You know, I'm going to keep standing on this stage, and keep fighting for one reason, because somewhere out there in North Dakota, and all over America, there are kids like Reese who need a president who will never forget where they came from, and I promise I won't. +p2995 +asVCRUZ +p2996 +(lp2997 +VThank you, Wolf. America is at war. Our enemy is not violent extremism. It is not some unnamed malevolent force. It is radical Islamic terrorist. We have a president who is unwilling to utter its name. The men and women on this stage, every one of us, is better prepared to keep this nation safe than is Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. We need a president who understands the first obligation of the commander-in-chief is to keep America safe. If I am elected president, we will hunt down and kill the terrorists. We will utterly destroy +p2998 +aVWell, listen, Hugh, everyone understands why Donald has suggested what he has. We're looking at a president who's engaged in this double-speak where he doesn't call radical Islamic terrorism by its name. Indeed, he gives a speech after the San Bernardino attack where his approach is to try to go after the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens rather than to keep us safe. And even worse, President Obama and Hillary Clinton are proposing bringing tens of thousands of Syrian refugees to this country when the head of the FBI has told Congress they cannot vet those refugees. I understand why Donald made that proposal. I introduced legislation in the Senate that I believe is more narrowly focused at the actual threat, which is radical Islamic terrorism, and what my legislation would do is suspend all refugees for three years from countries where +p2999 +aVWell, you know, I'm reminded of what FDR's grandfather said. He said, "All horse-thieves are Democrats, but not all Democrats are horse-thieves." In this instance, there are millions of peaceful Muslims across the world, in countries like India, where there is not the problems we are seeing in nations that are controlled \u2014 have territory controlled by Al Qaida or +p3000 +aVWell, Dana, the premise of your question is not accurate. I'm very proud to have joined with conservatives in both the Senate and the House to reform how we target bad guys. And what the USA Freedom Act did is it did two things. Number one, it ended the federal government's bulk collection of phone metadata of millions of law-abiding citizens. But number two in the second half of it that is critical. It strengthened the tools of national security and law enforcement to go after terrorists. It gave us greater tools and we are seeing those tools work right now in San Bernardino. And in particular, what it did is the prior program only covered a relatively narrow slice of phone calls. When you had a terrorist, you could only search a relatively narrow slice of numbers, primarily land lines. The USA Freedom Act expands that so now we have cell phones, now we have Internet phones, now we have the phones that terrorists are likely to use and the focus of law enforcement is on targeting the bad guys. You know what the Obama administration keeps getting wrong is whenever anything bad happens they focus on law-abiding citizens instead of focusing on the bad guys. We need to focus on radical Islamic terrorists and we need to stop them before they carry out acts of terror. +p3001 +aVWell, you know, I would note that Marco knows what he's saying isn't true. You know, Mark Levin wrote a column last week that says that the attack ads his Super PAC is running that are saying the same thing, that they are knowingly false and they are, in fact, Alinsky-like attacks like Barack Obama. And the reason is simple. What he knows is that the old program covered 20 percent to 30 percent of phone numbers to search for terrorists. The new program covers nearly 100 percent. That gives us greater ability to stop acts of terrorism, and he knows that that's the case. +p3002 +aVWhat it means is using overwhelming air power to utterly and completely destroy +p3003 +aVYou would carpet bomb where +p3004 +aVWell, you know, Marco has continued these attacks, and he knows they're not true. Yes, it is true that I voted against the National Defense Authorization Act, because when I campaigned in Texas I told voters in Texas that I would oppose the federal government having the authority to detain U.S. citizens permanently with no due process. I have repeatedly supported an effort to take that out of that bill, and I honored that campaign commitment. +p3005 +aVBut more broadly, you know, the notion Marco is suggesting, that somehow \u2014 he also has tossed more than a few insults this direction \u2014 let's be absolutely clear. +p3006 +aVWolf, I believe in a America first foreign policy, that far too often President Obama and Hillary Clinton \u2014 and, unfortunately, more than a few Republicans \u2014 have gotten distracted from the central focus of keeping this country safe. So let's go back to the beginning of the Obama administration, when Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama led +p3007 +aV... we ought to hunt down our enemies and kill +p3008 +aVWell, it's more than not shedding a tear. It's actively getting involved to topple a government. And we keep hearing from President Obama and Hillary Clinton and Washington Republicans that they're searching for these mythical moderate rebels. It's like a purple unicorn. They never exist. These moderate rebels end up being jihadists. And I'll tell you whose view on Assad is the same as mine. It's Prime Minister Netanyahu. Prime Minister Netanyahu has said Israel doesn't have a dog in that fight because Assad is a puppet of Iran, a Shia radical Islamic terrorist, but at the same time, Prime Minister Netanyahu doesn't want to see Syria governed by +p3009 +aVThe question of whether we should toppling dictatorships is asking the wrong question. We should be defeating our enemies. So the problem with defeating... +p3010 +aVWell, but let me explain, the focus should be... +p3011 +aV... on defeating our enemies. So, for example... +p3012 +aV... a regime we should change is Iran... +p3013 +aV... because Iran has declared war on us. But we shouldn't be toppling regimes...... that are fighting radical Islamic terrorists that are helping... +p3014 +aVWell, he \u2014 he has attempted to muddy the waters, but I think that anyone who watched the battle that we had. You know, there was a time for choosing as Reagan put it. Where there was a battle over amnesty and some chose, like Senator Rubio to stand with Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer and support a massive amnesty plan. Others chose to stand with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and the American people and secure the border. And let me mention, this issue is actually directly connected to what we've been talking about. Because the front line with +p3015 +aVLook, I understand Marco wants to raise confusion, it is not accurate what he just said that I supported legalization. Indeed, I led the fight against his legalization and amnesty. And you know, there was one commentator that put it this way that, for Marco to suggest our record's the same is like suggesting "the fireman and the arsonist because they are both at the scene of the fire." He was fighting to grant amnesty and not to secure the border, I was fighting to secure the border. And this also goes to trust, listening on to campaign trails. Candidates all the time make promises. You know, Marco said," he learned that the American people didn't trust the federal government." +p3016 +aVIn Florida promising to... +p3017 +aVgo in the fight against amnesty... +p3018 +aVHe campaigned promising to lead the fight against amnesty. +p3019 +aVI have never supported a legalization... +p3020 +aVI have never supported legalization, and I do not intend to support legalization. Let me tell you how you do this, what you do is you enforce the law... +p3021 +aVWatt you do is enforcement the law... +p3022 +aVWhat you do... +p3023 +aVWhat you do is you enforce the law. I've laid out a very, very detailed immigration plan on my website, tedcruz.org. It's 11 pages of existing federal law and in particular the question of what to do with people who are here now? You enforce the law. That means you stop the Obama administration's policy of releasing criminal illegal aliens. Do you know how many aliens Bill Clinton deported? 12 million. Do you know how many illegal aliens, George W. Bush deported? 10 million. We can enforce the laws and if we secure the border, that solves the problem. And as president I will solve this problem and secure the border. +p3024 +aVDana, what I said in private is exactly what I'll say here, which is that the judgment that every voter is making of every one of us up here is who has the experience, who has the vision, who has the judgment to be commander in chief. That is the most important decision for the voters to make. That's a standard I'm held to. And it's a standard everyone else is held to. And I will note, you know, in the whole course of this discussion about our foreign policy threats, it actually illustrates the need for clarity of focus. You know, my daughters, Caroline and Catherine, came tonight. They're 7 and 5. And you think about the Los Angeles schools canceling their schools today. And every parent is wondering, how do we keep our kids safe? We need a commander in chief who does what Ronald Reagan did with communism, which is he set out a global strategy to defeat Soviet communism. And he directed all of his... I'm answering the question, Dana. He directed all of his forces to defeating communism. One of the things we've seen here is how easy it is for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to get distracted from dealing with radical Islamic terrorism. They won't even call it by its name. We need a president who stands up, number one, and says, we will defeat +p3025 +aVAnd we need to be focused on defeating... +p3026 +aV... defeating radical Islamic terrorists. +p3027 +aVWhat I'm saying, Dana, is that is a judgment for every voter to make. What I can tell you is all nine of the people here would make an infinitely better commander in chief than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. +p3028 +aVAnd there is a real danger, Dana, when people get distracted. I'm answering the question, Wolf. There's a real danger when people get distracted by peripheral issues. They get distracted by democracy building. They get distracted about military conflicts. We need to focus on defeating jihadism. +p3029 +aVAnd I will do everything necessary to keep our children safe. +p3030 +aVJudgment, strength, clarity and trust. Barack Obama has said he doesn't believe in American leadership or America winning \u2014 he is wrong. America can win again and we will win again. Ronald Reagan reignited the American economy, rebuilt the Military, bankrupted the Soviet Union and defeated Soviet Communism. I will do the same thing. Cutting taxes, cutting regulation, unleashing small businesses and rebuilding the Military to defeat radical Islamic terrorism \u2014 our strategy is simple. We win, they lose. We've done it before and we can do it again. +p3031 +aVWell, Maria, it's great to be with you. It's great to be here in Milwaukee. You know, the question you asked really I think is the most important question any of us can have \u2014 face, which is, how do we get the economy growing? How do we bring back economic growth? Because economic growth, it's foundational to every other challenge we have. As you rightly noted, from 2008 to today, our economy has grown 1.2 percent a year on average. The Obama economy is a disaster, and the IMF is telling us this is a new normal. It doesn't have to be. If you look at the history of America, there are three levers that government has had to facilitate economic growth. The first is tax reform. And as you noted, I have rolled out a bold and simple flat tax: 10 percent for every American that would produce booming growth and 4.9 million new jobs within a decade. The second element is regulatory reform, pulling back the armies of regulators that have descended like locusts on small businesses. And the third element is sound money. Every time we've pursued all three of those \u2014 whether in the 1920s with Calvin Coolidge or the 1960s with JFK or the 1980s with Ronald Reagan \u2014 the result has been incredible economic growth. We have done it before, and with leadership, we can do it again. +p3032 +aVWell, my Mom is here, so I don't think we should be pushing any grannies off cliffs. And, you miss-stated what I've said on entitlement reform. What I've said is for seniors we should make no changes whatsoever, for younger workers we should gradually raise the retirement age, we should have benefits grow more slowly, and we should allow them to keep a portion of their taxes in a personal account that they control, and can pass on to their kids... +p3033 +aVI want to go back to the discussion we had a minute ago because, you know, what was said was right. The democrats are laughing \u2014 because if republicans join democrats as the party of amnesty, we will lose. And, you know, I understand that when the mainstream media covers immigration, it doesn't often see it as an economic issue. But, I can tell you for millions \u2014 of Americans at home watching this, it is a very personal economic issue. And, I will say the politics of it will be very, very different if a bunch of lawyers or bankers were crossing the Rio Grande. Or if a bunch of people with journalism degrees were coming over and driving down the wages in the press. Then, we would see stories about the economic calamity that is befalling our nation. And, I will say for those of us who believe people 'ought to come to this country legally, and we should enforce the law, we're tired of being told it's anti-immigrant. It's offensive. I am the son of an immigrant who came legally from Cuba... ...to seek the American dream. And, we can embrace legal immigration while believing in the rule of law \u2014 and I would note, try going illegally to another country. Try going to China, or Japan. Try going to Mexico. See what they do. Every sovereign nation secures its borders, and it is not compassionate to say we're not going to enforce the laws... ...And we're going to drive down the wages for millions of hardworking men and women. That is abandoning the working... +p3034 +aVWell, sure, you put your finger on what the problem is. The current system isn't fair. Washington is fundamentally corrupt. There are more words in the IRS code than there are in the Bible \u2014 and \u2014 and not a one of them is as good. Every one of them reflects a carve-out or a subsidy, and it's all about empowering the Washington cartel. My simple Flat Tax says that, for a family of four, for the first $36,000 you earn, you pay no taxes whatsoever. No income taxes, no payroll taxes, no nothing. Above that, every American pays 10 percent across the board \u2014 a flat, fair tax. Which means that no longer do you have hedge-fund billionaires paying a lower tax rate than their secretaries. On the business side, I've got a business flat tax of 16 percent \u2014 again, that applies across the board. Right now, with our corporate income tax, giant corporations with armies of accountants regularly are paying little to no taxes while small businesses are getting hammered. This is fair and across-the-board. Now, you ask, how do the numbers add up? I would encourage folks, if you go to our website, tedcruz.org, we have the specific numbers on the website. This plan eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax, eliminates the corporate income tax, and it abolishes the IRS. And the effect of that is incredible economic growth. It means every income group will see double-digit increases, from the very poorest to the very weakest, of at least 14 percent. So if you're a single mom, if you're making $40,000 a year, what that means is an extra about $5,000 in your pocket to provide for your kids, to make ends meet. It has a powerful, powerful effect. And there's one other really powerful feature of my plan, which is that it's border-adjustable. Which means, if you're an exporter \u2014 if you're a farmer, if you're a rancher, if you're a manufacturer, you don't pay the businesses flat tax. Exports are free of that tax, but all imports pay that 16 percent business flat tax, which means this tax plan would cause jobs to boom, and it would let America compete with China and the world on a level playing field. +p3035 +aVWell, the numbers the Tax Foundation had put out is that the static cost of the plan is $3.6 trillion over 10 years, but the dynamic cost of the plan, which \u2014 which is the cost that factors in growth, is about $768 billion. It is less than a trillion. It costs less than virtually every other plan people have put up here, and yet it produces more growth and it's one of the very few plans that abolishes the IRS. But on top of that, today, we rolled out a spending plan. $500 billion in specific cuts \u2014 five major agencies that I would eliminate. The IRS, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Energy, the Department of Commerce, and HUD \u2014 and then 25 specific programs. Again, that's on our website at tedcruz.org. You want to look at specificity? It's easy for everyone to say, "cut spending". It's much harder and riskier to put out, chapter and verse, specifically the programs you would cut to stop bankrupting our kids and grandkids. +p3036 +aV...Middle ground that brings both of these together... +p3037 +aV...Exactly right, that we have to defend this nation. You think defending this nation is expensive, try not defending it. That's a lot more expensive. But, you can do that, and pay for it. You can do that, and also be fiscally responsible. You know, I mention that the 25 programs that I put today, that I would eliminate them. Among them are corporate welfare, like sugar subsidies. Let's take that as an example. Sugar subsidies. Sugar farmers farm under... ...under roughly 0.2% of the farmland in America, and yet they give 40% of the lobbying money. That sort of corporate welfare is why we're bankrupting our kids, and grandkids. I would end those subsidies to pay for defending this nation... +p3038 +aVAbsolutely yes. You know, I have spent much of my adult life enforcing the law and defending the Constitution. And the problem that underlies all of this is the cronyism and corruption of Washington. You know, the opening question Jerry asked, would you bail out the big banks again? Nobody gave you an answer to that. I'll give you an answer. Absolutely not. And what we have right now is we have Washington \u2014 as government gets bigger and bigger, you know, the biggest lie in all of Washington and in all of politics is that Republicans are the party of the rich. The truth is, the rich do great with big government. They get in bed with big government. The big banks get bigger and bigger and bigger under Dodd-Frank and community banks are going out of business. And, by the way, the consequence of that is small businesses can't get business loans, and it is that fundamental corruption that is why six of the 10 wealthiest counties in America are in and around Washington, D.C. And let me give you a contrast to Washington cronyism. Some weeks ago, a woman named Sabina Loving testified at a hearing that I chaired in the Senate. Sabina Loving is an African-American single mom who started a tax preparation business in the south side of Chicago. She found a store front, she wanted to have her own business. She started a business. But then the IRS promulgated new regulations targeting tax preparers. They did it under a more than 100-year-old statute called the Dead Horse Act. Now, this statute and the IRS in classic Washington crony fashion had exemptions for lawyers and big fancy accountants, but Sabina had to pay $1,000 an employee. It would have driven her out of business, and Ms. Loving sued the IRS. She took the Obama IRS to court, and she won, and they struck down the rule for picking the big guys over the little guys. +p3039 +aVYes. Now, let's be clear, there is a role for the Federal Reserve \u2014 what the Fed is doing now is it is a series of philosopher- kings trying to guess what's happening with the economy. You look at the Fed, one of the reasons we had the financial crash is throughout the 2000s, we had loose money, we had an asset bubble, it drove up the price of real estate, drove up the price of commodities, and then in the third quarter of 2008, the Fed tightened the money and crashed those asset prices, which caused a cascading collapse. That's why I am supporting getting back to rules-based monetary system not with a bunch of philosopher-kings deciding, but tied... +p3040 +aVSo let me be clear. I would not bail them out, but instead of adjusting monetary policy according to whims and getting it wrong over and over again and causing booms and busts, what the Fed should be doing is, number one, keeping our money tied to a stable level of gold, and, number two, serving as a lender of last resort. That's what central banks do. So if you have a run on the bank, the Fed can serve as a lender of last resort, but it's not a bailout. It is a loan at higher interest rates. That's how central banks have worked. And I'll point out \u2014 look, we had a gold standard under Bretton Woods, we had it for about 170 years of our nation's history, and enjoyed booming economic growth and lower inflation than we have had with the Fed now. We need to get back to sound money, which helps, in particular, working men and women. What Washington does \u2014 the people who are doing well in the Obama economy are those with power and influence in the Obama government. The people who working men and women... +p3041 +aVSo, Governor Kasich... +p3042 +aV...why would you then bail out rich Wall Street banks, but not Main street, not Mom and Pop, not Sabina Loving? +p3043 +aVBut you just said an executive... +p3044 +aV...knows to step in and bail out a bank. +p3045 +aVSo you said you'd abandon philosophy and abandon principle... +p3046 +aV...but what would you do if the bank was failing? +p3047 +aVSo you \u2014 you would bail them out. +p3048 +aVAnd, Maria, I will note, she's got a lot of experience, but her policies have proven disastrous. If you look at foreign policy, every region in the world has gotten worse. Under her leadership, we abandon the nation of Israel. Under her leadership, radical Islamic terrorism has been on to the rise. Under her leadership, and Obama's leadership, Iran is getting $100 billion dollars, and on the verge of getting a nuclear weapon. Everything she's put her hand to, or has touched \u2014 and when we talk about the cronyism of Washington, Hillary Clinton embodies the cronyism... ...of Washington. And, I'll give you an example of that, which is the Congressional exemption from Obamacare, which is fundamentally wrong, and I'll tell you this, if I'm elected president, I will veto any statute that exempts members of congress. The law should apply evenly to every American. +p3049 +aVMaria, critically, when it comes to climate change... +p3050 +aV...Our \u2014 our... +p3051 +aVFifty-eight years ago, my father fled Cuba. As he stood on the deck of that ferryboat with the wind and salt air blowing, he looked back at the oppression and torture he was escaping. And yet he looked forward to the promise of America. His story is our story. What ties Americans together is we are all the children of those who risked everything for freedom. America is in crisis now. I believe in America. And if we get back to the free market principles and constitutional liberties that built this country, we can turn this country around. I believe that 2016 will be an election like 1980, that we will win by following Reagan's admonition to paint in bold colors, not pale pastels. We're building a grassroots army. I ask you to join us at tedcruz.org. And we, the people, can turn this nation around. +p3052 +aVI'm too agreeable, easy going. You know, I think my biggest weakness is exactly the opposite. I'm a fighter. I am passionate about what I believe. I've been passionate my whole life about the Constitution. And, you know, for six-and-a-half years, we've had a gigantic party. If you want someone to grab a beer with, I may not be that guy. But if you want someone to drive you home, I will get the job done and I will get you home. +p3053 +aVBecky, if you want a 10 percent flat tax where the numbers add up, I rolled out my tax plan today, you can find it on line at tedcruz.org. It is a simple flat tax where for individuals, a family of four pays nothing on the first $36,000. After that you pay 10 percent as a flat tax going up. The billionaire and the working man, no hedge fund manager pays less than his secretary. On top of that, there is a business flat tax of 16 percent. Now that applies universally to giant corporations that with lobbyists right now are not paying taxes, and as small business. And you wanted to know the numbers, the Tax Foundation, which has scored every one of our plans, shows that this plan will allow the economy to generate 4.9 million jobs, to raise wages over 12 percent, and to generate 14 percent growth. And it costs, with dynamic scoring, less than a trillion dollars. Those are the hard numbers. And every single income decile sees a double-digit increase in after-tax income. +p3054 +aVGrowth is the answer. And as Reagan demonstrated, if we cut taxes, we can bring back growth. +p3055 +aVYou know, let me say something at the outset. The questions that have been asked so far in this debate illustrate why the American people don't trust the media. This is not a cage match. And, you look at the questions \u2014 "Donald Trump, are you a comic-book villain?" "Ben Carson, can you do math?" "John Kasich, will you insult two people over here?" "Marco Rubio, why don't you resign?" "Jeb Bush, why have your numbers fallen?" How about talking about the substantive issues the people care about? +p3056 +aVAnd Carl \u2014 Carl, I'm not finished yet. The contrast with the Democratic debate, where every fawning question from the media was, "Which of you is more handsome and why?" And let me be clear. +p3057 +aVLet me be clear. The men and women on this stage have more ideas, more experience, more common sense than every participant in the Democratic debate. That debate reflected a debate between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. And nobody watching at home believed that any of the moderators had any intention of voting in a Republican primary. The questions that are being asked shouldn't be trying to get people to tear into each other. It should be what are your substantive positions... +p3058 +aVYou want me to answer that question? I'm happy to answer the question... +p3059 +aVLet me tell you how that question... +p3060 +aVLet me tell you how that question... +p3061 +aV... so you don't actually want to hear the answer, John? +p3062 +aVYou don't want to hear the answer. You just want to... +p3063 +aVYou're not interested in an answer. +p3064 +aV...Then I'll buy you a tequila... +p3065 +aV...Or, even some famous Colorado brownies. +p3066 +aVWell, sure. This deal in Washington is an example of why Washington's broken. Republican leadership joined with every single Democrat, add $80 trillion to our debt to do nothing to fix the problems. And, let me now on Social Security because we were getting into a good substantive exchange, and I want to say I think both Chris, and Mike are right. Governor Huckabee's exactly right, we need to honor the promises made to our seniors, but for younger workers \u2014 look. I'm 44 years old. It is hard to find someone in my generation that thinks Social Security will be there for us. We can save and preserve and strengthen Social Security by making no changes for seniors, but for younger workers gradually increasing the retirement age, changing the rate of growth so that it matches inflation, and critically allowing younger workers to keep a portion of our tax payments in a personal account that we own, we control them, we can pass on to our kids. +p3067 +aVWell, we've gotta turn the economy around for people who are struggling. The Democrats' answer to everything is more government control over wages, and more empowering trial lawyers to file lawsuits. You know, you look at women working. I'll tell you, in my family there are a lot of single moms in my family. My sister was a single mom, both of my aunts who were a single moms. My mom who's here today, was a single mom when my father left us when I was 3 years old. Now, thank God, my father was invited to a Bible study and became born again and he came back to my mom and me and we were raised together. But I \u2014 the struggle of single moms is extraordinary. And you know, when you see Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and all the Democrats talking about wanting to address the plight of working women, not a one of them mentioned the fact that under Barack Obama, 3.7 million women have entered poverty. Not a one of them mentioned the fact that under Barack Obama and the big government economy, the median wage for women has dropped $733. The the truth of the matter is, big government benefits the wealthy, it benefits the lobbyists, it benefits the giant corporations. And the people who are getting hammered are small businesses, it's single moms, it's Hispanics. That is who I'm fighting for. The people that Washington leaves behind. +p3068 +aVWell, Rick, it's a very important question. I have got deep concerns about the Fed. The first thing I think we need to do is audit the Fed. And I am an original co-sponsor of Rand Paul's audit the Fed legislation. The second thing we need to do is I think we need to bring together a bipartisan commission to look at getting back to rules- based monetary policy, end this star chamber that has been engaging in this incredible experiment of quantitative easing, QE1, QE2, QE3, QE- infinity. And the people who are being impacted, you know, a question that was asked earlier, Becky asked, was about working women. You know, it's interesting, you look at on Wall Street, the Fed is doing great. It's driving up stock prices. Wall Street is doing great. You know, today, the top 1 percent earn a higher share of our income than any year since 1928. But if you look at working men and women. If you look at a single mom buying groceries, she sees hamburger prices have gone up nearly 40 percent. She sees her cost of electricity going up. She sees her health insurance going up. And loose money is one of the major problems. We need sound money. And I think the Fed should get out of the business of trying to juice our economy and simply be focused on sound money and monetary stability, ideally tied to gold. +p3069 +aVLet me say on that... +p3070 +aV...Rand is exactly right. His plan is a good plan, and I will note that my 10% plan also eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax, +p3071 +aV...eliminates the business... [ +p3072 +aV...income tax... [ +p3073 +aV...10% flat rate... +p3074 +aV...is the lowest personal rate any candidate up here has, and what it would also enable us to do is for every citizen to fill out their taxes on a postcard so we can eliminate the IRS. +p3075 +aVYou know, everyone here talks about the need to take on Washington. The natural next question is who actually has done so. Who actually has stood up not just to Democrats, but to leaders in our own party? When millions of Americans rose up against Obamacare, I was proud to lead that fight. When millions of Americans rose up against amnesty, I was proud to lead that fight. When millions of Americans rose up against Planned Parenthood, I was proud to lead that fight. If people are promising they're going to take on Washington and cronyism, you need to look to who has been doing it. In my family, my dad fled oppression in Cuba to come to America. Freedom is personal for me, and I will always keep my word and fight for freedom. +p3076 +aVI'm Ted Cruz. I am the son of an Irish-Italian mom and a Cuban immigrant dad who fled oppression and came to America seeking freedom. I'm a husband to my best friend, Heidi, who's here tonight. I'm a dad to two little girls who are the loves of my life, Caroline and Catherine. If you're fed up with Washington, if you're looking for someone to stand up to career politicians in both parties, I'm the only one on this stage who has done that over and over again, and if we stand together, we can bring America back. +p3077 +aVWell, let me tell you, Jake, the single biggest national security threat facing America right now is the threat of a nuclear Iran. We've seen six and a half years of President Obama leading from behind. Weakness is provocative, and this Iranian nuclear deal is nothing short of catastrophic. This deal, on its face, will send over $100 billion to the Ayatollah Khamenei, making the Obama administration the world's leading financier of radical Islamic terrorism. +p3078 +aVThis deal abandons four American hostages in Iran, and this deal will only accelerate Iran's acquiring nuclear weapons. You'd better believe it. If I am elected president, on the very first day in office, I will rip to shreds this catastrophic Iranian nuclear deal. +p3079 +aVWell, let's be clear when it comes to experience. What President Obama wants to do is he's run to the United Nations, and he wants to use the United Nations to bind the United States, and take away our sovereignty. Well, I spent five and a half years as a Solicitor General of Texas, the lead lawyer for the state, in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, and I went in front of the Supreme Court, and took on the world court of the United Nations in a case called Medellin v. Texas, and we won a historic victory saying the World Court, and the U.N., has no power to bind the United States, and no President of the United States, Republican or Democrat, has the authority to give away our sovereignty. And, so, if there's anyone up here who would be bound by this catastrophic deal with Iran, they're giving up the core responsibility of commander in chief, and as president, I would never do that. +p3080 +aVJake, Jake... +p3081 +aVJake, there is no more important topic in 2016 than this topic right here, and I've listened to several folks saying, "Well, gosh, if they cheat, we'll act." We won't know under this agreement \u2014 there are several facilities in Iran they designate as military facilities that are off limit all together. Beyond that, the other facilities, we give them 24 days notice before inspecting them. That is designed to allow them to hide the evidence. And most astonishingly, this agreement trusts the Iranians to inspect themselves. That makes no sense whatsoever. And let me know \u2014 President Obama is violating federal law... +p3082 +aV... by not handing over the side deals, and we ought to see the United States Congress... +p3083 +aV... stand up together and say, "Hand over this treaty, and protect this country." +p3084 +aVWell, let me tell you, Dana, number one, I'm proud to stand for life. These Planned Parenthood videos are horrifying. I would encourage every American to watch the videos. See \u2014 seeing your Planned Parenthood officials callously, heartlessly bartering and selling the body parts of human beings, and then ask yourself, "are these my values?" These are horrifying. On these videos, Planned Parenthood also essentially confesses to multiple felonies. It is a felony with ten years' jail term to sell the body parts of unborn children for profit. That's what these videos show Planned Parenthood doing. Absolutely we shouldn't be sending $500 million of taxpayer money to funding an ongoing criminal enterprise, and I'll tell you, the fact that Republican leadership in both houses has begun this discussion by preemptively surrendering to Barack Obama and saying, "we'll give in because Obama threatens a veto." You know, Obama's committed to his principles. His liberal principles, he will fight for them. He says... +p3085 +aVI will veto any budget that doesn't fund Planned Parenthood, and Republicans surrender. We need to stop surrendering and start standing... +p3086 +aV...for our principles. +p3087 +aVWell, Jake, you know, I'm \u2014 I'm very glad that Donald Trump's being in this race has forced the mainstream media finally to talk about illegal immigration. I think that's very important. I like and respect Ben Carson. I'll let him talk about his own plans. But I will say this: The natural next question that primary voters are asking, after we focus on illegal immigration is, okay, what are the records of the various candidates? And this is an issue on which there are stark differences. A majority of the men and women on this stage have previously and publicly embraced amnesty. I am the only candidate on this stage who has never supported amnesty and, in fact, who helped lead the fight to stop a massive amnesty plan. In 2013, when Barack Obama and Harry Reid joined the Washington Republicans in a massive, I stood shoulder to shoulder with Jeff Sessions helping lead the fight. You know, folks here have talked about, how do you secure the borders? Well, I've been leading the fight in the Senate to triple the Border Patrol, to put in place fencings and walls, to put in place a strong biometric exit/entry system... +p3088 +aVWell, Dana, I've known John Roberts for 20 years, he's amazingly talented lawyer, but, yes, it was a mistake when he was appointed to the Supreme Court. He's a good enough lawyer that he knows in these Obamacare cases he changed the statute, he changed the law in order to force that failed law on millions of Americans for a political outcome. And, you know, we're frustrated as conservatives. We keep winning elections, and then we don't get the outcome we want. And, let me focus on two moments in time. Number one, in 1990, in one room was David Souter, and in another room was Edith Jones, the rock ribbed (ph) conservative on the fifth circuit court of appeals. George Herbert Walker Bush appointed David Souter. And then in 2005, in one room was John Roberts, in another room was my former boss, Mike Luttig, the rock ribbed (ph) conservative on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals... +p3089 +aV...George W. Bush appointed John Roberts, and let me give you the consequences of that. If, instead, the President Bush had appointed Edith Jones, and Mike Luttig, which is who I would have appointed, Obamacare would have been struck down three years ago, and the marriage laws of all 50 states would be on the books. These matter, and I fought to defend the constitution my whole life... +p3090 +aV...and I will as president as well. +p3091 +aVIt is true that after George W. Bush nominated John Roberts, I supported his confirmation. That was a mistake and I regret that. I wouldn't have nominated John Roberts, and indeed, Governor Bush pointed out why. It wasn't that the President Bushes wanted to appoint a liberal to the court, it's that it was the easier choice. Both David Souter and John Roberts, they didn't have a long paper trail. If you had nominated Edith Jones or Mike Ludig (ph) you would have had a bloody fight and they weren't willing to spend political capital to put a strong judicial conservative on the court. I have spent my entire life, starting from clerking for Chief Justice William Rehnquist on the United States Supreme Court, one of the most principled jurists. We have an out-of-control Court, and I give you my word, if I'm elected president, every single Supreme Court justice will faithfully follow the law and will not act like philosopher kings \u2014 +p3092 +aV\u2014 imposing their liberal policies on millions of Americans \u2014 +p3093 +aV\u2014 who need to be trusted to govern ourselves. +p3094 +aVI \u2014 I am not, and \u2014 and you mentioned that the U.S. Supreme Court had rightly upheld the individual right to keep and bear arms. I was proud to lead 31 states before the U.S. Supreme Court defending the Second Amendment, and we won that landmark victory. And indeed, just a couple of years ago, when Harry Reid and Barack Obama came after the right to keep and bear arms of millions of Americans, I was proud to lead the fight in the United States Senate to protect our right to keep and bear arms, and for that reason... +p3095 +aV... I was honored to be endorsed by Gun Owners of America... +p3096 +aV... as the strongest supporter of the Second Amendment on this stage today, and I will... +p3097 +aV... fight every day to defend the Bill of Rights. +p3098 +aVWell, I wouldn't change the $10 bill, I'd change the $20. I'd take Jackson off and I'd leave Alexander Hamilton right where he is as one of our Founding Fathers. And I very much agree with Marco that it should be Rosa Parks. She was a principled pioneer that helped change this country, helped remedy racial injustice, and that would be an honor that would be entirely appropriate. +p3099 +aVYou know, as a Cuban, I might go with Cohiba (ph), and I'll tell you, I'd go with, for Heidi, Angel, because she is my angel. +p3100 +aVRonald Reagan believed in America. If I'm elected president our friends and allies across the globe will know that we stand with them. the bust of Winston Churchill will be back in the Oval Office, and the American embassy in Israel will be in Jerusalem. Enemies across this world will know the United States is not to be trifled with. +p3101 +aVChris, I believe the American people are looking for someone to speak the truth. If you're looking for someone to go to Washington, to go along to get along, to get -- to agree with the career politicians in both parties who get in bed with the lobbyists and special interests, then I ain't your guy. There is a reason... .... that we have $18 trillion in debt. Because as conservatives, as Republicans, we keep winning elections. We got a Republican House, we've got a Republican Senate, and we don't have leaders who honor their commitments. I will always tell the truth and do what I said I would do. +p3102 +aVChris, absolutely yes. And not only will I support it......I have authored Kate's law in the United States Senate and filed that legislation. I tried to get the Senate to vote to pass Kate's law on the floor of the Senate just one week ago, and the leader of our own party blocked a vote on Kate's law. You know, there was reference made to our leaders being stupid. It's not a question of stupidity. It's that they don't want to enforce the immigration laws. That there are far too many in the Washington cartel that support amnesty. President Obama has talked about fundamentally transforming this country. There's 7 billion people across the face of the globe, many of whom want to come to this country. If they come legally, great. But if they come illegally and they get amnesty, that is how we fundamentally change this country, and it really is striking. A majority of the candidates on this stage have supported amnesty. I have never supported amnesty, and I led the fight against Chuck Schumer's gang of eight amnesty legislation in the Senate. +p3103 +aVMegyn, we need a commander in chief that speaks the truth. We will not defeat radical Islamic terrorism so long as we have a president unwilling to utter the words, "radical Islamic terrorism". When I asked General Dempsey, the chairman of the joint chiefs, what would be required militarily to destroy +p3104 +aVMegyn, of course it's an ideological problem, that's one of the reasons I introduce the Expatriate Terrorist Act in the Senate that said if any American travels to the Middle East and joining +p3105 +aVWell, Bret, of course they have, and over the last six and a half years we've seen the consequences of the Obama-Clinton foreign policy. Leading from behind is a disaster. We have abandoned and alienated our friends and allies, and our enemies are stronger. Radical Islam is on the rise, Iran's on the verge of acquiring a nuclear weapon, China is waging cyber warfare against America, Russia -- General Soleimani, you just mentioned, the Iranian general is the head of the al Quds forces. He's directly responsible for the murder of over 500 American servicemen in Iraq, and part of this Iranian deal was lifting the international sanctions on General Soleimani. The day General Soleimani flew back from Moscow to Iran was the day we believed that Russia used cyber warfare against the Joint Chiefs. We need a new commander in chief that will stand up to our enemies, and that will have credibility... It is worth emphasizing that Iran released our hostages in 1981 the day Ronald Reagan was sworn into office. +p3106 +aVBrett, can I -- Brett, can I jump in on this one? +p3107 +aVWell, I am blessed to receive a word from God every day in receiving the scriptures and reading the scriptures. And God speaks through the Bible. I'm the son of a pastor and evangelist and I've described many times how my father, when I was a child, was an alcoholic. He wasn't a Christian. And my father left my mother and left me when I was just three years old. And someone invited him to Clay Road Baptist Church. And he gave his heart to Jesus and it turned him around. And he got on a plane and he flew back to my mother and me. I would also note that the scripture tells us, "you shall know them by their fruit." We see lots of "campaign conservatives." But if we're going to win in 2016, we need a consistent conservative, someone who has been a fiscal conservative, a social conservative, a national security conservative. There are real differences among the candidates on issues like amnesty, like Obamacare, like religious liberty, like life and marriage. And I have been proud to fight and stand for religious liberty, to stand against Planned Parenthood, to defend life for my entire career. And I will be proud to continue to do so as president of the United States. +p3108 +aVIf I'm elected president, let me tell you about my first day in office. The first thing I intend to do is to rescind every illegal and unconstitutional executive action taken by Barack Obama. The next thing I intend to do is instruct the Department of Justice to open an investigation into these videos and to prosecute Planned Parenthood for any criminal violations. The next thing I intend to do is instruct the Department of Justice and the IRS to start (sic) persecuting religious liberty, and then intend to cancel the Iran deal, and finally move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. I will keep my word. My father fled Cuba, and I will fight to defend liberty because my family knows what it's like to lose it. +p3109 +aVWell, we have 80 years of precedent of not confirming Supreme Court justices in an election year. And let me say, Justice Scalia... +p3110 +aVEighty years of not confirming. For example, L.B.J. nominated Abe Fortas. Fortas did not get confirmed. He was defeated. +p3111 +aVNo, Kennedy was confirmed in '87... +p3112 +aVHe was appointed in... +p3113 +aVIn this case it's both. But if I could answer the question... +p3114 +aVJustice Scalia was a legal giant. He was somebody that I knew for 20 years. He was a brilliant man. He was faithful to the Constitution. He changed the arc of American legal history. And I'll tell you, his passing tonight, our prayers are with his family, with his wife, Maureen, who he adored, his nine children, his 36 grandkids. But it underscores the stakes of this election. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that will strike down every restriction on abortion adopted by the states. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that will reverse the Heller decision, one of Justice Scalia's seminal decisions, that upheld the Second Amendment right to keep and to bear arms. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that would undermine the religious liberty of millions of Americans \u2014 and the stakes of this election, for this year, for the Senate, the Senate needs to stand strong and say, "We're not going to give up the U.S. Supreme Court for a generation by allowing Barack Obama to make one more liberal appointee." And then for the state of South Carolina, one of the most important judgments for the men and women of South Carolina to make is who on this stage has the background, the principle, the character, the judgment and the strength of resolve to nominate and confirm principled constitutionalists to the court? That will be what I will do if I'm elected president. +p3115 +aVWell, we need to focus on what the objective is, you know? Your question about the first three questions you would ask in this Situation Room. I think it is a problem if the president, commander in chief, we've elected does not have the experience and background to understand the threats facing this country coming in on Day 1. If you look at the threats facing this country, the single gravest threat, national security threat, is the threat of a nuclear Iran. That's why I've pledged on Day 1 to rip to shreds this Iranian nuclear deal, and anyone that thinks you can negotiate Khamenei does not understand the nature of Khamenei. When it comes to +p3116 +aVWe have Kurds in both Iraq and Syria. They are fighting +p3117 +aVWell, let me say it at the outset that everyone here understands \u2014 everyone understands that how \u2014 that the middle class has been left behind in the last seven years of the Obama economy, and we've got to bring jobs back. We've got to get people back to work. We've got to get wages going up again. We've got to get people moving from part-time work to full-time work. We all agree on that, but it's not going to be solved with magic pixie dust. It's just going to be solved by declaring into the air, "Let there be jobs." We actually have to understand the principles that made America great in the first place. Now, where do you get economic growth? If you look at cause and effect over our nation's history, every time we lessen the burden of Washington on small-business owners, on job creators, we see incredible economic growth. You do that through tax reform and regulatory reform. My tax plan \u2014 typical family of four, first $36,000 you earn, you pay nothing in taxes \u2014 no income taxes, no payroll taxes, no nothing. Above 10 percent, everyone pays the same simple, flat 10 percent income rate. It's flat and fair. You can fill out your taxes on a postcard, and we abolish the I.R.S. If you want to see the postcard, I've got it on my website. +p3118 +aVNow, Major, the business flat tax that is in my tax plan is not a VAT. A VAT in Europe is a sales tax. The business flat tax is not a sales tax, it is a tax of 16 percent opposed fairly and evenly across the board on all business. One of the things that's critical is we're doing that in conjunction with abolishing the corporate income tax, with abolishing the Obamacare taxes, with abolishing the payroll taxes, which are the biggest taxes paid by most working Americans, and with abolishing the death tax, which is cruel and unfair. And you asked about economic growth \u2014 the nonpartisan Tax Foundation estimated a simple flat tax that would produce 4.9 million new jobs, it would increase capital investment by 44 percent and would lift everyone's income by double digits. That's how you turn the country around, not just hoping and praying for it, but implementing policies that work. +p3119 +aVWell, you know, your question highlights a sharp difference on immigration on this stage. You know, in a Republican primary, everyone talks tough on immigration. Everyone is against illegal immigration in a Republican primary. But as voters, we've been burned over and over again by people that give us a great campaign speech and they don't walk the walk. There are sharp differences on amnesty. If you look at the folks on this stage, when Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer and establishment Republicans were leading the fight to pass a massive amnesty plan, I stood with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and the American people and led the fight to defeat that amnesty plan. +p3120 +aVNow, that moment... +p3121 +aVThat moment was what Reagan would call "a time for choosing." When it comes to deciding which side of the line you're on, the Rubio-Schumer amnesty plan......apparently supported by the donor class, which is why Washington supported it. The Rubio-Schumer amnesty plan passed the Senate, and it was on the verge of passing the House. House leadership intended to take it up and pass it with the Democrats overruling most of the Republicans. And the question for anyone on illegal immigration is, where were you in that fight? Where did you stand? You are right. There is a difference between Senator Rubio and me on this question. +p3122 +aVMajor, I get a response to that. +p3123 +aVYou know, the lines are very, very clear. Marco right now supports citizenship for 12 million people here illegally. I oppose citizenship. Marco stood on the debate stage and said that. But I would note not only that \u2014 Marco has a long record when it comes to amnesty. In the state of Florida, as speaker of the house, he supported in-state tuition for illegal immigrants. In addition to that, Marco went on Univision in Spanish and said he would not rescind President Obama's illegal executive amnesty on his first day in office. I have promised to rescind every single illegal executive action, including that one. And on the question... +p3124 +aV. +p3125 +aVThat is simply... +p3126 +aVThat is absolutely false. What he said is knowingly false. And I would note, if you want to assess \u2014 if you want to assess... +p3127 +aV... who is telling the truth... If you want to assess who is telling the truth......then you should look to Jeff Sessions, who said, without Ted Cruz the Rubio-Schumer amnesty bill would have passed, and Ted was responsible. You should look to Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin, that said... +p3128 +aVI think it is a very important question because the people who have been hurt the most in the Obama economy had been the most vulnerable. It's been young people. It's been Hispanics. It's been African-Americans. It's been single moms. We have the lowest percentage of Americans working today in any year since 1977. And the sad reality is big government, massive taxes, massive regulation, doesn't work. What we need to do instead is bring back booming economic growth, let \u2014 small businesses are the heart of the economy. Two-thirds of all new jobs come from small businesses. If we want to lift people out of poverty \u2014 you know, I think of these issues from the perspective of my dad. My dad fled Cuba in 1957. He was just 18. He couldn't speak English. He had nothing. He had $100 in his underwear. And he washed dishes making 50 cents an hour and paid his way through school. Today, my dad is a pastor. He travels the country preaching the gospel. Now, I think about all of these issues. How would it impact my dad when he was washing dishes? If we had Obamacare in place right now, the odds are very high my father would have been laid off, because it's teenaged kids like my dad who have gotten laid off. If he didn't get laid off, the odds are high he would have had his hours forcibly reduced to 28, 29 hours a week. We need to lift the burdens on small businesses so you have jobs, and we need welfare reform that gets people off of welfare and back to work. +p3129 +aVYou know, flexibility is a good thing, but it shouldn't \u2014 you shouldn't be flexible on core principles. I like Donald, he is an amazing entertainer, but his policies for most of his life... +p3130 +aVFor most of his life, his policies have been very, very liberal. For most of his life, he has described himself as very pro- choice and as a supporter of partial birth abortion. Right now, today, as a candidate, he supports federal taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood. I disagree with him on that. That's a matter of principle, and I'll tell you... +p3131 +aVDon, I need to go on... +p3132 +aVI will say, it is fairly remarkable to see Donald defending Ben after he called, "pathological," and compared him to a child molester. Both of which were offensive and wrong. But let me say this \u2014 you notice Donald didn't disagree with the substance that he supports taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood. And Donald has this weird pattern, when you point to his own record, he screams, "Liar, liar, liar." You want to go... +p3133 +aVYou want to go... +p3134 +aVIf you want to watch the video, go to our website at Tedcruz.org. +p3135 +aVYou can see it out of Donald's own mouth. +p3136 +aVYou supported it when we were battling over defunding Planned Parenthood. You went on... +p3137 +aVYou said, "Planned Parenthood does wonderful things and we should not defund it." +p3138 +aVSo I'll tell you what... +p3139 +aVYou see, you and I... +p3140 +aVDon, the reasoned principle matters. The reasoned principle matters, sadly was illustrated by the first questions today. The next president is going to appoint one, two, three, four Supreme Court justices. If Donald Trump is president, he will appoint liberals. If Donald Trump is president, your Second Amendment will gone... +p3141 +aVYou know how I know that? +p3142 +aVI did not nominate John Roberts. I would not have nominated John Roberts. +p3143 +aVI supported... +p3144 +aVYou need to learn to not interrupt people. +p3145 +aVDonald, adults learn... +p3146 +aVAdults learn not to interrupt people. +p3147 +aVI did not nominate him. I would not have nominated him. I would've nominated my former boss Liberman, who was Justice Scalia's first law clerk. And you know how I know that Donald's Supreme Court justices will be liberals? Because his entire life, he support liberals from Jimmy Carter, to Hillary Clinton, to John Kerry. In 2004, he contributed to John Kerry. Nobody who cares about judges would contribute to John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid. +p3148 +aVThat's what Donald Trump does. +p3149 +aVSouth Carolina, you have a critical choice to make. Our country literally hangs in the balance. Do you want another Washington deal maker who will do business as usual, cut deals with the Democrats, grow government, grow debt and give up our fundamental liberties? Or do you want a conservative, a proven conservative that will stand and fight with you each and every day? Listen, repealing Obamacare is not going to be easy. Passing a simple flat tax that abolishes the I.R.S. is not going to be easy, but if we stand with the American people, we can do it. And today, we saw just how great the stakes are. Two branches of government hang in the balance. Not just the presidency but the Supreme Court. If we get this wrong, if we nominate the wrong candidates, the Second Amendment, life, marriage, religious liberty \u2014 every one of those hangs in the balance. My little girls are here. I don't want to look my daughters in the eyes and say, "We lost their liberties." Who do you know will defend the Constitution and Bill of Rights? And as a commander in chief, who do you know will stand up to our enemies as the clam, steady, deliberate, strength to defeat our enemies, to secure our borders and to keep America safe. +p3150 +asVOBRADOVICH +p3151 +(lp3152 +VSenator Sanders, you've actually talked about immigration as being a wage issue in the United States. And I want to actually go directly to the wage issue now. You called for raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour everywhere in the country. But the President's former chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, Alan Krueger, has said a national increase of $15 could lead to undesirable and unintended consequences of job loss. What level of job loss would you consider unacceptable? +p3153 +aVYou said there are consequences... You said there are consequences for -- for any policy. Do you think job losses are a consequence that are... +p3154 +aVYou're calling for a $15 an hour wage now but why did you stop at $10.10 in your state? O' +p3155 +aVYes, Senator Sanders, you famously said in the last debate that you were sick and tired of hearing about your damn e- mails. But then you told the Wall Street Journal that the question about whether or not Secretary Clinton's e-mails compromised classified information were valid questions. So which is it? Is it an issue or is it not? +p3156 +aVI'm sorry, I couldn't hear you. Secretary Clinton, your response. +p3157 +asVTODD +p3158 +(lp3159 +VGood evening, and welcome to the +p3160 +aVAnd neither party has seen this yet. These candidates are both running for the Democratic nomination, but they are very different from each other when it comes to what matters most and how they would go about the job of being president. Our job tonight is to draw out those differences so you, the voters, can understand them and be fully informed. +p3161 +aVFirst, I want to say a special thanks to the New Hampshire Union Leader for helping make this debate possible, and the readers, who helped provide some of the questions and topics that we'll be addressing tonight. The rules tonight, by the way, are simple: 90 seconds for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. +p3162 +aVThank you, Senator. Secretary Clinton. +p3163 +aVAll right. Let's get started. Secretary Clinton, last night you cited the Concord Monitor when you said of Senator Sanders that, quote, "It's very hard to see how any of his proposals could ever be achievable." So please tell us why you think if he's elected president on a platform of promising things like free public college and universal healthcare, that he cannot achieve those things. +p3164 +aVThank you, Secretary. Senator Sanders, so just explain how you spent nearly two decades in Congress and haven't gotten any of these things passed. Why do you think as president you'll be able to achieve big, big new programs like this? +p3165 +aVGo. +p3166 +aVYes, go ahead. +p3167 +aVAll right, thank you both. Rachel. +p3168 +aVI'd like to follow up on a comment that Secretary Clinton said, Senator. President Obama has not called for abolishing the death penalty. President Obama is for the big Asian trade deal known as TPP, and just yesterday you said you can't be both a moderate or a progressive, but you can't be both. Is President Obama, in your judgment, based on these policies positions, a progressive? +p3169 +aV...Secretary Clinton, go ahead... +p3170 +aV 30 seconds, and then we'll move. +p3171 +aVThank you. +p3172 +aV... Secretary, we're gonna... +p3173 +aVThirty seconds. +p3174 +aVThank you both. +p3175 +aVAll right, welcome back. Let's get right to it. Senator Sanders, you were talking about all of your campaign contributions and campaign finance reform. You rail against big money in politics. But do you realize there is one public financing system that we do have in place, and it is\u2014it is in place to run for president. Why aren't you walking the walk on that? Why aren't you participating in the presidential public financing system which is designed to essentially keep big money out of presidential politics? +p3176 +aVWell, going on that then, why criticize her on Super PACs, and you got\u2014and all this when it is\u2014you know, that's the system? I mean, you could be participating in a publicly-financing\u2014public financing system... +p3177 +aV... and being able to set\u2014being able to set an example. +p3178 +aV... she has had more people praise her plan than yours. +p3179 +aVThank you both. Let me move on to our next question here, and in fact it comes to us through New England Cable News. Secretary Clinton, it's addressed to you, and it's about this issue of the speeches, particularly to Goldman Sachs. This is what the questioner wrote verbatim. "I am concerned with the abuses of Wall Street has taken with the American taxpayers money," and then she asks whether you would release the transcripts of your Goldman Sachs speeches, and then added, "Don't you think the voting public has a right to know what was said?" But, let's make that bigger. Are you willing to release the transcripts of all your paid speeches? We do know through reporting that there were transcription services for all of those paid speeches. In full disclosure, would you release all of them? +p3180 +aVSenator, you sound like you want to respond. Go ahead. +p3181 +aVWe'll be right back. And we're going to get to trade and a lot of other issues. +p3182 +aVGo ahead, Senator Sanders\u201430 seconds, your response. +p3183 +aVAll right. Senator, I want to stay, though... +p3184 +aVGo ahead. 30 seconds. +p3185 +aVLet me\u2014let\u2014we're gonna\u2014we're staying\u2014we're staying basically on this topic. Obviously you've been emphasizing this difference on the Iraq war, but one place where you do agree, and one place where you voted to authorize the use of force, was in favor of the war in Afghanistan. Right now, it is possible President Obama is going to be leaving the next president, perhaps President Sanders, at least 10,000 troops in Afghanistan. How long will those troops be in Afghanistan under President Sanders? +p3186 +aVCan you address a question on Afghanistan? How long are these troops going to be there? If President Obama leaves you 10,000 troops, how long do you think they're going to be there? +p3187 +aVSecretary Clinton, 30 seconds: How long are these troops going to be in Afghanistan? We have more American troops in Afghanistan than what we were talking about with Iraq. +p3188 +aVYou know, Senator Sanders, nobody knows who your foreign policy advisers are. You haven't given a major foreign policy speech. And it doesn't sound like all the time that foreign policy is a priority, other than when you're asked about it, and you say you're going to crush +p3189 +aVAll right, Senator, 30 seconds. +p3190 +aV30 seconds, madam secretary. +p3191 +aVAlright, as Commander in Chief, Senator Sanders, you've got to prioritize potential threats to the United States. Three countries, North Korea, Iran, Russia. How would you rank them in order of their threat to America's security right now... +p3192 +aV... Starting with the biggest threat. +p3193 +aV... I didn't say that... +p3194 +aV... No... +p3195 +aV... We already had that. I'm talking about these three countries. How would you orient our national security, our national defense posture. +p3196 +aVSecretary of Defense Ash Carter this week picked one of those three, and he has said Russia is, basically, the most important national security threat. Sort of reorienting the defense and the challenges to that. Do you agree with his decisions... +p3197 +aVSecretary Clinton, what do you think of Secretary of Defense Ash Carter. He's basically putting Russia above Iran, above North Korea, as sort of the chief national security challenge right now. +p3198 +aVThank you both, Rachel? +p3199 +aVAnd we are back. We're gonna get into a little bit of election politics, electability, in a little bit. Senator Sanders, The Iowa Democratic Party has declared Hillary Clinton the winner of Monday's Iowa caucuses\u2014narrowest of margins. Today, the Des Moines Register has an editorial that calls for the audit of the results, saying, quote, "what happened Monday night at the Democratic caucuses was a debacle, period. The results were too close not to do a complete audit." Senator Sanders, do you accept the idea that Hillary Clinton won Iowa? And do you\u2014or do you believe the caucuses are still an open question? +p3200 +aVSecretary Clinton, will you participate in some sort of audit, if that's what the party wants to do? You good with that? +p3201 +aVThat's fair enough. OK. +p3202 +aVGood, we move on. We're happy with that. We have more questions. +p3203 +aVWe'll stay on this issue. We'll stay on this topic. Secretary Clinton, just like there are some Democrats that question Senator Sanders' ability in the general election, many Democratic voters that our reporters have been running into in Iowa and New Hampshire, they tell our reporters over and over again they're worried about the emails issue, not because they don't believe your explanation, but because it's a drip-drip, because the cloud is hanging over your head and that it will impact the general election. They see your numbers right now and they think it's the email issue as to why you're not polling very well. So can you reassure these Democrats that somehow the email issue isn't going to blow up your candidacy if you're the nominee? +p3204 +aVAll right, Madam Secretary, there is an open\u2014there is an open FBI investigation into this matter about how you may have handled classified material. Are you 100 percent confident that nothing is going to come of this FBI investigation? +p3205 +aVWell, Senator sanders, you famously at the first debate said you didn't give a darn about her emails; I think you used another . +p3206 +aVYou're right. I'm trying to\u2014it's a\u2014it's a family hour still right now. After 11:00, I'll say it the other way. And you mostly have refrained from commenting on it, but recently you called it a very serious issue, and then the other day you said well she's getting slapped with the email controversy. Are you\u2014how are you feeling about these darn emails now? +p3207 +aVOK. Senator Sanders, thank you. +p3208 +aVSecretary Clinton, let me turn to the issue of trade. In the '90s you supported +p3209 +aVWell, Senator Sanders, I know you want to respond on this, you have never supported a trade deal since you've been in Congress. +p3210 +aVBut if you do that as president... If you do that as president, how are you not essentially letting China, who will do all of these deals around the world, how are you going to prevent China from essentially setting the rules of trade for the world? +p3211 +aVAll right. Thank you both. We're going to sneak in one more break here, and when we come back we'll squeeze as many questions as we can before we end this thing. We'll be right back. +p3212 +aVAll right. Welcome back here in the final minutes. +p3213 +aVThe home stretch of this only Democratic debate in the final week before the primary. Let me start with you, Secretary Clinton, on this question. Obviously, President Obama got a lot of ambitious stuff done in his first year and a half. You're going to have to make choices. And there's a lot of heavy lifts. And he made choices. He did healthcare and it came at the expense, arguably, of immigration reform. Had he put immigration reform first, perhaps that gets done and healthcare doesn't. So there are three big lifts that you've talked about: immigration, gun reform, climate change. What do you do first? Because you know the first one is the one you have the best shot at getting done. +p3214 +aVAll right, but Senator Sanders......you've still got to do something first. As you know, history said\u2014shows what you pick first is your best shot at getting, and how you prioritize things. +p3215 +aVImmigration reform, for instance, fell by the wayside in the first term because of this. +p3216 +aVOK. Thank you. +p3217 +aVAll right, before we go, I want to ask each one of these. Secretary Clinton, you've made it clear when you look at Senator Sanders, you do not see a president, but do you see\u2014 +p3218 +aVBut do you see\u2014do you see a vice president? +p3219 +aVWould you unite the party by trying to pick Senator Sanders as your running mate? +p3220 +aVSenator, would you consider the secretary? +p3221 +aVSecretary Clinton, closing statements. You are first. +p3222 +aVThank you, Madam Secretary. Senator Sanders. +p3223 +aVWell, there you have it. I promise you, Rachel and I have a lot more questions, but we just don't have any more time, unless we could a third hour, but I don't think so. Our debate coverage\u2014 debate coverage will continue in just a moment with our colleague . And we want to thank all of you for being here, and we want to thank the two candidates for taking part in this important event. +p3224 +aVWe'll see you in a few minutes. Thank you. +p3225 +asVLEVESQUE +p3226 +(lp3227 +VHere to New Hampshire again. As you know, this auditorium is filled with many Saint Anselm college students. They know the outstanding student debt right now in America is $1.3 trillion. That private education costs have gone up in the last decade 26 percent, and 40 percent for public education. So knowing that, we know you want to make public education more affordable but how do you really lower the cost? Senator Sanders, you mentioned a few minutes ago that you want free tuition for public colleges. +p3228 +aVHow does that really lower the cost other than just shifting the cost to taxpayers? +p3229 +aVGovernor O'Malley, how do you propose -- Governor O'Malley, how do you propose lowering some of these costs associated with higher education? O' +p3230 +asVHARWOOD +p3231 +(lp3232 +VMr. Trump, you've done very well in this campaign so far by promising to build a wall and make another country pay for it. +p3233 +aVSend 11 million people out of the country. Cut taxes $10 trillion without increasing the deficit. +p3234 +aVAnd make Americans better off because your greatness would replace the stupidity and incompetence of others. +p3235 +aVLet's be honest. Is this a comic book version of a presidential campaign? +p3236 +aVWe're at the 60 seconds. +p3237 +aVWe're at 60 seconds, but I gotta ask you, you talked about your tax plan. You say that it would not increase the deficit because you cut taxes $10 trillion in the economy would take off like... +p3238 +aVHold on, hold on. The economy would take off like a rocket ship. +p3239 +aVI talked to economic advisers who have served presidents of both parties. They said that you have as chance of cutting taxes that much without increasing the deficit as you would of flying away from that podium by flapping your arms. +p3240 +aVThe Tax Foundation says \u2014 has looked at all of our plans and \u2014 and his creates, even with the dynamic effect, $8 trillion dollar deficit... +p3241 +aVGovernor Kasich, hold it, I'm coming to you right now. The... +p3242 +aVWell, I'm asking you about this. +p3243 +aVI'm about to ask you about this. That is, you had some very strong words to say yesterday about what's happening in your party and what you're hearing from the two gentlemen we've just heard from. Would you repeat it? +p3244 +aVWell, let's just get more pointed about it. You said yesterday that you were hearing proposals that were just crazy from your colleagues. Who were you talking about? +p3245 +aVHold on. I think there's a \u2014 I've got question for \u2014 +p3246 +aVHold on, Governor. I've got a question for Governor Bush. +p3247 +aVNo, we're moving to Governor Bush. Governor, the fact that you're at the fifth lectern tonight shows how far your stock has fallen in this race, despite the big investment your donors have made. You noted recently, after slashing your payroll, that you had better things to do than sit around and be demonized by other people. I wanted to ask you \u2014 +p3248 +aVOK. +p3249 +aVGot it. +p3250 +aVBut it's a \u2014 OK. It's a \u2014 it's a question about why you're having difficulty. I want to ask you in this context. Ben Bernanke, who was appointed Fed chairman by your brother, recently wrote a book in which he said he no longer considers himself a Republican because the Republican Party has given in to know- nothingism. Is that why you're having a difficult time in this race? +p3251 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3252 +aVWe're gonna get down the line. Becky's got a question. +p3253 +aVSenator Paul, I've got a question for you on the same subject. +p3254 +aVSenator Paul? +p3255 +aVYou used your time on something else. Senator Paul? +p3256 +aVSenator Paul, the budget deal crafted by Speaker Boehner and passed by the House today makes cuts in entitlement programs, Medicare and Social Security disability, which are the very programs conservatives say need cutting to shrink government and solve our country's long-term budget deficit. Do you oppose that budget deal because it doesn't cut those programs enough? +p3257 +aVSenator, if what you just said is true, why did Speaker Boehner craft this deal and why did Paul Ryan, who has a strong reputation for fiscal discipline, vote for it? +p3258 +aVThank you, Senator . +p3259 +aVJim, thanks. Governor Bush, in a debate like this four years ago, every Republican running for president pledged to oppose a budget deal containing any tax increase even if it had spending cuts ten times as large. A few months later, you told Congress, put me in, coach, you said you would take that deal. Still feel that way? +p3260 +aVBut to \u2014 to the point that you made to Congress, if you were president and you were offered a bipartisan deal that had one dollar... +p3261 +aV...one dollar of tax increases per ten dollars of spending cuts, would you take it? +p3262 +aVSo you don't want the coach to put you in any more? +p3263 +aVThank you, governor. Carl? +p3264 +aVGovernor John Kasich, you've called for abolishing the Export Import Bank, which provides subsidies to help American companies compete with overseas competitors. You call that corporate welfare. One of the largest newspapers in your state wrote an editorial, said they found that strange, writing, that if that's corporate welfare, what does Kasich call the millions of dollars in financial incentives doled out to attract or retain jobs by his development effort \u2014 jobs Ohio. If subsidies are good enough for Ohio companies, why aren't they good enough for companies trying to compete overseas? +p3265 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3266 +aVThank you, Governor. Thank you. +p3267 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate on +p3268 +aVIt sounds like you think Senator Sessions is wrong to believe there is enough abuse in that program that we shouldn't... +p3269 +aVThank you, Senator. Becky? +p3270 +aVGovernor Bush, the tax reform bill that Ronald Reagan signed in 1986 cut the top personal income tax rate to 28 percent \u2014 just like your plan does. But President Reagan taxed capital gains at the same rate, while you would tax them at just 20 percent. Given the problems we've been discussing, growing gap between rich and poor, why would you tax labor at a higher rate than income from investments? +p3271 +aVSenator Rubio, 30 seconds to you. The Tax Foundation, which was alluded to earlier, scored your tax plan and concluded that you give nearly twice as much of a gain in after-tax income to the top 1 percent as to people in the middle of the income scale. Since you're the champion of Americans living paycheck-to- paycheck, don't you have that backward? +p3272 +aVThe Tax Foundation \u2014 just to be clear, they said the... +p3273 +aVNo, I did not. +p3274 +aVSenator, the Tax Foundation said after-tax income for the top 1 percent under your plan would go up 27.9 percent. +p3275 +aVAnd people in the middle of the income spectrum, about 15 percent. +p3276 +aV +p3277 +aVSenator, thank you. +p3278 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you've written about the huge divide in values between middle America and the big coastal cities like New York and Los Angeles. As a preacher as well as a politician, you know that presidents need the moral authority to bring the entire country together. The leading Republican candidate, when you look at the average of national polls right now, is Donald Trump. When you look at him, do you see someone with the moral authority to unite the country? +p3279 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3280 +aVThank you, Governor. Don't forget my colleague, Sharon Epperson. +p3281 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said something that many in your party do not believe, which is that climate change is undeniable, that human activity contributes to it, and you said, quote: "The question is, what do we do to deal with it?". So what do we do? +p3282 +aVWhat should we do? +p3283 +aVYou mean government? +p3284 +aVThank you, Governor. Becky. +p3285 +aVGovernor Bush, Mr. Trump says that he is capable of growing the economy so much that Social Security and Medicare don't have to be touched. Do you want to explain how that is going to happen, Mr. Trump? +p3286 +aVHold on, Governor. I've got a question for \u2014 for Dr. Carson. +p3287 +aVYes. You've said that you would like to replace Medicare with a system of individual family savings accounts, so that families could cover their own expenses. Obviously, that would be a very controversial idea. Explain how that would work, exactly. +p3288 +aVGovernor, do you also think that... +p3289 +aV...that Dr. Carson's right, that we can replace Medicare with individual savings accounts? +p3290 +aVMrs. Fiorina, we're right at the end of our time. +p3291 +aVYou all wanted us to limit . All right. Go ahead. +p3292 +aVWe have now reached the point in the program where candidates are going to give their closing statements, 30 seconds apiece. We're going to go right to left and start with you, Senator Paul. +p3293 +aVGovernor Christie? +p3294 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Cruz? +p3295 +aVThank you, Senator. Mrs. Fiorina? +p3296 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Dr. Carson? +p3297 +aVMr. Trump? +p3298 +aVJust for the record, the debate was always going to be two hours. Senator Rubio? +p3299 +aVSenator Rubio. +p3300 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Bush? +p3301 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Huckabee. +p3302 +aVThank you... +p3303 +aVGovernor Kasich? +p3304 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3305 +aVWe're going to pose this question to all candidates and go left to right, starting with Governor Jindal. Governor, a majority of Republican voters at this point in the campaign have made clear that they prefer someone from outside the political system. In 30 seconds, tell us why your experience inside the system would be more valuable than the fresh eyes an outsider would bring. +p3306 +aVThanks, Governor Jindal. Senator Santorum? +p3307 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Pataki? +p3308 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Graham. +p3309 +aVSenator Graham, thank you very much. Becky? +p3310 +aVJust hold on, Governor Pataki, we're going to go to Senator Graham on this question because we believe you are likely to be the only person on this stage tonight who supports this budget deal. Now, you just heard Governor Jindal say that it's a phony deal, it doesn't do anything, and people like you are surrendering rather than fighting by supporting it. Why is he wrong? +p3311 +aVThank you, Senator Graham... +p3312 +aV...Governor, we're going to get to you in just a moment, we're going to try to keep this shorter... +p3313 +aVGovernor Jindal, a question about fiscal policy, especially since you noted that this deal doesn't solve the long-term debt situation. When you came into office with a budget surplus in the state of Louisiana, now, years later, the state legislature faced a $1.6 billion budget gap and the Republican state treasurer called one of your approaches to that problem "nonsense on a stick," quoting him. Are you going to do for the federal budget what you did for the Louisiana budget? +p3314 +aVBut Governor Jindal, as you know, many Republicans are opposed to the approach that you've taken in Louisiana. They complain that you have tried so hard to avoid anything that could be called a tax increase so that you could run for president saying you'd never raised taxes, David Vitter, the Republican who's now running to succeed you, has told voters, I won't be like Jindal, I'm not using the governorship as a stepping stone to higher office. +p3315 +aVGovernor Jindal, thank you. +p3316 +aVWe're going to take a quick break. The Republican presidential debate continues live from Boulder, Colorado in a moment. +p3317 +aVGovernor Jindal, Senator Santorum just raised the issue of corporate taxes, and cutting corporate taxes is very popular in your party because our rate, at 35 percent, is one of the highest in the world. But nobody has figured out how to identify a set of loopholes that would allow that tax rate to be lowered. So can you tell us specifically what loopholes you'd do away with? +p3318 +aVWe're talking corporate taxes. +p3319 +aVThanks, Governor. Becky? +p3320 +aVSo the tax credit right now that we have for domestic manufacturing, which manufacturers say is... +p3321 +aV...important, you would get rid of that? +p3322 +aVSenator Graham, Americans have gotten used to seeing headlines about more and more big corporations relocating overseas to cut their tax bill. Now, many in Washington think the way to stop that is to lower our corporate tax rate. But as we've seen, tax reform takes time. It hasn't happened yet. In the meantime, do you fault those companies for leaving? Do companies owe anything to their country, as well as their shareholders? +p3323 +aVSenator Graham. +p3324 +aVI want to remind candidates, you've got a one-minute limit on the \u2014 on the response. But I just want to follow up, Senator Graham. Four years ago, the nominee of your party said that corporations are people, too. If that is true, the question is, do they owe any obligation to the country? +p3325 +aVSenator Graham \u2014 +p3326 +aV\u2014 thank you very much. +p3327 +aVWe're moving on. +p3328 +aVSenator, we're moving on. I'd like to bring on my colleague, Rick Santelli \u2014 Rick. +p3329 +aVSenator, that \u2014 I mean, Governor, if that's true, why was our economy limping six years ago and now it's the strongest in the world? +p3330 +aVGovernor Pataki, you've indicated you believe climate change is real and caused at least in part by human activity. So, in 60 seconds, tell us what the federal government should do about it. +p3331 +aVIs there a role for government? +p3332 +aVSo, subsidies for those programs? For \u2014 for those alternative energy sources? +p3333 +aVThank you, Governor. Thank you, Governor. Carl? +p3334 +aVGovernor, if you cut spending and cut government so much, why did your legislature have such a big deficit? +p3335 +aVNo, we're going to move on. I'm going to bring on my colleague Sharon Epperson. +p3336 +aVAnd thank you, Sharon. This is the Republican Presidential Debate, live from Boulder, Colorado. We'll be right back. +p3337 +aVOK, now we're at the point of the evening where we're just about to give our candidates a holiday from this debate, but not before they tell us in 30 seconds their closing statements. Senator Graham, you're first. +p3338 +aVSenator Graham... +p3339 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. Governor Pataki? +p3340 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum? +p3341 +aVSenator Santorum, thank you. Governor Jindal? +p3342 +aVGovernor Jindal, thank you very much. Carl? +p3343 +asVPAUL +p3344 +(lp3345 +VThe question is, how do we keep America safe from terrorism? Trump says we ought to close that Internet thing. The question really is, what does he mean by that? Like they do in North Korea? Like they do in China? Rubio says we should collect all Americans' records all of the time. The Constitution says otherwise. I think they're both wrong. I think we defeat terrorism by showing them that we do not fear them. I think if we ban certain religions, if we censor the Internet, I think that at that point the terrorists will have won. Regime change hasn't won. Toppling secular dictators in the Middle East has only led to chaos and the rise of radical Islam. I think if we want to defeat terrorism, I think if we truly are sincere about defeating terrorism, we need to quit arming the allies of +p3346 +aVYou know, I think Marco gets it completely wrong. We are not any safer through the bulk collection of all Americans' records. In fact, I think we're less safe. We get so distracted by all of the information, we're not spending enough time getting specific immigration \u2014 specific information on terrorists. The other thing is, is the one thing that might have stopped San Bernardino, that might have stopped 9/11 would have been stricter controls on those who came here. And Marco has opposed at every point increased security \u2014 border security for those who come to our country. On his Gang of Eight bill, he would have liberalized immigration, but he did not \u2014 and he steadfastly opposed any new border security requirements for refugees or students. Last week, I introduced another bill saying we need more security, we need more scrutiny. Once again, Marco opposed this. So Marco can't have it both ways. He thinks he wants to be this, "Oh, I'm great and strong on national defense." But he's the weakest of all the candidates on immigration. He is the one for an open border that is leaving us defenseless. If we want to defend the country, we have to defend against who's coming in, and Marco is \u2014 has more of an allegiance to Chuck Schumer and to the liberals than he does to conservative policy. +p3347 +aVIf I was mentioned in the question, can I respond? +p3348 +aVMarco still misunderstands the immigration issue. What I put forward was an amendment that would have temporarily halted immigration from high-risk terrorist countries, but would have started it up, but I wanted them to go through Global Entry, which is a program where we do background checks. The thing is, is that every terrorist attack we've had since 9/11 has been legal immigration. Marco wants to expand that. I want more rules, more scrutiny, and to defend the country, you have to defend the border. +p3349 +aVWolf... +p3350 +aVWolf, this legislation... +p3351 +aVThis legislation on indefinite detention... +p3352 +aV... I think deserves a little more attention. +p3353 +aVI think that by arming the allies of +p3354 +aVI think that if you believe in regime change, you're mistaken. In 2013, we put 600 tons of weapons \u2014 us, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar \u2014 into the war against Assad. By pushing Assad back, we did create a safe space. We had people coming to our Foreign Relations Committee and saying, "Oh, we need to arm the allies of Al Qaida." They are still saying this. It is a crazy notion. This is the biggest debate we should be having tonight is is regime change a good idea; has it been a good idea. There are still people \u2014 the majority on the stage, they want to topple Assad. And then there will be chaos, and I think +p3355 +aVThese are the fundamental questions of our time, these foreign policy questions, whether or not regime change is a good idea or a bad idea. I don't think because I think the regime change was a bad idea it means that Hussein was necessarily a good idea. There is often variations of evil on both sides of the war. What we have to decide is whether or not regime change is a good idea. It's what the neoconservatives have wanted. It's what the vast majority of those on the stage want. They still want regime change. They want it in Syria. They wanted it in Iraq. They want it in Libya. It has not worked. Out of regime change you get chaos. From the chaos you have seen repeatedly the rise of radical Islam. So we get this profession of, oh, my goodness, they want to do something about terrorism and yet they're the problem because they allow terrorism to arise out of that chaos. +p3356 +aVNo, I think it's a huge mistake. I think regime change in Syria, and this is what \u2014 I've been saying this for several years now. In 2013 when we first went in, I said, you are going to give arms to the allies of al Qaida, to radical jihadists? That's crazy. But the other thing I said is the great irony is you will be back fighting against your own weapons. Had Assad been bombed when he used chemical weapons two years ago, +p3357 +aVWell, I think if you're in favor of World War III, you have your candidate. You know, here's...... the thing. My goodness, what we want in a leader is someone with judgment, not someone who is so reckless as to stand on the stage and say, "Yes, I'm jumping up and down; I'm going to shoot down Russian planes." Russia already flies in that airspace. It may not be something we're in love with the fact that they're there, but they were invited by Iraq and by Syria to fly in that airspace. And so if we announce we're going to have a no-fly zone, and others have said this. Hillary Clinton is also for it. It is a recipe for disaster. It's a recipe for World War III. We need to confront Russia from a position of strength, but we don't need to confront Russia from a point of recklessness that would lead to war. This is something \u2014 this type of judgment, you know, it's having that kind of judgment; who you would appoint and how you're going to conduct affairs, that is incredibly important. I mean, I think when we think about the judgment of someone who might want World War III, we might think about someone who might shut down a bridge because they don't like their friends; they don't want to \u2014 you know, they want to a Democrat. So I think we need to be very careful. +p3358 +aVYou know, I think we need to set the record straight on this, because I think Marco misspoke about the bill. On the Gang of Eight bill, there was no provisions really for extra scrutiny or safety for refugees. At the time the bill came up, two Iraqi refugees came to my home town, Bowling Green, Kentucky. Their fingerprints were on a bomb from Iraq. They were in the database, but we didn't pick them up. We relocated them here, put them in government housing, got them on food stamps. And we began providing for them, but we didn't have adequate security. On the Gang of Eight bill, on Marco's bill, we had an opportunity. There was a conservative consensus for an amendment I put forward called Trust, But Verify that would have strengthened border security on both refugees, students and those coming here. And Marco sided and I guess was more sympathetic to Chuck Schumer and to the president than he was to conservative principles. But this goes directly to national defense. And if he wants to run as a national \u2014 national defense conservative, he's got to explain why he hasn't stepped up to support border security. +p3359 +aVWhat my bill would do would be only for refugees going forward. So I haven't taken a position on sending anyone home. But I have taken the position that we have a lot of problems here in our country. And that one of the things that we do \u2014 charity is about giving your own money. Charity isn't giving someone else's money. To put everyone in government housing and food stamps and bring them in from around the world I think is a mistake. To give of your own money, I've given to my church. My church has helped people that came from Bosnia. That's a good thing. But we shouldn't have a program where we just say that we're going to take care of the world's refugees. Nobody in the Middle East is doing anything. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait \u2014 all the Gulf nations are doing nothing. They need to step up and take... +p3360 +aVThe greatest threat to our national security is our debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. And whose fault is it? Well, frankly, it's both parties' fault. You have those on the right who clamor and say, oh, we will spend anything on the military, and those on the left who say the same for domestic welfare. But what most Americans don't realize is there is an unholy alliance. They come together. There's a secret handshake. We spend more money on everything. And we are not stronger nation if we go further into debt. We are not projecting power from bankruptcy court. To me, there is no greater threat than our debt. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage because I'm willing to hold the line on all spending. I hope you will consider me in the election. Thank you very much. +p3361 +aVAbsolutely. And I think that we ought to look where income inequality seems to be the worst. It seems to be worst in cities run by Democrats, governors of... States run by Democrats and countries currently run by Democrats. So the thing is, let's look for root causes. But I would also say \u2014 lay some blame at the \u2014 the feet of the Federal Reserve. I think the Federal Reserve has made this problem worse. By artificially keeping interest rates below the market rate, average ordinary citizens have a tough time earning interest, have a tough time making money. They're actually talking now about negative interest. The money as it's created through quantitative easing or other means tends to start out in the big banks in New York. And because we're now paying interest for them to keep the money there, much of that money has not filtered out into the economy. So what we're finding is there is increasing income disparity and income inequality. We also find that as the Federal Reserve destroys the value of the currency, what you're finding is that, if you're poor, if you make $20,000 a year and you have three or four kids, and you're trying to get by, as your prices rise or as the value of the dollar shrinks, these are the people that are hurt the worst. So really we need to reexamine whether we not \u2014 we want a Federal Reserve that's involved so much in determining interest rates. We also need to look at root causes as to what caused the housing boom and the housing collapse. But the bottom line is, if you want less income inequality, move to a city with a Republican mayor or a state with a Republican governor. +p3362 +aVWell, it's a great question, Neil, and thanks for including me in the tax debate. I think what's important about the tax debate is, is that we have to ask the question, where is money best spent, in the private sector or in the government sector? I want a government really, really small, so small you can barely see it. So I want lower taxes and much more money in the private sector. My tax plan, however, is the only tax plan among any of the candidates on the stage that is part of a balanced budget plan. I put forward three plans that actually balance the budget over a five-year period. Each of these plans have details on exactly where we would cut. The question came up earlier, where would you cut? Nobody likes to say where they would cut. I've put pencil to paper and done three budgets that actually balance. I'm also in favor of a plan called the penny plan where we'd just cut 1 percent across the board and the budget actually balances in less than five years. So I think what is extraordinary about my tax plan is it is in the context of balancing the budget. What is also extraordinary about my tax plan is it gets rid of the payroll tax. Democrats demagogue this issue to death, and when they do they say, oh, a millionaire would get a bigger tax cut than someone making $10,000. That's proportionality, as Ben is trying to explain to folks. But the thing is, is if we get rid of the payroll tax, everybody is going to get a tax cut. And this is something that I think the public at large will support and could win an election. +p3363 +aVOurs is 14.5 percent for corporations, 14.5 percent for individuals. No payroll tax for the employee. The business tax pays for social security, and there would be two remaining deductions \u2014 home mortgage and charity. +p3364 +aVThank you. +p3365 +aVNeil, there's a point I'd like to make here... ....Neil, a point that I'd like to make about the tax credits. We have to decide what is conservative and what isn't conservative. Is it fiscally conservative to have a trillion-dollar expenditure? We're not talking about giving people back their tax money. He's talking about giving people money they didn't pay. It's a welfare transfer payment. So here's what we have. Is it conservative to have $1 trillion in transfer payments \u2014 a new welfare program that's a refundable tax credit? Add that to Marco's plan for $1 trillion in new military spending, and you get something that looks, to me, not very conservative. Thank you. +p3366 +aVNevertheless, it's not very conservative, Marco. +p3367 +aVHow is it conservative? +p3368 +aVYeah, but, Marco! Marco! How is it conservative, how is it conservative to add a trillion-dollar expenditure for the federal government that you're not paying for? +p3369 +aVHow is it conservative? +p3370 +aVHow is it conservative to add a trillion dollars in military expenditures? You can not be a conservative if you're going to keep promoting new programs that you're not going to pay for. +p3371 +aVNo. I don't think we're any safer \u2014 I do not think we are any safer from bankruptcy court. As we go further, and further into debt, we become less, and less safe. This is the most important thing we're going to talk about tonight. Can you be a conservative, and be liberal on military spending? Can you be for unlimited military spending, and say, Oh, I'm going to make the country safe? No, we need a safe country, but, you know, we spend more on our military than the next ten countries combined? I want a strong national defense, but I don't want us to be bankrupt. +p3372 +aVHey, Gerard, you know, we might want to point out China is not part of this deal. +p3373 +aVBefore we get a little bit off-kilter here... +p3374 +aVThere is an argument that China doesn't like the deal, because in us doing the deal, we'll be trading with their competitors. You're exactly right. But I think we've sort of missed the point a little bit here. There is an important point, though, about how we discuss these trade treaties that I do agree with Mr. Trump on. We should negotiate from a position of strength. And we also should negotiate using the full force and the constitutional power that was given to us. I think it's a mistake that we give up power to the presidency on these trade deals. We give up the power to filibuster, and I'm kind of fond of that power. We give up the power to amend. And I think, really, one of the big problems we have in our country is, over the last century, really, so much power has gravitated to the executive branch. Really, Congress is kind of a bystander. We don't write the rules. We don't make the laws. The executive branch does. So even in trade \u2014 and I am for trade \u2014 I think we should be careful about giving so much power to the presidency. +p3375 +aVI'd like first to respond to the acquisition, we should \u2014 I think it's particularly naive, particularly foolish to think that we're not going to talk to Russia. The idea of a no fly zone, realize that this is also something that Hillary Clinton agrees with several on our side with, you're asking for a no fly zone in an area in which Russia already flies. Russia flies in that zone at the invitation of Iraq. I'm not saying it's a good thing, but you better know at least what we're getting into. So, when you think it's going to be a good idea to have a no fly zone over Iraq, realize that means you are saying we are going to shoot down Russian planes. If you're ready for that, be ready to send your sons and daughters to another war in Iraq. I don't want to see that happen. I think the first war in Iraq was a mistake... You can be strong without being involved in every civil war around the war... +p3376 +aVRonald Reagan was strong, but Ronald Reagan didn't... +p3377 +aV...send troops into the Middle East... +p3378 +aV...Can I finish... +p3379 +aV...Can I finish my time? Could I finish with my time? +p3380 +aVYes, I would like to finish my response, basically. +p3381 +aVThis is an important question. This is an incredibly important question. And the question goes to be, who do we want to be our commander-in-chief? Do you want a commander-in-chief who says something that we never did throughout the entire Cold War, to discontinue having conversations with the Russians? I am not happy about them flying over there. But I'm not naive enough to say, well, Iraq has them flying over their airspace, we're just going to announce that we're shooting them down? That is naive to the point of being something you might hear in junior high. But it's scary... +p3382 +aVThe first thing I would do is I wouldn't arm our enemies. I wouldn't arm +p3383 +aVGerard, can I comment... +p3384 +aVThe first thing I would do as president is repeal the regulations that are hampering our energy that the President has put in place. Including the Clean Power Act. While I do think that man may have a role in our climate, I think nature also has a role. The planet's 4.5 billion years old, we've been through geologic age after geologic age. We've had times when the temperatures been warmer, we've had times when the temperatures been colder. We've had times when the carbon in the atmosphere's been higher. So, I think before we \u2014 we need to look before we leap. President's often fond of saying he wants a balance solution, but, really we do need to balance both keeping the environment clean, and we will have some rules for that. We got to balance that with the economy. He's devastated my state. I say the President's not only destroying Kentucky, he's destroying the democrat party down there because nobody wants to associate with him. So, what we really need is somebody that understands that we do need energy of all forms, and that means we will have solar, and wind, and hydro, but we will still have coal, and we still will have natural gas. And, we've got to have an all of the above policy. But, it would be a mistake to shut down all of our industries in the coal fields, and shut down the coal power plants. If we did so we're going to have a day where we wake up and some of our big cities are either very cold, or very hot. So, I think it's a big danger, and we shouldn't do it. And, what we should do is say we want all of the above... ...We want to free up the energy sector, and let people produce, let them drill, let them explore. +p3385 +aVWe're the richest, freest, most humanitarian nation in the history of mankind. But we also borrow a million dollars a minute. And the question I have for all Americans is, think about it, can you be a fiscal conservative if you don't conserve all of the money? If you're a profligate spender, you spend money in an unlimited fashion for the military, is that a conservative notion? We have to be conservative with all spending, domestic spending and welfare spending. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage. +p3386 +aVYou know, I left my medical practice and ran for office because I was concerned about an $18 trillion debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. Now, on the floor of the Congress, the Washington establishment from both parties puts forward a bill that will explode the deficit. It allows President Obama to borrow unlimited amounts of money. I will stand firm. I will spend every ounce of energy to stop it. I will begin tomorrow to filibuster it. And I ask everyone in America to call Congress tomorrow and say enough is enough; no more debt. +p3387 +aVNo, I oppose it because you're taking money from the entitlement and then spending it immediately on other items. That's what they're doing. They're taking money from Social Security and they're going to spend it on the military and they're going to spend it on domestic spending. Here's the thing. When you look at raising the debt limit, it should be leverage to try to reform government. In 2011, the sequester was passed as a reform to slow down the rate of government. Instead, the Washington establishment raised both. We raised the military spending, took from entitlements, and raised domestic spending and the deficit will explode under this. This is the unholy alliance that people need to know about between right and left. Right and left are spending us into oblivion. We should use the debt ceiling, as precisely to Don, to force upon them budgetary reforms. +p3388 +aVWell, that's a real question. Is there going to be any change in the House with new leadership? I frankly don't think there will be much change because I think what's going to happen is you're going to get more of the same. People in Washington think they were sent there to be adults and govern and do all this. Well, you know what I'm worried about? Not keeping the government open. I'm worried about bankrupting the American people. We're borrowing a million dollars a minute. That is important. And that's what we have to contrast. Keeping the government open and continuing to borrow a million dollars a minute. +p3389 +aVWell, thank you very much. I would like to thank Ted for co-sponsoring my bill, audit the Fed. And I think it's precisely because of the arrogance of someone like Ben Bernanke, who now calls us all know-nothings, that is precisely why we need audit the Fed. I think it is really very much a huge problem that an organization as powerful as the Fed comes in, lobbies against them being audited on the Hill. I would prevent them lobbying Congress. I don't think the Fed should be involved with lobbying us. I think we should examine how the Fed has really been part of the problem. You want to study income inequality, let's bring the Fed forward and talk about Fed policy and how it causes income inequality. Let's also bring the Fed forward and have them explain how they caused the housing boom and the crisis, and what they've done to make us better or worse. I think the Fed has been a great problem in our society. What you need to do is free up interest rates. Interest rates are the price of money, and we shouldn't have price controls on the price of money. +p3390 +aV...John... +p3391 +aVJohn, I'd like to address this? John, could I follow up on this? +p3392 +aVWhat are the rules on who gets to follow up. How do we decide on who gets to follow up? I've seen plenty of other people follow up? +p3393 +aVI'd like to just mention something about my tax plan, and how it relates to the discussion... +p3394 +aVAlright. Much of the discussion is centered over whether or not the different tax plans help, or affect the middle class. In fact, it's the chief argument by democrats against many of the different flat tax proposals. Mine is unique in the sense that my tax plan actually gets rid of the payroll tax as well. It shifts it to the business, and it would allow middle class people to get a tax cut. If you just cut their income tax, there isn't much income tax to cut. Mine actually cuts the payroll tax, and I think it would spread the tax cut across all socioeconomic levels, and would allow then it to be something that would be broadly supported by the public in an election. +p3395 +aVThe question always is, what works better, the private marketplace or government? And what distributes goods better? It always seems to be the private marketplace does a better job. Is there an area for a safety net? Can you have Medicare or Social Security? Yes. But you ought to acknowledge the government doesn't do a very good job at it. The main problem with Medicare right now is that the average person pays in taxes over their whole lifetime about $100,000. But the average person takes out about $350,000. We have this enormous mismatch because we have smaller and smaller families. When people ask me, whose fault is it? Whose fault is it that Medicare is broken, out of money, that Social Security is broken, out of money? And I say, look, it's not Republicans' fault, it's not Democrats' fault, it's your grandparents' fault for having too many damn kids. After the war we had all of these kids, Baby Boomers. Now we're having smaller families. We used to have 16 workers for one retiree, now you have three workers for one retiree. It's not working. I have a bill to fix Medicare. I've a bill to fix Social Security. For both of them you have to gradually raise the age. If you're not willing to do that, nobody wants to do it, but if you're not willing to gradually raise the age, you're not serious about fixing either one of them. +p3396 +aVSay again? +p3397 +aVYou can't do nothing. And that's what I hear from some people, "we'll do nothing and it will just be fixed." That's absurd, and I think people who don't want to fix it, really, or unwilling to take the chance to say, "something has to change," are missing the boat here. The age will have to gradually rise, there is no question. It's the only way you fix Medicare, the only way you fix Social Security. You will also have to means-test the benefits and declare there's not enough money. It isn't "I put money in, I'm getting it back." There is no money, it's a stack of paper. There is no money in the Social Security account. There is no money in the Medicare account. There's only a promise to pay by the next generation, and the next generation's not big enough to pay it. [ +p3398 +aVLiberty thrives when government is small. I want a government so small I can barely see it. I want a government so small that the individual has a chance to thrive and prosper. I think, though, government is too big now. And what you're going to see in Washington this week is establishment Republicans have made an agreement with the president to raise the debt ceiling in an unlimited fashion; no limit to the debt ceiling raise. This is extraordinary. It's extraordinarily wrong. You'll see me on the floor of the Senate tomorrow filibustering this and saying enough is enough, no more debt. +p3399 +aVGood evening, everyone. I'm an eye surgeon from Bowling Green, Kentucky. My wife, Kelly, and I have been married for nearly 25 years, and I spend my days defending the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I think there's nothing more important than understanding that the Constitution restrains government, not the people. Thank you. +p3400 +aVI kind of have to laugh when I think of, "Mmm, sounds like a non sequitur." He was asked whether or not he would be capable and it would be in good hands to be in charge of the nuclear weapons, and all of a sudden, there's a sideways attack at me. I think that really goes to really the judgment. Do we want someone with that kind of character, that kind of careless language to be negotiating with Putin? Do we want someone like that to be negotiating with Iran? I think really there's a sophomoric quality that is entertaining about Mr. Trump, but I am worried. I'm very concerned about him \u2014 having him in charge of the nuclear weapons, because I think his response, his \u2014 his visceral response to attack people on their appearance \u2014 short, tall, fat, ugly \u2014 my goodness, that happened in junior high. Are we not way above that? Would we not all be worried to have someone like that in charge of the nuclear arsenal? +p3401 +aVI think this goes back to essentially what we've been saying for the last two or three questions. Carly Fiorina also said we're not going to talk with Putin. Well, think if Reagan had said that during the Cold War? We continued to talk with the Russians throughout the Cold War which is much more significant that where we are now. Should we continue to talk with Iran? Yes. Should we cut up the agreement immediately? That's absurd. Wouldn't you want to know if they complied? Now, I'm going to vote against the agreement because I don't think there's significant leverage, but it doesn't mean that I would immediately not look at the agreement, and cut it up without looking to see if whether or not Iran has complied. The same goes with China. I don't think we need to be rash, I don't think we need to be reckless, and I think need to leave lines of communication open. Often we talk about whether we should be engaged in the world, or disengaged in the world, and I think this is an example of some who want to isolate us, actually, and not be engaged. We do need to be engaged with Russia. It doesn't mean we give them a free pass, or China a free pass, but, to be engaged, to continue to talk. We did throughout the Cold War, and it would be a big mistake not to do it here. +p3402 +aVI think this gets to the point of wisdom on when to intervene and when we shouldn't. Had we bombed Assad at the time, like President Obama wanted, and like Hillary Clinton wanted and many Republicans wanted, I think +p3403 +aVWell, I hate to say it, but Donald Trump has a bit of a point here. The case that was decided around 1900 was, people had a green card, were here legally, and they said that their children were citizens. There's never been a direct Supreme Court case on people who were here illegally, whether or not their kids are citizens. So it hasn't really been completely adjudicated. The 14th Amendment says that "those who are here and under the jurisdiction." The original author of the \u2014 of the 14th Amendment said on the Senate floor that this was applying to slaves, and did not specifically apply to others. +p3404 +aVWell, I'm glad we're having a discussion about taxes because everybody laments that we lose jobs overseas, we have. Our companies, and our jobs are being chased overseas by a 70,000 page tax code, so, that's why I've chosen to get rid of the whole thing, and have one single rate, 14 and a-half percent for everybody, business, and for corporate income, and personal income. But, we also get rid of the payroll tax, so the working class would get a tax break as well. So, I think a flat tax, eliminating the tax code, getting rid of all the loopholes, is the way to go, and it's the way we get America going again. +p3405 +aVHugh, can I \u2014 can I make a response to that? +p3406 +aVCan I make a response to that? +p3407 +aVMay I make a response to that? +p3408 +aVHe's referred to me. +p3409 +aVHe's referred to me... +p3410 +aV... in his remarks. May I make a response? +p3411 +aVAbsolutely. Go ahead. +p3412 +aVMay I respond? +p3413 +aVThe remark was made that there hadn't been anyone else on the podium opposed to the Iraq War. I've made my career as being an opponent of the Iraq War. I was opposed to the Syria war. I was opposed to arming people who are our enemies. Iran is now stronger because Hussein is gone. Hussein was the great bulwark and counterbalance to the Iranians. So when we complain about the Iranians, you need to remember that the Iraq War made it worse. Originally, Governor Bush was asked, was the Iraq War a mistake, and he said, "No. We'd do it again." We have to learn sometimes the interventions backfire. The Iraq War backfired and did not help us. We're still paying the repercussions of a bad decision. +p3414 +aVWe have make the decision now in Syria, should we topple Assad? Many up here wanted to topple Assad, and it's like \u2014 I said no, because if you do... +p3415 +aV... +p3416 +aVIf you want boots on the ground, and you want them to be our sons and daughters, you got 14 other choices. There will always be a Bush or Clinton for you, if you want to go back to war in Iraq. But the thing is, the first war was a mistake. And I'm not sending our sons and our daughters back to Iraq. The war didn't work. We can amplify those who live there. The Kurds deserve to be armed and I'll arm them. We can use our Air Force to amplify the forces there. But the boots on the ground need to be the people who live there. My goodness, I'm still upset with the Saudi Arabians for everything they do over there. They've funded the arms that went to the jihadists. They're not accepting any of the people, any of the migrants that have been \u2014 the refugees that are being pushed out of Syria. Saudi Arabia is not accepting one. Why are we always the world's patsies that we have to go over there and fight their wars for them? They need to fight their wars, we need to defend American interests, but it is not in America's national security interests to have another war in Iraq. +p3417 +aVI think one of the great problems, and what American people don't like about politics, is hypocrisy. People have one standard for others and not for them \u2014 for themselves. There is at least one prominent example on the stage of someone who says they smoked pot in high school, and yet the people going to \u2014 to jail for this are poor people, often African-Americans and often Hispanics, and yet the rich kids who use drugs aren't. I personally think that this is a crime for which the only victim is the individual, and I think that America has to take a different attitude. I would like to see more rehabilitation and less incarceration. I'm a fan of the drug courts which try to direct you back towards work and less time in jail. But the bottom line is the states. We say we like the 10th Amendment, until we start talking about this. And I think the federal government has gone too far, I think that the war on drugs has had a racial outcome, and really has been something that has really damaged our inner cities. Not only do the drugs damage them, we damage them again by incarcerating them and then preventing them from getting employment over time. So I don't think that the federal government should override the states. I believe in the 10th Amendment and I really will say that the states are left to themselves. +p3418 +aVWell, I think if we left it open, we could see how many people smoked pot in high school. +p3419 +aVWell, you know, the thing is that... +p3420 +aVYeah, I was talking about \u2014 well, let me... +p3421 +aVBut let me respond. The thing is, is that in Florida, Governor Bush campaigned against medical marijuana. That means that a small child like Morgan Hintz (ph) that has seizures is day, is failing on non-traditional medications, is not allowed to use cannabis oil. And if they do that in Florida, they will take the child away, they will put the parents in jail. And that's what that means if you're against allowing people use medical marijuana, you'll actually put them in jail. +p3422 +aVAnd actually, under the current circumstances, kids who had privilege like you do, don't go to jail, but the poor kids in our inner cities go to jail. I don't think that's fair. And I think we need to acknowledge it, and it is hypocritical to still want to put poor people in jail... +p3423 +aVWell, you vote \u2014 you oppose medical marijuana... +p3424 +aVBut that means you'll put people in jail. +p3425 +aVMay I respond? +p3426 +aVUnderstand what they're saying. if they're going to say we are going to enforce the federal law against what the state law is, they aren't really believing in the Tenth Amendment. Governor Christie would go into Colorado, and if you're breaking any federal law on marijuana, even though the state law allows it, he would put you in jail. If a young mother is trying to give her child cannabis oil for medical marijuana for seizure treatment, he would put her in jail, if it violates federal law. I would let Colorado do what the Tenth Amendment says. This power \u2014 we were never intended to have crime dealing at the federal level. Crime was supposed to be left to the states. Colorado has made their decision. And I don't want the federal government interfering and putting moms in jail, who are trying to get medicine for their kid... +p3427 +aVMay I respond? May I respond? +p3428 +aVHere is the thing, he doesn't want to make it about medical marijuana, but what if New Jersey's medical marijuana contradicts the federal law? He's saying he'll send the federal government in, and he will enforce the federal law. That's not consistent with the Tenth Amendment. It is not consistent with states' rights. And it is not consistent with the conservative vision for the country. I don't think we should be sending the federal police in to arrest a mother and separate them from their child for giving a medicine to their child for seizures. +p3429 +aVIf you want a skeptic \u2014 if you want a skeptic, Jake, I will happily jump into that briar patch. If you want a real... +p3430 +aVA second opinion? One of the greatest \u2014 one of the greatest medical discoveries of all times was \u2014 were the vaccines, particularly for smallpox. And if you want to read a story, it's called The Speckled Monster, it's an amazing story, it was all done voluntary. But people came in by the droves. George Washington wouldn't let his wife visit until she got vaccinated. So I'm all for vaccines. But I'm also for freedom. I'm also a little concerned about how they're bunched up. My kids had all of their vaccines, and even if the science doesn't say bunching them up is a problem, I ought to have the right to spread out my vaccines out a little bit at the very least. +p3431 +aVOoh, that's a tough one. You know, I'm big on \u2014 that we were \u2014 and I love what Carly said about women's suffrage. I think Susan B. Anthony might be a good choice. +p3432 +aVJustice Never Sleeps. +p3433 +aVI met Ronald Reagan as a teenager, and my family, we're big supporters of him when he ran against Gerald Ford. It was a big deal because he was the grassroots, running against the establishment, and I'll never forget that. And, how he stood up and said, you know what, this is something new that our country needs, and our party needs. If I were president, I would try to be one who says, you know what, I'm a Reagan Conservative. I'm someone who believes in peace through strength, and I would try to lead the country in that way knowing that our goal is peace, and that war is the last resort, not the first resort. And, that when we go to war, we go to war in a constitutional way, which means that we have to vote on it, that war is initiated by congress, not by the president, that we go to war electively (ph). That when we go to war, we don't fight with one arm tied behind our back, we fight all out to win, but then we come home. +p3434 +aVThis is what's wrong! +p3435 +aVI mean, this is what's wrong. He buys and sells politicians of all stripes, he's already... +p3436 +aVHey, look, look! He's already hedging his bet on the Clintons, OK? So if he doesn't run as a Republican, maybe he supports Clinton, or maybe he runs as an independent... +p3437 +aV...but I'd say that he's already hedging his bets because he's used to buying politicians. +p3438 +aVFirst of all, only +p3439 +aVMegyn, may I respond? May I respond? +p3440 +aVI want to collect more records from terrorists, but less records from innocent Americans. The Fourth Amendment was what we fought the Revolution over! John Adams said it was the spark that led to our war for independence, and I'm proud of standing for the Bill of Rights, and I will continue to stand for the Bill of Rights. +p3441 +aVUse the Fourth Amendment! +p3442 +aVUse the Fourth Amendment! +p3443 +aVGet a warrant! +p3444 +aVGet a judge to sign the warrant! +p3445 +aVSee, here's the problem. +p3446 +aVHere's the problem, governor. Here's the problem, governor. You fundamentally misunderstand the Bill of Rights. Every time you did a case, you got a warrant from a judge. I'm talking about searches without warrants... +p3447 +aV...indiscriminately, of all Americans' records, and that's what I fought to end. I don't trust President Obama with our records. I know you gave him a big hug, and if you want to give him a big hug again, go right ahead. +p3448 +aVI've got a news flash... +p3449 +aVNews flash, the Republican Party's been fighting against a single-payer system... +p3450 +aV-- for a decade. So I think you're on the wrong side of this if you're still arguing for a single-payer system. +p3451 +aVI oppose the Iranian deal, and will vote against it. I don't think that the president negotiated from a position of strength, but I don't immediately discount negotiations. I'm a Reagan conservative. Reagan did negotiate with the Soviets. But you have to negotiate from a position of strength, and I think President Obama gave away too much, too early. If there's going to be a negotiation, you're going to have to believe somehow that the Iranians are going to comply. And I asked this question to John Kerry, I said "do you believe they're trustworthy?" and he said "No." And I said, "well, how are we gonna get them to comply?" I would have never released the sanctions before there was consistent evidence of compliance. +p3452 +aVLook, I don't want my marriage or my guns registered in Washington. And if people have an opinion, it's a religious opinion that is heartly felt, obviously they should be allowed to practice that and no government should interfere with them. One of the things, one of the things that really got to me was the thing in Houston where you had the government, the mayor actually, trying to get the sermons of ministers. When the government tries to invade the church to enforce its own opinion on marriage, that's when it's time to resist. +p3453 +aVWell, let's be clear, I'm the only one on the stage who actually has a five-year budget that balances. I've put pencil to paper... +p3454 +aV... and I've said -- and I've said I would cut spending, and I've said exactly where. Each one of my budgets has taken a meat axe to foreign aid, because I think we ought to quit sending it to countries that hate us. I think we ought to quit sending it to countries that burn our flag. Israel is not one of those. But even Benjamin Netanyahu said that ultimately, they will be stronger when they're independent. My position is exactly the same. We shouldn't borrow money from China to send it anywhere, but why don't we start with eliminating aid to our enemies. +p3455 +aVI still say exactly what my original opinion is. Do you borrow money from China to send it to anyone? Out of your surplus, you can help your allies, and Israel is a great ally. And this is no particular animus of Israel, but what I will say, and I will say over and over again, we cannot give away money we don't have. We do not project power from bankruptcy court. We're borrowing a million dollars a minute. It's got to stop somewhere. +p3456 +aVI'm a different kind of Republican. I've introduced a five-year balanced budget. I've introduced the largest tax cut in our history. I stood for ten and a half hours on the Senate floor to defend your right to be left alone. But I've also gone to Chicago. I've gone to Detroit. I've been to Ferguson, I've been to Baltimore, because I want our party to be bigger, better and bolder, and I'm the only one that leads Hillary Clinton in five states that were won by President Obama. I'm a different kind of Republican. +p3457 +asVBASH +p3458 +(lp3459 +VA crucial question is how to balance surveillance with privacy and keeping Americans safe. Senator Cruz, you voted for a bill that President Obama signed into law just this past June that made it harder for the government to access Americans' phone records. In light of the San Bernardino attack, was your vote a mistake? +p3460 +aVThank you. Senator Rubio, Senator Cruz is right there was bipartisan support for that. But you voted against it. So, is Senator Cruz wrong? +p3461 +aVSenator Cruz? +p3462 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator \u2014 Senator Rubio, please respond. +p3463 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I know this is \u2014 this has been a very big issue for you. You hear many of your colleagues are calling for increased surveillance by law enforcement. You call that hogwash. Why is that hogwash? +p3464 +aVSenator Rubio? +p3465 +aVGovernor Christie, Governor Christie... ...Governor Christie, I'll come to you in a minute. Go ahead, Senator Paul. +p3466 +aVGo ahead, please. +p3467 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about immigration in a while. But, Governor Christie, just listening to this... +p3468 +aVListening to this, you talked \u2014 you heard Senator Paul, Senator Cruz talk about how important it is to protect Americans' privacy, even in a time of grave danger. Why \u2014 what's wrong with that? +p3469 +aVSenator Paul, you said +p3470 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I want to go back to my initial question, which is you saying that +p3471 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about regime change in a bit. But Governor Kasich, would you like to respond to Senator Paul? +p3472 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. We've been talking tonight about programs and policy proposals that you all have to keep Americans safe and it's a big discussion on the campaign trail. Also about border security and immigration. So let's talk about immigration. Senator Rubio. You co-authored a bill with Democrats two years ago that allowed a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Do you still support that path to citizenship, which means giving those immigrants rights, like the right to vote? +p3473 +aVSenator, you haven't answered the question. You described a very long path but does that path end at citizenship? +p3474 +aVThank you, senator. +p3475 +aVThank you, senator. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, on the campaign trail, Senator Rubio has said that his immigration plan is not that different from yours. Is that true? +p3476 +aVSenator Rubio, please. +p3477 +aVSenator Cruz? +p3478 +aVSenator Cruz? +p3479 +aVSenator Cruz, can you answer that question please? +p3480 +aVSenator Cruz? +p3481 +aVOne at a time please. +p3482 +aVMs. Fiorina, please wait your turn, we're going to get to you. +p3483 +aVSenator Cruz go ahead. +p3484 +aVMr. Trump, you like to say that you restarted this conversation in the campaign. +p3485 +aVSo who do you side with? Who do you side with in this, Senator Rubio or Senator Cruz? +p3486 +aVThank you. Governor Bush? +p3487 +aVListening to this, do you think this is the tone \u2014 this immigration debate that republicans need to take to win back Hispanics into our party especially states like where we are in Nevada that has a pretty Hispanic community? +p3488 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said if China launches a cyber- attack against the U.S. on your watch, "they're going to see cyber- warfare like they have never seen before." What exactly would that response look like? +p3489 +aVGovernor Bush, what you just heard from Governor Christie, are you concerned that that could really escalate with China, that they would retaliate? And, for example, as the NSA has said, attack the U.S. and maybe it's power grid, which the Chinese have the capability to do? +p3490 +aVMr. Trump, just this weekend you said Senator Cruz is not qualified to be president because he doesn't have the right temperament and acted like a maniac when he arrived in the Senate. But last month you said you were open to naming Senator Cruz as your running mate. +p3491 +aVSo why would you be willing to put somebody who's a maniac one heartbeat away from the presidency? +p3492 +aVOkay. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, you have not been willing to attack Mr. Trump in public. +p3493 +aVBut you did question his judgment in having control of American's nuclear arsenal during a private meeting with supporters. Why are you willing to say things about him in private and not in public? +p3494 +aVSenator, senator, I just... +p3495 +aVSenator, a lot of people have seen... +p3496 +aV... a lot of people have seen these comments you made in private. I just want to clarify what you're saying right now is you do believe Mr. Trump has the judgment to be commander in chief? +p3497 +aVGovernor Kasich, Senator Cruz is so committed to stripping federal funds from Planned Parenthood that it could result in shutting down the federal government in just about two weeks. Do you agree with Senator Cruz's tactic? +p3498 +aVThank you. +p3499 +aVThank you. Senator Cruz, I would just add that, on this stage not that long ago, Senator Graham said that this tactic that you're pushing would tank the Republicans' ability to win in 2016. +p3500 +aVThank you, senator. +p3501 +aVThank you... +p3502 +aVGovernor \u2014 governor, I want to go to you. Is it what Senator Cruz says, a surrender by Republicans? +p3503 +aVBut... +p3504 +aVBut is it... +p3505 +aVBut, governor, the \u2014 but, governor, the reality is, in just two weeks' time... ...we are going to be facing a question about whether or not it's enough to shut down the government to make that statement, because there is still a Democrat in the White House. Do you oppose it or support it? +p3506 +aVYes or no, do you support this shutdown? +p3507 +aVWe're talking about Planned Parenthood right now. +p3508 +aVCan you answer yes or no? +p3509 +aVOne more time. I'm sorry, I just want to get the answer. +p3510 +aVSo you would support a shutdown. +p3511 +aVGovernor Bush, Mr. Trump has suggested that your views on immigration are influenced by your Mexican born wife. He said that, quote, "If my wife were from Mexico, I think I would have a soft spot for people from Mexico." Did Mr. Trump go to far in invoking your wife? +p3512 +aVMr. Trump? +p3513 +aVMr. Trump... +p3514 +aVGo ahead. +p3515 +aVMs. Fiorina \u2014 Ms. Fiorina, we're going to come to you, we're going to come to you. I just want to give Governor Bush a chance to respond to what Mr. Trump said. +p3516 +aVOK, on that note, you have criticized Governor Bush for speaking Spanish on the campaign trail. You said, quote, "He should really set an example by speaking English in the United States." What's wrong with speaking Spanish? +p3517 +aVThank you. +p3518 +aV...Thank you.... +p3519 +aVGovernor Bush, let's talk about the issue that's very important to Republican voters, and that's the Supreme Court. After Chief Justice John Roberts voted to uphold Obamacare twice, Senator Cruz criticized your brother for appointing John Roberts to the Supreme Court. Looking back on it, did your brother make a mistake? +p3520 +aV...Is John Roberts one of those people? +p3521 +aVDo you like what you just heard, Senator Cruz? +p3522 +aVMr. Trump, you have said once or twice that you are really rich, and you are by far the richest person on this stage. Chris Christie says billionaires like you and even people who make and earn far less should no longer get Social Security, or at least there should be limits based on \u2014 on their income. You think he's wrong, and if so, why? +p3523 +aVWhat about the country as a \u2014 as a policy? +p3524 +aVSo is a voluntary program the way to get the Social Security system solvent again like that. +p3525 +aVSenator Santorum, you want to give the intelligence community more power to collect American's phone data. But the government had this ability until just days before the San Bernardino attack. If it couldn't prevent San Bernardino, why will it protect America? +p3526 +aVSenator Graham, when this program was exposed, you said, " you have nothing to worry about if you're not talking to terrorist." Do you understand why though some Americans are concerned that the government is keeping tabs on them in any way? +p3527 +aVThank you. Governor Huckabee, you said, "not one terrorist plot has been foiled by the NSA's collection of American's phone records. The director of the CIA says,. "not having these programs makes it ability to find terrorists, quote, "much more challenging."" Are you taking a potential tool to fight terrorists? +p3528 +aVSenator Santorum? +p3529 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator Graham... +p3530 +aVSenator Graham... +p3531 +aVSenator Graham, we've heard here tonight a lot about the fact that you want to send U.S. troops, ground troops, into Iraq, and Syria to defeat +p3532 +aVGovernor Huckabee... +p3533 +aVGovernor Huckabee, would you reinstate the draft? +p3534 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator Graham... +p3535 +aVSenator Graham... +p3536 +aVSenator Graham, we've heard here tonight a lot about the fact that you want to send U.S. troops, ground troops, into Iraq, and Syria to defeat +p3537 +aVGovernor Huckabee... +p3538 +aVGovernor Huckabee, would you reinstate the draft? +p3539 +aVSo what would you do about it? +p3540 +aVSenator... +p3541 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. +p3542 +aVSenator Graham. +p3543 +aVSenator Graham, quick response. +p3544 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. +p3545 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. +p3546 +aVSenator Santorum, earlier this month the Pentagon opened all U.S. military combat positions to women. You previously opposed allowing women in combat roles. As President, would you change the Pentagon's new policy? +p3547 +aVSo, just to be clear, you're saying, yes, you would change the policy back? +p3548 +aVGovernor Pataki, as you mentioned earlier, you have two sons who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Would you maintain this new policy as President, or do you agree with Senator Santorum. +p3549 +aVSenator Santorum. +p3550 +aVNow Governor Pataki, do you a final response? +p3551 +aVGovernor Huckabee, the U.S. has a program that allows visitors from America's closest allies to travel to the U.S. without obtaining a visa. But new legislation in Congress says that privilege should not apply to those who have visited is hot spots like Iraq and Syria in the last five years. You say that legislation doesn't go far enough. Why? +p3552 +aVSenator Santorum, Governor Jindal has supported a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants once the border is secure. Why do you disagree with that? +p3553 +aVSenator, your time's up. I want to get the governor to respond to that. +p3554 +aVSenator -- Senator Santorum, do you buy that, that the governor's not for amnesty? +p3555 +aVSenator, your time is up... +p3556 +aVYour time is up. And Governor, I'm sorry. Just -- you -- you really need to clarify your position, because you say you're not for amnesty, but you have been for a path to citizenship... +p3557 +aVThank you. Senator Graham, you mentioned this earlier; you are calling for an additional 20,000 U.S. ground forces to fight +p3558 +aVNo one on this stage has gone that far. So are you saying, for Iraq and Syria, are you saying that everybody to your right is not fit for the Oval Office? +p3559 +aVSenator -- +p3560 +aV-- Senator Santorum, I know you're raising your hand. You're committing to this number of troops, both in Iraq and on the ground in Syria? +p3561 +aVAnd he's saying 20,000. Would you...? +p3562 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Jindal? +p3563 +aVSenator Santorum, you just heard Governor Jindal and Governor Pataki talk about tax reform. Jeb Bush has proposed a tax reform plan, and in it, he limits deductions, including the popular home mortgage deduction. Would you do the same as president? +p3564 +aV...times up, Senator. +p3565 +aV...OK, times up, Senator. Governor, just to bring you back into this, you said that you would be OK with what is effectively raising taxes on hedge fund managers as part of a tax reform plan. Would you aslo be for doing away with people's deductions for their mortgages. +p3566 +aVGovernor Chafee, you were the only Republican in the Senate to vote against the Iraq war. You say Secretary Clinton should be disqualified from the presidency because she voted in favor of using force in Iraq. She has since said that her vote was a mistake. Why isn't that good enough? +p3567 +aVSecretary Clinton, he's questioning your judgment. +p3568 +aVSenator Sanders \u2014 Senator Sanders, I want to bring you in here. My question for you is, as a congressman, you voted against the Iraq War. You voted against the Gulf War. You're just talking about Syria, but under what circumstances would a President Sanders actually use force? +p3569 +aVAll right. +p3570 +aVThank you. CNN visited college campuses, along with Facebook. And not surprisingly college affordability was among the most pressing issue. Senator Sanders, you've mentioned a couple of times you do have a plan to make public colleges free for everyone. Secretary Clinton has criticized that in saying she's not in favor of making a college free for Donald Trump's kids. Do you think taxpayers should pick up the tab for wealthy children? +p3571 +aVAnd, Secretary Clinton, it's not just college tuition that Senator Sanders is talking about, expanding Social Security and giving all Americans Medicare. What's wrong with that? +p3572 +aVSecretary Clinton... +p3573 +aVCan you answer the... +p3574 +aVSecretary Clinton, the question was not just about tuition, though. It was about Senator Sanders' plan to expand Social Security, to make Medicare available to all Americans. Is that something that you would support? And if not, why not? +p3575 +aVDo you want to expand it? +p3576 +aVSecretary Clinton, you now support mandated paid family leave. +p3577 +aVCarly Fiorina, the first female CEO of a Fortune 50 company, argues, if the government requires paid leave, it will force small businesses to, quote, "hire fewer people and create fewer jobs." What do you say not only to Carly Fiorina, but also a small-business owner out there who says, you know, I like this idea, but I just can't afford it? +p3578 +aVIt's on the federal level. +p3579 +aVBut Secretary \u2014 Secretary Clinton, even many people who agree with you might say, look, this is very hard to do, especially in today's day and age. There are so many people who say, "Really? Another government program? Is that what you're proposing? And at the expense of taxpayer money?" +p3580 +asVEPPERSON +p3581 +(lp3582 +VThank you, John. Mrs. Fiorina, you were the CEO of a large corporation that offers a 401(k) to its employees. But more than half of American have no access to an employer sponsored retirement plan. That includes the workers at small businesses, and the growing ranks of Uber drivers and other part-timers in the freelance economy. Should the Federal Government play a larger role in helping to set up retirement plans for these workers? +p3583 +aVSo you wouldn't agree \u2014 you wouldn't agree with a start for 401(k) for businesses or anything like that? +p3584 +aVThank you very much. +p3585 +aVThank you, the rules say one minute. +p3586 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. We appreciate it. Thank you, thank you. I want to turn my attention now, to you now, Governor Kasich. Most people can't get a college degree without going into debt. Over 40 million Americans have student loans and many of them cannot pay them back. This country has over $100 billion in student loan defaults. That's billion with a b. What will you do to make sure that students, their families, taxpayers, won't feel the economic impact of this burden for generations? Well, first of all, in Ohio we're changing the whole system. Universities will not get paid one dime unless the student graduates or \u2014 graduates or completes a course. Secondly, you can be in high school and complete almost an entire first year before you go to college and get credit to do that. And, of course, in addition to that, we are working now to go after the cost drivers in our universities. And let me give you an example. Universities today have so many non-academic assets. At Ohio State they sold the parking garage and the parking lot, and they got $500 million because they shouldn't be in the parking lot business. They shouldn't be in the ding business, they shouldn't be in the dorm business. And, of course, we need to take advantage of on-line education to reduce these costs and begin to dis-intermediate the cost of four years. Now, for those who that have these big high costs, I think we can seriously look at an idea of where you can do public service. I mean legitimate, public service and begin to pay off some of that debt through the public service that you do. And in the meantime, it may inspire us to care more about our country, more about ourselves. This is a big moral issue in America. Living a life bigger than yourself, and being a center of healing and justice. And people can learn it through public service. +p3587 +aVThank you, thank you. +p3588 +aVThank you, John. Senator Graham, one in every four workers has saved less than $1,000 for retirement. Millions of Americans rely on their Social Security benefits for the majority of their retirement income. Now, you called for reforms to Social Security, but what would you do to fix the other part of the problem for future retirees and get people to save more? +p3589 +aVBut Senator Graham... +p3590 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. Thank you, Senator Graham. Governor Jindal, you've been a strong supporter of for-profit colleges. These are institutions that educate many veterans, minorities and working class Americans. They make up about 11 percent of the college population at these schools, but they account for 44 percent of student loan defaults. Should for-profit schools be held accountable when they take taxpayer money and leave students deep in debt? +p3591 +asVSANDERS +p3592 +(lp3593 +VWell, Gwen and Judy, thank you very much for hosting this event. And, PBS, thank you. Nine months ago, our campaign began. And when it began, we had no political organization, no money, and not much name recognition outside of the state of Vermont. A lot has happened in nine months. And what has happened is, I think, the American people have responded to a series of basic truths, and that is that we have today a campaign finance system which is corrupt, which is undermining American democracy, which allows Wall Street and billionaires to pour huge sums of money into the political process to elect the candidates of their choice. And aligned with a corrupt campaign finance system is a rigged economy. And that's an economy where ordinary Americans are working longer hours for low wagers. They are worried to death about the future of their kids. And yet they are seeing almost all new income and all new wealth going to the top 1 percent. And then in addition to that, the American people are looking around and they see a broken criminal justice system. They see more people in jail in the United States of America than any other country on earth, 2.2 million. We're spending $80 billion a year locking up fellow Americans. They see kids getting arrested for marijuana, getting in prison, getting a criminal record, while they see executives on Wall Street who pay billions of dollars in settlements and get no prosecution at all. No criminal records for them. I think what our campaign is indicating is that the American people are tired of establishment politics, tired of establishment economics. They want a political revolution in which millions of Americans stand up, come together, not let the Trumps of the world divide us, and say, you know what, in this great country, we need a government that represents all of us, not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors. Thank you. +p3594 +aVWell, to put that in a context, Judy, I think we have to understand that in the last 30 years in this country there has been a massive transfer of wealth going from the hands of working families into the top one-tenth of 1% whose percentage of wealth has doubled. In other words, the very rich are getting richer, almost everybody is going \u2014 getting poorer. What I believe is the United States, in fact, should join the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee healthcare to all people. Our Medicare for all single-payer proposal will save the average middle class family $5,000 a year. I do believe that in the year 2016 we have to look in terms of public education as colleges as part of public education making public colleges and universities tuition free. I believe that when real unemployment is close to 10%, and when our infrastructure, our roads, our bridges, our water systems, Flint, Michigan comes to mind. Our waste water plants, our rail, our airports, in many places are disintegrating. Yeah, we can create 13 million jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure at a cost of a trillion dollars. +p3595 +aV... Of course there will be a limit, but when today you have massive levels of income and wealth inequality, when the middle class is disappearing, you have the highest rate of child poverty of almost any major country on Earth. Yes, in my view, the government of a democratic society has a moral responsibility to play a vital role in making sure all of our people have a decent standard of living. +p3596 +aVWell, let us level with the American people. Secretary Clinton has been going around the country saying Bernie Sanders wants to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, people are going to lose their MedicAid, they're going to lose their +p3597 +aVThat is absolutely inaccurate. Look, here is the reality, folks. There is one major country on Earth that does not guarantee health care to all people. There is one major country \u2014 the United States \u2014 which ends up spending almost three times per capita what they do in the U.K. guaranteeing health care to all people, 50 percent more than they do in France guaranteeing health care to all people, far more than our Canadian neighbors, who guarantee health care to all people. Please do not tell me that in this country, if \u2014 and here's the if \u2014 we have the courage to take on the drug companies, and have the courage to take on the insurance companies, and the medical equipment suppliers, if we do that, yes, we can guarantee health care to all people in a much more cost effective way. +p3598 +aVWell, Secretary Clinton, you're not in the White House yet. And let us be clear that every proposal that I have introduced has been paid for. For example, all right, who in America denies that we have an infrastructure that is crumbling? Roads, bridges, water systems, wastewater plants, who denies that? Who denies that real unemployment today, including those who have given up looking for work and are working part-time is close to 10 percent? Who denies that African-American youth unemployment, real, is over 50 percent. We need to create jobs. So yes, I will do away with the outrageous loopholes that allow profitable multinational corporations to stash billions of dollars in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda and in a given year pay zero, zero in federal income tax. Yes, I'm going to do away with that. We will use those proceeds, a hundred billion a year, to invest in rebuilding our infrastructure. Yes, I believe that as a result of the illegal behavior on Wall Street, that they are a Wall Street that drove this country into the worst economic downturn since the Great Recession \u2014 Great Depression. Yes, I do believe that now after the American people bailed Wall Street out, yes, they should pay a Wall Street speculation tax so that we can make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We bailed them out. Now it is their time to help the middle class. +p3599 +aVA brief response. +p3600 +aVHere is where we are with public education. A 100, 150 years ago incredibly brave Americans said, you know what, working class kids, low income kids should not have to work in factories or on the farms. Like rich kids, they deserve to get a free education. And that free education of extraordinary accomplishment was from first grade to 12th grade. The world has changed. This is 2016. In many ways, a college degree today is equivalent to what a high school degree was 50, 60 years ago. So, yes, I do believe that when we talk about public education in America, today, in a rapidly changing world, we should have free tuition at public colleges and universities. That should be a right of all Americans regardless of the income of their families. +p3601 +aVLook, we are fighting for every vote that we can get from women, from men, straight, gay, African-Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans. We are trying to bring America together around an agenda that works for working families and the middle class. I am very proud, if my memory is not correct \u2014 I think I am \u2014 that I have a lifetime \u2014 and I've been in Congress a few years \u2014 a lifetime 100 percent pro-choice voting record. I am very proud that over the years we have had the support in my state of Vermont from very significant majorities of women. I'm very proud that I support legislation that is currently in the Congress, got support of almost all progressive Democrats in the House and Senate, which says we will end the absurdity of women today making 79 cents on the dollar compared to men. And we will join the rest of the other \u2014 the industrialized world in saying that paid family and medical leave should be a right of all working families. +p3602 +aVWell, you know, I think, from a historical point of view, somebody with my background, somebody with my views, somebody who has spent his entire life taking on the big money interests, I think a Sanders victory would be of some historical accomplishment, as well. +p3603 +aVLet me concur with the secretary, no question women's rights are under fierce attack all over this country. And I will tell you something that really galls me. I will not shock anybody to suggest that in politics there is occasionally a little bit of hypocrisy. Just a little bit. All over this country we have Republican candidates for president saying we hate the government. Government is the enemy. We're going to cut Social Security to help you. We're going to cut Medicare and Medicaid, federal aid to education to help you, because the government is so terrible. But, by the way, when it comes to a woman having to make a very personal choice, ah, in that case, my Republican colleagues love the government and want the government to make that choice for every woman in America. If that's not hypocrisy, I don't know what hypocrisy is. +p3604 +aVThis is one of the great tragedies in our country today. And we can no longer continue to sweep it under the rug. It has to be dealt with. Today a male African-American baby born today stands a one-in-four chance of ending up in jail. That is beyond unspeakable. So what we have to do is the radical reform of a broken criminal justice system. What we have to do is end over-policing in African-American neighborhoods. The reality is that both the African-American community and the white community do marijuana at about equal rates. The reality is four times as many blacks get arrested for marijuana. Truth is that far more blacks get stopped for traffic violations. The truth is that sentencing for blacks is higher than for whites. We need fundamental police reform, clearly, clearly, when we talk about a criminal justice system. I would hope that we could all agree that we are sick and tired of seeing videos on television of unarmed people, often African-Americans, shot by police officers. What we have got to do is make it clear that any police officer who breaks the law will, in fact, be held accountable. +p3605 +aVNothing that Secretary Clinton said do I disagree with. This mandatory sentencing, a very bad idea. It takes away discretion from judges. We have got to demilitarize local police departments so they do not look like occupying armies. We have got to make sure that local police departments look like the communities they serve in their diversity. And, where we are failing abysmally is in the very high rate of recidivism we see. People are being released from jail without the education, without the job training, without the resources that they need to get their lives together, then they end up \u2014 we're shocked that they end up back in jail again. So, we have a lot of work to do. But, here is a pledge I've made throughout this campaign, and it's really not a very radical pledge. When we have more people in jail, disproportionately African American and Latino, than China does, a communist authoritarian society four times our size. Here's my promise, at the end of my first term as president we will not have more people in jail than any other country. We will invest in education, and jobs for our kids, not incarceration and more jails. +p3606 +aVWell, I think, Judy, what has to be appreciated is that, as a result of the disastrous and illegal behavior on Wall Street, millions of lives were hurt. People lost their jobs, their homes, their life savings. Turns out that the African-American community and the Latino community were hit especially hard. As I understand it, the African-American community lost half of their wealth as a result of the Wall Street collapse. So when you have childhood African-American poverty rates of 35 percent, when you have youth unemployment at 51 percent, when you have unbelievable rates of incarceration \u2014 which, by the way, leaves the children back home without a dad or even a mother \u2014 clearly, we are looking at institutional racism. We are looking at an economy in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. And sadly, in America today, in our economy, a whole lot of those poor people are African-American. +p3607 +aVAbsolutely, because what we will do is say, instead of giving tax breaks to billionaires, we are going to create millions of jobs for low-income kids so they're not hanging out on street corners. We're going to make sure that those kids stay in school or are able to get a college education. And I think when you give low-income kids \u2014 African-American, white, Latino kids \u2014 the opportunities to get their lives together, they are not going to end up in jail. They're going to end up in the productive economy, which is where we want them. +p3608 +aVWhite people? +p3609 +aVYeah, you can, because African-Americans and Latinos not only face the general economic crises of low wages, and high unemployment, and poor educational opportunities, but they face other problems, as well. So, yes, we can talk about it as a racial issue. But it is a general economic issue. And here's what the economic issue is. The wages that high school graduates receive today are significantly less, whether you are white or black, than they used to be. Why is that? Because of a series of disastrous trade policies which have allowed corporate America through +p3610 +aVThe answer is yes. We've got 11 million undocumented people in this country. I have talked to some of the young kids with tears rolling down their cheeks, are scared to death that today they may or their parents may be deported. I believe that we have got to pass comprehensive immigration reform, something that I strongly supported. I believe that we have got to move toward a path toward citizenship. I agree with President Obama who used executive orders to protect families because the Congress, the House was unable or refused to act. And in fact I would go further. What would motivate me and what would be the guiding light for me in terms of immigration reform, Judy, is to bring families together, not divide them up. And let me say this also. Somebody who is very fond of the president, agrees with him most of the time, I disagree with his recent deportation policies. And I would not support those. Bottom line is a path towards citizenship for 11 million undocumented people, if Congress doesn't do the right thing, we use the executive orders of the president. +p3611 +aVSecretary Clinton, I do have a disagreement here. If my memory is correct, I think when we saw children coming from these horrendous, horrendously violent areas of Honduras and neighboring countries, people who are fleeing drug violence and cartel violence, I thought it was a good idea to allow those children to stay in this country. That was not, as I understand it, the secretary's position. In terms of 2007 immigration reform, yeah, I did vote against it. I voted against it because the Southern Poverty Law Center, among other groups, said that the guest-worker programs that were embedded in this agreement were akin to slavery. Akin to slavery, where people came into this country to do guest work were abused, were exploited, and if they stood up for their rights, they'd be thrown out of this country. So it wasn't just me who opposed it. It was +p3612 +aVWell, let me just respond. I worked with Ted Kennedy. He was the chairman of my committee. And I loved Ted Kennedy. But on this issue, when you have one of the large Latino organizations in America saying vote no, and you have the AFL-CIO saying vote no, and you have leading progressive Democrats, in fact, voting no, I don't apologize for that vote. But in terms of the children, I don't know to whom you're sending a message. Who are you sending a message to? These are children who are leaving countries and neighborhoods where their lives are at stake. That was the fact. I don't think we use them to send a message. I think we welcome them into this country and do the best we can to help them get their lives together. +p3613 +aVOK. You know, you judge a nation not by the number of millionaires and billionaires it has, but by how you treat, we treat, the most vulnerable and fragile people in our nation. And by those standards, we're not doing particularly well. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty among almost any major country on Earth. And in terms of seniors, there are millions of seniors \u2014 and I've talked to them in my state of Vermont and all over this country \u2014 who are trying to get by on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year Social Security. And you know what? You do the arithmetic. You can't get by on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year. And here's an area where Secretary Clinton and I believe we have a difference. I have long supported the proposition that we should lift the cap on taxable income coming into the Social Security Trust Fund, starting at $250,000. And when we \u2014 and when we do that, we don't do what the Republicans want, which is to cut Social Security. We do what the American people want, to expand Social Security by $1,300 a year for people under $16,000, and we extend the life of Social Security for 58 years. Yes, the wealthiest people, the top 1.5 percent, will pay more in taxes. But a great nation like ours should not be in a position where elderly people are cutting their pills in half, where they don't have decent nutrition, where they can't heat their homes in the wintertime. That is not what America should be about. If elected president, I will do everything I can to expand Social Security benefits, not just for seniors, but for disabled veterans, as well. +p3614 +aVIn all due respect......In all due respect, Secretary Clinton, a lot of the progressive groups, the online groups have really asked you a simple question. Are you coming onboard a proposal? And what is that proposal? Now, the proposal that I have outlined, you know, should be familiar to you, because it is what essentially Barack Obama campaigned on in 2008. You opposed him then. I would hope that you would come onboard and say that this is the simple and straightforward thing to do. We're asking the top 1.5 percent, including passive income, to start paying a little bit more so that the elderly and disabled vets in this country can live with security and dignity. I hope you will make a decision soon on this. +p3615 +aVThat's my bill. Check it out. +p3616 +aVWhat we are talking about in reality is a corrupt campaign finance system, that's what we're talking about. We have to be honest about it. It is undermining American democracy. When extraordinarily wealthy people make very large contributions to Super PACs, and in many cases in this campaign, Super PACs have raised more money than individual candidates have, OK? We had a decision to make early on, do we do a Super PAC? And, we said no. We don't represent Wall Street, we don't represent the billionaire class, so it ends up I'm the only candidate up here of the many candidates who has no Super PAC. But, what we did is we said to the working families of this country, look, we know things are tough, but if you want to help us go beyond establishment politics, and establishment economics, send us something. And, it turns out that up until \u2014 and this has blown me away, never in a million years would I have believed that I would be standing here tonight telling you that we have received three and a half million individual contributions from well over a million people. Now, Secretary Clinton's Super PAC, as I understand it, received $25 million dollars last reporting period, $15 million dollars from Wall Street. Our average contribution is $27 dollars, I'm very proud of that. +p3617 +aVThe people aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street... But let's not \u2014 but let's not \u2014 let's not insult \u2014 let's not insult the intelligence of the American people. People aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street make huge campaign contributions? I guess just for the fun of it; they want to throw money around. Why does the pharmaceutical industry make huge campaign contributions? Any connection maybe to the fact that our people pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs? Why does the fossil fuel industry pay \u2014 spend huge amounts of money on campaign contributions? Any connection to the fact that not one Republican candidate for president thinks and agrees with the scientific community that climate change is real and that we have got to transform our energy system? And when we talk about Wall Street, let's talk about Wall Street. I voted for Dodd-Frank, got an important amendment in it. In my view, it doesn't go anywhere near far enough. But when we talk about Wall Street, you have Wall Street and major banks have paid $200 billion in fines since the great crash. No Wall Street executive has been prosecuted. +p3618 +aVLet me, you know, again, respectfully disagree with Secretary Clinton here. When you have three out of the four largest financial institutions in this country bigger today than they were when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, when you have six financial institutions having assets equivalent to 58 percent of the GDP of America, while issuing two-thirds of the credit cards and a third of the mortgages, look, I think if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, that great trust-buster would have said break them up. I think he would have been right. I think he would have said bring back a 21st-century Glass-Steagall legislation. I think that would have been right, as well. That's my view. +p3619 +aVHey, I'm in the United States Senate, and anyone who doesn't think that there is an enormous amount of waste and inefficiency and bureaucracy throughout government would be very, very mistaken. I believe in government, but I believe in efficient government, not wasteful government. +p3620 +aVIf I could just answer that, we have also got to take a look at the waste and inefficiencies in the Department of Defense, which is the one major agency of government that has not been able to be audited. And I have the feeling you're going to find a lot of cost overruns there and a lot of waste and duplicative activities. +p3621 +aVLet me \u2014 let me just say this. What a President of the United States has got to do and what is his or her major, I think, responsibility is to, a, make certain that we keep our people safe, that we work with allies around the world to protect democratic values, that we do all that we can to create a world of peace and prosperity. I voted against the war in Iraq because I listened very carefully to what President Bush and Vice President Cheney had to say and I didn't believe them. And if you go to my Web site,berniesanders.com, what you find is not only going to help lead the opposition to that war, but much of what I feared would happen when I spoke on the floor of the House, in fact, did happen in terms of the instability that occurred. Now I think an area in kind of a vague way, or not so vague, where Secretary Clinton and I disagree is the area of regime change. Look, the truth is that a powerful nation like the United States, certainly working with our allies, we can overthrow dictators all over the world. And God only knows Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator. We could overthrow Assad tomorrow if we wanted to. We got rid of Gadhafi. But the point about foreign policy is not just to know that you can overthrow a terrible dictator, it's to understand what happens the day after. And in Libya, for example, the United States, Secretary Clinton, as secretary of state, working with some other countries, did get rid of a terrible dictator named Gadhafi. But what happened is a political vacuum developed. +p3622 +aVJudy, if I can, there is no question, Secretary Clinton and I are friends, and I have a lot of respect for her, that she has enormous experience in foreign affairs. Secretary of state for four years. You've got a bit of experience, I would imagine. But judgment matters as well. Judgment matters as well. And she and I looked at the same evidence coming from the Bush administration regarding Iraq. I lead the opposition against it. She voted for it. But more importantly, in terms of this Libya resolution that you have noted before, this was a virtually unanimous consent. Everybody voted for it wanting to see Libya move toward democracy, of course we all wanted to do that. That is very different than talking about specific action for regime change, which I did not support. +p3623 +aVJudy, one area very briefly... +p3624 +aVWhere the secretary and I have a very profound difference, in the last debate \u2014 and I believe in her book \u2014 very good book, by the way \u2014 in her book and in this last debate, she talked about getting the approval or the support or the mentoring of Henry Kissinger. Now, I find it rather amazing, because I happen to believe that Henry Kissinger was one of the most destructive secretaries of state in the modern history of this country. I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend. I will not take advice from Henry Kissinger. And in fact, Kissinger's actions in Cambodia, when the United States bombed that country, overthrew Prince Sihanouk, created the instability for Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge to come in, who then butchered some 3 million innocent people, one of the worst genocides in the history of the world. So count me in as somebody who will not be listening to Henry Kissinger. +p3625 +aVWell, it ain't Henry Kissinger. That's for sure. +p3626 +aVIt is. +p3627 +aVI find \u2014 I mean, it's just a very different, you know, historical perspective here. Kissinger was one of those people during the Vietnam era who talked about the domino theory. Not everybody remembers that. You do. I do. The domino theory, you know, if Vietnam goes, China, da, da, da, da, da, da, da. That's what he talked about, the great threat of China. And then, after the war, this is the guy who, in fact, yes, you're right, he opened up relations with China, and now pushed various type of trade agreements, resulting in American workers losing their jobs as corporations moved to China. The terrible, authoritarian, Communist dictatorship he warned us about, now he's urging companies to shut down and move to China. Not my kind of guy. +p3628 +aVWell, this is what I would say. It is a complicated relationship. I congratulate Secretary of State John Kerry and the president for working on this agreement. As you've indicated, what is happening in Syria, the number of people, the hundreds of thousands of people who have been killed \u2014 men, women, 20,000 children, the people who are forced to flee their own country \u2014 their own country \u2014 it is unspeakable. It is a real horror. Now, what I think is that right now we have got to do our best in developing positive relations with Russia. But let's be clear: Russia's aggressive actions in the Crimea and in Ukraine have brought about a situation where President Obama and +p3629 +aVLet me just \u2014 just say this. For a start, the secretary and I disagree \u2014 and I think the president does not agree with her \u2014 in terms of the concept of a no-fly zone in Syria. I think you do have a humanitarian tragedy there, as I mentioned a moment ago. I applaud Secretary Kerry and the president for trying to put together this agreement. Let's hope that it holds. But furthermore, what we have got to do, I'm sorry, yes, I do believe that we have got to do everything that we can, and it will not happen tomorrow. But I do hope that in years to come, just as occurred with Cuba, 10, 20 years ago, people would say, reach normalized relations with Cuba. And by the way, I hope we can end the trade embargo with Cuba as well. But the idea that we some day maybe have decent relations with Iran, maybe put pressure on them so they end their support for terrorism around the world, yes, that is something I want to achieve. And I believe that the best way to do that is to be aggressive, to be principled, but to have the goal of trying to improve relations. That's how you make peace in the world. You sit down and you work with people, you make demands of people, in this case demanding Iran stop the support of international terrorism. +p3630 +aVWe have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of work to do. But I recall when Secretary Clinton ran against then-Senator Obama, she was critical of him for suggesting that maybe you want to talk to Iran, that you want to talk to our enemies. I have no illusion. Of course you are right. Iran is sponsoring terrorism in many parts of the world, destabilizing areas. Everybody knows that. But our goal is, in fact, to try over a period of time to, in fact, deal with our enemies, not just ignore that reality. +p3631 +aVNo, I think the idea was that president \u2014 then-Senator Obama was wrong for suggesting that it is a good idea to talk to your opponents. It's easier to talk to your friends. It's harder to talk to your enemies. I think we should do both. +p3632 +aVA couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to go on a congressional delegation. And I went to one of these Turkish refugee camps right on the border of Syria. And what a sad sight that was: Men, women, children forced out of their homes. And Turkey, by the way, did a very decent thing, providing what was reasonable housing and conditions for those people. It seems to me that given our history as a nation that has been a beacon of hope for the oppressed, for the downtrodden, that I very strongly disagree with those Republican candidates who say, you know what, we've got to turn our backs on women and children who left their home with nothing, nothing at all. That is not what America is supposed to be about. So I believe that working with Europe \u2014 and, by the way, you know, we've got some very wealthy countries there in that part of the world. You got Kuwait and you got Qatar and you got Saudi Arabia. They have a responsibility, as well. But I think this is a worldwide \u2014 that the entire world needs to come together to deal with this horrific refugee crisis we're seeing from Syria and Afghanistan, as well. +p3633 +aVYou know, Franklin Delano Roosevelt took the oath of office in 1933 at a time when 25 percent of the American people were unemployed, country was in incredible despair. And he stood before the American people and he said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself," a profound statement that gave the American people the courage to believe that, yes, we could get out of that terrible depression. And then what he did is redefine the role of government. You know, you had Herbert Hoover before that saying, no, we got to only worry about the deficit. So what if mass unemployment exists? So what if children are going hungry? That's not the role of the government. And when FDR said, "Yeah, it is," that we're going to use all of the resources that we have to create jobs, to build homes, to feed people, to protect the farmers, we are a nation which if we come together there is nothing that we could not accomplish. And kind of \u2014 that's what I see our campaign is about right now. In this particular moment of serious crises, saying to the American people don't give up on the political process. don't listen to the Trumps of the world and allowing them to divide us. If we reengage and get involved, yeah, we can have health care for all people, we can make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We do not have to have massive levels of income and wealth inequality. In the same light, as the foreign leader, Winston Churchill's politics were not my politics. He was kind of a conservative guy in many respects. But nobody can deny that as a wartime leader, he rallied the British people when they stood virtually alone against the Nazi juggernaut and rallied them and eventually won an extraordinary victory. Those are two leaders that I admire very much. +p3634 +aVThat is......Madam Secretary, that is a low blow. I have worked with President Obama for the last seven years. When President Obama came into office we were losing 800,000 jobs a month, 800,000 jobs a month. We had a $1.4 trillion deficit. And the world's financial system is on the verge of collapse. As a result of his efforts and the efforts of Joe Biden against unprecedented, I was there in the Senate, unprecedented Republican obstructionism, we have made enormous progress. But you know what? Last I heard we lived in a democratic society. Last I heard, a United States senator had the right to disagree with the president, including a president who has done such an extraordinary job. So I have voiced criticisms. You're right. Maybe you haven't. I have. But I think to suggest that I have voiced criticism, this blurb that you talk about, you know what the blurb said? The blurb said that the next president of the United States has got to be aggressive in bringing people into the political process. That's what I said. That is what I believe. President Obama and I are friends. As you know, he came to Vermont to campaign for me when he was a senator. I have worked for his re-election. His first election and his re-election. But I think it is really unfair to suggest that I have not been supportive of the president. I have been a strong ally with him on virtually every issue. Do senators have the right to disagree with the president? Have you ever disagreed with a president? I suspect you may have. +p3635 +aVWell, one of us ran against Barack Obama. I was not that candidate. All right, look, this has been a great debate. A lot of interesting issues have come together. Let me conclude by just saying this. There is no president, in my view, not Hillary Clinton, not Bernie Sanders, who has the capability or the power to take on Wall Street, large campaign donors, the corporate media, the big money interests in this country alone. This campaign is not just about electing a president. What this campaign is about is creating a process for a political revolution in which millions of Americans, working people who have given up on the political process, they don't think anybody hears their pains or their concerns. Young people for whom getting involved in politics is as, you know, it's like going to the moon. It ain't going to happen. Low income people who are not involved in the political process. What this campaign is not only about electing someone who has the most progressive agenda, it is about bringing tens of millions of people together to demand that we have a government that represents all of us and not just the 1 percent, who today have so much economic and political power. Thank you all very much. +p3636 +aVRachel, thank you very much. Millions of Americans are giving up on the political process. And they're giving up on the political process because they understand the economy is rigged. They are working longer hours for low wages. They're worried about the future of their kids, and yet almost all new income and wealth is going to the top 1 percent. Not what America is supposed to be about. Not the fairness that we grew up believing that America was about. And then sustaining that rigged economy is a corrupt campaign finance system undermining American democracy, where billionaire, Wall Street, corporate America can contribute unlimited sums of money into super PACs and into candidates. Our job, together, is to end a rigged economy, create an economy that works for all, and absolutely overturn Citizens United. One person, one vote. That's what American democracy is about. +p3637 +aVWell, I haven't quite run for president before. Let's deal with some of the comments that Secretary Clinton made. And by the way, you know, sometimes there's a lot of drama here. I have known Secretary Clinton for 25 years and respect her very much. Here is the issue. Every major country on earth, whether it's the U.K., whether it's France, whether it's Canada, has managed to provide healthcare to all people as a right and they are spending significantly less per capita on health care than we are. So I do not accept the belief that the United States of America can't do that. I do not accept the belief that the United States of America and our government can't stand up to the ripoffs of the pharmaceutical industry which charge us by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. Number two, in the economy today, everybody understands that we need a well educated workforce. This is 2016. When we talk about public education, it can no longer be K through 12th grade. I do believe that public colleges and universities should be tuition free. Well, how do we pay for that? It's an expensive proposition. I do believe that we should substantially lower student debt in this country, which is crushing millions of people. We pay for it, in my view, by a tax on Wall Street speculation. The middle class bailed out Wall Street in their time of need. Now, it is Wall Street's time to help the middle class. +p3638 +aVLet me... +p3639 +aV... this is a good discussion here. +p3640 +aVAnd let me just say this. As Secretary Clinton may know, I am on the Health Education Labor Committee. That committee wrote the Affordable Care Act. The idea I would dismantle health care in America while we're waiting to pass a Medicare for all is just not accurate. The Affordable Care Act has clearly, as Secretary Clinton made the point, done a lot of good things, but, what it has not done is dealt with the fact we have 29 million people today who have zero health insurance, we have even more who are underinsured with large deductibles and copayments and prescription drug prices are off the wall. So I do believe that in the future, not by dismantling what we have here\u2014I helped write that bill\u2014but by moving forward, rallying the American people, I do believe we should have health care for all. +p3641 +aVNo, not at all. Here's the reality of American economic life today. The reality is that we have one of lowest voter turnouts of any major country on earth because so many people have given up on the political process. The reality is that there has been trillions of dollars of wealth going from the middle class in the last 30 years to the top 1/10th of 1 percent. The reality is we that have a corrupt campaign finance system which separates the American people's needs and desires from what Congress is doing. So to my mind, what we have got to do is wage a political revolution where millions of people have given up on the political process, stand up and fight back, demand the government that represents us and not just a handful of campaign contribution\u2014contributors. Now all of the ideas that I'm talking about, they are not radical ideas. Making public colleges and universities tuition free, that exists in countries all over the world, used to exist in the United States. Rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, and creating 13 million jobs by doing away with tax loopholes that large corporations now enjoy by putting their money into the Cayman Islands and other tax havens. That is not a radical idea. What we need to do is to stand up to the big money interests, and the campaign contributors. When we do that, we can, in fact, transform America. +p3642 +aVLet me just pick up on this point. This whole discussion began because I commented, not making overall evaluation about the Secretary. She was in Ohio, I think, in September or November and she got up and said something like, I have been\u2014I'm paraphrasing, I have been criticized because people think I'm a moderate. Well, I am a moderate. That's where this came from. It wasn't me paraphrasing her. It is what she said, and all that I said was there's nothing wrong with being a moderate. But, you can't be a moderate, you can't a progressive. In terms of President Obama, I think if we remember where this country was seven years ago, 800,000 jobs being lost every month, $1.4 trillion dollar deficit. The world's financial system on the verge of collapse. I think that President Obama, Vice President Biden, and the Democratic leadership in the House and the Senate have done a fantastic job. We are in much better shape than we were seven years ago, although my Republican colleagues seem to have forgotten where we were seven years ago. That's the fact, but, we still have a very long way to go. Do I think President Obama is a progressive? Yes, I do. I disagree with him on a number of issues including the trade agreement. But, yes, I think he has done an excellent job. +p3643 +aVThat's right, I mean, instead of arguing about definitions, let's talk about... +p3644 +aV... What we should do, and one of the things we should do is not only talk the talk, but walk the walk. I am very proud to be the only candidate up here who does not have a Super PAC, who's not raising huge sums of money from Wall Street...... And special interests. I am enormously proud. Never believed it would happen that we have raised 3.5 million individual contributions, averaging $27 dollars a piece. That is what the political revolution means. +p3645 +aVWell, Rachel, actually, that wasn't accurate. In 1988 the Republican did win, I believe, by 3 points. I came in second. It was 34-31, I think, 19 for the Democrat. In that race the Democrat was the spoiler, not me. And it is true......it is true, it's not to be denied, I am the longest- serving independent in the history of the United States Congress. People of Vermont sent me to Washington as an independent. That is true. But on the other hand, I have\u2014when I was in the House for 16 years, I caucused with the Democrats. In the Senate for nine years caucused with the Democrats, of course. And I was elected by the Democrats to be chair of the Veterans Committee three years ago, which I'm very proud of. And now am the rankings member on the Budget Committee, leader of the Democrats in opposition to the majority Republicans. I am running for president as a Democrat. And if elected, not only do I hope to bring forth a major change in national priorities, but let me be frank, I do want to see major changes in the Democratic Party. I want to see working people and young people come into the party in a way that doesn't exist now. And you know what, I want a 50-state strategy so the Democratic Party is not just the party of 25 states. +p3646 +aVWell, I don't see it quite like that. +p3647 +aVI am\u2014will absolutely admit that Secretary Clinton has the support of far more governors, mayors, members of the House. She has the entire establishment or almost the entire establishment behind her. That's a fact. I don't deny it. But I am pretty proud that we have over a million people who have contributed to our campaign averaging 27 bucks apiece. That we have had meetings where 25,000-30,000 people have come out. That our campaign is a campaign of the people, by the people, and for the people. So, Rachel, yes, Secretary Clinton does represent the establishment. I represent, I hope, ordinary Americans, and by the way, who are not all that enamored with the establishment, but I am very proud to have people like Keith Ellison and Raul Grijalva in the House, the co-chairmen of the House Progressive Caucus. +p3648 +aVWhat being part of the establishment is, is, in the last quarter, having a super PAC that raised $15 million from Wall Street, that throughout one's life raised a whole lot of money from the drug companies and other special interests. To my mind, if we do not get a handle on money in politics and the degree to which big money controls the political process in this country, nobody is going to bring about the changes that is needed in this country for the middle class and working families. +p3649 +aVWhat... +p3650 +aV... you know... +p3651 +aV. +p3652 +aVLet's talk about\u2014OK, let's talk... +p3653 +aV... let us talk about issues. +p3654 +aVLet's talk about issues. +p3655 +aVLet's... +p3656 +aV... let's\u2014let's\u2014let's talk about issues. +p3657 +aVLet's talk\u2014let's talk about issues, all right? Let's talk about why, in the 1990s, Wall Street got deregulated. Did it have anything to do with the fact that Wall Street provided\u2014spent billions of dollars on lobbying and campaign contributions? Well, some people might think, yeah, that had some influence. Let's ask why it is that we pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, and your medicine can be doubled tomorrow, and there's nothing that the government can do to stop it. You think it has anything to do with the huge amounts of campaign contributions and lobbying from the fossil fuel industry? Let's talk about climate change. Do you think there's a reason why not one Republican has the guts to recognize that climate change is real, and that we need to transform our energy system? Do you think it has anything to do with the Koch brothers and ExxonMobil pouring huge amounts of money into the political system? That is what goes on in America. I am not\u2014I like......there is a reason. You know, there is a reason why these people are putting huge amounts of money into our political system. And in my view, it is undermining American democracy and it is allowing Congress to represent wealthy campaign contributors and not the working families of this country. +p3658 +aVI think as Secretary Clinton knows, there is nobody who fought harder. I was on the House Financial Committee at that time. I heard the arguments coming from Democrats and Republicans\u2014Robert Rubin, Alan Greenspan\u2014about great an idea it would be if we did away with Glass-Steagall and if we allowed investor banks and commercial banks and big insurance companies to merge. Go to YouTube today. Look up Greenspan-Sanders. Listen to what I told them then. I helped lead the effort against deregulation. Unfortunately, we lost that. The result is\u2014was the worst financial disaster since the Great Depression. +p3659 +aVChuck, actually we looked at it, but it turns out to be a disaster. The way it is structured right now, if you make it all the way to California, you could do pretty well. But in terms of the early states\u2014Iowa, New Hampshire, the other states\u2014it just doesn't work. Your point is well taken. I believe in public funding of elections, absolutely. But this system is\u2014I don't know if the secretary would agree\u2014is currently very antiquated and no longer applies to modern day politics. +p3660 +aVBut if the... +p3661 +aVLet me just say this. Wall Street is perhaps the most powerful economic and political force in this country. You have companies like Goldman Sachs, who just recently paid a settlement fine with the federal government for $5 billion for defrauding investors. Goldman Sachs was one of those companies whose illegal activity helped destroy our economy and ruin the lives of millions of Americans. But this is what a rigged economy and a corrupt campaign finance system and a broken criminal justice is about. These guys are so powerful that not one of the executives on Wall Street has been charged with anything after paying, in this case of Goldman Sachs, a $5 billion fine. Kid gets caught with marijuana, that kid has a police record. A Wall Street executive destroys the economy, $5 billion settlement with the government, no criminal record. That is what power is about. That is what corruption is about. And that is what has to change in the United States of America. +p3662 +aVI would say that\u2014that folks who have looked at this issue for a long time, whether it's Elizabeth Warren or many other economists, will tell you that right now, yes, we do need a 21st century Glass-Steagall legislation. And I would tell you also that when you have three out of the four largest banks in America today, bigger than they were\u2014significantly bigger than when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, I think if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, a good Republican by the way, what he would say is: Break them up; they are too powerful economically; they are too powerful politically. And that is what I believe and many economists believe. Time to break them up. +p3663 +aVWell, we've had a number of economists supporting our legislation. And here's where we are. The American people can judge. Six largest financial institutions in America today have assets of roughly $10 trillion; equivalent to 58 percent of the GDP of the United States of America. That is a lot of money. They issue two thirds of the credit cards, and by the way they're ripping off a whole lot of people with high interest rates on the credit cards, and they write about one third of the mortgages. That is a lot of power for six financial institutions. That's it. I think it is too much power. Too much economic power, too much political power, and the economists that I talk to say we should break them up. +p3664 +aVYeah, I do. I agree with much of what the Secretary said, but, madam Secretary, it is not one streak. Wall Street is an entity of unbelievable economic and political power. That's a fact. And, I want to say something, and it may sound harsh, not to you, but to the American people. In a sense, in my view, the business model of Wall Street is fraud. It's fraud. I believe that corruption is rampant, and the fact that major bank after major bank has reached multi billion dollar settlements with the United States government when we have a weak regulator system tells me that not only did we have to bail them out once, if we don't start breaking them up, we're going to have to bail them out again, and I do not want to see that happen... +p3665 +aVOf course I can work with them, but let's be clear. When I talked about Boeing and I talked about General Electric, what I was referring to is an outrage. I suspect the secretary agrees request me. Right now you have a loophole such that these guys are putting their profits, multi-billion dollar profitable corporations putting billions of dollars into the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, and other tax havens. And in a given year, Rachel, after making billions of dollars in profit, do you know how much they're paying in taxes to the United States government in a given year? Zero. Now explain to me how that makes any sense at all. So what I have said with regard to Boeing and GE and other multinationals that pay zero taxes, you know what we're going to do? We're going to end that loophole. They are going to pay their fair share of taxes. We're going to use that money to rebuild our infrastructure and create up to 13 million jobs. Can I work with corporations? Are there good corporations doing incredible cutting edge research and development? Absolutely they are. And we should be proud of them. But on the other hand, there are many corporations who have turned their backs on the American worker, who have said, if I can make another nickel in profit by going to China and shutting down in the United States of America, that's what I will do. I will do my best to transform our trade policy and take on these corporations who want to invest in low-income countries around the world rather than in the United States of America. +p3666 +aVOK. Let me agree with much of what the secretary said, but where we have a different background on this issue is we differ on the war in Iraq, which created barbaric organizations like +p3667 +aVWell, I think our great task is to make certain that our young men and women in the military do not get sucked into never- ending, perpetual warfare within the quagmire of Syria and Iraq. And I will do my very best to make sure that that doesn't happen. I agree with the secretary that I think what has to happen\u2014and let me just mention what King Abdullah of Jordan said. I think he hit the nail on the head. And what he said is essentially the war against +p3668 +aVWell, you can't simply withdraw tomorrow. Wish we could, and allow, you know, the Taliban or anybody else to reclaim that country. But what we must do, and what we have seen in recent months, is some progress in Iraq, where finally the Iraqi army, which has not been a particularly effective fighting force, retook Ramadi. +p3669 +aVWell, that's not quite accurate. I did give a speech at Georgetown where I talked about democratic socialism and foreign policy. Maybe I shouldn't have combined the two in the same speech, because the foreign policy part of it didn't get much attention. So, let me take this opportunity to give you a very short speech here on the issue. I think, while it is true that the secretary and I voted differently on the war in Iraq, what is important is that we learn the lesson of the war in Iraq. And that lesson is intrinsic to my foreign policy if elected president, is the United States cannot do it alone. We cannot be the policeman of the world. We are now spending more I believe than the next eight countries on defense. We have got to work in strong coalition with the major powers of the world and with those Muslim countries that are prepared to stand up and take on terrorism. So I would say that the key doctrine of the Sanders administration would be no, we cannot continue to do it alone; we need to work in coalition. +p3670 +aV I fully, fully concede that Secretary Clinton, who was secretary of State for four years, has more experience\u2014hat is not arguable\u2014in foreign affairs. But experience is not the only point, judgment is. And once again, back in 2002, when we both looked at the same evidence about the wisdom of the war in Iraq, one of us voted the right way and one of us didn't. In terms of Iran and in terms of Saudi Arabia, of course they hate each other. That's no great secret. But John Kerry, who is I think doing a very good job, has tried to at least get these people in the room together because both of them are being threatened by +p3671 +aVWell... +p3672 +aVWho said That think we should normalize relations with Iran tomorrow? I never said that. I think we should move forward as quickly as we can. And you're right. They are a sponsor of terrorism around the world and we have to address that. But you know, a number of years ago, people were saying normal relationship with Cuba, what a bad and silly idea. They're Communists, they are our enemy. Well guess what? Change has come. So please don't suggest that I think we normalize relations with Tehran tomorrow. We don't. But I would like to see us move forward, and hopefully some day that will happen. And I would say if I might, Madam Secretary\u2014and you can correct me if I'm wrong. When you ran against Senator Obama you thought him naive because he thought it was a good idea to talk to our enemies. I think those are exactly the people you have to talk to and you have to negotiate with. +p3673 +aVOK. +p3674 +aVI think President Obama had the right idea, and the bottom line is that of course there have to be conditions. But, of course it doesn't do us any good to not talk with our adversaries... +p3675 +aVJust to set the record straight, I very strongly supported the agreement which makes certain that Iran does not get a nuclear weapon. +p3676 +aV... +p3677 +aV +p3678 +aV... No, no... +p3679 +aV... +p3680 +aVClearly North Korea is a very strange situation because it is such an isolated country run by a handful of dictators, or maybe just one, who seems to be somewhat paranoid. And, who had nuclear weapons. And, our goal there, in my view, is to work and lean strongly on China to put as much pressure. China is one of the few major countries in the world that has significant support for North Korea, and I think we got to do everything we can to put pressure on China. I worry very much about an isolated, paranoid country with atomic bombs. I think, clearly, we got to work closely with China to resolve the serious problems we have, and I worry about Putin and his military adventurism in the Crimea and the Ukraine. +p3681 +aV... No, I don't. I worry very, very much about an isolated country. That's what makes me nervous. Russia lives in the world. China lives in the world. North Korea is a very, very strange country because it is so isolated, and I do feel that a nation with nuclear weapons, they have got to be dealt with. Dealt with effectively. +p3682 +aVLet me agree. You know, as the secretary knows, I chaired\u2014I had the privilege and the honor of chairing the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs. And it is interesting to me, you know, Republicans give a lot of speeches about how much they love veterans. I work with the American Legion, the VFW, the DAV, the Vietnam Vets, and virtually every veterans organization to put together the most comprehensive piece of the veterans legislation in the modern history of America. That's what I did. And I brought it to the floor of the Senate. Every Democrat voted for it, I got two Republicans. We ended up with 56 votes and I couldn't get the 60 votes that I needed. That is pathetic. This was legislation supported by all of the veterans organizations, addressing many of the serious problems that veterans face in health care and in how we deliver benefits to them. So Republicans talk a good game about veterans, but when it came to put money on the line to protect our veterans, frankly, they were not there. What I did next, Rachel, is I had to retreat a little bit, I had to compromise. I did work with John McCain. I did work with Jeff Miller over in the House. And we put together not the bill that I wanted, but probably the most comprehensive V.A. health care bill in the modern history of this country. Secretary Clinton is absolutely right, there are people, Koch brothers among others, who have a group called Concerned Veterans of America, funded by the Koch brothers. The Koch brothers, by the way, want to destroy Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, every governmental program passed since the 1930s. Yes, there are people out there who want to privatize it. The last point that I'd make. I had a hearing. I had all of the veterans groups in front of me. And I said to them, tell me when a veteran gets in to the V.A., understanding there are waiting lines and real problems, when a veteran gets into the system, is the quality of care good? Without exception, what they said, good, excellent, very good. We've got to strengthen the V.A. We do not privatize the V.A. +p3683 +aVWell, I agree with the Des Moines Register, but let's not blow this out of proportion. This is not a\u2014this is not, like, a winner-take-all thing. I think where we now stand\u2014correct me if I'm wrong\u2014you have 22 delegates, I have 20 delegates. We need 2,500 delegates to win the nomination. You know, so this is not\u2014this is not the biggest deal in the world. We think, by the way, based on talking to our precinct captains, we may have at least two more delegates. What the Des Moines Register said\u2014you know, there were coin\u2014I think there were half a dozen coin flips\u2014a fairly chaotic type situation. At the end of the day, no matter how it's recounted, it will break roughly even. And by the way, I love and respect the caucus process in Iowa. See, and I don't have to say it, because they voted already. And I love New Hampshire, too, because you haven't voted, but......but, look, I think people are blowing this up out of proportion. But I think we need improvements in the process by which results are determined. +p3684 +aVOh . See, when you are old, then they go back all these years. All right. What have you got? +p3685 +aVWell, you know, a general election is different than a primary and caucus process. But let me just say this. In terms of where we are right now, as you mention, Rachel, in a number of national and state, including New Hampshire. For example, the last poll I saw\u2014there may have been a new one\u2014last one I saw here in New Hampshire, a battleground state, had me defeating Trump by 19; the secretary defeating him by one. There were also pretty large margins in Iowa and Wisconsin. These are polls. Polls go up. Polls go down. But here's why I think I will be, if nominated, the strongest candidate. Democrats win when there is a large voter turnout; when people are excited; when working people, middle class people and young people are prepared to engage in the political process. Republicans win when people are demoralized and you have a small voter turnout, which by the way is why they love voter suppression. I believe that our campaign up to now has shown that we can create an enormous amount of enthusiasm from working people, from young people, who will get involved in the political process and which will drive us to a very large voter turnout. If there is a large voter turnout, not only do we retain the White House, but I think we regain the Senate. We win governors' chairs up and down the line. So I believe if you want to retain the White House, if you want to see Democrats do well across the board, I think our campaign is the one that creates the large voter turnout and helps us win. +p3686 +aV +p3687 +aVI am feeling exactly the way I felt at the first debate. There's a process under way. I will not politicize it. +p3688 +aVAnd by the way\u2014and by the way, if I may, the secretary probably doesn't know that there's not a day that goes by when I am not asked to attack her on that issue, and I have refrained from doing that and I will continue to refrain from doing that. +p3689 +aVNot losing control of our campaign. You know, we have hired a whole lot of people in a rapid way and I am familiar with the first two instances and they are unacceptable, and we have apologized and dealt with that. In terms of the last one, as I understand it, we did not suggest that we had the endorsement of a newspaper. Newspapers who make endorsements also say positive things about other candidates, and to the best of my knowledge, that is what we did. So we never said, never said that somebody, a newspaper endorsed us that did not. What we did say is blah blah blah blah was said by the newspaper. +p3690 +aVBut that was only for\u2014that was not to be on television. That's an important point. That was just something\u2014as the secretary knows, you put titles on ads and you send them out, but there was no word in that ad, none, that said that those newspapers had endorsed us. +p3691 +aV... Look, I hear what the Secretary said, and I understand, but look, there are\u2014all of us know that we have seen in recent years horrible, horrible crimes. It's hard to imagine how people can do, bomb, and kill 168 people in Oklahoma City, or do the Boston Marathon bombing, but this is what I believe, and for a couple of reasons. Number one, too many innocent people, including minorities, African Americans, have been executed when they were not guilty. That's number one. We have to be very careful about making sure about that. But, second of all, and maybe, in a deeper reason, of course there are barbaric acts out there. But, in a world of so much violence and killing, I just don't believe that government itself should be part of the killing. So, when somebody commits......somebody commits any of these terrible crimes that we have seen, you lock them up, and you toss away the key. They're never going to get out. But, I just don't' want to see government be part of killing. That's all. +p3692 +aVAbsolutely. I think the Secretary described the situation appropriately. You know, I don't go around asking for governor's resignations every day. In fact, I think I never have in my life. But I did ask for the resignation of Governor Snyder because his irresponsibility......was so outrageous. What we are talking about are children being poisoned. That's what we're talking about. We don't know, no one knows for sure because they haven't done the appropriate studies, but there's no question that kids' intellectual development may have been impacted. We don't know how many thousands. The idea that there has not been a dramatic response is beyond comprehension. And when you have one of the, I think, significant public health crises of recent years, of course the federal government comes in. And of course the federal government says, you're not going to be poisoning little kids and impacting their entire lives. Last point on this. And I suspect the secretary agrees. One wonders if this were a white suburban community what kind of response there would have been. Flint, Michigan, is a poor community. It is disproportionately African-American and minority. And what has happened there is absolutely unacceptable. +p3693 +aVAbsolutely right. +p3694 +aVChuck, I believe in trade, but I do not believe in unfettered free trade. I believe in fair trade which works for the middle class and working families of this country and not just large multinational corporations. I was not only in opposition to +p3695 +aVNo, let... +p3696 +aV... I am absolutely supportive of comprehensive immigration reform and a path towards citizenship for 11 million people today who are living in the shadows. All right? We got to do that. But you miss\u2014when you looked at the issues, you missed two of the most important. And that is you're not going to accomplish what has to be done for working families and the middle class unless there is campaign finance reform. So long as big money interests control the United States Congress, it is gonna be very hard to do what has to be done for working families. So let me be very clear. No nominee of mine, if I'm elected president, to the United States Supreme Court will get that nomination unless he or she is loud and clear, and says they will vote to overturn Citizens United. Second point\u2014second point is that the only way we make change in terms of health care, in terms of dealing with a broken criminal justice system which, today, allows us to have more people in jail than any other country\u2014largely African-American and Latino\u2014the only way we create millions of jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure or have a tax system that says to the wealthy that they are going to pay their fair share, is when millions of people become involved in the political process. No, you just can't negotiate with Mitch McConnell. Mitch is gonna have to look out the window and see a whole lot of people saying, "Mitch, stop representing the billionaire class. Start listening to working families." And as president, that's what I will work hard on. +p3697 +aVI agree with what the secretary said. We shouldn't be getting ahead of ourselves. And as I have said many times, you know, sometimes in these campaigns, things get a little bit out of hand. I happen to respect the secretary very much, I hope it's mutual. And on our worst days, I think it is fair to say we are 100 times better than any Republican candidate. +p3698 +aVI\u2014my dad came to this country at the age of 17 from Poland. Didn't have any money, couldn't speak English, he died pretty young, and I think it would have been beyond his wildest dreams to see his son up here on this stage today running for president. I love this country and my dad loved this country, and he was the most proud American because of what it gave him in terms of raising his family, even though we never had much money. But today in America, we are the only major country on earth that doesn't guarantee health care to all people, that doesn't guarantee paid family and medical leave. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth. We are seeing millions of families unable to send their kids to college in the United States of America. I'm running for president because I believe it is just too late for establishment politics and establishment economics. I do believe we need a political revolution where millions of people stand up and say loudly and clearly that our government belongs to all of us and not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors. Thank you all. +p3699 +aVThank you. As we honor the extraordinary life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., it's important not only that we remember what he stood for, but that we pledge to continue his vision to transform our country. As we look out at our country today, what the American people understand is we have an economy that's rigged, that ordinary Americans are working longer hours for lower wages, 47 million people living in poverty, and almost all of the new income and wealth going to the top one percent. And then, to make a bad situation worse, we have a corrupt campaign finance system where millionaires and billionaires are spending extraordinary amounts of money to buy elections. This campaign is about a political revolution to not only elect the president, but to transform this country. +p3700 +aVWell, that's what our campaign is about. It is thinking big. It is understanding that in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, we should have health care for every man, woman, and child as a right that we should raise the minimum wage to at least $15 an hour; that we have got to create millions of decent- paying jobs by rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure. So, what my first days are about is bringing America together, to end the decline of the middle class, to tell the wealthiest people in this country that yes, they are going to start paying their fair share of taxes, and that we are going to have a government that works for all of us, and not just big campaign contributors. +p3701 +aVWell, I think Secretary Clinton knows that what she says is very disingenuous. I have a D-minus voting record from the NRA. I was in 1988, there were three candidates running for congress in the state of Vermont, I stood up to the gun lobby and came out and maintained the position that in this country we should not be selling military style assault weapons. I have supported from day one and instant background check to make certain that people who should have guns do not have guns. And that includes people of criminal backgrounds, people who are mentally unstable. I support what President Obama is doing in terms of trying to close the gun show loop holes and I think it should be a federal crime if people act as dormant. We have seen in this city a horrendous tragedy of a crazed person praying with people in the coming up and shooting nine people. This should not be a political issue. What we should be doing is working together. And by the way, as a senator from a rural state that has virtually no gun control, I believe that I am in an excellent position to bring people together to fight the sensible... +p3702 +aVWhat I have said, is that gun manufacturer's liability bill has some good provisions among other things, we've prohibited ammunition that would've killed cops who had protection on. We have child safety protection work on guns in that legislation. And what we also said, "is a small mom and pop gun shop who sells a gun legally to somebody should not be held liable if somebody does something terrible with that gun." So what I said is, " I would re-look at it." We are going to re- look at it and I will support stronger provisions. +p3703 +aV...Well, I \u2014 look... +p3704 +aV... Let me respond to what the secretary said. We have a criminal justice system which is broken. Who in America is satisfied that we have more people in jail than any other country on Earth, including China? Disproportionately African American, and Latino. Who is satisfied that 51% of African American young people are either unemployed, or underemployed? Who is satisfied that millions of people have police records for possessing marijuana when the CEO's of Wall Street companies who destroyed our economy have no police records. +p3705 +aV... We need to take a very hard look at our... +p3706 +aV... criminal justice system, investing in jobs, and education not in jails and incarceration . +p3707 +aVWell, let me talk about polling. As Secretary Clinton well knows, when this campaign began she was 50 points ahead of me. We were all of three percentage points. Guess what? In Iowa, New Hampshire, the race is very, very close. Maybe we're ahead New Hampshire. In terms of polling, guess what? We are running ahead of Secretary Clinton. In terms of taking on my taking on my good friend, Donald Trump, beating him by 19 points in New Hampshire, 13 points in the last national poll that we saw. To answer your question. When the African American community becomes familiar with my Congressional record and with our agenda, and with our views on the economy, and criminal justice \u2014 just as the general population has become more supportive, so will the African American community, so will the Latino community. We have the momentum, we're on a path to a victory. O' +p3708 +aVI apologize for not hearing all of that question. +p3709 +aVYes. +p3710 +aVAbsolutely. This is a responsibility for the U.S. Justice Department to get involved. Whenever anybody in this country is killed while in police custody, it should automatically trigger a U.S. attorney general's investigation. Second of all, and I speak as a mayor who worked very closely and well with police officers, the vast majority of whom are honest, hard- working people trying to do a difficult job, but let us be clear. If a police officer breaks the law, like any public official, that officer must be held accountable. And thirdly, we have got to de-militarize our police departments so they don't look like occupying armies. We've got to move toward community policing. And fourthly, we have got to make our police departments look like the communities they serve in their diversity. +p3711 +aVSure. I agree... I agree with everything the Secretary said, but let me just add this, there is a responsibility on the part of the pharmaceutical industry and the drug companies who are producing all of these drugs and not looking at the consequence of it. And second of all, when we talk about addiction being a disease, the Secretary is right, what that means is we need a revolution in this country in terms of mental health treatment. People should be able to get the treatment that they need when they need it, not two months from now, which is why I believe in universal... +p3712 +aV... healthcare with mental health... +p3713 +aV... a part of that. +p3714 +aVOK. +p3715 +aVSecretary \u2014 Secretary Clinton didn't answer your question. Because what her campaign was saying \u2014 Bernie Sanders, who has fought for universal health care for my entire life, he wants to end Medicare, end Medicaid, end the children's health insurance program. That is nonsense. What a Medicare-for-all program does is finally provide in this country health care for every man, woman and child as a right. Now, the truth is, that Frank Delano Roosevelt, Harry Truman, do you know what they believed in? They believed that health care should be available to all of our people. I'm on the committee that wrote the Affordable Care Act. I made the Affordable Care Act along with Jim Clyburn a better piece of legislation. I voted for it, but right now, what we have to deal with is the fact that 29 million people still have no health insurance. We are paying the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, getting ripped off. And here's the important point, we are spending far more per person on health care than the people of any other country. My proposal, provide health care to all people, get private insurance out of health insurance, lower the cost of health care for middle class families by 5,000 bucks. That's the vision we need to take. +p3716 +aVBut \u2014 what if we have... +p3717 +aVIt is \u2014 it is absolutely inaccurate. O' +p3718 +aVNo one is tearing this up, we're going to go forward. But with the secretary neglected to mention, not just the 29 million still have no health insurance, that even more are underinsured with huge copayments and deductibles. Tell me why we are spending almost three times more than the British, who guarantee health care to all of their people? Fifty percent more than the French, more than the Canadians. The vision from FDR and Harry Truman was health care for all people as a right in a cost-effective way. We're not going to tear up the Affordable Care Act. I helped write it. But we are going to move on top of that to a Medicaid-for-all system. O' +p3719 +aVYeah. +p3720 +aVYes. +p3721 +aVNot all that detailed. +p3722 +aVWell. +p3723 +aVWell, that's \u2014 you might want to ask... +p3724 +aVAndrea, let me just say this. +p3725 +aVLet me just say that you might want to ask the governor of the state of Vermont why he could not do it. I'm not the governor. I'm the senator from the state of Vermont. But second of all \u2014 second of all...... here is what the real point is, in terms of all of the issues you've raised \u2014 the good questions you've raised. You know what it all comes down to? Do you know why we can't do what every other country \u2014 major country on Earth is doing? It's because we have a campaign finance system that is corrupt, we have super PACs, we have the pharmaceutical industry pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into campaign contributions and lobbying, and the private insurance companies as well. What this is really about is not the rational way to go forward \u2014 it's Medicare for all \u2014 it is whether we have the guts to stand up to the private insurance companies and all of their money, and the pharmaceutical industry. That's what this debate should be about. +p3726 +aVA couple of years ago, when we understood that veterans were not getting the quality care they needed in the timely manner, I worked with folks like John McCain and others to pass the most comprehensive veteran's health care legislation in modern history. But let me rephrase your question because I think, in all do respect, you're expression. In all do respect, you're missing the main point. And the main point in the Congress, it's not the Republicans and Democrats hate each other. That's a mythology from the media. The real issue is that Congress is owned by big money and refuses to do what the American people want them to do. The real issue is that in area after area, raising the minimum wage to $15 bucks an hour. The American people want it. Rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, creating 13 million jobs, the American people want it. The pay equity for women, the American people want it. Demanding that the wealthy start paying their fair share of taxes. The American people want it. +p3727 +aVThe point is, we have to make Congress respond to the needs of the people, not big money. +p3728 +aVI do. +p3729 +aVDid I say that? +p3730 +aVBecause of what I believe in what I was just saying. The Democratic party needs major reform. To those of you in South Carolina, you know what, in Mississippi, we need a 50-state strategy so that people in South Carolina and Mississippi can get the resources that they need. Instead of being dependent on super PACs, what we need is to be dependent on small, individual campaign contributors. We need an agenda that speaks to the needs of working families and low-income people. Not wealthy campaign contributors. +p3731 +aVWe need to expand what the input into the Democratic party. I am very proud that in this campaign, we have seen an enormous amount of excitement from young people, from working people. We have received more individual contributions than any candidate in the history of this country up to this point. O' +p3732 +aVAnd I respectfully disagree. +p3733 +aVAnd I respectfully disagree with my friend over here. And that is, you are right. All of us have denounced Trump's attempts to divide this country: the anti-Latino rhetoric, the racist rhetoric, he anti-Muslim rhetoric. But where I disagree with you, Governor O'Malley, is I do believe we have to deal with the fundamental issues of a handful of billionaires... O' +p3734 +aV... who control economic and political life of this country. O' +p3735 +aVNothing real will get happened. Unless we have a political revolution. Where millions of people finally stand up. +p3736 +aVIs that your strategy... +p3737 +aVWell, the first difference is I don't take money from big banks. I don't get personal speaking fees from Goldman Sachs. What I would do... What I would do is understand that when you have three out of the four largest banks today, bigger than they were when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, when you have the six largest financial institutions having assets of 60 percent of the GDP of America, it is very clear to me what you have to do. You've got to bring back the 21st century Glass-Steagall legislation and you've got to break up these huge financial institutions. They have too much economic power and they have too much financial power over our entire economy. If Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, the old Republican trust buster, what he would say is these guys are too powerful. Break them up. I believe that's what the American people to want see. That's my view. +p3738 +aVOK. First of all... +p3739 +aVSet the record right. In 2006 when I ran for the Senate, Senator Barack Obama was kind enough to campaign for me, 2008, I did my best to see that he was elected and in 2012, I worked as hard as I could to see that he was reelected. He and I are friends. We've worked together on many issues. We have some differences of opinion. But here is the issue, Secretary touched on it, can you really reform Wall Street when they are spending millions and millions of dollars on campaign contributions and when they are providing speaker fees to individuals? So it's easy to say, well, I'm going to do this and do that, but I have doubts when people receive huge amounts of money from Wall Street. I am very proud, I do not have a super PAC. I do not want Wall Street's money. I'll rely on the middle class and working families... +p3740 +aV... campaign contributions. +p3741 +aVLet me give you an example of how corrupt \u2014 how corrupt this system is. Goldman Sachs recently fined $5 billion. Goldman Sachs has given this country two secretaries of treasury, one on the Republicans, one under Democrats. O' +p3742 +aVThe leader of Goldman Sachs is a billionaire who comes to Congress and tells us we should cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Secretary Clinton \u2014 and you're not the only one, so I don't mean to just point the finger at you, you've received over $600,000 in speaking fees from Goldman Sachs in one year. I find it very strange that a major financial institution that pays $5 billion in fines for breaking the law, not one of their executives is prosecuted, while kids who smoke marijuana get a jail sentence. +p3743 +aVIf you want to... +p3744 +aVAnyone who wants to check my record in taking on Wall Street, in fighting against the deregulation of Wall Street when Wall Street put billions of dollars in lobbying, in campaign contributions to get the government off their backs. They got the government off their backs. Turns out that they were crooks, and they destroyed our economy. I think it's time to put the government back on their backs. +p3745 +aV... Yeah... +p3746 +aV... That's true. +p3747 +aVGood. You're right. I want to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, create 13 million jobs. We do that by doing away with the absurd loophole that now allows major profitable corporations to stash their money in the Cayman Islands, and not in some years, pay a nickel in taxes. Yes, I do. I plead guilty. I want every kid in this country who has the ability to be able to go to a public college, or university, tuition free. And, by the way, I want to substantially lower student debt interest rates in this country as well. How do I pay for it? I pay for it through a tax on Wall Street speculation. This country, and the middle class, bailed out Wall Street. Now, it is Wall Street's time to help the middle class. In fact... O' +p3748 +aV... we have documented, unlike Secretary Clinton, I have documented exactly how I would pay for our ambitious agenda. O' +p3749 +aV... Here is the main two points... +p3750 +aVYeah. +p3751 +aV... I got it. +p3752 +aVWhat is correct, and I'm disappointed that Secretary Clinton's campaign has made this criticism. It's a Republican criticism. Secretary Clinton does know a lot about healthcare, and she understands, I believe, that a medicare for all, single payer program will substantially lower the cost of healthcare for middle class families. So, what we have got to acknowledge, and I hope the Secretary does, is we are doing away with private health insurance premiums. So, instead of paying $10,000 dollars to Blue Cross, or Blue Shield, yes, some middle class families would be paying slightly more in taxes, but the result would be that that middle class family would be saving some $5,000 dollars in healthcare costs. A little bit more in taxes, do away with private health insurance premiums. It's a pretty good deal. +p3753 +aVYeah. +p3754 +aVNo, it is not breaking my word. When you are \u2014 it's one thing to say I'm raising taxes, it's another thing to say that we are doing away with private health insurance premiums. So, if I save you $10,000 in private health insurance, and you pay a little bit more in taxes in total, there are huge savings in what your family is spending. O' +p3755 +aVI was mayor for eight years, I did that as well. O' +p3756 +aVI think we already are. Younger generation understands it instinctively. I was home in Burlington, Vermont, on Christmas Eve, the temperature was 65 degrees. People in Vermont know what's going on. People who did ice fishing, where their ice is no longer there on the lake understand what's going on. I'm on both the Environmental and Energy Committees. The debate is over. Climate change is real. It is already causing major problems. And if we do not act boldly and decisively, a bad situation will become worse. It is amazing to me, and I think we'll have agreement on this up here, that we have a major party, called the Republican Party that is so owned by the fossil fuel industry and their campaign contributions that they don't even have the courage, the decency to listen to the scientists. It is beyond my comprehension how we can elect a president of the United States, somebody like Trump, who believes that climate change is a hoax invented by the Chinese. Bottom line is, we need to be bold and decisive, we can create millions of jobs. We must, for the sake of our kids and grandchildren, transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energy. I've got the most comprehensive legislation in the Senate to do that. And as president, I will fight to make that happen. +p3757 +aVI think what we've got to do is move as aggressively as we can to normalize relations with Iran. Understanding that Iran's behavior in so many ways is something that we disagree with; their support terrorism, the anti-American rhetoric that we're hearing from of their leadership is something that is not acceptable. On the other hand, the fact that we've managed to reach an agreement, something that I've very strongly supported that prevents Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and we did that without going to war. And that I believe we're seeing a fall in our relationships with Iran is a very positive step. So if your question is, do I want to see that relationship become more positive in the future? Yes. Can I tell that we should open an embassy in Tehran tomorrow? No, I don't think we should. But I think the goal has go to be as we've done with Cuba, to move in warm relations with a very powerful and important country in this world. +p3758 +aVAs everybody you know, this is incredibly complicated and difficult issue and I applaud. I know President Obama's been getting a lot of criticism on this. I think he is doing the right thing. What the nightmare is, which many of my Republican colleagues appear to want is to not have learned the lesson of Iraq. To get American young men and women involved in perpetual warfare in the quagmire of Syria and the Middle East would be an unmitigated disaster that as president, I will do everything in my power to avoid. O' +p3759 +aVWe should \u2014 we should learn \u2014 we should learn from King Abdullah of Jordan, one of the few heroes in a very unheroic place. And what Abdullah said is this is a war with a soul of Islam and that Muslim troops should be on the ground with our support and the support of other major countries. That is how we destroy +p3760 +aVNo. I think the vacuum was created by the disastrous war in Iraq, which I vigorously opposed. Not only did I vote against it, I helped lead the opposition. And what happened there is yes, it's easy to get rid of a two-bit dictator like Saddam Hussein, but there wasn't the kind of thought as to what happens the day after you get him and what kind of political vacuum occurs. And who rises up? Groups like +p3761 +aVLet me just... +p3762 +aVOK. Let me suggest... +p3763 +aVWhere Secretary Clinton and I think, I agree with most of what she said. But where I think we do have an honest disagreement, is that in the incredible quagmire of Syria, where it's hard to know who's fighting who and if you give arms to this guy, it may end up in +p3764 +aVOK. I just wanted to add, in the previous question, I voted against the USA Patriot Act for many of the reasons that Governor O'Malley mentioned. But it is not only the government that we have to worry about, it is private corporations. You would all be amazed, or maybe not, about the amount of information private companies and the government has in terms of the Web sites that you access, the products that you buy, where you are this very moment. And it is very clear to me that public policy has not caught up with the explosion of technology. So yes, we have to work with Silicon Valley to make sure that we do not allow +p3765 +aVRight. What we have got to do there is, among other things, as I was just saying, have Silicon Valley help us to make sure that information being transmitted through the Internet or in other ways by +p3766 +aVCan I get 50 seconds? +p3767 +aVCan I get a \u2014 can I just get a very brief response? Very brief. +p3768 +aVOK. One \u2014 and I agree with what the secretary said, and what Governor O'Malley said. But here's an issue that we also should talk about. We have a $600 billion military budget. It is a budget larger than the next eight countries'. Unfortunately, much of that budget continues to fight the old Cold War with the Soviet Union. Very little of that budget \u2014 less than 10 percent \u2014 actually goes into fighting +p3769 +aVGreat ideas, Governor O'Malley, Secretary Clinton, but here's the truth. If you have an administration stacked with Wall Street appointees, it ain't going to accomplish very much. So here's a promise that I make \u2014 and I mentioned a moment ago how corrupt the system is \u2014 Goldman Sachs, paying a $5 billion fine, gives this country, in recent history, a Republican secretary of treasury, a Democratic secretary of treasury. Here's a promise. If elected president, Goldman Sachs is not going to have \u2014 bring forth a secretary of treasury for a Sanders administration. +p3770 +aVI was asked a question. You know, one of the things, Andrea, and I \u2014 that question annoys me. I cannot walk down the street \u2014 Secretary Clinton knows this \u2014 without being told how much I have to attack secretary Clinton, want to get me on the front pages of the paper, I'd make some vicious attack. I have avoided doing that. Trying to run an issue-oriented campaign. +p3771 +aVI was asked a question. +p3772 +aVWell \u2014 then if I don't answer it, then there's another front page, so it's yes. And I mean this seriously. You know that. We've been through this. Yes, his behavior was deplorable. Have I ever once said a word about that issue? No, I have not. I'm going to debate Secretary Clinton, Governor O'Malley, on the issues facing the American people, not Bill Clinton's personal behavior. +p3773 +aVWell, Secretary Clinton was right and what I did which I think is also right, is demanded the resignation of governor. A man who acts that irresponsibly should not stay in power. Now, we are a great nation \u2014 and we've heard a lot of great ideas here tonight. Let's be honest and let's be truthful. Very little is going to be done to transform our economy and to create the kind of middle class we need unless we end a corrupt campaign finance system which is undermining American democracy. We've got to get rid of Super PACs, we've got to get rid of Citizens' United and what we've got to do is create a political revolution which revitalizes American democracy; which brings millions of young people and working people into the political process. To say loudly and clearly," that the government of the United States of America belongs to all of us and not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors." +p3774 +aVGood evening. I am running for president of the United States because it is too late for establishment politics and establishment economics. I'm running for president because our economy is rigged because working people are working longer hours for lower wages and almost all of new wealth and income being created is going to the top one percent. I'm running for president because I'm going to create an economy that works for working families not just billionaires. I'm running for president because we have a campaign finance system which is corrupt, where billionaires are spending hundreds of millionaires of dollars to buy candidates who will represent their interests rather than the middle class and working families. I'm running because we need to address the planetary crisis of climate change and take on the fossil fuel industry and transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energy. I'm running for president because I want a new foreign policy; one that takes on Isis, one that destroys +p3775 +aVDavid, let me give you a little bit of background here. The DNC has hired vendors. On two occasions, there were breeches in information two months ago. Our staff found information on our computers from the Clinton campaign. And when our staffers said, "whoa, what's going here?" They went to the DNC quietly. They went to the vendor and said, "hey, something is wrong," and that was quietly dealt with. None of that information was looked at. Our staffer at that point did exactly the right thing. A few days ago a similar incident happened. There was a breach because the DNC vendor screwed up, information came to our campaign. In this case, our staff did the wrong thing -- they looked at that information. As soon as we learned that they looked at that information - we fired that person. We are now doing an independent internal investigation to see who else was involved. Thirdly, what I have a really problem, and as you mentioned - this is a problem, I recognize it as a problem. But what the DNC did arbitrarily without discussing it with us is shut off our access to our information crippling our campaign. That is an egregious act. I'm glad that late last night, that was resolved. +p3776 +aVFourthly, I work -- look forward to working with Secretary Clinton for an investigation, an independent investigation, about all of the breaches that have occurred from day one in this campaign, because I am not convinced that information from our campaign may not have ended up in her campaign. Don't know that. But we need an independent investigation, and I hope Secretary Clinton will agree with me for the need of that. Last point. When we saw the breach two months, we didn't go running to the media and make a big deal about it. And it bothers me very much that, rather than working on this issue to resolve it, it has become many press releases from the Clinton campaign later. +p3777 +aVAbsolutely. +p3778 +aVYes, I apologize. +p3779 +aVNot only -- not only do I apologize to Secretary Clinton -- and I hope we can work together on an independent investigation from day one -- I want to apologize to my supporters. This is not the type of campaign that we run. And if I find anybody else involved in this, they will also be fired. +p3780 +aVLet me agree with Governor O'Malley and let me agree with Secretary Clinton. You know, we had this incident before, Secretary, with your famous e-mails. Right? And what I said and I think what Governor O'Malley is saying, and I hope you say, is when the middle class of this country is disappearing, when we have massive income and wealth inequality, when we're the only major country on earth not guaranteeing health care to all people, all the issues that the governor talked about, the secretary talked about, those are the issues. Media notwithstanding. Those are the issues that the American people want discussed. I hope those are the issues we'll discuss. +p3781 +aVI'm one of the 77 percent. I think this is a very difficult issue. Let me agree with much of what the secretary and the governor have said. Let me tell you what I think we have got to do. I think it's a two-pronged issue. Number one, our goal is to crush and destroy +p3782 +aVIt's a country in which people choose to buy guns. I think half of the -- more than half of the people in my own state of Vermont, my guess here in New Hampshire, are gun owners. That's the right of people. But this is what I do believe. I believe that when we have some 300 million guns in this country, I believe that when we have seen these horrific mass killings, not only in San Bernardino, but in Colorado and movie theaters in Colorado, I think we have got to bring together the vast majority of the people who do in fact believe in sensible gun safety regulations. For example, talking about polls, a poll recently came out, overwhelming majority of the American people say we should strengthen the instant background check. Who denies that it is crazy... Who denies that it is crazy to allow people to own guns who are criminals or are mentally unstable? We've got to eliminate the gun show loophole. In my view, we have got to see that weapons designed by the military to kill people are not in the hands of civilians. I think there is a consensus. I think -- I'm not going to say that everybody is in agreement. It's a divided country on guns. But there is a broad consensus on sensible gun safety regulations that I, coming from a state that has virtually no gun control, will do my best to bring together. O' +p3783 +aVWhoa, whoa, whoa. Let's calm down a little bit, Martin. +p3784 +aVFirst of all, let's have some rules here, commentators. +p3785 +aVAll right. +p3786 +aVHe sure did. +p3787 +aVSure did. All right. First off, we can do all the great speeches we want but you're not going to succeed unless there is a consensus. In 1988, just to set the record straight governor, I ran for the U.S. House. We have one House member from Vermont, three candidates in the race. One candidate said, you know what, I don't think it's a great idea that we sell automatic weapons in this country that are used by the military to kill people very rapidly. Gun people said, there were three candidates in the race, you vote for one of the others, but not Bernie Sanders. I lost that election by three percentage points. Quite likely, for that reason. So please, do not explain to me, coming from a state where democratic governors and republican governors have supported virtually no gun control. Excuse me. Do not tell me that I have not shown courage in standing up to the gun people, in voting to ban assault weapons, voting for instant background checks, voting to end the gun show loop hole and now we're in a position to create a consensus in America on gun safety. +p3788 +aVWell, the answer is, obviously, if you see suspicious activity, you report it. That's kind of a no-brainer. You know, somebody is loading guns and ammunition into a house, I think it's a good idea to call 911. Do it. +p3789 +aVBut I want to talk -- I want to talk about something else, because Secretary Clinton I think made some interesting and good points. What you have now is a very dangerous moment in American history. The secretary is right: Our people are fearful. They are anxious on a number of levels. They are anxious about international terrorism and the possibility of another attack on America. We all understand that. But you know what else they're anxious about? They're anxious about the fact that they are working incredibly long hours, they're worried about their kids, and they're seeing all the new income and wealth -- virtually all of it -- going to the top 1 percent. And they're looking around them, and they're looking at Washington, and they're saying the rich are getting much richer, I'm getting poorer, what are you going to do about it? What are you going to do for my kids? And somebody like a Trump comes along and says, "I know the answers. The answer is that all of the Mexicans, they're criminals and rapists, we've got to hate the Mexicans. Those are your enemies. We hate all the Muslims, because all of the Muslims are terrorists. We've got to hate the Muslims." Meanwhile, the rich get richer. So what I say to those people who go to Donald Trump's rallies, understand: He thinks a low minimum wage in America is a good idea. He thinks low wages are a good idea. I believe we stand together to address the real issues facing this country, not allow them to divide us by race or where we come from. Let's create an America that works for all of us, not the handful on top. +p3790 +aVExcuse me. May I have a chance to respond to this issue? +p3791 +aVYeah, but the rule includes equal -- got it. All right. +p3792 +aVAll right. Let's keep going. OK. +p3793 +aVYeah. +p3794 +aVAnd I also voted and helped lead the effort against the war in Iraq, which will go down in history as one of the worst foreign blunders -- foreign policy blunders in the history of our country. I voted against the first Gulf War, which set the stage, I believe, for the second Iraq war. And what I believe right now, and I believe this is terribly important, is the United States of America cannot succeed, or be thought of as the policeman of the world, that when there's an international crisis all over the world, in France and in the U.K. Or -- hey, just call up the American military and the American taxpayers, they're going to send the troops. And if they have to be in the Middle East for 20 or 30 years no problem. +p3795 +aVI have a problem with that, Martha. What I believe has got to happen is there must be an international coalition, including Russia, a well-coordinated effort. But I agree, as I mentioned a moment ago, with King Abdullah. This is a war for the soul of Islam. The troops on the ground should not be American troops. They should be Muslim troops. I believe that countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar have got to step up to the plate, have got to contribute the money that we need, and the troops that we need, to destroy +p3796 +aVMy plan is to make it work, to tell Saudi Arabia that instead of going to war in Yemen, they, one of the wealthiest countries on Earth, are going to have to go to war against +p3797 +aVI have a difference of opinion with Secretary Clinton on this. Our differences are fairly deep on this issue. We disagreed on the war in Iraq. We both listened to the information from Bush and Cheney. I voted against the war. But I think -- and I say this with due respect -- that I worry too much that Secretary Clinton is too much into regime change and a little bit too aggressive without knowing what the unintended consequences might be. Yes, we could get rid of Saddam Hussein, but that destabilized the entire region. Yes, we could get rid of Gadhafi, a terrible dictator, but that created a vacuum for +p3798 +aVI was not the secretary of state... +p3799 +aVI happen to think... O' +p3800 +aVSecretary Clinton is right. This is a complicated issue. I don't think anyone has a magical solution. But this is what I do believe. Yes, of course Assad is a terrible dictator. But I think we have got to get our foreign policies and priorities right. The immediate -- it is not Assad who is attacking the United States. It is +p3801 +aVDavid... +p3802 +aVCould I just say -- just say this... +p3803 +aVCan I just say this... +p3804 +aVOf course the United States must lead. But the United States is not the policeman of the world. The United States must not be involved in perpetual warfare in the Middle East. The United States, at the same time, cannot successfully fight Assad and +p3805 +aVFirst of all, we recognize that we have a rigged economy, as you've indicated. Middle class in this country for the last 40 years has been disappearing; are we better off today than we were when Bush left office? Absolutely. But as you've indicated for millions of American workers, people in New Hampshire -- all over America, they're working longer hours for lower wages deeply worried about their kids. So what do we do? First statement is, we tell the billionaire class, "they cannot have it all." For a start, they're going to start to pay their fair share of taxes. Second of all what we do, is you raise the minimum wage to living wage, 15 bucks an hour over the next several years. Next thing we do, pay equity for women workers. Women should not be making 79 cents on the dollar compared to that. Next thing that we do, real unemployment -- official unemployment, 5 percent, real employment 10 percent, youth unemployment, off the charts. We rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, our roads our bridges, our rail systems, we create 13 million jobs with a trillion-dollar investment. Furthermore, in a competitive global economy, it is imperative that we have the best educated workforce in the world. That is why I'm going to have a tax on Wall Street speculation to make certain that public colleges and universities in America are tuition free. +p3806 +aVNo, I think they won't. So Hillary and I have a difference. The CEOs of large multinationals may like Hillary. They ain't going to like me and Wall Street is going to like me even less. And the reason for that is we've got to deal with the elephant in the room, which is the greed, recklessness and illegal behavior on Wall Street. When you have six financial institutions in this country that issue two-thirds of the credit cards and one-third of the mortgages, when three out of four of them are larger today than when we bailed them out because they are too big to fail, we've got to re- establish Glass-Steagall, we have got to break the large financial institutions up. +p3807 +aVSo I don't think... ... having said that, I don't think I'm going to get a whole lot of campaign contributions from Wall Street. I don't have a super PAC. I don't want campaign contributions from corporate America. And let me be clear: While there are some great corporations creating jobs and trying to do the right thing, in my view -- and I say this very seriously -- the greed of the billionaire class, the greed of Wall Street is destroying this economy and is destroying the lives of millions of Americans. We need an economy that works for the middle class, not just a handful of billionaires, and I will fight and lead to make that happen. +p3808 +aVLet me just -- let me just... +p3809 +aVLet me just jump in. My name was invoked. +p3810 +aVSo with that invocation, let me say a few words. Secretary Clinton, I don't have a super PAC. I don't get any money from Wall Street. You have gotten a whole lot of money over the years from Wall Street. But most importantly, when you look at what happened in the 1990s, go to berniesanders.com. I'll advertise my Web site as well. And what you'll find is that I led -- helped lead the effort as a member of the House financial committee against Alan Greenspan, against a guy named Bill Clinton, maybe you know him, maybe you don't. Against the Republican leadership, who all thought it would be a great idea to merge investor banks and commercial banks and large insurance companies. What a brilliant idea that would be. Go to YouTube. Find out what I said to Greenspan. At the end of the day, if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, and the governor makes a good point about trade, anti-trade, anti-monopoly activities. Wall Street today has too much political power. It has too much economic power. To get deregulated -- listen to this, they spent $5 billion in lobbying and campaign contributions over a 10-year period. +p3811 +aVWall Street is a threat to the economy. They've got to be broken up. +p3812 +aVYes, exactly, exactly. +p3813 +aVYes, well, roughly. Let me say this. As a member of the Health Education Committee that helped write the Affordable Care Act, much of what Secretary Clinton said about what we have done, among other things, ending the obscenity of this pre-existing situation is a step forward. Seventeen more million more people have health care. It is a step forward. A step forward. But this is what we also have to say. Not only are deductibles rising, 29 million Americans still have no health insurance and millions of people can't afford to go to the doctor. Major crisis and primary health care. Here is the bottom line. Why is it that the United States of America today is the only major country on earth that does not guarantee health care to all people as a right? Why is it... +p3814 +aVWhy is it that we are -- why is it that we spend almost three times per capita as to what they spend in the U.K., 50 percent more than what they pay in France, countries that guarantee health care to all of their people and in many cases, have better health care outcomes. Bottom line. This ties into campaign finance reform. The insurance companies, the drug companies are bribing the United States Congress. We need to pass a Medicare for all single payer system. It will lower the cost of health care for a middle-class family by thousands of dollars a year. +p3815 +aVBut they will not be paying, Martha, any private insurance. So it's unfair to say in total... +p3816 +aVI can tell you that adding up the fact you're not paying any private insurance, businesses are not paying any private insurance. The average middle-class family will be saving thousands of dollars a year. +p3817 +aVAnd universities. +p3818 +aVWell, Neil, I think we've got to work on a two-pronged approach. And your point is absolutely well taken. The cost of college education is escalating a lot faster than the cost of inflation. There are a lot of factors involved in that. And that is that we have some colleges and universities that are spending a huge amount of money on fancy dormitories and on giant football stadiums. Maybe we should focus on quality education with well-paid faculty members. But... +p3819 +aVAnd I understand in many universities a heck of a lot of vice presidents who earn a big salary. But, bottom line is this is the year 2015. If we are going to be competitive in the global economy we need the best educated workforce. It is insane to my mind, hundreds of thousands of young people today, bright qualified people, cannot go to college because they cannot afford -- their families cannot afford to send them. Millions coming out of school as you indicated, deeply in debt. What do we do? My proposal is to put a speculation tax on wall street, raise very substantial sums of money, not only make public colleges and universities tuition-free, but also substantially lower interest rates on student debt. You have families out there paying 6 percent, 8 percent, 10 percent on student debt; refinance their homes at 3 percent. What sense is that? So I think we need radical changes in the funding of higher education. We should look at college today the way high school was looked at 60 years ago. All young people who have the ability should be able to get a college education. ( +p3820 +aVMay I respond to the critique on the ... +p3821 +aVI would just... +p3822 +aVBut Secretary Clinton is wrong. As you know, because I know you know a lot about health care. You know that the United States per capita pays far and away more than other country. And it is unfair simply to say how much more the program will cost without making sure that people know that, we are doing away with cost of private insurance and that the middle class will be paying substantially less for health care on the single payer than on the Secretary's Clinton proposal. +p3823 +aVNow, this is getting to be fun. +p3824 +aVLet me respond to... +p3825 +aVLet me respond to... +p3826 +aVNumber one, most important economic reality of today is that over the last 30 years, there has been a transfer of trillions of dollars from the middle class to the top one-tenth of one percent who are seeing a doubling of the percentage of wealth that they own. Now, when Secretary Clinton says, "I'm not going raise taxes on the middle class," let me tell you what she is saying. She is disagreeing with FDR on Social Security, LBJ on Medicare and with the vast majority of progressive Democrats in the House and the Senate, who today are fighting to end the disgrace of the United States being the only major country on Earth that doesn't provide paid family and medical leave. What the legislation is is $1.61 a week. Now, you can say that's a tax on the middle class. It will provide three months paid family and medical leave for the working families of this country. I think, Secretary Clinton, $1.61 a week is a pretty good investment. +p3827 +aVDavid, thank you. +p3828 +aVThen (inaudible)... +p3829 +aVEvery (inaudible) Democrat and senator in support of this proposal introduced by your good friend and my good friend, Kirsten Gillibrand, Rosa DeLauro, that is the legislation out there that will finally provide family and medical leave. +p3830 +aVWell, this whole issue concerns me. And I agree with much of what the secretary and the governor have said. But let's be clear. Today in America we have more people in jail than any other country on earth, 2.2 million people. Predominantly African-American and Hispanic. We are spending $80 billion a year locking up our fellow Americans. I think, and this is not easy, but I think we need to make wage a major effort, to come together as a country and end institutional racism. We need major, major reforms of a very broken criminal justice system. Now, what does that mean? Well, for a start it means that police officers should not be shooting unarmed people, predominantly African-Americans. +p3831 +aVIt means that we have to rethink the so-called war on drugs which has destroyed the lives of millions of people, which is why I have taken marijuana out of the Controlled Substance Act. So that it will not be a federal crime. +p3832 +aVThat is why we need to make... That is why we need to make police -- and I speak as a former mayor. I was a mayor for eight years, worked very closely with a great police department. And what we did is try to move that department toward community policing, so that the police officers become part of the community and not, as we see, in some cities an oppressive force. We need to make police departments look like the communities they serve in terms of diversity. We need to end minimal sentencing. We need, basically, to pledge that we're going to invest in this country, in jobs and education, not more jails and incarceration. +p3833 +aVYes. Look, this is a tragedy for New Hampshire. It is a tragedy for my state of Vermont. It is a tragedy all over this country. The number of heroin deaths are growing very, very significantly. What do we do? Well, for a start, this may seem like a radical idea, but I think we have got to tell the medical profession and doctors who are prescribing opiates and the pharmaceutical industry that they have got to start getting their act together, we cannot have this huge number of opiates out there throughout this country, where young people are taking them, getting hooked, and then going to heroin. Second of all, and the reason I believe in a health care for all program, we need to understand that addiction is a disease, not a criminal activity. And that means -- and that means radically changing the way we deal with mental health and addiction issues. When somebody is addicted and seeking help, they should not have to wait three, four months in order to get that help. They should be able to walk in the door tomorrow and get a variety of treatments that work for them. So those are some of the areas that I think we've got to move on. +p3834 +aVBut what... +p3835 +aVLook, the secretary is right. This is a terribly complicated issue. There are no simple solutions. But where we have a disagreement is that I think if you look at the history of regime changes, you go back to Mossadegh in Iran, you go back to Salvador Allende who we overthrew in Chile, you go back to overthrowing Saddam Hussein in Iraq, you go back to where we are today in Syria with a dictator named Assad. The truth is it is relatively easy for a powerful nation like America to overthrow a dictator but it is very hard to predict the unintended consequences and the turmoil and the instability that follows after you overthrow that dictator. So I think Secretary Clinton and I have a fundamental disagreement. I'm not quite the fan of regime change that I believe she is. O' +p3836 +aVGiven the fact that she's a lot smarter than me, yes, she would. And let me, by the way, take this moment to congratulate Hillary Clinton, who I thought not only did an outstanding job as our first lady, but redefined what that role could be. So, I thank you very much for that. My wife, Jane, has been -- way back when before I knew her, a foster parent. Many, many kids came into her home and received the kind of love that they desperately needed. And she turned around many lives. She is the best parent and grandmother that I know. She has devoted her life, when I was mayor of the city of Burlington, actually when I first met her, we started a youth office, which started a after-school programs for kids, started a child care center, started a youth newspaper. We got the kids involved in a whole lot of issues. She led that effort. So I think, at a time when so many of our kids are desperately looking for constructive activity, where too many of our kids are hanging around on street corners, potentially getting into trouble, I think we need a forceful advocate for the children, for teenagers, for the little children, to deal with the dysfunctional child care system, and I think my wife would do a great job in helping me accomplish those goals. +p3837 +aVWell, thank you very much for hosting this debate, and let me applaud my colleagues up here. Because I think frankly, maybe I'm wrong, but on our worst day, I think we have a lot more to offer the American people than the right wing's extremists. +p3838 +aVBut what my parents did accomplish is they were able to send both of their sons to college. We were the first in the family. So I know something about economic anxiety and living in a family does not have sufficient income. And that is why I am pledged, if elected president of the United States, to bring about a political revolution where millions of people begin to stand up and finally say enough is enough, this great country and our government belong to all of us, not just a handful of billionaires. Thank you very much. +p3839 +aVWell, John, let me concur with you and with all Americans who are shocked and disgusted by what we saw in Paris yesterday. Together, leading the world, this country will rid our planet of this barbarous organization called +p3840 +aVAbsolutely. In fact, climate change is directly related to the growth of terrorism. And if we do not get our act together and listen to what the scientists say, you're going to see countries all over the world -- this is what the CIA says -- they're going to be struggling over limited amounts of water, limited amounts of land to grow their crops ask you're going to see all kinds of international conflict. But, of course, international terrorism is a major issue that we have got to address today. And I agree with much of what the Secretary and the Governor have said. But let me have one area of disagreement with the Secretary. I think she said something like the bulk of the responsibility is not ours. Well, in fact, I would argue that the disastrous invasion of Iraq, something that I strongly opposed, has unraveled the region completely and led to the rise of al-Qaeda and to +p3841 +aVI don't think any -- I don't think any sensible person would disagree that the invasion of Iraq led to the massive level of instability we are seeing right now. I think that was one of the worst foreign policy blunders in the more than history of the United States. +p3842 +aVI think we have a disagreement, and the disagreement is that not only did I vote against the war in Iraq. If you look at history, John, you will find that regime change -- whether it was in the early '50s in Iran, whether it was toppling Salvador Allende in Chile, whether it is overthrowing the government of Guatemala way back when -- these invasions, these toppling of governments, regime changes have unintended consequences. I would say that on this issue, I'm a little bit more conservative than the Secretary... +p3843 +aV... And that I am not a great fan of regime change. +p3844 +aVThe Secretary's obviously right. It is enormously complicated. But here's something that I believe we have to do as we put together an international coalition, and that is we have to understand that the Muslim nations in the region -- Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, Jordan -- all of these nations, they're going to have to get their hands dirty, their boots on the ground. They are going to have to take on +p3845 +aVWhen you talk about the long-term consequences of war, let's talk about the men and women who came home from war. The 500,000 who came home with +p3846 +aVI don't think the term is what's important. What is important to understand is we have organizations, whether it is +p3847 +aVLet me do that but let me pick up on an issue, a very important issue that we have not yet discussed. This nation is the most powerful military in the world. We're spending over $600 billion a year on the military and yet, significantly less than 10 percent of that money is used to be fighting international terrorism. We are spending hundreds of billions of dollars maintaining 5,000 nuclear weapons. I think we need major reform in the military, making it more cost effective, but also focusing on the real crisis that faces us. The Cold War is over. And our focus has got to be on intelligence, increased manpower, fighting internationally targets. So, in terms of refugees, I believe that the United States has the moral responsibility with Europe, with Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia to make sure that when people leave countries like Afghanistan and Syria with nothing more than the clothing on their back that, of course, we reach out. Now, what the magic number is, I don't know, because we don't know the extent of the problem. But I certainly think that the United States should take its full responsibility in helping those people. +p3848 +aVLet me put those proposals-- and you're absolutely right. That is what I want to do. That is what is going to have to happen, if we want to revitalize and rebuild the crumbling middle class. In the last 30 years, there has been a massive redistribution of wealth. And I know that term gets my Republican friends nervous. The problem is, this redistribution has gone in the wrong direction. Trillions of dollars have gone from the middle class and working families to the top one-tenth of one percent who have doubled the percentage of wealth they now own. Yes, I do believe that we must end corporate loopholes, such that major corporations year after year pay virtually zero in federal income tax, because they're stashing the money in the Cayman Islands. Yes, I do believe there must be a tax on Wall Street speculation. We bailed out Wall Street. It's their time to bail out the middle class, help our kids be able to go to college tuition-free. So we pay for this by do demanding that the wealthiest people and the largest corporations, who have gotten away with murder for years, start paying their fair share. +p3849 +aVWe haven't come up with an exact number yet, but it will not be as high as the number under Dwight D. Eisenhower, which was 90 percent. But it will be... I'm not that much of a socialist compared to Eisenhower. But -- but we are going to end the absurdity, as Warren Buffet often remind us. O' +p3850 +aVThat billionaires pay an effective tax rate lower than nurses or truck drivers. That makes no sense at all. There has to be real tax reform, and the wealthiest and large corporations will pay when I'm president. O' +p3851 +aVI am on the committee that helped write the Affordable Care Act. We have made some good progress. Now what we have to take on is the pharmaceutical industry that is ripping off the American people every single day. I am proud that I was the first member of Congress to take Americans over the Canadian border to buy breast cancer drugs for one-tenth the price they were paying in the United States. But at the end of the day, no doubt, the Affordable Care Act is a step forward. I think we all support it. I believe we've got to go further. I want to end the international embarrassment of the United States of America being the only major country on earth that doesn't guarantee health care to all people as a right, not a privilege. And also -- also, what we should be clear about is we end up spending -- and I think the secretary knows this -- far more per capita on health care than any other major country, and our outcomes, health care outcomes are not necessarily that good. O' +p3852 +aVKathie, let me say this. You know, no public policy doesn't have, in some cases, negative consequences. But at the end of the day, what you have right now are millions of Americans working two or three jobs because their wages that they are earning are just too low. Real inflation accounted for wages has declined precipitously over the years. So I believe that, in fact, this country needs to move towards a living wage. It is not a radical idea to say that if somebody works 40 hours a week, that person should not be living in poverty. It is not a radical idea to say that a single mom should be earning enough money to take care of her kids. So I believe that over the next few years, not tomorrow, but over the next few years, we have got to move the minimum wage to a living wage, 15 bucks an hour. And I apologize to nobody for that. +p3853 +aVThis is what I think -- this is what many economists believe that one of the reasons that real unemployment in this country is 10 percent, one of the reasons that African American youth unemployment and underemployment is 51 percent is the average worker in America doesn't have any disposable income. You have no disposable income when you are make 10, 12 bucks an hour. When we put money into the hands of working people, they're going to go out and buy goods, they're going to buy services and they're going to create jobs in doing that. Kathie, that is the kind of economy I believe, put money in the hands of working people, raise the minimum wage to 15 buck an hour. O' +p3854 +aVLet me just... +p3855 +aVLet me just add to that. Just because this is not an esoteric argument. You're seeing cities like Seattle. You're seeing cities like San Francisco, cities like Los Angeles doing it, and they are doing it well and workers are able to have more disposable income. +p3856 +aVNot good enough. Here's the story. I mean, you know, let's not be naive about it. Why do -- why, over her political career has Wall Street been a major -- the major campaign contributor to Hillary Clinton? You know, maybe they're dumb and they don't know what they're going to get, but I don't think so. Here is the major issue when we talk about Wall Street. It ain't complicated. You have six financial institutions today that have assets of 56 percent, equivalent to 56 percent of the GDP In America. They issue two-thirds of the credit cards and one-third of the mortgages. If Teddy Roosevelt, a good Republican, were alive today, you know what he'd say? "Break them up." Reestablish Glass-Steagall. And Teddy Roosevelt is right. That is the issue. Now I am the only candidate up here that doesn't have a super PAC. I am not asking Wall Street or the billionaires for money. I will break up these banks. Support community banks and credit unions. That's the future of banking in America. +p3857 +aVI have never heard a candidate never, who has received huge amounts of money from oil, from coal, from Wall Street, from the military industrial complex, not one candidate say, oh, these campaign contributions will not influence me. I'm going to be independent. Well, why do they make millions of dollars of campaign contributions? they expect to get something. Everybody knows that. Once again, I am running a campaign differently than any other candidate. We are relying on small campaign donors, 750,000 of them, 30 bucks a piece. That's who I'm indebted to. +p3858 +aVNo, I have not. +p3859 +aVSo was I, John. Let me get a chance to respond. This issue touches on two broad issues. It's not just Wall Street. It's campaign -- a corrupt campaign finance system. And it is easy to talk the talk about ending Citizens United, but what I think we need to do is show by example that we are prepared to not rely on large corporations and Wall Street for campaign contributions, and that's what I'm doing. In terms of Wall Street, I respectfully disagree with you, madam secretary, in the sense that the issue here is when you have such incredible power and such incredible wealth. When you have Wall Street spending $5 billion over a 10-year period to get -- to get deregulated, the only answer they know is break them up, reestablish Glass-Stegall. +p3860 +aVThe big banks-- +p3861 +aVLook-- +p3862 +aVI don't know and with all due respect to the secretary, Wall Street played by the rules? Who are we kidding? The business model of Wall Street is fraud. That's what it is. And we have -- and let me make this promise. One of the problems we have had -- I think all Americans understand this, is whether it's Republican administrations or Democratic administrations, we have seen Wall Street and Goldman Sachs dominate administrations. Here's my promise-- Wall Street representatives will not be in my cabinet. +p3863 +aVLet's do more -- let's do more than reverse the immunity. Let's... +p3864 +aVLet me hear if there's any difference between the Secretary and myself. I have voted time and again to -- for -- for the background check, and I want to see it improved and expanded. I want to see us do away with the gun show loophole. In 1988, I lost an election because I said we should not have assault weapons on the streets of America. We have to do away with the strawman proposal. We need radical changes in mental health in America so somebody who is suicidal or homicidal can get the emergency care they need. We have -- I don't know that there's any disagreement here... O' +p3865 +aVWe have got to come forward with a consensus that in fact will work. +p3866 +aVThere were parts of that bill which agree with parts -- I disagree. I am certainly, absolutely, willing to look at that bill again and make sure there's a stronger bill. +p3867 +aVWith all -- with all due respect... I think it's fair to say that Baltimore is not now one of the safest cities in America, but the issue is... O' +p3868 +aVThe issue is -- I believe, and I believe this honestly, and I don't know that there's much difference on guns between us. But I believe coming from a state that has virtually no gun control, I believe that I am in position to reach out to the 60 or 70 percent of the American people who agree with us on those issues. The problem is... +p3869 +aV... people all over this country -- not you, Secretary Clinton -- are shouting at each other. And what we need to do is bring people together to work on the agreement where there is broad consensus and that's what I intend to do. O' +p3870 +aVAbsolutely. +p3871 +aVYes. +p3872 +aVYes. +p3873 +aVYes, I agree. +p3874 +aVWell, I -- if I might. I think the issue here is -- and I applaud Secretary Clinton. She did. She's the senator from New York. She worked -- and many of us supported you -- in trying to rebuild that devastation. But at the end of the day, Wall Street today has enormous economic and political power. Their business model is greed and fraud. And for the sake of our economy, they must -- the major banks must be broken up. +p3875 +aVWell, (inaudible) the major issue right now is whether or not we reestablish Glass-Steagall. I led the effort, unfortunately unsuccessfully, against deregulation because I knew when you merge large insurance companies and investment banks and commercial banks it was not going to be good. The issue now is do we break them ?up do we reestablish Glass-Steagall. And Secretary Clinton, unfortunately, is on the wrong side. +p3876 +aVLet me... O' +p3877 +aVThank you. Looking forward to it. +p3878 +aVYes. +p3879 +aVRight. +p3880 +aVAnd we are going to do a political revolution, which brings working people, young people, senior citizens, minorities together. Because every issue that I am talking about-- paid family and medical leave, breaking up the banks on Wall Street, asking the wealth to pay their fair share of taxes, rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, raising the minimum wage to 15 bucks an hour -- every one of those issues is supported by a significant majority of the American people. The problem is, that as a result of a corrupt campaign finance system, Congress is not listening to the American people. Its listening to the big money interest. What the political revolution is about is bringing people together to finally say, enough is enough. This government belongs to us. Not just the billionaires. +p3881 +aVYes. +p3882 +aVYes. +p3883 +aVYeah. +p3884 +aVWhat we need is leadership in this country which revitalizes American democracy, and makes people understand that if they stand up and fight back and take on the billionaire class, we can bring about the change that we need. If we are not successful, if we continue the same old, same old of Washington being run by corporate lobbyists and big-money interests, nothing changes. What I am very happy in this campaign that we have had rallies with tens of thousands of people, mostly young people. What the polls are showing is that we are actually defeating the secretary among younger people. We're giving young people and working people hope that real change can take place in America. That's what the political revolution is about. +p3885 +aVNo. That's just media stuff. I was sick and tired of Hillary Clinton's e-mail. I am still sick and tired of Hillary Clinton's e-mails. And the issue is, the problem is, the front pages every day were dealing with it. I didn't know I had so much power. But after I said that, we're not hearing so much about Hillary Clinton's e-mails. What I would like for the media now is for us to be talking about why the middle class is disappearing, why we have more people in jail than any other country, why we have massive levels of income and wealth inequality, and we're the only major country on Earth without paid family and medical leave. We've gotten off the Hillary's e-mails, good. Let's go to the major issues facing America. +p3886 +aVWell, this is what I would say, and the Congressman was right. According to the statistics that I'm familiar with, a black male baby born today stands a one in four chance of ending up in the criminal justice system. Fifty-one percent of high school African-American graduates are unemployed or underemployed. We have more people in jail today than any other country on earth. We're spending $80 billion locking people up, disproportionately Latino and African American. We need, very clearly, major, major reform in a broken criminal justice system. From top to bottom. And that means when police officers out in a community do illegal activity -- kill people who are unarmed who should not be killed, they must be held accountable. It means that we end minimum sentencing for those people arrested. It means that we take marijuana out of the federal law as a crime and give states the freedom to go forward with legalizing marijuana. +p3887 +aVNo, it is not throwing -- it is an extraordinary investment for this country. Germany, many other countries do it already. In fact, if you remember, 50, 60 years ago, the University of California, City University of New York were virtually tuition-free. Here is the story -- it's not just the college graduates should be $50,000 or $100,000 in debt. More importantly, I want kids in Burlington, Vermont, or Baltimore, Maryland, who are in the sixth grade or the eighth grade, who don't have a lot of money, whose parents -- like my parents -- may never have gone to college. Do you know where I'm going, Kevin? I want those kids to know that if they study hard, they do their homework, regardless of the income of their families, they will in fact be able to get a college education because we are going to make public colleges and universities tuition-free. This is revolutionary for education in America. It will give hope to millions of young people. +p3888 +aVYes. +p3889 +aVWell, I think that they're be pretty smart, because I think a lot of the states will do the right thing, and I think those states that don't will pay a heavy penalty. Bottom line here is, in the year 2015, we should look at a college degree the same way we looked at a high school degree 50 or 60 years ago. If you want to make it into the middle class -- I'm not saying in all cases -- we need plumbers, and we need carpenters, and electricians, that's for sure, and they should get help as well. But bottom line now, is in America, in the year 2015, any person who has the ability and the desire should be able to get an education, college education, regardless of the income of his or her family. And we must substantially lower, as my legislation does, interest rates on student debt. +p3890 +aVIt's not going to happen tomorrow. And it's probably not going to happen until we have real campaign finance reform and get rid of all these superpacs, and the power of the insurance companies and the drug companies. But at the end of the day, Nancy, here is the question -- in this great country of ours, with so much intelligence and so much capability, why do we remain the only major country on earth that does not guarantee health care to all people as a right? Why do we continue to get ripped off by the drug companies who can charge us any prices they want? Why is it that we are spending per capita far, far more than Canada, which is 100 miles away from my door, that guarantees health care to all people? It will not happen tomorrow. But when millions of people stand up and are prepared to take on the insurance companies and the drug companies, it will happen, and I will lead that effort. Medicare for all, single-payer system is the way we should go. +p3891 +aVWell, let me just say something. +p3892 +aVWe don't eliminate Medicare. We expand Medicare to all people. And we will not, under this proposal, have a situation that we have right now with the Affordable Care Act where you have states like South Carolina, and many other Republican states, that because of their right wing political ideology, are denying millions of people the expansion of Medicaid that we passed in the Affordable Care Act. Ultimately, we have got to say as a nation, Secretary Clinton, is health care a right of all people or is it not? I believe it is a right. O' +p3893 +aVJohn, I had the honor of being chairman of the U.S. Senate committee on Veterans' Affairs for two years. And in that capacity, I met with just an extraordinary group of people from World War II, from korea, vietnam, all of the wars. People came back from Iraq and Afghanistan without legs, without arms. And I was determined to do everything that I could to make VA health care the best in the world, to expand benefits to the men and women who put their lives on the line to defending. We brought together legislation supported by the American Legion, the VFW, the DOD, Vietnam Vets, all of the veterans organizations, which was comprehensive. Clearly the best piece of veterans' legislation brought forth in decades. I could only get two Republican votes on that. We ended up with 56 votes. We needed 60. So what I had to do then is go back and start working on a bill that wasn't the bill that I wanted. Sit down with people like John Mccain. Sit down with people like Jeff Miller, the Republican chairman of the house, and work on a bill. It wasn't the bill that I wanted, but yet it turned out to be one of the more significant pieces of veterans' legislation passed in recent history. So the crisis was I lost what I wanted. But I had to stand up and come back and get the best that we could. +p3894 +aVJohn -- John, this country today has more income and wealth inequality than any major country on Earth. We have a corrupt campaign finance system dominated by Super PACs. We are the only major country on Earth that doesn't guarantee healthcare to all people. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty, and we're the only country in the world -- virtually the only country that doesn't guarantee paid family and medical leave. That's not the America that I think we should be. But in order to bring about the changes that we need, we need a political revolution. Millions of people are going to have to stand up, turn off the TV, get involved in the political process and tell the big- money interest that we are taking back our country. Please go to berniesanders.com. Please become part of the political revolution. Thank you. +p3895 +aVAnderson, thank you very much. I think most Americans understand that our country today faces a series of unprecedented crises. The middle class of this country for the last 40 years has been disappearing. Millions of Americans are working longer hours for lower wages, and yet almost all of the new income and wealth being created is going to the top one percent. As a result of this disastrous Citizens United Supreme Court decision, our campaign finance system is corrupt and is undermining American democracy. Millionaires and billionaires are pouring unbelievable sums of money into the political process in order to fund super PACs and to elect candidates who represent their interests, not the interests of working people. Today, the scientific community is virtually unanimous: climate change is real, it is caused by human activity, and we have a moral responsibility to transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energy and leave this planet a habitable planet for our children and our grandchildren. Today in America, we have more people in jail than any other country on Earth. African-American youth unemployment is 51 percent. Hispanic youth unemployment is 36 percent. It seems to me that instead of building more jails and providing more incarceration, maybe \u2014 just maybe \u2014 we should be putting money into education and jobs for our kids. What this campaign is about is whether we can mobilize our people to take back our government from a handful of billionaires and create the vibrant democracy we know we can and should have. Thank you. +p3896 +aVWell, we're gonna win because first, we're gonna explain what democratic socialism is. And what democratic socialism is about is saying that it is immoral and wrong that the top one-tenth of 1 percent in this country own almost 90 percent \u2014 almost \u2014 own almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent. That it is wrong, today, in a rigged economy, that 57 percent of all new income is going to the top 1 percent. That when you look around the world, you see every other major country providing health care to all people as a right, except the United States. You see every other major country saying to moms that, when you have a baby, we're not gonna separate you from your newborn baby, because we are going to have \u2014 we are gonna have medical and family paid leave, like every other country on Earth. Those are some of the principles that I believe in, and I think we should look to countries like Denmark, like Sweden and Norway, and learn from what they have accomplished for their working people. +p3897 +aVWell, first of all, let's look at the facts. The facts that are very simple. Republicans win when there is a low voter turnout, and that is what happened last November. Sixty-three percent of the American people didn't vote, Anderson. Eighty percent of young people didn't vote. We are bringing out huge turnouts, and creating excitement all over this country. Democrats at the White House on down will win, when there is excitement and a large voter turnout, and that is what this campaign is doing. +p3898 +aVDo I consider myself part of the casino capitalist process by which so few have so much and so many have so little by which Wall Street's greed and recklessness wrecked this economy? No, I don't. I believe in a society where all people do well. Not just a handful of billionaires. +p3899 +aVI think everybody is in agreement that we are a great entrepreneurial nation. We have got to encourage that. Of course, we have to support small and medium-sized businesses. But you can have all of the growth that you want and it doesn't mean anything if all of the new income and wealth is going to the top 1 percent. So what we need to do is support small and medium-sized businesses, the backbone of our economy, but we have to make sure that every family in this country gets a fair shake... +p3900 +aV... not just for billionaires. +p3901 +aVLet's begin, Anderson, by understanding that Bernie Sanders has a D-minus voting rating (ph) from the NRA. Let's also understand that back in 1988 when I first ran for the United States Congress, way back then, I told the gun owners of the state of Vermont and I told the people of the state of Vermont, a state which has virtually no gun control, that I supported a ban on assault weapons. And over the years, I have strongly avoided instant background checks, doing away with this terrible gun show loophole. And I think we've got to move aggressively at the federal level in dealing with the straw man purchasers. Also I believe, and I've fought for, to understand that there are thousands of people in this country today who are suicidal, who are homicidal, but can't get the healthcare that they need, the mental healthcare, because they don't have insurance or they're too poor. I believe that everybody in this country who has a mental crisis has got to get mental health counseling immediately. +p3902 +aVOf course not. This was a large and complicated bill. There were provisions in it that I think made sense. For example, do I think that a gun shop in the state of Vermont that sells legally a gun to somebody, and that somebody goes out and does something crazy, that that gun shop owner should be held responsible? I don't. On the other hand, where you have manufacturers and where you have gun shops knowingly giving guns to criminals or aiding and abetting that, of course we should take action. +p3903 +aVAs a senator from a rural state, what I can tell Secretary Clinton, that all the shouting in the world is not going to do what I would hope all of us want, and that is keep guns out of the hands of people who should not have those guns and end this horrible violence that we are seeing. I believe that there is a consensus in this country. A consensus has said we need to strengthen and expand instant background checks, do away with this gun show loophole, that we have to address the issue of mental health, that we have to deal with the strawman purchasing issue, and that when we develop that consensus, we can finally, finally do something to address this issue. +p3904 +aVI think the governor gave a very good example about the weaknesses in that law and I think we have to take another look at it. But here is the point, Governor. We can raise our voices, but I come from a rural state, and the views on gun control in rural states are different than in urban states, whether we like it or not. Our job is to bring people together around strong, commonsense gun legislation. I think there is a vast majority in this country who want to do the right thing, and I intend to lead the country in bringing our people together. O' +p3905 +aVIt's exactly about rural. O' +p3906 +aVGovernor... O' +p3907 +aVWell, as somebody who has a D-minus voting record... O' +p3908 +aVI don't think I am pandering. But you have not been in the United States Congress. O' +p3909 +aVAnd when you want to, check it out. And if you think \u2014 if you think that we can simply go forward and pass something tomorrow without bringing people together, you are sorely mistaken. +p3910 +aV...Excuse me... O' +p3911 +aV...I want to make... O' +p3912 +aVWell, let's understand that when we talk about Syria, you're talking about a quagmire in a quagmire. You're talking about groups of people trying to overthrow Assad, other groups of people fighting +p3913 +aVLet me just respond to something the secretary said. First of all, she is talking about, as I understand it, a no-fly zone in Syria, which I think is a very dangerous situation. Could lead to real problems. Second of all, I heard the same evidence from President Bush and Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld about why we should overthrow Saddam Hussein and get involved in the \u2014 I would urge people to go to berniesanders.com, hear what I said in 2002. And I say, without any joy in my heart, that much of what I thought would happen about the destabilization, in fact, did happen. So I think... +p3914 +aVI think the president is trying very hard to thread a tough needle here, and that is to support those people who are against Assad, against +p3915 +aVWell, obviously, I voted, when President Clinton said, "let's stop ethnic cleansing in Kosovo," I voted for that. I voted to make sure that Osama bin Laden was held accountable in Afghanistan. When our country is threatened, or when our allies are threatened, I believe that we need coalitions to come together to address the major crises of this country. I do not support the United States getting involved in unilateral action. ( +p3916 +aVI don't believe that any... +p3917 +aVPardon me? +p3918 +aVWell, I think Mr. Putin is going to regret what he is doing. I think that when he gets into that... +p3919 +aVWell, I think he's already regretting what he did in Crimea and what he is doing in the Ukraine. I think he is really regretting the decline of his economy. And I think what he is trying to do now is save some face. But I think when Russians get killed in Syria and when he gets bogged down, I think the Russian people are going to give him a message that maybe they should come home, maybe they should start working with the United States to rectify the situation now. +p3920 +aVWell, first of all, let me applaud my good friend Jim Webb for his service to this country in so many ways. Jim and I, under Jim's leadership, as he indicated, passed the most significant veterans education bill in recent history. We followed suit with a few years later passing, under my leadership, the most significant veterans' health care legislation in the modern history of this country. When I was a young man \u2014 I'm not a young man today. When I was a young man, I strongly opposed the war in Vietnam. Not the brave men like Jim who fought in that war, but the policy which got us involved in that war. That was my view then. I am not a pacifist, Anderson. I supported the war in Afghanistan. I supported President Clinton's effort to deal with ethnic cleansing in Kosovo. I support air strikes in Syria and what the president is trying to do. Yes, I happen to believe from the bottom of my heart that war should be the last resort that we have got to exercise diplomacy. But yes, I am prepared to take this country into war if that is necessary. +p3921 +aVThe scientific community is telling us that if we do not address the global crisis of climate change, transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to sustainable energy, the planet that we're going to be leaving our kids and our grandchildren may well not be habitable. That is a major crisis. +p3922 +aVLet me say this. Let me say \u2014 let me say something that may not be great politics. But I think the secretary is right, and that is that the American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn e-mails. +p3923 +aVYou know? The middle class \u2014 Anderson, and let me say something about the media, as well. I go around the country, talk to a whole lot of people. Middle class in this country is collapsing. We have 27 million people living in poverty. We have massive wealth and income inequality. Our trade policies have cost us millions of decent jobs. The American people want to know whether we're going to have a democracy or an oligarchy as a result of Citizens Union. Enough of the e-mails. Let's talk about the real issues facing America. +p3924 +aVBlack lives matter. And the reason \u2014 the reason those words matter is the African American community knows that on any given day some innocent person like Sandra Bland can get into a car, and then three days later she's going to end up dead in jail, or their kids... ...are going to get shot. We need to combat institutional racism from top to bottom, and we need major, major reforms in a broken criminal justice system... ...In which we have more people in jail than China. And, I intended to tackle that issue. To make sure that our people have education and jobs rather than jail cells. +p3925 +aVWell, first of all, let's remember where we were when Bush left office. We were losing 800,000 jobs a month. And I know my Republican friends seem to have some amnesia on this issue, but the world's financial crisis was on \u2014 the world's financial markets system was on the verge of collapse. That's where we were. Are we better off today than we were then? Absolutely. But the truth is that for the 40 years, the great middle class of this country has been disappearing. And in my view what we need to do is create millions of jobs by rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure; raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour; pay equity for women workers; and our disastrous trade policies, which have cost us millions of jobs; and make every public college and university in this country tuition free. +p3926 +aVWell, that's not true. +p3927 +aVLet us be clear that the greed and recklessness and illegal behavior of Wall Street, where fraud is a business model, helped to destroy this economy and the lives of millions of people. Check the record. In the 1990s \u2014 and all due respect \u2014 in the 1990s, when I had the Republican leadership and Wall Street spending billions of dollars in lobbying, when the Clinton administration, when Alan Greenspan said, "what a great idea it would be to allow these huge banks to merge," Bernie Sanders fought them, and helped lead the opposition to deregulation. Today, it is my view that when you have the three... +p3928 +aV...largest banks in America \u2014 are much bigger than they were when we bailed them out for being too big to fail, we have got to break them up. +p3929 +aVI will, just a second. +p3930 +aVI'll tell him. In my view, Secretary Clinton, you do not \u2014 Congress does not regulate Wall Street. Wall Street regulates Congress. And we have gotta break off these banks. Going to them... +p3931 +aV...and saying, "please, do the right thing"... +p3932 +aV...is kind of naive. +p3933 +aVWell, I remember that meeting very well. I remember it like it was yesterday. Hank Paulson, Bernanke came in, and they say, "guys, the economy is going to collapse because Wall Street is going under. It's gonna take the economy with them." And you know what I said to Hank Paulson? I said, "Hank, your guys \u2014 you come from Goldman Sachs. Your millionaire and billionaire friends caused this problem. How about your millionaire and billionaire friends paying for the bailout, not working families in this country?" So to answer your question, no, I would not have let the economy collapse. But it was wrong to ask the middle class to bail out Wall Street. And by the way, I want Wall Street now to help kids in this country go to college, public colleges and universities, free with a Wall Street speculation tax. +p3934 +aVWell, let me tell you, Donald Trump and his billionaire friends under my policies are going to pay a hell of a lot more in taxes today \u2014 taxes in the future than they're paying today. But in terms of education, this is what I think. This is the year 2015. A college degree today, Dana, is the equivalent of what a high school degree was 50 years ago. And what we said 50 years ago and a hundred years ago is that every kid in this country should be able to get a high school education regardless of the income of their family. I think we have to say that is true for everybody going to college. I think we don't need a complicated system, which the secretary is talking about, the income goes down, the income goes down, if you're poor you have to work, and so forth and so on. I pay for my program, by the way, through a tax on Wall Street speculation, which will not only make public colleges and universities tuition-free, it will substantially lower interest rates on college debt, a major crisis in this country. +p3935 +aV... in order to make it possible for them to afford their education. And I want colleges to get their costs down. They are outrageously high in what they're charging. +p3936 +aVWhen the Republicans \u2014 when the Republicans in the Congress and some Democrats were talking about cutting Social Security and benefits for disabled veterans, for the so-called chained CPI, I founded a caucus called the Defending Social Security Caucus. My view is that when you have millions of seniors in this country trying to get by \u2014 and I don't know how they do on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year \u2014 you don't cut Social Security, you expand it. And the way you expand it is by lifting the cap on taxable incomes so that you do away with the absurdity of a millionaire paying the same amount into the system as somebody making $118,000. You do that, Social Security is solvent until 2061 and you can expand benefits. +p3937 +aVI didn't leave anybody at the altar. I voted against that piece of legislation because it had guest-worker provisions in it which the Southern Poverty Law Center talked about being semi-slavery. Guest workers are coming in, they're working under terrible conditions, but if they stand up for their rights, they're thrown out of the country. I was not the only progressive to vote against that legislation for that reason. Tom Harkin, a very good friend of Hillary Clinton's and mine, one of the leading labor advocates, also voted against that. +p3938 +aVI know that. But point being is that progressives did vote against that for that reason. My view right now \u2014 and always has been \u2014 is that when you have 11 million undocumented people in this country, we need comprehensive immigration reform, we need a path toward citizenship, we need to take people out of the shadows. O' +p3939 +aVWell, I was chairman for two years, and when I was chairman we did take action. What we did is pass a $15 billion dollar piece of legislation which brought in many, many new doctors, and nurses into the V.A. so that veterans in this country could get the health care when they needed it, and not be on long waiting lines. And, the other part of that legislation said that if a veteran is living more than 40 miles away from a V.A. facility, that veteran could get health care from the community health center, or the private sector. As a result of that legislation, we went further in than any time in recent history in improving health care for the men and women of this country who put their lives on the line to defend them. +p3940 +aVIt was 99 to one and I was maybe the one. I don't know. +p3941 +aVI'm sorry? +p3942 +aVAbsolutely. Of course. +p3943 +aVWell, I would shut down \u2014 make \u2014 I'd shut down what exists right now is that virtually every telephone call in this country ends up in a file at the NSA. That is unacceptable to me. But it's not just government surveillance. I think the government is involved in our e-mails; is involved in our websites. Corporate America is doing it as well. If we are a free country, we have the right to be free. Yes, we have to defend ourselves against terrorism, but there are ways to do that without impinging on our constitutional rights and our privacy rights. O' +p3944 +aVI think Snowden played a very important role in educating the American people to the degree in which our civil liberties and our constitutional rights are being undermined. +p3945 +aVHe did \u2014 he did break the law, and I think there should be a penalty to that. But I think what he did in educating us should be taken into consideration before he is (inaudible). +p3946 +aVI have a lot of respect for president Obama. I have worked with him time and time again on many, many issues. But here's where I do disagree. I believe that the power of corporate America, the power of Wall Street, the power of the drug companies, the power of the corporate media is so great that the only way we really transform America and do the things that the middle class and working class desperately need is through a political revolution when millions of people begin to come together and stand up and say: Our government is going to work for all of us, not just a handful of billionaires. +p3947 +aVWhat I mean is that we need to have one of the larger voter turnouts in the world, not one of the lowest. We need to raise public consciousness. We need the American people to know what's going on in Washington in a way that today they do not know. And when people come together in a way that does not exist now and are prepared to take on the big money interest, then we could bring the kind of change we need. O' +p3948 +aVI think \u2014 I think that there is profound frustration all over this country with establishment politics. I am the only candidate running for president who is not a billionaire, who has raised substantial sums of money, and I do not have a super PAC. I am not raising money from millionaires and billionaires, and in fact, tonight, in terms of what a political revolution is about, there are 4,000 house parties \u2014 100,000 people in this country \u2014 watching this debate tonight who want real change in this country. +p3949 +aVWell, I will tell you this. I believe \u2014 and Pope Francis made this point. This is a moral issue. The scientists are telling us that we need to move extremely boldly. I am proud that, along with Senator Barbara Boxer, a few years ago, we introduced the first piece of climate change legislation which called for a tax on carbon. And let me also tell you that nothing is gonna happen unless we are prepared to deal with campaign finance reform, because the fossil fuel industry is funding the Republican Party, which denies the reality of climate change... ...and certainly is not prepared to go forward aggressively. This is a moral issue. We have got to be extremely aggressive in working with China, India, Russia. +p3950 +aVThe planet \u2014 the future of the planet is at stake. +p3951 +aVYeah, Dana, here's the point: Every other major country on Earth, every one, including some small countries, say that when a mother has a baby, she should stay home with that baby. We are the only major country. That is an international embarrassment that we do not provide family \u2014 paid family and medical leave. Second of all, the secretary is right. Republicans tell us we can't do anything except give tax breaks to billionaires and cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. That's not what the American people want. +p3952 +aVI suspect I would vote yes. And I would vote yes because I am seeing in this country too many lives being destroyed for non-violent offenses. We have a criminal justice system that lets CEOs on Wall Street walk away, and yet we are imprisoning or giving jail sentences to young people who are smoking marijuana. I think we have to think through this war on drugs... ...which has done an enormous amount of damage. We need to rethink our criminal justice system, we we've got a lot of work to do in that area. O' +p3953 +aVThe Republican party, since I've been in the Senate, and since President Obama has been in office, has played a terrible, terrible role of being total obstructionists. Every effort that he has made, that some of us have made, they have said no, no, no. Now, in my view, the only way we can take on the right wing republicans who are, by the way, I hope will not continue to control the Senate and the House when one of us elected President... ...But the only way we can get things done is by having millions of people coming together. If we want free tuition at public colleges and universities, millions of young people are going to have to demand it, and give the Republicans an offer they can't refuse. If we want to raise the minimum wage to $15 bucks an hour, workers are going to have to come together and look the Republicans in the eye, and say, "We know what's going on. You vote against us, you are out of your job." +p3954 +aVAs someone who has taken on probably every special interest that there is in Washington, I would lump Wall Street and the pharmaceutical industry at the top of my life of people who do not like me. +p3955 +aVThis is a great country, but we have many, many serious problems. We should not be the country that has the highest rate of childhood poverty of any major country and more wealth and income inequality than any other country. We should not be the only major country on Earth that does not guarantee health care to all of our people as a right of citizenship and we should not be the only major country that does not provide medical and \u2014 and parental leave \u2014 family and parental leave to all of our families. Now, at the end of our day, here is the truth that very few candidates will say, is that nobody up here, certainly no Republican, can address the major crises facing our country unless millions of people begin to stand up to the billionaire class that has so much power over our economy and our political life. Jim Webb is right: Money is pouring in to this campaign through super PACs. We are doing it the old-fashioned way: 650,000 individual contributions. And if people want to help us out, BernieSanders.com. We are averaging $30 bucks apiece. We would appreciate your help. +p3956 +asVBARTIROMO +p3957 +(lp3958 +VTonight we're partnering with the Wall Street Journal to ask questions on the economy that voters want answered. We're also working with Facebook, who tells us that since the first Republican debate, more than 58 million people have joined the political conversation online. More than 9 million are talking specifically about the economy. +p3959 +aVBusinesswoman Carly Fiorina. Ohio Governor John Kasich. And Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. +p3960 +aVWe've asked people on Facebook to submit their questions for the candidates. Seth Bell wrote, "We are approaching $20 trillion in national debt. Specifically, what plans do you have to cut federal spending?" Governor Kasich, you have spoken much about your success in balancing the budget under President Clinton. Today the national debt is at record highs and growing unsustainably. Interest will be the fastest-growing part of the federal budget, tripling over the next 10 years. Social Security, the lifeline of millions of American seniors, is rushing toward insolvency. With all of the tax plans presented tonight, estimated to cost anywhere between $2 trillion and $12 trillion over a decade, what specific steps will you take to balance the budget? +p3961 +aVDid you want to name any specific steps, sir? +p3962 +aVThank you, sir. +p3963 +aVSenator Cruz, the International Monetary Fund recently cut its expectations for economic growth. Many economists expect a recession to hit the U.S. within the next year due to the weakening of manufacturing. The next president will have to deal with it. You say tax reform is a powerful lever to spur economic expansion. You're calling for a 10 percent income tax and a 16 percent business tax. What other elements do you need in this plan to actually create jobs? +p3964 +aVThank you, sir. +p3965 +aVGovernor Bush... +p3966 +aVWe have more questions for you, Governor Kasich, coming up. We have more questions for you, Governor Kasich. +p3967 +aVWe will \u2014 we will certainly get to that. Governor Bush? +p3968 +aVAlmost 40 percent of Americans are without a job and are not looking. Many have given up. That's what the participation rate tells us. You've said your policies will drive the economy back to 4 percent growth, which we haven't seen since the year 2000. What specific regulations would you change? And how will that lead to jobs and growth? +p3969 +aVThank you, sir. +p3970 +aVMr. Trump, a federal appeals court just dealt a blow to the Obama administration's plan to prevent the deportation of 5 million people living in this country illegally. The White House is appealing to the Supreme Court. At the heart of this issue is the effect that illegal immigrants are having on our economy, what will you do about it? +p3971 +aVCan we just send 5 million people back with no effect on economy? +p3972 +aVSo what will you do? +p3973 +aVThank you, sir. +p3974 +aVWe go back to Facebook. Dewayne Wesley Cato asks on Facebook, how do we get rid of regulations choking our businesses? Ms. Fiorina? Specifically, under the president's Affordable Care Act, employers with 50 or more employees are required to offer health insurance, or be fined. Many are opting to pay the fine. Others are cutting back employee hours to duck the law altogether. What specific ways will you alleviate the pressure on small business? +p3975 +aVJust to be clear, you want to repeal Obamacare... ..but, what's the alternative? +p3976 +aVJust to be clear, you say you would repeal Obamacare... +p3977 +aV...But, what is the alternative... +p3978 +aV...and how does that help small business... +p3979 +aV...Thank you... +p3980 +aVSenator Cruz, there isn't anyone in this audience or watching at home tonight who would not like to pay less in taxes. Most people just want a fair shake, and they don't want their money to be wasted. But explain how your plan works. How can you cut taxes as much as you propose without running up debt and deficits? +p3981 +aVBut you haven't told us how to pay for it. +p3982 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Bush, Republican primary voters say tax reform should be a priority for Congress and the administration. But, Governor Bush, how important is tax reform in your domestic policy agenda? Will you guarantee it in the first year of your presidency? +p3983 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3984 +aVThat's right. That's right. +p3985 +aVComing up, the biggest threats facing the next commander-in-chief. You're watching the Republican presidential debate, live tonight from Milwaukee. We'll be right back. +p3986 +aVWelcome back. Welcome back to the Republican presidential debate. The candidates taking the questions you want answered. Also tonight, you can see what America is saying about the debate. Go to Facebook and type #gopdebate into the search box. Now, back to the questions. Americans face security threats at home and abroad. Last year, terrorist attacks rose 61 percent, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace, with the most deaths occurring in just five countries, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Syria. Dr. Carson, you were against putting troops on the ground in Iraq and against a large military force in Afghanistan. Do you support the president's decision to now put 50 special ops forces in Syria and leave 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan? +p3987 +aVWe asked Facebook to take a look at some of the major issues we're talking about, and tackling in this debate tonight. This word cloud shows what people are focusing on the most. The bigger the word, the more the talk. One of the most discussed issues in the last month, homeland security. Governor Bush, what is the biggest threat facing America today? +p3988 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, in 2012 debate, President Obama mocked Mitt Romney's assertion that Russia was the top geopolitical challenge facing the United States, saying he was a Cold War dinosaur. Now, Russia has invaded Ukraine, and has put troops in Syria. You have said you will have a good relationship with Mr. Putin. So, what does President Trump do in response to Russia's aggression? +p3989 +aVThank you, sir. +p3990 +aVThank you, governor. +p3991 +aVSenator Rubio. +p3992 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. +p3993 +aVMore questions \u2014 more questions coming up, when the Republican presidential debate comes right back, live from Milwaukee. Stay with us. +p3994 +aVWelcome back to the fourth Republican presidential debate. Senator Rubio, Hillary Clinton is the clear front runner for the Democratic nomination. If she is indeed the nominee, you will be facing a candidate with an impressive resume. She was the first lady of the United States, a U.S. senator from New York, and secretary of state under Barack Obama. She has arguably more experience, certainly more time in government than almost all of you on stage tonight. Why should the American people trust you to lead this country, even though she has been so much closer to the office? +p3995 +aVSenator Paul, you were one of 15 republicans to vote for an amendment which states that human activity contributed to climate change. President Obama has announced an aggressive plan to cut carbon emissions. At the same time, energy production in America has boomed. Is it possible to continue this boom, and move toward energy self-sufficiency, while at the same time pursuing a meaningful climate change program? +p3996 +aVCarly Fiorina? +p3997 +aVFormer Governor Jeb Bush? +p3998 +aVSenator Ted Cruz? +p3999 +aVHe's funny. +p4000 +aVThank you. +p4001 +asVCLINTON +p4002 +(lp4003 +VThank you. +p4004 +aVI'm running for president to knock down all the barriers that are holding Americans back, and to rebuild the ladders of opportunity that will give every American a chance to advance, especially those who have been left out and left behind. I know a lot of Americans are angry about the economy. And for good cause. Americans haven't had a raise in 15 years. There aren't enough good-paying jobs, especially for young people. And yes, the economy is rigged in favor of those at the top. We both agree that we have to get unaccountable money out of our political system and that we have to do much more to ensure that Wall Street never wrecks main street again. But I want to go further. I want to tackle those barriers that stand in the way of too many Americans right now. African-Americans who face discrimination in the job market, education, housing, and the criminal justice system. Hardworking immigrant families living in fear, who should be brought out of the shadows so they and their children can have a better future. Guaranteeing that women's work finally gets the pay, the equal pay that we deserve. I think America can only live up to its potential when we make sure that every American has a chance to live up to his or her potential. That will be my mission as president. And I think together we will make progress. +p4005 +aVJudy, I think that the best analysis that I've seen based on Senator Sanders plans is that it would probably increase the size of the federal government by about 40%, but what is most concerning to me is that in looking at the plans \u2014 let's take healthcare for example. Last week in a CNN town hall, the Senator told a questioner that the questioner would spend about $500 dollars in taxes to get about $5,000 dollars in healthcare. Every progressive economist who has analyzed that says that the numbers don't add up, and that's a promise that cannot be kept, and it's really important now that we are getting into the rest of the country that both of us are held to account for explaining what we are proposing because, especially with healthcare, this is not about math. This is about people's lives, and we should level with the American people about what we can do to make sure they get quality affordable healthcare. +p4006 +aVI can only say that we both share the goal of universal health care coverage. You know, before it was called Obamacare, it was called Hillarycare. And I took on the drug companies and I took on the insurance companies to try to get us universal health care coverage. And why I am a staunch supporter of President Obama's principal accomplishment \u2014 namely the Affordable Care Act \u2014 is because I know how hard it was to get that done. We are at 90 percent coverage. We have to get the remaining 10. I've set forth very specific plans about how to get costs down, especially prescription drug costs. And it is difficult to in any way argue with the goal that we both share. But I think the American people deserve to know specifically how this would work. If it's Medicare for all, then you no longer have the Affordable Care Act, because the Affordable Care Act, as you know very well, is based on the insurance system, based on exchanges, based on a subsidy system. The Children's Health Insurance Program, which I helped to create, which covers 8 million kids, is also a different kind of program. So if you're having Medicare for all, single-payer, you need to level with people about what they will have at the end of the process you are proposing. And based on every analysis that I can find by people who are sympathetic to the goal, the numbers don't add up, and many people will actually be worse off than they are right now. +p4007 +aVWell, let me just \u2014 let me just say, once again......that, having been in the trenches fighting for this, I believe strongly we have to guarantee health care. I believe we are on the path to doing that. The last thing we need is to throw our country into a contentious debate about health care again. And we are not England. We are not France. We inherited a system that was set up during World War II; 170 million Americans get health insurance right now through their employers. So what we have tried to do and what President Obama succeeded in doing was to build on the health care system we have, get us to 90 percent coverage. We have to get the other 10 percent of the way to 100. I far prefer that and the chances we have to be successful there than trying to start all over again, gridlocking our system, and trying to get from zero to 100 percent. +p4008 +aVNo. But it is absolutely fair and necessary for Americans to vet both of our proposals, to ask the really hard questions about, what is it we think we can accomplish, why do we believe that, and what would be the results for the average American family? In my case, whether it's health care, or getting us to debt-free tuition, or moving us toward paid family leave, I have been very specific about where I would raise the money, how much it would cost, and how I would move this agenda forward. I've tried to be as specific to answer questions so that my proposals can be vetted, because I feel like we have to level with people for the very reason, Gwen, that you are mentioning. There is a great deal of skepticism about the federal government. I'm aware of that. It comes from the right, from the left, from people on all sides of the political spectrum. So we have a special obligation to make clear what we stand for, which is why I think we should not make promises we can't keep, because that will further, I think, alienate Americans from understanding and believing we can together make some real changes in people's lives. +p4009 +aVI will put a price tag. My price tag is about $100 billion a year. And again, paid for. And what I have said is I will not throw us further into debt. I believe I can get the money that I need by taxing the wealthy, by closing loopholes, the things that we are way overdue for doing. And I think once I'm in the White House we will have enough political capital to be able to do that. But I am conscious of the fact that we have to also be very clear, especially with young people, about what kind of government is going to do what for them and what it will cost. +p4010 +aVYou know, I think, again, both of us share the goal of trying to make college affordable for all young Americans. And I have set forth a compact that would do just that for debt-free tuition. We differ, however, on a couple of key points. One of them being that if you don't have some agreement within the system from states and from families and from students, it's hard to get to where we need to go. And Senator Sanders's plan really rests on making sure that governors like Scott Walker contribute $23 billion on the first day to make college free. I am a little skeptical about your governor actually caring enough about higher education to make any kind of commitment like that. +p4011 +aVWell, first, Judy, I have spent my entire adult life working toward making sure that women are empowered to make their own choices, even if that choice is not to vote for me. I believe that it's most important that we unleash the full potential of women and girls in our society. And I feel very strongly that I have an agenda, I have a record that really does respond to a lot of the specific needs that the women in our country face. So I'm going to keep making that case. I'm going to keep making sure that everything I've done, everything that I stand for is going to be well known. But I have no argument with anyone making up her mind about who to support. I just hope that by the end of this campaign there will be a lot more supporting me. That's what I'm working towards. +p4012 +aVWell, look, I think that she's been saying that for as long as I've known her, which is about 25 years. But it doesn't change my view that we need to empower everyone, women and men, to make the best decisions in their minds that they can make. That's what I've always stood for. And when it comes to the issues that are really on the front lines as to whether we're going to have equal pay, paid family leave, some opportunity for, you know, women to go as far as their hard work and talent take them, I think that we still have some barriers to knock down, which is why that's at the core of my campaign. I would note, just for a historic aside, somebody told me earlier today we've had like 200 presidential primary debates, and this is the first time there have been a majority of women on the stage. So, you know, we'll take our progress wherever we can find it. +p4013 +aVYou know, I have said \u2014 I have said many times, you know, I'm not asking people to support me because I'm a woman. I'm asking people to support me because I think I'm the most qualified, experienced, and ready person to be the president and the commander-in-chief. And I appreciate greatly Senator Sanders' voting record. And I was very proud to get the endorsement of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, because I've been a leader on these issues. I have gone time and time again to take on the vested interests who would keep women's health care decisions the province of the government instead of women ourselves. I'm very proud that +p4014 +aVYou know, I completely agree with Senator Sanders. The first speech I gave in this campaign back in April was about criminal justice reform and ending the era of mass incarceration. The statistics from Wisconsin are particularly troubling, because it is the highest rate of incarceration for African-Americans in our nation, twice the national average. And we know of the tragic, terrible event that lead to the death of Dontre Hamilton right here in Milwaukee, a young man unarmed, who should still be with us. His family certainly believes that. And so do I. So we have work to do. There have been some good recommendations about what needs to happen. President Obama's policing commission came out with some. I have fully endorsed those. But we have to restore policing that will actually protect the communities that police officers are sworn to protect. And, then we have to go after sentencing, and that's one of the problems here in Wisconsin because so much of what happened in the criminal justice system doesn't happen at the federal level, it happens at the state and local level. But, I would also add this. There are other racial discrepancies. Really systemic racism in this state, as in others, education, in employment, in the kinds of factors that too often lead from a position where young people, particularly young men, are pushed out of school early, are denied employment opportunities. So, when we talk about criminal justice reform, and ending the era of mass incarceration, we also have to talk about jobs, education, housing, and other ways of helping communities. +p4015 +aVWell, I'm just not sure I agree completely with that assessment. I think under President Obama we have seen a lot of advances, the Affordable Care Act has helped more African Americans than any other group to get insurance, to be taken care of, but we also know a lot more than we did. We have a lot more social media, we have everybody with a cellphone. So, we are seeing the dark side of the remaining systemic racism that we have to root out in our society. I think President Obama has set a great example. I think he has addressed a lot of these issues that have been quite difficult, but he has gone forward. Now, what we have to do is to build on an honest conversation about where we go next. We now have much more information about what must be done to fix our criminal justice system. We now have some good models about how better to provide employment, housing and education. I think what President Obama did was to exemplify the importance of this issue as our first African American president, and to address it both from the President's office, and through his advocacy, such as working with young men, and Mrs. Obama's work with young women. But, we can't rest. We have work to do, and we now know a lot more than we ever did before. So, it's going to be my responsibility to make sure we move forward to solve these problems that are now out in the open. Nobody can deny them. To use the Justice Department, as we just saw, they have said they are going to sue Ferguson, that entered into a consent agreement, and then tried to back out. So, we're going to enforce the law, we're going to change policing practices, we're going to change incarceration practices, but we're also going to emphasize education, jobs, and housing. +p4016 +aVLook, I am deeply concerned about what's happening in every community in America, and that includes white communities, where we are seeing an increase in alcoholism, addiction, earlier deaths. People with a high school education or less are not even living as long as their parents lived. This is a remarkable and horrifying fact. And that's why I've come forward with, for example, a plan to revitalize coal country, the coalfield communities that have been so hard hit by the changing economy, by the reduction in the use of coal. You know, coal miners and their families who helped turn on the lights and power our factories for generations are now wondering, has our country forgotten us? Do people not care about all of our sacrifice? And I'm going to do everything I can to address distressed communities, whether they are communities of color, whether they are white communities, whether they are in any part of our country. I particularly appreciate the proposal that Congressman Jim Clyburn has \u2014 the 10-20-30 proposal \u2014 to try to spend more federal dollars in communities with persistent generational poverty. And you know what? If you look at the numbers, there are actually as many, if not more white communities that are truly being left behind and left out. So, yes, I do think it would be a terrible oversight not to try to address the very real problems that white Americans \u2014 particularly those without a lot of education whose jobs have \u2014 you know, no longer provided them or even no longer present in their communities, because we have to focus where the real hurt is. And that's why, as president, I will look at communities that need special help and try to deliver that. +p4017 +aVI strongly support the president's executive actions. I hope the Supreme Court upholds them. I think there is constitutional and legal authority for the president to have done what he did. I am against the raids. I'm against the kind of inhumane treatment that is now being visited upon families, waking them up in the middle of the night, rounding them up. We should be deporting criminals, not hardworking immigrant families who do the very best they can and often are keeping economies going in many places in our country. I'm a strong supporter of comprehensive immigration reform. Have been ever since I was in the Senate. I was one of the original sponsors of the +p4018 +aVTwo quick responses. One, with respect to the Central American children, I made it very clear that those children needed to be processed appropriately, but we also had to send a message to families and communities in Central America not to send their children on this dangerous journey in the hands of smugglers. I've also called for the end of family detention, for the end of privately-run detention centers, along with private prisons, which I think are really against the common good and the rule of law. And with respect to the 2007 bill, this was Ted Kennedy's bill. And I think Ted Kennedy had a very clear idea about what needed to be done. And I was proud to stand with him and support it. +p4019 +aVWell, that just wasn't \u2014 that just wasn't the fact, Senator. The fact is that there was a great effort made by the Obama administration and others to really send a clear message, because we knew that so many of these children were being abused, being treated terribly while they tried to get to our border. So we have a disagreement on this. I think now what I've called for is counsel for every child so that no child has to face any kind of process without someone who speaks and advocates for that child so that the right decision hopefully can be made. +p4020 +aVI think \u2014 I think it's fair to say we don't have a disagreement. We both believe there has to be more money going into the Social Security system. I've said I'm looking at a couple of different ways, one which you mentioned, Senator, but also trying to expand the existing tax to passive income that wealthy people have so that we do get more revenue into the Social Security Trust Fund. I have a slightly different approach, though, about what we should do with that initially. First, rather than expand benefits for everyone, I do want to take care of low-income seniors who worked at low-wage jobs. I want to take care of women. When the Social Security program was started in the 1930s, not very many women worked. And women have been disadvantaged ever since. They do not get any credit for their care-taking responsibilities. And the people who are often the most hard-hit are widows, because when their spouse dies, they can lose up to one-half of their Social Security monthly payment. So we have no disagreement about the need to buttress Social Security, get more revenue into the program. But I want to start by helping those people who are most at risk, the ones who, yes, are cutting their pills in half, who don't believe they can make the rent, who are worried about what comes next for them. +p4021 +aVWell, Senator, look, I think we're in vigorous agreement here. We both want to get more revenue in. I have yet to see a proposal that you're describing that the \u2014 raising the cap would apply to passive income. That has not been... +p4022 +aVWell, that has not been a part of most of the proposals that I've seen. I'm interested in making sure we get the maximum amount of revenue from those who can well afford to provide it. So I'm going to come up with the best way forward. We're going to end up in the same place. We're going to get more revenue. I'm going to prioritize those recipients who need the most help first. +p4023 +aVI can't speak for the Koch Brothers, you're referring to a Super PAC that we don't coordinate with, that was set up to support President Obama, that has now decided that they want to support me. They are the ones who should respond to any questions. Let's talk about our campaigns. I'm very proud of the fact that we have more than 750 thousand donors, and the vast majority of them are giving small contributions. So, I'm proud of Senator Sanders, and his supporters. I think it's great that Senator Sanders, President Obama and I have more donors than any three people who have every run, certainly on the Democratic side. That's the way it should be, and I'm going to continue to reach out to thank all my online contributors for everything they are doing for me, to encourage them and help me do more just as Senator Sanders is. I think that is the real key here. We both have a lot of small donors. I think that sets us apart from a lot of what's happening right now on the Republican side. The Koch Brothers have a very clear political agenda. It is an agenda, in my view, that would do great harm to our country. We're going to fight it as hard as we can, and we're going to fight whoever the Republicans nominate who will depend on the Koch Brothers, and others. +p4024 +aVWe are mixing apples and oranges. My 750,000 donors have contributed more than a million and a half donations. I'm very proud. That, I think, between the two of us demonstrates the strength of the support we have among people who want to see change in our country. But, the real issue, I think, that the Senator is injecting into this is that if you had a Super PAC, like President Obama has, which now says it wants to support me. It's not my PAC. If you take donations from Wall Street, you can't be independent. I would just say, I debated then Senator Obama numerous times on stages like this, and he was the recipient of the largest number of Wall Street donations of anybody running on the Democratic side ever. Now, when it mattered, he stood up and took on Wall Street. He pushed through, and he passed the Dodd-Frank regulation, the toughest regulations since the 1930's. So, let's not in anyway imply here that either President Obama or myself, would in anyway not take on any vested interested, whether it's Wall Street, or drug companies, or insurance companies, or frankly, the gun lobby to stand up to do what's best for the American people. +p4025 +aVWell, let's just \u2014 let's just follow up on this, because, you know, I've made it very clear that no bank is too big to fail, no executive too powerful to jail, and because of Dodd-Frank, we now have in law a process that the president, the Federal Reserve, and others can use if any bank poses a systemic risk. I think that's a major accomplishment. I agree, however, it doesn't go far enough, because what it focuses on are the big banks, which Senator Sanders has talked about a lot, for good reason. I go further in the plan that I've proposed, which has been called the toughest, most effective, comprehensive plan for reining in the other risks that the financial system could face. It was an investment bank, Lehman Brothers, that contributed to our collapse. It was a big insurance company, AIG. It was Countrywide Mortgage. My plan would sweep all of them into a regulatory framework so we can try to get ahead of what the next problems might be. And I believe that not only Barney Frank, Paul Krugman, and others, have said that what I have proposed is the most effective. It goes in the right direction. We have Dodd-Frank. We can use it to break up the banks, if that's appropriate. But let's not kid ourselves. As we speak, there are new problems on the horizon. I want to get ahead of those, and that's why I've proposed a much more comprehensive approach to deal with all of these... +p4026 +aVAbsolutely. And, you know, there are a number of programs that I think are duplicative and redundant and not producing the results that people deserve. There are a lot of training programs and education programs that I think can be streamlined and put into a much better format so that if we do continue them they can be more useful, in public schools, community colleges, and colleges and universities. I would like to take a hard look at every part of the federal government and really do the kind of analysis that would rebuild some confidence in people that we're taking a hard look about what we have, you know, and what we don't need anymore. And that's what I intend to do. +p4027 +aVLook, I think we are readier than we used to be, but it's a constant effort that has to be undertaken to make sure we are as ready as we need to be. We have made a lot of improvements in our domestic security since 9/11, and we have been able to foil and prevent attacks, yet we see the terrible attack in San Bernardino and know that we haven't done enough. So we have to go after this both abroad and at home. We have to go after terrorist networks, predominantly +p4028 +aVIf I could just respond. Two points. One, Senator Sanders voted in 1998 on what I think is fair to call a regime change resolution with respect to Iraq, calling for the end of Saddam Hussein's regime. He voted in favor of regime change with Libya, voted in favor of the Security Council being an active participate in setting the parameters for what we would do, which of course we followed through on. I do not believe a vote in 2002 is a plan to defeat +p4029 +aVYou did support a U.N. Security Council approach, which we did follow up on. And, look, I think it's important to look at what the most important counterterrorism judgment of the first four years of the Obama administration was, and that was the very difficult decision as to whether or not to advise the president to go after bin Laden. I looked at the evidence. I looked at the intelligence. I got the briefings. I recommended that the president go forward. It was a hard choice. Not all of his top national security advisors agreed with that. And at the end of the day, it was the president's decision. So he had to leave the Situation Room after hearing from the small group advising him and he had to make that decision. I'm proud that I gave him that advice. And I'm very grateful to the brave Navy +p4030 +aVWell, I know journalists have asked who you do listen to on foreign policy, and we have yet to know who that is. +p4031 +aVThat's fine. That's fine. You know, I listen to a wide variety of voices that have expertise in various areas. I think it is fair to say, whatever the complaints that you want to make about him are, that with respect to China, one of the most challenging relationships we have, his opening up China and his ongoing relationships with the leaders of China is an incredibly useful relationship for the United States of America. So if we want to pick and choose \u2014 and I certainly do \u2014 people I listen to, people I don't listen to, people I listen to for certain areas, then I think we have to be fair and look at the entire world, because it's a big, complicated world out there. +p4032 +aVAnd, yes, people we may disagree with on a number of things may have some insight, may have some relationships that are important for the president to understand in order to best protect the United States. +p4033 +aVWell, with respect to Syria, I really do appreciate the efforts that Secretary Kerry has made. The agreement on humanitarian relief now needs to be implemented, because there are enclaves that are literally filled with starving people throughout Syria. The agreement on a cease-fire, though, is something that has to be implemented more quickly than the schedule that the Russians agreed to. You know, the Russians wanted to buy time. Are they buying time to continue their bombardment on behalf of the Assad regime to further decimate what's left of the opposition, which would be a grave disservice to any kind of eventual cease-fire? So I know Secretary Kerry is working extremely hard to try to move that cease-fire up as quickly as possible. But I would add this. You know, the Security Council finally got around to adopting a resolution. At the core of that resolution is an agreement I negotiated in June of 2012 in Geneva, which set forth a cease-fire and moving toward a political resolution, trying to bring the parties at stake in Syria together. This is incredibly complicated, because we've got Iran as a big player, in addition to Russia. We have Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and others who have very important interests in their view. This is one of the areas I've disagreed with Senator Sanders on, who has called for Iranian troops trying to end civil war in Syria, which I think would be a grave mistake. Putting Iranian troops right on the border of the Golan right next to Israel would be a nonstarter for me. Trying to get Iran and Saudi Arabia to work together, as he has suggested in the past, is equally a nonstarter. So let's support what Secretary Kerry and the president are doing, but let's hope that we can accelerate the cease-fire, because I fear that the Russians will continue their bombing, try to do everything they can to destroy what's left of the opposition. And remember, the Russians have not gone after +p4034 +aVWell, I respectfully disagree. I think we have achieved a great deal with the Iranian nuclear agreement to put a lid on the Iranian nuclear weapons program. That has to be enforced absolutely with consequences for Iran at the slightest deviation from their requirements under the agreement. I do not think we should promise or even look toward normalizing relations because we have a lot of other business to get done with Iran. Yes, they have to stop being the main state sponsor of terrorism. Yes, they have to stop trying to destabilize the Middle East, causing even more chaos. Yes, they've got to get out of Syria. They've got to quit sponsoring Hezbollah and Hamas. They have got to quit trying to ship rockets into Gaza that can be used against Israel. We have a lot of work to do with Iran before we ever say that they could move toward normalized relations with us. +p4035 +aV... Senator Sanders, from a debate in 2008, quote what I said. The question was, would you meet with an adversary without conditions? I said no. And in fact, in Obama administration, we did not meet with anybody without conditions. That is the appropriate approach in order to get the results that you are seeking. +p4036 +aVWell, I was pleased that +p4037 +aVI certainly agree with FDR for all the reasons Senator Sanders said. And I agree about the role that he played both in war and in peace on the economy and defeating fascism around the world. I would choose Nelson Mandela for his generosity of heart, his understanding of the need for reconciliation. But I want to \u2014 I want to follow up on something having to do with leadership, because, you know, today Senator Sanders said that President Obama failed the presidential leadership test. And this is not the first time that he has criticized President Obama. In the past he has called him weak. He has called him a disappointment. He wrote a forward for a book that basically argued voters should have buyers' remorse when it comes to President Obama's leadership and legacy. And I just couldn't agree \u2014 disagree more with those kinds of comments. You know, from my perspective, maybe because I understand what President Obama inherited, not only the worst financial crisis but the antipathy of the Republicans in Congress, I don't think he gets the credit he deserves for being a president......who got us out of that......put us on firm ground, and has sent us into the future. And it is a \u2014 the kind of criticism that we've heard from Senator Sanders about our president I expect from Republicans. I do not expect from someone running for the Democratic nomination to succeed President Obama. +p4038 +aVYou know, Senator, what I am concerned about, is not disagreement on issues, saying that this is what I would rather do, I don't agree with the president on that, calling the president weak, calling him a disappointment, calling several times that he should have a primary opponent when he ran for re-election in 2012, you know, I think that goes further than saying we have our disagreements. As a senator, yes, I was a senator. I understand we can disagree on the path forward. But those kinds of personal assessments and charges are ones that I find particularly troubling. +p4039 +aVYou know, we \u2014 we agree that we've got to get unaccountable money out of politics. We agree that Wall Street should never be allowed to wreck Main Street again. But here's the point I want to make tonight. I am not a single-issue candidate, and I do not believe we live in a single-issue country. I think that a lot of what we have to overcome to break down the barriers that are holding people back, whether it's poison in the water of the children of Flint, or whether it's the poor miners who are being left out and left behind in coal country, or whether it is any other American today who feels somehow put down and oppressed by racism, by sexism, by discrimination against the +p4040 +aVWell, I'm happy to be here in New Hampshire for this debate, as we move toward the primary on Tuesday. I believe that America has the opportunity to once again live by our values, live up to our values in the 21st century, but I think that America can only do that if Americans can succeed. And there are lots of reasons why Americans today are feeling left out and left behind. Yes, of course, the economy has not been working for most Americans. Yes, of course, we have special interests that are unfortunately doing too much to rig the game. But there's also the continuing challenges of racism, of sexism, of discrimination against the +p4041 +aVWell, let me start by saying that Senator Sanders and I share some very big progressive goals. I've been fighting for universal healthcare for many years, and we're now on the path to achieving it. I don't want us to start over again. I think that would be a great mistake, to once again plunge our country into a contentious debate about whether we should have and what kind of system we should have for healthcare. I want to build on the progress we've made; got from 90 percent coverage to 100 percent coverage. And I don't want to rip away the security that people finally have; 18 million people now have healthcare; preexisting conditions are no longer a bar. So we have a difference. I also believe in affordable college, but I don't believe in free college, because every expert that I have talked to says, look, how will you ever control the costs. What I want to do is make sure middle class kids, not Donald Trump's kids, get to be able to afford college. I want to get the economy going again. It's not just enough about what we're against, as important as that is. I have a plan to create new jobs, manufacturing, infrastructure, clean energy jobs that will make us the 21st century clean energy super power. I also want to make sure small businesses can start and grow again. And of course, I believe in raising the minimum wage and equal pay for work. But the numbers just don't add up, from what Senator Sanders has been proposing. That's why all of the independent experts, all of the editorial boards that have vetted both of us have concluded that it is just not achievable. Let's go down a path where we can actually tell people what we will do. A progressive is someone who makes progress. That's what I intend to do. +p4042 +aVIf I could just follow up on that. There is no disagreement between us on universal coverage for health care, the disagreement is where do we start from and where do we end up. The Republicans want to repeal the Affordable Care Act, I want to improve it. I want to build on it, get the costs down, get prescription drug costs down. Senator Sanders wants us to start all over again. This was a major achievement of President Obama, of our country. It is helping people right now. I am not going to wait and have us plunge back into a contentious national debate that has very little chance of succeeding. Let's make the Affordable Care Act work for everybody. +p4043 +aVWell because I am a progressive who gets things done. And the root of that word, progressive, is progress. But I've heard Senator Sanders comments, and it's really caused me to wonder who's left in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Under his definition, President Obama is not progressive because he took donations from Wall Street; Vice President Biden is not progressive because she supported Keystone; Senator Shaheen is not progressive because she supports the trade pact. Even the late, great Senator Paul Wellstone would not fit this definition because he voted for +p4044 +aVWell, Chuck... +p4045 +aV... If I could, you know, in the very first debate I was asked am I a moderate or a progressive and I said I'm a progressive who likes to get things done. Cherry picking a quote here or there doesn't change my record of having fought for racial justice, having fought for kids rights, having fought the kind of inequities that fueled my interest in service in the first place going back to my days in the Children's Defense Fund. It certainly didn't stop me from taking on the drug companies and the insurance companies. Before it was called Hillarycare\u2014I mean, before it was called ObamaCare it was called Hillarycare because we took them on, and we weren't successful, but we kept fighting and we got the children's health insurance program. Every step along the way I have stood up, and fought, and have the scars to prove it. So, again......I think it's important that, look, I understand Senator Sanders really trying to distinguish himself. I understand that, that's what you do in campaigns, but at the same time let's not be\u2014in, I think an unfair way, making an accusation, or making an attack about where I stand and about where I've always stood. It is fair to say, Senator, that in your definition, as you being the self-proclaimed gatekeeper for progressivism, I don't know anyone else who fits that definition, but I know a lot of really hard fighting progressives in the Democratic party who have stood up time, and time again against special interests, against the powerful on behalf of those who are left behind and left out. And, that's what we ought to be celebrating. Let's talk about what we would do as President, and Commander in Chief to make sure the progress continues into the future. +p4046 +aV... Well, you began it yesterday with your comments... +p4047 +aVYou know, the person who first put out the idea of a 50-state party strategy is former Governor Howard Dean, who is with us tonight. And I'm very proud and grateful to have the support of so many elected Vermonters and former officials. Two former governors, the current governor, the current other senator. I really appreciate that. And I think it's because they've worked with me, they've seen what I do. They know what kind of a colleague I am. They want me as their partner in the White House. And that's exactly what I will do. We'll get things done together. Democrats, Republicans, independents, we're going to make progress together when I'm president. +p4048 +aVWell, look, I've got to just jump in here because, honestly, Senator Sanders is the only person who I think would characterize me, a woman running to be the first woman president, as exemplifying the establishment. And I've got to tell you that it is......it is really quite amusing to me. People support me because they know me. They know my life's work. They have worked with me and many have also worked with Senator Sanders. And at the end of the day they endorse me because they know I can get things done. I am not going to make promises I can't keep. I am not going to talk about big ideas like single-payer and then not level with people about how much it will cost. A respected health economist said that these plans would cost a trillion dollars more a year. I'm not going to tell people that I will raise your incomes and not your taxes, and not mean it, because I don't want to see the kind of struggle that the middle class is going through exemplified by these promises that would raise taxes and make it much more difficult for many, many Americans to get ahead and stay ahead. That is not my agenda. +p4049 +aVYeah, but I\u2014I think it's fair to really ask what's behind that comment. You know, Senator Sanders has said he wants to run a positive campaign. I've tried to keep my disagreements over issues, as it should be. But time and time again, by innuendo, by insinuation, there is this attack that he is putting forth, which really comes down to\u2014you know, anybody who ever took donations or speaking fees from any interest group has to be bought. And I just absolutely reject that, Senator. And I really don't think these kinds of attacks by insinuation are worthy of you. And enough is enough. If you've got something to say, say it directly. But you will not find that I ever changed a view or a vote because of any donation that I ever received. +p4050 +aVAnd I have stood up and I have represented my constituents to the best of my abilities, and I'm very proud of that. +p4051 +aVSo I think it's time to end the very artful smear that you and your campaign have been carrying out... +p4052 +aV... in recent weeks, and let's talk......let's talk about about the issues. Let's talk about the issues that divide us. +p4053 +aVAnd let's\u2014let's... +p4054 +aV... we both agree with campaign finance reform. +p4055 +aVI\u2014I worked hard for McCain-Feingold. +p4056 +aVI want to reverse Citizens United. +p4057 +aVAnd so\u2014let's talk about issues. +p4058 +aVWell, you know, Senator, I don't think\u2014I don't... +p4059 +aV... I don't think you could find any person in political life today who has been subjected to more attacks and had more money spent against her by special interests, among whom you have named a few, than I. And I'm proud of that. You know, when I took on the drug companies and the insurance companies for universal health care coverage, they went after me with a vengeance. Today, you've got hedge fund billionaires aligned with Karl Rove, running ads against me to try to get Democrats to vote for you. I know this game. I'm going to stop this game. But while we're talking about votes, you're the one who voted to deregulate swaps and derivatives in 2000, which contributed to the over-leveraging of Lehman Brothers, which was one of the culprits that brought down the economy. So I don't know\u2014I'm not impugning your motive because you voted to deregulate swaps and derivatives. People make mistakes and I'm certainly not saying you did it for any kind of financial advantage. What we've got to do as Democrats\u2014what we've got to do as Democrats is to be united to actually solve these problems. And what I believe is that I have a better track record and a better opportunity to actually get that job done. That's what this election should be about. +p4060 +aVOn the issue of Wall Street. +p4061 +aVWell you know, Rachel, I think I may not have done the job I should in explaining my record. You know, I did\u2014when I left the secretary of State's office, like so many former officials, military leaders, journalists, others, I did go on the speaking circuit. I spoke to heart doctors, I spoke to the American Camping Association, I spoke to auto dealers, and yes, I spoke to firms on Wall Street. They wanted me to talk about the world, what my experience had been as secretary of State. But what I want people to know is I went to Wall Street before the crash. I was the one saying you're going to wreck the economy because of these shenanigans with mortgages. I called to end the carried interest loophole that hedge fund managers enjoy. I proposed changes in CEO compensation. I called for a consumer protection financial bureau before it was created. And I think the best evidence that the Wall Street people at least know where I stand and where I have always stood is because they are trying to beat me in this primary. They have collected and spent as much as $6 million on these ads. Hedge fund billionaires, Karl Rove, another billionaire, jumped in. And why are they doing that? These are guys who try to make smart investments. They know my record, they know me, they know that I say what I believe and I will do it. And I also have a pretty good understanding about how to stop them. So I do want people to know that, and I think it's important for everybody to understand I have a record, I have stood firm and I will be the person who prevents them from ever wrecking the economy again. +p4062 +aVIf I could, let me just say that of course it has to change. It has to change. And that's why I have put forward a plan to do just that. And it's been judged to be the toughest, most effective and comprehensive one. I have great respect for Senator Sanders's commitment to try to restore Glass-Steagall. But I do not believe that that is enough. And in fact, I don't believe it really addresses a lot of the biggest issues we have. You know, we now have power under the Dodd-Frank legislation to break up banks. And I've said I will use that power if they pose a systemic risk. But I want to go further, because it was investment banks, it was insurance companies, it was mortgage companies, all of which contributed. So let's not just be narrowly focused on one part of the problem. We have a lot of issues with corporate power that have to be addressed. My plan takes us further and it would do the job. +p4063 +aVLook we have a law\u2014look, you know, I\u2014I appreciate the senator's advocacy. We have a law. It was passed. It was signed by President Obama. It lays out a process that you go through to determine whether a systemic risk is posed. And by the way, President Obama signed that, pushed it through, even though he took donations from Wall Street, because he's a responsible president. So we have a law in place. If the circumstances warrant it, I will certainly use it. And from what you say, I know you will as well. But that is not enough. And I keep going back to this because part of the reason the Wall Street guys are trying so hard to stop me\u2014the hedge fund guys, the shadow banking guys\u2014is because I've got their number on all of that. And my plan goes so much further to try to prevent the problems of the future. You know, we can't just fight the last war. We've got to be prepared to stop these guys if they ever try to use their economic power once again, to hurt the economy, and to hurt so many Americans. And my plan, Paul Krugman, Barney Frank, a lot of experts who understand what the new challenges might be, have said I am exactly on point, and the Wall Street guys actually know that. +p4064 +aVI will look into it. I don't know the status, but I will certainly look into it. But, I can only repeat what is the fact that I spoke to a lot of different groups with a lot of different constituents, a lot of different kinds of members about issues that had to do with world affairs. I probably described more times than I can remember how stressful it was advising the President about going after Bin Laden. My view on this is look at my record. Look at what I am proposing, and\u2014we have a vigorous agreement here. We both want to reign in the excesses of Wall Street. I also want to reign in the excesses of Johnson Controls that we bailed out when they were an autoparts company, and we saved the auto industry, and now they want to avoid paying taxes. I want to go after the pharmaceutical companies like Valeant, and Turns that are increasing prices without any regard to the impact on people's health. Now, if all we're going to talk about is one part of our economy, and indeed one streak in our economy, we're missing the big oil companies. We're missing other big energy companies. We're missing the big picture, and I have a record of trying to go at the problems that actually exist, and I will continue to do that. +p4065 +aV... Well, Senator, no one wants to see that happen. I mean, look, I care deeply about this because just like you I have met so many people who had their life savings wiped out, who lost their homes, who are barely back with their heads above water. This was a disaster for our country, and we can never let that happen again. We have no disagreement about this. But, I think it's a broader target list than just Wall Street, and I believe that we have to be very focused on how we try to take back the power and increase the empowerment of the American people. And, I think I have that kind of experience, maybe because they've beat me up for so many years, and I know exactly how to handle them because I've been in the arena with them time and time again. +p4066 +aVWell, I think what the president understands, and what he's trying to do, is that we have to support the Arab and Kurdish fighters on the ground who are actually doing the fighting. I agree with the president. I've said myself, we will not send American combat troops back to either Syria or Iraq\u2014that is off the table. But we do have special forces, we do have trainers, we do have the military personnel who are helping with the airstrikes that the United States is leading so that we can try to take out +p4067 +aVNo. I mean, of course that's a theoretical question, and we don't know what it would be for, and we don't know how many numbers there are. I am against American combat troops being in Syria and Iraq. I support special forces. I support trainers. I support the air campaign. And I think we're making some progress. I want to continue to intensify that, and that's exactly what the president is doing. +p4068 +aVIf I could\u2014if I could... +p4069 +aV... respectfully add\u2014look, we did differ. A vote in 2002 is not a plan to defeat +p4070 +aVOh, absolutely. The president decided to leave more troops than he had originally planned in Afghanistan. We have a very cooperative government there, with Ashraf Ghani and his top\u2014his top partner, Abdullah. And they are doing their very best. And the Afghan army is actually fighting. The Afghan army is taking heavy losses defending Afghan territory. And I would have to make an evaluation based on the circumstances at the time I took office as to how much help they continue to need. Because it's not just the Taliban. We now are seeing outposts of, you know, fighters claiming to be affiliated with +p4071 +aVA group of national security experts, military intelligence experts, issued a very concerning statement about Senator Sanders's views on foreign policy and national security, pointing out some of the comments he has made on these issues, such as inviting Iranian troops into Syria to try to resolve the conflict there; putting them right at the doorstep of Israel. Asking Saudi Arabia and Iran to work together, when they can't stand each other and are engaged in a proxy battle right at this moment. So I do think questions have been raised and questions have to be answered because when New Hampshire voters go on Tuesday to cast your vote, you are voting both for a president and a commander in chief. And there is no way to predict what comes in the door of that White House from day to day that can pose a threat to the United States or one of our friends and allies, and I think this is a big part of the job interview that we are all conducting with the voters here. +p4072 +aVWell, let me just add that, you know, I've said this before and I'm very proud of it, that when it comes to judgment, having run a hard race against Senator Obama at the time, he turned to me to be secretary of State. And when it comes to the biggest counterterrorism issues that we faced in this administration, namely whether or not to go after bin Laden, I was at that table, I was exercising my judgment to advise the president on what to do, on that, on Iran, on Russia on China, on a whole raft of issues. Because I know from my own experience that you've got to be ready on day one. There is just too much unpredictable threat and danger in the world today, you know, to try to just say wait, I'll get to that when I can. That is just not an acceptable approach. +p4073 +aVAbsolutely. You know, I did put together the coalition to impose sanctions. I actually started the negotiations that led to the nuclear agreement, sending some much my closest aides to begin the conversations with the Iranians. I'm very pleased we got that nuclear agreement. It puts a lid on the nuclear weapons program. We have to enforce it, there have to be consequences attached to it. But that is not our only problem with Iran. We have to figure out how to deal with Iran as the principal state sponsor of terrorism in the world. They are destabilizing governments in the region. They continue to support Hezbollah and Hamas in Lebanon against Israel. A lot of work that we have do is going to be incredibly hard. I'm prepared to do that work, but I believe, just as I did with imposing the sanctions, you have to get action for action. If we were to normalize relations right now, we would remove one of the biggest pieces of leverage we have to try to influence and change Iranian behavior. The president doesn't think we should. I certainly don't think we should. I believe we have to take this step by step to try to reign in Iranian aggression, their support for terrorism and the other bad behavior that can come back and haunt us. +p4074 +aVWell Senator, let me just correct the record if I can. You know\u2014let me correct the record. +p4075 +aVAs I\u2014as I certainly recall, the question was to meet with without conditions. And you're right, I was against that. I was against it then I would be against it now. +p4076 +aVPart of diplomacy, the hard work of diplomacy is trying to extract whatever concessions you can get, and giving something the other side wants. Of course you've got to try to make peace with, and work with those who are your adversaries, but you don't just rush in, open the door, and say, "Here I am. Let's talk and make a deal." That's not the way it works. +p4077 +aV... Well, we set conditions on Iran. We worked hard to get them established, and to be enforced, and then we talked. That's exactly the right......and, that's what I did with the President, so he and I are on the very same page. +p4078 +aVI haven't talked to Secretary Carter, but here's what I would think he's planning. We do have the nuclear weapons agreement with Iran, that's an enforcement consequence, action for action, follow on. We have a plan, we will watch them, we will be vigilant. We do have to worry about North Korea. They continue to develop their nuclear weapons capability, and they're working very hard on their ballistic missile capability. And, I know that some of those plans could very well lead to a missile that might reach Hawaii, if not the West Coast. We do have to try to get the countries in the region to work with us to do everything we can to confine, and constrain them. But, what Secretary Carter is looking at is the constant pressure that Russia's putting on our European allies. The way that Russia is trying to move the boundaries of the post-World War II Europe. The way that he is trying to set European countries against one another, seizing territory, holding it in Crimea. Beginning to explore whether they could make some inroads in the Baltics. We know that they are deeply engaged in supporting Assad because they want to have a place in the Middle East. They have a naval base, they have an air base in Syria. They want to hang on to that. I think what Secretary Carter is seeing, and I'm glad he is, is that we got to get +p4079 +aVWell, first of all, I'm absolutely against privatizing the V.A. And I am going do everything I can to build on the reforms that Senator Sanders and others in Congress have passed to try to fix what's wrong with the V.A. There are a lot of issues about wait times and services that have to be fixed because our veterans deserve nothing but the best. But you're absolutely right, you know, Rachel, this is another part of the Koch brothers agenda. They've actually formed an organization to try to begin to convince Americans we should no longer have guaranteed health care, specialized care for our veterans. I will fight that as hard as I can. I think there's where we can enlist the veterans service organizations, the veterans of America, because, yes, let's fix the V.A., but we will never let it be privatized, and that is a promise. +p4080 +aVWhatever they decide to do, that's fine. +p4081 +aVAll right. +p4082 +aVI can only tell you what I believe, and that is that I am the strongest candidate to take it to the Republicans and win in November. And I say that with great\u2014with great respect for the campaign that Senator Sanders has been running. I personally am thrilled at the numbers of people, and particularly young people who are coming to support your campaign. I hope that I will be able to earn their support. They may not support me now, but I support them and we'll work together. But what I'm concerned about is the views of many Democrats who know their states, who know how hard it is to win a general election. And it also will push whoever the nominee is into the spotlight. I've been vetted. There's hardly anything you don't know about me. And I think it's fair to say that whoever is in that position, Senator Sanders or anyone else who might have run, will face the most withering onslaught. So, I think that I am the person who can do all aspects of the job. I think I'm the person best prepared to take the case to the Republicans. And I think that at the end of the day, it's not so much electability. It is who the American people can believe can keep them safe, can get the economy moving again, can get incomes rising, can build on the progressive accomplishments of President Obama. And I think that the coalition that President Obama put together to win twice is a coalition that I can put together and add to. And that's what I'm prepared to... +p4083 +aVAbsolutely I can. You know, before it was emails, it was Benghazi, and the Republicans were stirring up so much controversy about that. And I testified for 11 hours, answered their questions. They basically said yeah, didn't get her. We tried. That was all a political ploy. Now, we had a development in the email matter today when it came out that Secretary Powell and close aides to Former Secretary Rice used private e-mail accounts. and now you have these people in the government who are doing the same thing to Secretary Powell and Secretary Rice's aide they've been doing to me, which is that I never sent or received any classified material. They are retroactively classifying it. I agree completely with Secretary Powell, who said today this is an absurdity. And so I think the American people will know it's an absurdity. I have absolutely no concerns about it whatsoever. +p4084 +aVI am 100 percent confident. This is a security review that was requested. It is being carried out. It will be resolved. But I have to add if there's going to be a security review about me, there's going to have to be security reviews about a lot of other people, including Republican office holders, because we've got this absurd situation of retroactive classifications. Honest to goodness, this is\u2014this just beggars the imagination. So I have absolutely no concerns about it, but we've got to get to the bottom of what's really going on here, and I hope that will happen. +p4085 +aVNo. +p4086 +aVYes, I do. And\u2014you know, what I hope the Supreme Court will do is make it absolutely clear that any state that continues capital punishment either must meet the highest standards of evidentiary proof of effective assistance of counsel or they cannot continue it because that, to me, is the real dividing line. I have much more confidence in the federal system, and I do reserve it for particularly heinous crimes in the federal system, like terrorism. I have strong feelings about that. I thought it was appropriate after a very thorough trial that Timothy McVeigh received the death penalty for blowing up the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people, including 19 children in a daycare center. I do for very limited, particularly heinous crimes believe it is an appropriate punishment, but I deeply disagree with the way that too many states are still implementing it. If it were possible to separate the federal from the state system by the Supreme Court, that would, I think, be an appropriate outcome. +p4087 +aVAbsolutely. Absolutely. You know, Rachel, you and I have talked about this before. I thank you for going to Flint to hold that town hall. I will be in Flint at the Mayor's invitation on Sunday to get an in depth briefing about what is, and is not happening. This is an emergency. Everyday that goes by that these people, particularly the children, are not tested so we can know what steps must be taken to try to remediate the effects of the poisoning that they have been living with is a day lost in a child's life. I know from the work that I've done over so many years, lead, the toxic nature of lead can affect you brain development, your body development, your behavior. I absolutely believe that what is being done is not sufficient. We need to be absolutely clear about everything that should be done from today to tomorrow, into the future to try to remedy the terrible burden that the people of Flint are barring. That includes fixing their pipes, it includes guaranteeing whatever healthcare and educational embellishments they may need going forward, and I think the federal government has way where it can bill the state of Michigan. If Michigan won't do it, there have to be ways that we can begin to move, and then make them pay for it, and hold them accountable. +p4088 +aVYou know, Chuck, I've only had responsibility for voting for trade agreements as a senator. And I voted a multinational trade agreement when I was senator, the +p4089 +aVWell, I\u2014I don't accept that premise, Chuck. I think that we've got so much business we have to do. We've talked a lot tonight about what we're against\u2014we're against income inequality. We're against the abuses of powerful interests. We're against a lot of things. I'm for a lot of things. I don't want to just stop bad things from happening, I want to start good things from happening. And I believe, if I'm so fortunate to get the nomination, I will begin to work immediately on putting together an agenda, beginning to talk with members of Congress and others about how we can push forward. I want to have half a billion more solar panels deployed, the first four years. I want to have enough clean energy to power every home the next four years. I want us to keep working on the Affordable Care Act, to get not only to 100 percent coverage, but bring down the costs of prescription drugs and out-of-pocket costs. I want to move forward on paid family leave, on early childhood education, I want us to do more for small businesses. Small businesses have to create most of the jobs, and we're not creating and growing small businesses. I think, if you have a smart agenda, you pick the committees that you know have to begin to work on these various pieces\u2014because that's the way Congress is set up. You go through different committees, and you really make a big push in the beginning. Immigration reform, economic revitalization with manufacturing, with infrastructure\u2014we put it out there, and we begin to work on an ambitious, big, bold agenda that will actually produce the results that I want to see for our country. +p4090 +aVThe answer to both of those is no. I'm interested in making what we have work better. I want to streamline programs that are duplicative and redundant. I want to have a top-to-bottom review about what works and what doesn't work, and be absolutely clear we're getting rid of what doesn't work. I have had the opportunity to run a big agency. I was very flattered when Henry Kissinger said I ran the State Department better\u2014better than anybody had run it in a long time. So I have an idea of what it's going to take to make our government work more efficiently. And when you put together a budget, you have to make a lot of hard decisions, but I think it's not appropriate to say "I'm going to get rid of this, get rid of that" until you have a very good process that gives you the information about what to do. But I want to add something else, you know, because look, we have so much work to do in our country, and I think it's the greatest work that Americans will be called to do. And of course, we have to have people in every community involved in it. We have to have the political voice, the political grassroots speaking up and speaking out about what we have to try to accomplish in Washington. But we also need to have a very clear set of goals that we are going to achieve, and we need to level with the American people about what they are, what they will cost, what will be expected of our citizenry. So I see as president having a constant dialogue with Americans here's what we're trying to get done, here's why I need your help, here's why you may think comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship isn't something you care about, but I'm telling you it will help fix the labor market, it will bring people out of the shadows\u2014 +p4091 +aVI never said that. +p4092 +aVLook... +p4093 +aVWell, I'm certainly going to unite the party, but I'm not\u2014I'm not getting ahead of myself. I think that would be a little bit presumptuous. If I'm so fortunate as to be the nominee, the first person I will call to talk to about where we go and how we get it done will be Senator Sanders. +p4094 +aVThat's true. That's true. +p4095 +aVWell first, thanks to +p4096 +aVWell, good evening. And I want to thank the Congressional Black Caucus Institute and the people of Charleston for hosting us here on the eve of Martin Luther King Day tomorrow. You know, I remember well when my youth minister took me to hear Dr. King. I was a teenager. And his moral clarity, the message that he conveyed that evening really stayed with me and helped to set me on a path to service. I also remember that he spent the last day of his life in Memphis, fighting for dignity and higher pay for working people. And that is our fight still. We have to get the economy working and incomes rising for everyone, including those who have been left out and left behind. We have to keep our communities and our country safe. We need a president who can do all aspects of the job. I understand that this is the hardest job in the world. I'm prepared and ready to take it on and I hope to earn your support to be the nominee of the Democratic Party and the next president of the United States. +p4097 +aVI would work quickly to present to the Congress my plans for creating more good jobs in manufacturing, infrastructure, clean and renewable energy, raising the minimum wage, and guaranteeing, finally, equal pay for women's work. I would also......I would also be presenting my plans to build on the Affordable Care Act and to improve it by decreasing the out-of-pocket costs by putting a cap on prescription drug costs; by looking for ways that we can put the prescription drug business and the health insurance company business on a more stable platform that doesn't take too much money out of the pockets of hard-working Americans. And third, I would be working, in every way that I knew, to bring our country together. We do have too much division, too much mean- spiritedness. There's a lot we have to do on immigration reform, on voting rights, on campaign finance reform, but we need to do it together. That's how we'll have the kind of country for the 21st century that we know will guarantee our children and grandchildren the kind of future they deserve. +p4098 +aVYes look, I have made it clear based on Senator Sanders' own record that he has voted with the NRA, with the gun lobby numerous times. He voted against the Brady Bill five times. He voted for what we call, the Charleston Loophole. He voted for immunity from gunmakers and sellers which the NRA said, "was the most important piece of gun legislation in 20 years. " He voted to let guns go onto the Amtrak, guns go into National Parks. He voted against doing research to figure out how we can save lives. Let's not forget what this is about, 90 people a day die from gun violence in our country. That's 33,000 people a year. One of the most horrific examples not a block from here where we had nine people murdered. Now, I am pleased to hear that Senator Sanders has reversed his position on immunity and I look forward to him joining with those members of congress who have already introduced legislation. There is no other industry in America that was given the total pass that the gun makers and dealers were and that needs to be reversed. +p4099 +aVWell, sadly it's reality, and it has been heartbreaking, and incredibly outraging to see the constant stories of young men like Walter Scott, as you said, who have been killed by police officers. Their needs to be a concerted effort to address the systemic racism in our criminal justice system. And, that requires a very clear, agenda for retraining police officers, looking at ways to end racial profiling, finding more ways to really bring the disparities that stalk our country into high relief. One out of three African American men may well end up going to prison. That's the statistic. I want people hear to think what we would be doing if it was one out of three white men, and very often, the black men are arrested, convicted and incarcerated ......for offensive that do not lead to the same results for white men. So, we have a very serious problem that we can no longer ignore. +p4100 +aVWell, Lester, you're right. Everywhere I go to campaign, I'm meeting families who are affected by the drug problem that mostly is opioids and heroin now, and lives are being lost and children are being orphaned. And I've met a lot of grandparents who are now taking care of grandchildren. So I have tried to come out with a comprehensive approach that, number one, does tell the states that we will work with you from the federal government putting more money, about a billion dollars a year, to help states have a different approach to dealing with this epidemic. The policing needs to change. Police officers must be equipped with the antidote to a heroin overdose or an opioid overdose, known as Narcan. They should be able to administer it. So should firefighters and others. We have to move away from treating the use of drugs as a crime and instead, move it to where it belongs, as a health issue. And we need to divert more people from the criminal justice system into drug courts, into treatment, and recovery. +p4101 +aVSo this is the kind of approach that we should take in dealing with what is now... +p4102 +aV... a growing epidemic. +p4103 +aVWell, Andrea, I am absolutely committed to universal health care. I have worked on this for a long time, people may remember that I took on the health insurance industry back in the '90s, and I didn't quit until we got the children's health insurance program that ensures eight million kids. And I certainly respect Senator Sanders' intentions, but when you're talking about health care, the details really matter. And therefore, we have been raising questions about the nine bills that he introduced over 20 years, as to how they would work and what would be the impact on people's health care? He didn't like that, his campaign didn't like it either. And tonight, he's come out with a new health care plan. And again, we need to get into the details. But here's what I believe, the Democratic Party and the United States worked since Harry Truman to get the Affordable Care Act passed. We finally have a path to universal health care. We have accomplished so much already. I do not to want see the Republicans repeal it, and I don't to want see us start over again with a contentious debate. I want us to defend and build on the Affordable Care Act and improve it. +p4104 +aVBut \u2014 Senator Sanders, if I can... You know, I have to say I'm not sure whether we're talking about the plan you just introduced tonight, or we're talking about the plan you introduced nine times in the Congress. But the fact is, we have the Affordable Care Act. That is one of the greatest accomplishments of President Obama, of the Democratic Party, and of our country. And we have already seen 19 million Americans get insurance. We have seen the end of pre-existing conditions keeping people from getting insurance. We have seen women no longer paying more for our insurance than men. And we have seen young people, up to the age of 26, being able to stay on their parent's policy. +p4105 +aVNow, there are things we can do to improve it, but to tear it up and start over again, pushing our country back into that kind of a contentious debate, I think is the wrong direction. +p4106 +aVAnd that's exactly what we are able to do based on the foundation of the Affordable Care Act \u2014 what Governor O'Malley just said is one of the models that we will be looking at to make sure we do get costs down, we do limit a lot of the unnecessary costs that we still have in the system. But, with all due respect, to start over again with a whole new debate is something that I think would set us back. The Republicans just voted last week to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and thank goodness, President Obama vetoed it and saved Obamacare for the American people. +p4107 +aVWell, as someone who \u2014 as someone who has a little bit of experience standing up to the health insurance industry, that spent, you know......many, many millions of dollars attacking me, and probably will so again, because of what I believe we can do building on the Affordable Care Act, I think it's important to point out that there are a lot of reasons we have the health care system we have today. I know how much money influences the political decision-making. That's why I'm for huge campaign finance reform. However, we started a system that had private health insurance. And even during the Affordable Care Act debate, there was an opportunity to vote for what was called the public option. In other words, people could buy in to Medicare, and even when the Democrats were in charge of the Congress, we couldn't get the votes for that. So, what I'm saying is really simple. This has been the fight of the Democratic Party for decades. We have the Affordable Care Act. Let's make it work. Let's take the models that states are doing. We now have driven costs down to the lowest they've been in 50 years. Now we've got to get individual costs down. That's what I'm planning to do. +p4108 +aVWell, I think it's an important point the president made in his State of the Union. And here's what I would say. I will go anywhere, to meet with anyone, at any time to find common ground. That's what I did as a first lady, when I worked with both Democrats and Republicans to get the Children's Health Insurance Program, when I worked with Tom DeLay, one of the most partisan of Republicans, to reform the adoption and foster care system. What I did, working in the Senate, where I crossed the aisle often, working even with the senator from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham, to get Tricare for national guardsmen and women. And it's what I did as Secretary of State, on numerous occasions, and most particularly, rounding up two-thirds votes in order to pass a treaty that lowered the nuclear weapons in both Russia and the United States. So I know it's hard, but I also know you've got to work at it every single day. I look out here, I see a lot of my friends from the Congress. And I know that they work at it every single day. Because maybe you can't only find a little sliver of common ground to cooperate with somebody from the other party, but who knows. If you're successful there, maybe you can build even more. That's what I would do. +p4109 +aVWell thanks for the question and congratulations on five million viewers on YouTube, that's quite an accomplishment. Look, this election is mostly about the future and therefore it is of greatest urgency for young people. I've laid out my ideas about what we can do to make college affordable; how we can help people pay off their student debts and save thousands of dollars, how we can create more good jobs because a lot of the young people that I talk with are pretty disappointed the economic prospects they feel their facing. So making community college free, making it possible to attend a public college or university with debt free tuition, looking for ways to protect our rights especially from the concerted Republican assault; on voting rights, on women's rights, on gay rights, on civil rights, on workers rights. And I know how much young people value their independence, their autonomy, and their rights. So I think this is an election where we have to pull young people and older people together to have a strategy about how we're going to encourage even more American's to vote because it absolutely clear to me... +p4110 +aVThat turning over our White House to the Republicans would be bad for everybody especially young people. +p4111 +aVLook, I have the greatest respect for Senator Sanders and for his supports and I'm going to keep working as hard as I can to reach as many people of all ages about what I will do, what the experience and the ideas that I have that I will bring to the White House and I hope to have their support when I'm the Democratic nominee. +p4112 +aVWell, there's no daylight on the basic premise that there should be no bank too big to fail and no individual too powerful to jail. We agree on that. But where we disagree is the comments that Senator Sanders has made that don't just affect me, I can take that, but he's criticized President Obama for taking donations from Wall Street, and President Obama has led our country out of the great recession. Senator Sanders called him weak, disappointing. He even, in 2011, publicly sought someone to run in a primary against President Obama. Now, I personally believe that President Obama's work to push through the Dodd-Frank... The Dodd-Frank bill and then to sign it was one of the most important regulatory schemes we've had since the 1930s. So I'm going to defend Dodd-Frank and I'm going to defend President Obama for taking on Wall Street, taking on the financial industry and getting results. +p4113 +aVYou know, I think since \u2014 since Senator Standers followed up on this... +p4114 +aVYour profusion of comments about your feelings towards President Obama are a little strange given what you said about him in 2011. But look, I have a plan that most commentators have said is tougher, more effective, and more comprehensive. O' +p4115 +aVIt builds on the Dodd-Frank \u2014 yes, it is. It builds on the Dodd-Frank, regulatory scheme... O' +p4116 +aV... but it goes much further, because... O' +p4117 +aV... both the governor and the senator have focused only on the big banks. Lehman Brothers, AIG, the shadow banking sector were as big a problem in what caused the Great Recession, I go after them. And I can tell you that the hedge fund billionaires who are running ads against me right now, and Karl Rove, who started running an ad against me right now, funded by money from the financial services sector, sure thing, I'm the one they don't want to be up against. +p4118 +aVYes, well, first of all \u2014 first of all, Paul Krugman, Barney Frank, others have all endorsed my plan. Secondly, we have Dodd-Frank. It gives us the authority already to break up big banks that pose... O' +p4119 +aVThat pose a risk to the financial sector. I want to go further and add to that. And, you know, Governor, you have raised money on Wall Street. You raised a lot of money on Wall Street when you were the head of the Democratic Governor's Association... O' +p4120 +aVAnd you were... O' +p4121 +aVYes, well, the point is that if we're going to be serious about this and not just try to score political points, we should know what's in Dodd-Frank, and what's in Dodd-Frank already gives the president the authority......with his regulators to make those decisions. +p4122 +aVWell, the last point on this is, Senator Sanders, you're the only one on this stage that voted to deregulate the financial market in 2000, to take the cops off the street, to use Governor O'Malley's phrase, to make the SEC and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission no longer able to regulate swaps and derivatives, which were one of the main cause of the collapse in '08. So there's plenty... +p4123 +aVThere's plenty of problems that we all have to face together. And the final thing I would say, we're at least having a vigorous debate about reining in Wall Street... +p4124 +aV... The Republicans want to give them more power, and repeal Dodd-Frank. That's what we need to stop... +p4125 +aVWell, I have actually documented every way that I'm going to pay for what I'm doing because I think the American public deserves to know. And, you can go to my website and actually see that. But, there are serious questions about how we're going to pay for what we want to see our country do. And, I'm the only candidate standing here tonight who has said I will not raise taxes on the middle class. I want to raise incomes, not taxes, and I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that the wealthy pay for debt free tuition, for child care, for paid family leave. To help us bring down student debt we're going to refinance that student debt, saving kids thousands of dollars. Yeah, and that will also come out of the \u2014 some of the pockets of people in the financial services industry... +p4126 +aVBut I will tell you exactly how I pay for everything I've proposed... +p4127 +aVAnd let me... +p4128 +aVWell, I'm very proud of the Iran Nuclear Agreement. I was very pleased to be part of what the president put into action when he took office. I was responsible for getting those sanctions imposed which put the pressure on Iran. It brought them to the negotiating table which resulted in this agreement. And so, they have been so far, following their requirements under the agreement. But I think we still have to carefully watch them. We've had one good day over 36 year and I think we need more good days before we move more rapidly toward any kind of normalization. And we have to be sure that they are truly going to implement the agreement. And then, we have to go after them on a lot of their other bad behavior in the region which is causing enormous problems in Syria, Yemen, Iraq and elsewhere. +p4129 +aVAbsolutely not. I have a three point plan that does not include American Ground forces. It includes the United States leading an air coalition which is what we're doing, supporting fighters on the ground; the Iraqi Army which is beginning to show more ability, the Sunni fighters that we are now helping to reconstitute and Kurdish on both sides of the border. I think we also have try to disrupt their supply chain of foreign fighters and foreign money and we do have to contest them in online space. So I'm very committed to both going after +p4130 +aVLook, I think that the president's decision to go after the chemical weapons once there was a potential opportunity to build on when the Russians opened that door resulted in a very positive outcome. We were able to get the chemical weapons out. I know from my own experience as secretary of State that we were deeply worried about Assad's forces using chemical weapons because it would have had not only a horrific affect on people in Syria, but it could very well have affected the surrounding states, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Turkey. So getting those chemical weapons out was a big deal, but... +p4131 +aVWell \u2014 but \u2014 but... +p4132 +aVI think, as commander in chief, you've got to constantly be evaluating the decisions you have to make. I know a little bit about this, having spent many hours in the situation room, advising President Obama. And I want to just add to something that Senator Sanders said, the United States had a very big interest in trying to help stabilize the region. If there is any blame to be spread around, it starts with the prime minister of Iraq, who sectarianized his military, setting Shia against Sunni. It is amplified by Assad, who has waged one of the bloodiest, most terrible attacks on his own people: 250,000-plus dead, millions fleeing. Causing this vacuum that has been filled unfortunately, by terrorist groups, including +p4133 +aV... and go after +p4134 +aVBut overall, a lot of the forces at work in the region are ones that we cannot directly influence, but we can... +p4135 +aVWell, it would depend on what I got for it and I can tell you what we got in the first term, we got a new start treaty to reduce nuclear weapons between the United States and Russia. We got permission to resupply our troops in Afghanistan by traveling across Russia. We got Russia to sign on to our sanctions against Iran and other very important commitments. So look, in diplomacy, you are always trying to see how you can figure out the interest of the other to see if there isn't some way you can advance your security and your values. When Putin came back in the fall of 2011, it was very clear he came back with a mission. And I began speaking out as soon as that happened because there were some fraudulent elections held, and Russians poured out into the streets to demand their freedom, and he cracked down. And in fact, accused me of fomenting it. So we now know that he has a mixed record to say the least and we have to figure out how to deal with him. +p4136 +aVWell, my relationship with him, it's \u2014 it's interesting. It's one, I think, of respect. We've had some very tough dealings with one another. And I know that he's someone that you have to continuingly stand up to because, like many bullies, he is somebody who will take as much as he possibly can unless you do. And we need to get the Europeans to be more willing to stand up, I was pleased they put sanctions on after Crimea and eastern Ukraine and the downing of the airliner, but we've got to be more united in preventing Putin from taking a more aggressive stance in Europe and the Middle East. +p4137 +aVOh, we're breaking? OK. +p4138 +aVWell, I wanted to say, and I'll do it quickly, I was very pleased that leaders of President Obama's administration went out to Silicon Valley last week and began exactly this conversation about what we can do, consistent with privacy and security. We need better intelligence cooperation, we need to be sure that we are getting the best intelligence that we can from friends and allies around the world. And then, we've got to recognize our first line of defense against lone wolf attacks is among Muslim Americans. And it is not only shameful, it is dangerous for the kinds of comments you're hearing from the Republican side. We need to be reaching out and unifying our country against terrorist attacks and lone wolves, and working with Muslim Americans. +p4139 +aVThat is not what I've heard. Let me leave it at that. O' +p4140 +aVWell, it'll start at the kitchen table, we'll see how it goes from there. And I......I'm going to have the very best advisers that I can possibly have, and when it comes to the economy and what was accomplished under my husband's leadership and the '90s \u2014 especially when it came to raising incomes for everybody and lifting more people out of poverty than at any time in recent history \u2014 you bet. I'm going to ask for his ideas, I'm going ask for his advice, and I'm going use him as a goodwill emissary to go around the country to find the best ideas we've got, because I do believe, as he said, everything that's wrong with America has been solved somewhere in America. We just have to do more of it, and we have to reach out, especially into poor communities and communities of color, to give more people their own chance to get ahead. +p4141 +aVWell Lester, I spent a lot of time last week being outraged by what's happening in Flint, Michigan and I think every single American should be outraged. We've had a city in the United States of America where the population which is poor in many ways and majority African American has been drinking and bathing in lead contaminated water. And the governor of that state acted as though he didn't really care. He had request for help and he had basically stone walled. I'll tell you what, if the kids in a rich suburb of Detroit had been drinking contaminated water and being bathed in it, there would've been action. So I sent my top campaign aide down there to talk to the mayor of Flint to see what I could to help. I issued a statement about what we needed to do and then I went on a T.V. show and I said, "it was outrageous that the governor hadn't acted and within two hours he had." +p4142 +aVI want to be a president who takes care of the big problems and the problems that are affecting the people of our country everyday. +p4143 +aVWell, thank you. And I'm delighted to be here in New Hampshire for this debate. You know, the American president has to both keep our families safe and make the economy grow in a way that helps everyone, not just those at the top. That's the job. I have a strategy to combat and defeat +p4144 +aVI very much appreciate that comment, Bernie. It really is important that we go forward on this. I know that you now have your data back, and that there has been an agreement for an independent inquiry into what did happen. Obviously, we were distressed when we learned of it, because we have worked very hard -- I said in the beginning of this campaign, we want to reach as many voters as possible, and we have tens of thousands of volunteers doing that, and entering data all the time to keep up with what people are telling us. And so, now that, I think, you know, we have resolved your data, we have agreed on an independent inquiry, we should move on. Because I don't think the American people are all that interested in this. I think they're more interested in what we have to say about all the big issues facing us. O' +p4145 +aVWell, first, the most important job of being president is obviously to keep our country safe and to keep the families of America safe. I have a plan that I've put forward to go after +p4146 +aVWell, I think you have to look at both the terrorism challenge that we face abroad and certainly at home and the role that guns play in delivering the violence that stalks us. Clearly, we have to have a very specific set of actions to take. You know, when Senator Sanders talks about a coalition, I agree with him about that. We've got to build a coalition abroad. We also have to build a coalition at home. Abroad, we need a coalition that is going to take on +p4147 +aVYes, I'm getting... +p4148 +aV... I'm getting to that. Because I think if you only think about the coalition abroad you're missing the main point, which is we need a coalition here at home. Guns, in and of themselves, in my opinion, will not make Americans safer. We lose 33,000 people a year already to gun violence, arming more people to do what I think is not the appropriate response to terrorism. I think what is... Is creating much deeper, closer relations and, yes, coalitions within our own country. The first line of defense against radicalization is in Muslim-American community. People who we should be welcoming and working with. I worry greatly that the rhetoric coming from the Republicans, particularly Donald Trump, is sending a message to Muslims here in the United States and literally around the world that there is a "clash of civilizations," that there is some kind of Western plot or even "war against Islam," which then I believe fans the flames of radicalization. So guns have to be looked at as its own problem, but we also have to figure out how we're going to deal with the radicalization here in the United States. +p4149 +aVYes, let's tell the truth, Martin. O' +p4150 +aVHe invoked mine as well. +p4151 +aVI do and this is an important issue and I know we'll get to a lot of other critical ones as well. I actually agree with Governor O'Malley about the need for common sense gun safety measures. And I applaud his record in Maryland. I just wish he wouldn't misrepresent mine. I have been for the Brady bill, I have been against assault weapons. I have voted not to give gun makers and sellers immunity. And I also know that -- and I'm glad to see this -- Senator Sanders has really moved in face of the facts about what we're confronting in our country. I know that he has said in the two previous that he wants to take on this immunity issue because we need to send a strong message to the gun manufacturers, to the sellers, to the gun lobby. And I would hope, Senator Sanders, that you would join the Democrats who are trying to close the Charleston loophole, that you would sponsor or co-sponsor legislation to remove the absolute immunity. We need to move on this consensus that exists in the country. It's no longer enough just to say the vast majority of Americans want common sense gun safety measures including gun owners. We need, and only the three of us will do this, nobody on the Republican side will even admit there's a problem. And in whatever way the three of us can we need to move this agenda forward and begin to deal with the gun lobby and the intimidation that they present. +p4152 +aVWell I think a lot of people are understandably reacting out of fear and anxiety about what they're seeing. First what they saw in Paris, now what they have seen in San Bernardino. And Mr. Trump has a great capacity to use bluster and bigotry to inflame people and to make think there are easy answers to very complex questions. So what I would say is, number one, we need to be united against the threats that we face. We need to have everybody in our country focused on watching what happens and reporting it if it's suspicious, reporting what you hear. Making sure that Muslim Americans don't feel left out or marginalized at the very moment when we need their help. +p4153 +aVYou know, I was a senator from New York after 9/11, and we spent countless hours trying to figure out how to protect the city and the state from perhaps additional attacks. One of the best things that was done, and George W. Bush did this and I give him credit, was to reach out to Muslim Americans and say, we're in this together. You are not our adversary, you are our partner. And we also need to make sure that the really discriminatory messages that Trump is sending around the world don't fall on receptive ears. He is becoming +p4154 +aVI would not want to go to that point. I would hope that, given the extraordinary capacities that the tech community has and the legitimate needs and questions from law enforcement, that there could be a Manhattan-like project, something that would bring the government and the tech communities together to see they're not adversaries, they've got to be partners. It doesn't do anybody any good if terrorists can move toward encrypted communication that no law enforcement agency can break into before or after. There must be some way. I don't know enough about the technology, Martha, to be able to say what it is, but I have a lot of confidence in our tech experts. And maybe the back door is the wrong door, and I understand what Apple and others are saying about that. But I also understand, when a law enforcement official charged with the responsibility of preventing attacks -- to go back to our early questions, how do we prevent attacks -- well, if we can't know what someone is planning, we are going to have to rely on the neighbor or, you know, the member of the mosque or the teacher, somebody to see something. +p4155 +aVI just think there's got to be a way, and I would hope that our tech companies would work with government to figure that out. Otherwise, law enforcement is blind -- blind before, blind during, and, unfortunately, in many instances, blind after. So we always have to balance liberty and security, privacy and safety, but I know that law enforcement needs the tools to keep us safe. And that's what I hope, there can be some understanding and cooperation to achieve. +p4156 +aVWell, I agree that we have to have the toughest screening and vetting... +p4157 +aVI don't think a halt is necessary. What we have to do is put all of our resources through the Department of Homeland Security, through the State Department, through our intelligence agencies, and we have to have an increased vetting and screening. Now, this takes, David, 18 months to 24 months, two years. So I know it's not going to happen overnight and everything that can be done should be done. But the process should move forward while we are also taking on +p4158 +aVSo, I think it's absolutely wrong policy for us to be even imagining we're going end up putting tens of thousands of American troops into Syria and Iraq to fight +p4159 +aVWell, I just think you're asking a question with a false choice. I believe if we lead an air coalition, which we are now in the position of doing and intensify it, if we continue to build back up the Iraqi army, which has had some recent success in Ramadi, as you know, if we get back talking to the tribal sheiks in Anbar to try to rebuild those relationships, which were very successful, in going after Al Qaida in Iraq, if we get the Turks to pay more attention to +p4160 +aVWell, I just want to quickly add... +p4161 +aVMartha, that -- you know, one of the reasons why I have advocated for a no-fly zone is in order to create those safe refuges within Syria, to try to protect people on the ground both from Assad's forces, who are continuing to drop barrel bombs, and from +p4162 +aVI do not think it would come to that. We are already de-conflicting air space. We know... +p4163 +aVNo, I don't think so. I am advocating... +p4164 +aVI am advocating the no-fly zone both because I think it would help us on the ground to protect Syrians; I'm also advocating it because I think it gives us some leverage in our conversations with Russia. Now that Russia has joined us in the Security Council, has adopted an agreement that we hashed out a long day in Geneva three years ago, now I think we can have those conversations. The no-fly zone, I would hope, would be also shared by Russia. If they will begin to turn their military attention away from going after the adversaries of Assad toward +p4165 +aVThat is exactly... +p4166 +aVThat is exactly what I just said and what I just described. +p4167 +aVAnd that is important, because now we have a U.N. Security Council that will enable us to do that. And, you know, with all due respect, Senator, you voted for regime change with respect to Libya. You joined the Senate in voting to get rid of Gadhafi, and you asked that there be a Security Council validation of that with a resolution. All of these are very difficult issues. I know that; I've been dealing with them for a long time. And, of course, we have to continue to do what is necessary when someone like Gadhafi, a despot with American blood on his hands, is overturned. But I'll tell you what would have happened, if we had not joined with our European partners and our Arab partners to assist the people in Libya, you would be looking at Syria. Now the Libyans are turning their attention to try to dislodge +p4168 +aVI think we're missing the point here. We are doing both at the same time. +p4169 +aVWell, I don't agree with that, because we will not get the support on the ground in Syria to dislodge +p4170 +aVSince he has been making all kinds of comments. I think it's fair to say, Assad has killed, by last count, about 250,000 Syrians. The reason we are in the mess we're in, that +p4171 +aVAnd we finally have a U.N. Security Council Resolution bringing the world together to go after a political transition in Syria. +p4172 +aVIf the United States does not lead, there is not another leader. There is a vacuum. +p4173 +aVAnd we have to lead, if we're going to be successful. +p4174 +aVSorry. +p4175 +aVWell, I've been talking to a lot of these families, and this is such an outrage, both because it's bad for our economy, we're a 70 percent consumption economy, people need to feel optimistic and confident, they need to believe their hard work is going to be rewarded, and it's bad for our democracy. It's absolutely the case that if people feel that the game is rigged, that has consequences. I think it's great standing up here with the senator and the governor talking about these issues, because you're not going to hear anything like this from any of the Republicans who are running for president. They don't want to raise the minimum wage; they don't want to do anything to increase incomes. At the center of my economic policy is raising incomes, because people haven't been able to get ahead, and the cost of everything, from college tuition to prescription drugs, has gone up. Of course we have to raise the minimum wage. Of course we have to do more to incentivize profit sharing, like we see with Market Basket right here in New Hampshire and New England, where all of the employees get a chance to share in the profits. And we've got to do more on equal pay for equal work. That means pass the Paycheck Fairness Act so we have transparency about how much people are making. That's the way to get women's wages up, and that's good for them and good for their families and good for our communities. And there is a lot we can do in college affordability. I have debt-free tuition plans, free community college plans, getting student debt down. I also am very committed to getting the price of drugs down. And there's a lot. You can go to my website... +p4176 +aV... hillaryclinton.com, and read about it. But I guess the final thing that -- that I would say is this is the kind of debate we need to take to the Republicans in the fall. +p4177 +aVThis is the election... +p4178 +aV... issues they have to respond to. +p4179 +aVEverybody should. Look, I have said I want to be the president for the struggling, the striving and the successful. I want to make sure the wealthy pay their fair share, which they have not been doing. I want the Buffett Rule to be in effect, where millionaires have to pay 30 percent tax rates instead of 10 percent to nothing in some cases. I want to make sure we rein in the excessive use of political power to feather the nest and support the super wealthy. But I also want to create jobs and I want to be a partner with the private sector. I'm particularly keen on creating jobs in small business. My dad was a small businessman, a really small business. I want to do more to help incentivize and create more small businesses. So if -- if people who are in the private sector know what I stand for, it's what I fought for as a senator, it's what I will do as president, and they want to be part of once again building our economy so it works for everybody, more power to them, because they are the kind of business leaders who understand that if we don't get the American economy moving and growing, we're not going to recognize our country and we're not going to give our kids the same opportunities that we had. +p4180 +aVOK... +p4181 +aVLet me respond... +p4182 +aVUnder the rules, I have been -- I have been invoked, David, so let me respond very quickly. Number one... +p4183 +aVNumber one, there are currently two hedge fund billionaires running ads against me here in New Hampshire. They started in Iowa. Now, you'd have to ask yourself, why are they running ads against me? And the answer is: Because they know I will go right after them, that I will not let their agenda be America's agenda. Secondly, I think it's important to point out that about 3 percent of my donations come from people in the finance and investment world. You can go to opensecrets.org and check that. I have more donations from students and teachers than I do from people associated with Wall Street. Now, number three -- and let me say this -- when Governor O'Malley was heading the Democratic Governors Association, he had no trouble at all going to Wall Street to raise money to run campaigns for Democratic governors. And he also had no trouble appointing an investment banker to be in charge of his consumer protection bureau when he was governor. So, you know, again, the difference between us and the Republicans is night and day. And there is only one person on this stage who voted to take away authority from the SEC and the Commodities Future Trading Commission that they could no longer regulate what are called swaps and derivatives, which actually contributed to the collapse of Lehman Brothers, and that was Senator Sanders. So if we're going to be talking like this, we can -- and maybe we can score some political points -- but the fact is: Every one of us stands for the kind of economy that will work better for every American. And if that means taking on Wall Street, I have a plan that is tough and comprehensive and praised by a lot of folks who say it goes further than what both Senator Sanders and Governor O'Malley are proposing. +p4184 +aVWell, I would certainly build on the successes of the Affordable Care Act and work to fix some of the glitches that you just referenced. Number one, we do have more people who have access to health care. We have ended the terrible situation that people with pre- existing conditions were faced with where they couldn't find at any affordable price health care. Women are not charged more than men any longer for our health insurance. And we keep young people on our policies until they turn 26. Those are all really positive developments. But out-of-pocket costs have gone up too much and prescription drug costs have gone through the roof. And so what I have proposed, number one, is a $5,000 tax credit to help people who have very large out-of-pocket costs be able to afford those. Number two, I want Medicare to be able to negotiate for lower drug prices just like they negotiate with other countries' health systems. We end up paying the highest prices in the world. And I want us to be absolutely clear about making sure the insurance companies in the private employer policy arena as well as in the Affordable Care exchanges are properly regulated so that we are not being gamed. And I think that's an important point to make because I'm going through and analyzing the points you were making, Martha. We don't have enough competition and we don't have enough oversight of what the insurance companies are charging everybody right now. +p4185 +aVYes. +p4186 +aVWell, they're glitches because... +p4187 +aVIt is. Because part of this is the startup challenges that this system is facing. We have fought, as Democrats, for decades to get a health care plan. I know. I've got the scars to show from the effort back in the early '90s. We want to build on it and fix it. And I'm confident we can do that. And it will have effects in the private market. And one of the reasons in some states why the percentage cost has gone up so much is because governors there would not extend Medicaid. And so people are still going to get health care, thankfully, in emergency rooms, in hospitals. Those costs are then added to the overall cost, which does increase the insurance premiums for people in the private system. +p4188 +aVRight. +p4189 +aVWell, I have what I call the new college compact. Because I think everybody has to have some skin in this game, you know. Number one, States have been dis-investing in higher education. In fact, I think New Hampshire, in state tuition for public colleges and universities, is among the highest if not the highest in the country. So states over a period of decades have put their money elsewhere; into prisons, into highways, into things other than higher education. So under my compact, the federal government will match money that the states begin to put back in to the higher education system. Secondly, I don't believe in free tuition for everybody. I believe we should focus on middle-class families, working families, and poor kids who have the ambition and the talent to go to college and get ahead. So I have proposed debt free tuition, which I think is affordable and I would move a lot of the Pell Grant and other aid into the arena where it could be used for living expense. So I put all of this together, again, on my website and I've gotten such a good response. But I want to quickly say, one of the areas that Senator Sanders touched on in talking about education and certainly talking about health care is his commitment to really changing the systems. Free college, a single payer system for health--and it's been estimated we're looking at 18 to $20 trillion, about a 40 percent in the federal budget. And I have looked at his proposed plans for health care for example, and it really does transfer every bit of our health care system including private health care, to the states to have the states run. And I think we've got to be really thoughtful about how we're going to afford what we proposed, which is why everything that I have proposed I will tell you exactly how I'm going to pay for it; including college. +p4190 +aVWell, the only thing - the only thing I can go on Senator Sanders... +p4191 +aVYour proposal is to go and send the health care system to the state. +p4192 +aVAnd my analysis is that you are going to get more taxes out of middle class families. I'm the only person... +p4193 +aV... saying, no middle class tax raises. That's off the table... +p4194 +aVThat is a pledge that I'm making. I made it when I ran in 2008. +p4195 +aVYes, and it was the same one that President Obama made. Because I don't think we should be imposing new big programs that are going to raise middle class families' taxes. We just heard that most families haven't had a wage increase since 2001. Since, you know, the end of the last Clinton administration when incomes did go up for everybody. And we've got to get back to where people can save money again, where they can invest in their families, and I don't think a middle-class tax should be part of anybody's plan right now. +p4196 +aVSenator, I have been -- I have been fighting for paid... +p4197 +aV... family leave for a very long time... +p4198 +aVI have a way to pay for it that actually makes the wealthiest pay for it... +p4199 +aV... not everybody else. +p4200 +aVWell, David, I think this is one of the most important challenges facing not just our next president but our country. We have systemic racism and injustice and inequities in our country and in particular, in our justice system that must be addressed and must be ended. I feel very strongly that we have to reform our criminal justice system and we have to find ways to try to bring law enforcement together again with the communities that they are sworn to protect. Trust has been totally lost in a lot of places. At the same time, we know that in many parts of our country police officers are bridging those divides and they're acting heroically. The young officer who was killed responding to the Planned Parenthood murders. The officer who told the victims of the San Bernardino killings that he would take a bullet before them. So I think that we need to build on the work of the policing commissioner that President Obama impaneled. We need to get a bipartisan commitment to work together on this. And we need to hear the voices of those men and women and boys and girls who feel like strangers in their own country and do whatever is necessary to not only deal with the immediate problems within the criminal justice system, but more opportunities, more jobs, better education so that we can begin to rebuild that very valuable asset known as trust. +p4201 +aVYou know, on my very first visit to New Hampshire in this campaign, I was in Keene, and I was asked, "what are you going to do about the heroin epidemic?" And all over New Hampshire, I met grandmothers who are raising children because they lost the father or the mother to an overdose. I met young people who are desperately trying to get clean and have nowhere to go, because there are not enough facilities. So this is a major epidemic, and it has hit New Hampshire and Vermont particularly hard. I've had had two town halls, one in Keene, one in Laconia, dedicated exclusively to talking about what we can do. And I've heard some great ideas about how law enforcement is changing its behavior, how the recovery community is reaching out. And I was proud to get the endorsement of Mayor Walsh of Boston, who has made his struggle with alcoholism a real clarion call for action in this arena. So, I've laid out a five-point plan about what we can do together. I would like the federal government to offer $10 billion over ten years to work with states, and I really applaud Governor Hassan for taking up this challenge and working with the legislature here to come up with a plan. We need to do more on the prescribing end of it. There are too many opioids being prescribed, and that leads directly now to heroin addiction. And we need to change the way we do law enforcement, and of course, we need more programs and facilities, so when somebody is ready to get help, there's a place for them to go. And every law enforcement should carry the antidote to overdose, Naloxone, so that they can save lives that are on the brink of expiring. +p4202 +aVWell, first, let's remember why we became part of a coalition to stop Gadhafi from committing massacres against his people. The United States was asked to support the Europeans and the Arab partners that we had and we did a lot of due diligence about whether we should or not, and eventually, yes, I recommended and the president decided that we would support the action to protect civilians on the ground and that led to the overthrow of Gadhafi. I think that what Libya then did by having a full free election, which elected moderates, was an indication of their crying need and desire to get on the right path. Now, the whole region has been rendered unstable, in part because of the aftermath of the Arab Spring, in part because of the very effective outreach and propagandizing that +p4203 +aVMartha, we offered a lot more than they were willing to take. We offered a lot more. We also got rid of their chemical weapons, which was a big help, and we also went after a lot of the shoulder-fired missiles to round them up. You know, we can't -- if we're not going to send American troops, which there was never any idea of doing that, then to try to send trainers, to try to send experts, is something we offered, Europeans offered, the U.N. offered, and there wasn't a lot of responsiveness at first. I think a lot of the Libyans who had been forced out of their country by Gadhafi who came back to try to be part of a new government, believed they knew what to do and it turned out that they were no match for some of the, you know, militaristic forces inside that country. But I'm not giving up on Libya and I don't think anybody should. We've been at this a couple of years. +p4204 +aVWell, there's always a retrospective to say what mistakes were made. But I know that we offered a lot of help and I know it was difficult for the Libyans to accept help. What we could have done if they had said yes would have been a lot more than what we were able to have done. +p4205 +aVWell, I would just repeat that. +p4206 +aVWait a minute. I think it's only fair to put on the record, Senator Sanders voted in the Senate for a resolution calling for ending the Gadhafi regime and asking that the U.N. be brought in, either a congressional vote or a U.N. Security Council vote. We got a U.N. Security council vote. Now, I understand that this is very difficult. And I'm not standing here today and saying that Libya is as far along as Tunisia. We saw what happened in Egypt. I cautioned about a quick overthrow of Mubarak, and we now are back with basically an army dictatorship. This is a part of the world where the United States has tried to play two different approaches. One, work with the tough men, the dictators, for our own benefit and promote democracy. That's a hard road to walk. But I think it's the right road for us to try to travel. O' +p4207 +aVWell, the role has been defined by each person who's held it. And I am very grateful for all my predecessors and my successors because each of them not only did what she could to support her husband and our country but often chose to work on important issues that were of particular concern. Obviously, Mrs. Obama has been a terrific leader when it comes to young people's health, particularly nutrition and exercise. And I think has had a big impact. So whoever is part of the family of a president has an extraordinary privilege of not only having a front row seat on history but making her or maybe his contribution. And with respect to my own husband, I am probably still going to pick the flowers and the china for state dinners and stuff like that. But I will certainly turn to him as prior presidents have for special missions, for advice, and in particular, how we're going to get the economy working again for everybody, which he knows a little bit about. +p4208 +aVOn January 20th, 2017, the next president of the United States will walk into the White House. If, heaven forbid, that next president is a Republican, I think it's pretty clear we know what will happen. A lot of the rights that have been won over years, from women's rights to voter rights to gay rights to worker rights, will be at risk. Social Security, which Republicans call a Ponzi scheme, may face privatization. Our vets may see the V.A. hospital that needs to be improved and made better for them turned over to privatization. Planned Parenthood will be defunded. The list goes on because the differences are so stark. You know, everybody says every election's important, and there's truth to that. This is a watershed election. I know how important it is that we have a Democrat succeed President Obama in the White House. And I will do all that I can in this campaign to reach out and explain what I stand for and what I will do as president. You know, I became a grandmother 15 months ago, and so I spent a lot of time thinking about my granddaughter's future. But as president, I will spend even more time thinking about the futures of all the kids and the grandchildren in this country because I want to make sure every single child has a chance to live up to his or her God-given potential. If you will join me in this campaign, we will make that a mission. Thank you, good night and may the force be with you. +p4209 +aVWell, our prayers are with the people of France tonight, but that is not enough. We need to have a resolve that will bring the world together to root out the kind of radical jihadist ideology that motivates organizations like +p4210 +aVWell, John, I think that we have to look at +p4211 +aVWell, John, look, I think that what happened when we abided by the agreement that George W. Bush made with the Iraqis to leave by 2011, is that an Iraqi army was left that had been trained and that was prepared to defend Iraq. Unfortunately, Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister, set about decimating it. And then, with the revolution against Assad -- and I did early on say we needed to try to find a way to train and equip moderates very early so that we would have a better idea of how to deal with Assad because I thought there would be extremist groups filling the vacuum. So, yes, this has developed. I think that there are many other reasons why it has in addition to what happened in the region, but I don't think that the United States has the bulk of the responsibility. I really put that on Assad and on the Iraqis and on the region itself. +p4212 +aVThank you, John. Well, thank you, John. I think it's important we put this in historic context. The United States has, unfortunately, been victimized by terrorism going back decades. In the 1980s, it was in Beirut, Lebanon, under President Reagan's administration, and 258 Americans, marines, embassy personnel, and others were murdered. We also had attacks on two of our embassies in Tanzania, Kenya, when my husband was president. Again, Americans murdered. And then, of course, 9/11 happened, which happened before there was an invasion of Iraq. I have said the invasion of Iraq was a mistake. But I think if we're ever going to really tackle the problems posed by jihadi extreme terrorism, we need to understand it and realize that it has antecedents to what happened in Iraq and we have to continue to be vigilant about it. +p4213 +aVWell, of course, each of these cases needs to be looked at individually and analyzed. Part of the problem that we have currently in the Middle East is that Assad has hung on to power with the very strong support of Russia and Iran and with the proxy of Hezbollah being there basically fighting his battles. So I don't think you can paint with a broad brush. This is an incredibly complicated region of the world. It's become more complicated. And many of the fights that are going on are not ones that the United States has either started or have a role in. The Shi'a-Sunni split. The dictatorships have suppressed people's aspirations. The increasing globalization without any real safety valve for people to have a better life. We saw that in Egypt. We saw a dictator overthrown. We saw a Muslim brotherhood president installed, and then we saw him ousted and the army back. So, I think we've got to understand the complexity of the world that we are facing and no place is more so than in the Middle East. +p4214 +aVWell, I think -- I think that is very unfair to a few you mentioned, most particularly Jordan, which has put a lot on the line for the United States, has also taken in hundreds of thousands of refugees from Syria, and has been, therefore, subjected to threats and attacks by extremists themselves. I do agree that in particular, Turkey and the Gulf nations have got to make up their minds. Are they going to stand with us against this kind of jihadi radicalism or not? And there are many ways of doing it. They can provide forces. They can provide resources. But they need to be absolutely clear about where they stand. +p4215 +aVWell, we did have a plan, and I think it's fair to say that of all of the Arab leaders, Gaddafi probably had more blood on his hands of Americans than anybody else. And when he moved on his own people, threatening a massacre, genocide, the Europeans and the Arabs, our allies and partners, did ask for American help and we provided it. And we didn't put a single boot on the ground, and Gaddafi was deposed. The Libyans turned out for one of the most successful, fairest elections that any Arab country has had. They elected moderate leaders. Now, there has been a lot of turmoil and trouble as they have tried to deal with these radical elements which you find in this arc of instability, from north Africa to Afghanistan. And it is imperative that we do more not only to help our friends and partners protect themselves and protect our own homeland, but also to work to try to deal with this arc of instability, which does have a lot of impact on what happens in a country like Libya. +p4216 +aVWell, I think it's perfectly fair to say that we invested quite a bit in development aid. Some of the bravest people that I had the privilege of working with as secretary of state were our development professionals who went sometimes alone, sometimes with our military, into very dangerous places in Iraq, in Afghanistan, elsewhere. So, there does need to be a whole of government approach, but just because we're involved and we have a strategy doesn't mean we're going to be able to dictate the outcome. These are often very long- term kinds of investments that have to be made. +p4217 +aVI don't think we're at war with Islam. I don't think we're at war with all Muslims. I think we're at war with jihadists who have -- +p4218 +aVI think +p4219 +aVI think with this kind of barbarism and nihilism, it's very hard to understand, other than the lust for power, the rejection of modernity, the total disregard for human rights, freedom, or any other value that we know and respect. Historically, it is important to try to understand your adversary in order to figure out how they are thinking, what they will be doing, how they will react. I plead that it's very difficult when you deal with +p4220 +aVYes. +p4221 +aVWell, we have an authorization to use military force against terrorists. We passed it after 9/11. +p4222 +aVIt certainly does cover it. I would like to see it updated. +p4223 +aVNo, it would have to go through the Congress, and I know the White House has actually been working with members of Congress. Maybe now we can get it moving again so that we can upgrade it so that it does include all the tools and everything in our arsenal that we can use to try to work with our allies and our friends, come up with better intelligence. You know, it is difficult finding intelligence that is actionable in a lot of these places, but we have to keep trying. And we have to do more to prevent the flood of foreign fighters that have gone to Syria, especially the ones with western passports, that come back. So there's a lot of work we need to do and I want to be sure what's called the +p4224 +aVI think that is the number one requirement. I also said that we should take increased numbers of refugees. The administration originally said 10. I said we should go to 65, but only if we have as careful a screening and vetting process as we can imagine, whatever resources it takes because I do not want us to, in any way, inadvertently allow people who wish us harm to come into our country. But I want to say a quick word about what Senator Sanders and then Governor O'Malley said. We do have to take a hard look at the defense budget and we do have to figure out how we get ready to fight the adversaries of the future, not the past. But we have to also be very clear that we do have some continuing challenges. We've got challenges in the South China Sea because of what China is doing in building up these military installations. We have problems with Russia. Just the other day, Russia allowed a television camera to see the plans for a drone submarine that could carry a tactical nuclear weapon. So we've got to look at the full range and then come to some smart decisions about having more streamlined and focused approach. +p4225 +aVWell, first of all, it isn't the middle class. I have made very clear that hardworking, middle-class families need a raise, not a tax increase. In fact, wages adjusted for inflation haven't risen since the turn of the last century, after my husband's administration. So we have a lot of work to do to get jobs going again, get incomes rising again. And I have laid out specific plans -- you can go to my web site, hillaryclinton.com, and read the details. And I will pay for it by, yes, taxing the wealthy more, closing corporate loopholes, deductions, and other kinds of favorable treatment. And I can do it without raising the debt, without raising taxes on the middle class and making it reasonably manageable within our budget so that we can be fiscally responsible at the same time. +p4226 +aVWell, we're going to have to redo the way the prescription drug industry does business. For example, it is outrageous that we don't have an opportunity for Medicare to negotiate for lower prices. In fact, American consumers pay the highest prices in the world for drugs that we help to be developed through the National Institute of Health and that we then tested through the FDA. So there's more to my plan than just the cap. We have to go after price gouging and monopolistic practices and get Medicare the authority to negotiate. +p4227 +aVWell, look, I believe that we've made great progress as a country with the Affordable Care Act. We've been struggling to get this done since Harry Truman. And it was not only a great accomplishment of the Democratic Party, but of President Obama. I do think that it's important to defend it. The Republicans have voted to repeal it nearly 60 times. They would like to rip it up and start all over again, throw our nation back into this really contentious debate that we've had about health care for quite some time now. I want to build on and improve the Affordable Care Act. I would certainly tackle the cost issues, because I think that once the foundation was laid with a system to try to get as many people as possible into it, to end insurance discrimination against people with preexisting conditions or women, for example, that, yes, we were going to have to figure out how to get more competition in the insurance market, how to get the costs of -- particularly, prescription drugs, but other out-of-pocket expenses down. But I think it's important to understand there's a significant difference that I have with Senator Sanders about how best to provide quality, affordable health care for everyone. And it's-- it's a worthy debate. It's an important one that we should be engaged in. +p4228 +aVWell, first of all, I know that the President has appealed the decision to the Supreme Court. And my reading of the law and the Constitution convinces me that the President has the authority that he is attempting to exercise with respect to dreamers and their parents, because I think all of us on this stage agree that we need comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship. Border security has always been a part of that debate. And it is a fact that the net immigration from Mexico and South has basically zeroed out. So, what we want to do is to say, look, we have 11 million people who have been here, many of them for decades. They have children who are doing so well, I've met and worked with dreamers. I think any parent would be so proud of them. So let's move toward what we should be doing as a nation and follow the values of our immigration history and begin to make it possible for them to come out of the shadows and to have a future that gives them a full chance of citizenship. +p4229 +aVKathie, I think -- Kathie the... +p4230 +aVBut I do take what Alan Krueger said seriously. He is the foremost expert in our country on the minimum wage, and what its effects are. And the overall message is that it doesn't result in job loss. However, what Alan Krueger said in the piece you're referring to is that if we went to $15, there are no international comparisons. That is why I support a $12 national federal minimum wage. That is what the Democrats in the Senate have put forward as a proposal. But I do believe that is a minimum. And places like Seattle, like Los Angeles, like New York City, they can go higher. It's what happened in Governor O'Malley's state. There was a minimum wage at the state level, and some places went higher. I think that is... O' +p4231 +aVI think that is the smartest way to be able to move forward because if you go to $12 it would be the highest historical average we've ever had. O' +p4232 +aVBut you would index it -- you would index it to the median wage. Of course, you would. Do the $12 and you would index it. But I... O' +p4233 +aVHe's not wall street. O' +p4234 +aVThat's not fair. He's a progressive economist. +p4235 +aVWell, I think it's pretty clear that they know that I will. You have two billionaire hedge fund managers who started a super PAC and they're advertising against me in Iowa as we speak. So they clearly think I'm going to do what I say I will do and you can look at what I did in the Senate. I did introduce legislation to reign in compensation. I looked at ways that the shareholders would have more control over what was going on in that arena. And specifically said to Wall Street, that what they were doing in the mortgage market was bringing our country down. I've laid out a very aggressive plan to reign in Wall Street -- not just the big banks. That's a part of the problem and I am going right at them. I have a comprehensive, tough plan. But I went further than that. We have to go after what is called the shadow banking industry. Those hedge funds. Look at what happened in '08, AIG, a big insurance company, Lehman Brothers, an investment bank helped to bring our economy down. So, I want to look at the whole problem and that's why my proposal is much more comprehensive than anything else that's been put forth. +p4236 +aVWell John, wait a minute. Wait a minute, he has basically used his answer to impune my integrity. Let's be frank here. +p4237 +aVOh, wait a minute, senator. You know, not only do I have hundreds of thousands of donors, most of them small. And I'm very proud that for the first time a majority of my donors are women, 60 percent. So, I represented New York, and I represented New York on 9/11 when we were attacked. Where were we attacked? We were attacked in downtown Manhattan where Wall Street is. I did spend a whole lot of time and effort helping them rebuild. That was good for New York. It was good for the economy and it was a way to rebuke the terrorists who had attacked our country. So, you know, it's fine for you to say what you're going to say, but I looked very carefully at your proposal. Reinstating Glass- Steagall is a part of what very well could help, but it is nowhere near enough. My proposal is tougher, more effective, and more comprehensive because I go after all of Wall Street not just the big banks. O' +p4238 +aVWell, you know, governor, I know that when you had a chance to appoint a commissioner for financial regulation, you chose an investment banker in 2010. So for me, it is looking at what works and what we need to do to try to move past what happened in '08. And I will go back and say again, AIG was not a big bank. It had to be bailed out and it nearly destroyed us. Lehman Brothers was not a big bank. It was an investment bank. And its bankruptcy and its failure nearly destroyed us. So I've said, if the big banks don't play by the rules, I will break them up. +p4239 +aVAnd I will also go after executives who are responsible for the decisions that have such bad consequences for our country. +p4240 +aVWell, I think that there are different records. I -- you know, know that Senator Sanders had a different vote than I did when it came to giving immunity to gun makers and sellers. That was a terrible mistake. It basically gave the gun lobby even more power to intimidate legislators, not just in Washington but across the country. But just think about this-- since we last debated in Las Vegas, nearly 3,000 people have been killed by guns. Twenty-one mass shootings, including one last weekend in Des Moins where three were murdered. Two hundred children have been killed. This is an emergency. There are a lot of things we've got to do in our country, reigning in Wall Street is certainly one of them. I agree with that. That's why I've got such a good plan. But we have to also go after the gun lobby and 92 percent of Americans agree we should have universal background checks. Close the gun show loophole, close the online loophole and... +p4241 +aVI will do everything I can as president to get that accomplished. +p4242 +aVI -- I said I made a mistake on Iraq, and I would love to see Senator Sanders join with some of my colleague in addition the Senate that I see in the audience. Let's reverse the immunity. Let's put the gun makers and sellers on notice that they're not going to get away with it. +p4243 +aVBut wait, I just want to say this Senator. There is broad consensus, 92 percent in the most recently poll of Americans want gun safety measures... +p4244 +aV... and 85 percent of gun owners agree. +p4245 +aVWe've got the consensus, what we're lacking is political leadership... +p4246 +aV... and that's what you and others can start providing in the Senate. +p4247 +aVWell, I'm sorry that whoever tweeted that had that impression because I worked closely with New Yorkers after 9/11 for my entire first term to rebuild. So, yes, I did know people. I've had a lot of folks give me donations from all kinds of backgrounds say, I don't agree with you on everything, but I like what you do. I like how you stand up. I'm going to support you, and I think that is absolutely appropriate. +p4248 +aVWell, I'll tell you who is on my side. Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize winning economist, who said my plan for what we should do to reign in Wall Street was more comprehensive and better. Paul Volcker, one of the leading lights of trying to reign in the excesses, has also said he does not support reinstating Glass-Steagall. So, I mean this may seem like a bit of an arcane discussion. I have nothing against the passion that my two friends here have about reinstating Glass-Steagall. I just don't think it would get the job done. I'm all about making sure we actually get results for whatever we do. +p4249 +aVI agree completely. I couldn't have said it better myself. But I did want to -- I wanted to follow up. Look, we need more Americans to be involved in the political process. And I give Senator Sanders a lot of credit for really lighting a fire under many people -- young, old, everybody -- who sees a chance to be involved and have their voice heard. Look at what's happening with the Republicans. They are doing everything they can to prevent the voices of Americans to be heard. They're trying to prevent people from registering to vote. So, we do need to take on the Republicans very clearly and directly. But the other thing I just wanted quickly to say is, I think President Obama deserves more credit than he gets for what he got done in Washington, despite the Republican obstructionists. +p4250 +aVI think after 11 hours, that's pretty clear, yes. And, you know, I do think it's important to do exactly what Senator Sanders said, and that is to start talking about the issues that the American people really care about, and that they talk to each of us about. And to contrast, even -- there are differences among us. You've heard some of those tonight. I still want to get back to health care, because I think that's a worthy topic to explore. But the differences among us pale compared to what's happening on the Republican side. And if you listen to what they say -- and I had a chance over those 11 hours to watch and listen, as well as what I see in their debates -- they are putting forth alarming plans. I mean, all of us support funding Planned Parenthood. All of us believe climate change is real. All of us want equal pay for equal work. They don't believe in any of that. So let's focus on what this election is really going to be about. +p4251 +aVWell, John, I come from the '60s, a long time ago. There was a lot of activism on campus -- Civil Rights activism, antiwar activism, women's rights activism -- and I do appreciate the way young people are standing up and speaking out. Obviously, I believe that on a college campus, there should be enough respect so people hear each other. But what happened at the university there, what's happening at other universities, I think reflects the deep sense of, you know, concern, even despair that so many young people, particularly of color, have... You know, I recently met with a group of mothers who lost their children to either killings by police or random killings in their neighborhoods, and hearing their stories was so incredibly, profoundly heartbreaking. Each one of them, you know, described their child, had a picture. You know, the mother of the young man with his friends in the car who was playing loud music and, you know, some older white man pulled out a gun and shot him because they wouldn't turn the radio down. Or a young woman who had been performing at President Obama's second inauguration coming home, absolutely stellar young woman, hanging out with her friends in a park getting shot by a gang member. And, of course, I met the mothers of Eric Garner and Tamir Rice, and Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin and so many of them who have lost their children. So, your original question is the right question. And it's not just a question for parents and grandparents to answer. It's really a question for all of us to answer, every single one of our children deserves the chance to live up to his or her god-given potential. And that's what we need to be doing to the best of our ability in our country. +p4252 +aVKevin, if I could just jump in. I -- I believe that we should make community college free. We should have debt-free college if you go to a public college or university. You should not have to borrow a dime to pay tuition. I want to use pell grants to help defray the living expenses that often make a difference, whether a young person can stay in school or not. I disagree with free college for everybody. I don't think taxpayers should be paying to send Donald Trump's kids to college. I think it ought to be a compact -- families contribute, kids contribute. And together we make it possible for a new generation of young people to refinance their debt and not come out with debt in the future. +p4253 +aVNo. Revolution never came. I waited and I got the scars to show for it. We now have this great accomplishment known as the Affordable Care Act, and I don't think we should have to be defending it among Democrats. We ought to be working to improve it and prevent Republicans from both underming it and even repealing it. I have looked at -- I have looked at the legislation that Senator Sanders has proposed, and basically, he does eliminate the Affordable Care Act, eliminates private insurance, eliminates Medicare, eliminates Medicaid, Tricare, children's health insurance program -- puts it all together in a big program which he then hands over to the states to administer. And I have to tell you, I would not want -- if I lived in Iowa, Terry Branstad administering my health care. I -- I think -- I think as Democrats we ought to proudly support the Affordable Care Act, improve it, and make it the model that we know it can be. +p4254 +aVWell, there are so many, I don't know where to start. I guess the one I -- I would pick is the fact that I was part of a very small group that had to advise the president about whether or not to go after Bin Laden. I spent a lot of time in the situation room as secretary of state and there were many very difficult choices presented to us. But probably that was the most challenging because there was no certainty attached to it. The intelligence was by no means absolute. We had all kinds of questions that we discussed and, you know, at the end, I recommended to the president that we take the chance to do what we could to find out whether that was bin Laden and to finally bring him to justice. It was an excruciating experience. I couldn't talk to anybody about it. In fact, after it happened, the president called my husband -- he called all the former presidents and he said to Bill, "Well I assume Hillary has told you about this." And Bill said, "No, no, she hasn't." There was nobody to talk to and it really did give me an insight into the very difficult problems presidents face. +p4255 +aVWell, thank you very much to CBS and everyone here this evening for giving us another chance to appear before you. I've heard a lot about me in this debate, and I'm going to keep talking and thinking about all of you because ultimately, I think the president's job is to do everything possible, everything that she can do to lift up the people of this country. Starting with our children and moving forward. I've spent my entire life, since I started as a young lawyer for the Children's Defense Fund, trying to figure out how we can even the odds for so many people in America, this great country of ours, who are behind, who don't have a chance. And that's what I will do as your president. I will work my heart out. I need your help. All of you in Iowa, I need you to caucus for me. Please go to hillaryclinton.com and be part of making this country what we know it can and should be. +p4256 +aVWell, thank you, and thanks to everyone for hosting this first of the Democratic debates. I'm Hillary Clinton. I have been proud and privileged to serve as first lady, as a senator from New York, and as secretary of state. I'm the granddaughter of a factory worker and the grandmother of a wonderful one-year-old child. And every day, I think about what we need to do to make sure that opportunity is available not just for her, but for all of our children. I have spent a very long time \u2014 my entire adult life \u2014 looking for ways to even the odds to help people have a chance to get ahead, and, in particular, to find the ways for each child to live up to his or her God-given potential. I've traveled across our country over the last months listening and learning, and I've put forward specific plans about how we're going to create more good-paying jobs: by investing in infrastructure and clean energy, by making it possible once again to invest in science and research, and taking the opportunity posed by climate change to grow our economy. At the center of my campaign is how we're going to raise wages. Yes, of course, raise the minimum wage, but we have to do so much more, including finding ways so that companies share profits with the workers who helped to make them. And then we have to figure out how we're going to make the tax system a fairer one. Right now, the wealthy pay too little and the middle class pays too much. So I have specific recommendations about how we're going to close those loopholes, make it clear that the wealthy will have to pay their fair share, and have a series of tax cuts for middle-class families. And I want to do more to help us balance family and work. I believe in equal pay for equal work for women, but I also believe it's about time we had paid family leave for American families and join the rest of the world. During the course of the evening tonight, I'll have a chance to lay out all of my plans and the work that I've done behind them. But for me, this is about bringing our country together again. And I will do everything I can to heal the divides \u2014 the divides economically, because there's too much inequality; the racial divides; the continuing discrimination against the +p4257 +aVWell, actually, I have been very consistent. Over the course of my entire life, I have always fought for the same values and principles, but, like most human beings \u2014 including those of us who run for office \u2014 I do absorb new information. I do look at what's happening in the world. You know, take the trade deal. I did say, when I was secretary of state, three years ago, that I hoped it would be the gold standard. It was just finally negotiated last week, and in looking at it, it didn't meet my standards. My standards for more new, good jobs for Americans, for raising wages for Americans. And I want to make sure that I can look into the eyes of any middle-class American and say, "this will help raise your wages." And I concluded I could not. +p4258 +aVNo. I think that, like most people that I know, I have a range of views, but they are rooted in my values and my experience. And I don't take a back seat to anyone when it comes to progressive experience and progressive commitment. You know, when I left law school, my first job was with the Children's Defense Fund, and for all the years since, I have been focused on how we're going to un-stack the deck, and how we're gonna make it possible for more people to have the experience I had. You know, to be able to come from a grandfather who was a factory worker, a father who was a small business person, and now asking the people of America to elect me president. +p4259 +aVI'm a progressive. But I'm a progressive who likes to get things done. And I know... ...how to find common ground, and I know how to stand my ground, and I have proved that in every position that I've had, even dealing with Republicans who never had a good word to say about me, honestly. But we found ways to work together on everything from... +p4260 +aV...reforming foster care and adoption to the Children's Health Insurance Program, which insures... +p4261 +aV...8 million kids. So I have a long history of getting things done, rooted in the same values... +p4262 +aV...I've always had. +p4263 +aVWell, let me just follow-up on that, Anderson, because when I think about capitalism, I think about all the small businesses that were started because we have the opportunity and the freedom in our country for people to do that and to make a good living for themselves and their families. And I don't think we should confuse what we have to do every so often in America, which is save capitalism from itself. And I think what Senator Sanders is saying certainly makes sense in the terms of the inequality that we have. But we are not Denmark. I love Denmark. We are the United States of America. And it's our job to rein in the excesses of capitalism so that it doesn't run amok and doesn't cause the kind of inequities we're seeing in our economic system. But we would be making a grave mistake to turn our backs on what built the greatest middle class in the history... +p4264 +aV... of the world. +p4265 +aVNo, not at all. I think that we have to look at the fact that we lose 90 people a day from gun violence. This has gone on too long and it's time the entire country stood up against the NRA. The majority of our country... ... supports background checks, and even the majority of gun owners do. Senator Sanders did vote five times against the Brady bill. Since it was passed, more than 2 million prohibited purchases have been prevented. He also did vote, as he said, for this immunity provision. I voted against it. I was in the Senate at the same time. It wasn't that complicated to me. It was pretty straightforward to me that he was going to give immunity to the only industry in America. Everybody else has to be accountable, but not the gun manufacturers. And we need to stand up and say: Enough of that. We're not going to let it continue. +p4266 +aVWell, first of all, we got a lot of business done with the Russians when Medvedev was the president, and not Putin. We got a nuclear arms deal, we got the Iranian sanctions, we got an ability to bring important material and equipment to our soldiers in Afghanistan. There's no doubt that when Putin came back in and said he was going to be President, that did change the relationship. We have to stand up to his bullying, and specifically in Syria, it is important \u2014 and I applaud the administration because they are engaged in talks right now with the Russians to make it clear that they've got to be part of the solution to try to end that bloody conflict. And, to \u2014 provide safe zones so that people are not going to have to be flooding out of Syria at the rate they are. And, I think it's important too that the United States make it very clear to Putin that it's not acceptable for him to be in Syria creating more chaos, bombing people on behalf of Assad, and we can't do that if we don't take more of a leadership position, which is what I'm advocating. +p4267 +aV...Well, nobody does. Nobody does, Senator Sanders. +p4268 +aVWell, I recall very well being on a debate stage, I think, about 25 times with then Senator Obama, debating this very issue. After the election, he asked me to become Secretary of State. He valued my judgment, and I spent a lot of time with him... ...in the Situation Room, going over some very difficult issues. You know, I \u2014 I agree completely. We don't want American troops on the ground in Syria. I never said that. What I said was we had to put together a coalition \u2014 in fact, something that I worked on before I left the State Department \u2014 to do, and yes, that it should include Arabs, people in the region. Because what I worry about is what will happen with +p4269 +aVWell, first of all, I... +p4270 +aVWell, I am in the middle, here, and... Lots of things coming from all directions. +p4271 +aVYou know, I have to say, I was very pleased when Governor O'Malley endorsed me for president in 2008, and I enjoyed his strong support in that campaign. And I consider him, obviously, a friend. Let me say \u2014 because there's a lot of loose talk going on here \u2014 we are already flying in Syria just as we are flying in Iraq. The president has made a very tough decision. What I believe and why I have advocated that the no-fly zone \u2014 which of course would be in a coalition \u2014 be put on the table is because I'm trying to figure out what leverage we have to get Russia to the table. You know, diplomacy is not about getting to the perfect solution. It's about how you balance the risks. +p4272 +aVAnd I think we have an opportunity here \u2014 and I know that inside the administration this is being hotly debated \u2014 to get that leverage to try to get the Russians to have to deal with everybody in the region and begin to move toward a political, diplomatic solution in Syria. +p4273 +aVWell, let's remember what was going on. We had a murderous dictator, Gadhafi, who had American blood on his hands, as I'm sure you remember, threatening to massacre large numbers of the Libyan people. We had our closest allies in Europe burning up the phone lines begging us to help them try to prevent what they saw as a mass genocide, in their words. And we had the Arabs standing by our side saying, "We want you to help us deal with Gadhafi." Our response, which I think was smart power at its best, is that the United States will not lead this. We will provide essential, unique capabilities that we have, but the Europeans and the Arabs had to be first over the line. We did not put one single American soldier on the ground in Libya. And I'll say this for the Libyan people... +p4274 +aVBut let \u2014 I'll get to that. But I think it's important, since I understand Senator Webb's very strong feelings about this, to explain where we were then and to point out that I think President Obama made the right decision at the time. And the Libyan people had a free election the first time since 1951. And you know what, they voted for moderates, they voted with the hope of democracy. Because of the Arab Spring, because of a lot of other things, there was turmoil to be followed. But unless you believe the United States should not send diplomats to any place that is dangerous, which I do not, then when we send them forth, there is always the potential for danger and risk. +p4275 +aVI \u2014 I think it has to be continued threat from the spread of nuclear weapons, nuclear material that can fall into the wrong hands. I know the terrorists are constantly seeking it, and that's why we have to stay vigilant, but also united around the world to prevent that. +p4276 +aVWell, I've taken responsibility for it. I did say it was a mistake. What I did was allowed by the State Department, but it wasn't the best choice. And I have been as transparent as I know to be, turning over 55,000 pages of my e-mails, asking that they be made public. And you're right. I am going to be testifying. I've been asking to testify for some time and to do it in public, which was not originally agreed to. But let's just take a minute here and point out that this committee is basically an arm of the Republican National Committee. It is a partisan vehicle, as admitted by the House Republican majority leader, Mr. McCarthy, to drive down my poll numbers. Big surprise. And that's what they have attempted to do. I am still standing. I am happy to be part of this debate. And I intend to keep talking about the issues that matter to the American people. You know, I believe strongly that we need to be talking about what people talk to me about, like how are we going to make college affordable? How are we going to pay down student debt? +p4277 +aVHow are we going to get health care for everybody... +p4278 +aVWell, I never said it wasn't legitimate. I said that I have answered all the questions and I will certainly be doing so again before this committee. But I think it would be really unfair not to look at the entire picture. This committee has spent $4.5 million of taxpayer money, and they said that they were trying to figure out what we could do better to protect our diplomats so that something like Benghazi wouldn't happen again. There were already seven committee reports about what to do. So I think it's pretty clear what their obvious goal is. +p4279 +aVBut I'll be there. I'll answer their questions. But tonight, I want to talk not about my e-mails, but about what the American people want from the next president of the United States. +p4280 +aVThank you. Me, too. Me, too. +p4281 +aVThank you, Bernie. Thank you. +p4282 +aVNo. +p4283 +aVWell, I think that President Obama has been a great moral leader on these issues, and has laid out an agenda that has been obstructed by the Republicans at every turn, so... ...So, what we need to be doing is not only reforming criminal justice \u2014 I have talked about that at some length, including things like body cameras, but we also need to be following the recommendations of the commissioner that President Obama empanelled on policing. There is an agenda there that we need to be following up on. Similarly, we need to tackle mass incarceration, and this may be the only bi-partisan issue in the congress this year. We actually have people on both sides of the aisle who have reached the same conclusion, that we can not keep imprisoning more people than anybody else in the world. But, I believe that the debate, and the discussion has to go further, Anderson, because we've got to do more about the lives of these children. That's why I started off by saying we need to be committed to making it possible for every child to live up to his or her god given potential. That is... +p4284 +aV...really hard to do if you don't have early childhood education... +p4285 +aV...if you don't have schools that are able to meet the needs of the people, or good housing, there's a long list... ...We need a new New Deal for communities of color... +p4286 +aVWell, you know, both Bill and I have been very blessed. Neither of us came from wealthy families and we've worked really hard our entire lives. And I want to make sure every single person in this country has the same opportunities that he and I have had, to make the most of their God-given potential and to have the chances that they should have in America for a good education, good job training, and then good jobs. I have a five point economic plan, because this inequality challenge we face, we have faced it at other points. It's absolutely right. It hasn't been this bad since the 1920s. But if you look at the Republicans versus the Democrats when it comes to economic policy, there is no comparison. The economy does better when you have a Democrat in the White House and that's why we need to have a Democrat in the White House in January 2017. +p4287 +aVWell, my plan is more comprehensive. And frankly, it's tougher because of course we have to deal with the problem that the banks are still too big to fail. We can never let the American taxpayer and middle class families ever have to bail out the kind of speculative behavior that we saw. But we also have to worry about some of the other players \u2014 AIG, a big insurance company; Lehman Brothers, an investment bank. There's this whole area called "shadow banking." That's where the experts tell me the next potential problem could come from. +p4288 +aVSo I'm with both Senator Sanders and Governor O'Malley in putting a lot of attention onto the banks. And the plan that I have put forward would actually empower regulators to break up big banks if we thought they posed a risk. But I want to make sure we're going to cover everybody, not what caused the problem last time, but what could cause it next time. +p4289 +aVYeah. You know, I \u2014 I respect the passion an intensity. I represented Wall Street, as a senator from New York, and I went to Wall Street in December of 2007 \u2014 before the big crash that we had \u2014 and I basically said, "cut it out! Quit foreclosing on homes! Quit engaging in these kinds of speculative behaviors." I took on the Bush administration for the same thing. So I have thought deeply and long about what we're gonna do to do exactly what I think both the senator and the governor want, which is to rein in and stop this risk. And my plan would have the potential of actually sending the executives to jail. Nobody went to jail after $100 billion in fines were paid... +p4290 +aV...and would give regulators the authority to go after the big banks. +p4291 +aVBut I'm telling you \u2014 I will say it tonight. If only you look at the big banks, you may be missing the forest for the trees. +p4292 +aVSo... +p4293 +aV...no, that's not what... +p4294 +aV...that \u2014 I think Dodd-Frank was a very... +p4295 +aV...good start, and I think that we have to implement it. We have to prevent the Republicans from ripping it apart. We have to save the Consumer Financial Protection board, which is finally beginning to act to protect consumers. We have work to do. You've got no argument from me. But I know, if we don't come in with a very tough and comprehensive approach, like the plan I'm recommending, we're gonna be behind instead of ahead... +p4296 +aV...on what the next crisis could be. O' +p4297 +aVWell, you know, everybody on this stage has changed a position or two. We've been around a cumulative quite some period of time. You know, we know that if you are learning, you're gonna change your position. I never took a position on Keystone until I took a position on Keystone. But I have been on the forefront of dealing with climate change, starting in 2009, when President Obama and I crashed (ph) a meeting with the Chinese and got them to sign up to the first international agreement to combat climate change that they'd ever joined. So I'm... +p4298 +aV...not taking a back seat to anybody on my values... +p4299 +aV...my principles and the results that I get. +p4300 +aVWell, let me address college affordability, because I have a plan that I think will really zero in on what the problems are. First, all the 40 million Americans who currently have student debt will be able to refinance their debt to a low interest rate. That will save thousands of dollars for people who are now struggling under this cumbersome, burdensome college debt. As a young student in Nevada said to me, the hardest thing about going to college should not be paying for it. So then we have to make it more affordable. How do we make it more affordable? My plan would enable anyone to go to a public college or university tuition free. You would not have to borrow money for tuition. But I do believe \u2014 and maybe it's because I worked when I went through college; I worked when I went through law school \u2014 I think it's important for everybody to have some part of getting this accomplished. That's why I call it a compact. +p4301 +aVBut, yes, I would like students to work 10 hours a week... +p4302 +aVWell, I fully support Social Security. And the most important fight we're going to have is defending it against continuing Republican efforts to privatize it. +p4303 +aVI want to enhance the benefits for the poorest recipients of Social Security. We have a lot of women on Social Security, particularly widowed and single women who didn't make a lot of money during their careers, and they are impoverished, and they need more help from the Social Security system. And I will focus \u2014 I will focus on helping those people who need it the most. And of course I'm going to defend Social Security. I'm going to look for ways to try to make sure it's solvent into the future. And we also need to talk about health care at some time, because we agree on the goals, we just disagree on the means. +p4304 +aVWell, first of all, I want to make sure every child gets health care. That's why I helped to create the Children's Health Insurance Program, and I want to support states that are expanding health care and including undocumented children and others. I want to open up the opportunity for immigrants to be able to buy in to the exchanges under the Affordable Care Act. I think to go beyond that, as I understand what Governor O'Malley has recommended, so that they would get the same subsidies. I think that is \u2014 it raises so many issues. It would be very difficult to administer, it needs to be part of a comprehensive immigration reform, when we finally do get to it. +p4305 +aVI want to follow up because I think underneath Juan Carlos' important questions, there is such a difference between everything you're hearing here on this stage, and what we hear from the Republicans. O' +p4306 +aVDemonize hard-working immigrants who have insulted them. You know, I came to Las Vegas in, I think, May. Early may. Met with a group of +p4307 +aV...than even the executive orders that President Obama has signed when I'm president. ( +p4308 +aVMy plan would support any state that takes that position, and would work with those states and encourage more states to do the same thing. +p4309 +aVIf their states agree, then we want more states to do the same thing. +p4310 +aVNo, I don't. I think that it was necessary to make sure that we were able after 9/11 to put in place the security that we needed. And it is true that it did require that there be a process. What happened, however, is that the Bush administration began to chip away at that process. And I began to speak out about their use of warrantless surveillance and the other behavior that they engaged in. We always have to keep the balance of civil liberties, privacy and security. It's not easy in a democracy, but we have to keep it in mind. +p4311 +aVHe broke the laws of the United States. He could have been a whistleblower. He could have gotten all of the protections of being a whistleblower. He could have raised all the issues that he has raised. And I think there would have been a positive response to that. +p4312 +aVWell, I think that's pretty obvious. I think being the first woman president would be quite a change from the presidents we've had up until this point, including President Obama. +p4313 +aVWell, there's a lot that I would like to do to build on the successes of President Obama, but also, as I'm laying out, to go beyond. And that's in my economic plans, how I would deal with the prescription drug companies, how I would deal with college, how I would deal with a full range of issues that I've been talking about throughout this campaign to go further. +p4314 +aVWell, thank you. ( +p4315 +aVYou know, it does take me a little longer. That's all I can say. +p4316 +aVWell, I can't think of anything more of an outsider than electing the first woman president, but I'm not just running because I would be the first woman president. +p4317 +aVI'm running because I have a lifetime of experience in getting results and fighting for people, fighting for kids, for women, for families, fighting to even the odds. And I know what it takes to get things done. I know how to find common ground and I know how to stand my ground. And I think we're going to need both of those in Washington to get anything that we're talking about up here accomplished. So I'm very happy that I have both the commitment of a lifetime and the experience of a lifetime to bring together to offer the American people. +p4318 +aVWell, I would not ask anyone to vote for me based on my last name. I would ask them to listen to what I'm proposing, look at what I've accomplished in the Senate, as secretary of of state, and then draw your own conclusion. I certainly am not campaigning to become president because my last name is Clinton. I'm campaigning because I think I have the right combination of what the country needs, at this point, and I think I can take the fight to the Republicans, because we cannot afford a Republican to succeed Barack Obama as president of the United States. +p4319 +aVWell, that \u2014 that's exactly what I've been doing. When we met in Copenhagen in 2009 and, literally, President Obama and I were hunting for the Chinese, going throughout this huge convention center, because we knew we had to get them to agree to something. Because there will be no effective efforts against climate change unless China and India join with the rest of the world. They told us they'd left for the airport; we found out they were having a secret meeting. We marched up, we broke in, we said, "We've been looking all over for you. Let's sit down and talk about what we need to do." And we did come up with the first international agreement that China has signed. Thanks to President Obama's leadership, it's now gone much further. +p4320 +aVAnd I do think that the bilateral agreement that President Obama made with the Chinese was significant. Now, it needs to go further, and there will be an international meeting at the end of this year, and we must get verifiable commitments to fight climate change from every country gathered there. +p4321 +aVMm-hmm. +p4322 +aVWell, I'm surprised she says that, because California has had a paid leave program for a number of years. And it's... +p4323 +aVWell, but all \u2014 well, on a state level, a state as big as many countries in the world. And it has not had the ill effects that the Republicans are always saying it will have. And I think this is \u2014 this is typical Republican scare tactics. We can design a system and pay for it that does not put the burden on small businesses. I remember as a young mother, you know, having a baby wake up who was sick and I'm supposed to be in court, because I was practicing law. I know what it's like. And I think we need to recognize the incredible challenges that so many parents face, particularly working moms. I see my good friend, Senator Gillibrand, in the front row. She's been a champion of this. We need to get a consensus through this campaign, which is why I'm talking about it everywhere I go, and we need to join the rest of the advanced world in having it. +p4324 +aVWell, look, you know, when people say that \u2014 it's always the Republicans or their sympathizers who say, "You can't have paid leave, you can't provide health care." They don't mind having big government to interfere with a woman's right to choose and to try to take down Planned Parenthood. They're fine with big government when it comes to that. I'm sick of it. You know, we can do these things. We should not be paralyzed \u2014 we should not be paralyzed by the Republicans and their constant refrain, "big government this, big government that," that except for what they want to impose on the American people. I know we can afford it, because we're going to make the wealthy pay for it. That is the way to get it done. +p4325 +aVNo. I think that we have the opportunity through the states that are pursuing recreational marijuana to find out a lot more than we know today. I do support the use of medical marijuana, and I think even there we need to do a lot more research so that we know exactly how we're going to help people for whom medical marijuana provides relief. So, I think we're just at the beginning, but I agree completely with the idea that we have got to stop imprisoning people who use marijuana. Therefore, we need more states, cities, and the federal government to begin to address this so that we don't have this terrible result that Senator Sanders was talking about where we have a huge population in our prisons for nonviolent, low-level offenses that are primarily due to marijuana. +p4326 +aVWell, in addition to the NRA, the health insurance companies, the drug companies, the Iranians. Probably the Republicans. +p4327 +aVThank you very much, Anderson. And thanks to all the viewers who tuned in tonight. I think what you did see is that, in this debate, we tried to deal with some of the very tough issues facing our country. That's in stark contrast to the Republicans who are currently running for president. What you have to ask yourself is: Who amongst us has the vision for actually making the changes that are going to improve the lives of the American people? Who has the tenacity and the ability and the proven track record of getting that done? Now, I revere my late mother, and she gave me a lot of good advice. But one of the best pieces of advice she gave me was, you know, the issue is not whether or not you get knocked down. It's whether you get back up. America's been knocked down. That Great Recession, 9 million people lost their jobs, 5 million lost their homes, $13 trillion in wealth disappeared. And although we've made progress, we're standing but not running the way America needs to. My mission as president will be to raise incomes for hard-working middle-class families and to make sure that we get back to the basic bargain I was raised with: If you work hard and you do your part, you should be able to get ahead and stay ahead. Please join me in this campaign. Please come and make it clear that America's best days are still ahead. Thank you very much. +p4328 +asVTRUMP +p4329 +(lp4330 +VThank you. I began this journey six months ago. My total focus was on building up our military, building up our strength, building up our borders, making sure that China, Japan, Mexico, both at the border and in trade, no longer takes advantage of our country. Certainly would never have made that horrible, disgusting, absolutely incompetent deal with Iran where they get $150 billion. They're a terrorist nation. But I began it talking about other things. And those things are things that I'm very good at and maybe that's why I'm center stage. People saw it. People liked it. People respected it. A month ago things changed. Radical Islamic terrorism came into effect even more so than it has been in the past. People like what I say. People respect what I say. And we've opened up a very big discussion that needed to be opened up. Thank you very much. +p4331 +aVWe are not talking about isolation. We're talking about security. We're not talking about religion. We're talking about security. Our country is out of control. People are pouring across the southern border. I will build a wall. It will be a great wall. People will not come in unless they come in legally. Drugs will not pour through that wall. As far as other people like in the migration, where they're going, tens of thousands of people having cell phones with +p4332 +aVJeb doesn't really believe I'm unhinged. He said that very simply because he has failed in this campaign. It's been a total disaster. Nobody cares. And frankly, I'm the most solid person up here. I built a tremendous company and all I want to do is make America great again. I don't want our country to be taken away from us, and that's what's happening. The policies that we've suffered under other presidents have been a disaster for our country. We want to make America great again. And Jeb, in all fairness, he doesn't believe that. +p4333 +aVWell, look, this is so easy to answer. +p4334 +aVI would certainly be open to closing areas where we are at war with somebody. I sure as hell don't want to let people that want to kill us and kill our nation use our Internet. Yes, sir, I am. +p4335 +aVWe have to be much tougher. We have to be much stronger than we've been. We have people that know what is going on. You take a look at just the attack in California the other day. There were numerous people, including the mother, that knew what was going on. They saw a pipe bomb sitting all over the floor. They saw ammunition all over the place. They knew exactly what was going on. When you had the World Trade Center go, people were put into planes that were friends, family, girlfriends, and they were put into planes and they were sent back, for the most part, to Saudi Arabia. They knew what was going on. They went home and they wanted to watch their boyfriends on television. I would be very, very firm with families. Frankly, that will make people think because they may not care much about their lives, but they do care, believe it or not, about their families' lives. +p4336 +aVLook, the problem is we need toughness. Honestly, I think Jeb is a very nice person. He's a very nice person. But we need tough people. We need toughness. We need intelligence and we need tough. Jeb said when they come across the southern border they come as an act of love. +p4337 +aVAm I talking or are you talking, Jeb? +p4338 +aVYou can go back. You're not talking. You interrupted me. +p4339 +aVAre you going to apologize, Jeb? No. Am I allowed to finish? +p4340 +aVExcuse me, am I allowed to finish? +p4341 +aVSo... +p4342 +aV... again... +p4343 +aVI know you're trying to build up your energy, Jeb, but it's not working very well. +p4344 +aVLook, look, look. We need a toughness. We need strength. We're not respected, you know, as a nation anymore. We don't have that level of respect that we need. And if we don't get it back fast, we're just going to go weaker, weaker and just disintegrate. We can't allow that to happen. We need strength. We don't have it. When Jeb comes out and he talks about the border, and I saw it and I was witness to it, and so was everyone else, and I was standing there, "they come across as an act of love," he's saying the same thing right now with radical Islam. And we can't have that in our country. It just won't work. We need strength. +p4345 +aVWith Jeb's attitude, we will never be great again, that I can tell you. We will never be great again. +p4346 +aVSo, they can kill us, but we can't kill them? That's what you're saying. And as far as the Internet is concerned, we're not talking about closing the Internet. I'm talking about parts of Syria, parts of Iraq, where +p4347 +aVIn my opinion, we've spent $4 trillion trying to topple various people that frankly, if they were there and if we could've spent that $4 trillion in the United States to fix our roads, our bridges, and all of the other problems; our airports and all of the other problems we've had, we would've been a lot better off. I can tell you that right now. We have done a tremendous disservice, not only to Middle East, we've done a tremendous disservice to humanity. The people that have been killed, the people that have wiped away, and for what? It's not like we had victory. It's a mess. The Middle East is totally destabilized. A total and complete mess. I wish we had the $4 trillion or $5 trillion. I wish it were spent right here in the United States, on our schools, hospitals, roads, airports, and everything else that are all falling apart. +p4348 +aVWell, there's nothing to respond to. Well, people feel differently. I mean, the fact is Benghazi was a disaster because of Libya, everything just fell into place. It could not have been worse. What do we have now? We have nothing. We've spent $3 trillion and probably much more \u2013 I have no idea what we've spent. Thousands and thousands of lives, we have nothing. Wounded warriors all over the place who I love, we have nothing for it. And by the way \u2013 and Ben said incorrectly \u2013 and I'm not saying this as a knock \u2013 he's one of finest men. You're not going to find a finer men. But I've been talking about oil for three years. I've been saying,, "take the oil, take the oil." I didn't say, "just bomb it," I said," take it and use it and distribute it so that the wounded warriors -" People, I've been saying this now for many years. +p4349 +aVNow, all of a sudden everybody's saying, "take the oil." It wasn't so fashionable to take the oil six months ago. I've been saying it for years. +p4350 +aVI think Assad is a bad guy, a very bad guy, all right? Lots of people killed. I think we are backing people we have no idea who they are. The rebels, we call them the rebels, the patriotic rebels. We have no idea. A lot of people think, Hugh, that they are +p4351 +aVI think it's very sad that CNN leads Jeb Bush, Governor Bush, down a road by starting off virtually all the questions, "Mr. Trump this, Mister" \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched the first debate, and the first long number of questions were, "Mr. Trump said this, Mr. Trump said that. Mr. Trump" \u2014 these poor guys \u2014 although, I must tell you, Santorum, good guy. Governor Huckabee, good guy. They were very nice, and I respect them greatly. But I thought it was very unfair that virtually the entire early portion of the debate was Trump this, Trump that, in order to get ratings, I guess. In order to get ratings, I guess. +p4352 +aVI just think it's very \u2014 excuse me. +p4353 +aVExcuse me. I think it's very unprofessional. +p4354 +aVWell, I think it's very unprofessional. +p4355 +aVOK, fine. +p4356 +aVThis isn't tough and easy. I wish it... +p4357 +aVI wish it was always this easy as you, Jeb. +p4358 +aVOh, yeah. +p4359 +aVOh, I know. You're a tough guy, Jeb. I know. +p4360 +aVYou're tough. +p4361 +aVWell, let's see. I'm at 42, and you're at 3. So, so far, I'm doing better. +p4362 +aVSo far, I'm doing better. You know, you started off over here, Jeb. You're moving over further and further. Pretty soon you're going to be off the end... +p4363 +aVI believe I did. +p4364 +aVI have a very hardline position, we have a country or we don't have a country. People that have come into our country illegally, they have to go. They have to come back into through a legal process. I want a strong border. I do want a wall. Walls do work, you just have to speak to the folks in Israel. Walls work if they're properly constructed. I know how to build, believe me, I know how to build. I feel a very, very strong bind, and really I'm bound to this country, we either have a border or we don't. People can come into the country, we welcome people to come but they have to come in legally. +p4365 +aVWell, first of all, I think we need somebody absolutely that we can trust, who is totally responsible; who really knows what he or she is doing. That is so powerful and so important. And one of the things that I'm frankly most proud of is that in 2003, 2004, I was totally against going into Iraq because you're going to destabilize the Middle East. I called it. I called it very strongly. And it was very important. But we have to be extremely vigilant and extremely careful when it comes to nuclear. Nuclear changes the whole ball game. Frankly, I would have said get out of Syria; get out \u2014 if we didn't have the power of weaponry today. The power is so massive that we can't just leave areas that 50 years ago or 75 years ago we wouldn't care. It was hand-to-hand combat. The biggest problem this world has today is not President Obama with global warming, which is inconceivable, this is what he's saying. The biggest problem we have is nuclear \u2014 nuclear proliferation and having some maniac, having some madman go out and get a nuclear weapon. That's in my opinion, that is the single biggest problem that our country faces right now. +p4366 +aVI think \u2014 I think, for me, nuclear is just the power, the devastation is very important to me. +p4367 +aVI did. +p4368 +aVLet me just say that I have gotten to know him over the last three or four days. He has a wonderful temperament. He's just fine. Don't worry about it. +p4369 +aVYou better not attack... +p4370 +aVI really am. I'll be honest, I really am. I mean, the people have been putting me... I really am. +p4371 +aVLet me just. Can I just finish my... +p4372 +aVI've gained great respect for the Republican leadership. I've gained great respect for many \u2014 and I'm going to even say \u2014 I mean, in different forms for the people on the dais, in different forms. In different forms. But I have great respect for the people I have met through this process. I've never done this process before. I've never been a politician. I mean, for the last six months I've been a politician. But I will tell you, I am totally committed to the Republican Party. I feel very honored to be the front runner. And I think I'll do very well if I'm chosen. If I'm so fortunate to be chosen, I think I'll do very well. Polls have come out recently saying I would beat Hillary. I will do everything in my power to beat Hillary Clinton, I promise you. +p4373 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We don't win on trade. We don't win on the military. We can't defeat +p4374 +aVI can't be Neil. And the and the reason I can't be is that we are a country that is being beaten on every front economically, militarily. There is nothing that we do now to win. We don't win anymore. Our taxes are too high. I've come up with a tax plan that many, many people like very much. It's going to be a tremendous plan. I think it'll make our country and our economy very dynamic. But, taxes too high, wages too high, we're not going to be able to compete against the world. I hate to say it, but we have to leave it the way it is. People have to go out, they have to work really hard and have to get into that upper stratum. But we can not do this if we are going to compete with the rest of the world. We just can't do it. +p4375 +aVI would not do it. +p4376 +aVI was so happy yesterday when I saw that decision come down. That was an unbelievable decision. And we don't have enough of those decisions coming down. He of the executive order, because nobody wants to listen to him, including the Democrats, so he just goes around signing executive orders. That was a great day. And, frankly, we have to stop illegal immigration. It's hurting us economically. It's hurting us from every standpoint. It's causing tremendous difficulty with respect to drugs and what that does to many of our inner cities in particular. And it really is \u2014 was such an unbelievable moment because the courts have not been ruling in our favor. And it was a 2-1 decision. And it was a terrific thing that happened. And I will tell you, we are a country of laws. We need borders. We will have a wall. The wall will be built. The wall will be successful. And if you think walls don't work, all you have to do is ask Israel. The wall works, believe me. Properly done. Believe me. +p4377 +aVYou are going to have to bring people \u2014 you are going to have to send people out. Look, we're a country... +p4378 +aVMaria, we're a country of laws. We either have a country or we don't have a country. We are a country of laws. Going to have to go out and they will come back but they are going to have to go out and hopefully they get back. But we have no choice if we're going to run our country properly and if we're going to be a country. +p4379 +aVAll I can say is, you're lucky in Ohio that you struck oil. That is for one thing. Let me just tell you that Dwight Eisenhower, good president, great president, people liked him. "I like Ike," right? The expression. "I like Ike." Moved a 1.5 million illegal immigrants out of this country, moved them just beyond the border. They came back. Moved them again beyond the border, they came back. Didn't like it. Moved them way south. They never came back. Dwight Eisenhower. You don't get nicer. You don't get friendlier. They moved a 1.5 million out. We have no choice. We have no choice. +p4380 +aVNo, it's unfair. +p4381 +aV... built an unbelievable company worth billions and billions of dollars. I don't have to hear from this man, believe me. I don't have to hear from him. +p4382 +aVWe have millions of people right now on line trying to come into this country. Very, very unfair to the people that want to come into our country legally. They've gone through the process. They're on line. They're waiting. Very, very unfair to them. That I can tell you. +p4383 +aVYes. +p4384 +aVNo, I'm sorry. No, excuse me. I was there. +p4385 +aVPlease, if I could just... +p4386 +aVWe have to make our military bigger, better, stronger than ever before so that nobody messes with us, and a long run, it's going to save us. I agree with Marco, I agree with Ted, we have no choice. And, I can tell you this with certainty. We all have a different tax plan. Some I don't totally agree with. One thing we understand, each one of those tax plans is better than the mess that we have right now. +p4387 +aV...Yes... +p4388 +aV...Yeah... +p4389 +aV...It's a horrible deal... +p4390 +aVThe TPP is horrible deal. It is a deal that is going to lead to nothing but trouble. It's a deal that was designed for China to come in, as they always do, through the back door and totally take advantage of everyone. It's 5,600 pages long. So complex that nobodies read it. It's like Obamacare; nobody ever read it. They passed it; nobody read it. And look at mess we have right now. And it will be repealed. But this is one of the worst trade deals. And I would, yes, rather not have it. With all of these countries, and all of the bad ones getting advantage and taking advantage of what the good ones would normally get, I'd rather make individual deals with individual countries. We will do much better. We lose a fortune on trade. The United States loses with everybody. We're losing now over $500 billion in terms of imbalance with China, $75 billion a year imbalance with Japan. By the way, Mexico, $50 billion a year imbalance. So I must say, Gerard, I just think it's a terrible deal. I love trade. I'm a free trader, 100 percent. But we need smart people making the deals, and we don't have smart people making the deals. +p4391 +aVYes. Well, the currency manipulation they don't discuss in the agreement, which is a disaster. If you look at the way China and India and almost everybody takes advantage of the United States \u2014 China in particular, because they're so good. It's the number-one abuser of this country. And if you look at the way they take advantage, it's through currency manipulation. It's not even discussed in the almost 6,000-page agreement. It's not even discussed. +p4392 +aVAnd as you understand, I mean, you understand very well from the Wall Street Journal, currency manipulation is the single great weapon people have. They don't even discuss it in this agreement. So I say, it's a very bad deal, should not be approved. If it is approved, it will just be more bad trade deals, more loss of jobs for our country. We are losing jobs like nobody's ever lost jobs before. I want to bring jobs back into this country. +p4393 +aVWell, first of all, it's not only Russia. We have problems with North Korea where they actually have nuclear weapons. You know, nobody talks about it, we talk about Iran, and that's one of the worst deals ever made. One of the worst contracts ever signed, ever, in anything, and it's a disgrace. But, we have somebody over there, a madman, who already has nuclear weapons we don't talk about that. That's a problem. China is a problem, both economically in what they're doing in the South China Sea, I mean, they are becoming a very, very major force. So, we have more than just Russia. But, as far as the Ukraine is concerned, and you could Syria \u2014 as far as Syria, I like \u2014 if Putin wants to go in, and I got to know him very well because we were both on 60 Minutes, we were stablemates, and we did very well that night. But, you know that. But, if Putin wants to go and knocked the hell out of +p4394 +aV...They blew up \u2014 hold it.... +p4395 +aV...They blew up, wait a minute... ...They blew up a Russian airplane. He cannot be in love with these people. He's going in, and we can go in, and everybody should go in. As far as the Ukraine is concerned, we have a group of people, and a group of countries, including Germany \u2014 tremendous economic behemoth \u2014 why are we always doing the work? We are \u2014 I'm all for protecting Ukraine and working \u2014 but, we have countries that are surrounding the Ukraine that aren't doing anything. They say, "Keep going, keep going, you dummies, keep going. Protect us..." ...And we have to get smart. We can't continue to be the policeman of the world. We are $19 trillion dollars, we have a country that's going to hell, we have an infrastructure that's falling apart. Our roads, our bridges, our schools, our airports, and we have to start investing money in our country. +p4396 +aVAssad is a bad guy, but we have no idea who the so-called rebels \u2014 I read about the rebels, nobody even knows who they are. I spoke to a general two weeks ago, he said \u2014 he was very up on exactly what we're talking about. He said, "You know, Mr. Trump? We're giving hundreds of millions of dollars of equipment to these people, we have no idea who they are." So, I don't like Assad. Who's going to like Assad? But, we have no idea who these people, and what they're going to be, and what they're going to represent. They may be far worse than Assad. Look at Libya. Look at Iraq. Look at the mess we have after spending $2 trillion dollars, thousands of lives, wounded warriors all over the place \u2014 who I love, OK? All over. We have nothing. And, I said, keep the oil. And we should have kept the oil, believe me. We should have kept the oil. And, you know what? We should have given the oil... ..We should've given big chunks to the people that lost their arms, their legs, and their families, and their sons, and daughters, because right now, you know who has a lot of that oil? Iran, and +p4397 +aVWhy does she keep interrupting everybody? Terrible. +p4398 +aVWe are not. +p4399 +aV...No, no, no... +p4400 +aVWell, what's happening right now, Neil, is something that not been a subject of conversation by politicians. As primarily the only politician, I guess other than Carly on the stage, they haven't talked about a corporate inversion. A corporate inversion \u2014 companies are leaving. You know, we used to leave New York to go to Florida. We got better taxes, we got, maybe, something else. Now, they're the United States to go to other countries. They have trillions of dollars in those other countries. They're going for two reasons, they can't get their money back in. It's something where the democrats and the republicans both agree, it's the only thing I can think of. They both agree, let the money come back in. Three and a half years, they still can't make a deal. They can't get the money in. It's probably two and a half trillion, but, I think it's much more than that. All of that money could become \u2014 could come right in and be used to rebuild our country, and investments in our country. They can't do it. What we have to do, and what I've done, is made the tax rate \u2014 and one of the reasons they don't the taxes so obnoxious, they can't do it. Where, I made it a 10% number, as you know. I've been very highly praised for it. A lot of money's going to come back in, we're going to get rid of the bureaucratic problems, and roadblocks, because that's also a problem. And, we're going to have all of this money pour back into the United States. It's going to be used to build businesses, for jobs, and everything else. And, as I say, my expression is, let's make America great again. +p4401 +aVThank you. Over the years, I've created tens of thousands of jobs and a great company. It's a company I'm very proud of. Some of the most iconic assets anywhere in the world. And I will tell you, I don't have to give you a website because I'm self-funding my campaign. I'm putting up my own money. I want to do something really special. I want to make our country greater than it's ever been. I think we have that potential. We cannot lose this election. We cannot let Hillary Clinton, who is the worst secretary of state in the history of our country, win this election. We will fight. We will win. And we truly will make this even more special. We have to make it better than ever before. And I will tell you, the United States can actually be better than ever before. Thank you. +p4402 +aVI think maybe my greatest weakness is that I trust people too much. I'm too trusting. And when they let me down, if they let me down, I never forgive. I find it very, very hard to forgive people that deceived me. So I don't know if you would call that a weakness, but my wife said "let up." +p4403 +aVRight. +p4404 +aVRight. +p4405 +aVThat's right. +p4406 +aVNo, not a comic book, and it's not a very nicely asked question the way you say that. Larry Kudlow is an example, who I have a lot of respect for, who loves my tax plan. We're reducing taxes to 15 percent. We're bringing corporate taxes down, bringing money back in, corporate inversions. We have $2.5 trillion outside of the United States which we want to bring back in. As far as the wall is concerned, we're going to build a wall. We're going to create a border. We're going to let people in, but they're going to come in legally. They're going to come in legally. And it's something that can be done, and I get questioned about that. They built the great wall of China. That's 13,000 miles. Here, we actually need 1,000 because we have natural barriers. So we need 1,000. We can do a wall. We're going to have a big, fat beautiful door right in the middle of the wall. We're going to have people come in, but they're coming in legally. And Mexico's going to pay for the wall because Mexico \u2014 I love the Mexican people; I respect the Mexican leaders \u2014 but the leaders are much sharper, smarter and more cunning than our leaders. And just to finish, people say, how will you get Mexico to pay? A politician other than the people in the states \u2014 I don't want to \u2014 a politician cannot get them to pay. I can. We lose, we have a trade imbalance... Excuse me, John. ... of $50 billion... +p4407 +aV... believe me the world is peanuts by comparison. +p4408 +aVRight. Dynamically. +p4409 +aVThen you have to get rid of Larry Kudlow, who sits on your panel, who's a great guy, who came out the other day and said, I love Trump's tax plan. +p4410 +aVFirst of all, John got lucky with a thing called fracking, OK? He hit oil. He got lucky with fracking. Believe me, that is why Ohio is doing well. Number \u2014 and that is important for you to know. Number two, this was the man that was a managing general partner at Lehman Brothers when it went down the tubes and almost took every one of us with it, including Ben and myself, because I was there and I watched what happened. And Lehman Brothers started it all. He was on the board. And he was a managing general partner. And just thirdly, he was so nice. He was such a nice guy. And he said, oh, I'm never going to attack. But then his poll numbers tanked. He has got \u2014 that is why he is on the end. And he got nasty. And he got nasty. So you know what? You can have him. +p4411 +aVI think you're \u2014 +p4412 +aVWell, first of all, like many other very big businessmen, I could name them here, but I'm not going to do that for a lot of obvious reasons, but the biggest, and almost all of them, they've all used the chapter laws, the bankruptcy laws to their own benefit. Before this, I was a very successful person as a developer and as a businessman. Atlantic City has gone bad. I mean, Chris will know about that. I'm not blaming Chris, by the way, but he will know about that. Caesar's \u2014 excuse me \u2014 Caesar's, the Rolls-Royce, as you know, is in bankruptcy. Almost every hotel in Atlantic City has either been in bankruptcy or will be in bankruptcy \u2014 the biggest. But also the biggest people (ph) \u2014 now I've used that to my advantage as a business man, for my family, for myself. I never filed for bankruptcy. But many, many people did. What happened with Atlantic City is very, very disgraceful. Now hundreds of companies I've opened. I've used it three times, maybe four times. Came out great. But I guess I'm supposed to come out great. That is what I could do for the country. We owe $19 trillion, boy am I good at solving debt problems. Nobody can solve it like me. But I will tell you this, Atlantic City, you're using that, hundreds of companies that I have opened have thrived. I built a net worth of way over $10 billion, and I have done it four times out of hundreds. And I'm glad I did it. I used the laws of the country to my benefit, I'm sorry. +p4413 +aVThank you. +p4414 +aVI was not at all critical of him. I was not at all. In fact, frankly, he's complaining about the fact that we're losing some of the most talented people. They go to Harvard. They go to Yale. They go to Princeton. They come from another country and they're immediately sent out. I am all in favor of keeping these talented people here so they can go to work in Silicon Valley. +p4415 +aVSo I have nothing at all critical of him. +p4416 +aVProbably, I don't know \u2014 you people write the stuff. I don't know where you... And if I could say just one thing. I am the only person in either campaign that's self-funding. I'm putting up 100 percent of my own money. And right now, I will be putting up a tremendous \u2014 so far, I've put up less than anybody and I have the best results. Wouldn't that be nice if the country could do that? But I will be putting \u2014 I will be putting up, you know, tremendous amounts of money. SuperPacs are a disaster. They're a scam. They cause dishonesty. And you better get rid of them because they are causing a lot of bad decisions to be made by some very good people. And I'm not blaming these folks \u2014 well, I guess I could. Very good people are making very bad decisions right now. And if anything comes out of this whole thing with some of these nasty and ridiculous questions, I will tell you, you better get rid of the SuperPacs because they causing a big problem with this country, not only in dishonesty and what's going on, but also in a lot of bad decisions that have been made for the benefit of lobbyists and special interests. +p4417 +aVI never said that. I never said that. +p4418 +aVYou've got another gentleman in Florida, who happens to be a very nice guy, but not... +p4419 +aV... he's really doing some bad... +p4420 +aVI'm in favor of people coming into this country legally. And you know what? They can have it anyway you want. You can call it visas, you can call it work permits, you can call it anything you want. I've created tens of thousands of jobs, and in all due respect \u2014 and actually some of these folks I really like a lot \u2014 but I'm the only one that can say that. I have created tens of thousands of jobs, and I'll be creating many millions of jobs if I'm given \u2014 if I'm given the opportunity to be president. As far as Mark is concerned, as far as the visas are concerned, if we need people, they have \u2014 it's fine. They have to come into this country legally. We have a country of borders. We have a country of laws. We have to obey the laws. It's fine if they come in, but they have to come in legally. +p4421 +aVYes. +p4422 +aVOr somebody else. Right. +p4423 +aVYes, I might feel more comfortable. I would say that I would and I have a permit, which is very unusual in New York \u2014 a permit to carry. And I do carry on occasion, sometimes a lot. But I like to be unpredictable so that people don't know exactly... +p4424 +aVBy the way, unlike our country where we're totally predictable and the enemy, whether it's +p4425 +aVI would change them. I would change them. +p4426 +aVSuch a nasty \u2014 such a nasty question, but thank you, Governor. +p4427 +aVYes, it's very simple. We're going to make a really dynamic economy from what we have right now, which is not at all dynamic. We're going to bring jobs back from Japan, we're going to bring jobs back from China, we're going to bring, frankly, jobs back from Mexico where, as you probably saw, Nabisco is leaving Chicago with one of their biggest plants, and they're moving it to Mexico. We're going to bring jobs and manufacturing back. We're going to cut costs. We're going to save Social Security, and we're going to save Medicare. [ +p4428 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We used to win, we don't win anymore. We lose on trade. We lose with +p4429 +aVAnd, I'll do that with the country. We will make America great again. And, thank you everybody. Just for the record. +p4430 +aVThat's not right. That is absolutely not right. You know that. That is not right. [ +p4431 +aVI'm Donald Trump. I wrote "The Art of the Deal". I say not in a braggadocious way, I've made billions and billions of dollars dealing with people all over the world, and I want to put whatever that talent is to work for this country so we have great trade deals, we make our country rich again, we make it great again. We build our military, we take care of our vets, we get rid of Obamacare, and we have a great life altogether. Thank you. Thank you. +p4432 +aVWell, first of all, Rand Paul shouldn't even be on this stage. He's number 11, he's got 1 percent in the polls, and how he got up here, there's far too many people anyway. As far as temperament \u2014 and we all know that \u2014 as far as temperament, I think I have a great temperament. I built a phenomenal business with incredible, iconic assets, one of the really truly great real-estate businesses. And I may be an entertainer, because I've had tremendous success with number-one bestsellers all over the place, with "The Apprentice" and everything else I've done. But I will tell you this: What I am far and away greater than an entertainer is a businessman, and that's the kind of mindset this country needs to bring it back, because we owe $19 trillion right now, $19 trillion, and you need this kind of thinking to bring our country back. And believe me, my temperament is very good, very calm. But we will be respected outside of this country. We are not respected now. +p4433 +aVI never attacked him on his look, and believe me, there's plenty of subject matter right there. That I can tell you. +p4434 +aVI've actually been in politics all my life, although I've been on that side as opposed to this side. I'm now a politician for about three months. Obviously, I'm doing pretty well. I'm number one in every poll by a lot. But the qualification is that I've dealt with people all over the world, been successful all over the world. Everything I've done virtually has been a tremendous success. When markets changed, when things turned, I heard Governor Pataki, who, by the way, was a failed governor in New York, a very seriously failed \u2014 he wouldn't be elected dog catcher right now. I heard what he had to say. And I will tell you this: Atlantic City, I've made a tremendous amount of money in Atlantic City. I left seven years ago, I've gotten great credit for my timing, and that's what I'm all about. I'm a businessman, did really well, really well, and Jeb, what I want to do is put that ability into this country to make our country rich again. And I can do that, and I'm not sure that anybody else in the group will be able to do that. +p4435 +aVBut I have to say... +p4436 +aVWell, in Wisconsin... +p4437 +aVExcuse me. +p4438 +aVIn Wisconsin, you're losing $2.2 billion right now. +p4439 +aVI would do so much better than that. +p4440 +aVNo. +p4441 +aVI'm using facts. +p4442 +aVEvery major business leader has used the \u2014 I never went bankrupt, by the way, as you know, everybody knows. But we \u2014 hundreds of companies, hundreds of deals, I've used ???: ... into bankruptcy. That's what's wrong with politicians in Washington right now. They think we can take a country into bankruptcy. +p4443 +aVEvery major business leader, has used the \u2014 I never went bank bankrupt, by the way, as you know, everybody knows. But \u2014 hundreds of companies, hundreds of deals, I used the law four times and made a tremendous thing. I'm in business. I did a very good job. But I will say this, and people are very, very impressed with what I've done, the business people. But when the folks of Iowa found out the true facts of the job that you've done in Wisconsin, all of a sudden you, tubed (ph), he was No. 1 and now he's No. 6 or seven in the polls. So, look, we brought it out, you were supposed to make a billion dollars in the state. You lost 2.2 \u2014 you have right now, a huge budget deficit. That's not a Democratic point. That's a point. That's a fact. And when the people of Iowa found that out, I went to No. 1 and you went down the tubes. +p4444 +aVI didn't \u2014 +p4445 +aVTotally false. +p4446 +aVI would have gotten it. +p4447 +aVI promise I would have gotten it. +p4448 +aVI promise if I wanted it, I would have gotten it. +p4449 +aVI know my people. +p4450 +aVI know my people. +p4451 +aVNo. I just will tell you that, you know, Jeb made the statement. I'm not only referring to him. I \u2014 a lot of money was raised by a lot of different people that are standing up here. And the donors, the special interests, the lobbyists have very strong power over these people. I'm spending all of my money, I'm not spending \u2014 I'm not getting any \u2014 I turned down \u2014 I turn down so much, I could have right now from special interests and donors, I could have double and triple what he's got. I've turned it down. I turned down last week $5 million from somebody. So I will tell you I understand the game, I've been on the other side all of my life. And they have a lot of control over our politicians. And I don't say that favorably, and I'm not sure if there's another system, but I say this. I am not accepting any money from anybody. Nobody has control of me other than the people of this country. I'm going to do the right thing. +p4452 +aVThat's true. That's true. +p4453 +aVI was \u2014 excuse me, Jeb. +p4454 +aVI was a businessman, I got along with Clinton, I got along with everybody. That was my job, to get along with people. +p4455 +aVI didn't want to \u2014 excuse me. One second. +p4456 +aVOK, more energy tonight. I like that. Look \u2014 +p4457 +aVI didn't want \u2014 it was my obligation as a businessman to my family, to my company, to my employees, to get along with all politicians. I get along with all of them, and I did a damn good job in doing it. Go ahead. +p4458 +aVGot along with everybody. +p4459 +aVWrong. +p4460 +aVDon't make things up. Jeb, don't make things up. Come on. +p4461 +aVDon't make things up. +p4462 +aVSo, number one, they have to respect you. He has absolutely no respect for President Obama. Zero. Syria's a mess. You look at what's going on with +p4463 +aVI believe that I will get along \u2014 we will do \u2014 between that, Ukraine, all of the other problems, we won't have the kind of problems that our country has right now with Russia and many other nations. +p4464 +aVI wouldn't have drawn the line, but once he drew it, he had no choice but to go across. They do bear some responsibility, but I think he probably didn't do it, not for that reason. Somehow, he just doesn't have courage. There is something missing from our president. Had he crossed the line and really gone in with force, done something to Assad \u2014 if he had gone in with tremendous force, you wouldn't have millions of people displaced all over the world. +p4465 +aVThey had a responsibility, absolutely. I think we have three of them here... +p4466 +aVI think they had a responsibility, yes. +p4467 +aVJeb, just... +p4468 +aVI think it will haunt him. I think it's a terrible. I think it's going to haunt him absolutely. He came back later and he said he misspoke. There was no question because I heard when he said the statement. I was watching and he said the statement. And I said, wow, I can't believe it. I will take care of women. I respect women. I will take care of women. One thing we will say and I would like to get back to the Iran situation. We're talking about Iran. The agreement was terrible. It was incompetent. I've never seen anything like it. One of the worst contracts of any kind I've ever seen. And nobody ever mentions North Korea where you have this maniac sitting there and he actually has nuclear weapons and somebody better start thinking about North Korea and perhaps a couple of other places. But certainly North Korea. And Ted and I have spoken. We've \u2014 a lot of us have spoken. We're talking about Iran. They are bad actors, bad things are going to happen. But in the meantime, you have somebody right now in North Korea who has got nuclear weapons and who is saying almost every other week, I'm ready to use them. And we don't even mention it. +p4469 +aVSo why didn't you say it? Why didn't you say it? +p4470 +aVI know, but why did you say it? I heard it myself. Why did you say it? +p4471 +aVYou said you're going to cut funding for women's health. You said it. +p4472 +aVYou said it. +p4473 +aVI think she's got a beautiful face, and I think she's a beautiful woman. +p4474 +aVCorrect. First of all, I want to build a wall, a wall that works. So important, and it's a big part of it. Second of all, we have a lot of really bad dudes in this country from outside, and I think Chris knows that, maybe as well as anybody. They go, if I get elected, first day they're gone. Gangs all over the place. Chicago, Baltimore, no matter where you look. We have a country based on laws. I will make sure that those laws are adhered to. These are illegal immigrants. I don't think you'd even be asking this question if I didn't run because when I ran, and I brought this up, my opening remarks at Trump Tower, I took heat like nobody has taken heat in a long time. And, then they found out with the killing of Katie, from San Francisco, and so many other crimes, they found out that I was right. And, most people, many people, apologized to me. I don't think you'd even be talking about illegal immigration if it weren't for me. So, we have a country of laws, they're going to go out, and they'll come back if they deserve to come back. If they've had a bad record, if they've been arrested, if they've been in jail, they're never coming back. We're going to have a country again. Right now, we don't have a country, we don't have a border, and we're going to do something about it, and it can be done with proper management, and it can be done with heart. +p4475 +aV...By the way, I agree with \u2014 with what Chris is saying, but, I will say this. Illegal immigration is costing us more than $200 billion dollars a year just to maintain what we have. +p4476 +aVCorrect. +p4477 +aVWell, I have to tell you, I hear phenomenal things. I hear your wife is a lovely woman... +p4478 +aVI don't know her, and this is a total mischaracterization... +p4479 +aVGood. +p4480 +aVNo, I won't do that, because I've said nothing wrong. +p4481 +aVBut I do hear she's a lovely woman. +p4482 +aVJeb said... +p4483 +aV... that they come into our country as an act of love. With all of the problems we that we have, in so many instances \u2014 we have wonderful people coming in. But with all of the problems \u2014 this is not an act of love. He's weak on immigration \u2014 by the way, in favor of Common Core, which is also a disaster, but weak on immigration. He doesn't get my vote. +p4484 +aVNot with this intensity. +p4485 +aVAs I said, we are spending $200 billion \u2014 we are spending $200 billion a year on maintaining what we have. We will move them out. The great ones will come back, the good ones will come back. They'll be expedited, they'll be back, they'll come back legally. We'll have a country \u2014 they'll come back, legally. +p4486 +aVWell, I think it's wonderful and all, but I did it a little bit half-heartedly, but I do mean it to a large extent. We have a country, where, to assimilate, you have to speak English. And I think that where he was, and the way it came out didn't sound right to me. We have to have assimilation \u2014 to have a country, we have to have assimilation. I'm not the first one to say this, Dana. We've had many people over the years, for many, many years, saying the same thing. This is a country where we speak English, not Spanish. +p4487 +aVThis is a reporter, not a high school kid. +p4488 +aVWell, first of all, the \u2014 the 14th Amendment says very, very clearly to a lot of great legal scholars \u2014 not television scholars, but legal scholars \u2014 that it is wrong. It can be corrected with an act of Congress, probably doesn't even need that. A woman gets pregnant. She's nine months, she walks across the border, she has the baby in the United States, and we take care of the baby for 85 years. I don't think so. And by the way, Mexico and almost every other country anywhere in the world doesn't have that. We're the only ones dumb enough, stupid enough to have it. And people \u2014 and by the way, this is not just with respect to Mexico. They are coming from Asia to have babies here, and all of a sudden, we have to take care of the babies for the life of the baby. The 14th Amendment, it reads properly, you can go and \u2014 it's probably going to be have to be check \u2014 go through a process of court, probably ends up at the Supreme Court, but there are a lot of great legal scholars that say that is not correct. And in my opinion, it makes absolutely no \u2014 we're the only \u2014 one of the only countries, we're going to take care of those babies for 70, 75, 80, 90 years? I don't think so. +p4489 +aVI agree 100 percent, by the way, with Carly on the fact that the Democrats do not want to solve this problem, for the obvious reasons, but they do not. But I believe that a reading of the 14th Amendment allows you to have an interpretation where this is not legal and where it can't be done. I've seen both sides, but some of the greatest scholars agree with me, without having to go through Congress. If you do go through Congress, you can absolutely solve the problem. +p4490 +aVThat's true, sure. +p4491 +aVWell \u2014 +p4492 +aV\u2014 let me \u2014 well, let me just explain. The head of the Yale Business School, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, wrote a paper recently, one of the worst tenures for a CEO that he has ever seen, ranked one of the top 20 in the history of business. The company is a disaster and continues to be a disaster. They still haven't recovered. In fact, today, on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, they fired another 25 or 30,000 people saying we still haven't recovered from the catastrophe. When Carly says the revenues went up, that's because she bought Compaq, it was a terrible deal, and it really led to the destruction of the company. Now one other company before that was Lucent. Carly was at Lucent before that. And Lucent turned out to be a catastrophe also. So I only say this. She can't run any of my companies. That I can tell you. +p4493 +aVI never filed for bankruptcy. +p4494 +aVI'll tell you why; it's very simple. +p4495 +aVI'll tell you. I was running \u2014 +p4496 +aV\u2014 Carly, Carly \u2014 +p4497 +aV\u2014 I've made over $10 billion. I had a casino company \u2014 Caesars just filed for bankruptcy. Chris will tell you \u2014 it's not Chris' fault either \u2014 but almost everybody in Atlantic City is either in trouble or filed for \u2014 maybe I'll blame Chris. +p4498 +aVBut Atlantic City is a disaster \u2014 +p4499 +aVWait a minute, Carly. Wait. I let you speak. Atlantic City is a disaster, and I did great in Atlantic City. I knew when to get out. My timing was great. And I got a lot of credit for it. Many of the great business people that you know \u2014 and Carl Icon (ph) is going to work with me on making great deals for this country. But whether it's Carl or so many others that we read about all the time \u2014 +p4500 +aV\u2014 they have used the laws of the land, which is the \u2014 +p4501 +aV...Well, I'd like to respond, I'd like to respond... +p4502 +aVWell, I think the thing about the flat tax, I know it very well. What I don't like is that if you make $200 million a year, you pay ten percent, you're paying very little relatively to somebody that's making $50,000 a year, and has to hire H&R Block to do the \u2014 because it's so complicated. One thing I'll say to Ben is that we've had a graduated tax system for many years, so it's not a socialistic thing. What I'd like to do, and I'll be putting in the plan in about two weeks, and I think people are going to like it, it's a major reduction in taxes. It's a major reduction for the middle class. The hedge fund guys won't like me as much as they like me right now. I know them all, but they'll pay more. I know people that are making a tremendous amount of money and paying virtually no tax, and I think it's unfair. +p4503 +aVWell, I heard Hugh Hewitt, a nice man, he apologized because he actually said that we had a misunderstanding. And he said today that Donald Trump is maybe the best interview there is anywhere that he has ever done. Now unless he was just saying that on CNN to be nice, but he did say that... +p4504 +aVAnd we had a legitimate misunderstanding in terms of his pronunciation of a word. But I would say just... +p4505 +aVWell, I think it was. And he actually said that. Did you say that? +p4506 +aVOK. So I will say this, though, Hugh was giving me name after name, Arab name, Arab name, and there are few people anywhere, anywhere that would have known those names. I think he was reading them off a sheet. And frankly I will have \u2014 and I told him, I will have the finest team that anybody has put together and we will solve a lot of problems. You know, right now they know a lot and look at what is happening. The world is blowing up around us. We will have great teams and great people. +p4507 +aVI hope that answers your question. I mean, you are in the Senate, but I hope that answers your question. +p4508 +aVNo, I don't think he's suggesting that at all. I mean... +p4509 +aVI don't think he's suggesting that at all. +p4510 +aVWell, you have to understand, I am not sitting in the United States Senate with, by the way, the worst voting record there is today. Number one. I am not sitting in the United States Senate. I'm a businessman doing business transactions. +p4511 +aVI am doing business transactions. I will know more about this \u2014 and, as you said, that was very acceptable, and when you listen to that whole interview, it's a great interview, you said it, I didn't. Well, now I did. But... +p4512 +aVListen, just one second. Just one second. +p4513 +aVI will know... +p4514 +aV...I will know more about the problems of this world by the time I sit, and you look at what's going in this world right now by people that supposedly know, this world is a mess. +p4515 +aV +p4516 +aV I'm \u2014 and I'm meeting with people that are terrific people, but I have to say something because it's about judgment. I am the only person on this dais \u2014 the only person \u2014 that fought very, very hard against us (ph), and I wasn't a sitting politician going into Iraq, because I said going into Iraq \u2014 that was in 2003, you can check it out, check out \u2014 I'll give you 25 different stories. In fact, a delegation was sent to my office to see me because I was so vocal about it. I'm a very militaristic person, but you have to know when to use the military. I'm the only person up here that fought against going into Iraq. +p4517 +aVJust excuse me, one second, Rand... +p4518 +aVIf you don't mind, Rand \u2014 you know, you are on last \u2014 you do have your 1 percent. I would like \u2014 and I think it's very important. I think it's important, because it's about judgment. It's about judgment. I didn't want to go into Iraq, and I fought it, because what I said \u2014 what I said... +p4519 +aV... was you're going to \u2014 you're going to destabilize... +p4520 +aV... the Middle East, and that's what happened. +p4521 +aVIf you think about it... +p4522 +aVYour brother \u2014 and your brother's administration gave us Barack Obama, because it was such a disaster, those last three months, that Abraham Lincoln couldn't have been elected. +p4523 +aVI don't know. You feel safe right now? I don't feel so safe. +p4524 +aVOr the collapse of the economy. +p4525 +aVSpeaking for myself, I'm OK with it. I think there's a certain truth to it. I know people that, frankly, it has no impact on their life whatsoever. There are many people. I would almost say leave it up to them, but I would be willing to check it off, and say I will not get Social Security. I do not... +p4526 +aVAs a policy, I would almost leave it up to the people. Don't forget they pay in and they pay in, and maybe they do well, and maybe some people want it. But the fact is that there are people that truly don't need it, and there are many people that do need it very, very badly. And I would be willing to write mine off 100 percent, Dana. +p4527 +aVWell, I \u2014 I \u2014 I'd like to respond. +p4528 +aVI'd like to respond. +p4529 +aVAutism has become an epidemic. Twenty-five years ago, 35 years ago, you look at the statistics, not even close. It has gotten totally out of control. I am totally in favor of vaccines. But I want smaller doses over a longer period of time. Because you take a baby in \u2014 and I've seen it \u2014 and I've seen it, and I had my children taken care of over a long period of time, over a two or three year period of time. Same exact amount, but you take this little beautiful baby, and you pump \u2014 I mean, it looks just like it's meant for a horse, not for a child, and we've had so many instances, people that work for me. Just the other day, two years old, two and a half years old, a child, a beautiful child went to have the vaccine, and came back, and a week later got a tremendous fever, got very, very sick, now is autistic. I only say it's not \u2014 I'm in favor of vaccines, do them over a longer period of time, same amount. +p4530 +aVBut just in \u2014 in little sections. +p4531 +aVI think \u2014 and I think you're going to have \u2014 I think you're going to see a big impact on autism. +p4532 +aVAnd that's all I'm saying, Jake. That's all I'm saying. +p4533 +aVWell, because she's been sitting for three hours, I think my daughter, Ivanka, who's right here. +p4534 +aVOther than that we'll go with Rosa Parks. I like that. +p4535 +aVHumble. +p4536 +aVIf I become president, we will do something really special. We will make this country greater than ever before. We'll have more jobs. We'll have more of everything. We were discussing disease, we were discussing all sorts of things tonight, many of which will just be words, it will just pass on. I don't want to say politicians, all talk, no action. But a lot of what we talked about is words and it will be forgotten very quickly. If I'm president, many of the things that we discussed tonight will not be forgotten. We'll find solutions. And the world will respect us. They will respect us like never before. And it will be actually a friendlier world. And I have to say, it is a great honor to be here tonight. +p4537 +aVI fully understand. +p4538 +aVI fully understand. +p4539 +aVI cannot say. I have to respect the person that, if it's not me, the person that wins, if I do win, and I'm leading by quite a bit, that's what I want to do. I can totally make that pledge. If I'm the nominee, I will pledge I will not run as an independent. But -- and I am discussing it with everybody, but I'm, you know, talking about a lot of leverage. We want to win, and we will win. But I want to win as the Republican. I want to run as the Republican nominee. +p4540 +aVWell, I've given him plenty of money. +p4541 +aVI will not make the pledge at this time. +p4542 +aVOnly Rosie O'Donnell. +p4543 +aVThank you. +p4544 +aVYes, I'm sure it was. +p4545 +aVI think the big problem this country has is being politically correct. I've been challenged by so many people, and I don't frankly have time for total political correctness. And to be honest with you, this country doesn't have time either. This country is in big trouble. We don't win anymore. We lose to China. We lose to Mexico both in trade and at the border. We lose to everybody. And frankly, what I say, and oftentimes it's fun, it's kidding. We have a good time. What I say is what I say. And honestly Megyn, if you don't like it, I'm sorry. I've been very nice to you, although I could probably maybe not be, based on the way you have treated me. But I wouldn't do that. But you know what, we -- we need strength, we need energy, we need quickness and we need brain in this country to turn it around. That, I can tell you right now. +p4546 +aVSo, if it weren't for me, you wouldn't even be talking about illegal immigration, Chris. You wouldn't even be talking about it. This was not a subject that was on anybody's mind until I brought it up at my announcement. And I said, Mexico is sending. Except the reporters, because they're a very dishonest lot, generally speaking, in the world of politics, they didn't cover my statement the way I said it. The fact is, since then, many killings ,murders, crime, drugs pouring across the border, are money going out and the drugs coming in. And I said we need to build a wall, and it has to be built quickly. And I don't mind having a big beautiful door in that wall so that people can come into this country legally. But we need, Jeb, to build a wall, we need to keep illegals out. +p4547 +aVBorder Patrol, I was at the border last week. Border Patrol, people that I deal with, that I talk to, they say this is what's happening. Because our leaders are stupid. Our politicians are stupid. And the Mexican government is much smarter, much sharper, much more cunning. And they send the bad ones over because they don't want to pay for them. They don't want to take care of them. Why should they when the stupid leaders of the United States will do it for them? And that's what is happening whether you like it or not. +p4548 +aVA complete disaster, yes. +p4549 +aVCorrect. +p4550 +aVFirst of all, I'd like to just go back to one. In July of 2004, I came out strongly against the war with Iraq, because it was going to destabilize the Middle East. And I'm the only one on this stage that knew that and had the vision to say it. And that's exactly what happened. +p4551 +aVAnd the Middle East became totally destabilized. So I just want to say. As far as single payer, it works in Canada. It works incredibly well in Scotland. It could have worked in a different age, which is the age you're talking about here. What I'd like to see is a private system without the artificial lines around every state. I have a big company with thousands and thousands of employees. And if I'm negotiating in New York or in New Jersey or in California, I have like one bidder. Nobody can bid. You know why? Because the insurance companies are making a fortune because they have control of the politicians, of course, with the exception of the politicians on this stage. But they have total control of the politicians. They're making a fortune. Get rid of the artificial lines and you will have......yourself great plans. And then we have to take care of the people that can't take care of themselves. And I will do that through a different system. +p4552 +aVI'm not -- I'm not are -- I don't think you heard me. You're having a hard time tonight. +p4553 +aVYou'd better believe it. +p4554 +aVIf I ask them, if I need them, you know, most of the people on this stage I've given to, just so you understand, a lot of money. +p4555 +aVMany of them. +p4556 +aVNot much. +p4557 +aVBut I... +p4558 +aVI have good... +p4559 +aVGood. +p4560 +aVSounds good. Sounds good to me, Governor. I will tell you that our system is broken. I gave to many people, before this, before two months ago, I was a businessman. I give to everybody. When they call, I give. And do you know what? When I need something from them two years later, three years later, I call them, they are there for me. +p4561 +aVAnd that's a broken system. +p4562 +aVWell, I'll tell you what, with Hillary Clinton, I said be at my wedding and she came to my wedding. You know why? She didn't have a choice because I gave. I gave to a foundation that, frankly, that foundation is supposed to do good. I didn't know her money would be used on private jets going all over the world. It was. But... +p4563 +aVBecause I have used the laws of this country just like the greatest people that you read about every day in business have used the laws of this country, the chapter laws, to do a great job for my company, for myself, for my employees, for my family, et cetera. I have never gone bankrupt, by the way. I have never. But out of hundreds of deals... +p4564 +aVExcuse me. Excuse me. +p4565 +aVExcuse me, what am I saying? Out of hundreds of deals that I've done, hundreds, on four occasions I've taken advantage of the laws of this country, like other people. I'm not going to name their names because I'm not going to embarrass, but virtually every person that you read about on the front page of the business sections, they've used the law. The difference is, when somebody else uses those laws, nobody writes about it. When I use it, they say, "Trump, Trump, Trump." The fact is, I built a net worth of more than $10 billion. I have a great, great company. I employ thousands of people. And I'm very proud of the job I did. Again Chris, hundreds and hundreds of deals. Four times, I've taken advantage of the laws. And frankly, so has everybody else in my position. +p4566 +aVWell, I... +p4567 +aVLet me just tell you about the lenders. First of all, these lenders aren't babies. These are total killers. These are not the nice, sweet little people that you think, OK? You know, I mean you're living in a world of the make-believe, Chris, you want to know the truth. And I had the good sense to leave Atlantic City, which by the way, Caesars just went bankrupt. Every company, Chris can tell you, every company virtually in Atlantic City went bankrupt. Every company. And let me just tell you. I had the good sense, and I've gotten a lot of credit in the financial pages, seven years ago I left Atlantic City before it totally cratered, and I made a lot of money in Atlantic City, and I'm very proud of it. I want to tell you that. Very, very proud of it. +p4568 +aVAnd by the way, this country right now owes $19 trillion. And they need somebody like me to straighten out that mess. +p4569 +aVI don't think they like me very much. I'll tell you what. I've evolved on many issues over the years. And you know who else has? Is Ronald Reagan evolved on many issues. And I am pro-life. And if you look at the question, I was in business. They asked me a question as to pro-life or choice. And I said if you let it run, that I hate the concept of abortion. I hate the concept of abortion. And then since then, I've very much evolved. And what happened is friends of mine years ago were going to have a child, and it was going to be aborted. And it wasn't aborted. And that child today is a total superstar, a great, great child. And I saw that. And I saw other instances. And I am very, very proud to say that I am pro-life. As far as being a Republican is concerned, I come from a place, New York City, which is virtually, I mean, it is almost exclusively Democrat. And I have really started to see some of the negatives -- as an example, and I have a lot of liking for this man, but the last number of months of his brother's administration were a catastrophe. And unfortunately, those few months gave us President Obama. And you can't be happy about that. +p4570 +aVFirst of all, Jeb, I am very happy that you denied that, and I appreciate that very much. He is a true gentleman. He really is. One thing he did say, and I mean that. The one thing he did say about me, however, was my tone. And I also understand that. But when you have people that are cutting Christians' heads off, when you have a world that the border and at so many places, that it is medieval times, we've never -- it almost has to be as bad as it ever was in terms of the violence and the horror, we don't have time for tone. We have to go out and get the job done. +p4571 +aVI would be so different from what you have right now. Like, the polar opposite. We have a president who doesn't have a clue. I would say he's incompetent, but I don't want to do that because that's not nice. But if you look at the deals we make, whether it's the nuclear deal with 24 hour periods -- and by the way, before you get to the 24 hours, you have to go through a system. You look at Sgt. Bergdahl, we get Bergdahl, a traitor, and they get five of the big, great killers leaders that they want. We have people in Washington that don't know what they're doing. Now... I agree. Now, with Iran, we're making a deal, you would say, we want him. We want out our prisoners. We want all these things, and we don't get anything. We're giving them $150 billion dollars plus, they are going to be -- I'll tell you what, if Iran was a stock, you folks should go out and buy it right now because you'll quadruple -- this, what's happening in Iran, is a disgrace, and it's going to lead to destruction in large portions of the world. +p4572 +aVOur country is in serious trouble. We don't win anymore. We don't beat China in trade. We don't beat Japan, with their millions and millions of cars coming into this country, in trade. We can't beat Mexico, at the border or in trade. We can't do anything right. Our military has to be strengthened. Our vets have to be taken care of. We have to end Obamacare, and we have to make our country great again, and I will do that. Thank you. +p4573 +aVWell, I can say this. If the president, and if I were president now, I would certainly want to try and nominate a justice. I'm sure that, frankly, I'm absolutely sure that President Obama will try and do it. I hope that our Senate is going to be able \u2014 Mitch, and the entire group, is going to be able to do something about it. In times of delay, we could have a Diane Sykes, or you could have a Bill Pryor \u2014 we have some fantastic people. But this is a tremendous blow to conservatism. It's a tremendous blow, frankly, to our country. +p4574 +aV... I think he's going to do it whether or I'm O.K. with it or not. I think it's up to Mitch McConnell and everybody else to stop it. It's called delay, delay, delay. +p4575 +aVWhat we want to do, when we want to do it, and how hard do we want to hit? Because we are going to have to hit very, very hard to knock out +p4576 +aV... called me a genius, I like him so far, I have to tell you. Let me just tell you this. Jeb is so wrong. Jeb is absolutely self \u2014 just so you understand, you know what that is? That's Jeb's special interest and lobbyist talking. Look, let me just tell you something, Jeb \u2014 Jeb is so wrong. You got to fight +p4577 +aV... You'll end up with World War III... +p4578 +aV... We're supporting troops... +p4579 +aV... that we don't even know who they are. +p4580 +aV... We're supporting troops that we don't even know who they are... +p4581 +aVWe have no idea who they are. +p4582 +aV... Oh, yeah, yeah... +p4583 +aV... Let 44 million in New Hampshire, it was practically ... +p4584 +aV... 44 million \u2014 give me a break. +p4585 +aVFirst of all, I have to say, as a businessman, I get along with everybody. I have business all over the world. I know so many of the people in the audience. And by the way, I'm a self-funder. I don't have \u2014 I have my wife and I have my son. That's all I have. I don't have this. So let me just tell you, I get along with everybody, which is my obligation to my company, to myself, et cetera. Obviously, the war in Iraq was a big, fat mistake. All right? Now, you can take it any way you want, and it took \u2014 it took Jeb Bush, if you remember at the beginning of his announcement, when he announced for president, it took him five days. He went back, it was a mistake, it wasn't a mistake. It took him five days before his people told him what to say, and he ultimately said, "It was a mistake." The war in Iraq, we spent $2 trillion, thousands of lives, we don't even have it. Iran has taken over Iraq, with the second-largest oil reserves in the world. Obviously, it was a mistake. +p4586 +aVGeorge Bush made a mistake. We can make mistakes. But that one was a beauty. We should have never been in Iraq. We have destabilized the Middle East. +p4587 +aVYou do whatever you want. You call it whatever you want. I want to tell you. They lied. They said there were weapons of mass destruction, there were none. And they knew there were none. There were no weapons of mass destruction. +p4588 +aVI'm being nice. +p4589 +aVHe spent $22 million in... +p4590 +aVThe World Trade Center came down during your brother's reign, remember that. +p4591 +aVThat's not keeping us safe. +p4592 +aVShe should be running. +p4593 +aVHow did he keep us safe when the World Trade Center \u2014 the World \u2014 excuse me. I lost hundreds of friends. The World Trade Center came down during the reign of George Bush. He kept us safe? That is not safe. That is not safe, Marco. That is not safe. +p4594 +aVAnd George Bush \u2014 by the way, George Bush had the chance, also, and he didn't listen to the advice of his C.I.A. +p4595 +aVI don't want to go. +p4596 +aVYes. +p4597 +aVFirst of all, the \u2014 when you say I'm the only candidate, if you listen to the Democrats, they want to do many things to Social Security, and I want to do them on its own merit. You listen to them, what they want to do to Social Security, none of these folks are getting elected, O.K., whether they can do it or not. I'm going to save Social Security. I'm going to bring jobs back from China. I'm going to bring jobs back from Mexico and from Japan, where they're all \u2014 every country throughout the world \u2014 now Vietnam, that's the new one. They are taking our jobs. They are taking our wealth. They are taking our base. And you and I have had this discussion. We're going to make our economy strong again. I'm lowering taxes. We have $2.5 trillion offshore. We have 2.5 trillion that I think is actually five trillion because the government has no idea when they say 2.5, they have no idea what they're doing or saying, as they've proven very well. We're going to bring that money back. You take a look at what happened just this week. China bought the Chicago Stock Exchange, China, a Chinese company. Carrier is moving to Mexico, air conditioning company. Not only the ones I talk about all the time, Nabisco and Ford and \u2014 they're all moving out. We have an economy that last quarter, G.D.P. didn't grow. It was flat. We have to make our economy grow again. We're dying. This country is dying. And our workers are losing their jobs, and you're going... +p4598 +aVI'm the only one who is going to save Social Security, believe me. +p4599 +aVBecause you have tremendous waste. I'll tell you... +p4600 +aVYou have tremendous waste, fraud and abuse. That we're taking care of. That we're taking care of. It's tremendous. We have in Social Security right now thousands and thousands of people that are over 106 years old. Now, you know they don't exist. They don't exist. There's tremendous waste, fraud and abuse, and we're going to get it. But we're not going to hurt the people who have been paying into Social Security their whole life and then all of a sudden they're supposed to get less. We're bringing our jobs back. We're going to make our economy great again. +p4601 +aVI want everybody taken care of, but we have to take care of our people in this country. We're not taking care of our people. We have no border. We have no control. People are flooding across. We can't have it. We either have a border, and I'm very strongly \u2014 I'm not proposing. I will build a wall. I will build a wall. Remember this, the wall will be paid for by Mexico. We are not being treated right. We are not being treated properly. If we don't have borders, if we don't have strength, we don't have a country. People are flowing across. We have to take care of our people. Believe me. +p4602 +aVLook......When I announced that I was running for president on June 16th, illegal immigration wasn't even a subject. If I didn't bring it up, we wouldn't even be talking. Now, I don't often agree with Marco, and I don't often agree with Ted, but I can in this case. The weakest person on this stage by far on illegal immigration is Jeb Bush. They come out of an act of love, whether you like it or not. He is so weak on illegal immigration it's laughable, and everybody knows it. +p4603 +aV... Spend a little more money on the commercials... +p4604 +aV. I don't know what you're talking about. +p4605 +aV... I never called him \u2014 I don't call him.. +p4606 +aVHe also said about language... +p4607 +aV... Language. Two days ago he said he would take his pants off and moon everybody, and that's fine. Nobody reports that. He gets up and says that, and then he tells me, oh, my language was a little bit rough... +p4608 +aV... My language. Give me a break... +p4609 +aV... You did say it, you did say it. Been reported in 10 different news... +p4610 +aVOr a tax. +p4611 +aVI would build consensus with Congress, and Congress would agree with me. I'll give you an example, because I don't like the idea of using executive orders like our president. It is a disaster what he's doing. I would build consensus, but consensus means you have to work hard. You have to cajole. You have to get them into the Oval Office and get them all together, and you have to make deals. Let me just tell you, I mentioned before, China \u2014 big Chinese company bought the Chicago Exchange. Kerry is moving \u2014 and if you saw the people, because they have a video of the announcement that Carrier is moving to Mexico, O.K.? Well, I'll tell you what. I would go right now to Carrier and I would say I am going to work awfully hard. You're going to make air conditioners now in Mexico. You're going to get all of these 1,400 people that are being laid off \u2014 they're laid off. They were crying. They were \u2014 it was a very sad situation. You're going to go to Mexico. You're going to make air conditioners in Mexico, you're going to put them across our border with no tax. I'm going to tell them right now, I am going to get consensus from Congress and we're going to tax you when those air conditioners come. So stay where you are or build in the United States, because we are killing ourselves with trade pacts that are no good for us and no good for our workers. +p4612 +aVJohn, in life you have flexibility. You do have flexibility. When you're fighting wars, you're going one way, you have a plan. It's a beautiful plan. It can't lose. The enemy makes a change, and all of a sudden you have to change. You have to have flexibility. In Ronald Reagan, though, in terms of what we're talking about, was the great example. He was a somewhat liberal Democrat who became a somewhat, pretty strong conservative. He became \u2014 most importantly, he became a great president. He made many of the changes that I've made \u2014 I mean, I've seen as I grew up, I've seen, and as I get older and wiser, and I feel that I am a conservative. Now, I also feel I'm a common-sense conservative, because some of the views I don't agree with. And I think a lot of people agree with me, obviously, based on what's happening. +p4613 +aVWell, I think these people always hit me with eminent domain, and frankly, I'm not in love with eminent domain. But eminent domain is something you need very strongly. When Jeb had said, "You used eminent domain privately for a parking lot." It wasn't for a parking lot. The state of New Jersey \u2014 too bad Chris Christie is not here, he could tell you \u2014 the state of New Jersey went to build a very large tower that was going to employ thousands of people. I mean, it was going to really do a big job in terms of economic development. Now, just so you understand, I got hit very hard. It's private, it's private eminent domain. You understand that they took over a stadium in Texas, and they used private eminent domain, but he just found that out after he made the charge. +p4614 +aVYeah. Well, Jeb wouldn't have known about it. +p4615 +aVYou shouldn't have used it then, Jeb. +p4616 +aVThank you very much, I appreciate it. +p4617 +aVYou probably are worse than Jeb Bush. You are single biggest liar. This guy's lied \u2014 let me just tell you, this guy lied about Ben Carson when he took votes away from Ben Carson in Iowa, and he just continues. Today, we had robo-calls saying, "Donald Trump is not going to run in South Carolina," where I'm leading by a lot. I'm not going to vote for Ted Cruz. This is the same thing he did to Ben Carson. This guy will say anything, nasty guy. Now I know why he doesn't have one endorsement from any of his colleagues. +p4618 +aVHe's a nasty guy. +p4619 +aVWhere did I support it? Where did I... +p4620 +aVAgain, where did I support it? +p4621 +aVHey Ted, where I support it? +p4622 +aVWhere did I support? +p4623 +aVThat's a lot of lies. +p4624 +aVIt does do wonderful things, but not as it relates to abortion. +p4625 +aVExcuse me. Excuse me, there are wonderful things having to do with women's health. +p4626 +aVBut not when it comes to abortion. +p4627 +aVHold on... +p4628 +aVTed Cruz told your brother that he wanted John Roberts to be on the United States Supreme Court. They both pushed him, he twice approved Obamacare. +p4629 +aVO.K., governor. +p4630 +aVYou pushed him. You pushed him. +p4631 +aVYou worked with him and you pushed him. Why do you lie? +p4632 +aVWhy do you lie? +p4633 +aVYou pushed him. +p4634 +aVYeah, yeah, I know, you're an adult. +p4635 +aVWell, I would say my wife tells me I'm wrong all the time. And I listen. +p4636 +aVOh, let me just say \u2014 look, I am very open \u2014 I hired top people. I've had great success. I built a great, great company. I don't need to do this. I'm self-funding. I'm spending a lot of money. I've spent \u2014 like in New Hampshire, I spent $3 million. Jeb bush spent $44 million. He came in five, and I came in No. 1. That's what the country needs, folks. I spent 3, he spends 42 of their money, of special interest money. And it's just \u2014 this is not going to make \u2014 excuse me. This is not going to make our country great again. This is not what we need in our country. We need people that know what the hell they're doing. And politicians, they're all talk, they're no action. And that's why people are supporting me. I do listen to people. I hire experts. I hire top, top people. And I do listen. And you know what? Sometimes they're wrong. You have to know what to do, when to do it. But sometimes they're wrong. +p4637 +aVWell, I'll tell you \u2014 over the years, I've made many speeches. People have asked me, big companies have asked me to make speeches, and friends of mine that run big companies on success. And occasion, in order to sort of really highlight something, I'll use a profanity. One of the profanities that I got credited with using, that I didn't use, was a very bad word, two weeks ago, that I never used. I said, "You." And everybody said "Oh, he didn't say anything wrong." But you bleeped it, so everyone thinks I said the \u2014 I didn't say anything. I never said the word. It is very unfair, that criticism. Now, I will say this, with all of that being said, I have said I will not do it at all, because if I say a word that's a little bit off color, a little bit, it ends up being a headline. I will not do it again. I was a very good student at a great school not using \u2014 by the way \u2014 not using profanity is very easy. +p4638 +aVThat's not \u2014 let me respond. That's another lie. I never went bankrupt! +p4639 +aVNo, but it's another lie. +p4640 +aVNo, but it's another lie. This guy doesn't know what he's talking about. Just a lie. +p4641 +aVLet me just tell you. Jeb goes around saying, just like the biggest business leaders in this country, I've used the laws of the land to chapter \u2014 I bought a company, I threw it immediately into a chapter, I made a great deal. I uses the laws to my benefit, because I run a company. +p4642 +aVExcuse me, Jeb! +p4643 +aVI never went bankrupt, never. Now \u2014 but you don't want to say that. Now, let me just say, I've used it, just like the biggest leaders in the country. Let me tell you something \u2014 Florida. Florida, he put so much debt on Florida. You know, we keep saying he's a wonderful governor, wonderful governor. He put so much debt on Florida, and he increased spending so much that as soon as he got out of office, Florida crashed. I happened to be there. It's my second home. Florida crashed. He didn't do a good job as governor. +p4644 +aVAnd you haven't \u2014 excuse me, you haven't heard that. You listen to the good record in Florida. You take a look at what happened, as soon as that year ended he got out, Florida crashed. Too much debt. He loaded it up with debt, and his spending went through the roof. +p4645 +aVBy the way... +p4646 +aV... he was not a good governor. +p4647 +aVTake a look at your numbers. +p4648 +aVFlorida went down the tubes right after he got out of office. +p4649 +aVWent right down because of what he did to it. +p4650 +aVThank you. Politicians are all talk, no action. You've seen where they've take you to. We are 19 trillion dollars right now. It's going to be increased with that horrible budget from a month ago that was just approved by politicians. We need a change. We need a very big change. We're going to make our country great again. I say this every night, every day, every afternoon, and it's so true \u2014 we don't win anymore. We don't win with health care, we don't win with +p4651 +asVPATAKI +p4652 +(lp4653 +VThank you, Wolf. I want to speak to you this evening not as a Republican or a presidential candidate, but as an American. As we saw today in L.A., we are at a crisis in our country. Radical Islam poses a threat to our safety not just overseas, but literally in every community in America. And yet at a time when we should be united, we have a president who has divided us, who refuses to call radical Islam what it is, let alone have a coherent strategy to defeat it. The leading Democrat, Hillary Clinton, won't call +p4654 +aVAbsolutely. It's one of many absurd things this President has said. To target a religion and say that regardless of whether you're an American soldier who has fought on our side or allies we have overseas, simply because of your religion we're going to ban you is un-American, it is unconstitutional and it is wrong. And by the way, Wolf, now there was a group that tried to do that 150 to 160 years ago, they were called the Know-Nothing Party. They wanted to ban Catholics. They thought they were going to destroy America. Well, Donald Trump is the Know-Nothing candidate of the 21st century and cannot be our nominee. By the way, though. I fault Hillary and Obama as well because by not distinguishing between Muslims and radicalized Jihadists, by refusing to acknowledge that it's radical Muslim, radical Islamists who are carrying out these attacks against America \u2014 they let Americans who are confused and angry lump everyone together. We have to embrace the Muslims who embrace our freedom and living and safety. We have to destroy those who embrace Jihad and want to engage in violence against us here or abroad. +p4655 +aVYes. +p4656 +aVYou know, I think it's very important that we do everything in our power to prevent radicalization of Americans right here. And it is happening, not just overseas, but it's happening here from Mosques on social media. And truth \u2014 interaction and community meetings. New York police department had a very active group, aggressively monitoring and using intelligence to \u2014 in certain Muslim communities, consistent with our constitution, consistent of our civil rights, so they could have the intelligence as to where these sermons are being given, and who is being radicalized. And, they stopped and prevented dozens, and dozens of attacks in New York. You know, I'm a great believer in the First Amendment, of Freedom of Speech. I wish we had more of it on our college campuses, but you can't shout fire in a crowded theater. Calling on Americans to engage in violence against their fellow Americans in the name of jihad is crying fire in a crowded theater. It is not constitutionally protected speech, it should be shut down. And, by the way, the two murders who went to Garland, Texas to massacre many Americans before the Texas police officer courageously killed them, had been radicalized here. Getting to that metadata question, one of those terrorists, the day before the attacks, had sent......109 message to a known terrorist overseas. We could not read those messages, we can not read those today... +p4657 +aV...We have got to do far better. +p4658 +aVYes, Wolf. +p4659 +aVI would pass a law requiring them to do that. Let me just give you one example. I mentioned in Garland, Texas, where that murderer, that terrorist, the day before sent 109 messages overseas to a known terrorist. But they were encrypted. So to this date we don't know what that said. Companies are entitled to encrypt and protect their knowledge and their intelligence. But what we need is a back door for law enforcement to be able, when they can establish that that communication poses a risk to our safety and engages in terrorism, to get a court order and go in and access those communications. Allow the companies to continue encryption, provide an entry way for law enforcement when they can prove to a court that there is a sufficient risk of an attack upon us that they have the right to look at those messages. +p4660 +aVAnd just one more thing, Wolf. When that murderer came from Pakistan to San Bernardino and committed those atrocious crimes just a few weeks ago, she applied for a visa. She had posted on social media jihadist messages. Because this administration is so politically correct, they have a rule that they cannot look at social media postings of people applying to come to the United States. That is utterly absurd. One of the things we must do, the next president must do is get rid of that law and make sure we do everything in our power to find out if someone poses a threat to our existence here. +p4661 +aVWolf, I think the answer is we have to send troops with allies and supporters. Wherever it is necessary to destroy the training centers, recruitment centers, planning hubs of +p4662 +aVYes. +p4663 +aVYou know, I don't think it's a function of years of going after +p4664 +aVYou know, I don't want to see us occupy a country. I've been to Iraq a couple of times and Afghanistan. The first time I went, I had an uneasy feeling that when we went there we were liberators. But as we stayed ,we became occupiers. I saw American troops move into some of Saddam's old hideous marble palaces. And I thought that was exactly the wrong message. We do not have to occupy. We do not have to nation build and try to create a democracy where one hasn't existed. WE have to destroy +p4665 +aVI'm not sure \u2014 ally with which groups? I didn't quite catch that. +p4666 +aVNot at all. Iran is our enemy. They are the number one sponsor of state terror. The Iranian Deal is a disaster. And by the way, I don't think the next president has to aggregate it. It was never ratified by the Iranians. They have tested long-range ballistic missiles in violation of U.N. resolutions. They have broken the agreement. It is void. They can never have a nuclear weapon and should not get relief. With respect to the other groups, like Hezbollah, of course we should not work with them. I'll tell you who we should work with in Syria. There are two groups. One are the PYD, the \u2014 the Kurds in Syria who led the defense of Kobani, and are in northern and eastern Syria and anti- +p4667 +aVI could create... +p4668 +aVI would create the no-fly zone, and let me tell you, something very simply. Putin is a bully, and the most important and effective thing you can do to a bully is punch him in the face. Create a no-fly zone. If Russian planes violate that space, either us, or the Turks, should shoot them down to keep our word. And, I guarantee you that Putin would back off. Bullies, when you stand up to them, back down. We have had, under Obama, and under Hillary as Secretary of State, nothing but weakness in the face of Russia, whether it was in the Crimea, whether it was in Ukraine, or now in the Middle East. I would give the Ukrainians lethal weapons so they could defend themselves. I would create the no-fly zone, and if Russian planes flew into it in violation of what we have declared, yes. +p4669 +aVI could create... +p4670 +aVI would create the no-fly zone, and let me tell you, something very simply. Putin is a bully, and the most important and effective thing you can do to a bully is punch him in the face. Create a no-fly zone. If Russian planes violate that space, either us, or the Turks, should shoot them down to keep our word. And, I guarantee you that Putin would back off. Bullies, when you stand up to them, back down. We have had, under Obama, and under Hillary as Secretary of State, nothing but weakness in the face of Russia, whether it was in the Crimea, whether it was in Ukraine, or now in the Middle East. I would give the Ukrainians lethal weapons so they could defend themselves. I would create the no-fly zone, and if Russian planes flew into it in violation of what we have declared, yes. +p4671 +aVNo, I completely disagree with Rick. This is America. And we've made enormous progress. And I don't care if you're a man or a woman. I care if you're good and capable of doing the job. If you can do the job \u2014 don't lower standards, don't lower the criteria \u2014 but if a woman is capable of doing these jobs, there is no reason why we should deny a patriot who wants to serve and help defend our country that right. +p4672 +aVIt's not. +p4673 +aVNo, you said you would reverse the policy which excluded women from those jobs whether or not they were able to do that. That is wrong. +p4674 +aVAh. +p4675 +aVYes, I think what Rick said is very different from what he said initially which was that, "he would reverse the policy that gave woman not the right but the opportunity to serve in combat." They can only do it if they're fit and capable and meet the same standards as men. And so, to reverse that policy and deny a woman who is prepared to risk her life to defend our freedom and is capable of doing everything a man could do is not the right thing for America in the 21st century. By the way, you see in Iraq, the Peshmerga, the Kurds ,many of their top fighters are women. This is the 21st century. We're not radical Islam. We want to give women the opportunity to do whatever they are capable of achieving in this country. +p4676 +aVOf course he's innocent until proven guilty. I happen to believe he's guilty. The military did a very clear and long study as to whether or not he deserted in the face of enemy and they are not court marshalling him. I don't think he should executed. I do think he will have a fair military trial, not a civilian trial, at which time, assuming he's found guilty as I think he would, he will be sentenced appropriately. But there's a bigger issue here, this administration has failed to protect us because they have treated radical Islamists as Americans who should be tried in civil court. That is ridiculous. They are enemy aliens engaged in terror against Americans. And by the way, the fact that this president is now threatening to close Guantanamo Bay when we know that time after time, terrorists he released are involved in a high level capacity helping +p4677 +aVYou know, again, it comes down to something that, as Mike said, breaks your heart. We clearly want to get them back. But the idea that by taking a journalist, for example, and holding him hostage in Iran, they're going to be able to get some of their terrorist leaders back, is simply bad policy. Israel has shown the way on this in rejecting hostage exchanges such as this and then not paying ransom. But, by the way, Mike is absolutely right. We have to do more to protect our people overseas, but then we also have to do more to help our veterans when they come back here today. We haven't talked about that. But more talking about defeating terrorism, one of the things we have to do is give our veterans the support and help that they require. What has happened at the VA is a disgrace. Give our veterans a medical card that they can use to get the best quality care anywhere, including outside of the VA system. +p4678 +aVAnd that \u2014 but that was involved in combat, where they were actually involved in a war against each other and exchanged prisoners. We have not been in a war with Iran. They have taken civilians as hostages. It's a totally different situation. And we cannot encourage them to do any more of that. +p4679 +aVYou know, I think what I said earlier is that I would create a no-fly zone in Syria. Turkey just agreed to take 3 million more Syrian refugees. The EU just came up with a funding program to provide camps for Syrian refugees, but I would also create that no-fly zone where refugees can be there. I have to say I agree with Rick, because this President is talking about taking 10,000 people from Syria, who we cannot vet. This administration, allegedly, vetted the woman who carried out the attacks in San Bernardino and never found out that she had a false address and was on social media talking about radical Jihad. Coming from Syria, it's impossible to do that check. And we know, by the way, that +p4680 +aVThank you. This debate has been about terrorism and appropriately so. I'm proud to have been governor of New York on September 11th and have led our state through and during the aftermath of that horrible attack. I vowed then that if I ever had the chance to lead this country, I would do everything in my power to make sure that Americans were safe. But I also saw a positive from that. New Yorkers and the American people came together and vowed that we weren't just going to defend ourselves. We were not going to live in fear. We were going to rise to new heights and celebrate our freedom. Come to Lower Manhattan today. You will see a magnificent tribute to those who died, the memorial and the museum. You will also see a new tower soaring 1,776 feet tall, the Freedom Tower, a symbol of our freedom, a symbol of our belief that as a free people we can soar to new heights. Give us the chance to unite Americans, not just Republicans. And this country's future is unlimited. +p4681 +aVWe need an outsider to run our party and to win the next election. Washington has become a corrupt insider game and everybody talks about how they're going to change the taxes, grow the economy. Nothing seems to change. But, by the way, Bobby, I shrunk the size of New York State's government when I left. We had reduced the employment by over 25,000 and cut taxes. But I understand that to change Washington you have to understand government as well. You can't just be an outsider. You can't just be someone who throws stones at Washington. You have to be someone who can actually bring people together across party lines. I can do that, I will do that if I have the chance to lead this party. +p4682 +aVBecky, can I comment on this question? +p4683 +aV...John, can I quickly comment on this one... +p4684 +aV...But, I want to speak on this issue... +p4685 +aV...I think it was a bad deal, but I would have voted for it for a very simple reason. Barack Obama is the first president in American history to hold our military hostage. He knew that we needed funding for overseas contingency operations, $40 million dollars that would go to support our troops. And, he was prepared, and had vetoed it, unless this deal went through. I have two sons, they both served overseas. One in Iraq, and one in Afghanistan, and I understand that we have got to do far more to help our military, help our veterans, and help protect our security. This is a bad deal, but to protect our military, I would have signed it. Uh, it's not going to be the case, if I have a chance to lead this country, we're going to reduce the deficit, shrink the government, lower the tax burden and grow the private sector because that's how you solve deficits. +p4686 +aVThank you. +p4687 +aVNo, I don't think we need a military response, but we need a coordinated response. And I have to say that I think the Obama administration has been completely lax, to say the least, in dealing with these cyber-attacks, not just by governments like North Korea, but by, particularly, Chinese and other companies. And what I would do is put in place a policy where if we know a company, say, a Chinese company, is hacking into American companies, stealing trade secrets, as we know they do every day, we will retaliate against that company and say that that company's not going to be allowed to continue to do trade with the United States. I would also look at what we're doing at the federal level and put in place what Israel has done: a \u2014 one federal agency dealing with cybersecurity and charged with working across silos to make sure we have the best technology. And, Jim, I've gotta tell you something, talking about cybersecurity. Hillary Clinton put a server, an unsecure server, in her home as secretary of state. We have no doubt that that was hacked, and that state secrets are out there to the Iranians, the Russians, the Chinese and others. That alone should disqualify her from being president of the United States. +p4688 +aVI think they have gone too far. I think we've seen Wall Street really blossom and do very well while the rest of the country is struggling, and it's because we have this corrupt connection between Wall Street and Washington. And, John, you were just talking about what loopholes would you get rid of. I would get rid of virtually every single one of them. They cost American taxpayers $1.4 trillion a year. I would throw them all out. +p4689 +aVNo, I wouldn't. I was going to say... +p4690 +aV...no, I would keep \u2014 first, yes, but what I would do is ii would lower the tax on manufacturing to the lowest in the developed world \u2014 12 percent. We all have plans. I have a plan. We all have plans. My plan, the Tax Foundation said, would create five and a half million new jobs over the next decade. The difference, though, is I will get my plan enacted because, when I was governor of New York, I passed sweeping tax code \u2014 cuts in a Democratic state with a Democratic legislature. I \u2014 you know, Bobby, you're talking about your tax cuts? I cut taxes more than everybody on this stage, more than everybody on the next stage, combined. By more than the other 49 states, in New York state. I don't just have a plan. I will enact tax cuts, get rid of those loopholes and make the system fairer for all Americans. +p4691 +aVThank you. +p4692 +aVLet me \u2014 let me try to get a word in edgewise. +p4693 +aVIn Washington, they talk over each other... +p4694 +aVYes. Very simply, you guys talk over each other in Washington all the time. I'm not used to that. I listen when people talk. We have a skills gap. You mentioned the construction company. The construction industry says one of their biggest problems are they can't find the craftsmen to do the work. What we have to... +p4695 +aV\u2014 do in America is honor blue collar work again. We have to honor the carpenter, the plumber, the electrician, who can actually build something and instead of just saying that a college degree live \u2014 delivers prestige, let's celebrate those who do things with their hands and elevate their skills using training in high school and community... +p4696 +aV\u2014 colleges so that we can... +p4697 +aV\u2014 have a better quality workforce that we honor... +p4698 +aV\u2014 as they build America's future. +p4699 +aVThank you. +p4700 +aVThank you. +p4701 +aVHey, Rick. +p4702 +aVI'm doing great. +p4703 +aVNot at all. +p4704 +aVNo, I don't support it. But let me go back a little bit here. We need to grow our economy faster. We've had the worst economic recovery since the Great Depression. And it's because of policy in Washington and policy at the Fed. And let me go back to Washington. In 2009 \u2014 +p4705 +aVJohn, no question Barack Obama inherited a economic disaster in 2009. But what did he do? Instead of focusing on pro-growth policies in the economy, he rammed through ObamaCare, the worst law of my lifetime, that hurt small businesses, hurt companies, raised taxes and almost completely eliminated one industry because of its taxes. The Fed had to act. And the Fed did act and appropriately in reducing interest rates but they've reduced them now for seven straight years, that's never happened before. They've been zero for way too long. They should raise the rates; the Fed should get out of manipulating the market and the Fed also, by the way, should reduce its balance sheet, $2.7 trillion. Let some of those bonds mature and put the money back in the banking system so our economy can grow. +p4706 +aVYeah, absolutely. I \u2014 one of the things that troubles me about the Republican Party is too often we question science that everyone accepts. I mean, it's ridiculous that, in the 21st century, we're questioning whether or not vaccines are the appropriate way to go. Of course they are. And it's also not appropriate to think that human activity, putting CO2 into the atmosphere, doesn't make the earth warmer. All things being equal, it does. It's uncontroverted. I think part of the problem is that Republicans think about climate change, say, "oh my God, we're gonna have higher taxes, more Obama, more big government, the EPA shutting down factories." That's not the solution that I see. I want Republicans to embrace innovation and technology. You know, there's one country in the world that has fewer greenhouse gas emissions than the rest of \u2014 of the world. You know what that is? The United States. Our emissions are lower than they were in 1995. Not because of a \u2014 of a government program, but because of fracking, private sector creation... +p4707 +aV...replace coal plants \u2014 government's roles \u2014 is to incentivize innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit in America. We could have far more clean energy. We could have next-generation nuclear, thorium reactors that have no risk of meltdown. We could have solar panels on every home that are four times more efficient than today. +p4708 +aVR&D \u2014 R&D credits. Let the private sector do this, develop this innovation. And not only would we solve our problems, we would have clean energy, cheaper energy here. We could export those technologies to places like China and like India so we would grow our economy, have a far greater impact globally, have a secure domestic source of energy, and cleaner, healthier air. That's the solution. Embrace science, embrace innovation and change. +p4709 +aVThe one I use the most is Uber. You know, I used to get driven......when I was governor, I had a driver. I don't anymore, but.... And it's an example of what millennials are doing to change America for the better. And I tweet a lot, too. So Uber, Tweet \u2014 Twitter and then I communicate with my family. +p4710 +aVI \u2014 I am a long suffering Jets fan. So my answer is obviously no, there's no reason to take off the day after the Super Bowl. But let me just add this. The Mets are going to win tonight. Let's go, Mets. +p4711 +aVThank you for the opportunity to be with this great audience tonight. I'm a limited government conservative and I mean by that that not just when it comes to economic issues leaving them to the state, but social issues, as well. And in that I differ from every single other candidate seeking the Republican nomination. I take the Tenth Amendment very, very seriously. I'm a Republican who embraces science and understands we have to work with the next generation of millennials to have the innovation and technology so that we can grow a 21st century economy. And I'm a Republican who understands in Washington, when you're a leader, you have to put aside partisan politics to do what's right for the people. We are one America. If we work together across party lines, there's no problem we can't solve and the 21st century will be America's greatest century. Thank you very much. +p4712 +aVThank you, Jake. Hi, I'm George Pataki, and I am honored to be here this afternoon with all of you at the Reagan Library. You know, when I think of Ronald Reagan, I think of his tremendous smile, a smile that reflected his optimism and his unending belief and faith in America and in Americans. And it was that belief in America that led to a great presidency, a presidency that led to decades of safety, security and prosperity for America. That's exactly the type of leadership we need in Washington today and that's why I'm running for President of the United States. Thank you. +p4713 +aVNo. Hugh, not at all. I have not broken the pledge because Donald Trump is not going to be the Republican nominee, period, flat out, I guarantee you that. I would vote... +p4714 +aV-- for the Republican nominee... +p4715 +aVHe's not going to be the nominee. +p4716 +aVHe's not going to be the nominee, Hugh. And let me just say one word here. This is an important election with an enormous number of challenges facing the American people. And the first four questions are about Donald Trump. +p4717 +aVNo, I would not vote for Hillary Clinton. +p4718 +aVNo, I will vote for the Republican nominee. But let me say this flat out, Donald Trump is unfit to be president of the United States or the Republican Party's nominee. Look at what he did in Atlantic City. He says he's going to make America great again? He invested four casinos in Atlantic City and he said, essentially, I'm going to make Atlantic City great again. Every one of those casinos went bankrupt. Over 5,000 Americans lost their job. And you know people who, in this difficult economic time, have lost their job and the pain that causes. He didn't lose anything, 5,000 lost their jobs. He will do for America what he did for Atlantic City and that is not someone we will nominate. +p4719 +aVThank you. +p4720 +aVOK. All right. Thank you. +p4721 +aVYeah, it's a small part of a very important issue, and let me comment on what my colleagues were saying here. We all agree you have to secure the border. We have to make sure that people come to America legally. That has got to be step one. Step two is, we have to stop releasing criminals into the communities. If you are charged with a crime as an illegal alien, you should either be in jail or be deported. You should not released, as the Obama administration has done. Of course, we should outlaw sanctuary cities and hold them responsible. But we can't ignore 11 million people who are here. What are we going to do? We're not going to send them back, despite somebody saying we're going to drag kids out of classrooms and send them back. But we have to send a message that we are a nation that depends on the rule of law, and when your first act is to break the law, there has to be a consequence. So what I would do is require those who want to have legal status, not citizenship, come forward, acknowledge they broke the law, and if they do it again, they can be immediately deported, and then do what we do in communities across America when we want to sanction someone... +p4722 +aV... and that is community service -- 200 hours working in a hospital... +p4723 +aV... working in a school, and then they could have legal... +p4724 +aVI don't -- I don't think that we should tell that child born in America that we're going to send them back. The way to avoid that is to have an intelligent immigration policy where we know who is coming here, why they are coming here, so we don't have this flood of people coming here for the wrong reasons. +p4725 +aVWe have to deal with the people who are here illegally. We can't just ignore them, or send them back. I think my policy would work to give them legal status, make them a part of an economy that will grow, and help America. +p4726 +aVLindsey, let me comment on this. Last week was the anniversary of September 11th and I was governor of New York on September 11th and led us through that horrible day. And I learned that we cannot assume that because radical Islam is a continent away, it doesn't pose a threat to us here in America. It did then, and today, I think, we are at greater risk of an attack than at any time since. We have got to destroy +p4727 +aVJake... +p4728 +aVJake, if I can comment on this. Yes, Kim Davis is different from Islamist radicalists from the Middle East. But on the other hand, we have run rule in America, an elected official can't say I'm not going to follow that law if it conflicts with my beliefs. I think she should have been fired and if she worked for me, I would have fired her. We have to uphold the rule of law. +p4729 +aVImagine one minute -- Jake, imagine one minute that was a Muslim who said I don't believe in gay marriage, and refused to perform that wedding. We wouldn't have had that outrage. There's a place where religion supersedes the rule of law. It's called Iran. It shouldn't be the United States. +p4730 +aVMy response is kind of, "Wow." You know, we're going to have a president who defies the Supreme Court because they don't agree? +p4731 +aVThen you don't have the rule of law... +p4732 +aVThe -- the elected representatives of the people always have the opportunity to change that law. The Supreme Court makes a determination, but it's ultimately the elected officials who decide whether or not that would be accepted. By the way, if I have a chance to lead this country, I will appoint judges who understand their role. They're not going to be making the law; they're going to be interpreting law that the elected officials passed. +p4733 +aVBut there's a huge difference between an individual standing up and saying I am going to stand for my religious freedom and my religious rights. I applaud that. This is America. You should be able to engage in your religious belief in the way you see fit. But when you are an elected official and you take an oath of office to uphold the law, all the laws, you cannot pick and choose or you no longer have a society that depends on the rule of law. +p4734 +aVYes, I -- I didn't agree with the Supreme Court's decision, but it is the law of this land. And I am a great admirer of Martin Luther King. And he was prepared to break the law. But it wasn't in an office of political power. It was civil disobedience, where what he was willing to do is voluntarily go to jail with his followers to send a message to the elected representatives that these laws were wrong and had to be changed. And because of his courage, we didn't ignore the courts, we changed the laws and made America a better place. That's the way to do it. +p4735 +aVYes? +p4736 +aVI would throw out the entire corrupt tax code. It's a symbol of the corruption and the power of the lobbyists and the special interests in Washington. It is 74,000 pages of incomprehensible gobbledygook. What I would do is get rid of the 1.4 million every year in exemptions and loopholes, dramatically lower the rates. The normal American person is paying higher taxes than they should because of loopholes, and one of them is that carried interest loophole. I would tax that income the same as ordinary income. I'd lower the rate to 24 percent for all Americans, but I would not give a special break to the Wall Street fat caps -- fat cats. +p4737 +aVIt's hard for me to say I'm with Donald trump on anything, but on this issue, I agree with him. But let me just make one other point. It's not just throwing out the tax code to break the back of the special interests that control Washington. It's other reforms. I would propose a law -- right now there are over 400 former members of the House and Senate who are registered lobbyists in Washington. I would propose a law on day one, you serve one day in the House or Senate, there's a lifetime ban on you ever being a lobbyist in Washington, D.C. You get elected, you go back home. You don't stay and support the special interests. +p4738 +aVCan I just... +p4739 +aVNo, I would not. I would keep that deduction. I would lower the rates dramatically, so, yes, that root that has a special carve out would pay more, but everybody else is going to pay less. I would keep the home mortgage deduction, the charitable deduction, and others. And, by the way, you know, I agree with Rick on manufacturing, but my approach is different. I would pass a rate on manufacturing of 12 percent, the lowest in the developed world so we can make this America again. I know how important those jobs are. When I work -- went through college, Christmas and summer vacations, I worked in a factory. My grandparents worked in a factory. We have the opportunity now with lower energy costs, with the world labor cost getting higher, to make things in America so we don't have to worry about China. Lower the tax burden on manufacturing, improve the work skills... +p4740 +aV...of Americans. Get rid of job killing regulations. If we're going to... +p4741 +aV...If we're going to make this America... +p4742 +aVNot on the table but I think there's a lot that does work. And that is to have a strong America, a strong military and a resolve where the Iranians know that not only are we going to reject this deal on day one and reimpose sanctions but, if they move forward with the nuclear program, their safety for those facilities will be at risk. I'll tell you a couple of things I'd do. I'd give the Israelis bombs called MOPs, massive ordnance penetrators. Give them to Israel. Let the Iranians know we're prepared to work with Israel to make sure they never have a nuclear weapon. And let me point out that Hillary Clinton, supporting this deal, she was the senator from New York on September 11th, she saw what happened at the hands of radical Islam. This is the senator who did the reset program with Russia, who allowed the Middle East to deteriorate to flames, who has lied about Benghazi and is now supporting the Iranian deal. That's the opponent we're going to have next November. We have got to win this election. Everything we say is wonderful. But we have to win and, once we win, we have to actually do what we say. I can do this. +p4743 +aVI think there are two things, Jake. Two things that we need as Republicans. First, we have to win the election. You're going to hear a lot of great ideas, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that. None of it matters unless you win the election. And the second is, once you win, you have to be able to govern successfully. You've heard a lot of fighting back and forth, you didn't get this done, you didn't get that done. That's the way Washington is today. You have to have a leader, a president, who will actually get a conservative agenda through. I'm running because I have done both those things, and I did them in one of the most liberal states in America. I got elected three times in the state of New York. Twice by the largest pluralities ever for a Republican. I ran as a Republican conservative. If I get the nomination, I will be able to get broad support and win this election, and take the White House back for our party. But more importantly, once I've won, I will put in place a sweeping conservative agenda. I did that in New York. Over $143 billion in tax cuts. More than the other 49 states combined. Taking one million people off welfare and putting them into jobs, in a state where the Democrats control the state assembly. +p4744 +aV103-47. I got them to support a conservative agenda. If I get elected president, I will make things work in Washington. +p4745 +aVFor the Republican party and for the United States. +p4746 +aVI think he means somebody who hasn't been a career politician, and who's been out of office for awhile. I think the last eight years in the private sector have allowed me to see government from the outside, and I think that is a positive thing. Yes, I thought about running four years ago. I was ready to lead, but I wasn't ready to run. But I look at this country today, and I look at how divided we are, I look at how politicians are always posturing and issuing sound bites but never solving problems. What I did in New York was bring people together, an overwhelmingly Democratic state. But I was able to get Democrats to support the most conservative sweeping policy changes in any state in America. And when I look at Washington today, we need to bring us together. We need to solve problems, we need to rebuild our military so we can stand up to radical Islam, we need to get our economy growing much faster by throwing out the corrupt tax code and lowering the rates. We have to end crony capitalism in Washington, where the lobbyists and the powerful can get tax breaks and tax credits, and the American people don't get laws in their interest. I can do that. And I can do it regardless of what the makeup of Congress is because I did it in New York state. So we need new leadership -- yes. I will be that new leader. Mac +p4747 +aVMartha, religious liberty doesn't include encouraging a fellow American to engage in violent jihad and kill an American here. That is not protected free speech. That is not protected religious belief. That is like shouting "fire" in a crowded theater, and that is illegal, and I would do everything in our power not just to go after those who are here who we know who are here, before they can radicalize other Americans to carry out attacks, and it's not just the ones they've arrested. Think back to Garland, Texas. But for that Texas police officer, we could have had a mass murder. We have to shut down their internet capability. We have to shut down, whether or not they're in prisons preaching or on -- in mosques preaching. No radical Islam that is allowed to engage in encouraging violence against Americans, that is not protected speech. Let me just add one thing about +p4748 +aVI think he is right. I don't think you expand entitlements when so many people are dependent on government and when the money the federal government is offering is going to be taken away from you after just a couple of years. But getting back to Martha's question about how we end dependency, do we have to have a cultural change? The answer is no. And I know this, because when I ran for governor of New York, one in 11 of every man, woman, and child in the state of New York was on welfare. On welfare. Think about that. And people said "you can't win, you can't change the culture." But I knew that good people who wanted to be a part of the American dream have become trapped in dependency because the federal government and the state government had made it in their economic interest not to take a job because the benefits that they didn't work were better. I changed that. We put in place mandatory work fair (ph). But we allowed people to keep health care. We put in place child care support. +p4749 +aVNo, it should be repealed. And by the way, when I left, there were over 1 million fewer people on welfare in New York state than when I took office... +p4750 +aV... replacing dependency with opportunity. +p4751 +aVYes. Mac +p4752 +aVMy heart has not changed, because I've always been appalled by abortion. I'm a Catholic, I believe life begins at conception. But as Bill said earlier, Roe v. Wade, it's has been the law for 42 years, and I don't think we should continue to try to change it. But we can do is defund Planned Parenthood, and by the way, put in place an absolute permanent ban on any taxpayer dollars ever being used to fund abortions. Also, when you look at these videos, they are horrific and show just a hideous disrespect for life. What else we can do is that we should believe in science. You know, Hillary Clinton's always saying how Republicans don't follow science? Well, they're the ones not listening to the scientists today, because doctors say that at 20 weeks that is a viable life inside the womb. And at that point, it's a life that we have the right to protect, and I think we should protect. So, I would pass legislation outlawing abortion after 20 weeks. It is Hillary, it is Biden, it is the others who insist on allowing abortion well into viable (inaudible) wrong, and that should be stopped. Mac +p4753 +aVBill, I defeated Mario Cuomo. In the first day in office, my first executive order, I revoked every one of the executive orders that he had -- he had enacted over the prior 12 years. I would do that to Barack Obama's executive orders. But I'd sign a second one, as I did in New York, as well, having a hard hiring freeze on adding new employees except for the military or defense-related positions. I'd sign that executive order. When I left the workforce, New York State had been reduced by over 15 percent. We can do that in Washington. I will do that in Washington. +p4754 +aVDivisive and with no vision. No vision at all. +p4755 +aVWith all the candidates, why me? My background is different. I look at Washington, and I hear the talk, and I see the promises and it seems nothing ever changes. Washington gets bigger, taxes get higher, and the American people feel more distance from our government. I have the opportunity not just to run, but to win in the deep blue state of New York three times. And not only did I win, but I then worked with a Democratic legislature to put in place the most sweeping conservative reforms of any state in America, taking us from the most dangerous state in America to the fourth safest; reducing our welfare rolls by over 1 million, and replacing over 700,000 private sector jobs. I can govern by bringing people together. And also, I've been tested in a way no one else has. I was governor on September 11th, and I'm proud of my leadership in bringing New York through that time. And when I left, we were stronger, we were safer, and we were more united than at any time in my lifetime. We need to bring people together in Washington. The talk has got to stop, the action has got to begin. People can promise you something, I delivered in the blue state of New York. I will deliver for the American people if I have the privilege of leading this country. +p4756 +asVCHRISTIE +p4757 +(lp4758 +VThank you Wolf. America has been betrayed. We've been betrayed by the leadership that Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton have provided to this country over the last number of years. Think about just what's happened today. The second largest school district in America in Los Angeles closed based on a threat. Think about the effect that, that's going to have on those children when they go back to school tomorrow wondering filled with anxiety to whether they're really going to be safe. Think about the mothers who will take those children tomorrow morning to the bus stop wondering whether their children will arrive back on that bus safe and sound. Think about the fathers of Los Angeles, who tomorrow will head off to work and wonder about the safety of their wives and their children. What is Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton done to this country? That the most basic responsibility of an administration is to protect the safety and security of the American people. I will tell you this, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I've fought terrorists and won and when we get back in the White House we will fight terrorists and win again and America will be safe. +p4759 +aVWolf, unfortunately, it's the new normal under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The fact is that if you listen to Hillary Clinton the other day, what she said to the American people was, as regards to +p4760 +aVListen, I want to talk to the audience at home for a second. If your eyes are glazing over like mine, this is what it's like to be on the floor of the United States Senate. I mean, endless debates about how many angels on the head of a pin from people who've never had to make a consequential decision in an executive position. The fact is, for seven years, I had to make these decisions after 9/11, make a decision about how to proceed forward with an investigation or how to pull back, whether you use certain actionable intelligence or whether not to. And yet they continue to debate about this bill and in the subcommittee and what \u2014 nobody in America cares about that. What they care about is, are we going to have a president who actually knows what they're doing to make these decisions? And for the seven years afterwards, New Jersey was threatened like no other region in this country and what we did was we took action within the constitution to make sure that law enforcement had all the information they needed. We prosecuted two of the biggest terrorism cases in the world and stopped Fort Dix from being attacked by six American radicalized Muslims from a Mosque in New Jersey because we worked with the Muslim American community to get intelligence and we used the Patriot Act to get other intelligence to make sure we did those cases. This is the difference between actually been a federal prosecutor, actually doing something, and not just spending your life as one of hundred debating it. Let's talk about how we do this, not about which bill, which one these guys like more. The American people don't care about that. +p4761 +aVWolf, you sit up here and you listen to this stuff, and you think that so many of these people have had so much to do in this national debate, they talk like they were bystanders. You know, we talk about our military being degraded over time, and yet we've had folks on this stage who've been a part of Congress who have participated in sequester; who participated in the degrading of this military over time. And that's why I think people get so frustrated with Washington, D.C. now. That's why they're so angry with the \u2014 the electorate is so angry with everybody who is involved in government in Washington, D.C. Because if you listen to the folks up here, you think that they weren't even there; they had nothing to do with this. This is a difference between being a governor and being in a legislature. See, because when something doesn't work in New Jersey, they look at me, say: "Why didn't it get done? Why didn't you do it?" You have to be responsible and accountable. And so on +p4762 +aVWell, I think we have to focus, Hugh, on exactly what the priorities are. And to me, what I've always said is that the president has set up an awful situation through his deal with Iran, because what his deal with Iran has done is empower them and enrich them. And that's the way +p4763 +aVNot only would I be prepared to do it, I would do it. A no-fly zone means a no-fly zone, Wolf. That's what it means. See, maybe \u2014 maybe because I'm from New Jersey, I just have this kind of plain language hangup. But I would make very clear \u2014 I would not talk to Vladimir Putin. In fact, I would talk to Vladimir Putin a lot. But I'd say to him, "Listen, Mr. President, there's a no-fly zone in Syria; you fly in, it applies to you." And yes, we would shoot down the planes of Russian pilots if in fact they were stupid enough to think that this president was the same feckless weakling that the president we have in the Oval Office is right now. +p4764 +aVWell, Wolf, I'll tell you what reckless is. What reckless is is calling Assad a reformer. What reckless is allowing Russia to come into Crimea and Ukraine. What reckless is is inviting Russia into Syria to team with Iran. That is reckless. And the reckless people are the folks in the White House right now. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are the reckless people. And if you think that a no-fly zone is a reckless policy, you're welcome to your opinion. But how is it working so far? As we have 250,000 Syrians murdered, slaughtered; millions running around the world, running for their lives. It's not working. We need to try something else. And that is not reckless. +p4765 +aVWhat I say to Carla is that the first job of the president of the United States is to protect your safety and your security and the security and safety of your family. And this debate stops with me in the discussions with the FBI director. Now, listen, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I know Jim Comey. We've worked together. He was the U.S. attorney in Manhattan when I was a U.S. attorney in New Jersey. And when Jim Comey gets up before Congress and says, we cannot effectively vet these people, for me as president, that's the end of the conversation. We have to put America's security first. The American people \u2014 we on this stage need to open our ears. We need to open our ears. The American people are not whispering to us. They are screaming to us. And they're screaming to us that it's our job to actually make this government work. It's so dysfunctional under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. It's so ineffective. It's so ineffectual that the American people say, we don't trust them to do anything anymore. So I'm not going to let Syrian refugees, any Syrian refugees in this country. And it was widows and orphans, by the way, and we now know from watching the San Bernardino attack that women can commit heinous, heinous acts against humanity just the same as men can do it. And so I don't back away from that position for a minute. When the FBI director tells me that he can vet those people, then we'll consider it and not a moment before because your safety and security is what's most important to me. +p4766 +aVWell, what it would like is, we have one of the great advantages of America being the open society that we are. It is, we are not hiding things from the American people, but China everyday is conducting business in a way that hides things from their people. So if they want to come in and attack all the personnel records in the federal government, which they've done, and which \u2014 they now have my Social Security number and my fingerprints, as well as maybe some other folks' who are on this stage. The fact is, they need to be fought back on. And what we need to do is go at the things that they are most sensitive and most embarrassing to them; that they're hiding; get that information and put it out in public. Let the Chinese people start to digest how corrupt the Chinese government is; how they steal from the Chinese people; and how they're enriching oligarchs all throughout China. They need to understand that. And we need to take those type of steps. This president has seen personnel records of people who have sacrificed for the American people and for the federal government stolen by the Chinese and he's done nothing in return. This is why \u2014 this is what I said at the beginning that this administration, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton through their foreign policy, have betrayed the American people, because the weakness they've displayed has led to Putin's incursions in the Middle East and in eastern Europe, and has led \u2014 has led to significant problems in the Middle East as well, and the death and murder of lots of folks. +p4767 +aVOn September 10th, 2001, I was named chief federal prosecutor in New Jersey and on September 11th, 2001, my wife and my brother who are in the audience tonight went through the World Trade Center and to their offices just blocks away from the Trade Center. I lost touch with them for six hours that day and prayed that they were alive. Luckily, they were sent home. But many of our friends and others in our neighborhood lost their lives that day. Terrorism \u2014 radical jihadist terrorism is not theoretical to me. It's real. And for seven years, I spent my life protecting our country against another one of those attacks. You won't have to worry when I'm President of the Untied States whether that can be done because I've already done it. I want the chance to do it again to protect you, your children and your families. If you give me the chance and give me your vote I will protect America from the wars that are being brought to our door step. +p4768 +aVI don't see a lot of weakness on this stage, quite frankly. Where I see the weakness is in those three people that are left on the Democratic stage. You know, I see a socialist, an isolationist and a pessimist. And for the sake of me, I can't figure out which one is which. But I will \u2014 but I will tell you this, the socialist says they're going to pay for everything and give you everything for free, except they don't say they're going to raise it through taxes to 90 percent to do it. The isolationist is the one who wants to continue to follow a foreign policy that has fewer democracies today than when Barack Obama came into office around the world. But I know who the pessimist is. It's Hillary Clinton. And you put me on that stage against her next September, she won't get within 10 miles of the White House. Take it to the bank. +p4769 +aVWell, I wish you would have asked that question years ago when they broke it. I mean, let me be honest with the people who are watching at home. The government has lied to you and they have stolen from you. They told you that your Social Security money is in a trust fund. All that's in that trust fund is a pile of IOUs for money they spent on something else a long time ago. And they've stolen from you because now they know they cannot pay these benefits and Social Security is going to be insolvent in seven to eight years. We're sitting up here talking about all these other things; 71 percent of federal spending today is on entitlements, and debt service. And, that's with zero percent interest rates. Now, I'm the only person that's put out a detailed plan on how to deal with entitlements. And we'll save a trillion dollars over the next 10 years. And, here's the difference between me and Hillary Clinton. What Hillary Clinton's going to say, and has said before is, she wants to raise Social Security taxes. Now, let me ask you a question everybody, and, this is for the guy, you know, who owns a landscaping business out there. If somebody's already stolen money from you, are you going to give them more? Or, are you going to deal with the problem by saying, I'm going to give people who've done well in this country less benefit on the backend. We need to get realistic about this. We're not \u2014 the American people \u2014 forget about anything else, they've already been lied to and stolen from. And... +p4770 +aV...I'm going to go to Washington to stop it... +p4771 +aV...The only way we're going to be morale, the only way we're going to keep our promise to seniors is start by following the first rule we should all follow, which is to look at them, treat them like adults, and tell them the truth. It isn't there anymore, Mike. They stole it. It got stolen from them. It's not theirs anymore. The government stole it, and spent it a long time ago... +p4772 +aVSo, let's stop fooling around about this, let's tell people the truth. For once, let's do that, and stop trying to give them some kind of fantasy that's never going to come true. +p4773 +aVYou bet they do. And if I were the prosecutor, that is exactly where they would be. The fact is that this Justice Department under this president has been a political Justice Department. It has been a Justice Department that decided that they want to pick who the winners and losers are. They like General Motors, so they give them a pass. They don't like somebody else like David Petraeus, they prosecute them and send a decorated general on to disgrace. It's a political Justice Department. And, Jim, you know full well that in the seven years I was U.S. attorney we went after pharmaceutical companies. We went after companies that were ripping off shareholders. We went after companies that were doing things that were against the law. And to expand on Mr. Carson's \u2014 or Dr. Carson's question, let's face it, we have laws already. We don't need newer (ph) laws. We don't need Hillary Clinton's price controls for \u2014 again, does anybody out there think that giving Washington, D.C., the opportunity to run the pharmaceutical industry is a good idea, given how well they have done running the government? So what we do, though, is, if there is somebody who is price- gouging, we have laws for prosecutors to take that on. Let's let a Justice Department \u2014 and I will make an attorney general who will enforce the law and make justice more than just a word. It will be a way of life. +p4774 +aVJohn, I'll tell you something. You want to talk about moral authority. Let's talk about something that happened this week in the news. You know, the FBI director, the president's appointed FBI director has said this week that because of a lack of support from politicians like the president of the United States, that police officers are afraid to get out of their cars; that they're afraid to enforce the law. And he says, the president's appointee, that crime is going up because of this. And when the president of the United States gets out to speak about it, does he support police officers? Does he stand up for law enforcement? No, he doesn't. I'll tell you this, the number one job of the president of the United States is to protect the safety and security of the American people. This president has failed, and when I'm in the Oval Office, police officers will know that they will have the support of the president of the Untied States. That's real moral authority that we need in the Oval Office. +p4775 +aVCarl, are we really talking about getting government involved in fantasy football? We have \u2014 wait a second, we have $19 trillion in debt. We have people out of work. We have +p4776 +aVWell, first off, what we don't do is do what Hillary Clinton and John Kerry and Barack Obama want us to do, which is their solution for everything, put more taxes on it, give more money to Washington, D.C., and then they will fix it. Well, there is no evidence that they can fix anything in Washington, D.C. +p4777 +aVWhat we should do is to be investing in all types of energy, John, all types of energy. I've laid out... +p4778 +aVNo, John. John, do you want me to answer or do you want to answer? How are we going to do this? Because, I've got to tell you the truth, even in New Jersey what you're doing is called rude. So... We've laid out a national energy plan that says that we should invest in all types of energy. I will tell you, you could win a bet at a bar tonight, since we're talking about fantasy football, if you ask who the top three states in America are that produce solar energy: California and Arizona are easy, but number three is New Jersey. Why? Because we work with the private sector to make solar energy affordable and available to businesses and individuals in our state. We need to make sure that we do everything across all kinds of energy: natural gas, oil, absolutely. But also where it's affordable, solar, wind in Iowa has become very affordable and it makes sense. That is the way we deal with global warming, climate change, or any of those problems, not through government intervention, not through government taxes, and for God's sake, don't send Washington another dime until they stop wasting the money they're already sending there. +p4779 +aVAnd \u2014 and \u2014 and I \u2014 you know, Ben is absolutely right in saying that what we don't need to do is to send more money to Washington, D.C. to fix this problem. And that's what you'll hear from Hillary Clinton \u2014 and I've already heard from her \u2014 is that, send more money in Social Security, send more money in Medicare taxes, send more money for Medicaid, and that's gonna solve the problem. What we know is we're living longer. That's a blessing. It's a blessing that we're living longer, so we have to increase the retirement age to reflect that blessing. We need to make sure that people understand, as Jeb said before, that if you've done extraordinarily well in this country, do you want them to take more out of your taxes now and think they're gonna give it back to you later? Or would you rather take less later on? +p4780 +aVI want to talk to the folks at home. I want to ask you: Are you fed up with how Washington taxes you? Are you fed up with how Washington wastes your money? Are you concerned like I am that the debt and deficits of Washington, D.C. are endangering America's future? I've got one more question for you then. Are you serious about this election? Because if you are, you need to elect someone who's deadly serious about changing this culture. I am deadly serious about changing this culture. I changed it in New Jersey. I'm deadly serious about doing this job the right way. I'm prepared. I'm tested. I'm ready. And I want to make this our government. For the people who say we can't do it, I say hell no, we can do it together. +p4781 +aVHi, my name is Chris Christie, and I'd like to you take the camera off me and put it on the audience because I'd like to ask all of you, how many of you, raise your hand, believe that in today's Barak Obama America your children will have a better life than you've had? You see? That's why I'm running for President. because leadership is not about me, it's about our country. And, what we talk about tonight, it's not about us, it's about the people in the audience tonight, because in seven short years this president has stripped away their trust, and their faith, and their belief that the next generation will have a better life. He's stolen that from us, and when I'm president, I'm going to take it back. +p4782 +aVWell, I know Ben wasn't talking about me, I'm sure he was talking about one of the other guys, not me. As far as being an outsider is concerned \u2014 as far as being an outsider is concerned, let me tell you this, Jake, I'm a Republican in New Jersey. I wake up every morning as an outsider. I wake up every morning with a Democratic legislature who trying to beat my head in and fight me because I'm trying to bring conservative change to a state that needed it desperately. And so, everyone can talk us here about their credentials. But the bottom line is, every morning I get up, I veto 400 bills from a crazy liberal Democratic legislature, not one of them has been overridden. I've vetoed more tax increases than any governor in American history, according to Americans for Tax Reform. What folks want in this country is somebody to go down there and get the job done. And that's exactly what I'll do. So, I know this much, that what the American people want to hire right now is somebody who believes in them. And believes that they are the ones who can fix our country. I will be the vessel through which they can fix this country, but it's not about me. It's about all of you. And getting this government off your back and out of your way, and letting you succeed. I know Ben wasn't talking about me. +p4783 +aVLook at him smiling at me right now. I know Ben didn't mean it about me. One of these other guys, I'm sure. +p4784 +aVBe honest, Ben, be honest. +p4785 +aVSee, Jake, it wasn't me. +p4786 +aVI was \u2014 +p4787 +aVShe is, and so if she, based on conscience, can't sign that \u2014 that marriage license, then there should be someone in her office to be able to do it, and if the law needs to be changed in the state of Kentucky, which is what she's advocating, it should be changed. +p4788 +aVAnd why don't we do the same thing with Planned Parenthood? +p4789 +aVWe elected a Republican Congress to do this. And they should be doing it, and they're not. And they're giving the president a pass. +p4790 +aVI put it in the list, Dana. We should be doing these things and forcing the president to take action. +p4791 +aVLet's force him to do what he says he's going to do. Now I don't know whether he'll do it or not, but let's force him to do it. +p4792 +aVFirst of, Jake, I don't yield to anybody on how to enforce the law. I'm the only person on this stage who spent seven years as a United States Attorney after September 11th, and I know how to do this. The fact is though that for 15,000 people a day to be deported every day for two years is an undertaking that almost none of us could accomplish given the current levels of funding, and the current number of law enforcement officers. Here's what we need to do, and I think this is where Donald is absolutely right. What we need to do is to secure our border, and we need to do it with more than just a wall. We need to use electronics, we need to use drones, we need to use FBI, DEA, and ATF, and yes, we need to take the fingerprint of every person who comes into this country on a visa, and when they overstay their visa, we need to tap them on the shoulder, and say, "You have overstayed your welcome, you're taking advantage of the American people. It's time for you to go." If we had that kind of system in place, we wouldn't have the 11 million people we have now. +p4793 +aVJake listen. While I'm as entertained as anyone by this personal back-and-forth about the history of Donald and Carly's career, for the 55-year-old construction worker out in that audience tonight who doesn't have a job, who can't fund his child's education, I've got to tell you the truth. They could care less about your careers, they care about theirs. Let's start talking about that on this stage and stop playing \u2014 and stop playing the games. Stop playing \u2014 +p4794 +aVJohn \u2014 I'm not done yet, John. +p4795 +aVStop \u2014 and stop playing \u2014 and Carly \u2014 Carly, listen. You can interrupt everybody else on this stage, you're not going to interrupt me, OK? The fact is that we don't want to hear about your careers, back and forth and volleying back and forth about who did well and who did poorly. You're both successful people. Congratulations. You know who's not successful? The middle class in this country who's getting plowed over by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Let's start talking about those issues tonight and stop this childish back-and-forth between the two of you. +p4796 +aVListen, you know, Hugh, it's an important point. And the question is, who is going to prosecute Hillary Clinton? The Obama White House seems to have in interest, the Justice Department seems to have no interest. I think it's time to put a former federal prosecutor on the same stage as Hillary Clinton. And I will prosecute her during those debates on that stage for the record we're talking about here. The fact she had a private email server in her basement, using national security secrets running through it, could have been hacked by the Russians, the Chinese, or two 18-year-olds on a toot (ph) wanting to have some fun. No one is answering that question from the Hillary Clinton campaign... +p4797 +aVYou know why? Because she knows she's wrong, and she cannot look in the mirror at herself, and she cannot tell the American people the truth. +p4798 +aVWell, Jake, I was named U.S. attorney by President Bush on September 10th, 2001. And that next day my wife Mary Pat did what she did every day, she traveled through the World Trade Center and went to her office two blocks from the World Trade Center. And after those planes hit, for five-and-a-half-hours after that, I couldn't reach her, didn't know whether she was dead or alive, and we had three children at the time, 8, 5 and 1. And I had to confront what so many thousands of others in my region had to confront, the idea I might become a single parent, the idea that my life and my children's life might be changed forever. We lost friends that day. We went to the funerals. And I will tell you that what those people wanted and what they deserved was for America to answer back against what had been done to them. And I support what President Bush did at that time, going into Afghanistan, hunting al Qaeda and its leaders, getting its sanctuary out of place, and making it as difficult around the world for them to move people and money. And then he went to prosecutors like us, and he said, never again. Don't prosecute these people after the crime is committed. Intervene before the crime happens. I absolutely believe that what the president did at the time was right. And I am proud to have been one of the people on the stage who was part of making sure that what Governor Bush said before was the truth. America was safe for those seven years and Barack Obama has taken that safety away from us. +p4799 +aVLet me say this, Jake, is that while that may have been a fine idea that Dr. Carson had, these people were out to kill us. I stood in that region with my family, and every time a plane went overhead in the weeks after that, people's heads jerked to the sky because they thought it was happening again. You do not need to go through subtle diplomacy at that point. That could be handled later on. What you need is a strong American leader who will take the steps that are necessary to protect our nation. That's what I would do as commander-in-chief in this circumstance. And that's what President George W. Bush did in 2001. +p4800 +aVJake, you brought my issue up. +p4801 +aVYou know, I enjoy the interplay. Thank you, gentlemen. I'll just say this, first off, New Jersey is the first state in the nation that now says if you are non-violent, non-dealing drug user, that you don't go to jail for your first offense. You go to mandatory treatment. You see, Jake, I'm pro-life. And I think you need to be pro-life for more than just the time in the womb. It gets tougher when they get out of the womb. And when they're the 16-year-old drug addict in the Florida county lockup, that life is just as precious as the life in the womb. And so, that's why I'm for rehabilitation, why I think the war on drugs has been a failure. But I'll end with this. That doesn't mean we should be legalizing gate way drugs. And if Senator Paul thinks that the only victim is the person, look at the decrease in productivity, look at the way people get used and move on to other drugs when they use marijuana as a gateway drug, it is not them that are the only victims. Their families are the victims too, their children are the victims too, and their employers are the victims also. That's why I'll enforce the federal law, while you can still put an emphasis on rehabilitation, which we've done in New Jersey. +p4802 +aVAnd Senator Paul knows that that's simply not the truth. In New Jersey, we have medical marijuana laws, which I supported and implemented. This is not medical marijuana. There's goes as much \u2014 a further step beyond. This is recreational use of marijuana. This is much different. And so, while he would like to use a sympathetic story to back up his point, it doesn't work. I'm not against medical marijuana. We do it in New Jersey. But I'm against the recreational use against marijuana. If he wants to change the federal law, get Congress to pass the law to change it, and get a president to sign it. +p4803 +aVNo, it's not. But with Donald, it's a good start. That's really good. No, listen. This is an issue that \u2014 that we've gotta talk about, and we haven't talked about yet. 71 percent of all federal spending is on entitlements and debt service. When John Kennedy was elected president in 1960, it was 26 percent. Harvard and Dartmouth says that Social Security's going to go insolvent in seven to eight years. So what I say is very simple. We need to save this program for the good people out there who have paid into the system and need it. And if that means making sure that folks like Donald and many of us on the stage don't get it, that's the right thing to do because here's what Hillary Clinton is going to want to do. She's going to want to put more money into a system that has already lied to us and stolen from us. This government doesn't need more money to make Social Security solvent. We need to be not paying out benefits to people who don't really need it. We need to protect the people who Social Security means the difference between picking between heat and rent and food. That's why I put out the proposal and that's the people I'm trying to... +p4804 +aVI don't think Senator Rubio is a skeptic of climate change. I think what Senator Rubio said I agree with. That in fact we don't need this massive government intervention to deal with the problem. Look at what we have done in New Jersey. We have already reached our clean air goals for 2020. And when I was governor, I pulled out of the regional cap and trade deal, the only state in the Northeast that did that. And we still reached our goals. Why? Because 53 percent of our electricity comes from nuclear. We use natural gas. We use solar power. We're the third-highest- using solar power state. You know why? Because we made all of those things economically feasible. I agree with Marco. We shouldn't be destroying our economy in order to chase some wild left-wing idea that somehow us by ourselves is going to fix the climate. We can contribute to that and be economically sound. We have proven we can do that in New Jersey. Nuclear needs to be back on the table in a significant way in this country if we want to go after this problem. +p4805 +aVI understand. No, no, listen, everybody makes a mistake every once in a while, Jake, even George Shultz. And if that's truly a representation of what he believes we should be doing, then with all due respect to the former secretary of state, I disagree with him. +p4806 +aVI think the Adams family has been shorted in the currency business. Our country wouldn't be here without John Adams, and he would not have been able to do it without Abigal Adams, so, I'd put Abigail Adams on the bill. +p4807 +aVYou know, I've been called a lot of names by a lot of different people, and now I got to get called by names by the Secret Service? I would just say True Heart. +p4808 +aVI turned 18 in 1980, and my first vote was for Ronald Reagan. Boy, am I glad I did it. And I think the country is, too. A Christie presidency won't be about me. It will be about you. Tonight, you sit at home in your living room, frustrated that you play by the rules, you pay the taxes, you do the hard things to raise your family, yet you feel like America's generosity is being taken advantage of. That you've been \u2014 system is being gamed, and that you're turning out to fall further and further behind. Our presidency \u2014 our presidency \u2014 will be about ending that, about enforcing the law, level the playing field for everybody, and once again reward those folks who play by the rules, and think that justice means more than just the word. But it means a way of life. And I will tell you this, around the world, I will not shake hands with, I will not meet with, and I will not agree to anything with a country that says death to us and death to Israel and holds our hostages while we sign agreements with them. It will be an America that be strong and resolute, and will once again be able to stick out its chest and say, "we truly are the greatest nation in the world, because we live our lives that way, each and every day." +p4809 +aVIf you think it's bad now, you should've seen it when I got there. The fact is -- the fact is, in the eight years before I became governor, taxes and fees were raised at the state level 115 times. In the eight years before I became governor, spending was increased 56 percent. And in the eight years before I become governor, taxes and fees were raised at the state level 115 times. In the eight years before I became Governor, spending was increased 56 percent, and in the eight years before I became governor, there was zero net private sector job growth in New Jersey. Zero. For eight years. So, what did we do? We came in, we balanced an $11 billion deficit on a $29 billion budget by cutting over 800 programs in the state budget. We brought the budget into balance with no tax increases. In fact, we vetoed five income tax increases during my time as governor. We cut business taxes $2.3 billion, and we cut regulation by one-third of what my predecessor put in place. And, what's happened since? A hundred ninety-two thousand private sector jobs in the five and a half years I've been governor. We have a lot of work to do in New Jersey, but I am darn proud we've brought our state back. +p4810 +aVYes, I do. And I'll tell you why: because I'm the only person on this stage who's actually filed applications under the Patriot Act, who has gone before the federal -- the Foreign Intelligence Service court, who has prosecuted and investigated and jailed terrorists in this country after September 11th. I was appointed U.S. attorney by President Bush on September 10th, 2001, and the world changed enormously the next day, and that happened in my state. This is not theoretical to me. I went to the funerals. We lost friends of ours in the Trade Center that day. My own wife was two blocks from the Trade Center that day, at her office, having gone through it that morning. When you actually have to be responsible for doing this, you can do it, and we did it, for seven years in my office, respecting civil liberties and protecting the homeland. And I will make no apologies, ever, for protecting the lives and the safety of the American people. We have to give more tools to our folks to be able to do that, not fewer, and then trust those people and oversee them to do it the right way. As president, that is exactly what I'll do. +p4811 +aVAnd -- and, Megyn? Megyn, that's a -- that, you know, that's a completely ridiculous answer. "I want to collect more records from terrorists, but less records from other people." How are you supposed to know, Megyn? +p4812 +aVWhat are you supposed to... +p4813 +aV...how are you supposed to -- no, I'll tell you how you, look... +p4814 +aVLet me tell you something, you go... +p4815 +aVWhen you -- you know, senator... +p4816 +aVListen, senator, you know, when you're sitting in a subcommittee, just blowing hot air about this, you can say things like that. When you're responsible for protecting the lives of the American people, then what you need to do is to make sure... +p4817 +aV...is to make sure that you use the system the way it's supposed to work. +p4818 +aVThere is no... +p4819 +aVAnd you know -- you know, Senator Paul? Senator Paul, you know, the hugs that I remember are the hugs that I gave to the families who lost their people on September 11th. Those are the hugs I remember, and those had nothing to do -- and those had nothing to do with politics, unlike what you're doing by cutting speeches on the floor of the Senate, then putting them on the Internet within half an hour to raise money for your campaign... +p4820 +aV...and while still putting our country at risk. +p4821 +aVYou know what, Megyn, can I... +p4822 +aVNo, he's not lying, he's just wrong. I mean, so, there's a difference -- I'm the only guy on this stage who's put out a detailed, 12 point plan on entitlement reform and here's why -- because 71% of federal spending right now is on entitlements, and debt service, 71%. And we have spent the last hour and five minutes talking about the other 29%, and no time on the 71%, and that makes no sense. Now, let me tell you exactly what we would do on Social Security. Yes, we'd raise the retirement age two years, and phase it in over 25 years, that means we'd raise it one month a year for 25 years when we're all living longer, and living better lives. Secondly, we would means test Social Security for those who are making over $200,000 dollars a year in retirement income, and have $4 to $5 million dollars in liquid assets saved. They don't need that Social Security check. Social Security is meant to be -- to make sure that no one who's worked hard, and played by the rules, and paid into the system grows old in poverty in America. If we don't deal with this problem, it will bankrupt our country, or lead to massive tax increases, neither one that we want in this country. +p4823 +aVChris... +p4824 +aVYeah, sure. And, I don't disagree with ending Congress' retirement program. I'm a governor, I don't have a retirement program in my state, and I don't disagree with that. But, here's the news to the American people, he's complaining about the lying and stealing. The lying and stealing has already occurred. The trust fund is filled with IOU's. We can't fix the problem just by ending Congress's retirement, that's worth about, "this" much. We need to go at the fundamental problem, and the fundamental problem is that this system is broken. It has been stolen from. We have been lied to, and we need a strong leader to tell the truth and fix... +p4825 +aVWell, listen. You know, if we want to deal with these issues, we have to deal with them in a way that makes sense. I agree with what Dr. Carson said earlier. The first thing we need to do to make America stronger is to strengthen our military, and I put out a really specific plan: no less than 500,000 active duty soldiers in the Army. No less than 185,000 active duty marines in the Marine Corps. Bring us to a 350 ship Navy again, and modernize the Ohio class of submarines, and bring our Air Force back to 2,600 aircraft that are ready to go. Those are the kind of things that are going to send a clear message around the world. Those are the things that we need to start working on immediately to make our country stronger and make it better. Those are the things that we need to be able to be doing. And as we move towards dealing with foreign aid, I don't disagree with Senator Paul's position that we shouldn't be funding our enemies. But I absolutely believe that Israel is a priority to be able to fund and keep them strong and safe after eight years of this administration. +p4826 +aVWell, thank you, Megyn. Listen, I was born into a middle class family in New Jersey. My dad came home from serving in the Army after having lost his father, worked in the Breyers ice cream plant in Newark, New Jersey. Was the first person to graduate from college. He put himself through college at night. My mom was a secretary. I was appointed United States attorney on September 10, 2001. And I spent the next seven years of my career fighting terrorism and putting terrorists in jail. I'm a conservative, pro-life governor in a state where it is really tough to be both. A state like New Jersey, with lots of Democrats, but still we cut taxes, we balanced budgets. We fought the teacher's union. This president has had weak leadership, which has led to bad choices. We have got to stop worrying about being loved and start worrying about being respected. And that's exactly how I'll lead our country. +p4827 +aVWell, first I want to share a story with you that relates to your question. I was in New Hampshire last week, and a woman approached me after the town hall meeting and she said to me, "Governor, I'm really concerned." I said, "What are your concerns?" And, she said, "I don't quite how to describe it," she said. "But, every month when my bills come in, I feel this awful anxiety in the pit of my stomach that I'm not going to have enough to pay them that month." There are tens of millions of Americans living that way after the worst recovery from an economic recession since World War II. And, let's be clear, if we do not change course, if we follow the President's lead, and that's exactly what Secretary Clinton will do, we're going to be in the same circumstance \u2014 with government picking the winners and losers. So, let me be clear about what we'll do. First, Make the tax code fairer, flatter, and simplier. Get rid of all the special interest deductions. You know, the American people feel like the tax code is rigged for the rich, and you know why they feel that way? Because it is. We'll get rid of all those special interest deductions except for the home mortgage interest deduction, and the charitable contribution deduction. Everyone will get lower rates, keep more of their own money, be able to file their tax returns in 15 minutes, and, by the way, the good thing, I'll be able to fire a whole bunch of IRS agents once we do that. And, in addition, we need to get the government off of our backs. Dodd-Frank, all the different regulations, 81,000 pages of new regulation by this administration just last year \u2014 it is suffocating small business, it is suffocating the folks who are trying to make a living. I will do what I did in New Jersey......lift if off their backs. +p4828 +aVYes, sure. If anybody believes the stuff they heard from that Democratic debate a few weeks ago, there's nothing for free. What they forgot to tell was that they're going to raise your tax rates to 70 or 80 percent in order to provide all of that stuff. But let me ask the folks at home one very simple question, do you want to give Washington more control over your life? Do you think they're doing such a great job that now let's have them control what our corporations pay their employees? Let's have them control every aspect of our economy? Is Washington doing that good a job for you right now? And the fact is that if you listen to Hillary Clinton, she has made it very clear, she believes that she can make decisions for you better than you can make them for yourself. She believes that Washington, D.C., should pick the winners and losers in our economy, and in our life. And here's what I believe as a Republican, I believe the greatness of America is not in its government. The greatness of America is in the American people. And what we need to do is get the government the hell out of the way and let the American people win once again. +p4829 +aVFirst off, let me, let me just say this in response to this back and forth. For the people who are out there right now, I want to guarantee you one thing real clearly. If you think that Mike Huckabee won't be the kind of President who will cut back spending, or Chris Christie, or John Kasich, wait 'til you see what Hillary Clinton will do to this country and how she will drown us in debt. She is the real adversary tonight and we'd better stay focused as Republicans on her. Now I've forward, I put forward an entitlement reform plan. We spend 71 cents of every dollar in America on entitlements and debt service, and if \u2014 you know, Willy Sutton used to say, when they asked him why he robbed banks, he said that's 'cause that's where the money is, OK? And where the money is in the federal government are these entitlement programs and debt service. What I've said is we need to get a hold of that. We cannot continue to go down the $19 trillion in debt. So our plan will save over $1 trillion over the next 10 years and make sure that Social Security and Medicare are there for those who truly need it and also make sure that we have money to be able to reduce taxes and spend on the things we need to spend. I will also, on my first day as \u2014 as president, sign a executive order that says no more regulation for the next 120 days by any government agency or department. We are drowning in regulations. Stop and then we'll go out there and we'll cut and reduce regulation that small business owners across this country want us to do. You'll grow the economy then. More money will come into the system and we'll get more closer to balance. But the bottom line is, believe me, Hillary Clinton's coming for your wallet, everybody. Don't worry about Huckabee or Jindal, worry about her. +p4830 +aVWell, let's start with this, remember why we're in the position we're in with China, because an absolutely weak and feckless foreign policy that was engineered by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. That's why we're in the position we're in......because the Chinese......the Chinese don't take us seriously and why should they? Why should they? They hacked into the American government's personnel file and took millions of records in cyberwarfare against this country. I'm one of the victims of that hack. They took my Social Security number, my fingerprints as a former United States attorney that was on file in there. And what has this president done? Not one thing. Let me be really clear about what I would do. If the Chinese commit cyberwarfare against us, they are going to see cyberwarfare like they have never seen before. And that is a closed society in China......where they're hiding information from their own people. The information we take, we'll make sure all the Chinese people see it. Then they'll have some real fun in Beijing when we start showing them how they're spending their money in China. And one last thing. One last thing. I will tell you this, they're building those artificial islands in the South China Sea and the president won't \u2014 up until recently, wouldn't sail a ship within 12 miles or fly a plane over it. I'll tell you this, the first thing I'll do with the Chinese is I'll throw \u2014 I'll fly Air Force One over those islands. They'll know we mean business. +p4831 +aVI'll tell you, Gerry, it's interesting, if you go to New Jersey, they'll call me lots of different things. A liberal is not one of them. Um, and......I would say this. I have great respect for Bobby's record in Louisiana. I think he's been a wonderful governor and I think he's provided outstanding leadership for that state and I respect him for what he's done. And I think that all of us deserve that same level of respect. And my point is this. You know, the differences between me and Bobby Jindal, we can talk about those, and obviously, Bobby wants to spent a lot of time tonight talking about that. I'll tell you what I want to talk about. I want to talk about what's going to happen to this country if we have another four years of Barack Obama's policies. And by the way, it will be even worse, because Hillary Clinton is running so far to the left to treaty to catch up to her socialist opponent, Bernie Sanders, it's hard to even see her anymore. The fact is \u2014 the fact is that we'd better be focused on it. And I'll tell you what I'll bring to the table, the fact that I've won in a blue state, that I've won in a state that has 750,000 more Democrats than Republicans......that I won in a state for reelection after governing as a pro-life conservative......and got 61 percent of the vote. That's the person you want on the stage prosecuting the case against Hillary Clinton. +p4832 +aVI don't... +p4833 +aV..Let me... +p4834 +aV...Let me just... +p4835 +aV...Sure. It's interesting. I complimented Bobby, imagine how much time he'd want if I actually criticized him. You know, the fact is, he's done \u2014 done a nice job down in Louisiana, and I don't have any problem with the job he's done. I've cut spending $2 billion dollars, except for our pension and health care in New Jersey, which was driven predominantly by Obamacare. We have reduce the number of employees we have on the state payroll by 15%, but, you know what? The people out there don't care about any of that. You know what they care about? They care about who's going to be able to beat Hillary Clinton......Who's going to keep their eye on the ball? I'm going to keep my eye on the ball. +p4836 +aVYeah, listen. We stopped Obamacare in New Jersey because we refused to participate in the federal exchange. But, here's the bigger issue. What do you think's going to happen when Hillary Clinton's elected president of the United States? The woman who tried to impose healthcare on this country over 20 years ago? And, she was stopped then by a strong group of republicans, and an American public that said, "No, thank you." What she will do \u2014 what she will do is move us towards a single payer system. She will completely nationalize the federal health care system. That's what she wanted to do 20 years ago, and I guarantee you that's what she'll do if you give her the keys to the White House one more time. The fact is we need someone who knows how to beat democrats, who knows how to beat democrats in a democratic area. I've done it twice as governor of New Jersey, and Hillary Clinton doesn't want one minute on that stage with me next September when I'm debating her, and prosecuting her for her vision for America... +p4837 +aVI'll continue in the pattern and just say... And just say this to everybody, since it seems to be an open question. I'll tell you the thing that disturbs me the most about what's going on with the Democratic Party in Washington, that they're not standing behind our police officers across this country. That they're allowing lawlessness... That they're allowing lawlessness to reign in this country. I spent seven years of my life in law enforcement, here's what every law enforcement, 700,000, should know tonight. When President Christie is in the Oval Office, I'll have your back. +p4838 +aVYes. You know, our tax plan puts forward a highest rate of 28 percent for those who are doing the most and making the most in this country and 8 percent on the low end. And I agree with Senator Santorum, we get rid of all of the deductions and loopholes, except for the home mortgage interest deduction and the charitable contribution deduction. That means getting rid of the state and local income tax deduction, as well, because that will put more pressure on governors and on local officials not to keep raising those taxes, saying we can deduct them. And so ours will be 28 on the high end, 8 on the low end. And I will tell you one other thing. Americans for Tax Reform came out with a report six weeks ago and said I vetoed more tax increases than any governor in American history. I will do exactly the same thing as president of the United States. +p4839 +aVGerry, this has been the most political Federal Reserve I've seen in my lifetime. Now, when they first cut interest rates during the economic recession and the crisis, that was the right thing to do. But they've kept those interest rates artificially low for one reason, and one reason only. Because they're trying to politically support Barack Obama and his agenda. And it's been wrong. And what it's done, in an administration where the President has talked about income inequality, he's had more income inequality in this administration than any previous administration. The middle class is doing worse than it's ever done before. And the investor class, the wealthy, are doing even better because of this cheap money from the Fed. And here's the worst part, we had one and a half percent GDP growth last quarter. If we slide back towards a recession, you cannot lower interest rates below zero. Where are we going to go if we need help if the economy slides back into recession? And with this government- controlled economy that Barack Obama, we're moving right towards it. The Fed should be audited and the Fed should stop playing politics with our money supply. That's what they've done. It's been the wrong thing to do. It's hurting the American economy. And......let me......let me add one other thing on this. Be very aware now, because what Hillary Clinton is talking about doing, if she's president of the United States, is to make sure that the government gets even more involved in the economy, even more involved in making choices for everybody. You do not want that to happen. You need someone who's going to stand up on that stage and prosecute the case against her and prosecute it strong. That's what I'll do. +p4840 +aVThe way to reconnect Americans to the men and women in uniform is to first, and foremost, give them a Commander in Chief who respects the military, and respects everyone who wears the uniform. Starts at the top there... And Secretary Clinton says, there's no crisis at the V.A.. That send a long, and hard message to our veterans that she doesn't get it, and she doesn't respect their service. When the President of the United States doesn't back up law enforcement officers in uniform, he loses the moral authority to any man or woman who is uniform. I spent seven years in law enforcement......I respect these folks, and I will do so as Commander in Chief of the military. +p4841 +aVI want to tell the American people who are watching tonight the truth. I saw the most disgraceful thing I've seen in this entire campaign a few weeks ago. Hillary Clinton was asked the enemy she's most proud of, and she said, "Republicans". In a world where we have Al-Qaeda, and +p4842 +asVWILKINS +p4843 +(lp4844 +V...law school. My question for the candidates is, do black lives matter, or do all lives matter? +p4845 +asVCARSON +p4846 +(lp4847 +VThank you, Wolf. Please join me for a moment of silence and remembrance of the San Bernardino victims. Thank you. You know, our country since its inception has been at war, every 15 or 20 years. But the war that we are fighting now against radical Islamist jihadists is one that we must win. Our very existence is dependent upon that. You know, as a pediatric neurosurgeon, I frequently faced life and death situations, and had to come up with the right diagnosis, the right plan, and execute that plan frequently with other colleagues. Right now, the United States of America is the patient. And the patient is in critical condition and will not be cured by political correctness and will not be cured by timidity. And I am asking the Congress, which represents the people, to declare a war on +p4848 +aVFirst of all, let me just complain a little bit. This is the first time I've spoken and several people have had multiple questions so please try to pay attention to that. Now, as far as monitoring is concerned, what my point is, we need to make sure that any place \u2013 I don't care whether it's a mosque, a school, a supermarket, a theater, you know it doesn't matter. If there are a lot of people getting there and engaging in radicalizing activities then we need to be suspicious of it. We have to get rid of all this PC stuff. And people are worried about if somebody's going to say that I'm Islamophobic or what have you. This is craziness because we are at war. That's why I asked congress, go ahead and declare the war . We need to be on a war footing. We need to understand that our nation is in grave danger. You know, what the Muslim Brotherhood said in the explanatory memorandum that was discovered during the Holy Land Foundation Trial was that, "they will take advantage of our PC attitude to get us. :" We have to be better than this. We have to be smarter than they are. +p4849 +aVI think you have to ask them about that. I don't want to get in between them. Let them fight. +p4850 +aVNeurosurgeon. +p4851 +aVWell, interestingly enough, you should see the eyes of some of those children when I say to them we're going to have to open your head up and take out this tumor. They're not happy about it, believe me. And they don't like me very much at that point. But later on, they love me. Sometimes you \u2014 I sound like him. You know, later on, you know, they really realize what's going on. And by the same token, you have to be able to look at the big picture and understand that it's actually merciful if you go ahead and finish the job, rather than death by 1,000 pricks. +p4852 +aVYou got it. You got it. +p4853 +aVRuthless is not necessarily the word I would use, but tough, resolute, understanding what the problems are, and understanding that the job of the president of the United States is to protect the people of this country and to do what is necessary in order to get it done. +p4854 +aVFirst of all, I've been talking about this for over a year. We have to destroy their caliphate because that gives them legitimacy to go ahead with the global Jihad. We have to take their energy because they are \u2014 +p4855 +aVNo one is ever better off with dictators but there comes a time you know, when you're on an airplane, they always say, "in case of an emergency oxygen masks will drop down. Put yours on first and then administer help to your neighbor." We need oxygen right now. And we need to start thinking about the needs of the American people before we go and solve everybody else's problems. The fact of the matter is, is that the Middle East has been in turmoil for thousands of years. For us to think that we're going to in there and fix that with a couple of little bombs and a few little decorations is relatively foolish. +p4856 +aVWell, you know, there's a false narrative that only the political class has the wisdom and the ability to be commander-in- chief. But if you go back and you study the design of our country, it was really designed for the citizen statesman. And we need to be talking about where does your experience come from? You know, and I've had a lot of experience building things, organizing things, you know, a national scholarship program. One of the things that you'll notice if you look through my life is that I don't do a lot of talking. I do a lot of doing. And really, it says more about a person than how much they talk. And then some people say you're weak because, you know, you're not loud and you're not boisterous and you're not rude. But the fact of the matter is, look and see what I've done. And that speaks volumes about strength. +p4857 +aVWell, it was very interesting having an opportunity to talk to the Syrians themselves. And I asked them: What do you want? What is your supreme desire? Their supreme desire was to be settled back in their own country. I said, "What can Americans and other countries do?" They said, "Support the efforts of those who are trying to provide safety for us, including the Jordanians." Of course, they had a brand new hospital, for instance, that was unstaffed because there wasn't enough money to do it. But here's what's really neat. If you go into Hasakah province in northeast Syria, that's an area that's as big as Lebanon. It's controlled by the Kurds, the Christians and the moderate Sunnis. And there are airstrips and hotels. You could settle a lot of people there. All we would have to do is be willing to provide them with some weaponry, some defensive weaponry. And we seem to be afraid to give the Kurds weaponry. We like to send it for some strange reason through Baghdad, and then they only get a tenth of it. And if we would support them, we'd have a perfect ideal there. We don't need to set this up as we either take a bunch of refugees who will be infiltrated with terrorists, I guarantee you. For them not to be would be terrorist malpractice. And we need to \u2014 to choose the right choice, not these false choices. +p4858 +aVWell, I definitely believe that he is unstable, and I do, in fact, believe that China has a lot more influence with him than we do. But we also recognize that North Korea is in severe financial straits, and they have decided to use their resources to build their military, rather than to feed their people and to take care of the various humanitarian responsibilities that they have. We can capitalize upon that. You know, we should use our economic power in lots of different ways. I think we can use that in order to keep Putin contained, because he is a one-horse show. Energy. And we have an abundance of energy, but we have archaic energy exportation rules. We need to get rid of those, allow ourselves to really make Europe dependent on us and other parts of the world dependent on us for energy. Put him back in his little box where he belongs. And, you know, we need to be doing lots of other things with the resources that we have. So economic power works just as well as military power, perhaps even better. And speaking of that, our Military needs to be upgraded. You know, you look at things like our Ohio Class submarines, they're 25 years old. Our minuteman 3 missiles \u2014 they are 34 years old. Our B-52 bombers \u2014 50 years old. You know, if we don't get the military right nothing else matters. +p4859 +aVWell, you know, the statement that I made last week, that I would leave the party was contingent upon whether in fact the party acts like they have in the past with a lot of subterfuge and dishonesty, or like they're going act now because I spike to Reince Priebus, and he assured me that the Washington Post writer had it all wrong, and that they're not be engaging in anything to thwart the will of the people. That's why I got into this race, as a member of we the people, to try bring some honesty and integrity back to the process. +p4860 +aVI've been fortunate enough to travel to 58 different countries and I thank God everyday that I was born in this country. The most exceptional country that the world has ever known. And I want to make sure that we preserve that exceptionalism for the next generation. My mother told me if I work hard and I really believed in American principles and I believed in God, anything is possible. I believe that is true, and that's why I'm not anxious to give away American values and principles for the sake of political correctness. +p4861 +aVWell, first of all, delighted to be here. My family's here, and my little granddaughter, who's three years old, said she wanted to come to the debate. So this is very cool. As far as the minimum wage is concerned, people need to be educated on the minimum wage. Every time we raise the minimum wage, the number of jobless people increases. It's particularly a problem in the black community. Only 19.8 percent of black teenagers have a job, who are looking for one. You know, that \u2014 and that's because of those high wages. If you lower those wages, that comes down. You know, I can remember, as a youngster \u2014 you know, my first job working in a laboratory as a lab assistant, and multiple other jobs. But I would not have gotten those jobs if someone had to pay me a large amount of money. But what I did gain from those jobs is a tremendous amount of experience, and how to operate in the world and how to relate to different people, and how to become a responsible individual. And that's what gave me what I needed to ascend the ladder of opportunity in this country. That's what we need to be thinking about. How do we allow people to ascend the ladder of opportunity, rather than how do we give them everything and keep them dependent? +p4862 +aVI would not raise it. I would not raise it, specifically because I'm interested in making sure that people are able to enter the job market and take advantage of opportunities. +p4863 +aVWell, first of all, thank you not asking me what I said in the 10th grade. I appreciate that. +p4864 +aVThe fact of the matter is, you know, what \u2014 we should vet all candidates. I have no problem with being vetted. What I do have a problem with is being lied about and then putting that out there as truth. And I don't even mind that so much, if they do it about \u2014 with everybody, like people on the other side. But, you know, when I look at somebody like Hillary Clinton, who sits there and tells her daughter and a government official that no, this was a terrorist attack, and then tells everybody else that it was a video. Where I came from, they call that a lie. And... I think that's very different from, you know, somebody misinterpreting, when I said that I was offered a scholarship to West Point, that is the words that they used. But, I've had many people come and say the same thing to me. That is what people do in those situations. We have to start treating people the same, and finding out what people really think and what they're made of. People who know me know that I'm an honest person. +p4865 +aVWell, you know, when I say tithing, I'm talking about the concept of proportionality. +p4866 +aVEverybody should pay the same proportion of what they make. You make $10 billion, you pay a billion. You make $10, you pay one. You get same rights and privileges. I don't see how anything gets a whole lot fairer than that. But you also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes because that is the thing that tilts it in one direction or another. And you have to set the rate at an appropriate level. Now I will say that, there are a lot of people who say, if you get rid of the deductions, you ruin the American dream because, you know, home mortgage deduction. But the fact of the matter is, people had homes before 1913 when we introduced the federal income tax, and later after that started deductions. And they say there will be no more charitable giving. We had churches before that and charitable organizations before that. The fact of the matter is, I believe if you put more money in people's pockets that they will actually be more generous rather than less generous. And it's... ... the money that they earned. And, the other thing is, I do care about the poor people. And in the system that we're putting together, there will be a rebate for people at the poverty level. But I also want to emphasize the fact that as we get the economy moving, and I hope I get a question about how do we get the economy moving, there will be a lot more opportunities for poor people not to be poor people because this is America. This is the land of dreams. And our policies should be aimed at allowing people to realize that dream. +p4867 +aVWell, putting the special ops people in there is better than not having them there, because they \u2014 that's why they're called special ops, they're actually able to guide some of the other things that we're doing there. And what we have to recognize is that Putin is trying to really spread his influence throughout the Middle East. This is going to be his base. And we have to oppose him there in an effective way. We also must recognize that it's a very complex place. You know, the Chinese are there, as well as the Russians, and you have all kinds of factions there. What we've been doing so far is very ineffective, but we can't give up ground right there. But we have to look at this on a much more global scale. We're talking about global jihadists. And their desire is to destroy us and to destroy our way of life. So we have to be saying, how do we make them look like losers? Because that's the way that they're able to gather a lot of influence. And I think in order to make them look like losers, we have to destroy their caliphate. And you look for the easiest place to do that? It would be in Iraq. And if \u2014 outside of Anbar in Iraq, there's a big energy field. Take that from them. Take all of that land from them. We could do that, I believe, fairly easily, I've learned from talking to several generals, and then you move on from there. But you have to continue to face them, because our goal is not to contain them, but to destroy them before they destroy us. +p4868 +aVWell, I think we should have policies that don't allow them to just enlarge themselves at the expense of smaller entities. And certainly some of the policies, some of the monetary and Fed policies that we're using makes it very easy for them, makes it very easy for the big corporations, quite frankly, at these very low interest rates to buy back their stock and to drive the price of that up artificially. Those are the kinds of things that led to the problem in the first place. And I think this all really gets back to this whole regulation issue which is creating a very abnormal situation. This country was \u2014 declared its independence in 1776. In less than 100 years, it was the number-one economic power in the world. And the reason was because we had an atmosphere that encouraged entrepreneurial risk- taking and capital investment. Those are the fuels that drive it. And what we've done now is let the creep of regulation turn into a stampede of regulations, which is involved in every aspect of our lives. If we can get that out, it makes a big difference. And even for the average person, every single regulation costs money. And it's shifted to the individual. So \u2014 and it hurts the poor and the middle class much more than it does the rich. They go into the store and they buy a bar of soap, it costs 10 cents more, they notice it. And the middle class, when they come to the cash register, have a whole cart full of things that cost 5, 10 or 15 cents more, they notice it. It is hurting the poor. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton won't tell you that that's the thing that's really hurting middle class in the core. They'll say it's the rich, take their money, but that won't help. You can take all of the rich's money and it won't make a dent in the problem that we're having. We have to come back to the fundamental principles that made America great. +p4869 +aVI would have policies that wouldn't allow that to occur. I don't want to go in and tear anybody down. I mean, that doesn't help us. But what does help us is stop tinkering around the edges and fix the actual problems that exist that are creating the problem in the first place. +p4870 +aVIn the two hours of this \u2014 of this debate, five people have died from drug-related deaths, $100 million has been added to our national debt, 200 babies have been killed by abortionists, and two veterans have taken their lives out of despair. This is a narrative that we can change, not we the Democrats, not we the Republicans, but we the people of America, because there is something special about this nation, and we must embrace it and be proud of it and never give it away for the sake of political correctness. +p4871 +aVProbably in terms of the applying for the job of president, a weakness would be not really seeing myself in that position until hundreds of thousands of people began to tell me that I needed to do it. I do, however, believe in Reagan's 11th commandment, and will not be engaging in awful things about my compatriots here. And recognizing that it's so important, this election, because we're talking about America for the people versus America for the government. +p4872 +aVWell, first of all, I didn't say that the rate would be 10 percent. I used the tithing analogy. +p4873 +aVThe rate \u2014 the rate \u2014 the rate is gonna be much closer to 15 percent. +p4874 +aVYou also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes. You also have to some strategically cutting in several places. Remember, we have 645 federal agencies and sub-agencies. Anybody who tells me that we need every penny and every one of those is in a fantasy world. So, also, we can stimulate the economy. That's gonna be the real growth engine. Stimulating the economy \u2014 because it's tethered down right now with so many regulations... +p4875 +aVThat's not true. +p4876 +aVWhen \u2014 when we put all the facts down, you'll be able to see that it's not true, it works out very well. +p4877 +aVSince I was attacked too. +p4878 +aVLet me just say, if you're talking about an $18 trillion economy, you're talking about a 15 percent tax on your gross domestic product. You're talking about $2.7 trillion. We have a budget closer to $3.5 trillion. But if you also apply that same 15 percent to several other things, including corporate taxes, and including the capital gains taxes, you make that amount up pretty quickly. So that is not by any stretch a pie in the sky. +p4879 +aVWell, there is no question that some people go overboard when it comes to trying to make profits, and they don't take into consideration the American people. What we have to start thinking about, as leaders, particularly in government, is what can we do for the average American? And you think about the reasons that we're having such difficulty right now with our job market. Well, the average small manufacturer, whatever they're manufacturing, drugs or anything, if they have less than 50 employees, the average cost in terms of regulations is $34,000 per employee. Makes it a whole lot easier for them to want to go somewhere else. So what we're going to have to start doing instead of, you know, picking on this group or this group, is we're going to have to have a major reduction in the regulatory influence that is going on. The government is not supposed to be in every part of our lives, and that is what is causing the problem. +p4880 +aVWell, obviously, you don't understand my views on homosexuality. I believe that our Constitution protects everybody, regardless of their sexual orientation or any other aspect. I also believe that marriage is between one man and one woman. And there is no reason that you can't be perfectly fair to the gay community. They shouldn't automatically assume that because you believe that marriage is between one man and one woman that you are a homophobe. And this is one of the myths that the left perpetrates on our society, and this is how they frighten people and get people to shut up. You know, that's what the PC culture is all about, and it's destroying this nation. The fact of the matter is we the American people are not each other's enemies, it's those people who are trying to divide us who are the enemies. And we need to make that very clear to everybody. +p4881 +aVWell, that's easy to answer. I didn't have an involvement with them. That is total propaganda, and this is what happens in our society. Total propaganda. I did a couple of speeches for them, I do speeches for other people. They were paid speeches. It is absolutely absurd to say that I had any kind of a relationship with them. Do I take the product? Yes. I think it's a good product. +p4882 +aVIf somebody put me on their homepage, they did it without my permission. +p4883 +aVNo, it speaks to the fact that I don't know those \u2014 See? They know. +p4884 +aVWell, first of all, I was wrong about taking the oil subsidy. I have studied that issue in great detail. And what I have concluded is that the best policy is to get rid of all government subsidies, and get the government out of our lives, and let people rise and fall based on how good they are. And \u2014 you know, all of this too big to fail stuff and picking and choosing winners and losers \u2014 this is a bunch of crap, and it is really causing a great deal of \u2014 great deal of problems for our society right now. And \u2014 and \u2014 you know, it goes back to the whole concept of regulations, which are in everything. The reason that I \u2014 I hate them so much is because every single regulation costs in terms of goods and services. That cost gets passed on to the people. Now, who are the people who are hurt by that? It's poor people and middle class. Doesn't hurt rich people if their bar of soap goes up ten cents, but it hurts the poor and the middle class. And Bernie Sanders will tell them that it's because of the rich. Well, I'll tell you something: you can take everything from the top 1 percent, and you apply it to our fiscal gap, and you won't even make a dent in it. +p4885 +aVAbout Medicare? +p4886 +aVWell, first of all the \u2014 the plan gives people the option of \u2014 of opting out. But I think they will see a very good option here. You know, the annual Medicare budget is over $600 billion. And there are 48 million people involved \u2014 40 million, 65 and over, and 8 million other. Divide that out. That comes out to $12,500 for each one. Now, I can tell you there are a lot of private-sector things that you could do with $12,500, which will get you a lot more than you get from this government program. And that's really a theme of a lot of the things that I'm talking about. How do we utilize our intellect rather than allowing the government to use its, quote, "intellect," in order to help us to be able to live healthier and better lives? It was never intended that the government should be in every aspect of our lives. This is a country that is of, for and by the people. +p4887 +aVI just want to thank all my colleagues here for being civil, and not falling for the traps. And, I also just want to thank the audience for being attentive, and noticing the questions, and the noticing the answers. And, this is what I am finding throughout America. People are waking up because it is going to be us who will determine the direction of our country. And, it was made for we the people, we are the ones who decide who we are, and we should never give away the values and principles that made America into a great nation for the sake of political correctness. +p4888 +aVHi, I'm Ben Carson, and I'm a retired pediatric neurosurgeon. I'm here with my wife, Candy, of 40 years, and two of my sons, and their wives. I stress the pediatric part of my career because the reason that I've gotten involved in this race is because I'm very concerned about the future of our children, and the direction of our country is one that does not portend well, unless we, the people, intervene and retake our rightful place at the pinnacle. +p4889 +aVTypically, politicians do things that are politically expedient. And they are looking for whatever their particular goal is. That is not the reason that I have gotten into this thing. I'm extraordinary concerned about the direction of this country, the divisiveness that is going on, fiscal irresponsibility, the failure to take a leadership position in the world. All of those things will lead to a situation where the next generation will not have a chance that we've had now. So I don't \u2014 I don't want to really get into describing who's a politician and who's not a politician, but I think the people have kind of made that decision for themselves already, and will continue to do so as time goes on. +p4890 +aVJake, can I say something about that? +p4891 +aVYou know, when I entered this race, all the political pundits said it's impossible; you can't do it because you're not connected with the money. And there's no way that you can raise what you need in order to compete successfully. I in no way am willing to get in the bed with special interest group or lick the boots of billionaires. I have said to the people if they want me to do this, please get involved. And we now have over 500,000 donations, and the money is coming in. But the pundits forgot about one thing, and that is the people. And they are really in charge. +p4892 +aVWell, first of all, I recognize that we have an incredible illegal immigration problem. I was down in Arizona a few weeks ago at the border. I mean, the fences that were there were not manned, and those are the kind of fences when I was a kid that would barely slow us down. So, I don't see any purpose in having that. Now, what we need to do is look at something that actually works. Yuma County, Arizona. They stop 97 percent of the illegal immigrants through there. They put in a double fence with a road so that there was quick access by the enforcement people. If we don't seal the border, the rest of this stuff clearly doesn't matter. It's kind of ridiculous all the other things we talk about. We have the ability to do it, we don't have the will to do it. There was one area where they had cut a hole in the fence, and to repair it, they put a few strands of barb wire across. Well, the photographers who were there with us, they wanted to photograph us from the side of the Mexicans, and they went through there, and they were not physically fit people, and they took their cameras and things with them, and shot us from the other side. That's how easy it is to get across. And, the drugs, I mean, it goes on, and on, and on. ICE tells them to release these people, 67,000 criminals released... +p4893 +aV...on to our property, it's ridiculous. +p4894 +aVWell, I have also said, if anybody knows how to do that, that I would be willing to listen. And, if they can, you know, specify exactly how that's going to be done, and what the cost, and it sounds reasonable, then I think it's worth discussing... +p4895 +aVNot exactly what I said. +p4896 +aVWell, what I said, after we seal the borders, after we turn off the spigot that dispenses all the goodies so we don't have people coming in here, including employment, that people who had a pristine record, we should consider allowing them to become guest workers, primarily in the agricultural sphere, because that's the place where Americans don't seem to want to work. That's what I said. And they have a six-month period to do that. If they don't do it within that time period, then they become illegal, and as illegals, they will be treated as such. +p4897 +aVCan I \u2014 can I \u2014 can I just... +p4898 +aVCan I correct... +p4899 +aVOK. +p4900 +aVMy plan is not amnesty for a number of reasons. Number one, you know, I've talked to farmers, and they said they cannot hire Americans to do the kind of job that I'm talking about. And the second reason is because the individuals who register as guest workers, they don't get to vote, they are not American citizens, and they don't get the rights and privileges of American citizens. So that's key. But the other thing that I want to bring up is, I mentioned something earlier. I think it was just sort of glossed over. I talked about the success in Yuma County, I mean, incredible success, and the Department of Justice said, "No, we don't want to do that. That's too successful." We don't have to keep reinventing the wheel. All we have to do is look at things that work. All we have to do is use a little common sense. +p4901 +aVIt's all about America. You know, the people who say the guy who paid a billion dollars because he had 10, he has still got $9 billion left, that's not fair, we need to take more of his money. That's called socialism. That doesn't work so well. What made America into a great nation was the fact that we said, that guy just put in $1 billion, let's create an environment that's even more conducive to his success so that next year he can put in $2 billion. And that's the kind of thing that helps us to grow. We can't grow by continuing to take a piece of pie, and dividing it, and redistributing it. But, I'm also looking at what doctor \u2014 at what Governor Huckabee talked about... +p4902 +aVThe Fair Tax. Looking at both of them, and evaluating them both, and I'm talking to the American people because one of the things we must recognize is that this country is of, for, and by the people. And, it's really time that the government get out of the way, and let the people be the ones who decide how they want to run their country. +p4903 +aVWell, first of all, let me say what I actually said about raising the minimum wage. I was asked should it be raised, I said, probably, or possibly. But, what I added, which I think is the most important thing, so, I said we need to get both sides of this issue to sit down, and talk about it. Negotiate a reasonable minimum wage, and index that so that we never have to have this conversation again in the history of America. I think we also have to have two minimum wages, a starter, and a sustaining because how are young people ever going to get a job if you have such a high minimum wage that it makes it impractical to hire them... +p4904 +aVJake, Jake... +p4905 +aVI haven't had an opportunity to weigh in on foreign policy, and I just want to mention that when the war, when the issue occurred in 2003, I suggested to President Bush that he not go to war? OK. So I just want that on the record. And, you know, a lot of people are very much against us getting involved right now with global jihadism. And they refer back to our invasion of Iraq. And they seem to think that that was what caused it. What caused it was withdrawing from there and creating a vacuum which allowed this terrible situation to occur. But it is very different from what is going on today. We're talking about global jihadists who actually want to destroy us. They are an existential threat to our nation. And we have to be mature enough to recognize that our children will have no future if we put our heads in the sand. We have to recognize we have two choices. We either allow them the continue to progress and appear to be the winners, or we use every resource available to us to destroy... +p4906 +aV... them first. +p4907 +aVWell, recognize that, you know, President George W. Bush is a great friend of ours, and we spent many wonderful days at the White House. I haven't been there in the last seven years. I probably have to have a food-tester. But at any rate, I didn't suggest that nothing be done. What I suggested to President Bush is to be Kennedy-esque, in the sense that when the Russians got ahead of us in the space race, what we did is use the bully pulpit to galvanize everybody, business, industry, academia behind a national goal to put a man on the moon and bring him back safely. I said, you can do the same kind of thing. Declare that within five to 10 years we will become petroleum independent. The moderate Arab states would have been so concerned about that, they would have turned over Osama bin Laden and anybody else you wanted on a silver platter within two weeks. There are smart ways to do things and there are muscular ways to do things. And sometimes you have to look at both of those to come up with the right solution. +p4908 +aVI have no argument with having a strong leader, and to be aggressive where aggression is needed. But it is not needed in every circumstance. There is a time when you can use your intellect to come up with other ways to do things. And I think that's what we have to start thinking about. There is no question that a lot of these problems that we have been talking about in terms of the international situation is because we are weak. It is because our Navy is so small. It is because our Air Force is incapable of doing the same things that it did a few years ago. It's because our Marines Corps is not ready to be deployed. +p4909 +aVThere are a lot of problems that are going on, and we need to solve those problems, we need to build up our military... +p4910 +aVWell, let me put it this way, there has \u2014 there have been numerous studies, and they have not demonstrated that there is any correlation between vaccinations and autism. This was something that was spread widely 15 or 20 years ago, and it has not been adequately, you know, revealed to the public what's actually going on. Vaccines are very important. Certain ones. The ones that would prevent death or crippling. There are others, there are a multitude of vaccines which probably don't fit in that category, and there should be some discretion in those cases. But, you know, a lot of this is \u2014 is \u2014 is pushed by big government. And I think that's one of the things that people so vehemently want to get rid of, big government. You know, we have 4.1 million federal employees. Six hundred and fifty federal agencies and department (sic). That's why they have to take so much of our taxes. +p4911 +aVWell, you know, I've just explained it to him. He can read about it if he wants to. I think he's an intelligent man and will make the correct decision after getting the real facts. +p4912 +aVHe's an OK doctor. But, you know, the fact of the matter is, we have extremely well-documented proof that there's no autism associated with vaccinations. But it is true that we are probably giving way too many in too short a period of time. And a lot of pediatricians now recognize that, and, I think, are cutting down on the number and the proximity in which those are done, and I think that's appropriate. +p4913 +aVI'd put my mother on there. You know, she was one of 24 children, got married at age 13, had only a third grade education, had to raise two sons by herself, refused to be a victim. Wouldn't let us be victims, and has been an inspiration to many people. +p4914 +aVOne Nation. +p4915 +aVWell, you know, I was a radical Democrat before I started listening to Ronald Reagan. And he didn't sound like what they said Republicans were. He sounded logical. And I hope that I sound logical also. Because when I look at what is going on with the United States of America, I see a lot of things that are not logical. I see us allowing people to divide us, when in fact our strength is in our unity. I see people exercising the most irresponsible fiscal habits that anyone could possibly do. And hiding it from the American people, so that the majority of people have no idea what our financial situation is. So, when someone comes along and says, free college, free phones, free this and that, and the other, they say, "wow, that's nice," having no idea that they're destabilizing our position. And I think also that Ronald Reagan was a master at understanding that a pinnacle nation has to be a nation that leads. If we learn to lead in the Middle East right now, a coalition will form behind us, but never they do it if we just sit there and talk about it. Real leadership is what I would hopefully bring to America. +p4916 +aVWell, I could take issue with -- with all of those things, but we don't have time. But I will say, we have a debate here tonight, and we will have an opportunity to explore those areas, and I'm looking very much forward to demonstrating that, in fact, the thing that is probably most important is having a brain, and to be able to figure things out and learn things very rapidly. So, you know, experience comes from a large number of different arenas, and America became a great nation early on not because it was flooded with politicians, but because it was flooded with people who understood the value of personal responsibility, hard work, creativity, innovation, and that's what will get us on the right track now, as well. +p4917 +aVWell, thank you, Megyn, I wasn't sure I was going to get to talk again. +p4918 +aVAlright. You know, what we do in order to get the information that we need is our business, and I wouldn't necessarily be broadcasting what we're going to do. We. . .uh. . .we've gotten into this -- this mindset of fighting politically correct wars. There is no such thing as a politically correct war. And, the left, of course, will say Carson doesn't believe in the Geneva Convention. Carson doesn't believe in fighting stupid wars. And -- and what we have to remember is we want to utilize the tremendous intellect that we have in the military to win wars. And I've talked to a lot of the generals, a lot of our advanced people. And believe me, if we gave them the mission, which is what the commander-in-chief does, they would be able to carry it out. And if we don't tie their hands behind their back, they will do it......extremely effectively. +p4919 +aVWhat I agree with is that we need a significantly changed taxation system. And the one that I've advocated is based on tithing, because I think God is a pretty fair guy. And he said, you know, if you give me a tithe, it doesn't matter how much you made. If you've had a bumper crop, you don't owe me triple tithes. And if you've had no crops at all, you don't owe me no tithes. So there must be something inherently fair about that. And that's why I've advocated a proportional tax system. You make $10 billion, you pay a billion. You make $10, you pay one. And everybody gets treated the same way. And you get rid of the deductions, you get rid of all the loopholes, and... +p4920 +aVAnd I have a lot more to say about it. +p4921 +aVIf Hillary is the candidate, which I doubt, that would be a dream come true. But you know, the fact of the matter is, she is the epitome of the progressive -- the secular progressive movement. And she counts on the fact that people are uninformed, the Alinsky Model, taking advantage of useful idiots. Well, I just happen to believe that people are not stupid. And the way I will come at it is to educate people, help people to actually understand that it is that progressive movement that is causing them the problems. You know, you look at the -- the national debt and how it's being driven up. If I was trying to destroy this country, what I would do is find a way to drive wedges between all the people, drive the debt to an unsustainable level, and then step off the stage as a world leader and let our enemies increase while we decreased our capacity as a military person. And that's what she's doing. +p4922 +aVWell, what we have to stop and think about is that we have weakened ourselves militarily to such an extent that if affects all of our military policies. Our Navy is at its smallest size since 1917; our Air Force, since 1940. In recent testimony, the commandant of the Marine Corps said half of the non-deployed units were not ready and you know, the sequester is cutting the heart out of our personnel. Our generals are retiring because they don't want to be part of this, and at the same time, our enemies are increasing. Our -- our friends can't trust us anymore. You know, Ukraine was a nuclear-armed state. They gave away their nuclear arms with the understanding that we would protect them. We won't even give them offensive weapons. You know, we turned our back on Israel, our ally. You know, in a situation like that, of course Obama's not going to be able to do anything. I would shore up our military first, because if you don't get the military right, nothing else is going to work. +p4923 +aVWell, I think the bully pulpit is a wonderful place to start healing that divide. You know, we have the purveyors of hatred who take every single incident between people of two races and try to make a race war out of it, and drive wedges into people. And this does not need to be done. What we need to think about instead -- you know, I was asked by an NPR reporter once, why don't I talk about race that often. I said it's because I'm a neurosurgeon. And she thought that was a strange response. And you say -- I said, you see, when I take someone to the operating room, I'm actually operating on the thing that makes them who they are. The skin doesn't make them who they are. The hair doesn't make them who they are. And it's time for us to move beyond that. Because......our strength as a nation comes in our unity. We are the United States of America, not the divided states. And those who want to destroy us are trying to divide us, and we shouldn't let them do it. +p4924 +aVWell, I haven't said anything about me being the only one to do anything, so let me try that. I'm the only one to separate Siamese twins... The -- the only one to operate on babies while they were still in mother's womb, the only one to take out half of a brain, although you would think, if you go to Washington, that someone had beat me to it. But I -- but I'm very hopeful that I'm not the only one who's willing to pick up the baton of freedom, because freedom is not free, and we must fight for it every day. Every one of us must fight for it, because we're fighting for our children and the next generation. +p4925 +aVWell, the current Constitution actually doesn't address that particular situation, but the fact of the matter is the Supreme Court, obviously, is a very important part of our governmental system. And when our Constitution was put in place, the average age of death was under 50, and therefore the whole concept of lifetime appointments for Supreme Court judges and federal judges was not considered to be a big deal. Obviously, that has changed, and it's something that probably needs to be looked at pretty carefully at some point. But, we need to start thinking about the divisiveness that is going on in our country. I looked at some of the remarks that people made after finding out that Justice Scalia had died, and they were truly nasty remarks. And that we have managed to get to that position in our country is truly a shame. And we should be thinking about how we could create some healing in this land. But, right now, we're not going to get healing with President Obama. That's very United Nations clear. So, I...... fully agree that we should not allow a judge to be appointed during his time. +p4926 +aVNo, it isn't. First of all, let me go back to your first question for me. It wasn't phrased as who gets to nominate Supreme Court appointees. Of course that's the president. So I know that there are some left-wing media who would try to make hay on that. Secondly, thank you for including me in the debate. Two questions already. This is great. Now, as far......as far as those 2 a.m. phone calls are concerned, judgment is what is required. And the kinds of things that you come up with are sometimes very, very difficult and very unique. One of the things that I was known for is doing things that have not been done before. So no amount of experience really prepares you to do something that has never been done before. That's where judgment comes in. And that, I think, is a situation that we're in right now, a situation that we have never been in before with the kinds of threats that pose real danger to our nation, and it comes in very handy in those situations. +p4927 +aVWell, first of all, let me just address the Iraq question. You know, I was not particularly in favor of us going to war in Iraq, primarily because I have studied, you know, the Middle East, recognizing that those are nations that are ruled by dictators and have been for thousands of years. And when you go in and you remove one of those dictators, unless you have an appropriate plan for replacing them, you're going to have chaos. Now, fortunately, we were able to stabilize the situation, and it was the current administration that turned tail and ran and destabilized the situation. Now, having said that, in terms of the rules of engagement, I was talking about, you know, Obama has said, you know, we shouldn't bomb tankers, you know, coming out of refineries because there may be people in there, or because the environment may be hurt. You know, that's just asinine thinking. And the fact of the matter is... You know, we \u2014 obviously, you're not going to accomplish all of your goals without some collateral damage. You have to be able to assess what is acceptable and what is not. +p4928 +aVWell, first of all, let me just mention on the tax issue. Bencarson.com, go read about it, because my tax plan has been praised by Cato, by Wall Street Journal. Forbes said it is the best, the most pro-growth tax plan, and it's based on real fairness for everybody. Starts at the 150 percent poverty level, but even the people below that have to pay something, because everybody has to have skin in the game, and the millions of people can't, you know, talk about what other people have to pay and have no skin in the game. And it deals with corporate tax rate, and makes it the same as everybody else......everybody pays exactly the same. +p4929 +aV... And, as far as Medicare and Medicaid, my main goal is to get rid of Obamacare and put the care back in the hands of ... +p4930 +aVWell, first of all, please go to my website, bencarson.com, and read my immigration policy, O.K.? Because it actually makes sense. Now, the \u2014 as far as these fines are concerned, you know? Here's the big problem. We've got all these government regulators, and all they're doing is running around looking for people to fine. And we've got 645 different federal agencies and sub-agencies. Way, way too many, and they don't have anything else to do. I think what we really need to do is start trimming the regulatory agencies rather than going after the people who are trying to increase the viability, economic viability of our society. Now, that doesn't mean there aren't some people out there who are doing bad things. But I'm not sure that the way to solve that problem is by increasing all the regulatory burden. You know, when you consider how much regulations cost us each year, you know? $2 trillion dollars per family, $24,000 per family, that happens to be the same level as the poverty level...... for a family of four. If you want to get rid of poverty, get rid of all the regulations. +p4931 +aVBefore you ask the question, can I respond to the \u2014 you know, they mentioned my name a couple of times. +p4932 +aVAll right. Well, first of all, you know, so many people have said to me, "You need to scream and jump and down \u2014 jump up and down like everybody else." Is that really what you want? What we just saw? I don't think so. And you know, I \u2014 when I got into this race, I decided to look under the hood of the engine of what runs Washington, D.C., and my first inclination was to run away, but I didn't do it because I'm thinking about our children and the fact that we are the United States of America. And anybody up here is going to be much better than what's going to come on the other side. And what happened tonight with \u2014 with Justice Scalia tells you that we cannot afford to lose this election, and we cannot be tearing each other down. +p4933 +aVWell, first of all, I'm not a politician, so I'm never going to become a politician. But here's what \u2014 here's what people need to know. People need to know that free college is not \u2014 it's a non-starter. You know, you have to look at our economic situation. We're on the verge of economic collapse and, you know, we're \u2014 it's not just the $19 trillion, but it's also the $200 trillion in unfunded liabilities. What we need to think about is, what does that do to the average person? When we have a debt of that nature, it causes the Fed to change their policy, it causes the central bank to keep the \u2014 the rates low, and who does does that affect? Mr. Average, who used to go to the bank every Friday and put part of his check in the bank and watch it grow over three decades and be able to retire with a nice nest egg, that's gone. That part of the American dream is gone. All of these things are disappearing, and Bernie Sanders and people like Hillary Clinton blame it on the rich. They say those evil rich people, if we take their money we can solve the problem. It's not the evil rich people. It's the irresponsible, evil government. +p4934 +aVThis is the first generation not expected to do better than their parents. Some people say it's the new normal, but there's nothing normal about it in an exceptional American. I, like you, am a member of we, the people, and we know that our country is heading off the cliff. Joseph Stalin said if you want to bring America down you, have to undermine three things: our spiritual life, our patriotism and our morality. We, the people, can stop that decline, starting right here in South Carolina. If all the people who say, "I love Ben Carson and his policies, but he can't win," vote for me, not only can we win, but we can turn this thing around. You know, we have this manipulation by the political class and by the media telling us who we're supposed to pick and how we're supposed to live. We, the people, are the only people who will determine that. And if you elect me as your next president, I promise you that you will get somebody who is accountable to everybody and beholden to no one. Thank you. +p4935 +asVQUINTANILLA +p4936 +(lp4937 +VGood evening, I'm Carl Quintanilla, with my colleagues Becky Quick and John Harwood. We'll be joined tonight by some of +p4938 +aVGovernor? +p4939 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p4940 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Bush. +p4941 +aVSenator Rubio. +p4942 +aVMr. Trump? +p4943 +aVDr. Carson? +p4944 +aVMrs. Fiorina? +p4945 +aVFixed it. +p4946 +aVSenator Cruz? +p4947 +aVGovernor Christie? +p4948 +aVSenator Paul? +p4949 +aVThanks to all the candidates. John? +p4950 +aVHold it. We'll cut it back to you in just a minute. Becky's moving on. +p4951 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor. thank you, Governor. +p4952 +aVMr. Trump, 30 seconds. +p4953 +aVThank you, Governor. +p4954 +aVWe're going to try to move on. +p4955 +aVYou want to bring 70,000 pages to three? +p4956 +aVIs that using really small type? +p4957 +aVIs that using really small type? +p4958 +aVMrs. Fiorina \u2014 +p4959 +aVWe're going to \u2014 +p4960 +aVWe will come around the bend, i promise. This one is for Senator Rubio. You've been a young man in a hurry ever since you won your first election in your 20s. You've had a big accomplishment in the Senate, an immigration bill providing a path to citizenship the conservatives in your party hate, and even you don't support anymore. Now, you're skipping more votes than any senator to run for president. Why not slow down, get a few more things done first or least finish what you start? +p4961 +aVSo when the Sun-Sentinel says Rubio should resign, not rip us off, when they say Floridians sent you to Washington to do a job, when they say you act like you hate your job, do you? +p4962 +aVWell, do you hate your job? +p4963 +aVIs that the standard? +p4964 +aVSenator, thank you. John. +p4965 +aVThank you, Senator. +p4966 +aVSenator Cruz. Congressional Republicans, Democrats and the White House are about to strike a compromise that would raise the debt limit, prevent a government shutdown and calm financial markets that fear of \u2014 another Washington-created crisis is on the way. Does your opposition to it show that you're not the kind of problem-solver American voters want? +p4967 +aV do we get credit ? +p4968 +aVSo, this is a question about , which you have 30 seconds left to answer, should you choose to do so. +p4969 +aVOK. I asked you about the debt limit and I got no answer. +p4970 +aVWe promised we would get to everyone this block. Governor Huckabee, I'm going to give you 60 seconds on this. +p4971 +aV...Governor... +p4972 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p4973 +aV...Senator Cruz... +p4974 +aVOK, alright. +p4975 +aVSenator Cruz... +p4976 +aV...Before we go to break, we're clearly not having that beer you mentioned, but I'll give you 30 more seconds... +p4977 +aVOK. +p4978 +aVI'll give you 30 seconds to respond... +p4979 +aVRespond on the debt limit, or an answer to the governor, which ever you choose. +p4980 +aV30 seconds, Governor Huckabee. +p4981 +aVGovernor, thank you. We will take a break. The Republican Presidential debate, live from Boulder, Colorado, coming back after a break on +p4982 +aVMrs. Fiorina, in 2010, while running for Senate in Tech Ridge (ph), California, you called an Internet sales tax a bad idea. Traditional brick and mortar stores obviously disagree. Now that the Internet shopping playing field has matured, what would be a fair plan to even that playing field? +p4983 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p4984 +aVOK. +p4985 +aVThank you very much. +p4986 +aVDr. Carson, we know you as a physician, but we wanted to ask you about your involvement on some corporate boards, including Costco's. Last year, a marketing study called the warehouse retailer the number one gay-friendly brand in America, partly because of its domestic partner benefits. Why would you serve on a company whose policies seem to run counter to your views on homosexuality? +p4987 +aVOne more question. This is a company called Mannatech, a maker of nutritional supplements, with which you had a 10-year relationship. They offered claims that they could cure autism, cancer, they paid $7 million to settle a deceptive marketing lawsuit in Texas, and yet you're involvement continued. Why? +p4988 +aVTo be fair, you were on the homepage of their website with the logo over your shoulder \u2014 +p4989 +aVDoes that not speak to your vetting process or judgment in any way. +p4990 +aVApparently. We will take a break. We'll be back in Boulder in just a minute. +p4991 +aV...We'll come back around. I want to get to governor Kasich. +p4992 +aVGovernor Kasich, let's talk ... +p4993 +aV...about Marijuana, Governor Kasich... +p4994 +aVAlright, but 30 seconds, you made a case. Sure, 30 seconds. +p4995 +aVSenator, thank you. +p4996 +aVOh, no, no, no... +p4997 +aV...Ok... +p4998 +aV...We're going to go to... +p4999 +aVOK. Thank you, Senator. Governor Kasich, let's talk about marijuana. We're broadcasting from Colorado which has seen $150 million in new revenue for the state since legalizing last year. Governor Hickenlooper is not a big fan of legalization, but he's said the people who used to be smoking it are still smoking it, they're just now paying taxes. Given the budget pressures in Ohio, and other states, is this a revenue stream you'd like to have? +p5000 +aVThank you, Governor. +p5001 +aVThank you. We'll be back from Boulder, Colorado in just a moment. +p5002 +aVMr. Trump, you've said you have a special permit to carry a gun in New York. +p5003 +aVAfter the Oregon mass shooting on October 1st, you said, "By the way, it was a gun-free zone. If you had a couple of teachers with guns, you would have been a hell of a lot better off." +p5004 +aVWould you feel more comfortable if your employees brought guns to work? +p5005 +aVAre you carrying one now? +p5006 +aVWe called a few Trump resorts, a few Trump properties that \u2014 that do not allow guns with or without a permit. Would you change those policies? +p5007 +aVOK. All right. Thank you. John? +p5008 +aVGovernor Bush, daily fantasy sports has become a phenomenon in this country, will award billions of dollars in prize money this year. But to play you have to assess your odds, put money at risk, wait for an outcome that's out of your control. Isn't that the definition of gambling, and should the Federal Government treat it as such? +p5009 +aVI had a feeling you were going to brag about that. +p5010 +aVThis is the\u2014 well, we're going to take a break. We want to save time for closing statements after the break. So this is the Republican presidential debate in Boulder, and we'll be right back. +p5011 +aVSenator Rubio... +p5012 +aV...yeah, I just wanted . +p5013 +aVI want to give you 30 seconds here. +p5014 +aVThat concludes tonight's debate. On behalf of my colleagues Becky Quick, John Harwood, Sharon Epperson, Rick Santelli and Jim Cramer, we'd like to our host, the University of Colorado at Boulder, the Republican National Committee, the candidates and, of course, tonight's audience. +p5015 +aV...Question, in the meantime, for Senator Santorum. You have advocated a flat tax, so we'd like to ask you about fairness. Why is it fair to tax all Americans at the same rate, as opposed to taxing more affluent Americans at higher rates? +p5016 +aVSenator, thank you. John \u2014 Becky? +p5017 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live in boulder, Colorado, on cNBC. We resume our questions now with Jim Cramer, the host of +p5018 +aVSenator Graham. You have said you believe that climate change is real. You've said you accept tax increases as part of a budget deal with Democrats. You've co-sponsored a Senate immigration bill providing a path to citizenship for those in the country illegally. Are you in the wrong party's debate? +p5019 +aVMy question for Governor Jindal, Paul Ryan says he would take the speaker job if it did not take away from his family time. The Department of Labor says 13 percent of American workers are eligible for paid family leave and the U.S. is the only developed nation in the world not to have guaranteed paid maternity leave for new moms. Should the government work to change that? +p5020 +aVGovernor, thank you. John? +p5021 +ag3678 +aVWelcome back to the University of Colorado, and the Republican Presidential Debate on +p5022 +aVWell, let's get to that. I mean, another example, for example, is Walgreens. +p5023 +aVI'm sure you do. Walgreens/Rite Aid. Big deal, consolidation in drug stores, semiconductors, food. What is the line at which something becomes anti-competitive in your view? +p5024 +aVSenator. +p5025 +aVThank you. Becky. +p5026 +aVQuestion for Senator Santorum. +p5027 +aVAfter this question maybe. The 2015 Nobel Prize winner for economics argues that slow growth causes poverty, and that leads to inequality. What would you do to ease inequality? And what would you do solve poverty? By the way, thanks to Larry Kudlow, +p5028 +aVGovernor Jindal, I'll give you 30 seconds on this. +p5029 +aVWe've got one more. One more lightning round. Governor Jindal, should the day after the Super Bowl be a national holiday? +p5030 +aVSenator? +p5031 +aVGovernor? +p5032 +aVFinally, Senator? +p5033 +aVThat concludes our first part of the evening. +p5034 +asVSTRASSEL +p5035 +(lp5036 +VMr. Trump. +p5037 +aVYou have made a lot of promises and you have also \u2014 you're the only candidate who has said he would not touch entitlements. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has estimated that your ideas would cost an additional $12 trillion to $15 trillion over the next 10 years and that we would have to have annual economic growth of anywhere from 7.7 percent to 9 percent annually to pay for them. Are you proposing more than you can actually deliver, at least not without big deficits? +p5038 +aVBut in terms of... +p5039 +aVO.K. But how would you actually do that? Can I ask you? Because right now, Social Security and Medicare... +p5040 +aVThey take up two-thirds of the federal budget, and they're growing. +p5041 +aVO.K., I have a question, a related tax question. Senator Rubio, you have the highest tax rate of anyone up on the stage in terms of the top tax rates, 35 percent. Some economists say, "It would limit its potential to boost economic growth." You do that so that you will have more revenue to pay for a tripling of the Child Tax Credit. Normally, it's liberals who like to use the tax code to insert social policy. Why should conservatives who want to tax adopt the other side's approach? +p5042 +aVGovernor Kasich, this on is on size of government. In 2013, you pushed through a Medicaid reform in your state over the rejections of many of the Republicans in your state. Total enrollment and overall cost of program have gone well beyond what anyone had expected, including yourself. How can you argue that this overall growth fits in with conservative ambition to significantly cut back on the size of federal welfare programs? +p5043 +aVSenator Cruz. Senator Cruz, you have promised to deport illegal aliens. You have also promised to reverse President Obama's executive action that gives temporary amnesty to illegals brought here by their parent as children. As president, you would have the names and addresses of the some 800,000 of those that have registered under that action. Now, you have said that in this country, we shouldn't go door to door, look for illegals, but in this case you would have a list. Would you use it? +p5044 +aVSo would you \u2014 would you use the addresses? +p5045 +aVWould you pick them up? +p5046 +aVSenator Rubio, your reply. +p5047 +aVAll right. Senator Cruz. Your response, Senator Cruz. +p5048 +aV... O.K.... +p5049 +aVMoving subjects. Dr. Carson, this week Morgan Stanley agreed to pay a $3.2 billion fine to state and federal authorities for contributing to the mortgage crisis. You have a lot of Democrats out saying that we should be jailing more executives, so two questions. Should financial executives be held legally responsible for financial crisis, and do you think fines like these are an effective way to deter companies from future behavior like that? +p5050 +aVSenator Cruz, you were mentioned in the mix here, your response? +p5051 +aVAnd now, Marco Rubio. +p5052 +aVWe'll be back with a few final thoughts in a moment. +p5053 +asVGILMORE +p5054 +(lp5055 +VWell, Bill, can I first... +p5056 +aVWell, first of all, Bill, let me say one thing, I have been in Iowa. But this is not the place where I'm choosing to begin my campaign. I am beginning my campaign in New Hampshire and I decided to do that based upon the process that is in place in Iowa and the primary that's in place in New Hampshire. But never mind that, I want to return to something. I'm the only veteran, Bill and Martha in this race. And I'm not going to any Donald Trump event over across town on some sort of faux veteran sort of issue. I'm going to speak to you tonight about the issue that really confronts veterans. I'm going to talk to you about the concerns that they have got with the veterans administration. The lousy appeals process that they have got. The fact that sometimes they get good service at the V.A. and sometimes they don't and the fact that post traumatic stress syndrome is not properly recognized. That psychology positions are unavailable in the Veterans Administration. And I will say this to you -- as the only veteran in -- in this race, when I become president of the United States, the veterans are going to be treated with respect and competently in success in the Veterans' Administration in this country. +p5057 +aVFirst of all, Bill, I think that Gitmo ought to remain open. But I also want to point out to you that what you are saying is the exact right topic to all of these other candidates. And that's this international challenge that we are facing, the international war that America is in, even to this day. And I'm the candidate who is best qualified to deal with this issue. A degree in foreign policy in Russian area studies. I'm the only United States Army veteran having gone to Europe during the Cold War as United States Army Intelligence agent, the governor during the 9/11 attack, the chairman of the National Commission on Homeland Security for the United States for five years. And this is what I will do. If I become the president, I'm going to rebuild the United States military. We're going to take the sequester off the defense budget. Give the Navy the ships it needs. Refit the United States Army. Refit the United States Marine Corps. And on this international guerrilla war, we need to recognize our Special Forces, our intelligence community, and the people that we need in order to really protect us. And finally, this war of ideas, we must win this. We must say to the world that radical Islamism is the threat. It isn't just confined to +p5058 +aVHey, did you miss me? Did you skip me? +p5059 +aVI'm going to have something to say about this, but you just keep going. +p5060 +aVYes, I'll be there. +p5061 +aVYou know, Martha, it may be out of the barn in that the Iranians may be moving towards a nuclear program, because this nuclear deal actually gives them a time frame up the road when they are going to be able to do that kind of program. And that's very dangerous because it means people in the Middle East have to begin to react to that right now. The United States, I think, has to continue to exercise its influence in the Middle East, stay active, and not do this pull-back type of program that we are seeing all over the place with President Obama, which is creating this kind of danger. The world is a more dangerous place now than when I was an intelligence agent. We have not only this international guerrilla war but also these challenges from these other countries as well. But, Martha, I want to say one more thing to you and Bill. I disagree with Carly Fiorina when she says that it's just a political class in Washington. The truth is that the country has changed. And there are powerful forces at this point that are really controlling our lives. And that's why people are so angry. One of those is government, which is regulating everything through the Environmental Protection Agency, through other places. But the biggest one is the organized establishment media. And I just noticed just now you gave Carly Fiorina two one-minute answers in a row. This media across the country is manipulating and shaping and framing this campaign and has been for at least a year now in order to get the kind of choices that people are going to have an opportunity to see. This is wrong. It has to change. And when I'm president, it's going to change. +p5062 +aVI'll take it. +p5063 +aVMartha, I just visited a community mental health clinic in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, just three days ago, as a matter of fact. And when I was governor of Virginia, I tried to move more of those resources into the community, which will give us the facilities and the abilities to begin to identify people who actually might be dangerous and who abuse Second Amendment rights. But I do believe this is one of the really principle issues in this campaign. The president and Hillary Clinton are working very hard to change the culture of this country in order to put us in a position where we can't exercise Second Amendment rights. That's wrong. I am a board member of the National Rifle Association. The reason I'm a board member is because I believe that individuals in this country can be trusted to exercise their rights under the Second Amendment and under the Bill of Rights. To take away people's Second Amendment rights is to redefine the individual in the society, and I'm not going to put up with it. As President of the United States, when Jim Gilmore's President of the United States, I can tell you this. Gun control is not going to be an issue. If gun control... ... comes to the President's desk when I'm president, I'll veto it as fast as it takes Hillary Clinton to eliminate her emails. +p5064 +aVYou know Bill, that raises, I think, the question of the future of the Republican party. The question is -- first of all, I stand second to no one in standing up to radical Islamism. I understand that +p5065 +aVWell, thank you very much, Bill. And, thank you, and Fox and Google for including me in this debate tonight. I think it's been a wonderful opportunity. I'm the son of a meat cutter. My father worked for Safeway stores for 45 years. My mother was a secretary, she ended her career as the Secretary for the Methodist Bishop. I didn't have a father that could give me a million dollar loan to start my business. But, my father did talk character, and he provided for his family, and he was a wonderful example. And, I'm not about to go across town tonight to carry the coat for some billionaire. Instead, I intend to run for President of the United States, speak to the issue of this international war, and challenge that we're in. This issue of veterans rights, and the issue of Second Amendment rights, and I ask for your support... +p5066 +aVI think the times are different now. I think the times are much more serious. Because Obama and Clinton policies, the United States is moving further and further into a decline. I want to reverse that decline. That's why I've entered this race, and I think I have the experience to do it. Former elected prosecutor, attorney general, governor, I was elected to all of those offices. A person who, in fact, has a long experience in foreign-policy issues, which is different from many of the other governors and prospective governors who are running. I was an Army intelligence agent and a veteran during the Cold War, assigned to West Germany. I was the chairman of the National Commission on Homeland Security and Terrorism for the United States for five years. I was a person who has dealt extensively with these homeland security issues. I was a governor during the 9/11 attack. I understand both of these issues, how to build the economy and doing that as a governor who'd built jobs, had cut taxes and also a governor who understands foreign-policy, and that's why I entered this race. +p5067 +aVWell, yes, indeed. I chaired the National Commission on Homeland Security Committee for United States. We warned about the 9/11 attack before the 9/11 attack occurred. I was the governor during the 9/11 attack when the Pentagon was struck. And I'm going to tell you this, we need to use the benefit of our law enforcement people across this country, combined with our intelligence people across this country. We need to use our technological advantages, because what we've warned of is an international guerrilla movement that threatens this country. It's going to happen in this country, there are going to be further attacks. We have to be prepared to defend the American people, prepare them for a long war, stand up for the defense of this country, and stand up for the values of this country... +p5068 +aVI'll tell them that we're going to grow the economy so that we can give people better opportunities so they don't have to rely exclusively on benefit types of programs. Some do, but many Americans are dying to have an opportunity to grow and to create something inside this economy. And I'm glad that I have a chance to answer this question. I've had the growth code (ph) there for about five years, and it's this specific program. We're going to do a tax cut for all Americans. We're going to have a three-bracket tax code, 10, 15 and 25 percent. We're going to combine all commercial activity in business into one place in the tax code and charge it 15 percent, which is going to suddenly make us competitive with the rest of the world. And we're going to eliminate the death tax. With a couple of additional tweaks, we know what this will do. It will cause the economy to grow, to explode, to create more jobs. And first of all, we've got to recognize that there is problem that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have caused. And that problem is too big regulations like the EPA, too much new taxes on business that we have seen and "Obamacare." These are drags on the economy, it's a deliberate drag. I propose to reverse that and get this economy moving again. +p5069 +aVWell, as you know, I'm a former elected prosecutor, a former elected attorney general, trained at the University of Virginia in constitutional law, and I don't believe in litmus tests except this. I believe we should be appointing Supreme Court justices who will follow the law and not try to make the law. Now, the challenge we're seeing today is that the Supreme Court is being converted into some type of political body. They have to have some legal basis and precedence for being able to follow the law instead of making the law up, and my goal is -- in appointing Supreme Court justices, would be to point -- to appoint justices who would follow the law. Bill, I want to say one more thing about... +p5070 +aVNot -- not on that, no. But let me say one more thing. I want to -- before my time runs out I want to get back to this issue of +p5071 +aVWell, it's not a matter of what the first executive order would be, Bill. The matter is what orders exist now that shouldn't exist? The president has done an executive order with respect to illegal immigration that is illegal. Illegal. And it creates a -- a contempt for the law, for the rule of law. If i were the president of the United States, I would go and look at every executive order that exists right now and determine which ones want to be voided, because the president shouldn't be legislating: not through that vehicle or any other. We should be relying upon the leadership of the Congress to pass the laws. +p5072 +aVProfessional politician that can't be trusted. +p5073 +aVWell, I was a conservative governor of Virginia, I governed that way, and that's my track record. But the key thing that we're seeing now is serious challenges to this country that must change, the direction of this nation must change. And that's why I've offered a specific program to the people of America tonight to address the fundamental problem of getting our country growing again, getting our economy growing, wages up, opportunities for people. And second, the international crisis we are facing is most dreadful and most dangerous. I have the experience as a prosecutor, attorney general, governor, United States Army intelligence veteran, governor during the 9/11 attack, chairman of the Terrorism Commission for this country. It's time for real substance and real experience. And that's what I'll offer to the people of the United States in this candidacy for the presidency. Mac +p5074 +asVSANTELLI +p5075 +(lp5076 +VSenator Cruz, let's focus on our central bank, the Federal Reserve. You've been a fierce critic of the Fed, arguing for more transparency. Where do you want to take that? Do you want to get Congress involved in monetary policy, or is it time to slap the Fed back and downsize them completely? What are your thoughts? What do you believe? +p5077 +aVSenator Paul, the same question to you. +p5078 +aVThank you, Senator. Dr. Carson, you told The Des Moines Register that you don't like government subsidies, it interferes with the free market. But you've also said that you're in favor of taking oil subsidies and putting them towards ethanol processing. Isn't that just swapping one subsidy for another, Doctor? +p5079 +aVThank you, Doctor. Becky? +p5080 +aVThanks, John. Governor Pataki. +p5081 +aVHow are you doing tonight? +p5082 +aVListen, America's central bank, the Federal Reserve, they've kept interest rates near zero since the 2008 financial crisis. And, by the way, they had a meeting today, you think they raised rates? No. Shocking, isn't it? +p5083 +aVListen, it's been a rough ride for American savers and retirees, they really rely on this interest income. And it's been a bonanza for the stock market, a bonanza. And for investors that like the little bit more risk, it's been a bonanza for them as well. So I guess what I'm asking is, do you think this policy is fair and do you support it? +p5084 +aVThanks, Governor. Senator Santorum, in the 2012 presidential debate, you were for the export-import bank, which facilitates government funding for U.S. exports. American companies like GE and Boeing are among the beneficiaries. But you said that killing the bank here \u2014 and I'm going to quote you \u2014 "is the last thing a true conservative should be doing." I don't know, government-backed funding isn't normally what I hear from true conservatives. So why is this situation different? +p5085 +asVMACCALLUM +p5086 +(lp5087 +VSo it will come as no surprise that there is an idea out there that there is a civil war brewing within the GOP over the meaning of conservative and the question of who is electable. There are some in the GOP who are so outraged by Trump and Cruz that they say they would actually rather have Hillary Clinton in the White House. So, Carly Fiorina, I ask you this. Is your party in crisis? +p5088 +aVGovernor Huckabee, word is that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is considering getting into this race. If he does, that would make four New Yorkers, including Sanders, Clinton, and Trump. One candidate in this race has criticized so-called "New York values". So tell me, in your opinion, are New York values different than Iowa values? +p5089 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum, according to Google, the Paris terror attacks were the largest story that was searched in 2015, with nearly 1 billion searches of that story worldwide. There have been at 18 terror attacks so far this year -- in just January alone, in 2016, and it will likely, as we all know, get worse. But what can an American president do to stop these terrifying killings? +p5090 +aVThank you, Senator. +p5091 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you have said when it comes to +p5092 +aVThank you. +p5093 +aVComing up, we're going to have more on the top issues in this campaign, and you can engage in tonight's conversation right from home. Go to google.com, search "FOX News debate." You can vote on which candidate you think is winning so far in tonight's debate. And you can check results after the debate is over. We are back in a moment live from the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. +p5094 +aVAlright, Governor Huckabee, government grows and grows. In fact, neighborhoods in and around the Beltway get richer and richer all the time while our manufacturing towns are disappearing. Still Republicans from Reagan to Bush have bowed to shrink the size of government, but it never works. Is this Presidency, and presidency, simply too small a David to slay the Goliath of government? +p5095 +aVAlright, Carly Fiorina, you've said that you can get the tax code down to three short simple pages. But, when lobbyists who have twisted the arms of members of Congress come sit with you in the Oval Office and say, "Madam President, sorry, I cannot be with you on this one," you may understand what previous presidents have gone through. No? +p5096 +aVSenator Santorum, Bernie Sanders asked a woman in Iowa what it's like to live in poverty. She broke down in tears, saying that she lives on less than $10,000 a year and that she is ashamed every day. She leans on her parents for help. She says she can't buy presents for her children. We are all sympathetic to this woman's plight. On the other hand, the G.O.P. is supposed to be the party of smaller government. So what would you look her in the eye and say? +p5097 +aVThank you, Senator. +p5098 +aVGovernor Gilmore, thanks to the Iranian nuclear deal, President Rouhani is currently on a tour of Europe meeting with our closest allies in France and Italy. In fact, he has already landed some 50 to 85 billion are the estimates in deals with those countries, with our allies. More on the way. You and others say that you would rip up that deal. But, really, by the time the next president is in office, won't that horse be well out of the barn? +p5099 +aVWe have another question for you, Governor Gilmore, back to back, here we go. According to Google... +p5100 +aVYou got it. According to Google, gun control is the most searched issue last month, making up nearly 80 percent of all the U.S. searches. People are looking for information on guns. When it comes to the tragic mass killings that we have seen in this country, Donald Trump says that what we need to do is build quote "more institutions for people who are sickos." Charles Krauthammer also says that in some cases involuntary commitment would help. And you have agreed with that. Given that institutions would be extraordinarily expensive to begin building, how much is too much to ask on this from the American taxpayer? +p5101 +aVThank you, Governor Gilmore. +p5102 +aVStill more to come from the Republican Presidential debate tonight. And, see how the campaigns are responding to the debate in realtime, go to Google.com and open your google search app. Type in, "Fox News Debate". We'll see you, just a moment -- back. +p5103 +aVWe are back live at the Iowa events center and this question goes to Carly Fiorina. In the last debate you said as part of your introduction, quote, " And unlike the other woman candidate in this case I actually love spending time with my husband." +p5104 +aVBut back in September in an interview you said that you would stick only to the record, your record versus Hillary Clinton's record. And never resort to personal attacks. So what changed? +p5105 +aVAll right. Carly, I want to stay with you on this next question as well. You waded into the Planned Parenthood early on. You took some heat for it. Now the people who shot that undercover video are the ones who got indicted and Planned Parenthood is untouched. Hillary Clinton has been crowing about this. Any regrets about this? +p5106 +aVThank you Carly Fiorina. Let me just ask a quick question here to Senator Santorum. Carly Fiorina was the only one of the GOP candidates to attend the March for Life in Washington last week. Where were you. +p5107 +aVAll right. Coming up, we will have the closing statements from our candidates tonight as we continue live from the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. We'll be right back. +p5108 +aVAlright, let's go now to Senator Rick Santorum. +p5109 +aV +p5110 +aVCarly Fiorina. +p5111 +aVThank you, Carly. +p5112 +aVIn one hour, seven more candidates take the stage for a debate hosted by Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly, and Chris Wallace. But, up next, the O'Reilly Factor. Good night everybody. +p5113 +asVCOONEY +p5114 +(lp5115 +VThanks, John. Candidates, we've already heard your answers on what you would do with Syrian refugees, but a crucial part of the immigration debate here at home is control of our own borders. Republicans say the borders -- securing borders is a top priority. Democrats say they want to plan for comprehensive immigration reform. So, Governor O'Malley, are you willing to compromise on this particular issue to focus on border security first in favor of keeping the country safe? O' +p5116 +aVThank you. Now, Secretary Clinton said you would go further than the President when it comes to taking executive action to implement immigration reforms. But the President's already facing legal trouble on this. We've seen it more just in the past week. Realistically, how could you go further with executive action? +p5117 +aVKathie. +p5118 +aVSenator -- Senator Sanders, we've heard a lot about this, your offer -- you want to offer free tuition to public universities and colleges. A couple of questions about this. 63 percent of those who enroll graduate. First question, isn't this throwing a lot of money away if we're looking at a third of these people are not going to complete college? +p5119 +aVWell, one of the things you want to do is to have the states pay for about a third of this $70 billion plan, correct? +p5120 +aVThere are 16 states that are running budget deficits right now. Where are are they expected to come up with this? +p5121 +aVGovernor O'Malley, jump in now. O' +p5122 +aVAll right, Nancy Cordes has a question. +p5123 +asVMCELVEEN +p5124 +(lp5125 +VSecretary Clinton, how does your plan differentiate from your opponents? +p5126 +aVThank you Secretary Clinton, thank you. +p5127 +aVBack to you David. +p5128 +asVLOPEZ +p5129 +(lp5130 +VGracias, Anderson. Senator Sanders, in 2013, you voted for immigration reform. But in 2007, when Democrats controlled Congress and the Bush White House was onboard, you voted against it. Why should Latino voters trust you now when you left them at the altar at the moment when reform was very close? +p5131 +aVTom Harkin isn't running for president. You are. +p5132 +aVSecretary Clinton \u2014 Secretary Clinton, Governor O'Malley wants to open up Obamacare to millions of undocumented immigrants and their children, including almost 90,000 people right here in Nevada. Do you? +p5133 +aVGovernor O'Malley? O' +p5134 +aVSenator Webb, do you support the undocumented immigrants getting Obamacare? +p5135 +aV...Thank you, Senator. +p5136 +aVThank you, Anderson. Senator Sanders, right here in Nevada, there will be a measure to legalize recreational marijuana on the 2016 ballot. You've said you smoked marijuana twice; it didn't quite work for you. If you were a Nevada resident, how would you vote? +p5137 +aVSecretary Clinton, you told Christiane Amanpour you didn't smoke pot when you were young, and you're not going to start now. When asked about legalizing recreational marijuana, you told her let's wait and see how it plays out in Colorado and Washington. It's been more than a year since you've said that. Are you ready to take a position tonight? +p5138 +asVDICKERSON +p5139 +(lp5140 +VBefore we start the debate here are the rules. The candidates have one minute to respond to our questions and 30 seconds to respond to our follow-up. Any candidate who is attacked by another candidate gets 30 seconds for rebuttal. Here's how we'll keep time, after a question is asked the green light goes on. When there are 15 seconds left the candidate gets a yellow warning light. And when time's up the light turns red. That means stop talking. Those are the rules. So let's get started. You will each have one minute for an opening statement to share your thoughts about the attacks in your Paris and lay out your visions for America. First, Senator Sanders. +p5141 +aVAll right, Senator Sanders. Secretary Clinton. +p5142 +aVGovernor O'Malley. O' +p5143 +aVAll right, thank you, Governor. Thank all of you. The terror attacks last night underscore biggest challenge facing the next president of the United States. At a time of crisis, the country and the world look to the president for leadership and for answers. So, Secretary Clinton, I'd like to start with you. Hours before the attacks, President Obama said, "I don't think +p5144 +aVBut as -- Secretary Clinton, the question was about, was +p5145 +aVOkay, Governor O'Malley, would you critique the administration's response to +p5146 +aVSenator Sanders, you said you want to rid the planet of +p5147 +aVQuickly, just let me ask you a follow-up on that, Senator Sanders. When you say the disastrous vote on Iraq, let's just be clear about what you're saying. You're saying Secretary Clinton, who was then Senator Clinton, voted for the Iraq war. And are you making a direct link between her vote for that or and what's happening now for +p5148 +aVAlright. Let's let Secretary Clinton respond to that. +p5149 +aVSenator Sanders let me just follow this line of thinking. You criticized then, Senator Clinton's vote. Do you have anything to criticize in the way she performed as Secretary of State? +p5150 +aVAlright. +p5151 +aVSenator let me... O' +p5152 +aVAll right, Secretary Clinton. +p5153 +aVI understand. Quickly, Senator. +p5154 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p5155 +aVLet me ask you, Secretary Clinton, a question about leadership. We're talking about what role does America take? Let me ask you about Libya. So Libya is a country in which +p5156 +aVGovernor O' Malley I want to ask you a question and you can add whatever you'd like to. But let me ask you, is the world too dangerous a place for a governor who has no foreign policy experience? O' +p5157 +aVSecretary Clinton, you mentioned radical jihadists. Marco Rubio, also running for president, said that this attack showed and the attack in Paris showed that we are at war with radical Islam. Do you agree with that characterization, radical Islam? +p5158 +aVJust to interrupt. He didn't say all Muslims. He just said radical Islam. Is that a phrase you don't... +p5159 +aVThe reason I ask is you gave a speech at Georgetown University in which you said, that it was important to show, quote, "respect, even for one's enemies. Trying to understand and in so far as psychologically possible, empathize with their perspective and point of view." Can you explain what that means in the context of this kind of barbarism? +p5160 +aVJust quickly, do either of you, radical Islam, do either of you use that phrase? +p5161 +aVGovernor O' Malley, you have been making the case when you talk about lack of forward vision, you're essentially saying that Secretary Clinton lacks that vision and this critique matches up with this discussion of language. The critique is that the softness of language betrays a softness of approach. So if this language -- if you don't call it by what it is, how can your approach be effective to the cause? that's the critique. O' +p5162 +aVSecretary Clinton, the French president has called this attack an act of war. +p5163 +aVA couple of days ago you were asked if you would declare war on +p5164 +aVAnd you think that covers all of this? +p5165 +aVIf you were in the Senate, would you be okay with the commander in chief doing that without it coming back to you? +p5166 +aVSenator, let me just -- let's add to whatever you've got to say. Refugees. You've been a little vague on what you would do about the Syrian refugees. What's your view on them now? +p5167 +aVGovernor O'Malley, you have a magic number. I think it's 65,000. Does that number go up or down based on what happened yesterday? O' +p5168 +aVJust very quickly, 65,000, the number stays? O' +p5169 +aVBut for you, what would you want? O' +p5170 +aVSecretary Clinton, let me ask you a question from twitter which has come in and this is a question on this issue of refugees. The question is, with the U.S. preparing to absorb Syrian refugees, how do you propose we screen those coming in to keep citizens safe? +p5171 +aVAlright. Senator Sanders, I'm sorry. We're going to have to take a break now. We will have more of the Democratic debate here from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. +p5172 +aVWant to turn now from terrorism to another important issue for many Americans, the financial squeeze on the the middle class. For that, we go to my CBS News Colleague, Nancy Cordes. Nancy? +p5173 +aVAll right, I am sorry, Governor, we're going to have to go, I apologize. O' +p5174 +aVGovernor -- Governor, you're breaking the rules. I'm sorry, we're going to have to cut for a commercial. We'll be right back here from Drake University here in Des Moines, Iowa. O' +p5175 +aVThere is a lot of presidential history here in Iowa. It hosted the first in the nation caucuses. Herbert Hoover was born in West Branch, and tonight, we are in Polk County, named for our 11th president, with three people who hope to be number 45. Joining my now to question them are Iowans Kevin Cooney of +p5176 +aVYou have -- you have given me the perfect segue. We are going to talk about Wall Street, but now we've got to go do a commercial. We're coming to the end of the first hour. But there's another hour behind it and we're going to talk about Wall Street so hang with us. +p5177 +aVGood evening again, as we begin the second half of the debate. Joining me in the questioning are the candidates -- of the candidates are CBS news congressional correspondent Nancy Cordes, Kevin Cooney of CBS Des Moines affiliate +p5178 +aVSenator Sanders you said that the donations to Secretary Clinton are compromising. So what did you think of her answer? +p5179 +aVGreat follow up because you -- and Secretary Clinton, you will get a chance to respond. You said they know what they're going to get. What are they going to get? +p5180 +aVHold on. He was attacked. O' +p5181 +aVHold on, he was attacked. Glass-Steagall... +p5182 +aVAll right. Senator, we have to get Governor O' Malley in. Governor, along with your answer, how many Wall Street veterans would you have in your administration? O' +p5183 +aVAnyone from Wall Street? O' +p5184 +aVHold on. +p5185 +aVAll right, I want to switch to the -- switch to the issue of guns here. Secretary Clinton, you said that Senator Sanders is not tough enough on guns, but basically he now supports roughly the same things you do. So can tell us what the exact difference is going forward between the two of you on the issue of gun control? +p5186 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to... +p5187 +aVSecretary Clinton, just a quick follow-up. You say that Senator Sanders took a vote that -- on immunity that you don't like. So if he can be tattooed by a single vote and that ruins all future opinions by him on this issue, why then isn't he right when he says your wrong vote on Iraq tattoos you forever in your judgment? +p5188 +aVBut was that a mistake, Senator? +p5189 +aVSenator, a mistake or not, your immunity vote? Quickly, before I go to... +p5190 +aVSo not a mistake? O' +p5191 +aVHold on. +p5192 +aVSorry. I'm going to bring in Nancy Cordes with a question from twitter about this exchange. +p5193 +aVFinal word. Final word, Governor O'Malley, before we go to commercial. O' +p5194 +aVWe have to -- we have to go for a commercial, Senator. I'm sorry. We have to go for a commercial here. We'll be right back with the Democratic debate here in Des Moines, Iowa on CBS. +p5195 +aVBack now in Des Moines with the candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination. Senator Sanders, I want to start with you. Let's say you're elected president. Congratulations. +p5196 +aVYou've said you'll have a revolution. +p5197 +aVBut there's a conservative revolution going on in America right now. As John Boehner knows and as Democrats know, who have lost in state houses across the country. +p5198 +aVThose conservatives are watching tonight and probably shaking their heads. So how do you deal with that part of the country? The revolution's already happening, but on the other side? +p5199 +aVSenator, as a 30-second follow-up, we've heard already tonight this figure, 92 percent of support for background checks. Let's look at that as an example. There was something 92 percent of the public was for. There had been these mass shootings. There was emotional support behind it. +p5200 +aVBipartisan support. +p5201 +aVThe president, the full force of his office. +p5202 +aVIt went nowhere. That's the model you're talking about. Nothing happened. +p5203 +aVA question from Kathie Obradovich. +p5204 +aVSecretary Clinton, just one more question on the e- mail question. For Democrats, there's an FBI investigation going on. Can you satisfy Democrats, who might worry about an another shoe dropping, that you and your staff have been totally truthful to them, and that another shoe is not going to drop? +p5205 +aVRace relations is another issue everyone cares about, and we're going to switch to that now. Governor O'Malley, let me ask you a question. The head of the FBI recently said it might be possible that some police forces are not enforcing the law, because they're worried about being caught on camera. The acting head of the drug enforcement administration said a similar thing. Where are you on this question? And what would do you if you were president, and two top members of your administration were floating that idea? O' +p5206 +aVAll right, Governor... Senator Sanders, one of your former colleagues, an African- American member of Congress, said to me recently that a young African- American man had asked him where to find hope in life. And he said, "I just don't know what to tell him about being young and black in America today." What would you tell that young African-American man? +p5207 +aVSecretary Clinton, you told some Black Lives Matter activists recently that there's a difference between rhetoric in activism and what you were trying to do, was -- get laws passed that would help what they were pushing for. But recently, at the University of Missouri, that activism was very, very effective. So would you suggest that kind of activism take place at other universities across the country? +p5208 +aVAll right, over to Kevin Cooney. +p5209 +aVThirty seconds. +p5210 +aVI'm sorry, governor. We've got to take a break or the machine breaks down. You're watching the Democratic debate here on CBS. +p5211 +aVWe begin the final segment of this debate with something none of you saw coming. Something quite unexpected. Soon after your inauguration, you will face a crisis. All presidents do. What crisis you have experienced in your life that suggests you've been testd and can face that inevitable challenge? Secretary Clinton, you first. +p5212 +aVGovernor O' Malley, what crisis proves that you're tested? O' +p5213 +aVSenator Sanders what, experience would you draw on in a crisis? +p5214 +aVAll right, Senator Sanders... We've ended the evening on crisis, which underscores and reminds us again of what happened last night. Now, let's move to closing statements. Governor O'Malley, you're first. O' +p5215 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p5216 +aVSenator Sanders? +p5217 +aVGood evening. I'm John Dickerson. This holiday weekend, as America honors our first president, we're about to hear from six men who hope to be the 45th. The candidates for the Republican nomination are here in South Carolina for their ninth debate, one week before this state holds the first-in-the-South primary. George Washington wrote that the truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains taken to bring it to light. We hope to shed some light on the candidates' positions tonight to help voters make up their minds. So gentlemen, please join us on stage. With us tonight \u2014 with us tonight are retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson of Florida, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Businessman Donald Trump of New York. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Former Governor Jeb Bush of Florida. And Governor John Kasich of Ohio. Now, as most of you have heard by now, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died today at the age of 79. He was the longest-serving member of the court, appointed by President Reagan in 1986. Justice Scalia was the court's leading conservative, and even those who disagreed with his opinions regarded him as a brilliant legal scholar. Please join us and the candidates on our stage in a moment of silence for Justice Antonin Scalia. Thank you. We will talk to the candidates about Justice Scalia and the road ahead when the debate begins in a moment. +p5218 +aVBefore we get started, candidates, here are the rules. When we ask you a question, you will have one minute to answer, and 30 seconds more if we ask a follow-up. If you're attacked by another candidate, you get 30 seconds to respond. And here's how we keep time. After we ask a question, you'll get a green light. The yellow light means you have 30 seconds left to finish your answer, and when time is up, the light turns red. That means please stop talking. If you keep talking, you'll hear this. You don't want to hear that. Joining me in the questioning tonight, my CBS News colleague, chief White House correspondent Major Garrett, and Kimberley Strassel, who is on the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal. And you can participate in the debate through our partnership with Twitter. Tweet us your questions and comments using the hashtag "# +p5219 +aVSo, just to be clear on this, Mr. Trump, you're O.K. with the president nominating somebody ... +p5220 +aVGovernor Kasich, I want to get your thoughts on this. Justice Scalia was a real believer, obviously, in the strict word of the Constitution. Now, Harry Reid says that a failure to fill his vacancy would be, quote, "shameful abdication of one of the Senate's most essential constitutional responsibilities." Where do you come down on this? +p5221 +aVDr. Carson. Dr. Carson, you, like others, put out a statement after the death was announced, and you said the president should delay. You've written a book on the Constitution recently. What does the Constitution say about whose duty it is here to act in this kind of a situation? +p5222 +aVSenator Rubio, you're a... Senator Rubio, you're a lawyer. Quickly, can you address the issue of whether the Constitution tells us who has the power to appoint Supreme Court justices? And then, also, the Senate Republicans last year floated an idea of removing the filibuster for Senate \u2014 excuse me, for Supreme Court nominations. You seemed open to that. What's your feeling on that now? +p5223 +aVQuickly, though, on this question... Very quickly, Senator, on this specific question, though. You were once in favor of dropping the threshold... +p5224 +aV... majority \u2014 you were never in favor of that? +p5225 +aVO.K. Thank you, Senator. Governor Bush, I would like to ask you, conservatives for a long time have felt like that their Republican presidents have picked justices that didn't turn out to be real conservatives. +p5226 +aVBernie Sanders has said he would have a litmus test. He would make sure that he appointed a justice who was going to overturn Citizens United. If they can have a litmus test for a nominee, what about you? Would you have a litmus test for a nominee? And what would it be? +p5227 +aVRight, so, Senator Cruz, the Constitution... So, Senator Cruz, the Constitution says the president "shall appoint with advice and consent from the Senate," just to clear that up. So he has the constitutional power. But you don't think he should. Where do you set that date if you're president? Does it begin in election year, in December, November, September? And once you set the date, when you're president, will you abide by that date? +p5228 +aVJust can I \u2014 I'm sorry to interrupt, were any appointed in an election year, or is that just there were 80 years... +p5229 +aVBut Kennedy was confirmed in '88. +p5230 +aVHe was appointed in '87. +p5231 +aV... confirmed in '88. That's the question, is it appointing or confirming, what's the difference? +p5232 +aVSorry, I just want to get the facts straight for the audience. But I apologize. +p5233 +aVAll right. Thank you, Senator Cruz. All right, we're going to move on to national security here, and we are going to \u2014 I want to read a quote from Secretary Robert Gates, former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who served for eight year \u2014 under eight presidents. And this is what he said about Republican candidates, quote, "Part of the concern that I have with the campaign is that the solutions being offered are so simplistic and so at odds with the way the world really works." So, in that spirit, we're going to work tonight to be more specific. Mr. Trump, I want to start with you. You have said as president, you'll get up to speed very quickly. You'll know more quickly as president than any of the experts. So, you've been elected president. It's your first day in the Situation Room. What three questions do you ask your national security experts about the world? +p5234 +aVSenator Rubio \u2014 just 30 seconds on this question, Senator Rubio. Are those the questions you would ask? +p5235 +aVLet me ask you a follow-up, a full, proper question, then. Violent extremists are operating or active in 40 countries. Some 80 countries are in different degrees of instability. And so, that's just the crises overseas. Barack Obama walked into an economic collapse when he came into office. We face international health crises, from Ebola to Zika. So, there is a lot of opportunity for crisis, as you have talked about. What would you point to in your past to show voters that you've been in a crisis and that you've been tested when that inevitable crisis comes when you're president? +p5236 +aVDr. Carson, I want to ask you a question... Dr. Carson, you said you've had more 2 a.m. \u2014 2 a.m. phone calls than anybody up on this stage. But when those 2 a.m. phone calls came, you operated on a foundation of all of that amazing medical work that you did, all of that learning. So if you were to be president, though, you wouldn't have the political foundation that hones those instincts when the 2 a.m. phone call comes. So isn't that a liability? +p5237 +aVGovernor Kasich, Russia is being credited......Russia is being credited with bombing U.S.-backed rebels on behalf of Assad in Aleppo and Syria. They've also moved into the Crimea, eastern Ukraine. You've said you want to punch them in the nose. What does that mean? What are you going to do? +p5238 +aVGovernor......Governor Bush. +p5239 +aVYou said defeating +p5240 +aVMr. Trump, you're......Mr. Trump, you were mentioned here. You did say that you could get along very well with Vladimir Putin. You did at one point say let Russia take care of +p5241 +aV... All right... +p5242 +aV... All right, Governor Bush, please respond. +p5243 +aV... O.K., settle... +p5244 +aV... All right, Mr. Trump, all right... +p5245 +aVGentleman, I think we're going to leave that there. I've got a question for Senator... +p5246 +aV... All right, all right, gentlemen, gentlemen, let's leave it there so I can ask a question of Senator Cruz, who's also running for president. Senator Cruz, you talked about the first Gulf War as being a kind of model for your focused and determined effort to go after +p5247 +aVVery quickly, 30-second follow-up. You've said that, essentially, the Kurds would be the American ground forces in there. The criticism that experts have on that is that the Kurds only can work within their territory. If they take larger amounts of territory, you have an ethnic war with the Arabs. So the Kurds can't really do as much as you seem to be putting on their backs. +p5248 +aVAll right. Mr. Trump......On Monday, George W. Bush will campaign in South Carolina for his brother. As you've said tonight, and you've often said, the Iraq war and your opposition to it was a sign of your good judgment. In 2008, in an interview with Wolf Blitzer, talking about President George W. Bush's conduct of the war, you said you were surprised that Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi didn't try to impeach him. You said, quote: "Which, personally, I think would have been a wonderful thing." When you were asked what you meant by that and you said: "For the war, for the war, he lied, he got us into the war with lies." Do you still believe President Bush should have been impeached? +p5249 +aVSo... +p5250 +aVBut so I'm going to \u2014 so you still think he should be impeached? +p5251 +aVAll right. O.K. All right. Governor Bush \u2014 when a member on the stage's brother gets attacked... +p5252 +aV... the brother gets to respond. +p5253 +aVGovernor Kasich, would you weigh in on......Governor Kasich, please weigh in. +p5254 +aVWhy is it nuts? Talk about it. Give us your sense of... +p5255 +aVThirty seconds, Senator Rubio. +p5256 +aVAll right, Dr. Carson, we have a cleansing... +p5257 +aVWe have a cleansing... +p5258 +aVAll right. Well, Dr. Carson, I have got a question now for you. A moment of pause here. You have said, Dr. Carson, that \u2014 referring to yourself, that people bought into the idea that, quote, "A nice person can't be tough on terrorists." You have called for loosening the rules of engagement for the military, which could lead to more civilian casualties. So, explain why those casualties would be acceptable in the fight against +p5259 +aVAll right, thank you, Dr. Carson. We're going to have to take a commercial break here. Thank you to all the candidates. We'll be right back with CBS News's 2016 debate in Greenville, South Carolina. +p5260 +aVWe're back with the Republicans who could be president. The topic now is money and how the candidates would spend it. We'll turn the questioning over to Kimberley Strassel of The Wall Street Journal and Major Garrett of CBS News. Kim? +p5261 +aVDr. Carson, before we go to break, could you give us your sense of this conversation about either Medicaid or economic growth through taxation? +p5262 +aVDoctor... +p5263 +aV... Dr. Carson, I'm sorry, we have to go to a commercial. The free market wants what it wants. Back soon with the 2016 Republican debate in Greenville, South Carolina. +p5264 +aVWelcome back. We'll begin the second half of the debate with one of the hottest issues in the Republican campaign, immigration. But before I turn it back to Major Garrett and Kim Strassel, I have one question for Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump, in the Republican National Committee's Spanish-language response to the State of the Union, Congressman Diaz-Balart said, quote, "It's essential that we find a legislative solution," talking about immigration, "to offer a permanent and humane solution to those who live in the shadows. What does that mean to you, "a humane solution to those who live in the shadows"? +p5265 +aVSenator Cruz, I have a question for you. Speaker Paul Ryan has made a big commitment to trying to lift the 50 million poor out of poverty. Arthur Brooks, who is the president of the American Enterprise Institute, says, quote, "If we are not warriors for the poor every day, free enterprise has no matter." How you have been, in your campaign, a warrior for the poor? +p5266 +aVAll right. Mr. Trump, thank you so much. We're going to take a break for a moment. We'll be back in a moment with the CBS News Republican debate. +p5267 +aVWe're back now from Greenville, South Carolina, with the candidates for the Republican presidential nomination. Mr. Trump, I have a question for you. Presidents have to, on the one hand, be firm, but also be flexible. You have been flexible and changed your opinion on a number of things, from abortion to Hillary Clinton. But you have said, rightly, that it's just like Ronald Reagan, who changed his mind on things. But at the same time, you're criticizing Senator Cruz for what you say is a change on immigration. He disputes that, of course. So, why is your change of opinion make you like Reagan, and when he changes his opinion, it's a huge character flaw? +p5268 +aVWhich conservative idea don't you agree with? +p5269 +aVAll right. Governor Bush, I think by "they," he is referring to your brother, these on the hook for your brother. +p5270 +aVBut that was his brother. +p5271 +aVHold on, gentleman, I'm going to turn this car around. +p5272 +aVAll right, gentlemen. +p5273 +aVWell, hold on. We're going to \u2014 gentlemen, we're in danger of driving this into the dirt. Senator Rubio, I'd like you to jump in here... +p5274 +aVI understand, you're on deck, governor. +p5275 +aVSenator Cruz, 30 seconds on this one. +p5276 +aVWe're going to switch... +p5277 +aVWe're going to switch here to Senator Marco Rubio. Senator Marco Rubio, please weigh in. +p5278 +aVI thought you had a point? +p5279 +aVI thought you had a point you wanted to make. +p5280 +aVYou're on deck, sir. +p5281 +aVSenator, I wanted to ask you, just going back to immigration, in the last debate, you listed your series of accomplishments in the Senate. One thing you left off was \u2014 was immigration reform. Is it the case that in your list of accomplishments you can't mention that? +p5282 +aVDr. Carson, I have......Dr. Carson, I have a question for you. Candidates are... +p5283 +aVAll right. You have 30 seconds, Doctor. +p5284 +aVDr. Carson, I \u2014 let me ask you a different question. When you were \u2014 you were the first one, really, to talk about political correctness. Everybody now talks about it, but that was really what sparked your \u2014 your rise. Politicians are often accused of glossing over any hard choices people have to make, just always selling happy, nice things. So in the \u2014 in the spirit of saying something that might be politically incorrect, tell the voters something that they need to hear but that might be politically incorrect? +p5285 +aVGovernor Kasich. Governor Kasich, you've been described as the Democrats' favorite Republican. You talked about in New Hampshire, Democrats would come up to you and say, "I hope you win." Why will that help you win a Republican nomination? +p5286 +aVMr. Trump, let me ask you a question. Presidents in both parties say that the one thing you need in your administration is somebody who can tell you you're wrong. You don't necessarily seem like somebody who has somebody who tells you you're wrong a lot. Can you tell us of an instance where somebody has said, "Donald Trump, you're wrong," and you listened to them? +p5287 +aVAbout what? +p5288 +aVLet me \u2014 something, in talking to voters that they wish somebody would tell you to cut it out is the profanity. What's your reaction to that? +p5289 +aVAll right. O.K. Governor Bush, I'd like to ask you... +p5290 +aVWell, can I \u2014 how about you respond, and then you can answer the question I'm about to ask you. +p5291 +aVIt'll be... +p5292 +aVIf we adjudicate this, the night will be over. Governor, in 2012, you said that your father and Ronald Reagan would have a hard time in today's Republican Party, based on their records of trying to find accommodation and finding some degree of common ground. Do you still feel that way? +p5293 +aVHold on, Mr. Trump. +p5294 +aVHold on, Mr. Trump. +p5295 +aVO.K., Mr. Trump, your response. +p5296 +aVThe bells are ringing, sir. +p5297 +aVAll right. Thank you. Senator Rubio, I want to ask you a 30-second question, no president can... +p5298 +aVNo \u2014 well, I'll ask the question, you do what you want. +p5299 +aVNo president can know everything, right? So a smart leader knows how to ask questions. So if you could talk to any previous president, what's the smart question you would ask about that job that you would want to know? +p5300 +aVAll right. That's going to have to be it there, Senator Rubio. We have got to go to a break. We will be right back with the CBS News Republican debate in Greenville, South Carolina. +p5301 +aVTime now for closing statements. You will each have one minute, and we'll begin with Governor Kasich. +p5302 +aVDr. Carson \u2014 Dr. Carson, you're next. +p5303 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor Bush. +p5304 +aVSenator Cruz? Senator Cruz, your closing statement? +p5305 +aVMr. Trump, your closing statements? +p5306 +as. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/downloads/data/script19.pickle b/downloads/data/script19.pickle new file mode 100644 index 0000000..87ef20a --- /dev/null +++ b/downloads/data/script19.pickle @@ -0,0 +1,11249 @@ +(dp0 +VWEBB +p1 +(lp2 +VThank you. You know, people are disgusted with the way that money has corrupted our political process, intimidating incumbents and empowering Wall Street every day, the turnstile government that we see, and also the power of the financial sector in both parties. They're looking for a leader who understands how the system works, who has not been coopted by it, and also has a proven record of accomplishing different things. I have a record of working across the political aisle. I've also spent more than half of my professional life away from politics in the independent world of being an author, a journalist, and a sole proprietor. In government service, I've fought and bled for our country in Vietnam as a Marine. I spent years as Assistant Secretary of Defense, Secretary of the Navy \u2014 in the Reagan administration. In the senate, I spoke about economic fairness and social justice from day one. I also wrote and passed the best piece of veterans education legislation in history, the Post 9/11 G.I. Bill. I brought criminal justice reform out of the political shadows and into the national discussion. I led what later became called the Strategic Pivot to Asia two years before President Obama was elected. I know where my loyalties are. My mother grew up in the poverty of east Arkansas chopping cotton, picking strawberries. Three of her seven siblings died in childhood. My wife, Hong, came to this country as a refugee from war torn Vietnam \u2014 learned English, a language that was not spoken at home, and earned her way into Cornell Law School. I have five daughters. Amy works with disabled veterans, Sarah is an emergency room nurse, Julia is a massage therapist, Emily and Georgia are still in school. My son Jim fought as an infantry Marine on the bloody streets of Ramadi. You may be sure that in a Webb administration, the highest priority will be the working people who every day go out and make this country stronger at home, and who give us the right reputation and security overseas under a common sense foreign policy. +p3 +aVNo, actually I believe that I am where the Democratic Party traditionally has been. The Democratic Party, and the reason I've decided to run as a Democrat, has been the party that gives people who otherwise have no voice in the corridors of power a voice. And that is not determined by race. And as a clarification, I have always supported affirmative action for African Americans. That's the way the program was originally designed because of their unique history in this country, with slavery and the Jim Crow laws that followed. What I have discussed a number of times is the idea that when we create diversity programs that include everyone, quote, "of color," other than whites, struggling whites like the families in the Appalachian mountains, we're not being true to the Democratic Party principle of elevating the level of consciousness among our people about the hardships that a lot of people who happen to be have \u2014 by culture, by the way. +p4 +aVLook, there are two fundamental issues that are involved in this discussion. We need to pay respect to both of them. The first is the issue of who should be kept from having guns and using firearms. And we have done not a good job on that. A lot of them are criminals. And a lot of the people are getting killed are members of gangs inside our urban areas. And a lot of them are mentally incapacitated. And the shooting in Virginia Tech in '07, this individual had received medical care for mental illness from three different professionals who were not allowed to share the information. So we do need background checks. We need to keep the people who should not have guns away from them. But we have to respect the tradition in this country of people who want to defend themselves and their family from violence. +p5 +aVMay I? People are going back and forth here for 10 minutes here. There are people at high levels in this government who have bodyguards 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The average American does not have that, and deserves the right to be able to protect their family. +p6 +aVAnderson, can I come into this discussion at some point? +p7 +aVThank you. I've been standing over here for about ten minutes, trying. +p8 +aVIt's just \u2014 it's gone back and forth over there. +p9 +aVYou got the lucky . +p10 +aVLook, let's start \u2014 I've been trying to get in this conversation for about 10 minutes \u2014 let's start with why Russia is in Syria right now. There are three strategic failings that have allowed this to occur. The first was the invasion of Iraq, which destabilized ethnic elements in Iraq and empowered Iran. The second was the Arab Spring, which created huge vacuums in Libya and in Syria that allowed terrorist movements to move in there. And the third was the recent deal allowing Iran to move forward and eventually acquire a nuclear weapon, which sent bad signals, bad body language into the region about whether we are acquiescing in Iran becoming a stronger piece of the formula in that part of the world. Now, I say this as someone who spent five years in the Pentagon and who opposed the war in Iraq, whose son fought in Iraq, I've fought in Vietnam. But if you want a place where we need to be in terms of our national strategy, a focus, the greatest strategic threat that we have right now is resolving our relationship with China. And we need to do this because of their aggression in the region. We need to do it because of the way they treat their own people. +p11 +aVAnd I would say this. I've been waiting for 10 minutes. I will say this. +p12 +aVI will \u2014 well, you've let a lot of people go over their time. I would say this... +p13 +aV... to the unelected, authoritarian government of China: You do not own the South China Sea. You do not have the right to conduct cyber warfare against tens of millions of American citizens. And in a Webb administration, we will do something about that. +p14 +aVCan I... O' +p15 +aVThank you. +p16 +aVThis is not about Benghazi per se. To me it is the inevitability of something like Benghazi occurring in the way that we intervened in Libya. We had no treaties at risk. We had no Americans at risk. There was no threat of attack or imminent attack. There is plenty of time for a president to come to the Congress and request authority to use military force in that situation. I called for it on the Senate floor again and again. I called for it in Senate hearings. It is not a wise thing to do. And if people think it was a wise thing to do, try to get to the Tripoli airport today. You can't do it. +p17 +aVEverybody makes their decisions when the time there is conscription. And as long as they go through the legal process that our country requires, I respect that. And it would be for the voters to decide whether Senator Sanders or anyone else should be president. I will say this, coming from the position that I've come from, from a military family, with my brother a marine, my son was a marine in Iraq, I served as a marine, spending five years in the Pentagon, I am comfortable that I am the most qualified person standing up here today to be your commander-in-chief. +p18 +aVI believe that the signal that we sent to the region when the Iran nuclear deal was concluded was that we are accepting Iran's greater position on this very important balance of power, among our greatest ally Israel, and the Sunnis represented by the Saudi regime, and Iran. It was a position of weakness and I think it encouraged the acts that we've seen in the past several weeks. +p19 +aVOur greatest long-term strategic challenge is our relation with China. Our greatest day-to-day threat is cyber warfare against this country. Our greatest military-operational threat is resolving the situations in the Middle East. +p20 +aVI hope I can get that kind of time here. As a President of the United States, every life in this country matters. At the same time, I believe I can say to you, I have had a long history of working with the situation of African Americans. We're talking about criminal justice reform, I risked my political life raising the issue of criminal justice reform when I ran for the Senate in Virginia in 2006. I had democratic party political consultants telling me I was committing political suicide. We led that issue in the congress. We started a national debate on it. And it wasn't until then that the Republican Party started joining in. I also represented a so-called war criminal, an African American Marine who was wounded \u2014 who was convicted of murder in Vietnam, for six years. He took his life three years into this. I cleared his name after \u2014 after three years. +p21 +aVAnd I put the African American soldier on the Mall. I made that recommendation and fought for it. So, if you want someone who is \u2014 can stand up in front of you right now and say I have done the hard job, I have taken the risks, I am your person. +p22 +aVBernie, say my name so I can get into this. +p23 +aVOK. Thank you. +p24 +aVAnderson, I need to jump in (inaudible). +p25 +aVThere is a reality that I think we all need to recognize with respect to the power of the financial sector. And let me just go back a minute and say that on this +p26 +aVAll right. Well, I'm trying to set a mark here so maybe we can get into a little more later on. This hasn't been equal time. But if you want to look at what has happened, if we look at the facts in terms of how we're going to deal with this, since that crash, in the last 10 years, the amount of the world's capital economy that Wall Street manages has gone from 44 percent to 55 percent. That means the Wall Street money managers are not risking themselves as the same way the American people are when they're going to get their compensation. They're managing money from all over the world. We have to take that into consideration when we're looking at ways to regulate it. +p27 +aVI wouldn't have a problem with that. Let me start by saying my wife is an immigrant. She was a refugee, her family escaped from Vietnam on a boat-- her entire extended family, after the communists took over, when hundreds of thousands of people were out there and thousands of them were dying. Went to two refugee camps, she never spoke English in her home, and she ended, as I said, graduating from Cornell Law School. That's not only American dream, that's a value that we have with a good immigration system in place. No country has \u2014 is a country without defining its borders. We need to resolve this issue. I actually introduced an amendment in the 2007 immigration bill... +p28 +aV...Giving a pathway to citizenship to those people who had come here, and put down their roots, and met as a series of standards... +p29 +aV...lost (ph) \u2014 I introduced that in 2007 \u2014 We need a comprehensive reform, and we need to be able to define our borders. +p30 +aVI \u2014 well, I \u2014 I would leave his ultimate judgment to the legal system. Here's what I do believe. We have a serious problem in terms of the collection of personal information in this country. And one of the things that I did during the +p31 +aVI got a great deal of admiration and affection for Senator Sanders, but I \u2014 Bernie, I don't think the revolution's going to come. And I don't think the Congress is going to pay for a lot of this stuff. And if there would be a major difference between my administration and the Obama administration, it would be in the use of executive authority. I came up as a committee counsel in the Congress, used to put dozens of bills through the House floor every year as a committee counsel on the Veterans Committee. I have a very strong feeling about how our federal system works and how we need to lead and energize the congressional process instead of allowing these divisions to continue to paralyze what we're doing. So I would lead \u2014 working with both parties in the Congress and working through them in the traditional way that our Constitution sets (ph). +p32 +aVWell, the \u2014 the question really is how are we going to solve energy problems here and in the global environment if you really want to address climate change? And when I was in the Senate, I was an all-of-the-above energy voter. We introduced legislation to bring in alternate energy as well as nuclear power. I'm a strong proponent of nuclear power. It is safe, it is clean. And really, we are not going to solve climate change simply with the laws here. We've done a good job in this country since 1970. If you look at China and India, they're the greatest polluters in the world. Fifteen out of the 20 most polluted cities in the world are in one of those two countries. We need to solve this in a global way. It's a global problem and I have been very strong on \u2014 on doing that. The \u2014 the agreements \u2014 the so-called agreements that we have had with China are illusory in terms of the immediate requirements of the \u2014 of the Chinese government itself. So let's solve this problem in an international way, and then we really will have a \u2014 a way to address climate change. +p33 +aVI'd have to say the enemy soldier that threw the grenade that wounded me, but he's not around right now to talk to. +p34 +aVThank you. Ladies and gentlemen, it's been a pleasure to be with you tonight. You've heard a lot of promises up here; you've heard a lot of rhetoric. They all seem to happen during campaigns, and then once the election's over, people start from scratch again and try to get things done. One of the things I can promise you, if you look at my record, in and out of government, is that I've always been willing to take on a complicated, something unpopular issues, and work them through, the complex issues, and work them through in order to have the solution. We did it with criminal justice reform. We've had a lot of discussion here about criminal justice reform. We did it in other ways. We need a national political strategy for our economy, for our social policy, for social justice, and, by the way, for how you run and manage the most complex bureaucracy in the world, which is the federal government. I know how to lead. I did it in Vietnam, I did it in the Pentagon, I did it in the Senate, and if you will help me overcome this cavalcade of \u2014 of financial irregularities and money that is poisoning our political process, I am ready to do that for you in the White House. +p35 +asVCRAMER +p36 +(lp37 +VDr. Carson, in recent weeks, a number of pharmaceutical companies has been accused of profiteering, for dramatically raising the prices of life-saving drugs. You have spent a lifetime in medicine. Have these companies gone too far? Should the government be involved in controlling some of these price increases? +p38 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Governor Christie, there has been a lot of political rhetoric that some bank executives should have gone to jail for the 2008 financial crisis. But General Motors paid more than $1 billion in fines and settlements for its ignition switch defect. One hundred and twenty- four people died as a result of these faulty switches. No one went to jail. As a former prosecutor, do you believe the people responsible for the switch and the cover-up belong behind bars? +p39 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. +p40 +aVThank you. Governor Pataki, in the wake of the Sony hack last year, you said, quote, "at the very least, we should declare cyber-war on North Korea." What does a cyber-war look like? And if our companies are getting attacked by foreign governments, do we need a military response? +p41 +aVSenator Graham, you're a hawk. Was that tough enough? +p42 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Santorum. We know that a troubling amount of air pollution on the west coast comes from China. Should we enact a pollution tax on products imported from China and give our manufacturers a level playing field? +p43 +aVThank you, Senator. John? +p44 +asVPERRY +p45 +(lp46 +VI will tell you one thing: I would whole lot rather had Carly Fiorina over there doing our negotiation than John Kerry. Maybe we would've gotten a deal where we didn't give everything away. But the issue for us is to have a Congress that stands up and says not only no, but hell no, to this money going to a regime that is going to use it for terror... +p47 +aVIt's good to be with you. +p48 +aVAfter those four years of looking back and being prepared, the preparation to be the most powerful individual in the world requires an extraordinary amount of work: not just having been the governor of the 12th largest economy in the world, which I might add, we added 1.5 million jobs during that period of time over that 2007 through 2014 period, a period when America was going through the most deep recession it had been through since the Great Depression. I think Americans want someone to have a track record of showing them how to get this country back on record, someone who will stand up and every day project that best days of America are in front of us. And I will assure you, as the governor of the state of Texas, and as those last four years have shown me, the preparation to be ready to stand on this stage and talk about those monetary policies, those domestic policies, and those foreign policies, Americans are going to see that I am ready to be that individual. +p49 +aVWell, when you look at the celebrity of Donald Trump, then I think that says a lot about it. One thing I like to remind people is, back in 2007, Rudy Giuliani was leading the polls for almost a year. I'll suggest a part of that was his celebrity. Fred Thompson was the other one, a man who had spent a lot of time on that screen. I've had my issues with Donald Trump. I talked about Donald Trump from the standpoint of being an individual who was using his celebrity rather than his conservatism. How can you run for the Republican nomination and be for single- payer health care? I mean, I ask that with all due respect. And nobody, nobody on either one of these stages has done more than I've done and the people of the State of Texas to deal with securing that border. We sent our Texas ranger recon teams. We sent our parks and wildlife wardens. I deployed the National Guard after I stood on the ramp in Dallas, Texas and looked the president of the United States in the eye and said, "Mr. President, if you won't secure the border, Texas will," and that's exactly what we did. We need a president that doesn't just talk a game, but a president that's got real results. Mac +p50 +aVBill, here's the interesting position on this. Americans are tired of hearing this debate -- want to go to, what are you going to do about illegal immigration? For 30 years this country has been baited with that. All the way back to when Ronald Reagan signed a piece of legislation that basically allowed for amnesty for over 4 million people, and the border is still not secure. The American people are never going to trust Washington, D.C., and for good reason. We hear all this discussion about well, I would do this, or I would do that, when the fact is, the border is still porous. Until we have a president of the United States that gets up every day and goes to the Oval Office with the intent purpose of securing that border, and there's not anybody on either one of these stages that has the experience of dealing with this as I have for over 14 years with that 1200-mile border. We have to put the personnel on that border in the right places; you have to put the strategic fencing in place; and you have to have aviation assets that fly all the way from Tijuana to El Paso to Brownsville, Texas -- 1,933 miles looking down 24/7, with the technology to be able to identify what individuals are doing, and ID when they are in obviously illegal activities or suspicious activities, and quick response teams come. At that particular point in time, then Americans will believe that Washington is up to a conversation to deal with the millions of people that are here illegally, but not until. If you elect me president of the United States, I will secure that southern border. +p51 +aVWe need to be on the side that keeps Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. That's the side we need to be on, and that's the side of the bulk of the -- of the Middle East. We need to have some coalitions in that part of the world to go after +p52 +aVIt'll be a pretty busy day, but that Iran negotiation is going to be torn up on day one. We're going to start the process of securing that border. I'm also going to take a bottle of White-Out with me to get started on all those executive orders that Mr. Obama has put his name to. +p53 +aVIt will be a long day. +p54 +aVWell, let's go with three. Good at email. +p55 +aVWell, this is going to be a show me, don't tell me election. I think America is just a few good decisions and a leadership change at the top away from the best years we've ever had. And I think that the record of the governor of the last 14 years of the 12th largest economy in the world is just the medicine America is looking for. 1.5 million jobs created during the worst economic time this country has had since the Great Depression while the rest of the country lost 400,000 jobs. We're talking about a state that moved graduation rates forward from 27th in the nation to second-highest. As a matter of fact, if you're Hispanic or African-American in Texas, you have the number one high school graduation rates in America. Americans are looking for somebody that's going to give them, and there is a place in this country over the last eight years in particular that talked about hope every day, and they didn't just talk about it, they delivered it. And that was the state of Texas. And if we can do that in Texas, that 12th largest economy in the world, we can do it in America. Our best days are in front of us. We can reform those entitlements, we can change that corporate tax code and lower it. We can put America back on track on a growth level and a growth rate that we've never seen in the history of this country. Manufacturing will flow back into this country. It just needs a corporate executive type at the top that's done it before. And I will suggest to you nobody's done it like Rick Perry has done it over the last eight years. And if you elect me president, we will bring incredible growth back to this country. And as someone who's worn the uniform of the country, that's how we build our military back up. +p56 +asVLEMON +p57 +(lp58 +VAlright, Anderson, thank you very much. I'm not sure how to follow that, but this question is about something that has tripped some of the candidates up out on the campaign trail. Can you hear me? Can't hear me in the room. OK, here we go again, as I said... +p59 +aV...There we go... +p60 +aVAll right. This one is for Martin O'Malley. Anderson, Governor O'Malley, this is from Anna Bettis from Tempe, Arizona. Here it is. ( +p61 +aVSo, Governor O'Malley, please tell Anna how you would protect the environment better than all the other candidates up on that stage. O' +p62 +aVAlright, Anderson. This is for Senator Sanders, OK? This is from Carrie (ph) Kang (ph) from Manassas, Virginia, would like would like to ask the Senator, "President Obama has had a difficult time getting Republicans to compromise on just about every agenda. How will you approach this going forward, and will it be any different?" Senator? +p63 +asVRADDATZ +p64 +(lp65 +VGood evening to you all. The rules for tonight are very basic and have been agreed to by all three campaigns in advance. Candidates can take up to a minute-and-a-half to respond directly to a question. For a rebuttal, for a follow-up, 45 seconds will be allowed. There are green, yellow, and red lights that each candidate will see to signal when time is running out and when they're supposed to be finished with their answers. +p66 +aVThank you, Secretary Clinton. Governor O'Malley? O' +p67 +aVSecretary Clinton, in the wake of the San Bernardino attack, you all emphasized gun control. But our latest poll shows that more Americans believe arming people, not stricter gun laws, is the best defense against terrorism. Are they wrong? +p68 +aVSecretary Clinton, can we stick to gun control? +p69 +aVAre they wrong? +p70 +aVSenator Sanders -- wait just a moment, please, Governor O'Malley. Senator Sanders, we've seen those long lines of people buying guns in record numbers after the Paris attacks. Would you discourage people from buying a gun? +p71 +aVThank you, Senator Sanders. I think we're going to go on... O' +p72 +aVGovernor, now -- and let me stay with gun control for a minute, then. You talk about assault weapons. Even if you were able to ban the purchase of assault weapons tomorrow, Americans already own an estimated 7 to 10 million semi-automatic rifles. Would you make it illegal to own those weapons, force people to turn them in? And if not, how would banning the sales really make a difference? O' +p73 +aVBut, again, I'm not talking about buying. Would you have them confiscated? The ones that are already here? O' +p74 +aVI want to move to another... O' +p75 +aVNo, no, not yet, Governor O'Malley. O' +p76 +aVNo, not yet, Governor O'Malley. O' +p77 +aVI'll come to you when we call on you. Thank you very much. O' +p78 +aVYou'll be happy. I'll let -- I'll let you talk then. Secretary Clinton, I want to talk about a new terrorist tool used in the Paris attacks, encryption. FBI Director James Comey says terrorists can hold secret communications which law enforcement cannot get to, even with a court order. You've talked a lot about bringing tech leaders and government officials together, but Apple CEO Tim Cook said removing encryption tools from our products altogether would only hurt law-abiding citizens who rely on us to protect their data. So would you force him to give law enforcement a key to encrypted technology by making it law? +p79 +aVAnd Governor O'Malley, where do you draw the line between national security and personal security? O' +p80 +aVThank you, Governor O'Malley. +p81 +aVSenator Sanders -- Senator Sanders, we're going to move on. We're going to move on. +p82 +aVWe're going to move on to the fight against +p83 +aVOK. Let's keep going. Thank you. +p84 +aVThank you. I do want to move to the fight against +p85 +aVFor the people of New Hampshire, the brutality of +p86 +aVBut why Al Qaida, why not +p87 +aVThe administration has tried that over and over again. If it doesn't work and this threat is so great, what's your plan B? +p88 +aVSecretary Clinton, you too have ruled out a large U.S. combat force, yet you support sending in special operations forces to Syria, and sending those 100 to 200 troops to Iraq to do exploitation kill raids. We've already lost one Delta Force member in a raid. It has looked very much to me like we're already in ground combat on frequent trips I've made there. So, are you fooling Americans when you say, we're not putting American combat troops back into Syria or Iraq? No. Not at all. I think that what we're facing with +p89 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want -- I want to follow up on that. You do support sending special operations forces there. You support what the president has done already. One of the lessons people draw from Vietnam and war since is that a little force can turn into a little more and a little more. President Obama certainly didn't expect to be sending 30,000 additional troops into Afghanistan the first year of his presidency. Are you prepared to run the risk of a bigger war to achieve your goals to destroy +p90 +aVGovernor O'Malley. You've emphasized the need for more human intelligence on the ground. What is it our intelligence community is not doing now that needs to be done? O' +p91 +aVThank you. +p92 +aVSecretary Clinton, I'd like to go back to that if I could. +p93 +aVBut isn't that a decision you should make now, whether... +p94 +aV... if you're advocating this? +p95 +aVAnd we're going to move on to health care. Secretary Clinton, the Department of Health and Human Services says more than 17 million Americans who are not insured now have health coverage because of Obamacare. But for Americans who already had health insurance the cost has gone up 27 percent in the last five years while deductibles are up 67 percent, health care costs are rising faster than many Americans can manage. What's broken in Obamacare that needs to be fixed right now? And what would you do to fix it? +p96 +aVBut you did say those were glitches. +p97 +aVJust glitches? +p98 +aVTwenty-seven percent in the last five years, deductibles up 67 percent? +p99 +aVSenator Sanders, I want you to respond to what she was saying, but you're instead calling for single-payer health care. +p100 +aVYou note people won't have to pay deductibles or premiums but they will have to pay new taxes. Can you tell us specifically how much people will be expected to pay? +p101 +aVSenator Sanders, you didn't really tell us specifically how much people will be expected to pay... +p102 +aVBut you can't tell us this specifically, even if you were... +p103 +aVOK. Let's go to talk about the high cost of college education and for that we turn to the executive director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics, right here at Saint Anselm college, Neil Levesque. Neil? +p104 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to circle back to something that your opponents here have brought up. Libya is falling apart. The country is a haven for +p105 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to go back. That -- government lacked institutions and experience. It had been a family business for 40 years. On the security side, we offered only a modest training effort and a very limited arms buy-back program. Let me ask you the question again. How much responsibility do you bear for the chaos that followed those elections? +p106 +aVBut were mistakes made? +p107 +aVSenator Sanders. +p108 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p109 +aVQuick Governor O'Malley. O' +p110 +aVThank you very much. Thank you. We're going to move on here. Governor O'Malley, thank you very much for that. And we're going to make a very sharp turn as we wrap things up here. Secretary Clinton, first ladies, as you well know, have used their position to work on important causes like literacy and drug abuse. But they also supervise the menus, the flowers, the holiday ornaments and White House decor. I know you think you know where I'm going here. You have said that Bill Clinton is a great host and loves giving tours but may opt out of picking flower arrangements if you're elected. Bill Clinton aside, is it time to change the role of a president's spouse? +p111 +aVGovernor O'Malley? Martha, thank you. I want to thank all of the people who have tuned in tonight. I want to thank the great people of New Hampshire, where despite all of the cynicism about big money and big banks taking over our politics, here in New Hampshire, the individual matters. You know, my wife Katie and I have four terrific kids, and like you, there's probably nothing we wouldn't do to give them a future that's safer, that's healthier, where they have more opportunity than our parents and grandparents gave to us. Tonight, what you listened to was a healthy exchange of ideas about how we'd do that, that which we have always proven, the capacity to do better than any nation in the world, to take actions that include more of our people more fully in the economic, social and political life of our country. When you listened to the Republican debate the other night, you heard a lot of anger and you had a lot of fear. Well, they can have their anger and they can have their fear, but anger and fear never built America. We build our country by adopting wage and labor policies, including comprehensive immigration reform with a pathway of citizenship for all. We do it by investing in our country, by investing in infrastructure, by investing in the skills and the talents of our people with debt-free college, and we can do it again. And we also create a better future for our kids when we square our shoulders to the great challenges of our times, whether it's terror trying to undermine our values or Republican presidential candidates trying to get us to surrender our freedoms and our values in the face of this threat. The other big challenge we have is climate change. The greatest business opportunity to come to the United States of America in 100 years. We need to embrace this. I have put forward a plan that does this, that moves us to 100 percent clean electric grid by 2050. Join this campaign for the future. New leadership is what our country needs to move us out of these divided and polarized times. Thank you. +p112 +aVQuestions of leadership and character have dominated the news ever since the Iowa caucuses a few days ago. Here with us to question the candidates this evening are Josh McElveen from +p113 +aVDr. Ben Carson. +p114 +aVBusinessman Donald Trump. +p115 +aVFormer Florida Governor, Jeb Bush. +p116 +aVLadies and gentlemen, the Republican candidates. +p117 +aVAnd Donald Trump. +p118 +aVThe applause so loud you couldn't hear. We couldn't hear, either. That's a good sign for the excitement this evening. Gentlemen, thank you for being here tonight, just days before voters here in New Hampshire make their decisions. The rules are simple and have been agreed to by all the campaigns. There will be 60 seconds to answer and if another candidate is mentioned in that answer, that candidate will have 30 seconds to respond. There are green, yellow and red lights that each candidate will see to signal when time is up and they will also hear this sound. +p119 +aVSenator Cruz, you are a first term Senator as well. Your opponents say you, like Senator Rubio, are not prepared to be Commander in Chief. You have talked tough about threats we face in the Mid-East. It was reported just moments ago that the North Koreans test launched an intercontinental ballistic missile. North Korea has nuclear weapons, and conducted another nuclear test just last month. The missile that was launched is the kind the North Koreans hope could someday carry a nuclear weapon capable of reaching the United States. How would you respond if Commander in Chief to that launch? +p120 +aVWell, let me ask you this, if you were Commander in Chief tonight would you have order the U.S. military to destroy that missile preemptively on the launchpad to prevent North Korea from becoming an even graver threat? +p121 +aV... Senator Cruz, let me tell you this, you have talked tough about the Mid-East, you haven't gotten those intelligence briefings about that. Why not tell us whether you would preemptively strike a missile on a launchpad that threatens the U.S... +p122 +aVOkay. Senator Cruz, I will say that missile has been sitting there for quite some time, and they have had eyes on it. +p123 +aVSenator Rubio, I'm talking about a preemptive strike on the launch pad. +p124 +aVOK. Thank you, Senator Rubio. Governor Kasich, how would you respond to tonight's launch? +p125 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. Thank you \u2014 thank you... +p126 +aV... Governor Bush, I'll get to you in a moment. +p127 +aVThank you, Governor Bush. Mr. Trump, do you have a red line with North Korea? Would you consider military action? And how far would you let them go? +p128 +aVAnd I'd like him to finish the question, please. +p129 +aVSpecific \u2014 as to North Korea. +p130 +aVSenator Rubio, you were mentioned. +p131 +aVThank you very much, Senator Rubio. Governor Bush, another problem facing the commander-in-chief right now is that North Korea is currently detaining an American college student. What would you do to get that college student back home? +p132 +aVGovernor Christie, I want to go to you on the same question. +p133 +aVWould you negotiate with North Korea to... +p134 +aVThank you very much, Governor Christie. David? +p135 +aVSenator Cruz, to that point, Mr. Trump has said that your position on health care means that maybe you've got, quote, "no heart". There is a question here, though, about uncovered folks. You suggested repealing and replacing Obamacare. As we learned with President Obama's broken promise that everyone could keep their plan, any major plan \u2014 change in health care policy carries with it the risk that some people will lose their insurance coverage or have to change it. How do you reassure that those people that repealing and replacing Obamacare is still in their best interest? +p136 +aVSenator Cruz, you advocate what you call carpet bombing, or saturation bombing, to defeat +p137 +aVSenator Cruz, would you like to expand or loosen the rules of engagement? I was just over in a command center in Erbil and they said they thought the rules of engagement worked. Because you have so many civilians in those populated areas, they don't want to hit civilians. +p138 +aVSo, loosen the rules of engagement? +p139 +aVSenator Rubio, you said in the last debate that +p140 +aVAgain, Senator Rubio, you've already said +p141 +aVWell, what would you do \u2014 what would you do differently to try to get those Sunni forces? They have not been coming forward. +p142 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 thank you very much, Senator Rubio. Mr. Trump. You have said you will vigorously bomb +p143 +aVAnd \u2014 and what would you do in those cities, where there are people who we are trying to help, who +p144 +aVThank you very much, Mr. Trump. Let's turn to Libya. Governor Bush, it is a country in chaos. There is no government. This week, defense officials said there are now 5,000 +p145 +aVThank you very much, Governor Bush. Dr. Carson? +p146 +aVAnd would you support renewed airstrikes? +p147 +aVWe're going to move on. +p148 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. Thank you, Josh. Our partner in this debate, the Independent Journal Review, has collected questions from some prominent conservatives around the country. Here's a videotaped question from radio host Larry O'Connor. O' +p149 +aVMr. Trump, I'm going to give that question to you. You took it \u2014 you took it away anyway. +p150 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. I'm going to go to Senator Rubio on this. How would you change that narrative? +p151 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Dr. Carson, I want to go to you on Larry O' Connor's question. Would you change the narrative? +p152 +aVYes. +p153 +aVThank you very much Dr. Carson. I'm going to go back to David. +p154 +aVGovernor Christie, earlier this week, the World Health Organization declared the Zika virus a global emergency. The same kind of mosquitoes that carry the Zika virus in Latin America are found here in the United States, and the virus has been linked to severe birth defects. Governor Christie, at the peak of the Ebola outbreak in west Africa, you ordered an American nurse who landed at Newark Airport be detained and quarantined. As fear spreads now of the Zika virus and with the Rio Olympics just months away, is there a scenario where you would quarantine people traveling back from Brazil to prevent the spread in the United States? +p155 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you. I'm going to move to Dr. Carson, and go back to the Zika virus, is that going too far, quarantining? You're a doctor, what would you do? +p156 +aVThanks very much, Dr. Carson. I want to move on to the military. Senator Rubio, all restrictions on women in combat as long as they qualify. Positions including special operations forces, like Navy Seals. Just this week military leaders of the Army and Marine Corps said that they believed young women, just as young men are required to do, should sign up for Selective Service in case the Draft is reinstated. Many of you have young daughters. Senator Rubio, should young women be required to sign up for Selective Service in case of a national emergency? +p157 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Governor Bush, do you believe that young women... +p158 +aVDo you believe young women should sign up for Selective Service, be required to sign up... +p159 +aVTell me what you'd say to American people out there......who are sitting at home, who have daughters, who might worry about those answers, and might worry... +p160 +aV... if the Draft is reinstituted? +p161 +aV... Are you saying you'd do away with it? +p162 +aVYou register for the draft. +p163 +aVIf it's reinstituted. +p164 +aVThank you very much. +p165 +aVThank you very much, Governor Christie. +p166 +aVWe just covered \u2014 wait one second, Dr. Carson. +p167 +aVVery quickly. +p168 +aVThank you very much for bringing up that subject, Dr. Carson, of our veterans. And for another question about our veterans, we go back to Josh McElveen from +p169 +aVGovernor Christie. +p170 +aVDr. Carson. +p171 +aVSenator Cruz. +p172 +asVANNOUNCER +p173 +(lp174 +VHello from MinuteEarth. Fossil fuels have long kept our cars moving and our light bulbs lit. But we know that burning these fuels releases heat-trapping gases that are warming the planet, causing seas to rise and contributing to extreme weather events, like South Carolina's devastating flooding last year. Fighting human-caused climate change means giving up our global addiction to fossil fuels and shifting the bulk of the world's energy supply to alternative sources. Some countries have acted decisively to make this transition. But here at home, we still get a whooping 82 percent of our energy from coal, oil, and natural gas. In the U.S., political gridlock, pressure from industry lobbyists and insufficient R&D have made an already tough battle against climate change even tougher. +p175 +aVABC News coverage of the New Hampshire Democratic debate will continue in a moment. ( +p176 +asVUNKNOWN +p177 +(lp178 +VIf you're not going to have my back, I'm going to have my back. +p179 +aVA couple things here. First of all... +p180 +aVWe have grown \u2014 we have grown... +p181 +aVTrue. It's true. +p182 +aV...let me follow up that... +p183 +aV +p184 +aVOh, great. +p185 +aV...In 2011, you told Forbes Magazine this: "I've used the laws of the country to my advantage." But at the same time, financial experts involved in those bankruptcies say that lenders to your companies lost billions of dollars. Question sir, with that record, why should we trust you to run the nation's business? +p186 +aVI do. +p187 +aVThank you. +p188 +aVSecretive and untrustworthy. +p189 +asVIFILL +p190 +(lp191 +VWe want to also extend our warm thanks to Milwaukee Public Radio and Milwaukee Public Television, as well as all of our friends at the PBS member stations across the country tuning in tonight. This is the sixth time the Democrats have met face to face. Each time, we learn more about them and the presidents they say they want to be. You know you're watching \u2014 whether you're a Democrat, a Republican, or neither \u2014 because you believe the outcome of the election is important to you. And we believe that, too. With that, let's welcome the candidates to the stage. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. +p192 +aVWelcome to you both. +p193 +aVWith Iowa and New Hampshire behind us, we are now broadening the conversation to America's heartland and beyond, including here in Wisconsin. Now let's turn to the candidates for their opening statements. The order was decided by coin toss. And, Senator Sanders, you go first. +p194 +aVThank you, Senator Sanders. Thank you, Senator Sanders. Secretary Clinton. +p195 +aVFinal thought, Senator. +p196 +aVI'd like to move along. I'd like to move along. Secretary Clinton, you might \u2014 you also have proposed fairly expansive ideas about government. You may remember this pledge from a State of the Union Address at which I believe you were present, in which these words were said: "The era of big government is over." You may remember that. When asked your feelings about the federal government this week, 61 percent of New Hampshire Democrats told exit pollsters that they are angry or at least dissatisfied. Given what you and Senator Sanders are proposing, an expanding government in almost every area of our lives, is it fair for Americans who fear government to fear you? +p197 +aVBut I haven't heard either of you put a price tag on your \u2014 you say... +p198 +aVSenator? +p199 +aVSenator, do you worry at all that you will be the instrument of thwarting history, as Senator Clinton keeps claiming, that she might be the first woman president? +p200 +aVThank you both. We turn now to the first of several questions from our partners at Facebook. They were selected from a curated group of people we've been following of undecided voters. The first comes from Claudia Looze, a 54-year-old woman who works as a program manager at a public affairs cable network in Madison, Wisconsin. And she writes: "Wisconsin is number one in African-American male incarceration, according to a University of Wisconsin study. They found that Wisconsin's incarceration rate for black men, which is at 13 percent, was nearly double the country's rate. What can we do across the nation to address this?" Senator Sanders. +p201 +aVLet me turn this on its head, because when we talk about race in this country, we always talk about African-Americans, people of color. I want to talk about white people, OK? +p202 +aVI know. So many people will be surprised to find out that we are sitting in one of the most racially polarized metropolitan areas in the country. By the middle of this century, the nation is going to be majority nonwhite. Our public schools are already there. If working-class, white Americans are about to be outnumbered, are already underemployed in many cases, and one study found they are dying sooner, don't they have a reason to be resentful, Senator \u2014 Secretary Clinton? +p203 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, I want you to respond to that, but I also want you to \u2014 am I wrong? Is it even right to be describing this as a matter of race? +p204 +aVIf you would allow me now to move on, we've been talking about children. I want to talk about seniors. That takes us to our second Facebook question from Farheen Hakeem, who writes, "My father" \u2014 she's a 40-year-old woman who works for a nonprofit here in Milwaukee. And she writes, "My father gets just $16 in food assistance per month as part of Medicaid's family community program in Milwaukee County for low-income seniors. How will you as president work to ensure low-income seniors get their basic needs met?" Start with you, Senator Sanders. +p205 +aVSenator Sanders, are you saying... +p206 +aVThere's a lot more to come in just a few minutes. Stay with us for more of the PBS NewsHour Democratic Debate. +p207 +aVHow about you, Senator Clinton \u2014 Secretary Clinton? +p208 +aVWe spent the first part of this debate talking about domestic insecurity. The second part, we want to talk about our foreign policy insecurities. And we want to start with a question for you, Secretary Clinton, about America's role in the world. Americans are becoming increasingly worried that attacks abroad are coming home, that they already are, in fact, here. According to exit polls from last week, from earlier this week, more than two-thirds of Democrats in New Hampshire are concerned about sending their children to fight in wars they can't win. They fret that the next attack is just around the corner and we are not ready. Are we? +p209 +aVSenator Sanders... +p210 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p211 +aVLet me move on. You have both mentioned the humanitarian tragedies which have been an outgrowth in part of what has happened in Syria and in Libya. More than a million refugees entered Europe in 2015. Another 76,000 just last month, that is about 2,000 arrivals every day. Nearly 400 people have been lost at sea so far this year, crossing the Mediterranean. And there are reports that 10,000 children are missing. If we are leaders in this world, where should the U.S. be on this? What should the United States be doing, Secretary Clinton? +p212 +aVSenator, if you would like respond to \u2014 you may respond to that but it is time for closing statements and you can use your time for closing statements to do that. +p213 +aVThank you. Thank you Senator Clinton. Thank you, Senator Sanders. We also want to thank our partners at Facebook and our hosts here at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. +p214 +aVI'm going to remain here in Milwaukee tomorrow evening for a special edition of Washington Week here on PBS. +p215 +asVWOODRUFF +p216 +(lp217 +VGood evening, and thank you. We are happy to welcome you to Milwaukee for this Democratic debate. We are especially pleased to thank our partners at Facebook, who have helped us set up a vibrant conversation among voters who are undecided. And tonight you're going to hear some of their questions for the candidates. And you can follow along at home on the PBS NewsHour page on Facebook. We also want to thank our hosts, the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, on whose campus we meet, here in the beautiful Helen Bader Concert Hall. +p218 +aVWelcome, Senator, great to see you. And former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Very good to be here with you. +p219 +aVNow, a word about format. There will be two short breaks, and the rules are simple: 90 seconds for each answer and 30 seconds for the other candidate to respond. +p220 +aVThank you both. Thank you both. And we'll be right back after a short break to begin questions. +p221 +aVAnd, welcome back to this PBS Newshour debate, Democratic debate, here in Milwaukee. Let's get right to the questions. Senator Sanders, to you first. Coming off the results in Iowa and New Hampshire, there are many voters who are taking a closer look at you, and your ideas, and they're asking how big a role do you foresee for the federal government? It's already spending 21% of the entire U.S. economy. How much larger would government be in the lives of Americans under a Sanders presidency? +p222 +aVBut, my question is how big would government be? Would there be any limit on the size of the role of government... +p223 +aVNext, we're going to... +p224 +aVVery brief, thank you. +p225 +aVSecretary Clinton, your campaign \u2014 you and your campaign have made a clear appeal to women voters. You have talked repeatedly about the fact, we know you would be, if elected, the first woman president. But in New Hampshire 55 percent of the women voters supported and voted for Senator Sanders. What are women missing about you? +p226 +aVAs you know, just quickly, as you know, your strong supporter, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, said the other day that there's a special place in Hell for women who don't support other women. Do you agree with what she said? +p227 +aVSenator Sanders, you're in the minority, but we still want to hear from you. +p228 +aVFinal comment. +p229 +aVSecretary Clinton, I was talking recently with a 23 year old black woman who voted for President Obama because she said she thought relations between the races would get better under his leadership, and his example. Hardly anyone believes that they have. Why do you think race relations would be better under a Clinton presidency? What would you do that the nation's first African American has not been able to? +p230 +aVSenator Sanders? +p231 +aVSo race relation was be better under a Sanders presidency than they've been? +p232 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders, one of the causes of anxiety for working class Americans is connected to immigrants. President Obama, as you know, has issued executive actions to permit some 5 million undocumented immigrants who are living now in the United States to come out of the shadows without fear of deportation to get work permits. Would you go further than that? And if so, how specifically would you do it? Should an undocumented family watching this debate tonight, say, in Nevada, rest easy, not fear of further deportations under a Sanders presidency? +p233 +aVI'd like... +p234 +aVWe're going to move on. Secretary Clinton, your campaign has recently ramped up criticism of Senator Sanders for attending Democratic Party fundraisers from which you say he benefited. But nearly half of your financial sector donations appear to come from just two wealthy financiers, George Soros and Donald Sussman, for a total of about $10 million. You have said that there's no quid pro quo involved. Is that also true of the donations that wealthy Republicans give to Republican candidates, contributors including the Koch Brothers? +p235 +aVI'm asking if Democratic donors are different than Republican donors. +p236 +aVWe have to go to a break. We... +p237 +aVAll right. Thank you both. It is time for a break. And when we come back, we're going to turn to some new topics, including how these candidates will keep America safe. +p238 +aVWelcome back to the Democratic presidential debate. Before we return to our questions, we have a follow-up question from our Facebook group. And it is to Senator Sanders. Senator, it comes from Bill Corfield. He is a 55-year-old musician from Troy, Ohio. And he asks: "Are there any areas of government you would like to reduce?" +p239 +aVJust a final word. +p240 +aVSenator, let me \u2014 let me move on to another country with which the U.S. has a complicated relationship, Senator Sanders, and that's Russia. On the one hand, we're aware that Russia is a country that the United States needs to cooperate with. Just tonight, Secretary of State John Kerry has announced what appears to be an agreement with the Russians to lead \u2014 that could lead toward a ceasefire in Syria, would be the first cessation of conflict in that country, in that civil war in five years, but it comes at a very high price, because not only have all \u2014 have we seen the deaths, the removal of so many people, millions of people, we now see the Russians in the last few weeks have bombed in a way that benefits President Assad, has not gone after +p241 +aVAnd we have a final question from our Facebook family. And it goes to Senator Sanders. It comes from Robert Andrews. He's a 40-year-old stay-at-home dad in Dover, Massachusetts. He says, "The world has seen many great leaders in the course of human history. Can you name two leaders \u2014 one American and one foreign \u2014 who would influence your foreign policy decisions? And why do you see them as \u2014 why are they influential?" +p242 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p243 +aVAnd we want to thank our audience, our quiet audience here in Helen Bader Concert Hall, and to all of you watching at home. Thank you all. Stay tuned for analysis of the debate and the overall race for the Democratic nomination. That's coming up next here on PBS stations and online atPBS.org/NewsHour. +p244 +aVAnd I'm going to be returning to Washington. I hope you'll join us for the PBS NewsHour tomorrow and every night. That's it from all of us here in Milwaukee. We thank you. +p245 +asVCORDES +p246 +(lp247 +VJohn, thanks so much. We've learned a lot during the course of this campaign about the things that you'd like to do that you say would help the middle class, but we haven't heard quite as much about who would pick up the tab. So Secretary Clinton, first to you. You want to cap individuals' prescription drug costs at $250 a month. You want to make public college debt-free. You want community college to be free altogether. And you want mandatory paid family leave. So who pays for all that? Is it employers? Is it the taxpayers, and which taxpayers? +p248 +aVBut a quick follow-up on that $250-a-month cap. Wouldn't the pharmaceutical companies and the insurance companies just pass that cost on to the consumers in the form of higher premiums? +p249 +aVGovernor O'Malley, you also want to make public college debt-free. You want... O' +p250 +aV... states to freeze tuition. You've got your own family leave plan. How would you pay for it? In Maryland, you raised the sales tax, you raised the gas tax and you raised taxes on families making over $150,000 a year. Is that the blueprint? O' +p251 +aVSenator Sanders, you want to make public college free altogether. You want to increase Social Security benefits and you want to spend $1 trillion on infrastructure. So you said that to do some of these things, you'll impose a tax on top earners. How high would their rate go in a Sanders administration? +p252 +aVBut let's get specific. How high would you go? You have said before you would go above 50 percent. How high? +p253 +aVSecretary Clinton, Americans say that health care costs and wages are their top financial concerns. And health care deductibles, alone, have risen 67 percent over the past five years. Is this something that Obamacare was designed to address? And if not, why not? +p254 +aVIt is -- it is a worthy debate. Senator Sanders, a quick response, and then we'll get into health care again later. +p255 +aVThere was a lot of conversation on twitter about guns, but also about your conversation on campaign finance. And Secretary Clinton, one of the tweets we saw said this, "I've never seen a candidate invoke 9/11 to justify millions of Wall Street donations until now." The idea being, yes, you were a champion of the community after 9/11, but what does that have to do with taking big donations? +p256 +aVHold on. O' +p257 +aVSenator Sanders -- I'm sorry. Senator Sanders, but what is it in Secretary Clinton's record that shows you that she's been influenced by those donations? +p258 +aVBack to health care, by popular demand. First to you, Senator Sanders. You'd prefer to scrap Obamacare and move to a single-payer system, essentially Medicare for all. You say you want to put the private insurance companies out of business. Is it realistic to think that you can pull the plug on a $1 trillion industry? +p259 +aVSecretary Clinton, back in -- Secretary Clinton, back in 1994, you said that momentum for a single-payer system would sweep the country. That sounds Sanders-esque. But you don't feel that way anymore, why not? +p260 +asVKELLY +p261 +(lp262 +VWelcome to the first debate night of the 2016 presidential campaign, live from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. I'm Megyn Kelly... ... along with my co-moderators, Brett Baier and Chris Wallace. Tonight... Nice. Tonight, thousands of people here in the Q, along with millions of voters at home will get their very first chance to see the candidates face off in a debate, answering the questions you want answered. +p263 +aVAs for the candidates who will be answering those questions? Here they are. Positioned on the stage by how they stand in the polls, in the center of the stage tonight, businessman Donald Trump. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. +p264 +aVGentlemen, our first round of questions is on the subject of electability in the general election, and we start tonight with you, Dr. Carson. You are a successful neurosurgeon, but you admit that you have had to study up on foreign policy, saying there's a lot to learn. Your critics say that your inexperience shows. You've suggested that the Baltic States are not a part of +p265 +aVMr. Trump, one of the things people love about you is you speak your mind and you don't use a politician's filter. However, that is not without its downsides, in particular, when it comes to women. You've called women you don't like "fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals." Your Twitter account... +p266 +aVNo, it wasn't. Your Twitter account... +p267 +aVFor the record, it was well beyond Rosie O'Donnell. +p268 +aVYour Twitter account has several disparaging comments about women's looks. You once told a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice it would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees. Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president, and how will you answer the charge from Hillary Clinton, who was likely to be the Democratic nominee, that you are part of the war on women? +p269 +aVGovernor Walker, you've consistently said that you want to make abortion illegal even in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother. You recently signed an abortion law in Wisconsin that does have an exception for the mother's life, but you're on the record as having objected to it. Would you really let a mother die rather than have an abortion, and with 83 percent of the American public in favor of a life exception, are you too out of the mainstream on this issue to win the general election? +p270 +aVGovernor Kasich, You chose to expand Medicaid in your state, unlike several other governors on this stage tonight, and it is already over budget by some estimates costing taxpayers an additional $1.4 billion in just the first 18 months. You defended your Medicaid expansion by invoking God, saying to skeptics that when they arrive in heaven, Saint Peter isn't going to ask them how small they've kept government, but what they have done for the poor. Why should Republican voters, who generally want to shrink government, believe that you won't use your Saint Peter rationale to expand every government program? +p271 +aVAlright, gentlemen, we're gonna switch topics now and talk a bit about terror and national security. Governor Christie. You've said that Senator Paul's opposition to the NSA's collection of phone records has made the United States weaker and more vulnerable, even going so far as to say that he should be called before Congress to answer for it if we should be hit by another terrorist attack. Do you really believe you can assign blame to Senator Paul just for opposing the bulk collection of people's phone records in the event of a terrorist attack? +p272 +aVGo ahead, sir. +p273 +aVGovernor Christie, make your point. +p274 +aVGo ahead, governor. +p275 +aVAlright. +p276 +aVAlright, we've gotta cut it off there. We have plenty more we want to get to. That was an interesting exchange, thank you for that. +p277 +aVWell, I want to move on, because I have -- we're gonna get to you, governor, but I -- I really wanna get to a Facebook questioner. His name is Alex Chalgren, and he has the following question: +p278 +aVSenator Cruz, I wanna talk to you about this, because many of the Facebook users and -- and -- the -- the folks on Facebook wanted the candidates to speak to +p279 +aVYou don't see it as... ...an ideological problem -- an ideological problem in addition to a military one? +p280 +aVGovernor Bush, for days on end in this campaign, you struggled to answer a question about whether knowing what we know now... +p281 +aV...we would've invaded Iraq... +p282 +aVI remember it too, and +p283 +aVGovernor Walker, in February you said that we needed to gain partners in the Arab world. Which Arab country not already in the U.S. led coalition has potential to be our greatest partner? +p284 +aVDr. Carson, in one of his first acts as commander in chief, President Obama signed an executive order banning enhanced interrogation techniques in fighting terror. As president, would you bring back water boarding? +p285 +aVWe have a lot for you, don't worry. Fear not, you may rue that request. +p286 +aVIt's just before 10:00 p.m. on the East Coast. Welcome back to Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, and the very first Republican primary debate of the 2016 presidential campaign. Ten candidates on the stage, selected based on their standing in five national polls. And tonight they are facing off, answering the questions you want asked. We hope. +p287 +aV Sounds like somebody's a little R-rated. +p288 +aVWell, the first debate night of the 2016 presidential campaign continues from Cleveland after a short time-out. Stick around. Social issues, next. +p289 +aVSenator Rubio, you favor a rape and incest exception to abortion bans. Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York just said yesterday those exceptions are preposterous. He said they discriminate against an entire class of human beings. If you believe that life begins at conception, as you say you do, how do you justify ending a life just because it begins violently, through no fault of the baby? +p290 +aVYou don't favor a rape and incest exception? +p291 +aVMr. Trump, in 1999, you said you were, quote, "very pro- choice." Even supporting partial-birth abortion. You favored an assault weapons ban as well. In 2004, you said in most cases you identified as a Democrat. Even in this campaign, your critics say you often sound more like a Democrat than a Republican, calling several of your opponents on the stage things like clowns and puppets. When did you actually become a Republican? +p292 +aVGovernor Bush, I want to ask you, on the subject of name calling of your fellow candidates, a story appeared today quoting an anonymous GOP donor who said you called Mr. Trump a clown, a buffoon, something else that cannot be repeated on television. +p293 +aVIs it true? +p294 +aVMr. Trump, 30 seconds. +p295 +aVThe subject of gay marriage and religious liberty. Governor Kasich, if you had a son or daughter who was gay or lesbian, how would you explain to them your opposition to same-sex marriage? +p296 +aVHow would you -- how would you explain it to a child? +p297 +aVSenator Paul, in the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling on same sex marriage, Carol Fox on Facebook want to know the following. Quote: what will you do to ensure Christians are not prosecuted for speaking out against gay marriage and will Christians be forced to conduct business that conflicts with their religious beliefs? +p298 +aVGovernor Walker, many in the Black Lives Matter movement, and beyond, believe that overly-aggressive police officers targeting young African Americans is the civil rights issue of our time. Do you agree? And if so, how do you plan to address it? And if not, why not? +p299 +aVThank you. +p300 +aVWe have to stand you by, because after the break, we're going to let the candidates make their closing statements, their final thoughts, and . . . God. Stay tuned for that. +p301 +aVWelcome back. In our final moments here together, we're going to allow the candidates to offer their final thoughts. But first, we want to ask them an interesting closing question from Chase Norton on Facebook, who wants to know this of the candidates: "I want to know if any of them have received a word from God on what they should do and take care of first." Senator Cruz, start from you. Any word from God? +p302 +aVGovernor Kasich, same question. +p303 +aVGovernor Walker, same question. +p304 +aVSenator Rubio, I want to ask you the same question. But I do want to mention, a woman just came here to the stage and asked, what about the veterans? I want to hear more about what these candidates are going to do for our nation's veterans. So I put the question to you about God and the veterans, which you may find to be related. +p305 +aVDr. Carson, a question to you about God and his role, but also, one of the issues that the public was very interested in, and we touched on it earlier, is race relations in this country, and how divided we seem right now. And what, if anything, you can do -- you would do as the next president to help heal that divide. +p306 +aVGovernor Christie? +p307 +aVSenator Ted Cruz. +p308 +aVGovernor Scott Walker. +p309 +aVIt's over! +p310 +aVAre you relieved? You were nervous before, they -- they don't look relieved. They look "get me outta here." Thank you all very much, and that will do it for the first Republican primary debate night of the 2016 presidential race. Our thanks to the candidates, who will now be joined by their families on stage. +p311 +asVRUBIO +p312 +(lp313 +VThank you Wolf. It's really amazing to be back in Las Vegas. I spent six years as a child growing not far from where we stand tonight. I use to sit on the porch of our home and listen to my grandfather tell stories as he smoked one of three daily cigars. One of the things my grandfather instilled in me, was that I was really blessed because I was a citizen of the greatest country in the history of our mankind. But there have always been people in American politics that wanted America to be more like the rest of the world. And In 2008, one of them was elected president of this country and the result has been a disaster. Today you have millions of Americans that feel left out and out of place in their own country, struggling to live paycheck to paycheck, called bigots because they hold on to traditional values. And around the world, America's influence has declined while this president has destroyed our military, our allies no longer trust us, and our adversaries no longer respect us. And that is why this election is so important. That is why I'm running for president. And that's why I'm going to ask you for your vote tonight. If you elect me president, we will have a president that believes America is the greatest country in the world and we will have a president that acts like it. +p314 +aVWell, I understand why they feel that way, because this president hasn't kept us safe. The problem is we had an attack in San Bernardino. And we were paying attention to the most important issue we have faced in a decade since 9/11, and then all the talk was about this proposal, which isn't going to happen. But this is what's important to do is we must deal frontally with this threat of radical Islamists, especially from +p315 +aVHe is and so are those that voted for it. There were some that voted for it because they wanted to keep it alive and they were afraid the whole program would expire. Here's the world we live in. This is a radical jihadist group that is increasingly sophisticated in its ability, for example, to radicalize American citizens, in its inability to exploit loopholes in our legal immigration system, in its ability to capture and hold territory in the Middle East, as I outlined earlier, in multiple countries. This is not just the most capable, it is the most sophisticated terror threat we have ever faced. We are now at a time when we need more tools, not less tools. And that took we lost, the metadata program, was a valuable tool that we no longer have at our disposal. +p316 +aVDana, may I interject here? +p317 +aVLet me be very careful when answering this, because I don't think national television in front of 15 million people is the place to discuss classified information. So let me just be very clear. There is nothing that we are allowed to do under this bill that we could not do before. This bill did, however, take away a valuable tool that allowed the National Security Agency and other law \u2014 and other intelligence agencies to quickly and rapidly access phone records and match them up with other phone records to see who terrorists have been calling. Because I promise you, the next time there is attack on \u2014 an attack on this country, the first thing people are going to want to know is, why didn't we know about it and why didn't we stop it? And the answer better not be because we didn't have access to records or information that would have allowed us to identify these killers before they attacked. +p318 +aVI want to thank Rand for another 30 seconds, because, number one, what he's pointing to is a bill last week that \u2014 amendment that he voted for that only 10 people voted for. You know why? Because it's not focused on terrorists. It would have banned anyone from coming here. Someone from Taiwan would not have been able to come here as a tourist. Number two, this program, this metadata program is actually more strict than what a regular law enforcement agency has now. If a regular law enforcement agency wants your phone records, all they have to do is issue a subpoena. But now the intelligence agency is not able to quickly gather records and look at them to see who these terrorists are calling. And the terrorists that attacked us in San Bernardino was an American citizen, born and raised in this country. And I bet you we wish we would have had access to five years of his records so we could see who he was working with... +p319 +aVDo I get another 30 seconds? He mentioned me. +p320 +aVWell, let me begin by saying that we have to understand who +p321 +aVThat is accurate. Three times he voted against the Defense Authorization Act, which is a bill that funds the troops. It also, by the way, funds the Iron Dome and other important programs. And I have to assume that if you vote against it in the Senate, you would also veto it as president. He has also supported, by the way, a budget that is called the containment budget. And it is a budget that would radically reduce the amount of money we spend on our military. You can't carpet bomb +p322 +aVYes, let me \u2014 three points of distinction. The first is, if you're an American citizen and you decide to join up with +p323 +aVWell, they most certainly will have to be worked on to provide more than what they are doing now. There's no doubt about it. And there's one \u2014 one major reason why they have not been willing to be a broader part of the coalition, and that is they have lost complete trust and confidence in this president. This president cut a deal with their moral enemy, the Shia, in Iran. And this is the reason why they no longer trust this president and are willing to work alongside them. But they have as much invested in this as we do. In fact, more so, for it is the king of Saudi Arabia they want to behead first. It's the king of Jordan that they want to dethrone. It's the \u2014 they want to go into Egypt the way they've already gone into Libya. And on another point that we need to talk about, Assad is one of the main reasons why +p324 +aVTo begin with, Moammar Gadhafi and the revolt against Gadhafi was not started by the United States. It was started by the Libyan people. And the reason why I argued we needed to get involved is because he was going to go one way or the other. And my argument then was proven true, and that is, the longer that civil war took, the more militias would be formed and the more unstable the country would be after the fact. As far as Moammar Gadhafi is concerned, by the way, Moammar Gadhafi is the man that killed those Americans over Lockerbie, Scotland. Moammar Gadhafi is also the man that bombed that cafe in Berlin and killed those Marines. And you want to know why Moammar Gadhafi started cooperating on his nuclear program? Because we got rid of Saddam Hussein. And so he got scared that he would be next, and that's why he started cooperating. Look, we will have to work around the world with less than ideal governments. The government in Saudi Arabia is not a democracy, but we will have to work with them. The government in Jordan is not perfect, but we will have to work with them. But anti-American dictators like Assad, who help Hezbollah, who helped get those IEDs into Iraq, if they go, I will not shed a tear. +p325 +aVYeah. Immigration is not an issue that I read about in the newspaper or watch a documentary on PBS or CNN. It's an issues I've lived around my whole life. My family are immigrants. My wife's family are immigrants. All of my neighbors are immigrants. I see every aspect of this problem. The good, the bad, and the ugly. And here's what we learned in 2013. The American people don't trust the Federal Government to enforce our immigration laws, and we will not be able to do anything on immigration until we first prove to the American people that illegal immigration is under control. And we can do that. We know what it takes to do that. It takes at least 20,000 more additional border agents. It takes completing those 700 miles of fencing. It takes a mandatory e-verify system and a mandatory entry/exit tracking system to prevent overstays. After we have done that, the second thing we have to do is reform and modernize the legal immigration system. And after we have done those two things, I think the American people are gonna be reasonable with what do you do with someone who has been in this country for 10 or 12 years who hasn't otherwise violated our laws \u2014 because if they're a criminal they can't stay. They'll have to undergo a background check, pay a fine, start paying taxes. And ultimately, they'll given a work permit and that's all they're gonna be allowed to have for at least 10 years. But you can't get to that third step until you have done the other two things, and that was the lesson we learned in 2013. There is no trust that the Federal Government will enforce the law. They will not support you until you see it done first. +p326 +aVBut I've answered that question repeatedly. I am personally open \u2014 after all that has happened and after ten years in that probationary status where all they have is a permit, I personally am open to allowing people to apply for a green card. That may not be a majority position in my party, but that's down the road. You can't even begin that process until you prove to people \u2014 not just pass a law that says you're gonna bring illegal immigration under control. You're gonna have to do it and prove to people that it's working. And that was the lesson of 2013. And it's more true today, than it was then. After a migratory crisis on the border with minors coming over that you're seeing start up again now, after all these executive orders the President has issued. More than ever we need to... +p327 +aV... prove to people that illegal immigration is under control. +p328 +aVYeah, a couple points. In 2013 we had never faced a crisis like the Syrian refugee crisis now. Up until that point, a refugee meant someone fleeing oppression, fleeing Communism like it is in my community. As far as Ted's record, I'm always puzzled by his attack on this issue. Ted, you support legalizing people who are in this country illegally. Ted Cruz supported a 500-percent increase in the number of H-1 visas, the guest workers that are allowed into this country, and Ted supports doubling the number of green cards. So I think what's important for us to understand and there is a way forward on this issue that we an bring our country together on. And while I'm president I will do it. And it will begin by bringing illegal immigration under control and proving to the American people. +p329 +aVNo, no, give him time. +p330 +aVTed, do you... +p331 +aVDid Ted Cruz fight to support legalizing people that are in this country illegally? +p332 +aVDoes Ted Cruz rule out ever legalizing people that are in this country now? +p333 +aVWould you rule it out? +p334 +aVWell, he's just admitted \u2014 as he's just admitted, the reason why those refugees were allowed in was because they messed up in how they used the actual database. They should have know. They didn't because they didn't run the actual law as it exists now. It didn't work well. As far as the refugees are concerned, it's not that America doesn't want to accept refugees, Wolf. It's that we may not be able to, because this is an issue we have to be 100 percent right on. If we allow 9,999 Syrian refugees into the United States, and all of them are good people, but we allow one person in who's an +p335 +aVI do. First, let's explain to people at home who the triad \u2014 what the triad is. Maybe a lot of people haven't heard that terminology before. The triad is our ability of the United States to conduct nuclear attacks using airplanes, using missiles launched from silos or from the ground, and also from our nuclear subs' ability to attack. And it's important \u2014 all three of them are critical. It gives us the ability at deterrence. Now, some have become more critical than others; for example, the submarines. And that's the Ohio Class submarine that needs to be modernized. The air component also needs to be modernized. The B-52, as someone earlier pointed out, is an outdated model that was flown by the grandparents of people that are flying it now. And we need a serious modernization program as well on our silo-launched missiles. All three are critical for the defense of the country. +p336 +aVThank you. As we near the end of this year, we enter one of the most important elections in a generation. For what's at stake in this election is not simply what party's going to be in charge. But our very identity as a people and as a nation. For over 200 years this has been a special country. A unique place where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything. But now millions of Americans feel like they're being left behind. Insecure in their future and unsafe in the face of terrorism. This election is about electing a president that will restore our economic vibrancy so that the American dream can expand to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And rebuild our Military and our intelligence programs so that we can remain the strongest nation on earth. Tonight I ask you for your vote. If you do this, we will rebuild this country, and together we will usher in a new American century \u2014 the greatest era in the history of this great land. +p337 +aVWell, let me begin by answering both the first question and this one, because they're related. As I've said many times before, my parents were never rich people. My father was a bartender. My mother was a maid. They worked for a living. But they were successful people, because, despite the fact that they weren't well educated and had those jobs, they made enough money to buy a home in a safe and stable neighborhood, retire with dignity, leave all four of their children better off than themselves. We call that the American dream, but in fact, it's a universal dream of a better life that people have all over the world. It is a reminder that every country in the world has rich people. What makes America special is that we have millions and millions of people that are not rich, that through hard work and perseverance are able to be successful. The problem is that today people are not successful working as hard as ever because the economy is not providing jobs that pay enough. If I thought that raising the minimum wage was the best way to help people increase their pay, I would be all for it, but it isn't. In the 20th century, it's a disaster. If you raise the minimum wage, you're going to make people more expensive than a machine. And that means all this automation that's replacing jobs and people right now is only going to be accelerated. Here's the best way to raise wages. Make America the best place in the world to start a business or expand an existing business, tax reform and regulatory reform, bring our debt under control, fully utilize our energy resources so we can reinvigorate manufacturing, repeal and replace Obamacare, and make higher education faster and easier to access, especially vocational training. For the life of me, I don't know why we have stigmatized vocational education. Welders make more money than philosophers. We need more welders and less philosophers. If we do that \u2014 and if we do this \u2014 if we do this, we will be able to increase wages for millions of Americans and we will be able to leave everyone better off without making anyone worse off. +p338 +aVWell, you know, that's an excellent question, because what we are going through in this country is not simply an economic downturn. We are living through a massive economic transformation. I mean, this economy is nothing like what it was like five years ago, not to mention 15 or 20 years ago. And it isn't just a different economy. It's changing faster than ever. You know, it took the telephone 75 years to reach 100 million users. It took Candy Crush one year to reach some 100 million users. So the world is changing faster than ever, and it is disruptive. Number one, we are in a global competition now, and several of the candidates have said that. There are now dozens of developed economies on this planet that we have to compete with. And we lose that competition because we have the highest business tax rate in the industrialized world, because we have regulations that continue to grow by the billions every single week, because we have a crazy health care law that discourages companies from hiring people, but because we're not fully utilizing our energy resources, that if we did, it would bring back all kinds of growth, especially in manufacturing, and because we have an outdated higher education system. Our higher education system is completely outdated. It is too expensive, too hard to access, and it doesn't teach 21st century skills. If we do what needs to be done \u2014 tax reform, regulatory reform, fully utilize our energy resources, repeal and replace Obamacare, and modernize higher education, then we can grasp the potential and the promise of this new economy. And we won't just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And then truly this new century can be a new American century. +p339 +aVThe most important job I'm ever going to have, the most important job anyone in this room will ever have, is the job of being a parent. Not the job of being president, or the job of being a senator, or the job of being a congressman. The most important job any of us will ever do is the job of being a president (sic), because the most important institution in society is the family. If the family breaks down, society breaks down. You can't have a strong nation without strong values, and no one is born with strong values. They have to be taught to you in strong families and reinforced in you in strong communities. And so when we set out to do tax reform, we endeavor to have a pro-family tax code, and we endeavor to do it because we know how difficult it is for families in the 21st century to afford the cost of living. It is expensive to raise children in the 21st century, and families that are raising children are raising the future taxpayers of the United States, and everything costs more. In 35 out of 50 states, child care costs more than college. There are millions of people watching this broadcast tonight that understand exactly what I'm talking about. They don't know how they're going to make that payment every month, and if they can't make it, they can't work, because someone needs to watch their kids during the day. They don't know how they're going to save for their kids' future, to go to college. And so, yes, I have a child tax credit increase, and I'm proud of it. I am proud that I have a pro-family tax code, because the pro- family tax plan I have will strengthen the most important institution in the \u2014 in the country, the family. +p340 +aVNow I get my 60 seconds to respond. He's talking about my tax plan. +p341 +aVSo let me begin with this. I actually believe \u2014 first of all, this is their money. They do pay. It is refundable, not just against the taxes they pay to the government, but also the \u2014 on their federal income tax, it's refundable against the payroll tax. Everyone pays payroll tax. This is their money. This is not our money. And here's what I don't understand \u2014 if you invest that money in a piece of equipment, if you invest that money in a business, you get to write it off your taxes. But if you invest it in your children, in the future of America and strengthening your family, we're not going to recognize that in our tax code? The family is the most important institution in society. And, yes... +p342 +aV... I do want to rebuild the American military. +p343 +aVI know that Rand is a committed isolationist. I'm not. I believe the world is a stronger and a better place, when the United States is the strongest military power in the world. +p344 +aVBecause... +p345 +aV...are you talking about the military, Rand? +p346 +aVWe can't even have an economy if we're not safe. There are radical jihadist in the Middle East beheading people and crucifying Christians. A radical Shia cleric in Iran trying to get a nuclear weapon, the Chinese taking over the South China Sea... ...Yes, I believe the world is a safer \u2014 no, no, I don't believe, I know that the world is a safer place when America is the strongest military power in the world. +p347 +aVYou know, if I may respond... +p348 +aVI need to add a couple of points to this. The first is, I've never met Vladimir Putin, but I know enough about him to know he is a gangster. He is basically an organized crime figure that runs a country, controls a $2 trillion economy. And is using to build up his military in a rapid way despite the fact his economy is a disaster. He understands only geopolitical strength. And every time he has acted anywhere in the world, whether it's in Ukraine or Georgia before that, or now in the Middle East, it's because he is trusting in weakness. His calculation in the Middle East is that he has seen what this president has done, which is nothing, the president has no strategy, our allies in the region do not trust us. For goodness sake, there is only one pro-American free enterprise democracy in the Middle East, it is the state of Israel. And we have a president that treats the prime minister of Israel with less respect than what he gives the ayatollah in Iran. And so our allies in the region don't trust us. Vladimir Putin is exploiting that weakness, for purposes of edging the Americans out as the most important geopolitical power broker in the region. And we do have a vested interest. And here's why. Because all those radical terrorist groups that, by the way, are not just in Syria and in Iraq, +p349 +aVCan I just add what \u2014 he's right on point there. Do you know why these banks are so big? The government made them big. The government made them big by adding thousands and thousands of pages of regulations. So the big banks, they have an army of lawyers, they have an army of compliance officers. They can deal with all these things. The small banks, like Governor Bush was saying, they can't deal with all these regulations. They can't deal with all \u2014 they cannot hire the fanciest law firm in Washington or the best lobbying firm to deal with all these regulations. And so the result is, the big banks get bigger, the small banks struggle to lend or even exist, and the result is what you have today. And in Dodd-Frank, you have actually codified too big to fail. We have actually created a category of systemically important institutions, and these banks go around bragging about it. You know what they say to people with a wink and a nod? We are so big, we are so important that if we get in trouble, the government has to bail us out. This is an outrage. We need to repeal Dodd-Frank as soon as possible. +p350 +aVWell, that's a great question, and let me begin by answering it. This election is about the future, about what kind of country this nation is gonna be in the 21st century. This next (ph) election is actually a generational choice. A choice about what kind of nation we will be in the 21st century. For over 2.5 centuries, America's been a special country, the one place on earth where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything, a nation that's been a force for good on this planet. But now, a growing number of Americans feel out of place in their own country. We have a society that stigmatizes those that hold cultural values that are traditional. We have a society where people \u2014 millions of people \u2014 are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, but they're living paycheck to paycheck because the economy has changed underneath their feet. We have young Americans who owe thousands of dollars in student loans for a degree that doesn't lead to a job. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses dying than starting, and around the world, every day brings news of a new humiliation for America \u2014 many the direct response \u2014 direct consequence of decisions made when Hillary Clinton was the secretary of the \u2014 of state. And so here's the truth: this election is about the future, and the Democratic Party, and the political left has no ideas about the future. All their ideas are the same, tired ideas of the past. More government, more spending. For every issue for America, their answer is a new tax on someone, and a new government program. This nation is going to turn the page, and that's what this election should be about, and, as I said at the first debate... ...If I am our nominee, they will be the party of the past, we will be the party of the 21st century. +p351 +aVOurs \u2014 the story of America is an extraordinary story. It is the story of a nation that for over two centuries each generation has left the next better off than themselves. But now, because Washington is out of touch, for the fault of both political parties, for the first time in our history, that is in doubt. And that is what this election must be about, because if the next four years are anything like the last eight years, our children will be the first Americans ever left worse off by their parents. This election is about making a different choice, about applying our principles of limited government and free enterprise to the unique issues of our time. And if we do, we will not just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And the 21st century can be a new American century. So tonight, I ask you for your vote and I ask you to join us at my website, marcorubio.com. +p352 +aVThank you for that question. I would begin by saying that I'm not sure it's a weakness, but I do believe that I share a sense of optimism for America's future that, today, is eroding from too many of our people. I think there's a sense in this country today that somehow our best days are behind us. And that doesn't have to be true. Our greatest days lie ahead if we are willing to do what it takes now. If we're willing to do what it takes now, the 21st century is going to be the new American century, greater than any other era we've had in the history of this great nation. +p353 +aVThat's an interesting question. That's exactly what the Republican establishment says too. Why don't you wait in line? Wait for what? This country is running out of time. We can't afford to have another four years like the last eight years. Watching this broadcast tonight are millions of people that are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, everything costs more, and they haven't had a raise in decades. You have small businesses in America that are struggling. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses closing than starting. We have a world that's out of control and has grown dangerous and a president that is weakening our military and making our foreign policy unstable and unreliable in the eyes of our allies. And our adversaries continue to grow stronger. We have a \u2014 they say there's no bipartisanship in Washington? We have a $19 trillion bipartisan debt and it continues to grow as we borrow money from countries that do not like us to pay for government we cannot afford. The time to act is now. The time to turn the page is now. If we \u2014 if we don't act now, we are going to be the first generation in American history that leaves our children worse off than ourselves. +p354 +aVLet me say, I read that editorial today with a great amusement. It's actually evidence of the bias that exists in the American media today. +p355 +aVLet me \u2014 let me answer your question on the Sun-Sentinel editorial today. Back in 2004, one of my predecessors to the Senate by the name of Bob Graham, a Democrat, ran for president missing over 30 percent of his votes. I don't recall them calling for his resignation \u2014 +p356 +aVLater that year, in 2004, John Kerry ran for president missing close to 60 to 70 percent of his votes. I don't recall the Sun \u2014 in fact, the Sun-Sentinel endorsed him. In 2008, Barack Obama missed 60 or 70 percent of his votes, and the same newspaper endorsed him again. So this is another example of the double standard that exists in this country between the mainstream media and the conservative movement. +p357 +aVI get to respond, right? +p358 +aVWell, it's interesting. Over the last few weeks, I've listened to Jeb as he walked around the country and said that you're modeling your campaign after John McCain, that you're going to launch a furious comeback the way he did, by fighting hard in New Hampshire and places like that, carrying your own bag at the airport. You know how many votes John McCain missed when he was carrying out that furious comeback that you're now modeling after? +p359 +aVNo Jeb, I don't remember \u2014 well, let me tell you. I don't remember you ever complaining about John McCain's vote record. The only reason why you're doing it now is because we're running for the same position, and someone has convinced you that attacking me is going to help you. +p360 +aVHere's the bottom line. I'm not \u2014 my campaign is going to be about the future of America, it's not going to be about attacking anyone else on this stage. I will continue to have tremendous admiration and respect for Governor Bush. I'm not running against Governor Bush, I'm not running against anyone on this stage. I'm running for president because there is no way we can elect Hillary Clinton to continue the policies of Barack Obama. +p361 +aVWell, you just \u2014 you just listed a litany of discredited attacks from Democrats and my political opponents, and I'm not gonna waste 60 seconds detailing them all. But I'm going to tell you the truth. Here's the truth. I didn't inherit any money. My dad was a bartender, my mother was a maid. They worked hard to provide us the chance at a better life. They didn't save enough money for us to go to school. I had to work my way through school. I had to borrow money to go to school. I tried (ph), early in my marriage, explaining to my wife why someone named Sallie Mae was taking $1,000 out of our bank account every month. I know what it's like to owe that money, and we've worked hard. We've worked hard our whole life to provide a better family \u2014 a better life for our family. We own a home four blocks away from the place that I grew up in. My four children have been able to receive a good Christian education, and I've been able to save for them to go to college so they never have to have the loans that I did. But I'm not worried about my finances, I'm worried about the finances of everyday Americans who today are struggling in an economy that is not producing good paying jobs while everything else costs more. And that's what this economy needs to \u2014 that's what this debate needs to be about. This debate needs to be about the men and women across this country that are struggling on a daily basis to provide for their families the better future that we've always said this country is all about. +p362 +aVAnd I used it to pay off my loans. And it's available on paperback, if you're interested in buying my book. +p363 +aVYeah, again, as I said, we're raising a family in the 21st century and it's one of the reasons why my tax plan is a pro- family tax plan. It increases the per child tax credit, because I didn't read about this in a book. I know for a fact how difficult it is to raise children, how expensive it's become for working families. And I make a lot more than the average American. Imagine how hard it is for these people out there that are making 40, 50, $60,000 a year, and they're trying to provide for their families at a time when this economy is not growing. We can't afford another four years of that. Which is what we're gonna get if we elect a big government liberal like Hillary Clinton to the White House. Thank you, senator. +p364 +aVWell, first of all, if a company gets caught doing that, they should never be able to use the program again. If you get caught abusing this program, you should never be able to use it again. The second thing I said is we need to add reforms, not just increase the numbers, but add reforms. For example, before you hire anyone from abroad, you should have to advertise that job for 180 days. You also have to prove that you're going to pay these people more than you would pay someone else, so that you're not undercutting it by bringing in cheap labor. But here's the best solution of all. We need to get back to training people in this country to do the jobs of the 21st century. Why, for the life of me, I do not understand why did we stop doing vocational education in America, people that can work with their hands; people you can train to do this work while they're still in high school so they can graduate ready to go work. But the best way to close this gap is to modernize higher education so Americans have the skills for those jobs. But in the interim, in the absence of that, what's happening is some of these tech companies are taking those \u2014 those centers (ph) to Canada because they can get people to go over there instead of here. But the ideal scenario is to train Americans to do the work so we don't have to rely on people from abroad. +p365 +aVWell, I believe that there are abuses, those companies should be permanently barred from ever using the program again and we should put strict standards in place to ensure that they're not being abused, like the prevailing wage requirement and like the advertising requirement. +p366 +aVSince I've been mentioned, can I respond? +p367 +aVOK. I know the Democrats have the ultimate SuperPac. It's called the mainstream media who every single day... ... and I'll tell you why. Last week, Hillary Clinton went before a committee. She admitted she had sent e-mails to her family saying, "Hey, this attack at Benghazi was caused by Al Qaida-like elements." She spent over a week telling the families of those victims and the American people that it was because of a video. And yet the mainstream media is going around saying it was the greatest week in Hillary Clinton's campaign. It was the week she got exposed as a liar. It was the week that she got exposed as a liar... But she has her super PAC helping her out, the American mainstream media. +p368 +aVNo, that's \u2014 you're wrong. In fact, the largest after- tax gains is for the people at the lower end of the tax spectrum under my plan. And there's a bunch of things my tax plan does to help them. Number one, you have people in this country that... +p369 +aV...you wrote a story on it, and you had to go back and correct it. +p370 +aVYou did. No, you did. +p371 +aVWell, you're talking about \u2014 yeah. +p372 +aVYeah, but that \u2014 because the math is, if you \u2014 5 percent of a million is a lot more than 5 percent of a thousand. So yeah, someone who makes more money... +p373 +aV...numerically, it's gonna be higher. But the greatest gains, percentage-wise, for people, are gonna be at the lower end of our plan, and here's why: because in addition to a general personal exemption, we are increasing the per-child tax credit for working families. We are lowering taxes on small business. You know, a lot of business activity in America is conducted like the guy that does my dry cleaning. He's an S corporation. He pays on his personal rate, and he is paying higher than the big dry-cleaning chain down the street, because he's paying at his personal rate. Under my plan, no business, big or small, will pay more than 25 percent flat rate on their business income. That is a dramatic tax decrease for hard-working people who run their own businesses. +p374 +aV...The other thing I'd like to make about our plan, one more point, it is the most pro growth tax plan that I can imagine because it doesn't tax investments at all. You know why? Because the more you tax something, the less of it you get. I want to be in \u2014 I want America to be the best... +p375 +aV...in the world for people... +p376 +aVI was mentioned in the question. +p377 +aVThank you. Well, I've learned the rules on this. Look, in addition to what Donald was saying is we also need to talk about the legal immigration system for permanent residents. Today, we have a legal immigration system for permanent residency that is largely based on whether or not you have a relative living here. And that's the way my parents came legally in 1956. But in 2015, we have a very different economy. Our legal immigration system from now on has to be merit-based. It has to be based on what skills you have, what you can contribute economically, and most important of all, on whether or not you're coming here to become an American, not just live in America, but be an American. +p378 +aVNo. No. What I said was that I think that Dr. Carson's ideas are good ideas. They're not my ideas, and I don't necessarily agree with all of them. But this is what you're seeing in the Republican debate that you didn't see in that Democrat debate. You didn't see it for a minute. You didn't see these kind of ideas being batted around, and being batted around in a way that's civil and smart and that's trying to help to inform the voter out there. What you saw was a parade of, "I'll give you this for free; I'll give you that for free." Let me tell you, everybody, when they say they want to give it to you for free, keep your hands on your wallets because they're coming to you to pay for it. And that's why I think these ideas up here are great, and that's what we should have is have more discussions like this and less gotcha. +p379 +aVI want to take off from that point and argue the same thing. And that is that one of the things you're watching tonight are 11 quality candidates debating an important issue. The Republican Party is blessed to have 11 good candidates, 10 good candidates. The Democrats can't even come up with one. And on this issue of the Medicare in particular, it's important because they're going to demagogue what we're saying here tonight. Everyone up here tonight that's talking about reforms, I think and I know for myself I speak to this, we're all talking about reforms for future generations. Nothing has to change for current beneficiaries. My mother is on Medicare and Social Security. I'm against anything that's bad for my mother. So, we're talking about \u2014 we're talking about reform for people like me and people like Senator Cruz, as he talked about earlier, who are years away from retirement that have a way to plan for these changes, and way that's very reasonable. And it's not too much to ask of our generation after everything our parents and our grandparents did for us. +p380 +aVYou know, America doesn't owe me anything. I have a debt to America I'll never repay. This isn't just the country I was born in, this is the nation that literally changed the history of my family. My parents in this country were able to give me the chance to do all the things they never did. We call that the American Dream, although, it's built on the universal dream of a better life. The fact that it's happened for so many people here throughout our history, that's what makes us special. But, now for millions of Americans, it's slipping away. And, we have a government and leaders in government that are completely out of touch, and that's why I'm running for president. Because we can't just save the American Dream, we can expand it to reach more people, and change more lives than ever before. And, that's why tonight I'm asking you for your vote. +p381 +aVThank you. My name is Marco Rubio. I'm from Florida. My wife Jeanette and I are the proud \u2014 we've been married 17 years, and we're the proud parents of four children, two of whom were able to join us here this evening. I'm honored to be here at the Reagan Library, at a place that honors the legacy of a man who inspired not just my interest in public service, but also our love for country. And I'm also aware that California has a drought, and so that's why I made sure I brought my own water. +p382 +aVWell, first of all, I have an understanding of exactly what it is Russia and Putin are doing, and it's pretty straightforward. He wants to reposition Russia, once again, as a geopolitical force. He himself said that the destruction of the Soviet Union \u2014 the fall of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century, and now he's trying to reverse that. He's trying to destroy +p383 +aVLet me tell you \u2014 I will tell you we have zero responsibility, because let's remember what the president said. He said the attack he would conduct would be a pinprick. Well, the United States military was not build to conduct pinprick attacks. If the United States military is going to be engaged by a commander-in-chief, it should only be engaged in an endeavor to win. And we're not going to authorize use of force if you're not put in a position where they can win. And quite frankly, people don't trust this president as commander-in-chief because of that. +p384 +aVHold on, a second, Jake, he asked me, as well. I'd like to actually... +p385 +aV... respond. I think I'm the first senator. The No. 1 test for use of military force should be the vital national security interest of the United States. The reason why I opposed President Obama bombing Syria, is because he couldn't answer the question what do you do if chemical weapons end up in the hands of radical Islamic terrorists like al-Nusra, like Al Qaida, like +p386 +aVIn the middle of negotiating this treaty, Khamenei led the assembled masses in chanting, death to America. I'm reminded of a great editorial cartoon. It shows the Ayatollah Khamenei saying, "Death to all Americans," and then it shows John Kerry coming back, saying, "Can we meet ya half way?" We need a commander-in-chief who will stand up and protect this country. And I'll tell you, I can't wait to stand on that debate stage with Hillary Clinton and to make abundantly clear if you vote for Hillary, you are voting for the Ayatollah Khomeini to possess a nuclear weapon and if you elect me as president, under no circumstances will a theocratic ayatollah who chants death to America ever be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon. +p387 +aVMs. Dana, I agree that English is the unifying language of our country, and everyone should learn to speak it. It's important. I want to tell you a story about someone that didn't speak English that well. It was my grandfather; he came to this country in the 1960s, as a \u2014 escaping Cuba. And he lived with us, growing up. And my grandfather loved America. He understood what was so special about this country. He loved Ronald Reagan; he would be very proud of the fact that we're here this evening. My grandfather instilled in me the belief that I was blessed to live in the one society in all of human history where even I, the son of a bartender and a maid, could aspire to have anything, and be anything that I was willing to work hard to achieve. But he taught me that in Spanish, because it was the language he was most comfortable in. And he became a conservative, even though he got his news in Spanish. And so, I do give interviews in Spanish, and here's why \u2014 because I believe that free enterprise and limited government is the best way to help people who are trying to achieve upward mobility. And if they get their news in Spanish, I want them to hear that directly from me. Not from a translator at Univision. +p388 +aVWell, let me say that legal immigration is not an issue I read about in the newspaper. Immigration, illegal immigration, all the good aspects of immigration and all the negative ones as well, I live with. My family's immigrants. My neighbors are all immigrants. My in-laws are all immigrants. So I've seen every aspect of it, and I can tell you America doesn't have one immigration problem, it has three. First, despite the fact that we are the most generous country in the history of the world in allowing people to come here legally, we have people still coming illegally. Second, we have a legal immigration system that no longer works. It primary is built on the basis of whether you have a relative living here instead of merit. And third, we have 11 million or 12 million people, many of whom have been here for longer than a decade who are already here illegally. And we must deal with all three of these problems. We cannot deal with all three of these problems in one massive piece of legislation. I learned that. We tried it that way. Here's the way forward: First, we must \u2014 we must secure our border, the physical border, with \u2014 with a wall, absolutely. But we also need to have an entry/exit tracking system. 40 percent of the people who come here illegally come legally, and then they overstay the visa. We also need a mandatory e-verify system. After we've done that, step two would be to modernize our legal immigration system so you come to America on the basis of what you can contribute economically, not whether or not simply you have a relative living here. And after we've done those two things, I believe the American people... +p389 +aV... will be very reasonable and responsible about what you do with someone who's been here and isn't a criminal. If you're a criminal, obviously, you will not be able to stay. +p390 +aVYes, well, it does. But it's in the following way, this is an important question. I think if you're running for president, these are important issues, because look at around the world today. There is a lunatic in North Korea with dozens of nuclear weapons and long-range rocket that can already hit the very place in which we stand tonight. The Chinese are rapidly expanding their military. They hack into our computers. They're building artificial islands in the South China Sea, the most important shipping lane in the world. A gangster in Moscow is not just threatening Europe, he's threatening to destroy and divide +p391 +aVWell, that's why we have a debate. I think that we should have a deeper debate about these issues, because there is no more important decision that a president will make. +p392 +aVWell, you should ask him questions in detail about the foreign policy issues our president will confront, because you had better be able to lead our country on the first day. Not six months from now, not a year from now, on the first day in office, our president could very well confront a national security crisis. You can't predict it. Sometimes you cannot control it. And it is the most \u2014 the federal government does all kinds of things it's not supposed to be doing. It regulates bathrooms. It regulates schools that belong to local communities. But the one thing that the federal government must do, the one thing that only the federal government can do is keep us safe. And a president better be up-to-date on those issues on his first day in office, on her first day in office. +p393 +aVTrust (ph) me, I get that. OK. +p394 +aVI never get to addressed, and... +p395 +aV...and when I do, I'm gonna jump in. +p396 +aVYeah. He did. Let me \u2014 I'm proud to serve in the United States Senate. You know, when I ran five years ago, the entire leadership of my party in Washington lined up against me. But I'm glad I won. And I'm glad that I ran, because this country's headed in the wrong direction. And if we keep electing the same people, nothing is going to change. And you're right, I have missed some votes, and I'll tell you why, Mr. Trump. Because in my years in the Senate, I've figured out very quickly that the political establishment in Washington, D.C. in both political parties is completely out of touch with the lives of our people. You have millions of people in this country living paycheck to paycheck, and nothing is being done about it. We are about to leave our children with $18 trillion in \u2014 in \u2014 in debt, and they're about to raise the debt limit again. We have a world that grows increasingly dangerous, and we are eviscerating our military spending and signing deals with Iran. And these \u2014 if this thing continues, we are going to be the first Americans to leave our children worse off than ourselves. That's why I'm missing votes. Because I am leaving the Senate, I'm not running for re-election, and I'm running for president because I know this: unless we have the right president, we cannot make America fulfill its potential, but with the right person in office, the 21st century can be the greatest era that our nation has ever known. +p397 +aVI want to go even deeper \u2014 and I want to go even deeper in that direction, because I think the belief that somehow by retreating, America makes the world safer has been disproven every single time it's ever been tried. Syria's a perfect example of it. The uprising in Syria was not started by the United States; it was started by the Syrian people. And I warned at the time \u2014 this was three and a half years ago \u2014 I openly and repeatedly warned that if we did not find moderate elements on the ground that we could equip and arm, that void would be filled by radical jihadists. Well, the president didn't listen, the administration didn't follow through, and that's exactly what happened. That is why +p398 +aV... as you asked earlier today. +p399 +aVBut radical terrorism cannot be solved by intellect. It cannot \u2014 they require \u2014 what they need, is they need an operating space. That's what Afghanistan was for Al Qaida. It was a vacuum that they filled, and they created an operating space. That's why they had to be drawn out of there. That's why they had to be destroyed. It is the reason why +p400 +aVThere's a broader issue here, Hugh. And there's a broader issue here as well. First of all, the only people that follow the law are law-abiding people. Criminals by definition ignore the law, so you can pass all the gun laws in the world, like the left wants. The criminals are going to ignore it because they are criminals. Here's the real issue. The real issue \u2014 the real issue is not what are people using to commit violence, but why are they committing the violence? And here's the truth: Because you cannot separate the social, moral wellbeing of your people from their economic and other wellbeing. You cannot separate it. You can't have a strong country without strong people, you cannot have strong people without strong values, and you cannot have strong values without strong families and the institutions in this country that defend and support those families. +p401 +aVWell, and today, we have a left-wing government under this president that is undermining all of the institutions and society that support the family and teach those values. +p402 +aVBecause we're not going to destroy our economy the way the left-wing government that we are under now wants to do. We're not going to... +p403 +aVWell, and I don't \u2014 he may have lined up with their positions on this issue. But here is the bottom line. Every proposal they put forward are going to be proposals that will make it harder to do business in America, that will make it harder to create jobs in America. Single parents are already struggling across this country to provide for their families. Maybe a billionaire here in California can afford an increase in their utility rates, but a working family in Tampa, Florida, or anywhere across this country cannot afford it. So we are not going to destroy our economy. We are not going to make America a harder place to create jobs in order to pursue policies that will do absolutely nothing, nothing to change our climate, to change our weather, because America is a lot of things, the greatest country in the world, absolutely. But America is not a planet. And we are not even the largest carbon producer anymore, China is. And they're drilling a hole and digging anywhere in the world that they can get a hold of. So the bottom line is, I am not in favor of any policies that make America a harder place for people to live, or to work, or to raise their families. +p404 +aVJake, you mentioned me and called me a denier. Let me say, climate change... +p405 +aVOK. A skeptic. You can measure the climate. You can measure it. That's not the issue we're discussing. Here is what I'm skeptical of. I'm skeptical of the decisions that the left wants us to make, because I know the impact those are going to have and they're all going to be on our economy. They will not do a thing to lower the rise of the sea. They will not do a thing to cure the drought here in California. But what they will do is they will make America a more expensive place to create jobs. And today with millions of people watching this broadcast that are struggling paycheck to paycheck that do not know how they're going to pay their bills at the end of this month, I'm not in favor of anything that is going to make it harder for them to raise their family. +p406 +aVSenator Rubio, you mean? +p407 +aVI know we all look alike. +p408 +aVThe \u2014 Rosa Parks, an everyday American that changed the course of history. +p409 +aVWell, there are some people in Florida upset at me over a joke I made about Florida State, but, what the heck, I want my codename to be Gator. +p410 +aVOne of the things that made Ronald Reagan a great president, is that he understood that America was a unique nation, like any other that had existed throughout human history. He knew it was founded on universal principles that were powerful, the dignity of all people, human rights, the rights of all to live in freedom and liberty, and choose their own path in life. He didn't just believe it, he acted on it. That's why bringing down communism was so important to him. If I'm honored with the opportunity to be president, I hope that our Air Force One will fly, first and foremost, to our allies; in Israel, in South Korea, and Japan. They know we stand with them. That America can be counted on. It would also fly to China, not just to meet with our enemies, not just to meet with those adversaries of ours that are there, but also to meet with those that aspire to freedom and liberty within China. I would even invite them to my inauguration. We would also fly into Moscow and into Russia. And not just meet with the leaders of Russia, but also meet with those who aspire to freedom and liberty in Russia. And ultimately, I hope that my Air Force One, if I become president, will one day land in a free Cuba, where its people can choose its leaders and its own destiny. +p411 +aVWell, thank you for the question, Chris, and it's great to be here tonight. Let me begin by saying this: I'm not new to the political process; I was making a contribution as the speaker of the third largest and most diverse state in the country well before I even got into the Senate. I would add to that that this election cannot be a resume competition. It's important to be qualified, but if this election is a resume competition, then Hillary Clinton's gonna be the next president, because she's been in office and in government longer than anybody else running here tonight. Here's what this election better be about: This election better be about the future, not the past. It better be about the issues our nation and the world is facing today, not simply the issues we once faced. This country is facing an economy that has been radically transformed. You know, the largest retailer in the country and the world today, Amazon, doesn't even own a single store? And these changes have been disruptive. They have changed people's lives. The jobs that once sustained our middle class, they either don't pay enough or they are gone, and we need someone that understands that as our nominee. If I'm our nominee, how is Hillary Clinton gonna lecture me about living paycheck to paycheck? I was raised paycheck to paycheck. How is she -- how is she gonna lecture me -- how is she gonna lecture me about student loans? I owed over $100,000 just four years ago. If I'm our nominee, we will be the party of the future. +p412 +aVLet me set the record straight on a couple of things. The first is, the evidence is now clear that the majority of people coming across the border are not from Mexico. They're coming from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras. Those countries are the source of the people that are now coming in its majority. I also believe we need a fence. The problem is if El Chapo builds a tunnel under the fence, we have to be able to deal with that too. And that's why you need an e-verify system and you need an entry-exit tracking system and all sorts of other things to prevent illegal immigration. But I agree with what Governor Kasich just said. People are frustrated. This is the most generous country in the world when it comes to immigration. There are a million people a year who legally immigrate to the United States, and people feel like we're being taken advantage of. We feel like despite our generosity, we're being taken advantage of. And let me tell you who never gets talked about in these debates. The people that call my office, who have been waiting for 15 years to come to the United States. And they've paid their fees, and they hired a lawyer, and they can't get in. And they're wondering, maybe they should come illegally. And so these are important issues, and we should address it. It's a serious problem that needs to be addressed, and otherwise we're going to keep talking about this for the next 30 years, like we have for the last 30 years. +p413 +aVNot me. +p414 +aVActually, to be clear......he supported Charlie Crist. +p415 +aVHey, Charlie... +p416 +aVWell, first off, I too believe in curriculum reform. It is critically important in the 21st Century. We do need curriculum reform. And it should happen at the state and local level. That's. . . that's. . . that is where educational policy belongs, because if a parent is unhappy with what their child is being taught in school, they can go to that local school board or their state legislature, or their governor and get it changed. Here's the problem with Common Core. The Department of Education, like every federal agency, will never be satisfied. They will not stop with it being a suggestion. They will turn it into a mandate. In fact, what they will begin to say to local communities is, you will not get federal money unless do you things the way we want you to do it. And they will use Common Core or any other requirements that exists nationally to force it down the throats of our people in our states. +p417 +aVThat's a great question. +p418 +aVThat's a great question. First of all, it begins by having leaders that recognize that the economy we live in today is dramatically different from the one we had five years ago. It's an economy that now has placed us in global competition with dozens of other countries around the world. Now, the big companies that have connections with Washington, they can affect policies to help them, but the small companies like the one Tania is talking about, they're the ones that are struggling. The first thing we need to do is we need to even out the tax code for small businesses so that we lower their tax rate to 25 percent, just as we need to lower it for all businesses. We need to have a regulatory budget in America that limits the amount of regulations on our economy. We need to repeal and replace Obamacare and we need to improve higher education so that people can have access to the skills they need for 21st century jobs. And last but not least, we need to repeal Dodd-Frank. It is eviscerating small businesses and small banks. 20 \u2014 over 40 percent of small and mid-size banks that loan money to small businesses have been wiped out over the \u2014 since Dodd-Frank has passed. We need to repeal and replace Dodd-Frank. We need to make America fair again for all businesses, but especially those being run by small business owners. +p419 +aVWell, Megyn, first of all, I'm not sure that that's a correct assessment of my record. I would go on to add that I believe all-- +p420 +aVI have never said that. And I have never advocated that. What I have advocated is that we pass law in this country that says all human life at every stage of its development is worthy of protection. In fact, I think that law already exists. It is called the Constitution of the United States. And let me go further. I believe that every single human being is entitled to the protection of our laws, whether they can vote or not. Whether they can speak or not. Whether they can hire a lawyer or not. Whether they have a birth certificate or not. And I think future generations will look back at this history of our country and call us barbarians for murdering millions of babies who we never gave them a chance to live. +p421 +aVWell, first, let me say I think God has blessed us. He has blessed the Republican Party with some very good candidates. The Democrats can't even find one. And I believe God has blessed our country. This country has been extraordinarily blessed. And we have honored that blessing. And that's why God has continued to bless us. And he has blessed us with young men and women willing to risk their lives and sometimes die in uniform for the safety and security of our people. Unfortunately today we have a VA that does not do enough for them. I am proud that last year we helped change the law. We changed the law to give the power to the VA secretary the ability to fire any executive that isn't doing their job. And it is outrageous they've only fired one person to date. When I'm president of the United States, we're going to have a VA that cares more about our veterans than about the bureaucrats who work at the VA. +p422 +aVThank you. You know, both of my parents were born into poor families on the island of Cuba. They came to America because it was the only place where people like them could have a chance. Here in this country, they never made it big, but the very purpose of their life was to give us the chance to do all the things they never could. My father was a bartender. And the journey from the back of that bar to this stage tonight, to me, that is the essence of the American dream. It is what makes our nation different. And I'm running for president because I want that to still be possible for the people trying to do that now. I run for president because I believe that we can't just save the American dream; we can expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And that's why I'm asking for your vote. So we can make America greater than it has ever been. And make of this century a new American century. +p423 +aVWell, let me first talk about Justice Scalia. His loss is tremendous, and obviously our hearts and prayers go out to his family. He will go down as one of the great justices in the history of this republic. You talk about someone who defended consistently the original meaning of the Constitution, who understood that the Constitution was not there to be interpreted based on the fads of the moment, but it was there to be interpreted according to its original meaning. Justice Scalia understood that better than anyone in the history of this republic. His dissent, for example, on the independent counsel case is a brilliant piece of jurist work. And, of course, his dissent on Obergefell as well. No. 2, I do not believe the president should appoint someone. And it's not unprecedented. In fact, it has been over 80 years since a lame duck president has appointed a Supreme Court justice. And it remind us of this, how important this election is. Someone on this stage will get to choose the balance of the Supreme Court, and it will begin by filling this vacancy that's there now. And we need to put people on the bench that understand that the Constitution is not a living and breathing document. It is to be interpreted as originally meant. +p424 +aVThat's not accurate. +p425 +aVNo, I've never \u2014 there has been, for example, today, according to the changes Harry Reid made, appellate judges can now be appointed by a simple majority, but not Supreme Court justices. And I think today you see the wisdom of why we don't want that to change. Because if that were the case and we were not in charge of the Senate, Harry Reid and Barack Obama would ram down our throat a liberal justice, like the ones Barack Obama has imposed on us already. +p426 +aVNo. I think there are three major threats that you want to immediately get on top of. No. 1 is, what are we doing in the Asia-Pacific region, where both North Korea and China pose threats to the national security of the United States. No. 2 is, what are we doing in the Middle East with the combination of the Sunni-Shia conflict driven by the Shia arc that Iran is now trying to establish in the Middle East, also the growing threat of +p427 +aVWell, let me tell you what has happened a couple of years ago. One of the hardest decisions you'll ever make in Congress is when you are asked by the president to authorize the use of force in a conflict, because you are now putting your name, on behalf of the people of your state, behind a military action, where Americans in uniform could lose their life. So, in 2014, Barack Obama said he would not take military action against Assad unless it was authorized by the Senate, beginning on the Committee of Foreign Relations, where I am one of its members. And it was hard because you looked at the pictures. I saw the same images people saw. I'm the father of children. I saw the images of these little children \u2014 been gassed and poisoned by their own leaders, and we were angry. Something had to happen, and there was the sense that we needed to seek retribution. And then I looked at Barack Obama's plan. Barack Obama's plan, which John Kerry later described as unbelievably small, and I concluded that that attack would not only not help the situation, it would make it actually worse. It would allow Assad to stand up to the United States of America, survive a strike, stay in power and actually strengthen his grip. So it was a difficult decision to make, and when we only had a few days to look at and make a decision on it, and I voted against Barack Obama's plan to use force, and it was the right decision. +p428 +aVI just want to say, at least on behalf of me and my family, I thank God all the time it was George W. Bush in the White House on 9/11 and not Al Gore. And you can \u2014 I think you can look back in hindsight and say a couple of things, but he kept us safe. And not only did he keep us safe, but no matter what you want to say about weapons of mass destruction, Saddam Hussein was in violation of U.N. resolutions, in open violation, and the world wouldn't do anything about it, and George W. Bush enforced what the international community refused to do. And again, he kept us safe, and I am forever grateful to what he did for this country. +p429 +aVThe World Trade Center came down because Bill Clinton didn't kill Osama bin Laden when he had the chance to kill him. +p430 +aVWell, because I'm influencing social policy \u2014 this is their money. This is the money of parents. You don't earn the tax credit unless you're working. That's your money, it doesn't belong to government. Here's what I don't understand. If a business takes their money and they invest in the piece of the equipment, they get to write off their taxes. But if a parent takes money that they have earned to work and invests in their children, they don't? This makes no sense. Parenting is the most important job any of us will ever have. Family formation is the most important thing in society. So what my tax plan does, is it does create, especially for working families, an additional Child Tax Credit. So that parents who are working get to keep more of their own money, not the government's money, to invest in their children to go to school, to go to a private school, to buy a new backpack. Let me tell you, if you're a parent that's struggling, then you know that $50 a month is the difference between a new pair of shoes this month or not getting a new pair of shoes for your kids. I'm going to have a tax plan that is pro-family, because the family is the most important institution in society. You cannot have a strong country without strong families. +p431 +aVWell, first of all, I think amnesty is the forgiveness of a wrongdoing without consequence and that \u2014 I've never supported that. I do not support that. I think there has to be consequences for violating our immigration laws. What I think is clear about this issue to begin with is we're not going to be able to make progress on illegal immigration until first, illegal immigration is brought under control. You go back to 1986, when they legalized three million people and they promised to secure the border. It didn't happen, and as a result, people have lost trust in the federal government. It is now clear that the only way to make progress on immigration is not just to pass a law that enforces the law, but actually prove to people that it's working. They want to see the wall built. They want to see the additional border agents. They want to see E-Verify. They want to see an entry-exit tracking system. Forty percent of the people in this country illegally are entering legally and overstaying visas. And only after all of that is in place, then we'll see what the American people are willing to support on this issue. I think the American people will be very reasonable, but responsible, about how you handle someone who has been here a long time, who can pass a background check, who pays a fine and starts paying taxes and all they want is a work permit. But you can't do any of that until you prove to people that illegal immigration is under control once and for all. +p432 +aVWe're going to have to do this again, O.K.? When that issue was being debated, Ted Cruz, at a committee hearing, very passionately said, I want immigration reform to pass, I want people to be able to come out of the shadows. And he proposed an amendment that would legalized people here. Not only that, he proposed doubling the number of green cards. He proposed a 500 percent increase on guest workers. Now his position is different. Now he is a passionate opponent of all those things. So he either wasn't telling the truth then or he isn't telling the truth now, but to argue he is a purist on immigration is just not true. +p433 +aVWell, first of all, I don't know how he knows what I said on Univision, because he doesn't speak Spanish. And second of all, the other point that I would make... +p434 +aVLook, this is a disturbing pattern now, because for a number of weeks now, Ted Cruz has just been telling lies. He lied about Ben Carson in Iowa. He lies about Planned Parenthood. He lies about marriage. He's lying about all sorts of things. And now he makes things up. The bottom line is this is a campaign and people are watching it. And they see the truth behind all these issues. And here is the truth, Ted Cruz supported legalizing people that were in this country... +p435 +aV... and only now does he say... +p436 +aVWell, we'll put on our website, marcorubio.com. We're going to... +p437 +aVOn anything I want? +p438 +aVWell, let me talk about poverty. +p439 +aVI do. +p440 +aVI had something important. +p441 +aVThe issue of poverty is critical, because for me, poverty is the \u2014 is \u2014 is free enterprise not reaching people. Today, we have antipoverty programs that don't cure poverty. We don't cure poverty in America. Our antipoverty programs have become, in some instances, a way of life, a lifestyle. Now, we do need antipoverty programs, you can't have free enterprise programs without them, but not as a way of life. And so I have a very specific proposal on this and I don't \u2014 in 60 seconds, I can't describe it all, but it basically turns the program over to states. It allows states to design innovative programs that cure poverty, because I think Nikki Haley will do a better job curing poverty than Barack Obama. +p442 +aVWell, no. It's not the case. It didn't pass, and we haven't solved immigration in this country. It's still a problem. It is worse today than it was three years ago, which is worse than it was five years ago. And it has to be confronted and solved. But the only way forward on this issue \u2014 you asked a question about flexibility. Let me tell you about that. One of the things that you need in leadership is the ability to understand that to get things done, you must figure out the way to get it done. You will not pass comprehensive immigration reform. People do not trust the federal government. They want to see the law being enforced. They want to see illegal immigration come under control. They want to see that wall. They want to see E-Verify. They want to see all of these things working, and then they will have a conversation with you about what do you do with people that have been here a long time that are otherwise, you know, not criminals. But they're not going to do it until you first enforce the law. +p443 +aVThirty seconds. +p444 +aVI speak fast. +p445 +aVWell, I think one of the presidents \u2014 well, the president I grew up under was Ronald Reagan. And Reagan had a vision for America's future. And if you think about what Ronald Reagan inherited, it's not unlike what the next president is going to inherit. This is the worst president we've had in 35 years, 35 years back would have made it Jimmy Carter. That's what Ronald Reagan inherited. And I think the question you would ask is, how did you inspire again the American people to believe in the future? How did you \u2014 what did it take to ensure that the American people, despite all of the difficulties of the time \u2014 you know, you look back at that time, the American military was in decline. Our standing in the world was in decline. We had hostages being held in Iran. Our economy was in bad shape. The American people were scared about the future. They were scared about what kind of country their children were going to live in and inherit. And yet somehow Ronald Reagan was able to instill in our nation and in our people a sense of optimism. And he turned America around because of that vision and ultimately because of that leadership. I wish Ronald Reagan was still around. This country needs someone just like that. And if our next president is even half the president Ronald Reagan was, America is going to be greater than it has ever been. +p446 +aVThank you, and thank you for watching tonight. This is a difficult time in our country. Our economy's flat, it's not creating the jobs it once did, and people struggle living paycheck to paycheck. Our culture's in trouble. Wrong is considered right and right is considered wrong. All the things that once held our families together are now under constant assault. And around the world, America's reputation is in decline. Our allies don't trust us, our adversaries don't fear us, Iran captures our sailors and parades them before the world on video. These are difficult times, but 2016 can be a turning point. That's why I'm running for president, and that's why I'm here today to ask you for your vote. If you elect me president, we are going to re-embrace free enterprise so that everyone can go as far as their talent and their work will take them. We are going to be a country that says that "life begins at conception and life is worthy of the protection of our laws." We're going to be a country that says "that marriage is between one man and one woman." We are going to be a country that says, "The constitution and the rights that it talks about do not come from our president, they come from our creator." We are going to be loyal to our allies like Israel, not enemies like Iran. And we will rebuild the U.S. military so no one will there test it. Vote for me. I will unify this party. I will grow it. We will win this election, and we will make the 21st century a new American century. +p447 +aVWell, let me say, from protecting the people of Florida from imminent domain abuse, to bringing accountability to the V.A., to the Girls Count Act, to sanctioning groups, I'm proud of my service in the United States Senate and before that, in the Florida legislature. I will say, if politics becomes and the presidency becomes about electing people who have been Congress or in the Senate the longest, we should all rally around Joe Biden. He's been around 1,000 years. He's passed hundreds of bills and I don't think any of us believe Joe Biden should be president of the United States. And let's dispel once and for all with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing. Barack Obama is undertaking a systematic effort to change this country, to make America more like the rest of the world. That's why he passed Obamacare and the stimulus and Dodd-Frank and the deal with Iran. It is a systematic effort to change America. When I'm president of the United States, we are going to re-embrace all the things that made America the greatest nation in the world and we are going to leave our children with what they deserve: the single greatest nation in the history of the world. +p448 +aVIf I may respond to that. +p449 +aVWell, I think the experience is not just what you did, but how it worked out. Under Chris Christie's governorship of New Jersey, they've been downgraded nine times in their credit rating. This country already has a debt problem, we don't need to add to it by electing someone who has experience at running up and destroying the credit rating of his state. But I would add this. Let's dispel with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing. He is trying to change this country. He wants America to become more like the rest of the world. We don't want to be like the rest of the world, we want to be the United States of America. And when I'm elected president, this will become once again, the single greatest nation in the history of the world, not the disaster Barack Obama has imposed upon us. +p450 +aVChris \u2014 Chris, your state got hit by a massive snowstorm two weeks ago. You didn't even want to go back. They had to shame you into going back. And then you stayed there for 36 hours and then he left and came back to campaign. Those are the facts. Here's the bottom line. This notion that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing is just not true. He knows exactly what he's doing. +p451 +aVWell, that's the \u2014 that's the reason why this campaign is so important. Because I think this notion \u2014 I think this is an important point. We have to understand what we're going through here. We are not facing a president that doesn't know what he's doing. He knows what he is doing. That's why he's done the things he's done. That's why we have a president that passed Obamacare and the stimulus. All this damage that he's done to America is deliberate. This is a president that's trying to redefine this country. That's why this election is truly a referendum on our identity as a nation, as a people. Our future is at stake. This election is not about the past. It is about what kind of country this is going to be in the 21st century, and if we elect someone like Barack Obama, a Hillary Clinton, a Bernie Sanders or anyone like that, our children are going to be the first Americans to inherit a diminishes country. That will not happen if I'm elected. +p452 +aVChris, you didn't want to go back. You didn't want to go back. +p453 +aVYou didn't want to go back, Chris. +p454 +aVChris, everybody \u2014 you said you weren't going to go back. He told everyone he wasn't going to go back. They had to shame him into going back. And when he decided to go back, he criticized the young lady, saying, what am I supposed to do, go back with a mop and clean up the flooding? +p455 +aV... It's your record, it's not a talking point... +p456 +aVBut Martha, just \u2014 Martha, just to clarify on that point, because he's right, and one more thing to point \u2014 it is standard procedure of the United States to shoot down those missiles once launched if they pose a threat to civilians, land and ships. +p457 +aVWell \u2014 no, I understand. And not \u2014 but \u2014 but I think it's important to note that it is \u2014 and Senator Cruz, I think, was alluding to this, as well \u2014 it is the standard procedure of the United States, if those missiles pose a threat to land, civilians, our allies or any of our assets, to shoot down that missile in mid-flight. I understand your question was about a preemptive strike, but my point is that there is in place now contingencies to avoid any sort of that strike from going errant and destroying any \u2014 any assets of the United States, or implicating or hurting any of our allies or any of our assets in the region. +p458 +aVYeah. I have a \u2014 I got mentioned, can I respond? +p459 +aVHere's the broader point, as well, and then I think it touches on what Donald just mentioned. Barack Obama views America as this arrogant global power that needed to be cut down to size. OK? This is a president that views this country as a country that's been too powerful in the world and we create problems around the world. For example, it's one of the reasons why he had betrayed Israel, because he believes that if we create separation from Israel, it will help our relations in the Islamic world. The same is happening in the Asia-Pacific region with accommodations to North Korea. North Korean should be back on that list of terrorist nations, as an example. And Donald's absolutely right. China does have a lot of influence over North Korea and he should be leveraging our relationship with the Chinese to ensure that North Korea no longer has access to the resources that have allowed them \u2014 a country that has no economy to develop long range missiles already capable of reaching the west coast of the United States potentially. +p460 +aVHere's the bottom line. We can't get that legislation passed. The American people will not support doing anything about people that are in this country illegally until the law is enforced first, and you prove it to them. This has been abundantly clear. Every effort over the last ten years to do those comprehensively has failed. And it has failed because the American people have zero trust that the federal government will enforce our laws. And that's why since then, I have said repeatedly, if you are serious about immigration reform, then the key that unlocks the door to being able to do that is not just to pass a law that says it is going to enforce the law, but to actually do it. To hire the 20,000 new border agents, to finish the fencing and walls, to put in place mandatory e-verify, to put in place an entry-exit tracking system to prevent visa overstays. And once that is in place and that's working, I believe the American people will support a very reasonable, but responsible approach to people that have been here a long time, who are not dangerous criminals, who pay taxes and pay fines for what they did. But until then, none of that is going to be possible. +p461 +aVWell, the legislation passed, but it has no support. In essence, it couldn't pass in the House, it will never pass in the United States until we secure the border, and it is not the way we're going to do when I'm president. When I'm president, we are going to enforce the law first, prove to people that illegal immigration is under control. And then we'll see what the American people are willing to support when it comes to people that are not criminals, who have been in the this country for a long time and who otherwise would like to stay. +p462 +aVLeadership is ultimately about solving the problem. And the approach that was tried and has been tried now repeatedly over ten years to do this comprehensively, all at once in a massive piece of legislation has no chance of passage. It is not leadership to continue to try something that has no chance of happening. I want to make progress on this issue. It has been discussed now for 30 years and nothing ever happens. And I am telling you that the only way forward on this issue that has any chance of happening, meaning gaining the support of the American people, you cannot do this without the support of the American people, is an approach that begins by proving that once and for all, illegal immigration is under control. +p463 +aVGood evening. +p464 +aVWell, I think conservatism is about three things and Donald touched on one of them, but it's about three things. The first is conservatism is about limited government, especially at the federal level. The federal government is a limited government, limited by the Constitution, which delineates its powers. If it's not in the Constitution, it does not belong to the federal government. It belongs to states, local communities and the private sector. It's about free enterprise, which is an economic model that allows everyone to rise without pulling anyone down. The reason why free enterprise is the greatest economic model in the history of the world is because it's the only economic model where you can make poor people richer without making rich people poor. And it's about a strong national defense. It's about believing, unlike Barack Obama, that the world is a safer and a better place when America is the strongest military and the strongest nation on this planet. That's conservatism. +p465 +aVNow, see, I was mentioned by Governor... +p466 +aVYeah. +p467 +aVOK, good, then I'll get to it . Here's the... +p468 +aVWell, no, sorry. Let me respond to that question. +p469 +aVWell, here's the response. I think anyone who believes that Barack Obama isn't doing what he's doing on purpose doesn't understand what we're dealing with here, OK? This is a president \u2014 this is a president who is trying to change this country. When he talked about change, he wasn't talking about dealing with our problems. Obamacare was not an accident. The undermining of the Second Amendment is not an accident. The gutting of our military is not an accident. The undermining of America on the global stage is not an accident. Barack Obama is, indeed, trying to redefine this country. We better understand what we're dealing with here, because that's what Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders want to double down on if they are elected. +p470 +aVNo. He talked about Barack Obama. +p471 +aVYeah. +p472 +aVI don't know of any problem in America that's going to be fixed with a tax increase. We have an economy today, an economy today that is not creating jobs that pay enough. And one of the reasons why is because we have one of the most expensive business tax rates on the planet. Our combined business rate puts us among the highest in the industrialized world. And then on top of that, we are the only one that has a worldwide system of taxation, where an American company who makes money abroad has to pay taxes where they made the money and then taxes a second time when they bring it back. The combination of these two things has stranded over $2 trillion, the equivalent of the size of the Russian economy, $2 trillion of American corporate money stranded overseas, combined with all of these inversions of companies leaving us. The solution to the problems we have today are not a tax increase. It is to lower our taxes on both people and on companies, so we can make America globally competitive again. +p473 +aVWell, first, we need to understand who they are. +p474 +aVBecause they currently occupy Sunni cities and villages. Sunni cities and villages can only truly be liberated and held by Sunnis themselves. If they are held by Shias it will trigger sectarian violence. The Kurds are incredible fighters and they will liberate the Kurdish areas, but Kurds can not and do not want to liberate and hold Sunni villages and towns. It will take Sunni fighters themselves in that region to take those villages and cities, and then to hold them and avoid the sort of sectarian violence that follows in the past. And why that is important is because if Sunnis are not able to govern themselves in these areas, you are going to have a successor group to +p475 +aVWell, the problem with the Sunni forces in the region is they don't trust this administration. This administration cut a deal with their mortal enemies, the Shia, in Iran. It poisoned the well with these countries. It makes it very difficult to cooperate with them as a result. They also, by the way, understand what real U.S. air power looks like. They saw the Iraq war. They saw, up close, also Afghanistan. They know what air power looks like when the United States is committed to the cause. And they see the airstrikes that are being conducted now, and they say to themselves, that's not real commitment. We know what real commitment looks like. The \u2014 the Jordanian king was in Washington three weeks ago. He told everyone who would listen that they have begged for permission from the coalition to target caravans. And the coalition \u2014 meaning U.S. leadership on the ground......would not allow them to proceed with those airstrikes. +p476 +aVWell, when people talk about interrogating terrorists, they're acting like this is some sort of law enforcement function. Law enforcement is about gathering evidence to take someone to trial, and convict them. Anti-terrorism is about finding out information to prevent a future attack so the same tactics do not apply. And, it is true, we should not be discussing in a wide spread way the exact tactics that we're going to use because that allows terrorist to know to practice how to evade us. But, here's the bigger problem with all this, we're not interrogating anybody right now. Guantanamo's being emptied by this president. We should be putting people into Guantanamo, not emptying it out, and we shouldn't be releasing these killers who are rejoining the battlefield against the United States. +p477 +aVI think it's already happening. Look at the turnout in Iowa. A historic number of people came out and voted in those caucuses. There are saying the same thing is going to happen here in New Hampshire. Look at the rallies that every single person on this stage is having. Much higher numbers than you used to see in the past and here is why. Because people are starting to understand, very clearly, that this election is going to be a turning point. That 2016 is not just a choice between Republican or Democrat. It is a referendum on our identity as a nation and as a people. So here is what Hillary Clinton needs to understand. We're going to have our primary, we're going to have our debates \u2014 which by the way, are twice as many as the Democrats have been willing to have themselves. But we're going to bring this party together and we are going to defeat Hillary Clinton, because she is unqualified to be the president of the United States of America. She put classified information on her computer because she thinks she's above the law and anyone who lies to the families of people who have lost their loved ones in the service of our country like she did in Benghazi, can never be the commander-in-chief of the United States of America. +p478 +aVI would. But that's not \u2014 the issue \u2014 my problem with what he did is he continues to put out this fiction that there's widespread systematic discrimination against Muslim Americans. First of all, let's recognize this. If you go to a national cemetery in this country, you will see stars of Davids and crosses, but you see crescent moons. There are brave men and women who happen to be Muslim Americans who are serving this country in uniform and who have died in the service of this country. And we recognize that and we honor that. But by the same token, we face a very significant threat of home grown violent extremism. We need to have strong, positive relationships in the Islamic communities in this country so they will identify and report this activity, especially mosques, for example, that are participating not just in hate speech, but inciting violence and taking acts against us. And I do believe it is important also to recognize, you want to talk about religious discrimination in America. Well, I don't think Barack Obama is being sued by any Islamic groups, but he is being sued by the Little Sisters of the Poor. We are facing in this country Christian groups and groups that hold traditional values who feel and in fact are being discriminated against by the laws of this country that try to force them to vie to violate their conscience. +p479 +aVFirst, let me say there are already women today serving in roles that are like combat. That, in fact, whose lives are in very serious danger, and so I have no problem whatsoever with people of either gender serving in combat so long as the minimum requirements necessary to do the job are not compromised. But, I support that, and obviously now that that is the case I do believe that Selective Service should be opened up for both men and women in case a Draft is ever instituted. I think the more fundamental challenge we're now facing is what's happening to the U.S. military \u2014 I've said this many times, and I think it's important to start paying attention to this. Our Air Force is about to be the smallest it's been in 100 years. I'm sorry, in our history. Our Army is set to be smaller than it's been since the second World War, and our Navy is about to be the smallest than it's been in 100 years. I think we need to begin to refocus on rebuilding our military because every time we have cut our military in the history of this country we have had to come back later and rebuild it, and it costs more, and it's a lot more chaotic and dangerous. When I'm president, we are rebuilding the U.S. military. +p480 +aVWell, my brother's a veteran. We're very proud of him in our family. He served as a green beret in the 7th Special Forces from 1968 through 1971. And as part of his training, he jumped out of an airplane and he lost his two front teeth. And for years, he's had to go to get these dental claims. And every times he goes to get one of these dental claims filled, the V.A. asks him, "well, how do we know you lost your teeth in the Army?" And he says, "well, it's the only time I ever jumped out of a plane." But he's had to fight through this process, and I've watched it firsthand. That's why I'm proud that I worked in a bipartisan way. We passed the V.A. Accountability bill that, for the first time, allows us to fire \u2014 allows the V.A. secretary to fire someone who's not doing a good job, who's a senior executive. And the governor's right. They've only fired three people up to now. More people will be fired if I'm president. But the portability part of it is incredibly important. Veterans should be able to take their V.A. benefits to any hospital or any doctor they want to go to. When I am president of the United States, veterans will be able to take their benefits to any hospital or doctor that they choose. +p481 +aVWell, first of all, I don't believe that believing in traditional marriage the way I do makes you a bigot or a hater. It means that you believe that this institution that's been around for millenial is an important cornerstone of society. I respect people that believe differently. But I believe deeply, that marriage should be between one man and one woman. On the issue of life, to me, the issue of life is not a political issue. It's a human rights issue and it's a difficult issue, because it puts in conflict two competing rights. On the one hand is the right of a woman to choose what to do with her body which is a real right. And on the other hand is the right of an unborn human child to live. And they're in conflict. And as a policy maker, I must choose which one of these two sides takes precedence. And I have chosen to err on the side of life. Here's what I find outrageous. There has been five Democratic debates. The media has not asked them a single question on abortion and on abortion, the Democrats are extremists. Why doesn't the media ask Hillary Clinton why she believes that all abortion should be legal, even on the due date of that unborn child. Why don't they ask Hillary Clinton why she believe that partial- birth abortion, which is a gruesome procedure that has been outlawed in this country, she thinks that's a fundamental right. They are the extremists......when it comes to the issue of abortion and I can't wait to expose them in a general election. HAM: Governor Bush? I want to come to you. Your allies have recently attacked Senator Rubio for being too pro-life to be elected in November. You made a similar charge stating it in an interview. This is a pro-life party. Do you stand behind that criticism? +p482 +aVI do support protection for the life of the mother because I'm pro-life. I just believe deeply that all human life is worthy of protection of our laws. If I'm president and there's a bill that's passed that saves lives but it has exceptions, I'll sign it. But I do believe deeply that all human life is worthy of the protection of laws. I've already said, for me, the issue of life is not a political issue and I want to be frank. I would rather lose an election than be wrong on the issue of life. HAM: Governor Christie. You too, have talked about Senator Rubio's position on the life issue. Some conservative activists have called this line of attack harmful to the pro-life cause. +p483 +aVWell, I was going for Peyton Manning, but now I'm rooting for Carolina. +p484 +aVThank you. You know, this week I had the great pleasure of having my kids join me on the campaign trail. I hadn't' seen them in a while, and it was great to have them alongside me, but the most important part of it is that it once again reminded me of what's at stake. Here in New Hampshire in less than 72 hours, we are literally deciding what kind of country we will be like when they are my age. What kind of country they will be able to raise their families in. And, that's why I'm asking you for your vote. You vote for me, and we will unite this party, we will grow the conservative movement, we will defeat Hillary Clinton, and we will leave our children what our parents left us. The single greatest nation in the history of all mankind. Thank you. +p485 +asVKASICH +p486 +(lp487 +VThank you, Wolf. Just last weekend, just last week, a friend asked one of my daughters, "Do you like politics?" And my daughter said, "No, I don't. And the reason I don't like it is because there's too much fighting, too much yelling. It's so loud, I don't like it." You know, I turned to my friend and I said, "You know, she's really on to something." And when we think about our country and the big issues that we face in this country; creating jobs, making sure people can keep their jobs, the need for rising wages, whether our children when they graduate from college can find a job, protecting the homeland, destroying +p488 +aVWell, first of all, Wolf, I said last February that we needed to have people on the ground, troops on the ground in a coalition similar to what we had in the first Gulf War. I remember when the Egyptian ambassador to the United States stood in the Rose Garden and pledged Arab commitment to removing Saddam Hussein from Kuwait. Before we came out here tonight, I am told that the Saudis have organized 34 countries who want to join in the battle against terrorism. First and foremost, we need to go and destroy +p489 +aVNo, I don't think it is. And I want to go back to two other issues. One is the metadata. We know we have to hold this data for a longer period of time. And, you know, in a lot of ways, Chris is right. Look, what a president has to do is take a position. We don't want to err on the side of having less. We want to err on the side of having more. That's good for our families. In addition to that, Wolf, there is a big problem. It's called encryption. And the people in San Bernardino were communicating with people who the FBI had been watching. But because their phone was encrypted, because the intelligence officials could not see who they were talking to, it was lost. We have to solve the encryption problem. It is not easy. A president of the United States, again, has to bring people together, have a position. We need to be able to penetrate these people when they are involved in these plots and these plans. And we have to give the local authorities the ability to penetrate to disrupt. That's what we need to do. Encryption is a major problem, and Congress has got to deal with this and so does the president to keep us safe. +p490 +aVYeah, let me \u2014 let me just suggest to everybody, and I hear \u2014 last February, I said we needed to have people on the ground in a coalition with Europe and our allies. This is not going to get done just by working with the Sunnis. And it is not going to get done if we just embed a few people. We have to go massively, like we did in the first Gulf War where we destroyed Saddam's ability to take Kuwait. We need to have a coalition that will stand for nothing less than the total destruction of +p491 +aVI don't understand this thing about Assad. He has to go. Assad is aligned with Iran and Russia. The one thing we want to prevent is we want to prevent Iran being able to extend a Shia crescent all across the Middle East. Assad has got to go. And there are moderates there. There are moderates in Syria who we should be supporting. I do not support a civil war. I don't want to be policeman of the world. But we can't back off of this. And let me tell you, at the end, the Saudis have agreed to put together a coalition inside of Syria to stabilize that country. +p492 +aVHe must go. It will be a blow to Iran and Russia. +p493 +aVThe foreign policy, you have to know how to pick and choose. There's no way, if Saddam had not had weapons of mass destruction, I would have gone, because I don't believe that the U.S. should be involved directly in civil wars. I opposed the U.S. involvement in Lebanon. We ended up having to withdraw our marines after our barracks were blown up. There is a difference between Iraq, where you have Sunni, Shia, and Kurds put together after the First World War by the Western powers. It doesn't work. It needs to break up into three parts. And for the Russians, frankly, it's time that we punched the Russians in the nose. They've gotten away with too much in this world and we need to stand up against them, not just there, but also in Eastern Europe where they threaten some of our most precious allies. +p494 +aVIt sounds more and more what my daughter said that I said in the beginning, all the fighting and arguing is not advancing us. +p495 +aVIt is not the way we're going to strengthen our country. We will strengthen our country when we come together. And, look, you've got Rand Paul, you've got Ted Cruz, you've got Marco, you've got a lot of people on this stage that have studied these issues. You know what a leader does? A leader has a sound program, has a good policy, and then brings people together to solve problems. Guess what? Both in Congress in balancing the budget and in Ohio fixing the economy \u2014 and, by the way, we talk about the fence. The first thing we better get going is strengthening our economy, because if we don't have a strong economy, we can't pay for all of this. And the world wants us to be able to function from strength, believe it or not. Get our economy going, get these people together in a room. We can fix this, ladies and gentlemen. We don't have to fight all the time. It can be done, and we will be great... +p496 +aV... when we join together. Thank you, Hugh. +p497 +aVYou know, obviously, as president of the United States, we've got to keep the people safe. That's first and foremost. But as governor of Ohio, I have an obligation to keep the 11.5 million people in Ohio safe. And we have been very effective with our Joint Terrorism Task Force, being able to make busts. In fact, we just made one three-four weeks ago against a person who was favorable to +p498 +aVNo Republican has ever been elected president of the United States without winning Ohio. Let me give you a little tip on how you win Ohio, it's reform, it's hope, it's growth, it's opportunity, and it's security. The people of Ohio are the people of America. The people of America are reflected in Ohio. Our message has to be big, and bold, and positive, and connect, not just with people's heads but also connect with their hearts. If we do it, we will beat Hillary Clinton, and we will run the White House, and we will strengthen and fix America, I promise you. +p499 +aVFirst of all, let me just say that, in the state of Ohio \u2014 and I'm the only acting executive on \u2014 on this stage today \u2014 we do have a moderate increase in the minimum wage. And I got to tell you, my father carried mail on his back. His father was a coal miner. He died of black lung. He was losing his eyesight. My mother's mother lived with us. She could barely speak English. I come from a town where if the wind blew the wrong way, people found themselves out of work. An economic theory is fine, but you know what? People need help. Now, I have a plan that, in fact, would cut taxes, but not $11 trillion or $12 trillion that would put my children further in debt. I have a plan that would not only cut taxes, lower the income tax rate for individuals, lower the tax for businesses so businesses will compete here and not move operations overseas, and also a plan \u2014 the only plan of anybody standing on this stage to get us to a balanced budget by the end of a second term. And, you know, the simple fact of the matter is, we hear a lot of promises in this debate, a lot of promises about these tax cuts or tax schemes sometimes that I call them. Hillary and the Democrats promise everything on the spending side. We've got to be responsible about what we propose on the tax side. Yes, lower taxes, lower spending. My website, JohnKasich.com, will show you exactly how we balance the budget. I balanced the budget in Washington as a chief architect, and I have balanced it in Ohio for one reason. When you balance the budget and you cut taxes, people get work. And our most important moral purpose as leaders in the political system is to make sure we create an environment for job creation so people can live their dreams and realize their God-given potential. That's why it's so important. And for those at the bottom, we've got to do what we can to train them so they can move up. But to just look the other way is not acceptable, because, you know what, as the governor of Ohio I have to deal with real challenges, and we've gotten it done in our state, and I will do it for America. +p500 +aVSure. We would move the Medicare system from a 7 percent growth down to about a 5 percent growth. And I have a whole series of ways to do that. In Ohio, we reduced Medicaid funding for the poor from 10 percent to 2.5 percent, didn't cut one benefit or didn't take anybody off the rolls. Why? Because we're innovators. I've been an innovator my entire career. And I really don't care what special interests or lobbyists have to say. I have a job to do when I take over a public office. Now, we freeze non-defense discretionary for eight years. We also put an increase in defense spending. Our tax cuts balance out. And at the end of the day, we will get to a balanced budget. And I want everybody here to know, when I was Budget Committee chairman in Washington, I stepped on every toe in that town, and we got to a balanced budget, and we had enormous job growth. And as governor of Ohio, we went from 350,000 lost jobs to a gain of 347,000 jobs. +p501 +aVI'll do it in Washington. I've done it twice; I'll do it thrice for the United States of America. +p502 +aVExcuse me. +p503 +aVYeah, I would like to make a comment. +p504 +aVI appreciate it, Jeb. I'm all of you. But I want at some point to talk about a value-added tax and $11 trillion, $12 trillion tax cuts that will put our kids way deeper in the hole than they have been at this point. So I would like to talk about it at some point, because that's what leadership is. +p505 +aVMaria, can we comment on that? +p506 +aVCan we comment on that? +p507 +aVWell, look, in 1986 Ronald Reagan basically said the people who were here, if they were law-abiding, could stay. But, what didn't happen is we didn't build the walls effectively and we didn't control the border. We need to. We need to control our border just like people have to control who goes in and out of their house. But if people think that we are going to ship 11 million people who are law-abiding, who are in this country, and somehow pick them up at their house and ship them out of Mexico \u2014 to Mexico, think about the families. Think about the children. So, you know what the answer really is? If they have been law- abiding, they pay a penalty. They get to stay. We protect the wall. Anybody else comes over, they go back. But for the 11 million people, come on, folks. We all know you can't pick them up and ship them across, back across the border. It's a silly argument. It is not an adult argument. It makes no sense. +p508 +aVJerry, Gerald, it was an attack. +p509 +aVIn the state of Ohio, the state of Ohio, we have grown 347,000 jobs. Our unemployment is half of what it was. Our fracking industry, energy industry may have contributed 20,000, but if Mr. Trump understood that the real jobs come in the downstream, not in the upstream, but in the downstream. And that's where we're going to get our jobs. But Ohio is diversified. And little false little things, sir, they don't really work when it comes to the truth. So the fact is, all I'm suggesting, we can't ship 11 million people out of this country. Children would be terrified, and it will not work. +p510 +aV...Mr. Baker, everybody got to talk about taxes... +p511 +aV...I think you were coming to me and then... +p512 +aV...Look, I hate to crash the party to you, Mr. Baker, but, you know, what's fair... +p513 +aV...Yes, sir... +p514 +aVLet me tell you this, Mr. Baker, in terms of the cyber attacks, we have the capability to not only have a defensive posture, but it also to make it clear to people that if you attack us with cyber attacks, we will destroy the mechanisms that you are using to attack us. I want to give you a little trip around the world. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years. In the Ukraine, arm the people there so they can fight for themselves. In the eastern part of Europe, make sure that Finland and the Baltics know that if the Russians move, we move. In Syria, yes, a no-fly zone in the north on the Turkish border, a no-fly zone on the south on the Jordanian border. Anybody flies in the first time, maybe they can fly out. They fly in there a second time, they will not fly out. And it also becomes a sanctuary for the people to be. And it also sends many messages in the Middle East that we're still involved. Saudi Arabia, cut off the funding for the radical clerics, the ones that preach against us. But they're fundamentally our friends. Jordan, we want the king to reign for 1,000 years. Egypt, they have been our ally and a moderating force in the Middle East throughout their history. In the groups \u2014 in the countries of the Gulf states of Bahrain, the Cleveland Clinic is opening an operation. Clearly we see the same with them. And in Israel, we have no better ally in the world, and no more criticizing them in public, we should support them. And finally China, China doesn't own the South China Sea, and I give the president some credit for being able to move a naval force in there to let the Chinese know that we're not going to put up with it any more. And in the trade agreement, the TPP, it's critical to us, not only for economic reasons and for jobs, because there are so many people who are connected to getting jobs because of trade, but it allows us to create not only economy alliances, but also potentially strategic alliances against the Chinese. They are not our enemy, but they are certainly not our friend. And finally, I will say to everyone in this room, we have been talking about taxes and economics. When the fall comes, and we run against Hillary, which will be a disaster if she got elected. I have two 16-year-old girls, and I want this country to be strong. We make promises we can't keep under the bright light of the fall, we will have trouble. We must make sure that economic programs and our military programs are solid. I served in Washington as the chairman of the Budget Committee, and we got the budget balanced. And in Ohio, as the CEO, and guess what, we have got to have a CEO mentality and a way to beat Hillary Clinton and the Democracies in the fall. And our ideas have to add up. They have to be solid. And people have to know we have the confidence to lead America. And as president, I will lead this country, as I have before in Washington and in Ohio, and will return both on domestic and international affairs. And I appreciate the opportunity to speak this time, Gerry. +p515 +aVLet me \u2014 let me also say, Gary \u2014 Gary, let me also say, Jeb is \u2014 what Jeb is talking about with the big banks is to force them to reserve their capital, people who invest it and they hold their capital, so that if the bank goes down, the people who are invested in the bank are the ones that pay. That's what he's trying to say. Secondly, I'll tell you about Wall Street: There's too much greed. And the fact is, a free enterprise system is a system that's produced the greatest wealth for the world. But you know Michael Novak, the great Catholic theologian, says that a free enterprise system that is not underlaid with values \u2014 and we should all think about the way we conduct our lives \u2014 yes, free enterprise is great, profits are great, but there have to be some values that underlay it, and they need a good ethics lesson on Wall Street on a regular basis to keep them in check so we, the people, do not lose. +p516 +aVNeil, that's the difference of being an executive. And let me just explain: when a bank is ready to go under and depositors are getting ready to lose their life savings, you just don't say we believe in philosophical concerns. You know what an executive has to decide? When there's a water crisis, how do we get water to the city? When there's a school shooting, how do you get there and help heal a community? When there are financial crisis, or a crisis with ebola, you got to go there and try to fix it. Philosophy doesn't work when you run something. And I gotta tell you, on-the-job training for president of the United States doesn't work. We've done it for 8 years, \u2014 and almost 8 years now. It does not work. We need an executive who's been tried, has been tested, and judge the decisions that that executive makes. I don't like what the Fed is doing, but I'll tell you what worries me more than anything else: turning the Fed over to the Congress of the United States... +p517 +aV...so they can print the money. That would be a very bad approach. +p518 +aVI wouldn't. I wouldn't. +p519 +aVNo. No, I didn't say that. +p520 +aVThey were \u2014 they were talking about what you would do with depositors. Would you let these banks shut down? My argument is, going forward, the banks have to reserve the capital, so that the \u2014 so that the people who own the capital start pressuring the banks to not take these risky approaches, Ted. But at the end of the day... +p521 +aV... I'm gonna tell you this. Let me tell you this. If during \u2014 if during... +p522 +aV...because if during \u2014 well, I'll tell you what (ph). +p523 +aVAs an executive \u2014 no. As an executive, I would figure out how to separate those people who can afford it versus those people, or the hard-working folks who put those money in those institutions...... let me \u2014 no, no. Let me say another thing. Here's what I mean by that. Here's what I mean by that. +p524 +aVWhen you are faced \u2014 when you are faced, in the last financial crisis, with banks going under \u2014 with banks going under, and people, people who put their \u2014 their life savings in there, you got to deal with it. You can't turn a blind eye to it. Now, going forward, that's one thing. If you had another financial crisis, perhaps there would be an effort to make sure that we do (ph). +p525 +aVWell, ladies and gentlemen, if Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders were to win this election, my 16-year-olds, I \u2014 I worry about what their life is going to be like. You know, the conservative movement is all about opportunity. It is about lower taxes. It's about balanced budgets. It's about less regulation. And it's about sending power, money and influence back to where we live so we can run America from the bottom up. In addition to that, once we have the power and the money and the influence with programs we shift out, that each of us have a responsibility to reach out and to rebuild our families, make them stronger, and connect our neighborhoods. All that together \u2014 wealth, connection, family \u2014 America's greatest days are ahead. We must win this election. +p526 +aVGood question, but I want to tell you, my great concern is that we are on the verge, perhaps, of picking someone who cannot do this job. I've watched to see people say that we should dismantle Medicare and Medicaid and leave the senior citizens out \u2014 out in the \u2014 in the cold. I've heard them talk about deporting 10 or 11 \u2014 people here from this country out of this country, splitting families. I've heard about tax schemes that don't add up, that put our kids in \u2014 in a deeper hole than they are today. We need somebody who can lead. We need somebody who can balance budgets, cut taxes... +p527 +aVYou know, frankly, I did it in Washington, in Ohio, and I will do it again in Washington, if I'm president, to get this country moving again. +p528 +aVcountry moving again. +p529 +aVListen, I want to just comment. +p530 +aVWell I want to comment on this. This is the fantasy... +p531 +aVThis is the fantasy that I talked about in the beginning. +p532 +aVI'm the only person on this stage that actually was involved in the chief architect of balancing the Federal Budget. You can't do it with empty promised. You know, these plans would put us trillions and trillions of dollars in debt. I actually have a plan. I'm the only one on this stage that has a plan that would create jobs, cut taxes, balance the budget and can get it done because I'm realistic. You just don't make promises like this. Why don't we just give a chicken in every pot, while we're, you know, coming up \u2014 coming up with these fantasy tax schemes. We'll just clean it up. Where are you gonna clean it up? You have to deal with entitlements, you have to be in a position to control discretionary spending. You gotta be creative and imaginative. Now, let me just be clear, John. I went into Ohio where we had an $8 billion hole and now we have a $2 billion surplus. We're up 347,000 jobs. When I was in Washington, I fought to get the budget balanced. I was the architect. It was the first time we did it since man walked on the moon. We cut taxes and we had a $5 trillion projected surplus when I left. That's was hard work. Fiscal discipline, know what you're doing. Creativity. This stuff is fantasy. Just like getting rid of Medicare and Medicaid. Come on, that's just not \u2014 you scare senior citizens with that. It's not responsible. +p533 +aVWell, I mean right here. To talk about we're just gonna have a 10 percent tithe and that's how we're gonna fund the government? And we're going to just fix everything with waste, fraud, and abuse? Or that we're just going to be great? Or we're going to ship 10 million Americans \u2014 or 10 million people out of this country, leaving their children here in this country and dividing families? Folks, we've got to wake up. We cannot elect somebody that doesn't know how to do the job. You have got to pick somebody who has experience, somebody that has the know-how, the discipline. And I spent my entire lifetime balancing federal budgets, growing jobs, the same in Ohio. And I will go back to Washington with my plan. +p534 +aVAnd I will have done it within 100 days, and it will pass. And we will be strong again. Thank you. +p535 +aVLet me just \u2014 let me respond. First of all, Ohio does have an energy industry, but we're diversified. We're one of the fastest growing states in the country. We came back from the dead. And you know what? It works very, very well. And secondly, when you talk about me being on the board of Lehman Brothers, I wasn't on the board of Lehman Brothers. I was a banker and I was proud of it. And I traveled the country and learned how people made jobs. We ought to have politicians who not only have government experience but know how the CEOs and the job creators work. My state is doing great across the board. And guess what, in 2011, I got a deal... +p536 +aV... an agreement with the... +p537 +aV... that he tried to take credit for four years later. It's a joke. +p538 +aVJohn Harwood, there's a bigger issue here. +p539 +aVWell, first of all, when we talk about the Import Export Bank, it's time to clean up corporate welfare. If we're gonna reform welfare for poor people, we ought to reform it for rich people, as well. Secondly, in our state, we went from a loss of 350,000 jobs to, now, a gain of 347,000 jobs to the positive. Our wages are growing faster than the national average, and I've cut taxes more than any sitting governor in this state \u2014 $5 billion, including no taxes on small business and killing the death tax. I want to go back to what we were talking about earlier, this budget deal in Washington. This is the same old stuff since I left. You spend the money today and then you hope you're going to save money tomorrow. I don't know if people understand, but I spent a lifetime with my colleagues getting us to a federal balanced budget. We actually did it. And I have a road map and a plan right now to get us to balance. Reforming entitlements, cutting taxes. You see, because if you really want to get to a balanced budget, you need to reduce your expenses and you need to grow your economy. So what I will tell you about our incentives \u2014 our incentives are tight, and at the end of the day we make sure that we gain more from the creation of jobs than what we lose. And you know what? Ohio, one of the best growing places in the country \u2014 I not only did it in Washington, I did it in Ohio, and I'll go back to Washington, and there will be no more silly deals... +p540 +aV... If I become President because we'll have a Constitutional Amendment to require a federally balanced budget so they will do their job. +p541 +aVWell, first of all, we're running a $2 billion dollar surplus, we're not having a revenue problem right now. And, sending mixed signals to kids about drugs is a disaster. Drugs is one of the greatest scourge in this country, and I spent five years of my administration working with my team to do a whole sort of things to try to reign in the problem of overdoses, and it goes on and on. We could do a whole show on that. I want to go back for a second thought on this issue of income inequality. My program would move the 104 programs of the federal Department of Education into four block grants, and send them back to the states because income inequality is driven by a lack of skills when kids don't get what they need to be able to compete and win in this country. The fact is, in order to get this economy moving again, I call for freezing regulations for a year except for the problem of public safety. I believe that we need to cut these taxes down, we need to be on a roadmap to balancing the budget, and we need to send power, money, and influence, the welfare department, the education department, job training, infrastructure, Medicaid, all of that out of Washington back to the states so we can run these programs from where we live to the top, not a one size fits all mentality that they have in Washington. And, that will get to the nub of opportunity for our children, and an ability to see wages rise. Again... +p542 +aV...One more time, in Ohio, our wages are growing faster than the national average. We've cut taxes, balanced budgets, changed the regulatory environment. Folks, you want to \u2014 +p543 +aV\u2014 fix America, this is the formula. It worked for Reagan and it works for our team in Ohio. Thank you. +p544 +aVJohn. +p545 +aVI wanna tell you, in my state, we took Medicaid, the hardest program to control, and we took it from a 10 percent growth rate to 2.5 percent without taking one person off the rolls or cutting one single benefit. And so much of what we did \u2014 to force competition, to use technology, to stand down the special interest groups \u2014 can you imagine taking Medicaid from 10 to 2.5 percent? We can take many of those same procedures, we can apply it to Medicare. We can make a stronger program. But I agree with Jeb, you can't just do this by growing the economy. You can't grow your way out of demographics. But we can give people better health care. And finally, on health care, why don't we start treating \u2014 keep giving... +p546 +aV...incentives for people to keep people healthy, rather than giving the incentives to treat them when they're sick? +p547 +aVI was on morning Joe at a town hall and a young student stood up and said, "Can I still be idealistic?" I said, absolutely, you can still change the world. And, you know the old inscription, if you save one life, you've changed the world. Folks, we have a problem here with the leadership in Washington, but I'll tell you another problem. We need to rebuild our families. We need to have stronger families. We need to know who our neighbors are. We need to come together as a country because we have to realize that America is great, not from the top-down. Oh yeah, we want to elect a good president, but America is great from the bottom-up, and the bottom-up is us in our families, in our communities, in our neighborhoods. We will renew America if we work together, and I am totally confident that we will. And God bless America. +p548 +aVHello, I'm John Kasich, the Governor of Ohio. Emma, and Reese, my children, and Karen, love 'ya girls. Thanks for watching tonight. By the way, I think I actually flew on this plane with Ronald Reagan when I was a congressman, and his goals, and mine, really much \u2014 are pretty much the same. Lift Americans, unify, give hope, grow America, and restore it is to that great, shining city on a hill. Yes, he was a great one, and I learned much from watching him. The most important thing, hope to Americans, unify, lift everyone in America. +p549 +aVJake, Jake. +p550 +aVListen, you know, I \u2014 if I were sitting at home and watch thing back and forth, I would be inclined to turn it off. I mean, people at home want to know across this country, they want to know what we're going to do to fix this place, how we'll balance a budget, how we're going to create more economic growth, how we'll pay down the debt. What we're going to do to strengthen the military. So, we just spent 10 minutes here... +p551 +aVBut \u2014 but wait a minute. It's a lot of ad hogshead. Now, I know that it may be buzzing out there, but I think it's important we get to the issues, because that's what people want, and they don't want all this fighting. +p552 +aV...Yeah, well... +p553 +aVWell, let me just say this. First of all, I think it's a bad agreement, I would never have done it. But, you know, a lot of our problems in the world today is that we don't have the relationship with our allies. If we want to go everywhere alone, we will not have the strength as (ph) if we could rebuild with our allies. Now, this agreement, we don't know what's going to happen in 18 months. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years. I've seen lots of issues in foreign affairs, and foreign \u2014 in terms of global politics, you have to be steady. Now, here's the \u2014 if they cheat, we slap the sanctions back on. If they help Hamas, and Hezbollah, we slap the sanctions back on. And, if we find out that they may be developing a nuclear weapon, than the military option is on the table. We are stronger when we work with the Western civilization, our friends in Europe, and just doing it on our own I don't think is the right policy. +p554 +aVNo, no, no. I want to \u2014 I want to \u2014 I want to say something about what the senator just said. +p555 +aVNo one is \u2014 no \u2014 let me \u2014 let me suggest to you we believe that we operate better in the world when our allies work with us. President Bush did it in the Gulf War. We work better when we are unified. Secondly, nobody's trusting Iran. They violate the deal, we put on the sanctions, and we have the high moral ground to talk to our allies in Europe to get them to go with us. If they don't go with us, we slap the sanctions on anyway. If they fund these radical groups that threaten Israel and all of the West, then we should rip up the deal and put the sanctions back on. And let me make it clear \u2014 let me make it clear... +p556 +aV... if we think \u2014 if we think they're getting close to a \u2014 to developing a nuclear weapon and we get that information, you better believe that I would do everything in my power as the commander-in-chief to stop them having a nuclear weapon. +p557 +aVWe can have it, and we can have our allies, and we can be strong as a country, and we can project across this globe with unity, not just doing it alone. That is not what gets us where we want to get as a nation. +p558 +aVWell, I agree that we should defund Planned Parenthood. I don't know many people in America who don't think that we should, and in my state, we're trying to figure out how to get it done, because we are threatened with the federal government taking all of our Medicaid money away. I think there is a way to get this done by giving governors the ability to be able to act to defund Planned Parenthood. But when (ph) it comes to closing down the federal government, you gotta be very careful about that. When we shut the government down \u2014 if we have a chance at success and it's a great principle, yes. The president of the United States is not going to sign this, and all we're gonna do is shut the government down, and then we're gonna open up \u2014 open it up, and the American people are gonna shake their heads and say, "what's the story with these Republicans?" So I think there is a way to get to cutting off the funding for Planned Parenthood. I was in the Congress for 18 years, balanced the budget, cut taxes, got it done. Changed welfare, went around the president to get welfare reform done. There are ways to do it without having to shut the government down, but I'm sympathetic to the fact that we don't want this organization to get funding, and the money ought to be reprogrammed for family planning in other organizations that don't support this tactic. But I would not be for shutting the government down... +p559 +aV...because I don't think it's going to work out. +p560 +aVWe're not \u2014 what I can tell you is this. We didn't surrender in New Jersey, six years ago, as the brand new first ever pro-life governor of New Jersey since Roe versus Wade, I defended Planned Parenthood. And I've vetoed Planned Parenthood funding, now, eight times in New Jersey. Since the day I walked in as governor, Planned Parenthood has not been funded in New Jersey. We stood up and every one of those vetoes has been sustained. But here's the problem, we're \u2014 we're fighting with each other up here. We agree. Let's ask Hillary Clinton. She believes in the systematic murder of children in the womb to preserve their body parts... +p561 +aV...Dana, in a way that maximizes their value for sale for profit. It is disgusting, and the American people need to hear it... +p562 +aV...we shouldn't be fighting with each other. She's the real opponent, she's the real problem. +p563 +aVI'll tell you what \u2014 I'll tell you what I'd be willing to fight for. I'll tell you what I'd be willing to fight for. Why will (ph) we put tax reform on the president's desk, so we can simplify this tax system? +p564 +aVNo, no, it's really important, Dana. We got to talk about what we would be willing to shut down for. Why don't we put tax reform on this president's desk, and make him veto it if that's what he wants to do? Why haven't we repealed and replaced Obamacare? Make him veto if that's what he wants to do. +p565 +aVThere's a \u2014 +p566 +aVJake \u2014 +p567 +aVOK, Jake. +p568 +aVI don't at this point in terms of changing the incentives for investment and risk-taking. But let's just stop for a second. There's one person on this stage that does have a record. I'm the only person on the stage and one of the few people in this country that led the effort as the chief architect of the last time we balanced the federal budget. We also cut taxes. And when I left Washington in 2000, we had a $5 trillion surplus, and the economy was booming. I had spent 10 years of my life to get us to that point, went out in the private sector, was a great experience, and went into Ohio and took an $8 billion hole and turned it into a $2 billion surplus. We've had the largest amount of tax cuts of any sitting governor. We've grown well over 300,000 jobs. You see, I've done it in both places. I'm the only one here that has done it in both places. It took a lot to get us to a balanced budget. It was legitimate. It was real. And we negotiated it. A lot of what we're talking about here tonight as we take this position and that position, you know what? At the end of the day, America has got to work. We've got to figure out how we come together to deal with this \u2014 with our fiscal problems because when we deal with that, we create a stronger economy for everybody. People have a chance to rise. So, you know, when we think about how we make a choice, it's the person that lands that plane. It's not somebody that talks about it. It's about the person who has done it. And I've done it in... +p569 +aV... both places. And I did it including people in the other party. And that's how we were successful. +p570 +aVAnd that's how I will be president, using that experience to drive this country forward. Thank you. +p571 +aVWell, look, people still have to get to know me, so I want to spend my time talking about my experience reforming welfare, balancing budgets, cutting taxes, providing economic growth when I was in Washington, turning Ohio around. Eight billion in the hole, $2 billion surplus, up over 300,000 jobs, big tax cuts, strengthening our credit. All those things matter but, you know, as a young man in my first election in 1978, I defeated an incumbent Democrat. I defeated an incumbent Democrat in 1982; running on the Reagan program, I was the only Republican in America to defeat an incumbent Democrat that year. And then, when I won for election of governor, I was the first Republican to defeat an incumbent in 36 years, and the first person to have never run statewide out of politics for 10 years to beat an incumbent. That hadn't happened for 96 years. So, we'll get to the point where we'll talk about Hillary Clinton, or whoever the nominee is, record. But right now, I want to give people sense of hope, sense of purpose, a sense of unity, sense that we can do it. So... +p572 +aVYou know, at the end of the day, I'm going to continue to talk about my record, because there is, did you ever notice when people run for office, they run for president, they make a lot of promises, they don't keep them. +p573 +aVI don't intend to do that, and I going to be out there pushing it out \u2014 don't worry about me and Hillary. That will all work out, and I'm from Ohio. She will not beat me there, I can promise you that. +p574 +aVCan I just \u2014 can I \u2014 Jake, can I just make one point on this whole military discussion? +p575 +aVI called for boots on the ground many months ago in a coalition with our friends who share our interest. You know, you win a battle with the military, and when we go somewhere, we need to be mobile, and lethal. We need to take care of business, and we need to come home. But, we face, also, a bigger war \u2014 and you win the bigger war with the battle of ideas. You wonder why young people, and educated people, rich people, schooled people, have tried to join +p576 +aV...to make (ph) centers (ph) of justice so that we can battle the radicals, call them out for what they are, and make sure that all of our people feel fulfilled in living in Western civilization... +p577 +aV...This is a giant battle in the world today... +p578 +aVWell, it's probably not, maybe, legal, but, I would pick Mother Theresa, the lady that I had a chance to meet, a woman who lived a life so much bigger than her own. An inspiration to everyone when we think about our responsibility to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. +p579 +aVWell, I have one now \u2014 they (ph) call me, "Unit One". My wife says, "You'll never be Unite One, I'm Unite One. You're Unit Two." +p580 +aVWell, as president, I will make this a nation that will solve problems. And how? By having the elected officials and the leaders realize they're Americans before they're Republicans or Democrats. I did it in Washington. And I've done it in Ohio by having the elected officials realize that they're Ohioans before anything else. Secondly, I will rebuild the relationships and show the respect to our allies around the world. We have no choice but to do that. We will be stronger when we are unified. And we'll fight for freedom and for human rights. And finally, a little bit of what Carly said. The people that are out there listening, America was never great because we ran America from the top down. America is great because we have run America from the bottom up, where we all live in the neighborhoods. One more time in America, we need to revive the concept of citizenship, where everybody's actions make a huge difference in changing the world. We have a Holocaust memorial on our state house grounds. And there is one line on there that stands out all the time. "If you've saved one life, you've changed the world." We need to adopt that as citizens and rebuild and reinspire our country. Thank you. +p581 +aVWell, first of all... ...first of all, Megyn, you should know that -- that President Reagan expanded Medicaid three or four times. Secondly, I had an opportunity to bring resources back to Ohio to do what? To treat the mentally ill. Ten thousand of them sit in our prisons. It costs $22,500 a year... ...to keep them in prison. I'd rather get them their medication so they could lead a decent life. Secondly, we are rehabbing the drug-addicted. Eighty percent of the people in our prisons have addictions or problems. We now treat them in the prisons, release them in the community and the recidivism rate is 10 percent and everybody across this country knows that the tsunami of drugs is -- is threatening their very families. So we're treating them and getting them on their feet. And, finally, the working poor, instead of them having come into the emergency rooms where it costs more, where they're sicker and we end up paying, we brought a program in here to make sure that people could get on their feet. And do you know what? Everybody has a right to their God-given purpose. And finally, our Medicaid is growing at one of the lowest rates in the country. And, finally, we went from $8 billion in the hole to $2 billion in the black. We've cut $5 billion in taxes... ...and we've grown 350,000 jobs. +p582 +aVChris, first of all, I was just saying to Chris Christie, they say we're outspoken, we need to take lessons from Donald Trump if we're really going to learn it. Here is the thing about Donald Trump. Donald Trump is hitting a nerve in this country. He is. He's hitting a nerve. People are frustrated. They're fed up. They don't think the government is working for them. And for people who want to just tune him out, they're making a mistake. Now, he's got his solutions. Some of us have other solutions. You know, look, I balanced the federal budget as one of the chief architects when I was in Washington. Hasn't been done since. I was a military reformer. I took the state of Ohio from an $8 billion hole and a 350,000 job loss to a $2 billion surplus and a gain of 350,000 jobs. +p583 +aVBut the point is that we all have solutions. Mr. Trump is touching a nerve because people want the wall to be built. They want to see an end to illegal immigration. They want to see it, and we all do. But we all have different ways of getting there. And you're going to hear from all of us tonight about what our ideas are. +p584 +aVDonald, if you... +p585 +aV-- this campaign, I hope you will give to me. +p586 +aVOK. +p587 +aVLet's start off with my father being a mailman. So I understand the concerns of all the folks across this country, some of whom have trouble, you know, making ends meet. But I think she will come in a narrow way. The nominee of this party, if they're going to win, has got to come at it in a big way, which is pro-growth. Which is balancing budgets. You know, we were talking about it. People were saying, could we do it? I was the chairman of the Budget Committee and the lead architect the last time it happened in Washington, and when we did it we had great economic growth, we cut taxes, and we had a big surplus. Economic growth is the key. Economic growth is the key to everything. But once you have economic growth, it is important that we reach out to people who live in the shadows, the people who don't seem to ever think that they get a fair deal. And that includes people in our minority community; that includes people who feel as though they don't have a chance to move up. You know, America is a miracle country. And we have to restore the sense that the "Amiracle" will apply to you. Each and every one of the people in this country who's watching tonight, lift everybody, unite everybody and build a stronger United States of America again. It will be and can be done. +p588 +aVWell, look, I'm an old-fashioned person here, and I happen to believe in traditional marriage. But I've also said the court has ruled -- +p589 +aVWait, Megyn, the court has ruled, and I said we'll accept it. And guess what, I just went to a wedding of a friend of mine who happens to be gay. Because somebody doesn't think the way I do, doesn't mean that I can't care about them or can't love them. So if one of my daughters happened to be that, of course I would love them and I would accept them. Because you know what? That's what we're taught when we have strong faith. So the issues like that, issues like that are planted to divide us. I think the simple fact of the matter is, and this is where I would agree with Jeb, and I've been saying it all along, we need to give everybody a chance, treat everybody with respect, and let them share in this great American dream that we have, Megan. So, look, I'm going to love my daughters, I'm going to love them no matter what they do. Because, you know what, God gives me unconditional love. I'm going to give it to my family and my friends and the people around me. +p590 +aVWell, Megyn, my father was a mailman. His father was a coal miner. My mother's mother could barely speak English. And their son today stands on this podium in the great state of Ohio not only as the governor, but a candidate for president of the United States. I do believe in miracles. You know, I've had a lot of elections. But my elections are really not about campaigns. I tell my people that these are about a movement. And a movement to do what? To restore common sense. A movement to do things like provide economic growth. And a movement not to let anybody be behind. You know, today the country is divided. You asked a question about the police and the difficulty in communities. We've got to unite our country again, because we're stronger when we are united and we are weaker when we are divided. And we've got to listen to other people's voices, respect them, but keep in mind, and I believe in terms of the things that I've read in my lifetime, the Lord'is not picking us. But because of how we respect human rights, because that we are a good force in the world, he wants America to be strong. He wants America to succeed. And he wants America to lead. And nothing is more important to me than my family, my faith, and my friends. +p591 +aVYou know, tonight we hear about what people want to do. I want to tell you what I've done. I was a member of the Armed Services Committee for 18 years. I spent a big chunk of my life studying national security issues and our role in the world. No. 2. I was the chairman of the House Budget Committee and one of the chief architects the last time we balanced a budget, and it was the first time we had done it since man walked on the moon. We had a $5 trillion surplus and we cut taxes. I spent ten years in the private sector, actually learning how business works. And now I'm the governor of Ohio, and I inherited a state that was on the brink of dying. And we turned it all around with jobs and balanced budgets and rising credit and tax cuts, and the state is unified, and people have hope again in Ohio. +p592 +aVWell, John, first of all, if I were president, we wouldn't have the divisions in the country we have today. I do want to take a second as we reflected on Judge Scalia, it's amazing \u2014 it's not even two minutes after the death of Judge Scalia, nine children here today, their father didn't wake up. His wife, sad, but I just wish we hadn't run so fast into politics. Here's my concern about this. The country is so divided right now, and now we're going to see another partisan fight take place. I really wish the president would think about not nominating somebody. If you were to nominate somebody, let's have him pick somebody that's going to have unanimous approval, and such widespread approval across the country that this could happen without a lot of recrimination. I don't think that's going to happen, and I would like the president just to, for once here, put the country first. We're going to have an election for president very soon, and the people will understand what is at stake in that election. And so I believe the president should not move forward, and I think that we ought to let the next president of the United States decide who is going to run that Supreme Court with a vote by the people of the United......States of America. +p593 +aVFirst of all \u2014 yes. First of all, look, we have to make it clear to Russia what we expect. We don't have to declare an enemy, rattle a sword or threaten, but we need to make it clear what we expect. No. 1 is we will arm the folks in Ukraine who are fighting for their freedom. They deserve it. There will be no ifs, ands or buts about it. Secondly, an attack on +p594 +aVI've got to tell you, this is just crazy, huh? This is just nuts, O.K.? Jeez, oh, man. I'm sorry, John. +p595 +aVOh, well, listen, I think being in Iraq, look, we thought there were weapons of mass destruction. Colin Powell, who is one of the most distinguished generals in modern time, said there were weapons there. But, but, the fact is we got ourselves in the middle of a civil war. The Sunni, the Shia and the Kurds, never gotten along. In fact, that country was drawn \u2014 the borders of that country were drawn after World War I by Westerners that didn't understand what was happening there. The tragedy of it is that we're still embroiled. And, frankly, if there weren't weapons of mass destruction, we should never have gone. I don't believe the United States should involve itself in civil wars. Civil wars are not in our direct interest, and if you \u2014 and look, I served on a defense committee for 18 years and was called into the Pentagon after 9/11 by Secretary Rumsfeld to deal with some of the most serious problems that we faced. The fact is, is that we should go to war when it is our direct interest. We should not be policemen of the world, but when we go, we mean business. We'll do our job. We'll tell our soldiers, our people in the service, take care of your job and then come home once we've accomplished our goals. That's what we need to do. +p596 +aVYeah. Well, first of all, those numbers, incorrect. We are \u2014 our Medicaid programs are coming in below cost estimates, and our Medicaid program in the second year grew at 2.5 percent. And Kimberley, let me tell you, when we expand Medicaid and we treat the mentally ill, then they don't live under a bridge or live in a prison, where they cost $22,500 a year. When we take the drug addicted and we treat them in the prisons, we stop the revolving door of people in and out of prisons, and we save $22,500 a year. Guess what else? They get their lives back. And the working poor, they're now getting health care. And you know that about a third of the people who are now getting that health care are people who are suffering very serious illnesses, particularly cancer. So, what I would tell you is, we've gone from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. We've cut taxes by more than any governor in America by $5 billion. We have grown the number of jobs by 400,000 private-sector jobs since I've been governor. Our credit is strong. Our pensions are strong. And frankly, we leave no one behind. Economic growth is not an end unto itself. We want everyone to rise, and we will make them personally responsible for the help that they get. And that is exactly the program we're driving in Ohio. And, boy, people ought to look at Ohio, because it has got a good formula. +p597 +aVYeah, let me say a couple of things. First of all, when Jeb was governor, his first four years as governor, he expand \u2014 his Medicaid program grew twice as fast as mine. O.K.? It's just a fact. Now, with Obamacare, I've not only sued the administration, I did not set up an exchange. And he knows that I'm not for Obamacare, never have been. But here's what's interesting about Medicaid. You know who expanded Medicaid five times to try to help the folks and give them opportunity so that you could rise and get a job? President Ronald Reagan. Now, the fact of the matter is, we expanded to get people on their feet, and once they're on their feet, we are giving them the training and the efforts that they need to be able to get work and pull out of that situation. +p598 +aVThat's what we're doing in our state. +p599 +aVLet me \u2014 let's tell you... +p600 +aVMajor \u2014 Major, we can't \u2014 we've got to \u2014 look, I have got to correct the record. And the fact of the matter is, we went from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. We're up 400,000 jobs. Our credit is rock solid. And I don't know... +p601 +aVLook, the bottom line is the people of this \u2014 of this country and this state want to see everybody rise, and they want to see unity, and I don't want to get into all this fighting tonight, because people are frankly sick of the negative campaigning. +p602 +aVAnd I'm going to stay positive about what I want to do from the... +p603 +aVBefore I get to that, this is the ninth or 10th debate. What I've been watching here, this back and forth, and these attacks, some of them are personal. I think we're fixing to lose the election to Hillary Clinton if we don't stop this. I mean, the fact is \u2014 you know what? I would suggest, why don't we take off all the negative ads and all the negative comments down from television and let us just talk about what we're for, and let's sell that, and the Republican Party will be stronger as a result... +p604 +aV... First of all, I'm for sealing the border, O.K.? And then I'm for a guest worker program. People can come in, work and go back home. We haven't closed the border because special interests, I believe, blocked it. Then, we have 11 and a half million people here. If they have not committed a crime since they've been here, make them pay a fine and some back taxes, and give them a path to legalization, never to citizenship. It is not going to happen that we're going to run around and try to drag 11 and a half million people out of their homes. I'll tell you this. Within the first hundred days, I will send a plan like this to the Congress of the United States, and if I'm president, I'll bet you dollar to doughnuts right now, it will pass. That is a reasonable proposal that the people of this country, in my judgment, will support, and so will the bulk of the Congress of the United States. +p605 +aVYou know, John, I think all people are the same. Look, I did 106 town halls, and I've been doing them left and right here in South Carolina. The first thing we have to do is grow the economy, and I know the formula because I was chairman in Washington when we balanced the budget and created so many jobs, and the same that we've been able to do in Ohio. You need common-sense regulations so small business can flourish, you need lower taxes both on business and individuals, and you need a fiscal plan to be able to get ourselves in a situation where people can predict a little bit about the future when it comes to the fiscal issues. And when you have that formula, combined with work force that's trained, you can explode the economy and create many jobs. I have done it twice, and I want to go back to Washington and do it again. John, the thing is, is I think that there are people now, these blue-collar Democrats \u2014 my dad was a blue-collar Democrat \u2014 the Democratic Party has left them. When they're arguing about being socialists, they've left \u2014 they have lost those blue-collar Democrats. And you know what I think they get out of me \u2014 is my sense of what they get out of me, and it's embarrassment about campaigns, you brag about yourself. But I think I'm a uniter, I think people sense it. I think they know I have the experience, and that I'm a man that can give people hope and a sense that they have the opportunity rise. And I'll tell you, I love these blue-collar Democrats, because they're going to vote for us come next fall, promise you that. +p606 +aVWell, I want to thank the people of South Carolina. You've been fantastic. And look, what I want you to know is I'm going to send a lot of power, money and influence back to where we all live. But as I've traveled around South Carolina, I've noticed something. You know, it's that people have a sense that you're not going to wait on a president. You know, when I was a kid, we didn't wait on presidents to come to that little blue-collar town and fix things. You know, the Lord made all of us special. The Lord wants us to be connected. I believe we're part of a very big mosaic. And I'll send the power back. And whoever gets elected president here, hopefully will take care of the issue of jobs and wages and Social Security and the border. But the spirit of the America rests in all of us. It's in our guts. It's taking care of our children. It's taking care of the lady next door who just lost her husband. It's fixing the schools where we live and telling kids to stay off drugs. You see, I think what the Lord wants is for to us engage, and in America, the spirit of America doesn't come from the top down. The spirit of America rests in us. And I want to call on everyone in America to double down and realize that you were made special to heal this country and lift it for everyone. Thank you all very much. And I hope I can have your vote in South Carolina. +p607 +aVWell, we've got to to step up the pressure. And by the way, I've gotta say, after being here, every one of my 100 town hall meetings in New Hampshire were a lot more fun than what I saw here today, were so much more positive. Look, in terms of North Korea, Martha, we have to make sure that we intercept both the ships and their aircraft, because what they're trying to do is to proliferate this very dangerous material, along with the \u2014 with the technology, the instruments that can be used for mass destruction. That's what I worry about the most, frankly, is non-state actors, people who don't have a uniform, people don't have a country, who can spread this, who are not subject to the \u2014 to the mutual assured defense. In other words, you strike us, we strike you. Some of these radicals, they don't care about that. That's what I worry about, for my children, and for their children, going forward. So, we have to be very tough. And we should tell the Chinese, look, if you're not going to do this ballistic missile defense to the Koreans, ballistic missile defense to Japan \u2014 and by the way, we should impose the same kind of sanctions on North Korea that we imposed on Iran, because they're able to shift money. They're able to send money and receive money. We've gotta to be very tough on this. And frankly, I think we could have \u2014 I think we could have let the Japanese know that if you want to take action on that \u2014 on that missile that's rising, you want to take action \u2014 you will have our support, if that's what you think is the best thing to do. We cannot continue to be weak in the face of the North Koreans, or, frankly, in the entire rest of the world. Martha, this is \u2014 this is the \u2014 relates... +p608 +aVWell, you know, David, I \u2014 I've just spent a lot of time here in this state, as I mentioned earlier, and we have to have practical solutions, just like we were just talking about a few minutes ago on North Korea. Look, the situation is, we need to finish the border. It has to be completed. Just like we lock our doors at night, the country has to be able to lock its doors. And we can have a guest worker program, where people can come in and out in an orderly way. And then for the 11.5 million that are here, if they have not committed a crime since they've been here, I believe they ought to pay some back taxes, pay a fine, never get on the path to citizenship, but get legalization. It is not \u2014 I couldn't even imagine how we would even begin to think about taking a mom or a dad out of a house when they have not committed a crime since they've been here, leaving their children in the house. I mean, that is not, in my opinion, the kind of values that we believe in. And secondly, I think at the end of the day, that Americans would support a plan like this. I think Congress would pass a plan to finish the border, guest worker, pay a fine, a path to legalization, and not citizenship. And we've got to get this done. And I will tell you this, within the first 100 days that I am president, I will put that proposal to the Congress. And I will tell you, as a former Congressman, and an executive, in Ohio, I can promise you that I believe you'll get the votes to pass that, and we can move on with that issue and protect our border. That's what I think. +p609 +aVGood evening. +p610 +aVWell, first of all, look. As the New York Times said, he's certainly not a moderate, but he can bring people together to solve problems. The fact of the matter is I've cut taxes more than anybody in the country this year. I have balanced budgets, the federal budget, the state of Ohio budget, we're running a $2 billion dollar surplus, we're up 400,000 jobs, and in Washington we were able to have significant job growth whenever we balanced the budget of which I was the architect. But, here's the beauty of it, it's not just balancing a budget, it's about jobs. You know, when I was kid growing up in a neighborhood where Dad went home at night and said, "I lost my job today", it just killed the family. It just was a devastating effect. We have to have economic growth, but once we have economic growth I believe we have to reach out to people who live in the shadows. I believe we need to help the mentally ill, the drug addicted, the working poor. We need to help the developmentally disabled to rise, and we need to help our friends in the minority community develop entrepreneurship. In other words, in American, conservatism should mean not only that some rise with conservative principles, but everybody has a chance to rise regardless of who they are so they can live their God given purpose. That's what conservatism should be. +p611 +aVDavid? +p612 +aVLook, I'm \u2014 I'm not here \u2014 I like Chris. +p613 +aVLet \u2014 but let me \u2014 let me just tell you. First of all, we have the lowest number of state employees in 30 years. Secondly, we have grown government at the rate of inflation. And I went from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. And we've grown jobs by 400,000 \u2014 that's one of the fastest growing states in the country. Our pensions are secure and our credit is rock solid. Now, I've learned that, what makes things work, what gets the economy going, not just in Ohio, but in Washington \u2014 and it's three things. Common sense regulations, which we have, lower taxes, which we have, the lowest taxes, tax cuts in the country. And thirdly, a fiscal plan to balance the budget. When you go from $8 billion in the hole to $2 billion in the black, when you cut taxes by $5 billion and you grow over 400,000 jobs, that is a record that I can take to Washington, using the same formula that I used in Washington when I was part of the effort to balance the budget to give us a surplus and to create jobs. +p614 +aVThat's what I did and I'll do it again in the first 100 days. +p615 +aVWell, right now the deals \u2014 there's no leadership. I mean, a lot of the things that we're talking about here tonight, on the border, and so many of the things. What we should be doing on foreign policy, you know what the problem is, Mary Katharine? There's not a leader that gets somebody to rise up. You have to have a leader that can inspire, and actually some of what Donald was saying is true. Look, do you know how hard it was... +p616 +aV... to get the balance the federal budget balanced? You have to plead with people. To do what we've done in Ohio, you have to plead with people, then you go back down to Washington and do the same thing. You see, we have to remind people we're Americans before we're Republicans and Democrats, and when we wait, and when we delay what we end up doing, Mary Katharine, is we make the United States weaker. In fact, it's a foreign policy issue because people look at America not solving problems and they say what are they doing over there? So the point is you have to work with people. The problem with executive authority for the president, it's really bad news for this reason. Since he's given up on working with Congress, he thinks he can impose anything he wants. He's not a king. He's a president. An executive order should be used frankly in consolidation and with consulting with the leadership in the \u2014 in the Congress. I've done it in Ohio. I consult. I could use executive orders, but I don't trump the legislature, because if you do, you aggravate them, you anger them and then the long-term prospects get bleak. We have to solve problems in America by coming together, Republicans and Democrats, Americans first, party and ideology second \u2014 in the second back seat of this country. That's what we need to do. And we can do it. And we can do it. +p617 +aVMary Katherine, let me just say this to you. You must have an agenda that you are ready to move on in the first 100 days. Jeb is right. If you delay and you wait, the Washington operators will take you down. I can tell you this, in the first 100 days, I will have legislation to freeze federal regulations, have them reviewed by the vice president, reduce state taxes on individuals, reduce taxes on corporations, have a fiscal plan to balance the budget, get the border protected and begin to fix Social Security in the first 100 days. So, anybody who is here tonight, if I get elected president, head out tomorrow and buy a seat belt, because there's going to be so much happening in the first 100 days, it's going to make your head spin. We're going to move America forward. I promise you. We're going to move us forward. +p618 +aVJeb mentioned me. Time for me to go again. +p619 +aVHe says he didn't mention me the second time. I thought I heard it, Jeb. No. I'm just kidding. Thank you all very much for listening and being patient with all of us tonight. Thank you. +p620 +aVDavid, David... +p621 +aVI wanted \u2014 I wanted to say, look, this \u2014 there can be a win-win here. I have formed a collaborative between police and community leaders because people have to respect law enforcement. A family doesn't want dad or mom going home in a box. And for our community leaders, many of them think the system not only works \u2014 not only doesn't work for them, but it works against them. And I created a big collaborative in Ohio made up of law enforcement, community leaders, the head of my public safety and a former Democrat, liberal Senate senator Nina Turner, run it. They got together, they made recommendations on recruiting, on hiring, on the use of deadly force and what we're about to do is to bring community and police together so we can have a win-win. We need more win-wins in America and we don't have to pick one over another divide. We love the police, but we've got to be responsible to the people in the community. We have to do all of that. +p622 +aVJosh? +p623 +aVJosh, I mean, clearly, when a veteran comes home, they should get health care anywhere they want to go. In our state, which is what we should do in the country, you know, if they drive a truck from Kabul to Kandahar in Afghanistan, we say, you can drive a truck from Columbus to Cleveland, and you don't have to go get a license. We're going to hand you one. And if you've got expertise in the military, we're going to give you college credit or community college credit for the things that you did for our country. And in addition to that, I'll tell you, one of the biggest things I think has to be done \u2014 and I would do it as president \u2014 the Pentagon has got to work with the returning soldier, sailor, along with the family, and we \u2014 they're the most valuable employees in the country. I call them golden employees. Everybody wants to hire a veteran. But there is a disconnect between the job openings and the veteran when the veteran comes back. The veteran is a leader. The veteran is strong. The veteran is drug free. There should be no unemployment among veterans. And if the Pentagon will work with the veterans' services agencies all across this country, Josh, we can get people jobs and we can get them jobs quickly, get them their health care......get them their college education. Let's lift them. They're the greatest people defending the United States of America and we need to take care of them, and we will. We will. +p624 +aVCarolina's going to win that one. I hate to say it. But they're going to win that one. +p625 +aVWell, folks, I've done now over 100 town hall meetings and I've loved every second of it. It has been the greatest thing in the world. And I want you to know that you've changed me, because I've listened to your stories and I've had your hugs and I've seen your tears, and I've seen you walk away and say, I now have hope. You know, I've had a conservative message, but a positive message \u2014 not just a conservative message, but a positive message about how we can bring people together, how we can restore America's strength, lift everyone. New Hampshire, please give me a chance to carry this message forward to the United States of America. And then, I will come back. Thank you, loved it. And God bless you. +p626 +asVQUICK +p627 +(lp628 +VGentlemen \u2014 we'll \u2014 we'll get back to this \u2014 just a minute \u2014 just a minute we're gonna continue this. I wanna talk taxes... +p629 +aVDr. Carson, let's talk about taxes. You have a flat tax plan of 10 percent flat taxes, and \u2014 I've looked at it \u2014 and this is something that is very appealing to a lot of voters, but I've had a really tough time trying to make the math work on this. If you were to took a 10 percent tax, with the numbers right now in total personal income, you're gonna come in with bring in $1.5 trillion. That is less than half of what we bring in right now. And by the way, it's gonna leave us in a $2 trillion hole. So what analysis got you to the point where you think this will work? +p630 +aVI \u2014 I understand that, but if you \u2014 if you look at the numbers you probably have to get to 28. +p631 +aV15 percent still leaves you with a $1.1 trillion hole. +p632 +aVYou'd have to cut \u2014 you'd have to cut government about 40 percent to make it work with a $1.1 trillion hole. +p633 +aVThat is true, I looked at the numbers. +p634 +aVDr. Carson, thank you. +p635 +aVGovernor... +p636 +aVDr. Carson, let me get 30 seconds with Dr. Carson... +p637 +aVThank you. +p638 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, thank you. +p639 +aVGentlemen, I'm sorry, we need to... +p640 +aVWe're going to move on. +p641 +aVThirty seconds. +p642 +aVWe'll get to everyone. Ms. Fiorina, I \u2014 I'd like to ask you a question. You are running for president of the United States because of your record running Hewlett-Packard. But the stock market is usually a fair indicator of the performance of a CEO, and the market was not kind to you. Someone who invested a dollar in your company the day you took office had lost half of the dollar by the day you left. Obviously, you've talked in the past about what a difficult time it was for technology companies, but anybody who was following the market knows that your stock was a much worse performer, if you looked at your competitors, if you looked at the overall market. I just wonder, in terms of all of that \u2014 you know, we look back, your board fired you. I just wondered why you think we should hire you now. +p643 +aVMrs. Fiorina, it's interesting that you bring up Mr. Perkins, because... ...he said a lot of very questionable things. Last year, in an interview, he said that he thinks wealthy people should get more votes than poor people. I think his quote was that, "if you pay zero dollars in taxes, you should get zero votes. If you pay a million dollars, you should get a million votes." Is this the type of person you want defending you? +p644 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p645 +aVThank you, we're out of time. Thank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Carl. +p646 +aVGovernor Christie, I'd like to a question next. Actually, I have a question for you . In your tell it like it is campaign, you've said a lot of tough things. You've said that we need to raise the retirement age for Social Security. You think that we need to cut benefits for people who make over $80,000 and eliminate them entirely for seniors who are making over $200,000. Governor Huckabee, who is here on the stage, has said that you and others who think this way are trying to rob seniors of the benefits that they've earned. It raises the question: When it is acceptable to break a social compact? +p647 +aV...Governor... +p648 +aV...Thank you. +p649 +aVWelcome back to the presidential debate for the Republicans. We are live in Boulder, Colorado, right here on +p650 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. +p651 +aVSenator Rubio, you yourself have said that you've had issues. You have a lack of bookkeeping skills. You accidentally inter-mingled campaign money with your personal money. You faced (ph) foreclosure on a second home that you bought. And just last year, you liquidated a $68,000 retirement fund. That's something that cost you thousands of dollars in taxes and penalties. In terms of all of that, it raises the question whether you have the maturity and wisdom to lead this $17 trillion economy. What do you say? +p652 +aVSenator, I understand all of that. I had a lot of student loans when I got out, too. But you've had a windfall that a lot of Americans haven't. You made over a million dollars on a book deal, and some of these problems came after that. +p653 +aVBut you \u2014 but you liquidated that retirement account after the fact, and that cost you about $24,000 out of that in taxes and feed. That \u2014 that was after you'd already come into that windfall. That's why I raised the question. +p654 +aVYes, thank you John. Senator Cruz, working women in this country still earn just 77 percent of what men earn. And I know that you've said you've been very sympathetic to our cause. But you've also you said that the Democrats' moves to try and change this are the political show votes. I just wonder what you would do as President to try and help in this cause? +p655 +aVMrs. Fiorina \u2014 +p656 +aVMrs. Fiorina, we will come back to you. +p657 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Carl? +p658 +aVMr. Trump, let's stay on this issue of immigration. You have been very critical of Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook who has wanted to increase the number of these H1Bs. +p659 +aVSo you're in favor of... +p660 +aVWhere did I read this and come up with this that you were... +p661 +aVYou know, Mr. \u2014 you know, Mr. Trump, if I may . You've been \u2014 you have been \u2014 you had talked a little bit about Marco Rubio. I think you called him Mark Zuckerberg's personal senator because he was in favor of the H1B. +p662 +aVSo this was an erroneous article the whole way around? +p663 +aVMy apologies. I'm sorry. +p664 +aVYes, you can. +p665 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you very much. I would like to introduce my colleague, Rick Santelli, he has some comments as well, sir. +p666 +aVRick, thank you very much. Governor Huckabee, you have railed against income inequality. You've said that some Wall Street executives should have gone to jail over the roles that they played during the financial crisis. Apart from your tax plan, are there specific steps you would require from corporate America to try and reduce the income inequality. +p667 +aVGovernor? +p668 +aVGovernor? +p669 +aVThank you. +p670 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee. +p671 +aVHow about 15 more seconds? +p672 +aVGovernor? +p673 +aVGovernor, I'm sorry... +p674 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p675 +aVGovernor, thank you. Appreciate it. John? +p676 +aVIt's at the moderator discretion. +p677 +aVWelcome back to the University of Colorado and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p678 +aVThank you, sir. +p679 +aVYou were. You get 30 seconds. +p680 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Carl? +p681 +aVHigher education is the example... +p682 +aVI want to go back, if I can, to the issue of... +p683 +aVI want to go back, if I may, to the... +p684 +aVSenator Paul, among the leading conservative opponents to the creation of Medicare back in the 1960s was Ronald Reagan. He warned that it would lead to socialism. Considering the mounting cost of Medicare, was he right to oppose it? +p685 +aVSenator, thank you. [ +p686 +aVWelcome back to Boulder, Colorado and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p687 +aVThank you, Governor. +p688 +aVGovernor. +p689 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Paul, let's go back to you. Do these solutions sound like they work? +p690 +aVDo these solutions sound like they would work? +p691 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Governor? +p692 +aVGood evening, everyone. I'm Becky Quick, along with my +p693 +aVGovernor Jindal, let's talk a little bit about the news of the day. Just a few hours ago, the Republicans and the Democrats in the House voted on a budget deal that will increase spending by about $80 billion dollars over the next two years. You, however, have called the Republicans who have been willing to work with the Democrats to do things like this the, "Surrender Party of the Republican caucus." Would you have shut the government down instead? +p694 +aV...But Governor... +p695 +aV...if you didn't have a choice, if you didn't control things in the house, would you take the choice of shutting things down, or would you go ahead and agree with them? +p696 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p697 +aVGovernor Pataki, let's get to your point. You wanted to make a comment on the budget. You want to get in on the idea, what would you do if you were in Washington? Would you compromise... +p698 +aVGovernor Pataki, thank you. John? +p699 +aVGovernor Pataki, let's talk a little bit about what's happened on Wall Street. Some of your colleagues in the Republican Party, including some of the people on this stage, have bashed Wall Street. They say that it was largely responsible for the financial crisis. You're a former governor of New York, and you relied very heavily on Wall Street for income. Do you think they've gone too far? +p700 +aVGovernor Pataki, thank you. +p701 +aVCarl? +p702 +aVWelcome back, everyone. This is the Republican Presidential Debate on +p703 +aVSenator, I'm sorry your minute is up. +p704 +aVThank you very much, Senator Santorum. +p705 +aVAnd Graham, Mr. Graham, yes, that was a question to you, too. +p706 +aVYou have 30 seconds. +p707 +aVSenator Graham, thank you. +p708 +aVI'm sorry. That's your 30 seconds... +p709 +aVSenator Graham... +p710 +aVThank you, Senator. +p711 +aVGentlemen, hold on a second. +p712 +aVGo ahead, +p713 +aVGovernor Pataki... +p714 +aV\u2014 I'm sorry, that was a... +p715 +aVGovernor Pataki... +p716 +aVI'm sorry to talk over you, sir. That was a minute. +p717 +aVThank you very much. +p718 +aVCarl? +p719 +aVYou guys are making this just like home. This is just like . +p720 +aVGovernor Jindal, I want to go back to something that you mentioned before with your tax plan. I know that you want to put a 2 percent tax on all families, just to make sure everyone has some skin in the game. But every working American pays 6.2 percent, when it comes to Social Security taxes. They pay another 1.45 percent of Medicare. Isn't that skin in the game? +p721 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p722 +aVWelcome back to Boulder, Colorado, and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p723 +aVNo, no. +p724 +aVI \u2014 I'm with you. I still have a BlackBerry, too. Senator \u2014 Senator Santorum, how about you? +p725 +aVThank you. Governor? +p726 +aVThank you. Senator Graham? +p727 +aVWe take your time back. Yes. +p728 +aVJohn? +p729 +asVGRAHAM +p730 +(lp731 +VThank you very much. I just returned from Iraq two weeks ago. It was my 36th trip to Iraq and Afghanistan in the last decade. Toward the end, I met a very impressive Special Forces sergeant. It was his job to train Iraqi Kurdish commandos. He was so proud of what he was doing and so proud of the people he was training. He was the replacement for Master Sergeant Wheeler, a Delta Force member who was killed two months ago in a raid against an +p732 +aVYou may think this makes us safe, but it doesn't. The good news for everybody in this room is, after 36 trips to Iraq and Afghanistan, most people over there, Wolf, are not buying what +p733 +aVI will support the Republican nominee, whoever he or she may be. Like Bob Dole, I may sleep late that day if it's Trump. But the bottom line, if it's Trump, so be it. That's who I'll support. Please understand we're in a war that we can't afford to lose, and what he said about banning Muslims coming here to America has made us all less safe, and it's the worst possible thing he could do in this war. He clearly doesn't understand this war and how to win it. For God's sakes, pick somebody who is worthy of the sacrifice of those who are fighting this war and who actually knows how to win, and I don't believe that's Mr. Trump, and I know it's not Hillary Clinton. +p734 +aVRick, please understand the only way we're gonna win the war against radical Islam is for the world to unite. Very few fathers and mothers want to turn their daughters and sons over to +p735 +aVWell, here's what I'm here to tell you, when I first started this process of running for president., I said, " if you didn't realize we need more America boots on the ground in Iraq and eventually in Syria as a part of the regional army - not ready to be commander in chief." Like nobody said a word, now everybody's on board except Senator Paul. Senator Paul and Senator Cruz, are isolationists. They both want to restrict the ability of the NSA to do the following; find out if somebody overseas is calling into America and if somebody is on the other end of the phone, don't you want to know who their talking to? IF a terrorist is calling into America and we can match up phone numbers we get a get a court order to find out what the content is. We're at war folks, they're not trying to steal your car, they're trying to kills us all. So yes, I would re-institute this program. There's four things you need to understand about this war, it's a religious war, them against the world, if you don't fight them over there, they're coming here. If you don't hit them first, they're going to hit us. If you're not determined to fight it as a ware, you're going to lose it. So if you're worried about somebody having your phone in the government, don't be. The only thing you need to worry about is if you're talking to terrorist and a judge gives an order to listen to what you're saying. That's all you need to worry about. +p736 +aVCan I say something? +p737 +aVYeah. There are at least 3,500 American muslims serving in the armed forces. Thank you for your service. You are not the enemy. Your religion is not the enemy. Let me make this real to you. I was at the second presidential election in Afghanistan. The guy guarding me was an American Muslim sergeant in the Army who grew up in Kabul, left when he was \u2014 graduated high school, joined the U.S. Army, went back to his high school where they were doing polling, people voting, he took me there and cried like a baby. I cried like a baby. He is the solution to this problem, folks. He is not the problem. Leave the faith alone. Go after the radicals that kill us all. +p738 +aVThank you. This is why I own a flip phone. You don't have to worry about all of this stuff. The bottom line is, we're at war. They're trying to come here to kill us all and it's up to the government to protect you within constitutional means. Any system that would allow a terrorist to communicate with somebody in our country and we can't find out what they're saying is stupid. If I'm president of the United States, and you join +p739 +aVWell, what you want to do is you want to knock them off line. How about this idea? If you pledge allegiance to al-Baghdadi, you can't get married in America? The bottom line is you have to go after them everywhere. The key to winning this war is to provide the capacity to those in the faith who reject the ideology. The key to fighting this war is to fight it in their backyard, not ours. Two years ago I came up with a plan that requires more American boots on the ground in Iraq. The first thing out of my mouth running for President was, if you don't understand we need 10,000 troops in Iraq, rather than 3,500, you're not ready. What would I do in Syria? I'd form a regional army of Arabs and Turkey. Ninety percent them, 10 percent us. Up to 10,000 U.S. forces to go in on the ground and destroy the caliphate and its roots. Take Raqqah away from +p740 +aVYeh, it's just you're not going to win that way, Rick. There's nobody left in Syria to train. Between the Russians and Assad, they have killed all the people we trained, and our President sat on the sidelines and watched people get killed that we enticed into the fight. There is nobody left to train. I would get the Arabs who are threatened by +p741 +aVWell, number one, dead men don't preach anything. If you don't understand we need a ground force to go into Syria, then you're not ready to destroy +p742 +aVYeah. I just don't make this up, Wolf. I talk to people who are combat trained who have won in Iraq who I trust. Here's what I want to tell the Arab world and Turkey. We're not going to send 100,000 troops. You're going to do the fighting this time and we're gonna help you. We paid for the last two wars, you're gonna pay for this one. And, by the way, they get it because +p743 +aVTwo years ago. +p744 +aVYes. +p745 +aVI think we need to have a military strategy regarding Libya. They've just take over Gaddafi's hometown called Sur. There's about 2000 of them. Here's what I've learned in my 36 visits, you can't deter these guys, they're ready to die, bring on the virgins. Dying is first place in their world. What we have to do is work with others over time to destroy to ideology. We have to offer a hopeful life to compete with the glory of this. Most young people folks want the same thing you do. They don't want to live in the 11th century. So yes, you have to destroy the caliphate. I want to work with Arabs and Turkey to do it, but here's the key is to not leave. If we left Germany and Japan only god knows what would've happened. If we have 10000 troops left in Iraq, there would be no +p746 +aVI want to talk to General Keane first. I want to find out, what do we need militarily to keep them contained and eventually destroy them in Libya. They're in nine countries. You want to deal with Libya, go to Iraq and Syria. You want to prevent another 9/11, take the caliphate headquarters away from +p747 +aVNo. What I would do is I would try to make friends throughout the world to destroy a common threat to the world. These people are religious Nazis. Most people in Islam don't buy what they're selling. I've told you a thousand times that I would partner with the Arabs in Turkey. But, the reason they don't partner with Obama is they just don't trust him. Do you think they would trust me? I know them all. I've been working for a decade to figure out how to win this war. To my good friend Ted Cruz, please ask him the following question, you say you would keep Assad in power, I will tell you that is the worst possible thing that could come out of an American leaders mouth. It would be disastrous. His favorite movie is, apparently, Princess Bride. Ted, getting in bed with Iran and Russia to save Assad is inconceivable. +p748 +aVPrincess Buttercup would not like this. +p749 +aV...I didn't get to say yes. Yes. +p750 +aVYeah, this is an important discussion. The American president is the strongest voice in the world \u2014 until Obama came along. Now, we're just one of many. When you ask people to help you, when you entice Syrians to join your cause, to take down the dictator they hate to destroy +p751 +aV...we'd better do something about it, and I have a plan. +p752 +aVI don't think it's necessary. If you don't want to be there, I don't want you to be there. I just retired after 33 years in the Air Force, 140 days on the ground as an Air Force Reservist. To those who are watching, thank you for your service. I've had a small walk in your shoes. We have the best military in the world. Obama has put it in a box. Let's take it out of the box and use it before we get attacked here. We don't need a draft, we need a commander in chief who knows what the hell they're doing. +p753 +aVAnd, I am that guy. +p754 +aVBut, the reason they don't partner with Obama is they just don't trust him. Do you think they would trust me? I know them all. I've been working for a decade to figure out how to win this war. To my good friend Ted Cruz, please ask him the following question, you say you would keep Assad in power, I will tell you that is the worst possible thing that could come out of an American leaders mouth. It would be disastrous. His favorite movie is, apparently, Princess Bride. Ted, getting in bed with Iran and Russia to save Assad is inconceivable. +p755 +aVPrincess Buttercup would not like this. +p756 +aV...I didn't get to say yes. Yes. +p757 +aVYeah, this is an important discussion. The American president is the strongest voice in the world \u2014 until Obama came along. Now, we're just one of many. When you ask people to help you, when you entice Syrians to join your cause, to take down the dictator they hate to destroy +p758 +aV...we'd better do something about it, and I have a plan. +p759 +aVI don't think it's necessary. If you don't want to be there, I don't want you to be there. I just retired after 33 years in the Air Force, 140 days on the ground as an Air Force Reservist. To those who are watching, thank you for your service. I've had a small walk in your shoes. We have the best military in the world. Obama has put it in a box. Let's take it out of the box and use it before we get attacked here. We don't need a draft, we need a commander in chief who knows what the hell they're doing. +p760 +aVAnd, I am that guy. +p761 +aVCan, can I... +p762 +aVThis is important. We're not fighting all the wars with our kids. If you've been to Iraq and Afghanistan and you made any friends, you've lots of bunch. Thousands have died in Iraq and Afghanistan fighting. +p763 +aVDon't belittle their sacrifice. +p764 +aVNo. +p765 +aVTo, to those the (well) times in the Army were a bigger problem than they are today. If you want to fix this, you get the Army to 500,000, not 420,000. You want to win this war, grow the Navy to 350 ships, not 275. Sequestration is Latin for doing really dumb things. We're going to have the smallest Navy since 1915, the smallest Army since 1940. I was yelling and screaming don't do sequestration. I was right. If I am President of the United States, Commander in Chief, we're going to rebuild our military without a draft... +p766 +aV...and we're going to go on the offense and they're ready to go. +p767 +aVThey are ready to go. They just need to be led. +p768 +aVWell I stand unique, having been a military lawyer for 33 years. I've been a defense attorney, a prosecutor, and a military judge. Mr. Trump, you don't have to speak about everything, that's not required. I would make sure that everybody had a fair trial. Does that make sense to you? We're at war folks and this stuff has to stop. It's bad for morale to hear somebody wanting to be Commander in Chief that would deny due process to somebody who's been charged in the military. For God's sakes Mr. Trump, you're asking to be the Commander in Chief , the leader of the free world, up your game. As to women, if you want to kill terrorists, I'm your guy. +p769 +aVWell, the first thing I would do is make adjustments to reality. I want to look and see if this was a terrorist arranged marriage between the couple in California. The fact that they met online accidentally is almost zero. So, no, I would have a time-out on Syrian refugees because you'd be crazy if you didn't after Paris. But, I've been to the refugee camps in Turkey, and Jordan. Trust me with your Christian \u2014 and I'm a lousy Christian saved by grace, but \u2014 this is important. We've got to stop this war. Do you realize that there are more Syrian refugees in Lebanon going to school than Lebanese children? Do you realize if this war goes for another year the King of Jordan could fall? Let's have a no-fly zone. +p770 +aVI would \u2014 make changes to that bill in light of what I know today. +p771 +aVThe next president is going to be a war-time president, whether they like it or not. I'm ready for that job. Two years ago isolationism led by Senator Paul and Cruz was white hot in our party. Now it is in retreat because events have proven me more right than wrong and has proven them to be wrong. In the first debate I called for American troops on the ground to protect our homeland. Nobody came forward. Now, most have. We've spent a lot of carnage to get them to where I have always been. Make me president, I will keep you and your family safe. +p772 +aVWell, number one, thank you for having me here tonight. How about a round of applause for Boulder, Colorado? This is a beautiful place. Looking at their academic standards, the only way I could have gotten into this university is to be invited to this debate tonight. But here's my take on things. Without national security, there is no economic security. Without the sacrifice of the veteran, all of our hopes and dreams are at risk. Just a few days ago, Hillary Clinton said that the problems with the V.A. are being exaggerated by Republicans. They are not, they are real. +p773 +aVWell, let me tell you what is real. The threat to our homeland. I've never seen so many threats to our homeland than I do today. Barack Obama is an incompetent Commander in Chief. There are more terrorist organizations with safe havens to attack the American homeland than anytime since 9/11. We're in the process of reducing our defense spending by half. I am looking at this budget with one view in mind, will it restore the ability to defend this nation. We're on track to have the smallest army since 1940, the smallest navy since 1915, this budget, if it is paid for, will put $40 billion dollars back in the defense department at a time we need it. The number one role of the federal government's to defend this nation, I intend to be a Commander in Chief that can win a war we cannot afford to lose. +p774 +aVHere's the problem. We're being walked all over because our commander in chief is weak in the eyes of our enemies. Do you think Putin would be in the Ukraine today if Ronald Reagan were president? Why are the Chinese stealing our intellectual property, hacking into our system? Why are they building islands over resource-rich waters? Because they can get away with it. At the end of the day, ladies and gentlemen, the foreign policy of Barack Obama needs to be replaced, and the last person you want to find to replace his foreign policy is his secretary of state. So to the Chinese, when it comes to dealing with me, you've got a clenched fist or an open hand. You pick. The party's over, to all the dictators. Make me commander-in-chief and this crap stops. +p775 +aVNo, I \u2014 I think I'm trying to solve problems that somebody had better solve. Now, you don't have to believe that climate change is real. I have been to the Antarctic. I've been to Alaska. I'm not a scientist, and I've got the grades to prove it. But I've talked to the climatologists of the world, and 90 percent of them are telling me that greenhouse gas effect is real. That we're heating up the planet. I just want a solution that would be good for the economy, that doesn't destroy it. I want to fix an immigration system. I'm not gonna tell you, if you like your doctor, you can keep it \u2014 keep him. Do you like your health care, you're gonna keep it. I'm tired of telling people things that they want to hear, that we know we're not gonna do. We're not gonna eliminate the corporate tax. But we can make it lower. We're going to fix immigration, only if we work together. I want to secure the border because, if we don't, we're going to get hurt and hit again. I want to fix a broken visa system. I want to increase legal immigration, because we're gonna have a shortage of workers over time. As to the 11 million, I want to talk about fixing the problem. We're not going to deport 11 million people and their legal citizen children. But we will deport felons. And those who stay will have to learn our language to stay, because I don't speak it well but look how far I've come. +p776 +aVAt the end of the day, folks, I am trying to solve a problem and win an election. I am tired of losing. Good God, look who we're running against. The number one candidate on the other side thought she was flat broke after her and her husband were in the White House for eight years. The number two guy went to the Soviet Union on his honeymoon and I don't think he ever came back. If we don't beat these people, who the hell are we going to beat? +p777 +aVThe first thing... +p778 +aV\u2014 that we have to do is come to grips with the reality that we're facing as Americans. In 1950, there were 16 workers for every Social Security recipient. Today, there's three. In 20 years, there are two. I want to make sure that no American company leaves America because you can't find a worker. American workers always get the first preference. But if you can't find an American worker, after you advertise at a competitive wage, I don't want you to be at a loss. Bring people in based on merit. Let's take a broken immigration... +p779 +aV\u2014 system... +p780 +aV\u2014 and make a merit-based immigration system that will help our economy. We're going to need workers in the future. +p781 +aVLet's just choose rationally. +p782 +aVWe owe to every businessperson and worker in America the best environment in the world to create a job. We owe that to American businesses. Thirty-five percent corporate tax rate is the second highest in the world. We need to lower it so they don't leave. The goal is to help the middle class. We can talk about corporations all day long but my goal is to help the middle class, somebody who makes too much to be on government assistance but still lives paycheck to paycheck. When the kid gets sick you don't go on vacation. +p783 +aVThat's the purpose of my presidency, to grow the economy here. And let me tell you, our Democratic friends have a list a mile long of more government. That's not going to grow the middle class, that's going to create a burden on your children, which they're already overburdened. The best way to grow the middle class is to make it a good place to create a job. You know why Boeing came to South Carolina when they could have gone anywhere to build the 787? Because we wanted them. We had a low-tax structure. +p784 +aVA permitting structure that allowed them to build the building even faster than they thought they could build it. We welcomed them there. I'm going to take the South Carolina attitude \u2014 +p785 +aVI think everybody owes an obligation to the country. The ones that I'm most worried about are the 1 percent of Americans in uniform, who have been fighting this war for 14 years. They need a commander in chief who knows what the hell they're doing. My first job as President of the United States is to rebuild the military and use it smartly. Admiral Mullen said the debt is a big threat to our national security. He's right. But people go where they're welcome when it comes to job creation. If I'm President of the United States you will be welcomed in America. +p786 +aVThis will be the place to come \u2014 +p787 +aVAnd if I'm president of the United States \u2014 +p788 +aV\u2014 our enemies \u2014 +p789 +aVWell, number one, Social Security is not just a concept to me. I know why it exists; 50 percent of today's seniors would be in poverty without a Social Security check. I promise you, if you make me your president, I will save Social Security because I know why it exists. Now, if you're looking for good beer policy, I'm your best bet. My dad owned a bar. I know beer. We grew up, my sister and myself, in the back of that bar in one room with my mom, my dad and my sister who's nine years younger. When I was 21, my mom was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease. Neither parent finished high school. She died within a year. We were wiped out from the medical bills. And if it wasn't for a Social Security survivor benefit check coming into my family, we wouldn't' have made it because my dad died 15 months later. So I... +p790 +aVWait a minute, please. I'm 22 and we're wiped out. I am 60. I'm not married. I have a military retirement. I'm in good shape. I would give up some of my benefits to help those who need it more than I do. To young people here, I will ask you to work a little bit longer because we have to. The purpose of my presidency is to save this country and to save Social Security by working across the aisle just like Ronald Reagan. This is the biggest issue facing this nation. +p791 +aVWell, number one, the only reason I have an iPhone is because I gave my number to Donald Trump. Don't do that. +p792 +aVDonald has done more to upgrade my technology than my whole staff. Number one, Fox News. Sorry about +p793 +aVWell, I think a national holiday would be the day that commander-in-chief Barack Obama doesn't have that job. But unlike these other three, I want to win New Hampshire. Go Tom Brady. Go Patriots. Sorry, Colorado is late in the... +p794 +aVSomebody said \u2014 or maybe I saw it on the bill of a cap \u2014 that let's make America great again. America is great. I intend to make America strong again. I'm going to be the champion of the middle class, where I came from. If you make me your president, our best days are ahead. I'm ready to be commander- in-chief, ladies and gentlemen, on day one. I intend to war \u2014 win a war that we cannot afford to lose. I will be a commander-in-chief worthy of the sacrifice of those brave Americans who have been defending our nation. They have had our back. God knows, they have had our back... +p795 +aV\u2014 and I intend to have their back as commander-in- chief. Make me commander-in-chief. +p796 +aVOne, thanks, CNN, for having people at this debate. I'm Lindsey Graham from South Carolina, in case you can't tell. I want to thank Ms. Reagan (ph) for inviting me. It means the world to me. I'm the only candidate tonight who served in the military while Ronald Reagan was our president and our commander in chief. It was one of the highlights of my life. I'm running for president to destroy radical Islam, to win the war on terror, to protect you and your family. And in that quest, I have an uncompromising determination to win this war, just like President Reagan had an uncompromising determination to destroy the evil empire, and win the Cold War. Above all others on both sides of the isle, I'm most qualified to be commander and chief on day one -- 33 years in the Air Force, 35 trips to Iraq and Afghanistan, I understand this war. I have a plan to win it, and I intend to win it. +p797 +aVWell, all I can say, if you looked at polling in 2012 and 2008 at this level, we'd have -- at this stage, we would have President Perry and President Giuliani. I have a long way to go. And here's what I'm going to try to do tonight -- convince you that I'm best qualified to be the commander-in-chief of the one percent who are doing the fighting for the rest of us. And we'll have a serious discussion tonight. All of us are going to say we want to destroy +p798 +aVWell, what I hope Republican voters, libertarian, vegetarians, Democrats, you name it, will look for somebody to lead us in a new direction, domestically, but particularly on the foreign policy front. President Obama is making a mess of the world. What I'm trying to tell you here tonight, that Syria is hell on Earth and it's not going to get fixed by insulting each other. I've been there 35 times to Iraq and Afghanistan. I am ready to be commander-in-chief on day one. I've been in the military 33 years, 140 days on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan. I am so ready to get on with winning a war that we can't afford to lose. I hope you believe that experience matters. It's an all- volunteer force of -- when you vote for commander-in-chief, they are stuck with your choice. We've had one novice being commander-in- chief. Let's don't replace one novice with another. And if I thought... +p799 +aV-- I could win this war without more American ground forces in Iraq and Syria, I would tell you, but we can't... +p800 +aV-- and if we don't get on with this, they are coming here. +p801 +aVThank you. +p802 +aVProbably for a good reason. +p803 +aVWell, let's talk about immigration. Number one, I like Rick. I don't remember the Santorum plan when I was in the Senate. The peanut gallery on this is interesting. I have been trying to solve this problem for a decade. There are no democrats here tonight. If you're here, raise your hand. You went to the wrong -- we'll, welcome. Thank you very much for coming. +p804 +aVThe bottom line, I'm trying to pitch the problem. We're not going to deport 11 million people here illegally, but we'll start with felons, and off they go. And, as to the rest, you can stay, but you got to learn our language. I don't speak it very well, well, look how far I've come? Speaking English is a good thing. You got to pay taxes, you got to pay a fine, you got to get in the back of the line. You've got to secure your border or they'll keep coming. If you don't control who gets a job that never ends -- so (ph) got two borders. One with Canadia -- Canada, one with Mexico. I never met an illegal Canadian. This is an economic problem, so, folks, let's solve it. Amnesty is doing nothing, and that's what we've been doing. As to birthright citizenship, once we clean up this mess, in the future, prospectively, I'm going to look at the following. There are people buying tourist visas that go to resorts with maternity wards with the expressed purpose of having a children here in America. There are rich Asians, there are rich people up in the Mid-East... +p805 +aV...That to me is bastardizing citizenship... +p806 +aV...Yeah, I'd like to stop that in the future... +p807 +aV...What do you do with the 11 million? +p808 +aV...What are you going to do with the 11 million? +p809 +aV...Well, what about the other half... +p810 +aV...How many democrats support yourplan... +p811 +aV...How many democrats did you have on your bill? +p812 +aV...I can tell you. None. +p813 +aV...That went nowhere. +p814 +aV...George W. Bush... +p815 +aV...Who won with hispanics. +p816 +aV...Compared to what we're doing... +p817 +aV...Hispanics... +p818 +aV...Are Americans... +p819 +aV...In my world, hispanics are Americans... +p820 +aV...I have a little different take on where the country is going on this issue. Number one, in 1950, there were 16 workers for every retiree. How many are there today? There's three. In 20 years, there's going to be two, and you're going to have 80 million baby boomers like me retiree in mass wanting a Social Security check, and their Medicare bills paid. We're going to need more legal immigration. Let's just make it logical. Let's pick people from all over the world on our terms, not just somebody from Mexico. Let's create a rational, legal immigration system because we have a declining workforce. +p821 +aV...Strom Thurmond had four kids after he was 67, if you're not willing to do that, we've got to come up with a new legal immigration system. +p822 +aVYes, number one, how does President Obama sleep at night? Look what you let happen on your watch. Your commanders told you, don't withdrawal from Iraq because we'll lose of our gains. Three years ago your entire national security team, Senator McCain and I begged you to do a no-fly zone and help the Free Syrian Army while it would matter. But you said no. I'm not blaming Bobby, I'm not blaming Rick, I'm not blaming anybody, I'm blaming Barack Obama for this mess. +p823 +aVRight. +p824 +aVI'm saying this, if they don't understand that Barack Obama's policies are not working, that we're not going to destroy +p825 +aV-- does that include American ground forces in Syria as part of a regional army? Are all of you willing to commit to American ground forces going into Syria as part of a regional army to destroy the caliphate and its headquarters? +p826 +aVWell, you know, Kim Davis, I'm not worried about her attacking me. I am worried about radical Islamic terrorists who are already here planning another 9/11. We're at war, folks. I'm not fighting a crime. I want to have a legal system that understands the difference between fighting a war and fighting a crime, and here's the reality. Young men from the Mid- East are different than Kim Davis. And we've got to understand that. +p827 +aVIslamic websites need to be monitored. +p828 +aVAnd if you are on one, I want to know what you're doing. +p829 +aVI wasn't the best law student. By the end of this debate, it would be the most time I've ever spent in any library. But on the first day in law school view (ph), it's called "Marbury v. Madison." The group in our constitutional democracy that interprets "The Constitution" as to what it means is the Supreme Court. In a 5-4 decision by the Supreme Court, they have ruled that same-sex marriage bans at the state level violate the Fourteenth Amendment to "The United States Constitution" equal protection clause. I don't agree with it, but that is the law of the land. But as president, what I want make sure of is that everybody in this room, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, whatever religion that you can practice your faith without government interference, you can marry people consistent with the tenets of your faith. That's the number one obligation of my presidency, is to protect religious people when they exercise their religious rights. But this decision is the law as it is of right now. And here's the one thing I want to tell you, Jake. +p830 +aVWait -- wait a minute. Whether you're the wedding cake baker or the gay couple or the Baptist preacher, radical Islam would kill you all if they could. +p831 +aVLet's don't lose sight of the big picture here. +p832 +aVHe's one of the most qualified men to ever come before the United States Senate and I don't agree with his decision, but 99 times out of 100, I will. To the Republicans, the biggest prize on the table in 2017 is the presidency. If it is Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders, they are going to pick people that we will disagree with all the time. Please understand, we have to win this election. The court's at stake. It is the most important reason for us to turn out, to make sure we don't lose the judiciary for decades to come. +p833 +aVI've been called a lot of things but never elite before. My dad owned a liquor store, a bar and a poolroom. So only in America can you go from the back of a liquor store to being an elite. +p834 +aVI introduced her at a conference about Africa. I thought Secretary Clinton did a good job when it came to dealing with our problems in Africa, particularly among women. George W. Bush set $40 billion aside and Rick Santorum helped him and President Bush wiped out an entire -- wiped out +p835 +aVWell, Ronald Reagan did a couple of really big things that we should all remember. He sat down with Tip O'Neill, the most liberal guy in the entire House. They started drinking together. That's the first thing I'm going to do as president. We're going to drink more. And what did this -- two great Irishmen do? They found a way to save Social Security from bankruptcy by adjusting the age of retirement from 65 to 67. So, yes, I will say nice things at times about Democrats. Yes, I will work them -- work with them. I will put the country ahead of party. Absolutely I want to work with them. At the end of the day, Hugh, I'm lucky to be standing here. I'm the first in my family to ever go to college. Neither one of my parents finished high school. Darline's here with me tonight. We owned a restaurant... +p836 +aVWell, wait a minute. We... +p837 +aVYou asked me a question. This is important. Republicans need to tell the American people we get it as to who you are. When my mom died, I was 21. When my dad died, when I was 22. We were wiped out financially. If it weren't for Social Security survivor benefit check coming into Darline, we wouldn't have made it. I don't need a lecture from Democrats about Social Security. +p838 +aVI want to save it, just like Ronald Reagan did. +p839 +aVIf you want to see manufacturing, come to South Carolina... +p840 +aV...We'll show 'ya. +p841 +aVWell, I know this. That when my mom and dad owned a restaurant, the bar, the pool room, that if you increased the minimum wage it'd been hard to hire more people. Hillary Clinton has a list a mile long to help the middle class. We're talking all around this. The middle class for the last six and a half years has been squeezed, and squeezed hard. To the middle class, I understand who you are. You're one broken down car from not going on vacation. You're from one sick child away from having to change your whole budget. Here's what I want to do as your president. I want to grow this economy. When Boeing came to South Carolina to build a 787, everybody paid more they would have lost their employees to Boeing. If you're a waitress out there wanting more money, I'm not going to increase the minimum wage, I'm going to try to create an environment where somebody else will open up a restaurant across the street to hire you away at a higher rate, or they'll have to pay you more to keep you. You got to borrow money to create jobs in this country. Banking is locked down because of Dodd-Frank. The tax code is a complete mess, but nobody's talked about the elephant in the room, which is debt. Not one more penny to the federal government until w2e come up with a plan to get out of debt. +p842 +aVIt's probably a small bit, but the ones that get it... +p843 +aVYeah, but I... +p844 +aV...Have you ever thought why all of us say that... +p845 +aVIf I believed they were trying to break out and get a bomb, absolutely. And here's the most important thing: they know I would if I had to. And none of us are going to be able to defend this country adequately until we rebuild our military. A weak economy, a military in decline, the world on fire, does that sound familiar to you? Michael, does that sound familiar to you? The first thing I'm going to do as commander in chief on day one is call the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and say, what do you need that you don't have? We're cutting our military; we're on track to have the smallest Army since 1940, the smallest Navy since 1915 and John Kasich says he wants to close more bases. I want to rebuild our military and I want the Iranians to know that, if I had to, I would use it. The worst nightmare in the world is a radical Islamic regime with a weapon of mass destruction. The only reason 3,000 of us died on 9/11 is not 3 million, not 3 million is because they couldn't get the weapons to kill us. They're on track to get a bomb even if they don't cheat. This deal is a nightmare for Israel. They are coming here if we don't watch it terrorism with a nuclear capability sponsored by Iran. So, yes, I would use military force to stop them. I would set this deal aside and I would get you a better deal. If you gave $100 billion, I could get almost anybody out of jail. We couldn't even get our hostages out of jail. +p846 +aVDo you think Putin would be in the Ukraine or Syria today if Ronald Reagan were president? No. This is what happens when you have a weak, unqualified commander- in-chief who doesn't understand the role America plays in the world. Why is it bad for you that Russia's helping Assad? He's the magnet for Sunni extremists. The Syrian people are not going to accept him as their legitimate leader. By Assad being helped by Russia, it means the war never ends. It means the next 9/11, which is most likely to occur from an attack from Syria. It's more likely. At the end of the day, if I'm president of the United States, I've told you what I'm going to do. There's nobody left in Syria to train. We're going to get a regional army who doesn't like +p847 +aV... and if the war in Syria continues, it is coming here. For God's sakes, let's get on with... +p848 +aV... with fixing the problem in Syria. +p849 +aVBobby, you were in the Congress, and all I can tell you, to everybody here, if you want to repeal Obamacare, get a new president. If you want to defund Planned Parenthood, elect a pro-life president, because that's the only way. If we pass the Cardin bill, Graham, Menendez, it would go to the president. He would veto it. 67 votes are required to override the veto. +p850 +aVWait a minute. Now, you asked me a question. So I don't want to take off the table the ability to slow down Obama in his last 13 to 14 months, because I want 60 votes to stop what I think he's going to do between now and January 2017. Five Republicans deflect -- leave -- we're in trouble. So folks, the world really is the way it is. President Obama is president. The goal is to get him out of there and pick somebody who would actually do something to repeal Obamacare, who would get you a better agreement. So Bobby, he would veto the bill, we don't have 67 votes, and you're giving away a defense against Obama for the rest of his presidency. No, I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to tell you things I can't do. I'm not going to tell you by shutting the government down, we're going to defund Obamacare as long as he's president. All that does is hurt us. I am trying to lead this party to winning. +p851 +aVAre you going to shut the government down? +p852 +aVAre you going to shut the government... +p853 +aVCan I just say something? You know, Bobby, we're running to be president of the United States, the most important job in the free world. With it comes a certain amount of honesty. I'm tired of telling people things they want to hear that I know we can't do. He is not going to sign a bill that would defund ObamaCare. If I am president of the United States, I wouldn't put one penny in -- in my budget for Planned Parenthood, not one penny. I'm as offended by these videos as you are. But the one thing I'm not going to do going into 2016 is shut the government down and tank our ability to win. What you're saying and what Senator Cruz is saying, I am really sick of hearing, trying to get the bottom... +p854 +aV-- the Republican Party in a position... +p855 +aV-- to win. That's what I'm trying to do. And that does matter to me ... +p856 +aVIt matters a lot. +p857 +aVWell, number one, I will win a war that we can't afford to lose. I have a plan to destroy radical Islam because it has to be. These are religious Nazis running while President Obama has made one mistake after another and it's caught up with us. What do I have to offer that's different? I get my foreign policy from being in on the ground. I've been to Iraq and Afghanistan in the Middle East 35 times in the last decade, trying to understand how we got in this mess. Our leading candidate gets his foreign policy from watching television. And what I heard last night is the Cartoon Network, oh, I'm big, I'm strong, we're going to hit them in the head. +p858 +aVThat's not foreign policy. That's a cartoon character. John Kasich, a good friend of mine, said in New Hampshire, we're going to close more bases on his watch. On my watch, we're going to open up more bases. The military is in decline, folks. We're going to have the smallest military in modern times, spending half of what we'd normally spend by the end of this decade. +p859 +aVWhat do I offer? What do I offer? To make your families safe and our country strong again, a vision and a determination to win a war that we cannot afford to lose. +p860 +aVYou can trust me to do the following: that when I get on change with Hillary Clinton, we won't be debating about the science, we'll be debating about the solutions. In her world, cap- and-trade would dominate, that we will destroy the economy in the name of helping the environment. In my world, we'll focus on energy independence and a clean environment. When it comes to fossil fuels, we're going to find more here and use less. Over time, we're going to become energy independent. I am tired of sending $300 billion overseas to buy oil from people who hate our guts. The choice between a weak economy and a strong environment is a false choice, that is not the choice I'll offer America. A healthy environment, a strong economy and energy independent America -- that would be the purpose of my presidency, is break the strangle hold that people enjoy on fossil fuels who hate our guts. +p861 +aVIf we don't stop them over there, they are coming here just as sure as I stand here in front of you. One thing I want to be clear about tonight. If you're running for president of the United States and you don't understand that we need more American ground forces in Iraq and that America has to be part of a regional ground force that will go into Syria and destroy +p862 +aVRight. Mac +p863 +aVI think America is dying to work, you just need to give them a chance. To all the Americans who want a better life, don't vote for Hillary Clinton. You're not going to get it. She's not going to repeal "Obamacare" and replace it. I will. She's not going to build the Keystone Pipeline. I will. She's not going to change Dodd-Frank. I will. Until you change the policies of Barack Obama, we're never going to grow this economy. Until you change the policies of Barack Obama, we're never going to be safe. She represents a third term of a failed presidency. I'm fluent in Clinton-speak; I've been dealing with this crowd for 20 years. You know, when Bill Clinton says it depends on what the meaning of is is, that means is is whatever Bill wants it to mean. When Hillary Clinton tells you I've given you all the emails you need, that means she hasn't. So to the people who are dying for a better America, you better change course, and she doesn't represent the change that we need. Do we all agree that +p864 +aVI don't think it's a war on women for all of us as Americans to stand up and stop harvesting organs from little babies. Let's take the money that we would give to Planned Parenthood and put it in women's health care without having to harvest the organs of the unborn. The only way we're going to defund Planned Parenthood is have a pro-life president. You want to see a war on women? Come with me to Iraq and Afghanistan, folks. I've been there 35 times. I will show you what they do to women. These mythical Arab armies that my friends talk about that are going to protect us don't exist. If I am president of the United States, we're going to send soldiers back to Iraq, back to Syria, to keep us from being attacked here and keep soldiers in Afghanistan because we must. I cannot tell you how much our nation is threatened and how we need a commander in chief who understands the threats to this nation. If you're running for president of the United States and you do not understand that we cannot defend this nation without more of our soldiers over there, you are not ready for this job. +p865 +aVChange the Mexico City policy, not take one dime of taxpayer money to fund abortion organizations overseas, and restore the NSA that's been gutted. We're going dark when it comes to detecting the next attack. We have gutted our ability to detect the next attack. And I would not stand for that as president of the United States. I would take the fight to these guys, whatever it took, as long as it took. +p866 +aVThank you. First thing I'd tell the American people, whatever it takes to defend our nation, I would do. To the 1 percent who have been fighting this war for over a decade, I'd try my best to be a commander-in-chief worthy of your sacrifice. We're going to lose Social Security and Medicare if Republicans and Democrats do not come together and find a solution like Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neill. I will be the Ronald Reagan if I can find a Tip O'Neill. When I was 21, my mom died. When I was 22, my dad died. We owned a liquor store, restaurant, bar and we lived in the back. Every penny we needed from -- every penny we got from Social Security, because my sister was a minor, we needed. Today, I'm 60, I'm not married, I don't have any kids. I would give up some Social Security to save a system that Americans are going to depend on now and in the future. Half of American seniors would be in poverty without a Social Security check. If you make your president, I'm going to put the country ahead of the party. I'm going to do what it takes to defend this nation. This nation has been great to me, and that's the only way I know to pay you back. Mac +p867 +aVNot the change we need at a time we need it. +p868 +aVWe need somebody ready to be commander-in-chief on day one, who understands there are no moderates in Iran, they've been killed a long time ago. That the Ayatollah is a radical jihadist who really means it when he chants, "Death to America, death to Israel." And this deal is giving him a pathway to a bomb, a missile to deliver it, and money to pay for it all. We need a president who can solve our problems, bring us together. We're becoming Greece if we don't work together. At the end of the day, ladies and gentlemen, our best days are ahead of us only if we work together, and I intend to put this country on a path of success by working together and doing the hard things that should have been done a very long time ago. +p869 +asVREGAN +p870 +(lp871 +VIn Tuesday's State of the Union Address, the president said that our economy is strong. He cited the significant decline we've seen in unemployment rate and the millions of jobs that have been created. What is your assessment of the economy right now? And I would like to hear from all of you on this one, beginning with Ms. Fiorina. +p872 +aVThank you Governor Huckabee. Senator Santorum? +p873 +aVThank you. Well, since we've been talking about the Middle East, Senator Santorum, conflicts between Saudi Arabia and Iran have certainly escalated, amid accusations that Saudi Arabia bombed the Iranian Embassy in Yemen after the Saudi Embassy in Tehran was attacked. As we confront an increasingly unstable Middle East, how will you, as president, navigate this administration's promises to Iran while standing by our historic allies in the region? +p874 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p875 +aVGovernor Huckabee, if I could just follow-up with that. Do we need to be in Afghanistan? +p876 +aVThank you Governor Huckabee. Ms. Fiorina, nearly 600 women say they were attacked in a German city on New Year's Eve by men of Arab or North African descent and 45 percent of those alleged attacks were sexual assaults. Twenty-two of those 32 men arrested so far are asylum-seekers. Are you worried about similar problems in the United States? +p877 +aVI want to stay with you on this. The world shares a common enemy right now in the way of +p878 +aVMs. Fiorina, thank you. +p879 +aVWelcome back, everyone, to the Republican presidential debate. On to the next round of questions \u2014 Sandra. +p880 +aVMs. Fiorina, the president has just issued an executive order to expand the gun laws and background checks. And none of you on stage agree with this. But recent polls show the majority of Americans are in favor of universal background checks. +p881 +aVIt's the poll data. +p882 +aVSo tell me......why, in your view, is the president's proposal a problem? +p883 +aVMs. Fiorina, you've said that was when you were CEO of HP, you actually worked with the government. +p884 +aV\u2014 to try and combat some of these terrorist threats. +p885 +aVWhat did you do? +p886 +aVMs. Fiorina, thank you. +p887 +aVGovernor Huckabee, an American in San Bernardino murdered 14 people while terrorists with Belgian and French passports murdered 130 people. Were facing a threat within our borders, and from outside the United States. Those European terrorists, they could have come here at any time given that we have a visa waiver program that enables people to travel back and forth. It exists within those countries, and 36 others. In countries around the world, including many in Europe, cannot ensure that their citizens are not jihadists, why are we waiving the visa requirement at all? +p888 +aVIf you get the visa waiver program, does that shut down international commerce? +p889 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p890 +aVSenator Santorum, thank you. +p891 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p892 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from North Charleston. We want to jump right back in. Sandra is kicking it off. +p893 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you know it used to be you could graduate from high school and get a pretty good job at the local factory, enough to take care of your family and yourself. Those days seem to be gone. It's pretty hard to do that nowadays. Businesses are increasingly turning to automation to increase their productivity levels. It's happening right here, in fact, at the Boeing factory in North Charleston. The president says automation threatens workers' ability to get higher wages. Do you agree with that? And if so, do you have a solution? +p894 +aVThank you very much, Governor Huckabee. Senator Santorum, 40% of babies born today are born to single moms. That's twice as high as reported back in 1980, and it's 11 times as high as in 1940. Studies show that children are always better off economically, most often \u2014 and emotionally, with two parents in a household. From a policy perspective, should the government be doing anything to encourage family formation? +p895 +aVThank you. +p896 +aVCarly Fiorina? +p897 +aVThank you to all the candidates. That does it, everyone for the first debate right here in North Charleston. +p898 +aVGood evening, and welcome to the historic Milwaukee Theater. Tonight, you'll hear from 12 Republican candidates vying to become the next President of the United States. I'm Trish Regan, along with my co-moderators, Sandra Smith, and from the Wall Street Journal, Jerry Seib. +p899 +aVLet's introduce them. New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie. Former Arkansas Governor, Mike Huckabee. Former Pennsylvania Senator, Rick Santorum. And, Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindal. +p900 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p901 +aVAll right, Governor Jindal, you have pushed Louisiana's energy resources as a means to grow jobs in your state. But as oil prices have plunged in recent months, so has jobs growth. Louisiana now has an unemployment rate above the national average. Will your energy-focused jobs plan for the country be subject to the same market ups and downs? +p902 +aVAll right, Governor Jindal, thank you. Governor Christie, you have said that the Democrats' message is one of, quote, "free stuff." In contrast, Republicans want to reduce spending. How do you win a national election when the Democrats are offering free health care, a free or subsidized college education, and you're the party that is seemingly offering nothing in the way of immediate tangible benefits? +p903 +aVSenator Santorum, a single mom with no job and two kids in New Hampshire, home of the first in the nation primary, is eligible for more than $30,000 a year in benefits. Even if she could find a job, she would need to find child care. And in many cases may conclude it's better for her to live off government benefits. Senator, how do you help and incentivize her to go to work? And if you're the one that's going to cut her benefits, why should she vote for you? +p904 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you. All right, we are just getting started. Medicare, Social Security and the future of ObamaCare \u2014 that is all straight ahead, live from Milwaukee and the Republican presidential debate. +p905 +aVWelcome back to the Milwaukee Theater, and the Republican Presidential Debate. On to the next round of questions, Gerry has the next question. +p906 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you differ from many of your GOP opponents on the stage tonight over accepting Syrian refugees into this country. You have said, "We don't have an obligation to just open our doors." As the Islamic state continues to expand, slaughtering and crucifying Christians, including women and children, refugees continue to flee their land by the thousands. Should America open its doors to accept any refugees in this country? If so, how many? +p907 +aVAlright, Governor Huckabee, thank you. +p908 +aVNext question to you, Governor... +p909 +aV...Next question to you, Governor... +p910 +aV...let me get in......Let me get in here, because the next question, it's to you, and it's on Obamacare. It is still unpopular with the American people. You've seen the polls, they've shown nearly half the country still opposes this law. You have been critical of your GOP opponents, some of them standing on the stage tonight, others later. Notably, Ted Cruz, for not having comprehensive plans. You say you do. What specifically makes your plan to replace Obamacare better than the opponents, some of them standing next to you. +p911 +aVGovernor Jindal, thank you. +p912 +aVWe'll get to that. +p913 +aVRonald Reagan did work with Tip O'Neill. Anyway, we are going to take a quick break. Coming up, one of the top issues for voters, how much you're paying in taxes. We are live from Milwaukee with the Republican presidential debate. See you right back here. +p914 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate. We are live from Milwaukee. A top issue on the campaign trail, taxes and how much you pay. All right, I've got a question for all of you here. When looking at the federal income tax, state income tax and local tax, in some cases, combined, some Americans are paying over 50 percent of their paycheck to the government. What is the highest percentage, all in, in the way of taxes, that any American should have to pay and what is the lowest? I'd like to, again, to hear from each of you. And I want those two all in numbers. I'm going to start with you, Senator Santorum. +p915 +aVAll in. OK, Governor Christie? +p916 +aVAnd we'll get back to you. Governor Jindal? +p917 +aVGovernor Huckabee, Americans, under your plan, would pay a tax on every single thing that they purchase. Given that consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of GDP, some economists worry that your tax plan would actually discourage spending, thereby slowing our economy. How do you respond? +p918 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p919 +aVSenator Santorum, you agree with Governor Christie. You also have said that the Fed should be audited. But many worry that given the Congressional challenges that they face, by having Congressional oversight of the Fed, which has been historically an independent body, you would be making the Fed much more political. How would you navigate that risk? +p920 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee, both Senator Santorum and Governor Christie were boat \u2014 both critical of the Federal Reserve. Also, many have questioned whether Janet Yellen is the right person to be running the Fed. If elected president, would you keep Janet Yellen? +p921 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee, thank you. All right, Senator Santorum, by the way, today is the 240th... +p922 +aV\u2014 of the United States... +p923 +aV\u2014 Marine Corps. Tomorrow is Veterans Day. We honor and recognize all those who have fought for, and served this great nation, Senator. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, meanwhile, which provides patient care, and federal benefits to those veterans, as well as their families, is beset by scandal. What new ideas do you have to fix the broken V.A. healthcare system? +p924 +asVHEMMER +p925 +(lp926 +VSo, here we go. Ninety-seven hours before Iowa chooses, in fact the last two winners in this state are on this stage tonight. Governor Huckabee, in 2008, you won by nine points here, but this time your support seems to be going to Senator Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. Why, Governor, is your message not working this time? +p927 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Santorum, four short years ago you won Iowa. You beat Mitt Romney, pretty much shocked the country. But, just the other day you talked about what is in the greater good for your campaign. Is Monday night your last stand? +p928 +aVOK. +p929 +aV... Senator, do you want to name... ... Senator, do you want to name that entertainer your refering to? +p930 +aVBut senator, since you mentioned... +p931 +aVSenator, quickly then, after this debate, you mentioned Donald trump's name. Immediately, you're going to event across town here in Des Moines as a guest of Donald Trump. +p932 +aVSo are you laying the groundwork for maybe your future? Perhaps an endorsement of Mr. Trump? +p933 +aVThank you, senator. One moment. We'll get to you in a moment, Governor. We have a few coming up. +p934 +aVThank you. Governor Gilmore. As of one week ago, you have not held a single campaign event here in the state of Iowa. As of one week ago, in fact, you were the only one in the Republican field who had not made a campaign visit to this state. You know how it works here. You know how it's worked over time. Why should anyone caucus for you on Monday night? +p935 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p936 +aVMs. Fiorina, same topic. The president says that many are exaggerating the threat from +p937 +aVThank you. +p938 +aVGovernor Gilmore, some time this spring 34 more detainees are cleared from release from Gitmo. If you were president, as you say, this president wants to close it. As president, if Gitmo were closed and an enemy combatant were found or captured in the field of battle, perhaps Syria or Iraq or Libya, and you don't have Gitmo, where would you put them? +p939 +aVGovernor, thank you for that. +p940 +aVWelcome back to Des Moines on what will be a long night here. Let's get back to the questions. Let's get back to the questions with Martha. +p941 +aVLet me stay with you, Ms. Fiorina. You've said you will shrink the federal government by 30 percent over the next two years, and those jobs will not be filled, and you'll do it through retirement. Your critics would argue that's exactly what you did at Hewlett Packard when 30,000 people lost their jobs. If it did not work at H.P., why would it work at the federal government? +p942 +aVThank you. +p943 +aVGovernor Huckabee, Nikki Haley, Republican governor from South Carolina, recently said... +p944 +aVI did not, but we... +p945 +aVWe have plenty for you -- you bet, Governor. We have a couple more in the hopper for you in a moment here. +p946 +aVFirst, Governor -- Governor Huckabee, Nikki Haley warned about listening to "the siren call of the angriest voices," to which Donald Trump said he is "very, very angry." Who is right, Governor? +p947 +aVThank you, Governor. +p948 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you've mentioned the economy several times tonight. Let's go back to that for a moment because in America today 50% of the American workers are making less than $30,000 dollars a year. Let's talk about what you could do for them. The Conservative Club for Growth has had an issue with your policy on taxes for years. In fact, it called you, "Tax Hike Mike". And, the record shows state spending in Arkansas increased 54% when you were in charge, 94% if you include federal dollars during that same period. When it comes to helping people at the margins, $30,000, $32,000 dollars a year, what's better? A tax and spend approach, or shrinking government? +p949 +aVGovernor Huckabee, thank you. Same issue, Senator Santorum. The President says criticism of his economic policy is political hot air. You consistently talk about manufacturing jobs leaving America. You support a flat tax of 20%. How would a flat tax bring back two million jobs to America? +p950 +aVSenator, thank you. +p951 +aVThank you Ms. Fiorina. Governor Gilmore. Who are the moderate Muslims do you seek advice and counsel from on how to deal with the threat from radical Islamic terrorism? +p952 +aVThank you governor. Governor Huckabee. Here in Iowa 43 percent of Democratic caucus goers describe themselves as socialist. That's a higher number than those who say they are capitalist. I guess you could say, they're feeling the burn. This is a country rooted in capitalism, the United States of America. How did we get here? +p953 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum, the president says politics in America have become meaner over the past several years with him in the White House. Two weeks ago at the State of the Union he said the following. "A president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide." Lincoln and Roosevelt, that's pretty good company. If he is right, do Republicans share some of the blame? +p954 +aVThank you, Senator. +p955 +aVIn the closing few moments, the candidates have an opportunity to make a closing statement, 30 seconds for each. And, we want to start tonight with the former Virginia Governor, Jim Gilmore. +p956 +aV... Thank you, Governor. +p957 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p958 +aVThank you, Governor. +p959 +aVThat concludes our debate tonight, but the night has just begun. +p960 +aVThis is first official event in the campaign for the Republican nomination for president. Welcome to Cleveland Ohio. It is debate night. I'm Bill Hemmer. Mac +p961 +aVSo you will hear from all 17 candidates tonight, and you'll meet seven of them right now, starting with three-time governor in the state of Texas, Rick Perry. Mac +p962 +aVTwo-time. Two-time governor of the State of Louisiana, Acting Governor Bobby Jindal. So you will hear from all 17 candidates tonight, and you'll meet seven of them right now, starting with three-time governor in the state of Texas, Rick Perry. Mac +p963 +aVTwo-time. Two-time governor of the State of Louisiana, Acting Governor Bobby Jindal. Mac +p964 +aVThe senior senator from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham. Mac +p965 +aVAnd former Virginia governor, Jim Gilmore. Mac +p966 +aVGentle. Mac +p967 +aVWait til you hear what the others are going to get later, huh? Mac +p968 +aVOne year from now, a Republican nominee will be standing on this stage in this very same arena. That person is in Cleveland today. So let's get started. First topic, electability. First question to Governor Perry from Texas. Welcome, Governor. +p969 +aVYou were in charge of the 12th largest economy in the world, and you recently said that four years ago, you weren't ready for this job. Why should someone vote for you now? +p970 +aVThank you, Governor. Mac +p971 +aVSenator Santorum, you won the Iowa caucus four years ago and 10 other states. But you failed to beat Mitt Romney for the nomination. And no one here tonight is going to question your conviction or your love for country. But has your moment passed, Senator? +p972 +aVThank you, Senator. Mac +p973 +aVSenator Lindsey Graham, you worked with Democrats and President Obama when it came to climate change, something you know is extremely unpopular with conservative Republicans. How can they trust you based on that record? +p974 +aVThank you, Senator. Mac +p975 +aVThank you, Governor. Mac +p976 +aVThis Saturday, August 8th, two days from now marks one year since the strikes began against +p977 +aVAnd the senator to your right has called for 20,000 American troops in Syria and Iraq so far today, Senator Graham, and I'll give this question to you. Why should the American people after two wars in Iraq sacrifice yet again on a third war? +p978 +aVSenator, thank you. Mac +p979 +aVIt is debate night, and welcome back to Cleveland, Ohio. Let's get back to the questions right now with Martha. Mac +p980 +aVExcuse me, Martha. I have not heard the bell just yet, so you're all very well behaved so far. Governor Gilmore, 30 seconds. +p981 +aVThank you, Governor. I've got to move on to immigration here. Senator Santorum, you would argue you have one of the tougher positions on illegal immigration in the entire 17 candidate field at the moment. We often talk about this issue on the abstract level in Washington, D.C., but you know how it's being talked about in states like Iowa and New Hampshire among illegals in our country today -- 11 million plus. And some are asking, what would you say to a child, born and raised in America, who could see their family broken apart by your policy? +p982 +aVGovernor Perry, try and answer this question again. What do you say to the family of illegals? Are you going to break them apart? +p983 +aVGovernor, thank you. Mac +p984 +aVAnd so right now, we're 30 minutes in. Going to jump back into the topics and continue our discussion of national issues on the domestic level. The issue that is really number one on the minds of many voters, that's the economy and jobs. Mac +p985 +aVThank you, Governor. Your last topic brings us to the state of Ohio. You know, the saying, right? No Republican wins the White House unless you win here in the Buckeye state. Well, here in the Buckeye state, the Governor John Kasich took the federal money for Medicaid expansion under Obamacare. And Governor Jindal of Louisiana, you passed on those tax dollars. Why do you think Governor Kasich got it wrong here? +p986 +aVSo Governor Kasich was wrong, just to be clear. +p987 +aVI didn't hear an answer regarding Governor Kasich, but for now I'll go to Governor Pataki. Yes or no? +p988 +aVGovernor Pataki, three term governor of New York. Is he right, Governor Jindal from Louisiana? +p989 +aVYes or no, would you have expanded Obamacare in the state of New York, had you been governor at that time? +p990 +aVOK. +p991 +aVThank you, Governor Pataki. In a moment here, we'll talk to the candidates about an issue today on Planned Parenthood, and also the U.S. Supreme Court. That's all next here in Cleveland. +p992 +aVWelcome back to Cleveland, Ohio. Want to get back to the questions and the issues in this debate now, with my co-anchor, Martha. Mac +p993 +aVNext question on the U.S. Supreme Court. It's been 42 years, Senator Santorum, since Roe v. Wade, and many consider, in this country, to be a case of settled law. Recently the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on same-sex marriage. Is that now settled law in America today? +p994 +aVAlright, Senator, thank you. To Governor Gilmore. For years, presidential candidates have not said they would have a litmus test for justices nominated to the Supreme Court. Recently, Hillary Clinton broke that precedent. She said she would apply that on the case of Citizens United, which deals with campaign finance laws in America today. Is it time for conservatives to impose a litmus test on abortion? +p995 +aVSo, no litmus test? +p996 +aVThank you, governor. Mac +p997 +aVAs the first debate of the nomination season continues, welcome back to Cleveland. Let's get back to the questions right now, and the issues here in the U.S. Martha? Mac +p998 +aVThank you, Senator. Executive power. It appears that you all have a little bit of an issue with it at the moment. I want to move through this as quickly as I can, from stage left to stage right. On the second day of his presidency, January 22nd 2009, President Obama signed one of his first executive orders. That was close Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Still open today. What would be your first executive order? Governor Gilmore, start. +p999 +aVSenator Graham. +p1000 +aVGovernor Jindal, your first executive order would be in the White House would be what? +p1001 +aVGovernor Perry. +p1002 +aVThat will be a long day. +p1003 +aVSenator Santorum? +p1004 +aVFirst order, Carly Fiorina? +p1005 +aVGovernor Pataki? +p1006 +aVThank you all. Mac +p1007 +aVThank you, senator. Mac +p1008 +aVThank you, Senator. I need a two-word answer to the following query. In 2008, then-Senator Barack Obama described Hillary Clinton as, quote, "likable enough," end quote. What two words would you use to describe the Democratic frontrunner? Governor Pataki to start. +p1009 +aVWow. Carly Fiorina. +p1010 +aVGovernor Jindal? +p1011 +aVGovernor? +p1012 +aVNot a lot of compliments. To be continued. Mac +p1013 +aVThank you Governor. Senator Santorum? +p1014 +aVAll right. Senator thank you. Mac +p1015 +aVCarly Fiorina, closing statement. +p1016 +aVThank you. Mac +p1017 +aVAnd to Governor Pataki, closing statement now. +p1018 +aVThank you, Governor. Mac +p1019 +aVThat concludes the first debate of the 2016 Republican primary. We would like to thank all seven of you for being here today. +p1020 +asVUNIDENTIFIED +p1021 +(lp1022 +VWhy don't, why don't we... +p1023 +asVBAIER +p1024 +(lp1025 +VLess than a year from now, in this very arena, one of these 10 candidates or one of the seven on the previous debate tonight will accept the Republican party's nomination. Tonight's candidates were selected based on an average of five national polls. Just a few hours ago, you heard from the candidates ranked 11th through 17. And now, the prime-time event, the top 10. +p1026 +aVNeurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Florida Senator Marco Rubio. +p1027 +aVIt might be. It might be. We'll see. [ +p1028 +aVIt might be. The rules for tonight are simple. One minute for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups. And if a candidate runs over, you'll hear this. Pleasant, no? We also have a big crowd here with us tonight in the home of the Cavaliers, as I mentioned. And while we expect them... ... we expect them to be enthusiastic, as you heard, we don't want to take anything away from the valuable time for the candidate. So, we're looking for somewhere between a reaction to a LeBron James dunk and the Cleveland Public Library across the street. Somewhere there, we'll find a balance tonight. Without further ado, let's begin. +p1029 +aVGentlemen, we know how much you love hand-raising questions. So we promise, this is the only one tonight: the only one. Is there anyone on stage, and can I see hands, who is unwilling tonight to pledge your support to the eventual nominee of the Republican party and pledge to not run an independent campaign against that person. Again, we're looking for you to raise your hand now -- raise your hand now if you won't make that pledge tonight. Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump to be clear, you're standing on a Republican primary debate stage. +p1030 +aVThe place where the RNC will give the nominee the nod. +p1031 +aVAnd that experts say an independent run would almost certainly hand the race over to Democrats and likely another Clinton. You can't say tonight that you can make that pledge? +p1032 +aVSo tonight, you can't say if another one of these... +p1033 +aVOK. +p1034 +aVDr. Paul. +p1035 +aVOK. +p1036 +aVJust to be clear, you can't make a -- we're gonna -- we're going to move on. You're not gonna make the pledge tonight? +p1037 +aVOK. Alright. +p1038 +aVGovernor Bush, you have insisted that you're your own man. You say you have a life experience uniquely your own. Not your father's, not your brother's. But there are several opponents on this stage who get big- applause lines in early voting states with this line: quote, "the last thing the country needs is another Bush in the Oval Office." So do you understand the real concern in this country about dynastic politics? +p1039 +aVGovernor Christie, you're not exactly the darling of conservatives. You tout your record as a Republican governor in a blue state. On Facebook, the most people talking about you, not surprisingly, come from your state of New Jersey, and one of the top issues they are talking about is the economy. This -- this may be why. Under your watch, New Jersey has undergone nine credit rating downgrades. The state's 44th in private sector growth. You face an employee pension crisis and the Garden State has the third highest foreclosure rate in the country. So why should voters believe that your management of the country's finances would be any different? +p1040 +aVSenator Paul, you recently blamed the rise of +p1041 +aVGentlemen, the next series of questions deals with ObamaCare and the role of the federal government. Mr. Trump, ObamaCare is one of the things you call a disaster. +p1042 +aVSaying it needs to be repealed and replaced. +p1043 +aVNow, 15 years ago, you called yourself a liberal on health care. You were for a single-payer system, a Canadian-style system. Why were you for that then and why aren't you for it now? +p1044 +aVBut on ObamaCare... +p1045 +aVMr. Trump, hold up one second. +p1046 +aVAll right, now, hold on, Senator Paul... +p1047 +aVOK. +p1048 +aVAll right, let me... Mr. Trump, it's not just your past support for single- payer health care. You've also supported a host of other liberal policies. Use -- you've also donated to several Democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton included, Nancy Pelosi. You explained away those donations saying you did that to get business-related favors. And you said recently, quote, "When you give, they do whatever the hell you want them to do." +p1049 +aVSo what specifically did... +p1050 +aV-- they do? +p1051 +aVHold on. We're going to -- we're going to move on. We'll come back to you, Governor Walker. +p1052 +aVWe have many questions to come. +p1053 +aVMany questions to come. Governor Huckabee, on Facebook, John Pietricone asked this, "Will you abolish or take away the powers and cut the size of the EPA, the IRS, the Department of Education?" Now, broadly... ...broadly, the size of government is a big concern for Facebook users, Facebook persons, as well as, obviously, conservatives. But year after year, decade after decade, there are promises from Republicans to shrink government. But year after year, decade after decade, it doesn't happen. In fact, it gets bigger, even under Republican politicians. So the question is, at this point, is the government simply too big for any one person, even a Republican, to shrink? +p1054 +aVDr. Carson... +p1055 +aVDr. Carson, do you agree with that? +p1056 +aVGovernor Bush? +p1057 +aVWe're going to come back to you, Dr. Carson. Governor Bush, you are one of the few people on the stage who advocates for Common Core education standards, reading and math. A lot of people on this stage vigorously oppose a federal involvement in education. They say it should all be handled locally. President Obama's secretary of education, Arnie Duncan, has said that most of the criticism of Common Core is due to a, quote, "fringe group of critics." Do you think that's accurate? +p1058 +aVSenator Rubio, why is Governor Bush wrong on Common Core? +p1059 +aVAnd do you agree with your old friend? +p1060 +aVWe have many more questions coming on a host of topics, here from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Stay with us. +p1061 +aVWe have many more questions coming on a host of topics. Here from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Stay with us. +p1062 +aVGentlemen, another question for a few of you. Yesterday, just yesterday, President Obama criticized Republican lawmakers trying to block the Iran deal, calling them knee-jerk partisans, adding that hardliners in Iran who chant "death to America" were, quote, "making common cause with the Republican caucus." Here's what two of your opponents on the 5 p.m. debate stage said about Iran. +p1063 +aVNow, I wanna ask a few of you this. First, Governor Walker. You've said that you would tear up the Iran deal on day one. If this deal is undone, what then? +p1064 +aVSenator Paul, would you tear up the deal on day one? +p1065 +aVGovernor Huckabee, what do you think about what Senator Paul just said? +p1066 +aVThank you, gentlemen. +p1067 +aVWelcome back to Cleveland. Our next topic is foreign policy. Candidates, you may not have seen the late developing news today our Fox Pentagon team broke earlier this evening about a top Iranian general traveling to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. His name is General Qassem Soleimani, he's blamed for hundreds of U.S. troop's deaths in Iraq, and Afghanistan. His trip to Russia appears to directly violate U.N. Security Council resolutions to confine him to Iran. So, Mr. Trump, if you were president, how would you respond to this? +p1068 +aVAnother new development today, Senior Defense officials tell Fox they strongly suspect Russia was behind the cyber attack on the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs office... +p1069 +aV...email. This comes in the wake of the Director of National Intelligence blaming the Chinese for the largest ever cyber attack, stealing personal data of tens of millions of Americans. Senator Cruz, in your view, have Russia and China committed acts of cyber war, and if you were president, what would you do about it? +p1070 +aVDr. Carson, in August of 2012 President Obama famously declared Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons, quote, "that's a redline for us," and that there would be enormous consequences. One year later, with overwhelming evidence the Assad had, in fact, used chemical weapons and crossed that red line, President Obama declined to use military force against the Assad regime. As president, would you have used military force there? +p1071 +aVGovernor Walker, as president, what would you do if Russian President Vladimir Putin started a campaign to destabilize +p1072 +aVGovernor -- Governor Huckabee, the culture of the American military is definitely changing. Women are moving into combat roles. Don't Ask, Don't Tell has obviously been dropped. And now Defense Secretary Ashton Carter recently directed the military to prepare for a moment when it is welcoming transgender persons to serve openly. As commander in chief, how would you handle that? +p1073 +aVSenator Paul, the first budget you proposed as senator cut all financial aid to Israel. You have since changed your view on that issue. What made you change your mind. +p1074 +aVOK. But you still say that Israel could be one of the countries that is cut from financial aid? +p1075 +aVGovernor Christie, what do you think of that answer? +p1076 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p1077 +aVSenator, we're going to finish up with some more questions, thank you. +p1078 +aVNow each candidate will make a closing statement. You'll all have 30 seconds to make a closing statement for this debate. We'll start with Ohio Governor John Kasich. +p1079 +aVSenator Marco Rubio. +p1080 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1081 +aVGovernor Mike Huckabee, closing statement. +p1082 +aVMr. Trump, closing statement, sir. +p1083 +aVGentlemen, thank you. +p1084 +aVThat's it. +p1085 +asVMADDOW +p1086 +(lp1087 +VWe are super excited to be here at the University of New Hampshire. Tonight, this is the first time that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have squared off exactly like this. Face-to-face, just one-on-one, just the two of them. +p1088 +aVAnd we do hope that the candidates will take this opportunity to show us the distinctions\u2014show us the differences between them. That's the whole reason that we're here tonight. We're not here for talking points. We're to learn about the difference between the candidates. And with that, let's get going. Please join us in welcoming Secretary Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders. +p1089 +aVAnd with that, that's it. We're going to begin with 60- second opening statements from each of the candidates. And as agreed to in advance by the two campaigns, we're going to begin tonight with Senator Sanders. +p1090 +aVSecretary Clinton, Senator Sanders is campaigning against you now, at this point in the campaign, basically arguing that you are not progressive enough to be the Democratic nominee. He has said that if you voted for the Iraq war, if you are in favor of the death penalty, if you wobbled on things like the Keystone Pipeline or TPP, if you said single payer health care could never happen, then you're too far to the right of the Democratic Party to be the party's standard bearer. Given those policy positions, why should liberal Democrats support you and not Senator Sanders? +p1091 +aVSenator Sanders, have you established a list of what it means to be a progressive that is unrealistic? +p1092 +aVThank you Senator. +p1093 +aVSenator Sanders, as a Vermonter, you have almost a home state advantage here in New Hampshire. But back home across the border, you also have a long history of running against Democrats as a third-party candidate, for governor, Senate, for Congress. In 1988 your candidacy as a third-party candidate arguably cost the Democrats a congressional seat and sent a Republican instead. How can you lead the Democratic Party nationally when you have not been a member of the Democratic Party until very recently? +p1094 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p1095 +aVSo, Senator, to that point, Secretary Clinton is raising the issue of endorsements by your home state Democrats. She's implying that that says something about the people who know you best. +p1096 +aVHow do you see it? +p1097 +aVSecretary. +p1098 +aVSenator Sanders, you'll have 30 seconds to respond to that. +p1099 +aVSenator Sanders, Secretary Clinton, obviously we've touched a nerve. We're going to be back with more on this subject, and much more, right after this. Stay with us. +p1100 +aVSecretary Clinton, on the issue of Wall Street... +p1101 +aV... on the issue of Wall Street, when our reporters go out and talk to people on the ground in the early states, what they tell us over and over again when they find voters who are leaning toward Senator Sanders rather than yourself is that the most frequent area of concern that they hear from those voters is the issue of Wall Street and whether or not you are too close to Wall Street. Last night, when you were asked about speaking fees and the amount of speaking fees you got from Goldman Sachs speeches, you said that's what they offered. Have you been too dismissive of voters' concerns about this issue in your own campaign and your own career? +p1102 +aVSenator Sanders, you have been a critic of Secretary Clinton taking those speaking fees and having donations from Wall Street. What about her defense of her record? +p1103 +aVSenator Sanders, let me turn to, I think, where this direction is heading anyway, which is the broader issue of big business and power in our political system. You on the campaign trail have railed against big name American corporations like Boeing, and General Electric, and Wal Mart. But, some big businesses in this country have also been part of advancing progressive goals like that nationwide initiative to expand employment opportunities for veterans. That was all about cooperation between the Obama administration and some very big business. The Affordable Care Act, some of the thorniest problems in that bill were worked out in cooperation with big business in order to accomplish progressive goals. Could you work with them, or have you made enemies of big business in this country with the way you've approached them in this campaign? +p1104 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. And with that, we're going to take a break. +p1105 +aVWelcome back\u2014welcome back to the Democratic candidates' debate. We're going to be talking about America in the world, both in terms of some trade issues, but also national security. And Secretary Clinton, we're going to start with you. There are more than 4,000 American troops back in Iraq right now as part of the fight against +p1106 +aVTo be clear, to the specific question, if that strategic goal that you're describing requires considerably more of Americans\u2014an ever-increasing number of Americans in Iraq and maybe in Syria, are you OK with the numbers increasing? +p1107 +aVThank you, Madam Secretary. +p1108 +aVSecretary Clinton, at the\u2014at the last Democratic debate in Charleston\u2014I want to get specific here\u2014Senator Sanders called for moving as aggressively as we can to normalize relations with Iran. Your campaign has criticized him for saying that. Now that he's standing next to you here on this stage, can you explain why the U.S. shouldn't try to normalize relations in Iran in your view? +p1109 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to ask you about a national security issue that is closer to home. There are thousands of veterans, over 100,000 veterans living in the state of New Hampshire. If either one of you is nominated as the Democratic Party's nominee, you will likely face a Republican opponent in the general election who wants to privatize or even abolish big parts of the V.A. It's a newly popular idea in conservative politics. How will you win the argument on that issue given the problems that have been exposed at the V.A. in the last few years? What's your argument that the V.A. should still exist and should not be privatized? +p1110 +aVSenator Sanders, you, as a congressional leader on veterans issues and the Veterans Committee, you've worked in a very bipartisan way with Senator John McCain and others on veterans issues. Is the right contour of the fight, the way she's talking about this issue? +p1111 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Sanders, Secretary Clinton, we're going to take another break. We'll be talking about Social Security and some of those other issues when we come back. +p1112 +aVSenator\u2014Senator Sanders, in 1964... +p1113 +aVIn 1964, I heard that the Republicans nominated Barry Goldwater, who was the hero of the conservative movement. He was, however, far to the right of most of that party. In 1972, the Democrats nominated George McGovern, who was a hero of liberals in the antiwar movement, but he was to the left of his party's mainstream. Both of those nominees made activists very excited, and they both got destroyed in the general election. Even Democrats who love you worry about your fate in a general election. And I know you have good head-to-head polling numbers against Republican frontrunners right now. We know that. But do you have a general election strategy that is different than the way you're running right now to try to get the nomination? +p1114 +aVSecretary Clinton, your campaign surrogates, and people who have endorsed you, have suggested that or even said that if Senator Sanders is the nominee, that Democrats will suffer nationwide and the chances will go down of Democrats holding onto the White House. With him here standing next to you, can you tell us whether or not you believe he would win the general election if he were nominated? +p1115 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. Senator, in December, one of your campaign staffers was fired from your campaign for taking voter data essentially from the Clinton campaign. You apologized for that when the incident was made public. Your campaign has now been criticized for its operatives essentially impersonating culinary union members wearing union pins in Nevada, and the Nashua Telegraph has complained recently that you falsely implied in an advertisement that they had endorsed you when they did not. None of these issues obviously is the end of the world, but they all are of a piece. Are you in some sense losing control of your campaign? +p1116 +aVJust to follow up on that, the title of the ad in question was Endorsement. +p1117 +aVSecretary Clinton, do you want 30 seconds on that issue? +p1118 +aVAnd with that, we will . +p1119 +aVWelcome back to the University of New Hampshire, and the Democratic candidates' debate. Secretary Clinton, on the issue of the death penalty, here in New Hampshire, the one person who is on death row is there for killing a police officer. It's a crime that has caused anguish in this state, both among death penalty opponents and death penalty supporters. The last time I had the chance to talk with you on this issue, on the death penalty, you said that capital punishment has a place in a very few federal cases, but you also said you would breathe a sigh of relief if the Supreme Court abolished the death penalty nationwide. Tonight, do you still support capital punishment, even if you do so reluctantly? +p1120 +aVSenator Sanders, you have singled out the death penalty, and Senator Clinton's support for the death penalty, as an issue that makes it hard to consider as progressive in your mind... +p1121 +aVAnother issue related to the proper role of government, and in this case, specifically the role of government between the federal government and the states. I want to talk for a moment about the issue of Flint, Michigan. On the Flint lead poisoning disaster, you have both been highly critical of Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan, and how the state in Michigan both caused the lead poisoning problem, and has not acted fast enough to fix it. You have both been outspoken on that. The fact is that Michigan though has not fixed it. There is no door to door delivery of clean water in Flint even today. Not a single lead pipe has been replaced in Flint, even today. If the state is failing, would you, Secretary Clinton, would you as President order a federal response to get it right over and above the wishes of the state? +p1122 +aVSenator Sanders are there things the President could be doing? President Obama could be ordering, done, right now, in Flint, Michigan that are not being done that you as President would do? +p1123 +aVSenator, thank you. +p1124 +aVThe home stretch. +p1125 +aVSecretary Clinton, Republicans, particularly in campaign years, often talk about which departments of government\u2014which agencies of government they would get rid of if they were elected president. The EPA, the Department of Education, the Commerce Department, oops\u2014is\u2014is there a department of government that you would get rid of? Or is there a whole new one that you would create? +p1126 +aVThank you, Secretary Clinton. +p1127 +aVThank you very much. Thank you. +p1128 +aVWe also want to thank our host, the University of New Hampshire, and the people of New Hampshire. You guys get to vote in just five days. I can't wait to see how it turns out. Don't screw up. +p1129 +asVSEIB +p1130 +(lp1131 +VThis evening Fox Business is partnering with the Wall Street Journal to bring you the fourth republican presidential debate of the 2016 campaign. For the next hour, four of the candidates will be here answering the question voters want answered. +p1132 +aVSenator Santorum, you're all obviously highly critical of President Obama's economic record. But federal statistics show that payrolls have expanded by 8.7 million new jobs so far during his time in office. All the jobs lost in the recession were recovered by last year. And in October, the economy added jobs at the fastest rate since 2009. So what's wrong with the Obama jobs record? +p1133 +aVGovernor Jindal, Republicans have now 32 of the nation's 50 governor seats. But, even while you're doing very well at the state level, you keep falling short nationally. You've lost the popular vote in five of the last six presidential elections. Are Democrats simply putting forward a better national economic message than the one Republicans are offering? And what should Republicans do about it. +p1134 +aVSenator Santorum, we're in the Upper-Midwest, heart of the American auto industry. The Auto Alliance says the state of Wisconsin, where we are tonight, is home to 176 auto supplier companies. Back in 2008, you opposed the use of federal bailout funds for automakers as proposed then by the Bush administration. The automakers survived. In retrospect, do you still think that was the right position. +p1135 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p1136 +aVGovernor Jindal, there's a new trade deal the Obama administration has completed with 11 other Pacific nations. The U.S. Trade Representative's office says that deal will cut 18,000 different tariffs on American goods sent to the Pacific and will cut tariffs on goods made in your state of Louisiana by as much as 40 percent. Even a skeptical about \u2014 a skeptic about this deal, now that the details are public, are you going to be for it? +p1137 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1138 +aV...Guys... +p1139 +aVGovernor Christie... +p1140 +aV...last word, briefly +p1141 +aV...Thank you both, Governors. +p1142 +aV...No, no, Senator Santorum... +p1143 +aV...I have a question for you. Just about everybody agrees that the nation's infrastructure is in bad shape. Urban highway congestion costs the economy more than $100 billion dollars annually, nearly one in four bridges in the National Highway System is structurally deficient, or obsolete. Congress is working on a six year highway bill to try to fix this problem. It only funds it for about three years. Should Americans be asked to pay more in federal gas taxes in order to address this problem? +p1144 +aVSenator, I don't think we got to infrastructure, but I understand. +p1145 +aVNo, no. To do the things you're talking about, that you're all talking about, getting things done in Washington, you have to work with the other side. So a question, who in Congress do you most admire on the Democratic side? I need one name from each of you. And let's start with Governor Jindal. +p1146 +aVGovernor Huckabee? +p1147 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1148 +aVSenator Santorum? +p1149 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p1150 +aVGovernor Jindal, you've proposed something different. You've proposed eliminating the federal corporate income tax entirely. Why would have you wage-earners and investors pay an income tax but not a corporation? +p1151 +aVWelcome back to the Republican Presidential Debate live from Milwaukee's historic theater. Let's get back to the questions. Governor Christie, by keeping interest rates so low for so long, is the Fed creating a new financial bubble in real estate or stock as prices that will burst and create problems down the road, or has it been right to err on the side of trying to help the recovery through low rates? +p1152 +aVCandidates, it's time for closing statements, 30 seconds. Governor Jindal, we'll start with you. +p1153 +aVSenator Santorum. +p1154 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p1155 +aVGovernor Christie. +p1156 +asVTAPPER +p1157 +(lp1158 +VI'm Jake Tapper. We're live at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California for the main event. Round 2 of CNN's presidential debate starts now. The eleven leading Republican candidates for president are at their podiums. They are ready to face off, and if you've been watching this race, you know anything could happen over the next few hours. To viewers who are just joining us, welcome to the Air Force One Pavilion of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Our thanks to the staff here and especially to former first lady Nancy Reagan for this impressive setting with Ronald Reagan's presidential plane as our backdrop. This debate is airing on CNN networks in the United States and around the world. It's also being broadcast on the Salem Radio Network. I know everyone is very eager to get started. But first, I want to explain the ground rules tonight. My name is Jake Tapper. I'll be the moderator. I will be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt. He worked in the Reagan administration for six years. And by CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. I will ask follow-up questions, I will attempt to guide the discussion. Candidates, I will try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have one minute to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you've been singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. These 11 Republicans are positioned on the stage based on their ranking in recent national polls. Our goal for this evening is a debate. A true debate, with candidates addressing each other in areas where they differ. Where they disagree \u2014 on policy, on politics, on leadership. Now, let's begin. I'd like to invite each candidate to take 30 seconds to introduce him or herself to our audience. First to you, Senator Paul. +p1159 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1160 +aVThank you one and all for being here. There are many important policy issues facing our nation. We're going to get to many of them tonight, but I do want to start off with some current events in the news, and also some of the comments the candidates have recently made on the campaign trail. Mrs. Fiorina, I want to start with you. Fellow Republican candidate, and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, has suggested that your party's frontrunner, Mr. Donald Trump, would be dangerous as President. He said he wouldn't want, quote, "such a hot head with his finger on the nuclear codes." You, as well, have raised concerns about Mr. Trump's temperament. You've dismissed him as an entertainer. Would you feel comfortable with Donald trump's finger on the nuclear codes? +p1161 +aVYou didn't answer my question. Would you feel comfortable with Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear codes? It's an issue that one of your fellow candidates has raised. +p1162 +aVMr. Trump? +p1163 +aVMr. \u2014 Senator Paul, your name has been invoked. +p1164 +aVMr. Trump? +p1165 +aVI want to \u2014 I want to give Mr. Trump... +p1166 +aV... Mr. Trump, I want to give you another chance \u2014 Mr. Trump, I want to give you a chance to respond to something that your rival to your left, Governor Bush, said. Governor Bush told me last week when I read him the quote from Governor Jindal that he agrees you're not a serious candidate. Tell Governor Bush why you are a serious candidate and what your qualifications are to be commander-in-chief. +p1167 +aVGovernor Bush, would you feel comfortable with Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear codes? +p1168 +aVGovernor Walker? +p1169 +aVLet's move on. +p1170 +aVA phenomenon going on in the race right now is the political... OK, Governor Kasich, go ahead. +p1171 +aVWe have a lot of issues coming up, sir. +p1172 +aVWe are getting to the issues, sir. Phenomenon going on in the race is the political outsiders in the race, Dr. Carson, Donald Trump, Carly Fiorina, all together, have majority support in the polls. Governor Christie, I want to ask you about something that Dr. Carson said the other day. Dr. Carson said campaigning is easier for him, because he's not a politician. He can just tell the truth, therefore, while politicians, quote, "Have their finger in the air to see and do what is politically expedient." Governor Christie, tell Dr. Carson, is that a fair description of you? +p1173 +aVWell, let's find out. Thank you. +p1174 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. Dr. Carson, who were you thinking about on this stage when you said that? +p1175 +aVAnd more broadly, is experience in government not important for a president to have? +p1176 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1177 +aVThank you. +p1178 +aVThank you. Thank you Ms. Fiorina. Governor Bush, in addition to the fact that he's an outsider, one of the reasons Mr. Trump is a frontrunner, Republican voters say, is because they like the fact that he is not bought and paid for by wealthy donors. Mr. Trump has repeatedly said that the $100 million you've raised for your campaign makes you a puppet for your donors. Are you? +p1179 +aVIs there anything else you want to say about this? +p1180 +aVGovernor \u2014 +p1181 +aVSure Dr. Carson. +p1182 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Let's move to Russia if we could. Russia is sending troops and tanks into Syria right now to prop up a U.S. enemy, Bashar al-Assad. President Obama's incoming top general says, quote, "Russia presents the greatest threat to our national security." Mr. Trump, you say you can do business with President Vladimir Putin, you say you will get along, quote, "very well." What would you do right now if you were president, to get the Russians out of Syria? +p1183 +aVSo, you \u2014 just to clarify, the only answer I heard to the question I asked is that you would \u2014 you would reach out to Vladimir Putin, and you would do what? You would... +p1184 +aVSenator Rubio, you've taken a very different approach to the \u2014 the question of Russia. You've called Vladimir Putin a, quote, "gangster." Why would President Rubio's approach be more effective than President Trump's? +p1185 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. +p1186 +aVI want to bring in Carly Fiorina. +p1187 +aVMs. Fiorina, you have met... +p1188 +aV...yeah, you've met Vladimir Putin. Yes. +p1189 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p1190 +aVThank you. +p1191 +aVThank you. Thank you, Ms. Fiorina. While you're \u2014 while you brought up the subject of General Suleimani of the Quds forces from Iran, the next president, no matter who he or she may be, will inherit President Obama's Iran deal. Senator Cruz, Governor Kasich says that anyone who is promising to rip up the Iran deal on day one, as you have promised to do, is, quote, "inexperienced," and, quote, "playing to a crowd." Respond to Governor Kasich, please. +p1192 +aVWhy is that not, as Governor Kasich says, playing to the crowd and an example of you being inexperienced? +p1193 +aVGovernor Kasich... +p1194 +aV...Did Senator Cruz just play to the crowd? +p1195 +aV...Thank you, Governor. I want to go to Senator Paul. +p1196 +aVI want to go to Senator Paul. Senator Paul, the White House is rolling out the red carpet next week for the President of China, President Xi. Governor Walker says that President Obama should cancel the state dinner because of China's currency manipulation, and because of China's alleged cyber attacks against the United States. Is Governor Walker right? +p1197 +aVGovernor Walker, Senator Paul seemed to suggest... +p1198 +aV...that canceling the state dinner would be rash, and reckless. +p1199 +aV...Governor Bush... +p1200 +aVGovernor Bush, your father was the chief diplomatic envoy to China back when Nixon opened relations to China. Is Scott Walker's approach the right one, canceling the state dinner? +p1201 +aVI want to turn... +p1202 +aV...I want to turn to Governor Huckabee who has been very patient. Somebody had to be 11th, and he is, but, I do want to change the subject to the event that you had... +p1203 +aV... however you want, but I want to ask this question. +p1204 +aVAll right, sir, go ahead. +p1205 +aVOK. ( +p1206 +aVWe're going to turn now to Hugh Hewitt, from Salem Radio Network. +p1207 +aVThank you, Senator Paul. I want to turn now to my colleague Dana Bash. +p1208 +aVThat would be fair, you're right. You're the third senator. +p1209 +aVWe're going to go to Dana Bash... +p1210 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1211 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1212 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1213 +aVThank you, Senator. I want to... +p1214 +aV... turn back to Governor Huckabee... +p1215 +aVI want to turn back to Governor Huckabee. Governor Huckabee, last week, you held a rally for a county clerk in Kentucky who was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, as I don't need to tell you. You've called what happened to Kim Davis, that clerk, "an example of the criminalization of Christianity." There are several people on the stage who disagree with you. Governor Bush, for example, says that that clerk is sworn to uphold the law. Is Governor Bush on the wrong side of the criminalization of Christianity? +p1216 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1217 +aVWell, I'm not telling you that, Governor. But Governor Bush is, because he \u2014 because he disagrees. He thinks that Kim Davis swore to uphold the law. You disagree? You're not \u2014 you don't... +p1218 +aVOK. Please do. +p1219 +aVYou did... +p1220 +aVGovernor, you said, quote, "she is sworn to uphold the law." +p1221 +aVLet me go to my colleague Dana Bash, who has a question. +p1222 +aVDana, I want to continue on the subject. Governor Bush, you recently said while discussing Planned Parenthood, quote, you're "not sure we need a half billion for women's health issues." Now you've since said that you misspoke, you didn't mean to say "women's health issues." But Donald Trump said that quote, that comment, which Hillary Clinton did seize upon immediately, will haunt you the same way Mitt Romney's 47 percent video haunted him. Tell Donald Trump why he's wrong. +p1223 +aVThank you, Governor Bush. Donald Trump, let me just... +p1224 +aVThe quote was, "I'm not sure we need half a billion dollars for women's health issues." He said he misspoke. You said that that's going to haunt him. Why do you think that? +p1225 +aVGovernor Bush? +p1226 +aVI want to \u2014 we're going to get to \u2014 +p1227 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1228 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1229 +aVWe're going to \u2014 we're going to get to many of these issues. This \u2014 we're still in the first block, believe it or not. We're going to get to many of these issues, but before we end this block, Ms. Fiorina, I do want to ask you about this. In an interview last week in Rolling Stone magazine, Donald Trump said the following about you. Quote, "Look at that face. Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?" Mr. Trump later said he was talking about your persona, not your appearance. Please feel free to respond what you think about his persona. +p1230 +aVAll right. On that note, in less than two minutes \u2014 we're going to take a very quick break. In less than two minutes, the most contentious issue on the campaign trail. And the candidates on the stage are split over how to handle it. That's coming up next. Please give some applause to the candidates. +p1231 +aVWelcome to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate. No topic perhaps has been more combustible in this campaign than the issue of immigration. Mr. Trump, you have called for deporting every undocumented immigrant, Governor Christie has said, quote, "There are not enough law enforcement officers \u2014 local, county, state and federal combined \u2014 to forcibly deport 11 to 12 million people." Tell Governor Christie how much your plan will cost, and how you will get it done. +p1232 +aVGovernor Christie, you and I have talked about this in an interview. You say that his big wall, his plan to deport 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants, it sounds great, but it's never going to happen. Tell him why you're skeptical of his plans? +p1233 +aVThank you, Governor Christie... +p1234 +aVI want to bring in Dr. Carson because he too has been skeptical of your plan to immediately deport 11 to 12 million illegal immigrants. He said, quote, "People who say that have no idea what this entails." Why do you say that, Dr. Carson? +p1235 +aV...Dr. Carson... +p1236 +aVWith all due respect, you said about Donald Trump's plan to deport 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants, "People who say that have no idea what this entails." Why not? +p1237 +aV...let's continue the conversation about illegal immigration with Dana Bash. +p1238 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Senator Cruz \u2014 Senator Cruz, this week, we learned more about Dr. Carson's plan for the 11 million to 12 million undocumented immigrants in this country. Dr. Carson proposed giving these undocumented immigrants a six- month grace period to pay back taxes then to let them become guest workers and only to deport people who failed to do that. +p1239 +aVWell, how would you say it, sir? I was just reading the Wall Street Journal quote, but please tell us. +p1240 +aVOK, from the horse's mouth, Senator Cruz, does that fit your definition of amnesty? +p1241 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Rubio... +p1242 +aV... I'm not sure... +p1243 +aVWe'll come back to you \u2014 we'll come back to you in one second, sir. But Senator Rubio, I'm not sure exactly whose plan he's \u2014 he's saying is \u2014 constitutes amnesty, but I know he has said it about your plan in the past, so I want to give you a chance to respond, then, Dr. Carson, we'll come to you. +p1244 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1245 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator \u2014 Dr. Carson... ... I want to give you 30 seconds. I'd like you to answer the question. Senator Cruz describes plans such as yours as amnesty. Why is your plan not amnesty? +p1246 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. I want to talk about the issue of birthright citizenship, which \u2014 which has emerged since the first debate as \u2014 as an a \u2014 a major issue in this campaign. Mr. Trump, you say that babies born in the United States to undocumented immigrants should not any longer get automatic American citizenship. Ms. Fiorina says that you are pandering on this issue and acting like the politicians that you rail against. What's your message to Ms. Fiorina on birthright citizenship? +p1247 +aVMs. Fiorina, the vast majority of countries do not have birthright citizenship... ...Donald Trump is right about that. Why is it pandering when he's \u2014 he says this? +p1248 +aVMs. Fiorina... +p1249 +aVPlease. +p1250 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p1251 +aVThank you. +p1252 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Mr. Trump, I want to give you the chance to respond... +p1253 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. Senator Paul... +p1254 +aVSenator Paul, I want to bring you in. Where \u2014 where do you stand on the issue of birthright citizenship? +p1255 +aVAll right. Senator Paul, thank you so much. Let's turn to a new topic. We've received a lot of questions on social media about the economy and about jobs. We have two CEOs on stage right now. Ms. Fiorina, you were CEO of Hewlett Packard. Donald Trump says you, quote, "ran HP into the ground," you laid off tens of thousands of people, you got viciously fired. For voters looking to somebody with private-sector experience to create American jobs, why should they pick you and not Donald Trump? +p1256 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p1257 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p1258 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 Mr. Trump, why would you be better at creating jobs than Carly Fiorina? +p1259 +aVMs. Fiorina, I want to give you a chance to respond. +p1260 +aVMr. Trump. +p1261 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. +p1262 +aVGovernor Christie's name has been invoked. I'd like to give him a 30 second opportunity. +p1263 +aVMs. Fiorina, I want to give you +p1264 +aVGovernor Kasich, I'm coming to you next, but Ms. Fiorina's name was mentioned, and I have to give her the opportunity to respond if she wants it. +p1265 +aVThank you. +p1266 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Kasich, I want to come \u2014 I'm coming to you. I'm coming to you. Let me ask the question. You can use the time however you want. +p1267 +aVDonald Trump says that the hedge fund guys are getting away with murder by paying a lower tax rate. He wants to raise the taxes of hedge fund managers, as does Governor Bush. Do you agree? +p1268 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1269 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. +p1270 +aVGovernor Huckabee, I want to bring you in on the question of hedge fund managers and taxing them. You have said that you are bothered by the fact that hedge fund managers pay such a low tax rate and make 2,500 times what people who work for them make. Do you agree with what Donald Trump and Governor Bush have proposed, raising their tax rates? +p1271 +aVThank you, Governor. Dr. Carson, you support scrapping the entire tax code and replacing it with a flat tax based on the principal on tithing from the Bible. If you make $10 billion, you pay $1 billion in taxes, if you make $10, you pay $1 in taxes. Donald Trump believes in progressive taxation. He says it's not right that rich people pay the same as the poor. Tell Donald Trump why his ideas on taxes are wrong. +p1272 +aVMr. Trump... +p1273 +aV...What do you think of the flat tax? Do you think it's fair? +p1274 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. Senator Paul? +p1275 +aVGovernor Walker, I want to go to you. Dr. Carson wants to raise the Federal Minimum Wage, you have called it a lame idea. Why is raising the Federal Minimum Wage lame? +p1276 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1277 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1278 +aVDr. Carson, Governor Walker didn't really answer the question, but I'll let you respond. He called raising the Federal Minimum Wage lame, what do you think of that? +p1279 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson... +p1280 +aVLet me bring in our partner from Salem Radio Network, Hugh Hewitt. +p1281 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate. Let's turn to some issues now in foreign policy. Mr. Trump, Senator Rubio said it was, quote, "very concerning to him" that in a recent interview you didn't seem to know the details about some of the enemies the U.S. faces. Rubio said, if you don't know the answers to those questions, you will not be able to serve as commander-in-chief. Please respond to Senator Rubio. +p1282 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1283 +aVMr. Trump? Senator Rubio seemed to be suggesting that you don't know information that... +p1284 +aVAll right. Senator Rubio. +p1285 +aVBut are you saying that you have the knowledge to be the president that Mr. Trump does not have? +p1286 +aVMr. Trump? +p1287 +aVSenator Rubio, he did invoke your absentee record in the Senate. +p1288 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. I want to turn now to Hugh Hewitt. +p1289 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1290 +aVSenator... +p1291 +aVSenator Paul? +p1292 +aVSenator Paul... +p1293 +aVThank you, Senator Paul... +p1294 +aVThank you, Senator Paul... +p1295 +aVI understand that Governor Bush's name has been invoked, and then we can go to you, Senator Rubio. +p1296 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1297 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Rubio? +p1298 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1299 +aVDr. Carson? +p1300 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1301 +aVI mean, it is interesting that you say that, because I want to ask Governor Christie about something else that you have said. Governor Christie, we just marked the 14th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Now Dr. Carson has said that if he had been president at the time, the United States would not have gone to war in Afghanistan. What does that say to you about how Dr. Carson would respond as president if America were attacked again? +p1302 +aVDr. Carson? +p1303 +aV... Governor Christie. +p1304 +aVDr. Carson? +p1305 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1306 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1307 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee. +p1308 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1309 +aVThank you, governor, I want to turn to +p1310 +aVGovernor Walker, there is a big debate now, we have been talking about +p1311 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Paul, I want to go to you, because you have said that the boots on the ground to fight +p1312 +aVThank you, Senator. We're going to turn to some domestic issues now. I want to bring in my colleague, Dana Bash. +p1313 +aVSure.... +p1314 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1315 +aV...Thank you, Governor. Dana Bash... +p1316 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina... +p1317 +aV...Thank you, we're going to turn now to domestic issues with Dana Bash. +p1318 +aV...Dana Bash... +p1319 +aVThank you. Dana Bash? +p1320 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1321 +aV...Governor Bush... +p1322 +aV...I want to let you respond. +p1323 +aVThank you, Governor... ...And, that's what we should do, and I hope I'll be working members of the United States Senate to fight hard for the passage of people that have that kind of qualification. +p1324 +aVSenator Cruz, 30 seconds. +p1325 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1326 +aVThank you, Semator. +p1327 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee, I want to bring you in very quickly if you could. Will you have a litmus test when it comes to appointing Supreme Court nominees? +p1328 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1329 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1330 +aVThank you, Governor. We're going to take a quick break. Coming up, one of the hottest questions that you have been asking us via social media. We will pose it to the candidates. That's coming up right after this. +p1331 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican presidential debate at the Reagan Library here in Simi Valley \u2014 Simi Valley, California. Many people on social media wanted us to ask about marijuana legalization. Senator Paul, Governor Christie recently said, quote, "if you're getting high in Colorado today," where marijuana has been legalized, "enjoy it until January 2017, because I will enforce the federal laws against marijuana." Will you? +p1332 +aVI want to give that \u2014 I want to give the person that you called a hypocrite an opportunity to respond. Do you want to identify that person? +p1333 +aVIs there somebody you were specifically thinking of? +p1334 +aVThat's what I though, but I wanted to say it. +p1335 +aVOK. +p1336 +aVGovernor Bush, please. +p1337 +aVI want to go right now \u2014 I want to go right now... +p1338 +aVThat's true. Go ahead, Christie, please. +p1339 +aVYou may respond, and then I'll bring in you, Ms. Fiorina. +p1340 +aVYes, Senator Paul. +p1341 +aVI want to bring in Ms. Fiorina \u2014 I want to bring in Ms. Fiorina on this issue. +p1342 +aVHugh \u2014 Hugh, I'd like to... +p1343 +aVI'd like to turn it over \u2014 I'd like to turn to Dana Bush. +p1344 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1345 +aVI'm coming to you right now on a separate issue, sir. We received... ( +p1346 +aVWe received a lot of questions from social media about climate change. Senator Rubio, Ronald Reagan's secretary of state, George Shultz, reminds us that when Reagan was president he faced a similar situation to the one that we're facing now. There were dire warnings from the mass consensus of the scientific community about the ozone layer shrinking. Shultz says Ronald Reagan urged skeptics in industry to come up with a plan. He said, do it as an insurance policy in case the scientists are right. The scientists were right. Reagan and his approach worked. Secretary Shultz asks, why not take out an insurance policy and approach climate change the Reagan way? +p1347 +aVI'm citing George Shultz. +p1348 +aVGovernor Christie, you have said that climate change is real, and that humans help contribute to it. Without getting into the issue of China versus the United States, which I understand you've talked about before, what do you make of skeptics of climate change such as Senator Rubio? +p1349 +aVJust for the record, I was citing Secretary of State George Shultz, Ronald Reagan's secretary of state who I don't think anybody would call him left-wing. +p1350 +aVI called you a skeptic. +p1351 +aVI want to go another question right now. +p1352 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1353 +aVI'm turning to... +p1354 +aV...I'm turning to another \u2014 I'm turning to another issue right now. Senator Cruz. Well, I think we've heard from several this evening. A backlash against vaccines was blamed for a measles outbreak here in California. Dr. Carson, Donald Trump has publicly and repeatedly linked vaccines, childhood vaccines, to autism, which, as you know, the medical community adamantly disputes. You're a pediatric neurosurgeon. Should Mr. Trump stop saying this? +p1355 +aVShould he stop saying it? Should he stop saying that vaccines cause autism? +p1356 +aVMr. Trump, as president, you would... +p1357 +aVI'm going right to you. +p1358 +aVMr. Trump, as president, you would be in charge of the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health, both of which say you are wrong. How would you handle this as president? +p1359 +aVThank you. +p1360 +aVDr. \u2014 Dr. Carson? +p1361 +aVDr. Carson, you just heard his medical take. +p1362 +aVDr. Paul? Dr. Paul, I'd like to bring you in. +p1363 +aVAlright, thank you so much... +p1364 +aVComing up \u2014 I'm sorry, Governor Huckabee, please. +p1365 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1366 +aVWe have to take another quick break. Coming up, Ronald Reagan looming large over this debate. So how Reaganesque exactly are these Republicans? We will find out next. +p1367 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California. We have a few last questions for you. Two of them a little lighthearted, the other one more serious. We'll start with one of the more light questions. Senator Paul, I'm going to start with you and we're just going to go down the line. Earlier this year, the Treasury Department announced that a woman will appear on the $10 bill. What woman would you like to see on the $10 bill? +p1368 +aVGovernor Huckabee? +p1369 +aVSenator Paul (sic). +p1370 +aVI'm sorry. Senator Rubio? +p1371 +aVJust the senators. +p1372 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1373 +aVDr. Carson? +p1374 +aVMr. Trump. +p1375 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1376 +aVGovernor Walker. +p1377 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p1378 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1379 +aVGovernor Christie. +p1380 +aVAlright. Some good entries if anybody at the mint was listening. Here's the next lighthearted question, you all know that the United States Secret Service uses codenames for the president, and his family. Ronald Reagan's codename, for example, was, "Rawhide", an homage to his performances in Westerns. Nancy Reagan's was, "Rainbow". You don't have to come up the one for your spouse, but, what would you want, Governor Christie, I'll start with you, your Secret Service codename to be. +p1381 +aVGovernor Walker? +p1382 +aVMr. Trump? +p1383 +aVDr. Carson? +p1384 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1385 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1386 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p1387 +aVSenator Paul. +p1388 +aVThat's a mouthful, but OK. OK, here's the more serious question, Ronald Reagan, the 40th President, used the plane behind you to accomplish a great many things. Perhaps, most notably, to challenge Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the wall, and ultimately, to make peace with the +p1389 +aVThat concludes this Republican presidential debate. On behalf of everyone here at CNN, we want to thank the candidates, the Reagan Library, and the Republican National Committee. Thank you, also, to Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash. The next presidential debate will also be right here on CNN, among the Democratic candidates, who will face off for the first time on October the 13th. That debate, a partnership with Facebook, will be moderated by my colleague, Anderson Cooper. And Anderson picks up our coverage of tonight's debate right now. Before I throw to Anderson, let's have one final round of applause for the candidates. +p1390 +aVWe're live at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California for one of the most highly anticipated primary season debates ever. On this stage 15 candidates in two rounds of questioning with one goal, to show they have what it takes to be the Republican Presidential Nominee. Welcome to our viewers, I'm Jake Tapper. Tonight's debate is airing on CNN networks around the world, and, of course, here in the United States. It's also being broadcast across the country on the Salmen Radio Network. We want to thank our host, former First Lady Nancy Reagan, and the Reagan Library for this very impressive setting, the Air Force One pavilion. Behind me, you can see the actual plane... ...That Ronald Reagan flew in when he was president. Now, because the GOP field is so large, we have divided the candidates into two groups based on their rankings in recent national polls. Later this evening we will hear from the top 11 contenders. The other four candidates are taking part in the first round, and they are ready to join us now. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindal. The former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania, Rick Santorum. and former New York Governor, George Pataki. Ladies and gentleman, please welcome these Republican candidates for President of the United States. And, now, if you would, please rise for our national anthem performed by actress and singer, Natalie Hill. I'd like to ask the candidates to please take their podiums while I tell you a little more about how tonight debate will work. I'm Jake Tapper. I'll be the moderator. Joining me in the questioning, Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt; he worked in the Reagan administration for six years and CNN's chief political correspondent, Dana Bash. I will follow up and guide the discussion; candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have one minute to answer questions and 30 seconds for followups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you have been singled out for criticism. We have timing lights that are visible to the candidates. Those lights will warn them when their time is up. Our goal tonight is to have a true debate, candidates actually addressing each other in areas where they disagree, where they differ on policy, on politics and on leadership. Now that everyone is in place, it's time for the candidates to introduce themselves to our audience. Please keep it brief. Governor Pataki, you're first. +p1391 +aVThank you candidates. We're going to talk a lot about policy and your proposals this evening. But first, Governor Jindal, I want to start with you. You have said that the front runner, Donald Trump, is a, quote, "unstable, narcissistic, ego maniac." Now, we are in the house of Reagan, who made famous the so-called 11th Commandment, "Thou shalt not speak ill of thy fellow Republican." What drove you to violate that unofficial commandment? +p1392 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1393 +aVSenator Santorum, do you think Governor Jindal is wrong for attacking your party's front runner? +p1394 +aVThank you. Governor Jindal, do you want to respond to that? +p1395 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1396 +aVSenator Santorum, just to assure you, we will get to those issues. But just a couple more on this general subject. Senator Graham, you have called Donald Trump a, quote, "wrecking ball for the Republican party." Voters in your home state of South Carolina, in a recent poll, prefer Donald Trump 30 percent to your 4 percent. How do you explain why so many of your constituents would rather have Donald Trump as the Republican nominee than you? +p1397 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. We're going to bring in Hugh Hewitt now, who has a question for Governor Pataki. +p1398 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1399 +aVSenator Graham? One of the -- the reasons why Donald Trump, Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina are doing well is because they are political outsiders. In fact, that's one of the things -- in fact, there are two things that they have in common. They've never been elected to office before and they're doing better than all of you in the polls. The four of you have a combined seven decades in elected office. Senator Graham, in this election season, do Republican voters see your service in government as a liability and not an asset? +p1400 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1401 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1402 +aVThank you, Senator. Let's turn to the topic of immigration. For that, I want to bring in my colleague, Dana Bash. +p1403 +aVThank you, Governor. I -- I want to change the subject. We're staying on immigration, and I'm bringing you in, Governor Pataki... +p1404 +aV... and Senator Graham, I'm coming to you as well. +p1405 +aVGovernor Pataki, Republicans right now are -- are debating birthright citizenship, the policy of granting U.S. citizenship to every baby born in this country, even if they born to undocumented immigrants. Senator Graham wants to end the policy of birthright citizenship. Governor Pataki, you support keeping it. Tell him why he's wrong. +p1406 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1407 +aVGovernor... +p1408 +aVWhat I -- what I asked about was about birthright citizenship and why you think that we should preserve birthright... +p1409 +aVSenator Graham, most countries in the world do not have birthright citizenship. +p1410 +aVWhy do you think Governor Pataki is wrong? +p1411 +aVWas that a... +p1412 +aV...Thank you Senator... +p1413 +aV...Thank you Senator... +p1414 +aV...We'll come back to you Senator Santorum, I promise... +p1415 +aV...alright... +p1416 +aVThank you, Senator... +p1417 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Pataki, I want to let you have the final word here. +p1418 +aVGovernor Pataki? +p1419 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1420 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Graham, your response when it comes to Syrian refugees? +p1421 +aVThank you, Senator. I want to turn now -- +p1422 +aVWe're going to keep talking about the situation in the Middle East. Let me bring in my colleague, Dana Bash, again. +p1423 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1424 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1425 +aVThank you, thank you, Governor. +p1426 +aVGovernor Pataki -- +p1427 +aVThank you, Governor. Sorry. We have rules and timing. Governor Jindal, I do want to bring you in. I want to turn to a story in news in the story today. A 14-year-old Muslim high school student in Texas was arrested on Monday for bringing a homemade clock to school after it was mistaken for a fake bomb. Police released the young man after they determined it was, in fact, a clock. Today, President Obama invited that student to the White House. Governor Jindal, throughout your campaign, you've spoken many times about Muslim extremists in this country. How would you, as president, strike a balance between vigilance and discrimination? +p1428 +aVGovernor Jindal, I'm afraid you didn't answer the question. How do you strike the balance between vigilance and discrimination? Obviously, we know how you feel about the vigilance part of this. Do you ever see the discrimination part of it? +p1429 +aVThank you, Governor. We will get to that subject later in the debate. Senator Graham? +p1430 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1431 +aVGovernor Pataki? +p1432 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1433 +aVWe'll get to that subject in the next block. We're going to take a very quick break. When we come back, both Jeb Bush and Donald Trump agree on one thing when it comes to taxes. We'll see if any of the candidates on stage agree as well. +p1434 +aVThat's next. Stay with us. +p1435 +aVWelcome back to the CNN Republican Debate at the beautiful Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California. Before we took the break, you were all chomping at the bit to talk about Kim Davis, that Kentucky clerk. Governor Pataki said he would have fired Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk jailed for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses. Senator Santorum, do you agree with Governor Pataki? +p1436 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Pataki, your response? +p1437 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum? +p1438 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1439 +aVWe're coming to both of you. +p1440 +aVWhat... +p1441 +aVGovernor Jindal... +p1442 +aVSenator Graham, do you want to weigh in? +p1443 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1444 +aVSenator... +p1445 +aVThank you, Senator. I want to stay with the subject of Supreme Court judges -- justices. Governor Jindal, both Senators graham and Santorum voted to confirm chief justice of the United States, John Roberts, who has led with the majority twice to uphold ObamaCare. Do you think that Graham's and Santorum's votes to confirm John Roberts were a mistake? +p1446 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Graham, I want to give you an opportunity to respond -- -- I would note that Anthony Kennedy, was, of course, a Ronald Reagan appointee. Senator Graham, do you stand by your vote for John Roberts? +p1447 +aVSenator Santorum, do you stand by your vote for John Roberts? +p1448 +aVGovernor Jindal, I'm going to give you 30 seconds to respond. +p1449 +aVLet me bring back Hugh Hewitt. +p1450 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1451 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1452 +aV...I want to turn -- you're going to be involved in the next question... +p1453 +aV...Senator Graham... +p1454 +aV...Thank you, Senator... +p1455 +aV...Thank you Senator. Senator Graham, I want to turn to the minimum... +p1456 +aV...Well, let's talk about South Carolina... +p1457 +aV...Senator, let's turn to the minimum wage. Senator Santorum is the only person on the stage who has proposed increasing the federal minimum wage. How would that affect South Carolinians? Do you agree with Senator Santorum that the federal minimum wage should be increased? +p1458 +aVSenator Graham, thank you so much. Senator Santorum... Senator Graham is suggesting that your proposal would not allot South Carolinians to hire more workers. +p1459 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1460 +aVThank you, Senator. We have to take a quick break. When we come back, confrontation or negotiation? How will these candidates attempt to handle Russian President Vladimir Putin? That's next. +p1461 +aVAnd we're back at the CNN Republican Debate at the Reagan Library in beautiful Simi Valley, California. Let's turn now to some issues of foreign policy. Senator Graham, you all oppose the U.S. nuclear deal with Iran. Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton, a Republican, is pushing for a U.S. military strike against Iran, against its nuclear facilities. Senator Graham, would you authorize, as president, a nuclear strike against -- I mean, sorry -- a strike against Iran's nuclear facilities? +p1462 +aVGovernor -- -- Hugh -- I'm going to go to Hugh Hewitt for a question for Governor Pataki. +p1463 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1464 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Graham -- +p1465 +aVWe're bringing you in on this question as well. Senator Graham, Vladimir Putin in recent days has sent an estimated six more tanks, four helicopters and Russian ground troops into Syria to help support President Assad, an enemy of the United States. The Russian military is also buzzing American planes and Naval vessels around the world. Your front-runner, Donald Trump, says he can do details with President Putin, that the two of them will get along, quote, "very well." Why would your confrontational approach work better than Mr. Trump's negotiation? +p1466 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1467 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1468 +aVGovernor Jindal, how would President Jindal... ... get the Russians out of Syria? +p1469 +aV... +p1470 +aVWell... +p1471 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1472 +aVThank you, Senator... +p1473 +aVThank you, Senator. The final question... +p1474 +aVThe final questions for these four Republicans as the top contenders get ready to take their places on the debate stage when we come back right after this. Welcome back to the CNN Republican debates at the Reagan Library in beautiful Simi Valley, California. We have time for one more question for the candidates. Governor Pataki, let's start with you. You have all spent the last hour and a half debating each other. The other 11 candidates are on their way to the stage. What is the one thing as a candidate that you offer that no one at the next debate can offer? +p1475 +aVThank you, senator. +p1476 +aVThank you. +p1477 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum? +p1478 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1479 +aVThank you. +p1480 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1481 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Governor Jindal, what is something that you offer as a candidate that the other 11 candidates coming on stage in a few minutes cannot offer? +p1482 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Graham? +p1483 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1484 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. Our thanks to the candidates for a great debate. In just a moment, we're bringing the candidates from both of tonight's debates together for a group photo. That will be a first in this campaign. And then, of course, the main event, the top 11 candidates going head to head. I will be back as moderator. Right now, let's go to my colleague, Anderson Cooper. +p1485 +asVSANTORUM +p1486 +(lp1487 +VYou know, listening to what your network was talking about prior to this race, this debate, reminded me of the coverage that many on this floor are getting. This race, this debate, was called the, "Undercard Debate". The undercard debate. It wasn't advertised significantly. In fact, the entire hour lead up to this there was no conversation about any of the four people on this debate stage, and that is the chronic situation. In fact, they listed -- they put a poll up from Wall Street Journal/NBC News, they listed the candidates, and they failed to mention I wasn't listed. I got zero, why? Because they -- NBC, Wall Street Journal poll never includes my name on the list. This is what the media has been doing over the past year, and trying to segregate, and take Iowans out of the process. What Iowans deserve... ... is to hear from every candidate on equal footing. Had they applied the same rules four years ago, I would have been in the undercard debate. The guy who won the Iowa Caucuses would have been in the undercard debate, not talked about. We would have been talking about, maybe, an entertainer that may have been trying to run. Ladies and gentlemen, you have a chance on Monday to put the record straight about who you want, not who will entertain you. +p1488 +aVBut, who will fight for what you believe in, and I hope you do... +p1489 +aVWell, look. The entire lead up to this debate was talking about whether Donald Trump is going to show up for the next debate. The people of Iowa, who I know pretty darn well, care a lot about the issues. They care about who is going to be the leader of the free world. Who is going to be able to take on +p1490 +aVAnd we are not hearing any of those things. We are hearing about whether someone is going to show up for the next debate or not. +p1491 +aVYes, I am. +p1492 +aVYou know, this, again, more of the politics of trying to get people to throw stuff at each other. I'm not going to throw mud at anybody on this stage tonight. I'm not going to throw mud at anybody on the stage later. I'm not going to attack Donald Trump. What I'm -- Mike Huckabee and I were asked to come to an event where money was going to be raise to do help our veterans. You know, I thought about it. And I thought about. I said well, wait a minute, now, if there were no political considerations and I had some time because I'm not doing anything at 9:00 tonight. And so if I had some time, would I go... ... if I could help raise money for veterans? And the answer was yes, I would. And so I'm going. +p1493 +aVThank you for the question, Martha. We have to have an honest discussion with the American people about the nature of the threat that we confront. This president says that +p1494 +aVWhat I would say is that we have to create jobs that give people wages and benefits that can help them provide for themselves and their families. And that's why I announced from a factory floor in western Pennsylvania, I pledge to make America the number one manufacturing nation, again, in the world. And we can do it. China is starting to reorient itself away from a manufacturing economy that's dumping products on the -- overseas to providing more services to their people. This is an opportunity for America. It's an opportunity for us to get those jobs back. And by the way, do you want to solve global climate change? Take 2 million jobs from China in manufacturing and moving them back here to the United States, where we produce one-fifth the CO2 when we make things. We can help -- we can do every -- we can do it all. We can take care of the environment. We can create more jobs here. Seventy-four percent of Americans don't have a college degree. And unfortunately most folks who, in the Republican Party, don't talk about what we're going to do to create jobs for people who feel like neither political party cares about them. When you elect me, we'll create opportunities for working men and women in this country -- all over this country. +p1495 +aVWell, in fact, the plan that I put forward is scored by the Tax Foundation as bringing three and a half million jobs into this country, and we have provisions in the flat tax for the corporate side that actually has a phase in of manufacturing. Manufacturers initially don't pay any income tax. Ten percent the next year, and 20. We're going to also have a repatriation provision which says that if you have money overseas, and you're Apple, and you got a couple hundred billion dollars there, bring it back. The most you'll be taxed 10%, invest it here in America. Create jobs here in America with all that money that's sitting overseas. We also -- it's not just taxes. It's regulation. I've pledged to cut every single Obamacare -- I mean, excuse me, Obama regulation, including Obamacare, and remove those regulations that cost more than a hundred million dollars in the economy. That will liberate -- and that includes waters of the U.S., and the ozone regulations, they -- the mercury regulations. All of these just crush our manufactures and don't create an opportunity for us to survive. And, remember, China produces five times as much CO2 and other pollutants per dollar of GDP as we do. You want to help the environment? Bring jobs back to America. +p1496 +aVWell, I've been to the March for Life for about 25 years and I thought -- I think that's a pretty good record. Spoken at it a few times and I have shepherded every single piece of pro-life piece of legislation that's passed over the last 20 years. I've either authored it or shepherded it through the United States Congress and I'm pretty proud of that record too. But we have an election going on and there was some snow coming. So I decided that maybe it would be better for me to get out and do some campaigning and not be stuck as my wife and kids were for a week, piling out of two and a half feet of snow. So, here's what I would say. If you want someone that is going to talk a good game, there are a lot of folks on this stage that have talked a good game on the issue of life. Not only have I talked a good game on life and I've done some things. But I've also lived it. You know, one of the things Saint Francis said was, you know, if you preach the gospel, then if you have to, speak. The bottom line is, that twice in my life, we were counseled to have an abortion, one with our son Gabriel and one with our little girl Bella. And neither time did Karen and I for a moment think about it because we know that life begins at conception. We know the dignity of every human life and we know the potential of every child, no matter how long that life lives. And that is a message that can come across to all Americans and without having to say a word and defend the institution of life and the dignity of life in this country. +p1497 +aVThe president of the United States has been the most divisive president in -- certainly in my lifetime. This is a man who constantly... He is not trustworthy. You can't sit down and negotiate with him. He won't keep a deal. We have heard that over and over again. And here is what he does that really, really creates the friction in Washington. He personally attacks people. He ascribes motives to them that aren't true and then he tears them down. How are you going to work with someone if you don't treat them decently, honestly, and respectfully? I was a tough fighter when I was in Washington. I had very sharp elbows. I fought. I went there and joined a game named Jim Nussle here from Iowa with the "gang of seven." And we, in four years' time, took a Congress that had been controlled by Democrats for 40 years, and brought in the first Republican majority because we fought and we fought tough. But you know what? I was able to then work with those same people that we fought with and able to pass welfare reform. Unborn Victims of Violence Act. Pro-life bills. Health savings accounts. A whole laundry list of things not because I was mean, but because I was able to be respectful in the disagreements. And that's what we need in Washington, someone who can be respectful and still unite this country. +p1498 +aVI just want to thank the people of Iowa. Over the last five years I've done 700 speeches and town hall meetings all throughout the state of Iowa, and it has been an incredible right. Thank you. I want to thank all the wonderful folks like Pastor Carey Gordon who gave me a smooth stone and said you go slay Goliaths. Someone like Jim and Janet Cook who over this past Christmas gave up Christmas presents for their kids, and they have more than I do, just they can help me and my campaign. That's the kind of people... ... in Iowa. And, here's what I'm asking you to do. You're good people. You know good leaders. Lead. Pick the right person, not what the polls say. Not who the money give people to. Pick the leader you know is best for this country. Thank you. +p1499 +aVWell, all he has to do is listen to the Democratic debate and find out how bad the economy is. All they do is complain about the hollowing out of the middle of America, and how America is struggling so badly, and have to make these radical changes in Washington. But they've been in control for the last seven years, and what have we seen? The most important jobs, I believe, in this country are the ones that fill the middle. For the 74% of Americans who don't have a college degree between the age of 25 and 65 are manufacturing jobs. Your governor, and your legislature, and your team here have done an amazing job of bringing manufacturing jobs back to South Carolina. Right here. Right here in Charleston, right down in the street in Boeing. You've done a great job, and what's happened? You've grown this economy, you've strengthened the center of your state, the middle. That's because you know that if you're really going to create wealth and opportunity, you got to get jobs, and good paying jobs for everybody. And, so what's happened? Two million jobs, manufacturing jobs, have left this country because of Barack Obama. Regulations, EPA, workplace regulations, things driving people off-shore all because of his number one priority, global climate change. Well, let me tell you this, Mr. President. For every dollar of GDP, China creates five times as much pollution as we do here. You want to \u2014 lower global climate change, bring those jobs back to America and let American workers do that job with less pollution. +p1500 +aVWell, the historic promises that we have made to \u2014 to Iran in this agreement need to be torn up on the first day in office of the next president. And let me tell you why, because Iran has already torn it up. Iran has not approved the agreement that President Obama has said that they have approved. They have approved a different agreement in their parliament. The fact of the matter is they have violated this agreement. Carly just mentioned some of those violations. They have launched ballistic missiles, tested them, in clear violation. And here's the pathetic part. The president announced that they were going to impose sanctions. And then President Rouhani went on Twitter and said there would be retaliation. And what did we do? We backed down. Ladies and gentlemen, there are 50 some Citadel cadets in this audience tonight. I would ask them to stand up if they will. And here's what I want to tell each and every one of them, as you stand. Here's what I want to tell them. Whether it's you're watching that movie this weekend that just came out when we abandoned our men and women in Benghazi, or whether it's we treat Iran, that gave courtesies to our sailors, as they made them record a hostage video, let me tell you this, if you choose to serve this country, I will have your back. I will not let America be trampled upon anymore by these radical jihadists. +p1501 +aVI would just say that if we were doing a better job within the government, we wouldn't need the private sector to do the things that we're asking them to do. I've had a little experience in this in the private sector myself. And what I found was a government with layers and layers of bureaucracy, of people who had some technical expertise but they had no authority, number one. And one of the things I found out about in the bureaucracy is if a lot of people have authority, nobody has authority, number one. And number two, that if you don't do anything, you don't get fired. It's only when you do something and something goes wrong, you get fired. So they do nothing. And that's what is happening in our Defense Department right now. We have a capability that they're trying to develop to play defense. We have a lot of technologists that are very skilled. And they're trying to figure out how to play defense. But what we don't have is we don't have folks who are thinking about offense. We don't have war-fighters. We have technologists. Technologists are not war-fighters. Technologists are thinking, how do I protect cyber-security, how do I secure, how do I protect? And we need to have a much more dynamic, how do we \u2014 how do we go after them? How do we respond? And we need leadership that's willing to make sure that when someone attacks us \u2014 and ladies and gentlemen, they're attacking us as we speak. They're attacking us all day every day, not just the government, but they're attacking private sector companies all day every day. They have to learn that we're going to pay \u2014 they're going to pay a price when they do so. And then right now, just like in every other aspect of our national security, people who attack us are not paying a price. We need a leader who will make sure that they know when they mess with America, they're going to pay a price. +p1502 +aVLook, Facebook and Twitter can teach us things. We can cooperate with them. We can share ideas and information. But this is a \u2014 and this is a very dicey area for the government to go in and require the industry to do its job. It needs to develop that capability. We need to be \u2014 have responsible dialogue, but I don't think requirements are the order of the day. +p1503 +aVWell, the most devastating attack that could occur is an electromagnetic pulse attack, and that would be an attack that would be triggered by a nuclear explosion in the upper atmosphere of our country. The best way to stop that from happening is to make sure that those who contemplating and actually war-gaming and talking about using it, Iran, doesn't get a nuclear weapon so they can't explode that device. And the president of the United States has put Iran on a path to a nuclear weapon. And we have done nothing to do anything to harden our grid. There is actually a bill in Congress that would put money forward to try to put redundancy and harden our electric grid so it could actually survive an EMP. An EMP is a devastating explosion that sends a pulse that knocks out all electric, everything, everything that is connected to any kind \u2014 that is wired, that has a circuit board gets fried out. Everything is gone. Cars stop. Planes fall out of the sky. This is a devastating attack. And this president has done nothing, number one, to take the most probable person to \u2014 probable country to launch an attack and stop them, and has done nothing to try to defend us, particularly our electric grid. The bottom line is, I put the original sanctions on the Iranian nuclear program when I was in the United States Senate. I've been fighting for 12 years with one thing in mind, that we must stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. And......because they're different than every other country. They do not want a nuclear weapon to defend themselves. They want a nuclear weapon to have theological ends to bring about their mahdi so they can control the world. And that is the most serious threat facing this country right now. +p1504 +aVWell, the numbers just don't add up. I mean, they have not added manufacturing jobs. Manufacturing jobs have been lost in this country, 2 million of them. The bottom line is that this president has done more to take jobs away from the hard-working people who are struggling the most. And that's folks who are, as I said, the 74 percent of Americans who don't have a college degree. And they're out there talking about, well, we're going to provide free college for everybody. Well, who is going to pay for it? The 74 percent that don't have a college degree. They're not \u2014 nobody is focused. Let's just be honest, nobody is focused on the people who are struggling the most in America today. We talk about immigration. Talk about the president's immigration plan. He wants to bring in more and more people into this country. Let people who are here illegally stay in this country. Almost all of the people who are here illegally, and most of the people who came here legally over the last 20 years, they're working in wage-earning jobs. That is why wages have flat-lined. And we have unfortunately two political parties with most of the candidates in this field for some form of amnesty, some form of allowing people to stay here even though they're here illegally and for increasing levels of legal immigration. I'm someone who believes that we need to be the party that stands for the American worker. And when we say we need to send people back, I mean we send people back. And let me just make one point. I was in Storm Lake, Iowa, the other day, near a Tyson's plant, 91 percent of the kids that go to the elementary school there are minority kids. And they said, well, what are you going to do with all of these people, their families, they've lived here for a long time? I said, I'm going to give them a gift. I'm going to give them a gift of being able to help the country they were born in. And I'm going to export America, the education they were able to see. They learned English language. They learned about capitalism. They learned about democracy. You want to stop flow of immigrants? Let's send six million Mexicans, Hondurans, Guatemalans, El Savadorians......back into their country, so they can start a renaissance in their country so they won't be coming over here anymore. +p1505 +aVYou know, we've had this debate about the economy, and we haven't talked the one issue now increasingly even the right, and even the are coming to agreement. I've run around doing 300 town hall meetings talking about a book written by a liberal Harvard sociologist, not a normal thing for me to be talking about, but I now name Robert Putnam who wrote a book called, "Our Kids". And, he wrote this book, I think, ostensibly to support the Democratic argument that the middle of America's hollowing out, and income gap is widening, and rich are getting richer. When he studied all the information as to what was going on, he realized that the biggest reason that we're seeing the hollowing out of the middle of America is the breakdown of the American family. The reality is that if you're a single parent \u2014 a child of a single parent, and you grew up in a single parent family neighborhood, you went to that single parent family school, the chance of you ever, ever reaching the top 20% of income earners is 3% in America. At least \u2014 I don't know about you, but that's not good enough. And, we have been too politically correct in this country because we don't want to offend anybody to fight for the lives of our children. You want \u2014 You want to be shocked? You read the first few chapters of Mr. \u2014 Dr. Putnam' book. He talks about Port Clinton, Ohio and growing up there in the 1950's, and how poor kids actually survived and did well, even though they were poor and disadvantaged. But, then he goes to the towns today and these kids are failing, and failing miserably. They don't even have a shot, and we won't even have the courage to have leadership at the federal level \u2014 not with legislation, but the most powerful tool a president have, the bully pulpit to encourage each and everyone of you, churches and businesses, and educators, and community leaders to let's have a national campaign to rebuild the American family, and give every child its birthright which is a Mom and a Dad who loves them. That will change this economy. +p1506 +aVLadies and gentlemen, America is frustrated and angry and looking for someone who's a fighter, but I also think they're looking for someone who's a winner. Somebody who can go out there and take on the establishment and make a difference. And take on someone who's going to be the person who's going to be between a Republican holding the presidency and that's Hillary Clinton. And there's one person on this stage, one person in the race who's done it and done it repeatedly. I've taken on Hillary Clinton on the issues you care about. Partial-birth abortion. Go and google Rick Santorum and Hillary Clinton and there you'll see a five-minute debate. I'll let you decide who won the debate. I'll tell you who won, because we passed the bill and I know I'm out of time but I'm going to take some of Rand Paul's time here for a second. If you're looking for someone who fought Hillary Clinton on Iran's sanctions, she was one of four who voted \u2014 who's deciding vote who voted against Iran's sanctions, so we didn't get it in place as earlier as we should have. I've fought battles against her. In 1994, I ran against the Clinton machine. James Carville and Paul Begala, ran the race against me when I took on the author of Hillary care. And each one of those battles, I won. You want a fighter, you want a winner, I'd appreciate your vote. Thank you. +p1507 +aVThank you, Wolf. It's great to be here in Las Vegas. And I just want to thank everybody for the opportunity to be here. This is an important time in our country's history. We have entered World War III. World War III has begun and we have a leader who refuses to identify it and be truthful to the American people to the stakes that are involved, in part, because his policies have led us here. His policy toward Iran lit the fuse of a nuclear Iran. Just a few weeks ago the International Atomic Agency reported that Iran has had a nuclear program, but they don't know if it's continuing because they refuse to share any information about the current status. And this President marches on, forgiving them hundreds of billions of dollars to allow them to not just reconstitute their robust nuclear program, pursue their missile program, but also to foment terror around the world. And then his policies in the Middle East with Iraq create +p1508 +aVOf course I do. But what Donald Trump was saying was nothing against Muslims. His comment was against this administration who doesn't have a policy to properly vet people coming into this country. Let's just be honest about what's \u2014 what's being talked about here. And I know people will pile on because it makes sense to pile on, maybe from the polls. But he brings up a legitimate issue. The fact of the matter is not all Muslims are Jihadists and no one, including I suspect, Donald Trump would say that. But the reality is, all Jihadists are Muslims. That's a reality. And we have \u2014 we have to stop worrying about offending some people and start defending all Americans. Because we're not right now. +p1509 +aVI would agree \u2014 I would agree that Donald Trump's proposal was not the right proposal. But he brings up a very important issue that I think we've been ignoring for far too long in this country. The reality is that, yes, we need to get reformist Muslims to join us. We need to get those who are being persecuted and killed within the Middle East to join us. But we also have to protect this country from those who want to harm us and we have to defeat those who are radicalized in the Middle East and wherever we find them around the world. +p1510 +aVJust because it couldn't have prevented San Bernardino doesn't mean that we shouldn't have all tools available to us that doesn't impinge upon people's privacy. This sort of data collection is not collecting people's phones calls, their voices; they're not collecting information that's personal. There's no names attached to these numbers. They're simply numbers and times and relationships that throughout algorithms that computer technology can be able to sort through relationship about what numbers are calling what numbers and be able to track those down to see if there's any leakage's between someone who's potentially a terrorist. That is to me just fundamental that we have to have this type of data to be able to not impinge upon people's privacy. In fact, I would make the argument that the more data we can collect that's anonymous that we can through, through using algorithms, the less we need to involve people in and imposing themselves in people's privacy. +p1511 +aVLook, I agree with Governor Huckabee, that we should in fact be looking at people's social media posts. That's just common sense. But we've defunded and tied the hands behind the backs of our intelligence agencies because of political correctness. We're not allowed to ask any questions or really pursue, whether there's any mosque that they're attending that could be spreading Jihadism, and we know that in this country there are Imams that are doing that. But we're not allowed to ask those questions, we're not allowed to pursue to those things because we have a president who denies the reality of the enemy we confront. +p1512 +aVI don't. I don't think we should be able to deny someone's constitutional rights based on a list kept by the government that nobody knows how they get on it, or how they get off of it. If you're going to make that list public, if you're going to put criteria out there as to how you're going to get on it, if you're going to deny someone's constitutional right, than I think there has to be more transparency. Let's just be honest, when someone applies for a gun, you do a background check. And, if you're on the terrorist watch list, guess what very well may happen? You may get denied that. That's a discretion of the people \u2014 of the ATF in making that kind of decision. I want to leave that discretion \u2014 as long as this list is not well known, as long as it's not transparent, we have to leave that discretion. I want to make a comment about what Mike said, and George said, about mus \u2014 Islam. The fact of the matter is, Islam is different. I know this is going to come as a shock to a lot of people, and I mean the sincerely. Islam is not just a religion. It is also a political governing structure. The fact of the matter is, Islam is a religion, but it is also Sharia law, it is also a civil government, it is also a form of government. And, so, the idea that that is protected under the First Amendment is wrong. And, in fact, that political structure is what is the big problem. The imposition of Sharia law adherence to fundamental Islam as it was practiced in the Seventh Century... +p1513 +aV...There has to be a line drawn. +p1514 +aVWell, there's all sorts of theological reasons why we may not want to go into Syria right now to take +p1515 +aVI would have no problem with Sy \u2014 with boots on the ground in Syria in a training capacity. I do not want American troops on the front line in Syria because I don't believe that that would serve to the interest. Again, understanding what +p1516 +aVNo look, I'm committed to whatever is necessary understanding the nature of the enemy. The enemy is a theocracy and their allure is their theocracy. It's their doctrine and so we have to understand that doctrine. That's why, I love the fact that people are angry and outraged in Washington and want someone new and fresh. But we need someone who understands and has knowledge and experience in these areas. And I can see that you know, Senator Graham has that experience and we have a little difference of opinion. But frankly, it's not that big of difference in our opinion, we both want to defeat +p1517 +aVAnd the fact that we have a nuclear treaty with the Shiites in Iran, that we have now partnered with the Russians and appearing to allow Assad to stay, which is a satellite Alawites, very interrelated to the Shiites, this looks to +p1518 +aVWell, I would establish a no-fly zone. And, I think we just... +p1519 +aVWell \u2014 the first thing you have to do is establish a no-fly zone, and you don't do that by just sort of declaring it. You work through the process of making sure you work with people who, hopefully, have the same objective that you do. And, if they don't, then you establish the no-fly zone, and you take the consequences of whatever \u2014 who violates that law. +p1520 +aV...I don't think it's a war with Russia anymore than Turkey went to war with Russia when Turkey shot down a plane... +p1521 +aVThese are \u2014 these are incidents not something that we're threatening the motherland. This is a tactical decision within an area that we have an obligation for the refugees, for providing stability to the rebels, and an opportunity for the rebels to reconstitute. And, making sure that we stop the flow of refugees into Europe, and into the United States to establish a no-fly zone. And, Russia either is going to comply with it or not, and if they don't, I think it can be contained to that region. +p1522 +aVWell, I would establish a no-fly zone. And, I think we just... +p1523 +aVWell \u2014 the first thing you have to do is establish a no-fly zone, and you don't do that by just sort of declaring it. You work through the process of making sure you work with people who, hopefully, have the same objective that you do. And, if they don't, then you establish the no-fly zone, and you take the consequences of whatever \u2014 who violates that law. +p1524 +aV...I don't think it's a war with Russia anymore than Turkey went to war with Russia when Turkey shot down a plane... +p1525 +aVThese are \u2014 these are incidents not something that we're threatening the motherland. This is a tactical decision within an area that we have an obligation for the refugees, for providing stability to the rebels, and an opportunity for the rebels to reconstitute. And, making sure that we stop the flow of refugees into Europe, and into the United States to establish a no-fly zone. And, Russia either is going to comply with it or not, and if they don't, I think it can be contained to that region. +p1526 +aVI would use the studies that were done that were ignored by this military that there were certain positions that frankly were not suitable. And they pushed a political agenda above what is in the best interest of the safety, security, and effective of our, of our fighting units. So I would go back to using what we should be doing. Which is putting forth people on those front line positions who are best prepared to do the job, survive the job, and come back home safely. +p1527 +aVI would change the policy to reflect what is the best interest of the people that we're asking. I've got a son who's going, who's going into the Air Force right now, and I, as a father, I want to make sure that, if he's out there on the front line \u2014 and he may be a pilot flying an airplane \u2014 I want to make sure that the person who's responsible for, for his wing has the ability to do the job they're doing. And if they don't have that ability to do the job, if we're doing a social promotion as opposed to what's best for the efficacy of our fighting force and for the survivability of our men and women, I'll change that policy. +p1528 +aVSo what you just said is you agree with me. Because that's exactly what I said. +p1529 +aVI said if you can't do the job, you shouldn't be able to...you shouldn't have the position. +p1530 +aVNo, I did not say that, George. I mean, you may, you may have heard that, but I didn't say that. What I said was, if they can in fact do the job that any, any other person can do, I will allow them to do so. +p1531 +aVBut if they cannot, I would reverse the policy. And what happened here is there were many studies done, particularly in the Marine Corps, which begged this President not to move forward with this because people are going to get killed as a result of it. The President went forward anyway. +p1532 +aVOf course there is a proper way to vet refugees coming into the United States. But not from the +p1533 +aVLindsay says this is a real war, until it comes to immigration. And, then, all of a sudden it's not such a real war. The reality is that we've seen since the events of 9/11, the president talks about how he's worried about discrimination and acts against Muslims. There's four times as many acts of violence against Jews than there are against Muslims. I never hear the president talk about that. The reality is that under this president, since 9/11, this anti-Muslim United States of America has doubled the rate of Muslim immigration. Since 9/11. That's what we've done. So, the idea that we have an immigration system that is working... +p1534 +aVIs not \u2014 and, I'm out of time. +p1535 +aVHere's the problem. I was with, in fact, one my guests here today is the Sheriff in Cochise County, down on the border in Arizona. And, he talked with me last night when I was with him about all of the children coming across. All of the children, why? Because we've created a magnet. These children are not coming over, and in great shape, not coming over \u2014 and not in harms way, and \u2014 going through difficult times. We're attracting people. He's also the Sheriff that caught Syrian's at the border. We have through the policies supported by almost everybody in this field......A policy that says amnesty. The world hears this, and knows that if they can come across this border, by and large, they're going to be able to stay. That has to change. +p1536 +aVBarack Obama has not kept this country safe. Hillary Clinton will not keep this country safe. We need to nominate someone who America knows will keep this country safe. Ten years ago I put the sanctions on Iran's nuclear program. Before that, I gave speech after speech, including to President Bush, to identify the enemy and call these radical Islamists who they are. Ladies and gentlemen, this week +p1537 +aVThe middle of America is hollowing out. All you have to do is listen to the last Democratic debate and you would think there was a Republican president in office the way they complained about how bad things are in America and how the middle \u2014 the middle of America is hollowing out. I agree with Mike Huckabee. I spent this morning in Chicago at Fabtech, which is a sheet manufac \u2014 a sheet metal fabricators conference. Thousands of people there explained the latest and newest technologies. You know what I was told? I was told when I went to booth after booth that there are 250,000 welder jobs open in America \u2014 250,000 welder jobs paying anywhere from $50,000 to $70,000 a year, and if you want to weld pipe on a, you know, for oil and gas pipelines, you can make $100,000 a year. Every manufacturer \u2014 I go to one every single week. In fact, I have with me in the \u2014 in the crowd here today a gentleman who is a supporter of mine from Rockwall, Texas, Ed Grand-Lienard. He runs Special Products. And he tells me he has jobs open in every skill that he \u2014 he \u2014 he could possibly hire for in Rockwall, Texas, but he can't find people. So the issue is, yes, we need a tax code. I \u2014 I propose a 20 percent flat tax \u2014 20 percent on corporations, 20 percent on \u2014 on individuals, full expensing, which will be powerful for manufacturing, a 0 percent rate, initially, for manufacturers. We're going to have a very powerful tax code. We're going to do something about regulation. We're going to suspected every single ObamaCare regu \u2014 Obama regulation that cost over $100,000 to the economy. But we have to start doing something about training and employing people who are sitting on the sidelines because they don't see a path. And we have a \u2014 a bureaucracy in Washington and a president in Washington \u2014 and even among Republicans who think everybody has to go to college. People need to go to work and we need to provide......opportunities for them to go to work out of high school. +p1538 +aVWell, the answer is first that we need to do something about a tax code that doesn't penalize. One thing that I'm excited about our tax code, proposed changes, is it's very pro-family. You have a $2,700 tax credit, period, for every person in that family, so that family, you know, would have about an $8,000 tax credit, which would be refundable. So every dollar she works, she's still only losing 20 cents. The problem with the tax code today, because of all the different provisions, you're right, you go back to work, you lose welfare benefits, you're losing money. Throw on top of that the \u2014 even a bigger problem, over 50 percent of children being raised in a home today of a single mom are raised in a home where the father is born \u2014 father is (sic) living at the child \u2014 the time the child is born. Now what does that mean? That means we have incentivized people not to marry. We've incentivized people to cohabitate instead of not marry, why? Because mom will lose welfare benefits if she marries father. It's not just mom going back to work, but it's mother and father marrying to form a more stable family for that child to be raised in a two-parent family. So we've got all sorts of really corrupt incentives that were put in place, well meaning by the left. But we need to remove those. We need to remove those incentives. We need to adopt a tax code that says we're going to be pro-family and pro-work. And that's what we'll do. +p1539 +aVAbsolutely. I'm a capitalist, not a corporatist. I'm not someone who believes we should be bailing out corporations whether their auto industries, or banks. And, it is simply a matter that there's auto industry \u2014 the auto industry would have survived, it would have survived through a bankruptcy process of \u2014 instead of Washington picking a winner and a loser. And, in this case, the losers are the bondholders, and the winners were the unions. That's fine. They did it, the unions \u2014 the unions survived. We \u2014 we have not survived in continuing to grow manufacturing jobs. We have a \u2014 we have a president, and an economy right now, that is killing \u2014 choking our ability to be able to compete. I'm one of the few people up here who actually believes that we need a level playing field when it comes to manufacturing. That means a good tax code, a good regulatory environment, low energy prices, better opportunities for workers to get training, and, also, I'm \u2014 a supporter of the +p1540 +aV...Let me settle this argument... +p1541 +aV...Well... +p1542 +aVI'll answer that in a second, but, I want to answer this other problem because this is a real legitimate debate between Chris and Bobby, and if somebody says we need someone who can win in a blue state, and Bobby says we need a real principled conservative. Ninety-two percent conservative voting record, unlike some of the other senators that Bobby mentioned who hasn't done anything to cut federal spending, I was actually the author of welfare reform, which is the only time we've ever seen a federal entitlement actually cut. We cut it. Senate did exactly what every conservative says they want to do. We took the program, we eliminated the federal entitlement, we blocked (ph) to the state, we capped the amount of money, cut it by about 10%, and then put two requirements, work, and time limits. We need to do that with the rest of the \u2014 means (ph) tested federal entitlements. I've done it. And I did it with a bipartisan support in the House and Senate, and after fighting two presidential vetoes by Bill Clinton. So I had a democratic president we had to get this through. No record of accomplishment. I agree with the folks who are from the Congress in this race. I have a record of accomplishment of being a conservative on everything. National security, on moral and cultural issues, on the economy, and twice won a blue state. The first time I beat the author of Hillarycare. I had Bill and Hillary in my state, James Carville managed the race against me, a state with a million more Democrats than Republicans. And I ran on health savings accounts, on private sector health care, as a conservative, pro-life, pro-family, and I won. And then in 2000, I was the only senator to win a state as a conservative that George Bush lost. You want someone who can win Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, with a conservative message, I'm your guy. +p1543 +aVI'll be happy to answer that if you give me more time. +p1544 +aVI'm going to answer two questions for the price of one. The infrastructure question, the answer is... We need to get the federal government out of this infrastructure business, other than vital economic highways. It has been said that if we cut the gas tax to 3 to 5 cents and send the rest back to the states, and just take care of the federal infrastructure that's vital for our economy, let the \u2014 we don't need the federal government and the road business that it is today. Number one. Number two, you know who I respect in the Democratic Party? You know why I respect them? Because they fight! Because they're not willing to back down, and they're willing to stand up and fight and win. And so I respect them because they are willing to take it to us. +p1545 +aVWell, I'll tell you, I have a 20 percent flat tax. That's one all income \u2014 so capital gains, corporations, individuals, 20 percent. I think that's a fair number, one out of five, to be able to \u2014 to help support the federal government. By the way it also approximates, if you take out some of the deductions, it approximates how much the federal government is, on average, spent of GDP, which is about 18 to 19 percent of GDP. So it actually fits with shrinking the size of government down to more like post-World War II levels. So the second thing we do is I don't allow for deductibility of state and local taxes, which will require state and local taxes to go down in order to be treated for their \u2014 for their people to be treated fairly. So the answer is, 20 percent and probably 33 percent overall. +p1546 +aVWell, I don't \u2014 I agree with Governor Christie, I don't think you can make it any more political than it's been. They \u2014 they are protecting a president that is over-taxing and over- regulating, shutting down this economy. And he \u2014 and they're keeping it up like Atlas, trying to hold up the Earth by \u2014 by these ridiculously low interest rates. And it's hurting American seniors, who are seeing no Social Security increases, seeing no \u2014 no savings. They're \u2014 they're putting their money aside. They're getting nothing in their deposit accounts. This is hurting the people who have acted responsibly, all in favor of those who, um, you know, are \u2014 are speculators and \u2014 and those on Wall Street. It's not a good deal for \u2014 for the vast majority of responsible Americans. The other thing we have with the Fed is they've been given way too much authority. Under Dodd-Frank, they've been given this enormous new authority. I mean they \u2014 they now have almost become the most powerful entity in Washington, DC. We need to repeal Dodd-Frank, get away that authority from the Fed and put them under more \u2014 more scrutiny. That's only part of the problem. I understand the Fed is interesting for a business channel, but I think for most Americans, the most important business is the family. And we haven't really talked much about the importance of the family to the economy. And \u2014 and ladies and gentlemen, every single book, from left to right, that's been written over the last couple of years has said the biggest problem in America today at the hollowing out of the middle of America is the breakdown of the nuclear family in America. We'd better be the party that's out there talking about this issue and what we're going to do to help strengthen marriage and return dads into homes in all communities. You want to talk about the communities that are hurting the most, the ones you see the protests in......there are no dads. And we need to do something about it. +p1547 +aVHappy Birthday. +p1548 +aV\u2014 States Marine Corps. +p1549 +aVThat's very personal to me. I grew up on a V.A. grounds. I lived in apartments on V.A. grounds my entire childhood. Both my Mom and Dad, after World War II, marry \u2014 met at a V.A., married, and that's where I lived. Kitchen table discussion was, particularly when I was growing up in the 1960's and 1970's, was the decline of the V.A. When they joined in the early 1950's, the V.A. was the top. They were the best, they were the best and brightest coming in after the war. And, we believed in the cause that we fought, and we invested in our hospitals to make sure that our veterans who left World War II were taken care of. But, after Vietnam, and during Vietnam, that began to change, and it really hasn't recovered since. The bottom line is the V.A. is antiquated. There's no need for a V.A. healthcare system as it existed after World War \u2014 why? Because we have the best private healthcare system in the world, we didn't need \u2014 we needed it in 1950's, hospitals were not particularly advanced, so, we built the best. We didn't maintain the best. Government didn't keep its promises to its veterans. So, what we need to do is two things. Number one, we need to allow veterans to go to private sector hospitals for their routine and ordinary care to get the best care in their community possible. And, there is a place for the Veterans Administration. There are injuries, and there are \u2014 things like +p1550 +aVIt should come as no surprise to Chris, or anybody else, that Barack Obama doesn't stand behind our men and women in uniform here at home because he hasn't stood behind them overseas. The rules of engagement that we've allowed our soldiers to go and fight against have put them in harm's way for political purposes. This has been the most politicized wars that we've ever seen under this administration. He gets in, and gets out, based upon what the polls are saying, what pressure he's getting from groups. Talk about a Commander in Chief. We need a commander in chief who has a vision and plan of how we're going to execute the national security of our country. Commander in chief is not an entry level position. Experience matters, and that's why I would ask for your support as a Commander in Chief, because I have the experience against the enemy......to confront to do the job. +p1551 +aVI announced from a factory floor in Western Pennsylvania. This campaign has all been about two words for me, working families. Working. Getting people the opportunity to see those wages rise, to be on the side of the American workers so they can get good paying jobs, and that means we have to start making things in America again. We need a president who's going to not just put policies in place, but is going to stand up at the bully pulpit and talk about the dignity of being a welder. The dignity of being a carpenter, about going to work and earning success. And, also, the importance of families, the importance of families and fathers, and mothers raising their children, and committing to that so that they can give children in our country the best opportunity to success. Working families is the key for us to win this election. +p1552 +aVYes, I think it's one thing to shrink the size of a state government but it's another thing to actually get something accomplished in Washington. It's a much tougher field. And I'm the one in the \u2014 on this stage and, frankly, on both stages that has actually gone to Washington, said we would shrink government, said we would shake things up and actually delivered for the conservative cause, everything from welfare reform, which was the largest, most significant accomplishment in the last 25 years for conservatism. I authored the bill when I was in the House of Representatives; I managed the bill on the floor of the United States Senate. You need a conservative who can deliver and that's what I bring to the table. +p1553 +aVWell, if you look at my flat tax, it actually takes the best of what Steve Forbes, Art Laffer, many have been advocating for a long time, which is a very strong pro-growth tax code \u2014 very simple. And, it adjusts it to make sure that it is not regressive. We have a $2,750 per person tax credit \u2014 that's $2,750 off the taxes due, not a deduction, a credit. And, we think \u2014 in fact, if you run the numbers, no American who's going to be paying more taxes under our proposal, so, we've accomplished both. We have a system that has a low single rate, but we take care of American families. I'm talking about $2,750 per person. That means a family four, that's $11,000 dollar tax credit. That's a very, very strong pro-family \u2014 and if you looked at the Wall Street Journal today, and so many of the publications that have been out there, they've talked about how the biggest problem of the hollowing out of the middle of this country. For workers to be able to raise is actually, the breakdown of the American family. William Galston, a liberal, said that on the pages of the Wall Street Journal today that the key to poverty is families. So, we put forth a pro-growth \u2014 Steve Forbes plan, combined it with a pro- family plan, and that's why I think it's going to work out, and work effectively. +p1554 +aVWhat we should be \u2014 we shouldn't be putting tariffs on anything. That hurts working men and women in this country. What we should be doing is making our manufacturing more competitive. One of the reasons I introduced the 20/20 plan, a 20 percent flat tax on corporations, as well as on individuals, is so we can be competitive, so we can bring those manufacturing jobs back. You want to talk about cutting pollution? You do a little back- of-the-envelope. We \u2014 we produce, per dollar of GDP, about one-fifth of the CO2 and other pollutants that China produces. So we're five times more efficient in producing goods here, as far as the environment \u2014 environment is concerned. Why don't we \u2014 if we really want to tackle environmental problems, global warming, what we need to do is take those jobs from China and bring them back here to the United States, employ workers in this country. We've lost two million jobs \u2014 two million jobs \u2014 under this administration in manufacturing \u2014 15,000 manufacturers have left this country. Why? Because of bad tax policy, bad regulatory policy and, yes, bad trade policy. We need to have a president that's going to pledge, as I have \u2014 I'm going to make America the number-one manufacturer so working men and women can have good paying jobs again in America. +p1555 +aV\u2014 with competition... +p1556 +aV\u2014 for low wage workers. +p1557 +aV and I... +p1558 +aVThat's not what's happening. +p1559 +aVA true conservative wants to create a level playing field. That's what \u2014 that's what we're \u2014 that's what government is supposed to do. They're not supposed to favor one group over another. And when it comes to our manufacturers, the level playing field is not in the United States. It's international. And so the federal government should have laws, tax laws, regulatory laws and, yes, finance laws. There's 60 other ex-im banks all over \u2014 all over the world. Every major competitor for the United States' manufacturing dollar has one of those banks. And guess what? They use those banks a heck of a lot more than their \u2014 than the United States of America does, number one. So in order to have a level playing field, which is what conservatives talk about all the time, level playing field, then we have to have export financing and here's why.Because export financing doesn't help Boeing, or G.E. G.E. just lost a contract, you know what they did? They went to . They got the X.M. (ph) bank in France to support it, and what did they do? They moved manufacturing out of South Carolina, out of Texas, moved to \u2014 Hungary, and to France. G.E. is still making money. G.E. is still doing well, but American workers are out of jobs. That's why we have to have this level playing field so we can compete with the rest of the world. +p1560 +aVWell, first, since you mention Colorado, I want to thank the people of Colorado because four years ago you \u2014 gave me the honor of winning the nomination out here in the state of Colorado. On a night we won three states, and it catapulted us to win 11 states ultimately, so, I just want to thank you very, very much for that support, and \u2014 in response to that, I do drink a lot of Coors beer, so... I try to help. The answer is pretty simple. The answer is simple. There are no shortage of breweries around the United States of America. I \u2014 I do \u2014 as I travel around the country, I do pints and politics, and I go to breweries all over the place, and there \u2014 there's almost no town in America anymore that doesn't have a brewery, so I don't think we need to worry too much. They're obviously \u2014 if there's \u2014 if there's some anti- competitive issues, you know, we have agencies to look at that. But, no, I'm not \u2014 I'm not concerned that Americans are not going to have choices in beer. +p1561 +aVAnd I care about, by the way. I care about choices. +p1562 +aVWell, I \u2014 I would say this, that what you're seeing is \u2014 in health care, you're seeing a lot of consolidation, and that consolidation is occurring because of Obamacare. You're seeing it particularly in an area that I am concerned about, and that's in insurance \u2014 health insurance. You're seeing the big health insurance companies fold up. You've seen Obama try to seed health insurance companies, and they've all failed, I think, except one. Why? Because we have a system of Obamacare with minimum loss ratios that make it virtually impossible for a small insurer to operate effectively. And this was the motive behind Obamacare. This wasn't incidental. This was deliberate, to make it so impossible for small insurers to survive... +p1563 +aV...that they consolidate into a small group. Then the left can say, "there is no competition, we need a single payer." That's why we have to repeal Obamacare. +p1564 +aVThank you. Can I just say something about that? +p1565 +aVWell, if you look at our plan that I introduced, the 2020 Clear Vision for America, we increase growth by 10 percent, 1 percent a year. So we go from 2.3 to 3.3, in repealing Obamacare, it's another .7. So you're looking at 4 percent growth, according to the Tax Foundation. And unlike Donald Trump and Bobby Jindal, we don't add $10 trillion to the deficit. In fact, our plan, while it creates as many jobs as their plan does and grows the economy as much as theirs does, we are a revenue-neutral plan because I believe that we need to reduce the size of government, yes, but we also need to reduce our deficit, and we need to get our budget balanced so we can start paying down this debt. And adding a trillion dollars with a tax cut and getting no more growth is not the way to do it. But that's only half of it. The word "economy" comes from the Greek "euthokis" (ph) which means family. The family is the first economy. And the one thing that we do not talk about enough is how stable families are vitally important for the middle of America to be prosperous and to grow and be safe. And I will have policies, not just tax policies, but others that will make sure that families are strong again in America. +p1566 +aVMLB, NHL, so I'm a big sports fan. And "The Wall Street Journal." Those are the three apps I use the most. +p1567 +aVWell, since we're usually in the Super Bowl at the Pittsburgh Steelers... Steeler nation, anybody? +p1568 +aVNo. I was in......was in Kansas City over the weekend to watch the Steeler game and about a third of the crowd were Steeler fans. So I'm usually not alone when I call on Steeler Nation. But we are used to being in the Super Bowl, so actually, it is in Pennsylvania already. +p1569 +aVI grew up in a steel town of Western Pennsylvania, outside of Pittsburgh, and when I announced for president, I announced from the factory floor. When I talk about making America the number one manufacturer again in the world, it's not just talk. When I talk about having the opportunity for people to rise again, it's not just because it polls well. I represented the old steel valley of Pittsburgh. I represented a 70% Democratic district, and won with 60% of the vote. Why? Because I aligned myself with working men and women who feel that neither party, and certainly not Washington D.C. cares about them. You elect me, we will get American workers on the side of the Republican party, and we can not be stopped if we do. +p1570 +aVHi, I'm Rick Santorum. Some of you may know me because I led the fight to end partial birth abortion. Some of you may know me because the I led the fight to end welfare as we know it, put people back to work, reduce poverty and reduce the federal budget. Some of you may know me because I successfully put sanctions on the Iranian nuclear program in Congress, over opposition of both parties initially. But hopefully, most of you know me most because I'm the proud father of seven children with particularly a special little disabled girl, who is the heart and core of my heart and married to a wonderful woman named Karen for 25 years, who is the love of my life. +p1571 +aVI think personal attacks, just please one person, Hillary Clinton. And all we do when we go after each other -- and we've seen a bunch of it, from people up on this stage, people who are going to be on the stage afterwards, who go after and make personal attacks on people. There are plenty of policy differences between the candidates up here and the candidates later. Donald Trump has ever right to run for president as a Republican, as anybody else in this audience, and he may have positions I disagree with, but he has the right to do that and the people should be given the benefit of the doubt for people to see through these things. I don't think it helps when Republicans attack Republicans personally. I'll say some things tonight which will be very big differences. The issue of immigration is one that there are huge differences in this field, and I will be out there talking about how we have to control immigration. How we have to look after the American worker. The focus of this debate should be on how we're going to win this election and help improve the quality of life for American workers, and we aren't doing that, when we're out there picking at each other and calling each other names. The name we should call out is, what are we going to do for average Americans losing ground in America today. And that should be our focus. +p1572 +aVWell, in fact, just about everybody in this field supports some pathway to citizenship. There are just a few, Governor Jindal, Senator Cruz, Senator Rubio, Jeb Bush, a lot of others, Senator Graham, all support some sort of amnesty at some point in time or another. And this is really the interesting thing about this whole debate. This debate should not be about what we're going to do with someone who's here illegally. This debate should not be about what we're going to do with someone who's here illegally; This debate should be about what -- what every other debate on every other policy issue is in America. What's in the best interest of hardworking Americans? What's in the best interest of our country. We've had to focus because the other side has set up for us, here is who we have to be concerned about on the issue of immigration, someone who's here illegally and their family, and what are we going to do about it? A greater leader will see that the objection of every law in America is to do what's in the best interest of America. And what's in the best interest of America right now is to look at wages, look at employment among wager earners. 70 to 90 percent of people who've come into this country, 35 million over the last 20 years, are wage earners that are holding wages down, taking jobs away from America. +p1573 +aVWell, just because you don't call it amnesty doesn't mean that what -- what almost everybody in this field is for is allowing people who are in this country illegally, people who broke the law to come into this country, people who came here legally and overstayed, to stay in -- in America. Again, we have 35 million -- we have the highest percentage of -- of -- of immigrants in this country, as far as numbers ever, as far as percentage, the -- the highest in 105 years. Wages are flatlining. The reason that you're seeing the angst and the anger out there and the reason this issue has taken off is because workers in America know that their wages are being undermined. If you look at, from the year 2000 to the year 2014, there're 5.7 million net new jobs created. What percentage of those jobs are held by people who weren't born here? The answer is all of them. The fact is, American workers are -- are getting hurt by immigration... +p1574 +aV... and that's why they're upset. +p1575 +aV...Hold on, hold on, hold on... +p1576 +aV...He mentioned my name, and that i didn't have a plan. And, the fact of the matter is... +p1577 +aV...that I did have a plan back in 2006. I introduced a plan called, A Comprehensive Border Security Bill, which did, in fact, put the resources to build the fencing, and deploy the troops, and the technology necessary which... +p1578 +aVAs you know, Lindsay... +p1579 +aV...As you know, 40 to 60 percent of the 11 million are here on visa overstays. We know exactly who they are, we should know where they are, but we have a government that doesn't tell them to return home. You can solve half of the problem of the 11 million... +p1580 +aV...by simply telling the 11 million that they have to return to their country of origin, so, that's half your problem... +p1581 +aV...Now, it's not 11 million... +p1582 +aVI don't know how many democrats I had on my bill... +p1583 +aVBut, the point is -- the point is is that I had a bill... +p1584 +aVWell, you're right, Lindsay, it went no where because we had a president back then who was for more comprehensive immigration reform... +p1585 +aV...That's right... +p1586 +aVYou know what we need to do... +p1587 +aVLindsay, is we need to win -- we need to win fighting for Americans. We need to win fighting for the workers in this country... +p1588 +aV...who are hurting, including including hispanics... +p1589 +aV...the people who are hurt the most by illegal immigration are hispanics. +p1590 +aV...The folks -- the folks who are -- hurt the worst are recent immigrants. By illegal immigrants coming to this country last year alone, 700,000 illegal immigrants came into this country. Who do you think are most impacted? It's the folks who came into this country, played by the rules, did what they were supposed to do. Came here, and went to work, and now they're finding themselves out of work because someone illegally is willing to come in and work for less... +p1591 +aVI just want to say -- I just want to say, I have seven kids, I've done my part. +p1592 +aVI have proposed 10,000 troops, I did so about six or seven months ago, that we needed to deploy additional troops to do exactly what Lindsey said, arm the Kurds, arm -- +p1593 +aVI've said -- I've said 10,000 and, if more is necessary, look, the answer is this, once +p1594 +aV16 years ago, this country was tremendously inspired by a young woman who faced a gunman in Columbine and was challenged about her faith and she refused to deny God. We saw her as a hero. Today, someone who refuses to defy (sic) a judge's unconstitutional verdict is ridiculed and criticized, chastised because she's standing up and denying -- not denying her God and her faith. That is a huge difference in 16 years. People have a fundamental right in the First Amendment. There's no more important right. It is the right that is the trunk that all other rights come from, and that's the freedom of conscience. And when we say in America that we have no room -- how many bakers, how many florists, how many pastors, how many clerks are we going to throw in jail because they stand up and say, "I cannot violate what my faith says is against its teachings"? Is there not room in America? I believe there has to be room. First, I believe we have to pass the First Amendment Defense Act, which provides that room for government officials and others who do not want to be complicit in what they believe is against their faith. Second, we need as a president who's going to fight a court that is abusive, that has superseded their authority. Judicial supremacy is not in the Constitution, and we need a president and a Congress to stand up to a court when it exceeds its constitutional authority. +p1595 +aVI hope so. If they're wrong. +p1596 +aVNo, what you have is judicial supremacy. You don't have a rule of law when the court has the final say on everything. +p1597 +aVMartin Luther King wrote a letter from the Birmingham jail. And he said in that letter that there are just laws and there are unjust laws. And we have no obligation to -- to condone and accept unjust laws. And he -- and they -- then he followed up and said what's an unjust law? An unjust law is a job that -- a law that go against the moral code or God's law or the natural law. I would argue that what the Supreme Court did is against the natural law, it's against God's law and we have every obligation to stand in opposition to it. +p1598 +aVWell, contrary to what Governor Jindal said, Governor -- Justice Roberts had a long record and it was a long, good record. And so he made a bad decision on -- a couple of bad decisions on ObamaCare but he's made a lot of great decisions, too. And so I don't -- I don't regret at all standing up for John Roberts but, you know, it's easy to sit out in Louisiana and talk about how, you know, well, I'd be tougher. I fought when I was in the United States Senate. We fought, for the first time, to defeat justices and judges that Bill Clinton nominated and I fought with President Bush to defend his nominees, to push even a filibuster, breaking the filibuster. I led that fight against someone who didn't want to end the filibuster in order for us to get good, conservative justices. So I have been there on the front line, fighting for judges and conservative justices and I will do so as president like none other. +p1599 +aVActually, I'm going to be proposing a plan, I call it the 20/20 perfect vision for America as flat tax, a 20 percent flat tax on income, 20 percent flat tax on capital gains and on corporations. We eliminate all the deductions, special interest provisions and corporations. We deal with the carried interest issue, because everybody pays the same 20 percent. So, there's no advantage as to how you take your income. That will create growth. We're going to allow expensing for corporations. For manufacturing, again, I print -- I pledged, when I announced that I was going to run for president on the factory floor that I would make America the number one manufacturer in the world. Why? Because we need to put Americans back to work. Hard working Americans, who are not doing well in this economy, and we start creating jobs here, and manufacturing. These people from all skill levels are going to be able to work. We put a 20 percent rate on corporations, we're competitive with almost every country in the world. We allow for expensing, we have a three year phase in. We start at zero for manufacturers, phase it up to 20. You're going to see an enormous investment of capital, and equipment. You're going to see people -- you're going to have problems finding folks are going to be able to work in manufacturing. That's how many jobs we're going to create. So, the answer is, you know, we're going to lower, and flatten taxes. We're going to put government on a -- on a budget. A 10 percent across the board cut... +p1600 +aV...employment. We've got a lot of plans. +p1601 +aV...Let me just... +p1602 +aV...He talked about manufacturing, and the fact is that we have a zero percent rate that faces the 20, we'd have a seven percent repatriation, so money -- about two trillion dollars over seas... +p1603 +aV...Would come back, and be invested in equipment here. We will create more jobs with this plan, than any plan out... +p1604 +aVLindsay, what percentage of American workers make the minimum wage right now? +p1605 +aVIt's less than one percent. +p1606 +aV...So, what you're saying, what every Republican's up here saying is we're against the minimum wage because, if you're not for increasing it, than whoevers making the minimum wage right now... +p1607 +aV...The answer is Republicans don't believe in a floor wage in America. Fine, you go ahead and make that case to the American public, I'm not going to. Not from a party that supported bailouts. I didn't, but this party did. +p1608 +aVNot from a party that supports special interest tax provisions for a whole bunch of other businesses, and, but, when it comes to hardworking Americans who are at the bottom of the income scale, we can't provide some level of income support? What I've proposed is not anything but the (ph) presidents (ph) proposed (ph) I believe that would be harmful to the American public, but a $.50 cents an hour increase over three years, which is what I'm proposing. So we would have a minimum wage which would be roughly in the area of what it's been historically, about 5 percent of wages. To me, if you're going to talk to 90 percent of American workers -- by the way, 90 percent of American workers don't own a bar. They don't own a business. They work for a living. They're wage -- most of them are wage earners. And Republicans are losing elections because we're not talking about them. All we want to talk about is, what happened to our business? There are people who work in that business. I was at a -- I was at the convention four years ago, and on the signs -- on all of the seats the night I spoke was a sign that said, "We built that," because Barack Obama had talked about how businesses didn't build their own businesses. Then we trotted out one small-business person after another for almost an hour that night talking about how they built their businesses. And that's wonderful. But you know what we didn't do? We didn't bring one worker on that stage. How are you going to win, ladies and gentlemen? How are we going to win if 90 percent of Americans don't think we care at all... +p1609 +aV... about them and their chance to rise... +p1610 +aVAs you know, Hugh, 12 years ago I authored the Iran Freedom Support Act, which put sanctions on the Iran nuclear program as we came within four votes of passing a very strong version of that. The four people who opposed on the floor: Joe Biden, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. And we came four votes short. But for 12 years, I have been laser-beam focused on the issue of Iran with a nuclear weapon. Why? Because I understand who they are. Yes, they are radical Islamists, that's true. But their particular version of it, which is an apocalyptic version, which is a death cult, they believe in bringing about the end of the -- end of the world. If you -- if you poll Iranians and Iraqis, Shiites in the region, more than two-thirds of them believe that the end of the world is going to come within their lifetime. Why? Because their regime preaches it. They believe in bringing about the end of times. That's their theological goal and we are in the process of giving them a nuclear weapon to do just that. That's why, on day one, I would say to the Iranian government, you open up all of these facilities for inspection, you make them available to the U.N. and to the U.S., everything, we can go everywhere or else we will take out those facilities. And when people say, you're going to start a war -- +p1611 +aV-- my response is, no, I'm going to stop a war because a nuclear Iran is the end. +p1612 +aVI came to Washington in the most unlikely way. I defeated a 14-year incumbent, a 60 percent Democratic district. I went to Washington thinking I was only going to be there for one term, and so I just shook things up. We sent the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee to jail. We ended 40 years, 40 years of Democratic control of the Congress. And I led that fight with reforms, substantive reforms, welfare reform. I led the charge -- I wrote the bill when I was in the House. I led the charge in the United States Senate. Partial-birth abortion -- in fact, three pro-life bills, bipartisan pro-life bills. I mentioned the Iran bill. We also passed one on Syria. Health savings accounts, as many of you know, I authored the original bill on health savings accounts, pushed that through the Congress for private sector health care reform. An outsider who came to Washington from the tough state of Pennsylvania, and we got conservative things done. I made things happen in a town where things don't happen very much. Now, after 10 years of seeing the mess, the retreat that we see in the Republican party in Washington, D.C., it's time to get someone who is an outsider. +p1613 +aVWho can go to Washington, D.C., and get things done. You know what, you have a lot of folks who will tell you a lot of things. Look at their record. I went to Washington as an outsider. +p1614 +aVShook things up, got things done. +p1615 +aVAnd that's why you can trust me to do it again. +p1616 +aVI would say the message that got us the win in Iowa and 10 other states against pretty overwhelming odds, is the message that's going to deliver us in this election. You know, we didn't start out four years ago at the top of the heap. We were behind where we were today. But we stuck to our message. We stuck to the fact that Americans are tired of Washington corporate interests and Democrats who are interested in just politics and power and they're looking for someone who's going to fight for them; looking for someone who's going to grow manufacturing sector of our economy, so those 74 percent of Americans who don't have a college degree have a chance to rise again. Someone who's going to stand up, and be very clear with our enemies as to the lines their going to draw and stand with them. I've got a track record. The reason I did so well last time is not just because of the vision, it's because I have a track record in Washington, D.C. of getting things done. Iran sanctions -- the Iran sanctions that brought them to the table, those are sanctions that we put in place when I was in the United States Senate, and a whole host of other things that put me in a position of saying, I not only have a great vision, but I can govern effectively in Washington. +p1617 +aVMy father was born in Italy, and shortly after he was born my grandfather immigrated to this country. And under the laws of this country, he wasn't allowed to be with his father for seven years. Spent the first seven years of his life in Fascist Italy, under Benito Mussolini. Not a very pleasant place to be. I asked my dad after -- obviously, when I found out about this. And I said, "Didn't you resent America for not letting you be with your father in those formative and very threatening years?" You know what he said to me? "America was worth the wait." We're a country of laws, Bill. We're a country of laws, not of men, not of people who do whatever they want to do. I know we have a president who wants to do whatever he wants to do, and take his pen and his phone and just tell everybody what he thinks is best. But the reason America is a great country, the reason is because our compassion is in our laws. And when we live by those laws and we treat everybody equally under the law, that's when people feel good about being Americans. And I put forth an immigration policy that is as strong in favor of the folks who are struggling in America the most than anybody else. It's the strongest pro-worker immigration plan. It says that after 35 million people have come here over the last 20 years, almost all of whom are unskilled workers, flattening wages, creating horrible opportunity -- a lack of opportunities for unskilled workers, we're going to do something about reducing the level of immigration by 25 percent. We're going to be tough at the border, we're going to be tough on all of the illegal immigrants that everybody else in this field -- we're going to be different. We're going to be actually out there trying to create a better life for hard-working Americans. +p1618 +aVI think it's -- yeah, I think it's a one-two punch. Number one, we have to create better paying jobs. I mean, that's just the bottom line. We haven't. And that's the reason that I've said under my presidency, we'll create jobs and make American the number one manufacturing country in the world. If we want to create jobs for the folks that you're talking about, who are having trouble getting off government benefits, primarily because of their low skill level, there is no better way -- it's worked for 100 years in America -- putting people back to work in manufacturing is it. I'm going to be introducing a plan which I call the 2020 Perfect Vision for America. It's a 20 percent flat rate tax, it'll take a blowtorch to the -- to the IRS. It will create a manufacturing juggernaut in this country. And you combine that with reforms of our welfare system. You're looking at the -- at the man who introduced and fought on the floor as a freshman senator and passed the Welfare Reform Act of 1996 over two President Clinton vetoes. Got 70 votes in the United States Senate. Bipartisan issue. And I ended a federal entitlement. Never been done before, never been done since. What we need to do is take the rest of the federal entitlements, not just welfare, but food stamps and Medicaid and housing programs and do the same thing we did with welfare. Work requirements and time limits. That will change everything. Mac +p1619 +aVIt is not any more than Dred Scott was settled law to Abraham Lincoln, who, in his first inaugural address, said "it won't stand." And they went ahead and passed laws in direct contravention to a rogue Supreme Court. This is a rogue Supreme Court decision, just like Justice Roberts said. There is no constitutional basis for the Supreme Court's decision, and I know something about this. The -- one of the times the Supreme Court spoke that I thought they were acting outside of their authority was in a partial-birth abortion case. You know, these Planned Parenthood tapes, what they're showing are partial-birth abortions. Abortions being done where the baby's being delivered first, to preserve those organs, and then they crush the skull. Well, the Supreme Court found a bill that I was the author of unconstitutional. What did I do? I didn't stop. I didn't say "oh, well we lost. It's the law of the land." We worked together. The House and Senate, under my leadership, and we passed a bill, and we said, "Supreme Court, you're wrong." We're a coequal branch of the government. We have every right to be able to stand up and say what is constitutional. We passed a bill, bipartisan support, and the Supreme Court, they -- they sided with us. Sometimes it just takes someone to lead and stand up to the court. +p1620 +aVJust ditto to that. We're going to suspend -- I've -- I've said this for four years. We're going to suspend and repeal every executive order, every regulation that cost American jobs and is -- is -- is impacting our freedom. And second, the First Amendment Defense Act, which is protecting religious liberty, if it's not passed by then, which I suspect it won't, because the president will veto it, I will institute an executive order to make sure that people of faith are not being -- not being harassed and persecuted by the federal government for standing up for the religious beliefs. +p1621 +aVI came to Washington, D.C. in 1990. That sounds like a long time ago. It was. It was 25 years ago, and I came by defeating the Democratic incumbent. I came as a reformer. I started the Gang of Seven, and it led to the overtaking of the 40-year Democratic rule of Congress, because I didn't -- I stood up to the old-boy network in Washington, D.C. because I believed that Washington was not the solution, that Washington was the problem, just like Ronald Reagan said. I was a child of Ronald Reagan. And I went there, and for 16 years, I fought the insiders and was able to get things done. That's the difference. We need to elect someone who will stand with the American people, who understands its greatness, who understands what an open economy and freedom is all about, but at the same time, has a record of being able to get things done in Washington like we've never seen before. Reforms, everything from moral and cultural issues to economic issues. Those of you health savings accounts. Health savings accounts are something that we introduced. It's a private-sector solution that believes in freedom, not Obamacare that believes in government control. Those are the things we brought, and we were able to get things done. If you want someone who's not going to divide Washington, but gets things done, then you should make me your president. +p1622 +aVI'll tell you how optimistic I am about America. Karen and I have seven children. You don't have seven children and bring them into this world if you're not optimistic about the future of this country. I am, but people are upset, and they're upset for a reason about the future of this country. Donald Trump actually seized on it when he talked about immigration. And I think the reason he did is because immigration is sort of an example of what's broken and what's wrong in Washington, D..C. You see, you have one side, the Democrats, and with immigration, all they care about is votes. They don't care about American workers, they just care about bringing as many people in so they can get as many votes as they can. ON the other side, you have so many Republicans, and what do they care about? Helping business make profits. There's nobody out there looking out for the American worker. I'm looking out for the American worker. I'm the only one on this stage who has a plan that's actually reduced -- actually going to reduce immigration. Actually going to do something to help the American worker. And you combine that with a plan to make manufacturing -- this country number one in manufacturing, you've got someone who's going to help revitalize and give hope to America, the place -- the place is that is the most hopeless today. That's why I ask for your support for president. +p1623 +asVQUESTION +p1624 +(lp1625 +VMy name is Ashley Tofil. Ms. Fiorina, in November, you said that you would not talk to Vladimir Putin after you were elected because you would be communicating from a position of weakness. Do you believe that it is feasible to not communicate with another world leader? And do you think that that also is a sign of weakness? +p1626 +aVMy name is Carla Hernandez. I'm from the University of Texas at Austin. And my question is directed to all the candidates. If the Bible clearly states that we need to embrace those in need and not fear, how can we justify not accepting refugees? +p1627 +aVPlease describe one action you would do to make the economic environment more favorable for small businesses and entrepreneurs and anyone dreaming of opening their own business. +p1628 +aVHi, I'm Adithya Sivakumar. I'm from Vanderbilt University. And I was wondering with U.S. designated state sponsors of terrorism such as Iran and other traditional U.S. enemies fighting +p1629 +aVNew Hampshire has been hard hit by the heroin epidemic, and we're on track to have twice as many overdose deaths this year as in 2013. What specifically would you do to address this crisis? +p1630 +aVAs a young person, I'm very concerned about climate change and how it will affect my future. As a presidential candidate, what will you do to address climate change? (END +p1631 +asVCAVUTO +p1632 +(lp1633 +VIt is 9:00 p.m. on the East Coast, 8:00 p.m. here inside the Milwaukee theater. Welcome to the Republican presidential debate here on the Fox Business Network. I'm Neil Cavuto, alongside my co-moderators, Maria Bartiromo, and the editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal, Gerard Baker. +p1634 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. +p1635 +aVIt sounds like a game show but it's not. Now I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the elephant in the room, and I'm not talking about your party's fine symbol. I'm talking about the purpose of tonight's debate. The economy and what each of you would do to improve it. No more, no less. We are focused on those issues, and what you have said on those issues in your words and what your opponents have said in their words about your words. That is the agenda tonight. How each of you plans to make America better tomorrow. And so we begin. Candidates, as we gather tonight in this very august theater, just outside and across the country, picketers are gathering as well. They're demanding an immediate hike in the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Just a few hours ago, near Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed doing the same for all state workers, the first governor to do so. Mr. Trump, as the leading presidential candidate on this stage and one whose tax plan exempts couples making up to $50,000 a year from paying any federal income taxes at all, are you sympathetic to the protesters cause since a $15 wage works out to about $31,000 a year? +p1636 +aVSo do not raise the minimum wage? +p1637 +aVDr. Carson, you have long bemoaned this lackluster recovery. And this Facebook map show Americans share your concern. The green represents how the jobs issue is resonating all across the nation, especially here in the state of Wisconsin. You suggested one minimum wage does not fit all, and that perhaps we should offer a lower or starter wage for young people. Those protesters outside are looking for $15 and nothing less. Where are you? +p1638 +aVSo, sir, just to be clear, you would not raise it? +p1639 +aVSenator Rubio, you called the recent Democratic debate in Las Vegas a night of giveaways, including free health care, free college and a host of other government-paid benefits. Since you aren't a fan of all they're giving away, tell us tonight what you would take back. +p1640 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. +p1641 +aVAll right. We're only just getting started. Coming up, your taxes. Stick around. You're watching FOX Business +p1642 +aVWelcome back to the Milwaukee Theater and the Republican presidential debate. Let's get right back to our questions. Dr. Carson, to you. You recently railed against the double- standard in the media, sir, that seems obsessed with inconsistencies and potential exaggerations in your life story, but looked the other way when it came to then-Senator Barack Obama's. Still, as a candidate whose brand has always been trust, are you worried your campaign \u2014 which you've always said, sir, is bigger than you \u2014 is now being hurt by you? +p1643 +aVI'll just forget that follow-up there. +p1644 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1645 +aVAlright, thank you. We're going to take a break here. Coming up, a big issue many Americans are facing, taxes. The Republican Presidential Debate continues now, live, from Milwaukee. +p1646 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from Milwaukee. Let's get back to the questions. And we want to touch on obviously one of the biggest of this issue in this year, taxes. And this will go to several of you. One of the biggest economic concerns of course in the country are taxes. Facebook data certainly backs that up. Once again the green on this map that we're going to see here shows how the conversation around taxes is resonating across the nation, especially here in Wisconsin. First off, Dr. Carson, to you. You say you are in favor of a tax system, I guess akin to tithing, sir, with a flat tax rate of up to 15 percent because you said, if everybody pays this, I think God is a pretty fair guy, so tithing is a pretty fair process. But Donald Trump says that is not fair. That wealthier taxpayers should pay a higher rate because it's a fair thing to do. So whose plan would God endorse then, Doctor? Yours or Mr. Trump's? +p1647 +aVRight. +p1648 +aVThank you very much. Senator Paul, you said you want to blow up the tax code and start over with an across-the-board 14.5 percent fair and flat tax. You happily offered that it is not revenue neutral and that's the idea. You want to choke off the amount of money coming into Washington. But don't you risk, sir, creating a near-term budget crisis just as your presidency would be beginning? +p1649 +aVThere are no deductions on your \u2014 under your plan? +p1650 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1651 +aVSenator Paul... Senator Paul, you have already said, sir, that that would be a mistake in not talking to Vladimir Putin, or to rule it out. You've argued that it's never a good idea to close down communication. With that in mind, do you think the same applies to administration efforts right now to include the Iranians in talks on Syria? +p1652 +aV...Well, then how would you respond? +p1653 +aVBut if you're not going to respond in a no-fly zone strategy, what would yours be? +p1654 +aVAll right. And look at the time, look at the time. You are watching FOX Business, we'll take a break. Stick around. +p1655 +aVSenator Cruz \u2014 and I will get to you \u2014 but, Senator Cruz, on that theme, Facebook data shows that over the last month alone, nearly 1 million people \u2014 nearly 1 million \u2014 have been concerned about reining in Wall Street, apparently believing that some have not been punished enough. So, as an accomplished litigator yourself and a former solicitor general, would you go after the very people who believe and fear that Wall Street has ignored, in other words, the crooks that Bernie Sanders say have gotten away with a financial murder? +p1656 +aVSenator......Senator, I really want to be clear here. Are you saying, sir, that if Bank of America were on the brink, you would let it fail? +p1657 +aVSir, I understand that. I just want to be clear, if you don't mind, that millions of depositors would be on the line with that decision. And I just want to be clear. If it were to happen again, for whatever the reason, you would let it go, you would let a Bank of America go? +p1658 +aVOK, I think it's fair to say you're not fans of Hillary Clinton's resume. Alright, Mr. Trump.... +p1659 +aVI had a feeling. Perhaps the most successful capitalist on this stage tonight, you've acknowledged that some give capitalism a bad name. You've been particularly critical of businesses that find all sorts of ways of paying their taxes by keeping money abroad, but your own plan includes an incentive to bring \u2014 that more the $2 trillion dollars home. Isn't that, like, a one-time bounty... +p1660 +aV...Some of the guys you all but call pirates, so they still keep the loot, and pay only a price to bring it back. +p1661 +aV...Alright, gentlemen, I know you want to \u2014 and I want to, be we also promised to get people home tonight, and we are going to take a quick break here. I think it is fair to say at this juncture that you can discuss these issues, and only business issues, but still keep it interesting. Stick around for these candidates closing statements. +p1662 +aVSenator Marco Rubio? +p1663 +aVDr. Ben Carson? +p1664 +aVDonald Trump? +p1665 +aVCandidates, we want to thank you all. We also appreciate your helping save time by talking over one another at times. That was welcomed. But by all means, it was a very riveting debate. Business issues can be \u2014 can be riveting, because it wasn't about us, it's about them. +p1666 +aVThat'll do it. Thank you for joining us. +p1667 +asVBLITZER +p1668 +(lp1669 +VWelcome to the CNN-Facebook Republican presidential debate here at the Venetian Las Vegas. We have a very enthusiastic audience. Everyone is here. They're looking forward to a serious and spirited discussion about the security of this nation. I'm Wolf Blitzer, your moderator tonight. This debate is airing on CNN networks here in the United States and around the world, and on the Salem Radio Network. The nine leading candidates, they are here. Let's welcome them right now. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Businessman and real estate developer Donald Trump. Retired neurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. And Ohio Governor John Kasich. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome these Republican candidates for president of the United States. This is the final Republican debate before the election year begins, and we're taking a moment for the photographs of the candidates together on the stage. Now, everyone, please rise for the national anthem sung by Ayla Brown. +p1670 +aVI know everyone is eager to get started. So, candidates, please take your places while I explain the ground rules for tonight. As moderator, I'll guide the discussion, and I'll be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt and CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. We also asked Republicans and independents nationwide to share their questions for the candidates. We teamed up with Facebook to send a campaign camper across the country over the past several weeks. Thousands of people stepped inside and recorded their questions on video. Millions more have weighed in on Facebook. Candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have a minute and 15 seconds to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you're singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know that we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. And as the candidates requested, a bell will sound like this. We know you are all eager to jump in and debate these important issues, so, please, wait until you're called on. These nine Republicans are positioned on stage based on their ranking in the recent polls, so let's begin right now. I'd like to invite each candidate to introduce himself or herself to our audience. You'll have one minute. First to you, Senator Paul. +p1671 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p1672 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1673 +aVMs. Fiorina? +p1674 +aVGovernor Bush? +p1675 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1676 +aVSenator Cruz. +p1677 +aVDr. Carson. +p1678 +aVMr. Trump. +p1679 +aVThank you. Since you last debated, Americans have witnessed terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino. The FBI director says the country now faces the greatest terror threat since 9/11. You all have different approaches to keeping the country safe. And that will be the focus of tonight's debate. Mr. Trump, as you mentioned in your opening statement, part of your strategy is to focus in on America's borders. To keep the country safe, you say you want to temporarily ban non-American Muslims from coming to the United States; ban refugees fleeing +p1680 +aVGovernor Bush, you called Mr. Trump "unhinged" when he proposed banning non-American Muslims from the United States. Why is that unhinged? +p1681 +aVMr. Trump? +p1682 +aVSenator Rubio \u2014 I'm going to go to Senator Rubio and get his thoughts. You have said banning Muslims is unconstitutional. But according to a recent ABC News-Washington Post poll, a majority of Republicans support Mr. Trump's idea. Why are they wrong? +p1683 +aVHugh Hewitt, you have a question. +p1684 +aVGovernor Christie, Americans are clearly more afraid today than at any time since 9/11. As you mentioned in your opening statement, today in Los Angeles, 650 schoolchildren didn't go to \u2014 650,000 schoolchildren didn't go to school because of an e-mail threat, this two weeks after an attack killed 14 people in San Bernardino. Is this the new normal? And if so, what steps would you take as president of the United States to ensure that fear does not paralyze America? +p1685 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, one of the killers in San Bernardino was an American who was not on anyone's watch list. How are you going to find that radicalized person and stop another such attack? +p1686 +aVThank you. Dana Bash, you have the next question. +p1687 +aVThank you. Dr. Carson, you're in favor of monitoring mosques and schools where there is anti-America sentiment, what do you consider anti- America? +p1688 +aVDr. Carson, who was right in that little debate that we just heard between Senator Rubio and Senator Paul? +p1689 +aVHold on a sec, we have a lot more to come and everybody's going to have their full opportunity. Governor Bush, six days after 9/11 your brother visited a mosque and said quote, "Islam is peace." The conversation tonight is about banning Muslims and surveillance of mosques, are President Bush's words still relevant in today's Republican party? +p1690 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you pointed out you were a CEO in Silicon Valley on 9/11. Companies there, they say they won't help the FBI now crack encrypted communication from +p1691 +aVBut my question was: Should these Silicon Valley companies be forced to cooperate with the FBI? +p1692 +aVMr. Trump, you recently suggested closing that Internet up, those were your words, as a way to stop +p1693 +aVLet me follow up, Mr. Trump. So, are you open to closing parts of the Internet? +p1694 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, is shutting down any part of the Internet a good idea? +p1695 +aVThank you, Governor. The fight against radical Islamic terrorists and +p1696 +aVThank you. To be clear, Senator Cruz, would you carpet bomb Raqqa, the +p1697 +aVThank you. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you've been critical of Senator Cruz's strategy. You say his voting record doesn't match his rhetoric. Why? +p1698 +aVBecause I asked the question, Senator, because you said this. You said he, referring to Senator Cruz, voted against the Defense Authorization Act every year that it came up, and I assume that if he voted against it, he would veto it as president. That's the bill that funds our troops. +p1699 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1700 +aVSenator Rubio. +p1701 +aVWe are going to have much more on this... +p1702 +aVWe're going to have much more on this. But I want to move now back to Mr. Trump. +p1703 +aVHold on. Hold on. Hold on. +p1704 +aVWe have a lot... +p1705 +aVWe have a lot to discuss. I want to move to Mr. Trump right now. We have a question on this war against +p1706 +aVMr. Trump. +p1707 +aVGovernor Bush. Governor Bush. +p1708 +aVMr. Trump. +p1709 +aVJust one at a time, go ahead... +p1710 +aVGo ahead, Mr. Trump. +p1711 +aVGovernor Bush, please. +p1712 +aVOne at a time. +p1713 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1714 +aVThank you. +p1715 +aVAll right. Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash, Hugh, go ahead with the next question. +p1716 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Rubio? Let's continue this conversation. This is a critically important issue. +p1717 +aVWe will get to \u2014 we have a lot of time, Ms. Fiorina. I want to get to Senator Rubio right now. Let's talk about, one of the aspects of your strategy, you say the only way to defeat +p1718 +aVThank you, Senator. Stand by. Ms. Fiorina, the former defense secretary, Bob Gates, says the chances of getting Sunni-Arab forces on the ground to get the job done, his words, "chances very remote." What's your strategy? +p1719 +aVThank you. Governor Christie, what's your strategy? +p1720 +aVDr. Carson, what is your strategy? +p1721 +aVThank you. Everyone stand by. We're only just beginning. Coming up, which candidates on this stage tonight want to move foreign policy in a dramatically new direction? We'll be right back. +p1722 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate here at the Venetian, Las Vegas. The war against +p1723 +aVThank you. +p1724 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you supported the removal of Moammar Gadhafi in Libya. Now that country is in turmoil, as +p1725 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1726 +aVStandby. Everybody standby for a moment. Governor Kasich, go ahead. +p1727 +aVThank you. +p1728 +aVWe're going to talk about Assad in a moment. Mr. Trump, are Americans safer with dictators running the world in the Middle East? +p1729 +aVThank you. Mr. Trump? +p1730 +aVAll right. +p1731 +aVThank you. +p1732 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East... +p1733 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East better off with dictators? +p1734 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1735 +aVHold on Governor Bush., here's the question. You said, "getting rid of Saddam Hussein in your words was a pretty good deal." In light of what has happened in Iraq, do you still feel that way? +p1736 +aVSenator Paul, was getting rid of Saddam Hussein a pretty good deal? +p1737 +aVThank you. Hugh Hewitt, go ahead. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hugh. +p1738 +aVSenator, Senator, we're going to get to you. Wait your turn. We have two hours of debate. We'll have plenty of time. Let Hugh ask his question. +p1739 +aVSenator, please. +p1740 +aVSenator... +p1741 +aVYou'll have plenty of opportunity. Hugh, go ahead. +p1742 +aVThese are the rules all of you agreed to. Hugh, go ahead with your question. +p1743 +aVLet's continue with Russia right now. We have another question from Facebook. Listen and watch. +p1744 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you know, U.S. and Russian warplanes are flying all over Syria right now. With so many lives on the line, is this a good time for the United States not to talk to Putin? +p1745 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Christie, if the U.S. imposed a no-fly zone over Syria and a Russian plane encroached, invaded that no-fly zone, would you be prepared to shoot down that Russian plane and risk war with Russia? +p1746 +aVSenator Paul \u2014 Senator Paul, I want you to respond to what we just heard from Governor Christie. If there was a no-fly zone, you say that potentially could lead to World War III. Why? +p1747 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1748 +aVAll right, let's go back \u2014 Hugh and Dana? +p1749 +aVOne at a time. Hugh, go ahead. +p1750 +aVGovernor, thank you very much. So, Dr. Carson, you recently visited a refugee camp in Jordan and you deemed it your words, "really quite nice." Saying the people there didn't want to come to the United States. Do you think these camps are a long-term solution of the problem of Syrian refugees? +p1751 +aVSenator Paul, you oppose letting in Syrian refugees at this time into the United States. The U.S. has already accepted 2,000 Syrian refugees, including 13 living here in Las Vegas right now. Would you send them back? What would you do with these people? +p1752 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1753 +aVSenator Paul, you didn't answer the question about the 2,000 Syrian refugees who are already here in the United States. Will you send them back or let them stay? +p1754 +aVWe have another \u2014 we have another question. We have another question from Facebook. Let's listen. +p1755 +aVGovernor Christie, you say there should be a pause in allowing new refugees to come into the United States, including orphans under the age of five. What do you say to Carla? +p1756 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1757 +aVThank you, Governor. There is much more coming up. We are only just beginning. Coming up, what other global hot spots await the next president of the United States. +p1758 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate. We're here at the Venetian Las Vegas. Tonight we have been focusing on the Middle East, but let's turn to some other world threats that you will potentially face as Commander in Chief. Ms. Fiorina, candidates here have called the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un a maniac who is mentally unstable. Last week he said he now has a hydrogen bomb. If you were elected president, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p1759 +aVDr. Carson, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p1760 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Dana and Hugh you have questions as well. +p1761 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Some of you on this stage have questioned whether your opponents have temperament, the right temperament, to be in control of the nuclear codes. Dana, you have a question on this? +p1762 +aVThank you, senator. Thank you. +p1763 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1764 +aVThank you, Senator. We're a month and a half away now from the first real test who will be the Republican presidential nominee. Hugh, you have a question? +p1765 +aVAll right. Candidates, we have more coming up. When we come back, everyone will have an opportunity to explain why this particular candidate, each of you on the stage, believes he or she should be the Republican presidential nominee. +p1766 +aVNow it's time for the closing statements from the candidates. Each one has 30 seconds. Senator Paul. +p1767 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1768 +aVGovernor Christie. +p1769 +aVMs. Fiorina. +p1770 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1771 +aVSenator Rubio. +p1772 +aVSenator Cruz. +p1773 +aVDr. Carson. +p1774 +aVThanks to all the Republican presidential candidates. That does it for this Republican presidential debate. +p1775 +aVI'd now like to ask the candidates to please take your places while I tell you a little bit more about how tonight's debate will work. As the moderator, I'll guide the discussion asking questions and follow-ups, as will Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt. Candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have a minutes and 15 seconds to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you're singled out for criticism. We have timing lights that are visible to the candidates, those lights will warn you when your time is up. And as the candidates requested, a bell will sound like this. We know you're all eager to jump in and debate these important issues, but please wait until you're called on. Now that everyone is this place, it's time for the candidates to introduce themselves to our audience. You'll each have one minute. Senator Graham, you're first. +p1776 +aVGovernor Pataki. +p1777 +aVSenator Santorum. +p1778 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p1779 +aVLet's begin. The United States just suffered the worst terrorist attack since 9-11, the murder of 14 people by two terrorists, one of whom was an American citizen. In response, Republican frontrunner Donald Trump proposed a temporary ban on all Muslims coming into the United States until the government can figure out what is going on. Senator Graham, the polls show most Republicans do support Mr. Trump. What do you say to them? +p1780 +aVSenator Graham, you say you'd rather lose the election without Trump than try to win with him. Does that mean you'll be voting for the Democratic nominee if Donald Trump wins the presidential nomination? +p1781 +aVGovernor Pataki, you mentioned Donald Trump in your opening statement. You've also suggested Mr. Trump's plan is un-American and absurd. Why? +p1782 +aVSenator Santorum, you object to Mr. Trump's proposals on the grounds that it's unworkable. You've made religious liberty a hallmark of your career. Do you believe in religious liberty for Muslims as well as Christians? +p1783 +aVSenator Graham. +p1784 +aVSenator Santorum. +p1785 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you called Mr. Trump's plan to ban Muslims impossible and unconstitutional. But what is your specific plan to prevent would-be Jihadists from carrying out attacks against Americans? +p1786 +aVThe terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino have sparked a debate here in the United States about the balance between privacy and security. I want to bring in CNN's Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt for more on this. +p1787 +aVGovernor Pataki. +p1788 +aVThere are a lot of people who have been frustrated, especially Senator Graham, that law enforcement can't tap into information on terrorist cell phones. Senator Graham has called on companies in Silicon Valley to change their business models. As president of the United States, would you force these companies to change their models so the government can better monitor the traffic on these cell phones? +p1789 +aVSenator Graham? +p1790 +aVSenator Graham. +p1791 +aVHere is a question we have on the fight against +p1792 +aVGovernor Huckabee, how would you defeat +p1793 +aVSenator Graham, you have an aggressive military plan to try to defeat +p1794 +aVSenator Santorum, following up on what we just heard from Senator Graham, at least one U.S. intelligence report from the White House has concluded that, in order to defeat +p1795 +aVSenator Graham, you're shaking your head. +p1796 +aVI'm going to bring Governor Pataki in a minute, but go ahead and respond, Senator Graham. +p1797 +aVGovernor Pataki, should the U.S. send ground troops into Syria? +p1798 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you have not put a number of how many U.S. ground troops would be needed to combat +p1799 +aVSenator Graham, and I just want to remind our viewers, you want 10,000 U.S. ground troops in Iraq, and 10,000 in Syria? +p1800 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you have said as president you would tell +p1801 +aVSenator Samtorum? +p1802 +aVGovernor Pataki, you support ground troops - deploying grounds troops. +p1803 +aVThe U.S. Army's Former Cheif of Staff, General Raymond Odierno said that, and I'm quoting, "now +p1804 +aVBut how long would you be willing to commit U.S. troops to fight +p1805 +aVSenator Graham, you called for U.S. ground troops as we know in Iraq and Syria. +p1806 +aVAs you know, there's a growing +p1807 +aVAre you ready to deploy U.S. troops to Libya to try to defeat +p1808 +aVSenator? Senator, are you ready to commit U.S. ground troops to Libya? +p1809 +aVAlright, gentleman, standby. The fight against +p1810 +aVWe're live here at the Venetian in Las Vegas. Welcome back. As the U.S. fight against +p1811 +aVWe have a video question from Facebook. Let's watch. +p1812 +aVGovernor Pataki. +p1813 +aVHe says he was wondering with U.S. designated state sponsors of terrorism like Iran and other traditional U.S. enemies fighting +p1814 +aVHugh Hewitt and Dana Bash have questions. Hugh go ahead. +p1815 +aVGovernor Pataki, let me stick with you. Governor Pataki, a U.S. Army Sargent Bowe Bergdahl now facing a court marshall after leaving his base in Afghanistan, getting captured by the Taliban - Donald Trump, has called for his execution. The former house speak John Boehner says "he's innocent until proven guilty." Where do you stand? +p1816 +aVSenator Graham, where do you stand? +p1817 +aVGovernor Huckabee? Governor Huckbee, +p1818 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Pataki, speaking of those four Americans being held in Iran right now. Iran has suggested they might be willing to have a prisoner swap, release Iranian prisoners held in the United States, in exchange for those four Americans. Would you support that? +p1819 +aVWe have to take a quick break, but, Governor, Israel has exchanged a lot of the prisoners it was holding for Israeli soldiers who were being held by Hamas, for example. +p1820 +aVThank you. Let's take another quick break. The scramble, the scramble to protect Americans after +p1821 +aVWelcome back to the Republican Presidential Debate here at the Venetian in Las Vegas. Gentlemen, in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks, the Obama Administration policy of allowing Syrian refugees to come into the United States has come under fire. Senator Santorum, you say accepting Syrian refugees is dangerous. You say it just takes one Jihadist to destroy the world. Do you think there is any way to properly vet refugees coming into the United States? +p1822 +aVGovernor Pataki, you have said you wouldn't accept a single Syrian refugee. What should become of them? +p1823 +aVLet's go back to Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt for more questions. Dana? +p1824 +aVThank you, Senator. Gentlemen, standby, we are going to take another very quick break. Coming up, with America on edge, who has what it takes to be the next Commander in Chief? These candidates, they will make their case. +p1825 +aVWelcome back. We're live here at the Venetian Las Vegas. Gentlemen, it's time for your closing statements. Each candidate will have 30 seconds. Senator graham, you're first. +p1826 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Pataki. +p1827 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum. +p1828 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee. +p1829 +aVThank you. Thanks to all of the candidates for a very important discussion on critically important issues. This debate night is just getting started here at the Venetian Las Vegas. The top nine candidates, they are standing by for their turn on this stage in just a little while. I'll be back as the moderator. +p1830 +asVMODERATOR +p1831 +(lp1832 +VComing up more of our debate, including questions about President Obama's foreign policy and these guys and their better ideas. Coming up. +p1833 +asVFIORINA +p1834 +(lp1835 +VLike all of you I'm angry. I'm angry at what's happening to our nation. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. Bombastic insults wont take it back. Political rhetoric that promises a lot and delivers little, won't take it back. All of our problems can be solved. All of our wounds can be healed by a tested leader who is willing to fight for the character of our nation. I have been tested. I have beaten breast cancer. I have buried a child. I started as a secretary. I fought my way to the top of corporate America while being called every B word in the book. I fought my way into this election and on to this debate stage while all the political insiders and the pundits told, "it couldn't be done." I've been told, "no,: all my life. And all my life, I've refused to accept no as an answer. Citizens, it is time to take our country back from the political class, from the media, from the liberal elite. It can be done, it must be done, join me and we will get it done. +p1836 +aVWhat I think we need to stand for are solutions. I offer myself as a leader to the people of this country because I think they're looking for solutions, not lawyers arguing over laws or entertainers throwing out sound bites that draw media attention. We need to solve the problem. To solve the problem, we need to do something here at home and something over there in their caliphate. We need to deny them territory. But here at home, we need to do two fundamental things. Number one, we need to recognize that technology has moved on. The Patriot Act was signed in 2001, roughly. The iPhone was invented in 2007. The iPad was invented in 2011. Snapchat and Twitter, all the rest of it, have been around just for several years. Technology has moved on, and the terrorists have moved on with it. Let me tell you a story. Soon after 9/11, I got a phone call from the NSA. They needed help. I gave them help. I stopped a truckload of equipment. I had it turned around. It was escorted by the NSA into headquarters. We need the private sector's help, because government is not innovating. Technology is running ahead by leaps and bound. The private sector will help, just as I helped after 9/11. But they must be engaged, and they must be asked. I will ask them. I know them. +p1837 +aVYou know, listening to this conversation, let me just say, we have a lot of argument about laws but none of it solves the problem. Let's examine what happened, why did we miss the Tsarnaev brothers, why did we miss the San Bernardino couple? It wasn't because we had stopped collected metadata it was because, I think, as someone who comes from the technology world, we were using the wrong algorithms. This is a place where the private sector could be helpful because the government is woefully behind the technology curve. But secondly, the bureaucratic processes that have been in place since 9/11 are woefully inadequate as well. What do we now know? That DHS vets people by going into databases of known or suspected terrorists. And yet, we also know that +p1838 +aVThey do not need to be forced. They need to be asked to bring the best and brightest, the most recent technology to the table. I was asked as a CEO. I complied happily. And they will as well. But they have not been asked. That's why it cost billions of dollars to build an Obama website that failed because the private sector wasn't asked. +p1839 +aVI hope at some point you're going to ask me my strategy. +p1840 +aVWell, first I'll just point out that talking tough is not the same as being strong. And to wage war, we need a commander in chief who has made tough calls in tough times and stood up to be held accountable over and over, not first-term senators who've never made an executive decision in their life. One of the things I would immediately do, in addition to defeating them here at home, is bring back the warrior class \u2014 Petraeus, McChrystal, Mattis, Keane, Flynn. Every single one of these generals I know. Every one was retired early because they told President Obama things that he didn't want to hear. We must have Sunni-Arabs involved in this coalition. We must commit leadership, strength, support and resolve. I'll just add that Margaret Thatcher once said, "If you want something talked about, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman." +p1841 +aVThat is exactly what President Obama said. I'm amazed to hear that from a republican presidential candidate. But let's just start with, who got it wrong? Who really got it wrong? Hillary Clinton has gotten every foreign policy challenge wrong. Hitting the reset button with Vladimir Putin \u2013 recall that she called Bashar Al-Assad a positive reformer and then she opened an embassy and then later she said, over, and over, and over again, "Bashar Al-Assad must go." Although she wasn't prepared to do anything about it. Recall that Hillary Clinton was all for toppling Gadhafi then didn't listen to her own people on the ground. And then of course, when she lied about the terrorist attack in Benghazi, she invited more terrorist attacks. +p1842 +aVWe've mismanaged going into Iraq. +p1843 +aVWe've mismanaged going out of Iraq. +p1844 +aVWe actually... +p1845 +aVI didn't say I would cut off all communication with Putin. What I said was as president of the United States, now is not the time to talk with him. Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. There is a time and a place for everything. There is a time and a place for talk. And there is a time and a place for action. I know Vladimir Putin. He respects strength. He lied to our president's face; didn't both to tell him about warplanes and troops going into Syria. We need to speak to him from a position of strength. So as commander in chief, I will not speak to him until we've set up that no-fly zone; until we've gathered our Sunni-Arab allies and begun to deny +p1846 +aVThis doesn't do a thing to solve the problems...It doesn't do a thing to solve the problems. +p1847 +aVIt will not solve the problem. +p1848 +aVLadies and gentleman, this is why the American people are standing up. +p1849 +aVThis is why the nation is fed up... +p1850 +aVWe have been talking about this... +p1851 +aVSorry, but you haven't gotten to me. This is why... +p1852 +aVthe people are fed up with the political class. +p1853 +aVWell, first, Kim Jong-Un is a dangerous leader, without a doubt. And both Republican and Democrat administrations have been completely ineffective in dealing with him. So we must continue to isolate him. We will need China as part of that strategy. China is a rising adversary. So one of the things we have to do if we want China's support is to push back on China. They, too, recognize one thing \u2014 strength and their own economic interest. I have done business in China for 25 years, so I know that in order to get China to cooperate with us, we must first actually retaliate against their cyber-attacks so they know we're serious. We have to push back on their desire to control the trade route through the South China Sea through which flows $5 trillion worth of goods and services every year. We cannot let them control the disputed islands, and we must work with the Australians, the South Koreans, the Japanese and the Filipinos to contain China. And then we must ask for their support and their help with North Korea. Because believe it or not, China is as concerned about Kim Jong-Un as we are. +p1854 +aVI too remember September 11th. I remember immediately putting into place security procedures all throughout our company that did business in 170 countries where we thought corporate interests would be attacked next. To take our country back, to keep our nation safe, we have to begin by beating Hillary Clinton. We need to unify our party. We need to better than our government, which 75 percent of the American people now think is corrupt and incompetent. They're right. We need to better than our politics. 80 percent think we have a professional/political class of both parties that cares more about its power, position and privilege than actually on getting anything done. We need to unify our party, we need a real Conservative in the White House, and we need to beat Hillary Clinton to take our country back and keep our nation safe. I can. I am. And together, if you join me, we will take our country back. +p1855 +aVWell, first of all, I must say as I think about that question, I think about a woman I met the other day. I would guess she was 40 years old. She had several children. And she said to me, you know, Carly, I go to bed every night afraid for my children's future. And that really struck me. This is America. A mother is going to bed afraid for her children's future. And the reason she's afraid for her children's future is because we've had problems for a long time. Yes, problems have gotten much worse under Democrats. But the truth is, this government has been growing bigger and bigger, more corrupt, less effective, crushing the engine of economic growth for a very long time. This isn't about just replacing a Democrat with a Republican now. It's about actually challenging the status quo of big government. Big government has created a big business called politics. And there are lots of people invested in the status quo of that big business called politics. Specifically, we need actually to do five things to really get this economy going again. We need to go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dollar is being spent, we can challenge any dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. We need to actually reform the tax code. Go to a three-page tax code. Yes, there are plans that would reform our tax code to three pages. In addition to rolling back what President Obama has done, we need to do a top-to-bottom review of every single regulation on the books. That hasn't been done in 50 years. We need to pass the +p1856 +aVWell, first Obamacare has to be repealed because it's failing... ...it's failing the very people it was intended to help, but, also, it is croney-capitalism at its worst. Who helped write this bill? Drug companies, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, every single one of those kinds of companies are bulking up to deal with big government. See, that's what happens. As government gets bigger, and bigger \u2014 and it has been for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike \u2014 and business have to bulk up to deal with big government. So, we have to repeal it. It's tens of thousands of pages long, no one can possible understand it except the big companies, the lawyers, the accountants, the lobbyists that they hire to protect their interests. Then, we have to give back to states the responsibility to manage a high risk pool. We need to try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried. Health insurance has always been a cozy, little game between regulators and health insurance companies. We need to try the free market. The free market. Where people actually have to compete. And, we 'ought to have the government ensure that you must \u2014 and I don't use that term often, that government 'ought to do something, but every healthcare provider 'ought to publish its costs, its prices, its outcomes, because as patients we don't know what we're buying. Now, let me just say \u2014 let me just say, I know more about innovation and entrepreneurship than anyone on this panel because I have led innovative businesses in the most highly competitive industry in the world for decades. The truth is the secret sauce of America is innovation, and entrepreneurship, it is why we must cut our government down to size, and hold it accountable. It's why we have to take our government back, because innovation and entrepreneurship is crushed by the crushing load of a 73,000 page tax code. It is crushed... ...by regulatory thicket that is so vast we don't even know what's in it anymore. It is crushed as well by government bureaucrats who don't do their jobs very well, and who are not held accountable, which is why I've said we got to take our government back, and to do that, we have to know where every dollar being spent, and be able to move any dollar. We have to hack through this regulatory thicket, repeal so much, but, also, know what's in that regulatory thicket \u2014 we don't even know what regulations have been passed. Third, we need to build a meritocracy \u2014 Scott Walker, by the way, is trying now to do in Wisconsin... ...Finally, we need to get to a three page tax code, and, yes, that plan exists. +p1857 +aVSorry, I can't hear you. +p1858 +aV...Absolutely... +p1859 +aV...You need to give... +p1860 +aVThe alternative is to allow states to manage high risk pools for those who really need help. Look, I'm a cancer survivor, OK? I understand that you cannot have someone who's battled cancer just become known as a pre-existing condition. I understand that you cannot allow families to go bankrupt if they truly need help. But, I also understand that Obamacare isn't helping anyone. We're throwing more, and more people into Medicaid, and fewer, and fewer doctors are taking those payments. The point is Obamacare is crushing small businesses, it is not helping the families it was intended to help. So, let us allow states to manage high risk pools. Let us try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried, the free market. Let us ensure that as patients, and customers... +p1861 +aV...that we have information to shop wisely for our health care. +p1862 +aV...Yes, the middle ground is this... +p1863 +aV...This is why \u2014 this is why we must combine, actually, zero-based budgeting with tax reform because unless we can examine, and cut, and move, every single dollar of discretionary spending in the federal government, we cannot reform taxes and reduce spending at the same time. Ask yourself this question, how is it possible that the federal government gets more money each and every year, which the federal government has been doing, receiving more money every year for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike, and yet, never has enough money to do the important things? The answer? All the money's always spoken for. All the money's spoken for. So, we have to go to zero-based budgeting, which is a simple idea \u2014 by the way, there's been a bill for zeros-based (ph) budgeting... ...It exists, it can be voted on. Every dollar must be examined. Any dollar can be cut. Any dollar can be cut, any dollar can be moved. We have to go to a three page tax code. You lower every rate, you close every loophole, why? Because the government uses the tax code to decide winners, and losers. You have to strip the corruption out of the tax code to pay for it. You have to know where every single dollar is being spent... +p1864 +aV...Cut where you need to, and invest where you need to... +p1865 +aV...The two go hand in hand... +p1866 +aVYou know, Mr. Trump fancies himself a very good negotiator. And, I accept that he's done a lot of good deals, so, Mr. Trump 'ought to know that we should not speak to people from a position of weakness. Senator Paul should know that as well. One of the reasons I've said that I would not be talking to Vladimir Putin right now, although I have met him as well, not in a green room for a show, but in a private meeting. One of the reasons I've said I wouldn't be talking to Vladimir Putin right now is because we are speaking to him from a position of weakness brought on by this administration, so, I wouldn't talk to him for awhile, but, I would do this. I would start rebuilding the Sixth Fleet right under his nose, rebuilding the military \u2014 the missile defense program in Poland right under his nose. I would conduct very aggressive military exercises in the Baltic States so that he understood we would protect our +p1867 +aV...we have the strongest military on the face of the planet, and everyone has to know it. +p1868 +aV...Ronald Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. +p1869 +aV...he walked away, he quit talks... +p1870 +aV...when it was time to quit talking... +p1871 +aVCan I just \u2014 could I just say, as a chief executive who's had to make tough calls to save jobs and to grow jobs, I think what's interesting about Dodd-Frank is it's a great example of how socialism starts. Socialism starts when government creates a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. Government created the problem. Government created the problem of a real estate boom. How did we create it? Under Republican and Democrats alike, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, everybody gathered together, Republicans and Democrats, and said, "home ownership is part of the American dream. Let's create a bubble," and then government stepped in \u2014 by the way, under president George W. Bush, banks were told \u2014 encouraged \u2014 told, really \u2014 to buy other banks, to take money. And now what do we have with Dodd-Frank? The classic of crony capitalism. The big have gotten bigger, 1,590 community banks have gone out of business, and on top of all that, we've created something called the Consumer Financial Production Bureau, a vast bureaucracy with no congressional oversight that's digging through hundreds of millions of your credit records to detect fraud. This is how socialism starts, ladies and gentlemen. We must take our government back. +p1872 +aVImagine a Clinton presidency. Our military will continue to deteriorate. Our veterans will not be cared for. And, no, Mrs. Clinton, that situation is not exaggerated. The rich will get richer. The poor will get poorer. The middle class will continue to get crushed. And as bad as that picture is, what's even worse is that a Clinton presidency will corrode the character of this nation. Why? Because of the Clinton way: Say whatever you have to, lie as long as you can get away with it. We must beat Hillary Clinton. Carly Fiorina can beat Hillary Clinton. I will beat Hillary Clinton. And under a President Fiorina, we will restore the character of this nation, the security of this nation, the prosperity of this nation, because as citizens, we will take our government back. +p1873 +aVWell, gee, after the last debate, I was told that I didn't smile enough. +p1874 +aVBut I also think that these are very serious times; 75 percent of the American people think the federal government is corrupt. I agree with them. And this big powerful, corrupt bureaucracy works now only for the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected. Meantime, wages have stagnated for 40 years. We have more Americans out of work or just Americans who quit looking for work for 40 years. Ours was intended to be a citizen government. This is about more than replacing a D with an R. We need a leader who will help us take our government back. +p1875 +aVLet me just say on taxes, how long have we been talking about tax reform in Washington, D.C.? We have been talking about it for decades. We now have a 73,000-page tax code. There have been more than 4,000 changes to the tax plan since 2001 alone. There are loads of great ideas, great conservative ideas from wonderful think tanks about how to reform the tax code. The problem is we never get it done. We have talked about tax reform in every single election for decades. It never happens. And the politicians always say it is so complicated, nobody but a politician can figure it out. The truth is this, the big problem, we need a leader in Washington who understands how to get something done, not to talk about it, not to propose it, to get it done. +p1876 +aVThat's right, three pages. +p1877 +aVYou know why three? +p1878 +aVNo. You know why three? Because only if it's about three pages are you leveling the playing field between the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected who can hire the armies of lawyers and accountants and, yes, lobbyists to help them navigate their way through 73,000 pages. Three pages is about the maximum that a single business owner or a farmer or just a couple can understand without hiring somebody. Almost 60 percent of American people now need to hire an expert to understand their taxes. So yes, you're going to hear a lot of talk about tax reform \u2014 +p1879 +aV\u2014 the issue is who is going to get it done. +p1880 +aVYou know, the +p1881 +aVWell, this is one of the reasons why Tom Perkins and I had disagreements in the boardroom, Becky. Nevertheless, one of the things that I think people don't always understand is how accountable a CEO actually is. So you know, I had to report results every 90 days in excruciating detail. I had to answer every single question about every single result and every single projection in public until there were no more questions. And if I misrepresented those results or those projections in any way, I was held criminally liable. Imagine \u2014 imagine \u2014 if a politician were held to that standard of account. I will run on my record all day long. And I believe people need a leader who is prepared to make tough calls in tough times and stand up... +p1882 +aV...and be held accountable. +p1883 +aVYou know, I want to go back for a moment to what we were just talking about. Crony capitalism is alive and well, and has been so in Washington, D.C. for decades. What's crony capitalism? Crony capitalism is what happens when government gets so big and so powerful that only the big and the powerful can handle it. So why are the pharmaceutical companies consolidating? Why are there five even bigger Wall Street banks now, instead of the ten we used to have on Wall Street? Because when government gets big and powerful, the big feel like they need to get even bigger to deal with all that power, and meanwhile, the small and the powerless \u2014 in this case, 1,590 community banks \u2014 go out of business. You see, folks, this is how socialism starts. Government causes a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. This is why, fundamentally, we have to take our government back. The student loan problem has been created by government. Government trying to level the playing field between Internet and brick-and-mortar creates a problem. The FCC jumping in now and saying, "we're going to put 400 pages of regulation over the Internet," is going to create massive problems. But guess who pushed for that regulation? The big Internet companies. This is what's going on. Big and powerful use big and powerful government to their advantage. It's why you see Walgreens buying Rite Aid. It's why you see the pharmaceuticals getting together. It's you see the health insurance companies getting together. It's why you see the banks consolidating. And meanwhile, small businesses are getting crushed. Community- based businesses and farms are getting crushed. Community banks are going out of business. Big government favors the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected, and crushes the small and the powerless. +p1884 +aVIt is why we have to simplify. It is why we have to reduce the size and power of government. +p1885 +aVIt's the only way to level the playing field between big and powerful and small and powerless. +p1886 +aVBecky, it is the height of hypocrisy for Mrs. Clinton to talk about being the first woman President, when every single policy she espouses, and every single policy of President Obama has been demonstrably bad for women. 92 percent \u2014 92 percent of the jobs lost during Barack Obama's first term belonged to women. Senator Cruz is precisely right. Three million women have fallen into poverty under this administration. The number of women \u2014 +p1887 +aV\u2014 living in extreme poverty is the highest level on record. I am a conservative because I know our values, our principles and our policies \u2014 +p1888 +aV\u2014 work better to lift everyone up, men and women. +p1889 +aVNo, the Federal Government should not play a larger role. Look, every time the Federal Government gets engaged in something it gets worse. And then the Government steps in to try and solve the problem and we get a little further down to that progressive vision that Hillary Clinton is talking about. Companies should, if they want to attract the best workers, provide a good set of benefits. But honestly, if you're a small business owner today you are being crushed. We have 400,000 small businesses forming every year in this country. How great is that? They are employing themselves, they are potentially employing others. The bad news is, we have 470,000 going out of business every year. And why? They cite Obamacare. They are refusing to... +p1890 +aVI think it's a wonderful that that businesses start a 401(k). The point I'm making is this, the Federal Government should not be in a lot of things. There is no Constitutional role for the Federal Government in setting up \u2014 retirement plans. There is no Constitutional role for the Federal Government to be setting minimum wages... +p1891 +aV... The more the Government gets engaged in the economy, the slower the economy becomes. The more the Government gets engaged in the economy, it is demonstrably true... +p1892 +aV... The more the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected are advantaged. +p1893 +aVJohn, I \u2014 if I \u2014 a lot of people have jumped in here. I'd like to jump in. A lot of people have jumped in here. +p1894 +aVI understand. +p1895 +aVI would just say that... ... I would just say this, we've heard a lot of great ideas up here, and I agree with what Senator Rubio said. Every election we talk about this. Every election we talk about Medicare and Social Security reform. It never happens. I would like to start with a basic. Let us actually go to zero- based budgeting so we know where the money is being spent. It's kind of basic. There is a bill sitting in the House that would actually pass and have us go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dime of your money is being spent instead of only talking about how much more we're going to spend year after year after year. My point is this. While there are lots of good ideas for reform, we have never tackled the basics. And we finally need to tackle the basics to cut this government down to size and hold it accountable. So let's start by knowing where your money is being spent by the federal government. +p1896 +aVYou know, every election we hear a lot of talk. We hear a lot of good plans. We hear actually a lot of good intentions. But somehow for decades, nothing really has changed. What we need now is a proven leader who has produced results. That's how you go from secretary to CEO. You lead and you produce results. I will cut this government down to size and hold it accountable, simplify the tax code, roll back the regulations that have been spewing out of Washington, D.C. for 50 years. I may not be your dream candidate just yet, but I can assure you I am Hillary Clinton's worst nightmare. And in your heart of hearts, you cannot wait to see a debate between Hillary Clinton and Carly Fiorina. I will tell you this, I will beat Hillary Clinton. And with your vote and your support and your prayers, I will lead with the citizens of this great nation the resurgence of this great nation. +p1897 +aVGood evening. My story, from secretary to CEO, is only possible in this nation, and proves that everyone of us has potential. My husband, Frank, of 30 years, started out driving a tow truck for a family owned auto body shop. We have come to a pivotal point in our nation's history where this nation's possibilities and potential are being crushed by a government grown so big, so powerful, so inept, so corrupt, and a political class that refuses to do anything about it. I am prepared to lead the resurgence of this great nation. +p1898 +aVYou know, I think Mr. Trump is a wonderful entertainer. He's been terrific at that business. I also think that one of the benefits of a presidential campaign is the character and capability, judgment and temperament of every single one of us is revealed over time and under pressure. All of us will be revealed over time and under pressure. I look forward to a long race. +p1899 +aVThat's not for me to answer; it is for the voters of this country to answer, and I have a lot of faith in the common sense and good judgment of the voters of the United States of America. +p1900 +aVJake, I'll tell you \u2014 I'll tell you why people are supporting outsiders. It's because you know what happens if someone's been in the system their whole life, they don't know how broken the system is. A fish swims in water, it doesn't know it's water. It's not that politicians are bad people, it's that they've been in that system forever. The truth is 75 percent of the American people think the government is corrupt; 82 percent of the American people think these problems that have festered for 50 years in some cases, 25 years in other cases. The border's been insecure for 25 years; 307,000 veterans have died waiting for health care. These things have gone on for so long because no one will challenge the status quo. You know what a leader does? They challenge the status quo, they solve problems that have festered for a long time and they produce results. That is what my whole life has been about. People know this is about far more than replacing a D with an R \u2014 +p1901 +aV\u2014 this is about changing the system. +p1902 +aVHaving... +p1903 +aVHaving met Vladimir Putin, if I may... +p1904 +aVHaving met Vladimir Putin, I wouldn't talk to him at all. We've talked way too much to him. What I would do, immediately, is begin rebuilding the Sixth Fleet, I would begin rebuilding the missile defense program in Poland, I would conduct regular, aggressive military exercises in the Baltic states. I'd probably send a few thousand more troops into Germany. Vladimir Putin would get the message. By the way, the reason it is so critically important that every one of us know General Suleimani's name is because Russia is in Syria right now, because the head of the Quds force traveled to Russia and talked Vladimir Putin into aligning themselves with Iran and Syria to prop up Bashar al- Assad. Russia is a bad actor, but Vladimir Putin is someone we should not talk to, because the only way he will stop is to sense strength and resolve on the other side, and we have all of that within our control. We could rebuild the Sixth Fleet. I will. We haven't. We could rebuild the missile defense program. We haven't. I will. We could also, to Senator Rubio's point, give the Egyptians what they've asked for, which is intelligence. We could give the Jordanians what they've asked for... +p1905 +aV...bombs and materiel. We have not supplied it... +p1906 +aV...I will. We could arm the Kurds. They've been asking us for three years. All of this is within our control. +p1907 +aV...Jake... +p1908 +aV...Jake, ... +p1909 +aVAnd then it'll be my turn. +p1910 +aVJake? +p1911 +aVJake? +p1912 +aVDana, I'd like to... +p1913 +aVDana, I would like to link these two issues, both of which are incredibly important, Iran and Planned Parenthood. One has something to do with the defense of the security of this nation. The other has something to do with the defense of the character of this nation. You have not heard a plan about Iran from any politician up here, here is my plan. On day one in the Oval Office, I will make two phone calls, the first to my good friend to Bibi Netanyahu to reassure him we will stand with the state of Israel. The second, to the supreme leader, to tell him that unless and until he opens every military and every nuclear facility to real anytime, anywhere inspections by our people, not his, we, the United States of America, will make it as difficult as possible and move money around the global financial system. We can do that, we don't need anyone's cooperation to do it. And every ally and every adversary we have in this world will know that the United States in America is back in the leadership business, which is how we must stand with our allies. As regards Planned Parenthood, anyone who has watched this videotape, I dare Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama to watch these tapes. Watch a fully formed fetus on the table, it's heart beating, it's legs kicking while someone says we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain. This is about the character of our nation, and if we will not stand up in and force President Obama to veto this bill, shame on us. +p1914 +aVYou know, it's interesting to me, Mr. Trump said that he heard Mr. Bush very clearly and what Mr. Bush said. I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said. +p1915 +aVDana, with all being said to Mr. Trump... +p1916 +aVImmigration did not come up in 2016 because Mr. Trump brought it up. We talked about it in 2012, we talked about it in 2008. We talked about it in 2004. +p1917 +aVWe have been talking about it for 25 years. This is why people are tired of politicians. +p1918 +aVFirst let me say, We have just spent a good bit of time discussing, as Republicans, how to solve this problem. I would ask your audience at home to ask a very basic question. Why have Democrats not solved this problem? President Obama campaigned in 2007 and 2008 on solving the immigration problem. He entered Washington with majorities in the House and the Senate. He could have chosen to do anything to solve this pro \u2014 this problem. Instead, he chose to do nothing. Why? because the Democrats don't want this issue solved. +p1919 +aVThey want it to be an issue that they can use. As to birthright citizenship... +p1920 +aV...the truth is, you can't just wave your hands and say "the 14th Amendment is gonna go away." It will take an extremely arduous vote in Congress, followed by two-thirds of the states, and if that doesn't work to amend the Constitution, then it is a long, arduous process in court. And meanwhile, what will continue to go on is what has gone on for 25 years. With all due respect, Mr. Trump, we've been talking about illegal immigration for 25 years. San Francisco has been a sanctuary city since 1989. There are 300 of them. And meanwhile, what has happened? Nothing. The border remains insecure. The legal immigration system remains broken. Look, we know what it takes to secure a border. We've heard a lot of great ideas here. Money, manpower, technology... +p1921 +aV...mostly, apparently, leadership... +p1922 +aV...the kind of leadership that understands how to get results. +p1923 +aVBut you \u2014 you would stipulate, Mr. Trump, but not everyone agrees with you. +p1924 +aVOK. +p1925 +aVI led Hewlett Packard through a very difficult time, the worst technology recession in 25 years. The +p1926 +aV\u2014 out a full-page ad in the New York Times to say he was wrong, I was right. I was a terrific CEO, the board was dysfunctional. And he thinks I will make a magnificent president of the United States. +p1927 +aVYou know, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld is a well-known Clintonite and honestly had it out for me from the moment that I arrived at Hewlett Packard. But honestly, Mr. Trump, I find it quite rich that you would talk about this. You know, there are a lot of us Americans who believe that we are going to have trouble someday paying back the interest on our debt because politicians have run up mountains of debt using other people's money. That is in fact precisely the way you ran your casinos. You ran up mountains of debt, as well as losses, using other people's money, and you were forced to file for bankruptcy not once \u2014 +p1928 +aV\u2014 not twice, four times, a record four times. Why should we trust you to manage the finances \u2014 +p1929 +aV\u2014 of this nation any differently than you managed the finances \u2014 +p1930 +aV\u2014 of your casinos? +p1931 +aVWell \u2014 +p1932 +aVWell, Mr. Trump \u2014 +p1933 +aVA track record of leadership is not a game. It is the issue in this election. +p1934 +aVWell, I thought we had been hearing quite a bit about Govenor Christie's record as governor, actually. I think track records are very important. I completely agree that what's at stake here is the future of this nation, and the future of every American. But I do think that a track record of leadership is vital because in the end this election is about leadership. And let's talk about what leadership is. It's not about braggadocio, it is about challenging the status quo, solving problems, producing results. And the highest calling of leadership is to unlock potential in others. +p1935 +aVProblems have festered in Washington for too long. And the potential of this nation is being crushed. +p1936 +aVYou see, Governor Christie, people spend time talking about their track records, and Mr. Trump and I have every right to do the same. And Mrs. Clinton has to defend her track record. Her track record of lying about Benghazi, of lying about her e- mails, about lying about her servers. She does not have a track record of accomplishment. Like Mrs. Clinton, I, too, have travels hundreds of thousands of miles around the globe. But unlike Mrs. Clinton, I know flying is an activity, not an accomplishment. Mrs. Clinton \u2014 if you want to stump a Democrat, ask them to name a accomplishment of Mrs. Clinton's. +p1937 +aVWe just spent \u2014 we just spent the last 10 minutes... +p1938 +aV...Jake, since everyone has gotten to weigh in on this military issue, I'd like to be able to do the same. We have spent probably 12 minutes talking about the past. Let's talk about the future. We need the strongest military on the face of the planet, and everyone has to know it. And, specifically, what that means is we need about 50 Army brigades, we need about 36 Marine battalions, we need somewhere between 300, and 350 naval ships, we need to upgrade every leg of the nuclear triad... +p1939 +aV...we need to reform the Department of Defense, we need as well... +p1940 +aV...to invest in our military technology, and we need to care for our veterans so 307,000... +p1941 +aV...aren't dying waiting for health care. +p1942 +aVJake, may I just say... +p1943 +aVJake \u2014 Jake... +p1944 +aVI very much hope I am the only person on this stage who can say this, but I know there are millions of Americans out there who will say the same thing. My husband Frank and I buried a child to drug addiction. So, we must invest more in the treatment of drugs. +p1945 +aVI agree with Senator Paul. I agree with states' rights. But we are misleading young people when we tell them that marijuana is just like having a beer. It's not. And the marijuana that kids are smoking today is not the same as the marijuana that Jeb Bush smoked 40 years ago. We do \u2014 sorry, Barbara. We do need \u2014 we do need criminal justice reform. We have the highest incarceration rates in the world. Two-thirds of the people in our prisons are there for non-violent offenses, mostly drug related. It's clearly not working. But we need to tell young people the truth. Drug addiction is an epidemic, and it is taking too many of our young people. I know this sadly from personal experience. +p1946 +aVI wouldn't change the $10 bill, or the $20 bill. I think, honestly, it's a gesture. I don't think it helps to change our history. What I would think is that we ought to recognize that women are not a special interest group. Women are the majority of this nation. We are half the potential of this nation, and this nation will be better off when every woman has the opportunity to live the life she chooses. +p1947 +aVSecretariat. +p1948 +aVI think what this nation can be and must be is symbolized by Lady Liberty and Lady Justice. Lady Liberty stands tall and strong. She is clear-eyed and resolute. She doesn't shield her eyes from the realities of the world, but she faces outward into the world nevertheless, as we always must. And she holds her torch high, because she knows she is a beacon of hope in a very troubled world. And Lady Justice, Lady Justice holds a sword by her side, because she is a fighter, a warrior for the values and the principles that have made this nation great. She holds a scale in her other hand. And with that scale she says all of us are equal in the eyes of God. And so all of us must be equal in the eyes of the law and the government, powerful and powerless alike. And she wears a blindfold. And with that blindfold she is saying to us that it must be true, it can be true that in this country, in this century, it doesn't matter who you are, it doesn't matter what you look like, it doesn't matter how you start, it doesn't matter your circumstances, here in this nation, every American's life must be filled with the possibilities that come from their God-given gifts. One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. +p1949 +aVWhen America does not lead, the world is a dangerous and a tragic place. This is a bad deal. Obama broke every rule of negotiation. Yes, our allies are not perfect, but Iran is at the heart of most of the evil that is going on in the Middle East through their proxy. +p1950 +aVYou know, when I started my campaign on May 4th of last year, I was 17 out of 16 candidates. Nobody polled my name. Nobody had ever heard of me. Less than 4 percent of you had ever heard of me. The people in Iowa showed up and they are still showing up. Hundreds and hundreds of them at every event. I have done over 150 events in the state of Iowa and I have 15 more coming up. Now, by the way, I start there because someone asked me about midway through my campaign, what's the biggest surprise to you on the campaign trail? And I will tell you what the biggest surprise is: the chasm, the yawning chasm, between what the national media talks about and what the people of Iowa and the people of this great nation talk about. That's the biggest surprise. So guess what, Martha? Guess what, sorry. The people of Iowa never ask me about a crisis in the GOP, they never ask me about the polls. They never ask me about the other candidates. What they ask me about is Carly, tell us why zero based budgeting is so important. Tell us why you are a leader who is going to produce results. Tell us how you are going to defeat +p1951 +aVWell let me tell you this: news flash, President Obama, news flash, Mrs. Clinton -- climate change is not our most pressing national security threat. Actually -- actually, it is +p1952 +aVYou know, we have a professional, political class of both parties. We have been talking about the same issues for election cycle after election cycle. Yeah, government is big and out of control, and the only way to get it under control is to control the money. And the only way to control the money is to ask the federal government to budget the way you do, to examine every dollar, to cut any dollar to spend -- to move any dollar. The fancy word for that is zero-base budgeting. I call it common sense. That three-page tax code I talk about all the time here in Iowa? It's been around for 20 years. But politicians don't want to talk about it, and you bet the lobbyists don't want to talk about it. In fact, nobody wants to vote on a three-page tax code or zero- base budgeting, although they've both been around for a long time. You know why? Because if you get those two things done, you are goring everybody's ox. You are taking the political establishment apart. You are actually challenging the status quo, which is what we need in the Oval Office. So you know who I'm going to count on? The citizens of this great nation, because you have extraordinary power. But when you do not use it... ... you are losing it. So take out your smartphones, folks. The people of Iowa know what I'm talking about. You take out your smartphones. if you agree with me that three-page tax code needs to be passed, lobbyists aren't going to be in my office. If you agree we gotta finally pass zero-base budgeting, take out your smartphones. Press one for yes, ladies and gentlemen. Press two for no. Citizens, we must take our country back. +p1953 +aVWell, first of all, I haven't said that. What I have said is that in the process of examining every dollar, cutting any dollar and moving any dollar, we happen to know that in this vast federal bureaucracy we have about 260,000 federal government employees who are going to retire, and we shouldn't replace them. Secondly, at Hewlett Packard, as you know -- the people of Iowa know this -- we went through a tough time. The worst technology recession in 25 years -- a great company called Gateway used to do be right here in Iowa. But they didn't make the tough calls necessary to save all those jobs, and so they lost every one of those jobs. Yes, I've had to make some tough calls. We saved 80,000 jobs. We went on to grow to 160,000 jobs. And, frankly, I think the American people know we need a president who's going to make some tough calls. So let me tell you where I'm going to start. The American people got a bill passed through Congress that said we could fire the top 400 senior executives at the V.A. for dereliction of duty. When we know that 307,000 veterans have died waiting for health care and the V.A. handed out $142 million worth of bonuses for superb performance, I'm going to start by firing 400... ... senior executives at the V.A. +p1954 +aVHe is right there. He is right there. +p1955 +aVIt wasn't a personal attack. I was pointing out the fact that Hillary Clinton will do anything to gain and hang on to power, anything. Listen, if my husband did what Bill Clinton did, I would have left him long ago. So, here's the deal. Hillary Clinton has been climbing the ladder to try and get power and here now she is trying for the White House. She is probably more qualified for the big house, honestly. She has escaped prosecution more times than El Chapo, perhaps Sean Penn should interview her. The woman should be prosecuted. And while Mrs. Clinton has flown hundreds of thousands of world around the global, I have too. And I know flying is an activity not an accomplishment. While I know that she has held many positions and many titles she has not accomplished much of anything in her life. She has gotten every single foreign policy challenge wrong. She continues to lie to the American people. It's called the Clinton way. Both Bill and Hillary practice it, the Clinton way. Say whatever you have to say, do whatever you have to say. Lie as long as you can get away with it. Hillary Clinton cannot be the president of these United States. +p1956 +aVWell, you know, Hillary Clinton hasn't been indicted either. So that tells us a lot about our justice system in this country. But, look, the facts of Planned Parenthood have not changed, folks, and I will not be rendered silent on this issue or any other issue. And it doesn't matter what stage I'm on. Here are the facts. Planned Parenthood engages in partial birth abortion, in late-term abortion. They alter those abortion techniques to harvest and sell body parts. They have admitted that they are not going to accept compensation for this anymore. The reality is, most Americans find this practice horrific. Most Americans find horrific that Hillary Clinton's position on this is it's not a life until it's born. Most Americans find horrific Hillary Clinton's position or the Democrat party's position, that a young woman does not need her mother's permission to get an abortion. But if you are 13 years old, you can get an abortion, but you can't go to a tanning salon without your mother's permission. A president Fiorina -- in a president Fiorina budget, there will not be one dime for Planned Parenthood, although there would be a lot of money for women's health and we will finally pass the pain capable unborn child protection act. I will always stand for life and religious liberty... ... because this is about the character of our nation. +p1957 +aVMartha, can I just say we've been talking tonight about a lot of issues and we've also been talking about the fact that the game is rigged and frankly, the media has a lot to do with that. It is outrageous frankly, that Fox News, and you, would question the pro-life credentials of Rick Santorum. That is outrageous. +p1958 +aVIn over 150 events I have come to know and love the people of Iowa. And the people of Iowa know what the rest of Americans have figured out, this ain't working anymore. The government no longer works for those who pay for it. The professional political class says and does whatever they need to do to win, and then does whatever they please. We need to return to a citizen government. That is why I am running for President. The media, the establishment, they all want to tell you this elections over, they know who's going to win it, except that you haven't... ... cast a single vote yet. So, the people of Iowa, stand with me, fight with me. Caucus for me. It is time to take our country back. +p1959 +aVWell, thank you. Good evening. If I may begin by saying how honored I am to be standing here with two former Iowa Caucus winners. Governor, Senator. And how honored I am to be talking with all of you. You know, I'm not a political insider. I haven't spent my lifetime running for office. The truth is I have had and been blessed by a lot of opportunities to do a lot of things in my life. And unlike another woman in this race, I actually love spending time with my husband. I'm standing here because I think we have to restore a citizen government in this country. I think we have to end crony capitalism. The crony capitalism that starts with both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. You know, Hillary Clinton sits inside government and rakes in millions, handing out access and favors. And Donald Trump sits outside government and rakes in billions buying people like Hillary Clinton. The state of our economy is not strong. We have record numbers of men out of work. We have record numbers of women living in poverty. We have young people who no longer believe that the American dream applies to them. We have working families whose wages have stagnated for decades, all while the rich get richer, the powerful get more powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected get more connected. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. +p1960 +aVAmerica must lead because when we do not lead, when this exceptional nation does not lead, the world is more dangerous and a more tragic place. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, they all refuse to lead. Worse, they refuse to respond when this nation is provoked. Hillary Clinton famously asked what difference does it make how four Americans died in Benghazi? Mrs. Clinton, here's what difference it makes. When you do not stand up and say the truth, that this was a purposeful terrorist attack, when you do not say the United States of America will retaliate for that attack, terrorists assume it's open season. We have refused to respond to every provocation. The President wouldn't even mention the fact that Iran had taken two Navy boats and our sailors \u2014 hostage. He didn't mention the fact that they violated the Geneva convention. He didn't respond to the fact that Iran launched two ballistic missile just a short time ago, in direct violation of a deal they had just signed. We didn't respond to the fact that North Korea attacked Sony Pictures. When we refuse to respond over, and over to provocation and bad behavior, we will get more provocation and bad behavior. I know most of our allies personally. I have met many of our adversaries. I know our military and our intelligence capability, and I know this. When we will not stand with our allies, when we will not respond to our adversaries, when we do not lead in the world the world is a dangerous and tragic place. I will be a Commander in Chief who will lead. +p1961 +aVOf course I'm worried about similar problems in the United States. We can not allow refugees to enter this country unless we can adequately vet them and we know we can't. Therefore we should stop allowing refugees into this country. And by the way, we do not need to be lectured about why we're angry and frustrated and fearful because we've had an illegal immigration problem in this country for 25 years. And we have every right to be frustrated about the fact that politicians stand up in election after election after election and promise us to fix the problem and yet, it has never been fixed. I offer leadership that understands that actions speak louder than words, that results count. We must secure our border. We must fix our broken immigration system. We must enforce a pro-American immigration system that serves our interests, not the rest of the world. I understand what it takes to translate goals into results and that is what I will do as president of the United States. Of course, we should be worried, for heavens sakes. This administration has now told us they don't know who has overstayed a visa. This administration has told us they don't even bother to check Facebook or Twitter to find out who's pledging allegiance to jihadis. We can do better than this, citizens. We need to take our country back. +p1962 +aVWe need to be very clear-eyed now about who are our allies and who are our adversaries. In the fight against +p1963 +aVAnd we all believe the polling data all the time, don't we? +p1964 +aVOh, it's a problem for so many reasons. First of all, it is yet another lawless executive order. You see, he doesn't like the fact that Congress has rejected his ideas twice on a bipartisan basis, so he's decided he just gets to override them. Sorry, Mr. President, not the way "The Constitution" works. Secondly......secondly, he basically admitted in that speech that he hasn't been paying much attention to enforcing the laws we have. He said, gee, we need a few more FBI agents. That would have helped, perhaps, stop a tragedy here in South Carolina with Dylann Roof, a guy who clearly never should have been sold a gun. In other words, Mr. President, you're right, we need to enforce the laws we have. Let's enforce the laws we have. There are criminals running around with guns who shouldn't have them. We don't prosecute any of them. Less than 1 percent. But I want to go back to the technology issue for a moment, if I may, as well, because in this regard, I disagree with Senator Santorum. Look, I come from the technology industry and I can tell you there is one thing that bureaucracies don't know how to do. They do not know how to innovate. We have come seven generations of technology since 2011. We have bureaucracies that are incapable of bringing in that innovation. So, yes, there are some very specific things that we should ask the private sector to help us with, including making sure we have the latest and greatest in algorithms to search through all these databases so that we find terrorists before they attack us, not after it's too late. And, finally, when a president who understands technology in the Oval Office. Mrs. Clinton, actually, you cannot wipe a server with a towel. +p1965 +aVYes, and see... +p1966 +aVAs CEO of Hewlett Packard... +p1967 +aVAs CEO of Hewlett Packard, I was asked very specifically for some very real help. The help I was asked to provide, this is now public information. So I am not revealing what \u2014 something that was \u2014 was classified. We had a very large shipment of equipment, software and hardware, headed to a retail outlet. And I was called by the head of the NSA, who had an urgent need for that capability, to begin laying out a program to track terrorists. We turned that truck around on a highway and it was escorted to the headquarters in San Jose. In World War II, our government went to the private sector and said, help us do things that we cannot do. The private sector has capabilities that the government does not have. There are some legal authorities that are required. The Sony attack could have been detected and repelled, had legal authorities been passed in Congress allowing private networks and public networks to work together. Those legal authorities have not yet been passed. Yes, I was asked to help. I know the technology industry. They will help again. But they must be asked by a president who understands what they have. +p1968 +aVFor decades, the professional political class in both parties has been talking about the middle class. For decades, Republicans in particular have been talking about reducing the size and scope of government, spending less money, reducing the complexity. And yet, for 40 years, the government has gotten bigger and more expensive. We now have a 75,000 plus page tax code, although politicians have run for office for decades promising reform. And all the while, middle class incomes have stagnated. You see, when government gets bigger and bigger, more powerful, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer and the middle class gets squeezed. We need to understand who the job creators are in this country, because we need more jobs to grow the middle class and to grow the wages of the middle class. Who creates jobs? Small businesses, new businesses, family-owned businesses. They create two thirds of the new jobs in this country and they employ half the people. I started out typing for a nine person real estate firm. My husband Frank started out driving a tow truck for a family-owned auto body shop. And we are crushing small businesses and destroying the middle class. So here's my blueprint to take back America. Let us first actually reform the tax code from 73,000 pages down to three. There's a 20-year-old plan to do exactly that. And then let us begin piece by piece to focus on every single dollar the government spends, so that we will spend less overall and still have enough for our priorities. And that requires the government to budget the way you do at home \u2014 examine every dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. The fancy term for that is zero- based budgeting, but I call it common sense. Citizens, we've got to take our country back. +p1969 +aVMy husband Frank, that I mentioned, I love spending time with. He's down there. He was real excited the other day because in New Hampshire, he was introduced as my eye candy. You know, everybody out there watching knows this. You cannot wait to see the debate between me and Hillary Clinton. You would pay to see that fight. And that's because you know I will win. And that's important. We've got to start by beating Hillary Clinton. All of my life, I have been told to sit down and be quiet. Settle. Settle. Don't challenge the system. That's what the American people are being told now and we have been told that for way too long \u2014 sit down and be quiet about our God, about our guns, about the abortion industry, settle for illegal immigration that's been a problem for decades, as so many of our problems have festered for decades. Accept a system of government and politics that no longer works for us. I will not sit down and be quiet. And neither will you. So I ask you to stand with me, fight with me, vote for me, citizens. It is time to take our future back, time to take our politics back. It is time to take our government back. Citizens, it is time. We must take our country back. +p1970 +aVWell, I would begin by reminding people that at this point in previous presidential elections, Jimmy Carter couldn't win, Ronald Reagan couldn't win, Bill Clinton couldn't win, and neither could've Barack Obama. I started as a secretary and became ultimately the chief executive of the largest technology company in the world, almost $90 billion in over 150 countries. I know personally how extraordinary and unique this nation is. I think to be commander in chief in the 21st century requires someone who understands how the economy works, someone who understands how the world works and who's in it; I know more world leaders on the stage today than anyone running, with the possible exception of Hillary Clinton; understands bureaucracies, how to cut them down to size and hold them accountable; and understands technology, which is a tool, but it's also a weapon that's being used against us. Most importantly, I think I understand leadership, which sometimes requires a tough call in a tough time. But mostly, the highest calling of leadership is to challenge the status-quo and unlock the potential of others. We need a leader who will lead the resurgence of this great nation and unlock its potential once again. Thank you. +p1971 +aVWell, I don't know. I didn't get a phone call from Bill Clinton before I jumped in the race. Did any of you get a phone call from Bill Clinton? I didn't. Maybe it's because I hadn't given money to the foundation or donated to his wife's Senate campaign. Here's the thing that I would ask Donald Trump in all seriousness. He is the party's frontrunner right now, and good for him. I think he's tapped into an anger that people feel. They're sick of politics as usual. You know, whatever your issue, your cause, the festering problem you hoped would resolved, the political class has failed you. That's just a fact, and that's what Donald Trump taps into. I would also just say this. Since he has changed his mind on amnesty, on health care and on abortion, I would just ask, what are the principles by which he will govern? Mac +p1972 +aVLet me say first that it is disturbing that every time one of these home-grown terrorist attacks occurs, and, as your question points out, they are occurring with far too great frequency, it turns out we had warning signals. It turns out we knew something was wrong. It turns out some dot wasn't connected, and so the first thing we have to do is make sure that everyone and every responsible agency is attuned to all of these possibilities and symptoms. We even had warnings about the Boston Marathon bombers, and yet the dots weren't connected. So we need to get on a different mindset. Secondly, I certainly support that we need to tear down cyber walls, not on a mass basis, but on a targeted basis. But let me just say that we also need down -- to tear down the cyber walls that China is erecting, that Russia is erecting. We need to be very well aware of the fact that China and Russia are using technology to attack us, just as +p1973 +aVI absolutely would call on them to collaborate and cooperate, yes. +p1974 +aVYeah. Sometimes it's a complicated situation, but some things are black and white. On day one in the Oval Office, I would make two phone calls. The first one would be to my good friend, Bibi Netanyahu, to reassure him we will stand with the State of Israel. The second will be to the supreme leader of Iran. He might not take my phone call, but he would get the message, and the message is this: Until you open every nuclear and every military facility to full, open, anytime/anywhere, for real, inspections, we are going to make it as difficult as possible for you to move money around the global financial system. I hope Congress says no to this deal. But realistically, even if they do, the money is flowing. China and Russia have never been on our side of the table. The Europeans have moved on. We have to stop the money flow. And by the way, as important as those two phone calls are, they are also very important because they say this. America is back in the leadership business. And when America does not lead, the world is a dangerous and a tragic place. This is a bad deal. Obama broke every rule of negotiation. Yes, our allies are not perfect. But Iran is at the heart of most of the evil that is going on in the Middle East through their proxies. Mac +p1975 +aVLet me tell you what I would do immediately, day two in the Oval Office. I would hold a Camp David summit with our Arab allies, not to talk them into this lousy deal with Iran, but to say to them, "what is it that you need to defeat +p1976 +aVI agree with my colleagues. We need to begin by undoing -- I would begin by undoing a whole set of things that President Obama has done, whether it's illegal amnesty or this latest round of EPA regulations. But let me go back to something that's very important. We have been debating right here the core difference between conservatism and progressivism. Conservatives, I am a conservative because I believe no one of us is any better than any other one of us. Every one of us is gifted by God, whether it is those poor babies being picked over or it's someone whose life is tangled up in a web of dependence. Progressives don't believe that. They believe some are smarter than others, some are better than others, so some are going to need to take care of others. That is the fight we have to have, and we have to undo a whole set of things that President Obama has done that get at the heart of his disrespect and disregard for too many Americans. +p1977 +aVThis is a great nation. It is a unique nation in all of human history and on the face of the planet, because here, our founders believed that everyone has a right to fulfill their potential and that that right --they called it life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness -- comes from God and cannot be taken away by government. We have arrived at a point in our nation's history where the potential of this nation and too many Americans is being crushed by the weight, the power, the cost, the complexity, the ineptitude, the corruption of the federal government, and only someone who will challenge the status quo of Washington, D.C. can lead the resurgence of this great nation. I will do that. Mac +p1978 +aVNot trustworthy. No accomplishment. +p1979 +aVHillary Clinton lies about Benghazi, she lies about e- mails. She is still defending Planned Parenthood, and she is still her party's frontrunner. 2016 is going to be a fight between conservatism, and a Democrat party that is undermining the very character of this nation. We need a nominee who is going to throw every punch, not pull punches, and someone who cannot stumble before he even gets into the ring. I am not a member of the political class. I am a conservative; I can win this job, I can do this job, I need your help, I need your support. I will, with your help and support, lead the resurgence of this great nation. Thank you. +p1980 +asVBUSH +p1981 +(lp1982 +VOur freedom is under attack. Our economy is under water. The leading democrat is under investigation. And America is under the gun to lead the free world to protect our civilized way of life. Serious times require strong leadership, that's what at stake right now. Regarding national security, we need to restore the defense cuts of Barack Obama to rebuild our military, to destroy +p1983 +aVWell, first of all, we need to destroy +p1984 +aVLook, he mentioned me. I can bring \u2014 I can talk. This is \u2014 this is the problem. Banning all Muslims will make it harder for us to do exactly what we need to do, which is to destroy +p1985 +aVThey are relevant if we want to destroy +p1986 +aVDonald, this has got... +p1987 +aVThis is another example of the lack of seriousness. Look, this is \u2014 this is troubling because we're at war. They've declared war on us and we need to have a serious strategy to destroy +p1988 +aVYou said on September 30th that +p1989 +aVI'm talking right now. I'm talking. +p1990 +aVSeptember 30th you said... +p1991 +aVA little of your own medicine there, Donald. +p1992 +aVDonald, you're not going to be able to insult your way to the presidency. That's not going to happen. And I do have the strength. Leadership, leadership is not about attacking people and disparaging people. Leadership is about creating a serious strategy to deal with the threat of our time. And I laid out that strategy before the attacks in Paris and before the attacks in San Bernardino. And it is the way forward. We need to increase our military spending. We need to deal with a no- fly zone in Syria, a safe zone. We need to focus on building a military that is second-to-none... +p1993 +aV... so that we can destroy Islamic terrorism. +p1994 +aVI think we're focusing a whole... +p1995 +aVI do. I think the lesson's learned are that we have to have to have a strategy to get and a strategy to get out. Which means, that you create a stable situation. This president and this is what the focus ought to be, it's not the differences between us, it's Barack Obama does not believe America's leadership in the world is a force for good. He does not believe that our strength is a place where security can take place. He leads from behind. He creates an environment that now we're creating the most unstable situation we've had since the World War II era. The focus ought to be on the single fact that Hillary Clinton wants to double down on a failed foreign policy and we need to be united to defeat that because we're going to be in a place that is far less secure than it is today. Don't you all agree? +p1996 +aVBecause I \u2014 first of all, I know what I don't know. I know what I don't know. I would seek out, as I have, the best advice that exists. I won't get my information from the shows. I don't know if that's Saturday morning or Sunday morning. I don't know which one. I will seek out the best advice, and I will create a strategy and I will persuade the American people what the role of America should be. I've laid out a policy of rebuilding our military. All of the talk that we're seeing here \u2014 most of which I agree on, frankly \u2014 requires a much stronger military. We now have a lack of readiness that is quite scary. We have planes that were \u2014 that Harry Truman inaugurated, the B-52. We have \u2014 the Navy has been gutted and decimated. The readiness of the Marines is way down. If we're serious about America's leadership in the world, then we need to make sure that we have the back of the armed forces. The Armed Forces Radio is here listening to this today. I hope they know that if I'm president, I'll be a commander-in-chief, not an agitator- in-chief or a divider-in-chief, that I will lead this country in a way that will create greater security and greater safety. +p1997 +aVSo I was \u2014 I was \u2014 I was mentioned, so I can bring up something, I think, right? Look, the simple fact is, if you think this is tough you're not being treated fairly... +p1998 +aV... imagine what it's going to be like dealing with Putin or dealing with President Xi. +p1999 +aVOr dealing with the Islamic terrorism that exists. +p2000 +aVThis is a tough business to run for president. +p2001 +aVAnd it's \u2014 and we need...... to have a leader that is... +p2002 +aVYou're never going to be president of the United States by insulting your way to the presidency. +p2003 +aVDoesn't matter. Doesn't matter. +p2004 +aVYes. +p2005 +aVNo it isn't but it is an important subject to talk about for sure. And I think people have good ideas on this. Clearly, we need to secure the border. Coming here legally needs to be a lot easier than coming here illegally. If you don't have that, you don't have the rule of law. We now have a national security consideration, public health issues, we have an epidemic of heroine overdoses in all places in this country because of the ease of bringing heroine in. We have to secure the border. It is a serious undertaking and yes, we do need more fencing and we do need to use technology, and we do need more border control. And we need to have better cooperation by the way with local law enforcement. There are 800,000 cops on the beat, they ought to be trained to be the eyes and ears for law enforcement for the threat against terror as well as for immigration. This is a serious challenge and if we can get it right, yes, we'll start winning votes again. The real problem isn't anybody on this stage, the real problem is Barack Obama has had six years to advocate a position to fix this and he's done nothing. The congress has funded these programs of building more fencing and doing all this and he hasn't done it. He wants to maintain it as a wedge issue and so does Hillary Clinton. Republicans need to fix it and when we do, we'll be better off. +p2006 +aVI completely agree with Chris. And this administration has been so lax. Think about it. Hillary Clinton is using a private server for \u2014 where classified information go by. This is a \u2014 this is a serious administration? The president receives an inspector general's report that the Office of Personnel Management could be hacked into; they had antiquated firewalls; 23 million files have been \u2014 are in the hands of the Chinese allegedly, including, by the way, members of the press, it turns out, last week. Maybe that's the only part that's good news, so that you guys can get a feel for what it's like now to see this type of attack. This is something \u2014 we have to have the best defensive capabilities. We need to coordinate all of our efforts with the private sector. We need to give them liability relief so that we can do that. And offensively, we need to have capabilities second to none. We need to create a situation where they know that there will be adverse impacts if they continue to do what they're doing. They'll respect that. They'll respect a United States that is serious about protecting our \u2014 our infrastructure. If we don't do it, we'll continue to see what's \u2014 exactly what's happening, not just from the Chinese, by the way. The Russians and rogue actors, including +p2007 +aVAsk yourself, which candidate will keep you and our country safer, stronger and freer? Hillary Clinton has aligned herself with Barack Obama on +p2008 +aVYou've already made two comments, John. It's my turn. +p2009 +aVI got about four minutes in the last debate. I'm going to get my question right now. +p2010 +aVYes. +p2011 +aVFirst of all, we could get to 4 percent growth. The new normal of 2 percent puts huge demands on government. The reason why we have structural deficits is that more and more people are relying on government and the growth that we don't have makes \u2014 makes the deficit grow. A 4 percent growth strategy starts with tax reform. And the proposal that I've laid out is the one the Wall Street Journal editorial board has said is the most pro-growth of all the proposals out there. We cut the \u2014 we eliminate a lot of deductions and cut the rates down. A corporate rate of 20 percent, which puts us 5 percent above \u2014 below that of China, and allows us full expensing of investing. It would create an explosion of investment back into this country, creating higher-wage jobs, and so that's part of it. On the regulatory side I think we need to repeal every rule that Barack Obama has in terms of work in progress, every one of them. And start over. For those that are already in existence, the regulation of the Internet, we have to start over, but we ought to do that. The clean power act, we ought to repeal that and \u2014 and start over on that. The waters of the United States act, which is going to be devastating for agriculture and many industries, we should repeal that. We should repeal the rules because the economic costs of this far exceed the social benefit. And if we're serious about being serious about high growth, then we have to recognize that small businesses right now, more of them are closing than \u2014 than are \u2014 than are being set up. Hillary Clinton has said that Barack Obama's policies get an A. Really? One in 10 people right now aren't working or have given up altogether, as you said. That's not an A. One in seven people are living in poverty. That's not an A. One in five children are on food stamps. That is not an A. It may be the best that Hillary Clinton can do, but it's not the best America can do. +p2012 +aVThank you, Donald, for allowing me to speak at the debate. That's really nice of you. Really appreciate that. What a generous man you are. Twelve million illegal immigrants, to send them back, 500,000 a month, is just not \u2014 not possible. And it's not embracing American values. And it would tear communities apart. And it would send a signal that we're not the kind of country that I know America is. And even having this conversation sends a powerful signal \u2014 they're doing high-fives in the Clinton campaign right now when they hear this. That's the problem with this. We have to win the presidency. And the way you win the presidency is to have practical plans. Lay them out there. What we need to do is allow people to earn legal status where they pay a fine, where they work, where they don't commit crimes, where they learn English, and over an extended period of time, they earn legal status. That's the path \u2014 a proper path... +p2013 +aVI'm gonna fight as hard as I can to make sure that we shift power away from Washington, simplify the tax code, to spur economic activity in this country. Of course it's the highest priority. If we don't do that, we're stuck with the "new normal" of 2 percent growth. Hillary Clinton says, basically, we just gotta get used to it. Two percent growth means declining income for the middle class. It means more than 6 million people are stuck in poverty than the day that Barack Obama was inaugurated. It means \u2014 it means more demands on government \u2014 growing the economy is the first job, if we're going to be serious about dealing with the deficit and debt. And more importantly, people are really struggling right now. In this economy, the disposable income of the great middle is down 2,300 bucks. So yeah, we've created jobs, your \u2014 argue (ph) \u2014 brought that up early, and it was a good question. Jobs are being created, but they're lower-income jobs than the jobs that were lost. And the net effect of this is we need to jump-start the economy. I think of Jonathan (ph) and Reagan Love (ph), who are supporters of mine. Jonathan has been deployed by the National Guard, he is \u2014 he's in Oklahoma. Reagan Love \u2014 by the way, pretty great name, I think \u2014 is a teacher. When \u2014 if they had this tax cut, what they told me was that that $2,300 of money in their pocket \u2014 they would go back to South Carolina and start a business. Imagine what it would be like, instead of having more businesses closed than started, we had it the exact opposite. We would grow our economy, and the government would get the revenue necessary to make things \u2014 make things better. Hillary Clinton's approach to this is more top-down, more regulation, more taxes, more government, and it will destroy our economy. +p2014 +aVIt is \u2014 I'd say it is Islamic terrorism, and, back to the question of what we are dealing with in Iraq, when we pull back voids are filled. That's the lesson of history, and, sadly, this president does not believe in American leadership. He does not believe it, and the net result is that we have a caliphate the size of Indiana that gains energy each and everyday to recruit Americans in our own country, and the threat to the homeland relates to the fact that we have not dealt with this threat of terror in the Middle East. We should have a no fly zone in Syria. We should have a support for the remnants of the Syrian Free Army, and create safe zones. If you want to deal with the four million refugees that are leaving Syria because of the devastation there, then we 'ought to create safe zones for them to stay in the region rather than go to Europe. And, that requires American leadership. Without American leadership every other country in the neighborhood beings to change their priorities. It is tragic that you see Iraq, and other countries now talking to Russia. It wasn't that long ago that Russia had no influence in the region at all. And, so, the United States needs to lead across the board. This president, and Hillary Clinton both do not believe the United States has a leadership role to play, and we're now paying a price, and it will have a huge impact on the economy of this country if we don't deal with this. +p2015 +aV...They're not doing that... +p2016 +aV +p2017 +aVDonald \u2014 Donald's wrong on this. He is absolutely wrong on this. We're not going to be the world's policeman, but we sure as heck better be the world's leader. That's \u2014 there's a huge difference where, without us leading... ...voids are filled, and the idea that it's a good idea for Putin to be in Syria, let +p2018 +aVWe're not \u2014 we shouldn't have another financial crisis. What we ought to do is raise the capital requirements so banks aren't too big to fail. Dodd-Frank has actually done the opposite, totally the opposite, where banks now have higher concentration of risk in assets and the capital requirements aren't high enough. If we were serious about it, we would raise the capital requirements and lessen the load on the community banks and other financial institutions. This vast overreach has created a huge problem for our country, and Hillary Clinton wants to double down on that. I was in Washington, Iowa, about three months ago talking about how bad Washington, D.C., is. It was \u2014 get the \u2014 kind of the \u2014 anyway. We had... It \u2014 and I talked to a banker there. This is a bank that had $125 million of assets, four branches. Their compliance costs because of Dodd-Frank went from $100,000 to $600,000 in a two-year period. The net effect of that is \u2014 and they had \u2014 they had not one loan that went bad during the financial crisis. They knew \u2014 they knew their borrowers. They gave back to the community. They were engaged in the community. And imagine America without its community banks. Well, that's what's happening because of Dodd-Frank. That's \u2014 that's my worry. My worry is that the real economy has been hurt by the vast overreach of the Obama administration. And Hillary Clinton, she wants to double down on that. She wants to create even more so. She is a captive of the left of her party to the point now where she is \u2014 she was for the trade agreement in \u2014 the Pacific agreement. Now she's against it. She was \u2014 hinted she was for the XL pipeline. Now she's opposed to it. All the things that would create sustained economic growth she's now doubling down against it. +p2019 +aVYou could, if you were serious about... +p2020 +aVNo, I can't say that. But I can say, if you created higher capital requirements, that's the solution to this, not having concentration of assets. The bigger banks now have more and more control over \u2014 over the financial assets of this country. And that is the wrong approach to take. +p2021 +aVMaria? +p2022 +aV...We've had a 10% reduction in carbon emissions, and it isn't because of Solyndra. It isn't because of the central planners in Washington D.C. It's because we've had a great American success story, the explosion of natural gas. Taking two existing technologies, and applying it through innovation has created lower carbon emissions, lower energy costs \u2014 40% of all the economic activity in the age of Obama has come from the energy sector, and Hillary Clinton wants to suppress that. We \u2014 I think we ought to be expanding this. High growth is the path to lower carbon, and more jobs. I know for a fact, as Governor of the State of Florida, we created the largest land purchasing programs, and environment clean-up programs because we had a growing economy. Our revenues were growing at 4.4%. It allowed for resources to be able to protect the natural system. We got to get to a conservation... ...in environmental policy that goes beyond just carbon... +p2023 +aVJane Horton is sitting with my wife here today. Her husband, Chris, was killed in action in Afghanistan. And Jane spends her time now defending and fighting for military families. They're both heroes. I don't think we need an agitator-in-chief or a divider-in-chief. We need a commander-in-chief that will rebuild our military and restore respect to our veterans by revamping and fixing a broken Veterans Administration, That's my pledge to you. I ask for your support. Thank you. +p2024 +aVYou know, I am by my nature impatient. And this is not an endeavor that rewards that. You gotta be patient. You gotta be \u2014 stick with it, and all that. But also, I can't fake anger. I believe this is still the most extraordinary country on the face of the Earth. And it troubles me that people are rewarded for tearing down our country. It's never been that way in American politics before. I can't do it. I just don't believe that this country's days are going to be deeply \u2014 you know, going down. I think we're on the verge of the greatest time, and I want to fix the things to let people rise up. +p2025 +aVCould I \u2014 could I bring something up here, because I'm a constituent of the senator and I helped him and I expected that he would do constituent service, which means that he shows up to work. He got endorsed by the Sun-Sentinel because he was the most talented guy in the field. He's a gifted politician. But Marco, when you signed up for this, this was a six-year term, and you should be showing up to work. I mean, literally, the Senate \u2014 what is it, like a French work week? You get, like, three days where you have to show up? You can campaign, or just resign and let someone else take the job. There are a lot of people living paycheck to paycheck in Florida as well, they're looking for a senator that will fight for them each and every day. +p2026 +aVHe wasn't my senator. +p2027 +aVWell, I've been \u2014 +p2028 +aVNo, no. What I said was I don't believe that I would be president of the United States and have the same dysfunction that exists in Washington, D.C. now. +p2029 +aVDon't vote for me if you want to keep the gridlock in Washington, D.C. +p2030 +aVBut if you want someone who has a proven, effective leadership, that was a governor of a state, that transformed the culture there, elect me so I can fight for the American people and change the culture in Washington, D.C. +p2031 +aV, the great majority of Republicans and Americans believe in a hopeful future. They don't believe in building walls and a pessimistic view of the future. They're concerned that Washington is so dysfunctional it is holding them back. There are lids on people's aspirations. Think about it: six and a half million people working part-time. Workforce participation rates lower than they were in 1977. Six million more people living in poverty than the day that Barack Obama got elected president, and the left just wants more of the same. We have to offer a compelling alternative that is based on hope and optimism and grounded in serious policy, which I've laid out. And you can go get it at jeb2016.com. +p2032 +aVWell, the deal was done. Barack Obama got his massive tax increase, and there was no spending cuts. You just see the recent deal announced today or yesterday, more spending, more tax increasing, more regulation. And now we have to accept 2 percent, the new normal for economic growth. And the net result is the middle class has $2,300 less in their pockets than the day that Barack Obama got elected president. And now they see Hillary Clinton proposing a third term of economic policy for our country. We need to reverse that. And my record was one of cutting taxes each and every year. You don't have to guess about it, because I actually have a record. $19 billion of tax cuts, 1.3 million jobs created. We were one of two states to go to AAA bond rating, and our government spending was far less than the spending in people's income. +p2033 +aVYou find me... +p2034 +aVYou find me a Democrat \u2014 you find me a Democrat that will cut spending ten dollars? Heck, find me a Republican in Congress that would cut spending ten dollars. I'll talk to them. +p2035 +aVLook, the \u2014 the deal is already done. The biggest tax increase happened under the watch of Barack Obama, and spending's gone up. You find a Democrat that's for cutting taxes \u2014 cutting spending ten dollars, I'll give them a warm kiss. +p2036 +aVLook, the \u2014 the simple fact is that my plan actually gives the middle class the greatest break: $2,000 per family. And if you make $40,000 a year, a family of four, you don't pay any income tax at all. Simplifying the code and lowering rates, both for corporations and \u2014 and personal rates, is exactly what we need to do. You think about the regulatory cost and the tax cost \u2014 that's why small businesses are closing, rather than being formed in our country right now. The big corporations have the scale to deal with all of this. And what I think all of us are saying is, our monetary policy, our tax policy, regulatory policy needs to be radically changed so we can create high sustained growth for income to rise. The government has tried it their way. Under \u2014 under Barack Obama and the proposals of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and others, they've tried it their way, and it has failed miserably. We need to take a new approach of taxing \u2014 reforming how we tax, and reforming the regulations in our \u2014 in our country before it's too late. +p2037 +aVWe don't need the federal government to be involved in this at all. +p2038 +aVWe don't need the Federal Government to be involved in this, because when they do we create a $1.2 trillion debt. In Florida, we have the lowest in-state tuition of any state, because there's accountability, just as John said. Let the states do this. You'll create a much better graduation rate at a lower cost, and you won't in debt the next generation with recourse debt on their backs. It's always a solution of the left to create more Government from the Federal Government. It is broke, it is not working. +p2039 +aVWell, first of all, I'm 7 and 0 in my fantasy league. +p2040 +aVGronkowski is still going strong. I have Ryan Tannehill, Marco, as my quarterback, he was 18 for 19 last week. So I'm doing great. But we're not gambling. And I think this has become something that needs to be looked at in terms of regulation. Effectively it is day trading without any regulation at all. And when you have insider information, which apparently has been the case, where people use that information and use big data to try to take advantage of it, there has to be some regulation. If they can't regulate themselves, then the NFL needs to look at just, you know, moving away from them a little bit. And there should be some regulation. I have no clue whether the federal government is the proper place, my instinct is to say, hell no, just about everything about the federal government. +p2041 +aVBecky \u2014 +p2042 +aV\u2014 the governor's absolutely right. But we also need to reform Medicare and Social Security. We can't just allow it to continue on its current path the way that Hillary Clinton wants to do because there'll be major reductions in benefits in the next decade if we do nothing. I have a concrete plan to do just that, which allows people to keep HSAs to encourage savings, it allows for people that are retiring with Social Security to be able to get a minimum of 125 percent of the poverty level so that there is a baseline that in this generous country of ours no one goes below. +p2043 +aVYou have to reform Social Security, and the simple way to do it is to make sure that the wealthiest don't receive the same benefits as people that are lower-income. And make sure you enhance savings in the private market. The idea of 401(k)s. I have a small business that I set up. It took \u2014 it took an arm and a leg to be able to set up a 401(k). Because of all the federal mandates and federal laws, it was too expensive. We need to incent private savings and make sure that Social Security is protected for those that have it. +p2044 +aVBut the idea that you can't \u2014 that you're just gonna grow your way out of this \u2014 I have a plan to grow the economy at 4 percent, but you're gonna have to make adjustments for both Medicare and Social Security. [ +p2045 +aVAmerica's at a crossroads. The D.C. politicians continue to make things worse. I have a proven record of success, 32 years in business, and 8 years as Governor of the state of Florida. I will change the culture in Washington, just as I changed the culture in Tallahassee. I will do so in a way that will bring people together. We need a unifier, not a cynical divider in chief, and that's exactly what I will do. Imagine a country where people are lifted out of poverty again. Imagine a country where the middle class can get rising income again. I know we can do this because we're still the most extraordinary country on the face of the Earth. +p2046 +aVI'm Jeb Bush, and I believe America's on the verge of its greatest century, and I'm ready to lead. I'm a committed, conservative reformer that cut taxes, that balanced budgets, that took on the special interest in Florida, and we won. I look forward to talking tonight about how we can fix a broken Washington D.C., and create an environment where people can rise up again in this great country. Thank you. +p2047 +aVI think the voters will make that determination. But what I know to be true is that the next president of the United States is going to have to fix an extraordinary difficult situation. This administration, with President Obama and Hillary Clinton, has created insecurity the likes of which we never would've imagined. There's not a place in the world where we're better off today than six and a half years ago. And that requires a steadiness. That requires an understanding of how the world works. That requires an understanding and appreciation of American leadership in the world. You can't just, you know, talk about this stuff and insult leaders around the world and expect a good result. You have to do this with a steady hand, and I believe I have those skills. +p2048 +aVNo. Absolutely not. People are supporting me because I have a proven record of conservative leadership where I cut taxes $19 billion over eight years. We shrunk the state government workforce, we created a climate that led the nation in job growth seven out of eight years. We were one of two states to go to AAA bond rating. People know that we need principle-centered leadership, a disrupter to go to Washington, D.C. The one guy that had some special interests that I know of that tried to get me to change my views on something \u2014 that was generous and gave me money \u2014 was Donald Trump. He wanted casino gambling in Florida \u2014 +p2049 +aVYes you did. +p2050 +aVYou wanted it and you didn't get it because I was opposed to \u2014 +p2051 +aV\u2014 casino gambling before \u2014 +p2052 +aVduring and after. And that's not \u2014 I'm not going to be bought by anybody. +p2053 +aVNo way. Believe me. +p2054 +aVNot even possible. +p2055 +aVYou've got, according to your \u2014 to what you said on one of the talk shows, you got Hillary Clinton to go to your wedding \u2014 +p2056 +aV\u2014 because you gave her money. Maybe it works for Hillary Clinton \u2014 +p2057 +aV\u2014 it doesn't work for anybody on this \u2014 on stage. +p2058 +aVBut the simple fact is \u2014 +p2059 +aVNo. The simple fact is, Donald, you could not take \u2014 +p2060 +aVI was asked the question. +p2061 +aVSo he supports Pelosi, he supports Schumer, he supports Clinton \u2014 +p2062 +aVWhen he \u2014 and he \u2014 when he asked \u2014 when he asked Florida to have casino gambling, we said no. +p2063 +aVWe said no. And that's the simple fact. The simple fact is \u2014 +p2064 +aVDon't cut me off. +p2065 +aVNo, I don't think so, but we need to be strong against China. We should use offensive tactics as it relates to cyber security, send a deterrent signal to China. There should be super sanctions in what President Obama has proposed. There's many other tools that we have without canceling a dinner. That's not going to change anything, but we can be much stronger as it relates to that. As it relates to Iran, it's not a strategy to tear up an agreement. A strategy would be how do we confront Iran? And, the first thing that we need to do is to establish our commitment to Israel which has been altered by this administration. And, make sure that they have the most sophisticated weapons to send a signal to Iran that we have Israel's back. If we do that, it's going to create a healthier deterrent effect than anything else I can think of. +p2066 +aVI don't think \u2014 you're not stating my views right. +p2067 +aVI think there needs to be accommodation for someone acting on faith. Religious conscience is \u2014 is \u2014 is a first freedom. It's \u2014 it's a powerful part of our \u2014 of our Bill of Rights. And, in a big, tolerant country, we should respect the rule of law, allow people in \u2014 in \u2014 in this country \u2014 I'm a \u2014 I was opposed to the decision, but we \u2014 you can't just say, "well, they \u2014 gays can't get married now." But this woman, there should be some accommodation for her conscience, just as there should be for people that are florists that don't want to participate in weddings, or bakers. A great country like us should find a way to have accommodations for people so that we can solve the problem in the right way. This should be solved at the local level... +p2068 +aVAnd so we do agree, Mike. +p2069 +aVWell, he's wrong on a lot of things, but on this he's wrong because I'm the most pro-life governor on this stage. I got to act on my core beliefs. It's part of who I am. Life is a gift from God. And from beginning end we need to respect it and err on the side of life. And so I defunded Planned Parenthood. We created a climate where parental notification took place. We were the only state to fund crisis pregnancy centers with state moneys. We were totally focused on this. And I would bring that kind of philosophy to Washington, D.C. So here is a solution to this. Title X of the HHS funding, there is something that was the "Reagan Rule." It was passed in 1988. And in that rule it was defined, and the courts approved this, that a Planned Parenthood, you couldn't separate the money between the actual abortion procedures, and there are 330,000 abortions that take place in this clinic, and their promotion of it. He interpreted it the right way, the courts ruled in his favor, and Planned Parenthood did not get funding during that time until President Clinton came in. When I'm elected president, we will restore that interpretation of Title X. And this deal will be finished. +p2070 +aVThere are 13,000 community-based organizations that provide health services to women, 13,000 in this country. I don't believe that Planned Parenthood should get a penny from the federal government. Those organizations should get funding, just as I increased funding when I was governor of the state. That's the way you do this is you improve the condition for people. And, Donald, when I was governor, we also increased the opportunities for women. Women's income grew three times faster than the national average when I was governor. +p2071 +aVWe improved \u2014 we improved \u2014 +p2072 +aV\u2014 we increased child support \u2014 we increased child support with a broken system by 90 percent. +p2073 +aVI have a proven record. I have a proven record. +p2074 +aVHe did, he did. You're proud of your family, just as I am. +p2075 +aVTo subject my wife into the middle of a raucous political conversation was completely inappropriate, and I hope you apologize for that, Donald. +p2076 +aVShe is. She's fantastic. +p2077 +aVShe is absolutely the love of my life, and she's right here... +p2078 +aVAnd why don't you apologize to her right now. +p2079 +aVYeah. +p2080 +aVSo, here's the deal. My wife is a Mexican-American. She's an American by choice. She loves this country as much as anybody in this room, and she wants a secure border. But she wants to embrace the traditional American values that make us special and make us unique. We're at a crossroads right now. Are we going to take the Reagan approach, the hopeful optimistic approach, the approach that says that, you come to our country legally, you pursue your dreams with a vengeance, you create opportunities for all of us? Or the Donald Trump approach? The approach that says that everything is bad, that everything is coming to an end. I... +p2081 +aVI'm on the Reagan side of this. +p2082 +aVLook, first of all, I wrote a book about this, three \u2014 four years ago, now. And I laid out a comprehensive, conservative approach for immigration reform. And it does require securing the border. No one disagrees with that. But to build a wall, and to deport people \u2014 half a million a month \u2014 would cost hundreds of billions of dollars, Donald. Hundreds of billions of dollars. It would destroy community life, it would tear families apart. And it would send a signal to the rest of the world that the United States values that are so important for our long-term success no longer matter in this country. +p2083 +aVWell, I've been speaking English here tonight, and I'll keep speaking English. But the simple fact is, if a high school kid asks me a question in Spanish, a school \u2014 by the way, a voucher program that was created under my watch, the largest voucher program in the country, where kids can go to a Christian school, and they ask me a question in Spanish, I'm going to show respect and answer that question in Spanish. Even though they do speak English, and even though they embrace American values. +p2084 +aVYeah. +p2085 +aVWell, first of all, Hugh, if you're looking at Republican advisers, you have to go to the last two administrations. That happened to be 41 and 43. So just by definition, if you're \u2014 and many of the people here that are seeking advice from the foreign policy experts in the Republican side, they \u2014 they served in my dad's administration, my brother's administration. Of course that's the case. But I'm my own man. I'm going to create a strategy that is based on the simple fact that the United States needs to lead the world. The first thing that we need to do is to stop the craziness of the sequester. Rebuild our military so that our \u2014 so that we don't deploy people over and over again without the necessary equipment to keep them safe, to send a signal to the world that we're serious. If we're going to lead the world, then we need to have the strongest military possible. We need to rebuild our counterintelligence and intelligence capabilities. We need to focus on the fact that the next president is going to start in 2017, not in 1990 \u2014 you know, 30 years ago, or when my brother started. The world is dramatically different. And I believe that we need to restore America's presence and leadership in the world. Name a country where our relationship is better today than it was the \u2014 the day that Barack Obama got elected president. Under Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama, we have seen a weakness that now creates huge problems for the next president of the United States. So I'll have a team that will be \u2014 that will be following the doctrine I set up, and it will be peace through strength. We're sitting here in this library, which is a wonderful place to talk about this, because that's exactly what happened in the 1980s, and the world was a lot safer because of... +p2086 +aVThe leadership of Ronald Reagan and my... +p2087 +aVSo you \u2014 the \u2014 the first chance... +p2088 +aVRight after me, and then I'll \u2014 I'll yield \u2014 yield the floor. What do you guys say in the Senate when you're talking and debating? +p2089 +aVHere's the facts: When Donald Trump talks about judgment, what was his position on who would've been the best negotiator to deal with Iran? It wasn't a Republican; it was Hillary Clinton. That's what you believe. I mean, the lack of judgment and the lack of understanding about how the world works is really dangerous in this kind of time that we're saying. So is that the judgment that you bring to the table, that Hillary Clinton... +p2090 +aV... is a great negotiator, that she could bring about a better deal on Iran? +p2091 +aVYou know what? As it relates to my brother, there's one thing I know for sure. He kept us safe. I don't know if you remember... ... Donald... ... you remember the \u2014 the rumble? You remember the fire fighter with his arms around it? He sent a clear signal that the United States would be strong and fight Islamic terrorism, and he did keep us safe. +p2092 +aVThat's \u2014 that's my brother. +p2093 +aVHere's the lessons of history: When we \u2014 we pull back, voids are created. We left Iraq. We should've had a \u2014 a forces agreement to stay there with a small force, and instead of that, we politically and militarily pulled back, and now we have the creation of +p2094 +aV... because of what President Obama's done by pulling back. +p2095 +aVWell, I'm surprised Senator Cruz would say that since he was as strong supporter of John Roberts at the time. I will talk about what I will do as it relates to appointing Supreme Court Justices. We need to make sure that we have justices that, with a proven experienced record of respect for upholding the constitution. That is what we need. We can't have \u2014 the history in recent past is appoint people that have no experience so that you can't get attacked. And, that makes it harder for people to have confidence that they won't veer off... +p2096 +aVJohn Roberts has made some really good decisions, for sure, but he did not have a proven, extensive record that would have made the clarity the important thing, and that's what we need to do. And, I'm willing to fight for those nominees to make sure that they get passed. You can't do it the politically expedient way anymore. This is the culture in Washington. You have to fight hard for these appointments. This is perhaps the most important thing that the next president will do. +p2097 +aVWell, first of all, he, as I said, supported John Roberts. He supported him, publicly. So, you can rewrite history, I guess, Ted, but the simple fact is that you supported him because he had all the criteria that you would have thought would have made a great justice. And, I think he is doing a good job. But, the simple fact is that going forward, what we need to do is to have someone that has a long standing set of rulings that consistently makes it clear that he is a focused, exclusively on upholding the Constitution of the United States so they won't try to use the bench as a means to which legislate. +p2098 +aVHe was talking about me. +p2099 +aVWell, I \u2014 I wanted to \u2014 be \u2014 make it easier for him. +p2100 +aVAnd I just did. +p2101 +aVSo, 40 years ago, I smoked marijuana, and I admit it. I'm sure that other people might have done it and may not want to say it in front of 25 million people. My mom's not happy that I just did. That's true. And here's the deal. Here's the deal. We have \u2014 we have a serious epidemic of drugs that goes way beyond marijuana. What goes on in Colorado, as far as I'm concerned, that should be a state decision. But if you look at the problem of drugs in this \u2014 in this society today, it's a serious problem. Rand, you know this because you're campaigning in New Hampshire like all of us, and you see the epidemic of heroin, the overdoses of heroin that's taking place. People's families are \u2014 are being torn apart. It is appropriate for the government to play a consistent role to be able to provide more treatment, more prevention \u2014 we're the state that has the most drug courts across every circuit in \u2014 in \u2014 in Florida, there are drug courts to give people a second chance. That's the best way to do this. +p2102 +aVNo, you're wrong \u2014 you're wrong about this. +p2103 +aVI don't want to put poor people in jail, Randy. +p2104 +aVHere's the deal. No, I did not oppose when the legislature passed the bill to deal with that very issue. That's the way to solve this problem. Medical marijuana on the ballot was opened up, there was a huge loophole, it was the first step to getting to a place. And as a citizen of Florida, I voted no. +p2105 +aVNot very far. I think we need to do this state by state. There are places that get this right, and we need to make sure that we protect the privacy laws. This is a complicated place. But I do think the natural impulse on the left \u2014 Hillary Clinton, immediately after one of these horrific violent acts took place, immediately said we need to have federal gun laws. President Obama almost reflexively always says the same thing. And the net result is, you're going to take away rights of \u2014 of law-abiding citizens, the 99.999 percent of the people that are law- abiding citizens. That's not the right approach to do it. In Florida, we have a background check. We have concealed-weapon permit holders, and in fact, there's 1,200,000 of them. We have a reduction in violent crime because we put people behind bars when they use a gun in the commission of the crime. That's the better approach. But we're living in a society today where despair kind of grows in isolation. +p2106 +aVI \u2014 I think there needs to be a hearing, but the fact is, we need to encourage that kind of involvement. That's \u2014 that's exactly what we need to do. +p2107 +aVI would go with Ronald Reagan's partner, Margaret Thatcher. Probably illegal, but what the heck? Since it's not going to happen. A strong leader is what we need in the White House, and she certainly was a strong leader that restored the United Kingdom into greatness. +p2108 +aVEver Ready, it's very high energy, Donald. +p2109 +aVSix million more people are living in poverty than the day that Barack Obama got elected president. Six million more people. The middle class has had declining income, workforce participation rates are lower than they were in 1977. For the first time in modern history, more businesses are failing than are being created. That is what the next president will have to deal with. And I believe we can reverse course by creating a strategy of high sustained economic growth, not the new normal of 2 percent that all the left says we just have to get used to, but a 4 percent growth strategy where we reform how we tax, fix the broken regulatory system, embrace the energy revolution in our midst, fix the immigration system so we can turn it into an economic driver, deal with the structural fiscal problems that exist because of our entitlement problems that will overwhelm and create way too much debt. If we grow at 4 percent, people are going to be lifted out of poverty. The great middle that defines our country will have a chance to be able to pursue their dreams as they see fit. That should be the great challenge and the great opportunity for the next president of the United States, to forge consensus to go back to a high-growth strategy. And then we'll be able to lead the world. Without a high-growth strategy, our country will never have the resources or the optimism to be able to lead the world, which the world desperately needs our leadership. +p2110 +aVAbsolutely, I do, and I'm gonna run hard, run with heart, and run to win. I'm gonna have to earn this. Maybe the barrier -- the bar's even higher for me. That's fine. I've got a record in Florida. I'm proud of my dad, and I'm certainly proud of my brother. In Florida, they called me Jeb, because I earned it. I cut taxes every year, totaling $19 billion. We were -- we had -- we balanced every budget. We went from $1 billion of reserves to $9 billion of reserves. We were one of two states that went to AAA bond rating. They keep -- they called me Veto Corleone. Because I vetoed 2,500 separate line-items in the budget. I am my own man. I governed as a conservative, and I govern effectively. And the net effect was, during my eight years, 1.3 million jobs were created. We left the state better off because I applied conservative principles in a purple state the right way, and people rose up. +p2111 +aVI do. I believe that the great majority of people coming here illegally have no other option. They want to provide for their family. But we need to control our border. It's not -- it's our responsibility to pick and choose who comes in. So I -- I've written a book about this and yet this week, I did come up with a comprehensive strategy that -- that really mirrored what we said in the book, which is that we need to deal with E-Verify, we need to deal with people that come with a legal visa and overstay. We need to be much more strategic on how we deal with border enforcement, border security. We need to eliminate the sanctuary cities in this country. It is ridiculous and tragic......that people are dying because of the fact that -- that local governments are not following the federal law. There's much to do. And I think rather than talking about this as a wedge issue, which Barack Obama has done now for six long years, the next president -- and I hope to be that president -- will fix this once and for all so that we can turn this into a driver for high sustained economic growth. And there should be a path to earned legal status... ...for those that are here. Not -- not amnesty, earned legal status, which means you pay a fine and do many things over an extended period of time. +p2112 +aV...I remember... +p2113 +aV...I remember, Megyn. +p2114 +aVKnowing what we know now, with faulty intelligence, and not having security be the first priority when -- when we invaded, it was a mistake. I wouldn't have gone in, however, for the people that did lose their lives, and the families that suffer because of it -- I know this full well because as governor of the state of Florida, I called every one of them. Every one of them that I could find to tell them that I was praying for them, that I cared about them, and it was really hard to do. And, every one of them said that their child did not die in vain, or their wife, of their husband did not die in vain. So, why it was difficult for me to do it was based on that. Here's the lesson that we should take from this, which relates to this whole subject. Barack Obama became president, and he abandoned Iraq. He left, and when he left Al Qaida was done for. +p2115 +aVNo, I don't. And I don't believe the federal government should be involved in the creation of standards directly or indirectly, the creation of curriculum or content. It is clearly a state responsibility. I'm for higher standards... ...measured in an intellectually honest way, with abundant school choice, ending social promotion. And I know how to do this because as governor of the state of Florida I created the first statewide voucher program in the country, the second statewide voucher program, in the country and the third statewide voucher program in the country. And we had rising student achievement across the board, because high standards, robust accountability, ending social promotion in third grade, real school choice across the board, challenging the teachers union and beating them is the way to go. And Florida's low income kids had the greatest gains inside the country. Our graduation rate improved by 50 percent. That's what I'm for. +p2116 +aVHe is definitely my friend. And I think the states ought to create these standards. And if states want to opt out of Common Core, fine. Just make sure your standards are high. Because today in America, a third of our kids, after we spend more per student than any country in the world other than a couple rounding errors, to be honest with you, 30 percent are college- and/or career-ready. If we are going to compete in this world we're in today, there is no possible way we can do it with lowering expectations and dumbing down everything. Children are going to suffer and families' hearts are going to be broken that their kids won't be able to get a job in the 21st Century. +p2117 +aVWe've done it 27 times since World War II. I think we need to lift our spirits and have high, lofty expectations for this great country of ours. The new normal of two percent that the left is saying you can't do anything about is so dangerous for our country. There's 6 million people living in poverty today, more than when Barack Obama got elected. 6.5 million people are working part-time, most of whom want to work full-time. We've created rules and taxes on top of every aspiration of people, and the net result is we're not growing fast, income's not growing. A four percent growth strategy means you fix a convoluted tax code. You get in and you change every aspect of regulations that are job killers. You get rid of Obamacare and replace it with something that doesn't suppress wages and kill jobs. You embrace the energy revolution in our country. This president and Hillary Clinton, who can't even say she's for the XL pipeline even after she's left? Give me a break. Of course we're for it. We should be for these things to create high sustained economic growth. And frankly, fixing our immigration system and turning it into an economic driver is part of this as well. We can do this. +p2118 +aVNone of which is true. +p2119 +aVNo. It's not true. But I have said that Mr. Trump's language is divisive. I want to win. I want one of these people here or the ones at 5:00, to be the next president of the United States. We're not going on win by doing what Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton do each and every day. Dividing the country. Saying, creating a grievance kind of environment. We're going to win when we unite people with a hopeful, optimistic message. I have that message because I was a governor of a state that saw people lifted up, because we had high sustained economic growth. Our economy grew at double the rate of the nation. We created 1.3 million jobs. We led the nation seven out of those eight years. We were only one of two states that went to AAA bond rating. I cut taxes, $19 billion. If you do that and apply conservative principles the right way, you create an environment where everybody rises up. That's how we're going to win. Campaigning in places to give people hope that their life is better because too many people are suffering today in America. +p2120 +aVHere's what I believe. I believe we're at the verge of the greatest time to be alive in this world. But Washington is holding us back. How we tax, how we regulate. We're not embracing the energy revolution in our midst, a broken immigration system that has been politicized rather than turning it into an economic driver. We're not protecting and preserving our entitlement system or reforming for the next generation. All these things languish while we have politicians in Washington using these as wedge issues. Here's my commitment to you, because I did it as Florida. We can fix these things. We can grow economically and restore America's leadership in the world, so that everybody has a chance to rise up. I humbly ask for your vote, whenever you're gonna get to vote, whenever the primary is. Thank you all very much. +p2121 +aVRight. +p2122 +aVNot on specific issues, not at all. I think the next president \u2014 if I'm president, I will appoint people \u2014 I'll nominate people that have a proven record in the judiciary. The problem in the past has been we have appointed people thinking you can get it through the Senate because they didn't have a record. And the problem is that sometimes we're surprised. The simple fact is the next president needs to appoint someone with a proven conservative record, similar to Justice Scalia, that is a lover of liberty, that believes in limited government, that consistently applied that kind of philosophy, that didn't try to legislator from the bench, that was respectful of the Constitution. And then fight and fight, and fight for that nomination to make sure that that nomination passes. Of course, the president, by the way, has every right to nominate Supreme Court justices. I'm an Article II guy in the Constitution. We're running for the president of the United States. We want a strong executive for sure. But in return for that, there should be a consensus orientation on that nomination, and there's no doubt in my mind that Barack Obama will not have a consensus pick when he submits that person to the Senate. +p2123 +aVYes. +p2124 +aVNo, it doesn't, and that's the problem. The lack of leadership in this country by Barack Obama, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, thinking that this is a policy that works, this policy of containment with +p2125 +aVThe very basic fact is that Vladimir Putin is not going to be an ally of the United States. The whole world knows this. It's a simple, basic fact. They're not taking out \u2014 they're not even attempting to take out +p2126 +aV... Let me finish... +p2127 +aV... This is ridiculous... +p2128 +aV... This is coming from a guy who gets his foreign policy from the shows. +p2129 +aV... This is a guy who thinks that Hillary Clinton is a great negotiator in Iran... +p2130 +aV... This is a man who insults his way to the nomination... +p2131 +aVI think it's my turn, isn't it? +p2132 +aVI've got about five or six... +p2133 +aVDo I get to do it five or six times or just once, responding to that? +p2134 +aVSo here's the deal. I'm sick and tired of Barack Obama blaming my brother for all of the problems that he has had. And, frankly, I could care less about the insults that Donald Trump gives to me. It's blood sport for him. He enjoys it. And I'm glad he's happy about it. But I am sick and tired... +p2135 +aVI am sick and tired of him going after my family. My dad is the greatest man alive in my mind. And while Donald Trump was building a reality TV show, my brother was building a security apparatus to keep us safe. And I'm proud of what he did. And he has had the gall to go after my brother. +p2136 +aVHe has had the gall to go after my mother. Hold on. Let me finish. He has had the gall to go after my mother. +p2137 +aVLook, I won the lottery when I was born 63 years ago, looked up, and I saw my mom. My mom is the strongest woman I know. +p2138 +aVThis is not about my family or his family. This is about the South Carolina families that need someone to be a commander in chief that can lead. I'm that person. +p2139 +aVCan I just... +p2140 +aVI'm not going to invite Donald Trump to the rally in Charleston on Monday afternoon when my brother is coming to speak. +p2141 +aVI'm rescinding the invitation. I thought you might want to come, but I guess not. +p2142 +aVI'd like \u2014 can I \u2014 can I... +p2143 +aVLook, I admire the fact that Governor Kasich is supporting spending more money on drug treatment and mental health. I think that's a high priority all across this country, but expanding Obamacare is what we're talking about, and Obamacare's expansion, even though the federal government is paying for the great majority of it, is creating further debt on the backs of our children and grandchildren. We should be fighting Obamacare, repealing Obamacare, replacing it with something totally different. When I was \u2014 as a private citizen, Florida was confronted with the choice. The governor was supportive of doing what John did. So was the Florida Senate. A committed speaker of the House asked me to go as a private citizen to make the case against the expansion. I did, and it wasn't expanded there, just as it wasn't expanded in South Carolina under Governor Haley. +p2144 +aVSouth Carolina \u2014 South Carolinians need to know this, because the Cato Institute, which grades governors based on their spending, rank him right at the bottom. +p2145 +aVAnd Governor Haley is ranked at the top. +p2146 +aVNo. He mentioned my name. +p2147 +aVLet me finish, though. No, no, no \u2014 hey, wait, wait, wait. Just hold, Major, hold, Major. Hold on, Major. +p2148 +aVSouth Carolinians want to make that, they elect the most conservative governor or candidate that can win. +p2149 +aVOf course not. It won't have an impact on hedge funds managers paying ordinary income. In fact, it's not just hedge fund people, but people that are doing \u2014 they're in the business of investing other people's money, getting capital gains treatment is not appropriate. They should be paying ordinary income. That's their business. They're grateful to be able to make a lot of money, I'm sure. And what we do is lower the rates. It's not the end of the world that private equity people and hedge fund folks that are, right now, getting capital gains treatment for the income they earn, pay ordinary income like everybody else in this room. That's not a problem at all. What we need to do is reform the tax code to simplify the rates, to shift power away from Washington, D.C. That's what I did as governor of the state of Florida, $19 billion dollars of tax cuts, and it stimulated seven out of the eight years. Florida led the nation in job growth. +p2150 +aVThank you. +p2151 +aVGreat question. I feel like I have to get into my inner Chris Christie, and point out that the reason why I should be president is listening to two senators talk about arcane amendments to bills that didn't pass. This is \u2014 this is the problem. We need a leader to fix this problem. And I have a detailed plan to do just that, including controlling the border, dealing with the visa over-stayers, making sure that we have a path to legal status, not to citizenship, for those that come out from the shadows and pay a fine, learn English, don't commit crimes, work and pay taxes. That is the better approach. +p2152 +aVThe great majority of people that come to this country come because they have no other choice. They want to come to provide for their families. That doesn't mean it's right. That doesn't mean it's right. We should pick who comes to our country. We should control our border. Coming here legally should be a lot easier than coming here illegally. But the motivation, they're not all rapists, as you-know-who said. They're not that. These are people that are coming to provide for their families. And we should show a little more respect for the fact that they're struggling. It doesn't mean we shouldn't be controlling the border. That's exactly what we should be doing. +p2153 +aV... So, you know......This is the standard operating procedure, to disparage me. That's fine... +p2154 +aV... But, if you want to talk about weakness, you want to talk about weakness? It's weak to disparage women. +p2155 +aVIt's weak to denigrate the disabled. And,it's really weak to call John McCain a loser because he was a... +p2156 +aV... That is outrageous. The guy's an American hero. +p2157 +aV... The simple fact is I've also laid out my plans on immigration... +p2158 +aV Just, for the record make sure my mother's listening, if she's watching the debate. I didn't say that I was going to moon somebody... +p2159 +aVSo, there \u2014 so, there is all sorts of intrigue about where I disagree with my brother, there would be one right there. You should not use eminent domain for private purposes. A baseball stadium or a parking lot for a limo... +p2160 +aVIt's very different. Transmission lines, pipe lines, bridges and highways. All of that is proper use of imminent domain. Not to take an elderly woman's home to build a parking lot so that high-rollers can come from New York City to build casinos in Atlantic City. +p2161 +aVMy name was mentioned twice. +p2162 +aVHe called me a liar. +p2163 +aVAlso, he talked about one of my heroes, Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan was a liberal maybe in the 1950s. He was a conservative reformed governor for eight years before he became president, and no one should suggest he made an evolution for political purposes. He was a conservative, and he didn't tear down people like Donald Trump is. He tore down the Berlin Wall. +p2164 +aVHe was a great guy. +p2165 +aVThat was me. +p2166 +aVYeah, well, I have got to respond to this. +p2167 +aVSounds like a good plan. +p2168 +aVOr you could ask me two questions, so I could get two minutes instead of one. +p2169 +aVI think the dysfunction in Washington is really dangerous, that's what I think. And we need a proven leader that has a record of solving problems, someone who doesn't cut and run; someone who could be a commander in chief to unite our country around common purposes; someone who doesn't disparage people. Someone that doesn't brag, for example, that he has been bankrupt four times and it was great, because he could use the legal system. Someone... +p2170 +aVWe need someone with a proven record to be able to forge consensus to solve problems. And right now, both Republicans and Democrats in Washington don't get it. People are struggling \u2014 63 percent of Americans can't make a $500 car payment. Most Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. And we need someone has a proven record of growing the economy, reforming the things that are broken. And I'm that person. +p2171 +aVYeah... +p2172 +aVYeah. +p2173 +aVHere we go. +p2174 +aVHere's the record. Here's the record. We led the nation in job growth seven out of eight years. When I left there was $9 billion of reserves, 35 percent of general revenue. No state came close to that. +p2175 +aVWhen I \u2014 during my time, we were one of the two states to go to AAA bond rating. We didn't go bankrupt like Trump did and call it success when people are laid off, when vendors don't get paid. That's not success. What we did was create an environment where people had a chance to have income. Personal income during my time went up by 4.4 percent. +p2176 +aVThe government grew by... +p2177 +aV... half of that. +p2178 +aVThank you all very much. The next president is going to be confronted with an unforeseen challenge. That's almost certain. It could be a pandemic, a major natural disaster or an attack on our country. The question for South Carolinians and Americans is who do you want to have sitting behind the big desk in the Oval Office? Because that's the question. It's not the things we're talking about today. It's the great challenge that may happen. I believe I will have a steady hand as commander in chief and president of the United States. I will unite this country around common purposes because I did it as governor of the state of Florida. When I was governor, we had eight hurricanes and four tropical storms in 16 months. Our state was on its back. We recovered far faster than what people thought because we led. We want to challenge rather than cutting and running. That's what we need in Washington, D.C. We need someone with a servant's heart that has a backbone, that isn't going to focus on polls and focus groups. The focus will be on the American people to keep them safe and secure. I ask for your vote next Saturday. +p2179 +aVChris, why don't you mention my name so I can get into this. +p2180 +aV... I appreciate that, I really do, thank you. +p2181 +aVWell, first of all he said the exact same thing about me, that I would make a great Vice Presidential nominee when Mitt Romney was considering. I said the same thing about Marco. I think we were both right at the time, and Mitt picked somebody else. So, let's move on to the 2016 race. Who has the leadership skills... ...who has the leadership skills to lead? And, I'm proud of the fact that I have 12 Medal of Honor recipients, over 30 admirals and generals that believe that I would be a steady hand as Commander in Chief. That I serve as Governor of the state of Florida where we cut taxes and reduced government. I took on very powerful interests, forged consensus, fought for my beliefs, implemented them and the state was better off. We had eight hurricanes and four tropical storms in 16 months. The whole state was turned upside down. It required a steady hand. Leadership. You learn this, you learn it by doing it. It's not something that you just go up, and on the job do it. It's not the same. Look, let's be clear. Marco Rubio is a gifted, gifted politician, and he may have the skills to be a President of the United States, but we've tried it the old way with Barack Obama, with soaring eloquence and we got \u2014 we didn't get a leader we got someone who wants to divide the country up. The next President......going to have to forge consensus to bring about a set of common purposes so that we can move forward again in this country... +p2182 +aV... this relates to strategic patience. +p2183 +aVThis relates to the strategic patience of the Obama administration. They come up with these great marketing terms, and what they do is they pull back, and voids are filled, and they're now filled by asymmetric threats of terror, as well as nation-states on the run. The next president of the United States is gonna have to get the United States back in the game, and if a preemptive strike is necessary to keep us safe, then we should do it. +p2184 +aVWell, first of all, it's interesting that that happened literally days when this hostage release took place in Iran. A day or two days afterwards, North Korea took a \u2014 held an American student hostage. I think it's when we send a signal of weakness, when we are negotiating to release people that committed crimes in our country for people that didn't commit crimes that are held hostage in Iran. We saw the shameful treatment of our sailors, that this creates weakness \u2014 sends a signal of weakness around the world. The next president of the United States is going to have to get back in the game. Where the United States' word matters. Where we back up our allies, where we don't send signals of weakness. We need to use every \u2014 every influence possible to get this student back. And I think John is right about this, there are crippling sanctions that are available, as it relates to the two or three banks that North Korea uses to \u2014 to \u2014 use it \u2014 illicit trade. We ought to re-establish sanctions, not just because of the student, but because of their actions that they're taking right now, as it relates to building this missile capability. +p2185 +aVGood evening. HAM: Mr. Trump. +p2186 +aVThe difference \u2014 the difference between eminent domain for public purpose \u2014 as Donald said, roads and infrastructure, pipelines and all that \u2014 that's for public purpose. But what Donald Trump did was use eminent domain to try to take the property of an elderly woman on the strip in Atlantic City. That is not public purpose, that is down right wrong. And here's the problem with that. The problem was, it was to tear down \u2014 it was to tear down \u2014 it was to tear down the house... +p2187 +aVAnd the net result was \u2014 you tried. +p2188 +aVAnd you lost in the court. +p2189 +aVThat is not true. And the simple fact is to turn this into a limousine parking lot for his casinos is a not public use. And in Florida, based on what we did, we made that impossible. It is part of our Constitution. That's the better approach. That is the conservative approach. +p2190 +aVHow tough it is to take away property from an elderly woman? +p2191 +aVHow tough it is to take away a property from an elderly woman? +p2192 +aVI consider it a public use. +p2193 +aVIt's a public use. It's a public use. +p2194 +aVIt's a public use. +p2195 +aVYeah. +p2196 +aVIt's a public use. +p2197 +aVEstablished by the courts \u2014 federal, state courts. +p2198 +aVI would like to see more millionaires. I think we need to grow more millionaires, we need create a prosperity society where people can rise up. This notion that somehow we're undertaxed as a nation is just fool hearty, when we have entitlements growing far faster than our ability to pay for it. A conservative, because that's the point of this, believes in limited government, believes in a entrepreneurial capitalism and a strong national defense. But it also has to be, we need to reform things. In my town hall meetings, I went to a place where a woman described her neighbor, who has a better economic deal by not working than her struggling to make ends meet. We need to be on the side of working people. And you know, the problem with the left is, another tax, another regulation, another mandate makes it harder for them to rise up. Everything that we should do should be focused on high, sustained economic growth, where the middle class gets a raise for the first time, and where people are rewarded for work, rather than non-work. And I know how to do this. And if people are interested in the specifics of this, they ought to go to jeb2016.com. +p2199 +aVMartha \u2014 Martha, if I... +p2200 +aVI would. And I would do it in concert, again, with our Arab allies and with Europe, most particularly in this case. This is the lesson learned: in history, if you bomb something and not do anything as it relates to deal with the aftermath of this, if you don't have a stable government, you get what we have in Libya. And this is not \u2014 leading from behind is not an effective policy. We have to lead. Without the United States, nothing seems to work. Europe doesn't have the ability to \u2014 to \u2014 to lead \u2014 forward lead in this regard. And so dealing with the caliphate is important, because it now has spawned other areas. There have been 70-plus attacks in 17 countries, either inspired by +p2201 +aVMartha and David, I just... +p2202 +aVMartha and David... +p2203 +aVNo, no, I wouldn't. No, I wouldn't. And it was used sparingly, Congress has changed the laws and I \u2014 and I think where we stand is the appropriate place. But what we need to do is to make sure that we expand our intelligence capabilities. The idea that we're going to solve this fight with predator drones, killing people somehow is a \u2014 is more acceptable than capturing them, securing the information. This is why closing Guantanamo is a complete disaster. What we need to do is make sure that we are kept safe......by having intelligence capabilities, both human and technological intelligence capabilities far superior than what we have today. That's how you get a more safe place is by making sure that we're fully engaged. And right now, this administration doesn't do that. +p2204 +aVThis is a \u2014 this is an important subject. I agree with everything that's been said here about repealing unconstitutional rules and rules that are creating real burdens for investing that creating jobs. But we also ought to get back to being a Tenth Amendment country, as well, a country that respects the states to be able to make more decisions. And in the Bush administration, we would shift transportation dollars back to the states. I trust Kasich and Christie to build the roads and the infrastructure of their states than Washington, D.C. EPA delegated authority, back to the states. Education dollars, back to the states. I would like to see reform take place all across the country, where there's more vouchers, more freedom. If we did that, we would shrink government's power in Washington, D.C. and we would have a much more effective government, where people would begin to trust our government again, because now, no one believes it works. +p2205 +aVYou mentioned me. He mentioned me. One other thing that I think we ought to do, along with repealing Obamacare, we need to shift all of this power of healthcare, which is the most egregious form of federal power that is suppressing wages and incomes, and allow governors to have the Medicaid plans so that they can create 21st century Medicaid insurance for people that are stuck in poverty. There's so much that can be done, but I don't trust Washington to do it. I trust the state capitals to be the place \u2014 to be the source of innovation and reform in this country. HAM: Thank you, governors. Martha and David, back to you. +p2206 +aVI didn't mention him the second time. +p2207 +aV... Say it again? +p2208 +aV... I do, and I do think that we should not impose any kind of political agenda on the military. There should be \u2014 if women can meet the requirements, the minimum requirements for combat service they ought to have the right to do it. For sure. It ought to be focused on the morale as well. We got to make sure that we have readiness much higher than we do today. We need to eliminate the sequester which is devastating our military. We can't be focusing on the political side of this, we need to realize that our military force is how we project our word in the world. When we're weak militarily it doesn't matter what we say. We can talk about red lines, and +p2209 +aV... Why would they worry about it... +p2210 +aV... Well, the Draft's not going to be reinstituted, but why \u2014 if women are accessing... +p2211 +aVNo. I didn't say that. You \u2014 you asked a question not about the draft, you asked about registering. And if women are going to be... +p2212 +aVIf \u2014 but... +p2213 +aV... we don't have a draft. I'm not suggesting we have a draft. What I'm suggesting is that we ought to have readiness being the first priority of our military, and secondly, that we make sure that the morale is high. And right now, neither one of those are acceptable because we've been gutting the military budget. We also need to reform our procurement process. We need to make sure there are more men and women in uniform than people \u2014 than civilians in our Defense Department. There's a lot of things that we need to reform to bring our defense capabilities into the 21st century and I'm the guy that could do that. That's why I have the support of generals, of admirals, of 12 Medal of Honor recipients and many other people that know that I would be a steady commander-in-chief and rebuild our military. +p2214 +aVI totally agree that we need to give veterans more choices. A veterans card to be able to go to a private provider will enhance the quality of the service inside the Department of Veterans Affairs. We need career civil service reform. Only three people were fired after waiting lists were dropped where veterans didn't get care and people died. It is outrageous. And Hillary Clinton says that that's acceptable? Because she is captive of the public service uniforms. Career civil service reform would allow the next president to fire people that are \u2014 that are showing sheer incompetence. At a town hall meeting today, someone came \u2014 told a story of their father who looked like he was 85. He had \u2014 he got a bill eight years later from an operation he had, eight years it took. They couldn't resolve the dispute and then he was told that he died. Literally, the Veterans Administration sent a death certificate to this guy and it took nine months to clarify the guy \u2014 I met him. He's voting for me. And he is \u2014 likely to be alive. This is \u2014 this is outrageous. It is completely outrageous. So, giving veterans more choices, creating centers of excellence, focusing on the true problems that exist. Dr. Carson is completely right. We need to start focusing on this earlier, before they become veterans so that there's a customized plan so people don't fall through the cracks. We can do this, but it's going to require someone who has proven leadership skills to make it happen. +p2215 +aVLook, I'm pro-life. In fact, on this stage, I'm the most pro-life person because I've acted on it for eight years as governor of the state of Florida. Where we abolished partial-birth abortion, where parents have the right to be notified when their teenage child is having an abortion. We were the first state to do a choose life license plate to raise money for adoption. We were the first state to have state monies go to crisis pregnancy centers, which recently was just increased to $4 million a year. We created greater regulation on abortion clinics, where there were horrific procedures. So I'm pro life, but I believe there should be exceptions: rape, incest and when the life of the mother is in danger. And so, that belief, and my consistency on this, makes me, I think, poised to be in the right place, the sweet spot for a Republican nominee. And others may have a different view and I respect it. +p2216 +aVPeyton Manning is supporting me. And I'm for Denver. +p2217 +aVI want to thank the people of New Hampshire, and I want to celebrate the birthday of a great president, Ronald Reagan would have been 105 today. President Reagan believed in the future of our country, believed in its greatness, had a hopeful, optimistic message. Drew people towards our cause. We need someone who has a proven record to take our case to the American people because our philosophy is by far the best one. Limited government, entrepreneurial capitalism, of peace through strength. I believe I have the skills to take our party to victory in November. I ask for your support on Tuesday to keep America, and make America a safer, stronger, and freer. Thank you all very much. +p2218 +asVFRANTA +p2219 +(lp2220 +VHi, I'm Connor Franta, I'm 23 and my audience is around the same age. Getting my generation to vote should be a priority for any presidential candidate. Now I know Senator Sanders is pretty popular among my peers, but what I want to know is, how are all of you planning on engaging us further in this election? +p2221 +asVWALKER +p2222 +(lp2223 +VGood evening, I'm Scott Walker, and tonight, I want to thank and Mrs. Reagan, and the Reagan Library for hosting us. You see, in my lifetime, the greatest president was a governor from California. Ronald Reagan knew how to go big, and go bold. He understood the essence of moving this country forward, and that's what I did when I took on the status quo in my state, and the Washington based special interest. Now, more than ever, America needs a leader who will go big and bold again. Someone who's been tested. I'm ready to be that leader. Thank you. +p2224 +aVBut Jake, Jake, Jake, Jake... +p2225 +aVBut Jake, this \u2014 this is \u2014 this... +p2226 +aVJake, this is \u2014 this is \u2014 this is... +p2227 +aVThis is actually what's wrong \u2014 this is what's wrong with this debate. We're not talking about real issues. And Mr. Trump, we don't need an apprentice in the White House. We don't need an apprentice in the White House. We have one right now. He told us all the things we wanted to hear back in 2008. We don't know who you are or where you're going. We need someone who can actually get the job done. And you talked about business. +p2228 +aVYou \u2014 you \u2014 let me finish... +p2229 +aVNo, no... +p2230 +aVYou're using the talking... +p2231 +aVMr. Trump, you're using the talking points of the Democrats... +p2232 +aV... and as we all know... +p2233 +aV... that failed three times in four and a half years when I got elected, because it is working. We balanced a budget. You want to talk about balanced budgets? You took four major projects into bankruptcy over and over and over again. You can't take America into bankruptcy. That's what's wrong with the politicians in Washington right now. They think we can take a country into bankruptcy. +p2234 +aVJake, yeah, absolutely, I'll take this on, because this is an issue that's important in this race. Just because he says it doesn't make it true. The facts are the facts. We balanced a $3.6 billion budget deficit, we did it by cutting taxes \u2014 $4.7 billion to help working families, family farmers, small business owners and senior citizens. And it's about time people in America stand up and take note of this. If you want someone that can actually take on the special interest of Washington, which you yourself said you were part of, using the system, we need somebody that will stand up and fight for average Americans to put them back in charge of their government. I'm the one who is taking that on. I'll do that as your next president. +p2235 +aVTwo parts to that, one on China, one back for a second on Iran. When it comes to China, why would we be giving an official state visit to a country that's been involved in a massive cyber attack against the United States? That's not just a visit, that's a 21 gun salute on the South Lawn of the White House. It just doesn't make any sense. If we're ever going to send a message to them, wouldn't this be the time, when they've issued this, sort of, massive attack against us? And, Jake, for the question, I was one of the first ones to call for terminating the bad deal with Iran on day one. The President came after me and said I need to bone up. You know, the President who called +p2236 +aVJake, just one more moment. This is \u2014 there's something bigger to this. Now, I \u2014 like so many other governors here, I defunded Planned Parenthood four-and-a-half years ago, in a Blue State. But it's bigger than that. We did that in a Blue State, we took the money and put it into women's health, so we did exactly what we're talking about here. But I think the bigger issue here is we should be able to do this nationally, and this is precisely why so many Republicans are upset with Washington. They see the House and they see the Senate and they say why can't we pass this. Why can't we defund Planned \u2014 put it in a spending bill. Forget about the 60-vote rule, there's no reason \u2014 and the Constitution doesn't call for 60 votes. Pass it with 51 votes, put it on the desk of the president \u2014 +p2237 +aV\u2014 and go forward and actually make a point. This is why \u2014 +p2238 +aV\u2014 people are upset with Washington. +p2239 +aVSo, the best way to help people see their wages go up is to get them the education, the skill they need, to take on careers that pay more than minimum wage. And, it's why we talk about it, it's all about jobs. You want to help actually get jobs, it's why on that last question we were trying to jump in on taxes. To me, it's not just about taxes, cutting taxes. I've done it as much as anyone has. I've cut income taxes, I've cut property taxes. In fact, property taxes are lower today in my state than they were before we took office. The real issues about jobs. Ronald Reagan, our plan is based on the Ronald Reagan tax cuts of 1986. That brought about one of the longest sustained periods of economic growth in American history. All the things we should be talking about tonight are about how do we create jobs, helping people get the skills and the education qualifications they need to succeed. That's the way you help people create jobs. It's part of our large plan to reform the tax code, to cut taxes, to put in place an education system that gives people the skills and education that they need. To put in place all the above energy policy, but you start on day one with repealing Obamacare. I'm the only one on this stage that's actually got a plan, introduced an actual plan to repeal Obamacare on day one. I'll send a bill up to Congress, and to make sure enact it... +p2240 +aV...I'm going to sign an order that makes the Congress live by the same rules as everybody else. +p2241 +aV...That will ensure they repeal Obamacare... +p2242 +aV...Jake, Jake, Jake, I just want to address that issue because you said I didn't answer, and I did. I said, to me, I think the real focus shouldn't be \u2014 you know, Hillary Clinton talks about the minimum wage. That's her answer to grow the economy. The answer is to give people the skills and the education so they make far more than minimum wage. I don't want to argue about how low things are going to be, I want to talk about how do we lift everyone up in America. That's what Reagan talked about. It wasn't how bad things were, it was how to make it better for everyone. That's what we've done in Wisconsin, that's exactly what we'd do as... +p2243 +aV... the key issue here is talking about leadership. Now, there's a lot of greater people up here, and you've heard a lot of great ideas out there. But I would ask the American people, look at who's been tested. When there were 100,000 protesters in my capital, I didn't back down, when they issued death threats against me and threats against my family, I didn't back down, when they tried to recall me, I didn't back down, and when they made me the \u2014 one of their number-one targets last year, I didn't back down. Give me the chance to be your president. +p2244 +aVI won't back down... +p2245 +aV... on any of these issues. +p2246 +aVTo be clear, what I said the other day was that we need to lift the political restrictions that are already in play. Barack Obama's administration has put political restrictions on the military personnel already in Iraq. We need to lift those and then we need to listen to our military experts, not the political forces in the White House, but our military experts about how many more we sent in. And we certainly shouldn't have a commander-in-chief who sends a message to our adversaries as to how far we're going to go, and how far we're willing to fight, so I'm not putting a troop number. What I'm saying is lift the political restrictions. When you do that, you empower our military personnel already there to work with the Kurd and the Sunni allies, to reclaim the territory taken by +p2247 +aV... a lot of those people, though, and I'm going to echo what Senator Rubio just said. This is an issue where, we're talking about my state, it's thousands of manufacturing jobs. Thousands of manufacturing jobs for a rule the Obama administration, own EPA has said will have a marginal impact on climate change. So we're going to put thousands and thousands of jobs in my state, I think it's something like 30,000 in Ohio, other states across this country, we're going to put people \u2014 manufacturing jobs, the kind of jobs that are far greater than minimum wage, this administration is willing to put at risk for something its own EPA says is marginal (ph)... +p2248 +aVFirst of all, I got to say to Carson, Huckabee, thanks a lot for making the rest of us look like chumps up here, but, I'd pick Clara Barton. I once worked for the American Red Cross, she was a great founder of the Red Cross. +p2249 +aVHarley. I love riding Harley's. +p2250 +aVWell, I turned 13 years old two days before Ronald Reagan was first elected. A lot of people forget this, but just a few days before that election 1980, he was behind in the polls. And I think what changed things was people in America realized they didn't want to hear what was bad about America, they wanted to know how it was going to be better. Ronald Reagan wasn't just a conservative Republican, he was an eternal optimist in the American people. And I am too. So here's what I think will make America better. We need to live in a world where our children are free, are free from the threats of radical Islamic terrorism. We need to live in an America where we have an economy, where everyone can live their piece of the American dream, no matter what that dream is. And we need to live in an America where we have a federal government that is not too big to fail, but ultimately small enough to succeed, where we send powers back to the states and back to the people. That's what I did in Wisconsin. We took on the big government union bosses, the big government special interests, many of whom came in from Washington, to spend millions of dollars to try and take me out because we stood up to them, we didn't back down in any of those instances. If you give me the chance as your next president, I won't back down any day, anyway, anyhow. I'll fight and win for you and your families every single day I'm in office. +p2251 +aVWell, I'm pro-life, I've always been pro-life, and I've got a position that I think is consistent with many Americans out there in that... ...in that I believe that that is an unborn child that's in need of protection out there, and I've said many a time that that unborn child can be protected, and there are many other alternatives that can also protect the life of that mother. That's been consistently proven. Unlike Hillary Clinton, who has a radical position in terms of support for Planned Parenthood, I defunded Planned Parenthood more than four years ago, long before any of these videos came out... ...I've got a position that's in line with everyday America. +p2252 +aVChris, I actually said that on your show earlier this year. I acknowledged that. I said I actually listened to the American people. And I think people across America want a leader who's actually going to listen to them. I talked to border state governors and other elected officials. I look at how this president, particularly through last November, messed up the immigration system in this country. Most importantly, I listened to the people of America. I believe we need to secure the border. I've been to the border with Governor Abbott in Texas and others, seeing the problems that they have there. There is international criminal organizations penetrating our southern based borders, and we need to do something about it. Secure the border, enforce the law, no amnesty, and go forward with the legal immigration system that gives priority to American working families and wages. +p2253 +aVI don't know about additional ones. We need to focus on the ones we have. You look at Egypt, probably the best relationship we've had in Israel, at least in my lifetime, incredibly important. You look at the Saudis -- in fact, earlier this year, I met with Saudi leaders, and leaders from the United Arab Emirates, and I asked them what's the greatest challenge in the world today? Set aside the Iran deal. They said it's the disengagement of America. We are leading from behind under the Obama-Clinton doctrine -- America's a great country. We need to stand up and start leading again, and we need to have allies, not just in Israel, but throughout the Persian Gulf. +p2254 +aVJust one second on this, though. We -- we spent a lot of time talking about Hillary Clinton and ---and pitting us back and forth. Let's be clear, we should be talking about Hillary Clinton on that last subject, because everywhere in the world that Hillary Clinton touched is more messed up today than before she and the president . +p2255 +aVIt's true. +p2256 +aVWell, the voters in Wisconsin elected me last year for the third time because they wanted someone who aimed high, not aimed low. Before I came in, the unemployment rate was over eight percent. It's now down to 4.6 percent. We've more than made up for the jobs that were lost during the recession. And the rate in which people are working is almost five points higher than it is nationally. You know, people like Hillary Clinton think you grow the economy by growing Washington. One report last year showed that six of the top 10 wealthiest counties in America were in or around Washington, D.C.. I think most of us in America understand that people, not the government creates jobs. And one of the best things we can do is get the government out of the way, repeal Obamacare, put in -- reign in all the out of control regulations, put in place an all of the above energy policy, give people the education, the skills that the need to succeed, and lower the tax rate and reform the tax code. That's what I'll do as president, just like I did in Wisconsin. +p2257 +aVWell, first off, let's remember. I still remember, as a kid, tying a yellow ribbon around a tree in front of my house during the 444 days that Iran held 52 Americans hostage. Iran is not a place we should be doing business with. To me, you terminate the deal on day one, you reinstate the sanctions authorized by Congress, you go to Congress and put in place even more crippling sanctions in place, and then you convince our allies to do the same. This is not just bad with Iran, this is bad with +p2258 +aVWell, I think the most important thing we can do when it comes to policing -- it's something you've had a guest on who's a friend of mine Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clark, who's talked to me about this many times in the past -- it's about training. It's about making sure that law enforcement professionals, not only in the way in to their positions but all the way through their time, have the proper training, particularly when it comes to the use of force. And that we protect and stand up and support those men and women who are doing their jobs in law enforcement. And for the very few that don't, that there are consequences to show that we treat everyone the same here in America. +p2259 +aVWell first off, for the cyber attack with Russia the other day, it's sad to think right now, but probably the Russian and Chinese government know more about Hillary Clinton's e-mail server than do the members of the United States Congress. And -- and that has put our national security at risk. If I am president, he won't think about that. You know, Putin believes in the old Lenin adage: you probe with bayonets. When you find mush, you push. When you find steel, you stop. Under Obama and Clinton, we found a lot of mush over the last two years. We need to have a national security that puts steel in front of our enemies. I would send weapons to Ukraine. I would work with +p2260 +aVWell, thanks, Megyn. I'm certainly an imperfect man. And it's only by the blood of Jesus Christ that I've been redeemed from my sins. So I know that God doesn't call me to do a specific thing, God hasn't given me a list, a Ten Commandments, if you will, of things to act on the first day. What God calls us to do is follow his will. And ultimately that's what I'm going to try to do. And I hope people've seen it in my state, even in the big challenges I took on when I had over 100,000 protesters in and around our capital, trying to do what I thought was the right thing. It wasn't just how I took on those political battles. It was ultimately how I acted. Not responding in kind. Not lashing out. But just being decent going forward and living my life in a way that would be a testimony to him and our faith. +p2261 +aVThanks. I'm guy with a wife and two kids, and Harley. One article called me "aggressively normal." I ran for governor because I was worried about my kids' future. Then, I took on the big government union bosses, and we won. They tried to recall me, and we won. They target us again, and we won. We balanced the budget, cut taxes, and turned our state around with big, bold reforms. It wasn't too late for Wisconsin, and it's not too late for America. That's why I ask for your vote. +p2262 +asVMALE +p2263 +(lp2264 +VThat's a good one. +p2265 +aV +p2266 +asVMITCHELL +p2267 +(lp2268 +VThank you, Lester. Secretary Clinton, Senator Sanders favors what he calls "Medicare for all." Now, you said that what he is proposing would tear up Obamacare and replace it. Secretary Clinton, is it fair to say to say that Bernie Sanders wants to kill Obamacare? +p2269 +aVSenator Sanders? +p2270 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor Sanders... +p2271 +aVSenator Sanders, let me ask you this, though... +p2272 +aV... you've talked about Medicare for all... +p2273 +aV.. and tonight you've released a very detailed plan, just two... +p2274 +aV... well, two hours before the debate, you did. +p2275 +aVBut let me ask you about Vermont. Because in Vermont \u2014 you tried in the state of Vermont, and Vermont walked away from this kind of idea, of \u2014 of Medicare for all, single-payer, because they concluded it would require major tax increases... +p2276 +aV... and by some estimates, it would double the budget. If you couldn't sell it in Vermont, Senator... +p2277 +aV... how can you sell it to the country? +p2278 +aVSenator Sanders \u2014 Senator Sanders, you've talked a lot about things you want to do. You want free education for everyone, you want the Federal Minimum Wage raised to $15 an hour. You want to expand Social Security... +p2279 +aV... benefits. You've been specific about what you want, but let's talk about how to pay for all this. You now said that you would raise taxes today, two hours or so ago, you said you would raise taxes to pay for your health care plan. You haven't been specific about how to pay for the other things... +p2280 +aV... Will you tell us tonight? +p2281 +aV... OK... O' +p2282 +aV... Secretary Clinton, you mentioned earlier \u2014 Secretary Clinton, do you want to respond? +p2283 +aVOK, we're out of time. Senator Sanders, +p2284 +aVSenator Sanders... +p2285 +aV... Senator Sanders, let me ask you a question about taxes. +p2286 +aVThe most googled political issue... +p2287 +aVIn the last month was taxes. Now, in your healthcare plan, the plan you released tonight, you would not only raise taxes on the wealthy, but the details you released indicate you would raise taxes on the middle class also. Is that correct? +p2288 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, let me just follow up on that. +p2289 +aVOn Meet the Press on December 20th, you said that you would only raise taxes on the middle class to pay for family leave. And, having said that, now you say you're going to raise middle class taxes to pay for healthcare as well. Is that breaking your word? +p2290 +aVThank you Lester. Senator Sanders, the nuclear deal is now enforced. Iran is getting it's billions of dollars, several Americans who have been held are now going to be heading home. The president said today, "it's a good day. It's a good day for diplomacy. It's a time now to restore diplomatic relations for the first time since 1979 and actually re- opened a U.S. Embassy in Tehran." +p2291 +aVYour response Secretary Clinton? +p2292 +aVYou mentioned Syria. Let me ask you about Syria, all of you. Let's turn to Syria and the civil war that has been raging there. Are there any circumstances in which you could see deploying significant numbers of ground forces in Syria, not just specials forces but significant ground forces to combat +p2293 +aVSenator Sanders, ground forces yes or no? +p2294 +aVGovernor O'Malley? +p2295 +aVGovernor O'Malley. O' +p2296 +aVI have a question. I have a question for Senator Sanders. Did the policies of the Obama administration, in which Secretary Clinton of course was a part, create a vacuum in Iraq and Syria that helped +p2297 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to talk to you about red lines, because former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in a recent interview that President Obama's decision to stand down on planned missile strikes against Damascus after Assad had used chemical weapons hurt the president's credibility. Should the president have stuck to his red line once he drew it? +p2298 +aVBut should he \u2014 should he have stuck to his... +p2299 +aV... line? Did it hurt U.S. credibility? +p2300 +aVYour time is up. +p2301 +aVSenator.... +p2302 +aVYou're out of time. +p2303 +aVSenator Sanders. +p2304 +aVYour time is us. Lester. +p2305 +aVJust a \u2014 just a quick follow-up, though, Secretary Clinton. Just a moment, Governor. O' +p2306 +aVBut \u2014 but \u2014 Secretary Clinton, you said that the leaders from the intelligence community went to Silicon Valley, they were flatly turned down. They got nowhere. +p2307 +aVSenator Sanders, let me ask you a question. You called Bill Clinton's past transgressions, quote, "totally, totally, totally disgraceful and unacceptable." Senator, do you regret saying that? +p2308 +aV...too long. O' +p2309 +asVGARRETT +p2310 +(lp2311 +VSenator Cruz. John mentioned this is about dollars and incentives. We also want to talk about economic growth engagements. You have proposed a consumption tax, you called it the "back tax." Some analysts compare it more to an attributed "value-added tax." From the perspective from economic growth in building wages, how does that work, and how would you address those longstanding conservative concerns that something approaching the "value-added tax" would be used to constantly increase those rates to pay for future government spending and become an escalator of taxation, not of growth? +p2312 +aVNow, the question \u2014 conservatives have sort of this idea conceptually for a long time, but especially on this consumption value-added tax system. In Europe, where it exists, it has become an escalator of taxation to feed government spending, and that's why conservatives have long resisted it. Why and what would you do as president to make sure that doesn't happen? +p2313 +aVGovernor Bush, a question for you \u2014 but if you want to jump in, please. +p2314 +aVJump in, and then I've got a question for you. +p2315 +aVReal quickly, jump in, because I have got a question for Governor Bush, but jump in. +p2316 +aVUnderstood, Governor Kasich. +p2317 +aVYeah, Governor Bush, fine. +p2318 +aVLet me get in a question from... +p2319 +aVI understand, I understand. +p2320 +aVI have a question on economic growth, Governor Bush. +p2321 +aVA , Governor. +p2322 +aVI know, understood. Governor Bush. +p2323 +aVGovernor Bush, from the perspective, economic growth \u2014 viewed from this perspective of economic growth, you have proposed a tax on hedge fund managers. The Americans for Tax Reform, a conservative tax group you're probably aware of, has said no Republican should be for higher taxes on capital gains. And many conservatives wonder if this proposal of yours would undermine not only that philosophy, but undercut your projection of 4 percent economic growth annually under your presidency? +p2324 +aV... Dr. Carson... +p2325 +aVSenator Rubio... For the purposes of the lines \u2014 lines you would draw legislatively as a president on immigration reform, define amnesty. +p2326 +aVVery quickly, Senator Cruz. +p2327 +aVGovernor Bush, I want to bring this out to a little wider philosophical aspect, if you will. +p2328 +aVYou have said illegal immigrants, quote, "broke the law, but it's not a felony," still quoting you, "it's an act of love, it's an act of commitment to your family." Mr. Trump has, as you are well aware, denounced that statement over and over. Do you still believe it? What does that mean to you? And how does that inform your approach to immigration reform? +p2329 +aVFundamentally, do you believe this rhetoric is insufficiently compassionate to this issue? +p2330 +aVMr. Trump... +p2331 +aV... Governor Kasich, here in South Carolina earlier this week, you said the idea, the concept of deporting 11 million undocumented workers... +p2332 +aV... We will leave the moon metaphors to be adjudicated later, I assure you. Governor Kasich, you said earlier this week in South Carolina, the concept, the idea of deporting 11 million undocumented workers in this country is nuts. Why is it you are so opposed to that idea? Senator Cruz has said it's a simple application of existing law. The application of that is not inhumane, it is just. Why do you disagree? +p2333 +aV... What are you for on immigration? +p2334 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 Mr. Trump. I was with you in Pendleton, South Carolina, earlier this week at the Rodeo Arena. It was a bit chilly there. You promised the crowd, and they rose to their feet, that if Ford or a company like were to move a factory to Mexico, you would try to stop it or threaten them with a 35 percent tax or tariff on every car sold. +p2335 +aVRight. So my question is, based on your understanding of the presidency, where do you derive that power? Would you need the consent of Congress to go along? And do you see the presidency as a perch from which you can cajole and/or threaten private industry to do something you think is better for the U.S. economy? +p2336 +aVThank you, governor. +p2337 +asVHEWITT +p2338 +(lp2339 +VSenator Cruz, you've said you disagree with Mr. Trump's policy. I don't want a cage match; you've tweeted you don't want a cage match. But Republican primary voters deserve to know, with the kind of specificity and responsiveness you delivered in your nine Supreme Court arguments, how you disagree with Mr. Trump. Would you spell that out with us? +p2340 +aVSo you're saying you disagree because he's too broad and you have a narrower focus? Why do you disagree with him? +p2341 +aVCarly Fiorina... ... this is the Christmas dinner debate. This will be the debate that Americans talk about at Christmas. And thus far, in the first 10 minutes, we haven't heard a lot about Ronald Reagan's city on a hill. We've heard a lot about keeping Americans out or keeping Americans safe and everyone else out. Is this what you want the party to stand for? +p2342 +aVDr. Carson...... you mentioned in your opening remarks that you're a pediatric neurologist surgeon... +p2343 +aVNeurosurgeon. And people admire and respect and are inspired by your life story, your kindness, your evangelical core support. We're talking about ruthless things tonight \u2014 carpet bombing, toughness, war. And people wonder, could you do that? Could you order air strikes that would kill innocent children by not the scores, but the hundreds and the thousands? Could you wage war as a commander-in-chief? +p2344 +aVSo you are OK with the deaths of thousands of innocent children and civilian? It's like... +p2345 +aVThat is what war \u2014 can you be as ruthless as Churchill was in prosecuting the war against the Nazis? +p2346 +aVMr. Trump, we are talking about the most important thing, that's why it's heated. And it's, you are OK with Mr. Assad staying in power, but you are also in favor of winning. If he stays in power, Iran is winning, Hezbollah is winning. Iran is winning in Yemen. They are winning everywhere. If they are winning how can we be winning? +p2347 +aVGovernor Christie, is he right? Because if we step back, Iran goes nuclear. Is Donald Trump right? +p2348 +aVSenator Paul, let me ask you, you heard Governor Kasich say Assad must go. Do you agree? +p2349 +aVGovernor Bush, a commander-in-chief question. You've said that Mr. Trump is not qualified to be president because he's not qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin. Why are you better qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin than Mr. Trump? +p2350 +aVMr. Trump? +p2351 +aVBut, Mr. Trump, it's not CNN \u2014 I was on CNN last night... +p2352 +aV... watching... +p2353 +aVBut it wasn't \u2014 it wasn't CNN. It was me. I watched you last night for 16 minutes. It's not CNN. +p2354 +aVIt's not CNN. It's America's watching you. +p2355 +aVIt's America's watching. +p2356 +aVGovernor \u2014 thank you, Governor. +p2357 +aVDr. Carson, commander-in-chief question again. You've been the head of neurosurgery for a big hospital. You're on a lot of boards of a lot of companies. You've traveled the world. You're going traveling again next week. But does that prepare you to command troops from Djibouti to Japan, troops from Afghanistan to Iraq to be in charge of the men and women watching on Armed Services Network tonight? +p2358 +aVMr. Trump...... Dr. Carson just referenced the single most important job of the president, the command, the control and the care of our nuclear forces. And he mentioned the triad. The B-52s are older than I am. The missiles are old. The submarines are aging out. It's an executive order. It's a commander-in-chief decision. What's your priority among our nuclear triad? +p2359 +aVOf the three legs of the triad, though, do you have a priority? I want to go to Senator Rubio after that and ask him. +p2360 +aVSenator Rubio, do you have a response? +p2361 +aVMy listeners tell me again and again they are worried that Hillary Clinton will win the White House because you'll run as an independent. Are you ready to assure Republicans tonight that you will run as a Republican and abide by the decision of the Republicans? +p2362 +aVDr. Carson, last week... +p2363 +aVPlease. +p2364 +aVDr. Carson, Mr. Trump just committed to stay the distance regardless of the result. How about you? +p2365 +aVThank you, Jake. Mr. Trump, two years ago, President Obama drew a red line that the Syrian dictator Bashar Assad crossed, President Obama threatened to strike. He did not, his knees buckled. We now have 4 million refugees, Syria is a living hell, and he turned to the Congress for the authority to back him up. You have three senators to your right that said, no. Do they bear responsibility for this refugee crisis, and what would you have done when Bashar Assad crossed the line? +p2366 +aVHow much responsibility, Mr. Trump, do the senators hold? +p2367 +aVSenator Rubio... +p2368 +aVSenator Paul? +p2369 +aVI'd like to talk about winning because I think all of you are more qualified than former Secretary of State Clinton, and as were the people in the first debate, but there are different styles, and Carly Fiorina, Governor Kasich, you're conveniently located next to each other, and you have different styles. Governor Kasich, you've been on my show a lot. You refused to attack Hillary Clinton, you just don't want to go there, you want to do the up with people. Go, Ohio, OK, and I like that. Carly Fiorina, I don't have to bring up the Secretary of State \u2014 you bring her up, so . Which one of you is wrong? Governor Kasich? +p2370 +aVGovernor. +p2371 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2372 +aVCarly Fiorina, your style? +p2373 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Christie, your name was mentioned. I want to give you a chance to respond. +p2374 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2375 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. There is a lot more coming up. Ahead, a world of trouble. The challenges that one of these candidates may face in the Oval Office, and how he or she will handle it. Stay with us. +p2376 +aVOh, you're the best interview in America. +p2377 +aV... makes an interesting case (ph) here (ph). +p2378 +aVThank you, Jake. I've done a lot of great interviews with all of you, but, Governor Bush, I talked to you in February about the biggest elephant in a room full of elephants, which is your last name. And you said you would not be burdened either by your brother or your father's legacy in the Middle East. And then, a week later, you rolled out your list of foreign policy advisers, and it was a lot of the band getting back together again. So on behalf of the military that is watching... +p2379 +aV...OK, the active duty military that are at the end of the sphere (ph), what kind of a commander in chief is Jeb Bush going to be, and who are the advisers that are new to your team? +p2380 +aVMr. \u2014 Mr. Trump. +p2381 +aVI want to ask you a question, though, you promised us great leaders. And I believe that. But Jeb Bush has laid out 20 different people that have experience around the world. There are 190 countries, you can't run the world by yourself. When are we going to get some names on your military and your foreign policy advisers? +p2382 +aVThank you, Jake. Tomorrow is \u2014 Republicans know this \u2014 tomorrow is Constitution Day. We've been talking about the 10th Amendment. Let's talk about the Second Amendment. Governor Bush, one of the things the Supreme Court has gotten right is that it's an individual right and it's protected for individuals to hold it. Last week, you said the next step in gun issues is to make sure they're not in the hands of mentally ill. In this state, there's a controversial law that allows guns to be taken away from people without a hearing. Where does it go \u2014 and the problem of violence is endemic, but where does it go from what you said last week, how far into people's lives to take guns away from them? +p2383 +aVIf a family member calls and says, "My child, my brother, my sister is disturbed," ought the state be able to go and get their weapon without a hearing? +p2384 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2385 +aVSenator Cruz, I want to go to you. Your constitutional litigant (ph), are you afraid of the next- step theory of what happens to Second Amendment rights? +p2386 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2387 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2388 +aVThank you, senator. +p2389 +aVWait, let's pursue that in fact Governor Pataki? +p2390 +aVYou called for following and finding those Imams who are preaching violence in mosques. How exactly would you do that and what Mosques would you shut down? How extensive of a surveillance program are you proposing? +p2391 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p2392 +aVGovernor Huckabee... ...As Governor Pataki noted earlier, we have a history of religious intoleration in this country. About the American Muslims who would be subject to this kind of surveillance, does it violate their First Amendment rights? +p2393 +aVSenator Santorum... ...I want to start then, not on the First Amendment, but on the Second Amendment. There is a terror watchlist. You can legally purchase a gun in the United States if you're on that watchlist. Your old colleague, Peter King in the House, wants to change that law. Do you agree with him? +p2394 +aVGovernor... +p2395 +aVGovernor, back to you. Your response? +p2396 +aVSenator Graham, are you trying to get in? +p2397 +aVThank you, Wolf. Governor Huckabee, ten minutes ago you blasted President Obama for destabilizing Iraq. You hit former Secretary of State Clinton for supporting the Muslim brotherhood in Egypt. But you have said recently you would sanction countries that don't join the fight aggressively against +p2398 +aVWhich country? +p2399 +aVWhich countries are those, governor, that you would sanction? +p2400 +aVThat's an easy, give. Are you going to sanction any of our allies who say, no this isn't our fight we're gonna let you do this. Are you going to leave our allies alone? For example, Indonesia and Malaysia \u2014 other Muslim countries \u2014 will you leave them alone? +p2401 +aVSenator Graham, I just named two Islamic countries... ...Senator Graham, I just named two Islamic countries that are allies that he suggested we sanction. Is that the appropriate approach to this war? +p2402 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you... +p2403 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you, the opposite of getting into bed is shooting down the prince's plane. Senator Santorum has \u2014 Senator Graham has said he would shoot down Russian planes bombing Syrian fighters on our side. Would you shoot down a Russian plane bombing American allied fighters in Syria? +p2404 +aVWhat \u2014 if they fly into it, would you shoot it down? +p2405 +aVThe consequences would be war with Russia. Would you risk... +p2406 +aVSenator Graham, do you agree? +p2407 +aVOK, we know you agree, Senator Graham. How about you, Governor Pataki, would you shoot down Russian planes? +p2408 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you... +p2409 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you, the opposite of getting into bed is shooting down the prince's plane. Senator Santorum has \u2014 Senator Graham has said he would shoot down Russian planes bombing Syrian fighters on our side. Would you shoot down a Russian plane bombing American allied fighters in Syria? +p2410 +aVWhat \u2014 if they fly into it, would you shoot it down? +p2411 +aVThe consequences would be war with Russia. Would you risk... +p2412 +aVSenator Graham, do you agree? +p2413 +aVOK, we know you agree, Senator Graham. How about you, Governor Pataki, would you shoot down Russian planes? +p2414 +aVSenator Graham, in 2013 you were part of the leadership that pushed through immigration reform, comprehensive immigration reform in the Senate of the United States. It died in the House. Many accused you of amnesty, and may have undermined your ability to get your message out on the war. Would you sign that bill again today? Would you \u2014 sponsor that bill again today? +p2415 +aVBut, Senator, I misunderstand, did you... +p2416 +aVSenator Santorum, is that sufficient for you? +p2417 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2418 +aVYep. Governor Huckabee, you have said that children of immigrants who came here illegally should not be punished by their parents actions. As president, would you continue President Obama's policy, vis-a-vis, the Dreamers? +p2419 +aVSenator... +p2420 +aVSenator Santorum, you... ...Your position on that policy, assuming that it was passed constitutionally, would you allow this, would you support such an act? +p2421 +aVThank you, Jake. Governor, you signed the pledge to support the Republican nominee and you promptly broke it. By doing so, by Tweeting out that you would not support Donald Trump, have you released Donald Trump to be a free agent again or anyone else in the field? +p2422 +aVGovernor... +p2423 +aV-- you said on Twitter that you would not support Donald Trump. If he's the nominee... +p2424 +aV-- will you support him? +p2425 +aVWould you really vote for Hillary Clinton... +p2426 +aV-- or vote for Donald Trump if he's the nominee? +p2427 +aVGovernor Jindal, Senator Graham just said it's all about winning and, in fact, if former Secretary of State Clinton is the successor to President Obama, none of this matters and all this conversation is beside the point. In the Washington elite, they have a habit of saying nice things about each other until election time. Senator Graham has praised Secretary of State Clinton as a great choice to be the secretary of state, as a national treasure. Can anyone from inside of Washington win this election cycle, having praised Secretary of State Clinton that way? +p2428 +aVSenator Graham, took a shot at there and you're having a good debate but there is this problem of Washington elites and saying wonderful things about each other. +p2429 +aVIs that responsive to calling Hillary Clinton a national treasure, Senator? +p2430 +aVBut Senator, can you go back and forth that way, and expect to have an argument with the American people to persuade them about that? +p2431 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2432 +aVThank you, senator. +p2433 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2434 +aVLet's talk about the economy, if We could. Governor Pataki. +p2435 +aVJeb Bush and Donald Trump are both proposing raising taxes on hedge fund managers who pay at a lower rate. Governor Pataki, you were the governor of New York, home of Wall Street. Do you agree that hedge fund managers need to be paying a higher rate? +p2436 +aVSo you are with Jeb Bush and Donald Trump on the hedge fund? +p2437 +aVGovernor Jindal -- Governor Jindal, that's three Republicans running for president who support hedge fund managers paying a higher rate. Are you the fourth? +p2438 +aVLet's stay on the topic of taxes. +p2439 +aVI want to bring in my colleague, Dana Bash. +p2440 +aVThere are other ways, Governor, than bombing Iran. I want to quote Rick Santorum. "We should send a very clear message that If you are a scientist and you're going to work on a nuclear program to develop a bomb for Iran, you are not safe." Does that message work? Is anything that works on the table? +p2441 +aVSenator Santorum, stay on that: any means necessary? Is that what you meant to say? Is that what's still on this table after this, what many of us believe is a catastrophic deal? +p2442 +asVJINDAL +p2443 +(lp2444 +V...Thank you. +p2445 +aVA couple of things. In Louisiana, we're actually a top 10 state for job growth. As we sit here today, we have more people working in Louisiana than ever before, earning a higher income than ever before. We've had 60 months in a row of consecutive job growth in our state. So the reality is, we have diversified our economy. Yes, I've got an interview plan that says all of the above, that creates good manufacturing jobs in America. We've also got one of the fastest growing IT sectors by percentage. We are growing Louisiana's economy. But let me get to the point that is, I think, the most important issue here tonight. You're going to have several hours of debate on the economy and we're going to have a great discussion about energy plans and tax rates. And that's all great. The most important thing we have to do, we have a fundamental choice to make, folks. Are we willing to cut the government economy so we can grow the American economy? That is the most fundamental question we've got to answer. We are on the path to socialism right now. These are mutually exclusive. The hour is late, but it is not too late for America. Though under President Obama, you asked about his economy. We've got record dependents, a record number of Americans on food stamps, record low participation rate in the work force. This is a fundamental choice. Sending a big government Republican to DC is not enough to fix this problem. It's not enough just to beat Hillary Clinton. We've got to change the direction of our country. What that means is let's shrink the government, not slow its growth rate, but actually shrink the government so we can grow the American economy. That is the fundamental issue we should be debating here tonight. +p2446 +aVNo, I think right now there's not much difference between the two parties. The reason we keep losing nationally is we try to be cheaper versions of the Democratic party. What if the Republicans, what if Republicans actually embraced our own principles? So I earlier said if you want bigger paychecks, you want more jobs, you want less government dependence, you're going to have to cut government spending. Here's the dirty little secret. You're going to hear a lot of Republicans tonight in this debate and the next one talk about cutting government spending. It's going to sound great. There's only one of us that's actually cut government spending. Not two, there's one, and you're looking at him. We've got four senators running. They've never cut anything in D.C. They give these long speeches called filibusters, they pat themselves on the back, nothing changes. When they go to relieve themselves their cause and the toilet get flushed at the same time, and the American people lose. We've got a bunch of governors running, we've got seven current former governors running. I'm the only one that has cut government spending. Everybody else can talk about it. If they haven't done it in their state capitals, what makes them thank that \u2014 what makes us think they'll do it if we send them to D.C. Look, when politicians talk, we need to look at what they have done, not what they have said. Otherwise, it's a bunch of hot air. We've cut our budget 26 percent. Record number of Louisianans working. If Republicans want to win national elections, let's be conservatives, let's be Republicans, let's not be a second version of the liberal party, let's cut government spending and grow the American economy. +p2447 +aVWait, wait, wait. I want to respond. He has criticized something I said. I want to respond to that. Mike, with all due respect, I admire your social views, I share many of those views, your record as Governor tells a different story. Was \u2014 your time as Governor spending in Arkansas went up 65 percent, number of state workers went up 20 percent, the taxes for the average citizen went up 47 percent. That's not a record of cutting. I'm saying we've actually cut. We reduced the size of our budget. So wanting to cut is one thing, actually cutting is a different thing. Facts don't lie. +p2448 +aVI was absolutely a skeptic of giving this president more power. He negotiated a bad deal with Iran. He breaks the law routinely. I don't know why Congress would want to concede more authority to him. Look, this trade deal is 6,000 pages long. Unlike ObamaCare, I think we should read it before we decide whether we would vote for it or not vote for it. I am for trade deals, but I want to make sure they are fair trade deals. I want to come back to something that Chris had said earlier. Look, I absolutely agree we've got to beat Hillary Clinton. But just sending any Republican is not good enough. We've had a Republican majority in the Senate and the House. What has changed? If we send another big government Republican to the White House, we will not do enough to fix what is wrong in this country. Chris, I think records matter. I think the way we govern matter. Under your leadership in New Jersey, your budget has gone up 15 percent. It's gone down 26 percent in Louisiana. It has gone up $5 million in New Jersey. It's gone down $9 billion in Louisiana. In New Jersey, you've had nine credit downgrades, setting a record. We've had eight credit upgrades in Louisiana. My point is this. If politicians say they're going to be conservative, they say they're going to cut spending but they don't do it, why should we send them to DC? It gets harder, not easier, when we send them to DC. Let's not be a second liberal party. Let's actually cut government spending. Let's grow the American economy. Let's not just beat Hillary, let's elect a conservative to the White House, not just any Republican. +p2449 +aVBut wait a minute, records matter. Records \u2014 records matter. Yes, we've got to... +p2450 +aV\u2014 beat Hillary Clinton. But Chris, it's also true that you expanded food stamps at a time that we've got record numbers of Americans on food stamps. It's also true you caved into ObamaCare. You expanded Medicaid. We've got a choice in front of us. This is an important debate. This is not about comparing Louisiana to New Jersey or Bobby to Chris. This is an important debate for the American people. This is supposed to be an economics debate. Let's have a debate. Do we want to grow government or do we want to grow the American economy? Do we want to grow dependence on government, or do we want to grow good paying jobs in the private sector... +p2451 +aV...you don't grow the economy by putting more people on food stamps, more people in Medicaid, you grow the economy by cutting government, cutting spending. That's what we've done in Louisiana, you haven't done that in New Jersey... +p2452 +aV...We need a conservative, not a big government republican in D.C. +p2453 +aV...This is how we.... +p2454 +aV...This is how we move our country forward, look, this is not about between me and Chris... +p2455 +aV...This is about......are we going to be the party... +p2456 +aVWell, look, only one other opponent, actually, one other candidate, actually, has a plan. That's Jeb Bush, and he creates a new entitlement program. My plan actually gets rid of all of Obamacare, it's great that Senator Cruz will shut down the government over Obamacare, but he still hasn't given us his plan to get rid of it. It's great that other republicans talk about getting rid of it. You go to a town hall in Iowa, or New Hampshire, ask them how they're actually going to get rid of it \u2014 my plan has been online for over a year. It gets rid of all of Obamacare, it reduces the cost. It actually puts Americans, their patients, their doctors back in control. And, it actually helps those that really need this help \u2014 but, this is one of the most critical issues we face domestically. I think I \u2014 look, right now, I think I am the only candidate running that refused to expand Medicaid. I'm the only one that turned down \u2014 that did what we could to fight Obamacare. This is an important point, and, look, I appreciate Chris's nice compliments to me. And, Chris, you look to me very well, I love Mary-pat, but this isn't about me and Chris. This is about the country, and this is about what direction \u2014 this is the most important election in our lifetimes. Folks, a couple of years ago they told us give them the republican majorities in the House and the Senate, they'd stop Obamacare, and amnesty, and the bad Iran deal \u2014 nothing changed. If they fooled us once, shame on them. If they fooled us twice, shame on us. Don't let them fool us again. Chris, look, I'll give you your ribbon for participation, and a juicebox, but in the real world, it's about results......but, in the real world it's about results. It's about actually cutting government spending, not just talking about cutting government spending. +p2457 +aVWe can waste our time. And I think this is why people were so frustrated with the last debate with these kinds of silly questions. We've only got a certain amount of time to talk about the economy. Let me use my time to say this. I want to fire everybody in D.C. in both parties. I think they all \u2014 we need term limits, get rid of them all, make them live under the same rules they passed on the rest of us. +p2458 +aVSo under our tax plan, look, the top rate is 25 percent, 10 percent, 2 percent. That 2 percent is the most important. I think everybody should pay something. I think everybody should have skin in the game. We shouldn't be creating one group of Americans that's dependent on government, another group that's paying taxes. I want to come back to an earlier point though, that Chris said. Look, we all agree Hillary Clinton is bad. We all agree we need to beat her. But let's not pretend that out-of-control government spending is only a Democratic issue. This is a bipartisan issue, and just sending another big government Republican to D.C. is not good enough. We need to actually cut government spending. We need to cut \u2014 and we're not going to do it just by sending any Republican. I'm glad he's vetoed taxes. The Tax Foundation graded New Jersey the 50th worst business climate due to taxes, high taxes in the state of New Jersey. +p2459 +aVWell, a couple of reasons. Look, we know big companies don't pay those taxes today. They hire lobbyists and accountants and lawyers. It's the small businesses that get hit. I want to get rid of the corporate tax, I want to bring the jobs and investment back to America. Make the CEOs pay the same rates as everybody else. Get rid of all the corporate welfare as well. Like I said, make everybody pay something, earned success is so much better than unearned success. And let's actually shrink the size of government. My plan purposely does that. Look, we can talk all night about tax plans, energy plans, I think you will find a lot of agreement among all the Republicans. We all want to get rid of the death tax, the marriage penalty. We all want lower, fewer brackets. We want to downsize, take away power from the IRS. What we really need to be talking about is this, these last seven years, we've had more government spending, more government dependence. Poverty has gone up. Inequality has gone up. Only the top 10 percent have seen their incomes go up \u2014 their median incomes go up. We actually have more inequality thanks to what we have seen, the largest most expensive experiment in progressive government. We can't keep spending money we don't have. And the reality is, the last couple of years it hasn't mattered whether Republicans or Democrats were in control. We keep stealing from our children. That is immoral. It is wrong. And we're creating more government dependence. If we really want to grow the economy, yes, you need a rational energy plan, and you've got to rein in the EPA, and you've got to repeal Obamacare, and you've got to cut taxes. But none of that will be enough if we're not serious about cutting government spending. We cannot afford to elect a big- government Republican. We need somebody. This is the most important election. Hillary Clinton is gift-wrapping this election to us. Let's not waste this opportunity to apply conservative principles and cut the size of government. +p2460 +aVWell, a couple things, first, I want to echo what others have said and thank those veterans that run towards danger, not away from it, so we can live in the greatest country in the history of the world. I think every veteran should get that card, and they should be allowed to get that health care wherever they want in the private sector. But, I also think \u2014 or the public sector, I also think we need to fire some of the V.A. bureaucrats. Somebody should go to jail over these scandals, and it is a crime that it has not happened. When it comes \u2014 when it comes to uniting the American people, one of the things we've done to honor our veterans in Louisiana, we've given thousands \u2014 and I've hand delivered these, to veterans \u2014 medals to veterans to thank them for their service. I'll just give you one quick example, I know my time is out, but, we've had Vietnam war veterans with tears in their eyes saying nobody has ever thanked them before. We've had World War II veterans, children, who said they never heard the stories of their parents heroic sacrifice. Whatever conflict, whenever they served, one of the things we can do is to teach our children we do live in the greatest country in the history of the world. We got a president who doesn't believe in American exceptionalism, but we still do, and it's because of those men and women in uniform. We should thank them everyday, not just veterans day. +p2461 +aVYou know, I have spent a lot of time tonight talking about the need to cut the size of government. The reason I'm doing that \u2014 it's not just about balancing the budget, or balancing a bunch of numbers. Because I believe in the American dream. I think President Obama's done a lot of damage to our country. I think that one of the worst things he has done is try to change the idea of America to be one of dependence. There are a lot of politicians that talk about cutting government spending, I'm the only one that's actually done it that's running for President. The rest of them, it's a lot of hot air. If you want your paychecks to go up, if you want more good paying jobs, if you want the government out of your lives, we've got to cut the size of government. It's not enough just to elect any republican, we've seen that. We've got to elect a republican that will take on the establishment in both parties. I'm asking for your support. Thank you. +p2462 +aVI think the reason voters are so frustrated is nothing seems to change in D.C. Look, over the next several hours, you're going to hear several Republicans all tell you they want to shrink the size of government and grow the American economy and it sounds great and we've got to do it. Here's the truth \u2014 of all these folks talking, I'm the only one that has cut the size of government. There's not two of us, there's one of us. The rest of it is all just hot air. When politicians talk, we need to pay attention to what they do, not what they say. I'm the only one that's reduced the size of government. Let's shrink the government economy. Let's grow the American economy. +p2463 +aVWell, look, I think that's a false choice. I think this is a very bad deal. Whenever they tell us in D.C. they're going to cut tomorrow, that means they're never going to cut. Tomorrow never seems to happen. Instead, why don't we actually follow our conservative principles? Why not insist on structural reforms? Why not cut spending? I don't mean strength (ph) the growth rate, I mean, actually spend less. Why not a balanced budget in the amendment \u2014 an amendment to the Constitution? Why not a super-majority vote before they grow our taxes, before they grow the government faster than the economy? Let's be honest, $18 trillion dollars of debt. Record low participation rate in the workforce, record number of Americans on food stamps. We are going the way of Europe. The left is trying to turn the American Dream into the European Nightmare. If you're a Republican... +p2464 +aV... willing to stand up and fight... +p2465 +aVI think that's a false choice. If I were \u2014 I were to lead, we would pass a conservative budget, challenge the President to do the right thing. And, here's the problem, the Republicans never want to fight. Give Pelosi and Reed credit, they forced Obamacare and socialism down our throats, why won't the Republicans fight half as hard for freedom and opportunity. This was a bad budget. +p2466 +aVAbsolutely, Jhon. And what we did is we cut state spending. We've cut our budget 26 percent, according to Cato and other analysis, the only candidate that's actually reduced government spending. Look, the left always complains there's not enough money for government. We have 30,000 fewer state employees than the day I took office, eight credit upgrades, we're a top 10 state for private sector job creation. We've got a choice. You grow the government economy or the American economy. When I became governor, we had 25 years in a row of outmigration. We were coming back from Katrina. The question many were asking, will Louisiana rebuild, should Louisiana rebuild? Seven years in a row, more people moving into the state than were leaving the state. We now have more people working than ever before, erg a higher income than ever before. Yes, we've reduced the size of government. That's exactly what we need to do in DC. In DC, the Republicans slowed the growth rate, they claimed victory. That's not enough. Let's be honest with where we are today. We are running off of a cliff. Look, we'll be the next Greece and we can talk and we can rearrange the chairs. Over over $18 trillion of debt, no wonder our economy has been stagnant. We haven't had real growth. If you're a young student here, you've not seen a robust American economy. +p2467 +aVWell, Jhon, a couple of things. Not only did we not raise taxes, we did the largest income tax cut in the state's history. And I'm proud of that record. I think that's the kind of leadership voters want in DC. Look, if you want a Republican that's going go grow government spending, if you want a \u2014 a president or if you want a candidate who's going to income taxes, I'm not your guy. If you want somebody that's going to do and say the things that can't be said, can't be done, I'm asking a vote for me to join my cause. That's how dangerous these times are. This is \u2014 this is a \u2014 this is \u2014 these are dangerous times for America. I think we have a chance to rescue the idea of America, but if we don't do it now, four years will be too late from now. So, yes, I'm proud we cut taxes, we cut spending, 30,000 fewer state government bureaucrats than the day I took office. I absolutely will do that in DC. +p2468 +aVThank you. +p2469 +aVAbsolutely, John. I'd go further. My tax plan, like everybody's, like a lot of Republicans' \u2014 look, I'd get rid of the death penalty and the marriage penalty, and I'd simplify the brackets to 25 percent, 10 percent, 2 percent, so that an average middle-class family \u2014 a teacher marries a law enforcement official (ph)... +p2470 +aV...I \u2014 I'm gonna get that. Pays 25 percent today, would pay 10 percent under my plan. But my plan does three things different from other people's plans. One \u2014 remember, I said 2 percent. I think everybody should pay something, even if it's only 2 percent. That's the most important 2 percent in my plan. I know a lot of Republicans brag \u2014 y'all can clap, it doesn't scare me. Go ahead. I heard some people. There are millions of \u2014 there are millions of folks that wouldn't pay taxes in Jeb's plan and Trump's plan. I think that's a mistake. In terms of the corporate tax, secondly, I'd get rid of the corporate tax. We do have the highest corporate tax rate in the developed world. I'd get rid of it. I'd get rid of all the corporate welfare. Make the CEOs pay their same tax rates the way the rest of us do. And third, I'd purposely shrink the size of government. You know, that is a \u2014 that is an intentional feature of my plan. We've got a choice: do we grow government \u2014 the government economy, or the American economy? So I say get rid of the corporate tax, bring those jobs and investment here to the United States, stop sending jobs and investment overseas. +p2471 +aVLook, I think the government should work to change that, but that doesn't \u2014 does not mean I'm for the government mandating that. We already have too many government mandates out of DC. Do I want people to have paid leave? Sure. Do I want people to earn higher wages? Sure. Do I want them to have better benefits? Sure. The government can't wave a magic wand and make that happen. Here's the problem. The last seven years, President Obama has tried to teach the American people that government is the answer to all of our problems. Where has that gotten us? We're on a path toward socialism. The way that folks can get better paying jobs with better benefits is if we have a growing economy. That means to repeal all of ObamaCare, a lower flatter tax code. That means that we have an energy plan that makes sense. That means that we embrace an all of the above approach to energy. Those are good paying jobs \u2014 $50,000, $70,000, $90,000 a year jobs with benefits. But this president won't let us produce more energy on our domestic federal lands and waters. He won't allow the Canadians to build the Keystone Pipeline. He's got an EPA that's doing everything they can to kill private sector jobs in America. So, yes, I want families to have better paying jobs and better benefits, but we're not going to get that with a government mandate, we're going to get that with a growing economy. +p2472 +aVA couple things. You're talking about payroll taxes that fund programs. People pay for their Medicare, they pay for their Social Security. I want every American to worry and care about how those folks in D.C. are spending our money. If $18 trillion of debt \u2014 they're misspending our money. Earned success is so much more fulfilling than unearned success. I don't want us to continue to create one class of Americans that pays income taxes, that pays for government, another class of Americans that's growing more and more dependent on government. That's what we have today. Socialism is bad, not only for taxpayers, but people that they say they're trying to help. There's dignity in work, dignity in self-sufficiency. I wanna quote you a president. Our previous president said this: he said, "the problem is, is that tax rates are too high, government income revenues are too low." He said, "paradoxically, lowering tax rates now is the best way to produce higher government revenues later." No, that wasn't President Reagan, as many are probably guessing at home. That was President Kennedy. I see you know the answer. That was President Kennedy. Imagine if he were alive today \u2014 and if he was at that last Democratic debate, imagine if you tried to say that in a party that's veering towards socialism. That wouldn't be welcome in today's Democratic party. +p2473 +aVWell, thank you. Look, if Senator Santorum wants to concede the tax cut wing of the Republican Party, I'm happy to fight for that side of the Republican Party. He's exactly right. I explicitly want to shrink the size of government; 22 percent over 10 years is not too much. We cut our state budget 26 percent in eight years. This is a fundamental choice. We mustn't become a cheaper version of the Democratic Party, a second liberal party. We need to proudly say we're willing to cut taxes, shrink government, grow the American economy. President Kennedy said it to the Democratic Party. Why can't we say it in the Republican Party in 2015, let's cut taxes. +p2474 +aVJohn, our budget is balanced. We balanced our budget every year for eight years. Yeah, we've had to cut spending. You know what? We privatized or closed nine of our 10 charity hospitals. We did statewide school choice; $1.6 billion (ph) budget cut. You're quoting an old number from the beginning of the year. We closed that gap. What they talk about, just like D.C., government's the only place where you give them less money than they wanted, they count it as a cut. They take last year's budget. They add inflation. They call it a baseline. We need to do zero-based budgets. We need to say just because you got money last year, you don't have it this year. Let me close, though. We balanced our budget. We didn't raise taxes. In eight years, we never raised taxes. We cut taxes. Our \u2014 our taxpayers, our families have been better off for it. +p2475 +aV absolutely they should be accountable. They should be accountable to their students through the market. Look, you either trust the American people to make their own choices or you don't. I know the Left thinks we need to be protected from ourselves. President Obama is trying to limit competition to the higher education market. As a result, you're going to see tuition prices continue to go up. We've had $1 trillion of student debt and counting. And he wants to exempt certain schools from the same oversight he wants to apply only to the for-profit market. For some reason, the private sector is a bad word to this president. It's not in the real world. In Louisiana, we fought so that the dollars follow the child and so the child following the dollar. What that means, from K-12, what that means is that parents and their families can decide what's the best way for their children to be educated. Higher education, we have a +p2476 +aVI was just saying to my colleagues, I may be the last person in this audience without an iPhone. I'm actually one of the last folks \u2014 I still have a BlackBerry in my pocket. And I basically use it for scheduling. I use it to keep up when my wife is here and my three kids at home. The only games on that phone are Bricklayer. I use it to keep up with the news through the Internet. I may be the last American out there without an iPhone. +p2477 +aVMy apologies. +p2478 +aVWell, absolutely, when the Saints go back to repeat, we were talking about beer sales earlier, all those folks from being hung over in Louisiana from drinking to celebrate Drew Brees winning this, I think it would be a great day to take off. No, look, on a serious note, I do want to say this about the Super Bowl and our athletes. They can be great role models for our children and I'm obviously a Saints fan. Drew Brees and his wife great role models, great Christians. So, yes, it should be a holiday. +p2479 +aVMy message is to conservatives, this is our hour. Thanks to the insanity, the incompetence of the Democratic party, the American people are ready to turn our government over to us. It's not enough to let just any Republican, however. The reality is the idea of America is slipping away. As Christians, we believe that the tomb is empty. As Americans, we believe that our best days are always ahead of us, and they can be again. We must win this election. We cannot allow Hillary Clinton to take us down this path towards socialism \u2014 further down this path. I've got the courage to apply our conservative principles. I can't do it alone. With your help, with God's grace, we can save the idea of America before it's too late. +p2480 +aVHi, I'm Bobby Jindal. Now, look, I don't have a famous last name. My daddy didn't run for president. I don't have a reality TV show. I'll tell you what I do have, I've got the backbone, I've got the bandwidth, I've got the experience to get us through these tough times, to make sure that we don't turn the American dream into the European nightmare. Thank you for having me today. +p2481 +aVWell, Jake, I'm in compliance with the 11th Commandment, and I would tell my fellow Republicans, let's stop treating Donald Trump like a Republican. If he were really a conservative... If he were really a conservative and 30 points ahead, I would endorse him. He's not a conservative. He's not a liberal. He's not a Democrat. He's not a Republican. He's not an independent. He believes in Donald Trump. Here is the reality, the idea of America is slipping away. Eighteen trillion dollars of debt, Planned Parenthood selling baby parts across our country. Our government is creating a new entitlement program, when we can't afford the government we've got today. We've got a president who won't even say the words radical Islamic terrorism. He has declared war on trans fats and a truce with Iran. Think about that. He's more worried about Twinkies than he is about the ayatollahs having a nuclear weapon. That's what is happening, the idea of America is slipping away. We must not let that happen on our watch. We have a once in a lifetime opportunity to rescue the idea of America, the choice for conservatives. Do we depend on proven conservative principles like Ronald Reagan did, or do we turn this over to a narcissist who only believes in himself... +p2482 +aVThank you, Jake. +p2483 +aVAbsolutely. Look, the reality is, Hillary Clinton is gift-wrapping this election to us. They are running their weakest candidate. They have got a socialist that is gaining on Hillary Clinton. Folks, you can't make that up. A socialist is doing well in the Democratic primary. The best way for us to give this election back would be to nominate a Donald Trump. He'll implode in the general election, or if, God forbid, if he were in the White House, we have no idea what he would do. You can't just attack him on policy. He doesn't care about policy. It's not enough to say he was for socialized medicine or higher taxes... +p2484 +aVHe's not serious. +p2485 +aVYeah, I wanted to clarify -- I want to make very clear that everybody understands my position is, we need to secure the border, period. Any talk of doing any more -- we don't need a comprehensive plan, don't need an 1,000-page bill, like the Gang of Eight. We don't need amnesty. Everybody in D.C. talks about it. We need to get it done. As president, I'll get it done in six months. It won't be perfect, but we can get it done. I'm not for amnesty. We do need to secure the border. A smart immigration makes our -- our country stronger. Right now, we've got a weak one. One of the things I've said -- I know the left -- I know Hillary didn't like this -- immigration without assimilation is invasion. We need to insist the people who come here come here legally, learn English, adopt our values, roll up their sleeves and get to work. We do need to secure the border. +p2486 +aVDana, that's not right. What I've said consistently is secure the border. I've said after that is done, the American people will deal with the folks that are here pragmatically and compassionately. Now, Rick, if he wants to say that Rubio, Senator Rubio, or Jeb or others are for amnesty, that's his right. I'm not for amnesty. I've never been for amnesty, will never be for amnesty. Secure the border. We don't need to do that as a comprehensive -- I've also said we need to put an end to sanctuary cities. It's not enough to defund them; I think we need to criminalize, accuse and jail those mayors and councilman as accessories... ( +p2487 +aV... for the crimes committed by people who shouldn't be here in the first place. +p2488 +aVJake, look, America's the most compassionate country in the entire world. We do more for folks around this world, and that's the nature of the American people. Two things. One, let us draw line, a direct line, between this refugee crisis, and this president's failed foreign policy. Jake, look, America is the most compassionate country in the entire world. We do more for folks around this world. And that's the nature of the American people. Two things: one, let us draw a line, a direct line between this refugee crisis and this president's failed foreign policy. He drew a red line in Syria and did not enforce it and now we're seeing millions of refugees potentially, hundreds of thousands going into Europe. The answer is not to put a Band-aid on this and allow even more people to come into America. We should not short-circuit; we have got a vetting process, we've got a normal refugee process. Simply allowing more into our country doesn't solve this problem. The way to solve this problem is for us to be clear to our friends and allies that we're going to replace Assad, we're going to hunt down and destroy +p2489 +aVWe -- it is important we insist on that in immigration going -- +p2490 +aVLook, absolutely. We need to do whatever is necessary to hunt down and kill these radical Islamic terrorists but this president has helped -- his policies have helped to contribute to this problem. He went to the Pentagon the same week they announced they were cutting back the number of troops in the Army to say that we're not going to win this through guns, it's going to be a change of hearts and minds. This will be a generational conflict, that is nonsense. These are barbarians. They are burning, crucifying people alive, Christians and other Muslims. We need to hunt them down and -- +p2491 +aV-- by having a president willing to -- +p2492 +aV-- Islamic -- +p2493 +aVWell, Jake, look, I think the American people -- we don't discriminate anybody based on the color of their skin or their creed. I think the way you strike that balance, you say to Muslim leaders, they have got two responsibilities. One, it's not enough to denounce just simply generic acts of violence. They have got to denounce the individuals by name, and say these are not martyrs. These terrorists are not martyrs; rather, they are going straight to hell. They are not going to enjoy a reward in their afterlife. Secondly, they have to explicitly embrace the same freedoms for everybody else they want for themselves. Look, I know it's politically incorrect to say this, the president says Fort Hood was an issue of workplace violence. We are at war with radical Islam. Our president loves to apologize for America, he goes to the National Prayer Breakfast, brings up the Crusades, criticizes Christians. We're at war today with radical Islamic extremists. It's not politically correct to say that, but the way you strike that balance, you say to Muslim leaders, denounce these fools, these radical terrorists by name, say they are not martyrs. +p2494 +aVSure, I don't think a 14-year-old should ever get arrested for bringing a clock to school. So, if you're asking me I'm glad he wasn't -- he was released. I'm glad that police are careful. I'm glad they are worried about security and safety issues. Look, in America we don't tolerate them. The biggest discrimination is going on against Christian business owners and individuals who believe in traditional forms of marriage. They are throwing this woman in jail in Kentucky. Let's talk about that. Let's talk about the Christian florist, the caterer, the musician, who simply want to say, don't arrest us for having -- or don't discriminate against us, don't shut down our businesses, don't fine us thousands of dollars for believing marriage is between a man and a woman. Lets talk about not discriminating against Christians. +p2495 +aVJake -- Jake... +p2496 +aVJake, I've got a practical question. +p2497 +aVI've got a practical question. I'd like the left to give us a list of jobs that Christians aren't allowed to have. If we're not allowed to be clerks, bakers, musicians, caterers, are we allowed to be pastors ? +p2498 +aVWe're not allowed to be elected officials. I firmly -- this is an important point. The First Amendment rights, the right to religious freedom is in the First Amendment of "The Constitution." It isn't breaking the law to exercise our constitutional rights. America did not create religious liberty, religious liberty created the United States of America. It is the reason we're here today. +p2499 +aVI think actually putting Roberts, I think putting Kennedy, I think putting -- before them, I think putting Souter on the bench was a mistake. But look, I think the -- the first responsibility starts in the White House. The reality is conservatives have not been willing to stand up for our beliefs, unlike the liberals -- look, you never worry about where the Democratic judges are going to vote, it's always the conservatives. You've never had a Democratic judge wake up and say, surprise, I've evolved, I've become a conservative. It's always the Republicans, because we have presidents that try to find judges with no records, no rulings, no writings. I'll tell you, I am going to have a litmus test. For judges, I'm going to find judges that are conservative, judges that are going to be pro-life, judges that are going to follow "The Constitution," judges, by the way, that are going to follow the American law, not international law. They're not appointed there to interpret international law, they're there to apply "The United States Constitution." Judges understand, their job is not to write law. If they want to write law, they should run for the Senate or the House. It's time for a Republican president as the next commander in chief, I will do as the Democrats have done. I will appoint bold judges that are actually consistent with my values that will be conservatives and enforce the Senate -- +p2500 +aVThank you, Jake. But look, it's not a minor ruling. Justice Roberts twice rewrote the law to save ObamaCare, the biggest expansion of government, creating a new entitlement when we can't afford the government we've got today, an expansion of socialism in our country. It's not that he got a minor ruling wrong. This is twice he rewrote the law. Now, look, I have a lot of respect for these senators that have big bladders. They give great speeches in the Senate. And I respect that. I've actually signed the executive order. I've actually signed a law protecting religious liberty in the state of Louisiana. It's not 99-1. The one that he got wrong was a big one. Twice he bent over backwards to save ObamaCare. If the Republicans had voted the way that we should -- they should have, we would still have our 19th Amendment rights and ObamaCare would not be the law of the land. +p2501 +aVNo. And it's not only whether they can win. They shouldn't win this election cycle. One of the things I do agree -- and I want to thank Donald Trump after I've criticized him for everything from being a narcissist to an egomaniac -- one of the things he was right about was to say nonsense to the D.C. establishment. It is time to fire all of them. You've got a choice between honest Socialists on the Left, like Bernie Sanders, and lying conservatives on the Right. We have got the majority; what good has it done us? See, they said they were going to stop amnesty. They said they were going to repeal ObamaCare. They didn't do either. Now they're not even willing to fight to defund Planned Parenthood. They've already -- McConnell has already waved the white flag of defeat. They are not willing to stand up to fight for the issues that count. I think it is time to have term limits. I think it's time to have part-time citizen legislators. Let's pay them a per diem instead of a six-figure salary, stop them from being seven-figure lobbyists. Let's also pay them a per diem for every day they don't go to D.C. Let's keep them out of D.C., working in the real -- -- let's make them live under the same rules and laws they apply to the rest of us. Not only shouldn't they be elected, they can't be elected. Let's fire all of them from their current positions. +p2502 +aVTwo things, Jake. One, I'm absolutely for all of these carve-outs and loopholes and special interests for as -- they get lobbyists. They get sweetheart deals you and I and the rest of this audience couldn't get. So as part of an overall comprehensive tax reform that has a lower, flatter tax code, sure. As a single, I am just to raise taxes, no. I don't want to give the government more money. The government has grown over this president where now, it's going to overwhelm the American economy. We've got to cut the size of the government economy. Nobody else running for president has done that. I'm the only candidate. I've cut my state budget 26 percent. Everybody else talks about it, we have done it. So, there's a part of overall tax reform that cuts rates, flattens and lowers the tax code, sure. But I'm not for raising taxes on anybody. We already have too much money going to D.C. +p2503 +aVJake, I'd like to answer that question. +p2504 +aVWell, Jake, I want to answer that question. I want to go back to Iran. I didn't get a chance to answer that as well. Look, on Russia, across the world, dictators walk all over this president. He treats our friends like dirt. He lets our enemies walk all over us. The only group he's able to out-negotiate are the Senate Republicans. They never should've passed this bad Corker bill. Instead of a two-thirds vote to reject -- to approve the Iran deal, now it takes a two-thirds vote to reject the Iran deal. I want to ask Lindsey a question. Will the Senate Republicans -- they still have time -- are they willing to use the nuclear option, meaning get rid of the filibusters, stop Iran from becoming a nuclear power? Now is the time for the Senate Republicans to stand up and fight. We are tired of the establishment saying there's nothing we can do. All night tonight, we've heard Republicans say things like, "Well, if the Supreme Court's ruled, there's nothing I can do about religious liberty," you know. "The president did this. There's nothing we can do about it for two more years." There is something we can do. We won the Senate. We won the House. What was the point of winning those chambers if we're not going to do anything with them? You're going back tonight. You still have time before the Thursday deadline. Will y'all use the nuclear option to stop Iran from becoming a nuclear power? +p2505 +aVLindsey... +p2506 +aVLindsey, well, that's my frustration. Listen to what you've heard. You -- you basically heard a Senate Republican say, "We can't defund Planned Parenthood, despite these barbaric videos." +p2507 +aV"We can't -- we can't..." +p2508 +aV"... we can't get rid of Obamacare" -- Lindsey, let me answer this question now. I wish the Senate Republicans had half the fight in them the Senate Democrats did. Look, President Obama didn't give up on Obamacare when they lost the Senate election in Massachusetts. I want my side to follow the Constitution. They broke the Constitution, they broke the law, but they forced Obamacare down our throats, even when they didn't have 60 votes. I wish Republicans in D.C. had half the fight of the Senate Democrats to get rid of Obamacare, to defund Planned Parenthood. If we can't defund Planned Parenthood now, if we can't stand for innocent human life after these barbaric videos, it is time to be done with the Republican Party. We defunded them in Louisiana. Let's defund them in D.C. If we can't win... +p2509 +aV-- on that issue, there is no point for being cheaper Democrats, no point grabbing a second liberal party. It is time to get rid of the Republican Party, start over with a new one that's at least conservative. Give Harry Reid and Pelosi credit. At least they fight for what they believe in. I want senators and House members in DC to fight for what we believe in, as well. It's time to have Republican... +p2510 +aV-- with a backbone in DC. +p2511 +aVJake, I'm a doer, not a talker. Look, the idea of America is slipping away from us. If you want somebody who is going to manage the slow decline of this country, makes incremental changes, vote for somebody else. If you want to vote for somebody who understands what is at stake -- Planned Parenthood is selling baby parts across this country, and the Senate Republicans have already given up, even without a fight. I am tired of this surrender (ph) caucus, I am angrier at the Republicans in D.C. than I am at the president. The president is a socialist. At least he fights for what we believe in. We don't need to just send any Republican to the White House. We need to sent somebody who understands that it's time to make big changes. It's time to take on the establishment, it's time to take on the D.C. permanent governing class. Every Republican says they will shrink the size of the government. I'm the only one that has done it. Cut our budget 26 percent. If you want somebody that's going to make incremental change, vote for somebody else. It's time to get the idea of America back. At some point, we're going to be held -- we'll be asked, what did you do when the idea of America was slipping away? I'll promise you this. I will give every ounce of blood, energy, sweat I've got to save the idea of America, the greatest country in the history of the world. +p2512 +aVWell, first of all, thank you all for having us. You know, I won two record elections. Last time I was elected governor, won a record margin in my state. Martha, we got a lot of politicians that will kiss babies, cut ribbons, do whatever it takes to be popular. That's not why I ran for office. I ran for office to make the generational changes in Louisiana. We've cut 26 percent of our budget. We have 30,000 fewer state bureaucrats than the day I took office. I don't think anybody has cut that much government anywhere, at any time. As a result, eight credit upgrades; as a result, a top ten state for private sector job creation. And we fought for statewide school choice, where the dollars follow the child, instead of the child following the dollars. We've been the most pro-life state six years in a row. My point is this: I won two landslide elections, I made big changes. I think our country is tired of the politicians who simply read the polls and fail to lead. Both Democrats and Republicans have gotten us in the mess we're in -- $18 trillion of debt, a bad deal with Iran, we're not staying with Israel. I think the American people are look for real leadership. That's what I've done in Louisiana, that's what I'll do in America. +p2513 +aVWell, to start with, unlike President Obama, I'll actually name the enemy that we confront. We've got a president who cannot bring himself to say the words "radical Islamic terrorism." Now, Bill, he loves to criticize America, apologize for us, criticize medieval Christians. How can we beat an enemy if our commander-in-chief doesn't have the moral honesty and clarity to say that Islam has a problem, and that problem is radical Islam, to say they've got to condemn not generic acts of violence, but the individual murderers who are committing these acts of violence. We've got a president who instead says, we're going to change hearts and minds. Well, you know what? Sometimes you win a war by killing murderous, evil terrorists. We're going to take the political handcuffs off the military. We will arm and train the Kurds. We will work with our Sunni allies. They know we will be committed to victory. We had this failed red line with Assad and it discouraged folks that want to help us on the ground. Finally, we'll take off the political handcuffs. We'll go to the Congress. This president has gone to Congress and said give me a three-year deadline, give me a ban on ground troops. I'm going to go to the commanders and say give me a plan to win. You can't send your troops into harm's way unless you give them every opportunity to be successful. +p2514 +aVWell, this goes to the question you were just asking. Look, under President Obama and Secretary Clinton, they're working hard to change the American dream into the European nightmare. They do celebrate more dependence on the government. Give Bernie Sanders credit. At least he's honest enough to call himself a socialist. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, they're no better. If we were to expand Medicaid, for every uninsured person we would cover, we'd kick more than one person out of private insurance or remove their opportunity to get private insurance. We're going to have too many people in the cart rather than pulling the cart. This isn't free money. I know some people like to say, "well, this is free money." We pay federal taxes. We are borrowing money from China today. Yesterday, the president stunningly admitted this. He said, "we don't have leverage with China to get a better deal on Iran because we need them to lend us money to continue operating our government." The president of the United States admitting that he's weakening our government's position, our foreign policy standing, because he can't control spending in D.C.. There is a better way to provide health care. The Oregon study showed this. Simply expanding Medicaid does not improve health care outcomes. In Louisiana, instead we're helping people getting better paying jobs so they can provide for their own health care. +p2515 +aVI don't -- look, I don't think anybody should be expanding Medicaid. I think it's a mistake to create new and more expensive entitlement programs when we can't afford the ones we've got today. We've got to stop this culture of government dependence. +p2516 +aVI'll say this. I don't think anybody should expand Medicaid. I think it was a mistake to expand Medicaid everywhere in Ohio and across the country. +p2517 +aVWell, a couple of things. Planned Parenthood had better hope that Hillary Clinton wins this election, because I guarantee under President Jindal, January 2017, the Department of Justice and the IRS and everybody else that we can send from the federal government will be going in to Planned Parenthood. This is absolutely disgusting, and revolts the conscience of the nation. Absolutely, we need to defund Planned Parenthood. In my own state, for example, we launched an investigation, asked the FBI to cooperate. We just, earlier this week, kicked them out of Medicaid in Louisiana as well, canceled their provider contract. They don't provide any abortions in Louisiana. But in terms of shutting down the government, I don't think President Obama should choose to shut down the government simply to send taxpayer dollars to this group that has been caught, I believe, breaking the law, but also offending our values and our ethics. It is time for Republicans in D.C. to fight. Too often, they give up, they negotiate with themselves. They said they would get rid of the unconstitutional amnesty. They didn't do that. They said they would repeal Obamacare if we gave them the majority. They didn't do that either. They said they'd shrink and balance the budget. They haven't done that. Absolutely, they should fight to fund -- defund Planned Parenthood, and I don't think the president should shut down the government simply to send our taxpayer dollars to this group. Mac +p2518 +aVTo repeal these unconstitutional illegal orders, whether it's amnesty or whether it's this president going around the Congress, whether it's in Obamacare, to restore the rule of law. I'd also go after these sanctuary cities, do everything we can to make sure that we are not -- that we are actually prosecuting and cutting off funding for cities that are harboring illegal aliens, and then finally making sure the IRS is not going after conservative or religious groups. I would sign an executive order protecting religious liberty, our first amendment rights, so Christian business owners and individuals don't face discrimination for having a traditional view of marriage. +p2519 +aVSocialist and government dependent. +p2520 +aVYou know, we've got a lot of great talkers running for president. We've already got a great talker in the White House. We cannot afford four more years of on the job training. We need a doer, not a talker. We also need a nominee, a candidate who will endorse our own principles. Jeb Bush says we've got to be willing to lose the primary in order to win the general. Let me translate that for you. That's the establishment telling us to hide our conservative principles to get the left and the media to like us. That never works. If we do that again, we will lose again, we will deserve to lose again. One principle, for example, we've got to embrace is on immigration. We must insist on assimilation -- immigration without assimilation is an invasion. We need to tell folks who want to come here, they need to come here legally. They need to learn English, adopt our values, roll up their sleeves and get to work. I'm tired of the hyphenated Americans and the division. I've got the backbone, I've got the band width, I've got the experience to get us through this. I'm asking folks not just to join my campaign, but join a cause. It is time to believe in America again. Mac +p2521 +asVMUIR +p2522 +(lp2523 +VWe will be tackling many critical issues right here tonight, and we begin with opening statements, in alphabetical order, and Secretary Clinton. +p2524 +aVSenator Sanders. +p2525 +aVSenator Sanders thank you and thank you all. We do have a lot of important issues to get here tonight and we want to address the controversy of the last 24 hours right off the top because we heard some of the most heated rhetoric of the campaign so far between two of the campaigns on this stage tonight. Senator Sanders, you fired a campaign staffer you have sued the Democratic National Committee; all of this after your campaign acknowledge that some of your staffers quote, "irresponsibly accessed data from another campaign." The Clinton campaign called this a very egregious breech of data of ethics and said, quote, "our data was stolen." Did they overstate this or were your staffers essentially stealing part of the Clinton playbook? +p2526 +aVBut Senator, you do mention the DNC -- the vender. But you said of your staff that they did the wrong thing. +p2527 +aVSo, does Secretary Clinton deserve an apology tonight? +p2528 +aVSecretary Clinton... +p2529 +aVSecretary Clinton, he has apologized. How do your react? +p2530 +aV(?): All three candidates are weighing in. +p2531 +aVGood let's move on -- Senator Sanders, let's move on right to some of those issues. It is just six days before Christmas, as we all know in this country. It's typically a joyful time, as it is this year, as well. But it's also an anxious time. President Obama has acknowledged that what we saw in San Bernardino was an act of terrorism. But we remember the president said, right before Thanksgiving, there is no known specific and credible intelligence indicating a plot on the homeland. We now know that this couple had assembled an arsenal. They were not on law enforcement's radar. They were completely undetected. So as we approach another holiday, with the president again saying, late this week, no credible threat, Secretary Clinton, how confident should the American people be, that there aren't others like that couple right now in the U.S. going undetected? And what would you do as president to find them? +p2532 +aV(inaudible) thank you. I am the very first post-9/11 mayor and the very first post-9/11 governor. I understand, from the ground up, that when attacks like San Bernardino happen, when attacks like the attacks of 9/11 happen, that when people call 911, the first people to show up are the local first responders. Many of the things Secretary Clinton said are absolutely true, but they underscore a lack of investment that we have, as a nation, failed to make over these last 15 years in intelligence gathering, intelligence analysis, intelligence sharing. Not only in theater, in Syria and Iraq and other places where we embalk ourselves in toppling dictators without having any idea what comes next, but here in the homeland, as we protect people from this threat of the lone wolves and these changing tactics and strategies. I believe that what's happened here is that the president had us on the right course, but it's a lack of battle tempo. We have to increase the battle tempo, we have to bring a modern way of getting things done and forcing the sharing of information and do a much better job of acting on it in order to prevent these sorts of attacks in the future. +p2533 +aVAnd we're going to break down these issues tonight, but I do want to go to Senator Sanders because the concern going into Christmas is significant, as you know. A new ABC News poll shows 77 percent of Americans have little or no confidence in the government's ability to prevent a lone wolf attack. How would you specifically find would-be terrorist who are going undetected? +p2534 +aVSenator, thank you. +p2535 +aVGovernor, we have to abide the rules here, we'll call on you here shortly, but... O' +p2536 +aVBut I do want pick up on something... O' +p2537 +aVWe will. +p2538 +aVBut let me just establish that for you, senator. Really quickly governor, we are going to call on you tonight and it's very clear you have a lot to say but please wait until you're called upon. And senator, he invoked your record and I'll let you respond. +p2539 +aVI'll let you respond. +p2540 +aVAnd you will get some to as well. +p2541 +aVSenator, thank you. I want to move on here. Secretary Clinton, you brought up Donald Trump a short time ago. +p2542 +aVSecretary Clinton, thank you. We're going to move on from guns here and go back to something you mentioned a short time ago. You brought up Donald Trump first here this evening. We've now seen the polling done well after his proposed ban on Muslims coming to America. Thirty-six percent of Americans, more than a third, agree with him. You have weighed in already on Donald Trump. You've weighed in on the proposed ban. But what would you say to the millions of Americans watching tonight who agree with him? Are they wrong? +p2543 +aVSecretary, thank you. Senator Sanders, I did want to ask you about a neighbor in San Bernardino who reportedly witnessed packages being delivered to that couple's home, that it set off red flags, but they didn't report it because they were afraid to profile. What would you say to Americans afraid to profile? Is it ever acceptable? +p2544 +aVBut I'm asking about -- I'm asking about profiling. Because a lot of people are afraid of that. +p2545 +aVSenator, thank you. +p2546 +aVMartha, we're going to turn now to refugees coming to America. And on the subject of refugees, more than half of all Americans now say they oppose taking in refugees from Syria and across the Middle East. Secretary Clinton, you have said that it would undermine who we are as Americans, shutting our doors. But New Hampshire's governor, where we are right here tonight, a democrat and a supporter of yours, is among more than 30 governors who are now concerned. Governor Maggie Hassan says, "we should halt acceptance of Syrian refugees until U.S. authorities can assure the vetting process, halt Syrian refugees." Is she wrong? +p2547 +aVBut a halt? +p2548 +aVGovernor O'Malley, obviously you were governor yourself at one time. What would you say to New Hampshire's governor tonight? Is she wrong on this? O' +p2549 +aVSo the idea of a halt or a pause? O' +p2550 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p2551 +aVI want to take this to Senator -- I'm going to take this to Senator Sanders next, because I think there... +p2552 +aVSenator, thank you. +p2553 +aVYeah, but, Secretary Clinton -- Secretary Clinton... +p2554 +aVSenator Sanders, Senator Sanders, hold on. One moment, please. I'm going to ask the secretary here, because there does appear to be some daylight here between the policies, at least in respect to when you take out Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Right now or do you wait? Do you tackle +p2555 +aVBut that's what he's saying, we should put that aside for now and go after +p2556 +aVShe says we have to proceed on both fronts at once. +p2557 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. O' +p2558 +aVGovernor O'Malley? O' +p2559 +aVBut -- you criticized -- you criticized Secretary Clinton for what came next. What's your proposal for what comes after Assad? O' +p2560 +aVSenator Sanders, please. Go ahead. Senator Sanders, a last word on this. +p2561 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. When we come back here tonight, the other major issues of this election: jobs, the economy, health care. Which candidates will make the best case for the middle class, as our coverage of the Democratic debate, here in New Hampshire, continues right after this on ABC. +p2562 +aVWelcome back tonight. As you can see, we have a packed audience here in New Hampshire and we're going to continue. We've already had a spirited conversation here at the top of the broadcast about +p2563 +aVWe're going to continue here, and Secretary, you'll get a chance on this too. But as I pointed out the CEO pay, 200 percent of their time -- for that family of just 2 percent. You've all said, "you would raise the minimum wage." But Senator Sanders what else - speak to that household tonight. 20 years, just a 2 percent raise, how as president would you get them a raise right away? +p2564 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. Governor O'Malley, what would propose that would be different, how would you get the middle class a raise and without waiting another 20 years for another 2 percent. O' +p2565 +aVGovernor, thank you. Secretary Clinton... As you were walking in, I was talking about the median American household getting a two percent raise over the last 20 years, that CEO pay in that same time frame has gone up 200 percent. So for those families watching tonight, how do you get them a raise if you're president? +p2566 +aVSecretary... +p2567 +aVSecretary, thank you. +p2568 +aVWe're going to -- we're going to... +p2569 +aVAnd we're going to talk about college education in a moment. But Secretary Clinton, I did want to ask you, the last time you ran for president, Fortune Magazine put you on its cover with the headline Business Loves Hillary, pointing out your support for many CEOs in corporate America. I'm curious, eight years later, should corporate America love Hillary Clinton? +p2570 +aVSecretary, thank you. Senator Sanders... I want to stay on this and ask you how big a role does corporate America play in a healthy economy and will corporate America love a President Sanders? +p2571 +aVSenator, thank you. I want to... Governor, let me just ask you, though, because it is an important question, how important a role do you think corporate America plays in a healthy economy here in the U.S.? O' +p2572 +aVGovernor O'Malley, thank you. I do want to ask you, Secretary Clinton. Let me just ask you... +p2573 +aVWe did -- we did -- Secretary Clinton, let me just ask you... +p2574 +aVAnd in particular... +p2575 +aVSecretary Clinton, thank you. +p2576 +aVSenator? +p2577 +aVSenator Sanders... +p2578 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2579 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p2580 +aVWe're going to get right into this Senator but I want to ask about taxes next. This is included. +p2581 +aVShe was asking about that... +p2582 +aVAre we back on health care - Secretary Clinton hold one moment. Senator Sanders... +p2583 +aVSecretary Clinton, please. +p2584 +aVSo let's ask about it. Secretary Clinton, let's turn to the taxes. +p2585 +aVThis is where we are going next, we are going next to taxes here... +p2586 +aVThis is fun. applause]This is democracy at work. Secretary Clinton, let me ask you about your tax plan because from the crushing cost of college education, the next question most families have; is will my taxes go up under the next president? You have said it's your goal not to raise taxes on families making under $200,000 a year a goal. But can you say that's a promise as you stand here tonight? +p2587 +aVA promise? +p2588 +aVSecretary Clinton... +p2589 +aVPlease. +p2590 +aVSenator, thank you. Let me bring in Governor O'Malley... +p2591 +aVYou've heard... +p2592 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p2593 +aVThank you. I want to bring in Governor O'Malley on this. We heard the promise from Secretary Clinton because people want to know about their taxes, will they go up. She has now promised here tonight not to raise them on families making $250,000 or less. Can you make that same promise if you're elected? O' +p2594 +aVGovernor O'Malley, thank you. A spirited debate on taxes. And there will be more with the Democratic debate in New Hampshire, when we come back right here on ABC. More in a moment. ( +p2595 +aVWelcome back tonight to New Hampshire. The Democratic debate continues here on ABC. And Secretary Clinton, we want to turn to race, now, in America. There is a real concern in this country from Black Lives Matter and from other community groups that we're just now seeing, with smartphones and cell phones, what many have been dealing with for years when they come in contact with police. But you also have many in law enforcement who now say there has been a so-called Ferguson effect, police holding back because they're afraid of backlash. +p2596 +aVIn fact, the FBI director is calling it a chill wind blowing through American law enforcement. So, if elected president, how would you bridge the divide between the two? +p2597 +aVSecretary, thank you. +p2598 +aVGovernor O'Malley, how would you bridge the divide? O' +p2599 +aVGovernor, thank you. And Senator Sanders, when you hear the FBI director calling it a chill wind blowing through American law enforcement, does that concern you as well when you -- +p2600 +aVSenator, thank you. We want to turn now to an issue. This next issue has destroyed so many families across the country, and in particular right here in New Hampshire, heroin. And there's a stunning new figure out. A recent poll -- 48 percent here, in this state alone, say they know someone who has abused heroin. We're going to turn tonight to Dan Tuohy of the New Hampshire Union Leader who has this question. +p2601 +aVSenator Sanders, I'm going to take this to you first because you've seen what's happened with heroin right on the border in your own state. +p2602 +aVSenator, thank you. Secretary Clinton? +p2603 +aVSecretary, thank you. O' +p2604 +aVGovernor O'Malley, thank you. Martha? +p2605 +aVI do want to follow up here for each of you. And a similar line of questioning. Senator Sanders, your wife Jane shares an office at your campaign headquarters in Burlington. We've seen the pictures, the desks right next to each other. Would she have a desk close by in the west wing? +p2606 +aVSenator, thank you. Governor O'Malley -- Governor O'Malley, you have talked about your wife, Katie, here tonight. She's a district court judge. And the question for you is, would she have to give that up as first lady, or will she share an office in the west wing as well? O' +p2607 +aVGovernor O'Malley, thank you, (inaudible). O' +p2608 +aVGovernor, thank you. We'll be back with much more from New Hampshire. The Democratic debate continues right after this. ( +p2609 +aVWelcome back tonight. It's been an evening of lively discussion among the candidates and it's time for closing statements. We began in alphabetical order, so we'll reverse the order at the end and begin with you, Senator Sanders. +p2610 +aVGovernor, thank you. Secretary Clinton? +p2611 +aVGood evening, again, everyone. This is the first time since Iowa and the only time before the New Hampshire primary that the Republican candidates will have the opportunity to face each other. The people of Iowa have been heard. Now it's New Hampshire's turn. In just three days, voters here will decide who they think should be the Republican nominee for president. +p2612 +aVSo let's welcome the candidates for the Republican nomination for president. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. +p2613 +aVTexas Senator Ted Cruz. +p2614 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. +p2615 +aVAnd Ohio Governor John Kasich. +p2616 +aVAnd Dr. Ben Carson, please come out on the stage. He's standing there, as well. Dr. Carson. +p2617 +aVAnd lastly, we welcome back to the debate stage, Donald Trump. +p2618 +aVIt was so noisy in here. Yes. Yes. We're going to introduce Ohio Governor John kasich. The applause so loud here in the hall. +p2619 +aVSo let's get started. We welcome you all to the debate stage here tonight. We're going to tackle the issues Americans are most concerned about, the economy, +p2620 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. I want to bring this to Senator Cruz, then. Because Senator, you did said of Trump's behavior this week, that's not the temperament of a leader to keep this country safe. Why not? +p2621 +aVSenator Cruz, I did ask about Mr. Trump. You said he doesn't have the temperament to be commander-in-chief. Do you stand by those words? +p2622 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. We're going to continue on this notion of readiness and experience. I'm going to come back. +p2623 +aVIf you would like to respond, Mr. Trump. +p2624 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. And we're going to continue on this notion of readiness and on experience, but I want to ask about a headline that was back in the papers again this morning. Dr. Carson, on the day of the Iowa caucuses, the Cruz campaign sent out messages and voicemails saying, quote, "Breaking news. Dr. Ben Carson will be planning to suspend his campaign following tonight's caucuses. Please inform any Carson caucus-goers of this news." But as we can all see, you are still standing here tonight. Late this week, your campaign sent this e-mail, quote, "This kind of deceitful behavior is why the American people don't trust politicians. If Senator Cruz does not act, then he clearly represents D.C. values." What kind of action do you think Senator Cruz should take? +p2625 +aVSenator Cruz. Dr. Carson, thank you. Senator Cruz, you have said that Dr. Carson and his wife have become friends of yours. I'm curious as why you didn't call ahead of time to either the doctor or his wife or have your campaign check in with the other campaign before sending out those messages. +p2626 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. We're going to move on here. Back to the issues... +p2627 +aVDr. Carson, please. +p2628 +aVDr. Carson, thank you. Thank you, doctor. Senator Rubio. I want to stay on the issue of readiness to be president and experience and questions about you being a first-term senator. Governor Christie warning voters here in New Hampshire against voting for another first-term senator as America did with Barack Obama in 2008. Arguing that you are, quote, " not ready to be president of the United States." And Senator Santorum, who we all know, dropped out of the race and endorsed you, had a hard time when asked on national television, listing your accomplishments as senator. Tonight, what are your accomplishments in the Senate that demonstrate you are ready to be president of the United States? +p2629 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I do want to ask Governor Christie, Governor Christie, you said fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me when it comes to electing a first-term senator. You heard Senator Rubio make the case that he does have the experience. Your response? +p2630 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Rubio? +p2631 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I want to bring in governor bush on this, because you... +p2632 +aV... have made this... +p2633 +aVIf you'd like to respond to economic... +p2634 +aVSenator Rubio? +p2635 +aVGovernor Christie, we will \u2014 we will... +p2636 +aVGovernor Christie \u2014 thank you, Governor. I will mention \u2014 listen... +p2637 +aV... Listen, people... Governor Bush, I'll mention your name so that you can come in on this... +p2638 +aVI want to bring you in on this because you've made this central to your campaign right here in New Hampshire in the last couple of days. Four Years ago you said of Senator Rubio, he was ready to be Vice President. You spoke of his experience as well. You said he has the fortitude to be a good President, but just this week you said Senator Rubio accomplished, quote, "nothing" in the Senate. How do you square the two? +p2639 +aV... We're going to continue with leadership now. Martha? +p2640 +aVMartha, we're going to turn to immigration now. And I want to bring in Governor Kasich because you told us in an ABC interview, Governor, quote, "It is completely ridiculous to think we are going to go into neighborhoods, grab people out of their homes and ship people back to Mexico." Adding, quote, "That's not where the party is. The party is not for departing 11.5 million people." But Mr. Trump and Senator Cruz, who have made deportation central to their campaigns, top the national polls. So, my question for you, are you not where the voters are? +p2641 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. I want to bring this next to Senator Cruz. You heard what the governor said. He said, "We need practical solutions." And you've said, "I don't intend to send jack boots to knock on doors. That's not how we enforce the law for any crime." So, what is your plan? How will you deport 11.5 million undocumented people? And be specific. How would you do it? +p2642 +aVLet me just ask you this, though, because Governor Kasich was talking about the families and what you do with the families that you would have to send home. Can you tell the American people tonight how you would do that? +p2643 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. I want to bring in Senator Rubio. This question is about immigration, it is also about leadership. You're aware of the criticism from many candidates on this stage tonight that you co-authored the so-called Gang of Eight bill that would have created a path to citizenship for people here illegally. Governor Christie has said of you, as soon as you felt the heat, you turned tail and run. Governor Bush has said, "I don't think we need people cutting and running anymore." Did you fight for your own legislation, Senator, or did you run from it? +p2644 +aVBut I'm asking, did you fight for the legislation at the time or did you run from it as you're... +p2645 +aVGovernor Christie? +p2646 +aVGovernor thank you. Senator Rubio? +p2647 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. We want to turn to health care in this country, and for that, author and commentator, Mary Katherine Ham tonight. HAM: Thanks, David. Good evening, guys. +p2648 +aVMary Katherine, thank you. We want to turn now to the issue of eminent domain, which is being debated right here in New Hampshire. And Josh McElveen is the political director and the anchor of +p2649 +aVJosh, thank you. When we come back here tonight, jobs, +p2650 +aVAnd, we welcome you back to the Republican debate from New Hampshire tonight here on ABC. We're going to turn now to what it means to be a conservative, and I want to turn to Governor Kasich. Governor, while campaigning here in New Hampshire, you were already asked about groans from some conservatives after your endorsements from the New York Times, and the Boston Globe. You said, quote, "What conservatives have to know is they have to say, look isn't it nice to have a conservative like me liked? And, maybe the ought to think about it because if I get elected president, the Republican party and the definition of conservatism is going to change." How would you change conservatism? +p2651 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. Mr. Trump, you've heard the argument from many of the candidates on this stage that you're not a true conservative. Tell the voters watching tonight why you are. +p2652 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. Senator Rubio, you have said yourself that you don't think Donald Trump is running as a conservative. Did he convince you? +p2653 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I want to turn this discussion to the economy now. And Mr. Trump, Governor Christie has said, "I tell everybody who goes to a Donald Trump event, if you get to ask a question, just ask him how." Christie said, "I don't care which of the things he talks about, just ask him how." You have said that you'd be the greatest jobs president God ever created. Tell Americans watching tonight how many jobs you would create in the first term and how. +p2654 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. There are a lot of governors on this stage tonight and Governor Christie, Governor Kasich said of you, quote, "In Ohio, we balanced a budget. They don't have one over in New Jersey. Our credit has been strengthened. Their credit has been downgraded. We've got more jobs." How important are those metrics in choosing the next president? And is his job \u2014 is his record on jobs, I should say, actually stronger than yours? +p2655 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Kasich? +p2656 +aVHe didn't say your record was better than his. +p2657 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. +p2658 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. I do want to turn from jobs to taxes. +p2659 +aVIf you would like to respond to the governor, you can. +p2660 +aVI'm coming to you next with a question, anyway. You can respond to that question. +p2661 +aVWe're going from jobs to taxes, and here's the... +p2662 +aVTo the Gang of Eight bill first? +p2663 +aVThe governor wasn't talking about the president, he was talking about the Gang of Eight bill. +p2664 +aVSo, let me ask you about taxes, Senator Rubio. +p2665 +aVA recent poll, 68 percent of Americans favor raising taxes on people making more than $1 million a year. Are they wrong? +p2666 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I want to bring in Governor Bush. And Governor, I just want to repeat that number for you \u2014 68 percent of Americans favor raising taxes on people making more than a million. What do you say to the people who believe that tonight? +p2667 +aVKnew that was coming. Governor, thank you. +p2668 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you. Martha? +p2669 +aVMartha, thank you. We're just going to \u2014 we're going to stay on +p2670 +aVIf elected president, would you bring it back? +p2671 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. Mr. Trump, you said not only does it work, but that you'd bring it back. +p2672 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. Governor Bush, you have said that you won't rule waterboarding out. Congress has passed laws banning the use of waterboarding by the military and the CIA, as you know. Would you want Congress to change that if you're elected president? +p2673 +aVGovernor Bush, thank you. Senator Rubio, I do want to ask you, you have said that you do not want to telegraph to the enemy what you would do as commander in chief. But for the American people watching tonight who want to know where the next president will stand, do you believe waterboarding is torture? +p2674 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. We want to turn now to the topic of executive orders, and for that, we're going to turn back to Mary Katharine Ham. Mary Katharine? HAM: Thanks, David. Senator Cruz, on the campaign trail you've promised voters a lot, in fact if you're elected president you'd say you end Common Core immediately, abolish the IRS, and do away with sanctuary cities. You've also been a persistent critic of President Obama's executive overreach, going it alone, not working with Congress. How do you intend to implement this aggressive agenda within your Constitutional authority, especially given that it would require working with Congress and Washington players with whom you're happy to say you have a strained relationship? +p2675 +aVMary Katherine, thank you. We want to turn to something the governor of New Hampshire said... +p2676 +aVA connection here on the stage. We're going to move on to what the governor of New Hampshire said just this week, and that is that heroin overdose is not the second-leading cause of death in this state. You don't need me to tell you that. But there's another number, 48 percent of the people here in this state knows someone who has abused heroin. Josh, who covers this for +p2677 +aVMartha? +p2678 +aVGovernor, well come to you in the next segment. When we come back, questions about race, about our veterans and social issues what younger conservative voters are now saying as we continue with New Hampshire with the Republican debate, right here on ABC. +p2679 +aVWelcome back to New Hampshire, ABC News coverage of the Republican debate, and it's great to have you back at the podiums, and we want to turn to race in America. And Mr. Trump, there are many who argue cell phones and smartphones are just now exposing what's been happening in this country for years. Cases of excessive force against minorities. As you know, Mr. Trump, on the other side, the FBI director recently said there's a chill wind blowing through law enforcement because of increased scrutiny. You have said police are the most mistreated people in America. As president, how do you bridge the divide? +p2680 +aVGreat. Mr. Trump, I did ask about bridging the divide though as president. So what would you say to the American families who say we have lived through this, we have seen excessive force? What would you say to those people? +p2681 +aVI do want to ask \u2014 Governor Kasich? +p2682 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Rubio, I want to ask you next, President Obama visited a mosque this week in America for the first time in his presidency. President George W. Bush visited a mosque after September 11th. You said of President Obama, quote, "he's always pitting people against each other." So I'm curious, how are the two visits different, and would you visit a mosque as president? +p2683 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. Martha? +p2684 +aVJosh, thank you. I want to turn to a family that New Hampshire voters know quite well, and Senator Cruz, the issue of hostages has been a very real and painful one here in this state. As we all know, James Foley was killed. His mother, Diane, said our government should be willing to negotiate, arguing that families should also be allowed to raise money for ransom. What would you say to Diane Foley tonight? Should families be allowed to raise money for ransom for their loved ones? +p2685 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. Mr. Trump, what would you say to Diane Foley? Should families be allowed to raise money for ransom? +p2686 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. We want to turn now to social issues and young voters and for the question, from Mary Katherine. HAM: Thank you David. Senator Rubio. One of the lazier pieces of political conventional wisdom is that so-called social issues are hurting Republicans with young people. But on the two most prominent social issues, polling with millennials actually moves in different directions. On one hand, it is clear, young people across the political spectrum increasingly favor same sex marriage. However young voters have not moved to the left on abortion. In fact, large numbers of them favor at least some modest restrictions that conservatives have supported. How do you speak to millennials on both these issues, while Democrats will inevitable charge intolerance and extremism? +p2687 +aVMary Katherine, thank you. We're going to have closing statements here in just a moment, but before we go, quick lightning round. Come November, two battle-ground states, but they face off tomorrow in the Super Bowl. Governor Kasich, who wins? +p2688 +aVGovernor Bush? +p2689 +aVSenator Rubio? +p2690 +aV Mr. Trump? +p2691 +aVAll right, Dr. Carson? +p2692 +aVYeah. Governor Christie, the last word? +p2693 +aVDenver. Thank you so much, gentlemen. Closing statements in just a moment, right here, as the ABC News Republican debate continues from New Hampshire, right after this. +p2694 +aVWe welcome you back. The New Hampshire primary, of course, is Tuesday, but time now for closing statements. And we begin tonight with Governor Kasich. +p2695 +aVGovernor Bush. +p2696 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Senator Rubio. +p2697 +aVThank you. Mr. Trump. +p2698 +asVWALLACE +p2699 +(lp2700 +VAlso of note, Fox News is partnering for tonight's debate with Facebook. For the past several weeks, we've been asking you for questions for the candidates on Facebook. Nearly 6 million of you, 6 million, viewed the debate videos on our site, and more than 40,000 of you submitted questions: some of which you will hear us asking the candidates tonight. +p2701 +aVKentucky Senator Rand Paul. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. And your very own governor of Ohio... ... John Kasich. +p2702 +aVBrett -- Brett, I think you would call that a home field advantage. +p2703 +aVSenator Rubio, when Jeb Bush announced his candidacy for presidency, he said this: "There's no passing off responsibility when you're a governor, no blending into the legislative crowd." Could you please address Governor Bush across the stage here, and explain to him why you, someone who has never held executive office, are better prepared to be president than he is, a man who you say did a great job running your state of Florida for eight years. +p2704 +aVSenator Cruz, your colleague, Senator Paul, right there next to you, said a few months ago he agrees with you on a number of issues, but he says you do nothing to grow the party. He says you feed red meat to the base, but you don't reach out to minorities. You have a toxic relationship with GOP leaders in Congress. You even called the Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell a liar recently. How can you win in 2016 when you're such a divisive figure? +p2705 +aVGovernor Huckabee, like Governor Walker, you have staked out strong positions on social issues. You favor a constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage. You favor a constitutional amendment banning abortions, except for the life of the mother. Millions of people in this country agree with you, but according to the polls, and again this an electability question, according to the polls, more people don't, so how do you persuade enough Independents and Democrats to get elected in 2016? +p2706 +aVGentlemen, we're turning to a new subject that all of you have been talking about and some of you have been disagreeing about, and that is the issue of immigration. Governor Bush, you released a new plan this week on illegal immigration focusing on enforcement, which some suggest is your effort to show that you're not soft on that issue. I want to ask you about a statement that you made last year about illegal immigrants. And here's what you said. "They broke the law, but it's not a felony, it's an act of love. It's an act of commitment to your family." Do you stand by that statement and do you stand by your support for earned legal status? +p2707 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, it has not escaped anybody's notice that you say that the Mexican government, the Mexican government is sending criminals -- rapists, drug dealers, across the border. Governor Bush has called those remarks, quote, "extraordinarily ugly." I'd like you -- you're right next to him -- tell us -- talk to him directly and say how you respond to that and -- and you have repeatedly said that you have evidence that the Mexican government is doing this, but you have evidence you have refused or declined to share. Why not use this first Republican presidential debate to share your proof with the American people? +p2708 +aVMr. Trump, I'll give you 30 seconds -- I'll give you 30 seconds to answer my question, which was, what evidence do you have, specific evidence that the Mexican government is sending criminals across the border? Thirty seconds. +p2709 +aVAll right. Obviously there's a lot more to talk about this. We're going to have more questions for the candidates on illegal immigration, plus other key topics including your questions on Facebook. +p2710 +aVWelcome back to FOX News/Facebook Republican Debate Night. We're going to continue the questions now on illegal immigration. We kind of ended with a cliffhanger there. So let's continue the conversation. Governor Kasich, I know you don't like to talk about Donald Trump. But I do want to ask you about the merit of what he just said. When you say that the American government is stupid, that the Mexican government is sending criminals, that we're being bamboozled, is that an adequate response to the question of illegal immigration? +p2711 +aVRespectfully, can we talk about illegal immigration? +p2712 +aVAll right, well, Senator Rubio, let me see if I can do better with you. Is it as simple as our leaders are stupid, their leaders are smart, and all of these illegals coming over are criminals? +p2713 +aVGovernor Walker. Governor Walker, from 2002 until as recently as 2013, just two years ago, you supported comprehensive immigration reform, including a path to citizenship. Now you say that was a quick reaction to something you hadn't really thought about, and that you've changed your mind. Other than politics, could you explain why in the last two years you've changed your position on a path to citizenship, and are there other past positions that we shouldn't hold you to? +p2714 +aVSenator Cruz, some 1,400 people submitted questions on this very hot topic of illegal immigration on Facebook, and a number of them were about the murder of Kate Steinle in San Francisco, allegedly shot down by an illegal. Doug Bettencourt sent this question, "will you support Kate Steinle's Law," which would impose a mandatory five-year prison term for an illegal who is deported and then returns to this country? "And will you defund sanctuary cities for violating federal law?" +p2715 +aVGentlemen, we're obviously digging into some subjects in depth, but we're also going to change it up every once in a while throughout the next hour and have many rounds where we ask, you are not going to like it, only a couple of candidates questions on those subjects. This is the first of the many rounds, and it's about somebody whose name probably hasn't been mentioned enough so far tonight. Governor Kasich, let me start with you. Whoever the Republican nominee -- Whoever the Republican nominee is, it looks at least for now like whoever that nominee is, he or she, will be facing off against Hillary Clinton. You know how she will come after whoever the Republican nominee is. She will say that you, whoever it is, support the rich while she supports the middle class. That you want to suppress the rights of women and minorities. She wants to move the country forward while you, the Republicans, want to take the country back to the past. How will you, if you're the nominee, how will you answer that and take Hillary Clinton on? +p2716 +aVI know that all of you would like to answer this question, but we're only going to ask one other candidate before we move on to a different subject, Dr. Carson. Basically, same question to you. If Hillary Clinton is the nominee and she comes at you with that kind of line of attack, how will you take Iraq? +p2717 +aVGentlemen, we're going to turn now to the subject of the economy, jobs and money and the government. And Governor Bush, I'm going to start with you. You have made a bold promise in your announcement. You have promised four percent economic growth and 19 million new jobs if you are fortunate enough to serve two terms as president. That many jobs, 19 million, would be triple what your father and your brother accomplished together. And four percent growth, the last president to average that was Lyndon Johnson during the height of the Vietnam War. So question, how on Earth specifically would you pull that off? +p2718 +aVGovernor Walker. Governor Walker, when you ran for governor of Wisconsin back in 2010, you promised that you would create 250,000 jobs in your first term, first four years. In fact, Wisconsin added barely half that and ranked 35th in the country in job growth. Now you're running for president, and you're promising an economic plan in which everyone will earn a piece of the American dream. Given your record in Wisconsin, why should voters believe you? +p2719 +aVGovernor Christie, I want to engage you and Governor Huckabee in a subject that is a big issue in both of your campaigns, and that is entitlement reform. You say that you -- to save the system that you want to raise the retirement age -- have to raise the retirement age, and to cut benefits for Social Security and Medicare, and you say that some of the candidates here on the stage are lying. Governor Huckabee says he can save Social Security and Medicare without doing any of that. Is he lying? +p2720 +aVGovernor Huckabee? You say that changing entitlements, the kind of thing that Governor Christie is talking about, would be breaking a promise to the American people, and you say that you can keep those programs, save Social Security, save Medicare, without those kinds of reforms through a FairTax, which is a broad tax on consumption. Please explain to Governor Christie how that would work, and how you could save these programs without the kind of painful reforms he says we need? +p2721 +aV...Thirty seconds. +p2722 +aV...Alright, this is it. Thirty Seconds, finally. +p2723 +aVAll right. Enough. Mr. Trump. +p2724 +aVMr. Trump, you talk a lot about how you are the person on this stage to grow the economy, I want to ask you about your business records. From corporations, Trump corporations, casinos and hotels, have declared bankruptcy four times over the last quarter-century. +p2725 +aVNo, but the concept sir... +p2726 +aV... that's your line, but your companies have gone bankrupt. +p2727 +aVWell sir, let's just talk about the latest example......which is Trump Entertainment Resorts, which went bankrupt in 2009. In that case alone, lenders to your company lost over $1 billion and more than 1,100 people were laid off. +p2728 +aVIs that the way that you'd run the country? +p2729 +aVSo... +p2730 +aVSenator Rubio. Senator Rubio, more than 3,000 people sent us questions about the economy and jobs on Facebook. And here is a video question from Tania Cioloko from Philadelphia. Here she is. +p2731 +aVSenator, how do you answer Tania? +p2732 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. +p2733 +aVSenator Paul, closing statement. +p2734 +aVDr. Carson, closing statement. +p2735 +aVGovernor Bush, closing statement, sir. +p2736 +asVSMITH +p2737 +(lp2738 +VGovernor Huckabee, same question to you. Where do you see the country right now? +p2739 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Thank you, candidates. Moving to the world stage. The middle east is on the brink of chaos. Iran continues to provoke the United States, North Korea claims it's tested a hydrogen bomb, and Afghanistan is in danger of falling back into Taliban hands. Critics of the administration say it's all due to lack of U.S. leadership. To you, Mrs. Fiorina, how do you see America's role in the world today? +p2740 +aVGovernor Huckabee, in Afghanistan, the Taliban is strengthening. Attacks are on the rise and thousands more civilians have been wounded or killed. Much of the Taliban surge can be attributed to the withdrawal of U.S. forces there. You have expressed skepticism with the war there, saying you see no end game in sight. What, then, is your solution to the growing conflict there? +p2741 +aVAll right, thank you, candidates. We're just getting started. Jobs, Homeland Security, gun rights, all those issues are coming up straight ahead. We're live from North Charleston and the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back. +p2742 +aVAll right, let's get started. Senator Santorum, to you first. President Obama has urged technology leaders to make it hard for terrorists to use technology to escape from justice. Hillary Clinton says social media companies can help by swiftly shutting down terrorist accounts. The companies say that they're already working with law enforcement and any proposed legislation would do more harm than good. Should companies like Facebook and Twitter be required by law to more actively \u2014 be more actively engaged in fighting terror? +p2743 +aVSenator, would you \u2014 would you require anything of those companies like Facebook and Twitter if you were president? +p2744 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2745 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee, you called President Obama's executive orders on gun control unconstitutional and completely insane. +p2746 +aVYou even told gun store owners to ignore the President's orders. Yet, innocent people are dying from gun violence in cities like Detroit, Chicago, and Charleston everyday. Is there anything that can be done at the federal level to prevent guns from falling into the hands of criminals? +p2747 +aV +p2748 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p2749 +aVSenator Santorum, many of our military leaders believe America's critical infrastructure is vulnerable to a terrorist attack. This is the power in our homes, the water we drink, the Internet and phone systems by which we stay connected. If attacked, these essential services that underpin American society could come to a grinding halt. Do you have a specific plan to protect us from this type of attack? +p2750 +aVSenator Santorum, I want to stay with you on this, moving to jobs and the economy. In his State of the Union Address the other night, President Obama touted his record on jobs, citing more than 14 million new jobs and boasted of nearly 900,000 manufacturing jobs added in the past six years. Do you dispute his track record of creating jobs? +p2751 +aVGovernor Huckabee, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mike Mullen, has said the greatest threat to our security is our national debt. Our national debt is now on pace to top $19 trillion. Yet, you as well as Ms. Fiorina have laid forward no plan to reform entitlements. How can you say you're going to pay down our country's debt without cutting Social Security or Medicare? +p2752 +aVOK. We're going to continue this conversation. We're taking a quick break and then coming up, the candidates' plans for strengthening the middle class. We're live in North Charleston with the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back. +p2753 +aVAll right, thanks, Trish. Well, let's get started with Ms. Fiorina. Today, the middle class represents about 50 percent of the U.S. population, down from about 61 percent back in 1971. That's according to Pew Research. The same research revealed a widening income gap in America. The rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. What will you do to strengthen a middle class that is no longer the majority? +p2754 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p2755 +aVThank you, Senator. We're not finished yet. More Republican Presidential Debate in North Charleston after this. +p2756 +aVWelcome back, it's time for the closing statements. Candidates will each get one minute, starting with Senator Santorum. Thank you very much, I want to thank the people of Charleston, which has become a little bit of a second home to me, because I am very privileged to have two young men who go to the Citadel here and they're here tonight, my son John and my son Daniel. +p2757 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Governor Mike Huckabee. +p2758 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2759 +aVAlright, this debate will last one hour. Each candidate will have up to 90 seconds to respond to each question. One minute for each follow up. When your time is up, you're going to hear this bell. Alright, that's it, so let's begin with Governor Christie. Governor, economically, our country is struggling with some of the anemic growth we have seen on record. More than 90 million Americans are unemployed, or they are not in the workforce altogether. The number of people now willing, able, and wanting to go to work is at a level that has fallen to a level we have not been since the 1970's. For those that are working, wages aren't budging while other things, costs, like housing, remain high. As President, what concrete steps will you take to get America back to work. +p2760 +aVThank you. Governor Huckabee, we're here Wisconsin, a state that has seen the biggest decline in middle-class households of any American state. With more than 120,000 manufacturing jobs being lost in the last 15 years. As we move away from a manufacturing economy to a services based, technological economy, how are you going to help the millions of Americans that are stuck in this transition? +p2761 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee, you have characterized entitlement reform as both political and economic suicide. Taxpayers currently spend more than $600 billion per year on social welfare programs, with the intended goal of getting people back on their feet and working again. Today a record number of Americans aren't even looking for work. Are our social welfare programs, while well-intended, creating a culture of dependency? If so, how will you fix it? +p2762 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2763 +aVDo you have something to add, Governor? +p2764 +aVAll right. Let's, let's bring Governor Christie in next. +p2765 +aVAll right. Well, let's get the \u2014 let's keep the conversation going. Let's bring Governor Christie in here because we're talking about national debt, climbing toward $19 trillion, Governor. Our federal government employed nearly three million workers, our tax code is more than 74,000 pages long. If you're elected President, Governor Christie, what concrete steps would you take to reduce the size of the federal government? +p2766 +aVGovernor Christie, China is stealing our technology. China is pirating our intellectual property, and China's hacking into our computers, spying on American corporations, and spying on our citizens. China also slaps tariffs on U.S. goods, making it harder for us to sell our products. How are you going to stop them? +p2767 +aV...Alright... +p2768 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p2769 +aVAll right. Governor Jindal, thank you. All right. Well, we are not finished yet. More from the Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee, next. +p2770 +aVSo would you change leadership at the Fed? +p2771 +aVSenator Santorum, thank you. I have a question for all of you. Americans connection to the military has been increasingly fading. As a society, how do we restore that sense of duty, that sense of pride, that was the hallmark of the greatest generation. Again, I'd like to ask each of you, 30 seconds each, beginning with Governor Jindal. +p2772 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p2773 +aVGovernor Christie. +p2774 +aVSenator Santorum. +p2775 +aVAlright, thank you gentlemen. That does it, everyone, for the first debate here in Milwaukee. In just about one hour from now, at 9:00PM Eastern, eight more candidates are going to be taking to the stage. Right now though, special coverage of the Republican Presidential Debate, live from Milwaukee, continues right here on Fox Business. +p2776 +asVBAKER +p2777 +(lp2778 +VThe candidates on stage tonight were selected based on their standing in an average of four national polls. Those standings determining their position on the stage. And here they are. At center stage, businessman Donald Trump. Neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson. +p2779 +aVTonight's rules are simple. Up to 90 second for each answer. One minute for each follow-up response. And if a candidate goes over their allotted time, you'll here this. +p2780 +aVMs. Fiorina, while you've all pointed out how weak the current recovery has been and how disappointing by any historical standards, in the general election, the Democrats will inevitably ask you and voters to compare the recent president's jobs performance. Now, in seven years under President Obama, the U.S. has added an average of 107,000 jobs a month. Under President Clinton, the economy added about 240,000 jobs a month. Under George W. Bush, it was only 13,000 a month. If you win the nomination, you'll probably be facing a Democrat named Clinton. How are you going to respond to the claim that Democratic presidents are better at creating jobs than Republicans? +p2781 +aVThank you. Thank you. Senator Paul, income inequality has been rising in the United States. Fifty years ago, for example, the average CEO of a big corporation in this country earned 20 times the average salary of one of his or her workers. Today, that CEO earns about 300 times the average salary of a worker. Does it matter at all that the gap between the rich and everyone else is widening? +p2782 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2783 +aVSenator Rubio... +p2784 +aVYes, one quick comment, yes. +p2785 +aVGovernor Bush... +p2786 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor, you...You should let Jeb speak. +p2787 +aVMr. Trump, Mr. Trump, you yourself \u2014 you yourself said let Governor Bush speak. Governor Bush? +p2788 +aVSenator Rubio? Senator... +p2789 +aVSenator Rubio, Senator Rubio, let me \u2014 let me take you to a question that I think gets to the root of a lot of the anxiety that people have in this country. The economy is undergoing a transformation through information technology. Americans are anxious that the new economy isn't producing higher-paying jobs. Many are concerned that the new wealth seems to be going mainly to innovators and investors. Meanwhile, with factories run by robots and shopping done increasingly on smartphones, many traditional jobs are just going away. How do you reassure American workers that their jobs are not being steadily replaced by machines? +p2790 +aVThank you. Senator Cruz \u2014 Senator Cruz, entitlements. You've argued for raising the retirement age and reducing benefits for future retirees, but reducing any sort of benefits for the elderly has always been notoriously hard to do politically. When Speaker Paul Ryan proposed replacing traditional Medicare with federally funded private plans a few years ago, a liberal group responded with a commercial that featured a granny being pushed off a cliff. What's going to be different this time? +p2791 +aV...I said for future retirees was your statement... +p2792 +aVSenator Rubio. Can I just come to Senator Rubio? We're coming to you, Mr. Trump, in one second. I \u2014 I promise. +p2793 +aVSenator Rubio, your tax plan includes a large expansion of child tax credits to raise off (ph) the tax incomes for low-income parents. A similar tax credit that you previously proposed in the Senate was estimated to cost as much as $170 billion a year, according to the Tax Foundation. Isn't \u2014 isn't there a risk you're just adding another expensive entitle program to an already overburdened federal budget? +p2794 +aVGovernor Kasich? Let me come to Governor Kasich. +p2795 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p2796 +aVVery quickly, Senator. +p2797 +aVPlease. +p2798 +aV...Gentleman, we need to move on... +p2799 +aV...We need to move... +p2800 +aV...We need too... +p2801 +aV...We do need to move on. Mr. Trump... +p2802 +aV...Very quick. +p2803 +aVLet's talk about \u2014 No, no, Governor, I really must move on. I really want to move on. Mr. Trump, let's talk about the international economy... +p2804 +aV...We really need to move on... +p2805 +aV...No, governor, I promise I will come to you... +p2806 +aV...Listen... +p2807 +aV...Mr. Trump, can I ask you about... +p2808 +aV...the U.S. just concluded an international trade agreement with 11 countries in the Pacific. You've said that you'd rather have no deal... +p2809 +aV...than sign the one that's on the table... +p2810 +aV...Most economists \u2014 most economists say that trade is boosted growth, and every single post war president has supported the expansion of international trade, including the last three republican presidents. Why would you reverse more than 50 years of U.S. trade policy? +p2811 +aVThe \u2014 the deal, as you say, the terms of the deal were published \u2014 were published just last week, the details, 5,000 pages of it, and 80 percent of U.S. trade with countries in the Pacific, these countries, these 11 countries, is actually tariff-free, and these \u2014 the trade deal only affects the other 20 percent. Which \u2014 are there particular parts of the deal that you think were badly negotiated? +p2812 +aVThere was a separate \u2014 separate... +p2813 +aVBut isn't that \u2014 isn't that part of the problem? When I say, Senator, that if \u2014 if this deal is not ratified by \u2014 by the U.S. \u2014 by the Senate, then it would actually give China an opportunity to grow its economic leadership, which it's been seeking to do? And if the U.S. is unable to take part in this trade deal with these countries in Asia, China will take the lead? +p2814 +aVThank you. Thanks, Senator. +p2815 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich, I want to ask you about China, in particular hundreds of American companies have been subjected to cyber attacks from the Chinese military, yet state-backed Chinese companies, growing their presence in the United States, Chinese investments in U.S., which were nearly nonexistent a few years ago, are now over $50 billion. And as my newspaper recently reported, Chinese companies are planning to bid for one of the largest hotel chains in the United States, what would be the largest ever Chinese takeover of a U.S. company. Would you stop them? +p2816 +aVThank you, Governor. Plenty of opportunities. Thank you. Neil? +p2817 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate, live from Milwaukee. Now let's get straight back to the questions, and Governor Bush. Governor, Hillary Clinton recently said that if we had another financial crisis like the one in 2008, she wouldn't bail out the banks. Would you? +p2818 +aVBut, Governor, but can I just quickly \u2014 did \u2014 you can't seriously guarantee that there won't be another financial crisis, can you? +p2819 +aVEver? There will never be another financial crisis? +p2820 +aVDr. Carson, if I may, just on that point, despite measures taken, as the governor says, since the crisis to make the financial system safer, the major banks in the U.S., many of them are actually bigger than ever. Asset held by JPMorgan Chase, for example, the very largest bank, have increased by nearly 40 percent to over $2.6 trillion. Do you think JPMorgan and the other big banks should be broken up? +p2821 +aVBut just to be clear, just \u2014 just to be clear, then, you wouldn't \u2014 you wouldn't favor breaking up the big banks? You think they're big enough \u2014 they're OK as they are, as big as they are? +p2822 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p2823 +aVThank you. +p2824 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate. And now, candidates, it's time for your closing statements. You get 30 seconds each, and, Senator Paul, we will begin with you. +p2825 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p2826 +asVHOLT +p2827 +(lp2828 +VGood evening and welcome to the NBC News Youtube Democratic candidate's debate. After all the campaigning, soon, Americans will have their say with the first votes of the 2016 campaign just 15 days away in Iowa. And New Hampshire not far behind. Tonight will be the final opportunity to see these candidates face to face before the voting begins. Our purpose here tonight is to highlight and examine the differences among the three Democratic candidates. So let's get started. Please welcome Secretary Hillary Clinton, Senator Bernie Sanders and Governor Martin O'Malley. Well, welcome to all of you. Hope you're excited, we're excited. We want to thank our hosts, the Congressional Black Caucus Institute. I'm joined by my colleague Andrea Mitchell tonight. The rules are simple. Sixty seconds for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups or rebuttals. I know you'll all keep exactly to time, so our job should be pretty easy here tonight. We'll have questions from the Youtube community throughout the debate. This is a critical point in the race. You've been defining your differences with each other especially vigorously in the last week on the campaign trail. We're here to facilitate this conversation on behalf of the voters so that they know exactly where you stand as you face off tonight. Let's have a great debate. We'll begin with 45 second opening statements from each candidate, starting with Secretary Clinton. +p2829 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders, your opening statement, sir. +p2830 +aVSenator, thank you. And Governor O'Malley, your opening statement, sir. O' +p2831 +aVAll right. And Governor, thank you. All right, to our first question, now. The first question, I'll be addressing to all of the candidates. President Obama came to office determined to swing for the fences on health care reform. Voters want to know how you would define your presidency? How would you think big? So complete this sentence: in my first 100 days in office, my top three priorities will be \u2014 fill in the blank. Senator Sanders. +p2832 +aVSecretary Clinton, same question, my first 100 days in office, my top three priorities will be. +p2833 +aVGovernor O'Malley, same question. O' +p2834 +aVThank you. You've all... O' +p2835 +aVAll right governor thank you. We've all laid out large visions and we're going to cover a lot of the ground you talked about as we continue in the evening. The last couple of weeks of this campaign have featured some of the sharpest exchanges in the race. Let's start with one of them, the issue of guns. Senator Sanders, last week Secretary Clinton called you quote, "a pretty reliable vote for the gun lobby." Right before the debate you changed your position on immunity from lawsuits for gun manufacturers, can you tell us why? +p2836 +aVSenator, but you didn't answer the question that you did change your position on immunity from gun manufacturers. So can you... +p2837 +aVSecretary Clinton, would you like to respond to Senator Sanders. +p2838 +aVAll right, Governor O'Malley, you signed tough gun control measures as governor of Maryland and there are a lot Democrats in the audience here in South Carolina who own guns. This conversation might be worrying many of them. They may be hearing, "you want to take my guns. What would you say to them? O' +p2839 +aVAlright, Governor, thank you. Secretary Clinton, this is a community that has suffered a lot of heartache in the last year. Of course, as you mentioned, the church shootings. We won't forget the video of Walter Scott being shot in the back while running from police. We understand that a jury will decide whether that police officer was justified, but it plays straight to the fears of many African American men that their lives are cheap. Is that perception, or in your view, is it reality? +p2840 +aVYou time is up. Senator Sanders, my next question is... +p2841 +aV... It's actually \u2014 actually my next question is to you... +p2842 +aVSenator Sanders... +p2843 +aVSenator. Senator Sanders... +p2844 +aV... Just over a week ago the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus endorsed Secretary Clinton, not you. He said that choosing her over you was not a hard decision. In fact, our polling shows she's beating you more than two to one among minority voters. How can you be the nominee if you don't have that support? +p2845 +aVGovernor, I'm going to come to you in a second. Google searches for the words, "Black Lives Matter" surpassed, "civil rights movement". And, here in South Carolina, "black lives matter" was the number one trending political issue. +p2846 +aVAll right. Let's talk... O' +p2847 +aVLet's talk more about policing and the criminal justice system. Senator Sanders, a few times tonight we're going to hear from some of the most prominent voices on YouTube, starting with Franchesca Ramsey, who tackles racial stereotypes through her videos. Let's watch. +p2848 +aVSenator Sanders. +p2849 +aVWould you like me to read it back to you? +p2850 +aVProsecutors \u2014 "I believe there's a huge conflict of interest when local prosecutors investigate cases of police violence within their communities. Most recently, we saw this with a non- indictment of the officers involved in the case of 12-year-old Tamir Rice. How would you presidency ensure incidents of police violence are investigated and prosecuted fairly?" +p2851 +aVSecretary Clinton, this question is for you. Tonight parts of America are in the grip of a deadly heroin epidemic, spanning race and class, hitting small towns and cities alike. It has become a major issue in this race. In a lot of places where you've been campaigning, despite an estimated trillion dollars spent, many say the war on drugs has failed. So what would you do? +p2852 +aVAnd that's time. +p2853 +aVSenator... +p2854 +aVSenator Sanders, would you like to respond? +p2855 +aVThat's... +p2856 +aV... time. +p2857 +aVWe're going to get into all that coming up. O' +p2858 +aVBut we're going to take a break and we need to take a break... O' +p2859 +aV... and when we come back, the anger brewing in America. +p2860 +aVWelcome back to Charleston. Let's turn to another area where there has been fierce disagreement \u2014 that would be health care. Senator Sanders and Secretary Clinton, you both mentioned it in your 100-day priorities. Let's turn to my colleague, Andrea Mitchell now to lead that questioning. +p2861 +aVAnd that's time. We're gonna take a turn now. Secretary Clinton, in his final State of the Union address, President Obama said his biggest regret was his inability to bring the country together. If President Obama couldn't do it, how will you? O' +p2862 +aVThat's time. Senator Sanders, response. +p2863 +aVThat's time. But let me continue with the... +p2864 +aVSenator Sanders, let me continue, you call yourself a Democratic socialist... +p2865 +aVAnd throughout your career in politics, you've been critical of the Democratic party, you've been saying in a book you wrote, quote, "There wasn't a hell of a big difference between the the two major parties." How would you will a general election... +p2866 +aVHow will you win a general election labeling yourself a democratic socialist? +p2867 +aVYes, but senator, you can... +p2868 +aVAnd that is right. +p2869 +aVSecretary Clinton, our next question is for you. Here's another quantitative problem. +p2870 +aVAnd we're going to get into that coming up. But Secretary Clinton, here's a question from YouTube. It's from a young video blogger who has over 5 million subscribers. He has a question about the importance of younger voters. +p2871 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p2872 +aVThat's time... +p2873 +aVA quick follow up \u2014 a thirty second follow up. Why is Senator Sanders beating you to 2 to 1 among younger votes? +p2874 +aVWe're going to take... +p2875 +aVWe're going to take a break. When we come back; big banks, big business and big differences among the three candidates on the American Economy. We'll be right back. +p2876 +aVWelcome back from Charleston. Let's turn now to the economy. Senator Sanders, you released a tough new ad last week in which without mentioning Secretary Clinton by name, you talk about two Democratic visions for regulating Wall Street. "One says it's OK to take millions from big banks and tell them what to do. My plan, break up the big banks, close the tax loopholes and make them pay their fair share." What do you see as the difference between what you would do about the banks and what Secretary Clinton would do? +p2877 +aVSecretary Clinton, help the voter understand the daylight between the two of you here. +p2878 +aVSenator Sanders, your response. +p2879 +aVThat's time. Governor O'Malley... +p2880 +aVI have a question for you... +p2881 +aVThirty-second response. +p2882 +aVGovernor O'Malley. O' +p2883 +aVSecretary Clinton, 30-second response. +p2884 +aVThat's time. Andrea. +p2885 +aV... Senator... +p2886 +aVWe have got a lot to ground to cover here. Many Democratic voters are passionate about the need to do something to combat the threat of climate change, including the team of scientists from Youtube's MinuteEarth channel. Here's their take. +p2887 +aVSenator Sanders, Americans love their SUVs, which spiked in sales last year as gas prices plummeted. How do you convince Americans that the problem of climate change is so urgent that they need to change their behavior? +p2888 +aVGovernor O'Malley, 30 seconds. O' +p2889 +aVThat's time. We're going to take a break. +p2890 +aVWhen we return, the late-breaking developments regarding Iran. The threat of +p2891 +aVCharleston, Andrea Mitchell has questions now starting with Iran. +p2892 +aVSenator Sanders mentioned Russia a moment ago. Secretary Clinton, you famously handed Russia's foreign minister a reset button in 2009. Since then, Russia has annexed Crimea, fomented a war in Ukraine, provided weapons that downed an airliner and launched operations, as we just did discuss, to support Assad in Syria. As president, would you hand Vladimir Putin a reset button? +p2893 +aVWhat's your relationship with him? +p2894 +aVWe to want turn right now to the issue of balancing national security concerns with the privacy rights of Americans. That brings us to YouTube and this question. +p2895 +aVSo, Governor O'Malley. O' +p2896 +aVThat's time. You have all talked about what you would do fighting +p2897 +aVThat's a question to Senator Sanders. I wasn't clear, I apologize. +p2898 +aVBut in terms of lone wolves, the threat, how would you do it? +p2899 +aVWe have to go to a \u2014 we have to go to a break, and when we come back, we're going to get to some of the burning questions these candidates have yet to answer and are totally eager to talk about. +p2900 +aVAnd welcome back to Charleston. As we were going to a break, Secretary Clinton, I cut you off. I'll give you 30 seconds to respond on the issue of lone wolves. O' +p2901 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p2902 +aVAnd Andrea has a follow-up. O' +p2903 +aVAll right, that's time, and \u2014 and we do......we do have to move on. Secretary Clinton, this is the first time... +p2904 +aVThirty \u2014 30 \u2014 30 seconds, Senator. +p2905 +aVAll right. Secretary Clinton......this is the first time that a spouse of a former president could be elected president. You have said that President Clinton would advise you on economic issues, but be specific, if you can. Are you talking about a kitchen-table role on economics, or will he have a real policy role? +p2906 +aVSenator sanders, a 30 second response, sir. +p2907 +aVWe will take a break. We'll continue from Charleston right after this. +p2908 +aVWelcome back everybody. Finally, before we go tonight, we set out here to understand points of differences between you. We believe we've learned a lot here, but before we leave, is there anything that you really wanted to say tonight that you haven't gotten a chance to say. And, we'll start with Governor O'Malley. Didn't see that coming, did you? O' +p2909 +aVSixty seconds, we'd appreciate it. O' +p2910 +aVAnd that's time. O' +p2911 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p2912 +aVAnd that's time. +p2913 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders? +p2914 +asVCHAFEE +p2915 +(lp2916 +VThank you, Anderson. Thank you, CNN, and thank you Facebook for organizing this debate. Not only will Americans be electing a new president next year, we also will be electing a world leader. Voters should assess the candidate's experience, character and vision for the future as they make this important decision. I'm the only one running for president that has been a mayor, a United States senator, and a governor. As mayor, I brought labor peace to my city and kept taxes down. I was reelected three times. As a senator, I earned a reputation for courageous votes against the Bush-Cheney tax cuts the favored the wealthy, against the tragedy of the Iraq war, for environmental stewardship, for protection of our civil liberties. I served on the Foreign Relations Committee and I chaired the Middle East Subcommittee for four years. As governor, I came in at the depths of the recession and we turned my state around. Rhode Island had the biggest drop of the unemployment rate over my four budgets of all but one state. It happens to be Nevada, where we're having this debate. I'm very proud that over my almost 30 years of public service, I have had no scandals. I've always been honest. I have the courage to take the long-term view, and I've shown good judgment. I have high ethical standards. As we look to the future, I want to address the income inequality, close the gap between the haves and the have-nots. I want to address climate change, a real threat to our planet. And I believe in prosperity through peace. I want to end these wars. I look forward to the discussion ahead. Thank you +p2917 +aVAnderson, you're looking at a block of granite when it comes to the issues. Whether it's... +p2918 +aVDid you hear what I said? On the issues. I have not changed on the issues. I was a liberal Republican, then I was an independent, and now I'm a proud Democrat. But I have not changed on the issues. And I open my record to scrutiny. Whether it's on the environment, a woman's right to choose, gay marriage, fiscal responsibility, aversion to foreign entanglements, using the tools of government to help the less fortunate. Time and time again, I have never changed. You're looking at a block of granite when it comes to the issues. So I have not changed. +p2919 +aVThe party left me. There's no doubt about that. There was no room for a liberal moderate Republican in that party. I even had a primary for my reelection in 2006. I won it. But the money poured in to defeat me in Rhode Island as a Republican. That's what we were up against. +p2920 +aVYes, I have a good record of voting for gun commonsense safety legislation, but the reality is, despite these tragedies that happen time and time again, when legislators step up to pass commonsense gun safety legislation, the gun lobby moves in and tells the people they're coming to take away your guns. And, they're successful at it, in Colorado and others states, the legislators that vote for commonsense gun safety measures then get defeated. I even saw in Rhode Island. So, I would bring the gun lobby in and say we've got to change this. Where can we find common ground? Wayne Lapierre from the NRA, whoever it is, the leaders. Come one, we've go to change this. We're not coming to take away your guns, we believe in the Second Amendment, but let's find common ground here. +p2921 +aVWell, we just heard Senator Sanders say that it's the worst decision in American history. That's very significant, the worst decision in American history, I just heard from Senator Sanders. So, as we look ahead, if you're going to make those poor judgment calls, a critical time in our history, we just finished with the Vietnam era, getting back into another quagmire \u2014 if you're looking ahead, and you're looking at someone who made that poor decision in 2002 to go into Iraq when there was no real evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq \u2014 I know because I did my homework, and, so, that's an indication of how someone will perform in the future. And that's what's important. +p2922 +aVOK. I just have to answer one thing that Senator Webb said about the Iran deal, because I'm a strong proponent of what President Obama \u2014 and he said that because of that the Iran deal that enabled Russia to come in. No, that's not true, Senator Webb. I respect your foreign policy chops. But Russia is aligned with Iran and with Assad and the Alawite Shias in Syria. So that Iran deal did not allow Russia to come in. +p2923 +aVIt's certainly the chaos in the Middle East. There's no doubt about it. +p2924 +aVAnd it all started with the Iraq invasion. +p2925 +aVAbsolutely. We have to repair American credibility after we told the world that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, which he didn't. So there's an issue of American credibility out there. So any time someone is running to be our leader, and a world leader, which the American president is, credibility is an issue out there with the world. And we have repair work to be done. I think we need someone that has the best in ethical standards as our next president. That's how I feel. +p2926 +aVThe Glass-Steagall was my very first vote, I'd just arrived, my dad had died in office, I was appointed to the office, it was my very first vote. +p2927 +aVI'd just arrived at the Senate. I think we'd get some takeovers, and that was one. It was my very first vote, and it was 92-5. It was the... +p2928 +aVBut let me just say... +p2929 +aVI think you're being a little rough. I'd just arrived at the United States Senate. I'd been mayor of my city. My dad had died. I'd been appointed by the governor. It was the first vote and it was 90-5, because it was a conference report. But let me just say about income inequality. We've had a lot of talk over the last few minutes, hours, or tens of minutes, but no one is saying how we're going to fix it. And it all started with the Bush tax cuts that favored the wealthy. So let's go back to the tax code. And 0.6 percent of Americans are at the top echelon, over 464,000, 0.6 Americans. That's less than 1 percent. But they generate 30 percent of the revenue. And they're doing fine. +p2930 +aVSo there's still a lot more money to be had from this top echelon. I'm saying let's have another tier and put that back into the tax bracket. And that will generate $42 billion. +p2931 +aVAnd then we can help the middle class and hard-earning Americans \u2014 hard-working Americans. +p2932 +aVNo, that was another 99 to one vote for the Patriot Act, and it was seen as at the time modernizing our ability to do what we've always done to tap phones which always required a warrant. And I voted for that. +p2933 +aVNo, no. As long as you're getting a warrant, I believe that under the Fourth Amendment, you should be able to do surveillance, but you need a warrant. That's what the Fourth Amendment says. And in the Patriot Act, section 215 started to get broadened too far. So I would be in favor of addressing and reforming section 215 of the Patriot Act. +p2934 +aVNo, I would bring him home. The courts have ruled that what he did \u2014 what he did was say the American... +p2935 +aV... the American government was acting illegally. That's what the federal courts have said; what Snowden did showed that the American government was acting illegally for the Fourth Amendment. So I would bring him home. +p2936 +aVCertainly, ending the wars. We've got to stop these wars. You have to have a new dynamic, a new paradigm. We just spent a half-billion dollars arming and training soldiers, the rebel soldiers in Syria. They quickly join the other side. We bombed the... +p2937 +aVI'd like to finish my question \u2014 my answer. And also we just bombed a hospital. We've had drone strikes that hit civilian weddings. So I would change how we \u2014 our approach to the Middle East. We need a new paradigm in the Middle East. +p2938 +aVI guess the coal lobby. I've worked hard for climate change and I want to work with the coal lobby. But in my time in the Senate, tried to bring them to the table so that we could address carbon dioxide. I'm proud to be at odds with the coal lobby. +p2939 +aVThank you, Anderson. Thank you, CNN. And thank you, Facebook, for sponsoring this debate. America has many challenges confronting us \u2014 ending the perpetual wars, addressing climate change, addressing income inequality, funding education, funding infrastructure, funding healthcare, helping black Americans, helping Native Americans. We have many challenges. Who is best able to confront these challenges? I've served in government at many levels. I know what it's like to solve problems at the local level because I did it as mayor. I know how to get legislation passed through Congress because I did it as a senator. I know how to turn around a state because I did as governor of Rhode Island. But what I'm most proud of is that in 30 years of public service, I have had no scandals. I have high ethical standards. And what I'm most proud of is my judgment, particularly in the Iraq war vote. There was a lot of pressure \u2014 political pressure, public pressure. But I did my homework and I did not believe that the evidence was there that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. And we live now with the consequences. So that kind of judgment is what we want in a president going forward. And I'm running for president to end the wars. I want to be the peacemaker. I am a proven peacemaker. Please go to Chafee 2016 to learn more about me. Thank you. +p2940 +asVBROWNLEE +p2941 +(lp2942 +VHi, my name Marques Brownlee, and I've been making YouTube videos about electronics and gadgets for the past seven years. I think America's future success is tied to getting all kinds of tech right. Tech companies are responsible for the encryption technology to protect personal data, but the government wants a back door into that information. So do you think it's possible to find common ground? And where do you stand on privacy versus security? +p2943 +asVCOOPER +p2944 +(lp2945 +VI'm Anderson Cooper. Thanks for joining us. We've already welcomed the candidates on stage. They are in place at their podiums. Before we dive into the issues, I want to quickly explain some of the groundrules tonight. As the moderator, I'll ask questions, followups and guide the discussion. I'll be joined in the questioning by CNN's Juan Carlos Lopez and Dana Bash, a well as Don Lemon who will share questions from Democrats around the country. Each candidate will get one minute to answer questions, and 30 seconds for followups and rebuttals. I'll give candidates time to respond if they have been singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know that we have lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. I want the candidates to be able to introduce themselves to our audience. Each candidate will have two minutes to introduce themselves. Let's begin with Governor Chafee. Governor? +p2946 +aVThank you very much, Governor. Senator Webb, you have two minutes. +p2947 +aVGovernor O'Malley, you have two minutes. O' +p2948 +aVGovernor O'Malley, thank you very much. Senator Sanders. +p2949 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p2950 +aVThank you, all. It is time to start the debate. Are you all ready? All right. Let's begin. We're going to be discussing a lot of the issues, many of the issues, important issues that you have brought up. But I want to begin with concerns that voters have about each of the candidates here on this stage that they have about each of you. Secretary Clinton, I want to start with you. Plenty of politicians evolve on issues, but even some Democrats believe you change your positions based on political expediency. You were against same-sex marriage. Now you're for it. You defended President Obama's immigration policies. Now you say they're too harsh. You supported his trade deal dozen of times. You even called it the "gold standard". Now, suddenly, last week, you're against it. Will you say anything to get elected? +p2951 +aVSecretary Clinton, though, with all due respect, the question is really about political expediency. Just in July, New Hampshire, you told the crowd you'd, quote, "take a back seat to no one when it comes to progressive values." Last month in Ohio, you said you plead guilty to, quote, "being kind of moderate and center." Do you change your political identity based on who you're talking to? +p2952 +aVJust for the record, are you a progressive, or are you a moderate? +p2953 +aVSecretary... +p2954 +aV...thank you... +p2955 +aV...Senator... +p2956 +aVSenator Sanders. A Gallup poll says half the country would not put a socialist in the White House. You call yourself a democratic socialist. How can any kind of socialist win a general election in the United States? +p2957 +aVDenmark is a country that has a population \u2014 Denmark is a country that has a population of 5.6 million people. The question is really about electability here, and that's what I'm trying to get at. You \u2014 the \u2014 the Republican attack ad against you in a general election \u2014 it writes itself. You supported the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. You honeymooned in the Soviet Union. And just this weekend, you said you're not a capitalist. Doesn't \u2014 doesn't that ad write itself? +p2958 +aVYou don't consider yourself a capitalist, though? +p2959 +aVJust let me just be clear. Is there anybody else on the stage who is not a capitalist? +p2960 +aVSenator Sanders? +p2961 +aVWe're going to get... +p2962 +aVWe're going to have a lot more on these issues. But I do want to just quickly get everybody in on the question of electability. Governor Chafee, you've been everything but a socialist. When you were senator from Rhode Island, you were a Republican. When you were elected governor, you were an independent. You've only been a Democrat for little more than two years. Why should Democratic voters trust you won't change again? +p2963 +aVIt seems like pretty soft granite. I mean, you've been a Republican, you've been an independent. +p2964 +aVThen why change labels? +p2965 +aVGovernor O'Malley, the concern of voters about you is that you tout our record as Baltimore's mayor. As we all know, we all saw it. That city exploded in riots and violence in April. The current top prosecutor in Baltimore, also a Democrat, blames your zero tolerance policies for sowing the seeds of unrest. Why should Americans trust you with the country when they see what's going on in the city that you ran for more than seven years? O' +p2966 +aVShe actually \u2014 just for the record, when she was asked which policies, to name two, she said zero tolerance. I mean, there's a number of old policies that we're seeing the results of. That distress of communities, where communities don't want to step forward and say who killed a 3-year-old, it's a direct result of these failed policies. O' +p2967 +aVIn one year alone, though, 100,000 arrests were made in your city, a city of 640,000 people. The +p2968 +aVThank you, Governor. O' +p2969 +aVSenator Webb, in 2006, you called affirmative action "state-sponsored racism." In 2010, you wrote an op/ed saying it discriminates against whites. Given that nearly half the Democratic Party is non-white, aren't you out of step with where the Democratic Party is now? +p2970 +aVSenator Webb, thank you very much. Let's move on to some of the most pressing issues facing our country right now, some of the biggest issues right now in the headlines today. We're going to start with guns. The shooting in Oregon earlier this month, once again it brought the issue of guns into the national conversation. Over the last week, guns have been the most discussed political topic on Facebook by two to one. Senator Sanders, you voted against the Brady bill that mandated background checks and a waiting period. You also supported allowing riders to bring guns in checked bags on Amtrak trains. For a decade, you said that holding gun manufacturers legally responsible for mass shootings is a bad idea. Now, you say you're reconsidering that. Which is it: shield the gun companies from lawsuits or not? +p2971 +aVDo you want to shield gun companies from lawsuits? +p2972 +aVSecretary Clinton, is Bernie Sanders tough enough on guns? +p2973 +aVWe're going to bring you all in on this. But, Senator Sanders, you have to give a response. +p2974 +aVGovernor O'Malley, you passed gun legislation as governor of Maryland, but you had a Democratic-controlled legislature. President Obama couldn't convince Congress to pass gun legislation after the massacres in Aurora, in Newtown, and Charleston. How can you? O' +p2975 +aVSenator Sanders, I want you to be able to respond, 30 seconds. +p2976 +aVLet me bring in somebody who has a different viewpoint. Senator Webb, your rating from the NRA, you once had an A rating from the NRA. You've said gun violence goes down when more people are allowed to carry guns. Would encouraging more people to be armed be part of your response to a mass shooting? +p2977 +aVSenator... +p2978 +aVSenator \u2014 Governor Chafee, you have an F rating from the NRA, what do you think about what Senator Webb just said? +p2979 +aVI want to... O' +p2980 +aV...I want to move on to another issue, which is in the headlines right now, another crisis making headlines. Secretary Clinton, Russia, they're challenging the U.S. in Syria. According to U.S. intelligence, they've lied about who they're bombing. You spearheaded the reset with Russia. Did you underestimate the Russians, and as president, what would your response to Vladimir Putin be right now in Syria? +p2981 +aVSenator Sanders, what would you do differently. +p2982 +aVOn this issue of foreign policy, I want to go to... +p2983 +aVI want to go to Dana Bash. Dana? +p2984 +aVBut, Senator Sanders, you didn't answer the question. Under what \u2014 under what circumstances would you actually use force? +p2985 +aVI'm gonna bring you all in on this. Governor \u2014 Governor O'Malley, Secretary Clinton... +p2986 +aVSecretary Clinton voted to authorize military force in Iraq, supported more troops in Afghanistan. As Secretary of State, she wanted to arm Syrian rebels and push for the bombing of Libya. Is she too quick to use military force? O' +p2987 +aVDoes she \u2014 does she want to use military force too rapidly? O' +p2988 +aVGovernor O'Malley, just for the record, on the campaign trail, you've been saying that Secretary Clinton is always quick for the \u2014 for the military intervention. Senator \u2014 Secretary Clinton, you can respond. +p2989 +aVWell \u2014 yes, you'll be coming in next, but she was directly quoted, Senator. +p2990 +aVOK. +p2991 +aVSecretary? +p2992 +aVThank you. +p2993 +aVThank you, Secretary. +p2994 +aVSenator Webb, you said as president you would never have used military force in Libya and that the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi was, in your words, "inevitable." Should Secretary Clinton have seen that attack coming? +p2995 +aVSenator... +p2996 +aVYou're over your time as of now. +p2997 +aVYou agreed to these debate rules. +p2998 +aVSenator Sanders, I want you to be able to respond. +p2999 +aVI'd like you to be able to respond and get in on this. +p3000 +aVHe doesn't seem to be the type of guy to regret a lot. +p3001 +aVSecretary Clinton, on the campaign trail, Governor Webb has said that he would never have used military force in Libya and that the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi was inevitable. Should you have seen that attack coming? +p3002 +aVBut American citizens did lose their lives in Benghazi. +p3003 +aVGovernor O'Malley? +p3004 +aVSenator Webb, I want you to be able to respond. +p3005 +aVSenator Webb? +p3006 +aVSecretary (sic) Webb, you served in Vietnam. You're a marine. Once a marine, always a marine. You served as a marine in Vietnam. You're a decorated war hero. You eventually became secretary of the navy. During the Vietnam War, the man standing next to you, Senator Sanders, applied for status as a conscientious objector. Given his history, can he serve as a credible commander-in-chief? +p3007 +aVSenator Sanders, tell an American soldier who is watching right now tonight in Afghanistan why you can be commander-in- chief given that you applied for conscientious objector status. +p3008 +aVVery quickly, 30 seconds for each of you. Governor Chafee, who or what is the greatest national security threat to the United States? I want to go down the line. +p3009 +aVOK. Senator, I can give you 30 seconds to respond. +p3010 +aVThirty seconds for each of you. Governor Chafee, what is the greatest national security threat to the United States? +p3011 +aVOK. +p3012 +aVGovernor O'Malley? O' +p3013 +aVSecretary Clinton, the greatest national security threat? +p3014 +aVSenator Sanders, greatest national security threat? +p3015 +aVSenator Webb? +p3016 +aVAll right. We're going to take a short break. Do these candidates see eye to eye on an issue that is driving a big wedge between Republicans? That is next. We'll be right back. +p3017 +aVAnd welcome back. We are live in Nevada, in Las Vegas, at the Wynn Resort for the first Democratic presidential debate. The questions continue. We begin with Secretary Clinton. Secretary Clinton, you are going to be testifying before Congress next week about your e-mails. For the last eight months, you haven't been able to put this issue behind you. You dismissed it; you joked about it; you called it a mistake. What does that say about your ability to handle far more challenging crises as president? +p3018 +aVSecretary... +p3019 +aVSecretary Clinton, Secretary Clinton, with all due respect, it's a little hard \u2014 I mean, isn't it a little bit hard to call this just a partisan issue? There's an FBI investigation, and President Obama himself just two days ago said this is a legitimate issue. +p3020 +aVThank you. +p3021 +aVSenator Sanders? +p3022 +aVIt's obviously very popular in this crowd, and it's \u2014 hold on. I know that plays well in this room. But I got to be honest, Governor Chafee, for the record, on the campaign trail, you've said a different thing. You said this is a huge issue. Standing here in front of Secretary Clinton, are you willing to say that to her face? +p3023 +aVSecretary Clinton, do you want to respond? +p3024 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor... Governor O'Malley... Governor, it's popular in the room, but a lot of people do want to know these answers. Governor O'Malley, you expressed concern on the campaign trail that the Democratic Party is, and I quote, "being defined by Hillary Clinton's email scandal." You heard her answer, do you still feel that way tonight? O' +p3025 +aV...Thank you, governor. O' +p3026 +aVI want to talk about issues of race in America, for that I want to start of with Don Lemon. +p3027 +aVThe question from Arthur... +p3028 +aV...Do black lives matter, or do all lives matter? Let's put that question to Senator Sanders. +p3029 +aVGovernor O'Malley, the question from Arthur was do black lives matter, or do all lives matter? O' +p3030 +aVSecretary Clinton, what would you do for African Americans in this country that President Obama couldn't? +p3031 +aV...Thank you, Senator... +p3032 +aVSenator... +p3033 +aVSenator Webb? +p3034 +aVThanks, sir. +p3035 +aVSenator Sanders, let's talk about income inequality. Wages and incomes are flat. You've argued that the gap between rich and poor is wider than at any time since the 1920s. We've had a Democratic president for seven years. What are you going to be able to do that President Obama didn't? +p3036 +aVSecretary Clinton... +p3037 +aVI'll let you jump in a moment. Everybody will get in on this in a moment. Secretary Clinton, how would you address this issue? In all candor, you and your husband are part of the one percent. How can you credibly represent the views of the middle class? +p3038 +aVGovernor O'Malley, (inaudible). O' +p3039 +aVJust for viewers at home who may not be reading up on this, Glass-Steagall is the Depression-era banking law repealed in 1999 that prevented commercial banks from engaging in investment banking and insurance activities. Secretary Clinton, he raises a fundamental difference on this stage. Senator Sanders wants to break up the big Wall Street banks. You don't. You say charge the banks more, continue to monitor them. Why is your plan better? +p3040 +aVSenator Sanders, Secretary Clinton just said that her policy is tougher than yours. +p3041 +aVWhy? +p3042 +aVSenator... +p3043 +aVSecretary Clinton, you have to be able to respond. He brought you up. +p3044 +aV +p3045 +aVThank you. Thank you. Senator Sanders... +p3046 +aVGovernor O'Malley? Where do you stand? +p3047 +aVSecretary Clinton... O' +p3048 +aVI have to let you respond. +p3049 +aVThank you. +p3050 +aVThank... +p3051 +aVSenator Sanders... Senator Sanders, in 2008, congressional leaders were told, without the 2008 bailout, the U.S. was possibly days away from a complete meltdown. Despite that, you still voted against it. As president, would you stand by your principles if it risked the country's financial stability? +p3052 +aVWe're going to talk about that in a minute. But, Senator Webb, I want to get you in. You have said neither party has the guts to take on Wall Street. Is the system rigged? +p3053 +aVYou agreed to these rules and you're wasting time. So if you would finish your answer, we'll move on. +p3054 +aVGovernor Chafee, you have attacked Secretary Clinton for being too close to Wall Street banks. In 1999 you voted for the very bill that made banks bigger. +p3055 +aVAre you saying you didn't know what you were voting for? +p3056 +aVWell, with all due respect, Governor... +p3057 +aV... what does that say about you that you're casting a vote for something you weren't really sure about? +p3058 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3059 +aVI want to bring in Dana Bash. +p3060 +aVDana? +p3061 +aVSenator Sanders, I want to bring it over to Juan Carlos Lopez from CNN en Espanol. We're obviously in Nevada. It's had the highest percentage of undocumented immigrants of any state in the country as of last year. Juan Carlos? +p3062 +aVSenator Webb... O' +p3063 +aV...Thank you, Senator. +p3064 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p3065 +aV...Secretary... +p3066 +aVSecretary Clinton, let me ask you. Two of your rivals from your left, Governor O'Malley, and Senator Sanders, want to provide instate college tuition to undocumented immigrants. Where do you stand on that? +p3067 +aVSo, on the record, you believe that undocumented immigrants should get instate college tuition. +p3068 +aVGovernor O'Malley? O' +p3069 +aV...Senator... O' +p3070 +aVSenator Sanders, you talked about your record on the Veteran affairs committee. You served on that committee for the last eight years, including two years as its chairman while veterans died waiting for health care. You and Senator McCain ultimately addressed the issue with bi-partisan legislation. Why did it take 18 Inspector General reports, and a CNN investigation, and others, before you and your colleagues took action? +p3071 +aVGovernor Chafee, you and Hillary Clinton both voted for the Patriot Act which created the NSA surveillance program. You've emphasized civil liberties, privacy during your campaign. Aren't these two things in conflict? +p3072 +aVDo you regret that vote? +p3073 +aVSecretary Clinton, do you regret your vote on the Patriot Act? +p3074 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator Sanders, you're the only one on this stage who voted against the Patriot Act in 2001... +p3075 +aV... and the reauthorization votes. Let me ask you, if elected, would you shut down the NSA surveillance program? +p3076 +aVWould you shut down the NSA surveillance program? +p3077 +aVYou would, point blank. +p3078 +aVGovernor Chafee, Edward Snowden, is he a traitor or a hero? +p3079 +aVBring him home, no jail time? +p3080 +aVSecretary Clinton, hero or traitor? +p3081 +aVShould he do jail time? Cl +p3082 +aVGovernor O'Malley, Snowden? O' +p3083 +aVSenator Sanders, Edward Snowden? +p3084 +aVIs he a hero? +p3085 +aVSenator Webb, Edward Snowden? +p3086 +aVAnother \u2014 another question for each of you, starting with Governor Chafee. Name the one thing \u2014 the one way that your administration would not be a third term of President Obama. +p3087 +aVPresident Obama's generals right now are suggesting keeping troops in Afghanistan after the time he wanted them pulled out. Would you keep them there? +p3088 +aVGovernor O'Malley, how would you be different than President Obama's administration? O' +p3089 +aVSecretary Clinton, how would you not be a third term of President Obama? +p3090 +aVIs there a policy difference? +p3091 +aVSenator Sanders? +p3092 +aVSenator Webb, how would you not be a third term for Obama? +p3093 +aVSenator Sanders, he cited you. You don't hear a lot of Democratic presidential candidates talking about revolution. What do you mean? +p3094 +aVAnd we want to \u2014 and we're going to talk more about climate change and environmental issues coming up. Some of the candidates have tried marijuana, as have pretty much \u2014 probably everybody in this room. ( +p3095 +aVAnd welcome back to this CNN Democratic presidential debate. It has been quite a night so far. We are in the final block of this debate. All the candidates are back, which I'm very happy to see. ( +p3096 +aVIt's a long story. Let's continue, shall we? Secretary Clinton, welcome back. +p3097 +aVThat's right. Secretary Clinton, Governor O'Malley says the presidency is not a crown to be passed back and forth between two royal families. This year has been the year of the outsider in politics, just ask Bernie Sanders. Why should Democrats embrace an insider like yourself? +p3098 +aVGovernor O'Malley, do you want to tell Secretary Clinton why she shouldn't get the crown? O' +p3099 +aVSecretary Clinton, you have to be able to respond, if you want. +p3100 +aV(inaudible). Senator Sanders, does she have the right stuff? +p3101 +aVwe've got \u2014 we \u2014 a lot of questions we've got about climate change, and we're gonna go to Don Lemon. Don? +p3102 +aVGovernor... O' +p3103 +aV...Governor O'Malley, thank you very much. Senator Webb, you have a very different view than just about anybody else on this stage, and unlike a lot of Democrats. You're pro-coal, you're pro-offshore drilling, you're pro-Keystone pipeline. Are \u2014 again, are you \u2014 the question is, are you out of step with the Democratic party? +p3104 +aVSenator Sanders, are you tougher on \u2014 on climate change than Secretary Clinton? +p3105 +aVSenator \u2014 thank you, Senator. +p3106 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want you to be able to respond, then I'm gonna go to (ph) (inaudible). +p3107 +aVThank you. +p3108 +aVDana Bash? +p3109 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders? +p3110 +aVGovernor O'Malley? O' +p3111 +aVGovernor, thank you. The issue now, particularly in this state, is recreational marijuana. I want to go to Juan Carlos Lopez. +p3112 +aVSecretary Clinton, thank you. I want to go to Don Lemon with another Facebook question. +p3113 +aVWe're going to hear from all the candidates coming up. We're going to take a short break. More from the candidates in a moment. +p3114 +aVAnd welcome back to the final round of the CNN Democratic presidential debate. This is a question to each of you. Each of you, by the way, are going to have closing statements to make. Each of you will have 90 seconds. But a final question to each of you. If you can, just try to \u2014 15 seconds if you can. Governor Chafee, Franklin Delano Roosevelt once said, "I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made." You've all made a few people upset over your political careers. Which enemy are you most proud of? +p3115 +aVGovernor O'Malley? O' +p3116 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p3117 +aVSenator Sanders? +p3118 +aVSenator Webb? +p3119 +aVAll right. Time for closing statements. Each of you will have 90 seconds. Governor Chafee, let's begin with you. +p3120 +aVGovernor Chafee, thank you very much. Senator Webb, your final statement for 90 seconds. +p3121 +aVSenator Webb, thank you very much. Governor O'Malley, you have 90 seconds. O' +p3122 +aVGovernor O'Malley, thank you very much. Senator Sanders, final, closing thoughts, 90 seconds. +p3123 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p3124 +asVHUCKABEE +p3125 +(lp3126 +VWell, John, I don't really have any weaknesses that I can think of. But my wife is down here in the front, and I'm sure, if you'd like to talk to her later, she can give you more than you'll ever be able to take care of. If I have a weakness, it's that I try to live by the rules. I try to live by the rules, no matter what they are, and I was brought up that way as a kid. Play by the rules. And I'll tell you what a weakness is of this country: there are a lot of people who are sick and tired because Washington does not play by the same rules that the American people have to play by. +p3127 +aVWell, I would really appreciate that. First of all, yes, we've stolen. Yes, we've lied to the American people about Social Security, and Medicare. But, you know what we're not telling them? It's their money. This isn't the governments money. This is not entitlement, it's not welfare. This is money that people have confiscated out of their paychecks. Everytime they got a paycheck, the government reached in and took something out of it before they ever saw it. Now, we're going to blame the people. Today congress decided to take another $150 billion dollars away from Social Security so they can borrow more money. That makes no sense to everybody. And, they're always going to say, "Well, we're going to fix this one day." No their not. It's like a 400 pound man saying, "I'm going to go on a diet, but I'm eating a sack of Krispy Kremes before I do." And, people are sick of believing that the government is never going to really address this. But, let me tell you who not to blame. Let's quit blaming the people on Social Security. Let's quit making it a problem for them. It's like them getting mugged, and then us saying, well, we're going to mug you some more. You ought to just be able to get over it, get used to it... +p3128 +aV...No, sir... +p3129 +aV...we need to honor our promises... +p3130 +aV...before I go. This is the only time I've had a chance, let me finish. +p3131 +aV...This is a matter not of math, this is a matter of morality. If this country that does not keep its promise to seniors then what promise can this country hope to be trusted to keep? And, the fact is, none of them. [ +p3132 +aVAnd, the only way \u2014 no... +p3133 +aV...Chris... +p3134 +aV...Chris... +p3135 +aVSince he brought me up, do I not get to respond? +p3136 +aVJohn, listen, let's keep in mind that for one-third of the 60 million Americans on Social Security it represents 90 percent of their income. And, when I hear people talking about means testing, let's just remember what that means. If we means test Social Security, it means that the government decides whether or not I deserve it. If a person lives in a seven room house, does the government get to say you don't need seven rooms, we're going to take two of them away? Folks, the government has no business stealing even more from the people who have paid this in. I just want to remind you, people paid their money. They expect to have it. And, if this government doesn't pay it, than tell me what's different between the government and Bernie Madolf, who sits in prison today for doing less than what the government has done to the people on social security and Medicare in this country. +p3137 +aVI don't think it's so much about when the government orders a corporation to do something. In fact, that's part of the problem. If you saw that blimp that got cut loose from Maryland today, it's a perfect example of government. I mean, what we had was something the government made \u2014 basically a bag of gas \u2014 that cut loose, destroyed everything in its path, left thousands of people powerless, but they couldn't get rid of it because we had too much money invested in it, so we had to keep it. That is our government today. We saw it in the blimp. That's exactly what we saw. So look, corporations ought to exercise some responsibility. When CEO income has risen 90 percent above the average worker, when the bottom 90 percent of this country's economy has had stagnant wages for the past 40 years, somebody is taking it in the teeth. And it's not the folks on Wall Street. I'm not anti-Wall Street, but I don't believe the government ought to wear a team jersey, pick winners and losers. +p3138 +aVThe government ought to wear a striped shirt and just make sure the game... +p3139 +aV...is paid \u2014 played fairly. +p3140 +aVNow, everybody else has fudged their time and gone over, so please, don't cut me off too quick, Becky. +p3141 +aVLet me just close it out this way. +p3142 +aVWe need to be focusing on what fixes this country. And I'll tell you one thing that we never talk about \u2014 we haven't talked about it tonight. Why aren't we talking about \u2014 instead of cutting benefits for old people, cutting benefits for sick people \u2014 why don't we say, "let's cure the four big cost-driving diseases... +p3143 +aV..."diabetes, heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer's?" +p3144 +aVIf you do that, you don't just change the economy, you transform the lives of millions of hurting Americans. +p3145 +aVGosh, I'd love for us to talk about something like that. Thank you. +p3146 +aVYou know, of the few questions I've got, the last one I need is to give him some more time. I love Donald Trump. He is a good man. I'm wearing a Trump tie tonight. Get over that one, OK? [ +p3147 +aVI don't know. [ +p3148 +aVI have no idea. +p3149 +aVYou're welcome. Let me tell you, Donald Trump would be a president every day of the week and twice on Sunday, rather than Hillary. I've spent a lifetime in politics fighting the Clinton machine. You want to talk about what we're going to be up against next year? I'm the only guy on this stage \u2014 you know, everybody has an "only guy" \u2014 "I'm the only guy this; I'm the only guy that." Well, let me tell you one thing that I am the only guy: The only guy that has consistently fought the Clinton machine every election I was ever in over the past 26 years. And not only did I fight them, but I beat them. Somebody says "I'm a fighter." Well, I want to know, did you win? Well, I did. And not only did I fight them and win, I lived to tell about it and I'm standing on this stage tonight as evidence of that. And I think that ought to be worth something. +p3150 +aVWell, and specifically to Medicare, Becky, because 85 percent of the cost of Medicare is chronic disease. The fact is if we don't address what's costing so much, we can't throw enough money at this. And it's why I've continued to focus on the fact that we need to declare war on the four big cost drivers because 80 percent of all medical costs in this country are chronic disease. We don't have a health care crisis in America, we have a health crisis. And until we deal with the health of Americans and do what we did with polio \u2014 when I was a little kid, we eradicated it. You know how much money we spent on polio last year in America? We didn't spend any. We've saved billions of dollars. You want to fix Medicare? Focus on the diseases that are costing us the trillions of dollars. Alzheimers, diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Eradicate those and you fix Medicare and you've fixed America, its economy and you've made people's lives a heck of a lot better. +p3151 +aVYou know, I know to a lot of people in the media, this is just a great big game, and we're the players. And, we come out here, and we do our thing. And, sometimes we're held up in contempt by people who write columns, but, I guarantee you to every person on this stage there's something deep inside of us that would cause us to give up our livelihoods and step out on this stage and fight for the people of America. I've got five grandkids. I do not want to walk my five grandkids through the charred remains of a once great country called America, and say, "Here you go, $20 trillion dollars of debt. Good luck making something out of this mess." And, for those of us who are serious enough to run for president, think long and hard why we're here, and hopefully you'll know we're not here for ourselves. We honest to god are here to get this country back on track. I know this, I certainly am. +p3152 +aV...Thank you. +p3153 +aVI'm Mike Huckabee. I'm delighted to be on this stage with some remarkable fellow Republicans. None of us are a self-professed socialist. None of us on this state are under investigation by the FBI because we destroyed government records, or because we leaked secrets. I know that there are some in the Wall-Street-to-Washington axis of power who speak of all of us contemptuously. But I'm here to say that I think we are, in fact, the A team. We have some remarkable people, and, in fact, not only are we the A team; we even have our own Mr. T, who doesn't mind saying about others, "you're a fool." And I'm delighted to be here with all of these guys, and would put any of them in an administration that I led. Thank you very much. +p3154 +aVI would certainly love to get in on this, because I think the single... +p3155 +aVI've been patiently waiting, and I'm going to just say this about Iran. +p3156 +aVBecause I think it is incredibly important. This is really about the survival of Western civilization. This is not just a little conflict with a Middle Eastern country that we've just now given over $100 billion to, the equivalent in U.S. terms is $5 trillion. This threatens Israel immediately, this threatens the entire Middle East, but it threatens the United States of America. And we can't treat a nuclear Iranian government as if it is just some government that would like to have power. This is a government for 36 years has killed Americans, they kidnapped Americans, they have maimed Americans. They have sponsored terrorist groups, Hamas and Hezbollah, and they threaten the very essence of Western civilization. To give them this agreement, that the president treats like the Magna Carta, but Iranians treat it like it's toilet paper, and we must, simply, make it very clear that the next president, one of us on this stage, will absolutely not honor that agreement, and will destroy it and will be tough with Iran, because otherwise, we put every person in this world in a very dangerous place. +p3157 +aVNo, I don't think he's on the wrong side of such an issue. Jeb is a friend. I'm not up here to fight with Jeb or to fight with anybody else. But I am here to fight for somebody who is a county clerk elected under the Kentucky constitution that 75 percent of the people of that state had voted for that said that marriage was between a man and a woman. The Supreme Court in a very, very divided decision decided out of thin air that they were just going to redefine marriage. It's a decision that the other justices in dissent said they didn't have and there wasn't a constitutional shred of capacity for them to do it. I thought that everybody here passed ninth-grade civics. The courts cannot legislate. That's what Roberts said. But heck, it's what we learned in civics. The courts can't make a law. They can interpret one. They can review one. They can't implement it. They can't force it. But here's what happened: Because the courts just decided that something was going to be and people relinquished it and the other two branches of government sat by silently \u2014 I thought we had three branches of government, they were all equal to each other, we have separation of powers, and we have checks and balances. If the court can just make a decision and we just all surrender to it, we have what Jefferson said was judicial tyranny. The reason that this is a real issue that we need to think about... +p3158 +aVNo, no. Let me finish this one thought, Jake. I haven't gotten that much time, so I'm going to take just what little I can here. We made accommodation to the Fort Hood shooter to let him grow a beard. We made accommodations to the detainees at Gitmo \u2014 I've been to Gitmo, and I've seen the accommodations that we made to the Muslim detainees who killed Americans. You're telling me that you cannot make an accommodation for an elected Democrat county clerk from Rowan County, Kentucky? What else is it other than the criminalization of her faith and the exaltation of the faith of everyone else who might be a Fort Hood shooter or a detainee at Gitmo? +p3159 +aVI have a different idea. I think we ought to get rid of all the taxes on people who produce. Why should we penalize productivity? And it's why I'm an unabashed supporter of the "fair tax," which would be a tax on our consumption, rather than a tax on our productivity. In other words, you're not going to tax anybody for what they earn, whether it's worker whose working by the hour or whether it's a hedge fund manager. If they can produce something and bring capital and labor to create jobs, we need some jobs. And I think the "fair tax" makes more sense. Now, Jake, I've been listening to everybody on the stage and there is a lot of back and forth about I'm the only one who has done this, the only one who has done that, I've done great things. We've all done great things or we wouldn't be on this stage. But it occurs to me as we're sitting here in the Reagan Library that most of us would like to pay tribute to a guy who, when he got elected, didn't get elected telling everybody how great he was. He got elected telling everybody how great the American people were. And he empowered them to live their dreams, which is what I'd love to see us do by no longer penalizing the people who are out there working because they are taking a gut punch right now. +p3160 +aV...You don't want me operating on you, I assure you. +p3161 +aVJust today \u2014 just today, there was a new report that 50 different intelligence analysts have said that what they sent up the ladder was doctored by senior officials, so that they could give some happy talk to the situation that we face. I love the idea of a good intellectual capacity to deal with our enemies, but the fact is, if you don't have good intelligence that is reliable and honest, you won't have good intelligence and you cannot make good decisions. The next president is primarily elected not just to know things, but to know what to do with the things that he knows. And the most dangerous person in any room is the person who doesn't know what he doesn't know. +p3162 +aVAnd the reason Barack Obama has been dangerous to this country and we better elect someone who had some executive experience, is because we cannot afford another eight years having a person in the office who doesn't know what he does not know. +p3163 +aVYou better believe I will, because I'm tired of liberals always having a litmus test and conservatives are supposed to pretend we don't. Well let me tell you what mine would be. Number one, I'd ask do you think that the unborn child is a human being or is it just a blob of tissue? I'd want to know the answer to that. I'd want to know do you believe in the First Amendment, do you believe that religious liberty is the fundamental liberty around which all the other freedoms of this country are based? And I'd want to know do you really believe in the Second Amendment, do you believe that we have an individual right to bear arms to protect ourselves and our family and to protect our country? And do you believe in the Fifth and the 14th Amendment? Do you believe that a person, before they're deprived of life and liberty, should in fact have due process and equal protection under the law? Because if you do, you're going to do more than defund Planned Parenthood. +p3164 +aVOne final thing. I'd make darn sure that we absolutely believe the 10th Amendment. Every governor on this stage would share this much with you. Every one of us \u2014 our biggest fight wasn't always with the legislature or even with the Democrats. My gosh, half the time, it was with the federal government who apparently never understood \u2014 +p3165 +aV\u2014 that if it's not reserved in the Constitution, then the 10th Amendment says it's left to the states. But somebody forgot to send a memo to Washington. +p3166 +aVJake? Jake? +p3167 +aVI think we need to remember that there are maybe some controversies about autism, but there is no controversy about the things that are really driving the medical costs in this country. And I would really believe that the next president ought to declare a war on cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer's, because those are the four things that are causing the greatest level of cost. John Kennedy said, "we'll go to the moon in a decade and bring a man back," and we did it. I grew up in the '50s. I remember the polio vaccine. We saved billions of dollars since that time, because we haven't had to treat for polio. Why doesn't this country focus on cures rather than treatment? Why don't we put a definitive focus scientifically on finding the cure for cancer, for heart disease, for diabetes and for Alzheimer's, a disease alone that will cost us \u2014 +p3168 +aV$1.1 trillion by the year 2050. We change the economy and the country. +p3169 +aVThat's an easy one. I'd put my wife on there. I've been married to her 41 years. She's fought cancer and lived through it. She's raised three kids, five great grandkids, and she's put up with me. I mean, who else could possibly be on that money other than my wife. And that way, she could spend her own money with her face. +p3170 +aVI'd go with Duck Hunter. +p3171 +aVAt the end of my presidency I would like to believe that the world would be a safe place, and there wouldn't be the threats. not only to the U.S., but to Israel and our allies, because we would have the most incredible well-trained, well-equipped, well- prepared military in the history of mankind. And they would know that the commander-in-chief would never send them to a mission without all the resources necessary, but people wouldn't bully us anymore. Because they would know that that would be an invitation to their destruction. Domestically, we would be operating under a tax system that eliminated the IRS. People wouldn't be punished for their work, and for what they produced. And life would be really deemed precious. Abortion would be no more. It would be as much of a scourge in our past as slavery is. And we would have a peaceful country, where people respected each other and people respected law enforcement. And we would focus on cures. And we would make this country not only safe from our enemies without, but safe from the enemies within. And it would be a good place to raise our kids and our grandkids. +p3172 +aVChris, I disagree with the idea that the real issue is a constitutional amendment. That's a long and difficult process. I've actually taken the position that's bolder than that. A lot of people are talking about defunding planned parenthood, as if that's a huge game changer. I think it's time to do something even more bold. I think the next president ought to invoke the Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the constitution now that we clearly know that that baby inside the mother's womb is a person at the moment of conception. The reason we know that it is is because of the DNA schedule that we now have clear scientific evidence on. And, this notion that we just continue to ignore the personhood of the individual is a violation of that unborn child's Fifth and 14th Amendment rights for due process and equal protection under the law. It's time that we recognize the Supreme Court is not the Supreme Being, and we change the policy to be pro-life and protect children instead of rip up their body parts and sell them like they're parts to a Buick. +p3173 +aVNot me. But you're welcome to give me a check, Donald if you'd like. +p3174 +aVIt's not too big to shrink. But the problem is we have a Wall Street-to-Washington axis of power that has controlled the political climate. The donor class feeds the political class who does the dance that the donor class wants. And the result is federal government keeps getting bigger. Every person on this stage who has been a governor will tell that you the biggest fight they had was not the other party. Wasn't even the legislature. It was the federal government, who continually put mandates on the states that we had to suck up and pay for. And the fact is there are a lot of things happening at the federal level that are absolutely beyond the jurisdiction of the Constitution. This is power that should be shifted back to the states, whether it's the EPA, there is no role at the federal level for the Department of Education. And I'm still one who says that we can get rid of the Internal Revenue Service if we would pass the FairTax, which is a tax on consumption rather than a tax on people's income, and move power back where the founders believed it should have been all along. +p3175 +aVWell, let's all be reminded, 60 million Americans are on Social Security, 60 million. A third of those people depend on 90% of their income from Social Security. Nobody in this country is on Social Security because they made the decision when they were starting work at 14 that they wanted to trust some of their money with the government. The government took it out of their check whether they wanted them to or not. And, if person goes to 65, they're going to spend 51 years with the government reaching into their pocket at every paycheck. Now, here's the point, whose fault is it that the system is screwed up? Is it the recipients, or is it the government? And, if Congress wants to mess with the retirement program, why don't we let them start by changing their retirement program, and not have one, instead of talking about getting rid of Social Security and Medicare that was robbed $700 billion dollars to pay for Obamacare. It's always that the government figures that they can do this off the backs of people, many of whom are poor, and depend on that money, and I just think it's fundamentally lying to the people and stealing from them, and we shouldn't be doing it. +p3176 +aVWell, you ask about how we fund it. One of the reasons that Social Security is in so much trouble is that the only funding stream comes from people who get a wage. The people who get wages is declining dramatically. Most of the income in this country is made by people at the top who get dividends and -- and capital gains. The FairTax transforms the process by which we fund Social Security and Medicare because the money paid in consumption is paid by everybody, including illegals, prostitutes, pimps, drug dealers, all the people that are freeloading off the system now. That's why it ought to be a transformed system. +p3177 +aVRonald Reagan said "trust, but verify." President Obama is "trust, but vilify." He trusts our enemies and vilifies everyone who disagrees with him. And the reason we disagree with him has nothing to do with party. +p3178 +aVIt has to do with the incredibly dangerous place that this world is gonna be as a result of a deal in which we got nothing. We didn't even get four hostages out. We got nothing, and Iran gets everything they want. We said we would have anywhere, anytime negotiations and inspections, we gave that up. We said that we would make sure that they didn't have any nuclear capacity, we gave that up. The president can't tell us what we got. I'll tell you what the world got. The world has a burgeoning nuclear power that didn't, as the Soviets, say "we might defend ourselves in a war." What the Iranians have said is, "we will wipe Israel off the face of the map, and we will bring death to America." When someone points a gun at your head and loads it, by God, you ought to take them seriously, and we need to take that seriously. +p3179 +aVThe military is not a social experiment. The purpose of the military is kill people and break things. It's not to transform the culture by trying out some ideas that some people think would make us a different country and more diverse. The purpose is to protect America. I'm not sure how paying for transgender surgery for soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines makes our country safer. We've reduced the military by 25 percent... ... under President Obama. The disaster is that we've forgotten why we have a military. The purpose of it is to make sure that we protect every American, wherever that American is, and if an American is calling out for help, whether it's in Benghazi or at the border, then we ought to be able to answer it. We've not done that because we've decimated our military. We're flying B-52s. The most recent one that was put in service was November of 1962. A lot of the B-52s we're flying, we've only got 44 that are in service combat ready, and the fact is, most of them are older than me. And that's pretty scary. +p3180 +aVIt seems like this election has been a whole lot about a person who's very high in the polls, that doesn't have a clue about how to govern. A person who has been filled with scandals, and who could not lead, and, of course, I'm talking about Hillary Clinton. I think America... +p3181 +aV...is in trouble, but it's not beyond repair. But it's going to take leadership who sees the greatness of this country, and who believes that once again we can be one nation, under God. I'll be my best to do that, and thank you for your support. +p3182 +aVI don't think it's that the message isn't working, I think it's the message isn't getting out because the message that I have this time, Bill, it's exactly what I said eight years ago. I talked about people who are standing on their feet on factory floors, people who lift heavy things, who sweat through their clothes, they're getting gut punched. They are not having a fair shake in this economy. I talked about that eight years ago, and I'm talking about it now. I talked about the importance of preserving life, of not just saying we're going to defund Planned Parenthood, but let's do something bolder. Let's get rid of abortion once and for all by applying the Fifth, and Fourteenth amendment to every person from conception because that means that we recognize that no person can be deprived of life or liberty unless they have due process. And, that's not happening in our country. And, I believe, and continue to practice that we need the Fair Tax to revive our economy. To make it so that people are able to be rewarded for their work rather than punished for it. +p3183 +aVYou know, I -- I would leave that to other people. I'm not going to get into an argument with all the New Yorkers, because there's a lot of them. This much I will tell you. I wish that some of those New Yorkers had funded as much of my campaign as they did the corporately funded candidates, but they didn't. And to be honest with you, when I say I'm -- wish they had, I'm glad they didn't. I'm not a New York-funded campaign. I'm not bankrolled by the corporatists, I'm not bankrolled by Goldman Sachs and Citibank and AIG and all the big brokers -- brokerage houses and the billionaires. I'm sponsored by people like Thomas, a part-time Uber driver in Pennsylvania who sent me $25 this week. He's between jobs. He's driving an Uber car. But he believed in what I'm talking about enough that, even on a limited, part-time income, he sent me $25 to help in my campaign. I'll stand with the Thomases of the world any day. I'll leave all the discussion of the big financiers to other candidates. But there's only a few of us in the entire Republican process who are not corporately funded by the same group. And let me just finish by saying, you want to know why things never change depending on whether Democrats or Republicans are in power, and why Republicans in Iowa and the rest of the country are so frustrated? The reason is, is because if you follow the money, the same folks who finance the Democrats finance the Republicans, and no matter what the speeches and the ads, they get the same results. If you want a different result, I'm available. +p3184 +aVWell, I don't trust him. I've never said I trusted him. But if somebody is willing to take a shot at the people we are taking shots at, I'm more than willing to let them use their own bullets to do it. But let's be very clear about how we take out +p3185 +aVNo, I don't think that it's impossible, but we're not going to do it by doing the same things we've been doing for all these many years. And, we've lost five million manufacturing jobs just since the year 2000. The other day I was in Newton, Iowa. It used to be a vibrant place where Maytag washers and dryers were built. Went out of business in 2007, all those shops went to Mexico. All those people lost their jobs. There was a guy in my forum that day, he lost his job. He still has never found an employment that got anywhere near the job that he had. Let me ask you, how many people do you think living around the Beltway know a guy like that? Care about a guy like that? Not many. And, that's because they're six of the ten richest counties in America that surround Washington D.C. People who live in the bubbles of the high finance world of New York, the government world of Washington, the entertainment world of Hollywood, don't have a clue about how hard people out here in Iowa are working every single day. And, I believe one of the values of campaigning in Iowa, you can't win unless you go out and talk to farmers and housewives -- and welders, and unemployed truck drivers, and I hate... ... That a president could become president who never met people who have to struggle to make a living and put food on the table. +p3186 +aVA lot of Americans are angry. And I think it's important to understand why they are mad. They are mad because they see a government that continues to do fine. They see people at the top. They are doing fine. But that person you asked Rick about a moment ago, that lady that's making 10,000 bucks a year, do you know what our poverty programs do to people? They keep them in poverty. They keep them in poverty because we have these arbitrary thresholds... ... that mean that if you go to work, you lose all the benefits for your kids, Medicaid, WIC, Section 8 housing, food stamps, and then your kids go hungry. I know a little about poverty. My sister is here tonight. Now both of us could tell you we did not grow up rich. My mother grew up in a house, oldest of seven kids. She had lived in a house that didn't have floors. Just dirt. No electricity. No running water. I resent it when people say, oh, people are poor because they want to be. No, they are not. Nobody wants to be poor. And that's a stupid, foolish thing, mean thing to say. People are poor because they don't know how to get out of the hole. And government shouldn't push them back in the hole which is what our policies do when they punish people who want to go to work and don't let them out. We can fix that, but it takes some leadership to get it done. +p3187 +aVWell, I didn't have a tax and spend approach. You got to understand where the Club for Growth comes from, a bunch of rich guys sitting around writing checks to go after people they don't like. And, they don't like me sometimes because I was fighting for the guys at the bottom, not just the guys at the top. I cut 94 taxes in a state that had never had a general major tax decrease in its history. I also was able to see per capita income growth in my state go up by 50%. I think that's a pretty darn good record. Look at the overall record and it was fine. But, it's not about stats from when I was governor. Look, one of the reasons I support the Fairtax is because it's the one thing, Bill, that would truly empower people at the bottom of the economy by no longer punishing them for their work. If a guy works an hourly job, and he works eight hours, gets paid for it, terrific. But, if he works 16 hours, he doesn't get a double paycheck because he's going to be bumped up into a new tax bracket, and the government will get more of his second shift than he will. So, we've actually punished him for being industrious, hardworking, and that is a foolish economic policy... ... that's hurting Americans about as much as anything. +p3188 +aVI honestly don't understand how anybody with IQ above plant life would honestly think... ... that we would be better off if we let the government have all of the private property and that the government would dole out what they thought we should have. I'm not "feeling the Bern," Bill. I'm not feeling it. And when Bernie Sanders promises these kids free college, I'm telling them, because I get asked, what about free college? I said, look, if we give you free college when you are 20, pal, you are going to be paying for it when you are 30, when you are 40, and when you are 50. There is no such thing as the government giving you anything. They will definitely make a mess of it. And I just think there are a lot of people who have never understood the basic understanding of economics, that you do not make people rich by tearing down those who are you providing jobs, and you don't help poor people by taking away. You give them jobs. Let them work. Let them earn. And then you let them keep the money that they earned. That's how we build a great economy. +p3189 +aVWell, this week there was a little dust up about a video we put together with the music of Adele, so I thought it'd be appropriate for me to begin tonight by saying, "Hello, Iowa. It's me." +p3190 +aVAnd, you know me. You gave me the largest number of votes in the history of the Iowa caucus eight years ago, and I think you did it because you trusted me, you believed that I had your best interest at heart. When I was governor I had a little plaque in my office in the Governor's office, and it simply said this. Come, let us reason together. I believe the next President needs to put that plaque in the oval office, and needs to lead this country by saying, "Come, let us reason together." God bless you, and thank you for your support. +p3191 +aVI wish I saw the country in the same place that the president presented it to be the other night in the State of the Union. He talked about how great the economy was doing. And I guess for the people he hangs out with, it's probably doing great. But the president should've stood in the line at the layaway counter at Walmart just before Christmas. He would have heard a very different story about the economy of America. I wish I could introduce him the lady who cleans the building where our campaign headquarters is located in Little Rock. Her name is Kathleen. She works all day at a local hospital cleaning, and then she goes to the building where a bank, and our headquarters, and other offices are she spends another seven hours. She works 15 hours a day. I guarantee you she's not working 15 hours a day because she loves scrubbing toilets, and sweeping floors. She's working that many hours because that's what it takes for her to make it work. And, she's not alone. There are people all over this country who are working like that. Many of them working two jobs \u2014 and they used to have one job, and that would take care of them. But, because of wage stagnation, which we've had for 40 years, because the fact that they're punished for working harder if they work that many hours. The government gets more of their second shift than they do. And, as a result there are a lot of people who are hurting today. I wish the President knew more of them. He might make a change in the economy and the way he's managing it. +p3192 +aVLet me put that in context. When I went to Afghanistan, I saw a land that looked like the land of the Flintstones. It was desolate. It was barren. It was primitive. And it's been that way for thousands of years. They want to take the world back to be just like that. We don't. We need to make a clear goal as to why we want to be anywhere in the Middle East, and I'll tell you why we want to be and need to be, is to destroy radical Islam and everything that threatens civilization. It's not just a threat......to Israel or to America, it's a threat to every civilized person on this Earth. And we need to be equipping not only the Kurds in Iraq, we need to be making sure that those who are willing to fight radical Muslims will do it, but we need to never ever spend a drop of American blood unless there is a clearly defined goal and we can't make sure we win unless we have a military that's the strongest in the history of mankind. We've got to rebuild our navy. It's the smallest navy we've had since 1915, when my grandfather got on a destroyer in World War I when he was in the U.S. Navy. We've got young men in Air Force B-52s, one in particular, he's flying a B-52 that his father flew in the '80s and his grandfather flew in the '50s. Those planes are older than me. We've got to have a military that the world is afraid of, use it sparingly, but when we do, the whole world will know that America is on their tail and they will be on their tail on the ground, never ever to rise up again. +p3193 +aVOnly if there is a concerted effort to destroy the advance of radical Islamists who are against us. As far as what are we going to make it look like. Frankly, I don't know what we can make it look like. You can't create for other people a desire for freedom and democracy. And frankly, that is not the role of the United States. The role of the United States military is not to build schools, it is not to build bridges, it is not to go around and pass out food packets. It is to kill and destroy our enemy and make America safe and that is the purpose we should be there if we're going to be there. +p3194 +aV Yes, I did. +p3195 +aVWell, why don't we start by making sure the Justice Department never does an idiotic program like Fast and Furious where the U.S. Government put guns......in the hands of Mexican drug lords......and end up killing one of our border agents. You know, they want to talk about law abiding citizens, I just find it amazing the President keeps saying the gun show loophole. There is no gun show loophole. I promise you I've been to more gun shows than President Obama. +p3196 +aVAnd, I've bought more weapons at them, and you fill out forms. The President also says things that it's easier to get a gun now than it is to grow trees. Again, I purchase guns, and I can assure you that it is much more difficult to purchase a firearm than it is to get the ingredients of a salad at the supermarket. What the President keeps pushing are ideas that have never worked. Ideas that would not have stopped San Bernadino, Sandy Hook, Aurora, and at some point you wonder if you keep retrying things that don't work, maybe we should just see if we could resell all those used lottery tickets that didn't work real well because that's the logic of just keep doing the same thing, but something that has failed. Of course, we want to stop gun violence, but the one common thing that has happened in most mass shootings is that they happened in gun- free zones where people who would have been law abiding citizens, who could have stood up and at least tried to stop it and we're not allowed to under the law. +p3197 +aVWell, we shouldn't be and that's one of the reasons that I think there a lot of voices in our country who are saying it's time to relook at the visa program. The European Union is a failure, it's not allowed for even the economic goals that they were trying to achieve. But, what we're not seeing is that it's making Europe less safe, and it's proven not to be exactly what they all thought it was going to be. Our first and foremost responsibility in this country, and the first responsibility of the President of the United States is protect America, and protect Americans. We have a President who seems to be more interested in protecting the reputation and image of Islam than he is protecting us. And, I want to be very clear......that this President. Makes comments like he did the other night, that we have to be so careful because we don't want to offend Muslims. He needs to read his own FBI crime stats from last year which would show him that of the hate crimes in the country, over 5,500, about 1,100 were religious hate crimes. And, of those, 58% were directed toward Jews. Only 16% directed toward Muslims. Maybe what the President should have talked about the other night is how we ought to be more careful in the anti-semitic comments that are going toward American Jews than toward Muslims because by three times as many......they're being targeted for religious hate crime. +p3198 +aVIt does not shut down international commerce, but it may slow it down. And, you don't want to slowdown commerce that is making us safer. It's worth it. This lady who came and joined with the San Bernardino killer had passed three background checks, and that's why a lot of Americans didn't buy it when the President said we'll bring in Syrian refugees, but don't worry we'll check them out. We have a lot of confidence in a president who told us that we could keep our doctor, we could keep our health insurance, and cost us less, and now the latest is if you like your gun you can keep it too, and frankly, we don't buy it. We don't believe it. He's lost his credibility, and his inept... ...inability to work with Congress and pass legislation has led him to do what I never even imagined doing as a governor, and that's just going and doing it my own way. That's why we elect a president, is to lead, is to be able to shepherd things through. And if I can do it with a 90 percent Democrat legislature in Arkansas, there is no excuse for any president not being able to lead in Washington if he knows what the heck he is doing when he gets there. +p3199 +aVWell, first of all, let's just remember that Social Security is not the government's money, it belongs to the people who had it taken out of their checks involuntarily their entire working lives. For the government to say, well it is fault of working people that we have a Social Security problem, no. It is the fault of a government that used those people's money for something other than protecting those people's accounts. So let's not blame them and punish them. But here is a fact, and I sometimes hear Republicans say well, we're going to have to cut this and extend the age. You know what I think a lot of times when I hear people say, well, let's make people work to their 70. That sounds great for white-collar people who sat at a desk most of their lives. You ever talk to somebody that stood on concrete floor for the first 40 years of their working life? Do you think they can stand another five years or 10 years, many of them will retired virtually crippled because they worked hard. And we're going to punish them some more? I don't think so. Here's the fact. Four percent economic growth, we fully fund Social Security and Medicare. Our problem is not that Social Security is just too generous to seniors. It isn't. Our problem is that our politicians have not created the kind of policies that would bring economic growth. And I still support strongly that we get rid of the 77,000 pages of the monstrous tax code......pass the fair tax, supercharge this economy with the rocket fuel that happens with the consumption tax and we don't have to cut Social Security to any senior who has worked their lifetime for it. +p3200 +aVLet me go back to the reason so many people are having a hard time getting ahead. The tax system punishes them. Think about this. If you work really hard and you start moving up the economic ladder, you get bumped into a different tax bracket. So the government thinks it deserves more of your hard work than you do. And it's one of the reasons that no matter how many different reforms you have to a tax on people's productivity, you're still taxing their work, their savings. You're taxing their capital gains, inheritance, dividends, you're taxing everything that produces something. And it's way I really believe it's time to do something bold, not something minute. This is no time for a tap of the hammer, a twist of the screwdriver. It's time for something big. That's why the fair tax transforms our economy. And we don't punish workers. It's the only way we're going to get middle class people moving ahead again, because the harder they work, the more they keep. No payroll tax deducted from their checks. They get their entire paycheck. And, one of the most important parts, it's built on the common sense with which we raised our kids, and trained dogs. You reward behavior you want more of. And, you punish behavior you want less of. That's how I raise kids, it's how I trained our dogs, and folks, it's not that difficult. We now punish the behavior we say we want more of by taxing it, and we reward the behavior that we say we want less of, so if you make a good investment, we punish you with a tax. If you make a bad investment you can write that off and the rest of the taxpayers will help subsidize you, and bail you out. +p3201 +aVWell, Rick, I'm pretty sure I did also fight the Clinton machine because every election I was ever in in Arkansas, I assure you, they were behind it, helping finance and campaign for every opponent. And I share with you the understanding that it's going to be a tough battle. But I spent the first half of my adult life in the private and nonprofit sector, raising a family, understanding how tough it is for people to make it. And that first half of my life is what led me to believe that America needs a different kind of leadership, not people who spent their whole life running from one office to the next, and living off the government dime. And I got involved because I got sick of what I saw. I also believe that there's got to be some leadership that not only addresses the monetary and military issues of this country, but the moral issues of this country. At the end of every political speech, most of us say, God bless America. But how can he do that when we continue to slaughter 4,000 babies a day? And I want to be the president that treats every person, including the unborn, as a person. And protect them under the 5th and 14th amendments of the constitution. I close with this word from a gentleman in East Texas named Butel Lucre. He's 100 years old and I met him down in East Texas. And he said this to me. "I sure wish, Mike, we had the days when The Ten Commandments were in all of our capitals and in every school, and we prayed again. You know, he may be 100 years old, but I believe some of those old ideas to get this country back where we unapologetically get on our knees before we get on our feet might be the best solutions we've ever sought as a country. And I ask for your support and your vote. Thank you. +p3202 +aVWolf, I want to say thanks to you and CNN for giving us the opportunity especially to focus on national security issues at a time when Americans are not only angry \u2014 angry at their government that they feel like has failed them, been indifferent to them, cost them their livelihoods \u2014 but they're in addition to angry, they're just plain scared. They're scared when they thing that they go to a Christmas party and get shot at by somebody who sat and had lunch with them an hour earlier. They're scared when they realize that our government, who promises that it can vet people and is begging us to approve bringing 10,000 Syrian refugees into this country, can't even catch somebody after a third background check, who had posted things on social media clearly indicating she wanted to kill Americans. And we couldn't catch that. We've lost confidence in our government. And when Americans lose confidence in their government, we're in a dangerous place. We're in danger because we have an enemy that is out to kill us, and we have a government that we don't trust any more. This election is about going back to having a government we can trust with leaders who have the courage and conviction to actually lead and not follow. +p3203 +aVWell, let me begin by saying I'm not that afraid of Donald Trump. And, in the sense that I'd rather him be President than I had Hillary be president any day. And so if he becomes president, I think he will do a whole lot more to protect us than Hillary will. And a whole lot more than Barack Obama has done in his eight years. So I want to make it very clear that when I was making that comment, I was simply speaking that I'm not sure that you can have a religious test per se. And it's very impractical because if somebody comes to our borders and says I'd like to come in. They say are you a Muslim? Well, they're \u2014 if they're going to come in here to kill us, they're not gonna say yeah, and I'm coming to kill you. They're going to lie about it. Anybody that will kill you, for God's sake, will lie to you. So that's why I say it's impractical. But what he has done, and I don't think a lot of people understand, he has touched a nerve because people are angry and afraid that we are facing an enemy that this administration refuses to acknowledge, refuses to want to go fight. And our only answer is to go after +p3204 +aVNo. I'm not taking it away, I just want to make sure that everything we use is going to be effective. We're spending billions of dollars, let's make sure it's effective. Let's use every tool, but let's also check out the Facebook posts, let's look at Twitter accounts. My gosh, we were told we couldn't do it because it might invade somebody's privacy. This lady who came over here and shot up San Bernardino was posting things on Facebook, yet, we were restricted from looking. Every college kid who goes to a frat party gets drunk and puts his picture on Facebook is going to have a potential employer looking at that photo before he gets hired. Why should we have more attention? I mean, for heaven's sake, towards some college kid who wants to one day ten years from to get a job, then we're going after who wants to come in with a semi automatic weapon or a pipe bomb and blow up a bunch of Americans. This is what I think a lot of Americans are frustrated with, it's the duplicity of our policy that is illogical and irrational. Our goal ought to be, "protect Americans and put Americans first not last," which is what I think this administration has done. +p3205 +aVNo, it does not violate their First Amendment rights to have someone go and listen to the sermons. You can go to any church in America, it's a public place, you can listen, and \u2014 you know, if you go to my church, you'll probably get a real blessing. Heck, it'll be a wonderful experience. You go to some people's church, you may go to sleep, I don't know what happens in every church, but, the point is that these are public places, and folks are invited to come. So, if it's a public place, and people are invited to come, how does it violate anybody's First Amendment rights that somebody shows up because they might want to just listen in and see is there something that is a little nefarious? And, if there is, then you take the second step of getting a search warrant, you do whatever you have to do. That's all protected under the constitution. So, Huge, I hear people act like there's something that is terrible about going and sitting in and listening to the sermons of a mosque. If Islam is as wonderful, and peaceful as its adherents say, shouldn't they be begging us to all come in and listen to these peaceful sermons? Shouldn't they be begging us all to come, and listen, and bring the FBI so we'd all want to convert to Islam? +p3206 +aVI don't disagree. I don't disagree with anything that the Senator just said because that's exactly right. But, I just want to go back to the point that when people say we can't go into the mosque, we can't listen. That's utter nonsense. Of course we can. And, if we can't, if there's something so secretive going on in there that somebody isn't allowed to go and hear it, maybe we do need for sure to send somebody in there and gather the intelligence. And, that's all to the world I'm saying, I think it stands to be true. +p3207 +aVThe way we defeat them ideologically is that we remind people that what their intent is is to kill us, and that it is our intent to use every means possible to get to them before they get to us. We are pretending that this is a war that is not that significant. We have a president who called it the JV team, said we had contained it. Nine hours after he said we contained it, there was a massacre in Paris. We've got to make it so untenable for somebody to join +p3208 +aVWolf, it may be sufficient, but rather than put a number \u2014 and I'm comfortable that we say 10,000, 20,000 \u2014 look, I think we make a mistake when we start telling the enemy what our limitations are. I think we make a huge mistake when we say we're gonna do up to this. I think what we say is, we're gonna do whatever it takes. If it's 10,000, if it's 100,000, if it's 3,000 sorties a day, if it's 5,000 sorties a day. We never tell our enemy what our limitations are, what we are willing and what we're unwilling to do. And that's one of the mistakes I believe that we're making militarily. But the biggest mistake we've made militarily is letting Barack Obama cut our defense forces by 25 percent and leaving us at the least prepared position we've been in since before World War II. We have to get our Military rebuilt from the ground up. And all over America I hear young people say, would you tell me what you're going to do? Would you give me free college? Will you make sure that I can have medical marijuana? You know what we ought to tell young people? We aren't going to give you anything. We're give you the opportunity to get off your butt and go serve your country and secure your freedom. Because if you don't, nobody else is. +p3209 +aVI'd sure want them to think we would. And I'd want to make sure that we did everything we could. But we can't do it with our current Military strength. We've got to build up and have the most robust, well trained, well equipped, well prepared and ample Military force in the history of the world because we're not fighting just a known enemy in one place. We're fighting people all over the world who can go anywhere. And the reason I say that is because if we tried to win this war on the cheap or we try to do it with the, "light footprint," we're making a huge mistake. When all of us were in grade school, one thing we all knew, the bully never picked on the kid except for the weak one. When all of us were in grade school, one thing we all knew, the bully never picked on the kid, except for the weak one. He never picked on the kid he knew, he'd whip him. We need to make to sure that we have the kind of military that +p3210 +aVWell, I want to be real clear, I don't trust Putin, I don't trust Assad. I'm not saying that I would endorse him for his reelection bid. The man is a tyrant, he's killed lots of people, but he wasn't killing Americans. And, the thing that I'm concerned about is that we have seen a complete destabilization, not only of Syria, but we've seen it in Yemen, that the President pronouncing great shape just before it collapsed. +p3211 +aVWell what we have done, and we created an impossible atmosphere. This administration has put more pressure on Israel to stop building bedrooms in Judea and Samaria than they've put on Iranians to stop building a nuclear bomb. And I'm just simply pointing out the obvious, that we need to recognize who our friends are, who our enemies are... +p3212 +aV... but I'm convinced... +p3213 +aVWell, first of all, it would be the Iranians. I would have never entered into this deal. I don't know why on God's earth that the senators gave it so that it was easier for Obama to have the agreement than it would be to make it a treaty. +p3214 +aVI would make sure that there was economic pressure put on them. Why not? Why should we fund every single battle against radical Islam? Why should we stand back and watch Israel get targeted, the United States get targeted and we watch with people with their hands in their pocket, and their hands in our pocket because we're getting them a lot of money. And let's say your hands can be in your pocket, you can stand still, but your hands aren't going to be in our pockets anymore. We're not going to give you another dime unless you engage the battle with us. We are not sending our sons and daughters, and grandsons and granddaughters to war to fight for your interest. You either get in with us or be on your own. But we're not gonna fight the battle for you. +p3215 +aVI wouldn't reinstate a draft, but, I think it's noteworthy that we are fighting all the battles we have with less than one percent of the American population. +p3216 +aVI wouldn't reinstate a draft, but, I think it's noteworthy that we are fighting all the battles we have with less than one percent of the American population. We have the lowest level of percentage of population participating in the military than ever. And they're over-deployed, they're over used, especially among our reserves and Guard troops. Any governor will tell you. +p3217 +aVWell, I would say that, if you want a college education, let's go back and reinstate the full-blown G.I. bill. You give something to your country; your country gives something back to you. We need to ask young people to step up and buy their own freedom because there's not going to be enough people left at less than one percent. And as my good friend Ken Howard, former Dean of the War College, has often said, we're fighting all the wars with other people's kids. And that's one of the things that's making us much less safe, is because we don't have enough Americans truly invested in the process of defeating our enemies. Therefore, I do think without a draft we do need to ask people to recognize we are at war. +p3218 +aVI'm not belittling their sacrifice, Lindsey, but I'm just making note that on the part of Americans we have sent National Guard troops over for an 18-month em \u2014 18-month deployment. They come back for five, they go back for another 18. We're wearing these guys out. They agreed to be citizen soldiers. We turned them into full time soldiers because we've not kept up the pace by recruiting enough people in the military to fully fill these forces, and that's what we need to be doing. +p3219 +aVThe horrors that those families have to go through, if that were my son, my daughter, I'd give my last drop of blood to get them back. You bet I would. Is it a good policy? No. It's a terrible policy because once we do it, we're only going to invite more and more hostages, more and more ransoms, and the diasters gets even worse. But I don't blame any of these families. You know who I blame? I blame a policy in our government that has made it so that families are so desperate that they're willing to pay ransom to terrorists organizations because they don't believe our government will fight the fight for them and they think they're out there on their own. My goodness people, this is America. When did we have to start telling people that you've got to bake your own bread in order to fight the battles? That's what we have a government for, it's what we pay taxes for. And I believe, those families ought to have a better expectation of what this government will do. We should never has sat at the table with the Iranians as long Sayed Abadnini is sitting in an Iranian prison. As long as the Washington Post report is over there. Until the four hostages of America were on an airplane safely out of Tehran. We should've told them, " we won't even walk into the room with you much less sit down and negotiate with you." That's what we ought to be doing. +p3220 +aVWe just need to take a real pause and all the people that coming here and we don't know who they are or what their affiliations are. What George just said is right. We can't take the risk. And why should we take the risk? And if it's such a doggone good idea to bring people here that we really don't know who they are and Obama thinks that we're being un-Christian to not do it, I've got a suggestion. Let's send the first wave of them to Chappaqua, Martha's Vineyard and the upper east side of Manhattan and to the south lawn of the White House where we'll set up a camp. Let's see how that works out. And if they behave wonderfully, that's fine. I want to say, I don't want someone lecturing me about what it means to be a Christian that I should invite a potential terrorist into my backyard. On one hand, the left says separation of church and state. Let's not have any discussion of religion, and then the left wants to tell me what it means to be a Christian. They need to figure out if they know more about being a Christian than I do, then tell me... On one hand, the left says separation of church and state. Let's not have any discussion of religion, and then the left wants to tell me what it means to be a Christian. They need to figure out if they know more about being a Christian than I do \u2014 then tell me. They are no longer going to say separation of church and state, but, we have the most fundamental right above everything else \u2014 is not to protect the reputation of Islam. It is to protect Americans first and foremost. That is our job. +p3221 +aVNo, because he did it unconstitutionally. Twenty-three times he's said he couldn't do it, and then one day he woke up and he found he had a pen in one hand, and a phone in another, and wow. That Constitution didn't mean much anymore. Look, President's can't just do what they want to do. That's the purpose of getting elected and working with other people who got elected, is that our system was designed to function with the power of persuasion, it's really what you elect a president to do. +p3222 +aV...Let me finish, Hugh. You elect him to lead which means that if you think it's a good idea to not punish the children for something their parents did, then you go to the members of Congress and you persuade them. And, you persuade the American people. You don't just jump up and shove it up the nostrils of Congress, and the American people because you think you have a superior intellect, and a superior will, and a superior theology than everybody else. Our system is not a system of tyranny. We don't elect kings, we elect servants. If I'm elected president, I don't consider myself to be elected to be the king of the country, but the servant of the country to work with other people who are elected to get things done that need to be done. +p3223 +aVThe terrorists don't win just because they kill us. The terrorists win when they make us change everything we do in our daily lives and alter our routines. And they're doing that, from getting on a plane to going in a building. And it is high time that we recognize that we have to take them out, not a little bit, but totally, because I want my grandkids to grow up not in fear, but in faith and in freedom. And if you give me the opportunity to be president of the United States, I will fight for your grandkids as much as I will for mine. Thank you and God bless you. +p3224 +aVWell, first of all, Trish, I don't know why we have to move away from manufacturing. The only reason we have is because... ...we have a tax code that has punished manufacturing. I hear a lot of people talk about the plans to simplify the tax code. I've got one better than any of the simplifications, it's called a, "Fair Tax", and it eliminates all of the taxes on our productivity. Here's what would happen. We'd get rid of taxes on people's work, so, we wouldn't punish people for working anymore. Yeah, we've lost five million manufacturing jobs just since the year 2000 \u2014 160,000 manufacturing plants have close in this country, which means a lot of people \u2014 that the governors talking about, he's exactly right. They don't have jobs anymore. And the reason they don't have jobs is because their jobs are in Mexico, they're in China, they're in Indonesia. Bring the jobs back. And with the fair tax, you do that, because you don't tax capital and labor and you bring a real sense of equity to the opportunity so that people will not only make it easier to function, they'll get the manufacturing jobs back. And here's the best part. We don't reduce the IRS, we get rid of the IRS. We completely eliminate them......because the government has no business knowing how much money we make and how we made it. It's none of their business. And that's why I believe that manufacturing is critical. If we can't feed ourselves, fuel ourselves and fight for ourselves, we can't be free. And by the way, fighting for ourselves means manufacturing our own weapons of self-defense. +p3225 +aVWell, Sandra, first of all, let me mention the fact that I think there's a big difference between welfare programs and what some people call entitlements. Namely, Social Security and Medicare. I just want to remind everybody out there who has ever had a paycheck, the government didn't ask you if you wanted them to take money out of your check for Social Security and Medicare. They did that involuntarily. Those are not entitlements and that's not welfare. That's an earned benefit. And by gosh, you paid for it. And if the government screwed it up, you shouldn't have to pay the penalty because of an incompetent government. That's different than the social programs that we've spent $2 trillion on since the War on Poverty began exactly 50 years ago this year. Now the reason we still have so much poverty is because it was never designed to get people out of poverty. It was designed to make sure that there was an industry of poverty, so that the people in the poverty industry would have a lot of jobs. But the people who are poor haven't been benefited. Having grown up poor, I know a little something about it. Nobody who is poor wants to be. That's a nonsense statement and I hear it all the time. Well, poor people ought to work harder. They're working as hard as they can, for gosh sake. But the problem is the system keeps pushing them down because, if they work, then they get punished. They lose all the benefits. When we did welfare reform in the '90s, you know what we did? We said you're not going to lose everything at once. There's not an arbitrary threshold. So as you move up the ladder from work and training, you'll actually always be better off than you were before. That's the American way. +p3226 +aVWell, I'd just like to respond, with all due respect to, to the Governor, to the state just south of me, I would say that a lot of us have cut things. And during the recession of 2001 to 2003, when 91 percent of our state budget was basically three things, educate, medicate and incarcerate, we ended up cutting 11 percent out of the state budget through that recession so we didn't have to go in and raise a bunch of taxes, and there were people who thought we should. So it's just not accurate to say that nobody else up here has ever cut. I believe every governor has probably had to make tough decisions. I'm, I'm guessing my colleague Governor Christie has, as I'm tossing him the ball like Arkansas did to Ol' Miss the other day. +p3227 +aVSandra, before we get too far away, he specifically brought out some things about the record that I need to correct. +p3228 +aVSandra, I've been concerned that this administration has not done anything to help stop the slaughter of Christians. We didn't help the Kurds, we said we would. But, the idea that we're just going to open our doors, and we have no idea who these people are \u2014 what we do know is that only one out of five of the so called, "Syrian Refugees", who went into Europe were actually Syrian. Many of them, we had no idea who they were. They weren't Syrian. Are we going to open the doors so that the +p3229 +aV...I'd like to get that opportunity to go... +p3230 +aVWell, since we're not going to answer the question, let me just remind everybody, tomorrow is Veterans Day. And here's what I would like to remind everybody. The VA has been a disaster in large part because the people in Congress have never bothered to fix it, and this president has certainly not... +p3231 +aVLet me finish, please. I'm going to ask you just this, what would happen if the Congress and the president had to get their health care from the VA? We would fix the problem and we would fix Congress. +p3232 +aVWell, thank you very much. I still want to go back to the fact that if we got rid of all the taxes on our work, got rid of the taxes on our savings, investments, capital gains, and inheritance, and made a zero tax, we'd pay at the point of consumption. Because why should we punish people for their productivity? And the fair tax doesn't punish people for doing well and building the economy. There's $31 trillion parked offshore. What happens if that money comes back to America? You'd think it'd goose the economy? I guarantee you it would. And that's why the fair tax is the best solution we have for economic growth in this country. +p3233 +aVWell, first of all, do you know an American that will just stop spending? I don't. No, that's not going to be the problem. Look, Americans will go to the marketplace with more money they've ever had. For the first time they'll be having their whole paycheck. You see, most people don't understand that when you buy something that is made in America, 22 percent of the cost of it is the embedded tax they never even know they paid. It's why China has beaten the daylights out of us, they can build stuff that we can't because they're not taxing it, when they don't tax capital and labor and we do. They bring something over here, it's automatically cheaper even without the regulatory environment because they're not embedding the taxes, we are. Take the embedded taxes out. Give a person his whole paycheck because every American would no longer have a payroll tax taken out. It means they'd see their real paycheck for the first time. When they go to spend that money, they'll actually have it. And they only pay taxes on the stuff that's new. So a lot of Americans will buy used stuff. Look, here's the point, Americans are not going to quit shopping. Americans are not going to quit buying. But it would be nice if Americans could control how much they paid in tax, rather than having the government reach into their pockets and take it out before they ever had a chance to even see it, much less spend it. And that's why the fair tax makes a heck of a lot more sense than punishing productivity and rewarding irresponsibility. +p3234 +aVWell, my wife's name is Janet and when you say Janet Yelling, I'm very familiar with what you mean. But, look, I think the Fed is in a big trouble because they haven't addressed the number one issue that's hurting Americans and that's the fact that wages for the bottom 90 percent of the economy have been stagnant for 40 years. In the 25 years after World War II, up to 1971, wages grew by 85 percent in this country. People were \u2014 were moving up in the middle class. There was a middle class. That's not happening any more, and in large measure, the Fed has manipulated the dollar so it doesn't have a standard. Tie the dollar to something fixed and if it's not going to be gold, make it the commodity basket. But here's what we've got to do. We absolutely have to get it where the people who go out there and work get something in return. And if the dollar keeps fluctuating, and this is as crazy as \u2014 as is the price of bread, well, the fact is, people can't get ahead then. +p3235 +aVAbsolutely. Absolutely, because what we need to is to make sure that they tie the monetary standard to something that makes sense, rather than to their own whims, because who's getting gut punched? It ain't the people in Wall Street, it's the folks on Main Street. They're the ones who's wages have been stagnant for 40 years. And the average American today has a total savings of 1,000 bucks. One root canal and they're in trouble. And if their car breaks down the same week......they're out of business. +p3236 +aVWell, I think thanking our veterans is a wonderful thing to do, but, they sure appreciate a better paycheck. They'd appreciate the fact that we kept our promises to them. The men and women in uniform put on the uniform of our nation, they went halfway around the world, they face dangers on our behalf, and we promised them if they did that, when they came home we'd take care of their medical care, we'd make is possible for their kids to go to college, and they'd be able to bind to a home. They kept their promises to us. We have not kept our promises to them, and today, less than one percent of Americans go to the military for service. We're fighting wars with other people's kids in large measure because we've not taken seriously the moral, not the monetary, the moral obligation to take care of the veterans and to keep America's promise to the ones who kept their promise to America. +p3237 +aVIn many ways, I feel like I'm the luckiest guy on Earth. I really do. It's a long way from a little brick rent house on second street in Hope, Arkansas to this stage where I'm running for President of the United States. It's not about me, not about these guys \u2014 'ought to be about you, and I've never been the favorite of the people who have the most money. But, I want to be the favorite of the people who still want to believe the American dream can work for them. Today in our office, I got a letter from a third grader in North Dakota, her name is Reese. She sent $6 dollars from her allowance, and said, "I want to help you be president." You know, I'm going to keep standing on this stage, and keep fighting for one reason, because somewhere out there in North Dakota, and all over America, there are kids like Reese who need a president who will never forget where they came from, and I promise I won't. +p3238 +asVCRUZ +p3239 +(lp3240 +VThank you, Wolf. America is at war. Our enemy is not violent extremism. It is not some unnamed malevolent force. It is radical Islamic terrorist. We have a president who is unwilling to utter its name. The men and women on this stage, every one of us, is better prepared to keep this nation safe than is Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. We need a president who understands the first obligation of the commander-in-chief is to keep America safe. If I am elected president, we will hunt down and kill the terrorists. We will utterly destroy +p3241 +aVWell, listen, Hugh, everyone understands why Donald has suggested what he has. We're looking at a president who's engaged in this double-speak where he doesn't call radical Islamic terrorism by its name. Indeed, he gives a speech after the San Bernardino attack where his approach is to try to go after the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens rather than to keep us safe. And even worse, President Obama and Hillary Clinton are proposing bringing tens of thousands of Syrian refugees to this country when the head of the FBI has told Congress they cannot vet those refugees. I understand why Donald made that proposal. I introduced legislation in the Senate that I believe is more narrowly focused at the actual threat, which is radical Islamic terrorism, and what my legislation would do is suspend all refugees for three years from countries where +p3242 +aVWell, you know, I'm reminded of what FDR's grandfather said. He said, "All horse-thieves are Democrats, but not all Democrats are horse-thieves." In this instance, there are millions of peaceful Muslims across the world, in countries like India, where there is not the problems we are seeing in nations that are controlled \u2014 have territory controlled by Al Qaida or +p3243 +aVWell, Dana, the premise of your question is not accurate. I'm very proud to have joined with conservatives in both the Senate and the House to reform how we target bad guys. And what the USA Freedom Act did is it did two things. Number one, it ended the federal government's bulk collection of phone metadata of millions of law-abiding citizens. But number two in the second half of it that is critical. It strengthened the tools of national security and law enforcement to go after terrorists. It gave us greater tools and we are seeing those tools work right now in San Bernardino. And in particular, what it did is the prior program only covered a relatively narrow slice of phone calls. When you had a terrorist, you could only search a relatively narrow slice of numbers, primarily land lines. The USA Freedom Act expands that so now we have cell phones, now we have Internet phones, now we have the phones that terrorists are likely to use and the focus of law enforcement is on targeting the bad guys. You know what the Obama administration keeps getting wrong is whenever anything bad happens they focus on law-abiding citizens instead of focusing on the bad guys. We need to focus on radical Islamic terrorists and we need to stop them before they carry out acts of terror. +p3244 +aVWell, you know, I would note that Marco knows what he's saying isn't true. You know, Mark Levin wrote a column last week that says that the attack ads his Super PAC is running that are saying the same thing, that they are knowingly false and they are, in fact, Alinsky-like attacks like Barack Obama. And the reason is simple. What he knows is that the old program covered 20 percent to 30 percent of phone numbers to search for terrorists. The new program covers nearly 100 percent. That gives us greater ability to stop acts of terrorism, and he knows that that's the case. +p3245 +aVWhat it means is using overwhelming air power to utterly and completely destroy +p3246 +aVYou would carpet bomb where +p3247 +aVWell, you know, Marco has continued these attacks, and he knows they're not true. Yes, it is true that I voted against the National Defense Authorization Act, because when I campaigned in Texas I told voters in Texas that I would oppose the federal government having the authority to detain U.S. citizens permanently with no due process. I have repeatedly supported an effort to take that out of that bill, and I honored that campaign commitment. +p3248 +aVBut more broadly, you know, the notion Marco is suggesting, that somehow \u2014 he also has tossed more than a few insults this direction \u2014 let's be absolutely clear. +p3249 +aVWolf, I believe in a America first foreign policy, that far too often President Obama and Hillary Clinton \u2014 and, unfortunately, more than a few Republicans \u2014 have gotten distracted from the central focus of keeping this country safe. So let's go back to the beginning of the Obama administration, when Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama led +p3250 +aV... we ought to hunt down our enemies and kill +p3251 +aVWell, it's more than not shedding a tear. It's actively getting involved to topple a government. And we keep hearing from President Obama and Hillary Clinton and Washington Republicans that they're searching for these mythical moderate rebels. It's like a purple unicorn. They never exist. These moderate rebels end up being jihadists. And I'll tell you whose view on Assad is the same as mine. It's Prime Minister Netanyahu. Prime Minister Netanyahu has said Israel doesn't have a dog in that fight because Assad is a puppet of Iran, a Shia radical Islamic terrorist, but at the same time, Prime Minister Netanyahu doesn't want to see Syria governed by +p3252 +aVThe question of whether we should toppling dictatorships is asking the wrong question. We should be defeating our enemies. So the problem with defeating... +p3253 +aVWell, but let me explain, the focus should be... +p3254 +aV... on defeating our enemies. So, for example... +p3255 +aV... a regime we should change is Iran... +p3256 +aV... because Iran has declared war on us. But we shouldn't be toppling regimes...... that are fighting radical Islamic terrorists that are helping... +p3257 +aVWell, he \u2014 he has attempted to muddy the waters, but I think that anyone who watched the battle that we had. You know, there was a time for choosing as Reagan put it. Where there was a battle over amnesty and some chose, like Senator Rubio to stand with Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer and support a massive amnesty plan. Others chose to stand with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and the American people and secure the border. And let me mention, this issue is actually directly connected to what we've been talking about. Because the front line with +p3258 +aVLook, I understand Marco wants to raise confusion, it is not accurate what he just said that I supported legalization. Indeed, I led the fight against his legalization and amnesty. And you know, there was one commentator that put it this way that, for Marco to suggest our record's the same is like suggesting "the fireman and the arsonist because they are both at the scene of the fire." He was fighting to grant amnesty and not to secure the border, I was fighting to secure the border. And this also goes to trust, listening on to campaign trails. Candidates all the time make promises. You know, Marco said," he learned that the American people didn't trust the federal government." +p3259 +aVIn Florida promising to... +p3260 +aVgo in the fight against amnesty... +p3261 +aVHe campaigned promising to lead the fight against amnesty. +p3262 +aVI have never supported a legalization... +p3263 +aVI have never supported legalization, and I do not intend to support legalization. Let me tell you how you do this, what you do is you enforce the law... +p3264 +aVWatt you do is enforcement the law... +p3265 +aVWhat you do... +p3266 +aVWhat you do is you enforce the law. I've laid out a very, very detailed immigration plan on my website, tedcruz.org. It's 11 pages of existing federal law and in particular the question of what to do with people who are here now? You enforce the law. That means you stop the Obama administration's policy of releasing criminal illegal aliens. Do you know how many aliens Bill Clinton deported? 12 million. Do you know how many illegal aliens, George W. Bush deported? 10 million. We can enforce the laws and if we secure the border, that solves the problem. And as president I will solve this problem and secure the border. +p3267 +aVDana, what I said in private is exactly what I'll say here, which is that the judgment that every voter is making of every one of us up here is who has the experience, who has the vision, who has the judgment to be commander in chief. That is the most important decision for the voters to make. That's a standard I'm held to. And it's a standard everyone else is held to. And I will note, you know, in the whole course of this discussion about our foreign policy threats, it actually illustrates the need for clarity of focus. You know, my daughters, Caroline and Catherine, came tonight. They're 7 and 5. And you think about the Los Angeles schools canceling their schools today. And every parent is wondering, how do we keep our kids safe? We need a commander in chief who does what Ronald Reagan did with communism, which is he set out a global strategy to defeat Soviet communism. And he directed all of his... I'm answering the question, Dana. He directed all of his forces to defeating communism. One of the things we've seen here is how easy it is for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to get distracted from dealing with radical Islamic terrorism. They won't even call it by its name. We need a president who stands up, number one, and says, we will defeat +p3268 +aVAnd we need to be focused on defeating... +p3269 +aV... defeating radical Islamic terrorists. +p3270 +aVWhat I'm saying, Dana, is that is a judgment for every voter to make. What I can tell you is all nine of the people here would make an infinitely better commander in chief than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. +p3271 +aVAnd there is a real danger, Dana, when people get distracted. I'm answering the question, Wolf. There's a real danger when people get distracted by peripheral issues. They get distracted by democracy building. They get distracted about military conflicts. We need to focus on defeating jihadism. +p3272 +aVAnd I will do everything necessary to keep our children safe. +p3273 +aVJudgment, strength, clarity and trust. Barack Obama has said he doesn't believe in American leadership or America winning \u2014 he is wrong. America can win again and we will win again. Ronald Reagan reignited the American economy, rebuilt the Military, bankrupted the Soviet Union and defeated Soviet Communism. I will do the same thing. Cutting taxes, cutting regulation, unleashing small businesses and rebuilding the Military to defeat radical Islamic terrorism \u2014 our strategy is simple. We win, they lose. We've done it before and we can do it again. +p3274 +aVWell, Maria, it's great to be with you. It's great to be here in Milwaukee. You know, the question you asked really I think is the most important question any of us can have \u2014 face, which is, how do we get the economy growing? How do we bring back economic growth? Because economic growth, it's foundational to every other challenge we have. As you rightly noted, from 2008 to today, our economy has grown 1.2 percent a year on average. The Obama economy is a disaster, and the IMF is telling us this is a new normal. It doesn't have to be. If you look at the history of America, there are three levers that government has had to facilitate economic growth. The first is tax reform. And as you noted, I have rolled out a bold and simple flat tax: 10 percent for every American that would produce booming growth and 4.9 million new jobs within a decade. The second element is regulatory reform, pulling back the armies of regulators that have descended like locusts on small businesses. And the third element is sound money. Every time we've pursued all three of those \u2014 whether in the 1920s with Calvin Coolidge or the 1960s with JFK or the 1980s with Ronald Reagan \u2014 the result has been incredible economic growth. We have done it before, and with leadership, we can do it again. +p3275 +aVWell, my Mom is here, so I don't think we should be pushing any grannies off cliffs. And, you miss-stated what I've said on entitlement reform. What I've said is for seniors we should make no changes whatsoever, for younger workers we should gradually raise the retirement age, we should have benefits grow more slowly, and we should allow them to keep a portion of their taxes in a personal account that they control, and can pass on to their kids... +p3276 +aVI want to go back to the discussion we had a minute ago because, you know, what was said was right. The democrats are laughing \u2014 because if republicans join democrats as the party of amnesty, we will lose. And, you know, I understand that when the mainstream media covers immigration, it doesn't often see it as an economic issue. But, I can tell you for millions \u2014 of Americans at home watching this, it is a very personal economic issue. And, I will say the politics of it will be very, very different if a bunch of lawyers or bankers were crossing the Rio Grande. Or if a bunch of people with journalism degrees were coming over and driving down the wages in the press. Then, we would see stories about the economic calamity that is befalling our nation. And, I will say for those of us who believe people 'ought to come to this country legally, and we should enforce the law, we're tired of being told it's anti-immigrant. It's offensive. I am the son of an immigrant who came legally from Cuba... ...to seek the American dream. And, we can embrace legal immigration while believing in the rule of law \u2014 and I would note, try going illegally to another country. Try going to China, or Japan. Try going to Mexico. See what they do. Every sovereign nation secures its borders, and it is not compassionate to say we're not going to enforce the laws... ...And we're going to drive down the wages for millions of hardworking men and women. That is abandoning the working... +p3277 +aVWell, sure, you put your finger on what the problem is. The current system isn't fair. Washington is fundamentally corrupt. There are more words in the IRS code than there are in the Bible \u2014 and \u2014 and not a one of them is as good. Every one of them reflects a carve-out or a subsidy, and it's all about empowering the Washington cartel. My simple Flat Tax says that, for a family of four, for the first $36,000 you earn, you pay no taxes whatsoever. No income taxes, no payroll taxes, no nothing. Above that, every American pays 10 percent across the board \u2014 a flat, fair tax. Which means that no longer do you have hedge-fund billionaires paying a lower tax rate than their secretaries. On the business side, I've got a business flat tax of 16 percent \u2014 again, that applies across the board. Right now, with our corporate income tax, giant corporations with armies of accountants regularly are paying little to no taxes while small businesses are getting hammered. This is fair and across-the-board. Now, you ask, how do the numbers add up? I would encourage folks, if you go to our website, tedcruz.org, we have the specific numbers on the website. This plan eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax, eliminates the corporate income tax, and it abolishes the IRS. And the effect of that is incredible economic growth. It means every income group will see double-digit increases, from the very poorest to the very weakest, of at least 14 percent. So if you're a single mom, if you're making $40,000 a year, what that means is an extra about $5,000 in your pocket to provide for your kids, to make ends meet. It has a powerful, powerful effect. And there's one other really powerful feature of my plan, which is that it's border-adjustable. Which means, if you're an exporter \u2014 if you're a farmer, if you're a rancher, if you're a manufacturer, you don't pay the businesses flat tax. Exports are free of that tax, but all imports pay that 16 percent business flat tax, which means this tax plan would cause jobs to boom, and it would let America compete with China and the world on a level playing field. +p3278 +aVWell, the numbers the Tax Foundation had put out is that the static cost of the plan is $3.6 trillion over 10 years, but the dynamic cost of the plan, which \u2014 which is the cost that factors in growth, is about $768 billion. It is less than a trillion. It costs less than virtually every other plan people have put up here, and yet it produces more growth and it's one of the very few plans that abolishes the IRS. But on top of that, today, we rolled out a spending plan. $500 billion in specific cuts \u2014 five major agencies that I would eliminate. The IRS, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Energy, the Department of Commerce, and HUD \u2014 and then 25 specific programs. Again, that's on our website at tedcruz.org. You want to look at specificity? It's easy for everyone to say, "cut spending". It's much harder and riskier to put out, chapter and verse, specifically the programs you would cut to stop bankrupting our kids and grandkids. +p3279 +aV...Middle ground that brings both of these together... +p3280 +aV...Exactly right, that we have to defend this nation. You think defending this nation is expensive, try not defending it. That's a lot more expensive. But, you can do that, and pay for it. You can do that, and also be fiscally responsible. You know, I mention that the 25 programs that I put today, that I would eliminate them. Among them are corporate welfare, like sugar subsidies. Let's take that as an example. Sugar subsidies. Sugar farmers farm under... ...under roughly 0.2% of the farmland in America, and yet they give 40% of the lobbying money. That sort of corporate welfare is why we're bankrupting our kids, and grandkids. I would end those subsidies to pay for defending this nation... +p3281 +aVAbsolutely yes. You know, I have spent much of my adult life enforcing the law and defending the Constitution. And the problem that underlies all of this is the cronyism and corruption of Washington. You know, the opening question Jerry asked, would you bail out the big banks again? Nobody gave you an answer to that. I'll give you an answer. Absolutely not. And what we have right now is we have Washington \u2014 as government gets bigger and bigger, you know, the biggest lie in all of Washington and in all of politics is that Republicans are the party of the rich. The truth is, the rich do great with big government. They get in bed with big government. The big banks get bigger and bigger and bigger under Dodd-Frank and community banks are going out of business. And, by the way, the consequence of that is small businesses can't get business loans, and it is that fundamental corruption that is why six of the 10 wealthiest counties in America are in and around Washington, D.C. And let me give you a contrast to Washington cronyism. Some weeks ago, a woman named Sabina Loving testified at a hearing that I chaired in the Senate. Sabina Loving is an African-American single mom who started a tax preparation business in the south side of Chicago. She found a store front, she wanted to have her own business. She started a business. But then the IRS promulgated new regulations targeting tax preparers. They did it under a more than 100-year-old statute called the Dead Horse Act. Now, this statute and the IRS in classic Washington crony fashion had exemptions for lawyers and big fancy accountants, but Sabina had to pay $1,000 an employee. It would have driven her out of business, and Ms. Loving sued the IRS. She took the Obama IRS to court, and she won, and they struck down the rule for picking the big guys over the little guys. +p3282 +aVYes. Now, let's be clear, there is a role for the Federal Reserve \u2014 what the Fed is doing now is it is a series of philosopher- kings trying to guess what's happening with the economy. You look at the Fed, one of the reasons we had the financial crash is throughout the 2000s, we had loose money, we had an asset bubble, it drove up the price of real estate, drove up the price of commodities, and then in the third quarter of 2008, the Fed tightened the money and crashed those asset prices, which caused a cascading collapse. That's why I am supporting getting back to rules-based monetary system not with a bunch of philosopher-kings deciding, but tied... +p3283 +aVSo let me be clear. I would not bail them out, but instead of adjusting monetary policy according to whims and getting it wrong over and over again and causing booms and busts, what the Fed should be doing is, number one, keeping our money tied to a stable level of gold, and, number two, serving as a lender of last resort. That's what central banks do. So if you have a run on the bank, the Fed can serve as a lender of last resort, but it's not a bailout. It is a loan at higher interest rates. That's how central banks have worked. And I'll point out \u2014 look, we had a gold standard under Bretton Woods, we had it for about 170 years of our nation's history, and enjoyed booming economic growth and lower inflation than we have had with the Fed now. We need to get back to sound money, which helps, in particular, working men and women. What Washington does \u2014 the people who are doing well in the Obama economy are those with power and influence in the Obama government. The people who working men and women... +p3284 +aVSo, Governor Kasich... +p3285 +aV...why would you then bail out rich Wall Street banks, but not Main street, not Mom and Pop, not Sabina Loving? +p3286 +aVBut you just said an executive... +p3287 +aV...knows to step in and bail out a bank. +p3288 +aVSo you said you'd abandon philosophy and abandon principle... +p3289 +aV...but what would you do if the bank was failing? +p3290 +aVSo you \u2014 you would bail them out. +p3291 +aVAnd, Maria, I will note, she's got a lot of experience, but her policies have proven disastrous. If you look at foreign policy, every region in the world has gotten worse. Under her leadership, we abandon the nation of Israel. Under her leadership, radical Islamic terrorism has been on to the rise. Under her leadership, and Obama's leadership, Iran is getting $100 billion dollars, and on the verge of getting a nuclear weapon. Everything she's put her hand to, or has touched \u2014 and when we talk about the cronyism of Washington, Hillary Clinton embodies the cronyism... ...of Washington. And, I'll give you an example of that, which is the Congressional exemption from Obamacare, which is fundamentally wrong, and I'll tell you this, if I'm elected president, I will veto any statute that exempts members of congress. The law should apply evenly to every American. +p3292 +aVMaria, critically, when it comes to climate change... +p3293 +aV...Our \u2014 our... +p3294 +aVFifty-eight years ago, my father fled Cuba. As he stood on the deck of that ferryboat with the wind and salt air blowing, he looked back at the oppression and torture he was escaping. And yet he looked forward to the promise of America. His story is our story. What ties Americans together is we are all the children of those who risked everything for freedom. America is in crisis now. I believe in America. And if we get back to the free market principles and constitutional liberties that built this country, we can turn this country around. I believe that 2016 will be an election like 1980, that we will win by following Reagan's admonition to paint in bold colors, not pale pastels. We're building a grassroots army. I ask you to join us at tedcruz.org. And we, the people, can turn this nation around. +p3295 +aVI'm too agreeable, easy going. You know, I think my biggest weakness is exactly the opposite. I'm a fighter. I am passionate about what I believe. I've been passionate my whole life about the Constitution. And, you know, for six-and-a-half years, we've had a gigantic party. If you want someone to grab a beer with, I may not be that guy. But if you want someone to drive you home, I will get the job done and I will get you home. +p3296 +aVBecky, if you want a 10 percent flat tax where the numbers add up, I rolled out my tax plan today, you can find it on line at tedcruz.org. It is a simple flat tax where for individuals, a family of four pays nothing on the first $36,000. After that you pay 10 percent as a flat tax going up. The billionaire and the working man, no hedge fund manager pays less than his secretary. On top of that, there is a business flat tax of 16 percent. Now that applies universally to giant corporations that with lobbyists right now are not paying taxes, and as small business. And you wanted to know the numbers, the Tax Foundation, which has scored every one of our plans, shows that this plan will allow the economy to generate 4.9 million jobs, to raise wages over 12 percent, and to generate 14 percent growth. And it costs, with dynamic scoring, less than a trillion dollars. Those are the hard numbers. And every single income decile sees a double-digit increase in after-tax income. +p3297 +aVGrowth is the answer. And as Reagan demonstrated, if we cut taxes, we can bring back growth. +p3298 +aVYou know, let me say something at the outset. The questions that have been asked so far in this debate illustrate why the American people don't trust the media. This is not a cage match. And, you look at the questions \u2014 "Donald Trump, are you a comic-book villain?" "Ben Carson, can you do math?" "John Kasich, will you insult two people over here?" "Marco Rubio, why don't you resign?" "Jeb Bush, why have your numbers fallen?" How about talking about the substantive issues the people care about? +p3299 +aVAnd Carl \u2014 Carl, I'm not finished yet. The contrast with the Democratic debate, where every fawning question from the media was, "Which of you is more handsome and why?" And let me be clear. +p3300 +aVLet me be clear. The men and women on this stage have more ideas, more experience, more common sense than every participant in the Democratic debate. That debate reflected a debate between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. And nobody watching at home believed that any of the moderators had any intention of voting in a Republican primary. The questions that are being asked shouldn't be trying to get people to tear into each other. It should be what are your substantive positions... +p3301 +aVYou want me to answer that question? I'm happy to answer the question... +p3302 +aVLet me tell you how that question... +p3303 +aVLet me tell you how that question... +p3304 +aV... so you don't actually want to hear the answer, John? +p3305 +aVYou don't want to hear the answer. You just want to... +p3306 +aVYou're not interested in an answer. +p3307 +aV...Then I'll buy you a tequila... +p3308 +aV...Or, even some famous Colorado brownies. +p3309 +aVWell, sure. This deal in Washington is an example of why Washington's broken. Republican leadership joined with every single Democrat, add $80 trillion to our debt to do nothing to fix the problems. And, let me now on Social Security because we were getting into a good substantive exchange, and I want to say I think both Chris, and Mike are right. Governor Huckabee's exactly right, we need to honor the promises made to our seniors, but for younger workers \u2014 look. I'm 44 years old. It is hard to find someone in my generation that thinks Social Security will be there for us. We can save and preserve and strengthen Social Security by making no changes for seniors, but for younger workers gradually increasing the retirement age, changing the rate of growth so that it matches inflation, and critically allowing younger workers to keep a portion of our tax payments in a personal account that we own, we control them, we can pass on to our kids. +p3310 +aVWell, we've gotta turn the economy around for people who are struggling. The Democrats' answer to everything is more government control over wages, and more empowering trial lawyers to file lawsuits. You know, you look at women working. I'll tell you, in my family there are a lot of single moms in my family. My sister was a single mom, both of my aunts who were a single moms. My mom who's here today, was a single mom when my father left us when I was 3 years old. Now, thank God, my father was invited to a Bible study and became born again and he came back to my mom and me and we were raised together. But I \u2014 the struggle of single moms is extraordinary. And you know, when you see Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and all the Democrats talking about wanting to address the plight of working women, not a one of them mentioned the fact that under Barack Obama, 3.7 million women have entered poverty. Not a one of them mentioned the fact that under Barack Obama and the big government economy, the median wage for women has dropped $733. The the truth of the matter is, big government benefits the wealthy, it benefits the lobbyists, it benefits the giant corporations. And the people who are getting hammered are small businesses, it's single moms, it's Hispanics. That is who I'm fighting for. The people that Washington leaves behind. +p3311 +aVWell, Rick, it's a very important question. I have got deep concerns about the Fed. The first thing I think we need to do is audit the Fed. And I am an original co-sponsor of Rand Paul's audit the Fed legislation. The second thing we need to do is I think we need to bring together a bipartisan commission to look at getting back to rules- based monetary policy, end this star chamber that has been engaging in this incredible experiment of quantitative easing, QE1, QE2, QE3, QE- infinity. And the people who are being impacted, you know, a question that was asked earlier, Becky asked, was about working women. You know, it's interesting, you look at on Wall Street, the Fed is doing great. It's driving up stock prices. Wall Street is doing great. You know, today, the top 1 percent earn a higher share of our income than any year since 1928. But if you look at working men and women. If you look at a single mom buying groceries, she sees hamburger prices have gone up nearly 40 percent. She sees her cost of electricity going up. She sees her health insurance going up. And loose money is one of the major problems. We need sound money. And I think the Fed should get out of the business of trying to juice our economy and simply be focused on sound money and monetary stability, ideally tied to gold. +p3312 +aVLet me say on that... +p3313 +aV...Rand is exactly right. His plan is a good plan, and I will note that my 10% plan also eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax, +p3314 +aV...eliminates the business... [ +p3315 +aV...income tax... [ +p3316 +aV...10% flat rate... +p3317 +aV...is the lowest personal rate any candidate up here has, and what it would also enable us to do is for every citizen to fill out their taxes on a postcard so we can eliminate the IRS. +p3318 +aVYou know, everyone here talks about the need to take on Washington. The natural next question is who actually has done so. Who actually has stood up not just to Democrats, but to leaders in our own party? When millions of Americans rose up against Obamacare, I was proud to lead that fight. When millions of Americans rose up against amnesty, I was proud to lead that fight. When millions of Americans rose up against Planned Parenthood, I was proud to lead that fight. If people are promising they're going to take on Washington and cronyism, you need to look to who has been doing it. In my family, my dad fled oppression in Cuba to come to America. Freedom is personal for me, and I will always keep my word and fight for freedom. +p3319 +aVI'm Ted Cruz. I am the son of an Irish-Italian mom and a Cuban immigrant dad who fled oppression and came to America seeking freedom. I'm a husband to my best friend, Heidi, who's here tonight. I'm a dad to two little girls who are the loves of my life, Caroline and Catherine. If you're fed up with Washington, if you're looking for someone to stand up to career politicians in both parties, I'm the only one on this stage who has done that over and over again, and if we stand together, we can bring America back. +p3320 +aVWell, let me tell you, Jake, the single biggest national security threat facing America right now is the threat of a nuclear Iran. We've seen six and a half years of President Obama leading from behind. Weakness is provocative, and this Iranian nuclear deal is nothing short of catastrophic. This deal, on its face, will send over $100 billion to the Ayatollah Khamenei, making the Obama administration the world's leading financier of radical Islamic terrorism. +p3321 +aVThis deal abandons four American hostages in Iran, and this deal will only accelerate Iran's acquiring nuclear weapons. You'd better believe it. If I am elected president, on the very first day in office, I will rip to shreds this catastrophic Iranian nuclear deal. +p3322 +aVWell, let's be clear when it comes to experience. What President Obama wants to do is he's run to the United Nations, and he wants to use the United Nations to bind the United States, and take away our sovereignty. Well, I spent five and a half years as a Solicitor General of Texas, the lead lawyer for the state, in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, and I went in front of the Supreme Court, and took on the world court of the United Nations in a case called Medellin v. Texas, and we won a historic victory saying the World Court, and the U.N., has no power to bind the United States, and no President of the United States, Republican or Democrat, has the authority to give away our sovereignty. And, so, if there's anyone up here who would be bound by this catastrophic deal with Iran, they're giving up the core responsibility of commander in chief, and as president, I would never do that. +p3323 +aVJake, Jake... +p3324 +aVJake, there is no more important topic in 2016 than this topic right here, and I've listened to several folks saying, "Well, gosh, if they cheat, we'll act." We won't know under this agreement \u2014 there are several facilities in Iran they designate as military facilities that are off limit all together. Beyond that, the other facilities, we give them 24 days notice before inspecting them. That is designed to allow them to hide the evidence. And most astonishingly, this agreement trusts the Iranians to inspect themselves. That makes no sense whatsoever. And let me know \u2014 President Obama is violating federal law... +p3325 +aV... by not handing over the side deals, and we ought to see the United States Congress... +p3326 +aV... stand up together and say, "Hand over this treaty, and protect this country." +p3327 +aVWell, let me tell you, Dana, number one, I'm proud to stand for life. These Planned Parenthood videos are horrifying. I would encourage every American to watch the videos. See \u2014 seeing your Planned Parenthood officials callously, heartlessly bartering and selling the body parts of human beings, and then ask yourself, "are these my values?" These are horrifying. On these videos, Planned Parenthood also essentially confesses to multiple felonies. It is a felony with ten years' jail term to sell the body parts of unborn children for profit. That's what these videos show Planned Parenthood doing. Absolutely we shouldn't be sending $500 million of taxpayer money to funding an ongoing criminal enterprise, and I'll tell you, the fact that Republican leadership in both houses has begun this discussion by preemptively surrendering to Barack Obama and saying, "we'll give in because Obama threatens a veto." You know, Obama's committed to his principles. His liberal principles, he will fight for them. He says... +p3328 +aVI will veto any budget that doesn't fund Planned Parenthood, and Republicans surrender. We need to stop surrendering and start standing... +p3329 +aV...for our principles. +p3330 +aVWell, Jake, you know, I'm \u2014 I'm very glad that Donald Trump's being in this race has forced the mainstream media finally to talk about illegal immigration. I think that's very important. I like and respect Ben Carson. I'll let him talk about his own plans. But I will say this: The natural next question that primary voters are asking, after we focus on illegal immigration is, okay, what are the records of the various candidates? And this is an issue on which there are stark differences. A majority of the men and women on this stage have previously and publicly embraced amnesty. I am the only candidate on this stage who has never supported amnesty and, in fact, who helped lead the fight to stop a massive amnesty plan. In 2013, when Barack Obama and Harry Reid joined the Washington Republicans in a massive, I stood shoulder to shoulder with Jeff Sessions helping lead the fight. You know, folks here have talked about, how do you secure the borders? Well, I've been leading the fight in the Senate to triple the Border Patrol, to put in place fencings and walls, to put in place a strong biometric exit/entry system... +p3331 +aVWell, Dana, I've known John Roberts for 20 years, he's amazingly talented lawyer, but, yes, it was a mistake when he was appointed to the Supreme Court. He's a good enough lawyer that he knows in these Obamacare cases he changed the statute, he changed the law in order to force that failed law on millions of Americans for a political outcome. And, you know, we're frustrated as conservatives. We keep winning elections, and then we don't get the outcome we want. And, let me focus on two moments in time. Number one, in 1990, in one room was David Souter, and in another room was Edith Jones, the rock ribbed (ph) conservative on the fifth circuit court of appeals. George Herbert Walker Bush appointed David Souter. And then in 2005, in one room was John Roberts, in another room was my former boss, Mike Luttig, the rock ribbed (ph) conservative on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals... +p3332 +aV...George W. Bush appointed John Roberts, and let me give you the consequences of that. If, instead, the President Bush had appointed Edith Jones, and Mike Luttig, which is who I would have appointed, Obamacare would have been struck down three years ago, and the marriage laws of all 50 states would be on the books. These matter, and I fought to defend the constitution my whole life... +p3333 +aV...and I will as president as well. +p3334 +aVIt is true that after George W. Bush nominated John Roberts, I supported his confirmation. That was a mistake and I regret that. I wouldn't have nominated John Roberts, and indeed, Governor Bush pointed out why. It wasn't that the President Bushes wanted to appoint a liberal to the court, it's that it was the easier choice. Both David Souter and John Roberts, they didn't have a long paper trail. If you had nominated Edith Jones or Mike Ludig (ph) you would have had a bloody fight and they weren't willing to spend political capital to put a strong judicial conservative on the court. I have spent my entire life, starting from clerking for Chief Justice William Rehnquist on the United States Supreme Court, one of the most principled jurists. We have an out-of-control Court, and I give you my word, if I'm elected president, every single Supreme Court justice will faithfully follow the law and will not act like philosopher kings \u2014 +p3335 +aV\u2014 imposing their liberal policies on millions of Americans \u2014 +p3336 +aV\u2014 who need to be trusted to govern ourselves. +p3337 +aVI \u2014 I am not, and \u2014 and you mentioned that the U.S. Supreme Court had rightly upheld the individual right to keep and bear arms. I was proud to lead 31 states before the U.S. Supreme Court defending the Second Amendment, and we won that landmark victory. And indeed, just a couple of years ago, when Harry Reid and Barack Obama came after the right to keep and bear arms of millions of Americans, I was proud to lead the fight in the United States Senate to protect our right to keep and bear arms, and for that reason... +p3338 +aV... I was honored to be endorsed by Gun Owners of America... +p3339 +aV... as the strongest supporter of the Second Amendment on this stage today, and I will... +p3340 +aV... fight every day to defend the Bill of Rights. +p3341 +aVWell, I wouldn't change the $10 bill, I'd change the $20. I'd take Jackson off and I'd leave Alexander Hamilton right where he is as one of our Founding Fathers. And I very much agree with Marco that it should be Rosa Parks. She was a principled pioneer that helped change this country, helped remedy racial injustice, and that would be an honor that would be entirely appropriate. +p3342 +aVYou know, as a Cuban, I might go with Cohiba (ph), and I'll tell you, I'd go with, for Heidi, Angel, because she is my angel. +p3343 +aVRonald Reagan believed in America. If I'm elected president our friends and allies across the globe will know that we stand with them. the bust of Winston Churchill will be back in the Oval Office, and the American embassy in Israel will be in Jerusalem. Enemies across this world will know the United States is not to be trifled with. +p3344 +aVChris, I believe the American people are looking for someone to speak the truth. If you're looking for someone to go to Washington, to go along to get along, to get -- to agree with the career politicians in both parties who get in bed with the lobbyists and special interests, then I ain't your guy. There is a reason... .... that we have $18 trillion in debt. Because as conservatives, as Republicans, we keep winning elections. We got a Republican House, we've got a Republican Senate, and we don't have leaders who honor their commitments. I will always tell the truth and do what I said I would do. +p3345 +aVChris, absolutely yes. And not only will I support it......I have authored Kate's law in the United States Senate and filed that legislation. I tried to get the Senate to vote to pass Kate's law on the floor of the Senate just one week ago, and the leader of our own party blocked a vote on Kate's law. You know, there was reference made to our leaders being stupid. It's not a question of stupidity. It's that they don't want to enforce the immigration laws. That there are far too many in the Washington cartel that support amnesty. President Obama has talked about fundamentally transforming this country. There's 7 billion people across the face of the globe, many of whom want to come to this country. If they come legally, great. But if they come illegally and they get amnesty, that is how we fundamentally change this country, and it really is striking. A majority of the candidates on this stage have supported amnesty. I have never supported amnesty, and I led the fight against Chuck Schumer's gang of eight amnesty legislation in the Senate. +p3346 +aVMegyn, we need a commander in chief that speaks the truth. We will not defeat radical Islamic terrorism so long as we have a president unwilling to utter the words, "radical Islamic terrorism". When I asked General Dempsey, the chairman of the joint chiefs, what would be required militarily to destroy +p3347 +aVMegyn, of course it's an ideological problem, that's one of the reasons I introduce the Expatriate Terrorist Act in the Senate that said if any American travels to the Middle East and joining +p3348 +aVWell, Bret, of course they have, and over the last six and a half years we've seen the consequences of the Obama-Clinton foreign policy. Leading from behind is a disaster. We have abandoned and alienated our friends and allies, and our enemies are stronger. Radical Islam is on the rise, Iran's on the verge of acquiring a nuclear weapon, China is waging cyber warfare against America, Russia -- General Soleimani, you just mentioned, the Iranian general is the head of the al Quds forces. He's directly responsible for the murder of over 500 American servicemen in Iraq, and part of this Iranian deal was lifting the international sanctions on General Soleimani. The day General Soleimani flew back from Moscow to Iran was the day we believed that Russia used cyber warfare against the Joint Chiefs. We need a new commander in chief that will stand up to our enemies, and that will have credibility... It is worth emphasizing that Iran released our hostages in 1981 the day Ronald Reagan was sworn into office. +p3349 +aVBrett, can I -- Brett, can I jump in on this one? +p3350 +aVWell, I am blessed to receive a word from God every day in receiving the scriptures and reading the scriptures. And God speaks through the Bible. I'm the son of a pastor and evangelist and I've described many times how my father, when I was a child, was an alcoholic. He wasn't a Christian. And my father left my mother and left me when I was just three years old. And someone invited him to Clay Road Baptist Church. And he gave his heart to Jesus and it turned him around. And he got on a plane and he flew back to my mother and me. I would also note that the scripture tells us, "you shall know them by their fruit." We see lots of "campaign conservatives." But if we're going to win in 2016, we need a consistent conservative, someone who has been a fiscal conservative, a social conservative, a national security conservative. There are real differences among the candidates on issues like amnesty, like Obamacare, like religious liberty, like life and marriage. And I have been proud to fight and stand for religious liberty, to stand against Planned Parenthood, to defend life for my entire career. And I will be proud to continue to do so as president of the United States. +p3351 +aVIf I'm elected president, let me tell you about my first day in office. The first thing I intend to do is to rescind every illegal and unconstitutional executive action taken by Barack Obama. The next thing I intend to do is instruct the Department of Justice to open an investigation into these videos and to prosecute Planned Parenthood for any criminal violations. The next thing I intend to do is instruct the Department of Justice and the IRS to start (sic) persecuting religious liberty, and then intend to cancel the Iran deal, and finally move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. I will keep my word. My father fled Cuba, and I will fight to defend liberty because my family knows what it's like to lose it. +p3352 +aVWell, we have 80 years of precedent of not confirming Supreme Court justices in an election year. And let me say, Justice Scalia... +p3353 +aVEighty years of not confirming. For example, L.B.J. nominated Abe Fortas. Fortas did not get confirmed. He was defeated. +p3354 +aVNo, Kennedy was confirmed in '87... +p3355 +aVHe was appointed in... +p3356 +aVIn this case it's both. But if I could answer the question... +p3357 +aVJustice Scalia was a legal giant. He was somebody that I knew for 20 years. He was a brilliant man. He was faithful to the Constitution. He changed the arc of American legal history. And I'll tell you, his passing tonight, our prayers are with his family, with his wife, Maureen, who he adored, his nine children, his 36 grandkids. But it underscores the stakes of this election. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that will strike down every restriction on abortion adopted by the states. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that will reverse the Heller decision, one of Justice Scalia's seminal decisions, that upheld the Second Amendment right to keep and to bear arms. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that would undermine the religious liberty of millions of Americans \u2014 and the stakes of this election, for this year, for the Senate, the Senate needs to stand strong and say, "We're not going to give up the U.S. Supreme Court for a generation by allowing Barack Obama to make one more liberal appointee." And then for the state of South Carolina, one of the most important judgments for the men and women of South Carolina to make is who on this stage has the background, the principle, the character, the judgment and the strength of resolve to nominate and confirm principled constitutionalists to the court? That will be what I will do if I'm elected president. +p3358 +aVWell, we need to focus on what the objective is, you know? Your question about the first three questions you would ask in this Situation Room. I think it is a problem if the president, commander in chief, we've elected does not have the experience and background to understand the threats facing this country coming in on Day 1. If you look at the threats facing this country, the single gravest threat, national security threat, is the threat of a nuclear Iran. That's why I've pledged on Day 1 to rip to shreds this Iranian nuclear deal, and anyone that thinks you can negotiate Khamenei does not understand the nature of Khamenei. When it comes to +p3359 +aVWe have Kurds in both Iraq and Syria. They are fighting +p3360 +aVWell, let me say it at the outset that everyone here understands \u2014 everyone understands that how \u2014 that the middle class has been left behind in the last seven years of the Obama economy, and we've got to bring jobs back. We've got to get people back to work. We've got to get wages going up again. We've got to get people moving from part-time work to full-time work. We all agree on that, but it's not going to be solved with magic pixie dust. It's just going to be solved by declaring into the air, "Let there be jobs." We actually have to understand the principles that made America great in the first place. Now, where do you get economic growth? If you look at cause and effect over our nation's history, every time we lessen the burden of Washington on small-business owners, on job creators, we see incredible economic growth. You do that through tax reform and regulatory reform. My tax plan \u2014 typical family of four, first $36,000 you earn, you pay nothing in taxes \u2014 no income taxes, no payroll taxes, no nothing. Above 10 percent, everyone pays the same simple, flat 10 percent income rate. It's flat and fair. You can fill out your taxes on a postcard, and we abolish the I.R.S. If you want to see the postcard, I've got it on my website. +p3361 +aVNow, Major, the business flat tax that is in my tax plan is not a VAT. A VAT in Europe is a sales tax. The business flat tax is not a sales tax, it is a tax of 16 percent opposed fairly and evenly across the board on all business. One of the things that's critical is we're doing that in conjunction with abolishing the corporate income tax, with abolishing the Obamacare taxes, with abolishing the payroll taxes, which are the biggest taxes paid by most working Americans, and with abolishing the death tax, which is cruel and unfair. And you asked about economic growth \u2014 the nonpartisan Tax Foundation estimated a simple flat tax that would produce 4.9 million new jobs, it would increase capital investment by 44 percent and would lift everyone's income by double digits. That's how you turn the country around, not just hoping and praying for it, but implementing policies that work. +p3362 +aVWell, you know, your question highlights a sharp difference on immigration on this stage. You know, in a Republican primary, everyone talks tough on immigration. Everyone is against illegal immigration in a Republican primary. But as voters, we've been burned over and over again by people that give us a great campaign speech and they don't walk the walk. There are sharp differences on amnesty. If you look at the folks on this stage, when Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer and establishment Republicans were leading the fight to pass a massive amnesty plan, I stood with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and the American people and led the fight to defeat that amnesty plan. +p3363 +aVNow, that moment... +p3364 +aVThat moment was what Reagan would call "a time for choosing." When it comes to deciding which side of the line you're on, the Rubio-Schumer amnesty plan......apparently supported by the donor class, which is why Washington supported it. The Rubio-Schumer amnesty plan passed the Senate, and it was on the verge of passing the House. House leadership intended to take it up and pass it with the Democrats overruling most of the Republicans. And the question for anyone on illegal immigration is, where were you in that fight? Where did you stand? You are right. There is a difference between Senator Rubio and me on this question. +p3365 +aVMajor, I get a response to that. +p3366 +aVYou know, the lines are very, very clear. Marco right now supports citizenship for 12 million people here illegally. I oppose citizenship. Marco stood on the debate stage and said that. But I would note not only that \u2014 Marco has a long record when it comes to amnesty. In the state of Florida, as speaker of the house, he supported in-state tuition for illegal immigrants. In addition to that, Marco went on Univision in Spanish and said he would not rescind President Obama's illegal executive amnesty on his first day in office. I have promised to rescind every single illegal executive action, including that one. And on the question... +p3367 +aV. +p3368 +aVThat is simply... +p3369 +aVThat is absolutely false. What he said is knowingly false. And I would note, if you want to assess \u2014 if you want to assess... +p3370 +aV... who is telling the truth... If you want to assess who is telling the truth......then you should look to Jeff Sessions, who said, without Ted Cruz the Rubio-Schumer amnesty bill would have passed, and Ted was responsible. You should look to Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin, that said... +p3371 +aVI think it is a very important question because the people who have been hurt the most in the Obama economy had been the most vulnerable. It's been young people. It's been Hispanics. It's been African-Americans. It's been single moms. We have the lowest percentage of Americans working today in any year since 1977. And the sad reality is big government, massive taxes, massive regulation, doesn't work. What we need to do instead is bring back booming economic growth, let \u2014 small businesses are the heart of the economy. Two-thirds of all new jobs come from small businesses. If we want to lift people out of poverty \u2014 you know, I think of these issues from the perspective of my dad. My dad fled Cuba in 1957. He was just 18. He couldn't speak English. He had nothing. He had $100 in his underwear. And he washed dishes making 50 cents an hour and paid his way through school. Today, my dad is a pastor. He travels the country preaching the gospel. Now, I think about all of these issues. How would it impact my dad when he was washing dishes? If we had Obamacare in place right now, the odds are very high my father would have been laid off, because it's teenaged kids like my dad who have gotten laid off. If he didn't get laid off, the odds are high he would have had his hours forcibly reduced to 28, 29 hours a week. We need to lift the burdens on small businesses so you have jobs, and we need welfare reform that gets people off of welfare and back to work. +p3372 +aVYou know, flexibility is a good thing, but it shouldn't \u2014 you shouldn't be flexible on core principles. I like Donald, he is an amazing entertainer, but his policies for most of his life... +p3373 +aVFor most of his life, his policies have been very, very liberal. For most of his life, he has described himself as very pro- choice and as a supporter of partial birth abortion. Right now, today, as a candidate, he supports federal taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood. I disagree with him on that. That's a matter of principle, and I'll tell you... +p3374 +aVDon, I need to go on... +p3375 +aVI will say, it is fairly remarkable to see Donald defending Ben after he called, "pathological," and compared him to a child molester. Both of which were offensive and wrong. But let me say this \u2014 you notice Donald didn't disagree with the substance that he supports taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood. And Donald has this weird pattern, when you point to his own record, he screams, "Liar, liar, liar." You want to go... +p3376 +aVYou want to go... +p3377 +aVIf you want to watch the video, go to our website at Tedcruz.org. +p3378 +aVYou can see it out of Donald's own mouth. +p3379 +aVYou supported it when we were battling over defunding Planned Parenthood. You went on... +p3380 +aVYou said, "Planned Parenthood does wonderful things and we should not defund it." +p3381 +aVSo I'll tell you what... +p3382 +aVYou see, you and I... +p3383 +aVDon, the reasoned principle matters. The reasoned principle matters, sadly was illustrated by the first questions today. The next president is going to appoint one, two, three, four Supreme Court justices. If Donald Trump is president, he will appoint liberals. If Donald Trump is president, your Second Amendment will gone... +p3384 +aVYou know how I know that? +p3385 +aVI did not nominate John Roberts. I would not have nominated John Roberts. +p3386 +aVI supported... +p3387 +aVYou need to learn to not interrupt people. +p3388 +aVDonald, adults learn... +p3389 +aVAdults learn not to interrupt people. +p3390 +aVI did not nominate him. I would not have nominated him. I would've nominated my former boss Liberman, who was Justice Scalia's first law clerk. And you know how I know that Donald's Supreme Court justices will be liberals? Because his entire life, he support liberals from Jimmy Carter, to Hillary Clinton, to John Kerry. In 2004, he contributed to John Kerry. Nobody who cares about judges would contribute to John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid. +p3391 +aVThat's what Donald Trump does. +p3392 +aVSouth Carolina, you have a critical choice to make. Our country literally hangs in the balance. Do you want another Washington deal maker who will do business as usual, cut deals with the Democrats, grow government, grow debt and give up our fundamental liberties? Or do you want a conservative, a proven conservative that will stand and fight with you each and every day? Listen, repealing Obamacare is not going to be easy. Passing a simple flat tax that abolishes the I.R.S. is not going to be easy, but if we stand with the American people, we can do it. And today, we saw just how great the stakes are. Two branches of government hang in the balance. Not just the presidency but the Supreme Court. If we get this wrong, if we nominate the wrong candidates, the Second Amendment, life, marriage, religious liberty \u2014 every one of those hangs in the balance. My little girls are here. I don't want to look my daughters in the eyes and say, "We lost their liberties." Who do you know will defend the Constitution and Bill of Rights? And as a commander in chief, who do you know will stand up to our enemies as the clam, steady, deliberate, strength to defeat our enemies, to secure our borders and to keep America safe. +p3393 +aVWell, you know, David, the assessment the voters are making here in New Hampshire and across the country is they are evaluating each and every one of us. They are looking to our experience. They are looking to our knowledge. They are looking to our temperament and judgment. They are looking to our clarity of vision and our strength of resolve. The world is getting much more dangerous. We've had seven years with Barack Obama in the oval office, a commander-in-chief that is unwilling even to acknowledge the enemy we're facing. This is a president who, in the wake of Paris, in the wake of San Bernardino, will not even use the words radical Islamic terrorism, much less focus on defeating the enemy. I am convinced every individual standing on this stage, would make a much better commander-in-chief than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders. And the primary voters are making the assessment for each of us, who is best prepared to keep this country safe, to rebuild the military, to rebuild our Navy, our Air Force, our Army, our Marines, and to ensure that we keep America safe. +p3394 +aVI think that is an assessment the voters are going to make. And they are going to make it of each and everyone of us. They are going to assess who is level-headed, who has clear vision, who has judgment, who can confront our enemies, who can confront the threats we face in this country, and who can have the judgment when to engage and when not to engage \u2014 both are incredibly important for a commander-in-chief, knowing how to go after our enemies. In the case of Iran, for example, who has the clarity of vision to understand that the Ayatollah Khamenei, when he chants, "Death to America," he means it. We need a president with the judgment and resolve to keep this country safe from radical Islamic terrorists. +p3395 +aVBen is a good and honorable man and Ben and Candy have become friends. He has an amazing life story that has inspired millions, including me. When this transpired, I apologized to him then and I do so now. Ben, I'm sorry. Let me tell you the facts of what occurred for those who are interested in knowing. On Monday night, about 6:30 p.m., CNN reported that Ben was not going from Iowa to New Hampshire or South Carolina. Rather, he was, quote, "Taking a break from campaigning." They reported that on television, CNN's political anchors, Jake Tapper and Dana Bash and Wolf Blitzer, said it was highly unusual and highly significant. My political team saw CNN's report breaking news and they forwarded that news to our volunteers, it was being covered on live television. Now, at the time, I was at the caucuses, I was getting ready to speak at the caucuses just like Ben was, just like everyone else was. I knew nothing about this. A couple hours later, I found out about it. I was told that Ben was unhappy. I called him that evening because I respect him very, very highly. I didn't reach him that evening. I reached him the next day and apologized. He asked me then, he said, Ted, would you make this apologize in public? I said, yes, I will. And I did so. I regret that subsequently, CNN reported on that \u2014 they didn't correct that story until 9:15 that night. So from 6:30 p.m. to 9:15, that's what CNN was reporting. Subsequent to that initial report, Ben's campaign put out a statement saying that he was not suspending his campaign. I wish that our campaign staff had forwarded that statement. They were unaware of it, I wish that they had, that's why I apologized. +p3396 +aVWell, I would note, initially the fact that we're seeing the launch, and we're seeing the launch from a nuclear North Korea is the direct result of the failures of the first Clinton administration. The Clinton administration led the world in relaxing sanctions against North Korea. Billions of dollars flowed into North Korea in exchange for promises not to build nuclear weapons. They took those billions and built nuclear weapons. And, I would note also the lead negotiator in that failed North Korea sanctions deal was a woman named Wendy Sherman who Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton promptly recruited to come back to be the lead negotiator with Iran. So, what we are seeing with North Korea is foreshadowing of where we will be with Iran. With respect to North Korea and what we should do now, one of the first things we should do is expand our missile defense capacity. We ought to put missile defense interceptors in South Korea. South Korea wants them. One of the real risks of this launch, North Korea wants to launch a satellite, and one of the greatest risks of the satellite is they would place a nuclear device in the satellite. As it would orbit around the Earth, and as it got over the United States they would detonate that nuclear weapon and set of what's called an EMP, and electromagnetic pulse which could take down the entire electrical grid on the Eastern seaboard, potentially killing millions. We need to harden the grid to defend ourselves, and we need missile defense to protect ourselves against North Korea. +p3397 +aVYou know, at this point I'm not going to speculate on that without the intelligence briefing that any Commander in Chief would have, knowing what exactly is there. One of the real problems... +p3398 +aV... Actually, with respect, I have gotten the intelligence briefings on the Mid-East. Those have been going on for many years. I haven't gotten the intelligence briefing tonight on what North Korea's doing because I'm here in new Hampshire. When you're responding to an immediate incident, you need to know the intelligence of what's occurring. But what I was saying \u2014 look, it is qualitatively different dealing with a country once they have nuclear weapons. It's why you prevent them from getting nuclear weapons in the first place \u2014 because your hands are somewhat tied once they have nukes. It's why this Iranian nuclear deal is so catastrophic, and it's why I've pledged, on the very first day in office, to rip to shreds this Iranian nuclear deal so we're not sitting here in five years, wondering what to do about an Iranian missile launch when they have nuclear weapons. The stakes are too high for that. +p3399 +aVSo, in terms of a practical solution, I've laid out the most detailed plan for solving illegal immigration. It's 11 pages, single-spaced, chapter and verse. It's on our website, tedcruz.org. In short, we're going to do, we're going to build a wall. We're going to triple the border patrol. We're going to increase \u2014 and actually, since Donald enjoyed that, I will simply say, I've got somebody in mind to build it. We're going to increase four-fold, the fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft, so that you have technology monitoring an attempted incursion to direct the boots on the ground where they're occurring. We're going to put in place a strong e-verify system in the workplace, so you can't get a job without proving you are here legally. We'll put in place a biometric exit-entry system on visas, because 40 percent of illegal immigration comes not over the border illegally, but people coming on visas and overstaying. We will end sanctuary cities by cutting off taxpayer dollars to any jurisdiction that defies federal immigration law. And we will end welfare benefits for those here illegally. +p3400 +aVWhat you do is, you enforce the law. You know, under the Constitution, the president has an obligation to, quote, "Take care that the laws be faithfully executed." Federal immigration law provides, if someone is here illegally and is apprehended, they are to be deported. We saw just this past week the head of the border patrol union testify before Congress that President Obama had given the order to the border patrol to stand down, not to enforce the law. That is wrong. I will enforce the law, and for everyone who says, you can't possibly do that, I would note that in eight years, Bill Clinton deported 12 million people. In eight years, George W. Bush deported 10 million people. Enforcing the law \u2014 we can do it. What is missing is the political will. And when they were deporting the people, the border wasn't secure, so they'd come right back. Once you secure the border, enforcing the law will solve this problem and that will benefit American workers. +p3401 +aVGood evening. +p3402 +aVWell, let me take two different parts of that. Let me start with socialized medicine. Socialized medicine is a disaster. It does not work. If you look at the countries that have imposed socialized medicine, that have put the government in charge of providing medicine, what inevitably happens is rationing. You have a scarcity of doctors. You have rationing. And that means the elderly are told, we're going to ration a hip replacement, we're going to ration a knee replacement. We're going to ration end- of-life care. We're right now heading into a medical system with about a 90,000-doctor shortage in America and socialized medicine; whether proposed by the Democrats or proposed by a Republican would hurt the people of this country. What should we do on health care? If I'm elected president, we will repeal every word of Obamacare. And once we do that, we will adopt common sense reforms, number one, we'll allow people to purchase health insurance across state lines that will drive down prices and expand the availability of low cost catastrophic insurance. We'll expand health savings accounts; and we will de-link health insurance from employment so that you don't lose your health insurance when you lose your job, and that way health insurance can be personal, portable and affordable and we keep government from getting in between us and our doctors. HAM: Dr. Carson, you have some experience with this matter. In the past, you have said that Obamacare should be replaced before it's repealed. How and why? +p3403 +aVWell, sure. It starts with a commander-in-chief that sets the objective. And the objective has to be utterly and completely destroying +p3404 +aVMartha, I will tell you, I have visited with active duty military, with veterans over and over and over again in town halls all over the state of New Hampshire. What we are doing to our sons and daughters, it is immoral. We are sending them into fight with their arms tied behind their back. They cannot defend themselves. And it is wrong. And I will tell you this. Look. America has always been reluctant to use military force. It's the last step we take. But if and when we use it when it comes to defeating +p3405 +aVAbsolutely, yes. +p3406 +aVWell, under the definition of torture, no, it's not. Under the law, torture is excruciating pain that is equivalent to losing organs and systems, so under the definition of torture, it is not. It is enhanced interrogation, it is vigorous interrogation, but it does not meet the generally recognized definition of torture. +p3407 +aVI would not bring it back in any sort of widespread use. And indeed, I joined with Senator McCain in legislation that would prohibit line officers from employing it because I think bad things happen when enhanced interrogation is employed at lower levels. But when it comes to keeping this country safe, the commander in chief has inherent constitutional authority to keep this country safe. And so, if it were necessary to, say, prevent a city from facing an imminent terrorist attack, you can rest assured that as commander in chief, I would use whatever enhanced interrogation methods we could to keep this country safe. +p3408 +aVWell, thank you for that question. You know, there are three avenues of presidential authority to change the direction of this country. The first is executive power, the second is foreign policy, and the third is legislation. Executive power, as we all know, has been the preferred vehicle of President Obama, abusing his authority, abusing his constitutional authority. Now, the silver lining of that is everything done with executive power can be undone with executive power, so I have pledged on day one I will rescind every single illegal and unconstitutional executive action Barack Obama has done. That means on day one his efforts to restrict the Second Amendment go away with the strike of a pen. That means on day one his illegal executive amnesty goes away with the strike of a pen. The reason I can end Common Core at the federal level is because Obama is abusing executive power using Race to the Top funds in the Department of Education to force it on the states. That's one avenue. The second avenue of change is foreign policy, and foreign policy can change the fastest. It's worth remembering that Iran released our hostages the day Reagan......was sworn in. And, the third is legislation, and that can only be done with the people behind you, which is why the two big legislative initiatives I'm campaigning on are repealing Obamacare, and adopting a simple flat tax to abolish the IRS. HAM: Mr. Trump, Senator Cruz is known for opposing deals, you literally wrote the book on making them. Senator Cruz has mentioned that on the trail. What would you say to those conservatives that are concerned that a deal maker will just perpetuate the same deals in Washington and the way that things run now ... +p3409 +aVWell, Josh, as you noted, this is a problem that, for me, I understand first-hand. My older sister, Myriam, who was my half- sister, struggled her whole life with drug and alcohol addiction. My father and her mom divorced when she was a little girl and she was angry her whole life, and she ended up marrying a man who had been in and out of jail. She then became a single mom and she herself went to jail several times and she ended up spending some time in a crack house. I still remember my father and me driving up to get Myriam out of that crack house to try to convince her she needed to be a mom to \u2014 to my nephew Joey. She wasn't willing to listen. She was not willing to change the path she was on. She was angry. I was \u2014 had just gotten my first job coming out of law school. I took a $20,000 loan on a credit card to put my nephew, Joey, in Valley Forge Military Academy \u2014 he was in sixth grade at the time, to pay his way through that. And about five, six years ago, Miriam died of an overdose. It was \u2014 the coroner ruled it accidental. We don't know. She went to one night, had taken too many pills, and Joey walked in and found her dead. This is an absolute epidemic. We need leadership to solve it. Solving it has to occur at the state and local level with programs like A.A., and counseling, and churches and charities. But it also has to be securing the borders, because you have got Mexican cartels that are smuggling vast amounts of heroin into this country. We know how to secure the borders. What is missing is the political will to do it. And as president, I will secure the border, we will end this deluge of drugs that is flowing over our southern border and that is killing Americans across this country. +p3410 +aVWell, look, I recognize it is an agonizing experience when anyone is facing a loved \u2014 loved member who's been kidnapped. But at the same time, putting in place legal regimes that encourage the payment of ransom has the effect of putting a bounty on other Americans. There is a reason it has been longstanding U.S. policy that we don't negotiate with terrorists, we don't pay ransoms. If you look at what President Obama has done over and over again, whether it was the James Bergdahl deal, which was absolutely shameful, releasing five senior Taliban terrorists to bring Bergdahl back, or whether it was this recent deal with Iran, where, again, up to 21 terrorists or potential terrorists were \u2014 were released or not prosecuted in order to bring back four Americans, what that does \u2014 does is it effectively puts a bounty on American servicemen and women serving abroad, on American tourists traveling abroad. And the proper approach......is a president and commander in chief that defends this country and that goes after \u2014 goes after the terrorists, rather than showing them weakness and encouraging them to target more Americans. +p3411 +aVWith an eye to February 20th, Carolina. +p3412 +aVYou know, every candidate running for president says they will stand up to Washington. The natural follow up question is when have you ever stood up to Washington. Last week we saw a powerful illustration of that. I campaigned in the state of Iowa four-square against the ethanol mandate, something everyone said was political suicide. My two leading competitors both attacked me for it. The governor of the state said vote for anyone but Cruz, and lobbyists spent millions of dollars in attack ads, but I stood and said we should have no mandates, a level playing field, and the people of Iowa put country and our children above the cronyism and corporate welfare...... We can turn this country around if we get back to the Constitution. And, I will always stand with the American people against the bipartisan corruption of Washington. +p3413 +asVOBRADOVICH +p3414 +(lp3415 +VSenator Sanders, you've actually talked about immigration as being a wage issue in the United States. And I want to actually go directly to the wage issue now. You called for raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour everywhere in the country. But the President's former chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, Alan Krueger, has said a national increase of $15 could lead to undesirable and unintended consequences of job loss. What level of job loss would you consider unacceptable? +p3416 +aVYou said there are consequences... You said there are consequences for -- for any policy. Do you think job losses are a consequence that are... +p3417 +aVYou're calling for a $15 an hour wage now but why did you stop at $10.10 in your state? O' +p3418 +aVYes, Senator Sanders, you famously said in the last debate that you were sick and tired of hearing about your damn e- mails. But then you told the Wall Street Journal that the question about whether or not Secretary Clinton's e-mails compromised classified information were valid questions. So which is it? Is it an issue or is it not? +p3419 +aVI'm sorry, I couldn't hear you. Secretary Clinton, your response. +p3420 +asVTODD +p3421 +(lp3422 +VGood evening, and welcome to the +p3423 +aVAnd neither party has seen this yet. These candidates are both running for the Democratic nomination, but they are very different from each other when it comes to what matters most and how they would go about the job of being president. Our job tonight is to draw out those differences so you, the voters, can understand them and be fully informed. +p3424 +aVFirst, I want to say a special thanks to the New Hampshire Union Leader for helping make this debate possible, and the readers, who helped provide some of the questions and topics that we'll be addressing tonight. The rules tonight, by the way, are simple: 90 seconds for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. +p3425 +aVThank you, Senator. Secretary Clinton. +p3426 +aVAll right. Let's get started. Secretary Clinton, last night you cited the Concord Monitor when you said of Senator Sanders that, quote, "It's very hard to see how any of his proposals could ever be achievable." So please tell us why you think if he's elected president on a platform of promising things like free public college and universal healthcare, that he cannot achieve those things. +p3427 +aVThank you, Secretary. Senator Sanders, so just explain how you spent nearly two decades in Congress and haven't gotten any of these things passed. Why do you think as president you'll be able to achieve big, big new programs like this? +p3428 +aVGo. +p3429 +aVYes, go ahead. +p3430 +aVAll right, thank you both. Rachel. +p3431 +aVI'd like to follow up on a comment that Secretary Clinton said, Senator. President Obama has not called for abolishing the death penalty. President Obama is for the big Asian trade deal known as TPP, and just yesterday you said you can't be both a moderate or a progressive, but you can't be both. Is President Obama, in your judgment, based on these policies positions, a progressive? +p3432 +aV...Secretary Clinton, go ahead... +p3433 +aV 30 seconds, and then we'll move. +p3434 +aVThank you. +p3435 +aV... Secretary, we're gonna... +p3436 +aVThirty seconds. +p3437 +aVThank you both. +p3438 +aVAll right, welcome back. Let's get right to it. Senator Sanders, you were talking about all of your campaign contributions and campaign finance reform. You rail against big money in politics. But do you realize there is one public financing system that we do have in place, and it is\u2014it is in place to run for president. Why aren't you walking the walk on that? Why aren't you participating in the presidential public financing system which is designed to essentially keep big money out of presidential politics? +p3439 +aVWell, going on that then, why criticize her on Super PACs, and you got\u2014and all this when it is\u2014you know, that's the system? I mean, you could be participating in a publicly-financing\u2014public financing system... +p3440 +aV... and being able to set\u2014being able to set an example. +p3441 +aV... she has had more people praise her plan than yours. +p3442 +aVThank you both. Let me move on to our next question here, and in fact it comes to us through New England Cable News. Secretary Clinton, it's addressed to you, and it's about this issue of the speeches, particularly to Goldman Sachs. This is what the questioner wrote verbatim. "I am concerned with the abuses of Wall Street has taken with the American taxpayers money," and then she asks whether you would release the transcripts of your Goldman Sachs speeches, and then added, "Don't you think the voting public has a right to know what was said?" But, let's make that bigger. Are you willing to release the transcripts of all your paid speeches? We do know through reporting that there were transcription services for all of those paid speeches. In full disclosure, would you release all of them? +p3443 +aVSenator, you sound like you want to respond. Go ahead. +p3444 +aVWe'll be right back. And we're going to get to trade and a lot of other issues. +p3445 +aVGo ahead, Senator Sanders\u201430 seconds, your response. +p3446 +aVAll right. Senator, I want to stay, though... +p3447 +aVGo ahead. 30 seconds. +p3448 +aVLet me\u2014let\u2014we're gonna\u2014we're staying\u2014we're staying basically on this topic. Obviously you've been emphasizing this difference on the Iraq war, but one place where you do agree, and one place where you voted to authorize the use of force, was in favor of the war in Afghanistan. Right now, it is possible President Obama is going to be leaving the next president, perhaps President Sanders, at least 10,000 troops in Afghanistan. How long will those troops be in Afghanistan under President Sanders? +p3449 +aVCan you address a question on Afghanistan? How long are these troops going to be there? If President Obama leaves you 10,000 troops, how long do you think they're going to be there? +p3450 +aVSecretary Clinton, 30 seconds: How long are these troops going to be in Afghanistan? We have more American troops in Afghanistan than what we were talking about with Iraq. +p3451 +aVYou know, Senator Sanders, nobody knows who your foreign policy advisers are. You haven't given a major foreign policy speech. And it doesn't sound like all the time that foreign policy is a priority, other than when you're asked about it, and you say you're going to crush +p3452 +aVAll right, Senator, 30 seconds. +p3453 +aV30 seconds, madam secretary. +p3454 +aVAlright, as Commander in Chief, Senator Sanders, you've got to prioritize potential threats to the United States. Three countries, North Korea, Iran, Russia. How would you rank them in order of their threat to America's security right now... +p3455 +aV... Starting with the biggest threat. +p3456 +aV... I didn't say that... +p3457 +aV... No... +p3458 +aV... We already had that. I'm talking about these three countries. How would you orient our national security, our national defense posture. +p3459 +aVSecretary of Defense Ash Carter this week picked one of those three, and he has said Russia is, basically, the most important national security threat. Sort of reorienting the defense and the challenges to that. Do you agree with his decisions... +p3460 +aVSecretary Clinton, what do you think of Secretary of Defense Ash Carter. He's basically putting Russia above Iran, above North Korea, as sort of the chief national security challenge right now. +p3461 +aVThank you both, Rachel? +p3462 +aVAnd we are back. We're gonna get into a little bit of election politics, electability, in a little bit. Senator Sanders, The Iowa Democratic Party has declared Hillary Clinton the winner of Monday's Iowa caucuses\u2014narrowest of margins. Today, the Des Moines Register has an editorial that calls for the audit of the results, saying, quote, "what happened Monday night at the Democratic caucuses was a debacle, period. The results were too close not to do a complete audit." Senator Sanders, do you accept the idea that Hillary Clinton won Iowa? And do you\u2014or do you believe the caucuses are still an open question? +p3463 +aVSecretary Clinton, will you participate in some sort of audit, if that's what the party wants to do? You good with that? +p3464 +aVThat's fair enough. OK. +p3465 +aVGood, we move on. We're happy with that. We have more questions. +p3466 +aVWe'll stay on this issue. We'll stay on this topic. Secretary Clinton, just like there are some Democrats that question Senator Sanders' ability in the general election, many Democratic voters that our reporters have been running into in Iowa and New Hampshire, they tell our reporters over and over again they're worried about the emails issue, not because they don't believe your explanation, but because it's a drip-drip, because the cloud is hanging over your head and that it will impact the general election. They see your numbers right now and they think it's the email issue as to why you're not polling very well. So can you reassure these Democrats that somehow the email issue isn't going to blow up your candidacy if you're the nominee? +p3467 +aVAll right, Madam Secretary, there is an open\u2014there is an open FBI investigation into this matter about how you may have handled classified material. Are you 100 percent confident that nothing is going to come of this FBI investigation? +p3468 +aVWell, Senator sanders, you famously at the first debate said you didn't give a darn about her emails; I think you used another . +p3469 +aVYou're right. I'm trying to\u2014it's a\u2014it's a family hour still right now. After 11:00, I'll say it the other way. And you mostly have refrained from commenting on it, but recently you called it a very serious issue, and then the other day you said well she's getting slapped with the email controversy. Are you\u2014how are you feeling about these darn emails now? +p3470 +aVOK. Senator Sanders, thank you. +p3471 +aVSecretary Clinton, let me turn to the issue of trade. In the '90s you supported +p3472 +aVWell, Senator Sanders, I know you want to respond on this, you have never supported a trade deal since you've been in Congress. +p3473 +aVBut if you do that as president... If you do that as president, how are you not essentially letting China, who will do all of these deals around the world, how are you going to prevent China from essentially setting the rules of trade for the world? +p3474 +aVAll right. Thank you both. We're going to sneak in one more break here, and when we come back we'll squeeze as many questions as we can before we end this thing. We'll be right back. +p3475 +aVAll right. Welcome back here in the final minutes. +p3476 +aVThe home stretch of this only Democratic debate in the final week before the primary. Let me start with you, Secretary Clinton, on this question. Obviously, President Obama got a lot of ambitious stuff done in his first year and a half. You're going to have to make choices. And there's a lot of heavy lifts. And he made choices. He did healthcare and it came at the expense, arguably, of immigration reform. Had he put immigration reform first, perhaps that gets done and healthcare doesn't. So there are three big lifts that you've talked about: immigration, gun reform, climate change. What do you do first? Because you know the first one is the one you have the best shot at getting done. +p3477 +aVAll right, but Senator Sanders......you've still got to do something first. As you know, history said\u2014shows what you pick first is your best shot at getting, and how you prioritize things. +p3478 +aVImmigration reform, for instance, fell by the wayside in the first term because of this. +p3479 +aVOK. Thank you. +p3480 +aVAll right, before we go, I want to ask each one of these. Secretary Clinton, you've made it clear when you look at Senator Sanders, you do not see a president, but do you see\u2014 +p3481 +aVBut do you see\u2014do you see a vice president? +p3482 +aVWould you unite the party by trying to pick Senator Sanders as your running mate? +p3483 +aVSenator, would you consider the secretary? +p3484 +aVSecretary Clinton, closing statements. You are first. +p3485 +aVThank you, Madam Secretary. Senator Sanders. +p3486 +aVWell, there you have it. I promise you, Rachel and I have a lot more questions, but we just don't have any more time, unless we could a third hour, but I don't think so. Our debate coverage\u2014 debate coverage will continue in just a moment with our colleague . And we want to thank all of you for being here, and we want to thank the two candidates for taking part in this important event. +p3487 +aVWe'll see you in a few minutes. Thank you. +p3488 +asVLEVESQUE +p3489 +(lp3490 +VHere to New Hampshire again. As you know, this auditorium is filled with many Saint Anselm college students. They know the outstanding student debt right now in America is $1.3 trillion. That private education costs have gone up in the last decade 26 percent, and 40 percent for public education. So knowing that, we know you want to make public education more affordable but how do you really lower the cost? Senator Sanders, you mentioned a few minutes ago that you want free tuition for public colleges. +p3491 +aVHow does that really lower the cost other than just shifting the cost to taxpayers? +p3492 +aVGovernor O'Malley, how do you propose -- Governor O'Malley, how do you propose lowering some of these costs associated with higher education? O' +p3493 +asVHARWOOD +p3494 +(lp3495 +VMr. Trump, you've done very well in this campaign so far by promising to build a wall and make another country pay for it. +p3496 +aVSend 11 million people out of the country. Cut taxes $10 trillion without increasing the deficit. +p3497 +aVAnd make Americans better off because your greatness would replace the stupidity and incompetence of others. +p3498 +aVLet's be honest. Is this a comic book version of a presidential campaign? +p3499 +aVWe're at the 60 seconds. +p3500 +aVWe're at 60 seconds, but I gotta ask you, you talked about your tax plan. You say that it would not increase the deficit because you cut taxes $10 trillion in the economy would take off like... +p3501 +aVHold on, hold on. The economy would take off like a rocket ship. +p3502 +aVI talked to economic advisers who have served presidents of both parties. They said that you have as chance of cutting taxes that much without increasing the deficit as you would of flying away from that podium by flapping your arms. +p3503 +aVThe Tax Foundation says \u2014 has looked at all of our plans and \u2014 and his creates, even with the dynamic effect, $8 trillion dollar deficit... +p3504 +aVGovernor Kasich, hold it, I'm coming to you right now. The... +p3505 +aVWell, I'm asking you about this. +p3506 +aVI'm about to ask you about this. That is, you had some very strong words to say yesterday about what's happening in your party and what you're hearing from the two gentlemen we've just heard from. Would you repeat it? +p3507 +aVWell, let's just get more pointed about it. You said yesterday that you were hearing proposals that were just crazy from your colleagues. Who were you talking about? +p3508 +aVHold on. I think there's a \u2014 I've got question for \u2014 +p3509 +aVHold on, Governor. I've got a question for Governor Bush. +p3510 +aVNo, we're moving to Governor Bush. Governor, the fact that you're at the fifth lectern tonight shows how far your stock has fallen in this race, despite the big investment your donors have made. You noted recently, after slashing your payroll, that you had better things to do than sit around and be demonized by other people. I wanted to ask you \u2014 +p3511 +aVOK. +p3512 +aVGot it. +p3513 +aVBut it's a \u2014 OK. It's a \u2014 it's a question about why you're having difficulty. I want to ask you in this context. Ben Bernanke, who was appointed Fed chairman by your brother, recently wrote a book in which he said he no longer considers himself a Republican because the Republican Party has given in to know- nothingism. Is that why you're having a difficult time in this race? +p3514 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3515 +aVWe're gonna get down the line. Becky's got a question. +p3516 +aVSenator Paul, I've got a question for you on the same subject. +p3517 +aVSenator Paul? +p3518 +aVYou used your time on something else. Senator Paul? +p3519 +aVSenator Paul, the budget deal crafted by Speaker Boehner and passed by the House today makes cuts in entitlement programs, Medicare and Social Security disability, which are the very programs conservatives say need cutting to shrink government and solve our country's long-term budget deficit. Do you oppose that budget deal because it doesn't cut those programs enough? +p3520 +aVSenator, if what you just said is true, why did Speaker Boehner craft this deal and why did Paul Ryan, who has a strong reputation for fiscal discipline, vote for it? +p3521 +aVThank you, Senator . +p3522 +aVJim, thanks. Governor Bush, in a debate like this four years ago, every Republican running for president pledged to oppose a budget deal containing any tax increase even if it had spending cuts ten times as large. A few months later, you told Congress, put me in, coach, you said you would take that deal. Still feel that way? +p3523 +aVBut to \u2014 to the point that you made to Congress, if you were president and you were offered a bipartisan deal that had one dollar... +p3524 +aV...one dollar of tax increases per ten dollars of spending cuts, would you take it? +p3525 +aVSo you don't want the coach to put you in any more? +p3526 +aVThank you, governor. Carl? +p3527 +aVGovernor John Kasich, you've called for abolishing the Export Import Bank, which provides subsidies to help American companies compete with overseas competitors. You call that corporate welfare. One of the largest newspapers in your state wrote an editorial, said they found that strange, writing, that if that's corporate welfare, what does Kasich call the millions of dollars in financial incentives doled out to attract or retain jobs by his development effort \u2014 jobs Ohio. If subsidies are good enough for Ohio companies, why aren't they good enough for companies trying to compete overseas? +p3528 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3529 +aVThank you, Governor. Thank you. +p3530 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate on +p3531 +aVIt sounds like you think Senator Sessions is wrong to believe there is enough abuse in that program that we shouldn't... +p3532 +aVThank you, Senator. Becky? +p3533 +aVGovernor Bush, the tax reform bill that Ronald Reagan signed in 1986 cut the top personal income tax rate to 28 percent \u2014 just like your plan does. But President Reagan taxed capital gains at the same rate, while you would tax them at just 20 percent. Given the problems we've been discussing, growing gap between rich and poor, why would you tax labor at a higher rate than income from investments? +p3534 +aVSenator Rubio, 30 seconds to you. The Tax Foundation, which was alluded to earlier, scored your tax plan and concluded that you give nearly twice as much of a gain in after-tax income to the top 1 percent as to people in the middle of the income scale. Since you're the champion of Americans living paycheck-to- paycheck, don't you have that backward? +p3535 +aVThe Tax Foundation \u2014 just to be clear, they said the... +p3536 +aVNo, I did not. +p3537 +aVSenator, the Tax Foundation said after-tax income for the top 1 percent under your plan would go up 27.9 percent. +p3538 +aVAnd people in the middle of the income spectrum, about 15 percent. +p3539 +aV +p3540 +aVSenator, thank you. +p3541 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you've written about the huge divide in values between middle America and the big coastal cities like New York and Los Angeles. As a preacher as well as a politician, you know that presidents need the moral authority to bring the entire country together. The leading Republican candidate, when you look at the average of national polls right now, is Donald Trump. When you look at him, do you see someone with the moral authority to unite the country? +p3542 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3543 +aVThank you, Governor. Don't forget my colleague, Sharon Epperson. +p3544 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said something that many in your party do not believe, which is that climate change is undeniable, that human activity contributes to it, and you said, quote: "The question is, what do we do to deal with it?". So what do we do? +p3545 +aVWhat should we do? +p3546 +aVYou mean government? +p3547 +aVThank you, Governor. Becky. +p3548 +aVGovernor Bush, Mr. Trump says that he is capable of growing the economy so much that Social Security and Medicare don't have to be touched. Do you want to explain how that is going to happen, Mr. Trump? +p3549 +aVHold on, Governor. I've got a question for \u2014 for Dr. Carson. +p3550 +aVYes. You've said that you would like to replace Medicare with a system of individual family savings accounts, so that families could cover their own expenses. Obviously, that would be a very controversial idea. Explain how that would work, exactly. +p3551 +aVGovernor, do you also think that... +p3552 +aV...that Dr. Carson's right, that we can replace Medicare with individual savings accounts? +p3553 +aVMrs. Fiorina, we're right at the end of our time. +p3554 +aVYou all wanted us to limit . All right. Go ahead. +p3555 +aVWe have now reached the point in the program where candidates are going to give their closing statements, 30 seconds apiece. We're going to go right to left and start with you, Senator Paul. +p3556 +aVGovernor Christie? +p3557 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Cruz? +p3558 +aVThank you, Senator. Mrs. Fiorina? +p3559 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Dr. Carson? +p3560 +aVMr. Trump? +p3561 +aVJust for the record, the debate was always going to be two hours. Senator Rubio? +p3562 +aVSenator Rubio. +p3563 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Bush? +p3564 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Huckabee. +p3565 +aVThank you... +p3566 +aVGovernor Kasich? +p3567 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3568 +aVWe're going to pose this question to all candidates and go left to right, starting with Governor Jindal. Governor, a majority of Republican voters at this point in the campaign have made clear that they prefer someone from outside the political system. In 30 seconds, tell us why your experience inside the system would be more valuable than the fresh eyes an outsider would bring. +p3569 +aVThanks, Governor Jindal. Senator Santorum? +p3570 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Pataki? +p3571 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Graham. +p3572 +aVSenator Graham, thank you very much. Becky? +p3573 +aVJust hold on, Governor Pataki, we're going to go to Senator Graham on this question because we believe you are likely to be the only person on this stage tonight who supports this budget deal. Now, you just heard Governor Jindal say that it's a phony deal, it doesn't do anything, and people like you are surrendering rather than fighting by supporting it. Why is he wrong? +p3574 +aVThank you, Senator Graham... +p3575 +aV...Governor, we're going to get to you in just a moment, we're going to try to keep this shorter... +p3576 +aVGovernor Jindal, a question about fiscal policy, especially since you noted that this deal doesn't solve the long-term debt situation. When you came into office with a budget surplus in the state of Louisiana, now, years later, the state legislature faced a $1.6 billion budget gap and the Republican state treasurer called one of your approaches to that problem "nonsense on a stick," quoting him. Are you going to do for the federal budget what you did for the Louisiana budget? +p3577 +aVBut Governor Jindal, as you know, many Republicans are opposed to the approach that you've taken in Louisiana. They complain that you have tried so hard to avoid anything that could be called a tax increase so that you could run for president saying you'd never raised taxes, David Vitter, the Republican who's now running to succeed you, has told voters, I won't be like Jindal, I'm not using the governorship as a stepping stone to higher office. +p3578 +aVGovernor Jindal, thank you. +p3579 +aVWe're going to take a quick break. The Republican presidential debate continues live from Boulder, Colorado in a moment. +p3580 +aVGovernor Jindal, Senator Santorum just raised the issue of corporate taxes, and cutting corporate taxes is very popular in your party because our rate, at 35 percent, is one of the highest in the world. But nobody has figured out how to identify a set of loopholes that would allow that tax rate to be lowered. So can you tell us specifically what loopholes you'd do away with? +p3581 +aVWe're talking corporate taxes. +p3582 +aVThanks, Governor. Becky? +p3583 +aVSo the tax credit right now that we have for domestic manufacturing, which manufacturers say is... +p3584 +aV...important, you would get rid of that? +p3585 +aVSenator Graham, Americans have gotten used to seeing headlines about more and more big corporations relocating overseas to cut their tax bill. Now, many in Washington think the way to stop that is to lower our corporate tax rate. But as we've seen, tax reform takes time. It hasn't happened yet. In the meantime, do you fault those companies for leaving? Do companies owe anything to their country, as well as their shareholders? +p3586 +aVSenator Graham. +p3587 +aVI want to remind candidates, you've got a one-minute limit on the \u2014 on the response. But I just want to follow up, Senator Graham. Four years ago, the nominee of your party said that corporations are people, too. If that is true, the question is, do they owe any obligation to the country? +p3588 +aVSenator Graham \u2014 +p3589 +aV\u2014 thank you very much. +p3590 +aVWe're moving on. +p3591 +aVSenator, we're moving on. I'd like to bring on my colleague, Rick Santelli \u2014 Rick. +p3592 +aVSenator, that \u2014 I mean, Governor, if that's true, why was our economy limping six years ago and now it's the strongest in the world? +p3593 +aVGovernor Pataki, you've indicated you believe climate change is real and caused at least in part by human activity. So, in 60 seconds, tell us what the federal government should do about it. +p3594 +aVIs there a role for government? +p3595 +aVSo, subsidies for those programs? For \u2014 for those alternative energy sources? +p3596 +aVThank you, Governor. Thank you, Governor. Carl? +p3597 +aVGovernor, if you cut spending and cut government so much, why did your legislature have such a big deficit? +p3598 +aVNo, we're going to move on. I'm going to bring on my colleague Sharon Epperson. +p3599 +aVAnd thank you, Sharon. This is the Republican Presidential Debate, live from Boulder, Colorado. We'll be right back. +p3600 +aVOK, now we're at the point of the evening where we're just about to give our candidates a holiday from this debate, but not before they tell us in 30 seconds their closing statements. Senator Graham, you're first. +p3601 +aVSenator Graham... +p3602 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. Governor Pataki? +p3603 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum? +p3604 +aVSenator Santorum, thank you. Governor Jindal? +p3605 +aVGovernor Jindal, thank you very much. Carl? +p3606 +asVPAUL +p3607 +(lp3608 +VThe question is, how do we keep America safe from terrorism? Trump says we ought to close that Internet thing. The question really is, what does he mean by that? Like they do in North Korea? Like they do in China? Rubio says we should collect all Americans' records all of the time. The Constitution says otherwise. I think they're both wrong. I think we defeat terrorism by showing them that we do not fear them. I think if we ban certain religions, if we censor the Internet, I think that at that point the terrorists will have won. Regime change hasn't won. Toppling secular dictators in the Middle East has only led to chaos and the rise of radical Islam. I think if we want to defeat terrorism, I think if we truly are sincere about defeating terrorism, we need to quit arming the allies of +p3609 +aVYou know, I think Marco gets it completely wrong. We are not any safer through the bulk collection of all Americans' records. In fact, I think we're less safe. We get so distracted by all of the information, we're not spending enough time getting specific immigration \u2014 specific information on terrorists. The other thing is, is the one thing that might have stopped San Bernardino, that might have stopped 9/11 would have been stricter controls on those who came here. And Marco has opposed at every point increased security \u2014 border security for those who come to our country. On his Gang of Eight bill, he would have liberalized immigration, but he did not \u2014 and he steadfastly opposed any new border security requirements for refugees or students. Last week, I introduced another bill saying we need more security, we need more scrutiny. Once again, Marco opposed this. So Marco can't have it both ways. He thinks he wants to be this, "Oh, I'm great and strong on national defense." But he's the weakest of all the candidates on immigration. He is the one for an open border that is leaving us defenseless. If we want to defend the country, we have to defend against who's coming in, and Marco is \u2014 has more of an allegiance to Chuck Schumer and to the liberals than he does to conservative policy. +p3610 +aVIf I was mentioned in the question, can I respond? +p3611 +aVMarco still misunderstands the immigration issue. What I put forward was an amendment that would have temporarily halted immigration from high-risk terrorist countries, but would have started it up, but I wanted them to go through Global Entry, which is a program where we do background checks. The thing is, is that every terrorist attack we've had since 9/11 has been legal immigration. Marco wants to expand that. I want more rules, more scrutiny, and to defend the country, you have to defend the border. +p3612 +aVWolf... +p3613 +aVWolf, this legislation... +p3614 +aVThis legislation on indefinite detention... +p3615 +aV... I think deserves a little more attention. +p3616 +aVI think that by arming the allies of +p3617 +aVI think that if you believe in regime change, you're mistaken. In 2013, we put 600 tons of weapons \u2014 us, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar \u2014 into the war against Assad. By pushing Assad back, we did create a safe space. We had people coming to our Foreign Relations Committee and saying, "Oh, we need to arm the allies of Al Qaida." They are still saying this. It is a crazy notion. This is the biggest debate we should be having tonight is is regime change a good idea; has it been a good idea. There are still people \u2014 the majority on the stage, they want to topple Assad. And then there will be chaos, and I think +p3618 +aVThese are the fundamental questions of our time, these foreign policy questions, whether or not regime change is a good idea or a bad idea. I don't think because I think the regime change was a bad idea it means that Hussein was necessarily a good idea. There is often variations of evil on both sides of the war. What we have to decide is whether or not regime change is a good idea. It's what the neoconservatives have wanted. It's what the vast majority of those on the stage want. They still want regime change. They want it in Syria. They wanted it in Iraq. They want it in Libya. It has not worked. Out of regime change you get chaos. From the chaos you have seen repeatedly the rise of radical Islam. So we get this profession of, oh, my goodness, they want to do something about terrorism and yet they're the problem because they allow terrorism to arise out of that chaos. +p3619 +aVNo, I think it's a huge mistake. I think regime change in Syria, and this is what \u2014 I've been saying this for several years now. In 2013 when we first went in, I said, you are going to give arms to the allies of al Qaida, to radical jihadists? That's crazy. But the other thing I said is the great irony is you will be back fighting against your own weapons. Had Assad been bombed when he used chemical weapons two years ago, +p3620 +aVWell, I think if you're in favor of World War III, you have your candidate. You know, here's...... the thing. My goodness, what we want in a leader is someone with judgment, not someone who is so reckless as to stand on the stage and say, "Yes, I'm jumping up and down; I'm going to shoot down Russian planes." Russia already flies in that airspace. It may not be something we're in love with the fact that they're there, but they were invited by Iraq and by Syria to fly in that airspace. And so if we announce we're going to have a no-fly zone, and others have said this. Hillary Clinton is also for it. It is a recipe for disaster. It's a recipe for World War III. We need to confront Russia from a position of strength, but we don't need to confront Russia from a point of recklessness that would lead to war. This is something \u2014 this type of judgment, you know, it's having that kind of judgment; who you would appoint and how you're going to conduct affairs, that is incredibly important. I mean, I think when we think about the judgment of someone who might want World War III, we might think about someone who might shut down a bridge because they don't like their friends; they don't want to \u2014 you know, they want to a Democrat. So I think we need to be very careful. +p3621 +aVYou know, I think we need to set the record straight on this, because I think Marco misspoke about the bill. On the Gang of Eight bill, there was no provisions really for extra scrutiny or safety for refugees. At the time the bill came up, two Iraqi refugees came to my home town, Bowling Green, Kentucky. Their fingerprints were on a bomb from Iraq. They were in the database, but we didn't pick them up. We relocated them here, put them in government housing, got them on food stamps. And we began providing for them, but we didn't have adequate security. On the Gang of Eight bill, on Marco's bill, we had an opportunity. There was a conservative consensus for an amendment I put forward called Trust, But Verify that would have strengthened border security on both refugees, students and those coming here. And Marco sided and I guess was more sympathetic to Chuck Schumer and to the president than he was to conservative principles. But this goes directly to national defense. And if he wants to run as a national \u2014 national defense conservative, he's got to explain why he hasn't stepped up to support border security. +p3622 +aVWhat my bill would do would be only for refugees going forward. So I haven't taken a position on sending anyone home. But I have taken the position that we have a lot of problems here in our country. And that one of the things that we do \u2014 charity is about giving your own money. Charity isn't giving someone else's money. To put everyone in government housing and food stamps and bring them in from around the world I think is a mistake. To give of your own money, I've given to my church. My church has helped people that came from Bosnia. That's a good thing. But we shouldn't have a program where we just say that we're going to take care of the world's refugees. Nobody in the Middle East is doing anything. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait \u2014 all the Gulf nations are doing nothing. They need to step up and take... +p3623 +aVThe greatest threat to our national security is our debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. And whose fault is it? Well, frankly, it's both parties' fault. You have those on the right who clamor and say, oh, we will spend anything on the military, and those on the left who say the same for domestic welfare. But what most Americans don't realize is there is an unholy alliance. They come together. There's a secret handshake. We spend more money on everything. And we are not stronger nation if we go further into debt. We are not projecting power from bankruptcy court. To me, there is no greater threat than our debt. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage because I'm willing to hold the line on all spending. I hope you will consider me in the election. Thank you very much. +p3624 +aVAbsolutely. And I think that we ought to look where income inequality seems to be the worst. It seems to be worst in cities run by Democrats, governors of... States run by Democrats and countries currently run by Democrats. So the thing is, let's look for root causes. But I would also say \u2014 lay some blame at the \u2014 the feet of the Federal Reserve. I think the Federal Reserve has made this problem worse. By artificially keeping interest rates below the market rate, average ordinary citizens have a tough time earning interest, have a tough time making money. They're actually talking now about negative interest. The money as it's created through quantitative easing or other means tends to start out in the big banks in New York. And because we're now paying interest for them to keep the money there, much of that money has not filtered out into the economy. So what we're finding is there is increasing income disparity and income inequality. We also find that as the Federal Reserve destroys the value of the currency, what you're finding is that, if you're poor, if you make $20,000 a year and you have three or four kids, and you're trying to get by, as your prices rise or as the value of the dollar shrinks, these are the people that are hurt the worst. So really we need to reexamine whether we not \u2014 we want a Federal Reserve that's involved so much in determining interest rates. We also need to look at root causes as to what caused the housing boom and the housing collapse. But the bottom line is, if you want less income inequality, move to a city with a Republican mayor or a state with a Republican governor. +p3625 +aVWell, it's a great question, Neil, and thanks for including me in the tax debate. I think what's important about the tax debate is, is that we have to ask the question, where is money best spent, in the private sector or in the government sector? I want a government really, really small, so small you can barely see it. So I want lower taxes and much more money in the private sector. My tax plan, however, is the only tax plan among any of the candidates on the stage that is part of a balanced budget plan. I put forward three plans that actually balance the budget over a five-year period. Each of these plans have details on exactly where we would cut. The question came up earlier, where would you cut? Nobody likes to say where they would cut. I've put pencil to paper and done three budgets that actually balance. I'm also in favor of a plan called the penny plan where we'd just cut 1 percent across the board and the budget actually balances in less than five years. So I think what is extraordinary about my tax plan is it is in the context of balancing the budget. What is also extraordinary about my tax plan is it gets rid of the payroll tax. Democrats demagogue this issue to death, and when they do they say, oh, a millionaire would get a bigger tax cut than someone making $10,000. That's proportionality, as Ben is trying to explain to folks. But the thing is, is if we get rid of the payroll tax, everybody is going to get a tax cut. And this is something that I think the public at large will support and could win an election. +p3626 +aVOurs is 14.5 percent for corporations, 14.5 percent for individuals. No payroll tax for the employee. The business tax pays for social security, and there would be two remaining deductions \u2014 home mortgage and charity. +p3627 +aVThank you. +p3628 +aVNeil, there's a point I'd like to make here... ....Neil, a point that I'd like to make about the tax credits. We have to decide what is conservative and what isn't conservative. Is it fiscally conservative to have a trillion-dollar expenditure? We're not talking about giving people back their tax money. He's talking about giving people money they didn't pay. It's a welfare transfer payment. So here's what we have. Is it conservative to have $1 trillion in transfer payments \u2014 a new welfare program that's a refundable tax credit? Add that to Marco's plan for $1 trillion in new military spending, and you get something that looks, to me, not very conservative. Thank you. +p3629 +aVNevertheless, it's not very conservative, Marco. +p3630 +aVHow is it conservative? +p3631 +aVYeah, but, Marco! Marco! How is it conservative, how is it conservative to add a trillion-dollar expenditure for the federal government that you're not paying for? +p3632 +aVHow is it conservative? +p3633 +aVHow is it conservative to add a trillion dollars in military expenditures? You can not be a conservative if you're going to keep promoting new programs that you're not going to pay for. +p3634 +aVNo. I don't think we're any safer \u2014 I do not think we are any safer from bankruptcy court. As we go further, and further into debt, we become less, and less safe. This is the most important thing we're going to talk about tonight. Can you be a conservative, and be liberal on military spending? Can you be for unlimited military spending, and say, Oh, I'm going to make the country safe? No, we need a safe country, but, you know, we spend more on our military than the next ten countries combined? I want a strong national defense, but I don't want us to be bankrupt. +p3635 +aVHey, Gerard, you know, we might want to point out China is not part of this deal. +p3636 +aVBefore we get a little bit off-kilter here... +p3637 +aVThere is an argument that China doesn't like the deal, because in us doing the deal, we'll be trading with their competitors. You're exactly right. But I think we've sort of missed the point a little bit here. There is an important point, though, about how we discuss these trade treaties that I do agree with Mr. Trump on. We should negotiate from a position of strength. And we also should negotiate using the full force and the constitutional power that was given to us. I think it's a mistake that we give up power to the presidency on these trade deals. We give up the power to filibuster, and I'm kind of fond of that power. We give up the power to amend. And I think, really, one of the big problems we have in our country is, over the last century, really, so much power has gravitated to the executive branch. Really, Congress is kind of a bystander. We don't write the rules. We don't make the laws. The executive branch does. So even in trade \u2014 and I am for trade \u2014 I think we should be careful about giving so much power to the presidency. +p3638 +aVI'd like first to respond to the acquisition, we should \u2014 I think it's particularly naive, particularly foolish to think that we're not going to talk to Russia. The idea of a no fly zone, realize that this is also something that Hillary Clinton agrees with several on our side with, you're asking for a no fly zone in an area in which Russia already flies. Russia flies in that zone at the invitation of Iraq. I'm not saying it's a good thing, but you better know at least what we're getting into. So, when you think it's going to be a good idea to have a no fly zone over Iraq, realize that means you are saying we are going to shoot down Russian planes. If you're ready for that, be ready to send your sons and daughters to another war in Iraq. I don't want to see that happen. I think the first war in Iraq was a mistake... You can be strong without being involved in every civil war around the war... +p3639 +aVRonald Reagan was strong, but Ronald Reagan didn't... +p3640 +aV...send troops into the Middle East... +p3641 +aV...Can I finish... +p3642 +aV...Can I finish my time? Could I finish with my time? +p3643 +aVYes, I would like to finish my response, basically. +p3644 +aVThis is an important question. This is an incredibly important question. And the question goes to be, who do we want to be our commander-in-chief? Do you want a commander-in-chief who says something that we never did throughout the entire Cold War, to discontinue having conversations with the Russians? I am not happy about them flying over there. But I'm not naive enough to say, well, Iraq has them flying over their airspace, we're just going to announce that we're shooting them down? That is naive to the point of being something you might hear in junior high. But it's scary... +p3645 +aVThe first thing I would do is I wouldn't arm our enemies. I wouldn't arm +p3646 +aVGerard, can I comment... +p3647 +aVThe first thing I would do as president is repeal the regulations that are hampering our energy that the President has put in place. Including the Clean Power Act. While I do think that man may have a role in our climate, I think nature also has a role. The planet's 4.5 billion years old, we've been through geologic age after geologic age. We've had times when the temperatures been warmer, we've had times when the temperatures been colder. We've had times when the carbon in the atmosphere's been higher. So, I think before we \u2014 we need to look before we leap. President's often fond of saying he wants a balance solution, but, really we do need to balance both keeping the environment clean, and we will have some rules for that. We got to balance that with the economy. He's devastated my state. I say the President's not only destroying Kentucky, he's destroying the democrat party down there because nobody wants to associate with him. So, what we really need is somebody that understands that we do need energy of all forms, and that means we will have solar, and wind, and hydro, but we will still have coal, and we still will have natural gas. And, we've got to have an all of the above policy. But, it would be a mistake to shut down all of our industries in the coal fields, and shut down the coal power plants. If we did so we're going to have a day where we wake up and some of our big cities are either very cold, or very hot. So, I think it's a big danger, and we shouldn't do it. And, what we should do is say we want all of the above... ...We want to free up the energy sector, and let people produce, let them drill, let them explore. +p3648 +aVWe're the richest, freest, most humanitarian nation in the history of mankind. But we also borrow a million dollars a minute. And the question I have for all Americans is, think about it, can you be a fiscal conservative if you don't conserve all of the money? If you're a profligate spender, you spend money in an unlimited fashion for the military, is that a conservative notion? We have to be conservative with all spending, domestic spending and welfare spending. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage. +p3649 +aVYou know, I left my medical practice and ran for office because I was concerned about an $18 trillion debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. Now, on the floor of the Congress, the Washington establishment from both parties puts forward a bill that will explode the deficit. It allows President Obama to borrow unlimited amounts of money. I will stand firm. I will spend every ounce of energy to stop it. I will begin tomorrow to filibuster it. And I ask everyone in America to call Congress tomorrow and say enough is enough; no more debt. +p3650 +aVNo, I oppose it because you're taking money from the entitlement and then spending it immediately on other items. That's what they're doing. They're taking money from Social Security and they're going to spend it on the military and they're going to spend it on domestic spending. Here's the thing. When you look at raising the debt limit, it should be leverage to try to reform government. In 2011, the sequester was passed as a reform to slow down the rate of government. Instead, the Washington establishment raised both. We raised the military spending, took from entitlements, and raised domestic spending and the deficit will explode under this. This is the unholy alliance that people need to know about between right and left. Right and left are spending us into oblivion. We should use the debt ceiling, as precisely to Don, to force upon them budgetary reforms. +p3651 +aVWell, that's a real question. Is there going to be any change in the House with new leadership? I frankly don't think there will be much change because I think what's going to happen is you're going to get more of the same. People in Washington think they were sent there to be adults and govern and do all this. Well, you know what I'm worried about? Not keeping the government open. I'm worried about bankrupting the American people. We're borrowing a million dollars a minute. That is important. And that's what we have to contrast. Keeping the government open and continuing to borrow a million dollars a minute. +p3652 +aVWell, thank you very much. I would like to thank Ted for co-sponsoring my bill, audit the Fed. And I think it's precisely because of the arrogance of someone like Ben Bernanke, who now calls us all know-nothings, that is precisely why we need audit the Fed. I think it is really very much a huge problem that an organization as powerful as the Fed comes in, lobbies against them being audited on the Hill. I would prevent them lobbying Congress. I don't think the Fed should be involved with lobbying us. I think we should examine how the Fed has really been part of the problem. You want to study income inequality, let's bring the Fed forward and talk about Fed policy and how it causes income inequality. Let's also bring the Fed forward and have them explain how they caused the housing boom and the crisis, and what they've done to make us better or worse. I think the Fed has been a great problem in our society. What you need to do is free up interest rates. Interest rates are the price of money, and we shouldn't have price controls on the price of money. +p3653 +aV...John... +p3654 +aVJohn, I'd like to address this? John, could I follow up on this? +p3655 +aVWhat are the rules on who gets to follow up. How do we decide on who gets to follow up? I've seen plenty of other people follow up? +p3656 +aVI'd like to just mention something about my tax plan, and how it relates to the discussion... +p3657 +aVAlright. Much of the discussion is centered over whether or not the different tax plans help, or affect the middle class. In fact, it's the chief argument by democrats against many of the different flat tax proposals. Mine is unique in the sense that my tax plan actually gets rid of the payroll tax as well. It shifts it to the business, and it would allow middle class people to get a tax cut. If you just cut their income tax, there isn't much income tax to cut. Mine actually cuts the payroll tax, and I think it would spread the tax cut across all socioeconomic levels, and would allow then it to be something that would be broadly supported by the public in an election. +p3658 +aVThe question always is, what works better, the private marketplace or government? And what distributes goods better? It always seems to be the private marketplace does a better job. Is there an area for a safety net? Can you have Medicare or Social Security? Yes. But you ought to acknowledge the government doesn't do a very good job at it. The main problem with Medicare right now is that the average person pays in taxes over their whole lifetime about $100,000. But the average person takes out about $350,000. We have this enormous mismatch because we have smaller and smaller families. When people ask me, whose fault is it? Whose fault is it that Medicare is broken, out of money, that Social Security is broken, out of money? And I say, look, it's not Republicans' fault, it's not Democrats' fault, it's your grandparents' fault for having too many damn kids. After the war we had all of these kids, Baby Boomers. Now we're having smaller families. We used to have 16 workers for one retiree, now you have three workers for one retiree. It's not working. I have a bill to fix Medicare. I've a bill to fix Social Security. For both of them you have to gradually raise the age. If you're not willing to do that, nobody wants to do it, but if you're not willing to gradually raise the age, you're not serious about fixing either one of them. +p3659 +aVSay again? +p3660 +aVYou can't do nothing. And that's what I hear from some people, "we'll do nothing and it will just be fixed." That's absurd, and I think people who don't want to fix it, really, or unwilling to take the chance to say, "something has to change," are missing the boat here. The age will have to gradually rise, there is no question. It's the only way you fix Medicare, the only way you fix Social Security. You will also have to means-test the benefits and declare there's not enough money. It isn't "I put money in, I'm getting it back." There is no money, it's a stack of paper. There is no money in the Social Security account. There is no money in the Medicare account. There's only a promise to pay by the next generation, and the next generation's not big enough to pay it. [ +p3661 +aVLiberty thrives when government is small. I want a government so small I can barely see it. I want a government so small that the individual has a chance to thrive and prosper. I think, though, government is too big now. And what you're going to see in Washington this week is establishment Republicans have made an agreement with the president to raise the debt ceiling in an unlimited fashion; no limit to the debt ceiling raise. This is extraordinary. It's extraordinarily wrong. You'll see me on the floor of the Senate tomorrow filibustering this and saying enough is enough, no more debt. +p3662 +aVGood evening, everyone. I'm an eye surgeon from Bowling Green, Kentucky. My wife, Kelly, and I have been married for nearly 25 years, and I spend my days defending the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I think there's nothing more important than understanding that the Constitution restrains government, not the people. Thank you. +p3663 +aVI kind of have to laugh when I think of, "Mmm, sounds like a non sequitur." He was asked whether or not he would be capable and it would be in good hands to be in charge of the nuclear weapons, and all of a sudden, there's a sideways attack at me. I think that really goes to really the judgment. Do we want someone with that kind of character, that kind of careless language to be negotiating with Putin? Do we want someone like that to be negotiating with Iran? I think really there's a sophomoric quality that is entertaining about Mr. Trump, but I am worried. I'm very concerned about him \u2014 having him in charge of the nuclear weapons, because I think his response, his \u2014 his visceral response to attack people on their appearance \u2014 short, tall, fat, ugly \u2014 my goodness, that happened in junior high. Are we not way above that? Would we not all be worried to have someone like that in charge of the nuclear arsenal? +p3664 +aVI think this goes back to essentially what we've been saying for the last two or three questions. Carly Fiorina also said we're not going to talk with Putin. Well, think if Reagan had said that during the Cold War? We continued to talk with the Russians throughout the Cold War which is much more significant that where we are now. Should we continue to talk with Iran? Yes. Should we cut up the agreement immediately? That's absurd. Wouldn't you want to know if they complied? Now, I'm going to vote against the agreement because I don't think there's significant leverage, but it doesn't mean that I would immediately not look at the agreement, and cut it up without looking to see if whether or not Iran has complied. The same goes with China. I don't think we need to be rash, I don't think we need to be reckless, and I think need to leave lines of communication open. Often we talk about whether we should be engaged in the world, or disengaged in the world, and I think this is an example of some who want to isolate us, actually, and not be engaged. We do need to be engaged with Russia. It doesn't mean we give them a free pass, or China a free pass, but, to be engaged, to continue to talk. We did throughout the Cold War, and it would be a big mistake not to do it here. +p3665 +aVI think this gets to the point of wisdom on when to intervene and when we shouldn't. Had we bombed Assad at the time, like President Obama wanted, and like Hillary Clinton wanted and many Republicans wanted, I think +p3666 +aVWell, I hate to say it, but Donald Trump has a bit of a point here. The case that was decided around 1900 was, people had a green card, were here legally, and they said that their children were citizens. There's never been a direct Supreme Court case on people who were here illegally, whether or not their kids are citizens. So it hasn't really been completely adjudicated. The 14th Amendment says that "those who are here and under the jurisdiction." The original author of the \u2014 of the 14th Amendment said on the Senate floor that this was applying to slaves, and did not specifically apply to others. +p3667 +aVWell, I'm glad we're having a discussion about taxes because everybody laments that we lose jobs overseas, we have. Our companies, and our jobs are being chased overseas by a 70,000 page tax code, so, that's why I've chosen to get rid of the whole thing, and have one single rate, 14 and a-half percent for everybody, business, and for corporate income, and personal income. But, we also get rid of the payroll tax, so the working class would get a tax break as well. So, I think a flat tax, eliminating the tax code, getting rid of all the loopholes, is the way to go, and it's the way we get America going again. +p3668 +aVHugh, can I \u2014 can I make a response to that? +p3669 +aVCan I make a response to that? +p3670 +aVMay I make a response to that? +p3671 +aVHe's referred to me. +p3672 +aVHe's referred to me... +p3673 +aV... in his remarks. May I make a response? +p3674 +aVAbsolutely. Go ahead. +p3675 +aVMay I respond? +p3676 +aVThe remark was made that there hadn't been anyone else on the podium opposed to the Iraq War. I've made my career as being an opponent of the Iraq War. I was opposed to the Syria war. I was opposed to arming people who are our enemies. Iran is now stronger because Hussein is gone. Hussein was the great bulwark and counterbalance to the Iranians. So when we complain about the Iranians, you need to remember that the Iraq War made it worse. Originally, Governor Bush was asked, was the Iraq War a mistake, and he said, "No. We'd do it again." We have to learn sometimes the interventions backfire. The Iraq War backfired and did not help us. We're still paying the repercussions of a bad decision. +p3677 +aVWe have make the decision now in Syria, should we topple Assad? Many up here wanted to topple Assad, and it's like \u2014 I said no, because if you do... +p3678 +aV... +p3679 +aVIf you want boots on the ground, and you want them to be our sons and daughters, you got 14 other choices. There will always be a Bush or Clinton for you, if you want to go back to war in Iraq. But the thing is, the first war was a mistake. And I'm not sending our sons and our daughters back to Iraq. The war didn't work. We can amplify those who live there. The Kurds deserve to be armed and I'll arm them. We can use our Air Force to amplify the forces there. But the boots on the ground need to be the people who live there. My goodness, I'm still upset with the Saudi Arabians for everything they do over there. They've funded the arms that went to the jihadists. They're not accepting any of the people, any of the migrants that have been \u2014 the refugees that are being pushed out of Syria. Saudi Arabia is not accepting one. Why are we always the world's patsies that we have to go over there and fight their wars for them? They need to fight their wars, we need to defend American interests, but it is not in America's national security interests to have another war in Iraq. +p3680 +aVI think one of the great problems, and what American people don't like about politics, is hypocrisy. People have one standard for others and not for them \u2014 for themselves. There is at least one prominent example on the stage of someone who says they smoked pot in high school, and yet the people going to \u2014 to jail for this are poor people, often African-Americans and often Hispanics, and yet the rich kids who use drugs aren't. I personally think that this is a crime for which the only victim is the individual, and I think that America has to take a different attitude. I would like to see more rehabilitation and less incarceration. I'm a fan of the drug courts which try to direct you back towards work and less time in jail. But the bottom line is the states. We say we like the 10th Amendment, until we start talking about this. And I think the federal government has gone too far, I think that the war on drugs has had a racial outcome, and really has been something that has really damaged our inner cities. Not only do the drugs damage them, we damage them again by incarcerating them and then preventing them from getting employment over time. So I don't think that the federal government should override the states. I believe in the 10th Amendment and I really will say that the states are left to themselves. +p3681 +aVWell, I think if we left it open, we could see how many people smoked pot in high school. +p3682 +aVWell, you know, the thing is that... +p3683 +aVYeah, I was talking about \u2014 well, let me... +p3684 +aVBut let me respond. The thing is, is that in Florida, Governor Bush campaigned against medical marijuana. That means that a small child like Morgan Hintz (ph) that has seizures is day, is failing on non-traditional medications, is not allowed to use cannabis oil. And if they do that in Florida, they will take the child away, they will put the parents in jail. And that's what that means if you're against allowing people use medical marijuana, you'll actually put them in jail. +p3685 +aVAnd actually, under the current circumstances, kids who had privilege like you do, don't go to jail, but the poor kids in our inner cities go to jail. I don't think that's fair. And I think we need to acknowledge it, and it is hypocritical to still want to put poor people in jail... +p3686 +aVWell, you vote \u2014 you oppose medical marijuana... +p3687 +aVBut that means you'll put people in jail. +p3688 +aVMay I respond? +p3689 +aVUnderstand what they're saying. if they're going to say we are going to enforce the federal law against what the state law is, they aren't really believing in the Tenth Amendment. Governor Christie would go into Colorado, and if you're breaking any federal law on marijuana, even though the state law allows it, he would put you in jail. If a young mother is trying to give her child cannabis oil for medical marijuana for seizure treatment, he would put her in jail, if it violates federal law. I would let Colorado do what the Tenth Amendment says. This power \u2014 we were never intended to have crime dealing at the federal level. Crime was supposed to be left to the states. Colorado has made their decision. And I don't want the federal government interfering and putting moms in jail, who are trying to get medicine for their kid... +p3690 +aVMay I respond? May I respond? +p3691 +aVHere is the thing, he doesn't want to make it about medical marijuana, but what if New Jersey's medical marijuana contradicts the federal law? He's saying he'll send the federal government in, and he will enforce the federal law. That's not consistent with the Tenth Amendment. It is not consistent with states' rights. And it is not consistent with the conservative vision for the country. I don't think we should be sending the federal police in to arrest a mother and separate them from their child for giving a medicine to their child for seizures. +p3692 +aVIf you want a skeptic \u2014 if you want a skeptic, Jake, I will happily jump into that briar patch. If you want a real... +p3693 +aVA second opinion? One of the greatest \u2014 one of the greatest medical discoveries of all times was \u2014 were the vaccines, particularly for smallpox. And if you want to read a story, it's called The Speckled Monster, it's an amazing story, it was all done voluntary. But people came in by the droves. George Washington wouldn't let his wife visit until she got vaccinated. So I'm all for vaccines. But I'm also for freedom. I'm also a little concerned about how they're bunched up. My kids had all of their vaccines, and even if the science doesn't say bunching them up is a problem, I ought to have the right to spread out my vaccines out a little bit at the very least. +p3694 +aVOoh, that's a tough one. You know, I'm big on \u2014 that we were \u2014 and I love what Carly said about women's suffrage. I think Susan B. Anthony might be a good choice. +p3695 +aVJustice Never Sleeps. +p3696 +aVI met Ronald Reagan as a teenager, and my family, we're big supporters of him when he ran against Gerald Ford. It was a big deal because he was the grassroots, running against the establishment, and I'll never forget that. And, how he stood up and said, you know what, this is something new that our country needs, and our party needs. If I were president, I would try to be one who says, you know what, I'm a Reagan Conservative. I'm someone who believes in peace through strength, and I would try to lead the country in that way knowing that our goal is peace, and that war is the last resort, not the first resort. And, that when we go to war, we go to war in a constitutional way, which means that we have to vote on it, that war is initiated by congress, not by the president, that we go to war electively (ph). That when we go to war, we don't fight with one arm tied behind our back, we fight all out to win, but then we come home. +p3697 +aVThis is what's wrong! +p3698 +aVI mean, this is what's wrong. He buys and sells politicians of all stripes, he's already... +p3699 +aVHey, look, look! He's already hedging his bet on the Clintons, OK? So if he doesn't run as a Republican, maybe he supports Clinton, or maybe he runs as an independent... +p3700 +aV...but I'd say that he's already hedging his bets because he's used to buying politicians. +p3701 +aVFirst of all, only +p3702 +aVMegyn, may I respond? May I respond? +p3703 +aVI want to collect more records from terrorists, but less records from innocent Americans. The Fourth Amendment was what we fought the Revolution over! John Adams said it was the spark that led to our war for independence, and I'm proud of standing for the Bill of Rights, and I will continue to stand for the Bill of Rights. +p3704 +aVUse the Fourth Amendment! +p3705 +aVUse the Fourth Amendment! +p3706 +aVGet a warrant! +p3707 +aVGet a judge to sign the warrant! +p3708 +aVSee, here's the problem. +p3709 +aVHere's the problem, governor. Here's the problem, governor. You fundamentally misunderstand the Bill of Rights. Every time you did a case, you got a warrant from a judge. I'm talking about searches without warrants... +p3710 +aV...indiscriminately, of all Americans' records, and that's what I fought to end. I don't trust President Obama with our records. I know you gave him a big hug, and if you want to give him a big hug again, go right ahead. +p3711 +aVI've got a news flash... +p3712 +aVNews flash, the Republican Party's been fighting against a single-payer system... +p3713 +aV-- for a decade. So I think you're on the wrong side of this if you're still arguing for a single-payer system. +p3714 +aVI oppose the Iranian deal, and will vote against it. I don't think that the president negotiated from a position of strength, but I don't immediately discount negotiations. I'm a Reagan conservative. Reagan did negotiate with the Soviets. But you have to negotiate from a position of strength, and I think President Obama gave away too much, too early. If there's going to be a negotiation, you're going to have to believe somehow that the Iranians are going to comply. And I asked this question to John Kerry, I said "do you believe they're trustworthy?" and he said "No." And I said, "well, how are we gonna get them to comply?" I would have never released the sanctions before there was consistent evidence of compliance. +p3715 +aVLook, I don't want my marriage or my guns registered in Washington. And if people have an opinion, it's a religious opinion that is heartly felt, obviously they should be allowed to practice that and no government should interfere with them. One of the things, one of the things that really got to me was the thing in Houston where you had the government, the mayor actually, trying to get the sermons of ministers. When the government tries to invade the church to enforce its own opinion on marriage, that's when it's time to resist. +p3716 +aVWell, let's be clear, I'm the only one on the stage who actually has a five-year budget that balances. I've put pencil to paper... +p3717 +aV... and I've said -- and I've said I would cut spending, and I've said exactly where. Each one of my budgets has taken a meat axe to foreign aid, because I think we ought to quit sending it to countries that hate us. I think we ought to quit sending it to countries that burn our flag. Israel is not one of those. But even Benjamin Netanyahu said that ultimately, they will be stronger when they're independent. My position is exactly the same. We shouldn't borrow money from China to send it anywhere, but why don't we start with eliminating aid to our enemies. +p3718 +aVI still say exactly what my original opinion is. Do you borrow money from China to send it to anyone? Out of your surplus, you can help your allies, and Israel is a great ally. And this is no particular animus of Israel, but what I will say, and I will say over and over again, we cannot give away money we don't have. We do not project power from bankruptcy court. We're borrowing a million dollars a minute. It's got to stop somewhere. +p3719 +aVI'm a different kind of Republican. I've introduced a five-year balanced budget. I've introduced the largest tax cut in our history. I stood for ten and a half hours on the Senate floor to defend your right to be left alone. But I've also gone to Chicago. I've gone to Detroit. I've been to Ferguson, I've been to Baltimore, because I want our party to be bigger, better and bolder, and I'm the only one that leads Hillary Clinton in five states that were won by President Obama. I'm a different kind of Republican. +p3720 +asVBASH +p3721 +(lp3722 +VA crucial question is how to balance surveillance with privacy and keeping Americans safe. Senator Cruz, you voted for a bill that President Obama signed into law just this past June that made it harder for the government to access Americans' phone records. In light of the San Bernardino attack, was your vote a mistake? +p3723 +aVThank you. Senator Rubio, Senator Cruz is right there was bipartisan support for that. But you voted against it. So, is Senator Cruz wrong? +p3724 +aVSenator Cruz? +p3725 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator \u2014 Senator Rubio, please respond. +p3726 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I know this is \u2014 this has been a very big issue for you. You hear many of your colleagues are calling for increased surveillance by law enforcement. You call that hogwash. Why is that hogwash? +p3727 +aVSenator Rubio? +p3728 +aVGovernor Christie, Governor Christie... ...Governor Christie, I'll come to you in a minute. Go ahead, Senator Paul. +p3729 +aVGo ahead, please. +p3730 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about immigration in a while. But, Governor Christie, just listening to this... +p3731 +aVListening to this, you talked \u2014 you heard Senator Paul, Senator Cruz talk about how important it is to protect Americans' privacy, even in a time of grave danger. Why \u2014 what's wrong with that? +p3732 +aVSenator Paul, you said +p3733 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I want to go back to my initial question, which is you saying that +p3734 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about regime change in a bit. But Governor Kasich, would you like to respond to Senator Paul? +p3735 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. We've been talking tonight about programs and policy proposals that you all have to keep Americans safe and it's a big discussion on the campaign trail. Also about border security and immigration. So let's talk about immigration. Senator Rubio. You co-authored a bill with Democrats two years ago that allowed a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Do you still support that path to citizenship, which means giving those immigrants rights, like the right to vote? +p3736 +aVSenator, you haven't answered the question. You described a very long path but does that path end at citizenship? +p3737 +aVThank you, senator. +p3738 +aVThank you, senator. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, on the campaign trail, Senator Rubio has said that his immigration plan is not that different from yours. Is that true? +p3739 +aVSenator Rubio, please. +p3740 +aVSenator Cruz? +p3741 +aVSenator Cruz? +p3742 +aVSenator Cruz, can you answer that question please? +p3743 +aVSenator Cruz? +p3744 +aVOne at a time please. +p3745 +aVMs. Fiorina, please wait your turn, we're going to get to you. +p3746 +aVSenator Cruz go ahead. +p3747 +aVMr. Trump, you like to say that you restarted this conversation in the campaign. +p3748 +aVSo who do you side with? Who do you side with in this, Senator Rubio or Senator Cruz? +p3749 +aVThank you. Governor Bush? +p3750 +aVListening to this, do you think this is the tone \u2014 this immigration debate that republicans need to take to win back Hispanics into our party especially states like where we are in Nevada that has a pretty Hispanic community? +p3751 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said if China launches a cyber- attack against the U.S. on your watch, "they're going to see cyber- warfare like they have never seen before." What exactly would that response look like? +p3752 +aVGovernor Bush, what you just heard from Governor Christie, are you concerned that that could really escalate with China, that they would retaliate? And, for example, as the NSA has said, attack the U.S. and maybe it's power grid, which the Chinese have the capability to do? +p3753 +aVMr. Trump, just this weekend you said Senator Cruz is not qualified to be president because he doesn't have the right temperament and acted like a maniac when he arrived in the Senate. But last month you said you were open to naming Senator Cruz as your running mate. +p3754 +aVSo why would you be willing to put somebody who's a maniac one heartbeat away from the presidency? +p3755 +aVOkay. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, you have not been willing to attack Mr. Trump in public. +p3756 +aVBut you did question his judgment in having control of American's nuclear arsenal during a private meeting with supporters. Why are you willing to say things about him in private and not in public? +p3757 +aVSenator, senator, I just... +p3758 +aVSenator, a lot of people have seen... +p3759 +aV... a lot of people have seen these comments you made in private. I just want to clarify what you're saying right now is you do believe Mr. Trump has the judgment to be commander in chief? +p3760 +aVGovernor Kasich, Senator Cruz is so committed to stripping federal funds from Planned Parenthood that it could result in shutting down the federal government in just about two weeks. Do you agree with Senator Cruz's tactic? +p3761 +aVThank you. +p3762 +aVThank you. Senator Cruz, I would just add that, on this stage not that long ago, Senator Graham said that this tactic that you're pushing would tank the Republicans' ability to win in 2016. +p3763 +aVThank you, senator. +p3764 +aVThank you... +p3765 +aVGovernor \u2014 governor, I want to go to you. Is it what Senator Cruz says, a surrender by Republicans? +p3766 +aVBut... +p3767 +aVBut is it... +p3768 +aVBut, governor, the \u2014 but, governor, the reality is, in just two weeks' time... ...we are going to be facing a question about whether or not it's enough to shut down the government to make that statement, because there is still a Democrat in the White House. Do you oppose it or support it? +p3769 +aVYes or no, do you support this shutdown? +p3770 +aVWe're talking about Planned Parenthood right now. +p3771 +aVCan you answer yes or no? +p3772 +aVOne more time. I'm sorry, I just want to get the answer. +p3773 +aVSo you would support a shutdown. +p3774 +aVGovernor Bush, Mr. Trump has suggested that your views on immigration are influenced by your Mexican born wife. He said that, quote, "If my wife were from Mexico, I think I would have a soft spot for people from Mexico." Did Mr. Trump go to far in invoking your wife? +p3775 +aVMr. Trump? +p3776 +aVMr. Trump... +p3777 +aVGo ahead. +p3778 +aVMs. Fiorina \u2014 Ms. Fiorina, we're going to come to you, we're going to come to you. I just want to give Governor Bush a chance to respond to what Mr. Trump said. +p3779 +aVOK, on that note, you have criticized Governor Bush for speaking Spanish on the campaign trail. You said, quote, "He should really set an example by speaking English in the United States." What's wrong with speaking Spanish? +p3780 +aVThank you. +p3781 +aV...Thank you.... +p3782 +aVGovernor Bush, let's talk about the issue that's very important to Republican voters, and that's the Supreme Court. After Chief Justice John Roberts voted to uphold Obamacare twice, Senator Cruz criticized your brother for appointing John Roberts to the Supreme Court. Looking back on it, did your brother make a mistake? +p3783 +aV...Is John Roberts one of those people? +p3784 +aVDo you like what you just heard, Senator Cruz? +p3785 +aVMr. Trump, you have said once or twice that you are really rich, and you are by far the richest person on this stage. Chris Christie says billionaires like you and even people who make and earn far less should no longer get Social Security, or at least there should be limits based on \u2014 on their income. You think he's wrong, and if so, why? +p3786 +aVWhat about the country as a \u2014 as a policy? +p3787 +aVSo is a voluntary program the way to get the Social Security system solvent again like that. +p3788 +aVSenator Santorum, you want to give the intelligence community more power to collect American's phone data. But the government had this ability until just days before the San Bernardino attack. If it couldn't prevent San Bernardino, why will it protect America? +p3789 +aVSenator Graham, when this program was exposed, you said, " you have nothing to worry about if you're not talking to terrorist." Do you understand why though some Americans are concerned that the government is keeping tabs on them in any way? +p3790 +aVThank you. Governor Huckabee, you said, "not one terrorist plot has been foiled by the NSA's collection of American's phone records. The director of the CIA says,. "not having these programs makes it ability to find terrorists, quote, "much more challenging."" Are you taking a potential tool to fight terrorists? +p3791 +aVSenator Santorum? +p3792 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator Graham... +p3793 +aVSenator Graham... +p3794 +aVSenator Graham, we've heard here tonight a lot about the fact that you want to send U.S. troops, ground troops, into Iraq, and Syria to defeat +p3795 +aVGovernor Huckabee... +p3796 +aVGovernor Huckabee, would you reinstate the draft? +p3797 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator Graham... +p3798 +aVSenator Graham... +p3799 +aVSenator Graham, we've heard here tonight a lot about the fact that you want to send U.S. troops, ground troops, into Iraq, and Syria to defeat +p3800 +aVGovernor Huckabee... +p3801 +aVGovernor Huckabee, would you reinstate the draft? +p3802 +aVSo what would you do about it? +p3803 +aVSenator... +p3804 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. +p3805 +aVSenator Graham. +p3806 +aVSenator Graham, quick response. +p3807 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. +p3808 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. +p3809 +aVSenator Santorum, earlier this month the Pentagon opened all U.S. military combat positions to women. You previously opposed allowing women in combat roles. As President, would you change the Pentagon's new policy? +p3810 +aVSo, just to be clear, you're saying, yes, you would change the policy back? +p3811 +aVGovernor Pataki, as you mentioned earlier, you have two sons who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Would you maintain this new policy as President, or do you agree with Senator Santorum. +p3812 +aVSenator Santorum. +p3813 +aVNow Governor Pataki, do you a final response? +p3814 +aVGovernor Huckabee, the U.S. has a program that allows visitors from America's closest allies to travel to the U.S. without obtaining a visa. But new legislation in Congress says that privilege should not apply to those who have visited is hot spots like Iraq and Syria in the last five years. You say that legislation doesn't go far enough. Why? +p3815 +aVSenator Santorum, Governor Jindal has supported a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants once the border is secure. Why do you disagree with that? +p3816 +aVSenator, your time's up. I want to get the governor to respond to that. +p3817 +aVSenator -- Senator Santorum, do you buy that, that the governor's not for amnesty? +p3818 +aVSenator, your time is up... +p3819 +aVYour time is up. And Governor, I'm sorry. Just -- you -- you really need to clarify your position, because you say you're not for amnesty, but you have been for a path to citizenship... +p3820 +aVThank you. Senator Graham, you mentioned this earlier; you are calling for an additional 20,000 U.S. ground forces to fight +p3821 +aVNo one on this stage has gone that far. So are you saying, for Iraq and Syria, are you saying that everybody to your right is not fit for the Oval Office? +p3822 +aVSenator -- +p3823 +aV-- Senator Santorum, I know you're raising your hand. You're committing to this number of troops, both in Iraq and on the ground in Syria? +p3824 +aVAnd he's saying 20,000. Would you...? +p3825 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Jindal? +p3826 +aVSenator Santorum, you just heard Governor Jindal and Governor Pataki talk about tax reform. Jeb Bush has proposed a tax reform plan, and in it, he limits deductions, including the popular home mortgage deduction. Would you do the same as president? +p3827 +aV...times up, Senator. +p3828 +aV...OK, times up, Senator. Governor, just to bring you back into this, you said that you would be OK with what is effectively raising taxes on hedge fund managers as part of a tax reform plan. Would you aslo be for doing away with people's deductions for their mortgages. +p3829 +aVGovernor Chafee, you were the only Republican in the Senate to vote against the Iraq war. You say Secretary Clinton should be disqualified from the presidency because she voted in favor of using force in Iraq. She has since said that her vote was a mistake. Why isn't that good enough? +p3830 +aVSecretary Clinton, he's questioning your judgment. +p3831 +aVSenator Sanders \u2014 Senator Sanders, I want to bring you in here. My question for you is, as a congressman, you voted against the Iraq War. You voted against the Gulf War. You're just talking about Syria, but under what circumstances would a President Sanders actually use force? +p3832 +aVAll right. +p3833 +aVThank you. CNN visited college campuses, along with Facebook. And not surprisingly college affordability was among the most pressing issue. Senator Sanders, you've mentioned a couple of times you do have a plan to make public colleges free for everyone. Secretary Clinton has criticized that in saying she's not in favor of making a college free for Donald Trump's kids. Do you think taxpayers should pick up the tab for wealthy children? +p3834 +aVAnd, Secretary Clinton, it's not just college tuition that Senator Sanders is talking about, expanding Social Security and giving all Americans Medicare. What's wrong with that? +p3835 +aVSecretary Clinton... +p3836 +aVCan you answer the... +p3837 +aVSecretary Clinton, the question was not just about tuition, though. It was about Senator Sanders' plan to expand Social Security, to make Medicare available to all Americans. Is that something that you would support? And if not, why not? +p3838 +aVDo you want to expand it? +p3839 +aVSecretary Clinton, you now support mandated paid family leave. +p3840 +aVCarly Fiorina, the first female CEO of a Fortune 50 company, argues, if the government requires paid leave, it will force small businesses to, quote, "hire fewer people and create fewer jobs." What do you say not only to Carly Fiorina, but also a small-business owner out there who says, you know, I like this idea, but I just can't afford it? +p3841 +aVIt's on the federal level. +p3842 +aVBut Secretary \u2014 Secretary Clinton, even many people who agree with you might say, look, this is very hard to do, especially in today's day and age. There are so many people who say, "Really? Another government program? Is that what you're proposing? And at the expense of taxpayer money?" +p3843 +asVEPPERSON +p3844 +(lp3845 +VThank you, John. Mrs. Fiorina, you were the CEO of a large corporation that offers a 401(k) to its employees. But more than half of American have no access to an employer sponsored retirement plan. That includes the workers at small businesses, and the growing ranks of Uber drivers and other part-timers in the freelance economy. Should the Federal Government play a larger role in helping to set up retirement plans for these workers? +p3846 +aVSo you wouldn't agree \u2014 you wouldn't agree with a start for 401(k) for businesses or anything like that? +p3847 +aVThank you very much. +p3848 +aVThank you, the rules say one minute. +p3849 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. We appreciate it. Thank you, thank you. I want to turn my attention now, to you now, Governor Kasich. Most people can't get a college degree without going into debt. Over 40 million Americans have student loans and many of them cannot pay them back. This country has over $100 billion in student loan defaults. That's billion with a b. What will you do to make sure that students, their families, taxpayers, won't feel the economic impact of this burden for generations? Well, first of all, in Ohio we're changing the whole system. Universities will not get paid one dime unless the student graduates or \u2014 graduates or completes a course. Secondly, you can be in high school and complete almost an entire first year before you go to college and get credit to do that. And, of course, in addition to that, we are working now to go after the cost drivers in our universities. And let me give you an example. Universities today have so many non-academic assets. At Ohio State they sold the parking garage and the parking lot, and they got $500 million because they shouldn't be in the parking lot business. They shouldn't be in the ding business, they shouldn't be in the dorm business. And, of course, we need to take advantage of on-line education to reduce these costs and begin to dis-intermediate the cost of four years. Now, for those who that have these big high costs, I think we can seriously look at an idea of where you can do public service. I mean legitimate, public service and begin to pay off some of that debt through the public service that you do. And in the meantime, it may inspire us to care more about our country, more about ourselves. This is a big moral issue in America. Living a life bigger than yourself, and being a center of healing and justice. And people can learn it through public service. +p3850 +aVThank you, thank you. +p3851 +aVThank you, John. Senator Graham, one in every four workers has saved less than $1,000 for retirement. Millions of Americans rely on their Social Security benefits for the majority of their retirement income. Now, you called for reforms to Social Security, but what would you do to fix the other part of the problem for future retirees and get people to save more? +p3852 +aVBut Senator Graham... +p3853 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. Thank you, Senator Graham. Governor Jindal, you've been a strong supporter of for-profit colleges. These are institutions that educate many veterans, minorities and working class Americans. They make up about 11 percent of the college population at these schools, but they account for 44 percent of student loan defaults. Should for-profit schools be held accountable when they take taxpayer money and leave students deep in debt? +p3854 +asVSANDERS +p3855 +(lp3856 +VWell, Gwen and Judy, thank you very much for hosting this event. And, PBS, thank you. Nine months ago, our campaign began. And when it began, we had no political organization, no money, and not much name recognition outside of the state of Vermont. A lot has happened in nine months. And what has happened is, I think, the American people have responded to a series of basic truths, and that is that we have today a campaign finance system which is corrupt, which is undermining American democracy, which allows Wall Street and billionaires to pour huge sums of money into the political process to elect the candidates of their choice. And aligned with a corrupt campaign finance system is a rigged economy. And that's an economy where ordinary Americans are working longer hours for low wagers. They are worried to death about the future of their kids. And yet they are seeing almost all new income and all new wealth going to the top 1 percent. And then in addition to that, the American people are looking around and they see a broken criminal justice system. They see more people in jail in the United States of America than any other country on earth, 2.2 million. We're spending $80 billion a year locking up fellow Americans. They see kids getting arrested for marijuana, getting in prison, getting a criminal record, while they see executives on Wall Street who pay billions of dollars in settlements and get no prosecution at all. No criminal records for them. I think what our campaign is indicating is that the American people are tired of establishment politics, tired of establishment economics. They want a political revolution in which millions of Americans stand up, come together, not let the Trumps of the world divide us, and say, you know what, in this great country, we need a government that represents all of us, not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors. Thank you. +p3857 +aVWell, to put that in a context, Judy, I think we have to understand that in the last 30 years in this country there has been a massive transfer of wealth going from the hands of working families into the top one-tenth of 1% whose percentage of wealth has doubled. In other words, the very rich are getting richer, almost everybody is going \u2014 getting poorer. What I believe is the United States, in fact, should join the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee healthcare to all people. Our Medicare for all single-payer proposal will save the average middle class family $5,000 a year. I do believe that in the year 2016 we have to look in terms of public education as colleges as part of public education making public colleges and universities tuition free. I believe that when real unemployment is close to 10%, and when our infrastructure, our roads, our bridges, our water systems, Flint, Michigan comes to mind. Our waste water plants, our rail, our airports, in many places are disintegrating. Yeah, we can create 13 million jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure at a cost of a trillion dollars. +p3858 +aV... Of course there will be a limit, but when today you have massive levels of income and wealth inequality, when the middle class is disappearing, you have the highest rate of child poverty of almost any major country on Earth. Yes, in my view, the government of a democratic society has a moral responsibility to play a vital role in making sure all of our people have a decent standard of living. +p3859 +aVWell, let us level with the American people. Secretary Clinton has been going around the country saying Bernie Sanders wants to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, people are going to lose their MedicAid, they're going to lose their +p3860 +aVThat is absolutely inaccurate. Look, here is the reality, folks. There is one major country on Earth that does not guarantee health care to all people. There is one major country \u2014 the United States \u2014 which ends up spending almost three times per capita what they do in the U.K. guaranteeing health care to all people, 50 percent more than they do in France guaranteeing health care to all people, far more than our Canadian neighbors, who guarantee health care to all people. Please do not tell me that in this country, if \u2014 and here's the if \u2014 we have the courage to take on the drug companies, and have the courage to take on the insurance companies, and the medical equipment suppliers, if we do that, yes, we can guarantee health care to all people in a much more cost effective way. +p3861 +aVWell, Secretary Clinton, you're not in the White House yet. And let us be clear that every proposal that I have introduced has been paid for. For example, all right, who in America denies that we have an infrastructure that is crumbling? Roads, bridges, water systems, wastewater plants, who denies that? Who denies that real unemployment today, including those who have given up looking for work and are working part-time is close to 10 percent? Who denies that African-American youth unemployment, real, is over 50 percent. We need to create jobs. So yes, I will do away with the outrageous loopholes that allow profitable multinational corporations to stash billions of dollars in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda and in a given year pay zero, zero in federal income tax. Yes, I'm going to do away with that. We will use those proceeds, a hundred billion a year, to invest in rebuilding our infrastructure. Yes, I believe that as a result of the illegal behavior on Wall Street, that they are a Wall Street that drove this country into the worst economic downturn since the Great Recession \u2014 Great Depression. Yes, I do believe that now after the American people bailed Wall Street out, yes, they should pay a Wall Street speculation tax so that we can make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We bailed them out. Now it is their time to help the middle class. +p3862 +aVA brief response. +p3863 +aVHere is where we are with public education. A 100, 150 years ago incredibly brave Americans said, you know what, working class kids, low income kids should not have to work in factories or on the farms. Like rich kids, they deserve to get a free education. And that free education of extraordinary accomplishment was from first grade to 12th grade. The world has changed. This is 2016. In many ways, a college degree today is equivalent to what a high school degree was 50, 60 years ago. So, yes, I do believe that when we talk about public education in America, today, in a rapidly changing world, we should have free tuition at public colleges and universities. That should be a right of all Americans regardless of the income of their families. +p3864 +aVLook, we are fighting for every vote that we can get from women, from men, straight, gay, African-Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans. We are trying to bring America together around an agenda that works for working families and the middle class. I am very proud, if my memory is not correct \u2014 I think I am \u2014 that I have a lifetime \u2014 and I've been in Congress a few years \u2014 a lifetime 100 percent pro-choice voting record. I am very proud that over the years we have had the support in my state of Vermont from very significant majorities of women. I'm very proud that I support legislation that is currently in the Congress, got support of almost all progressive Democrats in the House and Senate, which says we will end the absurdity of women today making 79 cents on the dollar compared to men. And we will join the rest of the other \u2014 the industrialized world in saying that paid family and medical leave should be a right of all working families. +p3865 +aVWell, you know, I think, from a historical point of view, somebody with my background, somebody with my views, somebody who has spent his entire life taking on the big money interests, I think a Sanders victory would be of some historical accomplishment, as well. +p3866 +aVLet me concur with the secretary, no question women's rights are under fierce attack all over this country. And I will tell you something that really galls me. I will not shock anybody to suggest that in politics there is occasionally a little bit of hypocrisy. Just a little bit. All over this country we have Republican candidates for president saying we hate the government. Government is the enemy. We're going to cut Social Security to help you. We're going to cut Medicare and Medicaid, federal aid to education to help you, because the government is so terrible. But, by the way, when it comes to a woman having to make a very personal choice, ah, in that case, my Republican colleagues love the government and want the government to make that choice for every woman in America. If that's not hypocrisy, I don't know what hypocrisy is. +p3867 +aVThis is one of the great tragedies in our country today. And we can no longer continue to sweep it under the rug. It has to be dealt with. Today a male African-American baby born today stands a one-in-four chance of ending up in jail. That is beyond unspeakable. So what we have to do is the radical reform of a broken criminal justice system. What we have to do is end over-policing in African-American neighborhoods. The reality is that both the African-American community and the white community do marijuana at about equal rates. The reality is four times as many blacks get arrested for marijuana. Truth is that far more blacks get stopped for traffic violations. The truth is that sentencing for blacks is higher than for whites. We need fundamental police reform, clearly, clearly, when we talk about a criminal justice system. I would hope that we could all agree that we are sick and tired of seeing videos on television of unarmed people, often African-Americans, shot by police officers. What we have got to do is make it clear that any police officer who breaks the law will, in fact, be held accountable. +p3868 +aVNothing that Secretary Clinton said do I disagree with. This mandatory sentencing, a very bad idea. It takes away discretion from judges. We have got to demilitarize local police departments so they do not look like occupying armies. We have got to make sure that local police departments look like the communities they serve in their diversity. And, where we are failing abysmally is in the very high rate of recidivism we see. People are being released from jail without the education, without the job training, without the resources that they need to get their lives together, then they end up \u2014 we're shocked that they end up back in jail again. So, we have a lot of work to do. But, here is a pledge I've made throughout this campaign, and it's really not a very radical pledge. When we have more people in jail, disproportionately African American and Latino, than China does, a communist authoritarian society four times our size. Here's my promise, at the end of my first term as president we will not have more people in jail than any other country. We will invest in education, and jobs for our kids, not incarceration and more jails. +p3869 +aVWell, I think, Judy, what has to be appreciated is that, as a result of the disastrous and illegal behavior on Wall Street, millions of lives were hurt. People lost their jobs, their homes, their life savings. Turns out that the African-American community and the Latino community were hit especially hard. As I understand it, the African-American community lost half of their wealth as a result of the Wall Street collapse. So when you have childhood African-American poverty rates of 35 percent, when you have youth unemployment at 51 percent, when you have unbelievable rates of incarceration \u2014 which, by the way, leaves the children back home without a dad or even a mother \u2014 clearly, we are looking at institutional racism. We are looking at an economy in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. And sadly, in America today, in our economy, a whole lot of those poor people are African-American. +p3870 +aVAbsolutely, because what we will do is say, instead of giving tax breaks to billionaires, we are going to create millions of jobs for low-income kids so they're not hanging out on street corners. We're going to make sure that those kids stay in school or are able to get a college education. And I think when you give low-income kids \u2014 African-American, white, Latino kids \u2014 the opportunities to get their lives together, they are not going to end up in jail. They're going to end up in the productive economy, which is where we want them. +p3871 +aVWhite people? +p3872 +aVYeah, you can, because African-Americans and Latinos not only face the general economic crises of low wages, and high unemployment, and poor educational opportunities, but they face other problems, as well. So, yes, we can talk about it as a racial issue. But it is a general economic issue. And here's what the economic issue is. The wages that high school graduates receive today are significantly less, whether you are white or black, than they used to be. Why is that? Because of a series of disastrous trade policies which have allowed corporate America through +p3873 +aVThe answer is yes. We've got 11 million undocumented people in this country. I have talked to some of the young kids with tears rolling down their cheeks, are scared to death that today they may or their parents may be deported. I believe that we have got to pass comprehensive immigration reform, something that I strongly supported. I believe that we have got to move toward a path toward citizenship. I agree with President Obama who used executive orders to protect families because the Congress, the House was unable or refused to act. And in fact I would go further. What would motivate me and what would be the guiding light for me in terms of immigration reform, Judy, is to bring families together, not divide them up. And let me say this also. Somebody who is very fond of the president, agrees with him most of the time, I disagree with his recent deportation policies. And I would not support those. Bottom line is a path towards citizenship for 11 million undocumented people, if Congress doesn't do the right thing, we use the executive orders of the president. +p3874 +aVSecretary Clinton, I do have a disagreement here. If my memory is correct, I think when we saw children coming from these horrendous, horrendously violent areas of Honduras and neighboring countries, people who are fleeing drug violence and cartel violence, I thought it was a good idea to allow those children to stay in this country. That was not, as I understand it, the secretary's position. In terms of 2007 immigration reform, yeah, I did vote against it. I voted against it because the Southern Poverty Law Center, among other groups, said that the guest-worker programs that were embedded in this agreement were akin to slavery. Akin to slavery, where people came into this country to do guest work were abused, were exploited, and if they stood up for their rights, they'd be thrown out of this country. So it wasn't just me who opposed it. It was +p3875 +aVWell, let me just respond. I worked with Ted Kennedy. He was the chairman of my committee. And I loved Ted Kennedy. But on this issue, when you have one of the large Latino organizations in America saying vote no, and you have the AFL-CIO saying vote no, and you have leading progressive Democrats, in fact, voting no, I don't apologize for that vote. But in terms of the children, I don't know to whom you're sending a message. Who are you sending a message to? These are children who are leaving countries and neighborhoods where their lives are at stake. That was the fact. I don't think we use them to send a message. I think we welcome them into this country and do the best we can to help them get their lives together. +p3876 +aVOK. You know, you judge a nation not by the number of millionaires and billionaires it has, but by how you treat, we treat, the most vulnerable and fragile people in our nation. And by those standards, we're not doing particularly well. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty among almost any major country on Earth. And in terms of seniors, there are millions of seniors \u2014 and I've talked to them in my state of Vermont and all over this country \u2014 who are trying to get by on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year Social Security. And you know what? You do the arithmetic. You can't get by on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year. And here's an area where Secretary Clinton and I believe we have a difference. I have long supported the proposition that we should lift the cap on taxable income coming into the Social Security Trust Fund, starting at $250,000. And when we \u2014 and when we do that, we don't do what the Republicans want, which is to cut Social Security. We do what the American people want, to expand Social Security by $1,300 a year for people under $16,000, and we extend the life of Social Security for 58 years. Yes, the wealthiest people, the top 1.5 percent, will pay more in taxes. But a great nation like ours should not be in a position where elderly people are cutting their pills in half, where they don't have decent nutrition, where they can't heat their homes in the wintertime. That is not what America should be about. If elected president, I will do everything I can to expand Social Security benefits, not just for seniors, but for disabled veterans, as well. +p3877 +aVIn all due respect......In all due respect, Secretary Clinton, a lot of the progressive groups, the online groups have really asked you a simple question. Are you coming onboard a proposal? And what is that proposal? Now, the proposal that I have outlined, you know, should be familiar to you, because it is what essentially Barack Obama campaigned on in 2008. You opposed him then. I would hope that you would come onboard and say that this is the simple and straightforward thing to do. We're asking the top 1.5 percent, including passive income, to start paying a little bit more so that the elderly and disabled vets in this country can live with security and dignity. I hope you will make a decision soon on this. +p3878 +aVThat's my bill. Check it out. +p3879 +aVWhat we are talking about in reality is a corrupt campaign finance system, that's what we're talking about. We have to be honest about it. It is undermining American democracy. When extraordinarily wealthy people make very large contributions to Super PACs, and in many cases in this campaign, Super PACs have raised more money than individual candidates have, OK? We had a decision to make early on, do we do a Super PAC? And, we said no. We don't represent Wall Street, we don't represent the billionaire class, so it ends up I'm the only candidate up here of the many candidates who has no Super PAC. But, what we did is we said to the working families of this country, look, we know things are tough, but if you want to help us go beyond establishment politics, and establishment economics, send us something. And, it turns out that up until \u2014 and this has blown me away, never in a million years would I have believed that I would be standing here tonight telling you that we have received three and a half million individual contributions from well over a million people. Now, Secretary Clinton's Super PAC, as I understand it, received $25 million dollars last reporting period, $15 million dollars from Wall Street. Our average contribution is $27 dollars, I'm very proud of that. +p3880 +aVThe people aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street... But let's not \u2014 but let's not \u2014 let's not insult \u2014 let's not insult the intelligence of the American people. People aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street make huge campaign contributions? I guess just for the fun of it; they want to throw money around. Why does the pharmaceutical industry make huge campaign contributions? Any connection maybe to the fact that our people pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs? Why does the fossil fuel industry pay \u2014 spend huge amounts of money on campaign contributions? Any connection to the fact that not one Republican candidate for president thinks and agrees with the scientific community that climate change is real and that we have got to transform our energy system? And when we talk about Wall Street, let's talk about Wall Street. I voted for Dodd-Frank, got an important amendment in it. In my view, it doesn't go anywhere near far enough. But when we talk about Wall Street, you have Wall Street and major banks have paid $200 billion in fines since the great crash. No Wall Street executive has been prosecuted. +p3881 +aVLet me, you know, again, respectfully disagree with Secretary Clinton here. When you have three out of the four largest financial institutions in this country bigger today than they were when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, when you have six financial institutions having assets equivalent to 58 percent of the GDP of America, while issuing two-thirds of the credit cards and a third of the mortgages, look, I think if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, that great trust-buster would have said break them up. I think he would have been right. I think he would have said bring back a 21st-century Glass-Steagall legislation. I think that would have been right, as well. That's my view. +p3882 +aVHey, I'm in the United States Senate, and anyone who doesn't think that there is an enormous amount of waste and inefficiency and bureaucracy throughout government would be very, very mistaken. I believe in government, but I believe in efficient government, not wasteful government. +p3883 +aVIf I could just answer that, we have also got to take a look at the waste and inefficiencies in the Department of Defense, which is the one major agency of government that has not been able to be audited. And I have the feeling you're going to find a lot of cost overruns there and a lot of waste and duplicative activities. +p3884 +aVLet me \u2014 let me just say this. What a President of the United States has got to do and what is his or her major, I think, responsibility is to, a, make certain that we keep our people safe, that we work with allies around the world to protect democratic values, that we do all that we can to create a world of peace and prosperity. I voted against the war in Iraq because I listened very carefully to what President Bush and Vice President Cheney had to say and I didn't believe them. And if you go to my Web site,berniesanders.com, what you find is not only going to help lead the opposition to that war, but much of what I feared would happen when I spoke on the floor of the House, in fact, did happen in terms of the instability that occurred. Now I think an area in kind of a vague way, or not so vague, where Secretary Clinton and I disagree is the area of regime change. Look, the truth is that a powerful nation like the United States, certainly working with our allies, we can overthrow dictators all over the world. And God only knows Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator. We could overthrow Assad tomorrow if we wanted to. We got rid of Gadhafi. But the point about foreign policy is not just to know that you can overthrow a terrible dictator, it's to understand what happens the day after. And in Libya, for example, the United States, Secretary Clinton, as secretary of state, working with some other countries, did get rid of a terrible dictator named Gadhafi. But what happened is a political vacuum developed. +p3885 +aVJudy, if I can, there is no question, Secretary Clinton and I are friends, and I have a lot of respect for her, that she has enormous experience in foreign affairs. Secretary of state for four years. You've got a bit of experience, I would imagine. But judgment matters as well. Judgment matters as well. And she and I looked at the same evidence coming from the Bush administration regarding Iraq. I lead the opposition against it. She voted for it. But more importantly, in terms of this Libya resolution that you have noted before, this was a virtually unanimous consent. Everybody voted for it wanting to see Libya move toward democracy, of course we all wanted to do that. That is very different than talking about specific action for regime change, which I did not support. +p3886 +aVJudy, one area very briefly... +p3887 +aVWhere the secretary and I have a very profound difference, in the last debate \u2014 and I believe in her book \u2014 very good book, by the way \u2014 in her book and in this last debate, she talked about getting the approval or the support or the mentoring of Henry Kissinger. Now, I find it rather amazing, because I happen to believe that Henry Kissinger was one of the most destructive secretaries of state in the modern history of this country. I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend. I will not take advice from Henry Kissinger. And in fact, Kissinger's actions in Cambodia, when the United States bombed that country, overthrew Prince Sihanouk, created the instability for Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge to come in, who then butchered some 3 million innocent people, one of the worst genocides in the history of the world. So count me in as somebody who will not be listening to Henry Kissinger. +p3888 +aVWell, it ain't Henry Kissinger. That's for sure. +p3889 +aVIt is. +p3890 +aVI find \u2014 I mean, it's just a very different, you know, historical perspective here. Kissinger was one of those people during the Vietnam era who talked about the domino theory. Not everybody remembers that. You do. I do. The domino theory, you know, if Vietnam goes, China, da, da, da, da, da, da, da. That's what he talked about, the great threat of China. And then, after the war, this is the guy who, in fact, yes, you're right, he opened up relations with China, and now pushed various type of trade agreements, resulting in American workers losing their jobs as corporations moved to China. The terrible, authoritarian, Communist dictatorship he warned us about, now he's urging companies to shut down and move to China. Not my kind of guy. +p3891 +aVWell, this is what I would say. It is a complicated relationship. I congratulate Secretary of State John Kerry and the president for working on this agreement. As you've indicated, what is happening in Syria, the number of people, the hundreds of thousands of people who have been killed \u2014 men, women, 20,000 children, the people who are forced to flee their own country \u2014 their own country \u2014 it is unspeakable. It is a real horror. Now, what I think is that right now we have got to do our best in developing positive relations with Russia. But let's be clear: Russia's aggressive actions in the Crimea and in Ukraine have brought about a situation where President Obama and +p3892 +aVLet me just \u2014 just say this. For a start, the secretary and I disagree \u2014 and I think the president does not agree with her \u2014 in terms of the concept of a no-fly zone in Syria. I think you do have a humanitarian tragedy there, as I mentioned a moment ago. I applaud Secretary Kerry and the president for trying to put together this agreement. Let's hope that it holds. But furthermore, what we have got to do, I'm sorry, yes, I do believe that we have got to do everything that we can, and it will not happen tomorrow. But I do hope that in years to come, just as occurred with Cuba, 10, 20 years ago, people would say, reach normalized relations with Cuba. And by the way, I hope we can end the trade embargo with Cuba as well. But the idea that we some day maybe have decent relations with Iran, maybe put pressure on them so they end their support for terrorism around the world, yes, that is something I want to achieve. And I believe that the best way to do that is to be aggressive, to be principled, but to have the goal of trying to improve relations. That's how you make peace in the world. You sit down and you work with people, you make demands of people, in this case demanding Iran stop the support of international terrorism. +p3893 +aVWe have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of work to do. But I recall when Secretary Clinton ran against then-Senator Obama, she was critical of him for suggesting that maybe you want to talk to Iran, that you want to talk to our enemies. I have no illusion. Of course you are right. Iran is sponsoring terrorism in many parts of the world, destabilizing areas. Everybody knows that. But our goal is, in fact, to try over a period of time to, in fact, deal with our enemies, not just ignore that reality. +p3894 +aVNo, I think the idea was that president \u2014 then-Senator Obama was wrong for suggesting that it is a good idea to talk to your opponents. It's easier to talk to your friends. It's harder to talk to your enemies. I think we should do both. +p3895 +aVA couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to go on a congressional delegation. And I went to one of these Turkish refugee camps right on the border of Syria. And what a sad sight that was: Men, women, children forced out of their homes. And Turkey, by the way, did a very decent thing, providing what was reasonable housing and conditions for those people. It seems to me that given our history as a nation that has been a beacon of hope for the oppressed, for the downtrodden, that I very strongly disagree with those Republican candidates who say, you know what, we've got to turn our backs on women and children who left their home with nothing, nothing at all. That is not what America is supposed to be about. So I believe that working with Europe \u2014 and, by the way, you know, we've got some very wealthy countries there in that part of the world. You got Kuwait and you got Qatar and you got Saudi Arabia. They have a responsibility, as well. But I think this is a worldwide \u2014 that the entire world needs to come together to deal with this horrific refugee crisis we're seeing from Syria and Afghanistan, as well. +p3896 +aVYou know, Franklin Delano Roosevelt took the oath of office in 1933 at a time when 25 percent of the American people were unemployed, country was in incredible despair. And he stood before the American people and he said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself," a profound statement that gave the American people the courage to believe that, yes, we could get out of that terrible depression. And then what he did is redefine the role of government. You know, you had Herbert Hoover before that saying, no, we got to only worry about the deficit. So what if mass unemployment exists? So what if children are going hungry? That's not the role of the government. And when FDR said, "Yeah, it is," that we're going to use all of the resources that we have to create jobs, to build homes, to feed people, to protect the farmers, we are a nation which if we come together there is nothing that we could not accomplish. And kind of \u2014 that's what I see our campaign is about right now. In this particular moment of serious crises, saying to the American people don't give up on the political process. don't listen to the Trumps of the world and allowing them to divide us. If we reengage and get involved, yeah, we can have health care for all people, we can make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We do not have to have massive levels of income and wealth inequality. In the same light, as the foreign leader, Winston Churchill's politics were not my politics. He was kind of a conservative guy in many respects. But nobody can deny that as a wartime leader, he rallied the British people when they stood virtually alone against the Nazi juggernaut and rallied them and eventually won an extraordinary victory. Those are two leaders that I admire very much. +p3897 +aVThat is......Madam Secretary, that is a low blow. I have worked with President Obama for the last seven years. When President Obama came into office we were losing 800,000 jobs a month, 800,000 jobs a month. We had a $1.4 trillion deficit. And the world's financial system is on the verge of collapse. As a result of his efforts and the efforts of Joe Biden against unprecedented, I was there in the Senate, unprecedented Republican obstructionism, we have made enormous progress. But you know what? Last I heard we lived in a democratic society. Last I heard, a United States senator had the right to disagree with the president, including a president who has done such an extraordinary job. So I have voiced criticisms. You're right. Maybe you haven't. I have. But I think to suggest that I have voiced criticism, this blurb that you talk about, you know what the blurb said? The blurb said that the next president of the United States has got to be aggressive in bringing people into the political process. That's what I said. That is what I believe. President Obama and I are friends. As you know, he came to Vermont to campaign for me when he was a senator. I have worked for his re-election. His first election and his re-election. But I think it is really unfair to suggest that I have not been supportive of the president. I have been a strong ally with him on virtually every issue. Do senators have the right to disagree with the president? Have you ever disagreed with a president? I suspect you may have. +p3898 +aVWell, one of us ran against Barack Obama. I was not that candidate. All right, look, this has been a great debate. A lot of interesting issues have come together. Let me conclude by just saying this. There is no president, in my view, not Hillary Clinton, not Bernie Sanders, who has the capability or the power to take on Wall Street, large campaign donors, the corporate media, the big money interests in this country alone. This campaign is not just about electing a president. What this campaign is about is creating a process for a political revolution in which millions of Americans, working people who have given up on the political process, they don't think anybody hears their pains or their concerns. Young people for whom getting involved in politics is as, you know, it's like going to the moon. It ain't going to happen. Low income people who are not involved in the political process. What this campaign is not only about electing someone who has the most progressive agenda, it is about bringing tens of millions of people together to demand that we have a government that represents all of us and not just the 1 percent, who today have so much economic and political power. Thank you all very much. +p3899 +aVRachel, thank you very much. Millions of Americans are giving up on the political process. And they're giving up on the political process because they understand the economy is rigged. They are working longer hours for low wages. They're worried about the future of their kids, and yet almost all new income and wealth is going to the top 1 percent. Not what America is supposed to be about. Not the fairness that we grew up believing that America was about. And then sustaining that rigged economy is a corrupt campaign finance system undermining American democracy, where billionaire, Wall Street, corporate America can contribute unlimited sums of money into super PACs and into candidates. Our job, together, is to end a rigged economy, create an economy that works for all, and absolutely overturn Citizens United. One person, one vote. That's what American democracy is about. +p3900 +aVWell, I haven't quite run for president before. Let's deal with some of the comments that Secretary Clinton made. And by the way, you know, sometimes there's a lot of drama here. I have known Secretary Clinton for 25 years and respect her very much. Here is the issue. Every major country on earth, whether it's the U.K., whether it's France, whether it's Canada, has managed to provide healthcare to all people as a right and they are spending significantly less per capita on health care than we are. So I do not accept the belief that the United States of America can't do that. I do not accept the belief that the United States of America and our government can't stand up to the ripoffs of the pharmaceutical industry which charge us by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. Number two, in the economy today, everybody understands that we need a well educated workforce. This is 2016. When we talk about public education, it can no longer be K through 12th grade. I do believe that public colleges and universities should be tuition free. Well, how do we pay for that? It's an expensive proposition. I do believe that we should substantially lower student debt in this country, which is crushing millions of people. We pay for it, in my view, by a tax on Wall Street speculation. The middle class bailed out Wall Street in their time of need. Now, it is Wall Street's time to help the middle class. +p3901 +aVLet me... +p3902 +aV... this is a good discussion here. +p3903 +aVAnd let me just say this. As Secretary Clinton may know, I am on the Health Education Labor Committee. That committee wrote the Affordable Care Act. The idea I would dismantle health care in America while we're waiting to pass a Medicare for all is just not accurate. The Affordable Care Act has clearly, as Secretary Clinton made the point, done a lot of good things, but, what it has not done is dealt with the fact we have 29 million people today who have zero health insurance, we have even more who are underinsured with large deductibles and copayments and prescription drug prices are off the wall. So I do believe that in the future, not by dismantling what we have here\u2014I helped write that bill\u2014but by moving forward, rallying the American people, I do believe we should have health care for all. +p3904 +aVNo, not at all. Here's the reality of American economic life today. The reality is that we have one of lowest voter turnouts of any major country on earth because so many people have given up on the political process. The reality is that there has been trillions of dollars of wealth going from the middle class in the last 30 years to the top 1/10th of 1 percent. The reality is we that have a corrupt campaign finance system which separates the American people's needs and desires from what Congress is doing. So to my mind, what we have got to do is wage a political revolution where millions of people have given up on the political process, stand up and fight back, demand the government that represents us and not just a handful of campaign contribution\u2014contributors. Now all of the ideas that I'm talking about, they are not radical ideas. Making public colleges and universities tuition free, that exists in countries all over the world, used to exist in the United States. Rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, and creating 13 million jobs by doing away with tax loopholes that large corporations now enjoy by putting their money into the Cayman Islands and other tax havens. That is not a radical idea. What we need to do is to stand up to the big money interests, and the campaign contributors. When we do that, we can, in fact, transform America. +p3905 +aVLet me just pick up on this point. This whole discussion began because I commented, not making overall evaluation about the Secretary. She was in Ohio, I think, in September or November and she got up and said something like, I have been\u2014I'm paraphrasing, I have been criticized because people think I'm a moderate. Well, I am a moderate. That's where this came from. It wasn't me paraphrasing her. It is what she said, and all that I said was there's nothing wrong with being a moderate. But, you can't be a moderate, you can't a progressive. In terms of President Obama, I think if we remember where this country was seven years ago, 800,000 jobs being lost every month, $1.4 trillion dollar deficit. The world's financial system on the verge of collapse. I think that President Obama, Vice President Biden, and the Democratic leadership in the House and the Senate have done a fantastic job. We are in much better shape than we were seven years ago, although my Republican colleagues seem to have forgotten where we were seven years ago. That's the fact, but, we still have a very long way to go. Do I think President Obama is a progressive? Yes, I do. I disagree with him on a number of issues including the trade agreement. But, yes, I think he has done an excellent job. +p3906 +aVThat's right, I mean, instead of arguing about definitions, let's talk about... +p3907 +aV... What we should do, and one of the things we should do is not only talk the talk, but walk the walk. I am very proud to be the only candidate up here who does not have a Super PAC, who's not raising huge sums of money from Wall Street...... And special interests. I am enormously proud. Never believed it would happen that we have raised 3.5 million individual contributions, averaging $27 dollars a piece. That is what the political revolution means. +p3908 +aVWell, Rachel, actually, that wasn't accurate. In 1988 the Republican did win, I believe, by 3 points. I came in second. It was 34-31, I think, 19 for the Democrat. In that race the Democrat was the spoiler, not me. And it is true......it is true, it's not to be denied, I am the longest- serving independent in the history of the United States Congress. People of Vermont sent me to Washington as an independent. That is true. But on the other hand, I have\u2014when I was in the House for 16 years, I caucused with the Democrats. In the Senate for nine years caucused with the Democrats, of course. And I was elected by the Democrats to be chair of the Veterans Committee three years ago, which I'm very proud of. And now am the rankings member on the Budget Committee, leader of the Democrats in opposition to the majority Republicans. I am running for president as a Democrat. And if elected, not only do I hope to bring forth a major change in national priorities, but let me be frank, I do want to see major changes in the Democratic Party. I want to see working people and young people come into the party in a way that doesn't exist now. And you know what, I want a 50-state strategy so the Democratic Party is not just the party of 25 states. +p3909 +aVWell, I don't see it quite like that. +p3910 +aVI am\u2014will absolutely admit that Secretary Clinton has the support of far more governors, mayors, members of the House. She has the entire establishment or almost the entire establishment behind her. That's a fact. I don't deny it. But I am pretty proud that we have over a million people who have contributed to our campaign averaging 27 bucks apiece. That we have had meetings where 25,000-30,000 people have come out. That our campaign is a campaign of the people, by the people, and for the people. So, Rachel, yes, Secretary Clinton does represent the establishment. I represent, I hope, ordinary Americans, and by the way, who are not all that enamored with the establishment, but I am very proud to have people like Keith Ellison and Raul Grijalva in the House, the co-chairmen of the House Progressive Caucus. +p3911 +aVWhat being part of the establishment is, is, in the last quarter, having a super PAC that raised $15 million from Wall Street, that throughout one's life raised a whole lot of money from the drug companies and other special interests. To my mind, if we do not get a handle on money in politics and the degree to which big money controls the political process in this country, nobody is going to bring about the changes that is needed in this country for the middle class and working families. +p3912 +aVWhat... +p3913 +aV... you know... +p3914 +aV. +p3915 +aVLet's talk about\u2014OK, let's talk... +p3916 +aV... let us talk about issues. +p3917 +aVLet's talk about issues. +p3918 +aVLet's... +p3919 +aV... let's\u2014let's\u2014let's talk about issues. +p3920 +aVLet's talk\u2014let's talk about issues, all right? Let's talk about why, in the 1990s, Wall Street got deregulated. Did it have anything to do with the fact that Wall Street provided\u2014spent billions of dollars on lobbying and campaign contributions? Well, some people might think, yeah, that had some influence. Let's ask why it is that we pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, and your medicine can be doubled tomorrow, and there's nothing that the government can do to stop it. You think it has anything to do with the huge amounts of campaign contributions and lobbying from the fossil fuel industry? Let's talk about climate change. Do you think there's a reason why not one Republican has the guts to recognize that climate change is real, and that we need to transform our energy system? Do you think it has anything to do with the Koch brothers and ExxonMobil pouring huge amounts of money into the political system? That is what goes on in America. I am not\u2014I like......there is a reason. You know, there is a reason why these people are putting huge amounts of money into our political system. And in my view, it is undermining American democracy and it is allowing Congress to represent wealthy campaign contributors and not the working families of this country. +p3921 +aVI think as Secretary Clinton knows, there is nobody who fought harder. I was on the House Financial Committee at that time. I heard the arguments coming from Democrats and Republicans\u2014Robert Rubin, Alan Greenspan\u2014about great an idea it would be if we did away with Glass-Steagall and if we allowed investor banks and commercial banks and big insurance companies to merge. Go to YouTube today. Look up Greenspan-Sanders. Listen to what I told them then. I helped lead the effort against deregulation. Unfortunately, we lost that. The result is\u2014was the worst financial disaster since the Great Depression. +p3922 +aVChuck, actually we looked at it, but it turns out to be a disaster. The way it is structured right now, if you make it all the way to California, you could do pretty well. But in terms of the early states\u2014Iowa, New Hampshire, the other states\u2014it just doesn't work. Your point is well taken. I believe in public funding of elections, absolutely. But this system is\u2014I don't know if the secretary would agree\u2014is currently very antiquated and no longer applies to modern day politics. +p3923 +aVBut if the... +p3924 +aVLet me just say this. Wall Street is perhaps the most powerful economic and political force in this country. You have companies like Goldman Sachs, who just recently paid a settlement fine with the federal government for $5 billion for defrauding investors. Goldman Sachs was one of those companies whose illegal activity helped destroy our economy and ruin the lives of millions of Americans. But this is what a rigged economy and a corrupt campaign finance system and a broken criminal justice is about. These guys are so powerful that not one of the executives on Wall Street has been charged with anything after paying, in this case of Goldman Sachs, a $5 billion fine. Kid gets caught with marijuana, that kid has a police record. A Wall Street executive destroys the economy, $5 billion settlement with the government, no criminal record. That is what power is about. That is what corruption is about. And that is what has to change in the United States of America. +p3925 +aVI would say that\u2014that folks who have looked at this issue for a long time, whether it's Elizabeth Warren or many other economists, will tell you that right now, yes, we do need a 21st century Glass-Steagall legislation. And I would tell you also that when you have three out of the four largest banks in America today, bigger than they were\u2014significantly bigger than when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, I think if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, a good Republican by the way, what he would say is: Break them up; they are too powerful economically; they are too powerful politically. And that is what I believe and many economists believe. Time to break them up. +p3926 +aVWell, we've had a number of economists supporting our legislation. And here's where we are. The American people can judge. Six largest financial institutions in America today have assets of roughly $10 trillion; equivalent to 58 percent of the GDP of the United States of America. That is a lot of money. They issue two thirds of the credit cards, and by the way they're ripping off a whole lot of people with high interest rates on the credit cards, and they write about one third of the mortgages. That is a lot of power for six financial institutions. That's it. I think it is too much power. Too much economic power, too much political power, and the economists that I talk to say we should break them up. +p3927 +aVYeah, I do. I agree with much of what the Secretary said, but, madam Secretary, it is not one streak. Wall Street is an entity of unbelievable economic and political power. That's a fact. And, I want to say something, and it may sound harsh, not to you, but to the American people. In a sense, in my view, the business model of Wall Street is fraud. It's fraud. I believe that corruption is rampant, and the fact that major bank after major bank has reached multi billion dollar settlements with the United States government when we have a weak regulator system tells me that not only did we have to bail them out once, if we don't start breaking them up, we're going to have to bail them out again, and I do not want to see that happen... +p3928 +aVOf course I can work with them, but let's be clear. When I talked about Boeing and I talked about General Electric, what I was referring to is an outrage. I suspect the secretary agrees request me. Right now you have a loophole such that these guys are putting their profits, multi-billion dollar profitable corporations putting billions of dollars into the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, and other tax havens. And in a given year, Rachel, after making billions of dollars in profit, do you know how much they're paying in taxes to the United States government in a given year? Zero. Now explain to me how that makes any sense at all. So what I have said with regard to Boeing and GE and other multinationals that pay zero taxes, you know what we're going to do? We're going to end that loophole. They are going to pay their fair share of taxes. We're going to use that money to rebuild our infrastructure and create up to 13 million jobs. Can I work with corporations? Are there good corporations doing incredible cutting edge research and development? Absolutely they are. And we should be proud of them. But on the other hand, there are many corporations who have turned their backs on the American worker, who have said, if I can make another nickel in profit by going to China and shutting down in the United States of America, that's what I will do. I will do my best to transform our trade policy and take on these corporations who want to invest in low-income countries around the world rather than in the United States of America. +p3929 +aVOK. Let me agree with much of what the secretary said, but where we have a different background on this issue is we differ on the war in Iraq, which created barbaric organizations like +p3930 +aVWell, I think our great task is to make certain that our young men and women in the military do not get sucked into never- ending, perpetual warfare within the quagmire of Syria and Iraq. And I will do my very best to make sure that that doesn't happen. I agree with the secretary that I think what has to happen\u2014and let me just mention what King Abdullah of Jordan said. I think he hit the nail on the head. And what he said is essentially the war against +p3931 +aVWell, you can't simply withdraw tomorrow. Wish we could, and allow, you know, the Taliban or anybody else to reclaim that country. But what we must do, and what we have seen in recent months, is some progress in Iraq, where finally the Iraqi army, which has not been a particularly effective fighting force, retook Ramadi. +p3932 +aVWell, that's not quite accurate. I did give a speech at Georgetown where I talked about democratic socialism and foreign policy. Maybe I shouldn't have combined the two in the same speech, because the foreign policy part of it didn't get much attention. So, let me take this opportunity to give you a very short speech here on the issue. I think, while it is true that the secretary and I voted differently on the war in Iraq, what is important is that we learn the lesson of the war in Iraq. And that lesson is intrinsic to my foreign policy if elected president, is the United States cannot do it alone. We cannot be the policeman of the world. We are now spending more I believe than the next eight countries on defense. We have got to work in strong coalition with the major powers of the world and with those Muslim countries that are prepared to stand up and take on terrorism. So I would say that the key doctrine of the Sanders administration would be no, we cannot continue to do it alone; we need to work in coalition. +p3933 +aV I fully, fully concede that Secretary Clinton, who was secretary of State for four years, has more experience\u2014hat is not arguable\u2014in foreign affairs. But experience is not the only point, judgment is. And once again, back in 2002, when we both looked at the same evidence about the wisdom of the war in Iraq, one of us voted the right way and one of us didn't. In terms of Iran and in terms of Saudi Arabia, of course they hate each other. That's no great secret. But John Kerry, who is I think doing a very good job, has tried to at least get these people in the room together because both of them are being threatened by +p3934 +aVWell... +p3935 +aVWho said That think we should normalize relations with Iran tomorrow? I never said that. I think we should move forward as quickly as we can. And you're right. They are a sponsor of terrorism around the world and we have to address that. But you know, a number of years ago, people were saying normal relationship with Cuba, what a bad and silly idea. They're Communists, they are our enemy. Well guess what? Change has come. So please don't suggest that I think we normalize relations with Tehran tomorrow. We don't. But I would like to see us move forward, and hopefully some day that will happen. And I would say if I might, Madam Secretary\u2014and you can correct me if I'm wrong. When you ran against Senator Obama you thought him naive because he thought it was a good idea to talk to our enemies. I think those are exactly the people you have to talk to and you have to negotiate with. +p3936 +aVOK. +p3937 +aVI think President Obama had the right idea, and the bottom line is that of course there have to be conditions. But, of course it doesn't do us any good to not talk with our adversaries... +p3938 +aVJust to set the record straight, I very strongly supported the agreement which makes certain that Iran does not get a nuclear weapon. +p3939 +aV... +p3940 +aV +p3941 +aV... No, no... +p3942 +aV... +p3943 +aVClearly North Korea is a very strange situation because it is such an isolated country run by a handful of dictators, or maybe just one, who seems to be somewhat paranoid. And, who had nuclear weapons. And, our goal there, in my view, is to work and lean strongly on China to put as much pressure. China is one of the few major countries in the world that has significant support for North Korea, and I think we got to do everything we can to put pressure on China. I worry very much about an isolated, paranoid country with atomic bombs. I think, clearly, we got to work closely with China to resolve the serious problems we have, and I worry about Putin and his military adventurism in the Crimea and the Ukraine. +p3944 +aV... No, I don't. I worry very, very much about an isolated country. That's what makes me nervous. Russia lives in the world. China lives in the world. North Korea is a very, very strange country because it is so isolated, and I do feel that a nation with nuclear weapons, they have got to be dealt with. Dealt with effectively. +p3945 +aVLet me agree. You know, as the secretary knows, I chaired\u2014I had the privilege and the honor of chairing the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs. And it is interesting to me, you know, Republicans give a lot of speeches about how much they love veterans. I work with the American Legion, the VFW, the DAV, the Vietnam Vets, and virtually every veterans organization to put together the most comprehensive piece of the veterans legislation in the modern history of America. That's what I did. And I brought it to the floor of the Senate. Every Democrat voted for it, I got two Republicans. We ended up with 56 votes and I couldn't get the 60 votes that I needed. That is pathetic. This was legislation supported by all of the veterans organizations, addressing many of the serious problems that veterans face in health care and in how we deliver benefits to them. So Republicans talk a good game about veterans, but when it came to put money on the line to protect our veterans, frankly, they were not there. What I did next, Rachel, is I had to retreat a little bit, I had to compromise. I did work with John McCain. I did work with Jeff Miller over in the House. And we put together not the bill that I wanted, but probably the most comprehensive V.A. health care bill in the modern history of this country. Secretary Clinton is absolutely right, there are people, Koch brothers among others, who have a group called Concerned Veterans of America, funded by the Koch brothers. The Koch brothers, by the way, want to destroy Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, every governmental program passed since the 1930s. Yes, there are people out there who want to privatize it. The last point that I'd make. I had a hearing. I had all of the veterans groups in front of me. And I said to them, tell me when a veteran gets in to the V.A., understanding there are waiting lines and real problems, when a veteran gets into the system, is the quality of care good? Without exception, what they said, good, excellent, very good. We've got to strengthen the V.A. We do not privatize the V.A. +p3946 +aVWell, I agree with the Des Moines Register, but let's not blow this out of proportion. This is not a\u2014this is not, like, a winner-take-all thing. I think where we now stand\u2014correct me if I'm wrong\u2014you have 22 delegates, I have 20 delegates. We need 2,500 delegates to win the nomination. You know, so this is not\u2014this is not the biggest deal in the world. We think, by the way, based on talking to our precinct captains, we may have at least two more delegates. What the Des Moines Register said\u2014you know, there were coin\u2014I think there were half a dozen coin flips\u2014a fairly chaotic type situation. At the end of the day, no matter how it's recounted, it will break roughly even. And by the way, I love and respect the caucus process in Iowa. See, and I don't have to say it, because they voted already. And I love New Hampshire, too, because you haven't voted, but......but, look, I think people are blowing this up out of proportion. But I think we need improvements in the process by which results are determined. +p3947 +aVOh . See, when you are old, then they go back all these years. All right. What have you got? +p3948 +aVWell, you know, a general election is different than a primary and caucus process. But let me just say this. In terms of where we are right now, as you mention, Rachel, in a number of national and state, including New Hampshire. For example, the last poll I saw\u2014there may have been a new one\u2014last one I saw here in New Hampshire, a battleground state, had me defeating Trump by 19; the secretary defeating him by one. There were also pretty large margins in Iowa and Wisconsin. These are polls. Polls go up. Polls go down. But here's why I think I will be, if nominated, the strongest candidate. Democrats win when there is a large voter turnout; when people are excited; when working people, middle class people and young people are prepared to engage in the political process. Republicans win when people are demoralized and you have a small voter turnout, which by the way is why they love voter suppression. I believe that our campaign up to now has shown that we can create an enormous amount of enthusiasm from working people, from young people, who will get involved in the political process and which will drive us to a very large voter turnout. If there is a large voter turnout, not only do we retain the White House, but I think we regain the Senate. We win governors' chairs up and down the line. So I believe if you want to retain the White House, if you want to see Democrats do well across the board, I think our campaign is the one that creates the large voter turnout and helps us win. +p3949 +aV +p3950 +aVI am feeling exactly the way I felt at the first debate. There's a process under way. I will not politicize it. +p3951 +aVAnd by the way\u2014and by the way, if I may, the secretary probably doesn't know that there's not a day that goes by when I am not asked to attack her on that issue, and I have refrained from doing that and I will continue to refrain from doing that. +p3952 +aVNot losing control of our campaign. You know, we have hired a whole lot of people in a rapid way and I am familiar with the first two instances and they are unacceptable, and we have apologized and dealt with that. In terms of the last one, as I understand it, we did not suggest that we had the endorsement of a newspaper. Newspapers who make endorsements also say positive things about other candidates, and to the best of my knowledge, that is what we did. So we never said, never said that somebody, a newspaper endorsed us that did not. What we did say is blah blah blah blah was said by the newspaper. +p3953 +aVBut that was only for\u2014that was not to be on television. That's an important point. That was just something\u2014as the secretary knows, you put titles on ads and you send them out, but there was no word in that ad, none, that said that those newspapers had endorsed us. +p3954 +aV... Look, I hear what the Secretary said, and I understand, but look, there are\u2014all of us know that we have seen in recent years horrible, horrible crimes. It's hard to imagine how people can do, bomb, and kill 168 people in Oklahoma City, or do the Boston Marathon bombing, but this is what I believe, and for a couple of reasons. Number one, too many innocent people, including minorities, African Americans, have been executed when they were not guilty. That's number one. We have to be very careful about making sure about that. But, second of all, and maybe, in a deeper reason, of course there are barbaric acts out there. But, in a world of so much violence and killing, I just don't believe that government itself should be part of the killing. So, when somebody commits......somebody commits any of these terrible crimes that we have seen, you lock them up, and you toss away the key. They're never going to get out. But, I just don't' want to see government be part of killing. That's all. +p3955 +aVAbsolutely. I think the Secretary described the situation appropriately. You know, I don't go around asking for governor's resignations every day. In fact, I think I never have in my life. But I did ask for the resignation of Governor Snyder because his irresponsibility......was so outrageous. What we are talking about are children being poisoned. That's what we're talking about. We don't know, no one knows for sure because they haven't done the appropriate studies, but there's no question that kids' intellectual development may have been impacted. We don't know how many thousands. The idea that there has not been a dramatic response is beyond comprehension. And when you have one of the, I think, significant public health crises of recent years, of course the federal government comes in. And of course the federal government says, you're not going to be poisoning little kids and impacting their entire lives. Last point on this. And I suspect the secretary agrees. One wonders if this were a white suburban community what kind of response there would have been. Flint, Michigan, is a poor community. It is disproportionately African-American and minority. And what has happened there is absolutely unacceptable. +p3956 +aVAbsolutely right. +p3957 +aVChuck, I believe in trade, but I do not believe in unfettered free trade. I believe in fair trade which works for the middle class and working families of this country and not just large multinational corporations. I was not only in opposition to +p3958 +aVNo, let... +p3959 +aV... I am absolutely supportive of comprehensive immigration reform and a path towards citizenship for 11 million people today who are living in the shadows. All right? We got to do that. But you miss\u2014when you looked at the issues, you missed two of the most important. And that is you're not going to accomplish what has to be done for working families and the middle class unless there is campaign finance reform. So long as big money interests control the United States Congress, it is gonna be very hard to do what has to be done for working families. So let me be very clear. No nominee of mine, if I'm elected president, to the United States Supreme Court will get that nomination unless he or she is loud and clear, and says they will vote to overturn Citizens United. Second point\u2014second point is that the only way we make change in terms of health care, in terms of dealing with a broken criminal justice system which, today, allows us to have more people in jail than any other country\u2014largely African-American and Latino\u2014the only way we create millions of jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure or have a tax system that says to the wealthy that they are going to pay their fair share, is when millions of people become involved in the political process. No, you just can't negotiate with Mitch McConnell. Mitch is gonna have to look out the window and see a whole lot of people saying, "Mitch, stop representing the billionaire class. Start listening to working families." And as president, that's what I will work hard on. +p3960 +aVI agree with what the secretary said. We shouldn't be getting ahead of ourselves. And as I have said many times, you know, sometimes in these campaigns, things get a little bit out of hand. I happen to respect the secretary very much, I hope it's mutual. And on our worst days, I think it is fair to say we are 100 times better than any Republican candidate. +p3961 +aVI\u2014my dad came to this country at the age of 17 from Poland. Didn't have any money, couldn't speak English, he died pretty young, and I think it would have been beyond his wildest dreams to see his son up here on this stage today running for president. I love this country and my dad loved this country, and he was the most proud American because of what it gave him in terms of raising his family, even though we never had much money. But today in America, we are the only major country on earth that doesn't guarantee health care to all people, that doesn't guarantee paid family and medical leave. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth. We are seeing millions of families unable to send their kids to college in the United States of America. I'm running for president because I believe it is just too late for establishment politics and establishment economics. I do believe we need a political revolution where millions of people stand up and say loudly and clearly that our government belongs to all of us and not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors. Thank you all. +p3962 +aVThank you. As we honor the extraordinary life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., it's important not only that we remember what he stood for, but that we pledge to continue his vision to transform our country. As we look out at our country today, what the American people understand is we have an economy that's rigged, that ordinary Americans are working longer hours for lower wages, 47 million people living in poverty, and almost all of the new income and wealth going to the top one percent. And then, to make a bad situation worse, we have a corrupt campaign finance system where millionaires and billionaires are spending extraordinary amounts of money to buy elections. This campaign is about a political revolution to not only elect the president, but to transform this country. +p3963 +aVWell, that's what our campaign is about. It is thinking big. It is understanding that in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, we should have health care for every man, woman, and child as a right that we should raise the minimum wage to at least $15 an hour; that we have got to create millions of decent- paying jobs by rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure. So, what my first days are about is bringing America together, to end the decline of the middle class, to tell the wealthiest people in this country that yes, they are going to start paying their fair share of taxes, and that we are going to have a government that works for all of us, and not just big campaign contributors. +p3964 +aVWell, I think Secretary Clinton knows that what she says is very disingenuous. I have a D-minus voting record from the NRA. I was in 1988, there were three candidates running for congress in the state of Vermont, I stood up to the gun lobby and came out and maintained the position that in this country we should not be selling military style assault weapons. I have supported from day one and instant background check to make certain that people who should have guns do not have guns. And that includes people of criminal backgrounds, people who are mentally unstable. I support what President Obama is doing in terms of trying to close the gun show loop holes and I think it should be a federal crime if people act as dormant. We have seen in this city a horrendous tragedy of a crazed person praying with people in the coming up and shooting nine people. This should not be a political issue. What we should be doing is working together. And by the way, as a senator from a rural state that has virtually no gun control, I believe that I am in an excellent position to bring people together to fight the sensible... +p3965 +aVWhat I have said, is that gun manufacturer's liability bill has some good provisions among other things, we've prohibited ammunition that would've killed cops who had protection on. We have child safety protection work on guns in that legislation. And what we also said, "is a small mom and pop gun shop who sells a gun legally to somebody should not be held liable if somebody does something terrible with that gun." So what I said is, " I would re-look at it." We are going to re- look at it and I will support stronger provisions. +p3966 +aV...Well, I \u2014 look... +p3967 +aV... Let me respond to what the secretary said. We have a criminal justice system which is broken. Who in America is satisfied that we have more people in jail than any other country on Earth, including China? Disproportionately African American, and Latino. Who is satisfied that 51% of African American young people are either unemployed, or underemployed? Who is satisfied that millions of people have police records for possessing marijuana when the CEO's of Wall Street companies who destroyed our economy have no police records. +p3968 +aV... We need to take a very hard look at our... +p3969 +aV... criminal justice system, investing in jobs, and education not in jails and incarceration . +p3970 +aVWell, let me talk about polling. As Secretary Clinton well knows, when this campaign began she was 50 points ahead of me. We were all of three percentage points. Guess what? In Iowa, New Hampshire, the race is very, very close. Maybe we're ahead New Hampshire. In terms of polling, guess what? We are running ahead of Secretary Clinton. In terms of taking on my taking on my good friend, Donald Trump, beating him by 19 points in New Hampshire, 13 points in the last national poll that we saw. To answer your question. When the African American community becomes familiar with my Congressional record and with our agenda, and with our views on the economy, and criminal justice \u2014 just as the general population has become more supportive, so will the African American community, so will the Latino community. We have the momentum, we're on a path to a victory. O' +p3971 +aVI apologize for not hearing all of that question. +p3972 +aVYes. +p3973 +aVAbsolutely. This is a responsibility for the U.S. Justice Department to get involved. Whenever anybody in this country is killed while in police custody, it should automatically trigger a U.S. attorney general's investigation. Second of all, and I speak as a mayor who worked very closely and well with police officers, the vast majority of whom are honest, hard- working people trying to do a difficult job, but let us be clear. If a police officer breaks the law, like any public official, that officer must be held accountable. And thirdly, we have got to de-militarize our police departments so they don't look like occupying armies. We've got to move toward community policing. And fourthly, we have got to make our police departments look like the communities they serve in their diversity. +p3974 +aVSure. I agree... I agree with everything the Secretary said, but let me just add this, there is a responsibility on the part of the pharmaceutical industry and the drug companies who are producing all of these drugs and not looking at the consequence of it. And second of all, when we talk about addiction being a disease, the Secretary is right, what that means is we need a revolution in this country in terms of mental health treatment. People should be able to get the treatment that they need when they need it, not two months from now, which is why I believe in universal... +p3975 +aV... healthcare with mental health... +p3976 +aV... a part of that. +p3977 +aVOK. +p3978 +aVSecretary \u2014 Secretary Clinton didn't answer your question. Because what her campaign was saying \u2014 Bernie Sanders, who has fought for universal health care for my entire life, he wants to end Medicare, end Medicaid, end the children's health insurance program. That is nonsense. What a Medicare-for-all program does is finally provide in this country health care for every man, woman and child as a right. Now, the truth is, that Frank Delano Roosevelt, Harry Truman, do you know what they believed in? They believed that health care should be available to all of our people. I'm on the committee that wrote the Affordable Care Act. I made the Affordable Care Act along with Jim Clyburn a better piece of legislation. I voted for it, but right now, what we have to deal with is the fact that 29 million people still have no health insurance. We are paying the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, getting ripped off. And here's the important point, we are spending far more per person on health care than the people of any other country. My proposal, provide health care to all people, get private insurance out of health insurance, lower the cost of health care for middle class families by 5,000 bucks. That's the vision we need to take. +p3979 +aVBut \u2014 what if we have... +p3980 +aVIt is \u2014 it is absolutely inaccurate. O' +p3981 +aVNo one is tearing this up, we're going to go forward. But with the secretary neglected to mention, not just the 29 million still have no health insurance, that even more are underinsured with huge copayments and deductibles. Tell me why we are spending almost three times more than the British, who guarantee health care to all of their people? Fifty percent more than the French, more than the Canadians. The vision from FDR and Harry Truman was health care for all people as a right in a cost-effective way. We're not going to tear up the Affordable Care Act. I helped write it. But we are going to move on top of that to a Medicaid-for-all system. O' +p3982 +aVYeah. +p3983 +aVYes. +p3984 +aVNot all that detailed. +p3985 +aVWell. +p3986 +aVWell, that's \u2014 you might want to ask... +p3987 +aVAndrea, let me just say this. +p3988 +aVLet me just say that you might want to ask the governor of the state of Vermont why he could not do it. I'm not the governor. I'm the senator from the state of Vermont. But second of all \u2014 second of all...... here is what the real point is, in terms of all of the issues you've raised \u2014 the good questions you've raised. You know what it all comes down to? Do you know why we can't do what every other country \u2014 major country on Earth is doing? It's because we have a campaign finance system that is corrupt, we have super PACs, we have the pharmaceutical industry pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into campaign contributions and lobbying, and the private insurance companies as well. What this is really about is not the rational way to go forward \u2014 it's Medicare for all \u2014 it is whether we have the guts to stand up to the private insurance companies and all of their money, and the pharmaceutical industry. That's what this debate should be about. +p3989 +aVA couple of years ago, when we understood that veterans were not getting the quality care they needed in the timely manner, I worked with folks like John McCain and others to pass the most comprehensive veteran's health care legislation in modern history. But let me rephrase your question because I think, in all do respect, you're expression. In all do respect, you're missing the main point. And the main point in the Congress, it's not the Republicans and Democrats hate each other. That's a mythology from the media. The real issue is that Congress is owned by big money and refuses to do what the American people want them to do. The real issue is that in area after area, raising the minimum wage to $15 bucks an hour. The American people want it. Rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, creating 13 million jobs, the American people want it. The pay equity for women, the American people want it. Demanding that the wealthy start paying their fair share of taxes. The American people want it. +p3990 +aVThe point is, we have to make Congress respond to the needs of the people, not big money. +p3991 +aVI do. +p3992 +aVDid I say that? +p3993 +aVBecause of what I believe in what I was just saying. The Democratic party needs major reform. To those of you in South Carolina, you know what, in Mississippi, we need a 50-state strategy so that people in South Carolina and Mississippi can get the resources that they need. Instead of being dependent on super PACs, what we need is to be dependent on small, individual campaign contributors. We need an agenda that speaks to the needs of working families and low-income people. Not wealthy campaign contributors. +p3994 +aVWe need to expand what the input into the Democratic party. I am very proud that in this campaign, we have seen an enormous amount of excitement from young people, from working people. We have received more individual contributions than any candidate in the history of this country up to this point. O' +p3995 +aVAnd I respectfully disagree. +p3996 +aVAnd I respectfully disagree with my friend over here. And that is, you are right. All of us have denounced Trump's attempts to divide this country: the anti-Latino rhetoric, the racist rhetoric, he anti-Muslim rhetoric. But where I disagree with you, Governor O'Malley, is I do believe we have to deal with the fundamental issues of a handful of billionaires... O' +p3997 +aV... who control economic and political life of this country. O' +p3998 +aVNothing real will get happened. Unless we have a political revolution. Where millions of people finally stand up. +p3999 +aVIs that your strategy... +p4000 +aVWell, the first difference is I don't take money from big banks. I don't get personal speaking fees from Goldman Sachs. What I would do... What I would do is understand that when you have three out of the four largest banks today, bigger than they were when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, when you have the six largest financial institutions having assets of 60 percent of the GDP of America, it is very clear to me what you have to do. You've got to bring back the 21st century Glass-Steagall legislation and you've got to break up these huge financial institutions. They have too much economic power and they have too much financial power over our entire economy. If Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, the old Republican trust buster, what he would say is these guys are too powerful. Break them up. I believe that's what the American people to want see. That's my view. +p4001 +aVOK. First of all... +p4002 +aVSet the record right. In 2006 when I ran for the Senate, Senator Barack Obama was kind enough to campaign for me, 2008, I did my best to see that he was elected and in 2012, I worked as hard as I could to see that he was reelected. He and I are friends. We've worked together on many issues. We have some differences of opinion. But here is the issue, Secretary touched on it, can you really reform Wall Street when they are spending millions and millions of dollars on campaign contributions and when they are providing speaker fees to individuals? So it's easy to say, well, I'm going to do this and do that, but I have doubts when people receive huge amounts of money from Wall Street. I am very proud, I do not have a super PAC. I do not want Wall Street's money. I'll rely on the middle class and working families... +p4003 +aV... campaign contributions. +p4004 +aVLet me give you an example of how corrupt \u2014 how corrupt this system is. Goldman Sachs recently fined $5 billion. Goldman Sachs has given this country two secretaries of treasury, one on the Republicans, one under Democrats. O' +p4005 +aVThe leader of Goldman Sachs is a billionaire who comes to Congress and tells us we should cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Secretary Clinton \u2014 and you're not the only one, so I don't mean to just point the finger at you, you've received over $600,000 in speaking fees from Goldman Sachs in one year. I find it very strange that a major financial institution that pays $5 billion in fines for breaking the law, not one of their executives is prosecuted, while kids who smoke marijuana get a jail sentence. +p4006 +aVIf you want to... +p4007 +aVAnyone who wants to check my record in taking on Wall Street, in fighting against the deregulation of Wall Street when Wall Street put billions of dollars in lobbying, in campaign contributions to get the government off their backs. They got the government off their backs. Turns out that they were crooks, and they destroyed our economy. I think it's time to put the government back on their backs. +p4008 +aV... Yeah... +p4009 +aV... That's true. +p4010 +aVGood. You're right. I want to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, create 13 million jobs. We do that by doing away with the absurd loophole that now allows major profitable corporations to stash their money in the Cayman Islands, and not in some years, pay a nickel in taxes. Yes, I do. I plead guilty. I want every kid in this country who has the ability to be able to go to a public college, or university, tuition free. And, by the way, I want to substantially lower student debt interest rates in this country as well. How do I pay for it? I pay for it through a tax on Wall Street speculation. This country, and the middle class, bailed out Wall Street. Now, it is Wall Street's time to help the middle class. In fact... O' +p4011 +aV... we have documented, unlike Secretary Clinton, I have documented exactly how I would pay for our ambitious agenda. O' +p4012 +aV... Here is the main two points... +p4013 +aVYeah. +p4014 +aV... I got it. +p4015 +aVWhat is correct, and I'm disappointed that Secretary Clinton's campaign has made this criticism. It's a Republican criticism. Secretary Clinton does know a lot about healthcare, and she understands, I believe, that a medicare for all, single payer program will substantially lower the cost of healthcare for middle class families. So, what we have got to acknowledge, and I hope the Secretary does, is we are doing away with private health insurance premiums. So, instead of paying $10,000 dollars to Blue Cross, or Blue Shield, yes, some middle class families would be paying slightly more in taxes, but the result would be that that middle class family would be saving some $5,000 dollars in healthcare costs. A little bit more in taxes, do away with private health insurance premiums. It's a pretty good deal. +p4016 +aVYeah. +p4017 +aVNo, it is not breaking my word. When you are \u2014 it's one thing to say I'm raising taxes, it's another thing to say that we are doing away with private health insurance premiums. So, if I save you $10,000 in private health insurance, and you pay a little bit more in taxes in total, there are huge savings in what your family is spending. O' +p4018 +aVI was mayor for eight years, I did that as well. O' +p4019 +aVI think we already are. Younger generation understands it instinctively. I was home in Burlington, Vermont, on Christmas Eve, the temperature was 65 degrees. People in Vermont know what's going on. People who did ice fishing, where their ice is no longer there on the lake understand what's going on. I'm on both the Environmental and Energy Committees. The debate is over. Climate change is real. It is already causing major problems. And if we do not act boldly and decisively, a bad situation will become worse. It is amazing to me, and I think we'll have agreement on this up here, that we have a major party, called the Republican Party that is so owned by the fossil fuel industry and their campaign contributions that they don't even have the courage, the decency to listen to the scientists. It is beyond my comprehension how we can elect a president of the United States, somebody like Trump, who believes that climate change is a hoax invented by the Chinese. Bottom line is, we need to be bold and decisive, we can create millions of jobs. We must, for the sake of our kids and grandchildren, transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energy. I've got the most comprehensive legislation in the Senate to do that. And as president, I will fight to make that happen. +p4020 +aVI think what we've got to do is move as aggressively as we can to normalize relations with Iran. Understanding that Iran's behavior in so many ways is something that we disagree with; their support terrorism, the anti-American rhetoric that we're hearing from of their leadership is something that is not acceptable. On the other hand, the fact that we've managed to reach an agreement, something that I've very strongly supported that prevents Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and we did that without going to war. And that I believe we're seeing a fall in our relationships with Iran is a very positive step. So if your question is, do I want to see that relationship become more positive in the future? Yes. Can I tell that we should open an embassy in Tehran tomorrow? No, I don't think we should. But I think the goal has go to be as we've done with Cuba, to move in warm relations with a very powerful and important country in this world. +p4021 +aVAs everybody you know, this is incredibly complicated and difficult issue and I applaud. I know President Obama's been getting a lot of criticism on this. I think he is doing the right thing. What the nightmare is, which many of my Republican colleagues appear to want is to not have learned the lesson of Iraq. To get American young men and women involved in perpetual warfare in the quagmire of Syria and the Middle East would be an unmitigated disaster that as president, I will do everything in my power to avoid. O' +p4022 +aVWe should \u2014 we should learn \u2014 we should learn from King Abdullah of Jordan, one of the few heroes in a very unheroic place. And what Abdullah said is this is a war with a soul of Islam and that Muslim troops should be on the ground with our support and the support of other major countries. That is how we destroy +p4023 +aVNo. I think the vacuum was created by the disastrous war in Iraq, which I vigorously opposed. Not only did I vote against it, I helped lead the opposition. And what happened there is yes, it's easy to get rid of a two-bit dictator like Saddam Hussein, but there wasn't the kind of thought as to what happens the day after you get him and what kind of political vacuum occurs. And who rises up? Groups like +p4024 +aVLet me just... +p4025 +aVOK. Let me suggest... +p4026 +aVWhere Secretary Clinton and I think, I agree with most of what she said. But where I think we do have an honest disagreement, is that in the incredible quagmire of Syria, where it's hard to know who's fighting who and if you give arms to this guy, it may end up in +p4027 +aVOK. I just wanted to add, in the previous question, I voted against the USA Patriot Act for many of the reasons that Governor O'Malley mentioned. But it is not only the government that we have to worry about, it is private corporations. You would all be amazed, or maybe not, about the amount of information private companies and the government has in terms of the Web sites that you access, the products that you buy, where you are this very moment. And it is very clear to me that public policy has not caught up with the explosion of technology. So yes, we have to work with Silicon Valley to make sure that we do not allow +p4028 +aVRight. What we have got to do there is, among other things, as I was just saying, have Silicon Valley help us to make sure that information being transmitted through the Internet or in other ways by +p4029 +aVCan I get 50 seconds? +p4030 +aVCan I get a \u2014 can I just get a very brief response? Very brief. +p4031 +aVOK. One \u2014 and I agree with what the secretary said, and what Governor O'Malley said. But here's an issue that we also should talk about. We have a $600 billion military budget. It is a budget larger than the next eight countries'. Unfortunately, much of that budget continues to fight the old Cold War with the Soviet Union. Very little of that budget \u2014 less than 10 percent \u2014 actually goes into fighting +p4032 +aVGreat ideas, Governor O'Malley, Secretary Clinton, but here's the truth. If you have an administration stacked with Wall Street appointees, it ain't going to accomplish very much. So here's a promise that I make \u2014 and I mentioned a moment ago how corrupt the system is \u2014 Goldman Sachs, paying a $5 billion fine, gives this country, in recent history, a Republican secretary of treasury, a Democratic secretary of treasury. Here's a promise. If elected president, Goldman Sachs is not going to have \u2014 bring forth a secretary of treasury for a Sanders administration. +p4033 +aVI was asked a question. You know, one of the things, Andrea, and I \u2014 that question annoys me. I cannot walk down the street \u2014 Secretary Clinton knows this \u2014 without being told how much I have to attack secretary Clinton, want to get me on the front pages of the paper, I'd make some vicious attack. I have avoided doing that. Trying to run an issue-oriented campaign. +p4034 +aVI was asked a question. +p4035 +aVWell \u2014 then if I don't answer it, then there's another front page, so it's yes. And I mean this seriously. You know that. We've been through this. Yes, his behavior was deplorable. Have I ever once said a word about that issue? No, I have not. I'm going to debate Secretary Clinton, Governor O'Malley, on the issues facing the American people, not Bill Clinton's personal behavior. +p4036 +aVWell, Secretary Clinton was right and what I did which I think is also right, is demanded the resignation of governor. A man who acts that irresponsibly should not stay in power. Now, we are a great nation \u2014 and we've heard a lot of great ideas here tonight. Let's be honest and let's be truthful. Very little is going to be done to transform our economy and to create the kind of middle class we need unless we end a corrupt campaign finance system which is undermining American democracy. We've got to get rid of Super PACs, we've got to get rid of Citizens' United and what we've got to do is create a political revolution which revitalizes American democracy; which brings millions of young people and working people into the political process. To say loudly and clearly," that the government of the United States of America belongs to all of us and not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors." +p4037 +aVGood evening. I am running for president of the United States because it is too late for establishment politics and establishment economics. I'm running for president because our economy is rigged because working people are working longer hours for lower wages and almost all of new wealth and income being created is going to the top one percent. I'm running for president because I'm going to create an economy that works for working families not just billionaires. I'm running for president because we have a campaign finance system which is corrupt, where billionaires are spending hundreds of millionaires of dollars to buy candidates who will represent their interests rather than the middle class and working families. I'm running because we need to address the planetary crisis of climate change and take on the fossil fuel industry and transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energy. I'm running for president because I want a new foreign policy; one that takes on Isis, one that destroys +p4038 +aVDavid, let me give you a little bit of background here. The DNC has hired vendors. On two occasions, there were breeches in information two months ago. Our staff found information on our computers from the Clinton campaign. And when our staffers said, "whoa, what's going here?" They went to the DNC quietly. They went to the vendor and said, "hey, something is wrong," and that was quietly dealt with. None of that information was looked at. Our staffer at that point did exactly the right thing. A few days ago a similar incident happened. There was a breach because the DNC vendor screwed up, information came to our campaign. In this case, our staff did the wrong thing -- they looked at that information. As soon as we learned that they looked at that information - we fired that person. We are now doing an independent internal investigation to see who else was involved. Thirdly, what I have a really problem, and as you mentioned - this is a problem, I recognize it as a problem. But what the DNC did arbitrarily without discussing it with us is shut off our access to our information crippling our campaign. That is an egregious act. I'm glad that late last night, that was resolved. +p4039 +aVFourthly, I work -- look forward to working with Secretary Clinton for an investigation, an independent investigation, about all of the breaches that have occurred from day one in this campaign, because I am not convinced that information from our campaign may not have ended up in her campaign. Don't know that. But we need an independent investigation, and I hope Secretary Clinton will agree with me for the need of that. Last point. When we saw the breach two months, we didn't go running to the media and make a big deal about it. And it bothers me very much that, rather than working on this issue to resolve it, it has become many press releases from the Clinton campaign later. +p4040 +aVAbsolutely. +p4041 +aVYes, I apologize. +p4042 +aVNot only -- not only do I apologize to Secretary Clinton -- and I hope we can work together on an independent investigation from day one -- I want to apologize to my supporters. This is not the type of campaign that we run. And if I find anybody else involved in this, they will also be fired. +p4043 +aVLet me agree with Governor O'Malley and let me agree with Secretary Clinton. You know, we had this incident before, Secretary, with your famous e-mails. Right? And what I said and I think what Governor O'Malley is saying, and I hope you say, is when the middle class of this country is disappearing, when we have massive income and wealth inequality, when we're the only major country on earth not guaranteeing health care to all people, all the issues that the governor talked about, the secretary talked about, those are the issues. Media notwithstanding. Those are the issues that the American people want discussed. I hope those are the issues we'll discuss. +p4044 +aVI'm one of the 77 percent. I think this is a very difficult issue. Let me agree with much of what the secretary and the governor have said. Let me tell you what I think we have got to do. I think it's a two-pronged issue. Number one, our goal is to crush and destroy +p4045 +aVIt's a country in which people choose to buy guns. I think half of the -- more than half of the people in my own state of Vermont, my guess here in New Hampshire, are gun owners. That's the right of people. But this is what I do believe. I believe that when we have some 300 million guns in this country, I believe that when we have seen these horrific mass killings, not only in San Bernardino, but in Colorado and movie theaters in Colorado, I think we have got to bring together the vast majority of the people who do in fact believe in sensible gun safety regulations. For example, talking about polls, a poll recently came out, overwhelming majority of the American people say we should strengthen the instant background check. Who denies that it is crazy... Who denies that it is crazy to allow people to own guns who are criminals or are mentally unstable? We've got to eliminate the gun show loophole. In my view, we have got to see that weapons designed by the military to kill people are not in the hands of civilians. I think there is a consensus. I think -- I'm not going to say that everybody is in agreement. It's a divided country on guns. But there is a broad consensus on sensible gun safety regulations that I, coming from a state that has virtually no gun control, will do my best to bring together. O' +p4046 +aVWhoa, whoa, whoa. Let's calm down a little bit, Martin. +p4047 +aVFirst of all, let's have some rules here, commentators. +p4048 +aVAll right. +p4049 +aVHe sure did. +p4050 +aVSure did. All right. First off, we can do all the great speeches we want but you're not going to succeed unless there is a consensus. In 1988, just to set the record straight governor, I ran for the U.S. House. We have one House member from Vermont, three candidates in the race. One candidate said, you know what, I don't think it's a great idea that we sell automatic weapons in this country that are used by the military to kill people very rapidly. Gun people said, there were three candidates in the race, you vote for one of the others, but not Bernie Sanders. I lost that election by three percentage points. Quite likely, for that reason. So please, do not explain to me, coming from a state where democratic governors and republican governors have supported virtually no gun control. Excuse me. Do not tell me that I have not shown courage in standing up to the gun people, in voting to ban assault weapons, voting for instant background checks, voting to end the gun show loop hole and now we're in a position to create a consensus in America on gun safety. +p4051 +aVWell, the answer is, obviously, if you see suspicious activity, you report it. That's kind of a no-brainer. You know, somebody is loading guns and ammunition into a house, I think it's a good idea to call 911. Do it. +p4052 +aVBut I want to talk -- I want to talk about something else, because Secretary Clinton I think made some interesting and good points. What you have now is a very dangerous moment in American history. The secretary is right: Our people are fearful. They are anxious on a number of levels. They are anxious about international terrorism and the possibility of another attack on America. We all understand that. But you know what else they're anxious about? They're anxious about the fact that they are working incredibly long hours, they're worried about their kids, and they're seeing all the new income and wealth -- virtually all of it -- going to the top 1 percent. And they're looking around them, and they're looking at Washington, and they're saying the rich are getting much richer, I'm getting poorer, what are you going to do about it? What are you going to do for my kids? And somebody like a Trump comes along and says, "I know the answers. The answer is that all of the Mexicans, they're criminals and rapists, we've got to hate the Mexicans. Those are your enemies. We hate all the Muslims, because all of the Muslims are terrorists. We've got to hate the Muslims." Meanwhile, the rich get richer. So what I say to those people who go to Donald Trump's rallies, understand: He thinks a low minimum wage in America is a good idea. He thinks low wages are a good idea. I believe we stand together to address the real issues facing this country, not allow them to divide us by race or where we come from. Let's create an America that works for all of us, not the handful on top. +p4053 +aVExcuse me. May I have a chance to respond to this issue? +p4054 +aVYeah, but the rule includes equal -- got it. All right. +p4055 +aVAll right. Let's keep going. OK. +p4056 +aVYeah. +p4057 +aVAnd I also voted and helped lead the effort against the war in Iraq, which will go down in history as one of the worst foreign blunders -- foreign policy blunders in the history of our country. I voted against the first Gulf War, which set the stage, I believe, for the second Iraq war. And what I believe right now, and I believe this is terribly important, is the United States of America cannot succeed, or be thought of as the policeman of the world, that when there's an international crisis all over the world, in France and in the U.K. Or -- hey, just call up the American military and the American taxpayers, they're going to send the troops. And if they have to be in the Middle East for 20 or 30 years no problem. +p4058 +aVI have a problem with that, Martha. What I believe has got to happen is there must be an international coalition, including Russia, a well-coordinated effort. But I agree, as I mentioned a moment ago, with King Abdullah. This is a war for the soul of Islam. The troops on the ground should not be American troops. They should be Muslim troops. I believe that countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar have got to step up to the plate, have got to contribute the money that we need, and the troops that we need, to destroy +p4059 +aVMy plan is to make it work, to tell Saudi Arabia that instead of going to war in Yemen, they, one of the wealthiest countries on Earth, are going to have to go to war against +p4060 +aVI have a difference of opinion with Secretary Clinton on this. Our differences are fairly deep on this issue. We disagreed on the war in Iraq. We both listened to the information from Bush and Cheney. I voted against the war. But I think -- and I say this with due respect -- that I worry too much that Secretary Clinton is too much into regime change and a little bit too aggressive without knowing what the unintended consequences might be. Yes, we could get rid of Saddam Hussein, but that destabilized the entire region. Yes, we could get rid of Gadhafi, a terrible dictator, but that created a vacuum for +p4061 +aVI was not the secretary of state... +p4062 +aVI happen to think... O' +p4063 +aVSecretary Clinton is right. This is a complicated issue. I don't think anyone has a magical solution. But this is what I do believe. Yes, of course Assad is a terrible dictator. But I think we have got to get our foreign policies and priorities right. The immediate -- it is not Assad who is attacking the United States. It is +p4064 +aVDavid... +p4065 +aVCould I just say -- just say this... +p4066 +aVCan I just say this... +p4067 +aVOf course the United States must lead. But the United States is not the policeman of the world. The United States must not be involved in perpetual warfare in the Middle East. The United States, at the same time, cannot successfully fight Assad and +p4068 +aVFirst of all, we recognize that we have a rigged economy, as you've indicated. Middle class in this country for the last 40 years has been disappearing; are we better off today than we were when Bush left office? Absolutely. But as you've indicated for millions of American workers, people in New Hampshire -- all over America, they're working longer hours for lower wages deeply worried about their kids. So what do we do? First statement is, we tell the billionaire class, "they cannot have it all." For a start, they're going to start to pay their fair share of taxes. Second of all what we do, is you raise the minimum wage to living wage, 15 bucks an hour over the next several years. Next thing we do, pay equity for women workers. Women should not be making 79 cents on the dollar compared to that. Next thing that we do, real unemployment -- official unemployment, 5 percent, real employment 10 percent, youth unemployment, off the charts. We rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, our roads our bridges, our rail systems, we create 13 million jobs with a trillion-dollar investment. Furthermore, in a competitive global economy, it is imperative that we have the best educated workforce in the world. That is why I'm going to have a tax on Wall Street speculation to make certain that public colleges and universities in America are tuition free. +p4069 +aVNo, I think they won't. So Hillary and I have a difference. The CEOs of large multinationals may like Hillary. They ain't going to like me and Wall Street is going to like me even less. And the reason for that is we've got to deal with the elephant in the room, which is the greed, recklessness and illegal behavior on Wall Street. When you have six financial institutions in this country that issue two-thirds of the credit cards and one-third of the mortgages, when three out of four of them are larger today than when we bailed them out because they are too big to fail, we've got to re- establish Glass-Steagall, we have got to break the large financial institutions up. +p4070 +aVSo I don't think... ... having said that, I don't think I'm going to get a whole lot of campaign contributions from Wall Street. I don't have a super PAC. I don't want campaign contributions from corporate America. And let me be clear: While there are some great corporations creating jobs and trying to do the right thing, in my view -- and I say this very seriously -- the greed of the billionaire class, the greed of Wall Street is destroying this economy and is destroying the lives of millions of Americans. We need an economy that works for the middle class, not just a handful of billionaires, and I will fight and lead to make that happen. +p4071 +aVLet me just -- let me just... +p4072 +aVLet me just jump in. My name was invoked. +p4073 +aVSo with that invocation, let me say a few words. Secretary Clinton, I don't have a super PAC. I don't get any money from Wall Street. You have gotten a whole lot of money over the years from Wall Street. But most importantly, when you look at what happened in the 1990s, go to berniesanders.com. I'll advertise my Web site as well. And what you'll find is that I led -- helped lead the effort as a member of the House financial committee against Alan Greenspan, against a guy named Bill Clinton, maybe you know him, maybe you don't. Against the Republican leadership, who all thought it would be a great idea to merge investor banks and commercial banks and large insurance companies. What a brilliant idea that would be. Go to YouTube. Find out what I said to Greenspan. At the end of the day, if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, and the governor makes a good point about trade, anti-trade, anti-monopoly activities. Wall Street today has too much political power. It has too much economic power. To get deregulated -- listen to this, they spent $5 billion in lobbying and campaign contributions over a 10-year period. +p4074 +aVWall Street is a threat to the economy. They've got to be broken up. +p4075 +aVYes, exactly, exactly. +p4076 +aVYes, well, roughly. Let me say this. As a member of the Health Education Committee that helped write the Affordable Care Act, much of what Secretary Clinton said about what we have done, among other things, ending the obscenity of this pre-existing situation is a step forward. Seventeen more million more people have health care. It is a step forward. A step forward. But this is what we also have to say. Not only are deductibles rising, 29 million Americans still have no health insurance and millions of people can't afford to go to the doctor. Major crisis and primary health care. Here is the bottom line. Why is it that the United States of America today is the only major country on earth that does not guarantee health care to all people as a right? Why is it... +p4077 +aVWhy is it that we are -- why is it that we spend almost three times per capita as to what they spend in the U.K., 50 percent more than what they pay in France, countries that guarantee health care to all of their people and in many cases, have better health care outcomes. Bottom line. This ties into campaign finance reform. The insurance companies, the drug companies are bribing the United States Congress. We need to pass a Medicare for all single payer system. It will lower the cost of health care for a middle-class family by thousands of dollars a year. +p4078 +aVBut they will not be paying, Martha, any private insurance. So it's unfair to say in total... +p4079 +aVI can tell you that adding up the fact you're not paying any private insurance, businesses are not paying any private insurance. The average middle-class family will be saving thousands of dollars a year. +p4080 +aVAnd universities. +p4081 +aVWell, Neil, I think we've got to work on a two-pronged approach. And your point is absolutely well taken. The cost of college education is escalating a lot faster than the cost of inflation. There are a lot of factors involved in that. And that is that we have some colleges and universities that are spending a huge amount of money on fancy dormitories and on giant football stadiums. Maybe we should focus on quality education with well-paid faculty members. But... +p4082 +aVAnd I understand in many universities a heck of a lot of vice presidents who earn a big salary. But, bottom line is this is the year 2015. If we are going to be competitive in the global economy we need the best educated workforce. It is insane to my mind, hundreds of thousands of young people today, bright qualified people, cannot go to college because they cannot afford -- their families cannot afford to send them. Millions coming out of school as you indicated, deeply in debt. What do we do? My proposal is to put a speculation tax on wall street, raise very substantial sums of money, not only make public colleges and universities tuition-free, but also substantially lower interest rates on student debt. You have families out there paying 6 percent, 8 percent, 10 percent on student debt; refinance their homes at 3 percent. What sense is that? So I think we need radical changes in the funding of higher education. We should look at college today the way high school was looked at 60 years ago. All young people who have the ability should be able to get a college education. ( +p4083 +aVMay I respond to the critique on the ... +p4084 +aVI would just... +p4085 +aVBut Secretary Clinton is wrong. As you know, because I know you know a lot about health care. You know that the United States per capita pays far and away more than other country. And it is unfair simply to say how much more the program will cost without making sure that people know that, we are doing away with cost of private insurance and that the middle class will be paying substantially less for health care on the single payer than on the Secretary's Clinton proposal. +p4086 +aVNow, this is getting to be fun. +p4087 +aVLet me respond to... +p4088 +aVLet me respond to... +p4089 +aVNumber one, most important economic reality of today is that over the last 30 years, there has been a transfer of trillions of dollars from the middle class to the top one-tenth of one percent who are seeing a doubling of the percentage of wealth that they own. Now, when Secretary Clinton says, "I'm not going raise taxes on the middle class," let me tell you what she is saying. She is disagreeing with FDR on Social Security, LBJ on Medicare and with the vast majority of progressive Democrats in the House and the Senate, who today are fighting to end the disgrace of the United States being the only major country on Earth that doesn't provide paid family and medical leave. What the legislation is is $1.61 a week. Now, you can say that's a tax on the middle class. It will provide three months paid family and medical leave for the working families of this country. I think, Secretary Clinton, $1.61 a week is a pretty good investment. +p4090 +aVDavid, thank you. +p4091 +aVThen (inaudible)... +p4092 +aVEvery (inaudible) Democrat and senator in support of this proposal introduced by your good friend and my good friend, Kirsten Gillibrand, Rosa DeLauro, that is the legislation out there that will finally provide family and medical leave. +p4093 +aVWell, this whole issue concerns me. And I agree with much of what the secretary and the governor have said. But let's be clear. Today in America we have more people in jail than any other country on earth, 2.2 million people. Predominantly African-American and Hispanic. We are spending $80 billion a year locking up our fellow Americans. I think, and this is not easy, but I think we need to make wage a major effort, to come together as a country and end institutional racism. We need major, major reforms of a very broken criminal justice system. Now, what does that mean? Well, for a start it means that police officers should not be shooting unarmed people, predominantly African-Americans. +p4094 +aVIt means that we have to rethink the so-called war on drugs which has destroyed the lives of millions of people, which is why I have taken marijuana out of the Controlled Substance Act. So that it will not be a federal crime. +p4095 +aVThat is why we need to make... That is why we need to make police -- and I speak as a former mayor. I was a mayor for eight years, worked very closely with a great police department. And what we did is try to move that department toward community policing, so that the police officers become part of the community and not, as we see, in some cities an oppressive force. We need to make police departments look like the communities they serve in terms of diversity. We need to end minimal sentencing. We need, basically, to pledge that we're going to invest in this country, in jobs and education, not more jails and incarceration. +p4096 +aVYes. Look, this is a tragedy for New Hampshire. It is a tragedy for my state of Vermont. It is a tragedy all over this country. The number of heroin deaths are growing very, very significantly. What do we do? Well, for a start, this may seem like a radical idea, but I think we have got to tell the medical profession and doctors who are prescribing opiates and the pharmaceutical industry that they have got to start getting their act together, we cannot have this huge number of opiates out there throughout this country, where young people are taking them, getting hooked, and then going to heroin. Second of all, and the reason I believe in a health care for all program, we need to understand that addiction is a disease, not a criminal activity. And that means -- and that means radically changing the way we deal with mental health and addiction issues. When somebody is addicted and seeking help, they should not have to wait three, four months in order to get that help. They should be able to walk in the door tomorrow and get a variety of treatments that work for them. So those are some of the areas that I think we've got to move on. +p4097 +aVBut what... +p4098 +aVLook, the secretary is right. This is a terribly complicated issue. There are no simple solutions. But where we have a disagreement is that I think if you look at the history of regime changes, you go back to Mossadegh in Iran, you go back to Salvador Allende who we overthrew in Chile, you go back to overthrowing Saddam Hussein in Iraq, you go back to where we are today in Syria with a dictator named Assad. The truth is it is relatively easy for a powerful nation like America to overthrow a dictator but it is very hard to predict the unintended consequences and the turmoil and the instability that follows after you overthrow that dictator. So I think Secretary Clinton and I have a fundamental disagreement. I'm not quite the fan of regime change that I believe she is. O' +p4099 +aVGiven the fact that she's a lot smarter than me, yes, she would. And let me, by the way, take this moment to congratulate Hillary Clinton, who I thought not only did an outstanding job as our first lady, but redefined what that role could be. So, I thank you very much for that. My wife, Jane, has been -- way back when before I knew her, a foster parent. Many, many kids came into her home and received the kind of love that they desperately needed. And she turned around many lives. She is the best parent and grandmother that I know. She has devoted her life, when I was mayor of the city of Burlington, actually when I first met her, we started a youth office, which started a after-school programs for kids, started a child care center, started a youth newspaper. We got the kids involved in a whole lot of issues. She led that effort. So I think, at a time when so many of our kids are desperately looking for constructive activity, where too many of our kids are hanging around on street corners, potentially getting into trouble, I think we need a forceful advocate for the children, for teenagers, for the little children, to deal with the dysfunctional child care system, and I think my wife would do a great job in helping me accomplish those goals. +p4100 +aVWell, thank you very much for hosting this debate, and let me applaud my colleagues up here. Because I think frankly, maybe I'm wrong, but on our worst day, I think we have a lot more to offer the American people than the right wing's extremists. +p4101 +aVBut what my parents did accomplish is they were able to send both of their sons to college. We were the first in the family. So I know something about economic anxiety and living in a family does not have sufficient income. And that is why I am pledged, if elected president of the United States, to bring about a political revolution where millions of people begin to stand up and finally say enough is enough, this great country and our government belong to all of us, not just a handful of billionaires. Thank you very much. +p4102 +aVWell, John, let me concur with you and with all Americans who are shocked and disgusted by what we saw in Paris yesterday. Together, leading the world, this country will rid our planet of this barbarous organization called +p4103 +aVAbsolutely. In fact, climate change is directly related to the growth of terrorism. And if we do not get our act together and listen to what the scientists say, you're going to see countries all over the world -- this is what the CIA says -- they're going to be struggling over limited amounts of water, limited amounts of land to grow their crops ask you're going to see all kinds of international conflict. But, of course, international terrorism is a major issue that we have got to address today. And I agree with much of what the Secretary and the Governor have said. But let me have one area of disagreement with the Secretary. I think she said something like the bulk of the responsibility is not ours. Well, in fact, I would argue that the disastrous invasion of Iraq, something that I strongly opposed, has unraveled the region completely and led to the rise of al-Qaeda and to +p4104 +aVI don't think any -- I don't think any sensible person would disagree that the invasion of Iraq led to the massive level of instability we are seeing right now. I think that was one of the worst foreign policy blunders in the more than history of the United States. +p4105 +aVI think we have a disagreement, and the disagreement is that not only did I vote against the war in Iraq. If you look at history, John, you will find that regime change -- whether it was in the early '50s in Iran, whether it was toppling Salvador Allende in Chile, whether it is overthrowing the government of Guatemala way back when -- these invasions, these toppling of governments, regime changes have unintended consequences. I would say that on this issue, I'm a little bit more conservative than the Secretary... +p4106 +aV... And that I am not a great fan of regime change. +p4107 +aVThe Secretary's obviously right. It is enormously complicated. But here's something that I believe we have to do as we put together an international coalition, and that is we have to understand that the Muslim nations in the region -- Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, Jordan -- all of these nations, they're going to have to get their hands dirty, their boots on the ground. They are going to have to take on +p4108 +aVWhen you talk about the long-term consequences of war, let's talk about the men and women who came home from war. The 500,000 who came home with +p4109 +aVI don't think the term is what's important. What is important to understand is we have organizations, whether it is +p4110 +aVLet me do that but let me pick up on an issue, a very important issue that we have not yet discussed. This nation is the most powerful military in the world. We're spending over $600 billion a year on the military and yet, significantly less than 10 percent of that money is used to be fighting international terrorism. We are spending hundreds of billions of dollars maintaining 5,000 nuclear weapons. I think we need major reform in the military, making it more cost effective, but also focusing on the real crisis that faces us. The Cold War is over. And our focus has got to be on intelligence, increased manpower, fighting internationally targets. So, in terms of refugees, I believe that the United States has the moral responsibility with Europe, with Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia to make sure that when people leave countries like Afghanistan and Syria with nothing more than the clothing on their back that, of course, we reach out. Now, what the magic number is, I don't know, because we don't know the extent of the problem. But I certainly think that the United States should take its full responsibility in helping those people. +p4111 +aVLet me put those proposals-- and you're absolutely right. That is what I want to do. That is what is going to have to happen, if we want to revitalize and rebuild the crumbling middle class. In the last 30 years, there has been a massive redistribution of wealth. And I know that term gets my Republican friends nervous. The problem is, this redistribution has gone in the wrong direction. Trillions of dollars have gone from the middle class and working families to the top one-tenth of one percent who have doubled the percentage of wealth they now own. Yes, I do believe that we must end corporate loopholes, such that major corporations year after year pay virtually zero in federal income tax, because they're stashing the money in the Cayman Islands. Yes, I do believe there must be a tax on Wall Street speculation. We bailed out Wall Street. It's their time to bail out the middle class, help our kids be able to go to college tuition-free. So we pay for this by do demanding that the wealthiest people and the largest corporations, who have gotten away with murder for years, start paying their fair share. +p4112 +aVWe haven't come up with an exact number yet, but it will not be as high as the number under Dwight D. Eisenhower, which was 90 percent. But it will be... I'm not that much of a socialist compared to Eisenhower. But -- but we are going to end the absurdity, as Warren Buffet often remind us. O' +p4113 +aVThat billionaires pay an effective tax rate lower than nurses or truck drivers. That makes no sense at all. There has to be real tax reform, and the wealthiest and large corporations will pay when I'm president. O' +p4114 +aVI am on the committee that helped write the Affordable Care Act. We have made some good progress. Now what we have to take on is the pharmaceutical industry that is ripping off the American people every single day. I am proud that I was the first member of Congress to take Americans over the Canadian border to buy breast cancer drugs for one-tenth the price they were paying in the United States. But at the end of the day, no doubt, the Affordable Care Act is a step forward. I think we all support it. I believe we've got to go further. I want to end the international embarrassment of the United States of America being the only major country on earth that doesn't guarantee health care to all people as a right, not a privilege. And also -- also, what we should be clear about is we end up spending -- and I think the secretary knows this -- far more per capita on health care than any other major country, and our outcomes, health care outcomes are not necessarily that good. O' +p4115 +aVKathie, let me say this. You know, no public policy doesn't have, in some cases, negative consequences. But at the end of the day, what you have right now are millions of Americans working two or three jobs because their wages that they are earning are just too low. Real inflation accounted for wages has declined precipitously over the years. So I believe that, in fact, this country needs to move towards a living wage. It is not a radical idea to say that if somebody works 40 hours a week, that person should not be living in poverty. It is not a radical idea to say that a single mom should be earning enough money to take care of her kids. So I believe that over the next few years, not tomorrow, but over the next few years, we have got to move the minimum wage to a living wage, 15 bucks an hour. And I apologize to nobody for that. +p4116 +aVThis is what I think -- this is what many economists believe that one of the reasons that real unemployment in this country is 10 percent, one of the reasons that African American youth unemployment and underemployment is 51 percent is the average worker in America doesn't have any disposable income. You have no disposable income when you are make 10, 12 bucks an hour. When we put money into the hands of working people, they're going to go out and buy goods, they're going to buy services and they're going to create jobs in doing that. Kathie, that is the kind of economy I believe, put money in the hands of working people, raise the minimum wage to 15 buck an hour. O' +p4117 +aVLet me just... +p4118 +aVLet me just add to that. Just because this is not an esoteric argument. You're seeing cities like Seattle. You're seeing cities like San Francisco, cities like Los Angeles doing it, and they are doing it well and workers are able to have more disposable income. +p4119 +aVNot good enough. Here's the story. I mean, you know, let's not be naive about it. Why do -- why, over her political career has Wall Street been a major -- the major campaign contributor to Hillary Clinton? You know, maybe they're dumb and they don't know what they're going to get, but I don't think so. Here is the major issue when we talk about Wall Street. It ain't complicated. You have six financial institutions today that have assets of 56 percent, equivalent to 56 percent of the GDP In America. They issue two-thirds of the credit cards and one-third of the mortgages. If Teddy Roosevelt, a good Republican, were alive today, you know what he'd say? "Break them up." Reestablish Glass-Steagall. And Teddy Roosevelt is right. That is the issue. Now I am the only candidate up here that doesn't have a super PAC. I am not asking Wall Street or the billionaires for money. I will break up these banks. Support community banks and credit unions. That's the future of banking in America. +p4120 +aVI have never heard a candidate never, who has received huge amounts of money from oil, from coal, from Wall Street, from the military industrial complex, not one candidate say, oh, these campaign contributions will not influence me. I'm going to be independent. Well, why do they make millions of dollars of campaign contributions? they expect to get something. Everybody knows that. Once again, I am running a campaign differently than any other candidate. We are relying on small campaign donors, 750,000 of them, 30 bucks a piece. That's who I'm indebted to. +p4121 +aVNo, I have not. +p4122 +aVSo was I, John. Let me get a chance to respond. This issue touches on two broad issues. It's not just Wall Street. It's campaign -- a corrupt campaign finance system. And it is easy to talk the talk about ending Citizens United, but what I think we need to do is show by example that we are prepared to not rely on large corporations and Wall Street for campaign contributions, and that's what I'm doing. In terms of Wall Street, I respectfully disagree with you, madam secretary, in the sense that the issue here is when you have such incredible power and such incredible wealth. When you have Wall Street spending $5 billion over a 10-year period to get -- to get deregulated, the only answer they know is break them up, reestablish Glass-Stegall. +p4123 +aVThe big banks-- +p4124 +aVLook-- +p4125 +aVI don't know and with all due respect to the secretary, Wall Street played by the rules? Who are we kidding? The business model of Wall Street is fraud. That's what it is. And we have -- and let me make this promise. One of the problems we have had -- I think all Americans understand this, is whether it's Republican administrations or Democratic administrations, we have seen Wall Street and Goldman Sachs dominate administrations. Here's my promise-- Wall Street representatives will not be in my cabinet. +p4126 +aVLet's do more -- let's do more than reverse the immunity. Let's... +p4127 +aVLet me hear if there's any difference between the Secretary and myself. I have voted time and again to -- for -- for the background check, and I want to see it improved and expanded. I want to see us do away with the gun show loophole. In 1988, I lost an election because I said we should not have assault weapons on the streets of America. We have to do away with the strawman proposal. We need radical changes in mental health in America so somebody who is suicidal or homicidal can get the emergency care they need. We have -- I don't know that there's any disagreement here... O' +p4128 +aVWe have got to come forward with a consensus that in fact will work. +p4129 +aVThere were parts of that bill which agree with parts -- I disagree. I am certainly, absolutely, willing to look at that bill again and make sure there's a stronger bill. +p4130 +aVWith all -- with all due respect... I think it's fair to say that Baltimore is not now one of the safest cities in America, but the issue is... O' +p4131 +aVThe issue is -- I believe, and I believe this honestly, and I don't know that there's much difference on guns between us. But I believe coming from a state that has virtually no gun control, I believe that I am in position to reach out to the 60 or 70 percent of the American people who agree with us on those issues. The problem is... +p4132 +aV... people all over this country -- not you, Secretary Clinton -- are shouting at each other. And what we need to do is bring people together to work on the agreement where there is broad consensus and that's what I intend to do. O' +p4133 +aVAbsolutely. +p4134 +aVYes. +p4135 +aVYes. +p4136 +aVYes, I agree. +p4137 +aVWell, I -- if I might. I think the issue here is -- and I applaud Secretary Clinton. She did. She's the senator from New York. She worked -- and many of us supported you -- in trying to rebuild that devastation. But at the end of the day, Wall Street today has enormous economic and political power. Their business model is greed and fraud. And for the sake of our economy, they must -- the major banks must be broken up. +p4138 +aVWell, (inaudible) the major issue right now is whether or not we reestablish Glass-Steagall. I led the effort, unfortunately unsuccessfully, against deregulation because I knew when you merge large insurance companies and investment banks and commercial banks it was not going to be good. The issue now is do we break them ?up do we reestablish Glass-Steagall. And Secretary Clinton, unfortunately, is on the wrong side. +p4139 +aVLet me... O' +p4140 +aVThank you. Looking forward to it. +p4141 +aVYes. +p4142 +aVRight. +p4143 +aVAnd we are going to do a political revolution, which brings working people, young people, senior citizens, minorities together. Because every issue that I am talking about-- paid family and medical leave, breaking up the banks on Wall Street, asking the wealth to pay their fair share of taxes, rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, raising the minimum wage to 15 bucks an hour -- every one of those issues is supported by a significant majority of the American people. The problem is, that as a result of a corrupt campaign finance system, Congress is not listening to the American people. Its listening to the big money interest. What the political revolution is about is bringing people together to finally say, enough is enough. This government belongs to us. Not just the billionaires. +p4144 +aVYes. +p4145 +aVYes. +p4146 +aVYeah. +p4147 +aVWhat we need is leadership in this country which revitalizes American democracy, and makes people understand that if they stand up and fight back and take on the billionaire class, we can bring about the change that we need. If we are not successful, if we continue the same old, same old of Washington being run by corporate lobbyists and big-money interests, nothing changes. What I am very happy in this campaign that we have had rallies with tens of thousands of people, mostly young people. What the polls are showing is that we are actually defeating the secretary among younger people. We're giving young people and working people hope that real change can take place in America. That's what the political revolution is about. +p4148 +aVNo. That's just media stuff. I was sick and tired of Hillary Clinton's e-mail. I am still sick and tired of Hillary Clinton's e-mails. And the issue is, the problem is, the front pages every day were dealing with it. I didn't know I had so much power. But after I said that, we're not hearing so much about Hillary Clinton's e-mails. What I would like for the media now is for us to be talking about why the middle class is disappearing, why we have more people in jail than any other country, why we have massive levels of income and wealth inequality, and we're the only major country on Earth without paid family and medical leave. We've gotten off the Hillary's e-mails, good. Let's go to the major issues facing America. +p4149 +aVWell, this is what I would say, and the Congressman was right. According to the statistics that I'm familiar with, a black male baby born today stands a one in four chance of ending up in the criminal justice system. Fifty-one percent of high school African-American graduates are unemployed or underemployed. We have more people in jail today than any other country on earth. We're spending $80 billion locking people up, disproportionately Latino and African American. We need, very clearly, major, major reform in a broken criminal justice system. From top to bottom. And that means when police officers out in a community do illegal activity -- kill people who are unarmed who should not be killed, they must be held accountable. It means that we end minimum sentencing for those people arrested. It means that we take marijuana out of the federal law as a crime and give states the freedom to go forward with legalizing marijuana. +p4150 +aVNo, it is not throwing -- it is an extraordinary investment for this country. Germany, many other countries do it already. In fact, if you remember, 50, 60 years ago, the University of California, City University of New York were virtually tuition-free. Here is the story -- it's not just the college graduates should be $50,000 or $100,000 in debt. More importantly, I want kids in Burlington, Vermont, or Baltimore, Maryland, who are in the sixth grade or the eighth grade, who don't have a lot of money, whose parents -- like my parents -- may never have gone to college. Do you know where I'm going, Kevin? I want those kids to know that if they study hard, they do their homework, regardless of the income of their families, they will in fact be able to get a college education because we are going to make public colleges and universities tuition-free. This is revolutionary for education in America. It will give hope to millions of young people. +p4151 +aVYes. +p4152 +aVWell, I think that they're be pretty smart, because I think a lot of the states will do the right thing, and I think those states that don't will pay a heavy penalty. Bottom line here is, in the year 2015, we should look at a college degree the same way we looked at a high school degree 50 or 60 years ago. If you want to make it into the middle class -- I'm not saying in all cases -- we need plumbers, and we need carpenters, and electricians, that's for sure, and they should get help as well. But bottom line now, is in America, in the year 2015, any person who has the ability and the desire should be able to get an education, college education, regardless of the income of his or her family. And we must substantially lower, as my legislation does, interest rates on student debt. +p4153 +aVIt's not going to happen tomorrow. And it's probably not going to happen until we have real campaign finance reform and get rid of all these superpacs, and the power of the insurance companies and the drug companies. But at the end of the day, Nancy, here is the question -- in this great country of ours, with so much intelligence and so much capability, why do we remain the only major country on earth that does not guarantee health care to all people as a right? Why do we continue to get ripped off by the drug companies who can charge us any prices they want? Why is it that we are spending per capita far, far more than Canada, which is 100 miles away from my door, that guarantees health care to all people? It will not happen tomorrow. But when millions of people stand up and are prepared to take on the insurance companies and the drug companies, it will happen, and I will lead that effort. Medicare for all, single-payer system is the way we should go. +p4154 +aVWell, let me just say something. +p4155 +aVWe don't eliminate Medicare. We expand Medicare to all people. And we will not, under this proposal, have a situation that we have right now with the Affordable Care Act where you have states like South Carolina, and many other Republican states, that because of their right wing political ideology, are denying millions of people the expansion of Medicaid that we passed in the Affordable Care Act. Ultimately, we have got to say as a nation, Secretary Clinton, is health care a right of all people or is it not? I believe it is a right. O' +p4156 +aVJohn, I had the honor of being chairman of the U.S. Senate committee on Veterans' Affairs for two years. And in that capacity, I met with just an extraordinary group of people from World War II, from korea, vietnam, all of the wars. People came back from Iraq and Afghanistan without legs, without arms. And I was determined to do everything that I could to make VA health care the best in the world, to expand benefits to the men and women who put their lives on the line to defending. We brought together legislation supported by the American Legion, the VFW, the DOD, Vietnam Vets, all of the veterans organizations, which was comprehensive. Clearly the best piece of veterans' legislation brought forth in decades. I could only get two Republican votes on that. We ended up with 56 votes. We needed 60. So what I had to do then is go back and start working on a bill that wasn't the bill that I wanted. Sit down with people like John Mccain. Sit down with people like Jeff Miller, the Republican chairman of the house, and work on a bill. It wasn't the bill that I wanted, but yet it turned out to be one of the more significant pieces of veterans' legislation passed in recent history. So the crisis was I lost what I wanted. But I had to stand up and come back and get the best that we could. +p4157 +aVJohn -- John, this country today has more income and wealth inequality than any major country on Earth. We have a corrupt campaign finance system dominated by Super PACs. We are the only major country on Earth that doesn't guarantee healthcare to all people. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty, and we're the only country in the world -- virtually the only country that doesn't guarantee paid family and medical leave. That's not the America that I think we should be. But in order to bring about the changes that we need, we need a political revolution. Millions of people are going to have to stand up, turn off the TV, get involved in the political process and tell the big- money interest that we are taking back our country. Please go to berniesanders.com. Please become part of the political revolution. Thank you. +p4158 +aVAnderson, thank you very much. I think most Americans understand that our country today faces a series of unprecedented crises. The middle class of this country for the last 40 years has been disappearing. Millions of Americans are working longer hours for lower wages, and yet almost all of the new income and wealth being created is going to the top one percent. As a result of this disastrous Citizens United Supreme Court decision, our campaign finance system is corrupt and is undermining American democracy. Millionaires and billionaires are pouring unbelievable sums of money into the political process in order to fund super PACs and to elect candidates who represent their interests, not the interests of working people. Today, the scientific community is virtually unanimous: climate change is real, it is caused by human activity, and we have a moral responsibility to transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energy and leave this planet a habitable planet for our children and our grandchildren. Today in America, we have more people in jail than any other country on Earth. African-American youth unemployment is 51 percent. Hispanic youth unemployment is 36 percent. It seems to me that instead of building more jails and providing more incarceration, maybe \u2014 just maybe \u2014 we should be putting money into education and jobs for our kids. What this campaign is about is whether we can mobilize our people to take back our government from a handful of billionaires and create the vibrant democracy we know we can and should have. Thank you. +p4159 +aVWell, we're gonna win because first, we're gonna explain what democratic socialism is. And what democratic socialism is about is saying that it is immoral and wrong that the top one-tenth of 1 percent in this country own almost 90 percent \u2014 almost \u2014 own almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent. That it is wrong, today, in a rigged economy, that 57 percent of all new income is going to the top 1 percent. That when you look around the world, you see every other major country providing health care to all people as a right, except the United States. You see every other major country saying to moms that, when you have a baby, we're not gonna separate you from your newborn baby, because we are going to have \u2014 we are gonna have medical and family paid leave, like every other country on Earth. Those are some of the principles that I believe in, and I think we should look to countries like Denmark, like Sweden and Norway, and learn from what they have accomplished for their working people. +p4160 +aVWell, first of all, let's look at the facts. The facts that are very simple. Republicans win when there is a low voter turnout, and that is what happened last November. Sixty-three percent of the American people didn't vote, Anderson. Eighty percent of young people didn't vote. We are bringing out huge turnouts, and creating excitement all over this country. Democrats at the White House on down will win, when there is excitement and a large voter turnout, and that is what this campaign is doing. +p4161 +aVDo I consider myself part of the casino capitalist process by which so few have so much and so many have so little by which Wall Street's greed and recklessness wrecked this economy? No, I don't. I believe in a society where all people do well. Not just a handful of billionaires. +p4162 +aVI think everybody is in agreement that we are a great entrepreneurial nation. We have got to encourage that. Of course, we have to support small and medium-sized businesses. But you can have all of the growth that you want and it doesn't mean anything if all of the new income and wealth is going to the top 1 percent. So what we need to do is support small and medium-sized businesses, the backbone of our economy, but we have to make sure that every family in this country gets a fair shake... +p4163 +aV... not just for billionaires. +p4164 +aVLet's begin, Anderson, by understanding that Bernie Sanders has a D-minus voting rating (ph) from the NRA. Let's also understand that back in 1988 when I first ran for the United States Congress, way back then, I told the gun owners of the state of Vermont and I told the people of the state of Vermont, a state which has virtually no gun control, that I supported a ban on assault weapons. And over the years, I have strongly avoided instant background checks, doing away with this terrible gun show loophole. And I think we've got to move aggressively at the federal level in dealing with the straw man purchasers. Also I believe, and I've fought for, to understand that there are thousands of people in this country today who are suicidal, who are homicidal, but can't get the healthcare that they need, the mental healthcare, because they don't have insurance or they're too poor. I believe that everybody in this country who has a mental crisis has got to get mental health counseling immediately. +p4165 +aVOf course not. This was a large and complicated bill. There were provisions in it that I think made sense. For example, do I think that a gun shop in the state of Vermont that sells legally a gun to somebody, and that somebody goes out and does something crazy, that that gun shop owner should be held responsible? I don't. On the other hand, where you have manufacturers and where you have gun shops knowingly giving guns to criminals or aiding and abetting that, of course we should take action. +p4166 +aVAs a senator from a rural state, what I can tell Secretary Clinton, that all the shouting in the world is not going to do what I would hope all of us want, and that is keep guns out of the hands of people who should not have those guns and end this horrible violence that we are seeing. I believe that there is a consensus in this country. A consensus has said we need to strengthen and expand instant background checks, do away with this gun show loophole, that we have to address the issue of mental health, that we have to deal with the strawman purchasing issue, and that when we develop that consensus, we can finally, finally do something to address this issue. +p4167 +aVI think the governor gave a very good example about the weaknesses in that law and I think we have to take another look at it. But here is the point, Governor. We can raise our voices, but I come from a rural state, and the views on gun control in rural states are different than in urban states, whether we like it or not. Our job is to bring people together around strong, commonsense gun legislation. I think there is a vast majority in this country who want to do the right thing, and I intend to lead the country in bringing our people together. O' +p4168 +aVIt's exactly about rural. O' +p4169 +aVGovernor... O' +p4170 +aVWell, as somebody who has a D-minus voting record... O' +p4171 +aVI don't think I am pandering. But you have not been in the United States Congress. O' +p4172 +aVAnd when you want to, check it out. And if you think \u2014 if you think that we can simply go forward and pass something tomorrow without bringing people together, you are sorely mistaken. +p4173 +aV...Excuse me... O' +p4174 +aV...I want to make... O' +p4175 +aVWell, let's understand that when we talk about Syria, you're talking about a quagmire in a quagmire. You're talking about groups of people trying to overthrow Assad, other groups of people fighting +p4176 +aVLet me just respond to something the secretary said. First of all, she is talking about, as I understand it, a no-fly zone in Syria, which I think is a very dangerous situation. Could lead to real problems. Second of all, I heard the same evidence from President Bush and Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld about why we should overthrow Saddam Hussein and get involved in the \u2014 I would urge people to go to berniesanders.com, hear what I said in 2002. And I say, without any joy in my heart, that much of what I thought would happen about the destabilization, in fact, did happen. So I think... +p4177 +aVI think the president is trying very hard to thread a tough needle here, and that is to support those people who are against Assad, against +p4178 +aVWell, obviously, I voted, when President Clinton said, "let's stop ethnic cleansing in Kosovo," I voted for that. I voted to make sure that Osama bin Laden was held accountable in Afghanistan. When our country is threatened, or when our allies are threatened, I believe that we need coalitions to come together to address the major crises of this country. I do not support the United States getting involved in unilateral action. ( +p4179 +aVI don't believe that any... +p4180 +aVPardon me? +p4181 +aVWell, I think Mr. Putin is going to regret what he is doing. I think that when he gets into that... +p4182 +aVWell, I think he's already regretting what he did in Crimea and what he is doing in the Ukraine. I think he is really regretting the decline of his economy. And I think what he is trying to do now is save some face. But I think when Russians get killed in Syria and when he gets bogged down, I think the Russian people are going to give him a message that maybe they should come home, maybe they should start working with the United States to rectify the situation now. +p4183 +aVWell, first of all, let me applaud my good friend Jim Webb for his service to this country in so many ways. Jim and I, under Jim's leadership, as he indicated, passed the most significant veterans education bill in recent history. We followed suit with a few years later passing, under my leadership, the most significant veterans' health care legislation in the modern history of this country. When I was a young man \u2014 I'm not a young man today. When I was a young man, I strongly opposed the war in Vietnam. Not the brave men like Jim who fought in that war, but the policy which got us involved in that war. That was my view then. I am not a pacifist, Anderson. I supported the war in Afghanistan. I supported President Clinton's effort to deal with ethnic cleansing in Kosovo. I support air strikes in Syria and what the president is trying to do. Yes, I happen to believe from the bottom of my heart that war should be the last resort that we have got to exercise diplomacy. But yes, I am prepared to take this country into war if that is necessary. +p4184 +aVThe scientific community is telling us that if we do not address the global crisis of climate change, transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to sustainable energy, the planet that we're going to be leaving our kids and our grandchildren may well not be habitable. That is a major crisis. +p4185 +aVLet me say this. Let me say \u2014 let me say something that may not be great politics. But I think the secretary is right, and that is that the American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn e-mails. +p4186 +aVYou know? The middle class \u2014 Anderson, and let me say something about the media, as well. I go around the country, talk to a whole lot of people. Middle class in this country is collapsing. We have 27 million people living in poverty. We have massive wealth and income inequality. Our trade policies have cost us millions of decent jobs. The American people want to know whether we're going to have a democracy or an oligarchy as a result of Citizens Union. Enough of the e-mails. Let's talk about the real issues facing America. +p4187 +aVBlack lives matter. And the reason \u2014 the reason those words matter is the African American community knows that on any given day some innocent person like Sandra Bland can get into a car, and then three days later she's going to end up dead in jail, or their kids... ...are going to get shot. We need to combat institutional racism from top to bottom, and we need major, major reforms in a broken criminal justice system... ...In which we have more people in jail than China. And, I intended to tackle that issue. To make sure that our people have education and jobs rather than jail cells. +p4188 +aVWell, first of all, let's remember where we were when Bush left office. We were losing 800,000 jobs a month. And I know my Republican friends seem to have some amnesia on this issue, but the world's financial crisis was on \u2014 the world's financial markets system was on the verge of collapse. That's where we were. Are we better off today than we were then? Absolutely. But the truth is that for the 40 years, the great middle class of this country has been disappearing. And in my view what we need to do is create millions of jobs by rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure; raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour; pay equity for women workers; and our disastrous trade policies, which have cost us millions of jobs; and make every public college and university in this country tuition free. +p4189 +aVWell, that's not true. +p4190 +aVLet us be clear that the greed and recklessness and illegal behavior of Wall Street, where fraud is a business model, helped to destroy this economy and the lives of millions of people. Check the record. In the 1990s \u2014 and all due respect \u2014 in the 1990s, when I had the Republican leadership and Wall Street spending billions of dollars in lobbying, when the Clinton administration, when Alan Greenspan said, "what a great idea it would be to allow these huge banks to merge," Bernie Sanders fought them, and helped lead the opposition to deregulation. Today, it is my view that when you have the three... +p4191 +aV...largest banks in America \u2014 are much bigger than they were when we bailed them out for being too big to fail, we have got to break them up. +p4192 +aVI will, just a second. +p4193 +aVI'll tell him. In my view, Secretary Clinton, you do not \u2014 Congress does not regulate Wall Street. Wall Street regulates Congress. And we have gotta break off these banks. Going to them... +p4194 +aV...and saying, "please, do the right thing"... +p4195 +aV...is kind of naive. +p4196 +aVWell, I remember that meeting very well. I remember it like it was yesterday. Hank Paulson, Bernanke came in, and they say, "guys, the economy is going to collapse because Wall Street is going under. It's gonna take the economy with them." And you know what I said to Hank Paulson? I said, "Hank, your guys \u2014 you come from Goldman Sachs. Your millionaire and billionaire friends caused this problem. How about your millionaire and billionaire friends paying for the bailout, not working families in this country?" So to answer your question, no, I would not have let the economy collapse. But it was wrong to ask the middle class to bail out Wall Street. And by the way, I want Wall Street now to help kids in this country go to college, public colleges and universities, free with a Wall Street speculation tax. +p4197 +aVWell, let me tell you, Donald Trump and his billionaire friends under my policies are going to pay a hell of a lot more in taxes today \u2014 taxes in the future than they're paying today. But in terms of education, this is what I think. This is the year 2015. A college degree today, Dana, is the equivalent of what a high school degree was 50 years ago. And what we said 50 years ago and a hundred years ago is that every kid in this country should be able to get a high school education regardless of the income of their family. I think we have to say that is true for everybody going to college. I think we don't need a complicated system, which the secretary is talking about, the income goes down, the income goes down, if you're poor you have to work, and so forth and so on. I pay for my program, by the way, through a tax on Wall Street speculation, which will not only make public colleges and universities tuition-free, it will substantially lower interest rates on college debt, a major crisis in this country. +p4198 +aV... in order to make it possible for them to afford their education. And I want colleges to get their costs down. They are outrageously high in what they're charging. +p4199 +aVWhen the Republicans \u2014 when the Republicans in the Congress and some Democrats were talking about cutting Social Security and benefits for disabled veterans, for the so-called chained CPI, I founded a caucus called the Defending Social Security Caucus. My view is that when you have millions of seniors in this country trying to get by \u2014 and I don't know how they do on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year \u2014 you don't cut Social Security, you expand it. And the way you expand it is by lifting the cap on taxable incomes so that you do away with the absurdity of a millionaire paying the same amount into the system as somebody making $118,000. You do that, Social Security is solvent until 2061 and you can expand benefits. +p4200 +aVI didn't leave anybody at the altar. I voted against that piece of legislation because it had guest-worker provisions in it which the Southern Poverty Law Center talked about being semi-slavery. Guest workers are coming in, they're working under terrible conditions, but if they stand up for their rights, they're thrown out of the country. I was not the only progressive to vote against that legislation for that reason. Tom Harkin, a very good friend of Hillary Clinton's and mine, one of the leading labor advocates, also voted against that. +p4201 +aVI know that. But point being is that progressives did vote against that for that reason. My view right now \u2014 and always has been \u2014 is that when you have 11 million undocumented people in this country, we need comprehensive immigration reform, we need a path toward citizenship, we need to take people out of the shadows. O' +p4202 +aVWell, I was chairman for two years, and when I was chairman we did take action. What we did is pass a $15 billion dollar piece of legislation which brought in many, many new doctors, and nurses into the V.A. so that veterans in this country could get the health care when they needed it, and not be on long waiting lines. And, the other part of that legislation said that if a veteran is living more than 40 miles away from a V.A. facility, that veteran could get health care from the community health center, or the private sector. As a result of that legislation, we went further in than any time in recent history in improving health care for the men and women of this country who put their lives on the line to defend them. +p4203 +aVIt was 99 to one and I was maybe the one. I don't know. +p4204 +aVI'm sorry? +p4205 +aVAbsolutely. Of course. +p4206 +aVWell, I would shut down \u2014 make \u2014 I'd shut down what exists right now is that virtually every telephone call in this country ends up in a file at the NSA. That is unacceptable to me. But it's not just government surveillance. I think the government is involved in our e-mails; is involved in our websites. Corporate America is doing it as well. If we are a free country, we have the right to be free. Yes, we have to defend ourselves against terrorism, but there are ways to do that without impinging on our constitutional rights and our privacy rights. O' +p4207 +aVI think Snowden played a very important role in educating the American people to the degree in which our civil liberties and our constitutional rights are being undermined. +p4208 +aVHe did \u2014 he did break the law, and I think there should be a penalty to that. But I think what he did in educating us should be taken into consideration before he is (inaudible). +p4209 +aVI have a lot of respect for president Obama. I have worked with him time and time again on many, many issues. But here's where I do disagree. I believe that the power of corporate America, the power of Wall Street, the power of the drug companies, the power of the corporate media is so great that the only way we really transform America and do the things that the middle class and working class desperately need is through a political revolution when millions of people begin to come together and stand up and say: Our government is going to work for all of us, not just a handful of billionaires. +p4210 +aVWhat I mean is that we need to have one of the larger voter turnouts in the world, not one of the lowest. We need to raise public consciousness. We need the American people to know what's going on in Washington in a way that today they do not know. And when people come together in a way that does not exist now and are prepared to take on the big money interest, then we could bring the kind of change we need. O' +p4211 +aVI think \u2014 I think that there is profound frustration all over this country with establishment politics. I am the only candidate running for president who is not a billionaire, who has raised substantial sums of money, and I do not have a super PAC. I am not raising money from millionaires and billionaires, and in fact, tonight, in terms of what a political revolution is about, there are 4,000 house parties \u2014 100,000 people in this country \u2014 watching this debate tonight who want real change in this country. +p4212 +aVWell, I will tell you this. I believe \u2014 and Pope Francis made this point. This is a moral issue. The scientists are telling us that we need to move extremely boldly. I am proud that, along with Senator Barbara Boxer, a few years ago, we introduced the first piece of climate change legislation which called for a tax on carbon. And let me also tell you that nothing is gonna happen unless we are prepared to deal with campaign finance reform, because the fossil fuel industry is funding the Republican Party, which denies the reality of climate change... ...and certainly is not prepared to go forward aggressively. This is a moral issue. We have got to be extremely aggressive in working with China, India, Russia. +p4213 +aVThe planet \u2014 the future of the planet is at stake. +p4214 +aVYeah, Dana, here's the point: Every other major country on Earth, every one, including some small countries, say that when a mother has a baby, she should stay home with that baby. We are the only major country. That is an international embarrassment that we do not provide family \u2014 paid family and medical leave. Second of all, the secretary is right. Republicans tell us we can't do anything except give tax breaks to billionaires and cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. That's not what the American people want. +p4215 +aVI suspect I would vote yes. And I would vote yes because I am seeing in this country too many lives being destroyed for non-violent offenses. We have a criminal justice system that lets CEOs on Wall Street walk away, and yet we are imprisoning or giving jail sentences to young people who are smoking marijuana. I think we have to think through this war on drugs... ...which has done an enormous amount of damage. We need to rethink our criminal justice system, we we've got a lot of work to do in that area. O' +p4216 +aVThe Republican party, since I've been in the Senate, and since President Obama has been in office, has played a terrible, terrible role of being total obstructionists. Every effort that he has made, that some of us have made, they have said no, no, no. Now, in my view, the only way we can take on the right wing republicans who are, by the way, I hope will not continue to control the Senate and the House when one of us elected President... ...But the only way we can get things done is by having millions of people coming together. If we want free tuition at public colleges and universities, millions of young people are going to have to demand it, and give the Republicans an offer they can't refuse. If we want to raise the minimum wage to $15 bucks an hour, workers are going to have to come together and look the Republicans in the eye, and say, "We know what's going on. You vote against us, you are out of your job." +p4217 +aVAs someone who has taken on probably every special interest that there is in Washington, I would lump Wall Street and the pharmaceutical industry at the top of my life of people who do not like me. +p4218 +aVThis is a great country, but we have many, many serious problems. We should not be the country that has the highest rate of childhood poverty of any major country and more wealth and income inequality than any other country. We should not be the only major country on Earth that does not guarantee health care to all of our people as a right of citizenship and we should not be the only major country that does not provide medical and \u2014 and parental leave \u2014 family and parental leave to all of our families. Now, at the end of our day, here is the truth that very few candidates will say, is that nobody up here, certainly no Republican, can address the major crises facing our country unless millions of people begin to stand up to the billionaire class that has so much power over our economy and our political life. Jim Webb is right: Money is pouring in to this campaign through super PACs. We are doing it the old-fashioned way: 650,000 individual contributions. And if people want to help us out, BernieSanders.com. We are averaging $30 bucks apiece. We would appreciate your help. +p4219 +asVBARTIROMO +p4220 +(lp4221 +VTonight we're partnering with the Wall Street Journal to ask questions on the economy that voters want answered. We're also working with Facebook, who tells us that since the first Republican debate, more than 58 million people have joined the political conversation online. More than 9 million are talking specifically about the economy. +p4222 +aVBusinesswoman Carly Fiorina. Ohio Governor John Kasich. And Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. +p4223 +aVWe've asked people on Facebook to submit their questions for the candidates. Seth Bell wrote, "We are approaching $20 trillion in national debt. Specifically, what plans do you have to cut federal spending?" Governor Kasich, you have spoken much about your success in balancing the budget under President Clinton. Today the national debt is at record highs and growing unsustainably. Interest will be the fastest-growing part of the federal budget, tripling over the next 10 years. Social Security, the lifeline of millions of American seniors, is rushing toward insolvency. With all of the tax plans presented tonight, estimated to cost anywhere between $2 trillion and $12 trillion over a decade, what specific steps will you take to balance the budget? +p4224 +aVDid you want to name any specific steps, sir? +p4225 +aVThank you, sir. +p4226 +aVSenator Cruz, the International Monetary Fund recently cut its expectations for economic growth. Many economists expect a recession to hit the U.S. within the next year due to the weakening of manufacturing. The next president will have to deal with it. You say tax reform is a powerful lever to spur economic expansion. You're calling for a 10 percent income tax and a 16 percent business tax. What other elements do you need in this plan to actually create jobs? +p4227 +aVThank you, sir. +p4228 +aVGovernor Bush... +p4229 +aVWe have more questions for you, Governor Kasich, coming up. We have more questions for you, Governor Kasich. +p4230 +aVWe will \u2014 we will certainly get to that. Governor Bush? +p4231 +aVAlmost 40 percent of Americans are without a job and are not looking. Many have given up. That's what the participation rate tells us. You've said your policies will drive the economy back to 4 percent growth, which we haven't seen since the year 2000. What specific regulations would you change? And how will that lead to jobs and growth? +p4232 +aVThank you, sir. +p4233 +aVMr. Trump, a federal appeals court just dealt a blow to the Obama administration's plan to prevent the deportation of 5 million people living in this country illegally. The White House is appealing to the Supreme Court. At the heart of this issue is the effect that illegal immigrants are having on our economy, what will you do about it? +p4234 +aVCan we just send 5 million people back with no effect on economy? +p4235 +aVSo what will you do? +p4236 +aVThank you, sir. +p4237 +aVWe go back to Facebook. Dewayne Wesley Cato asks on Facebook, how do we get rid of regulations choking our businesses? Ms. Fiorina? Specifically, under the president's Affordable Care Act, employers with 50 or more employees are required to offer health insurance, or be fined. Many are opting to pay the fine. Others are cutting back employee hours to duck the law altogether. What specific ways will you alleviate the pressure on small business? +p4238 +aVJust to be clear, you want to repeal Obamacare... ..but, what's the alternative? +p4239 +aVJust to be clear, you say you would repeal Obamacare... +p4240 +aV...But, what is the alternative... +p4241 +aV...and how does that help small business... +p4242 +aV...Thank you... +p4243 +aVSenator Cruz, there isn't anyone in this audience or watching at home tonight who would not like to pay less in taxes. Most people just want a fair shake, and they don't want their money to be wasted. But explain how your plan works. How can you cut taxes as much as you propose without running up debt and deficits? +p4244 +aVBut you haven't told us how to pay for it. +p4245 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Bush, Republican primary voters say tax reform should be a priority for Congress and the administration. But, Governor Bush, how important is tax reform in your domestic policy agenda? Will you guarantee it in the first year of your presidency? +p4246 +aVThank you, Governor. +p4247 +aVThat's right. That's right. +p4248 +aVComing up, the biggest threats facing the next commander-in-chief. You're watching the Republican presidential debate, live tonight from Milwaukee. We'll be right back. +p4249 +aVWelcome back. Welcome back to the Republican presidential debate. The candidates taking the questions you want answered. Also tonight, you can see what America is saying about the debate. Go to Facebook and type #gopdebate into the search box. Now, back to the questions. Americans face security threats at home and abroad. Last year, terrorist attacks rose 61 percent, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace, with the most deaths occurring in just five countries, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Syria. Dr. Carson, you were against putting troops on the ground in Iraq and against a large military force in Afghanistan. Do you support the president's decision to now put 50 special ops forces in Syria and leave 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan? +p4250 +aVWe asked Facebook to take a look at some of the major issues we're talking about, and tackling in this debate tonight. This word cloud shows what people are focusing on the most. The bigger the word, the more the talk. One of the most discussed issues in the last month, homeland security. Governor Bush, what is the biggest threat facing America today? +p4251 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, in 2012 debate, President Obama mocked Mitt Romney's assertion that Russia was the top geopolitical challenge facing the United States, saying he was a Cold War dinosaur. Now, Russia has invaded Ukraine, and has put troops in Syria. You have said you will have a good relationship with Mr. Putin. So, what does President Trump do in response to Russia's aggression? +p4252 +aVThank you, sir. +p4253 +aVThank you, governor. +p4254 +aVSenator Rubio. +p4255 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. +p4256 +aVMore questions \u2014 more questions coming up, when the Republican presidential debate comes right back, live from Milwaukee. Stay with us. +p4257 +aVWelcome back to the fourth Republican presidential debate. Senator Rubio, Hillary Clinton is the clear front runner for the Democratic nomination. If she is indeed the nominee, you will be facing a candidate with an impressive resume. She was the first lady of the United States, a U.S. senator from New York, and secretary of state under Barack Obama. She has arguably more experience, certainly more time in government than almost all of you on stage tonight. Why should the American people trust you to lead this country, even though she has been so much closer to the office? +p4258 +aVSenator Paul, you were one of 15 republicans to vote for an amendment which states that human activity contributed to climate change. President Obama has announced an aggressive plan to cut carbon emissions. At the same time, energy production in America has boomed. Is it possible to continue this boom, and move toward energy self-sufficiency, while at the same time pursuing a meaningful climate change program? +p4259 +aVCarly Fiorina? +p4260 +aVFormer Governor Jeb Bush? +p4261 +aVSenator Ted Cruz? +p4262 +aVHe's funny. +p4263 +aVThank you. +p4264 +asVCLINTON +p4265 +(lp4266 +VThank you. +p4267 +aVI'm running for president to knock down all the barriers that are holding Americans back, and to rebuild the ladders of opportunity that will give every American a chance to advance, especially those who have been left out and left behind. I know a lot of Americans are angry about the economy. And for good cause. Americans haven't had a raise in 15 years. There aren't enough good-paying jobs, especially for young people. And yes, the economy is rigged in favor of those at the top. We both agree that we have to get unaccountable money out of our political system and that we have to do much more to ensure that Wall Street never wrecks main street again. But I want to go further. I want to tackle those barriers that stand in the way of too many Americans right now. African-Americans who face discrimination in the job market, education, housing, and the criminal justice system. Hardworking immigrant families living in fear, who should be brought out of the shadows so they and their children can have a better future. Guaranteeing that women's work finally gets the pay, the equal pay that we deserve. I think America can only live up to its potential when we make sure that every American has a chance to live up to his or her potential. That will be my mission as president. And I think together we will make progress. +p4268 +aVJudy, I think that the best analysis that I've seen based on Senator Sanders plans is that it would probably increase the size of the federal government by about 40%, but what is most concerning to me is that in looking at the plans \u2014 let's take healthcare for example. Last week in a CNN town hall, the Senator told a questioner that the questioner would spend about $500 dollars in taxes to get about $5,000 dollars in healthcare. Every progressive economist who has analyzed that says that the numbers don't add up, and that's a promise that cannot be kept, and it's really important now that we are getting into the rest of the country that both of us are held to account for explaining what we are proposing because, especially with healthcare, this is not about math. This is about people's lives, and we should level with the American people about what we can do to make sure they get quality affordable healthcare. +p4269 +aVI can only say that we both share the goal of universal health care coverage. You know, before it was called Obamacare, it was called Hillarycare. And I took on the drug companies and I took on the insurance companies to try to get us universal health care coverage. And why I am a staunch supporter of President Obama's principal accomplishment \u2014 namely the Affordable Care Act \u2014 is because I know how hard it was to get that done. We are at 90 percent coverage. We have to get the remaining 10. I've set forth very specific plans about how to get costs down, especially prescription drug costs. And it is difficult to in any way argue with the goal that we both share. But I think the American people deserve to know specifically how this would work. If it's Medicare for all, then you no longer have the Affordable Care Act, because the Affordable Care Act, as you know very well, is based on the insurance system, based on exchanges, based on a subsidy system. The Children's Health Insurance Program, which I helped to create, which covers 8 million kids, is also a different kind of program. So if you're having Medicare for all, single-payer, you need to level with people about what they will have at the end of the process you are proposing. And based on every analysis that I can find by people who are sympathetic to the goal, the numbers don't add up, and many people will actually be worse off than they are right now. +p4270 +aVWell, let me just \u2014 let me just say, once again......that, having been in the trenches fighting for this, I believe strongly we have to guarantee health care. I believe we are on the path to doing that. The last thing we need is to throw our country into a contentious debate about health care again. And we are not England. We are not France. We inherited a system that was set up during World War II; 170 million Americans get health insurance right now through their employers. So what we have tried to do and what President Obama succeeded in doing was to build on the health care system we have, get us to 90 percent coverage. We have to get the other 10 percent of the way to 100. I far prefer that and the chances we have to be successful there than trying to start all over again, gridlocking our system, and trying to get from zero to 100 percent. +p4271 +aVNo. But it is absolutely fair and necessary for Americans to vet both of our proposals, to ask the really hard questions about, what is it we think we can accomplish, why do we believe that, and what would be the results for the average American family? In my case, whether it's health care, or getting us to debt-free tuition, or moving us toward paid family leave, I have been very specific about where I would raise the money, how much it would cost, and how I would move this agenda forward. I've tried to be as specific to answer questions so that my proposals can be vetted, because I feel like we have to level with people for the very reason, Gwen, that you are mentioning. There is a great deal of skepticism about the federal government. I'm aware of that. It comes from the right, from the left, from people on all sides of the political spectrum. So we have a special obligation to make clear what we stand for, which is why I think we should not make promises we can't keep, because that will further, I think, alienate Americans from understanding and believing we can together make some real changes in people's lives. +p4272 +aVI will put a price tag. My price tag is about $100 billion a year. And again, paid for. And what I have said is I will not throw us further into debt. I believe I can get the money that I need by taxing the wealthy, by closing loopholes, the things that we are way overdue for doing. And I think once I'm in the White House we will have enough political capital to be able to do that. But I am conscious of the fact that we have to also be very clear, especially with young people, about what kind of government is going to do what for them and what it will cost. +p4273 +aVYou know, I think, again, both of us share the goal of trying to make college affordable for all young Americans. And I have set forth a compact that would do just that for debt-free tuition. We differ, however, on a couple of key points. One of them being that if you don't have some agreement within the system from states and from families and from students, it's hard to get to where we need to go. And Senator Sanders's plan really rests on making sure that governors like Scott Walker contribute $23 billion on the first day to make college free. I am a little skeptical about your governor actually caring enough about higher education to make any kind of commitment like that. +p4274 +aVWell, first, Judy, I have spent my entire adult life working toward making sure that women are empowered to make their own choices, even if that choice is not to vote for me. I believe that it's most important that we unleash the full potential of women and girls in our society. And I feel very strongly that I have an agenda, I have a record that really does respond to a lot of the specific needs that the women in our country face. So I'm going to keep making that case. I'm going to keep making sure that everything I've done, everything that I stand for is going to be well known. But I have no argument with anyone making up her mind about who to support. I just hope that by the end of this campaign there will be a lot more supporting me. That's what I'm working towards. +p4275 +aVWell, look, I think that she's been saying that for as long as I've known her, which is about 25 years. But it doesn't change my view that we need to empower everyone, women and men, to make the best decisions in their minds that they can make. That's what I've always stood for. And when it comes to the issues that are really on the front lines as to whether we're going to have equal pay, paid family leave, some opportunity for, you know, women to go as far as their hard work and talent take them, I think that we still have some barriers to knock down, which is why that's at the core of my campaign. I would note, just for a historic aside, somebody told me earlier today we've had like 200 presidential primary debates, and this is the first time there have been a majority of women on the stage. So, you know, we'll take our progress wherever we can find it. +p4276 +aVYou know, I have said \u2014 I have said many times, you know, I'm not asking people to support me because I'm a woman. I'm asking people to support me because I think I'm the most qualified, experienced, and ready person to be the president and the commander-in-chief. And I appreciate greatly Senator Sanders' voting record. And I was very proud to get the endorsement of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, because I've been a leader on these issues. I have gone time and time again to take on the vested interests who would keep women's health care decisions the province of the government instead of women ourselves. I'm very proud that +p4277 +aVYou know, I completely agree with Senator Sanders. The first speech I gave in this campaign back in April was about criminal justice reform and ending the era of mass incarceration. The statistics from Wisconsin are particularly troubling, because it is the highest rate of incarceration for African-Americans in our nation, twice the national average. And we know of the tragic, terrible event that lead to the death of Dontre Hamilton right here in Milwaukee, a young man unarmed, who should still be with us. His family certainly believes that. And so do I. So we have work to do. There have been some good recommendations about what needs to happen. President Obama's policing commission came out with some. I have fully endorsed those. But we have to restore policing that will actually protect the communities that police officers are sworn to protect. And, then we have to go after sentencing, and that's one of the problems here in Wisconsin because so much of what happened in the criminal justice system doesn't happen at the federal level, it happens at the state and local level. But, I would also add this. There are other racial discrepancies. Really systemic racism in this state, as in others, education, in employment, in the kinds of factors that too often lead from a position where young people, particularly young men, are pushed out of school early, are denied employment opportunities. So, when we talk about criminal justice reform, and ending the era of mass incarceration, we also have to talk about jobs, education, housing, and other ways of helping communities. +p4278 +aVWell, I'm just not sure I agree completely with that assessment. I think under President Obama we have seen a lot of advances, the Affordable Care Act has helped more African Americans than any other group to get insurance, to be taken care of, but we also know a lot more than we did. We have a lot more social media, we have everybody with a cellphone. So, we are seeing the dark side of the remaining systemic racism that we have to root out in our society. I think President Obama has set a great example. I think he has addressed a lot of these issues that have been quite difficult, but he has gone forward. Now, what we have to do is to build on an honest conversation about where we go next. We now have much more information about what must be done to fix our criminal justice system. We now have some good models about how better to provide employment, housing and education. I think what President Obama did was to exemplify the importance of this issue as our first African American president, and to address it both from the President's office, and through his advocacy, such as working with young men, and Mrs. Obama's work with young women. But, we can't rest. We have work to do, and we now know a lot more than we ever did before. So, it's going to be my responsibility to make sure we move forward to solve these problems that are now out in the open. Nobody can deny them. To use the Justice Department, as we just saw, they have said they are going to sue Ferguson, that entered into a consent agreement, and then tried to back out. So, we're going to enforce the law, we're going to change policing practices, we're going to change incarceration practices, but we're also going to emphasize education, jobs, and housing. +p4279 +aVLook, I am deeply concerned about what's happening in every community in America, and that includes white communities, where we are seeing an increase in alcoholism, addiction, earlier deaths. People with a high school education or less are not even living as long as their parents lived. This is a remarkable and horrifying fact. And that's why I've come forward with, for example, a plan to revitalize coal country, the coalfield communities that have been so hard hit by the changing economy, by the reduction in the use of coal. You know, coal miners and their families who helped turn on the lights and power our factories for generations are now wondering, has our country forgotten us? Do people not care about all of our sacrifice? And I'm going to do everything I can to address distressed communities, whether they are communities of color, whether they are white communities, whether they are in any part of our country. I particularly appreciate the proposal that Congressman Jim Clyburn has \u2014 the 10-20-30 proposal \u2014 to try to spend more federal dollars in communities with persistent generational poverty. And you know what? If you look at the numbers, there are actually as many, if not more white communities that are truly being left behind and left out. So, yes, I do think it would be a terrible oversight not to try to address the very real problems that white Americans \u2014 particularly those without a lot of education whose jobs have \u2014 you know, no longer provided them or even no longer present in their communities, because we have to focus where the real hurt is. And that's why, as president, I will look at communities that need special help and try to deliver that. +p4280 +aVI strongly support the president's executive actions. I hope the Supreme Court upholds them. I think there is constitutional and legal authority for the president to have done what he did. I am against the raids. I'm against the kind of inhumane treatment that is now being visited upon families, waking them up in the middle of the night, rounding them up. We should be deporting criminals, not hardworking immigrant families who do the very best they can and often are keeping economies going in many places in our country. I'm a strong supporter of comprehensive immigration reform. Have been ever since I was in the Senate. I was one of the original sponsors of the +p4281 +aVTwo quick responses. One, with respect to the Central American children, I made it very clear that those children needed to be processed appropriately, but we also had to send a message to families and communities in Central America not to send their children on this dangerous journey in the hands of smugglers. I've also called for the end of family detention, for the end of privately-run detention centers, along with private prisons, which I think are really against the common good and the rule of law. And with respect to the 2007 bill, this was Ted Kennedy's bill. And I think Ted Kennedy had a very clear idea about what needed to be done. And I was proud to stand with him and support it. +p4282 +aVWell, that just wasn't \u2014 that just wasn't the fact, Senator. The fact is that there was a great effort made by the Obama administration and others to really send a clear message, because we knew that so many of these children were being abused, being treated terribly while they tried to get to our border. So we have a disagreement on this. I think now what I've called for is counsel for every child so that no child has to face any kind of process without someone who speaks and advocates for that child so that the right decision hopefully can be made. +p4283 +aVI think \u2014 I think it's fair to say we don't have a disagreement. We both believe there has to be more money going into the Social Security system. I've said I'm looking at a couple of different ways, one which you mentioned, Senator, but also trying to expand the existing tax to passive income that wealthy people have so that we do get more revenue into the Social Security Trust Fund. I have a slightly different approach, though, about what we should do with that initially. First, rather than expand benefits for everyone, I do want to take care of low-income seniors who worked at low-wage jobs. I want to take care of women. When the Social Security program was started in the 1930s, not very many women worked. And women have been disadvantaged ever since. They do not get any credit for their care-taking responsibilities. And the people who are often the most hard-hit are widows, because when their spouse dies, they can lose up to one-half of their Social Security monthly payment. So we have no disagreement about the need to buttress Social Security, get more revenue into the program. But I want to start by helping those people who are most at risk, the ones who, yes, are cutting their pills in half, who don't believe they can make the rent, who are worried about what comes next for them. +p4284 +aVWell, Senator, look, I think we're in vigorous agreement here. We both want to get more revenue in. I have yet to see a proposal that you're describing that the \u2014 raising the cap would apply to passive income. That has not been... +p4285 +aVWell, that has not been a part of most of the proposals that I've seen. I'm interested in making sure we get the maximum amount of revenue from those who can well afford to provide it. So I'm going to come up with the best way forward. We're going to end up in the same place. We're going to get more revenue. I'm going to prioritize those recipients who need the most help first. +p4286 +aVI can't speak for the Koch Brothers, you're referring to a Super PAC that we don't coordinate with, that was set up to support President Obama, that has now decided that they want to support me. They are the ones who should respond to any questions. Let's talk about our campaigns. I'm very proud of the fact that we have more than 750 thousand donors, and the vast majority of them are giving small contributions. So, I'm proud of Senator Sanders, and his supporters. I think it's great that Senator Sanders, President Obama and I have more donors than any three people who have every run, certainly on the Democratic side. That's the way it should be, and I'm going to continue to reach out to thank all my online contributors for everything they are doing for me, to encourage them and help me do more just as Senator Sanders is. I think that is the real key here. We both have a lot of small donors. I think that sets us apart from a lot of what's happening right now on the Republican side. The Koch Brothers have a very clear political agenda. It is an agenda, in my view, that would do great harm to our country. We're going to fight it as hard as we can, and we're going to fight whoever the Republicans nominate who will depend on the Koch Brothers, and others. +p4287 +aVWe are mixing apples and oranges. My 750,000 donors have contributed more than a million and a half donations. I'm very proud. That, I think, between the two of us demonstrates the strength of the support we have among people who want to see change in our country. But, the real issue, I think, that the Senator is injecting into this is that if you had a Super PAC, like President Obama has, which now says it wants to support me. It's not my PAC. If you take donations from Wall Street, you can't be independent. I would just say, I debated then Senator Obama numerous times on stages like this, and he was the recipient of the largest number of Wall Street donations of anybody running on the Democratic side ever. Now, when it mattered, he stood up and took on Wall Street. He pushed through, and he passed the Dodd-Frank regulation, the toughest regulations since the 1930's. So, let's not in anyway imply here that either President Obama or myself, would in anyway not take on any vested interested, whether it's Wall Street, or drug companies, or insurance companies, or frankly, the gun lobby to stand up to do what's best for the American people. +p4288 +aVWell, let's just \u2014 let's just follow up on this, because, you know, I've made it very clear that no bank is too big to fail, no executive too powerful to jail, and because of Dodd-Frank, we now have in law a process that the president, the Federal Reserve, and others can use if any bank poses a systemic risk. I think that's a major accomplishment. I agree, however, it doesn't go far enough, because what it focuses on are the big banks, which Senator Sanders has talked about a lot, for good reason. I go further in the plan that I've proposed, which has been called the toughest, most effective, comprehensive plan for reining in the other risks that the financial system could face. It was an investment bank, Lehman Brothers, that contributed to our collapse. It was a big insurance company, AIG. It was Countrywide Mortgage. My plan would sweep all of them into a regulatory framework so we can try to get ahead of what the next problems might be. And I believe that not only Barney Frank, Paul Krugman, and others, have said that what I have proposed is the most effective. It goes in the right direction. We have Dodd-Frank. We can use it to break up the banks, if that's appropriate. But let's not kid ourselves. As we speak, there are new problems on the horizon. I want to get ahead of those, and that's why I've proposed a much more comprehensive approach to deal with all of these... +p4289 +aVAbsolutely. And, you know, there are a number of programs that I think are duplicative and redundant and not producing the results that people deserve. There are a lot of training programs and education programs that I think can be streamlined and put into a much better format so that if we do continue them they can be more useful, in public schools, community colleges, and colleges and universities. I would like to take a hard look at every part of the federal government and really do the kind of analysis that would rebuild some confidence in people that we're taking a hard look about what we have, you know, and what we don't need anymore. And that's what I intend to do. +p4290 +aVLook, I think we are readier than we used to be, but it's a constant effort that has to be undertaken to make sure we are as ready as we need to be. We have made a lot of improvements in our domestic security since 9/11, and we have been able to foil and prevent attacks, yet we see the terrible attack in San Bernardino and know that we haven't done enough. So we have to go after this both abroad and at home. We have to go after terrorist networks, predominantly +p4291 +aVIf I could just respond. Two points. One, Senator Sanders voted in 1998 on what I think is fair to call a regime change resolution with respect to Iraq, calling for the end of Saddam Hussein's regime. He voted in favor of regime change with Libya, voted in favor of the Security Council being an active participate in setting the parameters for what we would do, which of course we followed through on. I do not believe a vote in 2002 is a plan to defeat +p4292 +aVYou did support a U.N. Security Council approach, which we did follow up on. And, look, I think it's important to look at what the most important counterterrorism judgment of the first four years of the Obama administration was, and that was the very difficult decision as to whether or not to advise the president to go after bin Laden. I looked at the evidence. I looked at the intelligence. I got the briefings. I recommended that the president go forward. It was a hard choice. Not all of his top national security advisors agreed with that. And at the end of the day, it was the president's decision. So he had to leave the Situation Room after hearing from the small group advising him and he had to make that decision. I'm proud that I gave him that advice. And I'm very grateful to the brave Navy +p4293 +aVWell, I know journalists have asked who you do listen to on foreign policy, and we have yet to know who that is. +p4294 +aVThat's fine. That's fine. You know, I listen to a wide variety of voices that have expertise in various areas. I think it is fair to say, whatever the complaints that you want to make about him are, that with respect to China, one of the most challenging relationships we have, his opening up China and his ongoing relationships with the leaders of China is an incredibly useful relationship for the United States of America. So if we want to pick and choose \u2014 and I certainly do \u2014 people I listen to, people I don't listen to, people I listen to for certain areas, then I think we have to be fair and look at the entire world, because it's a big, complicated world out there. +p4295 +aVAnd, yes, people we may disagree with on a number of things may have some insight, may have some relationships that are important for the president to understand in order to best protect the United States. +p4296 +aVWell, with respect to Syria, I really do appreciate the efforts that Secretary Kerry has made. The agreement on humanitarian relief now needs to be implemented, because there are enclaves that are literally filled with starving people throughout Syria. The agreement on a cease-fire, though, is something that has to be implemented more quickly than the schedule that the Russians agreed to. You know, the Russians wanted to buy time. Are they buying time to continue their bombardment on behalf of the Assad regime to further decimate what's left of the opposition, which would be a grave disservice to any kind of eventual cease-fire? So I know Secretary Kerry is working extremely hard to try to move that cease-fire up as quickly as possible. But I would add this. You know, the Security Council finally got around to adopting a resolution. At the core of that resolution is an agreement I negotiated in June of 2012 in Geneva, which set forth a cease-fire and moving toward a political resolution, trying to bring the parties at stake in Syria together. This is incredibly complicated, because we've got Iran as a big player, in addition to Russia. We have Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and others who have very important interests in their view. This is one of the areas I've disagreed with Senator Sanders on, who has called for Iranian troops trying to end civil war in Syria, which I think would be a grave mistake. Putting Iranian troops right on the border of the Golan right next to Israel would be a nonstarter for me. Trying to get Iran and Saudi Arabia to work together, as he has suggested in the past, is equally a nonstarter. So let's support what Secretary Kerry and the president are doing, but let's hope that we can accelerate the cease-fire, because I fear that the Russians will continue their bombing, try to do everything they can to destroy what's left of the opposition. And remember, the Russians have not gone after +p4297 +aVWell, I respectfully disagree. I think we have achieved a great deal with the Iranian nuclear agreement to put a lid on the Iranian nuclear weapons program. That has to be enforced absolutely with consequences for Iran at the slightest deviation from their requirements under the agreement. I do not think we should promise or even look toward normalizing relations because we have a lot of other business to get done with Iran. Yes, they have to stop being the main state sponsor of terrorism. Yes, they have to stop trying to destabilize the Middle East, causing even more chaos. Yes, they've got to get out of Syria. They've got to quit sponsoring Hezbollah and Hamas. They have got to quit trying to ship rockets into Gaza that can be used against Israel. We have a lot of work to do with Iran before we ever say that they could move toward normalized relations with us. +p4298 +aV... Senator Sanders, from a debate in 2008, quote what I said. The question was, would you meet with an adversary without conditions? I said no. And in fact, in Obama administration, we did not meet with anybody without conditions. That is the appropriate approach in order to get the results that you are seeking. +p4299 +aVWell, I was pleased that +p4300 +aVI certainly agree with FDR for all the reasons Senator Sanders said. And I agree about the role that he played both in war and in peace on the economy and defeating fascism around the world. I would choose Nelson Mandela for his generosity of heart, his understanding of the need for reconciliation. But I want to \u2014 I want to follow up on something having to do with leadership, because, you know, today Senator Sanders said that President Obama failed the presidential leadership test. And this is not the first time that he has criticized President Obama. In the past he has called him weak. He has called him a disappointment. He wrote a forward for a book that basically argued voters should have buyers' remorse when it comes to President Obama's leadership and legacy. And I just couldn't agree \u2014 disagree more with those kinds of comments. You know, from my perspective, maybe because I understand what President Obama inherited, not only the worst financial crisis but the antipathy of the Republicans in Congress, I don't think he gets the credit he deserves for being a president......who got us out of that......put us on firm ground, and has sent us into the future. And it is a \u2014 the kind of criticism that we've heard from Senator Sanders about our president I expect from Republicans. I do not expect from someone running for the Democratic nomination to succeed President Obama. +p4301 +aVYou know, Senator, what I am concerned about, is not disagreement on issues, saying that this is what I would rather do, I don't agree with the president on that, calling the president weak, calling him a disappointment, calling several times that he should have a primary opponent when he ran for re-election in 2012, you know, I think that goes further than saying we have our disagreements. As a senator, yes, I was a senator. I understand we can disagree on the path forward. But those kinds of personal assessments and charges are ones that I find particularly troubling. +p4302 +aVYou know, we \u2014 we agree that we've got to get unaccountable money out of politics. We agree that Wall Street should never be allowed to wreck Main Street again. But here's the point I want to make tonight. I am not a single-issue candidate, and I do not believe we live in a single-issue country. I think that a lot of what we have to overcome to break down the barriers that are holding people back, whether it's poison in the water of the children of Flint, or whether it's the poor miners who are being left out and left behind in coal country, or whether it is any other American today who feels somehow put down and oppressed by racism, by sexism, by discrimination against the +p4303 +aVWell, I'm happy to be here in New Hampshire for this debate, as we move toward the primary on Tuesday. I believe that America has the opportunity to once again live by our values, live up to our values in the 21st century, but I think that America can only do that if Americans can succeed. And there are lots of reasons why Americans today are feeling left out and left behind. Yes, of course, the economy has not been working for most Americans. Yes, of course, we have special interests that are unfortunately doing too much to rig the game. But there's also the continuing challenges of racism, of sexism, of discrimination against the +p4304 +aVWell, let me start by saying that Senator Sanders and I share some very big progressive goals. I've been fighting for universal healthcare for many years, and we're now on the path to achieving it. I don't want us to start over again. I think that would be a great mistake, to once again plunge our country into a contentious debate about whether we should have and what kind of system we should have for healthcare. I want to build on the progress we've made; got from 90 percent coverage to 100 percent coverage. And I don't want to rip away the security that people finally have; 18 million people now have healthcare; preexisting conditions are no longer a bar. So we have a difference. I also believe in affordable college, but I don't believe in free college, because every expert that I have talked to says, look, how will you ever control the costs. What I want to do is make sure middle class kids, not Donald Trump's kids, get to be able to afford college. I want to get the economy going again. It's not just enough about what we're against, as important as that is. I have a plan to create new jobs, manufacturing, infrastructure, clean energy jobs that will make us the 21st century clean energy super power. I also want to make sure small businesses can start and grow again. And of course, I believe in raising the minimum wage and equal pay for work. But the numbers just don't add up, from what Senator Sanders has been proposing. That's why all of the independent experts, all of the editorial boards that have vetted both of us have concluded that it is just not achievable. Let's go down a path where we can actually tell people what we will do. A progressive is someone who makes progress. That's what I intend to do. +p4305 +aVIf I could just follow up on that. There is no disagreement between us on universal coverage for health care, the disagreement is where do we start from and where do we end up. The Republicans want to repeal the Affordable Care Act, I want to improve it. I want to build on it, get the costs down, get prescription drug costs down. Senator Sanders wants us to start all over again. This was a major achievement of President Obama, of our country. It is helping people right now. I am not going to wait and have us plunge back into a contentious national debate that has very little chance of succeeding. Let's make the Affordable Care Act work for everybody. +p4306 +aVWell because I am a progressive who gets things done. And the root of that word, progressive, is progress. But I've heard Senator Sanders comments, and it's really caused me to wonder who's left in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Under his definition, President Obama is not progressive because he took donations from Wall Street; Vice President Biden is not progressive because she supported Keystone; Senator Shaheen is not progressive because she supports the trade pact. Even the late, great Senator Paul Wellstone would not fit this definition because he voted for +p4307 +aVWell, Chuck... +p4308 +aV... If I could, you know, in the very first debate I was asked am I a moderate or a progressive and I said I'm a progressive who likes to get things done. Cherry picking a quote here or there doesn't change my record of having fought for racial justice, having fought for kids rights, having fought the kind of inequities that fueled my interest in service in the first place going back to my days in the Children's Defense Fund. It certainly didn't stop me from taking on the drug companies and the insurance companies. Before it was called Hillarycare\u2014I mean, before it was called ObamaCare it was called Hillarycare because we took them on, and we weren't successful, but we kept fighting and we got the children's health insurance program. Every step along the way I have stood up, and fought, and have the scars to prove it. So, again......I think it's important that, look, I understand Senator Sanders really trying to distinguish himself. I understand that, that's what you do in campaigns, but at the same time let's not be\u2014in, I think an unfair way, making an accusation, or making an attack about where I stand and about where I've always stood. It is fair to say, Senator, that in your definition, as you being the self-proclaimed gatekeeper for progressivism, I don't know anyone else who fits that definition, but I know a lot of really hard fighting progressives in the Democratic party who have stood up time, and time again against special interests, against the powerful on behalf of those who are left behind and left out. And, that's what we ought to be celebrating. Let's talk about what we would do as President, and Commander in Chief to make sure the progress continues into the future. +p4309 +aV... Well, you began it yesterday with your comments... +p4310 +aVYou know, the person who first put out the idea of a 50-state party strategy is former Governor Howard Dean, who is with us tonight. And I'm very proud and grateful to have the support of so many elected Vermonters and former officials. Two former governors, the current governor, the current other senator. I really appreciate that. And I think it's because they've worked with me, they've seen what I do. They know what kind of a colleague I am. They want me as their partner in the White House. And that's exactly what I will do. We'll get things done together. Democrats, Republicans, independents, we're going to make progress together when I'm president. +p4311 +aVWell, look, I've got to just jump in here because, honestly, Senator Sanders is the only person who I think would characterize me, a woman running to be the first woman president, as exemplifying the establishment. And I've got to tell you that it is......it is really quite amusing to me. People support me because they know me. They know my life's work. They have worked with me and many have also worked with Senator Sanders. And at the end of the day they endorse me because they know I can get things done. I am not going to make promises I can't keep. I am not going to talk about big ideas like single-payer and then not level with people about how much it will cost. A respected health economist said that these plans would cost a trillion dollars more a year. I'm not going to tell people that I will raise your incomes and not your taxes, and not mean it, because I don't want to see the kind of struggle that the middle class is going through exemplified by these promises that would raise taxes and make it much more difficult for many, many Americans to get ahead and stay ahead. That is not my agenda. +p4312 +aVYeah, but I\u2014I think it's fair to really ask what's behind that comment. You know, Senator Sanders has said he wants to run a positive campaign. I've tried to keep my disagreements over issues, as it should be. But time and time again, by innuendo, by insinuation, there is this attack that he is putting forth, which really comes down to\u2014you know, anybody who ever took donations or speaking fees from any interest group has to be bought. And I just absolutely reject that, Senator. And I really don't think these kinds of attacks by insinuation are worthy of you. And enough is enough. If you've got something to say, say it directly. But you will not find that I ever changed a view or a vote because of any donation that I ever received. +p4313 +aVAnd I have stood up and I have represented my constituents to the best of my abilities, and I'm very proud of that. +p4314 +aVSo I think it's time to end the very artful smear that you and your campaign have been carrying out... +p4315 +aV... in recent weeks, and let's talk......let's talk about about the issues. Let's talk about the issues that divide us. +p4316 +aVAnd let's\u2014let's... +p4317 +aV... we both agree with campaign finance reform. +p4318 +aVI\u2014I worked hard for McCain-Feingold. +p4319 +aVI want to reverse Citizens United. +p4320 +aVAnd so\u2014let's talk about issues. +p4321 +aVWell, you know, Senator, I don't think\u2014I don't... +p4322 +aV... I don't think you could find any person in political life today who has been subjected to more attacks and had more money spent against her by special interests, among whom you have named a few, than I. And I'm proud of that. You know, when I took on the drug companies and the insurance companies for universal health care coverage, they went after me with a vengeance. Today, you've got hedge fund billionaires aligned with Karl Rove, running ads against me to try to get Democrats to vote for you. I know this game. I'm going to stop this game. But while we're talking about votes, you're the one who voted to deregulate swaps and derivatives in 2000, which contributed to the over-leveraging of Lehman Brothers, which was one of the culprits that brought down the economy. So I don't know\u2014I'm not impugning your motive because you voted to deregulate swaps and derivatives. People make mistakes and I'm certainly not saying you did it for any kind of financial advantage. What we've got to do as Democrats\u2014what we've got to do as Democrats is to be united to actually solve these problems. And what I believe is that I have a better track record and a better opportunity to actually get that job done. That's what this election should be about. +p4323 +aVOn the issue of Wall Street. +p4324 +aVWell you know, Rachel, I think I may not have done the job I should in explaining my record. You know, I did\u2014when I left the secretary of State's office, like so many former officials, military leaders, journalists, others, I did go on the speaking circuit. I spoke to heart doctors, I spoke to the American Camping Association, I spoke to auto dealers, and yes, I spoke to firms on Wall Street. They wanted me to talk about the world, what my experience had been as secretary of State. But what I want people to know is I went to Wall Street before the crash. I was the one saying you're going to wreck the economy because of these shenanigans with mortgages. I called to end the carried interest loophole that hedge fund managers enjoy. I proposed changes in CEO compensation. I called for a consumer protection financial bureau before it was created. And I think the best evidence that the Wall Street people at least know where I stand and where I have always stood is because they are trying to beat me in this primary. They have collected and spent as much as $6 million on these ads. Hedge fund billionaires, Karl Rove, another billionaire, jumped in. And why are they doing that? These are guys who try to make smart investments. They know my record, they know me, they know that I say what I believe and I will do it. And I also have a pretty good understanding about how to stop them. So I do want people to know that, and I think it's important for everybody to understand I have a record, I have stood firm and I will be the person who prevents them from ever wrecking the economy again. +p4325 +aVIf I could, let me just say that of course it has to change. It has to change. And that's why I have put forward a plan to do just that. And it's been judged to be the toughest, most effective and comprehensive one. I have great respect for Senator Sanders's commitment to try to restore Glass-Steagall. But I do not believe that that is enough. And in fact, I don't believe it really addresses a lot of the biggest issues we have. You know, we now have power under the Dodd-Frank legislation to break up banks. And I've said I will use that power if they pose a systemic risk. But I want to go further, because it was investment banks, it was insurance companies, it was mortgage companies, all of which contributed. So let's not just be narrowly focused on one part of the problem. We have a lot of issues with corporate power that have to be addressed. My plan takes us further and it would do the job. +p4326 +aVLook we have a law\u2014look, you know, I\u2014I appreciate the senator's advocacy. We have a law. It was passed. It was signed by President Obama. It lays out a process that you go through to determine whether a systemic risk is posed. And by the way, President Obama signed that, pushed it through, even though he took donations from Wall Street, because he's a responsible president. So we have a law in place. If the circumstances warrant it, I will certainly use it. And from what you say, I know you will as well. But that is not enough. And I keep going back to this because part of the reason the Wall Street guys are trying so hard to stop me\u2014the hedge fund guys, the shadow banking guys\u2014is because I've got their number on all of that. And my plan goes so much further to try to prevent the problems of the future. You know, we can't just fight the last war. We've got to be prepared to stop these guys if they ever try to use their economic power once again, to hurt the economy, and to hurt so many Americans. And my plan, Paul Krugman, Barney Frank, a lot of experts who understand what the new challenges might be, have said I am exactly on point, and the Wall Street guys actually know that. +p4327 +aVI will look into it. I don't know the status, but I will certainly look into it. But, I can only repeat what is the fact that I spoke to a lot of different groups with a lot of different constituents, a lot of different kinds of members about issues that had to do with world affairs. I probably described more times than I can remember how stressful it was advising the President about going after Bin Laden. My view on this is look at my record. Look at what I am proposing, and\u2014we have a vigorous agreement here. We both want to reign in the excesses of Wall Street. I also want to reign in the excesses of Johnson Controls that we bailed out when they were an autoparts company, and we saved the auto industry, and now they want to avoid paying taxes. I want to go after the pharmaceutical companies like Valeant, and Turns that are increasing prices without any regard to the impact on people's health. Now, if all we're going to talk about is one part of our economy, and indeed one streak in our economy, we're missing the big oil companies. We're missing other big energy companies. We're missing the big picture, and I have a record of trying to go at the problems that actually exist, and I will continue to do that. +p4328 +aV... Well, Senator, no one wants to see that happen. I mean, look, I care deeply about this because just like you I have met so many people who had their life savings wiped out, who lost their homes, who are barely back with their heads above water. This was a disaster for our country, and we can never let that happen again. We have no disagreement about this. But, I think it's a broader target list than just Wall Street, and I believe that we have to be very focused on how we try to take back the power and increase the empowerment of the American people. And, I think I have that kind of experience, maybe because they've beat me up for so many years, and I know exactly how to handle them because I've been in the arena with them time and time again. +p4329 +aVWell, I think what the president understands, and what he's trying to do, is that we have to support the Arab and Kurdish fighters on the ground who are actually doing the fighting. I agree with the president. I've said myself, we will not send American combat troops back to either Syria or Iraq\u2014that is off the table. But we do have special forces, we do have trainers, we do have the military personnel who are helping with the airstrikes that the United States is leading so that we can try to take out +p4330 +aVNo. I mean, of course that's a theoretical question, and we don't know what it would be for, and we don't know how many numbers there are. I am against American combat troops being in Syria and Iraq. I support special forces. I support trainers. I support the air campaign. And I think we're making some progress. I want to continue to intensify that, and that's exactly what the president is doing. +p4331 +aVIf I could\u2014if I could... +p4332 +aV... respectfully add\u2014look, we did differ. A vote in 2002 is not a plan to defeat +p4333 +aVOh, absolutely. The president decided to leave more troops than he had originally planned in Afghanistan. We have a very cooperative government there, with Ashraf Ghani and his top\u2014his top partner, Abdullah. And they are doing their very best. And the Afghan army is actually fighting. The Afghan army is taking heavy losses defending Afghan territory. And I would have to make an evaluation based on the circumstances at the time I took office as to how much help they continue to need. Because it's not just the Taliban. We now are seeing outposts of, you know, fighters claiming to be affiliated with +p4334 +aVA group of national security experts, military intelligence experts, issued a very concerning statement about Senator Sanders's views on foreign policy and national security, pointing out some of the comments he has made on these issues, such as inviting Iranian troops into Syria to try to resolve the conflict there; putting them right at the doorstep of Israel. Asking Saudi Arabia and Iran to work together, when they can't stand each other and are engaged in a proxy battle right at this moment. So I do think questions have been raised and questions have to be answered because when New Hampshire voters go on Tuesday to cast your vote, you are voting both for a president and a commander in chief. And there is no way to predict what comes in the door of that White House from day to day that can pose a threat to the United States or one of our friends and allies, and I think this is a big part of the job interview that we are all conducting with the voters here. +p4335 +aVWell, let me just add that, you know, I've said this before and I'm very proud of it, that when it comes to judgment, having run a hard race against Senator Obama at the time, he turned to me to be secretary of State. And when it comes to the biggest counterterrorism issues that we faced in this administration, namely whether or not to go after bin Laden, I was at that table, I was exercising my judgment to advise the president on what to do, on that, on Iran, on Russia on China, on a whole raft of issues. Because I know from my own experience that you've got to be ready on day one. There is just too much unpredictable threat and danger in the world today, you know, to try to just say wait, I'll get to that when I can. That is just not an acceptable approach. +p4336 +aVAbsolutely. You know, I did put together the coalition to impose sanctions. I actually started the negotiations that led to the nuclear agreement, sending some much my closest aides to begin the conversations with the Iranians. I'm very pleased we got that nuclear agreement. It puts a lid on the nuclear weapons program. We have to enforce it, there have to be consequences attached to it. But that is not our only problem with Iran. We have to figure out how to deal with Iran as the principal state sponsor of terrorism in the world. They are destabilizing governments in the region. They continue to support Hezbollah and Hamas in Lebanon against Israel. A lot of work that we have do is going to be incredibly hard. I'm prepared to do that work, but I believe, just as I did with imposing the sanctions, you have to get action for action. If we were to normalize relations right now, we would remove one of the biggest pieces of leverage we have to try to influence and change Iranian behavior. The president doesn't think we should. I certainly don't think we should. I believe we have to take this step by step to try to reign in Iranian aggression, their support for terrorism and the other bad behavior that can come back and haunt us. +p4337 +aVWell Senator, let me just correct the record if I can. You know\u2014let me correct the record. +p4338 +aVAs I\u2014as I certainly recall, the question was to meet with without conditions. And you're right, I was against that. I was against it then I would be against it now. +p4339 +aVPart of diplomacy, the hard work of diplomacy is trying to extract whatever concessions you can get, and giving something the other side wants. Of course you've got to try to make peace with, and work with those who are your adversaries, but you don't just rush in, open the door, and say, "Here I am. Let's talk and make a deal." That's not the way it works. +p4340 +aV... Well, we set conditions on Iran. We worked hard to get them established, and to be enforced, and then we talked. That's exactly the right......and, that's what I did with the President, so he and I are on the very same page. +p4341 +aVI haven't talked to Secretary Carter, but here's what I would think he's planning. We do have the nuclear weapons agreement with Iran, that's an enforcement consequence, action for action, follow on. We have a plan, we will watch them, we will be vigilant. We do have to worry about North Korea. They continue to develop their nuclear weapons capability, and they're working very hard on their ballistic missile capability. And, I know that some of those plans could very well lead to a missile that might reach Hawaii, if not the West Coast. We do have to try to get the countries in the region to work with us to do everything we can to confine, and constrain them. But, what Secretary Carter is looking at is the constant pressure that Russia's putting on our European allies. The way that Russia is trying to move the boundaries of the post-World War II Europe. The way that he is trying to set European countries against one another, seizing territory, holding it in Crimea. Beginning to explore whether they could make some inroads in the Baltics. We know that they are deeply engaged in supporting Assad because they want to have a place in the Middle East. They have a naval base, they have an air base in Syria. They want to hang on to that. I think what Secretary Carter is seeing, and I'm glad he is, is that we got to get +p4342 +aVWell, first of all, I'm absolutely against privatizing the V.A. And I am going do everything I can to build on the reforms that Senator Sanders and others in Congress have passed to try to fix what's wrong with the V.A. There are a lot of issues about wait times and services that have to be fixed because our veterans deserve nothing but the best. But you're absolutely right, you know, Rachel, this is another part of the Koch brothers agenda. They've actually formed an organization to try to begin to convince Americans we should no longer have guaranteed health care, specialized care for our veterans. I will fight that as hard as I can. I think there's where we can enlist the veterans service organizations, the veterans of America, because, yes, let's fix the V.A., but we will never let it be privatized, and that is a promise. +p4343 +aVWhatever they decide to do, that's fine. +p4344 +aVAll right. +p4345 +aVI can only tell you what I believe, and that is that I am the strongest candidate to take it to the Republicans and win in November. And I say that with great\u2014with great respect for the campaign that Senator Sanders has been running. I personally am thrilled at the numbers of people, and particularly young people who are coming to support your campaign. I hope that I will be able to earn their support. They may not support me now, but I support them and we'll work together. But what I'm concerned about is the views of many Democrats who know their states, who know how hard it is to win a general election. And it also will push whoever the nominee is into the spotlight. I've been vetted. There's hardly anything you don't know about me. And I think it's fair to say that whoever is in that position, Senator Sanders or anyone else who might have run, will face the most withering onslaught. So, I think that I am the person who can do all aspects of the job. I think I'm the person best prepared to take the case to the Republicans. And I think that at the end of the day, it's not so much electability. It is who the American people can believe can keep them safe, can get the economy moving again, can get incomes rising, can build on the progressive accomplishments of President Obama. And I think that the coalition that President Obama put together to win twice is a coalition that I can put together and add to. And that's what I'm prepared to... +p4346 +aVAbsolutely I can. You know, before it was emails, it was Benghazi, and the Republicans were stirring up so much controversy about that. And I testified for 11 hours, answered their questions. They basically said yeah, didn't get her. We tried. That was all a political ploy. Now, we had a development in the email matter today when it came out that Secretary Powell and close aides to Former Secretary Rice used private e-mail accounts. and now you have these people in the government who are doing the same thing to Secretary Powell and Secretary Rice's aide they've been doing to me, which is that I never sent or received any classified material. They are retroactively classifying it. I agree completely with Secretary Powell, who said today this is an absurdity. And so I think the American people will know it's an absurdity. I have absolutely no concerns about it whatsoever. +p4347 +aVI am 100 percent confident. This is a security review that was requested. It is being carried out. It will be resolved. But I have to add if there's going to be a security review about me, there's going to have to be security reviews about a lot of other people, including Republican office holders, because we've got this absurd situation of retroactive classifications. Honest to goodness, this is\u2014this just beggars the imagination. So I have absolutely no concerns about it, but we've got to get to the bottom of what's really going on here, and I hope that will happen. +p4348 +aVNo. +p4349 +aVYes, I do. And\u2014you know, what I hope the Supreme Court will do is make it absolutely clear that any state that continues capital punishment either must meet the highest standards of evidentiary proof of effective assistance of counsel or they cannot continue it because that, to me, is the real dividing line. I have much more confidence in the federal system, and I do reserve it for particularly heinous crimes in the federal system, like terrorism. I have strong feelings about that. I thought it was appropriate after a very thorough trial that Timothy McVeigh received the death penalty for blowing up the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people, including 19 children in a daycare center. I do for very limited, particularly heinous crimes believe it is an appropriate punishment, but I deeply disagree with the way that too many states are still implementing it. If it were possible to separate the federal from the state system by the Supreme Court, that would, I think, be an appropriate outcome. +p4350 +aVAbsolutely. Absolutely. You know, Rachel, you and I have talked about this before. I thank you for going to Flint to hold that town hall. I will be in Flint at the Mayor's invitation on Sunday to get an in depth briefing about what is, and is not happening. This is an emergency. Everyday that goes by that these people, particularly the children, are not tested so we can know what steps must be taken to try to remediate the effects of the poisoning that they have been living with is a day lost in a child's life. I know from the work that I've done over so many years, lead, the toxic nature of lead can affect you brain development, your body development, your behavior. I absolutely believe that what is being done is not sufficient. We need to be absolutely clear about everything that should be done from today to tomorrow, into the future to try to remedy the terrible burden that the people of Flint are barring. That includes fixing their pipes, it includes guaranteeing whatever healthcare and educational embellishments they may need going forward, and I think the federal government has way where it can bill the state of Michigan. If Michigan won't do it, there have to be ways that we can begin to move, and then make them pay for it, and hold them accountable. +p4351 +aVYou know, Chuck, I've only had responsibility for voting for trade agreements as a senator. And I voted a multinational trade agreement when I was senator, the +p4352 +aVWell, I\u2014I don't accept that premise, Chuck. I think that we've got so much business we have to do. We've talked a lot tonight about what we're against\u2014we're against income inequality. We're against the abuses of powerful interests. We're against a lot of things. I'm for a lot of things. I don't want to just stop bad things from happening, I want to start good things from happening. And I believe, if I'm so fortunate to get the nomination, I will begin to work immediately on putting together an agenda, beginning to talk with members of Congress and others about how we can push forward. I want to have half a billion more solar panels deployed, the first four years. I want to have enough clean energy to power every home the next four years. I want us to keep working on the Affordable Care Act, to get not only to 100 percent coverage, but bring down the costs of prescription drugs and out-of-pocket costs. I want to move forward on paid family leave, on early childhood education, I want us to do more for small businesses. Small businesses have to create most of the jobs, and we're not creating and growing small businesses. I think, if you have a smart agenda, you pick the committees that you know have to begin to work on these various pieces\u2014because that's the way Congress is set up. You go through different committees, and you really make a big push in the beginning. Immigration reform, economic revitalization with manufacturing, with infrastructure\u2014we put it out there, and we begin to work on an ambitious, big, bold agenda that will actually produce the results that I want to see for our country. +p4353 +aVThe answer to both of those is no. I'm interested in making what we have work better. I want to streamline programs that are duplicative and redundant. I want to have a top-to-bottom review about what works and what doesn't work, and be absolutely clear we're getting rid of what doesn't work. I have had the opportunity to run a big agency. I was very flattered when Henry Kissinger said I ran the State Department better\u2014better than anybody had run it in a long time. So I have an idea of what it's going to take to make our government work more efficiently. And when you put together a budget, you have to make a lot of hard decisions, but I think it's not appropriate to say "I'm going to get rid of this, get rid of that" until you have a very good process that gives you the information about what to do. But I want to add something else, you know, because look, we have so much work to do in our country, and I think it's the greatest work that Americans will be called to do. And of course, we have to have people in every community involved in it. We have to have the political voice, the political grassroots speaking up and speaking out about what we have to try to accomplish in Washington. But we also need to have a very clear set of goals that we are going to achieve, and we need to level with the American people about what they are, what they will cost, what will be expected of our citizenry. So I see as president having a constant dialogue with Americans here's what we're trying to get done, here's why I need your help, here's why you may think comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship isn't something you care about, but I'm telling you it will help fix the labor market, it will bring people out of the shadows\u2014 +p4354 +aVI never said that. +p4355 +aVLook... +p4356 +aVWell, I'm certainly going to unite the party, but I'm not\u2014I'm not getting ahead of myself. I think that would be a little bit presumptuous. If I'm so fortunate as to be the nominee, the first person I will call to talk to about where we go and how we get it done will be Senator Sanders. +p4357 +aVThat's true. That's true. +p4358 +aVWell first, thanks to +p4359 +aVWell, good evening. And I want to thank the Congressional Black Caucus Institute and the people of Charleston for hosting us here on the eve of Martin Luther King Day tomorrow. You know, I remember well when my youth minister took me to hear Dr. King. I was a teenager. And his moral clarity, the message that he conveyed that evening really stayed with me and helped to set me on a path to service. I also remember that he spent the last day of his life in Memphis, fighting for dignity and higher pay for working people. And that is our fight still. We have to get the economy working and incomes rising for everyone, including those who have been left out and left behind. We have to keep our communities and our country safe. We need a president who can do all aspects of the job. I understand that this is the hardest job in the world. I'm prepared and ready to take it on and I hope to earn your support to be the nominee of the Democratic Party and the next president of the United States. +p4360 +aVI would work quickly to present to the Congress my plans for creating more good jobs in manufacturing, infrastructure, clean and renewable energy, raising the minimum wage, and guaranteeing, finally, equal pay for women's work. I would also......I would also be presenting my plans to build on the Affordable Care Act and to improve it by decreasing the out-of-pocket costs by putting a cap on prescription drug costs; by looking for ways that we can put the prescription drug business and the health insurance company business on a more stable platform that doesn't take too much money out of the pockets of hard-working Americans. And third, I would be working, in every way that I knew, to bring our country together. We do have too much division, too much mean- spiritedness. There's a lot we have to do on immigration reform, on voting rights, on campaign finance reform, but we need to do it together. That's how we'll have the kind of country for the 21st century that we know will guarantee our children and grandchildren the kind of future they deserve. +p4361 +aVYes look, I have made it clear based on Senator Sanders' own record that he has voted with the NRA, with the gun lobby numerous times. He voted against the Brady Bill five times. He voted for what we call, the Charleston Loophole. He voted for immunity from gunmakers and sellers which the NRA said, "was the most important piece of gun legislation in 20 years. " He voted to let guns go onto the Amtrak, guns go into National Parks. He voted against doing research to figure out how we can save lives. Let's not forget what this is about, 90 people a day die from gun violence in our country. That's 33,000 people a year. One of the most horrific examples not a block from here where we had nine people murdered. Now, I am pleased to hear that Senator Sanders has reversed his position on immunity and I look forward to him joining with those members of congress who have already introduced legislation. There is no other industry in America that was given the total pass that the gun makers and dealers were and that needs to be reversed. +p4362 +aVWell, sadly it's reality, and it has been heartbreaking, and incredibly outraging to see the constant stories of young men like Walter Scott, as you said, who have been killed by police officers. Their needs to be a concerted effort to address the systemic racism in our criminal justice system. And, that requires a very clear, agenda for retraining police officers, looking at ways to end racial profiling, finding more ways to really bring the disparities that stalk our country into high relief. One out of three African American men may well end up going to prison. That's the statistic. I want people hear to think what we would be doing if it was one out of three white men, and very often, the black men are arrested, convicted and incarcerated ......for offensive that do not lead to the same results for white men. So, we have a very serious problem that we can no longer ignore. +p4363 +aVWell, Lester, you're right. Everywhere I go to campaign, I'm meeting families who are affected by the drug problem that mostly is opioids and heroin now, and lives are being lost and children are being orphaned. And I've met a lot of grandparents who are now taking care of grandchildren. So I have tried to come out with a comprehensive approach that, number one, does tell the states that we will work with you from the federal government putting more money, about a billion dollars a year, to help states have a different approach to dealing with this epidemic. The policing needs to change. Police officers must be equipped with the antidote to a heroin overdose or an opioid overdose, known as Narcan. They should be able to administer it. So should firefighters and others. We have to move away from treating the use of drugs as a crime and instead, move it to where it belongs, as a health issue. And we need to divert more people from the criminal justice system into drug courts, into treatment, and recovery. +p4364 +aVSo this is the kind of approach that we should take in dealing with what is now... +p4365 +aV... a growing epidemic. +p4366 +aVWell, Andrea, I am absolutely committed to universal health care. I have worked on this for a long time, people may remember that I took on the health insurance industry back in the '90s, and I didn't quit until we got the children's health insurance program that ensures eight million kids. And I certainly respect Senator Sanders' intentions, but when you're talking about health care, the details really matter. And therefore, we have been raising questions about the nine bills that he introduced over 20 years, as to how they would work and what would be the impact on people's health care? He didn't like that, his campaign didn't like it either. And tonight, he's come out with a new health care plan. And again, we need to get into the details. But here's what I believe, the Democratic Party and the United States worked since Harry Truman to get the Affordable Care Act passed. We finally have a path to universal health care. We have accomplished so much already. I do not to want see the Republicans repeal it, and I don't to want see us start over again with a contentious debate. I want us to defend and build on the Affordable Care Act and improve it. +p4367 +aVBut \u2014 Senator Sanders, if I can... You know, I have to say I'm not sure whether we're talking about the plan you just introduced tonight, or we're talking about the plan you introduced nine times in the Congress. But the fact is, we have the Affordable Care Act. That is one of the greatest accomplishments of President Obama, of the Democratic Party, and of our country. And we have already seen 19 million Americans get insurance. We have seen the end of pre-existing conditions keeping people from getting insurance. We have seen women no longer paying more for our insurance than men. And we have seen young people, up to the age of 26, being able to stay on their parent's policy. +p4368 +aVNow, there are things we can do to improve it, but to tear it up and start over again, pushing our country back into that kind of a contentious debate, I think is the wrong direction. +p4369 +aVAnd that's exactly what we are able to do based on the foundation of the Affordable Care Act \u2014 what Governor O'Malley just said is one of the models that we will be looking at to make sure we do get costs down, we do limit a lot of the unnecessary costs that we still have in the system. But, with all due respect, to start over again with a whole new debate is something that I think would set us back. The Republicans just voted last week to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and thank goodness, President Obama vetoed it and saved Obamacare for the American people. +p4370 +aVWell, as someone who \u2014 as someone who has a little bit of experience standing up to the health insurance industry, that spent, you know......many, many millions of dollars attacking me, and probably will so again, because of what I believe we can do building on the Affordable Care Act, I think it's important to point out that there are a lot of reasons we have the health care system we have today. I know how much money influences the political decision-making. That's why I'm for huge campaign finance reform. However, we started a system that had private health insurance. And even during the Affordable Care Act debate, there was an opportunity to vote for what was called the public option. In other words, people could buy in to Medicare, and even when the Democrats were in charge of the Congress, we couldn't get the votes for that. So, what I'm saying is really simple. This has been the fight of the Democratic Party for decades. We have the Affordable Care Act. Let's make it work. Let's take the models that states are doing. We now have driven costs down to the lowest they've been in 50 years. Now we've got to get individual costs down. That's what I'm planning to do. +p4371 +aVWell, I think it's an important point the president made in his State of the Union. And here's what I would say. I will go anywhere, to meet with anyone, at any time to find common ground. That's what I did as a first lady, when I worked with both Democrats and Republicans to get the Children's Health Insurance Program, when I worked with Tom DeLay, one of the most partisan of Republicans, to reform the adoption and foster care system. What I did, working in the Senate, where I crossed the aisle often, working even with the senator from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham, to get Tricare for national guardsmen and women. And it's what I did as Secretary of State, on numerous occasions, and most particularly, rounding up two-thirds votes in order to pass a treaty that lowered the nuclear weapons in both Russia and the United States. So I know it's hard, but I also know you've got to work at it every single day. I look out here, I see a lot of my friends from the Congress. And I know that they work at it every single day. Because maybe you can't only find a little sliver of common ground to cooperate with somebody from the other party, but who knows. If you're successful there, maybe you can build even more. That's what I would do. +p4372 +aVWell thanks for the question and congratulations on five million viewers on YouTube, that's quite an accomplishment. Look, this election is mostly about the future and therefore it is of greatest urgency for young people. I've laid out my ideas about what we can do to make college affordable; how we can help people pay off their student debts and save thousands of dollars, how we can create more good jobs because a lot of the young people that I talk with are pretty disappointed the economic prospects they feel their facing. So making community college free, making it possible to attend a public college or university with debt free tuition, looking for ways to protect our rights especially from the concerted Republican assault; on voting rights, on women's rights, on gay rights, on civil rights, on workers rights. And I know how much young people value their independence, their autonomy, and their rights. So I think this is an election where we have to pull young people and older people together to have a strategy about how we're going to encourage even more American's to vote because it absolutely clear to me... +p4373 +aVThat turning over our White House to the Republicans would be bad for everybody especially young people. +p4374 +aVLook, I have the greatest respect for Senator Sanders and for his supports and I'm going to keep working as hard as I can to reach as many people of all ages about what I will do, what the experience and the ideas that I have that I will bring to the White House and I hope to have their support when I'm the Democratic nominee. +p4375 +aVWell, there's no daylight on the basic premise that there should be no bank too big to fail and no individual too powerful to jail. We agree on that. But where we disagree is the comments that Senator Sanders has made that don't just affect me, I can take that, but he's criticized President Obama for taking donations from Wall Street, and President Obama has led our country out of the great recession. Senator Sanders called him weak, disappointing. He even, in 2011, publicly sought someone to run in a primary against President Obama. Now, I personally believe that President Obama's work to push through the Dodd-Frank... The Dodd-Frank bill and then to sign it was one of the most important regulatory schemes we've had since the 1930s. So I'm going to defend Dodd-Frank and I'm going to defend President Obama for taking on Wall Street, taking on the financial industry and getting results. +p4376 +aVYou know, I think since \u2014 since Senator Standers followed up on this... +p4377 +aVYour profusion of comments about your feelings towards President Obama are a little strange given what you said about him in 2011. But look, I have a plan that most commentators have said is tougher, more effective, and more comprehensive. O' +p4378 +aVIt builds on the Dodd-Frank \u2014 yes, it is. It builds on the Dodd-Frank, regulatory scheme... O' +p4379 +aV... but it goes much further, because... O' +p4380 +aV... both the governor and the senator have focused only on the big banks. Lehman Brothers, AIG, the shadow banking sector were as big a problem in what caused the Great Recession, I go after them. And I can tell you that the hedge fund billionaires who are running ads against me right now, and Karl Rove, who started running an ad against me right now, funded by money from the financial services sector, sure thing, I'm the one they don't want to be up against. +p4381 +aVYes, well, first of all \u2014 first of all, Paul Krugman, Barney Frank, others have all endorsed my plan. Secondly, we have Dodd-Frank. It gives us the authority already to break up big banks that pose... O' +p4382 +aVThat pose a risk to the financial sector. I want to go further and add to that. And, you know, Governor, you have raised money on Wall Street. You raised a lot of money on Wall Street when you were the head of the Democratic Governor's Association... O' +p4383 +aVAnd you were... O' +p4384 +aVYes, well, the point is that if we're going to be serious about this and not just try to score political points, we should know what's in Dodd-Frank, and what's in Dodd-Frank already gives the president the authority......with his regulators to make those decisions. +p4385 +aVWell, the last point on this is, Senator Sanders, you're the only one on this stage that voted to deregulate the financial market in 2000, to take the cops off the street, to use Governor O'Malley's phrase, to make the SEC and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission no longer able to regulate swaps and derivatives, which were one of the main cause of the collapse in '08. So there's plenty... +p4386 +aVThere's plenty of problems that we all have to face together. And the final thing I would say, we're at least having a vigorous debate about reining in Wall Street... +p4387 +aV... The Republicans want to give them more power, and repeal Dodd-Frank. That's what we need to stop... +p4388 +aVWell, I have actually documented every way that I'm going to pay for what I'm doing because I think the American public deserves to know. And, you can go to my website and actually see that. But, there are serious questions about how we're going to pay for what we want to see our country do. And, I'm the only candidate standing here tonight who has said I will not raise taxes on the middle class. I want to raise incomes, not taxes, and I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that the wealthy pay for debt free tuition, for child care, for paid family leave. To help us bring down student debt we're going to refinance that student debt, saving kids thousands of dollars. Yeah, and that will also come out of the \u2014 some of the pockets of people in the financial services industry... +p4389 +aVBut I will tell you exactly how I pay for everything I've proposed... +p4390 +aVAnd let me... +p4391 +aVWell, I'm very proud of the Iran Nuclear Agreement. I was very pleased to be part of what the president put into action when he took office. I was responsible for getting those sanctions imposed which put the pressure on Iran. It brought them to the negotiating table which resulted in this agreement. And so, they have been so far, following their requirements under the agreement. But I think we still have to carefully watch them. We've had one good day over 36 year and I think we need more good days before we move more rapidly toward any kind of normalization. And we have to be sure that they are truly going to implement the agreement. And then, we have to go after them on a lot of their other bad behavior in the region which is causing enormous problems in Syria, Yemen, Iraq and elsewhere. +p4392 +aVAbsolutely not. I have a three point plan that does not include American Ground forces. It includes the United States leading an air coalition which is what we're doing, supporting fighters on the ground; the Iraqi Army which is beginning to show more ability, the Sunni fighters that we are now helping to reconstitute and Kurdish on both sides of the border. I think we also have try to disrupt their supply chain of foreign fighters and foreign money and we do have to contest them in online space. So I'm very committed to both going after +p4393 +aVLook, I think that the president's decision to go after the chemical weapons once there was a potential opportunity to build on when the Russians opened that door resulted in a very positive outcome. We were able to get the chemical weapons out. I know from my own experience as secretary of State that we were deeply worried about Assad's forces using chemical weapons because it would have had not only a horrific affect on people in Syria, but it could very well have affected the surrounding states, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Turkey. So getting those chemical weapons out was a big deal, but... +p4394 +aVWell \u2014 but \u2014 but... +p4395 +aVI think, as commander in chief, you've got to constantly be evaluating the decisions you have to make. I know a little bit about this, having spent many hours in the situation room, advising President Obama. And I want to just add to something that Senator Sanders said, the United States had a very big interest in trying to help stabilize the region. If there is any blame to be spread around, it starts with the prime minister of Iraq, who sectarianized his military, setting Shia against Sunni. It is amplified by Assad, who has waged one of the bloodiest, most terrible attacks on his own people: 250,000-plus dead, millions fleeing. Causing this vacuum that has been filled unfortunately, by terrorist groups, including +p4396 +aV... and go after +p4397 +aVBut overall, a lot of the forces at work in the region are ones that we cannot directly influence, but we can... +p4398 +aVWell, it would depend on what I got for it and I can tell you what we got in the first term, we got a new start treaty to reduce nuclear weapons between the United States and Russia. We got permission to resupply our troops in Afghanistan by traveling across Russia. We got Russia to sign on to our sanctions against Iran and other very important commitments. So look, in diplomacy, you are always trying to see how you can figure out the interest of the other to see if there isn't some way you can advance your security and your values. When Putin came back in the fall of 2011, it was very clear he came back with a mission. And I began speaking out as soon as that happened because there were some fraudulent elections held, and Russians poured out into the streets to demand their freedom, and he cracked down. And in fact, accused me of fomenting it. So we now know that he has a mixed record to say the least and we have to figure out how to deal with him. +p4399 +aVWell, my relationship with him, it's \u2014 it's interesting. It's one, I think, of respect. We've had some very tough dealings with one another. And I know that he's someone that you have to continuingly stand up to because, like many bullies, he is somebody who will take as much as he possibly can unless you do. And we need to get the Europeans to be more willing to stand up, I was pleased they put sanctions on after Crimea and eastern Ukraine and the downing of the airliner, but we've got to be more united in preventing Putin from taking a more aggressive stance in Europe and the Middle East. +p4400 +aVOh, we're breaking? OK. +p4401 +aVWell, I wanted to say, and I'll do it quickly, I was very pleased that leaders of President Obama's administration went out to Silicon Valley last week and began exactly this conversation about what we can do, consistent with privacy and security. We need better intelligence cooperation, we need to be sure that we are getting the best intelligence that we can from friends and allies around the world. And then, we've got to recognize our first line of defense against lone wolf attacks is among Muslim Americans. And it is not only shameful, it is dangerous for the kinds of comments you're hearing from the Republican side. We need to be reaching out and unifying our country against terrorist attacks and lone wolves, and working with Muslim Americans. +p4402 +aVThat is not what I've heard. Let me leave it at that. O' +p4403 +aVWell, it'll start at the kitchen table, we'll see how it goes from there. And I......I'm going to have the very best advisers that I can possibly have, and when it comes to the economy and what was accomplished under my husband's leadership and the '90s \u2014 especially when it came to raising incomes for everybody and lifting more people out of poverty than at any time in recent history \u2014 you bet. I'm going to ask for his ideas, I'm going ask for his advice, and I'm going use him as a goodwill emissary to go around the country to find the best ideas we've got, because I do believe, as he said, everything that's wrong with America has been solved somewhere in America. We just have to do more of it, and we have to reach out, especially into poor communities and communities of color, to give more people their own chance to get ahead. +p4404 +aVWell Lester, I spent a lot of time last week being outraged by what's happening in Flint, Michigan and I think every single American should be outraged. We've had a city in the United States of America where the population which is poor in many ways and majority African American has been drinking and bathing in lead contaminated water. And the governor of that state acted as though he didn't really care. He had request for help and he had basically stone walled. I'll tell you what, if the kids in a rich suburb of Detroit had been drinking contaminated water and being bathed in it, there would've been action. So I sent my top campaign aide down there to talk to the mayor of Flint to see what I could to help. I issued a statement about what we needed to do and then I went on a T.V. show and I said, "it was outrageous that the governor hadn't acted and within two hours he had." +p4405 +aVI want to be a president who takes care of the big problems and the problems that are affecting the people of our country everyday. +p4406 +aVWell, thank you. And I'm delighted to be here in New Hampshire for this debate. You know, the American president has to both keep our families safe and make the economy grow in a way that helps everyone, not just those at the top. That's the job. I have a strategy to combat and defeat +p4407 +aVI very much appreciate that comment, Bernie. It really is important that we go forward on this. I know that you now have your data back, and that there has been an agreement for an independent inquiry into what did happen. Obviously, we were distressed when we learned of it, because we have worked very hard -- I said in the beginning of this campaign, we want to reach as many voters as possible, and we have tens of thousands of volunteers doing that, and entering data all the time to keep up with what people are telling us. And so, now that, I think, you know, we have resolved your data, we have agreed on an independent inquiry, we should move on. Because I don't think the American people are all that interested in this. I think they're more interested in what we have to say about all the big issues facing us. O' +p4408 +aVWell, first, the most important job of being president is obviously to keep our country safe and to keep the families of America safe. I have a plan that I've put forward to go after +p4409 +aVWell, I think you have to look at both the terrorism challenge that we face abroad and certainly at home and the role that guns play in delivering the violence that stalks us. Clearly, we have to have a very specific set of actions to take. You know, when Senator Sanders talks about a coalition, I agree with him about that. We've got to build a coalition abroad. We also have to build a coalition at home. Abroad, we need a coalition that is going to take on +p4410 +aVYes, I'm getting... +p4411 +aV... I'm getting to that. Because I think if you only think about the coalition abroad you're missing the main point, which is we need a coalition here at home. Guns, in and of themselves, in my opinion, will not make Americans safer. We lose 33,000 people a year already to gun violence, arming more people to do what I think is not the appropriate response to terrorism. I think what is... Is creating much deeper, closer relations and, yes, coalitions within our own country. The first line of defense against radicalization is in Muslim-American community. People who we should be welcoming and working with. I worry greatly that the rhetoric coming from the Republicans, particularly Donald Trump, is sending a message to Muslims here in the United States and literally around the world that there is a "clash of civilizations," that there is some kind of Western plot or even "war against Islam," which then I believe fans the flames of radicalization. So guns have to be looked at as its own problem, but we also have to figure out how we're going to deal with the radicalization here in the United States. +p4412 +aVYes, let's tell the truth, Martin. O' +p4413 +aVHe invoked mine as well. +p4414 +aVI do and this is an important issue and I know we'll get to a lot of other critical ones as well. I actually agree with Governor O'Malley about the need for common sense gun safety measures. And I applaud his record in Maryland. I just wish he wouldn't misrepresent mine. I have been for the Brady bill, I have been against assault weapons. I have voted not to give gun makers and sellers immunity. And I also know that -- and I'm glad to see this -- Senator Sanders has really moved in face of the facts about what we're confronting in our country. I know that he has said in the two previous that he wants to take on this immunity issue because we need to send a strong message to the gun manufacturers, to the sellers, to the gun lobby. And I would hope, Senator Sanders, that you would join the Democrats who are trying to close the Charleston loophole, that you would sponsor or co-sponsor legislation to remove the absolute immunity. We need to move on this consensus that exists in the country. It's no longer enough just to say the vast majority of Americans want common sense gun safety measures including gun owners. We need, and only the three of us will do this, nobody on the Republican side will even admit there's a problem. And in whatever way the three of us can we need to move this agenda forward and begin to deal with the gun lobby and the intimidation that they present. +p4415 +aVWell I think a lot of people are understandably reacting out of fear and anxiety about what they're seeing. First what they saw in Paris, now what they have seen in San Bernardino. And Mr. Trump has a great capacity to use bluster and bigotry to inflame people and to make think there are easy answers to very complex questions. So what I would say is, number one, we need to be united against the threats that we face. We need to have everybody in our country focused on watching what happens and reporting it if it's suspicious, reporting what you hear. Making sure that Muslim Americans don't feel left out or marginalized at the very moment when we need their help. +p4416 +aVYou know, I was a senator from New York after 9/11, and we spent countless hours trying to figure out how to protect the city and the state from perhaps additional attacks. One of the best things that was done, and George W. Bush did this and I give him credit, was to reach out to Muslim Americans and say, we're in this together. You are not our adversary, you are our partner. And we also need to make sure that the really discriminatory messages that Trump is sending around the world don't fall on receptive ears. He is becoming +p4417 +aVI would not want to go to that point. I would hope that, given the extraordinary capacities that the tech community has and the legitimate needs and questions from law enforcement, that there could be a Manhattan-like project, something that would bring the government and the tech communities together to see they're not adversaries, they've got to be partners. It doesn't do anybody any good if terrorists can move toward encrypted communication that no law enforcement agency can break into before or after. There must be some way. I don't know enough about the technology, Martha, to be able to say what it is, but I have a lot of confidence in our tech experts. And maybe the back door is the wrong door, and I understand what Apple and others are saying about that. But I also understand, when a law enforcement official charged with the responsibility of preventing attacks -- to go back to our early questions, how do we prevent attacks -- well, if we can't know what someone is planning, we are going to have to rely on the neighbor or, you know, the member of the mosque or the teacher, somebody to see something. +p4418 +aVI just think there's got to be a way, and I would hope that our tech companies would work with government to figure that out. Otherwise, law enforcement is blind -- blind before, blind during, and, unfortunately, in many instances, blind after. So we always have to balance liberty and security, privacy and safety, but I know that law enforcement needs the tools to keep us safe. And that's what I hope, there can be some understanding and cooperation to achieve. +p4419 +aVWell, I agree that we have to have the toughest screening and vetting... +p4420 +aVI don't think a halt is necessary. What we have to do is put all of our resources through the Department of Homeland Security, through the State Department, through our intelligence agencies, and we have to have an increased vetting and screening. Now, this takes, David, 18 months to 24 months, two years. So I know it's not going to happen overnight and everything that can be done should be done. But the process should move forward while we are also taking on +p4421 +aVSo, I think it's absolutely wrong policy for us to be even imagining we're going end up putting tens of thousands of American troops into Syria and Iraq to fight +p4422 +aVWell, I just think you're asking a question with a false choice. I believe if we lead an air coalition, which we are now in the position of doing and intensify it, if we continue to build back up the Iraqi army, which has had some recent success in Ramadi, as you know, if we get back talking to the tribal sheiks in Anbar to try to rebuild those relationships, which were very successful, in going after Al Qaida in Iraq, if we get the Turks to pay more attention to +p4423 +aVWell, I just want to quickly add... +p4424 +aVMartha, that -- you know, one of the reasons why I have advocated for a no-fly zone is in order to create those safe refuges within Syria, to try to protect people on the ground both from Assad's forces, who are continuing to drop barrel bombs, and from +p4425 +aVI do not think it would come to that. We are already de-conflicting air space. We know... +p4426 +aVNo, I don't think so. I am advocating... +p4427 +aVI am advocating the no-fly zone both because I think it would help us on the ground to protect Syrians; I'm also advocating it because I think it gives us some leverage in our conversations with Russia. Now that Russia has joined us in the Security Council, has adopted an agreement that we hashed out a long day in Geneva three years ago, now I think we can have those conversations. The no-fly zone, I would hope, would be also shared by Russia. If they will begin to turn their military attention away from going after the adversaries of Assad toward +p4428 +aVThat is exactly... +p4429 +aVThat is exactly what I just said and what I just described. +p4430 +aVAnd that is important, because now we have a U.N. Security Council that will enable us to do that. And, you know, with all due respect, Senator, you voted for regime change with respect to Libya. You joined the Senate in voting to get rid of Gadhafi, and you asked that there be a Security Council validation of that with a resolution. All of these are very difficult issues. I know that; I've been dealing with them for a long time. And, of course, we have to continue to do what is necessary when someone like Gadhafi, a despot with American blood on his hands, is overturned. But I'll tell you what would have happened, if we had not joined with our European partners and our Arab partners to assist the people in Libya, you would be looking at Syria. Now the Libyans are turning their attention to try to dislodge +p4431 +aVI think we're missing the point here. We are doing both at the same time. +p4432 +aVWell, I don't agree with that, because we will not get the support on the ground in Syria to dislodge +p4433 +aVSince he has been making all kinds of comments. I think it's fair to say, Assad has killed, by last count, about 250,000 Syrians. The reason we are in the mess we're in, that +p4434 +aVAnd we finally have a U.N. Security Council Resolution bringing the world together to go after a political transition in Syria. +p4435 +aVIf the United States does not lead, there is not another leader. There is a vacuum. +p4436 +aVAnd we have to lead, if we're going to be successful. +p4437 +aVSorry. +p4438 +aVWell, I've been talking to a lot of these families, and this is such an outrage, both because it's bad for our economy, we're a 70 percent consumption economy, people need to feel optimistic and confident, they need to believe their hard work is going to be rewarded, and it's bad for our democracy. It's absolutely the case that if people feel that the game is rigged, that has consequences. I think it's great standing up here with the senator and the governor talking about these issues, because you're not going to hear anything like this from any of the Republicans who are running for president. They don't want to raise the minimum wage; they don't want to do anything to increase incomes. At the center of my economic policy is raising incomes, because people haven't been able to get ahead, and the cost of everything, from college tuition to prescription drugs, has gone up. Of course we have to raise the minimum wage. Of course we have to do more to incentivize profit sharing, like we see with Market Basket right here in New Hampshire and New England, where all of the employees get a chance to share in the profits. And we've got to do more on equal pay for equal work. That means pass the Paycheck Fairness Act so we have transparency about how much people are making. That's the way to get women's wages up, and that's good for them and good for their families and good for our communities. And there is a lot we can do in college affordability. I have debt-free tuition plans, free community college plans, getting student debt down. I also am very committed to getting the price of drugs down. And there's a lot. You can go to my website... +p4439 +aV... hillaryclinton.com, and read about it. But I guess the final thing that -- that I would say is this is the kind of debate we need to take to the Republicans in the fall. +p4440 +aVThis is the election... +p4441 +aV... issues they have to respond to. +p4442 +aVEverybody should. Look, I have said I want to be the president for the struggling, the striving and the successful. I want to make sure the wealthy pay their fair share, which they have not been doing. I want the Buffett Rule to be in effect, where millionaires have to pay 30 percent tax rates instead of 10 percent to nothing in some cases. I want to make sure we rein in the excessive use of political power to feather the nest and support the super wealthy. But I also want to create jobs and I want to be a partner with the private sector. I'm particularly keen on creating jobs in small business. My dad was a small businessman, a really small business. I want to do more to help incentivize and create more small businesses. So if -- if people who are in the private sector know what I stand for, it's what I fought for as a senator, it's what I will do as president, and they want to be part of once again building our economy so it works for everybody, more power to them, because they are the kind of business leaders who understand that if we don't get the American economy moving and growing, we're not going to recognize our country and we're not going to give our kids the same opportunities that we had. +p4443 +aVOK... +p4444 +aVLet me respond... +p4445 +aVUnder the rules, I have been -- I have been invoked, David, so let me respond very quickly. Number one... +p4446 +aVNumber one, there are currently two hedge fund billionaires running ads against me here in New Hampshire. They started in Iowa. Now, you'd have to ask yourself, why are they running ads against me? And the answer is: Because they know I will go right after them, that I will not let their agenda be America's agenda. Secondly, I think it's important to point out that about 3 percent of my donations come from people in the finance and investment world. You can go to opensecrets.org and check that. I have more donations from students and teachers than I do from people associated with Wall Street. Now, number three -- and let me say this -- when Governor O'Malley was heading the Democratic Governors Association, he had no trouble at all going to Wall Street to raise money to run campaigns for Democratic governors. And he also had no trouble appointing an investment banker to be in charge of his consumer protection bureau when he was governor. So, you know, again, the difference between us and the Republicans is night and day. And there is only one person on this stage who voted to take away authority from the SEC and the Commodities Future Trading Commission that they could no longer regulate what are called swaps and derivatives, which actually contributed to the collapse of Lehman Brothers, and that was Senator Sanders. So if we're going to be talking like this, we can -- and maybe we can score some political points -- but the fact is: Every one of us stands for the kind of economy that will work better for every American. And if that means taking on Wall Street, I have a plan that is tough and comprehensive and praised by a lot of folks who say it goes further than what both Senator Sanders and Governor O'Malley are proposing. +p4447 +aVWell, I would certainly build on the successes of the Affordable Care Act and work to fix some of the glitches that you just referenced. Number one, we do have more people who have access to health care. We have ended the terrible situation that people with pre- existing conditions were faced with where they couldn't find at any affordable price health care. Women are not charged more than men any longer for our health insurance. And we keep young people on our policies until they turn 26. Those are all really positive developments. But out-of-pocket costs have gone up too much and prescription drug costs have gone through the roof. And so what I have proposed, number one, is a $5,000 tax credit to help people who have very large out-of-pocket costs be able to afford those. Number two, I want Medicare to be able to negotiate for lower drug prices just like they negotiate with other countries' health systems. We end up paying the highest prices in the world. And I want us to be absolutely clear about making sure the insurance companies in the private employer policy arena as well as in the Affordable Care exchanges are properly regulated so that we are not being gamed. And I think that's an important point to make because I'm going through and analyzing the points you were making, Martha. We don't have enough competition and we don't have enough oversight of what the insurance companies are charging everybody right now. +p4448 +aVYes. +p4449 +aVWell, they're glitches because... +p4450 +aVIt is. Because part of this is the startup challenges that this system is facing. We have fought, as Democrats, for decades to get a health care plan. I know. I've got the scars to show from the effort back in the early '90s. We want to build on it and fix it. And I'm confident we can do that. And it will have effects in the private market. And one of the reasons in some states why the percentage cost has gone up so much is because governors there would not extend Medicaid. And so people are still going to get health care, thankfully, in emergency rooms, in hospitals. Those costs are then added to the overall cost, which does increase the insurance premiums for people in the private system. +p4451 +aVRight. +p4452 +aVWell, I have what I call the new college compact. Because I think everybody has to have some skin in this game, you know. Number one, States have been dis-investing in higher education. In fact, I think New Hampshire, in state tuition for public colleges and universities, is among the highest if not the highest in the country. So states over a period of decades have put their money elsewhere; into prisons, into highways, into things other than higher education. So under my compact, the federal government will match money that the states begin to put back in to the higher education system. Secondly, I don't believe in free tuition for everybody. I believe we should focus on middle-class families, working families, and poor kids who have the ambition and the talent to go to college and get ahead. So I have proposed debt free tuition, which I think is affordable and I would move a lot of the Pell Grant and other aid into the arena where it could be used for living expense. So I put all of this together, again, on my website and I've gotten such a good response. But I want to quickly say, one of the areas that Senator Sanders touched on in talking about education and certainly talking about health care is his commitment to really changing the systems. Free college, a single payer system for health--and it's been estimated we're looking at 18 to $20 trillion, about a 40 percent in the federal budget. And I have looked at his proposed plans for health care for example, and it really does transfer every bit of our health care system including private health care, to the states to have the states run. And I think we've got to be really thoughtful about how we're going to afford what we proposed, which is why everything that I have proposed I will tell you exactly how I'm going to pay for it; including college. +p4453 +aVWell, the only thing - the only thing I can go on Senator Sanders... +p4454 +aVYour proposal is to go and send the health care system to the state. +p4455 +aVAnd my analysis is that you are going to get more taxes out of middle class families. I'm the only person... +p4456 +aV... saying, no middle class tax raises. That's off the table... +p4457 +aVThat is a pledge that I'm making. I made it when I ran in 2008. +p4458 +aVYes, and it was the same one that President Obama made. Because I don't think we should be imposing new big programs that are going to raise middle class families' taxes. We just heard that most families haven't had a wage increase since 2001. Since, you know, the end of the last Clinton administration when incomes did go up for everybody. And we've got to get back to where people can save money again, where they can invest in their families, and I don't think a middle-class tax should be part of anybody's plan right now. +p4459 +aVSenator, I have been -- I have been fighting for paid... +p4460 +aV... family leave for a very long time... +p4461 +aVI have a way to pay for it that actually makes the wealthiest pay for it... +p4462 +aV... not everybody else. +p4463 +aVWell, David, I think this is one of the most important challenges facing not just our next president but our country. We have systemic racism and injustice and inequities in our country and in particular, in our justice system that must be addressed and must be ended. I feel very strongly that we have to reform our criminal justice system and we have to find ways to try to bring law enforcement together again with the communities that they are sworn to protect. Trust has been totally lost in a lot of places. At the same time, we know that in many parts of our country police officers are bridging those divides and they're acting heroically. The young officer who was killed responding to the Planned Parenthood murders. The officer who told the victims of the San Bernardino killings that he would take a bullet before them. So I think that we need to build on the work of the policing commissioner that President Obama impaneled. We need to get a bipartisan commitment to work together on this. And we need to hear the voices of those men and women and boys and girls who feel like strangers in their own country and do whatever is necessary to not only deal with the immediate problems within the criminal justice system, but more opportunities, more jobs, better education so that we can begin to rebuild that very valuable asset known as trust. +p4464 +aVYou know, on my very first visit to New Hampshire in this campaign, I was in Keene, and I was asked, "what are you going to do about the heroin epidemic?" And all over New Hampshire, I met grandmothers who are raising children because they lost the father or the mother to an overdose. I met young people who are desperately trying to get clean and have nowhere to go, because there are not enough facilities. So this is a major epidemic, and it has hit New Hampshire and Vermont particularly hard. I've had had two town halls, one in Keene, one in Laconia, dedicated exclusively to talking about what we can do. And I've heard some great ideas about how law enforcement is changing its behavior, how the recovery community is reaching out. And I was proud to get the endorsement of Mayor Walsh of Boston, who has made his struggle with alcoholism a real clarion call for action in this arena. So, I've laid out a five-point plan about what we can do together. I would like the federal government to offer $10 billion over ten years to work with states, and I really applaud Governor Hassan for taking up this challenge and working with the legislature here to come up with a plan. We need to do more on the prescribing end of it. There are too many opioids being prescribed, and that leads directly now to heroin addiction. And we need to change the way we do law enforcement, and of course, we need more programs and facilities, so when somebody is ready to get help, there's a place for them to go. And every law enforcement should carry the antidote to overdose, Naloxone, so that they can save lives that are on the brink of expiring. +p4465 +aVWell, first, let's remember why we became part of a coalition to stop Gadhafi from committing massacres against his people. The United States was asked to support the Europeans and the Arab partners that we had and we did a lot of due diligence about whether we should or not, and eventually, yes, I recommended and the president decided that we would support the action to protect civilians on the ground and that led to the overthrow of Gadhafi. I think that what Libya then did by having a full free election, which elected moderates, was an indication of their crying need and desire to get on the right path. Now, the whole region has been rendered unstable, in part because of the aftermath of the Arab Spring, in part because of the very effective outreach and propagandizing that +p4466 +aVMartha, we offered a lot more than they were willing to take. We offered a lot more. We also got rid of their chemical weapons, which was a big help, and we also went after a lot of the shoulder-fired missiles to round them up. You know, we can't -- if we're not going to send American troops, which there was never any idea of doing that, then to try to send trainers, to try to send experts, is something we offered, Europeans offered, the U.N. offered, and there wasn't a lot of responsiveness at first. I think a lot of the Libyans who had been forced out of their country by Gadhafi who came back to try to be part of a new government, believed they knew what to do and it turned out that they were no match for some of the, you know, militaristic forces inside that country. But I'm not giving up on Libya and I don't think anybody should. We've been at this a couple of years. +p4467 +aVWell, there's always a retrospective to say what mistakes were made. But I know that we offered a lot of help and I know it was difficult for the Libyans to accept help. What we could have done if they had said yes would have been a lot more than what we were able to have done. +p4468 +aVWell, I would just repeat that. +p4469 +aVWait a minute. I think it's only fair to put on the record, Senator Sanders voted in the Senate for a resolution calling for ending the Gadhafi regime and asking that the U.N. be brought in, either a congressional vote or a U.N. Security Council vote. We got a U.N. Security council vote. Now, I understand that this is very difficult. And I'm not standing here today and saying that Libya is as far along as Tunisia. We saw what happened in Egypt. I cautioned about a quick overthrow of Mubarak, and we now are back with basically an army dictatorship. This is a part of the world where the United States has tried to play two different approaches. One, work with the tough men, the dictators, for our own benefit and promote democracy. That's a hard road to walk. But I think it's the right road for us to try to travel. O' +p4470 +aVWell, the role has been defined by each person who's held it. And I am very grateful for all my predecessors and my successors because each of them not only did what she could to support her husband and our country but often chose to work on important issues that were of particular concern. Obviously, Mrs. Obama has been a terrific leader when it comes to young people's health, particularly nutrition and exercise. And I think has had a big impact. So whoever is part of the family of a president has an extraordinary privilege of not only having a front row seat on history but making her or maybe his contribution. And with respect to my own husband, I am probably still going to pick the flowers and the china for state dinners and stuff like that. But I will certainly turn to him as prior presidents have for special missions, for advice, and in particular, how we're going to get the economy working again for everybody, which he knows a little bit about. +p4471 +aVOn January 20th, 2017, the next president of the United States will walk into the White House. If, heaven forbid, that next president is a Republican, I think it's pretty clear we know what will happen. A lot of the rights that have been won over years, from women's rights to voter rights to gay rights to worker rights, will be at risk. Social Security, which Republicans call a Ponzi scheme, may face privatization. Our vets may see the V.A. hospital that needs to be improved and made better for them turned over to privatization. Planned Parenthood will be defunded. The list goes on because the differences are so stark. You know, everybody says every election's important, and there's truth to that. This is a watershed election. I know how important it is that we have a Democrat succeed President Obama in the White House. And I will do all that I can in this campaign to reach out and explain what I stand for and what I will do as president. You know, I became a grandmother 15 months ago, and so I spent a lot of time thinking about my granddaughter's future. But as president, I will spend even more time thinking about the futures of all the kids and the grandchildren in this country because I want to make sure every single child has a chance to live up to his or her God-given potential. If you will join me in this campaign, we will make that a mission. Thank you, good night and may the force be with you. +p4472 +aVWell, our prayers are with the people of France tonight, but that is not enough. We need to have a resolve that will bring the world together to root out the kind of radical jihadist ideology that motivates organizations like +p4473 +aVWell, John, I think that we have to look at +p4474 +aVWell, John, look, I think that what happened when we abided by the agreement that George W. Bush made with the Iraqis to leave by 2011, is that an Iraqi army was left that had been trained and that was prepared to defend Iraq. Unfortunately, Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister, set about decimating it. And then, with the revolution against Assad -- and I did early on say we needed to try to find a way to train and equip moderates very early so that we would have a better idea of how to deal with Assad because I thought there would be extremist groups filling the vacuum. So, yes, this has developed. I think that there are many other reasons why it has in addition to what happened in the region, but I don't think that the United States has the bulk of the responsibility. I really put that on Assad and on the Iraqis and on the region itself. +p4475 +aVThank you, John. Well, thank you, John. I think it's important we put this in historic context. The United States has, unfortunately, been victimized by terrorism going back decades. In the 1980s, it was in Beirut, Lebanon, under President Reagan's administration, and 258 Americans, marines, embassy personnel, and others were murdered. We also had attacks on two of our embassies in Tanzania, Kenya, when my husband was president. Again, Americans murdered. And then, of course, 9/11 happened, which happened before there was an invasion of Iraq. I have said the invasion of Iraq was a mistake. But I think if we're ever going to really tackle the problems posed by jihadi extreme terrorism, we need to understand it and realize that it has antecedents to what happened in Iraq and we have to continue to be vigilant about it. +p4476 +aVWell, of course, each of these cases needs to be looked at individually and analyzed. Part of the problem that we have currently in the Middle East is that Assad has hung on to power with the very strong support of Russia and Iran and with the proxy of Hezbollah being there basically fighting his battles. So I don't think you can paint with a broad brush. This is an incredibly complicated region of the world. It's become more complicated. And many of the fights that are going on are not ones that the United States has either started or have a role in. The Shi'a-Sunni split. The dictatorships have suppressed people's aspirations. The increasing globalization without any real safety valve for people to have a better life. We saw that in Egypt. We saw a dictator overthrown. We saw a Muslim brotherhood president installed, and then we saw him ousted and the army back. So, I think we've got to understand the complexity of the world that we are facing and no place is more so than in the Middle East. +p4477 +aVWell, I think -- I think that is very unfair to a few you mentioned, most particularly Jordan, which has put a lot on the line for the United States, has also taken in hundreds of thousands of refugees from Syria, and has been, therefore, subjected to threats and attacks by extremists themselves. I do agree that in particular, Turkey and the Gulf nations have got to make up their minds. Are they going to stand with us against this kind of jihadi radicalism or not? And there are many ways of doing it. They can provide forces. They can provide resources. But they need to be absolutely clear about where they stand. +p4478 +aVWell, we did have a plan, and I think it's fair to say that of all of the Arab leaders, Gaddafi probably had more blood on his hands of Americans than anybody else. And when he moved on his own people, threatening a massacre, genocide, the Europeans and the Arabs, our allies and partners, did ask for American help and we provided it. And we didn't put a single boot on the ground, and Gaddafi was deposed. The Libyans turned out for one of the most successful, fairest elections that any Arab country has had. They elected moderate leaders. Now, there has been a lot of turmoil and trouble as they have tried to deal with these radical elements which you find in this arc of instability, from north Africa to Afghanistan. And it is imperative that we do more not only to help our friends and partners protect themselves and protect our own homeland, but also to work to try to deal with this arc of instability, which does have a lot of impact on what happens in a country like Libya. +p4479 +aVWell, I think it's perfectly fair to say that we invested quite a bit in development aid. Some of the bravest people that I had the privilege of working with as secretary of state were our development professionals who went sometimes alone, sometimes with our military, into very dangerous places in Iraq, in Afghanistan, elsewhere. So, there does need to be a whole of government approach, but just because we're involved and we have a strategy doesn't mean we're going to be able to dictate the outcome. These are often very long- term kinds of investments that have to be made. +p4480 +aVI don't think we're at war with Islam. I don't think we're at war with all Muslims. I think we're at war with jihadists who have -- +p4481 +aVI think +p4482 +aVI think with this kind of barbarism and nihilism, it's very hard to understand, other than the lust for power, the rejection of modernity, the total disregard for human rights, freedom, or any other value that we know and respect. Historically, it is important to try to understand your adversary in order to figure out how they are thinking, what they will be doing, how they will react. I plead that it's very difficult when you deal with +p4483 +aVYes. +p4484 +aVWell, we have an authorization to use military force against terrorists. We passed it after 9/11. +p4485 +aVIt certainly does cover it. I would like to see it updated. +p4486 +aVNo, it would have to go through the Congress, and I know the White House has actually been working with members of Congress. Maybe now we can get it moving again so that we can upgrade it so that it does include all the tools and everything in our arsenal that we can use to try to work with our allies and our friends, come up with better intelligence. You know, it is difficult finding intelligence that is actionable in a lot of these places, but we have to keep trying. And we have to do more to prevent the flood of foreign fighters that have gone to Syria, especially the ones with western passports, that come back. So there's a lot of work we need to do and I want to be sure what's called the +p4487 +aVI think that is the number one requirement. I also said that we should take increased numbers of refugees. The administration originally said 10. I said we should go to 65, but only if we have as careful a screening and vetting process as we can imagine, whatever resources it takes because I do not want us to, in any way, inadvertently allow people who wish us harm to come into our country. But I want to say a quick word about what Senator Sanders and then Governor O'Malley said. We do have to take a hard look at the defense budget and we do have to figure out how we get ready to fight the adversaries of the future, not the past. But we have to also be very clear that we do have some continuing challenges. We've got challenges in the South China Sea because of what China is doing in building up these military installations. We have problems with Russia. Just the other day, Russia allowed a television camera to see the plans for a drone submarine that could carry a tactical nuclear weapon. So we've got to look at the full range and then come to some smart decisions about having more streamlined and focused approach. +p4488 +aVWell, first of all, it isn't the middle class. I have made very clear that hardworking, middle-class families need a raise, not a tax increase. In fact, wages adjusted for inflation haven't risen since the turn of the last century, after my husband's administration. So we have a lot of work to do to get jobs going again, get incomes rising again. And I have laid out specific plans -- you can go to my web site, hillaryclinton.com, and read the details. And I will pay for it by, yes, taxing the wealthy more, closing corporate loopholes, deductions, and other kinds of favorable treatment. And I can do it without raising the debt, without raising taxes on the middle class and making it reasonably manageable within our budget so that we can be fiscally responsible at the same time. +p4489 +aVWell, we're going to have to redo the way the prescription drug industry does business. For example, it is outrageous that we don't have an opportunity for Medicare to negotiate for lower prices. In fact, American consumers pay the highest prices in the world for drugs that we help to be developed through the National Institute of Health and that we then tested through the FDA. So there's more to my plan than just the cap. We have to go after price gouging and monopolistic practices and get Medicare the authority to negotiate. +p4490 +aVWell, look, I believe that we've made great progress as a country with the Affordable Care Act. We've been struggling to get this done since Harry Truman. And it was not only a great accomplishment of the Democratic Party, but of President Obama. I do think that it's important to defend it. The Republicans have voted to repeal it nearly 60 times. They would like to rip it up and start all over again, throw our nation back into this really contentious debate that we've had about health care for quite some time now. I want to build on and improve the Affordable Care Act. I would certainly tackle the cost issues, because I think that once the foundation was laid with a system to try to get as many people as possible into it, to end insurance discrimination against people with preexisting conditions or women, for example, that, yes, we were going to have to figure out how to get more competition in the insurance market, how to get the costs of -- particularly, prescription drugs, but other out-of-pocket expenses down. But I think it's important to understand there's a significant difference that I have with Senator Sanders about how best to provide quality, affordable health care for everyone. And it's-- it's a worthy debate. It's an important one that we should be engaged in. +p4491 +aVWell, first of all, I know that the President has appealed the decision to the Supreme Court. And my reading of the law and the Constitution convinces me that the President has the authority that he is attempting to exercise with respect to dreamers and their parents, because I think all of us on this stage agree that we need comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship. Border security has always been a part of that debate. And it is a fact that the net immigration from Mexico and South has basically zeroed out. So, what we want to do is to say, look, we have 11 million people who have been here, many of them for decades. They have children who are doing so well, I've met and worked with dreamers. I think any parent would be so proud of them. So let's move toward what we should be doing as a nation and follow the values of our immigration history and begin to make it possible for them to come out of the shadows and to have a future that gives them a full chance of citizenship. +p4492 +aVKathie, I think -- Kathie the... +p4493 +aVBut I do take what Alan Krueger said seriously. He is the foremost expert in our country on the minimum wage, and what its effects are. And the overall message is that it doesn't result in job loss. However, what Alan Krueger said in the piece you're referring to is that if we went to $15, there are no international comparisons. That is why I support a $12 national federal minimum wage. That is what the Democrats in the Senate have put forward as a proposal. But I do believe that is a minimum. And places like Seattle, like Los Angeles, like New York City, they can go higher. It's what happened in Governor O'Malley's state. There was a minimum wage at the state level, and some places went higher. I think that is... O' +p4494 +aVI think that is the smartest way to be able to move forward because if you go to $12 it would be the highest historical average we've ever had. O' +p4495 +aVBut you would index it -- you would index it to the median wage. Of course, you would. Do the $12 and you would index it. But I... O' +p4496 +aVHe's not wall street. O' +p4497 +aVThat's not fair. He's a progressive economist. +p4498 +aVWell, I think it's pretty clear that they know that I will. You have two billionaire hedge fund managers who started a super PAC and they're advertising against me in Iowa as we speak. So they clearly think I'm going to do what I say I will do and you can look at what I did in the Senate. I did introduce legislation to reign in compensation. I looked at ways that the shareholders would have more control over what was going on in that arena. And specifically said to Wall Street, that what they were doing in the mortgage market was bringing our country down. I've laid out a very aggressive plan to reign in Wall Street -- not just the big banks. That's a part of the problem and I am going right at them. I have a comprehensive, tough plan. But I went further than that. We have to go after what is called the shadow banking industry. Those hedge funds. Look at what happened in '08, AIG, a big insurance company, Lehman Brothers, an investment bank helped to bring our economy down. So, I want to look at the whole problem and that's why my proposal is much more comprehensive than anything else that's been put forth. +p4499 +aVWell John, wait a minute. Wait a minute, he has basically used his answer to impune my integrity. Let's be frank here. +p4500 +aVOh, wait a minute, senator. You know, not only do I have hundreds of thousands of donors, most of them small. And I'm very proud that for the first time a majority of my donors are women, 60 percent. So, I represented New York, and I represented New York on 9/11 when we were attacked. Where were we attacked? We were attacked in downtown Manhattan where Wall Street is. I did spend a whole lot of time and effort helping them rebuild. That was good for New York. It was good for the economy and it was a way to rebuke the terrorists who had attacked our country. So, you know, it's fine for you to say what you're going to say, but I looked very carefully at your proposal. Reinstating Glass- Steagall is a part of what very well could help, but it is nowhere near enough. My proposal is tougher, more effective, and more comprehensive because I go after all of Wall Street not just the big banks. O' +p4501 +aVWell, you know, governor, I know that when you had a chance to appoint a commissioner for financial regulation, you chose an investment banker in 2010. So for me, it is looking at what works and what we need to do to try to move past what happened in '08. And I will go back and say again, AIG was not a big bank. It had to be bailed out and it nearly destroyed us. Lehman Brothers was not a big bank. It was an investment bank. And its bankruptcy and its failure nearly destroyed us. So I've said, if the big banks don't play by the rules, I will break them up. +p4502 +aVAnd I will also go after executives who are responsible for the decisions that have such bad consequences for our country. +p4503 +aVWell, I think that there are different records. I -- you know, know that Senator Sanders had a different vote than I did when it came to giving immunity to gun makers and sellers. That was a terrible mistake. It basically gave the gun lobby even more power to intimidate legislators, not just in Washington but across the country. But just think about this-- since we last debated in Las Vegas, nearly 3,000 people have been killed by guns. Twenty-one mass shootings, including one last weekend in Des Moins where three were murdered. Two hundred children have been killed. This is an emergency. There are a lot of things we've got to do in our country, reigning in Wall Street is certainly one of them. I agree with that. That's why I've got such a good plan. But we have to also go after the gun lobby and 92 percent of Americans agree we should have universal background checks. Close the gun show loophole, close the online loophole and... +p4504 +aVI will do everything I can as president to get that accomplished. +p4505 +aVI -- I said I made a mistake on Iraq, and I would love to see Senator Sanders join with some of my colleague in addition the Senate that I see in the audience. Let's reverse the immunity. Let's put the gun makers and sellers on notice that they're not going to get away with it. +p4506 +aVBut wait, I just want to say this Senator. There is broad consensus, 92 percent in the most recently poll of Americans want gun safety measures... +p4507 +aV... and 85 percent of gun owners agree. +p4508 +aVWe've got the consensus, what we're lacking is political leadership... +p4509 +aV... and that's what you and others can start providing in the Senate. +p4510 +aVWell, I'm sorry that whoever tweeted that had that impression because I worked closely with New Yorkers after 9/11 for my entire first term to rebuild. So, yes, I did know people. I've had a lot of folks give me donations from all kinds of backgrounds say, I don't agree with you on everything, but I like what you do. I like how you stand up. I'm going to support you, and I think that is absolutely appropriate. +p4511 +aVWell, I'll tell you who is on my side. Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize winning economist, who said my plan for what we should do to reign in Wall Street was more comprehensive and better. Paul Volcker, one of the leading lights of trying to reign in the excesses, has also said he does not support reinstating Glass-Steagall. So, I mean this may seem like a bit of an arcane discussion. I have nothing against the passion that my two friends here have about reinstating Glass-Steagall. I just don't think it would get the job done. I'm all about making sure we actually get results for whatever we do. +p4512 +aVI agree completely. I couldn't have said it better myself. But I did want to -- I wanted to follow up. Look, we need more Americans to be involved in the political process. And I give Senator Sanders a lot of credit for really lighting a fire under many people -- young, old, everybody -- who sees a chance to be involved and have their voice heard. Look at what's happening with the Republicans. They are doing everything they can to prevent the voices of Americans to be heard. They're trying to prevent people from registering to vote. So, we do need to take on the Republicans very clearly and directly. But the other thing I just wanted quickly to say is, I think President Obama deserves more credit than he gets for what he got done in Washington, despite the Republican obstructionists. +p4513 +aVI think after 11 hours, that's pretty clear, yes. And, you know, I do think it's important to do exactly what Senator Sanders said, and that is to start talking about the issues that the American people really care about, and that they talk to each of us about. And to contrast, even -- there are differences among us. You've heard some of those tonight. I still want to get back to health care, because I think that's a worthy topic to explore. But the differences among us pale compared to what's happening on the Republican side. And if you listen to what they say -- and I had a chance over those 11 hours to watch and listen, as well as what I see in their debates -- they are putting forth alarming plans. I mean, all of us support funding Planned Parenthood. All of us believe climate change is real. All of us want equal pay for equal work. They don't believe in any of that. So let's focus on what this election is really going to be about. +p4514 +aVWell, John, I come from the '60s, a long time ago. There was a lot of activism on campus -- Civil Rights activism, antiwar activism, women's rights activism -- and I do appreciate the way young people are standing up and speaking out. Obviously, I believe that on a college campus, there should be enough respect so people hear each other. But what happened at the university there, what's happening at other universities, I think reflects the deep sense of, you know, concern, even despair that so many young people, particularly of color, have... You know, I recently met with a group of mothers who lost their children to either killings by police or random killings in their neighborhoods, and hearing their stories was so incredibly, profoundly heartbreaking. Each one of them, you know, described their child, had a picture. You know, the mother of the young man with his friends in the car who was playing loud music and, you know, some older white man pulled out a gun and shot him because they wouldn't turn the radio down. Or a young woman who had been performing at President Obama's second inauguration coming home, absolutely stellar young woman, hanging out with her friends in a park getting shot by a gang member. And, of course, I met the mothers of Eric Garner and Tamir Rice, and Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin and so many of them who have lost their children. So, your original question is the right question. And it's not just a question for parents and grandparents to answer. It's really a question for all of us to answer, every single one of our children deserves the chance to live up to his or her god-given potential. And that's what we need to be doing to the best of our ability in our country. +p4515 +aVKevin, if I could just jump in. I -- I believe that we should make community college free. We should have debt-free college if you go to a public college or university. You should not have to borrow a dime to pay tuition. I want to use pell grants to help defray the living expenses that often make a difference, whether a young person can stay in school or not. I disagree with free college for everybody. I don't think taxpayers should be paying to send Donald Trump's kids to college. I think it ought to be a compact -- families contribute, kids contribute. And together we make it possible for a new generation of young people to refinance their debt and not come out with debt in the future. +p4516 +aVNo. Revolution never came. I waited and I got the scars to show for it. We now have this great accomplishment known as the Affordable Care Act, and I don't think we should have to be defending it among Democrats. We ought to be working to improve it and prevent Republicans from both underming it and even repealing it. I have looked at -- I have looked at the legislation that Senator Sanders has proposed, and basically, he does eliminate the Affordable Care Act, eliminates private insurance, eliminates Medicare, eliminates Medicaid, Tricare, children's health insurance program -- puts it all together in a big program which he then hands over to the states to administer. And I have to tell you, I would not want -- if I lived in Iowa, Terry Branstad administering my health care. I -- I think -- I think as Democrats we ought to proudly support the Affordable Care Act, improve it, and make it the model that we know it can be. +p4517 +aVWell, there are so many, I don't know where to start. I guess the one I -- I would pick is the fact that I was part of a very small group that had to advise the president about whether or not to go after Bin Laden. I spent a lot of time in the situation room as secretary of state and there were many very difficult choices presented to us. But probably that was the most challenging because there was no certainty attached to it. The intelligence was by no means absolute. We had all kinds of questions that we discussed and, you know, at the end, I recommended to the president that we take the chance to do what we could to find out whether that was bin Laden and to finally bring him to justice. It was an excruciating experience. I couldn't talk to anybody about it. In fact, after it happened, the president called my husband -- he called all the former presidents and he said to Bill, "Well I assume Hillary has told you about this." And Bill said, "No, no, she hasn't." There was nobody to talk to and it really did give me an insight into the very difficult problems presidents face. +p4518 +aVWell, thank you very much to CBS and everyone here this evening for giving us another chance to appear before you. I've heard a lot about me in this debate, and I'm going to keep talking and thinking about all of you because ultimately, I think the president's job is to do everything possible, everything that she can do to lift up the people of this country. Starting with our children and moving forward. I've spent my entire life, since I started as a young lawyer for the Children's Defense Fund, trying to figure out how we can even the odds for so many people in America, this great country of ours, who are behind, who don't have a chance. And that's what I will do as your president. I will work my heart out. I need your help. All of you in Iowa, I need you to caucus for me. Please go to hillaryclinton.com and be part of making this country what we know it can and should be. +p4519 +aVWell, thank you, and thanks to everyone for hosting this first of the Democratic debates. I'm Hillary Clinton. I have been proud and privileged to serve as first lady, as a senator from New York, and as secretary of state. I'm the granddaughter of a factory worker and the grandmother of a wonderful one-year-old child. And every day, I think about what we need to do to make sure that opportunity is available not just for her, but for all of our children. I have spent a very long time \u2014 my entire adult life \u2014 looking for ways to even the odds to help people have a chance to get ahead, and, in particular, to find the ways for each child to live up to his or her God-given potential. I've traveled across our country over the last months listening and learning, and I've put forward specific plans about how we're going to create more good-paying jobs: by investing in infrastructure and clean energy, by making it possible once again to invest in science and research, and taking the opportunity posed by climate change to grow our economy. At the center of my campaign is how we're going to raise wages. Yes, of course, raise the minimum wage, but we have to do so much more, including finding ways so that companies share profits with the workers who helped to make them. And then we have to figure out how we're going to make the tax system a fairer one. Right now, the wealthy pay too little and the middle class pays too much. So I have specific recommendations about how we're going to close those loopholes, make it clear that the wealthy will have to pay their fair share, and have a series of tax cuts for middle-class families. And I want to do more to help us balance family and work. I believe in equal pay for equal work for women, but I also believe it's about time we had paid family leave for American families and join the rest of the world. During the course of the evening tonight, I'll have a chance to lay out all of my plans and the work that I've done behind them. But for me, this is about bringing our country together again. And I will do everything I can to heal the divides \u2014 the divides economically, because there's too much inequality; the racial divides; the continuing discrimination against the +p4520 +aVWell, actually, I have been very consistent. Over the course of my entire life, I have always fought for the same values and principles, but, like most human beings \u2014 including those of us who run for office \u2014 I do absorb new information. I do look at what's happening in the world. You know, take the trade deal. I did say, when I was secretary of state, three years ago, that I hoped it would be the gold standard. It was just finally negotiated last week, and in looking at it, it didn't meet my standards. My standards for more new, good jobs for Americans, for raising wages for Americans. And I want to make sure that I can look into the eyes of any middle-class American and say, "this will help raise your wages." And I concluded I could not. +p4521 +aVNo. I think that, like most people that I know, I have a range of views, but they are rooted in my values and my experience. And I don't take a back seat to anyone when it comes to progressive experience and progressive commitment. You know, when I left law school, my first job was with the Children's Defense Fund, and for all the years since, I have been focused on how we're going to un-stack the deck, and how we're gonna make it possible for more people to have the experience I had. You know, to be able to come from a grandfather who was a factory worker, a father who was a small business person, and now asking the people of America to elect me president. +p4522 +aVI'm a progressive. But I'm a progressive who likes to get things done. And I know... ...how to find common ground, and I know how to stand my ground, and I have proved that in every position that I've had, even dealing with Republicans who never had a good word to say about me, honestly. But we found ways to work together on everything from... +p4523 +aV...reforming foster care and adoption to the Children's Health Insurance Program, which insures... +p4524 +aV...8 million kids. So I have a long history of getting things done, rooted in the same values... +p4525 +aV...I've always had. +p4526 +aVWell, let me just follow-up on that, Anderson, because when I think about capitalism, I think about all the small businesses that were started because we have the opportunity and the freedom in our country for people to do that and to make a good living for themselves and their families. And I don't think we should confuse what we have to do every so often in America, which is save capitalism from itself. And I think what Senator Sanders is saying certainly makes sense in the terms of the inequality that we have. But we are not Denmark. I love Denmark. We are the United States of America. And it's our job to rein in the excesses of capitalism so that it doesn't run amok and doesn't cause the kind of inequities we're seeing in our economic system. But we would be making a grave mistake to turn our backs on what built the greatest middle class in the history... +p4527 +aV... of the world. +p4528 +aVNo, not at all. I think that we have to look at the fact that we lose 90 people a day from gun violence. This has gone on too long and it's time the entire country stood up against the NRA. The majority of our country... ... supports background checks, and even the majority of gun owners do. Senator Sanders did vote five times against the Brady bill. Since it was passed, more than 2 million prohibited purchases have been prevented. He also did vote, as he said, for this immunity provision. I voted against it. I was in the Senate at the same time. It wasn't that complicated to me. It was pretty straightforward to me that he was going to give immunity to the only industry in America. Everybody else has to be accountable, but not the gun manufacturers. And we need to stand up and say: Enough of that. We're not going to let it continue. +p4529 +aVWell, first of all, we got a lot of business done with the Russians when Medvedev was the president, and not Putin. We got a nuclear arms deal, we got the Iranian sanctions, we got an ability to bring important material and equipment to our soldiers in Afghanistan. There's no doubt that when Putin came back in and said he was going to be President, that did change the relationship. We have to stand up to his bullying, and specifically in Syria, it is important \u2014 and I applaud the administration because they are engaged in talks right now with the Russians to make it clear that they've got to be part of the solution to try to end that bloody conflict. And, to \u2014 provide safe zones so that people are not going to have to be flooding out of Syria at the rate they are. And, I think it's important too that the United States make it very clear to Putin that it's not acceptable for him to be in Syria creating more chaos, bombing people on behalf of Assad, and we can't do that if we don't take more of a leadership position, which is what I'm advocating. +p4530 +aV...Well, nobody does. Nobody does, Senator Sanders. +p4531 +aVWell, I recall very well being on a debate stage, I think, about 25 times with then Senator Obama, debating this very issue. After the election, he asked me to become Secretary of State. He valued my judgment, and I spent a lot of time with him... ...in the Situation Room, going over some very difficult issues. You know, I \u2014 I agree completely. We don't want American troops on the ground in Syria. I never said that. What I said was we had to put together a coalition \u2014 in fact, something that I worked on before I left the State Department \u2014 to do, and yes, that it should include Arabs, people in the region. Because what I worry about is what will happen with +p4532 +aVWell, first of all, I... +p4533 +aVWell, I am in the middle, here, and... Lots of things coming from all directions. +p4534 +aVYou know, I have to say, I was very pleased when Governor O'Malley endorsed me for president in 2008, and I enjoyed his strong support in that campaign. And I consider him, obviously, a friend. Let me say \u2014 because there's a lot of loose talk going on here \u2014 we are already flying in Syria just as we are flying in Iraq. The president has made a very tough decision. What I believe and why I have advocated that the no-fly zone \u2014 which of course would be in a coalition \u2014 be put on the table is because I'm trying to figure out what leverage we have to get Russia to the table. You know, diplomacy is not about getting to the perfect solution. It's about how you balance the risks. +p4535 +aVAnd I think we have an opportunity here \u2014 and I know that inside the administration this is being hotly debated \u2014 to get that leverage to try to get the Russians to have to deal with everybody in the region and begin to move toward a political, diplomatic solution in Syria. +p4536 +aVWell, let's remember what was going on. We had a murderous dictator, Gadhafi, who had American blood on his hands, as I'm sure you remember, threatening to massacre large numbers of the Libyan people. We had our closest allies in Europe burning up the phone lines begging us to help them try to prevent what they saw as a mass genocide, in their words. And we had the Arabs standing by our side saying, "We want you to help us deal with Gadhafi." Our response, which I think was smart power at its best, is that the United States will not lead this. We will provide essential, unique capabilities that we have, but the Europeans and the Arabs had to be first over the line. We did not put one single American soldier on the ground in Libya. And I'll say this for the Libyan people... +p4537 +aVBut let \u2014 I'll get to that. But I think it's important, since I understand Senator Webb's very strong feelings about this, to explain where we were then and to point out that I think President Obama made the right decision at the time. And the Libyan people had a free election the first time since 1951. And you know what, they voted for moderates, they voted with the hope of democracy. Because of the Arab Spring, because of a lot of other things, there was turmoil to be followed. But unless you believe the United States should not send diplomats to any place that is dangerous, which I do not, then when we send them forth, there is always the potential for danger and risk. +p4538 +aVI \u2014 I think it has to be continued threat from the spread of nuclear weapons, nuclear material that can fall into the wrong hands. I know the terrorists are constantly seeking it, and that's why we have to stay vigilant, but also united around the world to prevent that. +p4539 +aVWell, I've taken responsibility for it. I did say it was a mistake. What I did was allowed by the State Department, but it wasn't the best choice. And I have been as transparent as I know to be, turning over 55,000 pages of my e-mails, asking that they be made public. And you're right. I am going to be testifying. I've been asking to testify for some time and to do it in public, which was not originally agreed to. But let's just take a minute here and point out that this committee is basically an arm of the Republican National Committee. It is a partisan vehicle, as admitted by the House Republican majority leader, Mr. McCarthy, to drive down my poll numbers. Big surprise. And that's what they have attempted to do. I am still standing. I am happy to be part of this debate. And I intend to keep talking about the issues that matter to the American people. You know, I believe strongly that we need to be talking about what people talk to me about, like how are we going to make college affordable? How are we going to pay down student debt? +p4540 +aVHow are we going to get health care for everybody... +p4541 +aVWell, I never said it wasn't legitimate. I said that I have answered all the questions and I will certainly be doing so again before this committee. But I think it would be really unfair not to look at the entire picture. This committee has spent $4.5 million of taxpayer money, and they said that they were trying to figure out what we could do better to protect our diplomats so that something like Benghazi wouldn't happen again. There were already seven committee reports about what to do. So I think it's pretty clear what their obvious goal is. +p4542 +aVBut I'll be there. I'll answer their questions. But tonight, I want to talk not about my e-mails, but about what the American people want from the next president of the United States. +p4543 +aVThank you. Me, too. Me, too. +p4544 +aVThank you, Bernie. Thank you. +p4545 +aVNo. +p4546 +aVWell, I think that President Obama has been a great moral leader on these issues, and has laid out an agenda that has been obstructed by the Republicans at every turn, so... ...So, what we need to be doing is not only reforming criminal justice \u2014 I have talked about that at some length, including things like body cameras, but we also need to be following the recommendations of the commissioner that President Obama empanelled on policing. There is an agenda there that we need to be following up on. Similarly, we need to tackle mass incarceration, and this may be the only bi-partisan issue in the congress this year. We actually have people on both sides of the aisle who have reached the same conclusion, that we can not keep imprisoning more people than anybody else in the world. But, I believe that the debate, and the discussion has to go further, Anderson, because we've got to do more about the lives of these children. That's why I started off by saying we need to be committed to making it possible for every child to live up to his or her god given potential. That is... +p4547 +aV...really hard to do if you don't have early childhood education... +p4548 +aV...if you don't have schools that are able to meet the needs of the people, or good housing, there's a long list... ...We need a new New Deal for communities of color... +p4549 +aVWell, you know, both Bill and I have been very blessed. Neither of us came from wealthy families and we've worked really hard our entire lives. And I want to make sure every single person in this country has the same opportunities that he and I have had, to make the most of their God-given potential and to have the chances that they should have in America for a good education, good job training, and then good jobs. I have a five point economic plan, because this inequality challenge we face, we have faced it at other points. It's absolutely right. It hasn't been this bad since the 1920s. But if you look at the Republicans versus the Democrats when it comes to economic policy, there is no comparison. The economy does better when you have a Democrat in the White House and that's why we need to have a Democrat in the White House in January 2017. +p4550 +aVWell, my plan is more comprehensive. And frankly, it's tougher because of course we have to deal with the problem that the banks are still too big to fail. We can never let the American taxpayer and middle class families ever have to bail out the kind of speculative behavior that we saw. But we also have to worry about some of the other players \u2014 AIG, a big insurance company; Lehman Brothers, an investment bank. There's this whole area called "shadow banking." That's where the experts tell me the next potential problem could come from. +p4551 +aVSo I'm with both Senator Sanders and Governor O'Malley in putting a lot of attention onto the banks. And the plan that I have put forward would actually empower regulators to break up big banks if we thought they posed a risk. But I want to make sure we're going to cover everybody, not what caused the problem last time, but what could cause it next time. +p4552 +aVYeah. You know, I \u2014 I respect the passion an intensity. I represented Wall Street, as a senator from New York, and I went to Wall Street in December of 2007 \u2014 before the big crash that we had \u2014 and I basically said, "cut it out! Quit foreclosing on homes! Quit engaging in these kinds of speculative behaviors." I took on the Bush administration for the same thing. So I have thought deeply and long about what we're gonna do to do exactly what I think both the senator and the governor want, which is to rein in and stop this risk. And my plan would have the potential of actually sending the executives to jail. Nobody went to jail after $100 billion in fines were paid... +p4553 +aV...and would give regulators the authority to go after the big banks. +p4554 +aVBut I'm telling you \u2014 I will say it tonight. If only you look at the big banks, you may be missing the forest for the trees. +p4555 +aVSo... +p4556 +aV...no, that's not what... +p4557 +aV...that \u2014 I think Dodd-Frank was a very... +p4558 +aV...good start, and I think that we have to implement it. We have to prevent the Republicans from ripping it apart. We have to save the Consumer Financial Protection board, which is finally beginning to act to protect consumers. We have work to do. You've got no argument from me. But I know, if we don't come in with a very tough and comprehensive approach, like the plan I'm recommending, we're gonna be behind instead of ahead... +p4559 +aV...on what the next crisis could be. O' +p4560 +aVWell, you know, everybody on this stage has changed a position or two. We've been around a cumulative quite some period of time. You know, we know that if you are learning, you're gonna change your position. I never took a position on Keystone until I took a position on Keystone. But I have been on the forefront of dealing with climate change, starting in 2009, when President Obama and I crashed (ph) a meeting with the Chinese and got them to sign up to the first international agreement to combat climate change that they'd ever joined. So I'm... +p4561 +aV...not taking a back seat to anybody on my values... +p4562 +aV...my principles and the results that I get. +p4563 +aVWell, let me address college affordability, because I have a plan that I think will really zero in on what the problems are. First, all the 40 million Americans who currently have student debt will be able to refinance their debt to a low interest rate. That will save thousands of dollars for people who are now struggling under this cumbersome, burdensome college debt. As a young student in Nevada said to me, the hardest thing about going to college should not be paying for it. So then we have to make it more affordable. How do we make it more affordable? My plan would enable anyone to go to a public college or university tuition free. You would not have to borrow money for tuition. But I do believe \u2014 and maybe it's because I worked when I went through college; I worked when I went through law school \u2014 I think it's important for everybody to have some part of getting this accomplished. That's why I call it a compact. +p4564 +aVBut, yes, I would like students to work 10 hours a week... +p4565 +aVWell, I fully support Social Security. And the most important fight we're going to have is defending it against continuing Republican efforts to privatize it. +p4566 +aVI want to enhance the benefits for the poorest recipients of Social Security. We have a lot of women on Social Security, particularly widowed and single women who didn't make a lot of money during their careers, and they are impoverished, and they need more help from the Social Security system. And I will focus \u2014 I will focus on helping those people who need it the most. And of course I'm going to defend Social Security. I'm going to look for ways to try to make sure it's solvent into the future. And we also need to talk about health care at some time, because we agree on the goals, we just disagree on the means. +p4567 +aVWell, first of all, I want to make sure every child gets health care. That's why I helped to create the Children's Health Insurance Program, and I want to support states that are expanding health care and including undocumented children and others. I want to open up the opportunity for immigrants to be able to buy in to the exchanges under the Affordable Care Act. I think to go beyond that, as I understand what Governor O'Malley has recommended, so that they would get the same subsidies. I think that is \u2014 it raises so many issues. It would be very difficult to administer, it needs to be part of a comprehensive immigration reform, when we finally do get to it. +p4568 +aVI want to follow up because I think underneath Juan Carlos' important questions, there is such a difference between everything you're hearing here on this stage, and what we hear from the Republicans. O' +p4569 +aVDemonize hard-working immigrants who have insulted them. You know, I came to Las Vegas in, I think, May. Early may. Met with a group of +p4570 +aV...than even the executive orders that President Obama has signed when I'm president. ( +p4571 +aVMy plan would support any state that takes that position, and would work with those states and encourage more states to do the same thing. +p4572 +aVIf their states agree, then we want more states to do the same thing. +p4573 +aVNo, I don't. I think that it was necessary to make sure that we were able after 9/11 to put in place the security that we needed. And it is true that it did require that there be a process. What happened, however, is that the Bush administration began to chip away at that process. And I began to speak out about their use of warrantless surveillance and the other behavior that they engaged in. We always have to keep the balance of civil liberties, privacy and security. It's not easy in a democracy, but we have to keep it in mind. +p4574 +aVHe broke the laws of the United States. He could have been a whistleblower. He could have gotten all of the protections of being a whistleblower. He could have raised all the issues that he has raised. And I think there would have been a positive response to that. +p4575 +aVWell, I think that's pretty obvious. I think being the first woman president would be quite a change from the presidents we've had up until this point, including President Obama. +p4576 +aVWell, there's a lot that I would like to do to build on the successes of President Obama, but also, as I'm laying out, to go beyond. And that's in my economic plans, how I would deal with the prescription drug companies, how I would deal with college, how I would deal with a full range of issues that I've been talking about throughout this campaign to go further. +p4577 +aVWell, thank you. ( +p4578 +aVYou know, it does take me a little longer. That's all I can say. +p4579 +aVWell, I can't think of anything more of an outsider than electing the first woman president, but I'm not just running because I would be the first woman president. +p4580 +aVI'm running because I have a lifetime of experience in getting results and fighting for people, fighting for kids, for women, for families, fighting to even the odds. And I know what it takes to get things done. I know how to find common ground and I know how to stand my ground. And I think we're going to need both of those in Washington to get anything that we're talking about up here accomplished. So I'm very happy that I have both the commitment of a lifetime and the experience of a lifetime to bring together to offer the American people. +p4581 +aVWell, I would not ask anyone to vote for me based on my last name. I would ask them to listen to what I'm proposing, look at what I've accomplished in the Senate, as secretary of of state, and then draw your own conclusion. I certainly am not campaigning to become president because my last name is Clinton. I'm campaigning because I think I have the right combination of what the country needs, at this point, and I think I can take the fight to the Republicans, because we cannot afford a Republican to succeed Barack Obama as president of the United States. +p4582 +aVWell, that \u2014 that's exactly what I've been doing. When we met in Copenhagen in 2009 and, literally, President Obama and I were hunting for the Chinese, going throughout this huge convention center, because we knew we had to get them to agree to something. Because there will be no effective efforts against climate change unless China and India join with the rest of the world. They told us they'd left for the airport; we found out they were having a secret meeting. We marched up, we broke in, we said, "We've been looking all over for you. Let's sit down and talk about what we need to do." And we did come up with the first international agreement that China has signed. Thanks to President Obama's leadership, it's now gone much further. +p4583 +aVAnd I do think that the bilateral agreement that President Obama made with the Chinese was significant. Now, it needs to go further, and there will be an international meeting at the end of this year, and we must get verifiable commitments to fight climate change from every country gathered there. +p4584 +aVMm-hmm. +p4585 +aVWell, I'm surprised she says that, because California has had a paid leave program for a number of years. And it's... +p4586 +aVWell, but all \u2014 well, on a state level, a state as big as many countries in the world. And it has not had the ill effects that the Republicans are always saying it will have. And I think this is \u2014 this is typical Republican scare tactics. We can design a system and pay for it that does not put the burden on small businesses. I remember as a young mother, you know, having a baby wake up who was sick and I'm supposed to be in court, because I was practicing law. I know what it's like. And I think we need to recognize the incredible challenges that so many parents face, particularly working moms. I see my good friend, Senator Gillibrand, in the front row. She's been a champion of this. We need to get a consensus through this campaign, which is why I'm talking about it everywhere I go, and we need to join the rest of the advanced world in having it. +p4587 +aVWell, look, you know, when people say that \u2014 it's always the Republicans or their sympathizers who say, "You can't have paid leave, you can't provide health care." They don't mind having big government to interfere with a woman's right to choose and to try to take down Planned Parenthood. They're fine with big government when it comes to that. I'm sick of it. You know, we can do these things. We should not be paralyzed \u2014 we should not be paralyzed by the Republicans and their constant refrain, "big government this, big government that," that except for what they want to impose on the American people. I know we can afford it, because we're going to make the wealthy pay for it. That is the way to get it done. +p4588 +aVNo. I think that we have the opportunity through the states that are pursuing recreational marijuana to find out a lot more than we know today. I do support the use of medical marijuana, and I think even there we need to do a lot more research so that we know exactly how we're going to help people for whom medical marijuana provides relief. So, I think we're just at the beginning, but I agree completely with the idea that we have got to stop imprisoning people who use marijuana. Therefore, we need more states, cities, and the federal government to begin to address this so that we don't have this terrible result that Senator Sanders was talking about where we have a huge population in our prisons for nonviolent, low-level offenses that are primarily due to marijuana. +p4589 +aVWell, in addition to the NRA, the health insurance companies, the drug companies, the Iranians. Probably the Republicans. +p4590 +aVThank you very much, Anderson. And thanks to all the viewers who tuned in tonight. I think what you did see is that, in this debate, we tried to deal with some of the very tough issues facing our country. That's in stark contrast to the Republicans who are currently running for president. What you have to ask yourself is: Who amongst us has the vision for actually making the changes that are going to improve the lives of the American people? Who has the tenacity and the ability and the proven track record of getting that done? Now, I revere my late mother, and she gave me a lot of good advice. But one of the best pieces of advice she gave me was, you know, the issue is not whether or not you get knocked down. It's whether you get back up. America's been knocked down. That Great Recession, 9 million people lost their jobs, 5 million lost their homes, $13 trillion in wealth disappeared. And although we've made progress, we're standing but not running the way America needs to. My mission as president will be to raise incomes for hard-working middle-class families and to make sure that we get back to the basic bargain I was raised with: If you work hard and you do your part, you should be able to get ahead and stay ahead. Please join me in this campaign. Please come and make it clear that America's best days are still ahead. Thank you very much. +p4591 +asVTRUMP +p4592 +(lp4593 +VThank you. I began this journey six months ago. My total focus was on building up our military, building up our strength, building up our borders, making sure that China, Japan, Mexico, both at the border and in trade, no longer takes advantage of our country. Certainly would never have made that horrible, disgusting, absolutely incompetent deal with Iran where they get $150 billion. They're a terrorist nation. But I began it talking about other things. And those things are things that I'm very good at and maybe that's why I'm center stage. People saw it. People liked it. People respected it. A month ago things changed. Radical Islamic terrorism came into effect even more so than it has been in the past. People like what I say. People respect what I say. And we've opened up a very big discussion that needed to be opened up. Thank you very much. +p4594 +aVWe are not talking about isolation. We're talking about security. We're not talking about religion. We're talking about security. Our country is out of control. People are pouring across the southern border. I will build a wall. It will be a great wall. People will not come in unless they come in legally. Drugs will not pour through that wall. As far as other people like in the migration, where they're going, tens of thousands of people having cell phones with +p4595 +aVJeb doesn't really believe I'm unhinged. He said that very simply because he has failed in this campaign. It's been a total disaster. Nobody cares. And frankly, I'm the most solid person up here. I built a tremendous company and all I want to do is make America great again. I don't want our country to be taken away from us, and that's what's happening. The policies that we've suffered under other presidents have been a disaster for our country. We want to make America great again. And Jeb, in all fairness, he doesn't believe that. +p4596 +aVWell, look, this is so easy to answer. +p4597 +aVI would certainly be open to closing areas where we are at war with somebody. I sure as hell don't want to let people that want to kill us and kill our nation use our Internet. Yes, sir, I am. +p4598 +aVWe have to be much tougher. We have to be much stronger than we've been. We have people that know what is going on. You take a look at just the attack in California the other day. There were numerous people, including the mother, that knew what was going on. They saw a pipe bomb sitting all over the floor. They saw ammunition all over the place. They knew exactly what was going on. When you had the World Trade Center go, people were put into planes that were friends, family, girlfriends, and they were put into planes and they were sent back, for the most part, to Saudi Arabia. They knew what was going on. They went home and they wanted to watch their boyfriends on television. I would be very, very firm with families. Frankly, that will make people think because they may not care much about their lives, but they do care, believe it or not, about their families' lives. +p4599 +aVLook, the problem is we need toughness. Honestly, I think Jeb is a very nice person. He's a very nice person. But we need tough people. We need toughness. We need intelligence and we need tough. Jeb said when they come across the southern border they come as an act of love. +p4600 +aVAm I talking or are you talking, Jeb? +p4601 +aVYou can go back. You're not talking. You interrupted me. +p4602 +aVAre you going to apologize, Jeb? No. Am I allowed to finish? +p4603 +aVExcuse me, am I allowed to finish? +p4604 +aVSo... +p4605 +aV... again... +p4606 +aVI know you're trying to build up your energy, Jeb, but it's not working very well. +p4607 +aVLook, look, look. We need a toughness. We need strength. We're not respected, you know, as a nation anymore. We don't have that level of respect that we need. And if we don't get it back fast, we're just going to go weaker, weaker and just disintegrate. We can't allow that to happen. We need strength. We don't have it. When Jeb comes out and he talks about the border, and I saw it and I was witness to it, and so was everyone else, and I was standing there, "they come across as an act of love," he's saying the same thing right now with radical Islam. And we can't have that in our country. It just won't work. We need strength. +p4608 +aVWith Jeb's attitude, we will never be great again, that I can tell you. We will never be great again. +p4609 +aVSo, they can kill us, but we can't kill them? That's what you're saying. And as far as the Internet is concerned, we're not talking about closing the Internet. I'm talking about parts of Syria, parts of Iraq, where +p4610 +aVIn my opinion, we've spent $4 trillion trying to topple various people that frankly, if they were there and if we could've spent that $4 trillion in the United States to fix our roads, our bridges, and all of the other problems; our airports and all of the other problems we've had, we would've been a lot better off. I can tell you that right now. We have done a tremendous disservice, not only to Middle East, we've done a tremendous disservice to humanity. The people that have been killed, the people that have wiped away, and for what? It's not like we had victory. It's a mess. The Middle East is totally destabilized. A total and complete mess. I wish we had the $4 trillion or $5 trillion. I wish it were spent right here in the United States, on our schools, hospitals, roads, airports, and everything else that are all falling apart. +p4611 +aVWell, there's nothing to respond to. Well, people feel differently. I mean, the fact is Benghazi was a disaster because of Libya, everything just fell into place. It could not have been worse. What do we have now? We have nothing. We've spent $3 trillion and probably much more \u2013 I have no idea what we've spent. Thousands and thousands of lives, we have nothing. Wounded warriors all over the place who I love, we have nothing for it. And by the way \u2013 and Ben said incorrectly \u2013 and I'm not saying this as a knock \u2013 he's one of finest men. You're not going to find a finer men. But I've been talking about oil for three years. I've been saying,, "take the oil, take the oil." I didn't say, "just bomb it," I said," take it and use it and distribute it so that the wounded warriors -" People, I've been saying this now for many years. +p4612 +aVNow, all of a sudden everybody's saying, "take the oil." It wasn't so fashionable to take the oil six months ago. I've been saying it for years. +p4613 +aVI think Assad is a bad guy, a very bad guy, all right? Lots of people killed. I think we are backing people we have no idea who they are. The rebels, we call them the rebels, the patriotic rebels. We have no idea. A lot of people think, Hugh, that they are +p4614 +aVI think it's very sad that CNN leads Jeb Bush, Governor Bush, down a road by starting off virtually all the questions, "Mr. Trump this, Mister" \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched the first debate, and the first long number of questions were, "Mr. Trump said this, Mr. Trump said that. Mr. Trump" \u2014 these poor guys \u2014 although, I must tell you, Santorum, good guy. Governor Huckabee, good guy. They were very nice, and I respect them greatly. But I thought it was very unfair that virtually the entire early portion of the debate was Trump this, Trump that, in order to get ratings, I guess. In order to get ratings, I guess. +p4615 +aVI just think it's very \u2014 excuse me. +p4616 +aVExcuse me. I think it's very unprofessional. +p4617 +aVWell, I think it's very unprofessional. +p4618 +aVOK, fine. +p4619 +aVThis isn't tough and easy. I wish it... +p4620 +aVI wish it was always this easy as you, Jeb. +p4621 +aVOh, yeah. +p4622 +aVOh, I know. You're a tough guy, Jeb. I know. +p4623 +aVYou're tough. +p4624 +aVWell, let's see. I'm at 42, and you're at 3. So, so far, I'm doing better. +p4625 +aVSo far, I'm doing better. You know, you started off over here, Jeb. You're moving over further and further. Pretty soon you're going to be off the end... +p4626 +aVI believe I did. +p4627 +aVI have a very hardline position, we have a country or we don't have a country. People that have come into our country illegally, they have to go. They have to come back into through a legal process. I want a strong border. I do want a wall. Walls do work, you just have to speak to the folks in Israel. Walls work if they're properly constructed. I know how to build, believe me, I know how to build. I feel a very, very strong bind, and really I'm bound to this country, we either have a border or we don't. People can come into the country, we welcome people to come but they have to come in legally. +p4628 +aVWell, first of all, I think we need somebody absolutely that we can trust, who is totally responsible; who really knows what he or she is doing. That is so powerful and so important. And one of the things that I'm frankly most proud of is that in 2003, 2004, I was totally against going into Iraq because you're going to destabilize the Middle East. I called it. I called it very strongly. And it was very important. But we have to be extremely vigilant and extremely careful when it comes to nuclear. Nuclear changes the whole ball game. Frankly, I would have said get out of Syria; get out \u2014 if we didn't have the power of weaponry today. The power is so massive that we can't just leave areas that 50 years ago or 75 years ago we wouldn't care. It was hand-to-hand combat. The biggest problem this world has today is not President Obama with global warming, which is inconceivable, this is what he's saying. The biggest problem we have is nuclear \u2014 nuclear proliferation and having some maniac, having some madman go out and get a nuclear weapon. That's in my opinion, that is the single biggest problem that our country faces right now. +p4629 +aVI think \u2014 I think, for me, nuclear is just the power, the devastation is very important to me. +p4630 +aVI did. +p4631 +aVLet me just say that I have gotten to know him over the last three or four days. He has a wonderful temperament. He's just fine. Don't worry about it. +p4632 +aVYou better not attack... +p4633 +aVI really am. I'll be honest, I really am. I mean, the people have been putting me... I really am. +p4634 +aVLet me just. Can I just finish my... +p4635 +aVI've gained great respect for the Republican leadership. I've gained great respect for many \u2014 and I'm going to even say \u2014 I mean, in different forms for the people on the dais, in different forms. In different forms. But I have great respect for the people I have met through this process. I've never done this process before. I've never been a politician. I mean, for the last six months I've been a politician. But I will tell you, I am totally committed to the Republican Party. I feel very honored to be the front runner. And I think I'll do very well if I'm chosen. If I'm so fortunate to be chosen, I think I'll do very well. Polls have come out recently saying I would beat Hillary. I will do everything in my power to beat Hillary Clinton, I promise you. +p4636 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We don't win on trade. We don't win on the military. We can't defeat +p4637 +aVI can't be Neil. And the and the reason I can't be is that we are a country that is being beaten on every front economically, militarily. There is nothing that we do now to win. We don't win anymore. Our taxes are too high. I've come up with a tax plan that many, many people like very much. It's going to be a tremendous plan. I think it'll make our country and our economy very dynamic. But, taxes too high, wages too high, we're not going to be able to compete against the world. I hate to say it, but we have to leave it the way it is. People have to go out, they have to work really hard and have to get into that upper stratum. But we can not do this if we are going to compete with the rest of the world. We just can't do it. +p4638 +aVI would not do it. +p4639 +aVI was so happy yesterday when I saw that decision come down. That was an unbelievable decision. And we don't have enough of those decisions coming down. He of the executive order, because nobody wants to listen to him, including the Democrats, so he just goes around signing executive orders. That was a great day. And, frankly, we have to stop illegal immigration. It's hurting us economically. It's hurting us from every standpoint. It's causing tremendous difficulty with respect to drugs and what that does to many of our inner cities in particular. And it really is \u2014 was such an unbelievable moment because the courts have not been ruling in our favor. And it was a 2-1 decision. And it was a terrific thing that happened. And I will tell you, we are a country of laws. We need borders. We will have a wall. The wall will be built. The wall will be successful. And if you think walls don't work, all you have to do is ask Israel. The wall works, believe me. Properly done. Believe me. +p4640 +aVYou are going to have to bring people \u2014 you are going to have to send people out. Look, we're a country... +p4641 +aVMaria, we're a country of laws. We either have a country or we don't have a country. We are a country of laws. Going to have to go out and they will come back but they are going to have to go out and hopefully they get back. But we have no choice if we're going to run our country properly and if we're going to be a country. +p4642 +aVAll I can say is, you're lucky in Ohio that you struck oil. That is for one thing. Let me just tell you that Dwight Eisenhower, good president, great president, people liked him. "I like Ike," right? The expression. "I like Ike." Moved a 1.5 million illegal immigrants out of this country, moved them just beyond the border. They came back. Moved them again beyond the border, they came back. Didn't like it. Moved them way south. They never came back. Dwight Eisenhower. You don't get nicer. You don't get friendlier. They moved a 1.5 million out. We have no choice. We have no choice. +p4643 +aVNo, it's unfair. +p4644 +aV... built an unbelievable company worth billions and billions of dollars. I don't have to hear from this man, believe me. I don't have to hear from him. +p4645 +aVWe have millions of people right now on line trying to come into this country. Very, very unfair to the people that want to come into our country legally. They've gone through the process. They're on line. They're waiting. Very, very unfair to them. That I can tell you. +p4646 +aVYes. +p4647 +aVNo, I'm sorry. No, excuse me. I was there. +p4648 +aVPlease, if I could just... +p4649 +aVWe have to make our military bigger, better, stronger than ever before so that nobody messes with us, and a long run, it's going to save us. I agree with Marco, I agree with Ted, we have no choice. And, I can tell you this with certainty. We all have a different tax plan. Some I don't totally agree with. One thing we understand, each one of those tax plans is better than the mess that we have right now. +p4650 +aV...Yes... +p4651 +aV...Yeah... +p4652 +aV...It's a horrible deal... +p4653 +aVThe TPP is horrible deal. It is a deal that is going to lead to nothing but trouble. It's a deal that was designed for China to come in, as they always do, through the back door and totally take advantage of everyone. It's 5,600 pages long. So complex that nobodies read it. It's like Obamacare; nobody ever read it. They passed it; nobody read it. And look at mess we have right now. And it will be repealed. But this is one of the worst trade deals. And I would, yes, rather not have it. With all of these countries, and all of the bad ones getting advantage and taking advantage of what the good ones would normally get, I'd rather make individual deals with individual countries. We will do much better. We lose a fortune on trade. The United States loses with everybody. We're losing now over $500 billion in terms of imbalance with China, $75 billion a year imbalance with Japan. By the way, Mexico, $50 billion a year imbalance. So I must say, Gerard, I just think it's a terrible deal. I love trade. I'm a free trader, 100 percent. But we need smart people making the deals, and we don't have smart people making the deals. +p4654 +aVYes. Well, the currency manipulation they don't discuss in the agreement, which is a disaster. If you look at the way China and India and almost everybody takes advantage of the United States \u2014 China in particular, because they're so good. It's the number-one abuser of this country. And if you look at the way they take advantage, it's through currency manipulation. It's not even discussed in the almost 6,000-page agreement. It's not even discussed. +p4655 +aVAnd as you understand, I mean, you understand very well from the Wall Street Journal, currency manipulation is the single great weapon people have. They don't even discuss it in this agreement. So I say, it's a very bad deal, should not be approved. If it is approved, it will just be more bad trade deals, more loss of jobs for our country. We are losing jobs like nobody's ever lost jobs before. I want to bring jobs back into this country. +p4656 +aVWell, first of all, it's not only Russia. We have problems with North Korea where they actually have nuclear weapons. You know, nobody talks about it, we talk about Iran, and that's one of the worst deals ever made. One of the worst contracts ever signed, ever, in anything, and it's a disgrace. But, we have somebody over there, a madman, who already has nuclear weapons we don't talk about that. That's a problem. China is a problem, both economically in what they're doing in the South China Sea, I mean, they are becoming a very, very major force. So, we have more than just Russia. But, as far as the Ukraine is concerned, and you could Syria \u2014 as far as Syria, I like \u2014 if Putin wants to go in, and I got to know him very well because we were both on 60 Minutes, we were stablemates, and we did very well that night. But, you know that. But, if Putin wants to go and knocked the hell out of +p4657 +aV...They blew up \u2014 hold it.... +p4658 +aV...They blew up, wait a minute... ...They blew up a Russian airplane. He cannot be in love with these people. He's going in, and we can go in, and everybody should go in. As far as the Ukraine is concerned, we have a group of people, and a group of countries, including Germany \u2014 tremendous economic behemoth \u2014 why are we always doing the work? We are \u2014 I'm all for protecting Ukraine and working \u2014 but, we have countries that are surrounding the Ukraine that aren't doing anything. They say, "Keep going, keep going, you dummies, keep going. Protect us..." ...And we have to get smart. We can't continue to be the policeman of the world. We are $19 trillion dollars, we have a country that's going to hell, we have an infrastructure that's falling apart. Our roads, our bridges, our schools, our airports, and we have to start investing money in our country. +p4659 +aVAssad is a bad guy, but we have no idea who the so-called rebels \u2014 I read about the rebels, nobody even knows who they are. I spoke to a general two weeks ago, he said \u2014 he was very up on exactly what we're talking about. He said, "You know, Mr. Trump? We're giving hundreds of millions of dollars of equipment to these people, we have no idea who they are." So, I don't like Assad. Who's going to like Assad? But, we have no idea who these people, and what they're going to be, and what they're going to represent. They may be far worse than Assad. Look at Libya. Look at Iraq. Look at the mess we have after spending $2 trillion dollars, thousands of lives, wounded warriors all over the place \u2014 who I love, OK? All over. We have nothing. And, I said, keep the oil. And we should have kept the oil, believe me. We should have kept the oil. And, you know what? We should have given the oil... ..We should've given big chunks to the people that lost their arms, their legs, and their families, and their sons, and daughters, because right now, you know who has a lot of that oil? Iran, and +p4660 +aVWhy does she keep interrupting everybody? Terrible. +p4661 +aVWe are not. +p4662 +aV...No, no, no... +p4663 +aVWell, what's happening right now, Neil, is something that not been a subject of conversation by politicians. As primarily the only politician, I guess other than Carly on the stage, they haven't talked about a corporate inversion. A corporate inversion \u2014 companies are leaving. You know, we used to leave New York to go to Florida. We got better taxes, we got, maybe, something else. Now, they're the United States to go to other countries. They have trillions of dollars in those other countries. They're going for two reasons, they can't get their money back in. It's something where the democrats and the republicans both agree, it's the only thing I can think of. They both agree, let the money come back in. Three and a half years, they still can't make a deal. They can't get the money in. It's probably two and a half trillion, but, I think it's much more than that. All of that money could become \u2014 could come right in and be used to rebuild our country, and investments in our country. They can't do it. What we have to do, and what I've done, is made the tax rate \u2014 and one of the reasons they don't the taxes so obnoxious, they can't do it. Where, I made it a 10% number, as you know. I've been very highly praised for it. A lot of money's going to come back in, we're going to get rid of the bureaucratic problems, and roadblocks, because that's also a problem. And, we're going to have all of this money pour back into the United States. It's going to be used to build businesses, for jobs, and everything else. And, as I say, my expression is, let's make America great again. +p4664 +aVThank you. Over the years, I've created tens of thousands of jobs and a great company. It's a company I'm very proud of. Some of the most iconic assets anywhere in the world. And I will tell you, I don't have to give you a website because I'm self-funding my campaign. I'm putting up my own money. I want to do something really special. I want to make our country greater than it's ever been. I think we have that potential. We cannot lose this election. We cannot let Hillary Clinton, who is the worst secretary of state in the history of our country, win this election. We will fight. We will win. And we truly will make this even more special. We have to make it better than ever before. And I will tell you, the United States can actually be better than ever before. Thank you. +p4665 +aVI think maybe my greatest weakness is that I trust people too much. I'm too trusting. And when they let me down, if they let me down, I never forgive. I find it very, very hard to forgive people that deceived me. So I don't know if you would call that a weakness, but my wife said "let up." +p4666 +aVRight. +p4667 +aVRight. +p4668 +aVThat's right. +p4669 +aVNo, not a comic book, and it's not a very nicely asked question the way you say that. Larry Kudlow is an example, who I have a lot of respect for, who loves my tax plan. We're reducing taxes to 15 percent. We're bringing corporate taxes down, bringing money back in, corporate inversions. We have $2.5 trillion outside of the United States which we want to bring back in. As far as the wall is concerned, we're going to build a wall. We're going to create a border. We're going to let people in, but they're going to come in legally. They're going to come in legally. And it's something that can be done, and I get questioned about that. They built the great wall of China. That's 13,000 miles. Here, we actually need 1,000 because we have natural barriers. So we need 1,000. We can do a wall. We're going to have a big, fat beautiful door right in the middle of the wall. We're going to have people come in, but they're coming in legally. And Mexico's going to pay for the wall because Mexico \u2014 I love the Mexican people; I respect the Mexican leaders \u2014 but the leaders are much sharper, smarter and more cunning than our leaders. And just to finish, people say, how will you get Mexico to pay? A politician other than the people in the states \u2014 I don't want to \u2014 a politician cannot get them to pay. I can. We lose, we have a trade imbalance... Excuse me, John. ... of $50 billion... +p4670 +aV... believe me the world is peanuts by comparison. +p4671 +aVRight. Dynamically. +p4672 +aVThen you have to get rid of Larry Kudlow, who sits on your panel, who's a great guy, who came out the other day and said, I love Trump's tax plan. +p4673 +aVFirst of all, John got lucky with a thing called fracking, OK? He hit oil. He got lucky with fracking. Believe me, that is why Ohio is doing well. Number \u2014 and that is important for you to know. Number two, this was the man that was a managing general partner at Lehman Brothers when it went down the tubes and almost took every one of us with it, including Ben and myself, because I was there and I watched what happened. And Lehman Brothers started it all. He was on the board. And he was a managing general partner. And just thirdly, he was so nice. He was such a nice guy. And he said, oh, I'm never going to attack. But then his poll numbers tanked. He has got \u2014 that is why he is on the end. And he got nasty. And he got nasty. So you know what? You can have him. +p4674 +aVI think you're \u2014 +p4675 +aVWell, first of all, like many other very big businessmen, I could name them here, but I'm not going to do that for a lot of obvious reasons, but the biggest, and almost all of them, they've all used the chapter laws, the bankruptcy laws to their own benefit. Before this, I was a very successful person as a developer and as a businessman. Atlantic City has gone bad. I mean, Chris will know about that. I'm not blaming Chris, by the way, but he will know about that. Caesar's \u2014 excuse me \u2014 Caesar's, the Rolls-Royce, as you know, is in bankruptcy. Almost every hotel in Atlantic City has either been in bankruptcy or will be in bankruptcy \u2014 the biggest. But also the biggest people (ph) \u2014 now I've used that to my advantage as a business man, for my family, for myself. I never filed for bankruptcy. But many, many people did. What happened with Atlantic City is very, very disgraceful. Now hundreds of companies I've opened. I've used it three times, maybe four times. Came out great. But I guess I'm supposed to come out great. That is what I could do for the country. We owe $19 trillion, boy am I good at solving debt problems. Nobody can solve it like me. But I will tell you this, Atlantic City, you're using that, hundreds of companies that I have opened have thrived. I built a net worth of way over $10 billion, and I have done it four times out of hundreds. And I'm glad I did it. I used the laws of the country to my benefit, I'm sorry. +p4676 +aVThank you. +p4677 +aVI was not at all critical of him. I was not at all. In fact, frankly, he's complaining about the fact that we're losing some of the most talented people. They go to Harvard. They go to Yale. They go to Princeton. They come from another country and they're immediately sent out. I am all in favor of keeping these talented people here so they can go to work in Silicon Valley. +p4678 +aVSo I have nothing at all critical of him. +p4679 +aVProbably, I don't know \u2014 you people write the stuff. I don't know where you... And if I could say just one thing. I am the only person in either campaign that's self-funding. I'm putting up 100 percent of my own money. And right now, I will be putting up a tremendous \u2014 so far, I've put up less than anybody and I have the best results. Wouldn't that be nice if the country could do that? But I will be putting \u2014 I will be putting up, you know, tremendous amounts of money. SuperPacs are a disaster. They're a scam. They cause dishonesty. And you better get rid of them because they are causing a lot of bad decisions to be made by some very good people. And I'm not blaming these folks \u2014 well, I guess I could. Very good people are making very bad decisions right now. And if anything comes out of this whole thing with some of these nasty and ridiculous questions, I will tell you, you better get rid of the SuperPacs because they causing a big problem with this country, not only in dishonesty and what's going on, but also in a lot of bad decisions that have been made for the benefit of lobbyists and special interests. +p4680 +aVI never said that. I never said that. +p4681 +aVYou've got another gentleman in Florida, who happens to be a very nice guy, but not... +p4682 +aV... he's really doing some bad... +p4683 +aVI'm in favor of people coming into this country legally. And you know what? They can have it anyway you want. You can call it visas, you can call it work permits, you can call it anything you want. I've created tens of thousands of jobs, and in all due respect \u2014 and actually some of these folks I really like a lot \u2014 but I'm the only one that can say that. I have created tens of thousands of jobs, and I'll be creating many millions of jobs if I'm given \u2014 if I'm given the opportunity to be president. As far as Mark is concerned, as far as the visas are concerned, if we need people, they have \u2014 it's fine. They have to come into this country legally. We have a country of borders. We have a country of laws. We have to obey the laws. It's fine if they come in, but they have to come in legally. +p4684 +aVYes. +p4685 +aVOr somebody else. Right. +p4686 +aVYes, I might feel more comfortable. I would say that I would and I have a permit, which is very unusual in New York \u2014 a permit to carry. And I do carry on occasion, sometimes a lot. But I like to be unpredictable so that people don't know exactly... +p4687 +aVBy the way, unlike our country where we're totally predictable and the enemy, whether it's +p4688 +aVI would change them. I would change them. +p4689 +aVSuch a nasty \u2014 such a nasty question, but thank you, Governor. +p4690 +aVYes, it's very simple. We're going to make a really dynamic economy from what we have right now, which is not at all dynamic. We're going to bring jobs back from Japan, we're going to bring jobs back from China, we're going to bring, frankly, jobs back from Mexico where, as you probably saw, Nabisco is leaving Chicago with one of their biggest plants, and they're moving it to Mexico. We're going to bring jobs and manufacturing back. We're going to cut costs. We're going to save Social Security, and we're going to save Medicare. [ +p4691 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We used to win, we don't win anymore. We lose on trade. We lose with +p4692 +aVAnd, I'll do that with the country. We will make America great again. And, thank you everybody. Just for the record. +p4693 +aVThat's not right. That is absolutely not right. You know that. That is not right. [ +p4694 +aVI'm Donald Trump. I wrote "The Art of the Deal". I say not in a braggadocious way, I've made billions and billions of dollars dealing with people all over the world, and I want to put whatever that talent is to work for this country so we have great trade deals, we make our country rich again, we make it great again. We build our military, we take care of our vets, we get rid of Obamacare, and we have a great life altogether. Thank you. Thank you. +p4695 +aVWell, first of all, Rand Paul shouldn't even be on this stage. He's number 11, he's got 1 percent in the polls, and how he got up here, there's far too many people anyway. As far as temperament \u2014 and we all know that \u2014 as far as temperament, I think I have a great temperament. I built a phenomenal business with incredible, iconic assets, one of the really truly great real-estate businesses. And I may be an entertainer, because I've had tremendous success with number-one bestsellers all over the place, with "The Apprentice" and everything else I've done. But I will tell you this: What I am far and away greater than an entertainer is a businessman, and that's the kind of mindset this country needs to bring it back, because we owe $19 trillion right now, $19 trillion, and you need this kind of thinking to bring our country back. And believe me, my temperament is very good, very calm. But we will be respected outside of this country. We are not respected now. +p4696 +aVI never attacked him on his look, and believe me, there's plenty of subject matter right there. That I can tell you. +p4697 +aVI've actually been in politics all my life, although I've been on that side as opposed to this side. I'm now a politician for about three months. Obviously, I'm doing pretty well. I'm number one in every poll by a lot. But the qualification is that I've dealt with people all over the world, been successful all over the world. Everything I've done virtually has been a tremendous success. When markets changed, when things turned, I heard Governor Pataki, who, by the way, was a failed governor in New York, a very seriously failed \u2014 he wouldn't be elected dog catcher right now. I heard what he had to say. And I will tell you this: Atlantic City, I've made a tremendous amount of money in Atlantic City. I left seven years ago, I've gotten great credit for my timing, and that's what I'm all about. I'm a businessman, did really well, really well, and Jeb, what I want to do is put that ability into this country to make our country rich again. And I can do that, and I'm not sure that anybody else in the group will be able to do that. +p4698 +aVBut I have to say... +p4699 +aVWell, in Wisconsin... +p4700 +aVExcuse me. +p4701 +aVIn Wisconsin, you're losing $2.2 billion right now. +p4702 +aVI would do so much better than that. +p4703 +aVNo. +p4704 +aVI'm using facts. +p4705 +aVEvery major business leader has used the \u2014 I never went bankrupt, by the way, as you know, everybody knows. But we \u2014 hundreds of companies, hundreds of deals, I've used ???: ... into bankruptcy. That's what's wrong with politicians in Washington right now. They think we can take a country into bankruptcy. +p4706 +aVEvery major business leader, has used the \u2014 I never went bank bankrupt, by the way, as you know, everybody knows. But \u2014 hundreds of companies, hundreds of deals, I used the law four times and made a tremendous thing. I'm in business. I did a very good job. But I will say this, and people are very, very impressed with what I've done, the business people. But when the folks of Iowa found out the true facts of the job that you've done in Wisconsin, all of a sudden you, tubed (ph), he was No. 1 and now he's No. 6 or seven in the polls. So, look, we brought it out, you were supposed to make a billion dollars in the state. You lost 2.2 \u2014 you have right now, a huge budget deficit. That's not a Democratic point. That's a point. That's a fact. And when the people of Iowa found that out, I went to No. 1 and you went down the tubes. +p4707 +aVI didn't \u2014 +p4708 +aVTotally false. +p4709 +aVI would have gotten it. +p4710 +aVI promise I would have gotten it. +p4711 +aVI promise if I wanted it, I would have gotten it. +p4712 +aVI know my people. +p4713 +aVI know my people. +p4714 +aVNo. I just will tell you that, you know, Jeb made the statement. I'm not only referring to him. I \u2014 a lot of money was raised by a lot of different people that are standing up here. And the donors, the special interests, the lobbyists have very strong power over these people. I'm spending all of my money, I'm not spending \u2014 I'm not getting any \u2014 I turned down \u2014 I turn down so much, I could have right now from special interests and donors, I could have double and triple what he's got. I've turned it down. I turned down last week $5 million from somebody. So I will tell you I understand the game, I've been on the other side all of my life. And they have a lot of control over our politicians. And I don't say that favorably, and I'm not sure if there's another system, but I say this. I am not accepting any money from anybody. Nobody has control of me other than the people of this country. I'm going to do the right thing. +p4715 +aVThat's true. That's true. +p4716 +aVI was \u2014 excuse me, Jeb. +p4717 +aVI was a businessman, I got along with Clinton, I got along with everybody. That was my job, to get along with people. +p4718 +aVI didn't want to \u2014 excuse me. One second. +p4719 +aVOK, more energy tonight. I like that. Look \u2014 +p4720 +aVI didn't want \u2014 it was my obligation as a businessman to my family, to my company, to my employees, to get along with all politicians. I get along with all of them, and I did a damn good job in doing it. Go ahead. +p4721 +aVGot along with everybody. +p4722 +aVWrong. +p4723 +aVDon't make things up. Jeb, don't make things up. Come on. +p4724 +aVDon't make things up. +p4725 +aVSo, number one, they have to respect you. He has absolutely no respect for President Obama. Zero. Syria's a mess. You look at what's going on with +p4726 +aVI believe that I will get along \u2014 we will do \u2014 between that, Ukraine, all of the other problems, we won't have the kind of problems that our country has right now with Russia and many other nations. +p4727 +aVI wouldn't have drawn the line, but once he drew it, he had no choice but to go across. They do bear some responsibility, but I think he probably didn't do it, not for that reason. Somehow, he just doesn't have courage. There is something missing from our president. Had he crossed the line and really gone in with force, done something to Assad \u2014 if he had gone in with tremendous force, you wouldn't have millions of people displaced all over the world. +p4728 +aVThey had a responsibility, absolutely. I think we have three of them here... +p4729 +aVI think they had a responsibility, yes. +p4730 +aVJeb, just... +p4731 +aVI think it will haunt him. I think it's a terrible. I think it's going to haunt him absolutely. He came back later and he said he misspoke. There was no question because I heard when he said the statement. I was watching and he said the statement. And I said, wow, I can't believe it. I will take care of women. I respect women. I will take care of women. One thing we will say and I would like to get back to the Iran situation. We're talking about Iran. The agreement was terrible. It was incompetent. I've never seen anything like it. One of the worst contracts of any kind I've ever seen. And nobody ever mentions North Korea where you have this maniac sitting there and he actually has nuclear weapons and somebody better start thinking about North Korea and perhaps a couple of other places. But certainly North Korea. And Ted and I have spoken. We've \u2014 a lot of us have spoken. We're talking about Iran. They are bad actors, bad things are going to happen. But in the meantime, you have somebody right now in North Korea who has got nuclear weapons and who is saying almost every other week, I'm ready to use them. And we don't even mention it. +p4732 +aVSo why didn't you say it? Why didn't you say it? +p4733 +aVI know, but why did you say it? I heard it myself. Why did you say it? +p4734 +aVYou said you're going to cut funding for women's health. You said it. +p4735 +aVYou said it. +p4736 +aVI think she's got a beautiful face, and I think she's a beautiful woman. +p4737 +aVCorrect. First of all, I want to build a wall, a wall that works. So important, and it's a big part of it. Second of all, we have a lot of really bad dudes in this country from outside, and I think Chris knows that, maybe as well as anybody. They go, if I get elected, first day they're gone. Gangs all over the place. Chicago, Baltimore, no matter where you look. We have a country based on laws. I will make sure that those laws are adhered to. These are illegal immigrants. I don't think you'd even be asking this question if I didn't run because when I ran, and I brought this up, my opening remarks at Trump Tower, I took heat like nobody has taken heat in a long time. And, then they found out with the killing of Katie, from San Francisco, and so many other crimes, they found out that I was right. And, most people, many people, apologized to me. I don't think you'd even be talking about illegal immigration if it weren't for me. So, we have a country of laws, they're going to go out, and they'll come back if they deserve to come back. If they've had a bad record, if they've been arrested, if they've been in jail, they're never coming back. We're going to have a country again. Right now, we don't have a country, we don't have a border, and we're going to do something about it, and it can be done with proper management, and it can be done with heart. +p4738 +aV...By the way, I agree with \u2014 with what Chris is saying, but, I will say this. Illegal immigration is costing us more than $200 billion dollars a year just to maintain what we have. +p4739 +aVCorrect. +p4740 +aVWell, I have to tell you, I hear phenomenal things. I hear your wife is a lovely woman... +p4741 +aVI don't know her, and this is a total mischaracterization... +p4742 +aVGood. +p4743 +aVNo, I won't do that, because I've said nothing wrong. +p4744 +aVBut I do hear she's a lovely woman. +p4745 +aVJeb said... +p4746 +aV... that they come into our country as an act of love. With all of the problems we that we have, in so many instances \u2014 we have wonderful people coming in. But with all of the problems \u2014 this is not an act of love. He's weak on immigration \u2014 by the way, in favor of Common Core, which is also a disaster, but weak on immigration. He doesn't get my vote. +p4747 +aVNot with this intensity. +p4748 +aVAs I said, we are spending $200 billion \u2014 we are spending $200 billion a year on maintaining what we have. We will move them out. The great ones will come back, the good ones will come back. They'll be expedited, they'll be back, they'll come back legally. We'll have a country \u2014 they'll come back, legally. +p4749 +aVWell, I think it's wonderful and all, but I did it a little bit half-heartedly, but I do mean it to a large extent. We have a country, where, to assimilate, you have to speak English. And I think that where he was, and the way it came out didn't sound right to me. We have to have assimilation \u2014 to have a country, we have to have assimilation. I'm not the first one to say this, Dana. We've had many people over the years, for many, many years, saying the same thing. This is a country where we speak English, not Spanish. +p4750 +aVThis is a reporter, not a high school kid. +p4751 +aVWell, first of all, the \u2014 the 14th Amendment says very, very clearly to a lot of great legal scholars \u2014 not television scholars, but legal scholars \u2014 that it is wrong. It can be corrected with an act of Congress, probably doesn't even need that. A woman gets pregnant. She's nine months, she walks across the border, she has the baby in the United States, and we take care of the baby for 85 years. I don't think so. And by the way, Mexico and almost every other country anywhere in the world doesn't have that. We're the only ones dumb enough, stupid enough to have it. And people \u2014 and by the way, this is not just with respect to Mexico. They are coming from Asia to have babies here, and all of a sudden, we have to take care of the babies for the life of the baby. The 14th Amendment, it reads properly, you can go and \u2014 it's probably going to be have to be check \u2014 go through a process of court, probably ends up at the Supreme Court, but there are a lot of great legal scholars that say that is not correct. And in my opinion, it makes absolutely no \u2014 we're the only \u2014 one of the only countries, we're going to take care of those babies for 70, 75, 80, 90 years? I don't think so. +p4752 +aVI agree 100 percent, by the way, with Carly on the fact that the Democrats do not want to solve this problem, for the obvious reasons, but they do not. But I believe that a reading of the 14th Amendment allows you to have an interpretation where this is not legal and where it can't be done. I've seen both sides, but some of the greatest scholars agree with me, without having to go through Congress. If you do go through Congress, you can absolutely solve the problem. +p4753 +aVThat's true, sure. +p4754 +aVWell \u2014 +p4755 +aV\u2014 let me \u2014 well, let me just explain. The head of the Yale Business School, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, wrote a paper recently, one of the worst tenures for a CEO that he has ever seen, ranked one of the top 20 in the history of business. The company is a disaster and continues to be a disaster. They still haven't recovered. In fact, today, on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, they fired another 25 or 30,000 people saying we still haven't recovered from the catastrophe. When Carly says the revenues went up, that's because she bought Compaq, it was a terrible deal, and it really led to the destruction of the company. Now one other company before that was Lucent. Carly was at Lucent before that. And Lucent turned out to be a catastrophe also. So I only say this. She can't run any of my companies. That I can tell you. +p4756 +aVI never filed for bankruptcy. +p4757 +aVI'll tell you why; it's very simple. +p4758 +aVI'll tell you. I was running \u2014 +p4759 +aV\u2014 Carly, Carly \u2014 +p4760 +aV\u2014 I've made over $10 billion. I had a casino company \u2014 Caesars just filed for bankruptcy. Chris will tell you \u2014 it's not Chris' fault either \u2014 but almost everybody in Atlantic City is either in trouble or filed for \u2014 maybe I'll blame Chris. +p4761 +aVBut Atlantic City is a disaster \u2014 +p4762 +aVWait a minute, Carly. Wait. I let you speak. Atlantic City is a disaster, and I did great in Atlantic City. I knew when to get out. My timing was great. And I got a lot of credit for it. Many of the great business people that you know \u2014 and Carl Icon (ph) is going to work with me on making great deals for this country. But whether it's Carl or so many others that we read about all the time \u2014 +p4763 +aV\u2014 they have used the laws of the land, which is the \u2014 +p4764 +aV...Well, I'd like to respond, I'd like to respond... +p4765 +aVWell, I think the thing about the flat tax, I know it very well. What I don't like is that if you make $200 million a year, you pay ten percent, you're paying very little relatively to somebody that's making $50,000 a year, and has to hire H&R Block to do the \u2014 because it's so complicated. One thing I'll say to Ben is that we've had a graduated tax system for many years, so it's not a socialistic thing. What I'd like to do, and I'll be putting in the plan in about two weeks, and I think people are going to like it, it's a major reduction in taxes. It's a major reduction for the middle class. The hedge fund guys won't like me as much as they like me right now. I know them all, but they'll pay more. I know people that are making a tremendous amount of money and paying virtually no tax, and I think it's unfair. +p4766 +aVWell, I heard Hugh Hewitt, a nice man, he apologized because he actually said that we had a misunderstanding. And he said today that Donald Trump is maybe the best interview there is anywhere that he has ever done. Now unless he was just saying that on CNN to be nice, but he did say that... +p4767 +aVAnd we had a legitimate misunderstanding in terms of his pronunciation of a word. But I would say just... +p4768 +aVWell, I think it was. And he actually said that. Did you say that? +p4769 +aVOK. So I will say this, though, Hugh was giving me name after name, Arab name, Arab name, and there are few people anywhere, anywhere that would have known those names. I think he was reading them off a sheet. And frankly I will have \u2014 and I told him, I will have the finest team that anybody has put together and we will solve a lot of problems. You know, right now they know a lot and look at what is happening. The world is blowing up around us. We will have great teams and great people. +p4770 +aVI hope that answers your question. I mean, you are in the Senate, but I hope that answers your question. +p4771 +aVNo, I don't think he's suggesting that at all. I mean... +p4772 +aVI don't think he's suggesting that at all. +p4773 +aVWell, you have to understand, I am not sitting in the United States Senate with, by the way, the worst voting record there is today. Number one. I am not sitting in the United States Senate. I'm a businessman doing business transactions. +p4774 +aVI am doing business transactions. I will know more about this \u2014 and, as you said, that was very acceptable, and when you listen to that whole interview, it's a great interview, you said it, I didn't. Well, now I did. But... +p4775 +aVListen, just one second. Just one second. +p4776 +aVI will know... +p4777 +aV...I will know more about the problems of this world by the time I sit, and you look at what's going in this world right now by people that supposedly know, this world is a mess. +p4778 +aV +p4779 +aV I'm \u2014 and I'm meeting with people that are terrific people, but I have to say something because it's about judgment. I am the only person on this dais \u2014 the only person \u2014 that fought very, very hard against us (ph), and I wasn't a sitting politician going into Iraq, because I said going into Iraq \u2014 that was in 2003, you can check it out, check out \u2014 I'll give you 25 different stories. In fact, a delegation was sent to my office to see me because I was so vocal about it. I'm a very militaristic person, but you have to know when to use the military. I'm the only person up here that fought against going into Iraq. +p4780 +aVJust excuse me, one second, Rand... +p4781 +aVIf you don't mind, Rand \u2014 you know, you are on last \u2014 you do have your 1 percent. I would like \u2014 and I think it's very important. I think it's important, because it's about judgment. It's about judgment. I didn't want to go into Iraq, and I fought it, because what I said \u2014 what I said... +p4782 +aV... was you're going to \u2014 you're going to destabilize... +p4783 +aV... the Middle East, and that's what happened. +p4784 +aVIf you think about it... +p4785 +aVYour brother \u2014 and your brother's administration gave us Barack Obama, because it was such a disaster, those last three months, that Abraham Lincoln couldn't have been elected. +p4786 +aVI don't know. You feel safe right now? I don't feel so safe. +p4787 +aVOr the collapse of the economy. +p4788 +aVSpeaking for myself, I'm OK with it. I think there's a certain truth to it. I know people that, frankly, it has no impact on their life whatsoever. There are many people. I would almost say leave it up to them, but I would be willing to check it off, and say I will not get Social Security. I do not... +p4789 +aVAs a policy, I would almost leave it up to the people. Don't forget they pay in and they pay in, and maybe they do well, and maybe some people want it. But the fact is that there are people that truly don't need it, and there are many people that do need it very, very badly. And I would be willing to write mine off 100 percent, Dana. +p4790 +aVWell, I \u2014 I \u2014 I'd like to respond. +p4791 +aVI'd like to respond. +p4792 +aVAutism has become an epidemic. Twenty-five years ago, 35 years ago, you look at the statistics, not even close. It has gotten totally out of control. I am totally in favor of vaccines. But I want smaller doses over a longer period of time. Because you take a baby in \u2014 and I've seen it \u2014 and I've seen it, and I had my children taken care of over a long period of time, over a two or three year period of time. Same exact amount, but you take this little beautiful baby, and you pump \u2014 I mean, it looks just like it's meant for a horse, not for a child, and we've had so many instances, people that work for me. Just the other day, two years old, two and a half years old, a child, a beautiful child went to have the vaccine, and came back, and a week later got a tremendous fever, got very, very sick, now is autistic. I only say it's not \u2014 I'm in favor of vaccines, do them over a longer period of time, same amount. +p4793 +aVBut just in \u2014 in little sections. +p4794 +aVI think \u2014 and I think you're going to have \u2014 I think you're going to see a big impact on autism. +p4795 +aVAnd that's all I'm saying, Jake. That's all I'm saying. +p4796 +aVWell, because she's been sitting for three hours, I think my daughter, Ivanka, who's right here. +p4797 +aVOther than that we'll go with Rosa Parks. I like that. +p4798 +aVHumble. +p4799 +aVIf I become president, we will do something really special. We will make this country greater than ever before. We'll have more jobs. We'll have more of everything. We were discussing disease, we were discussing all sorts of things tonight, many of which will just be words, it will just pass on. I don't want to say politicians, all talk, no action. But a lot of what we talked about is words and it will be forgotten very quickly. If I'm president, many of the things that we discussed tonight will not be forgotten. We'll find solutions. And the world will respect us. They will respect us like never before. And it will be actually a friendlier world. And I have to say, it is a great honor to be here tonight. +p4800 +aVI fully understand. +p4801 +aVI fully understand. +p4802 +aVI cannot say. I have to respect the person that, if it's not me, the person that wins, if I do win, and I'm leading by quite a bit, that's what I want to do. I can totally make that pledge. If I'm the nominee, I will pledge I will not run as an independent. But -- and I am discussing it with everybody, but I'm, you know, talking about a lot of leverage. We want to win, and we will win. But I want to win as the Republican. I want to run as the Republican nominee. +p4803 +aVWell, I've given him plenty of money. +p4804 +aVI will not make the pledge at this time. +p4805 +aVOnly Rosie O'Donnell. +p4806 +aVThank you. +p4807 +aVYes, I'm sure it was. +p4808 +aVI think the big problem this country has is being politically correct. I've been challenged by so many people, and I don't frankly have time for total political correctness. And to be honest with you, this country doesn't have time either. This country is in big trouble. We don't win anymore. We lose to China. We lose to Mexico both in trade and at the border. We lose to everybody. And frankly, what I say, and oftentimes it's fun, it's kidding. We have a good time. What I say is what I say. And honestly Megyn, if you don't like it, I'm sorry. I've been very nice to you, although I could probably maybe not be, based on the way you have treated me. But I wouldn't do that. But you know what, we -- we need strength, we need energy, we need quickness and we need brain in this country to turn it around. That, I can tell you right now. +p4809 +aVSo, if it weren't for me, you wouldn't even be talking about illegal immigration, Chris. You wouldn't even be talking about it. This was not a subject that was on anybody's mind until I brought it up at my announcement. And I said, Mexico is sending. Except the reporters, because they're a very dishonest lot, generally speaking, in the world of politics, they didn't cover my statement the way I said it. The fact is, since then, many killings ,murders, crime, drugs pouring across the border, are money going out and the drugs coming in. And I said we need to build a wall, and it has to be built quickly. And I don't mind having a big beautiful door in that wall so that people can come into this country legally. But we need, Jeb, to build a wall, we need to keep illegals out. +p4810 +aVBorder Patrol, I was at the border last week. Border Patrol, people that I deal with, that I talk to, they say this is what's happening. Because our leaders are stupid. Our politicians are stupid. And the Mexican government is much smarter, much sharper, much more cunning. And they send the bad ones over because they don't want to pay for them. They don't want to take care of them. Why should they when the stupid leaders of the United States will do it for them? And that's what is happening whether you like it or not. +p4811 +aVA complete disaster, yes. +p4812 +aVCorrect. +p4813 +aVFirst of all, I'd like to just go back to one. In July of 2004, I came out strongly against the war with Iraq, because it was going to destabilize the Middle East. And I'm the only one on this stage that knew that and had the vision to say it. And that's exactly what happened. +p4814 +aVAnd the Middle East became totally destabilized. So I just want to say. As far as single payer, it works in Canada. It works incredibly well in Scotland. It could have worked in a different age, which is the age you're talking about here. What I'd like to see is a private system without the artificial lines around every state. I have a big company with thousands and thousands of employees. And if I'm negotiating in New York or in New Jersey or in California, I have like one bidder. Nobody can bid. You know why? Because the insurance companies are making a fortune because they have control of the politicians, of course, with the exception of the politicians on this stage. But they have total control of the politicians. They're making a fortune. Get rid of the artificial lines and you will have......yourself great plans. And then we have to take care of the people that can't take care of themselves. And I will do that through a different system. +p4815 +aVI'm not -- I'm not are -- I don't think you heard me. You're having a hard time tonight. +p4816 +aVYou'd better believe it. +p4817 +aVIf I ask them, if I need them, you know, most of the people on this stage I've given to, just so you understand, a lot of money. +p4818 +aVMany of them. +p4819 +aVNot much. +p4820 +aVBut I... +p4821 +aVI have good... +p4822 +aVGood. +p4823 +aVSounds good. Sounds good to me, Governor. I will tell you that our system is broken. I gave to many people, before this, before two months ago, I was a businessman. I give to everybody. When they call, I give. And do you know what? When I need something from them two years later, three years later, I call them, they are there for me. +p4824 +aVAnd that's a broken system. +p4825 +aVWell, I'll tell you what, with Hillary Clinton, I said be at my wedding and she came to my wedding. You know why? She didn't have a choice because I gave. I gave to a foundation that, frankly, that foundation is supposed to do good. I didn't know her money would be used on private jets going all over the world. It was. But... +p4826 +aVBecause I have used the laws of this country just like the greatest people that you read about every day in business have used the laws of this country, the chapter laws, to do a great job for my company, for myself, for my employees, for my family, et cetera. I have never gone bankrupt, by the way. I have never. But out of hundreds of deals... +p4827 +aVExcuse me. Excuse me. +p4828 +aVExcuse me, what am I saying? Out of hundreds of deals that I've done, hundreds, on four occasions I've taken advantage of the laws of this country, like other people. I'm not going to name their names because I'm not going to embarrass, but virtually every person that you read about on the front page of the business sections, they've used the law. The difference is, when somebody else uses those laws, nobody writes about it. When I use it, they say, "Trump, Trump, Trump." The fact is, I built a net worth of more than $10 billion. I have a great, great company. I employ thousands of people. And I'm very proud of the job I did. Again Chris, hundreds and hundreds of deals. Four times, I've taken advantage of the laws. And frankly, so has everybody else in my position. +p4829 +aVWell, I... +p4830 +aVLet me just tell you about the lenders. First of all, these lenders aren't babies. These are total killers. These are not the nice, sweet little people that you think, OK? You know, I mean you're living in a world of the make-believe, Chris, you want to know the truth. And I had the good sense to leave Atlantic City, which by the way, Caesars just went bankrupt. Every company, Chris can tell you, every company virtually in Atlantic City went bankrupt. Every company. And let me just tell you. I had the good sense, and I've gotten a lot of credit in the financial pages, seven years ago I left Atlantic City before it totally cratered, and I made a lot of money in Atlantic City, and I'm very proud of it. I want to tell you that. Very, very proud of it. +p4831 +aVAnd by the way, this country right now owes $19 trillion. And they need somebody like me to straighten out that mess. +p4832 +aVI don't think they like me very much. I'll tell you what. I've evolved on many issues over the years. And you know who else has? Is Ronald Reagan evolved on many issues. And I am pro-life. And if you look at the question, I was in business. They asked me a question as to pro-life or choice. And I said if you let it run, that I hate the concept of abortion. I hate the concept of abortion. And then since then, I've very much evolved. And what happened is friends of mine years ago were going to have a child, and it was going to be aborted. And it wasn't aborted. And that child today is a total superstar, a great, great child. And I saw that. And I saw other instances. And I am very, very proud to say that I am pro-life. As far as being a Republican is concerned, I come from a place, New York City, which is virtually, I mean, it is almost exclusively Democrat. And I have really started to see some of the negatives -- as an example, and I have a lot of liking for this man, but the last number of months of his brother's administration were a catastrophe. And unfortunately, those few months gave us President Obama. And you can't be happy about that. +p4833 +aVFirst of all, Jeb, I am very happy that you denied that, and I appreciate that very much. He is a true gentleman. He really is. One thing he did say, and I mean that. The one thing he did say about me, however, was my tone. And I also understand that. But when you have people that are cutting Christians' heads off, when you have a world that the border and at so many places, that it is medieval times, we've never -- it almost has to be as bad as it ever was in terms of the violence and the horror, we don't have time for tone. We have to go out and get the job done. +p4834 +aVI would be so different from what you have right now. Like, the polar opposite. We have a president who doesn't have a clue. I would say he's incompetent, but I don't want to do that because that's not nice. But if you look at the deals we make, whether it's the nuclear deal with 24 hour periods -- and by the way, before you get to the 24 hours, you have to go through a system. You look at Sgt. Bergdahl, we get Bergdahl, a traitor, and they get five of the big, great killers leaders that they want. We have people in Washington that don't know what they're doing. Now... I agree. Now, with Iran, we're making a deal, you would say, we want him. We want out our prisoners. We want all these things, and we don't get anything. We're giving them $150 billion dollars plus, they are going to be -- I'll tell you what, if Iran was a stock, you folks should go out and buy it right now because you'll quadruple -- this, what's happening in Iran, is a disgrace, and it's going to lead to destruction in large portions of the world. +p4835 +aVOur country is in serious trouble. We don't win anymore. We don't beat China in trade. We don't beat Japan, with their millions and millions of cars coming into this country, in trade. We can't beat Mexico, at the border or in trade. We can't do anything right. Our military has to be strengthened. Our vets have to be taken care of. We have to end Obamacare, and we have to make our country great again, and I will do that. Thank you. +p4836 +aVWell, I can say this. If the president, and if I were president now, I would certainly want to try and nominate a justice. I'm sure that, frankly, I'm absolutely sure that President Obama will try and do it. I hope that our Senate is going to be able \u2014 Mitch, and the entire group, is going to be able to do something about it. In times of delay, we could have a Diane Sykes, or you could have a Bill Pryor \u2014 we have some fantastic people. But this is a tremendous blow to conservatism. It's a tremendous blow, frankly, to our country. +p4837 +aV... I think he's going to do it whether or I'm O.K. with it or not. I think it's up to Mitch McConnell and everybody else to stop it. It's called delay, delay, delay. +p4838 +aVWhat we want to do, when we want to do it, and how hard do we want to hit? Because we are going to have to hit very, very hard to knock out +p4839 +aV... called me a genius, I like him so far, I have to tell you. Let me just tell you this. Jeb is so wrong. Jeb is absolutely self \u2014 just so you understand, you know what that is? That's Jeb's special interest and lobbyist talking. Look, let me just tell you something, Jeb \u2014 Jeb is so wrong. You got to fight +p4840 +aV... You'll end up with World War III... +p4841 +aV... We're supporting troops... +p4842 +aV... that we don't even know who they are. +p4843 +aV... We're supporting troops that we don't even know who they are... +p4844 +aVWe have no idea who they are. +p4845 +aV... Oh, yeah, yeah... +p4846 +aV... Let 44 million in New Hampshire, it was practically ... +p4847 +aV... 44 million \u2014 give me a break. +p4848 +aVFirst of all, I have to say, as a businessman, I get along with everybody. I have business all over the world. I know so many of the people in the audience. And by the way, I'm a self-funder. I don't have \u2014 I have my wife and I have my son. That's all I have. I don't have this. So let me just tell you, I get along with everybody, which is my obligation to my company, to myself, et cetera. Obviously, the war in Iraq was a big, fat mistake. All right? Now, you can take it any way you want, and it took \u2014 it took Jeb Bush, if you remember at the beginning of his announcement, when he announced for president, it took him five days. He went back, it was a mistake, it wasn't a mistake. It took him five days before his people told him what to say, and he ultimately said, "It was a mistake." The war in Iraq, we spent $2 trillion, thousands of lives, we don't even have it. Iran has taken over Iraq, with the second-largest oil reserves in the world. Obviously, it was a mistake. +p4849 +aVGeorge Bush made a mistake. We can make mistakes. But that one was a beauty. We should have never been in Iraq. We have destabilized the Middle East. +p4850 +aVYou do whatever you want. You call it whatever you want. I want to tell you. They lied. They said there were weapons of mass destruction, there were none. And they knew there were none. There were no weapons of mass destruction. +p4851 +aVI'm being nice. +p4852 +aVHe spent $22 million in... +p4853 +aVThe World Trade Center came down during your brother's reign, remember that. +p4854 +aVThat's not keeping us safe. +p4855 +aVShe should be running. +p4856 +aVHow did he keep us safe when the World Trade Center \u2014 the World \u2014 excuse me. I lost hundreds of friends. The World Trade Center came down during the reign of George Bush. He kept us safe? That is not safe. That is not safe, Marco. That is not safe. +p4857 +aVAnd George Bush \u2014 by the way, George Bush had the chance, also, and he didn't listen to the advice of his C.I.A. +p4858 +aVI don't want to go. +p4859 +aVYes. +p4860 +aVFirst of all, the \u2014 when you say I'm the only candidate, if you listen to the Democrats, they want to do many things to Social Security, and I want to do them on its own merit. You listen to them, what they want to do to Social Security, none of these folks are getting elected, O.K., whether they can do it or not. I'm going to save Social Security. I'm going to bring jobs back from China. I'm going to bring jobs back from Mexico and from Japan, where they're all \u2014 every country throughout the world \u2014 now Vietnam, that's the new one. They are taking our jobs. They are taking our wealth. They are taking our base. And you and I have had this discussion. We're going to make our economy strong again. I'm lowering taxes. We have $2.5 trillion offshore. We have 2.5 trillion that I think is actually five trillion because the government has no idea when they say 2.5, they have no idea what they're doing or saying, as they've proven very well. We're going to bring that money back. You take a look at what happened just this week. China bought the Chicago Stock Exchange, China, a Chinese company. Carrier is moving to Mexico, air conditioning company. Not only the ones I talk about all the time, Nabisco and Ford and \u2014 they're all moving out. We have an economy that last quarter, G.D.P. didn't grow. It was flat. We have to make our economy grow again. We're dying. This country is dying. And our workers are losing their jobs, and you're going... +p4861 +aVI'm the only one who is going to save Social Security, believe me. +p4862 +aVBecause you have tremendous waste. I'll tell you... +p4863 +aVYou have tremendous waste, fraud and abuse. That we're taking care of. That we're taking care of. It's tremendous. We have in Social Security right now thousands and thousands of people that are over 106 years old. Now, you know they don't exist. They don't exist. There's tremendous waste, fraud and abuse, and we're going to get it. But we're not going to hurt the people who have been paying into Social Security their whole life and then all of a sudden they're supposed to get less. We're bringing our jobs back. We're going to make our economy great again. +p4864 +aVI want everybody taken care of, but we have to take care of our people in this country. We're not taking care of our people. We have no border. We have no control. People are flooding across. We can't have it. We either have a border, and I'm very strongly \u2014 I'm not proposing. I will build a wall. I will build a wall. Remember this, the wall will be paid for by Mexico. We are not being treated right. We are not being treated properly. If we don't have borders, if we don't have strength, we don't have a country. People are flowing across. We have to take care of our people. Believe me. +p4865 +aVLook......When I announced that I was running for president on June 16th, illegal immigration wasn't even a subject. If I didn't bring it up, we wouldn't even be talking. Now, I don't often agree with Marco, and I don't often agree with Ted, but I can in this case. The weakest person on this stage by far on illegal immigration is Jeb Bush. They come out of an act of love, whether you like it or not. He is so weak on illegal immigration it's laughable, and everybody knows it. +p4866 +aV... Spend a little more money on the commercials... +p4867 +aV. I don't know what you're talking about. +p4868 +aV... I never called him \u2014 I don't call him.. +p4869 +aVHe also said about language... +p4870 +aV... Language. Two days ago he said he would take his pants off and moon everybody, and that's fine. Nobody reports that. He gets up and says that, and then he tells me, oh, my language was a little bit rough... +p4871 +aV... My language. Give me a break... +p4872 +aV... You did say it, you did say it. Been reported in 10 different news... +p4873 +aVOr a tax. +p4874 +aVI would build consensus with Congress, and Congress would agree with me. I'll give you an example, because I don't like the idea of using executive orders like our president. It is a disaster what he's doing. I would build consensus, but consensus means you have to work hard. You have to cajole. You have to get them into the Oval Office and get them all together, and you have to make deals. Let me just tell you, I mentioned before, China \u2014 big Chinese company bought the Chicago Exchange. Kerry is moving \u2014 and if you saw the people, because they have a video of the announcement that Carrier is moving to Mexico, O.K.? Well, I'll tell you what. I would go right now to Carrier and I would say I am going to work awfully hard. You're going to make air conditioners now in Mexico. You're going to get all of these 1,400 people that are being laid off \u2014 they're laid off. They were crying. They were \u2014 it was a very sad situation. You're going to go to Mexico. You're going to make air conditioners in Mexico, you're going to put them across our border with no tax. I'm going to tell them right now, I am going to get consensus from Congress and we're going to tax you when those air conditioners come. So stay where you are or build in the United States, because we are killing ourselves with trade pacts that are no good for us and no good for our workers. +p4875 +aVJohn, in life you have flexibility. You do have flexibility. When you're fighting wars, you're going one way, you have a plan. It's a beautiful plan. It can't lose. The enemy makes a change, and all of a sudden you have to change. You have to have flexibility. In Ronald Reagan, though, in terms of what we're talking about, was the great example. He was a somewhat liberal Democrat who became a somewhat, pretty strong conservative. He became \u2014 most importantly, he became a great president. He made many of the changes that I've made \u2014 I mean, I've seen as I grew up, I've seen, and as I get older and wiser, and I feel that I am a conservative. Now, I also feel I'm a common-sense conservative, because some of the views I don't agree with. And I think a lot of people agree with me, obviously, based on what's happening. +p4876 +aVWell, I think these people always hit me with eminent domain, and frankly, I'm not in love with eminent domain. But eminent domain is something you need very strongly. When Jeb had said, "You used eminent domain privately for a parking lot." It wasn't for a parking lot. The state of New Jersey \u2014 too bad Chris Christie is not here, he could tell you \u2014 the state of New Jersey went to build a very large tower that was going to employ thousands of people. I mean, it was going to really do a big job in terms of economic development. Now, just so you understand, I got hit very hard. It's private, it's private eminent domain. You understand that they took over a stadium in Texas, and they used private eminent domain, but he just found that out after he made the charge. +p4877 +aVYeah. Well, Jeb wouldn't have known about it. +p4878 +aVYou shouldn't have used it then, Jeb. +p4879 +aVThank you very much, I appreciate it. +p4880 +aVYou probably are worse than Jeb Bush. You are single biggest liar. This guy's lied \u2014 let me just tell you, this guy lied about Ben Carson when he took votes away from Ben Carson in Iowa, and he just continues. Today, we had robo-calls saying, "Donald Trump is not going to run in South Carolina," where I'm leading by a lot. I'm not going to vote for Ted Cruz. This is the same thing he did to Ben Carson. This guy will say anything, nasty guy. Now I know why he doesn't have one endorsement from any of his colleagues. +p4881 +aVHe's a nasty guy. +p4882 +aVWhere did I support it? Where did I... +p4883 +aVAgain, where did I support it? +p4884 +aVHey Ted, where I support it? +p4885 +aVWhere did I support? +p4886 +aVThat's a lot of lies. +p4887 +aVIt does do wonderful things, but not as it relates to abortion. +p4888 +aVExcuse me. Excuse me, there are wonderful things having to do with women's health. +p4889 +aVBut not when it comes to abortion. +p4890 +aVHold on... +p4891 +aVTed Cruz told your brother that he wanted John Roberts to be on the United States Supreme Court. They both pushed him, he twice approved Obamacare. +p4892 +aVO.K., governor. +p4893 +aVYou pushed him. You pushed him. +p4894 +aVYou worked with him and you pushed him. Why do you lie? +p4895 +aVWhy do you lie? +p4896 +aVYou pushed him. +p4897 +aVYeah, yeah, I know, you're an adult. +p4898 +aVWell, I would say my wife tells me I'm wrong all the time. And I listen. +p4899 +aVOh, let me just say \u2014 look, I am very open \u2014 I hired top people. I've had great success. I built a great, great company. I don't need to do this. I'm self-funding. I'm spending a lot of money. I've spent \u2014 like in New Hampshire, I spent $3 million. Jeb bush spent $44 million. He came in five, and I came in No. 1. That's what the country needs, folks. I spent 3, he spends 42 of their money, of special interest money. And it's just \u2014 this is not going to make \u2014 excuse me. This is not going to make our country great again. This is not what we need in our country. We need people that know what the hell they're doing. And politicians, they're all talk, they're no action. And that's why people are supporting me. I do listen to people. I hire experts. I hire top, top people. And I do listen. And you know what? Sometimes they're wrong. You have to know what to do, when to do it. But sometimes they're wrong. +p4900 +aVWell, I'll tell you \u2014 over the years, I've made many speeches. People have asked me, big companies have asked me to make speeches, and friends of mine that run big companies on success. And occasion, in order to sort of really highlight something, I'll use a profanity. One of the profanities that I got credited with using, that I didn't use, was a very bad word, two weeks ago, that I never used. I said, "You." And everybody said "Oh, he didn't say anything wrong." But you bleeped it, so everyone thinks I said the \u2014 I didn't say anything. I never said the word. It is very unfair, that criticism. Now, I will say this, with all of that being said, I have said I will not do it at all, because if I say a word that's a little bit off color, a little bit, it ends up being a headline. I will not do it again. I was a very good student at a great school not using \u2014 by the way \u2014 not using profanity is very easy. +p4901 +aVThat's not \u2014 let me respond. That's another lie. I never went bankrupt! +p4902 +aVNo, but it's another lie. +p4903 +aVNo, but it's another lie. This guy doesn't know what he's talking about. Just a lie. +p4904 +aVLet me just tell you. Jeb goes around saying, just like the biggest business leaders in this country, I've used the laws of the land to chapter \u2014 I bought a company, I threw it immediately into a chapter, I made a great deal. I uses the laws to my benefit, because I run a company. +p4905 +aVExcuse me, Jeb! +p4906 +aVI never went bankrupt, never. Now \u2014 but you don't want to say that. Now, let me just say, I've used it, just like the biggest leaders in the country. Let me tell you something \u2014 Florida. Florida, he put so much debt on Florida. You know, we keep saying he's a wonderful governor, wonderful governor. He put so much debt on Florida, and he increased spending so much that as soon as he got out of office, Florida crashed. I happened to be there. It's my second home. Florida crashed. He didn't do a good job as governor. +p4907 +aVAnd you haven't \u2014 excuse me, you haven't heard that. You listen to the good record in Florida. You take a look at what happened, as soon as that year ended he got out, Florida crashed. Too much debt. He loaded it up with debt, and his spending went through the roof. +p4908 +aVBy the way... +p4909 +aV... he was not a good governor. +p4910 +aVTake a look at your numbers. +p4911 +aVFlorida went down the tubes right after he got out of office. +p4912 +aVWent right down because of what he did to it. +p4913 +aVThank you. Politicians are all talk, no action. You've seen where they've take you to. We are 19 trillion dollars right now. It's going to be increased with that horrible budget from a month ago that was just approved by politicians. We need a change. We need a very big change. We're going to make our country great again. I say this every night, every day, every afternoon, and it's so true \u2014 we don't win anymore. We don't win with health care, we don't win with +p4914 +aVI actually think I have the best temperament. I built a massive corporation. I employ thousands and thousands of people. I've gotten along with people for years and years, have tremendous relationships with many people, including politicians on both sides. And no matter how you cut it, when I \u2014 when I came out, I hit immigration, I hit it very hard. Everybody said, "Oh, the temperament," because I talked about illegal immigration. Now, everybody's coming to me, they're all trying to say, well, he's right, we have to come to him. I hit other things. I talked about Muslims. We have a problem. Nobody else wanted to mention the problem, I brought it up. I took a lot of heat. We have to have a temporary something, because there's something going on that's not good. And remember this, I'm the only one up here, when the war of Iraq \u2014 in Iraq, I was the one that said, "Don't go, don't do it, you're going to destabilize the Middle East." So, I'm not one with a trigger. I'm not one with a trigger. Other people up here, believe me, would be a lot faster. But I'll build the mill arbitrary stronger, bigger, better than anybody up here, and nobody is going to mess with us. That, I can tell you. +p4915 +aVAm I allowed to respond? I have to respond. +p4916 +aVFirst of all, I respect what Ted just said, but if you noticed, he didn't answer your question. And that's what's going to happen \u2014 OK. That's what's going to happen with our enemies and the people we compete against. We're going to win with Trump. We're going to win. We don't win anymore. Our country doesn't win anymore. We're going to win with Trump. And people back down with Trump. And that's what I like and that's what the country is going to like. +p4917 +aVWell, let me say a couple of things. First of all, Marco said earlier on that President Obama knows exactly what he's doing, like we have this president that really knows. I disagree, respectfully, with Marco. I think we have a president who, as a president, is totally incompetent, and he doesn't know what he's doing. I think he has no idea what he's doing. And our country is going to hell. So, I just want to say, we disagree on that. Is that okay? +p4918 +aVGood. +p4919 +aVAs to North Korea? +p4920 +aVWe have \u2014 tremendous \u2014 has been just sucked out of our country by China. China says they don't have that good of control over North Korea. They have tremendous control. I deal with the Chinese all of the time. I do tremendous \u2014 the largest bank in the world is in one of my buildings in Manhattan. I deal with them. They tell me. They have total, absolute control, practically, of North Korea. They are sucking trillions of dollars out of our country \u2014 they're rebuilding China with the money they take out of our country. I would get on with China, let China solve that problem. They can do it quickly and surgically. That's what we should do with North Korea. +p4921 +aVGood evening. +p4922 +aVYes. HAM: In the Democratic primary, Hillary Clinton has criticized Bernie Sanders' plan for single payer government health care, noting it would require big, across the board tax increases for Americans. In doing so, she's doubling down on Obamacare, despite its persistent unpopularity. Mr. Trump, you have said you want to appeal Obamacare. You have also said, quote, "Everybody's got to be covered," adding, quote, "The government's going to pay for it." Are you closer to Bernie Sanders' vision for health care than Hillary Clinton's? +p4923 +aVI don't think I am. I think I'm closer to common sense. We are going to repeal Obamacare. We're going to repeal Obamacare. We are going to replace Obamacare with something so much better. And there are so many examples of it. And I will tell you, part of the reason we have some people laughing, because you have insurance people that take care of everybody up here. I am self-funded. The only one they're not taking care of is me. We have our lines around each state. The insurance companies are getting rich on Obamacare. The insurance companies are getting rich on health care and health services and everything having to do with health. We are going to end that. We're going to take out the artificial boundaries, the artificial lines. We're going to get a plan where people compete, free enterprise. They compete. So much better. In addition to that, you have the health care savings plans, which are excellent. What I do say is, there will be a certain number of people that will be on the street dying and as a Republican, I don't want that to happen. We're going to take care of people that are dying on the street because there will be a group of people that are not going to be able to even think in terms of private or anything else and we're going to take care of those people. And I think everybody on this stage would have to agree......you're not going to let people die, sitting in the middle of a street in any city in this country. +p4924 +aVWell, let me just tell you about eminent domain because almost all of these people actually criticize it, but so many people have hit me with commercials and other things about eminent domain. Eminent domain is an absolute necessity for a country, for our country. Without it, you wouldn't have roads, you wouldn't have hospitals, you wouldn't have anything. You wouldn't have schools, you wouldn't have bridges. You need eminent domain. And a lot of the big conservatives that tell me how conservative they are \u2014 I think I'm more than they are \u2014 they tell me, oh \u2014 well, they all want the Keystone Pipeline. The Keystone Pipeline, without eminent domain, it wouldn't go 10 feet, OK? You need eminent domain. And eminent domain is a good thing, not a bad thing. And what a lot of people don't know because they were all saying, oh, you're going to take their property. When somebody \u2014 when eminent domain is used on somebody's property, that person gets a fortune. They get at least fair market value, and if they are smart, they'll get two or three times the value of their property. But without eminent domain, you don't have roads, highways, schools, bridges or anything. So eminent domain \u2014 it's not that I love it, but eminent domain is absolutely \u2014 it's a necessity for a country. And certainly it's a necessity for our country. +p4925 +aVYes. +p4926 +aVJeb wants to be \u2014 he wants to be a tough guy tonight. I didn't take the property. +p4927 +aVI didn't take the property. +p4928 +aVThe woman ultimately didn't want to do that. I walked away. +p4929 +aVWell, let me just \u2014 you know, he wants to be a tough guy. A lot of times, you'll have \u2014 you'll have \u2014 and it didn't work very well. +p4930 +aVA lot of time \u2014 let me talk. Quiet. A lot of times \u2014 a lot of times... +p4931 +aV... you \u2014 let me talk. Let me talk. Quiet. A lot of times......that's all of his donors and special interests out there. So \u2014 it's what it is. That's what \u2014 and by the way, let me just tell you, we needed tickets. You can't get them. You know who has the tickets for the \u2014 I'm talking about, to the television audience? Donors, special interests, the people that are putting up the money. That's who it is. The RNC told us. We have all donors in the audience. And the reason they're not loving me......the reason they're not \u2014 excuse me. The reason they're not loving me is, I don't want their money. I'm going to do the right thing for the American public. I don't want their money. I don't need their money. And I'm the only one up here that can say that. Eminent domain, the Keystone pipeline \u2014 do you consider that a private job? Do you \u2014 do you consider that... +p4932 +aVNo \u2014 no, let me ask you, Jeb. Do you consider the Keystone pipeline private? +p4933 +aVIs it public or private? +p4934 +aVReal \u2014 a public use? +p4935 +aVNo, it's a private job. +p4936 +aVIt's a private job. +p4937 +aVYou wouldn't have the Keystone pipeline that you want so badly without eminent domain. +p4938 +aVYou wouldn't have massive \u2014 excuse me, Josh \u2014 you wouldn't have massive factories without eminent domain. +p4939 +aVWell, I think I am, and to me, I view the word conservative as a derivative I \u2014 of \u2014 of the word conserve. We want to converse our money. We want to conserve our wealth. We want to conserve. We want to be smart. We want to be smart where we go, where we spend, how we spend. We want to conserve our country. We want to save our country. And we have people that have no idea how to do that and they are not doing it, and it's a very important word and it's something I believe in very, very strongly. +p4940 +aVWell, before I go there, I will tell you, I will bring jobs back from China. I will bring jobs back from Japan. I will bring jobs back from Mexico, where New Hampshire, by the way, has been virtually wiped out. They've lost so many businesses going to Mexico because of horrible trade deals. And now we're about to sign another trade deal, TPP, which is going to be a disaster for this country because they don't talk about monetary manipulation. It is going to be a disaster. I'm going to bring jobs back and I'll start bringing them back very fast. Under my tax plan \u2014 right now, we're the highest taxed country in the world. Under my plan, we cut not only taxes for the middle class, but we cut taxes for corporations. We will bring back trillions of dollars that's offshore. Right now, they have $2.5 trillion, and in my opinion, it's much more than that. That's what the government says. All of that money is going to come back. And we're not going to lose Pfizer, which is now leaving, and other great companies, which is now leaving. And they're all leaving. We have many, many companies that are leaving this country. We're not going to lose them anymore because we're going to have a tax structure that is going to keep them in our country. +p4941 +aVWell, four years ago, I said, bomb the oil and take the oil. And if we did that, they wouldn't have the wealth they have right now. Now, I still say the same thing, because we're doing little pinpricks. We're not even bombing \u2014 if somebody's driving a truck, they give notice to the person driving the truck, "we're going to bomb." If they don't get out of the truck, the truck sails away with the oil. We actually have a case where we don't want to bomb the oil, because we don't want to hurt \u2014 pollute the atmosphere. Can you imagine General Douglas MacArthur or General Patton saying we can't bomb because we're gonna hurt the atmosphere? You have to knock the hell out of the oil. You have to take the oil. And you have also back channels of banking. You have people that you think are our great allies, our friends, in the Middle East, that are paying tremendous numbers of \u2014 tremendous amounts of money to +p4942 +aVYou have to go in \u2014 first of all, when you take away their money, when you take away their wealth, that'll very much weaken \u2014 and it will happen fairly fast. They'll last for about a year, based on all of the wealth they've accumulated. But when you stop the banking channels and when you stop the oil and take the oil \u2014 not just bomb it, take it \u2014 when you do that, it's going to dry up very quickly. They're going to become a very weakened power, quickly. Thank you. +p4943 +aVWell, I'll tell you what. In the Middle East, we have people chopping the heads off Christians, we have people chopping the heads off many other people. We have things that we have never seen before \u2014 as a group, we have never seen before, what's happening right now. The medieval times \u2014 I mean, we studied medieval times \u2014 not since medieval times have people seen what's going on. I would bring back waterboarding and I'd bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding. +p4944 +aV... No, a good deal maker will make great deals, but we'll do it the way our founders thought it should be done. People get together, they make deals. Ronald Reagan did it with Tip O'Neil very successfully, you didn't hear so much about executive orders, if you heard about it at all. You have to be able to get a consensus. Now, the real person like it was mentioned about the deal with Iran, how bad a deal is that? It doesn't get any more amateurish than that. A good deal maker would never make a deal like that. With Congress, you have to get everybody in a room, and you have to get them to agree. But, you have to get them to agree what you want, and that's part of being a deal maker. You can't leave the White House, go to Hawaii and play golf for three weeks and be a real deal maker. It doesn't work that way. You have to get people in, grab them, hug them, kiss them, and get the deal done. But, it's got to be the deal that you want. HAM: Governor Kasich, is the problem with Washington that there are too many deals, or too few? +p4945 +aVSome? +p4946 +aVWell... +p4947 +aVYes. OK, good. It looked like he was looking right at me, right there. I think that \u2014 I look at what's going on, I look at all of the polls, I do very, very well against Hillary Clinton. I can tell you, I'm the last person that she wants to run against. And I think you can see what we've done in terms of galvanizing. I've been all over the country. We're \u2014 last night, I was in South Carolina, we had 12,000 people. It set up in about four days. We have galvanized and we've created a movement. A lot of it has to do with \u2014 as an example, Josh's question on drugs. I'm the first person that said, "Build a wall." But I mean, a real wall, not a toy wall like they have right now. A real wall. And you'll solve lots of problems. But we will galvanize the people of this country, and we will beat Hillary Clinton. Because \u2014 assuming that she runs, by the way, how she gets away with the e-mail stuff is hard to believe. So, I don't know that she's going to be running. But on the assumption she runs... I mean, look. And speaking of that, if she runs, she's running for one reason. She's going to be able to run for one reason, and that's because the Democrats are protecting her. Because so many people have done so much less than her, and they were absolutely \u2014 their lives have been destroyed. But on the assumption they do protect her, I will win the election and we will win it by a lot. We will win it handily. We cannot have another four years of essentially Barack Obama. +p4948 +aVWell, there is a divide, but I have to say that the police are absolutely mistreated and misunderstood, and if there is an incident, whether it's an incident done purposely \u2014 which is a horror, and you should really take very strong action \u2014 or if it is a mistake, it's on your news casts all night, all week, all month, and it never ends. The police in this country have done an unbelievable job of keeping law and order, and they're afraid for their jobs, they're afraid of the mistreatment they get, and I'm telling you that not only, me speaking, minorities all over the country, they respect the police of this country and we have to give them more respect. They can't act. They can't act. They're afraid for losing their pension, their job. They don't know what to do. And I deal with them all the time. We have to give great respect, far greater than we are right now, to our really fantastic police. +p4949 +aVWell, they do. And, you know, they sue. Everybody sues, right? They see excessive \u2014 I mean, they go out, they sue. We have so much litigation \u2014 I see the courts, I see what they're doing. They sue, and you know what? We don't want excessive force. But at what point \u2014 you know, either you're going to have a police force that can do its job... I was just up in Manchester, I met with the police officers yesterday. Tremendous people. They love the area, they love the people, they love all the people. They want to do their job. And you're going to have abuse and you're going to have problems, and you've got to solve the problems and you have to weed out the problems. But the police in this country are absolutely amazing people. +p4950 +aVWell, I \u2014 I know Diane Foley very well. Her husband and \u2014 these are tremendous people. I spoke for them, I raised a lot of money for the foundation. I fully understand, James, one of \u2014 that was really the first that we saw, really visually saw \u2014 it was so horrible. And I will tell you, though, with all of that being said, you can not negotiate this way with terrorists. If you do, you are going to have many, many more James Foleys. James Foley was a great young man. His parents are incredible people. They've done such a good job, since his \u2014 since his death. But you just cannot negotiate that way with terrorists, or you're gonna have so many other James Foleys. And one thing on the vets \u2014 during the last debate, I raised $6 million for the vets, and I will tell you something......I will tell you that I think nobody here, nobody on this stage, gets along with the veterans groups in New Hampshire better than I do without ball (ph) to sarel (ph) and all of the people that I deal with and these are great people. The one thing that we're not mentioning, there's tremendous fraud, waste and abuse in the Veterans Administration and if I'm running things, that's going to disappear......and it's going to disappear quickly. +p4951 +aVCarolina. +p4952 +aVThat's because he got Ben Carson's votes, by the way, but we won't . Our country that we love so much doesn't win anymore. We don't win with the military, we don't' win on the border. You look at New Hampshire with the tremendous problem we have with heroin. Number one thing I hear from the people of New Hampshire, who I love, and developed such relationships, we don't win with healthcare. We don't win with trade. You look at what other countries are doing to us. China. Everyone, they're killing us on trade. If I'm elected president, we will win, and we will win, and we will win. Thank you, thank you very much. +p4953 +asVPATAKI +p4954 +(lp4955 +VThank you, Wolf. I want to speak to you this evening not as a Republican or a presidential candidate, but as an American. As we saw today in L.A., we are at a crisis in our country. Radical Islam poses a threat to our safety not just overseas, but literally in every community in America. And yet at a time when we should be united, we have a president who has divided us, who refuses to call radical Islam what it is, let alone have a coherent strategy to defeat it. The leading Democrat, Hillary Clinton, won't call +p4956 +aVAbsolutely. It's one of many absurd things this President has said. To target a religion and say that regardless of whether you're an American soldier who has fought on our side or allies we have overseas, simply because of your religion we're going to ban you is un-American, it is unconstitutional and it is wrong. And by the way, Wolf, now there was a group that tried to do that 150 to 160 years ago, they were called the Know-Nothing Party. They wanted to ban Catholics. They thought they were going to destroy America. Well, Donald Trump is the Know-Nothing candidate of the 21st century and cannot be our nominee. By the way, though. I fault Hillary and Obama as well because by not distinguishing between Muslims and radicalized Jihadists, by refusing to acknowledge that it's radical Muslim, radical Islamists who are carrying out these attacks against America \u2014 they let Americans who are confused and angry lump everyone together. We have to embrace the Muslims who embrace our freedom and living and safety. We have to destroy those who embrace Jihad and want to engage in violence against us here or abroad. +p4957 +aVYes. +p4958 +aVYou know, I think it's very important that we do everything in our power to prevent radicalization of Americans right here. And it is happening, not just overseas, but it's happening here from Mosques on social media. And truth \u2014 interaction and community meetings. New York police department had a very active group, aggressively monitoring and using intelligence to \u2014 in certain Muslim communities, consistent with our constitution, consistent of our civil rights, so they could have the intelligence as to where these sermons are being given, and who is being radicalized. And, they stopped and prevented dozens, and dozens of attacks in New York. You know, I'm a great believer in the First Amendment, of Freedom of Speech. I wish we had more of it on our college campuses, but you can't shout fire in a crowded theater. Calling on Americans to engage in violence against their fellow Americans in the name of jihad is crying fire in a crowded theater. It is not constitutionally protected speech, it should be shut down. And, by the way, the two murders who went to Garland, Texas to massacre many Americans before the Texas police officer courageously killed them, had been radicalized here. Getting to that metadata question, one of those terrorists, the day before the attacks, had sent......109 message to a known terrorist overseas. We could not read those messages, we can not read those today... +p4959 +aV...We have got to do far better. +p4960 +aVYes, Wolf. +p4961 +aVI would pass a law requiring them to do that. Let me just give you one example. I mentioned in Garland, Texas, where that murderer, that terrorist, the day before sent 109 messages overseas to a known terrorist. But they were encrypted. So to this date we don't know what that said. Companies are entitled to encrypt and protect their knowledge and their intelligence. But what we need is a back door for law enforcement to be able, when they can establish that that communication poses a risk to our safety and engages in terrorism, to get a court order and go in and access those communications. Allow the companies to continue encryption, provide an entry way for law enforcement when they can prove to a court that there is a sufficient risk of an attack upon us that they have the right to look at those messages. +p4962 +aVAnd just one more thing, Wolf. When that murderer came from Pakistan to San Bernardino and committed those atrocious crimes just a few weeks ago, she applied for a visa. She had posted on social media jihadist messages. Because this administration is so politically correct, they have a rule that they cannot look at social media postings of people applying to come to the United States. That is utterly absurd. One of the things we must do, the next president must do is get rid of that law and make sure we do everything in our power to find out if someone poses a threat to our existence here. +p4963 +aVWolf, I think the answer is we have to send troops with allies and supporters. Wherever it is necessary to destroy the training centers, recruitment centers, planning hubs of +p4964 +aVYes. +p4965 +aVYou know, I don't think it's a function of years of going after +p4966 +aVYou know, I don't want to see us occupy a country. I've been to Iraq a couple of times and Afghanistan. The first time I went, I had an uneasy feeling that when we went there we were liberators. But as we stayed ,we became occupiers. I saw American troops move into some of Saddam's old hideous marble palaces. And I thought that was exactly the wrong message. We do not have to occupy. We do not have to nation build and try to create a democracy where one hasn't existed. WE have to destroy +p4967 +aVI'm not sure \u2014 ally with which groups? I didn't quite catch that. +p4968 +aVNot at all. Iran is our enemy. They are the number one sponsor of state terror. The Iranian Deal is a disaster. And by the way, I don't think the next president has to aggregate it. It was never ratified by the Iranians. They have tested long-range ballistic missiles in violation of U.N. resolutions. They have broken the agreement. It is void. They can never have a nuclear weapon and should not get relief. With respect to the other groups, like Hezbollah, of course we should not work with them. I'll tell you who we should work with in Syria. There are two groups. One are the PYD, the \u2014 the Kurds in Syria who led the defense of Kobani, and are in northern and eastern Syria and anti- +p4969 +aVI could create... +p4970 +aVI would create the no-fly zone, and let me tell you, something very simply. Putin is a bully, and the most important and effective thing you can do to a bully is punch him in the face. Create a no-fly zone. If Russian planes violate that space, either us, or the Turks, should shoot them down to keep our word. And, I guarantee you that Putin would back off. Bullies, when you stand up to them, back down. We have had, under Obama, and under Hillary as Secretary of State, nothing but weakness in the face of Russia, whether it was in the Crimea, whether it was in Ukraine, or now in the Middle East. I would give the Ukrainians lethal weapons so they could defend themselves. I would create the no-fly zone, and if Russian planes flew into it in violation of what we have declared, yes. +p4971 +aVI could create... +p4972 +aVI would create the no-fly zone, and let me tell you, something very simply. Putin is a bully, and the most important and effective thing you can do to a bully is punch him in the face. Create a no-fly zone. If Russian planes violate that space, either us, or the Turks, should shoot them down to keep our word. And, I guarantee you that Putin would back off. Bullies, when you stand up to them, back down. We have had, under Obama, and under Hillary as Secretary of State, nothing but weakness in the face of Russia, whether it was in the Crimea, whether it was in Ukraine, or now in the Middle East. I would give the Ukrainians lethal weapons so they could defend themselves. I would create the no-fly zone, and if Russian planes flew into it in violation of what we have declared, yes. +p4973 +aVNo, I completely disagree with Rick. This is America. And we've made enormous progress. And I don't care if you're a man or a woman. I care if you're good and capable of doing the job. If you can do the job \u2014 don't lower standards, don't lower the criteria \u2014 but if a woman is capable of doing these jobs, there is no reason why we should deny a patriot who wants to serve and help defend our country that right. +p4974 +aVIt's not. +p4975 +aVNo, you said you would reverse the policy which excluded women from those jobs whether or not they were able to do that. That is wrong. +p4976 +aVAh. +p4977 +aVYes, I think what Rick said is very different from what he said initially which was that, "he would reverse the policy that gave woman not the right but the opportunity to serve in combat." They can only do it if they're fit and capable and meet the same standards as men. And so, to reverse that policy and deny a woman who is prepared to risk her life to defend our freedom and is capable of doing everything a man could do is not the right thing for America in the 21st century. By the way, you see in Iraq, the Peshmerga, the Kurds ,many of their top fighters are women. This is the 21st century. We're not radical Islam. We want to give women the opportunity to do whatever they are capable of achieving in this country. +p4978 +aVOf course he's innocent until proven guilty. I happen to believe he's guilty. The military did a very clear and long study as to whether or not he deserted in the face of enemy and they are not court marshalling him. I don't think he should executed. I do think he will have a fair military trial, not a civilian trial, at which time, assuming he's found guilty as I think he would, he will be sentenced appropriately. But there's a bigger issue here, this administration has failed to protect us because they have treated radical Islamists as Americans who should be tried in civil court. That is ridiculous. They are enemy aliens engaged in terror against Americans. And by the way, the fact that this president is now threatening to close Guantanamo Bay when we know that time after time, terrorists he released are involved in a high level capacity helping +p4979 +aVYou know, again, it comes down to something that, as Mike said, breaks your heart. We clearly want to get them back. But the idea that by taking a journalist, for example, and holding him hostage in Iran, they're going to be able to get some of their terrorist leaders back, is simply bad policy. Israel has shown the way on this in rejecting hostage exchanges such as this and then not paying ransom. But, by the way, Mike is absolutely right. We have to do more to protect our people overseas, but then we also have to do more to help our veterans when they come back here today. We haven't talked about that. But more talking about defeating terrorism, one of the things we have to do is give our veterans the support and help that they require. What has happened at the VA is a disgrace. Give our veterans a medical card that they can use to get the best quality care anywhere, including outside of the VA system. +p4980 +aVAnd that \u2014 but that was involved in combat, where they were actually involved in a war against each other and exchanged prisoners. We have not been in a war with Iran. They have taken civilians as hostages. It's a totally different situation. And we cannot encourage them to do any more of that. +p4981 +aVYou know, I think what I said earlier is that I would create a no-fly zone in Syria. Turkey just agreed to take 3 million more Syrian refugees. The EU just came up with a funding program to provide camps for Syrian refugees, but I would also create that no-fly zone where refugees can be there. I have to say I agree with Rick, because this President is talking about taking 10,000 people from Syria, who we cannot vet. This administration, allegedly, vetted the woman who carried out the attacks in San Bernardino and never found out that she had a false address and was on social media talking about radical Jihad. Coming from Syria, it's impossible to do that check. And we know, by the way, that +p4982 +aVThank you. This debate has been about terrorism and appropriately so. I'm proud to have been governor of New York on September 11th and have led our state through and during the aftermath of that horrible attack. I vowed then that if I ever had the chance to lead this country, I would do everything in my power to make sure that Americans were safe. But I also saw a positive from that. New Yorkers and the American people came together and vowed that we weren't just going to defend ourselves. We were not going to live in fear. We were going to rise to new heights and celebrate our freedom. Come to Lower Manhattan today. You will see a magnificent tribute to those who died, the memorial and the museum. You will also see a new tower soaring 1,776 feet tall, the Freedom Tower, a symbol of our freedom, a symbol of our belief that as a free people we can soar to new heights. Give us the chance to unite Americans, not just Republicans. And this country's future is unlimited. +p4983 +aVWe need an outsider to run our party and to win the next election. Washington has become a corrupt insider game and everybody talks about how they're going to change the taxes, grow the economy. Nothing seems to change. But, by the way, Bobby, I shrunk the size of New York State's government when I left. We had reduced the employment by over 25,000 and cut taxes. But I understand that to change Washington you have to understand government as well. You can't just be an outsider. You can't just be someone who throws stones at Washington. You have to be someone who can actually bring people together across party lines. I can do that, I will do that if I have the chance to lead this party. +p4984 +aVBecky, can I comment on this question? +p4985 +aV...John, can I quickly comment on this one... +p4986 +aV...But, I want to speak on this issue... +p4987 +aV...I think it was a bad deal, but I would have voted for it for a very simple reason. Barack Obama is the first president in American history to hold our military hostage. He knew that we needed funding for overseas contingency operations, $40 million dollars that would go to support our troops. And, he was prepared, and had vetoed it, unless this deal went through. I have two sons, they both served overseas. One in Iraq, and one in Afghanistan, and I understand that we have got to do far more to help our military, help our veterans, and help protect our security. This is a bad deal, but to protect our military, I would have signed it. Uh, it's not going to be the case, if I have a chance to lead this country, we're going to reduce the deficit, shrink the government, lower the tax burden and grow the private sector because that's how you solve deficits. +p4988 +aVThank you. +p4989 +aVNo, I don't think we need a military response, but we need a coordinated response. And I have to say that I think the Obama administration has been completely lax, to say the least, in dealing with these cyber-attacks, not just by governments like North Korea, but by, particularly, Chinese and other companies. And what I would do is put in place a policy where if we know a company, say, a Chinese company, is hacking into American companies, stealing trade secrets, as we know they do every day, we will retaliate against that company and say that that company's not going to be allowed to continue to do trade with the United States. I would also look at what we're doing at the federal level and put in place what Israel has done: a \u2014 one federal agency dealing with cybersecurity and charged with working across silos to make sure we have the best technology. And, Jim, I've gotta tell you something, talking about cybersecurity. Hillary Clinton put a server, an unsecure server, in her home as secretary of state. We have no doubt that that was hacked, and that state secrets are out there to the Iranians, the Russians, the Chinese and others. That alone should disqualify her from being president of the United States. +p4990 +aVI think they have gone too far. I think we've seen Wall Street really blossom and do very well while the rest of the country is struggling, and it's because we have this corrupt connection between Wall Street and Washington. And, John, you were just talking about what loopholes would you get rid of. I would get rid of virtually every single one of them. They cost American taxpayers $1.4 trillion a year. I would throw them all out. +p4991 +aVNo, I wouldn't. I was going to say... +p4992 +aV...no, I would keep \u2014 first, yes, but what I would do is ii would lower the tax on manufacturing to the lowest in the developed world \u2014 12 percent. We all have plans. I have a plan. We all have plans. My plan, the Tax Foundation said, would create five and a half million new jobs over the next decade. The difference, though, is I will get my plan enacted because, when I was governor of New York, I passed sweeping tax code \u2014 cuts in a Democratic state with a Democratic legislature. I \u2014 you know, Bobby, you're talking about your tax cuts? I cut taxes more than everybody on this stage, more than everybody on the next stage, combined. By more than the other 49 states, in New York state. I don't just have a plan. I will enact tax cuts, get rid of those loopholes and make the system fairer for all Americans. +p4993 +aVThank you. +p4994 +aVLet me \u2014 let me try to get a word in edgewise. +p4995 +aVIn Washington, they talk over each other... +p4996 +aVYes. Very simply, you guys talk over each other in Washington all the time. I'm not used to that. I listen when people talk. We have a skills gap. You mentioned the construction company. The construction industry says one of their biggest problems are they can't find the craftsmen to do the work. What we have to... +p4997 +aV\u2014 do in America is honor blue collar work again. We have to honor the carpenter, the plumber, the electrician, who can actually build something and instead of just saying that a college degree live \u2014 delivers prestige, let's celebrate those who do things with their hands and elevate their skills using training in high school and community... +p4998 +aV\u2014 colleges so that we can... +p4999 +aV\u2014 have a better quality workforce that we honor... +p5000 +aV\u2014 as they build America's future. +p5001 +aVThank you. +p5002 +aVThank you. +p5003 +aVHey, Rick. +p5004 +aVI'm doing great. +p5005 +aVNot at all. +p5006 +aVNo, I don't support it. But let me go back a little bit here. We need to grow our economy faster. We've had the worst economic recovery since the Great Depression. And it's because of policy in Washington and policy at the Fed. And let me go back to Washington. In 2009 \u2014 +p5007 +aVJohn, no question Barack Obama inherited a economic disaster in 2009. But what did he do? Instead of focusing on pro-growth policies in the economy, he rammed through ObamaCare, the worst law of my lifetime, that hurt small businesses, hurt companies, raised taxes and almost completely eliminated one industry because of its taxes. The Fed had to act. And the Fed did act and appropriately in reducing interest rates but they've reduced them now for seven straight years, that's never happened before. They've been zero for way too long. They should raise the rates; the Fed should get out of manipulating the market and the Fed also, by the way, should reduce its balance sheet, $2.7 trillion. Let some of those bonds mature and put the money back in the banking system so our economy can grow. +p5008 +aVYeah, absolutely. I \u2014 one of the things that troubles me about the Republican Party is too often we question science that everyone accepts. I mean, it's ridiculous that, in the 21st century, we're questioning whether or not vaccines are the appropriate way to go. Of course they are. And it's also not appropriate to think that human activity, putting CO2 into the atmosphere, doesn't make the earth warmer. All things being equal, it does. It's uncontroverted. I think part of the problem is that Republicans think about climate change, say, "oh my God, we're gonna have higher taxes, more Obama, more big government, the EPA shutting down factories." That's not the solution that I see. I want Republicans to embrace innovation and technology. You know, there's one country in the world that has fewer greenhouse gas emissions than the rest of \u2014 of the world. You know what that is? The United States. Our emissions are lower than they were in 1995. Not because of a \u2014 of a government program, but because of fracking, private sector creation... +p5009 +aV...replace coal plants \u2014 government's roles \u2014 is to incentivize innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit in America. We could have far more clean energy. We could have next-generation nuclear, thorium reactors that have no risk of meltdown. We could have solar panels on every home that are four times more efficient than today. +p5010 +aVR&D \u2014 R&D credits. Let the private sector do this, develop this innovation. And not only would we solve our problems, we would have clean energy, cheaper energy here. We could export those technologies to places like China and like India so we would grow our economy, have a far greater impact globally, have a secure domestic source of energy, and cleaner, healthier air. That's the solution. Embrace science, embrace innovation and change. +p5011 +aVThe one I use the most is Uber. You know, I used to get driven......when I was governor, I had a driver. I don't anymore, but.... And it's an example of what millennials are doing to change America for the better. And I tweet a lot, too. So Uber, Tweet \u2014 Twitter and then I communicate with my family. +p5012 +aVI \u2014 I am a long suffering Jets fan. So my answer is obviously no, there's no reason to take off the day after the Super Bowl. But let me just add this. The Mets are going to win tonight. Let's go, Mets. +p5013 +aVThank you for the opportunity to be with this great audience tonight. I'm a limited government conservative and I mean by that that not just when it comes to economic issues leaving them to the state, but social issues, as well. And in that I differ from every single other candidate seeking the Republican nomination. I take the Tenth Amendment very, very seriously. I'm a Republican who embraces science and understands we have to work with the next generation of millennials to have the innovation and technology so that we can grow a 21st century economy. And I'm a Republican who understands in Washington, when you're a leader, you have to put aside partisan politics to do what's right for the people. We are one America. If we work together across party lines, there's no problem we can't solve and the 21st century will be America's greatest century. Thank you very much. +p5014 +aVThank you, Jake. Hi, I'm George Pataki, and I am honored to be here this afternoon with all of you at the Reagan Library. You know, when I think of Ronald Reagan, I think of his tremendous smile, a smile that reflected his optimism and his unending belief and faith in America and in Americans. And it was that belief in America that led to a great presidency, a presidency that led to decades of safety, security and prosperity for America. That's exactly the type of leadership we need in Washington today and that's why I'm running for President of the United States. Thank you. +p5015 +aVNo. Hugh, not at all. I have not broken the pledge because Donald Trump is not going to be the Republican nominee, period, flat out, I guarantee you that. I would vote... +p5016 +aV-- for the Republican nominee... +p5017 +aVHe's not going to be the nominee. +p5018 +aVHe's not going to be the nominee, Hugh. And let me just say one word here. This is an important election with an enormous number of challenges facing the American people. And the first four questions are about Donald Trump. +p5019 +aVNo, I would not vote for Hillary Clinton. +p5020 +aVNo, I will vote for the Republican nominee. But let me say this flat out, Donald Trump is unfit to be president of the United States or the Republican Party's nominee. Look at what he did in Atlantic City. He says he's going to make America great again? He invested four casinos in Atlantic City and he said, essentially, I'm going to make Atlantic City great again. Every one of those casinos went bankrupt. Over 5,000 Americans lost their job. And you know people who, in this difficult economic time, have lost their job and the pain that causes. He didn't lose anything, 5,000 lost their jobs. He will do for America what he did for Atlantic City and that is not someone we will nominate. +p5021 +aVThank you. +p5022 +aVOK. All right. Thank you. +p5023 +aVYeah, it's a small part of a very important issue, and let me comment on what my colleagues were saying here. We all agree you have to secure the border. We have to make sure that people come to America legally. That has got to be step one. Step two is, we have to stop releasing criminals into the communities. If you are charged with a crime as an illegal alien, you should either be in jail or be deported. You should not released, as the Obama administration has done. Of course, we should outlaw sanctuary cities and hold them responsible. But we can't ignore 11 million people who are here. What are we going to do? We're not going to send them back, despite somebody saying we're going to drag kids out of classrooms and send them back. But we have to send a message that we are a nation that depends on the rule of law, and when your first act is to break the law, there has to be a consequence. So what I would do is require those who want to have legal status, not citizenship, come forward, acknowledge they broke the law, and if they do it again, they can be immediately deported, and then do what we do in communities across America when we want to sanction someone... +p5024 +aV... and that is community service -- 200 hours working in a hospital... +p5025 +aV... working in a school, and then they could have legal... +p5026 +aVI don't -- I don't think that we should tell that child born in America that we're going to send them back. The way to avoid that is to have an intelligent immigration policy where we know who is coming here, why they are coming here, so we don't have this flood of people coming here for the wrong reasons. +p5027 +aVWe have to deal with the people who are here illegally. We can't just ignore them, or send them back. I think my policy would work to give them legal status, make them a part of an economy that will grow, and help America. +p5028 +aVLindsey, let me comment on this. Last week was the anniversary of September 11th and I was governor of New York on September 11th and led us through that horrible day. And I learned that we cannot assume that because radical Islam is a continent away, it doesn't pose a threat to us here in America. It did then, and today, I think, we are at greater risk of an attack than at any time since. We have got to destroy +p5029 +aVJake... +p5030 +aVJake, if I can comment on this. Yes, Kim Davis is different from Islamist radicalists from the Middle East. But on the other hand, we have run rule in America, an elected official can't say I'm not going to follow that law if it conflicts with my beliefs. I think she should have been fired and if she worked for me, I would have fired her. We have to uphold the rule of law. +p5031 +aVImagine one minute -- Jake, imagine one minute that was a Muslim who said I don't believe in gay marriage, and refused to perform that wedding. We wouldn't have had that outrage. There's a place where religion supersedes the rule of law. It's called Iran. It shouldn't be the United States. +p5032 +aVMy response is kind of, "Wow." You know, we're going to have a president who defies the Supreme Court because they don't agree? +p5033 +aVThen you don't have the rule of law... +p5034 +aVThe -- the elected representatives of the people always have the opportunity to change that law. The Supreme Court makes a determination, but it's ultimately the elected officials who decide whether or not that would be accepted. By the way, if I have a chance to lead this country, I will appoint judges who understand their role. They're not going to be making the law; they're going to be interpreting law that the elected officials passed. +p5035 +aVBut there's a huge difference between an individual standing up and saying I am going to stand for my religious freedom and my religious rights. I applaud that. This is America. You should be able to engage in your religious belief in the way you see fit. But when you are an elected official and you take an oath of office to uphold the law, all the laws, you cannot pick and choose or you no longer have a society that depends on the rule of law. +p5036 +aVYes, I -- I didn't agree with the Supreme Court's decision, but it is the law of this land. And I am a great admirer of Martin Luther King. And he was prepared to break the law. But it wasn't in an office of political power. It was civil disobedience, where what he was willing to do is voluntarily go to jail with his followers to send a message to the elected representatives that these laws were wrong and had to be changed. And because of his courage, we didn't ignore the courts, we changed the laws and made America a better place. That's the way to do it. +p5037 +aVYes? +p5038 +aVI would throw out the entire corrupt tax code. It's a symbol of the corruption and the power of the lobbyists and the special interests in Washington. It is 74,000 pages of incomprehensible gobbledygook. What I would do is get rid of the 1.4 million every year in exemptions and loopholes, dramatically lower the rates. The normal American person is paying higher taxes than they should because of loopholes, and one of them is that carried interest loophole. I would tax that income the same as ordinary income. I'd lower the rate to 24 percent for all Americans, but I would not give a special break to the Wall Street fat caps -- fat cats. +p5039 +aVIt's hard for me to say I'm with Donald trump on anything, but on this issue, I agree with him. But let me just make one other point. It's not just throwing out the tax code to break the back of the special interests that control Washington. It's other reforms. I would propose a law -- right now there are over 400 former members of the House and Senate who are registered lobbyists in Washington. I would propose a law on day one, you serve one day in the House or Senate, there's a lifetime ban on you ever being a lobbyist in Washington, D.C. You get elected, you go back home. You don't stay and support the special interests. +p5040 +aVCan I just... +p5041 +aVNo, I would not. I would keep that deduction. I would lower the rates dramatically, so, yes, that root that has a special carve out would pay more, but everybody else is going to pay less. I would keep the home mortgage deduction, the charitable deduction, and others. And, by the way, you know, I agree with Rick on manufacturing, but my approach is different. I would pass a rate on manufacturing of 12 percent, the lowest in the developed world so we can make this America again. I know how important those jobs are. When I work -- went through college, Christmas and summer vacations, I worked in a factory. My grandparents worked in a factory. We have the opportunity now with lower energy costs, with the world labor cost getting higher, to make things in America so we don't have to worry about China. Lower the tax burden on manufacturing, improve the work skills... +p5042 +aV...of Americans. Get rid of job killing regulations. If we're going to... +p5043 +aV...If we're going to make this America... +p5044 +aVNot on the table but I think there's a lot that does work. And that is to have a strong America, a strong military and a resolve where the Iranians know that not only are we going to reject this deal on day one and reimpose sanctions but, if they move forward with the nuclear program, their safety for those facilities will be at risk. I'll tell you a couple of things I'd do. I'd give the Israelis bombs called MOPs, massive ordnance penetrators. Give them to Israel. Let the Iranians know we're prepared to work with Israel to make sure they never have a nuclear weapon. And let me point out that Hillary Clinton, supporting this deal, she was the senator from New York on September 11th, she saw what happened at the hands of radical Islam. This is the senator who did the reset program with Russia, who allowed the Middle East to deteriorate to flames, who has lied about Benghazi and is now supporting the Iranian deal. That's the opponent we're going to have next November. We have got to win this election. Everything we say is wonderful. But we have to win and, once we win, we have to actually do what we say. I can do this. +p5045 +aVI think there are two things, Jake. Two things that we need as Republicans. First, we have to win the election. You're going to hear a lot of great ideas, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that. None of it matters unless you win the election. And the second is, once you win, you have to be able to govern successfully. You've heard a lot of fighting back and forth, you didn't get this done, you didn't get that done. That's the way Washington is today. You have to have a leader, a president, who will actually get a conservative agenda through. I'm running because I have done both those things, and I did them in one of the most liberal states in America. I got elected three times in the state of New York. Twice by the largest pluralities ever for a Republican. I ran as a Republican conservative. If I get the nomination, I will be able to get broad support and win this election, and take the White House back for our party. But more importantly, once I've won, I will put in place a sweeping conservative agenda. I did that in New York. Over $143 billion in tax cuts. More than the other 49 states combined. Taking one million people off welfare and putting them into jobs, in a state where the Democrats control the state assembly. +p5046 +aV103-47. I got them to support a conservative agenda. If I get elected president, I will make things work in Washington. +p5047 +aVFor the Republican party and for the United States. +p5048 +aVI think he means somebody who hasn't been a career politician, and who's been out of office for awhile. I think the last eight years in the private sector have allowed me to see government from the outside, and I think that is a positive thing. Yes, I thought about running four years ago. I was ready to lead, but I wasn't ready to run. But I look at this country today, and I look at how divided we are, I look at how politicians are always posturing and issuing sound bites but never solving problems. What I did in New York was bring people together, an overwhelmingly Democratic state. But I was able to get Democrats to support the most conservative sweeping policy changes in any state in America. And when I look at Washington today, we need to bring us together. We need to solve problems, we need to rebuild our military so we can stand up to radical Islam, we need to get our economy growing much faster by throwing out the corrupt tax code and lowering the rates. We have to end crony capitalism in Washington, where the lobbyists and the powerful can get tax breaks and tax credits, and the American people don't get laws in their interest. I can do that. And I can do it regardless of what the makeup of Congress is because I did it in New York state. So we need new leadership -- yes. I will be that new leader. Mac +p5049 +aVMartha, religious liberty doesn't include encouraging a fellow American to engage in violent jihad and kill an American here. That is not protected free speech. That is not protected religious belief. That is like shouting "fire" in a crowded theater, and that is illegal, and I would do everything in our power not just to go after those who are here who we know who are here, before they can radicalize other Americans to carry out attacks, and it's not just the ones they've arrested. Think back to Garland, Texas. But for that Texas police officer, we could have had a mass murder. We have to shut down their internet capability. We have to shut down, whether or not they're in prisons preaching or on -- in mosques preaching. No radical Islam that is allowed to engage in encouraging violence against Americans, that is not protected speech. Let me just add one thing about +p5050 +aVI think he is right. I don't think you expand entitlements when so many people are dependent on government and when the money the federal government is offering is going to be taken away from you after just a couple of years. But getting back to Martha's question about how we end dependency, do we have to have a cultural change? The answer is no. And I know this, because when I ran for governor of New York, one in 11 of every man, woman, and child in the state of New York was on welfare. On welfare. Think about that. And people said "you can't win, you can't change the culture." But I knew that good people who wanted to be a part of the American dream have become trapped in dependency because the federal government and the state government had made it in their economic interest not to take a job because the benefits that they didn't work were better. I changed that. We put in place mandatory work fair (ph). But we allowed people to keep health care. We put in place child care support. +p5051 +aVNo, it should be repealed. And by the way, when I left, there were over 1 million fewer people on welfare in New York state than when I took office... +p5052 +aV... replacing dependency with opportunity. +p5053 +aVYes. Mac +p5054 +aVMy heart has not changed, because I've always been appalled by abortion. I'm a Catholic, I believe life begins at conception. But as Bill said earlier, Roe v. Wade, it's has been the law for 42 years, and I don't think we should continue to try to change it. But we can do is defund Planned Parenthood, and by the way, put in place an absolute permanent ban on any taxpayer dollars ever being used to fund abortions. Also, when you look at these videos, they are horrific and show just a hideous disrespect for life. What else we can do is that we should believe in science. You know, Hillary Clinton's always saying how Republicans don't follow science? Well, they're the ones not listening to the scientists today, because doctors say that at 20 weeks that is a viable life inside the womb. And at that point, it's a life that we have the right to protect, and I think we should protect. So, I would pass legislation outlawing abortion after 20 weeks. It is Hillary, it is Biden, it is the others who insist on allowing abortion well into viable (inaudible) wrong, and that should be stopped. Mac +p5055 +aVBill, I defeated Mario Cuomo. In the first day in office, my first executive order, I revoked every one of the executive orders that he had -- he had enacted over the prior 12 years. I would do that to Barack Obama's executive orders. But I'd sign a second one, as I did in New York, as well, having a hard hiring freeze on adding new employees except for the military or defense-related positions. I'd sign that executive order. When I left the workforce, New York State had been reduced by over 15 percent. We can do that in Washington. I will do that in Washington. +p5056 +aVDivisive and with no vision. No vision at all. +p5057 +aVWith all the candidates, why me? My background is different. I look at Washington, and I hear the talk, and I see the promises and it seems nothing ever changes. Washington gets bigger, taxes get higher, and the American people feel more distance from our government. I have the opportunity not just to run, but to win in the deep blue state of New York three times. And not only did I win, but I then worked with a Democratic legislature to put in place the most sweeping conservative reforms of any state in America, taking us from the most dangerous state in America to the fourth safest; reducing our welfare rolls by over 1 million, and replacing over 700,000 private sector jobs. I can govern by bringing people together. And also, I've been tested in a way no one else has. I was governor on September 11th, and I'm proud of my leadership in bringing New York through that time. And when I left, we were stronger, we were safer, and we were more united than at any time in my lifetime. We need to bring people together in Washington. The talk has got to stop, the action has got to begin. People can promise you something, I delivered in the blue state of New York. I will deliver for the American people if I have the privilege of leading this country. +p5058 +asVCHRISTIE +p5059 +(lp5060 +VThank you Wolf. America has been betrayed. We've been betrayed by the leadership that Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton have provided to this country over the last number of years. Think about just what's happened today. The second largest school district in America in Los Angeles closed based on a threat. Think about the effect that, that's going to have on those children when they go back to school tomorrow wondering filled with anxiety to whether they're really going to be safe. Think about the mothers who will take those children tomorrow morning to the bus stop wondering whether their children will arrive back on that bus safe and sound. Think about the fathers of Los Angeles, who tomorrow will head off to work and wonder about the safety of their wives and their children. What is Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton done to this country? That the most basic responsibility of an administration is to protect the safety and security of the American people. I will tell you this, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I've fought terrorists and won and when we get back in the White House we will fight terrorists and win again and America will be safe. +p5061 +aVWolf, unfortunately, it's the new normal under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The fact is that if you listen to Hillary Clinton the other day, what she said to the American people was, as regards to +p5062 +aVListen, I want to talk to the audience at home for a second. If your eyes are glazing over like mine, this is what it's like to be on the floor of the United States Senate. I mean, endless debates about how many angels on the head of a pin from people who've never had to make a consequential decision in an executive position. The fact is, for seven years, I had to make these decisions after 9/11, make a decision about how to proceed forward with an investigation or how to pull back, whether you use certain actionable intelligence or whether not to. And yet they continue to debate about this bill and in the subcommittee and what \u2014 nobody in America cares about that. What they care about is, are we going to have a president who actually knows what they're doing to make these decisions? And for the seven years afterwards, New Jersey was threatened like no other region in this country and what we did was we took action within the constitution to make sure that law enforcement had all the information they needed. We prosecuted two of the biggest terrorism cases in the world and stopped Fort Dix from being attacked by six American radicalized Muslims from a Mosque in New Jersey because we worked with the Muslim American community to get intelligence and we used the Patriot Act to get other intelligence to make sure we did those cases. This is the difference between actually been a federal prosecutor, actually doing something, and not just spending your life as one of hundred debating it. Let's talk about how we do this, not about which bill, which one these guys like more. The American people don't care about that. +p5063 +aVWolf, you sit up here and you listen to this stuff, and you think that so many of these people have had so much to do in this national debate, they talk like they were bystanders. You know, we talk about our military being degraded over time, and yet we've had folks on this stage who've been a part of Congress who have participated in sequester; who participated in the degrading of this military over time. And that's why I think people get so frustrated with Washington, D.C. now. That's why they're so angry with the \u2014 the electorate is so angry with everybody who is involved in government in Washington, D.C. Because if you listen to the folks up here, you think that they weren't even there; they had nothing to do with this. This is a difference between being a governor and being in a legislature. See, because when something doesn't work in New Jersey, they look at me, say: "Why didn't it get done? Why didn't you do it?" You have to be responsible and accountable. And so on +p5064 +aVWell, I think we have to focus, Hugh, on exactly what the priorities are. And to me, what I've always said is that the president has set up an awful situation through his deal with Iran, because what his deal with Iran has done is empower them and enrich them. And that's the way +p5065 +aVNot only would I be prepared to do it, I would do it. A no-fly zone means a no-fly zone, Wolf. That's what it means. See, maybe \u2014 maybe because I'm from New Jersey, I just have this kind of plain language hangup. But I would make very clear \u2014 I would not talk to Vladimir Putin. In fact, I would talk to Vladimir Putin a lot. But I'd say to him, "Listen, Mr. President, there's a no-fly zone in Syria; you fly in, it applies to you." And yes, we would shoot down the planes of Russian pilots if in fact they were stupid enough to think that this president was the same feckless weakling that the president we have in the Oval Office is right now. +p5066 +aVWell, Wolf, I'll tell you what reckless is. What reckless is is calling Assad a reformer. What reckless is allowing Russia to come into Crimea and Ukraine. What reckless is is inviting Russia into Syria to team with Iran. That is reckless. And the reckless people are the folks in the White House right now. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are the reckless people. And if you think that a no-fly zone is a reckless policy, you're welcome to your opinion. But how is it working so far? As we have 250,000 Syrians murdered, slaughtered; millions running around the world, running for their lives. It's not working. We need to try something else. And that is not reckless. +p5067 +aVWhat I say to Carla is that the first job of the president of the United States is to protect your safety and your security and the security and safety of your family. And this debate stops with me in the discussions with the FBI director. Now, listen, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I know Jim Comey. We've worked together. He was the U.S. attorney in Manhattan when I was a U.S. attorney in New Jersey. And when Jim Comey gets up before Congress and says, we cannot effectively vet these people, for me as president, that's the end of the conversation. We have to put America's security first. The American people \u2014 we on this stage need to open our ears. We need to open our ears. The American people are not whispering to us. They are screaming to us. And they're screaming to us that it's our job to actually make this government work. It's so dysfunctional under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. It's so ineffective. It's so ineffectual that the American people say, we don't trust them to do anything anymore. So I'm not going to let Syrian refugees, any Syrian refugees in this country. And it was widows and orphans, by the way, and we now know from watching the San Bernardino attack that women can commit heinous, heinous acts against humanity just the same as men can do it. And so I don't back away from that position for a minute. When the FBI director tells me that he can vet those people, then we'll consider it and not a moment before because your safety and security is what's most important to me. +p5068 +aVWell, what it would like is, we have one of the great advantages of America being the open society that we are. It is, we are not hiding things from the American people, but China everyday is conducting business in a way that hides things from their people. So if they want to come in and attack all the personnel records in the federal government, which they've done, and which \u2014 they now have my Social Security number and my fingerprints, as well as maybe some other folks' who are on this stage. The fact is, they need to be fought back on. And what we need to do is go at the things that they are most sensitive and most embarrassing to them; that they're hiding; get that information and put it out in public. Let the Chinese people start to digest how corrupt the Chinese government is; how they steal from the Chinese people; and how they're enriching oligarchs all throughout China. They need to understand that. And we need to take those type of steps. This president has seen personnel records of people who have sacrificed for the American people and for the federal government stolen by the Chinese and he's done nothing in return. This is why \u2014 this is what I said at the beginning that this administration, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton through their foreign policy, have betrayed the American people, because the weakness they've displayed has led to Putin's incursions in the Middle East and in eastern Europe, and has led \u2014 has led to significant problems in the Middle East as well, and the death and murder of lots of folks. +p5069 +aVOn September 10th, 2001, I was named chief federal prosecutor in New Jersey and on September 11th, 2001, my wife and my brother who are in the audience tonight went through the World Trade Center and to their offices just blocks away from the Trade Center. I lost touch with them for six hours that day and prayed that they were alive. Luckily, they were sent home. But many of our friends and others in our neighborhood lost their lives that day. Terrorism \u2014 radical jihadist terrorism is not theoretical to me. It's real. And for seven years, I spent my life protecting our country against another one of those attacks. You won't have to worry when I'm President of the Untied States whether that can be done because I've already done it. I want the chance to do it again to protect you, your children and your families. If you give me the chance and give me your vote I will protect America from the wars that are being brought to our door step. +p5070 +aVI don't see a lot of weakness on this stage, quite frankly. Where I see the weakness is in those three people that are left on the Democratic stage. You know, I see a socialist, an isolationist and a pessimist. And for the sake of me, I can't figure out which one is which. But I will \u2014 but I will tell you this, the socialist says they're going to pay for everything and give you everything for free, except they don't say they're going to raise it through taxes to 90 percent to do it. The isolationist is the one who wants to continue to follow a foreign policy that has fewer democracies today than when Barack Obama came into office around the world. But I know who the pessimist is. It's Hillary Clinton. And you put me on that stage against her next September, she won't get within 10 miles of the White House. Take it to the bank. +p5071 +aVWell, I wish you would have asked that question years ago when they broke it. I mean, let me be honest with the people who are watching at home. The government has lied to you and they have stolen from you. They told you that your Social Security money is in a trust fund. All that's in that trust fund is a pile of IOUs for money they spent on something else a long time ago. And they've stolen from you because now they know they cannot pay these benefits and Social Security is going to be insolvent in seven to eight years. We're sitting up here talking about all these other things; 71 percent of federal spending today is on entitlements, and debt service. And, that's with zero percent interest rates. Now, I'm the only person that's put out a detailed plan on how to deal with entitlements. And we'll save a trillion dollars over the next 10 years. And, here's the difference between me and Hillary Clinton. What Hillary Clinton's going to say, and has said before is, she wants to raise Social Security taxes. Now, let me ask you a question everybody, and, this is for the guy, you know, who owns a landscaping business out there. If somebody's already stolen money from you, are you going to give them more? Or, are you going to deal with the problem by saying, I'm going to give people who've done well in this country less benefit on the backend. We need to get realistic about this. We're not \u2014 the American people \u2014 forget about anything else, they've already been lied to and stolen from. And... +p5072 +aV...I'm going to go to Washington to stop it... +p5073 +aV...The only way we're going to be morale, the only way we're going to keep our promise to seniors is start by following the first rule we should all follow, which is to look at them, treat them like adults, and tell them the truth. It isn't there anymore, Mike. They stole it. It got stolen from them. It's not theirs anymore. The government stole it, and spent it a long time ago... +p5074 +aVSo, let's stop fooling around about this, let's tell people the truth. For once, let's do that, and stop trying to give them some kind of fantasy that's never going to come true. +p5075 +aVYou bet they do. And if I were the prosecutor, that is exactly where they would be. The fact is that this Justice Department under this president has been a political Justice Department. It has been a Justice Department that decided that they want to pick who the winners and losers are. They like General Motors, so they give them a pass. They don't like somebody else like David Petraeus, they prosecute them and send a decorated general on to disgrace. It's a political Justice Department. And, Jim, you know full well that in the seven years I was U.S. attorney we went after pharmaceutical companies. We went after companies that were ripping off shareholders. We went after companies that were doing things that were against the law. And to expand on Mr. Carson's \u2014 or Dr. Carson's question, let's face it, we have laws already. We don't need newer (ph) laws. We don't need Hillary Clinton's price controls for \u2014 again, does anybody out there think that giving Washington, D.C., the opportunity to run the pharmaceutical industry is a good idea, given how well they have done running the government? So what we do, though, is, if there is somebody who is price- gouging, we have laws for prosecutors to take that on. Let's let a Justice Department \u2014 and I will make an attorney general who will enforce the law and make justice more than just a word. It will be a way of life. +p5076 +aVJohn, I'll tell you something. You want to talk about moral authority. Let's talk about something that happened this week in the news. You know, the FBI director, the president's appointed FBI director has said this week that because of a lack of support from politicians like the president of the United States, that police officers are afraid to get out of their cars; that they're afraid to enforce the law. And he says, the president's appointee, that crime is going up because of this. And when the president of the United States gets out to speak about it, does he support police officers? Does he stand up for law enforcement? No, he doesn't. I'll tell you this, the number one job of the president of the United States is to protect the safety and security of the American people. This president has failed, and when I'm in the Oval Office, police officers will know that they will have the support of the president of the Untied States. That's real moral authority that we need in the Oval Office. +p5077 +aVCarl, are we really talking about getting government involved in fantasy football? We have \u2014 wait a second, we have $19 trillion in debt. We have people out of work. We have +p5078 +aVWell, first off, what we don't do is do what Hillary Clinton and John Kerry and Barack Obama want us to do, which is their solution for everything, put more taxes on it, give more money to Washington, D.C., and then they will fix it. Well, there is no evidence that they can fix anything in Washington, D.C. +p5079 +aVWhat we should do is to be investing in all types of energy, John, all types of energy. I've laid out... +p5080 +aVNo, John. John, do you want me to answer or do you want to answer? How are we going to do this? Because, I've got to tell you the truth, even in New Jersey what you're doing is called rude. So... We've laid out a national energy plan that says that we should invest in all types of energy. I will tell you, you could win a bet at a bar tonight, since we're talking about fantasy football, if you ask who the top three states in America are that produce solar energy: California and Arizona are easy, but number three is New Jersey. Why? Because we work with the private sector to make solar energy affordable and available to businesses and individuals in our state. We need to make sure that we do everything across all kinds of energy: natural gas, oil, absolutely. But also where it's affordable, solar, wind in Iowa has become very affordable and it makes sense. That is the way we deal with global warming, climate change, or any of those problems, not through government intervention, not through government taxes, and for God's sake, don't send Washington another dime until they stop wasting the money they're already sending there. +p5081 +aVAnd \u2014 and \u2014 and I \u2014 you know, Ben is absolutely right in saying that what we don't need to do is to send more money to Washington, D.C. to fix this problem. And that's what you'll hear from Hillary Clinton \u2014 and I've already heard from her \u2014 is that, send more money in Social Security, send more money in Medicare taxes, send more money for Medicaid, and that's gonna solve the problem. What we know is we're living longer. That's a blessing. It's a blessing that we're living longer, so we have to increase the retirement age to reflect that blessing. We need to make sure that people understand, as Jeb said before, that if you've done extraordinarily well in this country, do you want them to take more out of your taxes now and think they're gonna give it back to you later? Or would you rather take less later on? +p5082 +aVI want to talk to the folks at home. I want to ask you: Are you fed up with how Washington taxes you? Are you fed up with how Washington wastes your money? Are you concerned like I am that the debt and deficits of Washington, D.C. are endangering America's future? I've got one more question for you then. Are you serious about this election? Because if you are, you need to elect someone who's deadly serious about changing this culture. I am deadly serious about changing this culture. I changed it in New Jersey. I'm deadly serious about doing this job the right way. I'm prepared. I'm tested. I'm ready. And I want to make this our government. For the people who say we can't do it, I say hell no, we can do it together. +p5083 +aVHi, my name is Chris Christie, and I'd like to you take the camera off me and put it on the audience because I'd like to ask all of you, how many of you, raise your hand, believe that in today's Barak Obama America your children will have a better life than you've had? You see? That's why I'm running for President. because leadership is not about me, it's about our country. And, what we talk about tonight, it's not about us, it's about the people in the audience tonight, because in seven short years this president has stripped away their trust, and their faith, and their belief that the next generation will have a better life. He's stolen that from us, and when I'm president, I'm going to take it back. +p5084 +aVWell, I know Ben wasn't talking about me, I'm sure he was talking about one of the other guys, not me. As far as being an outsider is concerned \u2014 as far as being an outsider is concerned, let me tell you this, Jake, I'm a Republican in New Jersey. I wake up every morning as an outsider. I wake up every morning with a Democratic legislature who trying to beat my head in and fight me because I'm trying to bring conservative change to a state that needed it desperately. And so, everyone can talk us here about their credentials. But the bottom line is, every morning I get up, I veto 400 bills from a crazy liberal Democratic legislature, not one of them has been overridden. I've vetoed more tax increases than any governor in American history, according to Americans for Tax Reform. What folks want in this country is somebody to go down there and get the job done. And that's exactly what I'll do. So, I know this much, that what the American people want to hire right now is somebody who believes in them. And believes that they are the ones who can fix our country. I will be the vessel through which they can fix this country, but it's not about me. It's about all of you. And getting this government off your back and out of your way, and letting you succeed. I know Ben wasn't talking about me. +p5085 +aVLook at him smiling at me right now. I know Ben didn't mean it about me. One of these other guys, I'm sure. +p5086 +aVBe honest, Ben, be honest. +p5087 +aVSee, Jake, it wasn't me. +p5088 +aVI was \u2014 +p5089 +aVShe is, and so if she, based on conscience, can't sign that \u2014 that marriage license, then there should be someone in her office to be able to do it, and if the law needs to be changed in the state of Kentucky, which is what she's advocating, it should be changed. +p5090 +aVAnd why don't we do the same thing with Planned Parenthood? +p5091 +aVWe elected a Republican Congress to do this. And they should be doing it, and they're not. And they're giving the president a pass. +p5092 +aVI put it in the list, Dana. We should be doing these things and forcing the president to take action. +p5093 +aVLet's force him to do what he says he's going to do. Now I don't know whether he'll do it or not, but let's force him to do it. +p5094 +aVFirst of, Jake, I don't yield to anybody on how to enforce the law. I'm the only person on this stage who spent seven years as a United States Attorney after September 11th, and I know how to do this. The fact is though that for 15,000 people a day to be deported every day for two years is an undertaking that almost none of us could accomplish given the current levels of funding, and the current number of law enforcement officers. Here's what we need to do, and I think this is where Donald is absolutely right. What we need to do is to secure our border, and we need to do it with more than just a wall. We need to use electronics, we need to use drones, we need to use FBI, DEA, and ATF, and yes, we need to take the fingerprint of every person who comes into this country on a visa, and when they overstay their visa, we need to tap them on the shoulder, and say, "You have overstayed your welcome, you're taking advantage of the American people. It's time for you to go." If we had that kind of system in place, we wouldn't have the 11 million people we have now. +p5095 +aVJake listen. While I'm as entertained as anyone by this personal back-and-forth about the history of Donald and Carly's career, for the 55-year-old construction worker out in that audience tonight who doesn't have a job, who can't fund his child's education, I've got to tell you the truth. They could care less about your careers, they care about theirs. Let's start talking about that on this stage and stop playing \u2014 and stop playing the games. Stop playing \u2014 +p5096 +aVJohn \u2014 I'm not done yet, John. +p5097 +aVStop \u2014 and stop playing \u2014 and Carly \u2014 Carly, listen. You can interrupt everybody else on this stage, you're not going to interrupt me, OK? The fact is that we don't want to hear about your careers, back and forth and volleying back and forth about who did well and who did poorly. You're both successful people. Congratulations. You know who's not successful? The middle class in this country who's getting plowed over by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Let's start talking about those issues tonight and stop this childish back-and-forth between the two of you. +p5098 +aVListen, you know, Hugh, it's an important point. And the question is, who is going to prosecute Hillary Clinton? The Obama White House seems to have in interest, the Justice Department seems to have no interest. I think it's time to put a former federal prosecutor on the same stage as Hillary Clinton. And I will prosecute her during those debates on that stage for the record we're talking about here. The fact she had a private email server in her basement, using national security secrets running through it, could have been hacked by the Russians, the Chinese, or two 18-year-olds on a toot (ph) wanting to have some fun. No one is answering that question from the Hillary Clinton campaign... +p5099 +aVYou know why? Because she knows she's wrong, and she cannot look in the mirror at herself, and she cannot tell the American people the truth. +p5100 +aVWell, Jake, I was named U.S. attorney by President Bush on September 10th, 2001. And that next day my wife Mary Pat did what she did every day, she traveled through the World Trade Center and went to her office two blocks from the World Trade Center. And after those planes hit, for five-and-a-half-hours after that, I couldn't reach her, didn't know whether she was dead or alive, and we had three children at the time, 8, 5 and 1. And I had to confront what so many thousands of others in my region had to confront, the idea I might become a single parent, the idea that my life and my children's life might be changed forever. We lost friends that day. We went to the funerals. And I will tell you that what those people wanted and what they deserved was for America to answer back against what had been done to them. And I support what President Bush did at that time, going into Afghanistan, hunting al Qaeda and its leaders, getting its sanctuary out of place, and making it as difficult around the world for them to move people and money. And then he went to prosecutors like us, and he said, never again. Don't prosecute these people after the crime is committed. Intervene before the crime happens. I absolutely believe that what the president did at the time was right. And I am proud to have been one of the people on the stage who was part of making sure that what Governor Bush said before was the truth. America was safe for those seven years and Barack Obama has taken that safety away from us. +p5101 +aVLet me say this, Jake, is that while that may have been a fine idea that Dr. Carson had, these people were out to kill us. I stood in that region with my family, and every time a plane went overhead in the weeks after that, people's heads jerked to the sky because they thought it was happening again. You do not need to go through subtle diplomacy at that point. That could be handled later on. What you need is a strong American leader who will take the steps that are necessary to protect our nation. That's what I would do as commander-in-chief in this circumstance. And that's what President George W. Bush did in 2001. +p5102 +aVJake, you brought my issue up. +p5103 +aVYou know, I enjoy the interplay. Thank you, gentlemen. I'll just say this, first off, New Jersey is the first state in the nation that now says if you are non-violent, non-dealing drug user, that you don't go to jail for your first offense. You go to mandatory treatment. You see, Jake, I'm pro-life. And I think you need to be pro-life for more than just the time in the womb. It gets tougher when they get out of the womb. And when they're the 16-year-old drug addict in the Florida county lockup, that life is just as precious as the life in the womb. And so, that's why I'm for rehabilitation, why I think the war on drugs has been a failure. But I'll end with this. That doesn't mean we should be legalizing gate way drugs. And if Senator Paul thinks that the only victim is the person, look at the decrease in productivity, look at the way people get used and move on to other drugs when they use marijuana as a gateway drug, it is not them that are the only victims. Their families are the victims too, their children are the victims too, and their employers are the victims also. That's why I'll enforce the federal law, while you can still put an emphasis on rehabilitation, which we've done in New Jersey. +p5104 +aVAnd Senator Paul knows that that's simply not the truth. In New Jersey, we have medical marijuana laws, which I supported and implemented. This is not medical marijuana. There's goes as much \u2014 a further step beyond. This is recreational use of marijuana. This is much different. And so, while he would like to use a sympathetic story to back up his point, it doesn't work. I'm not against medical marijuana. We do it in New Jersey. But I'm against the recreational use against marijuana. If he wants to change the federal law, get Congress to pass the law to change it, and get a president to sign it. +p5105 +aVNo, it's not. But with Donald, it's a good start. That's really good. No, listen. This is an issue that \u2014 that we've gotta talk about, and we haven't talked about yet. 71 percent of all federal spending is on entitlements and debt service. When John Kennedy was elected president in 1960, it was 26 percent. Harvard and Dartmouth says that Social Security's going to go insolvent in seven to eight years. So what I say is very simple. We need to save this program for the good people out there who have paid into the system and need it. And if that means making sure that folks like Donald and many of us on the stage don't get it, that's the right thing to do because here's what Hillary Clinton is going to want to do. She's going to want to put more money into a system that has already lied to us and stolen from us. This government doesn't need more money to make Social Security solvent. We need to be not paying out benefits to people who don't really need it. We need to protect the people who Social Security means the difference between picking between heat and rent and food. That's why I put out the proposal and that's the people I'm trying to... +p5106 +aVI don't think Senator Rubio is a skeptic of climate change. I think what Senator Rubio said I agree with. That in fact we don't need this massive government intervention to deal with the problem. Look at what we have done in New Jersey. We have already reached our clean air goals for 2020. And when I was governor, I pulled out of the regional cap and trade deal, the only state in the Northeast that did that. And we still reached our goals. Why? Because 53 percent of our electricity comes from nuclear. We use natural gas. We use solar power. We're the third-highest- using solar power state. You know why? Because we made all of those things economically feasible. I agree with Marco. We shouldn't be destroying our economy in order to chase some wild left-wing idea that somehow us by ourselves is going to fix the climate. We can contribute to that and be economically sound. We have proven we can do that in New Jersey. Nuclear needs to be back on the table in a significant way in this country if we want to go after this problem. +p5107 +aVI understand. No, no, listen, everybody makes a mistake every once in a while, Jake, even George Shultz. And if that's truly a representation of what he believes we should be doing, then with all due respect to the former secretary of state, I disagree with him. +p5108 +aVI think the Adams family has been shorted in the currency business. Our country wouldn't be here without John Adams, and he would not have been able to do it without Abigal Adams, so, I'd put Abigail Adams on the bill. +p5109 +aVYou know, I've been called a lot of names by a lot of different people, and now I got to get called by names by the Secret Service? I would just say True Heart. +p5110 +aVI turned 18 in 1980, and my first vote was for Ronald Reagan. Boy, am I glad I did it. And I think the country is, too. A Christie presidency won't be about me. It will be about you. Tonight, you sit at home in your living room, frustrated that you play by the rules, you pay the taxes, you do the hard things to raise your family, yet you feel like America's generosity is being taken advantage of. That you've been \u2014 system is being gamed, and that you're turning out to fall further and further behind. Our presidency \u2014 our presidency \u2014 will be about ending that, about enforcing the law, level the playing field for everybody, and once again reward those folks who play by the rules, and think that justice means more than just the word. But it means a way of life. And I will tell you this, around the world, I will not shake hands with, I will not meet with, and I will not agree to anything with a country that says death to us and death to Israel and holds our hostages while we sign agreements with them. It will be an America that be strong and resolute, and will once again be able to stick out its chest and say, "we truly are the greatest nation in the world, because we live our lives that way, each and every day." +p5111 +aVIf you think it's bad now, you should've seen it when I got there. The fact is -- the fact is, in the eight years before I became governor, taxes and fees were raised at the state level 115 times. In the eight years before I became governor, spending was increased 56 percent. And in the eight years before I become governor, taxes and fees were raised at the state level 115 times. In the eight years before I became Governor, spending was increased 56 percent, and in the eight years before I became governor, there was zero net private sector job growth in New Jersey. Zero. For eight years. So, what did we do? We came in, we balanced an $11 billion deficit on a $29 billion budget by cutting over 800 programs in the state budget. We brought the budget into balance with no tax increases. In fact, we vetoed five income tax increases during my time as governor. We cut business taxes $2.3 billion, and we cut regulation by one-third of what my predecessor put in place. And, what's happened since? A hundred ninety-two thousand private sector jobs in the five and a half years I've been governor. We have a lot of work to do in New Jersey, but I am darn proud we've brought our state back. +p5112 +aVYes, I do. And I'll tell you why: because I'm the only person on this stage who's actually filed applications under the Patriot Act, who has gone before the federal -- the Foreign Intelligence Service court, who has prosecuted and investigated and jailed terrorists in this country after September 11th. I was appointed U.S. attorney by President Bush on September 10th, 2001, and the world changed enormously the next day, and that happened in my state. This is not theoretical to me. I went to the funerals. We lost friends of ours in the Trade Center that day. My own wife was two blocks from the Trade Center that day, at her office, having gone through it that morning. When you actually have to be responsible for doing this, you can do it, and we did it, for seven years in my office, respecting civil liberties and protecting the homeland. And I will make no apologies, ever, for protecting the lives and the safety of the American people. We have to give more tools to our folks to be able to do that, not fewer, and then trust those people and oversee them to do it the right way. As president, that is exactly what I'll do. +p5113 +aVAnd -- and, Megyn? Megyn, that's a -- that, you know, that's a completely ridiculous answer. "I want to collect more records from terrorists, but less records from other people." How are you supposed to know, Megyn? +p5114 +aVWhat are you supposed to... +p5115 +aV...how are you supposed to -- no, I'll tell you how you, look... +p5116 +aVLet me tell you something, you go... +p5117 +aVWhen you -- you know, senator... +p5118 +aVListen, senator, you know, when you're sitting in a subcommittee, just blowing hot air about this, you can say things like that. When you're responsible for protecting the lives of the American people, then what you need to do is to make sure... +p5119 +aV...is to make sure that you use the system the way it's supposed to work. +p5120 +aVThere is no... +p5121 +aVAnd you know -- you know, Senator Paul? Senator Paul, you know, the hugs that I remember are the hugs that I gave to the families who lost their people on September 11th. Those are the hugs I remember, and those had nothing to do -- and those had nothing to do with politics, unlike what you're doing by cutting speeches on the floor of the Senate, then putting them on the Internet within half an hour to raise money for your campaign... +p5122 +aV...and while still putting our country at risk. +p5123 +aVYou know what, Megyn, can I... +p5124 +aVNo, he's not lying, he's just wrong. I mean, so, there's a difference -- I'm the only guy on this stage who's put out a detailed, 12 point plan on entitlement reform and here's why -- because 71% of federal spending right now is on entitlements, and debt service, 71%. And we have spent the last hour and five minutes talking about the other 29%, and no time on the 71%, and that makes no sense. Now, let me tell you exactly what we would do on Social Security. Yes, we'd raise the retirement age two years, and phase it in over 25 years, that means we'd raise it one month a year for 25 years when we're all living longer, and living better lives. Secondly, we would means test Social Security for those who are making over $200,000 dollars a year in retirement income, and have $4 to $5 million dollars in liquid assets saved. They don't need that Social Security check. Social Security is meant to be -- to make sure that no one who's worked hard, and played by the rules, and paid into the system grows old in poverty in America. If we don't deal with this problem, it will bankrupt our country, or lead to massive tax increases, neither one that we want in this country. +p5125 +aVChris... +p5126 +aVYeah, sure. And, I don't disagree with ending Congress' retirement program. I'm a governor, I don't have a retirement program in my state, and I don't disagree with that. But, here's the news to the American people, he's complaining about the lying and stealing. The lying and stealing has already occurred. The trust fund is filled with IOU's. We can't fix the problem just by ending Congress's retirement, that's worth about, "this" much. We need to go at the fundamental problem, and the fundamental problem is that this system is broken. It has been stolen from. We have been lied to, and we need a strong leader to tell the truth and fix... +p5127 +aVWell, listen. You know, if we want to deal with these issues, we have to deal with them in a way that makes sense. I agree with what Dr. Carson said earlier. The first thing we need to do to make America stronger is to strengthen our military, and I put out a really specific plan: no less than 500,000 active duty soldiers in the Army. No less than 185,000 active duty marines in the Marine Corps. Bring us to a 350 ship Navy again, and modernize the Ohio class of submarines, and bring our Air Force back to 2,600 aircraft that are ready to go. Those are the kind of things that are going to send a clear message around the world. Those are the things that we need to start working on immediately to make our country stronger and make it better. Those are the things that we need to be able to be doing. And as we move towards dealing with foreign aid, I don't disagree with Senator Paul's position that we shouldn't be funding our enemies. But I absolutely believe that Israel is a priority to be able to fund and keep them strong and safe after eight years of this administration. +p5128 +aVWell, thank you, Megyn. Listen, I was born into a middle class family in New Jersey. My dad came home from serving in the Army after having lost his father, worked in the Breyers ice cream plant in Newark, New Jersey. Was the first person to graduate from college. He put himself through college at night. My mom was a secretary. I was appointed United States attorney on September 10, 2001. And I spent the next seven years of my career fighting terrorism and putting terrorists in jail. I'm a conservative, pro-life governor in a state where it is really tough to be both. A state like New Jersey, with lots of Democrats, but still we cut taxes, we balanced budgets. We fought the teacher's union. This president has had weak leadership, which has led to bad choices. We have got to stop worrying about being loved and start worrying about being respected. And that's exactly how I'll lead our country. +p5129 +aVWell, first I want to share a story with you that relates to your question. I was in New Hampshire last week, and a woman approached me after the town hall meeting and she said to me, "Governor, I'm really concerned." I said, "What are your concerns?" And, she said, "I don't quite how to describe it," she said. "But, every month when my bills come in, I feel this awful anxiety in the pit of my stomach that I'm not going to have enough to pay them that month." There are tens of millions of Americans living that way after the worst recovery from an economic recession since World War II. And, let's be clear, if we do not change course, if we follow the President's lead, and that's exactly what Secretary Clinton will do, we're going to be in the same circumstance \u2014 with government picking the winners and losers. So, let me be clear about what we'll do. First, Make the tax code fairer, flatter, and simplier. Get rid of all the special interest deductions. You know, the American people feel like the tax code is rigged for the rich, and you know why they feel that way? Because it is. We'll get rid of all those special interest deductions except for the home mortgage interest deduction, and the charitable contribution deduction. Everyone will get lower rates, keep more of their own money, be able to file their tax returns in 15 minutes, and, by the way, the good thing, I'll be able to fire a whole bunch of IRS agents once we do that. And, in addition, we need to get the government off of our backs. Dodd-Frank, all the different regulations, 81,000 pages of new regulation by this administration just last year \u2014 it is suffocating small business, it is suffocating the folks who are trying to make a living. I will do what I did in New Jersey......lift if off their backs. +p5130 +aVYes, sure. If anybody believes the stuff they heard from that Democratic debate a few weeks ago, there's nothing for free. What they forgot to tell was that they're going to raise your tax rates to 70 or 80 percent in order to provide all of that stuff. But let me ask the folks at home one very simple question, do you want to give Washington more control over your life? Do you think they're doing such a great job that now let's have them control what our corporations pay their employees? Let's have them control every aspect of our economy? Is Washington doing that good a job for you right now? And the fact is that if you listen to Hillary Clinton, she has made it very clear, she believes that she can make decisions for you better than you can make them for yourself. She believes that Washington, D.C., should pick the winners and losers in our economy, and in our life. And here's what I believe as a Republican, I believe the greatness of America is not in its government. The greatness of America is in the American people. And what we need to do is get the government the hell out of the way and let the American people win once again. +p5131 +aVFirst off, let me, let me just say this in response to this back and forth. For the people who are out there right now, I want to guarantee you one thing real clearly. If you think that Mike Huckabee won't be the kind of President who will cut back spending, or Chris Christie, or John Kasich, wait 'til you see what Hillary Clinton will do to this country and how she will drown us in debt. She is the real adversary tonight and we'd better stay focused as Republicans on her. Now I've forward, I put forward an entitlement reform plan. We spend 71 cents of every dollar in America on entitlements and debt service, and if \u2014 you know, Willy Sutton used to say, when they asked him why he robbed banks, he said that's 'cause that's where the money is, OK? And where the money is in the federal government are these entitlement programs and debt service. What I've said is we need to get a hold of that. We cannot continue to go down the $19 trillion in debt. So our plan will save over $1 trillion over the next 10 years and make sure that Social Security and Medicare are there for those who truly need it and also make sure that we have money to be able to reduce taxes and spend on the things we need to spend. I will also, on my first day as \u2014 as president, sign a executive order that says no more regulation for the next 120 days by any government agency or department. We are drowning in regulations. Stop and then we'll go out there and we'll cut and reduce regulation that small business owners across this country want us to do. You'll grow the economy then. More money will come into the system and we'll get more closer to balance. But the bottom line is, believe me, Hillary Clinton's coming for your wallet, everybody. Don't worry about Huckabee or Jindal, worry about her. +p5132 +aVWell, let's start with this, remember why we're in the position we're in with China, because an absolutely weak and feckless foreign policy that was engineered by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. That's why we're in the position we're in......because the Chinese......the Chinese don't take us seriously and why should they? Why should they? They hacked into the American government's personnel file and took millions of records in cyberwarfare against this country. I'm one of the victims of that hack. They took my Social Security number, my fingerprints as a former United States attorney that was on file in there. And what has this president done? Not one thing. Let me be really clear about what I would do. If the Chinese commit cyberwarfare against us, they are going to see cyberwarfare like they have never seen before. And that is a closed society in China......where they're hiding information from their own people. The information we take, we'll make sure all the Chinese people see it. Then they'll have some real fun in Beijing when we start showing them how they're spending their money in China. And one last thing. One last thing. I will tell you this, they're building those artificial islands in the South China Sea and the president won't \u2014 up until recently, wouldn't sail a ship within 12 miles or fly a plane over it. I'll tell you this, the first thing I'll do with the Chinese is I'll throw \u2014 I'll fly Air Force One over those islands. They'll know we mean business. +p5133 +aVI'll tell you, Gerry, it's interesting, if you go to New Jersey, they'll call me lots of different things. A liberal is not one of them. Um, and......I would say this. I have great respect for Bobby's record in Louisiana. I think he's been a wonderful governor and I think he's provided outstanding leadership for that state and I respect him for what he's done. And I think that all of us deserve that same level of respect. And my point is this. You know, the differences between me and Bobby Jindal, we can talk about those, and obviously, Bobby wants to spent a lot of time tonight talking about that. I'll tell you what I want to talk about. I want to talk about what's going to happen to this country if we have another four years of Barack Obama's policies. And by the way, it will be even worse, because Hillary Clinton is running so far to the left to treaty to catch up to her socialist opponent, Bernie Sanders, it's hard to even see her anymore. The fact is \u2014 the fact is that we'd better be focused on it. And I'll tell you what I'll bring to the table, the fact that I've won in a blue state, that I've won in a state that has 750,000 more Democrats than Republicans......that I won in a state for reelection after governing as a pro-life conservative......and got 61 percent of the vote. That's the person you want on the stage prosecuting the case against Hillary Clinton. +p5134 +aVI don't... +p5135 +aV..Let me... +p5136 +aV...Let me just... +p5137 +aV...Sure. It's interesting. I complimented Bobby, imagine how much time he'd want if I actually criticized him. You know, the fact is, he's done \u2014 done a nice job down in Louisiana, and I don't have any problem with the job he's done. I've cut spending $2 billion dollars, except for our pension and health care in New Jersey, which was driven predominantly by Obamacare. We have reduce the number of employees we have on the state payroll by 15%, but, you know what? The people out there don't care about any of that. You know what they care about? They care about who's going to be able to beat Hillary Clinton......Who's going to keep their eye on the ball? I'm going to keep my eye on the ball. +p5138 +aVYeah, listen. We stopped Obamacare in New Jersey because we refused to participate in the federal exchange. But, here's the bigger issue. What do you think's going to happen when Hillary Clinton's elected president of the United States? The woman who tried to impose healthcare on this country over 20 years ago? And, she was stopped then by a strong group of republicans, and an American public that said, "No, thank you." What she will do \u2014 what she will do is move us towards a single payer system. She will completely nationalize the federal health care system. That's what she wanted to do 20 years ago, and I guarantee you that's what she'll do if you give her the keys to the White House one more time. The fact is we need someone who knows how to beat democrats, who knows how to beat democrats in a democratic area. I've done it twice as governor of New Jersey, and Hillary Clinton doesn't want one minute on that stage with me next September when I'm debating her, and prosecuting her for her vision for America... +p5139 +aVI'll continue in the pattern and just say... And just say this to everybody, since it seems to be an open question. I'll tell you the thing that disturbs me the most about what's going on with the Democratic Party in Washington, that they're not standing behind our police officers across this country. That they're allowing lawlessness... That they're allowing lawlessness to reign in this country. I spent seven years of my life in law enforcement, here's what every law enforcement, 700,000, should know tonight. When President Christie is in the Oval Office, I'll have your back. +p5140 +aVYes. You know, our tax plan puts forward a highest rate of 28 percent for those who are doing the most and making the most in this country and 8 percent on the low end. And I agree with Senator Santorum, we get rid of all of the deductions and loopholes, except for the home mortgage interest deduction and the charitable contribution deduction. That means getting rid of the state and local income tax deduction, as well, because that will put more pressure on governors and on local officials not to keep raising those taxes, saying we can deduct them. And so ours will be 28 on the high end, 8 on the low end. And I will tell you one other thing. Americans for Tax Reform came out with a report six weeks ago and said I vetoed more tax increases than any governor in American history. I will do exactly the same thing as president of the United States. +p5141 +aVGerry, this has been the most political Federal Reserve I've seen in my lifetime. Now, when they first cut interest rates during the economic recession and the crisis, that was the right thing to do. But they've kept those interest rates artificially low for one reason, and one reason only. Because they're trying to politically support Barack Obama and his agenda. And it's been wrong. And what it's done, in an administration where the President has talked about income inequality, he's had more income inequality in this administration than any previous administration. The middle class is doing worse than it's ever done before. And the investor class, the wealthy, are doing even better because of this cheap money from the Fed. And here's the worst part, we had one and a half percent GDP growth last quarter. If we slide back towards a recession, you cannot lower interest rates below zero. Where are we going to go if we need help if the economy slides back into recession? And with this government- controlled economy that Barack Obama, we're moving right towards it. The Fed should be audited and the Fed should stop playing politics with our money supply. That's what they've done. It's been the wrong thing to do. It's hurting the American economy. And......let me......let me add one other thing on this. Be very aware now, because what Hillary Clinton is talking about doing, if she's president of the United States, is to make sure that the government gets even more involved in the economy, even more involved in making choices for everybody. You do not want that to happen. You need someone who's going to stand up on that stage and prosecute the case against her and prosecute it strong. That's what I'll do. +p5142 +aVThe way to reconnect Americans to the men and women in uniform is to first, and foremost, give them a Commander in Chief who respects the military, and respects everyone who wears the uniform. Starts at the top there... And Secretary Clinton says, there's no crisis at the V.A.. That send a long, and hard message to our veterans that she doesn't get it, and she doesn't respect their service. When the President of the United States doesn't back up law enforcement officers in uniform, he loses the moral authority to any man or woman who is uniform. I spent seven years in law enforcement......I respect these folks, and I will do so as Commander in Chief of the military. +p5143 +aVI want to tell the American people who are watching tonight the truth. I saw the most disgraceful thing I've seen in this entire campaign a few weeks ago. Hillary Clinton was asked the enemy she's most proud of, and she said, "Republicans". In a world where we have Al-Qaeda, and +p5144 +aVWhat about Kasich? Can I introduce Kasich? +p5145 +aVSure. First, let's remember something. Every morning when a United States senator wakes up, they think about what kind of speech can I give or what kind of bill can I drop? Every morning, when I wake up, I think about what kind of problem do I need to solve for the people who actually elected me? It's a different experience, it's a much different experience. And the fact is, Marco, you shouldn't compare yourself to Joe Biden and you shouldn't say that that's what we're doing. Here is exactly what we're doing. You have not be involved in a consequential decision where you had to be held accountable. You just simply haven't. And the fact is \u2014 the fact when you talk about the Hezbollah Sanctions Act that you list as one of your accomplishments you just did, you weren't even there to vote for it. That's not leadership, that's truancy. And the fact is that what we need to do \u2014 what we need to have in this country is not to make the same mistake we made eight years ago. The fact is it does matter when you have to make decisions and be held accountable for them. It does matter when the challenges don't come on a list of a piece of paper of what to vote yes or no every day, but when the problems come in from the people that you serve. I like Marco Rubio, and he's a smart person and a good guy, but he simply does not have the experience to be president of the United States and make these decisions. We've watched it happen, everybody. For the last seven years, the people of New Hampshire are smart. Do not make the same mistake again. +p5146 +aVHold on one second. +p5147 +aVExcuse me... +p5148 +aVI think he mentioned me and my record in there, so I think I get a chance to respond. You see, everybody, I want the people at home to think about this. That's what Washington, D.C. Does. The drive-by shot at the beginning with incorrect and incomplete information and then the memorized 25-second speech that is exactly what his advisers gave him. See Marco \u2014 Marco, the thing is this. When you're president of the United States, when you're a governor of a state, the memorized 30-second speech where you talk about how great America is at the end of it doesn't solve one problem for one person. They expect you to plow the snow. They expect you to get the schools open. And when the worst natural disaster in your state's history hits you, they expect you to rebuild their state, which is what I've done. None of that stuff happens on the floor of the United States Senate. It's a fine job, I'm glad you ran for it, but it does not prepare you for president of the United States. +p5149 +aVThere it is. There it is. The memorized 25-second speech. There it is, everybody. +p5150 +aVYou know what the shame is \u2014 you know what the shame is, Marco? The shame is that you would actually criticize somebody for showing up to work, plowing the streets, getting the trains running back on time when you've never been responsible for that in your entire life. +p5151 +aVAnd the fact is, I went back, it got done and here's... +p5152 +aVOh, so \u2014 wait a second. Is that one of the skills you get as a United States senator ESP also? Because I don't think it is. +p5153 +aVIt gets very unruly when he gets off his talking points. +p5154 +aVLet's get something... +p5155 +aVNo. Let's make something very clear. I learned seven years as a federal prosecutor in dealing with types of situations like we're talking about in North Korea, where criminals take people hostage. You never pay ransom to the criminals. Ever. You never pay ransom to the criminals. Everyone out at home watching tonight understands that principle. And so, what you need to do is to engage in a much different way with these folks. They do not understand anything but toughness and strength, and we need to engage the Chinese to deal with the North Koreans, but we also need to make sure that they understand there's a commander-in-chief who will not pay ransom for any hostage. This president and his former secretary of State are for paying ransom for hostages. When do that, you endanger even more Americans around the world to be the subject of this type of hostage taking and illegal detention. You need a strong commander-in-chief who will look these folks in the eye and say, we will not put up with this and we will take whatever actions we need to take, not only to get our people home safely, but to swiftly and surely punish those who believe they can violate the law and violate American's sovereign rights to travel the world freely and safely. This is unacceptable. And this is why this president is so weak and why the secretary of State, who is embracing a third Barack Obama term, would be even weaker. +p5156 +aVYeah, David, I would just like you to listen, again, everybody. This is the difference between being a governor who actually has to be responsible for problems and not answering a question. The question was, "Did he fight for his legislation?" It's abundantly clear that he didn't. It's abundantly clear that he didn't fight for the legislation. When the teachers unions attacked me with $20 million of ads because I wanted to reform teacher tenure, I fought them and fought them and fought them and I won. When they didn't want \u2014 when people wanted to raise taxes in my state at Democratic legislature and threatened to close down the government, I told them, fine. Close down the government. I'll get in my cars, head to the governor's mansion, order a pizza, open a beer and watch the Mets. You can call me when the government reopens. And guess what they didn't do? They didn't pass a tax increase, because I vetoed it and they never closed the government because they knew I would fight for what I believed in. The fact of the matter is, a leader must fight for what they believe in. Not handicap it and say, well maybe since I can't win this one, I'll run. That's not what leadership is. That's what Congress is. +p5157 +aVGood evening. +p5158 +aVWell, he deserves credit for his record on jobs. He's done a very good job as governor of Ohio. Never said that John hasn't. He's done a very good job. But \u2014 but unfortunately, John's been so busy doing over stuff, he's using old statistics. That's OK. New Jersey had its best year of job growth in the last 15 years under five different governors this year in New Jersey. New Jersey cut spending over $2.3 billion and we have 10,000 fewer employees than we had when I walked in the door. John has a bigger government now and more employees than he had when he walked in the door. But all that doesn't matter. What really matters is this, that executive experience really matters. You heard this on the stage tonight. We've heard it said on the stage that President Obama knows exactly what he's doing. I'd like to ask all the veterans listening out there tonight, who are waiting in line for healthcare, who are literally dying because the Veterans Administration doesn't work, do you think Barack Obama knows what he's doing? I don't. And I'll tell you something. Anybody who evaluates him is knowing what he's doing and managing the government doesn't know how to manage a government themselves. And one last thing, David, which I think is really important. I listened to Senator Rubio's answer on his bill. He said his bill couldn't pass on the gang of eight. He acted as if he was somehow disembodied from the bill. It was his bill. He said this idea doesn't work. It was his idea. See, when you're a governor, you have to take responsibility for these things. You can't just act as if it happened out of nowhere. We have to take responsibility as executives. I take responsibility for my record in New Jersey. We've rebuilt the economy and rebuilt after the second-worst natural disaster in American history. I'm proud of my record. And by the way, I like Kasich's record, too. He's a good governor. +p5159 +aVDavid? Hey, David? David? Hey, David? I actually have experience with raising taxes on millionaires in my state. It was done. It was done by my predecessor. And I want everybody in the public who is in that 68 percent, I want to tell you the truth. You're wrong. And here is why you're wrong. After New Jersey raised taxes on millionaires, we lost, in the next four years, $70 billion in wealth left our state. It left our state to go where it would be treated more kindly. If the United States raised taxes any further, that money will leave the United States, as well. We won't have better jobs. Let New Jersey be the canary in the coal mine. It is a failed idea and a failed policy, it's class warfare. It happened in my state. I've stopped it from happening again. But we cannot do it. The 68 percent of the people are wrong about that, it will hurt the American economy. We tried it in New Jersey. Come take a look \u2014 it did not work. +p5160 +aVOf course I would. As a former United States attorney who spent seven years of my life fighting this on the streets of my state, I would do that. But we need to do more. And let me tell you what we've done in New Jersey, Josh. We are working with the folks in New Hampshire in their legislature right now to show them how we're helping to solve this problem in New Jersey. Not just for this campaign \u2014 three years ago, I proposed a law that we signed into effect, which said that anyone who was a non- violent, non-dealing, first-time drug offender no longer goes to prison in New Jersey. They go to mandatory, in-patient drug treatment. What has happened is, crime has gone down 20 percent in those years. The prison population has gone down 10 percent. We've now closed the state prison \u2014 closed a state prison, and we're turning it into a drug rehabilitation facility, so people can get the tools they need. Listen, everyone out there knows this in New Hampshire. This is a disease. It's not a moral failing, it's a disease. And we need to get people the treatment they need. And let me tell you why. Because I'm pro-life. And I'm pro life not just for the nine months in the womb, I'm pro-life for when they get out and it's a lot more complicated. Sixteen-year-old, heroin-addicted drug girl on the floor of the county lockup, I'm pro-life for her life. The 42-year-old lawyer who is taking Oxycontin and can't get out of bed and support his family \u2014 I'm pro-life for his life. Everyone of those lives is an individual gift from God. And the last thing is this. These efforts we've taken over the last three years, 2015 in New Jersey, for the first time in four years, drug overdose deaths have gone down, not up. I'll bring the same solutions to the country. +p5161 +aVYou bet I would. And the fact is that because I took strong action to make sure that anyone who was showing symptoms \u2014 remember what happened with that nurse. She was showing symptoms and coming back from a place that had the ebola virus active and she had been treating patients. This was not just some \u2014 like, we picked up her just for the heck of it, alright? We did it because she was showing symptoms, and the fact is that's the way we should make these decision. You make these decisions based upon the symptoms, the medicine, and the law. We quarantined her, she turned out to test negative ultimately after 48 hours, and we released her back to the State of Maine. But, I want to add something on the issue of mosques. Now, I'm the only one up here who's had a law enforcement background as a U.S. Attorney after September 11th. I went to mosques throughout my state to build bridges. To build bridges between our community in law enforcement so we can get intelligence and information from these folks. I've had the experience of working with them as Governor of New Jersey as well. We cannot mix the radical Islamic jihadist with everyday Muslim-Americans. New Jersey is the second largest Muslim- American population in America, of any state. These are good, law abiding, hard working people. What they need is our cooperation, and our understanding. They do not just need broadsides against them because of the religious faith they practice. +p5162 +aVMartha? +p5163 +aVCan I \u2014 can I be really \u2014 can I be really clear on this, because I am the father of two daughters. One of them is here tonight. What my wife and I have taught our daughters right from the beginning, that their sense of self-worth, their sense of value, their sense of what they want to do with their life comes not from the outside, but comes from within. And if a young woman in this country wants to go and fight to defend their country, she should be permitted to do so. Part of that also needs to be part of a greater effort in this country, and so there's no reason why one \u2014 young women should be discriminated against from registering for the selective service. The fact is, we need to be a party and a people that makes sure that our women in this country understand anything they can dream, anything that they want to aspire to, they can do. That's the way we raised our daughters and that's what we should aspire to as president for all of the women in our country. +p5164 +aVWell, I've been pretty helpful to the pro-life cause in one of the most pro-choice states in the union. I've stood up for the first time and now for the last six years we've de-funded Planned Parenthood, not talked about it like they do in Washington D.C. But for six years as governor, Planned Parenthood does not receive that funding from the state budget anymore; over $50 million worth of money that's been saved now, that is not going to do exactly what Hillary Clinton wants to have done and has advocated for. She believes that organization, which engages in the systematic murder of children in the womb, in order to maximize the value of their body parts for sale on the open market, is an acceptable position. Let me tell you something, I don't care if you are a millennial or whether you are in your 90s, no one is for that type of activity, unless you are the most radical type of extremist on this issue, like Senator Clinton and her party is on this issue. I'll say one other thing. The fact is, that I believe that if a woman has been raped, that is a birth and a pregnancy that she should be able to terminate. If she is the victim of incest \u2014 this is not a woman's choice. This is a woman being violated. And the fact is that we have always has believed, as has Ronald Reagan, that we have self-defense for women who have been raped and impregnated because of it, or the subject of incest and been impregnated for it. That woman should not have to deliver that child if they believe that violation is now an act of self-defense by terminating that pregnancy. HAM: Thank you, all. Back to you, David and Martha. +p5165 +aVDenver. +p5166 +aVThank you. I've spent the last 13 years of my life focused on one thing: serving the people who have given me the opportunity to serve them. Not about politics, not about partisanship, but putting the people of my state and our country first. I'm proud to have rebuild my state after Hurricane Sandy, and I'm incredibly proud to be on this stage tonight with these men asking for your vote. New Hampshire, I spent 70 days here with you. You've gotten to know my heart. My heart is to help you solve the problems of your state......and the problems of our nation. If you give me your vote on Tuesday I will do just that. +p5167 +asVWILKINS +p5168 +(lp5169 +V...law school. My question for the candidates is, do black lives matter, or do all lives matter? +p5170 +asVCARSON +p5171 +(lp5172 +VThank you, Wolf. Please join me for a moment of silence and remembrance of the San Bernardino victims. Thank you. You know, our country since its inception has been at war, every 15 or 20 years. But the war that we are fighting now against radical Islamist jihadists is one that we must win. Our very existence is dependent upon that. You know, as a pediatric neurosurgeon, I frequently faced life and death situations, and had to come up with the right diagnosis, the right plan, and execute that plan frequently with other colleagues. Right now, the United States of America is the patient. And the patient is in critical condition and will not be cured by political correctness and will not be cured by timidity. And I am asking the Congress, which represents the people, to declare a war on +p5173 +aVFirst of all, let me just complain a little bit. This is the first time I've spoken and several people have had multiple questions so please try to pay attention to that. Now, as far as monitoring is concerned, what my point is, we need to make sure that any place \u2013 I don't care whether it's a mosque, a school, a supermarket, a theater, you know it doesn't matter. If there are a lot of people getting there and engaging in radicalizing activities then we need to be suspicious of it. We have to get rid of all this PC stuff. And people are worried about if somebody's going to say that I'm Islamophobic or what have you. This is craziness because we are at war. That's why I asked congress, go ahead and declare the war . We need to be on a war footing. We need to understand that our nation is in grave danger. You know, what the Muslim Brotherhood said in the explanatory memorandum that was discovered during the Holy Land Foundation Trial was that, "they will take advantage of our PC attitude to get us. :" We have to be better than this. We have to be smarter than they are. +p5174 +aVI think you have to ask them about that. I don't want to get in between them. Let them fight. +p5175 +aVNeurosurgeon. +p5176 +aVWell, interestingly enough, you should see the eyes of some of those children when I say to them we're going to have to open your head up and take out this tumor. They're not happy about it, believe me. And they don't like me very much at that point. But later on, they love me. Sometimes you \u2014 I sound like him. You know, later on, you know, they really realize what's going on. And by the same token, you have to be able to look at the big picture and understand that it's actually merciful if you go ahead and finish the job, rather than death by 1,000 pricks. +p5177 +aVYou got it. You got it. +p5178 +aVRuthless is not necessarily the word I would use, but tough, resolute, understanding what the problems are, and understanding that the job of the president of the United States is to protect the people of this country and to do what is necessary in order to get it done. +p5179 +aVFirst of all, I've been talking about this for over a year. We have to destroy their caliphate because that gives them legitimacy to go ahead with the global Jihad. We have to take their energy because they are \u2014 +p5180 +aVNo one is ever better off with dictators but there comes a time you know, when you're on an airplane, they always say, "in case of an emergency oxygen masks will drop down. Put yours on first and then administer help to your neighbor." We need oxygen right now. And we need to start thinking about the needs of the American people before we go and solve everybody else's problems. The fact of the matter is, is that the Middle East has been in turmoil for thousands of years. For us to think that we're going to in there and fix that with a couple of little bombs and a few little decorations is relatively foolish. +p5181 +aVWell, you know, there's a false narrative that only the political class has the wisdom and the ability to be commander-in- chief. But if you go back and you study the design of our country, it was really designed for the citizen statesman. And we need to be talking about where does your experience come from? You know, and I've had a lot of experience building things, organizing things, you know, a national scholarship program. One of the things that you'll notice if you look through my life is that I don't do a lot of talking. I do a lot of doing. And really, it says more about a person than how much they talk. And then some people say you're weak because, you know, you're not loud and you're not boisterous and you're not rude. But the fact of the matter is, look and see what I've done. And that speaks volumes about strength. +p5182 +aVWell, it was very interesting having an opportunity to talk to the Syrians themselves. And I asked them: What do you want? What is your supreme desire? Their supreme desire was to be settled back in their own country. I said, "What can Americans and other countries do?" They said, "Support the efforts of those who are trying to provide safety for us, including the Jordanians." Of course, they had a brand new hospital, for instance, that was unstaffed because there wasn't enough money to do it. But here's what's really neat. If you go into Hasakah province in northeast Syria, that's an area that's as big as Lebanon. It's controlled by the Kurds, the Christians and the moderate Sunnis. And there are airstrips and hotels. You could settle a lot of people there. All we would have to do is be willing to provide them with some weaponry, some defensive weaponry. And we seem to be afraid to give the Kurds weaponry. We like to send it for some strange reason through Baghdad, and then they only get a tenth of it. And if we would support them, we'd have a perfect ideal there. We don't need to set this up as we either take a bunch of refugees who will be infiltrated with terrorists, I guarantee you. For them not to be would be terrorist malpractice. And we need to \u2014 to choose the right choice, not these false choices. +p5183 +aVWell, I definitely believe that he is unstable, and I do, in fact, believe that China has a lot more influence with him than we do. But we also recognize that North Korea is in severe financial straits, and they have decided to use their resources to build their military, rather than to feed their people and to take care of the various humanitarian responsibilities that they have. We can capitalize upon that. You know, we should use our economic power in lots of different ways. I think we can use that in order to keep Putin contained, because he is a one-horse show. Energy. And we have an abundance of energy, but we have archaic energy exportation rules. We need to get rid of those, allow ourselves to really make Europe dependent on us and other parts of the world dependent on us for energy. Put him back in his little box where he belongs. And, you know, we need to be doing lots of other things with the resources that we have. So economic power works just as well as military power, perhaps even better. And speaking of that, our Military needs to be upgraded. You know, you look at things like our Ohio Class submarines, they're 25 years old. Our minuteman 3 missiles \u2014 they are 34 years old. Our B-52 bombers \u2014 50 years old. You know, if we don't get the military right nothing else matters. +p5184 +aVWell, you know, the statement that I made last week, that I would leave the party was contingent upon whether in fact the party acts like they have in the past with a lot of subterfuge and dishonesty, or like they're going act now because I spike to Reince Priebus, and he assured me that the Washington Post writer had it all wrong, and that they're not be engaging in anything to thwart the will of the people. That's why I got into this race, as a member of we the people, to try bring some honesty and integrity back to the process. +p5185 +aVI've been fortunate enough to travel to 58 different countries and I thank God everyday that I was born in this country. The most exceptional country that the world has ever known. And I want to make sure that we preserve that exceptionalism for the next generation. My mother told me if I work hard and I really believed in American principles and I believed in God, anything is possible. I believe that is true, and that's why I'm not anxious to give away American values and principles for the sake of political correctness. +p5186 +aVWell, first of all, delighted to be here. My family's here, and my little granddaughter, who's three years old, said she wanted to come to the debate. So this is very cool. As far as the minimum wage is concerned, people need to be educated on the minimum wage. Every time we raise the minimum wage, the number of jobless people increases. It's particularly a problem in the black community. Only 19.8 percent of black teenagers have a job, who are looking for one. You know, that \u2014 and that's because of those high wages. If you lower those wages, that comes down. You know, I can remember, as a youngster \u2014 you know, my first job working in a laboratory as a lab assistant, and multiple other jobs. But I would not have gotten those jobs if someone had to pay me a large amount of money. But what I did gain from those jobs is a tremendous amount of experience, and how to operate in the world and how to relate to different people, and how to become a responsible individual. And that's what gave me what I needed to ascend the ladder of opportunity in this country. That's what we need to be thinking about. How do we allow people to ascend the ladder of opportunity, rather than how do we give them everything and keep them dependent? +p5187 +aVI would not raise it. I would not raise it, specifically because I'm interested in making sure that people are able to enter the job market and take advantage of opportunities. +p5188 +aVWell, first of all, thank you not asking me what I said in the 10th grade. I appreciate that. +p5189 +aVThe fact of the matter is, you know, what \u2014 we should vet all candidates. I have no problem with being vetted. What I do have a problem with is being lied about and then putting that out there as truth. And I don't even mind that so much, if they do it about \u2014 with everybody, like people on the other side. But, you know, when I look at somebody like Hillary Clinton, who sits there and tells her daughter and a government official that no, this was a terrorist attack, and then tells everybody else that it was a video. Where I came from, they call that a lie. And... I think that's very different from, you know, somebody misinterpreting, when I said that I was offered a scholarship to West Point, that is the words that they used. But, I've had many people come and say the same thing to me. That is what people do in those situations. We have to start treating people the same, and finding out what people really think and what they're made of. People who know me know that I'm an honest person. +p5190 +aVWell, you know, when I say tithing, I'm talking about the concept of proportionality. +p5191 +aVEverybody should pay the same proportion of what they make. You make $10 billion, you pay a billion. You make $10, you pay one. You get same rights and privileges. I don't see how anything gets a whole lot fairer than that. But you also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes because that is the thing that tilts it in one direction or another. And you have to set the rate at an appropriate level. Now I will say that, there are a lot of people who say, if you get rid of the deductions, you ruin the American dream because, you know, home mortgage deduction. But the fact of the matter is, people had homes before 1913 when we introduced the federal income tax, and later after that started deductions. And they say there will be no more charitable giving. We had churches before that and charitable organizations before that. The fact of the matter is, I believe if you put more money in people's pockets that they will actually be more generous rather than less generous. And it's... ... the money that they earned. And, the other thing is, I do care about the poor people. And in the system that we're putting together, there will be a rebate for people at the poverty level. But I also want to emphasize the fact that as we get the economy moving, and I hope I get a question about how do we get the economy moving, there will be a lot more opportunities for poor people not to be poor people because this is America. This is the land of dreams. And our policies should be aimed at allowing people to realize that dream. +p5192 +aVWell, putting the special ops people in there is better than not having them there, because they \u2014 that's why they're called special ops, they're actually able to guide some of the other things that we're doing there. And what we have to recognize is that Putin is trying to really spread his influence throughout the Middle East. This is going to be his base. And we have to oppose him there in an effective way. We also must recognize that it's a very complex place. You know, the Chinese are there, as well as the Russians, and you have all kinds of factions there. What we've been doing so far is very ineffective, but we can't give up ground right there. But we have to look at this on a much more global scale. We're talking about global jihadists. And their desire is to destroy us and to destroy our way of life. So we have to be saying, how do we make them look like losers? Because that's the way that they're able to gather a lot of influence. And I think in order to make them look like losers, we have to destroy their caliphate. And you look for the easiest place to do that? It would be in Iraq. And if \u2014 outside of Anbar in Iraq, there's a big energy field. Take that from them. Take all of that land from them. We could do that, I believe, fairly easily, I've learned from talking to several generals, and then you move on from there. But you have to continue to face them, because our goal is not to contain them, but to destroy them before they destroy us. +p5193 +aVWell, I think we should have policies that don't allow them to just enlarge themselves at the expense of smaller entities. And certainly some of the policies, some of the monetary and Fed policies that we're using makes it very easy for them, makes it very easy for the big corporations, quite frankly, at these very low interest rates to buy back their stock and to drive the price of that up artificially. Those are the kinds of things that led to the problem in the first place. And I think this all really gets back to this whole regulation issue which is creating a very abnormal situation. This country was \u2014 declared its independence in 1776. In less than 100 years, it was the number-one economic power in the world. And the reason was because we had an atmosphere that encouraged entrepreneurial risk- taking and capital investment. Those are the fuels that drive it. And what we've done now is let the creep of regulation turn into a stampede of regulations, which is involved in every aspect of our lives. If we can get that out, it makes a big difference. And even for the average person, every single regulation costs money. And it's shifted to the individual. So \u2014 and it hurts the poor and the middle class much more than it does the rich. They go into the store and they buy a bar of soap, it costs 10 cents more, they notice it. And the middle class, when they come to the cash register, have a whole cart full of things that cost 5, 10 or 15 cents more, they notice it. It is hurting the poor. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton won't tell you that that's the thing that's really hurting middle class in the core. They'll say it's the rich, take their money, but that won't help. You can take all of the rich's money and it won't make a dent in the problem that we're having. We have to come back to the fundamental principles that made America great. +p5194 +aVI would have policies that wouldn't allow that to occur. I don't want to go in and tear anybody down. I mean, that doesn't help us. But what does help us is stop tinkering around the edges and fix the actual problems that exist that are creating the problem in the first place. +p5195 +aVIn the two hours of this \u2014 of this debate, five people have died from drug-related deaths, $100 million has been added to our national debt, 200 babies have been killed by abortionists, and two veterans have taken their lives out of despair. This is a narrative that we can change, not we the Democrats, not we the Republicans, but we the people of America, because there is something special about this nation, and we must embrace it and be proud of it and never give it away for the sake of political correctness. +p5196 +aVProbably in terms of the applying for the job of president, a weakness would be not really seeing myself in that position until hundreds of thousands of people began to tell me that I needed to do it. I do, however, believe in Reagan's 11th commandment, and will not be engaging in awful things about my compatriots here. And recognizing that it's so important, this election, because we're talking about America for the people versus America for the government. +p5197 +aVWell, first of all, I didn't say that the rate would be 10 percent. I used the tithing analogy. +p5198 +aVThe rate \u2014 the rate \u2014 the rate is gonna be much closer to 15 percent. +p5199 +aVYou also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes. You also have to some strategically cutting in several places. Remember, we have 645 federal agencies and sub-agencies. Anybody who tells me that we need every penny and every one of those is in a fantasy world. So, also, we can stimulate the economy. That's gonna be the real growth engine. Stimulating the economy \u2014 because it's tethered down right now with so many regulations... +p5200 +aVThat's not true. +p5201 +aVWhen \u2014 when we put all the facts down, you'll be able to see that it's not true, it works out very well. +p5202 +aVSince I was attacked too. +p5203 +aVLet me just say, if you're talking about an $18 trillion economy, you're talking about a 15 percent tax on your gross domestic product. You're talking about $2.7 trillion. We have a budget closer to $3.5 trillion. But if you also apply that same 15 percent to several other things, including corporate taxes, and including the capital gains taxes, you make that amount up pretty quickly. So that is not by any stretch a pie in the sky. +p5204 +aVWell, there is no question that some people go overboard when it comes to trying to make profits, and they don't take into consideration the American people. What we have to start thinking about, as leaders, particularly in government, is what can we do for the average American? And you think about the reasons that we're having such difficulty right now with our job market. Well, the average small manufacturer, whatever they're manufacturing, drugs or anything, if they have less than 50 employees, the average cost in terms of regulations is $34,000 per employee. Makes it a whole lot easier for them to want to go somewhere else. So what we're going to have to start doing instead of, you know, picking on this group or this group, is we're going to have to have a major reduction in the regulatory influence that is going on. The government is not supposed to be in every part of our lives, and that is what is causing the problem. +p5205 +aVWell, obviously, you don't understand my views on homosexuality. I believe that our Constitution protects everybody, regardless of their sexual orientation or any other aspect. I also believe that marriage is between one man and one woman. And there is no reason that you can't be perfectly fair to the gay community. They shouldn't automatically assume that because you believe that marriage is between one man and one woman that you are a homophobe. And this is one of the myths that the left perpetrates on our society, and this is how they frighten people and get people to shut up. You know, that's what the PC culture is all about, and it's destroying this nation. The fact of the matter is we the American people are not each other's enemies, it's those people who are trying to divide us who are the enemies. And we need to make that very clear to everybody. +p5206 +aVWell, that's easy to answer. I didn't have an involvement with them. That is total propaganda, and this is what happens in our society. Total propaganda. I did a couple of speeches for them, I do speeches for other people. They were paid speeches. It is absolutely absurd to say that I had any kind of a relationship with them. Do I take the product? Yes. I think it's a good product. +p5207 +aVIf somebody put me on their homepage, they did it without my permission. +p5208 +aVNo, it speaks to the fact that I don't know those \u2014 See? They know. +p5209 +aVWell, first of all, I was wrong about taking the oil subsidy. I have studied that issue in great detail. And what I have concluded is that the best policy is to get rid of all government subsidies, and get the government out of our lives, and let people rise and fall based on how good they are. And \u2014 you know, all of this too big to fail stuff and picking and choosing winners and losers \u2014 this is a bunch of crap, and it is really causing a great deal of \u2014 great deal of problems for our society right now. And \u2014 and \u2014 you know, it goes back to the whole concept of regulations, which are in everything. The reason that I \u2014 I hate them so much is because every single regulation costs in terms of goods and services. That cost gets passed on to the people. Now, who are the people who are hurt by that? It's poor people and middle class. Doesn't hurt rich people if their bar of soap goes up ten cents, but it hurts the poor and the middle class. And Bernie Sanders will tell them that it's because of the rich. Well, I'll tell you something: you can take everything from the top 1 percent, and you apply it to our fiscal gap, and you won't even make a dent in it. +p5210 +aVAbout Medicare? +p5211 +aVWell, first of all the \u2014 the plan gives people the option of \u2014 of opting out. But I think they will see a very good option here. You know, the annual Medicare budget is over $600 billion. And there are 48 million people involved \u2014 40 million, 65 and over, and 8 million other. Divide that out. That comes out to $12,500 for each one. Now, I can tell you there are a lot of private-sector things that you could do with $12,500, which will get you a lot more than you get from this government program. And that's really a theme of a lot of the things that I'm talking about. How do we utilize our intellect rather than allowing the government to use its, quote, "intellect," in order to help us to be able to live healthier and better lives? It was never intended that the government should be in every aspect of our lives. This is a country that is of, for and by the people. +p5212 +aVI just want to thank all my colleagues here for being civil, and not falling for the traps. And, I also just want to thank the audience for being attentive, and noticing the questions, and the noticing the answers. And, this is what I am finding throughout America. People are waking up because it is going to be us who will determine the direction of our country. And, it was made for we the people, we are the ones who decide who we are, and we should never give away the values and principles that made America into a great nation for the sake of political correctness. +p5213 +aVHi, I'm Ben Carson, and I'm a retired pediatric neurosurgeon. I'm here with my wife, Candy, of 40 years, and two of my sons, and their wives. I stress the pediatric part of my career because the reason that I've gotten involved in this race is because I'm very concerned about the future of our children, and the direction of our country is one that does not portend well, unless we, the people, intervene and retake our rightful place at the pinnacle. +p5214 +aVTypically, politicians do things that are politically expedient. And they are looking for whatever their particular goal is. That is not the reason that I have gotten into this thing. I'm extraordinary concerned about the direction of this country, the divisiveness that is going on, fiscal irresponsibility, the failure to take a leadership position in the world. All of those things will lead to a situation where the next generation will not have a chance that we've had now. So I don't \u2014 I don't want to really get into describing who's a politician and who's not a politician, but I think the people have kind of made that decision for themselves already, and will continue to do so as time goes on. +p5215 +aVJake, can I say something about that? +p5216 +aVYou know, when I entered this race, all the political pundits said it's impossible; you can't do it because you're not connected with the money. And there's no way that you can raise what you need in order to compete successfully. I in no way am willing to get in the bed with special interest group or lick the boots of billionaires. I have said to the people if they want me to do this, please get involved. And we now have over 500,000 donations, and the money is coming in. But the pundits forgot about one thing, and that is the people. And they are really in charge. +p5217 +aVWell, first of all, I recognize that we have an incredible illegal immigration problem. I was down in Arizona a few weeks ago at the border. I mean, the fences that were there were not manned, and those are the kind of fences when I was a kid that would barely slow us down. So, I don't see any purpose in having that. Now, what we need to do is look at something that actually works. Yuma County, Arizona. They stop 97 percent of the illegal immigrants through there. They put in a double fence with a road so that there was quick access by the enforcement people. If we don't seal the border, the rest of this stuff clearly doesn't matter. It's kind of ridiculous all the other things we talk about. We have the ability to do it, we don't have the will to do it. There was one area where they had cut a hole in the fence, and to repair it, they put a few strands of barb wire across. Well, the photographers who were there with us, they wanted to photograph us from the side of the Mexicans, and they went through there, and they were not physically fit people, and they took their cameras and things with them, and shot us from the other side. That's how easy it is to get across. And, the drugs, I mean, it goes on, and on, and on. ICE tells them to release these people, 67,000 criminals released... +p5218 +aV...on to our property, it's ridiculous. +p5219 +aVWell, I have also said, if anybody knows how to do that, that I would be willing to listen. And, if they can, you know, specify exactly how that's going to be done, and what the cost, and it sounds reasonable, then I think it's worth discussing... +p5220 +aVNot exactly what I said. +p5221 +aVWell, what I said, after we seal the borders, after we turn off the spigot that dispenses all the goodies so we don't have people coming in here, including employment, that people who had a pristine record, we should consider allowing them to become guest workers, primarily in the agricultural sphere, because that's the place where Americans don't seem to want to work. That's what I said. And they have a six-month period to do that. If they don't do it within that time period, then they become illegal, and as illegals, they will be treated as such. +p5222 +aVCan I \u2014 can I \u2014 can I just... +p5223 +aVCan I correct... +p5224 +aVOK. +p5225 +aVMy plan is not amnesty for a number of reasons. Number one, you know, I've talked to farmers, and they said they cannot hire Americans to do the kind of job that I'm talking about. And the second reason is because the individuals who register as guest workers, they don't get to vote, they are not American citizens, and they don't get the rights and privileges of American citizens. So that's key. But the other thing that I want to bring up is, I mentioned something earlier. I think it was just sort of glossed over. I talked about the success in Yuma County, I mean, incredible success, and the Department of Justice said, "No, we don't want to do that. That's too successful." We don't have to keep reinventing the wheel. All we have to do is look at things that work. All we have to do is use a little common sense. +p5226 +aVIt's all about America. You know, the people who say the guy who paid a billion dollars because he had 10, he has still got $9 billion left, that's not fair, we need to take more of his money. That's called socialism. That doesn't work so well. What made America into a great nation was the fact that we said, that guy just put in $1 billion, let's create an environment that's even more conducive to his success so that next year he can put in $2 billion. And that's the kind of thing that helps us to grow. We can't grow by continuing to take a piece of pie, and dividing it, and redistributing it. But, I'm also looking at what doctor \u2014 at what Governor Huckabee talked about... +p5227 +aVThe Fair Tax. Looking at both of them, and evaluating them both, and I'm talking to the American people because one of the things we must recognize is that this country is of, for, and by the people. And, it's really time that the government get out of the way, and let the people be the ones who decide how they want to run their country. +p5228 +aVWell, first of all, let me say what I actually said about raising the minimum wage. I was asked should it be raised, I said, probably, or possibly. But, what I added, which I think is the most important thing, so, I said we need to get both sides of this issue to sit down, and talk about it. Negotiate a reasonable minimum wage, and index that so that we never have to have this conversation again in the history of America. I think we also have to have two minimum wages, a starter, and a sustaining because how are young people ever going to get a job if you have such a high minimum wage that it makes it impractical to hire them... +p5229 +aVJake, Jake... +p5230 +aVI haven't had an opportunity to weigh in on foreign policy, and I just want to mention that when the war, when the issue occurred in 2003, I suggested to President Bush that he not go to war? OK. So I just want that on the record. And, you know, a lot of people are very much against us getting involved right now with global jihadism. And they refer back to our invasion of Iraq. And they seem to think that that was what caused it. What caused it was withdrawing from there and creating a vacuum which allowed this terrible situation to occur. But it is very different from what is going on today. We're talking about global jihadists who actually want to destroy us. They are an existential threat to our nation. And we have to be mature enough to recognize that our children will have no future if we put our heads in the sand. We have to recognize we have two choices. We either allow them the continue to progress and appear to be the winners, or we use every resource available to us to destroy... +p5231 +aV... them first. +p5232 +aVWell, recognize that, you know, President George W. Bush is a great friend of ours, and we spent many wonderful days at the White House. I haven't been there in the last seven years. I probably have to have a food-tester. But at any rate, I didn't suggest that nothing be done. What I suggested to President Bush is to be Kennedy-esque, in the sense that when the Russians got ahead of us in the space race, what we did is use the bully pulpit to galvanize everybody, business, industry, academia behind a national goal to put a man on the moon and bring him back safely. I said, you can do the same kind of thing. Declare that within five to 10 years we will become petroleum independent. The moderate Arab states would have been so concerned about that, they would have turned over Osama bin Laden and anybody else you wanted on a silver platter within two weeks. There are smart ways to do things and there are muscular ways to do things. And sometimes you have to look at both of those to come up with the right solution. +p5233 +aVI have no argument with having a strong leader, and to be aggressive where aggression is needed. But it is not needed in every circumstance. There is a time when you can use your intellect to come up with other ways to do things. And I think that's what we have to start thinking about. There is no question that a lot of these problems that we have been talking about in terms of the international situation is because we are weak. It is because our Navy is so small. It is because our Air Force is incapable of doing the same things that it did a few years ago. It's because our Marines Corps is not ready to be deployed. +p5234 +aVThere are a lot of problems that are going on, and we need to solve those problems, we need to build up our military... +p5235 +aVWell, let me put it this way, there has \u2014 there have been numerous studies, and they have not demonstrated that there is any correlation between vaccinations and autism. This was something that was spread widely 15 or 20 years ago, and it has not been adequately, you know, revealed to the public what's actually going on. Vaccines are very important. Certain ones. The ones that would prevent death or crippling. There are others, there are a multitude of vaccines which probably don't fit in that category, and there should be some discretion in those cases. But, you know, a lot of this is \u2014 is \u2014 is pushed by big government. And I think that's one of the things that people so vehemently want to get rid of, big government. You know, we have 4.1 million federal employees. Six hundred and fifty federal agencies and department (sic). That's why they have to take so much of our taxes. +p5236 +aVWell, you know, I've just explained it to him. He can read about it if he wants to. I think he's an intelligent man and will make the correct decision after getting the real facts. +p5237 +aVHe's an OK doctor. But, you know, the fact of the matter is, we have extremely well-documented proof that there's no autism associated with vaccinations. But it is true that we are probably giving way too many in too short a period of time. And a lot of pediatricians now recognize that, and, I think, are cutting down on the number and the proximity in which those are done, and I think that's appropriate. +p5238 +aVI'd put my mother on there. You know, she was one of 24 children, got married at age 13, had only a third grade education, had to raise two sons by herself, refused to be a victim. Wouldn't let us be victims, and has been an inspiration to many people. +p5239 +aVOne Nation. +p5240 +aVWell, you know, I was a radical Democrat before I started listening to Ronald Reagan. And he didn't sound like what they said Republicans were. He sounded logical. And I hope that I sound logical also. Because when I look at what is going on with the United States of America, I see a lot of things that are not logical. I see us allowing people to divide us, when in fact our strength is in our unity. I see people exercising the most irresponsible fiscal habits that anyone could possibly do. And hiding it from the American people, so that the majority of people have no idea what our financial situation is. So, when someone comes along and says, free college, free phones, free this and that, and the other, they say, "wow, that's nice," having no idea that they're destabilizing our position. And I think also that Ronald Reagan was a master at understanding that a pinnacle nation has to be a nation that leads. If we learn to lead in the Middle East right now, a coalition will form behind us, but never they do it if we just sit there and talk about it. Real leadership is what I would hopefully bring to America. +p5241 +aVWell, I could take issue with -- with all of those things, but we don't have time. But I will say, we have a debate here tonight, and we will have an opportunity to explore those areas, and I'm looking very much forward to demonstrating that, in fact, the thing that is probably most important is having a brain, and to be able to figure things out and learn things very rapidly. So, you know, experience comes from a large number of different arenas, and America became a great nation early on not because it was flooded with politicians, but because it was flooded with people who understood the value of personal responsibility, hard work, creativity, innovation, and that's what will get us on the right track now, as well. +p5242 +aVWell, thank you, Megyn, I wasn't sure I was going to get to talk again. +p5243 +aVAlright. You know, what we do in order to get the information that we need is our business, and I wouldn't necessarily be broadcasting what we're going to do. We. . .uh. . .we've gotten into this -- this mindset of fighting politically correct wars. There is no such thing as a politically correct war. And, the left, of course, will say Carson doesn't believe in the Geneva Convention. Carson doesn't believe in fighting stupid wars. And -- and what we have to remember is we want to utilize the tremendous intellect that we have in the military to win wars. And I've talked to a lot of the generals, a lot of our advanced people. And believe me, if we gave them the mission, which is what the commander-in-chief does, they would be able to carry it out. And if we don't tie their hands behind their back, they will do it......extremely effectively. +p5244 +aVWhat I agree with is that we need a significantly changed taxation system. And the one that I've advocated is based on tithing, because I think God is a pretty fair guy. And he said, you know, if you give me a tithe, it doesn't matter how much you made. If you've had a bumper crop, you don't owe me triple tithes. And if you've had no crops at all, you don't owe me no tithes. So there must be something inherently fair about that. And that's why I've advocated a proportional tax system. You make $10 billion, you pay a billion. You make $10, you pay one. And everybody gets treated the same way. And you get rid of the deductions, you get rid of all the loopholes, and... +p5245 +aVAnd I have a lot more to say about it. +p5246 +aVIf Hillary is the candidate, which I doubt, that would be a dream come true. But you know, the fact of the matter is, she is the epitome of the progressive -- the secular progressive movement. And she counts on the fact that people are uninformed, the Alinsky Model, taking advantage of useful idiots. Well, I just happen to believe that people are not stupid. And the way I will come at it is to educate people, help people to actually understand that it is that progressive movement that is causing them the problems. You know, you look at the -- the national debt and how it's being driven up. If I was trying to destroy this country, what I would do is find a way to drive wedges between all the people, drive the debt to an unsustainable level, and then step off the stage as a world leader and let our enemies increase while we decreased our capacity as a military person. And that's what she's doing. +p5247 +aVWell, what we have to stop and think about is that we have weakened ourselves militarily to such an extent that if affects all of our military policies. Our Navy is at its smallest size since 1917; our Air Force, since 1940. In recent testimony, the commandant of the Marine Corps said half of the non-deployed units were not ready and you know, the sequester is cutting the heart out of our personnel. Our generals are retiring because they don't want to be part of this, and at the same time, our enemies are increasing. Our -- our friends can't trust us anymore. You know, Ukraine was a nuclear-armed state. They gave away their nuclear arms with the understanding that we would protect them. We won't even give them offensive weapons. You know, we turned our back on Israel, our ally. You know, in a situation like that, of course Obama's not going to be able to do anything. I would shore up our military first, because if you don't get the military right, nothing else is going to work. +p5248 +aVWell, I think the bully pulpit is a wonderful place to start healing that divide. You know, we have the purveyors of hatred who take every single incident between people of two races and try to make a race war out of it, and drive wedges into people. And this does not need to be done. What we need to think about instead -- you know, I was asked by an NPR reporter once, why don't I talk about race that often. I said it's because I'm a neurosurgeon. And she thought that was a strange response. And you say -- I said, you see, when I take someone to the operating room, I'm actually operating on the thing that makes them who they are. The skin doesn't make them who they are. The hair doesn't make them who they are. And it's time for us to move beyond that. Because......our strength as a nation comes in our unity. We are the United States of America, not the divided states. And those who want to destroy us are trying to divide us, and we shouldn't let them do it. +p5249 +aVWell, I haven't said anything about me being the only one to do anything, so let me try that. I'm the only one to separate Siamese twins... The -- the only one to operate on babies while they were still in mother's womb, the only one to take out half of a brain, although you would think, if you go to Washington, that someone had beat me to it. But I -- but I'm very hopeful that I'm not the only one who's willing to pick up the baton of freedom, because freedom is not free, and we must fight for it every day. Every one of us must fight for it, because we're fighting for our children and the next generation. +p5250 +aVWell, the current Constitution actually doesn't address that particular situation, but the fact of the matter is the Supreme Court, obviously, is a very important part of our governmental system. And when our Constitution was put in place, the average age of death was under 50, and therefore the whole concept of lifetime appointments for Supreme Court judges and federal judges was not considered to be a big deal. Obviously, that has changed, and it's something that probably needs to be looked at pretty carefully at some point. But, we need to start thinking about the divisiveness that is going on in our country. I looked at some of the remarks that people made after finding out that Justice Scalia had died, and they were truly nasty remarks. And that we have managed to get to that position in our country is truly a shame. And we should be thinking about how we could create some healing in this land. But, right now, we're not going to get healing with President Obama. That's very United Nations clear. So, I...... fully agree that we should not allow a judge to be appointed during his time. +p5251 +aVNo, it isn't. First of all, let me go back to your first question for me. It wasn't phrased as who gets to nominate Supreme Court appointees. Of course that's the president. So I know that there are some left-wing media who would try to make hay on that. Secondly, thank you for including me in the debate. Two questions already. This is great. Now, as far......as far as those 2 a.m. phone calls are concerned, judgment is what is required. And the kinds of things that you come up with are sometimes very, very difficult and very unique. One of the things that I was known for is doing things that have not been done before. So no amount of experience really prepares you to do something that has never been done before. That's where judgment comes in. And that, I think, is a situation that we're in right now, a situation that we have never been in before with the kinds of threats that pose real danger to our nation, and it comes in very handy in those situations. +p5252 +aVWell, first of all, let me just address the Iraq question. You know, I was not particularly in favor of us going to war in Iraq, primarily because I have studied, you know, the Middle East, recognizing that those are nations that are ruled by dictators and have been for thousands of years. And when you go in and you remove one of those dictators, unless you have an appropriate plan for replacing them, you're going to have chaos. Now, fortunately, we were able to stabilize the situation, and it was the current administration that turned tail and ran and destabilized the situation. Now, having said that, in terms of the rules of engagement, I was talking about, you know, Obama has said, you know, we shouldn't bomb tankers, you know, coming out of refineries because there may be people in there, or because the environment may be hurt. You know, that's just asinine thinking. And the fact of the matter is... You know, we \u2014 obviously, you're not going to accomplish all of your goals without some collateral damage. You have to be able to assess what is acceptable and what is not. +p5253 +aVWell, first of all, let me just mention on the tax issue. Bencarson.com, go read about it, because my tax plan has been praised by Cato, by Wall Street Journal. Forbes said it is the best, the most pro-growth tax plan, and it's based on real fairness for everybody. Starts at the 150 percent poverty level, but even the people below that have to pay something, because everybody has to have skin in the game, and the millions of people can't, you know, talk about what other people have to pay and have no skin in the game. And it deals with corporate tax rate, and makes it the same as everybody else......everybody pays exactly the same. +p5254 +aV... And, as far as Medicare and Medicaid, my main goal is to get rid of Obamacare and put the care back in the hands of ... +p5255 +aVWell, first of all, please go to my website, bencarson.com, and read my immigration policy, O.K.? Because it actually makes sense. Now, the \u2014 as far as these fines are concerned, you know? Here's the big problem. We've got all these government regulators, and all they're doing is running around looking for people to fine. And we've got 645 different federal agencies and sub-agencies. Way, way too many, and they don't have anything else to do. I think what we really need to do is start trimming the regulatory agencies rather than going after the people who are trying to increase the viability, economic viability of our society. Now, that doesn't mean there aren't some people out there who are doing bad things. But I'm not sure that the way to solve that problem is by increasing all the regulatory burden. You know, when you consider how much regulations cost us each year, you know? $2 trillion dollars per family, $24,000 per family, that happens to be the same level as the poverty level...... for a family of four. If you want to get rid of poverty, get rid of all the regulations. +p5256 +aVBefore you ask the question, can I respond to the \u2014 you know, they mentioned my name a couple of times. +p5257 +aVAll right. Well, first of all, you know, so many people have said to me, "You need to scream and jump and down \u2014 jump up and down like everybody else." Is that really what you want? What we just saw? I don't think so. And you know, I \u2014 when I got into this race, I decided to look under the hood of the engine of what runs Washington, D.C., and my first inclination was to run away, but I didn't do it because I'm thinking about our children and the fact that we are the United States of America. And anybody up here is going to be much better than what's going to come on the other side. And what happened tonight with \u2014 with Justice Scalia tells you that we cannot afford to lose this election, and we cannot be tearing each other down. +p5258 +aVWell, first of all, I'm not a politician, so I'm never going to become a politician. But here's what \u2014 here's what people need to know. People need to know that free college is not \u2014 it's a non-starter. You know, you have to look at our economic situation. We're on the verge of economic collapse and, you know, we're \u2014 it's not just the $19 trillion, but it's also the $200 trillion in unfunded liabilities. What we need to think about is, what does that do to the average person? When we have a debt of that nature, it causes the Fed to change their policy, it causes the central bank to keep the \u2014 the rates low, and who does does that affect? Mr. Average, who used to go to the bank every Friday and put part of his check in the bank and watch it grow over three decades and be able to retire with a nice nest egg, that's gone. That part of the American dream is gone. All of these things are disappearing, and Bernie Sanders and people like Hillary Clinton blame it on the rich. They say those evil rich people, if we take their money we can solve the problem. It's not the evil rich people. It's the irresponsible, evil government. +p5259 +aVThis is the first generation not expected to do better than their parents. Some people say it's the new normal, but there's nothing normal about it in an exceptional American. I, like you, am a member of we, the people, and we know that our country is heading off the cliff. Joseph Stalin said if you want to bring America down you, have to undermine three things: our spiritual life, our patriotism and our morality. We, the people, can stop that decline, starting right here in South Carolina. If all the people who say, "I love Ben Carson and his policies, but he can't win," vote for me, not only can we win, but we can turn this thing around. You know, we have this manipulation by the political class and by the media telling us who we're supposed to pick and how we're supposed to live. We, the people, are the only people who will determine that. And if you elect me as your next president, I promise you that you will get somebody who is accountable to everybody and beholden to no one. Thank you. +p5260 +aVWell, you know, when I wasn't introduced No. 2, as was the plan, I thought maybe he thought I already had dropped out. But... But you know, today is the 105th anniversary, or \u2014 105th birthday of Ronald Reagan. His 11 Commandment was not to speak ill of another Republican. So, I'm not going to use this opportunity to savage the reputation of Senator Cruz. But I will say \u2014 I will say \u2014 I will say that I was very disappointed that members of his team thought so little of me that they thought that after having hundreds, if not thousands of volunteers and college students who sacrificed their time and were dedicated to the cause \u2014 one even died \u2014 to think that I would just walk away ten minutes before the caucus and say, "Forget about you guys." I mean, who would do something like that? Now, I don't think anyone on this stage would do something like that. And to assume that someone would, what does that tell you? So, unfortunately, it did happen. It gives us a very good example of certain types of Washington ethics. Washington ethics. Washington ethics basically says, if it's legal, you do what you need to do in order to win. That's not my ethics. My ethics is, you do what's right. +p5261 +aVSince I was mentioned... +p5262 +aVThis is great you guys. I want you all to mention me when you say something. In fact, the time line indicates that initial tweet from CNN was followed by another one within one minute that clarified that I was not dropping out. So, what happened to that one, it is unclear. But the bottom line is, we can see what happened, everybody can see what happened and you can make your own judgment. +p5263 +aVGood evening. +p5264 +aVWell, thank you. You know, I was hoping to get a chance to talk about North Korea. I was the only one who didn't get to do that, and I've got stuff to say about it, let me tell you. But at any rate, you have to replace it with something that makes sense. It doesn't make sense. And the reason that I dislike Obamacare is because the government comes in and tells the people \u2014 which the nation is supposed to be centered on \u2014 that we don't care what you think, this is what we're doing. And if you don't like it, too bad. That's a problem. And we can't afford to do that because that will fundamentally change America. I have proposed a health empowerment account system. Everybody gets a health empowerment account the day they are born, they keep it until they die. They can pass it on. We pay for it with the same dollars that we pay for traditional health care with, recognizing that we spend twice as much as many countries per capita and health care and don't have as such access. We give people the ability to shift money within their health empowerment account so that each family basically becomes its own insurance company without a middleman; that saves you a awful lot of money. And that will lower the cost of your catastrophic insurance tremendously, because the only thing coming out of that is catastrophic health care. And then in terms of taking care of the indigent, we have another whole system, and I can go ahead and explain it, but I don't have the time, but I'd be happy to if you give me some more time. But go to my website bencarson.com, read about it. You can read about everything that's been discussed here in great detail. HAM: Thank you, Dr. Carson. David, Martha, back to you. +p5265 +aVI want to say something about this, because I'm not here just to add beauty to the stage. You know, I've been talking about Libya for quite a long time. I think I was the first one to start talking about it because I say we have to have a proactive foreign policy strategy. And of course, the next place that +p5266 +aVI would support the possibility of renewed airstrikes if in conjunction with our Joint Chiefs and our military people they felt that was an appropriate strategy. The fact of the matter is none of us up here is a military expert, and we sometimes act like we are, but we're not. And if we actually sit down and talk with them and get them to understand our plan and their impression of what needs to be done, I think we're going to make a lot more progress. +p5267 +aVIt's the same question? +p5268 +aVYes. Well, first of all, I think it would be a pretty easy contrast, quite frankly, between myself and Hillary Clinton. In one case, you have someone who is known as a deceitful individual. An individual who at Benghazi, which I will never let go, quite frankly, because I think of those two men who went up there on the top of that compound with machine guns, firing away, allowing their colleagues to escape. And I'm sure, in the back of their mind, they were just saying, if we can just hold on, help is on the way. But help was not on the way. When did we in the United States not send people to help our own people? You know, this is not who we are. And \u2014 I would simply make it a referendum on honesty and integrity versus deceit and the Washington way. +p5269 +aVWell, you know, it's not a simple issue, and now, you know, we've gotten evidence that there can been active viruses in other bodily fluids like saliva and urine. So, this is going to be, obviously, a big deal. Do we quarantine people? If we have evidence that they are infected, and that there is evidence that that infection can spread by something that they're doing, yes. But, just willy-nilly going out and quarantining a bunch of people because they've been to Brazil, I don't believe that that's going to work. What we really need to be thinking about is how do we get this disease under control? And this is where we need rapid response. We need a rapid response for ebola, we need rapid response for Zika, there will be other things that will come up. These are the kinds of things that the NIH, the CDC, can be very effective in. We need to give the the appropriate support for those kind of things. +p5270 +aVCan I say something... +p5271 +aVSomething about the draft. Very quickly. +p5272 +aVYou know, 14 percent decrease in the number of people applying for voluntary military service, and I think part of it is because of the way that we treat our veterans. You know, we wouldn't be a free country if it wasn't for them, and we have 22 veterans per day committing suicide. So, I think what we should do is have an external support system for people once they volunteer and it should follow them throughout their career, should follow them for three years, five years afterwards, a year before they get out, should be working on integrating them back into society, so that they quit on Friday and they start their new job. They should have health empowerment accounts that are subsidized so they can go to any medical facility and be taken care of. They can go to a V.A. if they want to. But if we start taking care of our veterans the right way, we won't have to ever worry about a draft again. +p5273 +aVWith 100 percent certainly, I will predict the winner \u2014 it will either be Denver or Carolina. +p5274 +aVFor many months, the political class, pundits, the media, have tried to ignore or bury me. They say that politics is too complex, and too sleazy. You can't survive. Well, guess what? I'm still here, and I'm not going any place either. And, I believe there is still a place in our country for faith, integrity, and common sense. Hundreds of thousands of you drafted me to run for president...... And, I am going to with the help of God, and you, once again place the American people at the pinnacle with the government there to serve it. +p5275 +asVQUINTANILLA +p5276 +(lp5277 +VGood evening, I'm Carl Quintanilla, with my colleagues Becky Quick and John Harwood. We'll be joined tonight by some of +p5278 +aVGovernor? +p5279 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p5280 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Bush. +p5281 +aVSenator Rubio. +p5282 +aVMr. Trump? +p5283 +aVDr. Carson? +p5284 +aVMrs. Fiorina? +p5285 +aVFixed it. +p5286 +aVSenator Cruz? +p5287 +aVGovernor Christie? +p5288 +aVSenator Paul? +p5289 +aVThanks to all the candidates. John? +p5290 +aVHold it. We'll cut it back to you in just a minute. Becky's moving on. +p5291 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor. thank you, Governor. +p5292 +aVMr. Trump, 30 seconds. +p5293 +aVThank you, Governor. +p5294 +aVWe're going to try to move on. +p5295 +aVYou want to bring 70,000 pages to three? +p5296 +aVIs that using really small type? +p5297 +aVIs that using really small type? +p5298 +aVMrs. Fiorina \u2014 +p5299 +aVWe're going to \u2014 +p5300 +aVWe will come around the bend, i promise. This one is for Senator Rubio. You've been a young man in a hurry ever since you won your first election in your 20s. You've had a big accomplishment in the Senate, an immigration bill providing a path to citizenship the conservatives in your party hate, and even you don't support anymore. Now, you're skipping more votes than any senator to run for president. Why not slow down, get a few more things done first or least finish what you start? +p5301 +aVSo when the Sun-Sentinel says Rubio should resign, not rip us off, when they say Floridians sent you to Washington to do a job, when they say you act like you hate your job, do you? +p5302 +aVWell, do you hate your job? +p5303 +aVIs that the standard? +p5304 +aVSenator, thank you. John. +p5305 +aVThank you, Senator. +p5306 +aVSenator Cruz. Congressional Republicans, Democrats and the White House are about to strike a compromise that would raise the debt limit, prevent a government shutdown and calm financial markets that fear of \u2014 another Washington-created crisis is on the way. Does your opposition to it show that you're not the kind of problem-solver American voters want? +p5307 +aV do we get credit ? +p5308 +aVSo, this is a question about , which you have 30 seconds left to answer, should you choose to do so. +p5309 +aVOK. I asked you about the debt limit and I got no answer. +p5310 +aVWe promised we would get to everyone this block. Governor Huckabee, I'm going to give you 60 seconds on this. +p5311 +aV...Governor... +p5312 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p5313 +aV...Senator Cruz... +p5314 +aVOK, alright. +p5315 +aVSenator Cruz... +p5316 +aV...Before we go to break, we're clearly not having that beer you mentioned, but I'll give you 30 more seconds... +p5317 +aVOK. +p5318 +aVI'll give you 30 seconds to respond... +p5319 +aVRespond on the debt limit, or an answer to the governor, which ever you choose. +p5320 +aV30 seconds, Governor Huckabee. +p5321 +aVGovernor, thank you. We will take a break. The Republican Presidential debate, live from Boulder, Colorado, coming back after a break on +p5322 +aVMrs. Fiorina, in 2010, while running for Senate in Tech Ridge (ph), California, you called an Internet sales tax a bad idea. Traditional brick and mortar stores obviously disagree. Now that the Internet shopping playing field has matured, what would be a fair plan to even that playing field? +p5323 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p5324 +aVOK. +p5325 +aVThank you very much. +p5326 +aVDr. Carson, we know you as a physician, but we wanted to ask you about your involvement on some corporate boards, including Costco's. Last year, a marketing study called the warehouse retailer the number one gay-friendly brand in America, partly because of its domestic partner benefits. Why would you serve on a company whose policies seem to run counter to your views on homosexuality? +p5327 +aVOne more question. This is a company called Mannatech, a maker of nutritional supplements, with which you had a 10-year relationship. They offered claims that they could cure autism, cancer, they paid $7 million to settle a deceptive marketing lawsuit in Texas, and yet you're involvement continued. Why? +p5328 +aVTo be fair, you were on the homepage of their website with the logo over your shoulder \u2014 +p5329 +aVDoes that not speak to your vetting process or judgment in any way. +p5330 +aVApparently. We will take a break. We'll be back in Boulder in just a minute. +p5331 +aV...We'll come back around. I want to get to governor Kasich. +p5332 +aVGovernor Kasich, let's talk ... +p5333 +aV...about Marijuana, Governor Kasich... +p5334 +aVAlright, but 30 seconds, you made a case. Sure, 30 seconds. +p5335 +aVSenator, thank you. +p5336 +aVOh, no, no, no... +p5337 +aV...Ok... +p5338 +aV...We're going to go to... +p5339 +aVOK. Thank you, Senator. Governor Kasich, let's talk about marijuana. We're broadcasting from Colorado which has seen $150 million in new revenue for the state since legalizing last year. Governor Hickenlooper is not a big fan of legalization, but he's said the people who used to be smoking it are still smoking it, they're just now paying taxes. Given the budget pressures in Ohio, and other states, is this a revenue stream you'd like to have? +p5340 +aVThank you, Governor. +p5341 +aVThank you. We'll be back from Boulder, Colorado in just a moment. +p5342 +aVMr. Trump, you've said you have a special permit to carry a gun in New York. +p5343 +aVAfter the Oregon mass shooting on October 1st, you said, "By the way, it was a gun-free zone. If you had a couple of teachers with guns, you would have been a hell of a lot better off." +p5344 +aVWould you feel more comfortable if your employees brought guns to work? +p5345 +aVAre you carrying one now? +p5346 +aVWe called a few Trump resorts, a few Trump properties that \u2014 that do not allow guns with or without a permit. Would you change those policies? +p5347 +aVOK. All right. Thank you. John? +p5348 +aVGovernor Bush, daily fantasy sports has become a phenomenon in this country, will award billions of dollars in prize money this year. But to play you have to assess your odds, put money at risk, wait for an outcome that's out of your control. Isn't that the definition of gambling, and should the Federal Government treat it as such? +p5349 +aVI had a feeling you were going to brag about that. +p5350 +aVThis is the\u2014 well, we're going to take a break. We want to save time for closing statements after the break. So this is the Republican presidential debate in Boulder, and we'll be right back. +p5351 +aVSenator Rubio... +p5352 +aV...yeah, I just wanted . +p5353 +aVI want to give you 30 seconds here. +p5354 +aVThat concludes tonight's debate. On behalf of my colleagues Becky Quick, John Harwood, Sharon Epperson, Rick Santelli and Jim Cramer, we'd like to our host, the University of Colorado at Boulder, the Republican National Committee, the candidates and, of course, tonight's audience. +p5355 +aV...Question, in the meantime, for Senator Santorum. You have advocated a flat tax, so we'd like to ask you about fairness. Why is it fair to tax all Americans at the same rate, as opposed to taxing more affluent Americans at higher rates? +p5356 +aVSenator, thank you. John \u2014 Becky? +p5357 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live in boulder, Colorado, on cNBC. We resume our questions now with Jim Cramer, the host of +p5358 +aVSenator Graham. You have said you believe that climate change is real. You've said you accept tax increases as part of a budget deal with Democrats. You've co-sponsored a Senate immigration bill providing a path to citizenship for those in the country illegally. Are you in the wrong party's debate? +p5359 +aVMy question for Governor Jindal, Paul Ryan says he would take the speaker job if it did not take away from his family time. The Department of Labor says 13 percent of American workers are eligible for paid family leave and the U.S. is the only developed nation in the world not to have guaranteed paid maternity leave for new moms. Should the government work to change that? +p5360 +aVGovernor, thank you. John? +p5361 +ag3941 +aVWelcome back to the University of Colorado, and the Republican Presidential Debate on +p5362 +aVWell, let's get to that. I mean, another example, for example, is Walgreens. +p5363 +aVI'm sure you do. Walgreens/Rite Aid. Big deal, consolidation in drug stores, semiconductors, food. What is the line at which something becomes anti-competitive in your view? +p5364 +aVSenator. +p5365 +aVThank you. Becky. +p5366 +aVQuestion for Senator Santorum. +p5367 +aVAfter this question maybe. The 2015 Nobel Prize winner for economics argues that slow growth causes poverty, and that leads to inequality. What would you do to ease inequality? And what would you do solve poverty? By the way, thanks to Larry Kudlow, +p5368 +aVGovernor Jindal, I'll give you 30 seconds on this. +p5369 +aVWe've got one more. One more lightning round. Governor Jindal, should the day after the Super Bowl be a national holiday? +p5370 +aVSenator? +p5371 +aVGovernor? +p5372 +aVFinally, Senator? +p5373 +aVThat concludes our first part of the evening. +p5374 +asVSTRASSEL +p5375 +(lp5376 +VMr. Trump. +p5377 +aVYou have made a lot of promises and you have also \u2014 you're the only candidate who has said he would not touch entitlements. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has estimated that your ideas would cost an additional $12 trillion to $15 trillion over the next 10 years and that we would have to have annual economic growth of anywhere from 7.7 percent to 9 percent annually to pay for them. Are you proposing more than you can actually deliver, at least not without big deficits? +p5378 +aVBut in terms of... +p5379 +aVO.K. But how would you actually do that? Can I ask you? Because right now, Social Security and Medicare... +p5380 +aVThey take up two-thirds of the federal budget, and they're growing. +p5381 +aVO.K., I have a question, a related tax question. Senator Rubio, you have the highest tax rate of anyone up on the stage in terms of the top tax rates, 35 percent. Some economists say, "It would limit its potential to boost economic growth." You do that so that you will have more revenue to pay for a tripling of the Child Tax Credit. Normally, it's liberals who like to use the tax code to insert social policy. Why should conservatives who want to tax adopt the other side's approach? +p5382 +aVGovernor Kasich, this on is on size of government. In 2013, you pushed through a Medicaid reform in your state over the rejections of many of the Republicans in your state. Total enrollment and overall cost of program have gone well beyond what anyone had expected, including yourself. How can you argue that this overall growth fits in with conservative ambition to significantly cut back on the size of federal welfare programs? +p5383 +aVSenator Cruz. Senator Cruz, you have promised to deport illegal aliens. You have also promised to reverse President Obama's executive action that gives temporary amnesty to illegals brought here by their parent as children. As president, you would have the names and addresses of the some 800,000 of those that have registered under that action. Now, you have said that in this country, we shouldn't go door to door, look for illegals, but in this case you would have a list. Would you use it? +p5384 +aVSo would you \u2014 would you use the addresses? +p5385 +aVWould you pick them up? +p5386 +aVSenator Rubio, your reply. +p5387 +aVAll right. Senator Cruz. Your response, Senator Cruz. +p5388 +aV... O.K.... +p5389 +aVMoving subjects. Dr. Carson, this week Morgan Stanley agreed to pay a $3.2 billion fine to state and federal authorities for contributing to the mortgage crisis. You have a lot of Democrats out saying that we should be jailing more executives, so two questions. Should financial executives be held legally responsible for financial crisis, and do you think fines like these are an effective way to deter companies from future behavior like that? +p5390 +aVSenator Cruz, you were mentioned in the mix here, your response? +p5391 +aVAnd now, Marco Rubio. +p5392 +aVWe'll be back with a few final thoughts in a moment. +p5393 +asVGILMORE +p5394 +(lp5395 +VWell, Bill, can I first... +p5396 +aVWell, first of all, Bill, let me say one thing, I have been in Iowa. But this is not the place where I'm choosing to begin my campaign. I am beginning my campaign in New Hampshire and I decided to do that based upon the process that is in place in Iowa and the primary that's in place in New Hampshire. But never mind that, I want to return to something. I'm the only veteran, Bill and Martha in this race. And I'm not going to any Donald Trump event over across town on some sort of faux veteran sort of issue. I'm going to speak to you tonight about the issue that really confronts veterans. I'm going to talk to you about the concerns that they have got with the veterans administration. The lousy appeals process that they have got. The fact that sometimes they get good service at the V.A. and sometimes they don't and the fact that post traumatic stress syndrome is not properly recognized. That psychology positions are unavailable in the Veterans Administration. And I will say this to you -- as the only veteran in -- in this race, when I become president of the United States, the veterans are going to be treated with respect and competently in success in the Veterans' Administration in this country. +p5397 +aVFirst of all, Bill, I think that Gitmo ought to remain open. But I also want to point out to you that what you are saying is the exact right topic to all of these other candidates. And that's this international challenge that we are facing, the international war that America is in, even to this day. And I'm the candidate who is best qualified to deal with this issue. A degree in foreign policy in Russian area studies. I'm the only United States Army veteran having gone to Europe during the Cold War as United States Army Intelligence agent, the governor during the 9/11 attack, the chairman of the National Commission on Homeland Security for the United States for five years. And this is what I will do. If I become the president, I'm going to rebuild the United States military. We're going to take the sequester off the defense budget. Give the Navy the ships it needs. Refit the United States Army. Refit the United States Marine Corps. And on this international guerrilla war, we need to recognize our Special Forces, our intelligence community, and the people that we need in order to really protect us. And finally, this war of ideas, we must win this. We must say to the world that radical Islamism is the threat. It isn't just confined to +p5398 +aVHey, did you miss me? Did you skip me? +p5399 +aVI'm going to have something to say about this, but you just keep going. +p5400 +aVYes, I'll be there. +p5401 +aVYou know, Martha, it may be out of the barn in that the Iranians may be moving towards a nuclear program, because this nuclear deal actually gives them a time frame up the road when they are going to be able to do that kind of program. And that's very dangerous because it means people in the Middle East have to begin to react to that right now. The United States, I think, has to continue to exercise its influence in the Middle East, stay active, and not do this pull-back type of program that we are seeing all over the place with President Obama, which is creating this kind of danger. The world is a more dangerous place now than when I was an intelligence agent. We have not only this international guerrilla war but also these challenges from these other countries as well. But, Martha, I want to say one more thing to you and Bill. I disagree with Carly Fiorina when she says that it's just a political class in Washington. The truth is that the country has changed. And there are powerful forces at this point that are really controlling our lives. And that's why people are so angry. One of those is government, which is regulating everything through the Environmental Protection Agency, through other places. But the biggest one is the organized establishment media. And I just noticed just now you gave Carly Fiorina two one-minute answers in a row. This media across the country is manipulating and shaping and framing this campaign and has been for at least a year now in order to get the kind of choices that people are going to have an opportunity to see. This is wrong. It has to change. And when I'm president, it's going to change. +p5402 +aVI'll take it. +p5403 +aVMartha, I just visited a community mental health clinic in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, just three days ago, as a matter of fact. And when I was governor of Virginia, I tried to move more of those resources into the community, which will give us the facilities and the abilities to begin to identify people who actually might be dangerous and who abuse Second Amendment rights. But I do believe this is one of the really principle issues in this campaign. The president and Hillary Clinton are working very hard to change the culture of this country in order to put us in a position where we can't exercise Second Amendment rights. That's wrong. I am a board member of the National Rifle Association. The reason I'm a board member is because I believe that individuals in this country can be trusted to exercise their rights under the Second Amendment and under the Bill of Rights. To take away people's Second Amendment rights is to redefine the individual in the society, and I'm not going to put up with it. As President of the United States, when Jim Gilmore's President of the United States, I can tell you this. Gun control is not going to be an issue. If gun control... ... comes to the President's desk when I'm president, I'll veto it as fast as it takes Hillary Clinton to eliminate her emails. +p5404 +aVYou know Bill, that raises, I think, the question of the future of the Republican party. The question is -- first of all, I stand second to no one in standing up to radical Islamism. I understand that +p5405 +aVWell, thank you very much, Bill. And, thank you, and Fox and Google for including me in this debate tonight. I think it's been a wonderful opportunity. I'm the son of a meat cutter. My father worked for Safeway stores for 45 years. My mother was a secretary, she ended her career as the Secretary for the Methodist Bishop. I didn't have a father that could give me a million dollar loan to start my business. But, my father did talk character, and he provided for his family, and he was a wonderful example. And, I'm not about to go across town tonight to carry the coat for some billionaire. Instead, I intend to run for President of the United States, speak to the issue of this international war, and challenge that we're in. This issue of veterans rights, and the issue of Second Amendment rights, and I ask for your support... +p5406 +aVI think the times are different now. I think the times are much more serious. Because Obama and Clinton policies, the United States is moving further and further into a decline. I want to reverse that decline. That's why I've entered this race, and I think I have the experience to do it. Former elected prosecutor, attorney general, governor, I was elected to all of those offices. A person who, in fact, has a long experience in foreign-policy issues, which is different from many of the other governors and prospective governors who are running. I was an Army intelligence agent and a veteran during the Cold War, assigned to West Germany. I was the chairman of the National Commission on Homeland Security and Terrorism for the United States for five years. I was a person who has dealt extensively with these homeland security issues. I was a governor during the 9/11 attack. I understand both of these issues, how to build the economy and doing that as a governor who'd built jobs, had cut taxes and also a governor who understands foreign-policy, and that's why I entered this race. +p5407 +aVWell, yes, indeed. I chaired the National Commission on Homeland Security Committee for United States. We warned about the 9/11 attack before the 9/11 attack occurred. I was the governor during the 9/11 attack when the Pentagon was struck. And I'm going to tell you this, we need to use the benefit of our law enforcement people across this country, combined with our intelligence people across this country. We need to use our technological advantages, because what we've warned of is an international guerrilla movement that threatens this country. It's going to happen in this country, there are going to be further attacks. We have to be prepared to defend the American people, prepare them for a long war, stand up for the defense of this country, and stand up for the values of this country... +p5408 +aVI'll tell them that we're going to grow the economy so that we can give people better opportunities so they don't have to rely exclusively on benefit types of programs. Some do, but many Americans are dying to have an opportunity to grow and to create something inside this economy. And I'm glad that I have a chance to answer this question. I've had the growth code (ph) there for about five years, and it's this specific program. We're going to do a tax cut for all Americans. We're going to have a three-bracket tax code, 10, 15 and 25 percent. We're going to combine all commercial activity in business into one place in the tax code and charge it 15 percent, which is going to suddenly make us competitive with the rest of the world. And we're going to eliminate the death tax. With a couple of additional tweaks, we know what this will do. It will cause the economy to grow, to explode, to create more jobs. And first of all, we've got to recognize that there is problem that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have caused. And that problem is too big regulations like the EPA, too much new taxes on business that we have seen and "Obamacare." These are drags on the economy, it's a deliberate drag. I propose to reverse that and get this economy moving again. +p5409 +aVWell, as you know, I'm a former elected prosecutor, a former elected attorney general, trained at the University of Virginia in constitutional law, and I don't believe in litmus tests except this. I believe we should be appointing Supreme Court justices who will follow the law and not try to make the law. Now, the challenge we're seeing today is that the Supreme Court is being converted into some type of political body. They have to have some legal basis and precedence for being able to follow the law instead of making the law up, and my goal is -- in appointing Supreme Court justices, would be to point -- to appoint justices who would follow the law. Bill, I want to say one more thing about... +p5410 +aVNot -- not on that, no. But let me say one more thing. I want to -- before my time runs out I want to get back to this issue of +p5411 +aVWell, it's not a matter of what the first executive order would be, Bill. The matter is what orders exist now that shouldn't exist? The president has done an executive order with respect to illegal immigration that is illegal. Illegal. And it creates a -- a contempt for the law, for the rule of law. If i were the president of the United States, I would go and look at every executive order that exists right now and determine which ones want to be voided, because the president shouldn't be legislating: not through that vehicle or any other. We should be relying upon the leadership of the Congress to pass the laws. +p5412 +aVProfessional politician that can't be trusted. +p5413 +aVWell, I was a conservative governor of Virginia, I governed that way, and that's my track record. But the key thing that we're seeing now is serious challenges to this country that must change, the direction of this nation must change. And that's why I've offered a specific program to the people of America tonight to address the fundamental problem of getting our country growing again, getting our economy growing, wages up, opportunities for people. And second, the international crisis we are facing is most dreadful and most dangerous. I have the experience as a prosecutor, attorney general, governor, United States Army intelligence veteran, governor during the 9/11 attack, chairman of the Terrorism Commission for this country. It's time for real substance and real experience. And that's what I'll offer to the people of the United States in this candidacy for the presidency. Mac +p5414 +asVSANTELLI +p5415 +(lp5416 +VSenator Cruz, let's focus on our central bank, the Federal Reserve. You've been a fierce critic of the Fed, arguing for more transparency. Where do you want to take that? Do you want to get Congress involved in monetary policy, or is it time to slap the Fed back and downsize them completely? What are your thoughts? What do you believe? +p5417 +aVSenator Paul, the same question to you. +p5418 +aVThank you, Senator. Dr. Carson, you told The Des Moines Register that you don't like government subsidies, it interferes with the free market. But you've also said that you're in favor of taking oil subsidies and putting them towards ethanol processing. Isn't that just swapping one subsidy for another, Doctor? +p5419 +aVThank you, Doctor. Becky? +p5420 +aVThanks, John. Governor Pataki. +p5421 +aVHow are you doing tonight? +p5422 +aVListen, America's central bank, the Federal Reserve, they've kept interest rates near zero since the 2008 financial crisis. And, by the way, they had a meeting today, you think they raised rates? No. Shocking, isn't it? +p5423 +aVListen, it's been a rough ride for American savers and retirees, they really rely on this interest income. And it's been a bonanza for the stock market, a bonanza. And for investors that like the little bit more risk, it's been a bonanza for them as well. So I guess what I'm asking is, do you think this policy is fair and do you support it? +p5424 +aVThanks, Governor. Senator Santorum, in the 2012 presidential debate, you were for the export-import bank, which facilitates government funding for U.S. exports. American companies like GE and Boeing are among the beneficiaries. But you said that killing the bank here \u2014 and I'm going to quote you \u2014 "is the last thing a true conservative should be doing." I don't know, government-backed funding isn't normally what I hear from true conservatives. So why is this situation different? +p5425 +asVMACCALLUM +p5426 +(lp5427 +VSo it will come as no surprise that there is an idea out there that there is a civil war brewing within the GOP over the meaning of conservative and the question of who is electable. There are some in the GOP who are so outraged by Trump and Cruz that they say they would actually rather have Hillary Clinton in the White House. So, Carly Fiorina, I ask you this. Is your party in crisis? +p5428 +aVGovernor Huckabee, word is that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is considering getting into this race. If he does, that would make four New Yorkers, including Sanders, Clinton, and Trump. One candidate in this race has criticized so-called "New York values". So tell me, in your opinion, are New York values different than Iowa values? +p5429 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum, according to Google, the Paris terror attacks were the largest story that was searched in 2015, with nearly 1 billion searches of that story worldwide. There have been at 18 terror attacks so far this year -- in just January alone, in 2016, and it will likely, as we all know, get worse. But what can an American president do to stop these terrifying killings? +p5430 +aVThank you, Senator. +p5431 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you have said when it comes to +p5432 +aVThank you. +p5433 +aVComing up, we're going to have more on the top issues in this campaign, and you can engage in tonight's conversation right from home. Go to google.com, search "FOX News debate." You can vote on which candidate you think is winning so far in tonight's debate. And you can check results after the debate is over. We are back in a moment live from the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. +p5434 +aVAlright, Governor Huckabee, government grows and grows. In fact, neighborhoods in and around the Beltway get richer and richer all the time while our manufacturing towns are disappearing. Still Republicans from Reagan to Bush have bowed to shrink the size of government, but it never works. Is this Presidency, and presidency, simply too small a David to slay the Goliath of government? +p5435 +aVAlright, Carly Fiorina, you've said that you can get the tax code down to three short simple pages. But, when lobbyists who have twisted the arms of members of Congress come sit with you in the Oval Office and say, "Madam President, sorry, I cannot be with you on this one," you may understand what previous presidents have gone through. No? +p5436 +aVSenator Santorum, Bernie Sanders asked a woman in Iowa what it's like to live in poverty. She broke down in tears, saying that she lives on less than $10,000 a year and that she is ashamed every day. She leans on her parents for help. She says she can't buy presents for her children. We are all sympathetic to this woman's plight. On the other hand, the G.O.P. is supposed to be the party of smaller government. So what would you look her in the eye and say? +p5437 +aVThank you, Senator. +p5438 +aVGovernor Gilmore, thanks to the Iranian nuclear deal, President Rouhani is currently on a tour of Europe meeting with our closest allies in France and Italy. In fact, he has already landed some 50 to 85 billion are the estimates in deals with those countries, with our allies. More on the way. You and others say that you would rip up that deal. But, really, by the time the next president is in office, won't that horse be well out of the barn? +p5439 +aVWe have another question for you, Governor Gilmore, back to back, here we go. According to Google... +p5440 +aVYou got it. According to Google, gun control is the most searched issue last month, making up nearly 80 percent of all the U.S. searches. People are looking for information on guns. When it comes to the tragic mass killings that we have seen in this country, Donald Trump says that what we need to do is build quote "more institutions for people who are sickos." Charles Krauthammer also says that in some cases involuntary commitment would help. And you have agreed with that. Given that institutions would be extraordinarily expensive to begin building, how much is too much to ask on this from the American taxpayer? +p5441 +aVThank you, Governor Gilmore. +p5442 +aVStill more to come from the Republican Presidential debate tonight. And, see how the campaigns are responding to the debate in realtime, go to Google.com and open your google search app. Type in, "Fox News Debate". We'll see you, just a moment -- back. +p5443 +aVWe are back live at the Iowa events center and this question goes to Carly Fiorina. In the last debate you said as part of your introduction, quote, " And unlike the other woman candidate in this case I actually love spending time with my husband." +p5444 +aVBut back in September in an interview you said that you would stick only to the record, your record versus Hillary Clinton's record. And never resort to personal attacks. So what changed? +p5445 +aVAll right. Carly, I want to stay with you on this next question as well. You waded into the Planned Parenthood early on. You took some heat for it. Now the people who shot that undercover video are the ones who got indicted and Planned Parenthood is untouched. Hillary Clinton has been crowing about this. Any regrets about this? +p5446 +aVThank you Carly Fiorina. Let me just ask a quick question here to Senator Santorum. Carly Fiorina was the only one of the GOP candidates to attend the March for Life in Washington last week. Where were you. +p5447 +aVAll right. Coming up, we will have the closing statements from our candidates tonight as we continue live from the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. We'll be right back. +p5448 +aVAlright, let's go now to Senator Rick Santorum. +p5449 +aV +p5450 +aVCarly Fiorina. +p5451 +aVThank you, Carly. +p5452 +aVIn one hour, seven more candidates take the stage for a debate hosted by Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly, and Chris Wallace. But, up next, the O'Reilly Factor. Good night everybody. +p5453 +asVCOONEY +p5454 +(lp5455 +VThanks, John. Candidates, we've already heard your answers on what you would do with Syrian refugees, but a crucial part of the immigration debate here at home is control of our own borders. Republicans say the borders -- securing borders is a top priority. Democrats say they want to plan for comprehensive immigration reform. So, Governor O'Malley, are you willing to compromise on this particular issue to focus on border security first in favor of keeping the country safe? O' +p5456 +aVThank you. Now, Secretary Clinton said you would go further than the President when it comes to taking executive action to implement immigration reforms. But the President's already facing legal trouble on this. We've seen it more just in the past week. Realistically, how could you go further with executive action? +p5457 +aVKathie. +p5458 +aVSenator -- Senator Sanders, we've heard a lot about this, your offer -- you want to offer free tuition to public universities and colleges. A couple of questions about this. 63 percent of those who enroll graduate. First question, isn't this throwing a lot of money away if we're looking at a third of these people are not going to complete college? +p5459 +aVWell, one of the things you want to do is to have the states pay for about a third of this $70 billion plan, correct? +p5460 +aVThere are 16 states that are running budget deficits right now. Where are are they expected to come up with this? +p5461 +aVGovernor O'Malley, jump in now. O' +p5462 +aVAll right, Nancy Cordes has a question. +p5463 +asVMCELVEEN +p5464 +(lp5465 +VSecretary Clinton, how does your plan differentiate from your opponents? +p5466 +aVThank you Secretary Clinton, thank you. +p5467 +aVBack to you David. +p5468 +aVThank you, David. And good evening, candidates. Mr. Trump, you have said, quote, "I love eminent domain" which is the seizure of private property for the sake of the greater good theoretically. You tried to use the measure in business endeavors, you've said you'd support its use for the Keystone Pipeline project. Here in New Hampshire, a project, though, known as the Northern pass would bring hydro-electric power from Canada into the Northeastern grid. Do you see eminent domain as an appropriate tool to get that done? +p5469 +aVSo would that be yes on the Northern Pass project? +p5470 +aVMr. Trump, take 30 seconds. +p5471 +aVAll right, gentlemen... +p5472 +aVGentlemen, we do have to move forward. Dave, Martha, back to you. +p5473 +aVYou're all aware, candidates, this is a major problem here in New Hampshire. It's a very deadly problem as well. Last month, New Hampshire senators Kelly Ayotte, Republican, and Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat, they went down to Washington, along with the police chief of the state's largest city to testify before the Judiciary Committee in D.C. Senator Cruz, you're a member of that committee. Your campaign schedule didn't allow you to attend this. Even so, the police chief called your absence outrageous, given the severity of the problem. Last week, though, you told a personal story of a close family member's struggle with addiction. What can you say to law enforcement right now to convince them that you understand the severity of this problem and you're not just saying what people want to hear days before the primary? +p5474 +aVAnd Governor Christie, you have talked a lot about this issue here in New Hampshire. State reforms, criminal justice reforms, access to treatment. To Senator Cruz's point, let's take it a step further. Would you be willing to engage in cross-border enforcement into Mexico, a place where law enforcement in New Hampshire has traced at lot of this supply back to. Would you engage in cross-border enforcement without the cooperation without the Mexican government? +p5475 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you very much. David, Martha, back to you. +p5476 +aVThank you, Martha. None of you on stage tonight have ever worn a uniform as a member of the armed services. That's the reality of it. But as commander-in-chief, you'll also be charged with the care of 23 million active duty service members and veterans in this country. Some have suggested privatizing the V.A. as a way to enhance care and increase the quality of the care and access. Others say that veterans should carry I.D. cards that allow them access to any hospital or health care provider. Governor Bush, what specifically would you do to ensure that those who have sacrificed for us are cared for? +p5477 +aVGovernor Kasich, do you have a favored approach? +p5478 +aVSenator Rubio, go ahead? +p5479 +aVSenator Rubio, thanks very much. Going to move forward now. David, Martha, back to you. +p5480 +asVLOPEZ +p5481 +(lp5482 +VGracias, Anderson. Senator Sanders, in 2013, you voted for immigration reform. But in 2007, when Democrats controlled Congress and the Bush White House was onboard, you voted against it. Why should Latino voters trust you now when you left them at the altar at the moment when reform was very close? +p5483 +aVTom Harkin isn't running for president. You are. +p5484 +aVSecretary Clinton \u2014 Secretary Clinton, Governor O'Malley wants to open up Obamacare to millions of undocumented immigrants and their children, including almost 90,000 people right here in Nevada. Do you? +p5485 +aVGovernor O'Malley? O' +p5486 +aVSenator Webb, do you support the undocumented immigrants getting Obamacare? +p5487 +aV...Thank you, Senator. +p5488 +aVThank you, Anderson. Senator Sanders, right here in Nevada, there will be a measure to legalize recreational marijuana on the 2016 ballot. You've said you smoked marijuana twice; it didn't quite work for you. If you were a Nevada resident, how would you vote? +p5489 +aVSecretary Clinton, you told Christiane Amanpour you didn't smoke pot when you were young, and you're not going to start now. When asked about legalizing recreational marijuana, you told her let's wait and see how it plays out in Colorado and Washington. It's been more than a year since you've said that. Are you ready to take a position tonight? +p5490 +asVDICKERSON +p5491 +(lp5492 +VBefore we start the debate here are the rules. The candidates have one minute to respond to our questions and 30 seconds to respond to our follow-up. Any candidate who is attacked by another candidate gets 30 seconds for rebuttal. Here's how we'll keep time, after a question is asked the green light goes on. When there are 15 seconds left the candidate gets a yellow warning light. And when time's up the light turns red. That means stop talking. Those are the rules. So let's get started. You will each have one minute for an opening statement to share your thoughts about the attacks in your Paris and lay out your visions for America. First, Senator Sanders. +p5493 +aVAll right, Senator Sanders. Secretary Clinton. +p5494 +aVGovernor O'Malley. O' +p5495 +aVAll right, thank you, Governor. Thank all of you. The terror attacks last night underscore biggest challenge facing the next president of the United States. At a time of crisis, the country and the world look to the president for leadership and for answers. So, Secretary Clinton, I'd like to start with you. Hours before the attacks, President Obama said, "I don't think +p5496 +aVBut as -- Secretary Clinton, the question was about, was +p5497 +aVOkay, Governor O'Malley, would you critique the administration's response to +p5498 +aVSenator Sanders, you said you want to rid the planet of +p5499 +aVQuickly, just let me ask you a follow-up on that, Senator Sanders. When you say the disastrous vote on Iraq, let's just be clear about what you're saying. You're saying Secretary Clinton, who was then Senator Clinton, voted for the Iraq war. And are you making a direct link between her vote for that or and what's happening now for +p5500 +aVAlright. Let's let Secretary Clinton respond to that. +p5501 +aVSenator Sanders let me just follow this line of thinking. You criticized then, Senator Clinton's vote. Do you have anything to criticize in the way she performed as Secretary of State? +p5502 +aVAlright. +p5503 +aVSenator let me... O' +p5504 +aVAll right, Secretary Clinton. +p5505 +aVI understand. Quickly, Senator. +p5506 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p5507 +aVLet me ask you, Secretary Clinton, a question about leadership. We're talking about what role does America take? Let me ask you about Libya. So Libya is a country in which +p5508 +aVGovernor O' Malley I want to ask you a question and you can add whatever you'd like to. But let me ask you, is the world too dangerous a place for a governor who has no foreign policy experience? O' +p5509 +aVSecretary Clinton, you mentioned radical jihadists. Marco Rubio, also running for president, said that this attack showed and the attack in Paris showed that we are at war with radical Islam. Do you agree with that characterization, radical Islam? +p5510 +aVJust to interrupt. He didn't say all Muslims. He just said radical Islam. Is that a phrase you don't... +p5511 +aVThe reason I ask is you gave a speech at Georgetown University in which you said, that it was important to show, quote, "respect, even for one's enemies. Trying to understand and in so far as psychologically possible, empathize with their perspective and point of view." Can you explain what that means in the context of this kind of barbarism? +p5512 +aVJust quickly, do either of you, radical Islam, do either of you use that phrase? +p5513 +aVGovernor O' Malley, you have been making the case when you talk about lack of forward vision, you're essentially saying that Secretary Clinton lacks that vision and this critique matches up with this discussion of language. The critique is that the softness of language betrays a softness of approach. So if this language -- if you don't call it by what it is, how can your approach be effective to the cause? that's the critique. O' +p5514 +aVSecretary Clinton, the French president has called this attack an act of war. +p5515 +aVA couple of days ago you were asked if you would declare war on +p5516 +aVAnd you think that covers all of this? +p5517 +aVIf you were in the Senate, would you be okay with the commander in chief doing that without it coming back to you? +p5518 +aVSenator, let me just -- let's add to whatever you've got to say. Refugees. You've been a little vague on what you would do about the Syrian refugees. What's your view on them now? +p5519 +aVGovernor O'Malley, you have a magic number. I think it's 65,000. Does that number go up or down based on what happened yesterday? O' +p5520 +aVJust very quickly, 65,000, the number stays? O' +p5521 +aVBut for you, what would you want? O' +p5522 +aVSecretary Clinton, let me ask you a question from twitter which has come in and this is a question on this issue of refugees. The question is, with the U.S. preparing to absorb Syrian refugees, how do you propose we screen those coming in to keep citizens safe? +p5523 +aVAlright. Senator Sanders, I'm sorry. We're going to have to take a break now. We will have more of the Democratic debate here from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. +p5524 +aVWant to turn now from terrorism to another important issue for many Americans, the financial squeeze on the the middle class. For that, we go to my CBS News Colleague, Nancy Cordes. Nancy? +p5525 +aVAll right, I am sorry, Governor, we're going to have to go, I apologize. O' +p5526 +aVGovernor -- Governor, you're breaking the rules. I'm sorry, we're going to have to cut for a commercial. We'll be right back here from Drake University here in Des Moines, Iowa. O' +p5527 +aVThere is a lot of presidential history here in Iowa. It hosted the first in the nation caucuses. Herbert Hoover was born in West Branch, and tonight, we are in Polk County, named for our 11th president, with three people who hope to be number 45. Joining my now to question them are Iowans Kevin Cooney of +p5528 +aVYou have -- you have given me the perfect segue. We are going to talk about Wall Street, but now we've got to go do a commercial. We're coming to the end of the first hour. But there's another hour behind it and we're going to talk about Wall Street so hang with us. +p5529 +aVGood evening again, as we begin the second half of the debate. Joining me in the questioning are the candidates -- of the candidates are CBS news congressional correspondent Nancy Cordes, Kevin Cooney of CBS Des Moines affiliate +p5530 +aVSenator Sanders you said that the donations to Secretary Clinton are compromising. So what did you think of her answer? +p5531 +aVGreat follow up because you -- and Secretary Clinton, you will get a chance to respond. You said they know what they're going to get. What are they going to get? +p5532 +aVHold on. He was attacked. O' +p5533 +aVHold on, he was attacked. Glass-Steagall... +p5534 +aVAll right. Senator, we have to get Governor O' Malley in. Governor, along with your answer, how many Wall Street veterans would you have in your administration? O' +p5535 +aVAnyone from Wall Street? O' +p5536 +aVHold on. +p5537 +aVAll right, I want to switch to the -- switch to the issue of guns here. Secretary Clinton, you said that Senator Sanders is not tough enough on guns, but basically he now supports roughly the same things you do. So can tell us what the exact difference is going forward between the two of you on the issue of gun control? +p5538 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to... +p5539 +aVSecretary Clinton, just a quick follow-up. You say that Senator Sanders took a vote that -- on immunity that you don't like. So if he can be tattooed by a single vote and that ruins all future opinions by him on this issue, why then isn't he right when he says your wrong vote on Iraq tattoos you forever in your judgment? +p5540 +aVBut was that a mistake, Senator? +p5541 +aVSenator, a mistake or not, your immunity vote? Quickly, before I go to... +p5542 +aVSo not a mistake? O' +p5543 +aVHold on. +p5544 +aVSorry. I'm going to bring in Nancy Cordes with a question from twitter about this exchange. +p5545 +aVFinal word. Final word, Governor O'Malley, before we go to commercial. O' +p5546 +aVWe have to -- we have to go for a commercial, Senator. I'm sorry. We have to go for a commercial here. We'll be right back with the Democratic debate here in Des Moines, Iowa on CBS. +p5547 +aVBack now in Des Moines with the candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination. Senator Sanders, I want to start with you. Let's say you're elected president. Congratulations. +p5548 +aVYou've said you'll have a revolution. +p5549 +aVBut there's a conservative revolution going on in America right now. As John Boehner knows and as Democrats know, who have lost in state houses across the country. +p5550 +aVThose conservatives are watching tonight and probably shaking their heads. So how do you deal with that part of the country? The revolution's already happening, but on the other side? +p5551 +aVSenator, as a 30-second follow-up, we've heard already tonight this figure, 92 percent of support for background checks. Let's look at that as an example. There was something 92 percent of the public was for. There had been these mass shootings. There was emotional support behind it. +p5552 +aVBipartisan support. +p5553 +aVThe president, the full force of his office. +p5554 +aVIt went nowhere. That's the model you're talking about. Nothing happened. +p5555 +aVA question from Kathie Obradovich. +p5556 +aVSecretary Clinton, just one more question on the e- mail question. For Democrats, there's an FBI investigation going on. Can you satisfy Democrats, who might worry about an another shoe dropping, that you and your staff have been totally truthful to them, and that another shoe is not going to drop? +p5557 +aVRace relations is another issue everyone cares about, and we're going to switch to that now. Governor O'Malley, let me ask you a question. The head of the FBI recently said it might be possible that some police forces are not enforcing the law, because they're worried about being caught on camera. The acting head of the drug enforcement administration said a similar thing. Where are you on this question? And what would do you if you were president, and two top members of your administration were floating that idea? O' +p5558 +aVAll right, Governor... Senator Sanders, one of your former colleagues, an African- American member of Congress, said to me recently that a young African- American man had asked him where to find hope in life. And he said, "I just don't know what to tell him about being young and black in America today." What would you tell that young African-American man? +p5559 +aVSecretary Clinton, you told some Black Lives Matter activists recently that there's a difference between rhetoric in activism and what you were trying to do, was -- get laws passed that would help what they were pushing for. But recently, at the University of Missouri, that activism was very, very effective. So would you suggest that kind of activism take place at other universities across the country? +p5560 +aVAll right, over to Kevin Cooney. +p5561 +aVThirty seconds. +p5562 +aVI'm sorry, governor. We've got to take a break or the machine breaks down. You're watching the Democratic debate here on CBS. +p5563 +aVWe begin the final segment of this debate with something none of you saw coming. Something quite unexpected. Soon after your inauguration, you will face a crisis. All presidents do. What crisis you have experienced in your life that suggests you've been testd and can face that inevitable challenge? Secretary Clinton, you first. +p5564 +aVGovernor O' Malley, what crisis proves that you're tested? O' +p5565 +aVSenator Sanders what, experience would you draw on in a crisis? +p5566 +aVAll right, Senator Sanders... We've ended the evening on crisis, which underscores and reminds us again of what happened last night. Now, let's move to closing statements. Governor O'Malley, you're first. O' +p5567 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p5568 +aVSenator Sanders? +p5569 +aVGood evening. I'm John Dickerson. This holiday weekend, as America honors our first president, we're about to hear from six men who hope to be the 45th. The candidates for the Republican nomination are here in South Carolina for their ninth debate, one week before this state holds the first-in-the-South primary. George Washington wrote that the truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains taken to bring it to light. We hope to shed some light on the candidates' positions tonight to help voters make up their minds. So gentlemen, please join us on stage. With us tonight \u2014 with us tonight are retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson of Florida, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Businessman Donald Trump of New York. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Former Governor Jeb Bush of Florida. And Governor John Kasich of Ohio. Now, as most of you have heard by now, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died today at the age of 79. He was the longest-serving member of the court, appointed by President Reagan in 1986. Justice Scalia was the court's leading conservative, and even those who disagreed with his opinions regarded him as a brilliant legal scholar. Please join us and the candidates on our stage in a moment of silence for Justice Antonin Scalia. Thank you. We will talk to the candidates about Justice Scalia and the road ahead when the debate begins in a moment. +p5570 +aVBefore we get started, candidates, here are the rules. When we ask you a question, you will have one minute to answer, and 30 seconds more if we ask a follow-up. If you're attacked by another candidate, you get 30 seconds to respond. And here's how we keep time. After we ask a question, you'll get a green light. The yellow light means you have 30 seconds left to finish your answer, and when time is up, the light turns red. That means please stop talking. If you keep talking, you'll hear this. You don't want to hear that. Joining me in the questioning tonight, my CBS News colleague, chief White House correspondent Major Garrett, and Kimberley Strassel, who is on the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal. And you can participate in the debate through our partnership with Twitter. Tweet us your questions and comments using the hashtag "# +p5571 +aVSo, just to be clear on this, Mr. Trump, you're O.K. with the president nominating somebody ... +p5572 +aVGovernor Kasich, I want to get your thoughts on this. Justice Scalia was a real believer, obviously, in the strict word of the Constitution. Now, Harry Reid says that a failure to fill his vacancy would be, quote, "shameful abdication of one of the Senate's most essential constitutional responsibilities." Where do you come down on this? +p5573 +aVDr. Carson. Dr. Carson, you, like others, put out a statement after the death was announced, and you said the president should delay. You've written a book on the Constitution recently. What does the Constitution say about whose duty it is here to act in this kind of a situation? +p5574 +aVSenator Rubio, you're a... Senator Rubio, you're a lawyer. Quickly, can you address the issue of whether the Constitution tells us who has the power to appoint Supreme Court justices? And then, also, the Senate Republicans last year floated an idea of removing the filibuster for Senate \u2014 excuse me, for Supreme Court nominations. You seemed open to that. What's your feeling on that now? +p5575 +aVQuickly, though, on this question... Very quickly, Senator, on this specific question, though. You were once in favor of dropping the threshold... +p5576 +aV... majority \u2014 you were never in favor of that? +p5577 +aVO.K. Thank you, Senator. Governor Bush, I would like to ask you, conservatives for a long time have felt like that their Republican presidents have picked justices that didn't turn out to be real conservatives. +p5578 +aVBernie Sanders has said he would have a litmus test. He would make sure that he appointed a justice who was going to overturn Citizens United. If they can have a litmus test for a nominee, what about you? Would you have a litmus test for a nominee? And what would it be? +p5579 +aVRight, so, Senator Cruz, the Constitution... So, Senator Cruz, the Constitution says the president "shall appoint with advice and consent from the Senate," just to clear that up. So he has the constitutional power. But you don't think he should. Where do you set that date if you're president? Does it begin in election year, in December, November, September? And once you set the date, when you're president, will you abide by that date? +p5580 +aVJust can I \u2014 I'm sorry to interrupt, were any appointed in an election year, or is that just there were 80 years... +p5581 +aVBut Kennedy was confirmed in '88. +p5582 +aVHe was appointed in '87. +p5583 +aV... confirmed in '88. That's the question, is it appointing or confirming, what's the difference? +p5584 +aVSorry, I just want to get the facts straight for the audience. But I apologize. +p5585 +aVAll right. Thank you, Senator Cruz. All right, we're going to move on to national security here, and we are going to \u2014 I want to read a quote from Secretary Robert Gates, former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who served for eight year \u2014 under eight presidents. And this is what he said about Republican candidates, quote, "Part of the concern that I have with the campaign is that the solutions being offered are so simplistic and so at odds with the way the world really works." So, in that spirit, we're going to work tonight to be more specific. Mr. Trump, I want to start with you. You have said as president, you'll get up to speed very quickly. You'll know more quickly as president than any of the experts. So, you've been elected president. It's your first day in the Situation Room. What three questions do you ask your national security experts about the world? +p5586 +aVSenator Rubio \u2014 just 30 seconds on this question, Senator Rubio. Are those the questions you would ask? +p5587 +aVLet me ask you a follow-up, a full, proper question, then. Violent extremists are operating or active in 40 countries. Some 80 countries are in different degrees of instability. And so, that's just the crises overseas. Barack Obama walked into an economic collapse when he came into office. We face international health crises, from Ebola to Zika. So, there is a lot of opportunity for crisis, as you have talked about. What would you point to in your past to show voters that you've been in a crisis and that you've been tested when that inevitable crisis comes when you're president? +p5588 +aVDr. Carson, I want to ask you a question... Dr. Carson, you said you've had more 2 a.m. \u2014 2 a.m. phone calls than anybody up on this stage. But when those 2 a.m. phone calls came, you operated on a foundation of all of that amazing medical work that you did, all of that learning. So if you were to be president, though, you wouldn't have the political foundation that hones those instincts when the 2 a.m. phone call comes. So isn't that a liability? +p5589 +aVGovernor Kasich, Russia is being credited......Russia is being credited with bombing U.S.-backed rebels on behalf of Assad in Aleppo and Syria. They've also moved into the Crimea, eastern Ukraine. You've said you want to punch them in the nose. What does that mean? What are you going to do? +p5590 +aVGovernor......Governor Bush. +p5591 +aVYou said defeating +p5592 +aVMr. Trump, you're......Mr. Trump, you were mentioned here. You did say that you could get along very well with Vladimir Putin. You did at one point say let Russia take care of +p5593 +aV... All right... +p5594 +aV... All right, Governor Bush, please respond. +p5595 +aV... O.K., settle... +p5596 +aV... All right, Mr. Trump, all right... +p5597 +aVGentleman, I think we're going to leave that there. I've got a question for Senator... +p5598 +aV... All right, all right, gentlemen, gentlemen, let's leave it there so I can ask a question of Senator Cruz, who's also running for president. Senator Cruz, you talked about the first Gulf War as being a kind of model for your focused and determined effort to go after +p5599 +aVVery quickly, 30-second follow-up. You've said that, essentially, the Kurds would be the American ground forces in there. The criticism that experts have on that is that the Kurds only can work within their territory. If they take larger amounts of territory, you have an ethnic war with the Arabs. So the Kurds can't really do as much as you seem to be putting on their backs. +p5600 +aVAll right. Mr. Trump......On Monday, George W. Bush will campaign in South Carolina for his brother. As you've said tonight, and you've often said, the Iraq war and your opposition to it was a sign of your good judgment. In 2008, in an interview with Wolf Blitzer, talking about President George W. Bush's conduct of the war, you said you were surprised that Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi didn't try to impeach him. You said, quote: "Which, personally, I think would have been a wonderful thing." When you were asked what you meant by that and you said: "For the war, for the war, he lied, he got us into the war with lies." Do you still believe President Bush should have been impeached? +p5601 +aVSo... +p5602 +aVBut so I'm going to \u2014 so you still think he should be impeached? +p5603 +aVAll right. O.K. All right. Governor Bush \u2014 when a member on the stage's brother gets attacked... +p5604 +aV... the brother gets to respond. +p5605 +aVGovernor Kasich, would you weigh in on......Governor Kasich, please weigh in. +p5606 +aVWhy is it nuts? Talk about it. Give us your sense of... +p5607 +aVThirty seconds, Senator Rubio. +p5608 +aVAll right, Dr. Carson, we have a cleansing... +p5609 +aVWe have a cleansing... +p5610 +aVAll right. Well, Dr. Carson, I have got a question now for you. A moment of pause here. You have said, Dr. Carson, that \u2014 referring to yourself, that people bought into the idea that, quote, "A nice person can't be tough on terrorists." You have called for loosening the rules of engagement for the military, which could lead to more civilian casualties. So, explain why those casualties would be acceptable in the fight against +p5611 +aVAll right, thank you, Dr. Carson. We're going to have to take a commercial break here. Thank you to all the candidates. We'll be right back with CBS News's 2016 debate in Greenville, South Carolina. +p5612 +aVWe're back with the Republicans who could be president. The topic now is money and how the candidates would spend it. We'll turn the questioning over to Kimberley Strassel of The Wall Street Journal and Major Garrett of CBS News. Kim? +p5613 +aVDr. Carson, before we go to break, could you give us your sense of this conversation about either Medicaid or economic growth through taxation? +p5614 +aVDoctor... +p5615 +aV... Dr. Carson, I'm sorry, we have to go to a commercial. The free market wants what it wants. Back soon with the 2016 Republican debate in Greenville, South Carolina. +p5616 +aVWelcome back. We'll begin the second half of the debate with one of the hottest issues in the Republican campaign, immigration. But before I turn it back to Major Garrett and Kim Strassel, I have one question for Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump, in the Republican National Committee's Spanish-language response to the State of the Union, Congressman Diaz-Balart said, quote, "It's essential that we find a legislative solution," talking about immigration, "to offer a permanent and humane solution to those who live in the shadows. What does that mean to you, "a humane solution to those who live in the shadows"? +p5617 +aVSenator Cruz, I have a question for you. Speaker Paul Ryan has made a big commitment to trying to lift the 50 million poor out of poverty. Arthur Brooks, who is the president of the American Enterprise Institute, says, quote, "If we are not warriors for the poor every day, free enterprise has no matter." How you have been, in your campaign, a warrior for the poor? +p5618 +aVAll right. Mr. Trump, thank you so much. We're going to take a break for a moment. We'll be back in a moment with the CBS News Republican debate. +p5619 +aVWe're back now from Greenville, South Carolina, with the candidates for the Republican presidential nomination. Mr. Trump, I have a question for you. Presidents have to, on the one hand, be firm, but also be flexible. You have been flexible and changed your opinion on a number of things, from abortion to Hillary Clinton. But you have said, rightly, that it's just like Ronald Reagan, who changed his mind on things. But at the same time, you're criticizing Senator Cruz for what you say is a change on immigration. He disputes that, of course. So, why is your change of opinion make you like Reagan, and when he changes his opinion, it's a huge character flaw? +p5620 +aVWhich conservative idea don't you agree with? +p5621 +aVAll right. Governor Bush, I think by "they," he is referring to your brother, these on the hook for your brother. +p5622 +aVBut that was his brother. +p5623 +aVHold on, gentleman, I'm going to turn this car around. +p5624 +aVAll right, gentlemen. +p5625 +aVWell, hold on. We're going to \u2014 gentlemen, we're in danger of driving this into the dirt. Senator Rubio, I'd like you to jump in here... +p5626 +aVI understand, you're on deck, governor. +p5627 +aVSenator Cruz, 30 seconds on this one. +p5628 +aVWe're going to switch... +p5629 +aVWe're going to switch here to Senator Marco Rubio. Senator Marco Rubio, please weigh in. +p5630 +aVI thought you had a point? +p5631 +aVI thought you had a point you wanted to make. +p5632 +aVYou're on deck, sir. +p5633 +aVSenator, I wanted to ask you, just going back to immigration, in the last debate, you listed your series of accomplishments in the Senate. One thing you left off was \u2014 was immigration reform. Is it the case that in your list of accomplishments you can't mention that? +p5634 +aVDr. Carson, I have......Dr. Carson, I have a question for you. Candidates are... +p5635 +aVAll right. You have 30 seconds, Doctor. +p5636 +aVDr. Carson, I \u2014 let me ask you a different question. When you were \u2014 you were the first one, really, to talk about political correctness. Everybody now talks about it, but that was really what sparked your \u2014 your rise. Politicians are often accused of glossing over any hard choices people have to make, just always selling happy, nice things. So in the \u2014 in the spirit of saying something that might be politically incorrect, tell the voters something that they need to hear but that might be politically incorrect? +p5637 +aVGovernor Kasich. Governor Kasich, you've been described as the Democrats' favorite Republican. You talked about in New Hampshire, Democrats would come up to you and say, "I hope you win." Why will that help you win a Republican nomination? +p5638 +aVMr. Trump, let me ask you a question. Presidents in both parties say that the one thing you need in your administration is somebody who can tell you you're wrong. You don't necessarily seem like somebody who has somebody who tells you you're wrong a lot. Can you tell us of an instance where somebody has said, "Donald Trump, you're wrong," and you listened to them? +p5639 +aVAbout what? +p5640 +aVLet me \u2014 something, in talking to voters that they wish somebody would tell you to cut it out is the profanity. What's your reaction to that? +p5641 +aVAll right. O.K. Governor Bush, I'd like to ask you... +p5642 +aVWell, can I \u2014 how about you respond, and then you can answer the question I'm about to ask you. +p5643 +aVIt'll be... +p5644 +aVIf we adjudicate this, the night will be over. Governor, in 2012, you said that your father and Ronald Reagan would have a hard time in today's Republican Party, based on their records of trying to find accommodation and finding some degree of common ground. Do you still feel that way? +p5645 +aVHold on, Mr. Trump. +p5646 +aVHold on, Mr. Trump. +p5647 +aVO.K., Mr. Trump, your response. +p5648 +aVThe bells are ringing, sir. +p5649 +aVAll right. Thank you. Senator Rubio, I want to ask you a 30-second question, no president can... +p5650 +aVNo \u2014 well, I'll ask the question, you do what you want. +p5651 +aVNo president can know everything, right? So a smart leader knows how to ask questions. So if you could talk to any previous president, what's the smart question you would ask about that job that you would want to know? +p5652 +aVAll right. That's going to have to be it there, Senator Rubio. We have got to go to a break. We will be right back with the CBS News Republican debate in Greenville, South Carolina. +p5653 +aVTime now for closing statements. You will each have one minute, and we'll begin with Governor Kasich. +p5654 +aVDr. Carson \u2014 Dr. Carson, you're next. +p5655 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor Bush. +p5656 +aVSenator Cruz? Senator Cruz, your closing statement? +p5657 +aVMr. Trump, your closing statements? +p5658 +as. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/downloads/data/script2.pickle b/downloads/data/script2.pickle new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d2cdfb0 --- /dev/null +++ b/downloads/data/script2.pickle @@ -0,0 +1,1521 @@ +(dp0 +VSANDERS +p1 +(lp2 +VWell, Gwen and Judy, thank you very much for hosting this event. And, PBS, thank you. Nine months ago, our campaign began. And when it began, we had no political organization, no money, and not much name recognition outside of the state of Vermont. A lot has happened in nine months. And what has happened is, I think, the American people have responded to a series of basic truths, and that is that we have today a campaign finance system which is corrupt, which is undermining American democracy, which allows Wall Street and billionaires to pour huge sums of money into the political process to elect the candidates of their choice. And aligned with a corrupt campaign finance system is a rigged economy. And that's an economy where ordinary Americans are working longer hours for low wagers. They are worried to death about the future of their kids. And yet they are seeing almost all new income and all new wealth going to the top 1 percent. And then in addition to that, the American people are looking around and they see a broken criminal justice system. They see more people in jail in the United States of America than any other country on earth, 2.2 million. We're spending $80 billion a year locking up fellow Americans. They see kids getting arrested for marijuana, getting in prison, getting a criminal record, while they see executives on Wall Street who pay billions of dollars in settlements and get no prosecution at all. No criminal records for them. I think what our campaign is indicating is that the American people are tired of establishment politics, tired of establishment economics. They want a political revolution in which millions of Americans stand up, come together, not let the Trumps of the world divide us, and say, you know what, in this great country, we need a government that represents all of us, not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors. Thank you. +p3 +aVWell, to put that in a context, Judy, I think we have to understand that in the last 30 years in this country there has been a massive transfer of wealth going from the hands of working families into the top one-tenth of 1% whose percentage of wealth has doubled. In other words, the very rich are getting richer, almost everybody is going \u2014 getting poorer. What I believe is the United States, in fact, should join the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee healthcare to all people. Our Medicare for all single-payer proposal will save the average middle class family $5,000 a year. I do believe that in the year 2016 we have to look in terms of public education as colleges as part of public education making public colleges and universities tuition free. I believe that when real unemployment is close to 10%, and when our infrastructure, our roads, our bridges, our water systems, Flint, Michigan comes to mind. Our waste water plants, our rail, our airports, in many places are disintegrating. Yeah, we can create 13 million jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure at a cost of a trillion dollars. +p4 +aV... Of course there will be a limit, but when today you have massive levels of income and wealth inequality, when the middle class is disappearing, you have the highest rate of child poverty of almost any major country on Earth. Yes, in my view, the government of a democratic society has a moral responsibility to play a vital role in making sure all of our people have a decent standard of living. +p5 +aVWell, let us level with the American people. Secretary Clinton has been going around the country saying Bernie Sanders wants to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, people are going to lose their MedicAid, they're going to lose their +p6 +aVThat is absolutely inaccurate. Look, here is the reality, folks. There is one major country on Earth that does not guarantee health care to all people. There is one major country \u2014 the United States \u2014 which ends up spending almost three times per capita what they do in the U.K. guaranteeing health care to all people, 50 percent more than they do in France guaranteeing health care to all people, far more than our Canadian neighbors, who guarantee health care to all people. Please do not tell me that in this country, if \u2014 and here's the if \u2014 we have the courage to take on the drug companies, and have the courage to take on the insurance companies, and the medical equipment suppliers, if we do that, yes, we can guarantee health care to all people in a much more cost effective way. +p7 +aVWell, Secretary Clinton, you're not in the White House yet. And let us be clear that every proposal that I have introduced has been paid for. For example, all right, who in America denies that we have an infrastructure that is crumbling? Roads, bridges, water systems, wastewater plants, who denies that? Who denies that real unemployment today, including those who have given up looking for work and are working part-time is close to 10 percent? Who denies that African-American youth unemployment, real, is over 50 percent. We need to create jobs. So yes, I will do away with the outrageous loopholes that allow profitable multinational corporations to stash billions of dollars in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda and in a given year pay zero, zero in federal income tax. Yes, I'm going to do away with that. We will use those proceeds, a hundred billion a year, to invest in rebuilding our infrastructure. Yes, I believe that as a result of the illegal behavior on Wall Street, that they are a Wall Street that drove this country into the worst economic downturn since the Great Recession \u2014 Great Depression. Yes, I do believe that now after the American people bailed Wall Street out, yes, they should pay a Wall Street speculation tax so that we can make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We bailed them out. Now it is their time to help the middle class. +p8 +aVA brief response. +p9 +aVHere is where we are with public education. A 100, 150 years ago incredibly brave Americans said, you know what, working class kids, low income kids should not have to work in factories or on the farms. Like rich kids, they deserve to get a free education. And that free education of extraordinary accomplishment was from first grade to 12th grade. The world has changed. This is 2016. In many ways, a college degree today is equivalent to what a high school degree was 50, 60 years ago. So, yes, I do believe that when we talk about public education in America, today, in a rapidly changing world, we should have free tuition at public colleges and universities. That should be a right of all Americans regardless of the income of their families. +p10 +aVLook, we are fighting for every vote that we can get from women, from men, straight, gay, African-Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans. We are trying to bring America together around an agenda that works for working families and the middle class. I am very proud, if my memory is not correct \u2014 I think I am \u2014 that I have a lifetime \u2014 and I've been in Congress a few years \u2014 a lifetime 100 percent pro-choice voting record. I am very proud that over the years we have had the support in my state of Vermont from very significant majorities of women. I'm very proud that I support legislation that is currently in the Congress, got support of almost all progressive Democrats in the House and Senate, which says we will end the absurdity of women today making 79 cents on the dollar compared to men. And we will join the rest of the other \u2014 the industrialized world in saying that paid family and medical leave should be a right of all working families. +p11 +aVWell, you know, I think, from a historical point of view, somebody with my background, somebody with my views, somebody who has spent his entire life taking on the big money interests, I think a Sanders victory would be of some historical accomplishment, as well. +p12 +aVLet me concur with the secretary, no question women's rights are under fierce attack all over this country. And I will tell you something that really galls me. I will not shock anybody to suggest that in politics there is occasionally a little bit of hypocrisy. Just a little bit. All over this country we have Republican candidates for president saying we hate the government. Government is the enemy. We're going to cut Social Security to help you. We're going to cut Medicare and Medicaid, federal aid to education to help you, because the government is so terrible. But, by the way, when it comes to a woman having to make a very personal choice, ah, in that case, my Republican colleagues love the government and want the government to make that choice for every woman in America. If that's not hypocrisy, I don't know what hypocrisy is. +p13 +aVThis is one of the great tragedies in our country today. And we can no longer continue to sweep it under the rug. It has to be dealt with. Today a male African-American baby born today stands a one-in-four chance of ending up in jail. That is beyond unspeakable. So what we have to do is the radical reform of a broken criminal justice system. What we have to do is end over-policing in African-American neighborhoods. The reality is that both the African-American community and the white community do marijuana at about equal rates. The reality is four times as many blacks get arrested for marijuana. Truth is that far more blacks get stopped for traffic violations. The truth is that sentencing for blacks is higher than for whites. We need fundamental police reform, clearly, clearly, when we talk about a criminal justice system. I would hope that we could all agree that we are sick and tired of seeing videos on television of unarmed people, often African-Americans, shot by police officers. What we have got to do is make it clear that any police officer who breaks the law will, in fact, be held accountable. +p14 +aVNothing that Secretary Clinton said do I disagree with. This mandatory sentencing, a very bad idea. It takes away discretion from judges. We have got to demilitarize local police departments so they do not look like occupying armies. We have got to make sure that local police departments look like the communities they serve in their diversity. And, where we are failing abysmally is in the very high rate of recidivism we see. People are being released from jail without the education, without the job training, without the resources that they need to get their lives together, then they end up \u2014 we're shocked that they end up back in jail again. So, we have a lot of work to do. But, here is a pledge I've made throughout this campaign, and it's really not a very radical pledge. When we have more people in jail, disproportionately African American and Latino, than China does, a communist authoritarian society four times our size. Here's my promise, at the end of my first term as president we will not have more people in jail than any other country. We will invest in education, and jobs for our kids, not incarceration and more jails. +p15 +aVWell, I think, Judy, what has to be appreciated is that, as a result of the disastrous and illegal behavior on Wall Street, millions of lives were hurt. People lost their jobs, their homes, their life savings. Turns out that the African-American community and the Latino community were hit especially hard. As I understand it, the African-American community lost half of their wealth as a result of the Wall Street collapse. So when you have childhood African-American poverty rates of 35 percent, when you have youth unemployment at 51 percent, when you have unbelievable rates of incarceration \u2014 which, by the way, leaves the children back home without a dad or even a mother \u2014 clearly, we are looking at institutional racism. We are looking at an economy in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. And sadly, in America today, in our economy, a whole lot of those poor people are African-American. +p16 +aVAbsolutely, because what we will do is say, instead of giving tax breaks to billionaires, we are going to create millions of jobs for low-income kids so they're not hanging out on street corners. We're going to make sure that those kids stay in school or are able to get a college education. And I think when you give low-income kids \u2014 African-American, white, Latino kids \u2014 the opportunities to get their lives together, they are not going to end up in jail. They're going to end up in the productive economy, which is where we want them. +p17 +aVWhite people? +p18 +aVYeah, you can, because African-Americans and Latinos not only face the general economic crises of low wages, and high unemployment, and poor educational opportunities, but they face other problems, as well. So, yes, we can talk about it as a racial issue. But it is a general economic issue. And here's what the economic issue is. The wages that high school graduates receive today are significantly less, whether you are white or black, than they used to be. Why is that? Because of a series of disastrous trade policies which have allowed corporate America through +p19 +aVThe answer is yes. We've got 11 million undocumented people in this country. I have talked to some of the young kids with tears rolling down their cheeks, are scared to death that today they may or their parents may be deported. I believe that we have got to pass comprehensive immigration reform, something that I strongly supported. I believe that we have got to move toward a path toward citizenship. I agree with President Obama who used executive orders to protect families because the Congress, the House was unable or refused to act. And in fact I would go further. What would motivate me and what would be the guiding light for me in terms of immigration reform, Judy, is to bring families together, not divide them up. And let me say this also. Somebody who is very fond of the president, agrees with him most of the time, I disagree with his recent deportation policies. And I would not support those. Bottom line is a path towards citizenship for 11 million undocumented people, if Congress doesn't do the right thing, we use the executive orders of the president. +p20 +aVSecretary Clinton, I do have a disagreement here. If my memory is correct, I think when we saw children coming from these horrendous, horrendously violent areas of Honduras and neighboring countries, people who are fleeing drug violence and cartel violence, I thought it was a good idea to allow those children to stay in this country. That was not, as I understand it, the secretary's position. In terms of 2007 immigration reform, yeah, I did vote against it. I voted against it because the Southern Poverty Law Center, among other groups, said that the guest-worker programs that were embedded in this agreement were akin to slavery. Akin to slavery, where people came into this country to do guest work were abused, were exploited, and if they stood up for their rights, they'd be thrown out of this country. So it wasn't just me who opposed it. It was +p21 +aVWell, let me just respond. I worked with Ted Kennedy. He was the chairman of my committee. And I loved Ted Kennedy. But on this issue, when you have one of the large Latino organizations in America saying vote no, and you have the AFL-CIO saying vote no, and you have leading progressive Democrats, in fact, voting no, I don't apologize for that vote. But in terms of the children, I don't know to whom you're sending a message. Who are you sending a message to? These are children who are leaving countries and neighborhoods where their lives are at stake. That was the fact. I don't think we use them to send a message. I think we welcome them into this country and do the best we can to help them get their lives together. +p22 +aVOK. You know, you judge a nation not by the number of millionaires and billionaires it has, but by how you treat, we treat, the most vulnerable and fragile people in our nation. And by those standards, we're not doing particularly well. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty among almost any major country on Earth. And in terms of seniors, there are millions of seniors \u2014 and I've talked to them in my state of Vermont and all over this country \u2014 who are trying to get by on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year Social Security. And you know what? You do the arithmetic. You can't get by on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year. And here's an area where Secretary Clinton and I believe we have a difference. I have long supported the proposition that we should lift the cap on taxable income coming into the Social Security Trust Fund, starting at $250,000. And when we \u2014 and when we do that, we don't do what the Republicans want, which is to cut Social Security. We do what the American people want, to expand Social Security by $1,300 a year for people under $16,000, and we extend the life of Social Security for 58 years. Yes, the wealthiest people, the top 1.5 percent, will pay more in taxes. But a great nation like ours should not be in a position where elderly people are cutting their pills in half, where they don't have decent nutrition, where they can't heat their homes in the wintertime. That is not what America should be about. If elected president, I will do everything I can to expand Social Security benefits, not just for seniors, but for disabled veterans, as well. +p23 +aVIn all due respect......In all due respect, Secretary Clinton, a lot of the progressive groups, the online groups have really asked you a simple question. Are you coming onboard a proposal? And what is that proposal? Now, the proposal that I have outlined, you know, should be familiar to you, because it is what essentially Barack Obama campaigned on in 2008. You opposed him then. I would hope that you would come onboard and say that this is the simple and straightforward thing to do. We're asking the top 1.5 percent, including passive income, to start paying a little bit more so that the elderly and disabled vets in this country can live with security and dignity. I hope you will make a decision soon on this. +p24 +aVThat's my bill. Check it out. +p25 +aVWhat we are talking about in reality is a corrupt campaign finance system, that's what we're talking about. We have to be honest about it. It is undermining American democracy. When extraordinarily wealthy people make very large contributions to Super PACs, and in many cases in this campaign, Super PACs have raised more money than individual candidates have, OK? We had a decision to make early on, do we do a Super PAC? And, we said no. We don't represent Wall Street, we don't represent the billionaire class, so it ends up I'm the only candidate up here of the many candidates who has no Super PAC. But, what we did is we said to the working families of this country, look, we know things are tough, but if you want to help us go beyond establishment politics, and establishment economics, send us something. And, it turns out that up until \u2014 and this has blown me away, never in a million years would I have believed that I would be standing here tonight telling you that we have received three and a half million individual contributions from well over a million people. Now, Secretary Clinton's Super PAC, as I understand it, received $25 million dollars last reporting period, $15 million dollars from Wall Street. Our average contribution is $27 dollars, I'm very proud of that. +p26 +aVThe people aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street... But let's not \u2014 but let's not \u2014 let's not insult \u2014 let's not insult the intelligence of the American people. People aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street make huge campaign contributions? I guess just for the fun of it; they want to throw money around. Why does the pharmaceutical industry make huge campaign contributions? Any connection maybe to the fact that our people pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs? Why does the fossil fuel industry pay \u2014 spend huge amounts of money on campaign contributions? Any connection to the fact that not one Republican candidate for president thinks and agrees with the scientific community that climate change is real and that we have got to transform our energy system? And when we talk about Wall Street, let's talk about Wall Street. I voted for Dodd-Frank, got an important amendment in it. In my view, it doesn't go anywhere near far enough. But when we talk about Wall Street, you have Wall Street and major banks have paid $200 billion in fines since the great crash. No Wall Street executive has been prosecuted. +p27 +aVLet me, you know, again, respectfully disagree with Secretary Clinton here. When you have three out of the four largest financial institutions in this country bigger today than they were when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, when you have six financial institutions having assets equivalent to 58 percent of the GDP of America, while issuing two-thirds of the credit cards and a third of the mortgages, look, I think if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, that great trust-buster would have said break them up. I think he would have been right. I think he would have said bring back a 21st-century Glass-Steagall legislation. I think that would have been right, as well. That's my view. +p28 +aVHey, I'm in the United States Senate, and anyone who doesn't think that there is an enormous amount of waste and inefficiency and bureaucracy throughout government would be very, very mistaken. I believe in government, but I believe in efficient government, not wasteful government. +p29 +aVIf I could just answer that, we have also got to take a look at the waste and inefficiencies in the Department of Defense, which is the one major agency of government that has not been able to be audited. And I have the feeling you're going to find a lot of cost overruns there and a lot of waste and duplicative activities. +p30 +aVLet me \u2014 let me just say this. What a President of the United States has got to do and what is his or her major, I think, responsibility is to, a, make certain that we keep our people safe, that we work with allies around the world to protect democratic values, that we do all that we can to create a world of peace and prosperity. I voted against the war in Iraq because I listened very carefully to what President Bush and Vice President Cheney had to say and I didn't believe them. And if you go to my Web site,berniesanders.com, what you find is not only going to help lead the opposition to that war, but much of what I feared would happen when I spoke on the floor of the House, in fact, did happen in terms of the instability that occurred. Now I think an area in kind of a vague way, or not so vague, where Secretary Clinton and I disagree is the area of regime change. Look, the truth is that a powerful nation like the United States, certainly working with our allies, we can overthrow dictators all over the world. And God only knows Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator. We could overthrow Assad tomorrow if we wanted to. We got rid of Gadhafi. But the point about foreign policy is not just to know that you can overthrow a terrible dictator, it's to understand what happens the day after. And in Libya, for example, the United States, Secretary Clinton, as secretary of state, working with some other countries, did get rid of a terrible dictator named Gadhafi. But what happened is a political vacuum developed. +p31 +aVJudy, if I can, there is no question, Secretary Clinton and I are friends, and I have a lot of respect for her, that she has enormous experience in foreign affairs. Secretary of state for four years. You've got a bit of experience, I would imagine. But judgment matters as well. Judgment matters as well. And she and I looked at the same evidence coming from the Bush administration regarding Iraq. I lead the opposition against it. She voted for it. But more importantly, in terms of this Libya resolution that you have noted before, this was a virtually unanimous consent. Everybody voted for it wanting to see Libya move toward democracy, of course we all wanted to do that. That is very different than talking about specific action for regime change, which I did not support. +p32 +aVJudy, one area very briefly... +p33 +aVWhere the secretary and I have a very profound difference, in the last debate \u2014 and I believe in her book \u2014 very good book, by the way \u2014 in her book and in this last debate, she talked about getting the approval or the support or the mentoring of Henry Kissinger. Now, I find it rather amazing, because I happen to believe that Henry Kissinger was one of the most destructive secretaries of state in the modern history of this country. I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend. I will not take advice from Henry Kissinger. And in fact, Kissinger's actions in Cambodia, when the United States bombed that country, overthrew Prince Sihanouk, created the instability for Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge to come in, who then butchered some 3 million innocent people, one of the worst genocides in the history of the world. So count me in as somebody who will not be listening to Henry Kissinger. +p34 +aVWell, it ain't Henry Kissinger. That's for sure. +p35 +aVIt is. +p36 +aVI find \u2014 I mean, it's just a very different, you know, historical perspective here. Kissinger was one of those people during the Vietnam era who talked about the domino theory. Not everybody remembers that. You do. I do. The domino theory, you know, if Vietnam goes, China, da, da, da, da, da, da, da. That's what he talked about, the great threat of China. And then, after the war, this is the guy who, in fact, yes, you're right, he opened up relations with China, and now pushed various type of trade agreements, resulting in American workers losing their jobs as corporations moved to China. The terrible, authoritarian, Communist dictatorship he warned us about, now he's urging companies to shut down and move to China. Not my kind of guy. +p37 +aVWell, this is what I would say. It is a complicated relationship. I congratulate Secretary of State John Kerry and the president for working on this agreement. As you've indicated, what is happening in Syria, the number of people, the hundreds of thousands of people who have been killed \u2014 men, women, 20,000 children, the people who are forced to flee their own country \u2014 their own country \u2014 it is unspeakable. It is a real horror. Now, what I think is that right now we have got to do our best in developing positive relations with Russia. But let's be clear: Russia's aggressive actions in the Crimea and in Ukraine have brought about a situation where President Obama and +p38 +aVLet me just \u2014 just say this. For a start, the secretary and I disagree \u2014 and I think the president does not agree with her \u2014 in terms of the concept of a no-fly zone in Syria. I think you do have a humanitarian tragedy there, as I mentioned a moment ago. I applaud Secretary Kerry and the president for trying to put together this agreement. Let's hope that it holds. But furthermore, what we have got to do, I'm sorry, yes, I do believe that we have got to do everything that we can, and it will not happen tomorrow. But I do hope that in years to come, just as occurred with Cuba, 10, 20 years ago, people would say, reach normalized relations with Cuba. And by the way, I hope we can end the trade embargo with Cuba as well. But the idea that we some day maybe have decent relations with Iran, maybe put pressure on them so they end their support for terrorism around the world, yes, that is something I want to achieve. And I believe that the best way to do that is to be aggressive, to be principled, but to have the goal of trying to improve relations. That's how you make peace in the world. You sit down and you work with people, you make demands of people, in this case demanding Iran stop the support of international terrorism. +p39 +aVWe have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of work to do. But I recall when Secretary Clinton ran against then-Senator Obama, she was critical of him for suggesting that maybe you want to talk to Iran, that you want to talk to our enemies. I have no illusion. Of course you are right. Iran is sponsoring terrorism in many parts of the world, destabilizing areas. Everybody knows that. But our goal is, in fact, to try over a period of time to, in fact, deal with our enemies, not just ignore that reality. +p40 +aVNo, I think the idea was that president \u2014 then-Senator Obama was wrong for suggesting that it is a good idea to talk to your opponents. It's easier to talk to your friends. It's harder to talk to your enemies. I think we should do both. +p41 +aVA couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to go on a congressional delegation. And I went to one of these Turkish refugee camps right on the border of Syria. And what a sad sight that was: Men, women, children forced out of their homes. And Turkey, by the way, did a very decent thing, providing what was reasonable housing and conditions for those people. It seems to me that given our history as a nation that has been a beacon of hope for the oppressed, for the downtrodden, that I very strongly disagree with those Republican candidates who say, you know what, we've got to turn our backs on women and children who left their home with nothing, nothing at all. That is not what America is supposed to be about. So I believe that working with Europe \u2014 and, by the way, you know, we've got some very wealthy countries there in that part of the world. You got Kuwait and you got Qatar and you got Saudi Arabia. They have a responsibility, as well. But I think this is a worldwide \u2014 that the entire world needs to come together to deal with this horrific refugee crisis we're seeing from Syria and Afghanistan, as well. +p42 +aVYou know, Franklin Delano Roosevelt took the oath of office in 1933 at a time when 25 percent of the American people were unemployed, country was in incredible despair. And he stood before the American people and he said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself," a profound statement that gave the American people the courage to believe that, yes, we could get out of that terrible depression. And then what he did is redefine the role of government. You know, you had Herbert Hoover before that saying, no, we got to only worry about the deficit. So what if mass unemployment exists? So what if children are going hungry? That's not the role of the government. And when FDR said, "Yeah, it is," that we're going to use all of the resources that we have to create jobs, to build homes, to feed people, to protect the farmers, we are a nation which if we come together there is nothing that we could not accomplish. And kind of \u2014 that's what I see our campaign is about right now. In this particular moment of serious crises, saying to the American people don't give up on the political process. don't listen to the Trumps of the world and allowing them to divide us. If we reengage and get involved, yeah, we can have health care for all people, we can make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We do not have to have massive levels of income and wealth inequality. In the same light, as the foreign leader, Winston Churchill's politics were not my politics. He was kind of a conservative guy in many respects. But nobody can deny that as a wartime leader, he rallied the British people when they stood virtually alone against the Nazi juggernaut and rallied them and eventually won an extraordinary victory. Those are two leaders that I admire very much. +p43 +aVThat is......Madam Secretary, that is a low blow. I have worked with President Obama for the last seven years. When President Obama came into office we were losing 800,000 jobs a month, 800,000 jobs a month. We had a $1.4 trillion deficit. And the world's financial system is on the verge of collapse. As a result of his efforts and the efforts of Joe Biden against unprecedented, I was there in the Senate, unprecedented Republican obstructionism, we have made enormous progress. But you know what? Last I heard we lived in a democratic society. Last I heard, a United States senator had the right to disagree with the president, including a president who has done such an extraordinary job. So I have voiced criticisms. You're right. Maybe you haven't. I have. But I think to suggest that I have voiced criticism, this blurb that you talk about, you know what the blurb said? The blurb said that the next president of the United States has got to be aggressive in bringing people into the political process. That's what I said. That is what I believe. President Obama and I are friends. As you know, he came to Vermont to campaign for me when he was a senator. I have worked for his re-election. His first election and his re-election. But I think it is really unfair to suggest that I have not been supportive of the president. I have been a strong ally with him on virtually every issue. Do senators have the right to disagree with the president? Have you ever disagreed with a president? I suspect you may have. +p44 +aVWell, one of us ran against Barack Obama. I was not that candidate. All right, look, this has been a great debate. A lot of interesting issues have come together. Let me conclude by just saying this. There is no president, in my view, not Hillary Clinton, not Bernie Sanders, who has the capability or the power to take on Wall Street, large campaign donors, the corporate media, the big money interests in this country alone. This campaign is not just about electing a president. What this campaign is about is creating a process for a political revolution in which millions of Americans, working people who have given up on the political process, they don't think anybody hears their pains or their concerns. Young people for whom getting involved in politics is as, you know, it's like going to the moon. It ain't going to happen. Low income people who are not involved in the political process. What this campaign is not only about electing someone who has the most progressive agenda, it is about bringing tens of millions of people together to demand that we have a government that represents all of us and not just the 1 percent, who today have so much economic and political power. Thank you all very much. +p45 +aVRachel, thank you very much. Millions of Americans are giving up on the political process. And they're giving up on the political process because they understand the economy is rigged. They are working longer hours for low wages. They're worried about the future of their kids, and yet almost all new income and wealth is going to the top 1 percent. Not what America is supposed to be about. Not the fairness that we grew up believing that America was about. And then sustaining that rigged economy is a corrupt campaign finance system undermining American democracy, where billionaire, Wall Street, corporate America can contribute unlimited sums of money into super PACs and into candidates. Our job, together, is to end a rigged economy, create an economy that works for all, and absolutely overturn Citizens United. One person, one vote. That's what American democracy is about. +p46 +aVWell, I haven't quite run for president before. Let's deal with some of the comments that Secretary Clinton made. And by the way, you know, sometimes there's a lot of drama here. I have known Secretary Clinton for 25 years and respect her very much. Here is the issue. Every major country on earth, whether it's the U.K., whether it's France, whether it's Canada, has managed to provide healthcare to all people as a right and they are spending significantly less per capita on health care than we are. So I do not accept the belief that the United States of America can't do that. I do not accept the belief that the United States of America and our government can't stand up to the ripoffs of the pharmaceutical industry which charge us by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. Number two, in the economy today, everybody understands that we need a well educated workforce. This is 2016. When we talk about public education, it can no longer be K through 12th grade. I do believe that public colleges and universities should be tuition free. Well, how do we pay for that? It's an expensive proposition. I do believe that we should substantially lower student debt in this country, which is crushing millions of people. We pay for it, in my view, by a tax on Wall Street speculation. The middle class bailed out Wall Street in their time of need. Now, it is Wall Street's time to help the middle class. +p47 +aVLet me... +p48 +aV... this is a good discussion here. +p49 +aVAnd let me just say this. As Secretary Clinton may know, I am on the Health Education Labor Committee. That committee wrote the Affordable Care Act. The idea I would dismantle health care in America while we're waiting to pass a Medicare for all is just not accurate. The Affordable Care Act has clearly, as Secretary Clinton made the point, done a lot of good things, but, what it has not done is dealt with the fact we have 29 million people today who have zero health insurance, we have even more who are underinsured with large deductibles and copayments and prescription drug prices are off the wall. So I do believe that in the future, not by dismantling what we have here\u2014I helped write that bill\u2014but by moving forward, rallying the American people, I do believe we should have health care for all. +p50 +aVNo, not at all. Here's the reality of American economic life today. The reality is that we have one of lowest voter turnouts of any major country on earth because so many people have given up on the political process. The reality is that there has been trillions of dollars of wealth going from the middle class in the last 30 years to the top 1/10th of 1 percent. The reality is we that have a corrupt campaign finance system which separates the American people's needs and desires from what Congress is doing. So to my mind, what we have got to do is wage a political revolution where millions of people have given up on the political process, stand up and fight back, demand the government that represents us and not just a handful of campaign contribution\u2014contributors. Now all of the ideas that I'm talking about, they are not radical ideas. Making public colleges and universities tuition free, that exists in countries all over the world, used to exist in the United States. Rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, and creating 13 million jobs by doing away with tax loopholes that large corporations now enjoy by putting their money into the Cayman Islands and other tax havens. That is not a radical idea. What we need to do is to stand up to the big money interests, and the campaign contributors. When we do that, we can, in fact, transform America. +p51 +aVLet me just pick up on this point. This whole discussion began because I commented, not making overall evaluation about the Secretary. She was in Ohio, I think, in September or November and she got up and said something like, I have been\u2014I'm paraphrasing, I have been criticized because people think I'm a moderate. Well, I am a moderate. That's where this came from. It wasn't me paraphrasing her. It is what she said, and all that I said was there's nothing wrong with being a moderate. But, you can't be a moderate, you can't a progressive. In terms of President Obama, I think if we remember where this country was seven years ago, 800,000 jobs being lost every month, $1.4 trillion dollar deficit. The world's financial system on the verge of collapse. I think that President Obama, Vice President Biden, and the Democratic leadership in the House and the Senate have done a fantastic job. We are in much better shape than we were seven years ago, although my Republican colleagues seem to have forgotten where we were seven years ago. That's the fact, but, we still have a very long way to go. Do I think President Obama is a progressive? Yes, I do. I disagree with him on a number of issues including the trade agreement. But, yes, I think he has done an excellent job. +p52 +aVThat's right, I mean, instead of arguing about definitions, let's talk about... +p53 +aV... What we should do, and one of the things we should do is not only talk the talk, but walk the walk. I am very proud to be the only candidate up here who does not have a Super PAC, who's not raising huge sums of money from Wall Street...... And special interests. I am enormously proud. Never believed it would happen that we have raised 3.5 million individual contributions, averaging $27 dollars a piece. That is what the political revolution means. +p54 +aVWell, Rachel, actually, that wasn't accurate. In 1988 the Republican did win, I believe, by 3 points. I came in second. It was 34-31, I think, 19 for the Democrat. In that race the Democrat was the spoiler, not me. And it is true......it is true, it's not to be denied, I am the longest- serving independent in the history of the United States Congress. People of Vermont sent me to Washington as an independent. That is true. But on the other hand, I have\u2014when I was in the House for 16 years, I caucused with the Democrats. In the Senate for nine years caucused with the Democrats, of course. And I was elected by the Democrats to be chair of the Veterans Committee three years ago, which I'm very proud of. And now am the rankings member on the Budget Committee, leader of the Democrats in opposition to the majority Republicans. I am running for president as a Democrat. And if elected, not only do I hope to bring forth a major change in national priorities, but let me be frank, I do want to see major changes in the Democratic Party. I want to see working people and young people come into the party in a way that doesn't exist now. And you know what, I want a 50-state strategy so the Democratic Party is not just the party of 25 states. +p55 +aVWell, I don't see it quite like that. +p56 +aVI am\u2014will absolutely admit that Secretary Clinton has the support of far more governors, mayors, members of the House. She has the entire establishment or almost the entire establishment behind her. That's a fact. I don't deny it. But I am pretty proud that we have over a million people who have contributed to our campaign averaging 27 bucks apiece. That we have had meetings where 25,000-30,000 people have come out. That our campaign is a campaign of the people, by the people, and for the people. So, Rachel, yes, Secretary Clinton does represent the establishment. I represent, I hope, ordinary Americans, and by the way, who are not all that enamored with the establishment, but I am very proud to have people like Keith Ellison and Raul Grijalva in the House, the co-chairmen of the House Progressive Caucus. +p57 +aVWhat being part of the establishment is, is, in the last quarter, having a super PAC that raised $15 million from Wall Street, that throughout one's life raised a whole lot of money from the drug companies and other special interests. To my mind, if we do not get a handle on money in politics and the degree to which big money controls the political process in this country, nobody is going to bring about the changes that is needed in this country for the middle class and working families. +p58 +aVWhat... +p59 +aV... you know... +p60 +aV. +p61 +aVLet's talk about\u2014OK, let's talk... +p62 +aV... let us talk about issues. +p63 +aVLet's talk about issues. +p64 +aVLet's... +p65 +aV... let's\u2014let's\u2014let's talk about issues. +p66 +aVLet's talk\u2014let's talk about issues, all right? Let's talk about why, in the 1990s, Wall Street got deregulated. Did it have anything to do with the fact that Wall Street provided\u2014spent billions of dollars on lobbying and campaign contributions? Well, some people might think, yeah, that had some influence. Let's ask why it is that we pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, and your medicine can be doubled tomorrow, and there's nothing that the government can do to stop it. You think it has anything to do with the huge amounts of campaign contributions and lobbying from the fossil fuel industry? Let's talk about climate change. Do you think there's a reason why not one Republican has the guts to recognize that climate change is real, and that we need to transform our energy system? Do you think it has anything to do with the Koch brothers and ExxonMobil pouring huge amounts of money into the political system? That is what goes on in America. I am not\u2014I like......there is a reason. You know, there is a reason why these people are putting huge amounts of money into our political system. And in my view, it is undermining American democracy and it is allowing Congress to represent wealthy campaign contributors and not the working families of this country. +p67 +aVI think as Secretary Clinton knows, there is nobody who fought harder. I was on the House Financial Committee at that time. I heard the arguments coming from Democrats and Republicans\u2014Robert Rubin, Alan Greenspan\u2014about great an idea it would be if we did away with Glass-Steagall and if we allowed investor banks and commercial banks and big insurance companies to merge. Go to YouTube today. Look up Greenspan-Sanders. Listen to what I told them then. I helped lead the effort against deregulation. Unfortunately, we lost that. The result is\u2014was the worst financial disaster since the Great Depression. +p68 +aVChuck, actually we looked at it, but it turns out to be a disaster. The way it is structured right now, if you make it all the way to California, you could do pretty well. But in terms of the early states\u2014Iowa, New Hampshire, the other states\u2014it just doesn't work. Your point is well taken. I believe in public funding of elections, absolutely. But this system is\u2014I don't know if the secretary would agree\u2014is currently very antiquated and no longer applies to modern day politics. +p69 +aVBut if the... +p70 +aVLet me just say this. Wall Street is perhaps the most powerful economic and political force in this country. You have companies like Goldman Sachs, who just recently paid a settlement fine with the federal government for $5 billion for defrauding investors. Goldman Sachs was one of those companies whose illegal activity helped destroy our economy and ruin the lives of millions of Americans. But this is what a rigged economy and a corrupt campaign finance system and a broken criminal justice is about. These guys are so powerful that not one of the executives on Wall Street has been charged with anything after paying, in this case of Goldman Sachs, a $5 billion fine. Kid gets caught with marijuana, that kid has a police record. A Wall Street executive destroys the economy, $5 billion settlement with the government, no criminal record. That is what power is about. That is what corruption is about. And that is what has to change in the United States of America. +p71 +aVI would say that\u2014that folks who have looked at this issue for a long time, whether it's Elizabeth Warren or many other economists, will tell you that right now, yes, we do need a 21st century Glass-Steagall legislation. And I would tell you also that when you have three out of the four largest banks in America today, bigger than they were\u2014significantly bigger than when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, I think if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, a good Republican by the way, what he would say is: Break them up; they are too powerful economically; they are too powerful politically. And that is what I believe and many economists believe. Time to break them up. +p72 +aVWell, we've had a number of economists supporting our legislation. And here's where we are. The American people can judge. Six largest financial institutions in America today have assets of roughly $10 trillion; equivalent to 58 percent of the GDP of the United States of America. That is a lot of money. They issue two thirds of the credit cards, and by the way they're ripping off a whole lot of people with high interest rates on the credit cards, and they write about one third of the mortgages. That is a lot of power for six financial institutions. That's it. I think it is too much power. Too much economic power, too much political power, and the economists that I talk to say we should break them up. +p73 +aVYeah, I do. I agree with much of what the Secretary said, but, madam Secretary, it is not one streak. Wall Street is an entity of unbelievable economic and political power. That's a fact. And, I want to say something, and it may sound harsh, not to you, but to the American people. In a sense, in my view, the business model of Wall Street is fraud. It's fraud. I believe that corruption is rampant, and the fact that major bank after major bank has reached multi billion dollar settlements with the United States government when we have a weak regulator system tells me that not only did we have to bail them out once, if we don't start breaking them up, we're going to have to bail them out again, and I do not want to see that happen... +p74 +aVOf course I can work with them, but let's be clear. When I talked about Boeing and I talked about General Electric, what I was referring to is an outrage. I suspect the secretary agrees request me. Right now you have a loophole such that these guys are putting their profits, multi-billion dollar profitable corporations putting billions of dollars into the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, and other tax havens. And in a given year, Rachel, after making billions of dollars in profit, do you know how much they're paying in taxes to the United States government in a given year? Zero. Now explain to me how that makes any sense at all. So what I have said with regard to Boeing and GE and other multinationals that pay zero taxes, you know what we're going to do? We're going to end that loophole. They are going to pay their fair share of taxes. We're going to use that money to rebuild our infrastructure and create up to 13 million jobs. Can I work with corporations? Are there good corporations doing incredible cutting edge research and development? Absolutely they are. And we should be proud of them. But on the other hand, there are many corporations who have turned their backs on the American worker, who have said, if I can make another nickel in profit by going to China and shutting down in the United States of America, that's what I will do. I will do my best to transform our trade policy and take on these corporations who want to invest in low-income countries around the world rather than in the United States of America. +p75 +aVOK. Let me agree with much of what the secretary said, but where we have a different background on this issue is we differ on the war in Iraq, which created barbaric organizations like +p76 +aVWell, I think our great task is to make certain that our young men and women in the military do not get sucked into never- ending, perpetual warfare within the quagmire of Syria and Iraq. And I will do my very best to make sure that that doesn't happen. I agree with the secretary that I think what has to happen\u2014and let me just mention what King Abdullah of Jordan said. I think he hit the nail on the head. And what he said is essentially the war against +p77 +aVWell, you can't simply withdraw tomorrow. Wish we could, and allow, you know, the Taliban or anybody else to reclaim that country. But what we must do, and what we have seen in recent months, is some progress in Iraq, where finally the Iraqi army, which has not been a particularly effective fighting force, retook Ramadi. +p78 +aVWell, that's not quite accurate. I did give a speech at Georgetown where I talked about democratic socialism and foreign policy. Maybe I shouldn't have combined the two in the same speech, because the foreign policy part of it didn't get much attention. So, let me take this opportunity to give you a very short speech here on the issue. I think, while it is true that the secretary and I voted differently on the war in Iraq, what is important is that we learn the lesson of the war in Iraq. And that lesson is intrinsic to my foreign policy if elected president, is the United States cannot do it alone. We cannot be the policeman of the world. We are now spending more I believe than the next eight countries on defense. We have got to work in strong coalition with the major powers of the world and with those Muslim countries that are prepared to stand up and take on terrorism. So I would say that the key doctrine of the Sanders administration would be no, we cannot continue to do it alone; we need to work in coalition. +p79 +aV I fully, fully concede that Secretary Clinton, who was secretary of State for four years, has more experience\u2014hat is not arguable\u2014in foreign affairs. But experience is not the only point, judgment is. And once again, back in 2002, when we both looked at the same evidence about the wisdom of the war in Iraq, one of us voted the right way and one of us didn't. In terms of Iran and in terms of Saudi Arabia, of course they hate each other. That's no great secret. But John Kerry, who is I think doing a very good job, has tried to at least get these people in the room together because both of them are being threatened by +p80 +aVWell... +p81 +aVWho said That think we should normalize relations with Iran tomorrow? I never said that. I think we should move forward as quickly as we can. And you're right. They are a sponsor of terrorism around the world and we have to address that. But you know, a number of years ago, people were saying normal relationship with Cuba, what a bad and silly idea. They're Communists, they are our enemy. Well guess what? Change has come. So please don't suggest that I think we normalize relations with Tehran tomorrow. We don't. But I would like to see us move forward, and hopefully some day that will happen. And I would say if I might, Madam Secretary\u2014and you can correct me if I'm wrong. When you ran against Senator Obama you thought him naive because he thought it was a good idea to talk to our enemies. I think those are exactly the people you have to talk to and you have to negotiate with. +p82 +aVOK. +p83 +aVI think President Obama had the right idea, and the bottom line is that of course there have to be conditions. But, of course it doesn't do us any good to not talk with our adversaries... +p84 +aVJust to set the record straight, I very strongly supported the agreement which makes certain that Iran does not get a nuclear weapon. +p85 +aV... +p86 +aV +p87 +aV... No, no... +p88 +aV... +p89 +aVClearly North Korea is a very strange situation because it is such an isolated country run by a handful of dictators, or maybe just one, who seems to be somewhat paranoid. And, who had nuclear weapons. And, our goal there, in my view, is to work and lean strongly on China to put as much pressure. China is one of the few major countries in the world that has significant support for North Korea, and I think we got to do everything we can to put pressure on China. I worry very much about an isolated, paranoid country with atomic bombs. I think, clearly, we got to work closely with China to resolve the serious problems we have, and I worry about Putin and his military adventurism in the Crimea and the Ukraine. +p90 +aV... No, I don't. I worry very, very much about an isolated country. That's what makes me nervous. Russia lives in the world. China lives in the world. North Korea is a very, very strange country because it is so isolated, and I do feel that a nation with nuclear weapons, they have got to be dealt with. Dealt with effectively. +p91 +aVLet me agree. You know, as the secretary knows, I chaired\u2014I had the privilege and the honor of chairing the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs. And it is interesting to me, you know, Republicans give a lot of speeches about how much they love veterans. I work with the American Legion, the VFW, the DAV, the Vietnam Vets, and virtually every veterans organization to put together the most comprehensive piece of the veterans legislation in the modern history of America. That's what I did. And I brought it to the floor of the Senate. Every Democrat voted for it, I got two Republicans. We ended up with 56 votes and I couldn't get the 60 votes that I needed. That is pathetic. This was legislation supported by all of the veterans organizations, addressing many of the serious problems that veterans face in health care and in how we deliver benefits to them. So Republicans talk a good game about veterans, but when it came to put money on the line to protect our veterans, frankly, they were not there. What I did next, Rachel, is I had to retreat a little bit, I had to compromise. I did work with John McCain. I did work with Jeff Miller over in the House. And we put together not the bill that I wanted, but probably the most comprehensive V.A. health care bill in the modern history of this country. Secretary Clinton is absolutely right, there are people, Koch brothers among others, who have a group called Concerned Veterans of America, funded by the Koch brothers. The Koch brothers, by the way, want to destroy Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, every governmental program passed since the 1930s. Yes, there are people out there who want to privatize it. The last point that I'd make. I had a hearing. I had all of the veterans groups in front of me. And I said to them, tell me when a veteran gets in to the V.A., understanding there are waiting lines and real problems, when a veteran gets into the system, is the quality of care good? Without exception, what they said, good, excellent, very good. We've got to strengthen the V.A. We do not privatize the V.A. +p92 +aVWell, I agree with the Des Moines Register, but let's not blow this out of proportion. This is not a\u2014this is not, like, a winner-take-all thing. I think where we now stand\u2014correct me if I'm wrong\u2014you have 22 delegates, I have 20 delegates. We need 2,500 delegates to win the nomination. You know, so this is not\u2014this is not the biggest deal in the world. We think, by the way, based on talking to our precinct captains, we may have at least two more delegates. What the Des Moines Register said\u2014you know, there were coin\u2014I think there were half a dozen coin flips\u2014a fairly chaotic type situation. At the end of the day, no matter how it's recounted, it will break roughly even. And by the way, I love and respect the caucus process in Iowa. See, and I don't have to say it, because they voted already. And I love New Hampshire, too, because you haven't voted, but......but, look, I think people are blowing this up out of proportion. But I think we need improvements in the process by which results are determined. +p93 +aVOh . See, when you are old, then they go back all these years. All right. What have you got? +p94 +aVWell, you know, a general election is different than a primary and caucus process. But let me just say this. In terms of where we are right now, as you mention, Rachel, in a number of national and state, including New Hampshire. For example, the last poll I saw\u2014there may have been a new one\u2014last one I saw here in New Hampshire, a battleground state, had me defeating Trump by 19; the secretary defeating him by one. There were also pretty large margins in Iowa and Wisconsin. These are polls. Polls go up. Polls go down. But here's why I think I will be, if nominated, the strongest candidate. Democrats win when there is a large voter turnout; when people are excited; when working people, middle class people and young people are prepared to engage in the political process. Republicans win when people are demoralized and you have a small voter turnout, which by the way is why they love voter suppression. I believe that our campaign up to now has shown that we can create an enormous amount of enthusiasm from working people, from young people, who will get involved in the political process and which will drive us to a very large voter turnout. If there is a large voter turnout, not only do we retain the White House, but I think we regain the Senate. We win governors' chairs up and down the line. So I believe if you want to retain the White House, if you want to see Democrats do well across the board, I think our campaign is the one that creates the large voter turnout and helps us win. +p95 +aV +p96 +aVI am feeling exactly the way I felt at the first debate. There's a process under way. I will not politicize it. +p97 +aVAnd by the way\u2014and by the way, if I may, the secretary probably doesn't know that there's not a day that goes by when I am not asked to attack her on that issue, and I have refrained from doing that and I will continue to refrain from doing that. +p98 +aVNot losing control of our campaign. You know, we have hired a whole lot of people in a rapid way and I am familiar with the first two instances and they are unacceptable, and we have apologized and dealt with that. In terms of the last one, as I understand it, we did not suggest that we had the endorsement of a newspaper. Newspapers who make endorsements also say positive things about other candidates, and to the best of my knowledge, that is what we did. So we never said, never said that somebody, a newspaper endorsed us that did not. What we did say is blah blah blah blah was said by the newspaper. +p99 +aVBut that was only for\u2014that was not to be on television. That's an important point. That was just something\u2014as the secretary knows, you put titles on ads and you send them out, but there was no word in that ad, none, that said that those newspapers had endorsed us. +p100 +aV... Look, I hear what the Secretary said, and I understand, but look, there are\u2014all of us know that we have seen in recent years horrible, horrible crimes. It's hard to imagine how people can do, bomb, and kill 168 people in Oklahoma City, or do the Boston Marathon bombing, but this is what I believe, and for a couple of reasons. Number one, too many innocent people, including minorities, African Americans, have been executed when they were not guilty. That's number one. We have to be very careful about making sure about that. But, second of all, and maybe, in a deeper reason, of course there are barbaric acts out there. But, in a world of so much violence and killing, I just don't believe that government itself should be part of the killing. So, when somebody commits......somebody commits any of these terrible crimes that we have seen, you lock them up, and you toss away the key. They're never going to get out. But, I just don't' want to see government be part of killing. That's all. +p101 +aVAbsolutely. I think the Secretary described the situation appropriately. You know, I don't go around asking for governor's resignations every day. In fact, I think I never have in my life. But I did ask for the resignation of Governor Snyder because his irresponsibility......was so outrageous. What we are talking about are children being poisoned. That's what we're talking about. We don't know, no one knows for sure because they haven't done the appropriate studies, but there's no question that kids' intellectual development may have been impacted. We don't know how many thousands. The idea that there has not been a dramatic response is beyond comprehension. And when you have one of the, I think, significant public health crises of recent years, of course the federal government comes in. And of course the federal government says, you're not going to be poisoning little kids and impacting their entire lives. Last point on this. And I suspect the secretary agrees. One wonders if this were a white suburban community what kind of response there would have been. Flint, Michigan, is a poor community. It is disproportionately African-American and minority. And what has happened there is absolutely unacceptable. +p102 +aVAbsolutely right. +p103 +aVChuck, I believe in trade, but I do not believe in unfettered free trade. I believe in fair trade which works for the middle class and working families of this country and not just large multinational corporations. I was not only in opposition to +p104 +aVNo, let... +p105 +aV... I am absolutely supportive of comprehensive immigration reform and a path towards citizenship for 11 million people today who are living in the shadows. All right? We got to do that. But you miss\u2014when you looked at the issues, you missed two of the most important. And that is you're not going to accomplish what has to be done for working families and the middle class unless there is campaign finance reform. So long as big money interests control the United States Congress, it is gonna be very hard to do what has to be done for working families. So let me be very clear. No nominee of mine, if I'm elected president, to the United States Supreme Court will get that nomination unless he or she is loud and clear, and says they will vote to overturn Citizens United. Second point\u2014second point is that the only way we make change in terms of health care, in terms of dealing with a broken criminal justice system which, today, allows us to have more people in jail than any other country\u2014largely African-American and Latino\u2014the only way we create millions of jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure or have a tax system that says to the wealthy that they are going to pay their fair share, is when millions of people become involved in the political process. No, you just can't negotiate with Mitch McConnell. Mitch is gonna have to look out the window and see a whole lot of people saying, "Mitch, stop representing the billionaire class. Start listening to working families." And as president, that's what I will work hard on. +p106 +aVI agree with what the secretary said. We shouldn't be getting ahead of ourselves. And as I have said many times, you know, sometimes in these campaigns, things get a little bit out of hand. I happen to respect the secretary very much, I hope it's mutual. And on our worst days, I think it is fair to say we are 100 times better than any Republican candidate. +p107 +aVI\u2014my dad came to this country at the age of 17 from Poland. Didn't have any money, couldn't speak English, he died pretty young, and I think it would have been beyond his wildest dreams to see his son up here on this stage today running for president. I love this country and my dad loved this country, and he was the most proud American because of what it gave him in terms of raising his family, even though we never had much money. But today in America, we are the only major country on earth that doesn't guarantee health care to all people, that doesn't guarantee paid family and medical leave. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth. We are seeing millions of families unable to send their kids to college in the United States of America. I'm running for president because I believe it is just too late for establishment politics and establishment economics. I do believe we need a political revolution where millions of people stand up and say loudly and clearly that our government belongs to all of us and not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors. Thank you all. +p108 +asVCLINTON +p109 +(lp110 +VThank you. +p111 +aVI'm running for president to knock down all the barriers that are holding Americans back, and to rebuild the ladders of opportunity that will give every American a chance to advance, especially those who have been left out and left behind. I know a lot of Americans are angry about the economy. And for good cause. Americans haven't had a raise in 15 years. There aren't enough good-paying jobs, especially for young people. And yes, the economy is rigged in favor of those at the top. We both agree that we have to get unaccountable money out of our political system and that we have to do much more to ensure that Wall Street never wrecks main street again. But I want to go further. I want to tackle those barriers that stand in the way of too many Americans right now. African-Americans who face discrimination in the job market, education, housing, and the criminal justice system. Hardworking immigrant families living in fear, who should be brought out of the shadows so they and their children can have a better future. Guaranteeing that women's work finally gets the pay, the equal pay that we deserve. I think America can only live up to its potential when we make sure that every American has a chance to live up to his or her potential. That will be my mission as president. And I think together we will make progress. +p112 +aVJudy, I think that the best analysis that I've seen based on Senator Sanders plans is that it would probably increase the size of the federal government by about 40%, but what is most concerning to me is that in looking at the plans \u2014 let's take healthcare for example. Last week in a CNN town hall, the Senator told a questioner that the questioner would spend about $500 dollars in taxes to get about $5,000 dollars in healthcare. Every progressive economist who has analyzed that says that the numbers don't add up, and that's a promise that cannot be kept, and it's really important now that we are getting into the rest of the country that both of us are held to account for explaining what we are proposing because, especially with healthcare, this is not about math. This is about people's lives, and we should level with the American people about what we can do to make sure they get quality affordable healthcare. +p113 +aVI can only say that we both share the goal of universal health care coverage. You know, before it was called Obamacare, it was called Hillarycare. And I took on the drug companies and I took on the insurance companies to try to get us universal health care coverage. And why I am a staunch supporter of President Obama's principal accomplishment \u2014 namely the Affordable Care Act \u2014 is because I know how hard it was to get that done. We are at 90 percent coverage. We have to get the remaining 10. I've set forth very specific plans about how to get costs down, especially prescription drug costs. And it is difficult to in any way argue with the goal that we both share. But I think the American people deserve to know specifically how this would work. If it's Medicare for all, then you no longer have the Affordable Care Act, because the Affordable Care Act, as you know very well, is based on the insurance system, based on exchanges, based on a subsidy system. The Children's Health Insurance Program, which I helped to create, which covers 8 million kids, is also a different kind of program. So if you're having Medicare for all, single-payer, you need to level with people about what they will have at the end of the process you are proposing. And based on every analysis that I can find by people who are sympathetic to the goal, the numbers don't add up, and many people will actually be worse off than they are right now. +p114 +aVWell, let me just \u2014 let me just say, once again......that, having been in the trenches fighting for this, I believe strongly we have to guarantee health care. I believe we are on the path to doing that. The last thing we need is to throw our country into a contentious debate about health care again. And we are not England. We are not France. We inherited a system that was set up during World War II; 170 million Americans get health insurance right now through their employers. So what we have tried to do and what President Obama succeeded in doing was to build on the health care system we have, get us to 90 percent coverage. We have to get the other 10 percent of the way to 100. I far prefer that and the chances we have to be successful there than trying to start all over again, gridlocking our system, and trying to get from zero to 100 percent. +p115 +aVNo. But it is absolutely fair and necessary for Americans to vet both of our proposals, to ask the really hard questions about, what is it we think we can accomplish, why do we believe that, and what would be the results for the average American family? In my case, whether it's health care, or getting us to debt-free tuition, or moving us toward paid family leave, I have been very specific about where I would raise the money, how much it would cost, and how I would move this agenda forward. I've tried to be as specific to answer questions so that my proposals can be vetted, because I feel like we have to level with people for the very reason, Gwen, that you are mentioning. There is a great deal of skepticism about the federal government. I'm aware of that. It comes from the right, from the left, from people on all sides of the political spectrum. So we have a special obligation to make clear what we stand for, which is why I think we should not make promises we can't keep, because that will further, I think, alienate Americans from understanding and believing we can together make some real changes in people's lives. +p116 +aVI will put a price tag. My price tag is about $100 billion a year. And again, paid for. And what I have said is I will not throw us further into debt. I believe I can get the money that I need by taxing the wealthy, by closing loopholes, the things that we are way overdue for doing. And I think once I'm in the White House we will have enough political capital to be able to do that. But I am conscious of the fact that we have to also be very clear, especially with young people, about what kind of government is going to do what for them and what it will cost. +p117 +aVYou know, I think, again, both of us share the goal of trying to make college affordable for all young Americans. And I have set forth a compact that would do just that for debt-free tuition. We differ, however, on a couple of key points. One of them being that if you don't have some agreement within the system from states and from families and from students, it's hard to get to where we need to go. And Senator Sanders's plan really rests on making sure that governors like Scott Walker contribute $23 billion on the first day to make college free. I am a little skeptical about your governor actually caring enough about higher education to make any kind of commitment like that. +p118 +aVWell, first, Judy, I have spent my entire adult life working toward making sure that women are empowered to make their own choices, even if that choice is not to vote for me. I believe that it's most important that we unleash the full potential of women and girls in our society. And I feel very strongly that I have an agenda, I have a record that really does respond to a lot of the specific needs that the women in our country face. So I'm going to keep making that case. I'm going to keep making sure that everything I've done, everything that I stand for is going to be well known. But I have no argument with anyone making up her mind about who to support. I just hope that by the end of this campaign there will be a lot more supporting me. That's what I'm working towards. +p119 +aVWell, look, I think that she's been saying that for as long as I've known her, which is about 25 years. But it doesn't change my view that we need to empower everyone, women and men, to make the best decisions in their minds that they can make. That's what I've always stood for. And when it comes to the issues that are really on the front lines as to whether we're going to have equal pay, paid family leave, some opportunity for, you know, women to go as far as their hard work and talent take them, I think that we still have some barriers to knock down, which is why that's at the core of my campaign. I would note, just for a historic aside, somebody told me earlier today we've had like 200 presidential primary debates, and this is the first time there have been a majority of women on the stage. So, you know, we'll take our progress wherever we can find it. +p120 +aVYou know, I have said \u2014 I have said many times, you know, I'm not asking people to support me because I'm a woman. I'm asking people to support me because I think I'm the most qualified, experienced, and ready person to be the president and the commander-in-chief. And I appreciate greatly Senator Sanders' voting record. And I was very proud to get the endorsement of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, because I've been a leader on these issues. I have gone time and time again to take on the vested interests who would keep women's health care decisions the province of the government instead of women ourselves. I'm very proud that +p121 +aVYou know, I completely agree with Senator Sanders. The first speech I gave in this campaign back in April was about criminal justice reform and ending the era of mass incarceration. The statistics from Wisconsin are particularly troubling, because it is the highest rate of incarceration for African-Americans in our nation, twice the national average. And we know of the tragic, terrible event that lead to the death of Dontre Hamilton right here in Milwaukee, a young man unarmed, who should still be with us. His family certainly believes that. And so do I. So we have work to do. There have been some good recommendations about what needs to happen. President Obama's policing commission came out with some. I have fully endorsed those. But we have to restore policing that will actually protect the communities that police officers are sworn to protect. And, then we have to go after sentencing, and that's one of the problems here in Wisconsin because so much of what happened in the criminal justice system doesn't happen at the federal level, it happens at the state and local level. But, I would also add this. There are other racial discrepancies. Really systemic racism in this state, as in others, education, in employment, in the kinds of factors that too often lead from a position where young people, particularly young men, are pushed out of school early, are denied employment opportunities. So, when we talk about criminal justice reform, and ending the era of mass incarceration, we also have to talk about jobs, education, housing, and other ways of helping communities. +p122 +aVWell, I'm just not sure I agree completely with that assessment. I think under President Obama we have seen a lot of advances, the Affordable Care Act has helped more African Americans than any other group to get insurance, to be taken care of, but we also know a lot more than we did. We have a lot more social media, we have everybody with a cellphone. So, we are seeing the dark side of the remaining systemic racism that we have to root out in our society. I think President Obama has set a great example. I think he has addressed a lot of these issues that have been quite difficult, but he has gone forward. Now, what we have to do is to build on an honest conversation about where we go next. We now have much more information about what must be done to fix our criminal justice system. We now have some good models about how better to provide employment, housing and education. I think what President Obama did was to exemplify the importance of this issue as our first African American president, and to address it both from the President's office, and through his advocacy, such as working with young men, and Mrs. Obama's work with young women. But, we can't rest. We have work to do, and we now know a lot more than we ever did before. So, it's going to be my responsibility to make sure we move forward to solve these problems that are now out in the open. Nobody can deny them. To use the Justice Department, as we just saw, they have said they are going to sue Ferguson, that entered into a consent agreement, and then tried to back out. So, we're going to enforce the law, we're going to change policing practices, we're going to change incarceration practices, but we're also going to emphasize education, jobs, and housing. +p123 +aVLook, I am deeply concerned about what's happening in every community in America, and that includes white communities, where we are seeing an increase in alcoholism, addiction, earlier deaths. People with a high school education or less are not even living as long as their parents lived. This is a remarkable and horrifying fact. And that's why I've come forward with, for example, a plan to revitalize coal country, the coalfield communities that have been so hard hit by the changing economy, by the reduction in the use of coal. You know, coal miners and their families who helped turn on the lights and power our factories for generations are now wondering, has our country forgotten us? Do people not care about all of our sacrifice? And I'm going to do everything I can to address distressed communities, whether they are communities of color, whether they are white communities, whether they are in any part of our country. I particularly appreciate the proposal that Congressman Jim Clyburn has \u2014 the 10-20-30 proposal \u2014 to try to spend more federal dollars in communities with persistent generational poverty. And you know what? If you look at the numbers, there are actually as many, if not more white communities that are truly being left behind and left out. So, yes, I do think it would be a terrible oversight not to try to address the very real problems that white Americans \u2014 particularly those without a lot of education whose jobs have \u2014 you know, no longer provided them or even no longer present in their communities, because we have to focus where the real hurt is. And that's why, as president, I will look at communities that need special help and try to deliver that. +p124 +aVI strongly support the president's executive actions. I hope the Supreme Court upholds them. I think there is constitutional and legal authority for the president to have done what he did. I am against the raids. I'm against the kind of inhumane treatment that is now being visited upon families, waking them up in the middle of the night, rounding them up. We should be deporting criminals, not hardworking immigrant families who do the very best they can and often are keeping economies going in many places in our country. I'm a strong supporter of comprehensive immigration reform. Have been ever since I was in the Senate. I was one of the original sponsors of the +p125 +aVTwo quick responses. One, with respect to the Central American children, I made it very clear that those children needed to be processed appropriately, but we also had to send a message to families and communities in Central America not to send their children on this dangerous journey in the hands of smugglers. I've also called for the end of family detention, for the end of privately-run detention centers, along with private prisons, which I think are really against the common good and the rule of law. And with respect to the 2007 bill, this was Ted Kennedy's bill. And I think Ted Kennedy had a very clear idea about what needed to be done. And I was proud to stand with him and support it. +p126 +aVWell, that just wasn't \u2014 that just wasn't the fact, Senator. The fact is that there was a great effort made by the Obama administration and others to really send a clear message, because we knew that so many of these children were being abused, being treated terribly while they tried to get to our border. So we have a disagreement on this. I think now what I've called for is counsel for every child so that no child has to face any kind of process without someone who speaks and advocates for that child so that the right decision hopefully can be made. +p127 +aVI think \u2014 I think it's fair to say we don't have a disagreement. We both believe there has to be more money going into the Social Security system. I've said I'm looking at a couple of different ways, one which you mentioned, Senator, but also trying to expand the existing tax to passive income that wealthy people have so that we do get more revenue into the Social Security Trust Fund. I have a slightly different approach, though, about what we should do with that initially. First, rather than expand benefits for everyone, I do want to take care of low-income seniors who worked at low-wage jobs. I want to take care of women. When the Social Security program was started in the 1930s, not very many women worked. And women have been disadvantaged ever since. They do not get any credit for their care-taking responsibilities. And the people who are often the most hard-hit are widows, because when their spouse dies, they can lose up to one-half of their Social Security monthly payment. So we have no disagreement about the need to buttress Social Security, get more revenue into the program. But I want to start by helping those people who are most at risk, the ones who, yes, are cutting their pills in half, who don't believe they can make the rent, who are worried about what comes next for them. +p128 +aVWell, Senator, look, I think we're in vigorous agreement here. We both want to get more revenue in. I have yet to see a proposal that you're describing that the \u2014 raising the cap would apply to passive income. That has not been... +p129 +aVWell, that has not been a part of most of the proposals that I've seen. I'm interested in making sure we get the maximum amount of revenue from those who can well afford to provide it. So I'm going to come up with the best way forward. We're going to end up in the same place. We're going to get more revenue. I'm going to prioritize those recipients who need the most help first. +p130 +aVI can't speak for the Koch Brothers, you're referring to a Super PAC that we don't coordinate with, that was set up to support President Obama, that has now decided that they want to support me. They are the ones who should respond to any questions. Let's talk about our campaigns. I'm very proud of the fact that we have more than 750 thousand donors, and the vast majority of them are giving small contributions. So, I'm proud of Senator Sanders, and his supporters. I think it's great that Senator Sanders, President Obama and I have more donors than any three people who have every run, certainly on the Democratic side. That's the way it should be, and I'm going to continue to reach out to thank all my online contributors for everything they are doing for me, to encourage them and help me do more just as Senator Sanders is. I think that is the real key here. We both have a lot of small donors. I think that sets us apart from a lot of what's happening right now on the Republican side. The Koch Brothers have a very clear political agenda. It is an agenda, in my view, that would do great harm to our country. We're going to fight it as hard as we can, and we're going to fight whoever the Republicans nominate who will depend on the Koch Brothers, and others. +p131 +aVWe are mixing apples and oranges. My 750,000 donors have contributed more than a million and a half donations. I'm very proud. That, I think, between the two of us demonstrates the strength of the support we have among people who want to see change in our country. But, the real issue, I think, that the Senator is injecting into this is that if you had a Super PAC, like President Obama has, which now says it wants to support me. It's not my PAC. If you take donations from Wall Street, you can't be independent. I would just say, I debated then Senator Obama numerous times on stages like this, and he was the recipient of the largest number of Wall Street donations of anybody running on the Democratic side ever. Now, when it mattered, he stood up and took on Wall Street. He pushed through, and he passed the Dodd-Frank regulation, the toughest regulations since the 1930's. So, let's not in anyway imply here that either President Obama or myself, would in anyway not take on any vested interested, whether it's Wall Street, or drug companies, or insurance companies, or frankly, the gun lobby to stand up to do what's best for the American people. +p132 +aVWell, let's just \u2014 let's just follow up on this, because, you know, I've made it very clear that no bank is too big to fail, no executive too powerful to jail, and because of Dodd-Frank, we now have in law a process that the president, the Federal Reserve, and others can use if any bank poses a systemic risk. I think that's a major accomplishment. I agree, however, it doesn't go far enough, because what it focuses on are the big banks, which Senator Sanders has talked about a lot, for good reason. I go further in the plan that I've proposed, which has been called the toughest, most effective, comprehensive plan for reining in the other risks that the financial system could face. It was an investment bank, Lehman Brothers, that contributed to our collapse. It was a big insurance company, AIG. It was Countrywide Mortgage. My plan would sweep all of them into a regulatory framework so we can try to get ahead of what the next problems might be. And I believe that not only Barney Frank, Paul Krugman, and others, have said that what I have proposed is the most effective. It goes in the right direction. We have Dodd-Frank. We can use it to break up the banks, if that's appropriate. But let's not kid ourselves. As we speak, there are new problems on the horizon. I want to get ahead of those, and that's why I've proposed a much more comprehensive approach to deal with all of these... +p133 +aVAbsolutely. And, you know, there are a number of programs that I think are duplicative and redundant and not producing the results that people deserve. There are a lot of training programs and education programs that I think can be streamlined and put into a much better format so that if we do continue them they can be more useful, in public schools, community colleges, and colleges and universities. I would like to take a hard look at every part of the federal government and really do the kind of analysis that would rebuild some confidence in people that we're taking a hard look about what we have, you know, and what we don't need anymore. And that's what I intend to do. +p134 +aVLook, I think we are readier than we used to be, but it's a constant effort that has to be undertaken to make sure we are as ready as we need to be. We have made a lot of improvements in our domestic security since 9/11, and we have been able to foil and prevent attacks, yet we see the terrible attack in San Bernardino and know that we haven't done enough. So we have to go after this both abroad and at home. We have to go after terrorist networks, predominantly +p135 +aVIf I could just respond. Two points. One, Senator Sanders voted in 1998 on what I think is fair to call a regime change resolution with respect to Iraq, calling for the end of Saddam Hussein's regime. He voted in favor of regime change with Libya, voted in favor of the Security Council being an active participate in setting the parameters for what we would do, which of course we followed through on. I do not believe a vote in 2002 is a plan to defeat +p136 +aVYou did support a U.N. Security Council approach, which we did follow up on. And, look, I think it's important to look at what the most important counterterrorism judgment of the first four years of the Obama administration was, and that was the very difficult decision as to whether or not to advise the president to go after bin Laden. I looked at the evidence. I looked at the intelligence. I got the briefings. I recommended that the president go forward. It was a hard choice. Not all of his top national security advisors agreed with that. And at the end of the day, it was the president's decision. So he had to leave the Situation Room after hearing from the small group advising him and he had to make that decision. I'm proud that I gave him that advice. And I'm very grateful to the brave Navy +p137 +aVWell, I know journalists have asked who you do listen to on foreign policy, and we have yet to know who that is. +p138 +aVThat's fine. That's fine. You know, I listen to a wide variety of voices that have expertise in various areas. I think it is fair to say, whatever the complaints that you want to make about him are, that with respect to China, one of the most challenging relationships we have, his opening up China and his ongoing relationships with the leaders of China is an incredibly useful relationship for the United States of America. So if we want to pick and choose \u2014 and I certainly do \u2014 people I listen to, people I don't listen to, people I listen to for certain areas, then I think we have to be fair and look at the entire world, because it's a big, complicated world out there. +p139 +aVAnd, yes, people we may disagree with on a number of things may have some insight, may have some relationships that are important for the president to understand in order to best protect the United States. +p140 +aVWell, with respect to Syria, I really do appreciate the efforts that Secretary Kerry has made. The agreement on humanitarian relief now needs to be implemented, because there are enclaves that are literally filled with starving people throughout Syria. The agreement on a cease-fire, though, is something that has to be implemented more quickly than the schedule that the Russians agreed to. You know, the Russians wanted to buy time. Are they buying time to continue their bombardment on behalf of the Assad regime to further decimate what's left of the opposition, which would be a grave disservice to any kind of eventual cease-fire? So I know Secretary Kerry is working extremely hard to try to move that cease-fire up as quickly as possible. But I would add this. You know, the Security Council finally got around to adopting a resolution. At the core of that resolution is an agreement I negotiated in June of 2012 in Geneva, which set forth a cease-fire and moving toward a political resolution, trying to bring the parties at stake in Syria together. This is incredibly complicated, because we've got Iran as a big player, in addition to Russia. We have Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and others who have very important interests in their view. This is one of the areas I've disagreed with Senator Sanders on, who has called for Iranian troops trying to end civil war in Syria, which I think would be a grave mistake. Putting Iranian troops right on the border of the Golan right next to Israel would be a nonstarter for me. Trying to get Iran and Saudi Arabia to work together, as he has suggested in the past, is equally a nonstarter. So let's support what Secretary Kerry and the president are doing, but let's hope that we can accelerate the cease-fire, because I fear that the Russians will continue their bombing, try to do everything they can to destroy what's left of the opposition. And remember, the Russians have not gone after +p141 +aVWell, I respectfully disagree. I think we have achieved a great deal with the Iranian nuclear agreement to put a lid on the Iranian nuclear weapons program. That has to be enforced absolutely with consequences for Iran at the slightest deviation from their requirements under the agreement. I do not think we should promise or even look toward normalizing relations because we have a lot of other business to get done with Iran. Yes, they have to stop being the main state sponsor of terrorism. Yes, they have to stop trying to destabilize the Middle East, causing even more chaos. Yes, they've got to get out of Syria. They've got to quit sponsoring Hezbollah and Hamas. They have got to quit trying to ship rockets into Gaza that can be used against Israel. We have a lot of work to do with Iran before we ever say that they could move toward normalized relations with us. +p142 +aV... Senator Sanders, from a debate in 2008, quote what I said. The question was, would you meet with an adversary without conditions? I said no. And in fact, in Obama administration, we did not meet with anybody without conditions. That is the appropriate approach in order to get the results that you are seeking. +p143 +aVWell, I was pleased that +p144 +aVI certainly agree with FDR for all the reasons Senator Sanders said. And I agree about the role that he played both in war and in peace on the economy and defeating fascism around the world. I would choose Nelson Mandela for his generosity of heart, his understanding of the need for reconciliation. But I want to \u2014 I want to follow up on something having to do with leadership, because, you know, today Senator Sanders said that President Obama failed the presidential leadership test. And this is not the first time that he has criticized President Obama. In the past he has called him weak. He has called him a disappointment. He wrote a forward for a book that basically argued voters should have buyers' remorse when it comes to President Obama's leadership and legacy. And I just couldn't agree \u2014 disagree more with those kinds of comments. You know, from my perspective, maybe because I understand what President Obama inherited, not only the worst financial crisis but the antipathy of the Republicans in Congress, I don't think he gets the credit he deserves for being a president......who got us out of that......put us on firm ground, and has sent us into the future. And it is a \u2014 the kind of criticism that we've heard from Senator Sanders about our president I expect from Republicans. I do not expect from someone running for the Democratic nomination to succeed President Obama. +p145 +aVYou know, Senator, what I am concerned about, is not disagreement on issues, saying that this is what I would rather do, I don't agree with the president on that, calling the president weak, calling him a disappointment, calling several times that he should have a primary opponent when he ran for re-election in 2012, you know, I think that goes further than saying we have our disagreements. As a senator, yes, I was a senator. I understand we can disagree on the path forward. But those kinds of personal assessments and charges are ones that I find particularly troubling. +p146 +aVYou know, we \u2014 we agree that we've got to get unaccountable money out of politics. We agree that Wall Street should never be allowed to wreck Main Street again. But here's the point I want to make tonight. I am not a single-issue candidate, and I do not believe we live in a single-issue country. I think that a lot of what we have to overcome to break down the barriers that are holding people back, whether it's poison in the water of the children of Flint, or whether it's the poor miners who are being left out and left behind in coal country, or whether it is any other American today who feels somehow put down and oppressed by racism, by sexism, by discrimination against the +p147 +aVWell, I'm happy to be here in New Hampshire for this debate, as we move toward the primary on Tuesday. I believe that America has the opportunity to once again live by our values, live up to our values in the 21st century, but I think that America can only do that if Americans can succeed. And there are lots of reasons why Americans today are feeling left out and left behind. Yes, of course, the economy has not been working for most Americans. Yes, of course, we have special interests that are unfortunately doing too much to rig the game. But there's also the continuing challenges of racism, of sexism, of discrimination against the +p148 +aVWell, let me start by saying that Senator Sanders and I share some very big progressive goals. I've been fighting for universal healthcare for many years, and we're now on the path to achieving it. I don't want us to start over again. I think that would be a great mistake, to once again plunge our country into a contentious debate about whether we should have and what kind of system we should have for healthcare. I want to build on the progress we've made; got from 90 percent coverage to 100 percent coverage. And I don't want to rip away the security that people finally have; 18 million people now have healthcare; preexisting conditions are no longer a bar. So we have a difference. I also believe in affordable college, but I don't believe in free college, because every expert that I have talked to says, look, how will you ever control the costs. What I want to do is make sure middle class kids, not Donald Trump's kids, get to be able to afford college. I want to get the economy going again. It's not just enough about what we're against, as important as that is. I have a plan to create new jobs, manufacturing, infrastructure, clean energy jobs that will make us the 21st century clean energy super power. I also want to make sure small businesses can start and grow again. And of course, I believe in raising the minimum wage and equal pay for work. But the numbers just don't add up, from what Senator Sanders has been proposing. That's why all of the independent experts, all of the editorial boards that have vetted both of us have concluded that it is just not achievable. Let's go down a path where we can actually tell people what we will do. A progressive is someone who makes progress. That's what I intend to do. +p149 +aVIf I could just follow up on that. There is no disagreement between us on universal coverage for health care, the disagreement is where do we start from and where do we end up. The Republicans want to repeal the Affordable Care Act, I want to improve it. I want to build on it, get the costs down, get prescription drug costs down. Senator Sanders wants us to start all over again. This was a major achievement of President Obama, of our country. It is helping people right now. I am not going to wait and have us plunge back into a contentious national debate that has very little chance of succeeding. Let's make the Affordable Care Act work for everybody. +p150 +aVWell because I am a progressive who gets things done. And the root of that word, progressive, is progress. But I've heard Senator Sanders comments, and it's really caused me to wonder who's left in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Under his definition, President Obama is not progressive because he took donations from Wall Street; Vice President Biden is not progressive because she supported Keystone; Senator Shaheen is not progressive because she supports the trade pact. Even the late, great Senator Paul Wellstone would not fit this definition because he voted for +p151 +aVWell, Chuck... +p152 +aV... If I could, you know, in the very first debate I was asked am I a moderate or a progressive and I said I'm a progressive who likes to get things done. Cherry picking a quote here or there doesn't change my record of having fought for racial justice, having fought for kids rights, having fought the kind of inequities that fueled my interest in service in the first place going back to my days in the Children's Defense Fund. It certainly didn't stop me from taking on the drug companies and the insurance companies. Before it was called Hillarycare\u2014I mean, before it was called ObamaCare it was called Hillarycare because we took them on, and we weren't successful, but we kept fighting and we got the children's health insurance program. Every step along the way I have stood up, and fought, and have the scars to prove it. So, again......I think it's important that, look, I understand Senator Sanders really trying to distinguish himself. I understand that, that's what you do in campaigns, but at the same time let's not be\u2014in, I think an unfair way, making an accusation, or making an attack about where I stand and about where I've always stood. It is fair to say, Senator, that in your definition, as you being the self-proclaimed gatekeeper for progressivism, I don't know anyone else who fits that definition, but I know a lot of really hard fighting progressives in the Democratic party who have stood up time, and time again against special interests, against the powerful on behalf of those who are left behind and left out. And, that's what we ought to be celebrating. Let's talk about what we would do as President, and Commander in Chief to make sure the progress continues into the future. +p153 +aV... Well, you began it yesterday with your comments... +p154 +aVYou know, the person who first put out the idea of a 50-state party strategy is former Governor Howard Dean, who is with us tonight. And I'm very proud and grateful to have the support of so many elected Vermonters and former officials. Two former governors, the current governor, the current other senator. I really appreciate that. And I think it's because they've worked with me, they've seen what I do. They know what kind of a colleague I am. They want me as their partner in the White House. And that's exactly what I will do. We'll get things done together. Democrats, Republicans, independents, we're going to make progress together when I'm president. +p155 +aVWell, look, I've got to just jump in here because, honestly, Senator Sanders is the only person who I think would characterize me, a woman running to be the first woman president, as exemplifying the establishment. And I've got to tell you that it is......it is really quite amusing to me. People support me because they know me. They know my life's work. They have worked with me and many have also worked with Senator Sanders. And at the end of the day they endorse me because they know I can get things done. I am not going to make promises I can't keep. I am not going to talk about big ideas like single-payer and then not level with people about how much it will cost. A respected health economist said that these plans would cost a trillion dollars more a year. I'm not going to tell people that I will raise your incomes and not your taxes, and not mean it, because I don't want to see the kind of struggle that the middle class is going through exemplified by these promises that would raise taxes and make it much more difficult for many, many Americans to get ahead and stay ahead. That is not my agenda. +p156 +aVYeah, but I\u2014I think it's fair to really ask what's behind that comment. You know, Senator Sanders has said he wants to run a positive campaign. I've tried to keep my disagreements over issues, as it should be. But time and time again, by innuendo, by insinuation, there is this attack that he is putting forth, which really comes down to\u2014you know, anybody who ever took donations or speaking fees from any interest group has to be bought. And I just absolutely reject that, Senator. And I really don't think these kinds of attacks by insinuation are worthy of you. And enough is enough. If you've got something to say, say it directly. But you will not find that I ever changed a view or a vote because of any donation that I ever received. +p157 +aVAnd I have stood up and I have represented my constituents to the best of my abilities, and I'm very proud of that. +p158 +aVSo I think it's time to end the very artful smear that you and your campaign have been carrying out... +p159 +aV... in recent weeks, and let's talk......let's talk about about the issues. Let's talk about the issues that divide us. +p160 +aVAnd let's\u2014let's... +p161 +aV... we both agree with campaign finance reform. +p162 +aVI\u2014I worked hard for McCain-Feingold. +p163 +aVI want to reverse Citizens United. +p164 +aVAnd so\u2014let's talk about issues. +p165 +aVWell, you know, Senator, I don't think\u2014I don't... +p166 +aV... I don't think you could find any person in political life today who has been subjected to more attacks and had more money spent against her by special interests, among whom you have named a few, than I. And I'm proud of that. You know, when I took on the drug companies and the insurance companies for universal health care coverage, they went after me with a vengeance. Today, you've got hedge fund billionaires aligned with Karl Rove, running ads against me to try to get Democrats to vote for you. I know this game. I'm going to stop this game. But while we're talking about votes, you're the one who voted to deregulate swaps and derivatives in 2000, which contributed to the over-leveraging of Lehman Brothers, which was one of the culprits that brought down the economy. So I don't know\u2014I'm not impugning your motive because you voted to deregulate swaps and derivatives. People make mistakes and I'm certainly not saying you did it for any kind of financial advantage. What we've got to do as Democrats\u2014what we've got to do as Democrats is to be united to actually solve these problems. And what I believe is that I have a better track record and a better opportunity to actually get that job done. That's what this election should be about. +p167 +aVOn the issue of Wall Street. +p168 +aVWell you know, Rachel, I think I may not have done the job I should in explaining my record. You know, I did\u2014when I left the secretary of State's office, like so many former officials, military leaders, journalists, others, I did go on the speaking circuit. I spoke to heart doctors, I spoke to the American Camping Association, I spoke to auto dealers, and yes, I spoke to firms on Wall Street. They wanted me to talk about the world, what my experience had been as secretary of State. But what I want people to know is I went to Wall Street before the crash. I was the one saying you're going to wreck the economy because of these shenanigans with mortgages. I called to end the carried interest loophole that hedge fund managers enjoy. I proposed changes in CEO compensation. I called for a consumer protection financial bureau before it was created. And I think the best evidence that the Wall Street people at least know where I stand and where I have always stood is because they are trying to beat me in this primary. They have collected and spent as much as $6 million on these ads. Hedge fund billionaires, Karl Rove, another billionaire, jumped in. And why are they doing that? These are guys who try to make smart investments. They know my record, they know me, they know that I say what I believe and I will do it. And I also have a pretty good understanding about how to stop them. So I do want people to know that, and I think it's important for everybody to understand I have a record, I have stood firm and I will be the person who prevents them from ever wrecking the economy again. +p169 +aVIf I could, let me just say that of course it has to change. It has to change. And that's why I have put forward a plan to do just that. And it's been judged to be the toughest, most effective and comprehensive one. I have great respect for Senator Sanders's commitment to try to restore Glass-Steagall. But I do not believe that that is enough. And in fact, I don't believe it really addresses a lot of the biggest issues we have. You know, we now have power under the Dodd-Frank legislation to break up banks. And I've said I will use that power if they pose a systemic risk. But I want to go further, because it was investment banks, it was insurance companies, it was mortgage companies, all of which contributed. So let's not just be narrowly focused on one part of the problem. We have a lot of issues with corporate power that have to be addressed. My plan takes us further and it would do the job. +p170 +aVLook we have a law\u2014look, you know, I\u2014I appreciate the senator's advocacy. We have a law. It was passed. It was signed by President Obama. It lays out a process that you go through to determine whether a systemic risk is posed. And by the way, President Obama signed that, pushed it through, even though he took donations from Wall Street, because he's a responsible president. So we have a law in place. If the circumstances warrant it, I will certainly use it. And from what you say, I know you will as well. But that is not enough. And I keep going back to this because part of the reason the Wall Street guys are trying so hard to stop me\u2014the hedge fund guys, the shadow banking guys\u2014is because I've got their number on all of that. And my plan goes so much further to try to prevent the problems of the future. You know, we can't just fight the last war. We've got to be prepared to stop these guys if they ever try to use their economic power once again, to hurt the economy, and to hurt so many Americans. And my plan, Paul Krugman, Barney Frank, a lot of experts who understand what the new challenges might be, have said I am exactly on point, and the Wall Street guys actually know that. +p171 +aVI will look into it. I don't know the status, but I will certainly look into it. But, I can only repeat what is the fact that I spoke to a lot of different groups with a lot of different constituents, a lot of different kinds of members about issues that had to do with world affairs. I probably described more times than I can remember how stressful it was advising the President about going after Bin Laden. My view on this is look at my record. Look at what I am proposing, and\u2014we have a vigorous agreement here. We both want to reign in the excesses of Wall Street. I also want to reign in the excesses of Johnson Controls that we bailed out when they were an autoparts company, and we saved the auto industry, and now they want to avoid paying taxes. I want to go after the pharmaceutical companies like Valeant, and Turns that are increasing prices without any regard to the impact on people's health. Now, if all we're going to talk about is one part of our economy, and indeed one streak in our economy, we're missing the big oil companies. We're missing other big energy companies. We're missing the big picture, and I have a record of trying to go at the problems that actually exist, and I will continue to do that. +p172 +aV... Well, Senator, no one wants to see that happen. I mean, look, I care deeply about this because just like you I have met so many people who had their life savings wiped out, who lost their homes, who are barely back with their heads above water. This was a disaster for our country, and we can never let that happen again. We have no disagreement about this. But, I think it's a broader target list than just Wall Street, and I believe that we have to be very focused on how we try to take back the power and increase the empowerment of the American people. And, I think I have that kind of experience, maybe because they've beat me up for so many years, and I know exactly how to handle them because I've been in the arena with them time and time again. +p173 +aVWell, I think what the president understands, and what he's trying to do, is that we have to support the Arab and Kurdish fighters on the ground who are actually doing the fighting. I agree with the president. I've said myself, we will not send American combat troops back to either Syria or Iraq\u2014that is off the table. But we do have special forces, we do have trainers, we do have the military personnel who are helping with the airstrikes that the United States is leading so that we can try to take out +p174 +aVNo. I mean, of course that's a theoretical question, and we don't know what it would be for, and we don't know how many numbers there are. I am against American combat troops being in Syria and Iraq. I support special forces. I support trainers. I support the air campaign. And I think we're making some progress. I want to continue to intensify that, and that's exactly what the president is doing. +p175 +aVIf I could\u2014if I could... +p176 +aV... respectfully add\u2014look, we did differ. A vote in 2002 is not a plan to defeat +p177 +aVOh, absolutely. The president decided to leave more troops than he had originally planned in Afghanistan. We have a very cooperative government there, with Ashraf Ghani and his top\u2014his top partner, Abdullah. And they are doing their very best. And the Afghan army is actually fighting. The Afghan army is taking heavy losses defending Afghan territory. And I would have to make an evaluation based on the circumstances at the time I took office as to how much help they continue to need. Because it's not just the Taliban. We now are seeing outposts of, you know, fighters claiming to be affiliated with +p178 +aVA group of national security experts, military intelligence experts, issued a very concerning statement about Senator Sanders's views on foreign policy and national security, pointing out some of the comments he has made on these issues, such as inviting Iranian troops into Syria to try to resolve the conflict there; putting them right at the doorstep of Israel. Asking Saudi Arabia and Iran to work together, when they can't stand each other and are engaged in a proxy battle right at this moment. So I do think questions have been raised and questions have to be answered because when New Hampshire voters go on Tuesday to cast your vote, you are voting both for a president and a commander in chief. And there is no way to predict what comes in the door of that White House from day to day that can pose a threat to the United States or one of our friends and allies, and I think this is a big part of the job interview that we are all conducting with the voters here. +p179 +aVWell, let me just add that, you know, I've said this before and I'm very proud of it, that when it comes to judgment, having run a hard race against Senator Obama at the time, he turned to me to be secretary of State. And when it comes to the biggest counterterrorism issues that we faced in this administration, namely whether or not to go after bin Laden, I was at that table, I was exercising my judgment to advise the president on what to do, on that, on Iran, on Russia on China, on a whole raft of issues. Because I know from my own experience that you've got to be ready on day one. There is just too much unpredictable threat and danger in the world today, you know, to try to just say wait, I'll get to that when I can. That is just not an acceptable approach. +p180 +aVAbsolutely. You know, I did put together the coalition to impose sanctions. I actually started the negotiations that led to the nuclear agreement, sending some much my closest aides to begin the conversations with the Iranians. I'm very pleased we got that nuclear agreement. It puts a lid on the nuclear weapons program. We have to enforce it, there have to be consequences attached to it. But that is not our only problem with Iran. We have to figure out how to deal with Iran as the principal state sponsor of terrorism in the world. They are destabilizing governments in the region. They continue to support Hezbollah and Hamas in Lebanon against Israel. A lot of work that we have do is going to be incredibly hard. I'm prepared to do that work, but I believe, just as I did with imposing the sanctions, you have to get action for action. If we were to normalize relations right now, we would remove one of the biggest pieces of leverage we have to try to influence and change Iranian behavior. The president doesn't think we should. I certainly don't think we should. I believe we have to take this step by step to try to reign in Iranian aggression, their support for terrorism and the other bad behavior that can come back and haunt us. +p181 +aVWell Senator, let me just correct the record if I can. You know\u2014let me correct the record. +p182 +aVAs I\u2014as I certainly recall, the question was to meet with without conditions. And you're right, I was against that. I was against it then I would be against it now. +p183 +aVPart of diplomacy, the hard work of diplomacy is trying to extract whatever concessions you can get, and giving something the other side wants. Of course you've got to try to make peace with, and work with those who are your adversaries, but you don't just rush in, open the door, and say, "Here I am. Let's talk and make a deal." That's not the way it works. +p184 +aV... Well, we set conditions on Iran. We worked hard to get them established, and to be enforced, and then we talked. That's exactly the right......and, that's what I did with the President, so he and I are on the very same page. +p185 +aVI haven't talked to Secretary Carter, but here's what I would think he's planning. We do have the nuclear weapons agreement with Iran, that's an enforcement consequence, action for action, follow on. We have a plan, we will watch them, we will be vigilant. We do have to worry about North Korea. They continue to develop their nuclear weapons capability, and they're working very hard on their ballistic missile capability. And, I know that some of those plans could very well lead to a missile that might reach Hawaii, if not the West Coast. We do have to try to get the countries in the region to work with us to do everything we can to confine, and constrain them. But, what Secretary Carter is looking at is the constant pressure that Russia's putting on our European allies. The way that Russia is trying to move the boundaries of the post-World War II Europe. The way that he is trying to set European countries against one another, seizing territory, holding it in Crimea. Beginning to explore whether they could make some inroads in the Baltics. We know that they are deeply engaged in supporting Assad because they want to have a place in the Middle East. They have a naval base, they have an air base in Syria. They want to hang on to that. I think what Secretary Carter is seeing, and I'm glad he is, is that we got to get +p186 +aVWell, first of all, I'm absolutely against privatizing the V.A. And I am going do everything I can to build on the reforms that Senator Sanders and others in Congress have passed to try to fix what's wrong with the V.A. There are a lot of issues about wait times and services that have to be fixed because our veterans deserve nothing but the best. But you're absolutely right, you know, Rachel, this is another part of the Koch brothers agenda. They've actually formed an organization to try to begin to convince Americans we should no longer have guaranteed health care, specialized care for our veterans. I will fight that as hard as I can. I think there's where we can enlist the veterans service organizations, the veterans of America, because, yes, let's fix the V.A., but we will never let it be privatized, and that is a promise. +p187 +aVWhatever they decide to do, that's fine. +p188 +aVAll right. +p189 +aVI can only tell you what I believe, and that is that I am the strongest candidate to take it to the Republicans and win in November. And I say that with great\u2014with great respect for the campaign that Senator Sanders has been running. I personally am thrilled at the numbers of people, and particularly young people who are coming to support your campaign. I hope that I will be able to earn their support. They may not support me now, but I support them and we'll work together. But what I'm concerned about is the views of many Democrats who know their states, who know how hard it is to win a general election. And it also will push whoever the nominee is into the spotlight. I've been vetted. There's hardly anything you don't know about me. And I think it's fair to say that whoever is in that position, Senator Sanders or anyone else who might have run, will face the most withering onslaught. So, I think that I am the person who can do all aspects of the job. I think I'm the person best prepared to take the case to the Republicans. And I think that at the end of the day, it's not so much electability. It is who the American people can believe can keep them safe, can get the economy moving again, can get incomes rising, can build on the progressive accomplishments of President Obama. And I think that the coalition that President Obama put together to win twice is a coalition that I can put together and add to. And that's what I'm prepared to... +p190 +aVAbsolutely I can. You know, before it was emails, it was Benghazi, and the Republicans were stirring up so much controversy about that. And I testified for 11 hours, answered their questions. They basically said yeah, didn't get her. We tried. That was all a political ploy. Now, we had a development in the email matter today when it came out that Secretary Powell and close aides to Former Secretary Rice used private e-mail accounts. and now you have these people in the government who are doing the same thing to Secretary Powell and Secretary Rice's aide they've been doing to me, which is that I never sent or received any classified material. They are retroactively classifying it. I agree completely with Secretary Powell, who said today this is an absurdity. And so I think the American people will know it's an absurdity. I have absolutely no concerns about it whatsoever. +p191 +aVI am 100 percent confident. This is a security review that was requested. It is being carried out. It will be resolved. But I have to add if there's going to be a security review about me, there's going to have to be security reviews about a lot of other people, including Republican office holders, because we've got this absurd situation of retroactive classifications. Honest to goodness, this is\u2014this just beggars the imagination. So I have absolutely no concerns about it, but we've got to get to the bottom of what's really going on here, and I hope that will happen. +p192 +aVNo. +p193 +aVYes, I do. And\u2014you know, what I hope the Supreme Court will do is make it absolutely clear that any state that continues capital punishment either must meet the highest standards of evidentiary proof of effective assistance of counsel or they cannot continue it because that, to me, is the real dividing line. I have much more confidence in the federal system, and I do reserve it for particularly heinous crimes in the federal system, like terrorism. I have strong feelings about that. I thought it was appropriate after a very thorough trial that Timothy McVeigh received the death penalty for blowing up the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people, including 19 children in a daycare center. I do for very limited, particularly heinous crimes believe it is an appropriate punishment, but I deeply disagree with the way that too many states are still implementing it. If it were possible to separate the federal from the state system by the Supreme Court, that would, I think, be an appropriate outcome. +p194 +aVAbsolutely. Absolutely. You know, Rachel, you and I have talked about this before. I thank you for going to Flint to hold that town hall. I will be in Flint at the Mayor's invitation on Sunday to get an in depth briefing about what is, and is not happening. This is an emergency. Everyday that goes by that these people, particularly the children, are not tested so we can know what steps must be taken to try to remediate the effects of the poisoning that they have been living with is a day lost in a child's life. I know from the work that I've done over so many years, lead, the toxic nature of lead can affect you brain development, your body development, your behavior. I absolutely believe that what is being done is not sufficient. We need to be absolutely clear about everything that should be done from today to tomorrow, into the future to try to remedy the terrible burden that the people of Flint are barring. That includes fixing their pipes, it includes guaranteeing whatever healthcare and educational embellishments they may need going forward, and I think the federal government has way where it can bill the state of Michigan. If Michigan won't do it, there have to be ways that we can begin to move, and then make them pay for it, and hold them accountable. +p195 +aVYou know, Chuck, I've only had responsibility for voting for trade agreements as a senator. And I voted a multinational trade agreement when I was senator, the +p196 +aVWell, I\u2014I don't accept that premise, Chuck. I think that we've got so much business we have to do. We've talked a lot tonight about what we're against\u2014we're against income inequality. We're against the abuses of powerful interests. We're against a lot of things. I'm for a lot of things. I don't want to just stop bad things from happening, I want to start good things from happening. And I believe, if I'm so fortunate to get the nomination, I will begin to work immediately on putting together an agenda, beginning to talk with members of Congress and others about how we can push forward. I want to have half a billion more solar panels deployed, the first four years. I want to have enough clean energy to power every home the next four years. I want us to keep working on the Affordable Care Act, to get not only to 100 percent coverage, but bring down the costs of prescription drugs and out-of-pocket costs. I want to move forward on paid family leave, on early childhood education, I want us to do more for small businesses. Small businesses have to create most of the jobs, and we're not creating and growing small businesses. I think, if you have a smart agenda, you pick the committees that you know have to begin to work on these various pieces\u2014because that's the way Congress is set up. You go through different committees, and you really make a big push in the beginning. Immigration reform, economic revitalization with manufacturing, with infrastructure\u2014we put it out there, and we begin to work on an ambitious, big, bold agenda that will actually produce the results that I want to see for our country. +p197 +aVThe answer to both of those is no. I'm interested in making what we have work better. I want to streamline programs that are duplicative and redundant. I want to have a top-to-bottom review about what works and what doesn't work, and be absolutely clear we're getting rid of what doesn't work. I have had the opportunity to run a big agency. I was very flattered when Henry Kissinger said I ran the State Department better\u2014better than anybody had run it in a long time. So I have an idea of what it's going to take to make our government work more efficiently. And when you put together a budget, you have to make a lot of hard decisions, but I think it's not appropriate to say "I'm going to get rid of this, get rid of that" until you have a very good process that gives you the information about what to do. But I want to add something else, you know, because look, we have so much work to do in our country, and I think it's the greatest work that Americans will be called to do. And of course, we have to have people in every community involved in it. We have to have the political voice, the political grassroots speaking up and speaking out about what we have to try to accomplish in Washington. But we also need to have a very clear set of goals that we are going to achieve, and we need to level with the American people about what they are, what they will cost, what will be expected of our citizenry. So I see as president having a constant dialogue with Americans here's what we're trying to get done, here's why I need your help, here's why you may think comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship isn't something you care about, but I'm telling you it will help fix the labor market, it will bring people out of the shadows\u2014 +p198 +aVI never said that. +p199 +aVLook... +p200 +aVWell, I'm certainly going to unite the party, but I'm not\u2014I'm not getting ahead of myself. I think that would be a little bit presumptuous. If I'm so fortunate as to be the nominee, the first person I will call to talk to about where we go and how we get it done will be Senator Sanders. +p201 +aVThat's true. That's true. +p202 +aVWell first, thanks to +p203 +asVTRUMP +p204 +(lp205 +VThank you. I began this journey six months ago. My total focus was on building up our military, building up our strength, building up our borders, making sure that China, Japan, Mexico, both at the border and in trade, no longer takes advantage of our country. Certainly would never have made that horrible, disgusting, absolutely incompetent deal with Iran where they get $150 billion. They're a terrorist nation. But I began it talking about other things. And those things are things that I'm very good at and maybe that's why I'm center stage. People saw it. People liked it. People respected it. A month ago things changed. Radical Islamic terrorism came into effect even more so than it has been in the past. People like what I say. People respect what I say. And we've opened up a very big discussion that needed to be opened up. Thank you very much. +p206 +aVWe are not talking about isolation. We're talking about security. We're not talking about religion. We're talking about security. Our country is out of control. People are pouring across the southern border. I will build a wall. It will be a great wall. People will not come in unless they come in legally. Drugs will not pour through that wall. As far as other people like in the migration, where they're going, tens of thousands of people having cell phones with +p207 +aVJeb doesn't really believe I'm unhinged. He said that very simply because he has failed in this campaign. It's been a total disaster. Nobody cares. And frankly, I'm the most solid person up here. I built a tremendous company and all I want to do is make America great again. I don't want our country to be taken away from us, and that's what's happening. The policies that we've suffered under other presidents have been a disaster for our country. We want to make America great again. And Jeb, in all fairness, he doesn't believe that. +p208 +aVWell, look, this is so easy to answer. +p209 +aVI would certainly be open to closing areas where we are at war with somebody. I sure as hell don't want to let people that want to kill us and kill our nation use our Internet. Yes, sir, I am. +p210 +aVWe have to be much tougher. We have to be much stronger than we've been. We have people that know what is going on. You take a look at just the attack in California the other day. There were numerous people, including the mother, that knew what was going on. They saw a pipe bomb sitting all over the floor. They saw ammunition all over the place. They knew exactly what was going on. When you had the World Trade Center go, people were put into planes that were friends, family, girlfriends, and they were put into planes and they were sent back, for the most part, to Saudi Arabia. They knew what was going on. They went home and they wanted to watch their boyfriends on television. I would be very, very firm with families. Frankly, that will make people think because they may not care much about their lives, but they do care, believe it or not, about their families' lives. +p211 +aVLook, the problem is we need toughness. Honestly, I think Jeb is a very nice person. He's a very nice person. But we need tough people. We need toughness. We need intelligence and we need tough. Jeb said when they come across the southern border they come as an act of love. +p212 +aVAm I talking or are you talking, Jeb? +p213 +aVYou can go back. You're not talking. You interrupted me. +p214 +aVAre you going to apologize, Jeb? No. Am I allowed to finish? +p215 +aVExcuse me, am I allowed to finish? +p216 +aVSo... +p217 +aV... again... +p218 +aVI know you're trying to build up your energy, Jeb, but it's not working very well. +p219 +aVLook, look, look. We need a toughness. We need strength. We're not respected, you know, as a nation anymore. We don't have that level of respect that we need. And if we don't get it back fast, we're just going to go weaker, weaker and just disintegrate. We can't allow that to happen. We need strength. We don't have it. When Jeb comes out and he talks about the border, and I saw it and I was witness to it, and so was everyone else, and I was standing there, "they come across as an act of love," he's saying the same thing right now with radical Islam. And we can't have that in our country. It just won't work. We need strength. +p220 +aVWith Jeb's attitude, we will never be great again, that I can tell you. We will never be great again. +p221 +aVSo, they can kill us, but we can't kill them? That's what you're saying. And as far as the Internet is concerned, we're not talking about closing the Internet. I'm talking about parts of Syria, parts of Iraq, where +p222 +aVIn my opinion, we've spent $4 trillion trying to topple various people that frankly, if they were there and if we could've spent that $4 trillion in the United States to fix our roads, our bridges, and all of the other problems; our airports and all of the other problems we've had, we would've been a lot better off. I can tell you that right now. We have done a tremendous disservice, not only to Middle East, we've done a tremendous disservice to humanity. The people that have been killed, the people that have wiped away, and for what? It's not like we had victory. It's a mess. The Middle East is totally destabilized. A total and complete mess. I wish we had the $4 trillion or $5 trillion. I wish it were spent right here in the United States, on our schools, hospitals, roads, airports, and everything else that are all falling apart. +p223 +aVWell, there's nothing to respond to. Well, people feel differently. I mean, the fact is Benghazi was a disaster because of Libya, everything just fell into place. It could not have been worse. What do we have now? We have nothing. We've spent $3 trillion and probably much more \u2013 I have no idea what we've spent. Thousands and thousands of lives, we have nothing. Wounded warriors all over the place who I love, we have nothing for it. And by the way \u2013 and Ben said incorrectly \u2013 and I'm not saying this as a knock \u2013 he's one of finest men. You're not going to find a finer men. But I've been talking about oil for three years. I've been saying,, "take the oil, take the oil." I didn't say, "just bomb it," I said," take it and use it and distribute it so that the wounded warriors -" People, I've been saying this now for many years. +p224 +aVNow, all of a sudden everybody's saying, "take the oil." It wasn't so fashionable to take the oil six months ago. I've been saying it for years. +p225 +aVI think Assad is a bad guy, a very bad guy, all right? Lots of people killed. I think we are backing people we have no idea who they are. The rebels, we call them the rebels, the patriotic rebels. We have no idea. A lot of people think, Hugh, that they are +p226 +aVI think it's very sad that CNN leads Jeb Bush, Governor Bush, down a road by starting off virtually all the questions, "Mr. Trump this, Mister" \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched the first debate, and the first long number of questions were, "Mr. Trump said this, Mr. Trump said that. Mr. Trump" \u2014 these poor guys \u2014 although, I must tell you, Santorum, good guy. Governor Huckabee, good guy. They were very nice, and I respect them greatly. But I thought it was very unfair that virtually the entire early portion of the debate was Trump this, Trump that, in order to get ratings, I guess. In order to get ratings, I guess. +p227 +aVI just think it's very \u2014 excuse me. +p228 +aVExcuse me. I think it's very unprofessional. +p229 +aVWell, I think it's very unprofessional. +p230 +aVOK, fine. +p231 +aVThis isn't tough and easy. I wish it... +p232 +aVI wish it was always this easy as you, Jeb. +p233 +aVOh, yeah. +p234 +aVOh, I know. You're a tough guy, Jeb. I know. +p235 +aVYou're tough. +p236 +aVWell, let's see. I'm at 42, and you're at 3. So, so far, I'm doing better. +p237 +aVSo far, I'm doing better. You know, you started off over here, Jeb. You're moving over further and further. Pretty soon you're going to be off the end... +p238 +aVI believe I did. +p239 +aVI have a very hardline position, we have a country or we don't have a country. People that have come into our country illegally, they have to go. They have to come back into through a legal process. I want a strong border. I do want a wall. Walls do work, you just have to speak to the folks in Israel. Walls work if they're properly constructed. I know how to build, believe me, I know how to build. I feel a very, very strong bind, and really I'm bound to this country, we either have a border or we don't. People can come into the country, we welcome people to come but they have to come in legally. +p240 +aVWell, first of all, I think we need somebody absolutely that we can trust, who is totally responsible; who really knows what he or she is doing. That is so powerful and so important. And one of the things that I'm frankly most proud of is that in 2003, 2004, I was totally against going into Iraq because you're going to destabilize the Middle East. I called it. I called it very strongly. And it was very important. But we have to be extremely vigilant and extremely careful when it comes to nuclear. Nuclear changes the whole ball game. Frankly, I would have said get out of Syria; get out \u2014 if we didn't have the power of weaponry today. The power is so massive that we can't just leave areas that 50 years ago or 75 years ago we wouldn't care. It was hand-to-hand combat. The biggest problem this world has today is not President Obama with global warming, which is inconceivable, this is what he's saying. The biggest problem we have is nuclear \u2014 nuclear proliferation and having some maniac, having some madman go out and get a nuclear weapon. That's in my opinion, that is the single biggest problem that our country faces right now. +p241 +aVI think \u2014 I think, for me, nuclear is just the power, the devastation is very important to me. +p242 +aVI did. +p243 +aVLet me just say that I have gotten to know him over the last three or four days. He has a wonderful temperament. He's just fine. Don't worry about it. +p244 +aVYou better not attack... +p245 +aVI really am. I'll be honest, I really am. I mean, the people have been putting me... I really am. +p246 +aVLet me just. Can I just finish my... +p247 +aVI've gained great respect for the Republican leadership. I've gained great respect for many \u2014 and I'm going to even say \u2014 I mean, in different forms for the people on the dais, in different forms. In different forms. But I have great respect for the people I have met through this process. I've never done this process before. I've never been a politician. I mean, for the last six months I've been a politician. But I will tell you, I am totally committed to the Republican Party. I feel very honored to be the front runner. And I think I'll do very well if I'm chosen. If I'm so fortunate to be chosen, I think I'll do very well. Polls have come out recently saying I would beat Hillary. I will do everything in my power to beat Hillary Clinton, I promise you. +p248 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We don't win on trade. We don't win on the military. We can't defeat +p249 +asVMADDOW +p250 +(lp251 +VWe are super excited to be here at the University of New Hampshire. Tonight, this is the first time that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have squared off exactly like this. Face-to-face, just one-on-one, just the two of them. +p252 +aVAnd we do hope that the candidates will take this opportunity to show us the distinctions\u2014show us the differences between them. That's the whole reason that we're here tonight. We're not here for talking points. We're to learn about the difference between the candidates. And with that, let's get going. Please join us in welcoming Secretary Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders. +p253 +aVAnd with that, that's it. We're going to begin with 60- second opening statements from each of the candidates. And as agreed to in advance by the two campaigns, we're going to begin tonight with Senator Sanders. +p254 +aVSecretary Clinton, Senator Sanders is campaigning against you now, at this point in the campaign, basically arguing that you are not progressive enough to be the Democratic nominee. He has said that if you voted for the Iraq war, if you are in favor of the death penalty, if you wobbled on things like the Keystone Pipeline or TPP, if you said single payer health care could never happen, then you're too far to the right of the Democratic Party to be the party's standard bearer. Given those policy positions, why should liberal Democrats support you and not Senator Sanders? +p255 +aVSenator Sanders, have you established a list of what it means to be a progressive that is unrealistic? +p256 +aVThank you Senator. +p257 +aVSenator Sanders, as a Vermonter, you have almost a home state advantage here in New Hampshire. But back home across the border, you also have a long history of running against Democrats as a third-party candidate, for governor, Senate, for Congress. In 1988 your candidacy as a third-party candidate arguably cost the Democrats a congressional seat and sent a Republican instead. How can you lead the Democratic Party nationally when you have not been a member of the Democratic Party until very recently? +p258 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p259 +aVSo, Senator, to that point, Secretary Clinton is raising the issue of endorsements by your home state Democrats. She's implying that that says something about the people who know you best. +p260 +aVHow do you see it? +p261 +aVSecretary. +p262 +aVSenator Sanders, you'll have 30 seconds to respond to that. +p263 +aVSenator Sanders, Secretary Clinton, obviously we've touched a nerve. We're going to be back with more on this subject, and much more, right after this. Stay with us. +p264 +aVSecretary Clinton, on the issue of Wall Street... +p265 +aV... on the issue of Wall Street, when our reporters go out and talk to people on the ground in the early states, what they tell us over and over again when they find voters who are leaning toward Senator Sanders rather than yourself is that the most frequent area of concern that they hear from those voters is the issue of Wall Street and whether or not you are too close to Wall Street. Last night, when you were asked about speaking fees and the amount of speaking fees you got from Goldman Sachs speeches, you said that's what they offered. Have you been too dismissive of voters' concerns about this issue in your own campaign and your own career? +p266 +aVSenator Sanders, you have been a critic of Secretary Clinton taking those speaking fees and having donations from Wall Street. What about her defense of her record? +p267 +aVSenator Sanders, let me turn to, I think, where this direction is heading anyway, which is the broader issue of big business and power in our political system. You on the campaign trail have railed against big name American corporations like Boeing, and General Electric, and Wal Mart. But, some big businesses in this country have also been part of advancing progressive goals like that nationwide initiative to expand employment opportunities for veterans. That was all about cooperation between the Obama administration and some very big business. The Affordable Care Act, some of the thorniest problems in that bill were worked out in cooperation with big business in order to accomplish progressive goals. Could you work with them, or have you made enemies of big business in this country with the way you've approached them in this campaign? +p268 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. And with that, we're going to take a break. +p269 +aVWelcome back\u2014welcome back to the Democratic candidates' debate. We're going to be talking about America in the world, both in terms of some trade issues, but also national security. And Secretary Clinton, we're going to start with you. There are more than 4,000 American troops back in Iraq right now as part of the fight against +p270 +aVTo be clear, to the specific question, if that strategic goal that you're describing requires considerably more of Americans\u2014an ever-increasing number of Americans in Iraq and maybe in Syria, are you OK with the numbers increasing? +p271 +aVThank you, Madam Secretary. +p272 +aVSecretary Clinton, at the\u2014at the last Democratic debate in Charleston\u2014I want to get specific here\u2014Senator Sanders called for moving as aggressively as we can to normalize relations with Iran. Your campaign has criticized him for saying that. Now that he's standing next to you here on this stage, can you explain why the U.S. shouldn't try to normalize relations in Iran in your view? +p273 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to ask you about a national security issue that is closer to home. There are thousands of veterans, over 100,000 veterans living in the state of New Hampshire. If either one of you is nominated as the Democratic Party's nominee, you will likely face a Republican opponent in the general election who wants to privatize or even abolish big parts of the V.A. It's a newly popular idea in conservative politics. How will you win the argument on that issue given the problems that have been exposed at the V.A. in the last few years? What's your argument that the V.A. should still exist and should not be privatized? +p274 +aVSenator Sanders, you, as a congressional leader on veterans issues and the Veterans Committee, you've worked in a very bipartisan way with Senator John McCain and others on veterans issues. Is the right contour of the fight, the way she's talking about this issue? +p275 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Sanders, Secretary Clinton, we're going to take another break. We'll be talking about Social Security and some of those other issues when we come back. +p276 +aVSenator\u2014Senator Sanders, in 1964... +p277 +aVIn 1964, I heard that the Republicans nominated Barry Goldwater, who was the hero of the conservative movement. He was, however, far to the right of most of that party. In 1972, the Democrats nominated George McGovern, who was a hero of liberals in the antiwar movement, but he was to the left of his party's mainstream. Both of those nominees made activists very excited, and they both got destroyed in the general election. Even Democrats who love you worry about your fate in a general election. And I know you have good head-to-head polling numbers against Republican frontrunners right now. We know that. But do you have a general election strategy that is different than the way you're running right now to try to get the nomination? +p278 +aVSecretary Clinton, your campaign surrogates, and people who have endorsed you, have suggested that or even said that if Senator Sanders is the nominee, that Democrats will suffer nationwide and the chances will go down of Democrats holding onto the White House. With him here standing next to you, can you tell us whether or not you believe he would win the general election if he were nominated? +p279 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. Senator, in December, one of your campaign staffers was fired from your campaign for taking voter data essentially from the Clinton campaign. You apologized for that when the incident was made public. Your campaign has now been criticized for its operatives essentially impersonating culinary union members wearing union pins in Nevada, and the Nashua Telegraph has complained recently that you falsely implied in an advertisement that they had endorsed you when they did not. None of these issues obviously is the end of the world, but they all are of a piece. Are you in some sense losing control of your campaign? +p280 +aVJust to follow up on that, the title of the ad in question was Endorsement. +p281 +aVSecretary Clinton, do you want 30 seconds on that issue? +p282 +aVAnd with that, we will . +p283 +aVWelcome back to the University of New Hampshire, and the Democratic candidates' debate. Secretary Clinton, on the issue of the death penalty, here in New Hampshire, the one person who is on death row is there for killing a police officer. It's a crime that has caused anguish in this state, both among death penalty opponents and death penalty supporters. The last time I had the chance to talk with you on this issue, on the death penalty, you said that capital punishment has a place in a very few federal cases, but you also said you would breathe a sigh of relief if the Supreme Court abolished the death penalty nationwide. Tonight, do you still support capital punishment, even if you do so reluctantly? +p284 +aVSenator Sanders, you have singled out the death penalty, and Senator Clinton's support for the death penalty, as an issue that makes it hard to consider as progressive in your mind... +p285 +aVAnother issue related to the proper role of government, and in this case, specifically the role of government between the federal government and the states. I want to talk for a moment about the issue of Flint, Michigan. On the Flint lead poisoning disaster, you have both been highly critical of Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan, and how the state in Michigan both caused the lead poisoning problem, and has not acted fast enough to fix it. You have both been outspoken on that. The fact is that Michigan though has not fixed it. There is no door to door delivery of clean water in Flint even today. Not a single lead pipe has been replaced in Flint, even today. If the state is failing, would you, Secretary Clinton, would you as President order a federal response to get it right over and above the wishes of the state? +p286 +aVSenator Sanders are there things the President could be doing? President Obama could be ordering, done, right now, in Flint, Michigan that are not being done that you as President would do? +p287 +aVSenator, thank you. +p288 +aVThe home stretch. +p289 +aVSecretary Clinton, Republicans, particularly in campaign years, often talk about which departments of government\u2014which agencies of government they would get rid of if they were elected president. The EPA, the Department of Education, the Commerce Department, oops\u2014is\u2014is there a department of government that you would get rid of? Or is there a whole new one that you would create? +p290 +aVThank you, Secretary Clinton. +p291 +aVThank you very much. Thank you. +p292 +aVWe also want to thank our host, the University of New Hampshire, and the people of New Hampshire. You guys get to vote in just five days. I can't wait to see how it turns out. Don't screw up. +p293 +asVQUESTION +p294 +(lp295 +VMy name is Ashley Tofil. Ms. Fiorina, in November, you said that you would not talk to Vladimir Putin after you were elected because you would be communicating from a position of weakness. Do you believe that it is feasible to not communicate with another world leader? And do you think that that also is a sign of weakness? +p296 +aVMy name is Carla Hernandez. I'm from the University of Texas at Austin. And my question is directed to all the candidates. If the Bible clearly states that we need to embrace those in need and not fear, how can we justify not accepting refugees? +p297 +asVIFILL +p298 +(lp299 +VWe want to also extend our warm thanks to Milwaukee Public Radio and Milwaukee Public Television, as well as all of our friends at the PBS member stations across the country tuning in tonight. This is the sixth time the Democrats have met face to face. Each time, we learn more about them and the presidents they say they want to be. You know you're watching \u2014 whether you're a Democrat, a Republican, or neither \u2014 because you believe the outcome of the election is important to you. And we believe that, too. With that, let's welcome the candidates to the stage. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. +p300 +aVWelcome to you both. +p301 +aVWith Iowa and New Hampshire behind us, we are now broadening the conversation to America's heartland and beyond, including here in Wisconsin. Now let's turn to the candidates for their opening statements. The order was decided by coin toss. And, Senator Sanders, you go first. +p302 +aVThank you, Senator Sanders. Thank you, Senator Sanders. Secretary Clinton. +p303 +aVFinal thought, Senator. +p304 +aVI'd like to move along. I'd like to move along. Secretary Clinton, you might \u2014 you also have proposed fairly expansive ideas about government. You may remember this pledge from a State of the Union Address at which I believe you were present, in which these words were said: "The era of big government is over." You may remember that. When asked your feelings about the federal government this week, 61 percent of New Hampshire Democrats told exit pollsters that they are angry or at least dissatisfied. Given what you and Senator Sanders are proposing, an expanding government in almost every area of our lives, is it fair for Americans who fear government to fear you? +p305 +aVBut I haven't heard either of you put a price tag on your \u2014 you say... +p306 +aVSenator? +p307 +aVSenator, do you worry at all that you will be the instrument of thwarting history, as Senator Clinton keeps claiming, that she might be the first woman president? +p308 +aVThank you both. We turn now to the first of several questions from our partners at Facebook. They were selected from a curated group of people we've been following of undecided voters. The first comes from Claudia Looze, a 54-year-old woman who works as a program manager at a public affairs cable network in Madison, Wisconsin. And she writes: "Wisconsin is number one in African-American male incarceration, according to a University of Wisconsin study. They found that Wisconsin's incarceration rate for black men, which is at 13 percent, was nearly double the country's rate. What can we do across the nation to address this?" Senator Sanders. +p309 +aVLet me turn this on its head, because when we talk about race in this country, we always talk about African-Americans, people of color. I want to talk about white people, OK? +p310 +aVI know. So many people will be surprised to find out that we are sitting in one of the most racially polarized metropolitan areas in the country. By the middle of this century, the nation is going to be majority nonwhite. Our public schools are already there. If working-class, white Americans are about to be outnumbered, are already underemployed in many cases, and one study found they are dying sooner, don't they have a reason to be resentful, Senator \u2014 Secretary Clinton? +p311 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, I want you to respond to that, but I also want you to \u2014 am I wrong? Is it even right to be describing this as a matter of race? +p312 +aVIf you would allow me now to move on, we've been talking about children. I want to talk about seniors. That takes us to our second Facebook question from Farheen Hakeem, who writes, "My father" \u2014 she's a 40-year-old woman who works for a nonprofit here in Milwaukee. And she writes, "My father gets just $16 in food assistance per month as part of Medicaid's family community program in Milwaukee County for low-income seniors. How will you as president work to ensure low-income seniors get their basic needs met?" Start with you, Senator Sanders. +p313 +aVSenator Sanders, are you saying... +p314 +aVThere's a lot more to come in just a few minutes. Stay with us for more of the PBS NewsHour Democratic Debate. +p315 +aVHow about you, Senator Clinton \u2014 Secretary Clinton? +p316 +aVWe spent the first part of this debate talking about domestic insecurity. The second part, we want to talk about our foreign policy insecurities. And we want to start with a question for you, Secretary Clinton, about America's role in the world. Americans are becoming increasingly worried that attacks abroad are coming home, that they already are, in fact, here. According to exit polls from last week, from earlier this week, more than two-thirds of Democrats in New Hampshire are concerned about sending their children to fight in wars they can't win. They fret that the next attack is just around the corner and we are not ready. Are we? +p317 +aVSenator Sanders... +p318 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p319 +aVLet me move on. You have both mentioned the humanitarian tragedies which have been an outgrowth in part of what has happened in Syria and in Libya. More than a million refugees entered Europe in 2015. Another 76,000 just last month, that is about 2,000 arrivals every day. Nearly 400 people have been lost at sea so far this year, crossing the Mediterranean. And there are reports that 10,000 children are missing. If we are leaders in this world, where should the U.S. be on this? What should the United States be doing, Secretary Clinton? +p320 +aVSenator, if you would like respond to \u2014 you may respond to that but it is time for closing statements and you can use your time for closing statements to do that. +p321 +aVThank you. Thank you Senator Clinton. Thank you, Senator Sanders. We also want to thank our partners at Facebook and our hosts here at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. +p322 +aVI'm going to remain here in Milwaukee tomorrow evening for a special edition of Washington Week here on PBS. +p323 +asVWOODRUFF +p324 +(lp325 +VGood evening, and thank you. We are happy to welcome you to Milwaukee for this Democratic debate. We are especially pleased to thank our partners at Facebook, who have helped us set up a vibrant conversation among voters who are undecided. And tonight you're going to hear some of their questions for the candidates. And you can follow along at home on the PBS NewsHour page on Facebook. We also want to thank our hosts, the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, on whose campus we meet, here in the beautiful Helen Bader Concert Hall. +p326 +aVWelcome, Senator, great to see you. And former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Very good to be here with you. +p327 +aVNow, a word about format. There will be two short breaks, and the rules are simple: 90 seconds for each answer and 30 seconds for the other candidate to respond. +p328 +aVThank you both. Thank you both. And we'll be right back after a short break to begin questions. +p329 +aVAnd, welcome back to this PBS Newshour debate, Democratic debate, here in Milwaukee. Let's get right to the questions. Senator Sanders, to you first. Coming off the results in Iowa and New Hampshire, there are many voters who are taking a closer look at you, and your ideas, and they're asking how big a role do you foresee for the federal government? It's already spending 21% of the entire U.S. economy. How much larger would government be in the lives of Americans under a Sanders presidency? +p330 +aVBut, my question is how big would government be? Would there be any limit on the size of the role of government... +p331 +aVNext, we're going to... +p332 +aVVery brief, thank you. +p333 +aVSecretary Clinton, your campaign \u2014 you and your campaign have made a clear appeal to women voters. You have talked repeatedly about the fact, we know you would be, if elected, the first woman president. But in New Hampshire 55 percent of the women voters supported and voted for Senator Sanders. What are women missing about you? +p334 +aVAs you know, just quickly, as you know, your strong supporter, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, said the other day that there's a special place in Hell for women who don't support other women. Do you agree with what she said? +p335 +aVSenator Sanders, you're in the minority, but we still want to hear from you. +p336 +aVFinal comment. +p337 +aVSecretary Clinton, I was talking recently with a 23 year old black woman who voted for President Obama because she said she thought relations between the races would get better under his leadership, and his example. Hardly anyone believes that they have. Why do you think race relations would be better under a Clinton presidency? What would you do that the nation's first African American has not been able to? +p338 +aVSenator Sanders? +p339 +aVSo race relation was be better under a Sanders presidency than they've been? +p340 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders, one of the causes of anxiety for working class Americans is connected to immigrants. President Obama, as you know, has issued executive actions to permit some 5 million undocumented immigrants who are living now in the United States to come out of the shadows without fear of deportation to get work permits. Would you go further than that? And if so, how specifically would you do it? Should an undocumented family watching this debate tonight, say, in Nevada, rest easy, not fear of further deportations under a Sanders presidency? +p341 +aVI'd like... +p342 +aVWe're going to move on. Secretary Clinton, your campaign has recently ramped up criticism of Senator Sanders for attending Democratic Party fundraisers from which you say he benefited. But nearly half of your financial sector donations appear to come from just two wealthy financiers, George Soros and Donald Sussman, for a total of about $10 million. You have said that there's no quid pro quo involved. Is that also true of the donations that wealthy Republicans give to Republican candidates, contributors including the Koch Brothers? +p343 +aVI'm asking if Democratic donors are different than Republican donors. +p344 +aVWe have to go to a break. We... +p345 +aVAll right. Thank you both. It is time for a break. And when we come back, we're going to turn to some new topics, including how these candidates will keep America safe. +p346 +aVWelcome back to the Democratic presidential debate. Before we return to our questions, we have a follow-up question from our Facebook group. And it is to Senator Sanders. Senator, it comes from Bill Corfield. He is a 55-year-old musician from Troy, Ohio. And he asks: "Are there any areas of government you would like to reduce?" +p347 +aVJust a final word. +p348 +aVSenator, let me \u2014 let me move on to another country with which the U.S. has a complicated relationship, Senator Sanders, and that's Russia. On the one hand, we're aware that Russia is a country that the United States needs to cooperate with. Just tonight, Secretary of State John Kerry has announced what appears to be an agreement with the Russians to lead \u2014 that could lead toward a ceasefire in Syria, would be the first cessation of conflict in that country, in that civil war in five years, but it comes at a very high price, because not only have all \u2014 have we seen the deaths, the removal of so many people, millions of people, we now see the Russians in the last few weeks have bombed in a way that benefits President Assad, has not gone after +p349 +aVAnd we have a final question from our Facebook family. And it goes to Senator Sanders. It comes from Robert Andrews. He's a 40-year-old stay-at-home dad in Dover, Massachusetts. He says, "The world has seen many great leaders in the course of human history. Can you name two leaders \u2014 one American and one foreign \u2014 who would influence your foreign policy decisions? And why do you see them as \u2014 why are they influential?" +p350 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p351 +aVAnd we want to thank our audience, our quiet audience here in Helen Bader Concert Hall, and to all of you watching at home. Thank you all. Stay tuned for analysis of the debate and the overall race for the Democratic nomination. That's coming up next here on PBS stations and online atPBS.org/NewsHour. +p352 +aVAnd I'm going to be returning to Washington. I hope you'll join us for the PBS NewsHour tomorrow and every night. That's it from all of us here in Milwaukee. We thank you. +p353 +asVCHRISTIE +p354 +(lp355 +VThank you Wolf. America has been betrayed. We've been betrayed by the leadership that Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton have provided to this country over the last number of years. Think about just what's happened today. The second largest school district in America in Los Angeles closed based on a threat. Think about the effect that, that's going to have on those children when they go back to school tomorrow wondering filled with anxiety to whether they're really going to be safe. Think about the mothers who will take those children tomorrow morning to the bus stop wondering whether their children will arrive back on that bus safe and sound. Think about the fathers of Los Angeles, who tomorrow will head off to work and wonder about the safety of their wives and their children. What is Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton done to this country? That the most basic responsibility of an administration is to protect the safety and security of the American people. I will tell you this, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I've fought terrorists and won and when we get back in the White House we will fight terrorists and win again and America will be safe. +p356 +aVWolf, unfortunately, it's the new normal under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The fact is that if you listen to Hillary Clinton the other day, what she said to the American people was, as regards to +p357 +aVListen, I want to talk to the audience at home for a second. If your eyes are glazing over like mine, this is what it's like to be on the floor of the United States Senate. I mean, endless debates about how many angels on the head of a pin from people who've never had to make a consequential decision in an executive position. The fact is, for seven years, I had to make these decisions after 9/11, make a decision about how to proceed forward with an investigation or how to pull back, whether you use certain actionable intelligence or whether not to. And yet they continue to debate about this bill and in the subcommittee and what \u2014 nobody in America cares about that. What they care about is, are we going to have a president who actually knows what they're doing to make these decisions? And for the seven years afterwards, New Jersey was threatened like no other region in this country and what we did was we took action within the constitution to make sure that law enforcement had all the information they needed. We prosecuted two of the biggest terrorism cases in the world and stopped Fort Dix from being attacked by six American radicalized Muslims from a Mosque in New Jersey because we worked with the Muslim American community to get intelligence and we used the Patriot Act to get other intelligence to make sure we did those cases. This is the difference between actually been a federal prosecutor, actually doing something, and not just spending your life as one of hundred debating it. Let's talk about how we do this, not about which bill, which one these guys like more. The American people don't care about that. +p358 +aVWolf, you sit up here and you listen to this stuff, and you think that so many of these people have had so much to do in this national debate, they talk like they were bystanders. You know, we talk about our military being degraded over time, and yet we've had folks on this stage who've been a part of Congress who have participated in sequester; who participated in the degrading of this military over time. And that's why I think people get so frustrated with Washington, D.C. now. That's why they're so angry with the \u2014 the electorate is so angry with everybody who is involved in government in Washington, D.C. Because if you listen to the folks up here, you think that they weren't even there; they had nothing to do with this. This is a difference between being a governor and being in a legislature. See, because when something doesn't work in New Jersey, they look at me, say: "Why didn't it get done? Why didn't you do it?" You have to be responsible and accountable. And so on +p359 +aVWell, I think we have to focus, Hugh, on exactly what the priorities are. And to me, what I've always said is that the president has set up an awful situation through his deal with Iran, because what his deal with Iran has done is empower them and enrich them. And that's the way +p360 +aVNot only would I be prepared to do it, I would do it. A no-fly zone means a no-fly zone, Wolf. That's what it means. See, maybe \u2014 maybe because I'm from New Jersey, I just have this kind of plain language hangup. But I would make very clear \u2014 I would not talk to Vladimir Putin. In fact, I would talk to Vladimir Putin a lot. But I'd say to him, "Listen, Mr. President, there's a no-fly zone in Syria; you fly in, it applies to you." And yes, we would shoot down the planes of Russian pilots if in fact they were stupid enough to think that this president was the same feckless weakling that the president we have in the Oval Office is right now. +p361 +aVWell, Wolf, I'll tell you what reckless is. What reckless is is calling Assad a reformer. What reckless is allowing Russia to come into Crimea and Ukraine. What reckless is is inviting Russia into Syria to team with Iran. That is reckless. And the reckless people are the folks in the White House right now. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are the reckless people. And if you think that a no-fly zone is a reckless policy, you're welcome to your opinion. But how is it working so far? As we have 250,000 Syrians murdered, slaughtered; millions running around the world, running for their lives. It's not working. We need to try something else. And that is not reckless. +p362 +aVWhat I say to Carla is that the first job of the president of the United States is to protect your safety and your security and the security and safety of your family. And this debate stops with me in the discussions with the FBI director. Now, listen, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I know Jim Comey. We've worked together. He was the U.S. attorney in Manhattan when I was a U.S. attorney in New Jersey. And when Jim Comey gets up before Congress and says, we cannot effectively vet these people, for me as president, that's the end of the conversation. We have to put America's security first. The American people \u2014 we on this stage need to open our ears. We need to open our ears. The American people are not whispering to us. They are screaming to us. And they're screaming to us that it's our job to actually make this government work. It's so dysfunctional under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. It's so ineffective. It's so ineffectual that the American people say, we don't trust them to do anything anymore. So I'm not going to let Syrian refugees, any Syrian refugees in this country. And it was widows and orphans, by the way, and we now know from watching the San Bernardino attack that women can commit heinous, heinous acts against humanity just the same as men can do it. And so I don't back away from that position for a minute. When the FBI director tells me that he can vet those people, then we'll consider it and not a moment before because your safety and security is what's most important to me. +p363 +aVWell, what it would like is, we have one of the great advantages of America being the open society that we are. It is, we are not hiding things from the American people, but China everyday is conducting business in a way that hides things from their people. So if they want to come in and attack all the personnel records in the federal government, which they've done, and which \u2014 they now have my Social Security number and my fingerprints, as well as maybe some other folks' who are on this stage. The fact is, they need to be fought back on. And what we need to do is go at the things that they are most sensitive and most embarrassing to them; that they're hiding; get that information and put it out in public. Let the Chinese people start to digest how corrupt the Chinese government is; how they steal from the Chinese people; and how they're enriching oligarchs all throughout China. They need to understand that. And we need to take those type of steps. This president has seen personnel records of people who have sacrificed for the American people and for the federal government stolen by the Chinese and he's done nothing in return. This is why \u2014 this is what I said at the beginning that this administration, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton through their foreign policy, have betrayed the American people, because the weakness they've displayed has led to Putin's incursions in the Middle East and in eastern Europe, and has led \u2014 has led to significant problems in the Middle East as well, and the death and murder of lots of folks. +p364 +aVOn September 10th, 2001, I was named chief federal prosecutor in New Jersey and on September 11th, 2001, my wife and my brother who are in the audience tonight went through the World Trade Center and to their offices just blocks away from the Trade Center. I lost touch with them for six hours that day and prayed that they were alive. Luckily, they were sent home. But many of our friends and others in our neighborhood lost their lives that day. Terrorism \u2014 radical jihadist terrorism is not theoretical to me. It's real. And for seven years, I spent my life protecting our country against another one of those attacks. You won't have to worry when I'm President of the Untied States whether that can be done because I've already done it. I want the chance to do it again to protect you, your children and your families. If you give me the chance and give me your vote I will protect America from the wars that are being brought to our door step. +p365 +asVRUBIO +p366 +(lp367 +VThank you Wolf. It's really amazing to be back in Las Vegas. I spent six years as a child growing not far from where we stand tonight. I use to sit on the porch of our home and listen to my grandfather tell stories as he smoked one of three daily cigars. One of the things my grandfather instilled in me, was that I was really blessed because I was a citizen of the greatest country in the history of our mankind. But there have always been people in American politics that wanted America to be more like the rest of the world. And In 2008, one of them was elected president of this country and the result has been a disaster. Today you have millions of Americans that feel left out and out of place in their own country, struggling to live paycheck to paycheck, called bigots because they hold on to traditional values. And around the world, America's influence has declined while this president has destroyed our military, our allies no longer trust us, and our adversaries no longer respect us. And that is why this election is so important. That is why I'm running for president. And that's why I'm going to ask you for your vote tonight. If you elect me president, we will have a president that believes America is the greatest country in the world and we will have a president that acts like it. +p368 +aVWell, I understand why they feel that way, because this president hasn't kept us safe. The problem is we had an attack in San Bernardino. And we were paying attention to the most important issue we have faced in a decade since 9/11, and then all the talk was about this proposal, which isn't going to happen. But this is what's important to do is we must deal frontally with this threat of radical Islamists, especially from +p369 +aVHe is and so are those that voted for it. There were some that voted for it because they wanted to keep it alive and they were afraid the whole program would expire. Here's the world we live in. This is a radical jihadist group that is increasingly sophisticated in its ability, for example, to radicalize American citizens, in its inability to exploit loopholes in our legal immigration system, in its ability to capture and hold territory in the Middle East, as I outlined earlier, in multiple countries. This is not just the most capable, it is the most sophisticated terror threat we have ever faced. We are now at a time when we need more tools, not less tools. And that took we lost, the metadata program, was a valuable tool that we no longer have at our disposal. +p370 +aVDana, may I interject here? +p371 +aVLet me be very careful when answering this, because I don't think national television in front of 15 million people is the place to discuss classified information. So let me just be very clear. There is nothing that we are allowed to do under this bill that we could not do before. This bill did, however, take away a valuable tool that allowed the National Security Agency and other law \u2014 and other intelligence agencies to quickly and rapidly access phone records and match them up with other phone records to see who terrorists have been calling. Because I promise you, the next time there is attack on \u2014 an attack on this country, the first thing people are going to want to know is, why didn't we know about it and why didn't we stop it? And the answer better not be because we didn't have access to records or information that would have allowed us to identify these killers before they attacked. +p372 +aVI want to thank Rand for another 30 seconds, because, number one, what he's pointing to is a bill last week that \u2014 amendment that he voted for that only 10 people voted for. You know why? Because it's not focused on terrorists. It would have banned anyone from coming here. Someone from Taiwan would not have been able to come here as a tourist. Number two, this program, this metadata program is actually more strict than what a regular law enforcement agency has now. If a regular law enforcement agency wants your phone records, all they have to do is issue a subpoena. But now the intelligence agency is not able to quickly gather records and look at them to see who these terrorists are calling. And the terrorists that attacked us in San Bernardino was an American citizen, born and raised in this country. And I bet you we wish we would have had access to five years of his records so we could see who he was working with... +p373 +aVDo I get another 30 seconds? He mentioned me. +p374 +aVWell, let me begin by saying that we have to understand who +p375 +aVThat is accurate. Three times he voted against the Defense Authorization Act, which is a bill that funds the troops. It also, by the way, funds the Iron Dome and other important programs. And I have to assume that if you vote against it in the Senate, you would also veto it as president. He has also supported, by the way, a budget that is called the containment budget. And it is a budget that would radically reduce the amount of money we spend on our military. You can't carpet bomb +p376 +aVYes, let me \u2014 three points of distinction. The first is, if you're an American citizen and you decide to join up with +p377 +aVWell, they most certainly will have to be worked on to provide more than what they are doing now. There's no doubt about it. And there's one \u2014 one major reason why they have not been willing to be a broader part of the coalition, and that is they have lost complete trust and confidence in this president. This president cut a deal with their moral enemy, the Shia, in Iran. And this is the reason why they no longer trust this president and are willing to work alongside them. But they have as much invested in this as we do. In fact, more so, for it is the king of Saudi Arabia they want to behead first. It's the king of Jordan that they want to dethrone. It's the \u2014 they want to go into Egypt the way they've already gone into Libya. And on another point that we need to talk about, Assad is one of the main reasons why +p378 +aVTo begin with, Moammar Gadhafi and the revolt against Gadhafi was not started by the United States. It was started by the Libyan people. And the reason why I argued we needed to get involved is because he was going to go one way or the other. And my argument then was proven true, and that is, the longer that civil war took, the more militias would be formed and the more unstable the country would be after the fact. As far as Moammar Gadhafi is concerned, by the way, Moammar Gadhafi is the man that killed those Americans over Lockerbie, Scotland. Moammar Gadhafi is also the man that bombed that cafe in Berlin and killed those Marines. And you want to know why Moammar Gadhafi started cooperating on his nuclear program? Because we got rid of Saddam Hussein. And so he got scared that he would be next, and that's why he started cooperating. Look, we will have to work around the world with less than ideal governments. The government in Saudi Arabia is not a democracy, but we will have to work with them. The government in Jordan is not perfect, but we will have to work with them. But anti-American dictators like Assad, who help Hezbollah, who helped get those IEDs into Iraq, if they go, I will not shed a tear. +p379 +aVYeah. Immigration is not an issue that I read about in the newspaper or watch a documentary on PBS or CNN. It's an issues I've lived around my whole life. My family are immigrants. My wife's family are immigrants. All of my neighbors are immigrants. I see every aspect of this problem. The good, the bad, and the ugly. And here's what we learned in 2013. The American people don't trust the Federal Government to enforce our immigration laws, and we will not be able to do anything on immigration until we first prove to the American people that illegal immigration is under control. And we can do that. We know what it takes to do that. It takes at least 20,000 more additional border agents. It takes completing those 700 miles of fencing. It takes a mandatory e-verify system and a mandatory entry/exit tracking system to prevent overstays. After we have done that, the second thing we have to do is reform and modernize the legal immigration system. And after we have done those two things, I think the American people are gonna be reasonable with what do you do with someone who has been in this country for 10 or 12 years who hasn't otherwise violated our laws \u2014 because if they're a criminal they can't stay. They'll have to undergo a background check, pay a fine, start paying taxes. And ultimately, they'll given a work permit and that's all they're gonna be allowed to have for at least 10 years. But you can't get to that third step until you have done the other two things, and that was the lesson we learned in 2013. There is no trust that the Federal Government will enforce the law. They will not support you until you see it done first. +p380 +aVBut I've answered that question repeatedly. I am personally open \u2014 after all that has happened and after ten years in that probationary status where all they have is a permit, I personally am open to allowing people to apply for a green card. That may not be a majority position in my party, but that's down the road. You can't even begin that process until you prove to people \u2014 not just pass a law that says you're gonna bring illegal immigration under control. You're gonna have to do it and prove to people that it's working. And that was the lesson of 2013. And it's more true today, than it was then. After a migratory crisis on the border with minors coming over that you're seeing start up again now, after all these executive orders the President has issued. More than ever we need to... +p381 +aV... prove to people that illegal immigration is under control. +p382 +aVYeah, a couple points. In 2013 we had never faced a crisis like the Syrian refugee crisis now. Up until that point, a refugee meant someone fleeing oppression, fleeing Communism like it is in my community. As far as Ted's record, I'm always puzzled by his attack on this issue. Ted, you support legalizing people who are in this country illegally. Ted Cruz supported a 500-percent increase in the number of H-1 visas, the guest workers that are allowed into this country, and Ted supports doubling the number of green cards. So I think what's important for us to understand and there is a way forward on this issue that we an bring our country together on. And while I'm president I will do it. And it will begin by bringing illegal immigration under control and proving to the American people. +p383 +aVNo, no, give him time. +p384 +aVTed, do you... +p385 +aVDid Ted Cruz fight to support legalizing people that are in this country illegally? +p386 +aVDoes Ted Cruz rule out ever legalizing people that are in this country now? +p387 +aVWould you rule it out? +p388 +aVWell, he's just admitted \u2014 as he's just admitted, the reason why those refugees were allowed in was because they messed up in how they used the actual database. They should have know. They didn't because they didn't run the actual law as it exists now. It didn't work well. As far as the refugees are concerned, it's not that America doesn't want to accept refugees, Wolf. It's that we may not be able to, because this is an issue we have to be 100 percent right on. If we allow 9,999 Syrian refugees into the United States, and all of them are good people, but we allow one person in who's an +p389 +aVI do. First, let's explain to people at home who the triad \u2014 what the triad is. Maybe a lot of people haven't heard that terminology before. The triad is our ability of the United States to conduct nuclear attacks using airplanes, using missiles launched from silos or from the ground, and also from our nuclear subs' ability to attack. And it's important \u2014 all three of them are critical. It gives us the ability at deterrence. Now, some have become more critical than others; for example, the submarines. And that's the Ohio Class submarine that needs to be modernized. The air component also needs to be modernized. The B-52, as someone earlier pointed out, is an outdated model that was flown by the grandparents of people that are flying it now. And we need a serious modernization program as well on our silo-launched missiles. All three are critical for the defense of the country. +p390 +aVThank you. As we near the end of this year, we enter one of the most important elections in a generation. For what's at stake in this election is not simply what party's going to be in charge. But our very identity as a people and as a nation. For over 200 years this has been a special country. A unique place where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything. But now millions of Americans feel like they're being left behind. Insecure in their future and unsafe in the face of terrorism. This election is about electing a president that will restore our economic vibrancy so that the American dream can expand to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And rebuild our Military and our intelligence programs so that we can remain the strongest nation on earth. Tonight I ask you for your vote. If you do this, we will rebuild this country, and together we will usher in a new American century \u2014 the greatest era in the history of this great land. +p391 +asVBLITZER +p392 +(lp393 +VWelcome to the CNN-Facebook Republican presidential debate here at the Venetian Las Vegas. We have a very enthusiastic audience. Everyone is here. They're looking forward to a serious and spirited discussion about the security of this nation. I'm Wolf Blitzer, your moderator tonight. This debate is airing on CNN networks here in the United States and around the world, and on the Salem Radio Network. The nine leading candidates, they are here. Let's welcome them right now. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Businessman and real estate developer Donald Trump. Retired neurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. And Ohio Governor John Kasich. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome these Republican candidates for president of the United States. This is the final Republican debate before the election year begins, and we're taking a moment for the photographs of the candidates together on the stage. Now, everyone, please rise for the national anthem sung by Ayla Brown. +p394 +aVI know everyone is eager to get started. So, candidates, please take your places while I explain the ground rules for tonight. As moderator, I'll guide the discussion, and I'll be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt and CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. We also asked Republicans and independents nationwide to share their questions for the candidates. We teamed up with Facebook to send a campaign camper across the country over the past several weeks. Thousands of people stepped inside and recorded their questions on video. Millions more have weighed in on Facebook. Candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have a minute and 15 seconds to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you're singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know that we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. And as the candidates requested, a bell will sound like this. We know you are all eager to jump in and debate these important issues, so, please, wait until you're called on. These nine Republicans are positioned on stage based on their ranking in the recent polls, so let's begin right now. I'd like to invite each candidate to introduce himself or herself to our audience. You'll have one minute. First to you, Senator Paul. +p395 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p396 +aVGovernor Christie? +p397 +aVMs. Fiorina? +p398 +aVGovernor Bush? +p399 +aVSenator Rubio? +p400 +aVSenator Cruz. +p401 +aVDr. Carson. +p402 +aVMr. Trump. +p403 +aVThank you. Since you last debated, Americans have witnessed terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino. The FBI director says the country now faces the greatest terror threat since 9/11. You all have different approaches to keeping the country safe. And that will be the focus of tonight's debate. Mr. Trump, as you mentioned in your opening statement, part of your strategy is to focus in on America's borders. To keep the country safe, you say you want to temporarily ban non-American Muslims from coming to the United States; ban refugees fleeing +p404 +aVGovernor Bush, you called Mr. Trump "unhinged" when he proposed banning non-American Muslims from the United States. Why is that unhinged? +p405 +aVMr. Trump? +p406 +aVSenator Rubio \u2014 I'm going to go to Senator Rubio and get his thoughts. You have said banning Muslims is unconstitutional. But according to a recent ABC News-Washington Post poll, a majority of Republicans support Mr. Trump's idea. Why are they wrong? +p407 +aVHugh Hewitt, you have a question. +p408 +aVGovernor Christie, Americans are clearly more afraid today than at any time since 9/11. As you mentioned in your opening statement, today in Los Angeles, 650 schoolchildren didn't go to \u2014 650,000 schoolchildren didn't go to school because of an e-mail threat, this two weeks after an attack killed 14 people in San Bernardino. Is this the new normal? And if so, what steps would you take as president of the United States to ensure that fear does not paralyze America? +p409 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, one of the killers in San Bernardino was an American who was not on anyone's watch list. How are you going to find that radicalized person and stop another such attack? +p410 +aVThank you. Dana Bash, you have the next question. +p411 +aVThank you. Dr. Carson, you're in favor of monitoring mosques and schools where there is anti-America sentiment, what do you consider anti- America? +p412 +aVDr. Carson, who was right in that little debate that we just heard between Senator Rubio and Senator Paul? +p413 +aVHold on a sec, we have a lot more to come and everybody's going to have their full opportunity. Governor Bush, six days after 9/11 your brother visited a mosque and said quote, "Islam is peace." The conversation tonight is about banning Muslims and surveillance of mosques, are President Bush's words still relevant in today's Republican party? +p414 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you pointed out you were a CEO in Silicon Valley on 9/11. Companies there, they say they won't help the FBI now crack encrypted communication from +p415 +aVBut my question was: Should these Silicon Valley companies be forced to cooperate with the FBI? +p416 +aVMr. Trump, you recently suggested closing that Internet up, those were your words, as a way to stop +p417 +aVLet me follow up, Mr. Trump. So, are you open to closing parts of the Internet? +p418 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, is shutting down any part of the Internet a good idea? +p419 +aVThank you, Governor. The fight against radical Islamic terrorists and +p420 +aVThank you. To be clear, Senator Cruz, would you carpet bomb Raqqa, the +p421 +aVThank you. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you've been critical of Senator Cruz's strategy. You say his voting record doesn't match his rhetoric. Why? +p422 +aVBecause I asked the question, Senator, because you said this. You said he, referring to Senator Cruz, voted against the Defense Authorization Act every year that it came up, and I assume that if he voted against it, he would veto it as president. That's the bill that funds our troops. +p423 +aVSenator Cruz? +p424 +aVSenator Rubio. +p425 +aVWe are going to have much more on this... +p426 +aVWe're going to have much more on this. But I want to move now back to Mr. Trump. +p427 +aVHold on. Hold on. Hold on. +p428 +aVWe have a lot... +p429 +aVWe have a lot to discuss. I want to move to Mr. Trump right now. We have a question on this war against +p430 +aVMr. Trump. +p431 +aVGovernor Bush. Governor Bush. +p432 +aVMr. Trump. +p433 +aVJust one at a time, go ahead... +p434 +aVGo ahead, Mr. Trump. +p435 +aVGovernor Bush, please. +p436 +aVOne at a time. +p437 +aVGovernor Bush. +p438 +aVThank you. +p439 +aVAll right. Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash, Hugh, go ahead with the next question. +p440 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Rubio? Let's continue this conversation. This is a critically important issue. +p441 +aVWe will get to \u2014 we have a lot of time, Ms. Fiorina. I want to get to Senator Rubio right now. Let's talk about, one of the aspects of your strategy, you say the only way to defeat +p442 +aVThank you, Senator. Stand by. Ms. Fiorina, the former defense secretary, Bob Gates, says the chances of getting Sunni-Arab forces on the ground to get the job done, his words, "chances very remote." What's your strategy? +p443 +aVThank you. Governor Christie, what's your strategy? +p444 +aVDr. Carson, what is your strategy? +p445 +aVThank you. Everyone stand by. We're only just beginning. Coming up, which candidates on this stage tonight want to move foreign policy in a dramatically new direction? We'll be right back. +p446 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate here at the Venetian, Las Vegas. The war against +p447 +aVThank you. +p448 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you supported the removal of Moammar Gadhafi in Libya. Now that country is in turmoil, as +p449 +aVSenator Cruz? +p450 +aVStandby. Everybody standby for a moment. Governor Kasich, go ahead. +p451 +aVThank you. +p452 +aVWe're going to talk about Assad in a moment. Mr. Trump, are Americans safer with dictators running the world in the Middle East? +p453 +aVThank you. Mr. Trump? +p454 +aVAll right. +p455 +aVThank you. +p456 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East... +p457 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East better off with dictators? +p458 +aVGovernor Bush. +p459 +aVHold on Governor Bush., here's the question. You said, "getting rid of Saddam Hussein in your words was a pretty good deal." In light of what has happened in Iraq, do you still feel that way? +p460 +aVSenator Paul, was getting rid of Saddam Hussein a pretty good deal? +p461 +aVThank you. Hugh Hewitt, go ahead. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hugh. +p462 +aVSenator, Senator, we're going to get to you. Wait your turn. We have two hours of debate. We'll have plenty of time. Let Hugh ask his question. +p463 +aVSenator, please. +p464 +aVSenator... +p465 +aVYou'll have plenty of opportunity. Hugh, go ahead. +p466 +aVThese are the rules all of you agreed to. Hugh, go ahead with your question. +p467 +aVLet's continue with Russia right now. We have another question from Facebook. Listen and watch. +p468 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you know, U.S. and Russian warplanes are flying all over Syria right now. With so many lives on the line, is this a good time for the United States not to talk to Putin? +p469 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Christie, if the U.S. imposed a no-fly zone over Syria and a Russian plane encroached, invaded that no-fly zone, would you be prepared to shoot down that Russian plane and risk war with Russia? +p470 +aVSenator Paul \u2014 Senator Paul, I want you to respond to what we just heard from Governor Christie. If there was a no-fly zone, you say that potentially could lead to World War III. Why? +p471 +aVGovernor Christie? +p472 +aVAll right, let's go back \u2014 Hugh and Dana? +p473 +aVOne at a time. Hugh, go ahead. +p474 +aVGovernor, thank you very much. So, Dr. Carson, you recently visited a refugee camp in Jordan and you deemed it your words, "really quite nice." Saying the people there didn't want to come to the United States. Do you think these camps are a long-term solution of the problem of Syrian refugees? +p475 +aVSenator Paul, you oppose letting in Syrian refugees at this time into the United States. The U.S. has already accepted 2,000 Syrian refugees, including 13 living here in Las Vegas right now. Would you send them back? What would you do with these people? +p476 +aVSenator Rubio? +p477 +aVSenator Paul, you didn't answer the question about the 2,000 Syrian refugees who are already here in the United States. Will you send them back or let them stay? +p478 +aVWe have another \u2014 we have another question. We have another question from Facebook. Let's listen. +p479 +aVGovernor Christie, you say there should be a pause in allowing new refugees to come into the United States, including orphans under the age of five. What do you say to Carla? +p480 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p481 +aVThank you, Governor. There is much more coming up. We are only just beginning. Coming up, what other global hot spots await the next president of the United States. +p482 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate. We're here at the Venetian Las Vegas. Tonight we have been focusing on the Middle East, but let's turn to some other world threats that you will potentially face as Commander in Chief. Ms. Fiorina, candidates here have called the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un a maniac who is mentally unstable. Last week he said he now has a hydrogen bomb. If you were elected president, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p483 +aVDr. Carson, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p484 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Dana and Hugh you have questions as well. +p485 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Some of you on this stage have questioned whether your opponents have temperament, the right temperament, to be in control of the nuclear codes. Dana, you have a question on this? +p486 +aVThank you, senator. Thank you. +p487 +aVThank you, Senator. +p488 +aVThank you, Senator. We're a month and a half away now from the first real test who will be the Republican presidential nominee. Hugh, you have a question? +p489 +aVAll right. Candidates, we have more coming up. When we come back, everyone will have an opportunity to explain why this particular candidate, each of you on the stage, believes he or she should be the Republican presidential nominee. +p490 +aVNow it's time for the closing statements from the candidates. Each one has 30 seconds. Senator Paul. +p491 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p492 +aVGovernor Christie. +p493 +aVMs. Fiorina. +p494 +aVGovernor Bush. +p495 +aVSenator Rubio. +p496 +aVSenator Cruz. +p497 +aVDr. Carson. +p498 +aVThanks to all the Republican presidential candidates. That does it for this Republican presidential debate. +p499 +asVCARSON +p500 +(lp501 +VThank you, Wolf. Please join me for a moment of silence and remembrance of the San Bernardino victims. Thank you. You know, our country since its inception has been at war, every 15 or 20 years. But the war that we are fighting now against radical Islamist jihadists is one that we must win. Our very existence is dependent upon that. You know, as a pediatric neurosurgeon, I frequently faced life and death situations, and had to come up with the right diagnosis, the right plan, and execute that plan frequently with other colleagues. Right now, the United States of America is the patient. And the patient is in critical condition and will not be cured by political correctness and will not be cured by timidity. And I am asking the Congress, which represents the people, to declare a war on +p502 +aVFirst of all, let me just complain a little bit. This is the first time I've spoken and several people have had multiple questions so please try to pay attention to that. Now, as far as monitoring is concerned, what my point is, we need to make sure that any place \u2013 I don't care whether it's a mosque, a school, a supermarket, a theater, you know it doesn't matter. If there are a lot of people getting there and engaging in radicalizing activities then we need to be suspicious of it. We have to get rid of all this PC stuff. And people are worried about if somebody's going to say that I'm Islamophobic or what have you. This is craziness because we are at war. That's why I asked congress, go ahead and declare the war . We need to be on a war footing. We need to understand that our nation is in grave danger. You know, what the Muslim Brotherhood said in the explanatory memorandum that was discovered during the Holy Land Foundation Trial was that, "they will take advantage of our PC attitude to get us. :" We have to be better than this. We have to be smarter than they are. +p503 +aVI think you have to ask them about that. I don't want to get in between them. Let them fight. +p504 +aVNeurosurgeon. +p505 +aVWell, interestingly enough, you should see the eyes of some of those children when I say to them we're going to have to open your head up and take out this tumor. They're not happy about it, believe me. And they don't like me very much at that point. But later on, they love me. Sometimes you \u2014 I sound like him. You know, later on, you know, they really realize what's going on. And by the same token, you have to be able to look at the big picture and understand that it's actually merciful if you go ahead and finish the job, rather than death by 1,000 pricks. +p506 +aVYou got it. You got it. +p507 +aVRuthless is not necessarily the word I would use, but tough, resolute, understanding what the problems are, and understanding that the job of the president of the United States is to protect the people of this country and to do what is necessary in order to get it done. +p508 +aVFirst of all, I've been talking about this for over a year. We have to destroy their caliphate because that gives them legitimacy to go ahead with the global Jihad. We have to take their energy because they are \u2014 +p509 +aVNo one is ever better off with dictators but there comes a time you know, when you're on an airplane, they always say, "in case of an emergency oxygen masks will drop down. Put yours on first and then administer help to your neighbor." We need oxygen right now. And we need to start thinking about the needs of the American people before we go and solve everybody else's problems. The fact of the matter is, is that the Middle East has been in turmoil for thousands of years. For us to think that we're going to in there and fix that with a couple of little bombs and a few little decorations is relatively foolish. +p510 +aVWell, you know, there's a false narrative that only the political class has the wisdom and the ability to be commander-in- chief. But if you go back and you study the design of our country, it was really designed for the citizen statesman. And we need to be talking about where does your experience come from? You know, and I've had a lot of experience building things, organizing things, you know, a national scholarship program. One of the things that you'll notice if you look through my life is that I don't do a lot of talking. I do a lot of doing. And really, it says more about a person than how much they talk. And then some people say you're weak because, you know, you're not loud and you're not boisterous and you're not rude. But the fact of the matter is, look and see what I've done. And that speaks volumes about strength. +p511 +aVWell, it was very interesting having an opportunity to talk to the Syrians themselves. And I asked them: What do you want? What is your supreme desire? Their supreme desire was to be settled back in their own country. I said, "What can Americans and other countries do?" They said, "Support the efforts of those who are trying to provide safety for us, including the Jordanians." Of course, they had a brand new hospital, for instance, that was unstaffed because there wasn't enough money to do it. But here's what's really neat. If you go into Hasakah province in northeast Syria, that's an area that's as big as Lebanon. It's controlled by the Kurds, the Christians and the moderate Sunnis. And there are airstrips and hotels. You could settle a lot of people there. All we would have to do is be willing to provide them with some weaponry, some defensive weaponry. And we seem to be afraid to give the Kurds weaponry. We like to send it for some strange reason through Baghdad, and then they only get a tenth of it. And if we would support them, we'd have a perfect ideal there. We don't need to set this up as we either take a bunch of refugees who will be infiltrated with terrorists, I guarantee you. For them not to be would be terrorist malpractice. And we need to \u2014 to choose the right choice, not these false choices. +p512 +aVWell, I definitely believe that he is unstable, and I do, in fact, believe that China has a lot more influence with him than we do. But we also recognize that North Korea is in severe financial straits, and they have decided to use their resources to build their military, rather than to feed their people and to take care of the various humanitarian responsibilities that they have. We can capitalize upon that. You know, we should use our economic power in lots of different ways. I think we can use that in order to keep Putin contained, because he is a one-horse show. Energy. And we have an abundance of energy, but we have archaic energy exportation rules. We need to get rid of those, allow ourselves to really make Europe dependent on us and other parts of the world dependent on us for energy. Put him back in his little box where he belongs. And, you know, we need to be doing lots of other things with the resources that we have. So economic power works just as well as military power, perhaps even better. And speaking of that, our Military needs to be upgraded. You know, you look at things like our Ohio Class submarines, they're 25 years old. Our minuteman 3 missiles \u2014 they are 34 years old. Our B-52 bombers \u2014 50 years old. You know, if we don't get the military right nothing else matters. +p513 +aVWell, you know, the statement that I made last week, that I would leave the party was contingent upon whether in fact the party acts like they have in the past with a lot of subterfuge and dishonesty, or like they're going act now because I spike to Reince Priebus, and he assured me that the Washington Post writer had it all wrong, and that they're not be engaging in anything to thwart the will of the people. That's why I got into this race, as a member of we the people, to try bring some honesty and integrity back to the process. +p514 +aVI've been fortunate enough to travel to 58 different countries and I thank God everyday that I was born in this country. The most exceptional country that the world has ever known. And I want to make sure that we preserve that exceptionalism for the next generation. My mother told me if I work hard and I really believed in American principles and I believed in God, anything is possible. I believe that is true, and that's why I'm not anxious to give away American values and principles for the sake of political correctness. +p515 +asVFIORINA +p516 +(lp517 +VLike all of you I'm angry. I'm angry at what's happening to our nation. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. Bombastic insults wont take it back. Political rhetoric that promises a lot and delivers little, won't take it back. All of our problems can be solved. All of our wounds can be healed by a tested leader who is willing to fight for the character of our nation. I have been tested. I have beaten breast cancer. I have buried a child. I started as a secretary. I fought my way to the top of corporate America while being called every B word in the book. I fought my way into this election and on to this debate stage while all the political insiders and the pundits told, "it couldn't be done." I've been told, "no,: all my life. And all my life, I've refused to accept no as an answer. Citizens, it is time to take our country back from the political class, from the media, from the liberal elite. It can be done, it must be done, join me and we will get it done. +p518 +aVWhat I think we need to stand for are solutions. I offer myself as a leader to the people of this country because I think they're looking for solutions, not lawyers arguing over laws or entertainers throwing out sound bites that draw media attention. We need to solve the problem. To solve the problem, we need to do something here at home and something over there in their caliphate. We need to deny them territory. But here at home, we need to do two fundamental things. Number one, we need to recognize that technology has moved on. The Patriot Act was signed in 2001, roughly. The iPhone was invented in 2007. The iPad was invented in 2011. Snapchat and Twitter, all the rest of it, have been around just for several years. Technology has moved on, and the terrorists have moved on with it. Let me tell you a story. Soon after 9/11, I got a phone call from the NSA. They needed help. I gave them help. I stopped a truckload of equipment. I had it turned around. It was escorted by the NSA into headquarters. We need the private sector's help, because government is not innovating. Technology is running ahead by leaps and bound. The private sector will help, just as I helped after 9/11. But they must be engaged, and they must be asked. I will ask them. I know them. +p519 +aVYou know, listening to this conversation, let me just say, we have a lot of argument about laws but none of it solves the problem. Let's examine what happened, why did we miss the Tsarnaev brothers, why did we miss the San Bernardino couple? It wasn't because we had stopped collected metadata it was because, I think, as someone who comes from the technology world, we were using the wrong algorithms. This is a place where the private sector could be helpful because the government is woefully behind the technology curve. But secondly, the bureaucratic processes that have been in place since 9/11 are woefully inadequate as well. What do we now know? That DHS vets people by going into databases of known or suspected terrorists. And yet, we also know that +p520 +aVThey do not need to be forced. They need to be asked to bring the best and brightest, the most recent technology to the table. I was asked as a CEO. I complied happily. And they will as well. But they have not been asked. That's why it cost billions of dollars to build an Obama website that failed because the private sector wasn't asked. +p521 +aVI hope at some point you're going to ask me my strategy. +p522 +aVWell, first I'll just point out that talking tough is not the same as being strong. And to wage war, we need a commander in chief who has made tough calls in tough times and stood up to be held accountable over and over, not first-term senators who've never made an executive decision in their life. One of the things I would immediately do, in addition to defeating them here at home, is bring back the warrior class \u2014 Petraeus, McChrystal, Mattis, Keane, Flynn. Every single one of these generals I know. Every one was retired early because they told President Obama things that he didn't want to hear. We must have Sunni-Arabs involved in this coalition. We must commit leadership, strength, support and resolve. I'll just add that Margaret Thatcher once said, "If you want something talked about, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman." +p523 +aVThat is exactly what President Obama said. I'm amazed to hear that from a republican presidential candidate. But let's just start with, who got it wrong? Who really got it wrong? Hillary Clinton has gotten every foreign policy challenge wrong. Hitting the reset button with Vladimir Putin \u2013 recall that she called Bashar Al-Assad a positive reformer and then she opened an embassy and then later she said, over, and over, and over again, "Bashar Al-Assad must go." Although she wasn't prepared to do anything about it. Recall that Hillary Clinton was all for toppling Gadhafi then didn't listen to her own people on the ground. And then of course, when she lied about the terrorist attack in Benghazi, she invited more terrorist attacks. +p524 +aVWe've mismanaged going into Iraq. +p525 +aVWe've mismanaged going out of Iraq. +p526 +aVWe actually... +p527 +aVI didn't say I would cut off all communication with Putin. What I said was as president of the United States, now is not the time to talk with him. Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. There is a time and a place for everything. There is a time and a place for talk. And there is a time and a place for action. I know Vladimir Putin. He respects strength. He lied to our president's face; didn't both to tell him about warplanes and troops going into Syria. We need to speak to him from a position of strength. So as commander in chief, I will not speak to him until we've set up that no-fly zone; until we've gathered our Sunni-Arab allies and begun to deny +p528 +aVThis doesn't do a thing to solve the problems...It doesn't do a thing to solve the problems. +p529 +aVIt will not solve the problem. +p530 +aVLadies and gentleman, this is why the American people are standing up. +p531 +aVThis is why the nation is fed up... +p532 +aVWe have been talking about this... +p533 +aVSorry, but you haven't gotten to me. This is why... +p534 +aVthe people are fed up with the political class. +p535 +aVWell, first, Kim Jong-Un is a dangerous leader, without a doubt. And both Republican and Democrat administrations have been completely ineffective in dealing with him. So we must continue to isolate him. We will need China as part of that strategy. China is a rising adversary. So one of the things we have to do if we want China's support is to push back on China. They, too, recognize one thing \u2014 strength and their own economic interest. I have done business in China for 25 years, so I know that in order to get China to cooperate with us, we must first actually retaliate against their cyber-attacks so they know we're serious. We have to push back on their desire to control the trade route through the South China Sea through which flows $5 trillion worth of goods and services every year. We cannot let them control the disputed islands, and we must work with the Australians, the South Koreans, the Japanese and the Filipinos to contain China. And then we must ask for their support and their help with North Korea. Because believe it or not, China is as concerned about Kim Jong-Un as we are. +p536 +aVI too remember September 11th. I remember immediately putting into place security procedures all throughout our company that did business in 170 countries where we thought corporate interests would be attacked next. To take our country back, to keep our nation safe, we have to begin by beating Hillary Clinton. We need to unify our party. We need to better than our government, which 75 percent of the American people now think is corrupt and incompetent. They're right. We need to better than our politics. 80 percent think we have a professional/political class of both parties that cares more about its power, position and privilege than actually on getting anything done. We need to unify our party, we need a real Conservative in the White House, and we need to beat Hillary Clinton to take our country back and keep our nation safe. I can. I am. And together, if you join me, we will take our country back. +p537 +asVBUSH +p538 +(lp539 +VOur freedom is under attack. Our economy is under water. The leading democrat is under investigation. And America is under the gun to lead the free world to protect our civilized way of life. Serious times require strong leadership, that's what at stake right now. Regarding national security, we need to restore the defense cuts of Barack Obama to rebuild our military, to destroy +p540 +aVWell, first of all, we need to destroy +p541 +aVLook, he mentioned me. I can bring \u2014 I can talk. This is \u2014 this is the problem. Banning all Muslims will make it harder for us to do exactly what we need to do, which is to destroy +p542 +aVThey are relevant if we want to destroy +p543 +aVDonald, this has got... +p544 +aVThis is another example of the lack of seriousness. Look, this is \u2014 this is troubling because we're at war. They've declared war on us and we need to have a serious strategy to destroy +p545 +aVYou said on September 30th that +p546 +aVI'm talking right now. I'm talking. +p547 +aVSeptember 30th you said... +p548 +aVA little of your own medicine there, Donald. +p549 +aVDonald, you're not going to be able to insult your way to the presidency. That's not going to happen. And I do have the strength. Leadership, leadership is not about attacking people and disparaging people. Leadership is about creating a serious strategy to deal with the threat of our time. And I laid out that strategy before the attacks in Paris and before the attacks in San Bernardino. And it is the way forward. We need to increase our military spending. We need to deal with a no- fly zone in Syria, a safe zone. We need to focus on building a military that is second-to-none... +p550 +aV... so that we can destroy Islamic terrorism. +p551 +aVI think we're focusing a whole... +p552 +aVI do. I think the lesson's learned are that we have to have to have a strategy to get and a strategy to get out. Which means, that you create a stable situation. This president and this is what the focus ought to be, it's not the differences between us, it's Barack Obama does not believe America's leadership in the world is a force for good. He does not believe that our strength is a place where security can take place. He leads from behind. He creates an environment that now we're creating the most unstable situation we've had since the World War II era. The focus ought to be on the single fact that Hillary Clinton wants to double down on a failed foreign policy and we need to be united to defeat that because we're going to be in a place that is far less secure than it is today. Don't you all agree? +p553 +aVBecause I \u2014 first of all, I know what I don't know. I know what I don't know. I would seek out, as I have, the best advice that exists. I won't get my information from the shows. I don't know if that's Saturday morning or Sunday morning. I don't know which one. I will seek out the best advice, and I will create a strategy and I will persuade the American people what the role of America should be. I've laid out a policy of rebuilding our military. All of the talk that we're seeing here \u2014 most of which I agree on, frankly \u2014 requires a much stronger military. We now have a lack of readiness that is quite scary. We have planes that were \u2014 that Harry Truman inaugurated, the B-52. We have \u2014 the Navy has been gutted and decimated. The readiness of the Marines is way down. If we're serious about America's leadership in the world, then we need to make sure that we have the back of the armed forces. The Armed Forces Radio is here listening to this today. I hope they know that if I'm president, I'll be a commander-in-chief, not an agitator- in-chief or a divider-in-chief, that I will lead this country in a way that will create greater security and greater safety. +p554 +aVSo I was \u2014 I was \u2014 I was mentioned, so I can bring up something, I think, right? Look, the simple fact is, if you think this is tough you're not being treated fairly... +p555 +aV... imagine what it's going to be like dealing with Putin or dealing with President Xi. +p556 +aVOr dealing with the Islamic terrorism that exists. +p557 +aVThis is a tough business to run for president. +p558 +aVAnd it's \u2014 and we need...... to have a leader that is... +p559 +aVYou're never going to be president of the United States by insulting your way to the presidency. +p560 +aVDoesn't matter. Doesn't matter. +p561 +aVYes. +p562 +aVNo it isn't but it is an important subject to talk about for sure. And I think people have good ideas on this. Clearly, we need to secure the border. Coming here legally needs to be a lot easier than coming here illegally. If you don't have that, you don't have the rule of law. We now have a national security consideration, public health issues, we have an epidemic of heroine overdoses in all places in this country because of the ease of bringing heroine in. We have to secure the border. It is a serious undertaking and yes, we do need more fencing and we do need to use technology, and we do need more border control. And we need to have better cooperation by the way with local law enforcement. There are 800,000 cops on the beat, they ought to be trained to be the eyes and ears for law enforcement for the threat against terror as well as for immigration. This is a serious challenge and if we can get it right, yes, we'll start winning votes again. The real problem isn't anybody on this stage, the real problem is Barack Obama has had six years to advocate a position to fix this and he's done nothing. The congress has funded these programs of building more fencing and doing all this and he hasn't done it. He wants to maintain it as a wedge issue and so does Hillary Clinton. Republicans need to fix it and when we do, we'll be better off. +p563 +aVI completely agree with Chris. And this administration has been so lax. Think about it. Hillary Clinton is using a private server for \u2014 where classified information go by. This is a \u2014 this is a serious administration? The president receives an inspector general's report that the Office of Personnel Management could be hacked into; they had antiquated firewalls; 23 million files have been \u2014 are in the hands of the Chinese allegedly, including, by the way, members of the press, it turns out, last week. Maybe that's the only part that's good news, so that you guys can get a feel for what it's like now to see this type of attack. This is something \u2014 we have to have the best defensive capabilities. We need to coordinate all of our efforts with the private sector. We need to give them liability relief so that we can do that. And offensively, we need to have capabilities second to none. We need to create a situation where they know that there will be adverse impacts if they continue to do what they're doing. They'll respect that. They'll respect a United States that is serious about protecting our \u2014 our infrastructure. If we don't do it, we'll continue to see what's \u2014 exactly what's happening, not just from the Chinese, by the way. The Russians and rogue actors, including +p564 +aVAsk yourself, which candidate will keep you and our country safer, stronger and freer? Hillary Clinton has aligned herself with Barack Obama on +p565 +asVKASICH +p566 +(lp567 +VThank you, Wolf. Just last weekend, just last week, a friend asked one of my daughters, "Do you like politics?" And my daughter said, "No, I don't. And the reason I don't like it is because there's too much fighting, too much yelling. It's so loud, I don't like it." You know, I turned to my friend and I said, "You know, she's really on to something." And when we think about our country and the big issues that we face in this country; creating jobs, making sure people can keep their jobs, the need for rising wages, whether our children when they graduate from college can find a job, protecting the homeland, destroying +p568 +aVWell, first of all, Wolf, I said last February that we needed to have people on the ground, troops on the ground in a coalition similar to what we had in the first Gulf War. I remember when the Egyptian ambassador to the United States stood in the Rose Garden and pledged Arab commitment to removing Saddam Hussein from Kuwait. Before we came out here tonight, I am told that the Saudis have organized 34 countries who want to join in the battle against terrorism. First and foremost, we need to go and destroy +p569 +aVNo, I don't think it is. And I want to go back to two other issues. One is the metadata. We know we have to hold this data for a longer period of time. And, you know, in a lot of ways, Chris is right. Look, what a president has to do is take a position. We don't want to err on the side of having less. We want to err on the side of having more. That's good for our families. In addition to that, Wolf, there is a big problem. It's called encryption. And the people in San Bernardino were communicating with people who the FBI had been watching. But because their phone was encrypted, because the intelligence officials could not see who they were talking to, it was lost. We have to solve the encryption problem. It is not easy. A president of the United States, again, has to bring people together, have a position. We need to be able to penetrate these people when they are involved in these plots and these plans. And we have to give the local authorities the ability to penetrate to disrupt. That's what we need to do. Encryption is a major problem, and Congress has got to deal with this and so does the president to keep us safe. +p570 +aVYeah, let me \u2014 let me just suggest to everybody, and I hear \u2014 last February, I said we needed to have people on the ground in a coalition with Europe and our allies. This is not going to get done just by working with the Sunnis. And it is not going to get done if we just embed a few people. We have to go massively, like we did in the first Gulf War where we destroyed Saddam's ability to take Kuwait. We need to have a coalition that will stand for nothing less than the total destruction of +p571 +aVI don't understand this thing about Assad. He has to go. Assad is aligned with Iran and Russia. The one thing we want to prevent is we want to prevent Iran being able to extend a Shia crescent all across the Middle East. Assad has got to go. And there are moderates there. There are moderates in Syria who we should be supporting. I do not support a civil war. I don't want to be policeman of the world. But we can't back off of this. And let me tell you, at the end, the Saudis have agreed to put together a coalition inside of Syria to stabilize that country. +p572 +aVHe must go. It will be a blow to Iran and Russia. +p573 +aVThe foreign policy, you have to know how to pick and choose. There's no way, if Saddam had not had weapons of mass destruction, I would have gone, because I don't believe that the U.S. should be involved directly in civil wars. I opposed the U.S. involvement in Lebanon. We ended up having to withdraw our marines after our barracks were blown up. There is a difference between Iraq, where you have Sunni, Shia, and Kurds put together after the First World War by the Western powers. It doesn't work. It needs to break up into three parts. And for the Russians, frankly, it's time that we punched the Russians in the nose. They've gotten away with too much in this world and we need to stand up against them, not just there, but also in Eastern Europe where they threaten some of our most precious allies. +p574 +aVIt sounds more and more what my daughter said that I said in the beginning, all the fighting and arguing is not advancing us. +p575 +aVIt is not the way we're going to strengthen our country. We will strengthen our country when we come together. And, look, you've got Rand Paul, you've got Ted Cruz, you've got Marco, you've got a lot of people on this stage that have studied these issues. You know what a leader does? A leader has a sound program, has a good policy, and then brings people together to solve problems. Guess what? Both in Congress in balancing the budget and in Ohio fixing the economy \u2014 and, by the way, we talk about the fence. The first thing we better get going is strengthening our economy, because if we don't have a strong economy, we can't pay for all of this. And the world wants us to be able to function from strength, believe it or not. Get our economy going, get these people together in a room. We can fix this, ladies and gentlemen. We don't have to fight all the time. It can be done, and we will be great... +p576 +aV... when we join together. Thank you, Hugh. +p577 +aVYou know, obviously, as president of the United States, we've got to keep the people safe. That's first and foremost. But as governor of Ohio, I have an obligation to keep the 11.5 million people in Ohio safe. And we have been very effective with our Joint Terrorism Task Force, being able to make busts. In fact, we just made one three-four weeks ago against a person who was favorable to +p578 +aVNo Republican has ever been elected president of the United States without winning Ohio. Let me give you a little tip on how you win Ohio, it's reform, it's hope, it's growth, it's opportunity, and it's security. The people of Ohio are the people of America. The people of America are reflected in Ohio. Our message has to be big, and bold, and positive, and connect, not just with people's heads but also connect with their hearts. If we do it, we will beat Hillary Clinton, and we will run the White House, and we will strengthen and fix America, I promise you. +p579 +asVTODD +p580 +(lp581 +VGood evening, and welcome to the +p582 +aVAnd neither party has seen this yet. These candidates are both running for the Democratic nomination, but they are very different from each other when it comes to what matters most and how they would go about the job of being president. Our job tonight is to draw out those differences so you, the voters, can understand them and be fully informed. +p583 +aVFirst, I want to say a special thanks to the New Hampshire Union Leader for helping make this debate possible, and the readers, who helped provide some of the questions and topics that we'll be addressing tonight. The rules tonight, by the way, are simple: 90 seconds for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. +p584 +aVThank you, Senator. Secretary Clinton. +p585 +aVAll right. Let's get started. Secretary Clinton, last night you cited the Concord Monitor when you said of Senator Sanders that, quote, "It's very hard to see how any of his proposals could ever be achievable." So please tell us why you think if he's elected president on a platform of promising things like free public college and universal healthcare, that he cannot achieve those things. +p586 +aVThank you, Secretary. Senator Sanders, so just explain how you spent nearly two decades in Congress and haven't gotten any of these things passed. Why do you think as president you'll be able to achieve big, big new programs like this? +p587 +aVGo. +p588 +aVYes, go ahead. +p589 +aVAll right, thank you both. Rachel. +p590 +aVI'd like to follow up on a comment that Secretary Clinton said, Senator. President Obama has not called for abolishing the death penalty. President Obama is for the big Asian trade deal known as TPP, and just yesterday you said you can't be both a moderate or a progressive, but you can't be both. Is President Obama, in your judgment, based on these policies positions, a progressive? +p591 +aV...Secretary Clinton, go ahead... +p592 +aV 30 seconds, and then we'll move. +p593 +aVThank you. +p594 +aV... Secretary, we're gonna... +p595 +aVThirty seconds. +p596 +aVThank you both. +p597 +aVAll right, welcome back. Let's get right to it. Senator Sanders, you were talking about all of your campaign contributions and campaign finance reform. You rail against big money in politics. But do you realize there is one public financing system that we do have in place, and it is\u2014it is in place to run for president. Why aren't you walking the walk on that? Why aren't you participating in the presidential public financing system which is designed to essentially keep big money out of presidential politics? +p598 +aVWell, going on that then, why criticize her on Super PACs, and you got\u2014and all this when it is\u2014you know, that's the system? I mean, you could be participating in a publicly-financing\u2014public financing system... +p599 +aV... and being able to set\u2014being able to set an example. +p600 +aV... she has had more people praise her plan than yours. +p601 +aVThank you both. Let me move on to our next question here, and in fact it comes to us through New England Cable News. Secretary Clinton, it's addressed to you, and it's about this issue of the speeches, particularly to Goldman Sachs. This is what the questioner wrote verbatim. "I am concerned with the abuses of Wall Street has taken with the American taxpayers money," and then she asks whether you would release the transcripts of your Goldman Sachs speeches, and then added, "Don't you think the voting public has a right to know what was said?" But, let's make that bigger. Are you willing to release the transcripts of all your paid speeches? We do know through reporting that there were transcription services for all of those paid speeches. In full disclosure, would you release all of them? +p602 +aVSenator, you sound like you want to respond. Go ahead. +p603 +aVWe'll be right back. And we're going to get to trade and a lot of other issues. +p604 +aVGo ahead, Senator Sanders\u201430 seconds, your response. +p605 +aVAll right. Senator, I want to stay, though... +p606 +aVGo ahead. 30 seconds. +p607 +aVLet me\u2014let\u2014we're gonna\u2014we're staying\u2014we're staying basically on this topic. Obviously you've been emphasizing this difference on the Iraq war, but one place where you do agree, and one place where you voted to authorize the use of force, was in favor of the war in Afghanistan. Right now, it is possible President Obama is going to be leaving the next president, perhaps President Sanders, at least 10,000 troops in Afghanistan. How long will those troops be in Afghanistan under President Sanders? +p608 +aVCan you address a question on Afghanistan? How long are these troops going to be there? If President Obama leaves you 10,000 troops, how long do you think they're going to be there? +p609 +aVSecretary Clinton, 30 seconds: How long are these troops going to be in Afghanistan? We have more American troops in Afghanistan than what we were talking about with Iraq. +p610 +aVYou know, Senator Sanders, nobody knows who your foreign policy advisers are. You haven't given a major foreign policy speech. And it doesn't sound like all the time that foreign policy is a priority, other than when you're asked about it, and you say you're going to crush +p611 +aVAll right, Senator, 30 seconds. +p612 +aV30 seconds, madam secretary. +p613 +aVAlright, as Commander in Chief, Senator Sanders, you've got to prioritize potential threats to the United States. Three countries, North Korea, Iran, Russia. How would you rank them in order of their threat to America's security right now... +p614 +aV... Starting with the biggest threat. +p615 +aV... I didn't say that... +p616 +aV... No... +p617 +aV... We already had that. I'm talking about these three countries. How would you orient our national security, our national defense posture. +p618 +aVSecretary of Defense Ash Carter this week picked one of those three, and he has said Russia is, basically, the most important national security threat. Sort of reorienting the defense and the challenges to that. Do you agree with his decisions... +p619 +aVSecretary Clinton, what do you think of Secretary of Defense Ash Carter. He's basically putting Russia above Iran, above North Korea, as sort of the chief national security challenge right now. +p620 +aVThank you both, Rachel? +p621 +aVAnd we are back. We're gonna get into a little bit of election politics, electability, in a little bit. Senator Sanders, The Iowa Democratic Party has declared Hillary Clinton the winner of Monday's Iowa caucuses\u2014narrowest of margins. Today, the Des Moines Register has an editorial that calls for the audit of the results, saying, quote, "what happened Monday night at the Democratic caucuses was a debacle, period. The results were too close not to do a complete audit." Senator Sanders, do you accept the idea that Hillary Clinton won Iowa? And do you\u2014or do you believe the caucuses are still an open question? +p622 +aVSecretary Clinton, will you participate in some sort of audit, if that's what the party wants to do? You good with that? +p623 +aVThat's fair enough. OK. +p624 +aVGood, we move on. We're happy with that. We have more questions. +p625 +aVWe'll stay on this issue. We'll stay on this topic. Secretary Clinton, just like there are some Democrats that question Senator Sanders' ability in the general election, many Democratic voters that our reporters have been running into in Iowa and New Hampshire, they tell our reporters over and over again they're worried about the emails issue, not because they don't believe your explanation, but because it's a drip-drip, because the cloud is hanging over your head and that it will impact the general election. They see your numbers right now and they think it's the email issue as to why you're not polling very well. So can you reassure these Democrats that somehow the email issue isn't going to blow up your candidacy if you're the nominee? +p626 +aVAll right, Madam Secretary, there is an open\u2014there is an open FBI investigation into this matter about how you may have handled classified material. Are you 100 percent confident that nothing is going to come of this FBI investigation? +p627 +aVWell, Senator sanders, you famously at the first debate said you didn't give a darn about her emails; I think you used another . +p628 +aVYou're right. I'm trying to\u2014it's a\u2014it's a family hour still right now. After 11:00, I'll say it the other way. And you mostly have refrained from commenting on it, but recently you called it a very serious issue, and then the other day you said well she's getting slapped with the email controversy. Are you\u2014how are you feeling about these darn emails now? +p629 +aVOK. Senator Sanders, thank you. +p630 +aVSecretary Clinton, let me turn to the issue of trade. In the '90s you supported +p631 +aVWell, Senator Sanders, I know you want to respond on this, you have never supported a trade deal since you've been in Congress. +p632 +aVBut if you do that as president... If you do that as president, how are you not essentially letting China, who will do all of these deals around the world, how are you going to prevent China from essentially setting the rules of trade for the world? +p633 +aVAll right. Thank you both. We're going to sneak in one more break here, and when we come back we'll squeeze as many questions as we can before we end this thing. We'll be right back. +p634 +aVAll right. Welcome back here in the final minutes. +p635 +aVThe home stretch of this only Democratic debate in the final week before the primary. Let me start with you, Secretary Clinton, on this question. Obviously, President Obama got a lot of ambitious stuff done in his first year and a half. You're going to have to make choices. And there's a lot of heavy lifts. And he made choices. He did healthcare and it came at the expense, arguably, of immigration reform. Had he put immigration reform first, perhaps that gets done and healthcare doesn't. So there are three big lifts that you've talked about: immigration, gun reform, climate change. What do you do first? Because you know the first one is the one you have the best shot at getting done. +p636 +aVAll right, but Senator Sanders......you've still got to do something first. As you know, history said\u2014shows what you pick first is your best shot at getting, and how you prioritize things. +p637 +aVImmigration reform, for instance, fell by the wayside in the first term because of this. +p638 +aVOK. Thank you. +p639 +aVAll right, before we go, I want to ask each one of these. Secretary Clinton, you've made it clear when you look at Senator Sanders, you do not see a president, but do you see\u2014 +p640 +aVBut do you see\u2014do you see a vice president? +p641 +aVWould you unite the party by trying to pick Senator Sanders as your running mate? +p642 +aVSenator, would you consider the secretary? +p643 +aVSecretary Clinton, closing statements. You are first. +p644 +aVThank you, Madam Secretary. Senator Sanders. +p645 +aVWell, there you have it. I promise you, Rachel and I have a lot more questions, but we just don't have any more time, unless we could a third hour, but I don't think so. Our debate coverage\u2014 debate coverage will continue in just a moment with our colleague . And we want to thank all of you for being here, and we want to thank the two candidates for taking part in this important event. +p646 +aVWe'll see you in a few minutes. Thank you. +p647 +asVCRUZ +p648 +(lp649 +VThank you, Wolf. America is at war. Our enemy is not violent extremism. It is not some unnamed malevolent force. It is radical Islamic terrorist. We have a president who is unwilling to utter its name. The men and women on this stage, every one of us, is better prepared to keep this nation safe than is Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. We need a president who understands the first obligation of the commander-in-chief is to keep America safe. If I am elected president, we will hunt down and kill the terrorists. We will utterly destroy +p650 +aVWell, listen, Hugh, everyone understands why Donald has suggested what he has. We're looking at a president who's engaged in this double-speak where he doesn't call radical Islamic terrorism by its name. Indeed, he gives a speech after the San Bernardino attack where his approach is to try to go after the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens rather than to keep us safe. And even worse, President Obama and Hillary Clinton are proposing bringing tens of thousands of Syrian refugees to this country when the head of the FBI has told Congress they cannot vet those refugees. I understand why Donald made that proposal. I introduced legislation in the Senate that I believe is more narrowly focused at the actual threat, which is radical Islamic terrorism, and what my legislation would do is suspend all refugees for three years from countries where +p651 +aVWell, you know, I'm reminded of what FDR's grandfather said. He said, "All horse-thieves are Democrats, but not all Democrats are horse-thieves." In this instance, there are millions of peaceful Muslims across the world, in countries like India, where there is not the problems we are seeing in nations that are controlled \u2014 have territory controlled by Al Qaida or +p652 +aVWell, Dana, the premise of your question is not accurate. I'm very proud to have joined with conservatives in both the Senate and the House to reform how we target bad guys. And what the USA Freedom Act did is it did two things. Number one, it ended the federal government's bulk collection of phone metadata of millions of law-abiding citizens. But number two in the second half of it that is critical. It strengthened the tools of national security and law enforcement to go after terrorists. It gave us greater tools and we are seeing those tools work right now in San Bernardino. And in particular, what it did is the prior program only covered a relatively narrow slice of phone calls. When you had a terrorist, you could only search a relatively narrow slice of numbers, primarily land lines. The USA Freedom Act expands that so now we have cell phones, now we have Internet phones, now we have the phones that terrorists are likely to use and the focus of law enforcement is on targeting the bad guys. You know what the Obama administration keeps getting wrong is whenever anything bad happens they focus on law-abiding citizens instead of focusing on the bad guys. We need to focus on radical Islamic terrorists and we need to stop them before they carry out acts of terror. +p653 +aVWell, you know, I would note that Marco knows what he's saying isn't true. You know, Mark Levin wrote a column last week that says that the attack ads his Super PAC is running that are saying the same thing, that they are knowingly false and they are, in fact, Alinsky-like attacks like Barack Obama. And the reason is simple. What he knows is that the old program covered 20 percent to 30 percent of phone numbers to search for terrorists. The new program covers nearly 100 percent. That gives us greater ability to stop acts of terrorism, and he knows that that's the case. +p654 +aVWhat it means is using overwhelming air power to utterly and completely destroy +p655 +aVYou would carpet bomb where +p656 +aVWell, you know, Marco has continued these attacks, and he knows they're not true. Yes, it is true that I voted against the National Defense Authorization Act, because when I campaigned in Texas I told voters in Texas that I would oppose the federal government having the authority to detain U.S. citizens permanently with no due process. I have repeatedly supported an effort to take that out of that bill, and I honored that campaign commitment. +p657 +aVBut more broadly, you know, the notion Marco is suggesting, that somehow \u2014 he also has tossed more than a few insults this direction \u2014 let's be absolutely clear. +p658 +aVWolf, I believe in a America first foreign policy, that far too often President Obama and Hillary Clinton \u2014 and, unfortunately, more than a few Republicans \u2014 have gotten distracted from the central focus of keeping this country safe. So let's go back to the beginning of the Obama administration, when Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama led +p659 +aV... we ought to hunt down our enemies and kill +p660 +aVWell, it's more than not shedding a tear. It's actively getting involved to topple a government. And we keep hearing from President Obama and Hillary Clinton and Washington Republicans that they're searching for these mythical moderate rebels. It's like a purple unicorn. They never exist. These moderate rebels end up being jihadists. And I'll tell you whose view on Assad is the same as mine. It's Prime Minister Netanyahu. Prime Minister Netanyahu has said Israel doesn't have a dog in that fight because Assad is a puppet of Iran, a Shia radical Islamic terrorist, but at the same time, Prime Minister Netanyahu doesn't want to see Syria governed by +p661 +aVThe question of whether we should toppling dictatorships is asking the wrong question. We should be defeating our enemies. So the problem with defeating... +p662 +aVWell, but let me explain, the focus should be... +p663 +aV... on defeating our enemies. So, for example... +p664 +aV... a regime we should change is Iran... +p665 +aV... because Iran has declared war on us. But we shouldn't be toppling regimes...... that are fighting radical Islamic terrorists that are helping... +p666 +aVWell, he \u2014 he has attempted to muddy the waters, but I think that anyone who watched the battle that we had. You know, there was a time for choosing as Reagan put it. Where there was a battle over amnesty and some chose, like Senator Rubio to stand with Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer and support a massive amnesty plan. Others chose to stand with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and the American people and secure the border. And let me mention, this issue is actually directly connected to what we've been talking about. Because the front line with +p667 +aVLook, I understand Marco wants to raise confusion, it is not accurate what he just said that I supported legalization. Indeed, I led the fight against his legalization and amnesty. And you know, there was one commentator that put it this way that, for Marco to suggest our record's the same is like suggesting "the fireman and the arsonist because they are both at the scene of the fire." He was fighting to grant amnesty and not to secure the border, I was fighting to secure the border. And this also goes to trust, listening on to campaign trails. Candidates all the time make promises. You know, Marco said," he learned that the American people didn't trust the federal government." +p668 +aVIn Florida promising to... +p669 +aVgo in the fight against amnesty... +p670 +aVHe campaigned promising to lead the fight against amnesty. +p671 +aVI have never supported a legalization... +p672 +aVI have never supported legalization, and I do not intend to support legalization. Let me tell you how you do this, what you do is you enforce the law... +p673 +aVWatt you do is enforcement the law... +p674 +aVWhat you do... +p675 +aVWhat you do is you enforce the law. I've laid out a very, very detailed immigration plan on my website, tedcruz.org. It's 11 pages of existing federal law and in particular the question of what to do with people who are here now? You enforce the law. That means you stop the Obama administration's policy of releasing criminal illegal aliens. Do you know how many aliens Bill Clinton deported? 12 million. Do you know how many illegal aliens, George W. Bush deported? 10 million. We can enforce the laws and if we secure the border, that solves the problem. And as president I will solve this problem and secure the border. +p676 +aVDana, what I said in private is exactly what I'll say here, which is that the judgment that every voter is making of every one of us up here is who has the experience, who has the vision, who has the judgment to be commander in chief. That is the most important decision for the voters to make. That's a standard I'm held to. And it's a standard everyone else is held to. And I will note, you know, in the whole course of this discussion about our foreign policy threats, it actually illustrates the need for clarity of focus. You know, my daughters, Caroline and Catherine, came tonight. They're 7 and 5. And you think about the Los Angeles schools canceling their schools today. And every parent is wondering, how do we keep our kids safe? We need a commander in chief who does what Ronald Reagan did with communism, which is he set out a global strategy to defeat Soviet communism. And he directed all of his... I'm answering the question, Dana. He directed all of his forces to defeating communism. One of the things we've seen here is how easy it is for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to get distracted from dealing with radical Islamic terrorism. They won't even call it by its name. We need a president who stands up, number one, and says, we will defeat +p677 +aVAnd we need to be focused on defeating... +p678 +aV... defeating radical Islamic terrorists. +p679 +aVWhat I'm saying, Dana, is that is a judgment for every voter to make. What I can tell you is all nine of the people here would make an infinitely better commander in chief than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. +p680 +aVAnd there is a real danger, Dana, when people get distracted. I'm answering the question, Wolf. There's a real danger when people get distracted by peripheral issues. They get distracted by democracy building. They get distracted about military conflicts. We need to focus on defeating jihadism. +p681 +aVAnd I will do everything necessary to keep our children safe. +p682 +aVJudgment, strength, clarity and trust. Barack Obama has said he doesn't believe in American leadership or America winning \u2014 he is wrong. America can win again and we will win again. Ronald Reagan reignited the American economy, rebuilt the Military, bankrupted the Soviet Union and defeated Soviet Communism. I will do the same thing. Cutting taxes, cutting regulation, unleashing small businesses and rebuilding the Military to defeat radical Islamic terrorism \u2014 our strategy is simple. We win, they lose. We've done it before and we can do it again. +p683 +asVPAUL +p684 +(lp685 +VThe question is, how do we keep America safe from terrorism? Trump says we ought to close that Internet thing. The question really is, what does he mean by that? Like they do in North Korea? Like they do in China? Rubio says we should collect all Americans' records all of the time. The Constitution says otherwise. I think they're both wrong. I think we defeat terrorism by showing them that we do not fear them. I think if we ban certain religions, if we censor the Internet, I think that at that point the terrorists will have won. Regime change hasn't won. Toppling secular dictators in the Middle East has only led to chaos and the rise of radical Islam. I think if we want to defeat terrorism, I think if we truly are sincere about defeating terrorism, we need to quit arming the allies of +p686 +aVYou know, I think Marco gets it completely wrong. We are not any safer through the bulk collection of all Americans' records. In fact, I think we're less safe. We get so distracted by all of the information, we're not spending enough time getting specific immigration \u2014 specific information on terrorists. The other thing is, is the one thing that might have stopped San Bernardino, that might have stopped 9/11 would have been stricter controls on those who came here. And Marco has opposed at every point increased security \u2014 border security for those who come to our country. On his Gang of Eight bill, he would have liberalized immigration, but he did not \u2014 and he steadfastly opposed any new border security requirements for refugees or students. Last week, I introduced another bill saying we need more security, we need more scrutiny. Once again, Marco opposed this. So Marco can't have it both ways. He thinks he wants to be this, "Oh, I'm great and strong on national defense." But he's the weakest of all the candidates on immigration. He is the one for an open border that is leaving us defenseless. If we want to defend the country, we have to defend against who's coming in, and Marco is \u2014 has more of an allegiance to Chuck Schumer and to the liberals than he does to conservative policy. +p687 +aVIf I was mentioned in the question, can I respond? +p688 +aVMarco still misunderstands the immigration issue. What I put forward was an amendment that would have temporarily halted immigration from high-risk terrorist countries, but would have started it up, but I wanted them to go through Global Entry, which is a program where we do background checks. The thing is, is that every terrorist attack we've had since 9/11 has been legal immigration. Marco wants to expand that. I want more rules, more scrutiny, and to defend the country, you have to defend the border. +p689 +aVWolf... +p690 +aVWolf, this legislation... +p691 +aVThis legislation on indefinite detention... +p692 +aV... I think deserves a little more attention. +p693 +aVI think that by arming the allies of +p694 +aVI think that if you believe in regime change, you're mistaken. In 2013, we put 600 tons of weapons \u2014 us, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar \u2014 into the war against Assad. By pushing Assad back, we did create a safe space. We had people coming to our Foreign Relations Committee and saying, "Oh, we need to arm the allies of Al Qaida." They are still saying this. It is a crazy notion. This is the biggest debate we should be having tonight is is regime change a good idea; has it been a good idea. There are still people \u2014 the majority on the stage, they want to topple Assad. And then there will be chaos, and I think +p695 +aVThese are the fundamental questions of our time, these foreign policy questions, whether or not regime change is a good idea or a bad idea. I don't think because I think the regime change was a bad idea it means that Hussein was necessarily a good idea. There is often variations of evil on both sides of the war. What we have to decide is whether or not regime change is a good idea. It's what the neoconservatives have wanted. It's what the vast majority of those on the stage want. They still want regime change. They want it in Syria. They wanted it in Iraq. They want it in Libya. It has not worked. Out of regime change you get chaos. From the chaos you have seen repeatedly the rise of radical Islam. So we get this profession of, oh, my goodness, they want to do something about terrorism and yet they're the problem because they allow terrorism to arise out of that chaos. +p696 +aVNo, I think it's a huge mistake. I think regime change in Syria, and this is what \u2014 I've been saying this for several years now. In 2013 when we first went in, I said, you are going to give arms to the allies of al Qaida, to radical jihadists? That's crazy. But the other thing I said is the great irony is you will be back fighting against your own weapons. Had Assad been bombed when he used chemical weapons two years ago, +p697 +aVWell, I think if you're in favor of World War III, you have your candidate. You know, here's...... the thing. My goodness, what we want in a leader is someone with judgment, not someone who is so reckless as to stand on the stage and say, "Yes, I'm jumping up and down; I'm going to shoot down Russian planes." Russia already flies in that airspace. It may not be something we're in love with the fact that they're there, but they were invited by Iraq and by Syria to fly in that airspace. And so if we announce we're going to have a no-fly zone, and others have said this. Hillary Clinton is also for it. It is a recipe for disaster. It's a recipe for World War III. We need to confront Russia from a position of strength, but we don't need to confront Russia from a point of recklessness that would lead to war. This is something \u2014 this type of judgment, you know, it's having that kind of judgment; who you would appoint and how you're going to conduct affairs, that is incredibly important. I mean, I think when we think about the judgment of someone who might want World War III, we might think about someone who might shut down a bridge because they don't like their friends; they don't want to \u2014 you know, they want to a Democrat. So I think we need to be very careful. +p698 +aVYou know, I think we need to set the record straight on this, because I think Marco misspoke about the bill. On the Gang of Eight bill, there was no provisions really for extra scrutiny or safety for refugees. At the time the bill came up, two Iraqi refugees came to my home town, Bowling Green, Kentucky. Their fingerprints were on a bomb from Iraq. They were in the database, but we didn't pick them up. We relocated them here, put them in government housing, got them on food stamps. And we began providing for them, but we didn't have adequate security. On the Gang of Eight bill, on Marco's bill, we had an opportunity. There was a conservative consensus for an amendment I put forward called Trust, But Verify that would have strengthened border security on both refugees, students and those coming here. And Marco sided and I guess was more sympathetic to Chuck Schumer and to the president than he was to conservative principles. But this goes directly to national defense. And if he wants to run as a national \u2014 national defense conservative, he's got to explain why he hasn't stepped up to support border security. +p699 +aVWhat my bill would do would be only for refugees going forward. So I haven't taken a position on sending anyone home. But I have taken the position that we have a lot of problems here in our country. And that one of the things that we do \u2014 charity is about giving your own money. Charity isn't giving someone else's money. To put everyone in government housing and food stamps and bring them in from around the world I think is a mistake. To give of your own money, I've given to my church. My church has helped people that came from Bosnia. That's a good thing. But we shouldn't have a program where we just say that we're going to take care of the world's refugees. Nobody in the Middle East is doing anything. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait \u2014 all the Gulf nations are doing nothing. They need to step up and take... +p700 +aVThe greatest threat to our national security is our debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. And whose fault is it? Well, frankly, it's both parties' fault. You have those on the right who clamor and say, oh, we will spend anything on the military, and those on the left who say the same for domestic welfare. But what most Americans don't realize is there is an unholy alliance. They come together. There's a secret handshake. We spend more money on everything. And we are not stronger nation if we go further into debt. We are not projecting power from bankruptcy court. To me, there is no greater threat than our debt. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage because I'm willing to hold the line on all spending. I hope you will consider me in the election. Thank you very much. +p701 +asVBASH +p702 +(lp703 +VA crucial question is how to balance surveillance with privacy and keeping Americans safe. Senator Cruz, you voted for a bill that President Obama signed into law just this past June that made it harder for the government to access Americans' phone records. In light of the San Bernardino attack, was your vote a mistake? +p704 +aVThank you. Senator Rubio, Senator Cruz is right there was bipartisan support for that. But you voted against it. So, is Senator Cruz wrong? +p705 +aVSenator Cruz? +p706 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator \u2014 Senator Rubio, please respond. +p707 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I know this is \u2014 this has been a very big issue for you. You hear many of your colleagues are calling for increased surveillance by law enforcement. You call that hogwash. Why is that hogwash? +p708 +aVSenator Rubio? +p709 +aVGovernor Christie, Governor Christie... ...Governor Christie, I'll come to you in a minute. Go ahead, Senator Paul. +p710 +aVGo ahead, please. +p711 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about immigration in a while. But, Governor Christie, just listening to this... +p712 +aVListening to this, you talked \u2014 you heard Senator Paul, Senator Cruz talk about how important it is to protect Americans' privacy, even in a time of grave danger. Why \u2014 what's wrong with that? +p713 +aVSenator Paul, you said +p714 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I want to go back to my initial question, which is you saying that +p715 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about regime change in a bit. But Governor Kasich, would you like to respond to Senator Paul? +p716 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. We've been talking tonight about programs and policy proposals that you all have to keep Americans safe and it's a big discussion on the campaign trail. Also about border security and immigration. So let's talk about immigration. Senator Rubio. You co-authored a bill with Democrats two years ago that allowed a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Do you still support that path to citizenship, which means giving those immigrants rights, like the right to vote? +p717 +aVSenator, you haven't answered the question. You described a very long path but does that path end at citizenship? +p718 +aVThank you, senator. +p719 +aVThank you, senator. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, on the campaign trail, Senator Rubio has said that his immigration plan is not that different from yours. Is that true? +p720 +aVSenator Rubio, please. +p721 +aVSenator Cruz? +p722 +aVSenator Cruz? +p723 +aVSenator Cruz, can you answer that question please? +p724 +aVSenator Cruz? +p725 +aVOne at a time please. +p726 +aVMs. Fiorina, please wait your turn, we're going to get to you. +p727 +aVSenator Cruz go ahead. +p728 +aVMr. Trump, you like to say that you restarted this conversation in the campaign. +p729 +aVSo who do you side with? Who do you side with in this, Senator Rubio or Senator Cruz? +p730 +aVThank you. Governor Bush? +p731 +aVListening to this, do you think this is the tone \u2014 this immigration debate that republicans need to take to win back Hispanics into our party especially states like where we are in Nevada that has a pretty Hispanic community? +p732 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said if China launches a cyber- attack against the U.S. on your watch, "they're going to see cyber- warfare like they have never seen before." What exactly would that response look like? +p733 +aVGovernor Bush, what you just heard from Governor Christie, are you concerned that that could really escalate with China, that they would retaliate? And, for example, as the NSA has said, attack the U.S. and maybe it's power grid, which the Chinese have the capability to do? +p734 +aVMr. Trump, just this weekend you said Senator Cruz is not qualified to be president because he doesn't have the right temperament and acted like a maniac when he arrived in the Senate. But last month you said you were open to naming Senator Cruz as your running mate. +p735 +aVSo why would you be willing to put somebody who's a maniac one heartbeat away from the presidency? +p736 +aVOkay. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, you have not been willing to attack Mr. Trump in public. +p737 +aVBut you did question his judgment in having control of American's nuclear arsenal during a private meeting with supporters. Why are you willing to say things about him in private and not in public? +p738 +aVSenator, senator, I just... +p739 +aVSenator, a lot of people have seen... +p740 +aV... a lot of people have seen these comments you made in private. I just want to clarify what you're saying right now is you do believe Mr. Trump has the judgment to be commander in chief? +p741 +asVHEWITT +p742 +(lp743 +VSenator Cruz, you've said you disagree with Mr. Trump's policy. I don't want a cage match; you've tweeted you don't want a cage match. But Republican primary voters deserve to know, with the kind of specificity and responsiveness you delivered in your nine Supreme Court arguments, how you disagree with Mr. Trump. Would you spell that out with us? +p744 +aVSo you're saying you disagree because he's too broad and you have a narrower focus? Why do you disagree with him? +p745 +aVCarly Fiorina... ... this is the Christmas dinner debate. This will be the debate that Americans talk about at Christmas. And thus far, in the first 10 minutes, we haven't heard a lot about Ronald Reagan's city on a hill. We've heard a lot about keeping Americans out or keeping Americans safe and everyone else out. Is this what you want the party to stand for? +p746 +aVDr. Carson...... you mentioned in your opening remarks that you're a pediatric neurologist surgeon... +p747 +aVNeurosurgeon. And people admire and respect and are inspired by your life story, your kindness, your evangelical core support. We're talking about ruthless things tonight \u2014 carpet bombing, toughness, war. And people wonder, could you do that? Could you order air strikes that would kill innocent children by not the scores, but the hundreds and the thousands? Could you wage war as a commander-in-chief? +p748 +aVSo you are OK with the deaths of thousands of innocent children and civilian? It's like... +p749 +aVThat is what war \u2014 can you be as ruthless as Churchill was in prosecuting the war against the Nazis? +p750 +aVMr. Trump, we are talking about the most important thing, that's why it's heated. And it's, you are OK with Mr. Assad staying in power, but you are also in favor of winning. If he stays in power, Iran is winning, Hezbollah is winning. Iran is winning in Yemen. They are winning everywhere. If they are winning how can we be winning? +p751 +aVGovernor Christie, is he right? Because if we step back, Iran goes nuclear. Is Donald Trump right? +p752 +aVSenator Paul, let me ask you, you heard Governor Kasich say Assad must go. Do you agree? +p753 +aVGovernor Bush, a commander-in-chief question. You've said that Mr. Trump is not qualified to be president because he's not qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin. Why are you better qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin than Mr. Trump? +p754 +aVMr. Trump? +p755 +aVBut, Mr. Trump, it's not CNN \u2014 I was on CNN last night... +p756 +aV... watching... +p757 +aVBut it wasn't \u2014 it wasn't CNN. It was me. I watched you last night for 16 minutes. It's not CNN. +p758 +aVIt's not CNN. It's America's watching you. +p759 +aVIt's America's watching. +p760 +aVGovernor \u2014 thank you, Governor. +p761 +aVDr. Carson, commander-in-chief question again. You've been the head of neurosurgery for a big hospital. You're on a lot of boards of a lot of companies. You've traveled the world. You're going traveling again next week. But does that prepare you to command troops from Djibouti to Japan, troops from Afghanistan to Iraq to be in charge of the men and women watching on Armed Services Network tonight? +p762 +aVMr. Trump...... Dr. Carson just referenced the single most important job of the president, the command, the control and the care of our nuclear forces. And he mentioned the triad. The B-52s are older than I am. The missiles are old. The submarines are aging out. It's an executive order. It's a commander-in-chief decision. What's your priority among our nuclear triad? +p763 +aVOf the three legs of the triad, though, do you have a priority? I want to go to Senator Rubio after that and ask him. +p764 +aVSenator Rubio, do you have a response? +p765 +aVMy listeners tell me again and again they are worried that Hillary Clinton will win the White House because you'll run as an independent. Are you ready to assure Republicans tonight that you will run as a Republican and abide by the decision of the Republicans? +p766 +aVDr. Carson, last week... +p767 +aVPlease. +p768 +aVDr. Carson, Mr. Trump just committed to stay the distance regardless of the result. How about you? +p769 +as. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/downloads/data/script20.pickle b/downloads/data/script20.pickle new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c5dc05d --- /dev/null +++ b/downloads/data/script20.pickle @@ -0,0 +1,11817 @@ +(dp0 +VWEBB +p1 +(lp2 +VThank you. You know, people are disgusted with the way that money has corrupted our political process, intimidating incumbents and empowering Wall Street every day, the turnstile government that we see, and also the power of the financial sector in both parties. They're looking for a leader who understands how the system works, who has not been coopted by it, and also has a proven record of accomplishing different things. I have a record of working across the political aisle. I've also spent more than half of my professional life away from politics in the independent world of being an author, a journalist, and a sole proprietor. In government service, I've fought and bled for our country in Vietnam as a Marine. I spent years as Assistant Secretary of Defense, Secretary of the Navy \u2014 in the Reagan administration. In the senate, I spoke about economic fairness and social justice from day one. I also wrote and passed the best piece of veterans education legislation in history, the Post 9/11 G.I. Bill. I brought criminal justice reform out of the political shadows and into the national discussion. I led what later became called the Strategic Pivot to Asia two years before President Obama was elected. I know where my loyalties are. My mother grew up in the poverty of east Arkansas chopping cotton, picking strawberries. Three of her seven siblings died in childhood. My wife, Hong, came to this country as a refugee from war torn Vietnam \u2014 learned English, a language that was not spoken at home, and earned her way into Cornell Law School. I have five daughters. Amy works with disabled veterans, Sarah is an emergency room nurse, Julia is a massage therapist, Emily and Georgia are still in school. My son Jim fought as an infantry Marine on the bloody streets of Ramadi. You may be sure that in a Webb administration, the highest priority will be the working people who every day go out and make this country stronger at home, and who give us the right reputation and security overseas under a common sense foreign policy. +p3 +aVNo, actually I believe that I am where the Democratic Party traditionally has been. The Democratic Party, and the reason I've decided to run as a Democrat, has been the party that gives people who otherwise have no voice in the corridors of power a voice. And that is not determined by race. And as a clarification, I have always supported affirmative action for African Americans. That's the way the program was originally designed because of their unique history in this country, with slavery and the Jim Crow laws that followed. What I have discussed a number of times is the idea that when we create diversity programs that include everyone, quote, "of color," other than whites, struggling whites like the families in the Appalachian mountains, we're not being true to the Democratic Party principle of elevating the level of consciousness among our people about the hardships that a lot of people who happen to be have \u2014 by culture, by the way. +p4 +aVLook, there are two fundamental issues that are involved in this discussion. We need to pay respect to both of them. The first is the issue of who should be kept from having guns and using firearms. And we have done not a good job on that. A lot of them are criminals. And a lot of the people are getting killed are members of gangs inside our urban areas. And a lot of them are mentally incapacitated. And the shooting in Virginia Tech in '07, this individual had received medical care for mental illness from three different professionals who were not allowed to share the information. So we do need background checks. We need to keep the people who should not have guns away from them. But we have to respect the tradition in this country of people who want to defend themselves and their family from violence. +p5 +aVMay I? People are going back and forth here for 10 minutes here. There are people at high levels in this government who have bodyguards 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The average American does not have that, and deserves the right to be able to protect their family. +p6 +aVAnderson, can I come into this discussion at some point? +p7 +aVThank you. I've been standing over here for about ten minutes, trying. +p8 +aVIt's just \u2014 it's gone back and forth over there. +p9 +aVYou got the lucky . +p10 +aVLook, let's start \u2014 I've been trying to get in this conversation for about 10 minutes \u2014 let's start with why Russia is in Syria right now. There are three strategic failings that have allowed this to occur. The first was the invasion of Iraq, which destabilized ethnic elements in Iraq and empowered Iran. The second was the Arab Spring, which created huge vacuums in Libya and in Syria that allowed terrorist movements to move in there. And the third was the recent deal allowing Iran to move forward and eventually acquire a nuclear weapon, which sent bad signals, bad body language into the region about whether we are acquiescing in Iran becoming a stronger piece of the formula in that part of the world. Now, I say this as someone who spent five years in the Pentagon and who opposed the war in Iraq, whose son fought in Iraq, I've fought in Vietnam. But if you want a place where we need to be in terms of our national strategy, a focus, the greatest strategic threat that we have right now is resolving our relationship with China. And we need to do this because of their aggression in the region. We need to do it because of the way they treat their own people. +p11 +aVAnd I would say this. I've been waiting for 10 minutes. I will say this. +p12 +aVI will \u2014 well, you've let a lot of people go over their time. I would say this... +p13 +aV... to the unelected, authoritarian government of China: You do not own the South China Sea. You do not have the right to conduct cyber warfare against tens of millions of American citizens. And in a Webb administration, we will do something about that. +p14 +aVCan I... O' +p15 +aVThank you. +p16 +aVThis is not about Benghazi per se. To me it is the inevitability of something like Benghazi occurring in the way that we intervened in Libya. We had no treaties at risk. We had no Americans at risk. There was no threat of attack or imminent attack. There is plenty of time for a president to come to the Congress and request authority to use military force in that situation. I called for it on the Senate floor again and again. I called for it in Senate hearings. It is not a wise thing to do. And if people think it was a wise thing to do, try to get to the Tripoli airport today. You can't do it. +p17 +aVEverybody makes their decisions when the time there is conscription. And as long as they go through the legal process that our country requires, I respect that. And it would be for the voters to decide whether Senator Sanders or anyone else should be president. I will say this, coming from the position that I've come from, from a military family, with my brother a marine, my son was a marine in Iraq, I served as a marine, spending five years in the Pentagon, I am comfortable that I am the most qualified person standing up here today to be your commander-in-chief. +p18 +aVI believe that the signal that we sent to the region when the Iran nuclear deal was concluded was that we are accepting Iran's greater position on this very important balance of power, among our greatest ally Israel, and the Sunnis represented by the Saudi regime, and Iran. It was a position of weakness and I think it encouraged the acts that we've seen in the past several weeks. +p19 +aVOur greatest long-term strategic challenge is our relation with China. Our greatest day-to-day threat is cyber warfare against this country. Our greatest military-operational threat is resolving the situations in the Middle East. +p20 +aVI hope I can get that kind of time here. As a President of the United States, every life in this country matters. At the same time, I believe I can say to you, I have had a long history of working with the situation of African Americans. We're talking about criminal justice reform, I risked my political life raising the issue of criminal justice reform when I ran for the Senate in Virginia in 2006. I had democratic party political consultants telling me I was committing political suicide. We led that issue in the congress. We started a national debate on it. And it wasn't until then that the Republican Party started joining in. I also represented a so-called war criminal, an African American Marine who was wounded \u2014 who was convicted of murder in Vietnam, for six years. He took his life three years into this. I cleared his name after \u2014 after three years. +p21 +aVAnd I put the African American soldier on the Mall. I made that recommendation and fought for it. So, if you want someone who is \u2014 can stand up in front of you right now and say I have done the hard job, I have taken the risks, I am your person. +p22 +aVBernie, say my name so I can get into this. +p23 +aVOK. Thank you. +p24 +aVAnderson, I need to jump in (inaudible). +p25 +aVThere is a reality that I think we all need to recognize with respect to the power of the financial sector. And let me just go back a minute and say that on this +p26 +aVAll right. Well, I'm trying to set a mark here so maybe we can get into a little more later on. This hasn't been equal time. But if you want to look at what has happened, if we look at the facts in terms of how we're going to deal with this, since that crash, in the last 10 years, the amount of the world's capital economy that Wall Street manages has gone from 44 percent to 55 percent. That means the Wall Street money managers are not risking themselves as the same way the American people are when they're going to get their compensation. They're managing money from all over the world. We have to take that into consideration when we're looking at ways to regulate it. +p27 +aVI wouldn't have a problem with that. Let me start by saying my wife is an immigrant. She was a refugee, her family escaped from Vietnam on a boat-- her entire extended family, after the communists took over, when hundreds of thousands of people were out there and thousands of them were dying. Went to two refugee camps, she never spoke English in her home, and she ended, as I said, graduating from Cornell Law School. That's not only American dream, that's a value that we have with a good immigration system in place. No country has \u2014 is a country without defining its borders. We need to resolve this issue. I actually introduced an amendment in the 2007 immigration bill... +p28 +aV...Giving a pathway to citizenship to those people who had come here, and put down their roots, and met as a series of standards... +p29 +aV...lost (ph) \u2014 I introduced that in 2007 \u2014 We need a comprehensive reform, and we need to be able to define our borders. +p30 +aVI \u2014 well, I \u2014 I would leave his ultimate judgment to the legal system. Here's what I do believe. We have a serious problem in terms of the collection of personal information in this country. And one of the things that I did during the +p31 +aVI got a great deal of admiration and affection for Senator Sanders, but I \u2014 Bernie, I don't think the revolution's going to come. And I don't think the Congress is going to pay for a lot of this stuff. And if there would be a major difference between my administration and the Obama administration, it would be in the use of executive authority. I came up as a committee counsel in the Congress, used to put dozens of bills through the House floor every year as a committee counsel on the Veterans Committee. I have a very strong feeling about how our federal system works and how we need to lead and energize the congressional process instead of allowing these divisions to continue to paralyze what we're doing. So I would lead \u2014 working with both parties in the Congress and working through them in the traditional way that our Constitution sets (ph). +p32 +aVWell, the \u2014 the question really is how are we going to solve energy problems here and in the global environment if you really want to address climate change? And when I was in the Senate, I was an all-of-the-above energy voter. We introduced legislation to bring in alternate energy as well as nuclear power. I'm a strong proponent of nuclear power. It is safe, it is clean. And really, we are not going to solve climate change simply with the laws here. We've done a good job in this country since 1970. If you look at China and India, they're the greatest polluters in the world. Fifteen out of the 20 most polluted cities in the world are in one of those two countries. We need to solve this in a global way. It's a global problem and I have been very strong on \u2014 on doing that. The \u2014 the agreements \u2014 the so-called agreements that we have had with China are illusory in terms of the immediate requirements of the \u2014 of the Chinese government itself. So let's solve this problem in an international way, and then we really will have a \u2014 a way to address climate change. +p33 +aVI'd have to say the enemy soldier that threw the grenade that wounded me, but he's not around right now to talk to. +p34 +aVThank you. Ladies and gentlemen, it's been a pleasure to be with you tonight. You've heard a lot of promises up here; you've heard a lot of rhetoric. They all seem to happen during campaigns, and then once the election's over, people start from scratch again and try to get things done. One of the things I can promise you, if you look at my record, in and out of government, is that I've always been willing to take on a complicated, something unpopular issues, and work them through, the complex issues, and work them through in order to have the solution. We did it with criminal justice reform. We've had a lot of discussion here about criminal justice reform. We did it in other ways. We need a national political strategy for our economy, for our social policy, for social justice, and, by the way, for how you run and manage the most complex bureaucracy in the world, which is the federal government. I know how to lead. I did it in Vietnam, I did it in the Pentagon, I did it in the Senate, and if you will help me overcome this cavalcade of \u2014 of financial irregularities and money that is poisoning our political process, I am ready to do that for you in the White House. +p35 +asVCRAMER +p36 +(lp37 +VDr. Carson, in recent weeks, a number of pharmaceutical companies has been accused of profiteering, for dramatically raising the prices of life-saving drugs. You have spent a lifetime in medicine. Have these companies gone too far? Should the government be involved in controlling some of these price increases? +p38 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Governor Christie, there has been a lot of political rhetoric that some bank executives should have gone to jail for the 2008 financial crisis. But General Motors paid more than $1 billion in fines and settlements for its ignition switch defect. One hundred and twenty- four people died as a result of these faulty switches. No one went to jail. As a former prosecutor, do you believe the people responsible for the switch and the cover-up belong behind bars? +p39 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. +p40 +aVThank you. Governor Pataki, in the wake of the Sony hack last year, you said, quote, "at the very least, we should declare cyber-war on North Korea." What does a cyber-war look like? And if our companies are getting attacked by foreign governments, do we need a military response? +p41 +aVSenator Graham, you're a hawk. Was that tough enough? +p42 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Santorum. We know that a troubling amount of air pollution on the west coast comes from China. Should we enact a pollution tax on products imported from China and give our manufacturers a level playing field? +p43 +aVThank you, Senator. John? +p44 +asVPERRY +p45 +(lp46 +VI will tell you one thing: I would whole lot rather had Carly Fiorina over there doing our negotiation than John Kerry. Maybe we would've gotten a deal where we didn't give everything away. But the issue for us is to have a Congress that stands up and says not only no, but hell no, to this money going to a regime that is going to use it for terror... +p47 +aVIt's good to be with you. +p48 +aVAfter those four years of looking back and being prepared, the preparation to be the most powerful individual in the world requires an extraordinary amount of work: not just having been the governor of the 12th largest economy in the world, which I might add, we added 1.5 million jobs during that period of time over that 2007 through 2014 period, a period when America was going through the most deep recession it had been through since the Great Depression. I think Americans want someone to have a track record of showing them how to get this country back on record, someone who will stand up and every day project that best days of America are in front of us. And I will assure you, as the governor of the state of Texas, and as those last four years have shown me, the preparation to be ready to stand on this stage and talk about those monetary policies, those domestic policies, and those foreign policies, Americans are going to see that I am ready to be that individual. +p49 +aVWell, when you look at the celebrity of Donald Trump, then I think that says a lot about it. One thing I like to remind people is, back in 2007, Rudy Giuliani was leading the polls for almost a year. I'll suggest a part of that was his celebrity. Fred Thompson was the other one, a man who had spent a lot of time on that screen. I've had my issues with Donald Trump. I talked about Donald Trump from the standpoint of being an individual who was using his celebrity rather than his conservatism. How can you run for the Republican nomination and be for single- payer health care? I mean, I ask that with all due respect. And nobody, nobody on either one of these stages has done more than I've done and the people of the State of Texas to deal with securing that border. We sent our Texas ranger recon teams. We sent our parks and wildlife wardens. I deployed the National Guard after I stood on the ramp in Dallas, Texas and looked the president of the United States in the eye and said, "Mr. President, if you won't secure the border, Texas will," and that's exactly what we did. We need a president that doesn't just talk a game, but a president that's got real results. Mac +p50 +aVBill, here's the interesting position on this. Americans are tired of hearing this debate -- want to go to, what are you going to do about illegal immigration? For 30 years this country has been baited with that. All the way back to when Ronald Reagan signed a piece of legislation that basically allowed for amnesty for over 4 million people, and the border is still not secure. The American people are never going to trust Washington, D.C., and for good reason. We hear all this discussion about well, I would do this, or I would do that, when the fact is, the border is still porous. Until we have a president of the United States that gets up every day and goes to the Oval Office with the intent purpose of securing that border, and there's not anybody on either one of these stages that has the experience of dealing with this as I have for over 14 years with that 1200-mile border. We have to put the personnel on that border in the right places; you have to put the strategic fencing in place; and you have to have aviation assets that fly all the way from Tijuana to El Paso to Brownsville, Texas -- 1,933 miles looking down 24/7, with the technology to be able to identify what individuals are doing, and ID when they are in obviously illegal activities or suspicious activities, and quick response teams come. At that particular point in time, then Americans will believe that Washington is up to a conversation to deal with the millions of people that are here illegally, but not until. If you elect me president of the United States, I will secure that southern border. +p51 +aVWe need to be on the side that keeps Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. That's the side we need to be on, and that's the side of the bulk of the -- of the Middle East. We need to have some coalitions in that part of the world to go after +p52 +aVIt'll be a pretty busy day, but that Iran negotiation is going to be torn up on day one. We're going to start the process of securing that border. I'm also going to take a bottle of White-Out with me to get started on all those executive orders that Mr. Obama has put his name to. +p53 +aVIt will be a long day. +p54 +aVWell, let's go with three. Good at email. +p55 +aVWell, this is going to be a show me, don't tell me election. I think America is just a few good decisions and a leadership change at the top away from the best years we've ever had. And I think that the record of the governor of the last 14 years of the 12th largest economy in the world is just the medicine America is looking for. 1.5 million jobs created during the worst economic time this country has had since the Great Depression while the rest of the country lost 400,000 jobs. We're talking about a state that moved graduation rates forward from 27th in the nation to second-highest. As a matter of fact, if you're Hispanic or African-American in Texas, you have the number one high school graduation rates in America. Americans are looking for somebody that's going to give them, and there is a place in this country over the last eight years in particular that talked about hope every day, and they didn't just talk about it, they delivered it. And that was the state of Texas. And if we can do that in Texas, that 12th largest economy in the world, we can do it in America. Our best days are in front of us. We can reform those entitlements, we can change that corporate tax code and lower it. We can put America back on track on a growth level and a growth rate that we've never seen in the history of this country. Manufacturing will flow back into this country. It just needs a corporate executive type at the top that's done it before. And I will suggest to you nobody's done it like Rick Perry has done it over the last eight years. And if you elect me president, we will bring incredible growth back to this country. And as someone who's worn the uniform of the country, that's how we build our military back up. +p56 +asVLEMON +p57 +(lp58 +VAlright, Anderson, thank you very much. I'm not sure how to follow that, but this question is about something that has tripped some of the candidates up out on the campaign trail. Can you hear me? Can't hear me in the room. OK, here we go again, as I said... +p59 +aV...There we go... +p60 +aVAll right. This one is for Martin O'Malley. Anderson, Governor O'Malley, this is from Anna Bettis from Tempe, Arizona. Here it is. ( +p61 +aVSo, Governor O'Malley, please tell Anna how you would protect the environment better than all the other candidates up on that stage. O' +p62 +aVAlright, Anderson. This is for Senator Sanders, OK? This is from Carrie (ph) Kang (ph) from Manassas, Virginia, would like would like to ask the Senator, "President Obama has had a difficult time getting Republicans to compromise on just about every agenda. How will you approach this going forward, and will it be any different?" Senator? +p63 +asVRADDATZ +p64 +(lp65 +VGood evening to you all. The rules for tonight are very basic and have been agreed to by all three campaigns in advance. Candidates can take up to a minute-and-a-half to respond directly to a question. For a rebuttal, for a follow-up, 45 seconds will be allowed. There are green, yellow, and red lights that each candidate will see to signal when time is running out and when they're supposed to be finished with their answers. +p66 +aVThank you, Secretary Clinton. Governor O'Malley? O' +p67 +aVSecretary Clinton, in the wake of the San Bernardino attack, you all emphasized gun control. But our latest poll shows that more Americans believe arming people, not stricter gun laws, is the best defense against terrorism. Are they wrong? +p68 +aVSecretary Clinton, can we stick to gun control? +p69 +aVAre they wrong? +p70 +aVSenator Sanders -- wait just a moment, please, Governor O'Malley. Senator Sanders, we've seen those long lines of people buying guns in record numbers after the Paris attacks. Would you discourage people from buying a gun? +p71 +aVThank you, Senator Sanders. I think we're going to go on... O' +p72 +aVGovernor, now -- and let me stay with gun control for a minute, then. You talk about assault weapons. Even if you were able to ban the purchase of assault weapons tomorrow, Americans already own an estimated 7 to 10 million semi-automatic rifles. Would you make it illegal to own those weapons, force people to turn them in? And if not, how would banning the sales really make a difference? O' +p73 +aVBut, again, I'm not talking about buying. Would you have them confiscated? The ones that are already here? O' +p74 +aVI want to move to another... O' +p75 +aVNo, no, not yet, Governor O'Malley. O' +p76 +aVNo, not yet, Governor O'Malley. O' +p77 +aVI'll come to you when we call on you. Thank you very much. O' +p78 +aVYou'll be happy. I'll let -- I'll let you talk then. Secretary Clinton, I want to talk about a new terrorist tool used in the Paris attacks, encryption. FBI Director James Comey says terrorists can hold secret communications which law enforcement cannot get to, even with a court order. You've talked a lot about bringing tech leaders and government officials together, but Apple CEO Tim Cook said removing encryption tools from our products altogether would only hurt law-abiding citizens who rely on us to protect their data. So would you force him to give law enforcement a key to encrypted technology by making it law? +p79 +aVAnd Governor O'Malley, where do you draw the line between national security and personal security? O' +p80 +aVThank you, Governor O'Malley. +p81 +aVSenator Sanders -- Senator Sanders, we're going to move on. We're going to move on. +p82 +aVWe're going to move on to the fight against +p83 +aVOK. Let's keep going. Thank you. +p84 +aVThank you. I do want to move to the fight against +p85 +aVFor the people of New Hampshire, the brutality of +p86 +aVBut why Al Qaida, why not +p87 +aVThe administration has tried that over and over again. If it doesn't work and this threat is so great, what's your plan B? +p88 +aVSecretary Clinton, you too have ruled out a large U.S. combat force, yet you support sending in special operations forces to Syria, and sending those 100 to 200 troops to Iraq to do exploitation kill raids. We've already lost one Delta Force member in a raid. It has looked very much to me like we're already in ground combat on frequent trips I've made there. So, are you fooling Americans when you say, we're not putting American combat troops back into Syria or Iraq? No. Not at all. I think that what we're facing with +p89 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want -- I want to follow up on that. You do support sending special operations forces there. You support what the president has done already. One of the lessons people draw from Vietnam and war since is that a little force can turn into a little more and a little more. President Obama certainly didn't expect to be sending 30,000 additional troops into Afghanistan the first year of his presidency. Are you prepared to run the risk of a bigger war to achieve your goals to destroy +p90 +aVGovernor O'Malley. You've emphasized the need for more human intelligence on the ground. What is it our intelligence community is not doing now that needs to be done? O' +p91 +aVThank you. +p92 +aVSecretary Clinton, I'd like to go back to that if I could. +p93 +aVBut isn't that a decision you should make now, whether... +p94 +aV... if you're advocating this? +p95 +aVAnd we're going to move on to health care. Secretary Clinton, the Department of Health and Human Services says more than 17 million Americans who are not insured now have health coverage because of Obamacare. But for Americans who already had health insurance the cost has gone up 27 percent in the last five years while deductibles are up 67 percent, health care costs are rising faster than many Americans can manage. What's broken in Obamacare that needs to be fixed right now? And what would you do to fix it? +p96 +aVBut you did say those were glitches. +p97 +aVJust glitches? +p98 +aVTwenty-seven percent in the last five years, deductibles up 67 percent? +p99 +aVSenator Sanders, I want you to respond to what she was saying, but you're instead calling for single-payer health care. +p100 +aVYou note people won't have to pay deductibles or premiums but they will have to pay new taxes. Can you tell us specifically how much people will be expected to pay? +p101 +aVSenator Sanders, you didn't really tell us specifically how much people will be expected to pay... +p102 +aVBut you can't tell us this specifically, even if you were... +p103 +aVOK. Let's go to talk about the high cost of college education and for that we turn to the executive director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics, right here at Saint Anselm college, Neil Levesque. Neil? +p104 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to circle back to something that your opponents here have brought up. Libya is falling apart. The country is a haven for +p105 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to go back. That -- government lacked institutions and experience. It had been a family business for 40 years. On the security side, we offered only a modest training effort and a very limited arms buy-back program. Let me ask you the question again. How much responsibility do you bear for the chaos that followed those elections? +p106 +aVBut were mistakes made? +p107 +aVSenator Sanders. +p108 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p109 +aVQuick Governor O'Malley. O' +p110 +aVThank you very much. Thank you. We're going to move on here. Governor O'Malley, thank you very much for that. And we're going to make a very sharp turn as we wrap things up here. Secretary Clinton, first ladies, as you well know, have used their position to work on important causes like literacy and drug abuse. But they also supervise the menus, the flowers, the holiday ornaments and White House decor. I know you think you know where I'm going here. You have said that Bill Clinton is a great host and loves giving tours but may opt out of picking flower arrangements if you're elected. Bill Clinton aside, is it time to change the role of a president's spouse? +p111 +aVGovernor O'Malley? Martha, thank you. I want to thank all of the people who have tuned in tonight. I want to thank the great people of New Hampshire, where despite all of the cynicism about big money and big banks taking over our politics, here in New Hampshire, the individual matters. You know, my wife Katie and I have four terrific kids, and like you, there's probably nothing we wouldn't do to give them a future that's safer, that's healthier, where they have more opportunity than our parents and grandparents gave to us. Tonight, what you listened to was a healthy exchange of ideas about how we'd do that, that which we have always proven, the capacity to do better than any nation in the world, to take actions that include more of our people more fully in the economic, social and political life of our country. When you listened to the Republican debate the other night, you heard a lot of anger and you had a lot of fear. Well, they can have their anger and they can have their fear, but anger and fear never built America. We build our country by adopting wage and labor policies, including comprehensive immigration reform with a pathway of citizenship for all. We do it by investing in our country, by investing in infrastructure, by investing in the skills and the talents of our people with debt-free college, and we can do it again. And we also create a better future for our kids when we square our shoulders to the great challenges of our times, whether it's terror trying to undermine our values or Republican presidential candidates trying to get us to surrender our freedoms and our values in the face of this threat. The other big challenge we have is climate change. The greatest business opportunity to come to the United States of America in 100 years. We need to embrace this. I have put forward a plan that does this, that moves us to 100 percent clean electric grid by 2050. Join this campaign for the future. New leadership is what our country needs to move us out of these divided and polarized times. Thank you. +p112 +aVQuestions of leadership and character have dominated the news ever since the Iowa caucuses a few days ago. Here with us to question the candidates this evening are Josh McElveen from +p113 +aVDr. Ben Carson. +p114 +aVBusinessman Donald Trump. +p115 +aVFormer Florida Governor, Jeb Bush. +p116 +aVLadies and gentlemen, the Republican candidates. +p117 +aVAnd Donald Trump. +p118 +aVThe applause so loud you couldn't hear. We couldn't hear, either. That's a good sign for the excitement this evening. Gentlemen, thank you for being here tonight, just days before voters here in New Hampshire make their decisions. The rules are simple and have been agreed to by all the campaigns. There will be 60 seconds to answer and if another candidate is mentioned in that answer, that candidate will have 30 seconds to respond. There are green, yellow and red lights that each candidate will see to signal when time is up and they will also hear this sound. +p119 +aVSenator Cruz, you are a first term Senator as well. Your opponents say you, like Senator Rubio, are not prepared to be Commander in Chief. You have talked tough about threats we face in the Mid-East. It was reported just moments ago that the North Koreans test launched an intercontinental ballistic missile. North Korea has nuclear weapons, and conducted another nuclear test just last month. The missile that was launched is the kind the North Koreans hope could someday carry a nuclear weapon capable of reaching the United States. How would you respond if Commander in Chief to that launch? +p120 +aVWell, let me ask you this, if you were Commander in Chief tonight would you have order the U.S. military to destroy that missile preemptively on the launchpad to prevent North Korea from becoming an even graver threat? +p121 +aV... Senator Cruz, let me tell you this, you have talked tough about the Mid-East, you haven't gotten those intelligence briefings about that. Why not tell us whether you would preemptively strike a missile on a launchpad that threatens the U.S... +p122 +aVOkay. Senator Cruz, I will say that missile has been sitting there for quite some time, and they have had eyes on it. +p123 +aVSenator Rubio, I'm talking about a preemptive strike on the launch pad. +p124 +aVOK. Thank you, Senator Rubio. Governor Kasich, how would you respond to tonight's launch? +p125 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. Thank you \u2014 thank you... +p126 +aV... Governor Bush, I'll get to you in a moment. +p127 +aVThank you, Governor Bush. Mr. Trump, do you have a red line with North Korea? Would you consider military action? And how far would you let them go? +p128 +aVAnd I'd like him to finish the question, please. +p129 +aVSpecific \u2014 as to North Korea. +p130 +aVSenator Rubio, you were mentioned. +p131 +aVThank you very much, Senator Rubio. Governor Bush, another problem facing the commander-in-chief right now is that North Korea is currently detaining an American college student. What would you do to get that college student back home? +p132 +aVGovernor Christie, I want to go to you on the same question. +p133 +aVWould you negotiate with North Korea to... +p134 +aVThank you very much, Governor Christie. David? +p135 +aVSenator Cruz, to that point, Mr. Trump has said that your position on health care means that maybe you've got, quote, "no heart". There is a question here, though, about uncovered folks. You suggested repealing and replacing Obamacare. As we learned with President Obama's broken promise that everyone could keep their plan, any major plan \u2014 change in health care policy carries with it the risk that some people will lose their insurance coverage or have to change it. How do you reassure that those people that repealing and replacing Obamacare is still in their best interest? +p136 +aVSenator Cruz, you advocate what you call carpet bombing, or saturation bombing, to defeat +p137 +aVSenator Cruz, would you like to expand or loosen the rules of engagement? I was just over in a command center in Erbil and they said they thought the rules of engagement worked. Because you have so many civilians in those populated areas, they don't want to hit civilians. +p138 +aVSo, loosen the rules of engagement? +p139 +aVSenator Rubio, you said in the last debate that +p140 +aVAgain, Senator Rubio, you've already said +p141 +aVWell, what would you do \u2014 what would you do differently to try to get those Sunni forces? They have not been coming forward. +p142 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 thank you very much, Senator Rubio. Mr. Trump. You have said you will vigorously bomb +p143 +aVAnd \u2014 and what would you do in those cities, where there are people who we are trying to help, who +p144 +aVThank you very much, Mr. Trump. Let's turn to Libya. Governor Bush, it is a country in chaos. There is no government. This week, defense officials said there are now 5,000 +p145 +aVThank you very much, Governor Bush. Dr. Carson? +p146 +aVAnd would you support renewed airstrikes? +p147 +aVWe're going to move on. +p148 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. Thank you, Josh. Our partner in this debate, the Independent Journal Review, has collected questions from some prominent conservatives around the country. Here's a videotaped question from radio host Larry O'Connor. O' +p149 +aVMr. Trump, I'm going to give that question to you. You took it \u2014 you took it away anyway. +p150 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. I'm going to go to Senator Rubio on this. How would you change that narrative? +p151 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Dr. Carson, I want to go to you on Larry O' Connor's question. Would you change the narrative? +p152 +aVYes. +p153 +aVThank you very much Dr. Carson. I'm going to go back to David. +p154 +aVGovernor Christie, earlier this week, the World Health Organization declared the Zika virus a global emergency. The same kind of mosquitoes that carry the Zika virus in Latin America are found here in the United States, and the virus has been linked to severe birth defects. Governor Christie, at the peak of the Ebola outbreak in west Africa, you ordered an American nurse who landed at Newark Airport be detained and quarantined. As fear spreads now of the Zika virus and with the Rio Olympics just months away, is there a scenario where you would quarantine people traveling back from Brazil to prevent the spread in the United States? +p155 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you. I'm going to move to Dr. Carson, and go back to the Zika virus, is that going too far, quarantining? You're a doctor, what would you do? +p156 +aVThanks very much, Dr. Carson. I want to move on to the military. Senator Rubio, all restrictions on women in combat as long as they qualify. Positions including special operations forces, like Navy Seals. Just this week military leaders of the Army and Marine Corps said that they believed young women, just as young men are required to do, should sign up for Selective Service in case the Draft is reinstated. Many of you have young daughters. Senator Rubio, should young women be required to sign up for Selective Service in case of a national emergency? +p157 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Governor Bush, do you believe that young women... +p158 +aVDo you believe young women should sign up for Selective Service, be required to sign up... +p159 +aVTell me what you'd say to American people out there......who are sitting at home, who have daughters, who might worry about those answers, and might worry... +p160 +aV... if the Draft is reinstituted? +p161 +aV... Are you saying you'd do away with it? +p162 +aVYou register for the draft. +p163 +aVIf it's reinstituted. +p164 +aVThank you very much. +p165 +aVThank you very much, Governor Christie. +p166 +aVWe just covered \u2014 wait one second, Dr. Carson. +p167 +aVVery quickly. +p168 +aVThank you very much for bringing up that subject, Dr. Carson, of our veterans. And for another question about our veterans, we go back to Josh McElveen from +p169 +aVGovernor Christie. +p170 +aVDr. Carson. +p171 +aVSenator Cruz. +p172 +asVANNOUNCER +p173 +(lp174 +VHello from MinuteEarth. Fossil fuels have long kept our cars moving and our light bulbs lit. But we know that burning these fuels releases heat-trapping gases that are warming the planet, causing seas to rise and contributing to extreme weather events, like South Carolina's devastating flooding last year. Fighting human-caused climate change means giving up our global addiction to fossil fuels and shifting the bulk of the world's energy supply to alternative sources. Some countries have acted decisively to make this transition. But here at home, we still get a whooping 82 percent of our energy from coal, oil, and natural gas. In the U.S., political gridlock, pressure from industry lobbyists and insufficient R&D have made an already tough battle against climate change even tougher. +p175 +aVABC News coverage of the New Hampshire Democratic debate will continue in a moment. ( +p176 +asVUNKNOWN +p177 +(lp178 +VIf you're not going to have my back, I'm going to have my back. +p179 +aVA couple things here. First of all... +p180 +aVWe have grown \u2014 we have grown... +p181 +aVTrue. It's true. +p182 +aV...let me follow up that... +p183 +aV +p184 +aVOh, great. +p185 +aV...In 2011, you told Forbes Magazine this: "I've used the laws of the country to my advantage." But at the same time, financial experts involved in those bankruptcies say that lenders to your companies lost billions of dollars. Question sir, with that record, why should we trust you to run the nation's business? +p186 +aVI do. +p187 +aVThank you. +p188 +aVSecretive and untrustworthy. +p189 +asVIFILL +p190 +(lp191 +VWe want to also extend our warm thanks to Milwaukee Public Radio and Milwaukee Public Television, as well as all of our friends at the PBS member stations across the country tuning in tonight. This is the sixth time the Democrats have met face to face. Each time, we learn more about them and the presidents they say they want to be. You know you're watching \u2014 whether you're a Democrat, a Republican, or neither \u2014 because you believe the outcome of the election is important to you. And we believe that, too. With that, let's welcome the candidates to the stage. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. +p192 +aVWelcome to you both. +p193 +aVWith Iowa and New Hampshire behind us, we are now broadening the conversation to America's heartland and beyond, including here in Wisconsin. Now let's turn to the candidates for their opening statements. The order was decided by coin toss. And, Senator Sanders, you go first. +p194 +aVThank you, Senator Sanders. Thank you, Senator Sanders. Secretary Clinton. +p195 +aVFinal thought, Senator. +p196 +aVI'd like to move along. I'd like to move along. Secretary Clinton, you might \u2014 you also have proposed fairly expansive ideas about government. You may remember this pledge from a State of the Union Address at which I believe you were present, in which these words were said: "The era of big government is over." You may remember that. When asked your feelings about the federal government this week, 61 percent of New Hampshire Democrats told exit pollsters that they are angry or at least dissatisfied. Given what you and Senator Sanders are proposing, an expanding government in almost every area of our lives, is it fair for Americans who fear government to fear you? +p197 +aVBut I haven't heard either of you put a price tag on your \u2014 you say... +p198 +aVSenator? +p199 +aVSenator, do you worry at all that you will be the instrument of thwarting history, as Senator Clinton keeps claiming, that she might be the first woman president? +p200 +aVThank you both. We turn now to the first of several questions from our partners at Facebook. They were selected from a curated group of people we've been following of undecided voters. The first comes from Claudia Looze, a 54-year-old woman who works as a program manager at a public affairs cable network in Madison, Wisconsin. And she writes: "Wisconsin is number one in African-American male incarceration, according to a University of Wisconsin study. They found that Wisconsin's incarceration rate for black men, which is at 13 percent, was nearly double the country's rate. What can we do across the nation to address this?" Senator Sanders. +p201 +aVLet me turn this on its head, because when we talk about race in this country, we always talk about African-Americans, people of color. I want to talk about white people, OK? +p202 +aVI know. So many people will be surprised to find out that we are sitting in one of the most racially polarized metropolitan areas in the country. By the middle of this century, the nation is going to be majority nonwhite. Our public schools are already there. If working-class, white Americans are about to be outnumbered, are already underemployed in many cases, and one study found they are dying sooner, don't they have a reason to be resentful, Senator \u2014 Secretary Clinton? +p203 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, I want you to respond to that, but I also want you to \u2014 am I wrong? Is it even right to be describing this as a matter of race? +p204 +aVIf you would allow me now to move on, we've been talking about children. I want to talk about seniors. That takes us to our second Facebook question from Farheen Hakeem, who writes, "My father" \u2014 she's a 40-year-old woman who works for a nonprofit here in Milwaukee. And she writes, "My father gets just $16 in food assistance per month as part of Medicaid's family community program in Milwaukee County for low-income seniors. How will you as president work to ensure low-income seniors get their basic needs met?" Start with you, Senator Sanders. +p205 +aVSenator Sanders, are you saying... +p206 +aVThere's a lot more to come in just a few minutes. Stay with us for more of the PBS NewsHour Democratic Debate. +p207 +aVHow about you, Senator Clinton \u2014 Secretary Clinton? +p208 +aVWe spent the first part of this debate talking about domestic insecurity. The second part, we want to talk about our foreign policy insecurities. And we want to start with a question for you, Secretary Clinton, about America's role in the world. Americans are becoming increasingly worried that attacks abroad are coming home, that they already are, in fact, here. According to exit polls from last week, from earlier this week, more than two-thirds of Democrats in New Hampshire are concerned about sending their children to fight in wars they can't win. They fret that the next attack is just around the corner and we are not ready. Are we? +p209 +aVSenator Sanders... +p210 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p211 +aVLet me move on. You have both mentioned the humanitarian tragedies which have been an outgrowth in part of what has happened in Syria and in Libya. More than a million refugees entered Europe in 2015. Another 76,000 just last month, that is about 2,000 arrivals every day. Nearly 400 people have been lost at sea so far this year, crossing the Mediterranean. And there are reports that 10,000 children are missing. If we are leaders in this world, where should the U.S. be on this? What should the United States be doing, Secretary Clinton? +p212 +aVSenator, if you would like respond to \u2014 you may respond to that but it is time for closing statements and you can use your time for closing statements to do that. +p213 +aVThank you. Thank you Senator Clinton. Thank you, Senator Sanders. We also want to thank our partners at Facebook and our hosts here at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. +p214 +aVI'm going to remain here in Milwaukee tomorrow evening for a special edition of Washington Week here on PBS. +p215 +asVWOODRUFF +p216 +(lp217 +VGood evening, and thank you. We are happy to welcome you to Milwaukee for this Democratic debate. We are especially pleased to thank our partners at Facebook, who have helped us set up a vibrant conversation among voters who are undecided. And tonight you're going to hear some of their questions for the candidates. And you can follow along at home on the PBS NewsHour page on Facebook. We also want to thank our hosts, the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, on whose campus we meet, here in the beautiful Helen Bader Concert Hall. +p218 +aVWelcome, Senator, great to see you. And former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Very good to be here with you. +p219 +aVNow, a word about format. There will be two short breaks, and the rules are simple: 90 seconds for each answer and 30 seconds for the other candidate to respond. +p220 +aVThank you both. Thank you both. And we'll be right back after a short break to begin questions. +p221 +aVAnd, welcome back to this PBS Newshour debate, Democratic debate, here in Milwaukee. Let's get right to the questions. Senator Sanders, to you first. Coming off the results in Iowa and New Hampshire, there are many voters who are taking a closer look at you, and your ideas, and they're asking how big a role do you foresee for the federal government? It's already spending 21% of the entire U.S. economy. How much larger would government be in the lives of Americans under a Sanders presidency? +p222 +aVBut, my question is how big would government be? Would there be any limit on the size of the role of government... +p223 +aVNext, we're going to... +p224 +aVVery brief, thank you. +p225 +aVSecretary Clinton, your campaign \u2014 you and your campaign have made a clear appeal to women voters. You have talked repeatedly about the fact, we know you would be, if elected, the first woman president. But in New Hampshire 55 percent of the women voters supported and voted for Senator Sanders. What are women missing about you? +p226 +aVAs you know, just quickly, as you know, your strong supporter, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, said the other day that there's a special place in Hell for women who don't support other women. Do you agree with what she said? +p227 +aVSenator Sanders, you're in the minority, but we still want to hear from you. +p228 +aVFinal comment. +p229 +aVSecretary Clinton, I was talking recently with a 23 year old black woman who voted for President Obama because she said she thought relations between the races would get better under his leadership, and his example. Hardly anyone believes that they have. Why do you think race relations would be better under a Clinton presidency? What would you do that the nation's first African American has not been able to? +p230 +aVSenator Sanders? +p231 +aVSo race relation was be better under a Sanders presidency than they've been? +p232 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders, one of the causes of anxiety for working class Americans is connected to immigrants. President Obama, as you know, has issued executive actions to permit some 5 million undocumented immigrants who are living now in the United States to come out of the shadows without fear of deportation to get work permits. Would you go further than that? And if so, how specifically would you do it? Should an undocumented family watching this debate tonight, say, in Nevada, rest easy, not fear of further deportations under a Sanders presidency? +p233 +aVI'd like... +p234 +aVWe're going to move on. Secretary Clinton, your campaign has recently ramped up criticism of Senator Sanders for attending Democratic Party fundraisers from which you say he benefited. But nearly half of your financial sector donations appear to come from just two wealthy financiers, George Soros and Donald Sussman, for a total of about $10 million. You have said that there's no quid pro quo involved. Is that also true of the donations that wealthy Republicans give to Republican candidates, contributors including the Koch Brothers? +p235 +aVI'm asking if Democratic donors are different than Republican donors. +p236 +aVWe have to go to a break. We... +p237 +aVAll right. Thank you both. It is time for a break. And when we come back, we're going to turn to some new topics, including how these candidates will keep America safe. +p238 +aVWelcome back to the Democratic presidential debate. Before we return to our questions, we have a follow-up question from our Facebook group. And it is to Senator Sanders. Senator, it comes from Bill Corfield. He is a 55-year-old musician from Troy, Ohio. And he asks: "Are there any areas of government you would like to reduce?" +p239 +aVJust a final word. +p240 +aVSenator, let me \u2014 let me move on to another country with which the U.S. has a complicated relationship, Senator Sanders, and that's Russia. On the one hand, we're aware that Russia is a country that the United States needs to cooperate with. Just tonight, Secretary of State John Kerry has announced what appears to be an agreement with the Russians to lead \u2014 that could lead toward a ceasefire in Syria, would be the first cessation of conflict in that country, in that civil war in five years, but it comes at a very high price, because not only have all \u2014 have we seen the deaths, the removal of so many people, millions of people, we now see the Russians in the last few weeks have bombed in a way that benefits President Assad, has not gone after +p241 +aVAnd we have a final question from our Facebook family. And it goes to Senator Sanders. It comes from Robert Andrews. He's a 40-year-old stay-at-home dad in Dover, Massachusetts. He says, "The world has seen many great leaders in the course of human history. Can you name two leaders \u2014 one American and one foreign \u2014 who would influence your foreign policy decisions? And why do you see them as \u2014 why are they influential?" +p242 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p243 +aVAnd we want to thank our audience, our quiet audience here in Helen Bader Concert Hall, and to all of you watching at home. Thank you all. Stay tuned for analysis of the debate and the overall race for the Democratic nomination. That's coming up next here on PBS stations and online atPBS.org/NewsHour. +p244 +aVAnd I'm going to be returning to Washington. I hope you'll join us for the PBS NewsHour tomorrow and every night. That's it from all of us here in Milwaukee. We thank you. +p245 +asVCORDES +p246 +(lp247 +VJohn, thanks so much. We've learned a lot during the course of this campaign about the things that you'd like to do that you say would help the middle class, but we haven't heard quite as much about who would pick up the tab. So Secretary Clinton, first to you. You want to cap individuals' prescription drug costs at $250 a month. You want to make public college debt-free. You want community college to be free altogether. And you want mandatory paid family leave. So who pays for all that? Is it employers? Is it the taxpayers, and which taxpayers? +p248 +aVBut a quick follow-up on that $250-a-month cap. Wouldn't the pharmaceutical companies and the insurance companies just pass that cost on to the consumers in the form of higher premiums? +p249 +aVGovernor O'Malley, you also want to make public college debt-free. You want... O' +p250 +aV... states to freeze tuition. You've got your own family leave plan. How would you pay for it? In Maryland, you raised the sales tax, you raised the gas tax and you raised taxes on families making over $150,000 a year. Is that the blueprint? O' +p251 +aVSenator Sanders, you want to make public college free altogether. You want to increase Social Security benefits and you want to spend $1 trillion on infrastructure. So you said that to do some of these things, you'll impose a tax on top earners. How high would their rate go in a Sanders administration? +p252 +aVBut let's get specific. How high would you go? You have said before you would go above 50 percent. How high? +p253 +aVSecretary Clinton, Americans say that health care costs and wages are their top financial concerns. And health care deductibles, alone, have risen 67 percent over the past five years. Is this something that Obamacare was designed to address? And if not, why not? +p254 +aVIt is -- it is a worthy debate. Senator Sanders, a quick response, and then we'll get into health care again later. +p255 +aVThere was a lot of conversation on twitter about guns, but also about your conversation on campaign finance. And Secretary Clinton, one of the tweets we saw said this, "I've never seen a candidate invoke 9/11 to justify millions of Wall Street donations until now." The idea being, yes, you were a champion of the community after 9/11, but what does that have to do with taking big donations? +p256 +aVHold on. O' +p257 +aVSenator Sanders -- I'm sorry. Senator Sanders, but what is it in Secretary Clinton's record that shows you that she's been influenced by those donations? +p258 +aVBack to health care, by popular demand. First to you, Senator Sanders. You'd prefer to scrap Obamacare and move to a single-payer system, essentially Medicare for all. You say you want to put the private insurance companies out of business. Is it realistic to think that you can pull the plug on a $1 trillion industry? +p259 +aVSecretary Clinton, back in -- Secretary Clinton, back in 1994, you said that momentum for a single-payer system would sweep the country. That sounds Sanders-esque. But you don't feel that way anymore, why not? +p260 +asVKELLY +p261 +(lp262 +VWelcome to the first debate night of the 2016 presidential campaign, live from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. I'm Megyn Kelly... ... along with my co-moderators, Brett Baier and Chris Wallace. Tonight... Nice. Tonight, thousands of people here in the Q, along with millions of voters at home will get their very first chance to see the candidates face off in a debate, answering the questions you want answered. +p263 +aVAs for the candidates who will be answering those questions? Here they are. Positioned on the stage by how they stand in the polls, in the center of the stage tonight, businessman Donald Trump. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. +p264 +aVGentlemen, our first round of questions is on the subject of electability in the general election, and we start tonight with you, Dr. Carson. You are a successful neurosurgeon, but you admit that you have had to study up on foreign policy, saying there's a lot to learn. Your critics say that your inexperience shows. You've suggested that the Baltic States are not a part of +p265 +aVMr. Trump, one of the things people love about you is you speak your mind and you don't use a politician's filter. However, that is not without its downsides, in particular, when it comes to women. You've called women you don't like "fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals." Your Twitter account... +p266 +aVNo, it wasn't. Your Twitter account... +p267 +aVFor the record, it was well beyond Rosie O'Donnell. +p268 +aVYour Twitter account has several disparaging comments about women's looks. You once told a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice it would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees. Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president, and how will you answer the charge from Hillary Clinton, who was likely to be the Democratic nominee, that you are part of the war on women? +p269 +aVGovernor Walker, you've consistently said that you want to make abortion illegal even in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother. You recently signed an abortion law in Wisconsin that does have an exception for the mother's life, but you're on the record as having objected to it. Would you really let a mother die rather than have an abortion, and with 83 percent of the American public in favor of a life exception, are you too out of the mainstream on this issue to win the general election? +p270 +aVGovernor Kasich, You chose to expand Medicaid in your state, unlike several other governors on this stage tonight, and it is already over budget by some estimates costing taxpayers an additional $1.4 billion in just the first 18 months. You defended your Medicaid expansion by invoking God, saying to skeptics that when they arrive in heaven, Saint Peter isn't going to ask them how small they've kept government, but what they have done for the poor. Why should Republican voters, who generally want to shrink government, believe that you won't use your Saint Peter rationale to expand every government program? +p271 +aVAlright, gentlemen, we're gonna switch topics now and talk a bit about terror and national security. Governor Christie. You've said that Senator Paul's opposition to the NSA's collection of phone records has made the United States weaker and more vulnerable, even going so far as to say that he should be called before Congress to answer for it if we should be hit by another terrorist attack. Do you really believe you can assign blame to Senator Paul just for opposing the bulk collection of people's phone records in the event of a terrorist attack? +p272 +aVGo ahead, sir. +p273 +aVGovernor Christie, make your point. +p274 +aVGo ahead, governor. +p275 +aVAlright. +p276 +aVAlright, we've gotta cut it off there. We have plenty more we want to get to. That was an interesting exchange, thank you for that. +p277 +aVWell, I want to move on, because I have -- we're gonna get to you, governor, but I -- I really wanna get to a Facebook questioner. His name is Alex Chalgren, and he has the following question: +p278 +aVSenator Cruz, I wanna talk to you about this, because many of the Facebook users and -- and -- the -- the folks on Facebook wanted the candidates to speak to +p279 +aVYou don't see it as... ...an ideological problem -- an ideological problem in addition to a military one? +p280 +aVGovernor Bush, for days on end in this campaign, you struggled to answer a question about whether knowing what we know now... +p281 +aV...we would've invaded Iraq... +p282 +aVI remember it too, and +p283 +aVGovernor Walker, in February you said that we needed to gain partners in the Arab world. Which Arab country not already in the U.S. led coalition has potential to be our greatest partner? +p284 +aVDr. Carson, in one of his first acts as commander in chief, President Obama signed an executive order banning enhanced interrogation techniques in fighting terror. As president, would you bring back water boarding? +p285 +aVWe have a lot for you, don't worry. Fear not, you may rue that request. +p286 +aVIt's just before 10:00 p.m. on the East Coast. Welcome back to Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, and the very first Republican primary debate of the 2016 presidential campaign. Ten candidates on the stage, selected based on their standing in five national polls. And tonight they are facing off, answering the questions you want asked. We hope. +p287 +aV Sounds like somebody's a little R-rated. +p288 +aVWell, the first debate night of the 2016 presidential campaign continues from Cleveland after a short time-out. Stick around. Social issues, next. +p289 +aVSenator Rubio, you favor a rape and incest exception to abortion bans. Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York just said yesterday those exceptions are preposterous. He said they discriminate against an entire class of human beings. If you believe that life begins at conception, as you say you do, how do you justify ending a life just because it begins violently, through no fault of the baby? +p290 +aVYou don't favor a rape and incest exception? +p291 +aVMr. Trump, in 1999, you said you were, quote, "very pro- choice." Even supporting partial-birth abortion. You favored an assault weapons ban as well. In 2004, you said in most cases you identified as a Democrat. Even in this campaign, your critics say you often sound more like a Democrat than a Republican, calling several of your opponents on the stage things like clowns and puppets. When did you actually become a Republican? +p292 +aVGovernor Bush, I want to ask you, on the subject of name calling of your fellow candidates, a story appeared today quoting an anonymous GOP donor who said you called Mr. Trump a clown, a buffoon, something else that cannot be repeated on television. +p293 +aVIs it true? +p294 +aVMr. Trump, 30 seconds. +p295 +aVThe subject of gay marriage and religious liberty. Governor Kasich, if you had a son or daughter who was gay or lesbian, how would you explain to them your opposition to same-sex marriage? +p296 +aVHow would you -- how would you explain it to a child? +p297 +aVSenator Paul, in the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling on same sex marriage, Carol Fox on Facebook want to know the following. Quote: what will you do to ensure Christians are not prosecuted for speaking out against gay marriage and will Christians be forced to conduct business that conflicts with their religious beliefs? +p298 +aVGovernor Walker, many in the Black Lives Matter movement, and beyond, believe that overly-aggressive police officers targeting young African Americans is the civil rights issue of our time. Do you agree? And if so, how do you plan to address it? And if not, why not? +p299 +aVThank you. +p300 +aVWe have to stand you by, because after the break, we're going to let the candidates make their closing statements, their final thoughts, and . . . God. Stay tuned for that. +p301 +aVWelcome back. In our final moments here together, we're going to allow the candidates to offer their final thoughts. But first, we want to ask them an interesting closing question from Chase Norton on Facebook, who wants to know this of the candidates: "I want to know if any of them have received a word from God on what they should do and take care of first." Senator Cruz, start from you. Any word from God? +p302 +aVGovernor Kasich, same question. +p303 +aVGovernor Walker, same question. +p304 +aVSenator Rubio, I want to ask you the same question. But I do want to mention, a woman just came here to the stage and asked, what about the veterans? I want to hear more about what these candidates are going to do for our nation's veterans. So I put the question to you about God and the veterans, which you may find to be related. +p305 +aVDr. Carson, a question to you about God and his role, but also, one of the issues that the public was very interested in, and we touched on it earlier, is race relations in this country, and how divided we seem right now. And what, if anything, you can do -- you would do as the next president to help heal that divide. +p306 +aVGovernor Christie? +p307 +aVSenator Ted Cruz. +p308 +aVGovernor Scott Walker. +p309 +aVIt's over! +p310 +aVAre you relieved? You were nervous before, they -- they don't look relieved. They look "get me outta here." Thank you all very much, and that will do it for the first Republican primary debate night of the 2016 presidential race. Our thanks to the candidates, who will now be joined by their families on stage. +p311 +aVTonight, we are coming to you live from the Iowa Event Center in downtown Des Moines, in the shadow of the Iowa state capitol. In just four days, people here in the Hawkeye State will caucus and cast the first votes of the 2016 election. +p312 +aVSeven candidates are on that stage tonight, their position on the stage determined by their standing in the latest national polls, as well as polls in Iowa and New Hampshire. And here they are. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Florida Senator Marco Rubio. +p313 +aVWow. +p314 +aVSo let's get started. Senator Cruz, before we get to the issues, let's address the elephant not in the room tonight. Donald Trump has chosen not to attend this evening's presidential debate. What message do you think that sends to the voters of Iowa? +p315 +aVThe divide between you and Mr. Trump has turned into one of the biggest stories in the country. And for six months that \u2014 your campaign, during this campaign, you praised Mr. Trump as somebody who you thought was an effective voice against the Washington cartel. You said you were glad that he was running as a Republican. But when he started to criticize you, your message changed, and you suddenly started to portray him as the voice of the Washington cartel, and suggested he would do the Democrats' bidding. Which is it? +p316 +aVSenator Christie, you began this campaign touting your record as a Republican from a blue state who knows how to get things done and reach across the aisle. However, many Republicans feel that reaching across the aisle and getting things done isn't great if you get the wrong things done. And they prefer to stand on principle rather than compromise. Why are they wrong and you're right? +p317 +aVBut first, you can join tonight's conversation right from home. Go to google.com or open your Google search app and search Fox News debate to vote on which candidate you think has the best plan to defeat +p318 +aVWe have a lot \u2014 we have a lot to cover. But we want to \u2014 we want to turn the page to domestic... +p319 +aVNo, no. No. +p320 +aVNo no no, because we want to turn the page to domestic terror, and let me tell you why: we're partnering with Google on this debate, and they're telling us... +p321 +aV... that their search results have gone through the roof on \u2014 on people... +p322 +aV... you're a good man, Governor Kasich. +p323 +aVPeople \u2014 the search results \u2014 the searches for terror issues, for safety issues in America have gone through the roof, increased over 400 percent since 2008. People are worried. They're worried about what's happening in the country and about a domestic terror attack, as all of you know. Now, when combating this threat, Senator Rubio, you've advocated closing down mosques \u2014 we'll get back to you. Well, you have advocated closing down \u2014 closing down mosques, diners, any place where radicalization is occurring. You told me that. But the Supreme Court has made clear that hateful speech is generally protected by the First Amendment. In other words, radical Muslims have the right to be radical Muslims, unless they turn to terror. Doesn't your position run afoul of the First Amendment? +p324 +aVSenator Paul, do you agree with that? We're gonna close down mosques, we're gonna close down diners where we think radical thinking's occurring? +p325 +aVGovernor Christie, let's talk about profiling. In December... +p326 +aV... profiling. Profiling. In December, two radical Muslims killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California. Neighbors of the terrorists said that they did not report the couple to law enforcement prior to the crime, because they were afraid that they would be accused of profiling. Now, you have said that we should not profile. How do you square that with the San Bernardino case? +p327 +aVThey didn't know they were going to attack the country. +p328 +aVThat's not true. The neighbors said they saw men going in and out of the garage. They saw packages being delivered. They saw Muslims, and they did not think that was enough to call the cops. Do you? +p329 +aVDr. Carson, this week a female Muslim who served in the U.S. Air Force asked Hillary Clinton the question, she asked whether the United States is still the best place in which to raise her three Muslim children. Given what she perceives as a rise in Islamaphobia in this country. Do you think the GOP messaging on Muslims has stoked the flames of bias on this as the Democrats suggest, and how would you answer this veteran? +p330 +aVGovernor Kasich, stand back. You appear to back in another debate, a so-called back door to encrypted cell phone technology, which protects most smartphones that we all have from hacking. And it includes our phones and it also protects the cell phones of the terrorist. Now the tech companies and a group of MIT scientists, smart guys, right, warn that if they create a way for the FBI to have a back door into our encrypted communications, then the bad guys will exploit it too. And they say that this is going to cause more security problems than it would solve for everyday Americans. Are they wrong? +p331 +aVBut this is public testimony. +p332 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p333 +aVWelcome back, everybody. We are live in Des Moines, Iowa. And let's get right back to the questions \u2014 Bret. +p334 +aVAll right. We're going to move on. Because coming up, immigration, and something you've never seen before. Stay tuned, right after this break. +p335 +aVWelcome back everyone. Live, in Des Moines, Iowa. Now, we move onto the topic of immigration. Senator Rubio, we'll start with you. When you ran for Senate in 2010, you made clear that you opposed legalization and citizenship for illegal immigrants. You promised repeatedly that you would oppose it as a U.S. Senator as well. Here are just a few examples. Watch. +p336 +aVWithin two years of getting elected you were co-sponsoring legislation to create a path to citizenship, in your words, amnesty. Haven't you already proven that you cannot be trusted on this issue? +p337 +aV... But, you went on from there... +p338 +aV... You said more than that, Senator... +p339 +aV... You said earned path to citizenship is basically code for amnesty. You... +p340 +aV... supported earned path to citizenship... +p341 +aVGovernor Bush, do you agree Senator Rubio has not reversed himself on his immigration promise? +p342 +aVGo ahead, senator. +p343 +aVAll right. +p344 +aVAll right. This will be the last one. +p345 +aVOK. Let's move on. Senator Cruz, when Senator Rubio proposed that bill creating a path to citizenship, you proposed an amendment. It would have allowed for legalization but not citizenship. Yes, it would. Pressed last month on why you supported legalization, you claimed that you didn't. Right? Like you just did. Saw that. You argued that this was just a poison pill amendment, basically it's something designed to kill the bill and not actually get it through. But that is not, however, how it sounded at the time. Watch. +p346 +aVWas that all an act? It was pretty convincing. +p347 +aVBut the bill allowed both. The bill you were amending allowed citizenship and legalization. +p348 +aVOK, sir. +p349 +aVSenator Paul. You know how Washington works. Do you buy that? +p350 +aVGo ahead, sir. +p351 +aVSenator Rubio, even Chuck Schumer, your co-sponsor of that bill... +p352 +aV... agrees with Ted Cruz on this. +p353 +aVGo ahead, Senator Cruz. +p354 +aVAll right. +p355 +aVGo ahead, Governor Christie. +p356 +aVLet's go to a Youtube question. Let's get to a Youtube question. This is a question from a Youtube creator with over 2 million subscribers. Watch. +p357 +aVDr. Carson, that's one \u2014 that one's for you. +p358 +aVGo ahead. +p359 +aVAll right. +p360 +aVAll right. We're moving on. +p361 +aVGovernor bush, poll after poll shows you running among the worst in your party against Hillary Clinton. Even Mitt Romney said that a Bush v. Clinton head-to-head would be too easy for the Democrats. Yet still you and the super PACs supporting you continue to blanket the airwaves with cutting ads, not against Mrs. Clinton, but against your fellow Republicans, especially Senator Rubio. Do these attacks do more harm than good by targeting those candidates who appear to have the best chance of defeating Mrs. Clinton? +p362 +aVWelcome back, everybody. Let's get back to the questions. Chris? +p363 +aVSenator Paul, you have suggested that former President Bill Clinton's history with women is fair game in this campaign. How do you answer those who say you don't hold the sins of the husband against the wife? +p364 +aVOf her husband's? +p365 +aVWelcome back, everybody. And now, it is time for closing statements. The candidates each get 30 seconds. And we begin with Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. +p366 +aVOhio Governor Kasich. +p367 +aVFormer Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Governor. +p368 +aVTexas Senator, Ted Cruz. Senator. +p369 +aVGentlemen, thank you all so much for being here tonight. We appreciate it greatly. And that does it for the seventh Republican primary debate of the 2016 presidential race. But we're not done. The Kelly file starts in a moment and guess who is going to be there? Senator Ted Cruz. +p370 +asVRUBIO +p371 +(lp372 +VThank you Wolf. It's really amazing to be back in Las Vegas. I spent six years as a child growing not far from where we stand tonight. I use to sit on the porch of our home and listen to my grandfather tell stories as he smoked one of three daily cigars. One of the things my grandfather instilled in me, was that I was really blessed because I was a citizen of the greatest country in the history of our mankind. But there have always been people in American politics that wanted America to be more like the rest of the world. And In 2008, one of them was elected president of this country and the result has been a disaster. Today you have millions of Americans that feel left out and out of place in their own country, struggling to live paycheck to paycheck, called bigots because they hold on to traditional values. And around the world, America's influence has declined while this president has destroyed our military, our allies no longer trust us, and our adversaries no longer respect us. And that is why this election is so important. That is why I'm running for president. And that's why I'm going to ask you for your vote tonight. If you elect me president, we will have a president that believes America is the greatest country in the world and we will have a president that acts like it. +p373 +aVWell, I understand why they feel that way, because this president hasn't kept us safe. The problem is we had an attack in San Bernardino. And we were paying attention to the most important issue we have faced in a decade since 9/11, and then all the talk was about this proposal, which isn't going to happen. But this is what's important to do is we must deal frontally with this threat of radical Islamists, especially from +p374 +aVHe is and so are those that voted for it. There were some that voted for it because they wanted to keep it alive and they were afraid the whole program would expire. Here's the world we live in. This is a radical jihadist group that is increasingly sophisticated in its ability, for example, to radicalize American citizens, in its inability to exploit loopholes in our legal immigration system, in its ability to capture and hold territory in the Middle East, as I outlined earlier, in multiple countries. This is not just the most capable, it is the most sophisticated terror threat we have ever faced. We are now at a time when we need more tools, not less tools. And that took we lost, the metadata program, was a valuable tool that we no longer have at our disposal. +p375 +aVDana, may I interject here? +p376 +aVLet me be very careful when answering this, because I don't think national television in front of 15 million people is the place to discuss classified information. So let me just be very clear. There is nothing that we are allowed to do under this bill that we could not do before. This bill did, however, take away a valuable tool that allowed the National Security Agency and other law \u2014 and other intelligence agencies to quickly and rapidly access phone records and match them up with other phone records to see who terrorists have been calling. Because I promise you, the next time there is attack on \u2014 an attack on this country, the first thing people are going to want to know is, why didn't we know about it and why didn't we stop it? And the answer better not be because we didn't have access to records or information that would have allowed us to identify these killers before they attacked. +p377 +aVI want to thank Rand for another 30 seconds, because, number one, what he's pointing to is a bill last week that \u2014 amendment that he voted for that only 10 people voted for. You know why? Because it's not focused on terrorists. It would have banned anyone from coming here. Someone from Taiwan would not have been able to come here as a tourist. Number two, this program, this metadata program is actually more strict than what a regular law enforcement agency has now. If a regular law enforcement agency wants your phone records, all they have to do is issue a subpoena. But now the intelligence agency is not able to quickly gather records and look at them to see who these terrorists are calling. And the terrorists that attacked us in San Bernardino was an American citizen, born and raised in this country. And I bet you we wish we would have had access to five years of his records so we could see who he was working with... +p378 +aVDo I get another 30 seconds? He mentioned me. +p379 +aVWell, let me begin by saying that we have to understand who +p380 +aVThat is accurate. Three times he voted against the Defense Authorization Act, which is a bill that funds the troops. It also, by the way, funds the Iron Dome and other important programs. And I have to assume that if you vote against it in the Senate, you would also veto it as president. He has also supported, by the way, a budget that is called the containment budget. And it is a budget that would radically reduce the amount of money we spend on our military. You can't carpet bomb +p381 +aVYes, let me \u2014 three points of distinction. The first is, if you're an American citizen and you decide to join up with +p382 +aVWell, they most certainly will have to be worked on to provide more than what they are doing now. There's no doubt about it. And there's one \u2014 one major reason why they have not been willing to be a broader part of the coalition, and that is they have lost complete trust and confidence in this president. This president cut a deal with their moral enemy, the Shia, in Iran. And this is the reason why they no longer trust this president and are willing to work alongside them. But they have as much invested in this as we do. In fact, more so, for it is the king of Saudi Arabia they want to behead first. It's the king of Jordan that they want to dethrone. It's the \u2014 they want to go into Egypt the way they've already gone into Libya. And on another point that we need to talk about, Assad is one of the main reasons why +p383 +aVTo begin with, Moammar Gadhafi and the revolt against Gadhafi was not started by the United States. It was started by the Libyan people. And the reason why I argued we needed to get involved is because he was going to go one way or the other. And my argument then was proven true, and that is, the longer that civil war took, the more militias would be formed and the more unstable the country would be after the fact. As far as Moammar Gadhafi is concerned, by the way, Moammar Gadhafi is the man that killed those Americans over Lockerbie, Scotland. Moammar Gadhafi is also the man that bombed that cafe in Berlin and killed those Marines. And you want to know why Moammar Gadhafi started cooperating on his nuclear program? Because we got rid of Saddam Hussein. And so he got scared that he would be next, and that's why he started cooperating. Look, we will have to work around the world with less than ideal governments. The government in Saudi Arabia is not a democracy, but we will have to work with them. The government in Jordan is not perfect, but we will have to work with them. But anti-American dictators like Assad, who help Hezbollah, who helped get those IEDs into Iraq, if they go, I will not shed a tear. +p384 +aVYeah. Immigration is not an issue that I read about in the newspaper or watch a documentary on PBS or CNN. It's an issues I've lived around my whole life. My family are immigrants. My wife's family are immigrants. All of my neighbors are immigrants. I see every aspect of this problem. The good, the bad, and the ugly. And here's what we learned in 2013. The American people don't trust the Federal Government to enforce our immigration laws, and we will not be able to do anything on immigration until we first prove to the American people that illegal immigration is under control. And we can do that. We know what it takes to do that. It takes at least 20,000 more additional border agents. It takes completing those 700 miles of fencing. It takes a mandatory e-verify system and a mandatory entry/exit tracking system to prevent overstays. After we have done that, the second thing we have to do is reform and modernize the legal immigration system. And after we have done those two things, I think the American people are gonna be reasonable with what do you do with someone who has been in this country for 10 or 12 years who hasn't otherwise violated our laws \u2014 because if they're a criminal they can't stay. They'll have to undergo a background check, pay a fine, start paying taxes. And ultimately, they'll given a work permit and that's all they're gonna be allowed to have for at least 10 years. But you can't get to that third step until you have done the other two things, and that was the lesson we learned in 2013. There is no trust that the Federal Government will enforce the law. They will not support you until you see it done first. +p385 +aVBut I've answered that question repeatedly. I am personally open \u2014 after all that has happened and after ten years in that probationary status where all they have is a permit, I personally am open to allowing people to apply for a green card. That may not be a majority position in my party, but that's down the road. You can't even begin that process until you prove to people \u2014 not just pass a law that says you're gonna bring illegal immigration under control. You're gonna have to do it and prove to people that it's working. And that was the lesson of 2013. And it's more true today, than it was then. After a migratory crisis on the border with minors coming over that you're seeing start up again now, after all these executive orders the President has issued. More than ever we need to... +p386 +aV... prove to people that illegal immigration is under control. +p387 +aVYeah, a couple points. In 2013 we had never faced a crisis like the Syrian refugee crisis now. Up until that point, a refugee meant someone fleeing oppression, fleeing Communism like it is in my community. As far as Ted's record, I'm always puzzled by his attack on this issue. Ted, you support legalizing people who are in this country illegally. Ted Cruz supported a 500-percent increase in the number of H-1 visas, the guest workers that are allowed into this country, and Ted supports doubling the number of green cards. So I think what's important for us to understand and there is a way forward on this issue that we an bring our country together on. And while I'm president I will do it. And it will begin by bringing illegal immigration under control and proving to the American people. +p388 +aVNo, no, give him time. +p389 +aVTed, do you... +p390 +aVDid Ted Cruz fight to support legalizing people that are in this country illegally? +p391 +aVDoes Ted Cruz rule out ever legalizing people that are in this country now? +p392 +aVWould you rule it out? +p393 +aVWell, he's just admitted \u2014 as he's just admitted, the reason why those refugees were allowed in was because they messed up in how they used the actual database. They should have know. They didn't because they didn't run the actual law as it exists now. It didn't work well. As far as the refugees are concerned, it's not that America doesn't want to accept refugees, Wolf. It's that we may not be able to, because this is an issue we have to be 100 percent right on. If we allow 9,999 Syrian refugees into the United States, and all of them are good people, but we allow one person in who's an +p394 +aVI do. First, let's explain to people at home who the triad \u2014 what the triad is. Maybe a lot of people haven't heard that terminology before. The triad is our ability of the United States to conduct nuclear attacks using airplanes, using missiles launched from silos or from the ground, and also from our nuclear subs' ability to attack. And it's important \u2014 all three of them are critical. It gives us the ability at deterrence. Now, some have become more critical than others; for example, the submarines. And that's the Ohio Class submarine that needs to be modernized. The air component also needs to be modernized. The B-52, as someone earlier pointed out, is an outdated model that was flown by the grandparents of people that are flying it now. And we need a serious modernization program as well on our silo-launched missiles. All three are critical for the defense of the country. +p395 +aVThank you. As we near the end of this year, we enter one of the most important elections in a generation. For what's at stake in this election is not simply what party's going to be in charge. But our very identity as a people and as a nation. For over 200 years this has been a special country. A unique place where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything. But now millions of Americans feel like they're being left behind. Insecure in their future and unsafe in the face of terrorism. This election is about electing a president that will restore our economic vibrancy so that the American dream can expand to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And rebuild our Military and our intelligence programs so that we can remain the strongest nation on earth. Tonight I ask you for your vote. If you do this, we will rebuild this country, and together we will usher in a new American century \u2014 the greatest era in the history of this great land. +p396 +aVWell, let me begin by answering both the first question and this one, because they're related. As I've said many times before, my parents were never rich people. My father was a bartender. My mother was a maid. They worked for a living. But they were successful people, because, despite the fact that they weren't well educated and had those jobs, they made enough money to buy a home in a safe and stable neighborhood, retire with dignity, leave all four of their children better off than themselves. We call that the American dream, but in fact, it's a universal dream of a better life that people have all over the world. It is a reminder that every country in the world has rich people. What makes America special is that we have millions and millions of people that are not rich, that through hard work and perseverance are able to be successful. The problem is that today people are not successful working as hard as ever because the economy is not providing jobs that pay enough. If I thought that raising the minimum wage was the best way to help people increase their pay, I would be all for it, but it isn't. In the 20th century, it's a disaster. If you raise the minimum wage, you're going to make people more expensive than a machine. And that means all this automation that's replacing jobs and people right now is only going to be accelerated. Here's the best way to raise wages. Make America the best place in the world to start a business or expand an existing business, tax reform and regulatory reform, bring our debt under control, fully utilize our energy resources so we can reinvigorate manufacturing, repeal and replace Obamacare, and make higher education faster and easier to access, especially vocational training. For the life of me, I don't know why we have stigmatized vocational education. Welders make more money than philosophers. We need more welders and less philosophers. If we do that \u2014 and if we do this \u2014 if we do this, we will be able to increase wages for millions of Americans and we will be able to leave everyone better off without making anyone worse off. +p397 +aVWell, you know, that's an excellent question, because what we are going through in this country is not simply an economic downturn. We are living through a massive economic transformation. I mean, this economy is nothing like what it was like five years ago, not to mention 15 or 20 years ago. And it isn't just a different economy. It's changing faster than ever. You know, it took the telephone 75 years to reach 100 million users. It took Candy Crush one year to reach some 100 million users. So the world is changing faster than ever, and it is disruptive. Number one, we are in a global competition now, and several of the candidates have said that. There are now dozens of developed economies on this planet that we have to compete with. And we lose that competition because we have the highest business tax rate in the industrialized world, because we have regulations that continue to grow by the billions every single week, because we have a crazy health care law that discourages companies from hiring people, but because we're not fully utilizing our energy resources, that if we did, it would bring back all kinds of growth, especially in manufacturing, and because we have an outdated higher education system. Our higher education system is completely outdated. It is too expensive, too hard to access, and it doesn't teach 21st century skills. If we do what needs to be done \u2014 tax reform, regulatory reform, fully utilize our energy resources, repeal and replace Obamacare, and modernize higher education, then we can grasp the potential and the promise of this new economy. And we won't just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And then truly this new century can be a new American century. +p398 +aVThe most important job I'm ever going to have, the most important job anyone in this room will ever have, is the job of being a parent. Not the job of being president, or the job of being a senator, or the job of being a congressman. The most important job any of us will ever do is the job of being a president (sic), because the most important institution in society is the family. If the family breaks down, society breaks down. You can't have a strong nation without strong values, and no one is born with strong values. They have to be taught to you in strong families and reinforced in you in strong communities. And so when we set out to do tax reform, we endeavor to have a pro-family tax code, and we endeavor to do it because we know how difficult it is for families in the 21st century to afford the cost of living. It is expensive to raise children in the 21st century, and families that are raising children are raising the future taxpayers of the United States, and everything costs more. In 35 out of 50 states, child care costs more than college. There are millions of people watching this broadcast tonight that understand exactly what I'm talking about. They don't know how they're going to make that payment every month, and if they can't make it, they can't work, because someone needs to watch their kids during the day. They don't know how they're going to save for their kids' future, to go to college. And so, yes, I have a child tax credit increase, and I'm proud of it. I am proud that I have a pro-family tax code, because the pro- family tax plan I have will strengthen the most important institution in the \u2014 in the country, the family. +p399 +aVNow I get my 60 seconds to respond. He's talking about my tax plan. +p400 +aVSo let me begin with this. I actually believe \u2014 first of all, this is their money. They do pay. It is refundable, not just against the taxes they pay to the government, but also the \u2014 on their federal income tax, it's refundable against the payroll tax. Everyone pays payroll tax. This is their money. This is not our money. And here's what I don't understand \u2014 if you invest that money in a piece of equipment, if you invest that money in a business, you get to write it off your taxes. But if you invest it in your children, in the future of America and strengthening your family, we're not going to recognize that in our tax code? The family is the most important institution in society. And, yes... +p401 +aV... I do want to rebuild the American military. +p402 +aVI know that Rand is a committed isolationist. I'm not. I believe the world is a stronger and a better place, when the United States is the strongest military power in the world. +p403 +aVBecause... +p404 +aV...are you talking about the military, Rand? +p405 +aVWe can't even have an economy if we're not safe. There are radical jihadist in the Middle East beheading people and crucifying Christians. A radical Shia cleric in Iran trying to get a nuclear weapon, the Chinese taking over the South China Sea... ...Yes, I believe the world is a safer \u2014 no, no, I don't believe, I know that the world is a safer place when America is the strongest military power in the world. +p406 +aVYou know, if I may respond... +p407 +aVI need to add a couple of points to this. The first is, I've never met Vladimir Putin, but I know enough about him to know he is a gangster. He is basically an organized crime figure that runs a country, controls a $2 trillion economy. And is using to build up his military in a rapid way despite the fact his economy is a disaster. He understands only geopolitical strength. And every time he has acted anywhere in the world, whether it's in Ukraine or Georgia before that, or now in the Middle East, it's because he is trusting in weakness. His calculation in the Middle East is that he has seen what this president has done, which is nothing, the president has no strategy, our allies in the region do not trust us. For goodness sake, there is only one pro-American free enterprise democracy in the Middle East, it is the state of Israel. And we have a president that treats the prime minister of Israel with less respect than what he gives the ayatollah in Iran. And so our allies in the region don't trust us. Vladimir Putin is exploiting that weakness, for purposes of edging the Americans out as the most important geopolitical power broker in the region. And we do have a vested interest. And here's why. Because all those radical terrorist groups that, by the way, are not just in Syria and in Iraq, +p408 +aVCan I just add what \u2014 he's right on point there. Do you know why these banks are so big? The government made them big. The government made them big by adding thousands and thousands of pages of regulations. So the big banks, they have an army of lawyers, they have an army of compliance officers. They can deal with all these things. The small banks, like Governor Bush was saying, they can't deal with all these regulations. They can't deal with all \u2014 they cannot hire the fanciest law firm in Washington or the best lobbying firm to deal with all these regulations. And so the result is, the big banks get bigger, the small banks struggle to lend or even exist, and the result is what you have today. And in Dodd-Frank, you have actually codified too big to fail. We have actually created a category of systemically important institutions, and these banks go around bragging about it. You know what they say to people with a wink and a nod? We are so big, we are so important that if we get in trouble, the government has to bail us out. This is an outrage. We need to repeal Dodd-Frank as soon as possible. +p409 +aVWell, that's a great question, and let me begin by answering it. This election is about the future, about what kind of country this nation is gonna be in the 21st century. This next (ph) election is actually a generational choice. A choice about what kind of nation we will be in the 21st century. For over 2.5 centuries, America's been a special country, the one place on earth where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything, a nation that's been a force for good on this planet. But now, a growing number of Americans feel out of place in their own country. We have a society that stigmatizes those that hold cultural values that are traditional. We have a society where people \u2014 millions of people \u2014 are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, but they're living paycheck to paycheck because the economy has changed underneath their feet. We have young Americans who owe thousands of dollars in student loans for a degree that doesn't lead to a job. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses dying than starting, and around the world, every day brings news of a new humiliation for America \u2014 many the direct response \u2014 direct consequence of decisions made when Hillary Clinton was the secretary of the \u2014 of state. And so here's the truth: this election is about the future, and the Democratic Party, and the political left has no ideas about the future. All their ideas are the same, tired ideas of the past. More government, more spending. For every issue for America, their answer is a new tax on someone, and a new government program. This nation is going to turn the page, and that's what this election should be about, and, as I said at the first debate... ...If I am our nominee, they will be the party of the past, we will be the party of the 21st century. +p410 +aVOurs \u2014 the story of America is an extraordinary story. It is the story of a nation that for over two centuries each generation has left the next better off than themselves. But now, because Washington is out of touch, for the fault of both political parties, for the first time in our history, that is in doubt. And that is what this election must be about, because if the next four years are anything like the last eight years, our children will be the first Americans ever left worse off by their parents. This election is about making a different choice, about applying our principles of limited government and free enterprise to the unique issues of our time. And if we do, we will not just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And the 21st century can be a new American century. So tonight, I ask you for your vote and I ask you to join us at my website, marcorubio.com. +p411 +aVThank you for that question. I would begin by saying that I'm not sure it's a weakness, but I do believe that I share a sense of optimism for America's future that, today, is eroding from too many of our people. I think there's a sense in this country today that somehow our best days are behind us. And that doesn't have to be true. Our greatest days lie ahead if we are willing to do what it takes now. If we're willing to do what it takes now, the 21st century is going to be the new American century, greater than any other era we've had in the history of this great nation. +p412 +aVThat's an interesting question. That's exactly what the Republican establishment says too. Why don't you wait in line? Wait for what? This country is running out of time. We can't afford to have another four years like the last eight years. Watching this broadcast tonight are millions of people that are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, everything costs more, and they haven't had a raise in decades. You have small businesses in America that are struggling. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses closing than starting. We have a world that's out of control and has grown dangerous and a president that is weakening our military and making our foreign policy unstable and unreliable in the eyes of our allies. And our adversaries continue to grow stronger. We have a \u2014 they say there's no bipartisanship in Washington? We have a $19 trillion bipartisan debt and it continues to grow as we borrow money from countries that do not like us to pay for government we cannot afford. The time to act is now. The time to turn the page is now. If we \u2014 if we don't act now, we are going to be the first generation in American history that leaves our children worse off than ourselves. +p413 +aVLet me say, I read that editorial today with a great amusement. It's actually evidence of the bias that exists in the American media today. +p414 +aVLet me \u2014 let me answer your question on the Sun-Sentinel editorial today. Back in 2004, one of my predecessors to the Senate by the name of Bob Graham, a Democrat, ran for president missing over 30 percent of his votes. I don't recall them calling for his resignation \u2014 +p415 +aVLater that year, in 2004, John Kerry ran for president missing close to 60 to 70 percent of his votes. I don't recall the Sun \u2014 in fact, the Sun-Sentinel endorsed him. In 2008, Barack Obama missed 60 or 70 percent of his votes, and the same newspaper endorsed him again. So this is another example of the double standard that exists in this country between the mainstream media and the conservative movement. +p416 +aVI get to respond, right? +p417 +aVWell, it's interesting. Over the last few weeks, I've listened to Jeb as he walked around the country and said that you're modeling your campaign after John McCain, that you're going to launch a furious comeback the way he did, by fighting hard in New Hampshire and places like that, carrying your own bag at the airport. You know how many votes John McCain missed when he was carrying out that furious comeback that you're now modeling after? +p418 +aVNo Jeb, I don't remember \u2014 well, let me tell you. I don't remember you ever complaining about John McCain's vote record. The only reason why you're doing it now is because we're running for the same position, and someone has convinced you that attacking me is going to help you. +p419 +aVHere's the bottom line. I'm not \u2014 my campaign is going to be about the future of America, it's not going to be about attacking anyone else on this stage. I will continue to have tremendous admiration and respect for Governor Bush. I'm not running against Governor Bush, I'm not running against anyone on this stage. I'm running for president because there is no way we can elect Hillary Clinton to continue the policies of Barack Obama. +p420 +aVWell, you just \u2014 you just listed a litany of discredited attacks from Democrats and my political opponents, and I'm not gonna waste 60 seconds detailing them all. But I'm going to tell you the truth. Here's the truth. I didn't inherit any money. My dad was a bartender, my mother was a maid. They worked hard to provide us the chance at a better life. They didn't save enough money for us to go to school. I had to work my way through school. I had to borrow money to go to school. I tried (ph), early in my marriage, explaining to my wife why someone named Sallie Mae was taking $1,000 out of our bank account every month. I know what it's like to owe that money, and we've worked hard. We've worked hard our whole life to provide a better family \u2014 a better life for our family. We own a home four blocks away from the place that I grew up in. My four children have been able to receive a good Christian education, and I've been able to save for them to go to college so they never have to have the loans that I did. But I'm not worried about my finances, I'm worried about the finances of everyday Americans who today are struggling in an economy that is not producing good paying jobs while everything else costs more. And that's what this economy needs to \u2014 that's what this debate needs to be about. This debate needs to be about the men and women across this country that are struggling on a daily basis to provide for their families the better future that we've always said this country is all about. +p421 +aVAnd I used it to pay off my loans. And it's available on paperback, if you're interested in buying my book. +p422 +aVYeah, again, as I said, we're raising a family in the 21st century and it's one of the reasons why my tax plan is a pro- family tax plan. It increases the per child tax credit, because I didn't read about this in a book. I know for a fact how difficult it is to raise children, how expensive it's become for working families. And I make a lot more than the average American. Imagine how hard it is for these people out there that are making 40, 50, $60,000 a year, and they're trying to provide for their families at a time when this economy is not growing. We can't afford another four years of that. Which is what we're gonna get if we elect a big government liberal like Hillary Clinton to the White House. Thank you, senator. +p423 +aVWell, first of all, if a company gets caught doing that, they should never be able to use the program again. If you get caught abusing this program, you should never be able to use it again. The second thing I said is we need to add reforms, not just increase the numbers, but add reforms. For example, before you hire anyone from abroad, you should have to advertise that job for 180 days. You also have to prove that you're going to pay these people more than you would pay someone else, so that you're not undercutting it by bringing in cheap labor. But here's the best solution of all. We need to get back to training people in this country to do the jobs of the 21st century. Why, for the life of me, I do not understand why did we stop doing vocational education in America, people that can work with their hands; people you can train to do this work while they're still in high school so they can graduate ready to go work. But the best way to close this gap is to modernize higher education so Americans have the skills for those jobs. But in the interim, in the absence of that, what's happening is some of these tech companies are taking those \u2014 those centers (ph) to Canada because they can get people to go over there instead of here. But the ideal scenario is to train Americans to do the work so we don't have to rely on people from abroad. +p424 +aVWell, I believe that there are abuses, those companies should be permanently barred from ever using the program again and we should put strict standards in place to ensure that they're not being abused, like the prevailing wage requirement and like the advertising requirement. +p425 +aVSince I've been mentioned, can I respond? +p426 +aVOK. I know the Democrats have the ultimate SuperPac. It's called the mainstream media who every single day... ... and I'll tell you why. Last week, Hillary Clinton went before a committee. She admitted she had sent e-mails to her family saying, "Hey, this attack at Benghazi was caused by Al Qaida-like elements." She spent over a week telling the families of those victims and the American people that it was because of a video. And yet the mainstream media is going around saying it was the greatest week in Hillary Clinton's campaign. It was the week she got exposed as a liar. It was the week that she got exposed as a liar... But she has her super PAC helping her out, the American mainstream media. +p427 +aVNo, that's \u2014 you're wrong. In fact, the largest after- tax gains is for the people at the lower end of the tax spectrum under my plan. And there's a bunch of things my tax plan does to help them. Number one, you have people in this country that... +p428 +aV...you wrote a story on it, and you had to go back and correct it. +p429 +aVYou did. No, you did. +p430 +aVWell, you're talking about \u2014 yeah. +p431 +aVYeah, but that \u2014 because the math is, if you \u2014 5 percent of a million is a lot more than 5 percent of a thousand. So yeah, someone who makes more money... +p432 +aV...numerically, it's gonna be higher. But the greatest gains, percentage-wise, for people, are gonna be at the lower end of our plan, and here's why: because in addition to a general personal exemption, we are increasing the per-child tax credit for working families. We are lowering taxes on small business. You know, a lot of business activity in America is conducted like the guy that does my dry cleaning. He's an S corporation. He pays on his personal rate, and he is paying higher than the big dry-cleaning chain down the street, because he's paying at his personal rate. Under my plan, no business, big or small, will pay more than 25 percent flat rate on their business income. That is a dramatic tax decrease for hard-working people who run their own businesses. +p433 +aV...The other thing I'd like to make about our plan, one more point, it is the most pro growth tax plan that I can imagine because it doesn't tax investments at all. You know why? Because the more you tax something, the less of it you get. I want to be in \u2014 I want America to be the best... +p434 +aV...in the world for people... +p435 +aVI was mentioned in the question. +p436 +aVThank you. Well, I've learned the rules on this. Look, in addition to what Donald was saying is we also need to talk about the legal immigration system for permanent residents. Today, we have a legal immigration system for permanent residency that is largely based on whether or not you have a relative living here. And that's the way my parents came legally in 1956. But in 2015, we have a very different economy. Our legal immigration system from now on has to be merit-based. It has to be based on what skills you have, what you can contribute economically, and most important of all, on whether or not you're coming here to become an American, not just live in America, but be an American. +p437 +aVNo. No. What I said was that I think that Dr. Carson's ideas are good ideas. They're not my ideas, and I don't necessarily agree with all of them. But this is what you're seeing in the Republican debate that you didn't see in that Democrat debate. You didn't see it for a minute. You didn't see these kind of ideas being batted around, and being batted around in a way that's civil and smart and that's trying to help to inform the voter out there. What you saw was a parade of, "I'll give you this for free; I'll give you that for free." Let me tell you, everybody, when they say they want to give it to you for free, keep your hands on your wallets because they're coming to you to pay for it. And that's why I think these ideas up here are great, and that's what we should have is have more discussions like this and less gotcha. +p438 +aVI want to take off from that point and argue the same thing. And that is that one of the things you're watching tonight are 11 quality candidates debating an important issue. The Republican Party is blessed to have 11 good candidates, 10 good candidates. The Democrats can't even come up with one. And on this issue of the Medicare in particular, it's important because they're going to demagogue what we're saying here tonight. Everyone up here tonight that's talking about reforms, I think and I know for myself I speak to this, we're all talking about reforms for future generations. Nothing has to change for current beneficiaries. My mother is on Medicare and Social Security. I'm against anything that's bad for my mother. So, we're talking about \u2014 we're talking about reform for people like me and people like Senator Cruz, as he talked about earlier, who are years away from retirement that have a way to plan for these changes, and way that's very reasonable. And it's not too much to ask of our generation after everything our parents and our grandparents did for us. +p439 +aVYou know, America doesn't owe me anything. I have a debt to America I'll never repay. This isn't just the country I was born in, this is the nation that literally changed the history of my family. My parents in this country were able to give me the chance to do all the things they never did. We call that the American Dream, although, it's built on the universal dream of a better life. The fact that it's happened for so many people here throughout our history, that's what makes us special. But, now for millions of Americans, it's slipping away. And, we have a government and leaders in government that are completely out of touch, and that's why I'm running for president. Because we can't just save the American Dream, we can expand it to reach more people, and change more lives than ever before. And, that's why tonight I'm asking you for your vote. +p440 +aVThank you. My name is Marco Rubio. I'm from Florida. My wife Jeanette and I are the proud \u2014 we've been married 17 years, and we're the proud parents of four children, two of whom were able to join us here this evening. I'm honored to be here at the Reagan Library, at a place that honors the legacy of a man who inspired not just my interest in public service, but also our love for country. And I'm also aware that California has a drought, and so that's why I made sure I brought my own water. +p441 +aVWell, first of all, I have an understanding of exactly what it is Russia and Putin are doing, and it's pretty straightforward. He wants to reposition Russia, once again, as a geopolitical force. He himself said that the destruction of the Soviet Union \u2014 the fall of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century, and now he's trying to reverse that. He's trying to destroy +p442 +aVLet me tell you \u2014 I will tell you we have zero responsibility, because let's remember what the president said. He said the attack he would conduct would be a pinprick. Well, the United States military was not build to conduct pinprick attacks. If the United States military is going to be engaged by a commander-in-chief, it should only be engaged in an endeavor to win. And we're not going to authorize use of force if you're not put in a position where they can win. And quite frankly, people don't trust this president as commander-in-chief because of that. +p443 +aVHold on, a second, Jake, he asked me, as well. I'd like to actually... +p444 +aV... respond. I think I'm the first senator. The No. 1 test for use of military force should be the vital national security interest of the United States. The reason why I opposed President Obama bombing Syria, is because he couldn't answer the question what do you do if chemical weapons end up in the hands of radical Islamic terrorists like al-Nusra, like Al Qaida, like +p445 +aVIn the middle of negotiating this treaty, Khamenei led the assembled masses in chanting, death to America. I'm reminded of a great editorial cartoon. It shows the Ayatollah Khamenei saying, "Death to all Americans," and then it shows John Kerry coming back, saying, "Can we meet ya half way?" We need a commander-in-chief who will stand up and protect this country. And I'll tell you, I can't wait to stand on that debate stage with Hillary Clinton and to make abundantly clear if you vote for Hillary, you are voting for the Ayatollah Khomeini to possess a nuclear weapon and if you elect me as president, under no circumstances will a theocratic ayatollah who chants death to America ever be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon. +p446 +aVMs. Dana, I agree that English is the unifying language of our country, and everyone should learn to speak it. It's important. I want to tell you a story about someone that didn't speak English that well. It was my grandfather; he came to this country in the 1960s, as a \u2014 escaping Cuba. And he lived with us, growing up. And my grandfather loved America. He understood what was so special about this country. He loved Ronald Reagan; he would be very proud of the fact that we're here this evening. My grandfather instilled in me the belief that I was blessed to live in the one society in all of human history where even I, the son of a bartender and a maid, could aspire to have anything, and be anything that I was willing to work hard to achieve. But he taught me that in Spanish, because it was the language he was most comfortable in. And he became a conservative, even though he got his news in Spanish. And so, I do give interviews in Spanish, and here's why \u2014 because I believe that free enterprise and limited government is the best way to help people who are trying to achieve upward mobility. And if they get their news in Spanish, I want them to hear that directly from me. Not from a translator at Univision. +p447 +aVWell, let me say that legal immigration is not an issue I read about in the newspaper. Immigration, illegal immigration, all the good aspects of immigration and all the negative ones as well, I live with. My family's immigrants. My neighbors are all immigrants. My in-laws are all immigrants. So I've seen every aspect of it, and I can tell you America doesn't have one immigration problem, it has three. First, despite the fact that we are the most generous country in the history of the world in allowing people to come here legally, we have people still coming illegally. Second, we have a legal immigration system that no longer works. It primary is built on the basis of whether you have a relative living here instead of merit. And third, we have 11 million or 12 million people, many of whom have been here for longer than a decade who are already here illegally. And we must deal with all three of these problems. We cannot deal with all three of these problems in one massive piece of legislation. I learned that. We tried it that way. Here's the way forward: First, we must \u2014 we must secure our border, the physical border, with \u2014 with a wall, absolutely. But we also need to have an entry/exit tracking system. 40 percent of the people who come here illegally come legally, and then they overstay the visa. We also need a mandatory e-verify system. After we've done that, step two would be to modernize our legal immigration system so you come to America on the basis of what you can contribute economically, not whether or not simply you have a relative living here. And after we've done those two things, I believe the American people... +p448 +aV... will be very reasonable and responsible about what you do with someone who's been here and isn't a criminal. If you're a criminal, obviously, you will not be able to stay. +p449 +aVYes, well, it does. But it's in the following way, this is an important question. I think if you're running for president, these are important issues, because look at around the world today. There is a lunatic in North Korea with dozens of nuclear weapons and long-range rocket that can already hit the very place in which we stand tonight. The Chinese are rapidly expanding their military. They hack into our computers. They're building artificial islands in the South China Sea, the most important shipping lane in the world. A gangster in Moscow is not just threatening Europe, he's threatening to destroy and divide +p450 +aVWell, that's why we have a debate. I think that we should have a deeper debate about these issues, because there is no more important decision that a president will make. +p451 +aVWell, you should ask him questions in detail about the foreign policy issues our president will confront, because you had better be able to lead our country on the first day. Not six months from now, not a year from now, on the first day in office, our president could very well confront a national security crisis. You can't predict it. Sometimes you cannot control it. And it is the most \u2014 the federal government does all kinds of things it's not supposed to be doing. It regulates bathrooms. It regulates schools that belong to local communities. But the one thing that the federal government must do, the one thing that only the federal government can do is keep us safe. And a president better be up-to-date on those issues on his first day in office, on her first day in office. +p452 +aVTrust (ph) me, I get that. OK. +p453 +aVI never get to addressed, and... +p454 +aV...and when I do, I'm gonna jump in. +p455 +aVYeah. He did. Let me \u2014 I'm proud to serve in the United States Senate. You know, when I ran five years ago, the entire leadership of my party in Washington lined up against me. But I'm glad I won. And I'm glad that I ran, because this country's headed in the wrong direction. And if we keep electing the same people, nothing is going to change. And you're right, I have missed some votes, and I'll tell you why, Mr. Trump. Because in my years in the Senate, I've figured out very quickly that the political establishment in Washington, D.C. in both political parties is completely out of touch with the lives of our people. You have millions of people in this country living paycheck to paycheck, and nothing is being done about it. We are about to leave our children with $18 trillion in \u2014 in \u2014 in debt, and they're about to raise the debt limit again. We have a world that grows increasingly dangerous, and we are eviscerating our military spending and signing deals with Iran. And these \u2014 if this thing continues, we are going to be the first Americans to leave our children worse off than ourselves. That's why I'm missing votes. Because I am leaving the Senate, I'm not running for re-election, and I'm running for president because I know this: unless we have the right president, we cannot make America fulfill its potential, but with the right person in office, the 21st century can be the greatest era that our nation has ever known. +p456 +aVI want to go even deeper \u2014 and I want to go even deeper in that direction, because I think the belief that somehow by retreating, America makes the world safer has been disproven every single time it's ever been tried. Syria's a perfect example of it. The uprising in Syria was not started by the United States; it was started by the Syrian people. And I warned at the time \u2014 this was three and a half years ago \u2014 I openly and repeatedly warned that if we did not find moderate elements on the ground that we could equip and arm, that void would be filled by radical jihadists. Well, the president didn't listen, the administration didn't follow through, and that's exactly what happened. That is why +p457 +aV... as you asked earlier today. +p458 +aVBut radical terrorism cannot be solved by intellect. It cannot \u2014 they require \u2014 what they need, is they need an operating space. That's what Afghanistan was for Al Qaida. It was a vacuum that they filled, and they created an operating space. That's why they had to be drawn out of there. That's why they had to be destroyed. It is the reason why +p459 +aVThere's a broader issue here, Hugh. And there's a broader issue here as well. First of all, the only people that follow the law are law-abiding people. Criminals by definition ignore the law, so you can pass all the gun laws in the world, like the left wants. The criminals are going to ignore it because they are criminals. Here's the real issue. The real issue \u2014 the real issue is not what are people using to commit violence, but why are they committing the violence? And here's the truth: Because you cannot separate the social, moral wellbeing of your people from their economic and other wellbeing. You cannot separate it. You can't have a strong country without strong people, you cannot have strong people without strong values, and you cannot have strong values without strong families and the institutions in this country that defend and support those families. +p460 +aVWell, and today, we have a left-wing government under this president that is undermining all of the institutions and society that support the family and teach those values. +p461 +aVBecause we're not going to destroy our economy the way the left-wing government that we are under now wants to do. We're not going to... +p462 +aVWell, and I don't \u2014 he may have lined up with their positions on this issue. But here is the bottom line. Every proposal they put forward are going to be proposals that will make it harder to do business in America, that will make it harder to create jobs in America. Single parents are already struggling across this country to provide for their families. Maybe a billionaire here in California can afford an increase in their utility rates, but a working family in Tampa, Florida, or anywhere across this country cannot afford it. So we are not going to destroy our economy. We are not going to make America a harder place to create jobs in order to pursue policies that will do absolutely nothing, nothing to change our climate, to change our weather, because America is a lot of things, the greatest country in the world, absolutely. But America is not a planet. And we are not even the largest carbon producer anymore, China is. And they're drilling a hole and digging anywhere in the world that they can get a hold of. So the bottom line is, I am not in favor of any policies that make America a harder place for people to live, or to work, or to raise their families. +p463 +aVJake, you mentioned me and called me a denier. Let me say, climate change... +p464 +aVOK. A skeptic. You can measure the climate. You can measure it. That's not the issue we're discussing. Here is what I'm skeptical of. I'm skeptical of the decisions that the left wants us to make, because I know the impact those are going to have and they're all going to be on our economy. They will not do a thing to lower the rise of the sea. They will not do a thing to cure the drought here in California. But what they will do is they will make America a more expensive place to create jobs. And today with millions of people watching this broadcast that are struggling paycheck to paycheck that do not know how they're going to pay their bills at the end of this month, I'm not in favor of anything that is going to make it harder for them to raise their family. +p465 +aVSenator Rubio, you mean? +p466 +aVI know we all look alike. +p467 +aVThe \u2014 Rosa Parks, an everyday American that changed the course of history. +p468 +aVWell, there are some people in Florida upset at me over a joke I made about Florida State, but, what the heck, I want my codename to be Gator. +p469 +aVOne of the things that made Ronald Reagan a great president, is that he understood that America was a unique nation, like any other that had existed throughout human history. He knew it was founded on universal principles that were powerful, the dignity of all people, human rights, the rights of all to live in freedom and liberty, and choose their own path in life. He didn't just believe it, he acted on it. That's why bringing down communism was so important to him. If I'm honored with the opportunity to be president, I hope that our Air Force One will fly, first and foremost, to our allies; in Israel, in South Korea, and Japan. They know we stand with them. That America can be counted on. It would also fly to China, not just to meet with our enemies, not just to meet with those adversaries of ours that are there, but also to meet with those that aspire to freedom and liberty within China. I would even invite them to my inauguration. We would also fly into Moscow and into Russia. And not just meet with the leaders of Russia, but also meet with those who aspire to freedom and liberty in Russia. And ultimately, I hope that my Air Force One, if I become president, will one day land in a free Cuba, where its people can choose its leaders and its own destiny. +p470 +aVWell, thank you for the question, Chris, and it's great to be here tonight. Let me begin by saying this: I'm not new to the political process; I was making a contribution as the speaker of the third largest and most diverse state in the country well before I even got into the Senate. I would add to that that this election cannot be a resume competition. It's important to be qualified, but if this election is a resume competition, then Hillary Clinton's gonna be the next president, because she's been in office and in government longer than anybody else running here tonight. Here's what this election better be about: This election better be about the future, not the past. It better be about the issues our nation and the world is facing today, not simply the issues we once faced. This country is facing an economy that has been radically transformed. You know, the largest retailer in the country and the world today, Amazon, doesn't even own a single store? And these changes have been disruptive. They have changed people's lives. The jobs that once sustained our middle class, they either don't pay enough or they are gone, and we need someone that understands that as our nominee. If I'm our nominee, how is Hillary Clinton gonna lecture me about living paycheck to paycheck? I was raised paycheck to paycheck. How is she -- how is she gonna lecture me -- how is she gonna lecture me about student loans? I owed over $100,000 just four years ago. If I'm our nominee, we will be the party of the future. +p471 +aVLet me set the record straight on a couple of things. The first is, the evidence is now clear that the majority of people coming across the border are not from Mexico. They're coming from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras. Those countries are the source of the people that are now coming in its majority. I also believe we need a fence. The problem is if El Chapo builds a tunnel under the fence, we have to be able to deal with that too. And that's why you need an e-verify system and you need an entry-exit tracking system and all sorts of other things to prevent illegal immigration. But I agree with what Governor Kasich just said. People are frustrated. This is the most generous country in the world when it comes to immigration. There are a million people a year who legally immigrate to the United States, and people feel like we're being taken advantage of. We feel like despite our generosity, we're being taken advantage of. And let me tell you who never gets talked about in these debates. The people that call my office, who have been waiting for 15 years to come to the United States. And they've paid their fees, and they hired a lawyer, and they can't get in. And they're wondering, maybe they should come illegally. And so these are important issues, and we should address it. It's a serious problem that needs to be addressed, and otherwise we're going to keep talking about this for the next 30 years, like we have for the last 30 years. +p472 +aVNot me. +p473 +aVActually, to be clear......he supported Charlie Crist. +p474 +aVHey, Charlie... +p475 +aVWell, first off, I too believe in curriculum reform. It is critically important in the 21st Century. We do need curriculum reform. And it should happen at the state and local level. That's. . . that's. . . that is where educational policy belongs, because if a parent is unhappy with what their child is being taught in school, they can go to that local school board or their state legislature, or their governor and get it changed. Here's the problem with Common Core. The Department of Education, like every federal agency, will never be satisfied. They will not stop with it being a suggestion. They will turn it into a mandate. In fact, what they will begin to say to local communities is, you will not get federal money unless do you things the way we want you to do it. And they will use Common Core or any other requirements that exists nationally to force it down the throats of our people in our states. +p476 +aVThat's a great question. +p477 +aVThat's a great question. First of all, it begins by having leaders that recognize that the economy we live in today is dramatically different from the one we had five years ago. It's an economy that now has placed us in global competition with dozens of other countries around the world. Now, the big companies that have connections with Washington, they can affect policies to help them, but the small companies like the one Tania is talking about, they're the ones that are struggling. The first thing we need to do is we need to even out the tax code for small businesses so that we lower their tax rate to 25 percent, just as we need to lower it for all businesses. We need to have a regulatory budget in America that limits the amount of regulations on our economy. We need to repeal and replace Obamacare and we need to improve higher education so that people can have access to the skills they need for 21st century jobs. And last but not least, we need to repeal Dodd-Frank. It is eviscerating small businesses and small banks. 20 \u2014 over 40 percent of small and mid-size banks that loan money to small businesses have been wiped out over the \u2014 since Dodd-Frank has passed. We need to repeal and replace Dodd-Frank. We need to make America fair again for all businesses, but especially those being run by small business owners. +p478 +aVWell, Megyn, first of all, I'm not sure that that's a correct assessment of my record. I would go on to add that I believe all-- +p479 +aVI have never said that. And I have never advocated that. What I have advocated is that we pass law in this country that says all human life at every stage of its development is worthy of protection. In fact, I think that law already exists. It is called the Constitution of the United States. And let me go further. I believe that every single human being is entitled to the protection of our laws, whether they can vote or not. Whether they can speak or not. Whether they can hire a lawyer or not. Whether they have a birth certificate or not. And I think future generations will look back at this history of our country and call us barbarians for murdering millions of babies who we never gave them a chance to live. +p480 +aVWell, first, let me say I think God has blessed us. He has blessed the Republican Party with some very good candidates. The Democrats can't even find one. And I believe God has blessed our country. This country has been extraordinarily blessed. And we have honored that blessing. And that's why God has continued to bless us. And he has blessed us with young men and women willing to risk their lives and sometimes die in uniform for the safety and security of our people. Unfortunately today we have a VA that does not do enough for them. I am proud that last year we helped change the law. We changed the law to give the power to the VA secretary the ability to fire any executive that isn't doing their job. And it is outrageous they've only fired one person to date. When I'm president of the United States, we're going to have a VA that cares more about our veterans than about the bureaucrats who work at the VA. +p481 +aVThank you. You know, both of my parents were born into poor families on the island of Cuba. They came to America because it was the only place where people like them could have a chance. Here in this country, they never made it big, but the very purpose of their life was to give us the chance to do all the things they never could. My father was a bartender. And the journey from the back of that bar to this stage tonight, to me, that is the essence of the American dream. It is what makes our nation different. And I'm running for president because I want that to still be possible for the people trying to do that now. I run for president because I believe that we can't just save the American dream; we can expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And that's why I'm asking for your vote. So we can make America greater than it has ever been. And make of this century a new American century. +p482 +aVWell, let me first talk about Justice Scalia. His loss is tremendous, and obviously our hearts and prayers go out to his family. He will go down as one of the great justices in the history of this republic. You talk about someone who defended consistently the original meaning of the Constitution, who understood that the Constitution was not there to be interpreted based on the fads of the moment, but it was there to be interpreted according to its original meaning. Justice Scalia understood that better than anyone in the history of this republic. His dissent, for example, on the independent counsel case is a brilliant piece of jurist work. And, of course, his dissent on Obergefell as well. No. 2, I do not believe the president should appoint someone. And it's not unprecedented. In fact, it has been over 80 years since a lame duck president has appointed a Supreme Court justice. And it remind us of this, how important this election is. Someone on this stage will get to choose the balance of the Supreme Court, and it will begin by filling this vacancy that's there now. And we need to put people on the bench that understand that the Constitution is not a living and breathing document. It is to be interpreted as originally meant. +p483 +aVThat's not accurate. +p484 +aVNo, I've never \u2014 there has been, for example, today, according to the changes Harry Reid made, appellate judges can now be appointed by a simple majority, but not Supreme Court justices. And I think today you see the wisdom of why we don't want that to change. Because if that were the case and we were not in charge of the Senate, Harry Reid and Barack Obama would ram down our throat a liberal justice, like the ones Barack Obama has imposed on us already. +p485 +aVNo. I think there are three major threats that you want to immediately get on top of. No. 1 is, what are we doing in the Asia-Pacific region, where both North Korea and China pose threats to the national security of the United States. No. 2 is, what are we doing in the Middle East with the combination of the Sunni-Shia conflict driven by the Shia arc that Iran is now trying to establish in the Middle East, also the growing threat of +p486 +aVWell, let me tell you what has happened a couple of years ago. One of the hardest decisions you'll ever make in Congress is when you are asked by the president to authorize the use of force in a conflict, because you are now putting your name, on behalf of the people of your state, behind a military action, where Americans in uniform could lose their life. So, in 2014, Barack Obama said he would not take military action against Assad unless it was authorized by the Senate, beginning on the Committee of Foreign Relations, where I am one of its members. And it was hard because you looked at the pictures. I saw the same images people saw. I'm the father of children. I saw the images of these little children \u2014 been gassed and poisoned by their own leaders, and we were angry. Something had to happen, and there was the sense that we needed to seek retribution. And then I looked at Barack Obama's plan. Barack Obama's plan, which John Kerry later described as unbelievably small, and I concluded that that attack would not only not help the situation, it would make it actually worse. It would allow Assad to stand up to the United States of America, survive a strike, stay in power and actually strengthen his grip. So it was a difficult decision to make, and when we only had a few days to look at and make a decision on it, and I voted against Barack Obama's plan to use force, and it was the right decision. +p487 +aVI just want to say, at least on behalf of me and my family, I thank God all the time it was George W. Bush in the White House on 9/11 and not Al Gore. And you can \u2014 I think you can look back in hindsight and say a couple of things, but he kept us safe. And not only did he keep us safe, but no matter what you want to say about weapons of mass destruction, Saddam Hussein was in violation of U.N. resolutions, in open violation, and the world wouldn't do anything about it, and George W. Bush enforced what the international community refused to do. And again, he kept us safe, and I am forever grateful to what he did for this country. +p488 +aVThe World Trade Center came down because Bill Clinton didn't kill Osama bin Laden when he had the chance to kill him. +p489 +aVWell, because I'm influencing social policy \u2014 this is their money. This is the money of parents. You don't earn the tax credit unless you're working. That's your money, it doesn't belong to government. Here's what I don't understand. If a business takes their money and they invest in the piece of the equipment, they get to write off their taxes. But if a parent takes money that they have earned to work and invests in their children, they don't? This makes no sense. Parenting is the most important job any of us will ever have. Family formation is the most important thing in society. So what my tax plan does, is it does create, especially for working families, an additional Child Tax Credit. So that parents who are working get to keep more of their own money, not the government's money, to invest in their children to go to school, to go to a private school, to buy a new backpack. Let me tell you, if you're a parent that's struggling, then you know that $50 a month is the difference between a new pair of shoes this month or not getting a new pair of shoes for your kids. I'm going to have a tax plan that is pro-family, because the family is the most important institution in society. You cannot have a strong country without strong families. +p490 +aVWell, first of all, I think amnesty is the forgiveness of a wrongdoing without consequence and that \u2014 I've never supported that. I do not support that. I think there has to be consequences for violating our immigration laws. What I think is clear about this issue to begin with is we're not going to be able to make progress on illegal immigration until first, illegal immigration is brought under control. You go back to 1986, when they legalized three million people and they promised to secure the border. It didn't happen, and as a result, people have lost trust in the federal government. It is now clear that the only way to make progress on immigration is not just to pass a law that enforces the law, but actually prove to people that it's working. They want to see the wall built. They want to see the additional border agents. They want to see E-Verify. They want to see an entry-exit tracking system. Forty percent of the people in this country illegally are entering legally and overstaying visas. And only after all of that is in place, then we'll see what the American people are willing to support on this issue. I think the American people will be very reasonable, but responsible, about how you handle someone who has been here a long time, who can pass a background check, who pays a fine and starts paying taxes and all they want is a work permit. But you can't do any of that until you prove to people that illegal immigration is under control once and for all. +p491 +aVWe're going to have to do this again, O.K.? When that issue was being debated, Ted Cruz, at a committee hearing, very passionately said, I want immigration reform to pass, I want people to be able to come out of the shadows. And he proposed an amendment that would legalized people here. Not only that, he proposed doubling the number of green cards. He proposed a 500 percent increase on guest workers. Now his position is different. Now he is a passionate opponent of all those things. So he either wasn't telling the truth then or he isn't telling the truth now, but to argue he is a purist on immigration is just not true. +p492 +aVWell, first of all, I don't know how he knows what I said on Univision, because he doesn't speak Spanish. And second of all, the other point that I would make... +p493 +aVLook, this is a disturbing pattern now, because for a number of weeks now, Ted Cruz has just been telling lies. He lied about Ben Carson in Iowa. He lies about Planned Parenthood. He lies about marriage. He's lying about all sorts of things. And now he makes things up. The bottom line is this is a campaign and people are watching it. And they see the truth behind all these issues. And here is the truth, Ted Cruz supported legalizing people that were in this country... +p494 +aV... and only now does he say... +p495 +aVWell, we'll put on our website, marcorubio.com. We're going to... +p496 +aVOn anything I want? +p497 +aVWell, let me talk about poverty. +p498 +aVI do. +p499 +aVI had something important. +p500 +aVThe issue of poverty is critical, because for me, poverty is the \u2014 is \u2014 is free enterprise not reaching people. Today, we have antipoverty programs that don't cure poverty. We don't cure poverty in America. Our antipoverty programs have become, in some instances, a way of life, a lifestyle. Now, we do need antipoverty programs, you can't have free enterprise programs without them, but not as a way of life. And so I have a very specific proposal on this and I don't \u2014 in 60 seconds, I can't describe it all, but it basically turns the program over to states. It allows states to design innovative programs that cure poverty, because I think Nikki Haley will do a better job curing poverty than Barack Obama. +p501 +aVWell, no. It's not the case. It didn't pass, and we haven't solved immigration in this country. It's still a problem. It is worse today than it was three years ago, which is worse than it was five years ago. And it has to be confronted and solved. But the only way forward on this issue \u2014 you asked a question about flexibility. Let me tell you about that. One of the things that you need in leadership is the ability to understand that to get things done, you must figure out the way to get it done. You will not pass comprehensive immigration reform. People do not trust the federal government. They want to see the law being enforced. They want to see illegal immigration come under control. They want to see that wall. They want to see E-Verify. They want to see all of these things working, and then they will have a conversation with you about what do you do with people that have been here a long time that are otherwise, you know, not criminals. But they're not going to do it until you first enforce the law. +p502 +aVThirty seconds. +p503 +aVI speak fast. +p504 +aVWell, I think one of the presidents \u2014 well, the president I grew up under was Ronald Reagan. And Reagan had a vision for America's future. And if you think about what Ronald Reagan inherited, it's not unlike what the next president is going to inherit. This is the worst president we've had in 35 years, 35 years back would have made it Jimmy Carter. That's what Ronald Reagan inherited. And I think the question you would ask is, how did you inspire again the American people to believe in the future? How did you \u2014 what did it take to ensure that the American people, despite all of the difficulties of the time \u2014 you know, you look back at that time, the American military was in decline. Our standing in the world was in decline. We had hostages being held in Iran. Our economy was in bad shape. The American people were scared about the future. They were scared about what kind of country their children were going to live in and inherit. And yet somehow Ronald Reagan was able to instill in our nation and in our people a sense of optimism. And he turned America around because of that vision and ultimately because of that leadership. I wish Ronald Reagan was still around. This country needs someone just like that. And if our next president is even half the president Ronald Reagan was, America is going to be greater than it has ever been. +p505 +aVThank you, and thank you for watching tonight. This is a difficult time in our country. Our economy's flat, it's not creating the jobs it once did, and people struggle living paycheck to paycheck. Our culture's in trouble. Wrong is considered right and right is considered wrong. All the things that once held our families together are now under constant assault. And around the world, America's reputation is in decline. Our allies don't trust us, our adversaries don't fear us, Iran captures our sailors and parades them before the world on video. These are difficult times, but 2016 can be a turning point. That's why I'm running for president, and that's why I'm here today to ask you for your vote. If you elect me president, we are going to re-embrace free enterprise so that everyone can go as far as their talent and their work will take them. We are going to be a country that says that "life begins at conception and life is worthy of the protection of our laws." We're going to be a country that says "that marriage is between one man and one woman." We are going to be a country that says, "The constitution and the rights that it talks about do not come from our president, they come from our creator." We are going to be loyal to our allies like Israel, not enemies like Iran. And we will rebuild the U.S. military so no one will there test it. Vote for me. I will unify this party. I will grow it. We will win this election, and we will make the 21st century a new American century. +p506 +aVWell, let me say, from protecting the people of Florida from imminent domain abuse, to bringing accountability to the V.A., to the Girls Count Act, to sanctioning groups, I'm proud of my service in the United States Senate and before that, in the Florida legislature. I will say, if politics becomes and the presidency becomes about electing people who have been Congress or in the Senate the longest, we should all rally around Joe Biden. He's been around 1,000 years. He's passed hundreds of bills and I don't think any of us believe Joe Biden should be president of the United States. And let's dispel once and for all with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing. Barack Obama is undertaking a systematic effort to change this country, to make America more like the rest of the world. That's why he passed Obamacare and the stimulus and Dodd-Frank and the deal with Iran. It is a systematic effort to change America. When I'm president of the United States, we are going to re-embrace all the things that made America the greatest nation in the world and we are going to leave our children with what they deserve: the single greatest nation in the history of the world. +p507 +aVIf I may respond to that. +p508 +aVWell, I think the experience is not just what you did, but how it worked out. Under Chris Christie's governorship of New Jersey, they've been downgraded nine times in their credit rating. This country already has a debt problem, we don't need to add to it by electing someone who has experience at running up and destroying the credit rating of his state. But I would add this. Let's dispel with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing. He is trying to change this country. He wants America to become more like the rest of the world. We don't want to be like the rest of the world, we want to be the United States of America. And when I'm elected president, this will become once again, the single greatest nation in the history of the world, not the disaster Barack Obama has imposed upon us. +p509 +aVChris \u2014 Chris, your state got hit by a massive snowstorm two weeks ago. You didn't even want to go back. They had to shame you into going back. And then you stayed there for 36 hours and then he left and came back to campaign. Those are the facts. Here's the bottom line. This notion that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing is just not true. He knows exactly what he's doing. +p510 +aVWell, that's the \u2014 that's the reason why this campaign is so important. Because I think this notion \u2014 I think this is an important point. We have to understand what we're going through here. We are not facing a president that doesn't know what he's doing. He knows what he is doing. That's why he's done the things he's done. That's why we have a president that passed Obamacare and the stimulus. All this damage that he's done to America is deliberate. This is a president that's trying to redefine this country. That's why this election is truly a referendum on our identity as a nation, as a people. Our future is at stake. This election is not about the past. It is about what kind of country this is going to be in the 21st century, and if we elect someone like Barack Obama, a Hillary Clinton, a Bernie Sanders or anyone like that, our children are going to be the first Americans to inherit a diminishes country. That will not happen if I'm elected. +p511 +aVChris, you didn't want to go back. You didn't want to go back. +p512 +aVYou didn't want to go back, Chris. +p513 +aVChris, everybody \u2014 you said you weren't going to go back. He told everyone he wasn't going to go back. They had to shame him into going back. And when he decided to go back, he criticized the young lady, saying, what am I supposed to do, go back with a mop and clean up the flooding? +p514 +aV... It's your record, it's not a talking point... +p515 +aVBut Martha, just \u2014 Martha, just to clarify on that point, because he's right, and one more thing to point \u2014 it is standard procedure of the United States to shoot down those missiles once launched if they pose a threat to civilians, land and ships. +p516 +aVWell \u2014 no, I understand. And not \u2014 but \u2014 but I think it's important to note that it is \u2014 and Senator Cruz, I think, was alluding to this, as well \u2014 it is the standard procedure of the United States, if those missiles pose a threat to land, civilians, our allies or any of our assets, to shoot down that missile in mid-flight. I understand your question was about a preemptive strike, but my point is that there is in place now contingencies to avoid any sort of that strike from going errant and destroying any \u2014 any assets of the United States, or implicating or hurting any of our allies or any of our assets in the region. +p517 +aVYeah. I have a \u2014 I got mentioned, can I respond? +p518 +aVHere's the broader point, as well, and then I think it touches on what Donald just mentioned. Barack Obama views America as this arrogant global power that needed to be cut down to size. OK? This is a president that views this country as a country that's been too powerful in the world and we create problems around the world. For example, it's one of the reasons why he had betrayed Israel, because he believes that if we create separation from Israel, it will help our relations in the Islamic world. The same is happening in the Asia-Pacific region with accommodations to North Korea. North Korean should be back on that list of terrorist nations, as an example. And Donald's absolutely right. China does have a lot of influence over North Korea and he should be leveraging our relationship with the Chinese to ensure that North Korea no longer has access to the resources that have allowed them \u2014 a country that has no economy to develop long range missiles already capable of reaching the west coast of the United States potentially. +p519 +aVHere's the bottom line. We can't get that legislation passed. The American people will not support doing anything about people that are in this country illegally until the law is enforced first, and you prove it to them. This has been abundantly clear. Every effort over the last ten years to do those comprehensively has failed. And it has failed because the American people have zero trust that the federal government will enforce our laws. And that's why since then, I have said repeatedly, if you are serious about immigration reform, then the key that unlocks the door to being able to do that is not just to pass a law that says it is going to enforce the law, but to actually do it. To hire the 20,000 new border agents, to finish the fencing and walls, to put in place mandatory e-verify, to put in place an entry-exit tracking system to prevent visa overstays. And once that is in place and that's working, I believe the American people will support a very reasonable, but responsible approach to people that have been here a long time, who are not dangerous criminals, who pay taxes and pay fines for what they did. But until then, none of that is going to be possible. +p520 +aVWell, the legislation passed, but it has no support. In essence, it couldn't pass in the House, it will never pass in the United States until we secure the border, and it is not the way we're going to do when I'm president. When I'm president, we are going to enforce the law first, prove to people that illegal immigration is under control. And then we'll see what the American people are willing to support when it comes to people that are not criminals, who have been in the this country for a long time and who otherwise would like to stay. +p521 +aVLeadership is ultimately about solving the problem. And the approach that was tried and has been tried now repeatedly over ten years to do this comprehensively, all at once in a massive piece of legislation has no chance of passage. It is not leadership to continue to try something that has no chance of happening. I want to make progress on this issue. It has been discussed now for 30 years and nothing ever happens. And I am telling you that the only way forward on this issue that has any chance of happening, meaning gaining the support of the American people, you cannot do this without the support of the American people, is an approach that begins by proving that once and for all, illegal immigration is under control. +p522 +aVGood evening. +p523 +aVWell, I think conservatism is about three things and Donald touched on one of them, but it's about three things. The first is conservatism is about limited government, especially at the federal level. The federal government is a limited government, limited by the Constitution, which delineates its powers. If it's not in the Constitution, it does not belong to the federal government. It belongs to states, local communities and the private sector. It's about free enterprise, which is an economic model that allows everyone to rise without pulling anyone down. The reason why free enterprise is the greatest economic model in the history of the world is because it's the only economic model where you can make poor people richer without making rich people poor. And it's about a strong national defense. It's about believing, unlike Barack Obama, that the world is a safer and a better place when America is the strongest military and the strongest nation on this planet. That's conservatism. +p524 +aVNow, see, I was mentioned by Governor... +p525 +aVYeah. +p526 +aVOK, good, then I'll get to it . Here's the... +p527 +aVWell, no, sorry. Let me respond to that question. +p528 +aVWell, here's the response. I think anyone who believes that Barack Obama isn't doing what he's doing on purpose doesn't understand what we're dealing with here, OK? This is a president \u2014 this is a president who is trying to change this country. When he talked about change, he wasn't talking about dealing with our problems. Obamacare was not an accident. The undermining of the Second Amendment is not an accident. The gutting of our military is not an accident. The undermining of America on the global stage is not an accident. Barack Obama is, indeed, trying to redefine this country. We better understand what we're dealing with here, because that's what Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders want to double down on if they are elected. +p529 +aVNo. He talked about Barack Obama. +p530 +aVYeah. +p531 +aVI don't know of any problem in America that's going to be fixed with a tax increase. We have an economy today, an economy today that is not creating jobs that pay enough. And one of the reasons why is because we have one of the most expensive business tax rates on the planet. Our combined business rate puts us among the highest in the industrialized world. And then on top of that, we are the only one that has a worldwide system of taxation, where an American company who makes money abroad has to pay taxes where they made the money and then taxes a second time when they bring it back. The combination of these two things has stranded over $2 trillion, the equivalent of the size of the Russian economy, $2 trillion of American corporate money stranded overseas, combined with all of these inversions of companies leaving us. The solution to the problems we have today are not a tax increase. It is to lower our taxes on both people and on companies, so we can make America globally competitive again. +p532 +aVWell, first, we need to understand who they are. +p533 +aVBecause they currently occupy Sunni cities and villages. Sunni cities and villages can only truly be liberated and held by Sunnis themselves. If they are held by Shias it will trigger sectarian violence. The Kurds are incredible fighters and they will liberate the Kurdish areas, but Kurds can not and do not want to liberate and hold Sunni villages and towns. It will take Sunni fighters themselves in that region to take those villages and cities, and then to hold them and avoid the sort of sectarian violence that follows in the past. And why that is important is because if Sunnis are not able to govern themselves in these areas, you are going to have a successor group to +p534 +aVWell, the problem with the Sunni forces in the region is they don't trust this administration. This administration cut a deal with their mortal enemies, the Shia, in Iran. It poisoned the well with these countries. It makes it very difficult to cooperate with them as a result. They also, by the way, understand what real U.S. air power looks like. They saw the Iraq war. They saw, up close, also Afghanistan. They know what air power looks like when the United States is committed to the cause. And they see the airstrikes that are being conducted now, and they say to themselves, that's not real commitment. We know what real commitment looks like. The \u2014 the Jordanian king was in Washington three weeks ago. He told everyone who would listen that they have begged for permission from the coalition to target caravans. And the coalition \u2014 meaning U.S. leadership on the ground......would not allow them to proceed with those airstrikes. +p535 +aVWell, when people talk about interrogating terrorists, they're acting like this is some sort of law enforcement function. Law enforcement is about gathering evidence to take someone to trial, and convict them. Anti-terrorism is about finding out information to prevent a future attack so the same tactics do not apply. And, it is true, we should not be discussing in a wide spread way the exact tactics that we're going to use because that allows terrorist to know to practice how to evade us. But, here's the bigger problem with all this, we're not interrogating anybody right now. Guantanamo's being emptied by this president. We should be putting people into Guantanamo, not emptying it out, and we shouldn't be releasing these killers who are rejoining the battlefield against the United States. +p536 +aVI think it's already happening. Look at the turnout in Iowa. A historic number of people came out and voted in those caucuses. There are saying the same thing is going to happen here in New Hampshire. Look at the rallies that every single person on this stage is having. Much higher numbers than you used to see in the past and here is why. Because people are starting to understand, very clearly, that this election is going to be a turning point. That 2016 is not just a choice between Republican or Democrat. It is a referendum on our identity as a nation and as a people. So here is what Hillary Clinton needs to understand. We're going to have our primary, we're going to have our debates \u2014 which by the way, are twice as many as the Democrats have been willing to have themselves. But we're going to bring this party together and we are going to defeat Hillary Clinton, because she is unqualified to be the president of the United States of America. She put classified information on her computer because she thinks she's above the law and anyone who lies to the families of people who have lost their loved ones in the service of our country like she did in Benghazi, can never be the commander-in-chief of the United States of America. +p537 +aVI would. But that's not \u2014 the issue \u2014 my problem with what he did is he continues to put out this fiction that there's widespread systematic discrimination against Muslim Americans. First of all, let's recognize this. If you go to a national cemetery in this country, you will see stars of Davids and crosses, but you see crescent moons. There are brave men and women who happen to be Muslim Americans who are serving this country in uniform and who have died in the service of this country. And we recognize that and we honor that. But by the same token, we face a very significant threat of home grown violent extremism. We need to have strong, positive relationships in the Islamic communities in this country so they will identify and report this activity, especially mosques, for example, that are participating not just in hate speech, but inciting violence and taking acts against us. And I do believe it is important also to recognize, you want to talk about religious discrimination in America. Well, I don't think Barack Obama is being sued by any Islamic groups, but he is being sued by the Little Sisters of the Poor. We are facing in this country Christian groups and groups that hold traditional values who feel and in fact are being discriminated against by the laws of this country that try to force them to vie to violate their conscience. +p538 +aVFirst, let me say there are already women today serving in roles that are like combat. That, in fact, whose lives are in very serious danger, and so I have no problem whatsoever with people of either gender serving in combat so long as the minimum requirements necessary to do the job are not compromised. But, I support that, and obviously now that that is the case I do believe that Selective Service should be opened up for both men and women in case a Draft is ever instituted. I think the more fundamental challenge we're now facing is what's happening to the U.S. military \u2014 I've said this many times, and I think it's important to start paying attention to this. Our Air Force is about to be the smallest it's been in 100 years. I'm sorry, in our history. Our Army is set to be smaller than it's been since the second World War, and our Navy is about to be the smallest than it's been in 100 years. I think we need to begin to refocus on rebuilding our military because every time we have cut our military in the history of this country we have had to come back later and rebuild it, and it costs more, and it's a lot more chaotic and dangerous. When I'm president, we are rebuilding the U.S. military. +p539 +aVWell, my brother's a veteran. We're very proud of him in our family. He served as a green beret in the 7th Special Forces from 1968 through 1971. And as part of his training, he jumped out of an airplane and he lost his two front teeth. And for years, he's had to go to get these dental claims. And every times he goes to get one of these dental claims filled, the V.A. asks him, "well, how do we know you lost your teeth in the Army?" And he says, "well, it's the only time I ever jumped out of a plane." But he's had to fight through this process, and I've watched it firsthand. That's why I'm proud that I worked in a bipartisan way. We passed the V.A. Accountability bill that, for the first time, allows us to fire \u2014 allows the V.A. secretary to fire someone who's not doing a good job, who's a senior executive. And the governor's right. They've only fired three people up to now. More people will be fired if I'm president. But the portability part of it is incredibly important. Veterans should be able to take their V.A. benefits to any hospital or any doctor they want to go to. When I am president of the United States, veterans will be able to take their benefits to any hospital or doctor that they choose. +p540 +aVWell, first of all, I don't believe that believing in traditional marriage the way I do makes you a bigot or a hater. It means that you believe that this institution that's been around for millenial is an important cornerstone of society. I respect people that believe differently. But I believe deeply, that marriage should be between one man and one woman. On the issue of life, to me, the issue of life is not a political issue. It's a human rights issue and it's a difficult issue, because it puts in conflict two competing rights. On the one hand is the right of a woman to choose what to do with her body which is a real right. And on the other hand is the right of an unborn human child to live. And they're in conflict. And as a policy maker, I must choose which one of these two sides takes precedence. And I have chosen to err on the side of life. Here's what I find outrageous. There has been five Democratic debates. The media has not asked them a single question on abortion and on abortion, the Democrats are extremists. Why doesn't the media ask Hillary Clinton why she believes that all abortion should be legal, even on the due date of that unborn child. Why don't they ask Hillary Clinton why she believe that partial- birth abortion, which is a gruesome procedure that has been outlawed in this country, she thinks that's a fundamental right. They are the extremists......when it comes to the issue of abortion and I can't wait to expose them in a general election. HAM: Governor Bush? I want to come to you. Your allies have recently attacked Senator Rubio for being too pro-life to be elected in November. You made a similar charge stating it in an interview. This is a pro-life party. Do you stand behind that criticism? +p541 +aVI do support protection for the life of the mother because I'm pro-life. I just believe deeply that all human life is worthy of protection of our laws. If I'm president and there's a bill that's passed that saves lives but it has exceptions, I'll sign it. But I do believe deeply that all human life is worthy of the protection of laws. I've already said, for me, the issue of life is not a political issue and I want to be frank. I would rather lose an election than be wrong on the issue of life. HAM: Governor Christie. You too, have talked about Senator Rubio's position on the life issue. Some conservative activists have called this line of attack harmful to the pro-life cause. +p542 +aVWell, I was going for Peyton Manning, but now I'm rooting for Carolina. +p543 +aVThank you. You know, this week I had the great pleasure of having my kids join me on the campaign trail. I hadn't' seen them in a while, and it was great to have them alongside me, but the most important part of it is that it once again reminded me of what's at stake. Here in New Hampshire in less than 72 hours, we are literally deciding what kind of country we will be like when they are my age. What kind of country they will be able to raise their families in. And, that's why I'm asking you for your vote. You vote for me, and we will unite this party, we will grow the conservative movement, we will defeat Hillary Clinton, and we will leave our children what our parents left us. The single greatest nation in the history of all mankind. Thank you. +p544 +aVChris, let's begin by being clear what this campaign is about. It's not about Donald Trump. He's an entertaining guy. He's the greatest show on earth. This campaign is about the greatest country in the world and a president who has systematically destroyed many of the things that made America special. You see, we usually elect presidents in America that want to change the things that are wrong in America. Barack Obama wants to change America. Barack Obama wants America to be more like the rest of the world. We don't want to be like the rest of the world. We want to be the United States of America. That is why Hillary Clinton cannot win this election. Hillary Clinton this week said Barack Obama would make a great Supreme Court justice. The guy who systematically and habitually violates the constitution on the Supreme Court? I don't think so. If I'm our nominee, I will unite this party and we'll defeat Hillary Clinton and we will turn this country around once and for all, after seven years of the disaster that is Barack Obama. +p545 +aVI think, you know, Rand and I have some significant issues on policy, but I respect Rand. He believes everything he stands for. I do respect Rand. But I want to be frank about what I stand for. I believe the world is a safer and a better place when America is the strongest power in the world. And I believe only with a strong America will we defeat this radical group, this apocalyptic group called +p546 +aVWell, again, I mean, obviously, as already has been pointed out, the only budget that Ted has ever voted for is a budget that Rand Paul sponsored that brags about cutting defense spending. And I think that's a bad idea for the following reason. +p547 +aV... First of all \u2014 Let me go first, and then you can please recognize Rand after. First of all... +p548 +aV... do I go \u2014 let me go first, and then you can please recognize Rand after. But... ... first of all... +p549 +aV... first of all, I'm \u2014 don't worry, I'm not leaving the stage no matter what you ask me. +p550 +aVAnd second of all... ... and I think \u2014 you know, Governor \u2014 Jeb, you \u2014 the attack that \u2014 the authorization that Barack Obama asked for was not against +p551 +aVMegyn, that's the problem. Radical Muslims and radical Islam is not just hate talk. It's hate action. They blow people up. Look what they did in San Bernardino. Look at the attack they inspired in Philadelphia, that the White House still refuses to link to terror, where a guy basically shot a police officer three times. He told the police, "I did it because I was inspired by +p552 +aVMight I respond? The first thing \u2014 I don't know of anyone who's not in favor of fully vetting people that are trying to come into this country, other than perhaps Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. I think we all support that. Rand's amendment was not the right way to do it. I do believe that people who are trying to come to the United States \u2014 this country has a right to know who they are and why they are coming. And that's why I've been clear, when I am the president of the United States of America, we don't know who you are, and we don't know why you're trying to come to the United States, you are not going to get in, because the radical threat that we now face from +p553 +aVWell, Bret, first that's not entirely the story. At the time, the liberal governor of Florida, who claimed he was a Republican \u2014 his name was Charlie Crist \u2014 he wanted to impose cap-and-trade on Florida. And I opposed it. I was the first person out of the box that opposed him on it. And then we saw that the leading candidates for president at the time, both the Republican and the Democrats, all supported it. And what we said is, if they're going to impose this on us, we better prepare to protect the state from it. But I have never supported cap- and-trade and I never thought it was a good idea. And I was clear about that at the time. And I do not believe it's a good idea now. I do not believe that we have to destroy our economy in order to protect our environment. And especially what these programs are asking us to pass that will do nothing to help the environment, but will be devastating for our economy. When I am president of the United States of America, there will never be any cap-and-trade in the United States. +p554 +aVNever support. Never have and never will support any effort to grant blanket legalization amnesty to folks who have entered, or stayed in this country illegally. +p555 +aVFirst of all, earned path to citizenship is basically code for amnesty. It's what they call it. And, the reality of it is this, it is unfair to the people that have legally entered this country to create an alternative for individuals who entered illegally, and knowingly did so. +p556 +aVYou cannot grant amnesty. If the American people see us granting amnesty they will never again believe in legal immigration. They will never again support it, and that's wrong for our country, bad for our future. +p557 +aVNo, because if you look at the quote, and it's very specific. And, it says blanket amnesty, I do not support blanket amnesty... +p558 +aV... I do not support amnesty... +p559 +aV... No, I said I do not support blanket amnesty... +p560 +aV... It was... +p561 +aV... It absolutely has been, and at the time in the context of that was in 2009, and 2010, where the last effort for legalization was an effort done in the Senate. It was an effort led by several people that provided almost an instant path with very little obstacles moving forward. What I've always said is that this issue does need to be solved. They've been talking about this issue for 30 years, and nothing ever happens. And, I'm going to tell you exactly how we're going to deal with it when I am president. Number one, we're going to keep +p562 +aVMay I respond? +p563 +aVIt's interesting that Jeb mentions the book. That's the book where you changed your position on immigration because you used to support a path to citizenship. +p564 +aVWell, but you changed the \u2014 in the book... +p565 +aVYou wrote a book where you changed your position from a path of citizenship to a path of legalization. And the bottom line is this, we are not going to be able to do anything on this issue until we first bring illegal immigration under control. The American people have been told for 30 years they're going to enforce the border, they're going to build a wall and it never gets built and it never happens. It is very clear there will be no progress on this issue in any way, shape or form, until you prove to the people of this country that illegal immigration is under control. And when I'm president, we are going to bring it under control once and for all after 30 years of talking about it. +p566 +aVBut Megyn... +p567 +aVThere's not going to be consensus on this issue until we enforce our immigration laws. That is abundantly clear. You're not going to be able to ram down the throat of the American people your approach. The only way we're are going to be able to move forward after two migratory crises with minor, after two unconstitutional executive orders, the only way forward on this issue is to first bring illegal immigration under control. And until that happens there's not going to be consensus on this issue. +p568 +aVYeah, but let me respond... +p569 +aV... no, I understand, but let me respond. I was mentioned on this \u2014 in this answer, and so I'm going to respond this way. This is the lie that Ted's campaign is built on, and Rand touched upon it \u2014 that he's the most conservative guy, and everyone else is a \u2014 you know, everyone else is a rhino. The truth is, Ted, throughout this campaign, you've been willing to say or do anything in order to get votes. Ted, you worked for George W. Bush's campaign... You \u2014 you \u2014 you helped design George W. Bush's \u2014 you helped design George W. Bush's immigration policy. And then, when you got to the Senate, you did an interview with CBS News \u2014 I wasn't even part of the video \u2014 where you said, on the issue of people that are here illegally, "we can reach a compromise." And then in the committee, you said, "I want to bring people out of the shadows." Now you want to trump Trump on immigration. But you can't \u2014 we're not gonna beat Hillary Clinton with someone who's willing to say or do anything to win an election. +p570 +aVAnd I think that's the false choice... ... that's the \u2014 that's the false choice in this whole debate about immigration. Of course, we're going to be a nation of immigrants. By the way, no nation on earth is more generous than America is. Every single year close to a million people emigrate to the United States legally. There's no nation on earth that comes close to that number. I think the only argument is are we a sovereign country, are we not allowed to choose who comes in, when they come in and how they come in? And that's not what's happening now. +p571 +aVI think the other problem is we have a legal immigration system that's outdated, it's primarily based on whether you have family members living here. In the 21st century, it has to be more of a merit-based system, and that is why our legal immigration system is in need of modernization. And we will always celebrate legal immigration like Dulce's great story. +p572 +aVWell, I believe, and I know that if Iowa helps make me the Republican nominee, I will defeat Hillary Clinton. Hillary doesn't want to run against me, but I cannot wait to run against her. And I cannot wait to earn the opportunity to do it because she cannot be the president of the United States. She wants to put Barack Obama on the Supreme Court of the United States of America. She said that here in Iowa just two days ago. That would be a disaster for this country. So I hope and pray and cannot wait until this state and others give me an opportunity to serve this party as its nominee because I will defeat Hillary Clinton. +p573 +aVWell, let me be clear about one thing, there's only one savior and it's not me. It's Jesus Christ who came down to earth and died for our sins. And so \u2014 and I've always made that clear about that cover story. As far as the polls are concerned, Iowa, on Monday night you're going to go to a caucus site and you'll be the first Americans that vote in this election. You will be the first Americans that get to answer the fundamental question, what comes next for this country after seven disastrous years of Barack Obama? And let me tell you what the answer better not be. It better not be Bernie Sanders. Bernie Sanders is a socialist. I think Bernie Sanders is good candidate for president of Sweden. We don't want to be Sweden. We want to be the United States of America. And Hillary Clinton, Hillary Clinton is disqualified from being the commander-in-chief of the United States. In fact, one of her first acts as president may very well be to pardon herself because Hillary Clinton... Hillary Clinton stored classified information on her private server. And Hillary Clinton lied to the families of those four brave Americans who lost their life in Benghazi. And anyone who lies to the families of Americans who have died in the service of this country can never be commander-in-chief of the United States. +p574 +aVYeah, I would encourage people to go on my website, marcorubio.com, and we'll put all the facts up there so people can see it for themselves. But you've just asked a very fundamental question about the role of faith in our country. And I think this is an important question. I think if you do not understand that our Judeo-Christian values are one of the reasons why America is such a special country, you don't understand our history. You see, why are we one of the most generous people in the world \u2014 no, the most generous people in the world? Why do Americans contribute millions of dollars to charity? It is not because of the tax writeoff. It is because in this nation, we are influenced by Judeo-Christian values that teach us to care for the less fortunate, to reach out to the needy, to love our neighbor. This is what's made our nation so special. And you should hope that our next president is someone that is influence by their faith. Because if your faith causes you to care for the less fortunate, it is something you want to see in your public figures. And when I'm president, I can tell you this, my faith will not just influence the way I'll govern as president, it will influence the way I live my life. Because in the end, my goal is not simply to live on this earth for 80 years, but to live an eternity with my creator. And I will always allow my faith to influence everything I do. +p575 +aVWell, let me first describe Iran because they're not just a normal nation state. And we have no quarrel with the Iranian people. But the Iranian leader, their supreme leader is a radical Shia cleric who has an apocalyptic vision of the future. He views himself not simply as the leader of Iran, but as the leader of all Muslims \u2014 all Shia Muslims on the planet. And they have a desire not simply to conquer the Middle East and to become the dominant power in that region, but ultimately to be able to hold America hostage. That is why they're building an \u2014 right now, developing long- range missiles capable of reaching the United States, and that is why there's going \u2014 they're going to use those $100 billion to expand their conventional capabilities and to one day buy or build a nuclear weapon. We will \u2014 when I am president of the United States, on my first day in office, we are canceling the deal with Iran, and nations will have to make a choice. They can do business with Iran, or they can do business with America, and I am very confident they're going to choose America before they choose the Iranian economy. +p576 +aVThe bible commands us to let our light shine on the world. For over 200 years, America's light has been shining on the world and the world has never been the same again. But now, that light is dimming a little, after seven years of Barack Obama. And that's why Monday night, what will happen here in Iowa is so important. I'm asking you for your vote. Caucus for me on Monday night because if I am your nominee, I will unite this party and I will defeat Hillary Clinton and when I'm president, America's light will shine again and the 21 century will be a new American century. +p577 +asVKASICH +p578 +(lp579 +VThank you, Wolf. Just last weekend, just last week, a friend asked one of my daughters, "Do you like politics?" And my daughter said, "No, I don't. And the reason I don't like it is because there's too much fighting, too much yelling. It's so loud, I don't like it." You know, I turned to my friend and I said, "You know, she's really on to something." And when we think about our country and the big issues that we face in this country; creating jobs, making sure people can keep their jobs, the need for rising wages, whether our children when they graduate from college can find a job, protecting the homeland, destroying +p580 +aVWell, first of all, Wolf, I said last February that we needed to have people on the ground, troops on the ground in a coalition similar to what we had in the first Gulf War. I remember when the Egyptian ambassador to the United States stood in the Rose Garden and pledged Arab commitment to removing Saddam Hussein from Kuwait. Before we came out here tonight, I am told that the Saudis have organized 34 countries who want to join in the battle against terrorism. First and foremost, we need to go and destroy +p581 +aVNo, I don't think it is. And I want to go back to two other issues. One is the metadata. We know we have to hold this data for a longer period of time. And, you know, in a lot of ways, Chris is right. Look, what a president has to do is take a position. We don't want to err on the side of having less. We want to err on the side of having more. That's good for our families. In addition to that, Wolf, there is a big problem. It's called encryption. And the people in San Bernardino were communicating with people who the FBI had been watching. But because their phone was encrypted, because the intelligence officials could not see who they were talking to, it was lost. We have to solve the encryption problem. It is not easy. A president of the United States, again, has to bring people together, have a position. We need to be able to penetrate these people when they are involved in these plots and these plans. And we have to give the local authorities the ability to penetrate to disrupt. That's what we need to do. Encryption is a major problem, and Congress has got to deal with this and so does the president to keep us safe. +p582 +aVYeah, let me \u2014 let me just suggest to everybody, and I hear \u2014 last February, I said we needed to have people on the ground in a coalition with Europe and our allies. This is not going to get done just by working with the Sunnis. And it is not going to get done if we just embed a few people. We have to go massively, like we did in the first Gulf War where we destroyed Saddam's ability to take Kuwait. We need to have a coalition that will stand for nothing less than the total destruction of +p583 +aVI don't understand this thing about Assad. He has to go. Assad is aligned with Iran and Russia. The one thing we want to prevent is we want to prevent Iran being able to extend a Shia crescent all across the Middle East. Assad has got to go. And there are moderates there. There are moderates in Syria who we should be supporting. I do not support a civil war. I don't want to be policeman of the world. But we can't back off of this. And let me tell you, at the end, the Saudis have agreed to put together a coalition inside of Syria to stabilize that country. +p584 +aVHe must go. It will be a blow to Iran and Russia. +p585 +aVThe foreign policy, you have to know how to pick and choose. There's no way, if Saddam had not had weapons of mass destruction, I would have gone, because I don't believe that the U.S. should be involved directly in civil wars. I opposed the U.S. involvement in Lebanon. We ended up having to withdraw our marines after our barracks were blown up. There is a difference between Iraq, where you have Sunni, Shia, and Kurds put together after the First World War by the Western powers. It doesn't work. It needs to break up into three parts. And for the Russians, frankly, it's time that we punched the Russians in the nose. They've gotten away with too much in this world and we need to stand up against them, not just there, but also in Eastern Europe where they threaten some of our most precious allies. +p586 +aVIt sounds more and more what my daughter said that I said in the beginning, all the fighting and arguing is not advancing us. +p587 +aVIt is not the way we're going to strengthen our country. We will strengthen our country when we come together. And, look, you've got Rand Paul, you've got Ted Cruz, you've got Marco, you've got a lot of people on this stage that have studied these issues. You know what a leader does? A leader has a sound program, has a good policy, and then brings people together to solve problems. Guess what? Both in Congress in balancing the budget and in Ohio fixing the economy \u2014 and, by the way, we talk about the fence. The first thing we better get going is strengthening our economy, because if we don't have a strong economy, we can't pay for all of this. And the world wants us to be able to function from strength, believe it or not. Get our economy going, get these people together in a room. We can fix this, ladies and gentlemen. We don't have to fight all the time. It can be done, and we will be great... +p588 +aV... when we join together. Thank you, Hugh. +p589 +aVYou know, obviously, as president of the United States, we've got to keep the people safe. That's first and foremost. But as governor of Ohio, I have an obligation to keep the 11.5 million people in Ohio safe. And we have been very effective with our Joint Terrorism Task Force, being able to make busts. In fact, we just made one three-four weeks ago against a person who was favorable to +p590 +aVNo Republican has ever been elected president of the United States without winning Ohio. Let me give you a little tip on how you win Ohio, it's reform, it's hope, it's growth, it's opportunity, and it's security. The people of Ohio are the people of America. The people of America are reflected in Ohio. Our message has to be big, and bold, and positive, and connect, not just with people's heads but also connect with their hearts. If we do it, we will beat Hillary Clinton, and we will run the White House, and we will strengthen and fix America, I promise you. +p591 +aVFirst of all, let me just say that, in the state of Ohio \u2014 and I'm the only acting executive on \u2014 on this stage today \u2014 we do have a moderate increase in the minimum wage. And I got to tell you, my father carried mail on his back. His father was a coal miner. He died of black lung. He was losing his eyesight. My mother's mother lived with us. She could barely speak English. I come from a town where if the wind blew the wrong way, people found themselves out of work. An economic theory is fine, but you know what? People need help. Now, I have a plan that, in fact, would cut taxes, but not $11 trillion or $12 trillion that would put my children further in debt. I have a plan that would not only cut taxes, lower the income tax rate for individuals, lower the tax for businesses so businesses will compete here and not move operations overseas, and also a plan \u2014 the only plan of anybody standing on this stage to get us to a balanced budget by the end of a second term. And, you know, the simple fact of the matter is, we hear a lot of promises in this debate, a lot of promises about these tax cuts or tax schemes sometimes that I call them. Hillary and the Democrats promise everything on the spending side. We've got to be responsible about what we propose on the tax side. Yes, lower taxes, lower spending. My website, JohnKasich.com, will show you exactly how we balance the budget. I balanced the budget in Washington as a chief architect, and I have balanced it in Ohio for one reason. When you balance the budget and you cut taxes, people get work. And our most important moral purpose as leaders in the political system is to make sure we create an environment for job creation so people can live their dreams and realize their God-given potential. That's why it's so important. And for those at the bottom, we've got to do what we can to train them so they can move up. But to just look the other way is not acceptable, because, you know what, as the governor of Ohio I have to deal with real challenges, and we've gotten it done in our state, and I will do it for America. +p592 +aVSure. We would move the Medicare system from a 7 percent growth down to about a 5 percent growth. And I have a whole series of ways to do that. In Ohio, we reduced Medicaid funding for the poor from 10 percent to 2.5 percent, didn't cut one benefit or didn't take anybody off the rolls. Why? Because we're innovators. I've been an innovator my entire career. And I really don't care what special interests or lobbyists have to say. I have a job to do when I take over a public office. Now, we freeze non-defense discretionary for eight years. We also put an increase in defense spending. Our tax cuts balance out. And at the end of the day, we will get to a balanced budget. And I want everybody here to know, when I was Budget Committee chairman in Washington, I stepped on every toe in that town, and we got to a balanced budget, and we had enormous job growth. And as governor of Ohio, we went from 350,000 lost jobs to a gain of 347,000 jobs. +p593 +aVI'll do it in Washington. I've done it twice; I'll do it thrice for the United States of America. +p594 +aVExcuse me. +p595 +aVYeah, I would like to make a comment. +p596 +aVI appreciate it, Jeb. I'm all of you. But I want at some point to talk about a value-added tax and $11 trillion, $12 trillion tax cuts that will put our kids way deeper in the hole than they have been at this point. So I would like to talk about it at some point, because that's what leadership is. +p597 +aVMaria, can we comment on that? +p598 +aVCan we comment on that? +p599 +aVWell, look, in 1986 Ronald Reagan basically said the people who were here, if they were law-abiding, could stay. But, what didn't happen is we didn't build the walls effectively and we didn't control the border. We need to. We need to control our border just like people have to control who goes in and out of their house. But if people think that we are going to ship 11 million people who are law-abiding, who are in this country, and somehow pick them up at their house and ship them out of Mexico \u2014 to Mexico, think about the families. Think about the children. So, you know what the answer really is? If they have been law- abiding, they pay a penalty. They get to stay. We protect the wall. Anybody else comes over, they go back. But for the 11 million people, come on, folks. We all know you can't pick them up and ship them across, back across the border. It's a silly argument. It is not an adult argument. It makes no sense. +p600 +aVJerry, Gerald, it was an attack. +p601 +aVIn the state of Ohio, the state of Ohio, we have grown 347,000 jobs. Our unemployment is half of what it was. Our fracking industry, energy industry may have contributed 20,000, but if Mr. Trump understood that the real jobs come in the downstream, not in the upstream, but in the downstream. And that's where we're going to get our jobs. But Ohio is diversified. And little false little things, sir, they don't really work when it comes to the truth. So the fact is, all I'm suggesting, we can't ship 11 million people out of this country. Children would be terrified, and it will not work. +p602 +aV...Mr. Baker, everybody got to talk about taxes... +p603 +aV...I think you were coming to me and then... +p604 +aV...Look, I hate to crash the party to you, Mr. Baker, but, you know, what's fair... +p605 +aV...Yes, sir... +p606 +aVLet me tell you this, Mr. Baker, in terms of the cyber attacks, we have the capability to not only have a defensive posture, but it also to make it clear to people that if you attack us with cyber attacks, we will destroy the mechanisms that you are using to attack us. I want to give you a little trip around the world. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years. In the Ukraine, arm the people there so they can fight for themselves. In the eastern part of Europe, make sure that Finland and the Baltics know that if the Russians move, we move. In Syria, yes, a no-fly zone in the north on the Turkish border, a no-fly zone on the south on the Jordanian border. Anybody flies in the first time, maybe they can fly out. They fly in there a second time, they will not fly out. And it also becomes a sanctuary for the people to be. And it also sends many messages in the Middle East that we're still involved. Saudi Arabia, cut off the funding for the radical clerics, the ones that preach against us. But they're fundamentally our friends. Jordan, we want the king to reign for 1,000 years. Egypt, they have been our ally and a moderating force in the Middle East throughout their history. In the groups \u2014 in the countries of the Gulf states of Bahrain, the Cleveland Clinic is opening an operation. Clearly we see the same with them. And in Israel, we have no better ally in the world, and no more criticizing them in public, we should support them. And finally China, China doesn't own the South China Sea, and I give the president some credit for being able to move a naval force in there to let the Chinese know that we're not going to put up with it any more. And in the trade agreement, the TPP, it's critical to us, not only for economic reasons and for jobs, because there are so many people who are connected to getting jobs because of trade, but it allows us to create not only economy alliances, but also potentially strategic alliances against the Chinese. They are not our enemy, but they are certainly not our friend. And finally, I will say to everyone in this room, we have been talking about taxes and economics. When the fall comes, and we run against Hillary, which will be a disaster if she got elected. I have two 16-year-old girls, and I want this country to be strong. We make promises we can't keep under the bright light of the fall, we will have trouble. We must make sure that economic programs and our military programs are solid. I served in Washington as the chairman of the Budget Committee, and we got the budget balanced. And in Ohio, as the CEO, and guess what, we have got to have a CEO mentality and a way to beat Hillary Clinton and the Democracies in the fall. And our ideas have to add up. They have to be solid. And people have to know we have the confidence to lead America. And as president, I will lead this country, as I have before in Washington and in Ohio, and will return both on domestic and international affairs. And I appreciate the opportunity to speak this time, Gerry. +p607 +aVLet me \u2014 let me also say, Gary \u2014 Gary, let me also say, Jeb is \u2014 what Jeb is talking about with the big banks is to force them to reserve their capital, people who invest it and they hold their capital, so that if the bank goes down, the people who are invested in the bank are the ones that pay. That's what he's trying to say. Secondly, I'll tell you about Wall Street: There's too much greed. And the fact is, a free enterprise system is a system that's produced the greatest wealth for the world. But you know Michael Novak, the great Catholic theologian, says that a free enterprise system that is not underlaid with values \u2014 and we should all think about the way we conduct our lives \u2014 yes, free enterprise is great, profits are great, but there have to be some values that underlay it, and they need a good ethics lesson on Wall Street on a regular basis to keep them in check so we, the people, do not lose. +p608 +aVNeil, that's the difference of being an executive. And let me just explain: when a bank is ready to go under and depositors are getting ready to lose their life savings, you just don't say we believe in philosophical concerns. You know what an executive has to decide? When there's a water crisis, how do we get water to the city? When there's a school shooting, how do you get there and help heal a community? When there are financial crisis, or a crisis with ebola, you got to go there and try to fix it. Philosophy doesn't work when you run something. And I gotta tell you, on-the-job training for president of the United States doesn't work. We've done it for 8 years, \u2014 and almost 8 years now. It does not work. We need an executive who's been tried, has been tested, and judge the decisions that that executive makes. I don't like what the Fed is doing, but I'll tell you what worries me more than anything else: turning the Fed over to the Congress of the United States... +p609 +aV...so they can print the money. That would be a very bad approach. +p610 +aVI wouldn't. I wouldn't. +p611 +aVNo. No, I didn't say that. +p612 +aVThey were \u2014 they were talking about what you would do with depositors. Would you let these banks shut down? My argument is, going forward, the banks have to reserve the capital, so that the \u2014 so that the people who own the capital start pressuring the banks to not take these risky approaches, Ted. But at the end of the day... +p613 +aV... I'm gonna tell you this. Let me tell you this. If during \u2014 if during... +p614 +aV...because if during \u2014 well, I'll tell you what (ph). +p615 +aVAs an executive \u2014 no. As an executive, I would figure out how to separate those people who can afford it versus those people, or the hard-working folks who put those money in those institutions...... let me \u2014 no, no. Let me say another thing. Here's what I mean by that. Here's what I mean by that. +p616 +aVWhen you are faced \u2014 when you are faced, in the last financial crisis, with banks going under \u2014 with banks going under, and people, people who put their \u2014 their life savings in there, you got to deal with it. You can't turn a blind eye to it. Now, going forward, that's one thing. If you had another financial crisis, perhaps there would be an effort to make sure that we do (ph). +p617 +aVWell, ladies and gentlemen, if Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders were to win this election, my 16-year-olds, I \u2014 I worry about what their life is going to be like. You know, the conservative movement is all about opportunity. It is about lower taxes. It's about balanced budgets. It's about less regulation. And it's about sending power, money and influence back to where we live so we can run America from the bottom up. In addition to that, once we have the power and the money and the influence with programs we shift out, that each of us have a responsibility to reach out and to rebuild our families, make them stronger, and connect our neighborhoods. All that together \u2014 wealth, connection, family \u2014 America's greatest days are ahead. We must win this election. +p618 +aVGood question, but I want to tell you, my great concern is that we are on the verge, perhaps, of picking someone who cannot do this job. I've watched to see people say that we should dismantle Medicare and Medicaid and leave the senior citizens out \u2014 out in the \u2014 in the cold. I've heard them talk about deporting 10 or 11 \u2014 people here from this country out of this country, splitting families. I've heard about tax schemes that don't add up, that put our kids in \u2014 in a deeper hole than they are today. We need somebody who can lead. We need somebody who can balance budgets, cut taxes... +p619 +aVYou know, frankly, I did it in Washington, in Ohio, and I will do it again in Washington, if I'm president, to get this country moving again. +p620 +aVcountry moving again. +p621 +aVListen, I want to just comment. +p622 +aVWell I want to comment on this. This is the fantasy... +p623 +aVThis is the fantasy that I talked about in the beginning. +p624 +aVI'm the only person on this stage that actually was involved in the chief architect of balancing the Federal Budget. You can't do it with empty promised. You know, these plans would put us trillions and trillions of dollars in debt. I actually have a plan. I'm the only one on this stage that has a plan that would create jobs, cut taxes, balance the budget and can get it done because I'm realistic. You just don't make promises like this. Why don't we just give a chicken in every pot, while we're, you know, coming up \u2014 coming up with these fantasy tax schemes. We'll just clean it up. Where are you gonna clean it up? You have to deal with entitlements, you have to be in a position to control discretionary spending. You gotta be creative and imaginative. Now, let me just be clear, John. I went into Ohio where we had an $8 billion hole and now we have a $2 billion surplus. We're up 347,000 jobs. When I was in Washington, I fought to get the budget balanced. I was the architect. It was the first time we did it since man walked on the moon. We cut taxes and we had a $5 trillion projected surplus when I left. That's was hard work. Fiscal discipline, know what you're doing. Creativity. This stuff is fantasy. Just like getting rid of Medicare and Medicaid. Come on, that's just not \u2014 you scare senior citizens with that. It's not responsible. +p625 +aVWell, I mean right here. To talk about we're just gonna have a 10 percent tithe and that's how we're gonna fund the government? And we're going to just fix everything with waste, fraud, and abuse? Or that we're just going to be great? Or we're going to ship 10 million Americans \u2014 or 10 million people out of this country, leaving their children here in this country and dividing families? Folks, we've got to wake up. We cannot elect somebody that doesn't know how to do the job. You have got to pick somebody who has experience, somebody that has the know-how, the discipline. And I spent my entire lifetime balancing federal budgets, growing jobs, the same in Ohio. And I will go back to Washington with my plan. +p626 +aVAnd I will have done it within 100 days, and it will pass. And we will be strong again. Thank you. +p627 +aVLet me just \u2014 let me respond. First of all, Ohio does have an energy industry, but we're diversified. We're one of the fastest growing states in the country. We came back from the dead. And you know what? It works very, very well. And secondly, when you talk about me being on the board of Lehman Brothers, I wasn't on the board of Lehman Brothers. I was a banker and I was proud of it. And I traveled the country and learned how people made jobs. We ought to have politicians who not only have government experience but know how the CEOs and the job creators work. My state is doing great across the board. And guess what, in 2011, I got a deal... +p628 +aV... an agreement with the... +p629 +aV... that he tried to take credit for four years later. It's a joke. +p630 +aVJohn Harwood, there's a bigger issue here. +p631 +aVWell, first of all, when we talk about the Import Export Bank, it's time to clean up corporate welfare. If we're gonna reform welfare for poor people, we ought to reform it for rich people, as well. Secondly, in our state, we went from a loss of 350,000 jobs to, now, a gain of 347,000 jobs to the positive. Our wages are growing faster than the national average, and I've cut taxes more than any sitting governor in this state \u2014 $5 billion, including no taxes on small business and killing the death tax. I want to go back to what we were talking about earlier, this budget deal in Washington. This is the same old stuff since I left. You spend the money today and then you hope you're going to save money tomorrow. I don't know if people understand, but I spent a lifetime with my colleagues getting us to a federal balanced budget. We actually did it. And I have a road map and a plan right now to get us to balance. Reforming entitlements, cutting taxes. You see, because if you really want to get to a balanced budget, you need to reduce your expenses and you need to grow your economy. So what I will tell you about our incentives \u2014 our incentives are tight, and at the end of the day we make sure that we gain more from the creation of jobs than what we lose. And you know what? Ohio, one of the best growing places in the country \u2014 I not only did it in Washington, I did it in Ohio, and I'll go back to Washington, and there will be no more silly deals... +p632 +aV... If I become President because we'll have a Constitutional Amendment to require a federally balanced budget so they will do their job. +p633 +aVWell, first of all, we're running a $2 billion dollar surplus, we're not having a revenue problem right now. And, sending mixed signals to kids about drugs is a disaster. Drugs is one of the greatest scourge in this country, and I spent five years of my administration working with my team to do a whole sort of things to try to reign in the problem of overdoses, and it goes on and on. We could do a whole show on that. I want to go back for a second thought on this issue of income inequality. My program would move the 104 programs of the federal Department of Education into four block grants, and send them back to the states because income inequality is driven by a lack of skills when kids don't get what they need to be able to compete and win in this country. The fact is, in order to get this economy moving again, I call for freezing regulations for a year except for the problem of public safety. I believe that we need to cut these taxes down, we need to be on a roadmap to balancing the budget, and we need to send power, money, and influence, the welfare department, the education department, job training, infrastructure, Medicaid, all of that out of Washington back to the states so we can run these programs from where we live to the top, not a one size fits all mentality that they have in Washington. And, that will get to the nub of opportunity for our children, and an ability to see wages rise. Again... +p634 +aV...One more time, in Ohio, our wages are growing faster than the national average. We've cut taxes, balanced budgets, changed the regulatory environment. Folks, you want to \u2014 +p635 +aV\u2014 fix America, this is the formula. It worked for Reagan and it works for our team in Ohio. Thank you. +p636 +aVJohn. +p637 +aVI wanna tell you, in my state, we took Medicaid, the hardest program to control, and we took it from a 10 percent growth rate to 2.5 percent without taking one person off the rolls or cutting one single benefit. And so much of what we did \u2014 to force competition, to use technology, to stand down the special interest groups \u2014 can you imagine taking Medicaid from 10 to 2.5 percent? We can take many of those same procedures, we can apply it to Medicare. We can make a stronger program. But I agree with Jeb, you can't just do this by growing the economy. You can't grow your way out of demographics. But we can give people better health care. And finally, on health care, why don't we start treating \u2014 keep giving... +p638 +aV...incentives for people to keep people healthy, rather than giving the incentives to treat them when they're sick? +p639 +aVI was on morning Joe at a town hall and a young student stood up and said, "Can I still be idealistic?" I said, absolutely, you can still change the world. And, you know the old inscription, if you save one life, you've changed the world. Folks, we have a problem here with the leadership in Washington, but I'll tell you another problem. We need to rebuild our families. We need to have stronger families. We need to know who our neighbors are. We need to come together as a country because we have to realize that America is great, not from the top-down. Oh yeah, we want to elect a good president, but America is great from the bottom-up, and the bottom-up is us in our families, in our communities, in our neighborhoods. We will renew America if we work together, and I am totally confident that we will. And God bless America. +p640 +aVHello, I'm John Kasich, the Governor of Ohio. Emma, and Reese, my children, and Karen, love 'ya girls. Thanks for watching tonight. By the way, I think I actually flew on this plane with Ronald Reagan when I was a congressman, and his goals, and mine, really much \u2014 are pretty much the same. Lift Americans, unify, give hope, grow America, and restore it is to that great, shining city on a hill. Yes, he was a great one, and I learned much from watching him. The most important thing, hope to Americans, unify, lift everyone in America. +p641 +aVJake, Jake. +p642 +aVListen, you know, I \u2014 if I were sitting at home and watch thing back and forth, I would be inclined to turn it off. I mean, people at home want to know across this country, they want to know what we're going to do to fix this place, how we'll balance a budget, how we're going to create more economic growth, how we'll pay down the debt. What we're going to do to strengthen the military. So, we just spent 10 minutes here... +p643 +aVBut \u2014 but wait a minute. It's a lot of ad hogshead. Now, I know that it may be buzzing out there, but I think it's important we get to the issues, because that's what people want, and they don't want all this fighting. +p644 +aV...Yeah, well... +p645 +aVWell, let me just say this. First of all, I think it's a bad agreement, I would never have done it. But, you know, a lot of our problems in the world today is that we don't have the relationship with our allies. If we want to go everywhere alone, we will not have the strength as (ph) if we could rebuild with our allies. Now, this agreement, we don't know what's going to happen in 18 months. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years. I've seen lots of issues in foreign affairs, and foreign \u2014 in terms of global politics, you have to be steady. Now, here's the \u2014 if they cheat, we slap the sanctions back on. If they help Hamas, and Hezbollah, we slap the sanctions back on. And, if we find out that they may be developing a nuclear weapon, than the military option is on the table. We are stronger when we work with the Western civilization, our friends in Europe, and just doing it on our own I don't think is the right policy. +p646 +aVNo, no, no. I want to \u2014 I want to \u2014 I want to say something about what the senator just said. +p647 +aVNo one is \u2014 no \u2014 let me \u2014 let me suggest to you we believe that we operate better in the world when our allies work with us. President Bush did it in the Gulf War. We work better when we are unified. Secondly, nobody's trusting Iran. They violate the deal, we put on the sanctions, and we have the high moral ground to talk to our allies in Europe to get them to go with us. If they don't go with us, we slap the sanctions on anyway. If they fund these radical groups that threaten Israel and all of the West, then we should rip up the deal and put the sanctions back on. And let me make it clear \u2014 let me make it clear... +p648 +aV... if we think \u2014 if we think they're getting close to a \u2014 to developing a nuclear weapon and we get that information, you better believe that I would do everything in my power as the commander-in-chief to stop them having a nuclear weapon. +p649 +aVWe can have it, and we can have our allies, and we can be strong as a country, and we can project across this globe with unity, not just doing it alone. That is not what gets us where we want to get as a nation. +p650 +aVWell, I agree that we should defund Planned Parenthood. I don't know many people in America who don't think that we should, and in my state, we're trying to figure out how to get it done, because we are threatened with the federal government taking all of our Medicaid money away. I think there is a way to get this done by giving governors the ability to be able to act to defund Planned Parenthood. But when (ph) it comes to closing down the federal government, you gotta be very careful about that. When we shut the government down \u2014 if we have a chance at success and it's a great principle, yes. The president of the United States is not going to sign this, and all we're gonna do is shut the government down, and then we're gonna open up \u2014 open it up, and the American people are gonna shake their heads and say, "what's the story with these Republicans?" So I think there is a way to get to cutting off the funding for Planned Parenthood. I was in the Congress for 18 years, balanced the budget, cut taxes, got it done. Changed welfare, went around the president to get welfare reform done. There are ways to do it without having to shut the government down, but I'm sympathetic to the fact that we don't want this organization to get funding, and the money ought to be reprogrammed for family planning in other organizations that don't support this tactic. But I would not be for shutting the government down... +p651 +aV...because I don't think it's going to work out. +p652 +aVWe're not \u2014 what I can tell you is this. We didn't surrender in New Jersey, six years ago, as the brand new first ever pro-life governor of New Jersey since Roe versus Wade, I defended Planned Parenthood. And I've vetoed Planned Parenthood funding, now, eight times in New Jersey. Since the day I walked in as governor, Planned Parenthood has not been funded in New Jersey. We stood up and every one of those vetoes has been sustained. But here's the problem, we're \u2014 we're fighting with each other up here. We agree. Let's ask Hillary Clinton. She believes in the systematic murder of children in the womb to preserve their body parts... +p653 +aV...Dana, in a way that maximizes their value for sale for profit. It is disgusting, and the American people need to hear it... +p654 +aV...we shouldn't be fighting with each other. She's the real opponent, she's the real problem. +p655 +aVI'll tell you what \u2014 I'll tell you what I'd be willing to fight for. I'll tell you what I'd be willing to fight for. Why will (ph) we put tax reform on the president's desk, so we can simplify this tax system? +p656 +aVNo, no, it's really important, Dana. We got to talk about what we would be willing to shut down for. Why don't we put tax reform on this president's desk, and make him veto it if that's what he wants to do? Why haven't we repealed and replaced Obamacare? Make him veto if that's what he wants to do. +p657 +aVThere's a \u2014 +p658 +aVJake \u2014 +p659 +aVOK, Jake. +p660 +aVI don't at this point in terms of changing the incentives for investment and risk-taking. But let's just stop for a second. There's one person on this stage that does have a record. I'm the only person on the stage and one of the few people in this country that led the effort as the chief architect of the last time we balanced the federal budget. We also cut taxes. And when I left Washington in 2000, we had a $5 trillion surplus, and the economy was booming. I had spent 10 years of my life to get us to that point, went out in the private sector, was a great experience, and went into Ohio and took an $8 billion hole and turned it into a $2 billion surplus. We've had the largest amount of tax cuts of any sitting governor. We've grown well over 300,000 jobs. You see, I've done it in both places. I'm the only one here that has done it in both places. It took a lot to get us to a balanced budget. It was legitimate. It was real. And we negotiated it. A lot of what we're talking about here tonight as we take this position and that position, you know what? At the end of the day, America has got to work. We've got to figure out how we come together to deal with this \u2014 with our fiscal problems because when we deal with that, we create a stronger economy for everybody. People have a chance to rise. So, you know, when we think about how we make a choice, it's the person that lands that plane. It's not somebody that talks about it. It's about the person who has done it. And I've done it in... +p661 +aV... both places. And I did it including people in the other party. And that's how we were successful. +p662 +aVAnd that's how I will be president, using that experience to drive this country forward. Thank you. +p663 +aVWell, look, people still have to get to know me, so I want to spend my time talking about my experience reforming welfare, balancing budgets, cutting taxes, providing economic growth when I was in Washington, turning Ohio around. Eight billion in the hole, $2 billion surplus, up over 300,000 jobs, big tax cuts, strengthening our credit. All those things matter but, you know, as a young man in my first election in 1978, I defeated an incumbent Democrat. I defeated an incumbent Democrat in 1982; running on the Reagan program, I was the only Republican in America to defeat an incumbent Democrat that year. And then, when I won for election of governor, I was the first Republican to defeat an incumbent in 36 years, and the first person to have never run statewide out of politics for 10 years to beat an incumbent. That hadn't happened for 96 years. So, we'll get to the point where we'll talk about Hillary Clinton, or whoever the nominee is, record. But right now, I want to give people sense of hope, sense of purpose, a sense of unity, sense that we can do it. So... +p664 +aVYou know, at the end of the day, I'm going to continue to talk about my record, because there is, did you ever notice when people run for office, they run for president, they make a lot of promises, they don't keep them. +p665 +aVI don't intend to do that, and I going to be out there pushing it out \u2014 don't worry about me and Hillary. That will all work out, and I'm from Ohio. She will not beat me there, I can promise you that. +p666 +aVCan I just \u2014 can I \u2014 Jake, can I just make one point on this whole military discussion? +p667 +aVI called for boots on the ground many months ago in a coalition with our friends who share our interest. You know, you win a battle with the military, and when we go somewhere, we need to be mobile, and lethal. We need to take care of business, and we need to come home. But, we face, also, a bigger war \u2014 and you win the bigger war with the battle of ideas. You wonder why young people, and educated people, rich people, schooled people, have tried to join +p668 +aV...to make (ph) centers (ph) of justice so that we can battle the radicals, call them out for what they are, and make sure that all of our people feel fulfilled in living in Western civilization... +p669 +aV...This is a giant battle in the world today... +p670 +aVWell, it's probably not, maybe, legal, but, I would pick Mother Theresa, the lady that I had a chance to meet, a woman who lived a life so much bigger than her own. An inspiration to everyone when we think about our responsibility to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. +p671 +aVWell, I have one now \u2014 they (ph) call me, "Unit One". My wife says, "You'll never be Unite One, I'm Unite One. You're Unit Two." +p672 +aVWell, as president, I will make this a nation that will solve problems. And how? By having the elected officials and the leaders realize they're Americans before they're Republicans or Democrats. I did it in Washington. And I've done it in Ohio by having the elected officials realize that they're Ohioans before anything else. Secondly, I will rebuild the relationships and show the respect to our allies around the world. We have no choice but to do that. We will be stronger when we are unified. And we'll fight for freedom and for human rights. And finally, a little bit of what Carly said. The people that are out there listening, America was never great because we ran America from the top down. America is great because we have run America from the bottom up, where we all live in the neighborhoods. One more time in America, we need to revive the concept of citizenship, where everybody's actions make a huge difference in changing the world. We have a Holocaust memorial on our state house grounds. And there is one line on there that stands out all the time. "If you've saved one life, you've changed the world." We need to adopt that as citizens and rebuild and reinspire our country. Thank you. +p673 +aVWell, first of all... ...first of all, Megyn, you should know that -- that President Reagan expanded Medicaid three or four times. Secondly, I had an opportunity to bring resources back to Ohio to do what? To treat the mentally ill. Ten thousand of them sit in our prisons. It costs $22,500 a year... ...to keep them in prison. I'd rather get them their medication so they could lead a decent life. Secondly, we are rehabbing the drug-addicted. Eighty percent of the people in our prisons have addictions or problems. We now treat them in the prisons, release them in the community and the recidivism rate is 10 percent and everybody across this country knows that the tsunami of drugs is -- is threatening their very families. So we're treating them and getting them on their feet. And, finally, the working poor, instead of them having come into the emergency rooms where it costs more, where they're sicker and we end up paying, we brought a program in here to make sure that people could get on their feet. And do you know what? Everybody has a right to their God-given purpose. And finally, our Medicaid is growing at one of the lowest rates in the country. And, finally, we went from $8 billion in the hole to $2 billion in the black. We've cut $5 billion in taxes... ...and we've grown 350,000 jobs. +p674 +aVChris, first of all, I was just saying to Chris Christie, they say we're outspoken, we need to take lessons from Donald Trump if we're really going to learn it. Here is the thing about Donald Trump. Donald Trump is hitting a nerve in this country. He is. He's hitting a nerve. People are frustrated. They're fed up. They don't think the government is working for them. And for people who want to just tune him out, they're making a mistake. Now, he's got his solutions. Some of us have other solutions. You know, look, I balanced the federal budget as one of the chief architects when I was in Washington. Hasn't been done since. I was a military reformer. I took the state of Ohio from an $8 billion hole and a 350,000 job loss to a $2 billion surplus and a gain of 350,000 jobs. +p675 +aVBut the point is that we all have solutions. Mr. Trump is touching a nerve because people want the wall to be built. They want to see an end to illegal immigration. They want to see it, and we all do. But we all have different ways of getting there. And you're going to hear from all of us tonight about what our ideas are. +p676 +aVDonald, if you... +p677 +aV-- this campaign, I hope you will give to me. +p678 +aVOK. +p679 +aVLet's start off with my father being a mailman. So I understand the concerns of all the folks across this country, some of whom have trouble, you know, making ends meet. But I think she will come in a narrow way. The nominee of this party, if they're going to win, has got to come at it in a big way, which is pro-growth. Which is balancing budgets. You know, we were talking about it. People were saying, could we do it? I was the chairman of the Budget Committee and the lead architect the last time it happened in Washington, and when we did it we had great economic growth, we cut taxes, and we had a big surplus. Economic growth is the key. Economic growth is the key to everything. But once you have economic growth, it is important that we reach out to people who live in the shadows, the people who don't seem to ever think that they get a fair deal. And that includes people in our minority community; that includes people who feel as though they don't have a chance to move up. You know, America is a miracle country. And we have to restore the sense that the "Amiracle" will apply to you. Each and every one of the people in this country who's watching tonight, lift everybody, unite everybody and build a stronger United States of America again. It will be and can be done. +p680 +aVWell, look, I'm an old-fashioned person here, and I happen to believe in traditional marriage. But I've also said the court has ruled -- +p681 +aVWait, Megyn, the court has ruled, and I said we'll accept it. And guess what, I just went to a wedding of a friend of mine who happens to be gay. Because somebody doesn't think the way I do, doesn't mean that I can't care about them or can't love them. So if one of my daughters happened to be that, of course I would love them and I would accept them. Because you know what? That's what we're taught when we have strong faith. So the issues like that, issues like that are planted to divide us. I think the simple fact of the matter is, and this is where I would agree with Jeb, and I've been saying it all along, we need to give everybody a chance, treat everybody with respect, and let them share in this great American dream that we have, Megan. So, look, I'm going to love my daughters, I'm going to love them no matter what they do. Because, you know what, God gives me unconditional love. I'm going to give it to my family and my friends and the people around me. +p682 +aVWell, Megyn, my father was a mailman. His father was a coal miner. My mother's mother could barely speak English. And their son today stands on this podium in the great state of Ohio not only as the governor, but a candidate for president of the United States. I do believe in miracles. You know, I've had a lot of elections. But my elections are really not about campaigns. I tell my people that these are about a movement. And a movement to do what? To restore common sense. A movement to do things like provide economic growth. And a movement not to let anybody be behind. You know, today the country is divided. You asked a question about the police and the difficulty in communities. We've got to unite our country again, because we're stronger when we are united and we are weaker when we are divided. And we've got to listen to other people's voices, respect them, but keep in mind, and I believe in terms of the things that I've read in my lifetime, the Lord'is not picking us. But because of how we respect human rights, because that we are a good force in the world, he wants America to be strong. He wants America to succeed. And he wants America to lead. And nothing is more important to me than my family, my faith, and my friends. +p683 +aVYou know, tonight we hear about what people want to do. I want to tell you what I've done. I was a member of the Armed Services Committee for 18 years. I spent a big chunk of my life studying national security issues and our role in the world. No. 2. I was the chairman of the House Budget Committee and one of the chief architects the last time we balanced a budget, and it was the first time we had done it since man walked on the moon. We had a $5 trillion surplus and we cut taxes. I spent ten years in the private sector, actually learning how business works. And now I'm the governor of Ohio, and I inherited a state that was on the brink of dying. And we turned it all around with jobs and balanced budgets and rising credit and tax cuts, and the state is unified, and people have hope again in Ohio. +p684 +aVWell, John, first of all, if I were president, we wouldn't have the divisions in the country we have today. I do want to take a second as we reflected on Judge Scalia, it's amazing \u2014 it's not even two minutes after the death of Judge Scalia, nine children here today, their father didn't wake up. His wife, sad, but I just wish we hadn't run so fast into politics. Here's my concern about this. The country is so divided right now, and now we're going to see another partisan fight take place. I really wish the president would think about not nominating somebody. If you were to nominate somebody, let's have him pick somebody that's going to have unanimous approval, and such widespread approval across the country that this could happen without a lot of recrimination. I don't think that's going to happen, and I would like the president just to, for once here, put the country first. We're going to have an election for president very soon, and the people will understand what is at stake in that election. And so I believe the president should not move forward, and I think that we ought to let the next president of the United States decide who is going to run that Supreme Court with a vote by the people of the United......States of America. +p685 +aVFirst of all \u2014 yes. First of all, look, we have to make it clear to Russia what we expect. We don't have to declare an enemy, rattle a sword or threaten, but we need to make it clear what we expect. No. 1 is we will arm the folks in Ukraine who are fighting for their freedom. They deserve it. There will be no ifs, ands or buts about it. Secondly, an attack on +p686 +aVI've got to tell you, this is just crazy, huh? This is just nuts, O.K.? Jeez, oh, man. I'm sorry, John. +p687 +aVOh, well, listen, I think being in Iraq, look, we thought there were weapons of mass destruction. Colin Powell, who is one of the most distinguished generals in modern time, said there were weapons there. But, but, the fact is we got ourselves in the middle of a civil war. The Sunni, the Shia and the Kurds, never gotten along. In fact, that country was drawn \u2014 the borders of that country were drawn after World War I by Westerners that didn't understand what was happening there. The tragedy of it is that we're still embroiled. And, frankly, if there weren't weapons of mass destruction, we should never have gone. I don't believe the United States should involve itself in civil wars. Civil wars are not in our direct interest, and if you \u2014 and look, I served on a defense committee for 18 years and was called into the Pentagon after 9/11 by Secretary Rumsfeld to deal with some of the most serious problems that we faced. The fact is, is that we should go to war when it is our direct interest. We should not be policemen of the world, but when we go, we mean business. We'll do our job. We'll tell our soldiers, our people in the service, take care of your job and then come home once we've accomplished our goals. That's what we need to do. +p688 +aVYeah. Well, first of all, those numbers, incorrect. We are \u2014 our Medicaid programs are coming in below cost estimates, and our Medicaid program in the second year grew at 2.5 percent. And Kimberley, let me tell you, when we expand Medicaid and we treat the mentally ill, then they don't live under a bridge or live in a prison, where they cost $22,500 a year. When we take the drug addicted and we treat them in the prisons, we stop the revolving door of people in and out of prisons, and we save $22,500 a year. Guess what else? They get their lives back. And the working poor, they're now getting health care. And you know that about a third of the people who are now getting that health care are people who are suffering very serious illnesses, particularly cancer. So, what I would tell you is, we've gone from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. We've cut taxes by more than any governor in America by $5 billion. We have grown the number of jobs by 400,000 private-sector jobs since I've been governor. Our credit is strong. Our pensions are strong. And frankly, we leave no one behind. Economic growth is not an end unto itself. We want everyone to rise, and we will make them personally responsible for the help that they get. And that is exactly the program we're driving in Ohio. And, boy, people ought to look at Ohio, because it has got a good formula. +p689 +aVYeah, let me say a couple of things. First of all, when Jeb was governor, his first four years as governor, he expand \u2014 his Medicaid program grew twice as fast as mine. O.K.? It's just a fact. Now, with Obamacare, I've not only sued the administration, I did not set up an exchange. And he knows that I'm not for Obamacare, never have been. But here's what's interesting about Medicaid. You know who expanded Medicaid five times to try to help the folks and give them opportunity so that you could rise and get a job? President Ronald Reagan. Now, the fact of the matter is, we expanded to get people on their feet, and once they're on their feet, we are giving them the training and the efforts that they need to be able to get work and pull out of that situation. +p690 +aVThat's what we're doing in our state. +p691 +aVLet me \u2014 let's tell you... +p692 +aVMajor \u2014 Major, we can't \u2014 we've got to \u2014 look, I have got to correct the record. And the fact of the matter is, we went from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. We're up 400,000 jobs. Our credit is rock solid. And I don't know... +p693 +aVLook, the bottom line is the people of this \u2014 of this country and this state want to see everybody rise, and they want to see unity, and I don't want to get into all this fighting tonight, because people are frankly sick of the negative campaigning. +p694 +aVAnd I'm going to stay positive about what I want to do from the... +p695 +aVBefore I get to that, this is the ninth or 10th debate. What I've been watching here, this back and forth, and these attacks, some of them are personal. I think we're fixing to lose the election to Hillary Clinton if we don't stop this. I mean, the fact is \u2014 you know what? I would suggest, why don't we take off all the negative ads and all the negative comments down from television and let us just talk about what we're for, and let's sell that, and the Republican Party will be stronger as a result... +p696 +aV... First of all, I'm for sealing the border, O.K.? And then I'm for a guest worker program. People can come in, work and go back home. We haven't closed the border because special interests, I believe, blocked it. Then, we have 11 and a half million people here. If they have not committed a crime since they've been here, make them pay a fine and some back taxes, and give them a path to legalization, never to citizenship. It is not going to happen that we're going to run around and try to drag 11 and a half million people out of their homes. I'll tell you this. Within the first hundred days, I will send a plan like this to the Congress of the United States, and if I'm president, I'll bet you dollar to doughnuts right now, it will pass. That is a reasonable proposal that the people of this country, in my judgment, will support, and so will the bulk of the Congress of the United States. +p697 +aVYou know, John, I think all people are the same. Look, I did 106 town halls, and I've been doing them left and right here in South Carolina. The first thing we have to do is grow the economy, and I know the formula because I was chairman in Washington when we balanced the budget and created so many jobs, and the same that we've been able to do in Ohio. You need common-sense regulations so small business can flourish, you need lower taxes both on business and individuals, and you need a fiscal plan to be able to get ourselves in a situation where people can predict a little bit about the future when it comes to the fiscal issues. And when you have that formula, combined with work force that's trained, you can explode the economy and create many jobs. I have done it twice, and I want to go back to Washington and do it again. John, the thing is, is I think that there are people now, these blue-collar Democrats \u2014 my dad was a blue-collar Democrat \u2014 the Democratic Party has left them. When they're arguing about being socialists, they've left \u2014 they have lost those blue-collar Democrats. And you know what I think they get out of me \u2014 is my sense of what they get out of me, and it's embarrassment about campaigns, you brag about yourself. But I think I'm a uniter, I think people sense it. I think they know I have the experience, and that I'm a man that can give people hope and a sense that they have the opportunity rise. And I'll tell you, I love these blue-collar Democrats, because they're going to vote for us come next fall, promise you that. +p698 +aVWell, I want to thank the people of South Carolina. You've been fantastic. And look, what I want you to know is I'm going to send a lot of power, money and influence back to where we all live. But as I've traveled around South Carolina, I've noticed something. You know, it's that people have a sense that you're not going to wait on a president. You know, when I was a kid, we didn't wait on presidents to come to that little blue-collar town and fix things. You know, the Lord made all of us special. The Lord wants us to be connected. I believe we're part of a very big mosaic. And I'll send the power back. And whoever gets elected president here, hopefully will take care of the issue of jobs and wages and Social Security and the border. But the spirit of the America rests in all of us. It's in our guts. It's taking care of our children. It's taking care of the lady next door who just lost her husband. It's fixing the schools where we live and telling kids to stay off drugs. You see, I think what the Lord wants is for to us engage, and in America, the spirit of America doesn't come from the top down. The spirit of America rests in us. And I want to call on everyone in America to double down and realize that you were made special to heal this country and lift it for everyone. Thank you all very much. And I hope I can have your vote in South Carolina. +p699 +aVWell, we've got to to step up the pressure. And by the way, I've gotta say, after being here, every one of my 100 town hall meetings in New Hampshire were a lot more fun than what I saw here today, were so much more positive. Look, in terms of North Korea, Martha, we have to make sure that we intercept both the ships and their aircraft, because what they're trying to do is to proliferate this very dangerous material, along with the \u2014 with the technology, the instruments that can be used for mass destruction. That's what I worry about the most, frankly, is non-state actors, people who don't have a uniform, people don't have a country, who can spread this, who are not subject to the \u2014 to the mutual assured defense. In other words, you strike us, we strike you. Some of these radicals, they don't care about that. That's what I worry about, for my children, and for their children, going forward. So, we have to be very tough. And we should tell the Chinese, look, if you're not going to do this ballistic missile defense to the Koreans, ballistic missile defense to Japan \u2014 and by the way, we should impose the same kind of sanctions on North Korea that we imposed on Iran, because they're able to shift money. They're able to send money and receive money. We've gotta to be very tough on this. And frankly, I think we could have \u2014 I think we could have let the Japanese know that if you want to take action on that \u2014 on that missile that's rising, you want to take action \u2014 you will have our support, if that's what you think is the best thing to do. We cannot continue to be weak in the face of the North Koreans, or, frankly, in the entire rest of the world. Martha, this is \u2014 this is the \u2014 relates... +p700 +aVWell, you know, David, I \u2014 I've just spent a lot of time here in this state, as I mentioned earlier, and we have to have practical solutions, just like we were just talking about a few minutes ago on North Korea. Look, the situation is, we need to finish the border. It has to be completed. Just like we lock our doors at night, the country has to be able to lock its doors. And we can have a guest worker program, where people can come in and out in an orderly way. And then for the 11.5 million that are here, if they have not committed a crime since they've been here, I believe they ought to pay some back taxes, pay a fine, never get on the path to citizenship, but get legalization. It is not \u2014 I couldn't even imagine how we would even begin to think about taking a mom or a dad out of a house when they have not committed a crime since they've been here, leaving their children in the house. I mean, that is not, in my opinion, the kind of values that we believe in. And secondly, I think at the end of the day, that Americans would support a plan like this. I think Congress would pass a plan to finish the border, guest worker, pay a fine, a path to legalization, and not citizenship. And we've got to get this done. And I will tell you this, within the first 100 days that I am president, I will put that proposal to the Congress. And I will tell you, as a former Congressman, and an executive, in Ohio, I can promise you that I believe you'll get the votes to pass that, and we can move on with that issue and protect our border. That's what I think. +p701 +aVGood evening. +p702 +aVWell, first of all, look. As the New York Times said, he's certainly not a moderate, but he can bring people together to solve problems. The fact of the matter is I've cut taxes more than anybody in the country this year. I have balanced budgets, the federal budget, the state of Ohio budget, we're running a $2 billion dollar surplus, we're up 400,000 jobs, and in Washington we were able to have significant job growth whenever we balanced the budget of which I was the architect. But, here's the beauty of it, it's not just balancing a budget, it's about jobs. You know, when I was kid growing up in a neighborhood where Dad went home at night and said, "I lost my job today", it just killed the family. It just was a devastating effect. We have to have economic growth, but once we have economic growth I believe we have to reach out to people who live in the shadows. I believe we need to help the mentally ill, the drug addicted, the working poor. We need to help the developmentally disabled to rise, and we need to help our friends in the minority community develop entrepreneurship. In other words, in American, conservatism should mean not only that some rise with conservative principles, but everybody has a chance to rise regardless of who they are so they can live their God given purpose. That's what conservatism should be. +p703 +aVDavid? +p704 +aVLook, I'm \u2014 I'm not here \u2014 I like Chris. +p705 +aVLet \u2014 but let me \u2014 let me just tell you. First of all, we have the lowest number of state employees in 30 years. Secondly, we have grown government at the rate of inflation. And I went from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. And we've grown jobs by 400,000 \u2014 that's one of the fastest growing states in the country. Our pensions are secure and our credit is rock solid. Now, I've learned that, what makes things work, what gets the economy going, not just in Ohio, but in Washington \u2014 and it's three things. Common sense regulations, which we have, lower taxes, which we have, the lowest taxes, tax cuts in the country. And thirdly, a fiscal plan to balance the budget. When you go from $8 billion in the hole to $2 billion in the black, when you cut taxes by $5 billion and you grow over 400,000 jobs, that is a record that I can take to Washington, using the same formula that I used in Washington when I was part of the effort to balance the budget to give us a surplus and to create jobs. +p706 +aVThat's what I did and I'll do it again in the first 100 days. +p707 +aVWell, right now the deals \u2014 there's no leadership. I mean, a lot of the things that we're talking about here tonight, on the border, and so many of the things. What we should be doing on foreign policy, you know what the problem is, Mary Katharine? There's not a leader that gets somebody to rise up. You have to have a leader that can inspire, and actually some of what Donald was saying is true. Look, do you know how hard it was... +p708 +aV... to get the balance the federal budget balanced? You have to plead with people. To do what we've done in Ohio, you have to plead with people, then you go back down to Washington and do the same thing. You see, we have to remind people we're Americans before we're Republicans and Democrats, and when we wait, and when we delay what we end up doing, Mary Katharine, is we make the United States weaker. In fact, it's a foreign policy issue because people look at America not solving problems and they say what are they doing over there? So the point is you have to work with people. The problem with executive authority for the president, it's really bad news for this reason. Since he's given up on working with Congress, he thinks he can impose anything he wants. He's not a king. He's a president. An executive order should be used frankly in consolidation and with consulting with the leadership in the \u2014 in the Congress. I've done it in Ohio. I consult. I could use executive orders, but I don't trump the legislature, because if you do, you aggravate them, you anger them and then the long-term prospects get bleak. We have to solve problems in America by coming together, Republicans and Democrats, Americans first, party and ideology second \u2014 in the second back seat of this country. That's what we need to do. And we can do it. And we can do it. +p709 +aVMary Katherine, let me just say this to you. You must have an agenda that you are ready to move on in the first 100 days. Jeb is right. If you delay and you wait, the Washington operators will take you down. I can tell you this, in the first 100 days, I will have legislation to freeze federal regulations, have them reviewed by the vice president, reduce state taxes on individuals, reduce taxes on corporations, have a fiscal plan to balance the budget, get the border protected and begin to fix Social Security in the first 100 days. So, anybody who is here tonight, if I get elected president, head out tomorrow and buy a seat belt, because there's going to be so much happening in the first 100 days, it's going to make your head spin. We're going to move America forward. I promise you. We're going to move us forward. +p710 +aVJeb mentioned me. Time for me to go again. +p711 +aVHe says he didn't mention me the second time. I thought I heard it, Jeb. No. I'm just kidding. Thank you all very much for listening and being patient with all of us tonight. Thank you. +p712 +aVDavid, David... +p713 +aVI wanted \u2014 I wanted to say, look, this \u2014 there can be a win-win here. I have formed a collaborative between police and community leaders because people have to respect law enforcement. A family doesn't want dad or mom going home in a box. And for our community leaders, many of them think the system not only works \u2014 not only doesn't work for them, but it works against them. And I created a big collaborative in Ohio made up of law enforcement, community leaders, the head of my public safety and a former Democrat, liberal Senate senator Nina Turner, run it. They got together, they made recommendations on recruiting, on hiring, on the use of deadly force and what we're about to do is to bring community and police together so we can have a win-win. We need more win-wins in America and we don't have to pick one over another divide. We love the police, but we've got to be responsible to the people in the community. We have to do all of that. +p714 +aVJosh? +p715 +aVJosh, I mean, clearly, when a veteran comes home, they should get health care anywhere they want to go. In our state, which is what we should do in the country, you know, if they drive a truck from Kabul to Kandahar in Afghanistan, we say, you can drive a truck from Columbus to Cleveland, and you don't have to go get a license. We're going to hand you one. And if you've got expertise in the military, we're going to give you college credit or community college credit for the things that you did for our country. And in addition to that, I'll tell you, one of the biggest things I think has to be done \u2014 and I would do it as president \u2014 the Pentagon has got to work with the returning soldier, sailor, along with the family, and we \u2014 they're the most valuable employees in the country. I call them golden employees. Everybody wants to hire a veteran. But there is a disconnect between the job openings and the veteran when the veteran comes back. The veteran is a leader. The veteran is strong. The veteran is drug free. There should be no unemployment among veterans. And if the Pentagon will work with the veterans' services agencies all across this country, Josh, we can get people jobs and we can get them jobs quickly, get them their health care......get them their college education. Let's lift them. They're the greatest people defending the United States of America and we need to take care of them, and we will. We will. +p716 +aVCarolina's going to win that one. I hate to say it. But they're going to win that one. +p717 +aVWell, folks, I've done now over 100 town hall meetings and I've loved every second of it. It has been the greatest thing in the world. And I want you to know that you've changed me, because I've listened to your stories and I've had your hugs and I've seen your tears, and I've seen you walk away and say, I now have hope. You know, I've had a conservative message, but a positive message \u2014 not just a conservative message, but a positive message about how we can bring people together, how we can restore America's strength, lift everyone. New Hampshire, please give me a chance to carry this message forward to the United States of America. And then, I will come back. Thank you, loved it. And God bless you. +p718 +aVWell, first of all, I had a national reporter say, you know, there's three lanes. There's the establishment lane, the anti-establishment lane, and then there's the Kasich lane. And the reason is, is that I've been a reformer all of my career, fighting to reform welfare, fighting to reform the Pentagon, also being in a position to balance the budget, because that is very, very hard to do. And then in Ohio, of course, I had to bring about big reform, again, because we were so far in the hole and now we just found out we are up over 400,000 jobs since I took over as governor. You know, the situation is this. We cannot fix things in this country \u2014 the Social Security, the border, balancing the budget, getting wages to grow faster \u2014 unless we lead as conservatives, but we also invite people in from the other party. We have to come together as a country. And we have to stop all the divisions. And, you know, that's been my message in New Hampshire. And having been in New Hampshire and here in Iowa, but in New Hampshire, I just received the support of seven out of eight of the newspapers in that state because they see positive, they see unity, they see coming together, and they see a record of change and a record of accomplishment. And it isn't because I'm all that great. It's because I've been assembling a team of people who want to be involved in something that's a little bigger than themselves. I'll keep \u2014 I'll keep heading in that direction, believe me. +p719 +aVChris... ... there was a question about foreign policy, by the way, and experience. And I \u2014 I thought, if I didn't jump in, I might not be able to tell everybody this. I think they'd want to hear it. Look, I served on... +p720 +aV... but wait a minute... +p721 +aV...the only reason is \u2014 look... +p722 +aVOK. +p723 +aVI've always listened to you, Megyn. Go ahead. +p724 +aVYes \u2014 thank you. +p725 +aVWell, look the Joint Terrorism Task Force needs resources and tools. And those are made up of the FBI, state and local law enforcement. And Megyn, it's best not to talk anymore about back doors and encryption, it will get solved, but it needs to be solved in the situation of the White House with the technology folks. +p726 +aVBut I just have to tell you that it's best with some of these things not be said. Now I want to go back something. See, I was there when Reagan rebuilt the military. I was there in '89 when the wall came tumbling down because we were strong. And I was there when we went into the Gulf War. We didn't win that war just from the air, we won that war by assembling a group of Arab leaders who stood in the Rose Garden and stood with America. We want to destroy +p727 +aVBut we have a unique time in America to connect with people all around the world that understand that there's an existential threat against all of them, the Arabs, the Jordanians, the Saudis, the Egyptians, our friends in Europe, including the Turks. So we have a unique opportunity to bring everybody together. I saw Reagan do it, I've seen other presidents do it. And frankly, if you want to be commander in chief, you have to have the experience. At the same time we're doing all that, the Pentagon must be reformed so we get what we need for our men and women in uniform. All of that together, we're going to be just fine and America is going to continue to lead the world. +p728 +aVWell, you've got to be on top of it right away. And, you know, I don't know all the details of what Rick Snyder has done. I know there have been people who have been fired; people who are being held accountable. But the fact is, every single engine of government has to move when you see a crisis like that. And I've had many situations in the state of Ohio where we've had to move, whether it's storms, whether it was a horrible school shooting. There are many crises that come \u2014 a water crisis in Toledo. You've got to be on top of it. You've got to go the extra mile. You've got to work with local communities and you've got to work with the federal government. Because you realize that people depending on you. And so, you go the extra mile. But people have to be alert. They have to be alert to problems. And when you see a problem, you must act quickly to get on top of it. And people at home are saying they've got a problem, listen to them. Because most of the time, they're absolutely correct. So the fact is that we work for the people. The people don't work for us. And we have to have an attitude when we're in government of serving-hood. That's what really matters. We serve you. You don't serve us. We listen to you and \u2014 and then we act. +p729 +aVNo. You know, Chris, here's what happened with Medicaid in my state. We took the growth of Medicaid from over 10 percent in my second budget to 2.5 percent, without cutting off one person or cutting one benefit, because we \u2014 we innovated the government. And now mom and dad can stay in their own home, rather than being forced into a nursing home. And then we decided we could bring $14 billion of our money \u2014 I mean, Washington doesn't have any money. It was our money, and we brought them back to tend to the mentally ill. Because I don't think they ought to live in prison or live under a bridge; to treat the drug-addicted so they're not in an in-and-out-of-the-door policy out of the prisons; and to help the working poor so they don't live in emergency rooms. How has it worked? Well, we have treated the drug-addicted in our prisons and we released them in to the community, and our recidivism rate is less than 20 percent. That's basically bordering on a miracle because of our great prison director. The mentally ill? They've been stepped on for too long in this society, and we are beginning to treat them. In terms of my faith, look, all I say is that when I study scripture, I know that people who live in the shadows need to have a chance. But I'm not deciding that anybody's got to make these decisions the way that I do, on the basis of what I do. But what \u2014 I will tell you this. The time has come to stop ignoring the mentally ill in this country and begin to treat them and get them on their feet, along with, of course, with treating the drug-addicted. Because we don't want them in and out \u2014 we don't want them in and out of the prisons. Give people a chance. We talked about criminal justice reform. We've enacted it in our state. Look, the conservative message is economic growth and along with economic growth goes opportunity for everybody in America. Everybody ought to have a chance to be able to rise to their God-given purpose. And that is what we have done in Ohio. We're running surpluses. We're up 400,000 jobs. And guess what? The formula is working. I'd suggest people take a look at it. Thank you. +p730 +aVLook, we don't know what's going to happen in ten months. And if I were president of the United States right now, I'd be lining up our allies to say that, if one crossed T or one dotted I does not occur, they are \u2014 violate the agreement, we slap back on sanctions. We can slap on sanctions alone, on day one, but it's not gonna be anywhere near as effective. But the president needs to be laying the groundwork right now for the ability to slap those sanctions back on worldwide. And I'll tell you what I'm worried about \u2014 I'm worried about money. You read about all the companies now that are doing business \u2014 about to do business in Iran, and if we don't get this settled now, with other countries in the world, about sanctions, then Iran could violate that agreement, and we're the only ones putting the sanctions on. We need to move aggressively now. But I would say this to you, Bret. Number one, if they violate it, we need to move against them. And number two, if we find out they're developing a nuclear weapon and we know how to get to it, we're gonna go take it out. That is what we have to do. We cannot let things get farther down the road, like we did with North Korea. +p731 +aVThat's right. Yes. +p732 +aVI know, Bret. +p733 +aVBut Bret, here's the problem. You take a look at the \u2014 at Belgium. I talked to a diplomat from Belgium. I said, "how's it going?" He said, "we have the military in the streets right now. We never dreamt we'd ever see it." See, I think there is an opportunity to bring the world together. The Turks are being threatened. We know about the French. We know about the Belgians. We know about the Brits. Everybody is under fire and under attack, and we have to stand together as an alliance. So actually, the opportunity is there, because of the threat to all of these countries, to bring all of us together... ... and say there is something more important than money. It is the future of the world and the future of our children and grandchildren. That's the kind of leadership this country needs. It has not been in effect during the administration of Barack Obama. And that's only the beginning of the failures that they have committed, not only in the Middle East, but all over the world, including Russia and China. +p734 +aVYou know, one of our biggest national security issues is the world looks at us some time, and we look at each other and say, why can't we solve problems? Well, I've got news for you, we can. We can in fact create jobs and provide job security. We can create a situation where wages begin to rise. We can create a situation for our children to be able to get a decent job to pay down their college debt. We can re-assume our role in the world. But all of this has to come together when we have a positive attitude, an optimistic approach, an ability for us to set the tune as conservatives, to invite other people in to be part of that orchestra. You see, ladies and gentlemen, at the end of the day, I'm an optimist Because I've seen so many things get accomplished in my lifetime. And we can do it again together, all of us, to strengthen this country, work together. Thank you. +p735 +asVQUICK +p736 +(lp737 +VGentlemen \u2014 we'll \u2014 we'll get back to this \u2014 just a minute \u2014 just a minute we're gonna continue this. I wanna talk taxes... +p738 +aVDr. Carson, let's talk about taxes. You have a flat tax plan of 10 percent flat taxes, and \u2014 I've looked at it \u2014 and this is something that is very appealing to a lot of voters, but I've had a really tough time trying to make the math work on this. If you were to took a 10 percent tax, with the numbers right now in total personal income, you're gonna come in with bring in $1.5 trillion. That is less than half of what we bring in right now. And by the way, it's gonna leave us in a $2 trillion hole. So what analysis got you to the point where you think this will work? +p739 +aVI \u2014 I understand that, but if you \u2014 if you look at the numbers you probably have to get to 28. +p740 +aV15 percent still leaves you with a $1.1 trillion hole. +p741 +aVYou'd have to cut \u2014 you'd have to cut government about 40 percent to make it work with a $1.1 trillion hole. +p742 +aVThat is true, I looked at the numbers. +p743 +aVDr. Carson, thank you. +p744 +aVGovernor... +p745 +aVDr. Carson, let me get 30 seconds with Dr. Carson... +p746 +aVThank you. +p747 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, thank you. +p748 +aVGentlemen, I'm sorry, we need to... +p749 +aVWe're going to move on. +p750 +aVThirty seconds. +p751 +aVWe'll get to everyone. Ms. Fiorina, I \u2014 I'd like to ask you a question. You are running for president of the United States because of your record running Hewlett-Packard. But the stock market is usually a fair indicator of the performance of a CEO, and the market was not kind to you. Someone who invested a dollar in your company the day you took office had lost half of the dollar by the day you left. Obviously, you've talked in the past about what a difficult time it was for technology companies, but anybody who was following the market knows that your stock was a much worse performer, if you looked at your competitors, if you looked at the overall market. I just wonder, in terms of all of that \u2014 you know, we look back, your board fired you. I just wondered why you think we should hire you now. +p752 +aVMrs. Fiorina, it's interesting that you bring up Mr. Perkins, because... ...he said a lot of very questionable things. Last year, in an interview, he said that he thinks wealthy people should get more votes than poor people. I think his quote was that, "if you pay zero dollars in taxes, you should get zero votes. If you pay a million dollars, you should get a million votes." Is this the type of person you want defending you? +p753 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p754 +aVThank you, we're out of time. Thank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Carl. +p755 +aVGovernor Christie, I'd like to a question next. Actually, I have a question for you . In your tell it like it is campaign, you've said a lot of tough things. You've said that we need to raise the retirement age for Social Security. You think that we need to cut benefits for people who make over $80,000 and eliminate them entirely for seniors who are making over $200,000. Governor Huckabee, who is here on the stage, has said that you and others who think this way are trying to rob seniors of the benefits that they've earned. It raises the question: When it is acceptable to break a social compact? +p756 +aV...Governor... +p757 +aV...Thank you. +p758 +aVWelcome back to the presidential debate for the Republicans. We are live in Boulder, Colorado, right here on +p759 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. +p760 +aVSenator Rubio, you yourself have said that you've had issues. You have a lack of bookkeeping skills. You accidentally inter-mingled campaign money with your personal money. You faced (ph) foreclosure on a second home that you bought. And just last year, you liquidated a $68,000 retirement fund. That's something that cost you thousands of dollars in taxes and penalties. In terms of all of that, it raises the question whether you have the maturity and wisdom to lead this $17 trillion economy. What do you say? +p761 +aVSenator, I understand all of that. I had a lot of student loans when I got out, too. But you've had a windfall that a lot of Americans haven't. You made over a million dollars on a book deal, and some of these problems came after that. +p762 +aVBut you \u2014 but you liquidated that retirement account after the fact, and that cost you about $24,000 out of that in taxes and feed. That \u2014 that was after you'd already come into that windfall. That's why I raised the question. +p763 +aVYes, thank you John. Senator Cruz, working women in this country still earn just 77 percent of what men earn. And I know that you've said you've been very sympathetic to our cause. But you've also you said that the Democrats' moves to try and change this are the political show votes. I just wonder what you would do as President to try and help in this cause? +p764 +aVMrs. Fiorina \u2014 +p765 +aVMrs. Fiorina, we will come back to you. +p766 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Carl? +p767 +aVMr. Trump, let's stay on this issue of immigration. You have been very critical of Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook who has wanted to increase the number of these H1Bs. +p768 +aVSo you're in favor of... +p769 +aVWhere did I read this and come up with this that you were... +p770 +aVYou know, Mr. \u2014 you know, Mr. Trump, if I may . You've been \u2014 you have been \u2014 you had talked a little bit about Marco Rubio. I think you called him Mark Zuckerberg's personal senator because he was in favor of the H1B. +p771 +aVSo this was an erroneous article the whole way around? +p772 +aVMy apologies. I'm sorry. +p773 +aVYes, you can. +p774 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you very much. I would like to introduce my colleague, Rick Santelli, he has some comments as well, sir. +p775 +aVRick, thank you very much. Governor Huckabee, you have railed against income inequality. You've said that some Wall Street executives should have gone to jail over the roles that they played during the financial crisis. Apart from your tax plan, are there specific steps you would require from corporate America to try and reduce the income inequality. +p776 +aVGovernor? +p777 +aVGovernor? +p778 +aVThank you. +p779 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee. +p780 +aVHow about 15 more seconds? +p781 +aVGovernor? +p782 +aVGovernor, I'm sorry... +p783 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p784 +aVGovernor, thank you. Appreciate it. John? +p785 +aVIt's at the moderator discretion. +p786 +aVWelcome back to the University of Colorado and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p787 +aVThank you, sir. +p788 +aVYou were. You get 30 seconds. +p789 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Carl? +p790 +aVHigher education is the example... +p791 +aVI want to go back, if I can, to the issue of... +p792 +aVI want to go back, if I may, to the... +p793 +aVSenator Paul, among the leading conservative opponents to the creation of Medicare back in the 1960s was Ronald Reagan. He warned that it would lead to socialism. Considering the mounting cost of Medicare, was he right to oppose it? +p794 +aVSenator, thank you. [ +p795 +aVWelcome back to Boulder, Colorado and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p796 +aVThank you, Governor. +p797 +aVGovernor. +p798 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Paul, let's go back to you. Do these solutions sound like they work? +p799 +aVDo these solutions sound like they would work? +p800 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Governor? +p801 +aVGood evening, everyone. I'm Becky Quick, along with my +p802 +aVGovernor Jindal, let's talk a little bit about the news of the day. Just a few hours ago, the Republicans and the Democrats in the House voted on a budget deal that will increase spending by about $80 billion dollars over the next two years. You, however, have called the Republicans who have been willing to work with the Democrats to do things like this the, "Surrender Party of the Republican caucus." Would you have shut the government down instead? +p803 +aV...But Governor... +p804 +aV...if you didn't have a choice, if you didn't control things in the house, would you take the choice of shutting things down, or would you go ahead and agree with them? +p805 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p806 +aVGovernor Pataki, let's get to your point. You wanted to make a comment on the budget. You want to get in on the idea, what would you do if you were in Washington? Would you compromise... +p807 +aVGovernor Pataki, thank you. John? +p808 +aVGovernor Pataki, let's talk a little bit about what's happened on Wall Street. Some of your colleagues in the Republican Party, including some of the people on this stage, have bashed Wall Street. They say that it was largely responsible for the financial crisis. You're a former governor of New York, and you relied very heavily on Wall Street for income. Do you think they've gone too far? +p809 +aVGovernor Pataki, thank you. +p810 +aVCarl? +p811 +aVWelcome back, everyone. This is the Republican Presidential Debate on +p812 +aVSenator, I'm sorry your minute is up. +p813 +aVThank you very much, Senator Santorum. +p814 +aVAnd Graham, Mr. Graham, yes, that was a question to you, too. +p815 +aVYou have 30 seconds. +p816 +aVSenator Graham, thank you. +p817 +aVI'm sorry. That's your 30 seconds... +p818 +aVSenator Graham... +p819 +aVThank you, Senator. +p820 +aVGentlemen, hold on a second. +p821 +aVGo ahead, +p822 +aVGovernor Pataki... +p823 +aV\u2014 I'm sorry, that was a... +p824 +aVGovernor Pataki... +p825 +aVI'm sorry to talk over you, sir. That was a minute. +p826 +aVThank you very much. +p827 +aVCarl? +p828 +aVYou guys are making this just like home. This is just like . +p829 +aVGovernor Jindal, I want to go back to something that you mentioned before with your tax plan. I know that you want to put a 2 percent tax on all families, just to make sure everyone has some skin in the game. But every working American pays 6.2 percent, when it comes to Social Security taxes. They pay another 1.45 percent of Medicare. Isn't that skin in the game? +p830 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p831 +aVWelcome back to Boulder, Colorado, and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p832 +aVNo, no. +p833 +aVI \u2014 I'm with you. I still have a BlackBerry, too. Senator \u2014 Senator Santorum, how about you? +p834 +aVThank you. Governor? +p835 +aVThank you. Senator Graham? +p836 +aVWe take your time back. Yes. +p837 +aVJohn? +p838 +asVGRAHAM +p839 +(lp840 +VThank you very much. I just returned from Iraq two weeks ago. It was my 36th trip to Iraq and Afghanistan in the last decade. Toward the end, I met a very impressive Special Forces sergeant. It was his job to train Iraqi Kurdish commandos. He was so proud of what he was doing and so proud of the people he was training. He was the replacement for Master Sergeant Wheeler, a Delta Force member who was killed two months ago in a raid against an +p841 +aVYou may think this makes us safe, but it doesn't. The good news for everybody in this room is, after 36 trips to Iraq and Afghanistan, most people over there, Wolf, are not buying what +p842 +aVI will support the Republican nominee, whoever he or she may be. Like Bob Dole, I may sleep late that day if it's Trump. But the bottom line, if it's Trump, so be it. That's who I'll support. Please understand we're in a war that we can't afford to lose, and what he said about banning Muslims coming here to America has made us all less safe, and it's the worst possible thing he could do in this war. He clearly doesn't understand this war and how to win it. For God's sakes, pick somebody who is worthy of the sacrifice of those who are fighting this war and who actually knows how to win, and I don't believe that's Mr. Trump, and I know it's not Hillary Clinton. +p843 +aVRick, please understand the only way we're gonna win the war against radical Islam is for the world to unite. Very few fathers and mothers want to turn their daughters and sons over to +p844 +aVWell, here's what I'm here to tell you, when I first started this process of running for president., I said, " if you didn't realize we need more America boots on the ground in Iraq and eventually in Syria as a part of the regional army - not ready to be commander in chief." Like nobody said a word, now everybody's on board except Senator Paul. Senator Paul and Senator Cruz, are isolationists. They both want to restrict the ability of the NSA to do the following; find out if somebody overseas is calling into America and if somebody is on the other end of the phone, don't you want to know who their talking to? IF a terrorist is calling into America and we can match up phone numbers we get a get a court order to find out what the content is. We're at war folks, they're not trying to steal your car, they're trying to kills us all. So yes, I would re-institute this program. There's four things you need to understand about this war, it's a religious war, them against the world, if you don't fight them over there, they're coming here. If you don't hit them first, they're going to hit us. If you're not determined to fight it as a ware, you're going to lose it. So if you're worried about somebody having your phone in the government, don't be. The only thing you need to worry about is if you're talking to terrorist and a judge gives an order to listen to what you're saying. That's all you need to worry about. +p845 +aVCan I say something? +p846 +aVYeah. There are at least 3,500 American muslims serving in the armed forces. Thank you for your service. You are not the enemy. Your religion is not the enemy. Let me make this real to you. I was at the second presidential election in Afghanistan. The guy guarding me was an American Muslim sergeant in the Army who grew up in Kabul, left when he was \u2014 graduated high school, joined the U.S. Army, went back to his high school where they were doing polling, people voting, he took me there and cried like a baby. I cried like a baby. He is the solution to this problem, folks. He is not the problem. Leave the faith alone. Go after the radicals that kill us all. +p847 +aVThank you. This is why I own a flip phone. You don't have to worry about all of this stuff. The bottom line is, we're at war. They're trying to come here to kill us all and it's up to the government to protect you within constitutional means. Any system that would allow a terrorist to communicate with somebody in our country and we can't find out what they're saying is stupid. If I'm president of the United States, and you join +p848 +aVWell, what you want to do is you want to knock them off line. How about this idea? If you pledge allegiance to al-Baghdadi, you can't get married in America? The bottom line is you have to go after them everywhere. The key to winning this war is to provide the capacity to those in the faith who reject the ideology. The key to fighting this war is to fight it in their backyard, not ours. Two years ago I came up with a plan that requires more American boots on the ground in Iraq. The first thing out of my mouth running for President was, if you don't understand we need 10,000 troops in Iraq, rather than 3,500, you're not ready. What would I do in Syria? I'd form a regional army of Arabs and Turkey. Ninety percent them, 10 percent us. Up to 10,000 U.S. forces to go in on the ground and destroy the caliphate and its roots. Take Raqqah away from +p849 +aVYeh, it's just you're not going to win that way, Rick. There's nobody left in Syria to train. Between the Russians and Assad, they have killed all the people we trained, and our President sat on the sidelines and watched people get killed that we enticed into the fight. There is nobody left to train. I would get the Arabs who are threatened by +p850 +aVWell, number one, dead men don't preach anything. If you don't understand we need a ground force to go into Syria, then you're not ready to destroy +p851 +aVYeah. I just don't make this up, Wolf. I talk to people who are combat trained who have won in Iraq who I trust. Here's what I want to tell the Arab world and Turkey. We're not going to send 100,000 troops. You're going to do the fighting this time and we're gonna help you. We paid for the last two wars, you're gonna pay for this one. And, by the way, they get it because +p852 +aVTwo years ago. +p853 +aVYes. +p854 +aVI think we need to have a military strategy regarding Libya. They've just take over Gaddafi's hometown called Sur. There's about 2000 of them. Here's what I've learned in my 36 visits, you can't deter these guys, they're ready to die, bring on the virgins. Dying is first place in their world. What we have to do is work with others over time to destroy to ideology. We have to offer a hopeful life to compete with the glory of this. Most young people folks want the same thing you do. They don't want to live in the 11th century. So yes, you have to destroy the caliphate. I want to work with Arabs and Turkey to do it, but here's the key is to not leave. If we left Germany and Japan only god knows what would've happened. If we have 10000 troops left in Iraq, there would be no +p855 +aVI want to talk to General Keane first. I want to find out, what do we need militarily to keep them contained and eventually destroy them in Libya. They're in nine countries. You want to deal with Libya, go to Iraq and Syria. You want to prevent another 9/11, take the caliphate headquarters away from +p856 +aVNo. What I would do is I would try to make friends throughout the world to destroy a common threat to the world. These people are religious Nazis. Most people in Islam don't buy what they're selling. I've told you a thousand times that I would partner with the Arabs in Turkey. But, the reason they don't partner with Obama is they just don't trust him. Do you think they would trust me? I know them all. I've been working for a decade to figure out how to win this war. To my good friend Ted Cruz, please ask him the following question, you say you would keep Assad in power, I will tell you that is the worst possible thing that could come out of an American leaders mouth. It would be disastrous. His favorite movie is, apparently, Princess Bride. Ted, getting in bed with Iran and Russia to save Assad is inconceivable. +p857 +aVPrincess Buttercup would not like this. +p858 +aV...I didn't get to say yes. Yes. +p859 +aVYeah, this is an important discussion. The American president is the strongest voice in the world \u2014 until Obama came along. Now, we're just one of many. When you ask people to help you, when you entice Syrians to join your cause, to take down the dictator they hate to destroy +p860 +aV...we'd better do something about it, and I have a plan. +p861 +aVI don't think it's necessary. If you don't want to be there, I don't want you to be there. I just retired after 33 years in the Air Force, 140 days on the ground as an Air Force Reservist. To those who are watching, thank you for your service. I've had a small walk in your shoes. We have the best military in the world. Obama has put it in a box. Let's take it out of the box and use it before we get attacked here. We don't need a draft, we need a commander in chief who knows what the hell they're doing. +p862 +aVAnd, I am that guy. +p863 +aVBut, the reason they don't partner with Obama is they just don't trust him. Do you think they would trust me? I know them all. I've been working for a decade to figure out how to win this war. To my good friend Ted Cruz, please ask him the following question, you say you would keep Assad in power, I will tell you that is the worst possible thing that could come out of an American leaders mouth. It would be disastrous. His favorite movie is, apparently, Princess Bride. Ted, getting in bed with Iran and Russia to save Assad is inconceivable. +p864 +aVPrincess Buttercup would not like this. +p865 +aV...I didn't get to say yes. Yes. +p866 +aVYeah, this is an important discussion. The American president is the strongest voice in the world \u2014 until Obama came along. Now, we're just one of many. When you ask people to help you, when you entice Syrians to join your cause, to take down the dictator they hate to destroy +p867 +aV...we'd better do something about it, and I have a plan. +p868 +aVI don't think it's necessary. If you don't want to be there, I don't want you to be there. I just retired after 33 years in the Air Force, 140 days on the ground as an Air Force Reservist. To those who are watching, thank you for your service. I've had a small walk in your shoes. We have the best military in the world. Obama has put it in a box. Let's take it out of the box and use it before we get attacked here. We don't need a draft, we need a commander in chief who knows what the hell they're doing. +p869 +aVAnd, I am that guy. +p870 +aVCan, can I... +p871 +aVThis is important. We're not fighting all the wars with our kids. If you've been to Iraq and Afghanistan and you made any friends, you've lots of bunch. Thousands have died in Iraq and Afghanistan fighting. +p872 +aVDon't belittle their sacrifice. +p873 +aVNo. +p874 +aVTo, to those the (well) times in the Army were a bigger problem than they are today. If you want to fix this, you get the Army to 500,000, not 420,000. You want to win this war, grow the Navy to 350 ships, not 275. Sequestration is Latin for doing really dumb things. We're going to have the smallest Navy since 1915, the smallest Army since 1940. I was yelling and screaming don't do sequestration. I was right. If I am President of the United States, Commander in Chief, we're going to rebuild our military without a draft... +p875 +aV...and we're going to go on the offense and they're ready to go. +p876 +aVThey are ready to go. They just need to be led. +p877 +aVWell I stand unique, having been a military lawyer for 33 years. I've been a defense attorney, a prosecutor, and a military judge. Mr. Trump, you don't have to speak about everything, that's not required. I would make sure that everybody had a fair trial. Does that make sense to you? We're at war folks and this stuff has to stop. It's bad for morale to hear somebody wanting to be Commander in Chief that would deny due process to somebody who's been charged in the military. For God's sakes Mr. Trump, you're asking to be the Commander in Chief , the leader of the free world, up your game. As to women, if you want to kill terrorists, I'm your guy. +p878 +aVWell, the first thing I would do is make adjustments to reality. I want to look and see if this was a terrorist arranged marriage between the couple in California. The fact that they met online accidentally is almost zero. So, no, I would have a time-out on Syrian refugees because you'd be crazy if you didn't after Paris. But, I've been to the refugee camps in Turkey, and Jordan. Trust me with your Christian \u2014 and I'm a lousy Christian saved by grace, but \u2014 this is important. We've got to stop this war. Do you realize that there are more Syrian refugees in Lebanon going to school than Lebanese children? Do you realize if this war goes for another year the King of Jordan could fall? Let's have a no-fly zone. +p879 +aVI would \u2014 make changes to that bill in light of what I know today. +p880 +aVThe next president is going to be a war-time president, whether they like it or not. I'm ready for that job. Two years ago isolationism led by Senator Paul and Cruz was white hot in our party. Now it is in retreat because events have proven me more right than wrong and has proven them to be wrong. In the first debate I called for American troops on the ground to protect our homeland. Nobody came forward. Now, most have. We've spent a lot of carnage to get them to where I have always been. Make me president, I will keep you and your family safe. +p881 +aVWell, number one, thank you for having me here tonight. How about a round of applause for Boulder, Colorado? This is a beautiful place. Looking at their academic standards, the only way I could have gotten into this university is to be invited to this debate tonight. But here's my take on things. Without national security, there is no economic security. Without the sacrifice of the veteran, all of our hopes and dreams are at risk. Just a few days ago, Hillary Clinton said that the problems with the V.A. are being exaggerated by Republicans. They are not, they are real. +p882 +aVWell, let me tell you what is real. The threat to our homeland. I've never seen so many threats to our homeland than I do today. Barack Obama is an incompetent Commander in Chief. There are more terrorist organizations with safe havens to attack the American homeland than anytime since 9/11. We're in the process of reducing our defense spending by half. I am looking at this budget with one view in mind, will it restore the ability to defend this nation. We're on track to have the smallest army since 1940, the smallest navy since 1915, this budget, if it is paid for, will put $40 billion dollars back in the defense department at a time we need it. The number one role of the federal government's to defend this nation, I intend to be a Commander in Chief that can win a war we cannot afford to lose. +p883 +aVHere's the problem. We're being walked all over because our commander in chief is weak in the eyes of our enemies. Do you think Putin would be in the Ukraine today if Ronald Reagan were president? Why are the Chinese stealing our intellectual property, hacking into our system? Why are they building islands over resource-rich waters? Because they can get away with it. At the end of the day, ladies and gentlemen, the foreign policy of Barack Obama needs to be replaced, and the last person you want to find to replace his foreign policy is his secretary of state. So to the Chinese, when it comes to dealing with me, you've got a clenched fist or an open hand. You pick. The party's over, to all the dictators. Make me commander-in-chief and this crap stops. +p884 +aVNo, I \u2014 I think I'm trying to solve problems that somebody had better solve. Now, you don't have to believe that climate change is real. I have been to the Antarctic. I've been to Alaska. I'm not a scientist, and I've got the grades to prove it. But I've talked to the climatologists of the world, and 90 percent of them are telling me that greenhouse gas effect is real. That we're heating up the planet. I just want a solution that would be good for the economy, that doesn't destroy it. I want to fix an immigration system. I'm not gonna tell you, if you like your doctor, you can keep it \u2014 keep him. Do you like your health care, you're gonna keep it. I'm tired of telling people things that they want to hear, that we know we're not gonna do. We're not gonna eliminate the corporate tax. But we can make it lower. We're going to fix immigration, only if we work together. I want to secure the border because, if we don't, we're going to get hurt and hit again. I want to fix a broken visa system. I want to increase legal immigration, because we're gonna have a shortage of workers over time. As to the 11 million, I want to talk about fixing the problem. We're not going to deport 11 million people and their legal citizen children. But we will deport felons. And those who stay will have to learn our language to stay, because I don't speak it well but look how far I've come. +p885 +aVAt the end of the day, folks, I am trying to solve a problem and win an election. I am tired of losing. Good God, look who we're running against. The number one candidate on the other side thought she was flat broke after her and her husband were in the White House for eight years. The number two guy went to the Soviet Union on his honeymoon and I don't think he ever came back. If we don't beat these people, who the hell are we going to beat? +p886 +aVThe first thing... +p887 +aV\u2014 that we have to do is come to grips with the reality that we're facing as Americans. In 1950, there were 16 workers for every Social Security recipient. Today, there's three. In 20 years, there are two. I want to make sure that no American company leaves America because you can't find a worker. American workers always get the first preference. But if you can't find an American worker, after you advertise at a competitive wage, I don't want you to be at a loss. Bring people in based on merit. Let's take a broken immigration... +p888 +aV\u2014 system... +p889 +aV\u2014 and make a merit-based immigration system that will help our economy. We're going to need workers in the future. +p890 +aVLet's just choose rationally. +p891 +aVWe owe to every businessperson and worker in America the best environment in the world to create a job. We owe that to American businesses. Thirty-five percent corporate tax rate is the second highest in the world. We need to lower it so they don't leave. The goal is to help the middle class. We can talk about corporations all day long but my goal is to help the middle class, somebody who makes too much to be on government assistance but still lives paycheck to paycheck. When the kid gets sick you don't go on vacation. +p892 +aVThat's the purpose of my presidency, to grow the economy here. And let me tell you, our Democratic friends have a list a mile long of more government. That's not going to grow the middle class, that's going to create a burden on your children, which they're already overburdened. The best way to grow the middle class is to make it a good place to create a job. You know why Boeing came to South Carolina when they could have gone anywhere to build the 787? Because we wanted them. We had a low-tax structure. +p893 +aVA permitting structure that allowed them to build the building even faster than they thought they could build it. We welcomed them there. I'm going to take the South Carolina attitude \u2014 +p894 +aVI think everybody owes an obligation to the country. The ones that I'm most worried about are the 1 percent of Americans in uniform, who have been fighting this war for 14 years. They need a commander in chief who knows what the hell they're doing. My first job as President of the United States is to rebuild the military and use it smartly. Admiral Mullen said the debt is a big threat to our national security. He's right. But people go where they're welcome when it comes to job creation. If I'm President of the United States you will be welcomed in America. +p895 +aVThis will be the place to come \u2014 +p896 +aVAnd if I'm president of the United States \u2014 +p897 +aV\u2014 our enemies \u2014 +p898 +aVWell, number one, Social Security is not just a concept to me. I know why it exists; 50 percent of today's seniors would be in poverty without a Social Security check. I promise you, if you make me your president, I will save Social Security because I know why it exists. Now, if you're looking for good beer policy, I'm your best bet. My dad owned a bar. I know beer. We grew up, my sister and myself, in the back of that bar in one room with my mom, my dad and my sister who's nine years younger. When I was 21, my mom was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease. Neither parent finished high school. She died within a year. We were wiped out from the medical bills. And if it wasn't for a Social Security survivor benefit check coming into my family, we wouldn't' have made it because my dad died 15 months later. So I... +p899 +aVWait a minute, please. I'm 22 and we're wiped out. I am 60. I'm not married. I have a military retirement. I'm in good shape. I would give up some of my benefits to help those who need it more than I do. To young people here, I will ask you to work a little bit longer because we have to. The purpose of my presidency is to save this country and to save Social Security by working across the aisle just like Ronald Reagan. This is the biggest issue facing this nation. +p900 +aVWell, number one, the only reason I have an iPhone is because I gave my number to Donald Trump. Don't do that. +p901 +aVDonald has done more to upgrade my technology than my whole staff. Number one, Fox News. Sorry about +p902 +aVWell, I think a national holiday would be the day that commander-in-chief Barack Obama doesn't have that job. But unlike these other three, I want to win New Hampshire. Go Tom Brady. Go Patriots. Sorry, Colorado is late in the... +p903 +aVSomebody said \u2014 or maybe I saw it on the bill of a cap \u2014 that let's make America great again. America is great. I intend to make America strong again. I'm going to be the champion of the middle class, where I came from. If you make me your president, our best days are ahead. I'm ready to be commander- in-chief, ladies and gentlemen, on day one. I intend to war \u2014 win a war that we cannot afford to lose. I will be a commander-in-chief worthy of the sacrifice of those brave Americans who have been defending our nation. They have had our back. God knows, they have had our back... +p904 +aV\u2014 and I intend to have their back as commander-in- chief. Make me commander-in-chief. +p905 +aVOne, thanks, CNN, for having people at this debate. I'm Lindsey Graham from South Carolina, in case you can't tell. I want to thank Ms. Reagan (ph) for inviting me. It means the world to me. I'm the only candidate tonight who served in the military while Ronald Reagan was our president and our commander in chief. It was one of the highlights of my life. I'm running for president to destroy radical Islam, to win the war on terror, to protect you and your family. And in that quest, I have an uncompromising determination to win this war, just like President Reagan had an uncompromising determination to destroy the evil empire, and win the Cold War. Above all others on both sides of the isle, I'm most qualified to be commander and chief on day one -- 33 years in the Air Force, 35 trips to Iraq and Afghanistan, I understand this war. I have a plan to win it, and I intend to win it. +p906 +aVWell, all I can say, if you looked at polling in 2012 and 2008 at this level, we'd have -- at this stage, we would have President Perry and President Giuliani. I have a long way to go. And here's what I'm going to try to do tonight -- convince you that I'm best qualified to be the commander-in-chief of the one percent who are doing the fighting for the rest of us. And we'll have a serious discussion tonight. All of us are going to say we want to destroy +p907 +aVWell, what I hope Republican voters, libertarian, vegetarians, Democrats, you name it, will look for somebody to lead us in a new direction, domestically, but particularly on the foreign policy front. President Obama is making a mess of the world. What I'm trying to tell you here tonight, that Syria is hell on Earth and it's not going to get fixed by insulting each other. I've been there 35 times to Iraq and Afghanistan. I am ready to be commander-in-chief on day one. I've been in the military 33 years, 140 days on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan. I am so ready to get on with winning a war that we can't afford to lose. I hope you believe that experience matters. It's an all- volunteer force of -- when you vote for commander-in-chief, they are stuck with your choice. We've had one novice being commander-in- chief. Let's don't replace one novice with another. And if I thought... +p908 +aV-- I could win this war without more American ground forces in Iraq and Syria, I would tell you, but we can't... +p909 +aV-- and if we don't get on with this, they are coming here. +p910 +aVThank you. +p911 +aVProbably for a good reason. +p912 +aVWell, let's talk about immigration. Number one, I like Rick. I don't remember the Santorum plan when I was in the Senate. The peanut gallery on this is interesting. I have been trying to solve this problem for a decade. There are no democrats here tonight. If you're here, raise your hand. You went to the wrong -- we'll, welcome. Thank you very much for coming. +p913 +aVThe bottom line, I'm trying to pitch the problem. We're not going to deport 11 million people here illegally, but we'll start with felons, and off they go. And, as to the rest, you can stay, but you got to learn our language. I don't speak it very well, well, look how far I've come? Speaking English is a good thing. You got to pay taxes, you got to pay a fine, you got to get in the back of the line. You've got to secure your border or they'll keep coming. If you don't control who gets a job that never ends -- so (ph) got two borders. One with Canadia -- Canada, one with Mexico. I never met an illegal Canadian. This is an economic problem, so, folks, let's solve it. Amnesty is doing nothing, and that's what we've been doing. As to birthright citizenship, once we clean up this mess, in the future, prospectively, I'm going to look at the following. There are people buying tourist visas that go to resorts with maternity wards with the expressed purpose of having a children here in America. There are rich Asians, there are rich people up in the Mid-East... +p914 +aV...That to me is bastardizing citizenship... +p915 +aV...Yeah, I'd like to stop that in the future... +p916 +aV...What do you do with the 11 million? +p917 +aV...What are you going to do with the 11 million? +p918 +aV...Well, what about the other half... +p919 +aV...How many democrats support yourplan... +p920 +aV...How many democrats did you have on your bill? +p921 +aV...I can tell you. None. +p922 +aV...That went nowhere. +p923 +aV...George W. Bush... +p924 +aV...Who won with hispanics. +p925 +aV...Compared to what we're doing... +p926 +aV...Hispanics... +p927 +aV...Are Americans... +p928 +aV...In my world, hispanics are Americans... +p929 +aV...I have a little different take on where the country is going on this issue. Number one, in 1950, there were 16 workers for every retiree. How many are there today? There's three. In 20 years, there's going to be two, and you're going to have 80 million baby boomers like me retiree in mass wanting a Social Security check, and their Medicare bills paid. We're going to need more legal immigration. Let's just make it logical. Let's pick people from all over the world on our terms, not just somebody from Mexico. Let's create a rational, legal immigration system because we have a declining workforce. +p930 +aV...Strom Thurmond had four kids after he was 67, if you're not willing to do that, we've got to come up with a new legal immigration system. +p931 +aVYes, number one, how does President Obama sleep at night? Look what you let happen on your watch. Your commanders told you, don't withdrawal from Iraq because we'll lose of our gains. Three years ago your entire national security team, Senator McCain and I begged you to do a no-fly zone and help the Free Syrian Army while it would matter. But you said no. I'm not blaming Bobby, I'm not blaming Rick, I'm not blaming anybody, I'm blaming Barack Obama for this mess. +p932 +aVRight. +p933 +aVI'm saying this, if they don't understand that Barack Obama's policies are not working, that we're not going to destroy +p934 +aV-- does that include American ground forces in Syria as part of a regional army? Are all of you willing to commit to American ground forces going into Syria as part of a regional army to destroy the caliphate and its headquarters? +p935 +aVWell, you know, Kim Davis, I'm not worried about her attacking me. I am worried about radical Islamic terrorists who are already here planning another 9/11. We're at war, folks. I'm not fighting a crime. I want to have a legal system that understands the difference between fighting a war and fighting a crime, and here's the reality. Young men from the Mid- East are different than Kim Davis. And we've got to understand that. +p936 +aVIslamic websites need to be monitored. +p937 +aVAnd if you are on one, I want to know what you're doing. +p938 +aVI wasn't the best law student. By the end of this debate, it would be the most time I've ever spent in any library. But on the first day in law school view (ph), it's called "Marbury v. Madison." The group in our constitutional democracy that interprets "The Constitution" as to what it means is the Supreme Court. In a 5-4 decision by the Supreme Court, they have ruled that same-sex marriage bans at the state level violate the Fourteenth Amendment to "The United States Constitution" equal protection clause. I don't agree with it, but that is the law of the land. But as president, what I want make sure of is that everybody in this room, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, whatever religion that you can practice your faith without government interference, you can marry people consistent with the tenets of your faith. That's the number one obligation of my presidency, is to protect religious people when they exercise their religious rights. But this decision is the law as it is of right now. And here's the one thing I want to tell you, Jake. +p939 +aVWait -- wait a minute. Whether you're the wedding cake baker or the gay couple or the Baptist preacher, radical Islam would kill you all if they could. +p940 +aVLet's don't lose sight of the big picture here. +p941 +aVHe's one of the most qualified men to ever come before the United States Senate and I don't agree with his decision, but 99 times out of 100, I will. To the Republicans, the biggest prize on the table in 2017 is the presidency. If it is Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders, they are going to pick people that we will disagree with all the time. Please understand, we have to win this election. The court's at stake. It is the most important reason for us to turn out, to make sure we don't lose the judiciary for decades to come. +p942 +aVI've been called a lot of things but never elite before. My dad owned a liquor store, a bar and a poolroom. So only in America can you go from the back of a liquor store to being an elite. +p943 +aVI introduced her at a conference about Africa. I thought Secretary Clinton did a good job when it came to dealing with our problems in Africa, particularly among women. George W. Bush set $40 billion aside and Rick Santorum helped him and President Bush wiped out an entire -- wiped out +p944 +aVWell, Ronald Reagan did a couple of really big things that we should all remember. He sat down with Tip O'Neill, the most liberal guy in the entire House. They started drinking together. That's the first thing I'm going to do as president. We're going to drink more. And what did this -- two great Irishmen do? They found a way to save Social Security from bankruptcy by adjusting the age of retirement from 65 to 67. So, yes, I will say nice things at times about Democrats. Yes, I will work them -- work with them. I will put the country ahead of party. Absolutely I want to work with them. At the end of the day, Hugh, I'm lucky to be standing here. I'm the first in my family to ever go to college. Neither one of my parents finished high school. Darline's here with me tonight. We owned a restaurant... +p945 +aVWell, wait a minute. We... +p946 +aVYou asked me a question. This is important. Republicans need to tell the American people we get it as to who you are. When my mom died, I was 21. When my dad died, when I was 22. We were wiped out financially. If it weren't for Social Security survivor benefit check coming into Darline, we wouldn't have made it. I don't need a lecture from Democrats about Social Security. +p947 +aVI want to save it, just like Ronald Reagan did. +p948 +aVIf you want to see manufacturing, come to South Carolina... +p949 +aV...We'll show 'ya. +p950 +aVWell, I know this. That when my mom and dad owned a restaurant, the bar, the pool room, that if you increased the minimum wage it'd been hard to hire more people. Hillary Clinton has a list a mile long to help the middle class. We're talking all around this. The middle class for the last six and a half years has been squeezed, and squeezed hard. To the middle class, I understand who you are. You're one broken down car from not going on vacation. You're from one sick child away from having to change your whole budget. Here's what I want to do as your president. I want to grow this economy. When Boeing came to South Carolina to build a 787, everybody paid more they would have lost their employees to Boeing. If you're a waitress out there wanting more money, I'm not going to increase the minimum wage, I'm going to try to create an environment where somebody else will open up a restaurant across the street to hire you away at a higher rate, or they'll have to pay you more to keep you. You got to borrow money to create jobs in this country. Banking is locked down because of Dodd-Frank. The tax code is a complete mess, but nobody's talked about the elephant in the room, which is debt. Not one more penny to the federal government until w2e come up with a plan to get out of debt. +p951 +aVIt's probably a small bit, but the ones that get it... +p952 +aVYeah, but I... +p953 +aV...Have you ever thought why all of us say that... +p954 +aVIf I believed they were trying to break out and get a bomb, absolutely. And here's the most important thing: they know I would if I had to. And none of us are going to be able to defend this country adequately until we rebuild our military. A weak economy, a military in decline, the world on fire, does that sound familiar to you? Michael, does that sound familiar to you? The first thing I'm going to do as commander in chief on day one is call the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and say, what do you need that you don't have? We're cutting our military; we're on track to have the smallest Army since 1940, the smallest Navy since 1915 and John Kasich says he wants to close more bases. I want to rebuild our military and I want the Iranians to know that, if I had to, I would use it. The worst nightmare in the world is a radical Islamic regime with a weapon of mass destruction. The only reason 3,000 of us died on 9/11 is not 3 million, not 3 million is because they couldn't get the weapons to kill us. They're on track to get a bomb even if they don't cheat. This deal is a nightmare for Israel. They are coming here if we don't watch it terrorism with a nuclear capability sponsored by Iran. So, yes, I would use military force to stop them. I would set this deal aside and I would get you a better deal. If you gave $100 billion, I could get almost anybody out of jail. We couldn't even get our hostages out of jail. +p955 +aVDo you think Putin would be in the Ukraine or Syria today if Ronald Reagan were president? No. This is what happens when you have a weak, unqualified commander- in-chief who doesn't understand the role America plays in the world. Why is it bad for you that Russia's helping Assad? He's the magnet for Sunni extremists. The Syrian people are not going to accept him as their legitimate leader. By Assad being helped by Russia, it means the war never ends. It means the next 9/11, which is most likely to occur from an attack from Syria. It's more likely. At the end of the day, if I'm president of the United States, I've told you what I'm going to do. There's nobody left in Syria to train. We're going to get a regional army who doesn't like +p956 +aV... and if the war in Syria continues, it is coming here. For God's sakes, let's get on with... +p957 +aV... with fixing the problem in Syria. +p958 +aVBobby, you were in the Congress, and all I can tell you, to everybody here, if you want to repeal Obamacare, get a new president. If you want to defund Planned Parenthood, elect a pro-life president, because that's the only way. If we pass the Cardin bill, Graham, Menendez, it would go to the president. He would veto it. 67 votes are required to override the veto. +p959 +aVWait a minute. Now, you asked me a question. So I don't want to take off the table the ability to slow down Obama in his last 13 to 14 months, because I want 60 votes to stop what I think he's going to do between now and January 2017. Five Republicans deflect -- leave -- we're in trouble. So folks, the world really is the way it is. President Obama is president. The goal is to get him out of there and pick somebody who would actually do something to repeal Obamacare, who would get you a better agreement. So Bobby, he would veto the bill, we don't have 67 votes, and you're giving away a defense against Obama for the rest of his presidency. No, I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to tell you things I can't do. I'm not going to tell you by shutting the government down, we're going to defund Obamacare as long as he's president. All that does is hurt us. I am trying to lead this party to winning. +p960 +aVAre you going to shut the government down? +p961 +aVAre you going to shut the government... +p962 +aVCan I just say something? You know, Bobby, we're running to be president of the United States, the most important job in the free world. With it comes a certain amount of honesty. I'm tired of telling people things they want to hear that I know we can't do. He is not going to sign a bill that would defund ObamaCare. If I am president of the United States, I wouldn't put one penny in -- in my budget for Planned Parenthood, not one penny. I'm as offended by these videos as you are. But the one thing I'm not going to do going into 2016 is shut the government down and tank our ability to win. What you're saying and what Senator Cruz is saying, I am really sick of hearing, trying to get the bottom... +p963 +aV-- the Republican Party in a position... +p964 +aV-- to win. That's what I'm trying to do. And that does matter to me ... +p965 +aVIt matters a lot. +p966 +aVWell, number one, I will win a war that we can't afford to lose. I have a plan to destroy radical Islam because it has to be. These are religious Nazis running while President Obama has made one mistake after another and it's caught up with us. What do I have to offer that's different? I get my foreign policy from being in on the ground. I've been to Iraq and Afghanistan in the Middle East 35 times in the last decade, trying to understand how we got in this mess. Our leading candidate gets his foreign policy from watching television. And what I heard last night is the Cartoon Network, oh, I'm big, I'm strong, we're going to hit them in the head. +p967 +aVThat's not foreign policy. That's a cartoon character. John Kasich, a good friend of mine, said in New Hampshire, we're going to close more bases on his watch. On my watch, we're going to open up more bases. The military is in decline, folks. We're going to have the smallest military in modern times, spending half of what we'd normally spend by the end of this decade. +p968 +aVWhat do I offer? What do I offer? To make your families safe and our country strong again, a vision and a determination to win a war that we cannot afford to lose. +p969 +aVYou can trust me to do the following: that when I get on change with Hillary Clinton, we won't be debating about the science, we'll be debating about the solutions. In her world, cap- and-trade would dominate, that we will destroy the economy in the name of helping the environment. In my world, we'll focus on energy independence and a clean environment. When it comes to fossil fuels, we're going to find more here and use less. Over time, we're going to become energy independent. I am tired of sending $300 billion overseas to buy oil from people who hate our guts. The choice between a weak economy and a strong environment is a false choice, that is not the choice I'll offer America. A healthy environment, a strong economy and energy independent America -- that would be the purpose of my presidency, is break the strangle hold that people enjoy on fossil fuels who hate our guts. +p970 +aVIf we don't stop them over there, they are coming here just as sure as I stand here in front of you. One thing I want to be clear about tonight. If you're running for president of the United States and you don't understand that we need more American ground forces in Iraq and that America has to be part of a regional ground force that will go into Syria and destroy +p971 +aVRight. Mac +p972 +aVI think America is dying to work, you just need to give them a chance. To all the Americans who want a better life, don't vote for Hillary Clinton. You're not going to get it. She's not going to repeal "Obamacare" and replace it. I will. She's not going to build the Keystone Pipeline. I will. She's not going to change Dodd-Frank. I will. Until you change the policies of Barack Obama, we're never going to grow this economy. Until you change the policies of Barack Obama, we're never going to be safe. She represents a third term of a failed presidency. I'm fluent in Clinton-speak; I've been dealing with this crowd for 20 years. You know, when Bill Clinton says it depends on what the meaning of is is, that means is is whatever Bill wants it to mean. When Hillary Clinton tells you I've given you all the emails you need, that means she hasn't. So to the people who are dying for a better America, you better change course, and she doesn't represent the change that we need. Do we all agree that +p973 +aVI don't think it's a war on women for all of us as Americans to stand up and stop harvesting organs from little babies. Let's take the money that we would give to Planned Parenthood and put it in women's health care without having to harvest the organs of the unborn. The only way we're going to defund Planned Parenthood is have a pro-life president. You want to see a war on women? Come with me to Iraq and Afghanistan, folks. I've been there 35 times. I will show you what they do to women. These mythical Arab armies that my friends talk about that are going to protect us don't exist. If I am president of the United States, we're going to send soldiers back to Iraq, back to Syria, to keep us from being attacked here and keep soldiers in Afghanistan because we must. I cannot tell you how much our nation is threatened and how we need a commander in chief who understands the threats to this nation. If you're running for president of the United States and you do not understand that we cannot defend this nation without more of our soldiers over there, you are not ready for this job. +p974 +aVChange the Mexico City policy, not take one dime of taxpayer money to fund abortion organizations overseas, and restore the NSA that's been gutted. We're going dark when it comes to detecting the next attack. We have gutted our ability to detect the next attack. And I would not stand for that as president of the United States. I would take the fight to these guys, whatever it took, as long as it took. +p975 +aVThank you. First thing I'd tell the American people, whatever it takes to defend our nation, I would do. To the 1 percent who have been fighting this war for over a decade, I'd try my best to be a commander-in-chief worthy of your sacrifice. We're going to lose Social Security and Medicare if Republicans and Democrats do not come together and find a solution like Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neill. I will be the Ronald Reagan if I can find a Tip O'Neill. When I was 21, my mom died. When I was 22, my dad died. We owned a liquor store, restaurant, bar and we lived in the back. Every penny we needed from -- every penny we got from Social Security, because my sister was a minor, we needed. Today, I'm 60, I'm not married, I don't have any kids. I would give up some Social Security to save a system that Americans are going to depend on now and in the future. Half of American seniors would be in poverty without a Social Security check. If you make your president, I'm going to put the country ahead of the party. I'm going to do what it takes to defend this nation. This nation has been great to me, and that's the only way I know to pay you back. Mac +p976 +aVNot the change we need at a time we need it. +p977 +aVWe need somebody ready to be commander-in-chief on day one, who understands there are no moderates in Iran, they've been killed a long time ago. That the Ayatollah is a radical jihadist who really means it when he chants, "Death to America, death to Israel." And this deal is giving him a pathway to a bomb, a missile to deliver it, and money to pay for it all. We need a president who can solve our problems, bring us together. We're becoming Greece if we don't work together. At the end of the day, ladies and gentlemen, our best days are ahead of us only if we work together, and I intend to put this country on a path of success by working together and doing the hard things that should have been done a very long time ago. +p978 +asVREGAN +p979 +(lp980 +VIn Tuesday's State of the Union Address, the president said that our economy is strong. He cited the significant decline we've seen in unemployment rate and the millions of jobs that have been created. What is your assessment of the economy right now? And I would like to hear from all of you on this one, beginning with Ms. Fiorina. +p981 +aVThank you Governor Huckabee. Senator Santorum? +p982 +aVThank you. Well, since we've been talking about the Middle East, Senator Santorum, conflicts between Saudi Arabia and Iran have certainly escalated, amid accusations that Saudi Arabia bombed the Iranian Embassy in Yemen after the Saudi Embassy in Tehran was attacked. As we confront an increasingly unstable Middle East, how will you, as president, navigate this administration's promises to Iran while standing by our historic allies in the region? +p983 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p984 +aVGovernor Huckabee, if I could just follow-up with that. Do we need to be in Afghanistan? +p985 +aVThank you Governor Huckabee. Ms. Fiorina, nearly 600 women say they were attacked in a German city on New Year's Eve by men of Arab or North African descent and 45 percent of those alleged attacks were sexual assaults. Twenty-two of those 32 men arrested so far are asylum-seekers. Are you worried about similar problems in the United States? +p986 +aVI want to stay with you on this. The world shares a common enemy right now in the way of +p987 +aVMs. Fiorina, thank you. +p988 +aVWelcome back, everyone, to the Republican presidential debate. On to the next round of questions \u2014 Sandra. +p989 +aVMs. Fiorina, the president has just issued an executive order to expand the gun laws and background checks. And none of you on stage agree with this. But recent polls show the majority of Americans are in favor of universal background checks. +p990 +aVIt's the poll data. +p991 +aVSo tell me......why, in your view, is the president's proposal a problem? +p992 +aVMs. Fiorina, you've said that was when you were CEO of HP, you actually worked with the government. +p993 +aV\u2014 to try and combat some of these terrorist threats. +p994 +aVWhat did you do? +p995 +aVMs. Fiorina, thank you. +p996 +aVGovernor Huckabee, an American in San Bernardino murdered 14 people while terrorists with Belgian and French passports murdered 130 people. Were facing a threat within our borders, and from outside the United States. Those European terrorists, they could have come here at any time given that we have a visa waiver program that enables people to travel back and forth. It exists within those countries, and 36 others. In countries around the world, including many in Europe, cannot ensure that their citizens are not jihadists, why are we waiving the visa requirement at all? +p997 +aVIf you get the visa waiver program, does that shut down international commerce? +p998 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p999 +aVSenator Santorum, thank you. +p1000 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p1001 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from North Charleston. We want to jump right back in. Sandra is kicking it off. +p1002 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you know it used to be you could graduate from high school and get a pretty good job at the local factory, enough to take care of your family and yourself. Those days seem to be gone. It's pretty hard to do that nowadays. Businesses are increasingly turning to automation to increase their productivity levels. It's happening right here, in fact, at the Boeing factory in North Charleston. The president says automation threatens workers' ability to get higher wages. Do you agree with that? And if so, do you have a solution? +p1003 +aVThank you very much, Governor Huckabee. Senator Santorum, 40% of babies born today are born to single moms. That's twice as high as reported back in 1980, and it's 11 times as high as in 1940. Studies show that children are always better off economically, most often \u2014 and emotionally, with two parents in a household. From a policy perspective, should the government be doing anything to encourage family formation? +p1004 +aVThank you. +p1005 +aVCarly Fiorina? +p1006 +aVThank you to all the candidates. That does it, everyone for the first debate right here in North Charleston. +p1007 +aVGood evening, and welcome to the historic Milwaukee Theater. Tonight, you'll hear from 12 Republican candidates vying to become the next President of the United States. I'm Trish Regan, along with my co-moderators, Sandra Smith, and from the Wall Street Journal, Jerry Seib. +p1008 +aVLet's introduce them. New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie. Former Arkansas Governor, Mike Huckabee. Former Pennsylvania Senator, Rick Santorum. And, Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindal. +p1009 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p1010 +aVAll right, Governor Jindal, you have pushed Louisiana's energy resources as a means to grow jobs in your state. But as oil prices have plunged in recent months, so has jobs growth. Louisiana now has an unemployment rate above the national average. Will your energy-focused jobs plan for the country be subject to the same market ups and downs? +p1011 +aVAll right, Governor Jindal, thank you. Governor Christie, you have said that the Democrats' message is one of, quote, "free stuff." In contrast, Republicans want to reduce spending. How do you win a national election when the Democrats are offering free health care, a free or subsidized college education, and you're the party that is seemingly offering nothing in the way of immediate tangible benefits? +p1012 +aVSenator Santorum, a single mom with no job and two kids in New Hampshire, home of the first in the nation primary, is eligible for more than $30,000 a year in benefits. Even if she could find a job, she would need to find child care. And in many cases may conclude it's better for her to live off government benefits. Senator, how do you help and incentivize her to go to work? And if you're the one that's going to cut her benefits, why should she vote for you? +p1013 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you. All right, we are just getting started. Medicare, Social Security and the future of ObamaCare \u2014 that is all straight ahead, live from Milwaukee and the Republican presidential debate. +p1014 +aVWelcome back to the Milwaukee Theater, and the Republican Presidential Debate. On to the next round of questions, Gerry has the next question. +p1015 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you differ from many of your GOP opponents on the stage tonight over accepting Syrian refugees into this country. You have said, "We don't have an obligation to just open our doors." As the Islamic state continues to expand, slaughtering and crucifying Christians, including women and children, refugees continue to flee their land by the thousands. Should America open its doors to accept any refugees in this country? If so, how many? +p1016 +aVAlright, Governor Huckabee, thank you. +p1017 +aVNext question to you, Governor... +p1018 +aV...Next question to you, Governor... +p1019 +aV...let me get in......Let me get in here, because the next question, it's to you, and it's on Obamacare. It is still unpopular with the American people. You've seen the polls, they've shown nearly half the country still opposes this law. You have been critical of your GOP opponents, some of them standing on the stage tonight, others later. Notably, Ted Cruz, for not having comprehensive plans. You say you do. What specifically makes your plan to replace Obamacare better than the opponents, some of them standing next to you. +p1020 +aVGovernor Jindal, thank you. +p1021 +aVWe'll get to that. +p1022 +aVRonald Reagan did work with Tip O'Neill. Anyway, we are going to take a quick break. Coming up, one of the top issues for voters, how much you're paying in taxes. We are live from Milwaukee with the Republican presidential debate. See you right back here. +p1023 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate. We are live from Milwaukee. A top issue on the campaign trail, taxes and how much you pay. All right, I've got a question for all of you here. When looking at the federal income tax, state income tax and local tax, in some cases, combined, some Americans are paying over 50 percent of their paycheck to the government. What is the highest percentage, all in, in the way of taxes, that any American should have to pay and what is the lowest? I'd like to, again, to hear from each of you. And I want those two all in numbers. I'm going to start with you, Senator Santorum. +p1024 +aVAll in. OK, Governor Christie? +p1025 +aVAnd we'll get back to you. Governor Jindal? +p1026 +aVGovernor Huckabee, Americans, under your plan, would pay a tax on every single thing that they purchase. Given that consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of GDP, some economists worry that your tax plan would actually discourage spending, thereby slowing our economy. How do you respond? +p1027 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p1028 +aVSenator Santorum, you agree with Governor Christie. You also have said that the Fed should be audited. But many worry that given the Congressional challenges that they face, by having Congressional oversight of the Fed, which has been historically an independent body, you would be making the Fed much more political. How would you navigate that risk? +p1029 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee, both Senator Santorum and Governor Christie were boat \u2014 both critical of the Federal Reserve. Also, many have questioned whether Janet Yellen is the right person to be running the Fed. If elected president, would you keep Janet Yellen? +p1030 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee, thank you. All right, Senator Santorum, by the way, today is the 240th... +p1031 +aV\u2014 of the United States... +p1032 +aV\u2014 Marine Corps. Tomorrow is Veterans Day. We honor and recognize all those who have fought for, and served this great nation, Senator. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, meanwhile, which provides patient care, and federal benefits to those veterans, as well as their families, is beset by scandal. What new ideas do you have to fix the broken V.A. healthcare system? +p1033 +asVHEMMER +p1034 +(lp1035 +VSo, here we go. Ninety-seven hours before Iowa chooses, in fact the last two winners in this state are on this stage tonight. Governor Huckabee, in 2008, you won by nine points here, but this time your support seems to be going to Senator Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. Why, Governor, is your message not working this time? +p1036 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Santorum, four short years ago you won Iowa. You beat Mitt Romney, pretty much shocked the country. But, just the other day you talked about what is in the greater good for your campaign. Is Monday night your last stand? +p1037 +aVOK. +p1038 +aV... Senator, do you want to name... ... Senator, do you want to name that entertainer your refering to? +p1039 +aVBut senator, since you mentioned... +p1040 +aVSenator, quickly then, after this debate, you mentioned Donald trump's name. Immediately, you're going to event across town here in Des Moines as a guest of Donald Trump. +p1041 +aVSo are you laying the groundwork for maybe your future? Perhaps an endorsement of Mr. Trump? +p1042 +aVThank you, senator. One moment. We'll get to you in a moment, Governor. We have a few coming up. +p1043 +aVThank you. Governor Gilmore. As of one week ago, you have not held a single campaign event here in the state of Iowa. As of one week ago, in fact, you were the only one in the Republican field who had not made a campaign visit to this state. You know how it works here. You know how it's worked over time. Why should anyone caucus for you on Monday night? +p1044 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p1045 +aVMs. Fiorina, same topic. The president says that many are exaggerating the threat from +p1046 +aVThank you. +p1047 +aVGovernor Gilmore, some time this spring 34 more detainees are cleared from release from Gitmo. If you were president, as you say, this president wants to close it. As president, if Gitmo were closed and an enemy combatant were found or captured in the field of battle, perhaps Syria or Iraq or Libya, and you don't have Gitmo, where would you put them? +p1048 +aVGovernor, thank you for that. +p1049 +aVWelcome back to Des Moines on what will be a long night here. Let's get back to the questions. Let's get back to the questions with Martha. +p1050 +aVLet me stay with you, Ms. Fiorina. You've said you will shrink the federal government by 30 percent over the next two years, and those jobs will not be filled, and you'll do it through retirement. Your critics would argue that's exactly what you did at Hewlett Packard when 30,000 people lost their jobs. If it did not work at H.P., why would it work at the federal government? +p1051 +aVThank you. +p1052 +aVGovernor Huckabee, Nikki Haley, Republican governor from South Carolina, recently said... +p1053 +aVI did not, but we... +p1054 +aVWe have plenty for you -- you bet, Governor. We have a couple more in the hopper for you in a moment here. +p1055 +aVFirst, Governor -- Governor Huckabee, Nikki Haley warned about listening to "the siren call of the angriest voices," to which Donald Trump said he is "very, very angry." Who is right, Governor? +p1056 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1057 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you've mentioned the economy several times tonight. Let's go back to that for a moment because in America today 50% of the American workers are making less than $30,000 dollars a year. Let's talk about what you could do for them. The Conservative Club for Growth has had an issue with your policy on taxes for years. In fact, it called you, "Tax Hike Mike". And, the record shows state spending in Arkansas increased 54% when you were in charge, 94% if you include federal dollars during that same period. When it comes to helping people at the margins, $30,000, $32,000 dollars a year, what's better? A tax and spend approach, or shrinking government? +p1058 +aVGovernor Huckabee, thank you. Same issue, Senator Santorum. The President says criticism of his economic policy is political hot air. You consistently talk about manufacturing jobs leaving America. You support a flat tax of 20%. How would a flat tax bring back two million jobs to America? +p1059 +aVSenator, thank you. +p1060 +aVThank you Ms. Fiorina. Governor Gilmore. Who are the moderate Muslims do you seek advice and counsel from on how to deal with the threat from radical Islamic terrorism? +p1061 +aVThank you governor. Governor Huckabee. Here in Iowa 43 percent of Democratic caucus goers describe themselves as socialist. That's a higher number than those who say they are capitalist. I guess you could say, they're feeling the burn. This is a country rooted in capitalism, the United States of America. How did we get here? +p1062 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum, the president says politics in America have become meaner over the past several years with him in the White House. Two weeks ago at the State of the Union he said the following. "A president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide." Lincoln and Roosevelt, that's pretty good company. If he is right, do Republicans share some of the blame? +p1063 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1064 +aVIn the closing few moments, the candidates have an opportunity to make a closing statement, 30 seconds for each. And, we want to start tonight with the former Virginia Governor, Jim Gilmore. +p1065 +aV... Thank you, Governor. +p1066 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p1067 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1068 +aVThat concludes our debate tonight, but the night has just begun. +p1069 +aVThis is first official event in the campaign for the Republican nomination for president. Welcome to Cleveland Ohio. It is debate night. I'm Bill Hemmer. Mac +p1070 +aVSo you will hear from all 17 candidates tonight, and you'll meet seven of them right now, starting with three-time governor in the state of Texas, Rick Perry. Mac +p1071 +aVTwo-time. Two-time governor of the State of Louisiana, Acting Governor Bobby Jindal. So you will hear from all 17 candidates tonight, and you'll meet seven of them right now, starting with three-time governor in the state of Texas, Rick Perry. Mac +p1072 +aVTwo-time. Two-time governor of the State of Louisiana, Acting Governor Bobby Jindal. Mac +p1073 +aVThe senior senator from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham. Mac +p1074 +aVAnd former Virginia governor, Jim Gilmore. Mac +p1075 +aVGentle. Mac +p1076 +aVWait til you hear what the others are going to get later, huh? Mac +p1077 +aVOne year from now, a Republican nominee will be standing on this stage in this very same arena. That person is in Cleveland today. So let's get started. First topic, electability. First question to Governor Perry from Texas. Welcome, Governor. +p1078 +aVYou were in charge of the 12th largest economy in the world, and you recently said that four years ago, you weren't ready for this job. Why should someone vote for you now? +p1079 +aVThank you, Governor. Mac +p1080 +aVSenator Santorum, you won the Iowa caucus four years ago and 10 other states. But you failed to beat Mitt Romney for the nomination. And no one here tonight is going to question your conviction or your love for country. But has your moment passed, Senator? +p1081 +aVThank you, Senator. Mac +p1082 +aVSenator Lindsey Graham, you worked with Democrats and President Obama when it came to climate change, something you know is extremely unpopular with conservative Republicans. How can they trust you based on that record? +p1083 +aVThank you, Senator. Mac +p1084 +aVThank you, Governor. Mac +p1085 +aVThis Saturday, August 8th, two days from now marks one year since the strikes began against +p1086 +aVAnd the senator to your right has called for 20,000 American troops in Syria and Iraq so far today, Senator Graham, and I'll give this question to you. Why should the American people after two wars in Iraq sacrifice yet again on a third war? +p1087 +aVSenator, thank you. Mac +p1088 +aVIt is debate night, and welcome back to Cleveland, Ohio. Let's get back to the questions right now with Martha. Mac +p1089 +aVExcuse me, Martha. I have not heard the bell just yet, so you're all very well behaved so far. Governor Gilmore, 30 seconds. +p1090 +aVThank you, Governor. I've got to move on to immigration here. Senator Santorum, you would argue you have one of the tougher positions on illegal immigration in the entire 17 candidate field at the moment. We often talk about this issue on the abstract level in Washington, D.C., but you know how it's being talked about in states like Iowa and New Hampshire among illegals in our country today -- 11 million plus. And some are asking, what would you say to a child, born and raised in America, who could see their family broken apart by your policy? +p1091 +aVGovernor Perry, try and answer this question again. What do you say to the family of illegals? Are you going to break them apart? +p1092 +aVGovernor, thank you. Mac +p1093 +aVAnd so right now, we're 30 minutes in. Going to jump back into the topics and continue our discussion of national issues on the domestic level. The issue that is really number one on the minds of many voters, that's the economy and jobs. Mac +p1094 +aVThank you, Governor. Your last topic brings us to the state of Ohio. You know, the saying, right? No Republican wins the White House unless you win here in the Buckeye state. Well, here in the Buckeye state, the Governor John Kasich took the federal money for Medicaid expansion under Obamacare. And Governor Jindal of Louisiana, you passed on those tax dollars. Why do you think Governor Kasich got it wrong here? +p1095 +aVSo Governor Kasich was wrong, just to be clear. +p1096 +aVI didn't hear an answer regarding Governor Kasich, but for now I'll go to Governor Pataki. Yes or no? +p1097 +aVGovernor Pataki, three term governor of New York. Is he right, Governor Jindal from Louisiana? +p1098 +aVYes or no, would you have expanded Obamacare in the state of New York, had you been governor at that time? +p1099 +aVOK. +p1100 +aVThank you, Governor Pataki. In a moment here, we'll talk to the candidates about an issue today on Planned Parenthood, and also the U.S. Supreme Court. That's all next here in Cleveland. +p1101 +aVWelcome back to Cleveland, Ohio. Want to get back to the questions and the issues in this debate now, with my co-anchor, Martha. Mac +p1102 +aVNext question on the U.S. Supreme Court. It's been 42 years, Senator Santorum, since Roe v. Wade, and many consider, in this country, to be a case of settled law. Recently the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on same-sex marriage. Is that now settled law in America today? +p1103 +aVAlright, Senator, thank you. To Governor Gilmore. For years, presidential candidates have not said they would have a litmus test for justices nominated to the Supreme Court. Recently, Hillary Clinton broke that precedent. She said she would apply that on the case of Citizens United, which deals with campaign finance laws in America today. Is it time for conservatives to impose a litmus test on abortion? +p1104 +aVSo, no litmus test? +p1105 +aVThank you, governor. Mac +p1106 +aVAs the first debate of the nomination season continues, welcome back to Cleveland. Let's get back to the questions right now, and the issues here in the U.S. Martha? Mac +p1107 +aVThank you, Senator. Executive power. It appears that you all have a little bit of an issue with it at the moment. I want to move through this as quickly as I can, from stage left to stage right. On the second day of his presidency, January 22nd 2009, President Obama signed one of his first executive orders. That was close Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Still open today. What would be your first executive order? Governor Gilmore, start. +p1108 +aVSenator Graham. +p1109 +aVGovernor Jindal, your first executive order would be in the White House would be what? +p1110 +aVGovernor Perry. +p1111 +aVThat will be a long day. +p1112 +aVSenator Santorum? +p1113 +aVFirst order, Carly Fiorina? +p1114 +aVGovernor Pataki? +p1115 +aVThank you all. Mac +p1116 +aVThank you, senator. Mac +p1117 +aVThank you, Senator. I need a two-word answer to the following query. In 2008, then-Senator Barack Obama described Hillary Clinton as, quote, "likable enough," end quote. What two words would you use to describe the Democratic frontrunner? Governor Pataki to start. +p1118 +aVWow. Carly Fiorina. +p1119 +aVGovernor Jindal? +p1120 +aVGovernor? +p1121 +aVNot a lot of compliments. To be continued. Mac +p1122 +aVThank you Governor. Senator Santorum? +p1123 +aVAll right. Senator thank you. Mac +p1124 +aVCarly Fiorina, closing statement. +p1125 +aVThank you. Mac +p1126 +aVAnd to Governor Pataki, closing statement now. +p1127 +aVThank you, Governor. Mac +p1128 +aVThat concludes the first debate of the 2016 Republican primary. We would like to thank all seven of you for being here today. +p1129 +asVUNIDENTIFIED +p1130 +(lp1131 +VWhy don't, why don't we... +p1132 +asVBAIER +p1133 +(lp1134 +VLess than a year from now, in this very arena, one of these 10 candidates or one of the seven on the previous debate tonight will accept the Republican party's nomination. Tonight's candidates were selected based on an average of five national polls. Just a few hours ago, you heard from the candidates ranked 11th through 17. And now, the prime-time event, the top 10. +p1135 +aVNeurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Florida Senator Marco Rubio. +p1136 +aVIt might be. It might be. We'll see. [ +p1137 +aVIt might be. The rules for tonight are simple. One minute for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups. And if a candidate runs over, you'll hear this. Pleasant, no? We also have a big crowd here with us tonight in the home of the Cavaliers, as I mentioned. And while we expect them... ... we expect them to be enthusiastic, as you heard, we don't want to take anything away from the valuable time for the candidate. So, we're looking for somewhere between a reaction to a LeBron James dunk and the Cleveland Public Library across the street. Somewhere there, we'll find a balance tonight. Without further ado, let's begin. +p1138 +aVGentlemen, we know how much you love hand-raising questions. So we promise, this is the only one tonight: the only one. Is there anyone on stage, and can I see hands, who is unwilling tonight to pledge your support to the eventual nominee of the Republican party and pledge to not run an independent campaign against that person. Again, we're looking for you to raise your hand now -- raise your hand now if you won't make that pledge tonight. Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump to be clear, you're standing on a Republican primary debate stage. +p1139 +aVThe place where the RNC will give the nominee the nod. +p1140 +aVAnd that experts say an independent run would almost certainly hand the race over to Democrats and likely another Clinton. You can't say tonight that you can make that pledge? +p1141 +aVSo tonight, you can't say if another one of these... +p1142 +aVOK. +p1143 +aVDr. Paul. +p1144 +aVOK. +p1145 +aVJust to be clear, you can't make a -- we're gonna -- we're going to move on. You're not gonna make the pledge tonight? +p1146 +aVOK. Alright. +p1147 +aVGovernor Bush, you have insisted that you're your own man. You say you have a life experience uniquely your own. Not your father's, not your brother's. But there are several opponents on this stage who get big- applause lines in early voting states with this line: quote, "the last thing the country needs is another Bush in the Oval Office." So do you understand the real concern in this country about dynastic politics? +p1148 +aVGovernor Christie, you're not exactly the darling of conservatives. You tout your record as a Republican governor in a blue state. On Facebook, the most people talking about you, not surprisingly, come from your state of New Jersey, and one of the top issues they are talking about is the economy. This -- this may be why. Under your watch, New Jersey has undergone nine credit rating downgrades. The state's 44th in private sector growth. You face an employee pension crisis and the Garden State has the third highest foreclosure rate in the country. So why should voters believe that your management of the country's finances would be any different? +p1149 +aVSenator Paul, you recently blamed the rise of +p1150 +aVGentlemen, the next series of questions deals with ObamaCare and the role of the federal government. Mr. Trump, ObamaCare is one of the things you call a disaster. +p1151 +aVSaying it needs to be repealed and replaced. +p1152 +aVNow, 15 years ago, you called yourself a liberal on health care. You were for a single-payer system, a Canadian-style system. Why were you for that then and why aren't you for it now? +p1153 +aVBut on ObamaCare... +p1154 +aVMr. Trump, hold up one second. +p1155 +aVAll right, now, hold on, Senator Paul... +p1156 +aVOK. +p1157 +aVAll right, let me... Mr. Trump, it's not just your past support for single- payer health care. You've also supported a host of other liberal policies. Use -- you've also donated to several Democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton included, Nancy Pelosi. You explained away those donations saying you did that to get business-related favors. And you said recently, quote, "When you give, they do whatever the hell you want them to do." +p1158 +aVSo what specifically did... +p1159 +aV-- they do? +p1160 +aVHold on. We're going to -- we're going to move on. We'll come back to you, Governor Walker. +p1161 +aVWe have many questions to come. +p1162 +aVMany questions to come. Governor Huckabee, on Facebook, John Pietricone asked this, "Will you abolish or take away the powers and cut the size of the EPA, the IRS, the Department of Education?" Now, broadly... ...broadly, the size of government is a big concern for Facebook users, Facebook persons, as well as, obviously, conservatives. But year after year, decade after decade, there are promises from Republicans to shrink government. But year after year, decade after decade, it doesn't happen. In fact, it gets bigger, even under Republican politicians. So the question is, at this point, is the government simply too big for any one person, even a Republican, to shrink? +p1163 +aVDr. Carson... +p1164 +aVDr. Carson, do you agree with that? +p1165 +aVGovernor Bush? +p1166 +aVWe're going to come back to you, Dr. Carson. Governor Bush, you are one of the few people on the stage who advocates for Common Core education standards, reading and math. A lot of people on this stage vigorously oppose a federal involvement in education. They say it should all be handled locally. President Obama's secretary of education, Arnie Duncan, has said that most of the criticism of Common Core is due to a, quote, "fringe group of critics." Do you think that's accurate? +p1167 +aVSenator Rubio, why is Governor Bush wrong on Common Core? +p1168 +aVAnd do you agree with your old friend? +p1169 +aVWe have many more questions coming on a host of topics, here from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Stay with us. +p1170 +aVWe have many more questions coming on a host of topics. Here from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Stay with us. +p1171 +aVGentlemen, another question for a few of you. Yesterday, just yesterday, President Obama criticized Republican lawmakers trying to block the Iran deal, calling them knee-jerk partisans, adding that hardliners in Iran who chant "death to America" were, quote, "making common cause with the Republican caucus." Here's what two of your opponents on the 5 p.m. debate stage said about Iran. +p1172 +aVNow, I wanna ask a few of you this. First, Governor Walker. You've said that you would tear up the Iran deal on day one. If this deal is undone, what then? +p1173 +aVSenator Paul, would you tear up the deal on day one? +p1174 +aVGovernor Huckabee, what do you think about what Senator Paul just said? +p1175 +aVThank you, gentlemen. +p1176 +aVWelcome back to Cleveland. Our next topic is foreign policy. Candidates, you may not have seen the late developing news today our Fox Pentagon team broke earlier this evening about a top Iranian general traveling to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. His name is General Qassem Soleimani, he's blamed for hundreds of U.S. troop's deaths in Iraq, and Afghanistan. His trip to Russia appears to directly violate U.N. Security Council resolutions to confine him to Iran. So, Mr. Trump, if you were president, how would you respond to this? +p1177 +aVAnother new development today, Senior Defense officials tell Fox they strongly suspect Russia was behind the cyber attack on the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs office... +p1178 +aV...email. This comes in the wake of the Director of National Intelligence blaming the Chinese for the largest ever cyber attack, stealing personal data of tens of millions of Americans. Senator Cruz, in your view, have Russia and China committed acts of cyber war, and if you were president, what would you do about it? +p1179 +aVDr. Carson, in August of 2012 President Obama famously declared Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons, quote, "that's a redline for us," and that there would be enormous consequences. One year later, with overwhelming evidence the Assad had, in fact, used chemical weapons and crossed that red line, President Obama declined to use military force against the Assad regime. As president, would you have used military force there? +p1180 +aVGovernor Walker, as president, what would you do if Russian President Vladimir Putin started a campaign to destabilize +p1181 +aVGovernor -- Governor Huckabee, the culture of the American military is definitely changing. Women are moving into combat roles. Don't Ask, Don't Tell has obviously been dropped. And now Defense Secretary Ashton Carter recently directed the military to prepare for a moment when it is welcoming transgender persons to serve openly. As commander in chief, how would you handle that? +p1182 +aVSenator Paul, the first budget you proposed as senator cut all financial aid to Israel. You have since changed your view on that issue. What made you change your mind. +p1183 +aVOK. But you still say that Israel could be one of the countries that is cut from financial aid? +p1184 +aVGovernor Christie, what do you think of that answer? +p1185 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p1186 +aVSenator, we're going to finish up with some more questions, thank you. +p1187 +aVNow each candidate will make a closing statement. You'll all have 30 seconds to make a closing statement for this debate. We'll start with Ohio Governor John Kasich. +p1188 +aVSenator Marco Rubio. +p1189 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1190 +aVGovernor Mike Huckabee, closing statement. +p1191 +aVMr. Trump, closing statement, sir. +p1192 +aVGentlemen, thank you. +p1193 +aVThat's it. +p1194 +aVNine p.m. on the East Coast. Eight o'clock here in Des Moines, Iowa. Welcome to the seventh Republican presidential debate of the 2016 campaign. I'm Bret Baier, along with my comoderators Megyn Kelly and Chris Wallace. +p1195 +aVGoogle sees political searches spike during televised presidential debates \u2014 no surprise there. But they spike by more than 440 percent on average, as voters across America seek to learn more about what's happening on the live debate stage. +p1196 +aVOhio Governor John Kasich. And Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. +p1197 +aVTonight's rules are simple. Up to 60 seconds for each answer, 30 seconds for each follow-up response. And if a candidate goes over the allotted time, you will hear this. Double. +p1198 +aVI think the double is the one we want. Very pleasing. We have a crowd of about 1,600 here, and while they have agreed to respect the candidates and listen intently, we can tell you they are very excited to be here. Am I right? +p1199 +aVGovernor Bush, it's hard for anyone of your pedigree to avoid being called establishment. But isn't that part of the problem in this race, that three others on this stage are splitting the main stream Republican vote and there by possibly handing this nomination over to an anti-establishment candidate? +p1200 +aVThank you governor. +p1201 +aVSenator Paul, you are definitely not in the establishment category. But at the beginning of this campaign, you said you were your own man when asked about your father, former Texas Congressman and three-time presidential candidate Ron Paul. Senator Cruz's campaign is out with a video saying that Cruz is the intellectual and political heir to your father's 2012 campaign and the liberty movement. And your father now says it's realistic that Donald Trump will be your party's nominee. So did you make a mistake by not fully \u2014 more fully embracing your father politically at the beginning of this campaign? +p1202 +aVSenator Cruz, your response to that? +p1203 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1204 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1205 +aVWe'll come back to... +p1206 +aVOK. Go ahead, go ahead. +p1207 +aVWelcome back. Let's get right back to the questions. Chris. +p1208 +aVGovernor Bush, just today, a wounded warrior organization designed to help wounded veterans and their families is coming under fire for raising tens of millions of dollars, but spending almost half of that on travel and hotels and dinners and luxury, lavish conferences. So taking care of veterans is obviously a huge issue in the country that has asked so many to serve and sacrifice so much. If you were president. would you police these charity organizations that say they're helping vets? +p1209 +aVGovernor Bush, thank you. Speaking of veterans, we have a question from a veteran who is one of the top Youtube creators. Over the course of the evening, gentlemen, we will hear from some of Youtube's most followed stars. And here's one of them. +p1210 +aVSenator Paul, that question to you. +p1211 +aVSenator Paul, thank you. +p1212 +aVThank you, Megyn. Gentlemen, I'll ask you some questions about federal spending and the role of the federal government. Everybody always said they want to cut federal spending and usually they start by saying they'll cut waste, fraud, and abuse, but that really doesn't ever materialize. We all know that. Governor Christie, you talk a lot about entitlement reform and you say that that's where the federal government can get savings needed to balance the budget. But can you name even one thing that the federal government does now that it should not do at all? +p1213 +aVI want one. Yes. +p1214 +aVAnything bigger than that? +p1215 +aVAnd, Governor, I realize everyone on this stage opposes Obamacare and you're not alone. Google Data shows that in the last month when people searched "policy repeals," that there were a lot of them. Obamacare took the top two spots. But today there are millions of people who gained health insurance from Obamacare and they now rely on it. So the question, Senator Cruz, if you repeal Obamacare, as you say you will, will you be fine if millions of those people don't have health insurance? And what is your specific plan for covering the uninsured? +p1216 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. Governor Bush, you've advocated for statehood for Puerto Rico. The Puerto Rican economy is collapsing under unsustainable debt burden. Only about 1 million of its 4 million residents are currently employed. So should American citizens who you say are already overtaxed, bail out Puerto Rico as well? +p1217 +aVGovernor Kasich, you're one of two remaining sitting governors still in the race. Your colleague, Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan is under fire \u2014 he and his administration \u2014 for the Flint, Michigan water crisis and the botched response to it. How would you have handled that? +p1218 +aVSenator Rubio, on the issue of climate change, in 2008, you wanted Florida to get ahead of other states and establish a cap- and-trade system, a program for carbon emissions, which many Republicans thought at the time would hurt the Florida economy. Now, you're a skeptic of climate change science. And in fact, you warn that federal efforts to fight climate change will cost U.S. jobs and hurt the U.S. economy. So why the change? +p1219 +aVThanks, Senator. +p1220 +aVThank you. +p1221 +aVSenator Rubio, first before I ask you a question, any response to Governor Bush? +p1222 +aVNow let's talk about electability, Senator. +p1223 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1224 +aVMuch more to come, including where the candidates stand on foreign policy. And, once again, you can go to Google.com, or open your Google search app and search, "Fox News Debate" to vote on which candidate you think is winning the debate tonight. We'll be right back. +p1225 +aVGentlemen. I'd like to ask you a few questions about foreign policy broadly. Dr. Carson, many experts believe Russian leader Vladimir Putin has greater ideas, bigger designs for the region beyond Russia's actions inside Ukraine. Fast forward to February 2017 and it is President Carson, and Russian uniformed commandos cross the Estonian border and they occupy a city in Estonia. Estonia, a member of +p1226 +aVGentlemen, you've all said that the Iran nuclear deal is a bad one. Senator Rubio, you were among the candidates who've said you would tear it up on day one. But as you know, Iran has already received tens of millions of dollars \u2014 tens of billions of dollars in this deal and has quickly reestablished ties economically with Europe. The major concessions, in other words, are up front in this deal. So should you win by the time you take office, the remaining parts of the deal would be the constraints on Iran. So why blow up those constraints on day one, letting Iran off the hook? +p1227 +aVGovernor Kasich, you've said that Marco Rubio is wrong... ... that Senator Rubio is wrong with tearing it up on day one. +p1228 +aVBut Governor Kasich, you know that the most powerful sanctions are the multilateral ones. +p1229 +aVAnd these European countries are already reestablishing these ties. +p1230 +aVThey don't want... +p1231 +aVGovernor, thank you. Governor Christie... ... Libya is the newest base for +p1232 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1233 +aVWelcome back to Des Moines. Let's resume the debate. Megyn? +p1234 +aVComing up, closing statements from the candidates as our debate continues, live, from Des Moines, Iowa. +p1235 +aVNew Jersey governor, Chris Christie. +p1236 +aVThank you governor. +p1237 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. +p1238 +aVThank you senator. +p1239 +aVAnd we have you covered from Iowa, all the way to the conventions and on to the general election. Thanks again for joining us. For all of us here in Des Moines, have a great evening. +p1240 +asVMADDOW +p1241 +(lp1242 +VWe are super excited to be here at the University of New Hampshire. Tonight, this is the first time that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have squared off exactly like this. Face-to-face, just one-on-one, just the two of them. +p1243 +aVAnd we do hope that the candidates will take this opportunity to show us the distinctions\u2014show us the differences between them. That's the whole reason that we're here tonight. We're not here for talking points. We're to learn about the difference between the candidates. And with that, let's get going. Please join us in welcoming Secretary Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders. +p1244 +aVAnd with that, that's it. We're going to begin with 60- second opening statements from each of the candidates. And as agreed to in advance by the two campaigns, we're going to begin tonight with Senator Sanders. +p1245 +aVSecretary Clinton, Senator Sanders is campaigning against you now, at this point in the campaign, basically arguing that you are not progressive enough to be the Democratic nominee. He has said that if you voted for the Iraq war, if you are in favor of the death penalty, if you wobbled on things like the Keystone Pipeline or TPP, if you said single payer health care could never happen, then you're too far to the right of the Democratic Party to be the party's standard bearer. Given those policy positions, why should liberal Democrats support you and not Senator Sanders? +p1246 +aVSenator Sanders, have you established a list of what it means to be a progressive that is unrealistic? +p1247 +aVThank you Senator. +p1248 +aVSenator Sanders, as a Vermonter, you have almost a home state advantage here in New Hampshire. But back home across the border, you also have a long history of running against Democrats as a third-party candidate, for governor, Senate, for Congress. In 1988 your candidacy as a third-party candidate arguably cost the Democrats a congressional seat and sent a Republican instead. How can you lead the Democratic Party nationally when you have not been a member of the Democratic Party until very recently? +p1249 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p1250 +aVSo, Senator, to that point, Secretary Clinton is raising the issue of endorsements by your home state Democrats. She's implying that that says something about the people who know you best. +p1251 +aVHow do you see it? +p1252 +aVSecretary. +p1253 +aVSenator Sanders, you'll have 30 seconds to respond to that. +p1254 +aVSenator Sanders, Secretary Clinton, obviously we've touched a nerve. We're going to be back with more on this subject, and much more, right after this. Stay with us. +p1255 +aVSecretary Clinton, on the issue of Wall Street... +p1256 +aV... on the issue of Wall Street, when our reporters go out and talk to people on the ground in the early states, what they tell us over and over again when they find voters who are leaning toward Senator Sanders rather than yourself is that the most frequent area of concern that they hear from those voters is the issue of Wall Street and whether or not you are too close to Wall Street. Last night, when you were asked about speaking fees and the amount of speaking fees you got from Goldman Sachs speeches, you said that's what they offered. Have you been too dismissive of voters' concerns about this issue in your own campaign and your own career? +p1257 +aVSenator Sanders, you have been a critic of Secretary Clinton taking those speaking fees and having donations from Wall Street. What about her defense of her record? +p1258 +aVSenator Sanders, let me turn to, I think, where this direction is heading anyway, which is the broader issue of big business and power in our political system. You on the campaign trail have railed against big name American corporations like Boeing, and General Electric, and Wal Mart. But, some big businesses in this country have also been part of advancing progressive goals like that nationwide initiative to expand employment opportunities for veterans. That was all about cooperation between the Obama administration and some very big business. The Affordable Care Act, some of the thorniest problems in that bill were worked out in cooperation with big business in order to accomplish progressive goals. Could you work with them, or have you made enemies of big business in this country with the way you've approached them in this campaign? +p1259 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. And with that, we're going to take a break. +p1260 +aVWelcome back\u2014welcome back to the Democratic candidates' debate. We're going to be talking about America in the world, both in terms of some trade issues, but also national security. And Secretary Clinton, we're going to start with you. There are more than 4,000 American troops back in Iraq right now as part of the fight against +p1261 +aVTo be clear, to the specific question, if that strategic goal that you're describing requires considerably more of Americans\u2014an ever-increasing number of Americans in Iraq and maybe in Syria, are you OK with the numbers increasing? +p1262 +aVThank you, Madam Secretary. +p1263 +aVSecretary Clinton, at the\u2014at the last Democratic debate in Charleston\u2014I want to get specific here\u2014Senator Sanders called for moving as aggressively as we can to normalize relations with Iran. Your campaign has criticized him for saying that. Now that he's standing next to you here on this stage, can you explain why the U.S. shouldn't try to normalize relations in Iran in your view? +p1264 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to ask you about a national security issue that is closer to home. There are thousands of veterans, over 100,000 veterans living in the state of New Hampshire. If either one of you is nominated as the Democratic Party's nominee, you will likely face a Republican opponent in the general election who wants to privatize or even abolish big parts of the V.A. It's a newly popular idea in conservative politics. How will you win the argument on that issue given the problems that have been exposed at the V.A. in the last few years? What's your argument that the V.A. should still exist and should not be privatized? +p1265 +aVSenator Sanders, you, as a congressional leader on veterans issues and the Veterans Committee, you've worked in a very bipartisan way with Senator John McCain and others on veterans issues. Is the right contour of the fight, the way she's talking about this issue? +p1266 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Sanders, Secretary Clinton, we're going to take another break. We'll be talking about Social Security and some of those other issues when we come back. +p1267 +aVSenator\u2014Senator Sanders, in 1964... +p1268 +aVIn 1964, I heard that the Republicans nominated Barry Goldwater, who was the hero of the conservative movement. He was, however, far to the right of most of that party. In 1972, the Democrats nominated George McGovern, who was a hero of liberals in the antiwar movement, but he was to the left of his party's mainstream. Both of those nominees made activists very excited, and they both got destroyed in the general election. Even Democrats who love you worry about your fate in a general election. And I know you have good head-to-head polling numbers against Republican frontrunners right now. We know that. But do you have a general election strategy that is different than the way you're running right now to try to get the nomination? +p1269 +aVSecretary Clinton, your campaign surrogates, and people who have endorsed you, have suggested that or even said that if Senator Sanders is the nominee, that Democrats will suffer nationwide and the chances will go down of Democrats holding onto the White House. With him here standing next to you, can you tell us whether or not you believe he would win the general election if he were nominated? +p1270 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. Senator, in December, one of your campaign staffers was fired from your campaign for taking voter data essentially from the Clinton campaign. You apologized for that when the incident was made public. Your campaign has now been criticized for its operatives essentially impersonating culinary union members wearing union pins in Nevada, and the Nashua Telegraph has complained recently that you falsely implied in an advertisement that they had endorsed you when they did not. None of these issues obviously is the end of the world, but they all are of a piece. Are you in some sense losing control of your campaign? +p1271 +aVJust to follow up on that, the title of the ad in question was Endorsement. +p1272 +aVSecretary Clinton, do you want 30 seconds on that issue? +p1273 +aVAnd with that, we will . +p1274 +aVWelcome back to the University of New Hampshire, and the Democratic candidates' debate. Secretary Clinton, on the issue of the death penalty, here in New Hampshire, the one person who is on death row is there for killing a police officer. It's a crime that has caused anguish in this state, both among death penalty opponents and death penalty supporters. The last time I had the chance to talk with you on this issue, on the death penalty, you said that capital punishment has a place in a very few federal cases, but you also said you would breathe a sigh of relief if the Supreme Court abolished the death penalty nationwide. Tonight, do you still support capital punishment, even if you do so reluctantly? +p1275 +aVSenator Sanders, you have singled out the death penalty, and Senator Clinton's support for the death penalty, as an issue that makes it hard to consider as progressive in your mind... +p1276 +aVAnother issue related to the proper role of government, and in this case, specifically the role of government between the federal government and the states. I want to talk for a moment about the issue of Flint, Michigan. On the Flint lead poisoning disaster, you have both been highly critical of Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan, and how the state in Michigan both caused the lead poisoning problem, and has not acted fast enough to fix it. You have both been outspoken on that. The fact is that Michigan though has not fixed it. There is no door to door delivery of clean water in Flint even today. Not a single lead pipe has been replaced in Flint, even today. If the state is failing, would you, Secretary Clinton, would you as President order a federal response to get it right over and above the wishes of the state? +p1277 +aVSenator Sanders are there things the President could be doing? President Obama could be ordering, done, right now, in Flint, Michigan that are not being done that you as President would do? +p1278 +aVSenator, thank you. +p1279 +aVThe home stretch. +p1280 +aVSecretary Clinton, Republicans, particularly in campaign years, often talk about which departments of government\u2014which agencies of government they would get rid of if they were elected president. The EPA, the Department of Education, the Commerce Department, oops\u2014is\u2014is there a department of government that you would get rid of? Or is there a whole new one that you would create? +p1281 +aVThank you, Secretary Clinton. +p1282 +aVThank you very much. Thank you. +p1283 +aVWe also want to thank our host, the University of New Hampshire, and the people of New Hampshire. You guys get to vote in just five days. I can't wait to see how it turns out. Don't screw up. +p1284 +asVSEIB +p1285 +(lp1286 +VThis evening Fox Business is partnering with the Wall Street Journal to bring you the fourth republican presidential debate of the 2016 campaign. For the next hour, four of the candidates will be here answering the question voters want answered. +p1287 +aVSenator Santorum, you're all obviously highly critical of President Obama's economic record. But federal statistics show that payrolls have expanded by 8.7 million new jobs so far during his time in office. All the jobs lost in the recession were recovered by last year. And in October, the economy added jobs at the fastest rate since 2009. So what's wrong with the Obama jobs record? +p1288 +aVGovernor Jindal, Republicans have now 32 of the nation's 50 governor seats. But, even while you're doing very well at the state level, you keep falling short nationally. You've lost the popular vote in five of the last six presidential elections. Are Democrats simply putting forward a better national economic message than the one Republicans are offering? And what should Republicans do about it. +p1289 +aVSenator Santorum, we're in the Upper-Midwest, heart of the American auto industry. The Auto Alliance says the state of Wisconsin, where we are tonight, is home to 176 auto supplier companies. Back in 2008, you opposed the use of federal bailout funds for automakers as proposed then by the Bush administration. The automakers survived. In retrospect, do you still think that was the right position. +p1290 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p1291 +aVGovernor Jindal, there's a new trade deal the Obama administration has completed with 11 other Pacific nations. The U.S. Trade Representative's office says that deal will cut 18,000 different tariffs on American goods sent to the Pacific and will cut tariffs on goods made in your state of Louisiana by as much as 40 percent. Even a skeptical about \u2014 a skeptic about this deal, now that the details are public, are you going to be for it? +p1292 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1293 +aV...Guys... +p1294 +aVGovernor Christie... +p1295 +aV...last word, briefly +p1296 +aV...Thank you both, Governors. +p1297 +aV...No, no, Senator Santorum... +p1298 +aV...I have a question for you. Just about everybody agrees that the nation's infrastructure is in bad shape. Urban highway congestion costs the economy more than $100 billion dollars annually, nearly one in four bridges in the National Highway System is structurally deficient, or obsolete. Congress is working on a six year highway bill to try to fix this problem. It only funds it for about three years. Should Americans be asked to pay more in federal gas taxes in order to address this problem? +p1299 +aVSenator, I don't think we got to infrastructure, but I understand. +p1300 +aVNo, no. To do the things you're talking about, that you're all talking about, getting things done in Washington, you have to work with the other side. So a question, who in Congress do you most admire on the Democratic side? I need one name from each of you. And let's start with Governor Jindal. +p1301 +aVGovernor Huckabee? +p1302 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1303 +aVSenator Santorum? +p1304 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p1305 +aVGovernor Jindal, you've proposed something different. You've proposed eliminating the federal corporate income tax entirely. Why would have you wage-earners and investors pay an income tax but not a corporation? +p1306 +aVWelcome back to the Republican Presidential Debate live from Milwaukee's historic theater. Let's get back to the questions. Governor Christie, by keeping interest rates so low for so long, is the Fed creating a new financial bubble in real estate or stock as prices that will burst and create problems down the road, or has it been right to err on the side of trying to help the recovery through low rates? +p1307 +aVCandidates, it's time for closing statements, 30 seconds. Governor Jindal, we'll start with you. +p1308 +aVSenator Santorum. +p1309 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p1310 +aVGovernor Christie. +p1311 +asVTAPPER +p1312 +(lp1313 +VI'm Jake Tapper. We're live at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California for the main event. Round 2 of CNN's presidential debate starts now. The eleven leading Republican candidates for president are at their podiums. They are ready to face off, and if you've been watching this race, you know anything could happen over the next few hours. To viewers who are just joining us, welcome to the Air Force One Pavilion of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Our thanks to the staff here and especially to former first lady Nancy Reagan for this impressive setting with Ronald Reagan's presidential plane as our backdrop. This debate is airing on CNN networks in the United States and around the world. It's also being broadcast on the Salem Radio Network. I know everyone is very eager to get started. But first, I want to explain the ground rules tonight. My name is Jake Tapper. I'll be the moderator. I will be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt. He worked in the Reagan administration for six years. And by CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. I will ask follow-up questions, I will attempt to guide the discussion. Candidates, I will try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have one minute to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you've been singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. These 11 Republicans are positioned on the stage based on their ranking in recent national polls. Our goal for this evening is a debate. A true debate, with candidates addressing each other in areas where they differ. Where they disagree \u2014 on policy, on politics, on leadership. Now, let's begin. I'd like to invite each candidate to take 30 seconds to introduce him or herself to our audience. First to you, Senator Paul. +p1314 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1315 +aVThank you one and all for being here. There are many important policy issues facing our nation. We're going to get to many of them tonight, but I do want to start off with some current events in the news, and also some of the comments the candidates have recently made on the campaign trail. Mrs. Fiorina, I want to start with you. Fellow Republican candidate, and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, has suggested that your party's frontrunner, Mr. Donald Trump, would be dangerous as President. He said he wouldn't want, quote, "such a hot head with his finger on the nuclear codes." You, as well, have raised concerns about Mr. Trump's temperament. You've dismissed him as an entertainer. Would you feel comfortable with Donald trump's finger on the nuclear codes? +p1316 +aVYou didn't answer my question. Would you feel comfortable with Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear codes? It's an issue that one of your fellow candidates has raised. +p1317 +aVMr. Trump? +p1318 +aVMr. \u2014 Senator Paul, your name has been invoked. +p1319 +aVMr. Trump? +p1320 +aVI want to \u2014 I want to give Mr. Trump... +p1321 +aV... Mr. Trump, I want to give you another chance \u2014 Mr. Trump, I want to give you a chance to respond to something that your rival to your left, Governor Bush, said. Governor Bush told me last week when I read him the quote from Governor Jindal that he agrees you're not a serious candidate. Tell Governor Bush why you are a serious candidate and what your qualifications are to be commander-in-chief. +p1322 +aVGovernor Bush, would you feel comfortable with Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear codes? +p1323 +aVGovernor Walker? +p1324 +aVLet's move on. +p1325 +aVA phenomenon going on in the race right now is the political... OK, Governor Kasich, go ahead. +p1326 +aVWe have a lot of issues coming up, sir. +p1327 +aVWe are getting to the issues, sir. Phenomenon going on in the race is the political outsiders in the race, Dr. Carson, Donald Trump, Carly Fiorina, all together, have majority support in the polls. Governor Christie, I want to ask you about something that Dr. Carson said the other day. Dr. Carson said campaigning is easier for him, because he's not a politician. He can just tell the truth, therefore, while politicians, quote, "Have their finger in the air to see and do what is politically expedient." Governor Christie, tell Dr. Carson, is that a fair description of you? +p1328 +aVWell, let's find out. Thank you. +p1329 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. Dr. Carson, who were you thinking about on this stage when you said that? +p1330 +aVAnd more broadly, is experience in government not important for a president to have? +p1331 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1332 +aVThank you. +p1333 +aVThank you. Thank you Ms. Fiorina. Governor Bush, in addition to the fact that he's an outsider, one of the reasons Mr. Trump is a frontrunner, Republican voters say, is because they like the fact that he is not bought and paid for by wealthy donors. Mr. Trump has repeatedly said that the $100 million you've raised for your campaign makes you a puppet for your donors. Are you? +p1334 +aVIs there anything else you want to say about this? +p1335 +aVGovernor \u2014 +p1336 +aVSure Dr. Carson. +p1337 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Let's move to Russia if we could. Russia is sending troops and tanks into Syria right now to prop up a U.S. enemy, Bashar al-Assad. President Obama's incoming top general says, quote, "Russia presents the greatest threat to our national security." Mr. Trump, you say you can do business with President Vladimir Putin, you say you will get along, quote, "very well." What would you do right now if you were president, to get the Russians out of Syria? +p1338 +aVSo, you \u2014 just to clarify, the only answer I heard to the question I asked is that you would \u2014 you would reach out to Vladimir Putin, and you would do what? You would... +p1339 +aVSenator Rubio, you've taken a very different approach to the \u2014 the question of Russia. You've called Vladimir Putin a, quote, "gangster." Why would President Rubio's approach be more effective than President Trump's? +p1340 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. +p1341 +aVI want to bring in Carly Fiorina. +p1342 +aVMs. Fiorina, you have met... +p1343 +aV...yeah, you've met Vladimir Putin. Yes. +p1344 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p1345 +aVThank you. +p1346 +aVThank you. Thank you, Ms. Fiorina. While you're \u2014 while you brought up the subject of General Suleimani of the Quds forces from Iran, the next president, no matter who he or she may be, will inherit President Obama's Iran deal. Senator Cruz, Governor Kasich says that anyone who is promising to rip up the Iran deal on day one, as you have promised to do, is, quote, "inexperienced," and, quote, "playing to a crowd." Respond to Governor Kasich, please. +p1347 +aVWhy is that not, as Governor Kasich says, playing to the crowd and an example of you being inexperienced? +p1348 +aVGovernor Kasich... +p1349 +aV...Did Senator Cruz just play to the crowd? +p1350 +aV...Thank you, Governor. I want to go to Senator Paul. +p1351 +aVI want to go to Senator Paul. Senator Paul, the White House is rolling out the red carpet next week for the President of China, President Xi. Governor Walker says that President Obama should cancel the state dinner because of China's currency manipulation, and because of China's alleged cyber attacks against the United States. Is Governor Walker right? +p1352 +aVGovernor Walker, Senator Paul seemed to suggest... +p1353 +aV...that canceling the state dinner would be rash, and reckless. +p1354 +aV...Governor Bush... +p1355 +aVGovernor Bush, your father was the chief diplomatic envoy to China back when Nixon opened relations to China. Is Scott Walker's approach the right one, canceling the state dinner? +p1356 +aVI want to turn... +p1357 +aV...I want to turn to Governor Huckabee who has been very patient. Somebody had to be 11th, and he is, but, I do want to change the subject to the event that you had... +p1358 +aV... however you want, but I want to ask this question. +p1359 +aVAll right, sir, go ahead. +p1360 +aVOK. ( +p1361 +aVWe're going to turn now to Hugh Hewitt, from Salem Radio Network. +p1362 +aVThank you, Senator Paul. I want to turn now to my colleague Dana Bash. +p1363 +aVThat would be fair, you're right. You're the third senator. +p1364 +aVWe're going to go to Dana Bash... +p1365 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1366 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1367 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1368 +aVThank you, Senator. I want to... +p1369 +aV... turn back to Governor Huckabee... +p1370 +aVI want to turn back to Governor Huckabee. Governor Huckabee, last week, you held a rally for a county clerk in Kentucky who was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, as I don't need to tell you. You've called what happened to Kim Davis, that clerk, "an example of the criminalization of Christianity." There are several people on the stage who disagree with you. Governor Bush, for example, says that that clerk is sworn to uphold the law. Is Governor Bush on the wrong side of the criminalization of Christianity? +p1371 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1372 +aVWell, I'm not telling you that, Governor. But Governor Bush is, because he \u2014 because he disagrees. He thinks that Kim Davis swore to uphold the law. You disagree? You're not \u2014 you don't... +p1373 +aVOK. Please do. +p1374 +aVYou did... +p1375 +aVGovernor, you said, quote, "she is sworn to uphold the law." +p1376 +aVLet me go to my colleague Dana Bash, who has a question. +p1377 +aVDana, I want to continue on the subject. Governor Bush, you recently said while discussing Planned Parenthood, quote, you're "not sure we need a half billion for women's health issues." Now you've since said that you misspoke, you didn't mean to say "women's health issues." But Donald Trump said that quote, that comment, which Hillary Clinton did seize upon immediately, will haunt you the same way Mitt Romney's 47 percent video haunted him. Tell Donald Trump why he's wrong. +p1378 +aVThank you, Governor Bush. Donald Trump, let me just... +p1379 +aVThe quote was, "I'm not sure we need half a billion dollars for women's health issues." He said he misspoke. You said that that's going to haunt him. Why do you think that? +p1380 +aVGovernor Bush? +p1381 +aVI want to \u2014 we're going to get to \u2014 +p1382 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1383 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1384 +aVWe're going to \u2014 we're going to get to many of these issues. This \u2014 we're still in the first block, believe it or not. We're going to get to many of these issues, but before we end this block, Ms. Fiorina, I do want to ask you about this. In an interview last week in Rolling Stone magazine, Donald Trump said the following about you. Quote, "Look at that face. Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?" Mr. Trump later said he was talking about your persona, not your appearance. Please feel free to respond what you think about his persona. +p1385 +aVAll right. On that note, in less than two minutes \u2014 we're going to take a very quick break. In less than two minutes, the most contentious issue on the campaign trail. And the candidates on the stage are split over how to handle it. That's coming up next. Please give some applause to the candidates. +p1386 +aVWelcome to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate. No topic perhaps has been more combustible in this campaign than the issue of immigration. Mr. Trump, you have called for deporting every undocumented immigrant, Governor Christie has said, quote, "There are not enough law enforcement officers \u2014 local, county, state and federal combined \u2014 to forcibly deport 11 to 12 million people." Tell Governor Christie how much your plan will cost, and how you will get it done. +p1387 +aVGovernor Christie, you and I have talked about this in an interview. You say that his big wall, his plan to deport 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants, it sounds great, but it's never going to happen. Tell him why you're skeptical of his plans? +p1388 +aVThank you, Governor Christie... +p1389 +aVI want to bring in Dr. Carson because he too has been skeptical of your plan to immediately deport 11 to 12 million illegal immigrants. He said, quote, "People who say that have no idea what this entails." Why do you say that, Dr. Carson? +p1390 +aV...Dr. Carson... +p1391 +aVWith all due respect, you said about Donald Trump's plan to deport 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants, "People who say that have no idea what this entails." Why not? +p1392 +aV...let's continue the conversation about illegal immigration with Dana Bash. +p1393 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Senator Cruz \u2014 Senator Cruz, this week, we learned more about Dr. Carson's plan for the 11 million to 12 million undocumented immigrants in this country. Dr. Carson proposed giving these undocumented immigrants a six- month grace period to pay back taxes then to let them become guest workers and only to deport people who failed to do that. +p1394 +aVWell, how would you say it, sir? I was just reading the Wall Street Journal quote, but please tell us. +p1395 +aVOK, from the horse's mouth, Senator Cruz, does that fit your definition of amnesty? +p1396 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Rubio... +p1397 +aV... I'm not sure... +p1398 +aVWe'll come back to you \u2014 we'll come back to you in one second, sir. But Senator Rubio, I'm not sure exactly whose plan he's \u2014 he's saying is \u2014 constitutes amnesty, but I know he has said it about your plan in the past, so I want to give you a chance to respond, then, Dr. Carson, we'll come to you. +p1399 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1400 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator \u2014 Dr. Carson... ... I want to give you 30 seconds. I'd like you to answer the question. Senator Cruz describes plans such as yours as amnesty. Why is your plan not amnesty? +p1401 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. I want to talk about the issue of birthright citizenship, which \u2014 which has emerged since the first debate as \u2014 as an a \u2014 a major issue in this campaign. Mr. Trump, you say that babies born in the United States to undocumented immigrants should not any longer get automatic American citizenship. Ms. Fiorina says that you are pandering on this issue and acting like the politicians that you rail against. What's your message to Ms. Fiorina on birthright citizenship? +p1402 +aVMs. Fiorina, the vast majority of countries do not have birthright citizenship... ...Donald Trump is right about that. Why is it pandering when he's \u2014 he says this? +p1403 +aVMs. Fiorina... +p1404 +aVPlease. +p1405 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p1406 +aVThank you. +p1407 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Mr. Trump, I want to give you the chance to respond... +p1408 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. Senator Paul... +p1409 +aVSenator Paul, I want to bring you in. Where \u2014 where do you stand on the issue of birthright citizenship? +p1410 +aVAll right. Senator Paul, thank you so much. Let's turn to a new topic. We've received a lot of questions on social media about the economy and about jobs. We have two CEOs on stage right now. Ms. Fiorina, you were CEO of Hewlett Packard. Donald Trump says you, quote, "ran HP into the ground," you laid off tens of thousands of people, you got viciously fired. For voters looking to somebody with private-sector experience to create American jobs, why should they pick you and not Donald Trump? +p1411 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p1412 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p1413 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 Mr. Trump, why would you be better at creating jobs than Carly Fiorina? +p1414 +aVMs. Fiorina, I want to give you a chance to respond. +p1415 +aVMr. Trump. +p1416 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. +p1417 +aVGovernor Christie's name has been invoked. I'd like to give him a 30 second opportunity. +p1418 +aVMs. Fiorina, I want to give you +p1419 +aVGovernor Kasich, I'm coming to you next, but Ms. Fiorina's name was mentioned, and I have to give her the opportunity to respond if she wants it. +p1420 +aVThank you. +p1421 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Kasich, I want to come \u2014 I'm coming to you. I'm coming to you. Let me ask the question. You can use the time however you want. +p1422 +aVDonald Trump says that the hedge fund guys are getting away with murder by paying a lower tax rate. He wants to raise the taxes of hedge fund managers, as does Governor Bush. Do you agree? +p1423 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1424 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. +p1425 +aVGovernor Huckabee, I want to bring you in on the question of hedge fund managers and taxing them. You have said that you are bothered by the fact that hedge fund managers pay such a low tax rate and make 2,500 times what people who work for them make. Do you agree with what Donald Trump and Governor Bush have proposed, raising their tax rates? +p1426 +aVThank you, Governor. Dr. Carson, you support scrapping the entire tax code and replacing it with a flat tax based on the principal on tithing from the Bible. If you make $10 billion, you pay $1 billion in taxes, if you make $10, you pay $1 in taxes. Donald Trump believes in progressive taxation. He says it's not right that rich people pay the same as the poor. Tell Donald Trump why his ideas on taxes are wrong. +p1427 +aVMr. Trump... +p1428 +aV...What do you think of the flat tax? Do you think it's fair? +p1429 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. Senator Paul? +p1430 +aVGovernor Walker, I want to go to you. Dr. Carson wants to raise the Federal Minimum Wage, you have called it a lame idea. Why is raising the Federal Minimum Wage lame? +p1431 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1432 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1433 +aVDr. Carson, Governor Walker didn't really answer the question, but I'll let you respond. He called raising the Federal Minimum Wage lame, what do you think of that? +p1434 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson... +p1435 +aVLet me bring in our partner from Salem Radio Network, Hugh Hewitt. +p1436 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate. Let's turn to some issues now in foreign policy. Mr. Trump, Senator Rubio said it was, quote, "very concerning to him" that in a recent interview you didn't seem to know the details about some of the enemies the U.S. faces. Rubio said, if you don't know the answers to those questions, you will not be able to serve as commander-in-chief. Please respond to Senator Rubio. +p1437 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1438 +aVMr. Trump? Senator Rubio seemed to be suggesting that you don't know information that... +p1439 +aVAll right. Senator Rubio. +p1440 +aVBut are you saying that you have the knowledge to be the president that Mr. Trump does not have? +p1441 +aVMr. Trump? +p1442 +aVSenator Rubio, he did invoke your absentee record in the Senate. +p1443 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. I want to turn now to Hugh Hewitt. +p1444 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1445 +aVSenator... +p1446 +aVSenator Paul? +p1447 +aVSenator Paul... +p1448 +aVThank you, Senator Paul... +p1449 +aVThank you, Senator Paul... +p1450 +aVI understand that Governor Bush's name has been invoked, and then we can go to you, Senator Rubio. +p1451 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1452 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Rubio? +p1453 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1454 +aVDr. Carson? +p1455 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1456 +aVI mean, it is interesting that you say that, because I want to ask Governor Christie about something else that you have said. Governor Christie, we just marked the 14th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Now Dr. Carson has said that if he had been president at the time, the United States would not have gone to war in Afghanistan. What does that say to you about how Dr. Carson would respond as president if America were attacked again? +p1457 +aVDr. Carson? +p1458 +aV... Governor Christie. +p1459 +aVDr. Carson? +p1460 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1461 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1462 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee. +p1463 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1464 +aVThank you, governor, I want to turn to +p1465 +aVGovernor Walker, there is a big debate now, we have been talking about +p1466 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Paul, I want to go to you, because you have said that the boots on the ground to fight +p1467 +aVThank you, Senator. We're going to turn to some domestic issues now. I want to bring in my colleague, Dana Bash. +p1468 +aVSure.... +p1469 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1470 +aV...Thank you, Governor. Dana Bash... +p1471 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina... +p1472 +aV...Thank you, we're going to turn now to domestic issues with Dana Bash. +p1473 +aV...Dana Bash... +p1474 +aVThank you. Dana Bash? +p1475 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1476 +aV...Governor Bush... +p1477 +aV...I want to let you respond. +p1478 +aVThank you, Governor... ...And, that's what we should do, and I hope I'll be working members of the United States Senate to fight hard for the passage of people that have that kind of qualification. +p1479 +aVSenator Cruz, 30 seconds. +p1480 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1481 +aVThank you, Semator. +p1482 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee, I want to bring you in very quickly if you could. Will you have a litmus test when it comes to appointing Supreme Court nominees? +p1483 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1484 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1485 +aVThank you, Governor. We're going to take a quick break. Coming up, one of the hottest questions that you have been asking us via social media. We will pose it to the candidates. That's coming up right after this. +p1486 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican presidential debate at the Reagan Library here in Simi Valley \u2014 Simi Valley, California. Many people on social media wanted us to ask about marijuana legalization. Senator Paul, Governor Christie recently said, quote, "if you're getting high in Colorado today," where marijuana has been legalized, "enjoy it until January 2017, because I will enforce the federal laws against marijuana." Will you? +p1487 +aVI want to give that \u2014 I want to give the person that you called a hypocrite an opportunity to respond. Do you want to identify that person? +p1488 +aVIs there somebody you were specifically thinking of? +p1489 +aVThat's what I though, but I wanted to say it. +p1490 +aVOK. +p1491 +aVGovernor Bush, please. +p1492 +aVI want to go right now \u2014 I want to go right now... +p1493 +aVThat's true. Go ahead, Christie, please. +p1494 +aVYou may respond, and then I'll bring in you, Ms. Fiorina. +p1495 +aVYes, Senator Paul. +p1496 +aVI want to bring in Ms. Fiorina \u2014 I want to bring in Ms. Fiorina on this issue. +p1497 +aVHugh \u2014 Hugh, I'd like to... +p1498 +aVI'd like to turn it over \u2014 I'd like to turn to Dana Bush. +p1499 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1500 +aVI'm coming to you right now on a separate issue, sir. We received... ( +p1501 +aVWe received a lot of questions from social media about climate change. Senator Rubio, Ronald Reagan's secretary of state, George Shultz, reminds us that when Reagan was president he faced a similar situation to the one that we're facing now. There were dire warnings from the mass consensus of the scientific community about the ozone layer shrinking. Shultz says Ronald Reagan urged skeptics in industry to come up with a plan. He said, do it as an insurance policy in case the scientists are right. The scientists were right. Reagan and his approach worked. Secretary Shultz asks, why not take out an insurance policy and approach climate change the Reagan way? +p1502 +aVI'm citing George Shultz. +p1503 +aVGovernor Christie, you have said that climate change is real, and that humans help contribute to it. Without getting into the issue of China versus the United States, which I understand you've talked about before, what do you make of skeptics of climate change such as Senator Rubio? +p1504 +aVJust for the record, I was citing Secretary of State George Shultz, Ronald Reagan's secretary of state who I don't think anybody would call him left-wing. +p1505 +aVI called you a skeptic. +p1506 +aVI want to go another question right now. +p1507 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1508 +aVI'm turning to... +p1509 +aV...I'm turning to another \u2014 I'm turning to another issue right now. Senator Cruz. Well, I think we've heard from several this evening. A backlash against vaccines was blamed for a measles outbreak here in California. Dr. Carson, Donald Trump has publicly and repeatedly linked vaccines, childhood vaccines, to autism, which, as you know, the medical community adamantly disputes. You're a pediatric neurosurgeon. Should Mr. Trump stop saying this? +p1510 +aVShould he stop saying it? Should he stop saying that vaccines cause autism? +p1511 +aVMr. Trump, as president, you would... +p1512 +aVI'm going right to you. +p1513 +aVMr. Trump, as president, you would be in charge of the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health, both of which say you are wrong. How would you handle this as president? +p1514 +aVThank you. +p1515 +aVDr. \u2014 Dr. Carson? +p1516 +aVDr. Carson, you just heard his medical take. +p1517 +aVDr. Paul? Dr. Paul, I'd like to bring you in. +p1518 +aVAlright, thank you so much... +p1519 +aVComing up \u2014 I'm sorry, Governor Huckabee, please. +p1520 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1521 +aVWe have to take another quick break. Coming up, Ronald Reagan looming large over this debate. So how Reaganesque exactly are these Republicans? We will find out next. +p1522 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California. We have a few last questions for you. Two of them a little lighthearted, the other one more serious. We'll start with one of the more light questions. Senator Paul, I'm going to start with you and we're just going to go down the line. Earlier this year, the Treasury Department announced that a woman will appear on the $10 bill. What woman would you like to see on the $10 bill? +p1523 +aVGovernor Huckabee? +p1524 +aVSenator Paul (sic). +p1525 +aVI'm sorry. Senator Rubio? +p1526 +aVJust the senators. +p1527 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1528 +aVDr. Carson? +p1529 +aVMr. Trump. +p1530 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1531 +aVGovernor Walker. +p1532 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p1533 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1534 +aVGovernor Christie. +p1535 +aVAlright. Some good entries if anybody at the mint was listening. Here's the next lighthearted question, you all know that the United States Secret Service uses codenames for the president, and his family. Ronald Reagan's codename, for example, was, "Rawhide", an homage to his performances in Westerns. Nancy Reagan's was, "Rainbow". You don't have to come up the one for your spouse, but, what would you want, Governor Christie, I'll start with you, your Secret Service codename to be. +p1536 +aVGovernor Walker? +p1537 +aVMr. Trump? +p1538 +aVDr. Carson? +p1539 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1540 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1541 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p1542 +aVSenator Paul. +p1543 +aVThat's a mouthful, but OK. OK, here's the more serious question, Ronald Reagan, the 40th President, used the plane behind you to accomplish a great many things. Perhaps, most notably, to challenge Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the wall, and ultimately, to make peace with the +p1544 +aVThat concludes this Republican presidential debate. On behalf of everyone here at CNN, we want to thank the candidates, the Reagan Library, and the Republican National Committee. Thank you, also, to Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash. The next presidential debate will also be right here on CNN, among the Democratic candidates, who will face off for the first time on October the 13th. That debate, a partnership with Facebook, will be moderated by my colleague, Anderson Cooper. And Anderson picks up our coverage of tonight's debate right now. Before I throw to Anderson, let's have one final round of applause for the candidates. +p1545 +aVWe're live at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California for one of the most highly anticipated primary season debates ever. On this stage 15 candidates in two rounds of questioning with one goal, to show they have what it takes to be the Republican Presidential Nominee. Welcome to our viewers, I'm Jake Tapper. Tonight's debate is airing on CNN networks around the world, and, of course, here in the United States. It's also being broadcast across the country on the Salmen Radio Network. We want to thank our host, former First Lady Nancy Reagan, and the Reagan Library for this very impressive setting, the Air Force One pavilion. Behind me, you can see the actual plane... ...That Ronald Reagan flew in when he was president. Now, because the GOP field is so large, we have divided the candidates into two groups based on their rankings in recent national polls. Later this evening we will hear from the top 11 contenders. The other four candidates are taking part in the first round, and they are ready to join us now. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindal. The former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania, Rick Santorum. and former New York Governor, George Pataki. Ladies and gentleman, please welcome these Republican candidates for President of the United States. And, now, if you would, please rise for our national anthem performed by actress and singer, Natalie Hill. I'd like to ask the candidates to please take their podiums while I tell you a little more about how tonight debate will work. I'm Jake Tapper. I'll be the moderator. Joining me in the questioning, Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt; he worked in the Reagan administration for six years and CNN's chief political correspondent, Dana Bash. I will follow up and guide the discussion; candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have one minute to answer questions and 30 seconds for followups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you have been singled out for criticism. We have timing lights that are visible to the candidates. Those lights will warn them when their time is up. Our goal tonight is to have a true debate, candidates actually addressing each other in areas where they disagree, where they differ on policy, on politics and on leadership. Now that everyone is in place, it's time for the candidates to introduce themselves to our audience. Please keep it brief. Governor Pataki, you're first. +p1546 +aVThank you candidates. We're going to talk a lot about policy and your proposals this evening. But first, Governor Jindal, I want to start with you. You have said that the front runner, Donald Trump, is a, quote, "unstable, narcissistic, ego maniac." Now, we are in the house of Reagan, who made famous the so-called 11th Commandment, "Thou shalt not speak ill of thy fellow Republican." What drove you to violate that unofficial commandment? +p1547 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1548 +aVSenator Santorum, do you think Governor Jindal is wrong for attacking your party's front runner? +p1549 +aVThank you. Governor Jindal, do you want to respond to that? +p1550 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1551 +aVSenator Santorum, just to assure you, we will get to those issues. But just a couple more on this general subject. Senator Graham, you have called Donald Trump a, quote, "wrecking ball for the Republican party." Voters in your home state of South Carolina, in a recent poll, prefer Donald Trump 30 percent to your 4 percent. How do you explain why so many of your constituents would rather have Donald Trump as the Republican nominee than you? +p1552 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. We're going to bring in Hugh Hewitt now, who has a question for Governor Pataki. +p1553 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1554 +aVSenator Graham? One of the -- the reasons why Donald Trump, Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina are doing well is because they are political outsiders. In fact, that's one of the things -- in fact, there are two things that they have in common. They've never been elected to office before and they're doing better than all of you in the polls. The four of you have a combined seven decades in elected office. Senator Graham, in this election season, do Republican voters see your service in government as a liability and not an asset? +p1555 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1556 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1557 +aVThank you, Senator. Let's turn to the topic of immigration. For that, I want to bring in my colleague, Dana Bash. +p1558 +aVThank you, Governor. I -- I want to change the subject. We're staying on immigration, and I'm bringing you in, Governor Pataki... +p1559 +aV... and Senator Graham, I'm coming to you as well. +p1560 +aVGovernor Pataki, Republicans right now are -- are debating birthright citizenship, the policy of granting U.S. citizenship to every baby born in this country, even if they born to undocumented immigrants. Senator Graham wants to end the policy of birthright citizenship. Governor Pataki, you support keeping it. Tell him why he's wrong. +p1561 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1562 +aVGovernor... +p1563 +aVWhat I -- what I asked about was about birthright citizenship and why you think that we should preserve birthright... +p1564 +aVSenator Graham, most countries in the world do not have birthright citizenship. +p1565 +aVWhy do you think Governor Pataki is wrong? +p1566 +aVWas that a... +p1567 +aV...Thank you Senator... +p1568 +aV...Thank you Senator... +p1569 +aV...We'll come back to you Senator Santorum, I promise... +p1570 +aV...alright... +p1571 +aVThank you, Senator... +p1572 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Pataki, I want to let you have the final word here. +p1573 +aVGovernor Pataki? +p1574 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1575 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Graham, your response when it comes to Syrian refugees? +p1576 +aVThank you, Senator. I want to turn now -- +p1577 +aVWe're going to keep talking about the situation in the Middle East. Let me bring in my colleague, Dana Bash, again. +p1578 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1579 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1580 +aVThank you, thank you, Governor. +p1581 +aVGovernor Pataki -- +p1582 +aVThank you, Governor. Sorry. We have rules and timing. Governor Jindal, I do want to bring you in. I want to turn to a story in news in the story today. A 14-year-old Muslim high school student in Texas was arrested on Monday for bringing a homemade clock to school after it was mistaken for a fake bomb. Police released the young man after they determined it was, in fact, a clock. Today, President Obama invited that student to the White House. Governor Jindal, throughout your campaign, you've spoken many times about Muslim extremists in this country. How would you, as president, strike a balance between vigilance and discrimination? +p1583 +aVGovernor Jindal, I'm afraid you didn't answer the question. How do you strike the balance between vigilance and discrimination? Obviously, we know how you feel about the vigilance part of this. Do you ever see the discrimination part of it? +p1584 +aVThank you, Governor. We will get to that subject later in the debate. Senator Graham? +p1585 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1586 +aVGovernor Pataki? +p1587 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1588 +aVWe'll get to that subject in the next block. We're going to take a very quick break. When we come back, both Jeb Bush and Donald Trump agree on one thing when it comes to taxes. We'll see if any of the candidates on stage agree as well. +p1589 +aVThat's next. Stay with us. +p1590 +aVWelcome back to the CNN Republican Debate at the beautiful Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California. Before we took the break, you were all chomping at the bit to talk about Kim Davis, that Kentucky clerk. Governor Pataki said he would have fired Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk jailed for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses. Senator Santorum, do you agree with Governor Pataki? +p1591 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Pataki, your response? +p1592 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum? +p1593 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1594 +aVWe're coming to both of you. +p1595 +aVWhat... +p1596 +aVGovernor Jindal... +p1597 +aVSenator Graham, do you want to weigh in? +p1598 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1599 +aVSenator... +p1600 +aVThank you, Senator. I want to stay with the subject of Supreme Court judges -- justices. Governor Jindal, both Senators graham and Santorum voted to confirm chief justice of the United States, John Roberts, who has led with the majority twice to uphold ObamaCare. Do you think that Graham's and Santorum's votes to confirm John Roberts were a mistake? +p1601 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Graham, I want to give you an opportunity to respond -- -- I would note that Anthony Kennedy, was, of course, a Ronald Reagan appointee. Senator Graham, do you stand by your vote for John Roberts? +p1602 +aVSenator Santorum, do you stand by your vote for John Roberts? +p1603 +aVGovernor Jindal, I'm going to give you 30 seconds to respond. +p1604 +aVLet me bring back Hugh Hewitt. +p1605 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1606 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1607 +aV...I want to turn -- you're going to be involved in the next question... +p1608 +aV...Senator Graham... +p1609 +aV...Thank you, Senator... +p1610 +aV...Thank you Senator. Senator Graham, I want to turn to the minimum... +p1611 +aV...Well, let's talk about South Carolina... +p1612 +aV...Senator, let's turn to the minimum wage. Senator Santorum is the only person on the stage who has proposed increasing the federal minimum wage. How would that affect South Carolinians? Do you agree with Senator Santorum that the federal minimum wage should be increased? +p1613 +aVSenator Graham, thank you so much. Senator Santorum... Senator Graham is suggesting that your proposal would not allot South Carolinians to hire more workers. +p1614 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1615 +aVThank you, Senator. We have to take a quick break. When we come back, confrontation or negotiation? How will these candidates attempt to handle Russian President Vladimir Putin? That's next. +p1616 +aVAnd we're back at the CNN Republican Debate at the Reagan Library in beautiful Simi Valley, California. Let's turn now to some issues of foreign policy. Senator Graham, you all oppose the U.S. nuclear deal with Iran. Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton, a Republican, is pushing for a U.S. military strike against Iran, against its nuclear facilities. Senator Graham, would you authorize, as president, a nuclear strike against -- I mean, sorry -- a strike against Iran's nuclear facilities? +p1617 +aVGovernor -- -- Hugh -- I'm going to go to Hugh Hewitt for a question for Governor Pataki. +p1618 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1619 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Graham -- +p1620 +aVWe're bringing you in on this question as well. Senator Graham, Vladimir Putin in recent days has sent an estimated six more tanks, four helicopters and Russian ground troops into Syria to help support President Assad, an enemy of the United States. The Russian military is also buzzing American planes and Naval vessels around the world. Your front-runner, Donald Trump, says he can do details with President Putin, that the two of them will get along, quote, "very well." Why would your confrontational approach work better than Mr. Trump's negotiation? +p1621 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1622 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1623 +aVGovernor Jindal, how would President Jindal... ... get the Russians out of Syria? +p1624 +aV... +p1625 +aVWell... +p1626 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1627 +aVThank you, Senator... +p1628 +aVThank you, Senator. The final question... +p1629 +aVThe final questions for these four Republicans as the top contenders get ready to take their places on the debate stage when we come back right after this. Welcome back to the CNN Republican debates at the Reagan Library in beautiful Simi Valley, California. We have time for one more question for the candidates. Governor Pataki, let's start with you. You have all spent the last hour and a half debating each other. The other 11 candidates are on their way to the stage. What is the one thing as a candidate that you offer that no one at the next debate can offer? +p1630 +aVThank you, senator. +p1631 +aVThank you. +p1632 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum? +p1633 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1634 +aVThank you. +p1635 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1636 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Governor Jindal, what is something that you offer as a candidate that the other 11 candidates coming on stage in a few minutes cannot offer? +p1637 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Graham? +p1638 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1639 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. Our thanks to the candidates for a great debate. In just a moment, we're bringing the candidates from both of tonight's debates together for a group photo. That will be a first in this campaign. And then, of course, the main event, the top 11 candidates going head to head. I will be back as moderator. Right now, let's go to my colleague, Anderson Cooper. +p1640 +asVSANTORUM +p1641 +(lp1642 +VYou know, listening to what your network was talking about prior to this race, this debate, reminded me of the coverage that many on this floor are getting. This race, this debate, was called the, "Undercard Debate". The undercard debate. It wasn't advertised significantly. In fact, the entire hour lead up to this there was no conversation about any of the four people on this debate stage, and that is the chronic situation. In fact, they listed -- they put a poll up from Wall Street Journal/NBC News, they listed the candidates, and they failed to mention I wasn't listed. I got zero, why? Because they -- NBC, Wall Street Journal poll never includes my name on the list. This is what the media has been doing over the past year, and trying to segregate, and take Iowans out of the process. What Iowans deserve... ... is to hear from every candidate on equal footing. Had they applied the same rules four years ago, I would have been in the undercard debate. The guy who won the Iowa Caucuses would have been in the undercard debate, not talked about. We would have been talking about, maybe, an entertainer that may have been trying to run. Ladies and gentlemen, you have a chance on Monday to put the record straight about who you want, not who will entertain you. +p1643 +aVBut, who will fight for what you believe in, and I hope you do... +p1644 +aVWell, look. The entire lead up to this debate was talking about whether Donald Trump is going to show up for the next debate. The people of Iowa, who I know pretty darn well, care a lot about the issues. They care about who is going to be the leader of the free world. Who is going to be able to take on +p1645 +aVAnd we are not hearing any of those things. We are hearing about whether someone is going to show up for the next debate or not. +p1646 +aVYes, I am. +p1647 +aVYou know, this, again, more of the politics of trying to get people to throw stuff at each other. I'm not going to throw mud at anybody on this stage tonight. I'm not going to throw mud at anybody on the stage later. I'm not going to attack Donald Trump. What I'm -- Mike Huckabee and I were asked to come to an event where money was going to be raise to do help our veterans. You know, I thought about it. And I thought about. I said well, wait a minute, now, if there were no political considerations and I had some time because I'm not doing anything at 9:00 tonight. And so if I had some time, would I go... ... if I could help raise money for veterans? And the answer was yes, I would. And so I'm going. +p1648 +aVThank you for the question, Martha. We have to have an honest discussion with the American people about the nature of the threat that we confront. This president says that +p1649 +aVWhat I would say is that we have to create jobs that give people wages and benefits that can help them provide for themselves and their families. And that's why I announced from a factory floor in western Pennsylvania, I pledge to make America the number one manufacturing nation, again, in the world. And we can do it. China is starting to reorient itself away from a manufacturing economy that's dumping products on the -- overseas to providing more services to their people. This is an opportunity for America. It's an opportunity for us to get those jobs back. And by the way, do you want to solve global climate change? Take 2 million jobs from China in manufacturing and moving them back here to the United States, where we produce one-fifth the CO2 when we make things. We can help -- we can do every -- we can do it all. We can take care of the environment. We can create more jobs here. Seventy-four percent of Americans don't have a college degree. And unfortunately most folks who, in the Republican Party, don't talk about what we're going to do to create jobs for people who feel like neither political party cares about them. When you elect me, we'll create opportunities for working men and women in this country -- all over this country. +p1650 +aVWell, in fact, the plan that I put forward is scored by the Tax Foundation as bringing three and a half million jobs into this country, and we have provisions in the flat tax for the corporate side that actually has a phase in of manufacturing. Manufacturers initially don't pay any income tax. Ten percent the next year, and 20. We're going to also have a repatriation provision which says that if you have money overseas, and you're Apple, and you got a couple hundred billion dollars there, bring it back. The most you'll be taxed 10%, invest it here in America. Create jobs here in America with all that money that's sitting overseas. We also -- it's not just taxes. It's regulation. I've pledged to cut every single Obamacare -- I mean, excuse me, Obama regulation, including Obamacare, and remove those regulations that cost more than a hundred million dollars in the economy. That will liberate -- and that includes waters of the U.S., and the ozone regulations, they -- the mercury regulations. All of these just crush our manufactures and don't create an opportunity for us to survive. And, remember, China produces five times as much CO2 and other pollutants per dollar of GDP as we do. You want to help the environment? Bring jobs back to America. +p1651 +aVWell, I've been to the March for Life for about 25 years and I thought -- I think that's a pretty good record. Spoken at it a few times and I have shepherded every single piece of pro-life piece of legislation that's passed over the last 20 years. I've either authored it or shepherded it through the United States Congress and I'm pretty proud of that record too. But we have an election going on and there was some snow coming. So I decided that maybe it would be better for me to get out and do some campaigning and not be stuck as my wife and kids were for a week, piling out of two and a half feet of snow. So, here's what I would say. If you want someone that is going to talk a good game, there are a lot of folks on this stage that have talked a good game on the issue of life. Not only have I talked a good game on life and I've done some things. But I've also lived it. You know, one of the things Saint Francis said was, you know, if you preach the gospel, then if you have to, speak. The bottom line is, that twice in my life, we were counseled to have an abortion, one with our son Gabriel and one with our little girl Bella. And neither time did Karen and I for a moment think about it because we know that life begins at conception. We know the dignity of every human life and we know the potential of every child, no matter how long that life lives. And that is a message that can come across to all Americans and without having to say a word and defend the institution of life and the dignity of life in this country. +p1652 +aVThe president of the United States has been the most divisive president in -- certainly in my lifetime. This is a man who constantly... He is not trustworthy. You can't sit down and negotiate with him. He won't keep a deal. We have heard that over and over again. And here is what he does that really, really creates the friction in Washington. He personally attacks people. He ascribes motives to them that aren't true and then he tears them down. How are you going to work with someone if you don't treat them decently, honestly, and respectfully? I was a tough fighter when I was in Washington. I had very sharp elbows. I fought. I went there and joined a game named Jim Nussle here from Iowa with the "gang of seven." And we, in four years' time, took a Congress that had been controlled by Democrats for 40 years, and brought in the first Republican majority because we fought and we fought tough. But you know what? I was able to then work with those same people that we fought with and able to pass welfare reform. Unborn Victims of Violence Act. Pro-life bills. Health savings accounts. A whole laundry list of things not because I was mean, but because I was able to be respectful in the disagreements. And that's what we need in Washington, someone who can be respectful and still unite this country. +p1653 +aVI just want to thank the people of Iowa. Over the last five years I've done 700 speeches and town hall meetings all throughout the state of Iowa, and it has been an incredible right. Thank you. I want to thank all the wonderful folks like Pastor Carey Gordon who gave me a smooth stone and said you go slay Goliaths. Someone like Jim and Janet Cook who over this past Christmas gave up Christmas presents for their kids, and they have more than I do, just they can help me and my campaign. That's the kind of people... ... in Iowa. And, here's what I'm asking you to do. You're good people. You know good leaders. Lead. Pick the right person, not what the polls say. Not who the money give people to. Pick the leader you know is best for this country. Thank you. +p1654 +aVWell, all he has to do is listen to the Democratic debate and find out how bad the economy is. All they do is complain about the hollowing out of the middle of America, and how America is struggling so badly, and have to make these radical changes in Washington. But they've been in control for the last seven years, and what have we seen? The most important jobs, I believe, in this country are the ones that fill the middle. For the 74% of Americans who don't have a college degree between the age of 25 and 65 are manufacturing jobs. Your governor, and your legislature, and your team here have done an amazing job of bringing manufacturing jobs back to South Carolina. Right here. Right here in Charleston, right down in the street in Boeing. You've done a great job, and what's happened? You've grown this economy, you've strengthened the center of your state, the middle. That's because you know that if you're really going to create wealth and opportunity, you got to get jobs, and good paying jobs for everybody. And, so what's happened? Two million jobs, manufacturing jobs, have left this country because of Barack Obama. Regulations, EPA, workplace regulations, things driving people off-shore all because of his number one priority, global climate change. Well, let me tell you this, Mr. President. For every dollar of GDP, China creates five times as much pollution as we do here. You want to \u2014 lower global climate change, bring those jobs back to America and let American workers do that job with less pollution. +p1655 +aVWell, the historic promises that we have made to \u2014 to Iran in this agreement need to be torn up on the first day in office of the next president. And let me tell you why, because Iran has already torn it up. Iran has not approved the agreement that President Obama has said that they have approved. They have approved a different agreement in their parliament. The fact of the matter is they have violated this agreement. Carly just mentioned some of those violations. They have launched ballistic missiles, tested them, in clear violation. And here's the pathetic part. The president announced that they were going to impose sanctions. And then President Rouhani went on Twitter and said there would be retaliation. And what did we do? We backed down. Ladies and gentlemen, there are 50 some Citadel cadets in this audience tonight. I would ask them to stand up if they will. And here's what I want to tell each and every one of them, as you stand. Here's what I want to tell them. Whether it's you're watching that movie this weekend that just came out when we abandoned our men and women in Benghazi, or whether it's we treat Iran, that gave courtesies to our sailors, as they made them record a hostage video, let me tell you this, if you choose to serve this country, I will have your back. I will not let America be trampled upon anymore by these radical jihadists. +p1656 +aVI would just say that if we were doing a better job within the government, we wouldn't need the private sector to do the things that we're asking them to do. I've had a little experience in this in the private sector myself. And what I found was a government with layers and layers of bureaucracy, of people who had some technical expertise but they had no authority, number one. And one of the things I found out about in the bureaucracy is if a lot of people have authority, nobody has authority, number one. And number two, that if you don't do anything, you don't get fired. It's only when you do something and something goes wrong, you get fired. So they do nothing. And that's what is happening in our Defense Department right now. We have a capability that they're trying to develop to play defense. We have a lot of technologists that are very skilled. And they're trying to figure out how to play defense. But what we don't have is we don't have folks who are thinking about offense. We don't have war-fighters. We have technologists. Technologists are not war-fighters. Technologists are thinking, how do I protect cyber-security, how do I secure, how do I protect? And we need to have a much more dynamic, how do we \u2014 how do we go after them? How do we respond? And we need leadership that's willing to make sure that when someone attacks us \u2014 and ladies and gentlemen, they're attacking us as we speak. They're attacking us all day every day, not just the government, but they're attacking private sector companies all day every day. They have to learn that we're going to pay \u2014 they're going to pay a price when they do so. And then right now, just like in every other aspect of our national security, people who attack us are not paying a price. We need a leader who will make sure that they know when they mess with America, they're going to pay a price. +p1657 +aVLook, Facebook and Twitter can teach us things. We can cooperate with them. We can share ideas and information. But this is a \u2014 and this is a very dicey area for the government to go in and require the industry to do its job. It needs to develop that capability. We need to be \u2014 have responsible dialogue, but I don't think requirements are the order of the day. +p1658 +aVWell, the most devastating attack that could occur is an electromagnetic pulse attack, and that would be an attack that would be triggered by a nuclear explosion in the upper atmosphere of our country. The best way to stop that from happening is to make sure that those who contemplating and actually war-gaming and talking about using it, Iran, doesn't get a nuclear weapon so they can't explode that device. And the president of the United States has put Iran on a path to a nuclear weapon. And we have done nothing to do anything to harden our grid. There is actually a bill in Congress that would put money forward to try to put redundancy and harden our electric grid so it could actually survive an EMP. An EMP is a devastating explosion that sends a pulse that knocks out all electric, everything, everything that is connected to any kind \u2014 that is wired, that has a circuit board gets fried out. Everything is gone. Cars stop. Planes fall out of the sky. This is a devastating attack. And this president has done nothing, number one, to take the most probable person to \u2014 probable country to launch an attack and stop them, and has done nothing to try to defend us, particularly our electric grid. The bottom line is, I put the original sanctions on the Iranian nuclear program when I was in the United States Senate. I've been fighting for 12 years with one thing in mind, that we must stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. And......because they're different than every other country. They do not want a nuclear weapon to defend themselves. They want a nuclear weapon to have theological ends to bring about their mahdi so they can control the world. And that is the most serious threat facing this country right now. +p1659 +aVWell, the numbers just don't add up. I mean, they have not added manufacturing jobs. Manufacturing jobs have been lost in this country, 2 million of them. The bottom line is that this president has done more to take jobs away from the hard-working people who are struggling the most. And that's folks who are, as I said, the 74 percent of Americans who don't have a college degree. And they're out there talking about, well, we're going to provide free college for everybody. Well, who is going to pay for it? The 74 percent that don't have a college degree. They're not \u2014 nobody is focused. Let's just be honest, nobody is focused on the people who are struggling the most in America today. We talk about immigration. Talk about the president's immigration plan. He wants to bring in more and more people into this country. Let people who are here illegally stay in this country. Almost all of the people who are here illegally, and most of the people who came here legally over the last 20 years, they're working in wage-earning jobs. That is why wages have flat-lined. And we have unfortunately two political parties with most of the candidates in this field for some form of amnesty, some form of allowing people to stay here even though they're here illegally and for increasing levels of legal immigration. I'm someone who believes that we need to be the party that stands for the American worker. And when we say we need to send people back, I mean we send people back. And let me just make one point. I was in Storm Lake, Iowa, the other day, near a Tyson's plant, 91 percent of the kids that go to the elementary school there are minority kids. And they said, well, what are you going to do with all of these people, their families, they've lived here for a long time? I said, I'm going to give them a gift. I'm going to give them a gift of being able to help the country they were born in. And I'm going to export America, the education they were able to see. They learned English language. They learned about capitalism. They learned about democracy. You want to stop flow of immigrants? Let's send six million Mexicans, Hondurans, Guatemalans, El Savadorians......back into their country, so they can start a renaissance in their country so they won't be coming over here anymore. +p1660 +aVYou know, we've had this debate about the economy, and we haven't talked the one issue now increasingly even the right, and even the are coming to agreement. I've run around doing 300 town hall meetings talking about a book written by a liberal Harvard sociologist, not a normal thing for me to be talking about, but I now name Robert Putnam who wrote a book called, "Our Kids". And, he wrote this book, I think, ostensibly to support the Democratic argument that the middle of America's hollowing out, and income gap is widening, and rich are getting richer. When he studied all the information as to what was going on, he realized that the biggest reason that we're seeing the hollowing out of the middle of America is the breakdown of the American family. The reality is that if you're a single parent \u2014 a child of a single parent, and you grew up in a single parent family neighborhood, you went to that single parent family school, the chance of you ever, ever reaching the top 20% of income earners is 3% in America. At least \u2014 I don't know about you, but that's not good enough. And, we have been too politically correct in this country because we don't want to offend anybody to fight for the lives of our children. You want \u2014 You want to be shocked? You read the first few chapters of Mr. \u2014 Dr. Putnam' book. He talks about Port Clinton, Ohio and growing up there in the 1950's, and how poor kids actually survived and did well, even though they were poor and disadvantaged. But, then he goes to the towns today and these kids are failing, and failing miserably. They don't even have a shot, and we won't even have the courage to have leadership at the federal level \u2014 not with legislation, but the most powerful tool a president have, the bully pulpit to encourage each and everyone of you, churches and businesses, and educators, and community leaders to let's have a national campaign to rebuild the American family, and give every child its birthright which is a Mom and a Dad who loves them. That will change this economy. +p1661 +aVLadies and gentlemen, America is frustrated and angry and looking for someone who's a fighter, but I also think they're looking for someone who's a winner. Somebody who can go out there and take on the establishment and make a difference. And take on someone who's going to be the person who's going to be between a Republican holding the presidency and that's Hillary Clinton. And there's one person on this stage, one person in the race who's done it and done it repeatedly. I've taken on Hillary Clinton on the issues you care about. Partial-birth abortion. Go and google Rick Santorum and Hillary Clinton and there you'll see a five-minute debate. I'll let you decide who won the debate. I'll tell you who won, because we passed the bill and I know I'm out of time but I'm going to take some of Rand Paul's time here for a second. If you're looking for someone who fought Hillary Clinton on Iran's sanctions, she was one of four who voted \u2014 who's deciding vote who voted against Iran's sanctions, so we didn't get it in place as earlier as we should have. I've fought battles against her. In 1994, I ran against the Clinton machine. James Carville and Paul Begala, ran the race against me when I took on the author of Hillary care. And each one of those battles, I won. You want a fighter, you want a winner, I'd appreciate your vote. Thank you. +p1662 +aVThank you, Wolf. It's great to be here in Las Vegas. And I just want to thank everybody for the opportunity to be here. This is an important time in our country's history. We have entered World War III. World War III has begun and we have a leader who refuses to identify it and be truthful to the American people to the stakes that are involved, in part, because his policies have led us here. His policy toward Iran lit the fuse of a nuclear Iran. Just a few weeks ago the International Atomic Agency reported that Iran has had a nuclear program, but they don't know if it's continuing because they refuse to share any information about the current status. And this President marches on, forgiving them hundreds of billions of dollars to allow them to not just reconstitute their robust nuclear program, pursue their missile program, but also to foment terror around the world. And then his policies in the Middle East with Iraq create +p1663 +aVOf course I do. But what Donald Trump was saying was nothing against Muslims. His comment was against this administration who doesn't have a policy to properly vet people coming into this country. Let's just be honest about what's \u2014 what's being talked about here. And I know people will pile on because it makes sense to pile on, maybe from the polls. But he brings up a legitimate issue. The fact of the matter is not all Muslims are Jihadists and no one, including I suspect, Donald Trump would say that. But the reality is, all Jihadists are Muslims. That's a reality. And we have \u2014 we have to stop worrying about offending some people and start defending all Americans. Because we're not right now. +p1664 +aVI would agree \u2014 I would agree that Donald Trump's proposal was not the right proposal. But he brings up a very important issue that I think we've been ignoring for far too long in this country. The reality is that, yes, we need to get reformist Muslims to join us. We need to get those who are being persecuted and killed within the Middle East to join us. But we also have to protect this country from those who want to harm us and we have to defeat those who are radicalized in the Middle East and wherever we find them around the world. +p1665 +aVJust because it couldn't have prevented San Bernardino doesn't mean that we shouldn't have all tools available to us that doesn't impinge upon people's privacy. This sort of data collection is not collecting people's phones calls, their voices; they're not collecting information that's personal. There's no names attached to these numbers. They're simply numbers and times and relationships that throughout algorithms that computer technology can be able to sort through relationship about what numbers are calling what numbers and be able to track those down to see if there's any leakage's between someone who's potentially a terrorist. That is to me just fundamental that we have to have this type of data to be able to not impinge upon people's privacy. In fact, I would make the argument that the more data we can collect that's anonymous that we can through, through using algorithms, the less we need to involve people in and imposing themselves in people's privacy. +p1666 +aVLook, I agree with Governor Huckabee, that we should in fact be looking at people's social media posts. That's just common sense. But we've defunded and tied the hands behind the backs of our intelligence agencies because of political correctness. We're not allowed to ask any questions or really pursue, whether there's any mosque that they're attending that could be spreading Jihadism, and we know that in this country there are Imams that are doing that. But we're not allowed to ask those questions, we're not allowed to pursue to those things because we have a president who denies the reality of the enemy we confront. +p1667 +aVI don't. I don't think we should be able to deny someone's constitutional rights based on a list kept by the government that nobody knows how they get on it, or how they get off of it. If you're going to make that list public, if you're going to put criteria out there as to how you're going to get on it, if you're going to deny someone's constitutional right, than I think there has to be more transparency. Let's just be honest, when someone applies for a gun, you do a background check. And, if you're on the terrorist watch list, guess what very well may happen? You may get denied that. That's a discretion of the people \u2014 of the ATF in making that kind of decision. I want to leave that discretion \u2014 as long as this list is not well known, as long as it's not transparent, we have to leave that discretion. I want to make a comment about what Mike said, and George said, about mus \u2014 Islam. The fact of the matter is, Islam is different. I know this is going to come as a shock to a lot of people, and I mean the sincerely. Islam is not just a religion. It is also a political governing structure. The fact of the matter is, Islam is a religion, but it is also Sharia law, it is also a civil government, it is also a form of government. And, so, the idea that that is protected under the First Amendment is wrong. And, in fact, that political structure is what is the big problem. The imposition of Sharia law adherence to fundamental Islam as it was practiced in the Seventh Century... +p1668 +aV...There has to be a line drawn. +p1669 +aVWell, there's all sorts of theological reasons why we may not want to go into Syria right now to take +p1670 +aVI would have no problem with Sy \u2014 with boots on the ground in Syria in a training capacity. I do not want American troops on the front line in Syria because I don't believe that that would serve to the interest. Again, understanding what +p1671 +aVNo look, I'm committed to whatever is necessary understanding the nature of the enemy. The enemy is a theocracy and their allure is their theocracy. It's their doctrine and so we have to understand that doctrine. That's why, I love the fact that people are angry and outraged in Washington and want someone new and fresh. But we need someone who understands and has knowledge and experience in these areas. And I can see that you know, Senator Graham has that experience and we have a little difference of opinion. But frankly, it's not that big of difference in our opinion, we both want to defeat +p1672 +aVAnd the fact that we have a nuclear treaty with the Shiites in Iran, that we have now partnered with the Russians and appearing to allow Assad to stay, which is a satellite Alawites, very interrelated to the Shiites, this looks to +p1673 +aVWell, I would establish a no-fly zone. And, I think we just... +p1674 +aVWell \u2014 the first thing you have to do is establish a no-fly zone, and you don't do that by just sort of declaring it. You work through the process of making sure you work with people who, hopefully, have the same objective that you do. And, if they don't, then you establish the no-fly zone, and you take the consequences of whatever \u2014 who violates that law. +p1675 +aV...I don't think it's a war with Russia anymore than Turkey went to war with Russia when Turkey shot down a plane... +p1676 +aVThese are \u2014 these are incidents not something that we're threatening the motherland. This is a tactical decision within an area that we have an obligation for the refugees, for providing stability to the rebels, and an opportunity for the rebels to reconstitute. And, making sure that we stop the flow of refugees into Europe, and into the United States to establish a no-fly zone. And, Russia either is going to comply with it or not, and if they don't, I think it can be contained to that region. +p1677 +aVWell, I would establish a no-fly zone. And, I think we just... +p1678 +aVWell \u2014 the first thing you have to do is establish a no-fly zone, and you don't do that by just sort of declaring it. You work through the process of making sure you work with people who, hopefully, have the same objective that you do. And, if they don't, then you establish the no-fly zone, and you take the consequences of whatever \u2014 who violates that law. +p1679 +aV...I don't think it's a war with Russia anymore than Turkey went to war with Russia when Turkey shot down a plane... +p1680 +aVThese are \u2014 these are incidents not something that we're threatening the motherland. This is a tactical decision within an area that we have an obligation for the refugees, for providing stability to the rebels, and an opportunity for the rebels to reconstitute. And, making sure that we stop the flow of refugees into Europe, and into the United States to establish a no-fly zone. And, Russia either is going to comply with it or not, and if they don't, I think it can be contained to that region. +p1681 +aVI would use the studies that were done that were ignored by this military that there were certain positions that frankly were not suitable. And they pushed a political agenda above what is in the best interest of the safety, security, and effective of our, of our fighting units. So I would go back to using what we should be doing. Which is putting forth people on those front line positions who are best prepared to do the job, survive the job, and come back home safely. +p1682 +aVI would change the policy to reflect what is the best interest of the people that we're asking. I've got a son who's going, who's going into the Air Force right now, and I, as a father, I want to make sure that, if he's out there on the front line \u2014 and he may be a pilot flying an airplane \u2014 I want to make sure that the person who's responsible for, for his wing has the ability to do the job they're doing. And if they don't have that ability to do the job, if we're doing a social promotion as opposed to what's best for the efficacy of our fighting force and for the survivability of our men and women, I'll change that policy. +p1683 +aVSo what you just said is you agree with me. Because that's exactly what I said. +p1684 +aVI said if you can't do the job, you shouldn't be able to...you shouldn't have the position. +p1685 +aVNo, I did not say that, George. I mean, you may, you may have heard that, but I didn't say that. What I said was, if they can in fact do the job that any, any other person can do, I will allow them to do so. +p1686 +aVBut if they cannot, I would reverse the policy. And what happened here is there were many studies done, particularly in the Marine Corps, which begged this President not to move forward with this because people are going to get killed as a result of it. The President went forward anyway. +p1687 +aVOf course there is a proper way to vet refugees coming into the United States. But not from the +p1688 +aVLindsay says this is a real war, until it comes to immigration. And, then, all of a sudden it's not such a real war. The reality is that we've seen since the events of 9/11, the president talks about how he's worried about discrimination and acts against Muslims. There's four times as many acts of violence against Jews than there are against Muslims. I never hear the president talk about that. The reality is that under this president, since 9/11, this anti-Muslim United States of America has doubled the rate of Muslim immigration. Since 9/11. That's what we've done. So, the idea that we have an immigration system that is working... +p1689 +aVIs not \u2014 and, I'm out of time. +p1690 +aVHere's the problem. I was with, in fact, one my guests here today is the Sheriff in Cochise County, down on the border in Arizona. And, he talked with me last night when I was with him about all of the children coming across. All of the children, why? Because we've created a magnet. These children are not coming over, and in great shape, not coming over \u2014 and not in harms way, and \u2014 going through difficult times. We're attracting people. He's also the Sheriff that caught Syrian's at the border. We have through the policies supported by almost everybody in this field......A policy that says amnesty. The world hears this, and knows that if they can come across this border, by and large, they're going to be able to stay. That has to change. +p1691 +aVBarack Obama has not kept this country safe. Hillary Clinton will not keep this country safe. We need to nominate someone who America knows will keep this country safe. Ten years ago I put the sanctions on Iran's nuclear program. Before that, I gave speech after speech, including to President Bush, to identify the enemy and call these radical Islamists who they are. Ladies and gentlemen, this week +p1692 +aVThe middle of America is hollowing out. All you have to do is listen to the last Democratic debate and you would think there was a Republican president in office the way they complained about how bad things are in America and how the middle \u2014 the middle of America is hollowing out. I agree with Mike Huckabee. I spent this morning in Chicago at Fabtech, which is a sheet manufac \u2014 a sheet metal fabricators conference. Thousands of people there explained the latest and newest technologies. You know what I was told? I was told when I went to booth after booth that there are 250,000 welder jobs open in America \u2014 250,000 welder jobs paying anywhere from $50,000 to $70,000 a year, and if you want to weld pipe on a, you know, for oil and gas pipelines, you can make $100,000 a year. Every manufacturer \u2014 I go to one every single week. In fact, I have with me in the \u2014 in the crowd here today a gentleman who is a supporter of mine from Rockwall, Texas, Ed Grand-Lienard. He runs Special Products. And he tells me he has jobs open in every skill that he \u2014 he \u2014 he could possibly hire for in Rockwall, Texas, but he can't find people. So the issue is, yes, we need a tax code. I \u2014 I propose a 20 percent flat tax \u2014 20 percent on corporations, 20 percent on \u2014 on individuals, full expensing, which will be powerful for manufacturing, a 0 percent rate, initially, for manufacturers. We're going to have a very powerful tax code. We're going to do something about regulation. We're going to suspected every single ObamaCare regu \u2014 Obama regulation that cost over $100,000 to the economy. But we have to start doing something about training and employing people who are sitting on the sidelines because they don't see a path. And we have a \u2014 a bureaucracy in Washington and a president in Washington \u2014 and even among Republicans who think everybody has to go to college. People need to go to work and we need to provide......opportunities for them to go to work out of high school. +p1693 +aVWell, the answer is first that we need to do something about a tax code that doesn't penalize. One thing that I'm excited about our tax code, proposed changes, is it's very pro-family. You have a $2,700 tax credit, period, for every person in that family, so that family, you know, would have about an $8,000 tax credit, which would be refundable. So every dollar she works, she's still only losing 20 cents. The problem with the tax code today, because of all the different provisions, you're right, you go back to work, you lose welfare benefits, you're losing money. Throw on top of that the \u2014 even a bigger problem, over 50 percent of children being raised in a home today of a single mom are raised in a home where the father is born \u2014 father is (sic) living at the child \u2014 the time the child is born. Now what does that mean? That means we have incentivized people not to marry. We've incentivized people to cohabitate instead of not marry, why? Because mom will lose welfare benefits if she marries father. It's not just mom going back to work, but it's mother and father marrying to form a more stable family for that child to be raised in a two-parent family. So we've got all sorts of really corrupt incentives that were put in place, well meaning by the left. But we need to remove those. We need to remove those incentives. We need to adopt a tax code that says we're going to be pro-family and pro-work. And that's what we'll do. +p1694 +aVAbsolutely. I'm a capitalist, not a corporatist. I'm not someone who believes we should be bailing out corporations whether their auto industries, or banks. And, it is simply a matter that there's auto industry \u2014 the auto industry would have survived, it would have survived through a bankruptcy process of \u2014 instead of Washington picking a winner and a loser. And, in this case, the losers are the bondholders, and the winners were the unions. That's fine. They did it, the unions \u2014 the unions survived. We \u2014 we have not survived in continuing to grow manufacturing jobs. We have a \u2014 we have a president, and an economy right now, that is killing \u2014 choking our ability to be able to compete. I'm one of the few people up here who actually believes that we need a level playing field when it comes to manufacturing. That means a good tax code, a good regulatory environment, low energy prices, better opportunities for workers to get training, and, also, I'm \u2014 a supporter of the +p1695 +aV...Let me settle this argument... +p1696 +aV...Well... +p1697 +aVI'll answer that in a second, but, I want to answer this other problem because this is a real legitimate debate between Chris and Bobby, and if somebody says we need someone who can win in a blue state, and Bobby says we need a real principled conservative. Ninety-two percent conservative voting record, unlike some of the other senators that Bobby mentioned who hasn't done anything to cut federal spending, I was actually the author of welfare reform, which is the only time we've ever seen a federal entitlement actually cut. We cut it. Senate did exactly what every conservative says they want to do. We took the program, we eliminated the federal entitlement, we blocked (ph) to the state, we capped the amount of money, cut it by about 10%, and then put two requirements, work, and time limits. We need to do that with the rest of the \u2014 means (ph) tested federal entitlements. I've done it. And I did it with a bipartisan support in the House and Senate, and after fighting two presidential vetoes by Bill Clinton. So I had a democratic president we had to get this through. No record of accomplishment. I agree with the folks who are from the Congress in this race. I have a record of accomplishment of being a conservative on everything. National security, on moral and cultural issues, on the economy, and twice won a blue state. The first time I beat the author of Hillarycare. I had Bill and Hillary in my state, James Carville managed the race against me, a state with a million more Democrats than Republicans. And I ran on health savings accounts, on private sector health care, as a conservative, pro-life, pro-family, and I won. And then in 2000, I was the only senator to win a state as a conservative that George Bush lost. You want someone who can win Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, with a conservative message, I'm your guy. +p1698 +aVI'll be happy to answer that if you give me more time. +p1699 +aVI'm going to answer two questions for the price of one. The infrastructure question, the answer is... We need to get the federal government out of this infrastructure business, other than vital economic highways. It has been said that if we cut the gas tax to 3 to 5 cents and send the rest back to the states, and just take care of the federal infrastructure that's vital for our economy, let the \u2014 we don't need the federal government and the road business that it is today. Number one. Number two, you know who I respect in the Democratic Party? You know why I respect them? Because they fight! Because they're not willing to back down, and they're willing to stand up and fight and win. And so I respect them because they are willing to take it to us. +p1700 +aVWell, I'll tell you, I have a 20 percent flat tax. That's one all income \u2014 so capital gains, corporations, individuals, 20 percent. I think that's a fair number, one out of five, to be able to \u2014 to help support the federal government. By the way it also approximates, if you take out some of the deductions, it approximates how much the federal government is, on average, spent of GDP, which is about 18 to 19 percent of GDP. So it actually fits with shrinking the size of government down to more like post-World War II levels. So the second thing we do is I don't allow for deductibility of state and local taxes, which will require state and local taxes to go down in order to be treated for their \u2014 for their people to be treated fairly. So the answer is, 20 percent and probably 33 percent overall. +p1701 +aVWell, I don't \u2014 I agree with Governor Christie, I don't think you can make it any more political than it's been. They \u2014 they are protecting a president that is over-taxing and over- regulating, shutting down this economy. And he \u2014 and they're keeping it up like Atlas, trying to hold up the Earth by \u2014 by these ridiculously low interest rates. And it's hurting American seniors, who are seeing no Social Security increases, seeing no \u2014 no savings. They're \u2014 they're putting their money aside. They're getting nothing in their deposit accounts. This is hurting the people who have acted responsibly, all in favor of those who, um, you know, are \u2014 are speculators and \u2014 and those on Wall Street. It's not a good deal for \u2014 for the vast majority of responsible Americans. The other thing we have with the Fed is they've been given way too much authority. Under Dodd-Frank, they've been given this enormous new authority. I mean they \u2014 they now have almost become the most powerful entity in Washington, DC. We need to repeal Dodd-Frank, get away that authority from the Fed and put them under more \u2014 more scrutiny. That's only part of the problem. I understand the Fed is interesting for a business channel, but I think for most Americans, the most important business is the family. And we haven't really talked much about the importance of the family to the economy. And \u2014 and ladies and gentlemen, every single book, from left to right, that's been written over the last couple of years has said the biggest problem in America today at the hollowing out of the middle of America is the breakdown of the nuclear family in America. We'd better be the party that's out there talking about this issue and what we're going to do to help strengthen marriage and return dads into homes in all communities. You want to talk about the communities that are hurting the most, the ones you see the protests in......there are no dads. And we need to do something about it. +p1702 +aVHappy Birthday. +p1703 +aV\u2014 States Marine Corps. +p1704 +aVThat's very personal to me. I grew up on a V.A. grounds. I lived in apartments on V.A. grounds my entire childhood. Both my Mom and Dad, after World War II, marry \u2014 met at a V.A., married, and that's where I lived. Kitchen table discussion was, particularly when I was growing up in the 1960's and 1970's, was the decline of the V.A. When they joined in the early 1950's, the V.A. was the top. They were the best, they were the best and brightest coming in after the war. And, we believed in the cause that we fought, and we invested in our hospitals to make sure that our veterans who left World War II were taken care of. But, after Vietnam, and during Vietnam, that began to change, and it really hasn't recovered since. The bottom line is the V.A. is antiquated. There's no need for a V.A. healthcare system as it existed after World War \u2014 why? Because we have the best private healthcare system in the world, we didn't need \u2014 we needed it in 1950's, hospitals were not particularly advanced, so, we built the best. We didn't maintain the best. Government didn't keep its promises to its veterans. So, what we need to do is two things. Number one, we need to allow veterans to go to private sector hospitals for their routine and ordinary care to get the best care in their community possible. And, there is a place for the Veterans Administration. There are injuries, and there are \u2014 things like +p1705 +aVIt should come as no surprise to Chris, or anybody else, that Barack Obama doesn't stand behind our men and women in uniform here at home because he hasn't stood behind them overseas. The rules of engagement that we've allowed our soldiers to go and fight against have put them in harm's way for political purposes. This has been the most politicized wars that we've ever seen under this administration. He gets in, and gets out, based upon what the polls are saying, what pressure he's getting from groups. Talk about a Commander in Chief. We need a commander in chief who has a vision and plan of how we're going to execute the national security of our country. Commander in chief is not an entry level position. Experience matters, and that's why I would ask for your support as a Commander in Chief, because I have the experience against the enemy......to confront to do the job. +p1706 +aVI announced from a factory floor in Western Pennsylvania. This campaign has all been about two words for me, working families. Working. Getting people the opportunity to see those wages rise, to be on the side of the American workers so they can get good paying jobs, and that means we have to start making things in America again. We need a president who's going to not just put policies in place, but is going to stand up at the bully pulpit and talk about the dignity of being a welder. The dignity of being a carpenter, about going to work and earning success. And, also, the importance of families, the importance of families and fathers, and mothers raising their children, and committing to that so that they can give children in our country the best opportunity to success. Working families is the key for us to win this election. +p1707 +aVYes, I think it's one thing to shrink the size of a state government but it's another thing to actually get something accomplished in Washington. It's a much tougher field. And I'm the one in the \u2014 on this stage and, frankly, on both stages that has actually gone to Washington, said we would shrink government, said we would shake things up and actually delivered for the conservative cause, everything from welfare reform, which was the largest, most significant accomplishment in the last 25 years for conservatism. I authored the bill when I was in the House of Representatives; I managed the bill on the floor of the United States Senate. You need a conservative who can deliver and that's what I bring to the table. +p1708 +aVWell, if you look at my flat tax, it actually takes the best of what Steve Forbes, Art Laffer, many have been advocating for a long time, which is a very strong pro-growth tax code \u2014 very simple. And, it adjusts it to make sure that it is not regressive. We have a $2,750 per person tax credit \u2014 that's $2,750 off the taxes due, not a deduction, a credit. And, we think \u2014 in fact, if you run the numbers, no American who's going to be paying more taxes under our proposal, so, we've accomplished both. We have a system that has a low single rate, but we take care of American families. I'm talking about $2,750 per person. That means a family four, that's $11,000 dollar tax credit. That's a very, very strong pro-family \u2014 and if you looked at the Wall Street Journal today, and so many of the publications that have been out there, they've talked about how the biggest problem of the hollowing out of the middle of this country. For workers to be able to raise is actually, the breakdown of the American family. William Galston, a liberal, said that on the pages of the Wall Street Journal today that the key to poverty is families. So, we put forth a pro-growth \u2014 Steve Forbes plan, combined it with a pro- family plan, and that's why I think it's going to work out, and work effectively. +p1709 +aVWhat we should be \u2014 we shouldn't be putting tariffs on anything. That hurts working men and women in this country. What we should be doing is making our manufacturing more competitive. One of the reasons I introduced the 20/20 plan, a 20 percent flat tax on corporations, as well as on individuals, is so we can be competitive, so we can bring those manufacturing jobs back. You want to talk about cutting pollution? You do a little back- of-the-envelope. We \u2014 we produce, per dollar of GDP, about one-fifth of the CO2 and other pollutants that China produces. So we're five times more efficient in producing goods here, as far as the environment \u2014 environment is concerned. Why don't we \u2014 if we really want to tackle environmental problems, global warming, what we need to do is take those jobs from China and bring them back here to the United States, employ workers in this country. We've lost two million jobs \u2014 two million jobs \u2014 under this administration in manufacturing \u2014 15,000 manufacturers have left this country. Why? Because of bad tax policy, bad regulatory policy and, yes, bad trade policy. We need to have a president that's going to pledge, as I have \u2014 I'm going to make America the number-one manufacturer so working men and women can have good paying jobs again in America. +p1710 +aV\u2014 with competition... +p1711 +aV\u2014 for low wage workers. +p1712 +aV and I... +p1713 +aVThat's not what's happening. +p1714 +aVA true conservative wants to create a level playing field. That's what \u2014 that's what we're \u2014 that's what government is supposed to do. They're not supposed to favor one group over another. And when it comes to our manufacturers, the level playing field is not in the United States. It's international. And so the federal government should have laws, tax laws, regulatory laws and, yes, finance laws. There's 60 other ex-im banks all over \u2014 all over the world. Every major competitor for the United States' manufacturing dollar has one of those banks. And guess what? They use those banks a heck of a lot more than their \u2014 than the United States of America does, number one. So in order to have a level playing field, which is what conservatives talk about all the time, level playing field, then we have to have export financing and here's why.Because export financing doesn't help Boeing, or G.E. G.E. just lost a contract, you know what they did? They went to . They got the X.M. (ph) bank in France to support it, and what did they do? They moved manufacturing out of South Carolina, out of Texas, moved to \u2014 Hungary, and to France. G.E. is still making money. G.E. is still doing well, but American workers are out of jobs. That's why we have to have this level playing field so we can compete with the rest of the world. +p1715 +aVWell, first, since you mention Colorado, I want to thank the people of Colorado because four years ago you \u2014 gave me the honor of winning the nomination out here in the state of Colorado. On a night we won three states, and it catapulted us to win 11 states ultimately, so, I just want to thank you very, very much for that support, and \u2014 in response to that, I do drink a lot of Coors beer, so... I try to help. The answer is pretty simple. The answer is simple. There are no shortage of breweries around the United States of America. I \u2014 I do \u2014 as I travel around the country, I do pints and politics, and I go to breweries all over the place, and there \u2014 there's almost no town in America anymore that doesn't have a brewery, so I don't think we need to worry too much. They're obviously \u2014 if there's \u2014 if there's some anti- competitive issues, you know, we have agencies to look at that. But, no, I'm not \u2014 I'm not concerned that Americans are not going to have choices in beer. +p1716 +aVAnd I care about, by the way. I care about choices. +p1717 +aVWell, I \u2014 I would say this, that what you're seeing is \u2014 in health care, you're seeing a lot of consolidation, and that consolidation is occurring because of Obamacare. You're seeing it particularly in an area that I am concerned about, and that's in insurance \u2014 health insurance. You're seeing the big health insurance companies fold up. You've seen Obama try to seed health insurance companies, and they've all failed, I think, except one. Why? Because we have a system of Obamacare with minimum loss ratios that make it virtually impossible for a small insurer to operate effectively. And this was the motive behind Obamacare. This wasn't incidental. This was deliberate, to make it so impossible for small insurers to survive... +p1718 +aV...that they consolidate into a small group. Then the left can say, "there is no competition, we need a single payer." That's why we have to repeal Obamacare. +p1719 +aVThank you. Can I just say something about that? +p1720 +aVWell, if you look at our plan that I introduced, the 2020 Clear Vision for America, we increase growth by 10 percent, 1 percent a year. So we go from 2.3 to 3.3, in repealing Obamacare, it's another .7. So you're looking at 4 percent growth, according to the Tax Foundation. And unlike Donald Trump and Bobby Jindal, we don't add $10 trillion to the deficit. In fact, our plan, while it creates as many jobs as their plan does and grows the economy as much as theirs does, we are a revenue-neutral plan because I believe that we need to reduce the size of government, yes, but we also need to reduce our deficit, and we need to get our budget balanced so we can start paying down this debt. And adding a trillion dollars with a tax cut and getting no more growth is not the way to do it. But that's only half of it. The word "economy" comes from the Greek "euthokis" (ph) which means family. The family is the first economy. And the one thing that we do not talk about enough is how stable families are vitally important for the middle of America to be prosperous and to grow and be safe. And I will have policies, not just tax policies, but others that will make sure that families are strong again in America. +p1721 +aVMLB, NHL, so I'm a big sports fan. And "The Wall Street Journal." Those are the three apps I use the most. +p1722 +aVWell, since we're usually in the Super Bowl at the Pittsburgh Steelers... Steeler nation, anybody? +p1723 +aVNo. I was in......was in Kansas City over the weekend to watch the Steeler game and about a third of the crowd were Steeler fans. So I'm usually not alone when I call on Steeler Nation. But we are used to being in the Super Bowl, so actually, it is in Pennsylvania already. +p1724 +aVI grew up in a steel town of Western Pennsylvania, outside of Pittsburgh, and when I announced for president, I announced from the factory floor. When I talk about making America the number one manufacturer again in the world, it's not just talk. When I talk about having the opportunity for people to rise again, it's not just because it polls well. I represented the old steel valley of Pittsburgh. I represented a 70% Democratic district, and won with 60% of the vote. Why? Because I aligned myself with working men and women who feel that neither party, and certainly not Washington D.C. cares about them. You elect me, we will get American workers on the side of the Republican party, and we can not be stopped if we do. +p1725 +aVHi, I'm Rick Santorum. Some of you may know me because I led the fight to end partial birth abortion. Some of you may know me because the I led the fight to end welfare as we know it, put people back to work, reduce poverty and reduce the federal budget. Some of you may know me because I successfully put sanctions on the Iranian nuclear program in Congress, over opposition of both parties initially. But hopefully, most of you know me most because I'm the proud father of seven children with particularly a special little disabled girl, who is the heart and core of my heart and married to a wonderful woman named Karen for 25 years, who is the love of my life. +p1726 +aVI think personal attacks, just please one person, Hillary Clinton. And all we do when we go after each other -- and we've seen a bunch of it, from people up on this stage, people who are going to be on the stage afterwards, who go after and make personal attacks on people. There are plenty of policy differences between the candidates up here and the candidates later. Donald Trump has ever right to run for president as a Republican, as anybody else in this audience, and he may have positions I disagree with, but he has the right to do that and the people should be given the benefit of the doubt for people to see through these things. I don't think it helps when Republicans attack Republicans personally. I'll say some things tonight which will be very big differences. The issue of immigration is one that there are huge differences in this field, and I will be out there talking about how we have to control immigration. How we have to look after the American worker. The focus of this debate should be on how we're going to win this election and help improve the quality of life for American workers, and we aren't doing that, when we're out there picking at each other and calling each other names. The name we should call out is, what are we going to do for average Americans losing ground in America today. And that should be our focus. +p1727 +aVWell, in fact, just about everybody in this field supports some pathway to citizenship. There are just a few, Governor Jindal, Senator Cruz, Senator Rubio, Jeb Bush, a lot of others, Senator Graham, all support some sort of amnesty at some point in time or another. And this is really the interesting thing about this whole debate. This debate should not be about what we're going to do with someone who's here illegally. This debate should not be about what we're going to do with someone who's here illegally; This debate should be about what -- what every other debate on every other policy issue is in America. What's in the best interest of hardworking Americans? What's in the best interest of our country. We've had to focus because the other side has set up for us, here is who we have to be concerned about on the issue of immigration, someone who's here illegally and their family, and what are we going to do about it? A greater leader will see that the objection of every law in America is to do what's in the best interest of America. And what's in the best interest of America right now is to look at wages, look at employment among wager earners. 70 to 90 percent of people who've come into this country, 35 million over the last 20 years, are wage earners that are holding wages down, taking jobs away from America. +p1728 +aVWell, just because you don't call it amnesty doesn't mean that what -- what almost everybody in this field is for is allowing people who are in this country illegally, people who broke the law to come into this country, people who came here legally and overstayed, to stay in -- in America. Again, we have 35 million -- we have the highest percentage of -- of -- of immigrants in this country, as far as numbers ever, as far as percentage, the -- the highest in 105 years. Wages are flatlining. The reason that you're seeing the angst and the anger out there and the reason this issue has taken off is because workers in America know that their wages are being undermined. If you look at, from the year 2000 to the year 2014, there're 5.7 million net new jobs created. What percentage of those jobs are held by people who weren't born here? The answer is all of them. The fact is, American workers are -- are getting hurt by immigration... +p1729 +aV... and that's why they're upset. +p1730 +aV...Hold on, hold on, hold on... +p1731 +aV...He mentioned my name, and that i didn't have a plan. And, the fact of the matter is... +p1732 +aV...that I did have a plan back in 2006. I introduced a plan called, A Comprehensive Border Security Bill, which did, in fact, put the resources to build the fencing, and deploy the troops, and the technology necessary which... +p1733 +aVAs you know, Lindsay... +p1734 +aV...As you know, 40 to 60 percent of the 11 million are here on visa overstays. We know exactly who they are, we should know where they are, but we have a government that doesn't tell them to return home. You can solve half of the problem of the 11 million... +p1735 +aV...by simply telling the 11 million that they have to return to their country of origin, so, that's half your problem... +p1736 +aV...Now, it's not 11 million... +p1737 +aVI don't know how many democrats I had on my bill... +p1738 +aVBut, the point is -- the point is is that I had a bill... +p1739 +aVWell, you're right, Lindsay, it went no where because we had a president back then who was for more comprehensive immigration reform... +p1740 +aV...That's right... +p1741 +aVYou know what we need to do... +p1742 +aVLindsay, is we need to win -- we need to win fighting for Americans. We need to win fighting for the workers in this country... +p1743 +aV...who are hurting, including including hispanics... +p1744 +aV...the people who are hurt the most by illegal immigration are hispanics. +p1745 +aV...The folks -- the folks who are -- hurt the worst are recent immigrants. By illegal immigrants coming to this country last year alone, 700,000 illegal immigrants came into this country. Who do you think are most impacted? It's the folks who came into this country, played by the rules, did what they were supposed to do. Came here, and went to work, and now they're finding themselves out of work because someone illegally is willing to come in and work for less... +p1746 +aVI just want to say -- I just want to say, I have seven kids, I've done my part. +p1747 +aVI have proposed 10,000 troops, I did so about six or seven months ago, that we needed to deploy additional troops to do exactly what Lindsey said, arm the Kurds, arm -- +p1748 +aVI've said -- I've said 10,000 and, if more is necessary, look, the answer is this, once +p1749 +aV16 years ago, this country was tremendously inspired by a young woman who faced a gunman in Columbine and was challenged about her faith and she refused to deny God. We saw her as a hero. Today, someone who refuses to defy (sic) a judge's unconstitutional verdict is ridiculed and criticized, chastised because she's standing up and denying -- not denying her God and her faith. That is a huge difference in 16 years. People have a fundamental right in the First Amendment. There's no more important right. It is the right that is the trunk that all other rights come from, and that's the freedom of conscience. And when we say in America that we have no room -- how many bakers, how many florists, how many pastors, how many clerks are we going to throw in jail because they stand up and say, "I cannot violate what my faith says is against its teachings"? Is there not room in America? I believe there has to be room. First, I believe we have to pass the First Amendment Defense Act, which provides that room for government officials and others who do not want to be complicit in what they believe is against their faith. Second, we need as a president who's going to fight a court that is abusive, that has superseded their authority. Judicial supremacy is not in the Constitution, and we need a president and a Congress to stand up to a court when it exceeds its constitutional authority. +p1750 +aVI hope so. If they're wrong. +p1751 +aVNo, what you have is judicial supremacy. You don't have a rule of law when the court has the final say on everything. +p1752 +aVMartin Luther King wrote a letter from the Birmingham jail. And he said in that letter that there are just laws and there are unjust laws. And we have no obligation to -- to condone and accept unjust laws. And he -- and they -- then he followed up and said what's an unjust law? An unjust law is a job that -- a law that go against the moral code or God's law or the natural law. I would argue that what the Supreme Court did is against the natural law, it's against God's law and we have every obligation to stand in opposition to it. +p1753 +aVWell, contrary to what Governor Jindal said, Governor -- Justice Roberts had a long record and it was a long, good record. And so he made a bad decision on -- a couple of bad decisions on ObamaCare but he's made a lot of great decisions, too. And so I don't -- I don't regret at all standing up for John Roberts but, you know, it's easy to sit out in Louisiana and talk about how, you know, well, I'd be tougher. I fought when I was in the United States Senate. We fought, for the first time, to defeat justices and judges that Bill Clinton nominated and I fought with President Bush to defend his nominees, to push even a filibuster, breaking the filibuster. I led that fight against someone who didn't want to end the filibuster in order for us to get good, conservative justices. So I have been there on the front line, fighting for judges and conservative justices and I will do so as president like none other. +p1754 +aVActually, I'm going to be proposing a plan, I call it the 20/20 perfect vision for America as flat tax, a 20 percent flat tax on income, 20 percent flat tax on capital gains and on corporations. We eliminate all the deductions, special interest provisions and corporations. We deal with the carried interest issue, because everybody pays the same 20 percent. So, there's no advantage as to how you take your income. That will create growth. We're going to allow expensing for corporations. For manufacturing, again, I print -- I pledged, when I announced that I was going to run for president on the factory floor that I would make America the number one manufacturer in the world. Why? Because we need to put Americans back to work. Hard working Americans, who are not doing well in this economy, and we start creating jobs here, and manufacturing. These people from all skill levels are going to be able to work. We put a 20 percent rate on corporations, we're competitive with almost every country in the world. We allow for expensing, we have a three year phase in. We start at zero for manufacturers, phase it up to 20. You're going to see an enormous investment of capital, and equipment. You're going to see people -- you're going to have problems finding folks are going to be able to work in manufacturing. That's how many jobs we're going to create. So, the answer is, you know, we're going to lower, and flatten taxes. We're going to put government on a -- on a budget. A 10 percent across the board cut... +p1755 +aV...employment. We've got a lot of plans. +p1756 +aV...Let me just... +p1757 +aV...He talked about manufacturing, and the fact is that we have a zero percent rate that faces the 20, we'd have a seven percent repatriation, so money -- about two trillion dollars over seas... +p1758 +aV...Would come back, and be invested in equipment here. We will create more jobs with this plan, than any plan out... +p1759 +aVLindsay, what percentage of American workers make the minimum wage right now? +p1760 +aVIt's less than one percent. +p1761 +aV...So, what you're saying, what every Republican's up here saying is we're against the minimum wage because, if you're not for increasing it, than whoevers making the minimum wage right now... +p1762 +aV...The answer is Republicans don't believe in a floor wage in America. Fine, you go ahead and make that case to the American public, I'm not going to. Not from a party that supported bailouts. I didn't, but this party did. +p1763 +aVNot from a party that supports special interest tax provisions for a whole bunch of other businesses, and, but, when it comes to hardworking Americans who are at the bottom of the income scale, we can't provide some level of income support? What I've proposed is not anything but the (ph) presidents (ph) proposed (ph) I believe that would be harmful to the American public, but a $.50 cents an hour increase over three years, which is what I'm proposing. So we would have a minimum wage which would be roughly in the area of what it's been historically, about 5 percent of wages. To me, if you're going to talk to 90 percent of American workers -- by the way, 90 percent of American workers don't own a bar. They don't own a business. They work for a living. They're wage -- most of them are wage earners. And Republicans are losing elections because we're not talking about them. All we want to talk about is, what happened to our business? There are people who work in that business. I was at a -- I was at the convention four years ago, and on the signs -- on all of the seats the night I spoke was a sign that said, "We built that," because Barack Obama had talked about how businesses didn't build their own businesses. Then we trotted out one small-business person after another for almost an hour that night talking about how they built their businesses. And that's wonderful. But you know what we didn't do? We didn't bring one worker on that stage. How are you going to win, ladies and gentlemen? How are we going to win if 90 percent of Americans don't think we care at all... +p1764 +aV... about them and their chance to rise... +p1765 +aVAs you know, Hugh, 12 years ago I authored the Iran Freedom Support Act, which put sanctions on the Iran nuclear program as we came within four votes of passing a very strong version of that. The four people who opposed on the floor: Joe Biden, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. And we came four votes short. But for 12 years, I have been laser-beam focused on the issue of Iran with a nuclear weapon. Why? Because I understand who they are. Yes, they are radical Islamists, that's true. But their particular version of it, which is an apocalyptic version, which is a death cult, they believe in bringing about the end of the -- end of the world. If you -- if you poll Iranians and Iraqis, Shiites in the region, more than two-thirds of them believe that the end of the world is going to come within their lifetime. Why? Because their regime preaches it. They believe in bringing about the end of times. That's their theological goal and we are in the process of giving them a nuclear weapon to do just that. That's why, on day one, I would say to the Iranian government, you open up all of these facilities for inspection, you make them available to the U.N. and to the U.S., everything, we can go everywhere or else we will take out those facilities. And when people say, you're going to start a war -- +p1766 +aV-- my response is, no, I'm going to stop a war because a nuclear Iran is the end. +p1767 +aVI came to Washington in the most unlikely way. I defeated a 14-year incumbent, a 60 percent Democratic district. I went to Washington thinking I was only going to be there for one term, and so I just shook things up. We sent the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee to jail. We ended 40 years, 40 years of Democratic control of the Congress. And I led that fight with reforms, substantive reforms, welfare reform. I led the charge -- I wrote the bill when I was in the House. I led the charge in the United States Senate. Partial-birth abortion -- in fact, three pro-life bills, bipartisan pro-life bills. I mentioned the Iran bill. We also passed one on Syria. Health savings accounts, as many of you know, I authored the original bill on health savings accounts, pushed that through the Congress for private sector health care reform. An outsider who came to Washington from the tough state of Pennsylvania, and we got conservative things done. I made things happen in a town where things don't happen very much. Now, after 10 years of seeing the mess, the retreat that we see in the Republican party in Washington, D.C., it's time to get someone who is an outsider. +p1768 +aVWho can go to Washington, D.C., and get things done. You know what, you have a lot of folks who will tell you a lot of things. Look at their record. I went to Washington as an outsider. +p1769 +aVShook things up, got things done. +p1770 +aVAnd that's why you can trust me to do it again. +p1771 +aVI would say the message that got us the win in Iowa and 10 other states against pretty overwhelming odds, is the message that's going to deliver us in this election. You know, we didn't start out four years ago at the top of the heap. We were behind where we were today. But we stuck to our message. We stuck to the fact that Americans are tired of Washington corporate interests and Democrats who are interested in just politics and power and they're looking for someone who's going to fight for them; looking for someone who's going to grow manufacturing sector of our economy, so those 74 percent of Americans who don't have a college degree have a chance to rise again. Someone who's going to stand up, and be very clear with our enemies as to the lines their going to draw and stand with them. I've got a track record. The reason I did so well last time is not just because of the vision, it's because I have a track record in Washington, D.C. of getting things done. Iran sanctions -- the Iran sanctions that brought them to the table, those are sanctions that we put in place when I was in the United States Senate, and a whole host of other things that put me in a position of saying, I not only have a great vision, but I can govern effectively in Washington. +p1772 +aVMy father was born in Italy, and shortly after he was born my grandfather immigrated to this country. And under the laws of this country, he wasn't allowed to be with his father for seven years. Spent the first seven years of his life in Fascist Italy, under Benito Mussolini. Not a very pleasant place to be. I asked my dad after -- obviously, when I found out about this. And I said, "Didn't you resent America for not letting you be with your father in those formative and very threatening years?" You know what he said to me? "America was worth the wait." We're a country of laws, Bill. We're a country of laws, not of men, not of people who do whatever they want to do. I know we have a president who wants to do whatever he wants to do, and take his pen and his phone and just tell everybody what he thinks is best. But the reason America is a great country, the reason is because our compassion is in our laws. And when we live by those laws and we treat everybody equally under the law, that's when people feel good about being Americans. And I put forth an immigration policy that is as strong in favor of the folks who are struggling in America the most than anybody else. It's the strongest pro-worker immigration plan. It says that after 35 million people have come here over the last 20 years, almost all of whom are unskilled workers, flattening wages, creating horrible opportunity -- a lack of opportunities for unskilled workers, we're going to do something about reducing the level of immigration by 25 percent. We're going to be tough at the border, we're going to be tough on all of the illegal immigrants that everybody else in this field -- we're going to be different. We're going to be actually out there trying to create a better life for hard-working Americans. +p1773 +aVI think it's -- yeah, I think it's a one-two punch. Number one, we have to create better paying jobs. I mean, that's just the bottom line. We haven't. And that's the reason that I've said under my presidency, we'll create jobs and make American the number one manufacturing country in the world. If we want to create jobs for the folks that you're talking about, who are having trouble getting off government benefits, primarily because of their low skill level, there is no better way -- it's worked for 100 years in America -- putting people back to work in manufacturing is it. I'm going to be introducing a plan which I call the 2020 Perfect Vision for America. It's a 20 percent flat rate tax, it'll take a blowtorch to the -- to the IRS. It will create a manufacturing juggernaut in this country. And you combine that with reforms of our welfare system. You're looking at the -- at the man who introduced and fought on the floor as a freshman senator and passed the Welfare Reform Act of 1996 over two President Clinton vetoes. Got 70 votes in the United States Senate. Bipartisan issue. And I ended a federal entitlement. Never been done before, never been done since. What we need to do is take the rest of the federal entitlements, not just welfare, but food stamps and Medicaid and housing programs and do the same thing we did with welfare. Work requirements and time limits. That will change everything. Mac +p1774 +aVIt is not any more than Dred Scott was settled law to Abraham Lincoln, who, in his first inaugural address, said "it won't stand." And they went ahead and passed laws in direct contravention to a rogue Supreme Court. This is a rogue Supreme Court decision, just like Justice Roberts said. There is no constitutional basis for the Supreme Court's decision, and I know something about this. The -- one of the times the Supreme Court spoke that I thought they were acting outside of their authority was in a partial-birth abortion case. You know, these Planned Parenthood tapes, what they're showing are partial-birth abortions. Abortions being done where the baby's being delivered first, to preserve those organs, and then they crush the skull. Well, the Supreme Court found a bill that I was the author of unconstitutional. What did I do? I didn't stop. I didn't say "oh, well we lost. It's the law of the land." We worked together. The House and Senate, under my leadership, and we passed a bill, and we said, "Supreme Court, you're wrong." We're a coequal branch of the government. We have every right to be able to stand up and say what is constitutional. We passed a bill, bipartisan support, and the Supreme Court, they -- they sided with us. Sometimes it just takes someone to lead and stand up to the court. +p1775 +aVJust ditto to that. We're going to suspend -- I've -- I've said this for four years. We're going to suspend and repeal every executive order, every regulation that cost American jobs and is -- is -- is impacting our freedom. And second, the First Amendment Defense Act, which is protecting religious liberty, if it's not passed by then, which I suspect it won't, because the president will veto it, I will institute an executive order to make sure that people of faith are not being -- not being harassed and persecuted by the federal government for standing up for the religious beliefs. +p1776 +aVI came to Washington, D.C. in 1990. That sounds like a long time ago. It was. It was 25 years ago, and I came by defeating the Democratic incumbent. I came as a reformer. I started the Gang of Seven, and it led to the overtaking of the 40-year Democratic rule of Congress, because I didn't -- I stood up to the old-boy network in Washington, D.C. because I believed that Washington was not the solution, that Washington was the problem, just like Ronald Reagan said. I was a child of Ronald Reagan. And I went there, and for 16 years, I fought the insiders and was able to get things done. That's the difference. We need to elect someone who will stand with the American people, who understands its greatness, who understands what an open economy and freedom is all about, but at the same time, has a record of being able to get things done in Washington like we've never seen before. Reforms, everything from moral and cultural issues to economic issues. Those of you health savings accounts. Health savings accounts are something that we introduced. It's a private-sector solution that believes in freedom, not Obamacare that believes in government control. Those are the things we brought, and we were able to get things done. If you want someone who's not going to divide Washington, but gets things done, then you should make me your president. +p1777 +aVI'll tell you how optimistic I am about America. Karen and I have seven children. You don't have seven children and bring them into this world if you're not optimistic about the future of this country. I am, but people are upset, and they're upset for a reason about the future of this country. Donald Trump actually seized on it when he talked about immigration. And I think the reason he did is because immigration is sort of an example of what's broken and what's wrong in Washington, D..C. You see, you have one side, the Democrats, and with immigration, all they care about is votes. They don't care about American workers, they just care about bringing as many people in so they can get as many votes as they can. ON the other side, you have so many Republicans, and what do they care about? Helping business make profits. There's nobody out there looking out for the American worker. I'm looking out for the American worker. I'm the only one on this stage who has a plan that's actually reduced -- actually going to reduce immigration. Actually going to do something to help the American worker. And you combine that with a plan to make manufacturing -- this country number one in manufacturing, you've got someone who's going to help revitalize and give hope to America, the place -- the place is that is the most hopeless today. That's why I ask for your support for president. +p1778 +asVQUESTION +p1779 +(lp1780 +VMy name is Ashley Tofil. Ms. Fiorina, in November, you said that you would not talk to Vladimir Putin after you were elected because you would be communicating from a position of weakness. Do you believe that it is feasible to not communicate with another world leader? And do you think that that also is a sign of weakness? +p1781 +aVMy name is Carla Hernandez. I'm from the University of Texas at Austin. And my question is directed to all the candidates. If the Bible clearly states that we need to embrace those in need and not fear, how can we justify not accepting refugees? +p1782 +aVPlease describe one action you would do to make the economic environment more favorable for small businesses and entrepreneurs and anyone dreaming of opening their own business. +p1783 +aVHi, I'm Adithya Sivakumar. I'm from Vanderbilt University. And I was wondering with U.S. designated state sponsors of terrorism such as Iran and other traditional U.S. enemies fighting +p1784 +aVNew Hampshire has been hard hit by the heroin epidemic, and we're on track to have twice as many overdose deaths this year as in 2013. What specifically would you do to address this crisis? +p1785 +aVAs a young person, I'm very concerned about climate change and how it will affect my future. As a presidential candidate, what will you do to address climate change? (END +p1786 +aVI'm Mark Watson. I'm known for my views on Youtube, but I'm also a veteran who served in the Army for eight years. As an African-American living near Ferguson, I've seen the strain between police officers and the communities they serve firsthand. Now, there are great tools like body cameras that \u2014 to protect both officers and citizens, but we all currently have better cameras in our pockets than in our precincts. Why aren't we using the technology available to better protect our communities? +p1787 +aVI'm Dulce Candy, a Youtube creator who immigrated to the United States from Mexico when I was a little girl. Since then, I am proud to say I served in the armed forces in Iraq, became a citizen and I am now an entrepreneur. There are many immigrants who contribute positively to the American economy, but some of the comments in the campaign make us question our place in this country. If America does not seem like a welcoming place for immigrant entrepreneurs, will the American economy suffer? +p1788 +aVI'm Nabela Noor. I'm a Muslim American born and raised in the U.S. who creates beauty and lifestyle videos on Youtube. In 2015, the number of hate crimes against Muslims in the U.S. has tripled, and on social media, where I spend a lot of time, I've seen many attacks directed towards fellow Muslims. This culture of hatred is only driving +p1789 +asVCAVUTO +p1790 +(lp1791 +VIt is 9:00 p.m. on the East Coast, 8:00 p.m. here inside the Milwaukee theater. Welcome to the Republican presidential debate here on the Fox Business Network. I'm Neil Cavuto, alongside my co-moderators, Maria Bartiromo, and the editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal, Gerard Baker. +p1792 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. +p1793 +aVIt sounds like a game show but it's not. Now I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the elephant in the room, and I'm not talking about your party's fine symbol. I'm talking about the purpose of tonight's debate. The economy and what each of you would do to improve it. No more, no less. We are focused on those issues, and what you have said on those issues in your words and what your opponents have said in their words about your words. That is the agenda tonight. How each of you plans to make America better tomorrow. And so we begin. Candidates, as we gather tonight in this very august theater, just outside and across the country, picketers are gathering as well. They're demanding an immediate hike in the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Just a few hours ago, near Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed doing the same for all state workers, the first governor to do so. Mr. Trump, as the leading presidential candidate on this stage and one whose tax plan exempts couples making up to $50,000 a year from paying any federal income taxes at all, are you sympathetic to the protesters cause since a $15 wage works out to about $31,000 a year? +p1794 +aVSo do not raise the minimum wage? +p1795 +aVDr. Carson, you have long bemoaned this lackluster recovery. And this Facebook map show Americans share your concern. The green represents how the jobs issue is resonating all across the nation, especially here in the state of Wisconsin. You suggested one minimum wage does not fit all, and that perhaps we should offer a lower or starter wage for young people. Those protesters outside are looking for $15 and nothing less. Where are you? +p1796 +aVSo, sir, just to be clear, you would not raise it? +p1797 +aVSenator Rubio, you called the recent Democratic debate in Las Vegas a night of giveaways, including free health care, free college and a host of other government-paid benefits. Since you aren't a fan of all they're giving away, tell us tonight what you would take back. +p1798 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. +p1799 +aVAll right. We're only just getting started. Coming up, your taxes. Stick around. You're watching FOX Business +p1800 +aVWelcome back to the Milwaukee Theater and the Republican presidential debate. Let's get right back to our questions. Dr. Carson, to you. You recently railed against the double- standard in the media, sir, that seems obsessed with inconsistencies and potential exaggerations in your life story, but looked the other way when it came to then-Senator Barack Obama's. Still, as a candidate whose brand has always been trust, are you worried your campaign \u2014 which you've always said, sir, is bigger than you \u2014 is now being hurt by you? +p1801 +aVI'll just forget that follow-up there. +p1802 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1803 +aVAlright, thank you. We're going to take a break here. Coming up, a big issue many Americans are facing, taxes. The Republican Presidential Debate continues now, live, from Milwaukee. +p1804 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from Milwaukee. Let's get back to the questions. And we want to touch on obviously one of the biggest of this issue in this year, taxes. And this will go to several of you. One of the biggest economic concerns of course in the country are taxes. Facebook data certainly backs that up. Once again the green on this map that we're going to see here shows how the conversation around taxes is resonating across the nation, especially here in Wisconsin. First off, Dr. Carson, to you. You say you are in favor of a tax system, I guess akin to tithing, sir, with a flat tax rate of up to 15 percent because you said, if everybody pays this, I think God is a pretty fair guy, so tithing is a pretty fair process. But Donald Trump says that is not fair. That wealthier taxpayers should pay a higher rate because it's a fair thing to do. So whose plan would God endorse then, Doctor? Yours or Mr. Trump's? +p1805 +aVRight. +p1806 +aVThank you very much. Senator Paul, you said you want to blow up the tax code and start over with an across-the-board 14.5 percent fair and flat tax. You happily offered that it is not revenue neutral and that's the idea. You want to choke off the amount of money coming into Washington. But don't you risk, sir, creating a near-term budget crisis just as your presidency would be beginning? +p1807 +aVThere are no deductions on your \u2014 under your plan? +p1808 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1809 +aVSenator Paul... Senator Paul, you have already said, sir, that that would be a mistake in not talking to Vladimir Putin, or to rule it out. You've argued that it's never a good idea to close down communication. With that in mind, do you think the same applies to administration efforts right now to include the Iranians in talks on Syria? +p1810 +aV...Well, then how would you respond? +p1811 +aVBut if you're not going to respond in a no-fly zone strategy, what would yours be? +p1812 +aVAll right. And look at the time, look at the time. You are watching FOX Business, we'll take a break. Stick around. +p1813 +aVSenator Cruz \u2014 and I will get to you \u2014 but, Senator Cruz, on that theme, Facebook data shows that over the last month alone, nearly 1 million people \u2014 nearly 1 million \u2014 have been concerned about reining in Wall Street, apparently believing that some have not been punished enough. So, as an accomplished litigator yourself and a former solicitor general, would you go after the very people who believe and fear that Wall Street has ignored, in other words, the crooks that Bernie Sanders say have gotten away with a financial murder? +p1814 +aVSenator......Senator, I really want to be clear here. Are you saying, sir, that if Bank of America were on the brink, you would let it fail? +p1815 +aVSir, I understand that. I just want to be clear, if you don't mind, that millions of depositors would be on the line with that decision. And I just want to be clear. If it were to happen again, for whatever the reason, you would let it go, you would let a Bank of America go? +p1816 +aVOK, I think it's fair to say you're not fans of Hillary Clinton's resume. Alright, Mr. Trump.... +p1817 +aVI had a feeling. Perhaps the most successful capitalist on this stage tonight, you've acknowledged that some give capitalism a bad name. You've been particularly critical of businesses that find all sorts of ways of paying their taxes by keeping money abroad, but your own plan includes an incentive to bring \u2014 that more the $2 trillion dollars home. Isn't that, like, a one-time bounty... +p1818 +aV...Some of the guys you all but call pirates, so they still keep the loot, and pay only a price to bring it back. +p1819 +aV...Alright, gentlemen, I know you want to \u2014 and I want to, be we also promised to get people home tonight, and we are going to take a quick break here. I think it is fair to say at this juncture that you can discuss these issues, and only business issues, but still keep it interesting. Stick around for these candidates closing statements. +p1820 +aVSenator Marco Rubio? +p1821 +aVDr. Ben Carson? +p1822 +aVDonald Trump? +p1823 +aVCandidates, we want to thank you all. We also appreciate your helping save time by talking over one another at times. That was welcomed. But by all means, it was a very riveting debate. Business issues can be \u2014 can be riveting, because it wasn't about us, it's about them. +p1824 +aVThat'll do it. Thank you for joining us. +p1825 +asVBLITZER +p1826 +(lp1827 +VWelcome to the CNN-Facebook Republican presidential debate here at the Venetian Las Vegas. We have a very enthusiastic audience. Everyone is here. They're looking forward to a serious and spirited discussion about the security of this nation. I'm Wolf Blitzer, your moderator tonight. This debate is airing on CNN networks here in the United States and around the world, and on the Salem Radio Network. The nine leading candidates, they are here. Let's welcome them right now. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Businessman and real estate developer Donald Trump. Retired neurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. And Ohio Governor John Kasich. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome these Republican candidates for president of the United States. This is the final Republican debate before the election year begins, and we're taking a moment for the photographs of the candidates together on the stage. Now, everyone, please rise for the national anthem sung by Ayla Brown. +p1828 +aVI know everyone is eager to get started. So, candidates, please take your places while I explain the ground rules for tonight. As moderator, I'll guide the discussion, and I'll be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt and CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. We also asked Republicans and independents nationwide to share their questions for the candidates. We teamed up with Facebook to send a campaign camper across the country over the past several weeks. Thousands of people stepped inside and recorded their questions on video. Millions more have weighed in on Facebook. Candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have a minute and 15 seconds to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you're singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know that we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. And as the candidates requested, a bell will sound like this. We know you are all eager to jump in and debate these important issues, so, please, wait until you're called on. These nine Republicans are positioned on stage based on their ranking in the recent polls, so let's begin right now. I'd like to invite each candidate to introduce himself or herself to our audience. You'll have one minute. First to you, Senator Paul. +p1829 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p1830 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1831 +aVMs. Fiorina? +p1832 +aVGovernor Bush? +p1833 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1834 +aVSenator Cruz. +p1835 +aVDr. Carson. +p1836 +aVMr. Trump. +p1837 +aVThank you. Since you last debated, Americans have witnessed terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino. The FBI director says the country now faces the greatest terror threat since 9/11. You all have different approaches to keeping the country safe. And that will be the focus of tonight's debate. Mr. Trump, as you mentioned in your opening statement, part of your strategy is to focus in on America's borders. To keep the country safe, you say you want to temporarily ban non-American Muslims from coming to the United States; ban refugees fleeing +p1838 +aVGovernor Bush, you called Mr. Trump "unhinged" when he proposed banning non-American Muslims from the United States. Why is that unhinged? +p1839 +aVMr. Trump? +p1840 +aVSenator Rubio \u2014 I'm going to go to Senator Rubio and get his thoughts. You have said banning Muslims is unconstitutional. But according to a recent ABC News-Washington Post poll, a majority of Republicans support Mr. Trump's idea. Why are they wrong? +p1841 +aVHugh Hewitt, you have a question. +p1842 +aVGovernor Christie, Americans are clearly more afraid today than at any time since 9/11. As you mentioned in your opening statement, today in Los Angeles, 650 schoolchildren didn't go to \u2014 650,000 schoolchildren didn't go to school because of an e-mail threat, this two weeks after an attack killed 14 people in San Bernardino. Is this the new normal? And if so, what steps would you take as president of the United States to ensure that fear does not paralyze America? +p1843 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, one of the killers in San Bernardino was an American who was not on anyone's watch list. How are you going to find that radicalized person and stop another such attack? +p1844 +aVThank you. Dana Bash, you have the next question. +p1845 +aVThank you. Dr. Carson, you're in favor of monitoring mosques and schools where there is anti-America sentiment, what do you consider anti- America? +p1846 +aVDr. Carson, who was right in that little debate that we just heard between Senator Rubio and Senator Paul? +p1847 +aVHold on a sec, we have a lot more to come and everybody's going to have their full opportunity. Governor Bush, six days after 9/11 your brother visited a mosque and said quote, "Islam is peace." The conversation tonight is about banning Muslims and surveillance of mosques, are President Bush's words still relevant in today's Republican party? +p1848 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you pointed out you were a CEO in Silicon Valley on 9/11. Companies there, they say they won't help the FBI now crack encrypted communication from +p1849 +aVBut my question was: Should these Silicon Valley companies be forced to cooperate with the FBI? +p1850 +aVMr. Trump, you recently suggested closing that Internet up, those were your words, as a way to stop +p1851 +aVLet me follow up, Mr. Trump. So, are you open to closing parts of the Internet? +p1852 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, is shutting down any part of the Internet a good idea? +p1853 +aVThank you, Governor. The fight against radical Islamic terrorists and +p1854 +aVThank you. To be clear, Senator Cruz, would you carpet bomb Raqqa, the +p1855 +aVThank you. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you've been critical of Senator Cruz's strategy. You say his voting record doesn't match his rhetoric. Why? +p1856 +aVBecause I asked the question, Senator, because you said this. You said he, referring to Senator Cruz, voted against the Defense Authorization Act every year that it came up, and I assume that if he voted against it, he would veto it as president. That's the bill that funds our troops. +p1857 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1858 +aVSenator Rubio. +p1859 +aVWe are going to have much more on this... +p1860 +aVWe're going to have much more on this. But I want to move now back to Mr. Trump. +p1861 +aVHold on. Hold on. Hold on. +p1862 +aVWe have a lot... +p1863 +aVWe have a lot to discuss. I want to move to Mr. Trump right now. We have a question on this war against +p1864 +aVMr. Trump. +p1865 +aVGovernor Bush. Governor Bush. +p1866 +aVMr. Trump. +p1867 +aVJust one at a time, go ahead... +p1868 +aVGo ahead, Mr. Trump. +p1869 +aVGovernor Bush, please. +p1870 +aVOne at a time. +p1871 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1872 +aVThank you. +p1873 +aVAll right. Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash, Hugh, go ahead with the next question. +p1874 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Rubio? Let's continue this conversation. This is a critically important issue. +p1875 +aVWe will get to \u2014 we have a lot of time, Ms. Fiorina. I want to get to Senator Rubio right now. Let's talk about, one of the aspects of your strategy, you say the only way to defeat +p1876 +aVThank you, Senator. Stand by. Ms. Fiorina, the former defense secretary, Bob Gates, says the chances of getting Sunni-Arab forces on the ground to get the job done, his words, "chances very remote." What's your strategy? +p1877 +aVThank you. Governor Christie, what's your strategy? +p1878 +aVDr. Carson, what is your strategy? +p1879 +aVThank you. Everyone stand by. We're only just beginning. Coming up, which candidates on this stage tonight want to move foreign policy in a dramatically new direction? We'll be right back. +p1880 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate here at the Venetian, Las Vegas. The war against +p1881 +aVThank you. +p1882 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you supported the removal of Moammar Gadhafi in Libya. Now that country is in turmoil, as +p1883 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1884 +aVStandby. Everybody standby for a moment. Governor Kasich, go ahead. +p1885 +aVThank you. +p1886 +aVWe're going to talk about Assad in a moment. Mr. Trump, are Americans safer with dictators running the world in the Middle East? +p1887 +aVThank you. Mr. Trump? +p1888 +aVAll right. +p1889 +aVThank you. +p1890 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East... +p1891 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East better off with dictators? +p1892 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1893 +aVHold on Governor Bush., here's the question. You said, "getting rid of Saddam Hussein in your words was a pretty good deal." In light of what has happened in Iraq, do you still feel that way? +p1894 +aVSenator Paul, was getting rid of Saddam Hussein a pretty good deal? +p1895 +aVThank you. Hugh Hewitt, go ahead. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hugh. +p1896 +aVSenator, Senator, we're going to get to you. Wait your turn. We have two hours of debate. We'll have plenty of time. Let Hugh ask his question. +p1897 +aVSenator, please. +p1898 +aVSenator... +p1899 +aVYou'll have plenty of opportunity. Hugh, go ahead. +p1900 +aVThese are the rules all of you agreed to. Hugh, go ahead with your question. +p1901 +aVLet's continue with Russia right now. We have another question from Facebook. Listen and watch. +p1902 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you know, U.S. and Russian warplanes are flying all over Syria right now. With so many lives on the line, is this a good time for the United States not to talk to Putin? +p1903 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Christie, if the U.S. imposed a no-fly zone over Syria and a Russian plane encroached, invaded that no-fly zone, would you be prepared to shoot down that Russian plane and risk war with Russia? +p1904 +aVSenator Paul \u2014 Senator Paul, I want you to respond to what we just heard from Governor Christie. If there was a no-fly zone, you say that potentially could lead to World War III. Why? +p1905 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1906 +aVAll right, let's go back \u2014 Hugh and Dana? +p1907 +aVOne at a time. Hugh, go ahead. +p1908 +aVGovernor, thank you very much. So, Dr. Carson, you recently visited a refugee camp in Jordan and you deemed it your words, "really quite nice." Saying the people there didn't want to come to the United States. Do you think these camps are a long-term solution of the problem of Syrian refugees? +p1909 +aVSenator Paul, you oppose letting in Syrian refugees at this time into the United States. The U.S. has already accepted 2,000 Syrian refugees, including 13 living here in Las Vegas right now. Would you send them back? What would you do with these people? +p1910 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1911 +aVSenator Paul, you didn't answer the question about the 2,000 Syrian refugees who are already here in the United States. Will you send them back or let them stay? +p1912 +aVWe have another \u2014 we have another question. We have another question from Facebook. Let's listen. +p1913 +aVGovernor Christie, you say there should be a pause in allowing new refugees to come into the United States, including orphans under the age of five. What do you say to Carla? +p1914 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1915 +aVThank you, Governor. There is much more coming up. We are only just beginning. Coming up, what other global hot spots await the next president of the United States. +p1916 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate. We're here at the Venetian Las Vegas. Tonight we have been focusing on the Middle East, but let's turn to some other world threats that you will potentially face as Commander in Chief. Ms. Fiorina, candidates here have called the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un a maniac who is mentally unstable. Last week he said he now has a hydrogen bomb. If you were elected president, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p1917 +aVDr. Carson, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p1918 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Dana and Hugh you have questions as well. +p1919 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Some of you on this stage have questioned whether your opponents have temperament, the right temperament, to be in control of the nuclear codes. Dana, you have a question on this? +p1920 +aVThank you, senator. Thank you. +p1921 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1922 +aVThank you, Senator. We're a month and a half away now from the first real test who will be the Republican presidential nominee. Hugh, you have a question? +p1923 +aVAll right. Candidates, we have more coming up. When we come back, everyone will have an opportunity to explain why this particular candidate, each of you on the stage, believes he or she should be the Republican presidential nominee. +p1924 +aVNow it's time for the closing statements from the candidates. Each one has 30 seconds. Senator Paul. +p1925 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1926 +aVGovernor Christie. +p1927 +aVMs. Fiorina. +p1928 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1929 +aVSenator Rubio. +p1930 +aVSenator Cruz. +p1931 +aVDr. Carson. +p1932 +aVThanks to all the Republican presidential candidates. That does it for this Republican presidential debate. +p1933 +aVI'd now like to ask the candidates to please take your places while I tell you a little bit more about how tonight's debate will work. As the moderator, I'll guide the discussion asking questions and follow-ups, as will Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt. Candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have a minutes and 15 seconds to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you're singled out for criticism. We have timing lights that are visible to the candidates, those lights will warn you when your time is up. And as the candidates requested, a bell will sound like this. We know you're all eager to jump in and debate these important issues, but please wait until you're called on. Now that everyone is this place, it's time for the candidates to introduce themselves to our audience. You'll each have one minute. Senator Graham, you're first. +p1934 +aVGovernor Pataki. +p1935 +aVSenator Santorum. +p1936 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p1937 +aVLet's begin. The United States just suffered the worst terrorist attack since 9-11, the murder of 14 people by two terrorists, one of whom was an American citizen. In response, Republican frontrunner Donald Trump proposed a temporary ban on all Muslims coming into the United States until the government can figure out what is going on. Senator Graham, the polls show most Republicans do support Mr. Trump. What do you say to them? +p1938 +aVSenator Graham, you say you'd rather lose the election without Trump than try to win with him. Does that mean you'll be voting for the Democratic nominee if Donald Trump wins the presidential nomination? +p1939 +aVGovernor Pataki, you mentioned Donald Trump in your opening statement. You've also suggested Mr. Trump's plan is un-American and absurd. Why? +p1940 +aVSenator Santorum, you object to Mr. Trump's proposals on the grounds that it's unworkable. You've made religious liberty a hallmark of your career. Do you believe in religious liberty for Muslims as well as Christians? +p1941 +aVSenator Graham. +p1942 +aVSenator Santorum. +p1943 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you called Mr. Trump's plan to ban Muslims impossible and unconstitutional. But what is your specific plan to prevent would-be Jihadists from carrying out attacks against Americans? +p1944 +aVThe terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino have sparked a debate here in the United States about the balance between privacy and security. I want to bring in CNN's Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt for more on this. +p1945 +aVGovernor Pataki. +p1946 +aVThere are a lot of people who have been frustrated, especially Senator Graham, that law enforcement can't tap into information on terrorist cell phones. Senator Graham has called on companies in Silicon Valley to change their business models. As president of the United States, would you force these companies to change their models so the government can better monitor the traffic on these cell phones? +p1947 +aVSenator Graham? +p1948 +aVSenator Graham. +p1949 +aVHere is a question we have on the fight against +p1950 +aVGovernor Huckabee, how would you defeat +p1951 +aVSenator Graham, you have an aggressive military plan to try to defeat +p1952 +aVSenator Santorum, following up on what we just heard from Senator Graham, at least one U.S. intelligence report from the White House has concluded that, in order to defeat +p1953 +aVSenator Graham, you're shaking your head. +p1954 +aVI'm going to bring Governor Pataki in a minute, but go ahead and respond, Senator Graham. +p1955 +aVGovernor Pataki, should the U.S. send ground troops into Syria? +p1956 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you have not put a number of how many U.S. ground troops would be needed to combat +p1957 +aVSenator Graham, and I just want to remind our viewers, you want 10,000 U.S. ground troops in Iraq, and 10,000 in Syria? +p1958 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you have said as president you would tell +p1959 +aVSenator Samtorum? +p1960 +aVGovernor Pataki, you support ground troops - deploying grounds troops. +p1961 +aVThe U.S. Army's Former Cheif of Staff, General Raymond Odierno said that, and I'm quoting, "now +p1962 +aVBut how long would you be willing to commit U.S. troops to fight +p1963 +aVSenator Graham, you called for U.S. ground troops as we know in Iraq and Syria. +p1964 +aVAs you know, there's a growing +p1965 +aVAre you ready to deploy U.S. troops to Libya to try to defeat +p1966 +aVSenator? Senator, are you ready to commit U.S. ground troops to Libya? +p1967 +aVAlright, gentleman, standby. The fight against +p1968 +aVWe're live here at the Venetian in Las Vegas. Welcome back. As the U.S. fight against +p1969 +aVWe have a video question from Facebook. Let's watch. +p1970 +aVGovernor Pataki. +p1971 +aVHe says he was wondering with U.S. designated state sponsors of terrorism like Iran and other traditional U.S. enemies fighting +p1972 +aVHugh Hewitt and Dana Bash have questions. Hugh go ahead. +p1973 +aVGovernor Pataki, let me stick with you. Governor Pataki, a U.S. Army Sargent Bowe Bergdahl now facing a court marshall after leaving his base in Afghanistan, getting captured by the Taliban - Donald Trump, has called for his execution. The former house speak John Boehner says "he's innocent until proven guilty." Where do you stand? +p1974 +aVSenator Graham, where do you stand? +p1975 +aVGovernor Huckabee? Governor Huckbee, +p1976 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Pataki, speaking of those four Americans being held in Iran right now. Iran has suggested they might be willing to have a prisoner swap, release Iranian prisoners held in the United States, in exchange for those four Americans. Would you support that? +p1977 +aVWe have to take a quick break, but, Governor, Israel has exchanged a lot of the prisoners it was holding for Israeli soldiers who were being held by Hamas, for example. +p1978 +aVThank you. Let's take another quick break. The scramble, the scramble to protect Americans after +p1979 +aVWelcome back to the Republican Presidential Debate here at the Venetian in Las Vegas. Gentlemen, in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks, the Obama Administration policy of allowing Syrian refugees to come into the United States has come under fire. Senator Santorum, you say accepting Syrian refugees is dangerous. You say it just takes one Jihadist to destroy the world. Do you think there is any way to properly vet refugees coming into the United States? +p1980 +aVGovernor Pataki, you have said you wouldn't accept a single Syrian refugee. What should become of them? +p1981 +aVLet's go back to Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt for more questions. Dana? +p1982 +aVThank you, Senator. Gentlemen, standby, we are going to take another very quick break. Coming up, with America on edge, who has what it takes to be the next Commander in Chief? These candidates, they will make their case. +p1983 +aVWelcome back. We're live here at the Venetian Las Vegas. Gentlemen, it's time for your closing statements. Each candidate will have 30 seconds. Senator graham, you're first. +p1984 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Pataki. +p1985 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum. +p1986 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee. +p1987 +aVThank you. Thanks to all of the candidates for a very important discussion on critically important issues. This debate night is just getting started here at the Venetian Las Vegas. The top nine candidates, they are standing by for their turn on this stage in just a little while. I'll be back as the moderator. +p1988 +asVMODERATOR +p1989 +(lp1990 +VComing up more of our debate, including questions about President Obama's foreign policy and these guys and their better ideas. Coming up. +p1991 +asVFIORINA +p1992 +(lp1993 +VLike all of you I'm angry. I'm angry at what's happening to our nation. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. Bombastic insults wont take it back. Political rhetoric that promises a lot and delivers little, won't take it back. All of our problems can be solved. All of our wounds can be healed by a tested leader who is willing to fight for the character of our nation. I have been tested. I have beaten breast cancer. I have buried a child. I started as a secretary. I fought my way to the top of corporate America while being called every B word in the book. I fought my way into this election and on to this debate stage while all the political insiders and the pundits told, "it couldn't be done." I've been told, "no,: all my life. And all my life, I've refused to accept no as an answer. Citizens, it is time to take our country back from the political class, from the media, from the liberal elite. It can be done, it must be done, join me and we will get it done. +p1994 +aVWhat I think we need to stand for are solutions. I offer myself as a leader to the people of this country because I think they're looking for solutions, not lawyers arguing over laws or entertainers throwing out sound bites that draw media attention. We need to solve the problem. To solve the problem, we need to do something here at home and something over there in their caliphate. We need to deny them territory. But here at home, we need to do two fundamental things. Number one, we need to recognize that technology has moved on. The Patriot Act was signed in 2001, roughly. The iPhone was invented in 2007. The iPad was invented in 2011. Snapchat and Twitter, all the rest of it, have been around just for several years. Technology has moved on, and the terrorists have moved on with it. Let me tell you a story. Soon after 9/11, I got a phone call from the NSA. They needed help. I gave them help. I stopped a truckload of equipment. I had it turned around. It was escorted by the NSA into headquarters. We need the private sector's help, because government is not innovating. Technology is running ahead by leaps and bound. The private sector will help, just as I helped after 9/11. But they must be engaged, and they must be asked. I will ask them. I know them. +p1995 +aVYou know, listening to this conversation, let me just say, we have a lot of argument about laws but none of it solves the problem. Let's examine what happened, why did we miss the Tsarnaev brothers, why did we miss the San Bernardino couple? It wasn't because we had stopped collected metadata it was because, I think, as someone who comes from the technology world, we were using the wrong algorithms. This is a place where the private sector could be helpful because the government is woefully behind the technology curve. But secondly, the bureaucratic processes that have been in place since 9/11 are woefully inadequate as well. What do we now know? That DHS vets people by going into databases of known or suspected terrorists. And yet, we also know that +p1996 +aVThey do not need to be forced. They need to be asked to bring the best and brightest, the most recent technology to the table. I was asked as a CEO. I complied happily. And they will as well. But they have not been asked. That's why it cost billions of dollars to build an Obama website that failed because the private sector wasn't asked. +p1997 +aVI hope at some point you're going to ask me my strategy. +p1998 +aVWell, first I'll just point out that talking tough is not the same as being strong. And to wage war, we need a commander in chief who has made tough calls in tough times and stood up to be held accountable over and over, not first-term senators who've never made an executive decision in their life. One of the things I would immediately do, in addition to defeating them here at home, is bring back the warrior class \u2014 Petraeus, McChrystal, Mattis, Keane, Flynn. Every single one of these generals I know. Every one was retired early because they told President Obama things that he didn't want to hear. We must have Sunni-Arabs involved in this coalition. We must commit leadership, strength, support and resolve. I'll just add that Margaret Thatcher once said, "If you want something talked about, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman." +p1999 +aVThat is exactly what President Obama said. I'm amazed to hear that from a republican presidential candidate. But let's just start with, who got it wrong? Who really got it wrong? Hillary Clinton has gotten every foreign policy challenge wrong. Hitting the reset button with Vladimir Putin \u2013 recall that she called Bashar Al-Assad a positive reformer and then she opened an embassy and then later she said, over, and over, and over again, "Bashar Al-Assad must go." Although she wasn't prepared to do anything about it. Recall that Hillary Clinton was all for toppling Gadhafi then didn't listen to her own people on the ground. And then of course, when she lied about the terrorist attack in Benghazi, she invited more terrorist attacks. +p2000 +aVWe've mismanaged going into Iraq. +p2001 +aVWe've mismanaged going out of Iraq. +p2002 +aVWe actually... +p2003 +aVI didn't say I would cut off all communication with Putin. What I said was as president of the United States, now is not the time to talk with him. Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. There is a time and a place for everything. There is a time and a place for talk. And there is a time and a place for action. I know Vladimir Putin. He respects strength. He lied to our president's face; didn't both to tell him about warplanes and troops going into Syria. We need to speak to him from a position of strength. So as commander in chief, I will not speak to him until we've set up that no-fly zone; until we've gathered our Sunni-Arab allies and begun to deny +p2004 +aVThis doesn't do a thing to solve the problems...It doesn't do a thing to solve the problems. +p2005 +aVIt will not solve the problem. +p2006 +aVLadies and gentleman, this is why the American people are standing up. +p2007 +aVThis is why the nation is fed up... +p2008 +aVWe have been talking about this... +p2009 +aVSorry, but you haven't gotten to me. This is why... +p2010 +aVthe people are fed up with the political class. +p2011 +aVWell, first, Kim Jong-Un is a dangerous leader, without a doubt. And both Republican and Democrat administrations have been completely ineffective in dealing with him. So we must continue to isolate him. We will need China as part of that strategy. China is a rising adversary. So one of the things we have to do if we want China's support is to push back on China. They, too, recognize one thing \u2014 strength and their own economic interest. I have done business in China for 25 years, so I know that in order to get China to cooperate with us, we must first actually retaliate against their cyber-attacks so they know we're serious. We have to push back on their desire to control the trade route through the South China Sea through which flows $5 trillion worth of goods and services every year. We cannot let them control the disputed islands, and we must work with the Australians, the South Koreans, the Japanese and the Filipinos to contain China. And then we must ask for their support and their help with North Korea. Because believe it or not, China is as concerned about Kim Jong-Un as we are. +p2012 +aVI too remember September 11th. I remember immediately putting into place security procedures all throughout our company that did business in 170 countries where we thought corporate interests would be attacked next. To take our country back, to keep our nation safe, we have to begin by beating Hillary Clinton. We need to unify our party. We need to better than our government, which 75 percent of the American people now think is corrupt and incompetent. They're right. We need to better than our politics. 80 percent think we have a professional/political class of both parties that cares more about its power, position and privilege than actually on getting anything done. We need to unify our party, we need a real Conservative in the White House, and we need to beat Hillary Clinton to take our country back and keep our nation safe. I can. I am. And together, if you join me, we will take our country back. +p2013 +aVWell, first of all, I must say as I think about that question, I think about a woman I met the other day. I would guess she was 40 years old. She had several children. And she said to me, you know, Carly, I go to bed every night afraid for my children's future. And that really struck me. This is America. A mother is going to bed afraid for her children's future. And the reason she's afraid for her children's future is because we've had problems for a long time. Yes, problems have gotten much worse under Democrats. But the truth is, this government has been growing bigger and bigger, more corrupt, less effective, crushing the engine of economic growth for a very long time. This isn't about just replacing a Democrat with a Republican now. It's about actually challenging the status quo of big government. Big government has created a big business called politics. And there are lots of people invested in the status quo of that big business called politics. Specifically, we need actually to do five things to really get this economy going again. We need to go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dollar is being spent, we can challenge any dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. We need to actually reform the tax code. Go to a three-page tax code. Yes, there are plans that would reform our tax code to three pages. In addition to rolling back what President Obama has done, we need to do a top-to-bottom review of every single regulation on the books. That hasn't been done in 50 years. We need to pass the +p2014 +aVWell, first Obamacare has to be repealed because it's failing... ...it's failing the very people it was intended to help, but, also, it is croney-capitalism at its worst. Who helped write this bill? Drug companies, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, every single one of those kinds of companies are bulking up to deal with big government. See, that's what happens. As government gets bigger, and bigger \u2014 and it has been for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike \u2014 and business have to bulk up to deal with big government. So, we have to repeal it. It's tens of thousands of pages long, no one can possible understand it except the big companies, the lawyers, the accountants, the lobbyists that they hire to protect their interests. Then, we have to give back to states the responsibility to manage a high risk pool. We need to try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried. Health insurance has always been a cozy, little game between regulators and health insurance companies. We need to try the free market. The free market. Where people actually have to compete. And, we 'ought to have the government ensure that you must \u2014 and I don't use that term often, that government 'ought to do something, but every healthcare provider 'ought to publish its costs, its prices, its outcomes, because as patients we don't know what we're buying. Now, let me just say \u2014 let me just say, I know more about innovation and entrepreneurship than anyone on this panel because I have led innovative businesses in the most highly competitive industry in the world for decades. The truth is the secret sauce of America is innovation, and entrepreneurship, it is why we must cut our government down to size, and hold it accountable. It's why we have to take our government back, because innovation and entrepreneurship is crushed by the crushing load of a 73,000 page tax code. It is crushed... ...by regulatory thicket that is so vast we don't even know what's in it anymore. It is crushed as well by government bureaucrats who don't do their jobs very well, and who are not held accountable, which is why I've said we got to take our government back, and to do that, we have to know where every dollar being spent, and be able to move any dollar. We have to hack through this regulatory thicket, repeal so much, but, also, know what's in that regulatory thicket \u2014 we don't even know what regulations have been passed. Third, we need to build a meritocracy \u2014 Scott Walker, by the way, is trying now to do in Wisconsin... ...Finally, we need to get to a three page tax code, and, yes, that plan exists. +p2015 +aVSorry, I can't hear you. +p2016 +aV...Absolutely... +p2017 +aV...You need to give... +p2018 +aVThe alternative is to allow states to manage high risk pools for those who really need help. Look, I'm a cancer survivor, OK? I understand that you cannot have someone who's battled cancer just become known as a pre-existing condition. I understand that you cannot allow families to go bankrupt if they truly need help. But, I also understand that Obamacare isn't helping anyone. We're throwing more, and more people into Medicaid, and fewer, and fewer doctors are taking those payments. The point is Obamacare is crushing small businesses, it is not helping the families it was intended to help. So, let us allow states to manage high risk pools. Let us try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried, the free market. Let us ensure that as patients, and customers... +p2019 +aV...that we have information to shop wisely for our health care. +p2020 +aV...Yes, the middle ground is this... +p2021 +aV...This is why \u2014 this is why we must combine, actually, zero-based budgeting with tax reform because unless we can examine, and cut, and move, every single dollar of discretionary spending in the federal government, we cannot reform taxes and reduce spending at the same time. Ask yourself this question, how is it possible that the federal government gets more money each and every year, which the federal government has been doing, receiving more money every year for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike, and yet, never has enough money to do the important things? The answer? All the money's always spoken for. All the money's spoken for. So, we have to go to zero-based budgeting, which is a simple idea \u2014 by the way, there's been a bill for zeros-based (ph) budgeting... ...It exists, it can be voted on. Every dollar must be examined. Any dollar can be cut. Any dollar can be cut, any dollar can be moved. We have to go to a three page tax code. You lower every rate, you close every loophole, why? Because the government uses the tax code to decide winners, and losers. You have to strip the corruption out of the tax code to pay for it. You have to know where every single dollar is being spent... +p2022 +aV...Cut where you need to, and invest where you need to... +p2023 +aV...The two go hand in hand... +p2024 +aVYou know, Mr. Trump fancies himself a very good negotiator. And, I accept that he's done a lot of good deals, so, Mr. Trump 'ought to know that we should not speak to people from a position of weakness. Senator Paul should know that as well. One of the reasons I've said that I would not be talking to Vladimir Putin right now, although I have met him as well, not in a green room for a show, but in a private meeting. One of the reasons I've said I wouldn't be talking to Vladimir Putin right now is because we are speaking to him from a position of weakness brought on by this administration, so, I wouldn't talk to him for awhile, but, I would do this. I would start rebuilding the Sixth Fleet right under his nose, rebuilding the military \u2014 the missile defense program in Poland right under his nose. I would conduct very aggressive military exercises in the Baltic States so that he understood we would protect our +p2025 +aV...we have the strongest military on the face of the planet, and everyone has to know it. +p2026 +aV...Ronald Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. +p2027 +aV...he walked away, he quit talks... +p2028 +aV...when it was time to quit talking... +p2029 +aVCan I just \u2014 could I just say, as a chief executive who's had to make tough calls to save jobs and to grow jobs, I think what's interesting about Dodd-Frank is it's a great example of how socialism starts. Socialism starts when government creates a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. Government created the problem. Government created the problem of a real estate boom. How did we create it? Under Republican and Democrats alike, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, everybody gathered together, Republicans and Democrats, and said, "home ownership is part of the American dream. Let's create a bubble," and then government stepped in \u2014 by the way, under president George W. Bush, banks were told \u2014 encouraged \u2014 told, really \u2014 to buy other banks, to take money. And now what do we have with Dodd-Frank? The classic of crony capitalism. The big have gotten bigger, 1,590 community banks have gone out of business, and on top of all that, we've created something called the Consumer Financial Production Bureau, a vast bureaucracy with no congressional oversight that's digging through hundreds of millions of your credit records to detect fraud. This is how socialism starts, ladies and gentlemen. We must take our government back. +p2030 +aVImagine a Clinton presidency. Our military will continue to deteriorate. Our veterans will not be cared for. And, no, Mrs. Clinton, that situation is not exaggerated. The rich will get richer. The poor will get poorer. The middle class will continue to get crushed. And as bad as that picture is, what's even worse is that a Clinton presidency will corrode the character of this nation. Why? Because of the Clinton way: Say whatever you have to, lie as long as you can get away with it. We must beat Hillary Clinton. Carly Fiorina can beat Hillary Clinton. I will beat Hillary Clinton. And under a President Fiorina, we will restore the character of this nation, the security of this nation, the prosperity of this nation, because as citizens, we will take our government back. +p2031 +aVWell, gee, after the last debate, I was told that I didn't smile enough. +p2032 +aVBut I also think that these are very serious times; 75 percent of the American people think the federal government is corrupt. I agree with them. And this big powerful, corrupt bureaucracy works now only for the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected. Meantime, wages have stagnated for 40 years. We have more Americans out of work or just Americans who quit looking for work for 40 years. Ours was intended to be a citizen government. This is about more than replacing a D with an R. We need a leader who will help us take our government back. +p2033 +aVLet me just say on taxes, how long have we been talking about tax reform in Washington, D.C.? We have been talking about it for decades. We now have a 73,000-page tax code. There have been more than 4,000 changes to the tax plan since 2001 alone. There are loads of great ideas, great conservative ideas from wonderful think tanks about how to reform the tax code. The problem is we never get it done. We have talked about tax reform in every single election for decades. It never happens. And the politicians always say it is so complicated, nobody but a politician can figure it out. The truth is this, the big problem, we need a leader in Washington who understands how to get something done, not to talk about it, not to propose it, to get it done. +p2034 +aVThat's right, three pages. +p2035 +aVYou know why three? +p2036 +aVNo. You know why three? Because only if it's about three pages are you leveling the playing field between the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected who can hire the armies of lawyers and accountants and, yes, lobbyists to help them navigate their way through 73,000 pages. Three pages is about the maximum that a single business owner or a farmer or just a couple can understand without hiring somebody. Almost 60 percent of American people now need to hire an expert to understand their taxes. So yes, you're going to hear a lot of talk about tax reform \u2014 +p2037 +aV\u2014 the issue is who is going to get it done. +p2038 +aVYou know, the +p2039 +aVWell, this is one of the reasons why Tom Perkins and I had disagreements in the boardroom, Becky. Nevertheless, one of the things that I think people don't always understand is how accountable a CEO actually is. So you know, I had to report results every 90 days in excruciating detail. I had to answer every single question about every single result and every single projection in public until there were no more questions. And if I misrepresented those results or those projections in any way, I was held criminally liable. Imagine \u2014 imagine \u2014 if a politician were held to that standard of account. I will run on my record all day long. And I believe people need a leader who is prepared to make tough calls in tough times and stand up... +p2040 +aV...and be held accountable. +p2041 +aVYou know, I want to go back for a moment to what we were just talking about. Crony capitalism is alive and well, and has been so in Washington, D.C. for decades. What's crony capitalism? Crony capitalism is what happens when government gets so big and so powerful that only the big and the powerful can handle it. So why are the pharmaceutical companies consolidating? Why are there five even bigger Wall Street banks now, instead of the ten we used to have on Wall Street? Because when government gets big and powerful, the big feel like they need to get even bigger to deal with all that power, and meanwhile, the small and the powerless \u2014 in this case, 1,590 community banks \u2014 go out of business. You see, folks, this is how socialism starts. Government causes a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. This is why, fundamentally, we have to take our government back. The student loan problem has been created by government. Government trying to level the playing field between Internet and brick-and-mortar creates a problem. The FCC jumping in now and saying, "we're going to put 400 pages of regulation over the Internet," is going to create massive problems. But guess who pushed for that regulation? The big Internet companies. This is what's going on. Big and powerful use big and powerful government to their advantage. It's why you see Walgreens buying Rite Aid. It's why you see the pharmaceuticals getting together. It's you see the health insurance companies getting together. It's why you see the banks consolidating. And meanwhile, small businesses are getting crushed. Community- based businesses and farms are getting crushed. Community banks are going out of business. Big government favors the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected, and crushes the small and the powerless. +p2042 +aVIt is why we have to simplify. It is why we have to reduce the size and power of government. +p2043 +aVIt's the only way to level the playing field between big and powerful and small and powerless. +p2044 +aVBecky, it is the height of hypocrisy for Mrs. Clinton to talk about being the first woman President, when every single policy she espouses, and every single policy of President Obama has been demonstrably bad for women. 92 percent \u2014 92 percent of the jobs lost during Barack Obama's first term belonged to women. Senator Cruz is precisely right. Three million women have fallen into poverty under this administration. The number of women \u2014 +p2045 +aV\u2014 living in extreme poverty is the highest level on record. I am a conservative because I know our values, our principles and our policies \u2014 +p2046 +aV\u2014 work better to lift everyone up, men and women. +p2047 +aVNo, the Federal Government should not play a larger role. Look, every time the Federal Government gets engaged in something it gets worse. And then the Government steps in to try and solve the problem and we get a little further down to that progressive vision that Hillary Clinton is talking about. Companies should, if they want to attract the best workers, provide a good set of benefits. But honestly, if you're a small business owner today you are being crushed. We have 400,000 small businesses forming every year in this country. How great is that? They are employing themselves, they are potentially employing others. The bad news is, we have 470,000 going out of business every year. And why? They cite Obamacare. They are refusing to... +p2048 +aVI think it's a wonderful that that businesses start a 401(k). The point I'm making is this, the Federal Government should not be in a lot of things. There is no Constitutional role for the Federal Government in setting up \u2014 retirement plans. There is no Constitutional role for the Federal Government to be setting minimum wages... +p2049 +aV... The more the Government gets engaged in the economy, the slower the economy becomes. The more the Government gets engaged in the economy, it is demonstrably true... +p2050 +aV... The more the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected are advantaged. +p2051 +aVJohn, I \u2014 if I \u2014 a lot of people have jumped in here. I'd like to jump in. A lot of people have jumped in here. +p2052 +aVI understand. +p2053 +aVI would just say that... ... I would just say this, we've heard a lot of great ideas up here, and I agree with what Senator Rubio said. Every election we talk about this. Every election we talk about Medicare and Social Security reform. It never happens. I would like to start with a basic. Let us actually go to zero- based budgeting so we know where the money is being spent. It's kind of basic. There is a bill sitting in the House that would actually pass and have us go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dime of your money is being spent instead of only talking about how much more we're going to spend year after year after year. My point is this. While there are lots of good ideas for reform, we have never tackled the basics. And we finally need to tackle the basics to cut this government down to size and hold it accountable. So let's start by knowing where your money is being spent by the federal government. +p2054 +aVYou know, every election we hear a lot of talk. We hear a lot of good plans. We hear actually a lot of good intentions. But somehow for decades, nothing really has changed. What we need now is a proven leader who has produced results. That's how you go from secretary to CEO. You lead and you produce results. I will cut this government down to size and hold it accountable, simplify the tax code, roll back the regulations that have been spewing out of Washington, D.C. for 50 years. I may not be your dream candidate just yet, but I can assure you I am Hillary Clinton's worst nightmare. And in your heart of hearts, you cannot wait to see a debate between Hillary Clinton and Carly Fiorina. I will tell you this, I will beat Hillary Clinton. And with your vote and your support and your prayers, I will lead with the citizens of this great nation the resurgence of this great nation. +p2055 +aVGood evening. My story, from secretary to CEO, is only possible in this nation, and proves that everyone of us has potential. My husband, Frank, of 30 years, started out driving a tow truck for a family owned auto body shop. We have come to a pivotal point in our nation's history where this nation's possibilities and potential are being crushed by a government grown so big, so powerful, so inept, so corrupt, and a political class that refuses to do anything about it. I am prepared to lead the resurgence of this great nation. +p2056 +aVYou know, I think Mr. Trump is a wonderful entertainer. He's been terrific at that business. I also think that one of the benefits of a presidential campaign is the character and capability, judgment and temperament of every single one of us is revealed over time and under pressure. All of us will be revealed over time and under pressure. I look forward to a long race. +p2057 +aVThat's not for me to answer; it is for the voters of this country to answer, and I have a lot of faith in the common sense and good judgment of the voters of the United States of America. +p2058 +aVJake, I'll tell you \u2014 I'll tell you why people are supporting outsiders. It's because you know what happens if someone's been in the system their whole life, they don't know how broken the system is. A fish swims in water, it doesn't know it's water. It's not that politicians are bad people, it's that they've been in that system forever. The truth is 75 percent of the American people think the government is corrupt; 82 percent of the American people think these problems that have festered for 50 years in some cases, 25 years in other cases. The border's been insecure for 25 years; 307,000 veterans have died waiting for health care. These things have gone on for so long because no one will challenge the status quo. You know what a leader does? They challenge the status quo, they solve problems that have festered for a long time and they produce results. That is what my whole life has been about. People know this is about far more than replacing a D with an R \u2014 +p2059 +aV\u2014 this is about changing the system. +p2060 +aVHaving... +p2061 +aVHaving met Vladimir Putin, if I may... +p2062 +aVHaving met Vladimir Putin, I wouldn't talk to him at all. We've talked way too much to him. What I would do, immediately, is begin rebuilding the Sixth Fleet, I would begin rebuilding the missile defense program in Poland, I would conduct regular, aggressive military exercises in the Baltic states. I'd probably send a few thousand more troops into Germany. Vladimir Putin would get the message. By the way, the reason it is so critically important that every one of us know General Suleimani's name is because Russia is in Syria right now, because the head of the Quds force traveled to Russia and talked Vladimir Putin into aligning themselves with Iran and Syria to prop up Bashar al- Assad. Russia is a bad actor, but Vladimir Putin is someone we should not talk to, because the only way he will stop is to sense strength and resolve on the other side, and we have all of that within our control. We could rebuild the Sixth Fleet. I will. We haven't. We could rebuild the missile defense program. We haven't. I will. We could also, to Senator Rubio's point, give the Egyptians what they've asked for, which is intelligence. We could give the Jordanians what they've asked for... +p2063 +aV...bombs and materiel. We have not supplied it... +p2064 +aV...I will. We could arm the Kurds. They've been asking us for three years. All of this is within our control. +p2065 +aV...Jake... +p2066 +aV...Jake, ... +p2067 +aVAnd then it'll be my turn. +p2068 +aVJake? +p2069 +aVJake? +p2070 +aVDana, I'd like to... +p2071 +aVDana, I would like to link these two issues, both of which are incredibly important, Iran and Planned Parenthood. One has something to do with the defense of the security of this nation. The other has something to do with the defense of the character of this nation. You have not heard a plan about Iran from any politician up here, here is my plan. On day one in the Oval Office, I will make two phone calls, the first to my good friend to Bibi Netanyahu to reassure him we will stand with the state of Israel. The second, to the supreme leader, to tell him that unless and until he opens every military and every nuclear facility to real anytime, anywhere inspections by our people, not his, we, the United States of America, will make it as difficult as possible and move money around the global financial system. We can do that, we don't need anyone's cooperation to do it. And every ally and every adversary we have in this world will know that the United States in America is back in the leadership business, which is how we must stand with our allies. As regards Planned Parenthood, anyone who has watched this videotape, I dare Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama to watch these tapes. Watch a fully formed fetus on the table, it's heart beating, it's legs kicking while someone says we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain. This is about the character of our nation, and if we will not stand up in and force President Obama to veto this bill, shame on us. +p2072 +aVYou know, it's interesting to me, Mr. Trump said that he heard Mr. Bush very clearly and what Mr. Bush said. I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said. +p2073 +aVDana, with all being said to Mr. Trump... +p2074 +aVImmigration did not come up in 2016 because Mr. Trump brought it up. We talked about it in 2012, we talked about it in 2008. We talked about it in 2004. +p2075 +aVWe have been talking about it for 25 years. This is why people are tired of politicians. +p2076 +aVFirst let me say, We have just spent a good bit of time discussing, as Republicans, how to solve this problem. I would ask your audience at home to ask a very basic question. Why have Democrats not solved this problem? President Obama campaigned in 2007 and 2008 on solving the immigration problem. He entered Washington with majorities in the House and the Senate. He could have chosen to do anything to solve this pro \u2014 this problem. Instead, he chose to do nothing. Why? because the Democrats don't want this issue solved. +p2077 +aVThey want it to be an issue that they can use. As to birthright citizenship... +p2078 +aV...the truth is, you can't just wave your hands and say "the 14th Amendment is gonna go away." It will take an extremely arduous vote in Congress, followed by two-thirds of the states, and if that doesn't work to amend the Constitution, then it is a long, arduous process in court. And meanwhile, what will continue to go on is what has gone on for 25 years. With all due respect, Mr. Trump, we've been talking about illegal immigration for 25 years. San Francisco has been a sanctuary city since 1989. There are 300 of them. And meanwhile, what has happened? Nothing. The border remains insecure. The legal immigration system remains broken. Look, we know what it takes to secure a border. We've heard a lot of great ideas here. Money, manpower, technology... +p2079 +aV...mostly, apparently, leadership... +p2080 +aV...the kind of leadership that understands how to get results. +p2081 +aVBut you \u2014 you would stipulate, Mr. Trump, but not everyone agrees with you. +p2082 +aVOK. +p2083 +aVI led Hewlett Packard through a very difficult time, the worst technology recession in 25 years. The +p2084 +aV\u2014 out a full-page ad in the New York Times to say he was wrong, I was right. I was a terrific CEO, the board was dysfunctional. And he thinks I will make a magnificent president of the United States. +p2085 +aVYou know, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld is a well-known Clintonite and honestly had it out for me from the moment that I arrived at Hewlett Packard. But honestly, Mr. Trump, I find it quite rich that you would talk about this. You know, there are a lot of us Americans who believe that we are going to have trouble someday paying back the interest on our debt because politicians have run up mountains of debt using other people's money. That is in fact precisely the way you ran your casinos. You ran up mountains of debt, as well as losses, using other people's money, and you were forced to file for bankruptcy not once \u2014 +p2086 +aV\u2014 not twice, four times, a record four times. Why should we trust you to manage the finances \u2014 +p2087 +aV\u2014 of this nation any differently than you managed the finances \u2014 +p2088 +aV\u2014 of your casinos? +p2089 +aVWell \u2014 +p2090 +aVWell, Mr. Trump \u2014 +p2091 +aVA track record of leadership is not a game. It is the issue in this election. +p2092 +aVWell, I thought we had been hearing quite a bit about Govenor Christie's record as governor, actually. I think track records are very important. I completely agree that what's at stake here is the future of this nation, and the future of every American. But I do think that a track record of leadership is vital because in the end this election is about leadership. And let's talk about what leadership is. It's not about braggadocio, it is about challenging the status quo, solving problems, producing results. And the highest calling of leadership is to unlock potential in others. +p2093 +aVProblems have festered in Washington for too long. And the potential of this nation is being crushed. +p2094 +aVYou see, Governor Christie, people spend time talking about their track records, and Mr. Trump and I have every right to do the same. And Mrs. Clinton has to defend her track record. Her track record of lying about Benghazi, of lying about her e- mails, about lying about her servers. She does not have a track record of accomplishment. Like Mrs. Clinton, I, too, have travels hundreds of thousands of miles around the globe. But unlike Mrs. Clinton, I know flying is an activity, not an accomplishment. Mrs. Clinton \u2014 if you want to stump a Democrat, ask them to name a accomplishment of Mrs. Clinton's. +p2095 +aVWe just spent \u2014 we just spent the last 10 minutes... +p2096 +aV...Jake, since everyone has gotten to weigh in on this military issue, I'd like to be able to do the same. We have spent probably 12 minutes talking about the past. Let's talk about the future. We need the strongest military on the face of the planet, and everyone has to know it. And, specifically, what that means is we need about 50 Army brigades, we need about 36 Marine battalions, we need somewhere between 300, and 350 naval ships, we need to upgrade every leg of the nuclear triad... +p2097 +aV...we need to reform the Department of Defense, we need as well... +p2098 +aV...to invest in our military technology, and we need to care for our veterans so 307,000... +p2099 +aV...aren't dying waiting for health care. +p2100 +aVJake, may I just say... +p2101 +aVJake \u2014 Jake... +p2102 +aVI very much hope I am the only person on this stage who can say this, but I know there are millions of Americans out there who will say the same thing. My husband Frank and I buried a child to drug addiction. So, we must invest more in the treatment of drugs. +p2103 +aVI agree with Senator Paul. I agree with states' rights. But we are misleading young people when we tell them that marijuana is just like having a beer. It's not. And the marijuana that kids are smoking today is not the same as the marijuana that Jeb Bush smoked 40 years ago. We do \u2014 sorry, Barbara. We do need \u2014 we do need criminal justice reform. We have the highest incarceration rates in the world. Two-thirds of the people in our prisons are there for non-violent offenses, mostly drug related. It's clearly not working. But we need to tell young people the truth. Drug addiction is an epidemic, and it is taking too many of our young people. I know this sadly from personal experience. +p2104 +aVI wouldn't change the $10 bill, or the $20 bill. I think, honestly, it's a gesture. I don't think it helps to change our history. What I would think is that we ought to recognize that women are not a special interest group. Women are the majority of this nation. We are half the potential of this nation, and this nation will be better off when every woman has the opportunity to live the life she chooses. +p2105 +aVSecretariat. +p2106 +aVI think what this nation can be and must be is symbolized by Lady Liberty and Lady Justice. Lady Liberty stands tall and strong. She is clear-eyed and resolute. She doesn't shield her eyes from the realities of the world, but she faces outward into the world nevertheless, as we always must. And she holds her torch high, because she knows she is a beacon of hope in a very troubled world. And Lady Justice, Lady Justice holds a sword by her side, because she is a fighter, a warrior for the values and the principles that have made this nation great. She holds a scale in her other hand. And with that scale she says all of us are equal in the eyes of God. And so all of us must be equal in the eyes of the law and the government, powerful and powerless alike. And she wears a blindfold. And with that blindfold she is saying to us that it must be true, it can be true that in this country, in this century, it doesn't matter who you are, it doesn't matter what you look like, it doesn't matter how you start, it doesn't matter your circumstances, here in this nation, every American's life must be filled with the possibilities that come from their God-given gifts. One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. +p2107 +aVWhen America does not lead, the world is a dangerous and a tragic place. This is a bad deal. Obama broke every rule of negotiation. Yes, our allies are not perfect, but Iran is at the heart of most of the evil that is going on in the Middle East through their proxy. +p2108 +aVYou know, when I started my campaign on May 4th of last year, I was 17 out of 16 candidates. Nobody polled my name. Nobody had ever heard of me. Less than 4 percent of you had ever heard of me. The people in Iowa showed up and they are still showing up. Hundreds and hundreds of them at every event. I have done over 150 events in the state of Iowa and I have 15 more coming up. Now, by the way, I start there because someone asked me about midway through my campaign, what's the biggest surprise to you on the campaign trail? And I will tell you what the biggest surprise is: the chasm, the yawning chasm, between what the national media talks about and what the people of Iowa and the people of this great nation talk about. That's the biggest surprise. So guess what, Martha? Guess what, sorry. The people of Iowa never ask me about a crisis in the GOP, they never ask me about the polls. They never ask me about the other candidates. What they ask me about is Carly, tell us why zero based budgeting is so important. Tell us why you are a leader who is going to produce results. Tell us how you are going to defeat +p2109 +aVWell let me tell you this: news flash, President Obama, news flash, Mrs. Clinton -- climate change is not our most pressing national security threat. Actually -- actually, it is +p2110 +aVYou know, we have a professional, political class of both parties. We have been talking about the same issues for election cycle after election cycle. Yeah, government is big and out of control, and the only way to get it under control is to control the money. And the only way to control the money is to ask the federal government to budget the way you do, to examine every dollar, to cut any dollar to spend -- to move any dollar. The fancy word for that is zero-base budgeting. I call it common sense. That three-page tax code I talk about all the time here in Iowa? It's been around for 20 years. But politicians don't want to talk about it, and you bet the lobbyists don't want to talk about it. In fact, nobody wants to vote on a three-page tax code or zero- base budgeting, although they've both been around for a long time. You know why? Because if you get those two things done, you are goring everybody's ox. You are taking the political establishment apart. You are actually challenging the status quo, which is what we need in the Oval Office. So you know who I'm going to count on? The citizens of this great nation, because you have extraordinary power. But when you do not use it... ... you are losing it. So take out your smartphones, folks. The people of Iowa know what I'm talking about. You take out your smartphones. if you agree with me that three-page tax code needs to be passed, lobbyists aren't going to be in my office. If you agree we gotta finally pass zero-base budgeting, take out your smartphones. Press one for yes, ladies and gentlemen. Press two for no. Citizens, we must take our country back. +p2111 +aVWell, first of all, I haven't said that. What I have said is that in the process of examining every dollar, cutting any dollar and moving any dollar, we happen to know that in this vast federal bureaucracy we have about 260,000 federal government employees who are going to retire, and we shouldn't replace them. Secondly, at Hewlett Packard, as you know -- the people of Iowa know this -- we went through a tough time. The worst technology recession in 25 years -- a great company called Gateway used to do be right here in Iowa. But they didn't make the tough calls necessary to save all those jobs, and so they lost every one of those jobs. Yes, I've had to make some tough calls. We saved 80,000 jobs. We went on to grow to 160,000 jobs. And, frankly, I think the American people know we need a president who's going to make some tough calls. So let me tell you where I'm going to start. The American people got a bill passed through Congress that said we could fire the top 400 senior executives at the V.A. for dereliction of duty. When we know that 307,000 veterans have died waiting for health care and the V.A. handed out $142 million worth of bonuses for superb performance, I'm going to start by firing 400... ... senior executives at the V.A. +p2112 +aVHe is right there. He is right there. +p2113 +aVIt wasn't a personal attack. I was pointing out the fact that Hillary Clinton will do anything to gain and hang on to power, anything. Listen, if my husband did what Bill Clinton did, I would have left him long ago. So, here's the deal. Hillary Clinton has been climbing the ladder to try and get power and here now she is trying for the White House. She is probably more qualified for the big house, honestly. She has escaped prosecution more times than El Chapo, perhaps Sean Penn should interview her. The woman should be prosecuted. And while Mrs. Clinton has flown hundreds of thousands of world around the global, I have too. And I know flying is an activity not an accomplishment. While I know that she has held many positions and many titles she has not accomplished much of anything in her life. She has gotten every single foreign policy challenge wrong. She continues to lie to the American people. It's called the Clinton way. Both Bill and Hillary practice it, the Clinton way. Say whatever you have to say, do whatever you have to say. Lie as long as you can get away with it. Hillary Clinton cannot be the president of these United States. +p2114 +aVWell, you know, Hillary Clinton hasn't been indicted either. So that tells us a lot about our justice system in this country. But, look, the facts of Planned Parenthood have not changed, folks, and I will not be rendered silent on this issue or any other issue. And it doesn't matter what stage I'm on. Here are the facts. Planned Parenthood engages in partial birth abortion, in late-term abortion. They alter those abortion techniques to harvest and sell body parts. They have admitted that they are not going to accept compensation for this anymore. The reality is, most Americans find this practice horrific. Most Americans find horrific that Hillary Clinton's position on this is it's not a life until it's born. Most Americans find horrific Hillary Clinton's position or the Democrat party's position, that a young woman does not need her mother's permission to get an abortion. But if you are 13 years old, you can get an abortion, but you can't go to a tanning salon without your mother's permission. A president Fiorina -- in a president Fiorina budget, there will not be one dime for Planned Parenthood, although there would be a lot of money for women's health and we will finally pass the pain capable unborn child protection act. I will always stand for life and religious liberty... ... because this is about the character of our nation. +p2115 +aVMartha, can I just say we've been talking tonight about a lot of issues and we've also been talking about the fact that the game is rigged and frankly, the media has a lot to do with that. It is outrageous frankly, that Fox News, and you, would question the pro-life credentials of Rick Santorum. That is outrageous. +p2116 +aVIn over 150 events I have come to know and love the people of Iowa. And the people of Iowa know what the rest of Americans have figured out, this ain't working anymore. The government no longer works for those who pay for it. The professional political class says and does whatever they need to do to win, and then does whatever they please. We need to return to a citizen government. That is why I am running for President. The media, the establishment, they all want to tell you this elections over, they know who's going to win it, except that you haven't... ... cast a single vote yet. So, the people of Iowa, stand with me, fight with me. Caucus for me. It is time to take our country back. +p2117 +aVWell, thank you. Good evening. If I may begin by saying how honored I am to be standing here with two former Iowa Caucus winners. Governor, Senator. And how honored I am to be talking with all of you. You know, I'm not a political insider. I haven't spent my lifetime running for office. The truth is I have had and been blessed by a lot of opportunities to do a lot of things in my life. And unlike another woman in this race, I actually love spending time with my husband. I'm standing here because I think we have to restore a citizen government in this country. I think we have to end crony capitalism. The crony capitalism that starts with both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. You know, Hillary Clinton sits inside government and rakes in millions, handing out access and favors. And Donald Trump sits outside government and rakes in billions buying people like Hillary Clinton. The state of our economy is not strong. We have record numbers of men out of work. We have record numbers of women living in poverty. We have young people who no longer believe that the American dream applies to them. We have working families whose wages have stagnated for decades, all while the rich get richer, the powerful get more powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected get more connected. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. +p2118 +aVAmerica must lead because when we do not lead, when this exceptional nation does not lead, the world is more dangerous and a more tragic place. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, they all refuse to lead. Worse, they refuse to respond when this nation is provoked. Hillary Clinton famously asked what difference does it make how four Americans died in Benghazi? Mrs. Clinton, here's what difference it makes. When you do not stand up and say the truth, that this was a purposeful terrorist attack, when you do not say the United States of America will retaliate for that attack, terrorists assume it's open season. We have refused to respond to every provocation. The President wouldn't even mention the fact that Iran had taken two Navy boats and our sailors \u2014 hostage. He didn't mention the fact that they violated the Geneva convention. He didn't respond to the fact that Iran launched two ballistic missile just a short time ago, in direct violation of a deal they had just signed. We didn't respond to the fact that North Korea attacked Sony Pictures. When we refuse to respond over, and over to provocation and bad behavior, we will get more provocation and bad behavior. I know most of our allies personally. I have met many of our adversaries. I know our military and our intelligence capability, and I know this. When we will not stand with our allies, when we will not respond to our adversaries, when we do not lead in the world the world is a dangerous and tragic place. I will be a Commander in Chief who will lead. +p2119 +aVOf course I'm worried about similar problems in the United States. We can not allow refugees to enter this country unless we can adequately vet them and we know we can't. Therefore we should stop allowing refugees into this country. And by the way, we do not need to be lectured about why we're angry and frustrated and fearful because we've had an illegal immigration problem in this country for 25 years. And we have every right to be frustrated about the fact that politicians stand up in election after election after election and promise us to fix the problem and yet, it has never been fixed. I offer leadership that understands that actions speak louder than words, that results count. We must secure our border. We must fix our broken immigration system. We must enforce a pro-American immigration system that serves our interests, not the rest of the world. I understand what it takes to translate goals into results and that is what I will do as president of the United States. Of course, we should be worried, for heavens sakes. This administration has now told us they don't know who has overstayed a visa. This administration has told us they don't even bother to check Facebook or Twitter to find out who's pledging allegiance to jihadis. We can do better than this, citizens. We need to take our country back. +p2120 +aVWe need to be very clear-eyed now about who are our allies and who are our adversaries. In the fight against +p2121 +aVAnd we all believe the polling data all the time, don't we? +p2122 +aVOh, it's a problem for so many reasons. First of all, it is yet another lawless executive order. You see, he doesn't like the fact that Congress has rejected his ideas twice on a bipartisan basis, so he's decided he just gets to override them. Sorry, Mr. President, not the way "The Constitution" works. Secondly......secondly, he basically admitted in that speech that he hasn't been paying much attention to enforcing the laws we have. He said, gee, we need a few more FBI agents. That would have helped, perhaps, stop a tragedy here in South Carolina with Dylann Roof, a guy who clearly never should have been sold a gun. In other words, Mr. President, you're right, we need to enforce the laws we have. Let's enforce the laws we have. There are criminals running around with guns who shouldn't have them. We don't prosecute any of them. Less than 1 percent. But I want to go back to the technology issue for a moment, if I may, as well, because in this regard, I disagree with Senator Santorum. Look, I come from the technology industry and I can tell you there is one thing that bureaucracies don't know how to do. They do not know how to innovate. We have come seven generations of technology since 2011. We have bureaucracies that are incapable of bringing in that innovation. So, yes, there are some very specific things that we should ask the private sector to help us with, including making sure we have the latest and greatest in algorithms to search through all these databases so that we find terrorists before they attack us, not after it's too late. And, finally, when a president who understands technology in the Oval Office. Mrs. Clinton, actually, you cannot wipe a server with a towel. +p2123 +aVYes, and see... +p2124 +aVAs CEO of Hewlett Packard... +p2125 +aVAs CEO of Hewlett Packard, I was asked very specifically for some very real help. The help I was asked to provide, this is now public information. So I am not revealing what \u2014 something that was \u2014 was classified. We had a very large shipment of equipment, software and hardware, headed to a retail outlet. And I was called by the head of the NSA, who had an urgent need for that capability, to begin laying out a program to track terrorists. We turned that truck around on a highway and it was escorted to the headquarters in San Jose. In World War II, our government went to the private sector and said, help us do things that we cannot do. The private sector has capabilities that the government does not have. There are some legal authorities that are required. The Sony attack could have been detected and repelled, had legal authorities been passed in Congress allowing private networks and public networks to work together. Those legal authorities have not yet been passed. Yes, I was asked to help. I know the technology industry. They will help again. But they must be asked by a president who understands what they have. +p2126 +aVFor decades, the professional political class in both parties has been talking about the middle class. For decades, Republicans in particular have been talking about reducing the size and scope of government, spending less money, reducing the complexity. And yet, for 40 years, the government has gotten bigger and more expensive. We now have a 75,000 plus page tax code, although politicians have run for office for decades promising reform. And all the while, middle class incomes have stagnated. You see, when government gets bigger and bigger, more powerful, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer and the middle class gets squeezed. We need to understand who the job creators are in this country, because we need more jobs to grow the middle class and to grow the wages of the middle class. Who creates jobs? Small businesses, new businesses, family-owned businesses. They create two thirds of the new jobs in this country and they employ half the people. I started out typing for a nine person real estate firm. My husband Frank started out driving a tow truck for a family-owned auto body shop. And we are crushing small businesses and destroying the middle class. So here's my blueprint to take back America. Let us first actually reform the tax code from 73,000 pages down to three. There's a 20-year-old plan to do exactly that. And then let us begin piece by piece to focus on every single dollar the government spends, so that we will spend less overall and still have enough for our priorities. And that requires the government to budget the way you do at home \u2014 examine every dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. The fancy term for that is zero- based budgeting, but I call it common sense. Citizens, we've got to take our country back. +p2127 +aVMy husband Frank, that I mentioned, I love spending time with. He's down there. He was real excited the other day because in New Hampshire, he was introduced as my eye candy. You know, everybody out there watching knows this. You cannot wait to see the debate between me and Hillary Clinton. You would pay to see that fight. And that's because you know I will win. And that's important. We've got to start by beating Hillary Clinton. All of my life, I have been told to sit down and be quiet. Settle. Settle. Don't challenge the system. That's what the American people are being told now and we have been told that for way too long \u2014 sit down and be quiet about our God, about our guns, about the abortion industry, settle for illegal immigration that's been a problem for decades, as so many of our problems have festered for decades. Accept a system of government and politics that no longer works for us. I will not sit down and be quiet. And neither will you. So I ask you to stand with me, fight with me, vote for me, citizens. It is time to take our future back, time to take our politics back. It is time to take our government back. Citizens, it is time. We must take our country back. +p2128 +aVWell, I would begin by reminding people that at this point in previous presidential elections, Jimmy Carter couldn't win, Ronald Reagan couldn't win, Bill Clinton couldn't win, and neither could've Barack Obama. I started as a secretary and became ultimately the chief executive of the largest technology company in the world, almost $90 billion in over 150 countries. I know personally how extraordinary and unique this nation is. I think to be commander in chief in the 21st century requires someone who understands how the economy works, someone who understands how the world works and who's in it; I know more world leaders on the stage today than anyone running, with the possible exception of Hillary Clinton; understands bureaucracies, how to cut them down to size and hold them accountable; and understands technology, which is a tool, but it's also a weapon that's being used against us. Most importantly, I think I understand leadership, which sometimes requires a tough call in a tough time. But mostly, the highest calling of leadership is to challenge the status-quo and unlock the potential of others. We need a leader who will lead the resurgence of this great nation and unlock its potential once again. Thank you. +p2129 +aVWell, I don't know. I didn't get a phone call from Bill Clinton before I jumped in the race. Did any of you get a phone call from Bill Clinton? I didn't. Maybe it's because I hadn't given money to the foundation or donated to his wife's Senate campaign. Here's the thing that I would ask Donald Trump in all seriousness. He is the party's frontrunner right now, and good for him. I think he's tapped into an anger that people feel. They're sick of politics as usual. You know, whatever your issue, your cause, the festering problem you hoped would resolved, the political class has failed you. That's just a fact, and that's what Donald Trump taps into. I would also just say this. Since he has changed his mind on amnesty, on health care and on abortion, I would just ask, what are the principles by which he will govern? Mac +p2130 +aVLet me say first that it is disturbing that every time one of these home-grown terrorist attacks occurs, and, as your question points out, they are occurring with far too great frequency, it turns out we had warning signals. It turns out we knew something was wrong. It turns out some dot wasn't connected, and so the first thing we have to do is make sure that everyone and every responsible agency is attuned to all of these possibilities and symptoms. We even had warnings about the Boston Marathon bombers, and yet the dots weren't connected. So we need to get on a different mindset. Secondly, I certainly support that we need to tear down cyber walls, not on a mass basis, but on a targeted basis. But let me just say that we also need down -- to tear down the cyber walls that China is erecting, that Russia is erecting. We need to be very well aware of the fact that China and Russia are using technology to attack us, just as +p2131 +aVI absolutely would call on them to collaborate and cooperate, yes. +p2132 +aVYeah. Sometimes it's a complicated situation, but some things are black and white. On day one in the Oval Office, I would make two phone calls. The first one would be to my good friend, Bibi Netanyahu, to reassure him we will stand with the State of Israel. The second will be to the supreme leader of Iran. He might not take my phone call, but he would get the message, and the message is this: Until you open every nuclear and every military facility to full, open, anytime/anywhere, for real, inspections, we are going to make it as difficult as possible for you to move money around the global financial system. I hope Congress says no to this deal. But realistically, even if they do, the money is flowing. China and Russia have never been on our side of the table. The Europeans have moved on. We have to stop the money flow. And by the way, as important as those two phone calls are, they are also very important because they say this. America is back in the leadership business. And when America does not lead, the world is a dangerous and a tragic place. This is a bad deal. Obama broke every rule of negotiation. Yes, our allies are not perfect. But Iran is at the heart of most of the evil that is going on in the Middle East through their proxies. Mac +p2133 +aVLet me tell you what I would do immediately, day two in the Oval Office. I would hold a Camp David summit with our Arab allies, not to talk them into this lousy deal with Iran, but to say to them, "what is it that you need to defeat +p2134 +aVI agree with my colleagues. We need to begin by undoing -- I would begin by undoing a whole set of things that President Obama has done, whether it's illegal amnesty or this latest round of EPA regulations. But let me go back to something that's very important. We have been debating right here the core difference between conservatism and progressivism. Conservatives, I am a conservative because I believe no one of us is any better than any other one of us. Every one of us is gifted by God, whether it is those poor babies being picked over or it's someone whose life is tangled up in a web of dependence. Progressives don't believe that. They believe some are smarter than others, some are better than others, so some are going to need to take care of others. That is the fight we have to have, and we have to undo a whole set of things that President Obama has done that get at the heart of his disrespect and disregard for too many Americans. +p2135 +aVThis is a great nation. It is a unique nation in all of human history and on the face of the planet, because here, our founders believed that everyone has a right to fulfill their potential and that that right --they called it life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness -- comes from God and cannot be taken away by government. We have arrived at a point in our nation's history where the potential of this nation and too many Americans is being crushed by the weight, the power, the cost, the complexity, the ineptitude, the corruption of the federal government, and only someone who will challenge the status quo of Washington, D.C. can lead the resurgence of this great nation. I will do that. Mac +p2136 +aVNot trustworthy. No accomplishment. +p2137 +aVHillary Clinton lies about Benghazi, she lies about e- mails. She is still defending Planned Parenthood, and she is still her party's frontrunner. 2016 is going to be a fight between conservatism, and a Democrat party that is undermining the very character of this nation. We need a nominee who is going to throw every punch, not pull punches, and someone who cannot stumble before he even gets into the ring. I am not a member of the political class. I am a conservative; I can win this job, I can do this job, I need your help, I need your support. I will, with your help and support, lead the resurgence of this great nation. Thank you. +p2138 +asVBUSH +p2139 +(lp2140 +VOur freedom is under attack. Our economy is under water. The leading democrat is under investigation. And America is under the gun to lead the free world to protect our civilized way of life. Serious times require strong leadership, that's what at stake right now. Regarding national security, we need to restore the defense cuts of Barack Obama to rebuild our military, to destroy +p2141 +aVWell, first of all, we need to destroy +p2142 +aVLook, he mentioned me. I can bring \u2014 I can talk. This is \u2014 this is the problem. Banning all Muslims will make it harder for us to do exactly what we need to do, which is to destroy +p2143 +aVThey are relevant if we want to destroy +p2144 +aVDonald, this has got... +p2145 +aVThis is another example of the lack of seriousness. Look, this is \u2014 this is troubling because we're at war. They've declared war on us and we need to have a serious strategy to destroy +p2146 +aVYou said on September 30th that +p2147 +aVI'm talking right now. I'm talking. +p2148 +aVSeptember 30th you said... +p2149 +aVA little of your own medicine there, Donald. +p2150 +aVDonald, you're not going to be able to insult your way to the presidency. That's not going to happen. And I do have the strength. Leadership, leadership is not about attacking people and disparaging people. Leadership is about creating a serious strategy to deal with the threat of our time. And I laid out that strategy before the attacks in Paris and before the attacks in San Bernardino. And it is the way forward. We need to increase our military spending. We need to deal with a no- fly zone in Syria, a safe zone. We need to focus on building a military that is second-to-none... +p2151 +aV... so that we can destroy Islamic terrorism. +p2152 +aVI think we're focusing a whole... +p2153 +aVI do. I think the lesson's learned are that we have to have to have a strategy to get and a strategy to get out. Which means, that you create a stable situation. This president and this is what the focus ought to be, it's not the differences between us, it's Barack Obama does not believe America's leadership in the world is a force for good. He does not believe that our strength is a place where security can take place. He leads from behind. He creates an environment that now we're creating the most unstable situation we've had since the World War II era. The focus ought to be on the single fact that Hillary Clinton wants to double down on a failed foreign policy and we need to be united to defeat that because we're going to be in a place that is far less secure than it is today. Don't you all agree? +p2154 +aVBecause I \u2014 first of all, I know what I don't know. I know what I don't know. I would seek out, as I have, the best advice that exists. I won't get my information from the shows. I don't know if that's Saturday morning or Sunday morning. I don't know which one. I will seek out the best advice, and I will create a strategy and I will persuade the American people what the role of America should be. I've laid out a policy of rebuilding our military. All of the talk that we're seeing here \u2014 most of which I agree on, frankly \u2014 requires a much stronger military. We now have a lack of readiness that is quite scary. We have planes that were \u2014 that Harry Truman inaugurated, the B-52. We have \u2014 the Navy has been gutted and decimated. The readiness of the Marines is way down. If we're serious about America's leadership in the world, then we need to make sure that we have the back of the armed forces. The Armed Forces Radio is here listening to this today. I hope they know that if I'm president, I'll be a commander-in-chief, not an agitator- in-chief or a divider-in-chief, that I will lead this country in a way that will create greater security and greater safety. +p2155 +aVSo I was \u2014 I was \u2014 I was mentioned, so I can bring up something, I think, right? Look, the simple fact is, if you think this is tough you're not being treated fairly... +p2156 +aV... imagine what it's going to be like dealing with Putin or dealing with President Xi. +p2157 +aVOr dealing with the Islamic terrorism that exists. +p2158 +aVThis is a tough business to run for president. +p2159 +aVAnd it's \u2014 and we need...... to have a leader that is... +p2160 +aVYou're never going to be president of the United States by insulting your way to the presidency. +p2161 +aVDoesn't matter. Doesn't matter. +p2162 +aVYes. +p2163 +aVNo it isn't but it is an important subject to talk about for sure. And I think people have good ideas on this. Clearly, we need to secure the border. Coming here legally needs to be a lot easier than coming here illegally. If you don't have that, you don't have the rule of law. We now have a national security consideration, public health issues, we have an epidemic of heroine overdoses in all places in this country because of the ease of bringing heroine in. We have to secure the border. It is a serious undertaking and yes, we do need more fencing and we do need to use technology, and we do need more border control. And we need to have better cooperation by the way with local law enforcement. There are 800,000 cops on the beat, they ought to be trained to be the eyes and ears for law enforcement for the threat against terror as well as for immigration. This is a serious challenge and if we can get it right, yes, we'll start winning votes again. The real problem isn't anybody on this stage, the real problem is Barack Obama has had six years to advocate a position to fix this and he's done nothing. The congress has funded these programs of building more fencing and doing all this and he hasn't done it. He wants to maintain it as a wedge issue and so does Hillary Clinton. Republicans need to fix it and when we do, we'll be better off. +p2164 +aVI completely agree with Chris. And this administration has been so lax. Think about it. Hillary Clinton is using a private server for \u2014 where classified information go by. This is a \u2014 this is a serious administration? The president receives an inspector general's report that the Office of Personnel Management could be hacked into; they had antiquated firewalls; 23 million files have been \u2014 are in the hands of the Chinese allegedly, including, by the way, members of the press, it turns out, last week. Maybe that's the only part that's good news, so that you guys can get a feel for what it's like now to see this type of attack. This is something \u2014 we have to have the best defensive capabilities. We need to coordinate all of our efforts with the private sector. We need to give them liability relief so that we can do that. And offensively, we need to have capabilities second to none. We need to create a situation where they know that there will be adverse impacts if they continue to do what they're doing. They'll respect that. They'll respect a United States that is serious about protecting our \u2014 our infrastructure. If we don't do it, we'll continue to see what's \u2014 exactly what's happening, not just from the Chinese, by the way. The Russians and rogue actors, including +p2165 +aVAsk yourself, which candidate will keep you and our country safer, stronger and freer? Hillary Clinton has aligned herself with Barack Obama on +p2166 +aVYou've already made two comments, John. It's my turn. +p2167 +aVI got about four minutes in the last debate. I'm going to get my question right now. +p2168 +aVYes. +p2169 +aVFirst of all, we could get to 4 percent growth. The new normal of 2 percent puts huge demands on government. The reason why we have structural deficits is that more and more people are relying on government and the growth that we don't have makes \u2014 makes the deficit grow. A 4 percent growth strategy starts with tax reform. And the proposal that I've laid out is the one the Wall Street Journal editorial board has said is the most pro-growth of all the proposals out there. We cut the \u2014 we eliminate a lot of deductions and cut the rates down. A corporate rate of 20 percent, which puts us 5 percent above \u2014 below that of China, and allows us full expensing of investing. It would create an explosion of investment back into this country, creating higher-wage jobs, and so that's part of it. On the regulatory side I think we need to repeal every rule that Barack Obama has in terms of work in progress, every one of them. And start over. For those that are already in existence, the regulation of the Internet, we have to start over, but we ought to do that. The clean power act, we ought to repeal that and \u2014 and start over on that. The waters of the United States act, which is going to be devastating for agriculture and many industries, we should repeal that. We should repeal the rules because the economic costs of this far exceed the social benefit. And if we're serious about being serious about high growth, then we have to recognize that small businesses right now, more of them are closing than \u2014 than are \u2014 than are being set up. Hillary Clinton has said that Barack Obama's policies get an A. Really? One in 10 people right now aren't working or have given up altogether, as you said. That's not an A. One in seven people are living in poverty. That's not an A. One in five children are on food stamps. That is not an A. It may be the best that Hillary Clinton can do, but it's not the best America can do. +p2170 +aVThank you, Donald, for allowing me to speak at the debate. That's really nice of you. Really appreciate that. What a generous man you are. Twelve million illegal immigrants, to send them back, 500,000 a month, is just not \u2014 not possible. And it's not embracing American values. And it would tear communities apart. And it would send a signal that we're not the kind of country that I know America is. And even having this conversation sends a powerful signal \u2014 they're doing high-fives in the Clinton campaign right now when they hear this. That's the problem with this. We have to win the presidency. And the way you win the presidency is to have practical plans. Lay them out there. What we need to do is allow people to earn legal status where they pay a fine, where they work, where they don't commit crimes, where they learn English, and over an extended period of time, they earn legal status. That's the path \u2014 a proper path... +p2171 +aVI'm gonna fight as hard as I can to make sure that we shift power away from Washington, simplify the tax code, to spur economic activity in this country. Of course it's the highest priority. If we don't do that, we're stuck with the "new normal" of 2 percent growth. Hillary Clinton says, basically, we just gotta get used to it. Two percent growth means declining income for the middle class. It means more than 6 million people are stuck in poverty than the day that Barack Obama was inaugurated. It means \u2014 it means more demands on government \u2014 growing the economy is the first job, if we're going to be serious about dealing with the deficit and debt. And more importantly, people are really struggling right now. In this economy, the disposable income of the great middle is down 2,300 bucks. So yeah, we've created jobs, your \u2014 argue (ph) \u2014 brought that up early, and it was a good question. Jobs are being created, but they're lower-income jobs than the jobs that were lost. And the net effect of this is we need to jump-start the economy. I think of Jonathan (ph) and Reagan Love (ph), who are supporters of mine. Jonathan has been deployed by the National Guard, he is \u2014 he's in Oklahoma. Reagan Love \u2014 by the way, pretty great name, I think \u2014 is a teacher. When \u2014 if they had this tax cut, what they told me was that that $2,300 of money in their pocket \u2014 they would go back to South Carolina and start a business. Imagine what it would be like, instead of having more businesses closed than started, we had it the exact opposite. We would grow our economy, and the government would get the revenue necessary to make things \u2014 make things better. Hillary Clinton's approach to this is more top-down, more regulation, more taxes, more government, and it will destroy our economy. +p2172 +aVIt is \u2014 I'd say it is Islamic terrorism, and, back to the question of what we are dealing with in Iraq, when we pull back voids are filled. That's the lesson of history, and, sadly, this president does not believe in American leadership. He does not believe it, and the net result is that we have a caliphate the size of Indiana that gains energy each and everyday to recruit Americans in our own country, and the threat to the homeland relates to the fact that we have not dealt with this threat of terror in the Middle East. We should have a no fly zone in Syria. We should have a support for the remnants of the Syrian Free Army, and create safe zones. If you want to deal with the four million refugees that are leaving Syria because of the devastation there, then we 'ought to create safe zones for them to stay in the region rather than go to Europe. And, that requires American leadership. Without American leadership every other country in the neighborhood beings to change their priorities. It is tragic that you see Iraq, and other countries now talking to Russia. It wasn't that long ago that Russia had no influence in the region at all. And, so, the United States needs to lead across the board. This president, and Hillary Clinton both do not believe the United States has a leadership role to play, and we're now paying a price, and it will have a huge impact on the economy of this country if we don't deal with this. +p2173 +aV...They're not doing that... +p2174 +aV +p2175 +aVDonald \u2014 Donald's wrong on this. He is absolutely wrong on this. We're not going to be the world's policeman, but we sure as heck better be the world's leader. That's \u2014 there's a huge difference where, without us leading... ...voids are filled, and the idea that it's a good idea for Putin to be in Syria, let +p2176 +aVWe're not \u2014 we shouldn't have another financial crisis. What we ought to do is raise the capital requirements so banks aren't too big to fail. Dodd-Frank has actually done the opposite, totally the opposite, where banks now have higher concentration of risk in assets and the capital requirements aren't high enough. If we were serious about it, we would raise the capital requirements and lessen the load on the community banks and other financial institutions. This vast overreach has created a huge problem for our country, and Hillary Clinton wants to double down on that. I was in Washington, Iowa, about three months ago talking about how bad Washington, D.C., is. It was \u2014 get the \u2014 kind of the \u2014 anyway. We had... It \u2014 and I talked to a banker there. This is a bank that had $125 million of assets, four branches. Their compliance costs because of Dodd-Frank went from $100,000 to $600,000 in a two-year period. The net effect of that is \u2014 and they had \u2014 they had not one loan that went bad during the financial crisis. They knew \u2014 they knew their borrowers. They gave back to the community. They were engaged in the community. And imagine America without its community banks. Well, that's what's happening because of Dodd-Frank. That's \u2014 that's my worry. My worry is that the real economy has been hurt by the vast overreach of the Obama administration. And Hillary Clinton, she wants to double down on that. She wants to create even more so. She is a captive of the left of her party to the point now where she is \u2014 she was for the trade agreement in \u2014 the Pacific agreement. Now she's against it. She was \u2014 hinted she was for the XL pipeline. Now she's opposed to it. All the things that would create sustained economic growth she's now doubling down against it. +p2177 +aVYou could, if you were serious about... +p2178 +aVNo, I can't say that. But I can say, if you created higher capital requirements, that's the solution to this, not having concentration of assets. The bigger banks now have more and more control over \u2014 over the financial assets of this country. And that is the wrong approach to take. +p2179 +aVMaria? +p2180 +aV...We've had a 10% reduction in carbon emissions, and it isn't because of Solyndra. It isn't because of the central planners in Washington D.C. It's because we've had a great American success story, the explosion of natural gas. Taking two existing technologies, and applying it through innovation has created lower carbon emissions, lower energy costs \u2014 40% of all the economic activity in the age of Obama has come from the energy sector, and Hillary Clinton wants to suppress that. We \u2014 I think we ought to be expanding this. High growth is the path to lower carbon, and more jobs. I know for a fact, as Governor of the State of Florida, we created the largest land purchasing programs, and environment clean-up programs because we had a growing economy. Our revenues were growing at 4.4%. It allowed for resources to be able to protect the natural system. We got to get to a conservation... ...in environmental policy that goes beyond just carbon... +p2181 +aVJane Horton is sitting with my wife here today. Her husband, Chris, was killed in action in Afghanistan. And Jane spends her time now defending and fighting for military families. They're both heroes. I don't think we need an agitator-in-chief or a divider-in-chief. We need a commander-in-chief that will rebuild our military and restore respect to our veterans by revamping and fixing a broken Veterans Administration, That's my pledge to you. I ask for your support. Thank you. +p2182 +aVYou know, I am by my nature impatient. And this is not an endeavor that rewards that. You gotta be patient. You gotta be \u2014 stick with it, and all that. But also, I can't fake anger. I believe this is still the most extraordinary country on the face of the Earth. And it troubles me that people are rewarded for tearing down our country. It's never been that way in American politics before. I can't do it. I just don't believe that this country's days are going to be deeply \u2014 you know, going down. I think we're on the verge of the greatest time, and I want to fix the things to let people rise up. +p2183 +aVCould I \u2014 could I bring something up here, because I'm a constituent of the senator and I helped him and I expected that he would do constituent service, which means that he shows up to work. He got endorsed by the Sun-Sentinel because he was the most talented guy in the field. He's a gifted politician. But Marco, when you signed up for this, this was a six-year term, and you should be showing up to work. I mean, literally, the Senate \u2014 what is it, like a French work week? You get, like, three days where you have to show up? You can campaign, or just resign and let someone else take the job. There are a lot of people living paycheck to paycheck in Florida as well, they're looking for a senator that will fight for them each and every day. +p2184 +aVHe wasn't my senator. +p2185 +aVWell, I've been \u2014 +p2186 +aVNo, no. What I said was I don't believe that I would be president of the United States and have the same dysfunction that exists in Washington, D.C. now. +p2187 +aVDon't vote for me if you want to keep the gridlock in Washington, D.C. +p2188 +aVBut if you want someone who has a proven, effective leadership, that was a governor of a state, that transformed the culture there, elect me so I can fight for the American people and change the culture in Washington, D.C. +p2189 +aV, the great majority of Republicans and Americans believe in a hopeful future. They don't believe in building walls and a pessimistic view of the future. They're concerned that Washington is so dysfunctional it is holding them back. There are lids on people's aspirations. Think about it: six and a half million people working part-time. Workforce participation rates lower than they were in 1977. Six million more people living in poverty than the day that Barack Obama got elected president, and the left just wants more of the same. We have to offer a compelling alternative that is based on hope and optimism and grounded in serious policy, which I've laid out. And you can go get it at jeb2016.com. +p2190 +aVWell, the deal was done. Barack Obama got his massive tax increase, and there was no spending cuts. You just see the recent deal announced today or yesterday, more spending, more tax increasing, more regulation. And now we have to accept 2 percent, the new normal for economic growth. And the net result is the middle class has $2,300 less in their pockets than the day that Barack Obama got elected president. And now they see Hillary Clinton proposing a third term of economic policy for our country. We need to reverse that. And my record was one of cutting taxes each and every year. You don't have to guess about it, because I actually have a record. $19 billion of tax cuts, 1.3 million jobs created. We were one of two states to go to AAA bond rating, and our government spending was far less than the spending in people's income. +p2191 +aVYou find me... +p2192 +aVYou find me a Democrat \u2014 you find me a Democrat that will cut spending ten dollars? Heck, find me a Republican in Congress that would cut spending ten dollars. I'll talk to them. +p2193 +aVLook, the \u2014 the deal is already done. The biggest tax increase happened under the watch of Barack Obama, and spending's gone up. You find a Democrat that's for cutting taxes \u2014 cutting spending ten dollars, I'll give them a warm kiss. +p2194 +aVLook, the \u2014 the simple fact is that my plan actually gives the middle class the greatest break: $2,000 per family. And if you make $40,000 a year, a family of four, you don't pay any income tax at all. Simplifying the code and lowering rates, both for corporations and \u2014 and personal rates, is exactly what we need to do. You think about the regulatory cost and the tax cost \u2014 that's why small businesses are closing, rather than being formed in our country right now. The big corporations have the scale to deal with all of this. And what I think all of us are saying is, our monetary policy, our tax policy, regulatory policy needs to be radically changed so we can create high sustained growth for income to rise. The government has tried it their way. Under \u2014 under Barack Obama and the proposals of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and others, they've tried it their way, and it has failed miserably. We need to take a new approach of taxing \u2014 reforming how we tax, and reforming the regulations in our \u2014 in our country before it's too late. +p2195 +aVWe don't need the federal government to be involved in this at all. +p2196 +aVWe don't need the Federal Government to be involved in this, because when they do we create a $1.2 trillion debt. In Florida, we have the lowest in-state tuition of any state, because there's accountability, just as John said. Let the states do this. You'll create a much better graduation rate at a lower cost, and you won't in debt the next generation with recourse debt on their backs. It's always a solution of the left to create more Government from the Federal Government. It is broke, it is not working. +p2197 +aVWell, first of all, I'm 7 and 0 in my fantasy league. +p2198 +aVGronkowski is still going strong. I have Ryan Tannehill, Marco, as my quarterback, he was 18 for 19 last week. So I'm doing great. But we're not gambling. And I think this has become something that needs to be looked at in terms of regulation. Effectively it is day trading without any regulation at all. And when you have insider information, which apparently has been the case, where people use that information and use big data to try to take advantage of it, there has to be some regulation. If they can't regulate themselves, then the NFL needs to look at just, you know, moving away from them a little bit. And there should be some regulation. I have no clue whether the federal government is the proper place, my instinct is to say, hell no, just about everything about the federal government. +p2199 +aVBecky \u2014 +p2200 +aV\u2014 the governor's absolutely right. But we also need to reform Medicare and Social Security. We can't just allow it to continue on its current path the way that Hillary Clinton wants to do because there'll be major reductions in benefits in the next decade if we do nothing. I have a concrete plan to do just that, which allows people to keep HSAs to encourage savings, it allows for people that are retiring with Social Security to be able to get a minimum of 125 percent of the poverty level so that there is a baseline that in this generous country of ours no one goes below. +p2201 +aVYou have to reform Social Security, and the simple way to do it is to make sure that the wealthiest don't receive the same benefits as people that are lower-income. And make sure you enhance savings in the private market. The idea of 401(k)s. I have a small business that I set up. It took \u2014 it took an arm and a leg to be able to set up a 401(k). Because of all the federal mandates and federal laws, it was too expensive. We need to incent private savings and make sure that Social Security is protected for those that have it. +p2202 +aVBut the idea that you can't \u2014 that you're just gonna grow your way out of this \u2014 I have a plan to grow the economy at 4 percent, but you're gonna have to make adjustments for both Medicare and Social Security. [ +p2203 +aVAmerica's at a crossroads. The D.C. politicians continue to make things worse. I have a proven record of success, 32 years in business, and 8 years as Governor of the state of Florida. I will change the culture in Washington, just as I changed the culture in Tallahassee. I will do so in a way that will bring people together. We need a unifier, not a cynical divider in chief, and that's exactly what I will do. Imagine a country where people are lifted out of poverty again. Imagine a country where the middle class can get rising income again. I know we can do this because we're still the most extraordinary country on the face of the Earth. +p2204 +aVI'm Jeb Bush, and I believe America's on the verge of its greatest century, and I'm ready to lead. I'm a committed, conservative reformer that cut taxes, that balanced budgets, that took on the special interest in Florida, and we won. I look forward to talking tonight about how we can fix a broken Washington D.C., and create an environment where people can rise up again in this great country. Thank you. +p2205 +aVI think the voters will make that determination. But what I know to be true is that the next president of the United States is going to have to fix an extraordinary difficult situation. This administration, with President Obama and Hillary Clinton, has created insecurity the likes of which we never would've imagined. There's not a place in the world where we're better off today than six and a half years ago. And that requires a steadiness. That requires an understanding of how the world works. That requires an understanding and appreciation of American leadership in the world. You can't just, you know, talk about this stuff and insult leaders around the world and expect a good result. You have to do this with a steady hand, and I believe I have those skills. +p2206 +aVNo. Absolutely not. People are supporting me because I have a proven record of conservative leadership where I cut taxes $19 billion over eight years. We shrunk the state government workforce, we created a climate that led the nation in job growth seven out of eight years. We were one of two states to go to AAA bond rating. People know that we need principle-centered leadership, a disrupter to go to Washington, D.C. The one guy that had some special interests that I know of that tried to get me to change my views on something \u2014 that was generous and gave me money \u2014 was Donald Trump. He wanted casino gambling in Florida \u2014 +p2207 +aVYes you did. +p2208 +aVYou wanted it and you didn't get it because I was opposed to \u2014 +p2209 +aV\u2014 casino gambling before \u2014 +p2210 +aVduring and after. And that's not \u2014 I'm not going to be bought by anybody. +p2211 +aVNo way. Believe me. +p2212 +aVNot even possible. +p2213 +aVYou've got, according to your \u2014 to what you said on one of the talk shows, you got Hillary Clinton to go to your wedding \u2014 +p2214 +aV\u2014 because you gave her money. Maybe it works for Hillary Clinton \u2014 +p2215 +aV\u2014 it doesn't work for anybody on this \u2014 on stage. +p2216 +aVBut the simple fact is \u2014 +p2217 +aVNo. The simple fact is, Donald, you could not take \u2014 +p2218 +aVI was asked the question. +p2219 +aVSo he supports Pelosi, he supports Schumer, he supports Clinton \u2014 +p2220 +aVWhen he \u2014 and he \u2014 when he asked \u2014 when he asked Florida to have casino gambling, we said no. +p2221 +aVWe said no. And that's the simple fact. The simple fact is \u2014 +p2222 +aVDon't cut me off. +p2223 +aVNo, I don't think so, but we need to be strong against China. We should use offensive tactics as it relates to cyber security, send a deterrent signal to China. There should be super sanctions in what President Obama has proposed. There's many other tools that we have without canceling a dinner. That's not going to change anything, but we can be much stronger as it relates to that. As it relates to Iran, it's not a strategy to tear up an agreement. A strategy would be how do we confront Iran? And, the first thing that we need to do is to establish our commitment to Israel which has been altered by this administration. And, make sure that they have the most sophisticated weapons to send a signal to Iran that we have Israel's back. If we do that, it's going to create a healthier deterrent effect than anything else I can think of. +p2224 +aVI don't think \u2014 you're not stating my views right. +p2225 +aVI think there needs to be accommodation for someone acting on faith. Religious conscience is \u2014 is \u2014 is a first freedom. It's \u2014 it's a powerful part of our \u2014 of our Bill of Rights. And, in a big, tolerant country, we should respect the rule of law, allow people in \u2014 in \u2014 in this country \u2014 I'm a \u2014 I was opposed to the decision, but we \u2014 you can't just say, "well, they \u2014 gays can't get married now." But this woman, there should be some accommodation for her conscience, just as there should be for people that are florists that don't want to participate in weddings, or bakers. A great country like us should find a way to have accommodations for people so that we can solve the problem in the right way. This should be solved at the local level... +p2226 +aVAnd so we do agree, Mike. +p2227 +aVWell, he's wrong on a lot of things, but on this he's wrong because I'm the most pro-life governor on this stage. I got to act on my core beliefs. It's part of who I am. Life is a gift from God. And from beginning end we need to respect it and err on the side of life. And so I defunded Planned Parenthood. We created a climate where parental notification took place. We were the only state to fund crisis pregnancy centers with state moneys. We were totally focused on this. And I would bring that kind of philosophy to Washington, D.C. So here is a solution to this. Title X of the HHS funding, there is something that was the "Reagan Rule." It was passed in 1988. And in that rule it was defined, and the courts approved this, that a Planned Parenthood, you couldn't separate the money between the actual abortion procedures, and there are 330,000 abortions that take place in this clinic, and their promotion of it. He interpreted it the right way, the courts ruled in his favor, and Planned Parenthood did not get funding during that time until President Clinton came in. When I'm elected president, we will restore that interpretation of Title X. And this deal will be finished. +p2228 +aVThere are 13,000 community-based organizations that provide health services to women, 13,000 in this country. I don't believe that Planned Parenthood should get a penny from the federal government. Those organizations should get funding, just as I increased funding when I was governor of the state. That's the way you do this is you improve the condition for people. And, Donald, when I was governor, we also increased the opportunities for women. Women's income grew three times faster than the national average when I was governor. +p2229 +aVWe improved \u2014 we improved \u2014 +p2230 +aV\u2014 we increased child support \u2014 we increased child support with a broken system by 90 percent. +p2231 +aVI have a proven record. I have a proven record. +p2232 +aVHe did, he did. You're proud of your family, just as I am. +p2233 +aVTo subject my wife into the middle of a raucous political conversation was completely inappropriate, and I hope you apologize for that, Donald. +p2234 +aVShe is. She's fantastic. +p2235 +aVShe is absolutely the love of my life, and she's right here... +p2236 +aVAnd why don't you apologize to her right now. +p2237 +aVYeah. +p2238 +aVSo, here's the deal. My wife is a Mexican-American. She's an American by choice. She loves this country as much as anybody in this room, and she wants a secure border. But she wants to embrace the traditional American values that make us special and make us unique. We're at a crossroads right now. Are we going to take the Reagan approach, the hopeful optimistic approach, the approach that says that, you come to our country legally, you pursue your dreams with a vengeance, you create opportunities for all of us? Or the Donald Trump approach? The approach that says that everything is bad, that everything is coming to an end. I... +p2239 +aVI'm on the Reagan side of this. +p2240 +aVLook, first of all, I wrote a book about this, three \u2014 four years ago, now. And I laid out a comprehensive, conservative approach for immigration reform. And it does require securing the border. No one disagrees with that. But to build a wall, and to deport people \u2014 half a million a month \u2014 would cost hundreds of billions of dollars, Donald. Hundreds of billions of dollars. It would destroy community life, it would tear families apart. And it would send a signal to the rest of the world that the United States values that are so important for our long-term success no longer matter in this country. +p2241 +aVWell, I've been speaking English here tonight, and I'll keep speaking English. But the simple fact is, if a high school kid asks me a question in Spanish, a school \u2014 by the way, a voucher program that was created under my watch, the largest voucher program in the country, where kids can go to a Christian school, and they ask me a question in Spanish, I'm going to show respect and answer that question in Spanish. Even though they do speak English, and even though they embrace American values. +p2242 +aVYeah. +p2243 +aVWell, first of all, Hugh, if you're looking at Republican advisers, you have to go to the last two administrations. That happened to be 41 and 43. So just by definition, if you're \u2014 and many of the people here that are seeking advice from the foreign policy experts in the Republican side, they \u2014 they served in my dad's administration, my brother's administration. Of course that's the case. But I'm my own man. I'm going to create a strategy that is based on the simple fact that the United States needs to lead the world. The first thing that we need to do is to stop the craziness of the sequester. Rebuild our military so that our \u2014 so that we don't deploy people over and over again without the necessary equipment to keep them safe, to send a signal to the world that we're serious. If we're going to lead the world, then we need to have the strongest military possible. We need to rebuild our counterintelligence and intelligence capabilities. We need to focus on the fact that the next president is going to start in 2017, not in 1990 \u2014 you know, 30 years ago, or when my brother started. The world is dramatically different. And I believe that we need to restore America's presence and leadership in the world. Name a country where our relationship is better today than it was the \u2014 the day that Barack Obama got elected president. Under Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama, we have seen a weakness that now creates huge problems for the next president of the United States. So I'll have a team that will be \u2014 that will be following the doctrine I set up, and it will be peace through strength. We're sitting here in this library, which is a wonderful place to talk about this, because that's exactly what happened in the 1980s, and the world was a lot safer because of... +p2244 +aVThe leadership of Ronald Reagan and my... +p2245 +aVSo you \u2014 the \u2014 the first chance... +p2246 +aVRight after me, and then I'll \u2014 I'll yield \u2014 yield the floor. What do you guys say in the Senate when you're talking and debating? +p2247 +aVHere's the facts: When Donald Trump talks about judgment, what was his position on who would've been the best negotiator to deal with Iran? It wasn't a Republican; it was Hillary Clinton. That's what you believe. I mean, the lack of judgment and the lack of understanding about how the world works is really dangerous in this kind of time that we're saying. So is that the judgment that you bring to the table, that Hillary Clinton... +p2248 +aV... is a great negotiator, that she could bring about a better deal on Iran? +p2249 +aVYou know what? As it relates to my brother, there's one thing I know for sure. He kept us safe. I don't know if you remember... ... Donald... ... you remember the \u2014 the rumble? You remember the fire fighter with his arms around it? He sent a clear signal that the United States would be strong and fight Islamic terrorism, and he did keep us safe. +p2250 +aVThat's \u2014 that's my brother. +p2251 +aVHere's the lessons of history: When we \u2014 we pull back, voids are created. We left Iraq. We should've had a \u2014 a forces agreement to stay there with a small force, and instead of that, we politically and militarily pulled back, and now we have the creation of +p2252 +aV... because of what President Obama's done by pulling back. +p2253 +aVWell, I'm surprised Senator Cruz would say that since he was as strong supporter of John Roberts at the time. I will talk about what I will do as it relates to appointing Supreme Court Justices. We need to make sure that we have justices that, with a proven experienced record of respect for upholding the constitution. That is what we need. We can't have \u2014 the history in recent past is appoint people that have no experience so that you can't get attacked. And, that makes it harder for people to have confidence that they won't veer off... +p2254 +aVJohn Roberts has made some really good decisions, for sure, but he did not have a proven, extensive record that would have made the clarity the important thing, and that's what we need to do. And, I'm willing to fight for those nominees to make sure that they get passed. You can't do it the politically expedient way anymore. This is the culture in Washington. You have to fight hard for these appointments. This is perhaps the most important thing that the next president will do. +p2255 +aVWell, first of all, he, as I said, supported John Roberts. He supported him, publicly. So, you can rewrite history, I guess, Ted, but the simple fact is that you supported him because he had all the criteria that you would have thought would have made a great justice. And, I think he is doing a good job. But, the simple fact is that going forward, what we need to do is to have someone that has a long standing set of rulings that consistently makes it clear that he is a focused, exclusively on upholding the Constitution of the United States so they won't try to use the bench as a means to which legislate. +p2256 +aVHe was talking about me. +p2257 +aVWell, I \u2014 I wanted to \u2014 be \u2014 make it easier for him. +p2258 +aVAnd I just did. +p2259 +aVSo, 40 years ago, I smoked marijuana, and I admit it. I'm sure that other people might have done it and may not want to say it in front of 25 million people. My mom's not happy that I just did. That's true. And here's the deal. Here's the deal. We have \u2014 we have a serious epidemic of drugs that goes way beyond marijuana. What goes on in Colorado, as far as I'm concerned, that should be a state decision. But if you look at the problem of drugs in this \u2014 in this society today, it's a serious problem. Rand, you know this because you're campaigning in New Hampshire like all of us, and you see the epidemic of heroin, the overdoses of heroin that's taking place. People's families are \u2014 are being torn apart. It is appropriate for the government to play a consistent role to be able to provide more treatment, more prevention \u2014 we're the state that has the most drug courts across every circuit in \u2014 in \u2014 in Florida, there are drug courts to give people a second chance. That's the best way to do this. +p2260 +aVNo, you're wrong \u2014 you're wrong about this. +p2261 +aVI don't want to put poor people in jail, Randy. +p2262 +aVHere's the deal. No, I did not oppose when the legislature passed the bill to deal with that very issue. That's the way to solve this problem. Medical marijuana on the ballot was opened up, there was a huge loophole, it was the first step to getting to a place. And as a citizen of Florida, I voted no. +p2263 +aVNot very far. I think we need to do this state by state. There are places that get this right, and we need to make sure that we protect the privacy laws. This is a complicated place. But I do think the natural impulse on the left \u2014 Hillary Clinton, immediately after one of these horrific violent acts took place, immediately said we need to have federal gun laws. President Obama almost reflexively always says the same thing. And the net result is, you're going to take away rights of \u2014 of law-abiding citizens, the 99.999 percent of the people that are law- abiding citizens. That's not the right approach to do it. In Florida, we have a background check. We have concealed-weapon permit holders, and in fact, there's 1,200,000 of them. We have a reduction in violent crime because we put people behind bars when they use a gun in the commission of the crime. That's the better approach. But we're living in a society today where despair kind of grows in isolation. +p2264 +aVI \u2014 I think there needs to be a hearing, but the fact is, we need to encourage that kind of involvement. That's \u2014 that's exactly what we need to do. +p2265 +aVI would go with Ronald Reagan's partner, Margaret Thatcher. Probably illegal, but what the heck? Since it's not going to happen. A strong leader is what we need in the White House, and she certainly was a strong leader that restored the United Kingdom into greatness. +p2266 +aVEver Ready, it's very high energy, Donald. +p2267 +aVSix million more people are living in poverty than the day that Barack Obama got elected president. Six million more people. The middle class has had declining income, workforce participation rates are lower than they were in 1977. For the first time in modern history, more businesses are failing than are being created. That is what the next president will have to deal with. And I believe we can reverse course by creating a strategy of high sustained economic growth, not the new normal of 2 percent that all the left says we just have to get used to, but a 4 percent growth strategy where we reform how we tax, fix the broken regulatory system, embrace the energy revolution in our midst, fix the immigration system so we can turn it into an economic driver, deal with the structural fiscal problems that exist because of our entitlement problems that will overwhelm and create way too much debt. If we grow at 4 percent, people are going to be lifted out of poverty. The great middle that defines our country will have a chance to be able to pursue their dreams as they see fit. That should be the great challenge and the great opportunity for the next president of the United States, to forge consensus to go back to a high-growth strategy. And then we'll be able to lead the world. Without a high-growth strategy, our country will never have the resources or the optimism to be able to lead the world, which the world desperately needs our leadership. +p2268 +aVAbsolutely, I do, and I'm gonna run hard, run with heart, and run to win. I'm gonna have to earn this. Maybe the barrier -- the bar's even higher for me. That's fine. I've got a record in Florida. I'm proud of my dad, and I'm certainly proud of my brother. In Florida, they called me Jeb, because I earned it. I cut taxes every year, totaling $19 billion. We were -- we had -- we balanced every budget. We went from $1 billion of reserves to $9 billion of reserves. We were one of two states that went to AAA bond rating. They keep -- they called me Veto Corleone. Because I vetoed 2,500 separate line-items in the budget. I am my own man. I governed as a conservative, and I govern effectively. And the net effect was, during my eight years, 1.3 million jobs were created. We left the state better off because I applied conservative principles in a purple state the right way, and people rose up. +p2269 +aVI do. I believe that the great majority of people coming here illegally have no other option. They want to provide for their family. But we need to control our border. It's not -- it's our responsibility to pick and choose who comes in. So I -- I've written a book about this and yet this week, I did come up with a comprehensive strategy that -- that really mirrored what we said in the book, which is that we need to deal with E-Verify, we need to deal with people that come with a legal visa and overstay. We need to be much more strategic on how we deal with border enforcement, border security. We need to eliminate the sanctuary cities in this country. It is ridiculous and tragic......that people are dying because of the fact that -- that local governments are not following the federal law. There's much to do. And I think rather than talking about this as a wedge issue, which Barack Obama has done now for six long years, the next president -- and I hope to be that president -- will fix this once and for all so that we can turn this into a driver for high sustained economic growth. And there should be a path to earned legal status... ...for those that are here. Not -- not amnesty, earned legal status, which means you pay a fine and do many things over an extended period of time. +p2270 +aV...I remember... +p2271 +aV...I remember, Megyn. +p2272 +aVKnowing what we know now, with faulty intelligence, and not having security be the first priority when -- when we invaded, it was a mistake. I wouldn't have gone in, however, for the people that did lose their lives, and the families that suffer because of it -- I know this full well because as governor of the state of Florida, I called every one of them. Every one of them that I could find to tell them that I was praying for them, that I cared about them, and it was really hard to do. And, every one of them said that their child did not die in vain, or their wife, of their husband did not die in vain. So, why it was difficult for me to do it was based on that. Here's the lesson that we should take from this, which relates to this whole subject. Barack Obama became president, and he abandoned Iraq. He left, and when he left Al Qaida was done for. +p2273 +aVNo, I don't. And I don't believe the federal government should be involved in the creation of standards directly or indirectly, the creation of curriculum or content. It is clearly a state responsibility. I'm for higher standards... ...measured in an intellectually honest way, with abundant school choice, ending social promotion. And I know how to do this because as governor of the state of Florida I created the first statewide voucher program in the country, the second statewide voucher program, in the country and the third statewide voucher program in the country. And we had rising student achievement across the board, because high standards, robust accountability, ending social promotion in third grade, real school choice across the board, challenging the teachers union and beating them is the way to go. And Florida's low income kids had the greatest gains inside the country. Our graduation rate improved by 50 percent. That's what I'm for. +p2274 +aVHe is definitely my friend. And I think the states ought to create these standards. And if states want to opt out of Common Core, fine. Just make sure your standards are high. Because today in America, a third of our kids, after we spend more per student than any country in the world other than a couple rounding errors, to be honest with you, 30 percent are college- and/or career-ready. If we are going to compete in this world we're in today, there is no possible way we can do it with lowering expectations and dumbing down everything. Children are going to suffer and families' hearts are going to be broken that their kids won't be able to get a job in the 21st Century. +p2275 +aVWe've done it 27 times since World War II. I think we need to lift our spirits and have high, lofty expectations for this great country of ours. The new normal of two percent that the left is saying you can't do anything about is so dangerous for our country. There's 6 million people living in poverty today, more than when Barack Obama got elected. 6.5 million people are working part-time, most of whom want to work full-time. We've created rules and taxes on top of every aspiration of people, and the net result is we're not growing fast, income's not growing. A four percent growth strategy means you fix a convoluted tax code. You get in and you change every aspect of regulations that are job killers. You get rid of Obamacare and replace it with something that doesn't suppress wages and kill jobs. You embrace the energy revolution in our country. This president and Hillary Clinton, who can't even say she's for the XL pipeline even after she's left? Give me a break. Of course we're for it. We should be for these things to create high sustained economic growth. And frankly, fixing our immigration system and turning it into an economic driver is part of this as well. We can do this. +p2276 +aVNone of which is true. +p2277 +aVNo. It's not true. But I have said that Mr. Trump's language is divisive. I want to win. I want one of these people here or the ones at 5:00, to be the next president of the United States. We're not going on win by doing what Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton do each and every day. Dividing the country. Saying, creating a grievance kind of environment. We're going to win when we unite people with a hopeful, optimistic message. I have that message because I was a governor of a state that saw people lifted up, because we had high sustained economic growth. Our economy grew at double the rate of the nation. We created 1.3 million jobs. We led the nation seven out of those eight years. We were only one of two states that went to AAA bond rating. I cut taxes, $19 billion. If you do that and apply conservative principles the right way, you create an environment where everybody rises up. That's how we're going to win. Campaigning in places to give people hope that their life is better because too many people are suffering today in America. +p2278 +aVHere's what I believe. I believe we're at the verge of the greatest time to be alive in this world. But Washington is holding us back. How we tax, how we regulate. We're not embracing the energy revolution in our midst, a broken immigration system that has been politicized rather than turning it into an economic driver. We're not protecting and preserving our entitlement system or reforming for the next generation. All these things languish while we have politicians in Washington using these as wedge issues. Here's my commitment to you, because I did it as Florida. We can fix these things. We can grow economically and restore America's leadership in the world, so that everybody has a chance to rise up. I humbly ask for your vote, whenever you're gonna get to vote, whenever the primary is. Thank you all very much. +p2279 +aVRight. +p2280 +aVNot on specific issues, not at all. I think the next president \u2014 if I'm president, I will appoint people \u2014 I'll nominate people that have a proven record in the judiciary. The problem in the past has been we have appointed people thinking you can get it through the Senate because they didn't have a record. And the problem is that sometimes we're surprised. The simple fact is the next president needs to appoint someone with a proven conservative record, similar to Justice Scalia, that is a lover of liberty, that believes in limited government, that consistently applied that kind of philosophy, that didn't try to legislator from the bench, that was respectful of the Constitution. And then fight and fight, and fight for that nomination to make sure that that nomination passes. Of course, the president, by the way, has every right to nominate Supreme Court justices. I'm an Article II guy in the Constitution. We're running for the president of the United States. We want a strong executive for sure. But in return for that, there should be a consensus orientation on that nomination, and there's no doubt in my mind that Barack Obama will not have a consensus pick when he submits that person to the Senate. +p2281 +aVYes. +p2282 +aVNo, it doesn't, and that's the problem. The lack of leadership in this country by Barack Obama, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, thinking that this is a policy that works, this policy of containment with +p2283 +aVThe very basic fact is that Vladimir Putin is not going to be an ally of the United States. The whole world knows this. It's a simple, basic fact. They're not taking out \u2014 they're not even attempting to take out +p2284 +aV... Let me finish... +p2285 +aV... This is ridiculous... +p2286 +aV... This is coming from a guy who gets his foreign policy from the shows. +p2287 +aV... This is a guy who thinks that Hillary Clinton is a great negotiator in Iran... +p2288 +aV... This is a man who insults his way to the nomination... +p2289 +aVI think it's my turn, isn't it? +p2290 +aVI've got about five or six... +p2291 +aVDo I get to do it five or six times or just once, responding to that? +p2292 +aVSo here's the deal. I'm sick and tired of Barack Obama blaming my brother for all of the problems that he has had. And, frankly, I could care less about the insults that Donald Trump gives to me. It's blood sport for him. He enjoys it. And I'm glad he's happy about it. But I am sick and tired... +p2293 +aVI am sick and tired of him going after my family. My dad is the greatest man alive in my mind. And while Donald Trump was building a reality TV show, my brother was building a security apparatus to keep us safe. And I'm proud of what he did. And he has had the gall to go after my brother. +p2294 +aVHe has had the gall to go after my mother. Hold on. Let me finish. He has had the gall to go after my mother. +p2295 +aVLook, I won the lottery when I was born 63 years ago, looked up, and I saw my mom. My mom is the strongest woman I know. +p2296 +aVThis is not about my family or his family. This is about the South Carolina families that need someone to be a commander in chief that can lead. I'm that person. +p2297 +aVCan I just... +p2298 +aVI'm not going to invite Donald Trump to the rally in Charleston on Monday afternoon when my brother is coming to speak. +p2299 +aVI'm rescinding the invitation. I thought you might want to come, but I guess not. +p2300 +aVI'd like \u2014 can I \u2014 can I... +p2301 +aVLook, I admire the fact that Governor Kasich is supporting spending more money on drug treatment and mental health. I think that's a high priority all across this country, but expanding Obamacare is what we're talking about, and Obamacare's expansion, even though the federal government is paying for the great majority of it, is creating further debt on the backs of our children and grandchildren. We should be fighting Obamacare, repealing Obamacare, replacing it with something totally different. When I was \u2014 as a private citizen, Florida was confronted with the choice. The governor was supportive of doing what John did. So was the Florida Senate. A committed speaker of the House asked me to go as a private citizen to make the case against the expansion. I did, and it wasn't expanded there, just as it wasn't expanded in South Carolina under Governor Haley. +p2302 +aVSouth Carolina \u2014 South Carolinians need to know this, because the Cato Institute, which grades governors based on their spending, rank him right at the bottom. +p2303 +aVAnd Governor Haley is ranked at the top. +p2304 +aVNo. He mentioned my name. +p2305 +aVLet me finish, though. No, no, no \u2014 hey, wait, wait, wait. Just hold, Major, hold, Major. Hold on, Major. +p2306 +aVSouth Carolinians want to make that, they elect the most conservative governor or candidate that can win. +p2307 +aVOf course not. It won't have an impact on hedge funds managers paying ordinary income. In fact, it's not just hedge fund people, but people that are doing \u2014 they're in the business of investing other people's money, getting capital gains treatment is not appropriate. They should be paying ordinary income. That's their business. They're grateful to be able to make a lot of money, I'm sure. And what we do is lower the rates. It's not the end of the world that private equity people and hedge fund folks that are, right now, getting capital gains treatment for the income they earn, pay ordinary income like everybody else in this room. That's not a problem at all. What we need to do is reform the tax code to simplify the rates, to shift power away from Washington, D.C. That's what I did as governor of the state of Florida, $19 billion dollars of tax cuts, and it stimulated seven out of the eight years. Florida led the nation in job growth. +p2308 +aVThank you. +p2309 +aVGreat question. I feel like I have to get into my inner Chris Christie, and point out that the reason why I should be president is listening to two senators talk about arcane amendments to bills that didn't pass. This is \u2014 this is the problem. We need a leader to fix this problem. And I have a detailed plan to do just that, including controlling the border, dealing with the visa over-stayers, making sure that we have a path to legal status, not to citizenship, for those that come out from the shadows and pay a fine, learn English, don't commit crimes, work and pay taxes. That is the better approach. +p2310 +aVThe great majority of people that come to this country come because they have no other choice. They want to come to provide for their families. That doesn't mean it's right. That doesn't mean it's right. We should pick who comes to our country. We should control our border. Coming here legally should be a lot easier than coming here illegally. But the motivation, they're not all rapists, as you-know-who said. They're not that. These are people that are coming to provide for their families. And we should show a little more respect for the fact that they're struggling. It doesn't mean we shouldn't be controlling the border. That's exactly what we should be doing. +p2311 +aV... So, you know......This is the standard operating procedure, to disparage me. That's fine... +p2312 +aV... But, if you want to talk about weakness, you want to talk about weakness? It's weak to disparage women. +p2313 +aVIt's weak to denigrate the disabled. And,it's really weak to call John McCain a loser because he was a... +p2314 +aV... That is outrageous. The guy's an American hero. +p2315 +aV... The simple fact is I've also laid out my plans on immigration... +p2316 +aV Just, for the record make sure my mother's listening, if she's watching the debate. I didn't say that I was going to moon somebody... +p2317 +aVSo, there \u2014 so, there is all sorts of intrigue about where I disagree with my brother, there would be one right there. You should not use eminent domain for private purposes. A baseball stadium or a parking lot for a limo... +p2318 +aVIt's very different. Transmission lines, pipe lines, bridges and highways. All of that is proper use of imminent domain. Not to take an elderly woman's home to build a parking lot so that high-rollers can come from New York City to build casinos in Atlantic City. +p2319 +aVMy name was mentioned twice. +p2320 +aVHe called me a liar. +p2321 +aVAlso, he talked about one of my heroes, Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan was a liberal maybe in the 1950s. He was a conservative reformed governor for eight years before he became president, and no one should suggest he made an evolution for political purposes. He was a conservative, and he didn't tear down people like Donald Trump is. He tore down the Berlin Wall. +p2322 +aVHe was a great guy. +p2323 +aVThat was me. +p2324 +aVYeah, well, I have got to respond to this. +p2325 +aVSounds like a good plan. +p2326 +aVOr you could ask me two questions, so I could get two minutes instead of one. +p2327 +aVI think the dysfunction in Washington is really dangerous, that's what I think. And we need a proven leader that has a record of solving problems, someone who doesn't cut and run; someone who could be a commander in chief to unite our country around common purposes; someone who doesn't disparage people. Someone that doesn't brag, for example, that he has been bankrupt four times and it was great, because he could use the legal system. Someone... +p2328 +aVWe need someone with a proven record to be able to forge consensus to solve problems. And right now, both Republicans and Democrats in Washington don't get it. People are struggling \u2014 63 percent of Americans can't make a $500 car payment. Most Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. And we need someone has a proven record of growing the economy, reforming the things that are broken. And I'm that person. +p2329 +aVYeah... +p2330 +aVYeah. +p2331 +aVHere we go. +p2332 +aVHere's the record. Here's the record. We led the nation in job growth seven out of eight years. When I left there was $9 billion of reserves, 35 percent of general revenue. No state came close to that. +p2333 +aVWhen I \u2014 during my time, we were one of the two states to go to AAA bond rating. We didn't go bankrupt like Trump did and call it success when people are laid off, when vendors don't get paid. That's not success. What we did was create an environment where people had a chance to have income. Personal income during my time went up by 4.4 percent. +p2334 +aVThe government grew by... +p2335 +aV... half of that. +p2336 +aVThank you all very much. The next president is going to be confronted with an unforeseen challenge. That's almost certain. It could be a pandemic, a major natural disaster or an attack on our country. The question for South Carolinians and Americans is who do you want to have sitting behind the big desk in the Oval Office? Because that's the question. It's not the things we're talking about today. It's the great challenge that may happen. I believe I will have a steady hand as commander in chief and president of the United States. I will unite this country around common purposes because I did it as governor of the state of Florida. When I was governor, we had eight hurricanes and four tropical storms in 16 months. Our state was on its back. We recovered far faster than what people thought because we led. We want to challenge rather than cutting and running. That's what we need in Washington, D.C. We need someone with a servant's heart that has a backbone, that isn't going to focus on polls and focus groups. The focus will be on the American people to keep them safe and secure. I ask for your vote next Saturday. +p2337 +aVChris, why don't you mention my name so I can get into this. +p2338 +aV... I appreciate that, I really do, thank you. +p2339 +aVWell, first of all he said the exact same thing about me, that I would make a great Vice Presidential nominee when Mitt Romney was considering. I said the same thing about Marco. I think we were both right at the time, and Mitt picked somebody else. So, let's move on to the 2016 race. Who has the leadership skills... ...who has the leadership skills to lead? And, I'm proud of the fact that I have 12 Medal of Honor recipients, over 30 admirals and generals that believe that I would be a steady hand as Commander in Chief. That I serve as Governor of the state of Florida where we cut taxes and reduced government. I took on very powerful interests, forged consensus, fought for my beliefs, implemented them and the state was better off. We had eight hurricanes and four tropical storms in 16 months. The whole state was turned upside down. It required a steady hand. Leadership. You learn this, you learn it by doing it. It's not something that you just go up, and on the job do it. It's not the same. Look, let's be clear. Marco Rubio is a gifted, gifted politician, and he may have the skills to be a President of the United States, but we've tried it the old way with Barack Obama, with soaring eloquence and we got \u2014 we didn't get a leader we got someone who wants to divide the country up. The next President......going to have to forge consensus to bring about a set of common purposes so that we can move forward again in this country... +p2340 +aV... this relates to strategic patience. +p2341 +aVThis relates to the strategic patience of the Obama administration. They come up with these great marketing terms, and what they do is they pull back, and voids are filled, and they're now filled by asymmetric threats of terror, as well as nation-states on the run. The next president of the United States is gonna have to get the United States back in the game, and if a preemptive strike is necessary to keep us safe, then we should do it. +p2342 +aVWell, first of all, it's interesting that that happened literally days when this hostage release took place in Iran. A day or two days afterwards, North Korea took a \u2014 held an American student hostage. I think it's when we send a signal of weakness, when we are negotiating to release people that committed crimes in our country for people that didn't commit crimes that are held hostage in Iran. We saw the shameful treatment of our sailors, that this creates weakness \u2014 sends a signal of weakness around the world. The next president of the United States is going to have to get back in the game. Where the United States' word matters. Where we back up our allies, where we don't send signals of weakness. We need to use every \u2014 every influence possible to get this student back. And I think John is right about this, there are crippling sanctions that are available, as it relates to the two or three banks that North Korea uses to \u2014 to \u2014 use it \u2014 illicit trade. We ought to re-establish sanctions, not just because of the student, but because of their actions that they're taking right now, as it relates to building this missile capability. +p2343 +aVGood evening. HAM: Mr. Trump. +p2344 +aVThe difference \u2014 the difference between eminent domain for public purpose \u2014 as Donald said, roads and infrastructure, pipelines and all that \u2014 that's for public purpose. But what Donald Trump did was use eminent domain to try to take the property of an elderly woman on the strip in Atlantic City. That is not public purpose, that is down right wrong. And here's the problem with that. The problem was, it was to tear down \u2014 it was to tear down \u2014 it was to tear down the house... +p2345 +aVAnd the net result was \u2014 you tried. +p2346 +aVAnd you lost in the court. +p2347 +aVThat is not true. And the simple fact is to turn this into a limousine parking lot for his casinos is a not public use. And in Florida, based on what we did, we made that impossible. It is part of our Constitution. That's the better approach. That is the conservative approach. +p2348 +aVHow tough it is to take away property from an elderly woman? +p2349 +aVHow tough it is to take away a property from an elderly woman? +p2350 +aVI consider it a public use. +p2351 +aVIt's a public use. It's a public use. +p2352 +aVIt's a public use. +p2353 +aVYeah. +p2354 +aVIt's a public use. +p2355 +aVEstablished by the courts \u2014 federal, state courts. +p2356 +aVI would like to see more millionaires. I think we need to grow more millionaires, we need create a prosperity society where people can rise up. This notion that somehow we're undertaxed as a nation is just fool hearty, when we have entitlements growing far faster than our ability to pay for it. A conservative, because that's the point of this, believes in limited government, believes in a entrepreneurial capitalism and a strong national defense. But it also has to be, we need to reform things. In my town hall meetings, I went to a place where a woman described her neighbor, who has a better economic deal by not working than her struggling to make ends meet. We need to be on the side of working people. And you know, the problem with the left is, another tax, another regulation, another mandate makes it harder for them to rise up. Everything that we should do should be focused on high, sustained economic growth, where the middle class gets a raise for the first time, and where people are rewarded for work, rather than non-work. And I know how to do this. And if people are interested in the specifics of this, they ought to go to jeb2016.com. +p2357 +aVMartha \u2014 Martha, if I... +p2358 +aVI would. And I would do it in concert, again, with our Arab allies and with Europe, most particularly in this case. This is the lesson learned: in history, if you bomb something and not do anything as it relates to deal with the aftermath of this, if you don't have a stable government, you get what we have in Libya. And this is not \u2014 leading from behind is not an effective policy. We have to lead. Without the United States, nothing seems to work. Europe doesn't have the ability to \u2014 to \u2014 to lead \u2014 forward lead in this regard. And so dealing with the caliphate is important, because it now has spawned other areas. There have been 70-plus attacks in 17 countries, either inspired by +p2359 +aVMartha and David, I just... +p2360 +aVMartha and David... +p2361 +aVNo, no, I wouldn't. No, I wouldn't. And it was used sparingly, Congress has changed the laws and I \u2014 and I think where we stand is the appropriate place. But what we need to do is to make sure that we expand our intelligence capabilities. The idea that we're going to solve this fight with predator drones, killing people somehow is a \u2014 is more acceptable than capturing them, securing the information. This is why closing Guantanamo is a complete disaster. What we need to do is make sure that we are kept safe......by having intelligence capabilities, both human and technological intelligence capabilities far superior than what we have today. That's how you get a more safe place is by making sure that we're fully engaged. And right now, this administration doesn't do that. +p2362 +aVThis is a \u2014 this is an important subject. I agree with everything that's been said here about repealing unconstitutional rules and rules that are creating real burdens for investing that creating jobs. But we also ought to get back to being a Tenth Amendment country, as well, a country that respects the states to be able to make more decisions. And in the Bush administration, we would shift transportation dollars back to the states. I trust Kasich and Christie to build the roads and the infrastructure of their states than Washington, D.C. EPA delegated authority, back to the states. Education dollars, back to the states. I would like to see reform take place all across the country, where there's more vouchers, more freedom. If we did that, we would shrink government's power in Washington, D.C. and we would have a much more effective government, where people would begin to trust our government again, because now, no one believes it works. +p2363 +aVYou mentioned me. He mentioned me. One other thing that I think we ought to do, along with repealing Obamacare, we need to shift all of this power of healthcare, which is the most egregious form of federal power that is suppressing wages and incomes, and allow governors to have the Medicaid plans so that they can create 21st century Medicaid insurance for people that are stuck in poverty. There's so much that can be done, but I don't trust Washington to do it. I trust the state capitals to be the place \u2014 to be the source of innovation and reform in this country. HAM: Thank you, governors. Martha and David, back to you. +p2364 +aVI didn't mention him the second time. +p2365 +aV... Say it again? +p2366 +aV... I do, and I do think that we should not impose any kind of political agenda on the military. There should be \u2014 if women can meet the requirements, the minimum requirements for combat service they ought to have the right to do it. For sure. It ought to be focused on the morale as well. We got to make sure that we have readiness much higher than we do today. We need to eliminate the sequester which is devastating our military. We can't be focusing on the political side of this, we need to realize that our military force is how we project our word in the world. When we're weak militarily it doesn't matter what we say. We can talk about red lines, and +p2367 +aV... Why would they worry about it... +p2368 +aV... Well, the Draft's not going to be reinstituted, but why \u2014 if women are accessing... +p2369 +aVNo. I didn't say that. You \u2014 you asked a question not about the draft, you asked about registering. And if women are going to be... +p2370 +aVIf \u2014 but... +p2371 +aV... we don't have a draft. I'm not suggesting we have a draft. What I'm suggesting is that we ought to have readiness being the first priority of our military, and secondly, that we make sure that the morale is high. And right now, neither one of those are acceptable because we've been gutting the military budget. We also need to reform our procurement process. We need to make sure there are more men and women in uniform than people \u2014 than civilians in our Defense Department. There's a lot of things that we need to reform to bring our defense capabilities into the 21st century and I'm the guy that could do that. That's why I have the support of generals, of admirals, of 12 Medal of Honor recipients and many other people that know that I would be a steady commander-in-chief and rebuild our military. +p2372 +aVI totally agree that we need to give veterans more choices. A veterans card to be able to go to a private provider will enhance the quality of the service inside the Department of Veterans Affairs. We need career civil service reform. Only three people were fired after waiting lists were dropped where veterans didn't get care and people died. It is outrageous. And Hillary Clinton says that that's acceptable? Because she is captive of the public service uniforms. Career civil service reform would allow the next president to fire people that are \u2014 that are showing sheer incompetence. At a town hall meeting today, someone came \u2014 told a story of their father who looked like he was 85. He had \u2014 he got a bill eight years later from an operation he had, eight years it took. They couldn't resolve the dispute and then he was told that he died. Literally, the Veterans Administration sent a death certificate to this guy and it took nine months to clarify the guy \u2014 I met him. He's voting for me. And he is \u2014 likely to be alive. This is \u2014 this is outrageous. It is completely outrageous. So, giving veterans more choices, creating centers of excellence, focusing on the true problems that exist. Dr. Carson is completely right. We need to start focusing on this earlier, before they become veterans so that there's a customized plan so people don't fall through the cracks. We can do this, but it's going to require someone who has proven leadership skills to make it happen. +p2373 +aVLook, I'm pro-life. In fact, on this stage, I'm the most pro-life person because I've acted on it for eight years as governor of the state of Florida. Where we abolished partial-birth abortion, where parents have the right to be notified when their teenage child is having an abortion. We were the first state to do a choose life license plate to raise money for adoption. We were the first state to have state monies go to crisis pregnancy centers, which recently was just increased to $4 million a year. We created greater regulation on abortion clinics, where there were horrific procedures. So I'm pro life, but I believe there should be exceptions: rape, incest and when the life of the mother is in danger. And so, that belief, and my consistency on this, makes me, I think, poised to be in the right place, the sweet spot for a Republican nominee. And others may have a different view and I respect it. +p2374 +aVPeyton Manning is supporting me. And I'm for Denver. +p2375 +aVI want to thank the people of New Hampshire, and I want to celebrate the birthday of a great president, Ronald Reagan would have been 105 today. President Reagan believed in the future of our country, believed in its greatness, had a hopeful, optimistic message. Drew people towards our cause. We need someone who has a proven record to take our case to the American people because our philosophy is by far the best one. Limited government, entrepreneurial capitalism, of peace through strength. I believe I have the skills to take our party to victory in November. I ask for your support on Tuesday to keep America, and make America a safer, stronger, and freer. Thank you all very much. +p2376 +aVBret, we're just starting. The first vote hasn't been counted. Why don't we let the process work. I trust Iowans, Granite staters, people in South Carolina, people in Nevada, to start this process out. I kind of miss Donald Trump. He was a little teddy bear to me. We always had such a loving relationship in these debates and in between and the tweets. I kind of miss him. I wish he was here. Everybody else was in the witness protection program when I went after him on behalf of what the Republican cause should be: conservative principles, believing in limited government, believing in accountability. Leading by fixing the things that are broken. Look, I am in the establishment because my dad, the greatest man alive was president of the United States and my brother, who I adore as well as fantastic brother was president. Fine, I'll take it. I guess I'm part of the establishment Barbara Bush is my mom. I'll take that, too. But this election is not about our pedigree, this is an election about people that are really hurting. We need a leader that will fix things and have a proven record to do it. And we need someone who will take on Hillary Clinton in November. Someone who has a proven record, who has been tested, who is totally transparent. I released 34 years of tax returns... ... and 300,000 e-mails in my government record. To get the information from Hillary Clinton, you need to get a subpoena from the FBI. +p2377 +aVNo, you weren't. Your name wasn't mentioned, Ted. +p2378 +aV... Chris, keep it coming... +p2379 +aV... Thank you Chris... +p2380 +aVWell, first, I was critical of the Senators not giving the authorization for the use of military force. They should have made it more open ended for the next president. We shouldn't have the war fighters have their arms tied behind their back as President Obama wanted to do, but they had a chance to show support and it wasn't popular at the time. It became popular after the attack in Paris, and San Bernardino. Now we hear the tough talk. Prior to that, in the Reagan Library, I gave a detailed plan. Exactly what to do as it relates to +p2381 +aVOf course. And there's all sorts of ways that can be done at the state, local and federal level to do that. But the first duty of the next president of the United States is to fix the mess at the Department of Veterans Affairs. That's his first responsibility. Look, we have waiting lists for veterans that are \u2014 that are leaving because of the sequester where we're gutting the military. More and more military personnel are leaving becoming veterans, and the waiting list grows. They've given out $140 million of bonuses to Veterans Department employees, including reducing the waiting lists, without giving veterans care. People died, and only three people have been fired. I will make sure that we fire the sheer incompetence inside the Department of Veterans Affairs and then we'll give veterans a choice card so that they don't have to travel hours and hours to get care if they want to go to their private provider. You want to make the Veterans Administration do a better job, give them \u2014 give veterans choices and you'll get a much better result. And as it relates to all the other organizations, let me give you a good example. In Houston, Texas, there's an organization in place because someone acted on their heart, wanted to make sure that there's no homeless veterans in Houston. And they've come pretty close to that without federal government assistance. We need to mobilize the entire country to treat our veterans and treat them with much more respect than they get today. +p2382 +aVNo, they shouldn't. And I believe that Puerto Rico ought to have the right of self-determination. If I was a Puerto Rican, I'd vote for statehood so that they have full citizenship. They serve in the military. They would have to pay federal taxes. They would \u2014 they would accept the responsibilities of full U.S. citizenship. But they should have the right of determine \u2014 self-determination. Before you get to that, though, Puerto Rico is going to have to deal with the structural problems they face. You know, it's \u2014 it's a fact that if you can pay for a $79 one-way ticket to Orlando, and you can escape the challenges of a declining economy and high crime rates, you move to Orlando. And a lot of people are doing that. And the spiraling out-of- control requires Puerto Rico to make structural reforms. The federal government can play a role in allowing them to do that, but they should not \u2014 the process of statehood or the status of Puerto Rico won't be solved until we get to the bigger issue of how you deal with the structural economic problems they're facing right now. +p2383 +aVWell, I'm kind of confused because he was the sponsor of the Gang of Eight bill that did require a bunch of thresholds but ultimately allowed for citizenship over an extended period of time. I mean, that's a fact. And he asked me to support that. And I \u2014 I supported him because I think people, when you're elected, you need to do things. And he led the charge to finally fix this immigration problem that has existed now for, as Marco says, for 30 years. And then he cut and run because it wasn't popular amongst conservatives, I guess. Here's what I believe. And I wrote a book about this called Immigration Wars. You can get it at $2.99 on Amazon. It's not a bestseller. I can promise you. There won't be any \u2014 you can get it. It's affordable for everybody. We should have a path to legal status for the 12 million people that are here illegally. It means, come out from the shadows, pay a fine, earn legal status by working, by paying taxes, learning English. Not committing crimes and earn legal status where you're not cutting in front of the line for people that are patiently waiting outside. I think that is the \u2014 I think that's the conservative consensus pragmatic approach to how to solve this problem. +p2384 +aVSo did you. +p2385 +aVYeah. So did you, Marco. +p2386 +aVMarco, Marco \u2014 he brought up my name. I have supported a consensus approach to solving this problem wherever it came up. and in 2007 it almost passed when my brother was president of the United States. A bipartisan approach got close. Barack Obama actually had the poison pill to stop it then. And when you led the charge with the Gang of Eight, I supported it because you asked me to. I think it's important for people in elected office to try to forge consensus to solve problems. There's never going do be perfect bill. +p2387 +aVBut when you didn't do that and you ask people to support, you shouldn't cut and run. +p2388 +aVYou should stick with it and that's exactly what happened. He cut and run. And that's a tragedy because now... ... it's harder and harder to actually solve this problem. +p2389 +aVCan I \u2014 can I \u2014 I just... +p2390 +aVThat beautiful young woman who's an entrepreneur who served in the military, first of all, is deserving of our respect for service in the military and the fact that she's an entrepreneur. And we should be a welcoming nation. Our identity is not based on race or ethnicity, it's based on a set of shared values. That's American citizenship. And Dulce Candy \u2014 a pretty cool name, actually \u2014 that is now an entrepreneur over Youtube is part of that American spirit, and we should celebrate it as conservatives. That's what we believe in. You can \u2014 you can deal with the threat of terror and also recognize that this country should be aspirational across the board. +p2391 +aVWell, first of all, I've seen polls where I'm beating Hillary Clinton pretty regularly. And I believe I can, because I have a proven record, a record of accomplishment, a record of cutting taxes, of shrinking the government, of reforming education, of challenging the status quo, eliminating career civil service protections, shrinking the government workforce by 11 percent, but leading the nation in job growth. That's the record of accomplishment that should be taken to Hillary Clinton, who has no record of accomplishment. So I'm confident if I win this nomination, I will aggressively go against her and beat her. As it relates to the super PACs, I have no control over that. And this is beanbag compared to what the Clinton hit machine is going to do to the Republican nominee. The simple fact is, we all have a record. It all will be scrutinized. There's give and take. It's called the politics. And that's the way it is. I'm running hard and I believe I'll be the Republican nominee and I'll be the one best suited to beat Hillary Clinton, who should not be president of the United States. +p2392 +aVWell first of all, I think it's important that when we're running for the highest office in the land that we recognize that we're living in dangerous times and we have to be serious about it, that our words have consequences. Donald Trump, for example \u2014 I'm glad \u2014 I mentioned his name again just if anybody was missing him... ... Mr. Trump believed that in reaction to people's fears that we should ban all Muslims. Well, that creates an environment that's toxic in our own country. Nobela is a rising entrepreneur. She wants to pursue the American dream. She's an American citizen. She should not feel uncomfortable about her citizenship. She's not the threat. The threat is Islamic terrorism. We need to focus our energies there, not these broad, blanket, kind of statements that will make it harder for us to deal with +p2393 +aVWe desperately need a conservative leader as president of the United States. I have a proven record as governor of the state of Florida, as a conservative leader. And I also have detailed plans to fix the mess in Washington, D.C. As president I will restore and rebuild our military, restore the alliances and keep us safe. And as our party's nominee, I will defeat Hillary Clinton in November. I ask for your support on the caucuses come Monday night and I will make you proud as our party's nominee. Thank you very much. +p2394 +asVFRANTA +p2395 +(lp2396 +VHi, I'm Connor Franta, I'm 23 and my audience is around the same age. Getting my generation to vote should be a priority for any presidential candidate. Now I know Senator Sanders is pretty popular among my peers, but what I want to know is, how are all of you planning on engaging us further in this election? +p2397 +asVWALKER +p2398 +(lp2399 +VGood evening, I'm Scott Walker, and tonight, I want to thank and Mrs. Reagan, and the Reagan Library for hosting us. You see, in my lifetime, the greatest president was a governor from California. Ronald Reagan knew how to go big, and go bold. He understood the essence of moving this country forward, and that's what I did when I took on the status quo in my state, and the Washington based special interest. Now, more than ever, America needs a leader who will go big and bold again. Someone who's been tested. I'm ready to be that leader. Thank you. +p2400 +aVBut Jake, Jake, Jake, Jake... +p2401 +aVBut Jake, this \u2014 this is \u2014 this... +p2402 +aVJake, this is \u2014 this is \u2014 this is... +p2403 +aVThis is actually what's wrong \u2014 this is what's wrong with this debate. We're not talking about real issues. And Mr. Trump, we don't need an apprentice in the White House. We don't need an apprentice in the White House. We have one right now. He told us all the things we wanted to hear back in 2008. We don't know who you are or where you're going. We need someone who can actually get the job done. And you talked about business. +p2404 +aVYou \u2014 you \u2014 let me finish... +p2405 +aVNo, no... +p2406 +aVYou're using the talking... +p2407 +aVMr. Trump, you're using the talking points of the Democrats... +p2408 +aV... and as we all know... +p2409 +aV... that failed three times in four and a half years when I got elected, because it is working. We balanced a budget. You want to talk about balanced budgets? You took four major projects into bankruptcy over and over and over again. You can't take America into bankruptcy. That's what's wrong with the politicians in Washington right now. They think we can take a country into bankruptcy. +p2410 +aVJake, yeah, absolutely, I'll take this on, because this is an issue that's important in this race. Just because he says it doesn't make it true. The facts are the facts. We balanced a $3.6 billion budget deficit, we did it by cutting taxes \u2014 $4.7 billion to help working families, family farmers, small business owners and senior citizens. And it's about time people in America stand up and take note of this. If you want someone that can actually take on the special interest of Washington, which you yourself said you were part of, using the system, we need somebody that will stand up and fight for average Americans to put them back in charge of their government. I'm the one who is taking that on. I'll do that as your next president. +p2411 +aVTwo parts to that, one on China, one back for a second on Iran. When it comes to China, why would we be giving an official state visit to a country that's been involved in a massive cyber attack against the United States? That's not just a visit, that's a 21 gun salute on the South Lawn of the White House. It just doesn't make any sense. If we're ever going to send a message to them, wouldn't this be the time, when they've issued this, sort of, massive attack against us? And, Jake, for the question, I was one of the first ones to call for terminating the bad deal with Iran on day one. The President came after me and said I need to bone up. You know, the President who called +p2412 +aVJake, just one more moment. This is \u2014 there's something bigger to this. Now, I \u2014 like so many other governors here, I defunded Planned Parenthood four-and-a-half years ago, in a Blue State. But it's bigger than that. We did that in a Blue State, we took the money and put it into women's health, so we did exactly what we're talking about here. But I think the bigger issue here is we should be able to do this nationally, and this is precisely why so many Republicans are upset with Washington. They see the House and they see the Senate and they say why can't we pass this. Why can't we defund Planned \u2014 put it in a spending bill. Forget about the 60-vote rule, there's no reason \u2014 and the Constitution doesn't call for 60 votes. Pass it with 51 votes, put it on the desk of the president \u2014 +p2413 +aV\u2014 and go forward and actually make a point. This is why \u2014 +p2414 +aV\u2014 people are upset with Washington. +p2415 +aVSo, the best way to help people see their wages go up is to get them the education, the skill they need, to take on careers that pay more than minimum wage. And, it's why we talk about it, it's all about jobs. You want to help actually get jobs, it's why on that last question we were trying to jump in on taxes. To me, it's not just about taxes, cutting taxes. I've done it as much as anyone has. I've cut income taxes, I've cut property taxes. In fact, property taxes are lower today in my state than they were before we took office. The real issues about jobs. Ronald Reagan, our plan is based on the Ronald Reagan tax cuts of 1986. That brought about one of the longest sustained periods of economic growth in American history. All the things we should be talking about tonight are about how do we create jobs, helping people get the skills and the education qualifications they need to succeed. That's the way you help people create jobs. It's part of our large plan to reform the tax code, to cut taxes, to put in place an education system that gives people the skills and education that they need. To put in place all the above energy policy, but you start on day one with repealing Obamacare. I'm the only one on this stage that's actually got a plan, introduced an actual plan to repeal Obamacare on day one. I'll send a bill up to Congress, and to make sure enact it... +p2416 +aV...I'm going to sign an order that makes the Congress live by the same rules as everybody else. +p2417 +aV...That will ensure they repeal Obamacare... +p2418 +aV...Jake, Jake, Jake, I just want to address that issue because you said I didn't answer, and I did. I said, to me, I think the real focus shouldn't be \u2014 you know, Hillary Clinton talks about the minimum wage. That's her answer to grow the economy. The answer is to give people the skills and the education so they make far more than minimum wage. I don't want to argue about how low things are going to be, I want to talk about how do we lift everyone up in America. That's what Reagan talked about. It wasn't how bad things were, it was how to make it better for everyone. That's what we've done in Wisconsin, that's exactly what we'd do as... +p2419 +aV... the key issue here is talking about leadership. Now, there's a lot of greater people up here, and you've heard a lot of great ideas out there. But I would ask the American people, look at who's been tested. When there were 100,000 protesters in my capital, I didn't back down, when they issued death threats against me and threats against my family, I didn't back down, when they tried to recall me, I didn't back down, and when they made me the \u2014 one of their number-one targets last year, I didn't back down. Give me the chance to be your president. +p2420 +aVI won't back down... +p2421 +aV... on any of these issues. +p2422 +aVTo be clear, what I said the other day was that we need to lift the political restrictions that are already in play. Barack Obama's administration has put political restrictions on the military personnel already in Iraq. We need to lift those and then we need to listen to our military experts, not the political forces in the White House, but our military experts about how many more we sent in. And we certainly shouldn't have a commander-in-chief who sends a message to our adversaries as to how far we're going to go, and how far we're willing to fight, so I'm not putting a troop number. What I'm saying is lift the political restrictions. When you do that, you empower our military personnel already there to work with the Kurd and the Sunni allies, to reclaim the territory taken by +p2423 +aV... a lot of those people, though, and I'm going to echo what Senator Rubio just said. This is an issue where, we're talking about my state, it's thousands of manufacturing jobs. Thousands of manufacturing jobs for a rule the Obama administration, own EPA has said will have a marginal impact on climate change. So we're going to put thousands and thousands of jobs in my state, I think it's something like 30,000 in Ohio, other states across this country, we're going to put people \u2014 manufacturing jobs, the kind of jobs that are far greater than minimum wage, this administration is willing to put at risk for something its own EPA says is marginal (ph)... +p2424 +aVFirst of all, I got to say to Carson, Huckabee, thanks a lot for making the rest of us look like chumps up here, but, I'd pick Clara Barton. I once worked for the American Red Cross, she was a great founder of the Red Cross. +p2425 +aVHarley. I love riding Harley's. +p2426 +aVWell, I turned 13 years old two days before Ronald Reagan was first elected. A lot of people forget this, but just a few days before that election 1980, he was behind in the polls. And I think what changed things was people in America realized they didn't want to hear what was bad about America, they wanted to know how it was going to be better. Ronald Reagan wasn't just a conservative Republican, he was an eternal optimist in the American people. And I am too. So here's what I think will make America better. We need to live in a world where our children are free, are free from the threats of radical Islamic terrorism. We need to live in an America where we have an economy, where everyone can live their piece of the American dream, no matter what that dream is. And we need to live in an America where we have a federal government that is not too big to fail, but ultimately small enough to succeed, where we send powers back to the states and back to the people. That's what I did in Wisconsin. We took on the big government union bosses, the big government special interests, many of whom came in from Washington, to spend millions of dollars to try and take me out because we stood up to them, we didn't back down in any of those instances. If you give me the chance as your next president, I won't back down any day, anyway, anyhow. I'll fight and win for you and your families every single day I'm in office. +p2427 +aVWell, I'm pro-life, I've always been pro-life, and I've got a position that I think is consistent with many Americans out there in that... ...in that I believe that that is an unborn child that's in need of protection out there, and I've said many a time that that unborn child can be protected, and there are many other alternatives that can also protect the life of that mother. That's been consistently proven. Unlike Hillary Clinton, who has a radical position in terms of support for Planned Parenthood, I defunded Planned Parenthood more than four years ago, long before any of these videos came out... ...I've got a position that's in line with everyday America. +p2428 +aVChris, I actually said that on your show earlier this year. I acknowledged that. I said I actually listened to the American people. And I think people across America want a leader who's actually going to listen to them. I talked to border state governors and other elected officials. I look at how this president, particularly through last November, messed up the immigration system in this country. Most importantly, I listened to the people of America. I believe we need to secure the border. I've been to the border with Governor Abbott in Texas and others, seeing the problems that they have there. There is international criminal organizations penetrating our southern based borders, and we need to do something about it. Secure the border, enforce the law, no amnesty, and go forward with the legal immigration system that gives priority to American working families and wages. +p2429 +aVI don't know about additional ones. We need to focus on the ones we have. You look at Egypt, probably the best relationship we've had in Israel, at least in my lifetime, incredibly important. You look at the Saudis -- in fact, earlier this year, I met with Saudi leaders, and leaders from the United Arab Emirates, and I asked them what's the greatest challenge in the world today? Set aside the Iran deal. They said it's the disengagement of America. We are leading from behind under the Obama-Clinton doctrine -- America's a great country. We need to stand up and start leading again, and we need to have allies, not just in Israel, but throughout the Persian Gulf. +p2430 +aVJust one second on this, though. We -- we spent a lot of time talking about Hillary Clinton and ---and pitting us back and forth. Let's be clear, we should be talking about Hillary Clinton on that last subject, because everywhere in the world that Hillary Clinton touched is more messed up today than before she and the president . +p2431 +aVIt's true. +p2432 +aVWell, the voters in Wisconsin elected me last year for the third time because they wanted someone who aimed high, not aimed low. Before I came in, the unemployment rate was over eight percent. It's now down to 4.6 percent. We've more than made up for the jobs that were lost during the recession. And the rate in which people are working is almost five points higher than it is nationally. You know, people like Hillary Clinton think you grow the economy by growing Washington. One report last year showed that six of the top 10 wealthiest counties in America were in or around Washington, D.C.. I think most of us in America understand that people, not the government creates jobs. And one of the best things we can do is get the government out of the way, repeal Obamacare, put in -- reign in all the out of control regulations, put in place an all of the above energy policy, give people the education, the skills that the need to succeed, and lower the tax rate and reform the tax code. That's what I'll do as president, just like I did in Wisconsin. +p2433 +aVWell, first off, let's remember. I still remember, as a kid, tying a yellow ribbon around a tree in front of my house during the 444 days that Iran held 52 Americans hostage. Iran is not a place we should be doing business with. To me, you terminate the deal on day one, you reinstate the sanctions authorized by Congress, you go to Congress and put in place even more crippling sanctions in place, and then you convince our allies to do the same. This is not just bad with Iran, this is bad with +p2434 +aVWell, I think the most important thing we can do when it comes to policing -- it's something you've had a guest on who's a friend of mine Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clark, who's talked to me about this many times in the past -- it's about training. It's about making sure that law enforcement professionals, not only in the way in to their positions but all the way through their time, have the proper training, particularly when it comes to the use of force. And that we protect and stand up and support those men and women who are doing their jobs in law enforcement. And for the very few that don't, that there are consequences to show that we treat everyone the same here in America. +p2435 +aVWell first off, for the cyber attack with Russia the other day, it's sad to think right now, but probably the Russian and Chinese government know more about Hillary Clinton's e-mail server than do the members of the United States Congress. And -- and that has put our national security at risk. If I am president, he won't think about that. You know, Putin believes in the old Lenin adage: you probe with bayonets. When you find mush, you push. When you find steel, you stop. Under Obama and Clinton, we found a lot of mush over the last two years. We need to have a national security that puts steel in front of our enemies. I would send weapons to Ukraine. I would work with +p2436 +aVWell, thanks, Megyn. I'm certainly an imperfect man. And it's only by the blood of Jesus Christ that I've been redeemed from my sins. So I know that God doesn't call me to do a specific thing, God hasn't given me a list, a Ten Commandments, if you will, of things to act on the first day. What God calls us to do is follow his will. And ultimately that's what I'm going to try to do. And I hope people've seen it in my state, even in the big challenges I took on when I had over 100,000 protesters in and around our capital, trying to do what I thought was the right thing. It wasn't just how I took on those political battles. It was ultimately how I acted. Not responding in kind. Not lashing out. But just being decent going forward and living my life in a way that would be a testimony to him and our faith. +p2437 +aVThanks. I'm guy with a wife and two kids, and Harley. One article called me "aggressively normal." I ran for governor because I was worried about my kids' future. Then, I took on the big government union bosses, and we won. They tried to recall me, and we won. They target us again, and we won. We balanced the budget, cut taxes, and turned our state around with big, bold reforms. It wasn't too late for Wisconsin, and it's not too late for America. That's why I ask for your vote. +p2438 +asVMALE +p2439 +(lp2440 +VThat's a good one. +p2441 +aV +p2442 +asVMITCHELL +p2443 +(lp2444 +VThank you, Lester. Secretary Clinton, Senator Sanders favors what he calls "Medicare for all." Now, you said that what he is proposing would tear up Obamacare and replace it. Secretary Clinton, is it fair to say to say that Bernie Sanders wants to kill Obamacare? +p2445 +aVSenator Sanders? +p2446 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor Sanders... +p2447 +aVSenator Sanders, let me ask you this, though... +p2448 +aV... you've talked about Medicare for all... +p2449 +aV.. and tonight you've released a very detailed plan, just two... +p2450 +aV... well, two hours before the debate, you did. +p2451 +aVBut let me ask you about Vermont. Because in Vermont \u2014 you tried in the state of Vermont, and Vermont walked away from this kind of idea, of \u2014 of Medicare for all, single-payer, because they concluded it would require major tax increases... +p2452 +aV... and by some estimates, it would double the budget. If you couldn't sell it in Vermont, Senator... +p2453 +aV... how can you sell it to the country? +p2454 +aVSenator Sanders \u2014 Senator Sanders, you've talked a lot about things you want to do. You want free education for everyone, you want the Federal Minimum Wage raised to $15 an hour. You want to expand Social Security... +p2455 +aV... benefits. You've been specific about what you want, but let's talk about how to pay for all this. You now said that you would raise taxes today, two hours or so ago, you said you would raise taxes to pay for your health care plan. You haven't been specific about how to pay for the other things... +p2456 +aV... Will you tell us tonight? +p2457 +aV... OK... O' +p2458 +aV... Secretary Clinton, you mentioned earlier \u2014 Secretary Clinton, do you want to respond? +p2459 +aVOK, we're out of time. Senator Sanders, +p2460 +aVSenator Sanders... +p2461 +aV... Senator Sanders, let me ask you a question about taxes. +p2462 +aVThe most googled political issue... +p2463 +aVIn the last month was taxes. Now, in your healthcare plan, the plan you released tonight, you would not only raise taxes on the wealthy, but the details you released indicate you would raise taxes on the middle class also. Is that correct? +p2464 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, let me just follow up on that. +p2465 +aVOn Meet the Press on December 20th, you said that you would only raise taxes on the middle class to pay for family leave. And, having said that, now you say you're going to raise middle class taxes to pay for healthcare as well. Is that breaking your word? +p2466 +aVThank you Lester. Senator Sanders, the nuclear deal is now enforced. Iran is getting it's billions of dollars, several Americans who have been held are now going to be heading home. The president said today, "it's a good day. It's a good day for diplomacy. It's a time now to restore diplomatic relations for the first time since 1979 and actually re- opened a U.S. Embassy in Tehran." +p2467 +aVYour response Secretary Clinton? +p2468 +aVYou mentioned Syria. Let me ask you about Syria, all of you. Let's turn to Syria and the civil war that has been raging there. Are there any circumstances in which you could see deploying significant numbers of ground forces in Syria, not just specials forces but significant ground forces to combat +p2469 +aVSenator Sanders, ground forces yes or no? +p2470 +aVGovernor O'Malley? +p2471 +aVGovernor O'Malley. O' +p2472 +aVI have a question. I have a question for Senator Sanders. Did the policies of the Obama administration, in which Secretary Clinton of course was a part, create a vacuum in Iraq and Syria that helped +p2473 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to talk to you about red lines, because former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in a recent interview that President Obama's decision to stand down on planned missile strikes against Damascus after Assad had used chemical weapons hurt the president's credibility. Should the president have stuck to his red line once he drew it? +p2474 +aVBut should he \u2014 should he have stuck to his... +p2475 +aV... line? Did it hurt U.S. credibility? +p2476 +aVYour time is up. +p2477 +aVSenator.... +p2478 +aVYou're out of time. +p2479 +aVSenator Sanders. +p2480 +aVYour time is us. Lester. +p2481 +aVJust a \u2014 just a quick follow-up, though, Secretary Clinton. Just a moment, Governor. O' +p2482 +aVBut \u2014 but \u2014 Secretary Clinton, you said that the leaders from the intelligence community went to Silicon Valley, they were flatly turned down. They got nowhere. +p2483 +aVSenator Sanders, let me ask you a question. You called Bill Clinton's past transgressions, quote, "totally, totally, totally disgraceful and unacceptable." Senator, do you regret saying that? +p2484 +aV...too long. O' +p2485 +asVGARRETT +p2486 +(lp2487 +VSenator Cruz. John mentioned this is about dollars and incentives. We also want to talk about economic growth engagements. You have proposed a consumption tax, you called it the "back tax." Some analysts compare it more to an attributed "value-added tax." From the perspective from economic growth in building wages, how does that work, and how would you address those longstanding conservative concerns that something approaching the "value-added tax" would be used to constantly increase those rates to pay for future government spending and become an escalator of taxation, not of growth? +p2488 +aVNow, the question \u2014 conservatives have sort of this idea conceptually for a long time, but especially on this consumption value-added tax system. In Europe, where it exists, it has become an escalator of taxation to feed government spending, and that's why conservatives have long resisted it. Why and what would you do as president to make sure that doesn't happen? +p2489 +aVGovernor Bush, a question for you \u2014 but if you want to jump in, please. +p2490 +aVJump in, and then I've got a question for you. +p2491 +aVReal quickly, jump in, because I have got a question for Governor Bush, but jump in. +p2492 +aVUnderstood, Governor Kasich. +p2493 +aVYeah, Governor Bush, fine. +p2494 +aVLet me get in a question from... +p2495 +aVI understand, I understand. +p2496 +aVI have a question on economic growth, Governor Bush. +p2497 +aVA , Governor. +p2498 +aVI know, understood. Governor Bush. +p2499 +aVGovernor Bush, from the perspective, economic growth \u2014 viewed from this perspective of economic growth, you have proposed a tax on hedge fund managers. The Americans for Tax Reform, a conservative tax group you're probably aware of, has said no Republican should be for higher taxes on capital gains. And many conservatives wonder if this proposal of yours would undermine not only that philosophy, but undercut your projection of 4 percent economic growth annually under your presidency? +p2500 +aV... Dr. Carson... +p2501 +aVSenator Rubio... For the purposes of the lines \u2014 lines you would draw legislatively as a president on immigration reform, define amnesty. +p2502 +aVVery quickly, Senator Cruz. +p2503 +aVGovernor Bush, I want to bring this out to a little wider philosophical aspect, if you will. +p2504 +aVYou have said illegal immigrants, quote, "broke the law, but it's not a felony," still quoting you, "it's an act of love, it's an act of commitment to your family." Mr. Trump has, as you are well aware, denounced that statement over and over. Do you still believe it? What does that mean to you? And how does that inform your approach to immigration reform? +p2505 +aVFundamentally, do you believe this rhetoric is insufficiently compassionate to this issue? +p2506 +aVMr. Trump... +p2507 +aV... Governor Kasich, here in South Carolina earlier this week, you said the idea, the concept of deporting 11 million undocumented workers... +p2508 +aV... We will leave the moon metaphors to be adjudicated later, I assure you. Governor Kasich, you said earlier this week in South Carolina, the concept, the idea of deporting 11 million undocumented workers in this country is nuts. Why is it you are so opposed to that idea? Senator Cruz has said it's a simple application of existing law. The application of that is not inhumane, it is just. Why do you disagree? +p2509 +aV... What are you for on immigration? +p2510 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 Mr. Trump. I was with you in Pendleton, South Carolina, earlier this week at the Rodeo Arena. It was a bit chilly there. You promised the crowd, and they rose to their feet, that if Ford or a company like were to move a factory to Mexico, you would try to stop it or threaten them with a 35 percent tax or tariff on every car sold. +p2511 +aVRight. So my question is, based on your understanding of the presidency, where do you derive that power? Would you need the consent of Congress to go along? And do you see the presidency as a perch from which you can cajole and/or threaten private industry to do something you think is better for the U.S. economy? +p2512 +aVThank you, governor. +p2513 +asVHEWITT +p2514 +(lp2515 +VSenator Cruz, you've said you disagree with Mr. Trump's policy. I don't want a cage match; you've tweeted you don't want a cage match. But Republican primary voters deserve to know, with the kind of specificity and responsiveness you delivered in your nine Supreme Court arguments, how you disagree with Mr. Trump. Would you spell that out with us? +p2516 +aVSo you're saying you disagree because he's too broad and you have a narrower focus? Why do you disagree with him? +p2517 +aVCarly Fiorina... ... this is the Christmas dinner debate. This will be the debate that Americans talk about at Christmas. And thus far, in the first 10 minutes, we haven't heard a lot about Ronald Reagan's city on a hill. We've heard a lot about keeping Americans out or keeping Americans safe and everyone else out. Is this what you want the party to stand for? +p2518 +aVDr. Carson...... you mentioned in your opening remarks that you're a pediatric neurologist surgeon... +p2519 +aVNeurosurgeon. And people admire and respect and are inspired by your life story, your kindness, your evangelical core support. We're talking about ruthless things tonight \u2014 carpet bombing, toughness, war. And people wonder, could you do that? Could you order air strikes that would kill innocent children by not the scores, but the hundreds and the thousands? Could you wage war as a commander-in-chief? +p2520 +aVSo you are OK with the deaths of thousands of innocent children and civilian? It's like... +p2521 +aVThat is what war \u2014 can you be as ruthless as Churchill was in prosecuting the war against the Nazis? +p2522 +aVMr. Trump, we are talking about the most important thing, that's why it's heated. And it's, you are OK with Mr. Assad staying in power, but you are also in favor of winning. If he stays in power, Iran is winning, Hezbollah is winning. Iran is winning in Yemen. They are winning everywhere. If they are winning how can we be winning? +p2523 +aVGovernor Christie, is he right? Because if we step back, Iran goes nuclear. Is Donald Trump right? +p2524 +aVSenator Paul, let me ask you, you heard Governor Kasich say Assad must go. Do you agree? +p2525 +aVGovernor Bush, a commander-in-chief question. You've said that Mr. Trump is not qualified to be president because he's not qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin. Why are you better qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin than Mr. Trump? +p2526 +aVMr. Trump? +p2527 +aVBut, Mr. Trump, it's not CNN \u2014 I was on CNN last night... +p2528 +aV... watching... +p2529 +aVBut it wasn't \u2014 it wasn't CNN. It was me. I watched you last night for 16 minutes. It's not CNN. +p2530 +aVIt's not CNN. It's America's watching you. +p2531 +aVIt's America's watching. +p2532 +aVGovernor \u2014 thank you, Governor. +p2533 +aVDr. Carson, commander-in-chief question again. You've been the head of neurosurgery for a big hospital. You're on a lot of boards of a lot of companies. You've traveled the world. You're going traveling again next week. But does that prepare you to command troops from Djibouti to Japan, troops from Afghanistan to Iraq to be in charge of the men and women watching on Armed Services Network tonight? +p2534 +aVMr. Trump...... Dr. Carson just referenced the single most important job of the president, the command, the control and the care of our nuclear forces. And he mentioned the triad. The B-52s are older than I am. The missiles are old. The submarines are aging out. It's an executive order. It's a commander-in-chief decision. What's your priority among our nuclear triad? +p2535 +aVOf the three legs of the triad, though, do you have a priority? I want to go to Senator Rubio after that and ask him. +p2536 +aVSenator Rubio, do you have a response? +p2537 +aVMy listeners tell me again and again they are worried that Hillary Clinton will win the White House because you'll run as an independent. Are you ready to assure Republicans tonight that you will run as a Republican and abide by the decision of the Republicans? +p2538 +aVDr. Carson, last week... +p2539 +aVPlease. +p2540 +aVDr. Carson, Mr. Trump just committed to stay the distance regardless of the result. How about you? +p2541 +aVThank you, Jake. Mr. Trump, two years ago, President Obama drew a red line that the Syrian dictator Bashar Assad crossed, President Obama threatened to strike. He did not, his knees buckled. We now have 4 million refugees, Syria is a living hell, and he turned to the Congress for the authority to back him up. You have three senators to your right that said, no. Do they bear responsibility for this refugee crisis, and what would you have done when Bashar Assad crossed the line? +p2542 +aVHow much responsibility, Mr. Trump, do the senators hold? +p2543 +aVSenator Rubio... +p2544 +aVSenator Paul? +p2545 +aVI'd like to talk about winning because I think all of you are more qualified than former Secretary of State Clinton, and as were the people in the first debate, but there are different styles, and Carly Fiorina, Governor Kasich, you're conveniently located next to each other, and you have different styles. Governor Kasich, you've been on my show a lot. You refused to attack Hillary Clinton, you just don't want to go there, you want to do the up with people. Go, Ohio, OK, and I like that. Carly Fiorina, I don't have to bring up the Secretary of State \u2014 you bring her up, so . Which one of you is wrong? Governor Kasich? +p2546 +aVGovernor. +p2547 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2548 +aVCarly Fiorina, your style? +p2549 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Christie, your name was mentioned. I want to give you a chance to respond. +p2550 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2551 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. There is a lot more coming up. Ahead, a world of trouble. The challenges that one of these candidates may face in the Oval Office, and how he or she will handle it. Stay with us. +p2552 +aVOh, you're the best interview in America. +p2553 +aV... makes an interesting case (ph) here (ph). +p2554 +aVThank you, Jake. I've done a lot of great interviews with all of you, but, Governor Bush, I talked to you in February about the biggest elephant in a room full of elephants, which is your last name. And you said you would not be burdened either by your brother or your father's legacy in the Middle East. And then, a week later, you rolled out your list of foreign policy advisers, and it was a lot of the band getting back together again. So on behalf of the military that is watching... +p2555 +aV...OK, the active duty military that are at the end of the sphere (ph), what kind of a commander in chief is Jeb Bush going to be, and who are the advisers that are new to your team? +p2556 +aVMr. \u2014 Mr. Trump. +p2557 +aVI want to ask you a question, though, you promised us great leaders. And I believe that. But Jeb Bush has laid out 20 different people that have experience around the world. There are 190 countries, you can't run the world by yourself. When are we going to get some names on your military and your foreign policy advisers? +p2558 +aVThank you, Jake. Tomorrow is \u2014 Republicans know this \u2014 tomorrow is Constitution Day. We've been talking about the 10th Amendment. Let's talk about the Second Amendment. Governor Bush, one of the things the Supreme Court has gotten right is that it's an individual right and it's protected for individuals to hold it. Last week, you said the next step in gun issues is to make sure they're not in the hands of mentally ill. In this state, there's a controversial law that allows guns to be taken away from people without a hearing. Where does it go \u2014 and the problem of violence is endemic, but where does it go from what you said last week, how far into people's lives to take guns away from them? +p2559 +aVIf a family member calls and says, "My child, my brother, my sister is disturbed," ought the state be able to go and get their weapon without a hearing? +p2560 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2561 +aVSenator Cruz, I want to go to you. Your constitutional litigant (ph), are you afraid of the next- step theory of what happens to Second Amendment rights? +p2562 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2563 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2564 +aVThank you, senator. +p2565 +aVWait, let's pursue that in fact Governor Pataki? +p2566 +aVYou called for following and finding those Imams who are preaching violence in mosques. How exactly would you do that and what Mosques would you shut down? How extensive of a surveillance program are you proposing? +p2567 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p2568 +aVGovernor Huckabee... ...As Governor Pataki noted earlier, we have a history of religious intoleration in this country. About the American Muslims who would be subject to this kind of surveillance, does it violate their First Amendment rights? +p2569 +aVSenator Santorum... ...I want to start then, not on the First Amendment, but on the Second Amendment. There is a terror watchlist. You can legally purchase a gun in the United States if you're on that watchlist. Your old colleague, Peter King in the House, wants to change that law. Do you agree with him? +p2570 +aVGovernor... +p2571 +aVGovernor, back to you. Your response? +p2572 +aVSenator Graham, are you trying to get in? +p2573 +aVThank you, Wolf. Governor Huckabee, ten minutes ago you blasted President Obama for destabilizing Iraq. You hit former Secretary of State Clinton for supporting the Muslim brotherhood in Egypt. But you have said recently you would sanction countries that don't join the fight aggressively against +p2574 +aVWhich country? +p2575 +aVWhich countries are those, governor, that you would sanction? +p2576 +aVThat's an easy, give. Are you going to sanction any of our allies who say, no this isn't our fight we're gonna let you do this. Are you going to leave our allies alone? For example, Indonesia and Malaysia \u2014 other Muslim countries \u2014 will you leave them alone? +p2577 +aVSenator Graham, I just named two Islamic countries... ...Senator Graham, I just named two Islamic countries that are allies that he suggested we sanction. Is that the appropriate approach to this war? +p2578 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you... +p2579 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you, the opposite of getting into bed is shooting down the prince's plane. Senator Santorum has \u2014 Senator Graham has said he would shoot down Russian planes bombing Syrian fighters on our side. Would you shoot down a Russian plane bombing American allied fighters in Syria? +p2580 +aVWhat \u2014 if they fly into it, would you shoot it down? +p2581 +aVThe consequences would be war with Russia. Would you risk... +p2582 +aVSenator Graham, do you agree? +p2583 +aVOK, we know you agree, Senator Graham. How about you, Governor Pataki, would you shoot down Russian planes? +p2584 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you... +p2585 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you, the opposite of getting into bed is shooting down the prince's plane. Senator Santorum has \u2014 Senator Graham has said he would shoot down Russian planes bombing Syrian fighters on our side. Would you shoot down a Russian plane bombing American allied fighters in Syria? +p2586 +aVWhat \u2014 if they fly into it, would you shoot it down? +p2587 +aVThe consequences would be war with Russia. Would you risk... +p2588 +aVSenator Graham, do you agree? +p2589 +aVOK, we know you agree, Senator Graham. How about you, Governor Pataki, would you shoot down Russian planes? +p2590 +aVSenator Graham, in 2013 you were part of the leadership that pushed through immigration reform, comprehensive immigration reform in the Senate of the United States. It died in the House. Many accused you of amnesty, and may have undermined your ability to get your message out on the war. Would you sign that bill again today? Would you \u2014 sponsor that bill again today? +p2591 +aVBut, Senator, I misunderstand, did you... +p2592 +aVSenator Santorum, is that sufficient for you? +p2593 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2594 +aVYep. Governor Huckabee, you have said that children of immigrants who came here illegally should not be punished by their parents actions. As president, would you continue President Obama's policy, vis-a-vis, the Dreamers? +p2595 +aVSenator... +p2596 +aVSenator Santorum, you... ...Your position on that policy, assuming that it was passed constitutionally, would you allow this, would you support such an act? +p2597 +aVThank you, Jake. Governor, you signed the pledge to support the Republican nominee and you promptly broke it. By doing so, by Tweeting out that you would not support Donald Trump, have you released Donald Trump to be a free agent again or anyone else in the field? +p2598 +aVGovernor... +p2599 +aV-- you said on Twitter that you would not support Donald Trump. If he's the nominee... +p2600 +aV-- will you support him? +p2601 +aVWould you really vote for Hillary Clinton... +p2602 +aV-- or vote for Donald Trump if he's the nominee? +p2603 +aVGovernor Jindal, Senator Graham just said it's all about winning and, in fact, if former Secretary of State Clinton is the successor to President Obama, none of this matters and all this conversation is beside the point. In the Washington elite, they have a habit of saying nice things about each other until election time. Senator Graham has praised Secretary of State Clinton as a great choice to be the secretary of state, as a national treasure. Can anyone from inside of Washington win this election cycle, having praised Secretary of State Clinton that way? +p2604 +aVSenator Graham, took a shot at there and you're having a good debate but there is this problem of Washington elites and saying wonderful things about each other. +p2605 +aVIs that responsive to calling Hillary Clinton a national treasure, Senator? +p2606 +aVBut Senator, can you go back and forth that way, and expect to have an argument with the American people to persuade them about that? +p2607 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2608 +aVThank you, senator. +p2609 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2610 +aVLet's talk about the economy, if We could. Governor Pataki. +p2611 +aVJeb Bush and Donald Trump are both proposing raising taxes on hedge fund managers who pay at a lower rate. Governor Pataki, you were the governor of New York, home of Wall Street. Do you agree that hedge fund managers need to be paying a higher rate? +p2612 +aVSo you are with Jeb Bush and Donald Trump on the hedge fund? +p2613 +aVGovernor Jindal -- Governor Jindal, that's three Republicans running for president who support hedge fund managers paying a higher rate. Are you the fourth? +p2614 +aVLet's stay on the topic of taxes. +p2615 +aVI want to bring in my colleague, Dana Bash. +p2616 +aVThere are other ways, Governor, than bombing Iran. I want to quote Rick Santorum. "We should send a very clear message that If you are a scientist and you're going to work on a nuclear program to develop a bomb for Iran, you are not safe." Does that message work? Is anything that works on the table? +p2617 +aVSenator Santorum, stay on that: any means necessary? Is that what you meant to say? Is that what's still on this table after this, what many of us believe is a catastrophic deal? +p2618 +asVJINDAL +p2619 +(lp2620 +V...Thank you. +p2621 +aVA couple of things. In Louisiana, we're actually a top 10 state for job growth. As we sit here today, we have more people working in Louisiana than ever before, earning a higher income than ever before. We've had 60 months in a row of consecutive job growth in our state. So the reality is, we have diversified our economy. Yes, I've got an interview plan that says all of the above, that creates good manufacturing jobs in America. We've also got one of the fastest growing IT sectors by percentage. We are growing Louisiana's economy. But let me get to the point that is, I think, the most important issue here tonight. You're going to have several hours of debate on the economy and we're going to have a great discussion about energy plans and tax rates. And that's all great. The most important thing we have to do, we have a fundamental choice to make, folks. Are we willing to cut the government economy so we can grow the American economy? That is the most fundamental question we've got to answer. We are on the path to socialism right now. These are mutually exclusive. The hour is late, but it is not too late for America. Though under President Obama, you asked about his economy. We've got record dependents, a record number of Americans on food stamps, record low participation rate in the work force. This is a fundamental choice. Sending a big government Republican to DC is not enough to fix this problem. It's not enough just to beat Hillary Clinton. We've got to change the direction of our country. What that means is let's shrink the government, not slow its growth rate, but actually shrink the government so we can grow the American economy. That is the fundamental issue we should be debating here tonight. +p2622 +aVNo, I think right now there's not much difference between the two parties. The reason we keep losing nationally is we try to be cheaper versions of the Democratic party. What if the Republicans, what if Republicans actually embraced our own principles? So I earlier said if you want bigger paychecks, you want more jobs, you want less government dependence, you're going to have to cut government spending. Here's the dirty little secret. You're going to hear a lot of Republicans tonight in this debate and the next one talk about cutting government spending. It's going to sound great. There's only one of us that's actually cut government spending. Not two, there's one, and you're looking at him. We've got four senators running. They've never cut anything in D.C. They give these long speeches called filibusters, they pat themselves on the back, nothing changes. When they go to relieve themselves their cause and the toilet get flushed at the same time, and the American people lose. We've got a bunch of governors running, we've got seven current former governors running. I'm the only one that has cut government spending. Everybody else can talk about it. If they haven't done it in their state capitals, what makes them thank that \u2014 what makes us think they'll do it if we send them to D.C. Look, when politicians talk, we need to look at what they have done, not what they have said. Otherwise, it's a bunch of hot air. We've cut our budget 26 percent. Record number of Louisianans working. If Republicans want to win national elections, let's be conservatives, let's be Republicans, let's not be a second version of the liberal party, let's cut government spending and grow the American economy. +p2623 +aVWait, wait, wait. I want to respond. He has criticized something I said. I want to respond to that. Mike, with all due respect, I admire your social views, I share many of those views, your record as Governor tells a different story. Was \u2014 your time as Governor spending in Arkansas went up 65 percent, number of state workers went up 20 percent, the taxes for the average citizen went up 47 percent. That's not a record of cutting. I'm saying we've actually cut. We reduced the size of our budget. So wanting to cut is one thing, actually cutting is a different thing. Facts don't lie. +p2624 +aVI was absolutely a skeptic of giving this president more power. He negotiated a bad deal with Iran. He breaks the law routinely. I don't know why Congress would want to concede more authority to him. Look, this trade deal is 6,000 pages long. Unlike ObamaCare, I think we should read it before we decide whether we would vote for it or not vote for it. I am for trade deals, but I want to make sure they are fair trade deals. I want to come back to something that Chris had said earlier. Look, I absolutely agree we've got to beat Hillary Clinton. But just sending any Republican is not good enough. We've had a Republican majority in the Senate and the House. What has changed? If we send another big government Republican to the White House, we will not do enough to fix what is wrong in this country. Chris, I think records matter. I think the way we govern matter. Under your leadership in New Jersey, your budget has gone up 15 percent. It's gone down 26 percent in Louisiana. It has gone up $5 million in New Jersey. It's gone down $9 billion in Louisiana. In New Jersey, you've had nine credit downgrades, setting a record. We've had eight credit upgrades in Louisiana. My point is this. If politicians say they're going to be conservative, they say they're going to cut spending but they don't do it, why should we send them to DC? It gets harder, not easier, when we send them to DC. Let's not be a second liberal party. Let's actually cut government spending. Let's grow the American economy. Let's not just beat Hillary, let's elect a conservative to the White House, not just any Republican. +p2625 +aVBut wait a minute, records matter. Records \u2014 records matter. Yes, we've got to... +p2626 +aV\u2014 beat Hillary Clinton. But Chris, it's also true that you expanded food stamps at a time that we've got record numbers of Americans on food stamps. It's also true you caved into ObamaCare. You expanded Medicaid. We've got a choice in front of us. This is an important debate. This is not about comparing Louisiana to New Jersey or Bobby to Chris. This is an important debate for the American people. This is supposed to be an economics debate. Let's have a debate. Do we want to grow government or do we want to grow the American economy? Do we want to grow dependence on government, or do we want to grow good paying jobs in the private sector... +p2627 +aV...you don't grow the economy by putting more people on food stamps, more people in Medicaid, you grow the economy by cutting government, cutting spending. That's what we've done in Louisiana, you haven't done that in New Jersey... +p2628 +aV...We need a conservative, not a big government republican in D.C. +p2629 +aV...This is how we.... +p2630 +aV...This is how we move our country forward, look, this is not about between me and Chris... +p2631 +aV...This is about......are we going to be the party... +p2632 +aVWell, look, only one other opponent, actually, one other candidate, actually, has a plan. That's Jeb Bush, and he creates a new entitlement program. My plan actually gets rid of all of Obamacare, it's great that Senator Cruz will shut down the government over Obamacare, but he still hasn't given us his plan to get rid of it. It's great that other republicans talk about getting rid of it. You go to a town hall in Iowa, or New Hampshire, ask them how they're actually going to get rid of it \u2014 my plan has been online for over a year. It gets rid of all of Obamacare, it reduces the cost. It actually puts Americans, their patients, their doctors back in control. And, it actually helps those that really need this help \u2014 but, this is one of the most critical issues we face domestically. I think I \u2014 look, right now, I think I am the only candidate running that refused to expand Medicaid. I'm the only one that turned down \u2014 that did what we could to fight Obamacare. This is an important point, and, look, I appreciate Chris's nice compliments to me. And, Chris, you look to me very well, I love Mary-pat, but this isn't about me and Chris. This is about the country, and this is about what direction \u2014 this is the most important election in our lifetimes. Folks, a couple of years ago they told us give them the republican majorities in the House and the Senate, they'd stop Obamacare, and amnesty, and the bad Iran deal \u2014 nothing changed. If they fooled us once, shame on them. If they fooled us twice, shame on us. Don't let them fool us again. Chris, look, I'll give you your ribbon for participation, and a juicebox, but in the real world, it's about results......but, in the real world it's about results. It's about actually cutting government spending, not just talking about cutting government spending. +p2633 +aVWe can waste our time. And I think this is why people were so frustrated with the last debate with these kinds of silly questions. We've only got a certain amount of time to talk about the economy. Let me use my time to say this. I want to fire everybody in D.C. in both parties. I think they all \u2014 we need term limits, get rid of them all, make them live under the same rules they passed on the rest of us. +p2634 +aVSo under our tax plan, look, the top rate is 25 percent, 10 percent, 2 percent. That 2 percent is the most important. I think everybody should pay something. I think everybody should have skin in the game. We shouldn't be creating one group of Americans that's dependent on government, another group that's paying taxes. I want to come back to an earlier point though, that Chris said. Look, we all agree Hillary Clinton is bad. We all agree we need to beat her. But let's not pretend that out-of-control government spending is only a Democratic issue. This is a bipartisan issue, and just sending another big government Republican to D.C. is not good enough. We need to actually cut government spending. We need to cut \u2014 and we're not going to do it just by sending any Republican. I'm glad he's vetoed taxes. The Tax Foundation graded New Jersey the 50th worst business climate due to taxes, high taxes in the state of New Jersey. +p2635 +aVWell, a couple of reasons. Look, we know big companies don't pay those taxes today. They hire lobbyists and accountants and lawyers. It's the small businesses that get hit. I want to get rid of the corporate tax, I want to bring the jobs and investment back to America. Make the CEOs pay the same rates as everybody else. Get rid of all the corporate welfare as well. Like I said, make everybody pay something, earned success is so much better than unearned success. And let's actually shrink the size of government. My plan purposely does that. Look, we can talk all night about tax plans, energy plans, I think you will find a lot of agreement among all the Republicans. We all want to get rid of the death tax, the marriage penalty. We all want lower, fewer brackets. We want to downsize, take away power from the IRS. What we really need to be talking about is this, these last seven years, we've had more government spending, more government dependence. Poverty has gone up. Inequality has gone up. Only the top 10 percent have seen their incomes go up \u2014 their median incomes go up. We actually have more inequality thanks to what we have seen, the largest most expensive experiment in progressive government. We can't keep spending money we don't have. And the reality is, the last couple of years it hasn't mattered whether Republicans or Democrats were in control. We keep stealing from our children. That is immoral. It is wrong. And we're creating more government dependence. If we really want to grow the economy, yes, you need a rational energy plan, and you've got to rein in the EPA, and you've got to repeal Obamacare, and you've got to cut taxes. But none of that will be enough if we're not serious about cutting government spending. We cannot afford to elect a big- government Republican. We need somebody. This is the most important election. Hillary Clinton is gift-wrapping this election to us. Let's not waste this opportunity to apply conservative principles and cut the size of government. +p2636 +aVWell, a couple things, first, I want to echo what others have said and thank those veterans that run towards danger, not away from it, so we can live in the greatest country in the history of the world. I think every veteran should get that card, and they should be allowed to get that health care wherever they want in the private sector. But, I also think \u2014 or the public sector, I also think we need to fire some of the V.A. bureaucrats. Somebody should go to jail over these scandals, and it is a crime that it has not happened. When it comes \u2014 when it comes to uniting the American people, one of the things we've done to honor our veterans in Louisiana, we've given thousands \u2014 and I've hand delivered these, to veterans \u2014 medals to veterans to thank them for their service. I'll just give you one quick example, I know my time is out, but, we've had Vietnam war veterans with tears in their eyes saying nobody has ever thanked them before. We've had World War II veterans, children, who said they never heard the stories of their parents heroic sacrifice. Whatever conflict, whenever they served, one of the things we can do is to teach our children we do live in the greatest country in the history of the world. We got a president who doesn't believe in American exceptionalism, but we still do, and it's because of those men and women in uniform. We should thank them everyday, not just veterans day. +p2637 +aVYou know, I have spent a lot of time tonight talking about the need to cut the size of government. The reason I'm doing that \u2014 it's not just about balancing the budget, or balancing a bunch of numbers. Because I believe in the American dream. I think President Obama's done a lot of damage to our country. I think that one of the worst things he has done is try to change the idea of America to be one of dependence. There are a lot of politicians that talk about cutting government spending, I'm the only one that's actually done it that's running for President. The rest of them, it's a lot of hot air. If you want your paychecks to go up, if you want more good paying jobs, if you want the government out of your lives, we've got to cut the size of government. It's not enough just to elect any republican, we've seen that. We've got to elect a republican that will take on the establishment in both parties. I'm asking for your support. Thank you. +p2638 +aVI think the reason voters are so frustrated is nothing seems to change in D.C. Look, over the next several hours, you're going to hear several Republicans all tell you they want to shrink the size of government and grow the American economy and it sounds great and we've got to do it. Here's the truth \u2014 of all these folks talking, I'm the only one that has cut the size of government. There's not two of us, there's one of us. The rest of it is all just hot air. When politicians talk, we need to pay attention to what they do, not what they say. I'm the only one that's reduced the size of government. Let's shrink the government economy. Let's grow the American economy. +p2639 +aVWell, look, I think that's a false choice. I think this is a very bad deal. Whenever they tell us in D.C. they're going to cut tomorrow, that means they're never going to cut. Tomorrow never seems to happen. Instead, why don't we actually follow our conservative principles? Why not insist on structural reforms? Why not cut spending? I don't mean strength (ph) the growth rate, I mean, actually spend less. Why not a balanced budget in the amendment \u2014 an amendment to the Constitution? Why not a super-majority vote before they grow our taxes, before they grow the government faster than the economy? Let's be honest, $18 trillion dollars of debt. Record low participation rate in the workforce, record number of Americans on food stamps. We are going the way of Europe. The left is trying to turn the American Dream into the European Nightmare. If you're a Republican... +p2640 +aV... willing to stand up and fight... +p2641 +aVI think that's a false choice. If I were \u2014 I were to lead, we would pass a conservative budget, challenge the President to do the right thing. And, here's the problem, the Republicans never want to fight. Give Pelosi and Reed credit, they forced Obamacare and socialism down our throats, why won't the Republicans fight half as hard for freedom and opportunity. This was a bad budget. +p2642 +aVAbsolutely, Jhon. And what we did is we cut state spending. We've cut our budget 26 percent, according to Cato and other analysis, the only candidate that's actually reduced government spending. Look, the left always complains there's not enough money for government. We have 30,000 fewer state employees than the day I took office, eight credit upgrades, we're a top 10 state for private sector job creation. We've got a choice. You grow the government economy or the American economy. When I became governor, we had 25 years in a row of outmigration. We were coming back from Katrina. The question many were asking, will Louisiana rebuild, should Louisiana rebuild? Seven years in a row, more people moving into the state than were leaving the state. We now have more people working than ever before, erg a higher income than ever before. Yes, we've reduced the size of government. That's exactly what we need to do in DC. In DC, the Republicans slowed the growth rate, they claimed victory. That's not enough. Let's be honest with where we are today. We are running off of a cliff. Look, we'll be the next Greece and we can talk and we can rearrange the chairs. Over over $18 trillion of debt, no wonder our economy has been stagnant. We haven't had real growth. If you're a young student here, you've not seen a robust American economy. +p2643 +aVWell, Jhon, a couple of things. Not only did we not raise taxes, we did the largest income tax cut in the state's history. And I'm proud of that record. I think that's the kind of leadership voters want in DC. Look, if you want a Republican that's going go grow government spending, if you want a \u2014 a president or if you want a candidate who's going to income taxes, I'm not your guy. If you want somebody that's going to do and say the things that can't be said, can't be done, I'm asking a vote for me to join my cause. That's how dangerous these times are. This is \u2014 this is a \u2014 this is \u2014 these are dangerous times for America. I think we have a chance to rescue the idea of America, but if we don't do it now, four years will be too late from now. So, yes, I'm proud we cut taxes, we cut spending, 30,000 fewer state government bureaucrats than the day I took office. I absolutely will do that in DC. +p2644 +aVThank you. +p2645 +aVAbsolutely, John. I'd go further. My tax plan, like everybody's, like a lot of Republicans' \u2014 look, I'd get rid of the death penalty and the marriage penalty, and I'd simplify the brackets to 25 percent, 10 percent, 2 percent, so that an average middle-class family \u2014 a teacher marries a law enforcement official (ph)... +p2646 +aV...I \u2014 I'm gonna get that. Pays 25 percent today, would pay 10 percent under my plan. But my plan does three things different from other people's plans. One \u2014 remember, I said 2 percent. I think everybody should pay something, even if it's only 2 percent. That's the most important 2 percent in my plan. I know a lot of Republicans brag \u2014 y'all can clap, it doesn't scare me. Go ahead. I heard some people. There are millions of \u2014 there are millions of folks that wouldn't pay taxes in Jeb's plan and Trump's plan. I think that's a mistake. In terms of the corporate tax, secondly, I'd get rid of the corporate tax. We do have the highest corporate tax rate in the developed world. I'd get rid of it. I'd get rid of all the corporate welfare. Make the CEOs pay their same tax rates the way the rest of us do. And third, I'd purposely shrink the size of government. You know, that is a \u2014 that is an intentional feature of my plan. We've got a choice: do we grow government \u2014 the government economy, or the American economy? So I say get rid of the corporate tax, bring those jobs and investment here to the United States, stop sending jobs and investment overseas. +p2647 +aVLook, I think the government should work to change that, but that doesn't \u2014 does not mean I'm for the government mandating that. We already have too many government mandates out of DC. Do I want people to have paid leave? Sure. Do I want people to earn higher wages? Sure. Do I want them to have better benefits? Sure. The government can't wave a magic wand and make that happen. Here's the problem. The last seven years, President Obama has tried to teach the American people that government is the answer to all of our problems. Where has that gotten us? We're on a path toward socialism. The way that folks can get better paying jobs with better benefits is if we have a growing economy. That means to repeal all of ObamaCare, a lower flatter tax code. That means that we have an energy plan that makes sense. That means that we embrace an all of the above approach to energy. Those are good paying jobs \u2014 $50,000, $70,000, $90,000 a year jobs with benefits. But this president won't let us produce more energy on our domestic federal lands and waters. He won't allow the Canadians to build the Keystone Pipeline. He's got an EPA that's doing everything they can to kill private sector jobs in America. So, yes, I want families to have better paying jobs and better benefits, but we're not going to get that with a government mandate, we're going to get that with a growing economy. +p2648 +aVA couple things. You're talking about payroll taxes that fund programs. People pay for their Medicare, they pay for their Social Security. I want every American to worry and care about how those folks in D.C. are spending our money. If $18 trillion of debt \u2014 they're misspending our money. Earned success is so much more fulfilling than unearned success. I don't want us to continue to create one class of Americans that pays income taxes, that pays for government, another class of Americans that's growing more and more dependent on government. That's what we have today. Socialism is bad, not only for taxpayers, but people that they say they're trying to help. There's dignity in work, dignity in self-sufficiency. I wanna quote you a president. Our previous president said this: he said, "the problem is, is that tax rates are too high, government income revenues are too low." He said, "paradoxically, lowering tax rates now is the best way to produce higher government revenues later." No, that wasn't President Reagan, as many are probably guessing at home. That was President Kennedy. I see you know the answer. That was President Kennedy. Imagine if he were alive today \u2014 and if he was at that last Democratic debate, imagine if you tried to say that in a party that's veering towards socialism. That wouldn't be welcome in today's Democratic party. +p2649 +aVWell, thank you. Look, if Senator Santorum wants to concede the tax cut wing of the Republican Party, I'm happy to fight for that side of the Republican Party. He's exactly right. I explicitly want to shrink the size of government; 22 percent over 10 years is not too much. We cut our state budget 26 percent in eight years. This is a fundamental choice. We mustn't become a cheaper version of the Democratic Party, a second liberal party. We need to proudly say we're willing to cut taxes, shrink government, grow the American economy. President Kennedy said it to the Democratic Party. Why can't we say it in the Republican Party in 2015, let's cut taxes. +p2650 +aVJohn, our budget is balanced. We balanced our budget every year for eight years. Yeah, we've had to cut spending. You know what? We privatized or closed nine of our 10 charity hospitals. We did statewide school choice; $1.6 billion (ph) budget cut. You're quoting an old number from the beginning of the year. We closed that gap. What they talk about, just like D.C., government's the only place where you give them less money than they wanted, they count it as a cut. They take last year's budget. They add inflation. They call it a baseline. We need to do zero-based budgets. We need to say just because you got money last year, you don't have it this year. Let me close, though. We balanced our budget. We didn't raise taxes. In eight years, we never raised taxes. We cut taxes. Our \u2014 our taxpayers, our families have been better off for it. +p2651 +aV absolutely they should be accountable. They should be accountable to their students through the market. Look, you either trust the American people to make their own choices or you don't. I know the Left thinks we need to be protected from ourselves. President Obama is trying to limit competition to the higher education market. As a result, you're going to see tuition prices continue to go up. We've had $1 trillion of student debt and counting. And he wants to exempt certain schools from the same oversight he wants to apply only to the for-profit market. For some reason, the private sector is a bad word to this president. It's not in the real world. In Louisiana, we fought so that the dollars follow the child and so the child following the dollar. What that means, from K-12, what that means is that parents and their families can decide what's the best way for their children to be educated. Higher education, we have a +p2652 +aVI was just saying to my colleagues, I may be the last person in this audience without an iPhone. I'm actually one of the last folks \u2014 I still have a BlackBerry in my pocket. And I basically use it for scheduling. I use it to keep up when my wife is here and my three kids at home. The only games on that phone are Bricklayer. I use it to keep up with the news through the Internet. I may be the last American out there without an iPhone. +p2653 +aVMy apologies. +p2654 +aVWell, absolutely, when the Saints go back to repeat, we were talking about beer sales earlier, all those folks from being hung over in Louisiana from drinking to celebrate Drew Brees winning this, I think it would be a great day to take off. No, look, on a serious note, I do want to say this about the Super Bowl and our athletes. They can be great role models for our children and I'm obviously a Saints fan. Drew Brees and his wife great role models, great Christians. So, yes, it should be a holiday. +p2655 +aVMy message is to conservatives, this is our hour. Thanks to the insanity, the incompetence of the Democratic party, the American people are ready to turn our government over to us. It's not enough to let just any Republican, however. The reality is the idea of America is slipping away. As Christians, we believe that the tomb is empty. As Americans, we believe that our best days are always ahead of us, and they can be again. We must win this election. We cannot allow Hillary Clinton to take us down this path towards socialism \u2014 further down this path. I've got the courage to apply our conservative principles. I can't do it alone. With your help, with God's grace, we can save the idea of America before it's too late. +p2656 +aVHi, I'm Bobby Jindal. Now, look, I don't have a famous last name. My daddy didn't run for president. I don't have a reality TV show. I'll tell you what I do have, I've got the backbone, I've got the bandwidth, I've got the experience to get us through these tough times, to make sure that we don't turn the American dream into the European nightmare. Thank you for having me today. +p2657 +aVWell, Jake, I'm in compliance with the 11th Commandment, and I would tell my fellow Republicans, let's stop treating Donald Trump like a Republican. If he were really a conservative... If he were really a conservative and 30 points ahead, I would endorse him. He's not a conservative. He's not a liberal. He's not a Democrat. He's not a Republican. He's not an independent. He believes in Donald Trump. Here is the reality, the idea of America is slipping away. Eighteen trillion dollars of debt, Planned Parenthood selling baby parts across our country. Our government is creating a new entitlement program, when we can't afford the government we've got today. We've got a president who won't even say the words radical Islamic terrorism. He has declared war on trans fats and a truce with Iran. Think about that. He's more worried about Twinkies than he is about the ayatollahs having a nuclear weapon. That's what is happening, the idea of America is slipping away. We must not let that happen on our watch. We have a once in a lifetime opportunity to rescue the idea of America, the choice for conservatives. Do we depend on proven conservative principles like Ronald Reagan did, or do we turn this over to a narcissist who only believes in himself... +p2658 +aVThank you, Jake. +p2659 +aVAbsolutely. Look, the reality is, Hillary Clinton is gift-wrapping this election to us. They are running their weakest candidate. They have got a socialist that is gaining on Hillary Clinton. Folks, you can't make that up. A socialist is doing well in the Democratic primary. The best way for us to give this election back would be to nominate a Donald Trump. He'll implode in the general election, or if, God forbid, if he were in the White House, we have no idea what he would do. You can't just attack him on policy. He doesn't care about policy. It's not enough to say he was for socialized medicine or higher taxes... +p2660 +aVHe's not serious. +p2661 +aVYeah, I wanted to clarify -- I want to make very clear that everybody understands my position is, we need to secure the border, period. Any talk of doing any more -- we don't need a comprehensive plan, don't need an 1,000-page bill, like the Gang of Eight. We don't need amnesty. Everybody in D.C. talks about it. We need to get it done. As president, I'll get it done in six months. It won't be perfect, but we can get it done. I'm not for amnesty. We do need to secure the border. A smart immigration makes our -- our country stronger. Right now, we've got a weak one. One of the things I've said -- I know the left -- I know Hillary didn't like this -- immigration without assimilation is invasion. We need to insist the people who come here come here legally, learn English, adopt our values, roll up their sleeves and get to work. We do need to secure the border. +p2662 +aVDana, that's not right. What I've said consistently is secure the border. I've said after that is done, the American people will deal with the folks that are here pragmatically and compassionately. Now, Rick, if he wants to say that Rubio, Senator Rubio, or Jeb or others are for amnesty, that's his right. I'm not for amnesty. I've never been for amnesty, will never be for amnesty. Secure the border. We don't need to do that as a comprehensive -- I've also said we need to put an end to sanctuary cities. It's not enough to defund them; I think we need to criminalize, accuse and jail those mayors and councilman as accessories... ( +p2663 +aV... for the crimes committed by people who shouldn't be here in the first place. +p2664 +aVJake, look, America's the most compassionate country in the entire world. We do more for folks around this world, and that's the nature of the American people. Two things. One, let us draw line, a direct line, between this refugee crisis, and this president's failed foreign policy. Jake, look, America is the most compassionate country in the entire world. We do more for folks around this world. And that's the nature of the American people. Two things: one, let us draw a line, a direct line between this refugee crisis and this president's failed foreign policy. He drew a red line in Syria and did not enforce it and now we're seeing millions of refugees potentially, hundreds of thousands going into Europe. The answer is not to put a Band-aid on this and allow even more people to come into America. We should not short-circuit; we have got a vetting process, we've got a normal refugee process. Simply allowing more into our country doesn't solve this problem. The way to solve this problem is for us to be clear to our friends and allies that we're going to replace Assad, we're going to hunt down and destroy +p2665 +aVWe -- it is important we insist on that in immigration going -- +p2666 +aVLook, absolutely. We need to do whatever is necessary to hunt down and kill these radical Islamic terrorists but this president has helped -- his policies have helped to contribute to this problem. He went to the Pentagon the same week they announced they were cutting back the number of troops in the Army to say that we're not going to win this through guns, it's going to be a change of hearts and minds. This will be a generational conflict, that is nonsense. These are barbarians. They are burning, crucifying people alive, Christians and other Muslims. We need to hunt them down and -- +p2667 +aV-- by having a president willing to -- +p2668 +aV-- Islamic -- +p2669 +aVWell, Jake, look, I think the American people -- we don't discriminate anybody based on the color of their skin or their creed. I think the way you strike that balance, you say to Muslim leaders, they have got two responsibilities. One, it's not enough to denounce just simply generic acts of violence. They have got to denounce the individuals by name, and say these are not martyrs. These terrorists are not martyrs; rather, they are going straight to hell. They are not going to enjoy a reward in their afterlife. Secondly, they have to explicitly embrace the same freedoms for everybody else they want for themselves. Look, I know it's politically incorrect to say this, the president says Fort Hood was an issue of workplace violence. We are at war with radical Islam. Our president loves to apologize for America, he goes to the National Prayer Breakfast, brings up the Crusades, criticizes Christians. We're at war today with radical Islamic extremists. It's not politically correct to say that, but the way you strike that balance, you say to Muslim leaders, denounce these fools, these radical terrorists by name, say they are not martyrs. +p2670 +aVSure, I don't think a 14-year-old should ever get arrested for bringing a clock to school. So, if you're asking me I'm glad he wasn't -- he was released. I'm glad that police are careful. I'm glad they are worried about security and safety issues. Look, in America we don't tolerate them. The biggest discrimination is going on against Christian business owners and individuals who believe in traditional forms of marriage. They are throwing this woman in jail in Kentucky. Let's talk about that. Let's talk about the Christian florist, the caterer, the musician, who simply want to say, don't arrest us for having -- or don't discriminate against us, don't shut down our businesses, don't fine us thousands of dollars for believing marriage is between a man and a woman. Lets talk about not discriminating against Christians. +p2671 +aVJake -- Jake... +p2672 +aVJake, I've got a practical question. +p2673 +aVI've got a practical question. I'd like the left to give us a list of jobs that Christians aren't allowed to have. If we're not allowed to be clerks, bakers, musicians, caterers, are we allowed to be pastors ? +p2674 +aVWe're not allowed to be elected officials. I firmly -- this is an important point. The First Amendment rights, the right to religious freedom is in the First Amendment of "The Constitution." It isn't breaking the law to exercise our constitutional rights. America did not create religious liberty, religious liberty created the United States of America. It is the reason we're here today. +p2675 +aVI think actually putting Roberts, I think putting Kennedy, I think putting -- before them, I think putting Souter on the bench was a mistake. But look, I think the -- the first responsibility starts in the White House. The reality is conservatives have not been willing to stand up for our beliefs, unlike the liberals -- look, you never worry about where the Democratic judges are going to vote, it's always the conservatives. You've never had a Democratic judge wake up and say, surprise, I've evolved, I've become a conservative. It's always the Republicans, because we have presidents that try to find judges with no records, no rulings, no writings. I'll tell you, I am going to have a litmus test. For judges, I'm going to find judges that are conservative, judges that are going to be pro-life, judges that are going to follow "The Constitution," judges, by the way, that are going to follow the American law, not international law. They're not appointed there to interpret international law, they're there to apply "The United States Constitution." Judges understand, their job is not to write law. If they want to write law, they should run for the Senate or the House. It's time for a Republican president as the next commander in chief, I will do as the Democrats have done. I will appoint bold judges that are actually consistent with my values that will be conservatives and enforce the Senate -- +p2676 +aVThank you, Jake. But look, it's not a minor ruling. Justice Roberts twice rewrote the law to save ObamaCare, the biggest expansion of government, creating a new entitlement when we can't afford the government we've got today, an expansion of socialism in our country. It's not that he got a minor ruling wrong. This is twice he rewrote the law. Now, look, I have a lot of respect for these senators that have big bladders. They give great speeches in the Senate. And I respect that. I've actually signed the executive order. I've actually signed a law protecting religious liberty in the state of Louisiana. It's not 99-1. The one that he got wrong was a big one. Twice he bent over backwards to save ObamaCare. If the Republicans had voted the way that we should -- they should have, we would still have our 19th Amendment rights and ObamaCare would not be the law of the land. +p2677 +aVNo. And it's not only whether they can win. They shouldn't win this election cycle. One of the things I do agree -- and I want to thank Donald Trump after I've criticized him for everything from being a narcissist to an egomaniac -- one of the things he was right about was to say nonsense to the D.C. establishment. It is time to fire all of them. You've got a choice between honest Socialists on the Left, like Bernie Sanders, and lying conservatives on the Right. We have got the majority; what good has it done us? See, they said they were going to stop amnesty. They said they were going to repeal ObamaCare. They didn't do either. Now they're not even willing to fight to defund Planned Parenthood. They've already -- McConnell has already waved the white flag of defeat. They are not willing to stand up to fight for the issues that count. I think it is time to have term limits. I think it's time to have part-time citizen legislators. Let's pay them a per diem instead of a six-figure salary, stop them from being seven-figure lobbyists. Let's also pay them a per diem for every day they don't go to D.C. Let's keep them out of D.C., working in the real -- -- let's make them live under the same rules and laws they apply to the rest of us. Not only shouldn't they be elected, they can't be elected. Let's fire all of them from their current positions. +p2678 +aVTwo things, Jake. One, I'm absolutely for all of these carve-outs and loopholes and special interests for as -- they get lobbyists. They get sweetheart deals you and I and the rest of this audience couldn't get. So as part of an overall comprehensive tax reform that has a lower, flatter tax code, sure. As a single, I am just to raise taxes, no. I don't want to give the government more money. The government has grown over this president where now, it's going to overwhelm the American economy. We've got to cut the size of the government economy. Nobody else running for president has done that. I'm the only candidate. I've cut my state budget 26 percent. Everybody else talks about it, we have done it. So, there's a part of overall tax reform that cuts rates, flattens and lowers the tax code, sure. But I'm not for raising taxes on anybody. We already have too much money going to D.C. +p2679 +aVJake, I'd like to answer that question. +p2680 +aVWell, Jake, I want to answer that question. I want to go back to Iran. I didn't get a chance to answer that as well. Look, on Russia, across the world, dictators walk all over this president. He treats our friends like dirt. He lets our enemies walk all over us. The only group he's able to out-negotiate are the Senate Republicans. They never should've passed this bad Corker bill. Instead of a two-thirds vote to reject -- to approve the Iran deal, now it takes a two-thirds vote to reject the Iran deal. I want to ask Lindsey a question. Will the Senate Republicans -- they still have time -- are they willing to use the nuclear option, meaning get rid of the filibusters, stop Iran from becoming a nuclear power? Now is the time for the Senate Republicans to stand up and fight. We are tired of the establishment saying there's nothing we can do. All night tonight, we've heard Republicans say things like, "Well, if the Supreme Court's ruled, there's nothing I can do about religious liberty," you know. "The president did this. There's nothing we can do about it for two more years." There is something we can do. We won the Senate. We won the House. What was the point of winning those chambers if we're not going to do anything with them? You're going back tonight. You still have time before the Thursday deadline. Will y'all use the nuclear option to stop Iran from becoming a nuclear power? +p2681 +aVLindsey... +p2682 +aVLindsey, well, that's my frustration. Listen to what you've heard. You -- you basically heard a Senate Republican say, "We can't defund Planned Parenthood, despite these barbaric videos." +p2683 +aV"We can't -- we can't..." +p2684 +aV"... we can't get rid of Obamacare" -- Lindsey, let me answer this question now. I wish the Senate Republicans had half the fight in them the Senate Democrats did. Look, President Obama didn't give up on Obamacare when they lost the Senate election in Massachusetts. I want my side to follow the Constitution. They broke the Constitution, they broke the law, but they forced Obamacare down our throats, even when they didn't have 60 votes. I wish Republicans in D.C. had half the fight of the Senate Democrats to get rid of Obamacare, to defund Planned Parenthood. If we can't defund Planned Parenthood now, if we can't stand for innocent human life after these barbaric videos, it is time to be done with the Republican Party. We defunded them in Louisiana. Let's defund them in D.C. If we can't win... +p2685 +aV-- on that issue, there is no point for being cheaper Democrats, no point grabbing a second liberal party. It is time to get rid of the Republican Party, start over with a new one that's at least conservative. Give Harry Reid and Pelosi credit. At least they fight for what they believe in. I want senators and House members in DC to fight for what we believe in, as well. It's time to have Republican... +p2686 +aV-- with a backbone in DC. +p2687 +aVJake, I'm a doer, not a talker. Look, the idea of America is slipping away from us. If you want somebody who is going to manage the slow decline of this country, makes incremental changes, vote for somebody else. If you want to vote for somebody who understands what is at stake -- Planned Parenthood is selling baby parts across this country, and the Senate Republicans have already given up, even without a fight. I am tired of this surrender (ph) caucus, I am angrier at the Republicans in D.C. than I am at the president. The president is a socialist. At least he fights for what we believe in. We don't need to just send any Republican to the White House. We need to sent somebody who understands that it's time to make big changes. It's time to take on the establishment, it's time to take on the D.C. permanent governing class. Every Republican says they will shrink the size of the government. I'm the only one that has done it. Cut our budget 26 percent. If you want somebody that's going to make incremental change, vote for somebody else. It's time to get the idea of America back. At some point, we're going to be held -- we'll be asked, what did you do when the idea of America was slipping away? I'll promise you this. I will give every ounce of blood, energy, sweat I've got to save the idea of America, the greatest country in the history of the world. +p2688 +aVWell, first of all, thank you all for having us. You know, I won two record elections. Last time I was elected governor, won a record margin in my state. Martha, we got a lot of politicians that will kiss babies, cut ribbons, do whatever it takes to be popular. That's not why I ran for office. I ran for office to make the generational changes in Louisiana. We've cut 26 percent of our budget. We have 30,000 fewer state bureaucrats than the day I took office. I don't think anybody has cut that much government anywhere, at any time. As a result, eight credit upgrades; as a result, a top ten state for private sector job creation. And we fought for statewide school choice, where the dollars follow the child, instead of the child following the dollars. We've been the most pro-life state six years in a row. My point is this: I won two landslide elections, I made big changes. I think our country is tired of the politicians who simply read the polls and fail to lead. Both Democrats and Republicans have gotten us in the mess we're in -- $18 trillion of debt, a bad deal with Iran, we're not staying with Israel. I think the American people are look for real leadership. That's what I've done in Louisiana, that's what I'll do in America. +p2689 +aVWell, to start with, unlike President Obama, I'll actually name the enemy that we confront. We've got a president who cannot bring himself to say the words "radical Islamic terrorism." Now, Bill, he loves to criticize America, apologize for us, criticize medieval Christians. How can we beat an enemy if our commander-in-chief doesn't have the moral honesty and clarity to say that Islam has a problem, and that problem is radical Islam, to say they've got to condemn not generic acts of violence, but the individual murderers who are committing these acts of violence. We've got a president who instead says, we're going to change hearts and minds. Well, you know what? Sometimes you win a war by killing murderous, evil terrorists. We're going to take the political handcuffs off the military. We will arm and train the Kurds. We will work with our Sunni allies. They know we will be committed to victory. We had this failed red line with Assad and it discouraged folks that want to help us on the ground. Finally, we'll take off the political handcuffs. We'll go to the Congress. This president has gone to Congress and said give me a three-year deadline, give me a ban on ground troops. I'm going to go to the commanders and say give me a plan to win. You can't send your troops into harm's way unless you give them every opportunity to be successful. +p2690 +aVWell, this goes to the question you were just asking. Look, under President Obama and Secretary Clinton, they're working hard to change the American dream into the European nightmare. They do celebrate more dependence on the government. Give Bernie Sanders credit. At least he's honest enough to call himself a socialist. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, they're no better. If we were to expand Medicaid, for every uninsured person we would cover, we'd kick more than one person out of private insurance or remove their opportunity to get private insurance. We're going to have too many people in the cart rather than pulling the cart. This isn't free money. I know some people like to say, "well, this is free money." We pay federal taxes. We are borrowing money from China today. Yesterday, the president stunningly admitted this. He said, "we don't have leverage with China to get a better deal on Iran because we need them to lend us money to continue operating our government." The president of the United States admitting that he's weakening our government's position, our foreign policy standing, because he can't control spending in D.C.. There is a better way to provide health care. The Oregon study showed this. Simply expanding Medicaid does not improve health care outcomes. In Louisiana, instead we're helping people getting better paying jobs so they can provide for their own health care. +p2691 +aVI don't -- look, I don't think anybody should be expanding Medicaid. I think it's a mistake to create new and more expensive entitlement programs when we can't afford the ones we've got today. We've got to stop this culture of government dependence. +p2692 +aVI'll say this. I don't think anybody should expand Medicaid. I think it was a mistake to expand Medicaid everywhere in Ohio and across the country. +p2693 +aVWell, a couple of things. Planned Parenthood had better hope that Hillary Clinton wins this election, because I guarantee under President Jindal, January 2017, the Department of Justice and the IRS and everybody else that we can send from the federal government will be going in to Planned Parenthood. This is absolutely disgusting, and revolts the conscience of the nation. Absolutely, we need to defund Planned Parenthood. In my own state, for example, we launched an investigation, asked the FBI to cooperate. We just, earlier this week, kicked them out of Medicaid in Louisiana as well, canceled their provider contract. They don't provide any abortions in Louisiana. But in terms of shutting down the government, I don't think President Obama should choose to shut down the government simply to send taxpayer dollars to this group that has been caught, I believe, breaking the law, but also offending our values and our ethics. It is time for Republicans in D.C. to fight. Too often, they give up, they negotiate with themselves. They said they would get rid of the unconstitutional amnesty. They didn't do that. They said they would repeal Obamacare if we gave them the majority. They didn't do that either. They said they'd shrink and balance the budget. They haven't done that. Absolutely, they should fight to fund -- defund Planned Parenthood, and I don't think the president should shut down the government simply to send our taxpayer dollars to this group. Mac +p2694 +aVTo repeal these unconstitutional illegal orders, whether it's amnesty or whether it's this president going around the Congress, whether it's in Obamacare, to restore the rule of law. I'd also go after these sanctuary cities, do everything we can to make sure that we are not -- that we are actually prosecuting and cutting off funding for cities that are harboring illegal aliens, and then finally making sure the IRS is not going after conservative or religious groups. I would sign an executive order protecting religious liberty, our first amendment rights, so Christian business owners and individuals don't face discrimination for having a traditional view of marriage. +p2695 +aVSocialist and government dependent. +p2696 +aVYou know, we've got a lot of great talkers running for president. We've already got a great talker in the White House. We cannot afford four more years of on the job training. We need a doer, not a talker. We also need a nominee, a candidate who will endorse our own principles. Jeb Bush says we've got to be willing to lose the primary in order to win the general. Let me translate that for you. That's the establishment telling us to hide our conservative principles to get the left and the media to like us. That never works. If we do that again, we will lose again, we will deserve to lose again. One principle, for example, we've got to embrace is on immigration. We must insist on assimilation -- immigration without assimilation is an invasion. We need to tell folks who want to come here, they need to come here legally. They need to learn English, adopt our values, roll up their sleeves and get to work. I'm tired of the hyphenated Americans and the division. I've got the backbone, I've got the band width, I've got the experience to get us through this. I'm asking folks not just to join my campaign, but join a cause. It is time to believe in America again. Mac +p2697 +asVMUIR +p2698 +(lp2699 +VWe will be tackling many critical issues right here tonight, and we begin with opening statements, in alphabetical order, and Secretary Clinton. +p2700 +aVSenator Sanders. +p2701 +aVSenator Sanders thank you and thank you all. We do have a lot of important issues to get here tonight and we want to address the controversy of the last 24 hours right off the top because we heard some of the most heated rhetoric of the campaign so far between two of the campaigns on this stage tonight. Senator Sanders, you fired a campaign staffer you have sued the Democratic National Committee; all of this after your campaign acknowledge that some of your staffers quote, "irresponsibly accessed data from another campaign." The Clinton campaign called this a very egregious breech of data of ethics and said, quote, "our data was stolen." Did they overstate this or were your staffers essentially stealing part of the Clinton playbook? +p2702 +aVBut Senator, you do mention the DNC -- the vender. But you said of your staff that they did the wrong thing. +p2703 +aVSo, does Secretary Clinton deserve an apology tonight? +p2704 +aVSecretary Clinton... +p2705 +aVSecretary Clinton, he has apologized. How do your react? +p2706 +aV(?): All three candidates are weighing in. +p2707 +aVGood let's move on -- Senator Sanders, let's move on right to some of those issues. It is just six days before Christmas, as we all know in this country. It's typically a joyful time, as it is this year, as well. But it's also an anxious time. President Obama has acknowledged that what we saw in San Bernardino was an act of terrorism. But we remember the president said, right before Thanksgiving, there is no known specific and credible intelligence indicating a plot on the homeland. We now know that this couple had assembled an arsenal. They were not on law enforcement's radar. They were completely undetected. So as we approach another holiday, with the president again saying, late this week, no credible threat, Secretary Clinton, how confident should the American people be, that there aren't others like that couple right now in the U.S. going undetected? And what would you do as president to find them? +p2708 +aV(inaudible) thank you. I am the very first post-9/11 mayor and the very first post-9/11 governor. I understand, from the ground up, that when attacks like San Bernardino happen, when attacks like the attacks of 9/11 happen, that when people call 911, the first people to show up are the local first responders. Many of the things Secretary Clinton said are absolutely true, but they underscore a lack of investment that we have, as a nation, failed to make over these last 15 years in intelligence gathering, intelligence analysis, intelligence sharing. Not only in theater, in Syria and Iraq and other places where we embalk ourselves in toppling dictators without having any idea what comes next, but here in the homeland, as we protect people from this threat of the lone wolves and these changing tactics and strategies. I believe that what's happened here is that the president had us on the right course, but it's a lack of battle tempo. We have to increase the battle tempo, we have to bring a modern way of getting things done and forcing the sharing of information and do a much better job of acting on it in order to prevent these sorts of attacks in the future. +p2709 +aVAnd we're going to break down these issues tonight, but I do want to go to Senator Sanders because the concern going into Christmas is significant, as you know. A new ABC News poll shows 77 percent of Americans have little or no confidence in the government's ability to prevent a lone wolf attack. How would you specifically find would-be terrorist who are going undetected? +p2710 +aVSenator, thank you. +p2711 +aVGovernor, we have to abide the rules here, we'll call on you here shortly, but... O' +p2712 +aVBut I do want pick up on something... O' +p2713 +aVWe will. +p2714 +aVBut let me just establish that for you, senator. Really quickly governor, we are going to call on you tonight and it's very clear you have a lot to say but please wait until you're called upon. And senator, he invoked your record and I'll let you respond. +p2715 +aVI'll let you respond. +p2716 +aVAnd you will get some to as well. +p2717 +aVSenator, thank you. I want to move on here. Secretary Clinton, you brought up Donald Trump a short time ago. +p2718 +aVSecretary Clinton, thank you. We're going to move on from guns here and go back to something you mentioned a short time ago. You brought up Donald Trump first here this evening. We've now seen the polling done well after his proposed ban on Muslims coming to America. Thirty-six percent of Americans, more than a third, agree with him. You have weighed in already on Donald Trump. You've weighed in on the proposed ban. But what would you say to the millions of Americans watching tonight who agree with him? Are they wrong? +p2719 +aVSecretary, thank you. Senator Sanders, I did want to ask you about a neighbor in San Bernardino who reportedly witnessed packages being delivered to that couple's home, that it set off red flags, but they didn't report it because they were afraid to profile. What would you say to Americans afraid to profile? Is it ever acceptable? +p2720 +aVBut I'm asking about -- I'm asking about profiling. Because a lot of people are afraid of that. +p2721 +aVSenator, thank you. +p2722 +aVMartha, we're going to turn now to refugees coming to America. And on the subject of refugees, more than half of all Americans now say they oppose taking in refugees from Syria and across the Middle East. Secretary Clinton, you have said that it would undermine who we are as Americans, shutting our doors. But New Hampshire's governor, where we are right here tonight, a democrat and a supporter of yours, is among more than 30 governors who are now concerned. Governor Maggie Hassan says, "we should halt acceptance of Syrian refugees until U.S. authorities can assure the vetting process, halt Syrian refugees." Is she wrong? +p2723 +aVBut a halt? +p2724 +aVGovernor O'Malley, obviously you were governor yourself at one time. What would you say to New Hampshire's governor tonight? Is she wrong on this? O' +p2725 +aVSo the idea of a halt or a pause? O' +p2726 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p2727 +aVI want to take this to Senator -- I'm going to take this to Senator Sanders next, because I think there... +p2728 +aVSenator, thank you. +p2729 +aVYeah, but, Secretary Clinton -- Secretary Clinton... +p2730 +aVSenator Sanders, Senator Sanders, hold on. One moment, please. I'm going to ask the secretary here, because there does appear to be some daylight here between the policies, at least in respect to when you take out Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Right now or do you wait? Do you tackle +p2731 +aVBut that's what he's saying, we should put that aside for now and go after +p2732 +aVShe says we have to proceed on both fronts at once. +p2733 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. O' +p2734 +aVGovernor O'Malley? O' +p2735 +aVBut -- you criticized -- you criticized Secretary Clinton for what came next. What's your proposal for what comes after Assad? O' +p2736 +aVSenator Sanders, please. Go ahead. Senator Sanders, a last word on this. +p2737 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. When we come back here tonight, the other major issues of this election: jobs, the economy, health care. Which candidates will make the best case for the middle class, as our coverage of the Democratic debate, here in New Hampshire, continues right after this on ABC. +p2738 +aVWelcome back tonight. As you can see, we have a packed audience here in New Hampshire and we're going to continue. We've already had a spirited conversation here at the top of the broadcast about +p2739 +aVWe're going to continue here, and Secretary, you'll get a chance on this too. But as I pointed out the CEO pay, 200 percent of their time -- for that family of just 2 percent. You've all said, "you would raise the minimum wage." But Senator Sanders what else - speak to that household tonight. 20 years, just a 2 percent raise, how as president would you get them a raise right away? +p2740 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. Governor O'Malley, what would propose that would be different, how would you get the middle class a raise and without waiting another 20 years for another 2 percent. O' +p2741 +aVGovernor, thank you. Secretary Clinton... As you were walking in, I was talking about the median American household getting a two percent raise over the last 20 years, that CEO pay in that same time frame has gone up 200 percent. So for those families watching tonight, how do you get them a raise if you're president? +p2742 +aVSecretary... +p2743 +aVSecretary, thank you. +p2744 +aVWe're going to -- we're going to... +p2745 +aVAnd we're going to talk about college education in a moment. But Secretary Clinton, I did want to ask you, the last time you ran for president, Fortune Magazine put you on its cover with the headline Business Loves Hillary, pointing out your support for many CEOs in corporate America. I'm curious, eight years later, should corporate America love Hillary Clinton? +p2746 +aVSecretary, thank you. Senator Sanders... I want to stay on this and ask you how big a role does corporate America play in a healthy economy and will corporate America love a President Sanders? +p2747 +aVSenator, thank you. I want to... Governor, let me just ask you, though, because it is an important question, how important a role do you think corporate America plays in a healthy economy here in the U.S.? O' +p2748 +aVGovernor O'Malley, thank you. I do want to ask you, Secretary Clinton. Let me just ask you... +p2749 +aVWe did -- we did -- Secretary Clinton, let me just ask you... +p2750 +aVAnd in particular... +p2751 +aVSecretary Clinton, thank you. +p2752 +aVSenator? +p2753 +aVSenator Sanders... +p2754 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2755 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p2756 +aVWe're going to get right into this Senator but I want to ask about taxes next. This is included. +p2757 +aVShe was asking about that... +p2758 +aVAre we back on health care - Secretary Clinton hold one moment. Senator Sanders... +p2759 +aVSecretary Clinton, please. +p2760 +aVSo let's ask about it. Secretary Clinton, let's turn to the taxes. +p2761 +aVThis is where we are going next, we are going next to taxes here... +p2762 +aVThis is fun. applause]This is democracy at work. Secretary Clinton, let me ask you about your tax plan because from the crushing cost of college education, the next question most families have; is will my taxes go up under the next president? You have said it's your goal not to raise taxes on families making under $200,000 a year a goal. But can you say that's a promise as you stand here tonight? +p2763 +aVA promise? +p2764 +aVSecretary Clinton... +p2765 +aVPlease. +p2766 +aVSenator, thank you. Let me bring in Governor O'Malley... +p2767 +aVYou've heard... +p2768 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p2769 +aVThank you. I want to bring in Governor O'Malley on this. We heard the promise from Secretary Clinton because people want to know about their taxes, will they go up. She has now promised here tonight not to raise them on families making $250,000 or less. Can you make that same promise if you're elected? O' +p2770 +aVGovernor O'Malley, thank you. A spirited debate on taxes. And there will be more with the Democratic debate in New Hampshire, when we come back right here on ABC. More in a moment. ( +p2771 +aVWelcome back tonight to New Hampshire. The Democratic debate continues here on ABC. And Secretary Clinton, we want to turn to race, now, in America. There is a real concern in this country from Black Lives Matter and from other community groups that we're just now seeing, with smartphones and cell phones, what many have been dealing with for years when they come in contact with police. But you also have many in law enforcement who now say there has been a so-called Ferguson effect, police holding back because they're afraid of backlash. +p2772 +aVIn fact, the FBI director is calling it a chill wind blowing through American law enforcement. So, if elected president, how would you bridge the divide between the two? +p2773 +aVSecretary, thank you. +p2774 +aVGovernor O'Malley, how would you bridge the divide? O' +p2775 +aVGovernor, thank you. And Senator Sanders, when you hear the FBI director calling it a chill wind blowing through American law enforcement, does that concern you as well when you -- +p2776 +aVSenator, thank you. We want to turn now to an issue. This next issue has destroyed so many families across the country, and in particular right here in New Hampshire, heroin. And there's a stunning new figure out. A recent poll -- 48 percent here, in this state alone, say they know someone who has abused heroin. We're going to turn tonight to Dan Tuohy of the New Hampshire Union Leader who has this question. +p2777 +aVSenator Sanders, I'm going to take this to you first because you've seen what's happened with heroin right on the border in your own state. +p2778 +aVSenator, thank you. Secretary Clinton? +p2779 +aVSecretary, thank you. O' +p2780 +aVGovernor O'Malley, thank you. Martha? +p2781 +aVI do want to follow up here for each of you. And a similar line of questioning. Senator Sanders, your wife Jane shares an office at your campaign headquarters in Burlington. We've seen the pictures, the desks right next to each other. Would she have a desk close by in the west wing? +p2782 +aVSenator, thank you. Governor O'Malley -- Governor O'Malley, you have talked about your wife, Katie, here tonight. She's a district court judge. And the question for you is, would she have to give that up as first lady, or will she share an office in the west wing as well? O' +p2783 +aVGovernor O'Malley, thank you, (inaudible). O' +p2784 +aVGovernor, thank you. We'll be back with much more from New Hampshire. The Democratic debate continues right after this. ( +p2785 +aVWelcome back tonight. It's been an evening of lively discussion among the candidates and it's time for closing statements. We began in alphabetical order, so we'll reverse the order at the end and begin with you, Senator Sanders. +p2786 +aVGovernor, thank you. Secretary Clinton? +p2787 +aVGood evening, again, everyone. This is the first time since Iowa and the only time before the New Hampshire primary that the Republican candidates will have the opportunity to face each other. The people of Iowa have been heard. Now it's New Hampshire's turn. In just three days, voters here will decide who they think should be the Republican nominee for president. +p2788 +aVSo let's welcome the candidates for the Republican nomination for president. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. +p2789 +aVTexas Senator Ted Cruz. +p2790 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. +p2791 +aVAnd Ohio Governor John Kasich. +p2792 +aVAnd Dr. Ben Carson, please come out on the stage. He's standing there, as well. Dr. Carson. +p2793 +aVAnd lastly, we welcome back to the debate stage, Donald Trump. +p2794 +aVIt was so noisy in here. Yes. Yes. We're going to introduce Ohio Governor John kasich. The applause so loud here in the hall. +p2795 +aVSo let's get started. We welcome you all to the debate stage here tonight. We're going to tackle the issues Americans are most concerned about, the economy, +p2796 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. I want to bring this to Senator Cruz, then. Because Senator, you did said of Trump's behavior this week, that's not the temperament of a leader to keep this country safe. Why not? +p2797 +aVSenator Cruz, I did ask about Mr. Trump. You said he doesn't have the temperament to be commander-in-chief. Do you stand by those words? +p2798 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. We're going to continue on this notion of readiness and experience. I'm going to come back. +p2799 +aVIf you would like to respond, Mr. Trump. +p2800 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. And we're going to continue on this notion of readiness and on experience, but I want to ask about a headline that was back in the papers again this morning. Dr. Carson, on the day of the Iowa caucuses, the Cruz campaign sent out messages and voicemails saying, quote, "Breaking news. Dr. Ben Carson will be planning to suspend his campaign following tonight's caucuses. Please inform any Carson caucus-goers of this news." But as we can all see, you are still standing here tonight. Late this week, your campaign sent this e-mail, quote, "This kind of deceitful behavior is why the American people don't trust politicians. If Senator Cruz does not act, then he clearly represents D.C. values." What kind of action do you think Senator Cruz should take? +p2801 +aVSenator Cruz. Dr. Carson, thank you. Senator Cruz, you have said that Dr. Carson and his wife have become friends of yours. I'm curious as why you didn't call ahead of time to either the doctor or his wife or have your campaign check in with the other campaign before sending out those messages. +p2802 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. We're going to move on here. Back to the issues... +p2803 +aVDr. Carson, please. +p2804 +aVDr. Carson, thank you. Thank you, doctor. Senator Rubio. I want to stay on the issue of readiness to be president and experience and questions about you being a first-term senator. Governor Christie warning voters here in New Hampshire against voting for another first-term senator as America did with Barack Obama in 2008. Arguing that you are, quote, " not ready to be president of the United States." And Senator Santorum, who we all know, dropped out of the race and endorsed you, had a hard time when asked on national television, listing your accomplishments as senator. Tonight, what are your accomplishments in the Senate that demonstrate you are ready to be president of the United States? +p2805 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I do want to ask Governor Christie, Governor Christie, you said fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me when it comes to electing a first-term senator. You heard Senator Rubio make the case that he does have the experience. Your response? +p2806 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Rubio? +p2807 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I want to bring in governor bush on this, because you... +p2808 +aV... have made this... +p2809 +aVIf you'd like to respond to economic... +p2810 +aVSenator Rubio? +p2811 +aVGovernor Christie, we will \u2014 we will... +p2812 +aVGovernor Christie \u2014 thank you, Governor. I will mention \u2014 listen... +p2813 +aV... Listen, people... Governor Bush, I'll mention your name so that you can come in on this... +p2814 +aVI want to bring you in on this because you've made this central to your campaign right here in New Hampshire in the last couple of days. Four Years ago you said of Senator Rubio, he was ready to be Vice President. You spoke of his experience as well. You said he has the fortitude to be a good President, but just this week you said Senator Rubio accomplished, quote, "nothing" in the Senate. How do you square the two? +p2815 +aV... We're going to continue with leadership now. Martha? +p2816 +aVMartha, we're going to turn to immigration now. And I want to bring in Governor Kasich because you told us in an ABC interview, Governor, quote, "It is completely ridiculous to think we are going to go into neighborhoods, grab people out of their homes and ship people back to Mexico." Adding, quote, "That's not where the party is. The party is not for departing 11.5 million people." But Mr. Trump and Senator Cruz, who have made deportation central to their campaigns, top the national polls. So, my question for you, are you not where the voters are? +p2817 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. I want to bring this next to Senator Cruz. You heard what the governor said. He said, "We need practical solutions." And you've said, "I don't intend to send jack boots to knock on doors. That's not how we enforce the law for any crime." So, what is your plan? How will you deport 11.5 million undocumented people? And be specific. How would you do it? +p2818 +aVLet me just ask you this, though, because Governor Kasich was talking about the families and what you do with the families that you would have to send home. Can you tell the American people tonight how you would do that? +p2819 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. I want to bring in Senator Rubio. This question is about immigration, it is also about leadership. You're aware of the criticism from many candidates on this stage tonight that you co-authored the so-called Gang of Eight bill that would have created a path to citizenship for people here illegally. Governor Christie has said of you, as soon as you felt the heat, you turned tail and run. Governor Bush has said, "I don't think we need people cutting and running anymore." Did you fight for your own legislation, Senator, or did you run from it? +p2820 +aVBut I'm asking, did you fight for the legislation at the time or did you run from it as you're... +p2821 +aVGovernor Christie? +p2822 +aVGovernor thank you. Senator Rubio? +p2823 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. We want to turn to health care in this country, and for that, author and commentator, Mary Katherine Ham tonight. HAM: Thanks, David. Good evening, guys. +p2824 +aVMary Katherine, thank you. We want to turn now to the issue of eminent domain, which is being debated right here in New Hampshire. And Josh McElveen is the political director and the anchor of +p2825 +aVJosh, thank you. When we come back here tonight, jobs, +p2826 +aVAnd, we welcome you back to the Republican debate from New Hampshire tonight here on ABC. We're going to turn now to what it means to be a conservative, and I want to turn to Governor Kasich. Governor, while campaigning here in New Hampshire, you were already asked about groans from some conservatives after your endorsements from the New York Times, and the Boston Globe. You said, quote, "What conservatives have to know is they have to say, look isn't it nice to have a conservative like me liked? And, maybe the ought to think about it because if I get elected president, the Republican party and the definition of conservatism is going to change." How would you change conservatism? +p2827 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. Mr. Trump, you've heard the argument from many of the candidates on this stage that you're not a true conservative. Tell the voters watching tonight why you are. +p2828 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. Senator Rubio, you have said yourself that you don't think Donald Trump is running as a conservative. Did he convince you? +p2829 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I want to turn this discussion to the economy now. And Mr. Trump, Governor Christie has said, "I tell everybody who goes to a Donald Trump event, if you get to ask a question, just ask him how." Christie said, "I don't care which of the things he talks about, just ask him how." You have said that you'd be the greatest jobs president God ever created. Tell Americans watching tonight how many jobs you would create in the first term and how. +p2830 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. There are a lot of governors on this stage tonight and Governor Christie, Governor Kasich said of you, quote, "In Ohio, we balanced a budget. They don't have one over in New Jersey. Our credit has been strengthened. Their credit has been downgraded. We've got more jobs." How important are those metrics in choosing the next president? And is his job \u2014 is his record on jobs, I should say, actually stronger than yours? +p2831 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Kasich? +p2832 +aVHe didn't say your record was better than his. +p2833 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. +p2834 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. I do want to turn from jobs to taxes. +p2835 +aVIf you would like to respond to the governor, you can. +p2836 +aVI'm coming to you next with a question, anyway. You can respond to that question. +p2837 +aVWe're going from jobs to taxes, and here's the... +p2838 +aVTo the Gang of Eight bill first? +p2839 +aVThe governor wasn't talking about the president, he was talking about the Gang of Eight bill. +p2840 +aVSo, let me ask you about taxes, Senator Rubio. +p2841 +aVA recent poll, 68 percent of Americans favor raising taxes on people making more than $1 million a year. Are they wrong? +p2842 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I want to bring in Governor Bush. And Governor, I just want to repeat that number for you \u2014 68 percent of Americans favor raising taxes on people making more than a million. What do you say to the people who believe that tonight? +p2843 +aVKnew that was coming. Governor, thank you. +p2844 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you. Martha? +p2845 +aVMartha, thank you. We're just going to \u2014 we're going to stay on +p2846 +aVIf elected president, would you bring it back? +p2847 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. Mr. Trump, you said not only does it work, but that you'd bring it back. +p2848 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. Governor Bush, you have said that you won't rule waterboarding out. Congress has passed laws banning the use of waterboarding by the military and the CIA, as you know. Would you want Congress to change that if you're elected president? +p2849 +aVGovernor Bush, thank you. Senator Rubio, I do want to ask you, you have said that you do not want to telegraph to the enemy what you would do as commander in chief. But for the American people watching tonight who want to know where the next president will stand, do you believe waterboarding is torture? +p2850 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. We want to turn now to the topic of executive orders, and for that, we're going to turn back to Mary Katharine Ham. Mary Katharine? HAM: Thanks, David. Senator Cruz, on the campaign trail you've promised voters a lot, in fact if you're elected president you'd say you end Common Core immediately, abolish the IRS, and do away with sanctuary cities. You've also been a persistent critic of President Obama's executive overreach, going it alone, not working with Congress. How do you intend to implement this aggressive agenda within your Constitutional authority, especially given that it would require working with Congress and Washington players with whom you're happy to say you have a strained relationship? +p2851 +aVMary Katherine, thank you. We want to turn to something the governor of New Hampshire said... +p2852 +aVA connection here on the stage. We're going to move on to what the governor of New Hampshire said just this week, and that is that heroin overdose is not the second-leading cause of death in this state. You don't need me to tell you that. But there's another number, 48 percent of the people here in this state knows someone who has abused heroin. Josh, who covers this for +p2853 +aVMartha? +p2854 +aVGovernor, well come to you in the next segment. When we come back, questions about race, about our veterans and social issues what younger conservative voters are now saying as we continue with New Hampshire with the Republican debate, right here on ABC. +p2855 +aVWelcome back to New Hampshire, ABC News coverage of the Republican debate, and it's great to have you back at the podiums, and we want to turn to race in America. And Mr. Trump, there are many who argue cell phones and smartphones are just now exposing what's been happening in this country for years. Cases of excessive force against minorities. As you know, Mr. Trump, on the other side, the FBI director recently said there's a chill wind blowing through law enforcement because of increased scrutiny. You have said police are the most mistreated people in America. As president, how do you bridge the divide? +p2856 +aVGreat. Mr. Trump, I did ask about bridging the divide though as president. So what would you say to the American families who say we have lived through this, we have seen excessive force? What would you say to those people? +p2857 +aVI do want to ask \u2014 Governor Kasich? +p2858 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Rubio, I want to ask you next, President Obama visited a mosque this week in America for the first time in his presidency. President George W. Bush visited a mosque after September 11th. You said of President Obama, quote, "he's always pitting people against each other." So I'm curious, how are the two visits different, and would you visit a mosque as president? +p2859 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. Martha? +p2860 +aVJosh, thank you. I want to turn to a family that New Hampshire voters know quite well, and Senator Cruz, the issue of hostages has been a very real and painful one here in this state. As we all know, James Foley was killed. His mother, Diane, said our government should be willing to negotiate, arguing that families should also be allowed to raise money for ransom. What would you say to Diane Foley tonight? Should families be allowed to raise money for ransom for their loved ones? +p2861 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. Mr. Trump, what would you say to Diane Foley? Should families be allowed to raise money for ransom? +p2862 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. We want to turn now to social issues and young voters and for the question, from Mary Katherine. HAM: Thank you David. Senator Rubio. One of the lazier pieces of political conventional wisdom is that so-called social issues are hurting Republicans with young people. But on the two most prominent social issues, polling with millennials actually moves in different directions. On one hand, it is clear, young people across the political spectrum increasingly favor same sex marriage. However young voters have not moved to the left on abortion. In fact, large numbers of them favor at least some modest restrictions that conservatives have supported. How do you speak to millennials on both these issues, while Democrats will inevitable charge intolerance and extremism? +p2863 +aVMary Katherine, thank you. We're going to have closing statements here in just a moment, but before we go, quick lightning round. Come November, two battle-ground states, but they face off tomorrow in the Super Bowl. Governor Kasich, who wins? +p2864 +aVGovernor Bush? +p2865 +aVSenator Rubio? +p2866 +aV Mr. Trump? +p2867 +aVAll right, Dr. Carson? +p2868 +aVYeah. Governor Christie, the last word? +p2869 +aVDenver. Thank you so much, gentlemen. Closing statements in just a moment, right here, as the ABC News Republican debate continues from New Hampshire, right after this. +p2870 +aVWe welcome you back. The New Hampshire primary, of course, is Tuesday, but time now for closing statements. And we begin tonight with Governor Kasich. +p2871 +aVGovernor Bush. +p2872 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Senator Rubio. +p2873 +aVThank you. Mr. Trump. +p2874 +asVWALLACE +p2875 +(lp2876 +VAlso of note, Fox News is partnering for tonight's debate with Facebook. For the past several weeks, we've been asking you for questions for the candidates on Facebook. Nearly 6 million of you, 6 million, viewed the debate videos on our site, and more than 40,000 of you submitted questions: some of which you will hear us asking the candidates tonight. +p2877 +aVKentucky Senator Rand Paul. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. And your very own governor of Ohio... ... John Kasich. +p2878 +aVBrett -- Brett, I think you would call that a home field advantage. +p2879 +aVSenator Rubio, when Jeb Bush announced his candidacy for presidency, he said this: "There's no passing off responsibility when you're a governor, no blending into the legislative crowd." Could you please address Governor Bush across the stage here, and explain to him why you, someone who has never held executive office, are better prepared to be president than he is, a man who you say did a great job running your state of Florida for eight years. +p2880 +aVSenator Cruz, your colleague, Senator Paul, right there next to you, said a few months ago he agrees with you on a number of issues, but he says you do nothing to grow the party. He says you feed red meat to the base, but you don't reach out to minorities. You have a toxic relationship with GOP leaders in Congress. You even called the Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell a liar recently. How can you win in 2016 when you're such a divisive figure? +p2881 +aVGovernor Huckabee, like Governor Walker, you have staked out strong positions on social issues. You favor a constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage. You favor a constitutional amendment banning abortions, except for the life of the mother. Millions of people in this country agree with you, but according to the polls, and again this an electability question, according to the polls, more people don't, so how do you persuade enough Independents and Democrats to get elected in 2016? +p2882 +aVGentlemen, we're turning to a new subject that all of you have been talking about and some of you have been disagreeing about, and that is the issue of immigration. Governor Bush, you released a new plan this week on illegal immigration focusing on enforcement, which some suggest is your effort to show that you're not soft on that issue. I want to ask you about a statement that you made last year about illegal immigrants. And here's what you said. "They broke the law, but it's not a felony, it's an act of love. It's an act of commitment to your family." Do you stand by that statement and do you stand by your support for earned legal status? +p2883 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, it has not escaped anybody's notice that you say that the Mexican government, the Mexican government is sending criminals -- rapists, drug dealers, across the border. Governor Bush has called those remarks, quote, "extraordinarily ugly." I'd like you -- you're right next to him -- tell us -- talk to him directly and say how you respond to that and -- and you have repeatedly said that you have evidence that the Mexican government is doing this, but you have evidence you have refused or declined to share. Why not use this first Republican presidential debate to share your proof with the American people? +p2884 +aVMr. Trump, I'll give you 30 seconds -- I'll give you 30 seconds to answer my question, which was, what evidence do you have, specific evidence that the Mexican government is sending criminals across the border? Thirty seconds. +p2885 +aVAll right. Obviously there's a lot more to talk about this. We're going to have more questions for the candidates on illegal immigration, plus other key topics including your questions on Facebook. +p2886 +aVWelcome back to FOX News/Facebook Republican Debate Night. We're going to continue the questions now on illegal immigration. We kind of ended with a cliffhanger there. So let's continue the conversation. Governor Kasich, I know you don't like to talk about Donald Trump. But I do want to ask you about the merit of what he just said. When you say that the American government is stupid, that the Mexican government is sending criminals, that we're being bamboozled, is that an adequate response to the question of illegal immigration? +p2887 +aVRespectfully, can we talk about illegal immigration? +p2888 +aVAll right, well, Senator Rubio, let me see if I can do better with you. Is it as simple as our leaders are stupid, their leaders are smart, and all of these illegals coming over are criminals? +p2889 +aVGovernor Walker. Governor Walker, from 2002 until as recently as 2013, just two years ago, you supported comprehensive immigration reform, including a path to citizenship. Now you say that was a quick reaction to something you hadn't really thought about, and that you've changed your mind. Other than politics, could you explain why in the last two years you've changed your position on a path to citizenship, and are there other past positions that we shouldn't hold you to? +p2890 +aVSenator Cruz, some 1,400 people submitted questions on this very hot topic of illegal immigration on Facebook, and a number of them were about the murder of Kate Steinle in San Francisco, allegedly shot down by an illegal. Doug Bettencourt sent this question, "will you support Kate Steinle's Law," which would impose a mandatory five-year prison term for an illegal who is deported and then returns to this country? "And will you defund sanctuary cities for violating federal law?" +p2891 +aVGentlemen, we're obviously digging into some subjects in depth, but we're also going to change it up every once in a while throughout the next hour and have many rounds where we ask, you are not going to like it, only a couple of candidates questions on those subjects. This is the first of the many rounds, and it's about somebody whose name probably hasn't been mentioned enough so far tonight. Governor Kasich, let me start with you. Whoever the Republican nominee -- Whoever the Republican nominee is, it looks at least for now like whoever that nominee is, he or she, will be facing off against Hillary Clinton. You know how she will come after whoever the Republican nominee is. She will say that you, whoever it is, support the rich while she supports the middle class. That you want to suppress the rights of women and minorities. She wants to move the country forward while you, the Republicans, want to take the country back to the past. How will you, if you're the nominee, how will you answer that and take Hillary Clinton on? +p2892 +aVI know that all of you would like to answer this question, but we're only going to ask one other candidate before we move on to a different subject, Dr. Carson. Basically, same question to you. If Hillary Clinton is the nominee and she comes at you with that kind of line of attack, how will you take Iraq? +p2893 +aVGentlemen, we're going to turn now to the subject of the economy, jobs and money and the government. And Governor Bush, I'm going to start with you. You have made a bold promise in your announcement. You have promised four percent economic growth and 19 million new jobs if you are fortunate enough to serve two terms as president. That many jobs, 19 million, would be triple what your father and your brother accomplished together. And four percent growth, the last president to average that was Lyndon Johnson during the height of the Vietnam War. So question, how on Earth specifically would you pull that off? +p2894 +aVGovernor Walker. Governor Walker, when you ran for governor of Wisconsin back in 2010, you promised that you would create 250,000 jobs in your first term, first four years. In fact, Wisconsin added barely half that and ranked 35th in the country in job growth. Now you're running for president, and you're promising an economic plan in which everyone will earn a piece of the American dream. Given your record in Wisconsin, why should voters believe you? +p2895 +aVGovernor Christie, I want to engage you and Governor Huckabee in a subject that is a big issue in both of your campaigns, and that is entitlement reform. You say that you -- to save the system that you want to raise the retirement age -- have to raise the retirement age, and to cut benefits for Social Security and Medicare, and you say that some of the candidates here on the stage are lying. Governor Huckabee says he can save Social Security and Medicare without doing any of that. Is he lying? +p2896 +aVGovernor Huckabee? You say that changing entitlements, the kind of thing that Governor Christie is talking about, would be breaking a promise to the American people, and you say that you can keep those programs, save Social Security, save Medicare, without those kinds of reforms through a FairTax, which is a broad tax on consumption. Please explain to Governor Christie how that would work, and how you could save these programs without the kind of painful reforms he says we need? +p2897 +aV...Thirty seconds. +p2898 +aV...Alright, this is it. Thirty Seconds, finally. +p2899 +aVAll right. Enough. Mr. Trump. +p2900 +aVMr. Trump, you talk a lot about how you are the person on this stage to grow the economy, I want to ask you about your business records. From corporations, Trump corporations, casinos and hotels, have declared bankruptcy four times over the last quarter-century. +p2901 +aVNo, but the concept sir... +p2902 +aV... that's your line, but your companies have gone bankrupt. +p2903 +aVWell sir, let's just talk about the latest example......which is Trump Entertainment Resorts, which went bankrupt in 2009. In that case alone, lenders to your company lost over $1 billion and more than 1,100 people were laid off. +p2904 +aVIs that the way that you'd run the country? +p2905 +aVSo... +p2906 +aVSenator Rubio. Senator Rubio, more than 3,000 people sent us questions about the economy and jobs on Facebook. And here is a video question from Tania Cioloko from Philadelphia. Here she is. +p2907 +aVSenator, how do you answer Tania? +p2908 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. +p2909 +aVSenator Paul, closing statement. +p2910 +aVDr. Carson, closing statement. +p2911 +aVGovernor Bush, closing statement, sir. +p2912 +aVTonight, we're partnering with Google for an exclusive second-screen experience. Search Fox News debate on Google any time in the next two hours to access exclusive content. You can see the campaigns respond to the debate in real time, and you can weigh in by voting on the topics being discussed. Just go to google.com or open your Google search app and type in Fox News debate. +p2913 +aVNeurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. +p2914 +aVApparently Iowa's near Kentucky. +p2915 +aVSenator Rubio, I want to explore this sort of larger issue. The campaign has in a sense turned into a battle for the soul of the Republican party: establishment versus grassroots, pragmatic versus principle. You say that you can unite all of the factions inside the GOP. How? +p2916 +aVGovernor Kasich, I want to get back to this question of where conservatives are this year. You call yourself a, quote, "inside-outside guy, a reformer who knows how to get things done," but you reject the establishment label. First question is why do you reject it? And secondly, what do you say to Republican voters this year who view practical government experience as a liability and not an asset? +p2917 +aVDr. Carson, I want to pick up on that with you. Governor Kasich likes to say he knows how to land the plane. You've landed a lot of planes in the O.R. But what about the idea of running for president with no experience in government at all? +p2918 +aVGentlemen, we're now going to start to drill down into specific issues that are on voters' minds. I'm going to start with one of the biggest ones, which is foreign terror. According to Google, +p2919 +aVSenator Rubio, does Senator Cruz's record match his rhetoric? +p2920 +aVSenator Cruz, you've got 30 seconds. You were mentioned. +p2921 +aVGentlemen. +p2922 +aVMay I \u2014 may I just say, we are going to continue the questions about foreign terror, gentlemen, right after this break. +p2923 +aVThank you. Governor Christie, you have compared both Senators Cruz and Rubio to Barack Obama, saying that we cannot afford another inexperienced President. You've also said that Senator Cruz's vote to curtail the NSA surveillance program made America less safe. Is either of them ready to be Commander in Chief? +p2924 +aVGovernor Bush... +p2925 +aV... I don't think that your name was mentioned... +p2926 +aV... Sir, I think \u2014 I think the question was... +p2927 +aV... It's not my question that you get a chance to respond to, it's his answer. You don't get 30 seconds to respond to me... +p2928 +aV... You don't get 30 seconds to respond to me... +p2929 +aV... If I could go on. Sir, I know you like to argue about the rules, but we're going to conduct a debate... +p2930 +aV... Governor Bush... +p2931 +aVGovernor Bush, here's the question \u2014 I'm going to ask Governor Bush the question. You criticized several candidates in this field on this stage for what you call unrealistic ideas about how to fight terrorists, including Rubio, and Cruz on the issue of their refusing to give the President authority to enforce the redline in Syria. But, given the fact that your brother got us into two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that have still not ended. That have still not ended, what lessons have you learned from his mistakes, sir? +p2932 +aVSenator Cruz, now you get a chance to respond. +p2933 +aV... It is a debate, sir. +p2934 +aVI think the questions were about issues. Senator Rubio, what would you like to respond sir... +p2935 +aVThank you. +p2936 +aVGood. +p2937 +aVSenator Paul, go ahead. +p2938 +aVWell... ... we'll be talking about foreign policy a little bit later. We're going to talk... +p2939 +aVThis debate is just getting started. Coming up, the role of the federal government. But first, join tonight's conversation right from your home. Go to google.com or open your Google search app and search Fox News Debate to vote on which issue is most important to you in this election. More from the Iowa Events Center and the Republican presidential debate in a moment. +p2940 +aVGentlemen, we're going to turn now to what we call electability, issues that you're either facing in the primaries or issues that you're certainly going to face in a general election. So you may not be altogether unhappy if you're not included in this round. Senator Cruz, you pride yourself on standing up to the D.C. cartel, but as we've seen to a certain degree tonight, there's a price for standing up to the D.C. cartel. Thirteen Republican senators have endorsed other candidates, none have endorsed you. You \u2014 twice last year, you asked for a colleague to second a motion, a routine courtesy on the Senate floor, and no senator would do it. Top GOP officials worry that if you're at the top of the ticket \u2014 some officials \u2014 that not only will you lose the White House, but it will tank the ticket all the way down the line. The question is does your style sometimes get in the way of your ability to get things done, sir? +p2941 +aVGovernor Christie, two of your former top aides go on trial in May for fraud and conspiracy in the "Bridge-gate" case, the politically motivated closure of lanes to the George Washington Bridge. Another former aide who has already pleaded guilty and will likely testify for the government, as you know, says that you knew about this whole deal. Can the GOP take the chance of nominating you with this scandal still out there, sir? +p2942 +aVGentlemen, almost 60% of Republican caucus-goers identify themselves as Evangelicals, so I'd like to spend a few minutes exploring social issues. Governor Kasich, you talk a good deal about your faith. In fact, you say it played a role in your decision to expand Medicaid, and you say that when you meet Saint Peter at the Pearly Gates, he's going to ask what you did for the poor, not what you did to keep government small. Senator Cruz is on the opposite side of this issue from you, so does that mean that you're getting in and he isn't? +p2943 +aVGentlemen, we had a case study on religious liberty just this last summer. A county clerk in Kentucky named Kim Davis refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples after the Supreme Court ruling, saying that it violated her religious beliefs. Governor Christie, you said that she must follow the law or be moved to another job that would be in keeping with her conscience. But some conservatives say that that violates her religious liberty. +p2944 +aVThank you, sir. Senator Rubio, during the last debate, you said Governor Christie had changed his position and his mind on gun control, on common core, and backing President Obama's nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. He said you're wrong on the facts and you can't, quote, "slime your way to the White House." I assume in the last two weeks, you've done some fact-checking. Do you want to take anything back? +p2945 +aVThank you, senator. Senator Paul, in May on the campaign trail you, said you didn't get into politics to fight about abortion. You said you were more concerned about the national debt. Your answer is to turn abortion back to the states the way it was before Roe v. Wade. Does that mean that if a liberal state, let's say, wants to make abortion legal, that you're okay with that and what do you say to conservative voters who believe deeply that abortion is murder? +p2946 +aVSir, just 30 seconds to answer my specific... Just 30 seconds to answer my specific question. Do you favor the idea that abortion should be a states' rights issue and if a liberal state wants to make it legal, that that's their choice? Yes or no? +p2947 +aVThank you, sir. +p2948 +aVWe're not finished yet. More to come from the presidential debate, live from Des Moines, Iowa, next. And remember, to see how the campaigns are responding to the debate in real time, go togoogle.com or open your Google search app and search Fox News debate, and please stay with us. +p2949 +aVWe have another question from one of Youtube's top creators. Here it is. +p2950 +aVGovernor Bush, how do you answer Nabela? +p2951 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Cruz, change of subject. You called for an end to the renewable fuel standards which mandate that refineries blend biofuels, including ethanol into gasoline. As you well know, ethanol's a big industry in this state, $10 billion dollars a year. Last week, Terry Branstad, the popular Governor of Iowa... ... Who is in the hall tonight, said that you're bankrolled by big oil, and that Iowa voters would be making a mistake supporting you. Why should those voters side with you over the six- term governor of the state, sir? +p2952 +aVDr. Carson, I'd like to ask you about exactly that issue. Where are you on the mandatory ethanol standard, and precisely this question. Should government be in the business of picking winners and losers, or should it be left to the market place? +p2953 +aVDoctor, thank you. +p2954 +aVDr. Ben Carson. +p2955 +aVAnd don't forget, after all the talk, the first voting of the 2016 campaign happens in just four days. The first Americans to vote, the Iowa caucuses are Monday and Fox News will have complete coverage. +p2956 +asVSMITH +p2957 +(lp2958 +VGovernor Huckabee, same question to you. Where do you see the country right now? +p2959 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Thank you, candidates. Moving to the world stage. The middle east is on the brink of chaos. Iran continues to provoke the United States, North Korea claims it's tested a hydrogen bomb, and Afghanistan is in danger of falling back into Taliban hands. Critics of the administration say it's all due to lack of U.S. leadership. To you, Mrs. Fiorina, how do you see America's role in the world today? +p2960 +aVGovernor Huckabee, in Afghanistan, the Taliban is strengthening. Attacks are on the rise and thousands more civilians have been wounded or killed. Much of the Taliban surge can be attributed to the withdrawal of U.S. forces there. You have expressed skepticism with the war there, saying you see no end game in sight. What, then, is your solution to the growing conflict there? +p2961 +aVAll right, thank you, candidates. We're just getting started. Jobs, Homeland Security, gun rights, all those issues are coming up straight ahead. We're live from North Charleston and the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back. +p2962 +aVAll right, let's get started. Senator Santorum, to you first. President Obama has urged technology leaders to make it hard for terrorists to use technology to escape from justice. Hillary Clinton says social media companies can help by swiftly shutting down terrorist accounts. The companies say that they're already working with law enforcement and any proposed legislation would do more harm than good. Should companies like Facebook and Twitter be required by law to more actively \u2014 be more actively engaged in fighting terror? +p2963 +aVSenator, would you \u2014 would you require anything of those companies like Facebook and Twitter if you were president? +p2964 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2965 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee, you called President Obama's executive orders on gun control unconstitutional and completely insane. +p2966 +aVYou even told gun store owners to ignore the President's orders. Yet, innocent people are dying from gun violence in cities like Detroit, Chicago, and Charleston everyday. Is there anything that can be done at the federal level to prevent guns from falling into the hands of criminals? +p2967 +aV +p2968 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p2969 +aVSenator Santorum, many of our military leaders believe America's critical infrastructure is vulnerable to a terrorist attack. This is the power in our homes, the water we drink, the Internet and phone systems by which we stay connected. If attacked, these essential services that underpin American society could come to a grinding halt. Do you have a specific plan to protect us from this type of attack? +p2970 +aVSenator Santorum, I want to stay with you on this, moving to jobs and the economy. In his State of the Union Address the other night, President Obama touted his record on jobs, citing more than 14 million new jobs and boasted of nearly 900,000 manufacturing jobs added in the past six years. Do you dispute his track record of creating jobs? +p2971 +aVGovernor Huckabee, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mike Mullen, has said the greatest threat to our security is our national debt. Our national debt is now on pace to top $19 trillion. Yet, you as well as Ms. Fiorina have laid forward no plan to reform entitlements. How can you say you're going to pay down our country's debt without cutting Social Security or Medicare? +p2972 +aVOK. We're going to continue this conversation. We're taking a quick break and then coming up, the candidates' plans for strengthening the middle class. We're live in North Charleston with the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back. +p2973 +aVAll right, thanks, Trish. Well, let's get started with Ms. Fiorina. Today, the middle class represents about 50 percent of the U.S. population, down from about 61 percent back in 1971. That's according to Pew Research. The same research revealed a widening income gap in America. The rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. What will you do to strengthen a middle class that is no longer the majority? +p2974 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p2975 +aVThank you, Senator. We're not finished yet. More Republican Presidential Debate in North Charleston after this. +p2976 +aVWelcome back, it's time for the closing statements. Candidates will each get one minute, starting with Senator Santorum. Thank you very much, I want to thank the people of Charleston, which has become a little bit of a second home to me, because I am very privileged to have two young men who go to the Citadel here and they're here tonight, my son John and my son Daniel. +p2977 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Governor Mike Huckabee. +p2978 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2979 +aVAlright, this debate will last one hour. Each candidate will have up to 90 seconds to respond to each question. One minute for each follow up. When your time is up, you're going to hear this bell. Alright, that's it, so let's begin with Governor Christie. Governor, economically, our country is struggling with some of the anemic growth we have seen on record. More than 90 million Americans are unemployed, or they are not in the workforce altogether. The number of people now willing, able, and wanting to go to work is at a level that has fallen to a level we have not been since the 1970's. For those that are working, wages aren't budging while other things, costs, like housing, remain high. As President, what concrete steps will you take to get America back to work. +p2980 +aVThank you. Governor Huckabee, we're here Wisconsin, a state that has seen the biggest decline in middle-class households of any American state. With more than 120,000 manufacturing jobs being lost in the last 15 years. As we move away from a manufacturing economy to a services based, technological economy, how are you going to help the millions of Americans that are stuck in this transition? +p2981 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee, you have characterized entitlement reform as both political and economic suicide. Taxpayers currently spend more than $600 billion per year on social welfare programs, with the intended goal of getting people back on their feet and working again. Today a record number of Americans aren't even looking for work. Are our social welfare programs, while well-intended, creating a culture of dependency? If so, how will you fix it? +p2982 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2983 +aVDo you have something to add, Governor? +p2984 +aVAll right. Let's, let's bring Governor Christie in next. +p2985 +aVAll right. Well, let's get the \u2014 let's keep the conversation going. Let's bring Governor Christie in here because we're talking about national debt, climbing toward $19 trillion, Governor. Our federal government employed nearly three million workers, our tax code is more than 74,000 pages long. If you're elected President, Governor Christie, what concrete steps would you take to reduce the size of the federal government? +p2986 +aVGovernor Christie, China is stealing our technology. China is pirating our intellectual property, and China's hacking into our computers, spying on American corporations, and spying on our citizens. China also slaps tariffs on U.S. goods, making it harder for us to sell our products. How are you going to stop them? +p2987 +aV...Alright... +p2988 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p2989 +aVAll right. Governor Jindal, thank you. All right. Well, we are not finished yet. More from the Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee, next. +p2990 +aVSo would you change leadership at the Fed? +p2991 +aVSenator Santorum, thank you. I have a question for all of you. Americans connection to the military has been increasingly fading. As a society, how do we restore that sense of duty, that sense of pride, that was the hallmark of the greatest generation. Again, I'd like to ask each of you, 30 seconds each, beginning with Governor Jindal. +p2992 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p2993 +aVGovernor Christie. +p2994 +aVSenator Santorum. +p2995 +aVAlright, thank you gentlemen. That does it, everyone, for the first debate here in Milwaukee. In just about one hour from now, at 9:00PM Eastern, eight more candidates are going to be taking to the stage. Right now though, special coverage of the Republican Presidential Debate, live from Milwaukee, continues right here on Fox Business. +p2996 +asVBAKER +p2997 +(lp2998 +VThe candidates on stage tonight were selected based on their standing in an average of four national polls. Those standings determining their position on the stage. And here they are. At center stage, businessman Donald Trump. Neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson. +p2999 +aVTonight's rules are simple. Up to 90 second for each answer. One minute for each follow-up response. And if a candidate goes over their allotted time, you'll here this. +p3000 +aVMs. Fiorina, while you've all pointed out how weak the current recovery has been and how disappointing by any historical standards, in the general election, the Democrats will inevitably ask you and voters to compare the recent president's jobs performance. Now, in seven years under President Obama, the U.S. has added an average of 107,000 jobs a month. Under President Clinton, the economy added about 240,000 jobs a month. Under George W. Bush, it was only 13,000 a month. If you win the nomination, you'll probably be facing a Democrat named Clinton. How are you going to respond to the claim that Democratic presidents are better at creating jobs than Republicans? +p3001 +aVThank you. Thank you. Senator Paul, income inequality has been rising in the United States. Fifty years ago, for example, the average CEO of a big corporation in this country earned 20 times the average salary of one of his or her workers. Today, that CEO earns about 300 times the average salary of a worker. Does it matter at all that the gap between the rich and everyone else is widening? +p3002 +aVThank you, Senator. +p3003 +aVSenator Rubio... +p3004 +aVYes, one quick comment, yes. +p3005 +aVGovernor Bush... +p3006 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor, you...You should let Jeb speak. +p3007 +aVMr. Trump, Mr. Trump, you yourself \u2014 you yourself said let Governor Bush speak. Governor Bush? +p3008 +aVSenator Rubio? Senator... +p3009 +aVSenator Rubio, Senator Rubio, let me \u2014 let me take you to a question that I think gets to the root of a lot of the anxiety that people have in this country. The economy is undergoing a transformation through information technology. Americans are anxious that the new economy isn't producing higher-paying jobs. Many are concerned that the new wealth seems to be going mainly to innovators and investors. Meanwhile, with factories run by robots and shopping done increasingly on smartphones, many traditional jobs are just going away. How do you reassure American workers that their jobs are not being steadily replaced by machines? +p3010 +aVThank you. Senator Cruz \u2014 Senator Cruz, entitlements. You've argued for raising the retirement age and reducing benefits for future retirees, but reducing any sort of benefits for the elderly has always been notoriously hard to do politically. When Speaker Paul Ryan proposed replacing traditional Medicare with federally funded private plans a few years ago, a liberal group responded with a commercial that featured a granny being pushed off a cliff. What's going to be different this time? +p3011 +aV...I said for future retirees was your statement... +p3012 +aVSenator Rubio. Can I just come to Senator Rubio? We're coming to you, Mr. Trump, in one second. I \u2014 I promise. +p3013 +aVSenator Rubio, your tax plan includes a large expansion of child tax credits to raise off (ph) the tax incomes for low-income parents. A similar tax credit that you previously proposed in the Senate was estimated to cost as much as $170 billion a year, according to the Tax Foundation. Isn't \u2014 isn't there a risk you're just adding another expensive entitle program to an already overburdened federal budget? +p3014 +aVGovernor Kasich? Let me come to Governor Kasich. +p3015 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p3016 +aVVery quickly, Senator. +p3017 +aVPlease. +p3018 +aV...Gentleman, we need to move on... +p3019 +aV...We need to move... +p3020 +aV...We need too... +p3021 +aV...We do need to move on. Mr. Trump... +p3022 +aV...Very quick. +p3023 +aVLet's talk about \u2014 No, no, Governor, I really must move on. I really want to move on. Mr. Trump, let's talk about the international economy... +p3024 +aV...We really need to move on... +p3025 +aV...No, governor, I promise I will come to you... +p3026 +aV...Listen... +p3027 +aV...Mr. Trump, can I ask you about... +p3028 +aV...the U.S. just concluded an international trade agreement with 11 countries in the Pacific. You've said that you'd rather have no deal... +p3029 +aV...than sign the one that's on the table... +p3030 +aV...Most economists \u2014 most economists say that trade is boosted growth, and every single post war president has supported the expansion of international trade, including the last three republican presidents. Why would you reverse more than 50 years of U.S. trade policy? +p3031 +aVThe \u2014 the deal, as you say, the terms of the deal were published \u2014 were published just last week, the details, 5,000 pages of it, and 80 percent of U.S. trade with countries in the Pacific, these countries, these 11 countries, is actually tariff-free, and these \u2014 the trade deal only affects the other 20 percent. Which \u2014 are there particular parts of the deal that you think were badly negotiated? +p3032 +aVThere was a separate \u2014 separate... +p3033 +aVBut isn't that \u2014 isn't that part of the problem? When I say, Senator, that if \u2014 if this deal is not ratified by \u2014 by the U.S. \u2014 by the Senate, then it would actually give China an opportunity to grow its economic leadership, which it's been seeking to do? And if the U.S. is unable to take part in this trade deal with these countries in Asia, China will take the lead? +p3034 +aVThank you. Thanks, Senator. +p3035 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich, I want to ask you about China, in particular hundreds of American companies have been subjected to cyber attacks from the Chinese military, yet state-backed Chinese companies, growing their presence in the United States, Chinese investments in U.S., which were nearly nonexistent a few years ago, are now over $50 billion. And as my newspaper recently reported, Chinese companies are planning to bid for one of the largest hotel chains in the United States, what would be the largest ever Chinese takeover of a U.S. company. Would you stop them? +p3036 +aVThank you, Governor. Plenty of opportunities. Thank you. Neil? +p3037 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate, live from Milwaukee. Now let's get straight back to the questions, and Governor Bush. Governor, Hillary Clinton recently said that if we had another financial crisis like the one in 2008, she wouldn't bail out the banks. Would you? +p3038 +aVBut, Governor, but can I just quickly \u2014 did \u2014 you can't seriously guarantee that there won't be another financial crisis, can you? +p3039 +aVEver? There will never be another financial crisis? +p3040 +aVDr. Carson, if I may, just on that point, despite measures taken, as the governor says, since the crisis to make the financial system safer, the major banks in the U.S., many of them are actually bigger than ever. Asset held by JPMorgan Chase, for example, the very largest bank, have increased by nearly 40 percent to over $2.6 trillion. Do you think JPMorgan and the other big banks should be broken up? +p3041 +aVBut just to be clear, just \u2014 just to be clear, then, you wouldn't \u2014 you wouldn't favor breaking up the big banks? You think they're big enough \u2014 they're OK as they are, as big as they are? +p3042 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p3043 +aVThank you. +p3044 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate. And now, candidates, it's time for your closing statements. You get 30 seconds each, and, Senator Paul, we will begin with you. +p3045 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p3046 +asVHOLT +p3047 +(lp3048 +VGood evening and welcome to the NBC News Youtube Democratic candidate's debate. After all the campaigning, soon, Americans will have their say with the first votes of the 2016 campaign just 15 days away in Iowa. And New Hampshire not far behind. Tonight will be the final opportunity to see these candidates face to face before the voting begins. Our purpose here tonight is to highlight and examine the differences among the three Democratic candidates. So let's get started. Please welcome Secretary Hillary Clinton, Senator Bernie Sanders and Governor Martin O'Malley. Well, welcome to all of you. Hope you're excited, we're excited. We want to thank our hosts, the Congressional Black Caucus Institute. I'm joined by my colleague Andrea Mitchell tonight. The rules are simple. Sixty seconds for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups or rebuttals. I know you'll all keep exactly to time, so our job should be pretty easy here tonight. We'll have questions from the Youtube community throughout the debate. This is a critical point in the race. You've been defining your differences with each other especially vigorously in the last week on the campaign trail. We're here to facilitate this conversation on behalf of the voters so that they know exactly where you stand as you face off tonight. Let's have a great debate. We'll begin with 45 second opening statements from each candidate, starting with Secretary Clinton. +p3049 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders, your opening statement, sir. +p3050 +aVSenator, thank you. And Governor O'Malley, your opening statement, sir. O' +p3051 +aVAll right. And Governor, thank you. All right, to our first question, now. The first question, I'll be addressing to all of the candidates. President Obama came to office determined to swing for the fences on health care reform. Voters want to know how you would define your presidency? How would you think big? So complete this sentence: in my first 100 days in office, my top three priorities will be \u2014 fill in the blank. Senator Sanders. +p3052 +aVSecretary Clinton, same question, my first 100 days in office, my top three priorities will be. +p3053 +aVGovernor O'Malley, same question. O' +p3054 +aVThank you. You've all... O' +p3055 +aVAll right governor thank you. We've all laid out large visions and we're going to cover a lot of the ground you talked about as we continue in the evening. The last couple of weeks of this campaign have featured some of the sharpest exchanges in the race. Let's start with one of them, the issue of guns. Senator Sanders, last week Secretary Clinton called you quote, "a pretty reliable vote for the gun lobby." Right before the debate you changed your position on immunity from lawsuits for gun manufacturers, can you tell us why? +p3056 +aVSenator, but you didn't answer the question that you did change your position on immunity from gun manufacturers. So can you... +p3057 +aVSecretary Clinton, would you like to respond to Senator Sanders. +p3058 +aVAll right, Governor O'Malley, you signed tough gun control measures as governor of Maryland and there are a lot Democrats in the audience here in South Carolina who own guns. This conversation might be worrying many of them. They may be hearing, "you want to take my guns. What would you say to them? O' +p3059 +aVAlright, Governor, thank you. Secretary Clinton, this is a community that has suffered a lot of heartache in the last year. Of course, as you mentioned, the church shootings. We won't forget the video of Walter Scott being shot in the back while running from police. We understand that a jury will decide whether that police officer was justified, but it plays straight to the fears of many African American men that their lives are cheap. Is that perception, or in your view, is it reality? +p3060 +aVYou time is up. Senator Sanders, my next question is... +p3061 +aV... It's actually \u2014 actually my next question is to you... +p3062 +aVSenator Sanders... +p3063 +aVSenator. Senator Sanders... +p3064 +aV... Just over a week ago the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus endorsed Secretary Clinton, not you. He said that choosing her over you was not a hard decision. In fact, our polling shows she's beating you more than two to one among minority voters. How can you be the nominee if you don't have that support? +p3065 +aVGovernor, I'm going to come to you in a second. Google searches for the words, "Black Lives Matter" surpassed, "civil rights movement". And, here in South Carolina, "black lives matter" was the number one trending political issue. +p3066 +aVAll right. Let's talk... O' +p3067 +aVLet's talk more about policing and the criminal justice system. Senator Sanders, a few times tonight we're going to hear from some of the most prominent voices on YouTube, starting with Franchesca Ramsey, who tackles racial stereotypes through her videos. Let's watch. +p3068 +aVSenator Sanders. +p3069 +aVWould you like me to read it back to you? +p3070 +aVProsecutors \u2014 "I believe there's a huge conflict of interest when local prosecutors investigate cases of police violence within their communities. Most recently, we saw this with a non- indictment of the officers involved in the case of 12-year-old Tamir Rice. How would you presidency ensure incidents of police violence are investigated and prosecuted fairly?" +p3071 +aVSecretary Clinton, this question is for you. Tonight parts of America are in the grip of a deadly heroin epidemic, spanning race and class, hitting small towns and cities alike. It has become a major issue in this race. In a lot of places where you've been campaigning, despite an estimated trillion dollars spent, many say the war on drugs has failed. So what would you do? +p3072 +aVAnd that's time. +p3073 +aVSenator... +p3074 +aVSenator Sanders, would you like to respond? +p3075 +aVThat's... +p3076 +aV... time. +p3077 +aVWe're going to get into all that coming up. O' +p3078 +aVBut we're going to take a break and we need to take a break... O' +p3079 +aV... and when we come back, the anger brewing in America. +p3080 +aVWelcome back to Charleston. Let's turn to another area where there has been fierce disagreement \u2014 that would be health care. Senator Sanders and Secretary Clinton, you both mentioned it in your 100-day priorities. Let's turn to my colleague, Andrea Mitchell now to lead that questioning. +p3081 +aVAnd that's time. We're gonna take a turn now. Secretary Clinton, in his final State of the Union address, President Obama said his biggest regret was his inability to bring the country together. If President Obama couldn't do it, how will you? O' +p3082 +aVThat's time. Senator Sanders, response. +p3083 +aVThat's time. But let me continue with the... +p3084 +aVSenator Sanders, let me continue, you call yourself a Democratic socialist... +p3085 +aVAnd throughout your career in politics, you've been critical of the Democratic party, you've been saying in a book you wrote, quote, "There wasn't a hell of a big difference between the the two major parties." How would you will a general election... +p3086 +aVHow will you win a general election labeling yourself a democratic socialist? +p3087 +aVYes, but senator, you can... +p3088 +aVAnd that is right. +p3089 +aVSecretary Clinton, our next question is for you. Here's another quantitative problem. +p3090 +aVAnd we're going to get into that coming up. But Secretary Clinton, here's a question from YouTube. It's from a young video blogger who has over 5 million subscribers. He has a question about the importance of younger voters. +p3091 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p3092 +aVThat's time... +p3093 +aVA quick follow up \u2014 a thirty second follow up. Why is Senator Sanders beating you to 2 to 1 among younger votes? +p3094 +aVWe're going to take... +p3095 +aVWe're going to take a break. When we come back; big banks, big business and big differences among the three candidates on the American Economy. We'll be right back. +p3096 +aVWelcome back from Charleston. Let's turn now to the economy. Senator Sanders, you released a tough new ad last week in which without mentioning Secretary Clinton by name, you talk about two Democratic visions for regulating Wall Street. "One says it's OK to take millions from big banks and tell them what to do. My plan, break up the big banks, close the tax loopholes and make them pay their fair share." What do you see as the difference between what you would do about the banks and what Secretary Clinton would do? +p3097 +aVSecretary Clinton, help the voter understand the daylight between the two of you here. +p3098 +aVSenator Sanders, your response. +p3099 +aVThat's time. Governor O'Malley... +p3100 +aVI have a question for you... +p3101 +aVThirty-second response. +p3102 +aVGovernor O'Malley. O' +p3103 +aVSecretary Clinton, 30-second response. +p3104 +aVThat's time. Andrea. +p3105 +aV... Senator... +p3106 +aVWe have got a lot to ground to cover here. Many Democratic voters are passionate about the need to do something to combat the threat of climate change, including the team of scientists from Youtube's MinuteEarth channel. Here's their take. +p3107 +aVSenator Sanders, Americans love their SUVs, which spiked in sales last year as gas prices plummeted. How do you convince Americans that the problem of climate change is so urgent that they need to change their behavior? +p3108 +aVGovernor O'Malley, 30 seconds. O' +p3109 +aVThat's time. We're going to take a break. +p3110 +aVWhen we return, the late-breaking developments regarding Iran. The threat of +p3111 +aVCharleston, Andrea Mitchell has questions now starting with Iran. +p3112 +aVSenator Sanders mentioned Russia a moment ago. Secretary Clinton, you famously handed Russia's foreign minister a reset button in 2009. Since then, Russia has annexed Crimea, fomented a war in Ukraine, provided weapons that downed an airliner and launched operations, as we just did discuss, to support Assad in Syria. As president, would you hand Vladimir Putin a reset button? +p3113 +aVWhat's your relationship with him? +p3114 +aVWe to want turn right now to the issue of balancing national security concerns with the privacy rights of Americans. That brings us to YouTube and this question. +p3115 +aVSo, Governor O'Malley. O' +p3116 +aVThat's time. You have all talked about what you would do fighting +p3117 +aVThat's a question to Senator Sanders. I wasn't clear, I apologize. +p3118 +aVBut in terms of lone wolves, the threat, how would you do it? +p3119 +aVWe have to go to a \u2014 we have to go to a break, and when we come back, we're going to get to some of the burning questions these candidates have yet to answer and are totally eager to talk about. +p3120 +aVAnd welcome back to Charleston. As we were going to a break, Secretary Clinton, I cut you off. I'll give you 30 seconds to respond on the issue of lone wolves. O' +p3121 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p3122 +aVAnd Andrea has a follow-up. O' +p3123 +aVAll right, that's time, and \u2014 and we do......we do have to move on. Secretary Clinton, this is the first time... +p3124 +aVThirty \u2014 30 \u2014 30 seconds, Senator. +p3125 +aVAll right. Secretary Clinton......this is the first time that a spouse of a former president could be elected president. You have said that President Clinton would advise you on economic issues, but be specific, if you can. Are you talking about a kitchen-table role on economics, or will he have a real policy role? +p3126 +aVSenator sanders, a 30 second response, sir. +p3127 +aVWe will take a break. We'll continue from Charleston right after this. +p3128 +aVWelcome back everybody. Finally, before we go tonight, we set out here to understand points of differences between you. We believe we've learned a lot here, but before we leave, is there anything that you really wanted to say tonight that you haven't gotten a chance to say. And, we'll start with Governor O'Malley. Didn't see that coming, did you? O' +p3129 +aVSixty seconds, we'd appreciate it. O' +p3130 +aVAnd that's time. O' +p3131 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p3132 +aVAnd that's time. +p3133 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders? +p3134 +asVCHAFEE +p3135 +(lp3136 +VThank you, Anderson. Thank you, CNN, and thank you Facebook for organizing this debate. Not only will Americans be electing a new president next year, we also will be electing a world leader. Voters should assess the candidate's experience, character and vision for the future as they make this important decision. I'm the only one running for president that has been a mayor, a United States senator, and a governor. As mayor, I brought labor peace to my city and kept taxes down. I was reelected three times. As a senator, I earned a reputation for courageous votes against the Bush-Cheney tax cuts the favored the wealthy, against the tragedy of the Iraq war, for environmental stewardship, for protection of our civil liberties. I served on the Foreign Relations Committee and I chaired the Middle East Subcommittee for four years. As governor, I came in at the depths of the recession and we turned my state around. Rhode Island had the biggest drop of the unemployment rate over my four budgets of all but one state. It happens to be Nevada, where we're having this debate. I'm very proud that over my almost 30 years of public service, I have had no scandals. I've always been honest. I have the courage to take the long-term view, and I've shown good judgment. I have high ethical standards. As we look to the future, I want to address the income inequality, close the gap between the haves and the have-nots. I want to address climate change, a real threat to our planet. And I believe in prosperity through peace. I want to end these wars. I look forward to the discussion ahead. Thank you +p3137 +aVAnderson, you're looking at a block of granite when it comes to the issues. Whether it's... +p3138 +aVDid you hear what I said? On the issues. I have not changed on the issues. I was a liberal Republican, then I was an independent, and now I'm a proud Democrat. But I have not changed on the issues. And I open my record to scrutiny. Whether it's on the environment, a woman's right to choose, gay marriage, fiscal responsibility, aversion to foreign entanglements, using the tools of government to help the less fortunate. Time and time again, I have never changed. You're looking at a block of granite when it comes to the issues. So I have not changed. +p3139 +aVThe party left me. There's no doubt about that. There was no room for a liberal moderate Republican in that party. I even had a primary for my reelection in 2006. I won it. But the money poured in to defeat me in Rhode Island as a Republican. That's what we were up against. +p3140 +aVYes, I have a good record of voting for gun commonsense safety legislation, but the reality is, despite these tragedies that happen time and time again, when legislators step up to pass commonsense gun safety legislation, the gun lobby moves in and tells the people they're coming to take away your guns. And, they're successful at it, in Colorado and others states, the legislators that vote for commonsense gun safety measures then get defeated. I even saw in Rhode Island. So, I would bring the gun lobby in and say we've got to change this. Where can we find common ground? Wayne Lapierre from the NRA, whoever it is, the leaders. Come one, we've go to change this. We're not coming to take away your guns, we believe in the Second Amendment, but let's find common ground here. +p3141 +aVWell, we just heard Senator Sanders say that it's the worst decision in American history. That's very significant, the worst decision in American history, I just heard from Senator Sanders. So, as we look ahead, if you're going to make those poor judgment calls, a critical time in our history, we just finished with the Vietnam era, getting back into another quagmire \u2014 if you're looking ahead, and you're looking at someone who made that poor decision in 2002 to go into Iraq when there was no real evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq \u2014 I know because I did my homework, and, so, that's an indication of how someone will perform in the future. And that's what's important. +p3142 +aVOK. I just have to answer one thing that Senator Webb said about the Iran deal, because I'm a strong proponent of what President Obama \u2014 and he said that because of that the Iran deal that enabled Russia to come in. No, that's not true, Senator Webb. I respect your foreign policy chops. But Russia is aligned with Iran and with Assad and the Alawite Shias in Syria. So that Iran deal did not allow Russia to come in. +p3143 +aVIt's certainly the chaos in the Middle East. There's no doubt about it. +p3144 +aVAnd it all started with the Iraq invasion. +p3145 +aVAbsolutely. We have to repair American credibility after we told the world that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, which he didn't. So there's an issue of American credibility out there. So any time someone is running to be our leader, and a world leader, which the American president is, credibility is an issue out there with the world. And we have repair work to be done. I think we need someone that has the best in ethical standards as our next president. That's how I feel. +p3146 +aVThe Glass-Steagall was my very first vote, I'd just arrived, my dad had died in office, I was appointed to the office, it was my very first vote. +p3147 +aVI'd just arrived at the Senate. I think we'd get some takeovers, and that was one. It was my very first vote, and it was 92-5. It was the... +p3148 +aVBut let me just say... +p3149 +aVI think you're being a little rough. I'd just arrived at the United States Senate. I'd been mayor of my city. My dad had died. I'd been appointed by the governor. It was the first vote and it was 90-5, because it was a conference report. But let me just say about income inequality. We've had a lot of talk over the last few minutes, hours, or tens of minutes, but no one is saying how we're going to fix it. And it all started with the Bush tax cuts that favored the wealthy. So let's go back to the tax code. And 0.6 percent of Americans are at the top echelon, over 464,000, 0.6 Americans. That's less than 1 percent. But they generate 30 percent of the revenue. And they're doing fine. +p3150 +aVSo there's still a lot more money to be had from this top echelon. I'm saying let's have another tier and put that back into the tax bracket. And that will generate $42 billion. +p3151 +aVAnd then we can help the middle class and hard-earning Americans \u2014 hard-working Americans. +p3152 +aVNo, that was another 99 to one vote for the Patriot Act, and it was seen as at the time modernizing our ability to do what we've always done to tap phones which always required a warrant. And I voted for that. +p3153 +aVNo, no. As long as you're getting a warrant, I believe that under the Fourth Amendment, you should be able to do surveillance, but you need a warrant. That's what the Fourth Amendment says. And in the Patriot Act, section 215 started to get broadened too far. So I would be in favor of addressing and reforming section 215 of the Patriot Act. +p3154 +aVNo, I would bring him home. The courts have ruled that what he did \u2014 what he did was say the American... +p3155 +aV... the American government was acting illegally. That's what the federal courts have said; what Snowden did showed that the American government was acting illegally for the Fourth Amendment. So I would bring him home. +p3156 +aVCertainly, ending the wars. We've got to stop these wars. You have to have a new dynamic, a new paradigm. We just spent a half-billion dollars arming and training soldiers, the rebel soldiers in Syria. They quickly join the other side. We bombed the... +p3157 +aVI'd like to finish my question \u2014 my answer. And also we just bombed a hospital. We've had drone strikes that hit civilian weddings. So I would change how we \u2014 our approach to the Middle East. We need a new paradigm in the Middle East. +p3158 +aVI guess the coal lobby. I've worked hard for climate change and I want to work with the coal lobby. But in my time in the Senate, tried to bring them to the table so that we could address carbon dioxide. I'm proud to be at odds with the coal lobby. +p3159 +aVThank you, Anderson. Thank you, CNN. And thank you, Facebook, for sponsoring this debate. America has many challenges confronting us \u2014 ending the perpetual wars, addressing climate change, addressing income inequality, funding education, funding infrastructure, funding healthcare, helping black Americans, helping Native Americans. We have many challenges. Who is best able to confront these challenges? I've served in government at many levels. I know what it's like to solve problems at the local level because I did it as mayor. I know how to get legislation passed through Congress because I did it as a senator. I know how to turn around a state because I did as governor of Rhode Island. But what I'm most proud of is that in 30 years of public service, I have had no scandals. I have high ethical standards. And what I'm most proud of is my judgment, particularly in the Iraq war vote. There was a lot of pressure \u2014 political pressure, public pressure. But I did my homework and I did not believe that the evidence was there that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. And we live now with the consequences. So that kind of judgment is what we want in a president going forward. And I'm running for president to end the wars. I want to be the peacemaker. I am a proven peacemaker. Please go to Chafee 2016 to learn more about me. Thank you. +p3160 +asVBROWNLEE +p3161 +(lp3162 +VHi, my name Marques Brownlee, and I've been making YouTube videos about electronics and gadgets for the past seven years. I think America's future success is tied to getting all kinds of tech right. Tech companies are responsible for the encryption technology to protect personal data, but the government wants a back door into that information. So do you think it's possible to find common ground? And where do you stand on privacy versus security? +p3163 +asVCOOPER +p3164 +(lp3165 +VI'm Anderson Cooper. Thanks for joining us. We've already welcomed the candidates on stage. They are in place at their podiums. Before we dive into the issues, I want to quickly explain some of the groundrules tonight. As the moderator, I'll ask questions, followups and guide the discussion. I'll be joined in the questioning by CNN's Juan Carlos Lopez and Dana Bash, a well as Don Lemon who will share questions from Democrats around the country. Each candidate will get one minute to answer questions, and 30 seconds for followups and rebuttals. I'll give candidates time to respond if they have been singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know that we have lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. I want the candidates to be able to introduce themselves to our audience. Each candidate will have two minutes to introduce themselves. Let's begin with Governor Chafee. Governor? +p3166 +aVThank you very much, Governor. Senator Webb, you have two minutes. +p3167 +aVGovernor O'Malley, you have two minutes. O' +p3168 +aVGovernor O'Malley, thank you very much. Senator Sanders. +p3169 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p3170 +aVThank you, all. It is time to start the debate. Are you all ready? All right. Let's begin. We're going to be discussing a lot of the issues, many of the issues, important issues that you have brought up. But I want to begin with concerns that voters have about each of the candidates here on this stage that they have about each of you. Secretary Clinton, I want to start with you. Plenty of politicians evolve on issues, but even some Democrats believe you change your positions based on political expediency. You were against same-sex marriage. Now you're for it. You defended President Obama's immigration policies. Now you say they're too harsh. You supported his trade deal dozen of times. You even called it the "gold standard". Now, suddenly, last week, you're against it. Will you say anything to get elected? +p3171 +aVSecretary Clinton, though, with all due respect, the question is really about political expediency. Just in July, New Hampshire, you told the crowd you'd, quote, "take a back seat to no one when it comes to progressive values." Last month in Ohio, you said you plead guilty to, quote, "being kind of moderate and center." Do you change your political identity based on who you're talking to? +p3172 +aVJust for the record, are you a progressive, or are you a moderate? +p3173 +aVSecretary... +p3174 +aV...thank you... +p3175 +aV...Senator... +p3176 +aVSenator Sanders. A Gallup poll says half the country would not put a socialist in the White House. You call yourself a democratic socialist. How can any kind of socialist win a general election in the United States? +p3177 +aVDenmark is a country that has a population \u2014 Denmark is a country that has a population of 5.6 million people. The question is really about electability here, and that's what I'm trying to get at. You \u2014 the \u2014 the Republican attack ad against you in a general election \u2014 it writes itself. You supported the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. You honeymooned in the Soviet Union. And just this weekend, you said you're not a capitalist. Doesn't \u2014 doesn't that ad write itself? +p3178 +aVYou don't consider yourself a capitalist, though? +p3179 +aVJust let me just be clear. Is there anybody else on the stage who is not a capitalist? +p3180 +aVSenator Sanders? +p3181 +aVWe're going to get... +p3182 +aVWe're going to have a lot more on these issues. But I do want to just quickly get everybody in on the question of electability. Governor Chafee, you've been everything but a socialist. When you were senator from Rhode Island, you were a Republican. When you were elected governor, you were an independent. You've only been a Democrat for little more than two years. Why should Democratic voters trust you won't change again? +p3183 +aVIt seems like pretty soft granite. I mean, you've been a Republican, you've been an independent. +p3184 +aVThen why change labels? +p3185 +aVGovernor O'Malley, the concern of voters about you is that you tout our record as Baltimore's mayor. As we all know, we all saw it. That city exploded in riots and violence in April. The current top prosecutor in Baltimore, also a Democrat, blames your zero tolerance policies for sowing the seeds of unrest. Why should Americans trust you with the country when they see what's going on in the city that you ran for more than seven years? O' +p3186 +aVShe actually \u2014 just for the record, when she was asked which policies, to name two, she said zero tolerance. I mean, there's a number of old policies that we're seeing the results of. That distress of communities, where communities don't want to step forward and say who killed a 3-year-old, it's a direct result of these failed policies. O' +p3187 +aVIn one year alone, though, 100,000 arrests were made in your city, a city of 640,000 people. The +p3188 +aVThank you, Governor. O' +p3189 +aVSenator Webb, in 2006, you called affirmative action "state-sponsored racism." In 2010, you wrote an op/ed saying it discriminates against whites. Given that nearly half the Democratic Party is non-white, aren't you out of step with where the Democratic Party is now? +p3190 +aVSenator Webb, thank you very much. Let's move on to some of the most pressing issues facing our country right now, some of the biggest issues right now in the headlines today. We're going to start with guns. The shooting in Oregon earlier this month, once again it brought the issue of guns into the national conversation. Over the last week, guns have been the most discussed political topic on Facebook by two to one. Senator Sanders, you voted against the Brady bill that mandated background checks and a waiting period. You also supported allowing riders to bring guns in checked bags on Amtrak trains. For a decade, you said that holding gun manufacturers legally responsible for mass shootings is a bad idea. Now, you say you're reconsidering that. Which is it: shield the gun companies from lawsuits or not? +p3191 +aVDo you want to shield gun companies from lawsuits? +p3192 +aVSecretary Clinton, is Bernie Sanders tough enough on guns? +p3193 +aVWe're going to bring you all in on this. But, Senator Sanders, you have to give a response. +p3194 +aVGovernor O'Malley, you passed gun legislation as governor of Maryland, but you had a Democratic-controlled legislature. President Obama couldn't convince Congress to pass gun legislation after the massacres in Aurora, in Newtown, and Charleston. How can you? O' +p3195 +aVSenator Sanders, I want you to be able to respond, 30 seconds. +p3196 +aVLet me bring in somebody who has a different viewpoint. Senator Webb, your rating from the NRA, you once had an A rating from the NRA. You've said gun violence goes down when more people are allowed to carry guns. Would encouraging more people to be armed be part of your response to a mass shooting? +p3197 +aVSenator... +p3198 +aVSenator \u2014 Governor Chafee, you have an F rating from the NRA, what do you think about what Senator Webb just said? +p3199 +aVI want to... O' +p3200 +aV...I want to move on to another issue, which is in the headlines right now, another crisis making headlines. Secretary Clinton, Russia, they're challenging the U.S. in Syria. According to U.S. intelligence, they've lied about who they're bombing. You spearheaded the reset with Russia. Did you underestimate the Russians, and as president, what would your response to Vladimir Putin be right now in Syria? +p3201 +aVSenator Sanders, what would you do differently. +p3202 +aVOn this issue of foreign policy, I want to go to... +p3203 +aVI want to go to Dana Bash. Dana? +p3204 +aVBut, Senator Sanders, you didn't answer the question. Under what \u2014 under what circumstances would you actually use force? +p3205 +aVI'm gonna bring you all in on this. Governor \u2014 Governor O'Malley, Secretary Clinton... +p3206 +aVSecretary Clinton voted to authorize military force in Iraq, supported more troops in Afghanistan. As Secretary of State, she wanted to arm Syrian rebels and push for the bombing of Libya. Is she too quick to use military force? O' +p3207 +aVDoes she \u2014 does she want to use military force too rapidly? O' +p3208 +aVGovernor O'Malley, just for the record, on the campaign trail, you've been saying that Secretary Clinton is always quick for the \u2014 for the military intervention. Senator \u2014 Secretary Clinton, you can respond. +p3209 +aVWell \u2014 yes, you'll be coming in next, but she was directly quoted, Senator. +p3210 +aVOK. +p3211 +aVSecretary? +p3212 +aVThank you. +p3213 +aVThank you, Secretary. +p3214 +aVSenator Webb, you said as president you would never have used military force in Libya and that the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi was, in your words, "inevitable." Should Secretary Clinton have seen that attack coming? +p3215 +aVSenator... +p3216 +aVYou're over your time as of now. +p3217 +aVYou agreed to these debate rules. +p3218 +aVSenator Sanders, I want you to be able to respond. +p3219 +aVI'd like you to be able to respond and get in on this. +p3220 +aVHe doesn't seem to be the type of guy to regret a lot. +p3221 +aVSecretary Clinton, on the campaign trail, Governor Webb has said that he would never have used military force in Libya and that the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi was inevitable. Should you have seen that attack coming? +p3222 +aVBut American citizens did lose their lives in Benghazi. +p3223 +aVGovernor O'Malley? +p3224 +aVSenator Webb, I want you to be able to respond. +p3225 +aVSenator Webb? +p3226 +aVSecretary (sic) Webb, you served in Vietnam. You're a marine. Once a marine, always a marine. You served as a marine in Vietnam. You're a decorated war hero. You eventually became secretary of the navy. During the Vietnam War, the man standing next to you, Senator Sanders, applied for status as a conscientious objector. Given his history, can he serve as a credible commander-in-chief? +p3227 +aVSenator Sanders, tell an American soldier who is watching right now tonight in Afghanistan why you can be commander-in- chief given that you applied for conscientious objector status. +p3228 +aVVery quickly, 30 seconds for each of you. Governor Chafee, who or what is the greatest national security threat to the United States? I want to go down the line. +p3229 +aVOK. Senator, I can give you 30 seconds to respond. +p3230 +aVThirty seconds for each of you. Governor Chafee, what is the greatest national security threat to the United States? +p3231 +aVOK. +p3232 +aVGovernor O'Malley? O' +p3233 +aVSecretary Clinton, the greatest national security threat? +p3234 +aVSenator Sanders, greatest national security threat? +p3235 +aVSenator Webb? +p3236 +aVAll right. We're going to take a short break. Do these candidates see eye to eye on an issue that is driving a big wedge between Republicans? That is next. We'll be right back. +p3237 +aVAnd welcome back. We are live in Nevada, in Las Vegas, at the Wynn Resort for the first Democratic presidential debate. The questions continue. We begin with Secretary Clinton. Secretary Clinton, you are going to be testifying before Congress next week about your e-mails. For the last eight months, you haven't been able to put this issue behind you. You dismissed it; you joked about it; you called it a mistake. What does that say about your ability to handle far more challenging crises as president? +p3238 +aVSecretary... +p3239 +aVSecretary Clinton, Secretary Clinton, with all due respect, it's a little hard \u2014 I mean, isn't it a little bit hard to call this just a partisan issue? There's an FBI investigation, and President Obama himself just two days ago said this is a legitimate issue. +p3240 +aVThank you. +p3241 +aVSenator Sanders? +p3242 +aVIt's obviously very popular in this crowd, and it's \u2014 hold on. I know that plays well in this room. But I got to be honest, Governor Chafee, for the record, on the campaign trail, you've said a different thing. You said this is a huge issue. Standing here in front of Secretary Clinton, are you willing to say that to her face? +p3243 +aVSecretary Clinton, do you want to respond? +p3244 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor... Governor O'Malley... Governor, it's popular in the room, but a lot of people do want to know these answers. Governor O'Malley, you expressed concern on the campaign trail that the Democratic Party is, and I quote, "being defined by Hillary Clinton's email scandal." You heard her answer, do you still feel that way tonight? O' +p3245 +aV...Thank you, governor. O' +p3246 +aVI want to talk about issues of race in America, for that I want to start of with Don Lemon. +p3247 +aVThe question from Arthur... +p3248 +aV...Do black lives matter, or do all lives matter? Let's put that question to Senator Sanders. +p3249 +aVGovernor O'Malley, the question from Arthur was do black lives matter, or do all lives matter? O' +p3250 +aVSecretary Clinton, what would you do for African Americans in this country that President Obama couldn't? +p3251 +aV...Thank you, Senator... +p3252 +aVSenator... +p3253 +aVSenator Webb? +p3254 +aVThanks, sir. +p3255 +aVSenator Sanders, let's talk about income inequality. Wages and incomes are flat. You've argued that the gap between rich and poor is wider than at any time since the 1920s. We've had a Democratic president for seven years. What are you going to be able to do that President Obama didn't? +p3256 +aVSecretary Clinton... +p3257 +aVI'll let you jump in a moment. Everybody will get in on this in a moment. Secretary Clinton, how would you address this issue? In all candor, you and your husband are part of the one percent. How can you credibly represent the views of the middle class? +p3258 +aVGovernor O'Malley, (inaudible). O' +p3259 +aVJust for viewers at home who may not be reading up on this, Glass-Steagall is the Depression-era banking law repealed in 1999 that prevented commercial banks from engaging in investment banking and insurance activities. Secretary Clinton, he raises a fundamental difference on this stage. Senator Sanders wants to break up the big Wall Street banks. You don't. You say charge the banks more, continue to monitor them. Why is your plan better? +p3260 +aVSenator Sanders, Secretary Clinton just said that her policy is tougher than yours. +p3261 +aVWhy? +p3262 +aVSenator... +p3263 +aVSecretary Clinton, you have to be able to respond. He brought you up. +p3264 +aV +p3265 +aVThank you. Thank you. Senator Sanders... +p3266 +aVGovernor O'Malley? Where do you stand? +p3267 +aVSecretary Clinton... O' +p3268 +aVI have to let you respond. +p3269 +aVThank you. +p3270 +aVThank... +p3271 +aVSenator Sanders... Senator Sanders, in 2008, congressional leaders were told, without the 2008 bailout, the U.S. was possibly days away from a complete meltdown. Despite that, you still voted against it. As president, would you stand by your principles if it risked the country's financial stability? +p3272 +aVWe're going to talk about that in a minute. But, Senator Webb, I want to get you in. You have said neither party has the guts to take on Wall Street. Is the system rigged? +p3273 +aVYou agreed to these rules and you're wasting time. So if you would finish your answer, we'll move on. +p3274 +aVGovernor Chafee, you have attacked Secretary Clinton for being too close to Wall Street banks. In 1999 you voted for the very bill that made banks bigger. +p3275 +aVAre you saying you didn't know what you were voting for? +p3276 +aVWell, with all due respect, Governor... +p3277 +aV... what does that say about you that you're casting a vote for something you weren't really sure about? +p3278 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3279 +aVI want to bring in Dana Bash. +p3280 +aVDana? +p3281 +aVSenator Sanders, I want to bring it over to Juan Carlos Lopez from CNN en Espanol. We're obviously in Nevada. It's had the highest percentage of undocumented immigrants of any state in the country as of last year. Juan Carlos? +p3282 +aVSenator Webb... O' +p3283 +aV...Thank you, Senator. +p3284 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p3285 +aV...Secretary... +p3286 +aVSecretary Clinton, let me ask you. Two of your rivals from your left, Governor O'Malley, and Senator Sanders, want to provide instate college tuition to undocumented immigrants. Where do you stand on that? +p3287 +aVSo, on the record, you believe that undocumented immigrants should get instate college tuition. +p3288 +aVGovernor O'Malley? O' +p3289 +aV...Senator... O' +p3290 +aVSenator Sanders, you talked about your record on the Veteran affairs committee. You served on that committee for the last eight years, including two years as its chairman while veterans died waiting for health care. You and Senator McCain ultimately addressed the issue with bi-partisan legislation. Why did it take 18 Inspector General reports, and a CNN investigation, and others, before you and your colleagues took action? +p3291 +aVGovernor Chafee, you and Hillary Clinton both voted for the Patriot Act which created the NSA surveillance program. You've emphasized civil liberties, privacy during your campaign. Aren't these two things in conflict? +p3292 +aVDo you regret that vote? +p3293 +aVSecretary Clinton, do you regret your vote on the Patriot Act? +p3294 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator Sanders, you're the only one on this stage who voted against the Patriot Act in 2001... +p3295 +aV... and the reauthorization votes. Let me ask you, if elected, would you shut down the NSA surveillance program? +p3296 +aVWould you shut down the NSA surveillance program? +p3297 +aVYou would, point blank. +p3298 +aVGovernor Chafee, Edward Snowden, is he a traitor or a hero? +p3299 +aVBring him home, no jail time? +p3300 +aVSecretary Clinton, hero or traitor? +p3301 +aVShould he do jail time? Cl +p3302 +aVGovernor O'Malley, Snowden? O' +p3303 +aVSenator Sanders, Edward Snowden? +p3304 +aVIs he a hero? +p3305 +aVSenator Webb, Edward Snowden? +p3306 +aVAnother \u2014 another question for each of you, starting with Governor Chafee. Name the one thing \u2014 the one way that your administration would not be a third term of President Obama. +p3307 +aVPresident Obama's generals right now are suggesting keeping troops in Afghanistan after the time he wanted them pulled out. Would you keep them there? +p3308 +aVGovernor O'Malley, how would you be different than President Obama's administration? O' +p3309 +aVSecretary Clinton, how would you not be a third term of President Obama? +p3310 +aVIs there a policy difference? +p3311 +aVSenator Sanders? +p3312 +aVSenator Webb, how would you not be a third term for Obama? +p3313 +aVSenator Sanders, he cited you. You don't hear a lot of Democratic presidential candidates talking about revolution. What do you mean? +p3314 +aVAnd we want to \u2014 and we're going to talk more about climate change and environmental issues coming up. Some of the candidates have tried marijuana, as have pretty much \u2014 probably everybody in this room. ( +p3315 +aVAnd welcome back to this CNN Democratic presidential debate. It has been quite a night so far. We are in the final block of this debate. All the candidates are back, which I'm very happy to see. ( +p3316 +aVIt's a long story. Let's continue, shall we? Secretary Clinton, welcome back. +p3317 +aVThat's right. Secretary Clinton, Governor O'Malley says the presidency is not a crown to be passed back and forth between two royal families. This year has been the year of the outsider in politics, just ask Bernie Sanders. Why should Democrats embrace an insider like yourself? +p3318 +aVGovernor O'Malley, do you want to tell Secretary Clinton why she shouldn't get the crown? O' +p3319 +aVSecretary Clinton, you have to be able to respond, if you want. +p3320 +aV(inaudible). Senator Sanders, does she have the right stuff? +p3321 +aVwe've got \u2014 we \u2014 a lot of questions we've got about climate change, and we're gonna go to Don Lemon. Don? +p3322 +aVGovernor... O' +p3323 +aV...Governor O'Malley, thank you very much. Senator Webb, you have a very different view than just about anybody else on this stage, and unlike a lot of Democrats. You're pro-coal, you're pro-offshore drilling, you're pro-Keystone pipeline. Are \u2014 again, are you \u2014 the question is, are you out of step with the Democratic party? +p3324 +aVSenator Sanders, are you tougher on \u2014 on climate change than Secretary Clinton? +p3325 +aVSenator \u2014 thank you, Senator. +p3326 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want you to be able to respond, then I'm gonna go to (ph) (inaudible). +p3327 +aVThank you. +p3328 +aVDana Bash? +p3329 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders? +p3330 +aVGovernor O'Malley? O' +p3331 +aVGovernor, thank you. The issue now, particularly in this state, is recreational marijuana. I want to go to Juan Carlos Lopez. +p3332 +aVSecretary Clinton, thank you. I want to go to Don Lemon with another Facebook question. +p3333 +aVWe're going to hear from all the candidates coming up. We're going to take a short break. More from the candidates in a moment. +p3334 +aVAnd welcome back to the final round of the CNN Democratic presidential debate. This is a question to each of you. Each of you, by the way, are going to have closing statements to make. Each of you will have 90 seconds. But a final question to each of you. If you can, just try to \u2014 15 seconds if you can. Governor Chafee, Franklin Delano Roosevelt once said, "I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made." You've all made a few people upset over your political careers. Which enemy are you most proud of? +p3335 +aVGovernor O'Malley? O' +p3336 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p3337 +aVSenator Sanders? +p3338 +aVSenator Webb? +p3339 +aVAll right. Time for closing statements. Each of you will have 90 seconds. Governor Chafee, let's begin with you. +p3340 +aVGovernor Chafee, thank you very much. Senator Webb, your final statement for 90 seconds. +p3341 +aVSenator Webb, thank you very much. Governor O'Malley, you have 90 seconds. O' +p3342 +aVGovernor O'Malley, thank you very much. Senator Sanders, final, closing thoughts, 90 seconds. +p3343 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p3344 +asVHUCKABEE +p3345 +(lp3346 +VWell, John, I don't really have any weaknesses that I can think of. But my wife is down here in the front, and I'm sure, if you'd like to talk to her later, she can give you more than you'll ever be able to take care of. If I have a weakness, it's that I try to live by the rules. I try to live by the rules, no matter what they are, and I was brought up that way as a kid. Play by the rules. And I'll tell you what a weakness is of this country: there are a lot of people who are sick and tired because Washington does not play by the same rules that the American people have to play by. +p3347 +aVWell, I would really appreciate that. First of all, yes, we've stolen. Yes, we've lied to the American people about Social Security, and Medicare. But, you know what we're not telling them? It's their money. This isn't the governments money. This is not entitlement, it's not welfare. This is money that people have confiscated out of their paychecks. Everytime they got a paycheck, the government reached in and took something out of it before they ever saw it. Now, we're going to blame the people. Today congress decided to take another $150 billion dollars away from Social Security so they can borrow more money. That makes no sense to everybody. And, they're always going to say, "Well, we're going to fix this one day." No their not. It's like a 400 pound man saying, "I'm going to go on a diet, but I'm eating a sack of Krispy Kremes before I do." And, people are sick of believing that the government is never going to really address this. But, let me tell you who not to blame. Let's quit blaming the people on Social Security. Let's quit making it a problem for them. It's like them getting mugged, and then us saying, well, we're going to mug you some more. You ought to just be able to get over it, get used to it... +p3348 +aV...No, sir... +p3349 +aV...we need to honor our promises... +p3350 +aV...before I go. This is the only time I've had a chance, let me finish. +p3351 +aV...This is a matter not of math, this is a matter of morality. If this country that does not keep its promise to seniors then what promise can this country hope to be trusted to keep? And, the fact is, none of them. [ +p3352 +aVAnd, the only way \u2014 no... +p3353 +aV...Chris... +p3354 +aV...Chris... +p3355 +aVSince he brought me up, do I not get to respond? +p3356 +aVJohn, listen, let's keep in mind that for one-third of the 60 million Americans on Social Security it represents 90 percent of their income. And, when I hear people talking about means testing, let's just remember what that means. If we means test Social Security, it means that the government decides whether or not I deserve it. If a person lives in a seven room house, does the government get to say you don't need seven rooms, we're going to take two of them away? Folks, the government has no business stealing even more from the people who have paid this in. I just want to remind you, people paid their money. They expect to have it. And, if this government doesn't pay it, than tell me what's different between the government and Bernie Madolf, who sits in prison today for doing less than what the government has done to the people on social security and Medicare in this country. +p3357 +aVI don't think it's so much about when the government orders a corporation to do something. In fact, that's part of the problem. If you saw that blimp that got cut loose from Maryland today, it's a perfect example of government. I mean, what we had was something the government made \u2014 basically a bag of gas \u2014 that cut loose, destroyed everything in its path, left thousands of people powerless, but they couldn't get rid of it because we had too much money invested in it, so we had to keep it. That is our government today. We saw it in the blimp. That's exactly what we saw. So look, corporations ought to exercise some responsibility. When CEO income has risen 90 percent above the average worker, when the bottom 90 percent of this country's economy has had stagnant wages for the past 40 years, somebody is taking it in the teeth. And it's not the folks on Wall Street. I'm not anti-Wall Street, but I don't believe the government ought to wear a team jersey, pick winners and losers. +p3358 +aVThe government ought to wear a striped shirt and just make sure the game... +p3359 +aV...is paid \u2014 played fairly. +p3360 +aVNow, everybody else has fudged their time and gone over, so please, don't cut me off too quick, Becky. +p3361 +aVLet me just close it out this way. +p3362 +aVWe need to be focusing on what fixes this country. And I'll tell you one thing that we never talk about \u2014 we haven't talked about it tonight. Why aren't we talking about \u2014 instead of cutting benefits for old people, cutting benefits for sick people \u2014 why don't we say, "let's cure the four big cost-driving diseases... +p3363 +aV..."diabetes, heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer's?" +p3364 +aVIf you do that, you don't just change the economy, you transform the lives of millions of hurting Americans. +p3365 +aVGosh, I'd love for us to talk about something like that. Thank you. +p3366 +aVYou know, of the few questions I've got, the last one I need is to give him some more time. I love Donald Trump. He is a good man. I'm wearing a Trump tie tonight. Get over that one, OK? [ +p3367 +aVI don't know. [ +p3368 +aVI have no idea. +p3369 +aVYou're welcome. Let me tell you, Donald Trump would be a president every day of the week and twice on Sunday, rather than Hillary. I've spent a lifetime in politics fighting the Clinton machine. You want to talk about what we're going to be up against next year? I'm the only guy on this stage \u2014 you know, everybody has an "only guy" \u2014 "I'm the only guy this; I'm the only guy that." Well, let me tell you one thing that I am the only guy: The only guy that has consistently fought the Clinton machine every election I was ever in over the past 26 years. And not only did I fight them, but I beat them. Somebody says "I'm a fighter." Well, I want to know, did you win? Well, I did. And not only did I fight them and win, I lived to tell about it and I'm standing on this stage tonight as evidence of that. And I think that ought to be worth something. +p3370 +aVWell, and specifically to Medicare, Becky, because 85 percent of the cost of Medicare is chronic disease. The fact is if we don't address what's costing so much, we can't throw enough money at this. And it's why I've continued to focus on the fact that we need to declare war on the four big cost drivers because 80 percent of all medical costs in this country are chronic disease. We don't have a health care crisis in America, we have a health crisis. And until we deal with the health of Americans and do what we did with polio \u2014 when I was a little kid, we eradicated it. You know how much money we spent on polio last year in America? We didn't spend any. We've saved billions of dollars. You want to fix Medicare? Focus on the diseases that are costing us the trillions of dollars. Alzheimers, diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Eradicate those and you fix Medicare and you've fixed America, its economy and you've made people's lives a heck of a lot better. +p3371 +aVYou know, I know to a lot of people in the media, this is just a great big game, and we're the players. And, we come out here, and we do our thing. And, sometimes we're held up in contempt by people who write columns, but, I guarantee you to every person on this stage there's something deep inside of us that would cause us to give up our livelihoods and step out on this stage and fight for the people of America. I've got five grandkids. I do not want to walk my five grandkids through the charred remains of a once great country called America, and say, "Here you go, $20 trillion dollars of debt. Good luck making something out of this mess." And, for those of us who are serious enough to run for president, think long and hard why we're here, and hopefully you'll know we're not here for ourselves. We honest to god are here to get this country back on track. I know this, I certainly am. +p3372 +aV...Thank you. +p3373 +aVI'm Mike Huckabee. I'm delighted to be on this stage with some remarkable fellow Republicans. None of us are a self-professed socialist. None of us on this state are under investigation by the FBI because we destroyed government records, or because we leaked secrets. I know that there are some in the Wall-Street-to-Washington axis of power who speak of all of us contemptuously. But I'm here to say that I think we are, in fact, the A team. We have some remarkable people, and, in fact, not only are we the A team; we even have our own Mr. T, who doesn't mind saying about others, "you're a fool." And I'm delighted to be here with all of these guys, and would put any of them in an administration that I led. Thank you very much. +p3374 +aVI would certainly love to get in on this, because I think the single... +p3375 +aVI've been patiently waiting, and I'm going to just say this about Iran. +p3376 +aVBecause I think it is incredibly important. This is really about the survival of Western civilization. This is not just a little conflict with a Middle Eastern country that we've just now given over $100 billion to, the equivalent in U.S. terms is $5 trillion. This threatens Israel immediately, this threatens the entire Middle East, but it threatens the United States of America. And we can't treat a nuclear Iranian government as if it is just some government that would like to have power. This is a government for 36 years has killed Americans, they kidnapped Americans, they have maimed Americans. They have sponsored terrorist groups, Hamas and Hezbollah, and they threaten the very essence of Western civilization. To give them this agreement, that the president treats like the Magna Carta, but Iranians treat it like it's toilet paper, and we must, simply, make it very clear that the next president, one of us on this stage, will absolutely not honor that agreement, and will destroy it and will be tough with Iran, because otherwise, we put every person in this world in a very dangerous place. +p3377 +aVNo, I don't think he's on the wrong side of such an issue. Jeb is a friend. I'm not up here to fight with Jeb or to fight with anybody else. But I am here to fight for somebody who is a county clerk elected under the Kentucky constitution that 75 percent of the people of that state had voted for that said that marriage was between a man and a woman. The Supreme Court in a very, very divided decision decided out of thin air that they were just going to redefine marriage. It's a decision that the other justices in dissent said they didn't have and there wasn't a constitutional shred of capacity for them to do it. I thought that everybody here passed ninth-grade civics. The courts cannot legislate. That's what Roberts said. But heck, it's what we learned in civics. The courts can't make a law. They can interpret one. They can review one. They can't implement it. They can't force it. But here's what happened: Because the courts just decided that something was going to be and people relinquished it and the other two branches of government sat by silently \u2014 I thought we had three branches of government, they were all equal to each other, we have separation of powers, and we have checks and balances. If the court can just make a decision and we just all surrender to it, we have what Jefferson said was judicial tyranny. The reason that this is a real issue that we need to think about... +p3378 +aVNo, no. Let me finish this one thought, Jake. I haven't gotten that much time, so I'm going to take just what little I can here. We made accommodation to the Fort Hood shooter to let him grow a beard. We made accommodations to the detainees at Gitmo \u2014 I've been to Gitmo, and I've seen the accommodations that we made to the Muslim detainees who killed Americans. You're telling me that you cannot make an accommodation for an elected Democrat county clerk from Rowan County, Kentucky? What else is it other than the criminalization of her faith and the exaltation of the faith of everyone else who might be a Fort Hood shooter or a detainee at Gitmo? +p3379 +aVI have a different idea. I think we ought to get rid of all the taxes on people who produce. Why should we penalize productivity? And it's why I'm an unabashed supporter of the "fair tax," which would be a tax on our consumption, rather than a tax on our productivity. In other words, you're not going to tax anybody for what they earn, whether it's worker whose working by the hour or whether it's a hedge fund manager. If they can produce something and bring capital and labor to create jobs, we need some jobs. And I think the "fair tax" makes more sense. Now, Jake, I've been listening to everybody on the stage and there is a lot of back and forth about I'm the only one who has done this, the only one who has done that, I've done great things. We've all done great things or we wouldn't be on this stage. But it occurs to me as we're sitting here in the Reagan Library that most of us would like to pay tribute to a guy who, when he got elected, didn't get elected telling everybody how great he was. He got elected telling everybody how great the American people were. And he empowered them to live their dreams, which is what I'd love to see us do by no longer penalizing the people who are out there working because they are taking a gut punch right now. +p3380 +aV...You don't want me operating on you, I assure you. +p3381 +aVJust today \u2014 just today, there was a new report that 50 different intelligence analysts have said that what they sent up the ladder was doctored by senior officials, so that they could give some happy talk to the situation that we face. I love the idea of a good intellectual capacity to deal with our enemies, but the fact is, if you don't have good intelligence that is reliable and honest, you won't have good intelligence and you cannot make good decisions. The next president is primarily elected not just to know things, but to know what to do with the things that he knows. And the most dangerous person in any room is the person who doesn't know what he doesn't know. +p3382 +aVAnd the reason Barack Obama has been dangerous to this country and we better elect someone who had some executive experience, is because we cannot afford another eight years having a person in the office who doesn't know what he does not know. +p3383 +aVYou better believe I will, because I'm tired of liberals always having a litmus test and conservatives are supposed to pretend we don't. Well let me tell you what mine would be. Number one, I'd ask do you think that the unborn child is a human being or is it just a blob of tissue? I'd want to know the answer to that. I'd want to know do you believe in the First Amendment, do you believe that religious liberty is the fundamental liberty around which all the other freedoms of this country are based? And I'd want to know do you really believe in the Second Amendment, do you believe that we have an individual right to bear arms to protect ourselves and our family and to protect our country? And do you believe in the Fifth and the 14th Amendment? Do you believe that a person, before they're deprived of life and liberty, should in fact have due process and equal protection under the law? Because if you do, you're going to do more than defund Planned Parenthood. +p3384 +aVOne final thing. I'd make darn sure that we absolutely believe the 10th Amendment. Every governor on this stage would share this much with you. Every one of us \u2014 our biggest fight wasn't always with the legislature or even with the Democrats. My gosh, half the time, it was with the federal government who apparently never understood \u2014 +p3385 +aV\u2014 that if it's not reserved in the Constitution, then the 10th Amendment says it's left to the states. But somebody forgot to send a memo to Washington. +p3386 +aVJake? Jake? +p3387 +aVI think we need to remember that there are maybe some controversies about autism, but there is no controversy about the things that are really driving the medical costs in this country. And I would really believe that the next president ought to declare a war on cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer's, because those are the four things that are causing the greatest level of cost. John Kennedy said, "we'll go to the moon in a decade and bring a man back," and we did it. I grew up in the '50s. I remember the polio vaccine. We saved billions of dollars since that time, because we haven't had to treat for polio. Why doesn't this country focus on cures rather than treatment? Why don't we put a definitive focus scientifically on finding the cure for cancer, for heart disease, for diabetes and for Alzheimer's, a disease alone that will cost us \u2014 +p3388 +aV$1.1 trillion by the year 2050. We change the economy and the country. +p3389 +aVThat's an easy one. I'd put my wife on there. I've been married to her 41 years. She's fought cancer and lived through it. She's raised three kids, five great grandkids, and she's put up with me. I mean, who else could possibly be on that money other than my wife. And that way, she could spend her own money with her face. +p3390 +aVI'd go with Duck Hunter. +p3391 +aVAt the end of my presidency I would like to believe that the world would be a safe place, and there wouldn't be the threats. not only to the U.S., but to Israel and our allies, because we would have the most incredible well-trained, well-equipped, well- prepared military in the history of mankind. And they would know that the commander-in-chief would never send them to a mission without all the resources necessary, but people wouldn't bully us anymore. Because they would know that that would be an invitation to their destruction. Domestically, we would be operating under a tax system that eliminated the IRS. People wouldn't be punished for their work, and for what they produced. And life would be really deemed precious. Abortion would be no more. It would be as much of a scourge in our past as slavery is. And we would have a peaceful country, where people respected each other and people respected law enforcement. And we would focus on cures. And we would make this country not only safe from our enemies without, but safe from the enemies within. And it would be a good place to raise our kids and our grandkids. +p3392 +aVChris, I disagree with the idea that the real issue is a constitutional amendment. That's a long and difficult process. I've actually taken the position that's bolder than that. A lot of people are talking about defunding planned parenthood, as if that's a huge game changer. I think it's time to do something even more bold. I think the next president ought to invoke the Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the constitution now that we clearly know that that baby inside the mother's womb is a person at the moment of conception. The reason we know that it is is because of the DNA schedule that we now have clear scientific evidence on. And, this notion that we just continue to ignore the personhood of the individual is a violation of that unborn child's Fifth and 14th Amendment rights for due process and equal protection under the law. It's time that we recognize the Supreme Court is not the Supreme Being, and we change the policy to be pro-life and protect children instead of rip up their body parts and sell them like they're parts to a Buick. +p3393 +aVNot me. But you're welcome to give me a check, Donald if you'd like. +p3394 +aVIt's not too big to shrink. But the problem is we have a Wall Street-to-Washington axis of power that has controlled the political climate. The donor class feeds the political class who does the dance that the donor class wants. And the result is federal government keeps getting bigger. Every person on this stage who has been a governor will tell that you the biggest fight they had was not the other party. Wasn't even the legislature. It was the federal government, who continually put mandates on the states that we had to suck up and pay for. And the fact is there are a lot of things happening at the federal level that are absolutely beyond the jurisdiction of the Constitution. This is power that should be shifted back to the states, whether it's the EPA, there is no role at the federal level for the Department of Education. And I'm still one who says that we can get rid of the Internal Revenue Service if we would pass the FairTax, which is a tax on consumption rather than a tax on people's income, and move power back where the founders believed it should have been all along. +p3395 +aVWell, let's all be reminded, 60 million Americans are on Social Security, 60 million. A third of those people depend on 90% of their income from Social Security. Nobody in this country is on Social Security because they made the decision when they were starting work at 14 that they wanted to trust some of their money with the government. The government took it out of their check whether they wanted them to or not. And, if person goes to 65, they're going to spend 51 years with the government reaching into their pocket at every paycheck. Now, here's the point, whose fault is it that the system is screwed up? Is it the recipients, or is it the government? And, if Congress wants to mess with the retirement program, why don't we let them start by changing their retirement program, and not have one, instead of talking about getting rid of Social Security and Medicare that was robbed $700 billion dollars to pay for Obamacare. It's always that the government figures that they can do this off the backs of people, many of whom are poor, and depend on that money, and I just think it's fundamentally lying to the people and stealing from them, and we shouldn't be doing it. +p3396 +aVWell, you ask about how we fund it. One of the reasons that Social Security is in so much trouble is that the only funding stream comes from people who get a wage. The people who get wages is declining dramatically. Most of the income in this country is made by people at the top who get dividends and -- and capital gains. The FairTax transforms the process by which we fund Social Security and Medicare because the money paid in consumption is paid by everybody, including illegals, prostitutes, pimps, drug dealers, all the people that are freeloading off the system now. That's why it ought to be a transformed system. +p3397 +aVRonald Reagan said "trust, but verify." President Obama is "trust, but vilify." He trusts our enemies and vilifies everyone who disagrees with him. And the reason we disagree with him has nothing to do with party. +p3398 +aVIt has to do with the incredibly dangerous place that this world is gonna be as a result of a deal in which we got nothing. We didn't even get four hostages out. We got nothing, and Iran gets everything they want. We said we would have anywhere, anytime negotiations and inspections, we gave that up. We said that we would make sure that they didn't have any nuclear capacity, we gave that up. The president can't tell us what we got. I'll tell you what the world got. The world has a burgeoning nuclear power that didn't, as the Soviets, say "we might defend ourselves in a war." What the Iranians have said is, "we will wipe Israel off the face of the map, and we will bring death to America." When someone points a gun at your head and loads it, by God, you ought to take them seriously, and we need to take that seriously. +p3399 +aVThe military is not a social experiment. The purpose of the military is kill people and break things. It's not to transform the culture by trying out some ideas that some people think would make us a different country and more diverse. The purpose is to protect America. I'm not sure how paying for transgender surgery for soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines makes our country safer. We've reduced the military by 25 percent... ... under President Obama. The disaster is that we've forgotten why we have a military. The purpose of it is to make sure that we protect every American, wherever that American is, and if an American is calling out for help, whether it's in Benghazi or at the border, then we ought to be able to answer it. We've not done that because we've decimated our military. We're flying B-52s. The most recent one that was put in service was November of 1962. A lot of the B-52s we're flying, we've only got 44 that are in service combat ready, and the fact is, most of them are older than me. And that's pretty scary. +p3400 +aVIt seems like this election has been a whole lot about a person who's very high in the polls, that doesn't have a clue about how to govern. A person who has been filled with scandals, and who could not lead, and, of course, I'm talking about Hillary Clinton. I think America... +p3401 +aV...is in trouble, but it's not beyond repair. But it's going to take leadership who sees the greatness of this country, and who believes that once again we can be one nation, under God. I'll be my best to do that, and thank you for your support. +p3402 +aVI don't think it's that the message isn't working, I think it's the message isn't getting out because the message that I have this time, Bill, it's exactly what I said eight years ago. I talked about people who are standing on their feet on factory floors, people who lift heavy things, who sweat through their clothes, they're getting gut punched. They are not having a fair shake in this economy. I talked about that eight years ago, and I'm talking about it now. I talked about the importance of preserving life, of not just saying we're going to defund Planned Parenthood, but let's do something bolder. Let's get rid of abortion once and for all by applying the Fifth, and Fourteenth amendment to every person from conception because that means that we recognize that no person can be deprived of life or liberty unless they have due process. And, that's not happening in our country. And, I believe, and continue to practice that we need the Fair Tax to revive our economy. To make it so that people are able to be rewarded for their work rather than punished for it. +p3403 +aVYou know, I -- I would leave that to other people. I'm not going to get into an argument with all the New Yorkers, because there's a lot of them. This much I will tell you. I wish that some of those New Yorkers had funded as much of my campaign as they did the corporately funded candidates, but they didn't. And to be honest with you, when I say I'm -- wish they had, I'm glad they didn't. I'm not a New York-funded campaign. I'm not bankrolled by the corporatists, I'm not bankrolled by Goldman Sachs and Citibank and AIG and all the big brokers -- brokerage houses and the billionaires. I'm sponsored by people like Thomas, a part-time Uber driver in Pennsylvania who sent me $25 this week. He's between jobs. He's driving an Uber car. But he believed in what I'm talking about enough that, even on a limited, part-time income, he sent me $25 to help in my campaign. I'll stand with the Thomases of the world any day. I'll leave all the discussion of the big financiers to other candidates. But there's only a few of us in the entire Republican process who are not corporately funded by the same group. And let me just finish by saying, you want to know why things never change depending on whether Democrats or Republicans are in power, and why Republicans in Iowa and the rest of the country are so frustrated? The reason is, is because if you follow the money, the same folks who finance the Democrats finance the Republicans, and no matter what the speeches and the ads, they get the same results. If you want a different result, I'm available. +p3404 +aVWell, I don't trust him. I've never said I trusted him. But if somebody is willing to take a shot at the people we are taking shots at, I'm more than willing to let them use their own bullets to do it. But let's be very clear about how we take out +p3405 +aVNo, I don't think that it's impossible, but we're not going to do it by doing the same things we've been doing for all these many years. And, we've lost five million manufacturing jobs just since the year 2000. The other day I was in Newton, Iowa. It used to be a vibrant place where Maytag washers and dryers were built. Went out of business in 2007, all those shops went to Mexico. All those people lost their jobs. There was a guy in my forum that day, he lost his job. He still has never found an employment that got anywhere near the job that he had. Let me ask you, how many people do you think living around the Beltway know a guy like that? Care about a guy like that? Not many. And, that's because they're six of the ten richest counties in America that surround Washington D.C. People who live in the bubbles of the high finance world of New York, the government world of Washington, the entertainment world of Hollywood, don't have a clue about how hard people out here in Iowa are working every single day. And, I believe one of the values of campaigning in Iowa, you can't win unless you go out and talk to farmers and housewives -- and welders, and unemployed truck drivers, and I hate... ... That a president could become president who never met people who have to struggle to make a living and put food on the table. +p3406 +aVA lot of Americans are angry. And I think it's important to understand why they are mad. They are mad because they see a government that continues to do fine. They see people at the top. They are doing fine. But that person you asked Rick about a moment ago, that lady that's making 10,000 bucks a year, do you know what our poverty programs do to people? They keep them in poverty. They keep them in poverty because we have these arbitrary thresholds... ... that mean that if you go to work, you lose all the benefits for your kids, Medicaid, WIC, Section 8 housing, food stamps, and then your kids go hungry. I know a little about poverty. My sister is here tonight. Now both of us could tell you we did not grow up rich. My mother grew up in a house, oldest of seven kids. She had lived in a house that didn't have floors. Just dirt. No electricity. No running water. I resent it when people say, oh, people are poor because they want to be. No, they are not. Nobody wants to be poor. And that's a stupid, foolish thing, mean thing to say. People are poor because they don't know how to get out of the hole. And government shouldn't push them back in the hole which is what our policies do when they punish people who want to go to work and don't let them out. We can fix that, but it takes some leadership to get it done. +p3407 +aVWell, I didn't have a tax and spend approach. You got to understand where the Club for Growth comes from, a bunch of rich guys sitting around writing checks to go after people they don't like. And, they don't like me sometimes because I was fighting for the guys at the bottom, not just the guys at the top. I cut 94 taxes in a state that had never had a general major tax decrease in its history. I also was able to see per capita income growth in my state go up by 50%. I think that's a pretty darn good record. Look at the overall record and it was fine. But, it's not about stats from when I was governor. Look, one of the reasons I support the Fairtax is because it's the one thing, Bill, that would truly empower people at the bottom of the economy by no longer punishing them for their work. If a guy works an hourly job, and he works eight hours, gets paid for it, terrific. But, if he works 16 hours, he doesn't get a double paycheck because he's going to be bumped up into a new tax bracket, and the government will get more of his second shift than he will. So, we've actually punished him for being industrious, hardworking, and that is a foolish economic policy... ... that's hurting Americans about as much as anything. +p3408 +aVI honestly don't understand how anybody with IQ above plant life would honestly think... ... that we would be better off if we let the government have all of the private property and that the government would dole out what they thought we should have. I'm not "feeling the Bern," Bill. I'm not feeling it. And when Bernie Sanders promises these kids free college, I'm telling them, because I get asked, what about free college? I said, look, if we give you free college when you are 20, pal, you are going to be paying for it when you are 30, when you are 40, and when you are 50. There is no such thing as the government giving you anything. They will definitely make a mess of it. And I just think there are a lot of people who have never understood the basic understanding of economics, that you do not make people rich by tearing down those who are you providing jobs, and you don't help poor people by taking away. You give them jobs. Let them work. Let them earn. And then you let them keep the money that they earned. That's how we build a great economy. +p3409 +aVWell, this week there was a little dust up about a video we put together with the music of Adele, so I thought it'd be appropriate for me to begin tonight by saying, "Hello, Iowa. It's me." +p3410 +aVAnd, you know me. You gave me the largest number of votes in the history of the Iowa caucus eight years ago, and I think you did it because you trusted me, you believed that I had your best interest at heart. When I was governor I had a little plaque in my office in the Governor's office, and it simply said this. Come, let us reason together. I believe the next President needs to put that plaque in the oval office, and needs to lead this country by saying, "Come, let us reason together." God bless you, and thank you for your support. +p3411 +aVI wish I saw the country in the same place that the president presented it to be the other night in the State of the Union. He talked about how great the economy was doing. And I guess for the people he hangs out with, it's probably doing great. But the president should've stood in the line at the layaway counter at Walmart just before Christmas. He would have heard a very different story about the economy of America. I wish I could introduce him the lady who cleans the building where our campaign headquarters is located in Little Rock. Her name is Kathleen. She works all day at a local hospital cleaning, and then she goes to the building where a bank, and our headquarters, and other offices are she spends another seven hours. She works 15 hours a day. I guarantee you she's not working 15 hours a day because she loves scrubbing toilets, and sweeping floors. She's working that many hours because that's what it takes for her to make it work. And, she's not alone. There are people all over this country who are working like that. Many of them working two jobs \u2014 and they used to have one job, and that would take care of them. But, because of wage stagnation, which we've had for 40 years, because the fact that they're punished for working harder if they work that many hours. The government gets more of their second shift than they do. And, as a result there are a lot of people who are hurting today. I wish the President knew more of them. He might make a change in the economy and the way he's managing it. +p3412 +aVLet me put that in context. When I went to Afghanistan, I saw a land that looked like the land of the Flintstones. It was desolate. It was barren. It was primitive. And it's been that way for thousands of years. They want to take the world back to be just like that. We don't. We need to make a clear goal as to why we want to be anywhere in the Middle East, and I'll tell you why we want to be and need to be, is to destroy radical Islam and everything that threatens civilization. It's not just a threat......to Israel or to America, it's a threat to every civilized person on this Earth. And we need to be equipping not only the Kurds in Iraq, we need to be making sure that those who are willing to fight radical Muslims will do it, but we need to never ever spend a drop of American blood unless there is a clearly defined goal and we can't make sure we win unless we have a military that's the strongest in the history of mankind. We've got to rebuild our navy. It's the smallest navy we've had since 1915, when my grandfather got on a destroyer in World War I when he was in the U.S. Navy. We've got young men in Air Force B-52s, one in particular, he's flying a B-52 that his father flew in the '80s and his grandfather flew in the '50s. Those planes are older than me. We've got to have a military that the world is afraid of, use it sparingly, but when we do, the whole world will know that America is on their tail and they will be on their tail on the ground, never ever to rise up again. +p3413 +aVOnly if there is a concerted effort to destroy the advance of radical Islamists who are against us. As far as what are we going to make it look like. Frankly, I don't know what we can make it look like. You can't create for other people a desire for freedom and democracy. And frankly, that is not the role of the United States. The role of the United States military is not to build schools, it is not to build bridges, it is not to go around and pass out food packets. It is to kill and destroy our enemy and make America safe and that is the purpose we should be there if we're going to be there. +p3414 +aV Yes, I did. +p3415 +aVWell, why don't we start by making sure the Justice Department never does an idiotic program like Fast and Furious where the U.S. Government put guns......in the hands of Mexican drug lords......and end up killing one of our border agents. You know, they want to talk about law abiding citizens, I just find it amazing the President keeps saying the gun show loophole. There is no gun show loophole. I promise you I've been to more gun shows than President Obama. +p3416 +aVAnd, I've bought more weapons at them, and you fill out forms. The President also says things that it's easier to get a gun now than it is to grow trees. Again, I purchase guns, and I can assure you that it is much more difficult to purchase a firearm than it is to get the ingredients of a salad at the supermarket. What the President keeps pushing are ideas that have never worked. Ideas that would not have stopped San Bernadino, Sandy Hook, Aurora, and at some point you wonder if you keep retrying things that don't work, maybe we should just see if we could resell all those used lottery tickets that didn't work real well because that's the logic of just keep doing the same thing, but something that has failed. Of course, we want to stop gun violence, but the one common thing that has happened in most mass shootings is that they happened in gun- free zones where people who would have been law abiding citizens, who could have stood up and at least tried to stop it and we're not allowed to under the law. +p3417 +aVWell, we shouldn't be and that's one of the reasons that I think there a lot of voices in our country who are saying it's time to relook at the visa program. The European Union is a failure, it's not allowed for even the economic goals that they were trying to achieve. But, what we're not seeing is that it's making Europe less safe, and it's proven not to be exactly what they all thought it was going to be. Our first and foremost responsibility in this country, and the first responsibility of the President of the United States is protect America, and protect Americans. We have a President who seems to be more interested in protecting the reputation and image of Islam than he is protecting us. And, I want to be very clear......that this President. Makes comments like he did the other night, that we have to be so careful because we don't want to offend Muslims. He needs to read his own FBI crime stats from last year which would show him that of the hate crimes in the country, over 5,500, about 1,100 were religious hate crimes. And, of those, 58% were directed toward Jews. Only 16% directed toward Muslims. Maybe what the President should have talked about the other night is how we ought to be more careful in the anti-semitic comments that are going toward American Jews than toward Muslims because by three times as many......they're being targeted for religious hate crime. +p3418 +aVIt does not shut down international commerce, but it may slow it down. And, you don't want to slowdown commerce that is making us safer. It's worth it. This lady who came and joined with the San Bernardino killer had passed three background checks, and that's why a lot of Americans didn't buy it when the President said we'll bring in Syrian refugees, but don't worry we'll check them out. We have a lot of confidence in a president who told us that we could keep our doctor, we could keep our health insurance, and cost us less, and now the latest is if you like your gun you can keep it too, and frankly, we don't buy it. We don't believe it. He's lost his credibility, and his inept... ...inability to work with Congress and pass legislation has led him to do what I never even imagined doing as a governor, and that's just going and doing it my own way. That's why we elect a president, is to lead, is to be able to shepherd things through. And if I can do it with a 90 percent Democrat legislature in Arkansas, there is no excuse for any president not being able to lead in Washington if he knows what the heck he is doing when he gets there. +p3419 +aVWell, first of all, let's just remember that Social Security is not the government's money, it belongs to the people who had it taken out of their checks involuntarily their entire working lives. For the government to say, well it is fault of working people that we have a Social Security problem, no. It is the fault of a government that used those people's money for something other than protecting those people's accounts. So let's not blame them and punish them. But here is a fact, and I sometimes hear Republicans say well, we're going to have to cut this and extend the age. You know what I think a lot of times when I hear people say, well, let's make people work to their 70. That sounds great for white-collar people who sat at a desk most of their lives. You ever talk to somebody that stood on concrete floor for the first 40 years of their working life? Do you think they can stand another five years or 10 years, many of them will retired virtually crippled because they worked hard. And we're going to punish them some more? I don't think so. Here's the fact. Four percent economic growth, we fully fund Social Security and Medicare. Our problem is not that Social Security is just too generous to seniors. It isn't. Our problem is that our politicians have not created the kind of policies that would bring economic growth. And I still support strongly that we get rid of the 77,000 pages of the monstrous tax code......pass the fair tax, supercharge this economy with the rocket fuel that happens with the consumption tax and we don't have to cut Social Security to any senior who has worked their lifetime for it. +p3420 +aVLet me go back to the reason so many people are having a hard time getting ahead. The tax system punishes them. Think about this. If you work really hard and you start moving up the economic ladder, you get bumped into a different tax bracket. So the government thinks it deserves more of your hard work than you do. And it's one of the reasons that no matter how many different reforms you have to a tax on people's productivity, you're still taxing their work, their savings. You're taxing their capital gains, inheritance, dividends, you're taxing everything that produces something. And it's way I really believe it's time to do something bold, not something minute. This is no time for a tap of the hammer, a twist of the screwdriver. It's time for something big. That's why the fair tax transforms our economy. And we don't punish workers. It's the only way we're going to get middle class people moving ahead again, because the harder they work, the more they keep. No payroll tax deducted from their checks. They get their entire paycheck. And, one of the most important parts, it's built on the common sense with which we raised our kids, and trained dogs. You reward behavior you want more of. And, you punish behavior you want less of. That's how I raise kids, it's how I trained our dogs, and folks, it's not that difficult. We now punish the behavior we say we want more of by taxing it, and we reward the behavior that we say we want less of, so if you make a good investment, we punish you with a tax. If you make a bad investment you can write that off and the rest of the taxpayers will help subsidize you, and bail you out. +p3421 +aVWell, Rick, I'm pretty sure I did also fight the Clinton machine because every election I was ever in in Arkansas, I assure you, they were behind it, helping finance and campaign for every opponent. And I share with you the understanding that it's going to be a tough battle. But I spent the first half of my adult life in the private and nonprofit sector, raising a family, understanding how tough it is for people to make it. And that first half of my life is what led me to believe that America needs a different kind of leadership, not people who spent their whole life running from one office to the next, and living off the government dime. And I got involved because I got sick of what I saw. I also believe that there's got to be some leadership that not only addresses the monetary and military issues of this country, but the moral issues of this country. At the end of every political speech, most of us say, God bless America. But how can he do that when we continue to slaughter 4,000 babies a day? And I want to be the president that treats every person, including the unborn, as a person. And protect them under the 5th and 14th amendments of the constitution. I close with this word from a gentleman in East Texas named Butel Lucre. He's 100 years old and I met him down in East Texas. And he said this to me. "I sure wish, Mike, we had the days when The Ten Commandments were in all of our capitals and in every school, and we prayed again. You know, he may be 100 years old, but I believe some of those old ideas to get this country back where we unapologetically get on our knees before we get on our feet might be the best solutions we've ever sought as a country. And I ask for your support and your vote. Thank you. +p3422 +aVWolf, I want to say thanks to you and CNN for giving us the opportunity especially to focus on national security issues at a time when Americans are not only angry \u2014 angry at their government that they feel like has failed them, been indifferent to them, cost them their livelihoods \u2014 but they're in addition to angry, they're just plain scared. They're scared when they thing that they go to a Christmas party and get shot at by somebody who sat and had lunch with them an hour earlier. They're scared when they realize that our government, who promises that it can vet people and is begging us to approve bringing 10,000 Syrian refugees into this country, can't even catch somebody after a third background check, who had posted things on social media clearly indicating she wanted to kill Americans. And we couldn't catch that. We've lost confidence in our government. And when Americans lose confidence in their government, we're in a dangerous place. We're in danger because we have an enemy that is out to kill us, and we have a government that we don't trust any more. This election is about going back to having a government we can trust with leaders who have the courage and conviction to actually lead and not follow. +p3423 +aVWell, let me begin by saying I'm not that afraid of Donald Trump. And, in the sense that I'd rather him be President than I had Hillary be president any day. And so if he becomes president, I think he will do a whole lot more to protect us than Hillary will. And a whole lot more than Barack Obama has done in his eight years. So I want to make it very clear that when I was making that comment, I was simply speaking that I'm not sure that you can have a religious test per se. And it's very impractical because if somebody comes to our borders and says I'd like to come in. They say are you a Muslim? Well, they're \u2014 if they're going to come in here to kill us, they're not gonna say yeah, and I'm coming to kill you. They're going to lie about it. Anybody that will kill you, for God's sake, will lie to you. So that's why I say it's impractical. But what he has done, and I don't think a lot of people understand, he has touched a nerve because people are angry and afraid that we are facing an enemy that this administration refuses to acknowledge, refuses to want to go fight. And our only answer is to go after +p3424 +aVNo. I'm not taking it away, I just want to make sure that everything we use is going to be effective. We're spending billions of dollars, let's make sure it's effective. Let's use every tool, but let's also check out the Facebook posts, let's look at Twitter accounts. My gosh, we were told we couldn't do it because it might invade somebody's privacy. This lady who came over here and shot up San Bernardino was posting things on Facebook, yet, we were restricted from looking. Every college kid who goes to a frat party gets drunk and puts his picture on Facebook is going to have a potential employer looking at that photo before he gets hired. Why should we have more attention? I mean, for heaven's sake, towards some college kid who wants to one day ten years from to get a job, then we're going after who wants to come in with a semi automatic weapon or a pipe bomb and blow up a bunch of Americans. This is what I think a lot of Americans are frustrated with, it's the duplicity of our policy that is illogical and irrational. Our goal ought to be, "protect Americans and put Americans first not last," which is what I think this administration has done. +p3425 +aVNo, it does not violate their First Amendment rights to have someone go and listen to the sermons. You can go to any church in America, it's a public place, you can listen, and \u2014 you know, if you go to my church, you'll probably get a real blessing. Heck, it'll be a wonderful experience. You go to some people's church, you may go to sleep, I don't know what happens in every church, but, the point is that these are public places, and folks are invited to come. So, if it's a public place, and people are invited to come, how does it violate anybody's First Amendment rights that somebody shows up because they might want to just listen in and see is there something that is a little nefarious? And, if there is, then you take the second step of getting a search warrant, you do whatever you have to do. That's all protected under the constitution. So, Huge, I hear people act like there's something that is terrible about going and sitting in and listening to the sermons of a mosque. If Islam is as wonderful, and peaceful as its adherents say, shouldn't they be begging us to all come in and listen to these peaceful sermons? Shouldn't they be begging us all to come, and listen, and bring the FBI so we'd all want to convert to Islam? +p3426 +aVI don't disagree. I don't disagree with anything that the Senator just said because that's exactly right. But, I just want to go back to the point that when people say we can't go into the mosque, we can't listen. That's utter nonsense. Of course we can. And, if we can't, if there's something so secretive going on in there that somebody isn't allowed to go and hear it, maybe we do need for sure to send somebody in there and gather the intelligence. And, that's all to the world I'm saying, I think it stands to be true. +p3427 +aVThe way we defeat them ideologically is that we remind people that what their intent is is to kill us, and that it is our intent to use every means possible to get to them before they get to us. We are pretending that this is a war that is not that significant. We have a president who called it the JV team, said we had contained it. Nine hours after he said we contained it, there was a massacre in Paris. We've got to make it so untenable for somebody to join +p3428 +aVWolf, it may be sufficient, but rather than put a number \u2014 and I'm comfortable that we say 10,000, 20,000 \u2014 look, I think we make a mistake when we start telling the enemy what our limitations are. I think we make a huge mistake when we say we're gonna do up to this. I think what we say is, we're gonna do whatever it takes. If it's 10,000, if it's 100,000, if it's 3,000 sorties a day, if it's 5,000 sorties a day. We never tell our enemy what our limitations are, what we are willing and what we're unwilling to do. And that's one of the mistakes I believe that we're making militarily. But the biggest mistake we've made militarily is letting Barack Obama cut our defense forces by 25 percent and leaving us at the least prepared position we've been in since before World War II. We have to get our Military rebuilt from the ground up. And all over America I hear young people say, would you tell me what you're going to do? Would you give me free college? Will you make sure that I can have medical marijuana? You know what we ought to tell young people? We aren't going to give you anything. We're give you the opportunity to get off your butt and go serve your country and secure your freedom. Because if you don't, nobody else is. +p3429 +aVI'd sure want them to think we would. And I'd want to make sure that we did everything we could. But we can't do it with our current Military strength. We've got to build up and have the most robust, well trained, well equipped, well prepared and ample Military force in the history of the world because we're not fighting just a known enemy in one place. We're fighting people all over the world who can go anywhere. And the reason I say that is because if we tried to win this war on the cheap or we try to do it with the, "light footprint," we're making a huge mistake. When all of us were in grade school, one thing we all knew, the bully never picked on the kid except for the weak one. When all of us were in grade school, one thing we all knew, the bully never picked on the kid, except for the weak one. He never picked on the kid he knew, he'd whip him. We need to make to sure that we have the kind of military that +p3430 +aVWell, I want to be real clear, I don't trust Putin, I don't trust Assad. I'm not saying that I would endorse him for his reelection bid. The man is a tyrant, he's killed lots of people, but he wasn't killing Americans. And, the thing that I'm concerned about is that we have seen a complete destabilization, not only of Syria, but we've seen it in Yemen, that the President pronouncing great shape just before it collapsed. +p3431 +aVWell what we have done, and we created an impossible atmosphere. This administration has put more pressure on Israel to stop building bedrooms in Judea and Samaria than they've put on Iranians to stop building a nuclear bomb. And I'm just simply pointing out the obvious, that we need to recognize who our friends are, who our enemies are... +p3432 +aV... but I'm convinced... +p3433 +aVWell, first of all, it would be the Iranians. I would have never entered into this deal. I don't know why on God's earth that the senators gave it so that it was easier for Obama to have the agreement than it would be to make it a treaty. +p3434 +aVI would make sure that there was economic pressure put on them. Why not? Why should we fund every single battle against radical Islam? Why should we stand back and watch Israel get targeted, the United States get targeted and we watch with people with their hands in their pocket, and their hands in our pocket because we're getting them a lot of money. And let's say your hands can be in your pocket, you can stand still, but your hands aren't going to be in our pockets anymore. We're not going to give you another dime unless you engage the battle with us. We are not sending our sons and daughters, and grandsons and granddaughters to war to fight for your interest. You either get in with us or be on your own. But we're not gonna fight the battle for you. +p3435 +aVI wouldn't reinstate a draft, but, I think it's noteworthy that we are fighting all the battles we have with less than one percent of the American population. +p3436 +aVI wouldn't reinstate a draft, but, I think it's noteworthy that we are fighting all the battles we have with less than one percent of the American population. We have the lowest level of percentage of population participating in the military than ever. And they're over-deployed, they're over used, especially among our reserves and Guard troops. Any governor will tell you. +p3437 +aVWell, I would say that, if you want a college education, let's go back and reinstate the full-blown G.I. bill. You give something to your country; your country gives something back to you. We need to ask young people to step up and buy their own freedom because there's not going to be enough people left at less than one percent. And as my good friend Ken Howard, former Dean of the War College, has often said, we're fighting all the wars with other people's kids. And that's one of the things that's making us much less safe, is because we don't have enough Americans truly invested in the process of defeating our enemies. Therefore, I do think without a draft we do need to ask people to recognize we are at war. +p3438 +aVI'm not belittling their sacrifice, Lindsey, but I'm just making note that on the part of Americans we have sent National Guard troops over for an 18-month em \u2014 18-month deployment. They come back for five, they go back for another 18. We're wearing these guys out. They agreed to be citizen soldiers. We turned them into full time soldiers because we've not kept up the pace by recruiting enough people in the military to fully fill these forces, and that's what we need to be doing. +p3439 +aVThe horrors that those families have to go through, if that were my son, my daughter, I'd give my last drop of blood to get them back. You bet I would. Is it a good policy? No. It's a terrible policy because once we do it, we're only going to invite more and more hostages, more and more ransoms, and the diasters gets even worse. But I don't blame any of these families. You know who I blame? I blame a policy in our government that has made it so that families are so desperate that they're willing to pay ransom to terrorists organizations because they don't believe our government will fight the fight for them and they think they're out there on their own. My goodness people, this is America. When did we have to start telling people that you've got to bake your own bread in order to fight the battles? That's what we have a government for, it's what we pay taxes for. And I believe, those families ought to have a better expectation of what this government will do. We should never has sat at the table with the Iranians as long Sayed Abadnini is sitting in an Iranian prison. As long as the Washington Post report is over there. Until the four hostages of America were on an airplane safely out of Tehran. We should've told them, " we won't even walk into the room with you much less sit down and negotiate with you." That's what we ought to be doing. +p3440 +aVWe just need to take a real pause and all the people that coming here and we don't know who they are or what their affiliations are. What George just said is right. We can't take the risk. And why should we take the risk? And if it's such a doggone good idea to bring people here that we really don't know who they are and Obama thinks that we're being un-Christian to not do it, I've got a suggestion. Let's send the first wave of them to Chappaqua, Martha's Vineyard and the upper east side of Manhattan and to the south lawn of the White House where we'll set up a camp. Let's see how that works out. And if they behave wonderfully, that's fine. I want to say, I don't want someone lecturing me about what it means to be a Christian that I should invite a potential terrorist into my backyard. On one hand, the left says separation of church and state. Let's not have any discussion of religion, and then the left wants to tell me what it means to be a Christian. They need to figure out if they know more about being a Christian than I do, then tell me... On one hand, the left says separation of church and state. Let's not have any discussion of religion, and then the left wants to tell me what it means to be a Christian. They need to figure out if they know more about being a Christian than I do \u2014 then tell me. They are no longer going to say separation of church and state, but, we have the most fundamental right above everything else \u2014 is not to protect the reputation of Islam. It is to protect Americans first and foremost. That is our job. +p3441 +aVNo, because he did it unconstitutionally. Twenty-three times he's said he couldn't do it, and then one day he woke up and he found he had a pen in one hand, and a phone in another, and wow. That Constitution didn't mean much anymore. Look, President's can't just do what they want to do. That's the purpose of getting elected and working with other people who got elected, is that our system was designed to function with the power of persuasion, it's really what you elect a president to do. +p3442 +aV...Let me finish, Hugh. You elect him to lead which means that if you think it's a good idea to not punish the children for something their parents did, then you go to the members of Congress and you persuade them. And, you persuade the American people. You don't just jump up and shove it up the nostrils of Congress, and the American people because you think you have a superior intellect, and a superior will, and a superior theology than everybody else. Our system is not a system of tyranny. We don't elect kings, we elect servants. If I'm elected president, I don't consider myself to be elected to be the king of the country, but the servant of the country to work with other people who are elected to get things done that need to be done. +p3443 +aVThe terrorists don't win just because they kill us. The terrorists win when they make us change everything we do in our daily lives and alter our routines. And they're doing that, from getting on a plane to going in a building. And it is high time that we recognize that we have to take them out, not a little bit, but totally, because I want my grandkids to grow up not in fear, but in faith and in freedom. And if you give me the opportunity to be president of the United States, I will fight for your grandkids as much as I will for mine. Thank you and God bless you. +p3444 +aVWell, first of all, Trish, I don't know why we have to move away from manufacturing. The only reason we have is because... ...we have a tax code that has punished manufacturing. I hear a lot of people talk about the plans to simplify the tax code. I've got one better than any of the simplifications, it's called a, "Fair Tax", and it eliminates all of the taxes on our productivity. Here's what would happen. We'd get rid of taxes on people's work, so, we wouldn't punish people for working anymore. Yeah, we've lost five million manufacturing jobs just since the year 2000 \u2014 160,000 manufacturing plants have close in this country, which means a lot of people \u2014 that the governors talking about, he's exactly right. They don't have jobs anymore. And the reason they don't have jobs is because their jobs are in Mexico, they're in China, they're in Indonesia. Bring the jobs back. And with the fair tax, you do that, because you don't tax capital and labor and you bring a real sense of equity to the opportunity so that people will not only make it easier to function, they'll get the manufacturing jobs back. And here's the best part. We don't reduce the IRS, we get rid of the IRS. We completely eliminate them......because the government has no business knowing how much money we make and how we made it. It's none of their business. And that's why I believe that manufacturing is critical. If we can't feed ourselves, fuel ourselves and fight for ourselves, we can't be free. And by the way, fighting for ourselves means manufacturing our own weapons of self-defense. +p3445 +aVWell, Sandra, first of all, let me mention the fact that I think there's a big difference between welfare programs and what some people call entitlements. Namely, Social Security and Medicare. I just want to remind everybody out there who has ever had a paycheck, the government didn't ask you if you wanted them to take money out of your check for Social Security and Medicare. They did that involuntarily. Those are not entitlements and that's not welfare. That's an earned benefit. And by gosh, you paid for it. And if the government screwed it up, you shouldn't have to pay the penalty because of an incompetent government. That's different than the social programs that we've spent $2 trillion on since the War on Poverty began exactly 50 years ago this year. Now the reason we still have so much poverty is because it was never designed to get people out of poverty. It was designed to make sure that there was an industry of poverty, so that the people in the poverty industry would have a lot of jobs. But the people who are poor haven't been benefited. Having grown up poor, I know a little something about it. Nobody who is poor wants to be. That's a nonsense statement and I hear it all the time. Well, poor people ought to work harder. They're working as hard as they can, for gosh sake. But the problem is the system keeps pushing them down because, if they work, then they get punished. They lose all the benefits. When we did welfare reform in the '90s, you know what we did? We said you're not going to lose everything at once. There's not an arbitrary threshold. So as you move up the ladder from work and training, you'll actually always be better off than you were before. That's the American way. +p3446 +aVWell, I'd just like to respond, with all due respect to, to the Governor, to the state just south of me, I would say that a lot of us have cut things. And during the recession of 2001 to 2003, when 91 percent of our state budget was basically three things, educate, medicate and incarcerate, we ended up cutting 11 percent out of the state budget through that recession so we didn't have to go in and raise a bunch of taxes, and there were people who thought we should. So it's just not accurate to say that nobody else up here has ever cut. I believe every governor has probably had to make tough decisions. I'm, I'm guessing my colleague Governor Christie has, as I'm tossing him the ball like Arkansas did to Ol' Miss the other day. +p3447 +aVSandra, before we get too far away, he specifically brought out some things about the record that I need to correct. +p3448 +aVSandra, I've been concerned that this administration has not done anything to help stop the slaughter of Christians. We didn't help the Kurds, we said we would. But, the idea that we're just going to open our doors, and we have no idea who these people are \u2014 what we do know is that only one out of five of the so called, "Syrian Refugees", who went into Europe were actually Syrian. Many of them, we had no idea who they were. They weren't Syrian. Are we going to open the doors so that the +p3449 +aV...I'd like to get that opportunity to go... +p3450 +aVWell, since we're not going to answer the question, let me just remind everybody, tomorrow is Veterans Day. And here's what I would like to remind everybody. The VA has been a disaster in large part because the people in Congress have never bothered to fix it, and this president has certainly not... +p3451 +aVLet me finish, please. I'm going to ask you just this, what would happen if the Congress and the president had to get their health care from the VA? We would fix the problem and we would fix Congress. +p3452 +aVWell, thank you very much. I still want to go back to the fact that if we got rid of all the taxes on our work, got rid of the taxes on our savings, investments, capital gains, and inheritance, and made a zero tax, we'd pay at the point of consumption. Because why should we punish people for their productivity? And the fair tax doesn't punish people for doing well and building the economy. There's $31 trillion parked offshore. What happens if that money comes back to America? You'd think it'd goose the economy? I guarantee you it would. And that's why the fair tax is the best solution we have for economic growth in this country. +p3453 +aVWell, first of all, do you know an American that will just stop spending? I don't. No, that's not going to be the problem. Look, Americans will go to the marketplace with more money they've ever had. For the first time they'll be having their whole paycheck. You see, most people don't understand that when you buy something that is made in America, 22 percent of the cost of it is the embedded tax they never even know they paid. It's why China has beaten the daylights out of us, they can build stuff that we can't because they're not taxing it, when they don't tax capital and labor and we do. They bring something over here, it's automatically cheaper even without the regulatory environment because they're not embedding the taxes, we are. Take the embedded taxes out. Give a person his whole paycheck because every American would no longer have a payroll tax taken out. It means they'd see their real paycheck for the first time. When they go to spend that money, they'll actually have it. And they only pay taxes on the stuff that's new. So a lot of Americans will buy used stuff. Look, here's the point, Americans are not going to quit shopping. Americans are not going to quit buying. But it would be nice if Americans could control how much they paid in tax, rather than having the government reach into their pockets and take it out before they ever had a chance to even see it, much less spend it. And that's why the fair tax makes a heck of a lot more sense than punishing productivity and rewarding irresponsibility. +p3454 +aVWell, my wife's name is Janet and when you say Janet Yelling, I'm very familiar with what you mean. But, look, I think the Fed is in a big trouble because they haven't addressed the number one issue that's hurting Americans and that's the fact that wages for the bottom 90 percent of the economy have been stagnant for 40 years. In the 25 years after World War II, up to 1971, wages grew by 85 percent in this country. People were \u2014 were moving up in the middle class. There was a middle class. That's not happening any more, and in large measure, the Fed has manipulated the dollar so it doesn't have a standard. Tie the dollar to something fixed and if it's not going to be gold, make it the commodity basket. But here's what we've got to do. We absolutely have to get it where the people who go out there and work get something in return. And if the dollar keeps fluctuating, and this is as crazy as \u2014 as is the price of bread, well, the fact is, people can't get ahead then. +p3455 +aVAbsolutely. Absolutely, because what we need to is to make sure that they tie the monetary standard to something that makes sense, rather than to their own whims, because who's getting gut punched? It ain't the people in Wall Street, it's the folks on Main Street. They're the ones who's wages have been stagnant for 40 years. And the average American today has a total savings of 1,000 bucks. One root canal and they're in trouble. And if their car breaks down the same week......they're out of business. +p3456 +aVWell, I think thanking our veterans is a wonderful thing to do, but, they sure appreciate a better paycheck. They'd appreciate the fact that we kept our promises to them. The men and women in uniform put on the uniform of our nation, they went halfway around the world, they face dangers on our behalf, and we promised them if they did that, when they came home we'd take care of their medical care, we'd make is possible for their kids to go to college, and they'd be able to bind to a home. They kept their promises to us. We have not kept our promises to them, and today, less than one percent of Americans go to the military for service. We're fighting wars with other people's kids in large measure because we've not taken seriously the moral, not the monetary, the moral obligation to take care of the veterans and to keep America's promise to the ones who kept their promise to America. +p3457 +aVIn many ways, I feel like I'm the luckiest guy on Earth. I really do. It's a long way from a little brick rent house on second street in Hope, Arkansas to this stage where I'm running for President of the United States. It's not about me, not about these guys \u2014 'ought to be about you, and I've never been the favorite of the people who have the most money. But, I want to be the favorite of the people who still want to believe the American dream can work for them. Today in our office, I got a letter from a third grader in North Dakota, her name is Reese. She sent $6 dollars from her allowance, and said, "I want to help you be president." You know, I'm going to keep standing on this stage, and keep fighting for one reason, because somewhere out there in North Dakota, and all over America, there are kids like Reese who need a president who will never forget where they came from, and I promise I won't. +p3458 +asVCRUZ +p3459 +(lp3460 +VThank you, Wolf. America is at war. Our enemy is not violent extremism. It is not some unnamed malevolent force. It is radical Islamic terrorist. We have a president who is unwilling to utter its name. The men and women on this stage, every one of us, is better prepared to keep this nation safe than is Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. We need a president who understands the first obligation of the commander-in-chief is to keep America safe. If I am elected president, we will hunt down and kill the terrorists. We will utterly destroy +p3461 +aVWell, listen, Hugh, everyone understands why Donald has suggested what he has. We're looking at a president who's engaged in this double-speak where he doesn't call radical Islamic terrorism by its name. Indeed, he gives a speech after the San Bernardino attack where his approach is to try to go after the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens rather than to keep us safe. And even worse, President Obama and Hillary Clinton are proposing bringing tens of thousands of Syrian refugees to this country when the head of the FBI has told Congress they cannot vet those refugees. I understand why Donald made that proposal. I introduced legislation in the Senate that I believe is more narrowly focused at the actual threat, which is radical Islamic terrorism, and what my legislation would do is suspend all refugees for three years from countries where +p3462 +aVWell, you know, I'm reminded of what FDR's grandfather said. He said, "All horse-thieves are Democrats, but not all Democrats are horse-thieves." In this instance, there are millions of peaceful Muslims across the world, in countries like India, where there is not the problems we are seeing in nations that are controlled \u2014 have territory controlled by Al Qaida or +p3463 +aVWell, Dana, the premise of your question is not accurate. I'm very proud to have joined with conservatives in both the Senate and the House to reform how we target bad guys. And what the USA Freedom Act did is it did two things. Number one, it ended the federal government's bulk collection of phone metadata of millions of law-abiding citizens. But number two in the second half of it that is critical. It strengthened the tools of national security and law enforcement to go after terrorists. It gave us greater tools and we are seeing those tools work right now in San Bernardino. And in particular, what it did is the prior program only covered a relatively narrow slice of phone calls. When you had a terrorist, you could only search a relatively narrow slice of numbers, primarily land lines. The USA Freedom Act expands that so now we have cell phones, now we have Internet phones, now we have the phones that terrorists are likely to use and the focus of law enforcement is on targeting the bad guys. You know what the Obama administration keeps getting wrong is whenever anything bad happens they focus on law-abiding citizens instead of focusing on the bad guys. We need to focus on radical Islamic terrorists and we need to stop them before they carry out acts of terror. +p3464 +aVWell, you know, I would note that Marco knows what he's saying isn't true. You know, Mark Levin wrote a column last week that says that the attack ads his Super PAC is running that are saying the same thing, that they are knowingly false and they are, in fact, Alinsky-like attacks like Barack Obama. And the reason is simple. What he knows is that the old program covered 20 percent to 30 percent of phone numbers to search for terrorists. The new program covers nearly 100 percent. That gives us greater ability to stop acts of terrorism, and he knows that that's the case. +p3465 +aVWhat it means is using overwhelming air power to utterly and completely destroy +p3466 +aVYou would carpet bomb where +p3467 +aVWell, you know, Marco has continued these attacks, and he knows they're not true. Yes, it is true that I voted against the National Defense Authorization Act, because when I campaigned in Texas I told voters in Texas that I would oppose the federal government having the authority to detain U.S. citizens permanently with no due process. I have repeatedly supported an effort to take that out of that bill, and I honored that campaign commitment. +p3468 +aVBut more broadly, you know, the notion Marco is suggesting, that somehow \u2014 he also has tossed more than a few insults this direction \u2014 let's be absolutely clear. +p3469 +aVWolf, I believe in a America first foreign policy, that far too often President Obama and Hillary Clinton \u2014 and, unfortunately, more than a few Republicans \u2014 have gotten distracted from the central focus of keeping this country safe. So let's go back to the beginning of the Obama administration, when Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama led +p3470 +aV... we ought to hunt down our enemies and kill +p3471 +aVWell, it's more than not shedding a tear. It's actively getting involved to topple a government. And we keep hearing from President Obama and Hillary Clinton and Washington Republicans that they're searching for these mythical moderate rebels. It's like a purple unicorn. They never exist. These moderate rebels end up being jihadists. And I'll tell you whose view on Assad is the same as mine. It's Prime Minister Netanyahu. Prime Minister Netanyahu has said Israel doesn't have a dog in that fight because Assad is a puppet of Iran, a Shia radical Islamic terrorist, but at the same time, Prime Minister Netanyahu doesn't want to see Syria governed by +p3472 +aVThe question of whether we should toppling dictatorships is asking the wrong question. We should be defeating our enemies. So the problem with defeating... +p3473 +aVWell, but let me explain, the focus should be... +p3474 +aV... on defeating our enemies. So, for example... +p3475 +aV... a regime we should change is Iran... +p3476 +aV... because Iran has declared war on us. But we shouldn't be toppling regimes...... that are fighting radical Islamic terrorists that are helping... +p3477 +aVWell, he \u2014 he has attempted to muddy the waters, but I think that anyone who watched the battle that we had. You know, there was a time for choosing as Reagan put it. Where there was a battle over amnesty and some chose, like Senator Rubio to stand with Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer and support a massive amnesty plan. Others chose to stand with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and the American people and secure the border. And let me mention, this issue is actually directly connected to what we've been talking about. Because the front line with +p3478 +aVLook, I understand Marco wants to raise confusion, it is not accurate what he just said that I supported legalization. Indeed, I led the fight against his legalization and amnesty. And you know, there was one commentator that put it this way that, for Marco to suggest our record's the same is like suggesting "the fireman and the arsonist because they are both at the scene of the fire." He was fighting to grant amnesty and not to secure the border, I was fighting to secure the border. And this also goes to trust, listening on to campaign trails. Candidates all the time make promises. You know, Marco said," he learned that the American people didn't trust the federal government." +p3479 +aVIn Florida promising to... +p3480 +aVgo in the fight against amnesty... +p3481 +aVHe campaigned promising to lead the fight against amnesty. +p3482 +aVI have never supported a legalization... +p3483 +aVI have never supported legalization, and I do not intend to support legalization. Let me tell you how you do this, what you do is you enforce the law... +p3484 +aVWatt you do is enforcement the law... +p3485 +aVWhat you do... +p3486 +aVWhat you do is you enforce the law. I've laid out a very, very detailed immigration plan on my website, tedcruz.org. It's 11 pages of existing federal law and in particular the question of what to do with people who are here now? You enforce the law. That means you stop the Obama administration's policy of releasing criminal illegal aliens. Do you know how many aliens Bill Clinton deported? 12 million. Do you know how many illegal aliens, George W. Bush deported? 10 million. We can enforce the laws and if we secure the border, that solves the problem. And as president I will solve this problem and secure the border. +p3487 +aVDana, what I said in private is exactly what I'll say here, which is that the judgment that every voter is making of every one of us up here is who has the experience, who has the vision, who has the judgment to be commander in chief. That is the most important decision for the voters to make. That's a standard I'm held to. And it's a standard everyone else is held to. And I will note, you know, in the whole course of this discussion about our foreign policy threats, it actually illustrates the need for clarity of focus. You know, my daughters, Caroline and Catherine, came tonight. They're 7 and 5. And you think about the Los Angeles schools canceling their schools today. And every parent is wondering, how do we keep our kids safe? We need a commander in chief who does what Ronald Reagan did with communism, which is he set out a global strategy to defeat Soviet communism. And he directed all of his... I'm answering the question, Dana. He directed all of his forces to defeating communism. One of the things we've seen here is how easy it is for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to get distracted from dealing with radical Islamic terrorism. They won't even call it by its name. We need a president who stands up, number one, and says, we will defeat +p3488 +aVAnd we need to be focused on defeating... +p3489 +aV... defeating radical Islamic terrorists. +p3490 +aVWhat I'm saying, Dana, is that is a judgment for every voter to make. What I can tell you is all nine of the people here would make an infinitely better commander in chief than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. +p3491 +aVAnd there is a real danger, Dana, when people get distracted. I'm answering the question, Wolf. There's a real danger when people get distracted by peripheral issues. They get distracted by democracy building. They get distracted about military conflicts. We need to focus on defeating jihadism. +p3492 +aVAnd I will do everything necessary to keep our children safe. +p3493 +aVJudgment, strength, clarity and trust. Barack Obama has said he doesn't believe in American leadership or America winning \u2014 he is wrong. America can win again and we will win again. Ronald Reagan reignited the American economy, rebuilt the Military, bankrupted the Soviet Union and defeated Soviet Communism. I will do the same thing. Cutting taxes, cutting regulation, unleashing small businesses and rebuilding the Military to defeat radical Islamic terrorism \u2014 our strategy is simple. We win, they lose. We've done it before and we can do it again. +p3494 +aVWell, Maria, it's great to be with you. It's great to be here in Milwaukee. You know, the question you asked really I think is the most important question any of us can have \u2014 face, which is, how do we get the economy growing? How do we bring back economic growth? Because economic growth, it's foundational to every other challenge we have. As you rightly noted, from 2008 to today, our economy has grown 1.2 percent a year on average. The Obama economy is a disaster, and the IMF is telling us this is a new normal. It doesn't have to be. If you look at the history of America, there are three levers that government has had to facilitate economic growth. The first is tax reform. And as you noted, I have rolled out a bold and simple flat tax: 10 percent for every American that would produce booming growth and 4.9 million new jobs within a decade. The second element is regulatory reform, pulling back the armies of regulators that have descended like locusts on small businesses. And the third element is sound money. Every time we've pursued all three of those \u2014 whether in the 1920s with Calvin Coolidge or the 1960s with JFK or the 1980s with Ronald Reagan \u2014 the result has been incredible economic growth. We have done it before, and with leadership, we can do it again. +p3495 +aVWell, my Mom is here, so I don't think we should be pushing any grannies off cliffs. And, you miss-stated what I've said on entitlement reform. What I've said is for seniors we should make no changes whatsoever, for younger workers we should gradually raise the retirement age, we should have benefits grow more slowly, and we should allow them to keep a portion of their taxes in a personal account that they control, and can pass on to their kids... +p3496 +aVI want to go back to the discussion we had a minute ago because, you know, what was said was right. The democrats are laughing \u2014 because if republicans join democrats as the party of amnesty, we will lose. And, you know, I understand that when the mainstream media covers immigration, it doesn't often see it as an economic issue. But, I can tell you for millions \u2014 of Americans at home watching this, it is a very personal economic issue. And, I will say the politics of it will be very, very different if a bunch of lawyers or bankers were crossing the Rio Grande. Or if a bunch of people with journalism degrees were coming over and driving down the wages in the press. Then, we would see stories about the economic calamity that is befalling our nation. And, I will say for those of us who believe people 'ought to come to this country legally, and we should enforce the law, we're tired of being told it's anti-immigrant. It's offensive. I am the son of an immigrant who came legally from Cuba... ...to seek the American dream. And, we can embrace legal immigration while believing in the rule of law \u2014 and I would note, try going illegally to another country. Try going to China, or Japan. Try going to Mexico. See what they do. Every sovereign nation secures its borders, and it is not compassionate to say we're not going to enforce the laws... ...And we're going to drive down the wages for millions of hardworking men and women. That is abandoning the working... +p3497 +aVWell, sure, you put your finger on what the problem is. The current system isn't fair. Washington is fundamentally corrupt. There are more words in the IRS code than there are in the Bible \u2014 and \u2014 and not a one of them is as good. Every one of them reflects a carve-out or a subsidy, and it's all about empowering the Washington cartel. My simple Flat Tax says that, for a family of four, for the first $36,000 you earn, you pay no taxes whatsoever. No income taxes, no payroll taxes, no nothing. Above that, every American pays 10 percent across the board \u2014 a flat, fair tax. Which means that no longer do you have hedge-fund billionaires paying a lower tax rate than their secretaries. On the business side, I've got a business flat tax of 16 percent \u2014 again, that applies across the board. Right now, with our corporate income tax, giant corporations with armies of accountants regularly are paying little to no taxes while small businesses are getting hammered. This is fair and across-the-board. Now, you ask, how do the numbers add up? I would encourage folks, if you go to our website, tedcruz.org, we have the specific numbers on the website. This plan eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax, eliminates the corporate income tax, and it abolishes the IRS. And the effect of that is incredible economic growth. It means every income group will see double-digit increases, from the very poorest to the very weakest, of at least 14 percent. So if you're a single mom, if you're making $40,000 a year, what that means is an extra about $5,000 in your pocket to provide for your kids, to make ends meet. It has a powerful, powerful effect. And there's one other really powerful feature of my plan, which is that it's border-adjustable. Which means, if you're an exporter \u2014 if you're a farmer, if you're a rancher, if you're a manufacturer, you don't pay the businesses flat tax. Exports are free of that tax, but all imports pay that 16 percent business flat tax, which means this tax plan would cause jobs to boom, and it would let America compete with China and the world on a level playing field. +p3498 +aVWell, the numbers the Tax Foundation had put out is that the static cost of the plan is $3.6 trillion over 10 years, but the dynamic cost of the plan, which \u2014 which is the cost that factors in growth, is about $768 billion. It is less than a trillion. It costs less than virtually every other plan people have put up here, and yet it produces more growth and it's one of the very few plans that abolishes the IRS. But on top of that, today, we rolled out a spending plan. $500 billion in specific cuts \u2014 five major agencies that I would eliminate. The IRS, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Energy, the Department of Commerce, and HUD \u2014 and then 25 specific programs. Again, that's on our website at tedcruz.org. You want to look at specificity? It's easy for everyone to say, "cut spending". It's much harder and riskier to put out, chapter and verse, specifically the programs you would cut to stop bankrupting our kids and grandkids. +p3499 +aV...Middle ground that brings both of these together... +p3500 +aV...Exactly right, that we have to defend this nation. You think defending this nation is expensive, try not defending it. That's a lot more expensive. But, you can do that, and pay for it. You can do that, and also be fiscally responsible. You know, I mention that the 25 programs that I put today, that I would eliminate them. Among them are corporate welfare, like sugar subsidies. Let's take that as an example. Sugar subsidies. Sugar farmers farm under... ...under roughly 0.2% of the farmland in America, and yet they give 40% of the lobbying money. That sort of corporate welfare is why we're bankrupting our kids, and grandkids. I would end those subsidies to pay for defending this nation... +p3501 +aVAbsolutely yes. You know, I have spent much of my adult life enforcing the law and defending the Constitution. And the problem that underlies all of this is the cronyism and corruption of Washington. You know, the opening question Jerry asked, would you bail out the big banks again? Nobody gave you an answer to that. I'll give you an answer. Absolutely not. And what we have right now is we have Washington \u2014 as government gets bigger and bigger, you know, the biggest lie in all of Washington and in all of politics is that Republicans are the party of the rich. The truth is, the rich do great with big government. They get in bed with big government. The big banks get bigger and bigger and bigger under Dodd-Frank and community banks are going out of business. And, by the way, the consequence of that is small businesses can't get business loans, and it is that fundamental corruption that is why six of the 10 wealthiest counties in America are in and around Washington, D.C. And let me give you a contrast to Washington cronyism. Some weeks ago, a woman named Sabina Loving testified at a hearing that I chaired in the Senate. Sabina Loving is an African-American single mom who started a tax preparation business in the south side of Chicago. She found a store front, she wanted to have her own business. She started a business. But then the IRS promulgated new regulations targeting tax preparers. They did it under a more than 100-year-old statute called the Dead Horse Act. Now, this statute and the IRS in classic Washington crony fashion had exemptions for lawyers and big fancy accountants, but Sabina had to pay $1,000 an employee. It would have driven her out of business, and Ms. Loving sued the IRS. She took the Obama IRS to court, and she won, and they struck down the rule for picking the big guys over the little guys. +p3502 +aVYes. Now, let's be clear, there is a role for the Federal Reserve \u2014 what the Fed is doing now is it is a series of philosopher- kings trying to guess what's happening with the economy. You look at the Fed, one of the reasons we had the financial crash is throughout the 2000s, we had loose money, we had an asset bubble, it drove up the price of real estate, drove up the price of commodities, and then in the third quarter of 2008, the Fed tightened the money and crashed those asset prices, which caused a cascading collapse. That's why I am supporting getting back to rules-based monetary system not with a bunch of philosopher-kings deciding, but tied... +p3503 +aVSo let me be clear. I would not bail them out, but instead of adjusting monetary policy according to whims and getting it wrong over and over again and causing booms and busts, what the Fed should be doing is, number one, keeping our money tied to a stable level of gold, and, number two, serving as a lender of last resort. That's what central banks do. So if you have a run on the bank, the Fed can serve as a lender of last resort, but it's not a bailout. It is a loan at higher interest rates. That's how central banks have worked. And I'll point out \u2014 look, we had a gold standard under Bretton Woods, we had it for about 170 years of our nation's history, and enjoyed booming economic growth and lower inflation than we have had with the Fed now. We need to get back to sound money, which helps, in particular, working men and women. What Washington does \u2014 the people who are doing well in the Obama economy are those with power and influence in the Obama government. The people who working men and women... +p3504 +aVSo, Governor Kasich... +p3505 +aV...why would you then bail out rich Wall Street banks, but not Main street, not Mom and Pop, not Sabina Loving? +p3506 +aVBut you just said an executive... +p3507 +aV...knows to step in and bail out a bank. +p3508 +aVSo you said you'd abandon philosophy and abandon principle... +p3509 +aV...but what would you do if the bank was failing? +p3510 +aVSo you \u2014 you would bail them out. +p3511 +aVAnd, Maria, I will note, she's got a lot of experience, but her policies have proven disastrous. If you look at foreign policy, every region in the world has gotten worse. Under her leadership, we abandon the nation of Israel. Under her leadership, radical Islamic terrorism has been on to the rise. Under her leadership, and Obama's leadership, Iran is getting $100 billion dollars, and on the verge of getting a nuclear weapon. Everything she's put her hand to, or has touched \u2014 and when we talk about the cronyism of Washington, Hillary Clinton embodies the cronyism... ...of Washington. And, I'll give you an example of that, which is the Congressional exemption from Obamacare, which is fundamentally wrong, and I'll tell you this, if I'm elected president, I will veto any statute that exempts members of congress. The law should apply evenly to every American. +p3512 +aVMaria, critically, when it comes to climate change... +p3513 +aV...Our \u2014 our... +p3514 +aVFifty-eight years ago, my father fled Cuba. As he stood on the deck of that ferryboat with the wind and salt air blowing, he looked back at the oppression and torture he was escaping. And yet he looked forward to the promise of America. His story is our story. What ties Americans together is we are all the children of those who risked everything for freedom. America is in crisis now. I believe in America. And if we get back to the free market principles and constitutional liberties that built this country, we can turn this country around. I believe that 2016 will be an election like 1980, that we will win by following Reagan's admonition to paint in bold colors, not pale pastels. We're building a grassroots army. I ask you to join us at tedcruz.org. And we, the people, can turn this nation around. +p3515 +aVI'm too agreeable, easy going. You know, I think my biggest weakness is exactly the opposite. I'm a fighter. I am passionate about what I believe. I've been passionate my whole life about the Constitution. And, you know, for six-and-a-half years, we've had a gigantic party. If you want someone to grab a beer with, I may not be that guy. But if you want someone to drive you home, I will get the job done and I will get you home. +p3516 +aVBecky, if you want a 10 percent flat tax where the numbers add up, I rolled out my tax plan today, you can find it on line at tedcruz.org. It is a simple flat tax where for individuals, a family of four pays nothing on the first $36,000. After that you pay 10 percent as a flat tax going up. The billionaire and the working man, no hedge fund manager pays less than his secretary. On top of that, there is a business flat tax of 16 percent. Now that applies universally to giant corporations that with lobbyists right now are not paying taxes, and as small business. And you wanted to know the numbers, the Tax Foundation, which has scored every one of our plans, shows that this plan will allow the economy to generate 4.9 million jobs, to raise wages over 12 percent, and to generate 14 percent growth. And it costs, with dynamic scoring, less than a trillion dollars. Those are the hard numbers. And every single income decile sees a double-digit increase in after-tax income. +p3517 +aVGrowth is the answer. And as Reagan demonstrated, if we cut taxes, we can bring back growth. +p3518 +aVYou know, let me say something at the outset. The questions that have been asked so far in this debate illustrate why the American people don't trust the media. This is not a cage match. And, you look at the questions \u2014 "Donald Trump, are you a comic-book villain?" "Ben Carson, can you do math?" "John Kasich, will you insult two people over here?" "Marco Rubio, why don't you resign?" "Jeb Bush, why have your numbers fallen?" How about talking about the substantive issues the people care about? +p3519 +aVAnd Carl \u2014 Carl, I'm not finished yet. The contrast with the Democratic debate, where every fawning question from the media was, "Which of you is more handsome and why?" And let me be clear. +p3520 +aVLet me be clear. The men and women on this stage have more ideas, more experience, more common sense than every participant in the Democratic debate. That debate reflected a debate between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. And nobody watching at home believed that any of the moderators had any intention of voting in a Republican primary. The questions that are being asked shouldn't be trying to get people to tear into each other. It should be what are your substantive positions... +p3521 +aVYou want me to answer that question? I'm happy to answer the question... +p3522 +aVLet me tell you how that question... +p3523 +aVLet me tell you how that question... +p3524 +aV... so you don't actually want to hear the answer, John? +p3525 +aVYou don't want to hear the answer. You just want to... +p3526 +aVYou're not interested in an answer. +p3527 +aV...Then I'll buy you a tequila... +p3528 +aV...Or, even some famous Colorado brownies. +p3529 +aVWell, sure. This deal in Washington is an example of why Washington's broken. Republican leadership joined with every single Democrat, add $80 trillion to our debt to do nothing to fix the problems. And, let me now on Social Security because we were getting into a good substantive exchange, and I want to say I think both Chris, and Mike are right. Governor Huckabee's exactly right, we need to honor the promises made to our seniors, but for younger workers \u2014 look. I'm 44 years old. It is hard to find someone in my generation that thinks Social Security will be there for us. We can save and preserve and strengthen Social Security by making no changes for seniors, but for younger workers gradually increasing the retirement age, changing the rate of growth so that it matches inflation, and critically allowing younger workers to keep a portion of our tax payments in a personal account that we own, we control them, we can pass on to our kids. +p3530 +aVWell, we've gotta turn the economy around for people who are struggling. The Democrats' answer to everything is more government control over wages, and more empowering trial lawyers to file lawsuits. You know, you look at women working. I'll tell you, in my family there are a lot of single moms in my family. My sister was a single mom, both of my aunts who were a single moms. My mom who's here today, was a single mom when my father left us when I was 3 years old. Now, thank God, my father was invited to a Bible study and became born again and he came back to my mom and me and we were raised together. But I \u2014 the struggle of single moms is extraordinary. And you know, when you see Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and all the Democrats talking about wanting to address the plight of working women, not a one of them mentioned the fact that under Barack Obama, 3.7 million women have entered poverty. Not a one of them mentioned the fact that under Barack Obama and the big government economy, the median wage for women has dropped $733. The the truth of the matter is, big government benefits the wealthy, it benefits the lobbyists, it benefits the giant corporations. And the people who are getting hammered are small businesses, it's single moms, it's Hispanics. That is who I'm fighting for. The people that Washington leaves behind. +p3531 +aVWell, Rick, it's a very important question. I have got deep concerns about the Fed. The first thing I think we need to do is audit the Fed. And I am an original co-sponsor of Rand Paul's audit the Fed legislation. The second thing we need to do is I think we need to bring together a bipartisan commission to look at getting back to rules- based monetary policy, end this star chamber that has been engaging in this incredible experiment of quantitative easing, QE1, QE2, QE3, QE- infinity. And the people who are being impacted, you know, a question that was asked earlier, Becky asked, was about working women. You know, it's interesting, you look at on Wall Street, the Fed is doing great. It's driving up stock prices. Wall Street is doing great. You know, today, the top 1 percent earn a higher share of our income than any year since 1928. But if you look at working men and women. If you look at a single mom buying groceries, she sees hamburger prices have gone up nearly 40 percent. She sees her cost of electricity going up. She sees her health insurance going up. And loose money is one of the major problems. We need sound money. And I think the Fed should get out of the business of trying to juice our economy and simply be focused on sound money and monetary stability, ideally tied to gold. +p3532 +aVLet me say on that... +p3533 +aV...Rand is exactly right. His plan is a good plan, and I will note that my 10% plan also eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax, +p3534 +aV...eliminates the business... [ +p3535 +aV...income tax... [ +p3536 +aV...10% flat rate... +p3537 +aV...is the lowest personal rate any candidate up here has, and what it would also enable us to do is for every citizen to fill out their taxes on a postcard so we can eliminate the IRS. +p3538 +aVYou know, everyone here talks about the need to take on Washington. The natural next question is who actually has done so. Who actually has stood up not just to Democrats, but to leaders in our own party? When millions of Americans rose up against Obamacare, I was proud to lead that fight. When millions of Americans rose up against amnesty, I was proud to lead that fight. When millions of Americans rose up against Planned Parenthood, I was proud to lead that fight. If people are promising they're going to take on Washington and cronyism, you need to look to who has been doing it. In my family, my dad fled oppression in Cuba to come to America. Freedom is personal for me, and I will always keep my word and fight for freedom. +p3539 +aVI'm Ted Cruz. I am the son of an Irish-Italian mom and a Cuban immigrant dad who fled oppression and came to America seeking freedom. I'm a husband to my best friend, Heidi, who's here tonight. I'm a dad to two little girls who are the loves of my life, Caroline and Catherine. If you're fed up with Washington, if you're looking for someone to stand up to career politicians in both parties, I'm the only one on this stage who has done that over and over again, and if we stand together, we can bring America back. +p3540 +aVWell, let me tell you, Jake, the single biggest national security threat facing America right now is the threat of a nuclear Iran. We've seen six and a half years of President Obama leading from behind. Weakness is provocative, and this Iranian nuclear deal is nothing short of catastrophic. This deal, on its face, will send over $100 billion to the Ayatollah Khamenei, making the Obama administration the world's leading financier of radical Islamic terrorism. +p3541 +aVThis deal abandons four American hostages in Iran, and this deal will only accelerate Iran's acquiring nuclear weapons. You'd better believe it. If I am elected president, on the very first day in office, I will rip to shreds this catastrophic Iranian nuclear deal. +p3542 +aVWell, let's be clear when it comes to experience. What President Obama wants to do is he's run to the United Nations, and he wants to use the United Nations to bind the United States, and take away our sovereignty. Well, I spent five and a half years as a Solicitor General of Texas, the lead lawyer for the state, in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, and I went in front of the Supreme Court, and took on the world court of the United Nations in a case called Medellin v. Texas, and we won a historic victory saying the World Court, and the U.N., has no power to bind the United States, and no President of the United States, Republican or Democrat, has the authority to give away our sovereignty. And, so, if there's anyone up here who would be bound by this catastrophic deal with Iran, they're giving up the core responsibility of commander in chief, and as president, I would never do that. +p3543 +aVJake, Jake... +p3544 +aVJake, there is no more important topic in 2016 than this topic right here, and I've listened to several folks saying, "Well, gosh, if they cheat, we'll act." We won't know under this agreement \u2014 there are several facilities in Iran they designate as military facilities that are off limit all together. Beyond that, the other facilities, we give them 24 days notice before inspecting them. That is designed to allow them to hide the evidence. And most astonishingly, this agreement trusts the Iranians to inspect themselves. That makes no sense whatsoever. And let me know \u2014 President Obama is violating federal law... +p3545 +aV... by not handing over the side deals, and we ought to see the United States Congress... +p3546 +aV... stand up together and say, "Hand over this treaty, and protect this country." +p3547 +aVWell, let me tell you, Dana, number one, I'm proud to stand for life. These Planned Parenthood videos are horrifying. I would encourage every American to watch the videos. See \u2014 seeing your Planned Parenthood officials callously, heartlessly bartering and selling the body parts of human beings, and then ask yourself, "are these my values?" These are horrifying. On these videos, Planned Parenthood also essentially confesses to multiple felonies. It is a felony with ten years' jail term to sell the body parts of unborn children for profit. That's what these videos show Planned Parenthood doing. Absolutely we shouldn't be sending $500 million of taxpayer money to funding an ongoing criminal enterprise, and I'll tell you, the fact that Republican leadership in both houses has begun this discussion by preemptively surrendering to Barack Obama and saying, "we'll give in because Obama threatens a veto." You know, Obama's committed to his principles. His liberal principles, he will fight for them. He says... +p3548 +aVI will veto any budget that doesn't fund Planned Parenthood, and Republicans surrender. We need to stop surrendering and start standing... +p3549 +aV...for our principles. +p3550 +aVWell, Jake, you know, I'm \u2014 I'm very glad that Donald Trump's being in this race has forced the mainstream media finally to talk about illegal immigration. I think that's very important. I like and respect Ben Carson. I'll let him talk about his own plans. But I will say this: The natural next question that primary voters are asking, after we focus on illegal immigration is, okay, what are the records of the various candidates? And this is an issue on which there are stark differences. A majority of the men and women on this stage have previously and publicly embraced amnesty. I am the only candidate on this stage who has never supported amnesty and, in fact, who helped lead the fight to stop a massive amnesty plan. In 2013, when Barack Obama and Harry Reid joined the Washington Republicans in a massive, I stood shoulder to shoulder with Jeff Sessions helping lead the fight. You know, folks here have talked about, how do you secure the borders? Well, I've been leading the fight in the Senate to triple the Border Patrol, to put in place fencings and walls, to put in place a strong biometric exit/entry system... +p3551 +aVWell, Dana, I've known John Roberts for 20 years, he's amazingly talented lawyer, but, yes, it was a mistake when he was appointed to the Supreme Court. He's a good enough lawyer that he knows in these Obamacare cases he changed the statute, he changed the law in order to force that failed law on millions of Americans for a political outcome. And, you know, we're frustrated as conservatives. We keep winning elections, and then we don't get the outcome we want. And, let me focus on two moments in time. Number one, in 1990, in one room was David Souter, and in another room was Edith Jones, the rock ribbed (ph) conservative on the fifth circuit court of appeals. George Herbert Walker Bush appointed David Souter. And then in 2005, in one room was John Roberts, in another room was my former boss, Mike Luttig, the rock ribbed (ph) conservative on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals... +p3552 +aV...George W. Bush appointed John Roberts, and let me give you the consequences of that. If, instead, the President Bush had appointed Edith Jones, and Mike Luttig, which is who I would have appointed, Obamacare would have been struck down three years ago, and the marriage laws of all 50 states would be on the books. These matter, and I fought to defend the constitution my whole life... +p3553 +aV...and I will as president as well. +p3554 +aVIt is true that after George W. Bush nominated John Roberts, I supported his confirmation. That was a mistake and I regret that. I wouldn't have nominated John Roberts, and indeed, Governor Bush pointed out why. It wasn't that the President Bushes wanted to appoint a liberal to the court, it's that it was the easier choice. Both David Souter and John Roberts, they didn't have a long paper trail. If you had nominated Edith Jones or Mike Ludig (ph) you would have had a bloody fight and they weren't willing to spend political capital to put a strong judicial conservative on the court. I have spent my entire life, starting from clerking for Chief Justice William Rehnquist on the United States Supreme Court, one of the most principled jurists. We have an out-of-control Court, and I give you my word, if I'm elected president, every single Supreme Court justice will faithfully follow the law and will not act like philosopher kings \u2014 +p3555 +aV\u2014 imposing their liberal policies on millions of Americans \u2014 +p3556 +aV\u2014 who need to be trusted to govern ourselves. +p3557 +aVI \u2014 I am not, and \u2014 and you mentioned that the U.S. Supreme Court had rightly upheld the individual right to keep and bear arms. I was proud to lead 31 states before the U.S. Supreme Court defending the Second Amendment, and we won that landmark victory. And indeed, just a couple of years ago, when Harry Reid and Barack Obama came after the right to keep and bear arms of millions of Americans, I was proud to lead the fight in the United States Senate to protect our right to keep and bear arms, and for that reason... +p3558 +aV... I was honored to be endorsed by Gun Owners of America... +p3559 +aV... as the strongest supporter of the Second Amendment on this stage today, and I will... +p3560 +aV... fight every day to defend the Bill of Rights. +p3561 +aVWell, I wouldn't change the $10 bill, I'd change the $20. I'd take Jackson off and I'd leave Alexander Hamilton right where he is as one of our Founding Fathers. And I very much agree with Marco that it should be Rosa Parks. She was a principled pioneer that helped change this country, helped remedy racial injustice, and that would be an honor that would be entirely appropriate. +p3562 +aVYou know, as a Cuban, I might go with Cohiba (ph), and I'll tell you, I'd go with, for Heidi, Angel, because she is my angel. +p3563 +aVRonald Reagan believed in America. If I'm elected president our friends and allies across the globe will know that we stand with them. the bust of Winston Churchill will be back in the Oval Office, and the American embassy in Israel will be in Jerusalem. Enemies across this world will know the United States is not to be trifled with. +p3564 +aVChris, I believe the American people are looking for someone to speak the truth. If you're looking for someone to go to Washington, to go along to get along, to get -- to agree with the career politicians in both parties who get in bed with the lobbyists and special interests, then I ain't your guy. There is a reason... .... that we have $18 trillion in debt. Because as conservatives, as Republicans, we keep winning elections. We got a Republican House, we've got a Republican Senate, and we don't have leaders who honor their commitments. I will always tell the truth and do what I said I would do. +p3565 +aVChris, absolutely yes. And not only will I support it......I have authored Kate's law in the United States Senate and filed that legislation. I tried to get the Senate to vote to pass Kate's law on the floor of the Senate just one week ago, and the leader of our own party blocked a vote on Kate's law. You know, there was reference made to our leaders being stupid. It's not a question of stupidity. It's that they don't want to enforce the immigration laws. That there are far too many in the Washington cartel that support amnesty. President Obama has talked about fundamentally transforming this country. There's 7 billion people across the face of the globe, many of whom want to come to this country. If they come legally, great. But if they come illegally and they get amnesty, that is how we fundamentally change this country, and it really is striking. A majority of the candidates on this stage have supported amnesty. I have never supported amnesty, and I led the fight against Chuck Schumer's gang of eight amnesty legislation in the Senate. +p3566 +aVMegyn, we need a commander in chief that speaks the truth. We will not defeat radical Islamic terrorism so long as we have a president unwilling to utter the words, "radical Islamic terrorism". When I asked General Dempsey, the chairman of the joint chiefs, what would be required militarily to destroy +p3567 +aVMegyn, of course it's an ideological problem, that's one of the reasons I introduce the Expatriate Terrorist Act in the Senate that said if any American travels to the Middle East and joining +p3568 +aVWell, Bret, of course they have, and over the last six and a half years we've seen the consequences of the Obama-Clinton foreign policy. Leading from behind is a disaster. We have abandoned and alienated our friends and allies, and our enemies are stronger. Radical Islam is on the rise, Iran's on the verge of acquiring a nuclear weapon, China is waging cyber warfare against America, Russia -- General Soleimani, you just mentioned, the Iranian general is the head of the al Quds forces. He's directly responsible for the murder of over 500 American servicemen in Iraq, and part of this Iranian deal was lifting the international sanctions on General Soleimani. The day General Soleimani flew back from Moscow to Iran was the day we believed that Russia used cyber warfare against the Joint Chiefs. We need a new commander in chief that will stand up to our enemies, and that will have credibility... It is worth emphasizing that Iran released our hostages in 1981 the day Ronald Reagan was sworn into office. +p3569 +aVBrett, can I -- Brett, can I jump in on this one? +p3570 +aVWell, I am blessed to receive a word from God every day in receiving the scriptures and reading the scriptures. And God speaks through the Bible. I'm the son of a pastor and evangelist and I've described many times how my father, when I was a child, was an alcoholic. He wasn't a Christian. And my father left my mother and left me when I was just three years old. And someone invited him to Clay Road Baptist Church. And he gave his heart to Jesus and it turned him around. And he got on a plane and he flew back to my mother and me. I would also note that the scripture tells us, "you shall know them by their fruit." We see lots of "campaign conservatives." But if we're going to win in 2016, we need a consistent conservative, someone who has been a fiscal conservative, a social conservative, a national security conservative. There are real differences among the candidates on issues like amnesty, like Obamacare, like religious liberty, like life and marriage. And I have been proud to fight and stand for religious liberty, to stand against Planned Parenthood, to defend life for my entire career. And I will be proud to continue to do so as president of the United States. +p3571 +aVIf I'm elected president, let me tell you about my first day in office. The first thing I intend to do is to rescind every illegal and unconstitutional executive action taken by Barack Obama. The next thing I intend to do is instruct the Department of Justice to open an investigation into these videos and to prosecute Planned Parenthood for any criminal violations. The next thing I intend to do is instruct the Department of Justice and the IRS to start (sic) persecuting religious liberty, and then intend to cancel the Iran deal, and finally move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. I will keep my word. My father fled Cuba, and I will fight to defend liberty because my family knows what it's like to lose it. +p3572 +aVWell, we have 80 years of precedent of not confirming Supreme Court justices in an election year. And let me say, Justice Scalia... +p3573 +aVEighty years of not confirming. For example, L.B.J. nominated Abe Fortas. Fortas did not get confirmed. He was defeated. +p3574 +aVNo, Kennedy was confirmed in '87... +p3575 +aVHe was appointed in... +p3576 +aVIn this case it's both. But if I could answer the question... +p3577 +aVJustice Scalia was a legal giant. He was somebody that I knew for 20 years. He was a brilliant man. He was faithful to the Constitution. He changed the arc of American legal history. And I'll tell you, his passing tonight, our prayers are with his family, with his wife, Maureen, who he adored, his nine children, his 36 grandkids. But it underscores the stakes of this election. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that will strike down every restriction on abortion adopted by the states. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that will reverse the Heller decision, one of Justice Scalia's seminal decisions, that upheld the Second Amendment right to keep and to bear arms. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that would undermine the religious liberty of millions of Americans \u2014 and the stakes of this election, for this year, for the Senate, the Senate needs to stand strong and say, "We're not going to give up the U.S. Supreme Court for a generation by allowing Barack Obama to make one more liberal appointee." And then for the state of South Carolina, one of the most important judgments for the men and women of South Carolina to make is who on this stage has the background, the principle, the character, the judgment and the strength of resolve to nominate and confirm principled constitutionalists to the court? That will be what I will do if I'm elected president. +p3578 +aVWell, we need to focus on what the objective is, you know? Your question about the first three questions you would ask in this Situation Room. I think it is a problem if the president, commander in chief, we've elected does not have the experience and background to understand the threats facing this country coming in on Day 1. If you look at the threats facing this country, the single gravest threat, national security threat, is the threat of a nuclear Iran. That's why I've pledged on Day 1 to rip to shreds this Iranian nuclear deal, and anyone that thinks you can negotiate Khamenei does not understand the nature of Khamenei. When it comes to +p3579 +aVWe have Kurds in both Iraq and Syria. They are fighting +p3580 +aVWell, let me say it at the outset that everyone here understands \u2014 everyone understands that how \u2014 that the middle class has been left behind in the last seven years of the Obama economy, and we've got to bring jobs back. We've got to get people back to work. We've got to get wages going up again. We've got to get people moving from part-time work to full-time work. We all agree on that, but it's not going to be solved with magic pixie dust. It's just going to be solved by declaring into the air, "Let there be jobs." We actually have to understand the principles that made America great in the first place. Now, where do you get economic growth? If you look at cause and effect over our nation's history, every time we lessen the burden of Washington on small-business owners, on job creators, we see incredible economic growth. You do that through tax reform and regulatory reform. My tax plan \u2014 typical family of four, first $36,000 you earn, you pay nothing in taxes \u2014 no income taxes, no payroll taxes, no nothing. Above 10 percent, everyone pays the same simple, flat 10 percent income rate. It's flat and fair. You can fill out your taxes on a postcard, and we abolish the I.R.S. If you want to see the postcard, I've got it on my website. +p3581 +aVNow, Major, the business flat tax that is in my tax plan is not a VAT. A VAT in Europe is a sales tax. The business flat tax is not a sales tax, it is a tax of 16 percent opposed fairly and evenly across the board on all business. One of the things that's critical is we're doing that in conjunction with abolishing the corporate income tax, with abolishing the Obamacare taxes, with abolishing the payroll taxes, which are the biggest taxes paid by most working Americans, and with abolishing the death tax, which is cruel and unfair. And you asked about economic growth \u2014 the nonpartisan Tax Foundation estimated a simple flat tax that would produce 4.9 million new jobs, it would increase capital investment by 44 percent and would lift everyone's income by double digits. That's how you turn the country around, not just hoping and praying for it, but implementing policies that work. +p3582 +aVWell, you know, your question highlights a sharp difference on immigration on this stage. You know, in a Republican primary, everyone talks tough on immigration. Everyone is against illegal immigration in a Republican primary. But as voters, we've been burned over and over again by people that give us a great campaign speech and they don't walk the walk. There are sharp differences on amnesty. If you look at the folks on this stage, when Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer and establishment Republicans were leading the fight to pass a massive amnesty plan, I stood with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and the American people and led the fight to defeat that amnesty plan. +p3583 +aVNow, that moment... +p3584 +aVThat moment was what Reagan would call "a time for choosing." When it comes to deciding which side of the line you're on, the Rubio-Schumer amnesty plan......apparently supported by the donor class, which is why Washington supported it. The Rubio-Schumer amnesty plan passed the Senate, and it was on the verge of passing the House. House leadership intended to take it up and pass it with the Democrats overruling most of the Republicans. And the question for anyone on illegal immigration is, where were you in that fight? Where did you stand? You are right. There is a difference between Senator Rubio and me on this question. +p3585 +aVMajor, I get a response to that. +p3586 +aVYou know, the lines are very, very clear. Marco right now supports citizenship for 12 million people here illegally. I oppose citizenship. Marco stood on the debate stage and said that. But I would note not only that \u2014 Marco has a long record when it comes to amnesty. In the state of Florida, as speaker of the house, he supported in-state tuition for illegal immigrants. In addition to that, Marco went on Univision in Spanish and said he would not rescind President Obama's illegal executive amnesty on his first day in office. I have promised to rescind every single illegal executive action, including that one. And on the question... +p3587 +aV. +p3588 +aVThat is simply... +p3589 +aVThat is absolutely false. What he said is knowingly false. And I would note, if you want to assess \u2014 if you want to assess... +p3590 +aV... who is telling the truth... If you want to assess who is telling the truth......then you should look to Jeff Sessions, who said, without Ted Cruz the Rubio-Schumer amnesty bill would have passed, and Ted was responsible. You should look to Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin, that said... +p3591 +aVI think it is a very important question because the people who have been hurt the most in the Obama economy had been the most vulnerable. It's been young people. It's been Hispanics. It's been African-Americans. It's been single moms. We have the lowest percentage of Americans working today in any year since 1977. And the sad reality is big government, massive taxes, massive regulation, doesn't work. What we need to do instead is bring back booming economic growth, let \u2014 small businesses are the heart of the economy. Two-thirds of all new jobs come from small businesses. If we want to lift people out of poverty \u2014 you know, I think of these issues from the perspective of my dad. My dad fled Cuba in 1957. He was just 18. He couldn't speak English. He had nothing. He had $100 in his underwear. And he washed dishes making 50 cents an hour and paid his way through school. Today, my dad is a pastor. He travels the country preaching the gospel. Now, I think about all of these issues. How would it impact my dad when he was washing dishes? If we had Obamacare in place right now, the odds are very high my father would have been laid off, because it's teenaged kids like my dad who have gotten laid off. If he didn't get laid off, the odds are high he would have had his hours forcibly reduced to 28, 29 hours a week. We need to lift the burdens on small businesses so you have jobs, and we need welfare reform that gets people off of welfare and back to work. +p3592 +aVYou know, flexibility is a good thing, but it shouldn't \u2014 you shouldn't be flexible on core principles. I like Donald, he is an amazing entertainer, but his policies for most of his life... +p3593 +aVFor most of his life, his policies have been very, very liberal. For most of his life, he has described himself as very pro- choice and as a supporter of partial birth abortion. Right now, today, as a candidate, he supports federal taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood. I disagree with him on that. That's a matter of principle, and I'll tell you... +p3594 +aVDon, I need to go on... +p3595 +aVI will say, it is fairly remarkable to see Donald defending Ben after he called, "pathological," and compared him to a child molester. Both of which were offensive and wrong. But let me say this \u2014 you notice Donald didn't disagree with the substance that he supports taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood. And Donald has this weird pattern, when you point to his own record, he screams, "Liar, liar, liar." You want to go... +p3596 +aVYou want to go... +p3597 +aVIf you want to watch the video, go to our website at Tedcruz.org. +p3598 +aVYou can see it out of Donald's own mouth. +p3599 +aVYou supported it when we were battling over defunding Planned Parenthood. You went on... +p3600 +aVYou said, "Planned Parenthood does wonderful things and we should not defund it." +p3601 +aVSo I'll tell you what... +p3602 +aVYou see, you and I... +p3603 +aVDon, the reasoned principle matters. The reasoned principle matters, sadly was illustrated by the first questions today. The next president is going to appoint one, two, three, four Supreme Court justices. If Donald Trump is president, he will appoint liberals. If Donald Trump is president, your Second Amendment will gone... +p3604 +aVYou know how I know that? +p3605 +aVI did not nominate John Roberts. I would not have nominated John Roberts. +p3606 +aVI supported... +p3607 +aVYou need to learn to not interrupt people. +p3608 +aVDonald, adults learn... +p3609 +aVAdults learn not to interrupt people. +p3610 +aVI did not nominate him. I would not have nominated him. I would've nominated my former boss Liberman, who was Justice Scalia's first law clerk. And you know how I know that Donald's Supreme Court justices will be liberals? Because his entire life, he support liberals from Jimmy Carter, to Hillary Clinton, to John Kerry. In 2004, he contributed to John Kerry. Nobody who cares about judges would contribute to John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid. +p3611 +aVThat's what Donald Trump does. +p3612 +aVSouth Carolina, you have a critical choice to make. Our country literally hangs in the balance. Do you want another Washington deal maker who will do business as usual, cut deals with the Democrats, grow government, grow debt and give up our fundamental liberties? Or do you want a conservative, a proven conservative that will stand and fight with you each and every day? Listen, repealing Obamacare is not going to be easy. Passing a simple flat tax that abolishes the I.R.S. is not going to be easy, but if we stand with the American people, we can do it. And today, we saw just how great the stakes are. Two branches of government hang in the balance. Not just the presidency but the Supreme Court. If we get this wrong, if we nominate the wrong candidates, the Second Amendment, life, marriage, religious liberty \u2014 every one of those hangs in the balance. My little girls are here. I don't want to look my daughters in the eyes and say, "We lost their liberties." Who do you know will defend the Constitution and Bill of Rights? And as a commander in chief, who do you know will stand up to our enemies as the clam, steady, deliberate, strength to defeat our enemies, to secure our borders and to keep America safe. +p3613 +aVWell, you know, David, the assessment the voters are making here in New Hampshire and across the country is they are evaluating each and every one of us. They are looking to our experience. They are looking to our knowledge. They are looking to our temperament and judgment. They are looking to our clarity of vision and our strength of resolve. The world is getting much more dangerous. We've had seven years with Barack Obama in the oval office, a commander-in-chief that is unwilling even to acknowledge the enemy we're facing. This is a president who, in the wake of Paris, in the wake of San Bernardino, will not even use the words radical Islamic terrorism, much less focus on defeating the enemy. I am convinced every individual standing on this stage, would make a much better commander-in-chief than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders. And the primary voters are making the assessment for each of us, who is best prepared to keep this country safe, to rebuild the military, to rebuild our Navy, our Air Force, our Army, our Marines, and to ensure that we keep America safe. +p3614 +aVI think that is an assessment the voters are going to make. And they are going to make it of each and everyone of us. They are going to assess who is level-headed, who has clear vision, who has judgment, who can confront our enemies, who can confront the threats we face in this country, and who can have the judgment when to engage and when not to engage \u2014 both are incredibly important for a commander-in-chief, knowing how to go after our enemies. In the case of Iran, for example, who has the clarity of vision to understand that the Ayatollah Khamenei, when he chants, "Death to America," he means it. We need a president with the judgment and resolve to keep this country safe from radical Islamic terrorists. +p3615 +aVBen is a good and honorable man and Ben and Candy have become friends. He has an amazing life story that has inspired millions, including me. When this transpired, I apologized to him then and I do so now. Ben, I'm sorry. Let me tell you the facts of what occurred for those who are interested in knowing. On Monday night, about 6:30 p.m., CNN reported that Ben was not going from Iowa to New Hampshire or South Carolina. Rather, he was, quote, "Taking a break from campaigning." They reported that on television, CNN's political anchors, Jake Tapper and Dana Bash and Wolf Blitzer, said it was highly unusual and highly significant. My political team saw CNN's report breaking news and they forwarded that news to our volunteers, it was being covered on live television. Now, at the time, I was at the caucuses, I was getting ready to speak at the caucuses just like Ben was, just like everyone else was. I knew nothing about this. A couple hours later, I found out about it. I was told that Ben was unhappy. I called him that evening because I respect him very, very highly. I didn't reach him that evening. I reached him the next day and apologized. He asked me then, he said, Ted, would you make this apologize in public? I said, yes, I will. And I did so. I regret that subsequently, CNN reported on that \u2014 they didn't correct that story until 9:15 that night. So from 6:30 p.m. to 9:15, that's what CNN was reporting. Subsequent to that initial report, Ben's campaign put out a statement saying that he was not suspending his campaign. I wish that our campaign staff had forwarded that statement. They were unaware of it, I wish that they had, that's why I apologized. +p3616 +aVWell, I would note, initially the fact that we're seeing the launch, and we're seeing the launch from a nuclear North Korea is the direct result of the failures of the first Clinton administration. The Clinton administration led the world in relaxing sanctions against North Korea. Billions of dollars flowed into North Korea in exchange for promises not to build nuclear weapons. They took those billions and built nuclear weapons. And, I would note also the lead negotiator in that failed North Korea sanctions deal was a woman named Wendy Sherman who Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton promptly recruited to come back to be the lead negotiator with Iran. So, what we are seeing with North Korea is foreshadowing of where we will be with Iran. With respect to North Korea and what we should do now, one of the first things we should do is expand our missile defense capacity. We ought to put missile defense interceptors in South Korea. South Korea wants them. One of the real risks of this launch, North Korea wants to launch a satellite, and one of the greatest risks of the satellite is they would place a nuclear device in the satellite. As it would orbit around the Earth, and as it got over the United States they would detonate that nuclear weapon and set of what's called an EMP, and electromagnetic pulse which could take down the entire electrical grid on the Eastern seaboard, potentially killing millions. We need to harden the grid to defend ourselves, and we need missile defense to protect ourselves against North Korea. +p3617 +aVYou know, at this point I'm not going to speculate on that without the intelligence briefing that any Commander in Chief would have, knowing what exactly is there. One of the real problems... +p3618 +aV... Actually, with respect, I have gotten the intelligence briefings on the Mid-East. Those have been going on for many years. I haven't gotten the intelligence briefing tonight on what North Korea's doing because I'm here in new Hampshire. When you're responding to an immediate incident, you need to know the intelligence of what's occurring. But what I was saying \u2014 look, it is qualitatively different dealing with a country once they have nuclear weapons. It's why you prevent them from getting nuclear weapons in the first place \u2014 because your hands are somewhat tied once they have nukes. It's why this Iranian nuclear deal is so catastrophic, and it's why I've pledged, on the very first day in office, to rip to shreds this Iranian nuclear deal so we're not sitting here in five years, wondering what to do about an Iranian missile launch when they have nuclear weapons. The stakes are too high for that. +p3619 +aVSo, in terms of a practical solution, I've laid out the most detailed plan for solving illegal immigration. It's 11 pages, single-spaced, chapter and verse. It's on our website, tedcruz.org. In short, we're going to do, we're going to build a wall. We're going to triple the border patrol. We're going to increase \u2014 and actually, since Donald enjoyed that, I will simply say, I've got somebody in mind to build it. We're going to increase four-fold, the fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft, so that you have technology monitoring an attempted incursion to direct the boots on the ground where they're occurring. We're going to put in place a strong e-verify system in the workplace, so you can't get a job without proving you are here legally. We'll put in place a biometric exit-entry system on visas, because 40 percent of illegal immigration comes not over the border illegally, but people coming on visas and overstaying. We will end sanctuary cities by cutting off taxpayer dollars to any jurisdiction that defies federal immigration law. And we will end welfare benefits for those here illegally. +p3620 +aVWhat you do is, you enforce the law. You know, under the Constitution, the president has an obligation to, quote, "Take care that the laws be faithfully executed." Federal immigration law provides, if someone is here illegally and is apprehended, they are to be deported. We saw just this past week the head of the border patrol union testify before Congress that President Obama had given the order to the border patrol to stand down, not to enforce the law. That is wrong. I will enforce the law, and for everyone who says, you can't possibly do that, I would note that in eight years, Bill Clinton deported 12 million people. In eight years, George W. Bush deported 10 million people. Enforcing the law \u2014 we can do it. What is missing is the political will. And when they were deporting the people, the border wasn't secure, so they'd come right back. Once you secure the border, enforcing the law will solve this problem and that will benefit American workers. +p3621 +aVGood evening. +p3622 +aVWell, let me take two different parts of that. Let me start with socialized medicine. Socialized medicine is a disaster. It does not work. If you look at the countries that have imposed socialized medicine, that have put the government in charge of providing medicine, what inevitably happens is rationing. You have a scarcity of doctors. You have rationing. And that means the elderly are told, we're going to ration a hip replacement, we're going to ration a knee replacement. We're going to ration end- of-life care. We're right now heading into a medical system with about a 90,000-doctor shortage in America and socialized medicine; whether proposed by the Democrats or proposed by a Republican would hurt the people of this country. What should we do on health care? If I'm elected president, we will repeal every word of Obamacare. And once we do that, we will adopt common sense reforms, number one, we'll allow people to purchase health insurance across state lines that will drive down prices and expand the availability of low cost catastrophic insurance. We'll expand health savings accounts; and we will de-link health insurance from employment so that you don't lose your health insurance when you lose your job, and that way health insurance can be personal, portable and affordable and we keep government from getting in between us and our doctors. HAM: Dr. Carson, you have some experience with this matter. In the past, you have said that Obamacare should be replaced before it's repealed. How and why? +p3623 +aVWell, sure. It starts with a commander-in-chief that sets the objective. And the objective has to be utterly and completely destroying +p3624 +aVMartha, I will tell you, I have visited with active duty military, with veterans over and over and over again in town halls all over the state of New Hampshire. What we are doing to our sons and daughters, it is immoral. We are sending them into fight with their arms tied behind their back. They cannot defend themselves. And it is wrong. And I will tell you this. Look. America has always been reluctant to use military force. It's the last step we take. But if and when we use it when it comes to defeating +p3625 +aVAbsolutely, yes. +p3626 +aVWell, under the definition of torture, no, it's not. Under the law, torture is excruciating pain that is equivalent to losing organs and systems, so under the definition of torture, it is not. It is enhanced interrogation, it is vigorous interrogation, but it does not meet the generally recognized definition of torture. +p3627 +aVI would not bring it back in any sort of widespread use. And indeed, I joined with Senator McCain in legislation that would prohibit line officers from employing it because I think bad things happen when enhanced interrogation is employed at lower levels. But when it comes to keeping this country safe, the commander in chief has inherent constitutional authority to keep this country safe. And so, if it were necessary to, say, prevent a city from facing an imminent terrorist attack, you can rest assured that as commander in chief, I would use whatever enhanced interrogation methods we could to keep this country safe. +p3628 +aVWell, thank you for that question. You know, there are three avenues of presidential authority to change the direction of this country. The first is executive power, the second is foreign policy, and the third is legislation. Executive power, as we all know, has been the preferred vehicle of President Obama, abusing his authority, abusing his constitutional authority. Now, the silver lining of that is everything done with executive power can be undone with executive power, so I have pledged on day one I will rescind every single illegal and unconstitutional executive action Barack Obama has done. That means on day one his efforts to restrict the Second Amendment go away with the strike of a pen. That means on day one his illegal executive amnesty goes away with the strike of a pen. The reason I can end Common Core at the federal level is because Obama is abusing executive power using Race to the Top funds in the Department of Education to force it on the states. That's one avenue. The second avenue of change is foreign policy, and foreign policy can change the fastest. It's worth remembering that Iran released our hostages the day Reagan......was sworn in. And, the third is legislation, and that can only be done with the people behind you, which is why the two big legislative initiatives I'm campaigning on are repealing Obamacare, and adopting a simple flat tax to abolish the IRS. HAM: Mr. Trump, Senator Cruz is known for opposing deals, you literally wrote the book on making them. Senator Cruz has mentioned that on the trail. What would you say to those conservatives that are concerned that a deal maker will just perpetuate the same deals in Washington and the way that things run now ... +p3629 +aVWell, Josh, as you noted, this is a problem that, for me, I understand first-hand. My older sister, Myriam, who was my half- sister, struggled her whole life with drug and alcohol addiction. My father and her mom divorced when she was a little girl and she was angry her whole life, and she ended up marrying a man who had been in and out of jail. She then became a single mom and she herself went to jail several times and she ended up spending some time in a crack house. I still remember my father and me driving up to get Myriam out of that crack house to try to convince her she needed to be a mom to \u2014 to my nephew Joey. She wasn't willing to listen. She was not willing to change the path she was on. She was angry. I was \u2014 had just gotten my first job coming out of law school. I took a $20,000 loan on a credit card to put my nephew, Joey, in Valley Forge Military Academy \u2014 he was in sixth grade at the time, to pay his way through that. And about five, six years ago, Miriam died of an overdose. It was \u2014 the coroner ruled it accidental. We don't know. She went to one night, had taken too many pills, and Joey walked in and found her dead. This is an absolute epidemic. We need leadership to solve it. Solving it has to occur at the state and local level with programs like A.A., and counseling, and churches and charities. But it also has to be securing the borders, because you have got Mexican cartels that are smuggling vast amounts of heroin into this country. We know how to secure the borders. What is missing is the political will to do it. And as president, I will secure the border, we will end this deluge of drugs that is flowing over our southern border and that is killing Americans across this country. +p3630 +aVWell, look, I recognize it is an agonizing experience when anyone is facing a loved \u2014 loved member who's been kidnapped. But at the same time, putting in place legal regimes that encourage the payment of ransom has the effect of putting a bounty on other Americans. There is a reason it has been longstanding U.S. policy that we don't negotiate with terrorists, we don't pay ransoms. If you look at what President Obama has done over and over again, whether it was the James Bergdahl deal, which was absolutely shameful, releasing five senior Taliban terrorists to bring Bergdahl back, or whether it was this recent deal with Iran, where, again, up to 21 terrorists or potential terrorists were \u2014 were released or not prosecuted in order to bring back four Americans, what that does \u2014 does is it effectively puts a bounty on American servicemen and women serving abroad, on American tourists traveling abroad. And the proper approach......is a president and commander in chief that defends this country and that goes after \u2014 goes after the terrorists, rather than showing them weakness and encouraging them to target more Americans. +p3631 +aVWith an eye to February 20th, Carolina. +p3632 +aVYou know, every candidate running for president says they will stand up to Washington. The natural follow up question is when have you ever stood up to Washington. Last week we saw a powerful illustration of that. I campaigned in the state of Iowa four-square against the ethanol mandate, something everyone said was political suicide. My two leading competitors both attacked me for it. The governor of the state said vote for anyone but Cruz, and lobbyists spent millions of dollars in attack ads, but I stood and said we should have no mandates, a level playing field, and the people of Iowa put country and our children above the cronyism and corporate welfare...... We can turn this country around if we get back to the Constitution. And, I will always stand with the American people against the bipartisan corruption of Washington. +p3633 +aVWell, Megyn, let me say at the outset to the men and women of Iowa, thank you for the incredible hospitality over this past year. By Monday, you will have welcomed me into all 99 counties in Iowa. You will have welcomed my dad to preach at your churches. You will have welcomed Heidi and our girls, Caroline and Catherine, into your homes. And I'm so grateful for the diligence, for the seriousness with which the men and women of Iowa approach this process. If I am elected president, keep an eye on the tarmac, because I'll be back, because Iowa in 2017 will not be fly-over country. It will be fly-to country. Now, secondly, let me say I'm a maniac and everyone on this stage is stupid, fat, and ugly. And Ben, you're a terrible surgeon. Now that we've gotten the Donald Trump portion out of the way... I want to thank everyone here for showing the men and women of Iowa the respect to show up and make the case to the people of this state and the people of the country why each of us believe we would make the best commander in chief. +p3634 +aVWell, let me be clear, if Donald engages in insults or anybody else, I don't intend to reciprocate. I have not insulted Donald personally and I don't intend to. I am glad Donald is running. I'm glad he has produced enormous enthusiasm, and, every Donald Trump voter or potential voter, I hope to earn your support. I know everyone else on this stage hopes to earn your support. Now, there is a difference between personal insults and attacks \u2014 between going into the mud with ad hominems and focusing on issues and substance. +p3635 +aVWell, I agree with Rand that I very much respect Ron Paul and that I think anyone who is able to win in the Republican Party has to be able to bring together the disparate elements of the Reagan coalition. You've got to be able to bring together conservatives and evangelicals and libertarians, and stitch together a winning majority. When it comes to the audit the Fed bill, as Rand knows well, I was an original sponsor of the bill, I'm strongly supportive of it. It didn't have the votes to pass. And I had commitments to be at a town hall in New Hampshire. But I look forward to signing that bill into law as president and auditing the Fed and providing needed accountability at the Federal Reserve. +p3636 +aVWell, Chris, I will apologize to nobody for the vigorousness with which I will fight terrorism, go after +p3637 +aVChris, in 1981, when Ronald Reagan came to the Oval Office, he encountered a military that had been debilitated just as the current military has, just like Jimmy Carter weakened our readiness, undermined our ability to defend this country, so too has Barack Obama. Just as morale in the military has plummeted in the last seven, so it had then. What Reagan did is he began with tax reform and regulatory reform, unleashing the engine of the American free enterprise system. It brought booming economic growth and that growth fueled rebuilding the military. I intend to do the exact same thing to defeat radical Islamic terrorism \u2014 +p3638 +aV... and to devote the resources from the booming economy to rebuilding our Navy, rebuilding our Air Force, rebuilding our Army and ensuring we have the capacity to keep this country safe. +p3639 +aVChris? Chris I was mentioned in that question. +p3640 +aV... Actually, I was... +p3641 +aV... Chris, your questions that you... +p3642 +aV... What was your question... +p3643 +aV... Your question was you have disagreed... +p3644 +aV... opening statement. +p3645 +aV... This entire question was an attack, but that's +p3646 +aVChris, I would note that that the last four questions have been, "Rand, please attack Ted. Marco, please attack Ted. Chris, please attack Ted. Jeb, please attack Ted..." Let me just say this... +p3647 +aV... Well, no, no. A debate actually is a policy issue, but I will say this. Gosh, if you guys ask one more mean question I may have to leave the stage. Chris, the most important determination any voter is going to make in this election is who's best prepared to be Commander in Chief. Who has the experience, who has the knowledge, who has the judgement, who has the clarity, and vision and strength of resolve to keep this country safe. That is what this debate is all about, and I would suggest let's stay focused on those issues \u2014 rather than just attacks directed at each other. +p3648 +aVSure. Well, let's take it one at a time. First of all, we have seen now in six years of Obamacare that it has been a disaster. It is the biggest job-killer in this country. Millions of Americans have lost their jobs, have been forced into part-time work, have lost their health insurance, have lost their doctors, have seen their premiums skyrocket. If I'm elected president, we will repeal every word of Obamacare. Now, once that is done, everyone agrees we need healthcare reform. It should follow the principles of expanding competition, empowering patients, and keeping government from getting in between us and our doctors. Three specific reforms that reflect those principles. Number one, we should allow people to purchase health insurance across state lines. That will create a true 50-state national marketplace which will drive down the cost of low-cost, catastrophic health insurance. Number two, we should expand health savings accounts so people can save in a tax-advantaged way for more routine healthcare needs. And number three, we should work to de-link health insurance from employment so if you lose your job, your health insurance goes with you and it is personal, portable and affordable. And I'll tell you, Bret, I think that's a much more attractive vision for healthcare than the Washington-drive, top-down Obamacare that is causing so many millions of people to hurt. +p3649 +aVI want this bill to be voted down. I don't want immigration reform to fail. I want immigration reform to pass. I believe if this amendment were to pass, the chances of this bill passing into law would increase dramatically. I believe if the amendments I introduced were adopted, that the bill would pass. And my effort in introducing them was to find a solution that reflected common ground and that fixed the problem. If the proponents of this bill actually demonstrate a commitment not to politics, not to campaigning all the time, but to actually fixing this problem, to finding a middle ground. That would fix the problem, and also allow, for those 11 million people who are here illegally, a legal status, with citizenship off the table. +p3650 +aVYou know, the amendment you're talking about is one sentence \u2014 it's 38 words. Anyone can go online at tedcruz.org and read exactly what it said. In those 38 words, it said anyone here illegally is permanently ineligible for citizenship. It didn't say a word about legalization. I introduced... +p3651 +aVBut \u2014 but Megyn, the bill was 1,000 pages. I introduced a series of amendments, each designed to fix problems in the bill. The fact that each amendment didn't fix every problem didn't mean that I supported the rest of the bill. And I'll tell you who supported my amendment \u2014 Jeff Sessions, the strongest opponent of amnesty in the United States Congress. And he did so because taking citizenship off the table was important, and it revealed the hypocrisy of the proponents of this bill, who were looking for votes. Listen, we can solve immigration. We just heard an argument back and forth that we can't solve immigration. I have a detailed immigration plan that is on my website, tedcruz.org. It was designed with Iowa's own Congressman Steve King and Jeff Sessions, and... ... we have the tools in federal law to do this now. We can build the fence. We can triple the border patrol. We can end sanctuary cities by cutting off... ... funding to them. We can end welfare for those here illegally. And what is missing is the political will, because too many Democrats and, sadly, too many Republicans don't want to solve this problem. If I am elected president... ... we will secure the border... +p3652 +aV... and we will end the illegal immigration. +p3653 +aVYou know, John Adams famously said, "facts are are stubborn things." The facts are are very, very simple. When that battle was waged, my friend Senator Rubio chose to stand with Barack Obama and Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer and support amnesty. And I stood alongside Jeff Sessions and Steve King, and we led the fight against amnesty. And if you want to know who's telling the truth, you should look and ask people like Jeff Sessions and Steve King and Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin, all of whom say, as Jeff Sessions said, responding to these false attacks just recently in Alabama \u2014 he said, "if it wasn't for Ted Cruz, the Gang of Eight Rubio/Schumer bill would have passed. But because Ted stood up and helped lead the effort, millions rose up to kill it. +p3654 +aVYou know, I like Marco. He's very charming. He's very smooth. But the facts are simple. When he ran for election in the state of Florida, he told the people of Florida, "if you elect me, I will lead the fight against amnesty." When I ran in Texas, I told the people of Texas, "if you elect me, I will lead the fight against amnesty." We both made the identical promises. But when we came to Washington, we made a different choice. Marco made the choice to go the direction of the major donors \u2014 to support amnesty because he thought it was politically advantageous. I honored my commitments, and as president, I will honor every commitment that I make to the men and women of this country. +p3655 +aVWell, Chris, you are exactly right that I am not the candidate of career politicians in Washington. And I'll tell you the endorsements that I am proud of are the over 200,000 volunteers across this country who have signed up to volunteer for our campaign. The endorsements that I am proud of are leading conservatives like Iowa's own Congressman Steve King, who is a national co-chairman of my campaign. The endorsements that I'm proud of are conservative leaders like Dr. James Dobson, and over 700,000 contributions nationwide, people going to our Web site, tedcruz.org. This is a grassroots campaign and, you know, when I ran for senate in Texas, I told the people of Texas that I'm not going there to go along to get along. Washington is broken. And the people I have been accountable to every single day in the Senate are the 27 million Texans who I represent and I made a promise to them that I make to you today, which is, if I am elected, every single day I will do two things: tell the truth, and do what I said I would do. +p3656 +aVWell, Chris, I'm glad to discuss my views on ethanol and energy. I think God has blessed this country with enormous natural resources, and we should pursue all of the above. We should be developing oil, and gas, and coal, and nuclear, and wind, and solar, and ethanol, and biofuels. But, I don't believe that Washington should be picking winners and losers. And, I think there should be no mandates, and no subsidies whatsoever. And, indeed, my tax plan that I've introduced, it's available on our website. It's a simple flat tax for everyone. It'll produce enormous economic growth, and it eliminates every mandate, every subsidy, so there's no subsidies for oil and gas, no subsidies for anyone. Now, it is true that there are a bunch of lobbyists, and a bunch of Democrats in this state spending millions of dollars trying to convince the people of Iowa that I somehow oppose ethanol. It's not true. I have introduced legislation that would phase out the ethanol mandate over five years, but that is in the context of having no mandates whatsoever for anyone. And, I would not that there's a much more important government regulation to ethanol, and that's the EPA's blend wall that makes it illegal to sell mid-level blends of ethanol in gasoline. I will... ... Tear down the EPA's blend wall which will enable ethanol to expand its market share by up to 60%, all without mandates. All without any government mandates whatsoever through the marketplace. And, I'll note finally, Chris, there is a reason that Iowa's Congressman Steve King, perhaps the fiercest defender of farmers in this state, is sharing my campaign. Because he understands that I'm committed to a fair, and level playing field for every energy source without lobbyists, and without Washington picking winners and losers. +p3657 +aVNinety-three hours. The media noise will soon be over and it's now for the men and women of Iowa to decide. Our country is in crisis. We're worried the future of our children and we've have been burned over and over again. The central question in this race is trust. Who do you know will kill the terrorists, defend the constitution and repeal Obamacare? Who do you know will stop amnesty and secure the borders? Who do you know will defend life, marriage and religious liberty? Examine our records, pray on it and I will be honored if you and your family will come caucus for us on Monday night. +p3658 +asVOBRADOVICH +p3659 +(lp3660 +VSenator Sanders, you've actually talked about immigration as being a wage issue in the United States. And I want to actually go directly to the wage issue now. You called for raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour everywhere in the country. But the President's former chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, Alan Krueger, has said a national increase of $15 could lead to undesirable and unintended consequences of job loss. What level of job loss would you consider unacceptable? +p3661 +aVYou said there are consequences... You said there are consequences for -- for any policy. Do you think job losses are a consequence that are... +p3662 +aVYou're calling for a $15 an hour wage now but why did you stop at $10.10 in your state? O' +p3663 +aVYes, Senator Sanders, you famously said in the last debate that you were sick and tired of hearing about your damn e- mails. But then you told the Wall Street Journal that the question about whether or not Secretary Clinton's e-mails compromised classified information were valid questions. So which is it? Is it an issue or is it not? +p3664 +aVI'm sorry, I couldn't hear you. Secretary Clinton, your response. +p3665 +asVTODD +p3666 +(lp3667 +VGood evening, and welcome to the +p3668 +aVAnd neither party has seen this yet. These candidates are both running for the Democratic nomination, but they are very different from each other when it comes to what matters most and how they would go about the job of being president. Our job tonight is to draw out those differences so you, the voters, can understand them and be fully informed. +p3669 +aVFirst, I want to say a special thanks to the New Hampshire Union Leader for helping make this debate possible, and the readers, who helped provide some of the questions and topics that we'll be addressing tonight. The rules tonight, by the way, are simple: 90 seconds for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. +p3670 +aVThank you, Senator. Secretary Clinton. +p3671 +aVAll right. Let's get started. Secretary Clinton, last night you cited the Concord Monitor when you said of Senator Sanders that, quote, "It's very hard to see how any of his proposals could ever be achievable." So please tell us why you think if he's elected president on a platform of promising things like free public college and universal healthcare, that he cannot achieve those things. +p3672 +aVThank you, Secretary. Senator Sanders, so just explain how you spent nearly two decades in Congress and haven't gotten any of these things passed. Why do you think as president you'll be able to achieve big, big new programs like this? +p3673 +aVGo. +p3674 +aVYes, go ahead. +p3675 +aVAll right, thank you both. Rachel. +p3676 +aVI'd like to follow up on a comment that Secretary Clinton said, Senator. President Obama has not called for abolishing the death penalty. President Obama is for the big Asian trade deal known as TPP, and just yesterday you said you can't be both a moderate or a progressive, but you can't be both. Is President Obama, in your judgment, based on these policies positions, a progressive? +p3677 +aV...Secretary Clinton, go ahead... +p3678 +aV 30 seconds, and then we'll move. +p3679 +aVThank you. +p3680 +aV... Secretary, we're gonna... +p3681 +aVThirty seconds. +p3682 +aVThank you both. +p3683 +aVAll right, welcome back. Let's get right to it. Senator Sanders, you were talking about all of your campaign contributions and campaign finance reform. You rail against big money in politics. But do you realize there is one public financing system that we do have in place, and it is\u2014it is in place to run for president. Why aren't you walking the walk on that? Why aren't you participating in the presidential public financing system which is designed to essentially keep big money out of presidential politics? +p3684 +aVWell, going on that then, why criticize her on Super PACs, and you got\u2014and all this when it is\u2014you know, that's the system? I mean, you could be participating in a publicly-financing\u2014public financing system... +p3685 +aV... and being able to set\u2014being able to set an example. +p3686 +aV... she has had more people praise her plan than yours. +p3687 +aVThank you both. Let me move on to our next question here, and in fact it comes to us through New England Cable News. Secretary Clinton, it's addressed to you, and it's about this issue of the speeches, particularly to Goldman Sachs. This is what the questioner wrote verbatim. "I am concerned with the abuses of Wall Street has taken with the American taxpayers money," and then she asks whether you would release the transcripts of your Goldman Sachs speeches, and then added, "Don't you think the voting public has a right to know what was said?" But, let's make that bigger. Are you willing to release the transcripts of all your paid speeches? We do know through reporting that there were transcription services for all of those paid speeches. In full disclosure, would you release all of them? +p3688 +aVSenator, you sound like you want to respond. Go ahead. +p3689 +aVWe'll be right back. And we're going to get to trade and a lot of other issues. +p3690 +aVGo ahead, Senator Sanders\u201430 seconds, your response. +p3691 +aVAll right. Senator, I want to stay, though... +p3692 +aVGo ahead. 30 seconds. +p3693 +aVLet me\u2014let\u2014we're gonna\u2014we're staying\u2014we're staying basically on this topic. Obviously you've been emphasizing this difference on the Iraq war, but one place where you do agree, and one place where you voted to authorize the use of force, was in favor of the war in Afghanistan. Right now, it is possible President Obama is going to be leaving the next president, perhaps President Sanders, at least 10,000 troops in Afghanistan. How long will those troops be in Afghanistan under President Sanders? +p3694 +aVCan you address a question on Afghanistan? How long are these troops going to be there? If President Obama leaves you 10,000 troops, how long do you think they're going to be there? +p3695 +aVSecretary Clinton, 30 seconds: How long are these troops going to be in Afghanistan? We have more American troops in Afghanistan than what we were talking about with Iraq. +p3696 +aVYou know, Senator Sanders, nobody knows who your foreign policy advisers are. You haven't given a major foreign policy speech. And it doesn't sound like all the time that foreign policy is a priority, other than when you're asked about it, and you say you're going to crush +p3697 +aVAll right, Senator, 30 seconds. +p3698 +aV30 seconds, madam secretary. +p3699 +aVAlright, as Commander in Chief, Senator Sanders, you've got to prioritize potential threats to the United States. Three countries, North Korea, Iran, Russia. How would you rank them in order of their threat to America's security right now... +p3700 +aV... Starting with the biggest threat. +p3701 +aV... I didn't say that... +p3702 +aV... No... +p3703 +aV... We already had that. I'm talking about these three countries. How would you orient our national security, our national defense posture. +p3704 +aVSecretary of Defense Ash Carter this week picked one of those three, and he has said Russia is, basically, the most important national security threat. Sort of reorienting the defense and the challenges to that. Do you agree with his decisions... +p3705 +aVSecretary Clinton, what do you think of Secretary of Defense Ash Carter. He's basically putting Russia above Iran, above North Korea, as sort of the chief national security challenge right now. +p3706 +aVThank you both, Rachel? +p3707 +aVAnd we are back. We're gonna get into a little bit of election politics, electability, in a little bit. Senator Sanders, The Iowa Democratic Party has declared Hillary Clinton the winner of Monday's Iowa caucuses\u2014narrowest of margins. Today, the Des Moines Register has an editorial that calls for the audit of the results, saying, quote, "what happened Monday night at the Democratic caucuses was a debacle, period. The results were too close not to do a complete audit." Senator Sanders, do you accept the idea that Hillary Clinton won Iowa? And do you\u2014or do you believe the caucuses are still an open question? +p3708 +aVSecretary Clinton, will you participate in some sort of audit, if that's what the party wants to do? You good with that? +p3709 +aVThat's fair enough. OK. +p3710 +aVGood, we move on. We're happy with that. We have more questions. +p3711 +aVWe'll stay on this issue. We'll stay on this topic. Secretary Clinton, just like there are some Democrats that question Senator Sanders' ability in the general election, many Democratic voters that our reporters have been running into in Iowa and New Hampshire, they tell our reporters over and over again they're worried about the emails issue, not because they don't believe your explanation, but because it's a drip-drip, because the cloud is hanging over your head and that it will impact the general election. They see your numbers right now and they think it's the email issue as to why you're not polling very well. So can you reassure these Democrats that somehow the email issue isn't going to blow up your candidacy if you're the nominee? +p3712 +aVAll right, Madam Secretary, there is an open\u2014there is an open FBI investigation into this matter about how you may have handled classified material. Are you 100 percent confident that nothing is going to come of this FBI investigation? +p3713 +aVWell, Senator sanders, you famously at the first debate said you didn't give a darn about her emails; I think you used another . +p3714 +aVYou're right. I'm trying to\u2014it's a\u2014it's a family hour still right now. After 11:00, I'll say it the other way. And you mostly have refrained from commenting on it, but recently you called it a very serious issue, and then the other day you said well she's getting slapped with the email controversy. Are you\u2014how are you feeling about these darn emails now? +p3715 +aVOK. Senator Sanders, thank you. +p3716 +aVSecretary Clinton, let me turn to the issue of trade. In the '90s you supported +p3717 +aVWell, Senator Sanders, I know you want to respond on this, you have never supported a trade deal since you've been in Congress. +p3718 +aVBut if you do that as president... If you do that as president, how are you not essentially letting China, who will do all of these deals around the world, how are you going to prevent China from essentially setting the rules of trade for the world? +p3719 +aVAll right. Thank you both. We're going to sneak in one more break here, and when we come back we'll squeeze as many questions as we can before we end this thing. We'll be right back. +p3720 +aVAll right. Welcome back here in the final minutes. +p3721 +aVThe home stretch of this only Democratic debate in the final week before the primary. Let me start with you, Secretary Clinton, on this question. Obviously, President Obama got a lot of ambitious stuff done in his first year and a half. You're going to have to make choices. And there's a lot of heavy lifts. And he made choices. He did healthcare and it came at the expense, arguably, of immigration reform. Had he put immigration reform first, perhaps that gets done and healthcare doesn't. So there are three big lifts that you've talked about: immigration, gun reform, climate change. What do you do first? Because you know the first one is the one you have the best shot at getting done. +p3722 +aVAll right, but Senator Sanders......you've still got to do something first. As you know, history said\u2014shows what you pick first is your best shot at getting, and how you prioritize things. +p3723 +aVImmigration reform, for instance, fell by the wayside in the first term because of this. +p3724 +aVOK. Thank you. +p3725 +aVAll right, before we go, I want to ask each one of these. Secretary Clinton, you've made it clear when you look at Senator Sanders, you do not see a president, but do you see\u2014 +p3726 +aVBut do you see\u2014do you see a vice president? +p3727 +aVWould you unite the party by trying to pick Senator Sanders as your running mate? +p3728 +aVSenator, would you consider the secretary? +p3729 +aVSecretary Clinton, closing statements. You are first. +p3730 +aVThank you, Madam Secretary. Senator Sanders. +p3731 +aVWell, there you have it. I promise you, Rachel and I have a lot more questions, but we just don't have any more time, unless we could a third hour, but I don't think so. Our debate coverage\u2014 debate coverage will continue in just a moment with our colleague . And we want to thank all of you for being here, and we want to thank the two candidates for taking part in this important event. +p3732 +aVWe'll see you in a few minutes. Thank you. +p3733 +asVLEVESQUE +p3734 +(lp3735 +VHere to New Hampshire again. As you know, this auditorium is filled with many Saint Anselm college students. They know the outstanding student debt right now in America is $1.3 trillion. That private education costs have gone up in the last decade 26 percent, and 40 percent for public education. So knowing that, we know you want to make public education more affordable but how do you really lower the cost? Senator Sanders, you mentioned a few minutes ago that you want free tuition for public colleges. +p3736 +aVHow does that really lower the cost other than just shifting the cost to taxpayers? +p3737 +aVGovernor O'Malley, how do you propose -- Governor O'Malley, how do you propose lowering some of these costs associated with higher education? O' +p3738 +asVHARWOOD +p3739 +(lp3740 +VMr. Trump, you've done very well in this campaign so far by promising to build a wall and make another country pay for it. +p3741 +aVSend 11 million people out of the country. Cut taxes $10 trillion without increasing the deficit. +p3742 +aVAnd make Americans better off because your greatness would replace the stupidity and incompetence of others. +p3743 +aVLet's be honest. Is this a comic book version of a presidential campaign? +p3744 +aVWe're at the 60 seconds. +p3745 +aVWe're at 60 seconds, but I gotta ask you, you talked about your tax plan. You say that it would not increase the deficit because you cut taxes $10 trillion in the economy would take off like... +p3746 +aVHold on, hold on. The economy would take off like a rocket ship. +p3747 +aVI talked to economic advisers who have served presidents of both parties. They said that you have as chance of cutting taxes that much without increasing the deficit as you would of flying away from that podium by flapping your arms. +p3748 +aVThe Tax Foundation says \u2014 has looked at all of our plans and \u2014 and his creates, even with the dynamic effect, $8 trillion dollar deficit... +p3749 +aVGovernor Kasich, hold it, I'm coming to you right now. The... +p3750 +aVWell, I'm asking you about this. +p3751 +aVI'm about to ask you about this. That is, you had some very strong words to say yesterday about what's happening in your party and what you're hearing from the two gentlemen we've just heard from. Would you repeat it? +p3752 +aVWell, let's just get more pointed about it. You said yesterday that you were hearing proposals that were just crazy from your colleagues. Who were you talking about? +p3753 +aVHold on. I think there's a \u2014 I've got question for \u2014 +p3754 +aVHold on, Governor. I've got a question for Governor Bush. +p3755 +aVNo, we're moving to Governor Bush. Governor, the fact that you're at the fifth lectern tonight shows how far your stock has fallen in this race, despite the big investment your donors have made. You noted recently, after slashing your payroll, that you had better things to do than sit around and be demonized by other people. I wanted to ask you \u2014 +p3756 +aVOK. +p3757 +aVGot it. +p3758 +aVBut it's a \u2014 OK. It's a \u2014 it's a question about why you're having difficulty. I want to ask you in this context. Ben Bernanke, who was appointed Fed chairman by your brother, recently wrote a book in which he said he no longer considers himself a Republican because the Republican Party has given in to know- nothingism. Is that why you're having a difficult time in this race? +p3759 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3760 +aVWe're gonna get down the line. Becky's got a question. +p3761 +aVSenator Paul, I've got a question for you on the same subject. +p3762 +aVSenator Paul? +p3763 +aVYou used your time on something else. Senator Paul? +p3764 +aVSenator Paul, the budget deal crafted by Speaker Boehner and passed by the House today makes cuts in entitlement programs, Medicare and Social Security disability, which are the very programs conservatives say need cutting to shrink government and solve our country's long-term budget deficit. Do you oppose that budget deal because it doesn't cut those programs enough? +p3765 +aVSenator, if what you just said is true, why did Speaker Boehner craft this deal and why did Paul Ryan, who has a strong reputation for fiscal discipline, vote for it? +p3766 +aVThank you, Senator . +p3767 +aVJim, thanks. Governor Bush, in a debate like this four years ago, every Republican running for president pledged to oppose a budget deal containing any tax increase even if it had spending cuts ten times as large. A few months later, you told Congress, put me in, coach, you said you would take that deal. Still feel that way? +p3768 +aVBut to \u2014 to the point that you made to Congress, if you were president and you were offered a bipartisan deal that had one dollar... +p3769 +aV...one dollar of tax increases per ten dollars of spending cuts, would you take it? +p3770 +aVSo you don't want the coach to put you in any more? +p3771 +aVThank you, governor. Carl? +p3772 +aVGovernor John Kasich, you've called for abolishing the Export Import Bank, which provides subsidies to help American companies compete with overseas competitors. You call that corporate welfare. One of the largest newspapers in your state wrote an editorial, said they found that strange, writing, that if that's corporate welfare, what does Kasich call the millions of dollars in financial incentives doled out to attract or retain jobs by his development effort \u2014 jobs Ohio. If subsidies are good enough for Ohio companies, why aren't they good enough for companies trying to compete overseas? +p3773 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3774 +aVThank you, Governor. Thank you. +p3775 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate on +p3776 +aVIt sounds like you think Senator Sessions is wrong to believe there is enough abuse in that program that we shouldn't... +p3777 +aVThank you, Senator. Becky? +p3778 +aVGovernor Bush, the tax reform bill that Ronald Reagan signed in 1986 cut the top personal income tax rate to 28 percent \u2014 just like your plan does. But President Reagan taxed capital gains at the same rate, while you would tax them at just 20 percent. Given the problems we've been discussing, growing gap between rich and poor, why would you tax labor at a higher rate than income from investments? +p3779 +aVSenator Rubio, 30 seconds to you. The Tax Foundation, which was alluded to earlier, scored your tax plan and concluded that you give nearly twice as much of a gain in after-tax income to the top 1 percent as to people in the middle of the income scale. Since you're the champion of Americans living paycheck-to- paycheck, don't you have that backward? +p3780 +aVThe Tax Foundation \u2014 just to be clear, they said the... +p3781 +aVNo, I did not. +p3782 +aVSenator, the Tax Foundation said after-tax income for the top 1 percent under your plan would go up 27.9 percent. +p3783 +aVAnd people in the middle of the income spectrum, about 15 percent. +p3784 +aV +p3785 +aVSenator, thank you. +p3786 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you've written about the huge divide in values between middle America and the big coastal cities like New York and Los Angeles. As a preacher as well as a politician, you know that presidents need the moral authority to bring the entire country together. The leading Republican candidate, when you look at the average of national polls right now, is Donald Trump. When you look at him, do you see someone with the moral authority to unite the country? +p3787 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3788 +aVThank you, Governor. Don't forget my colleague, Sharon Epperson. +p3789 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said something that many in your party do not believe, which is that climate change is undeniable, that human activity contributes to it, and you said, quote: "The question is, what do we do to deal with it?". So what do we do? +p3790 +aVWhat should we do? +p3791 +aVYou mean government? +p3792 +aVThank you, Governor. Becky. +p3793 +aVGovernor Bush, Mr. Trump says that he is capable of growing the economy so much that Social Security and Medicare don't have to be touched. Do you want to explain how that is going to happen, Mr. Trump? +p3794 +aVHold on, Governor. I've got a question for \u2014 for Dr. Carson. +p3795 +aVYes. You've said that you would like to replace Medicare with a system of individual family savings accounts, so that families could cover their own expenses. Obviously, that would be a very controversial idea. Explain how that would work, exactly. +p3796 +aVGovernor, do you also think that... +p3797 +aV...that Dr. Carson's right, that we can replace Medicare with individual savings accounts? +p3798 +aVMrs. Fiorina, we're right at the end of our time. +p3799 +aVYou all wanted us to limit . All right. Go ahead. +p3800 +aVWe have now reached the point in the program where candidates are going to give their closing statements, 30 seconds apiece. We're going to go right to left and start with you, Senator Paul. +p3801 +aVGovernor Christie? +p3802 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Cruz? +p3803 +aVThank you, Senator. Mrs. Fiorina? +p3804 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Dr. Carson? +p3805 +aVMr. Trump? +p3806 +aVJust for the record, the debate was always going to be two hours. Senator Rubio? +p3807 +aVSenator Rubio. +p3808 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Bush? +p3809 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Huckabee. +p3810 +aVThank you... +p3811 +aVGovernor Kasich? +p3812 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3813 +aVWe're going to pose this question to all candidates and go left to right, starting with Governor Jindal. Governor, a majority of Republican voters at this point in the campaign have made clear that they prefer someone from outside the political system. In 30 seconds, tell us why your experience inside the system would be more valuable than the fresh eyes an outsider would bring. +p3814 +aVThanks, Governor Jindal. Senator Santorum? +p3815 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Pataki? +p3816 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Graham. +p3817 +aVSenator Graham, thank you very much. Becky? +p3818 +aVJust hold on, Governor Pataki, we're going to go to Senator Graham on this question because we believe you are likely to be the only person on this stage tonight who supports this budget deal. Now, you just heard Governor Jindal say that it's a phony deal, it doesn't do anything, and people like you are surrendering rather than fighting by supporting it. Why is he wrong? +p3819 +aVThank you, Senator Graham... +p3820 +aV...Governor, we're going to get to you in just a moment, we're going to try to keep this shorter... +p3821 +aVGovernor Jindal, a question about fiscal policy, especially since you noted that this deal doesn't solve the long-term debt situation. When you came into office with a budget surplus in the state of Louisiana, now, years later, the state legislature faced a $1.6 billion budget gap and the Republican state treasurer called one of your approaches to that problem "nonsense on a stick," quoting him. Are you going to do for the federal budget what you did for the Louisiana budget? +p3822 +aVBut Governor Jindal, as you know, many Republicans are opposed to the approach that you've taken in Louisiana. They complain that you have tried so hard to avoid anything that could be called a tax increase so that you could run for president saying you'd never raised taxes, David Vitter, the Republican who's now running to succeed you, has told voters, I won't be like Jindal, I'm not using the governorship as a stepping stone to higher office. +p3823 +aVGovernor Jindal, thank you. +p3824 +aVWe're going to take a quick break. The Republican presidential debate continues live from Boulder, Colorado in a moment. +p3825 +aVGovernor Jindal, Senator Santorum just raised the issue of corporate taxes, and cutting corporate taxes is very popular in your party because our rate, at 35 percent, is one of the highest in the world. But nobody has figured out how to identify a set of loopholes that would allow that tax rate to be lowered. So can you tell us specifically what loopholes you'd do away with? +p3826 +aVWe're talking corporate taxes. +p3827 +aVThanks, Governor. Becky? +p3828 +aVSo the tax credit right now that we have for domestic manufacturing, which manufacturers say is... +p3829 +aV...important, you would get rid of that? +p3830 +aVSenator Graham, Americans have gotten used to seeing headlines about more and more big corporations relocating overseas to cut their tax bill. Now, many in Washington think the way to stop that is to lower our corporate tax rate. But as we've seen, tax reform takes time. It hasn't happened yet. In the meantime, do you fault those companies for leaving? Do companies owe anything to their country, as well as their shareholders? +p3831 +aVSenator Graham. +p3832 +aVI want to remind candidates, you've got a one-minute limit on the \u2014 on the response. But I just want to follow up, Senator Graham. Four years ago, the nominee of your party said that corporations are people, too. If that is true, the question is, do they owe any obligation to the country? +p3833 +aVSenator Graham \u2014 +p3834 +aV\u2014 thank you very much. +p3835 +aVWe're moving on. +p3836 +aVSenator, we're moving on. I'd like to bring on my colleague, Rick Santelli \u2014 Rick. +p3837 +aVSenator, that \u2014 I mean, Governor, if that's true, why was our economy limping six years ago and now it's the strongest in the world? +p3838 +aVGovernor Pataki, you've indicated you believe climate change is real and caused at least in part by human activity. So, in 60 seconds, tell us what the federal government should do about it. +p3839 +aVIs there a role for government? +p3840 +aVSo, subsidies for those programs? For \u2014 for those alternative energy sources? +p3841 +aVThank you, Governor. Thank you, Governor. Carl? +p3842 +aVGovernor, if you cut spending and cut government so much, why did your legislature have such a big deficit? +p3843 +aVNo, we're going to move on. I'm going to bring on my colleague Sharon Epperson. +p3844 +aVAnd thank you, Sharon. This is the Republican Presidential Debate, live from Boulder, Colorado. We'll be right back. +p3845 +aVOK, now we're at the point of the evening where we're just about to give our candidates a holiday from this debate, but not before they tell us in 30 seconds their closing statements. Senator Graham, you're first. +p3846 +aVSenator Graham... +p3847 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. Governor Pataki? +p3848 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum? +p3849 +aVSenator Santorum, thank you. Governor Jindal? +p3850 +aVGovernor Jindal, thank you very much. Carl? +p3851 +asVPAUL +p3852 +(lp3853 +VThe question is, how do we keep America safe from terrorism? Trump says we ought to close that Internet thing. The question really is, what does he mean by that? Like they do in North Korea? Like they do in China? Rubio says we should collect all Americans' records all of the time. The Constitution says otherwise. I think they're both wrong. I think we defeat terrorism by showing them that we do not fear them. I think if we ban certain religions, if we censor the Internet, I think that at that point the terrorists will have won. Regime change hasn't won. Toppling secular dictators in the Middle East has only led to chaos and the rise of radical Islam. I think if we want to defeat terrorism, I think if we truly are sincere about defeating terrorism, we need to quit arming the allies of +p3854 +aVYou know, I think Marco gets it completely wrong. We are not any safer through the bulk collection of all Americans' records. In fact, I think we're less safe. We get so distracted by all of the information, we're not spending enough time getting specific immigration \u2014 specific information on terrorists. The other thing is, is the one thing that might have stopped San Bernardino, that might have stopped 9/11 would have been stricter controls on those who came here. And Marco has opposed at every point increased security \u2014 border security for those who come to our country. On his Gang of Eight bill, he would have liberalized immigration, but he did not \u2014 and he steadfastly opposed any new border security requirements for refugees or students. Last week, I introduced another bill saying we need more security, we need more scrutiny. Once again, Marco opposed this. So Marco can't have it both ways. He thinks he wants to be this, "Oh, I'm great and strong on national defense." But he's the weakest of all the candidates on immigration. He is the one for an open border that is leaving us defenseless. If we want to defend the country, we have to defend against who's coming in, and Marco is \u2014 has more of an allegiance to Chuck Schumer and to the liberals than he does to conservative policy. +p3855 +aVIf I was mentioned in the question, can I respond? +p3856 +aVMarco still misunderstands the immigration issue. What I put forward was an amendment that would have temporarily halted immigration from high-risk terrorist countries, but would have started it up, but I wanted them to go through Global Entry, which is a program where we do background checks. The thing is, is that every terrorist attack we've had since 9/11 has been legal immigration. Marco wants to expand that. I want more rules, more scrutiny, and to defend the country, you have to defend the border. +p3857 +aVWolf... +p3858 +aVWolf, this legislation... +p3859 +aVThis legislation on indefinite detention... +p3860 +aV... I think deserves a little more attention. +p3861 +aVI think that by arming the allies of +p3862 +aVI think that if you believe in regime change, you're mistaken. In 2013, we put 600 tons of weapons \u2014 us, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar \u2014 into the war against Assad. By pushing Assad back, we did create a safe space. We had people coming to our Foreign Relations Committee and saying, "Oh, we need to arm the allies of Al Qaida." They are still saying this. It is a crazy notion. This is the biggest debate we should be having tonight is is regime change a good idea; has it been a good idea. There are still people \u2014 the majority on the stage, they want to topple Assad. And then there will be chaos, and I think +p3863 +aVThese are the fundamental questions of our time, these foreign policy questions, whether or not regime change is a good idea or a bad idea. I don't think because I think the regime change was a bad idea it means that Hussein was necessarily a good idea. There is often variations of evil on both sides of the war. What we have to decide is whether or not regime change is a good idea. It's what the neoconservatives have wanted. It's what the vast majority of those on the stage want. They still want regime change. They want it in Syria. They wanted it in Iraq. They want it in Libya. It has not worked. Out of regime change you get chaos. From the chaos you have seen repeatedly the rise of radical Islam. So we get this profession of, oh, my goodness, they want to do something about terrorism and yet they're the problem because they allow terrorism to arise out of that chaos. +p3864 +aVNo, I think it's a huge mistake. I think regime change in Syria, and this is what \u2014 I've been saying this for several years now. In 2013 when we first went in, I said, you are going to give arms to the allies of al Qaida, to radical jihadists? That's crazy. But the other thing I said is the great irony is you will be back fighting against your own weapons. Had Assad been bombed when he used chemical weapons two years ago, +p3865 +aVWell, I think if you're in favor of World War III, you have your candidate. You know, here's...... the thing. My goodness, what we want in a leader is someone with judgment, not someone who is so reckless as to stand on the stage and say, "Yes, I'm jumping up and down; I'm going to shoot down Russian planes." Russia already flies in that airspace. It may not be something we're in love with the fact that they're there, but they were invited by Iraq and by Syria to fly in that airspace. And so if we announce we're going to have a no-fly zone, and others have said this. Hillary Clinton is also for it. It is a recipe for disaster. It's a recipe for World War III. We need to confront Russia from a position of strength, but we don't need to confront Russia from a point of recklessness that would lead to war. This is something \u2014 this type of judgment, you know, it's having that kind of judgment; who you would appoint and how you're going to conduct affairs, that is incredibly important. I mean, I think when we think about the judgment of someone who might want World War III, we might think about someone who might shut down a bridge because they don't like their friends; they don't want to \u2014 you know, they want to a Democrat. So I think we need to be very careful. +p3866 +aVYou know, I think we need to set the record straight on this, because I think Marco misspoke about the bill. On the Gang of Eight bill, there was no provisions really for extra scrutiny or safety for refugees. At the time the bill came up, two Iraqi refugees came to my home town, Bowling Green, Kentucky. Their fingerprints were on a bomb from Iraq. They were in the database, but we didn't pick them up. We relocated them here, put them in government housing, got them on food stamps. And we began providing for them, but we didn't have adequate security. On the Gang of Eight bill, on Marco's bill, we had an opportunity. There was a conservative consensus for an amendment I put forward called Trust, But Verify that would have strengthened border security on both refugees, students and those coming here. And Marco sided and I guess was more sympathetic to Chuck Schumer and to the president than he was to conservative principles. But this goes directly to national defense. And if he wants to run as a national \u2014 national defense conservative, he's got to explain why he hasn't stepped up to support border security. +p3867 +aVWhat my bill would do would be only for refugees going forward. So I haven't taken a position on sending anyone home. But I have taken the position that we have a lot of problems here in our country. And that one of the things that we do \u2014 charity is about giving your own money. Charity isn't giving someone else's money. To put everyone in government housing and food stamps and bring them in from around the world I think is a mistake. To give of your own money, I've given to my church. My church has helped people that came from Bosnia. That's a good thing. But we shouldn't have a program where we just say that we're going to take care of the world's refugees. Nobody in the Middle East is doing anything. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait \u2014 all the Gulf nations are doing nothing. They need to step up and take... +p3868 +aVThe greatest threat to our national security is our debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. And whose fault is it? Well, frankly, it's both parties' fault. You have those on the right who clamor and say, oh, we will spend anything on the military, and those on the left who say the same for domestic welfare. But what most Americans don't realize is there is an unholy alliance. They come together. There's a secret handshake. We spend more money on everything. And we are not stronger nation if we go further into debt. We are not projecting power from bankruptcy court. To me, there is no greater threat than our debt. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage because I'm willing to hold the line on all spending. I hope you will consider me in the election. Thank you very much. +p3869 +aVAbsolutely. And I think that we ought to look where income inequality seems to be the worst. It seems to be worst in cities run by Democrats, governors of... States run by Democrats and countries currently run by Democrats. So the thing is, let's look for root causes. But I would also say \u2014 lay some blame at the \u2014 the feet of the Federal Reserve. I think the Federal Reserve has made this problem worse. By artificially keeping interest rates below the market rate, average ordinary citizens have a tough time earning interest, have a tough time making money. They're actually talking now about negative interest. The money as it's created through quantitative easing or other means tends to start out in the big banks in New York. And because we're now paying interest for them to keep the money there, much of that money has not filtered out into the economy. So what we're finding is there is increasing income disparity and income inequality. We also find that as the Federal Reserve destroys the value of the currency, what you're finding is that, if you're poor, if you make $20,000 a year and you have three or four kids, and you're trying to get by, as your prices rise or as the value of the dollar shrinks, these are the people that are hurt the worst. So really we need to reexamine whether we not \u2014 we want a Federal Reserve that's involved so much in determining interest rates. We also need to look at root causes as to what caused the housing boom and the housing collapse. But the bottom line is, if you want less income inequality, move to a city with a Republican mayor or a state with a Republican governor. +p3870 +aVWell, it's a great question, Neil, and thanks for including me in the tax debate. I think what's important about the tax debate is, is that we have to ask the question, where is money best spent, in the private sector or in the government sector? I want a government really, really small, so small you can barely see it. So I want lower taxes and much more money in the private sector. My tax plan, however, is the only tax plan among any of the candidates on the stage that is part of a balanced budget plan. I put forward three plans that actually balance the budget over a five-year period. Each of these plans have details on exactly where we would cut. The question came up earlier, where would you cut? Nobody likes to say where they would cut. I've put pencil to paper and done three budgets that actually balance. I'm also in favor of a plan called the penny plan where we'd just cut 1 percent across the board and the budget actually balances in less than five years. So I think what is extraordinary about my tax plan is it is in the context of balancing the budget. What is also extraordinary about my tax plan is it gets rid of the payroll tax. Democrats demagogue this issue to death, and when they do they say, oh, a millionaire would get a bigger tax cut than someone making $10,000. That's proportionality, as Ben is trying to explain to folks. But the thing is, is if we get rid of the payroll tax, everybody is going to get a tax cut. And this is something that I think the public at large will support and could win an election. +p3871 +aVOurs is 14.5 percent for corporations, 14.5 percent for individuals. No payroll tax for the employee. The business tax pays for social security, and there would be two remaining deductions \u2014 home mortgage and charity. +p3872 +aVThank you. +p3873 +aVNeil, there's a point I'd like to make here... ....Neil, a point that I'd like to make about the tax credits. We have to decide what is conservative and what isn't conservative. Is it fiscally conservative to have a trillion-dollar expenditure? We're not talking about giving people back their tax money. He's talking about giving people money they didn't pay. It's a welfare transfer payment. So here's what we have. Is it conservative to have $1 trillion in transfer payments \u2014 a new welfare program that's a refundable tax credit? Add that to Marco's plan for $1 trillion in new military spending, and you get something that looks, to me, not very conservative. Thank you. +p3874 +aVNevertheless, it's not very conservative, Marco. +p3875 +aVHow is it conservative? +p3876 +aVYeah, but, Marco! Marco! How is it conservative, how is it conservative to add a trillion-dollar expenditure for the federal government that you're not paying for? +p3877 +aVHow is it conservative? +p3878 +aVHow is it conservative to add a trillion dollars in military expenditures? You can not be a conservative if you're going to keep promoting new programs that you're not going to pay for. +p3879 +aVNo. I don't think we're any safer \u2014 I do not think we are any safer from bankruptcy court. As we go further, and further into debt, we become less, and less safe. This is the most important thing we're going to talk about tonight. Can you be a conservative, and be liberal on military spending? Can you be for unlimited military spending, and say, Oh, I'm going to make the country safe? No, we need a safe country, but, you know, we spend more on our military than the next ten countries combined? I want a strong national defense, but I don't want us to be bankrupt. +p3880 +aVHey, Gerard, you know, we might want to point out China is not part of this deal. +p3881 +aVBefore we get a little bit off-kilter here... +p3882 +aVThere is an argument that China doesn't like the deal, because in us doing the deal, we'll be trading with their competitors. You're exactly right. But I think we've sort of missed the point a little bit here. There is an important point, though, about how we discuss these trade treaties that I do agree with Mr. Trump on. We should negotiate from a position of strength. And we also should negotiate using the full force and the constitutional power that was given to us. I think it's a mistake that we give up power to the presidency on these trade deals. We give up the power to filibuster, and I'm kind of fond of that power. We give up the power to amend. And I think, really, one of the big problems we have in our country is, over the last century, really, so much power has gravitated to the executive branch. Really, Congress is kind of a bystander. We don't write the rules. We don't make the laws. The executive branch does. So even in trade \u2014 and I am for trade \u2014 I think we should be careful about giving so much power to the presidency. +p3883 +aVI'd like first to respond to the acquisition, we should \u2014 I think it's particularly naive, particularly foolish to think that we're not going to talk to Russia. The idea of a no fly zone, realize that this is also something that Hillary Clinton agrees with several on our side with, you're asking for a no fly zone in an area in which Russia already flies. Russia flies in that zone at the invitation of Iraq. I'm not saying it's a good thing, but you better know at least what we're getting into. So, when you think it's going to be a good idea to have a no fly zone over Iraq, realize that means you are saying we are going to shoot down Russian planes. If you're ready for that, be ready to send your sons and daughters to another war in Iraq. I don't want to see that happen. I think the first war in Iraq was a mistake... You can be strong without being involved in every civil war around the war... +p3884 +aVRonald Reagan was strong, but Ronald Reagan didn't... +p3885 +aV...send troops into the Middle East... +p3886 +aV...Can I finish... +p3887 +aV...Can I finish my time? Could I finish with my time? +p3888 +aVYes, I would like to finish my response, basically. +p3889 +aVThis is an important question. This is an incredibly important question. And the question goes to be, who do we want to be our commander-in-chief? Do you want a commander-in-chief who says something that we never did throughout the entire Cold War, to discontinue having conversations with the Russians? I am not happy about them flying over there. But I'm not naive enough to say, well, Iraq has them flying over their airspace, we're just going to announce that we're shooting them down? That is naive to the point of being something you might hear in junior high. But it's scary... +p3890 +aVThe first thing I would do is I wouldn't arm our enemies. I wouldn't arm +p3891 +aVGerard, can I comment... +p3892 +aVThe first thing I would do as president is repeal the regulations that are hampering our energy that the President has put in place. Including the Clean Power Act. While I do think that man may have a role in our climate, I think nature also has a role. The planet's 4.5 billion years old, we've been through geologic age after geologic age. We've had times when the temperatures been warmer, we've had times when the temperatures been colder. We've had times when the carbon in the atmosphere's been higher. So, I think before we \u2014 we need to look before we leap. President's often fond of saying he wants a balance solution, but, really we do need to balance both keeping the environment clean, and we will have some rules for that. We got to balance that with the economy. He's devastated my state. I say the President's not only destroying Kentucky, he's destroying the democrat party down there because nobody wants to associate with him. So, what we really need is somebody that understands that we do need energy of all forms, and that means we will have solar, and wind, and hydro, but we will still have coal, and we still will have natural gas. And, we've got to have an all of the above policy. But, it would be a mistake to shut down all of our industries in the coal fields, and shut down the coal power plants. If we did so we're going to have a day where we wake up and some of our big cities are either very cold, or very hot. So, I think it's a big danger, and we shouldn't do it. And, what we should do is say we want all of the above... ...We want to free up the energy sector, and let people produce, let them drill, let them explore. +p3893 +aVWe're the richest, freest, most humanitarian nation in the history of mankind. But we also borrow a million dollars a minute. And the question I have for all Americans is, think about it, can you be a fiscal conservative if you don't conserve all of the money? If you're a profligate spender, you spend money in an unlimited fashion for the military, is that a conservative notion? We have to be conservative with all spending, domestic spending and welfare spending. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage. +p3894 +aVYou know, I left my medical practice and ran for office because I was concerned about an $18 trillion debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. Now, on the floor of the Congress, the Washington establishment from both parties puts forward a bill that will explode the deficit. It allows President Obama to borrow unlimited amounts of money. I will stand firm. I will spend every ounce of energy to stop it. I will begin tomorrow to filibuster it. And I ask everyone in America to call Congress tomorrow and say enough is enough; no more debt. +p3895 +aVNo, I oppose it because you're taking money from the entitlement and then spending it immediately on other items. That's what they're doing. They're taking money from Social Security and they're going to spend it on the military and they're going to spend it on domestic spending. Here's the thing. When you look at raising the debt limit, it should be leverage to try to reform government. In 2011, the sequester was passed as a reform to slow down the rate of government. Instead, the Washington establishment raised both. We raised the military spending, took from entitlements, and raised domestic spending and the deficit will explode under this. This is the unholy alliance that people need to know about between right and left. Right and left are spending us into oblivion. We should use the debt ceiling, as precisely to Don, to force upon them budgetary reforms. +p3896 +aVWell, that's a real question. Is there going to be any change in the House with new leadership? I frankly don't think there will be much change because I think what's going to happen is you're going to get more of the same. People in Washington think they were sent there to be adults and govern and do all this. Well, you know what I'm worried about? Not keeping the government open. I'm worried about bankrupting the American people. We're borrowing a million dollars a minute. That is important. And that's what we have to contrast. Keeping the government open and continuing to borrow a million dollars a minute. +p3897 +aVWell, thank you very much. I would like to thank Ted for co-sponsoring my bill, audit the Fed. And I think it's precisely because of the arrogance of someone like Ben Bernanke, who now calls us all know-nothings, that is precisely why we need audit the Fed. I think it is really very much a huge problem that an organization as powerful as the Fed comes in, lobbies against them being audited on the Hill. I would prevent them lobbying Congress. I don't think the Fed should be involved with lobbying us. I think we should examine how the Fed has really been part of the problem. You want to study income inequality, let's bring the Fed forward and talk about Fed policy and how it causes income inequality. Let's also bring the Fed forward and have them explain how they caused the housing boom and the crisis, and what they've done to make us better or worse. I think the Fed has been a great problem in our society. What you need to do is free up interest rates. Interest rates are the price of money, and we shouldn't have price controls on the price of money. +p3898 +aV...John... +p3899 +aVJohn, I'd like to address this? John, could I follow up on this? +p3900 +aVWhat are the rules on who gets to follow up. How do we decide on who gets to follow up? I've seen plenty of other people follow up? +p3901 +aVI'd like to just mention something about my tax plan, and how it relates to the discussion... +p3902 +aVAlright. Much of the discussion is centered over whether or not the different tax plans help, or affect the middle class. In fact, it's the chief argument by democrats against many of the different flat tax proposals. Mine is unique in the sense that my tax plan actually gets rid of the payroll tax as well. It shifts it to the business, and it would allow middle class people to get a tax cut. If you just cut their income tax, there isn't much income tax to cut. Mine actually cuts the payroll tax, and I think it would spread the tax cut across all socioeconomic levels, and would allow then it to be something that would be broadly supported by the public in an election. +p3903 +aVThe question always is, what works better, the private marketplace or government? And what distributes goods better? It always seems to be the private marketplace does a better job. Is there an area for a safety net? Can you have Medicare or Social Security? Yes. But you ought to acknowledge the government doesn't do a very good job at it. The main problem with Medicare right now is that the average person pays in taxes over their whole lifetime about $100,000. But the average person takes out about $350,000. We have this enormous mismatch because we have smaller and smaller families. When people ask me, whose fault is it? Whose fault is it that Medicare is broken, out of money, that Social Security is broken, out of money? And I say, look, it's not Republicans' fault, it's not Democrats' fault, it's your grandparents' fault for having too many damn kids. After the war we had all of these kids, Baby Boomers. Now we're having smaller families. We used to have 16 workers for one retiree, now you have three workers for one retiree. It's not working. I have a bill to fix Medicare. I've a bill to fix Social Security. For both of them you have to gradually raise the age. If you're not willing to do that, nobody wants to do it, but if you're not willing to gradually raise the age, you're not serious about fixing either one of them. +p3904 +aVSay again? +p3905 +aVYou can't do nothing. And that's what I hear from some people, "we'll do nothing and it will just be fixed." That's absurd, and I think people who don't want to fix it, really, or unwilling to take the chance to say, "something has to change," are missing the boat here. The age will have to gradually rise, there is no question. It's the only way you fix Medicare, the only way you fix Social Security. You will also have to means-test the benefits and declare there's not enough money. It isn't "I put money in, I'm getting it back." There is no money, it's a stack of paper. There is no money in the Social Security account. There is no money in the Medicare account. There's only a promise to pay by the next generation, and the next generation's not big enough to pay it. [ +p3906 +aVLiberty thrives when government is small. I want a government so small I can barely see it. I want a government so small that the individual has a chance to thrive and prosper. I think, though, government is too big now. And what you're going to see in Washington this week is establishment Republicans have made an agreement with the president to raise the debt ceiling in an unlimited fashion; no limit to the debt ceiling raise. This is extraordinary. It's extraordinarily wrong. You'll see me on the floor of the Senate tomorrow filibustering this and saying enough is enough, no more debt. +p3907 +aVGood evening, everyone. I'm an eye surgeon from Bowling Green, Kentucky. My wife, Kelly, and I have been married for nearly 25 years, and I spend my days defending the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I think there's nothing more important than understanding that the Constitution restrains government, not the people. Thank you. +p3908 +aVI kind of have to laugh when I think of, "Mmm, sounds like a non sequitur." He was asked whether or not he would be capable and it would be in good hands to be in charge of the nuclear weapons, and all of a sudden, there's a sideways attack at me. I think that really goes to really the judgment. Do we want someone with that kind of character, that kind of careless language to be negotiating with Putin? Do we want someone like that to be negotiating with Iran? I think really there's a sophomoric quality that is entertaining about Mr. Trump, but I am worried. I'm very concerned about him \u2014 having him in charge of the nuclear weapons, because I think his response, his \u2014 his visceral response to attack people on their appearance \u2014 short, tall, fat, ugly \u2014 my goodness, that happened in junior high. Are we not way above that? Would we not all be worried to have someone like that in charge of the nuclear arsenal? +p3909 +aVI think this goes back to essentially what we've been saying for the last two or three questions. Carly Fiorina also said we're not going to talk with Putin. Well, think if Reagan had said that during the Cold War? We continued to talk with the Russians throughout the Cold War which is much more significant that where we are now. Should we continue to talk with Iran? Yes. Should we cut up the agreement immediately? That's absurd. Wouldn't you want to know if they complied? Now, I'm going to vote against the agreement because I don't think there's significant leverage, but it doesn't mean that I would immediately not look at the agreement, and cut it up without looking to see if whether or not Iran has complied. The same goes with China. I don't think we need to be rash, I don't think we need to be reckless, and I think need to leave lines of communication open. Often we talk about whether we should be engaged in the world, or disengaged in the world, and I think this is an example of some who want to isolate us, actually, and not be engaged. We do need to be engaged with Russia. It doesn't mean we give them a free pass, or China a free pass, but, to be engaged, to continue to talk. We did throughout the Cold War, and it would be a big mistake not to do it here. +p3910 +aVI think this gets to the point of wisdom on when to intervene and when we shouldn't. Had we bombed Assad at the time, like President Obama wanted, and like Hillary Clinton wanted and many Republicans wanted, I think +p3911 +aVWell, I hate to say it, but Donald Trump has a bit of a point here. The case that was decided around 1900 was, people had a green card, were here legally, and they said that their children were citizens. There's never been a direct Supreme Court case on people who were here illegally, whether or not their kids are citizens. So it hasn't really been completely adjudicated. The 14th Amendment says that "those who are here and under the jurisdiction." The original author of the \u2014 of the 14th Amendment said on the Senate floor that this was applying to slaves, and did not specifically apply to others. +p3912 +aVWell, I'm glad we're having a discussion about taxes because everybody laments that we lose jobs overseas, we have. Our companies, and our jobs are being chased overseas by a 70,000 page tax code, so, that's why I've chosen to get rid of the whole thing, and have one single rate, 14 and a-half percent for everybody, business, and for corporate income, and personal income. But, we also get rid of the payroll tax, so the working class would get a tax break as well. So, I think a flat tax, eliminating the tax code, getting rid of all the loopholes, is the way to go, and it's the way we get America going again. +p3913 +aVHugh, can I \u2014 can I make a response to that? +p3914 +aVCan I make a response to that? +p3915 +aVMay I make a response to that? +p3916 +aVHe's referred to me. +p3917 +aVHe's referred to me... +p3918 +aV... in his remarks. May I make a response? +p3919 +aVAbsolutely. Go ahead. +p3920 +aVMay I respond? +p3921 +aVThe remark was made that there hadn't been anyone else on the podium opposed to the Iraq War. I've made my career as being an opponent of the Iraq War. I was opposed to the Syria war. I was opposed to arming people who are our enemies. Iran is now stronger because Hussein is gone. Hussein was the great bulwark and counterbalance to the Iranians. So when we complain about the Iranians, you need to remember that the Iraq War made it worse. Originally, Governor Bush was asked, was the Iraq War a mistake, and he said, "No. We'd do it again." We have to learn sometimes the interventions backfire. The Iraq War backfired and did not help us. We're still paying the repercussions of a bad decision. +p3922 +aVWe have make the decision now in Syria, should we topple Assad? Many up here wanted to topple Assad, and it's like \u2014 I said no, because if you do... +p3923 +aV... +p3924 +aVIf you want boots on the ground, and you want them to be our sons and daughters, you got 14 other choices. There will always be a Bush or Clinton for you, if you want to go back to war in Iraq. But the thing is, the first war was a mistake. And I'm not sending our sons and our daughters back to Iraq. The war didn't work. We can amplify those who live there. The Kurds deserve to be armed and I'll arm them. We can use our Air Force to amplify the forces there. But the boots on the ground need to be the people who live there. My goodness, I'm still upset with the Saudi Arabians for everything they do over there. They've funded the arms that went to the jihadists. They're not accepting any of the people, any of the migrants that have been \u2014 the refugees that are being pushed out of Syria. Saudi Arabia is not accepting one. Why are we always the world's patsies that we have to go over there and fight their wars for them? They need to fight their wars, we need to defend American interests, but it is not in America's national security interests to have another war in Iraq. +p3925 +aVI think one of the great problems, and what American people don't like about politics, is hypocrisy. People have one standard for others and not for them \u2014 for themselves. There is at least one prominent example on the stage of someone who says they smoked pot in high school, and yet the people going to \u2014 to jail for this are poor people, often African-Americans and often Hispanics, and yet the rich kids who use drugs aren't. I personally think that this is a crime for which the only victim is the individual, and I think that America has to take a different attitude. I would like to see more rehabilitation and less incarceration. I'm a fan of the drug courts which try to direct you back towards work and less time in jail. But the bottom line is the states. We say we like the 10th Amendment, until we start talking about this. And I think the federal government has gone too far, I think that the war on drugs has had a racial outcome, and really has been something that has really damaged our inner cities. Not only do the drugs damage them, we damage them again by incarcerating them and then preventing them from getting employment over time. So I don't think that the federal government should override the states. I believe in the 10th Amendment and I really will say that the states are left to themselves. +p3926 +aVWell, I think if we left it open, we could see how many people smoked pot in high school. +p3927 +aVWell, you know, the thing is that... +p3928 +aVYeah, I was talking about \u2014 well, let me... +p3929 +aVBut let me respond. The thing is, is that in Florida, Governor Bush campaigned against medical marijuana. That means that a small child like Morgan Hintz (ph) that has seizures is day, is failing on non-traditional medications, is not allowed to use cannabis oil. And if they do that in Florida, they will take the child away, they will put the parents in jail. And that's what that means if you're against allowing people use medical marijuana, you'll actually put them in jail. +p3930 +aVAnd actually, under the current circumstances, kids who had privilege like you do, don't go to jail, but the poor kids in our inner cities go to jail. I don't think that's fair. And I think we need to acknowledge it, and it is hypocritical to still want to put poor people in jail... +p3931 +aVWell, you vote \u2014 you oppose medical marijuana... +p3932 +aVBut that means you'll put people in jail. +p3933 +aVMay I respond? +p3934 +aVUnderstand what they're saying. if they're going to say we are going to enforce the federal law against what the state law is, they aren't really believing in the Tenth Amendment. Governor Christie would go into Colorado, and if you're breaking any federal law on marijuana, even though the state law allows it, he would put you in jail. If a young mother is trying to give her child cannabis oil for medical marijuana for seizure treatment, he would put her in jail, if it violates federal law. I would let Colorado do what the Tenth Amendment says. This power \u2014 we were never intended to have crime dealing at the federal level. Crime was supposed to be left to the states. Colorado has made their decision. And I don't want the federal government interfering and putting moms in jail, who are trying to get medicine for their kid... +p3935 +aVMay I respond? May I respond? +p3936 +aVHere is the thing, he doesn't want to make it about medical marijuana, but what if New Jersey's medical marijuana contradicts the federal law? He's saying he'll send the federal government in, and he will enforce the federal law. That's not consistent with the Tenth Amendment. It is not consistent with states' rights. And it is not consistent with the conservative vision for the country. I don't think we should be sending the federal police in to arrest a mother and separate them from their child for giving a medicine to their child for seizures. +p3937 +aVIf you want a skeptic \u2014 if you want a skeptic, Jake, I will happily jump into that briar patch. If you want a real... +p3938 +aVA second opinion? One of the greatest \u2014 one of the greatest medical discoveries of all times was \u2014 were the vaccines, particularly for smallpox. And if you want to read a story, it's called The Speckled Monster, it's an amazing story, it was all done voluntary. But people came in by the droves. George Washington wouldn't let his wife visit until she got vaccinated. So I'm all for vaccines. But I'm also for freedom. I'm also a little concerned about how they're bunched up. My kids had all of their vaccines, and even if the science doesn't say bunching them up is a problem, I ought to have the right to spread out my vaccines out a little bit at the very least. +p3939 +aVOoh, that's a tough one. You know, I'm big on \u2014 that we were \u2014 and I love what Carly said about women's suffrage. I think Susan B. Anthony might be a good choice. +p3940 +aVJustice Never Sleeps. +p3941 +aVI met Ronald Reagan as a teenager, and my family, we're big supporters of him when he ran against Gerald Ford. It was a big deal because he was the grassroots, running against the establishment, and I'll never forget that. And, how he stood up and said, you know what, this is something new that our country needs, and our party needs. If I were president, I would try to be one who says, you know what, I'm a Reagan Conservative. I'm someone who believes in peace through strength, and I would try to lead the country in that way knowing that our goal is peace, and that war is the last resort, not the first resort. And, that when we go to war, we go to war in a constitutional way, which means that we have to vote on it, that war is initiated by congress, not by the president, that we go to war electively (ph). That when we go to war, we don't fight with one arm tied behind our back, we fight all out to win, but then we come home. +p3942 +aVThis is what's wrong! +p3943 +aVI mean, this is what's wrong. He buys and sells politicians of all stripes, he's already... +p3944 +aVHey, look, look! He's already hedging his bet on the Clintons, OK? So if he doesn't run as a Republican, maybe he supports Clinton, or maybe he runs as an independent... +p3945 +aV...but I'd say that he's already hedging his bets because he's used to buying politicians. +p3946 +aVFirst of all, only +p3947 +aVMegyn, may I respond? May I respond? +p3948 +aVI want to collect more records from terrorists, but less records from innocent Americans. The Fourth Amendment was what we fought the Revolution over! John Adams said it was the spark that led to our war for independence, and I'm proud of standing for the Bill of Rights, and I will continue to stand for the Bill of Rights. +p3949 +aVUse the Fourth Amendment! +p3950 +aVUse the Fourth Amendment! +p3951 +aVGet a warrant! +p3952 +aVGet a judge to sign the warrant! +p3953 +aVSee, here's the problem. +p3954 +aVHere's the problem, governor. Here's the problem, governor. You fundamentally misunderstand the Bill of Rights. Every time you did a case, you got a warrant from a judge. I'm talking about searches without warrants... +p3955 +aV...indiscriminately, of all Americans' records, and that's what I fought to end. I don't trust President Obama with our records. I know you gave him a big hug, and if you want to give him a big hug again, go right ahead. +p3956 +aVI've got a news flash... +p3957 +aVNews flash, the Republican Party's been fighting against a single-payer system... +p3958 +aV-- for a decade. So I think you're on the wrong side of this if you're still arguing for a single-payer system. +p3959 +aVI oppose the Iranian deal, and will vote against it. I don't think that the president negotiated from a position of strength, but I don't immediately discount negotiations. I'm a Reagan conservative. Reagan did negotiate with the Soviets. But you have to negotiate from a position of strength, and I think President Obama gave away too much, too early. If there's going to be a negotiation, you're going to have to believe somehow that the Iranians are going to comply. And I asked this question to John Kerry, I said "do you believe they're trustworthy?" and he said "No." And I said, "well, how are we gonna get them to comply?" I would have never released the sanctions before there was consistent evidence of compliance. +p3960 +aVLook, I don't want my marriage or my guns registered in Washington. And if people have an opinion, it's a religious opinion that is heartly felt, obviously they should be allowed to practice that and no government should interfere with them. One of the things, one of the things that really got to me was the thing in Houston where you had the government, the mayor actually, trying to get the sermons of ministers. When the government tries to invade the church to enforce its own opinion on marriage, that's when it's time to resist. +p3961 +aVWell, let's be clear, I'm the only one on the stage who actually has a five-year budget that balances. I've put pencil to paper... +p3962 +aV... and I've said -- and I've said I would cut spending, and I've said exactly where. Each one of my budgets has taken a meat axe to foreign aid, because I think we ought to quit sending it to countries that hate us. I think we ought to quit sending it to countries that burn our flag. Israel is not one of those. But even Benjamin Netanyahu said that ultimately, they will be stronger when they're independent. My position is exactly the same. We shouldn't borrow money from China to send it anywhere, but why don't we start with eliminating aid to our enemies. +p3963 +aVI still say exactly what my original opinion is. Do you borrow money from China to send it to anyone? Out of your surplus, you can help your allies, and Israel is a great ally. And this is no particular animus of Israel, but what I will say, and I will say over and over again, we cannot give away money we don't have. We do not project power from bankruptcy court. We're borrowing a million dollars a minute. It's got to stop somewhere. +p3964 +aVI'm a different kind of Republican. I've introduced a five-year balanced budget. I've introduced the largest tax cut in our history. I stood for ten and a half hours on the Senate floor to defend your right to be left alone. But I've also gone to Chicago. I've gone to Detroit. I've been to Ferguson, I've been to Baltimore, because I want our party to be bigger, better and bolder, and I'm the only one that leads Hillary Clinton in five states that were won by President Obama. I'm a different kind of Republican. +p3965 +aVYou know, I've always had a great deal of respect. There's probably no person I respect more in the country or in recent history than my father. I think he was probably the most honest man in politics that we've ever seen in a generation. And so in no way have I ever said that I don't embrace my father or love my father or appreciate everything that he has done for the country. I think what's interesting about where that liberty vote goes that my father brought to the Republican Party is, I don't think they're necessarily going to go for Ted. You know, Ted didn't show up. We had an audit-the-Fed vote, which was the biggest thing my dad had been advocating for, for 30 years, Ted didn't have time to show up. He was the only Republican that didn't show up for it. And so I think really that vote is going to stay in the Paul household. I think more of it is coming and it's going to grow. The NSA is another big issue. Ted said he was for NSA reform, but then he told Marco Rubio, no, no, no, I voted for the bill because I'm for the government collecting 100 percent of your cell phone records. I don't think Ted can have it both ways. They want to say they're getting some of the liberty vote. But we don't see it happening at all. We think we're going to do very well in Iowa with the liberty vote. +p3966 +aVMay I respond? +p3967 +aVWell, I mean, I was talked about in the question. +p3968 +aVJust very quickly, I would like to respond. The bulk collection of your phone data, the invasion of your privacy did not stop one terrorist attack. I don't think you have to give up your liberty for a false sense of security. When we look at this bulk collection, the court has looked at this. Even the court declared it to be illegal. If we want to collect the records of terrorists, let's do it the old fashioned way. Let's use the Fourth Amendment. Let's put a name on a warrant, let's ask a judge for it. Let's respect the history of our country. John Adams said that we fought a War for Independence because we wanted to fight against generalized warrants. Let's don't forget that. +p3969 +aVMy budget was mentioned. My budget was mentioned. +p3970 +aV... Senator Cruz, I'd like to respond... +p3971 +aV... and I'd like to respond. +p3972 +aVThank you, Marco. +p3973 +aVThank you. The issue in Syria's a very important one, and it's one we need to get right. The question is, should we be bombing both sides of the war? Some want to topple Assad. In fact, they want to bomb +p3974 +aV. +p3975 +aVYeah, no, I think that's a \u2014 that's a huge mistake, to be closing down mosques. But I would say that if you want to defend the country, it begins with border security. And this is where I've had my disagreement with Senator Rubio. When he brought forward the "Gang of Eight" bill to give citizenship to those who came here illegally, I put forward an amendment that says we should have more scrutiny on those who are coming as students, those who are coming as immigrants, those who are coming as refugees, because we had two refugees come to my town in Bowling Green and try to attack us. Marco opposed this because they made a deal. He made a deal with Chuck Schumer that he would oppose any conservative amendments. And I think that's a mistake, and I just don't think Marco can have it both ways. You can't be in favor of defend us... ... against Islam \u2014 radical Islam \u2014 if you're not for border security. +p3976 +aVYou know, I've supported legislation to allow body cameras. I've been to Ferguson, I've been trying to look for solutions to our criminal justice problem. One thing I discovered in Ferguson was that a third of the budget for the city of Ferguson was being reaped by civil fines. People were just being fined to death. Now you and I and many of the people in this audience, if we get a $100 fine, we can survive it. If you're living on the edge of poverty and you get a $100 fine or your car towed, a lot of times you lose your job. I also think the war on drugs has disproportionately affected our African-American community, and what we need to do is make sure that the war on drugs is equal protection under the law and that we don't unfairly incarcerate another generation of young African-American males. In Ferguson, for every 100 African-American women, there are only 60 African-American men. Drug use is about equal between white and black, but our prisons \u2014 three out of four people in prison are black or brown. I think something has to change. I think it's a big thing that our party needs to be part of, and I've been a leader in Congress on trying to bring about criminal justice reform. +p3977 +aVI was there and I saw the debate. I saw Ted Cruz say, "we'll take citizenship off the table, and then the bill will pass, and I'm for the bill." The bill would involve legalization. He can't have it both ways. But what is particularly insulting, though, is that he is the king of saying, "you're for amnesty." Everybody's for amnesty except for Ted Cruz. But it's a falseness, and that's an authenticity problem \u2014 that everybody he knows is not as perfect as him because we're all for amnesty. I was for legalization. I think, frankly, if you have border security, you can have legalization. So was Ted, but now he says it wasn't so. That's not true. +p3978 +aVYou know, I think abortion is always wrong. I've supported a variety of solutions, both state as well as federal. In fact, just last week, I introduced the Life at Conception act, which would say that the 14th amendment would defend an individual even in the womb. But I think on the broader question of religion and politics, you know, I think liberty, itself requires a virtue \u2014 requires a virtuous people. In fact, Washington said that democracy requires a virtuous people. Oz Guinness, the theologian, said that liberty requires restraint but the only restraint consistent with liberty is self-restraint. There's a lot packed into that statement. But the bottom line is we must have virtue, we must have a religious bearing as a nation. The government is not always going to save us and it's not always going to come from government. But if we don't know right and wrong, I think we have lost our way. I think we become unmoored and I think without the religious foundation that guides us all, I think we have a great risk of going horribly in the wrong direction. +p3979 +aVBoth. No, both the federal and a state approach. I have said that we could leave it to the states but I've also introduced a federal solution as well. So the federal solution would be the Life at Conception act which is an act that would federalize the issue. But I've also said for the most part, these issues would be left back to the states. So there might be an occasion if we did overturn Roe v. Wade \u2014 Roe v. Wade nationalized the issue. If you had the court reverse Roe v. Wade, it would become a state issue once again. I think it would be better the more \u2014 the less abortions we have, so the more states that we have that made abortion illegal, the better, as far as trying to save and preserve lives. +p3980 +aVYou know, I've never really brought this up unless asked the question, but I have responded to the question. I don't blame Hillary Clinton at all for this. I don't think she's responsible for his behavior. But I do think that her position as promoting women's rights and fairness to women in the workplace, that if what Bill Clinton did any CEO in our country did with an intern, with a 22-year- old, 21-year-old intern in their office, they would be fired. They would never be hired again. Fired, never hired again and probably shunned in their community. And the thing is, she can't be a champion of women's rights at the same time she's got this that is always lurking out there, this type of behavior. So it is difficult. +p3981 +aVYeah. But I combine this also with the millions upon millions of dollars they've taken from regimes in the Middle East who treat women like cattle. +p3982 +aVWell, thanks for having me. It's great to be back. I'm an eye surgeon from Bowling Green, Kentucky, I miss doing eye surgery, still get to do a little bit. Did a couple of cataract surgeries over Christmas holidays. Got to go to Haiti last year. I've gotten to do some incredible things. Got to be on the floor of the Senate. And it has been amazing to me. But the thing that is most important to me and caused me to run for office is I'm worried about the country and how much debt we're adding. And I am the one true fiscal conservative who will look at all spending. And that's the only way we'll ever balance our budget. Thank you. +p3983 +asVBASH +p3984 +(lp3985 +VA crucial question is how to balance surveillance with privacy and keeping Americans safe. Senator Cruz, you voted for a bill that President Obama signed into law just this past June that made it harder for the government to access Americans' phone records. In light of the San Bernardino attack, was your vote a mistake? +p3986 +aVThank you. Senator Rubio, Senator Cruz is right there was bipartisan support for that. But you voted against it. So, is Senator Cruz wrong? +p3987 +aVSenator Cruz? +p3988 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator \u2014 Senator Rubio, please respond. +p3989 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I know this is \u2014 this has been a very big issue for you. You hear many of your colleagues are calling for increased surveillance by law enforcement. You call that hogwash. Why is that hogwash? +p3990 +aVSenator Rubio? +p3991 +aVGovernor Christie, Governor Christie... ...Governor Christie, I'll come to you in a minute. Go ahead, Senator Paul. +p3992 +aVGo ahead, please. +p3993 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about immigration in a while. But, Governor Christie, just listening to this... +p3994 +aVListening to this, you talked \u2014 you heard Senator Paul, Senator Cruz talk about how important it is to protect Americans' privacy, even in a time of grave danger. Why \u2014 what's wrong with that? +p3995 +aVSenator Paul, you said +p3996 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I want to go back to my initial question, which is you saying that +p3997 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about regime change in a bit. But Governor Kasich, would you like to respond to Senator Paul? +p3998 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. We've been talking tonight about programs and policy proposals that you all have to keep Americans safe and it's a big discussion on the campaign trail. Also about border security and immigration. So let's talk about immigration. Senator Rubio. You co-authored a bill with Democrats two years ago that allowed a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Do you still support that path to citizenship, which means giving those immigrants rights, like the right to vote? +p3999 +aVSenator, you haven't answered the question. You described a very long path but does that path end at citizenship? +p4000 +aVThank you, senator. +p4001 +aVThank you, senator. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, on the campaign trail, Senator Rubio has said that his immigration plan is not that different from yours. Is that true? +p4002 +aVSenator Rubio, please. +p4003 +aVSenator Cruz? +p4004 +aVSenator Cruz? +p4005 +aVSenator Cruz, can you answer that question please? +p4006 +aVSenator Cruz? +p4007 +aVOne at a time please. +p4008 +aVMs. Fiorina, please wait your turn, we're going to get to you. +p4009 +aVSenator Cruz go ahead. +p4010 +aVMr. Trump, you like to say that you restarted this conversation in the campaign. +p4011 +aVSo who do you side with? Who do you side with in this, Senator Rubio or Senator Cruz? +p4012 +aVThank you. Governor Bush? +p4013 +aVListening to this, do you think this is the tone \u2014 this immigration debate that republicans need to take to win back Hispanics into our party especially states like where we are in Nevada that has a pretty Hispanic community? +p4014 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said if China launches a cyber- attack against the U.S. on your watch, "they're going to see cyber- warfare like they have never seen before." What exactly would that response look like? +p4015 +aVGovernor Bush, what you just heard from Governor Christie, are you concerned that that could really escalate with China, that they would retaliate? And, for example, as the NSA has said, attack the U.S. and maybe it's power grid, which the Chinese have the capability to do? +p4016 +aVMr. Trump, just this weekend you said Senator Cruz is not qualified to be president because he doesn't have the right temperament and acted like a maniac when he arrived in the Senate. But last month you said you were open to naming Senator Cruz as your running mate. +p4017 +aVSo why would you be willing to put somebody who's a maniac one heartbeat away from the presidency? +p4018 +aVOkay. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, you have not been willing to attack Mr. Trump in public. +p4019 +aVBut you did question his judgment in having control of American's nuclear arsenal during a private meeting with supporters. Why are you willing to say things about him in private and not in public? +p4020 +aVSenator, senator, I just... +p4021 +aVSenator, a lot of people have seen... +p4022 +aV... a lot of people have seen these comments you made in private. I just want to clarify what you're saying right now is you do believe Mr. Trump has the judgment to be commander in chief? +p4023 +aVGovernor Kasich, Senator Cruz is so committed to stripping federal funds from Planned Parenthood that it could result in shutting down the federal government in just about two weeks. Do you agree with Senator Cruz's tactic? +p4024 +aVThank you. +p4025 +aVThank you. Senator Cruz, I would just add that, on this stage not that long ago, Senator Graham said that this tactic that you're pushing would tank the Republicans' ability to win in 2016. +p4026 +aVThank you, senator. +p4027 +aVThank you... +p4028 +aVGovernor \u2014 governor, I want to go to you. Is it what Senator Cruz says, a surrender by Republicans? +p4029 +aVBut... +p4030 +aVBut is it... +p4031 +aVBut, governor, the \u2014 but, governor, the reality is, in just two weeks' time... ...we are going to be facing a question about whether or not it's enough to shut down the government to make that statement, because there is still a Democrat in the White House. Do you oppose it or support it? +p4032 +aVYes or no, do you support this shutdown? +p4033 +aVWe're talking about Planned Parenthood right now. +p4034 +aVCan you answer yes or no? +p4035 +aVOne more time. I'm sorry, I just want to get the answer. +p4036 +aVSo you would support a shutdown. +p4037 +aVGovernor Bush, Mr. Trump has suggested that your views on immigration are influenced by your Mexican born wife. He said that, quote, "If my wife were from Mexico, I think I would have a soft spot for people from Mexico." Did Mr. Trump go to far in invoking your wife? +p4038 +aVMr. Trump? +p4039 +aVMr. Trump... +p4040 +aVGo ahead. +p4041 +aVMs. Fiorina \u2014 Ms. Fiorina, we're going to come to you, we're going to come to you. I just want to give Governor Bush a chance to respond to what Mr. Trump said. +p4042 +aVOK, on that note, you have criticized Governor Bush for speaking Spanish on the campaign trail. You said, quote, "He should really set an example by speaking English in the United States." What's wrong with speaking Spanish? +p4043 +aVThank you. +p4044 +aV...Thank you.... +p4045 +aVGovernor Bush, let's talk about the issue that's very important to Republican voters, and that's the Supreme Court. After Chief Justice John Roberts voted to uphold Obamacare twice, Senator Cruz criticized your brother for appointing John Roberts to the Supreme Court. Looking back on it, did your brother make a mistake? +p4046 +aV...Is John Roberts one of those people? +p4047 +aVDo you like what you just heard, Senator Cruz? +p4048 +aVMr. Trump, you have said once or twice that you are really rich, and you are by far the richest person on this stage. Chris Christie says billionaires like you and even people who make and earn far less should no longer get Social Security, or at least there should be limits based on \u2014 on their income. You think he's wrong, and if so, why? +p4049 +aVWhat about the country as a \u2014 as a policy? +p4050 +aVSo is a voluntary program the way to get the Social Security system solvent again like that. +p4051 +aVSenator Santorum, you want to give the intelligence community more power to collect American's phone data. But the government had this ability until just days before the San Bernardino attack. If it couldn't prevent San Bernardino, why will it protect America? +p4052 +aVSenator Graham, when this program was exposed, you said, " you have nothing to worry about if you're not talking to terrorist." Do you understand why though some Americans are concerned that the government is keeping tabs on them in any way? +p4053 +aVThank you. Governor Huckabee, you said, "not one terrorist plot has been foiled by the NSA's collection of American's phone records. The director of the CIA says,. "not having these programs makes it ability to find terrorists, quote, "much more challenging."" Are you taking a potential tool to fight terrorists? +p4054 +aVSenator Santorum? +p4055 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator Graham... +p4056 +aVSenator Graham... +p4057 +aVSenator Graham, we've heard here tonight a lot about the fact that you want to send U.S. troops, ground troops, into Iraq, and Syria to defeat +p4058 +aVGovernor Huckabee... +p4059 +aVGovernor Huckabee, would you reinstate the draft? +p4060 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator Graham... +p4061 +aVSenator Graham... +p4062 +aVSenator Graham, we've heard here tonight a lot about the fact that you want to send U.S. troops, ground troops, into Iraq, and Syria to defeat +p4063 +aVGovernor Huckabee... +p4064 +aVGovernor Huckabee, would you reinstate the draft? +p4065 +aVSo what would you do about it? +p4066 +aVSenator... +p4067 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. +p4068 +aVSenator Graham. +p4069 +aVSenator Graham, quick response. +p4070 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. +p4071 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. +p4072 +aVSenator Santorum, earlier this month the Pentagon opened all U.S. military combat positions to women. You previously opposed allowing women in combat roles. As President, would you change the Pentagon's new policy? +p4073 +aVSo, just to be clear, you're saying, yes, you would change the policy back? +p4074 +aVGovernor Pataki, as you mentioned earlier, you have two sons who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Would you maintain this new policy as President, or do you agree with Senator Santorum. +p4075 +aVSenator Santorum. +p4076 +aVNow Governor Pataki, do you a final response? +p4077 +aVGovernor Huckabee, the U.S. has a program that allows visitors from America's closest allies to travel to the U.S. without obtaining a visa. But new legislation in Congress says that privilege should not apply to those who have visited is hot spots like Iraq and Syria in the last five years. You say that legislation doesn't go far enough. Why? +p4078 +aVSenator Santorum, Governor Jindal has supported a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants once the border is secure. Why do you disagree with that? +p4079 +aVSenator, your time's up. I want to get the governor to respond to that. +p4080 +aVSenator -- Senator Santorum, do you buy that, that the governor's not for amnesty? +p4081 +aVSenator, your time is up... +p4082 +aVYour time is up. And Governor, I'm sorry. Just -- you -- you really need to clarify your position, because you say you're not for amnesty, but you have been for a path to citizenship... +p4083 +aVThank you. Senator Graham, you mentioned this earlier; you are calling for an additional 20,000 U.S. ground forces to fight +p4084 +aVNo one on this stage has gone that far. So are you saying, for Iraq and Syria, are you saying that everybody to your right is not fit for the Oval Office? +p4085 +aVSenator -- +p4086 +aV-- Senator Santorum, I know you're raising your hand. You're committing to this number of troops, both in Iraq and on the ground in Syria? +p4087 +aVAnd he's saying 20,000. Would you...? +p4088 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Jindal? +p4089 +aVSenator Santorum, you just heard Governor Jindal and Governor Pataki talk about tax reform. Jeb Bush has proposed a tax reform plan, and in it, he limits deductions, including the popular home mortgage deduction. Would you do the same as president? +p4090 +aV...times up, Senator. +p4091 +aV...OK, times up, Senator. Governor, just to bring you back into this, you said that you would be OK with what is effectively raising taxes on hedge fund managers as part of a tax reform plan. Would you aslo be for doing away with people's deductions for their mortgages. +p4092 +aVGovernor Chafee, you were the only Republican in the Senate to vote against the Iraq war. You say Secretary Clinton should be disqualified from the presidency because she voted in favor of using force in Iraq. She has since said that her vote was a mistake. Why isn't that good enough? +p4093 +aVSecretary Clinton, he's questioning your judgment. +p4094 +aVSenator Sanders \u2014 Senator Sanders, I want to bring you in here. My question for you is, as a congressman, you voted against the Iraq War. You voted against the Gulf War. You're just talking about Syria, but under what circumstances would a President Sanders actually use force? +p4095 +aVAll right. +p4096 +aVThank you. CNN visited college campuses, along with Facebook. And not surprisingly college affordability was among the most pressing issue. Senator Sanders, you've mentioned a couple of times you do have a plan to make public colleges free for everyone. Secretary Clinton has criticized that in saying she's not in favor of making a college free for Donald Trump's kids. Do you think taxpayers should pick up the tab for wealthy children? +p4097 +aVAnd, Secretary Clinton, it's not just college tuition that Senator Sanders is talking about, expanding Social Security and giving all Americans Medicare. What's wrong with that? +p4098 +aVSecretary Clinton... +p4099 +aVCan you answer the... +p4100 +aVSecretary Clinton, the question was not just about tuition, though. It was about Senator Sanders' plan to expand Social Security, to make Medicare available to all Americans. Is that something that you would support? And if not, why not? +p4101 +aVDo you want to expand it? +p4102 +aVSecretary Clinton, you now support mandated paid family leave. +p4103 +aVCarly Fiorina, the first female CEO of a Fortune 50 company, argues, if the government requires paid leave, it will force small businesses to, quote, "hire fewer people and create fewer jobs." What do you say not only to Carly Fiorina, but also a small-business owner out there who says, you know, I like this idea, but I just can't afford it? +p4104 +aVIt's on the federal level. +p4105 +aVBut Secretary \u2014 Secretary Clinton, even many people who agree with you might say, look, this is very hard to do, especially in today's day and age. There are so many people who say, "Really? Another government program? Is that what you're proposing? And at the expense of taxpayer money?" +p4106 +asVEPPERSON +p4107 +(lp4108 +VThank you, John. Mrs. Fiorina, you were the CEO of a large corporation that offers a 401(k) to its employees. But more than half of American have no access to an employer sponsored retirement plan. That includes the workers at small businesses, and the growing ranks of Uber drivers and other part-timers in the freelance economy. Should the Federal Government play a larger role in helping to set up retirement plans for these workers? +p4109 +aVSo you wouldn't agree \u2014 you wouldn't agree with a start for 401(k) for businesses or anything like that? +p4110 +aVThank you very much. +p4111 +aVThank you, the rules say one minute. +p4112 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. We appreciate it. Thank you, thank you. I want to turn my attention now, to you now, Governor Kasich. Most people can't get a college degree without going into debt. Over 40 million Americans have student loans and many of them cannot pay them back. This country has over $100 billion in student loan defaults. That's billion with a b. What will you do to make sure that students, their families, taxpayers, won't feel the economic impact of this burden for generations? Well, first of all, in Ohio we're changing the whole system. Universities will not get paid one dime unless the student graduates or \u2014 graduates or completes a course. Secondly, you can be in high school and complete almost an entire first year before you go to college and get credit to do that. And, of course, in addition to that, we are working now to go after the cost drivers in our universities. And let me give you an example. Universities today have so many non-academic assets. At Ohio State they sold the parking garage and the parking lot, and they got $500 million because they shouldn't be in the parking lot business. They shouldn't be in the ding business, they shouldn't be in the dorm business. And, of course, we need to take advantage of on-line education to reduce these costs and begin to dis-intermediate the cost of four years. Now, for those who that have these big high costs, I think we can seriously look at an idea of where you can do public service. I mean legitimate, public service and begin to pay off some of that debt through the public service that you do. And in the meantime, it may inspire us to care more about our country, more about ourselves. This is a big moral issue in America. Living a life bigger than yourself, and being a center of healing and justice. And people can learn it through public service. +p4113 +aVThank you, thank you. +p4114 +aVThank you, John. Senator Graham, one in every four workers has saved less than $1,000 for retirement. Millions of Americans rely on their Social Security benefits for the majority of their retirement income. Now, you called for reforms to Social Security, but what would you do to fix the other part of the problem for future retirees and get people to save more? +p4115 +aVBut Senator Graham... +p4116 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. Thank you, Senator Graham. Governor Jindal, you've been a strong supporter of for-profit colleges. These are institutions that educate many veterans, minorities and working class Americans. They make up about 11 percent of the college population at these schools, but they account for 44 percent of student loan defaults. Should for-profit schools be held accountable when they take taxpayer money and leave students deep in debt? +p4117 +asVSANDERS +p4118 +(lp4119 +VWell, Gwen and Judy, thank you very much for hosting this event. And, PBS, thank you. Nine months ago, our campaign began. And when it began, we had no political organization, no money, and not much name recognition outside of the state of Vermont. A lot has happened in nine months. And what has happened is, I think, the American people have responded to a series of basic truths, and that is that we have today a campaign finance system which is corrupt, which is undermining American democracy, which allows Wall Street and billionaires to pour huge sums of money into the political process to elect the candidates of their choice. And aligned with a corrupt campaign finance system is a rigged economy. And that's an economy where ordinary Americans are working longer hours for low wagers. They are worried to death about the future of their kids. And yet they are seeing almost all new income and all new wealth going to the top 1 percent. And then in addition to that, the American people are looking around and they see a broken criminal justice system. They see more people in jail in the United States of America than any other country on earth, 2.2 million. We're spending $80 billion a year locking up fellow Americans. They see kids getting arrested for marijuana, getting in prison, getting a criminal record, while they see executives on Wall Street who pay billions of dollars in settlements and get no prosecution at all. No criminal records for them. I think what our campaign is indicating is that the American people are tired of establishment politics, tired of establishment economics. They want a political revolution in which millions of Americans stand up, come together, not let the Trumps of the world divide us, and say, you know what, in this great country, we need a government that represents all of us, not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors. Thank you. +p4120 +aVWell, to put that in a context, Judy, I think we have to understand that in the last 30 years in this country there has been a massive transfer of wealth going from the hands of working families into the top one-tenth of 1% whose percentage of wealth has doubled. In other words, the very rich are getting richer, almost everybody is going \u2014 getting poorer. What I believe is the United States, in fact, should join the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee healthcare to all people. Our Medicare for all single-payer proposal will save the average middle class family $5,000 a year. I do believe that in the year 2016 we have to look in terms of public education as colleges as part of public education making public colleges and universities tuition free. I believe that when real unemployment is close to 10%, and when our infrastructure, our roads, our bridges, our water systems, Flint, Michigan comes to mind. Our waste water plants, our rail, our airports, in many places are disintegrating. Yeah, we can create 13 million jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure at a cost of a trillion dollars. +p4121 +aV... Of course there will be a limit, but when today you have massive levels of income and wealth inequality, when the middle class is disappearing, you have the highest rate of child poverty of almost any major country on Earth. Yes, in my view, the government of a democratic society has a moral responsibility to play a vital role in making sure all of our people have a decent standard of living. +p4122 +aVWell, let us level with the American people. Secretary Clinton has been going around the country saying Bernie Sanders wants to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, people are going to lose their MedicAid, they're going to lose their +p4123 +aVThat is absolutely inaccurate. Look, here is the reality, folks. There is one major country on Earth that does not guarantee health care to all people. There is one major country \u2014 the United States \u2014 which ends up spending almost three times per capita what they do in the U.K. guaranteeing health care to all people, 50 percent more than they do in France guaranteeing health care to all people, far more than our Canadian neighbors, who guarantee health care to all people. Please do not tell me that in this country, if \u2014 and here's the if \u2014 we have the courage to take on the drug companies, and have the courage to take on the insurance companies, and the medical equipment suppliers, if we do that, yes, we can guarantee health care to all people in a much more cost effective way. +p4124 +aVWell, Secretary Clinton, you're not in the White House yet. And let us be clear that every proposal that I have introduced has been paid for. For example, all right, who in America denies that we have an infrastructure that is crumbling? Roads, bridges, water systems, wastewater plants, who denies that? Who denies that real unemployment today, including those who have given up looking for work and are working part-time is close to 10 percent? Who denies that African-American youth unemployment, real, is over 50 percent. We need to create jobs. So yes, I will do away with the outrageous loopholes that allow profitable multinational corporations to stash billions of dollars in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda and in a given year pay zero, zero in federal income tax. Yes, I'm going to do away with that. We will use those proceeds, a hundred billion a year, to invest in rebuilding our infrastructure. Yes, I believe that as a result of the illegal behavior on Wall Street, that they are a Wall Street that drove this country into the worst economic downturn since the Great Recession \u2014 Great Depression. Yes, I do believe that now after the American people bailed Wall Street out, yes, they should pay a Wall Street speculation tax so that we can make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We bailed them out. Now it is their time to help the middle class. +p4125 +aVA brief response. +p4126 +aVHere is where we are with public education. A 100, 150 years ago incredibly brave Americans said, you know what, working class kids, low income kids should not have to work in factories or on the farms. Like rich kids, they deserve to get a free education. And that free education of extraordinary accomplishment was from first grade to 12th grade. The world has changed. This is 2016. In many ways, a college degree today is equivalent to what a high school degree was 50, 60 years ago. So, yes, I do believe that when we talk about public education in America, today, in a rapidly changing world, we should have free tuition at public colleges and universities. That should be a right of all Americans regardless of the income of their families. +p4127 +aVLook, we are fighting for every vote that we can get from women, from men, straight, gay, African-Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans. We are trying to bring America together around an agenda that works for working families and the middle class. I am very proud, if my memory is not correct \u2014 I think I am \u2014 that I have a lifetime \u2014 and I've been in Congress a few years \u2014 a lifetime 100 percent pro-choice voting record. I am very proud that over the years we have had the support in my state of Vermont from very significant majorities of women. I'm very proud that I support legislation that is currently in the Congress, got support of almost all progressive Democrats in the House and Senate, which says we will end the absurdity of women today making 79 cents on the dollar compared to men. And we will join the rest of the other \u2014 the industrialized world in saying that paid family and medical leave should be a right of all working families. +p4128 +aVWell, you know, I think, from a historical point of view, somebody with my background, somebody with my views, somebody who has spent his entire life taking on the big money interests, I think a Sanders victory would be of some historical accomplishment, as well. +p4129 +aVLet me concur with the secretary, no question women's rights are under fierce attack all over this country. And I will tell you something that really galls me. I will not shock anybody to suggest that in politics there is occasionally a little bit of hypocrisy. Just a little bit. All over this country we have Republican candidates for president saying we hate the government. Government is the enemy. We're going to cut Social Security to help you. We're going to cut Medicare and Medicaid, federal aid to education to help you, because the government is so terrible. But, by the way, when it comes to a woman having to make a very personal choice, ah, in that case, my Republican colleagues love the government and want the government to make that choice for every woman in America. If that's not hypocrisy, I don't know what hypocrisy is. +p4130 +aVThis is one of the great tragedies in our country today. And we can no longer continue to sweep it under the rug. It has to be dealt with. Today a male African-American baby born today stands a one-in-four chance of ending up in jail. That is beyond unspeakable. So what we have to do is the radical reform of a broken criminal justice system. What we have to do is end over-policing in African-American neighborhoods. The reality is that both the African-American community and the white community do marijuana at about equal rates. The reality is four times as many blacks get arrested for marijuana. Truth is that far more blacks get stopped for traffic violations. The truth is that sentencing for blacks is higher than for whites. We need fundamental police reform, clearly, clearly, when we talk about a criminal justice system. I would hope that we could all agree that we are sick and tired of seeing videos on television of unarmed people, often African-Americans, shot by police officers. What we have got to do is make it clear that any police officer who breaks the law will, in fact, be held accountable. +p4131 +aVNothing that Secretary Clinton said do I disagree with. This mandatory sentencing, a very bad idea. It takes away discretion from judges. We have got to demilitarize local police departments so they do not look like occupying armies. We have got to make sure that local police departments look like the communities they serve in their diversity. And, where we are failing abysmally is in the very high rate of recidivism we see. People are being released from jail without the education, without the job training, without the resources that they need to get their lives together, then they end up \u2014 we're shocked that they end up back in jail again. So, we have a lot of work to do. But, here is a pledge I've made throughout this campaign, and it's really not a very radical pledge. When we have more people in jail, disproportionately African American and Latino, than China does, a communist authoritarian society four times our size. Here's my promise, at the end of my first term as president we will not have more people in jail than any other country. We will invest in education, and jobs for our kids, not incarceration and more jails. +p4132 +aVWell, I think, Judy, what has to be appreciated is that, as a result of the disastrous and illegal behavior on Wall Street, millions of lives were hurt. People lost their jobs, their homes, their life savings. Turns out that the African-American community and the Latino community were hit especially hard. As I understand it, the African-American community lost half of their wealth as a result of the Wall Street collapse. So when you have childhood African-American poverty rates of 35 percent, when you have youth unemployment at 51 percent, when you have unbelievable rates of incarceration \u2014 which, by the way, leaves the children back home without a dad or even a mother \u2014 clearly, we are looking at institutional racism. We are looking at an economy in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. And sadly, in America today, in our economy, a whole lot of those poor people are African-American. +p4133 +aVAbsolutely, because what we will do is say, instead of giving tax breaks to billionaires, we are going to create millions of jobs for low-income kids so they're not hanging out on street corners. We're going to make sure that those kids stay in school or are able to get a college education. And I think when you give low-income kids \u2014 African-American, white, Latino kids \u2014 the opportunities to get their lives together, they are not going to end up in jail. They're going to end up in the productive economy, which is where we want them. +p4134 +aVWhite people? +p4135 +aVYeah, you can, because African-Americans and Latinos not only face the general economic crises of low wages, and high unemployment, and poor educational opportunities, but they face other problems, as well. So, yes, we can talk about it as a racial issue. But it is a general economic issue. And here's what the economic issue is. The wages that high school graduates receive today are significantly less, whether you are white or black, than they used to be. Why is that? Because of a series of disastrous trade policies which have allowed corporate America through +p4136 +aVThe answer is yes. We've got 11 million undocumented people in this country. I have talked to some of the young kids with tears rolling down their cheeks, are scared to death that today they may or their parents may be deported. I believe that we have got to pass comprehensive immigration reform, something that I strongly supported. I believe that we have got to move toward a path toward citizenship. I agree with President Obama who used executive orders to protect families because the Congress, the House was unable or refused to act. And in fact I would go further. What would motivate me and what would be the guiding light for me in terms of immigration reform, Judy, is to bring families together, not divide them up. And let me say this also. Somebody who is very fond of the president, agrees with him most of the time, I disagree with his recent deportation policies. And I would not support those. Bottom line is a path towards citizenship for 11 million undocumented people, if Congress doesn't do the right thing, we use the executive orders of the president. +p4137 +aVSecretary Clinton, I do have a disagreement here. If my memory is correct, I think when we saw children coming from these horrendous, horrendously violent areas of Honduras and neighboring countries, people who are fleeing drug violence and cartel violence, I thought it was a good idea to allow those children to stay in this country. That was not, as I understand it, the secretary's position. In terms of 2007 immigration reform, yeah, I did vote against it. I voted against it because the Southern Poverty Law Center, among other groups, said that the guest-worker programs that were embedded in this agreement were akin to slavery. Akin to slavery, where people came into this country to do guest work were abused, were exploited, and if they stood up for their rights, they'd be thrown out of this country. So it wasn't just me who opposed it. It was +p4138 +aVWell, let me just respond. I worked with Ted Kennedy. He was the chairman of my committee. And I loved Ted Kennedy. But on this issue, when you have one of the large Latino organizations in America saying vote no, and you have the AFL-CIO saying vote no, and you have leading progressive Democrats, in fact, voting no, I don't apologize for that vote. But in terms of the children, I don't know to whom you're sending a message. Who are you sending a message to? These are children who are leaving countries and neighborhoods where their lives are at stake. That was the fact. I don't think we use them to send a message. I think we welcome them into this country and do the best we can to help them get their lives together. +p4139 +aVOK. You know, you judge a nation not by the number of millionaires and billionaires it has, but by how you treat, we treat, the most vulnerable and fragile people in our nation. And by those standards, we're not doing particularly well. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty among almost any major country on Earth. And in terms of seniors, there are millions of seniors \u2014 and I've talked to them in my state of Vermont and all over this country \u2014 who are trying to get by on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year Social Security. And you know what? You do the arithmetic. You can't get by on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year. And here's an area where Secretary Clinton and I believe we have a difference. I have long supported the proposition that we should lift the cap on taxable income coming into the Social Security Trust Fund, starting at $250,000. And when we \u2014 and when we do that, we don't do what the Republicans want, which is to cut Social Security. We do what the American people want, to expand Social Security by $1,300 a year for people under $16,000, and we extend the life of Social Security for 58 years. Yes, the wealthiest people, the top 1.5 percent, will pay more in taxes. But a great nation like ours should not be in a position where elderly people are cutting their pills in half, where they don't have decent nutrition, where they can't heat their homes in the wintertime. That is not what America should be about. If elected president, I will do everything I can to expand Social Security benefits, not just for seniors, but for disabled veterans, as well. +p4140 +aVIn all due respect......In all due respect, Secretary Clinton, a lot of the progressive groups, the online groups have really asked you a simple question. Are you coming onboard a proposal? And what is that proposal? Now, the proposal that I have outlined, you know, should be familiar to you, because it is what essentially Barack Obama campaigned on in 2008. You opposed him then. I would hope that you would come onboard and say that this is the simple and straightforward thing to do. We're asking the top 1.5 percent, including passive income, to start paying a little bit more so that the elderly and disabled vets in this country can live with security and dignity. I hope you will make a decision soon on this. +p4141 +aVThat's my bill. Check it out. +p4142 +aVWhat we are talking about in reality is a corrupt campaign finance system, that's what we're talking about. We have to be honest about it. It is undermining American democracy. When extraordinarily wealthy people make very large contributions to Super PACs, and in many cases in this campaign, Super PACs have raised more money than individual candidates have, OK? We had a decision to make early on, do we do a Super PAC? And, we said no. We don't represent Wall Street, we don't represent the billionaire class, so it ends up I'm the only candidate up here of the many candidates who has no Super PAC. But, what we did is we said to the working families of this country, look, we know things are tough, but if you want to help us go beyond establishment politics, and establishment economics, send us something. And, it turns out that up until \u2014 and this has blown me away, never in a million years would I have believed that I would be standing here tonight telling you that we have received three and a half million individual contributions from well over a million people. Now, Secretary Clinton's Super PAC, as I understand it, received $25 million dollars last reporting period, $15 million dollars from Wall Street. Our average contribution is $27 dollars, I'm very proud of that. +p4143 +aVThe people aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street... But let's not \u2014 but let's not \u2014 let's not insult \u2014 let's not insult the intelligence of the American people. People aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street make huge campaign contributions? I guess just for the fun of it; they want to throw money around. Why does the pharmaceutical industry make huge campaign contributions? Any connection maybe to the fact that our people pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs? Why does the fossil fuel industry pay \u2014 spend huge amounts of money on campaign contributions? Any connection to the fact that not one Republican candidate for president thinks and agrees with the scientific community that climate change is real and that we have got to transform our energy system? And when we talk about Wall Street, let's talk about Wall Street. I voted for Dodd-Frank, got an important amendment in it. In my view, it doesn't go anywhere near far enough. But when we talk about Wall Street, you have Wall Street and major banks have paid $200 billion in fines since the great crash. No Wall Street executive has been prosecuted. +p4144 +aVLet me, you know, again, respectfully disagree with Secretary Clinton here. When you have three out of the four largest financial institutions in this country bigger today than they were when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, when you have six financial institutions having assets equivalent to 58 percent of the GDP of America, while issuing two-thirds of the credit cards and a third of the mortgages, look, I think if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, that great trust-buster would have said break them up. I think he would have been right. I think he would have said bring back a 21st-century Glass-Steagall legislation. I think that would have been right, as well. That's my view. +p4145 +aVHey, I'm in the United States Senate, and anyone who doesn't think that there is an enormous amount of waste and inefficiency and bureaucracy throughout government would be very, very mistaken. I believe in government, but I believe in efficient government, not wasteful government. +p4146 +aVIf I could just answer that, we have also got to take a look at the waste and inefficiencies in the Department of Defense, which is the one major agency of government that has not been able to be audited. And I have the feeling you're going to find a lot of cost overruns there and a lot of waste and duplicative activities. +p4147 +aVLet me \u2014 let me just say this. What a President of the United States has got to do and what is his or her major, I think, responsibility is to, a, make certain that we keep our people safe, that we work with allies around the world to protect democratic values, that we do all that we can to create a world of peace and prosperity. I voted against the war in Iraq because I listened very carefully to what President Bush and Vice President Cheney had to say and I didn't believe them. And if you go to my Web site,berniesanders.com, what you find is not only going to help lead the opposition to that war, but much of what I feared would happen when I spoke on the floor of the House, in fact, did happen in terms of the instability that occurred. Now I think an area in kind of a vague way, or not so vague, where Secretary Clinton and I disagree is the area of regime change. Look, the truth is that a powerful nation like the United States, certainly working with our allies, we can overthrow dictators all over the world. And God only knows Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator. We could overthrow Assad tomorrow if we wanted to. We got rid of Gadhafi. But the point about foreign policy is not just to know that you can overthrow a terrible dictator, it's to understand what happens the day after. And in Libya, for example, the United States, Secretary Clinton, as secretary of state, working with some other countries, did get rid of a terrible dictator named Gadhafi. But what happened is a political vacuum developed. +p4148 +aVJudy, if I can, there is no question, Secretary Clinton and I are friends, and I have a lot of respect for her, that she has enormous experience in foreign affairs. Secretary of state for four years. You've got a bit of experience, I would imagine. But judgment matters as well. Judgment matters as well. And she and I looked at the same evidence coming from the Bush administration regarding Iraq. I lead the opposition against it. She voted for it. But more importantly, in terms of this Libya resolution that you have noted before, this was a virtually unanimous consent. Everybody voted for it wanting to see Libya move toward democracy, of course we all wanted to do that. That is very different than talking about specific action for regime change, which I did not support. +p4149 +aVJudy, one area very briefly... +p4150 +aVWhere the secretary and I have a very profound difference, in the last debate \u2014 and I believe in her book \u2014 very good book, by the way \u2014 in her book and in this last debate, she talked about getting the approval or the support or the mentoring of Henry Kissinger. Now, I find it rather amazing, because I happen to believe that Henry Kissinger was one of the most destructive secretaries of state in the modern history of this country. I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend. I will not take advice from Henry Kissinger. And in fact, Kissinger's actions in Cambodia, when the United States bombed that country, overthrew Prince Sihanouk, created the instability for Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge to come in, who then butchered some 3 million innocent people, one of the worst genocides in the history of the world. So count me in as somebody who will not be listening to Henry Kissinger. +p4151 +aVWell, it ain't Henry Kissinger. That's for sure. +p4152 +aVIt is. +p4153 +aVI find \u2014 I mean, it's just a very different, you know, historical perspective here. Kissinger was one of those people during the Vietnam era who talked about the domino theory. Not everybody remembers that. You do. I do. The domino theory, you know, if Vietnam goes, China, da, da, da, da, da, da, da. That's what he talked about, the great threat of China. And then, after the war, this is the guy who, in fact, yes, you're right, he opened up relations with China, and now pushed various type of trade agreements, resulting in American workers losing their jobs as corporations moved to China. The terrible, authoritarian, Communist dictatorship he warned us about, now he's urging companies to shut down and move to China. Not my kind of guy. +p4154 +aVWell, this is what I would say. It is a complicated relationship. I congratulate Secretary of State John Kerry and the president for working on this agreement. As you've indicated, what is happening in Syria, the number of people, the hundreds of thousands of people who have been killed \u2014 men, women, 20,000 children, the people who are forced to flee their own country \u2014 their own country \u2014 it is unspeakable. It is a real horror. Now, what I think is that right now we have got to do our best in developing positive relations with Russia. But let's be clear: Russia's aggressive actions in the Crimea and in Ukraine have brought about a situation where President Obama and +p4155 +aVLet me just \u2014 just say this. For a start, the secretary and I disagree \u2014 and I think the president does not agree with her \u2014 in terms of the concept of a no-fly zone in Syria. I think you do have a humanitarian tragedy there, as I mentioned a moment ago. I applaud Secretary Kerry and the president for trying to put together this agreement. Let's hope that it holds. But furthermore, what we have got to do, I'm sorry, yes, I do believe that we have got to do everything that we can, and it will not happen tomorrow. But I do hope that in years to come, just as occurred with Cuba, 10, 20 years ago, people would say, reach normalized relations with Cuba. And by the way, I hope we can end the trade embargo with Cuba as well. But the idea that we some day maybe have decent relations with Iran, maybe put pressure on them so they end their support for terrorism around the world, yes, that is something I want to achieve. And I believe that the best way to do that is to be aggressive, to be principled, but to have the goal of trying to improve relations. That's how you make peace in the world. You sit down and you work with people, you make demands of people, in this case demanding Iran stop the support of international terrorism. +p4156 +aVWe have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of work to do. But I recall when Secretary Clinton ran against then-Senator Obama, she was critical of him for suggesting that maybe you want to talk to Iran, that you want to talk to our enemies. I have no illusion. Of course you are right. Iran is sponsoring terrorism in many parts of the world, destabilizing areas. Everybody knows that. But our goal is, in fact, to try over a period of time to, in fact, deal with our enemies, not just ignore that reality. +p4157 +aVNo, I think the idea was that president \u2014 then-Senator Obama was wrong for suggesting that it is a good idea to talk to your opponents. It's easier to talk to your friends. It's harder to talk to your enemies. I think we should do both. +p4158 +aVA couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to go on a congressional delegation. And I went to one of these Turkish refugee camps right on the border of Syria. And what a sad sight that was: Men, women, children forced out of their homes. And Turkey, by the way, did a very decent thing, providing what was reasonable housing and conditions for those people. It seems to me that given our history as a nation that has been a beacon of hope for the oppressed, for the downtrodden, that I very strongly disagree with those Republican candidates who say, you know what, we've got to turn our backs on women and children who left their home with nothing, nothing at all. That is not what America is supposed to be about. So I believe that working with Europe \u2014 and, by the way, you know, we've got some very wealthy countries there in that part of the world. You got Kuwait and you got Qatar and you got Saudi Arabia. They have a responsibility, as well. But I think this is a worldwide \u2014 that the entire world needs to come together to deal with this horrific refugee crisis we're seeing from Syria and Afghanistan, as well. +p4159 +aVYou know, Franklin Delano Roosevelt took the oath of office in 1933 at a time when 25 percent of the American people were unemployed, country was in incredible despair. And he stood before the American people and he said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself," a profound statement that gave the American people the courage to believe that, yes, we could get out of that terrible depression. And then what he did is redefine the role of government. You know, you had Herbert Hoover before that saying, no, we got to only worry about the deficit. So what if mass unemployment exists? So what if children are going hungry? That's not the role of the government. And when FDR said, "Yeah, it is," that we're going to use all of the resources that we have to create jobs, to build homes, to feed people, to protect the farmers, we are a nation which if we come together there is nothing that we could not accomplish. And kind of \u2014 that's what I see our campaign is about right now. In this particular moment of serious crises, saying to the American people don't give up on the political process. don't listen to the Trumps of the world and allowing them to divide us. If we reengage and get involved, yeah, we can have health care for all people, we can make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We do not have to have massive levels of income and wealth inequality. In the same light, as the foreign leader, Winston Churchill's politics were not my politics. He was kind of a conservative guy in many respects. But nobody can deny that as a wartime leader, he rallied the British people when they stood virtually alone against the Nazi juggernaut and rallied them and eventually won an extraordinary victory. Those are two leaders that I admire very much. +p4160 +aVThat is......Madam Secretary, that is a low blow. I have worked with President Obama for the last seven years. When President Obama came into office we were losing 800,000 jobs a month, 800,000 jobs a month. We had a $1.4 trillion deficit. And the world's financial system is on the verge of collapse. As a result of his efforts and the efforts of Joe Biden against unprecedented, I was there in the Senate, unprecedented Republican obstructionism, we have made enormous progress. But you know what? Last I heard we lived in a democratic society. Last I heard, a United States senator had the right to disagree with the president, including a president who has done such an extraordinary job. So I have voiced criticisms. You're right. Maybe you haven't. I have. But I think to suggest that I have voiced criticism, this blurb that you talk about, you know what the blurb said? The blurb said that the next president of the United States has got to be aggressive in bringing people into the political process. That's what I said. That is what I believe. President Obama and I are friends. As you know, he came to Vermont to campaign for me when he was a senator. I have worked for his re-election. His first election and his re-election. But I think it is really unfair to suggest that I have not been supportive of the president. I have been a strong ally with him on virtually every issue. Do senators have the right to disagree with the president? Have you ever disagreed with a president? I suspect you may have. +p4161 +aVWell, one of us ran against Barack Obama. I was not that candidate. All right, look, this has been a great debate. A lot of interesting issues have come together. Let me conclude by just saying this. There is no president, in my view, not Hillary Clinton, not Bernie Sanders, who has the capability or the power to take on Wall Street, large campaign donors, the corporate media, the big money interests in this country alone. This campaign is not just about electing a president. What this campaign is about is creating a process for a political revolution in which millions of Americans, working people who have given up on the political process, they don't think anybody hears their pains or their concerns. Young people for whom getting involved in politics is as, you know, it's like going to the moon. It ain't going to happen. Low income people who are not involved in the political process. What this campaign is not only about electing someone who has the most progressive agenda, it is about bringing tens of millions of people together to demand that we have a government that represents all of us and not just the 1 percent, who today have so much economic and political power. Thank you all very much. +p4162 +aVRachel, thank you very much. Millions of Americans are giving up on the political process. And they're giving up on the political process because they understand the economy is rigged. They are working longer hours for low wages. They're worried about the future of their kids, and yet almost all new income and wealth is going to the top 1 percent. Not what America is supposed to be about. Not the fairness that we grew up believing that America was about. And then sustaining that rigged economy is a corrupt campaign finance system undermining American democracy, where billionaire, Wall Street, corporate America can contribute unlimited sums of money into super PACs and into candidates. Our job, together, is to end a rigged economy, create an economy that works for all, and absolutely overturn Citizens United. One person, one vote. That's what American democracy is about. +p4163 +aVWell, I haven't quite run for president before. Let's deal with some of the comments that Secretary Clinton made. And by the way, you know, sometimes there's a lot of drama here. I have known Secretary Clinton for 25 years and respect her very much. Here is the issue. Every major country on earth, whether it's the U.K., whether it's France, whether it's Canada, has managed to provide healthcare to all people as a right and they are spending significantly less per capita on health care than we are. So I do not accept the belief that the United States of America can't do that. I do not accept the belief that the United States of America and our government can't stand up to the ripoffs of the pharmaceutical industry which charge us by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. Number two, in the economy today, everybody understands that we need a well educated workforce. This is 2016. When we talk about public education, it can no longer be K through 12th grade. I do believe that public colleges and universities should be tuition free. Well, how do we pay for that? It's an expensive proposition. I do believe that we should substantially lower student debt in this country, which is crushing millions of people. We pay for it, in my view, by a tax on Wall Street speculation. The middle class bailed out Wall Street in their time of need. Now, it is Wall Street's time to help the middle class. +p4164 +aVLet me... +p4165 +aV... this is a good discussion here. +p4166 +aVAnd let me just say this. As Secretary Clinton may know, I am on the Health Education Labor Committee. That committee wrote the Affordable Care Act. The idea I would dismantle health care in America while we're waiting to pass a Medicare for all is just not accurate. The Affordable Care Act has clearly, as Secretary Clinton made the point, done a lot of good things, but, what it has not done is dealt with the fact we have 29 million people today who have zero health insurance, we have even more who are underinsured with large deductibles and copayments and prescription drug prices are off the wall. So I do believe that in the future, not by dismantling what we have here\u2014I helped write that bill\u2014but by moving forward, rallying the American people, I do believe we should have health care for all. +p4167 +aVNo, not at all. Here's the reality of American economic life today. The reality is that we have one of lowest voter turnouts of any major country on earth because so many people have given up on the political process. The reality is that there has been trillions of dollars of wealth going from the middle class in the last 30 years to the top 1/10th of 1 percent. The reality is we that have a corrupt campaign finance system which separates the American people's needs and desires from what Congress is doing. So to my mind, what we have got to do is wage a political revolution where millions of people have given up on the political process, stand up and fight back, demand the government that represents us and not just a handful of campaign contribution\u2014contributors. Now all of the ideas that I'm talking about, they are not radical ideas. Making public colleges and universities tuition free, that exists in countries all over the world, used to exist in the United States. Rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, and creating 13 million jobs by doing away with tax loopholes that large corporations now enjoy by putting their money into the Cayman Islands and other tax havens. That is not a radical idea. What we need to do is to stand up to the big money interests, and the campaign contributors. When we do that, we can, in fact, transform America. +p4168 +aVLet me just pick up on this point. This whole discussion began because I commented, not making overall evaluation about the Secretary. She was in Ohio, I think, in September or November and she got up and said something like, I have been\u2014I'm paraphrasing, I have been criticized because people think I'm a moderate. Well, I am a moderate. That's where this came from. It wasn't me paraphrasing her. It is what she said, and all that I said was there's nothing wrong with being a moderate. But, you can't be a moderate, you can't a progressive. In terms of President Obama, I think if we remember where this country was seven years ago, 800,000 jobs being lost every month, $1.4 trillion dollar deficit. The world's financial system on the verge of collapse. I think that President Obama, Vice President Biden, and the Democratic leadership in the House and the Senate have done a fantastic job. We are in much better shape than we were seven years ago, although my Republican colleagues seem to have forgotten where we were seven years ago. That's the fact, but, we still have a very long way to go. Do I think President Obama is a progressive? Yes, I do. I disagree with him on a number of issues including the trade agreement. But, yes, I think he has done an excellent job. +p4169 +aVThat's right, I mean, instead of arguing about definitions, let's talk about... +p4170 +aV... What we should do, and one of the things we should do is not only talk the talk, but walk the walk. I am very proud to be the only candidate up here who does not have a Super PAC, who's not raising huge sums of money from Wall Street...... And special interests. I am enormously proud. Never believed it would happen that we have raised 3.5 million individual contributions, averaging $27 dollars a piece. That is what the political revolution means. +p4171 +aVWell, Rachel, actually, that wasn't accurate. In 1988 the Republican did win, I believe, by 3 points. I came in second. It was 34-31, I think, 19 for the Democrat. In that race the Democrat was the spoiler, not me. And it is true......it is true, it's not to be denied, I am the longest- serving independent in the history of the United States Congress. People of Vermont sent me to Washington as an independent. That is true. But on the other hand, I have\u2014when I was in the House for 16 years, I caucused with the Democrats. In the Senate for nine years caucused with the Democrats, of course. And I was elected by the Democrats to be chair of the Veterans Committee three years ago, which I'm very proud of. And now am the rankings member on the Budget Committee, leader of the Democrats in opposition to the majority Republicans. I am running for president as a Democrat. And if elected, not only do I hope to bring forth a major change in national priorities, but let me be frank, I do want to see major changes in the Democratic Party. I want to see working people and young people come into the party in a way that doesn't exist now. And you know what, I want a 50-state strategy so the Democratic Party is not just the party of 25 states. +p4172 +aVWell, I don't see it quite like that. +p4173 +aVI am\u2014will absolutely admit that Secretary Clinton has the support of far more governors, mayors, members of the House. She has the entire establishment or almost the entire establishment behind her. That's a fact. I don't deny it. But I am pretty proud that we have over a million people who have contributed to our campaign averaging 27 bucks apiece. That we have had meetings where 25,000-30,000 people have come out. That our campaign is a campaign of the people, by the people, and for the people. So, Rachel, yes, Secretary Clinton does represent the establishment. I represent, I hope, ordinary Americans, and by the way, who are not all that enamored with the establishment, but I am very proud to have people like Keith Ellison and Raul Grijalva in the House, the co-chairmen of the House Progressive Caucus. +p4174 +aVWhat being part of the establishment is, is, in the last quarter, having a super PAC that raised $15 million from Wall Street, that throughout one's life raised a whole lot of money from the drug companies and other special interests. To my mind, if we do not get a handle on money in politics and the degree to which big money controls the political process in this country, nobody is going to bring about the changes that is needed in this country for the middle class and working families. +p4175 +aVWhat... +p4176 +aV... you know... +p4177 +aV. +p4178 +aVLet's talk about\u2014OK, let's talk... +p4179 +aV... let us talk about issues. +p4180 +aVLet's talk about issues. +p4181 +aVLet's... +p4182 +aV... let's\u2014let's\u2014let's talk about issues. +p4183 +aVLet's talk\u2014let's talk about issues, all right? Let's talk about why, in the 1990s, Wall Street got deregulated. Did it have anything to do with the fact that Wall Street provided\u2014spent billions of dollars on lobbying and campaign contributions? Well, some people might think, yeah, that had some influence. Let's ask why it is that we pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, and your medicine can be doubled tomorrow, and there's nothing that the government can do to stop it. You think it has anything to do with the huge amounts of campaign contributions and lobbying from the fossil fuel industry? Let's talk about climate change. Do you think there's a reason why not one Republican has the guts to recognize that climate change is real, and that we need to transform our energy system? Do you think it has anything to do with the Koch brothers and ExxonMobil pouring huge amounts of money into the political system? That is what goes on in America. I am not\u2014I like......there is a reason. You know, there is a reason why these people are putting huge amounts of money into our political system. And in my view, it is undermining American democracy and it is allowing Congress to represent wealthy campaign contributors and not the working families of this country. +p4184 +aVI think as Secretary Clinton knows, there is nobody who fought harder. I was on the House Financial Committee at that time. I heard the arguments coming from Democrats and Republicans\u2014Robert Rubin, Alan Greenspan\u2014about great an idea it would be if we did away with Glass-Steagall and if we allowed investor banks and commercial banks and big insurance companies to merge. Go to YouTube today. Look up Greenspan-Sanders. Listen to what I told them then. I helped lead the effort against deregulation. Unfortunately, we lost that. The result is\u2014was the worst financial disaster since the Great Depression. +p4185 +aVChuck, actually we looked at it, but it turns out to be a disaster. The way it is structured right now, if you make it all the way to California, you could do pretty well. But in terms of the early states\u2014Iowa, New Hampshire, the other states\u2014it just doesn't work. Your point is well taken. I believe in public funding of elections, absolutely. But this system is\u2014I don't know if the secretary would agree\u2014is currently very antiquated and no longer applies to modern day politics. +p4186 +aVBut if the... +p4187 +aVLet me just say this. Wall Street is perhaps the most powerful economic and political force in this country. You have companies like Goldman Sachs, who just recently paid a settlement fine with the federal government for $5 billion for defrauding investors. Goldman Sachs was one of those companies whose illegal activity helped destroy our economy and ruin the lives of millions of Americans. But this is what a rigged economy and a corrupt campaign finance system and a broken criminal justice is about. These guys are so powerful that not one of the executives on Wall Street has been charged with anything after paying, in this case of Goldman Sachs, a $5 billion fine. Kid gets caught with marijuana, that kid has a police record. A Wall Street executive destroys the economy, $5 billion settlement with the government, no criminal record. That is what power is about. That is what corruption is about. And that is what has to change in the United States of America. +p4188 +aVI would say that\u2014that folks who have looked at this issue for a long time, whether it's Elizabeth Warren or many other economists, will tell you that right now, yes, we do need a 21st century Glass-Steagall legislation. And I would tell you also that when you have three out of the four largest banks in America today, bigger than they were\u2014significantly bigger than when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, I think if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, a good Republican by the way, what he would say is: Break them up; they are too powerful economically; they are too powerful politically. And that is what I believe and many economists believe. Time to break them up. +p4189 +aVWell, we've had a number of economists supporting our legislation. And here's where we are. The American people can judge. Six largest financial institutions in America today have assets of roughly $10 trillion; equivalent to 58 percent of the GDP of the United States of America. That is a lot of money. They issue two thirds of the credit cards, and by the way they're ripping off a whole lot of people with high interest rates on the credit cards, and they write about one third of the mortgages. That is a lot of power for six financial institutions. That's it. I think it is too much power. Too much economic power, too much political power, and the economists that I talk to say we should break them up. +p4190 +aVYeah, I do. I agree with much of what the Secretary said, but, madam Secretary, it is not one streak. Wall Street is an entity of unbelievable economic and political power. That's a fact. And, I want to say something, and it may sound harsh, not to you, but to the American people. In a sense, in my view, the business model of Wall Street is fraud. It's fraud. I believe that corruption is rampant, and the fact that major bank after major bank has reached multi billion dollar settlements with the United States government when we have a weak regulator system tells me that not only did we have to bail them out once, if we don't start breaking them up, we're going to have to bail them out again, and I do not want to see that happen... +p4191 +aVOf course I can work with them, but let's be clear. When I talked about Boeing and I talked about General Electric, what I was referring to is an outrage. I suspect the secretary agrees request me. Right now you have a loophole such that these guys are putting their profits, multi-billion dollar profitable corporations putting billions of dollars into the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, and other tax havens. And in a given year, Rachel, after making billions of dollars in profit, do you know how much they're paying in taxes to the United States government in a given year? Zero. Now explain to me how that makes any sense at all. So what I have said with regard to Boeing and GE and other multinationals that pay zero taxes, you know what we're going to do? We're going to end that loophole. They are going to pay their fair share of taxes. We're going to use that money to rebuild our infrastructure and create up to 13 million jobs. Can I work with corporations? Are there good corporations doing incredible cutting edge research and development? Absolutely they are. And we should be proud of them. But on the other hand, there are many corporations who have turned their backs on the American worker, who have said, if I can make another nickel in profit by going to China and shutting down in the United States of America, that's what I will do. I will do my best to transform our trade policy and take on these corporations who want to invest in low-income countries around the world rather than in the United States of America. +p4192 +aVOK. Let me agree with much of what the secretary said, but where we have a different background on this issue is we differ on the war in Iraq, which created barbaric organizations like +p4193 +aVWell, I think our great task is to make certain that our young men and women in the military do not get sucked into never- ending, perpetual warfare within the quagmire of Syria and Iraq. And I will do my very best to make sure that that doesn't happen. I agree with the secretary that I think what has to happen\u2014and let me just mention what King Abdullah of Jordan said. I think he hit the nail on the head. And what he said is essentially the war against +p4194 +aVWell, you can't simply withdraw tomorrow. Wish we could, and allow, you know, the Taliban or anybody else to reclaim that country. But what we must do, and what we have seen in recent months, is some progress in Iraq, where finally the Iraqi army, which has not been a particularly effective fighting force, retook Ramadi. +p4195 +aVWell, that's not quite accurate. I did give a speech at Georgetown where I talked about democratic socialism and foreign policy. Maybe I shouldn't have combined the two in the same speech, because the foreign policy part of it didn't get much attention. So, let me take this opportunity to give you a very short speech here on the issue. I think, while it is true that the secretary and I voted differently on the war in Iraq, what is important is that we learn the lesson of the war in Iraq. And that lesson is intrinsic to my foreign policy if elected president, is the United States cannot do it alone. We cannot be the policeman of the world. We are now spending more I believe than the next eight countries on defense. We have got to work in strong coalition with the major powers of the world and with those Muslim countries that are prepared to stand up and take on terrorism. So I would say that the key doctrine of the Sanders administration would be no, we cannot continue to do it alone; we need to work in coalition. +p4196 +aV I fully, fully concede that Secretary Clinton, who was secretary of State for four years, has more experience\u2014hat is not arguable\u2014in foreign affairs. But experience is not the only point, judgment is. And once again, back in 2002, when we both looked at the same evidence about the wisdom of the war in Iraq, one of us voted the right way and one of us didn't. In terms of Iran and in terms of Saudi Arabia, of course they hate each other. That's no great secret. But John Kerry, who is I think doing a very good job, has tried to at least get these people in the room together because both of them are being threatened by +p4197 +aVWell... +p4198 +aVWho said That think we should normalize relations with Iran tomorrow? I never said that. I think we should move forward as quickly as we can. And you're right. They are a sponsor of terrorism around the world and we have to address that. But you know, a number of years ago, people were saying normal relationship with Cuba, what a bad and silly idea. They're Communists, they are our enemy. Well guess what? Change has come. So please don't suggest that I think we normalize relations with Tehran tomorrow. We don't. But I would like to see us move forward, and hopefully some day that will happen. And I would say if I might, Madam Secretary\u2014and you can correct me if I'm wrong. When you ran against Senator Obama you thought him naive because he thought it was a good idea to talk to our enemies. I think those are exactly the people you have to talk to and you have to negotiate with. +p4199 +aVOK. +p4200 +aVI think President Obama had the right idea, and the bottom line is that of course there have to be conditions. But, of course it doesn't do us any good to not talk with our adversaries... +p4201 +aVJust to set the record straight, I very strongly supported the agreement which makes certain that Iran does not get a nuclear weapon. +p4202 +aV... +p4203 +aV +p4204 +aV... No, no... +p4205 +aV... +p4206 +aVClearly North Korea is a very strange situation because it is such an isolated country run by a handful of dictators, or maybe just one, who seems to be somewhat paranoid. And, who had nuclear weapons. And, our goal there, in my view, is to work and lean strongly on China to put as much pressure. China is one of the few major countries in the world that has significant support for North Korea, and I think we got to do everything we can to put pressure on China. I worry very much about an isolated, paranoid country with atomic bombs. I think, clearly, we got to work closely with China to resolve the serious problems we have, and I worry about Putin and his military adventurism in the Crimea and the Ukraine. +p4207 +aV... No, I don't. I worry very, very much about an isolated country. That's what makes me nervous. Russia lives in the world. China lives in the world. North Korea is a very, very strange country because it is so isolated, and I do feel that a nation with nuclear weapons, they have got to be dealt with. Dealt with effectively. +p4208 +aVLet me agree. You know, as the secretary knows, I chaired\u2014I had the privilege and the honor of chairing the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs. And it is interesting to me, you know, Republicans give a lot of speeches about how much they love veterans. I work with the American Legion, the VFW, the DAV, the Vietnam Vets, and virtually every veterans organization to put together the most comprehensive piece of the veterans legislation in the modern history of America. That's what I did. And I brought it to the floor of the Senate. Every Democrat voted for it, I got two Republicans. We ended up with 56 votes and I couldn't get the 60 votes that I needed. That is pathetic. This was legislation supported by all of the veterans organizations, addressing many of the serious problems that veterans face in health care and in how we deliver benefits to them. So Republicans talk a good game about veterans, but when it came to put money on the line to protect our veterans, frankly, they were not there. What I did next, Rachel, is I had to retreat a little bit, I had to compromise. I did work with John McCain. I did work with Jeff Miller over in the House. And we put together not the bill that I wanted, but probably the most comprehensive V.A. health care bill in the modern history of this country. Secretary Clinton is absolutely right, there are people, Koch brothers among others, who have a group called Concerned Veterans of America, funded by the Koch brothers. The Koch brothers, by the way, want to destroy Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, every governmental program passed since the 1930s. Yes, there are people out there who want to privatize it. The last point that I'd make. I had a hearing. I had all of the veterans groups in front of me. And I said to them, tell me when a veteran gets in to the V.A., understanding there are waiting lines and real problems, when a veteran gets into the system, is the quality of care good? Without exception, what they said, good, excellent, very good. We've got to strengthen the V.A. We do not privatize the V.A. +p4209 +aVWell, I agree with the Des Moines Register, but let's not blow this out of proportion. This is not a\u2014this is not, like, a winner-take-all thing. I think where we now stand\u2014correct me if I'm wrong\u2014you have 22 delegates, I have 20 delegates. We need 2,500 delegates to win the nomination. You know, so this is not\u2014this is not the biggest deal in the world. We think, by the way, based on talking to our precinct captains, we may have at least two more delegates. What the Des Moines Register said\u2014you know, there were coin\u2014I think there were half a dozen coin flips\u2014a fairly chaotic type situation. At the end of the day, no matter how it's recounted, it will break roughly even. And by the way, I love and respect the caucus process in Iowa. See, and I don't have to say it, because they voted already. And I love New Hampshire, too, because you haven't voted, but......but, look, I think people are blowing this up out of proportion. But I think we need improvements in the process by which results are determined. +p4210 +aVOh . See, when you are old, then they go back all these years. All right. What have you got? +p4211 +aVWell, you know, a general election is different than a primary and caucus process. But let me just say this. In terms of where we are right now, as you mention, Rachel, in a number of national and state, including New Hampshire. For example, the last poll I saw\u2014there may have been a new one\u2014last one I saw here in New Hampshire, a battleground state, had me defeating Trump by 19; the secretary defeating him by one. There were also pretty large margins in Iowa and Wisconsin. These are polls. Polls go up. Polls go down. But here's why I think I will be, if nominated, the strongest candidate. Democrats win when there is a large voter turnout; when people are excited; when working people, middle class people and young people are prepared to engage in the political process. Republicans win when people are demoralized and you have a small voter turnout, which by the way is why they love voter suppression. I believe that our campaign up to now has shown that we can create an enormous amount of enthusiasm from working people, from young people, who will get involved in the political process and which will drive us to a very large voter turnout. If there is a large voter turnout, not only do we retain the White House, but I think we regain the Senate. We win governors' chairs up and down the line. So I believe if you want to retain the White House, if you want to see Democrats do well across the board, I think our campaign is the one that creates the large voter turnout and helps us win. +p4212 +aV +p4213 +aVI am feeling exactly the way I felt at the first debate. There's a process under way. I will not politicize it. +p4214 +aVAnd by the way\u2014and by the way, if I may, the secretary probably doesn't know that there's not a day that goes by when I am not asked to attack her on that issue, and I have refrained from doing that and I will continue to refrain from doing that. +p4215 +aVNot losing control of our campaign. You know, we have hired a whole lot of people in a rapid way and I am familiar with the first two instances and they are unacceptable, and we have apologized and dealt with that. In terms of the last one, as I understand it, we did not suggest that we had the endorsement of a newspaper. Newspapers who make endorsements also say positive things about other candidates, and to the best of my knowledge, that is what we did. So we never said, never said that somebody, a newspaper endorsed us that did not. What we did say is blah blah blah blah was said by the newspaper. +p4216 +aVBut that was only for\u2014that was not to be on television. That's an important point. That was just something\u2014as the secretary knows, you put titles on ads and you send them out, but there was no word in that ad, none, that said that those newspapers had endorsed us. +p4217 +aV... Look, I hear what the Secretary said, and I understand, but look, there are\u2014all of us know that we have seen in recent years horrible, horrible crimes. It's hard to imagine how people can do, bomb, and kill 168 people in Oklahoma City, or do the Boston Marathon bombing, but this is what I believe, and for a couple of reasons. Number one, too many innocent people, including minorities, African Americans, have been executed when they were not guilty. That's number one. We have to be very careful about making sure about that. But, second of all, and maybe, in a deeper reason, of course there are barbaric acts out there. But, in a world of so much violence and killing, I just don't believe that government itself should be part of the killing. So, when somebody commits......somebody commits any of these terrible crimes that we have seen, you lock them up, and you toss away the key. They're never going to get out. But, I just don't' want to see government be part of killing. That's all. +p4218 +aVAbsolutely. I think the Secretary described the situation appropriately. You know, I don't go around asking for governor's resignations every day. In fact, I think I never have in my life. But I did ask for the resignation of Governor Snyder because his irresponsibility......was so outrageous. What we are talking about are children being poisoned. That's what we're talking about. We don't know, no one knows for sure because they haven't done the appropriate studies, but there's no question that kids' intellectual development may have been impacted. We don't know how many thousands. The idea that there has not been a dramatic response is beyond comprehension. And when you have one of the, I think, significant public health crises of recent years, of course the federal government comes in. And of course the federal government says, you're not going to be poisoning little kids and impacting their entire lives. Last point on this. And I suspect the secretary agrees. One wonders if this were a white suburban community what kind of response there would have been. Flint, Michigan, is a poor community. It is disproportionately African-American and minority. And what has happened there is absolutely unacceptable. +p4219 +aVAbsolutely right. +p4220 +aVChuck, I believe in trade, but I do not believe in unfettered free trade. I believe in fair trade which works for the middle class and working families of this country and not just large multinational corporations. I was not only in opposition to +p4221 +aVNo, let... +p4222 +aV... I am absolutely supportive of comprehensive immigration reform and a path towards citizenship for 11 million people today who are living in the shadows. All right? We got to do that. But you miss\u2014when you looked at the issues, you missed two of the most important. And that is you're not going to accomplish what has to be done for working families and the middle class unless there is campaign finance reform. So long as big money interests control the United States Congress, it is gonna be very hard to do what has to be done for working families. So let me be very clear. No nominee of mine, if I'm elected president, to the United States Supreme Court will get that nomination unless he or she is loud and clear, and says they will vote to overturn Citizens United. Second point\u2014second point is that the only way we make change in terms of health care, in terms of dealing with a broken criminal justice system which, today, allows us to have more people in jail than any other country\u2014largely African-American and Latino\u2014the only way we create millions of jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure or have a tax system that says to the wealthy that they are going to pay their fair share, is when millions of people become involved in the political process. No, you just can't negotiate with Mitch McConnell. Mitch is gonna have to look out the window and see a whole lot of people saying, "Mitch, stop representing the billionaire class. Start listening to working families." And as president, that's what I will work hard on. +p4223 +aVI agree with what the secretary said. We shouldn't be getting ahead of ourselves. And as I have said many times, you know, sometimes in these campaigns, things get a little bit out of hand. I happen to respect the secretary very much, I hope it's mutual. And on our worst days, I think it is fair to say we are 100 times better than any Republican candidate. +p4224 +aVI\u2014my dad came to this country at the age of 17 from Poland. Didn't have any money, couldn't speak English, he died pretty young, and I think it would have been beyond his wildest dreams to see his son up here on this stage today running for president. I love this country and my dad loved this country, and he was the most proud American because of what it gave him in terms of raising his family, even though we never had much money. But today in America, we are the only major country on earth that doesn't guarantee health care to all people, that doesn't guarantee paid family and medical leave. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth. We are seeing millions of families unable to send their kids to college in the United States of America. I'm running for president because I believe it is just too late for establishment politics and establishment economics. I do believe we need a political revolution where millions of people stand up and say loudly and clearly that our government belongs to all of us and not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors. Thank you all. +p4225 +aVThank you. As we honor the extraordinary life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., it's important not only that we remember what he stood for, but that we pledge to continue his vision to transform our country. As we look out at our country today, what the American people understand is we have an economy that's rigged, that ordinary Americans are working longer hours for lower wages, 47 million people living in poverty, and almost all of the new income and wealth going to the top one percent. And then, to make a bad situation worse, we have a corrupt campaign finance system where millionaires and billionaires are spending extraordinary amounts of money to buy elections. This campaign is about a political revolution to not only elect the president, but to transform this country. +p4226 +aVWell, that's what our campaign is about. It is thinking big. It is understanding that in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, we should have health care for every man, woman, and child as a right that we should raise the minimum wage to at least $15 an hour; that we have got to create millions of decent- paying jobs by rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure. So, what my first days are about is bringing America together, to end the decline of the middle class, to tell the wealthiest people in this country that yes, they are going to start paying their fair share of taxes, and that we are going to have a government that works for all of us, and not just big campaign contributors. +p4227 +aVWell, I think Secretary Clinton knows that what she says is very disingenuous. I have a D-minus voting record from the NRA. I was in 1988, there were three candidates running for congress in the state of Vermont, I stood up to the gun lobby and came out and maintained the position that in this country we should not be selling military style assault weapons. I have supported from day one and instant background check to make certain that people who should have guns do not have guns. And that includes people of criminal backgrounds, people who are mentally unstable. I support what President Obama is doing in terms of trying to close the gun show loop holes and I think it should be a federal crime if people act as dormant. We have seen in this city a horrendous tragedy of a crazed person praying with people in the coming up and shooting nine people. This should not be a political issue. What we should be doing is working together. And by the way, as a senator from a rural state that has virtually no gun control, I believe that I am in an excellent position to bring people together to fight the sensible... +p4228 +aVWhat I have said, is that gun manufacturer's liability bill has some good provisions among other things, we've prohibited ammunition that would've killed cops who had protection on. We have child safety protection work on guns in that legislation. And what we also said, "is a small mom and pop gun shop who sells a gun legally to somebody should not be held liable if somebody does something terrible with that gun." So what I said is, " I would re-look at it." We are going to re- look at it and I will support stronger provisions. +p4229 +aV...Well, I \u2014 look... +p4230 +aV... Let me respond to what the secretary said. We have a criminal justice system which is broken. Who in America is satisfied that we have more people in jail than any other country on Earth, including China? Disproportionately African American, and Latino. Who is satisfied that 51% of African American young people are either unemployed, or underemployed? Who is satisfied that millions of people have police records for possessing marijuana when the CEO's of Wall Street companies who destroyed our economy have no police records. +p4231 +aV... We need to take a very hard look at our... +p4232 +aV... criminal justice system, investing in jobs, and education not in jails and incarceration . +p4233 +aVWell, let me talk about polling. As Secretary Clinton well knows, when this campaign began she was 50 points ahead of me. We were all of three percentage points. Guess what? In Iowa, New Hampshire, the race is very, very close. Maybe we're ahead New Hampshire. In terms of polling, guess what? We are running ahead of Secretary Clinton. In terms of taking on my taking on my good friend, Donald Trump, beating him by 19 points in New Hampshire, 13 points in the last national poll that we saw. To answer your question. When the African American community becomes familiar with my Congressional record and with our agenda, and with our views on the economy, and criminal justice \u2014 just as the general population has become more supportive, so will the African American community, so will the Latino community. We have the momentum, we're on a path to a victory. O' +p4234 +aVI apologize for not hearing all of that question. +p4235 +aVYes. +p4236 +aVAbsolutely. This is a responsibility for the U.S. Justice Department to get involved. Whenever anybody in this country is killed while in police custody, it should automatically trigger a U.S. attorney general's investigation. Second of all, and I speak as a mayor who worked very closely and well with police officers, the vast majority of whom are honest, hard- working people trying to do a difficult job, but let us be clear. If a police officer breaks the law, like any public official, that officer must be held accountable. And thirdly, we have got to de-militarize our police departments so they don't look like occupying armies. We've got to move toward community policing. And fourthly, we have got to make our police departments look like the communities they serve in their diversity. +p4237 +aVSure. I agree... I agree with everything the Secretary said, but let me just add this, there is a responsibility on the part of the pharmaceutical industry and the drug companies who are producing all of these drugs and not looking at the consequence of it. And second of all, when we talk about addiction being a disease, the Secretary is right, what that means is we need a revolution in this country in terms of mental health treatment. People should be able to get the treatment that they need when they need it, not two months from now, which is why I believe in universal... +p4238 +aV... healthcare with mental health... +p4239 +aV... a part of that. +p4240 +aVOK. +p4241 +aVSecretary \u2014 Secretary Clinton didn't answer your question. Because what her campaign was saying \u2014 Bernie Sanders, who has fought for universal health care for my entire life, he wants to end Medicare, end Medicaid, end the children's health insurance program. That is nonsense. What a Medicare-for-all program does is finally provide in this country health care for every man, woman and child as a right. Now, the truth is, that Frank Delano Roosevelt, Harry Truman, do you know what they believed in? They believed that health care should be available to all of our people. I'm on the committee that wrote the Affordable Care Act. I made the Affordable Care Act along with Jim Clyburn a better piece of legislation. I voted for it, but right now, what we have to deal with is the fact that 29 million people still have no health insurance. We are paying the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, getting ripped off. And here's the important point, we are spending far more per person on health care than the people of any other country. My proposal, provide health care to all people, get private insurance out of health insurance, lower the cost of health care for middle class families by 5,000 bucks. That's the vision we need to take. +p4242 +aVBut \u2014 what if we have... +p4243 +aVIt is \u2014 it is absolutely inaccurate. O' +p4244 +aVNo one is tearing this up, we're going to go forward. But with the secretary neglected to mention, not just the 29 million still have no health insurance, that even more are underinsured with huge copayments and deductibles. Tell me why we are spending almost three times more than the British, who guarantee health care to all of their people? Fifty percent more than the French, more than the Canadians. The vision from FDR and Harry Truman was health care for all people as a right in a cost-effective way. We're not going to tear up the Affordable Care Act. I helped write it. But we are going to move on top of that to a Medicaid-for-all system. O' +p4245 +aVYeah. +p4246 +aVYes. +p4247 +aVNot all that detailed. +p4248 +aVWell. +p4249 +aVWell, that's \u2014 you might want to ask... +p4250 +aVAndrea, let me just say this. +p4251 +aVLet me just say that you might want to ask the governor of the state of Vermont why he could not do it. I'm not the governor. I'm the senator from the state of Vermont. But second of all \u2014 second of all...... here is what the real point is, in terms of all of the issues you've raised \u2014 the good questions you've raised. You know what it all comes down to? Do you know why we can't do what every other country \u2014 major country on Earth is doing? It's because we have a campaign finance system that is corrupt, we have super PACs, we have the pharmaceutical industry pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into campaign contributions and lobbying, and the private insurance companies as well. What this is really about is not the rational way to go forward \u2014 it's Medicare for all \u2014 it is whether we have the guts to stand up to the private insurance companies and all of their money, and the pharmaceutical industry. That's what this debate should be about. +p4252 +aVA couple of years ago, when we understood that veterans were not getting the quality care they needed in the timely manner, I worked with folks like John McCain and others to pass the most comprehensive veteran's health care legislation in modern history. But let me rephrase your question because I think, in all do respect, you're expression. In all do respect, you're missing the main point. And the main point in the Congress, it's not the Republicans and Democrats hate each other. That's a mythology from the media. The real issue is that Congress is owned by big money and refuses to do what the American people want them to do. The real issue is that in area after area, raising the minimum wage to $15 bucks an hour. The American people want it. Rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, creating 13 million jobs, the American people want it. The pay equity for women, the American people want it. Demanding that the wealthy start paying their fair share of taxes. The American people want it. +p4253 +aVThe point is, we have to make Congress respond to the needs of the people, not big money. +p4254 +aVI do. +p4255 +aVDid I say that? +p4256 +aVBecause of what I believe in what I was just saying. The Democratic party needs major reform. To those of you in South Carolina, you know what, in Mississippi, we need a 50-state strategy so that people in South Carolina and Mississippi can get the resources that they need. Instead of being dependent on super PACs, what we need is to be dependent on small, individual campaign contributors. We need an agenda that speaks to the needs of working families and low-income people. Not wealthy campaign contributors. +p4257 +aVWe need to expand what the input into the Democratic party. I am very proud that in this campaign, we have seen an enormous amount of excitement from young people, from working people. We have received more individual contributions than any candidate in the history of this country up to this point. O' +p4258 +aVAnd I respectfully disagree. +p4259 +aVAnd I respectfully disagree with my friend over here. And that is, you are right. All of us have denounced Trump's attempts to divide this country: the anti-Latino rhetoric, the racist rhetoric, he anti-Muslim rhetoric. But where I disagree with you, Governor O'Malley, is I do believe we have to deal with the fundamental issues of a handful of billionaires... O' +p4260 +aV... who control economic and political life of this country. O' +p4261 +aVNothing real will get happened. Unless we have a political revolution. Where millions of people finally stand up. +p4262 +aVIs that your strategy... +p4263 +aVWell, the first difference is I don't take money from big banks. I don't get personal speaking fees from Goldman Sachs. What I would do... What I would do is understand that when you have three out of the four largest banks today, bigger than they were when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, when you have the six largest financial institutions having assets of 60 percent of the GDP of America, it is very clear to me what you have to do. You've got to bring back the 21st century Glass-Steagall legislation and you've got to break up these huge financial institutions. They have too much economic power and they have too much financial power over our entire economy. If Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, the old Republican trust buster, what he would say is these guys are too powerful. Break them up. I believe that's what the American people to want see. That's my view. +p4264 +aVOK. First of all... +p4265 +aVSet the record right. In 2006 when I ran for the Senate, Senator Barack Obama was kind enough to campaign for me, 2008, I did my best to see that he was elected and in 2012, I worked as hard as I could to see that he was reelected. He and I are friends. We've worked together on many issues. We have some differences of opinion. But here is the issue, Secretary touched on it, can you really reform Wall Street when they are spending millions and millions of dollars on campaign contributions and when they are providing speaker fees to individuals? So it's easy to say, well, I'm going to do this and do that, but I have doubts when people receive huge amounts of money from Wall Street. I am very proud, I do not have a super PAC. I do not want Wall Street's money. I'll rely on the middle class and working families... +p4266 +aV... campaign contributions. +p4267 +aVLet me give you an example of how corrupt \u2014 how corrupt this system is. Goldman Sachs recently fined $5 billion. Goldman Sachs has given this country two secretaries of treasury, one on the Republicans, one under Democrats. O' +p4268 +aVThe leader of Goldman Sachs is a billionaire who comes to Congress and tells us we should cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Secretary Clinton \u2014 and you're not the only one, so I don't mean to just point the finger at you, you've received over $600,000 in speaking fees from Goldman Sachs in one year. I find it very strange that a major financial institution that pays $5 billion in fines for breaking the law, not one of their executives is prosecuted, while kids who smoke marijuana get a jail sentence. +p4269 +aVIf you want to... +p4270 +aVAnyone who wants to check my record in taking on Wall Street, in fighting against the deregulation of Wall Street when Wall Street put billions of dollars in lobbying, in campaign contributions to get the government off their backs. They got the government off their backs. Turns out that they were crooks, and they destroyed our economy. I think it's time to put the government back on their backs. +p4271 +aV... Yeah... +p4272 +aV... That's true. +p4273 +aVGood. You're right. I want to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, create 13 million jobs. We do that by doing away with the absurd loophole that now allows major profitable corporations to stash their money in the Cayman Islands, and not in some years, pay a nickel in taxes. Yes, I do. I plead guilty. I want every kid in this country who has the ability to be able to go to a public college, or university, tuition free. And, by the way, I want to substantially lower student debt interest rates in this country as well. How do I pay for it? I pay for it through a tax on Wall Street speculation. This country, and the middle class, bailed out Wall Street. Now, it is Wall Street's time to help the middle class. In fact... O' +p4274 +aV... we have documented, unlike Secretary Clinton, I have documented exactly how I would pay for our ambitious agenda. O' +p4275 +aV... Here is the main two points... +p4276 +aVYeah. +p4277 +aV... I got it. +p4278 +aVWhat is correct, and I'm disappointed that Secretary Clinton's campaign has made this criticism. It's a Republican criticism. Secretary Clinton does know a lot about healthcare, and she understands, I believe, that a medicare for all, single payer program will substantially lower the cost of healthcare for middle class families. So, what we have got to acknowledge, and I hope the Secretary does, is we are doing away with private health insurance premiums. So, instead of paying $10,000 dollars to Blue Cross, or Blue Shield, yes, some middle class families would be paying slightly more in taxes, but the result would be that that middle class family would be saving some $5,000 dollars in healthcare costs. A little bit more in taxes, do away with private health insurance premiums. It's a pretty good deal. +p4279 +aVYeah. +p4280 +aVNo, it is not breaking my word. When you are \u2014 it's one thing to say I'm raising taxes, it's another thing to say that we are doing away with private health insurance premiums. So, if I save you $10,000 in private health insurance, and you pay a little bit more in taxes in total, there are huge savings in what your family is spending. O' +p4281 +aVI was mayor for eight years, I did that as well. O' +p4282 +aVI think we already are. Younger generation understands it instinctively. I was home in Burlington, Vermont, on Christmas Eve, the temperature was 65 degrees. People in Vermont know what's going on. People who did ice fishing, where their ice is no longer there on the lake understand what's going on. I'm on both the Environmental and Energy Committees. The debate is over. Climate change is real. It is already causing major problems. And if we do not act boldly and decisively, a bad situation will become worse. It is amazing to me, and I think we'll have agreement on this up here, that we have a major party, called the Republican Party that is so owned by the fossil fuel industry and their campaign contributions that they don't even have the courage, the decency to listen to the scientists. It is beyond my comprehension how we can elect a president of the United States, somebody like Trump, who believes that climate change is a hoax invented by the Chinese. Bottom line is, we need to be bold and decisive, we can create millions of jobs. We must, for the sake of our kids and grandchildren, transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energy. I've got the most comprehensive legislation in the Senate to do that. And as president, I will fight to make that happen. +p4283 +aVI think what we've got to do is move as aggressively as we can to normalize relations with Iran. Understanding that Iran's behavior in so many ways is something that we disagree with; their support terrorism, the anti-American rhetoric that we're hearing from of their leadership is something that is not acceptable. On the other hand, the fact that we've managed to reach an agreement, something that I've very strongly supported that prevents Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and we did that without going to war. And that I believe we're seeing a fall in our relationships with Iran is a very positive step. So if your question is, do I want to see that relationship become more positive in the future? Yes. Can I tell that we should open an embassy in Tehran tomorrow? No, I don't think we should. But I think the goal has go to be as we've done with Cuba, to move in warm relations with a very powerful and important country in this world. +p4284 +aVAs everybody you know, this is incredibly complicated and difficult issue and I applaud. I know President Obama's been getting a lot of criticism on this. I think he is doing the right thing. What the nightmare is, which many of my Republican colleagues appear to want is to not have learned the lesson of Iraq. To get American young men and women involved in perpetual warfare in the quagmire of Syria and the Middle East would be an unmitigated disaster that as president, I will do everything in my power to avoid. O' +p4285 +aVWe should \u2014 we should learn \u2014 we should learn from King Abdullah of Jordan, one of the few heroes in a very unheroic place. And what Abdullah said is this is a war with a soul of Islam and that Muslim troops should be on the ground with our support and the support of other major countries. That is how we destroy +p4286 +aVNo. I think the vacuum was created by the disastrous war in Iraq, which I vigorously opposed. Not only did I vote against it, I helped lead the opposition. And what happened there is yes, it's easy to get rid of a two-bit dictator like Saddam Hussein, but there wasn't the kind of thought as to what happens the day after you get him and what kind of political vacuum occurs. And who rises up? Groups like +p4287 +aVLet me just... +p4288 +aVOK. Let me suggest... +p4289 +aVWhere Secretary Clinton and I think, I agree with most of what she said. But where I think we do have an honest disagreement, is that in the incredible quagmire of Syria, where it's hard to know who's fighting who and if you give arms to this guy, it may end up in +p4290 +aVOK. I just wanted to add, in the previous question, I voted against the USA Patriot Act for many of the reasons that Governor O'Malley mentioned. But it is not only the government that we have to worry about, it is private corporations. You would all be amazed, or maybe not, about the amount of information private companies and the government has in terms of the Web sites that you access, the products that you buy, where you are this very moment. And it is very clear to me that public policy has not caught up with the explosion of technology. So yes, we have to work with Silicon Valley to make sure that we do not allow +p4291 +aVRight. What we have got to do there is, among other things, as I was just saying, have Silicon Valley help us to make sure that information being transmitted through the Internet or in other ways by +p4292 +aVCan I get 50 seconds? +p4293 +aVCan I get a \u2014 can I just get a very brief response? Very brief. +p4294 +aVOK. One \u2014 and I agree with what the secretary said, and what Governor O'Malley said. But here's an issue that we also should talk about. We have a $600 billion military budget. It is a budget larger than the next eight countries'. Unfortunately, much of that budget continues to fight the old Cold War with the Soviet Union. Very little of that budget \u2014 less than 10 percent \u2014 actually goes into fighting +p4295 +aVGreat ideas, Governor O'Malley, Secretary Clinton, but here's the truth. If you have an administration stacked with Wall Street appointees, it ain't going to accomplish very much. So here's a promise that I make \u2014 and I mentioned a moment ago how corrupt the system is \u2014 Goldman Sachs, paying a $5 billion fine, gives this country, in recent history, a Republican secretary of treasury, a Democratic secretary of treasury. Here's a promise. If elected president, Goldman Sachs is not going to have \u2014 bring forth a secretary of treasury for a Sanders administration. +p4296 +aVI was asked a question. You know, one of the things, Andrea, and I \u2014 that question annoys me. I cannot walk down the street \u2014 Secretary Clinton knows this \u2014 without being told how much I have to attack secretary Clinton, want to get me on the front pages of the paper, I'd make some vicious attack. I have avoided doing that. Trying to run an issue-oriented campaign. +p4297 +aVI was asked a question. +p4298 +aVWell \u2014 then if I don't answer it, then there's another front page, so it's yes. And I mean this seriously. You know that. We've been through this. Yes, his behavior was deplorable. Have I ever once said a word about that issue? No, I have not. I'm going to debate Secretary Clinton, Governor O'Malley, on the issues facing the American people, not Bill Clinton's personal behavior. +p4299 +aVWell, Secretary Clinton was right and what I did which I think is also right, is demanded the resignation of governor. A man who acts that irresponsibly should not stay in power. Now, we are a great nation \u2014 and we've heard a lot of great ideas here tonight. Let's be honest and let's be truthful. Very little is going to be done to transform our economy and to create the kind of middle class we need unless we end a corrupt campaign finance system which is undermining American democracy. We've got to get rid of Super PACs, we've got to get rid of Citizens' United and what we've got to do is create a political revolution which revitalizes American democracy; which brings millions of young people and working people into the political process. To say loudly and clearly," that the government of the United States of America belongs to all of us and not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors." +p4300 +aVGood evening. I am running for president of the United States because it is too late for establishment politics and establishment economics. I'm running for president because our economy is rigged because working people are working longer hours for lower wages and almost all of new wealth and income being created is going to the top one percent. I'm running for president because I'm going to create an economy that works for working families not just billionaires. I'm running for president because we have a campaign finance system which is corrupt, where billionaires are spending hundreds of millionaires of dollars to buy candidates who will represent their interests rather than the middle class and working families. I'm running because we need to address the planetary crisis of climate change and take on the fossil fuel industry and transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energy. I'm running for president because I want a new foreign policy; one that takes on Isis, one that destroys +p4301 +aVDavid, let me give you a little bit of background here. The DNC has hired vendors. On two occasions, there were breeches in information two months ago. Our staff found information on our computers from the Clinton campaign. And when our staffers said, "whoa, what's going here?" They went to the DNC quietly. They went to the vendor and said, "hey, something is wrong," and that was quietly dealt with. None of that information was looked at. Our staffer at that point did exactly the right thing. A few days ago a similar incident happened. There was a breach because the DNC vendor screwed up, information came to our campaign. In this case, our staff did the wrong thing -- they looked at that information. As soon as we learned that they looked at that information - we fired that person. We are now doing an independent internal investigation to see who else was involved. Thirdly, what I have a really problem, and as you mentioned - this is a problem, I recognize it as a problem. But what the DNC did arbitrarily without discussing it with us is shut off our access to our information crippling our campaign. That is an egregious act. I'm glad that late last night, that was resolved. +p4302 +aVFourthly, I work -- look forward to working with Secretary Clinton for an investigation, an independent investigation, about all of the breaches that have occurred from day one in this campaign, because I am not convinced that information from our campaign may not have ended up in her campaign. Don't know that. But we need an independent investigation, and I hope Secretary Clinton will agree with me for the need of that. Last point. When we saw the breach two months, we didn't go running to the media and make a big deal about it. And it bothers me very much that, rather than working on this issue to resolve it, it has become many press releases from the Clinton campaign later. +p4303 +aVAbsolutely. +p4304 +aVYes, I apologize. +p4305 +aVNot only -- not only do I apologize to Secretary Clinton -- and I hope we can work together on an independent investigation from day one -- I want to apologize to my supporters. This is not the type of campaign that we run. And if I find anybody else involved in this, they will also be fired. +p4306 +aVLet me agree with Governor O'Malley and let me agree with Secretary Clinton. You know, we had this incident before, Secretary, with your famous e-mails. Right? And what I said and I think what Governor O'Malley is saying, and I hope you say, is when the middle class of this country is disappearing, when we have massive income and wealth inequality, when we're the only major country on earth not guaranteeing health care to all people, all the issues that the governor talked about, the secretary talked about, those are the issues. Media notwithstanding. Those are the issues that the American people want discussed. I hope those are the issues we'll discuss. +p4307 +aVI'm one of the 77 percent. I think this is a very difficult issue. Let me agree with much of what the secretary and the governor have said. Let me tell you what I think we have got to do. I think it's a two-pronged issue. Number one, our goal is to crush and destroy +p4308 +aVIt's a country in which people choose to buy guns. I think half of the -- more than half of the people in my own state of Vermont, my guess here in New Hampshire, are gun owners. That's the right of people. But this is what I do believe. I believe that when we have some 300 million guns in this country, I believe that when we have seen these horrific mass killings, not only in San Bernardino, but in Colorado and movie theaters in Colorado, I think we have got to bring together the vast majority of the people who do in fact believe in sensible gun safety regulations. For example, talking about polls, a poll recently came out, overwhelming majority of the American people say we should strengthen the instant background check. Who denies that it is crazy... Who denies that it is crazy to allow people to own guns who are criminals or are mentally unstable? We've got to eliminate the gun show loophole. In my view, we have got to see that weapons designed by the military to kill people are not in the hands of civilians. I think there is a consensus. I think -- I'm not going to say that everybody is in agreement. It's a divided country on guns. But there is a broad consensus on sensible gun safety regulations that I, coming from a state that has virtually no gun control, will do my best to bring together. O' +p4309 +aVWhoa, whoa, whoa. Let's calm down a little bit, Martin. +p4310 +aVFirst of all, let's have some rules here, commentators. +p4311 +aVAll right. +p4312 +aVHe sure did. +p4313 +aVSure did. All right. First off, we can do all the great speeches we want but you're not going to succeed unless there is a consensus. In 1988, just to set the record straight governor, I ran for the U.S. House. We have one House member from Vermont, three candidates in the race. One candidate said, you know what, I don't think it's a great idea that we sell automatic weapons in this country that are used by the military to kill people very rapidly. Gun people said, there were three candidates in the race, you vote for one of the others, but not Bernie Sanders. I lost that election by three percentage points. Quite likely, for that reason. So please, do not explain to me, coming from a state where democratic governors and republican governors have supported virtually no gun control. Excuse me. Do not tell me that I have not shown courage in standing up to the gun people, in voting to ban assault weapons, voting for instant background checks, voting to end the gun show loop hole and now we're in a position to create a consensus in America on gun safety. +p4314 +aVWell, the answer is, obviously, if you see suspicious activity, you report it. That's kind of a no-brainer. You know, somebody is loading guns and ammunition into a house, I think it's a good idea to call 911. Do it. +p4315 +aVBut I want to talk -- I want to talk about something else, because Secretary Clinton I think made some interesting and good points. What you have now is a very dangerous moment in American history. The secretary is right: Our people are fearful. They are anxious on a number of levels. They are anxious about international terrorism and the possibility of another attack on America. We all understand that. But you know what else they're anxious about? They're anxious about the fact that they are working incredibly long hours, they're worried about their kids, and they're seeing all the new income and wealth -- virtually all of it -- going to the top 1 percent. And they're looking around them, and they're looking at Washington, and they're saying the rich are getting much richer, I'm getting poorer, what are you going to do about it? What are you going to do for my kids? And somebody like a Trump comes along and says, "I know the answers. The answer is that all of the Mexicans, they're criminals and rapists, we've got to hate the Mexicans. Those are your enemies. We hate all the Muslims, because all of the Muslims are terrorists. We've got to hate the Muslims." Meanwhile, the rich get richer. So what I say to those people who go to Donald Trump's rallies, understand: He thinks a low minimum wage in America is a good idea. He thinks low wages are a good idea. I believe we stand together to address the real issues facing this country, not allow them to divide us by race or where we come from. Let's create an America that works for all of us, not the handful on top. +p4316 +aVExcuse me. May I have a chance to respond to this issue? +p4317 +aVYeah, but the rule includes equal -- got it. All right. +p4318 +aVAll right. Let's keep going. OK. +p4319 +aVYeah. +p4320 +aVAnd I also voted and helped lead the effort against the war in Iraq, which will go down in history as one of the worst foreign blunders -- foreign policy blunders in the history of our country. I voted against the first Gulf War, which set the stage, I believe, for the second Iraq war. And what I believe right now, and I believe this is terribly important, is the United States of America cannot succeed, or be thought of as the policeman of the world, that when there's an international crisis all over the world, in France and in the U.K. Or -- hey, just call up the American military and the American taxpayers, they're going to send the troops. And if they have to be in the Middle East for 20 or 30 years no problem. +p4321 +aVI have a problem with that, Martha. What I believe has got to happen is there must be an international coalition, including Russia, a well-coordinated effort. But I agree, as I mentioned a moment ago, with King Abdullah. This is a war for the soul of Islam. The troops on the ground should not be American troops. They should be Muslim troops. I believe that countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar have got to step up to the plate, have got to contribute the money that we need, and the troops that we need, to destroy +p4322 +aVMy plan is to make it work, to tell Saudi Arabia that instead of going to war in Yemen, they, one of the wealthiest countries on Earth, are going to have to go to war against +p4323 +aVI have a difference of opinion with Secretary Clinton on this. Our differences are fairly deep on this issue. We disagreed on the war in Iraq. We both listened to the information from Bush and Cheney. I voted against the war. But I think -- and I say this with due respect -- that I worry too much that Secretary Clinton is too much into regime change and a little bit too aggressive without knowing what the unintended consequences might be. Yes, we could get rid of Saddam Hussein, but that destabilized the entire region. Yes, we could get rid of Gadhafi, a terrible dictator, but that created a vacuum for +p4324 +aVI was not the secretary of state... +p4325 +aVI happen to think... O' +p4326 +aVSecretary Clinton is right. This is a complicated issue. I don't think anyone has a magical solution. But this is what I do believe. Yes, of course Assad is a terrible dictator. But I think we have got to get our foreign policies and priorities right. The immediate -- it is not Assad who is attacking the United States. It is +p4327 +aVDavid... +p4328 +aVCould I just say -- just say this... +p4329 +aVCan I just say this... +p4330 +aVOf course the United States must lead. But the United States is not the policeman of the world. The United States must not be involved in perpetual warfare in the Middle East. The United States, at the same time, cannot successfully fight Assad and +p4331 +aVFirst of all, we recognize that we have a rigged economy, as you've indicated. Middle class in this country for the last 40 years has been disappearing; are we better off today than we were when Bush left office? Absolutely. But as you've indicated for millions of American workers, people in New Hampshire -- all over America, they're working longer hours for lower wages deeply worried about their kids. So what do we do? First statement is, we tell the billionaire class, "they cannot have it all." For a start, they're going to start to pay their fair share of taxes. Second of all what we do, is you raise the minimum wage to living wage, 15 bucks an hour over the next several years. Next thing we do, pay equity for women workers. Women should not be making 79 cents on the dollar compared to that. Next thing that we do, real unemployment -- official unemployment, 5 percent, real employment 10 percent, youth unemployment, off the charts. We rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, our roads our bridges, our rail systems, we create 13 million jobs with a trillion-dollar investment. Furthermore, in a competitive global economy, it is imperative that we have the best educated workforce in the world. That is why I'm going to have a tax on Wall Street speculation to make certain that public colleges and universities in America are tuition free. +p4332 +aVNo, I think they won't. So Hillary and I have a difference. The CEOs of large multinationals may like Hillary. They ain't going to like me and Wall Street is going to like me even less. And the reason for that is we've got to deal with the elephant in the room, which is the greed, recklessness and illegal behavior on Wall Street. When you have six financial institutions in this country that issue two-thirds of the credit cards and one-third of the mortgages, when three out of four of them are larger today than when we bailed them out because they are too big to fail, we've got to re- establish Glass-Steagall, we have got to break the large financial institutions up. +p4333 +aVSo I don't think... ... having said that, I don't think I'm going to get a whole lot of campaign contributions from Wall Street. I don't have a super PAC. I don't want campaign contributions from corporate America. And let me be clear: While there are some great corporations creating jobs and trying to do the right thing, in my view -- and I say this very seriously -- the greed of the billionaire class, the greed of Wall Street is destroying this economy and is destroying the lives of millions of Americans. We need an economy that works for the middle class, not just a handful of billionaires, and I will fight and lead to make that happen. +p4334 +aVLet me just -- let me just... +p4335 +aVLet me just jump in. My name was invoked. +p4336 +aVSo with that invocation, let me say a few words. Secretary Clinton, I don't have a super PAC. I don't get any money from Wall Street. You have gotten a whole lot of money over the years from Wall Street. But most importantly, when you look at what happened in the 1990s, go to berniesanders.com. I'll advertise my Web site as well. And what you'll find is that I led -- helped lead the effort as a member of the House financial committee against Alan Greenspan, against a guy named Bill Clinton, maybe you know him, maybe you don't. Against the Republican leadership, who all thought it would be a great idea to merge investor banks and commercial banks and large insurance companies. What a brilliant idea that would be. Go to YouTube. Find out what I said to Greenspan. At the end of the day, if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, and the governor makes a good point about trade, anti-trade, anti-monopoly activities. Wall Street today has too much political power. It has too much economic power. To get deregulated -- listen to this, they spent $5 billion in lobbying and campaign contributions over a 10-year period. +p4337 +aVWall Street is a threat to the economy. They've got to be broken up. +p4338 +aVYes, exactly, exactly. +p4339 +aVYes, well, roughly. Let me say this. As a member of the Health Education Committee that helped write the Affordable Care Act, much of what Secretary Clinton said about what we have done, among other things, ending the obscenity of this pre-existing situation is a step forward. Seventeen more million more people have health care. It is a step forward. A step forward. But this is what we also have to say. Not only are deductibles rising, 29 million Americans still have no health insurance and millions of people can't afford to go to the doctor. Major crisis and primary health care. Here is the bottom line. Why is it that the United States of America today is the only major country on earth that does not guarantee health care to all people as a right? Why is it... +p4340 +aVWhy is it that we are -- why is it that we spend almost three times per capita as to what they spend in the U.K., 50 percent more than what they pay in France, countries that guarantee health care to all of their people and in many cases, have better health care outcomes. Bottom line. This ties into campaign finance reform. The insurance companies, the drug companies are bribing the United States Congress. We need to pass a Medicare for all single payer system. It will lower the cost of health care for a middle-class family by thousands of dollars a year. +p4341 +aVBut they will not be paying, Martha, any private insurance. So it's unfair to say in total... +p4342 +aVI can tell you that adding up the fact you're not paying any private insurance, businesses are not paying any private insurance. The average middle-class family will be saving thousands of dollars a year. +p4343 +aVAnd universities. +p4344 +aVWell, Neil, I think we've got to work on a two-pronged approach. And your point is absolutely well taken. The cost of college education is escalating a lot faster than the cost of inflation. There are a lot of factors involved in that. And that is that we have some colleges and universities that are spending a huge amount of money on fancy dormitories and on giant football stadiums. Maybe we should focus on quality education with well-paid faculty members. But... +p4345 +aVAnd I understand in many universities a heck of a lot of vice presidents who earn a big salary. But, bottom line is this is the year 2015. If we are going to be competitive in the global economy we need the best educated workforce. It is insane to my mind, hundreds of thousands of young people today, bright qualified people, cannot go to college because they cannot afford -- their families cannot afford to send them. Millions coming out of school as you indicated, deeply in debt. What do we do? My proposal is to put a speculation tax on wall street, raise very substantial sums of money, not only make public colleges and universities tuition-free, but also substantially lower interest rates on student debt. You have families out there paying 6 percent, 8 percent, 10 percent on student debt; refinance their homes at 3 percent. What sense is that? So I think we need radical changes in the funding of higher education. We should look at college today the way high school was looked at 60 years ago. All young people who have the ability should be able to get a college education. ( +p4346 +aVMay I respond to the critique on the ... +p4347 +aVI would just... +p4348 +aVBut Secretary Clinton is wrong. As you know, because I know you know a lot about health care. You know that the United States per capita pays far and away more than other country. And it is unfair simply to say how much more the program will cost without making sure that people know that, we are doing away with cost of private insurance and that the middle class will be paying substantially less for health care on the single payer than on the Secretary's Clinton proposal. +p4349 +aVNow, this is getting to be fun. +p4350 +aVLet me respond to... +p4351 +aVLet me respond to... +p4352 +aVNumber one, most important economic reality of today is that over the last 30 years, there has been a transfer of trillions of dollars from the middle class to the top one-tenth of one percent who are seeing a doubling of the percentage of wealth that they own. Now, when Secretary Clinton says, "I'm not going raise taxes on the middle class," let me tell you what she is saying. She is disagreeing with FDR on Social Security, LBJ on Medicare and with the vast majority of progressive Democrats in the House and the Senate, who today are fighting to end the disgrace of the United States being the only major country on Earth that doesn't provide paid family and medical leave. What the legislation is is $1.61 a week. Now, you can say that's a tax on the middle class. It will provide three months paid family and medical leave for the working families of this country. I think, Secretary Clinton, $1.61 a week is a pretty good investment. +p4353 +aVDavid, thank you. +p4354 +aVThen (inaudible)... +p4355 +aVEvery (inaudible) Democrat and senator in support of this proposal introduced by your good friend and my good friend, Kirsten Gillibrand, Rosa DeLauro, that is the legislation out there that will finally provide family and medical leave. +p4356 +aVWell, this whole issue concerns me. And I agree with much of what the secretary and the governor have said. But let's be clear. Today in America we have more people in jail than any other country on earth, 2.2 million people. Predominantly African-American and Hispanic. We are spending $80 billion a year locking up our fellow Americans. I think, and this is not easy, but I think we need to make wage a major effort, to come together as a country and end institutional racism. We need major, major reforms of a very broken criminal justice system. Now, what does that mean? Well, for a start it means that police officers should not be shooting unarmed people, predominantly African-Americans. +p4357 +aVIt means that we have to rethink the so-called war on drugs which has destroyed the lives of millions of people, which is why I have taken marijuana out of the Controlled Substance Act. So that it will not be a federal crime. +p4358 +aVThat is why we need to make... That is why we need to make police -- and I speak as a former mayor. I was a mayor for eight years, worked very closely with a great police department. And what we did is try to move that department toward community policing, so that the police officers become part of the community and not, as we see, in some cities an oppressive force. We need to make police departments look like the communities they serve in terms of diversity. We need to end minimal sentencing. We need, basically, to pledge that we're going to invest in this country, in jobs and education, not more jails and incarceration. +p4359 +aVYes. Look, this is a tragedy for New Hampshire. It is a tragedy for my state of Vermont. It is a tragedy all over this country. The number of heroin deaths are growing very, very significantly. What do we do? Well, for a start, this may seem like a radical idea, but I think we have got to tell the medical profession and doctors who are prescribing opiates and the pharmaceutical industry that they have got to start getting their act together, we cannot have this huge number of opiates out there throughout this country, where young people are taking them, getting hooked, and then going to heroin. Second of all, and the reason I believe in a health care for all program, we need to understand that addiction is a disease, not a criminal activity. And that means -- and that means radically changing the way we deal with mental health and addiction issues. When somebody is addicted and seeking help, they should not have to wait three, four months in order to get that help. They should be able to walk in the door tomorrow and get a variety of treatments that work for them. So those are some of the areas that I think we've got to move on. +p4360 +aVBut what... +p4361 +aVLook, the secretary is right. This is a terribly complicated issue. There are no simple solutions. But where we have a disagreement is that I think if you look at the history of regime changes, you go back to Mossadegh in Iran, you go back to Salvador Allende who we overthrew in Chile, you go back to overthrowing Saddam Hussein in Iraq, you go back to where we are today in Syria with a dictator named Assad. The truth is it is relatively easy for a powerful nation like America to overthrow a dictator but it is very hard to predict the unintended consequences and the turmoil and the instability that follows after you overthrow that dictator. So I think Secretary Clinton and I have a fundamental disagreement. I'm not quite the fan of regime change that I believe she is. O' +p4362 +aVGiven the fact that she's a lot smarter than me, yes, she would. And let me, by the way, take this moment to congratulate Hillary Clinton, who I thought not only did an outstanding job as our first lady, but redefined what that role could be. So, I thank you very much for that. My wife, Jane, has been -- way back when before I knew her, a foster parent. Many, many kids came into her home and received the kind of love that they desperately needed. And she turned around many lives. She is the best parent and grandmother that I know. She has devoted her life, when I was mayor of the city of Burlington, actually when I first met her, we started a youth office, which started a after-school programs for kids, started a child care center, started a youth newspaper. We got the kids involved in a whole lot of issues. She led that effort. So I think, at a time when so many of our kids are desperately looking for constructive activity, where too many of our kids are hanging around on street corners, potentially getting into trouble, I think we need a forceful advocate for the children, for teenagers, for the little children, to deal with the dysfunctional child care system, and I think my wife would do a great job in helping me accomplish those goals. +p4363 +aVWell, thank you very much for hosting this debate, and let me applaud my colleagues up here. Because I think frankly, maybe I'm wrong, but on our worst day, I think we have a lot more to offer the American people than the right wing's extremists. +p4364 +aVBut what my parents did accomplish is they were able to send both of their sons to college. We were the first in the family. So I know something about economic anxiety and living in a family does not have sufficient income. And that is why I am pledged, if elected president of the United States, to bring about a political revolution where millions of people begin to stand up and finally say enough is enough, this great country and our government belong to all of us, not just a handful of billionaires. Thank you very much. +p4365 +aVWell, John, let me concur with you and with all Americans who are shocked and disgusted by what we saw in Paris yesterday. Together, leading the world, this country will rid our planet of this barbarous organization called +p4366 +aVAbsolutely. In fact, climate change is directly related to the growth of terrorism. And if we do not get our act together and listen to what the scientists say, you're going to see countries all over the world -- this is what the CIA says -- they're going to be struggling over limited amounts of water, limited amounts of land to grow their crops ask you're going to see all kinds of international conflict. But, of course, international terrorism is a major issue that we have got to address today. And I agree with much of what the Secretary and the Governor have said. But let me have one area of disagreement with the Secretary. I think she said something like the bulk of the responsibility is not ours. Well, in fact, I would argue that the disastrous invasion of Iraq, something that I strongly opposed, has unraveled the region completely and led to the rise of al-Qaeda and to +p4367 +aVI don't think any -- I don't think any sensible person would disagree that the invasion of Iraq led to the massive level of instability we are seeing right now. I think that was one of the worst foreign policy blunders in the more than history of the United States. +p4368 +aVI think we have a disagreement, and the disagreement is that not only did I vote against the war in Iraq. If you look at history, John, you will find that regime change -- whether it was in the early '50s in Iran, whether it was toppling Salvador Allende in Chile, whether it is overthrowing the government of Guatemala way back when -- these invasions, these toppling of governments, regime changes have unintended consequences. I would say that on this issue, I'm a little bit more conservative than the Secretary... +p4369 +aV... And that I am not a great fan of regime change. +p4370 +aVThe Secretary's obviously right. It is enormously complicated. But here's something that I believe we have to do as we put together an international coalition, and that is we have to understand that the Muslim nations in the region -- Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, Jordan -- all of these nations, they're going to have to get their hands dirty, their boots on the ground. They are going to have to take on +p4371 +aVWhen you talk about the long-term consequences of war, let's talk about the men and women who came home from war. The 500,000 who came home with +p4372 +aVI don't think the term is what's important. What is important to understand is we have organizations, whether it is +p4373 +aVLet me do that but let me pick up on an issue, a very important issue that we have not yet discussed. This nation is the most powerful military in the world. We're spending over $600 billion a year on the military and yet, significantly less than 10 percent of that money is used to be fighting international terrorism. We are spending hundreds of billions of dollars maintaining 5,000 nuclear weapons. I think we need major reform in the military, making it more cost effective, but also focusing on the real crisis that faces us. The Cold War is over. And our focus has got to be on intelligence, increased manpower, fighting internationally targets. So, in terms of refugees, I believe that the United States has the moral responsibility with Europe, with Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia to make sure that when people leave countries like Afghanistan and Syria with nothing more than the clothing on their back that, of course, we reach out. Now, what the magic number is, I don't know, because we don't know the extent of the problem. But I certainly think that the United States should take its full responsibility in helping those people. +p4374 +aVLet me put those proposals-- and you're absolutely right. That is what I want to do. That is what is going to have to happen, if we want to revitalize and rebuild the crumbling middle class. In the last 30 years, there has been a massive redistribution of wealth. And I know that term gets my Republican friends nervous. The problem is, this redistribution has gone in the wrong direction. Trillions of dollars have gone from the middle class and working families to the top one-tenth of one percent who have doubled the percentage of wealth they now own. Yes, I do believe that we must end corporate loopholes, such that major corporations year after year pay virtually zero in federal income tax, because they're stashing the money in the Cayman Islands. Yes, I do believe there must be a tax on Wall Street speculation. We bailed out Wall Street. It's their time to bail out the middle class, help our kids be able to go to college tuition-free. So we pay for this by do demanding that the wealthiest people and the largest corporations, who have gotten away with murder for years, start paying their fair share. +p4375 +aVWe haven't come up with an exact number yet, but it will not be as high as the number under Dwight D. Eisenhower, which was 90 percent. But it will be... I'm not that much of a socialist compared to Eisenhower. But -- but we are going to end the absurdity, as Warren Buffet often remind us. O' +p4376 +aVThat billionaires pay an effective tax rate lower than nurses or truck drivers. That makes no sense at all. There has to be real tax reform, and the wealthiest and large corporations will pay when I'm president. O' +p4377 +aVI am on the committee that helped write the Affordable Care Act. We have made some good progress. Now what we have to take on is the pharmaceutical industry that is ripping off the American people every single day. I am proud that I was the first member of Congress to take Americans over the Canadian border to buy breast cancer drugs for one-tenth the price they were paying in the United States. But at the end of the day, no doubt, the Affordable Care Act is a step forward. I think we all support it. I believe we've got to go further. I want to end the international embarrassment of the United States of America being the only major country on earth that doesn't guarantee health care to all people as a right, not a privilege. And also -- also, what we should be clear about is we end up spending -- and I think the secretary knows this -- far more per capita on health care than any other major country, and our outcomes, health care outcomes are not necessarily that good. O' +p4378 +aVKathie, let me say this. You know, no public policy doesn't have, in some cases, negative consequences. But at the end of the day, what you have right now are millions of Americans working two or three jobs because their wages that they are earning are just too low. Real inflation accounted for wages has declined precipitously over the years. So I believe that, in fact, this country needs to move towards a living wage. It is not a radical idea to say that if somebody works 40 hours a week, that person should not be living in poverty. It is not a radical idea to say that a single mom should be earning enough money to take care of her kids. So I believe that over the next few years, not tomorrow, but over the next few years, we have got to move the minimum wage to a living wage, 15 bucks an hour. And I apologize to nobody for that. +p4379 +aVThis is what I think -- this is what many economists believe that one of the reasons that real unemployment in this country is 10 percent, one of the reasons that African American youth unemployment and underemployment is 51 percent is the average worker in America doesn't have any disposable income. You have no disposable income when you are make 10, 12 bucks an hour. When we put money into the hands of working people, they're going to go out and buy goods, they're going to buy services and they're going to create jobs in doing that. Kathie, that is the kind of economy I believe, put money in the hands of working people, raise the minimum wage to 15 buck an hour. O' +p4380 +aVLet me just... +p4381 +aVLet me just add to that. Just because this is not an esoteric argument. You're seeing cities like Seattle. You're seeing cities like San Francisco, cities like Los Angeles doing it, and they are doing it well and workers are able to have more disposable income. +p4382 +aVNot good enough. Here's the story. I mean, you know, let's not be naive about it. Why do -- why, over her political career has Wall Street been a major -- the major campaign contributor to Hillary Clinton? You know, maybe they're dumb and they don't know what they're going to get, but I don't think so. Here is the major issue when we talk about Wall Street. It ain't complicated. You have six financial institutions today that have assets of 56 percent, equivalent to 56 percent of the GDP In America. They issue two-thirds of the credit cards and one-third of the mortgages. If Teddy Roosevelt, a good Republican, were alive today, you know what he'd say? "Break them up." Reestablish Glass-Steagall. And Teddy Roosevelt is right. That is the issue. Now I am the only candidate up here that doesn't have a super PAC. I am not asking Wall Street or the billionaires for money. I will break up these banks. Support community banks and credit unions. That's the future of banking in America. +p4383 +aVI have never heard a candidate never, who has received huge amounts of money from oil, from coal, from Wall Street, from the military industrial complex, not one candidate say, oh, these campaign contributions will not influence me. I'm going to be independent. Well, why do they make millions of dollars of campaign contributions? they expect to get something. Everybody knows that. Once again, I am running a campaign differently than any other candidate. We are relying on small campaign donors, 750,000 of them, 30 bucks a piece. That's who I'm indebted to. +p4384 +aVNo, I have not. +p4385 +aVSo was I, John. Let me get a chance to respond. This issue touches on two broad issues. It's not just Wall Street. It's campaign -- a corrupt campaign finance system. And it is easy to talk the talk about ending Citizens United, but what I think we need to do is show by example that we are prepared to not rely on large corporations and Wall Street for campaign contributions, and that's what I'm doing. In terms of Wall Street, I respectfully disagree with you, madam secretary, in the sense that the issue here is when you have such incredible power and such incredible wealth. When you have Wall Street spending $5 billion over a 10-year period to get -- to get deregulated, the only answer they know is break them up, reestablish Glass-Stegall. +p4386 +aVThe big banks-- +p4387 +aVLook-- +p4388 +aVI don't know and with all due respect to the secretary, Wall Street played by the rules? Who are we kidding? The business model of Wall Street is fraud. That's what it is. And we have -- and let me make this promise. One of the problems we have had -- I think all Americans understand this, is whether it's Republican administrations or Democratic administrations, we have seen Wall Street and Goldman Sachs dominate administrations. Here's my promise-- Wall Street representatives will not be in my cabinet. +p4389 +aVLet's do more -- let's do more than reverse the immunity. Let's... +p4390 +aVLet me hear if there's any difference between the Secretary and myself. I have voted time and again to -- for -- for the background check, and I want to see it improved and expanded. I want to see us do away with the gun show loophole. In 1988, I lost an election because I said we should not have assault weapons on the streets of America. We have to do away with the strawman proposal. We need radical changes in mental health in America so somebody who is suicidal or homicidal can get the emergency care they need. We have -- I don't know that there's any disagreement here... O' +p4391 +aVWe have got to come forward with a consensus that in fact will work. +p4392 +aVThere were parts of that bill which agree with parts -- I disagree. I am certainly, absolutely, willing to look at that bill again and make sure there's a stronger bill. +p4393 +aVWith all -- with all due respect... I think it's fair to say that Baltimore is not now one of the safest cities in America, but the issue is... O' +p4394 +aVThe issue is -- I believe, and I believe this honestly, and I don't know that there's much difference on guns between us. But I believe coming from a state that has virtually no gun control, I believe that I am in position to reach out to the 60 or 70 percent of the American people who agree with us on those issues. The problem is... +p4395 +aV... people all over this country -- not you, Secretary Clinton -- are shouting at each other. And what we need to do is bring people together to work on the agreement where there is broad consensus and that's what I intend to do. O' +p4396 +aVAbsolutely. +p4397 +aVYes. +p4398 +aVYes. +p4399 +aVYes, I agree. +p4400 +aVWell, I -- if I might. I think the issue here is -- and I applaud Secretary Clinton. She did. She's the senator from New York. She worked -- and many of us supported you -- in trying to rebuild that devastation. But at the end of the day, Wall Street today has enormous economic and political power. Their business model is greed and fraud. And for the sake of our economy, they must -- the major banks must be broken up. +p4401 +aVWell, (inaudible) the major issue right now is whether or not we reestablish Glass-Steagall. I led the effort, unfortunately unsuccessfully, against deregulation because I knew when you merge large insurance companies and investment banks and commercial banks it was not going to be good. The issue now is do we break them ?up do we reestablish Glass-Steagall. And Secretary Clinton, unfortunately, is on the wrong side. +p4402 +aVLet me... O' +p4403 +aVThank you. Looking forward to it. +p4404 +aVYes. +p4405 +aVRight. +p4406 +aVAnd we are going to do a political revolution, which brings working people, young people, senior citizens, minorities together. Because every issue that I am talking about-- paid family and medical leave, breaking up the banks on Wall Street, asking the wealth to pay their fair share of taxes, rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, raising the minimum wage to 15 bucks an hour -- every one of those issues is supported by a significant majority of the American people. The problem is, that as a result of a corrupt campaign finance system, Congress is not listening to the American people. Its listening to the big money interest. What the political revolution is about is bringing people together to finally say, enough is enough. This government belongs to us. Not just the billionaires. +p4407 +aVYes. +p4408 +aVYes. +p4409 +aVYeah. +p4410 +aVWhat we need is leadership in this country which revitalizes American democracy, and makes people understand that if they stand up and fight back and take on the billionaire class, we can bring about the change that we need. If we are not successful, if we continue the same old, same old of Washington being run by corporate lobbyists and big-money interests, nothing changes. What I am very happy in this campaign that we have had rallies with tens of thousands of people, mostly young people. What the polls are showing is that we are actually defeating the secretary among younger people. We're giving young people and working people hope that real change can take place in America. That's what the political revolution is about. +p4411 +aVNo. That's just media stuff. I was sick and tired of Hillary Clinton's e-mail. I am still sick and tired of Hillary Clinton's e-mails. And the issue is, the problem is, the front pages every day were dealing with it. I didn't know I had so much power. But after I said that, we're not hearing so much about Hillary Clinton's e-mails. What I would like for the media now is for us to be talking about why the middle class is disappearing, why we have more people in jail than any other country, why we have massive levels of income and wealth inequality, and we're the only major country on Earth without paid family and medical leave. We've gotten off the Hillary's e-mails, good. Let's go to the major issues facing America. +p4412 +aVWell, this is what I would say, and the Congressman was right. According to the statistics that I'm familiar with, a black male baby born today stands a one in four chance of ending up in the criminal justice system. Fifty-one percent of high school African-American graduates are unemployed or underemployed. We have more people in jail today than any other country on earth. We're spending $80 billion locking people up, disproportionately Latino and African American. We need, very clearly, major, major reform in a broken criminal justice system. From top to bottom. And that means when police officers out in a community do illegal activity -- kill people who are unarmed who should not be killed, they must be held accountable. It means that we end minimum sentencing for those people arrested. It means that we take marijuana out of the federal law as a crime and give states the freedom to go forward with legalizing marijuana. +p4413 +aVNo, it is not throwing -- it is an extraordinary investment for this country. Germany, many other countries do it already. In fact, if you remember, 50, 60 years ago, the University of California, City University of New York were virtually tuition-free. Here is the story -- it's not just the college graduates should be $50,000 or $100,000 in debt. More importantly, I want kids in Burlington, Vermont, or Baltimore, Maryland, who are in the sixth grade or the eighth grade, who don't have a lot of money, whose parents -- like my parents -- may never have gone to college. Do you know where I'm going, Kevin? I want those kids to know that if they study hard, they do their homework, regardless of the income of their families, they will in fact be able to get a college education because we are going to make public colleges and universities tuition-free. This is revolutionary for education in America. It will give hope to millions of young people. +p4414 +aVYes. +p4415 +aVWell, I think that they're be pretty smart, because I think a lot of the states will do the right thing, and I think those states that don't will pay a heavy penalty. Bottom line here is, in the year 2015, we should look at a college degree the same way we looked at a high school degree 50 or 60 years ago. If you want to make it into the middle class -- I'm not saying in all cases -- we need plumbers, and we need carpenters, and electricians, that's for sure, and they should get help as well. But bottom line now, is in America, in the year 2015, any person who has the ability and the desire should be able to get an education, college education, regardless of the income of his or her family. And we must substantially lower, as my legislation does, interest rates on student debt. +p4416 +aVIt's not going to happen tomorrow. And it's probably not going to happen until we have real campaign finance reform and get rid of all these superpacs, and the power of the insurance companies and the drug companies. But at the end of the day, Nancy, here is the question -- in this great country of ours, with so much intelligence and so much capability, why do we remain the only major country on earth that does not guarantee health care to all people as a right? Why do we continue to get ripped off by the drug companies who can charge us any prices they want? Why is it that we are spending per capita far, far more than Canada, which is 100 miles away from my door, that guarantees health care to all people? It will not happen tomorrow. But when millions of people stand up and are prepared to take on the insurance companies and the drug companies, it will happen, and I will lead that effort. Medicare for all, single-payer system is the way we should go. +p4417 +aVWell, let me just say something. +p4418 +aVWe don't eliminate Medicare. We expand Medicare to all people. And we will not, under this proposal, have a situation that we have right now with the Affordable Care Act where you have states like South Carolina, and many other Republican states, that because of their right wing political ideology, are denying millions of people the expansion of Medicaid that we passed in the Affordable Care Act. Ultimately, we have got to say as a nation, Secretary Clinton, is health care a right of all people or is it not? I believe it is a right. O' +p4419 +aVJohn, I had the honor of being chairman of the U.S. Senate committee on Veterans' Affairs for two years. And in that capacity, I met with just an extraordinary group of people from World War II, from korea, vietnam, all of the wars. People came back from Iraq and Afghanistan without legs, without arms. And I was determined to do everything that I could to make VA health care the best in the world, to expand benefits to the men and women who put their lives on the line to defending. We brought together legislation supported by the American Legion, the VFW, the DOD, Vietnam Vets, all of the veterans organizations, which was comprehensive. Clearly the best piece of veterans' legislation brought forth in decades. I could only get two Republican votes on that. We ended up with 56 votes. We needed 60. So what I had to do then is go back and start working on a bill that wasn't the bill that I wanted. Sit down with people like John Mccain. Sit down with people like Jeff Miller, the Republican chairman of the house, and work on a bill. It wasn't the bill that I wanted, but yet it turned out to be one of the more significant pieces of veterans' legislation passed in recent history. So the crisis was I lost what I wanted. But I had to stand up and come back and get the best that we could. +p4420 +aVJohn -- John, this country today has more income and wealth inequality than any major country on Earth. We have a corrupt campaign finance system dominated by Super PACs. We are the only major country on Earth that doesn't guarantee healthcare to all people. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty, and we're the only country in the world -- virtually the only country that doesn't guarantee paid family and medical leave. That's not the America that I think we should be. But in order to bring about the changes that we need, we need a political revolution. Millions of people are going to have to stand up, turn off the TV, get involved in the political process and tell the big- money interest that we are taking back our country. Please go to berniesanders.com. Please become part of the political revolution. Thank you. +p4421 +aVAnderson, thank you very much. I think most Americans understand that our country today faces a series of unprecedented crises. The middle class of this country for the last 40 years has been disappearing. Millions of Americans are working longer hours for lower wages, and yet almost all of the new income and wealth being created is going to the top one percent. As a result of this disastrous Citizens United Supreme Court decision, our campaign finance system is corrupt and is undermining American democracy. Millionaires and billionaires are pouring unbelievable sums of money into the political process in order to fund super PACs and to elect candidates who represent their interests, not the interests of working people. Today, the scientific community is virtually unanimous: climate change is real, it is caused by human activity, and we have a moral responsibility to transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energy and leave this planet a habitable planet for our children and our grandchildren. Today in America, we have more people in jail than any other country on Earth. African-American youth unemployment is 51 percent. Hispanic youth unemployment is 36 percent. It seems to me that instead of building more jails and providing more incarceration, maybe \u2014 just maybe \u2014 we should be putting money into education and jobs for our kids. What this campaign is about is whether we can mobilize our people to take back our government from a handful of billionaires and create the vibrant democracy we know we can and should have. Thank you. +p4422 +aVWell, we're gonna win because first, we're gonna explain what democratic socialism is. And what democratic socialism is about is saying that it is immoral and wrong that the top one-tenth of 1 percent in this country own almost 90 percent \u2014 almost \u2014 own almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent. That it is wrong, today, in a rigged economy, that 57 percent of all new income is going to the top 1 percent. That when you look around the world, you see every other major country providing health care to all people as a right, except the United States. You see every other major country saying to moms that, when you have a baby, we're not gonna separate you from your newborn baby, because we are going to have \u2014 we are gonna have medical and family paid leave, like every other country on Earth. Those are some of the principles that I believe in, and I think we should look to countries like Denmark, like Sweden and Norway, and learn from what they have accomplished for their working people. +p4423 +aVWell, first of all, let's look at the facts. The facts that are very simple. Republicans win when there is a low voter turnout, and that is what happened last November. Sixty-three percent of the American people didn't vote, Anderson. Eighty percent of young people didn't vote. We are bringing out huge turnouts, and creating excitement all over this country. Democrats at the White House on down will win, when there is excitement and a large voter turnout, and that is what this campaign is doing. +p4424 +aVDo I consider myself part of the casino capitalist process by which so few have so much and so many have so little by which Wall Street's greed and recklessness wrecked this economy? No, I don't. I believe in a society where all people do well. Not just a handful of billionaires. +p4425 +aVI think everybody is in agreement that we are a great entrepreneurial nation. We have got to encourage that. Of course, we have to support small and medium-sized businesses. But you can have all of the growth that you want and it doesn't mean anything if all of the new income and wealth is going to the top 1 percent. So what we need to do is support small and medium-sized businesses, the backbone of our economy, but we have to make sure that every family in this country gets a fair shake... +p4426 +aV... not just for billionaires. +p4427 +aVLet's begin, Anderson, by understanding that Bernie Sanders has a D-minus voting rating (ph) from the NRA. Let's also understand that back in 1988 when I first ran for the United States Congress, way back then, I told the gun owners of the state of Vermont and I told the people of the state of Vermont, a state which has virtually no gun control, that I supported a ban on assault weapons. And over the years, I have strongly avoided instant background checks, doing away with this terrible gun show loophole. And I think we've got to move aggressively at the federal level in dealing with the straw man purchasers. Also I believe, and I've fought for, to understand that there are thousands of people in this country today who are suicidal, who are homicidal, but can't get the healthcare that they need, the mental healthcare, because they don't have insurance or they're too poor. I believe that everybody in this country who has a mental crisis has got to get mental health counseling immediately. +p4428 +aVOf course not. This was a large and complicated bill. There were provisions in it that I think made sense. For example, do I think that a gun shop in the state of Vermont that sells legally a gun to somebody, and that somebody goes out and does something crazy, that that gun shop owner should be held responsible? I don't. On the other hand, where you have manufacturers and where you have gun shops knowingly giving guns to criminals or aiding and abetting that, of course we should take action. +p4429 +aVAs a senator from a rural state, what I can tell Secretary Clinton, that all the shouting in the world is not going to do what I would hope all of us want, and that is keep guns out of the hands of people who should not have those guns and end this horrible violence that we are seeing. I believe that there is a consensus in this country. A consensus has said we need to strengthen and expand instant background checks, do away with this gun show loophole, that we have to address the issue of mental health, that we have to deal with the strawman purchasing issue, and that when we develop that consensus, we can finally, finally do something to address this issue. +p4430 +aVI think the governor gave a very good example about the weaknesses in that law and I think we have to take another look at it. But here is the point, Governor. We can raise our voices, but I come from a rural state, and the views on gun control in rural states are different than in urban states, whether we like it or not. Our job is to bring people together around strong, commonsense gun legislation. I think there is a vast majority in this country who want to do the right thing, and I intend to lead the country in bringing our people together. O' +p4431 +aVIt's exactly about rural. O' +p4432 +aVGovernor... O' +p4433 +aVWell, as somebody who has a D-minus voting record... O' +p4434 +aVI don't think I am pandering. But you have not been in the United States Congress. O' +p4435 +aVAnd when you want to, check it out. And if you think \u2014 if you think that we can simply go forward and pass something tomorrow without bringing people together, you are sorely mistaken. +p4436 +aV...Excuse me... O' +p4437 +aV...I want to make... O' +p4438 +aVWell, let's understand that when we talk about Syria, you're talking about a quagmire in a quagmire. You're talking about groups of people trying to overthrow Assad, other groups of people fighting +p4439 +aVLet me just respond to something the secretary said. First of all, she is talking about, as I understand it, a no-fly zone in Syria, which I think is a very dangerous situation. Could lead to real problems. Second of all, I heard the same evidence from President Bush and Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld about why we should overthrow Saddam Hussein and get involved in the \u2014 I would urge people to go to berniesanders.com, hear what I said in 2002. And I say, without any joy in my heart, that much of what I thought would happen about the destabilization, in fact, did happen. So I think... +p4440 +aVI think the president is trying very hard to thread a tough needle here, and that is to support those people who are against Assad, against +p4441 +aVWell, obviously, I voted, when President Clinton said, "let's stop ethnic cleansing in Kosovo," I voted for that. I voted to make sure that Osama bin Laden was held accountable in Afghanistan. When our country is threatened, or when our allies are threatened, I believe that we need coalitions to come together to address the major crises of this country. I do not support the United States getting involved in unilateral action. ( +p4442 +aVI don't believe that any... +p4443 +aVPardon me? +p4444 +aVWell, I think Mr. Putin is going to regret what he is doing. I think that when he gets into that... +p4445 +aVWell, I think he's already regretting what he did in Crimea and what he is doing in the Ukraine. I think he is really regretting the decline of his economy. And I think what he is trying to do now is save some face. But I think when Russians get killed in Syria and when he gets bogged down, I think the Russian people are going to give him a message that maybe they should come home, maybe they should start working with the United States to rectify the situation now. +p4446 +aVWell, first of all, let me applaud my good friend Jim Webb for his service to this country in so many ways. Jim and I, under Jim's leadership, as he indicated, passed the most significant veterans education bill in recent history. We followed suit with a few years later passing, under my leadership, the most significant veterans' health care legislation in the modern history of this country. When I was a young man \u2014 I'm not a young man today. When I was a young man, I strongly opposed the war in Vietnam. Not the brave men like Jim who fought in that war, but the policy which got us involved in that war. That was my view then. I am not a pacifist, Anderson. I supported the war in Afghanistan. I supported President Clinton's effort to deal with ethnic cleansing in Kosovo. I support air strikes in Syria and what the president is trying to do. Yes, I happen to believe from the bottom of my heart that war should be the last resort that we have got to exercise diplomacy. But yes, I am prepared to take this country into war if that is necessary. +p4447 +aVThe scientific community is telling us that if we do not address the global crisis of climate change, transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to sustainable energy, the planet that we're going to be leaving our kids and our grandchildren may well not be habitable. That is a major crisis. +p4448 +aVLet me say this. Let me say \u2014 let me say something that may not be great politics. But I think the secretary is right, and that is that the American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn e-mails. +p4449 +aVYou know? The middle class \u2014 Anderson, and let me say something about the media, as well. I go around the country, talk to a whole lot of people. Middle class in this country is collapsing. We have 27 million people living in poverty. We have massive wealth and income inequality. Our trade policies have cost us millions of decent jobs. The American people want to know whether we're going to have a democracy or an oligarchy as a result of Citizens Union. Enough of the e-mails. Let's talk about the real issues facing America. +p4450 +aVBlack lives matter. And the reason \u2014 the reason those words matter is the African American community knows that on any given day some innocent person like Sandra Bland can get into a car, and then three days later she's going to end up dead in jail, or their kids... ...are going to get shot. We need to combat institutional racism from top to bottom, and we need major, major reforms in a broken criminal justice system... ...In which we have more people in jail than China. And, I intended to tackle that issue. To make sure that our people have education and jobs rather than jail cells. +p4451 +aVWell, first of all, let's remember where we were when Bush left office. We were losing 800,000 jobs a month. And I know my Republican friends seem to have some amnesia on this issue, but the world's financial crisis was on \u2014 the world's financial markets system was on the verge of collapse. That's where we were. Are we better off today than we were then? Absolutely. But the truth is that for the 40 years, the great middle class of this country has been disappearing. And in my view what we need to do is create millions of jobs by rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure; raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour; pay equity for women workers; and our disastrous trade policies, which have cost us millions of jobs; and make every public college and university in this country tuition free. +p4452 +aVWell, that's not true. +p4453 +aVLet us be clear that the greed and recklessness and illegal behavior of Wall Street, where fraud is a business model, helped to destroy this economy and the lives of millions of people. Check the record. In the 1990s \u2014 and all due respect \u2014 in the 1990s, when I had the Republican leadership and Wall Street spending billions of dollars in lobbying, when the Clinton administration, when Alan Greenspan said, "what a great idea it would be to allow these huge banks to merge," Bernie Sanders fought them, and helped lead the opposition to deregulation. Today, it is my view that when you have the three... +p4454 +aV...largest banks in America \u2014 are much bigger than they were when we bailed them out for being too big to fail, we have got to break them up. +p4455 +aVI will, just a second. +p4456 +aVI'll tell him. In my view, Secretary Clinton, you do not \u2014 Congress does not regulate Wall Street. Wall Street regulates Congress. And we have gotta break off these banks. Going to them... +p4457 +aV...and saying, "please, do the right thing"... +p4458 +aV...is kind of naive. +p4459 +aVWell, I remember that meeting very well. I remember it like it was yesterday. Hank Paulson, Bernanke came in, and they say, "guys, the economy is going to collapse because Wall Street is going under. It's gonna take the economy with them." And you know what I said to Hank Paulson? I said, "Hank, your guys \u2014 you come from Goldman Sachs. Your millionaire and billionaire friends caused this problem. How about your millionaire and billionaire friends paying for the bailout, not working families in this country?" So to answer your question, no, I would not have let the economy collapse. But it was wrong to ask the middle class to bail out Wall Street. And by the way, I want Wall Street now to help kids in this country go to college, public colleges and universities, free with a Wall Street speculation tax. +p4460 +aVWell, let me tell you, Donald Trump and his billionaire friends under my policies are going to pay a hell of a lot more in taxes today \u2014 taxes in the future than they're paying today. But in terms of education, this is what I think. This is the year 2015. A college degree today, Dana, is the equivalent of what a high school degree was 50 years ago. And what we said 50 years ago and a hundred years ago is that every kid in this country should be able to get a high school education regardless of the income of their family. I think we have to say that is true for everybody going to college. I think we don't need a complicated system, which the secretary is talking about, the income goes down, the income goes down, if you're poor you have to work, and so forth and so on. I pay for my program, by the way, through a tax on Wall Street speculation, which will not only make public colleges and universities tuition-free, it will substantially lower interest rates on college debt, a major crisis in this country. +p4461 +aV... in order to make it possible for them to afford their education. And I want colleges to get their costs down. They are outrageously high in what they're charging. +p4462 +aVWhen the Republicans \u2014 when the Republicans in the Congress and some Democrats were talking about cutting Social Security and benefits for disabled veterans, for the so-called chained CPI, I founded a caucus called the Defending Social Security Caucus. My view is that when you have millions of seniors in this country trying to get by \u2014 and I don't know how they do on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year \u2014 you don't cut Social Security, you expand it. And the way you expand it is by lifting the cap on taxable incomes so that you do away with the absurdity of a millionaire paying the same amount into the system as somebody making $118,000. You do that, Social Security is solvent until 2061 and you can expand benefits. +p4463 +aVI didn't leave anybody at the altar. I voted against that piece of legislation because it had guest-worker provisions in it which the Southern Poverty Law Center talked about being semi-slavery. Guest workers are coming in, they're working under terrible conditions, but if they stand up for their rights, they're thrown out of the country. I was not the only progressive to vote against that legislation for that reason. Tom Harkin, a very good friend of Hillary Clinton's and mine, one of the leading labor advocates, also voted against that. +p4464 +aVI know that. But point being is that progressives did vote against that for that reason. My view right now \u2014 and always has been \u2014 is that when you have 11 million undocumented people in this country, we need comprehensive immigration reform, we need a path toward citizenship, we need to take people out of the shadows. O' +p4465 +aVWell, I was chairman for two years, and when I was chairman we did take action. What we did is pass a $15 billion dollar piece of legislation which brought in many, many new doctors, and nurses into the V.A. so that veterans in this country could get the health care when they needed it, and not be on long waiting lines. And, the other part of that legislation said that if a veteran is living more than 40 miles away from a V.A. facility, that veteran could get health care from the community health center, or the private sector. As a result of that legislation, we went further in than any time in recent history in improving health care for the men and women of this country who put their lives on the line to defend them. +p4466 +aVIt was 99 to one and I was maybe the one. I don't know. +p4467 +aVI'm sorry? +p4468 +aVAbsolutely. Of course. +p4469 +aVWell, I would shut down \u2014 make \u2014 I'd shut down what exists right now is that virtually every telephone call in this country ends up in a file at the NSA. That is unacceptable to me. But it's not just government surveillance. I think the government is involved in our e-mails; is involved in our websites. Corporate America is doing it as well. If we are a free country, we have the right to be free. Yes, we have to defend ourselves against terrorism, but there are ways to do that without impinging on our constitutional rights and our privacy rights. O' +p4470 +aVI think Snowden played a very important role in educating the American people to the degree in which our civil liberties and our constitutional rights are being undermined. +p4471 +aVHe did \u2014 he did break the law, and I think there should be a penalty to that. But I think what he did in educating us should be taken into consideration before he is (inaudible). +p4472 +aVI have a lot of respect for president Obama. I have worked with him time and time again on many, many issues. But here's where I do disagree. I believe that the power of corporate America, the power of Wall Street, the power of the drug companies, the power of the corporate media is so great that the only way we really transform America and do the things that the middle class and working class desperately need is through a political revolution when millions of people begin to come together and stand up and say: Our government is going to work for all of us, not just a handful of billionaires. +p4473 +aVWhat I mean is that we need to have one of the larger voter turnouts in the world, not one of the lowest. We need to raise public consciousness. We need the American people to know what's going on in Washington in a way that today they do not know. And when people come together in a way that does not exist now and are prepared to take on the big money interest, then we could bring the kind of change we need. O' +p4474 +aVI think \u2014 I think that there is profound frustration all over this country with establishment politics. I am the only candidate running for president who is not a billionaire, who has raised substantial sums of money, and I do not have a super PAC. I am not raising money from millionaires and billionaires, and in fact, tonight, in terms of what a political revolution is about, there are 4,000 house parties \u2014 100,000 people in this country \u2014 watching this debate tonight who want real change in this country. +p4475 +aVWell, I will tell you this. I believe \u2014 and Pope Francis made this point. This is a moral issue. The scientists are telling us that we need to move extremely boldly. I am proud that, along with Senator Barbara Boxer, a few years ago, we introduced the first piece of climate change legislation which called for a tax on carbon. And let me also tell you that nothing is gonna happen unless we are prepared to deal with campaign finance reform, because the fossil fuel industry is funding the Republican Party, which denies the reality of climate change... ...and certainly is not prepared to go forward aggressively. This is a moral issue. We have got to be extremely aggressive in working with China, India, Russia. +p4476 +aVThe planet \u2014 the future of the planet is at stake. +p4477 +aVYeah, Dana, here's the point: Every other major country on Earth, every one, including some small countries, say that when a mother has a baby, she should stay home with that baby. We are the only major country. That is an international embarrassment that we do not provide family \u2014 paid family and medical leave. Second of all, the secretary is right. Republicans tell us we can't do anything except give tax breaks to billionaires and cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. That's not what the American people want. +p4478 +aVI suspect I would vote yes. And I would vote yes because I am seeing in this country too many lives being destroyed for non-violent offenses. We have a criminal justice system that lets CEOs on Wall Street walk away, and yet we are imprisoning or giving jail sentences to young people who are smoking marijuana. I think we have to think through this war on drugs... ...which has done an enormous amount of damage. We need to rethink our criminal justice system, we we've got a lot of work to do in that area. O' +p4479 +aVThe Republican party, since I've been in the Senate, and since President Obama has been in office, has played a terrible, terrible role of being total obstructionists. Every effort that he has made, that some of us have made, they have said no, no, no. Now, in my view, the only way we can take on the right wing republicans who are, by the way, I hope will not continue to control the Senate and the House when one of us elected President... ...But the only way we can get things done is by having millions of people coming together. If we want free tuition at public colleges and universities, millions of young people are going to have to demand it, and give the Republicans an offer they can't refuse. If we want to raise the minimum wage to $15 bucks an hour, workers are going to have to come together and look the Republicans in the eye, and say, "We know what's going on. You vote against us, you are out of your job." +p4480 +aVAs someone who has taken on probably every special interest that there is in Washington, I would lump Wall Street and the pharmaceutical industry at the top of my life of people who do not like me. +p4481 +aVThis is a great country, but we have many, many serious problems. We should not be the country that has the highest rate of childhood poverty of any major country and more wealth and income inequality than any other country. We should not be the only major country on Earth that does not guarantee health care to all of our people as a right of citizenship and we should not be the only major country that does not provide medical and \u2014 and parental leave \u2014 family and parental leave to all of our families. Now, at the end of our day, here is the truth that very few candidates will say, is that nobody up here, certainly no Republican, can address the major crises facing our country unless millions of people begin to stand up to the billionaire class that has so much power over our economy and our political life. Jim Webb is right: Money is pouring in to this campaign through super PACs. We are doing it the old-fashioned way: 650,000 individual contributions. And if people want to help us out, BernieSanders.com. We are averaging $30 bucks apiece. We would appreciate your help. +p4482 +asVBARTIROMO +p4483 +(lp4484 +VTonight we're partnering with the Wall Street Journal to ask questions on the economy that voters want answered. We're also working with Facebook, who tells us that since the first Republican debate, more than 58 million people have joined the political conversation online. More than 9 million are talking specifically about the economy. +p4485 +aVBusinesswoman Carly Fiorina. Ohio Governor John Kasich. And Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. +p4486 +aVWe've asked people on Facebook to submit their questions for the candidates. Seth Bell wrote, "We are approaching $20 trillion in national debt. Specifically, what plans do you have to cut federal spending?" Governor Kasich, you have spoken much about your success in balancing the budget under President Clinton. Today the national debt is at record highs and growing unsustainably. Interest will be the fastest-growing part of the federal budget, tripling over the next 10 years. Social Security, the lifeline of millions of American seniors, is rushing toward insolvency. With all of the tax plans presented tonight, estimated to cost anywhere between $2 trillion and $12 trillion over a decade, what specific steps will you take to balance the budget? +p4487 +aVDid you want to name any specific steps, sir? +p4488 +aVThank you, sir. +p4489 +aVSenator Cruz, the International Monetary Fund recently cut its expectations for economic growth. Many economists expect a recession to hit the U.S. within the next year due to the weakening of manufacturing. The next president will have to deal with it. You say tax reform is a powerful lever to spur economic expansion. You're calling for a 10 percent income tax and a 16 percent business tax. What other elements do you need in this plan to actually create jobs? +p4490 +aVThank you, sir. +p4491 +aVGovernor Bush... +p4492 +aVWe have more questions for you, Governor Kasich, coming up. We have more questions for you, Governor Kasich. +p4493 +aVWe will \u2014 we will certainly get to that. Governor Bush? +p4494 +aVAlmost 40 percent of Americans are without a job and are not looking. Many have given up. That's what the participation rate tells us. You've said your policies will drive the economy back to 4 percent growth, which we haven't seen since the year 2000. What specific regulations would you change? And how will that lead to jobs and growth? +p4495 +aVThank you, sir. +p4496 +aVMr. Trump, a federal appeals court just dealt a blow to the Obama administration's plan to prevent the deportation of 5 million people living in this country illegally. The White House is appealing to the Supreme Court. At the heart of this issue is the effect that illegal immigrants are having on our economy, what will you do about it? +p4497 +aVCan we just send 5 million people back with no effect on economy? +p4498 +aVSo what will you do? +p4499 +aVThank you, sir. +p4500 +aVWe go back to Facebook. Dewayne Wesley Cato asks on Facebook, how do we get rid of regulations choking our businesses? Ms. Fiorina? Specifically, under the president's Affordable Care Act, employers with 50 or more employees are required to offer health insurance, or be fined. Many are opting to pay the fine. Others are cutting back employee hours to duck the law altogether. What specific ways will you alleviate the pressure on small business? +p4501 +aVJust to be clear, you want to repeal Obamacare... ..but, what's the alternative? +p4502 +aVJust to be clear, you say you would repeal Obamacare... +p4503 +aV...But, what is the alternative... +p4504 +aV...and how does that help small business... +p4505 +aV...Thank you... +p4506 +aVSenator Cruz, there isn't anyone in this audience or watching at home tonight who would not like to pay less in taxes. Most people just want a fair shake, and they don't want their money to be wasted. But explain how your plan works. How can you cut taxes as much as you propose without running up debt and deficits? +p4507 +aVBut you haven't told us how to pay for it. +p4508 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Bush, Republican primary voters say tax reform should be a priority for Congress and the administration. But, Governor Bush, how important is tax reform in your domestic policy agenda? Will you guarantee it in the first year of your presidency? +p4509 +aVThank you, Governor. +p4510 +aVThat's right. That's right. +p4511 +aVComing up, the biggest threats facing the next commander-in-chief. You're watching the Republican presidential debate, live tonight from Milwaukee. We'll be right back. +p4512 +aVWelcome back. Welcome back to the Republican presidential debate. The candidates taking the questions you want answered. Also tonight, you can see what America is saying about the debate. Go to Facebook and type #gopdebate into the search box. Now, back to the questions. Americans face security threats at home and abroad. Last year, terrorist attacks rose 61 percent, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace, with the most deaths occurring in just five countries, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Syria. Dr. Carson, you were against putting troops on the ground in Iraq and against a large military force in Afghanistan. Do you support the president's decision to now put 50 special ops forces in Syria and leave 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan? +p4513 +aVWe asked Facebook to take a look at some of the major issues we're talking about, and tackling in this debate tonight. This word cloud shows what people are focusing on the most. The bigger the word, the more the talk. One of the most discussed issues in the last month, homeland security. Governor Bush, what is the biggest threat facing America today? +p4514 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, in 2012 debate, President Obama mocked Mitt Romney's assertion that Russia was the top geopolitical challenge facing the United States, saying he was a Cold War dinosaur. Now, Russia has invaded Ukraine, and has put troops in Syria. You have said you will have a good relationship with Mr. Putin. So, what does President Trump do in response to Russia's aggression? +p4515 +aVThank you, sir. +p4516 +aVThank you, governor. +p4517 +aVSenator Rubio. +p4518 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. +p4519 +aVMore questions \u2014 more questions coming up, when the Republican presidential debate comes right back, live from Milwaukee. Stay with us. +p4520 +aVWelcome back to the fourth Republican presidential debate. Senator Rubio, Hillary Clinton is the clear front runner for the Democratic nomination. If she is indeed the nominee, you will be facing a candidate with an impressive resume. She was the first lady of the United States, a U.S. senator from New York, and secretary of state under Barack Obama. She has arguably more experience, certainly more time in government than almost all of you on stage tonight. Why should the American people trust you to lead this country, even though she has been so much closer to the office? +p4521 +aVSenator Paul, you were one of 15 republicans to vote for an amendment which states that human activity contributed to climate change. President Obama has announced an aggressive plan to cut carbon emissions. At the same time, energy production in America has boomed. Is it possible to continue this boom, and move toward energy self-sufficiency, while at the same time pursuing a meaningful climate change program? +p4522 +aVCarly Fiorina? +p4523 +aVFormer Governor Jeb Bush? +p4524 +aVSenator Ted Cruz? +p4525 +aVHe's funny. +p4526 +aVThank you. +p4527 +asVCLINTON +p4528 +(lp4529 +VThank you. +p4530 +aVI'm running for president to knock down all the barriers that are holding Americans back, and to rebuild the ladders of opportunity that will give every American a chance to advance, especially those who have been left out and left behind. I know a lot of Americans are angry about the economy. And for good cause. Americans haven't had a raise in 15 years. There aren't enough good-paying jobs, especially for young people. And yes, the economy is rigged in favor of those at the top. We both agree that we have to get unaccountable money out of our political system and that we have to do much more to ensure that Wall Street never wrecks main street again. But I want to go further. I want to tackle those barriers that stand in the way of too many Americans right now. African-Americans who face discrimination in the job market, education, housing, and the criminal justice system. Hardworking immigrant families living in fear, who should be brought out of the shadows so they and their children can have a better future. Guaranteeing that women's work finally gets the pay, the equal pay that we deserve. I think America can only live up to its potential when we make sure that every American has a chance to live up to his or her potential. That will be my mission as president. And I think together we will make progress. +p4531 +aVJudy, I think that the best analysis that I've seen based on Senator Sanders plans is that it would probably increase the size of the federal government by about 40%, but what is most concerning to me is that in looking at the plans \u2014 let's take healthcare for example. Last week in a CNN town hall, the Senator told a questioner that the questioner would spend about $500 dollars in taxes to get about $5,000 dollars in healthcare. Every progressive economist who has analyzed that says that the numbers don't add up, and that's a promise that cannot be kept, and it's really important now that we are getting into the rest of the country that both of us are held to account for explaining what we are proposing because, especially with healthcare, this is not about math. This is about people's lives, and we should level with the American people about what we can do to make sure they get quality affordable healthcare. +p4532 +aVI can only say that we both share the goal of universal health care coverage. You know, before it was called Obamacare, it was called Hillarycare. And I took on the drug companies and I took on the insurance companies to try to get us universal health care coverage. And why I am a staunch supporter of President Obama's principal accomplishment \u2014 namely the Affordable Care Act \u2014 is because I know how hard it was to get that done. We are at 90 percent coverage. We have to get the remaining 10. I've set forth very specific plans about how to get costs down, especially prescription drug costs. And it is difficult to in any way argue with the goal that we both share. But I think the American people deserve to know specifically how this would work. If it's Medicare for all, then you no longer have the Affordable Care Act, because the Affordable Care Act, as you know very well, is based on the insurance system, based on exchanges, based on a subsidy system. The Children's Health Insurance Program, which I helped to create, which covers 8 million kids, is also a different kind of program. So if you're having Medicare for all, single-payer, you need to level with people about what they will have at the end of the process you are proposing. And based on every analysis that I can find by people who are sympathetic to the goal, the numbers don't add up, and many people will actually be worse off than they are right now. +p4533 +aVWell, let me just \u2014 let me just say, once again......that, having been in the trenches fighting for this, I believe strongly we have to guarantee health care. I believe we are on the path to doing that. The last thing we need is to throw our country into a contentious debate about health care again. And we are not England. We are not France. We inherited a system that was set up during World War II; 170 million Americans get health insurance right now through their employers. So what we have tried to do and what President Obama succeeded in doing was to build on the health care system we have, get us to 90 percent coverage. We have to get the other 10 percent of the way to 100. I far prefer that and the chances we have to be successful there than trying to start all over again, gridlocking our system, and trying to get from zero to 100 percent. +p4534 +aVNo. But it is absolutely fair and necessary for Americans to vet both of our proposals, to ask the really hard questions about, what is it we think we can accomplish, why do we believe that, and what would be the results for the average American family? In my case, whether it's health care, or getting us to debt-free tuition, or moving us toward paid family leave, I have been very specific about where I would raise the money, how much it would cost, and how I would move this agenda forward. I've tried to be as specific to answer questions so that my proposals can be vetted, because I feel like we have to level with people for the very reason, Gwen, that you are mentioning. There is a great deal of skepticism about the federal government. I'm aware of that. It comes from the right, from the left, from people on all sides of the political spectrum. So we have a special obligation to make clear what we stand for, which is why I think we should not make promises we can't keep, because that will further, I think, alienate Americans from understanding and believing we can together make some real changes in people's lives. +p4535 +aVI will put a price tag. My price tag is about $100 billion a year. And again, paid for. And what I have said is I will not throw us further into debt. I believe I can get the money that I need by taxing the wealthy, by closing loopholes, the things that we are way overdue for doing. And I think once I'm in the White House we will have enough political capital to be able to do that. But I am conscious of the fact that we have to also be very clear, especially with young people, about what kind of government is going to do what for them and what it will cost. +p4536 +aVYou know, I think, again, both of us share the goal of trying to make college affordable for all young Americans. And I have set forth a compact that would do just that for debt-free tuition. We differ, however, on a couple of key points. One of them being that if you don't have some agreement within the system from states and from families and from students, it's hard to get to where we need to go. And Senator Sanders's plan really rests on making sure that governors like Scott Walker contribute $23 billion on the first day to make college free. I am a little skeptical about your governor actually caring enough about higher education to make any kind of commitment like that. +p4537 +aVWell, first, Judy, I have spent my entire adult life working toward making sure that women are empowered to make their own choices, even if that choice is not to vote for me. I believe that it's most important that we unleash the full potential of women and girls in our society. And I feel very strongly that I have an agenda, I have a record that really does respond to a lot of the specific needs that the women in our country face. So I'm going to keep making that case. I'm going to keep making sure that everything I've done, everything that I stand for is going to be well known. But I have no argument with anyone making up her mind about who to support. I just hope that by the end of this campaign there will be a lot more supporting me. That's what I'm working towards. +p4538 +aVWell, look, I think that she's been saying that for as long as I've known her, which is about 25 years. But it doesn't change my view that we need to empower everyone, women and men, to make the best decisions in their minds that they can make. That's what I've always stood for. And when it comes to the issues that are really on the front lines as to whether we're going to have equal pay, paid family leave, some opportunity for, you know, women to go as far as their hard work and talent take them, I think that we still have some barriers to knock down, which is why that's at the core of my campaign. I would note, just for a historic aside, somebody told me earlier today we've had like 200 presidential primary debates, and this is the first time there have been a majority of women on the stage. So, you know, we'll take our progress wherever we can find it. +p4539 +aVYou know, I have said \u2014 I have said many times, you know, I'm not asking people to support me because I'm a woman. I'm asking people to support me because I think I'm the most qualified, experienced, and ready person to be the president and the commander-in-chief. And I appreciate greatly Senator Sanders' voting record. And I was very proud to get the endorsement of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, because I've been a leader on these issues. I have gone time and time again to take on the vested interests who would keep women's health care decisions the province of the government instead of women ourselves. I'm very proud that +p4540 +aVYou know, I completely agree with Senator Sanders. The first speech I gave in this campaign back in April was about criminal justice reform and ending the era of mass incarceration. The statistics from Wisconsin are particularly troubling, because it is the highest rate of incarceration for African-Americans in our nation, twice the national average. And we know of the tragic, terrible event that lead to the death of Dontre Hamilton right here in Milwaukee, a young man unarmed, who should still be with us. His family certainly believes that. And so do I. So we have work to do. There have been some good recommendations about what needs to happen. President Obama's policing commission came out with some. I have fully endorsed those. But we have to restore policing that will actually protect the communities that police officers are sworn to protect. And, then we have to go after sentencing, and that's one of the problems here in Wisconsin because so much of what happened in the criminal justice system doesn't happen at the federal level, it happens at the state and local level. But, I would also add this. There are other racial discrepancies. Really systemic racism in this state, as in others, education, in employment, in the kinds of factors that too often lead from a position where young people, particularly young men, are pushed out of school early, are denied employment opportunities. So, when we talk about criminal justice reform, and ending the era of mass incarceration, we also have to talk about jobs, education, housing, and other ways of helping communities. +p4541 +aVWell, I'm just not sure I agree completely with that assessment. I think under President Obama we have seen a lot of advances, the Affordable Care Act has helped more African Americans than any other group to get insurance, to be taken care of, but we also know a lot more than we did. We have a lot more social media, we have everybody with a cellphone. So, we are seeing the dark side of the remaining systemic racism that we have to root out in our society. I think President Obama has set a great example. I think he has addressed a lot of these issues that have been quite difficult, but he has gone forward. Now, what we have to do is to build on an honest conversation about where we go next. We now have much more information about what must be done to fix our criminal justice system. We now have some good models about how better to provide employment, housing and education. I think what President Obama did was to exemplify the importance of this issue as our first African American president, and to address it both from the President's office, and through his advocacy, such as working with young men, and Mrs. Obama's work with young women. But, we can't rest. We have work to do, and we now know a lot more than we ever did before. So, it's going to be my responsibility to make sure we move forward to solve these problems that are now out in the open. Nobody can deny them. To use the Justice Department, as we just saw, they have said they are going to sue Ferguson, that entered into a consent agreement, and then tried to back out. So, we're going to enforce the law, we're going to change policing practices, we're going to change incarceration practices, but we're also going to emphasize education, jobs, and housing. +p4542 +aVLook, I am deeply concerned about what's happening in every community in America, and that includes white communities, where we are seeing an increase in alcoholism, addiction, earlier deaths. People with a high school education or less are not even living as long as their parents lived. This is a remarkable and horrifying fact. And that's why I've come forward with, for example, a plan to revitalize coal country, the coalfield communities that have been so hard hit by the changing economy, by the reduction in the use of coal. You know, coal miners and their families who helped turn on the lights and power our factories for generations are now wondering, has our country forgotten us? Do people not care about all of our sacrifice? And I'm going to do everything I can to address distressed communities, whether they are communities of color, whether they are white communities, whether they are in any part of our country. I particularly appreciate the proposal that Congressman Jim Clyburn has \u2014 the 10-20-30 proposal \u2014 to try to spend more federal dollars in communities with persistent generational poverty. And you know what? If you look at the numbers, there are actually as many, if not more white communities that are truly being left behind and left out. So, yes, I do think it would be a terrible oversight not to try to address the very real problems that white Americans \u2014 particularly those without a lot of education whose jobs have \u2014 you know, no longer provided them or even no longer present in their communities, because we have to focus where the real hurt is. And that's why, as president, I will look at communities that need special help and try to deliver that. +p4543 +aVI strongly support the president's executive actions. I hope the Supreme Court upholds them. I think there is constitutional and legal authority for the president to have done what he did. I am against the raids. I'm against the kind of inhumane treatment that is now being visited upon families, waking them up in the middle of the night, rounding them up. We should be deporting criminals, not hardworking immigrant families who do the very best they can and often are keeping economies going in many places in our country. I'm a strong supporter of comprehensive immigration reform. Have been ever since I was in the Senate. I was one of the original sponsors of the +p4544 +aVTwo quick responses. One, with respect to the Central American children, I made it very clear that those children needed to be processed appropriately, but we also had to send a message to families and communities in Central America not to send their children on this dangerous journey in the hands of smugglers. I've also called for the end of family detention, for the end of privately-run detention centers, along with private prisons, which I think are really against the common good and the rule of law. And with respect to the 2007 bill, this was Ted Kennedy's bill. And I think Ted Kennedy had a very clear idea about what needed to be done. And I was proud to stand with him and support it. +p4545 +aVWell, that just wasn't \u2014 that just wasn't the fact, Senator. The fact is that there was a great effort made by the Obama administration and others to really send a clear message, because we knew that so many of these children were being abused, being treated terribly while they tried to get to our border. So we have a disagreement on this. I think now what I've called for is counsel for every child so that no child has to face any kind of process without someone who speaks and advocates for that child so that the right decision hopefully can be made. +p4546 +aVI think \u2014 I think it's fair to say we don't have a disagreement. We both believe there has to be more money going into the Social Security system. I've said I'm looking at a couple of different ways, one which you mentioned, Senator, but also trying to expand the existing tax to passive income that wealthy people have so that we do get more revenue into the Social Security Trust Fund. I have a slightly different approach, though, about what we should do with that initially. First, rather than expand benefits for everyone, I do want to take care of low-income seniors who worked at low-wage jobs. I want to take care of women. When the Social Security program was started in the 1930s, not very many women worked. And women have been disadvantaged ever since. They do not get any credit for their care-taking responsibilities. And the people who are often the most hard-hit are widows, because when their spouse dies, they can lose up to one-half of their Social Security monthly payment. So we have no disagreement about the need to buttress Social Security, get more revenue into the program. But I want to start by helping those people who are most at risk, the ones who, yes, are cutting their pills in half, who don't believe they can make the rent, who are worried about what comes next for them. +p4547 +aVWell, Senator, look, I think we're in vigorous agreement here. We both want to get more revenue in. I have yet to see a proposal that you're describing that the \u2014 raising the cap would apply to passive income. That has not been... +p4548 +aVWell, that has not been a part of most of the proposals that I've seen. I'm interested in making sure we get the maximum amount of revenue from those who can well afford to provide it. So I'm going to come up with the best way forward. We're going to end up in the same place. We're going to get more revenue. I'm going to prioritize those recipients who need the most help first. +p4549 +aVI can't speak for the Koch Brothers, you're referring to a Super PAC that we don't coordinate with, that was set up to support President Obama, that has now decided that they want to support me. They are the ones who should respond to any questions. Let's talk about our campaigns. I'm very proud of the fact that we have more than 750 thousand donors, and the vast majority of them are giving small contributions. So, I'm proud of Senator Sanders, and his supporters. I think it's great that Senator Sanders, President Obama and I have more donors than any three people who have every run, certainly on the Democratic side. That's the way it should be, and I'm going to continue to reach out to thank all my online contributors for everything they are doing for me, to encourage them and help me do more just as Senator Sanders is. I think that is the real key here. We both have a lot of small donors. I think that sets us apart from a lot of what's happening right now on the Republican side. The Koch Brothers have a very clear political agenda. It is an agenda, in my view, that would do great harm to our country. We're going to fight it as hard as we can, and we're going to fight whoever the Republicans nominate who will depend on the Koch Brothers, and others. +p4550 +aVWe are mixing apples and oranges. My 750,000 donors have contributed more than a million and a half donations. I'm very proud. That, I think, between the two of us demonstrates the strength of the support we have among people who want to see change in our country. But, the real issue, I think, that the Senator is injecting into this is that if you had a Super PAC, like President Obama has, which now says it wants to support me. It's not my PAC. If you take donations from Wall Street, you can't be independent. I would just say, I debated then Senator Obama numerous times on stages like this, and he was the recipient of the largest number of Wall Street donations of anybody running on the Democratic side ever. Now, when it mattered, he stood up and took on Wall Street. He pushed through, and he passed the Dodd-Frank regulation, the toughest regulations since the 1930's. So, let's not in anyway imply here that either President Obama or myself, would in anyway not take on any vested interested, whether it's Wall Street, or drug companies, or insurance companies, or frankly, the gun lobby to stand up to do what's best for the American people. +p4551 +aVWell, let's just \u2014 let's just follow up on this, because, you know, I've made it very clear that no bank is too big to fail, no executive too powerful to jail, and because of Dodd-Frank, we now have in law a process that the president, the Federal Reserve, and others can use if any bank poses a systemic risk. I think that's a major accomplishment. I agree, however, it doesn't go far enough, because what it focuses on are the big banks, which Senator Sanders has talked about a lot, for good reason. I go further in the plan that I've proposed, which has been called the toughest, most effective, comprehensive plan for reining in the other risks that the financial system could face. It was an investment bank, Lehman Brothers, that contributed to our collapse. It was a big insurance company, AIG. It was Countrywide Mortgage. My plan would sweep all of them into a regulatory framework so we can try to get ahead of what the next problems might be. And I believe that not only Barney Frank, Paul Krugman, and others, have said that what I have proposed is the most effective. It goes in the right direction. We have Dodd-Frank. We can use it to break up the banks, if that's appropriate. But let's not kid ourselves. As we speak, there are new problems on the horizon. I want to get ahead of those, and that's why I've proposed a much more comprehensive approach to deal with all of these... +p4552 +aVAbsolutely. And, you know, there are a number of programs that I think are duplicative and redundant and not producing the results that people deserve. There are a lot of training programs and education programs that I think can be streamlined and put into a much better format so that if we do continue them they can be more useful, in public schools, community colleges, and colleges and universities. I would like to take a hard look at every part of the federal government and really do the kind of analysis that would rebuild some confidence in people that we're taking a hard look about what we have, you know, and what we don't need anymore. And that's what I intend to do. +p4553 +aVLook, I think we are readier than we used to be, but it's a constant effort that has to be undertaken to make sure we are as ready as we need to be. We have made a lot of improvements in our domestic security since 9/11, and we have been able to foil and prevent attacks, yet we see the terrible attack in San Bernardino and know that we haven't done enough. So we have to go after this both abroad and at home. We have to go after terrorist networks, predominantly +p4554 +aVIf I could just respond. Two points. One, Senator Sanders voted in 1998 on what I think is fair to call a regime change resolution with respect to Iraq, calling for the end of Saddam Hussein's regime. He voted in favor of regime change with Libya, voted in favor of the Security Council being an active participate in setting the parameters for what we would do, which of course we followed through on. I do not believe a vote in 2002 is a plan to defeat +p4555 +aVYou did support a U.N. Security Council approach, which we did follow up on. And, look, I think it's important to look at what the most important counterterrorism judgment of the first four years of the Obama administration was, and that was the very difficult decision as to whether or not to advise the president to go after bin Laden. I looked at the evidence. I looked at the intelligence. I got the briefings. I recommended that the president go forward. It was a hard choice. Not all of his top national security advisors agreed with that. And at the end of the day, it was the president's decision. So he had to leave the Situation Room after hearing from the small group advising him and he had to make that decision. I'm proud that I gave him that advice. And I'm very grateful to the brave Navy +p4556 +aVWell, I know journalists have asked who you do listen to on foreign policy, and we have yet to know who that is. +p4557 +aVThat's fine. That's fine. You know, I listen to a wide variety of voices that have expertise in various areas. I think it is fair to say, whatever the complaints that you want to make about him are, that with respect to China, one of the most challenging relationships we have, his opening up China and his ongoing relationships with the leaders of China is an incredibly useful relationship for the United States of America. So if we want to pick and choose \u2014 and I certainly do \u2014 people I listen to, people I don't listen to, people I listen to for certain areas, then I think we have to be fair and look at the entire world, because it's a big, complicated world out there. +p4558 +aVAnd, yes, people we may disagree with on a number of things may have some insight, may have some relationships that are important for the president to understand in order to best protect the United States. +p4559 +aVWell, with respect to Syria, I really do appreciate the efforts that Secretary Kerry has made. The agreement on humanitarian relief now needs to be implemented, because there are enclaves that are literally filled with starving people throughout Syria. The agreement on a cease-fire, though, is something that has to be implemented more quickly than the schedule that the Russians agreed to. You know, the Russians wanted to buy time. Are they buying time to continue their bombardment on behalf of the Assad regime to further decimate what's left of the opposition, which would be a grave disservice to any kind of eventual cease-fire? So I know Secretary Kerry is working extremely hard to try to move that cease-fire up as quickly as possible. But I would add this. You know, the Security Council finally got around to adopting a resolution. At the core of that resolution is an agreement I negotiated in June of 2012 in Geneva, which set forth a cease-fire and moving toward a political resolution, trying to bring the parties at stake in Syria together. This is incredibly complicated, because we've got Iran as a big player, in addition to Russia. We have Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and others who have very important interests in their view. This is one of the areas I've disagreed with Senator Sanders on, who has called for Iranian troops trying to end civil war in Syria, which I think would be a grave mistake. Putting Iranian troops right on the border of the Golan right next to Israel would be a nonstarter for me. Trying to get Iran and Saudi Arabia to work together, as he has suggested in the past, is equally a nonstarter. So let's support what Secretary Kerry and the president are doing, but let's hope that we can accelerate the cease-fire, because I fear that the Russians will continue their bombing, try to do everything they can to destroy what's left of the opposition. And remember, the Russians have not gone after +p4560 +aVWell, I respectfully disagree. I think we have achieved a great deal with the Iranian nuclear agreement to put a lid on the Iranian nuclear weapons program. That has to be enforced absolutely with consequences for Iran at the slightest deviation from their requirements under the agreement. I do not think we should promise or even look toward normalizing relations because we have a lot of other business to get done with Iran. Yes, they have to stop being the main state sponsor of terrorism. Yes, they have to stop trying to destabilize the Middle East, causing even more chaos. Yes, they've got to get out of Syria. They've got to quit sponsoring Hezbollah and Hamas. They have got to quit trying to ship rockets into Gaza that can be used against Israel. We have a lot of work to do with Iran before we ever say that they could move toward normalized relations with us. +p4561 +aV... Senator Sanders, from a debate in 2008, quote what I said. The question was, would you meet with an adversary without conditions? I said no. And in fact, in Obama administration, we did not meet with anybody without conditions. That is the appropriate approach in order to get the results that you are seeking. +p4562 +aVWell, I was pleased that +p4563 +aVI certainly agree with FDR for all the reasons Senator Sanders said. And I agree about the role that he played both in war and in peace on the economy and defeating fascism around the world. I would choose Nelson Mandela for his generosity of heart, his understanding of the need for reconciliation. But I want to \u2014 I want to follow up on something having to do with leadership, because, you know, today Senator Sanders said that President Obama failed the presidential leadership test. And this is not the first time that he has criticized President Obama. In the past he has called him weak. He has called him a disappointment. He wrote a forward for a book that basically argued voters should have buyers' remorse when it comes to President Obama's leadership and legacy. And I just couldn't agree \u2014 disagree more with those kinds of comments. You know, from my perspective, maybe because I understand what President Obama inherited, not only the worst financial crisis but the antipathy of the Republicans in Congress, I don't think he gets the credit he deserves for being a president......who got us out of that......put us on firm ground, and has sent us into the future. And it is a \u2014 the kind of criticism that we've heard from Senator Sanders about our president I expect from Republicans. I do not expect from someone running for the Democratic nomination to succeed President Obama. +p4564 +aVYou know, Senator, what I am concerned about, is not disagreement on issues, saying that this is what I would rather do, I don't agree with the president on that, calling the president weak, calling him a disappointment, calling several times that he should have a primary opponent when he ran for re-election in 2012, you know, I think that goes further than saying we have our disagreements. As a senator, yes, I was a senator. I understand we can disagree on the path forward. But those kinds of personal assessments and charges are ones that I find particularly troubling. +p4565 +aVYou know, we \u2014 we agree that we've got to get unaccountable money out of politics. We agree that Wall Street should never be allowed to wreck Main Street again. But here's the point I want to make tonight. I am not a single-issue candidate, and I do not believe we live in a single-issue country. I think that a lot of what we have to overcome to break down the barriers that are holding people back, whether it's poison in the water of the children of Flint, or whether it's the poor miners who are being left out and left behind in coal country, or whether it is any other American today who feels somehow put down and oppressed by racism, by sexism, by discrimination against the +p4566 +aVWell, I'm happy to be here in New Hampshire for this debate, as we move toward the primary on Tuesday. I believe that America has the opportunity to once again live by our values, live up to our values in the 21st century, but I think that America can only do that if Americans can succeed. And there are lots of reasons why Americans today are feeling left out and left behind. Yes, of course, the economy has not been working for most Americans. Yes, of course, we have special interests that are unfortunately doing too much to rig the game. But there's also the continuing challenges of racism, of sexism, of discrimination against the +p4567 +aVWell, let me start by saying that Senator Sanders and I share some very big progressive goals. I've been fighting for universal healthcare for many years, and we're now on the path to achieving it. I don't want us to start over again. I think that would be a great mistake, to once again plunge our country into a contentious debate about whether we should have and what kind of system we should have for healthcare. I want to build on the progress we've made; got from 90 percent coverage to 100 percent coverage. And I don't want to rip away the security that people finally have; 18 million people now have healthcare; preexisting conditions are no longer a bar. So we have a difference. I also believe in affordable college, but I don't believe in free college, because every expert that I have talked to says, look, how will you ever control the costs. What I want to do is make sure middle class kids, not Donald Trump's kids, get to be able to afford college. I want to get the economy going again. It's not just enough about what we're against, as important as that is. I have a plan to create new jobs, manufacturing, infrastructure, clean energy jobs that will make us the 21st century clean energy super power. I also want to make sure small businesses can start and grow again. And of course, I believe in raising the minimum wage and equal pay for work. But the numbers just don't add up, from what Senator Sanders has been proposing. That's why all of the independent experts, all of the editorial boards that have vetted both of us have concluded that it is just not achievable. Let's go down a path where we can actually tell people what we will do. A progressive is someone who makes progress. That's what I intend to do. +p4568 +aVIf I could just follow up on that. There is no disagreement between us on universal coverage for health care, the disagreement is where do we start from and where do we end up. The Republicans want to repeal the Affordable Care Act, I want to improve it. I want to build on it, get the costs down, get prescription drug costs down. Senator Sanders wants us to start all over again. This was a major achievement of President Obama, of our country. It is helping people right now. I am not going to wait and have us plunge back into a contentious national debate that has very little chance of succeeding. Let's make the Affordable Care Act work for everybody. +p4569 +aVWell because I am a progressive who gets things done. And the root of that word, progressive, is progress. But I've heard Senator Sanders comments, and it's really caused me to wonder who's left in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Under his definition, President Obama is not progressive because he took donations from Wall Street; Vice President Biden is not progressive because she supported Keystone; Senator Shaheen is not progressive because she supports the trade pact. Even the late, great Senator Paul Wellstone would not fit this definition because he voted for +p4570 +aVWell, Chuck... +p4571 +aV... If I could, you know, in the very first debate I was asked am I a moderate or a progressive and I said I'm a progressive who likes to get things done. Cherry picking a quote here or there doesn't change my record of having fought for racial justice, having fought for kids rights, having fought the kind of inequities that fueled my interest in service in the first place going back to my days in the Children's Defense Fund. It certainly didn't stop me from taking on the drug companies and the insurance companies. Before it was called Hillarycare\u2014I mean, before it was called ObamaCare it was called Hillarycare because we took them on, and we weren't successful, but we kept fighting and we got the children's health insurance program. Every step along the way I have stood up, and fought, and have the scars to prove it. So, again......I think it's important that, look, I understand Senator Sanders really trying to distinguish himself. I understand that, that's what you do in campaigns, but at the same time let's not be\u2014in, I think an unfair way, making an accusation, or making an attack about where I stand and about where I've always stood. It is fair to say, Senator, that in your definition, as you being the self-proclaimed gatekeeper for progressivism, I don't know anyone else who fits that definition, but I know a lot of really hard fighting progressives in the Democratic party who have stood up time, and time again against special interests, against the powerful on behalf of those who are left behind and left out. And, that's what we ought to be celebrating. Let's talk about what we would do as President, and Commander in Chief to make sure the progress continues into the future. +p4572 +aV... Well, you began it yesterday with your comments... +p4573 +aVYou know, the person who first put out the idea of a 50-state party strategy is former Governor Howard Dean, who is with us tonight. And I'm very proud and grateful to have the support of so many elected Vermonters and former officials. Two former governors, the current governor, the current other senator. I really appreciate that. And I think it's because they've worked with me, they've seen what I do. They know what kind of a colleague I am. They want me as their partner in the White House. And that's exactly what I will do. We'll get things done together. Democrats, Republicans, independents, we're going to make progress together when I'm president. +p4574 +aVWell, look, I've got to just jump in here because, honestly, Senator Sanders is the only person who I think would characterize me, a woman running to be the first woman president, as exemplifying the establishment. And I've got to tell you that it is......it is really quite amusing to me. People support me because they know me. They know my life's work. They have worked with me and many have also worked with Senator Sanders. And at the end of the day they endorse me because they know I can get things done. I am not going to make promises I can't keep. I am not going to talk about big ideas like single-payer and then not level with people about how much it will cost. A respected health economist said that these plans would cost a trillion dollars more a year. I'm not going to tell people that I will raise your incomes and not your taxes, and not mean it, because I don't want to see the kind of struggle that the middle class is going through exemplified by these promises that would raise taxes and make it much more difficult for many, many Americans to get ahead and stay ahead. That is not my agenda. +p4575 +aVYeah, but I\u2014I think it's fair to really ask what's behind that comment. You know, Senator Sanders has said he wants to run a positive campaign. I've tried to keep my disagreements over issues, as it should be. But time and time again, by innuendo, by insinuation, there is this attack that he is putting forth, which really comes down to\u2014you know, anybody who ever took donations or speaking fees from any interest group has to be bought. And I just absolutely reject that, Senator. And I really don't think these kinds of attacks by insinuation are worthy of you. And enough is enough. If you've got something to say, say it directly. But you will not find that I ever changed a view or a vote because of any donation that I ever received. +p4576 +aVAnd I have stood up and I have represented my constituents to the best of my abilities, and I'm very proud of that. +p4577 +aVSo I think it's time to end the very artful smear that you and your campaign have been carrying out... +p4578 +aV... in recent weeks, and let's talk......let's talk about about the issues. Let's talk about the issues that divide us. +p4579 +aVAnd let's\u2014let's... +p4580 +aV... we both agree with campaign finance reform. +p4581 +aVI\u2014I worked hard for McCain-Feingold. +p4582 +aVI want to reverse Citizens United. +p4583 +aVAnd so\u2014let's talk about issues. +p4584 +aVWell, you know, Senator, I don't think\u2014I don't... +p4585 +aV... I don't think you could find any person in political life today who has been subjected to more attacks and had more money spent against her by special interests, among whom you have named a few, than I. And I'm proud of that. You know, when I took on the drug companies and the insurance companies for universal health care coverage, they went after me with a vengeance. Today, you've got hedge fund billionaires aligned with Karl Rove, running ads against me to try to get Democrats to vote for you. I know this game. I'm going to stop this game. But while we're talking about votes, you're the one who voted to deregulate swaps and derivatives in 2000, which contributed to the over-leveraging of Lehman Brothers, which was one of the culprits that brought down the economy. So I don't know\u2014I'm not impugning your motive because you voted to deregulate swaps and derivatives. People make mistakes and I'm certainly not saying you did it for any kind of financial advantage. What we've got to do as Democrats\u2014what we've got to do as Democrats is to be united to actually solve these problems. And what I believe is that I have a better track record and a better opportunity to actually get that job done. That's what this election should be about. +p4586 +aVOn the issue of Wall Street. +p4587 +aVWell you know, Rachel, I think I may not have done the job I should in explaining my record. You know, I did\u2014when I left the secretary of State's office, like so many former officials, military leaders, journalists, others, I did go on the speaking circuit. I spoke to heart doctors, I spoke to the American Camping Association, I spoke to auto dealers, and yes, I spoke to firms on Wall Street. They wanted me to talk about the world, what my experience had been as secretary of State. But what I want people to know is I went to Wall Street before the crash. I was the one saying you're going to wreck the economy because of these shenanigans with mortgages. I called to end the carried interest loophole that hedge fund managers enjoy. I proposed changes in CEO compensation. I called for a consumer protection financial bureau before it was created. And I think the best evidence that the Wall Street people at least know where I stand and where I have always stood is because they are trying to beat me in this primary. They have collected and spent as much as $6 million on these ads. Hedge fund billionaires, Karl Rove, another billionaire, jumped in. And why are they doing that? These are guys who try to make smart investments. They know my record, they know me, they know that I say what I believe and I will do it. And I also have a pretty good understanding about how to stop them. So I do want people to know that, and I think it's important for everybody to understand I have a record, I have stood firm and I will be the person who prevents them from ever wrecking the economy again. +p4588 +aVIf I could, let me just say that of course it has to change. It has to change. And that's why I have put forward a plan to do just that. And it's been judged to be the toughest, most effective and comprehensive one. I have great respect for Senator Sanders's commitment to try to restore Glass-Steagall. But I do not believe that that is enough. And in fact, I don't believe it really addresses a lot of the biggest issues we have. You know, we now have power under the Dodd-Frank legislation to break up banks. And I've said I will use that power if they pose a systemic risk. But I want to go further, because it was investment banks, it was insurance companies, it was mortgage companies, all of which contributed. So let's not just be narrowly focused on one part of the problem. We have a lot of issues with corporate power that have to be addressed. My plan takes us further and it would do the job. +p4589 +aVLook we have a law\u2014look, you know, I\u2014I appreciate the senator's advocacy. We have a law. It was passed. It was signed by President Obama. It lays out a process that you go through to determine whether a systemic risk is posed. And by the way, President Obama signed that, pushed it through, even though he took donations from Wall Street, because he's a responsible president. So we have a law in place. If the circumstances warrant it, I will certainly use it. And from what you say, I know you will as well. But that is not enough. And I keep going back to this because part of the reason the Wall Street guys are trying so hard to stop me\u2014the hedge fund guys, the shadow banking guys\u2014is because I've got their number on all of that. And my plan goes so much further to try to prevent the problems of the future. You know, we can't just fight the last war. We've got to be prepared to stop these guys if they ever try to use their economic power once again, to hurt the economy, and to hurt so many Americans. And my plan, Paul Krugman, Barney Frank, a lot of experts who understand what the new challenges might be, have said I am exactly on point, and the Wall Street guys actually know that. +p4590 +aVI will look into it. I don't know the status, but I will certainly look into it. But, I can only repeat what is the fact that I spoke to a lot of different groups with a lot of different constituents, a lot of different kinds of members about issues that had to do with world affairs. I probably described more times than I can remember how stressful it was advising the President about going after Bin Laden. My view on this is look at my record. Look at what I am proposing, and\u2014we have a vigorous agreement here. We both want to reign in the excesses of Wall Street. I also want to reign in the excesses of Johnson Controls that we bailed out when they were an autoparts company, and we saved the auto industry, and now they want to avoid paying taxes. I want to go after the pharmaceutical companies like Valeant, and Turns that are increasing prices without any regard to the impact on people's health. Now, if all we're going to talk about is one part of our economy, and indeed one streak in our economy, we're missing the big oil companies. We're missing other big energy companies. We're missing the big picture, and I have a record of trying to go at the problems that actually exist, and I will continue to do that. +p4591 +aV... Well, Senator, no one wants to see that happen. I mean, look, I care deeply about this because just like you I have met so many people who had their life savings wiped out, who lost their homes, who are barely back with their heads above water. This was a disaster for our country, and we can never let that happen again. We have no disagreement about this. But, I think it's a broader target list than just Wall Street, and I believe that we have to be very focused on how we try to take back the power and increase the empowerment of the American people. And, I think I have that kind of experience, maybe because they've beat me up for so many years, and I know exactly how to handle them because I've been in the arena with them time and time again. +p4592 +aVWell, I think what the president understands, and what he's trying to do, is that we have to support the Arab and Kurdish fighters on the ground who are actually doing the fighting. I agree with the president. I've said myself, we will not send American combat troops back to either Syria or Iraq\u2014that is off the table. But we do have special forces, we do have trainers, we do have the military personnel who are helping with the airstrikes that the United States is leading so that we can try to take out +p4593 +aVNo. I mean, of course that's a theoretical question, and we don't know what it would be for, and we don't know how many numbers there are. I am against American combat troops being in Syria and Iraq. I support special forces. I support trainers. I support the air campaign. And I think we're making some progress. I want to continue to intensify that, and that's exactly what the president is doing. +p4594 +aVIf I could\u2014if I could... +p4595 +aV... respectfully add\u2014look, we did differ. A vote in 2002 is not a plan to defeat +p4596 +aVOh, absolutely. The president decided to leave more troops than he had originally planned in Afghanistan. We have a very cooperative government there, with Ashraf Ghani and his top\u2014his top partner, Abdullah. And they are doing their very best. And the Afghan army is actually fighting. The Afghan army is taking heavy losses defending Afghan territory. And I would have to make an evaluation based on the circumstances at the time I took office as to how much help they continue to need. Because it's not just the Taliban. We now are seeing outposts of, you know, fighters claiming to be affiliated with +p4597 +aVA group of national security experts, military intelligence experts, issued a very concerning statement about Senator Sanders's views on foreign policy and national security, pointing out some of the comments he has made on these issues, such as inviting Iranian troops into Syria to try to resolve the conflict there; putting them right at the doorstep of Israel. Asking Saudi Arabia and Iran to work together, when they can't stand each other and are engaged in a proxy battle right at this moment. So I do think questions have been raised and questions have to be answered because when New Hampshire voters go on Tuesday to cast your vote, you are voting both for a president and a commander in chief. And there is no way to predict what comes in the door of that White House from day to day that can pose a threat to the United States or one of our friends and allies, and I think this is a big part of the job interview that we are all conducting with the voters here. +p4598 +aVWell, let me just add that, you know, I've said this before and I'm very proud of it, that when it comes to judgment, having run a hard race against Senator Obama at the time, he turned to me to be secretary of State. And when it comes to the biggest counterterrorism issues that we faced in this administration, namely whether or not to go after bin Laden, I was at that table, I was exercising my judgment to advise the president on what to do, on that, on Iran, on Russia on China, on a whole raft of issues. Because I know from my own experience that you've got to be ready on day one. There is just too much unpredictable threat and danger in the world today, you know, to try to just say wait, I'll get to that when I can. That is just not an acceptable approach. +p4599 +aVAbsolutely. You know, I did put together the coalition to impose sanctions. I actually started the negotiations that led to the nuclear agreement, sending some much my closest aides to begin the conversations with the Iranians. I'm very pleased we got that nuclear agreement. It puts a lid on the nuclear weapons program. We have to enforce it, there have to be consequences attached to it. But that is not our only problem with Iran. We have to figure out how to deal with Iran as the principal state sponsor of terrorism in the world. They are destabilizing governments in the region. They continue to support Hezbollah and Hamas in Lebanon against Israel. A lot of work that we have do is going to be incredibly hard. I'm prepared to do that work, but I believe, just as I did with imposing the sanctions, you have to get action for action. If we were to normalize relations right now, we would remove one of the biggest pieces of leverage we have to try to influence and change Iranian behavior. The president doesn't think we should. I certainly don't think we should. I believe we have to take this step by step to try to reign in Iranian aggression, their support for terrorism and the other bad behavior that can come back and haunt us. +p4600 +aVWell Senator, let me just correct the record if I can. You know\u2014let me correct the record. +p4601 +aVAs I\u2014as I certainly recall, the question was to meet with without conditions. And you're right, I was against that. I was against it then I would be against it now. +p4602 +aVPart of diplomacy, the hard work of diplomacy is trying to extract whatever concessions you can get, and giving something the other side wants. Of course you've got to try to make peace with, and work with those who are your adversaries, but you don't just rush in, open the door, and say, "Here I am. Let's talk and make a deal." That's not the way it works. +p4603 +aV... Well, we set conditions on Iran. We worked hard to get them established, and to be enforced, and then we talked. That's exactly the right......and, that's what I did with the President, so he and I are on the very same page. +p4604 +aVI haven't talked to Secretary Carter, but here's what I would think he's planning. We do have the nuclear weapons agreement with Iran, that's an enforcement consequence, action for action, follow on. We have a plan, we will watch them, we will be vigilant. We do have to worry about North Korea. They continue to develop their nuclear weapons capability, and they're working very hard on their ballistic missile capability. And, I know that some of those plans could very well lead to a missile that might reach Hawaii, if not the West Coast. We do have to try to get the countries in the region to work with us to do everything we can to confine, and constrain them. But, what Secretary Carter is looking at is the constant pressure that Russia's putting on our European allies. The way that Russia is trying to move the boundaries of the post-World War II Europe. The way that he is trying to set European countries against one another, seizing territory, holding it in Crimea. Beginning to explore whether they could make some inroads in the Baltics. We know that they are deeply engaged in supporting Assad because they want to have a place in the Middle East. They have a naval base, they have an air base in Syria. They want to hang on to that. I think what Secretary Carter is seeing, and I'm glad he is, is that we got to get +p4605 +aVWell, first of all, I'm absolutely against privatizing the V.A. And I am going do everything I can to build on the reforms that Senator Sanders and others in Congress have passed to try to fix what's wrong with the V.A. There are a lot of issues about wait times and services that have to be fixed because our veterans deserve nothing but the best. But you're absolutely right, you know, Rachel, this is another part of the Koch brothers agenda. They've actually formed an organization to try to begin to convince Americans we should no longer have guaranteed health care, specialized care for our veterans. I will fight that as hard as I can. I think there's where we can enlist the veterans service organizations, the veterans of America, because, yes, let's fix the V.A., but we will never let it be privatized, and that is a promise. +p4606 +aVWhatever they decide to do, that's fine. +p4607 +aVAll right. +p4608 +aVI can only tell you what I believe, and that is that I am the strongest candidate to take it to the Republicans and win in November. And I say that with great\u2014with great respect for the campaign that Senator Sanders has been running. I personally am thrilled at the numbers of people, and particularly young people who are coming to support your campaign. I hope that I will be able to earn their support. They may not support me now, but I support them and we'll work together. But what I'm concerned about is the views of many Democrats who know their states, who know how hard it is to win a general election. And it also will push whoever the nominee is into the spotlight. I've been vetted. There's hardly anything you don't know about me. And I think it's fair to say that whoever is in that position, Senator Sanders or anyone else who might have run, will face the most withering onslaught. So, I think that I am the person who can do all aspects of the job. I think I'm the person best prepared to take the case to the Republicans. And I think that at the end of the day, it's not so much electability. It is who the American people can believe can keep them safe, can get the economy moving again, can get incomes rising, can build on the progressive accomplishments of President Obama. And I think that the coalition that President Obama put together to win twice is a coalition that I can put together and add to. And that's what I'm prepared to... +p4609 +aVAbsolutely I can. You know, before it was emails, it was Benghazi, and the Republicans were stirring up so much controversy about that. And I testified for 11 hours, answered their questions. They basically said yeah, didn't get her. We tried. That was all a political ploy. Now, we had a development in the email matter today when it came out that Secretary Powell and close aides to Former Secretary Rice used private e-mail accounts. and now you have these people in the government who are doing the same thing to Secretary Powell and Secretary Rice's aide they've been doing to me, which is that I never sent or received any classified material. They are retroactively classifying it. I agree completely with Secretary Powell, who said today this is an absurdity. And so I think the American people will know it's an absurdity. I have absolutely no concerns about it whatsoever. +p4610 +aVI am 100 percent confident. This is a security review that was requested. It is being carried out. It will be resolved. But I have to add if there's going to be a security review about me, there's going to have to be security reviews about a lot of other people, including Republican office holders, because we've got this absurd situation of retroactive classifications. Honest to goodness, this is\u2014this just beggars the imagination. So I have absolutely no concerns about it, but we've got to get to the bottom of what's really going on here, and I hope that will happen. +p4611 +aVNo. +p4612 +aVYes, I do. And\u2014you know, what I hope the Supreme Court will do is make it absolutely clear that any state that continues capital punishment either must meet the highest standards of evidentiary proof of effective assistance of counsel or they cannot continue it because that, to me, is the real dividing line. I have much more confidence in the federal system, and I do reserve it for particularly heinous crimes in the federal system, like terrorism. I have strong feelings about that. I thought it was appropriate after a very thorough trial that Timothy McVeigh received the death penalty for blowing up the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people, including 19 children in a daycare center. I do for very limited, particularly heinous crimes believe it is an appropriate punishment, but I deeply disagree with the way that too many states are still implementing it. If it were possible to separate the federal from the state system by the Supreme Court, that would, I think, be an appropriate outcome. +p4613 +aVAbsolutely. Absolutely. You know, Rachel, you and I have talked about this before. I thank you for going to Flint to hold that town hall. I will be in Flint at the Mayor's invitation on Sunday to get an in depth briefing about what is, and is not happening. This is an emergency. Everyday that goes by that these people, particularly the children, are not tested so we can know what steps must be taken to try to remediate the effects of the poisoning that they have been living with is a day lost in a child's life. I know from the work that I've done over so many years, lead, the toxic nature of lead can affect you brain development, your body development, your behavior. I absolutely believe that what is being done is not sufficient. We need to be absolutely clear about everything that should be done from today to tomorrow, into the future to try to remedy the terrible burden that the people of Flint are barring. That includes fixing their pipes, it includes guaranteeing whatever healthcare and educational embellishments they may need going forward, and I think the federal government has way where it can bill the state of Michigan. If Michigan won't do it, there have to be ways that we can begin to move, and then make them pay for it, and hold them accountable. +p4614 +aVYou know, Chuck, I've only had responsibility for voting for trade agreements as a senator. And I voted a multinational trade agreement when I was senator, the +p4615 +aVWell, I\u2014I don't accept that premise, Chuck. I think that we've got so much business we have to do. We've talked a lot tonight about what we're against\u2014we're against income inequality. We're against the abuses of powerful interests. We're against a lot of things. I'm for a lot of things. I don't want to just stop bad things from happening, I want to start good things from happening. And I believe, if I'm so fortunate to get the nomination, I will begin to work immediately on putting together an agenda, beginning to talk with members of Congress and others about how we can push forward. I want to have half a billion more solar panels deployed, the first four years. I want to have enough clean energy to power every home the next four years. I want us to keep working on the Affordable Care Act, to get not only to 100 percent coverage, but bring down the costs of prescription drugs and out-of-pocket costs. I want to move forward on paid family leave, on early childhood education, I want us to do more for small businesses. Small businesses have to create most of the jobs, and we're not creating and growing small businesses. I think, if you have a smart agenda, you pick the committees that you know have to begin to work on these various pieces\u2014because that's the way Congress is set up. You go through different committees, and you really make a big push in the beginning. Immigration reform, economic revitalization with manufacturing, with infrastructure\u2014we put it out there, and we begin to work on an ambitious, big, bold agenda that will actually produce the results that I want to see for our country. +p4616 +aVThe answer to both of those is no. I'm interested in making what we have work better. I want to streamline programs that are duplicative and redundant. I want to have a top-to-bottom review about what works and what doesn't work, and be absolutely clear we're getting rid of what doesn't work. I have had the opportunity to run a big agency. I was very flattered when Henry Kissinger said I ran the State Department better\u2014better than anybody had run it in a long time. So I have an idea of what it's going to take to make our government work more efficiently. And when you put together a budget, you have to make a lot of hard decisions, but I think it's not appropriate to say "I'm going to get rid of this, get rid of that" until you have a very good process that gives you the information about what to do. But I want to add something else, you know, because look, we have so much work to do in our country, and I think it's the greatest work that Americans will be called to do. And of course, we have to have people in every community involved in it. We have to have the political voice, the political grassroots speaking up and speaking out about what we have to try to accomplish in Washington. But we also need to have a very clear set of goals that we are going to achieve, and we need to level with the American people about what they are, what they will cost, what will be expected of our citizenry. So I see as president having a constant dialogue with Americans here's what we're trying to get done, here's why I need your help, here's why you may think comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship isn't something you care about, but I'm telling you it will help fix the labor market, it will bring people out of the shadows\u2014 +p4617 +aVI never said that. +p4618 +aVLook... +p4619 +aVWell, I'm certainly going to unite the party, but I'm not\u2014I'm not getting ahead of myself. I think that would be a little bit presumptuous. If I'm so fortunate as to be the nominee, the first person I will call to talk to about where we go and how we get it done will be Senator Sanders. +p4620 +aVThat's true. That's true. +p4621 +aVWell first, thanks to +p4622 +aVWell, good evening. And I want to thank the Congressional Black Caucus Institute and the people of Charleston for hosting us here on the eve of Martin Luther King Day tomorrow. You know, I remember well when my youth minister took me to hear Dr. King. I was a teenager. And his moral clarity, the message that he conveyed that evening really stayed with me and helped to set me on a path to service. I also remember that he spent the last day of his life in Memphis, fighting for dignity and higher pay for working people. And that is our fight still. We have to get the economy working and incomes rising for everyone, including those who have been left out and left behind. We have to keep our communities and our country safe. We need a president who can do all aspects of the job. I understand that this is the hardest job in the world. I'm prepared and ready to take it on and I hope to earn your support to be the nominee of the Democratic Party and the next president of the United States. +p4623 +aVI would work quickly to present to the Congress my plans for creating more good jobs in manufacturing, infrastructure, clean and renewable energy, raising the minimum wage, and guaranteeing, finally, equal pay for women's work. I would also......I would also be presenting my plans to build on the Affordable Care Act and to improve it by decreasing the out-of-pocket costs by putting a cap on prescription drug costs; by looking for ways that we can put the prescription drug business and the health insurance company business on a more stable platform that doesn't take too much money out of the pockets of hard-working Americans. And third, I would be working, in every way that I knew, to bring our country together. We do have too much division, too much mean- spiritedness. There's a lot we have to do on immigration reform, on voting rights, on campaign finance reform, but we need to do it together. That's how we'll have the kind of country for the 21st century that we know will guarantee our children and grandchildren the kind of future they deserve. +p4624 +aVYes look, I have made it clear based on Senator Sanders' own record that he has voted with the NRA, with the gun lobby numerous times. He voted against the Brady Bill five times. He voted for what we call, the Charleston Loophole. He voted for immunity from gunmakers and sellers which the NRA said, "was the most important piece of gun legislation in 20 years. " He voted to let guns go onto the Amtrak, guns go into National Parks. He voted against doing research to figure out how we can save lives. Let's not forget what this is about, 90 people a day die from gun violence in our country. That's 33,000 people a year. One of the most horrific examples not a block from here where we had nine people murdered. Now, I am pleased to hear that Senator Sanders has reversed his position on immunity and I look forward to him joining with those members of congress who have already introduced legislation. There is no other industry in America that was given the total pass that the gun makers and dealers were and that needs to be reversed. +p4625 +aVWell, sadly it's reality, and it has been heartbreaking, and incredibly outraging to see the constant stories of young men like Walter Scott, as you said, who have been killed by police officers. Their needs to be a concerted effort to address the systemic racism in our criminal justice system. And, that requires a very clear, agenda for retraining police officers, looking at ways to end racial profiling, finding more ways to really bring the disparities that stalk our country into high relief. One out of three African American men may well end up going to prison. That's the statistic. I want people hear to think what we would be doing if it was one out of three white men, and very often, the black men are arrested, convicted and incarcerated ......for offensive that do not lead to the same results for white men. So, we have a very serious problem that we can no longer ignore. +p4626 +aVWell, Lester, you're right. Everywhere I go to campaign, I'm meeting families who are affected by the drug problem that mostly is opioids and heroin now, and lives are being lost and children are being orphaned. And I've met a lot of grandparents who are now taking care of grandchildren. So I have tried to come out with a comprehensive approach that, number one, does tell the states that we will work with you from the federal government putting more money, about a billion dollars a year, to help states have a different approach to dealing with this epidemic. The policing needs to change. Police officers must be equipped with the antidote to a heroin overdose or an opioid overdose, known as Narcan. They should be able to administer it. So should firefighters and others. We have to move away from treating the use of drugs as a crime and instead, move it to where it belongs, as a health issue. And we need to divert more people from the criminal justice system into drug courts, into treatment, and recovery. +p4627 +aVSo this is the kind of approach that we should take in dealing with what is now... +p4628 +aV... a growing epidemic. +p4629 +aVWell, Andrea, I am absolutely committed to universal health care. I have worked on this for a long time, people may remember that I took on the health insurance industry back in the '90s, and I didn't quit until we got the children's health insurance program that ensures eight million kids. And I certainly respect Senator Sanders' intentions, but when you're talking about health care, the details really matter. And therefore, we have been raising questions about the nine bills that he introduced over 20 years, as to how they would work and what would be the impact on people's health care? He didn't like that, his campaign didn't like it either. And tonight, he's come out with a new health care plan. And again, we need to get into the details. But here's what I believe, the Democratic Party and the United States worked since Harry Truman to get the Affordable Care Act passed. We finally have a path to universal health care. We have accomplished so much already. I do not to want see the Republicans repeal it, and I don't to want see us start over again with a contentious debate. I want us to defend and build on the Affordable Care Act and improve it. +p4630 +aVBut \u2014 Senator Sanders, if I can... You know, I have to say I'm not sure whether we're talking about the plan you just introduced tonight, or we're talking about the plan you introduced nine times in the Congress. But the fact is, we have the Affordable Care Act. That is one of the greatest accomplishments of President Obama, of the Democratic Party, and of our country. And we have already seen 19 million Americans get insurance. We have seen the end of pre-existing conditions keeping people from getting insurance. We have seen women no longer paying more for our insurance than men. And we have seen young people, up to the age of 26, being able to stay on their parent's policy. +p4631 +aVNow, there are things we can do to improve it, but to tear it up and start over again, pushing our country back into that kind of a contentious debate, I think is the wrong direction. +p4632 +aVAnd that's exactly what we are able to do based on the foundation of the Affordable Care Act \u2014 what Governor O'Malley just said is one of the models that we will be looking at to make sure we do get costs down, we do limit a lot of the unnecessary costs that we still have in the system. But, with all due respect, to start over again with a whole new debate is something that I think would set us back. The Republicans just voted last week to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and thank goodness, President Obama vetoed it and saved Obamacare for the American people. +p4633 +aVWell, as someone who \u2014 as someone who has a little bit of experience standing up to the health insurance industry, that spent, you know......many, many millions of dollars attacking me, and probably will so again, because of what I believe we can do building on the Affordable Care Act, I think it's important to point out that there are a lot of reasons we have the health care system we have today. I know how much money influences the political decision-making. That's why I'm for huge campaign finance reform. However, we started a system that had private health insurance. And even during the Affordable Care Act debate, there was an opportunity to vote for what was called the public option. In other words, people could buy in to Medicare, and even when the Democrats were in charge of the Congress, we couldn't get the votes for that. So, what I'm saying is really simple. This has been the fight of the Democratic Party for decades. We have the Affordable Care Act. Let's make it work. Let's take the models that states are doing. We now have driven costs down to the lowest they've been in 50 years. Now we've got to get individual costs down. That's what I'm planning to do. +p4634 +aVWell, I think it's an important point the president made in his State of the Union. And here's what I would say. I will go anywhere, to meet with anyone, at any time to find common ground. That's what I did as a first lady, when I worked with both Democrats and Republicans to get the Children's Health Insurance Program, when I worked with Tom DeLay, one of the most partisan of Republicans, to reform the adoption and foster care system. What I did, working in the Senate, where I crossed the aisle often, working even with the senator from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham, to get Tricare for national guardsmen and women. And it's what I did as Secretary of State, on numerous occasions, and most particularly, rounding up two-thirds votes in order to pass a treaty that lowered the nuclear weapons in both Russia and the United States. So I know it's hard, but I also know you've got to work at it every single day. I look out here, I see a lot of my friends from the Congress. And I know that they work at it every single day. Because maybe you can't only find a little sliver of common ground to cooperate with somebody from the other party, but who knows. If you're successful there, maybe you can build even more. That's what I would do. +p4635 +aVWell thanks for the question and congratulations on five million viewers on YouTube, that's quite an accomplishment. Look, this election is mostly about the future and therefore it is of greatest urgency for young people. I've laid out my ideas about what we can do to make college affordable; how we can help people pay off their student debts and save thousands of dollars, how we can create more good jobs because a lot of the young people that I talk with are pretty disappointed the economic prospects they feel their facing. So making community college free, making it possible to attend a public college or university with debt free tuition, looking for ways to protect our rights especially from the concerted Republican assault; on voting rights, on women's rights, on gay rights, on civil rights, on workers rights. And I know how much young people value their independence, their autonomy, and their rights. So I think this is an election where we have to pull young people and older people together to have a strategy about how we're going to encourage even more American's to vote because it absolutely clear to me... +p4636 +aVThat turning over our White House to the Republicans would be bad for everybody especially young people. +p4637 +aVLook, I have the greatest respect for Senator Sanders and for his supports and I'm going to keep working as hard as I can to reach as many people of all ages about what I will do, what the experience and the ideas that I have that I will bring to the White House and I hope to have their support when I'm the Democratic nominee. +p4638 +aVWell, there's no daylight on the basic premise that there should be no bank too big to fail and no individual too powerful to jail. We agree on that. But where we disagree is the comments that Senator Sanders has made that don't just affect me, I can take that, but he's criticized President Obama for taking donations from Wall Street, and President Obama has led our country out of the great recession. Senator Sanders called him weak, disappointing. He even, in 2011, publicly sought someone to run in a primary against President Obama. Now, I personally believe that President Obama's work to push through the Dodd-Frank... The Dodd-Frank bill and then to sign it was one of the most important regulatory schemes we've had since the 1930s. So I'm going to defend Dodd-Frank and I'm going to defend President Obama for taking on Wall Street, taking on the financial industry and getting results. +p4639 +aVYou know, I think since \u2014 since Senator Standers followed up on this... +p4640 +aVYour profusion of comments about your feelings towards President Obama are a little strange given what you said about him in 2011. But look, I have a plan that most commentators have said is tougher, more effective, and more comprehensive. O' +p4641 +aVIt builds on the Dodd-Frank \u2014 yes, it is. It builds on the Dodd-Frank, regulatory scheme... O' +p4642 +aV... but it goes much further, because... O' +p4643 +aV... both the governor and the senator have focused only on the big banks. Lehman Brothers, AIG, the shadow banking sector were as big a problem in what caused the Great Recession, I go after them. And I can tell you that the hedge fund billionaires who are running ads against me right now, and Karl Rove, who started running an ad against me right now, funded by money from the financial services sector, sure thing, I'm the one they don't want to be up against. +p4644 +aVYes, well, first of all \u2014 first of all, Paul Krugman, Barney Frank, others have all endorsed my plan. Secondly, we have Dodd-Frank. It gives us the authority already to break up big banks that pose... O' +p4645 +aVThat pose a risk to the financial sector. I want to go further and add to that. And, you know, Governor, you have raised money on Wall Street. You raised a lot of money on Wall Street when you were the head of the Democratic Governor's Association... O' +p4646 +aVAnd you were... O' +p4647 +aVYes, well, the point is that if we're going to be serious about this and not just try to score political points, we should know what's in Dodd-Frank, and what's in Dodd-Frank already gives the president the authority......with his regulators to make those decisions. +p4648 +aVWell, the last point on this is, Senator Sanders, you're the only one on this stage that voted to deregulate the financial market in 2000, to take the cops off the street, to use Governor O'Malley's phrase, to make the SEC and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission no longer able to regulate swaps and derivatives, which were one of the main cause of the collapse in '08. So there's plenty... +p4649 +aVThere's plenty of problems that we all have to face together. And the final thing I would say, we're at least having a vigorous debate about reining in Wall Street... +p4650 +aV... The Republicans want to give them more power, and repeal Dodd-Frank. That's what we need to stop... +p4651 +aVWell, I have actually documented every way that I'm going to pay for what I'm doing because I think the American public deserves to know. And, you can go to my website and actually see that. But, there are serious questions about how we're going to pay for what we want to see our country do. And, I'm the only candidate standing here tonight who has said I will not raise taxes on the middle class. I want to raise incomes, not taxes, and I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that the wealthy pay for debt free tuition, for child care, for paid family leave. To help us bring down student debt we're going to refinance that student debt, saving kids thousands of dollars. Yeah, and that will also come out of the \u2014 some of the pockets of people in the financial services industry... +p4652 +aVBut I will tell you exactly how I pay for everything I've proposed... +p4653 +aVAnd let me... +p4654 +aVWell, I'm very proud of the Iran Nuclear Agreement. I was very pleased to be part of what the president put into action when he took office. I was responsible for getting those sanctions imposed which put the pressure on Iran. It brought them to the negotiating table which resulted in this agreement. And so, they have been so far, following their requirements under the agreement. But I think we still have to carefully watch them. We've had one good day over 36 year and I think we need more good days before we move more rapidly toward any kind of normalization. And we have to be sure that they are truly going to implement the agreement. And then, we have to go after them on a lot of their other bad behavior in the region which is causing enormous problems in Syria, Yemen, Iraq and elsewhere. +p4655 +aVAbsolutely not. I have a three point plan that does not include American Ground forces. It includes the United States leading an air coalition which is what we're doing, supporting fighters on the ground; the Iraqi Army which is beginning to show more ability, the Sunni fighters that we are now helping to reconstitute and Kurdish on both sides of the border. I think we also have try to disrupt their supply chain of foreign fighters and foreign money and we do have to contest them in online space. So I'm very committed to both going after +p4656 +aVLook, I think that the president's decision to go after the chemical weapons once there was a potential opportunity to build on when the Russians opened that door resulted in a very positive outcome. We were able to get the chemical weapons out. I know from my own experience as secretary of State that we were deeply worried about Assad's forces using chemical weapons because it would have had not only a horrific affect on people in Syria, but it could very well have affected the surrounding states, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Turkey. So getting those chemical weapons out was a big deal, but... +p4657 +aVWell \u2014 but \u2014 but... +p4658 +aVI think, as commander in chief, you've got to constantly be evaluating the decisions you have to make. I know a little bit about this, having spent many hours in the situation room, advising President Obama. And I want to just add to something that Senator Sanders said, the United States had a very big interest in trying to help stabilize the region. If there is any blame to be spread around, it starts with the prime minister of Iraq, who sectarianized his military, setting Shia against Sunni. It is amplified by Assad, who has waged one of the bloodiest, most terrible attacks on his own people: 250,000-plus dead, millions fleeing. Causing this vacuum that has been filled unfortunately, by terrorist groups, including +p4659 +aV... and go after +p4660 +aVBut overall, a lot of the forces at work in the region are ones that we cannot directly influence, but we can... +p4661 +aVWell, it would depend on what I got for it and I can tell you what we got in the first term, we got a new start treaty to reduce nuclear weapons between the United States and Russia. We got permission to resupply our troops in Afghanistan by traveling across Russia. We got Russia to sign on to our sanctions against Iran and other very important commitments. So look, in diplomacy, you are always trying to see how you can figure out the interest of the other to see if there isn't some way you can advance your security and your values. When Putin came back in the fall of 2011, it was very clear he came back with a mission. And I began speaking out as soon as that happened because there were some fraudulent elections held, and Russians poured out into the streets to demand their freedom, and he cracked down. And in fact, accused me of fomenting it. So we now know that he has a mixed record to say the least and we have to figure out how to deal with him. +p4662 +aVWell, my relationship with him, it's \u2014 it's interesting. It's one, I think, of respect. We've had some very tough dealings with one another. And I know that he's someone that you have to continuingly stand up to because, like many bullies, he is somebody who will take as much as he possibly can unless you do. And we need to get the Europeans to be more willing to stand up, I was pleased they put sanctions on after Crimea and eastern Ukraine and the downing of the airliner, but we've got to be more united in preventing Putin from taking a more aggressive stance in Europe and the Middle East. +p4663 +aVOh, we're breaking? OK. +p4664 +aVWell, I wanted to say, and I'll do it quickly, I was very pleased that leaders of President Obama's administration went out to Silicon Valley last week and began exactly this conversation about what we can do, consistent with privacy and security. We need better intelligence cooperation, we need to be sure that we are getting the best intelligence that we can from friends and allies around the world. And then, we've got to recognize our first line of defense against lone wolf attacks is among Muslim Americans. And it is not only shameful, it is dangerous for the kinds of comments you're hearing from the Republican side. We need to be reaching out and unifying our country against terrorist attacks and lone wolves, and working with Muslim Americans. +p4665 +aVThat is not what I've heard. Let me leave it at that. O' +p4666 +aVWell, it'll start at the kitchen table, we'll see how it goes from there. And I......I'm going to have the very best advisers that I can possibly have, and when it comes to the economy and what was accomplished under my husband's leadership and the '90s \u2014 especially when it came to raising incomes for everybody and lifting more people out of poverty than at any time in recent history \u2014 you bet. I'm going to ask for his ideas, I'm going ask for his advice, and I'm going use him as a goodwill emissary to go around the country to find the best ideas we've got, because I do believe, as he said, everything that's wrong with America has been solved somewhere in America. We just have to do more of it, and we have to reach out, especially into poor communities and communities of color, to give more people their own chance to get ahead. +p4667 +aVWell Lester, I spent a lot of time last week being outraged by what's happening in Flint, Michigan and I think every single American should be outraged. We've had a city in the United States of America where the population which is poor in many ways and majority African American has been drinking and bathing in lead contaminated water. And the governor of that state acted as though he didn't really care. He had request for help and he had basically stone walled. I'll tell you what, if the kids in a rich suburb of Detroit had been drinking contaminated water and being bathed in it, there would've been action. So I sent my top campaign aide down there to talk to the mayor of Flint to see what I could to help. I issued a statement about what we needed to do and then I went on a T.V. show and I said, "it was outrageous that the governor hadn't acted and within two hours he had." +p4668 +aVI want to be a president who takes care of the big problems and the problems that are affecting the people of our country everyday. +p4669 +aVWell, thank you. And I'm delighted to be here in New Hampshire for this debate. You know, the American president has to both keep our families safe and make the economy grow in a way that helps everyone, not just those at the top. That's the job. I have a strategy to combat and defeat +p4670 +aVI very much appreciate that comment, Bernie. It really is important that we go forward on this. I know that you now have your data back, and that there has been an agreement for an independent inquiry into what did happen. Obviously, we were distressed when we learned of it, because we have worked very hard -- I said in the beginning of this campaign, we want to reach as many voters as possible, and we have tens of thousands of volunteers doing that, and entering data all the time to keep up with what people are telling us. And so, now that, I think, you know, we have resolved your data, we have agreed on an independent inquiry, we should move on. Because I don't think the American people are all that interested in this. I think they're more interested in what we have to say about all the big issues facing us. O' +p4671 +aVWell, first, the most important job of being president is obviously to keep our country safe and to keep the families of America safe. I have a plan that I've put forward to go after +p4672 +aVWell, I think you have to look at both the terrorism challenge that we face abroad and certainly at home and the role that guns play in delivering the violence that stalks us. Clearly, we have to have a very specific set of actions to take. You know, when Senator Sanders talks about a coalition, I agree with him about that. We've got to build a coalition abroad. We also have to build a coalition at home. Abroad, we need a coalition that is going to take on +p4673 +aVYes, I'm getting... +p4674 +aV... I'm getting to that. Because I think if you only think about the coalition abroad you're missing the main point, which is we need a coalition here at home. Guns, in and of themselves, in my opinion, will not make Americans safer. We lose 33,000 people a year already to gun violence, arming more people to do what I think is not the appropriate response to terrorism. I think what is... Is creating much deeper, closer relations and, yes, coalitions within our own country. The first line of defense against radicalization is in Muslim-American community. People who we should be welcoming and working with. I worry greatly that the rhetoric coming from the Republicans, particularly Donald Trump, is sending a message to Muslims here in the United States and literally around the world that there is a "clash of civilizations," that there is some kind of Western plot or even "war against Islam," which then I believe fans the flames of radicalization. So guns have to be looked at as its own problem, but we also have to figure out how we're going to deal with the radicalization here in the United States. +p4675 +aVYes, let's tell the truth, Martin. O' +p4676 +aVHe invoked mine as well. +p4677 +aVI do and this is an important issue and I know we'll get to a lot of other critical ones as well. I actually agree with Governor O'Malley about the need for common sense gun safety measures. And I applaud his record in Maryland. I just wish he wouldn't misrepresent mine. I have been for the Brady bill, I have been against assault weapons. I have voted not to give gun makers and sellers immunity. And I also know that -- and I'm glad to see this -- Senator Sanders has really moved in face of the facts about what we're confronting in our country. I know that he has said in the two previous that he wants to take on this immunity issue because we need to send a strong message to the gun manufacturers, to the sellers, to the gun lobby. And I would hope, Senator Sanders, that you would join the Democrats who are trying to close the Charleston loophole, that you would sponsor or co-sponsor legislation to remove the absolute immunity. We need to move on this consensus that exists in the country. It's no longer enough just to say the vast majority of Americans want common sense gun safety measures including gun owners. We need, and only the three of us will do this, nobody on the Republican side will even admit there's a problem. And in whatever way the three of us can we need to move this agenda forward and begin to deal with the gun lobby and the intimidation that they present. +p4678 +aVWell I think a lot of people are understandably reacting out of fear and anxiety about what they're seeing. First what they saw in Paris, now what they have seen in San Bernardino. And Mr. Trump has a great capacity to use bluster and bigotry to inflame people and to make think there are easy answers to very complex questions. So what I would say is, number one, we need to be united against the threats that we face. We need to have everybody in our country focused on watching what happens and reporting it if it's suspicious, reporting what you hear. Making sure that Muslim Americans don't feel left out or marginalized at the very moment when we need their help. +p4679 +aVYou know, I was a senator from New York after 9/11, and we spent countless hours trying to figure out how to protect the city and the state from perhaps additional attacks. One of the best things that was done, and George W. Bush did this and I give him credit, was to reach out to Muslim Americans and say, we're in this together. You are not our adversary, you are our partner. And we also need to make sure that the really discriminatory messages that Trump is sending around the world don't fall on receptive ears. He is becoming +p4680 +aVI would not want to go to that point. I would hope that, given the extraordinary capacities that the tech community has and the legitimate needs and questions from law enforcement, that there could be a Manhattan-like project, something that would bring the government and the tech communities together to see they're not adversaries, they've got to be partners. It doesn't do anybody any good if terrorists can move toward encrypted communication that no law enforcement agency can break into before or after. There must be some way. I don't know enough about the technology, Martha, to be able to say what it is, but I have a lot of confidence in our tech experts. And maybe the back door is the wrong door, and I understand what Apple and others are saying about that. But I also understand, when a law enforcement official charged with the responsibility of preventing attacks -- to go back to our early questions, how do we prevent attacks -- well, if we can't know what someone is planning, we are going to have to rely on the neighbor or, you know, the member of the mosque or the teacher, somebody to see something. +p4681 +aVI just think there's got to be a way, and I would hope that our tech companies would work with government to figure that out. Otherwise, law enforcement is blind -- blind before, blind during, and, unfortunately, in many instances, blind after. So we always have to balance liberty and security, privacy and safety, but I know that law enforcement needs the tools to keep us safe. And that's what I hope, there can be some understanding and cooperation to achieve. +p4682 +aVWell, I agree that we have to have the toughest screening and vetting... +p4683 +aVI don't think a halt is necessary. What we have to do is put all of our resources through the Department of Homeland Security, through the State Department, through our intelligence agencies, and we have to have an increased vetting and screening. Now, this takes, David, 18 months to 24 months, two years. So I know it's not going to happen overnight and everything that can be done should be done. But the process should move forward while we are also taking on +p4684 +aVSo, I think it's absolutely wrong policy for us to be even imagining we're going end up putting tens of thousands of American troops into Syria and Iraq to fight +p4685 +aVWell, I just think you're asking a question with a false choice. I believe if we lead an air coalition, which we are now in the position of doing and intensify it, if we continue to build back up the Iraqi army, which has had some recent success in Ramadi, as you know, if we get back talking to the tribal sheiks in Anbar to try to rebuild those relationships, which were very successful, in going after Al Qaida in Iraq, if we get the Turks to pay more attention to +p4686 +aVWell, I just want to quickly add... +p4687 +aVMartha, that -- you know, one of the reasons why I have advocated for a no-fly zone is in order to create those safe refuges within Syria, to try to protect people on the ground both from Assad's forces, who are continuing to drop barrel bombs, and from +p4688 +aVI do not think it would come to that. We are already de-conflicting air space. We know... +p4689 +aVNo, I don't think so. I am advocating... +p4690 +aVI am advocating the no-fly zone both because I think it would help us on the ground to protect Syrians; I'm also advocating it because I think it gives us some leverage in our conversations with Russia. Now that Russia has joined us in the Security Council, has adopted an agreement that we hashed out a long day in Geneva three years ago, now I think we can have those conversations. The no-fly zone, I would hope, would be also shared by Russia. If they will begin to turn their military attention away from going after the adversaries of Assad toward +p4691 +aVThat is exactly... +p4692 +aVThat is exactly what I just said and what I just described. +p4693 +aVAnd that is important, because now we have a U.N. Security Council that will enable us to do that. And, you know, with all due respect, Senator, you voted for regime change with respect to Libya. You joined the Senate in voting to get rid of Gadhafi, and you asked that there be a Security Council validation of that with a resolution. All of these are very difficult issues. I know that; I've been dealing with them for a long time. And, of course, we have to continue to do what is necessary when someone like Gadhafi, a despot with American blood on his hands, is overturned. But I'll tell you what would have happened, if we had not joined with our European partners and our Arab partners to assist the people in Libya, you would be looking at Syria. Now the Libyans are turning their attention to try to dislodge +p4694 +aVI think we're missing the point here. We are doing both at the same time. +p4695 +aVWell, I don't agree with that, because we will not get the support on the ground in Syria to dislodge +p4696 +aVSince he has been making all kinds of comments. I think it's fair to say, Assad has killed, by last count, about 250,000 Syrians. The reason we are in the mess we're in, that +p4697 +aVAnd we finally have a U.N. Security Council Resolution bringing the world together to go after a political transition in Syria. +p4698 +aVIf the United States does not lead, there is not another leader. There is a vacuum. +p4699 +aVAnd we have to lead, if we're going to be successful. +p4700 +aVSorry. +p4701 +aVWell, I've been talking to a lot of these families, and this is such an outrage, both because it's bad for our economy, we're a 70 percent consumption economy, people need to feel optimistic and confident, they need to believe their hard work is going to be rewarded, and it's bad for our democracy. It's absolutely the case that if people feel that the game is rigged, that has consequences. I think it's great standing up here with the senator and the governor talking about these issues, because you're not going to hear anything like this from any of the Republicans who are running for president. They don't want to raise the minimum wage; they don't want to do anything to increase incomes. At the center of my economic policy is raising incomes, because people haven't been able to get ahead, and the cost of everything, from college tuition to prescription drugs, has gone up. Of course we have to raise the minimum wage. Of course we have to do more to incentivize profit sharing, like we see with Market Basket right here in New Hampshire and New England, where all of the employees get a chance to share in the profits. And we've got to do more on equal pay for equal work. That means pass the Paycheck Fairness Act so we have transparency about how much people are making. That's the way to get women's wages up, and that's good for them and good for their families and good for our communities. And there is a lot we can do in college affordability. I have debt-free tuition plans, free community college plans, getting student debt down. I also am very committed to getting the price of drugs down. And there's a lot. You can go to my website... +p4702 +aV... hillaryclinton.com, and read about it. But I guess the final thing that -- that I would say is this is the kind of debate we need to take to the Republicans in the fall. +p4703 +aVThis is the election... +p4704 +aV... issues they have to respond to. +p4705 +aVEverybody should. Look, I have said I want to be the president for the struggling, the striving and the successful. I want to make sure the wealthy pay their fair share, which they have not been doing. I want the Buffett Rule to be in effect, where millionaires have to pay 30 percent tax rates instead of 10 percent to nothing in some cases. I want to make sure we rein in the excessive use of political power to feather the nest and support the super wealthy. But I also want to create jobs and I want to be a partner with the private sector. I'm particularly keen on creating jobs in small business. My dad was a small businessman, a really small business. I want to do more to help incentivize and create more small businesses. So if -- if people who are in the private sector know what I stand for, it's what I fought for as a senator, it's what I will do as president, and they want to be part of once again building our economy so it works for everybody, more power to them, because they are the kind of business leaders who understand that if we don't get the American economy moving and growing, we're not going to recognize our country and we're not going to give our kids the same opportunities that we had. +p4706 +aVOK... +p4707 +aVLet me respond... +p4708 +aVUnder the rules, I have been -- I have been invoked, David, so let me respond very quickly. Number one... +p4709 +aVNumber one, there are currently two hedge fund billionaires running ads against me here in New Hampshire. They started in Iowa. Now, you'd have to ask yourself, why are they running ads against me? And the answer is: Because they know I will go right after them, that I will not let their agenda be America's agenda. Secondly, I think it's important to point out that about 3 percent of my donations come from people in the finance and investment world. You can go to opensecrets.org and check that. I have more donations from students and teachers than I do from people associated with Wall Street. Now, number three -- and let me say this -- when Governor O'Malley was heading the Democratic Governors Association, he had no trouble at all going to Wall Street to raise money to run campaigns for Democratic governors. And he also had no trouble appointing an investment banker to be in charge of his consumer protection bureau when he was governor. So, you know, again, the difference between us and the Republicans is night and day. And there is only one person on this stage who voted to take away authority from the SEC and the Commodities Future Trading Commission that they could no longer regulate what are called swaps and derivatives, which actually contributed to the collapse of Lehman Brothers, and that was Senator Sanders. So if we're going to be talking like this, we can -- and maybe we can score some political points -- but the fact is: Every one of us stands for the kind of economy that will work better for every American. And if that means taking on Wall Street, I have a plan that is tough and comprehensive and praised by a lot of folks who say it goes further than what both Senator Sanders and Governor O'Malley are proposing. +p4710 +aVWell, I would certainly build on the successes of the Affordable Care Act and work to fix some of the glitches that you just referenced. Number one, we do have more people who have access to health care. We have ended the terrible situation that people with pre- existing conditions were faced with where they couldn't find at any affordable price health care. Women are not charged more than men any longer for our health insurance. And we keep young people on our policies until they turn 26. Those are all really positive developments. But out-of-pocket costs have gone up too much and prescription drug costs have gone through the roof. And so what I have proposed, number one, is a $5,000 tax credit to help people who have very large out-of-pocket costs be able to afford those. Number two, I want Medicare to be able to negotiate for lower drug prices just like they negotiate with other countries' health systems. We end up paying the highest prices in the world. And I want us to be absolutely clear about making sure the insurance companies in the private employer policy arena as well as in the Affordable Care exchanges are properly regulated so that we are not being gamed. And I think that's an important point to make because I'm going through and analyzing the points you were making, Martha. We don't have enough competition and we don't have enough oversight of what the insurance companies are charging everybody right now. +p4711 +aVYes. +p4712 +aVWell, they're glitches because... +p4713 +aVIt is. Because part of this is the startup challenges that this system is facing. We have fought, as Democrats, for decades to get a health care plan. I know. I've got the scars to show from the effort back in the early '90s. We want to build on it and fix it. And I'm confident we can do that. And it will have effects in the private market. And one of the reasons in some states why the percentage cost has gone up so much is because governors there would not extend Medicaid. And so people are still going to get health care, thankfully, in emergency rooms, in hospitals. Those costs are then added to the overall cost, which does increase the insurance premiums for people in the private system. +p4714 +aVRight. +p4715 +aVWell, I have what I call the new college compact. Because I think everybody has to have some skin in this game, you know. Number one, States have been dis-investing in higher education. In fact, I think New Hampshire, in state tuition for public colleges and universities, is among the highest if not the highest in the country. So states over a period of decades have put their money elsewhere; into prisons, into highways, into things other than higher education. So under my compact, the federal government will match money that the states begin to put back in to the higher education system. Secondly, I don't believe in free tuition for everybody. I believe we should focus on middle-class families, working families, and poor kids who have the ambition and the talent to go to college and get ahead. So I have proposed debt free tuition, which I think is affordable and I would move a lot of the Pell Grant and other aid into the arena where it could be used for living expense. So I put all of this together, again, on my website and I've gotten such a good response. But I want to quickly say, one of the areas that Senator Sanders touched on in talking about education and certainly talking about health care is his commitment to really changing the systems. Free college, a single payer system for health--and it's been estimated we're looking at 18 to $20 trillion, about a 40 percent in the federal budget. And I have looked at his proposed plans for health care for example, and it really does transfer every bit of our health care system including private health care, to the states to have the states run. And I think we've got to be really thoughtful about how we're going to afford what we proposed, which is why everything that I have proposed I will tell you exactly how I'm going to pay for it; including college. +p4716 +aVWell, the only thing - the only thing I can go on Senator Sanders... +p4717 +aVYour proposal is to go and send the health care system to the state. +p4718 +aVAnd my analysis is that you are going to get more taxes out of middle class families. I'm the only person... +p4719 +aV... saying, no middle class tax raises. That's off the table... +p4720 +aVThat is a pledge that I'm making. I made it when I ran in 2008. +p4721 +aVYes, and it was the same one that President Obama made. Because I don't think we should be imposing new big programs that are going to raise middle class families' taxes. We just heard that most families haven't had a wage increase since 2001. Since, you know, the end of the last Clinton administration when incomes did go up for everybody. And we've got to get back to where people can save money again, where they can invest in their families, and I don't think a middle-class tax should be part of anybody's plan right now. +p4722 +aVSenator, I have been -- I have been fighting for paid... +p4723 +aV... family leave for a very long time... +p4724 +aVI have a way to pay for it that actually makes the wealthiest pay for it... +p4725 +aV... not everybody else. +p4726 +aVWell, David, I think this is one of the most important challenges facing not just our next president but our country. We have systemic racism and injustice and inequities in our country and in particular, in our justice system that must be addressed and must be ended. I feel very strongly that we have to reform our criminal justice system and we have to find ways to try to bring law enforcement together again with the communities that they are sworn to protect. Trust has been totally lost in a lot of places. At the same time, we know that in many parts of our country police officers are bridging those divides and they're acting heroically. The young officer who was killed responding to the Planned Parenthood murders. The officer who told the victims of the San Bernardino killings that he would take a bullet before them. So I think that we need to build on the work of the policing commissioner that President Obama impaneled. We need to get a bipartisan commitment to work together on this. And we need to hear the voices of those men and women and boys and girls who feel like strangers in their own country and do whatever is necessary to not only deal with the immediate problems within the criminal justice system, but more opportunities, more jobs, better education so that we can begin to rebuild that very valuable asset known as trust. +p4727 +aVYou know, on my very first visit to New Hampshire in this campaign, I was in Keene, and I was asked, "what are you going to do about the heroin epidemic?" And all over New Hampshire, I met grandmothers who are raising children because they lost the father or the mother to an overdose. I met young people who are desperately trying to get clean and have nowhere to go, because there are not enough facilities. So this is a major epidemic, and it has hit New Hampshire and Vermont particularly hard. I've had had two town halls, one in Keene, one in Laconia, dedicated exclusively to talking about what we can do. And I've heard some great ideas about how law enforcement is changing its behavior, how the recovery community is reaching out. And I was proud to get the endorsement of Mayor Walsh of Boston, who has made his struggle with alcoholism a real clarion call for action in this arena. So, I've laid out a five-point plan about what we can do together. I would like the federal government to offer $10 billion over ten years to work with states, and I really applaud Governor Hassan for taking up this challenge and working with the legislature here to come up with a plan. We need to do more on the prescribing end of it. There are too many opioids being prescribed, and that leads directly now to heroin addiction. And we need to change the way we do law enforcement, and of course, we need more programs and facilities, so when somebody is ready to get help, there's a place for them to go. And every law enforcement should carry the antidote to overdose, Naloxone, so that they can save lives that are on the brink of expiring. +p4728 +aVWell, first, let's remember why we became part of a coalition to stop Gadhafi from committing massacres against his people. The United States was asked to support the Europeans and the Arab partners that we had and we did a lot of due diligence about whether we should or not, and eventually, yes, I recommended and the president decided that we would support the action to protect civilians on the ground and that led to the overthrow of Gadhafi. I think that what Libya then did by having a full free election, which elected moderates, was an indication of their crying need and desire to get on the right path. Now, the whole region has been rendered unstable, in part because of the aftermath of the Arab Spring, in part because of the very effective outreach and propagandizing that +p4729 +aVMartha, we offered a lot more than they were willing to take. We offered a lot more. We also got rid of their chemical weapons, which was a big help, and we also went after a lot of the shoulder-fired missiles to round them up. You know, we can't -- if we're not going to send American troops, which there was never any idea of doing that, then to try to send trainers, to try to send experts, is something we offered, Europeans offered, the U.N. offered, and there wasn't a lot of responsiveness at first. I think a lot of the Libyans who had been forced out of their country by Gadhafi who came back to try to be part of a new government, believed they knew what to do and it turned out that they were no match for some of the, you know, militaristic forces inside that country. But I'm not giving up on Libya and I don't think anybody should. We've been at this a couple of years. +p4730 +aVWell, there's always a retrospective to say what mistakes were made. But I know that we offered a lot of help and I know it was difficult for the Libyans to accept help. What we could have done if they had said yes would have been a lot more than what we were able to have done. +p4731 +aVWell, I would just repeat that. +p4732 +aVWait a minute. I think it's only fair to put on the record, Senator Sanders voted in the Senate for a resolution calling for ending the Gadhafi regime and asking that the U.N. be brought in, either a congressional vote or a U.N. Security Council vote. We got a U.N. Security council vote. Now, I understand that this is very difficult. And I'm not standing here today and saying that Libya is as far along as Tunisia. We saw what happened in Egypt. I cautioned about a quick overthrow of Mubarak, and we now are back with basically an army dictatorship. This is a part of the world where the United States has tried to play two different approaches. One, work with the tough men, the dictators, for our own benefit and promote democracy. That's a hard road to walk. But I think it's the right road for us to try to travel. O' +p4733 +aVWell, the role has been defined by each person who's held it. And I am very grateful for all my predecessors and my successors because each of them not only did what she could to support her husband and our country but often chose to work on important issues that were of particular concern. Obviously, Mrs. Obama has been a terrific leader when it comes to young people's health, particularly nutrition and exercise. And I think has had a big impact. So whoever is part of the family of a president has an extraordinary privilege of not only having a front row seat on history but making her or maybe his contribution. And with respect to my own husband, I am probably still going to pick the flowers and the china for state dinners and stuff like that. But I will certainly turn to him as prior presidents have for special missions, for advice, and in particular, how we're going to get the economy working again for everybody, which he knows a little bit about. +p4734 +aVOn January 20th, 2017, the next president of the United States will walk into the White House. If, heaven forbid, that next president is a Republican, I think it's pretty clear we know what will happen. A lot of the rights that have been won over years, from women's rights to voter rights to gay rights to worker rights, will be at risk. Social Security, which Republicans call a Ponzi scheme, may face privatization. Our vets may see the V.A. hospital that needs to be improved and made better for them turned over to privatization. Planned Parenthood will be defunded. The list goes on because the differences are so stark. You know, everybody says every election's important, and there's truth to that. This is a watershed election. I know how important it is that we have a Democrat succeed President Obama in the White House. And I will do all that I can in this campaign to reach out and explain what I stand for and what I will do as president. You know, I became a grandmother 15 months ago, and so I spent a lot of time thinking about my granddaughter's future. But as president, I will spend even more time thinking about the futures of all the kids and the grandchildren in this country because I want to make sure every single child has a chance to live up to his or her God-given potential. If you will join me in this campaign, we will make that a mission. Thank you, good night and may the force be with you. +p4735 +aVWell, our prayers are with the people of France tonight, but that is not enough. We need to have a resolve that will bring the world together to root out the kind of radical jihadist ideology that motivates organizations like +p4736 +aVWell, John, I think that we have to look at +p4737 +aVWell, John, look, I think that what happened when we abided by the agreement that George W. Bush made with the Iraqis to leave by 2011, is that an Iraqi army was left that had been trained and that was prepared to defend Iraq. Unfortunately, Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister, set about decimating it. And then, with the revolution against Assad -- and I did early on say we needed to try to find a way to train and equip moderates very early so that we would have a better idea of how to deal with Assad because I thought there would be extremist groups filling the vacuum. So, yes, this has developed. I think that there are many other reasons why it has in addition to what happened in the region, but I don't think that the United States has the bulk of the responsibility. I really put that on Assad and on the Iraqis and on the region itself. +p4738 +aVThank you, John. Well, thank you, John. I think it's important we put this in historic context. The United States has, unfortunately, been victimized by terrorism going back decades. In the 1980s, it was in Beirut, Lebanon, under President Reagan's administration, and 258 Americans, marines, embassy personnel, and others were murdered. We also had attacks on two of our embassies in Tanzania, Kenya, when my husband was president. Again, Americans murdered. And then, of course, 9/11 happened, which happened before there was an invasion of Iraq. I have said the invasion of Iraq was a mistake. But I think if we're ever going to really tackle the problems posed by jihadi extreme terrorism, we need to understand it and realize that it has antecedents to what happened in Iraq and we have to continue to be vigilant about it. +p4739 +aVWell, of course, each of these cases needs to be looked at individually and analyzed. Part of the problem that we have currently in the Middle East is that Assad has hung on to power with the very strong support of Russia and Iran and with the proxy of Hezbollah being there basically fighting his battles. So I don't think you can paint with a broad brush. This is an incredibly complicated region of the world. It's become more complicated. And many of the fights that are going on are not ones that the United States has either started or have a role in. The Shi'a-Sunni split. The dictatorships have suppressed people's aspirations. The increasing globalization without any real safety valve for people to have a better life. We saw that in Egypt. We saw a dictator overthrown. We saw a Muslim brotherhood president installed, and then we saw him ousted and the army back. So, I think we've got to understand the complexity of the world that we are facing and no place is more so than in the Middle East. +p4740 +aVWell, I think -- I think that is very unfair to a few you mentioned, most particularly Jordan, which has put a lot on the line for the United States, has also taken in hundreds of thousands of refugees from Syria, and has been, therefore, subjected to threats and attacks by extremists themselves. I do agree that in particular, Turkey and the Gulf nations have got to make up their minds. Are they going to stand with us against this kind of jihadi radicalism or not? And there are many ways of doing it. They can provide forces. They can provide resources. But they need to be absolutely clear about where they stand. +p4741 +aVWell, we did have a plan, and I think it's fair to say that of all of the Arab leaders, Gaddafi probably had more blood on his hands of Americans than anybody else. And when he moved on his own people, threatening a massacre, genocide, the Europeans and the Arabs, our allies and partners, did ask for American help and we provided it. And we didn't put a single boot on the ground, and Gaddafi was deposed. The Libyans turned out for one of the most successful, fairest elections that any Arab country has had. They elected moderate leaders. Now, there has been a lot of turmoil and trouble as they have tried to deal with these radical elements which you find in this arc of instability, from north Africa to Afghanistan. And it is imperative that we do more not only to help our friends and partners protect themselves and protect our own homeland, but also to work to try to deal with this arc of instability, which does have a lot of impact on what happens in a country like Libya. +p4742 +aVWell, I think it's perfectly fair to say that we invested quite a bit in development aid. Some of the bravest people that I had the privilege of working with as secretary of state were our development professionals who went sometimes alone, sometimes with our military, into very dangerous places in Iraq, in Afghanistan, elsewhere. So, there does need to be a whole of government approach, but just because we're involved and we have a strategy doesn't mean we're going to be able to dictate the outcome. These are often very long- term kinds of investments that have to be made. +p4743 +aVI don't think we're at war with Islam. I don't think we're at war with all Muslims. I think we're at war with jihadists who have -- +p4744 +aVI think +p4745 +aVI think with this kind of barbarism and nihilism, it's very hard to understand, other than the lust for power, the rejection of modernity, the total disregard for human rights, freedom, or any other value that we know and respect. Historically, it is important to try to understand your adversary in order to figure out how they are thinking, what they will be doing, how they will react. I plead that it's very difficult when you deal with +p4746 +aVYes. +p4747 +aVWell, we have an authorization to use military force against terrorists. We passed it after 9/11. +p4748 +aVIt certainly does cover it. I would like to see it updated. +p4749 +aVNo, it would have to go through the Congress, and I know the White House has actually been working with members of Congress. Maybe now we can get it moving again so that we can upgrade it so that it does include all the tools and everything in our arsenal that we can use to try to work with our allies and our friends, come up with better intelligence. You know, it is difficult finding intelligence that is actionable in a lot of these places, but we have to keep trying. And we have to do more to prevent the flood of foreign fighters that have gone to Syria, especially the ones with western passports, that come back. So there's a lot of work we need to do and I want to be sure what's called the +p4750 +aVI think that is the number one requirement. I also said that we should take increased numbers of refugees. The administration originally said 10. I said we should go to 65, but only if we have as careful a screening and vetting process as we can imagine, whatever resources it takes because I do not want us to, in any way, inadvertently allow people who wish us harm to come into our country. But I want to say a quick word about what Senator Sanders and then Governor O'Malley said. We do have to take a hard look at the defense budget and we do have to figure out how we get ready to fight the adversaries of the future, not the past. But we have to also be very clear that we do have some continuing challenges. We've got challenges in the South China Sea because of what China is doing in building up these military installations. We have problems with Russia. Just the other day, Russia allowed a television camera to see the plans for a drone submarine that could carry a tactical nuclear weapon. So we've got to look at the full range and then come to some smart decisions about having more streamlined and focused approach. +p4751 +aVWell, first of all, it isn't the middle class. I have made very clear that hardworking, middle-class families need a raise, not a tax increase. In fact, wages adjusted for inflation haven't risen since the turn of the last century, after my husband's administration. So we have a lot of work to do to get jobs going again, get incomes rising again. And I have laid out specific plans -- you can go to my web site, hillaryclinton.com, and read the details. And I will pay for it by, yes, taxing the wealthy more, closing corporate loopholes, deductions, and other kinds of favorable treatment. And I can do it without raising the debt, without raising taxes on the middle class and making it reasonably manageable within our budget so that we can be fiscally responsible at the same time. +p4752 +aVWell, we're going to have to redo the way the prescription drug industry does business. For example, it is outrageous that we don't have an opportunity for Medicare to negotiate for lower prices. In fact, American consumers pay the highest prices in the world for drugs that we help to be developed through the National Institute of Health and that we then tested through the FDA. So there's more to my plan than just the cap. We have to go after price gouging and monopolistic practices and get Medicare the authority to negotiate. +p4753 +aVWell, look, I believe that we've made great progress as a country with the Affordable Care Act. We've been struggling to get this done since Harry Truman. And it was not only a great accomplishment of the Democratic Party, but of President Obama. I do think that it's important to defend it. The Republicans have voted to repeal it nearly 60 times. They would like to rip it up and start all over again, throw our nation back into this really contentious debate that we've had about health care for quite some time now. I want to build on and improve the Affordable Care Act. I would certainly tackle the cost issues, because I think that once the foundation was laid with a system to try to get as many people as possible into it, to end insurance discrimination against people with preexisting conditions or women, for example, that, yes, we were going to have to figure out how to get more competition in the insurance market, how to get the costs of -- particularly, prescription drugs, but other out-of-pocket expenses down. But I think it's important to understand there's a significant difference that I have with Senator Sanders about how best to provide quality, affordable health care for everyone. And it's-- it's a worthy debate. It's an important one that we should be engaged in. +p4754 +aVWell, first of all, I know that the President has appealed the decision to the Supreme Court. And my reading of the law and the Constitution convinces me that the President has the authority that he is attempting to exercise with respect to dreamers and their parents, because I think all of us on this stage agree that we need comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship. Border security has always been a part of that debate. And it is a fact that the net immigration from Mexico and South has basically zeroed out. So, what we want to do is to say, look, we have 11 million people who have been here, many of them for decades. They have children who are doing so well, I've met and worked with dreamers. I think any parent would be so proud of them. So let's move toward what we should be doing as a nation and follow the values of our immigration history and begin to make it possible for them to come out of the shadows and to have a future that gives them a full chance of citizenship. +p4755 +aVKathie, I think -- Kathie the... +p4756 +aVBut I do take what Alan Krueger said seriously. He is the foremost expert in our country on the minimum wage, and what its effects are. And the overall message is that it doesn't result in job loss. However, what Alan Krueger said in the piece you're referring to is that if we went to $15, there are no international comparisons. That is why I support a $12 national federal minimum wage. That is what the Democrats in the Senate have put forward as a proposal. But I do believe that is a minimum. And places like Seattle, like Los Angeles, like New York City, they can go higher. It's what happened in Governor O'Malley's state. There was a minimum wage at the state level, and some places went higher. I think that is... O' +p4757 +aVI think that is the smartest way to be able to move forward because if you go to $12 it would be the highest historical average we've ever had. O' +p4758 +aVBut you would index it -- you would index it to the median wage. Of course, you would. Do the $12 and you would index it. But I... O' +p4759 +aVHe's not wall street. O' +p4760 +aVThat's not fair. He's a progressive economist. +p4761 +aVWell, I think it's pretty clear that they know that I will. You have two billionaire hedge fund managers who started a super PAC and they're advertising against me in Iowa as we speak. So they clearly think I'm going to do what I say I will do and you can look at what I did in the Senate. I did introduce legislation to reign in compensation. I looked at ways that the shareholders would have more control over what was going on in that arena. And specifically said to Wall Street, that what they were doing in the mortgage market was bringing our country down. I've laid out a very aggressive plan to reign in Wall Street -- not just the big banks. That's a part of the problem and I am going right at them. I have a comprehensive, tough plan. But I went further than that. We have to go after what is called the shadow banking industry. Those hedge funds. Look at what happened in '08, AIG, a big insurance company, Lehman Brothers, an investment bank helped to bring our economy down. So, I want to look at the whole problem and that's why my proposal is much more comprehensive than anything else that's been put forth. +p4762 +aVWell John, wait a minute. Wait a minute, he has basically used his answer to impune my integrity. Let's be frank here. +p4763 +aVOh, wait a minute, senator. You know, not only do I have hundreds of thousands of donors, most of them small. And I'm very proud that for the first time a majority of my donors are women, 60 percent. So, I represented New York, and I represented New York on 9/11 when we were attacked. Where were we attacked? We were attacked in downtown Manhattan where Wall Street is. I did spend a whole lot of time and effort helping them rebuild. That was good for New York. It was good for the economy and it was a way to rebuke the terrorists who had attacked our country. So, you know, it's fine for you to say what you're going to say, but I looked very carefully at your proposal. Reinstating Glass- Steagall is a part of what very well could help, but it is nowhere near enough. My proposal is tougher, more effective, and more comprehensive because I go after all of Wall Street not just the big banks. O' +p4764 +aVWell, you know, governor, I know that when you had a chance to appoint a commissioner for financial regulation, you chose an investment banker in 2010. So for me, it is looking at what works and what we need to do to try to move past what happened in '08. And I will go back and say again, AIG was not a big bank. It had to be bailed out and it nearly destroyed us. Lehman Brothers was not a big bank. It was an investment bank. And its bankruptcy and its failure nearly destroyed us. So I've said, if the big banks don't play by the rules, I will break them up. +p4765 +aVAnd I will also go after executives who are responsible for the decisions that have such bad consequences for our country. +p4766 +aVWell, I think that there are different records. I -- you know, know that Senator Sanders had a different vote than I did when it came to giving immunity to gun makers and sellers. That was a terrible mistake. It basically gave the gun lobby even more power to intimidate legislators, not just in Washington but across the country. But just think about this-- since we last debated in Las Vegas, nearly 3,000 people have been killed by guns. Twenty-one mass shootings, including one last weekend in Des Moins where three were murdered. Two hundred children have been killed. This is an emergency. There are a lot of things we've got to do in our country, reigning in Wall Street is certainly one of them. I agree with that. That's why I've got such a good plan. But we have to also go after the gun lobby and 92 percent of Americans agree we should have universal background checks. Close the gun show loophole, close the online loophole and... +p4767 +aVI will do everything I can as president to get that accomplished. +p4768 +aVI -- I said I made a mistake on Iraq, and I would love to see Senator Sanders join with some of my colleague in addition the Senate that I see in the audience. Let's reverse the immunity. Let's put the gun makers and sellers on notice that they're not going to get away with it. +p4769 +aVBut wait, I just want to say this Senator. There is broad consensus, 92 percent in the most recently poll of Americans want gun safety measures... +p4770 +aV... and 85 percent of gun owners agree. +p4771 +aVWe've got the consensus, what we're lacking is political leadership... +p4772 +aV... and that's what you and others can start providing in the Senate. +p4773 +aVWell, I'm sorry that whoever tweeted that had that impression because I worked closely with New Yorkers after 9/11 for my entire first term to rebuild. So, yes, I did know people. I've had a lot of folks give me donations from all kinds of backgrounds say, I don't agree with you on everything, but I like what you do. I like how you stand up. I'm going to support you, and I think that is absolutely appropriate. +p4774 +aVWell, I'll tell you who is on my side. Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize winning economist, who said my plan for what we should do to reign in Wall Street was more comprehensive and better. Paul Volcker, one of the leading lights of trying to reign in the excesses, has also said he does not support reinstating Glass-Steagall. So, I mean this may seem like a bit of an arcane discussion. I have nothing against the passion that my two friends here have about reinstating Glass-Steagall. I just don't think it would get the job done. I'm all about making sure we actually get results for whatever we do. +p4775 +aVI agree completely. I couldn't have said it better myself. But I did want to -- I wanted to follow up. Look, we need more Americans to be involved in the political process. And I give Senator Sanders a lot of credit for really lighting a fire under many people -- young, old, everybody -- who sees a chance to be involved and have their voice heard. Look at what's happening with the Republicans. They are doing everything they can to prevent the voices of Americans to be heard. They're trying to prevent people from registering to vote. So, we do need to take on the Republicans very clearly and directly. But the other thing I just wanted quickly to say is, I think President Obama deserves more credit than he gets for what he got done in Washington, despite the Republican obstructionists. +p4776 +aVI think after 11 hours, that's pretty clear, yes. And, you know, I do think it's important to do exactly what Senator Sanders said, and that is to start talking about the issues that the American people really care about, and that they talk to each of us about. And to contrast, even -- there are differences among us. You've heard some of those tonight. I still want to get back to health care, because I think that's a worthy topic to explore. But the differences among us pale compared to what's happening on the Republican side. And if you listen to what they say -- and I had a chance over those 11 hours to watch and listen, as well as what I see in their debates -- they are putting forth alarming plans. I mean, all of us support funding Planned Parenthood. All of us believe climate change is real. All of us want equal pay for equal work. They don't believe in any of that. So let's focus on what this election is really going to be about. +p4777 +aVWell, John, I come from the '60s, a long time ago. There was a lot of activism on campus -- Civil Rights activism, antiwar activism, women's rights activism -- and I do appreciate the way young people are standing up and speaking out. Obviously, I believe that on a college campus, there should be enough respect so people hear each other. But what happened at the university there, what's happening at other universities, I think reflects the deep sense of, you know, concern, even despair that so many young people, particularly of color, have... You know, I recently met with a group of mothers who lost their children to either killings by police or random killings in their neighborhoods, and hearing their stories was so incredibly, profoundly heartbreaking. Each one of them, you know, described their child, had a picture. You know, the mother of the young man with his friends in the car who was playing loud music and, you know, some older white man pulled out a gun and shot him because they wouldn't turn the radio down. Or a young woman who had been performing at President Obama's second inauguration coming home, absolutely stellar young woman, hanging out with her friends in a park getting shot by a gang member. And, of course, I met the mothers of Eric Garner and Tamir Rice, and Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin and so many of them who have lost their children. So, your original question is the right question. And it's not just a question for parents and grandparents to answer. It's really a question for all of us to answer, every single one of our children deserves the chance to live up to his or her god-given potential. And that's what we need to be doing to the best of our ability in our country. +p4778 +aVKevin, if I could just jump in. I -- I believe that we should make community college free. We should have debt-free college if you go to a public college or university. You should not have to borrow a dime to pay tuition. I want to use pell grants to help defray the living expenses that often make a difference, whether a young person can stay in school or not. I disagree with free college for everybody. I don't think taxpayers should be paying to send Donald Trump's kids to college. I think it ought to be a compact -- families contribute, kids contribute. And together we make it possible for a new generation of young people to refinance their debt and not come out with debt in the future. +p4779 +aVNo. Revolution never came. I waited and I got the scars to show for it. We now have this great accomplishment known as the Affordable Care Act, and I don't think we should have to be defending it among Democrats. We ought to be working to improve it and prevent Republicans from both underming it and even repealing it. I have looked at -- I have looked at the legislation that Senator Sanders has proposed, and basically, he does eliminate the Affordable Care Act, eliminates private insurance, eliminates Medicare, eliminates Medicaid, Tricare, children's health insurance program -- puts it all together in a big program which he then hands over to the states to administer. And I have to tell you, I would not want -- if I lived in Iowa, Terry Branstad administering my health care. I -- I think -- I think as Democrats we ought to proudly support the Affordable Care Act, improve it, and make it the model that we know it can be. +p4780 +aVWell, there are so many, I don't know where to start. I guess the one I -- I would pick is the fact that I was part of a very small group that had to advise the president about whether or not to go after Bin Laden. I spent a lot of time in the situation room as secretary of state and there were many very difficult choices presented to us. But probably that was the most challenging because there was no certainty attached to it. The intelligence was by no means absolute. We had all kinds of questions that we discussed and, you know, at the end, I recommended to the president that we take the chance to do what we could to find out whether that was bin Laden and to finally bring him to justice. It was an excruciating experience. I couldn't talk to anybody about it. In fact, after it happened, the president called my husband -- he called all the former presidents and he said to Bill, "Well I assume Hillary has told you about this." And Bill said, "No, no, she hasn't." There was nobody to talk to and it really did give me an insight into the very difficult problems presidents face. +p4781 +aVWell, thank you very much to CBS and everyone here this evening for giving us another chance to appear before you. I've heard a lot about me in this debate, and I'm going to keep talking and thinking about all of you because ultimately, I think the president's job is to do everything possible, everything that she can do to lift up the people of this country. Starting with our children and moving forward. I've spent my entire life, since I started as a young lawyer for the Children's Defense Fund, trying to figure out how we can even the odds for so many people in America, this great country of ours, who are behind, who don't have a chance. And that's what I will do as your president. I will work my heart out. I need your help. All of you in Iowa, I need you to caucus for me. Please go to hillaryclinton.com and be part of making this country what we know it can and should be. +p4782 +aVWell, thank you, and thanks to everyone for hosting this first of the Democratic debates. I'm Hillary Clinton. I have been proud and privileged to serve as first lady, as a senator from New York, and as secretary of state. I'm the granddaughter of a factory worker and the grandmother of a wonderful one-year-old child. And every day, I think about what we need to do to make sure that opportunity is available not just for her, but for all of our children. I have spent a very long time \u2014 my entire adult life \u2014 looking for ways to even the odds to help people have a chance to get ahead, and, in particular, to find the ways for each child to live up to his or her God-given potential. I've traveled across our country over the last months listening and learning, and I've put forward specific plans about how we're going to create more good-paying jobs: by investing in infrastructure and clean energy, by making it possible once again to invest in science and research, and taking the opportunity posed by climate change to grow our economy. At the center of my campaign is how we're going to raise wages. Yes, of course, raise the minimum wage, but we have to do so much more, including finding ways so that companies share profits with the workers who helped to make them. And then we have to figure out how we're going to make the tax system a fairer one. Right now, the wealthy pay too little and the middle class pays too much. So I have specific recommendations about how we're going to close those loopholes, make it clear that the wealthy will have to pay their fair share, and have a series of tax cuts for middle-class families. And I want to do more to help us balance family and work. I believe in equal pay for equal work for women, but I also believe it's about time we had paid family leave for American families and join the rest of the world. During the course of the evening tonight, I'll have a chance to lay out all of my plans and the work that I've done behind them. But for me, this is about bringing our country together again. And I will do everything I can to heal the divides \u2014 the divides economically, because there's too much inequality; the racial divides; the continuing discrimination against the +p4783 +aVWell, actually, I have been very consistent. Over the course of my entire life, I have always fought for the same values and principles, but, like most human beings \u2014 including those of us who run for office \u2014 I do absorb new information. I do look at what's happening in the world. You know, take the trade deal. I did say, when I was secretary of state, three years ago, that I hoped it would be the gold standard. It was just finally negotiated last week, and in looking at it, it didn't meet my standards. My standards for more new, good jobs for Americans, for raising wages for Americans. And I want to make sure that I can look into the eyes of any middle-class American and say, "this will help raise your wages." And I concluded I could not. +p4784 +aVNo. I think that, like most people that I know, I have a range of views, but they are rooted in my values and my experience. And I don't take a back seat to anyone when it comes to progressive experience and progressive commitment. You know, when I left law school, my first job was with the Children's Defense Fund, and for all the years since, I have been focused on how we're going to un-stack the deck, and how we're gonna make it possible for more people to have the experience I had. You know, to be able to come from a grandfather who was a factory worker, a father who was a small business person, and now asking the people of America to elect me president. +p4785 +aVI'm a progressive. But I'm a progressive who likes to get things done. And I know... ...how to find common ground, and I know how to stand my ground, and I have proved that in every position that I've had, even dealing with Republicans who never had a good word to say about me, honestly. But we found ways to work together on everything from... +p4786 +aV...reforming foster care and adoption to the Children's Health Insurance Program, which insures... +p4787 +aV...8 million kids. So I have a long history of getting things done, rooted in the same values... +p4788 +aV...I've always had. +p4789 +aVWell, let me just follow-up on that, Anderson, because when I think about capitalism, I think about all the small businesses that were started because we have the opportunity and the freedom in our country for people to do that and to make a good living for themselves and their families. And I don't think we should confuse what we have to do every so often in America, which is save capitalism from itself. And I think what Senator Sanders is saying certainly makes sense in the terms of the inequality that we have. But we are not Denmark. I love Denmark. We are the United States of America. And it's our job to rein in the excesses of capitalism so that it doesn't run amok and doesn't cause the kind of inequities we're seeing in our economic system. But we would be making a grave mistake to turn our backs on what built the greatest middle class in the history... +p4790 +aV... of the world. +p4791 +aVNo, not at all. I think that we have to look at the fact that we lose 90 people a day from gun violence. This has gone on too long and it's time the entire country stood up against the NRA. The majority of our country... ... supports background checks, and even the majority of gun owners do. Senator Sanders did vote five times against the Brady bill. Since it was passed, more than 2 million prohibited purchases have been prevented. He also did vote, as he said, for this immunity provision. I voted against it. I was in the Senate at the same time. It wasn't that complicated to me. It was pretty straightforward to me that he was going to give immunity to the only industry in America. Everybody else has to be accountable, but not the gun manufacturers. And we need to stand up and say: Enough of that. We're not going to let it continue. +p4792 +aVWell, first of all, we got a lot of business done with the Russians when Medvedev was the president, and not Putin. We got a nuclear arms deal, we got the Iranian sanctions, we got an ability to bring important material and equipment to our soldiers in Afghanistan. There's no doubt that when Putin came back in and said he was going to be President, that did change the relationship. We have to stand up to his bullying, and specifically in Syria, it is important \u2014 and I applaud the administration because they are engaged in talks right now with the Russians to make it clear that they've got to be part of the solution to try to end that bloody conflict. And, to \u2014 provide safe zones so that people are not going to have to be flooding out of Syria at the rate they are. And, I think it's important too that the United States make it very clear to Putin that it's not acceptable for him to be in Syria creating more chaos, bombing people on behalf of Assad, and we can't do that if we don't take more of a leadership position, which is what I'm advocating. +p4793 +aV...Well, nobody does. Nobody does, Senator Sanders. +p4794 +aVWell, I recall very well being on a debate stage, I think, about 25 times with then Senator Obama, debating this very issue. After the election, he asked me to become Secretary of State. He valued my judgment, and I spent a lot of time with him... ...in the Situation Room, going over some very difficult issues. You know, I \u2014 I agree completely. We don't want American troops on the ground in Syria. I never said that. What I said was we had to put together a coalition \u2014 in fact, something that I worked on before I left the State Department \u2014 to do, and yes, that it should include Arabs, people in the region. Because what I worry about is what will happen with +p4795 +aVWell, first of all, I... +p4796 +aVWell, I am in the middle, here, and... Lots of things coming from all directions. +p4797 +aVYou know, I have to say, I was very pleased when Governor O'Malley endorsed me for president in 2008, and I enjoyed his strong support in that campaign. And I consider him, obviously, a friend. Let me say \u2014 because there's a lot of loose talk going on here \u2014 we are already flying in Syria just as we are flying in Iraq. The president has made a very tough decision. What I believe and why I have advocated that the no-fly zone \u2014 which of course would be in a coalition \u2014 be put on the table is because I'm trying to figure out what leverage we have to get Russia to the table. You know, diplomacy is not about getting to the perfect solution. It's about how you balance the risks. +p4798 +aVAnd I think we have an opportunity here \u2014 and I know that inside the administration this is being hotly debated \u2014 to get that leverage to try to get the Russians to have to deal with everybody in the region and begin to move toward a political, diplomatic solution in Syria. +p4799 +aVWell, let's remember what was going on. We had a murderous dictator, Gadhafi, who had American blood on his hands, as I'm sure you remember, threatening to massacre large numbers of the Libyan people. We had our closest allies in Europe burning up the phone lines begging us to help them try to prevent what they saw as a mass genocide, in their words. And we had the Arabs standing by our side saying, "We want you to help us deal with Gadhafi." Our response, which I think was smart power at its best, is that the United States will not lead this. We will provide essential, unique capabilities that we have, but the Europeans and the Arabs had to be first over the line. We did not put one single American soldier on the ground in Libya. And I'll say this for the Libyan people... +p4800 +aVBut let \u2014 I'll get to that. But I think it's important, since I understand Senator Webb's very strong feelings about this, to explain where we were then and to point out that I think President Obama made the right decision at the time. And the Libyan people had a free election the first time since 1951. And you know what, they voted for moderates, they voted with the hope of democracy. Because of the Arab Spring, because of a lot of other things, there was turmoil to be followed. But unless you believe the United States should not send diplomats to any place that is dangerous, which I do not, then when we send them forth, there is always the potential for danger and risk. +p4801 +aVI \u2014 I think it has to be continued threat from the spread of nuclear weapons, nuclear material that can fall into the wrong hands. I know the terrorists are constantly seeking it, and that's why we have to stay vigilant, but also united around the world to prevent that. +p4802 +aVWell, I've taken responsibility for it. I did say it was a mistake. What I did was allowed by the State Department, but it wasn't the best choice. And I have been as transparent as I know to be, turning over 55,000 pages of my e-mails, asking that they be made public. And you're right. I am going to be testifying. I've been asking to testify for some time and to do it in public, which was not originally agreed to. But let's just take a minute here and point out that this committee is basically an arm of the Republican National Committee. It is a partisan vehicle, as admitted by the House Republican majority leader, Mr. McCarthy, to drive down my poll numbers. Big surprise. And that's what they have attempted to do. I am still standing. I am happy to be part of this debate. And I intend to keep talking about the issues that matter to the American people. You know, I believe strongly that we need to be talking about what people talk to me about, like how are we going to make college affordable? How are we going to pay down student debt? +p4803 +aVHow are we going to get health care for everybody... +p4804 +aVWell, I never said it wasn't legitimate. I said that I have answered all the questions and I will certainly be doing so again before this committee. But I think it would be really unfair not to look at the entire picture. This committee has spent $4.5 million of taxpayer money, and they said that they were trying to figure out what we could do better to protect our diplomats so that something like Benghazi wouldn't happen again. There were already seven committee reports about what to do. So I think it's pretty clear what their obvious goal is. +p4805 +aVBut I'll be there. I'll answer their questions. But tonight, I want to talk not about my e-mails, but about what the American people want from the next president of the United States. +p4806 +aVThank you. Me, too. Me, too. +p4807 +aVThank you, Bernie. Thank you. +p4808 +aVNo. +p4809 +aVWell, I think that President Obama has been a great moral leader on these issues, and has laid out an agenda that has been obstructed by the Republicans at every turn, so... ...So, what we need to be doing is not only reforming criminal justice \u2014 I have talked about that at some length, including things like body cameras, but we also need to be following the recommendations of the commissioner that President Obama empanelled on policing. There is an agenda there that we need to be following up on. Similarly, we need to tackle mass incarceration, and this may be the only bi-partisan issue in the congress this year. We actually have people on both sides of the aisle who have reached the same conclusion, that we can not keep imprisoning more people than anybody else in the world. But, I believe that the debate, and the discussion has to go further, Anderson, because we've got to do more about the lives of these children. That's why I started off by saying we need to be committed to making it possible for every child to live up to his or her god given potential. That is... +p4810 +aV...really hard to do if you don't have early childhood education... +p4811 +aV...if you don't have schools that are able to meet the needs of the people, or good housing, there's a long list... ...We need a new New Deal for communities of color... +p4812 +aVWell, you know, both Bill and I have been very blessed. Neither of us came from wealthy families and we've worked really hard our entire lives. And I want to make sure every single person in this country has the same opportunities that he and I have had, to make the most of their God-given potential and to have the chances that they should have in America for a good education, good job training, and then good jobs. I have a five point economic plan, because this inequality challenge we face, we have faced it at other points. It's absolutely right. It hasn't been this bad since the 1920s. But if you look at the Republicans versus the Democrats when it comes to economic policy, there is no comparison. The economy does better when you have a Democrat in the White House and that's why we need to have a Democrat in the White House in January 2017. +p4813 +aVWell, my plan is more comprehensive. And frankly, it's tougher because of course we have to deal with the problem that the banks are still too big to fail. We can never let the American taxpayer and middle class families ever have to bail out the kind of speculative behavior that we saw. But we also have to worry about some of the other players \u2014 AIG, a big insurance company; Lehman Brothers, an investment bank. There's this whole area called "shadow banking." That's where the experts tell me the next potential problem could come from. +p4814 +aVSo I'm with both Senator Sanders and Governor O'Malley in putting a lot of attention onto the banks. And the plan that I have put forward would actually empower regulators to break up big banks if we thought they posed a risk. But I want to make sure we're going to cover everybody, not what caused the problem last time, but what could cause it next time. +p4815 +aVYeah. You know, I \u2014 I respect the passion an intensity. I represented Wall Street, as a senator from New York, and I went to Wall Street in December of 2007 \u2014 before the big crash that we had \u2014 and I basically said, "cut it out! Quit foreclosing on homes! Quit engaging in these kinds of speculative behaviors." I took on the Bush administration for the same thing. So I have thought deeply and long about what we're gonna do to do exactly what I think both the senator and the governor want, which is to rein in and stop this risk. And my plan would have the potential of actually sending the executives to jail. Nobody went to jail after $100 billion in fines were paid... +p4816 +aV...and would give regulators the authority to go after the big banks. +p4817 +aVBut I'm telling you \u2014 I will say it tonight. If only you look at the big banks, you may be missing the forest for the trees. +p4818 +aVSo... +p4819 +aV...no, that's not what... +p4820 +aV...that \u2014 I think Dodd-Frank was a very... +p4821 +aV...good start, and I think that we have to implement it. We have to prevent the Republicans from ripping it apart. We have to save the Consumer Financial Protection board, which is finally beginning to act to protect consumers. We have work to do. You've got no argument from me. But I know, if we don't come in with a very tough and comprehensive approach, like the plan I'm recommending, we're gonna be behind instead of ahead... +p4822 +aV...on what the next crisis could be. O' +p4823 +aVWell, you know, everybody on this stage has changed a position or two. We've been around a cumulative quite some period of time. You know, we know that if you are learning, you're gonna change your position. I never took a position on Keystone until I took a position on Keystone. But I have been on the forefront of dealing with climate change, starting in 2009, when President Obama and I crashed (ph) a meeting with the Chinese and got them to sign up to the first international agreement to combat climate change that they'd ever joined. So I'm... +p4824 +aV...not taking a back seat to anybody on my values... +p4825 +aV...my principles and the results that I get. +p4826 +aVWell, let me address college affordability, because I have a plan that I think will really zero in on what the problems are. First, all the 40 million Americans who currently have student debt will be able to refinance their debt to a low interest rate. That will save thousands of dollars for people who are now struggling under this cumbersome, burdensome college debt. As a young student in Nevada said to me, the hardest thing about going to college should not be paying for it. So then we have to make it more affordable. How do we make it more affordable? My plan would enable anyone to go to a public college or university tuition free. You would not have to borrow money for tuition. But I do believe \u2014 and maybe it's because I worked when I went through college; I worked when I went through law school \u2014 I think it's important for everybody to have some part of getting this accomplished. That's why I call it a compact. +p4827 +aVBut, yes, I would like students to work 10 hours a week... +p4828 +aVWell, I fully support Social Security. And the most important fight we're going to have is defending it against continuing Republican efforts to privatize it. +p4829 +aVI want to enhance the benefits for the poorest recipients of Social Security. We have a lot of women on Social Security, particularly widowed and single women who didn't make a lot of money during their careers, and they are impoverished, and they need more help from the Social Security system. And I will focus \u2014 I will focus on helping those people who need it the most. And of course I'm going to defend Social Security. I'm going to look for ways to try to make sure it's solvent into the future. And we also need to talk about health care at some time, because we agree on the goals, we just disagree on the means. +p4830 +aVWell, first of all, I want to make sure every child gets health care. That's why I helped to create the Children's Health Insurance Program, and I want to support states that are expanding health care and including undocumented children and others. I want to open up the opportunity for immigrants to be able to buy in to the exchanges under the Affordable Care Act. I think to go beyond that, as I understand what Governor O'Malley has recommended, so that they would get the same subsidies. I think that is \u2014 it raises so many issues. It would be very difficult to administer, it needs to be part of a comprehensive immigration reform, when we finally do get to it. +p4831 +aVI want to follow up because I think underneath Juan Carlos' important questions, there is such a difference between everything you're hearing here on this stage, and what we hear from the Republicans. O' +p4832 +aVDemonize hard-working immigrants who have insulted them. You know, I came to Las Vegas in, I think, May. Early may. Met with a group of +p4833 +aV...than even the executive orders that President Obama has signed when I'm president. ( +p4834 +aVMy plan would support any state that takes that position, and would work with those states and encourage more states to do the same thing. +p4835 +aVIf their states agree, then we want more states to do the same thing. +p4836 +aVNo, I don't. I think that it was necessary to make sure that we were able after 9/11 to put in place the security that we needed. And it is true that it did require that there be a process. What happened, however, is that the Bush administration began to chip away at that process. And I began to speak out about their use of warrantless surveillance and the other behavior that they engaged in. We always have to keep the balance of civil liberties, privacy and security. It's not easy in a democracy, but we have to keep it in mind. +p4837 +aVHe broke the laws of the United States. He could have been a whistleblower. He could have gotten all of the protections of being a whistleblower. He could have raised all the issues that he has raised. And I think there would have been a positive response to that. +p4838 +aVWell, I think that's pretty obvious. I think being the first woman president would be quite a change from the presidents we've had up until this point, including President Obama. +p4839 +aVWell, there's a lot that I would like to do to build on the successes of President Obama, but also, as I'm laying out, to go beyond. And that's in my economic plans, how I would deal with the prescription drug companies, how I would deal with college, how I would deal with a full range of issues that I've been talking about throughout this campaign to go further. +p4840 +aVWell, thank you. ( +p4841 +aVYou know, it does take me a little longer. That's all I can say. +p4842 +aVWell, I can't think of anything more of an outsider than electing the first woman president, but I'm not just running because I would be the first woman president. +p4843 +aVI'm running because I have a lifetime of experience in getting results and fighting for people, fighting for kids, for women, for families, fighting to even the odds. And I know what it takes to get things done. I know how to find common ground and I know how to stand my ground. And I think we're going to need both of those in Washington to get anything that we're talking about up here accomplished. So I'm very happy that I have both the commitment of a lifetime and the experience of a lifetime to bring together to offer the American people. +p4844 +aVWell, I would not ask anyone to vote for me based on my last name. I would ask them to listen to what I'm proposing, look at what I've accomplished in the Senate, as secretary of of state, and then draw your own conclusion. I certainly am not campaigning to become president because my last name is Clinton. I'm campaigning because I think I have the right combination of what the country needs, at this point, and I think I can take the fight to the Republicans, because we cannot afford a Republican to succeed Barack Obama as president of the United States. +p4845 +aVWell, that \u2014 that's exactly what I've been doing. When we met in Copenhagen in 2009 and, literally, President Obama and I were hunting for the Chinese, going throughout this huge convention center, because we knew we had to get them to agree to something. Because there will be no effective efforts against climate change unless China and India join with the rest of the world. They told us they'd left for the airport; we found out they were having a secret meeting. We marched up, we broke in, we said, "We've been looking all over for you. Let's sit down and talk about what we need to do." And we did come up with the first international agreement that China has signed. Thanks to President Obama's leadership, it's now gone much further. +p4846 +aVAnd I do think that the bilateral agreement that President Obama made with the Chinese was significant. Now, it needs to go further, and there will be an international meeting at the end of this year, and we must get verifiable commitments to fight climate change from every country gathered there. +p4847 +aVMm-hmm. +p4848 +aVWell, I'm surprised she says that, because California has had a paid leave program for a number of years. And it's... +p4849 +aVWell, but all \u2014 well, on a state level, a state as big as many countries in the world. And it has not had the ill effects that the Republicans are always saying it will have. And I think this is \u2014 this is typical Republican scare tactics. We can design a system and pay for it that does not put the burden on small businesses. I remember as a young mother, you know, having a baby wake up who was sick and I'm supposed to be in court, because I was practicing law. I know what it's like. And I think we need to recognize the incredible challenges that so many parents face, particularly working moms. I see my good friend, Senator Gillibrand, in the front row. She's been a champion of this. We need to get a consensus through this campaign, which is why I'm talking about it everywhere I go, and we need to join the rest of the advanced world in having it. +p4850 +aVWell, look, you know, when people say that \u2014 it's always the Republicans or their sympathizers who say, "You can't have paid leave, you can't provide health care." They don't mind having big government to interfere with a woman's right to choose and to try to take down Planned Parenthood. They're fine with big government when it comes to that. I'm sick of it. You know, we can do these things. We should not be paralyzed \u2014 we should not be paralyzed by the Republicans and their constant refrain, "big government this, big government that," that except for what they want to impose on the American people. I know we can afford it, because we're going to make the wealthy pay for it. That is the way to get it done. +p4851 +aVNo. I think that we have the opportunity through the states that are pursuing recreational marijuana to find out a lot more than we know today. I do support the use of medical marijuana, and I think even there we need to do a lot more research so that we know exactly how we're going to help people for whom medical marijuana provides relief. So, I think we're just at the beginning, but I agree completely with the idea that we have got to stop imprisoning people who use marijuana. Therefore, we need more states, cities, and the federal government to begin to address this so that we don't have this terrible result that Senator Sanders was talking about where we have a huge population in our prisons for nonviolent, low-level offenses that are primarily due to marijuana. +p4852 +aVWell, in addition to the NRA, the health insurance companies, the drug companies, the Iranians. Probably the Republicans. +p4853 +aVThank you very much, Anderson. And thanks to all the viewers who tuned in tonight. I think what you did see is that, in this debate, we tried to deal with some of the very tough issues facing our country. That's in stark contrast to the Republicans who are currently running for president. What you have to ask yourself is: Who amongst us has the vision for actually making the changes that are going to improve the lives of the American people? Who has the tenacity and the ability and the proven track record of getting that done? Now, I revere my late mother, and she gave me a lot of good advice. But one of the best pieces of advice she gave me was, you know, the issue is not whether or not you get knocked down. It's whether you get back up. America's been knocked down. That Great Recession, 9 million people lost their jobs, 5 million lost their homes, $13 trillion in wealth disappeared. And although we've made progress, we're standing but not running the way America needs to. My mission as president will be to raise incomes for hard-working middle-class families and to make sure that we get back to the basic bargain I was raised with: If you work hard and you do your part, you should be able to get ahead and stay ahead. Please join me in this campaign. Please come and make it clear that America's best days are still ahead. Thank you very much. +p4854 +asVTRUMP +p4855 +(lp4856 +VThank you. I began this journey six months ago. My total focus was on building up our military, building up our strength, building up our borders, making sure that China, Japan, Mexico, both at the border and in trade, no longer takes advantage of our country. Certainly would never have made that horrible, disgusting, absolutely incompetent deal with Iran where they get $150 billion. They're a terrorist nation. But I began it talking about other things. And those things are things that I'm very good at and maybe that's why I'm center stage. People saw it. People liked it. People respected it. A month ago things changed. Radical Islamic terrorism came into effect even more so than it has been in the past. People like what I say. People respect what I say. And we've opened up a very big discussion that needed to be opened up. Thank you very much. +p4857 +aVWe are not talking about isolation. We're talking about security. We're not talking about religion. We're talking about security. Our country is out of control. People are pouring across the southern border. I will build a wall. It will be a great wall. People will not come in unless they come in legally. Drugs will not pour through that wall. As far as other people like in the migration, where they're going, tens of thousands of people having cell phones with +p4858 +aVJeb doesn't really believe I'm unhinged. He said that very simply because he has failed in this campaign. It's been a total disaster. Nobody cares. And frankly, I'm the most solid person up here. I built a tremendous company and all I want to do is make America great again. I don't want our country to be taken away from us, and that's what's happening. The policies that we've suffered under other presidents have been a disaster for our country. We want to make America great again. And Jeb, in all fairness, he doesn't believe that. +p4859 +aVWell, look, this is so easy to answer. +p4860 +aVI would certainly be open to closing areas where we are at war with somebody. I sure as hell don't want to let people that want to kill us and kill our nation use our Internet. Yes, sir, I am. +p4861 +aVWe have to be much tougher. We have to be much stronger than we've been. We have people that know what is going on. You take a look at just the attack in California the other day. There were numerous people, including the mother, that knew what was going on. They saw a pipe bomb sitting all over the floor. They saw ammunition all over the place. They knew exactly what was going on. When you had the World Trade Center go, people were put into planes that were friends, family, girlfriends, and they were put into planes and they were sent back, for the most part, to Saudi Arabia. They knew what was going on. They went home and they wanted to watch their boyfriends on television. I would be very, very firm with families. Frankly, that will make people think because they may not care much about their lives, but they do care, believe it or not, about their families' lives. +p4862 +aVLook, the problem is we need toughness. Honestly, I think Jeb is a very nice person. He's a very nice person. But we need tough people. We need toughness. We need intelligence and we need tough. Jeb said when they come across the southern border they come as an act of love. +p4863 +aVAm I talking or are you talking, Jeb? +p4864 +aVYou can go back. You're not talking. You interrupted me. +p4865 +aVAre you going to apologize, Jeb? No. Am I allowed to finish? +p4866 +aVExcuse me, am I allowed to finish? +p4867 +aVSo... +p4868 +aV... again... +p4869 +aVI know you're trying to build up your energy, Jeb, but it's not working very well. +p4870 +aVLook, look, look. We need a toughness. We need strength. We're not respected, you know, as a nation anymore. We don't have that level of respect that we need. And if we don't get it back fast, we're just going to go weaker, weaker and just disintegrate. We can't allow that to happen. We need strength. We don't have it. When Jeb comes out and he talks about the border, and I saw it and I was witness to it, and so was everyone else, and I was standing there, "they come across as an act of love," he's saying the same thing right now with radical Islam. And we can't have that in our country. It just won't work. We need strength. +p4871 +aVWith Jeb's attitude, we will never be great again, that I can tell you. We will never be great again. +p4872 +aVSo, they can kill us, but we can't kill them? That's what you're saying. And as far as the Internet is concerned, we're not talking about closing the Internet. I'm talking about parts of Syria, parts of Iraq, where +p4873 +aVIn my opinion, we've spent $4 trillion trying to topple various people that frankly, if they were there and if we could've spent that $4 trillion in the United States to fix our roads, our bridges, and all of the other problems; our airports and all of the other problems we've had, we would've been a lot better off. I can tell you that right now. We have done a tremendous disservice, not only to Middle East, we've done a tremendous disservice to humanity. The people that have been killed, the people that have wiped away, and for what? It's not like we had victory. It's a mess. The Middle East is totally destabilized. A total and complete mess. I wish we had the $4 trillion or $5 trillion. I wish it were spent right here in the United States, on our schools, hospitals, roads, airports, and everything else that are all falling apart. +p4874 +aVWell, there's nothing to respond to. Well, people feel differently. I mean, the fact is Benghazi was a disaster because of Libya, everything just fell into place. It could not have been worse. What do we have now? We have nothing. We've spent $3 trillion and probably much more \u2013 I have no idea what we've spent. Thousands and thousands of lives, we have nothing. Wounded warriors all over the place who I love, we have nothing for it. And by the way \u2013 and Ben said incorrectly \u2013 and I'm not saying this as a knock \u2013 he's one of finest men. You're not going to find a finer men. But I've been talking about oil for three years. I've been saying,, "take the oil, take the oil." I didn't say, "just bomb it," I said," take it and use it and distribute it so that the wounded warriors -" People, I've been saying this now for many years. +p4875 +aVNow, all of a sudden everybody's saying, "take the oil." It wasn't so fashionable to take the oil six months ago. I've been saying it for years. +p4876 +aVI think Assad is a bad guy, a very bad guy, all right? Lots of people killed. I think we are backing people we have no idea who they are. The rebels, we call them the rebels, the patriotic rebels. We have no idea. A lot of people think, Hugh, that they are +p4877 +aVI think it's very sad that CNN leads Jeb Bush, Governor Bush, down a road by starting off virtually all the questions, "Mr. Trump this, Mister" \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched the first debate, and the first long number of questions were, "Mr. Trump said this, Mr. Trump said that. Mr. Trump" \u2014 these poor guys \u2014 although, I must tell you, Santorum, good guy. Governor Huckabee, good guy. They were very nice, and I respect them greatly. But I thought it was very unfair that virtually the entire early portion of the debate was Trump this, Trump that, in order to get ratings, I guess. In order to get ratings, I guess. +p4878 +aVI just think it's very \u2014 excuse me. +p4879 +aVExcuse me. I think it's very unprofessional. +p4880 +aVWell, I think it's very unprofessional. +p4881 +aVOK, fine. +p4882 +aVThis isn't tough and easy. I wish it... +p4883 +aVI wish it was always this easy as you, Jeb. +p4884 +aVOh, yeah. +p4885 +aVOh, I know. You're a tough guy, Jeb. I know. +p4886 +aVYou're tough. +p4887 +aVWell, let's see. I'm at 42, and you're at 3. So, so far, I'm doing better. +p4888 +aVSo far, I'm doing better. You know, you started off over here, Jeb. You're moving over further and further. Pretty soon you're going to be off the end... +p4889 +aVI believe I did. +p4890 +aVI have a very hardline position, we have a country or we don't have a country. People that have come into our country illegally, they have to go. They have to come back into through a legal process. I want a strong border. I do want a wall. Walls do work, you just have to speak to the folks in Israel. Walls work if they're properly constructed. I know how to build, believe me, I know how to build. I feel a very, very strong bind, and really I'm bound to this country, we either have a border or we don't. People can come into the country, we welcome people to come but they have to come in legally. +p4891 +aVWell, first of all, I think we need somebody absolutely that we can trust, who is totally responsible; who really knows what he or she is doing. That is so powerful and so important. And one of the things that I'm frankly most proud of is that in 2003, 2004, I was totally against going into Iraq because you're going to destabilize the Middle East. I called it. I called it very strongly. And it was very important. But we have to be extremely vigilant and extremely careful when it comes to nuclear. Nuclear changes the whole ball game. Frankly, I would have said get out of Syria; get out \u2014 if we didn't have the power of weaponry today. The power is so massive that we can't just leave areas that 50 years ago or 75 years ago we wouldn't care. It was hand-to-hand combat. The biggest problem this world has today is not President Obama with global warming, which is inconceivable, this is what he's saying. The biggest problem we have is nuclear \u2014 nuclear proliferation and having some maniac, having some madman go out and get a nuclear weapon. That's in my opinion, that is the single biggest problem that our country faces right now. +p4892 +aVI think \u2014 I think, for me, nuclear is just the power, the devastation is very important to me. +p4893 +aVI did. +p4894 +aVLet me just say that I have gotten to know him over the last three or four days. He has a wonderful temperament. He's just fine. Don't worry about it. +p4895 +aVYou better not attack... +p4896 +aVI really am. I'll be honest, I really am. I mean, the people have been putting me... I really am. +p4897 +aVLet me just. Can I just finish my... +p4898 +aVI've gained great respect for the Republican leadership. I've gained great respect for many \u2014 and I'm going to even say \u2014 I mean, in different forms for the people on the dais, in different forms. In different forms. But I have great respect for the people I have met through this process. I've never done this process before. I've never been a politician. I mean, for the last six months I've been a politician. But I will tell you, I am totally committed to the Republican Party. I feel very honored to be the front runner. And I think I'll do very well if I'm chosen. If I'm so fortunate to be chosen, I think I'll do very well. Polls have come out recently saying I would beat Hillary. I will do everything in my power to beat Hillary Clinton, I promise you. +p4899 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We don't win on trade. We don't win on the military. We can't defeat +p4900 +aVI can't be Neil. And the and the reason I can't be is that we are a country that is being beaten on every front economically, militarily. There is nothing that we do now to win. We don't win anymore. Our taxes are too high. I've come up with a tax plan that many, many people like very much. It's going to be a tremendous plan. I think it'll make our country and our economy very dynamic. But, taxes too high, wages too high, we're not going to be able to compete against the world. I hate to say it, but we have to leave it the way it is. People have to go out, they have to work really hard and have to get into that upper stratum. But we can not do this if we are going to compete with the rest of the world. We just can't do it. +p4901 +aVI would not do it. +p4902 +aVI was so happy yesterday when I saw that decision come down. That was an unbelievable decision. And we don't have enough of those decisions coming down. He of the executive order, because nobody wants to listen to him, including the Democrats, so he just goes around signing executive orders. That was a great day. And, frankly, we have to stop illegal immigration. It's hurting us economically. It's hurting us from every standpoint. It's causing tremendous difficulty with respect to drugs and what that does to many of our inner cities in particular. And it really is \u2014 was such an unbelievable moment because the courts have not been ruling in our favor. And it was a 2-1 decision. And it was a terrific thing that happened. And I will tell you, we are a country of laws. We need borders. We will have a wall. The wall will be built. The wall will be successful. And if you think walls don't work, all you have to do is ask Israel. The wall works, believe me. Properly done. Believe me. +p4903 +aVYou are going to have to bring people \u2014 you are going to have to send people out. Look, we're a country... +p4904 +aVMaria, we're a country of laws. We either have a country or we don't have a country. We are a country of laws. Going to have to go out and they will come back but they are going to have to go out and hopefully they get back. But we have no choice if we're going to run our country properly and if we're going to be a country. +p4905 +aVAll I can say is, you're lucky in Ohio that you struck oil. That is for one thing. Let me just tell you that Dwight Eisenhower, good president, great president, people liked him. "I like Ike," right? The expression. "I like Ike." Moved a 1.5 million illegal immigrants out of this country, moved them just beyond the border. They came back. Moved them again beyond the border, they came back. Didn't like it. Moved them way south. They never came back. Dwight Eisenhower. You don't get nicer. You don't get friendlier. They moved a 1.5 million out. We have no choice. We have no choice. +p4906 +aVNo, it's unfair. +p4907 +aV... built an unbelievable company worth billions and billions of dollars. I don't have to hear from this man, believe me. I don't have to hear from him. +p4908 +aVWe have millions of people right now on line trying to come into this country. Very, very unfair to the people that want to come into our country legally. They've gone through the process. They're on line. They're waiting. Very, very unfair to them. That I can tell you. +p4909 +aVYes. +p4910 +aVNo, I'm sorry. No, excuse me. I was there. +p4911 +aVPlease, if I could just... +p4912 +aVWe have to make our military bigger, better, stronger than ever before so that nobody messes with us, and a long run, it's going to save us. I agree with Marco, I agree with Ted, we have no choice. And, I can tell you this with certainty. We all have a different tax plan. Some I don't totally agree with. One thing we understand, each one of those tax plans is better than the mess that we have right now. +p4913 +aV...Yes... +p4914 +aV...Yeah... +p4915 +aV...It's a horrible deal... +p4916 +aVThe TPP is horrible deal. It is a deal that is going to lead to nothing but trouble. It's a deal that was designed for China to come in, as they always do, through the back door and totally take advantage of everyone. It's 5,600 pages long. So complex that nobodies read it. It's like Obamacare; nobody ever read it. They passed it; nobody read it. And look at mess we have right now. And it will be repealed. But this is one of the worst trade deals. And I would, yes, rather not have it. With all of these countries, and all of the bad ones getting advantage and taking advantage of what the good ones would normally get, I'd rather make individual deals with individual countries. We will do much better. We lose a fortune on trade. The United States loses with everybody. We're losing now over $500 billion in terms of imbalance with China, $75 billion a year imbalance with Japan. By the way, Mexico, $50 billion a year imbalance. So I must say, Gerard, I just think it's a terrible deal. I love trade. I'm a free trader, 100 percent. But we need smart people making the deals, and we don't have smart people making the deals. +p4917 +aVYes. Well, the currency manipulation they don't discuss in the agreement, which is a disaster. If you look at the way China and India and almost everybody takes advantage of the United States \u2014 China in particular, because they're so good. It's the number-one abuser of this country. And if you look at the way they take advantage, it's through currency manipulation. It's not even discussed in the almost 6,000-page agreement. It's not even discussed. +p4918 +aVAnd as you understand, I mean, you understand very well from the Wall Street Journal, currency manipulation is the single great weapon people have. They don't even discuss it in this agreement. So I say, it's a very bad deal, should not be approved. If it is approved, it will just be more bad trade deals, more loss of jobs for our country. We are losing jobs like nobody's ever lost jobs before. I want to bring jobs back into this country. +p4919 +aVWell, first of all, it's not only Russia. We have problems with North Korea where they actually have nuclear weapons. You know, nobody talks about it, we talk about Iran, and that's one of the worst deals ever made. One of the worst contracts ever signed, ever, in anything, and it's a disgrace. But, we have somebody over there, a madman, who already has nuclear weapons we don't talk about that. That's a problem. China is a problem, both economically in what they're doing in the South China Sea, I mean, they are becoming a very, very major force. So, we have more than just Russia. But, as far as the Ukraine is concerned, and you could Syria \u2014 as far as Syria, I like \u2014 if Putin wants to go in, and I got to know him very well because we were both on 60 Minutes, we were stablemates, and we did very well that night. But, you know that. But, if Putin wants to go and knocked the hell out of +p4920 +aV...They blew up \u2014 hold it.... +p4921 +aV...They blew up, wait a minute... ...They blew up a Russian airplane. He cannot be in love with these people. He's going in, and we can go in, and everybody should go in. As far as the Ukraine is concerned, we have a group of people, and a group of countries, including Germany \u2014 tremendous economic behemoth \u2014 why are we always doing the work? We are \u2014 I'm all for protecting Ukraine and working \u2014 but, we have countries that are surrounding the Ukraine that aren't doing anything. They say, "Keep going, keep going, you dummies, keep going. Protect us..." ...And we have to get smart. We can't continue to be the policeman of the world. We are $19 trillion dollars, we have a country that's going to hell, we have an infrastructure that's falling apart. Our roads, our bridges, our schools, our airports, and we have to start investing money in our country. +p4922 +aVAssad is a bad guy, but we have no idea who the so-called rebels \u2014 I read about the rebels, nobody even knows who they are. I spoke to a general two weeks ago, he said \u2014 he was very up on exactly what we're talking about. He said, "You know, Mr. Trump? We're giving hundreds of millions of dollars of equipment to these people, we have no idea who they are." So, I don't like Assad. Who's going to like Assad? But, we have no idea who these people, and what they're going to be, and what they're going to represent. They may be far worse than Assad. Look at Libya. Look at Iraq. Look at the mess we have after spending $2 trillion dollars, thousands of lives, wounded warriors all over the place \u2014 who I love, OK? All over. We have nothing. And, I said, keep the oil. And we should have kept the oil, believe me. We should have kept the oil. And, you know what? We should have given the oil... ..We should've given big chunks to the people that lost their arms, their legs, and their families, and their sons, and daughters, because right now, you know who has a lot of that oil? Iran, and +p4923 +aVWhy does she keep interrupting everybody? Terrible. +p4924 +aVWe are not. +p4925 +aV...No, no, no... +p4926 +aVWell, what's happening right now, Neil, is something that not been a subject of conversation by politicians. As primarily the only politician, I guess other than Carly on the stage, they haven't talked about a corporate inversion. A corporate inversion \u2014 companies are leaving. You know, we used to leave New York to go to Florida. We got better taxes, we got, maybe, something else. Now, they're the United States to go to other countries. They have trillions of dollars in those other countries. They're going for two reasons, they can't get their money back in. It's something where the democrats and the republicans both agree, it's the only thing I can think of. They both agree, let the money come back in. Three and a half years, they still can't make a deal. They can't get the money in. It's probably two and a half trillion, but, I think it's much more than that. All of that money could become \u2014 could come right in and be used to rebuild our country, and investments in our country. They can't do it. What we have to do, and what I've done, is made the tax rate \u2014 and one of the reasons they don't the taxes so obnoxious, they can't do it. Where, I made it a 10% number, as you know. I've been very highly praised for it. A lot of money's going to come back in, we're going to get rid of the bureaucratic problems, and roadblocks, because that's also a problem. And, we're going to have all of this money pour back into the United States. It's going to be used to build businesses, for jobs, and everything else. And, as I say, my expression is, let's make America great again. +p4927 +aVThank you. Over the years, I've created tens of thousands of jobs and a great company. It's a company I'm very proud of. Some of the most iconic assets anywhere in the world. And I will tell you, I don't have to give you a website because I'm self-funding my campaign. I'm putting up my own money. I want to do something really special. I want to make our country greater than it's ever been. I think we have that potential. We cannot lose this election. We cannot let Hillary Clinton, who is the worst secretary of state in the history of our country, win this election. We will fight. We will win. And we truly will make this even more special. We have to make it better than ever before. And I will tell you, the United States can actually be better than ever before. Thank you. +p4928 +aVI think maybe my greatest weakness is that I trust people too much. I'm too trusting. And when they let me down, if they let me down, I never forgive. I find it very, very hard to forgive people that deceived me. So I don't know if you would call that a weakness, but my wife said "let up." +p4929 +aVRight. +p4930 +aVRight. +p4931 +aVThat's right. +p4932 +aVNo, not a comic book, and it's not a very nicely asked question the way you say that. Larry Kudlow is an example, who I have a lot of respect for, who loves my tax plan. We're reducing taxes to 15 percent. We're bringing corporate taxes down, bringing money back in, corporate inversions. We have $2.5 trillion outside of the United States which we want to bring back in. As far as the wall is concerned, we're going to build a wall. We're going to create a border. We're going to let people in, but they're going to come in legally. They're going to come in legally. And it's something that can be done, and I get questioned about that. They built the great wall of China. That's 13,000 miles. Here, we actually need 1,000 because we have natural barriers. So we need 1,000. We can do a wall. We're going to have a big, fat beautiful door right in the middle of the wall. We're going to have people come in, but they're coming in legally. And Mexico's going to pay for the wall because Mexico \u2014 I love the Mexican people; I respect the Mexican leaders \u2014 but the leaders are much sharper, smarter and more cunning than our leaders. And just to finish, people say, how will you get Mexico to pay? A politician other than the people in the states \u2014 I don't want to \u2014 a politician cannot get them to pay. I can. We lose, we have a trade imbalance... Excuse me, John. ... of $50 billion... +p4933 +aV... believe me the world is peanuts by comparison. +p4934 +aVRight. Dynamically. +p4935 +aVThen you have to get rid of Larry Kudlow, who sits on your panel, who's a great guy, who came out the other day and said, I love Trump's tax plan. +p4936 +aVFirst of all, John got lucky with a thing called fracking, OK? He hit oil. He got lucky with fracking. Believe me, that is why Ohio is doing well. Number \u2014 and that is important for you to know. Number two, this was the man that was a managing general partner at Lehman Brothers when it went down the tubes and almost took every one of us with it, including Ben and myself, because I was there and I watched what happened. And Lehman Brothers started it all. He was on the board. And he was a managing general partner. And just thirdly, he was so nice. He was such a nice guy. And he said, oh, I'm never going to attack. But then his poll numbers tanked. He has got \u2014 that is why he is on the end. And he got nasty. And he got nasty. So you know what? You can have him. +p4937 +aVI think you're \u2014 +p4938 +aVWell, first of all, like many other very big businessmen, I could name them here, but I'm not going to do that for a lot of obvious reasons, but the biggest, and almost all of them, they've all used the chapter laws, the bankruptcy laws to their own benefit. Before this, I was a very successful person as a developer and as a businessman. Atlantic City has gone bad. I mean, Chris will know about that. I'm not blaming Chris, by the way, but he will know about that. Caesar's \u2014 excuse me \u2014 Caesar's, the Rolls-Royce, as you know, is in bankruptcy. Almost every hotel in Atlantic City has either been in bankruptcy or will be in bankruptcy \u2014 the biggest. But also the biggest people (ph) \u2014 now I've used that to my advantage as a business man, for my family, for myself. I never filed for bankruptcy. But many, many people did. What happened with Atlantic City is very, very disgraceful. Now hundreds of companies I've opened. I've used it three times, maybe four times. Came out great. But I guess I'm supposed to come out great. That is what I could do for the country. We owe $19 trillion, boy am I good at solving debt problems. Nobody can solve it like me. But I will tell you this, Atlantic City, you're using that, hundreds of companies that I have opened have thrived. I built a net worth of way over $10 billion, and I have done it four times out of hundreds. And I'm glad I did it. I used the laws of the country to my benefit, I'm sorry. +p4939 +aVThank you. +p4940 +aVI was not at all critical of him. I was not at all. In fact, frankly, he's complaining about the fact that we're losing some of the most talented people. They go to Harvard. They go to Yale. They go to Princeton. They come from another country and they're immediately sent out. I am all in favor of keeping these talented people here so they can go to work in Silicon Valley. +p4941 +aVSo I have nothing at all critical of him. +p4942 +aVProbably, I don't know \u2014 you people write the stuff. I don't know where you... And if I could say just one thing. I am the only person in either campaign that's self-funding. I'm putting up 100 percent of my own money. And right now, I will be putting up a tremendous \u2014 so far, I've put up less than anybody and I have the best results. Wouldn't that be nice if the country could do that? But I will be putting \u2014 I will be putting up, you know, tremendous amounts of money. SuperPacs are a disaster. They're a scam. They cause dishonesty. And you better get rid of them because they are causing a lot of bad decisions to be made by some very good people. And I'm not blaming these folks \u2014 well, I guess I could. Very good people are making very bad decisions right now. And if anything comes out of this whole thing with some of these nasty and ridiculous questions, I will tell you, you better get rid of the SuperPacs because they causing a big problem with this country, not only in dishonesty and what's going on, but also in a lot of bad decisions that have been made for the benefit of lobbyists and special interests. +p4943 +aVI never said that. I never said that. +p4944 +aVYou've got another gentleman in Florida, who happens to be a very nice guy, but not... +p4945 +aV... he's really doing some bad... +p4946 +aVI'm in favor of people coming into this country legally. And you know what? They can have it anyway you want. You can call it visas, you can call it work permits, you can call it anything you want. I've created tens of thousands of jobs, and in all due respect \u2014 and actually some of these folks I really like a lot \u2014 but I'm the only one that can say that. I have created tens of thousands of jobs, and I'll be creating many millions of jobs if I'm given \u2014 if I'm given the opportunity to be president. As far as Mark is concerned, as far as the visas are concerned, if we need people, they have \u2014 it's fine. They have to come into this country legally. We have a country of borders. We have a country of laws. We have to obey the laws. It's fine if they come in, but they have to come in legally. +p4947 +aVYes. +p4948 +aVOr somebody else. Right. +p4949 +aVYes, I might feel more comfortable. I would say that I would and I have a permit, which is very unusual in New York \u2014 a permit to carry. And I do carry on occasion, sometimes a lot. But I like to be unpredictable so that people don't know exactly... +p4950 +aVBy the way, unlike our country where we're totally predictable and the enemy, whether it's +p4951 +aVI would change them. I would change them. +p4952 +aVSuch a nasty \u2014 such a nasty question, but thank you, Governor. +p4953 +aVYes, it's very simple. We're going to make a really dynamic economy from what we have right now, which is not at all dynamic. We're going to bring jobs back from Japan, we're going to bring jobs back from China, we're going to bring, frankly, jobs back from Mexico where, as you probably saw, Nabisco is leaving Chicago with one of their biggest plants, and they're moving it to Mexico. We're going to bring jobs and manufacturing back. We're going to cut costs. We're going to save Social Security, and we're going to save Medicare. [ +p4954 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We used to win, we don't win anymore. We lose on trade. We lose with +p4955 +aVAnd, I'll do that with the country. We will make America great again. And, thank you everybody. Just for the record. +p4956 +aVThat's not right. That is absolutely not right. You know that. That is not right. [ +p4957 +aVI'm Donald Trump. I wrote "The Art of the Deal". I say not in a braggadocious way, I've made billions and billions of dollars dealing with people all over the world, and I want to put whatever that talent is to work for this country so we have great trade deals, we make our country rich again, we make it great again. We build our military, we take care of our vets, we get rid of Obamacare, and we have a great life altogether. Thank you. Thank you. +p4958 +aVWell, first of all, Rand Paul shouldn't even be on this stage. He's number 11, he's got 1 percent in the polls, and how he got up here, there's far too many people anyway. As far as temperament \u2014 and we all know that \u2014 as far as temperament, I think I have a great temperament. I built a phenomenal business with incredible, iconic assets, one of the really truly great real-estate businesses. And I may be an entertainer, because I've had tremendous success with number-one bestsellers all over the place, with "The Apprentice" and everything else I've done. But I will tell you this: What I am far and away greater than an entertainer is a businessman, and that's the kind of mindset this country needs to bring it back, because we owe $19 trillion right now, $19 trillion, and you need this kind of thinking to bring our country back. And believe me, my temperament is very good, very calm. But we will be respected outside of this country. We are not respected now. +p4959 +aVI never attacked him on his look, and believe me, there's plenty of subject matter right there. That I can tell you. +p4960 +aVI've actually been in politics all my life, although I've been on that side as opposed to this side. I'm now a politician for about three months. Obviously, I'm doing pretty well. I'm number one in every poll by a lot. But the qualification is that I've dealt with people all over the world, been successful all over the world. Everything I've done virtually has been a tremendous success. When markets changed, when things turned, I heard Governor Pataki, who, by the way, was a failed governor in New York, a very seriously failed \u2014 he wouldn't be elected dog catcher right now. I heard what he had to say. And I will tell you this: Atlantic City, I've made a tremendous amount of money in Atlantic City. I left seven years ago, I've gotten great credit for my timing, and that's what I'm all about. I'm a businessman, did really well, really well, and Jeb, what I want to do is put that ability into this country to make our country rich again. And I can do that, and I'm not sure that anybody else in the group will be able to do that. +p4961 +aVBut I have to say... +p4962 +aVWell, in Wisconsin... +p4963 +aVExcuse me. +p4964 +aVIn Wisconsin, you're losing $2.2 billion right now. +p4965 +aVI would do so much better than that. +p4966 +aVNo. +p4967 +aVI'm using facts. +p4968 +aVEvery major business leader has used the \u2014 I never went bankrupt, by the way, as you know, everybody knows. But we \u2014 hundreds of companies, hundreds of deals, I've used ???: ... into bankruptcy. That's what's wrong with politicians in Washington right now. They think we can take a country into bankruptcy. +p4969 +aVEvery major business leader, has used the \u2014 I never went bank bankrupt, by the way, as you know, everybody knows. But \u2014 hundreds of companies, hundreds of deals, I used the law four times and made a tremendous thing. I'm in business. I did a very good job. But I will say this, and people are very, very impressed with what I've done, the business people. But when the folks of Iowa found out the true facts of the job that you've done in Wisconsin, all of a sudden you, tubed (ph), he was No. 1 and now he's No. 6 or seven in the polls. So, look, we brought it out, you were supposed to make a billion dollars in the state. You lost 2.2 \u2014 you have right now, a huge budget deficit. That's not a Democratic point. That's a point. That's a fact. And when the people of Iowa found that out, I went to No. 1 and you went down the tubes. +p4970 +aVI didn't \u2014 +p4971 +aVTotally false. +p4972 +aVI would have gotten it. +p4973 +aVI promise I would have gotten it. +p4974 +aVI promise if I wanted it, I would have gotten it. +p4975 +aVI know my people. +p4976 +aVI know my people. +p4977 +aVNo. I just will tell you that, you know, Jeb made the statement. I'm not only referring to him. I \u2014 a lot of money was raised by a lot of different people that are standing up here. And the donors, the special interests, the lobbyists have very strong power over these people. I'm spending all of my money, I'm not spending \u2014 I'm not getting any \u2014 I turned down \u2014 I turn down so much, I could have right now from special interests and donors, I could have double and triple what he's got. I've turned it down. I turned down last week $5 million from somebody. So I will tell you I understand the game, I've been on the other side all of my life. And they have a lot of control over our politicians. And I don't say that favorably, and I'm not sure if there's another system, but I say this. I am not accepting any money from anybody. Nobody has control of me other than the people of this country. I'm going to do the right thing. +p4978 +aVThat's true. That's true. +p4979 +aVI was \u2014 excuse me, Jeb. +p4980 +aVI was a businessman, I got along with Clinton, I got along with everybody. That was my job, to get along with people. +p4981 +aVI didn't want to \u2014 excuse me. One second. +p4982 +aVOK, more energy tonight. I like that. Look \u2014 +p4983 +aVI didn't want \u2014 it was my obligation as a businessman to my family, to my company, to my employees, to get along with all politicians. I get along with all of them, and I did a damn good job in doing it. Go ahead. +p4984 +aVGot along with everybody. +p4985 +aVWrong. +p4986 +aVDon't make things up. Jeb, don't make things up. Come on. +p4987 +aVDon't make things up. +p4988 +aVSo, number one, they have to respect you. He has absolutely no respect for President Obama. Zero. Syria's a mess. You look at what's going on with +p4989 +aVI believe that I will get along \u2014 we will do \u2014 between that, Ukraine, all of the other problems, we won't have the kind of problems that our country has right now with Russia and many other nations. +p4990 +aVI wouldn't have drawn the line, but once he drew it, he had no choice but to go across. They do bear some responsibility, but I think he probably didn't do it, not for that reason. Somehow, he just doesn't have courage. There is something missing from our president. Had he crossed the line and really gone in with force, done something to Assad \u2014 if he had gone in with tremendous force, you wouldn't have millions of people displaced all over the world. +p4991 +aVThey had a responsibility, absolutely. I think we have three of them here... +p4992 +aVI think they had a responsibility, yes. +p4993 +aVJeb, just... +p4994 +aVI think it will haunt him. I think it's a terrible. I think it's going to haunt him absolutely. He came back later and he said he misspoke. There was no question because I heard when he said the statement. I was watching and he said the statement. And I said, wow, I can't believe it. I will take care of women. I respect women. I will take care of women. One thing we will say and I would like to get back to the Iran situation. We're talking about Iran. The agreement was terrible. It was incompetent. I've never seen anything like it. One of the worst contracts of any kind I've ever seen. And nobody ever mentions North Korea where you have this maniac sitting there and he actually has nuclear weapons and somebody better start thinking about North Korea and perhaps a couple of other places. But certainly North Korea. And Ted and I have spoken. We've \u2014 a lot of us have spoken. We're talking about Iran. They are bad actors, bad things are going to happen. But in the meantime, you have somebody right now in North Korea who has got nuclear weapons and who is saying almost every other week, I'm ready to use them. And we don't even mention it. +p4995 +aVSo why didn't you say it? Why didn't you say it? +p4996 +aVI know, but why did you say it? I heard it myself. Why did you say it? +p4997 +aVYou said you're going to cut funding for women's health. You said it. +p4998 +aVYou said it. +p4999 +aVI think she's got a beautiful face, and I think she's a beautiful woman. +p5000 +aVCorrect. First of all, I want to build a wall, a wall that works. So important, and it's a big part of it. Second of all, we have a lot of really bad dudes in this country from outside, and I think Chris knows that, maybe as well as anybody. They go, if I get elected, first day they're gone. Gangs all over the place. Chicago, Baltimore, no matter where you look. We have a country based on laws. I will make sure that those laws are adhered to. These are illegal immigrants. I don't think you'd even be asking this question if I didn't run because when I ran, and I brought this up, my opening remarks at Trump Tower, I took heat like nobody has taken heat in a long time. And, then they found out with the killing of Katie, from San Francisco, and so many other crimes, they found out that I was right. And, most people, many people, apologized to me. I don't think you'd even be talking about illegal immigration if it weren't for me. So, we have a country of laws, they're going to go out, and they'll come back if they deserve to come back. If they've had a bad record, if they've been arrested, if they've been in jail, they're never coming back. We're going to have a country again. Right now, we don't have a country, we don't have a border, and we're going to do something about it, and it can be done with proper management, and it can be done with heart. +p5001 +aV...By the way, I agree with \u2014 with what Chris is saying, but, I will say this. Illegal immigration is costing us more than $200 billion dollars a year just to maintain what we have. +p5002 +aVCorrect. +p5003 +aVWell, I have to tell you, I hear phenomenal things. I hear your wife is a lovely woman... +p5004 +aVI don't know her, and this is a total mischaracterization... +p5005 +aVGood. +p5006 +aVNo, I won't do that, because I've said nothing wrong. +p5007 +aVBut I do hear she's a lovely woman. +p5008 +aVJeb said... +p5009 +aV... that they come into our country as an act of love. With all of the problems we that we have, in so many instances \u2014 we have wonderful people coming in. But with all of the problems \u2014 this is not an act of love. He's weak on immigration \u2014 by the way, in favor of Common Core, which is also a disaster, but weak on immigration. He doesn't get my vote. +p5010 +aVNot with this intensity. +p5011 +aVAs I said, we are spending $200 billion \u2014 we are spending $200 billion a year on maintaining what we have. We will move them out. The great ones will come back, the good ones will come back. They'll be expedited, they'll be back, they'll come back legally. We'll have a country \u2014 they'll come back, legally. +p5012 +aVWell, I think it's wonderful and all, but I did it a little bit half-heartedly, but I do mean it to a large extent. We have a country, where, to assimilate, you have to speak English. And I think that where he was, and the way it came out didn't sound right to me. We have to have assimilation \u2014 to have a country, we have to have assimilation. I'm not the first one to say this, Dana. We've had many people over the years, for many, many years, saying the same thing. This is a country where we speak English, not Spanish. +p5013 +aVThis is a reporter, not a high school kid. +p5014 +aVWell, first of all, the \u2014 the 14th Amendment says very, very clearly to a lot of great legal scholars \u2014 not television scholars, but legal scholars \u2014 that it is wrong. It can be corrected with an act of Congress, probably doesn't even need that. A woman gets pregnant. She's nine months, she walks across the border, she has the baby in the United States, and we take care of the baby for 85 years. I don't think so. And by the way, Mexico and almost every other country anywhere in the world doesn't have that. We're the only ones dumb enough, stupid enough to have it. And people \u2014 and by the way, this is not just with respect to Mexico. They are coming from Asia to have babies here, and all of a sudden, we have to take care of the babies for the life of the baby. The 14th Amendment, it reads properly, you can go and \u2014 it's probably going to be have to be check \u2014 go through a process of court, probably ends up at the Supreme Court, but there are a lot of great legal scholars that say that is not correct. And in my opinion, it makes absolutely no \u2014 we're the only \u2014 one of the only countries, we're going to take care of those babies for 70, 75, 80, 90 years? I don't think so. +p5015 +aVI agree 100 percent, by the way, with Carly on the fact that the Democrats do not want to solve this problem, for the obvious reasons, but they do not. But I believe that a reading of the 14th Amendment allows you to have an interpretation where this is not legal and where it can't be done. I've seen both sides, but some of the greatest scholars agree with me, without having to go through Congress. If you do go through Congress, you can absolutely solve the problem. +p5016 +aVThat's true, sure. +p5017 +aVWell \u2014 +p5018 +aV\u2014 let me \u2014 well, let me just explain. The head of the Yale Business School, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, wrote a paper recently, one of the worst tenures for a CEO that he has ever seen, ranked one of the top 20 in the history of business. The company is a disaster and continues to be a disaster. They still haven't recovered. In fact, today, on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, they fired another 25 or 30,000 people saying we still haven't recovered from the catastrophe. When Carly says the revenues went up, that's because she bought Compaq, it was a terrible deal, and it really led to the destruction of the company. Now one other company before that was Lucent. Carly was at Lucent before that. And Lucent turned out to be a catastrophe also. So I only say this. She can't run any of my companies. That I can tell you. +p5019 +aVI never filed for bankruptcy. +p5020 +aVI'll tell you why; it's very simple. +p5021 +aVI'll tell you. I was running \u2014 +p5022 +aV\u2014 Carly, Carly \u2014 +p5023 +aV\u2014 I've made over $10 billion. I had a casino company \u2014 Caesars just filed for bankruptcy. Chris will tell you \u2014 it's not Chris' fault either \u2014 but almost everybody in Atlantic City is either in trouble or filed for \u2014 maybe I'll blame Chris. +p5024 +aVBut Atlantic City is a disaster \u2014 +p5025 +aVWait a minute, Carly. Wait. I let you speak. Atlantic City is a disaster, and I did great in Atlantic City. I knew when to get out. My timing was great. And I got a lot of credit for it. Many of the great business people that you know \u2014 and Carl Icon (ph) is going to work with me on making great deals for this country. But whether it's Carl or so many others that we read about all the time \u2014 +p5026 +aV\u2014 they have used the laws of the land, which is the \u2014 +p5027 +aV...Well, I'd like to respond, I'd like to respond... +p5028 +aVWell, I think the thing about the flat tax, I know it very well. What I don't like is that if you make $200 million a year, you pay ten percent, you're paying very little relatively to somebody that's making $50,000 a year, and has to hire H&R Block to do the \u2014 because it's so complicated. One thing I'll say to Ben is that we've had a graduated tax system for many years, so it's not a socialistic thing. What I'd like to do, and I'll be putting in the plan in about two weeks, and I think people are going to like it, it's a major reduction in taxes. It's a major reduction for the middle class. The hedge fund guys won't like me as much as they like me right now. I know them all, but they'll pay more. I know people that are making a tremendous amount of money and paying virtually no tax, and I think it's unfair. +p5029 +aVWell, I heard Hugh Hewitt, a nice man, he apologized because he actually said that we had a misunderstanding. And he said today that Donald Trump is maybe the best interview there is anywhere that he has ever done. Now unless he was just saying that on CNN to be nice, but he did say that... +p5030 +aVAnd we had a legitimate misunderstanding in terms of his pronunciation of a word. But I would say just... +p5031 +aVWell, I think it was. And he actually said that. Did you say that? +p5032 +aVOK. So I will say this, though, Hugh was giving me name after name, Arab name, Arab name, and there are few people anywhere, anywhere that would have known those names. I think he was reading them off a sheet. And frankly I will have \u2014 and I told him, I will have the finest team that anybody has put together and we will solve a lot of problems. You know, right now they know a lot and look at what is happening. The world is blowing up around us. We will have great teams and great people. +p5033 +aVI hope that answers your question. I mean, you are in the Senate, but I hope that answers your question. +p5034 +aVNo, I don't think he's suggesting that at all. I mean... +p5035 +aVI don't think he's suggesting that at all. +p5036 +aVWell, you have to understand, I am not sitting in the United States Senate with, by the way, the worst voting record there is today. Number one. I am not sitting in the United States Senate. I'm a businessman doing business transactions. +p5037 +aVI am doing business transactions. I will know more about this \u2014 and, as you said, that was very acceptable, and when you listen to that whole interview, it's a great interview, you said it, I didn't. Well, now I did. But... +p5038 +aVListen, just one second. Just one second. +p5039 +aVI will know... +p5040 +aV...I will know more about the problems of this world by the time I sit, and you look at what's going in this world right now by people that supposedly know, this world is a mess. +p5041 +aV +p5042 +aV I'm \u2014 and I'm meeting with people that are terrific people, but I have to say something because it's about judgment. I am the only person on this dais \u2014 the only person \u2014 that fought very, very hard against us (ph), and I wasn't a sitting politician going into Iraq, because I said going into Iraq \u2014 that was in 2003, you can check it out, check out \u2014 I'll give you 25 different stories. In fact, a delegation was sent to my office to see me because I was so vocal about it. I'm a very militaristic person, but you have to know when to use the military. I'm the only person up here that fought against going into Iraq. +p5043 +aVJust excuse me, one second, Rand... +p5044 +aVIf you don't mind, Rand \u2014 you know, you are on last \u2014 you do have your 1 percent. I would like \u2014 and I think it's very important. I think it's important, because it's about judgment. It's about judgment. I didn't want to go into Iraq, and I fought it, because what I said \u2014 what I said... +p5045 +aV... was you're going to \u2014 you're going to destabilize... +p5046 +aV... the Middle East, and that's what happened. +p5047 +aVIf you think about it... +p5048 +aVYour brother \u2014 and your brother's administration gave us Barack Obama, because it was such a disaster, those last three months, that Abraham Lincoln couldn't have been elected. +p5049 +aVI don't know. You feel safe right now? I don't feel so safe. +p5050 +aVOr the collapse of the economy. +p5051 +aVSpeaking for myself, I'm OK with it. I think there's a certain truth to it. I know people that, frankly, it has no impact on their life whatsoever. There are many people. I would almost say leave it up to them, but I would be willing to check it off, and say I will not get Social Security. I do not... +p5052 +aVAs a policy, I would almost leave it up to the people. Don't forget they pay in and they pay in, and maybe they do well, and maybe some people want it. But the fact is that there are people that truly don't need it, and there are many people that do need it very, very badly. And I would be willing to write mine off 100 percent, Dana. +p5053 +aVWell, I \u2014 I \u2014 I'd like to respond. +p5054 +aVI'd like to respond. +p5055 +aVAutism has become an epidemic. Twenty-five years ago, 35 years ago, you look at the statistics, not even close. It has gotten totally out of control. I am totally in favor of vaccines. But I want smaller doses over a longer period of time. Because you take a baby in \u2014 and I've seen it \u2014 and I've seen it, and I had my children taken care of over a long period of time, over a two or three year period of time. Same exact amount, but you take this little beautiful baby, and you pump \u2014 I mean, it looks just like it's meant for a horse, not for a child, and we've had so many instances, people that work for me. Just the other day, two years old, two and a half years old, a child, a beautiful child went to have the vaccine, and came back, and a week later got a tremendous fever, got very, very sick, now is autistic. I only say it's not \u2014 I'm in favor of vaccines, do them over a longer period of time, same amount. +p5056 +aVBut just in \u2014 in little sections. +p5057 +aVI think \u2014 and I think you're going to have \u2014 I think you're going to see a big impact on autism. +p5058 +aVAnd that's all I'm saying, Jake. That's all I'm saying. +p5059 +aVWell, because she's been sitting for three hours, I think my daughter, Ivanka, who's right here. +p5060 +aVOther than that we'll go with Rosa Parks. I like that. +p5061 +aVHumble. +p5062 +aVIf I become president, we will do something really special. We will make this country greater than ever before. We'll have more jobs. We'll have more of everything. We were discussing disease, we were discussing all sorts of things tonight, many of which will just be words, it will just pass on. I don't want to say politicians, all talk, no action. But a lot of what we talked about is words and it will be forgotten very quickly. If I'm president, many of the things that we discussed tonight will not be forgotten. We'll find solutions. And the world will respect us. They will respect us like never before. And it will be actually a friendlier world. And I have to say, it is a great honor to be here tonight. +p5063 +aVI fully understand. +p5064 +aVI fully understand. +p5065 +aVI cannot say. I have to respect the person that, if it's not me, the person that wins, if I do win, and I'm leading by quite a bit, that's what I want to do. I can totally make that pledge. If I'm the nominee, I will pledge I will not run as an independent. But -- and I am discussing it with everybody, but I'm, you know, talking about a lot of leverage. We want to win, and we will win. But I want to win as the Republican. I want to run as the Republican nominee. +p5066 +aVWell, I've given him plenty of money. +p5067 +aVI will not make the pledge at this time. +p5068 +aVOnly Rosie O'Donnell. +p5069 +aVThank you. +p5070 +aVYes, I'm sure it was. +p5071 +aVI think the big problem this country has is being politically correct. I've been challenged by so many people, and I don't frankly have time for total political correctness. And to be honest with you, this country doesn't have time either. This country is in big trouble. We don't win anymore. We lose to China. We lose to Mexico both in trade and at the border. We lose to everybody. And frankly, what I say, and oftentimes it's fun, it's kidding. We have a good time. What I say is what I say. And honestly Megyn, if you don't like it, I'm sorry. I've been very nice to you, although I could probably maybe not be, based on the way you have treated me. But I wouldn't do that. But you know what, we -- we need strength, we need energy, we need quickness and we need brain in this country to turn it around. That, I can tell you right now. +p5072 +aVSo, if it weren't for me, you wouldn't even be talking about illegal immigration, Chris. You wouldn't even be talking about it. This was not a subject that was on anybody's mind until I brought it up at my announcement. And I said, Mexico is sending. Except the reporters, because they're a very dishonest lot, generally speaking, in the world of politics, they didn't cover my statement the way I said it. The fact is, since then, many killings ,murders, crime, drugs pouring across the border, are money going out and the drugs coming in. And I said we need to build a wall, and it has to be built quickly. And I don't mind having a big beautiful door in that wall so that people can come into this country legally. But we need, Jeb, to build a wall, we need to keep illegals out. +p5073 +aVBorder Patrol, I was at the border last week. Border Patrol, people that I deal with, that I talk to, they say this is what's happening. Because our leaders are stupid. Our politicians are stupid. And the Mexican government is much smarter, much sharper, much more cunning. And they send the bad ones over because they don't want to pay for them. They don't want to take care of them. Why should they when the stupid leaders of the United States will do it for them? And that's what is happening whether you like it or not. +p5074 +aVA complete disaster, yes. +p5075 +aVCorrect. +p5076 +aVFirst of all, I'd like to just go back to one. In July of 2004, I came out strongly against the war with Iraq, because it was going to destabilize the Middle East. And I'm the only one on this stage that knew that and had the vision to say it. And that's exactly what happened. +p5077 +aVAnd the Middle East became totally destabilized. So I just want to say. As far as single payer, it works in Canada. It works incredibly well in Scotland. It could have worked in a different age, which is the age you're talking about here. What I'd like to see is a private system without the artificial lines around every state. I have a big company with thousands and thousands of employees. And if I'm negotiating in New York or in New Jersey or in California, I have like one bidder. Nobody can bid. You know why? Because the insurance companies are making a fortune because they have control of the politicians, of course, with the exception of the politicians on this stage. But they have total control of the politicians. They're making a fortune. Get rid of the artificial lines and you will have......yourself great plans. And then we have to take care of the people that can't take care of themselves. And I will do that through a different system. +p5078 +aVI'm not -- I'm not are -- I don't think you heard me. You're having a hard time tonight. +p5079 +aVYou'd better believe it. +p5080 +aVIf I ask them, if I need them, you know, most of the people on this stage I've given to, just so you understand, a lot of money. +p5081 +aVMany of them. +p5082 +aVNot much. +p5083 +aVBut I... +p5084 +aVI have good... +p5085 +aVGood. +p5086 +aVSounds good. Sounds good to me, Governor. I will tell you that our system is broken. I gave to many people, before this, before two months ago, I was a businessman. I give to everybody. When they call, I give. And do you know what? When I need something from them two years later, three years later, I call them, they are there for me. +p5087 +aVAnd that's a broken system. +p5088 +aVWell, I'll tell you what, with Hillary Clinton, I said be at my wedding and she came to my wedding. You know why? She didn't have a choice because I gave. I gave to a foundation that, frankly, that foundation is supposed to do good. I didn't know her money would be used on private jets going all over the world. It was. But... +p5089 +aVBecause I have used the laws of this country just like the greatest people that you read about every day in business have used the laws of this country, the chapter laws, to do a great job for my company, for myself, for my employees, for my family, et cetera. I have never gone bankrupt, by the way. I have never. But out of hundreds of deals... +p5090 +aVExcuse me. Excuse me. +p5091 +aVExcuse me, what am I saying? Out of hundreds of deals that I've done, hundreds, on four occasions I've taken advantage of the laws of this country, like other people. I'm not going to name their names because I'm not going to embarrass, but virtually every person that you read about on the front page of the business sections, they've used the law. The difference is, when somebody else uses those laws, nobody writes about it. When I use it, they say, "Trump, Trump, Trump." The fact is, I built a net worth of more than $10 billion. I have a great, great company. I employ thousands of people. And I'm very proud of the job I did. Again Chris, hundreds and hundreds of deals. Four times, I've taken advantage of the laws. And frankly, so has everybody else in my position. +p5092 +aVWell, I... +p5093 +aVLet me just tell you about the lenders. First of all, these lenders aren't babies. These are total killers. These are not the nice, sweet little people that you think, OK? You know, I mean you're living in a world of the make-believe, Chris, you want to know the truth. And I had the good sense to leave Atlantic City, which by the way, Caesars just went bankrupt. Every company, Chris can tell you, every company virtually in Atlantic City went bankrupt. Every company. And let me just tell you. I had the good sense, and I've gotten a lot of credit in the financial pages, seven years ago I left Atlantic City before it totally cratered, and I made a lot of money in Atlantic City, and I'm very proud of it. I want to tell you that. Very, very proud of it. +p5094 +aVAnd by the way, this country right now owes $19 trillion. And they need somebody like me to straighten out that mess. +p5095 +aVI don't think they like me very much. I'll tell you what. I've evolved on many issues over the years. And you know who else has? Is Ronald Reagan evolved on many issues. And I am pro-life. And if you look at the question, I was in business. They asked me a question as to pro-life or choice. And I said if you let it run, that I hate the concept of abortion. I hate the concept of abortion. And then since then, I've very much evolved. And what happened is friends of mine years ago were going to have a child, and it was going to be aborted. And it wasn't aborted. And that child today is a total superstar, a great, great child. And I saw that. And I saw other instances. And I am very, very proud to say that I am pro-life. As far as being a Republican is concerned, I come from a place, New York City, which is virtually, I mean, it is almost exclusively Democrat. And I have really started to see some of the negatives -- as an example, and I have a lot of liking for this man, but the last number of months of his brother's administration were a catastrophe. And unfortunately, those few months gave us President Obama. And you can't be happy about that. +p5096 +aVFirst of all, Jeb, I am very happy that you denied that, and I appreciate that very much. He is a true gentleman. He really is. One thing he did say, and I mean that. The one thing he did say about me, however, was my tone. And I also understand that. But when you have people that are cutting Christians' heads off, when you have a world that the border and at so many places, that it is medieval times, we've never -- it almost has to be as bad as it ever was in terms of the violence and the horror, we don't have time for tone. We have to go out and get the job done. +p5097 +aVI would be so different from what you have right now. Like, the polar opposite. We have a president who doesn't have a clue. I would say he's incompetent, but I don't want to do that because that's not nice. But if you look at the deals we make, whether it's the nuclear deal with 24 hour periods -- and by the way, before you get to the 24 hours, you have to go through a system. You look at Sgt. Bergdahl, we get Bergdahl, a traitor, and they get five of the big, great killers leaders that they want. We have people in Washington that don't know what they're doing. Now... I agree. Now, with Iran, we're making a deal, you would say, we want him. We want out our prisoners. We want all these things, and we don't get anything. We're giving them $150 billion dollars plus, they are going to be -- I'll tell you what, if Iran was a stock, you folks should go out and buy it right now because you'll quadruple -- this, what's happening in Iran, is a disgrace, and it's going to lead to destruction in large portions of the world. +p5098 +aVOur country is in serious trouble. We don't win anymore. We don't beat China in trade. We don't beat Japan, with their millions and millions of cars coming into this country, in trade. We can't beat Mexico, at the border or in trade. We can't do anything right. Our military has to be strengthened. Our vets have to be taken care of. We have to end Obamacare, and we have to make our country great again, and I will do that. Thank you. +p5099 +aVWell, I can say this. If the president, and if I were president now, I would certainly want to try and nominate a justice. I'm sure that, frankly, I'm absolutely sure that President Obama will try and do it. I hope that our Senate is going to be able \u2014 Mitch, and the entire group, is going to be able to do something about it. In times of delay, we could have a Diane Sykes, or you could have a Bill Pryor \u2014 we have some fantastic people. But this is a tremendous blow to conservatism. It's a tremendous blow, frankly, to our country. +p5100 +aV... I think he's going to do it whether or I'm O.K. with it or not. I think it's up to Mitch McConnell and everybody else to stop it. It's called delay, delay, delay. +p5101 +aVWhat we want to do, when we want to do it, and how hard do we want to hit? Because we are going to have to hit very, very hard to knock out +p5102 +aV... called me a genius, I like him so far, I have to tell you. Let me just tell you this. Jeb is so wrong. Jeb is absolutely self \u2014 just so you understand, you know what that is? That's Jeb's special interest and lobbyist talking. Look, let me just tell you something, Jeb \u2014 Jeb is so wrong. You got to fight +p5103 +aV... You'll end up with World War III... +p5104 +aV... We're supporting troops... +p5105 +aV... that we don't even know who they are. +p5106 +aV... We're supporting troops that we don't even know who they are... +p5107 +aVWe have no idea who they are. +p5108 +aV... Oh, yeah, yeah... +p5109 +aV... Let 44 million in New Hampshire, it was practically ... +p5110 +aV... 44 million \u2014 give me a break. +p5111 +aVFirst of all, I have to say, as a businessman, I get along with everybody. I have business all over the world. I know so many of the people in the audience. And by the way, I'm a self-funder. I don't have \u2014 I have my wife and I have my son. That's all I have. I don't have this. So let me just tell you, I get along with everybody, which is my obligation to my company, to myself, et cetera. Obviously, the war in Iraq was a big, fat mistake. All right? Now, you can take it any way you want, and it took \u2014 it took Jeb Bush, if you remember at the beginning of his announcement, when he announced for president, it took him five days. He went back, it was a mistake, it wasn't a mistake. It took him five days before his people told him what to say, and he ultimately said, "It was a mistake." The war in Iraq, we spent $2 trillion, thousands of lives, we don't even have it. Iran has taken over Iraq, with the second-largest oil reserves in the world. Obviously, it was a mistake. +p5112 +aVGeorge Bush made a mistake. We can make mistakes. But that one was a beauty. We should have never been in Iraq. We have destabilized the Middle East. +p5113 +aVYou do whatever you want. You call it whatever you want. I want to tell you. They lied. They said there were weapons of mass destruction, there were none. And they knew there were none. There were no weapons of mass destruction. +p5114 +aVI'm being nice. +p5115 +aVHe spent $22 million in... +p5116 +aVThe World Trade Center came down during your brother's reign, remember that. +p5117 +aVThat's not keeping us safe. +p5118 +aVShe should be running. +p5119 +aVHow did he keep us safe when the World Trade Center \u2014 the World \u2014 excuse me. I lost hundreds of friends. The World Trade Center came down during the reign of George Bush. He kept us safe? That is not safe. That is not safe, Marco. That is not safe. +p5120 +aVAnd George Bush \u2014 by the way, George Bush had the chance, also, and he didn't listen to the advice of his C.I.A. +p5121 +aVI don't want to go. +p5122 +aVYes. +p5123 +aVFirst of all, the \u2014 when you say I'm the only candidate, if you listen to the Democrats, they want to do many things to Social Security, and I want to do them on its own merit. You listen to them, what they want to do to Social Security, none of these folks are getting elected, O.K., whether they can do it or not. I'm going to save Social Security. I'm going to bring jobs back from China. I'm going to bring jobs back from Mexico and from Japan, where they're all \u2014 every country throughout the world \u2014 now Vietnam, that's the new one. They are taking our jobs. They are taking our wealth. They are taking our base. And you and I have had this discussion. We're going to make our economy strong again. I'm lowering taxes. We have $2.5 trillion offshore. We have 2.5 trillion that I think is actually five trillion because the government has no idea when they say 2.5, they have no idea what they're doing or saying, as they've proven very well. We're going to bring that money back. You take a look at what happened just this week. China bought the Chicago Stock Exchange, China, a Chinese company. Carrier is moving to Mexico, air conditioning company. Not only the ones I talk about all the time, Nabisco and Ford and \u2014 they're all moving out. We have an economy that last quarter, G.D.P. didn't grow. It was flat. We have to make our economy grow again. We're dying. This country is dying. And our workers are losing their jobs, and you're going... +p5124 +aVI'm the only one who is going to save Social Security, believe me. +p5125 +aVBecause you have tremendous waste. I'll tell you... +p5126 +aVYou have tremendous waste, fraud and abuse. That we're taking care of. That we're taking care of. It's tremendous. We have in Social Security right now thousands and thousands of people that are over 106 years old. Now, you know they don't exist. They don't exist. There's tremendous waste, fraud and abuse, and we're going to get it. But we're not going to hurt the people who have been paying into Social Security their whole life and then all of a sudden they're supposed to get less. We're bringing our jobs back. We're going to make our economy great again. +p5127 +aVI want everybody taken care of, but we have to take care of our people in this country. We're not taking care of our people. We have no border. We have no control. People are flooding across. We can't have it. We either have a border, and I'm very strongly \u2014 I'm not proposing. I will build a wall. I will build a wall. Remember this, the wall will be paid for by Mexico. We are not being treated right. We are not being treated properly. If we don't have borders, if we don't have strength, we don't have a country. People are flowing across. We have to take care of our people. Believe me. +p5128 +aVLook......When I announced that I was running for president on June 16th, illegal immigration wasn't even a subject. If I didn't bring it up, we wouldn't even be talking. Now, I don't often agree with Marco, and I don't often agree with Ted, but I can in this case. The weakest person on this stage by far on illegal immigration is Jeb Bush. They come out of an act of love, whether you like it or not. He is so weak on illegal immigration it's laughable, and everybody knows it. +p5129 +aV... Spend a little more money on the commercials... +p5130 +aV. I don't know what you're talking about. +p5131 +aV... I never called him \u2014 I don't call him.. +p5132 +aVHe also said about language... +p5133 +aV... Language. Two days ago he said he would take his pants off and moon everybody, and that's fine. Nobody reports that. He gets up and says that, and then he tells me, oh, my language was a little bit rough... +p5134 +aV... My language. Give me a break... +p5135 +aV... You did say it, you did say it. Been reported in 10 different news... +p5136 +aVOr a tax. +p5137 +aVI would build consensus with Congress, and Congress would agree with me. I'll give you an example, because I don't like the idea of using executive orders like our president. It is a disaster what he's doing. I would build consensus, but consensus means you have to work hard. You have to cajole. You have to get them into the Oval Office and get them all together, and you have to make deals. Let me just tell you, I mentioned before, China \u2014 big Chinese company bought the Chicago Exchange. Kerry is moving \u2014 and if you saw the people, because they have a video of the announcement that Carrier is moving to Mexico, O.K.? Well, I'll tell you what. I would go right now to Carrier and I would say I am going to work awfully hard. You're going to make air conditioners now in Mexico. You're going to get all of these 1,400 people that are being laid off \u2014 they're laid off. They were crying. They were \u2014 it was a very sad situation. You're going to go to Mexico. You're going to make air conditioners in Mexico, you're going to put them across our border with no tax. I'm going to tell them right now, I am going to get consensus from Congress and we're going to tax you when those air conditioners come. So stay where you are or build in the United States, because we are killing ourselves with trade pacts that are no good for us and no good for our workers. +p5138 +aVJohn, in life you have flexibility. You do have flexibility. When you're fighting wars, you're going one way, you have a plan. It's a beautiful plan. It can't lose. The enemy makes a change, and all of a sudden you have to change. You have to have flexibility. In Ronald Reagan, though, in terms of what we're talking about, was the great example. He was a somewhat liberal Democrat who became a somewhat, pretty strong conservative. He became \u2014 most importantly, he became a great president. He made many of the changes that I've made \u2014 I mean, I've seen as I grew up, I've seen, and as I get older and wiser, and I feel that I am a conservative. Now, I also feel I'm a common-sense conservative, because some of the views I don't agree with. And I think a lot of people agree with me, obviously, based on what's happening. +p5139 +aVWell, I think these people always hit me with eminent domain, and frankly, I'm not in love with eminent domain. But eminent domain is something you need very strongly. When Jeb had said, "You used eminent domain privately for a parking lot." It wasn't for a parking lot. The state of New Jersey \u2014 too bad Chris Christie is not here, he could tell you \u2014 the state of New Jersey went to build a very large tower that was going to employ thousands of people. I mean, it was going to really do a big job in terms of economic development. Now, just so you understand, I got hit very hard. It's private, it's private eminent domain. You understand that they took over a stadium in Texas, and they used private eminent domain, but he just found that out after he made the charge. +p5140 +aVYeah. Well, Jeb wouldn't have known about it. +p5141 +aVYou shouldn't have used it then, Jeb. +p5142 +aVThank you very much, I appreciate it. +p5143 +aVYou probably are worse than Jeb Bush. You are single biggest liar. This guy's lied \u2014 let me just tell you, this guy lied about Ben Carson when he took votes away from Ben Carson in Iowa, and he just continues. Today, we had robo-calls saying, "Donald Trump is not going to run in South Carolina," where I'm leading by a lot. I'm not going to vote for Ted Cruz. This is the same thing he did to Ben Carson. This guy will say anything, nasty guy. Now I know why he doesn't have one endorsement from any of his colleagues. +p5144 +aVHe's a nasty guy. +p5145 +aVWhere did I support it? Where did I... +p5146 +aVAgain, where did I support it? +p5147 +aVHey Ted, where I support it? +p5148 +aVWhere did I support? +p5149 +aVThat's a lot of lies. +p5150 +aVIt does do wonderful things, but not as it relates to abortion. +p5151 +aVExcuse me. Excuse me, there are wonderful things having to do with women's health. +p5152 +aVBut not when it comes to abortion. +p5153 +aVHold on... +p5154 +aVTed Cruz told your brother that he wanted John Roberts to be on the United States Supreme Court. They both pushed him, he twice approved Obamacare. +p5155 +aVO.K., governor. +p5156 +aVYou pushed him. You pushed him. +p5157 +aVYou worked with him and you pushed him. Why do you lie? +p5158 +aVWhy do you lie? +p5159 +aVYou pushed him. +p5160 +aVYeah, yeah, I know, you're an adult. +p5161 +aVWell, I would say my wife tells me I'm wrong all the time. And I listen. +p5162 +aVOh, let me just say \u2014 look, I am very open \u2014 I hired top people. I've had great success. I built a great, great company. I don't need to do this. I'm self-funding. I'm spending a lot of money. I've spent \u2014 like in New Hampshire, I spent $3 million. Jeb bush spent $44 million. He came in five, and I came in No. 1. That's what the country needs, folks. I spent 3, he spends 42 of their money, of special interest money. And it's just \u2014 this is not going to make \u2014 excuse me. This is not going to make our country great again. This is not what we need in our country. We need people that know what the hell they're doing. And politicians, they're all talk, they're no action. And that's why people are supporting me. I do listen to people. I hire experts. I hire top, top people. And I do listen. And you know what? Sometimes they're wrong. You have to know what to do, when to do it. But sometimes they're wrong. +p5163 +aVWell, I'll tell you \u2014 over the years, I've made many speeches. People have asked me, big companies have asked me to make speeches, and friends of mine that run big companies on success. And occasion, in order to sort of really highlight something, I'll use a profanity. One of the profanities that I got credited with using, that I didn't use, was a very bad word, two weeks ago, that I never used. I said, "You." And everybody said "Oh, he didn't say anything wrong." But you bleeped it, so everyone thinks I said the \u2014 I didn't say anything. I never said the word. It is very unfair, that criticism. Now, I will say this, with all of that being said, I have said I will not do it at all, because if I say a word that's a little bit off color, a little bit, it ends up being a headline. I will not do it again. I was a very good student at a great school not using \u2014 by the way \u2014 not using profanity is very easy. +p5164 +aVThat's not \u2014 let me respond. That's another lie. I never went bankrupt! +p5165 +aVNo, but it's another lie. +p5166 +aVNo, but it's another lie. This guy doesn't know what he's talking about. Just a lie. +p5167 +aVLet me just tell you. Jeb goes around saying, just like the biggest business leaders in this country, I've used the laws of the land to chapter \u2014 I bought a company, I threw it immediately into a chapter, I made a great deal. I uses the laws to my benefit, because I run a company. +p5168 +aVExcuse me, Jeb! +p5169 +aVI never went bankrupt, never. Now \u2014 but you don't want to say that. Now, let me just say, I've used it, just like the biggest leaders in the country. Let me tell you something \u2014 Florida. Florida, he put so much debt on Florida. You know, we keep saying he's a wonderful governor, wonderful governor. He put so much debt on Florida, and he increased spending so much that as soon as he got out of office, Florida crashed. I happened to be there. It's my second home. Florida crashed. He didn't do a good job as governor. +p5170 +aVAnd you haven't \u2014 excuse me, you haven't heard that. You listen to the good record in Florida. You take a look at what happened, as soon as that year ended he got out, Florida crashed. Too much debt. He loaded it up with debt, and his spending went through the roof. +p5171 +aVBy the way... +p5172 +aV... he was not a good governor. +p5173 +aVTake a look at your numbers. +p5174 +aVFlorida went down the tubes right after he got out of office. +p5175 +aVWent right down because of what he did to it. +p5176 +aVThank you. Politicians are all talk, no action. You've seen where they've take you to. We are 19 trillion dollars right now. It's going to be increased with that horrible budget from a month ago that was just approved by politicians. We need a change. We need a very big change. We're going to make our country great again. I say this every night, every day, every afternoon, and it's so true \u2014 we don't win anymore. We don't win with health care, we don't win with +p5177 +aVI actually think I have the best temperament. I built a massive corporation. I employ thousands and thousands of people. I've gotten along with people for years and years, have tremendous relationships with many people, including politicians on both sides. And no matter how you cut it, when I \u2014 when I came out, I hit immigration, I hit it very hard. Everybody said, "Oh, the temperament," because I talked about illegal immigration. Now, everybody's coming to me, they're all trying to say, well, he's right, we have to come to him. I hit other things. I talked about Muslims. We have a problem. Nobody else wanted to mention the problem, I brought it up. I took a lot of heat. We have to have a temporary something, because there's something going on that's not good. And remember this, I'm the only one up here, when the war of Iraq \u2014 in Iraq, I was the one that said, "Don't go, don't do it, you're going to destabilize the Middle East." So, I'm not one with a trigger. I'm not one with a trigger. Other people up here, believe me, would be a lot faster. But I'll build the mill arbitrary stronger, bigger, better than anybody up here, and nobody is going to mess with us. That, I can tell you. +p5178 +aVAm I allowed to respond? I have to respond. +p5179 +aVFirst of all, I respect what Ted just said, but if you noticed, he didn't answer your question. And that's what's going to happen \u2014 OK. That's what's going to happen with our enemies and the people we compete against. We're going to win with Trump. We're going to win. We don't win anymore. Our country doesn't win anymore. We're going to win with Trump. And people back down with Trump. And that's what I like and that's what the country is going to like. +p5180 +aVWell, let me say a couple of things. First of all, Marco said earlier on that President Obama knows exactly what he's doing, like we have this president that really knows. I disagree, respectfully, with Marco. I think we have a president who, as a president, is totally incompetent, and he doesn't know what he's doing. I think he has no idea what he's doing. And our country is going to hell. So, I just want to say, we disagree on that. Is that okay? +p5181 +aVGood. +p5182 +aVAs to North Korea? +p5183 +aVWe have \u2014 tremendous \u2014 has been just sucked out of our country by China. China says they don't have that good of control over North Korea. They have tremendous control. I deal with the Chinese all of the time. I do tremendous \u2014 the largest bank in the world is in one of my buildings in Manhattan. I deal with them. They tell me. They have total, absolute control, practically, of North Korea. They are sucking trillions of dollars out of our country \u2014 they're rebuilding China with the money they take out of our country. I would get on with China, let China solve that problem. They can do it quickly and surgically. That's what we should do with North Korea. +p5184 +aVGood evening. +p5185 +aVYes. HAM: In the Democratic primary, Hillary Clinton has criticized Bernie Sanders' plan for single payer government health care, noting it would require big, across the board tax increases for Americans. In doing so, she's doubling down on Obamacare, despite its persistent unpopularity. Mr. Trump, you have said you want to appeal Obamacare. You have also said, quote, "Everybody's got to be covered," adding, quote, "The government's going to pay for it." Are you closer to Bernie Sanders' vision for health care than Hillary Clinton's? +p5186 +aVI don't think I am. I think I'm closer to common sense. We are going to repeal Obamacare. We're going to repeal Obamacare. We are going to replace Obamacare with something so much better. And there are so many examples of it. And I will tell you, part of the reason we have some people laughing, because you have insurance people that take care of everybody up here. I am self-funded. The only one they're not taking care of is me. We have our lines around each state. The insurance companies are getting rich on Obamacare. The insurance companies are getting rich on health care and health services and everything having to do with health. We are going to end that. We're going to take out the artificial boundaries, the artificial lines. We're going to get a plan where people compete, free enterprise. They compete. So much better. In addition to that, you have the health care savings plans, which are excellent. What I do say is, there will be a certain number of people that will be on the street dying and as a Republican, I don't want that to happen. We're going to take care of people that are dying on the street because there will be a group of people that are not going to be able to even think in terms of private or anything else and we're going to take care of those people. And I think everybody on this stage would have to agree......you're not going to let people die, sitting in the middle of a street in any city in this country. +p5187 +aVWell, let me just tell you about eminent domain because almost all of these people actually criticize it, but so many people have hit me with commercials and other things about eminent domain. Eminent domain is an absolute necessity for a country, for our country. Without it, you wouldn't have roads, you wouldn't have hospitals, you wouldn't have anything. You wouldn't have schools, you wouldn't have bridges. You need eminent domain. And a lot of the big conservatives that tell me how conservative they are \u2014 I think I'm more than they are \u2014 they tell me, oh \u2014 well, they all want the Keystone Pipeline. The Keystone Pipeline, without eminent domain, it wouldn't go 10 feet, OK? You need eminent domain. And eminent domain is a good thing, not a bad thing. And what a lot of people don't know because they were all saying, oh, you're going to take their property. When somebody \u2014 when eminent domain is used on somebody's property, that person gets a fortune. They get at least fair market value, and if they are smart, they'll get two or three times the value of their property. But without eminent domain, you don't have roads, highways, schools, bridges or anything. So eminent domain \u2014 it's not that I love it, but eminent domain is absolutely \u2014 it's a necessity for a country. And certainly it's a necessity for our country. +p5188 +aVYes. +p5189 +aVJeb wants to be \u2014 he wants to be a tough guy tonight. I didn't take the property. +p5190 +aVI didn't take the property. +p5191 +aVThe woman ultimately didn't want to do that. I walked away. +p5192 +aVWell, let me just \u2014 you know, he wants to be a tough guy. A lot of times, you'll have \u2014 you'll have \u2014 and it didn't work very well. +p5193 +aVA lot of time \u2014 let me talk. Quiet. A lot of times \u2014 a lot of times... +p5194 +aV... you \u2014 let me talk. Let me talk. Quiet. A lot of times......that's all of his donors and special interests out there. So \u2014 it's what it is. That's what \u2014 and by the way, let me just tell you, we needed tickets. You can't get them. You know who has the tickets for the \u2014 I'm talking about, to the television audience? Donors, special interests, the people that are putting up the money. That's who it is. The RNC told us. We have all donors in the audience. And the reason they're not loving me......the reason they're not \u2014 excuse me. The reason they're not loving me is, I don't want their money. I'm going to do the right thing for the American public. I don't want their money. I don't need their money. And I'm the only one up here that can say that. Eminent domain, the Keystone pipeline \u2014 do you consider that a private job? Do you \u2014 do you consider that... +p5195 +aVNo \u2014 no, let me ask you, Jeb. Do you consider the Keystone pipeline private? +p5196 +aVIs it public or private? +p5197 +aVReal \u2014 a public use? +p5198 +aVNo, it's a private job. +p5199 +aVIt's a private job. +p5200 +aVYou wouldn't have the Keystone pipeline that you want so badly without eminent domain. +p5201 +aVYou wouldn't have massive \u2014 excuse me, Josh \u2014 you wouldn't have massive factories without eminent domain. +p5202 +aVWell, I think I am, and to me, I view the word conservative as a derivative I \u2014 of \u2014 of the word conserve. We want to converse our money. We want to conserve our wealth. We want to conserve. We want to be smart. We want to be smart where we go, where we spend, how we spend. We want to conserve our country. We want to save our country. And we have people that have no idea how to do that and they are not doing it, and it's a very important word and it's something I believe in very, very strongly. +p5203 +aVWell, before I go there, I will tell you, I will bring jobs back from China. I will bring jobs back from Japan. I will bring jobs back from Mexico, where New Hampshire, by the way, has been virtually wiped out. They've lost so many businesses going to Mexico because of horrible trade deals. And now we're about to sign another trade deal, TPP, which is going to be a disaster for this country because they don't talk about monetary manipulation. It is going to be a disaster. I'm going to bring jobs back and I'll start bringing them back very fast. Under my tax plan \u2014 right now, we're the highest taxed country in the world. Under my plan, we cut not only taxes for the middle class, but we cut taxes for corporations. We will bring back trillions of dollars that's offshore. Right now, they have $2.5 trillion, and in my opinion, it's much more than that. That's what the government says. All of that money is going to come back. And we're not going to lose Pfizer, which is now leaving, and other great companies, which is now leaving. And they're all leaving. We have many, many companies that are leaving this country. We're not going to lose them anymore because we're going to have a tax structure that is going to keep them in our country. +p5204 +aVWell, four years ago, I said, bomb the oil and take the oil. And if we did that, they wouldn't have the wealth they have right now. Now, I still say the same thing, because we're doing little pinpricks. We're not even bombing \u2014 if somebody's driving a truck, they give notice to the person driving the truck, "we're going to bomb." If they don't get out of the truck, the truck sails away with the oil. We actually have a case where we don't want to bomb the oil, because we don't want to hurt \u2014 pollute the atmosphere. Can you imagine General Douglas MacArthur or General Patton saying we can't bomb because we're gonna hurt the atmosphere? You have to knock the hell out of the oil. You have to take the oil. And you have also back channels of banking. You have people that you think are our great allies, our friends, in the Middle East, that are paying tremendous numbers of \u2014 tremendous amounts of money to +p5205 +aVYou have to go in \u2014 first of all, when you take away their money, when you take away their wealth, that'll very much weaken \u2014 and it will happen fairly fast. They'll last for about a year, based on all of the wealth they've accumulated. But when you stop the banking channels and when you stop the oil and take the oil \u2014 not just bomb it, take it \u2014 when you do that, it's going to dry up very quickly. They're going to become a very weakened power, quickly. Thank you. +p5206 +aVWell, I'll tell you what. In the Middle East, we have people chopping the heads off Christians, we have people chopping the heads off many other people. We have things that we have never seen before \u2014 as a group, we have never seen before, what's happening right now. The medieval times \u2014 I mean, we studied medieval times \u2014 not since medieval times have people seen what's going on. I would bring back waterboarding and I'd bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding. +p5207 +aV... No, a good deal maker will make great deals, but we'll do it the way our founders thought it should be done. People get together, they make deals. Ronald Reagan did it with Tip O'Neil very successfully, you didn't hear so much about executive orders, if you heard about it at all. You have to be able to get a consensus. Now, the real person like it was mentioned about the deal with Iran, how bad a deal is that? It doesn't get any more amateurish than that. A good deal maker would never make a deal like that. With Congress, you have to get everybody in a room, and you have to get them to agree. But, you have to get them to agree what you want, and that's part of being a deal maker. You can't leave the White House, go to Hawaii and play golf for three weeks and be a real deal maker. It doesn't work that way. You have to get people in, grab them, hug them, kiss them, and get the deal done. But, it's got to be the deal that you want. HAM: Governor Kasich, is the problem with Washington that there are too many deals, or too few? +p5208 +aVSome? +p5209 +aVWell... +p5210 +aVYes. OK, good. It looked like he was looking right at me, right there. I think that \u2014 I look at what's going on, I look at all of the polls, I do very, very well against Hillary Clinton. I can tell you, I'm the last person that she wants to run against. And I think you can see what we've done in terms of galvanizing. I've been all over the country. We're \u2014 last night, I was in South Carolina, we had 12,000 people. It set up in about four days. We have galvanized and we've created a movement. A lot of it has to do with \u2014 as an example, Josh's question on drugs. I'm the first person that said, "Build a wall." But I mean, a real wall, not a toy wall like they have right now. A real wall. And you'll solve lots of problems. But we will galvanize the people of this country, and we will beat Hillary Clinton. Because \u2014 assuming that she runs, by the way, how she gets away with the e-mail stuff is hard to believe. So, I don't know that she's going to be running. But on the assumption she runs... I mean, look. And speaking of that, if she runs, she's running for one reason. She's going to be able to run for one reason, and that's because the Democrats are protecting her. Because so many people have done so much less than her, and they were absolutely \u2014 their lives have been destroyed. But on the assumption they do protect her, I will win the election and we will win it by a lot. We will win it handily. We cannot have another four years of essentially Barack Obama. +p5211 +aVWell, there is a divide, but I have to say that the police are absolutely mistreated and misunderstood, and if there is an incident, whether it's an incident done purposely \u2014 which is a horror, and you should really take very strong action \u2014 or if it is a mistake, it's on your news casts all night, all week, all month, and it never ends. The police in this country have done an unbelievable job of keeping law and order, and they're afraid for their jobs, they're afraid of the mistreatment they get, and I'm telling you that not only, me speaking, minorities all over the country, they respect the police of this country and we have to give them more respect. They can't act. They can't act. They're afraid for losing their pension, their job. They don't know what to do. And I deal with them all the time. We have to give great respect, far greater than we are right now, to our really fantastic police. +p5212 +aVWell, they do. And, you know, they sue. Everybody sues, right? They see excessive \u2014 I mean, they go out, they sue. We have so much litigation \u2014 I see the courts, I see what they're doing. They sue, and you know what? We don't want excessive force. But at what point \u2014 you know, either you're going to have a police force that can do its job... I was just up in Manchester, I met with the police officers yesterday. Tremendous people. They love the area, they love the people, they love all the people. They want to do their job. And you're going to have abuse and you're going to have problems, and you've got to solve the problems and you have to weed out the problems. But the police in this country are absolutely amazing people. +p5213 +aVWell, I \u2014 I know Diane Foley very well. Her husband and \u2014 these are tremendous people. I spoke for them, I raised a lot of money for the foundation. I fully understand, James, one of \u2014 that was really the first that we saw, really visually saw \u2014 it was so horrible. And I will tell you, though, with all of that being said, you can not negotiate this way with terrorists. If you do, you are going to have many, many more James Foleys. James Foley was a great young man. His parents are incredible people. They've done such a good job, since his \u2014 since his death. But you just cannot negotiate that way with terrorists, or you're gonna have so many other James Foleys. And one thing on the vets \u2014 during the last debate, I raised $6 million for the vets, and I will tell you something......I will tell you that I think nobody here, nobody on this stage, gets along with the veterans groups in New Hampshire better than I do without ball (ph) to sarel (ph) and all of the people that I deal with and these are great people. The one thing that we're not mentioning, there's tremendous fraud, waste and abuse in the Veterans Administration and if I'm running things, that's going to disappear......and it's going to disappear quickly. +p5214 +aVCarolina. +p5215 +aVThat's because he got Ben Carson's votes, by the way, but we won't . Our country that we love so much doesn't win anymore. We don't win with the military, we don't' win on the border. You look at New Hampshire with the tremendous problem we have with heroin. Number one thing I hear from the people of New Hampshire, who I love, and developed such relationships, we don't win with healthcare. We don't win with trade. You look at what other countries are doing to us. China. Everyone, they're killing us on trade. If I'm elected president, we will win, and we will win, and we will win. Thank you, thank you very much. +p5216 +asVPATAKI +p5217 +(lp5218 +VThank you, Wolf. I want to speak to you this evening not as a Republican or a presidential candidate, but as an American. As we saw today in L.A., we are at a crisis in our country. Radical Islam poses a threat to our safety not just overseas, but literally in every community in America. And yet at a time when we should be united, we have a president who has divided us, who refuses to call radical Islam what it is, let alone have a coherent strategy to defeat it. The leading Democrat, Hillary Clinton, won't call +p5219 +aVAbsolutely. It's one of many absurd things this President has said. To target a religion and say that regardless of whether you're an American soldier who has fought on our side or allies we have overseas, simply because of your religion we're going to ban you is un-American, it is unconstitutional and it is wrong. And by the way, Wolf, now there was a group that tried to do that 150 to 160 years ago, they were called the Know-Nothing Party. They wanted to ban Catholics. They thought they were going to destroy America. Well, Donald Trump is the Know-Nothing candidate of the 21st century and cannot be our nominee. By the way, though. I fault Hillary and Obama as well because by not distinguishing between Muslims and radicalized Jihadists, by refusing to acknowledge that it's radical Muslim, radical Islamists who are carrying out these attacks against America \u2014 they let Americans who are confused and angry lump everyone together. We have to embrace the Muslims who embrace our freedom and living and safety. We have to destroy those who embrace Jihad and want to engage in violence against us here or abroad. +p5220 +aVYes. +p5221 +aVYou know, I think it's very important that we do everything in our power to prevent radicalization of Americans right here. And it is happening, not just overseas, but it's happening here from Mosques on social media. And truth \u2014 interaction and community meetings. New York police department had a very active group, aggressively monitoring and using intelligence to \u2014 in certain Muslim communities, consistent with our constitution, consistent of our civil rights, so they could have the intelligence as to where these sermons are being given, and who is being radicalized. And, they stopped and prevented dozens, and dozens of attacks in New York. You know, I'm a great believer in the First Amendment, of Freedom of Speech. I wish we had more of it on our college campuses, but you can't shout fire in a crowded theater. Calling on Americans to engage in violence against their fellow Americans in the name of jihad is crying fire in a crowded theater. It is not constitutionally protected speech, it should be shut down. And, by the way, the two murders who went to Garland, Texas to massacre many Americans before the Texas police officer courageously killed them, had been radicalized here. Getting to that metadata question, one of those terrorists, the day before the attacks, had sent......109 message to a known terrorist overseas. We could not read those messages, we can not read those today... +p5222 +aV...We have got to do far better. +p5223 +aVYes, Wolf. +p5224 +aVI would pass a law requiring them to do that. Let me just give you one example. I mentioned in Garland, Texas, where that murderer, that terrorist, the day before sent 109 messages overseas to a known terrorist. But they were encrypted. So to this date we don't know what that said. Companies are entitled to encrypt and protect their knowledge and their intelligence. But what we need is a back door for law enforcement to be able, when they can establish that that communication poses a risk to our safety and engages in terrorism, to get a court order and go in and access those communications. Allow the companies to continue encryption, provide an entry way for law enforcement when they can prove to a court that there is a sufficient risk of an attack upon us that they have the right to look at those messages. +p5225 +aVAnd just one more thing, Wolf. When that murderer came from Pakistan to San Bernardino and committed those atrocious crimes just a few weeks ago, she applied for a visa. She had posted on social media jihadist messages. Because this administration is so politically correct, they have a rule that they cannot look at social media postings of people applying to come to the United States. That is utterly absurd. One of the things we must do, the next president must do is get rid of that law and make sure we do everything in our power to find out if someone poses a threat to our existence here. +p5226 +aVWolf, I think the answer is we have to send troops with allies and supporters. Wherever it is necessary to destroy the training centers, recruitment centers, planning hubs of +p5227 +aVYes. +p5228 +aVYou know, I don't think it's a function of years of going after +p5229 +aVYou know, I don't want to see us occupy a country. I've been to Iraq a couple of times and Afghanistan. The first time I went, I had an uneasy feeling that when we went there we were liberators. But as we stayed ,we became occupiers. I saw American troops move into some of Saddam's old hideous marble palaces. And I thought that was exactly the wrong message. We do not have to occupy. We do not have to nation build and try to create a democracy where one hasn't existed. WE have to destroy +p5230 +aVI'm not sure \u2014 ally with which groups? I didn't quite catch that. +p5231 +aVNot at all. Iran is our enemy. They are the number one sponsor of state terror. The Iranian Deal is a disaster. And by the way, I don't think the next president has to aggregate it. It was never ratified by the Iranians. They have tested long-range ballistic missiles in violation of U.N. resolutions. They have broken the agreement. It is void. They can never have a nuclear weapon and should not get relief. With respect to the other groups, like Hezbollah, of course we should not work with them. I'll tell you who we should work with in Syria. There are two groups. One are the PYD, the \u2014 the Kurds in Syria who led the defense of Kobani, and are in northern and eastern Syria and anti- +p5232 +aVI could create... +p5233 +aVI would create the no-fly zone, and let me tell you, something very simply. Putin is a bully, and the most important and effective thing you can do to a bully is punch him in the face. Create a no-fly zone. If Russian planes violate that space, either us, or the Turks, should shoot them down to keep our word. And, I guarantee you that Putin would back off. Bullies, when you stand up to them, back down. We have had, under Obama, and under Hillary as Secretary of State, nothing but weakness in the face of Russia, whether it was in the Crimea, whether it was in Ukraine, or now in the Middle East. I would give the Ukrainians lethal weapons so they could defend themselves. I would create the no-fly zone, and if Russian planes flew into it in violation of what we have declared, yes. +p5234 +aVI could create... +p5235 +aVI would create the no-fly zone, and let me tell you, something very simply. Putin is a bully, and the most important and effective thing you can do to a bully is punch him in the face. Create a no-fly zone. If Russian planes violate that space, either us, or the Turks, should shoot them down to keep our word. And, I guarantee you that Putin would back off. Bullies, when you stand up to them, back down. We have had, under Obama, and under Hillary as Secretary of State, nothing but weakness in the face of Russia, whether it was in the Crimea, whether it was in Ukraine, or now in the Middle East. I would give the Ukrainians lethal weapons so they could defend themselves. I would create the no-fly zone, and if Russian planes flew into it in violation of what we have declared, yes. +p5236 +aVNo, I completely disagree with Rick. This is America. And we've made enormous progress. And I don't care if you're a man or a woman. I care if you're good and capable of doing the job. If you can do the job \u2014 don't lower standards, don't lower the criteria \u2014 but if a woman is capable of doing these jobs, there is no reason why we should deny a patriot who wants to serve and help defend our country that right. +p5237 +aVIt's not. +p5238 +aVNo, you said you would reverse the policy which excluded women from those jobs whether or not they were able to do that. That is wrong. +p5239 +aVAh. +p5240 +aVYes, I think what Rick said is very different from what he said initially which was that, "he would reverse the policy that gave woman not the right but the opportunity to serve in combat." They can only do it if they're fit and capable and meet the same standards as men. And so, to reverse that policy and deny a woman who is prepared to risk her life to defend our freedom and is capable of doing everything a man could do is not the right thing for America in the 21st century. By the way, you see in Iraq, the Peshmerga, the Kurds ,many of their top fighters are women. This is the 21st century. We're not radical Islam. We want to give women the opportunity to do whatever they are capable of achieving in this country. +p5241 +aVOf course he's innocent until proven guilty. I happen to believe he's guilty. The military did a very clear and long study as to whether or not he deserted in the face of enemy and they are not court marshalling him. I don't think he should executed. I do think he will have a fair military trial, not a civilian trial, at which time, assuming he's found guilty as I think he would, he will be sentenced appropriately. But there's a bigger issue here, this administration has failed to protect us because they have treated radical Islamists as Americans who should be tried in civil court. That is ridiculous. They are enemy aliens engaged in terror against Americans. And by the way, the fact that this president is now threatening to close Guantanamo Bay when we know that time after time, terrorists he released are involved in a high level capacity helping +p5242 +aVYou know, again, it comes down to something that, as Mike said, breaks your heart. We clearly want to get them back. But the idea that by taking a journalist, for example, and holding him hostage in Iran, they're going to be able to get some of their terrorist leaders back, is simply bad policy. Israel has shown the way on this in rejecting hostage exchanges such as this and then not paying ransom. But, by the way, Mike is absolutely right. We have to do more to protect our people overseas, but then we also have to do more to help our veterans when they come back here today. We haven't talked about that. But more talking about defeating terrorism, one of the things we have to do is give our veterans the support and help that they require. What has happened at the VA is a disgrace. Give our veterans a medical card that they can use to get the best quality care anywhere, including outside of the VA system. +p5243 +aVAnd that \u2014 but that was involved in combat, where they were actually involved in a war against each other and exchanged prisoners. We have not been in a war with Iran. They have taken civilians as hostages. It's a totally different situation. And we cannot encourage them to do any more of that. +p5244 +aVYou know, I think what I said earlier is that I would create a no-fly zone in Syria. Turkey just agreed to take 3 million more Syrian refugees. The EU just came up with a funding program to provide camps for Syrian refugees, but I would also create that no-fly zone where refugees can be there. I have to say I agree with Rick, because this President is talking about taking 10,000 people from Syria, who we cannot vet. This administration, allegedly, vetted the woman who carried out the attacks in San Bernardino and never found out that she had a false address and was on social media talking about radical Jihad. Coming from Syria, it's impossible to do that check. And we know, by the way, that +p5245 +aVThank you. This debate has been about terrorism and appropriately so. I'm proud to have been governor of New York on September 11th and have led our state through and during the aftermath of that horrible attack. I vowed then that if I ever had the chance to lead this country, I would do everything in my power to make sure that Americans were safe. But I also saw a positive from that. New Yorkers and the American people came together and vowed that we weren't just going to defend ourselves. We were not going to live in fear. We were going to rise to new heights and celebrate our freedom. Come to Lower Manhattan today. You will see a magnificent tribute to those who died, the memorial and the museum. You will also see a new tower soaring 1,776 feet tall, the Freedom Tower, a symbol of our freedom, a symbol of our belief that as a free people we can soar to new heights. Give us the chance to unite Americans, not just Republicans. And this country's future is unlimited. +p5246 +aVWe need an outsider to run our party and to win the next election. Washington has become a corrupt insider game and everybody talks about how they're going to change the taxes, grow the economy. Nothing seems to change. But, by the way, Bobby, I shrunk the size of New York State's government when I left. We had reduced the employment by over 25,000 and cut taxes. But I understand that to change Washington you have to understand government as well. You can't just be an outsider. You can't just be someone who throws stones at Washington. You have to be someone who can actually bring people together across party lines. I can do that, I will do that if I have the chance to lead this party. +p5247 +aVBecky, can I comment on this question? +p5248 +aV...John, can I quickly comment on this one... +p5249 +aV...But, I want to speak on this issue... +p5250 +aV...I think it was a bad deal, but I would have voted for it for a very simple reason. Barack Obama is the first president in American history to hold our military hostage. He knew that we needed funding for overseas contingency operations, $40 million dollars that would go to support our troops. And, he was prepared, and had vetoed it, unless this deal went through. I have two sons, they both served overseas. One in Iraq, and one in Afghanistan, and I understand that we have got to do far more to help our military, help our veterans, and help protect our security. This is a bad deal, but to protect our military, I would have signed it. Uh, it's not going to be the case, if I have a chance to lead this country, we're going to reduce the deficit, shrink the government, lower the tax burden and grow the private sector because that's how you solve deficits. +p5251 +aVThank you. +p5252 +aVNo, I don't think we need a military response, but we need a coordinated response. And I have to say that I think the Obama administration has been completely lax, to say the least, in dealing with these cyber-attacks, not just by governments like North Korea, but by, particularly, Chinese and other companies. And what I would do is put in place a policy where if we know a company, say, a Chinese company, is hacking into American companies, stealing trade secrets, as we know they do every day, we will retaliate against that company and say that that company's not going to be allowed to continue to do trade with the United States. I would also look at what we're doing at the federal level and put in place what Israel has done: a \u2014 one federal agency dealing with cybersecurity and charged with working across silos to make sure we have the best technology. And, Jim, I've gotta tell you something, talking about cybersecurity. Hillary Clinton put a server, an unsecure server, in her home as secretary of state. We have no doubt that that was hacked, and that state secrets are out there to the Iranians, the Russians, the Chinese and others. That alone should disqualify her from being president of the United States. +p5253 +aVI think they have gone too far. I think we've seen Wall Street really blossom and do very well while the rest of the country is struggling, and it's because we have this corrupt connection between Wall Street and Washington. And, John, you were just talking about what loopholes would you get rid of. I would get rid of virtually every single one of them. They cost American taxpayers $1.4 trillion a year. I would throw them all out. +p5254 +aVNo, I wouldn't. I was going to say... +p5255 +aV...no, I would keep \u2014 first, yes, but what I would do is ii would lower the tax on manufacturing to the lowest in the developed world \u2014 12 percent. We all have plans. I have a plan. We all have plans. My plan, the Tax Foundation said, would create five and a half million new jobs over the next decade. The difference, though, is I will get my plan enacted because, when I was governor of New York, I passed sweeping tax code \u2014 cuts in a Democratic state with a Democratic legislature. I \u2014 you know, Bobby, you're talking about your tax cuts? I cut taxes more than everybody on this stage, more than everybody on the next stage, combined. By more than the other 49 states, in New York state. I don't just have a plan. I will enact tax cuts, get rid of those loopholes and make the system fairer for all Americans. +p5256 +aVThank you. +p5257 +aVLet me \u2014 let me try to get a word in edgewise. +p5258 +aVIn Washington, they talk over each other... +p5259 +aVYes. Very simply, you guys talk over each other in Washington all the time. I'm not used to that. I listen when people talk. We have a skills gap. You mentioned the construction company. The construction industry says one of their biggest problems are they can't find the craftsmen to do the work. What we have to... +p5260 +aV\u2014 do in America is honor blue collar work again. We have to honor the carpenter, the plumber, the electrician, who can actually build something and instead of just saying that a college degree live \u2014 delivers prestige, let's celebrate those who do things with their hands and elevate their skills using training in high school and community... +p5261 +aV\u2014 colleges so that we can... +p5262 +aV\u2014 have a better quality workforce that we honor... +p5263 +aV\u2014 as they build America's future. +p5264 +aVThank you. +p5265 +aVThank you. +p5266 +aVHey, Rick. +p5267 +aVI'm doing great. +p5268 +aVNot at all. +p5269 +aVNo, I don't support it. But let me go back a little bit here. We need to grow our economy faster. We've had the worst economic recovery since the Great Depression. And it's because of policy in Washington and policy at the Fed. And let me go back to Washington. In 2009 \u2014 +p5270 +aVJohn, no question Barack Obama inherited a economic disaster in 2009. But what did he do? Instead of focusing on pro-growth policies in the economy, he rammed through ObamaCare, the worst law of my lifetime, that hurt small businesses, hurt companies, raised taxes and almost completely eliminated one industry because of its taxes. The Fed had to act. And the Fed did act and appropriately in reducing interest rates but they've reduced them now for seven straight years, that's never happened before. They've been zero for way too long. They should raise the rates; the Fed should get out of manipulating the market and the Fed also, by the way, should reduce its balance sheet, $2.7 trillion. Let some of those bonds mature and put the money back in the banking system so our economy can grow. +p5271 +aVYeah, absolutely. I \u2014 one of the things that troubles me about the Republican Party is too often we question science that everyone accepts. I mean, it's ridiculous that, in the 21st century, we're questioning whether or not vaccines are the appropriate way to go. Of course they are. And it's also not appropriate to think that human activity, putting CO2 into the atmosphere, doesn't make the earth warmer. All things being equal, it does. It's uncontroverted. I think part of the problem is that Republicans think about climate change, say, "oh my God, we're gonna have higher taxes, more Obama, more big government, the EPA shutting down factories." That's not the solution that I see. I want Republicans to embrace innovation and technology. You know, there's one country in the world that has fewer greenhouse gas emissions than the rest of \u2014 of the world. You know what that is? The United States. Our emissions are lower than they were in 1995. Not because of a \u2014 of a government program, but because of fracking, private sector creation... +p5272 +aV...replace coal plants \u2014 government's roles \u2014 is to incentivize innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit in America. We could have far more clean energy. We could have next-generation nuclear, thorium reactors that have no risk of meltdown. We could have solar panels on every home that are four times more efficient than today. +p5273 +aVR&D \u2014 R&D credits. Let the private sector do this, develop this innovation. And not only would we solve our problems, we would have clean energy, cheaper energy here. We could export those technologies to places like China and like India so we would grow our economy, have a far greater impact globally, have a secure domestic source of energy, and cleaner, healthier air. That's the solution. Embrace science, embrace innovation and change. +p5274 +aVThe one I use the most is Uber. You know, I used to get driven......when I was governor, I had a driver. I don't anymore, but.... And it's an example of what millennials are doing to change America for the better. And I tweet a lot, too. So Uber, Tweet \u2014 Twitter and then I communicate with my family. +p5275 +aVI \u2014 I am a long suffering Jets fan. So my answer is obviously no, there's no reason to take off the day after the Super Bowl. But let me just add this. The Mets are going to win tonight. Let's go, Mets. +p5276 +aVThank you for the opportunity to be with this great audience tonight. I'm a limited government conservative and I mean by that that not just when it comes to economic issues leaving them to the state, but social issues, as well. And in that I differ from every single other candidate seeking the Republican nomination. I take the Tenth Amendment very, very seriously. I'm a Republican who embraces science and understands we have to work with the next generation of millennials to have the innovation and technology so that we can grow a 21st century economy. And I'm a Republican who understands in Washington, when you're a leader, you have to put aside partisan politics to do what's right for the people. We are one America. If we work together across party lines, there's no problem we can't solve and the 21st century will be America's greatest century. Thank you very much. +p5277 +aVThank you, Jake. Hi, I'm George Pataki, and I am honored to be here this afternoon with all of you at the Reagan Library. You know, when I think of Ronald Reagan, I think of his tremendous smile, a smile that reflected his optimism and his unending belief and faith in America and in Americans. And it was that belief in America that led to a great presidency, a presidency that led to decades of safety, security and prosperity for America. That's exactly the type of leadership we need in Washington today and that's why I'm running for President of the United States. Thank you. +p5278 +aVNo. Hugh, not at all. I have not broken the pledge because Donald Trump is not going to be the Republican nominee, period, flat out, I guarantee you that. I would vote... +p5279 +aV-- for the Republican nominee... +p5280 +aVHe's not going to be the nominee. +p5281 +aVHe's not going to be the nominee, Hugh. And let me just say one word here. This is an important election with an enormous number of challenges facing the American people. And the first four questions are about Donald Trump. +p5282 +aVNo, I would not vote for Hillary Clinton. +p5283 +aVNo, I will vote for the Republican nominee. But let me say this flat out, Donald Trump is unfit to be president of the United States or the Republican Party's nominee. Look at what he did in Atlantic City. He says he's going to make America great again? He invested four casinos in Atlantic City and he said, essentially, I'm going to make Atlantic City great again. Every one of those casinos went bankrupt. Over 5,000 Americans lost their job. And you know people who, in this difficult economic time, have lost their job and the pain that causes. He didn't lose anything, 5,000 lost their jobs. He will do for America what he did for Atlantic City and that is not someone we will nominate. +p5284 +aVThank you. +p5285 +aVOK. All right. Thank you. +p5286 +aVYeah, it's a small part of a very important issue, and let me comment on what my colleagues were saying here. We all agree you have to secure the border. We have to make sure that people come to America legally. That has got to be step one. Step two is, we have to stop releasing criminals into the communities. If you are charged with a crime as an illegal alien, you should either be in jail or be deported. You should not released, as the Obama administration has done. Of course, we should outlaw sanctuary cities and hold them responsible. But we can't ignore 11 million people who are here. What are we going to do? We're not going to send them back, despite somebody saying we're going to drag kids out of classrooms and send them back. But we have to send a message that we are a nation that depends on the rule of law, and when your first act is to break the law, there has to be a consequence. So what I would do is require those who want to have legal status, not citizenship, come forward, acknowledge they broke the law, and if they do it again, they can be immediately deported, and then do what we do in communities across America when we want to sanction someone... +p5287 +aV... and that is community service -- 200 hours working in a hospital... +p5288 +aV... working in a school, and then they could have legal... +p5289 +aVI don't -- I don't think that we should tell that child born in America that we're going to send them back. The way to avoid that is to have an intelligent immigration policy where we know who is coming here, why they are coming here, so we don't have this flood of people coming here for the wrong reasons. +p5290 +aVWe have to deal with the people who are here illegally. We can't just ignore them, or send them back. I think my policy would work to give them legal status, make them a part of an economy that will grow, and help America. +p5291 +aVLindsey, let me comment on this. Last week was the anniversary of September 11th and I was governor of New York on September 11th and led us through that horrible day. And I learned that we cannot assume that because radical Islam is a continent away, it doesn't pose a threat to us here in America. It did then, and today, I think, we are at greater risk of an attack than at any time since. We have got to destroy +p5292 +aVJake... +p5293 +aVJake, if I can comment on this. Yes, Kim Davis is different from Islamist radicalists from the Middle East. But on the other hand, we have run rule in America, an elected official can't say I'm not going to follow that law if it conflicts with my beliefs. I think she should have been fired and if she worked for me, I would have fired her. We have to uphold the rule of law. +p5294 +aVImagine one minute -- Jake, imagine one minute that was a Muslim who said I don't believe in gay marriage, and refused to perform that wedding. We wouldn't have had that outrage. There's a place where religion supersedes the rule of law. It's called Iran. It shouldn't be the United States. +p5295 +aVMy response is kind of, "Wow." You know, we're going to have a president who defies the Supreme Court because they don't agree? +p5296 +aVThen you don't have the rule of law... +p5297 +aVThe -- the elected representatives of the people always have the opportunity to change that law. The Supreme Court makes a determination, but it's ultimately the elected officials who decide whether or not that would be accepted. By the way, if I have a chance to lead this country, I will appoint judges who understand their role. They're not going to be making the law; they're going to be interpreting law that the elected officials passed. +p5298 +aVBut there's a huge difference between an individual standing up and saying I am going to stand for my religious freedom and my religious rights. I applaud that. This is America. You should be able to engage in your religious belief in the way you see fit. But when you are an elected official and you take an oath of office to uphold the law, all the laws, you cannot pick and choose or you no longer have a society that depends on the rule of law. +p5299 +aVYes, I -- I didn't agree with the Supreme Court's decision, but it is the law of this land. And I am a great admirer of Martin Luther King. And he was prepared to break the law. But it wasn't in an office of political power. It was civil disobedience, where what he was willing to do is voluntarily go to jail with his followers to send a message to the elected representatives that these laws were wrong and had to be changed. And because of his courage, we didn't ignore the courts, we changed the laws and made America a better place. That's the way to do it. +p5300 +aVYes? +p5301 +aVI would throw out the entire corrupt tax code. It's a symbol of the corruption and the power of the lobbyists and the special interests in Washington. It is 74,000 pages of incomprehensible gobbledygook. What I would do is get rid of the 1.4 million every year in exemptions and loopholes, dramatically lower the rates. The normal American person is paying higher taxes than they should because of loopholes, and one of them is that carried interest loophole. I would tax that income the same as ordinary income. I'd lower the rate to 24 percent for all Americans, but I would not give a special break to the Wall Street fat caps -- fat cats. +p5302 +aVIt's hard for me to say I'm with Donald trump on anything, but on this issue, I agree with him. But let me just make one other point. It's not just throwing out the tax code to break the back of the special interests that control Washington. It's other reforms. I would propose a law -- right now there are over 400 former members of the House and Senate who are registered lobbyists in Washington. I would propose a law on day one, you serve one day in the House or Senate, there's a lifetime ban on you ever being a lobbyist in Washington, D.C. You get elected, you go back home. You don't stay and support the special interests. +p5303 +aVCan I just... +p5304 +aVNo, I would not. I would keep that deduction. I would lower the rates dramatically, so, yes, that root that has a special carve out would pay more, but everybody else is going to pay less. I would keep the home mortgage deduction, the charitable deduction, and others. And, by the way, you know, I agree with Rick on manufacturing, but my approach is different. I would pass a rate on manufacturing of 12 percent, the lowest in the developed world so we can make this America again. I know how important those jobs are. When I work -- went through college, Christmas and summer vacations, I worked in a factory. My grandparents worked in a factory. We have the opportunity now with lower energy costs, with the world labor cost getting higher, to make things in America so we don't have to worry about China. Lower the tax burden on manufacturing, improve the work skills... +p5305 +aV...of Americans. Get rid of job killing regulations. If we're going to... +p5306 +aV...If we're going to make this America... +p5307 +aVNot on the table but I think there's a lot that does work. And that is to have a strong America, a strong military and a resolve where the Iranians know that not only are we going to reject this deal on day one and reimpose sanctions but, if they move forward with the nuclear program, their safety for those facilities will be at risk. I'll tell you a couple of things I'd do. I'd give the Israelis bombs called MOPs, massive ordnance penetrators. Give them to Israel. Let the Iranians know we're prepared to work with Israel to make sure they never have a nuclear weapon. And let me point out that Hillary Clinton, supporting this deal, she was the senator from New York on September 11th, she saw what happened at the hands of radical Islam. This is the senator who did the reset program with Russia, who allowed the Middle East to deteriorate to flames, who has lied about Benghazi and is now supporting the Iranian deal. That's the opponent we're going to have next November. We have got to win this election. Everything we say is wonderful. But we have to win and, once we win, we have to actually do what we say. I can do this. +p5308 +aVI think there are two things, Jake. Two things that we need as Republicans. First, we have to win the election. You're going to hear a lot of great ideas, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that. None of it matters unless you win the election. And the second is, once you win, you have to be able to govern successfully. You've heard a lot of fighting back and forth, you didn't get this done, you didn't get that done. That's the way Washington is today. You have to have a leader, a president, who will actually get a conservative agenda through. I'm running because I have done both those things, and I did them in one of the most liberal states in America. I got elected three times in the state of New York. Twice by the largest pluralities ever for a Republican. I ran as a Republican conservative. If I get the nomination, I will be able to get broad support and win this election, and take the White House back for our party. But more importantly, once I've won, I will put in place a sweeping conservative agenda. I did that in New York. Over $143 billion in tax cuts. More than the other 49 states combined. Taking one million people off welfare and putting them into jobs, in a state where the Democrats control the state assembly. +p5309 +aV103-47. I got them to support a conservative agenda. If I get elected president, I will make things work in Washington. +p5310 +aVFor the Republican party and for the United States. +p5311 +aVI think he means somebody who hasn't been a career politician, and who's been out of office for awhile. I think the last eight years in the private sector have allowed me to see government from the outside, and I think that is a positive thing. Yes, I thought about running four years ago. I was ready to lead, but I wasn't ready to run. But I look at this country today, and I look at how divided we are, I look at how politicians are always posturing and issuing sound bites but never solving problems. What I did in New York was bring people together, an overwhelmingly Democratic state. But I was able to get Democrats to support the most conservative sweeping policy changes in any state in America. And when I look at Washington today, we need to bring us together. We need to solve problems, we need to rebuild our military so we can stand up to radical Islam, we need to get our economy growing much faster by throwing out the corrupt tax code and lowering the rates. We have to end crony capitalism in Washington, where the lobbyists and the powerful can get tax breaks and tax credits, and the American people don't get laws in their interest. I can do that. And I can do it regardless of what the makeup of Congress is because I did it in New York state. So we need new leadership -- yes. I will be that new leader. Mac +p5312 +aVMartha, religious liberty doesn't include encouraging a fellow American to engage in violent jihad and kill an American here. That is not protected free speech. That is not protected religious belief. That is like shouting "fire" in a crowded theater, and that is illegal, and I would do everything in our power not just to go after those who are here who we know who are here, before they can radicalize other Americans to carry out attacks, and it's not just the ones they've arrested. Think back to Garland, Texas. But for that Texas police officer, we could have had a mass murder. We have to shut down their internet capability. We have to shut down, whether or not they're in prisons preaching or on -- in mosques preaching. No radical Islam that is allowed to engage in encouraging violence against Americans, that is not protected speech. Let me just add one thing about +p5313 +aVI think he is right. I don't think you expand entitlements when so many people are dependent on government and when the money the federal government is offering is going to be taken away from you after just a couple of years. But getting back to Martha's question about how we end dependency, do we have to have a cultural change? The answer is no. And I know this, because when I ran for governor of New York, one in 11 of every man, woman, and child in the state of New York was on welfare. On welfare. Think about that. And people said "you can't win, you can't change the culture." But I knew that good people who wanted to be a part of the American dream have become trapped in dependency because the federal government and the state government had made it in their economic interest not to take a job because the benefits that they didn't work were better. I changed that. We put in place mandatory work fair (ph). But we allowed people to keep health care. We put in place child care support. +p5314 +aVNo, it should be repealed. And by the way, when I left, there were over 1 million fewer people on welfare in New York state than when I took office... +p5315 +aV... replacing dependency with opportunity. +p5316 +aVYes. Mac +p5317 +aVMy heart has not changed, because I've always been appalled by abortion. I'm a Catholic, I believe life begins at conception. But as Bill said earlier, Roe v. Wade, it's has been the law for 42 years, and I don't think we should continue to try to change it. But we can do is defund Planned Parenthood, and by the way, put in place an absolute permanent ban on any taxpayer dollars ever being used to fund abortions. Also, when you look at these videos, they are horrific and show just a hideous disrespect for life. What else we can do is that we should believe in science. You know, Hillary Clinton's always saying how Republicans don't follow science? Well, they're the ones not listening to the scientists today, because doctors say that at 20 weeks that is a viable life inside the womb. And at that point, it's a life that we have the right to protect, and I think we should protect. So, I would pass legislation outlawing abortion after 20 weeks. It is Hillary, it is Biden, it is the others who insist on allowing abortion well into viable (inaudible) wrong, and that should be stopped. Mac +p5318 +aVBill, I defeated Mario Cuomo. In the first day in office, my first executive order, I revoked every one of the executive orders that he had -- he had enacted over the prior 12 years. I would do that to Barack Obama's executive orders. But I'd sign a second one, as I did in New York, as well, having a hard hiring freeze on adding new employees except for the military or defense-related positions. I'd sign that executive order. When I left the workforce, New York State had been reduced by over 15 percent. We can do that in Washington. I will do that in Washington. +p5319 +aVDivisive and with no vision. No vision at all. +p5320 +aVWith all the candidates, why me? My background is different. I look at Washington, and I hear the talk, and I see the promises and it seems nothing ever changes. Washington gets bigger, taxes get higher, and the American people feel more distance from our government. I have the opportunity not just to run, but to win in the deep blue state of New York three times. And not only did I win, but I then worked with a Democratic legislature to put in place the most sweeping conservative reforms of any state in America, taking us from the most dangerous state in America to the fourth safest; reducing our welfare rolls by over 1 million, and replacing over 700,000 private sector jobs. I can govern by bringing people together. And also, I've been tested in a way no one else has. I was governor on September 11th, and I'm proud of my leadership in bringing New York through that time. And when I left, we were stronger, we were safer, and we were more united than at any time in my lifetime. We need to bring people together in Washington. The talk has got to stop, the action has got to begin. People can promise you something, I delivered in the blue state of New York. I will deliver for the American people if I have the privilege of leading this country. +p5321 +asVCHRISTIE +p5322 +(lp5323 +VThank you Wolf. America has been betrayed. We've been betrayed by the leadership that Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton have provided to this country over the last number of years. Think about just what's happened today. The second largest school district in America in Los Angeles closed based on a threat. Think about the effect that, that's going to have on those children when they go back to school tomorrow wondering filled with anxiety to whether they're really going to be safe. Think about the mothers who will take those children tomorrow morning to the bus stop wondering whether their children will arrive back on that bus safe and sound. Think about the fathers of Los Angeles, who tomorrow will head off to work and wonder about the safety of their wives and their children. What is Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton done to this country? That the most basic responsibility of an administration is to protect the safety and security of the American people. I will tell you this, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I've fought terrorists and won and when we get back in the White House we will fight terrorists and win again and America will be safe. +p5324 +aVWolf, unfortunately, it's the new normal under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The fact is that if you listen to Hillary Clinton the other day, what she said to the American people was, as regards to +p5325 +aVListen, I want to talk to the audience at home for a second. If your eyes are glazing over like mine, this is what it's like to be on the floor of the United States Senate. I mean, endless debates about how many angels on the head of a pin from people who've never had to make a consequential decision in an executive position. The fact is, for seven years, I had to make these decisions after 9/11, make a decision about how to proceed forward with an investigation or how to pull back, whether you use certain actionable intelligence or whether not to. And yet they continue to debate about this bill and in the subcommittee and what \u2014 nobody in America cares about that. What they care about is, are we going to have a president who actually knows what they're doing to make these decisions? And for the seven years afterwards, New Jersey was threatened like no other region in this country and what we did was we took action within the constitution to make sure that law enforcement had all the information they needed. We prosecuted two of the biggest terrorism cases in the world and stopped Fort Dix from being attacked by six American radicalized Muslims from a Mosque in New Jersey because we worked with the Muslim American community to get intelligence and we used the Patriot Act to get other intelligence to make sure we did those cases. This is the difference between actually been a federal prosecutor, actually doing something, and not just spending your life as one of hundred debating it. Let's talk about how we do this, not about which bill, which one these guys like more. The American people don't care about that. +p5326 +aVWolf, you sit up here and you listen to this stuff, and you think that so many of these people have had so much to do in this national debate, they talk like they were bystanders. You know, we talk about our military being degraded over time, and yet we've had folks on this stage who've been a part of Congress who have participated in sequester; who participated in the degrading of this military over time. And that's why I think people get so frustrated with Washington, D.C. now. That's why they're so angry with the \u2014 the electorate is so angry with everybody who is involved in government in Washington, D.C. Because if you listen to the folks up here, you think that they weren't even there; they had nothing to do with this. This is a difference between being a governor and being in a legislature. See, because when something doesn't work in New Jersey, they look at me, say: "Why didn't it get done? Why didn't you do it?" You have to be responsible and accountable. And so on +p5327 +aVWell, I think we have to focus, Hugh, on exactly what the priorities are. And to me, what I've always said is that the president has set up an awful situation through his deal with Iran, because what his deal with Iran has done is empower them and enrich them. And that's the way +p5328 +aVNot only would I be prepared to do it, I would do it. A no-fly zone means a no-fly zone, Wolf. That's what it means. See, maybe \u2014 maybe because I'm from New Jersey, I just have this kind of plain language hangup. But I would make very clear \u2014 I would not talk to Vladimir Putin. In fact, I would talk to Vladimir Putin a lot. But I'd say to him, "Listen, Mr. President, there's a no-fly zone in Syria; you fly in, it applies to you." And yes, we would shoot down the planes of Russian pilots if in fact they were stupid enough to think that this president was the same feckless weakling that the president we have in the Oval Office is right now. +p5329 +aVWell, Wolf, I'll tell you what reckless is. What reckless is is calling Assad a reformer. What reckless is allowing Russia to come into Crimea and Ukraine. What reckless is is inviting Russia into Syria to team with Iran. That is reckless. And the reckless people are the folks in the White House right now. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are the reckless people. And if you think that a no-fly zone is a reckless policy, you're welcome to your opinion. But how is it working so far? As we have 250,000 Syrians murdered, slaughtered; millions running around the world, running for their lives. It's not working. We need to try something else. And that is not reckless. +p5330 +aVWhat I say to Carla is that the first job of the president of the United States is to protect your safety and your security and the security and safety of your family. And this debate stops with me in the discussions with the FBI director. Now, listen, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I know Jim Comey. We've worked together. He was the U.S. attorney in Manhattan when I was a U.S. attorney in New Jersey. And when Jim Comey gets up before Congress and says, we cannot effectively vet these people, for me as president, that's the end of the conversation. We have to put America's security first. The American people \u2014 we on this stage need to open our ears. We need to open our ears. The American people are not whispering to us. They are screaming to us. And they're screaming to us that it's our job to actually make this government work. It's so dysfunctional under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. It's so ineffective. It's so ineffectual that the American people say, we don't trust them to do anything anymore. So I'm not going to let Syrian refugees, any Syrian refugees in this country. And it was widows and orphans, by the way, and we now know from watching the San Bernardino attack that women can commit heinous, heinous acts against humanity just the same as men can do it. And so I don't back away from that position for a minute. When the FBI director tells me that he can vet those people, then we'll consider it and not a moment before because your safety and security is what's most important to me. +p5331 +aVWell, what it would like is, we have one of the great advantages of America being the open society that we are. It is, we are not hiding things from the American people, but China everyday is conducting business in a way that hides things from their people. So if they want to come in and attack all the personnel records in the federal government, which they've done, and which \u2014 they now have my Social Security number and my fingerprints, as well as maybe some other folks' who are on this stage. The fact is, they need to be fought back on. And what we need to do is go at the things that they are most sensitive and most embarrassing to them; that they're hiding; get that information and put it out in public. Let the Chinese people start to digest how corrupt the Chinese government is; how they steal from the Chinese people; and how they're enriching oligarchs all throughout China. They need to understand that. And we need to take those type of steps. This president has seen personnel records of people who have sacrificed for the American people and for the federal government stolen by the Chinese and he's done nothing in return. This is why \u2014 this is what I said at the beginning that this administration, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton through their foreign policy, have betrayed the American people, because the weakness they've displayed has led to Putin's incursions in the Middle East and in eastern Europe, and has led \u2014 has led to significant problems in the Middle East as well, and the death and murder of lots of folks. +p5332 +aVOn September 10th, 2001, I was named chief federal prosecutor in New Jersey and on September 11th, 2001, my wife and my brother who are in the audience tonight went through the World Trade Center and to their offices just blocks away from the Trade Center. I lost touch with them for six hours that day and prayed that they were alive. Luckily, they were sent home. But many of our friends and others in our neighborhood lost their lives that day. Terrorism \u2014 radical jihadist terrorism is not theoretical to me. It's real. And for seven years, I spent my life protecting our country against another one of those attacks. You won't have to worry when I'm President of the Untied States whether that can be done because I've already done it. I want the chance to do it again to protect you, your children and your families. If you give me the chance and give me your vote I will protect America from the wars that are being brought to our door step. +p5333 +aVI don't see a lot of weakness on this stage, quite frankly. Where I see the weakness is in those three people that are left on the Democratic stage. You know, I see a socialist, an isolationist and a pessimist. And for the sake of me, I can't figure out which one is which. But I will \u2014 but I will tell you this, the socialist says they're going to pay for everything and give you everything for free, except they don't say they're going to raise it through taxes to 90 percent to do it. The isolationist is the one who wants to continue to follow a foreign policy that has fewer democracies today than when Barack Obama came into office around the world. But I know who the pessimist is. It's Hillary Clinton. And you put me on that stage against her next September, she won't get within 10 miles of the White House. Take it to the bank. +p5334 +aVWell, I wish you would have asked that question years ago when they broke it. I mean, let me be honest with the people who are watching at home. The government has lied to you and they have stolen from you. They told you that your Social Security money is in a trust fund. All that's in that trust fund is a pile of IOUs for money they spent on something else a long time ago. And they've stolen from you because now they know they cannot pay these benefits and Social Security is going to be insolvent in seven to eight years. We're sitting up here talking about all these other things; 71 percent of federal spending today is on entitlements, and debt service. And, that's with zero percent interest rates. Now, I'm the only person that's put out a detailed plan on how to deal with entitlements. And we'll save a trillion dollars over the next 10 years. And, here's the difference between me and Hillary Clinton. What Hillary Clinton's going to say, and has said before is, she wants to raise Social Security taxes. Now, let me ask you a question everybody, and, this is for the guy, you know, who owns a landscaping business out there. If somebody's already stolen money from you, are you going to give them more? Or, are you going to deal with the problem by saying, I'm going to give people who've done well in this country less benefit on the backend. We need to get realistic about this. We're not \u2014 the American people \u2014 forget about anything else, they've already been lied to and stolen from. And... +p5335 +aV...I'm going to go to Washington to stop it... +p5336 +aV...The only way we're going to be morale, the only way we're going to keep our promise to seniors is start by following the first rule we should all follow, which is to look at them, treat them like adults, and tell them the truth. It isn't there anymore, Mike. They stole it. It got stolen from them. It's not theirs anymore. The government stole it, and spent it a long time ago... +p5337 +aVSo, let's stop fooling around about this, let's tell people the truth. For once, let's do that, and stop trying to give them some kind of fantasy that's never going to come true. +p5338 +aVYou bet they do. And if I were the prosecutor, that is exactly where they would be. The fact is that this Justice Department under this president has been a political Justice Department. It has been a Justice Department that decided that they want to pick who the winners and losers are. They like General Motors, so they give them a pass. They don't like somebody else like David Petraeus, they prosecute them and send a decorated general on to disgrace. It's a political Justice Department. And, Jim, you know full well that in the seven years I was U.S. attorney we went after pharmaceutical companies. We went after companies that were ripping off shareholders. We went after companies that were doing things that were against the law. And to expand on Mr. Carson's \u2014 or Dr. Carson's question, let's face it, we have laws already. We don't need newer (ph) laws. We don't need Hillary Clinton's price controls for \u2014 again, does anybody out there think that giving Washington, D.C., the opportunity to run the pharmaceutical industry is a good idea, given how well they have done running the government? So what we do, though, is, if there is somebody who is price- gouging, we have laws for prosecutors to take that on. Let's let a Justice Department \u2014 and I will make an attorney general who will enforce the law and make justice more than just a word. It will be a way of life. +p5339 +aVJohn, I'll tell you something. You want to talk about moral authority. Let's talk about something that happened this week in the news. You know, the FBI director, the president's appointed FBI director has said this week that because of a lack of support from politicians like the president of the United States, that police officers are afraid to get out of their cars; that they're afraid to enforce the law. And he says, the president's appointee, that crime is going up because of this. And when the president of the United States gets out to speak about it, does he support police officers? Does he stand up for law enforcement? No, he doesn't. I'll tell you this, the number one job of the president of the United States is to protect the safety and security of the American people. This president has failed, and when I'm in the Oval Office, police officers will know that they will have the support of the president of the Untied States. That's real moral authority that we need in the Oval Office. +p5340 +aVCarl, are we really talking about getting government involved in fantasy football? We have \u2014 wait a second, we have $19 trillion in debt. We have people out of work. We have +p5341 +aVWell, first off, what we don't do is do what Hillary Clinton and John Kerry and Barack Obama want us to do, which is their solution for everything, put more taxes on it, give more money to Washington, D.C., and then they will fix it. Well, there is no evidence that they can fix anything in Washington, D.C. +p5342 +aVWhat we should do is to be investing in all types of energy, John, all types of energy. I've laid out... +p5343 +aVNo, John. John, do you want me to answer or do you want to answer? How are we going to do this? Because, I've got to tell you the truth, even in New Jersey what you're doing is called rude. So... We've laid out a national energy plan that says that we should invest in all types of energy. I will tell you, you could win a bet at a bar tonight, since we're talking about fantasy football, if you ask who the top three states in America are that produce solar energy: California and Arizona are easy, but number three is New Jersey. Why? Because we work with the private sector to make solar energy affordable and available to businesses and individuals in our state. We need to make sure that we do everything across all kinds of energy: natural gas, oil, absolutely. But also where it's affordable, solar, wind in Iowa has become very affordable and it makes sense. That is the way we deal with global warming, climate change, or any of those problems, not through government intervention, not through government taxes, and for God's sake, don't send Washington another dime until they stop wasting the money they're already sending there. +p5344 +aVAnd \u2014 and \u2014 and I \u2014 you know, Ben is absolutely right in saying that what we don't need to do is to send more money to Washington, D.C. to fix this problem. And that's what you'll hear from Hillary Clinton \u2014 and I've already heard from her \u2014 is that, send more money in Social Security, send more money in Medicare taxes, send more money for Medicaid, and that's gonna solve the problem. What we know is we're living longer. That's a blessing. It's a blessing that we're living longer, so we have to increase the retirement age to reflect that blessing. We need to make sure that people understand, as Jeb said before, that if you've done extraordinarily well in this country, do you want them to take more out of your taxes now and think they're gonna give it back to you later? Or would you rather take less later on? +p5345 +aVI want to talk to the folks at home. I want to ask you: Are you fed up with how Washington taxes you? Are you fed up with how Washington wastes your money? Are you concerned like I am that the debt and deficits of Washington, D.C. are endangering America's future? I've got one more question for you then. Are you serious about this election? Because if you are, you need to elect someone who's deadly serious about changing this culture. I am deadly serious about changing this culture. I changed it in New Jersey. I'm deadly serious about doing this job the right way. I'm prepared. I'm tested. I'm ready. And I want to make this our government. For the people who say we can't do it, I say hell no, we can do it together. +p5346 +aVHi, my name is Chris Christie, and I'd like to you take the camera off me and put it on the audience because I'd like to ask all of you, how many of you, raise your hand, believe that in today's Barak Obama America your children will have a better life than you've had? You see? That's why I'm running for President. because leadership is not about me, it's about our country. And, what we talk about tonight, it's not about us, it's about the people in the audience tonight, because in seven short years this president has stripped away their trust, and their faith, and their belief that the next generation will have a better life. He's stolen that from us, and when I'm president, I'm going to take it back. +p5347 +aVWell, I know Ben wasn't talking about me, I'm sure he was talking about one of the other guys, not me. As far as being an outsider is concerned \u2014 as far as being an outsider is concerned, let me tell you this, Jake, I'm a Republican in New Jersey. I wake up every morning as an outsider. I wake up every morning with a Democratic legislature who trying to beat my head in and fight me because I'm trying to bring conservative change to a state that needed it desperately. And so, everyone can talk us here about their credentials. But the bottom line is, every morning I get up, I veto 400 bills from a crazy liberal Democratic legislature, not one of them has been overridden. I've vetoed more tax increases than any governor in American history, according to Americans for Tax Reform. What folks want in this country is somebody to go down there and get the job done. And that's exactly what I'll do. So, I know this much, that what the American people want to hire right now is somebody who believes in them. And believes that they are the ones who can fix our country. I will be the vessel through which they can fix this country, but it's not about me. It's about all of you. And getting this government off your back and out of your way, and letting you succeed. I know Ben wasn't talking about me. +p5348 +aVLook at him smiling at me right now. I know Ben didn't mean it about me. One of these other guys, I'm sure. +p5349 +aVBe honest, Ben, be honest. +p5350 +aVSee, Jake, it wasn't me. +p5351 +aVI was \u2014 +p5352 +aVShe is, and so if she, based on conscience, can't sign that \u2014 that marriage license, then there should be someone in her office to be able to do it, and if the law needs to be changed in the state of Kentucky, which is what she's advocating, it should be changed. +p5353 +aVAnd why don't we do the same thing with Planned Parenthood? +p5354 +aVWe elected a Republican Congress to do this. And they should be doing it, and they're not. And they're giving the president a pass. +p5355 +aVI put it in the list, Dana. We should be doing these things and forcing the president to take action. +p5356 +aVLet's force him to do what he says he's going to do. Now I don't know whether he'll do it or not, but let's force him to do it. +p5357 +aVFirst of, Jake, I don't yield to anybody on how to enforce the law. I'm the only person on this stage who spent seven years as a United States Attorney after September 11th, and I know how to do this. The fact is though that for 15,000 people a day to be deported every day for two years is an undertaking that almost none of us could accomplish given the current levels of funding, and the current number of law enforcement officers. Here's what we need to do, and I think this is where Donald is absolutely right. What we need to do is to secure our border, and we need to do it with more than just a wall. We need to use electronics, we need to use drones, we need to use FBI, DEA, and ATF, and yes, we need to take the fingerprint of every person who comes into this country on a visa, and when they overstay their visa, we need to tap them on the shoulder, and say, "You have overstayed your welcome, you're taking advantage of the American people. It's time for you to go." If we had that kind of system in place, we wouldn't have the 11 million people we have now. +p5358 +aVJake listen. While I'm as entertained as anyone by this personal back-and-forth about the history of Donald and Carly's career, for the 55-year-old construction worker out in that audience tonight who doesn't have a job, who can't fund his child's education, I've got to tell you the truth. They could care less about your careers, they care about theirs. Let's start talking about that on this stage and stop playing \u2014 and stop playing the games. Stop playing \u2014 +p5359 +aVJohn \u2014 I'm not done yet, John. +p5360 +aVStop \u2014 and stop playing \u2014 and Carly \u2014 Carly, listen. You can interrupt everybody else on this stage, you're not going to interrupt me, OK? The fact is that we don't want to hear about your careers, back and forth and volleying back and forth about who did well and who did poorly. You're both successful people. Congratulations. You know who's not successful? The middle class in this country who's getting plowed over by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Let's start talking about those issues tonight and stop this childish back-and-forth between the two of you. +p5361 +aVListen, you know, Hugh, it's an important point. And the question is, who is going to prosecute Hillary Clinton? The Obama White House seems to have in interest, the Justice Department seems to have no interest. I think it's time to put a former federal prosecutor on the same stage as Hillary Clinton. And I will prosecute her during those debates on that stage for the record we're talking about here. The fact she had a private email server in her basement, using national security secrets running through it, could have been hacked by the Russians, the Chinese, or two 18-year-olds on a toot (ph) wanting to have some fun. No one is answering that question from the Hillary Clinton campaign... +p5362 +aVYou know why? Because she knows she's wrong, and she cannot look in the mirror at herself, and she cannot tell the American people the truth. +p5363 +aVWell, Jake, I was named U.S. attorney by President Bush on September 10th, 2001. And that next day my wife Mary Pat did what she did every day, she traveled through the World Trade Center and went to her office two blocks from the World Trade Center. And after those planes hit, for five-and-a-half-hours after that, I couldn't reach her, didn't know whether she was dead or alive, and we had three children at the time, 8, 5 and 1. And I had to confront what so many thousands of others in my region had to confront, the idea I might become a single parent, the idea that my life and my children's life might be changed forever. We lost friends that day. We went to the funerals. And I will tell you that what those people wanted and what they deserved was for America to answer back against what had been done to them. And I support what President Bush did at that time, going into Afghanistan, hunting al Qaeda and its leaders, getting its sanctuary out of place, and making it as difficult around the world for them to move people and money. And then he went to prosecutors like us, and he said, never again. Don't prosecute these people after the crime is committed. Intervene before the crime happens. I absolutely believe that what the president did at the time was right. And I am proud to have been one of the people on the stage who was part of making sure that what Governor Bush said before was the truth. America was safe for those seven years and Barack Obama has taken that safety away from us. +p5364 +aVLet me say this, Jake, is that while that may have been a fine idea that Dr. Carson had, these people were out to kill us. I stood in that region with my family, and every time a plane went overhead in the weeks after that, people's heads jerked to the sky because they thought it was happening again. You do not need to go through subtle diplomacy at that point. That could be handled later on. What you need is a strong American leader who will take the steps that are necessary to protect our nation. That's what I would do as commander-in-chief in this circumstance. And that's what President George W. Bush did in 2001. +p5365 +aVJake, you brought my issue up. +p5366 +aVYou know, I enjoy the interplay. Thank you, gentlemen. I'll just say this, first off, New Jersey is the first state in the nation that now says if you are non-violent, non-dealing drug user, that you don't go to jail for your first offense. You go to mandatory treatment. You see, Jake, I'm pro-life. And I think you need to be pro-life for more than just the time in the womb. It gets tougher when they get out of the womb. And when they're the 16-year-old drug addict in the Florida county lockup, that life is just as precious as the life in the womb. And so, that's why I'm for rehabilitation, why I think the war on drugs has been a failure. But I'll end with this. That doesn't mean we should be legalizing gate way drugs. And if Senator Paul thinks that the only victim is the person, look at the decrease in productivity, look at the way people get used and move on to other drugs when they use marijuana as a gateway drug, it is not them that are the only victims. Their families are the victims too, their children are the victims too, and their employers are the victims also. That's why I'll enforce the federal law, while you can still put an emphasis on rehabilitation, which we've done in New Jersey. +p5367 +aVAnd Senator Paul knows that that's simply not the truth. In New Jersey, we have medical marijuana laws, which I supported and implemented. This is not medical marijuana. There's goes as much \u2014 a further step beyond. This is recreational use of marijuana. This is much different. And so, while he would like to use a sympathetic story to back up his point, it doesn't work. I'm not against medical marijuana. We do it in New Jersey. But I'm against the recreational use against marijuana. If he wants to change the federal law, get Congress to pass the law to change it, and get a president to sign it. +p5368 +aVNo, it's not. But with Donald, it's a good start. That's really good. No, listen. This is an issue that \u2014 that we've gotta talk about, and we haven't talked about yet. 71 percent of all federal spending is on entitlements and debt service. When John Kennedy was elected president in 1960, it was 26 percent. Harvard and Dartmouth says that Social Security's going to go insolvent in seven to eight years. So what I say is very simple. We need to save this program for the good people out there who have paid into the system and need it. And if that means making sure that folks like Donald and many of us on the stage don't get it, that's the right thing to do because here's what Hillary Clinton is going to want to do. She's going to want to put more money into a system that has already lied to us and stolen from us. This government doesn't need more money to make Social Security solvent. We need to be not paying out benefits to people who don't really need it. We need to protect the people who Social Security means the difference between picking between heat and rent and food. That's why I put out the proposal and that's the people I'm trying to... +p5369 +aVI don't think Senator Rubio is a skeptic of climate change. I think what Senator Rubio said I agree with. That in fact we don't need this massive government intervention to deal with the problem. Look at what we have done in New Jersey. We have already reached our clean air goals for 2020. And when I was governor, I pulled out of the regional cap and trade deal, the only state in the Northeast that did that. And we still reached our goals. Why? Because 53 percent of our electricity comes from nuclear. We use natural gas. We use solar power. We're the third-highest- using solar power state. You know why? Because we made all of those things economically feasible. I agree with Marco. We shouldn't be destroying our economy in order to chase some wild left-wing idea that somehow us by ourselves is going to fix the climate. We can contribute to that and be economically sound. We have proven we can do that in New Jersey. Nuclear needs to be back on the table in a significant way in this country if we want to go after this problem. +p5370 +aVI understand. No, no, listen, everybody makes a mistake every once in a while, Jake, even George Shultz. And if that's truly a representation of what he believes we should be doing, then with all due respect to the former secretary of state, I disagree with him. +p5371 +aVI think the Adams family has been shorted in the currency business. Our country wouldn't be here without John Adams, and he would not have been able to do it without Abigal Adams, so, I'd put Abigail Adams on the bill. +p5372 +aVYou know, I've been called a lot of names by a lot of different people, and now I got to get called by names by the Secret Service? I would just say True Heart. +p5373 +aVI turned 18 in 1980, and my first vote was for Ronald Reagan. Boy, am I glad I did it. And I think the country is, too. A Christie presidency won't be about me. It will be about you. Tonight, you sit at home in your living room, frustrated that you play by the rules, you pay the taxes, you do the hard things to raise your family, yet you feel like America's generosity is being taken advantage of. That you've been \u2014 system is being gamed, and that you're turning out to fall further and further behind. Our presidency \u2014 our presidency \u2014 will be about ending that, about enforcing the law, level the playing field for everybody, and once again reward those folks who play by the rules, and think that justice means more than just the word. But it means a way of life. And I will tell you this, around the world, I will not shake hands with, I will not meet with, and I will not agree to anything with a country that says death to us and death to Israel and holds our hostages while we sign agreements with them. It will be an America that be strong and resolute, and will once again be able to stick out its chest and say, "we truly are the greatest nation in the world, because we live our lives that way, each and every day." +p5374 +aVIf you think it's bad now, you should've seen it when I got there. The fact is -- the fact is, in the eight years before I became governor, taxes and fees were raised at the state level 115 times. In the eight years before I became governor, spending was increased 56 percent. And in the eight years before I become governor, taxes and fees were raised at the state level 115 times. In the eight years before I became Governor, spending was increased 56 percent, and in the eight years before I became governor, there was zero net private sector job growth in New Jersey. Zero. For eight years. So, what did we do? We came in, we balanced an $11 billion deficit on a $29 billion budget by cutting over 800 programs in the state budget. We brought the budget into balance with no tax increases. In fact, we vetoed five income tax increases during my time as governor. We cut business taxes $2.3 billion, and we cut regulation by one-third of what my predecessor put in place. And, what's happened since? A hundred ninety-two thousand private sector jobs in the five and a half years I've been governor. We have a lot of work to do in New Jersey, but I am darn proud we've brought our state back. +p5375 +aVYes, I do. And I'll tell you why: because I'm the only person on this stage who's actually filed applications under the Patriot Act, who has gone before the federal -- the Foreign Intelligence Service court, who has prosecuted and investigated and jailed terrorists in this country after September 11th. I was appointed U.S. attorney by President Bush on September 10th, 2001, and the world changed enormously the next day, and that happened in my state. This is not theoretical to me. I went to the funerals. We lost friends of ours in the Trade Center that day. My own wife was two blocks from the Trade Center that day, at her office, having gone through it that morning. When you actually have to be responsible for doing this, you can do it, and we did it, for seven years in my office, respecting civil liberties and protecting the homeland. And I will make no apologies, ever, for protecting the lives and the safety of the American people. We have to give more tools to our folks to be able to do that, not fewer, and then trust those people and oversee them to do it the right way. As president, that is exactly what I'll do. +p5376 +aVAnd -- and, Megyn? Megyn, that's a -- that, you know, that's a completely ridiculous answer. "I want to collect more records from terrorists, but less records from other people." How are you supposed to know, Megyn? +p5377 +aVWhat are you supposed to... +p5378 +aV...how are you supposed to -- no, I'll tell you how you, look... +p5379 +aVLet me tell you something, you go... +p5380 +aVWhen you -- you know, senator... +p5381 +aVListen, senator, you know, when you're sitting in a subcommittee, just blowing hot air about this, you can say things like that. When you're responsible for protecting the lives of the American people, then what you need to do is to make sure... +p5382 +aV...is to make sure that you use the system the way it's supposed to work. +p5383 +aVThere is no... +p5384 +aVAnd you know -- you know, Senator Paul? Senator Paul, you know, the hugs that I remember are the hugs that I gave to the families who lost their people on September 11th. Those are the hugs I remember, and those had nothing to do -- and those had nothing to do with politics, unlike what you're doing by cutting speeches on the floor of the Senate, then putting them on the Internet within half an hour to raise money for your campaign... +p5385 +aV...and while still putting our country at risk. +p5386 +aVYou know what, Megyn, can I... +p5387 +aVNo, he's not lying, he's just wrong. I mean, so, there's a difference -- I'm the only guy on this stage who's put out a detailed, 12 point plan on entitlement reform and here's why -- because 71% of federal spending right now is on entitlements, and debt service, 71%. And we have spent the last hour and five minutes talking about the other 29%, and no time on the 71%, and that makes no sense. Now, let me tell you exactly what we would do on Social Security. Yes, we'd raise the retirement age two years, and phase it in over 25 years, that means we'd raise it one month a year for 25 years when we're all living longer, and living better lives. Secondly, we would means test Social Security for those who are making over $200,000 dollars a year in retirement income, and have $4 to $5 million dollars in liquid assets saved. They don't need that Social Security check. Social Security is meant to be -- to make sure that no one who's worked hard, and played by the rules, and paid into the system grows old in poverty in America. If we don't deal with this problem, it will bankrupt our country, or lead to massive tax increases, neither one that we want in this country. +p5388 +aVChris... +p5389 +aVYeah, sure. And, I don't disagree with ending Congress' retirement program. I'm a governor, I don't have a retirement program in my state, and I don't disagree with that. But, here's the news to the American people, he's complaining about the lying and stealing. The lying and stealing has already occurred. The trust fund is filled with IOU's. We can't fix the problem just by ending Congress's retirement, that's worth about, "this" much. We need to go at the fundamental problem, and the fundamental problem is that this system is broken. It has been stolen from. We have been lied to, and we need a strong leader to tell the truth and fix... +p5390 +aVWell, listen. You know, if we want to deal with these issues, we have to deal with them in a way that makes sense. I agree with what Dr. Carson said earlier. The first thing we need to do to make America stronger is to strengthen our military, and I put out a really specific plan: no less than 500,000 active duty soldiers in the Army. No less than 185,000 active duty marines in the Marine Corps. Bring us to a 350 ship Navy again, and modernize the Ohio class of submarines, and bring our Air Force back to 2,600 aircraft that are ready to go. Those are the kind of things that are going to send a clear message around the world. Those are the things that we need to start working on immediately to make our country stronger and make it better. Those are the things that we need to be able to be doing. And as we move towards dealing with foreign aid, I don't disagree with Senator Paul's position that we shouldn't be funding our enemies. But I absolutely believe that Israel is a priority to be able to fund and keep them strong and safe after eight years of this administration. +p5391 +aVWell, thank you, Megyn. Listen, I was born into a middle class family in New Jersey. My dad came home from serving in the Army after having lost his father, worked in the Breyers ice cream plant in Newark, New Jersey. Was the first person to graduate from college. He put himself through college at night. My mom was a secretary. I was appointed United States attorney on September 10, 2001. And I spent the next seven years of my career fighting terrorism and putting terrorists in jail. I'm a conservative, pro-life governor in a state where it is really tough to be both. A state like New Jersey, with lots of Democrats, but still we cut taxes, we balanced budgets. We fought the teacher's union. This president has had weak leadership, which has led to bad choices. We have got to stop worrying about being loved and start worrying about being respected. And that's exactly how I'll lead our country. +p5392 +aVWell, first I want to share a story with you that relates to your question. I was in New Hampshire last week, and a woman approached me after the town hall meeting and she said to me, "Governor, I'm really concerned." I said, "What are your concerns?" And, she said, "I don't quite how to describe it," she said. "But, every month when my bills come in, I feel this awful anxiety in the pit of my stomach that I'm not going to have enough to pay them that month." There are tens of millions of Americans living that way after the worst recovery from an economic recession since World War II. And, let's be clear, if we do not change course, if we follow the President's lead, and that's exactly what Secretary Clinton will do, we're going to be in the same circumstance \u2014 with government picking the winners and losers. So, let me be clear about what we'll do. First, Make the tax code fairer, flatter, and simplier. Get rid of all the special interest deductions. You know, the American people feel like the tax code is rigged for the rich, and you know why they feel that way? Because it is. We'll get rid of all those special interest deductions except for the home mortgage interest deduction, and the charitable contribution deduction. Everyone will get lower rates, keep more of their own money, be able to file their tax returns in 15 minutes, and, by the way, the good thing, I'll be able to fire a whole bunch of IRS agents once we do that. And, in addition, we need to get the government off of our backs. Dodd-Frank, all the different regulations, 81,000 pages of new regulation by this administration just last year \u2014 it is suffocating small business, it is suffocating the folks who are trying to make a living. I will do what I did in New Jersey......lift if off their backs. +p5393 +aVYes, sure. If anybody believes the stuff they heard from that Democratic debate a few weeks ago, there's nothing for free. What they forgot to tell was that they're going to raise your tax rates to 70 or 80 percent in order to provide all of that stuff. But let me ask the folks at home one very simple question, do you want to give Washington more control over your life? Do you think they're doing such a great job that now let's have them control what our corporations pay their employees? Let's have them control every aspect of our economy? Is Washington doing that good a job for you right now? And the fact is that if you listen to Hillary Clinton, she has made it very clear, she believes that she can make decisions for you better than you can make them for yourself. She believes that Washington, D.C., should pick the winners and losers in our economy, and in our life. And here's what I believe as a Republican, I believe the greatness of America is not in its government. The greatness of America is in the American people. And what we need to do is get the government the hell out of the way and let the American people win once again. +p5394 +aVFirst off, let me, let me just say this in response to this back and forth. For the people who are out there right now, I want to guarantee you one thing real clearly. If you think that Mike Huckabee won't be the kind of President who will cut back spending, or Chris Christie, or John Kasich, wait 'til you see what Hillary Clinton will do to this country and how she will drown us in debt. She is the real adversary tonight and we'd better stay focused as Republicans on her. Now I've forward, I put forward an entitlement reform plan. We spend 71 cents of every dollar in America on entitlements and debt service, and if \u2014 you know, Willy Sutton used to say, when they asked him why he robbed banks, he said that's 'cause that's where the money is, OK? And where the money is in the federal government are these entitlement programs and debt service. What I've said is we need to get a hold of that. We cannot continue to go down the $19 trillion in debt. So our plan will save over $1 trillion over the next 10 years and make sure that Social Security and Medicare are there for those who truly need it and also make sure that we have money to be able to reduce taxes and spend on the things we need to spend. I will also, on my first day as \u2014 as president, sign a executive order that says no more regulation for the next 120 days by any government agency or department. We are drowning in regulations. Stop and then we'll go out there and we'll cut and reduce regulation that small business owners across this country want us to do. You'll grow the economy then. More money will come into the system and we'll get more closer to balance. But the bottom line is, believe me, Hillary Clinton's coming for your wallet, everybody. Don't worry about Huckabee or Jindal, worry about her. +p5395 +aVWell, let's start with this, remember why we're in the position we're in with China, because an absolutely weak and feckless foreign policy that was engineered by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. That's why we're in the position we're in......because the Chinese......the Chinese don't take us seriously and why should they? Why should they? They hacked into the American government's personnel file and took millions of records in cyberwarfare against this country. I'm one of the victims of that hack. They took my Social Security number, my fingerprints as a former United States attorney that was on file in there. And what has this president done? Not one thing. Let me be really clear about what I would do. If the Chinese commit cyberwarfare against us, they are going to see cyberwarfare like they have never seen before. And that is a closed society in China......where they're hiding information from their own people. The information we take, we'll make sure all the Chinese people see it. Then they'll have some real fun in Beijing when we start showing them how they're spending their money in China. And one last thing. One last thing. I will tell you this, they're building those artificial islands in the South China Sea and the president won't \u2014 up until recently, wouldn't sail a ship within 12 miles or fly a plane over it. I'll tell you this, the first thing I'll do with the Chinese is I'll throw \u2014 I'll fly Air Force One over those islands. They'll know we mean business. +p5396 +aVI'll tell you, Gerry, it's interesting, if you go to New Jersey, they'll call me lots of different things. A liberal is not one of them. Um, and......I would say this. I have great respect for Bobby's record in Louisiana. I think he's been a wonderful governor and I think he's provided outstanding leadership for that state and I respect him for what he's done. And I think that all of us deserve that same level of respect. And my point is this. You know, the differences between me and Bobby Jindal, we can talk about those, and obviously, Bobby wants to spent a lot of time tonight talking about that. I'll tell you what I want to talk about. I want to talk about what's going to happen to this country if we have another four years of Barack Obama's policies. And by the way, it will be even worse, because Hillary Clinton is running so far to the left to treaty to catch up to her socialist opponent, Bernie Sanders, it's hard to even see her anymore. The fact is \u2014 the fact is that we'd better be focused on it. And I'll tell you what I'll bring to the table, the fact that I've won in a blue state, that I've won in a state that has 750,000 more Democrats than Republicans......that I won in a state for reelection after governing as a pro-life conservative......and got 61 percent of the vote. That's the person you want on the stage prosecuting the case against Hillary Clinton. +p5397 +aVI don't... +p5398 +aV..Let me... +p5399 +aV...Let me just... +p5400 +aV...Sure. It's interesting. I complimented Bobby, imagine how much time he'd want if I actually criticized him. You know, the fact is, he's done \u2014 done a nice job down in Louisiana, and I don't have any problem with the job he's done. I've cut spending $2 billion dollars, except for our pension and health care in New Jersey, which was driven predominantly by Obamacare. We have reduce the number of employees we have on the state payroll by 15%, but, you know what? The people out there don't care about any of that. You know what they care about? They care about who's going to be able to beat Hillary Clinton......Who's going to keep their eye on the ball? I'm going to keep my eye on the ball. +p5401 +aVYeah, listen. We stopped Obamacare in New Jersey because we refused to participate in the federal exchange. But, here's the bigger issue. What do you think's going to happen when Hillary Clinton's elected president of the United States? The woman who tried to impose healthcare on this country over 20 years ago? And, she was stopped then by a strong group of republicans, and an American public that said, "No, thank you." What she will do \u2014 what she will do is move us towards a single payer system. She will completely nationalize the federal health care system. That's what she wanted to do 20 years ago, and I guarantee you that's what she'll do if you give her the keys to the White House one more time. The fact is we need someone who knows how to beat democrats, who knows how to beat democrats in a democratic area. I've done it twice as governor of New Jersey, and Hillary Clinton doesn't want one minute on that stage with me next September when I'm debating her, and prosecuting her for her vision for America... +p5402 +aVI'll continue in the pattern and just say... And just say this to everybody, since it seems to be an open question. I'll tell you the thing that disturbs me the most about what's going on with the Democratic Party in Washington, that they're not standing behind our police officers across this country. That they're allowing lawlessness... That they're allowing lawlessness to reign in this country. I spent seven years of my life in law enforcement, here's what every law enforcement, 700,000, should know tonight. When President Christie is in the Oval Office, I'll have your back. +p5403 +aVYes. You know, our tax plan puts forward a highest rate of 28 percent for those who are doing the most and making the most in this country and 8 percent on the low end. And I agree with Senator Santorum, we get rid of all of the deductions and loopholes, except for the home mortgage interest deduction and the charitable contribution deduction. That means getting rid of the state and local income tax deduction, as well, because that will put more pressure on governors and on local officials not to keep raising those taxes, saying we can deduct them. And so ours will be 28 on the high end, 8 on the low end. And I will tell you one other thing. Americans for Tax Reform came out with a report six weeks ago and said I vetoed more tax increases than any governor in American history. I will do exactly the same thing as president of the United States. +p5404 +aVGerry, this has been the most political Federal Reserve I've seen in my lifetime. Now, when they first cut interest rates during the economic recession and the crisis, that was the right thing to do. But they've kept those interest rates artificially low for one reason, and one reason only. Because they're trying to politically support Barack Obama and his agenda. And it's been wrong. And what it's done, in an administration where the President has talked about income inequality, he's had more income inequality in this administration than any previous administration. The middle class is doing worse than it's ever done before. And the investor class, the wealthy, are doing even better because of this cheap money from the Fed. And here's the worst part, we had one and a half percent GDP growth last quarter. If we slide back towards a recession, you cannot lower interest rates below zero. Where are we going to go if we need help if the economy slides back into recession? And with this government- controlled economy that Barack Obama, we're moving right towards it. The Fed should be audited and the Fed should stop playing politics with our money supply. That's what they've done. It's been the wrong thing to do. It's hurting the American economy. And......let me......let me add one other thing on this. Be very aware now, because what Hillary Clinton is talking about doing, if she's president of the United States, is to make sure that the government gets even more involved in the economy, even more involved in making choices for everybody. You do not want that to happen. You need someone who's going to stand up on that stage and prosecute the case against her and prosecute it strong. That's what I'll do. +p5405 +aVThe way to reconnect Americans to the men and women in uniform is to first, and foremost, give them a Commander in Chief who respects the military, and respects everyone who wears the uniform. Starts at the top there... And Secretary Clinton says, there's no crisis at the V.A.. That send a long, and hard message to our veterans that she doesn't get it, and she doesn't respect their service. When the President of the United States doesn't back up law enforcement officers in uniform, he loses the moral authority to any man or woman who is uniform. I spent seven years in law enforcement......I respect these folks, and I will do so as Commander in Chief of the military. +p5406 +aVI want to tell the American people who are watching tonight the truth. I saw the most disgraceful thing I've seen in this entire campaign a few weeks ago. Hillary Clinton was asked the enemy she's most proud of, and she said, "Republicans". In a world where we have Al-Qaeda, and +p5407 +aVWhat about Kasich? Can I introduce Kasich? +p5408 +aVSure. First, let's remember something. Every morning when a United States senator wakes up, they think about what kind of speech can I give or what kind of bill can I drop? Every morning, when I wake up, I think about what kind of problem do I need to solve for the people who actually elected me? It's a different experience, it's a much different experience. And the fact is, Marco, you shouldn't compare yourself to Joe Biden and you shouldn't say that that's what we're doing. Here is exactly what we're doing. You have not be involved in a consequential decision where you had to be held accountable. You just simply haven't. And the fact is \u2014 the fact when you talk about the Hezbollah Sanctions Act that you list as one of your accomplishments you just did, you weren't even there to vote for it. That's not leadership, that's truancy. And the fact is that what we need to do \u2014 what we need to have in this country is not to make the same mistake we made eight years ago. The fact is it does matter when you have to make decisions and be held accountable for them. It does matter when the challenges don't come on a list of a piece of paper of what to vote yes or no every day, but when the problems come in from the people that you serve. I like Marco Rubio, and he's a smart person and a good guy, but he simply does not have the experience to be president of the United States and make these decisions. We've watched it happen, everybody. For the last seven years, the people of New Hampshire are smart. Do not make the same mistake again. +p5409 +aVHold on one second. +p5410 +aVExcuse me... +p5411 +aVI think he mentioned me and my record in there, so I think I get a chance to respond. You see, everybody, I want the people at home to think about this. That's what Washington, D.C. Does. The drive-by shot at the beginning with incorrect and incomplete information and then the memorized 25-second speech that is exactly what his advisers gave him. See Marco \u2014 Marco, the thing is this. When you're president of the United States, when you're a governor of a state, the memorized 30-second speech where you talk about how great America is at the end of it doesn't solve one problem for one person. They expect you to plow the snow. They expect you to get the schools open. And when the worst natural disaster in your state's history hits you, they expect you to rebuild their state, which is what I've done. None of that stuff happens on the floor of the United States Senate. It's a fine job, I'm glad you ran for it, but it does not prepare you for president of the United States. +p5412 +aVThere it is. There it is. The memorized 25-second speech. There it is, everybody. +p5413 +aVYou know what the shame is \u2014 you know what the shame is, Marco? The shame is that you would actually criticize somebody for showing up to work, plowing the streets, getting the trains running back on time when you've never been responsible for that in your entire life. +p5414 +aVAnd the fact is, I went back, it got done and here's... +p5415 +aVOh, so \u2014 wait a second. Is that one of the skills you get as a United States senator ESP also? Because I don't think it is. +p5416 +aVIt gets very unruly when he gets off his talking points. +p5417 +aVLet's get something... +p5418 +aVNo. Let's make something very clear. I learned seven years as a federal prosecutor in dealing with types of situations like we're talking about in North Korea, where criminals take people hostage. You never pay ransom to the criminals. Ever. You never pay ransom to the criminals. Everyone out at home watching tonight understands that principle. And so, what you need to do is to engage in a much different way with these folks. They do not understand anything but toughness and strength, and we need to engage the Chinese to deal with the North Koreans, but we also need to make sure that they understand there's a commander-in-chief who will not pay ransom for any hostage. This president and his former secretary of State are for paying ransom for hostages. When do that, you endanger even more Americans around the world to be the subject of this type of hostage taking and illegal detention. You need a strong commander-in-chief who will look these folks in the eye and say, we will not put up with this and we will take whatever actions we need to take, not only to get our people home safely, but to swiftly and surely punish those who believe they can violate the law and violate American's sovereign rights to travel the world freely and safely. This is unacceptable. And this is why this president is so weak and why the secretary of State, who is embracing a third Barack Obama term, would be even weaker. +p5419 +aVYeah, David, I would just like you to listen, again, everybody. This is the difference between being a governor who actually has to be responsible for problems and not answering a question. The question was, "Did he fight for his legislation?" It's abundantly clear that he didn't. It's abundantly clear that he didn't fight for the legislation. When the teachers unions attacked me with $20 million of ads because I wanted to reform teacher tenure, I fought them and fought them and fought them and I won. When they didn't want \u2014 when people wanted to raise taxes in my state at Democratic legislature and threatened to close down the government, I told them, fine. Close down the government. I'll get in my cars, head to the governor's mansion, order a pizza, open a beer and watch the Mets. You can call me when the government reopens. And guess what they didn't do? They didn't pass a tax increase, because I vetoed it and they never closed the government because they knew I would fight for what I believed in. The fact of the matter is, a leader must fight for what they believe in. Not handicap it and say, well maybe since I can't win this one, I'll run. That's not what leadership is. That's what Congress is. +p5420 +aVGood evening. +p5421 +aVWell, he deserves credit for his record on jobs. He's done a very good job as governor of Ohio. Never said that John hasn't. He's done a very good job. But \u2014 but unfortunately, John's been so busy doing over stuff, he's using old statistics. That's OK. New Jersey had its best year of job growth in the last 15 years under five different governors this year in New Jersey. New Jersey cut spending over $2.3 billion and we have 10,000 fewer employees than we had when I walked in the door. John has a bigger government now and more employees than he had when he walked in the door. But all that doesn't matter. What really matters is this, that executive experience really matters. You heard this on the stage tonight. We've heard it said on the stage that President Obama knows exactly what he's doing. I'd like to ask all the veterans listening out there tonight, who are waiting in line for healthcare, who are literally dying because the Veterans Administration doesn't work, do you think Barack Obama knows what he's doing? I don't. And I'll tell you something. Anybody who evaluates him is knowing what he's doing and managing the government doesn't know how to manage a government themselves. And one last thing, David, which I think is really important. I listened to Senator Rubio's answer on his bill. He said his bill couldn't pass on the gang of eight. He acted as if he was somehow disembodied from the bill. It was his bill. He said this idea doesn't work. It was his idea. See, when you're a governor, you have to take responsibility for these things. You can't just act as if it happened out of nowhere. We have to take responsibility as executives. I take responsibility for my record in New Jersey. We've rebuilt the economy and rebuilt after the second-worst natural disaster in American history. I'm proud of my record. And by the way, I like Kasich's record, too. He's a good governor. +p5422 +aVDavid? Hey, David? David? Hey, David? I actually have experience with raising taxes on millionaires in my state. It was done. It was done by my predecessor. And I want everybody in the public who is in that 68 percent, I want to tell you the truth. You're wrong. And here is why you're wrong. After New Jersey raised taxes on millionaires, we lost, in the next four years, $70 billion in wealth left our state. It left our state to go where it would be treated more kindly. If the United States raised taxes any further, that money will leave the United States, as well. We won't have better jobs. Let New Jersey be the canary in the coal mine. It is a failed idea and a failed policy, it's class warfare. It happened in my state. I've stopped it from happening again. But we cannot do it. The 68 percent of the people are wrong about that, it will hurt the American economy. We tried it in New Jersey. Come take a look \u2014 it did not work. +p5423 +aVOf course I would. As a former United States attorney who spent seven years of my life fighting this on the streets of my state, I would do that. But we need to do more. And let me tell you what we've done in New Jersey, Josh. We are working with the folks in New Hampshire in their legislature right now to show them how we're helping to solve this problem in New Jersey. Not just for this campaign \u2014 three years ago, I proposed a law that we signed into effect, which said that anyone who was a non- violent, non-dealing, first-time drug offender no longer goes to prison in New Jersey. They go to mandatory, in-patient drug treatment. What has happened is, crime has gone down 20 percent in those years. The prison population has gone down 10 percent. We've now closed the state prison \u2014 closed a state prison, and we're turning it into a drug rehabilitation facility, so people can get the tools they need. Listen, everyone out there knows this in New Hampshire. This is a disease. It's not a moral failing, it's a disease. And we need to get people the treatment they need. And let me tell you why. Because I'm pro-life. And I'm pro life not just for the nine months in the womb, I'm pro-life for when they get out and it's a lot more complicated. Sixteen-year-old, heroin-addicted drug girl on the floor of the county lockup, I'm pro-life for her life. The 42-year-old lawyer who is taking Oxycontin and can't get out of bed and support his family \u2014 I'm pro-life for his life. Everyone of those lives is an individual gift from God. And the last thing is this. These efforts we've taken over the last three years, 2015 in New Jersey, for the first time in four years, drug overdose deaths have gone down, not up. I'll bring the same solutions to the country. +p5424 +aVYou bet I would. And the fact is that because I took strong action to make sure that anyone who was showing symptoms \u2014 remember what happened with that nurse. She was showing symptoms and coming back from a place that had the ebola virus active and she had been treating patients. This was not just some \u2014 like, we picked up her just for the heck of it, alright? We did it because she was showing symptoms, and the fact is that's the way we should make these decision. You make these decisions based upon the symptoms, the medicine, and the law. We quarantined her, she turned out to test negative ultimately after 48 hours, and we released her back to the State of Maine. But, I want to add something on the issue of mosques. Now, I'm the only one up here who's had a law enforcement background as a U.S. Attorney after September 11th. I went to mosques throughout my state to build bridges. To build bridges between our community in law enforcement so we can get intelligence and information from these folks. I've had the experience of working with them as Governor of New Jersey as well. We cannot mix the radical Islamic jihadist with everyday Muslim-Americans. New Jersey is the second largest Muslim- American population in America, of any state. These are good, law abiding, hard working people. What they need is our cooperation, and our understanding. They do not just need broadsides against them because of the religious faith they practice. +p5425 +aVMartha? +p5426 +aVCan I \u2014 can I be really \u2014 can I be really clear on this, because I am the father of two daughters. One of them is here tonight. What my wife and I have taught our daughters right from the beginning, that their sense of self-worth, their sense of value, their sense of what they want to do with their life comes not from the outside, but comes from within. And if a young woman in this country wants to go and fight to defend their country, she should be permitted to do so. Part of that also needs to be part of a greater effort in this country, and so there's no reason why one \u2014 young women should be discriminated against from registering for the selective service. The fact is, we need to be a party and a people that makes sure that our women in this country understand anything they can dream, anything that they want to aspire to, they can do. That's the way we raised our daughters and that's what we should aspire to as president for all of the women in our country. +p5427 +aVWell, I've been pretty helpful to the pro-life cause in one of the most pro-choice states in the union. I've stood up for the first time and now for the last six years we've de-funded Planned Parenthood, not talked about it like they do in Washington D.C. But for six years as governor, Planned Parenthood does not receive that funding from the state budget anymore; over $50 million worth of money that's been saved now, that is not going to do exactly what Hillary Clinton wants to have done and has advocated for. She believes that organization, which engages in the systematic murder of children in the womb, in order to maximize the value of their body parts for sale on the open market, is an acceptable position. Let me tell you something, I don't care if you are a millennial or whether you are in your 90s, no one is for that type of activity, unless you are the most radical type of extremist on this issue, like Senator Clinton and her party is on this issue. I'll say one other thing. The fact is, that I believe that if a woman has been raped, that is a birth and a pregnancy that she should be able to terminate. If she is the victim of incest \u2014 this is not a woman's choice. This is a woman being violated. And the fact is that we have always has believed, as has Ronald Reagan, that we have self-defense for women who have been raped and impregnated because of it, or the subject of incest and been impregnated for it. That woman should not have to deliver that child if they believe that violation is now an act of self-defense by terminating that pregnancy. HAM: Thank you, all. Back to you, David and Martha. +p5428 +aVDenver. +p5429 +aVThank you. I've spent the last 13 years of my life focused on one thing: serving the people who have given me the opportunity to serve them. Not about politics, not about partisanship, but putting the people of my state and our country first. I'm proud to have rebuild my state after Hurricane Sandy, and I'm incredibly proud to be on this stage tonight with these men asking for your vote. New Hampshire, I spent 70 days here with you. You've gotten to know my heart. My heart is to help you solve the problems of your state......and the problems of our nation. If you give me your vote on Tuesday I will do just that. +p5430 +aVThey're not wrong. But what's wrong is your premise in the question. You can do both. There is no reason why you can't stand for principles, go and fight for them and be able also, to have to get things done in government. You know, what people are frustrated about in Washington, D.C.., and I know the folks out there tonight are incredibly frustrated because what they see is a government that doesn't work for them. You know, for the 45-year-old construction worker out there, who is having a hard time making things meet. He's lost $4,000 in the last seven years in his income because of this administration. He doesn't want to hear the talk about politics Megyn and who is establishment and who is grassroots. And who's compromised and who is principled. What he wants is something to get done. And that's the difference between being a governor and having done that for the last six years in New Jersey and being someone who has never had to be responsible for any of those decisions. Barack Obama was never responsible for those decisions. Hillary Clinton has never been responsible for those kind of decisions where they were held accountable. I've been held accountable for six years as the governor of New Jersey and with a Democratic legislature, I've gotten conservative things done. That's exactly what I'll do as president of the United States. +p5431 +aVWell, let me say that I do believe that the vote on NSA made the country less safe. Well, let me tell you what the country should really be worried about. I watched that town hall meeting with the Democrats the other night, and I heard Hillary Clinton asked a direct question by an Iowan, and that's what Iowans like to do. They like to ask direct questions. And, they asked about her email situation. And, here's what she said to the American people. She did it for convenience. For her convenience. She put America's secrets at risk for her convenience. She put American intelligence officers at risk for her convenience. She put American strategy at risk for her convenience. Let me tell you who's not qualified to be President of the United States, Chris. Hillary Rodham Clinton did that to our country. She is not qualified to be President of the United States. The fact is what we need is someone on that stage who has been tested, who has been through it, who has made decisions, who has sit in the chair of consequence and can prosecute the case against Hillary Clinton on... ... that stage, and that is exactly what I am ready to do. +p5432 +aVTalk about what? I... +p5433 +aVWell, because you can do it without profiling, Megyn, when you do it on the facts. What those facts knew was that these folks had weapons. They knew that they were talking about trying to take our country and attack it. That's not profiling, that's law enforcement. And that's the difference between somebody who knows how to do this and somebody who's never done it before. +p5434 +aVThey knew they were talking about the issues of attacking people, Megyn. They knew that. +p5435 +aVListen, I think that what people should do is use their common sense. And the fact is, let law enforcement make those decisions. I've told people that from the time I was U.S. attorney 13 years ago. It's not for them to make those decisions about whether or not something is legal or illegal, or profiling or not. You see something that's suspicious, you call law enforcement and let law enforcement make those decisions. That's what should be done. That can be done. That can be done without profiling people. What that is, is just common sense. They thought something was wrong. And here's the problem in this country right now. The problem is that Barack Obama has made law enforcement the enemy, Hillary Clinton has made law enforcement the enemy. They're not supporting our law enforcement officers, it's making everybody nervous to get out of their cars, if you're a law enforcement officer. It's making... ... everybody nervous to get out of their cars if you're a law enforcement officer. It's making people in neighborhoods nervous to go to law enforcement. As president, I will support law enforcement and we'll stop radical terrorist attacks in this country by supporting our intelligence community and law enforcement community. +p5436 +aVYes. You want one? +p5437 +aVHow about one that I've done in New Jersey for the last six years. That's get rid of Planned Parenthood funding from the United States of America. +p5438 +aVBigger than that? Let me tell you something, when you see thousands upon thousands upon thousands of children being murdered in the womb, I can't think of anything better than that. +p5439 +aVMegyn? +p5440 +aVI want to ask the people of the audience. Like, I'm standing here, I \u2014 I watched the video of Senator Cruz. I watched the video of Senator Rubio. I heard what they said. And this is why you need to send someone from outside of Washington to Washington. I feel like... ... I feel like I need \u2014 I feel like I need a Washington to English dictionary converter, right? I mean, I heard what they both said, I saw it on the video. And the fact is this is what makes a difference when you're a governor. You can change your mind. Ted can change his mind. Marco can change his mind. It's perfectly legal in this country to change your mind. But when you're a governor, you have to admit it. You can't hide behind parliamentary tricks. That's the difference, and that's the kind of leader we need in the White House. Stop the Washington bull and let's get things done. +p5441 +aVSure, because there has been three different investigations and proven that I knew nothing. And the fact is that what I did do, what I did do from the beginning, Chris, as soon as I found out about it, I fired the people who were responsible. And that's what you expect from a leader. And, I'll tell you something else. I inherited a state in New Jersey that was downtrodden, and beaten by liberal democratic policies, high taxation, high regulation. And, this year, in 2015, New Jersey's had the best year of job growth that our state has ever had in the last 15 years. That's because we've put conservative policies in place. And, I'll tell you one other thing, you know why the Republican party will want to take a chance on me? Because they know that Hillary Clinton will never be prosecuted by this justice department, and they're going to want to put a former federal prosecutor on the stage to prosecute her next September. And, there is no one on this stage better prepared to prosecute the case against Hillary Clinton than I am. I will be ready. I will take her on, and when I take her on I guarantee you one thing, she will never get within 10 miles of the White House. The days for the Clintons in public housing are over. +p5442 +aVNo, what I said, Chris, was that the law needs to be followed. And that someone in that office has to do their job. So if Ms. Davis wanted to step aside and get rid of her ability to be able to do that, there should be someone else in that office who it didn't violate their conscience so they could follow the law of the state of Kentucky. I never said that Ms. Davis should either lose her job or that she had to do it. But what I did say was that the person who came in for the license needed to get it. And so if there's someone in that organization, and it turns out there was, who was willing to be able to do that, that's what we should do. But just as importantly, and I agree with what John said. You know, we all have our own individual interpretations of our faith. And here's the problem with what's going on around the world. The radical Islamic jihadists, what they want to do is impose their faith upon each and every one of us \u2014 every one of us. And the reason why this war against them is so important is that very basis of religious liberty. They want everyone in this country to follow their religious beliefs the way they do. They do not want us to exercise religious liberty. That's why as commander in chief, I will take on +p5443 +aVBret, let me tell you, this is another one of those places where Hillary Clinton has so much to answer for, and why she is completely unqualified to be commander in chief. In a previous Democratic debate, Martha Raddatz, three times, asked Hillary Clinton about the failure in Libya, a policy that she took credit for, and said, "what is your measure of responsibility, Madam Secretary, for the failure in Libya?" Three times, she refused to answer the question, because she refuses to be held accountable for anything that goes wrong. If it had gone right, believe me, she would have been running around to be able to take credit for it. Here's what I'd do. This is about the bigger, broader war against +p5444 +aVOn September 11, my wife was two blocks from the World Trade Center. When those buildings came down, she was trapped in her building and I didn't hear from her over six hours. We have three children, eight, five and one. And I had to confront the possibility of being a single parent. Terrorism in this country scares everyone. And the fact is that we need a commander-in- chief who not only understands how to protect us, but feels in here what it means to face the possibility of loss. I've faced it. I've prosecuted terrorists. I have made the decisions that need to be made as a governor to protect us and as president of the United States, no one will keep this country safer than I will. +p5445 +asVWILKINS +p5446 +(lp5447 +V...law school. My question for the candidates is, do black lives matter, or do all lives matter? +p5448 +asVCARSON +p5449 +(lp5450 +VThank you, Wolf. Please join me for a moment of silence and remembrance of the San Bernardino victims. Thank you. You know, our country since its inception has been at war, every 15 or 20 years. But the war that we are fighting now against radical Islamist jihadists is one that we must win. Our very existence is dependent upon that. You know, as a pediatric neurosurgeon, I frequently faced life and death situations, and had to come up with the right diagnosis, the right plan, and execute that plan frequently with other colleagues. Right now, the United States of America is the patient. And the patient is in critical condition and will not be cured by political correctness and will not be cured by timidity. And I am asking the Congress, which represents the people, to declare a war on +p5451 +aVFirst of all, let me just complain a little bit. This is the first time I've spoken and several people have had multiple questions so please try to pay attention to that. Now, as far as monitoring is concerned, what my point is, we need to make sure that any place \u2013 I don't care whether it's a mosque, a school, a supermarket, a theater, you know it doesn't matter. If there are a lot of people getting there and engaging in radicalizing activities then we need to be suspicious of it. We have to get rid of all this PC stuff. And people are worried about if somebody's going to say that I'm Islamophobic or what have you. This is craziness because we are at war. That's why I asked congress, go ahead and declare the war . We need to be on a war footing. We need to understand that our nation is in grave danger. You know, what the Muslim Brotherhood said in the explanatory memorandum that was discovered during the Holy Land Foundation Trial was that, "they will take advantage of our PC attitude to get us. :" We have to be better than this. We have to be smarter than they are. +p5452 +aVI think you have to ask them about that. I don't want to get in between them. Let them fight. +p5453 +aVNeurosurgeon. +p5454 +aVWell, interestingly enough, you should see the eyes of some of those children when I say to them we're going to have to open your head up and take out this tumor. They're not happy about it, believe me. And they don't like me very much at that point. But later on, they love me. Sometimes you \u2014 I sound like him. You know, later on, you know, they really realize what's going on. And by the same token, you have to be able to look at the big picture and understand that it's actually merciful if you go ahead and finish the job, rather than death by 1,000 pricks. +p5455 +aVYou got it. You got it. +p5456 +aVRuthless is not necessarily the word I would use, but tough, resolute, understanding what the problems are, and understanding that the job of the president of the United States is to protect the people of this country and to do what is necessary in order to get it done. +p5457 +aVFirst of all, I've been talking about this for over a year. We have to destroy their caliphate because that gives them legitimacy to go ahead with the global Jihad. We have to take their energy because they are \u2014 +p5458 +aVNo one is ever better off with dictators but there comes a time you know, when you're on an airplane, they always say, "in case of an emergency oxygen masks will drop down. Put yours on first and then administer help to your neighbor." We need oxygen right now. And we need to start thinking about the needs of the American people before we go and solve everybody else's problems. The fact of the matter is, is that the Middle East has been in turmoil for thousands of years. For us to think that we're going to in there and fix that with a couple of little bombs and a few little decorations is relatively foolish. +p5459 +aVWell, you know, there's a false narrative that only the political class has the wisdom and the ability to be commander-in- chief. But if you go back and you study the design of our country, it was really designed for the citizen statesman. And we need to be talking about where does your experience come from? You know, and I've had a lot of experience building things, organizing things, you know, a national scholarship program. One of the things that you'll notice if you look through my life is that I don't do a lot of talking. I do a lot of doing. And really, it says more about a person than how much they talk. And then some people say you're weak because, you know, you're not loud and you're not boisterous and you're not rude. But the fact of the matter is, look and see what I've done. And that speaks volumes about strength. +p5460 +aVWell, it was very interesting having an opportunity to talk to the Syrians themselves. And I asked them: What do you want? What is your supreme desire? Their supreme desire was to be settled back in their own country. I said, "What can Americans and other countries do?" They said, "Support the efforts of those who are trying to provide safety for us, including the Jordanians." Of course, they had a brand new hospital, for instance, that was unstaffed because there wasn't enough money to do it. But here's what's really neat. If you go into Hasakah province in northeast Syria, that's an area that's as big as Lebanon. It's controlled by the Kurds, the Christians and the moderate Sunnis. And there are airstrips and hotels. You could settle a lot of people there. All we would have to do is be willing to provide them with some weaponry, some defensive weaponry. And we seem to be afraid to give the Kurds weaponry. We like to send it for some strange reason through Baghdad, and then they only get a tenth of it. And if we would support them, we'd have a perfect ideal there. We don't need to set this up as we either take a bunch of refugees who will be infiltrated with terrorists, I guarantee you. For them not to be would be terrorist malpractice. And we need to \u2014 to choose the right choice, not these false choices. +p5461 +aVWell, I definitely believe that he is unstable, and I do, in fact, believe that China has a lot more influence with him than we do. But we also recognize that North Korea is in severe financial straits, and they have decided to use their resources to build their military, rather than to feed their people and to take care of the various humanitarian responsibilities that they have. We can capitalize upon that. You know, we should use our economic power in lots of different ways. I think we can use that in order to keep Putin contained, because he is a one-horse show. Energy. And we have an abundance of energy, but we have archaic energy exportation rules. We need to get rid of those, allow ourselves to really make Europe dependent on us and other parts of the world dependent on us for energy. Put him back in his little box where he belongs. And, you know, we need to be doing lots of other things with the resources that we have. So economic power works just as well as military power, perhaps even better. And speaking of that, our Military needs to be upgraded. You know, you look at things like our Ohio Class submarines, they're 25 years old. Our minuteman 3 missiles \u2014 they are 34 years old. Our B-52 bombers \u2014 50 years old. You know, if we don't get the military right nothing else matters. +p5462 +aVWell, you know, the statement that I made last week, that I would leave the party was contingent upon whether in fact the party acts like they have in the past with a lot of subterfuge and dishonesty, or like they're going act now because I spike to Reince Priebus, and he assured me that the Washington Post writer had it all wrong, and that they're not be engaging in anything to thwart the will of the people. That's why I got into this race, as a member of we the people, to try bring some honesty and integrity back to the process. +p5463 +aVI've been fortunate enough to travel to 58 different countries and I thank God everyday that I was born in this country. The most exceptional country that the world has ever known. And I want to make sure that we preserve that exceptionalism for the next generation. My mother told me if I work hard and I really believed in American principles and I believed in God, anything is possible. I believe that is true, and that's why I'm not anxious to give away American values and principles for the sake of political correctness. +p5464 +aVWell, first of all, delighted to be here. My family's here, and my little granddaughter, who's three years old, said she wanted to come to the debate. So this is very cool. As far as the minimum wage is concerned, people need to be educated on the minimum wage. Every time we raise the minimum wage, the number of jobless people increases. It's particularly a problem in the black community. Only 19.8 percent of black teenagers have a job, who are looking for one. You know, that \u2014 and that's because of those high wages. If you lower those wages, that comes down. You know, I can remember, as a youngster \u2014 you know, my first job working in a laboratory as a lab assistant, and multiple other jobs. But I would not have gotten those jobs if someone had to pay me a large amount of money. But what I did gain from those jobs is a tremendous amount of experience, and how to operate in the world and how to relate to different people, and how to become a responsible individual. And that's what gave me what I needed to ascend the ladder of opportunity in this country. That's what we need to be thinking about. How do we allow people to ascend the ladder of opportunity, rather than how do we give them everything and keep them dependent? +p5465 +aVI would not raise it. I would not raise it, specifically because I'm interested in making sure that people are able to enter the job market and take advantage of opportunities. +p5466 +aVWell, first of all, thank you not asking me what I said in the 10th grade. I appreciate that. +p5467 +aVThe fact of the matter is, you know, what \u2014 we should vet all candidates. I have no problem with being vetted. What I do have a problem with is being lied about and then putting that out there as truth. And I don't even mind that so much, if they do it about \u2014 with everybody, like people on the other side. But, you know, when I look at somebody like Hillary Clinton, who sits there and tells her daughter and a government official that no, this was a terrorist attack, and then tells everybody else that it was a video. Where I came from, they call that a lie. And... I think that's very different from, you know, somebody misinterpreting, when I said that I was offered a scholarship to West Point, that is the words that they used. But, I've had many people come and say the same thing to me. That is what people do in those situations. We have to start treating people the same, and finding out what people really think and what they're made of. People who know me know that I'm an honest person. +p5468 +aVWell, you know, when I say tithing, I'm talking about the concept of proportionality. +p5469 +aVEverybody should pay the same proportion of what they make. You make $10 billion, you pay a billion. You make $10, you pay one. You get same rights and privileges. I don't see how anything gets a whole lot fairer than that. But you also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes because that is the thing that tilts it in one direction or another. And you have to set the rate at an appropriate level. Now I will say that, there are a lot of people who say, if you get rid of the deductions, you ruin the American dream because, you know, home mortgage deduction. But the fact of the matter is, people had homes before 1913 when we introduced the federal income tax, and later after that started deductions. And they say there will be no more charitable giving. We had churches before that and charitable organizations before that. The fact of the matter is, I believe if you put more money in people's pockets that they will actually be more generous rather than less generous. And it's... ... the money that they earned. And, the other thing is, I do care about the poor people. And in the system that we're putting together, there will be a rebate for people at the poverty level. But I also want to emphasize the fact that as we get the economy moving, and I hope I get a question about how do we get the economy moving, there will be a lot more opportunities for poor people not to be poor people because this is America. This is the land of dreams. And our policies should be aimed at allowing people to realize that dream. +p5470 +aVWell, putting the special ops people in there is better than not having them there, because they \u2014 that's why they're called special ops, they're actually able to guide some of the other things that we're doing there. And what we have to recognize is that Putin is trying to really spread his influence throughout the Middle East. This is going to be his base. And we have to oppose him there in an effective way. We also must recognize that it's a very complex place. You know, the Chinese are there, as well as the Russians, and you have all kinds of factions there. What we've been doing so far is very ineffective, but we can't give up ground right there. But we have to look at this on a much more global scale. We're talking about global jihadists. And their desire is to destroy us and to destroy our way of life. So we have to be saying, how do we make them look like losers? Because that's the way that they're able to gather a lot of influence. And I think in order to make them look like losers, we have to destroy their caliphate. And you look for the easiest place to do that? It would be in Iraq. And if \u2014 outside of Anbar in Iraq, there's a big energy field. Take that from them. Take all of that land from them. We could do that, I believe, fairly easily, I've learned from talking to several generals, and then you move on from there. But you have to continue to face them, because our goal is not to contain them, but to destroy them before they destroy us. +p5471 +aVWell, I think we should have policies that don't allow them to just enlarge themselves at the expense of smaller entities. And certainly some of the policies, some of the monetary and Fed policies that we're using makes it very easy for them, makes it very easy for the big corporations, quite frankly, at these very low interest rates to buy back their stock and to drive the price of that up artificially. Those are the kinds of things that led to the problem in the first place. And I think this all really gets back to this whole regulation issue which is creating a very abnormal situation. This country was \u2014 declared its independence in 1776. In less than 100 years, it was the number-one economic power in the world. And the reason was because we had an atmosphere that encouraged entrepreneurial risk- taking and capital investment. Those are the fuels that drive it. And what we've done now is let the creep of regulation turn into a stampede of regulations, which is involved in every aspect of our lives. If we can get that out, it makes a big difference. And even for the average person, every single regulation costs money. And it's shifted to the individual. So \u2014 and it hurts the poor and the middle class much more than it does the rich. They go into the store and they buy a bar of soap, it costs 10 cents more, they notice it. And the middle class, when they come to the cash register, have a whole cart full of things that cost 5, 10 or 15 cents more, they notice it. It is hurting the poor. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton won't tell you that that's the thing that's really hurting middle class in the core. They'll say it's the rich, take their money, but that won't help. You can take all of the rich's money and it won't make a dent in the problem that we're having. We have to come back to the fundamental principles that made America great. +p5472 +aVI would have policies that wouldn't allow that to occur. I don't want to go in and tear anybody down. I mean, that doesn't help us. But what does help us is stop tinkering around the edges and fix the actual problems that exist that are creating the problem in the first place. +p5473 +aVIn the two hours of this \u2014 of this debate, five people have died from drug-related deaths, $100 million has been added to our national debt, 200 babies have been killed by abortionists, and two veterans have taken their lives out of despair. This is a narrative that we can change, not we the Democrats, not we the Republicans, but we the people of America, because there is something special about this nation, and we must embrace it and be proud of it and never give it away for the sake of political correctness. +p5474 +aVProbably in terms of the applying for the job of president, a weakness would be not really seeing myself in that position until hundreds of thousands of people began to tell me that I needed to do it. I do, however, believe in Reagan's 11th commandment, and will not be engaging in awful things about my compatriots here. And recognizing that it's so important, this election, because we're talking about America for the people versus America for the government. +p5475 +aVWell, first of all, I didn't say that the rate would be 10 percent. I used the tithing analogy. +p5476 +aVThe rate \u2014 the rate \u2014 the rate is gonna be much closer to 15 percent. +p5477 +aVYou also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes. You also have to some strategically cutting in several places. Remember, we have 645 federal agencies and sub-agencies. Anybody who tells me that we need every penny and every one of those is in a fantasy world. So, also, we can stimulate the economy. That's gonna be the real growth engine. Stimulating the economy \u2014 because it's tethered down right now with so many regulations... +p5478 +aVThat's not true. +p5479 +aVWhen \u2014 when we put all the facts down, you'll be able to see that it's not true, it works out very well. +p5480 +aVSince I was attacked too. +p5481 +aVLet me just say, if you're talking about an $18 trillion economy, you're talking about a 15 percent tax on your gross domestic product. You're talking about $2.7 trillion. We have a budget closer to $3.5 trillion. But if you also apply that same 15 percent to several other things, including corporate taxes, and including the capital gains taxes, you make that amount up pretty quickly. So that is not by any stretch a pie in the sky. +p5482 +aVWell, there is no question that some people go overboard when it comes to trying to make profits, and they don't take into consideration the American people. What we have to start thinking about, as leaders, particularly in government, is what can we do for the average American? And you think about the reasons that we're having such difficulty right now with our job market. Well, the average small manufacturer, whatever they're manufacturing, drugs or anything, if they have less than 50 employees, the average cost in terms of regulations is $34,000 per employee. Makes it a whole lot easier for them to want to go somewhere else. So what we're going to have to start doing instead of, you know, picking on this group or this group, is we're going to have to have a major reduction in the regulatory influence that is going on. The government is not supposed to be in every part of our lives, and that is what is causing the problem. +p5483 +aVWell, obviously, you don't understand my views on homosexuality. I believe that our Constitution protects everybody, regardless of their sexual orientation or any other aspect. I also believe that marriage is between one man and one woman. And there is no reason that you can't be perfectly fair to the gay community. They shouldn't automatically assume that because you believe that marriage is between one man and one woman that you are a homophobe. And this is one of the myths that the left perpetrates on our society, and this is how they frighten people and get people to shut up. You know, that's what the PC culture is all about, and it's destroying this nation. The fact of the matter is we the American people are not each other's enemies, it's those people who are trying to divide us who are the enemies. And we need to make that very clear to everybody. +p5484 +aVWell, that's easy to answer. I didn't have an involvement with them. That is total propaganda, and this is what happens in our society. Total propaganda. I did a couple of speeches for them, I do speeches for other people. They were paid speeches. It is absolutely absurd to say that I had any kind of a relationship with them. Do I take the product? Yes. I think it's a good product. +p5485 +aVIf somebody put me on their homepage, they did it without my permission. +p5486 +aVNo, it speaks to the fact that I don't know those \u2014 See? They know. +p5487 +aVWell, first of all, I was wrong about taking the oil subsidy. I have studied that issue in great detail. And what I have concluded is that the best policy is to get rid of all government subsidies, and get the government out of our lives, and let people rise and fall based on how good they are. And \u2014 you know, all of this too big to fail stuff and picking and choosing winners and losers \u2014 this is a bunch of crap, and it is really causing a great deal of \u2014 great deal of problems for our society right now. And \u2014 and \u2014 you know, it goes back to the whole concept of regulations, which are in everything. The reason that I \u2014 I hate them so much is because every single regulation costs in terms of goods and services. That cost gets passed on to the people. Now, who are the people who are hurt by that? It's poor people and middle class. Doesn't hurt rich people if their bar of soap goes up ten cents, but it hurts the poor and the middle class. And Bernie Sanders will tell them that it's because of the rich. Well, I'll tell you something: you can take everything from the top 1 percent, and you apply it to our fiscal gap, and you won't even make a dent in it. +p5488 +aVAbout Medicare? +p5489 +aVWell, first of all the \u2014 the plan gives people the option of \u2014 of opting out. But I think they will see a very good option here. You know, the annual Medicare budget is over $600 billion. And there are 48 million people involved \u2014 40 million, 65 and over, and 8 million other. Divide that out. That comes out to $12,500 for each one. Now, I can tell you there are a lot of private-sector things that you could do with $12,500, which will get you a lot more than you get from this government program. And that's really a theme of a lot of the things that I'm talking about. How do we utilize our intellect rather than allowing the government to use its, quote, "intellect," in order to help us to be able to live healthier and better lives? It was never intended that the government should be in every aspect of our lives. This is a country that is of, for and by the people. +p5490 +aVI just want to thank all my colleagues here for being civil, and not falling for the traps. And, I also just want to thank the audience for being attentive, and noticing the questions, and the noticing the answers. And, this is what I am finding throughout America. People are waking up because it is going to be us who will determine the direction of our country. And, it was made for we the people, we are the ones who decide who we are, and we should never give away the values and principles that made America into a great nation for the sake of political correctness. +p5491 +aVHi, I'm Ben Carson, and I'm a retired pediatric neurosurgeon. I'm here with my wife, Candy, of 40 years, and two of my sons, and their wives. I stress the pediatric part of my career because the reason that I've gotten involved in this race is because I'm very concerned about the future of our children, and the direction of our country is one that does not portend well, unless we, the people, intervene and retake our rightful place at the pinnacle. +p5492 +aVTypically, politicians do things that are politically expedient. And they are looking for whatever their particular goal is. That is not the reason that I have gotten into this thing. I'm extraordinary concerned about the direction of this country, the divisiveness that is going on, fiscal irresponsibility, the failure to take a leadership position in the world. All of those things will lead to a situation where the next generation will not have a chance that we've had now. So I don't \u2014 I don't want to really get into describing who's a politician and who's not a politician, but I think the people have kind of made that decision for themselves already, and will continue to do so as time goes on. +p5493 +aVJake, can I say something about that? +p5494 +aVYou know, when I entered this race, all the political pundits said it's impossible; you can't do it because you're not connected with the money. And there's no way that you can raise what you need in order to compete successfully. I in no way am willing to get in the bed with special interest group or lick the boots of billionaires. I have said to the people if they want me to do this, please get involved. And we now have over 500,000 donations, and the money is coming in. But the pundits forgot about one thing, and that is the people. And they are really in charge. +p5495 +aVWell, first of all, I recognize that we have an incredible illegal immigration problem. I was down in Arizona a few weeks ago at the border. I mean, the fences that were there were not manned, and those are the kind of fences when I was a kid that would barely slow us down. So, I don't see any purpose in having that. Now, what we need to do is look at something that actually works. Yuma County, Arizona. They stop 97 percent of the illegal immigrants through there. They put in a double fence with a road so that there was quick access by the enforcement people. If we don't seal the border, the rest of this stuff clearly doesn't matter. It's kind of ridiculous all the other things we talk about. We have the ability to do it, we don't have the will to do it. There was one area where they had cut a hole in the fence, and to repair it, they put a few strands of barb wire across. Well, the photographers who were there with us, they wanted to photograph us from the side of the Mexicans, and they went through there, and they were not physically fit people, and they took their cameras and things with them, and shot us from the other side. That's how easy it is to get across. And, the drugs, I mean, it goes on, and on, and on. ICE tells them to release these people, 67,000 criminals released... +p5496 +aV...on to our property, it's ridiculous. +p5497 +aVWell, I have also said, if anybody knows how to do that, that I would be willing to listen. And, if they can, you know, specify exactly how that's going to be done, and what the cost, and it sounds reasonable, then I think it's worth discussing... +p5498 +aVNot exactly what I said. +p5499 +aVWell, what I said, after we seal the borders, after we turn off the spigot that dispenses all the goodies so we don't have people coming in here, including employment, that people who had a pristine record, we should consider allowing them to become guest workers, primarily in the agricultural sphere, because that's the place where Americans don't seem to want to work. That's what I said. And they have a six-month period to do that. If they don't do it within that time period, then they become illegal, and as illegals, they will be treated as such. +p5500 +aVCan I \u2014 can I \u2014 can I just... +p5501 +aVCan I correct... +p5502 +aVOK. +p5503 +aVMy plan is not amnesty for a number of reasons. Number one, you know, I've talked to farmers, and they said they cannot hire Americans to do the kind of job that I'm talking about. And the second reason is because the individuals who register as guest workers, they don't get to vote, they are not American citizens, and they don't get the rights and privileges of American citizens. So that's key. But the other thing that I want to bring up is, I mentioned something earlier. I think it was just sort of glossed over. I talked about the success in Yuma County, I mean, incredible success, and the Department of Justice said, "No, we don't want to do that. That's too successful." We don't have to keep reinventing the wheel. All we have to do is look at things that work. All we have to do is use a little common sense. +p5504 +aVIt's all about America. You know, the people who say the guy who paid a billion dollars because he had 10, he has still got $9 billion left, that's not fair, we need to take more of his money. That's called socialism. That doesn't work so well. What made America into a great nation was the fact that we said, that guy just put in $1 billion, let's create an environment that's even more conducive to his success so that next year he can put in $2 billion. And that's the kind of thing that helps us to grow. We can't grow by continuing to take a piece of pie, and dividing it, and redistributing it. But, I'm also looking at what doctor \u2014 at what Governor Huckabee talked about... +p5505 +aVThe Fair Tax. Looking at both of them, and evaluating them both, and I'm talking to the American people because one of the things we must recognize is that this country is of, for, and by the people. And, it's really time that the government get out of the way, and let the people be the ones who decide how they want to run their country. +p5506 +aVWell, first of all, let me say what I actually said about raising the minimum wage. I was asked should it be raised, I said, probably, or possibly. But, what I added, which I think is the most important thing, so, I said we need to get both sides of this issue to sit down, and talk about it. Negotiate a reasonable minimum wage, and index that so that we never have to have this conversation again in the history of America. I think we also have to have two minimum wages, a starter, and a sustaining because how are young people ever going to get a job if you have such a high minimum wage that it makes it impractical to hire them... +p5507 +aVJake, Jake... +p5508 +aVI haven't had an opportunity to weigh in on foreign policy, and I just want to mention that when the war, when the issue occurred in 2003, I suggested to President Bush that he not go to war? OK. So I just want that on the record. And, you know, a lot of people are very much against us getting involved right now with global jihadism. And they refer back to our invasion of Iraq. And they seem to think that that was what caused it. What caused it was withdrawing from there and creating a vacuum which allowed this terrible situation to occur. But it is very different from what is going on today. We're talking about global jihadists who actually want to destroy us. They are an existential threat to our nation. And we have to be mature enough to recognize that our children will have no future if we put our heads in the sand. We have to recognize we have two choices. We either allow them the continue to progress and appear to be the winners, or we use every resource available to us to destroy... +p5509 +aV... them first. +p5510 +aVWell, recognize that, you know, President George W. Bush is a great friend of ours, and we spent many wonderful days at the White House. I haven't been there in the last seven years. I probably have to have a food-tester. But at any rate, I didn't suggest that nothing be done. What I suggested to President Bush is to be Kennedy-esque, in the sense that when the Russians got ahead of us in the space race, what we did is use the bully pulpit to galvanize everybody, business, industry, academia behind a national goal to put a man on the moon and bring him back safely. I said, you can do the same kind of thing. Declare that within five to 10 years we will become petroleum independent. The moderate Arab states would have been so concerned about that, they would have turned over Osama bin Laden and anybody else you wanted on a silver platter within two weeks. There are smart ways to do things and there are muscular ways to do things. And sometimes you have to look at both of those to come up with the right solution. +p5511 +aVI have no argument with having a strong leader, and to be aggressive where aggression is needed. But it is not needed in every circumstance. There is a time when you can use your intellect to come up with other ways to do things. And I think that's what we have to start thinking about. There is no question that a lot of these problems that we have been talking about in terms of the international situation is because we are weak. It is because our Navy is so small. It is because our Air Force is incapable of doing the same things that it did a few years ago. It's because our Marines Corps is not ready to be deployed. +p5512 +aVThere are a lot of problems that are going on, and we need to solve those problems, we need to build up our military... +p5513 +aVWell, let me put it this way, there has \u2014 there have been numerous studies, and they have not demonstrated that there is any correlation between vaccinations and autism. This was something that was spread widely 15 or 20 years ago, and it has not been adequately, you know, revealed to the public what's actually going on. Vaccines are very important. Certain ones. The ones that would prevent death or crippling. There are others, there are a multitude of vaccines which probably don't fit in that category, and there should be some discretion in those cases. But, you know, a lot of this is \u2014 is \u2014 is pushed by big government. And I think that's one of the things that people so vehemently want to get rid of, big government. You know, we have 4.1 million federal employees. Six hundred and fifty federal agencies and department (sic). That's why they have to take so much of our taxes. +p5514 +aVWell, you know, I've just explained it to him. He can read about it if he wants to. I think he's an intelligent man and will make the correct decision after getting the real facts. +p5515 +aVHe's an OK doctor. But, you know, the fact of the matter is, we have extremely well-documented proof that there's no autism associated with vaccinations. But it is true that we are probably giving way too many in too short a period of time. And a lot of pediatricians now recognize that, and, I think, are cutting down on the number and the proximity in which those are done, and I think that's appropriate. +p5516 +aVI'd put my mother on there. You know, she was one of 24 children, got married at age 13, had only a third grade education, had to raise two sons by herself, refused to be a victim. Wouldn't let us be victims, and has been an inspiration to many people. +p5517 +aVOne Nation. +p5518 +aVWell, you know, I was a radical Democrat before I started listening to Ronald Reagan. And he didn't sound like what they said Republicans were. He sounded logical. And I hope that I sound logical also. Because when I look at what is going on with the United States of America, I see a lot of things that are not logical. I see us allowing people to divide us, when in fact our strength is in our unity. I see people exercising the most irresponsible fiscal habits that anyone could possibly do. And hiding it from the American people, so that the majority of people have no idea what our financial situation is. So, when someone comes along and says, free college, free phones, free this and that, and the other, they say, "wow, that's nice," having no idea that they're destabilizing our position. And I think also that Ronald Reagan was a master at understanding that a pinnacle nation has to be a nation that leads. If we learn to lead in the Middle East right now, a coalition will form behind us, but never they do it if we just sit there and talk about it. Real leadership is what I would hopefully bring to America. +p5519 +aVWell, I could take issue with -- with all of those things, but we don't have time. But I will say, we have a debate here tonight, and we will have an opportunity to explore those areas, and I'm looking very much forward to demonstrating that, in fact, the thing that is probably most important is having a brain, and to be able to figure things out and learn things very rapidly. So, you know, experience comes from a large number of different arenas, and America became a great nation early on not because it was flooded with politicians, but because it was flooded with people who understood the value of personal responsibility, hard work, creativity, innovation, and that's what will get us on the right track now, as well. +p5520 +aVWell, thank you, Megyn, I wasn't sure I was going to get to talk again. +p5521 +aVAlright. You know, what we do in order to get the information that we need is our business, and I wouldn't necessarily be broadcasting what we're going to do. We. . .uh. . .we've gotten into this -- this mindset of fighting politically correct wars. There is no such thing as a politically correct war. And, the left, of course, will say Carson doesn't believe in the Geneva Convention. Carson doesn't believe in fighting stupid wars. And -- and what we have to remember is we want to utilize the tremendous intellect that we have in the military to win wars. And I've talked to a lot of the generals, a lot of our advanced people. And believe me, if we gave them the mission, which is what the commander-in-chief does, they would be able to carry it out. And if we don't tie their hands behind their back, they will do it......extremely effectively. +p5522 +aVWhat I agree with is that we need a significantly changed taxation system. And the one that I've advocated is based on tithing, because I think God is a pretty fair guy. And he said, you know, if you give me a tithe, it doesn't matter how much you made. If you've had a bumper crop, you don't owe me triple tithes. And if you've had no crops at all, you don't owe me no tithes. So there must be something inherently fair about that. And that's why I've advocated a proportional tax system. You make $10 billion, you pay a billion. You make $10, you pay one. And everybody gets treated the same way. And you get rid of the deductions, you get rid of all the loopholes, and... +p5523 +aVAnd I have a lot more to say about it. +p5524 +aVIf Hillary is the candidate, which I doubt, that would be a dream come true. But you know, the fact of the matter is, she is the epitome of the progressive -- the secular progressive movement. And she counts on the fact that people are uninformed, the Alinsky Model, taking advantage of useful idiots. Well, I just happen to believe that people are not stupid. And the way I will come at it is to educate people, help people to actually understand that it is that progressive movement that is causing them the problems. You know, you look at the -- the national debt and how it's being driven up. If I was trying to destroy this country, what I would do is find a way to drive wedges between all the people, drive the debt to an unsustainable level, and then step off the stage as a world leader and let our enemies increase while we decreased our capacity as a military person. And that's what she's doing. +p5525 +aVWell, what we have to stop and think about is that we have weakened ourselves militarily to such an extent that if affects all of our military policies. Our Navy is at its smallest size since 1917; our Air Force, since 1940. In recent testimony, the commandant of the Marine Corps said half of the non-deployed units were not ready and you know, the sequester is cutting the heart out of our personnel. Our generals are retiring because they don't want to be part of this, and at the same time, our enemies are increasing. Our -- our friends can't trust us anymore. You know, Ukraine was a nuclear-armed state. They gave away their nuclear arms with the understanding that we would protect them. We won't even give them offensive weapons. You know, we turned our back on Israel, our ally. You know, in a situation like that, of course Obama's not going to be able to do anything. I would shore up our military first, because if you don't get the military right, nothing else is going to work. +p5526 +aVWell, I think the bully pulpit is a wonderful place to start healing that divide. You know, we have the purveyors of hatred who take every single incident between people of two races and try to make a race war out of it, and drive wedges into people. And this does not need to be done. What we need to think about instead -- you know, I was asked by an NPR reporter once, why don't I talk about race that often. I said it's because I'm a neurosurgeon. And she thought that was a strange response. And you say -- I said, you see, when I take someone to the operating room, I'm actually operating on the thing that makes them who they are. The skin doesn't make them who they are. The hair doesn't make them who they are. And it's time for us to move beyond that. Because......our strength as a nation comes in our unity. We are the United States of America, not the divided states. And those who want to destroy us are trying to divide us, and we shouldn't let them do it. +p5527 +aVWell, I haven't said anything about me being the only one to do anything, so let me try that. I'm the only one to separate Siamese twins... The -- the only one to operate on babies while they were still in mother's womb, the only one to take out half of a brain, although you would think, if you go to Washington, that someone had beat me to it. But I -- but I'm very hopeful that I'm not the only one who's willing to pick up the baton of freedom, because freedom is not free, and we must fight for it every day. Every one of us must fight for it, because we're fighting for our children and the next generation. +p5528 +aVWell, the current Constitution actually doesn't address that particular situation, but the fact of the matter is the Supreme Court, obviously, is a very important part of our governmental system. And when our Constitution was put in place, the average age of death was under 50, and therefore the whole concept of lifetime appointments for Supreme Court judges and federal judges was not considered to be a big deal. Obviously, that has changed, and it's something that probably needs to be looked at pretty carefully at some point. But, we need to start thinking about the divisiveness that is going on in our country. I looked at some of the remarks that people made after finding out that Justice Scalia had died, and they were truly nasty remarks. And that we have managed to get to that position in our country is truly a shame. And we should be thinking about how we could create some healing in this land. But, right now, we're not going to get healing with President Obama. That's very United Nations clear. So, I...... fully agree that we should not allow a judge to be appointed during his time. +p5529 +aVNo, it isn't. First of all, let me go back to your first question for me. It wasn't phrased as who gets to nominate Supreme Court appointees. Of course that's the president. So I know that there are some left-wing media who would try to make hay on that. Secondly, thank you for including me in the debate. Two questions already. This is great. Now, as far......as far as those 2 a.m. phone calls are concerned, judgment is what is required. And the kinds of things that you come up with are sometimes very, very difficult and very unique. One of the things that I was known for is doing things that have not been done before. So no amount of experience really prepares you to do something that has never been done before. That's where judgment comes in. And that, I think, is a situation that we're in right now, a situation that we have never been in before with the kinds of threats that pose real danger to our nation, and it comes in very handy in those situations. +p5530 +aVWell, first of all, let me just address the Iraq question. You know, I was not particularly in favor of us going to war in Iraq, primarily because I have studied, you know, the Middle East, recognizing that those are nations that are ruled by dictators and have been for thousands of years. And when you go in and you remove one of those dictators, unless you have an appropriate plan for replacing them, you're going to have chaos. Now, fortunately, we were able to stabilize the situation, and it was the current administration that turned tail and ran and destabilized the situation. Now, having said that, in terms of the rules of engagement, I was talking about, you know, Obama has said, you know, we shouldn't bomb tankers, you know, coming out of refineries because there may be people in there, or because the environment may be hurt. You know, that's just asinine thinking. And the fact of the matter is... You know, we \u2014 obviously, you're not going to accomplish all of your goals without some collateral damage. You have to be able to assess what is acceptable and what is not. +p5531 +aVWell, first of all, let me just mention on the tax issue. Bencarson.com, go read about it, because my tax plan has been praised by Cato, by Wall Street Journal. Forbes said it is the best, the most pro-growth tax plan, and it's based on real fairness for everybody. Starts at the 150 percent poverty level, but even the people below that have to pay something, because everybody has to have skin in the game, and the millions of people can't, you know, talk about what other people have to pay and have no skin in the game. And it deals with corporate tax rate, and makes it the same as everybody else......everybody pays exactly the same. +p5532 +aV... And, as far as Medicare and Medicaid, my main goal is to get rid of Obamacare and put the care back in the hands of ... +p5533 +aVWell, first of all, please go to my website, bencarson.com, and read my immigration policy, O.K.? Because it actually makes sense. Now, the \u2014 as far as these fines are concerned, you know? Here's the big problem. We've got all these government regulators, and all they're doing is running around looking for people to fine. And we've got 645 different federal agencies and sub-agencies. Way, way too many, and they don't have anything else to do. I think what we really need to do is start trimming the regulatory agencies rather than going after the people who are trying to increase the viability, economic viability of our society. Now, that doesn't mean there aren't some people out there who are doing bad things. But I'm not sure that the way to solve that problem is by increasing all the regulatory burden. You know, when you consider how much regulations cost us each year, you know? $2 trillion dollars per family, $24,000 per family, that happens to be the same level as the poverty level...... for a family of four. If you want to get rid of poverty, get rid of all the regulations. +p5534 +aVBefore you ask the question, can I respond to the \u2014 you know, they mentioned my name a couple of times. +p5535 +aVAll right. Well, first of all, you know, so many people have said to me, "You need to scream and jump and down \u2014 jump up and down like everybody else." Is that really what you want? What we just saw? I don't think so. And you know, I \u2014 when I got into this race, I decided to look under the hood of the engine of what runs Washington, D.C., and my first inclination was to run away, but I didn't do it because I'm thinking about our children and the fact that we are the United States of America. And anybody up here is going to be much better than what's going to come on the other side. And what happened tonight with \u2014 with Justice Scalia tells you that we cannot afford to lose this election, and we cannot be tearing each other down. +p5536 +aVWell, first of all, I'm not a politician, so I'm never going to become a politician. But here's what \u2014 here's what people need to know. People need to know that free college is not \u2014 it's a non-starter. You know, you have to look at our economic situation. We're on the verge of economic collapse and, you know, we're \u2014 it's not just the $19 trillion, but it's also the $200 trillion in unfunded liabilities. What we need to think about is, what does that do to the average person? When we have a debt of that nature, it causes the Fed to change their policy, it causes the central bank to keep the \u2014 the rates low, and who does does that affect? Mr. Average, who used to go to the bank every Friday and put part of his check in the bank and watch it grow over three decades and be able to retire with a nice nest egg, that's gone. That part of the American dream is gone. All of these things are disappearing, and Bernie Sanders and people like Hillary Clinton blame it on the rich. They say those evil rich people, if we take their money we can solve the problem. It's not the evil rich people. It's the irresponsible, evil government. +p5537 +aVThis is the first generation not expected to do better than their parents. Some people say it's the new normal, but there's nothing normal about it in an exceptional American. I, like you, am a member of we, the people, and we know that our country is heading off the cliff. Joseph Stalin said if you want to bring America down you, have to undermine three things: our spiritual life, our patriotism and our morality. We, the people, can stop that decline, starting right here in South Carolina. If all the people who say, "I love Ben Carson and his policies, but he can't win," vote for me, not only can we win, but we can turn this thing around. You know, we have this manipulation by the political class and by the media telling us who we're supposed to pick and how we're supposed to live. We, the people, are the only people who will determine that. And if you elect me as your next president, I promise you that you will get somebody who is accountable to everybody and beholden to no one. Thank you. +p5538 +aVWell, you know, when I wasn't introduced No. 2, as was the plan, I thought maybe he thought I already had dropped out. But... But you know, today is the 105th anniversary, or \u2014 105th birthday of Ronald Reagan. His 11 Commandment was not to speak ill of another Republican. So, I'm not going to use this opportunity to savage the reputation of Senator Cruz. But I will say \u2014 I will say \u2014 I will say that I was very disappointed that members of his team thought so little of me that they thought that after having hundreds, if not thousands of volunteers and college students who sacrificed their time and were dedicated to the cause \u2014 one even died \u2014 to think that I would just walk away ten minutes before the caucus and say, "Forget about you guys." I mean, who would do something like that? Now, I don't think anyone on this stage would do something like that. And to assume that someone would, what does that tell you? So, unfortunately, it did happen. It gives us a very good example of certain types of Washington ethics. Washington ethics. Washington ethics basically says, if it's legal, you do what you need to do in order to win. That's not my ethics. My ethics is, you do what's right. +p5539 +aVSince I was mentioned... +p5540 +aVThis is great you guys. I want you all to mention me when you say something. In fact, the time line indicates that initial tweet from CNN was followed by another one within one minute that clarified that I was not dropping out. So, what happened to that one, it is unclear. But the bottom line is, we can see what happened, everybody can see what happened and you can make your own judgment. +p5541 +aVGood evening. +p5542 +aVWell, thank you. You know, I was hoping to get a chance to talk about North Korea. I was the only one who didn't get to do that, and I've got stuff to say about it, let me tell you. But at any rate, you have to replace it with something that makes sense. It doesn't make sense. And the reason that I dislike Obamacare is because the government comes in and tells the people \u2014 which the nation is supposed to be centered on \u2014 that we don't care what you think, this is what we're doing. And if you don't like it, too bad. That's a problem. And we can't afford to do that because that will fundamentally change America. I have proposed a health empowerment account system. Everybody gets a health empowerment account the day they are born, they keep it until they die. They can pass it on. We pay for it with the same dollars that we pay for traditional health care with, recognizing that we spend twice as much as many countries per capita and health care and don't have as such access. We give people the ability to shift money within their health empowerment account so that each family basically becomes its own insurance company without a middleman; that saves you a awful lot of money. And that will lower the cost of your catastrophic insurance tremendously, because the only thing coming out of that is catastrophic health care. And then in terms of taking care of the indigent, we have another whole system, and I can go ahead and explain it, but I don't have the time, but I'd be happy to if you give me some more time. But go to my website bencarson.com, read about it. You can read about everything that's been discussed here in great detail. HAM: Thank you, Dr. Carson. David, Martha, back to you. +p5543 +aVI want to say something about this, because I'm not here just to add beauty to the stage. You know, I've been talking about Libya for quite a long time. I think I was the first one to start talking about it because I say we have to have a proactive foreign policy strategy. And of course, the next place that +p5544 +aVI would support the possibility of renewed airstrikes if in conjunction with our Joint Chiefs and our military people they felt that was an appropriate strategy. The fact of the matter is none of us up here is a military expert, and we sometimes act like we are, but we're not. And if we actually sit down and talk with them and get them to understand our plan and their impression of what needs to be done, I think we're going to make a lot more progress. +p5545 +aVIt's the same question? +p5546 +aVYes. Well, first of all, I think it would be a pretty easy contrast, quite frankly, between myself and Hillary Clinton. In one case, you have someone who is known as a deceitful individual. An individual who at Benghazi, which I will never let go, quite frankly, because I think of those two men who went up there on the top of that compound with machine guns, firing away, allowing their colleagues to escape. And I'm sure, in the back of their mind, they were just saying, if we can just hold on, help is on the way. But help was not on the way. When did we in the United States not send people to help our own people? You know, this is not who we are. And \u2014 I would simply make it a referendum on honesty and integrity versus deceit and the Washington way. +p5547 +aVWell, you know, it's not a simple issue, and now, you know, we've gotten evidence that there can been active viruses in other bodily fluids like saliva and urine. So, this is going to be, obviously, a big deal. Do we quarantine people? If we have evidence that they are infected, and that there is evidence that that infection can spread by something that they're doing, yes. But, just willy-nilly going out and quarantining a bunch of people because they've been to Brazil, I don't believe that that's going to work. What we really need to be thinking about is how do we get this disease under control? And this is where we need rapid response. We need a rapid response for ebola, we need rapid response for Zika, there will be other things that will come up. These are the kinds of things that the NIH, the CDC, can be very effective in. We need to give the the appropriate support for those kind of things. +p5548 +aVCan I say something... +p5549 +aVSomething about the draft. Very quickly. +p5550 +aVYou know, 14 percent decrease in the number of people applying for voluntary military service, and I think part of it is because of the way that we treat our veterans. You know, we wouldn't be a free country if it wasn't for them, and we have 22 veterans per day committing suicide. So, I think what we should do is have an external support system for people once they volunteer and it should follow them throughout their career, should follow them for three years, five years afterwards, a year before they get out, should be working on integrating them back into society, so that they quit on Friday and they start their new job. They should have health empowerment accounts that are subsidized so they can go to any medical facility and be taken care of. They can go to a V.A. if they want to. But if we start taking care of our veterans the right way, we won't have to ever worry about a draft again. +p5551 +aVWith 100 percent certainly, I will predict the winner \u2014 it will either be Denver or Carolina. +p5552 +aVFor many months, the political class, pundits, the media, have tried to ignore or bury me. They say that politics is too complex, and too sleazy. You can't survive. Well, guess what? I'm still here, and I'm not going any place either. And, I believe there is still a place in our country for faith, integrity, and common sense. Hundreds of thousands of you drafted me to run for president...... And, I am going to with the help of God, and you, once again place the American people at the pinnacle with the government there to serve it. +p5553 +aVWell, I will gladly confess that I'm the only one on this stage with no political title. You're not going to hear a lot of polished political speech from me, but you will hear the truth. And I don't think you have to be a politician to tell the truth. In fact, sometimes it's not that way... ... and I've had more two a.m. phone calls than everybody here put together, making life and death decisions, put together very complex teams to accomplish things that have never been done before. And we are in a situation right now in our country that we have never been in before. We need people who think out of the box and can solve problems; can utilize the resources around them; very smart people, to focus on the problem and solve the problem. The American people are terrified. That's why we have this abnormal situation going on right now. We don't need more of the same solutions. We need different solutions to solve the problems and to save our nation. +p5554 +aVWell, I don't know about the GOP messaging, but I can tell you about my messaging. You know, need to stop allowing political correctness to dictate our policies, because it's going to kill us if we don't. And in the Holy Land Foundation trial in 2006 in Texas, they had a memorandum, an explanatory memorandum that talked about the fact that Americans would be easy to overcome and to commit civilization jihad because they were going to be trying to protect the rights of the very people who were trying to subvert them. But I believe in the Teddy Roosevelt philosophy. Teddy Roosevelt said, we are a nation of immigrants. As such, everybody is welcome from any race, any country, any religion, if they want to be Americans. If they want to accept our values and our laws. If not, they can stay where they are. +p5555 +aVOh, great. As I said before, we are a land of immigrants, but we have to be intelligent about the way that we form our immigration policies, and that's one of the reasons that I have called on us to declare war on the Islamic State because we need to reorient our immigration policies and our visa policies for people who are coming into this country because there are many people out there who want to destroy us. Now, I recognize that the vast majority of people coming in here probably are not those kinds of people, but that's not good enough. If you've got 10 people coming to your house and you know one of them is a terrorist, you're probably going to keep them all out. You know, we probably have to figure out a way to make sure that we keep America safe. +p5556 +aVLook, first of all, I recognize that Vladimir Putin is an opportunist and he's a bully, and we have to face him down. And I would \u2014 first of all, face him down in that whole region, the whole Baltic region. I think we need to put in some armored brigades there. We only have one or two. We need much more than that. We need to be doing military exercises if not only Estonia but Latvia and Lithuania. They're terrified by the saber rattling. I think we ought to put in our missile defense system. I think we ought to give Ukraine offensive weapons and I think we ought to fight them on the economic basis because Putin is a one- horse country: oil and energy. And we ought to fight them on that level. We ought to be helping in terms of the technology for fracking, keeping the price low, quite frankly, because that's what's keeping him contained. So, yes, I'd absolutely would go in if he attacked. I think on Article IV of +p5557 +aVWell, as anyone knows who's been listening to me, you know? I'm very much against the government being involved in every aspect of our lives, you know? We last year there was an additional 81,000 pages of government regulations. If you stack that up it would be a three-story building. This is absolutely absurd. And, they've insinuated themselves into everything. Now, as far as the renewable fuel standard is concerned, certain promises were made, certain government contracts were issued which extend all the way into the year 2022, and I believe that it's probably unfair to withdraw the rug because people have invested money. People have invested a lot of energy into that. But, you know, we are blessed with tremendous energy in this nation, and we need to be talking for new sources of energy. Seventy percent of our population lives by costly. What about hydroelectric power? We can develop that, you know? We have so much natural gas now, and we can liquify it, and we can transfer it across the sea so we can make Europe dependent on us instead of Putin \u2014 put him back in his little box where he belongs. Those are the kinds of things that we ought to be doing. And, you know, take advantage of the tremendous opportunities in energy that God has given us, not get involved in these little petty arguments. And we can get a lot of them out if we get the government out of our lives. +p5558 +aVI want to thank the people of Iowa for being so welcoming to me. Please think of our founding fathers as you listen. We the people of the United States in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the benefits of liberty to ourselves and our prosperity, do ordain and establish this constitution of the United States of America. Folks, it's not too late. Enough said. +p5559 +asVQUINTANILLA +p5560 +(lp5561 +VGood evening, I'm Carl Quintanilla, with my colleagues Becky Quick and John Harwood. We'll be joined tonight by some of +p5562 +aVGovernor? +p5563 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p5564 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Bush. +p5565 +aVSenator Rubio. +p5566 +aVMr. Trump? +p5567 +aVDr. Carson? +p5568 +aVMrs. Fiorina? +p5569 +aVFixed it. +p5570 +aVSenator Cruz? +p5571 +aVGovernor Christie? +p5572 +aVSenator Paul? +p5573 +aVThanks to all the candidates. John? +p5574 +aVHold it. We'll cut it back to you in just a minute. Becky's moving on. +p5575 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor. thank you, Governor. +p5576 +aVMr. Trump, 30 seconds. +p5577 +aVThank you, Governor. +p5578 +aVWe're going to try to move on. +p5579 +aVYou want to bring 70,000 pages to three? +p5580 +aVIs that using really small type? +p5581 +aVIs that using really small type? +p5582 +aVMrs. Fiorina \u2014 +p5583 +aVWe're going to \u2014 +p5584 +aVWe will come around the bend, i promise. This one is for Senator Rubio. You've been a young man in a hurry ever since you won your first election in your 20s. You've had a big accomplishment in the Senate, an immigration bill providing a path to citizenship the conservatives in your party hate, and even you don't support anymore. Now, you're skipping more votes than any senator to run for president. Why not slow down, get a few more things done first or least finish what you start? +p5585 +aVSo when the Sun-Sentinel says Rubio should resign, not rip us off, when they say Floridians sent you to Washington to do a job, when they say you act like you hate your job, do you? +p5586 +aVWell, do you hate your job? +p5587 +aVIs that the standard? +p5588 +aVSenator, thank you. John. +p5589 +aVThank you, Senator. +p5590 +aVSenator Cruz. Congressional Republicans, Democrats and the White House are about to strike a compromise that would raise the debt limit, prevent a government shutdown and calm financial markets that fear of \u2014 another Washington-created crisis is on the way. Does your opposition to it show that you're not the kind of problem-solver American voters want? +p5591 +aV do we get credit ? +p5592 +aVSo, this is a question about , which you have 30 seconds left to answer, should you choose to do so. +p5593 +aVOK. I asked you about the debt limit and I got no answer. +p5594 +aVWe promised we would get to everyone this block. Governor Huckabee, I'm going to give you 60 seconds on this. +p5595 +aV...Governor... +p5596 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p5597 +aV...Senator Cruz... +p5598 +aVOK, alright. +p5599 +aVSenator Cruz... +p5600 +aV...Before we go to break, we're clearly not having that beer you mentioned, but I'll give you 30 more seconds... +p5601 +aVOK. +p5602 +aVI'll give you 30 seconds to respond... +p5603 +aVRespond on the debt limit, or an answer to the governor, which ever you choose. +p5604 +aV30 seconds, Governor Huckabee. +p5605 +aVGovernor, thank you. We will take a break. The Republican Presidential debate, live from Boulder, Colorado, coming back after a break on +p5606 +aVMrs. Fiorina, in 2010, while running for Senate in Tech Ridge (ph), California, you called an Internet sales tax a bad idea. Traditional brick and mortar stores obviously disagree. Now that the Internet shopping playing field has matured, what would be a fair plan to even that playing field? +p5607 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p5608 +aVOK. +p5609 +aVThank you very much. +p5610 +aVDr. Carson, we know you as a physician, but we wanted to ask you about your involvement on some corporate boards, including Costco's. Last year, a marketing study called the warehouse retailer the number one gay-friendly brand in America, partly because of its domestic partner benefits. Why would you serve on a company whose policies seem to run counter to your views on homosexuality? +p5611 +aVOne more question. This is a company called Mannatech, a maker of nutritional supplements, with which you had a 10-year relationship. They offered claims that they could cure autism, cancer, they paid $7 million to settle a deceptive marketing lawsuit in Texas, and yet you're involvement continued. Why? +p5612 +aVTo be fair, you were on the homepage of their website with the logo over your shoulder \u2014 +p5613 +aVDoes that not speak to your vetting process or judgment in any way. +p5614 +aVApparently. We will take a break. We'll be back in Boulder in just a minute. +p5615 +aV...We'll come back around. I want to get to governor Kasich. +p5616 +aVGovernor Kasich, let's talk ... +p5617 +aV...about Marijuana, Governor Kasich... +p5618 +aVAlright, but 30 seconds, you made a case. Sure, 30 seconds. +p5619 +aVSenator, thank you. +p5620 +aVOh, no, no, no... +p5621 +aV...Ok... +p5622 +aV...We're going to go to... +p5623 +aVOK. Thank you, Senator. Governor Kasich, let's talk about marijuana. We're broadcasting from Colorado which has seen $150 million in new revenue for the state since legalizing last year. Governor Hickenlooper is not a big fan of legalization, but he's said the people who used to be smoking it are still smoking it, they're just now paying taxes. Given the budget pressures in Ohio, and other states, is this a revenue stream you'd like to have? +p5624 +aVThank you, Governor. +p5625 +aVThank you. We'll be back from Boulder, Colorado in just a moment. +p5626 +aVMr. Trump, you've said you have a special permit to carry a gun in New York. +p5627 +aVAfter the Oregon mass shooting on October 1st, you said, "By the way, it was a gun-free zone. If you had a couple of teachers with guns, you would have been a hell of a lot better off." +p5628 +aVWould you feel more comfortable if your employees brought guns to work? +p5629 +aVAre you carrying one now? +p5630 +aVWe called a few Trump resorts, a few Trump properties that \u2014 that do not allow guns with or without a permit. Would you change those policies? +p5631 +aVOK. All right. Thank you. John? +p5632 +aVGovernor Bush, daily fantasy sports has become a phenomenon in this country, will award billions of dollars in prize money this year. But to play you have to assess your odds, put money at risk, wait for an outcome that's out of your control. Isn't that the definition of gambling, and should the Federal Government treat it as such? +p5633 +aVI had a feeling you were going to brag about that. +p5634 +aVThis is the\u2014 well, we're going to take a break. We want to save time for closing statements after the break. So this is the Republican presidential debate in Boulder, and we'll be right back. +p5635 +aVSenator Rubio... +p5636 +aV...yeah, I just wanted . +p5637 +aVI want to give you 30 seconds here. +p5638 +aVThat concludes tonight's debate. On behalf of my colleagues Becky Quick, John Harwood, Sharon Epperson, Rick Santelli and Jim Cramer, we'd like to our host, the University of Colorado at Boulder, the Republican National Committee, the candidates and, of course, tonight's audience. +p5639 +aV...Question, in the meantime, for Senator Santorum. You have advocated a flat tax, so we'd like to ask you about fairness. Why is it fair to tax all Americans at the same rate, as opposed to taxing more affluent Americans at higher rates? +p5640 +aVSenator, thank you. John \u2014 Becky? +p5641 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live in boulder, Colorado, on cNBC. We resume our questions now with Jim Cramer, the host of +p5642 +aVSenator Graham. You have said you believe that climate change is real. You've said you accept tax increases as part of a budget deal with Democrats. You've co-sponsored a Senate immigration bill providing a path to citizenship for those in the country illegally. Are you in the wrong party's debate? +p5643 +aVMy question for Governor Jindal, Paul Ryan says he would take the speaker job if it did not take away from his family time. The Department of Labor says 13 percent of American workers are eligible for paid family leave and the U.S. is the only developed nation in the world not to have guaranteed paid maternity leave for new moms. Should the government work to change that? +p5644 +aVGovernor, thank you. John? +p5645 +ag4204 +aVWelcome back to the University of Colorado, and the Republican Presidential Debate on +p5646 +aVWell, let's get to that. I mean, another example, for example, is Walgreens. +p5647 +aVI'm sure you do. Walgreens/Rite Aid. Big deal, consolidation in drug stores, semiconductors, food. What is the line at which something becomes anti-competitive in your view? +p5648 +aVSenator. +p5649 +aVThank you. Becky. +p5650 +aVQuestion for Senator Santorum. +p5651 +aVAfter this question maybe. The 2015 Nobel Prize winner for economics argues that slow growth causes poverty, and that leads to inequality. What would you do to ease inequality? And what would you do solve poverty? By the way, thanks to Larry Kudlow, +p5652 +aVGovernor Jindal, I'll give you 30 seconds on this. +p5653 +aVWe've got one more. One more lightning round. Governor Jindal, should the day after the Super Bowl be a national holiday? +p5654 +aVSenator? +p5655 +aVGovernor? +p5656 +aVFinally, Senator? +p5657 +aVThat concludes our first part of the evening. +p5658 +asVSTRASSEL +p5659 +(lp5660 +VMr. Trump. +p5661 +aVYou have made a lot of promises and you have also \u2014 you're the only candidate who has said he would not touch entitlements. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has estimated that your ideas would cost an additional $12 trillion to $15 trillion over the next 10 years and that we would have to have annual economic growth of anywhere from 7.7 percent to 9 percent annually to pay for them. Are you proposing more than you can actually deliver, at least not without big deficits? +p5662 +aVBut in terms of... +p5663 +aVO.K. But how would you actually do that? Can I ask you? Because right now, Social Security and Medicare... +p5664 +aVThey take up two-thirds of the federal budget, and they're growing. +p5665 +aVO.K., I have a question, a related tax question. Senator Rubio, you have the highest tax rate of anyone up on the stage in terms of the top tax rates, 35 percent. Some economists say, "It would limit its potential to boost economic growth." You do that so that you will have more revenue to pay for a tripling of the Child Tax Credit. Normally, it's liberals who like to use the tax code to insert social policy. Why should conservatives who want to tax adopt the other side's approach? +p5666 +aVGovernor Kasich, this on is on size of government. In 2013, you pushed through a Medicaid reform in your state over the rejections of many of the Republicans in your state. Total enrollment and overall cost of program have gone well beyond what anyone had expected, including yourself. How can you argue that this overall growth fits in with conservative ambition to significantly cut back on the size of federal welfare programs? +p5667 +aVSenator Cruz. Senator Cruz, you have promised to deport illegal aliens. You have also promised to reverse President Obama's executive action that gives temporary amnesty to illegals brought here by their parent as children. As president, you would have the names and addresses of the some 800,000 of those that have registered under that action. Now, you have said that in this country, we shouldn't go door to door, look for illegals, but in this case you would have a list. Would you use it? +p5668 +aVSo would you \u2014 would you use the addresses? +p5669 +aVWould you pick them up? +p5670 +aVSenator Rubio, your reply. +p5671 +aVAll right. Senator Cruz. Your response, Senator Cruz. +p5672 +aV... O.K.... +p5673 +aVMoving subjects. Dr. Carson, this week Morgan Stanley agreed to pay a $3.2 billion fine to state and federal authorities for contributing to the mortgage crisis. You have a lot of Democrats out saying that we should be jailing more executives, so two questions. Should financial executives be held legally responsible for financial crisis, and do you think fines like these are an effective way to deter companies from future behavior like that? +p5674 +aVSenator Cruz, you were mentioned in the mix here, your response? +p5675 +aVAnd now, Marco Rubio. +p5676 +aVWe'll be back with a few final thoughts in a moment. +p5677 +asVGILMORE +p5678 +(lp5679 +VWell, Bill, can I first... +p5680 +aVWell, first of all, Bill, let me say one thing, I have been in Iowa. But this is not the place where I'm choosing to begin my campaign. I am beginning my campaign in New Hampshire and I decided to do that based upon the process that is in place in Iowa and the primary that's in place in New Hampshire. But never mind that, I want to return to something. I'm the only veteran, Bill and Martha in this race. And I'm not going to any Donald Trump event over across town on some sort of faux veteran sort of issue. I'm going to speak to you tonight about the issue that really confronts veterans. I'm going to talk to you about the concerns that they have got with the veterans administration. The lousy appeals process that they have got. The fact that sometimes they get good service at the V.A. and sometimes they don't and the fact that post traumatic stress syndrome is not properly recognized. That psychology positions are unavailable in the Veterans Administration. And I will say this to you -- as the only veteran in -- in this race, when I become president of the United States, the veterans are going to be treated with respect and competently in success in the Veterans' Administration in this country. +p5681 +aVFirst of all, Bill, I think that Gitmo ought to remain open. But I also want to point out to you that what you are saying is the exact right topic to all of these other candidates. And that's this international challenge that we are facing, the international war that America is in, even to this day. And I'm the candidate who is best qualified to deal with this issue. A degree in foreign policy in Russian area studies. I'm the only United States Army veteran having gone to Europe during the Cold War as United States Army Intelligence agent, the governor during the 9/11 attack, the chairman of the National Commission on Homeland Security for the United States for five years. And this is what I will do. If I become the president, I'm going to rebuild the United States military. We're going to take the sequester off the defense budget. Give the Navy the ships it needs. Refit the United States Army. Refit the United States Marine Corps. And on this international guerrilla war, we need to recognize our Special Forces, our intelligence community, and the people that we need in order to really protect us. And finally, this war of ideas, we must win this. We must say to the world that radical Islamism is the threat. It isn't just confined to +p5682 +aVHey, did you miss me? Did you skip me? +p5683 +aVI'm going to have something to say about this, but you just keep going. +p5684 +aVYes, I'll be there. +p5685 +aVYou know, Martha, it may be out of the barn in that the Iranians may be moving towards a nuclear program, because this nuclear deal actually gives them a time frame up the road when they are going to be able to do that kind of program. And that's very dangerous because it means people in the Middle East have to begin to react to that right now. The United States, I think, has to continue to exercise its influence in the Middle East, stay active, and not do this pull-back type of program that we are seeing all over the place with President Obama, which is creating this kind of danger. The world is a more dangerous place now than when I was an intelligence agent. We have not only this international guerrilla war but also these challenges from these other countries as well. But, Martha, I want to say one more thing to you and Bill. I disagree with Carly Fiorina when she says that it's just a political class in Washington. The truth is that the country has changed. And there are powerful forces at this point that are really controlling our lives. And that's why people are so angry. One of those is government, which is regulating everything through the Environmental Protection Agency, through other places. But the biggest one is the organized establishment media. And I just noticed just now you gave Carly Fiorina two one-minute answers in a row. This media across the country is manipulating and shaping and framing this campaign and has been for at least a year now in order to get the kind of choices that people are going to have an opportunity to see. This is wrong. It has to change. And when I'm president, it's going to change. +p5686 +aVI'll take it. +p5687 +aVMartha, I just visited a community mental health clinic in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, just three days ago, as a matter of fact. And when I was governor of Virginia, I tried to move more of those resources into the community, which will give us the facilities and the abilities to begin to identify people who actually might be dangerous and who abuse Second Amendment rights. But I do believe this is one of the really principle issues in this campaign. The president and Hillary Clinton are working very hard to change the culture of this country in order to put us in a position where we can't exercise Second Amendment rights. That's wrong. I am a board member of the National Rifle Association. The reason I'm a board member is because I believe that individuals in this country can be trusted to exercise their rights under the Second Amendment and under the Bill of Rights. To take away people's Second Amendment rights is to redefine the individual in the society, and I'm not going to put up with it. As President of the United States, when Jim Gilmore's President of the United States, I can tell you this. Gun control is not going to be an issue. If gun control... ... comes to the President's desk when I'm president, I'll veto it as fast as it takes Hillary Clinton to eliminate her emails. +p5688 +aVYou know Bill, that raises, I think, the question of the future of the Republican party. The question is -- first of all, I stand second to no one in standing up to radical Islamism. I understand that +p5689 +aVWell, thank you very much, Bill. And, thank you, and Fox and Google for including me in this debate tonight. I think it's been a wonderful opportunity. I'm the son of a meat cutter. My father worked for Safeway stores for 45 years. My mother was a secretary, she ended her career as the Secretary for the Methodist Bishop. I didn't have a father that could give me a million dollar loan to start my business. But, my father did talk character, and he provided for his family, and he was a wonderful example. And, I'm not about to go across town tonight to carry the coat for some billionaire. Instead, I intend to run for President of the United States, speak to the issue of this international war, and challenge that we're in. This issue of veterans rights, and the issue of Second Amendment rights, and I ask for your support... +p5690 +aVI think the times are different now. I think the times are much more serious. Because Obama and Clinton policies, the United States is moving further and further into a decline. I want to reverse that decline. That's why I've entered this race, and I think I have the experience to do it. Former elected prosecutor, attorney general, governor, I was elected to all of those offices. A person who, in fact, has a long experience in foreign-policy issues, which is different from many of the other governors and prospective governors who are running. I was an Army intelligence agent and a veteran during the Cold War, assigned to West Germany. I was the chairman of the National Commission on Homeland Security and Terrorism for the United States for five years. I was a person who has dealt extensively with these homeland security issues. I was a governor during the 9/11 attack. I understand both of these issues, how to build the economy and doing that as a governor who'd built jobs, had cut taxes and also a governor who understands foreign-policy, and that's why I entered this race. +p5691 +aVWell, yes, indeed. I chaired the National Commission on Homeland Security Committee for United States. We warned about the 9/11 attack before the 9/11 attack occurred. I was the governor during the 9/11 attack when the Pentagon was struck. And I'm going to tell you this, we need to use the benefit of our law enforcement people across this country, combined with our intelligence people across this country. We need to use our technological advantages, because what we've warned of is an international guerrilla movement that threatens this country. It's going to happen in this country, there are going to be further attacks. We have to be prepared to defend the American people, prepare them for a long war, stand up for the defense of this country, and stand up for the values of this country... +p5692 +aVI'll tell them that we're going to grow the economy so that we can give people better opportunities so they don't have to rely exclusively on benefit types of programs. Some do, but many Americans are dying to have an opportunity to grow and to create something inside this economy. And I'm glad that I have a chance to answer this question. I've had the growth code (ph) there for about five years, and it's this specific program. We're going to do a tax cut for all Americans. We're going to have a three-bracket tax code, 10, 15 and 25 percent. We're going to combine all commercial activity in business into one place in the tax code and charge it 15 percent, which is going to suddenly make us competitive with the rest of the world. And we're going to eliminate the death tax. With a couple of additional tweaks, we know what this will do. It will cause the economy to grow, to explode, to create more jobs. And first of all, we've got to recognize that there is problem that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have caused. And that problem is too big regulations like the EPA, too much new taxes on business that we have seen and "Obamacare." These are drags on the economy, it's a deliberate drag. I propose to reverse that and get this economy moving again. +p5693 +aVWell, as you know, I'm a former elected prosecutor, a former elected attorney general, trained at the University of Virginia in constitutional law, and I don't believe in litmus tests except this. I believe we should be appointing Supreme Court justices who will follow the law and not try to make the law. Now, the challenge we're seeing today is that the Supreme Court is being converted into some type of political body. They have to have some legal basis and precedence for being able to follow the law instead of making the law up, and my goal is -- in appointing Supreme Court justices, would be to point -- to appoint justices who would follow the law. Bill, I want to say one more thing about... +p5694 +aVNot -- not on that, no. But let me say one more thing. I want to -- before my time runs out I want to get back to this issue of +p5695 +aVWell, it's not a matter of what the first executive order would be, Bill. The matter is what orders exist now that shouldn't exist? The president has done an executive order with respect to illegal immigration that is illegal. Illegal. And it creates a -- a contempt for the law, for the rule of law. If i were the president of the United States, I would go and look at every executive order that exists right now and determine which ones want to be voided, because the president shouldn't be legislating: not through that vehicle or any other. We should be relying upon the leadership of the Congress to pass the laws. +p5696 +aVProfessional politician that can't be trusted. +p5697 +aVWell, I was a conservative governor of Virginia, I governed that way, and that's my track record. But the key thing that we're seeing now is serious challenges to this country that must change, the direction of this nation must change. And that's why I've offered a specific program to the people of America tonight to address the fundamental problem of getting our country growing again, getting our economy growing, wages up, opportunities for people. And second, the international crisis we are facing is most dreadful and most dangerous. I have the experience as a prosecutor, attorney general, governor, United States Army intelligence veteran, governor during the 9/11 attack, chairman of the Terrorism Commission for this country. It's time for real substance and real experience. And that's what I'll offer to the people of the United States in this candidacy for the presidency. Mac +p5698 +asVSANTELLI +p5699 +(lp5700 +VSenator Cruz, let's focus on our central bank, the Federal Reserve. You've been a fierce critic of the Fed, arguing for more transparency. Where do you want to take that? Do you want to get Congress involved in monetary policy, or is it time to slap the Fed back and downsize them completely? What are your thoughts? What do you believe? +p5701 +aVSenator Paul, the same question to you. +p5702 +aVThank you, Senator. Dr. Carson, you told The Des Moines Register that you don't like government subsidies, it interferes with the free market. But you've also said that you're in favor of taking oil subsidies and putting them towards ethanol processing. Isn't that just swapping one subsidy for another, Doctor? +p5703 +aVThank you, Doctor. Becky? +p5704 +aVThanks, John. Governor Pataki. +p5705 +aVHow are you doing tonight? +p5706 +aVListen, America's central bank, the Federal Reserve, they've kept interest rates near zero since the 2008 financial crisis. And, by the way, they had a meeting today, you think they raised rates? No. Shocking, isn't it? +p5707 +aVListen, it's been a rough ride for American savers and retirees, they really rely on this interest income. And it's been a bonanza for the stock market, a bonanza. And for investors that like the little bit more risk, it's been a bonanza for them as well. So I guess what I'm asking is, do you think this policy is fair and do you support it? +p5708 +aVThanks, Governor. Senator Santorum, in the 2012 presidential debate, you were for the export-import bank, which facilitates government funding for U.S. exports. American companies like GE and Boeing are among the beneficiaries. But you said that killing the bank here \u2014 and I'm going to quote you \u2014 "is the last thing a true conservative should be doing." I don't know, government-backed funding isn't normally what I hear from true conservatives. So why is this situation different? +p5709 +asVMACCALLUM +p5710 +(lp5711 +VSo it will come as no surprise that there is an idea out there that there is a civil war brewing within the GOP over the meaning of conservative and the question of who is electable. There are some in the GOP who are so outraged by Trump and Cruz that they say they would actually rather have Hillary Clinton in the White House. So, Carly Fiorina, I ask you this. Is your party in crisis? +p5712 +aVGovernor Huckabee, word is that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is considering getting into this race. If he does, that would make four New Yorkers, including Sanders, Clinton, and Trump. One candidate in this race has criticized so-called "New York values". So tell me, in your opinion, are New York values different than Iowa values? +p5713 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum, according to Google, the Paris terror attacks were the largest story that was searched in 2015, with nearly 1 billion searches of that story worldwide. There have been at 18 terror attacks so far this year -- in just January alone, in 2016, and it will likely, as we all know, get worse. But what can an American president do to stop these terrifying killings? +p5714 +aVThank you, Senator. +p5715 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you have said when it comes to +p5716 +aVThank you. +p5717 +aVComing up, we're going to have more on the top issues in this campaign, and you can engage in tonight's conversation right from home. Go to google.com, search "FOX News debate." You can vote on which candidate you think is winning so far in tonight's debate. And you can check results after the debate is over. We are back in a moment live from the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. +p5718 +aVAlright, Governor Huckabee, government grows and grows. In fact, neighborhoods in and around the Beltway get richer and richer all the time while our manufacturing towns are disappearing. Still Republicans from Reagan to Bush have bowed to shrink the size of government, but it never works. Is this Presidency, and presidency, simply too small a David to slay the Goliath of government? +p5719 +aVAlright, Carly Fiorina, you've said that you can get the tax code down to three short simple pages. But, when lobbyists who have twisted the arms of members of Congress come sit with you in the Oval Office and say, "Madam President, sorry, I cannot be with you on this one," you may understand what previous presidents have gone through. No? +p5720 +aVSenator Santorum, Bernie Sanders asked a woman in Iowa what it's like to live in poverty. She broke down in tears, saying that she lives on less than $10,000 a year and that she is ashamed every day. She leans on her parents for help. She says she can't buy presents for her children. We are all sympathetic to this woman's plight. On the other hand, the G.O.P. is supposed to be the party of smaller government. So what would you look her in the eye and say? +p5721 +aVThank you, Senator. +p5722 +aVGovernor Gilmore, thanks to the Iranian nuclear deal, President Rouhani is currently on a tour of Europe meeting with our closest allies in France and Italy. In fact, he has already landed some 50 to 85 billion are the estimates in deals with those countries, with our allies. More on the way. You and others say that you would rip up that deal. But, really, by the time the next president is in office, won't that horse be well out of the barn? +p5723 +aVWe have another question for you, Governor Gilmore, back to back, here we go. According to Google... +p5724 +aVYou got it. According to Google, gun control is the most searched issue last month, making up nearly 80 percent of all the U.S. searches. People are looking for information on guns. When it comes to the tragic mass killings that we have seen in this country, Donald Trump says that what we need to do is build quote "more institutions for people who are sickos." Charles Krauthammer also says that in some cases involuntary commitment would help. And you have agreed with that. Given that institutions would be extraordinarily expensive to begin building, how much is too much to ask on this from the American taxpayer? +p5725 +aVThank you, Governor Gilmore. +p5726 +aVStill more to come from the Republican Presidential debate tonight. And, see how the campaigns are responding to the debate in realtime, go to Google.com and open your google search app. Type in, "Fox News Debate". We'll see you, just a moment -- back. +p5727 +aVWe are back live at the Iowa events center and this question goes to Carly Fiorina. In the last debate you said as part of your introduction, quote, " And unlike the other woman candidate in this case I actually love spending time with my husband." +p5728 +aVBut back in September in an interview you said that you would stick only to the record, your record versus Hillary Clinton's record. And never resort to personal attacks. So what changed? +p5729 +aVAll right. Carly, I want to stay with you on this next question as well. You waded into the Planned Parenthood early on. You took some heat for it. Now the people who shot that undercover video are the ones who got indicted and Planned Parenthood is untouched. Hillary Clinton has been crowing about this. Any regrets about this? +p5730 +aVThank you Carly Fiorina. Let me just ask a quick question here to Senator Santorum. Carly Fiorina was the only one of the GOP candidates to attend the March for Life in Washington last week. Where were you. +p5731 +aVAll right. Coming up, we will have the closing statements from our candidates tonight as we continue live from the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. We'll be right back. +p5732 +aVAlright, let's go now to Senator Rick Santorum. +p5733 +aV +p5734 +aVCarly Fiorina. +p5735 +aVThank you, Carly. +p5736 +aVIn one hour, seven more candidates take the stage for a debate hosted by Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly, and Chris Wallace. But, up next, the O'Reilly Factor. Good night everybody. +p5737 +asVCOONEY +p5738 +(lp5739 +VThanks, John. Candidates, we've already heard your answers on what you would do with Syrian refugees, but a crucial part of the immigration debate here at home is control of our own borders. Republicans say the borders -- securing borders is a top priority. Democrats say they want to plan for comprehensive immigration reform. So, Governor O'Malley, are you willing to compromise on this particular issue to focus on border security first in favor of keeping the country safe? O' +p5740 +aVThank you. Now, Secretary Clinton said you would go further than the President when it comes to taking executive action to implement immigration reforms. But the President's already facing legal trouble on this. We've seen it more just in the past week. Realistically, how could you go further with executive action? +p5741 +aVKathie. +p5742 +aVSenator -- Senator Sanders, we've heard a lot about this, your offer -- you want to offer free tuition to public universities and colleges. A couple of questions about this. 63 percent of those who enroll graduate. First question, isn't this throwing a lot of money away if we're looking at a third of these people are not going to complete college? +p5743 +aVWell, one of the things you want to do is to have the states pay for about a third of this $70 billion plan, correct? +p5744 +aVThere are 16 states that are running budget deficits right now. Where are are they expected to come up with this? +p5745 +aVGovernor O'Malley, jump in now. O' +p5746 +aVAll right, Nancy Cordes has a question. +p5747 +asVMCELVEEN +p5748 +(lp5749 +VSecretary Clinton, how does your plan differentiate from your opponents? +p5750 +aVThank you Secretary Clinton, thank you. +p5751 +aVBack to you David. +p5752 +aVThank you, David. And good evening, candidates. Mr. Trump, you have said, quote, "I love eminent domain" which is the seizure of private property for the sake of the greater good theoretically. You tried to use the measure in business endeavors, you've said you'd support its use for the Keystone Pipeline project. Here in New Hampshire, a project, though, known as the Northern pass would bring hydro-electric power from Canada into the Northeastern grid. Do you see eminent domain as an appropriate tool to get that done? +p5753 +aVSo would that be yes on the Northern Pass project? +p5754 +aVMr. Trump, take 30 seconds. +p5755 +aVAll right, gentlemen... +p5756 +aVGentlemen, we do have to move forward. Dave, Martha, back to you. +p5757 +aVYou're all aware, candidates, this is a major problem here in New Hampshire. It's a very deadly problem as well. Last month, New Hampshire senators Kelly Ayotte, Republican, and Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat, they went down to Washington, along with the police chief of the state's largest city to testify before the Judiciary Committee in D.C. Senator Cruz, you're a member of that committee. Your campaign schedule didn't allow you to attend this. Even so, the police chief called your absence outrageous, given the severity of the problem. Last week, though, you told a personal story of a close family member's struggle with addiction. What can you say to law enforcement right now to convince them that you understand the severity of this problem and you're not just saying what people want to hear days before the primary? +p5758 +aVAnd Governor Christie, you have talked a lot about this issue here in New Hampshire. State reforms, criminal justice reforms, access to treatment. To Senator Cruz's point, let's take it a step further. Would you be willing to engage in cross-border enforcement into Mexico, a place where law enforcement in New Hampshire has traced at lot of this supply back to. Would you engage in cross-border enforcement without the cooperation without the Mexican government? +p5759 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you very much. David, Martha, back to you. +p5760 +aVThank you, Martha. None of you on stage tonight have ever worn a uniform as a member of the armed services. That's the reality of it. But as commander-in-chief, you'll also be charged with the care of 23 million active duty service members and veterans in this country. Some have suggested privatizing the V.A. as a way to enhance care and increase the quality of the care and access. Others say that veterans should carry I.D. cards that allow them access to any hospital or health care provider. Governor Bush, what specifically would you do to ensure that those who have sacrificed for us are cared for? +p5761 +aVGovernor Kasich, do you have a favored approach? +p5762 +aVSenator Rubio, go ahead? +p5763 +aVSenator Rubio, thanks very much. Going to move forward now. David, Martha, back to you. +p5764 +asVLOPEZ +p5765 +(lp5766 +VGracias, Anderson. Senator Sanders, in 2013, you voted for immigration reform. But in 2007, when Democrats controlled Congress and the Bush White House was onboard, you voted against it. Why should Latino voters trust you now when you left them at the altar at the moment when reform was very close? +p5767 +aVTom Harkin isn't running for president. You are. +p5768 +aVSecretary Clinton \u2014 Secretary Clinton, Governor O'Malley wants to open up Obamacare to millions of undocumented immigrants and their children, including almost 90,000 people right here in Nevada. Do you? +p5769 +aVGovernor O'Malley? O' +p5770 +aVSenator Webb, do you support the undocumented immigrants getting Obamacare? +p5771 +aV...Thank you, Senator. +p5772 +aVThank you, Anderson. Senator Sanders, right here in Nevada, there will be a measure to legalize recreational marijuana on the 2016 ballot. You've said you smoked marijuana twice; it didn't quite work for you. If you were a Nevada resident, how would you vote? +p5773 +aVSecretary Clinton, you told Christiane Amanpour you didn't smoke pot when you were young, and you're not going to start now. When asked about legalizing recreational marijuana, you told her let's wait and see how it plays out in Colorado and Washington. It's been more than a year since you've said that. Are you ready to take a position tonight? +p5774 +asVDICKERSON +p5775 +(lp5776 +VBefore we start the debate here are the rules. The candidates have one minute to respond to our questions and 30 seconds to respond to our follow-up. Any candidate who is attacked by another candidate gets 30 seconds for rebuttal. Here's how we'll keep time, after a question is asked the green light goes on. When there are 15 seconds left the candidate gets a yellow warning light. And when time's up the light turns red. That means stop talking. Those are the rules. So let's get started. You will each have one minute for an opening statement to share your thoughts about the attacks in your Paris and lay out your visions for America. First, Senator Sanders. +p5777 +aVAll right, Senator Sanders. Secretary Clinton. +p5778 +aVGovernor O'Malley. O' +p5779 +aVAll right, thank you, Governor. Thank all of you. The terror attacks last night underscore biggest challenge facing the next president of the United States. At a time of crisis, the country and the world look to the president for leadership and for answers. So, Secretary Clinton, I'd like to start with you. Hours before the attacks, President Obama said, "I don't think +p5780 +aVBut as -- Secretary Clinton, the question was about, was +p5781 +aVOkay, Governor O'Malley, would you critique the administration's response to +p5782 +aVSenator Sanders, you said you want to rid the planet of +p5783 +aVQuickly, just let me ask you a follow-up on that, Senator Sanders. When you say the disastrous vote on Iraq, let's just be clear about what you're saying. You're saying Secretary Clinton, who was then Senator Clinton, voted for the Iraq war. And are you making a direct link between her vote for that or and what's happening now for +p5784 +aVAlright. Let's let Secretary Clinton respond to that. +p5785 +aVSenator Sanders let me just follow this line of thinking. You criticized then, Senator Clinton's vote. Do you have anything to criticize in the way she performed as Secretary of State? +p5786 +aVAlright. +p5787 +aVSenator let me... O' +p5788 +aVAll right, Secretary Clinton. +p5789 +aVI understand. Quickly, Senator. +p5790 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p5791 +aVLet me ask you, Secretary Clinton, a question about leadership. We're talking about what role does America take? Let me ask you about Libya. So Libya is a country in which +p5792 +aVGovernor O' Malley I want to ask you a question and you can add whatever you'd like to. But let me ask you, is the world too dangerous a place for a governor who has no foreign policy experience? O' +p5793 +aVSecretary Clinton, you mentioned radical jihadists. Marco Rubio, also running for president, said that this attack showed and the attack in Paris showed that we are at war with radical Islam. Do you agree with that characterization, radical Islam? +p5794 +aVJust to interrupt. He didn't say all Muslims. He just said radical Islam. Is that a phrase you don't... +p5795 +aVThe reason I ask is you gave a speech at Georgetown University in which you said, that it was important to show, quote, "respect, even for one's enemies. Trying to understand and in so far as psychologically possible, empathize with their perspective and point of view." Can you explain what that means in the context of this kind of barbarism? +p5796 +aVJust quickly, do either of you, radical Islam, do either of you use that phrase? +p5797 +aVGovernor O' Malley, you have been making the case when you talk about lack of forward vision, you're essentially saying that Secretary Clinton lacks that vision and this critique matches up with this discussion of language. The critique is that the softness of language betrays a softness of approach. So if this language -- if you don't call it by what it is, how can your approach be effective to the cause? that's the critique. O' +p5798 +aVSecretary Clinton, the French president has called this attack an act of war. +p5799 +aVA couple of days ago you were asked if you would declare war on +p5800 +aVAnd you think that covers all of this? +p5801 +aVIf you were in the Senate, would you be okay with the commander in chief doing that without it coming back to you? +p5802 +aVSenator, let me just -- let's add to whatever you've got to say. Refugees. You've been a little vague on what you would do about the Syrian refugees. What's your view on them now? +p5803 +aVGovernor O'Malley, you have a magic number. I think it's 65,000. Does that number go up or down based on what happened yesterday? O' +p5804 +aVJust very quickly, 65,000, the number stays? O' +p5805 +aVBut for you, what would you want? O' +p5806 +aVSecretary Clinton, let me ask you a question from twitter which has come in and this is a question on this issue of refugees. The question is, with the U.S. preparing to absorb Syrian refugees, how do you propose we screen those coming in to keep citizens safe? +p5807 +aVAlright. Senator Sanders, I'm sorry. We're going to have to take a break now. We will have more of the Democratic debate here from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. +p5808 +aVWant to turn now from terrorism to another important issue for many Americans, the financial squeeze on the the middle class. For that, we go to my CBS News Colleague, Nancy Cordes. Nancy? +p5809 +aVAll right, I am sorry, Governor, we're going to have to go, I apologize. O' +p5810 +aVGovernor -- Governor, you're breaking the rules. I'm sorry, we're going to have to cut for a commercial. We'll be right back here from Drake University here in Des Moines, Iowa. O' +p5811 +aVThere is a lot of presidential history here in Iowa. It hosted the first in the nation caucuses. Herbert Hoover was born in West Branch, and tonight, we are in Polk County, named for our 11th president, with three people who hope to be number 45. Joining my now to question them are Iowans Kevin Cooney of +p5812 +aVYou have -- you have given me the perfect segue. We are going to talk about Wall Street, but now we've got to go do a commercial. We're coming to the end of the first hour. But there's another hour behind it and we're going to talk about Wall Street so hang with us. +p5813 +aVGood evening again, as we begin the second half of the debate. Joining me in the questioning are the candidates -- of the candidates are CBS news congressional correspondent Nancy Cordes, Kevin Cooney of CBS Des Moines affiliate +p5814 +aVSenator Sanders you said that the donations to Secretary Clinton are compromising. So what did you think of her answer? +p5815 +aVGreat follow up because you -- and Secretary Clinton, you will get a chance to respond. You said they know what they're going to get. What are they going to get? +p5816 +aVHold on. He was attacked. O' +p5817 +aVHold on, he was attacked. Glass-Steagall... +p5818 +aVAll right. Senator, we have to get Governor O' Malley in. Governor, along with your answer, how many Wall Street veterans would you have in your administration? O' +p5819 +aVAnyone from Wall Street? O' +p5820 +aVHold on. +p5821 +aVAll right, I want to switch to the -- switch to the issue of guns here. Secretary Clinton, you said that Senator Sanders is not tough enough on guns, but basically he now supports roughly the same things you do. So can tell us what the exact difference is going forward between the two of you on the issue of gun control? +p5822 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to... +p5823 +aVSecretary Clinton, just a quick follow-up. You say that Senator Sanders took a vote that -- on immunity that you don't like. So if he can be tattooed by a single vote and that ruins all future opinions by him on this issue, why then isn't he right when he says your wrong vote on Iraq tattoos you forever in your judgment? +p5824 +aVBut was that a mistake, Senator? +p5825 +aVSenator, a mistake or not, your immunity vote? Quickly, before I go to... +p5826 +aVSo not a mistake? O' +p5827 +aVHold on. +p5828 +aVSorry. I'm going to bring in Nancy Cordes with a question from twitter about this exchange. +p5829 +aVFinal word. Final word, Governor O'Malley, before we go to commercial. O' +p5830 +aVWe have to -- we have to go for a commercial, Senator. I'm sorry. We have to go for a commercial here. We'll be right back with the Democratic debate here in Des Moines, Iowa on CBS. +p5831 +aVBack now in Des Moines with the candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination. Senator Sanders, I want to start with you. Let's say you're elected president. Congratulations. +p5832 +aVYou've said you'll have a revolution. +p5833 +aVBut there's a conservative revolution going on in America right now. As John Boehner knows and as Democrats know, who have lost in state houses across the country. +p5834 +aVThose conservatives are watching tonight and probably shaking their heads. So how do you deal with that part of the country? The revolution's already happening, but on the other side? +p5835 +aVSenator, as a 30-second follow-up, we've heard already tonight this figure, 92 percent of support for background checks. Let's look at that as an example. There was something 92 percent of the public was for. There had been these mass shootings. There was emotional support behind it. +p5836 +aVBipartisan support. +p5837 +aVThe president, the full force of his office. +p5838 +aVIt went nowhere. That's the model you're talking about. Nothing happened. +p5839 +aVA question from Kathie Obradovich. +p5840 +aVSecretary Clinton, just one more question on the e- mail question. For Democrats, there's an FBI investigation going on. Can you satisfy Democrats, who might worry about an another shoe dropping, that you and your staff have been totally truthful to them, and that another shoe is not going to drop? +p5841 +aVRace relations is another issue everyone cares about, and we're going to switch to that now. Governor O'Malley, let me ask you a question. The head of the FBI recently said it might be possible that some police forces are not enforcing the law, because they're worried about being caught on camera. The acting head of the drug enforcement administration said a similar thing. Where are you on this question? And what would do you if you were president, and two top members of your administration were floating that idea? O' +p5842 +aVAll right, Governor... Senator Sanders, one of your former colleagues, an African- American member of Congress, said to me recently that a young African- American man had asked him where to find hope in life. And he said, "I just don't know what to tell him about being young and black in America today." What would you tell that young African-American man? +p5843 +aVSecretary Clinton, you told some Black Lives Matter activists recently that there's a difference between rhetoric in activism and what you were trying to do, was -- get laws passed that would help what they were pushing for. But recently, at the University of Missouri, that activism was very, very effective. So would you suggest that kind of activism take place at other universities across the country? +p5844 +aVAll right, over to Kevin Cooney. +p5845 +aVThirty seconds. +p5846 +aVI'm sorry, governor. We've got to take a break or the machine breaks down. You're watching the Democratic debate here on CBS. +p5847 +aVWe begin the final segment of this debate with something none of you saw coming. Something quite unexpected. Soon after your inauguration, you will face a crisis. All presidents do. What crisis you have experienced in your life that suggests you've been testd and can face that inevitable challenge? Secretary Clinton, you first. +p5848 +aVGovernor O' Malley, what crisis proves that you're tested? O' +p5849 +aVSenator Sanders what, experience would you draw on in a crisis? +p5850 +aVAll right, Senator Sanders... We've ended the evening on crisis, which underscores and reminds us again of what happened last night. Now, let's move to closing statements. Governor O'Malley, you're first. O' +p5851 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p5852 +aVSenator Sanders? +p5853 +aVGood evening. I'm John Dickerson. This holiday weekend, as America honors our first president, we're about to hear from six men who hope to be the 45th. The candidates for the Republican nomination are here in South Carolina for their ninth debate, one week before this state holds the first-in-the-South primary. George Washington wrote that the truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains taken to bring it to light. We hope to shed some light on the candidates' positions tonight to help voters make up their minds. So gentlemen, please join us on stage. With us tonight \u2014 with us tonight are retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson of Florida, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Businessman Donald Trump of New York. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Former Governor Jeb Bush of Florida. And Governor John Kasich of Ohio. Now, as most of you have heard by now, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died today at the age of 79. He was the longest-serving member of the court, appointed by President Reagan in 1986. Justice Scalia was the court's leading conservative, and even those who disagreed with his opinions regarded him as a brilliant legal scholar. Please join us and the candidates on our stage in a moment of silence for Justice Antonin Scalia. Thank you. We will talk to the candidates about Justice Scalia and the road ahead when the debate begins in a moment. +p5854 +aVBefore we get started, candidates, here are the rules. When we ask you a question, you will have one minute to answer, and 30 seconds more if we ask a follow-up. If you're attacked by another candidate, you get 30 seconds to respond. And here's how we keep time. After we ask a question, you'll get a green light. The yellow light means you have 30 seconds left to finish your answer, and when time is up, the light turns red. That means please stop talking. If you keep talking, you'll hear this. You don't want to hear that. Joining me in the questioning tonight, my CBS News colleague, chief White House correspondent Major Garrett, and Kimberley Strassel, who is on the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal. And you can participate in the debate through our partnership with Twitter. Tweet us your questions and comments using the hashtag "# +p5855 +aVSo, just to be clear on this, Mr. Trump, you're O.K. with the president nominating somebody ... +p5856 +aVGovernor Kasich, I want to get your thoughts on this. Justice Scalia was a real believer, obviously, in the strict word of the Constitution. Now, Harry Reid says that a failure to fill his vacancy would be, quote, "shameful abdication of one of the Senate's most essential constitutional responsibilities." Where do you come down on this? +p5857 +aVDr. Carson. Dr. Carson, you, like others, put out a statement after the death was announced, and you said the president should delay. You've written a book on the Constitution recently. What does the Constitution say about whose duty it is here to act in this kind of a situation? +p5858 +aVSenator Rubio, you're a... Senator Rubio, you're a lawyer. Quickly, can you address the issue of whether the Constitution tells us who has the power to appoint Supreme Court justices? And then, also, the Senate Republicans last year floated an idea of removing the filibuster for Senate \u2014 excuse me, for Supreme Court nominations. You seemed open to that. What's your feeling on that now? +p5859 +aVQuickly, though, on this question... Very quickly, Senator, on this specific question, though. You were once in favor of dropping the threshold... +p5860 +aV... majority \u2014 you were never in favor of that? +p5861 +aVO.K. Thank you, Senator. Governor Bush, I would like to ask you, conservatives for a long time have felt like that their Republican presidents have picked justices that didn't turn out to be real conservatives. +p5862 +aVBernie Sanders has said he would have a litmus test. He would make sure that he appointed a justice who was going to overturn Citizens United. If they can have a litmus test for a nominee, what about you? Would you have a litmus test for a nominee? And what would it be? +p5863 +aVRight, so, Senator Cruz, the Constitution... So, Senator Cruz, the Constitution says the president "shall appoint with advice and consent from the Senate," just to clear that up. So he has the constitutional power. But you don't think he should. Where do you set that date if you're president? Does it begin in election year, in December, November, September? And once you set the date, when you're president, will you abide by that date? +p5864 +aVJust can I \u2014 I'm sorry to interrupt, were any appointed in an election year, or is that just there were 80 years... +p5865 +aVBut Kennedy was confirmed in '88. +p5866 +aVHe was appointed in '87. +p5867 +aV... confirmed in '88. That's the question, is it appointing or confirming, what's the difference? +p5868 +aVSorry, I just want to get the facts straight for the audience. But I apologize. +p5869 +aVAll right. Thank you, Senator Cruz. All right, we're going to move on to national security here, and we are going to \u2014 I want to read a quote from Secretary Robert Gates, former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who served for eight year \u2014 under eight presidents. And this is what he said about Republican candidates, quote, "Part of the concern that I have with the campaign is that the solutions being offered are so simplistic and so at odds with the way the world really works." So, in that spirit, we're going to work tonight to be more specific. Mr. Trump, I want to start with you. You have said as president, you'll get up to speed very quickly. You'll know more quickly as president than any of the experts. So, you've been elected president. It's your first day in the Situation Room. What three questions do you ask your national security experts about the world? +p5870 +aVSenator Rubio \u2014 just 30 seconds on this question, Senator Rubio. Are those the questions you would ask? +p5871 +aVLet me ask you a follow-up, a full, proper question, then. Violent extremists are operating or active in 40 countries. Some 80 countries are in different degrees of instability. And so, that's just the crises overseas. Barack Obama walked into an economic collapse when he came into office. We face international health crises, from Ebola to Zika. So, there is a lot of opportunity for crisis, as you have talked about. What would you point to in your past to show voters that you've been in a crisis and that you've been tested when that inevitable crisis comes when you're president? +p5872 +aVDr. Carson, I want to ask you a question... Dr. Carson, you said you've had more 2 a.m. \u2014 2 a.m. phone calls than anybody up on this stage. But when those 2 a.m. phone calls came, you operated on a foundation of all of that amazing medical work that you did, all of that learning. So if you were to be president, though, you wouldn't have the political foundation that hones those instincts when the 2 a.m. phone call comes. So isn't that a liability? +p5873 +aVGovernor Kasich, Russia is being credited......Russia is being credited with bombing U.S.-backed rebels on behalf of Assad in Aleppo and Syria. They've also moved into the Crimea, eastern Ukraine. You've said you want to punch them in the nose. What does that mean? What are you going to do? +p5874 +aVGovernor......Governor Bush. +p5875 +aVYou said defeating +p5876 +aVMr. Trump, you're......Mr. Trump, you were mentioned here. You did say that you could get along very well with Vladimir Putin. You did at one point say let Russia take care of +p5877 +aV... All right... +p5878 +aV... All right, Governor Bush, please respond. +p5879 +aV... O.K., settle... +p5880 +aV... All right, Mr. Trump, all right... +p5881 +aVGentleman, I think we're going to leave that there. I've got a question for Senator... +p5882 +aV... All right, all right, gentlemen, gentlemen, let's leave it there so I can ask a question of Senator Cruz, who's also running for president. Senator Cruz, you talked about the first Gulf War as being a kind of model for your focused and determined effort to go after +p5883 +aVVery quickly, 30-second follow-up. You've said that, essentially, the Kurds would be the American ground forces in there. The criticism that experts have on that is that the Kurds only can work within their territory. If they take larger amounts of territory, you have an ethnic war with the Arabs. So the Kurds can't really do as much as you seem to be putting on their backs. +p5884 +aVAll right. Mr. Trump......On Monday, George W. Bush will campaign in South Carolina for his brother. As you've said tonight, and you've often said, the Iraq war and your opposition to it was a sign of your good judgment. In 2008, in an interview with Wolf Blitzer, talking about President George W. Bush's conduct of the war, you said you were surprised that Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi didn't try to impeach him. You said, quote: "Which, personally, I think would have been a wonderful thing." When you were asked what you meant by that and you said: "For the war, for the war, he lied, he got us into the war with lies." Do you still believe President Bush should have been impeached? +p5885 +aVSo... +p5886 +aVBut so I'm going to \u2014 so you still think he should be impeached? +p5887 +aVAll right. O.K. All right. Governor Bush \u2014 when a member on the stage's brother gets attacked... +p5888 +aV... the brother gets to respond. +p5889 +aVGovernor Kasich, would you weigh in on......Governor Kasich, please weigh in. +p5890 +aVWhy is it nuts? Talk about it. Give us your sense of... +p5891 +aVThirty seconds, Senator Rubio. +p5892 +aVAll right, Dr. Carson, we have a cleansing... +p5893 +aVWe have a cleansing... +p5894 +aVAll right. Well, Dr. Carson, I have got a question now for you. A moment of pause here. You have said, Dr. Carson, that \u2014 referring to yourself, that people bought into the idea that, quote, "A nice person can't be tough on terrorists." You have called for loosening the rules of engagement for the military, which could lead to more civilian casualties. So, explain why those casualties would be acceptable in the fight against +p5895 +aVAll right, thank you, Dr. Carson. We're going to have to take a commercial break here. Thank you to all the candidates. We'll be right back with CBS News's 2016 debate in Greenville, South Carolina. +p5896 +aVWe're back with the Republicans who could be president. The topic now is money and how the candidates would spend it. We'll turn the questioning over to Kimberley Strassel of The Wall Street Journal and Major Garrett of CBS News. Kim? +p5897 +aVDr. Carson, before we go to break, could you give us your sense of this conversation about either Medicaid or economic growth through taxation? +p5898 +aVDoctor... +p5899 +aV... Dr. Carson, I'm sorry, we have to go to a commercial. The free market wants what it wants. Back soon with the 2016 Republican debate in Greenville, South Carolina. +p5900 +aVWelcome back. We'll begin the second half of the debate with one of the hottest issues in the Republican campaign, immigration. But before I turn it back to Major Garrett and Kim Strassel, I have one question for Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump, in the Republican National Committee's Spanish-language response to the State of the Union, Congressman Diaz-Balart said, quote, "It's essential that we find a legislative solution," talking about immigration, "to offer a permanent and humane solution to those who live in the shadows. What does that mean to you, "a humane solution to those who live in the shadows"? +p5901 +aVSenator Cruz, I have a question for you. Speaker Paul Ryan has made a big commitment to trying to lift the 50 million poor out of poverty. Arthur Brooks, who is the president of the American Enterprise Institute, says, quote, "If we are not warriors for the poor every day, free enterprise has no matter." How you have been, in your campaign, a warrior for the poor? +p5902 +aVAll right. Mr. Trump, thank you so much. We're going to take a break for a moment. We'll be back in a moment with the CBS News Republican debate. +p5903 +aVWe're back now from Greenville, South Carolina, with the candidates for the Republican presidential nomination. Mr. Trump, I have a question for you. Presidents have to, on the one hand, be firm, but also be flexible. You have been flexible and changed your opinion on a number of things, from abortion to Hillary Clinton. But you have said, rightly, that it's just like Ronald Reagan, who changed his mind on things. But at the same time, you're criticizing Senator Cruz for what you say is a change on immigration. He disputes that, of course. So, why is your change of opinion make you like Reagan, and when he changes his opinion, it's a huge character flaw? +p5904 +aVWhich conservative idea don't you agree with? +p5905 +aVAll right. Governor Bush, I think by "they," he is referring to your brother, these on the hook for your brother. +p5906 +aVBut that was his brother. +p5907 +aVHold on, gentleman, I'm going to turn this car around. +p5908 +aVAll right, gentlemen. +p5909 +aVWell, hold on. We're going to \u2014 gentlemen, we're in danger of driving this into the dirt. Senator Rubio, I'd like you to jump in here... +p5910 +aVI understand, you're on deck, governor. +p5911 +aVSenator Cruz, 30 seconds on this one. +p5912 +aVWe're going to switch... +p5913 +aVWe're going to switch here to Senator Marco Rubio. Senator Marco Rubio, please weigh in. +p5914 +aVI thought you had a point? +p5915 +aVI thought you had a point you wanted to make. +p5916 +aVYou're on deck, sir. +p5917 +aVSenator, I wanted to ask you, just going back to immigration, in the last debate, you listed your series of accomplishments in the Senate. One thing you left off was \u2014 was immigration reform. Is it the case that in your list of accomplishments you can't mention that? +p5918 +aVDr. Carson, I have......Dr. Carson, I have a question for you. Candidates are... +p5919 +aVAll right. You have 30 seconds, Doctor. +p5920 +aVDr. Carson, I \u2014 let me ask you a different question. When you were \u2014 you were the first one, really, to talk about political correctness. Everybody now talks about it, but that was really what sparked your \u2014 your rise. Politicians are often accused of glossing over any hard choices people have to make, just always selling happy, nice things. So in the \u2014 in the spirit of saying something that might be politically incorrect, tell the voters something that they need to hear but that might be politically incorrect? +p5921 +aVGovernor Kasich. Governor Kasich, you've been described as the Democrats' favorite Republican. You talked about in New Hampshire, Democrats would come up to you and say, "I hope you win." Why will that help you win a Republican nomination? +p5922 +aVMr. Trump, let me ask you a question. Presidents in both parties say that the one thing you need in your administration is somebody who can tell you you're wrong. You don't necessarily seem like somebody who has somebody who tells you you're wrong a lot. Can you tell us of an instance where somebody has said, "Donald Trump, you're wrong," and you listened to them? +p5923 +aVAbout what? +p5924 +aVLet me \u2014 something, in talking to voters that they wish somebody would tell you to cut it out is the profanity. What's your reaction to that? +p5925 +aVAll right. O.K. Governor Bush, I'd like to ask you... +p5926 +aVWell, can I \u2014 how about you respond, and then you can answer the question I'm about to ask you. +p5927 +aVIt'll be... +p5928 +aVIf we adjudicate this, the night will be over. Governor, in 2012, you said that your father and Ronald Reagan would have a hard time in today's Republican Party, based on their records of trying to find accommodation and finding some degree of common ground. Do you still feel that way? +p5929 +aVHold on, Mr. Trump. +p5930 +aVHold on, Mr. Trump. +p5931 +aVO.K., Mr. Trump, your response. +p5932 +aVThe bells are ringing, sir. +p5933 +aVAll right. Thank you. Senator Rubio, I want to ask you a 30-second question, no president can... +p5934 +aVNo \u2014 well, I'll ask the question, you do what you want. +p5935 +aVNo president can know everything, right? So a smart leader knows how to ask questions. So if you could talk to any previous president, what's the smart question you would ask about that job that you would want to know? +p5936 +aVAll right. That's going to have to be it there, Senator Rubio. We have got to go to a break. We will be right back with the CBS News Republican debate in Greenville, South Carolina. +p5937 +aVTime now for closing statements. You will each have one minute, and we'll begin with Governor Kasich. +p5938 +aVDr. Carson \u2014 Dr. Carson, you're next. +p5939 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor Bush. +p5940 +aVSenator Cruz? Senator Cruz, your closing statement? +p5941 +aVMr. Trump, your closing statements? +p5942 +as. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/downloads/data/script21.pickle b/downloads/data/script21.pickle new file mode 100644 index 0000000..13220f8 --- /dev/null +++ b/downloads/data/script21.pickle @@ -0,0 +1,12374 @@ +(dp0 +VWEBB +p1 +(lp2 +VThank you. You know, people are disgusted with the way that money has corrupted our political process, intimidating incumbents and empowering Wall Street every day, the turnstile government that we see, and also the power of the financial sector in both parties. They're looking for a leader who understands how the system works, who has not been coopted by it, and also has a proven record of accomplishing different things. I have a record of working across the political aisle. I've also spent more than half of my professional life away from politics in the independent world of being an author, a journalist, and a sole proprietor. In government service, I've fought and bled for our country in Vietnam as a Marine. I spent years as Assistant Secretary of Defense, Secretary of the Navy \u2014 in the Reagan administration. In the senate, I spoke about economic fairness and social justice from day one. I also wrote and passed the best piece of veterans education legislation in history, the Post 9/11 G.I. Bill. I brought criminal justice reform out of the political shadows and into the national discussion. I led what later became called the Strategic Pivot to Asia two years before President Obama was elected. I know where my loyalties are. My mother grew up in the poverty of east Arkansas chopping cotton, picking strawberries. Three of her seven siblings died in childhood. My wife, Hong, came to this country as a refugee from war torn Vietnam \u2014 learned English, a language that was not spoken at home, and earned her way into Cornell Law School. I have five daughters. Amy works with disabled veterans, Sarah is an emergency room nurse, Julia is a massage therapist, Emily and Georgia are still in school. My son Jim fought as an infantry Marine on the bloody streets of Ramadi. You may be sure that in a Webb administration, the highest priority will be the working people who every day go out and make this country stronger at home, and who give us the right reputation and security overseas under a common sense foreign policy. +p3 +aVNo, actually I believe that I am where the Democratic Party traditionally has been. The Democratic Party, and the reason I've decided to run as a Democrat, has been the party that gives people who otherwise have no voice in the corridors of power a voice. And that is not determined by race. And as a clarification, I have always supported affirmative action for African Americans. That's the way the program was originally designed because of their unique history in this country, with slavery and the Jim Crow laws that followed. What I have discussed a number of times is the idea that when we create diversity programs that include everyone, quote, "of color," other than whites, struggling whites like the families in the Appalachian mountains, we're not being true to the Democratic Party principle of elevating the level of consciousness among our people about the hardships that a lot of people who happen to be have \u2014 by culture, by the way. +p4 +aVLook, there are two fundamental issues that are involved in this discussion. We need to pay respect to both of them. The first is the issue of who should be kept from having guns and using firearms. And we have done not a good job on that. A lot of them are criminals. And a lot of the people are getting killed are members of gangs inside our urban areas. And a lot of them are mentally incapacitated. And the shooting in Virginia Tech in '07, this individual had received medical care for mental illness from three different professionals who were not allowed to share the information. So we do need background checks. We need to keep the people who should not have guns away from them. But we have to respect the tradition in this country of people who want to defend themselves and their family from violence. +p5 +aVMay I? People are going back and forth here for 10 minutes here. There are people at high levels in this government who have bodyguards 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The average American does not have that, and deserves the right to be able to protect their family. +p6 +aVAnderson, can I come into this discussion at some point? +p7 +aVThank you. I've been standing over here for about ten minutes, trying. +p8 +aVIt's just \u2014 it's gone back and forth over there. +p9 +aVYou got the lucky . +p10 +aVLook, let's start \u2014 I've been trying to get in this conversation for about 10 minutes \u2014 let's start with why Russia is in Syria right now. There are three strategic failings that have allowed this to occur. The first was the invasion of Iraq, which destabilized ethnic elements in Iraq and empowered Iran. The second was the Arab Spring, which created huge vacuums in Libya and in Syria that allowed terrorist movements to move in there. And the third was the recent deal allowing Iran to move forward and eventually acquire a nuclear weapon, which sent bad signals, bad body language into the region about whether we are acquiescing in Iran becoming a stronger piece of the formula in that part of the world. Now, I say this as someone who spent five years in the Pentagon and who opposed the war in Iraq, whose son fought in Iraq, I've fought in Vietnam. But if you want a place where we need to be in terms of our national strategy, a focus, the greatest strategic threat that we have right now is resolving our relationship with China. And we need to do this because of their aggression in the region. We need to do it because of the way they treat their own people. +p11 +aVAnd I would say this. I've been waiting for 10 minutes. I will say this. +p12 +aVI will \u2014 well, you've let a lot of people go over their time. I would say this... +p13 +aV... to the unelected, authoritarian government of China: You do not own the South China Sea. You do not have the right to conduct cyber warfare against tens of millions of American citizens. And in a Webb administration, we will do something about that. +p14 +aVCan I... O' +p15 +aVThank you. +p16 +aVThis is not about Benghazi per se. To me it is the inevitability of something like Benghazi occurring in the way that we intervened in Libya. We had no treaties at risk. We had no Americans at risk. There was no threat of attack or imminent attack. There is plenty of time for a president to come to the Congress and request authority to use military force in that situation. I called for it on the Senate floor again and again. I called for it in Senate hearings. It is not a wise thing to do. And if people think it was a wise thing to do, try to get to the Tripoli airport today. You can't do it. +p17 +aVEverybody makes their decisions when the time there is conscription. And as long as they go through the legal process that our country requires, I respect that. And it would be for the voters to decide whether Senator Sanders or anyone else should be president. I will say this, coming from the position that I've come from, from a military family, with my brother a marine, my son was a marine in Iraq, I served as a marine, spending five years in the Pentagon, I am comfortable that I am the most qualified person standing up here today to be your commander-in-chief. +p18 +aVI believe that the signal that we sent to the region when the Iran nuclear deal was concluded was that we are accepting Iran's greater position on this very important balance of power, among our greatest ally Israel, and the Sunnis represented by the Saudi regime, and Iran. It was a position of weakness and I think it encouraged the acts that we've seen in the past several weeks. +p19 +aVOur greatest long-term strategic challenge is our relation with China. Our greatest day-to-day threat is cyber warfare against this country. Our greatest military-operational threat is resolving the situations in the Middle East. +p20 +aVI hope I can get that kind of time here. As a President of the United States, every life in this country matters. At the same time, I believe I can say to you, I have had a long history of working with the situation of African Americans. We're talking about criminal justice reform, I risked my political life raising the issue of criminal justice reform when I ran for the Senate in Virginia in 2006. I had democratic party political consultants telling me I was committing political suicide. We led that issue in the congress. We started a national debate on it. And it wasn't until then that the Republican Party started joining in. I also represented a so-called war criminal, an African American Marine who was wounded \u2014 who was convicted of murder in Vietnam, for six years. He took his life three years into this. I cleared his name after \u2014 after three years. +p21 +aVAnd I put the African American soldier on the Mall. I made that recommendation and fought for it. So, if you want someone who is \u2014 can stand up in front of you right now and say I have done the hard job, I have taken the risks, I am your person. +p22 +aVBernie, say my name so I can get into this. +p23 +aVOK. Thank you. +p24 +aVAnderson, I need to jump in (inaudible). +p25 +aVThere is a reality that I think we all need to recognize with respect to the power of the financial sector. And let me just go back a minute and say that on this +p26 +aVAll right. Well, I'm trying to set a mark here so maybe we can get into a little more later on. This hasn't been equal time. But if you want to look at what has happened, if we look at the facts in terms of how we're going to deal with this, since that crash, in the last 10 years, the amount of the world's capital economy that Wall Street manages has gone from 44 percent to 55 percent. That means the Wall Street money managers are not risking themselves as the same way the American people are when they're going to get their compensation. They're managing money from all over the world. We have to take that into consideration when we're looking at ways to regulate it. +p27 +aVI wouldn't have a problem with that. Let me start by saying my wife is an immigrant. She was a refugee, her family escaped from Vietnam on a boat-- her entire extended family, after the communists took over, when hundreds of thousands of people were out there and thousands of them were dying. Went to two refugee camps, she never spoke English in her home, and she ended, as I said, graduating from Cornell Law School. That's not only American dream, that's a value that we have with a good immigration system in place. No country has \u2014 is a country without defining its borders. We need to resolve this issue. I actually introduced an amendment in the 2007 immigration bill... +p28 +aV...Giving a pathway to citizenship to those people who had come here, and put down their roots, and met as a series of standards... +p29 +aV...lost (ph) \u2014 I introduced that in 2007 \u2014 We need a comprehensive reform, and we need to be able to define our borders. +p30 +aVI \u2014 well, I \u2014 I would leave his ultimate judgment to the legal system. Here's what I do believe. We have a serious problem in terms of the collection of personal information in this country. And one of the things that I did during the +p31 +aVI got a great deal of admiration and affection for Senator Sanders, but I \u2014 Bernie, I don't think the revolution's going to come. And I don't think the Congress is going to pay for a lot of this stuff. And if there would be a major difference between my administration and the Obama administration, it would be in the use of executive authority. I came up as a committee counsel in the Congress, used to put dozens of bills through the House floor every year as a committee counsel on the Veterans Committee. I have a very strong feeling about how our federal system works and how we need to lead and energize the congressional process instead of allowing these divisions to continue to paralyze what we're doing. So I would lead \u2014 working with both parties in the Congress and working through them in the traditional way that our Constitution sets (ph). +p32 +aVWell, the \u2014 the question really is how are we going to solve energy problems here and in the global environment if you really want to address climate change? And when I was in the Senate, I was an all-of-the-above energy voter. We introduced legislation to bring in alternate energy as well as nuclear power. I'm a strong proponent of nuclear power. It is safe, it is clean. And really, we are not going to solve climate change simply with the laws here. We've done a good job in this country since 1970. If you look at China and India, they're the greatest polluters in the world. Fifteen out of the 20 most polluted cities in the world are in one of those two countries. We need to solve this in a global way. It's a global problem and I have been very strong on \u2014 on doing that. The \u2014 the agreements \u2014 the so-called agreements that we have had with China are illusory in terms of the immediate requirements of the \u2014 of the Chinese government itself. So let's solve this problem in an international way, and then we really will have a \u2014 a way to address climate change. +p33 +aVI'd have to say the enemy soldier that threw the grenade that wounded me, but he's not around right now to talk to. +p34 +aVThank you. Ladies and gentlemen, it's been a pleasure to be with you tonight. You've heard a lot of promises up here; you've heard a lot of rhetoric. They all seem to happen during campaigns, and then once the election's over, people start from scratch again and try to get things done. One of the things I can promise you, if you look at my record, in and out of government, is that I've always been willing to take on a complicated, something unpopular issues, and work them through, the complex issues, and work them through in order to have the solution. We did it with criminal justice reform. We've had a lot of discussion here about criminal justice reform. We did it in other ways. We need a national political strategy for our economy, for our social policy, for social justice, and, by the way, for how you run and manage the most complex bureaucracy in the world, which is the federal government. I know how to lead. I did it in Vietnam, I did it in the Pentagon, I did it in the Senate, and if you will help me overcome this cavalcade of \u2014 of financial irregularities and money that is poisoning our political process, I am ready to do that for you in the White House. +p35 +asVCRAMER +p36 +(lp37 +VDr. Carson, in recent weeks, a number of pharmaceutical companies has been accused of profiteering, for dramatically raising the prices of life-saving drugs. You have spent a lifetime in medicine. Have these companies gone too far? Should the government be involved in controlling some of these price increases? +p38 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Governor Christie, there has been a lot of political rhetoric that some bank executives should have gone to jail for the 2008 financial crisis. But General Motors paid more than $1 billion in fines and settlements for its ignition switch defect. One hundred and twenty- four people died as a result of these faulty switches. No one went to jail. As a former prosecutor, do you believe the people responsible for the switch and the cover-up belong behind bars? +p39 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. +p40 +aVThank you. Governor Pataki, in the wake of the Sony hack last year, you said, quote, "at the very least, we should declare cyber-war on North Korea." What does a cyber-war look like? And if our companies are getting attacked by foreign governments, do we need a military response? +p41 +aVSenator Graham, you're a hawk. Was that tough enough? +p42 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Santorum. We know that a troubling amount of air pollution on the west coast comes from China. Should we enact a pollution tax on products imported from China and give our manufacturers a level playing field? +p43 +aVThank you, Senator. John? +p44 +asVPERRY +p45 +(lp46 +VI will tell you one thing: I would whole lot rather had Carly Fiorina over there doing our negotiation than John Kerry. Maybe we would've gotten a deal where we didn't give everything away. But the issue for us is to have a Congress that stands up and says not only no, but hell no, to this money going to a regime that is going to use it for terror... +p47 +aVIt's good to be with you. +p48 +aVAfter those four years of looking back and being prepared, the preparation to be the most powerful individual in the world requires an extraordinary amount of work: not just having been the governor of the 12th largest economy in the world, which I might add, we added 1.5 million jobs during that period of time over that 2007 through 2014 period, a period when America was going through the most deep recession it had been through since the Great Depression. I think Americans want someone to have a track record of showing them how to get this country back on record, someone who will stand up and every day project that best days of America are in front of us. And I will assure you, as the governor of the state of Texas, and as those last four years have shown me, the preparation to be ready to stand on this stage and talk about those monetary policies, those domestic policies, and those foreign policies, Americans are going to see that I am ready to be that individual. +p49 +aVWell, when you look at the celebrity of Donald Trump, then I think that says a lot about it. One thing I like to remind people is, back in 2007, Rudy Giuliani was leading the polls for almost a year. I'll suggest a part of that was his celebrity. Fred Thompson was the other one, a man who had spent a lot of time on that screen. I've had my issues with Donald Trump. I talked about Donald Trump from the standpoint of being an individual who was using his celebrity rather than his conservatism. How can you run for the Republican nomination and be for single- payer health care? I mean, I ask that with all due respect. And nobody, nobody on either one of these stages has done more than I've done and the people of the State of Texas to deal with securing that border. We sent our Texas ranger recon teams. We sent our parks and wildlife wardens. I deployed the National Guard after I stood on the ramp in Dallas, Texas and looked the president of the United States in the eye and said, "Mr. President, if you won't secure the border, Texas will," and that's exactly what we did. We need a president that doesn't just talk a game, but a president that's got real results. Mac +p50 +aVBill, here's the interesting position on this. Americans are tired of hearing this debate -- want to go to, what are you going to do about illegal immigration? For 30 years this country has been baited with that. All the way back to when Ronald Reagan signed a piece of legislation that basically allowed for amnesty for over 4 million people, and the border is still not secure. The American people are never going to trust Washington, D.C., and for good reason. We hear all this discussion about well, I would do this, or I would do that, when the fact is, the border is still porous. Until we have a president of the United States that gets up every day and goes to the Oval Office with the intent purpose of securing that border, and there's not anybody on either one of these stages that has the experience of dealing with this as I have for over 14 years with that 1200-mile border. We have to put the personnel on that border in the right places; you have to put the strategic fencing in place; and you have to have aviation assets that fly all the way from Tijuana to El Paso to Brownsville, Texas -- 1,933 miles looking down 24/7, with the technology to be able to identify what individuals are doing, and ID when they are in obviously illegal activities or suspicious activities, and quick response teams come. At that particular point in time, then Americans will believe that Washington is up to a conversation to deal with the millions of people that are here illegally, but not until. If you elect me president of the United States, I will secure that southern border. +p51 +aVWe need to be on the side that keeps Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. That's the side we need to be on, and that's the side of the bulk of the -- of the Middle East. We need to have some coalitions in that part of the world to go after +p52 +aVIt'll be a pretty busy day, but that Iran negotiation is going to be torn up on day one. We're going to start the process of securing that border. I'm also going to take a bottle of White-Out with me to get started on all those executive orders that Mr. Obama has put his name to. +p53 +aVIt will be a long day. +p54 +aVWell, let's go with three. Good at email. +p55 +aVWell, this is going to be a show me, don't tell me election. I think America is just a few good decisions and a leadership change at the top away from the best years we've ever had. And I think that the record of the governor of the last 14 years of the 12th largest economy in the world is just the medicine America is looking for. 1.5 million jobs created during the worst economic time this country has had since the Great Depression while the rest of the country lost 400,000 jobs. We're talking about a state that moved graduation rates forward from 27th in the nation to second-highest. As a matter of fact, if you're Hispanic or African-American in Texas, you have the number one high school graduation rates in America. Americans are looking for somebody that's going to give them, and there is a place in this country over the last eight years in particular that talked about hope every day, and they didn't just talk about it, they delivered it. And that was the state of Texas. And if we can do that in Texas, that 12th largest economy in the world, we can do it in America. Our best days are in front of us. We can reform those entitlements, we can change that corporate tax code and lower it. We can put America back on track on a growth level and a growth rate that we've never seen in the history of this country. Manufacturing will flow back into this country. It just needs a corporate executive type at the top that's done it before. And I will suggest to you nobody's done it like Rick Perry has done it over the last eight years. And if you elect me president, we will bring incredible growth back to this country. And as someone who's worn the uniform of the country, that's how we build our military back up. +p56 +asVLEMON +p57 +(lp58 +VAlright, Anderson, thank you very much. I'm not sure how to follow that, but this question is about something that has tripped some of the candidates up out on the campaign trail. Can you hear me? Can't hear me in the room. OK, here we go again, as I said... +p59 +aV...There we go... +p60 +aVAll right. This one is for Martin O'Malley. Anderson, Governor O'Malley, this is from Anna Bettis from Tempe, Arizona. Here it is. ( +p61 +aVSo, Governor O'Malley, please tell Anna how you would protect the environment better than all the other candidates up on that stage. O' +p62 +aVAlright, Anderson. This is for Senator Sanders, OK? This is from Carrie (ph) Kang (ph) from Manassas, Virginia, would like would like to ask the Senator, "President Obama has had a difficult time getting Republicans to compromise on just about every agenda. How will you approach this going forward, and will it be any different?" Senator? +p63 +asVRADDATZ +p64 +(lp65 +VGood evening to you all. The rules for tonight are very basic and have been agreed to by all three campaigns in advance. Candidates can take up to a minute-and-a-half to respond directly to a question. For a rebuttal, for a follow-up, 45 seconds will be allowed. There are green, yellow, and red lights that each candidate will see to signal when time is running out and when they're supposed to be finished with their answers. +p66 +aVThank you, Secretary Clinton. Governor O'Malley? O' +p67 +aVSecretary Clinton, in the wake of the San Bernardino attack, you all emphasized gun control. But our latest poll shows that more Americans believe arming people, not stricter gun laws, is the best defense against terrorism. Are they wrong? +p68 +aVSecretary Clinton, can we stick to gun control? +p69 +aVAre they wrong? +p70 +aVSenator Sanders -- wait just a moment, please, Governor O'Malley. Senator Sanders, we've seen those long lines of people buying guns in record numbers after the Paris attacks. Would you discourage people from buying a gun? +p71 +aVThank you, Senator Sanders. I think we're going to go on... O' +p72 +aVGovernor, now -- and let me stay with gun control for a minute, then. You talk about assault weapons. Even if you were able to ban the purchase of assault weapons tomorrow, Americans already own an estimated 7 to 10 million semi-automatic rifles. Would you make it illegal to own those weapons, force people to turn them in? And if not, how would banning the sales really make a difference? O' +p73 +aVBut, again, I'm not talking about buying. Would you have them confiscated? The ones that are already here? O' +p74 +aVI want to move to another... O' +p75 +aVNo, no, not yet, Governor O'Malley. O' +p76 +aVNo, not yet, Governor O'Malley. O' +p77 +aVI'll come to you when we call on you. Thank you very much. O' +p78 +aVYou'll be happy. I'll let -- I'll let you talk then. Secretary Clinton, I want to talk about a new terrorist tool used in the Paris attacks, encryption. FBI Director James Comey says terrorists can hold secret communications which law enforcement cannot get to, even with a court order. You've talked a lot about bringing tech leaders and government officials together, but Apple CEO Tim Cook said removing encryption tools from our products altogether would only hurt law-abiding citizens who rely on us to protect their data. So would you force him to give law enforcement a key to encrypted technology by making it law? +p79 +aVAnd Governor O'Malley, where do you draw the line between national security and personal security? O' +p80 +aVThank you, Governor O'Malley. +p81 +aVSenator Sanders -- Senator Sanders, we're going to move on. We're going to move on. +p82 +aVWe're going to move on to the fight against +p83 +aVOK. Let's keep going. Thank you. +p84 +aVThank you. I do want to move to the fight against +p85 +aVFor the people of New Hampshire, the brutality of +p86 +aVBut why Al Qaida, why not +p87 +aVThe administration has tried that over and over again. If it doesn't work and this threat is so great, what's your plan B? +p88 +aVSecretary Clinton, you too have ruled out a large U.S. combat force, yet you support sending in special operations forces to Syria, and sending those 100 to 200 troops to Iraq to do exploitation kill raids. We've already lost one Delta Force member in a raid. It has looked very much to me like we're already in ground combat on frequent trips I've made there. So, are you fooling Americans when you say, we're not putting American combat troops back into Syria or Iraq? No. Not at all. I think that what we're facing with +p89 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want -- I want to follow up on that. You do support sending special operations forces there. You support what the president has done already. One of the lessons people draw from Vietnam and war since is that a little force can turn into a little more and a little more. President Obama certainly didn't expect to be sending 30,000 additional troops into Afghanistan the first year of his presidency. Are you prepared to run the risk of a bigger war to achieve your goals to destroy +p90 +aVGovernor O'Malley. You've emphasized the need for more human intelligence on the ground. What is it our intelligence community is not doing now that needs to be done? O' +p91 +aVThank you. +p92 +aVSecretary Clinton, I'd like to go back to that if I could. +p93 +aVBut isn't that a decision you should make now, whether... +p94 +aV... if you're advocating this? +p95 +aVAnd we're going to move on to health care. Secretary Clinton, the Department of Health and Human Services says more than 17 million Americans who are not insured now have health coverage because of Obamacare. But for Americans who already had health insurance the cost has gone up 27 percent in the last five years while deductibles are up 67 percent, health care costs are rising faster than many Americans can manage. What's broken in Obamacare that needs to be fixed right now? And what would you do to fix it? +p96 +aVBut you did say those were glitches. +p97 +aVJust glitches? +p98 +aVTwenty-seven percent in the last five years, deductibles up 67 percent? +p99 +aVSenator Sanders, I want you to respond to what she was saying, but you're instead calling for single-payer health care. +p100 +aVYou note people won't have to pay deductibles or premiums but they will have to pay new taxes. Can you tell us specifically how much people will be expected to pay? +p101 +aVSenator Sanders, you didn't really tell us specifically how much people will be expected to pay... +p102 +aVBut you can't tell us this specifically, even if you were... +p103 +aVOK. Let's go to talk about the high cost of college education and for that we turn to the executive director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics, right here at Saint Anselm college, Neil Levesque. Neil? +p104 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to circle back to something that your opponents here have brought up. Libya is falling apart. The country is a haven for +p105 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to go back. That -- government lacked institutions and experience. It had been a family business for 40 years. On the security side, we offered only a modest training effort and a very limited arms buy-back program. Let me ask you the question again. How much responsibility do you bear for the chaos that followed those elections? +p106 +aVBut were mistakes made? +p107 +aVSenator Sanders. +p108 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p109 +aVQuick Governor O'Malley. O' +p110 +aVThank you very much. Thank you. We're going to move on here. Governor O'Malley, thank you very much for that. And we're going to make a very sharp turn as we wrap things up here. Secretary Clinton, first ladies, as you well know, have used their position to work on important causes like literacy and drug abuse. But they also supervise the menus, the flowers, the holiday ornaments and White House decor. I know you think you know where I'm going here. You have said that Bill Clinton is a great host and loves giving tours but may opt out of picking flower arrangements if you're elected. Bill Clinton aside, is it time to change the role of a president's spouse? +p111 +aVGovernor O'Malley? Martha, thank you. I want to thank all of the people who have tuned in tonight. I want to thank the great people of New Hampshire, where despite all of the cynicism about big money and big banks taking over our politics, here in New Hampshire, the individual matters. You know, my wife Katie and I have four terrific kids, and like you, there's probably nothing we wouldn't do to give them a future that's safer, that's healthier, where they have more opportunity than our parents and grandparents gave to us. Tonight, what you listened to was a healthy exchange of ideas about how we'd do that, that which we have always proven, the capacity to do better than any nation in the world, to take actions that include more of our people more fully in the economic, social and political life of our country. When you listened to the Republican debate the other night, you heard a lot of anger and you had a lot of fear. Well, they can have their anger and they can have their fear, but anger and fear never built America. We build our country by adopting wage and labor policies, including comprehensive immigration reform with a pathway of citizenship for all. We do it by investing in our country, by investing in infrastructure, by investing in the skills and the talents of our people with debt-free college, and we can do it again. And we also create a better future for our kids when we square our shoulders to the great challenges of our times, whether it's terror trying to undermine our values or Republican presidential candidates trying to get us to surrender our freedoms and our values in the face of this threat. The other big challenge we have is climate change. The greatest business opportunity to come to the United States of America in 100 years. We need to embrace this. I have put forward a plan that does this, that moves us to 100 percent clean electric grid by 2050. Join this campaign for the future. New leadership is what our country needs to move us out of these divided and polarized times. Thank you. +p112 +aVQuestions of leadership and character have dominated the news ever since the Iowa caucuses a few days ago. Here with us to question the candidates this evening are Josh McElveen from +p113 +aVDr. Ben Carson. +p114 +aVBusinessman Donald Trump. +p115 +aVFormer Florida Governor, Jeb Bush. +p116 +aVLadies and gentlemen, the Republican candidates. +p117 +aVAnd Donald Trump. +p118 +aVThe applause so loud you couldn't hear. We couldn't hear, either. That's a good sign for the excitement this evening. Gentlemen, thank you for being here tonight, just days before voters here in New Hampshire make their decisions. The rules are simple and have been agreed to by all the campaigns. There will be 60 seconds to answer and if another candidate is mentioned in that answer, that candidate will have 30 seconds to respond. There are green, yellow and red lights that each candidate will see to signal when time is up and they will also hear this sound. +p119 +aVSenator Cruz, you are a first term Senator as well. Your opponents say you, like Senator Rubio, are not prepared to be Commander in Chief. You have talked tough about threats we face in the Mid-East. It was reported just moments ago that the North Koreans test launched an intercontinental ballistic missile. North Korea has nuclear weapons, and conducted another nuclear test just last month. The missile that was launched is the kind the North Koreans hope could someday carry a nuclear weapon capable of reaching the United States. How would you respond if Commander in Chief to that launch? +p120 +aVWell, let me ask you this, if you were Commander in Chief tonight would you have order the U.S. military to destroy that missile preemptively on the launchpad to prevent North Korea from becoming an even graver threat? +p121 +aV... Senator Cruz, let me tell you this, you have talked tough about the Mid-East, you haven't gotten those intelligence briefings about that. Why not tell us whether you would preemptively strike a missile on a launchpad that threatens the U.S... +p122 +aVOkay. Senator Cruz, I will say that missile has been sitting there for quite some time, and they have had eyes on it. +p123 +aVSenator Rubio, I'm talking about a preemptive strike on the launch pad. +p124 +aVOK. Thank you, Senator Rubio. Governor Kasich, how would you respond to tonight's launch? +p125 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. Thank you \u2014 thank you... +p126 +aV... Governor Bush, I'll get to you in a moment. +p127 +aVThank you, Governor Bush. Mr. Trump, do you have a red line with North Korea? Would you consider military action? And how far would you let them go? +p128 +aVAnd I'd like him to finish the question, please. +p129 +aVSpecific \u2014 as to North Korea. +p130 +aVSenator Rubio, you were mentioned. +p131 +aVThank you very much, Senator Rubio. Governor Bush, another problem facing the commander-in-chief right now is that North Korea is currently detaining an American college student. What would you do to get that college student back home? +p132 +aVGovernor Christie, I want to go to you on the same question. +p133 +aVWould you negotiate with North Korea to... +p134 +aVThank you very much, Governor Christie. David? +p135 +aVSenator Cruz, to that point, Mr. Trump has said that your position on health care means that maybe you've got, quote, "no heart". There is a question here, though, about uncovered folks. You suggested repealing and replacing Obamacare. As we learned with President Obama's broken promise that everyone could keep their plan, any major plan \u2014 change in health care policy carries with it the risk that some people will lose their insurance coverage or have to change it. How do you reassure that those people that repealing and replacing Obamacare is still in their best interest? +p136 +aVSenator Cruz, you advocate what you call carpet bombing, or saturation bombing, to defeat +p137 +aVSenator Cruz, would you like to expand or loosen the rules of engagement? I was just over in a command center in Erbil and they said they thought the rules of engagement worked. Because you have so many civilians in those populated areas, they don't want to hit civilians. +p138 +aVSo, loosen the rules of engagement? +p139 +aVSenator Rubio, you said in the last debate that +p140 +aVAgain, Senator Rubio, you've already said +p141 +aVWell, what would you do \u2014 what would you do differently to try to get those Sunni forces? They have not been coming forward. +p142 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 thank you very much, Senator Rubio. Mr. Trump. You have said you will vigorously bomb +p143 +aVAnd \u2014 and what would you do in those cities, where there are people who we are trying to help, who +p144 +aVThank you very much, Mr. Trump. Let's turn to Libya. Governor Bush, it is a country in chaos. There is no government. This week, defense officials said there are now 5,000 +p145 +aVThank you very much, Governor Bush. Dr. Carson? +p146 +aVAnd would you support renewed airstrikes? +p147 +aVWe're going to move on. +p148 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. Thank you, Josh. Our partner in this debate, the Independent Journal Review, has collected questions from some prominent conservatives around the country. Here's a videotaped question from radio host Larry O'Connor. O' +p149 +aVMr. Trump, I'm going to give that question to you. You took it \u2014 you took it away anyway. +p150 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. I'm going to go to Senator Rubio on this. How would you change that narrative? +p151 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Dr. Carson, I want to go to you on Larry O' Connor's question. Would you change the narrative? +p152 +aVYes. +p153 +aVThank you very much Dr. Carson. I'm going to go back to David. +p154 +aVGovernor Christie, earlier this week, the World Health Organization declared the Zika virus a global emergency. The same kind of mosquitoes that carry the Zika virus in Latin America are found here in the United States, and the virus has been linked to severe birth defects. Governor Christie, at the peak of the Ebola outbreak in west Africa, you ordered an American nurse who landed at Newark Airport be detained and quarantined. As fear spreads now of the Zika virus and with the Rio Olympics just months away, is there a scenario where you would quarantine people traveling back from Brazil to prevent the spread in the United States? +p155 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you. I'm going to move to Dr. Carson, and go back to the Zika virus, is that going too far, quarantining? You're a doctor, what would you do? +p156 +aVThanks very much, Dr. Carson. I want to move on to the military. Senator Rubio, all restrictions on women in combat as long as they qualify. Positions including special operations forces, like Navy Seals. Just this week military leaders of the Army and Marine Corps said that they believed young women, just as young men are required to do, should sign up for Selective Service in case the Draft is reinstated. Many of you have young daughters. Senator Rubio, should young women be required to sign up for Selective Service in case of a national emergency? +p157 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Governor Bush, do you believe that young women... +p158 +aVDo you believe young women should sign up for Selective Service, be required to sign up... +p159 +aVTell me what you'd say to American people out there......who are sitting at home, who have daughters, who might worry about those answers, and might worry... +p160 +aV... if the Draft is reinstituted? +p161 +aV... Are you saying you'd do away with it? +p162 +aVYou register for the draft. +p163 +aVIf it's reinstituted. +p164 +aVThank you very much. +p165 +aVThank you very much, Governor Christie. +p166 +aVWe just covered \u2014 wait one second, Dr. Carson. +p167 +aVVery quickly. +p168 +aVThank you very much for bringing up that subject, Dr. Carson, of our veterans. And for another question about our veterans, we go back to Josh McElveen from +p169 +aVGovernor Christie. +p170 +aVDr. Carson. +p171 +aVSenator Cruz. +p172 +asVANNOUNCER +p173 +(lp174 +VHello from MinuteEarth. Fossil fuels have long kept our cars moving and our light bulbs lit. But we know that burning these fuels releases heat-trapping gases that are warming the planet, causing seas to rise and contributing to extreme weather events, like South Carolina's devastating flooding last year. Fighting human-caused climate change means giving up our global addiction to fossil fuels and shifting the bulk of the world's energy supply to alternative sources. Some countries have acted decisively to make this transition. But here at home, we still get a whooping 82 percent of our energy from coal, oil, and natural gas. In the U.S., political gridlock, pressure from industry lobbyists and insufficient R&D have made an already tough battle against climate change even tougher. +p175 +aVABC News coverage of the New Hampshire Democratic debate will continue in a moment. ( +p176 +asVUNKNOWN +p177 +(lp178 +VIf you're not going to have my back, I'm going to have my back. +p179 +aVA couple things here. First of all... +p180 +aVWe have grown \u2014 we have grown... +p181 +aVTrue. It's true. +p182 +aV...let me follow up that... +p183 +aV +p184 +aVOh, great. +p185 +aV...In 2011, you told Forbes Magazine this: "I've used the laws of the country to my advantage." But at the same time, financial experts involved in those bankruptcies say that lenders to your companies lost billions of dollars. Question sir, with that record, why should we trust you to run the nation's business? +p186 +aVI do. +p187 +aVThank you. +p188 +aVSecretive and untrustworthy. +p189 +aVNot me. +p190 +aVMaria... +p191 +aVYeah, but I want to talk about taxes. +p192 +asVIFILL +p193 +(lp194 +VWe want to also extend our warm thanks to Milwaukee Public Radio and Milwaukee Public Television, as well as all of our friends at the PBS member stations across the country tuning in tonight. This is the sixth time the Democrats have met face to face. Each time, we learn more about them and the presidents they say they want to be. You know you're watching \u2014 whether you're a Democrat, a Republican, or neither \u2014 because you believe the outcome of the election is important to you. And we believe that, too. With that, let's welcome the candidates to the stage. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. +p195 +aVWelcome to you both. +p196 +aVWith Iowa and New Hampshire behind us, we are now broadening the conversation to America's heartland and beyond, including here in Wisconsin. Now let's turn to the candidates for their opening statements. The order was decided by coin toss. And, Senator Sanders, you go first. +p197 +aVThank you, Senator Sanders. Thank you, Senator Sanders. Secretary Clinton. +p198 +aVFinal thought, Senator. +p199 +aVI'd like to move along. I'd like to move along. Secretary Clinton, you might \u2014 you also have proposed fairly expansive ideas about government. You may remember this pledge from a State of the Union Address at which I believe you were present, in which these words were said: "The era of big government is over." You may remember that. When asked your feelings about the federal government this week, 61 percent of New Hampshire Democrats told exit pollsters that they are angry or at least dissatisfied. Given what you and Senator Sanders are proposing, an expanding government in almost every area of our lives, is it fair for Americans who fear government to fear you? +p200 +aVBut I haven't heard either of you put a price tag on your \u2014 you say... +p201 +aVSenator? +p202 +aVSenator, do you worry at all that you will be the instrument of thwarting history, as Senator Clinton keeps claiming, that she might be the first woman president? +p203 +aVThank you both. We turn now to the first of several questions from our partners at Facebook. They were selected from a curated group of people we've been following of undecided voters. The first comes from Claudia Looze, a 54-year-old woman who works as a program manager at a public affairs cable network in Madison, Wisconsin. And she writes: "Wisconsin is number one in African-American male incarceration, according to a University of Wisconsin study. They found that Wisconsin's incarceration rate for black men, which is at 13 percent, was nearly double the country's rate. What can we do across the nation to address this?" Senator Sanders. +p204 +aVLet me turn this on its head, because when we talk about race in this country, we always talk about African-Americans, people of color. I want to talk about white people, OK? +p205 +aVI know. So many people will be surprised to find out that we are sitting in one of the most racially polarized metropolitan areas in the country. By the middle of this century, the nation is going to be majority nonwhite. Our public schools are already there. If working-class, white Americans are about to be outnumbered, are already underemployed in many cases, and one study found they are dying sooner, don't they have a reason to be resentful, Senator \u2014 Secretary Clinton? +p206 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, I want you to respond to that, but I also want you to \u2014 am I wrong? Is it even right to be describing this as a matter of race? +p207 +aVIf you would allow me now to move on, we've been talking about children. I want to talk about seniors. That takes us to our second Facebook question from Farheen Hakeem, who writes, "My father" \u2014 she's a 40-year-old woman who works for a nonprofit here in Milwaukee. And she writes, "My father gets just $16 in food assistance per month as part of Medicaid's family community program in Milwaukee County for low-income seniors. How will you as president work to ensure low-income seniors get their basic needs met?" Start with you, Senator Sanders. +p208 +aVSenator Sanders, are you saying... +p209 +aVThere's a lot more to come in just a few minutes. Stay with us for more of the PBS NewsHour Democratic Debate. +p210 +aVHow about you, Senator Clinton \u2014 Secretary Clinton? +p211 +aVWe spent the first part of this debate talking about domestic insecurity. The second part, we want to talk about our foreign policy insecurities. And we want to start with a question for you, Secretary Clinton, about America's role in the world. Americans are becoming increasingly worried that attacks abroad are coming home, that they already are, in fact, here. According to exit polls from last week, from earlier this week, more than two-thirds of Democrats in New Hampshire are concerned about sending their children to fight in wars they can't win. They fret that the next attack is just around the corner and we are not ready. Are we? +p212 +aVSenator Sanders... +p213 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p214 +aVLet me move on. You have both mentioned the humanitarian tragedies which have been an outgrowth in part of what has happened in Syria and in Libya. More than a million refugees entered Europe in 2015. Another 76,000 just last month, that is about 2,000 arrivals every day. Nearly 400 people have been lost at sea so far this year, crossing the Mediterranean. And there are reports that 10,000 children are missing. If we are leaders in this world, where should the U.S. be on this? What should the United States be doing, Secretary Clinton? +p215 +aVSenator, if you would like respond to \u2014 you may respond to that but it is time for closing statements and you can use your time for closing statements to do that. +p216 +aVThank you. Thank you Senator Clinton. Thank you, Senator Sanders. We also want to thank our partners at Facebook and our hosts here at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. +p217 +aVI'm going to remain here in Milwaukee tomorrow evening for a special edition of Washington Week here on PBS. +p218 +asVWOODRUFF +p219 +(lp220 +VGood evening, and thank you. We are happy to welcome you to Milwaukee for this Democratic debate. We are especially pleased to thank our partners at Facebook, who have helped us set up a vibrant conversation among voters who are undecided. And tonight you're going to hear some of their questions for the candidates. And you can follow along at home on the PBS NewsHour page on Facebook. We also want to thank our hosts, the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, on whose campus we meet, here in the beautiful Helen Bader Concert Hall. +p221 +aVWelcome, Senator, great to see you. And former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Very good to be here with you. +p222 +aVNow, a word about format. There will be two short breaks, and the rules are simple: 90 seconds for each answer and 30 seconds for the other candidate to respond. +p223 +aVThank you both. Thank you both. And we'll be right back after a short break to begin questions. +p224 +aVAnd, welcome back to this PBS Newshour debate, Democratic debate, here in Milwaukee. Let's get right to the questions. Senator Sanders, to you first. Coming off the results in Iowa and New Hampshire, there are many voters who are taking a closer look at you, and your ideas, and they're asking how big a role do you foresee for the federal government? It's already spending 21% of the entire U.S. economy. How much larger would government be in the lives of Americans under a Sanders presidency? +p225 +aVBut, my question is how big would government be? Would there be any limit on the size of the role of government... +p226 +aVNext, we're going to... +p227 +aVVery brief, thank you. +p228 +aVSecretary Clinton, your campaign \u2014 you and your campaign have made a clear appeal to women voters. You have talked repeatedly about the fact, we know you would be, if elected, the first woman president. But in New Hampshire 55 percent of the women voters supported and voted for Senator Sanders. What are women missing about you? +p229 +aVAs you know, just quickly, as you know, your strong supporter, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, said the other day that there's a special place in Hell for women who don't support other women. Do you agree with what she said? +p230 +aVSenator Sanders, you're in the minority, but we still want to hear from you. +p231 +aVFinal comment. +p232 +aVSecretary Clinton, I was talking recently with a 23 year old black woman who voted for President Obama because she said she thought relations between the races would get better under his leadership, and his example. Hardly anyone believes that they have. Why do you think race relations would be better under a Clinton presidency? What would you do that the nation's first African American has not been able to? +p233 +aVSenator Sanders? +p234 +aVSo race relation was be better under a Sanders presidency than they've been? +p235 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders, one of the causes of anxiety for working class Americans is connected to immigrants. President Obama, as you know, has issued executive actions to permit some 5 million undocumented immigrants who are living now in the United States to come out of the shadows without fear of deportation to get work permits. Would you go further than that? And if so, how specifically would you do it? Should an undocumented family watching this debate tonight, say, in Nevada, rest easy, not fear of further deportations under a Sanders presidency? +p236 +aVI'd like... +p237 +aVWe're going to move on. Secretary Clinton, your campaign has recently ramped up criticism of Senator Sanders for attending Democratic Party fundraisers from which you say he benefited. But nearly half of your financial sector donations appear to come from just two wealthy financiers, George Soros and Donald Sussman, for a total of about $10 million. You have said that there's no quid pro quo involved. Is that also true of the donations that wealthy Republicans give to Republican candidates, contributors including the Koch Brothers? +p238 +aVI'm asking if Democratic donors are different than Republican donors. +p239 +aVWe have to go to a break. We... +p240 +aVAll right. Thank you both. It is time for a break. And when we come back, we're going to turn to some new topics, including how these candidates will keep America safe. +p241 +aVWelcome back to the Democratic presidential debate. Before we return to our questions, we have a follow-up question from our Facebook group. And it is to Senator Sanders. Senator, it comes from Bill Corfield. He is a 55-year-old musician from Troy, Ohio. And he asks: "Are there any areas of government you would like to reduce?" +p242 +aVJust a final word. +p243 +aVSenator, let me \u2014 let me move on to another country with which the U.S. has a complicated relationship, Senator Sanders, and that's Russia. On the one hand, we're aware that Russia is a country that the United States needs to cooperate with. Just tonight, Secretary of State John Kerry has announced what appears to be an agreement with the Russians to lead \u2014 that could lead toward a ceasefire in Syria, would be the first cessation of conflict in that country, in that civil war in five years, but it comes at a very high price, because not only have all \u2014 have we seen the deaths, the removal of so many people, millions of people, we now see the Russians in the last few weeks have bombed in a way that benefits President Assad, has not gone after +p244 +aVAnd we have a final question from our Facebook family. And it goes to Senator Sanders. It comes from Robert Andrews. He's a 40-year-old stay-at-home dad in Dover, Massachusetts. He says, "The world has seen many great leaders in the course of human history. Can you name two leaders \u2014 one American and one foreign \u2014 who would influence your foreign policy decisions? And why do you see them as \u2014 why are they influential?" +p245 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p246 +aVAnd we want to thank our audience, our quiet audience here in Helen Bader Concert Hall, and to all of you watching at home. Thank you all. Stay tuned for analysis of the debate and the overall race for the Democratic nomination. That's coming up next here on PBS stations and online atPBS.org/NewsHour. +p247 +aVAnd I'm going to be returning to Washington. I hope you'll join us for the PBS NewsHour tomorrow and every night. That's it from all of us here in Milwaukee. We thank you. +p248 +asVCORDES +p249 +(lp250 +VJohn, thanks so much. We've learned a lot during the course of this campaign about the things that you'd like to do that you say would help the middle class, but we haven't heard quite as much about who would pick up the tab. So Secretary Clinton, first to you. You want to cap individuals' prescription drug costs at $250 a month. You want to make public college debt-free. You want community college to be free altogether. And you want mandatory paid family leave. So who pays for all that? Is it employers? Is it the taxpayers, and which taxpayers? +p251 +aVBut a quick follow-up on that $250-a-month cap. Wouldn't the pharmaceutical companies and the insurance companies just pass that cost on to the consumers in the form of higher premiums? +p252 +aVGovernor O'Malley, you also want to make public college debt-free. You want... O' +p253 +aV... states to freeze tuition. You've got your own family leave plan. How would you pay for it? In Maryland, you raised the sales tax, you raised the gas tax and you raised taxes on families making over $150,000 a year. Is that the blueprint? O' +p254 +aVSenator Sanders, you want to make public college free altogether. You want to increase Social Security benefits and you want to spend $1 trillion on infrastructure. So you said that to do some of these things, you'll impose a tax on top earners. How high would their rate go in a Sanders administration? +p255 +aVBut let's get specific. How high would you go? You have said before you would go above 50 percent. How high? +p256 +aVSecretary Clinton, Americans say that health care costs and wages are their top financial concerns. And health care deductibles, alone, have risen 67 percent over the past five years. Is this something that Obamacare was designed to address? And if not, why not? +p257 +aVIt is -- it is a worthy debate. Senator Sanders, a quick response, and then we'll get into health care again later. +p258 +aVThere was a lot of conversation on twitter about guns, but also about your conversation on campaign finance. And Secretary Clinton, one of the tweets we saw said this, "I've never seen a candidate invoke 9/11 to justify millions of Wall Street donations until now." The idea being, yes, you were a champion of the community after 9/11, but what does that have to do with taking big donations? +p259 +aVHold on. O' +p260 +aVSenator Sanders -- I'm sorry. Senator Sanders, but what is it in Secretary Clinton's record that shows you that she's been influenced by those donations? +p261 +aVBack to health care, by popular demand. First to you, Senator Sanders. You'd prefer to scrap Obamacare and move to a single-payer system, essentially Medicare for all. You say you want to put the private insurance companies out of business. Is it realistic to think that you can pull the plug on a $1 trillion industry? +p262 +aVSecretary Clinton, back in -- Secretary Clinton, back in 1994, you said that momentum for a single-payer system would sweep the country. That sounds Sanders-esque. But you don't feel that way anymore, why not? +p263 +asVKELLY +p264 +(lp265 +VWelcome to the first debate night of the 2016 presidential campaign, live from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. I'm Megyn Kelly... ... along with my co-moderators, Brett Baier and Chris Wallace. Tonight... Nice. Tonight, thousands of people here in the Q, along with millions of voters at home will get their very first chance to see the candidates face off in a debate, answering the questions you want answered. +p266 +aVAs for the candidates who will be answering those questions? Here they are. Positioned on the stage by how they stand in the polls, in the center of the stage tonight, businessman Donald Trump. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. +p267 +aVGentlemen, our first round of questions is on the subject of electability in the general election, and we start tonight with you, Dr. Carson. You are a successful neurosurgeon, but you admit that you have had to study up on foreign policy, saying there's a lot to learn. Your critics say that your inexperience shows. You've suggested that the Baltic States are not a part of +p268 +aVMr. Trump, one of the things people love about you is you speak your mind and you don't use a politician's filter. However, that is not without its downsides, in particular, when it comes to women. You've called women you don't like "fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals." Your Twitter account... +p269 +aVNo, it wasn't. Your Twitter account... +p270 +aVFor the record, it was well beyond Rosie O'Donnell. +p271 +aVYour Twitter account has several disparaging comments about women's looks. You once told a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice it would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees. Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president, and how will you answer the charge from Hillary Clinton, who was likely to be the Democratic nominee, that you are part of the war on women? +p272 +aVGovernor Walker, you've consistently said that you want to make abortion illegal even in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother. You recently signed an abortion law in Wisconsin that does have an exception for the mother's life, but you're on the record as having objected to it. Would you really let a mother die rather than have an abortion, and with 83 percent of the American public in favor of a life exception, are you too out of the mainstream on this issue to win the general election? +p273 +aVGovernor Kasich, You chose to expand Medicaid in your state, unlike several other governors on this stage tonight, and it is already over budget by some estimates costing taxpayers an additional $1.4 billion in just the first 18 months. You defended your Medicaid expansion by invoking God, saying to skeptics that when they arrive in heaven, Saint Peter isn't going to ask them how small they've kept government, but what they have done for the poor. Why should Republican voters, who generally want to shrink government, believe that you won't use your Saint Peter rationale to expand every government program? +p274 +aVAlright, gentlemen, we're gonna switch topics now and talk a bit about terror and national security. Governor Christie. You've said that Senator Paul's opposition to the NSA's collection of phone records has made the United States weaker and more vulnerable, even going so far as to say that he should be called before Congress to answer for it if we should be hit by another terrorist attack. Do you really believe you can assign blame to Senator Paul just for opposing the bulk collection of people's phone records in the event of a terrorist attack? +p275 +aVGo ahead, sir. +p276 +aVGovernor Christie, make your point. +p277 +aVGo ahead, governor. +p278 +aVAlright. +p279 +aVAlright, we've gotta cut it off there. We have plenty more we want to get to. That was an interesting exchange, thank you for that. +p280 +aVWell, I want to move on, because I have -- we're gonna get to you, governor, but I -- I really wanna get to a Facebook questioner. His name is Alex Chalgren, and he has the following question: +p281 +aVSenator Cruz, I wanna talk to you about this, because many of the Facebook users and -- and -- the -- the folks on Facebook wanted the candidates to speak to +p282 +aVYou don't see it as... ...an ideological problem -- an ideological problem in addition to a military one? +p283 +aVGovernor Bush, for days on end in this campaign, you struggled to answer a question about whether knowing what we know now... +p284 +aV...we would've invaded Iraq... +p285 +aVI remember it too, and +p286 +aVGovernor Walker, in February you said that we needed to gain partners in the Arab world. Which Arab country not already in the U.S. led coalition has potential to be our greatest partner? +p287 +aVDr. Carson, in one of his first acts as commander in chief, President Obama signed an executive order banning enhanced interrogation techniques in fighting terror. As president, would you bring back water boarding? +p288 +aVWe have a lot for you, don't worry. Fear not, you may rue that request. +p289 +aVIt's just before 10:00 p.m. on the East Coast. Welcome back to Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, and the very first Republican primary debate of the 2016 presidential campaign. Ten candidates on the stage, selected based on their standing in five national polls. And tonight they are facing off, answering the questions you want asked. We hope. +p290 +aV Sounds like somebody's a little R-rated. +p291 +aVWell, the first debate night of the 2016 presidential campaign continues from Cleveland after a short time-out. Stick around. Social issues, next. +p292 +aVSenator Rubio, you favor a rape and incest exception to abortion bans. Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York just said yesterday those exceptions are preposterous. He said they discriminate against an entire class of human beings. If you believe that life begins at conception, as you say you do, how do you justify ending a life just because it begins violently, through no fault of the baby? +p293 +aVYou don't favor a rape and incest exception? +p294 +aVMr. Trump, in 1999, you said you were, quote, "very pro- choice." Even supporting partial-birth abortion. You favored an assault weapons ban as well. In 2004, you said in most cases you identified as a Democrat. Even in this campaign, your critics say you often sound more like a Democrat than a Republican, calling several of your opponents on the stage things like clowns and puppets. When did you actually become a Republican? +p295 +aVGovernor Bush, I want to ask you, on the subject of name calling of your fellow candidates, a story appeared today quoting an anonymous GOP donor who said you called Mr. Trump a clown, a buffoon, something else that cannot be repeated on television. +p296 +aVIs it true? +p297 +aVMr. Trump, 30 seconds. +p298 +aVThe subject of gay marriage and religious liberty. Governor Kasich, if you had a son or daughter who was gay or lesbian, how would you explain to them your opposition to same-sex marriage? +p299 +aVHow would you -- how would you explain it to a child? +p300 +aVSenator Paul, in the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling on same sex marriage, Carol Fox on Facebook want to know the following. Quote: what will you do to ensure Christians are not prosecuted for speaking out against gay marriage and will Christians be forced to conduct business that conflicts with their religious beliefs? +p301 +aVGovernor Walker, many in the Black Lives Matter movement, and beyond, believe that overly-aggressive police officers targeting young African Americans is the civil rights issue of our time. Do you agree? And if so, how do you plan to address it? And if not, why not? +p302 +aVThank you. +p303 +aVWe have to stand you by, because after the break, we're going to let the candidates make their closing statements, their final thoughts, and . . . God. Stay tuned for that. +p304 +aVWelcome back. In our final moments here together, we're going to allow the candidates to offer their final thoughts. But first, we want to ask them an interesting closing question from Chase Norton on Facebook, who wants to know this of the candidates: "I want to know if any of them have received a word from God on what they should do and take care of first." Senator Cruz, start from you. Any word from God? +p305 +aVGovernor Kasich, same question. +p306 +aVGovernor Walker, same question. +p307 +aVSenator Rubio, I want to ask you the same question. But I do want to mention, a woman just came here to the stage and asked, what about the veterans? I want to hear more about what these candidates are going to do for our nation's veterans. So I put the question to you about God and the veterans, which you may find to be related. +p308 +aVDr. Carson, a question to you about God and his role, but also, one of the issues that the public was very interested in, and we touched on it earlier, is race relations in this country, and how divided we seem right now. And what, if anything, you can do -- you would do as the next president to help heal that divide. +p309 +aVGovernor Christie? +p310 +aVSenator Ted Cruz. +p311 +aVGovernor Scott Walker. +p312 +aVIt's over! +p313 +aVAre you relieved? You were nervous before, they -- they don't look relieved. They look "get me outta here." Thank you all very much, and that will do it for the first Republican primary debate night of the 2016 presidential race. Our thanks to the candidates, who will now be joined by their families on stage. +p314 +aVTonight, we are coming to you live from the Iowa Event Center in downtown Des Moines, in the shadow of the Iowa state capitol. In just four days, people here in the Hawkeye State will caucus and cast the first votes of the 2016 election. +p315 +aVSeven candidates are on that stage tonight, their position on the stage determined by their standing in the latest national polls, as well as polls in Iowa and New Hampshire. And here they are. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Florida Senator Marco Rubio. +p316 +aVWow. +p317 +aVSo let's get started. Senator Cruz, before we get to the issues, let's address the elephant not in the room tonight. Donald Trump has chosen not to attend this evening's presidential debate. What message do you think that sends to the voters of Iowa? +p318 +aVThe divide between you and Mr. Trump has turned into one of the biggest stories in the country. And for six months that \u2014 your campaign, during this campaign, you praised Mr. Trump as somebody who you thought was an effective voice against the Washington cartel. You said you were glad that he was running as a Republican. But when he started to criticize you, your message changed, and you suddenly started to portray him as the voice of the Washington cartel, and suggested he would do the Democrats' bidding. Which is it? +p319 +aVSenator Christie, you began this campaign touting your record as a Republican from a blue state who knows how to get things done and reach across the aisle. However, many Republicans feel that reaching across the aisle and getting things done isn't great if you get the wrong things done. And they prefer to stand on principle rather than compromise. Why are they wrong and you're right? +p320 +aVBut first, you can join tonight's conversation right from home. Go to google.com or open your Google search app and search Fox News debate to vote on which candidate you think has the best plan to defeat +p321 +aVWe have a lot \u2014 we have a lot to cover. But we want to \u2014 we want to turn the page to domestic... +p322 +aVNo, no. No. +p323 +aVNo no no, because we want to turn the page to domestic terror, and let me tell you why: we're partnering with Google on this debate, and they're telling us... +p324 +aV... that their search results have gone through the roof on \u2014 on people... +p325 +aV... you're a good man, Governor Kasich. +p326 +aVPeople \u2014 the search results \u2014 the searches for terror issues, for safety issues in America have gone through the roof, increased over 400 percent since 2008. People are worried. They're worried about what's happening in the country and about a domestic terror attack, as all of you know. Now, when combating this threat, Senator Rubio, you've advocated closing down mosques \u2014 we'll get back to you. Well, you have advocated closing down \u2014 closing down mosques, diners, any place where radicalization is occurring. You told me that. But the Supreme Court has made clear that hateful speech is generally protected by the First Amendment. In other words, radical Muslims have the right to be radical Muslims, unless they turn to terror. Doesn't your position run afoul of the First Amendment? +p327 +aVSenator Paul, do you agree with that? We're gonna close down mosques, we're gonna close down diners where we think radical thinking's occurring? +p328 +aVGovernor Christie, let's talk about profiling. In December... +p329 +aV... profiling. Profiling. In December, two radical Muslims killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California. Neighbors of the terrorists said that they did not report the couple to law enforcement prior to the crime, because they were afraid that they would be accused of profiling. Now, you have said that we should not profile. How do you square that with the San Bernardino case? +p330 +aVThey didn't know they were going to attack the country. +p331 +aVThat's not true. The neighbors said they saw men going in and out of the garage. They saw packages being delivered. They saw Muslims, and they did not think that was enough to call the cops. Do you? +p332 +aVDr. Carson, this week a female Muslim who served in the U.S. Air Force asked Hillary Clinton the question, she asked whether the United States is still the best place in which to raise her three Muslim children. Given what she perceives as a rise in Islamaphobia in this country. Do you think the GOP messaging on Muslims has stoked the flames of bias on this as the Democrats suggest, and how would you answer this veteran? +p333 +aVGovernor Kasich, stand back. You appear to back in another debate, a so-called back door to encrypted cell phone technology, which protects most smartphones that we all have from hacking. And it includes our phones and it also protects the cell phones of the terrorist. Now the tech companies and a group of MIT scientists, smart guys, right, warn that if they create a way for the FBI to have a back door into our encrypted communications, then the bad guys will exploit it too. And they say that this is going to cause more security problems than it would solve for everyday Americans. Are they wrong? +p334 +aVBut this is public testimony. +p335 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p336 +aVWelcome back, everybody. We are live in Des Moines, Iowa. And let's get right back to the questions \u2014 Bret. +p337 +aVAll right. We're going to move on. Because coming up, immigration, and something you've never seen before. Stay tuned, right after this break. +p338 +aVWelcome back everyone. Live, in Des Moines, Iowa. Now, we move onto the topic of immigration. Senator Rubio, we'll start with you. When you ran for Senate in 2010, you made clear that you opposed legalization and citizenship for illegal immigrants. You promised repeatedly that you would oppose it as a U.S. Senator as well. Here are just a few examples. Watch. +p339 +aVWithin two years of getting elected you were co-sponsoring legislation to create a path to citizenship, in your words, amnesty. Haven't you already proven that you cannot be trusted on this issue? +p340 +aV... But, you went on from there... +p341 +aV... You said more than that, Senator... +p342 +aV... You said earned path to citizenship is basically code for amnesty. You... +p343 +aV... supported earned path to citizenship... +p344 +aVGovernor Bush, do you agree Senator Rubio has not reversed himself on his immigration promise? +p345 +aVGo ahead, senator. +p346 +aVAll right. +p347 +aVAll right. This will be the last one. +p348 +aVOK. Let's move on. Senator Cruz, when Senator Rubio proposed that bill creating a path to citizenship, you proposed an amendment. It would have allowed for legalization but not citizenship. Yes, it would. Pressed last month on why you supported legalization, you claimed that you didn't. Right? Like you just did. Saw that. You argued that this was just a poison pill amendment, basically it's something designed to kill the bill and not actually get it through. But that is not, however, how it sounded at the time. Watch. +p349 +aVWas that all an act? It was pretty convincing. +p350 +aVBut the bill allowed both. The bill you were amending allowed citizenship and legalization. +p351 +aVOK, sir. +p352 +aVSenator Paul. You know how Washington works. Do you buy that? +p353 +aVGo ahead, sir. +p354 +aVSenator Rubio, even Chuck Schumer, your co-sponsor of that bill... +p355 +aV... agrees with Ted Cruz on this. +p356 +aVGo ahead, Senator Cruz. +p357 +aVAll right. +p358 +aVGo ahead, Governor Christie. +p359 +aVLet's go to a Youtube question. Let's get to a Youtube question. This is a question from a Youtube creator with over 2 million subscribers. Watch. +p360 +aVDr. Carson, that's one \u2014 that one's for you. +p361 +aVGo ahead. +p362 +aVAll right. +p363 +aVAll right. We're moving on. +p364 +aVGovernor bush, poll after poll shows you running among the worst in your party against Hillary Clinton. Even Mitt Romney said that a Bush v. Clinton head-to-head would be too easy for the Democrats. Yet still you and the super PACs supporting you continue to blanket the airwaves with cutting ads, not against Mrs. Clinton, but against your fellow Republicans, especially Senator Rubio. Do these attacks do more harm than good by targeting those candidates who appear to have the best chance of defeating Mrs. Clinton? +p365 +aVWelcome back, everybody. Let's get back to the questions. Chris? +p366 +aVSenator Paul, you have suggested that former President Bill Clinton's history with women is fair game in this campaign. How do you answer those who say you don't hold the sins of the husband against the wife? +p367 +aVOf her husband's? +p368 +aVWelcome back, everybody. And now, it is time for closing statements. The candidates each get 30 seconds. And we begin with Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. +p369 +aVOhio Governor Kasich. +p370 +aVFormer Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Governor. +p371 +aVTexas Senator, Ted Cruz. Senator. +p372 +aVGentlemen, thank you all so much for being here tonight. We appreciate it greatly. And that does it for the seventh Republican primary debate of the 2016 presidential race. But we're not done. The Kelly file starts in a moment and guess who is going to be there? Senator Ted Cruz. +p373 +asVRUBIO +p374 +(lp375 +VThank you Wolf. It's really amazing to be back in Las Vegas. I spent six years as a child growing not far from where we stand tonight. I use to sit on the porch of our home and listen to my grandfather tell stories as he smoked one of three daily cigars. One of the things my grandfather instilled in me, was that I was really blessed because I was a citizen of the greatest country in the history of our mankind. But there have always been people in American politics that wanted America to be more like the rest of the world. And In 2008, one of them was elected president of this country and the result has been a disaster. Today you have millions of Americans that feel left out and out of place in their own country, struggling to live paycheck to paycheck, called bigots because they hold on to traditional values. And around the world, America's influence has declined while this president has destroyed our military, our allies no longer trust us, and our adversaries no longer respect us. And that is why this election is so important. That is why I'm running for president. And that's why I'm going to ask you for your vote tonight. If you elect me president, we will have a president that believes America is the greatest country in the world and we will have a president that acts like it. +p376 +aVWell, I understand why they feel that way, because this president hasn't kept us safe. The problem is we had an attack in San Bernardino. And we were paying attention to the most important issue we have faced in a decade since 9/11, and then all the talk was about this proposal, which isn't going to happen. But this is what's important to do is we must deal frontally with this threat of radical Islamists, especially from +p377 +aVHe is and so are those that voted for it. There were some that voted for it because they wanted to keep it alive and they were afraid the whole program would expire. Here's the world we live in. This is a radical jihadist group that is increasingly sophisticated in its ability, for example, to radicalize American citizens, in its inability to exploit loopholes in our legal immigration system, in its ability to capture and hold territory in the Middle East, as I outlined earlier, in multiple countries. This is not just the most capable, it is the most sophisticated terror threat we have ever faced. We are now at a time when we need more tools, not less tools. And that took we lost, the metadata program, was a valuable tool that we no longer have at our disposal. +p378 +aVDana, may I interject here? +p379 +aVLet me be very careful when answering this, because I don't think national television in front of 15 million people is the place to discuss classified information. So let me just be very clear. There is nothing that we are allowed to do under this bill that we could not do before. This bill did, however, take away a valuable tool that allowed the National Security Agency and other law \u2014 and other intelligence agencies to quickly and rapidly access phone records and match them up with other phone records to see who terrorists have been calling. Because I promise you, the next time there is attack on \u2014 an attack on this country, the first thing people are going to want to know is, why didn't we know about it and why didn't we stop it? And the answer better not be because we didn't have access to records or information that would have allowed us to identify these killers before they attacked. +p380 +aVI want to thank Rand for another 30 seconds, because, number one, what he's pointing to is a bill last week that \u2014 amendment that he voted for that only 10 people voted for. You know why? Because it's not focused on terrorists. It would have banned anyone from coming here. Someone from Taiwan would not have been able to come here as a tourist. Number two, this program, this metadata program is actually more strict than what a regular law enforcement agency has now. If a regular law enforcement agency wants your phone records, all they have to do is issue a subpoena. But now the intelligence agency is not able to quickly gather records and look at them to see who these terrorists are calling. And the terrorists that attacked us in San Bernardino was an American citizen, born and raised in this country. And I bet you we wish we would have had access to five years of his records so we could see who he was working with... +p381 +aVDo I get another 30 seconds? He mentioned me. +p382 +aVWell, let me begin by saying that we have to understand who +p383 +aVThat is accurate. Three times he voted against the Defense Authorization Act, which is a bill that funds the troops. It also, by the way, funds the Iron Dome and other important programs. And I have to assume that if you vote against it in the Senate, you would also veto it as president. He has also supported, by the way, a budget that is called the containment budget. And it is a budget that would radically reduce the amount of money we spend on our military. You can't carpet bomb +p384 +aVYes, let me \u2014 three points of distinction. The first is, if you're an American citizen and you decide to join up with +p385 +aVWell, they most certainly will have to be worked on to provide more than what they are doing now. There's no doubt about it. And there's one \u2014 one major reason why they have not been willing to be a broader part of the coalition, and that is they have lost complete trust and confidence in this president. This president cut a deal with their moral enemy, the Shia, in Iran. And this is the reason why they no longer trust this president and are willing to work alongside them. But they have as much invested in this as we do. In fact, more so, for it is the king of Saudi Arabia they want to behead first. It's the king of Jordan that they want to dethrone. It's the \u2014 they want to go into Egypt the way they've already gone into Libya. And on another point that we need to talk about, Assad is one of the main reasons why +p386 +aVTo begin with, Moammar Gadhafi and the revolt against Gadhafi was not started by the United States. It was started by the Libyan people. And the reason why I argued we needed to get involved is because he was going to go one way or the other. And my argument then was proven true, and that is, the longer that civil war took, the more militias would be formed and the more unstable the country would be after the fact. As far as Moammar Gadhafi is concerned, by the way, Moammar Gadhafi is the man that killed those Americans over Lockerbie, Scotland. Moammar Gadhafi is also the man that bombed that cafe in Berlin and killed those Marines. And you want to know why Moammar Gadhafi started cooperating on his nuclear program? Because we got rid of Saddam Hussein. And so he got scared that he would be next, and that's why he started cooperating. Look, we will have to work around the world with less than ideal governments. The government in Saudi Arabia is not a democracy, but we will have to work with them. The government in Jordan is not perfect, but we will have to work with them. But anti-American dictators like Assad, who help Hezbollah, who helped get those IEDs into Iraq, if they go, I will not shed a tear. +p387 +aVYeah. Immigration is not an issue that I read about in the newspaper or watch a documentary on PBS or CNN. It's an issues I've lived around my whole life. My family are immigrants. My wife's family are immigrants. All of my neighbors are immigrants. I see every aspect of this problem. The good, the bad, and the ugly. And here's what we learned in 2013. The American people don't trust the Federal Government to enforce our immigration laws, and we will not be able to do anything on immigration until we first prove to the American people that illegal immigration is under control. And we can do that. We know what it takes to do that. It takes at least 20,000 more additional border agents. It takes completing those 700 miles of fencing. It takes a mandatory e-verify system and a mandatory entry/exit tracking system to prevent overstays. After we have done that, the second thing we have to do is reform and modernize the legal immigration system. And after we have done those two things, I think the American people are gonna be reasonable with what do you do with someone who has been in this country for 10 or 12 years who hasn't otherwise violated our laws \u2014 because if they're a criminal they can't stay. They'll have to undergo a background check, pay a fine, start paying taxes. And ultimately, they'll given a work permit and that's all they're gonna be allowed to have for at least 10 years. But you can't get to that third step until you have done the other two things, and that was the lesson we learned in 2013. There is no trust that the Federal Government will enforce the law. They will not support you until you see it done first. +p388 +aVBut I've answered that question repeatedly. I am personally open \u2014 after all that has happened and after ten years in that probationary status where all they have is a permit, I personally am open to allowing people to apply for a green card. That may not be a majority position in my party, but that's down the road. You can't even begin that process until you prove to people \u2014 not just pass a law that says you're gonna bring illegal immigration under control. You're gonna have to do it and prove to people that it's working. And that was the lesson of 2013. And it's more true today, than it was then. After a migratory crisis on the border with minors coming over that you're seeing start up again now, after all these executive orders the President has issued. More than ever we need to... +p389 +aV... prove to people that illegal immigration is under control. +p390 +aVYeah, a couple points. In 2013 we had never faced a crisis like the Syrian refugee crisis now. Up until that point, a refugee meant someone fleeing oppression, fleeing Communism like it is in my community. As far as Ted's record, I'm always puzzled by his attack on this issue. Ted, you support legalizing people who are in this country illegally. Ted Cruz supported a 500-percent increase in the number of H-1 visas, the guest workers that are allowed into this country, and Ted supports doubling the number of green cards. So I think what's important for us to understand and there is a way forward on this issue that we an bring our country together on. And while I'm president I will do it. And it will begin by bringing illegal immigration under control and proving to the American people. +p391 +aVNo, no, give him time. +p392 +aVTed, do you... +p393 +aVDid Ted Cruz fight to support legalizing people that are in this country illegally? +p394 +aVDoes Ted Cruz rule out ever legalizing people that are in this country now? +p395 +aVWould you rule it out? +p396 +aVWell, he's just admitted \u2014 as he's just admitted, the reason why those refugees were allowed in was because they messed up in how they used the actual database. They should have know. They didn't because they didn't run the actual law as it exists now. It didn't work well. As far as the refugees are concerned, it's not that America doesn't want to accept refugees, Wolf. It's that we may not be able to, because this is an issue we have to be 100 percent right on. If we allow 9,999 Syrian refugees into the United States, and all of them are good people, but we allow one person in who's an +p397 +aVI do. First, let's explain to people at home who the triad \u2014 what the triad is. Maybe a lot of people haven't heard that terminology before. The triad is our ability of the United States to conduct nuclear attacks using airplanes, using missiles launched from silos or from the ground, and also from our nuclear subs' ability to attack. And it's important \u2014 all three of them are critical. It gives us the ability at deterrence. Now, some have become more critical than others; for example, the submarines. And that's the Ohio Class submarine that needs to be modernized. The air component also needs to be modernized. The B-52, as someone earlier pointed out, is an outdated model that was flown by the grandparents of people that are flying it now. And we need a serious modernization program as well on our silo-launched missiles. All three are critical for the defense of the country. +p398 +aVThank you. As we near the end of this year, we enter one of the most important elections in a generation. For what's at stake in this election is not simply what party's going to be in charge. But our very identity as a people and as a nation. For over 200 years this has been a special country. A unique place where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything. But now millions of Americans feel like they're being left behind. Insecure in their future and unsafe in the face of terrorism. This election is about electing a president that will restore our economic vibrancy so that the American dream can expand to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And rebuild our Military and our intelligence programs so that we can remain the strongest nation on earth. Tonight I ask you for your vote. If you do this, we will rebuild this country, and together we will usher in a new American century \u2014 the greatest era in the history of this great land. +p399 +aVWell, let me begin by answering both the first question and this one, because they're related. As I've said many times before, my parents were never rich people. My father was a bartender. My mother was a maid. They worked for a living. But they were successful people, because, despite the fact that they weren't well educated and had those jobs, they made enough money to buy a home in a safe and stable neighborhood, retire with dignity, leave all four of their children better off than themselves. We call that the American dream, but in fact, it's a universal dream of a better life that people have all over the world. It is a reminder that every country in the world has rich people. What makes America special is that we have millions and millions of people that are not rich, that through hard work and perseverance are able to be successful. The problem is that today people are not successful working as hard as ever because the economy is not providing jobs that pay enough. If I thought that raising the minimum wage was the best way to help people increase their pay, I would be all for it, but it isn't. In the 20th century, it's a disaster. If you raise the minimum wage, you're going to make people more expensive than a machine. And that means all this automation that's replacing jobs and people right now is only going to be accelerated. Here's the best way to raise wages. Make America the best place in the world to start a business or expand an existing business, tax reform and regulatory reform, bring our debt under control, fully utilize our energy resources so we can reinvigorate manufacturing, repeal and replace Obamacare, and make higher education faster and easier to access, especially vocational training. For the life of me, I don't know why we have stigmatized vocational education. Welders make more money than philosophers. We need more welders and less philosophers. If we do that \u2014 and if we do this \u2014 if we do this, we will be able to increase wages for millions of Americans and we will be able to leave everyone better off without making anyone worse off. +p400 +aVWell, you know, that's an excellent question, because what we are going through in this country is not simply an economic downturn. We are living through a massive economic transformation. I mean, this economy is nothing like what it was like five years ago, not to mention 15 or 20 years ago. And it isn't just a different economy. It's changing faster than ever. You know, it took the telephone 75 years to reach 100 million users. It took Candy Crush one year to reach some 100 million users. So the world is changing faster than ever, and it is disruptive. Number one, we are in a global competition now, and several of the candidates have said that. There are now dozens of developed economies on this planet that we have to compete with. And we lose that competition because we have the highest business tax rate in the industrialized world, because we have regulations that continue to grow by the billions every single week, because we have a crazy health care law that discourages companies from hiring people, but because we're not fully utilizing our energy resources, that if we did, it would bring back all kinds of growth, especially in manufacturing, and because we have an outdated higher education system. Our higher education system is completely outdated. It is too expensive, too hard to access, and it doesn't teach 21st century skills. If we do what needs to be done \u2014 tax reform, regulatory reform, fully utilize our energy resources, repeal and replace Obamacare, and modernize higher education, then we can grasp the potential and the promise of this new economy. And we won't just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And then truly this new century can be a new American century. +p401 +aVThe most important job I'm ever going to have, the most important job anyone in this room will ever have, is the job of being a parent. Not the job of being president, or the job of being a senator, or the job of being a congressman. The most important job any of us will ever do is the job of being a president (sic), because the most important institution in society is the family. If the family breaks down, society breaks down. You can't have a strong nation without strong values, and no one is born with strong values. They have to be taught to you in strong families and reinforced in you in strong communities. And so when we set out to do tax reform, we endeavor to have a pro-family tax code, and we endeavor to do it because we know how difficult it is for families in the 21st century to afford the cost of living. It is expensive to raise children in the 21st century, and families that are raising children are raising the future taxpayers of the United States, and everything costs more. In 35 out of 50 states, child care costs more than college. There are millions of people watching this broadcast tonight that understand exactly what I'm talking about. They don't know how they're going to make that payment every month, and if they can't make it, they can't work, because someone needs to watch their kids during the day. They don't know how they're going to save for their kids' future, to go to college. And so, yes, I have a child tax credit increase, and I'm proud of it. I am proud that I have a pro-family tax code, because the pro- family tax plan I have will strengthen the most important institution in the \u2014 in the country, the family. +p402 +aVNow I get my 60 seconds to respond. He's talking about my tax plan. +p403 +aVSo let me begin with this. I actually believe \u2014 first of all, this is their money. They do pay. It is refundable, not just against the taxes they pay to the government, but also the \u2014 on their federal income tax, it's refundable against the payroll tax. Everyone pays payroll tax. This is their money. This is not our money. And here's what I don't understand \u2014 if you invest that money in a piece of equipment, if you invest that money in a business, you get to write it off your taxes. But if you invest it in your children, in the future of America and strengthening your family, we're not going to recognize that in our tax code? The family is the most important institution in society. And, yes... +p404 +aV... I do want to rebuild the American military. +p405 +aVI know that Rand is a committed isolationist. I'm not. I believe the world is a stronger and a better place, when the United States is the strongest military power in the world. +p406 +aVBecause... +p407 +aV...are you talking about the military, Rand? +p408 +aVWe can't even have an economy if we're not safe. There are radical jihadist in the Middle East beheading people and crucifying Christians. A radical Shia cleric in Iran trying to get a nuclear weapon, the Chinese taking over the South China Sea... ...Yes, I believe the world is a safer \u2014 no, no, I don't believe, I know that the world is a safer place when America is the strongest military power in the world. +p409 +aVYou know, if I may respond... +p410 +aVI need to add a couple of points to this. The first is, I've never met Vladimir Putin, but I know enough about him to know he is a gangster. He is basically an organized crime figure that runs a country, controls a $2 trillion economy. And is using to build up his military in a rapid way despite the fact his economy is a disaster. He understands only geopolitical strength. And every time he has acted anywhere in the world, whether it's in Ukraine or Georgia before that, or now in the Middle East, it's because he is trusting in weakness. His calculation in the Middle East is that he has seen what this president has done, which is nothing, the president has no strategy, our allies in the region do not trust us. For goodness sake, there is only one pro-American free enterprise democracy in the Middle East, it is the state of Israel. And we have a president that treats the prime minister of Israel with less respect than what he gives the ayatollah in Iran. And so our allies in the region don't trust us. Vladimir Putin is exploiting that weakness, for purposes of edging the Americans out as the most important geopolitical power broker in the region. And we do have a vested interest. And here's why. Because all those radical terrorist groups that, by the way, are not just in Syria and in Iraq, +p411 +aVCan I just add what \u2014 he's right on point there. Do you know why these banks are so big? The government made them big. The government made them big by adding thousands and thousands of pages of regulations. So the big banks, they have an army of lawyers, they have an army of compliance officers. They can deal with all these things. The small banks, like Governor Bush was saying, they can't deal with all these regulations. They can't deal with all \u2014 they cannot hire the fanciest law firm in Washington or the best lobbying firm to deal with all these regulations. And so the result is, the big banks get bigger, the small banks struggle to lend or even exist, and the result is what you have today. And in Dodd-Frank, you have actually codified too big to fail. We have actually created a category of systemically important institutions, and these banks go around bragging about it. You know what they say to people with a wink and a nod? We are so big, we are so important that if we get in trouble, the government has to bail us out. This is an outrage. We need to repeal Dodd-Frank as soon as possible. +p412 +aVWell, that's a great question, and let me begin by answering it. This election is about the future, about what kind of country this nation is gonna be in the 21st century. This next (ph) election is actually a generational choice. A choice about what kind of nation we will be in the 21st century. For over 2.5 centuries, America's been a special country, the one place on earth where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything, a nation that's been a force for good on this planet. But now, a growing number of Americans feel out of place in their own country. We have a society that stigmatizes those that hold cultural values that are traditional. We have a society where people \u2014 millions of people \u2014 are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, but they're living paycheck to paycheck because the economy has changed underneath their feet. We have young Americans who owe thousands of dollars in student loans for a degree that doesn't lead to a job. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses dying than starting, and around the world, every day brings news of a new humiliation for America \u2014 many the direct response \u2014 direct consequence of decisions made when Hillary Clinton was the secretary of the \u2014 of state. And so here's the truth: this election is about the future, and the Democratic Party, and the political left has no ideas about the future. All their ideas are the same, tired ideas of the past. More government, more spending. For every issue for America, their answer is a new tax on someone, and a new government program. This nation is going to turn the page, and that's what this election should be about, and, as I said at the first debate... ...If I am our nominee, they will be the party of the past, we will be the party of the 21st century. +p413 +aVOurs \u2014 the story of America is an extraordinary story. It is the story of a nation that for over two centuries each generation has left the next better off than themselves. But now, because Washington is out of touch, for the fault of both political parties, for the first time in our history, that is in doubt. And that is what this election must be about, because if the next four years are anything like the last eight years, our children will be the first Americans ever left worse off by their parents. This election is about making a different choice, about applying our principles of limited government and free enterprise to the unique issues of our time. And if we do, we will not just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And the 21st century can be a new American century. So tonight, I ask you for your vote and I ask you to join us at my website, marcorubio.com. +p414 +aVThank you for that question. I would begin by saying that I'm not sure it's a weakness, but I do believe that I share a sense of optimism for America's future that, today, is eroding from too many of our people. I think there's a sense in this country today that somehow our best days are behind us. And that doesn't have to be true. Our greatest days lie ahead if we are willing to do what it takes now. If we're willing to do what it takes now, the 21st century is going to be the new American century, greater than any other era we've had in the history of this great nation. +p415 +aVThat's an interesting question. That's exactly what the Republican establishment says too. Why don't you wait in line? Wait for what? This country is running out of time. We can't afford to have another four years like the last eight years. Watching this broadcast tonight are millions of people that are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, everything costs more, and they haven't had a raise in decades. You have small businesses in America that are struggling. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses closing than starting. We have a world that's out of control and has grown dangerous and a president that is weakening our military and making our foreign policy unstable and unreliable in the eyes of our allies. And our adversaries continue to grow stronger. We have a \u2014 they say there's no bipartisanship in Washington? We have a $19 trillion bipartisan debt and it continues to grow as we borrow money from countries that do not like us to pay for government we cannot afford. The time to act is now. The time to turn the page is now. If we \u2014 if we don't act now, we are going to be the first generation in American history that leaves our children worse off than ourselves. +p416 +aVLet me say, I read that editorial today with a great amusement. It's actually evidence of the bias that exists in the American media today. +p417 +aVLet me \u2014 let me answer your question on the Sun-Sentinel editorial today. Back in 2004, one of my predecessors to the Senate by the name of Bob Graham, a Democrat, ran for president missing over 30 percent of his votes. I don't recall them calling for his resignation \u2014 +p418 +aVLater that year, in 2004, John Kerry ran for president missing close to 60 to 70 percent of his votes. I don't recall the Sun \u2014 in fact, the Sun-Sentinel endorsed him. In 2008, Barack Obama missed 60 or 70 percent of his votes, and the same newspaper endorsed him again. So this is another example of the double standard that exists in this country between the mainstream media and the conservative movement. +p419 +aVI get to respond, right? +p420 +aVWell, it's interesting. Over the last few weeks, I've listened to Jeb as he walked around the country and said that you're modeling your campaign after John McCain, that you're going to launch a furious comeback the way he did, by fighting hard in New Hampshire and places like that, carrying your own bag at the airport. You know how many votes John McCain missed when he was carrying out that furious comeback that you're now modeling after? +p421 +aVNo Jeb, I don't remember \u2014 well, let me tell you. I don't remember you ever complaining about John McCain's vote record. The only reason why you're doing it now is because we're running for the same position, and someone has convinced you that attacking me is going to help you. +p422 +aVHere's the bottom line. I'm not \u2014 my campaign is going to be about the future of America, it's not going to be about attacking anyone else on this stage. I will continue to have tremendous admiration and respect for Governor Bush. I'm not running against Governor Bush, I'm not running against anyone on this stage. I'm running for president because there is no way we can elect Hillary Clinton to continue the policies of Barack Obama. +p423 +aVWell, you just \u2014 you just listed a litany of discredited attacks from Democrats and my political opponents, and I'm not gonna waste 60 seconds detailing them all. But I'm going to tell you the truth. Here's the truth. I didn't inherit any money. My dad was a bartender, my mother was a maid. They worked hard to provide us the chance at a better life. They didn't save enough money for us to go to school. I had to work my way through school. I had to borrow money to go to school. I tried (ph), early in my marriage, explaining to my wife why someone named Sallie Mae was taking $1,000 out of our bank account every month. I know what it's like to owe that money, and we've worked hard. We've worked hard our whole life to provide a better family \u2014 a better life for our family. We own a home four blocks away from the place that I grew up in. My four children have been able to receive a good Christian education, and I've been able to save for them to go to college so they never have to have the loans that I did. But I'm not worried about my finances, I'm worried about the finances of everyday Americans who today are struggling in an economy that is not producing good paying jobs while everything else costs more. And that's what this economy needs to \u2014 that's what this debate needs to be about. This debate needs to be about the men and women across this country that are struggling on a daily basis to provide for their families the better future that we've always said this country is all about. +p424 +aVAnd I used it to pay off my loans. And it's available on paperback, if you're interested in buying my book. +p425 +aVYeah, again, as I said, we're raising a family in the 21st century and it's one of the reasons why my tax plan is a pro- family tax plan. It increases the per child tax credit, because I didn't read about this in a book. I know for a fact how difficult it is to raise children, how expensive it's become for working families. And I make a lot more than the average American. Imagine how hard it is for these people out there that are making 40, 50, $60,000 a year, and they're trying to provide for their families at a time when this economy is not growing. We can't afford another four years of that. Which is what we're gonna get if we elect a big government liberal like Hillary Clinton to the White House. Thank you, senator. +p426 +aVWell, first of all, if a company gets caught doing that, they should never be able to use the program again. If you get caught abusing this program, you should never be able to use it again. The second thing I said is we need to add reforms, not just increase the numbers, but add reforms. For example, before you hire anyone from abroad, you should have to advertise that job for 180 days. You also have to prove that you're going to pay these people more than you would pay someone else, so that you're not undercutting it by bringing in cheap labor. But here's the best solution of all. We need to get back to training people in this country to do the jobs of the 21st century. Why, for the life of me, I do not understand why did we stop doing vocational education in America, people that can work with their hands; people you can train to do this work while they're still in high school so they can graduate ready to go work. But the best way to close this gap is to modernize higher education so Americans have the skills for those jobs. But in the interim, in the absence of that, what's happening is some of these tech companies are taking those \u2014 those centers (ph) to Canada because they can get people to go over there instead of here. But the ideal scenario is to train Americans to do the work so we don't have to rely on people from abroad. +p427 +aVWell, I believe that there are abuses, those companies should be permanently barred from ever using the program again and we should put strict standards in place to ensure that they're not being abused, like the prevailing wage requirement and like the advertising requirement. +p428 +aVSince I've been mentioned, can I respond? +p429 +aVOK. I know the Democrats have the ultimate SuperPac. It's called the mainstream media who every single day... ... and I'll tell you why. Last week, Hillary Clinton went before a committee. She admitted she had sent e-mails to her family saying, "Hey, this attack at Benghazi was caused by Al Qaida-like elements." She spent over a week telling the families of those victims and the American people that it was because of a video. And yet the mainstream media is going around saying it was the greatest week in Hillary Clinton's campaign. It was the week she got exposed as a liar. It was the week that she got exposed as a liar... But she has her super PAC helping her out, the American mainstream media. +p430 +aVNo, that's \u2014 you're wrong. In fact, the largest after- tax gains is for the people at the lower end of the tax spectrum under my plan. And there's a bunch of things my tax plan does to help them. Number one, you have people in this country that... +p431 +aV...you wrote a story on it, and you had to go back and correct it. +p432 +aVYou did. No, you did. +p433 +aVWell, you're talking about \u2014 yeah. +p434 +aVYeah, but that \u2014 because the math is, if you \u2014 5 percent of a million is a lot more than 5 percent of a thousand. So yeah, someone who makes more money... +p435 +aV...numerically, it's gonna be higher. But the greatest gains, percentage-wise, for people, are gonna be at the lower end of our plan, and here's why: because in addition to a general personal exemption, we are increasing the per-child tax credit for working families. We are lowering taxes on small business. You know, a lot of business activity in America is conducted like the guy that does my dry cleaning. He's an S corporation. He pays on his personal rate, and he is paying higher than the big dry-cleaning chain down the street, because he's paying at his personal rate. Under my plan, no business, big or small, will pay more than 25 percent flat rate on their business income. That is a dramatic tax decrease for hard-working people who run their own businesses. +p436 +aV...The other thing I'd like to make about our plan, one more point, it is the most pro growth tax plan that I can imagine because it doesn't tax investments at all. You know why? Because the more you tax something, the less of it you get. I want to be in \u2014 I want America to be the best... +p437 +aV...in the world for people... +p438 +aVI was mentioned in the question. +p439 +aVThank you. Well, I've learned the rules on this. Look, in addition to what Donald was saying is we also need to talk about the legal immigration system for permanent residents. Today, we have a legal immigration system for permanent residency that is largely based on whether or not you have a relative living here. And that's the way my parents came legally in 1956. But in 2015, we have a very different economy. Our legal immigration system from now on has to be merit-based. It has to be based on what skills you have, what you can contribute economically, and most important of all, on whether or not you're coming here to become an American, not just live in America, but be an American. +p440 +aVNo. No. What I said was that I think that Dr. Carson's ideas are good ideas. They're not my ideas, and I don't necessarily agree with all of them. But this is what you're seeing in the Republican debate that you didn't see in that Democrat debate. You didn't see it for a minute. You didn't see these kind of ideas being batted around, and being batted around in a way that's civil and smart and that's trying to help to inform the voter out there. What you saw was a parade of, "I'll give you this for free; I'll give you that for free." Let me tell you, everybody, when they say they want to give it to you for free, keep your hands on your wallets because they're coming to you to pay for it. And that's why I think these ideas up here are great, and that's what we should have is have more discussions like this and less gotcha. +p441 +aVI want to take off from that point and argue the same thing. And that is that one of the things you're watching tonight are 11 quality candidates debating an important issue. The Republican Party is blessed to have 11 good candidates, 10 good candidates. The Democrats can't even come up with one. And on this issue of the Medicare in particular, it's important because they're going to demagogue what we're saying here tonight. Everyone up here tonight that's talking about reforms, I think and I know for myself I speak to this, we're all talking about reforms for future generations. Nothing has to change for current beneficiaries. My mother is on Medicare and Social Security. I'm against anything that's bad for my mother. So, we're talking about \u2014 we're talking about reform for people like me and people like Senator Cruz, as he talked about earlier, who are years away from retirement that have a way to plan for these changes, and way that's very reasonable. And it's not too much to ask of our generation after everything our parents and our grandparents did for us. +p442 +aVYou know, America doesn't owe me anything. I have a debt to America I'll never repay. This isn't just the country I was born in, this is the nation that literally changed the history of my family. My parents in this country were able to give me the chance to do all the things they never did. We call that the American Dream, although, it's built on the universal dream of a better life. The fact that it's happened for so many people here throughout our history, that's what makes us special. But, now for millions of Americans, it's slipping away. And, we have a government and leaders in government that are completely out of touch, and that's why I'm running for president. Because we can't just save the American Dream, we can expand it to reach more people, and change more lives than ever before. And, that's why tonight I'm asking you for your vote. +p443 +aVThank you. My name is Marco Rubio. I'm from Florida. My wife Jeanette and I are the proud \u2014 we've been married 17 years, and we're the proud parents of four children, two of whom were able to join us here this evening. I'm honored to be here at the Reagan Library, at a place that honors the legacy of a man who inspired not just my interest in public service, but also our love for country. And I'm also aware that California has a drought, and so that's why I made sure I brought my own water. +p444 +aVWell, first of all, I have an understanding of exactly what it is Russia and Putin are doing, and it's pretty straightforward. He wants to reposition Russia, once again, as a geopolitical force. He himself said that the destruction of the Soviet Union \u2014 the fall of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century, and now he's trying to reverse that. He's trying to destroy +p445 +aVLet me tell you \u2014 I will tell you we have zero responsibility, because let's remember what the president said. He said the attack he would conduct would be a pinprick. Well, the United States military was not build to conduct pinprick attacks. If the United States military is going to be engaged by a commander-in-chief, it should only be engaged in an endeavor to win. And we're not going to authorize use of force if you're not put in a position where they can win. And quite frankly, people don't trust this president as commander-in-chief because of that. +p446 +aVHold on, a second, Jake, he asked me, as well. I'd like to actually... +p447 +aV... respond. I think I'm the first senator. The No. 1 test for use of military force should be the vital national security interest of the United States. The reason why I opposed President Obama bombing Syria, is because he couldn't answer the question what do you do if chemical weapons end up in the hands of radical Islamic terrorists like al-Nusra, like Al Qaida, like +p448 +aVIn the middle of negotiating this treaty, Khamenei led the assembled masses in chanting, death to America. I'm reminded of a great editorial cartoon. It shows the Ayatollah Khamenei saying, "Death to all Americans," and then it shows John Kerry coming back, saying, "Can we meet ya half way?" We need a commander-in-chief who will stand up and protect this country. And I'll tell you, I can't wait to stand on that debate stage with Hillary Clinton and to make abundantly clear if you vote for Hillary, you are voting for the Ayatollah Khomeini to possess a nuclear weapon and if you elect me as president, under no circumstances will a theocratic ayatollah who chants death to America ever be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon. +p449 +aVMs. Dana, I agree that English is the unifying language of our country, and everyone should learn to speak it. It's important. I want to tell you a story about someone that didn't speak English that well. It was my grandfather; he came to this country in the 1960s, as a \u2014 escaping Cuba. And he lived with us, growing up. And my grandfather loved America. He understood what was so special about this country. He loved Ronald Reagan; he would be very proud of the fact that we're here this evening. My grandfather instilled in me the belief that I was blessed to live in the one society in all of human history where even I, the son of a bartender and a maid, could aspire to have anything, and be anything that I was willing to work hard to achieve. But he taught me that in Spanish, because it was the language he was most comfortable in. And he became a conservative, even though he got his news in Spanish. And so, I do give interviews in Spanish, and here's why \u2014 because I believe that free enterprise and limited government is the best way to help people who are trying to achieve upward mobility. And if they get their news in Spanish, I want them to hear that directly from me. Not from a translator at Univision. +p450 +aVWell, let me say that legal immigration is not an issue I read about in the newspaper. Immigration, illegal immigration, all the good aspects of immigration and all the negative ones as well, I live with. My family's immigrants. My neighbors are all immigrants. My in-laws are all immigrants. So I've seen every aspect of it, and I can tell you America doesn't have one immigration problem, it has three. First, despite the fact that we are the most generous country in the history of the world in allowing people to come here legally, we have people still coming illegally. Second, we have a legal immigration system that no longer works. It primary is built on the basis of whether you have a relative living here instead of merit. And third, we have 11 million or 12 million people, many of whom have been here for longer than a decade who are already here illegally. And we must deal with all three of these problems. We cannot deal with all three of these problems in one massive piece of legislation. I learned that. We tried it that way. Here's the way forward: First, we must \u2014 we must secure our border, the physical border, with \u2014 with a wall, absolutely. But we also need to have an entry/exit tracking system. 40 percent of the people who come here illegally come legally, and then they overstay the visa. We also need a mandatory e-verify system. After we've done that, step two would be to modernize our legal immigration system so you come to America on the basis of what you can contribute economically, not whether or not simply you have a relative living here. And after we've done those two things, I believe the American people... +p451 +aV... will be very reasonable and responsible about what you do with someone who's been here and isn't a criminal. If you're a criminal, obviously, you will not be able to stay. +p452 +aVYes, well, it does. But it's in the following way, this is an important question. I think if you're running for president, these are important issues, because look at around the world today. There is a lunatic in North Korea with dozens of nuclear weapons and long-range rocket that can already hit the very place in which we stand tonight. The Chinese are rapidly expanding their military. They hack into our computers. They're building artificial islands in the South China Sea, the most important shipping lane in the world. A gangster in Moscow is not just threatening Europe, he's threatening to destroy and divide +p453 +aVWell, that's why we have a debate. I think that we should have a deeper debate about these issues, because there is no more important decision that a president will make. +p454 +aVWell, you should ask him questions in detail about the foreign policy issues our president will confront, because you had better be able to lead our country on the first day. Not six months from now, not a year from now, on the first day in office, our president could very well confront a national security crisis. You can't predict it. Sometimes you cannot control it. And it is the most \u2014 the federal government does all kinds of things it's not supposed to be doing. It regulates bathrooms. It regulates schools that belong to local communities. But the one thing that the federal government must do, the one thing that only the federal government can do is keep us safe. And a president better be up-to-date on those issues on his first day in office, on her first day in office. +p455 +aVTrust (ph) me, I get that. OK. +p456 +aVI never get to addressed, and... +p457 +aV...and when I do, I'm gonna jump in. +p458 +aVYeah. He did. Let me \u2014 I'm proud to serve in the United States Senate. You know, when I ran five years ago, the entire leadership of my party in Washington lined up against me. But I'm glad I won. And I'm glad that I ran, because this country's headed in the wrong direction. And if we keep electing the same people, nothing is going to change. And you're right, I have missed some votes, and I'll tell you why, Mr. Trump. Because in my years in the Senate, I've figured out very quickly that the political establishment in Washington, D.C. in both political parties is completely out of touch with the lives of our people. You have millions of people in this country living paycheck to paycheck, and nothing is being done about it. We are about to leave our children with $18 trillion in \u2014 in \u2014 in debt, and they're about to raise the debt limit again. We have a world that grows increasingly dangerous, and we are eviscerating our military spending and signing deals with Iran. And these \u2014 if this thing continues, we are going to be the first Americans to leave our children worse off than ourselves. That's why I'm missing votes. Because I am leaving the Senate, I'm not running for re-election, and I'm running for president because I know this: unless we have the right president, we cannot make America fulfill its potential, but with the right person in office, the 21st century can be the greatest era that our nation has ever known. +p459 +aVI want to go even deeper \u2014 and I want to go even deeper in that direction, because I think the belief that somehow by retreating, America makes the world safer has been disproven every single time it's ever been tried. Syria's a perfect example of it. The uprising in Syria was not started by the United States; it was started by the Syrian people. And I warned at the time \u2014 this was three and a half years ago \u2014 I openly and repeatedly warned that if we did not find moderate elements on the ground that we could equip and arm, that void would be filled by radical jihadists. Well, the president didn't listen, the administration didn't follow through, and that's exactly what happened. That is why +p460 +aV... as you asked earlier today. +p461 +aVBut radical terrorism cannot be solved by intellect. It cannot \u2014 they require \u2014 what they need, is they need an operating space. That's what Afghanistan was for Al Qaida. It was a vacuum that they filled, and they created an operating space. That's why they had to be drawn out of there. That's why they had to be destroyed. It is the reason why +p462 +aVThere's a broader issue here, Hugh. And there's a broader issue here as well. First of all, the only people that follow the law are law-abiding people. Criminals by definition ignore the law, so you can pass all the gun laws in the world, like the left wants. The criminals are going to ignore it because they are criminals. Here's the real issue. The real issue \u2014 the real issue is not what are people using to commit violence, but why are they committing the violence? And here's the truth: Because you cannot separate the social, moral wellbeing of your people from their economic and other wellbeing. You cannot separate it. You can't have a strong country without strong people, you cannot have strong people without strong values, and you cannot have strong values without strong families and the institutions in this country that defend and support those families. +p463 +aVWell, and today, we have a left-wing government under this president that is undermining all of the institutions and society that support the family and teach those values. +p464 +aVBecause we're not going to destroy our economy the way the left-wing government that we are under now wants to do. We're not going to... +p465 +aVWell, and I don't \u2014 he may have lined up with their positions on this issue. But here is the bottom line. Every proposal they put forward are going to be proposals that will make it harder to do business in America, that will make it harder to create jobs in America. Single parents are already struggling across this country to provide for their families. Maybe a billionaire here in California can afford an increase in their utility rates, but a working family in Tampa, Florida, or anywhere across this country cannot afford it. So we are not going to destroy our economy. We are not going to make America a harder place to create jobs in order to pursue policies that will do absolutely nothing, nothing to change our climate, to change our weather, because America is a lot of things, the greatest country in the world, absolutely. But America is not a planet. And we are not even the largest carbon producer anymore, China is. And they're drilling a hole and digging anywhere in the world that they can get a hold of. So the bottom line is, I am not in favor of any policies that make America a harder place for people to live, or to work, or to raise their families. +p466 +aVJake, you mentioned me and called me a denier. Let me say, climate change... +p467 +aVOK. A skeptic. You can measure the climate. You can measure it. That's not the issue we're discussing. Here is what I'm skeptical of. I'm skeptical of the decisions that the left wants us to make, because I know the impact those are going to have and they're all going to be on our economy. They will not do a thing to lower the rise of the sea. They will not do a thing to cure the drought here in California. But what they will do is they will make America a more expensive place to create jobs. And today with millions of people watching this broadcast that are struggling paycheck to paycheck that do not know how they're going to pay their bills at the end of this month, I'm not in favor of anything that is going to make it harder for them to raise their family. +p468 +aVSenator Rubio, you mean? +p469 +aVI know we all look alike. +p470 +aVThe \u2014 Rosa Parks, an everyday American that changed the course of history. +p471 +aVWell, there are some people in Florida upset at me over a joke I made about Florida State, but, what the heck, I want my codename to be Gator. +p472 +aVOne of the things that made Ronald Reagan a great president, is that he understood that America was a unique nation, like any other that had existed throughout human history. He knew it was founded on universal principles that were powerful, the dignity of all people, human rights, the rights of all to live in freedom and liberty, and choose their own path in life. He didn't just believe it, he acted on it. That's why bringing down communism was so important to him. If I'm honored with the opportunity to be president, I hope that our Air Force One will fly, first and foremost, to our allies; in Israel, in South Korea, and Japan. They know we stand with them. That America can be counted on. It would also fly to China, not just to meet with our enemies, not just to meet with those adversaries of ours that are there, but also to meet with those that aspire to freedom and liberty within China. I would even invite them to my inauguration. We would also fly into Moscow and into Russia. And not just meet with the leaders of Russia, but also meet with those who aspire to freedom and liberty in Russia. And ultimately, I hope that my Air Force One, if I become president, will one day land in a free Cuba, where its people can choose its leaders and its own destiny. +p473 +aVWell, thank you for the question, Chris, and it's great to be here tonight. Let me begin by saying this: I'm not new to the political process; I was making a contribution as the speaker of the third largest and most diverse state in the country well before I even got into the Senate. I would add to that that this election cannot be a resume competition. It's important to be qualified, but if this election is a resume competition, then Hillary Clinton's gonna be the next president, because she's been in office and in government longer than anybody else running here tonight. Here's what this election better be about: This election better be about the future, not the past. It better be about the issues our nation and the world is facing today, not simply the issues we once faced. This country is facing an economy that has been radically transformed. You know, the largest retailer in the country and the world today, Amazon, doesn't even own a single store? And these changes have been disruptive. They have changed people's lives. The jobs that once sustained our middle class, they either don't pay enough or they are gone, and we need someone that understands that as our nominee. If I'm our nominee, how is Hillary Clinton gonna lecture me about living paycheck to paycheck? I was raised paycheck to paycheck. How is she -- how is she gonna lecture me -- how is she gonna lecture me about student loans? I owed over $100,000 just four years ago. If I'm our nominee, we will be the party of the future. +p474 +aVLet me set the record straight on a couple of things. The first is, the evidence is now clear that the majority of people coming across the border are not from Mexico. They're coming from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras. Those countries are the source of the people that are now coming in its majority. I also believe we need a fence. The problem is if El Chapo builds a tunnel under the fence, we have to be able to deal with that too. And that's why you need an e-verify system and you need an entry-exit tracking system and all sorts of other things to prevent illegal immigration. But I agree with what Governor Kasich just said. People are frustrated. This is the most generous country in the world when it comes to immigration. There are a million people a year who legally immigrate to the United States, and people feel like we're being taken advantage of. We feel like despite our generosity, we're being taken advantage of. And let me tell you who never gets talked about in these debates. The people that call my office, who have been waiting for 15 years to come to the United States. And they've paid their fees, and they hired a lawyer, and they can't get in. And they're wondering, maybe they should come illegally. And so these are important issues, and we should address it. It's a serious problem that needs to be addressed, and otherwise we're going to keep talking about this for the next 30 years, like we have for the last 30 years. +p475 +aVNot me. +p476 +aVActually, to be clear......he supported Charlie Crist. +p477 +aVHey, Charlie... +p478 +aVWell, first off, I too believe in curriculum reform. It is critically important in the 21st Century. We do need curriculum reform. And it should happen at the state and local level. That's. . . that's. . . that is where educational policy belongs, because if a parent is unhappy with what their child is being taught in school, they can go to that local school board or their state legislature, or their governor and get it changed. Here's the problem with Common Core. The Department of Education, like every federal agency, will never be satisfied. They will not stop with it being a suggestion. They will turn it into a mandate. In fact, what they will begin to say to local communities is, you will not get federal money unless do you things the way we want you to do it. And they will use Common Core or any other requirements that exists nationally to force it down the throats of our people in our states. +p479 +aVThat's a great question. +p480 +aVThat's a great question. First of all, it begins by having leaders that recognize that the economy we live in today is dramatically different from the one we had five years ago. It's an economy that now has placed us in global competition with dozens of other countries around the world. Now, the big companies that have connections with Washington, they can affect policies to help them, but the small companies like the one Tania is talking about, they're the ones that are struggling. The first thing we need to do is we need to even out the tax code for small businesses so that we lower their tax rate to 25 percent, just as we need to lower it for all businesses. We need to have a regulatory budget in America that limits the amount of regulations on our economy. We need to repeal and replace Obamacare and we need to improve higher education so that people can have access to the skills they need for 21st century jobs. And last but not least, we need to repeal Dodd-Frank. It is eviscerating small businesses and small banks. 20 \u2014 over 40 percent of small and mid-size banks that loan money to small businesses have been wiped out over the \u2014 since Dodd-Frank has passed. We need to repeal and replace Dodd-Frank. We need to make America fair again for all businesses, but especially those being run by small business owners. +p481 +aVWell, Megyn, first of all, I'm not sure that that's a correct assessment of my record. I would go on to add that I believe all-- +p482 +aVI have never said that. And I have never advocated that. What I have advocated is that we pass law in this country that says all human life at every stage of its development is worthy of protection. In fact, I think that law already exists. It is called the Constitution of the United States. And let me go further. I believe that every single human being is entitled to the protection of our laws, whether they can vote or not. Whether they can speak or not. Whether they can hire a lawyer or not. Whether they have a birth certificate or not. And I think future generations will look back at this history of our country and call us barbarians for murdering millions of babies who we never gave them a chance to live. +p483 +aVWell, first, let me say I think God has blessed us. He has blessed the Republican Party with some very good candidates. The Democrats can't even find one. And I believe God has blessed our country. This country has been extraordinarily blessed. And we have honored that blessing. And that's why God has continued to bless us. And he has blessed us with young men and women willing to risk their lives and sometimes die in uniform for the safety and security of our people. Unfortunately today we have a VA that does not do enough for them. I am proud that last year we helped change the law. We changed the law to give the power to the VA secretary the ability to fire any executive that isn't doing their job. And it is outrageous they've only fired one person to date. When I'm president of the United States, we're going to have a VA that cares more about our veterans than about the bureaucrats who work at the VA. +p484 +aVThank you. You know, both of my parents were born into poor families on the island of Cuba. They came to America because it was the only place where people like them could have a chance. Here in this country, they never made it big, but the very purpose of their life was to give us the chance to do all the things they never could. My father was a bartender. And the journey from the back of that bar to this stage tonight, to me, that is the essence of the American dream. It is what makes our nation different. And I'm running for president because I want that to still be possible for the people trying to do that now. I run for president because I believe that we can't just save the American dream; we can expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And that's why I'm asking for your vote. So we can make America greater than it has ever been. And make of this century a new American century. +p485 +aVWell, let me first talk about Justice Scalia. His loss is tremendous, and obviously our hearts and prayers go out to his family. He will go down as one of the great justices in the history of this republic. You talk about someone who defended consistently the original meaning of the Constitution, who understood that the Constitution was not there to be interpreted based on the fads of the moment, but it was there to be interpreted according to its original meaning. Justice Scalia understood that better than anyone in the history of this republic. His dissent, for example, on the independent counsel case is a brilliant piece of jurist work. And, of course, his dissent on Obergefell as well. No. 2, I do not believe the president should appoint someone. And it's not unprecedented. In fact, it has been over 80 years since a lame duck president has appointed a Supreme Court justice. And it remind us of this, how important this election is. Someone on this stage will get to choose the balance of the Supreme Court, and it will begin by filling this vacancy that's there now. And we need to put people on the bench that understand that the Constitution is not a living and breathing document. It is to be interpreted as originally meant. +p486 +aVThat's not accurate. +p487 +aVNo, I've never \u2014 there has been, for example, today, according to the changes Harry Reid made, appellate judges can now be appointed by a simple majority, but not Supreme Court justices. And I think today you see the wisdom of why we don't want that to change. Because if that were the case and we were not in charge of the Senate, Harry Reid and Barack Obama would ram down our throat a liberal justice, like the ones Barack Obama has imposed on us already. +p488 +aVNo. I think there are three major threats that you want to immediately get on top of. No. 1 is, what are we doing in the Asia-Pacific region, where both North Korea and China pose threats to the national security of the United States. No. 2 is, what are we doing in the Middle East with the combination of the Sunni-Shia conflict driven by the Shia arc that Iran is now trying to establish in the Middle East, also the growing threat of +p489 +aVWell, let me tell you what has happened a couple of years ago. One of the hardest decisions you'll ever make in Congress is when you are asked by the president to authorize the use of force in a conflict, because you are now putting your name, on behalf of the people of your state, behind a military action, where Americans in uniform could lose their life. So, in 2014, Barack Obama said he would not take military action against Assad unless it was authorized by the Senate, beginning on the Committee of Foreign Relations, where I am one of its members. And it was hard because you looked at the pictures. I saw the same images people saw. I'm the father of children. I saw the images of these little children \u2014 been gassed and poisoned by their own leaders, and we were angry. Something had to happen, and there was the sense that we needed to seek retribution. And then I looked at Barack Obama's plan. Barack Obama's plan, which John Kerry later described as unbelievably small, and I concluded that that attack would not only not help the situation, it would make it actually worse. It would allow Assad to stand up to the United States of America, survive a strike, stay in power and actually strengthen his grip. So it was a difficult decision to make, and when we only had a few days to look at and make a decision on it, and I voted against Barack Obama's plan to use force, and it was the right decision. +p490 +aVI just want to say, at least on behalf of me and my family, I thank God all the time it was George W. Bush in the White House on 9/11 and not Al Gore. And you can \u2014 I think you can look back in hindsight and say a couple of things, but he kept us safe. And not only did he keep us safe, but no matter what you want to say about weapons of mass destruction, Saddam Hussein was in violation of U.N. resolutions, in open violation, and the world wouldn't do anything about it, and George W. Bush enforced what the international community refused to do. And again, he kept us safe, and I am forever grateful to what he did for this country. +p491 +aVThe World Trade Center came down because Bill Clinton didn't kill Osama bin Laden when he had the chance to kill him. +p492 +aVWell, because I'm influencing social policy \u2014 this is their money. This is the money of parents. You don't earn the tax credit unless you're working. That's your money, it doesn't belong to government. Here's what I don't understand. If a business takes their money and they invest in the piece of the equipment, they get to write off their taxes. But if a parent takes money that they have earned to work and invests in their children, they don't? This makes no sense. Parenting is the most important job any of us will ever have. Family formation is the most important thing in society. So what my tax plan does, is it does create, especially for working families, an additional Child Tax Credit. So that parents who are working get to keep more of their own money, not the government's money, to invest in their children to go to school, to go to a private school, to buy a new backpack. Let me tell you, if you're a parent that's struggling, then you know that $50 a month is the difference between a new pair of shoes this month or not getting a new pair of shoes for your kids. I'm going to have a tax plan that is pro-family, because the family is the most important institution in society. You cannot have a strong country without strong families. +p493 +aVWell, first of all, I think amnesty is the forgiveness of a wrongdoing without consequence and that \u2014 I've never supported that. I do not support that. I think there has to be consequences for violating our immigration laws. What I think is clear about this issue to begin with is we're not going to be able to make progress on illegal immigration until first, illegal immigration is brought under control. You go back to 1986, when they legalized three million people and they promised to secure the border. It didn't happen, and as a result, people have lost trust in the federal government. It is now clear that the only way to make progress on immigration is not just to pass a law that enforces the law, but actually prove to people that it's working. They want to see the wall built. They want to see the additional border agents. They want to see E-Verify. They want to see an entry-exit tracking system. Forty percent of the people in this country illegally are entering legally and overstaying visas. And only after all of that is in place, then we'll see what the American people are willing to support on this issue. I think the American people will be very reasonable, but responsible, about how you handle someone who has been here a long time, who can pass a background check, who pays a fine and starts paying taxes and all they want is a work permit. But you can't do any of that until you prove to people that illegal immigration is under control once and for all. +p494 +aVWe're going to have to do this again, O.K.? When that issue was being debated, Ted Cruz, at a committee hearing, very passionately said, I want immigration reform to pass, I want people to be able to come out of the shadows. And he proposed an amendment that would legalized people here. Not only that, he proposed doubling the number of green cards. He proposed a 500 percent increase on guest workers. Now his position is different. Now he is a passionate opponent of all those things. So he either wasn't telling the truth then or he isn't telling the truth now, but to argue he is a purist on immigration is just not true. +p495 +aVWell, first of all, I don't know how he knows what I said on Univision, because he doesn't speak Spanish. And second of all, the other point that I would make... +p496 +aVLook, this is a disturbing pattern now, because for a number of weeks now, Ted Cruz has just been telling lies. He lied about Ben Carson in Iowa. He lies about Planned Parenthood. He lies about marriage. He's lying about all sorts of things. And now he makes things up. The bottom line is this is a campaign and people are watching it. And they see the truth behind all these issues. And here is the truth, Ted Cruz supported legalizing people that were in this country... +p497 +aV... and only now does he say... +p498 +aVWell, we'll put on our website, marcorubio.com. We're going to... +p499 +aVOn anything I want? +p500 +aVWell, let me talk about poverty. +p501 +aVI do. +p502 +aVI had something important. +p503 +aVThe issue of poverty is critical, because for me, poverty is the \u2014 is \u2014 is free enterprise not reaching people. Today, we have antipoverty programs that don't cure poverty. We don't cure poverty in America. Our antipoverty programs have become, in some instances, a way of life, a lifestyle. Now, we do need antipoverty programs, you can't have free enterprise programs without them, but not as a way of life. And so I have a very specific proposal on this and I don't \u2014 in 60 seconds, I can't describe it all, but it basically turns the program over to states. It allows states to design innovative programs that cure poverty, because I think Nikki Haley will do a better job curing poverty than Barack Obama. +p504 +aVWell, no. It's not the case. It didn't pass, and we haven't solved immigration in this country. It's still a problem. It is worse today than it was three years ago, which is worse than it was five years ago. And it has to be confronted and solved. But the only way forward on this issue \u2014 you asked a question about flexibility. Let me tell you about that. One of the things that you need in leadership is the ability to understand that to get things done, you must figure out the way to get it done. You will not pass comprehensive immigration reform. People do not trust the federal government. They want to see the law being enforced. They want to see illegal immigration come under control. They want to see that wall. They want to see E-Verify. They want to see all of these things working, and then they will have a conversation with you about what do you do with people that have been here a long time that are otherwise, you know, not criminals. But they're not going to do it until you first enforce the law. +p505 +aVThirty seconds. +p506 +aVI speak fast. +p507 +aVWell, I think one of the presidents \u2014 well, the president I grew up under was Ronald Reagan. And Reagan had a vision for America's future. And if you think about what Ronald Reagan inherited, it's not unlike what the next president is going to inherit. This is the worst president we've had in 35 years, 35 years back would have made it Jimmy Carter. That's what Ronald Reagan inherited. And I think the question you would ask is, how did you inspire again the American people to believe in the future? How did you \u2014 what did it take to ensure that the American people, despite all of the difficulties of the time \u2014 you know, you look back at that time, the American military was in decline. Our standing in the world was in decline. We had hostages being held in Iran. Our economy was in bad shape. The American people were scared about the future. They were scared about what kind of country their children were going to live in and inherit. And yet somehow Ronald Reagan was able to instill in our nation and in our people a sense of optimism. And he turned America around because of that vision and ultimately because of that leadership. I wish Ronald Reagan was still around. This country needs someone just like that. And if our next president is even half the president Ronald Reagan was, America is going to be greater than it has ever been. +p508 +aVThank you, and thank you for watching tonight. This is a difficult time in our country. Our economy's flat, it's not creating the jobs it once did, and people struggle living paycheck to paycheck. Our culture's in trouble. Wrong is considered right and right is considered wrong. All the things that once held our families together are now under constant assault. And around the world, America's reputation is in decline. Our allies don't trust us, our adversaries don't fear us, Iran captures our sailors and parades them before the world on video. These are difficult times, but 2016 can be a turning point. That's why I'm running for president, and that's why I'm here today to ask you for your vote. If you elect me president, we are going to re-embrace free enterprise so that everyone can go as far as their talent and their work will take them. We are going to be a country that says that "life begins at conception and life is worthy of the protection of our laws." We're going to be a country that says "that marriage is between one man and one woman." We are going to be a country that says, "The constitution and the rights that it talks about do not come from our president, they come from our creator." We are going to be loyal to our allies like Israel, not enemies like Iran. And we will rebuild the U.S. military so no one will there test it. Vote for me. I will unify this party. I will grow it. We will win this election, and we will make the 21st century a new American century. +p509 +aVWell, let me say, from protecting the people of Florida from imminent domain abuse, to bringing accountability to the V.A., to the Girls Count Act, to sanctioning groups, I'm proud of my service in the United States Senate and before that, in the Florida legislature. I will say, if politics becomes and the presidency becomes about electing people who have been Congress or in the Senate the longest, we should all rally around Joe Biden. He's been around 1,000 years. He's passed hundreds of bills and I don't think any of us believe Joe Biden should be president of the United States. And let's dispel once and for all with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing. Barack Obama is undertaking a systematic effort to change this country, to make America more like the rest of the world. That's why he passed Obamacare and the stimulus and Dodd-Frank and the deal with Iran. It is a systematic effort to change America. When I'm president of the United States, we are going to re-embrace all the things that made America the greatest nation in the world and we are going to leave our children with what they deserve: the single greatest nation in the history of the world. +p510 +aVIf I may respond to that. +p511 +aVWell, I think the experience is not just what you did, but how it worked out. Under Chris Christie's governorship of New Jersey, they've been downgraded nine times in their credit rating. This country already has a debt problem, we don't need to add to it by electing someone who has experience at running up and destroying the credit rating of his state. But I would add this. Let's dispel with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing. He is trying to change this country. He wants America to become more like the rest of the world. We don't want to be like the rest of the world, we want to be the United States of America. And when I'm elected president, this will become once again, the single greatest nation in the history of the world, not the disaster Barack Obama has imposed upon us. +p512 +aVChris \u2014 Chris, your state got hit by a massive snowstorm two weeks ago. You didn't even want to go back. They had to shame you into going back. And then you stayed there for 36 hours and then he left and came back to campaign. Those are the facts. Here's the bottom line. This notion that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing is just not true. He knows exactly what he's doing. +p513 +aVWell, that's the \u2014 that's the reason why this campaign is so important. Because I think this notion \u2014 I think this is an important point. We have to understand what we're going through here. We are not facing a president that doesn't know what he's doing. He knows what he is doing. That's why he's done the things he's done. That's why we have a president that passed Obamacare and the stimulus. All this damage that he's done to America is deliberate. This is a president that's trying to redefine this country. That's why this election is truly a referendum on our identity as a nation, as a people. Our future is at stake. This election is not about the past. It is about what kind of country this is going to be in the 21st century, and if we elect someone like Barack Obama, a Hillary Clinton, a Bernie Sanders or anyone like that, our children are going to be the first Americans to inherit a diminishes country. That will not happen if I'm elected. +p514 +aVChris, you didn't want to go back. You didn't want to go back. +p515 +aVYou didn't want to go back, Chris. +p516 +aVChris, everybody \u2014 you said you weren't going to go back. He told everyone he wasn't going to go back. They had to shame him into going back. And when he decided to go back, he criticized the young lady, saying, what am I supposed to do, go back with a mop and clean up the flooding? +p517 +aV... It's your record, it's not a talking point... +p518 +aVBut Martha, just \u2014 Martha, just to clarify on that point, because he's right, and one more thing to point \u2014 it is standard procedure of the United States to shoot down those missiles once launched if they pose a threat to civilians, land and ships. +p519 +aVWell \u2014 no, I understand. And not \u2014 but \u2014 but I think it's important to note that it is \u2014 and Senator Cruz, I think, was alluding to this, as well \u2014 it is the standard procedure of the United States, if those missiles pose a threat to land, civilians, our allies or any of our assets, to shoot down that missile in mid-flight. I understand your question was about a preemptive strike, but my point is that there is in place now contingencies to avoid any sort of that strike from going errant and destroying any \u2014 any assets of the United States, or implicating or hurting any of our allies or any of our assets in the region. +p520 +aVYeah. I have a \u2014 I got mentioned, can I respond? +p521 +aVHere's the broader point, as well, and then I think it touches on what Donald just mentioned. Barack Obama views America as this arrogant global power that needed to be cut down to size. OK? This is a president that views this country as a country that's been too powerful in the world and we create problems around the world. For example, it's one of the reasons why he had betrayed Israel, because he believes that if we create separation from Israel, it will help our relations in the Islamic world. The same is happening in the Asia-Pacific region with accommodations to North Korea. North Korean should be back on that list of terrorist nations, as an example. And Donald's absolutely right. China does have a lot of influence over North Korea and he should be leveraging our relationship with the Chinese to ensure that North Korea no longer has access to the resources that have allowed them \u2014 a country that has no economy to develop long range missiles already capable of reaching the west coast of the United States potentially. +p522 +aVHere's the bottom line. We can't get that legislation passed. The American people will not support doing anything about people that are in this country illegally until the law is enforced first, and you prove it to them. This has been abundantly clear. Every effort over the last ten years to do those comprehensively has failed. And it has failed because the American people have zero trust that the federal government will enforce our laws. And that's why since then, I have said repeatedly, if you are serious about immigration reform, then the key that unlocks the door to being able to do that is not just to pass a law that says it is going to enforce the law, but to actually do it. To hire the 20,000 new border agents, to finish the fencing and walls, to put in place mandatory e-verify, to put in place an entry-exit tracking system to prevent visa overstays. And once that is in place and that's working, I believe the American people will support a very reasonable, but responsible approach to people that have been here a long time, who are not dangerous criminals, who pay taxes and pay fines for what they did. But until then, none of that is going to be possible. +p523 +aVWell, the legislation passed, but it has no support. In essence, it couldn't pass in the House, it will never pass in the United States until we secure the border, and it is not the way we're going to do when I'm president. When I'm president, we are going to enforce the law first, prove to people that illegal immigration is under control. And then we'll see what the American people are willing to support when it comes to people that are not criminals, who have been in the this country for a long time and who otherwise would like to stay. +p524 +aVLeadership is ultimately about solving the problem. And the approach that was tried and has been tried now repeatedly over ten years to do this comprehensively, all at once in a massive piece of legislation has no chance of passage. It is not leadership to continue to try something that has no chance of happening. I want to make progress on this issue. It has been discussed now for 30 years and nothing ever happens. And I am telling you that the only way forward on this issue that has any chance of happening, meaning gaining the support of the American people, you cannot do this without the support of the American people, is an approach that begins by proving that once and for all, illegal immigration is under control. +p525 +aVGood evening. +p526 +aVWell, I think conservatism is about three things and Donald touched on one of them, but it's about three things. The first is conservatism is about limited government, especially at the federal level. The federal government is a limited government, limited by the Constitution, which delineates its powers. If it's not in the Constitution, it does not belong to the federal government. It belongs to states, local communities and the private sector. It's about free enterprise, which is an economic model that allows everyone to rise without pulling anyone down. The reason why free enterprise is the greatest economic model in the history of the world is because it's the only economic model where you can make poor people richer without making rich people poor. And it's about a strong national defense. It's about believing, unlike Barack Obama, that the world is a safer and a better place when America is the strongest military and the strongest nation on this planet. That's conservatism. +p527 +aVNow, see, I was mentioned by Governor... +p528 +aVYeah. +p529 +aVOK, good, then I'll get to it . Here's the... +p530 +aVWell, no, sorry. Let me respond to that question. +p531 +aVWell, here's the response. I think anyone who believes that Barack Obama isn't doing what he's doing on purpose doesn't understand what we're dealing with here, OK? This is a president \u2014 this is a president who is trying to change this country. When he talked about change, he wasn't talking about dealing with our problems. Obamacare was not an accident. The undermining of the Second Amendment is not an accident. The gutting of our military is not an accident. The undermining of America on the global stage is not an accident. Barack Obama is, indeed, trying to redefine this country. We better understand what we're dealing with here, because that's what Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders want to double down on if they are elected. +p532 +aVNo. He talked about Barack Obama. +p533 +aVYeah. +p534 +aVI don't know of any problem in America that's going to be fixed with a tax increase. We have an economy today, an economy today that is not creating jobs that pay enough. And one of the reasons why is because we have one of the most expensive business tax rates on the planet. Our combined business rate puts us among the highest in the industrialized world. And then on top of that, we are the only one that has a worldwide system of taxation, where an American company who makes money abroad has to pay taxes where they made the money and then taxes a second time when they bring it back. The combination of these two things has stranded over $2 trillion, the equivalent of the size of the Russian economy, $2 trillion of American corporate money stranded overseas, combined with all of these inversions of companies leaving us. The solution to the problems we have today are not a tax increase. It is to lower our taxes on both people and on companies, so we can make America globally competitive again. +p535 +aVWell, first, we need to understand who they are. +p536 +aVBecause they currently occupy Sunni cities and villages. Sunni cities and villages can only truly be liberated and held by Sunnis themselves. If they are held by Shias it will trigger sectarian violence. The Kurds are incredible fighters and they will liberate the Kurdish areas, but Kurds can not and do not want to liberate and hold Sunni villages and towns. It will take Sunni fighters themselves in that region to take those villages and cities, and then to hold them and avoid the sort of sectarian violence that follows in the past. And why that is important is because if Sunnis are not able to govern themselves in these areas, you are going to have a successor group to +p537 +aVWell, the problem with the Sunni forces in the region is they don't trust this administration. This administration cut a deal with their mortal enemies, the Shia, in Iran. It poisoned the well with these countries. It makes it very difficult to cooperate with them as a result. They also, by the way, understand what real U.S. air power looks like. They saw the Iraq war. They saw, up close, also Afghanistan. They know what air power looks like when the United States is committed to the cause. And they see the airstrikes that are being conducted now, and they say to themselves, that's not real commitment. We know what real commitment looks like. The \u2014 the Jordanian king was in Washington three weeks ago. He told everyone who would listen that they have begged for permission from the coalition to target caravans. And the coalition \u2014 meaning U.S. leadership on the ground......would not allow them to proceed with those airstrikes. +p538 +aVWell, when people talk about interrogating terrorists, they're acting like this is some sort of law enforcement function. Law enforcement is about gathering evidence to take someone to trial, and convict them. Anti-terrorism is about finding out information to prevent a future attack so the same tactics do not apply. And, it is true, we should not be discussing in a wide spread way the exact tactics that we're going to use because that allows terrorist to know to practice how to evade us. But, here's the bigger problem with all this, we're not interrogating anybody right now. Guantanamo's being emptied by this president. We should be putting people into Guantanamo, not emptying it out, and we shouldn't be releasing these killers who are rejoining the battlefield against the United States. +p539 +aVI think it's already happening. Look at the turnout in Iowa. A historic number of people came out and voted in those caucuses. There are saying the same thing is going to happen here in New Hampshire. Look at the rallies that every single person on this stage is having. Much higher numbers than you used to see in the past and here is why. Because people are starting to understand, very clearly, that this election is going to be a turning point. That 2016 is not just a choice between Republican or Democrat. It is a referendum on our identity as a nation and as a people. So here is what Hillary Clinton needs to understand. We're going to have our primary, we're going to have our debates \u2014 which by the way, are twice as many as the Democrats have been willing to have themselves. But we're going to bring this party together and we are going to defeat Hillary Clinton, because she is unqualified to be the president of the United States of America. She put classified information on her computer because she thinks she's above the law and anyone who lies to the families of people who have lost their loved ones in the service of our country like she did in Benghazi, can never be the commander-in-chief of the United States of America. +p540 +aVI would. But that's not \u2014 the issue \u2014 my problem with what he did is he continues to put out this fiction that there's widespread systematic discrimination against Muslim Americans. First of all, let's recognize this. If you go to a national cemetery in this country, you will see stars of Davids and crosses, but you see crescent moons. There are brave men and women who happen to be Muslim Americans who are serving this country in uniform and who have died in the service of this country. And we recognize that and we honor that. But by the same token, we face a very significant threat of home grown violent extremism. We need to have strong, positive relationships in the Islamic communities in this country so they will identify and report this activity, especially mosques, for example, that are participating not just in hate speech, but inciting violence and taking acts against us. And I do believe it is important also to recognize, you want to talk about religious discrimination in America. Well, I don't think Barack Obama is being sued by any Islamic groups, but he is being sued by the Little Sisters of the Poor. We are facing in this country Christian groups and groups that hold traditional values who feel and in fact are being discriminated against by the laws of this country that try to force them to vie to violate their conscience. +p541 +aVFirst, let me say there are already women today serving in roles that are like combat. That, in fact, whose lives are in very serious danger, and so I have no problem whatsoever with people of either gender serving in combat so long as the minimum requirements necessary to do the job are not compromised. But, I support that, and obviously now that that is the case I do believe that Selective Service should be opened up for both men and women in case a Draft is ever instituted. I think the more fundamental challenge we're now facing is what's happening to the U.S. military \u2014 I've said this many times, and I think it's important to start paying attention to this. Our Air Force is about to be the smallest it's been in 100 years. I'm sorry, in our history. Our Army is set to be smaller than it's been since the second World War, and our Navy is about to be the smallest than it's been in 100 years. I think we need to begin to refocus on rebuilding our military because every time we have cut our military in the history of this country we have had to come back later and rebuild it, and it costs more, and it's a lot more chaotic and dangerous. When I'm president, we are rebuilding the U.S. military. +p542 +aVWell, my brother's a veteran. We're very proud of him in our family. He served as a green beret in the 7th Special Forces from 1968 through 1971. And as part of his training, he jumped out of an airplane and he lost his two front teeth. And for years, he's had to go to get these dental claims. And every times he goes to get one of these dental claims filled, the V.A. asks him, "well, how do we know you lost your teeth in the Army?" And he says, "well, it's the only time I ever jumped out of a plane." But he's had to fight through this process, and I've watched it firsthand. That's why I'm proud that I worked in a bipartisan way. We passed the V.A. Accountability bill that, for the first time, allows us to fire \u2014 allows the V.A. secretary to fire someone who's not doing a good job, who's a senior executive. And the governor's right. They've only fired three people up to now. More people will be fired if I'm president. But the portability part of it is incredibly important. Veterans should be able to take their V.A. benefits to any hospital or any doctor they want to go to. When I am president of the United States, veterans will be able to take their benefits to any hospital or doctor that they choose. +p543 +aVWell, first of all, I don't believe that believing in traditional marriage the way I do makes you a bigot or a hater. It means that you believe that this institution that's been around for millenial is an important cornerstone of society. I respect people that believe differently. But I believe deeply, that marriage should be between one man and one woman. On the issue of life, to me, the issue of life is not a political issue. It's a human rights issue and it's a difficult issue, because it puts in conflict two competing rights. On the one hand is the right of a woman to choose what to do with her body which is a real right. And on the other hand is the right of an unborn human child to live. And they're in conflict. And as a policy maker, I must choose which one of these two sides takes precedence. And I have chosen to err on the side of life. Here's what I find outrageous. There has been five Democratic debates. The media has not asked them a single question on abortion and on abortion, the Democrats are extremists. Why doesn't the media ask Hillary Clinton why she believes that all abortion should be legal, even on the due date of that unborn child. Why don't they ask Hillary Clinton why she believe that partial- birth abortion, which is a gruesome procedure that has been outlawed in this country, she thinks that's a fundamental right. They are the extremists......when it comes to the issue of abortion and I can't wait to expose them in a general election. HAM: Governor Bush? I want to come to you. Your allies have recently attacked Senator Rubio for being too pro-life to be elected in November. You made a similar charge stating it in an interview. This is a pro-life party. Do you stand behind that criticism? +p544 +aVI do support protection for the life of the mother because I'm pro-life. I just believe deeply that all human life is worthy of protection of our laws. If I'm president and there's a bill that's passed that saves lives but it has exceptions, I'll sign it. But I do believe deeply that all human life is worthy of the protection of laws. I've already said, for me, the issue of life is not a political issue and I want to be frank. I would rather lose an election than be wrong on the issue of life. HAM: Governor Christie. You too, have talked about Senator Rubio's position on the life issue. Some conservative activists have called this line of attack harmful to the pro-life cause. +p545 +aVWell, I was going for Peyton Manning, but now I'm rooting for Carolina. +p546 +aVThank you. You know, this week I had the great pleasure of having my kids join me on the campaign trail. I hadn't' seen them in a while, and it was great to have them alongside me, but the most important part of it is that it once again reminded me of what's at stake. Here in New Hampshire in less than 72 hours, we are literally deciding what kind of country we will be like when they are my age. What kind of country they will be able to raise their families in. And, that's why I'm asking you for your vote. You vote for me, and we will unite this party, we will grow the conservative movement, we will defeat Hillary Clinton, and we will leave our children what our parents left us. The single greatest nation in the history of all mankind. Thank you. +p547 +aVChris, let's begin by being clear what this campaign is about. It's not about Donald Trump. He's an entertaining guy. He's the greatest show on earth. This campaign is about the greatest country in the world and a president who has systematically destroyed many of the things that made America special. You see, we usually elect presidents in America that want to change the things that are wrong in America. Barack Obama wants to change America. Barack Obama wants America to be more like the rest of the world. We don't want to be like the rest of the world. We want to be the United States of America. That is why Hillary Clinton cannot win this election. Hillary Clinton this week said Barack Obama would make a great Supreme Court justice. The guy who systematically and habitually violates the constitution on the Supreme Court? I don't think so. If I'm our nominee, I will unite this party and we'll defeat Hillary Clinton and we will turn this country around once and for all, after seven years of the disaster that is Barack Obama. +p548 +aVI think, you know, Rand and I have some significant issues on policy, but I respect Rand. He believes everything he stands for. I do respect Rand. But I want to be frank about what I stand for. I believe the world is a safer and a better place when America is the strongest power in the world. And I believe only with a strong America will we defeat this radical group, this apocalyptic group called +p549 +aVWell, again, I mean, obviously, as already has been pointed out, the only budget that Ted has ever voted for is a budget that Rand Paul sponsored that brags about cutting defense spending. And I think that's a bad idea for the following reason. +p550 +aV... First of all \u2014 Let me go first, and then you can please recognize Rand after. First of all... +p551 +aV... do I go \u2014 let me go first, and then you can please recognize Rand after. But... ... first of all... +p552 +aV... first of all, I'm \u2014 don't worry, I'm not leaving the stage no matter what you ask me. +p553 +aVAnd second of all... ... and I think \u2014 you know, Governor \u2014 Jeb, you \u2014 the attack that \u2014 the authorization that Barack Obama asked for was not against +p554 +aVMegyn, that's the problem. Radical Muslims and radical Islam is not just hate talk. It's hate action. They blow people up. Look what they did in San Bernardino. Look at the attack they inspired in Philadelphia, that the White House still refuses to link to terror, where a guy basically shot a police officer three times. He told the police, "I did it because I was inspired by +p555 +aVMight I respond? The first thing \u2014 I don't know of anyone who's not in favor of fully vetting people that are trying to come into this country, other than perhaps Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. I think we all support that. Rand's amendment was not the right way to do it. I do believe that people who are trying to come to the United States \u2014 this country has a right to know who they are and why they are coming. And that's why I've been clear, when I am the president of the United States of America, we don't know who you are, and we don't know why you're trying to come to the United States, you are not going to get in, because the radical threat that we now face from +p556 +aVWell, Bret, first that's not entirely the story. At the time, the liberal governor of Florida, who claimed he was a Republican \u2014 his name was Charlie Crist \u2014 he wanted to impose cap-and-trade on Florida. And I opposed it. I was the first person out of the box that opposed him on it. And then we saw that the leading candidates for president at the time, both the Republican and the Democrats, all supported it. And what we said is, if they're going to impose this on us, we better prepare to protect the state from it. But I have never supported cap- and-trade and I never thought it was a good idea. And I was clear about that at the time. And I do not believe it's a good idea now. I do not believe that we have to destroy our economy in order to protect our environment. And especially what these programs are asking us to pass that will do nothing to help the environment, but will be devastating for our economy. When I am president of the United States of America, there will never be any cap-and-trade in the United States. +p557 +aVNever support. Never have and never will support any effort to grant blanket legalization amnesty to folks who have entered, or stayed in this country illegally. +p558 +aVFirst of all, earned path to citizenship is basically code for amnesty. It's what they call it. And, the reality of it is this, it is unfair to the people that have legally entered this country to create an alternative for individuals who entered illegally, and knowingly did so. +p559 +aVYou cannot grant amnesty. If the American people see us granting amnesty they will never again believe in legal immigration. They will never again support it, and that's wrong for our country, bad for our future. +p560 +aVNo, because if you look at the quote, and it's very specific. And, it says blanket amnesty, I do not support blanket amnesty... +p561 +aV... I do not support amnesty... +p562 +aV... No, I said I do not support blanket amnesty... +p563 +aV... It was... +p564 +aV... It absolutely has been, and at the time in the context of that was in 2009, and 2010, where the last effort for legalization was an effort done in the Senate. It was an effort led by several people that provided almost an instant path with very little obstacles moving forward. What I've always said is that this issue does need to be solved. They've been talking about this issue for 30 years, and nothing ever happens. And, I'm going to tell you exactly how we're going to deal with it when I am president. Number one, we're going to keep +p565 +aVMay I respond? +p566 +aVIt's interesting that Jeb mentions the book. That's the book where you changed your position on immigration because you used to support a path to citizenship. +p567 +aVWell, but you changed the \u2014 in the book... +p568 +aVYou wrote a book where you changed your position from a path of citizenship to a path of legalization. And the bottom line is this, we are not going to be able to do anything on this issue until we first bring illegal immigration under control. The American people have been told for 30 years they're going to enforce the border, they're going to build a wall and it never gets built and it never happens. It is very clear there will be no progress on this issue in any way, shape or form, until you prove to the people of this country that illegal immigration is under control. And when I'm president, we are going to bring it under control once and for all after 30 years of talking about it. +p569 +aVBut Megyn... +p570 +aVThere's not going to be consensus on this issue until we enforce our immigration laws. That is abundantly clear. You're not going to be able to ram down the throat of the American people your approach. The only way we're are going to be able to move forward after two migratory crises with minor, after two unconstitutional executive orders, the only way forward on this issue is to first bring illegal immigration under control. And until that happens there's not going to be consensus on this issue. +p571 +aVYeah, but let me respond... +p572 +aV... no, I understand, but let me respond. I was mentioned on this \u2014 in this answer, and so I'm going to respond this way. This is the lie that Ted's campaign is built on, and Rand touched upon it \u2014 that he's the most conservative guy, and everyone else is a \u2014 you know, everyone else is a rhino. The truth is, Ted, throughout this campaign, you've been willing to say or do anything in order to get votes. Ted, you worked for George W. Bush's campaign... You \u2014 you \u2014 you helped design George W. Bush's \u2014 you helped design George W. Bush's immigration policy. And then, when you got to the Senate, you did an interview with CBS News \u2014 I wasn't even part of the video \u2014 where you said, on the issue of people that are here illegally, "we can reach a compromise." And then in the committee, you said, "I want to bring people out of the shadows." Now you want to trump Trump on immigration. But you can't \u2014 we're not gonna beat Hillary Clinton with someone who's willing to say or do anything to win an election. +p573 +aVAnd I think that's the false choice... ... that's the \u2014 that's the false choice in this whole debate about immigration. Of course, we're going to be a nation of immigrants. By the way, no nation on earth is more generous than America is. Every single year close to a million people emigrate to the United States legally. There's no nation on earth that comes close to that number. I think the only argument is are we a sovereign country, are we not allowed to choose who comes in, when they come in and how they come in? And that's not what's happening now. +p574 +aVI think the other problem is we have a legal immigration system that's outdated, it's primarily based on whether you have family members living here. In the 21st century, it has to be more of a merit-based system, and that is why our legal immigration system is in need of modernization. And we will always celebrate legal immigration like Dulce's great story. +p575 +aVWell, I believe, and I know that if Iowa helps make me the Republican nominee, I will defeat Hillary Clinton. Hillary doesn't want to run against me, but I cannot wait to run against her. And I cannot wait to earn the opportunity to do it because she cannot be the president of the United States. She wants to put Barack Obama on the Supreme Court of the United States of America. She said that here in Iowa just two days ago. That would be a disaster for this country. So I hope and pray and cannot wait until this state and others give me an opportunity to serve this party as its nominee because I will defeat Hillary Clinton. +p576 +aVWell, let me be clear about one thing, there's only one savior and it's not me. It's Jesus Christ who came down to earth and died for our sins. And so \u2014 and I've always made that clear about that cover story. As far as the polls are concerned, Iowa, on Monday night you're going to go to a caucus site and you'll be the first Americans that vote in this election. You will be the first Americans that get to answer the fundamental question, what comes next for this country after seven disastrous years of Barack Obama? And let me tell you what the answer better not be. It better not be Bernie Sanders. Bernie Sanders is a socialist. I think Bernie Sanders is good candidate for president of Sweden. We don't want to be Sweden. We want to be the United States of America. And Hillary Clinton, Hillary Clinton is disqualified from being the commander-in-chief of the United States. In fact, one of her first acts as president may very well be to pardon herself because Hillary Clinton... Hillary Clinton stored classified information on her private server. And Hillary Clinton lied to the families of those four brave Americans who lost their life in Benghazi. And anyone who lies to the families of Americans who have died in the service of this country can never be commander-in-chief of the United States. +p577 +aVYeah, I would encourage people to go on my website, marcorubio.com, and we'll put all the facts up there so people can see it for themselves. But you've just asked a very fundamental question about the role of faith in our country. And I think this is an important question. I think if you do not understand that our Judeo-Christian values are one of the reasons why America is such a special country, you don't understand our history. You see, why are we one of the most generous people in the world \u2014 no, the most generous people in the world? Why do Americans contribute millions of dollars to charity? It is not because of the tax writeoff. It is because in this nation, we are influenced by Judeo-Christian values that teach us to care for the less fortunate, to reach out to the needy, to love our neighbor. This is what's made our nation so special. And you should hope that our next president is someone that is influence by their faith. Because if your faith causes you to care for the less fortunate, it is something you want to see in your public figures. And when I'm president, I can tell you this, my faith will not just influence the way I'll govern as president, it will influence the way I live my life. Because in the end, my goal is not simply to live on this earth for 80 years, but to live an eternity with my creator. And I will always allow my faith to influence everything I do. +p578 +aVWell, let me first describe Iran because they're not just a normal nation state. And we have no quarrel with the Iranian people. But the Iranian leader, their supreme leader is a radical Shia cleric who has an apocalyptic vision of the future. He views himself not simply as the leader of Iran, but as the leader of all Muslims \u2014 all Shia Muslims on the planet. And they have a desire not simply to conquer the Middle East and to become the dominant power in that region, but ultimately to be able to hold America hostage. That is why they're building an \u2014 right now, developing long- range missiles capable of reaching the United States, and that is why there's going \u2014 they're going to use those $100 billion to expand their conventional capabilities and to one day buy or build a nuclear weapon. We will \u2014 when I am president of the United States, on my first day in office, we are canceling the deal with Iran, and nations will have to make a choice. They can do business with Iran, or they can do business with America, and I am very confident they're going to choose America before they choose the Iranian economy. +p579 +aVThe bible commands us to let our light shine on the world. For over 200 years, America's light has been shining on the world and the world has never been the same again. But now, that light is dimming a little, after seven years of Barack Obama. And that's why Monday night, what will happen here in Iowa is so important. I'm asking you for your vote. Caucus for me on Monday night because if I am your nominee, I will unite this party and I will defeat Hillary Clinton and when I'm president, America's light will shine again and the 21 century will be a new American century. +p580 +aVYeah, I would go, first of all, one step further in this description of Hillary Clinton. She wouldn't just be a disaster, Hillary Clinton is disqualified from being commander in chief of the United States. Someone who cannot handle intelligence information appropriately cannot be commander in chief and someone who lies to the families of those four victims in Benghazi can never be president of the United States. Ever. On the issue of Barack Obama, Barack Obama does not believe that America is a great global power. Barack Obama believes that America is a arrogant global power that needs to be cut down to size. And that's how you get a foreign policy where we cut deals with our enemies like Iran and we betray our allies like Israel and we gut our military and we go around the world like he has done on 10 separate occasions and apologized for America. He doesn't understand the threat in +p581 +aVLet me . I was invoked in that question, so let me just say \u2014 in that answer \u2014 let me say, the real question here, I hate to interrupt this episode of Court TV. But the real \u2014 but I think we have to get back to what this election has to be about. OK? Listen, we \u2014 this is the greatest country in the history of mankind. But in 2008, we elected a president that didn't want to fix America. He wants to change America. We elected a president that doesn't believe in the Constitution. He undermines it. We elected a president that is weakening America on the global stage. We elected a president that doesn't believe in the free enterprise system. This election has to be about reversing all of that damage. That's why I'm running for office because when I become president of the United States, on my first day in office we are going to repeal every single one of his unconstitutional executive orders. When I'm president of the United States we are getting rid of Obamacare and we are rebuilding our military. And when I'm president, we're not just going to have a president that gives a State of the Union and says America is the greatest country in the world. When I'm president, we're going to have a president that acts like it. +p582 +aVYou know, as I said already twice in this , we have a very serious problem in this country. We have a president of the United States that is undermining this country's security and expanding the role of... +p583 +aVWell, I am going to answer your question, Neil. He is \u2014 this president is undermining the constitutional basis of this government. This president is undermining our military. He is undermining our standing in the world. I like Chris Christie, but we can not afford to have a president of the United States that supports Common Core. We can not afford to have a president of the United States that supports gun control. This president, this president is more interested in funding \u2014 less interested in funding the military, than he is in funding planned \u2014 he's more interested in funding Planned Parenthood than he is in funding the military. Chris Christie wrote a check to Planned Parenthood. All I'm saying is our next president has to be someone that undoes the damage Barack Obama has done to this country. It can not be someone that agrees with his agenda. Because the damage he has done to America is extraordinary. Let me tell you, if we don't get this election right, there may be no turning back for America. We're on the verge of being the first generation of Americans that leave our children worse off than ourselves. So I just truly, with all my heart belief, I like everybody on the stage. No one is a socialist. No one here is under FBI investigation. So we have a good group of people. +p584 +aVOur next president... +p585 +aVUnfortunately, Governor Christie has endorsed many of the ideas that Barack Obama supports, whether it is Common Core or gun control or the appointment of Sonia Sotomayor or the donation he made to Planned Parenthood. Our next president, and our Republican nominee can not be someone who supports those positions. +p586 +aVThat sounds like people are afraid the president's going to take their guns away. Look, the Second Amendment is not an option. It is not a suggestion. It is a constitutional right of every American to be able to protect themselves and their families. I am convinced that if this president could confiscate every gun in America, he would. I am convinced that this president, if he could get rid of the Second Amendment, he would. I am convinced because I see how he works with his attorney general, not to defend the Second Amendment, but to figure out ways to undermine it. I have seen him appoint people to our courts not to defend the Second Amendment, but to figure out ways to undermine it. Here's my second problem. None of these instances that the president points to as the reason why he's doing these things would have been preventive. You know why? Because criminals don't buy their guns from a gun show. They don't buy their guns from a collector. And they don't buy their guns from a gun store. They get \u2014 they steal them. They get them on the black market. And let me tell you, +p587 +aVAbout every two weeks, he holds a press conference talking about how he can't wait to restrict people's access to guns. He has never defended......I'll give you a fact. Well, let me tell you this. Do you remember when he ran for president of the United States, and he was a candidate, and he went and said, "These Americans with traditional values, they are bitter people, and they cling to their guns and to their religion." That tells you right away where he was headed on all of this. This president every chance he has ever gotten has tried to undermine the Second Amendment. He doesn't meet \u2014 here's the difference. When he meets with the attorney general in the White House, it's not "how can we protect the Second Amendment rights of Americans." It's "give me options on how I can make it harder for law-abiding people to buy guns." That will never happen when I am president of the United States. +p588 +aVWell, first of all, let's understand why we are even having this and why Donald tapped in to some of that anger that's out there about this whole issue. Because this president has consistently underestimated the threat of +p589 +aVBut on this point, if I may add something on this point. We are all frustrated with what China is doing. I think we need to be very careful with tariffs, and here's why. China doesn't pay the tariff, the buyer pays the tariff. If you send a tie or a shirt made in China into the United States and an American goes to buy it at the store and there's a tariff on it, it gets passed on in the price to price to the consumer. So I think the better approach, the best thing we can do to protect ourselves against China economically is to make our economy stronger, which means reversing course from all the damage Barack Obama is doing to this economy. It begins with tax reform. Let's not have the most expensive business tax rate in the world. Let's allow companies to immediately expense. It continues with regulatory reform. Regulations in this country are out of control, especially the Employment Prevention Agency, the EPA, and all of the rules they continue to impose on our economy and hurting us. How about Obamacare, a certified job killer? It needs to be repealed and replaced. And we need to bring our debt under control, make our economy stronger. That is the way to deal with China at the end of the day. +p590 +aVWell, first let me address the tax issue because it's related to the entitlement issue and I want to thank you for holding a substantive debates where we can have debates about these key issues on taxes. Here is the one thing I'm not going to do. I'm not going to have something that Ted described in his tax plan. It's called the value added tax. And it's a tax you find in many companies in Europe. Where basically, businesses now will have to pay a tax, both on the money they make, but they also have to pay taxes on the money that they pay their employees. And that's why they have it in Europe, because it is a way to blindfolded the people, that's what Ronald Reagan said. Ronald Regan opposed the value tax because he said it was a way to blindfold the people, so the true cost of government was not there there for them. Now, you can support one now that's very low. But what is to prevent a future liberal president or a liberal Congress from coming back and not just raising the income tax, but also raising that VAT tax, and that vat tax is really bad for seniors. Because seniors, if they are retired, are no longer earning an income from a job. And therefore, they don't get the income tax break, but their prices are going to be higher, because the vat tax is embedded in both the prices that business that are charging and in the wages they pay their employees. When I am president of the United States, I'm going to side with Ronald Regan on this and not Nancy Pelosi and we are not having a vat tax. +p591 +aVBut that's not an accurate description of the plan. Because, first of all, you may rename the IRS but you are not going to abolishes the IRS, because there has to be some agency that's going to collect your vat tax. Someone's going to be collecting this tax. In fact, Ronald Reagan's treasury, when Ronald Reagan's treasury looked at the vat tax, you know what they found? That they were going to have to hire 20,000 new IRS agencies to collect it. The second point, it does not eliminate the corporate tax or the payroll tax. Businesses will now have to pay 16 percent on the money they make. They will also have to pay 16 percent on the money they pay their employees. So there are people watching tonight in business. If you are now hit on a 60 percent tax on both your income and on the wages you pay your employees, where are you going to get that money from? You're going to get it by paying your employees less and charging your customers more, that is a tax, the difference is, you don't see it on the bill. And that's why Ronald Reagan said that it was a blindfold. You blindfold the American people so that they cannot see the true cost of government. Now 16 percent is what the rate Ted wants it at. But what happens if, God forbid, the next Barack Obama takes over, and the next Nancy Pelosi, and the next Harry Reid......and they decide, we're going to raise it to 30 percent, plus we're going to raise the income tax to 30 percent. Now, you've got Europe. +p592 +aVIf you'll answer the core question. +p593 +aVWell, first of all, this is an issue that's been debated now for 30 years. And for 30 years, the issue of immigration has been about someone who's in this country, maybe they're here illegally, but they're looking for a job. This issue is not about that anymore. First and foremost, this issue has to be now more than anything else about keeping America safe. And here's why. There is a radical jihadist group that is manipulating our immigration system. And not just green cards. They're looking \u2014 they're recruiting people that enter this country as doctors and engineers and even fiances. They understand the vulnerabilities we have on the southern border. They're looking \u2014 they're looking to manipulate our \u2014 the visa waiver countries to get people into the United States. So our number one priority must now become ensuring that +p594 +aVThe issue is a dramatically different issue than it was 24 months ago. Twenty-four months ago, 36 months ago, you did not have a group of radical crazies named +p595 +aVMaria, let me clear something up here. This is an interesting point when you talk about immigration. Ted Cruz, you used to say you supported doubling the number of green cards, now you say that you're against it. You used to support a 500 percent increase in the number of guest workers, now you say that you're against it. You used to support legalizing people that were here illegally, now you say you're against it. You used to say that you were in favor of birthright citizenship, now you say that you are against it. And by the way, it's not just on immigration, you used to support TPA, now you say you're against it. I saw you on the Senate floor flip your vote on crop insurance because they told you it would help you in Iowa, and last week, we all saw you flip your vote on ethanol in Iowa for the same reason. That is not consistent conservatism, that is political calculation. When I am president, I will work consistently every single day to keep this country safe, not call Edward Snowden, as you did, a great public servant. Edward Snowden is a traitor. And if I am president and we get our hands on him, he is standing trial for treason. And one more point, one more point. Every single time that there has been a Defense bill in the Senate, three people team up to vote against it. Bernie Sanders, Rand Paul and Ted Cruz. In fact, the only budget you have ever voted for, Ted, in your entire time in the Senate is a budget from Rand Paul that brags about how it cuts defense. Here's the bottom line, and I'll close with this. If I'm president of the United States and Congress tries to cut the military, I will veto that in a millisecond. +p596 +aVNo, it's your record. +p597 +aVYou know, 200 years ago, America was founded on this powerful principle that our rights don't come from government. Our rights come from God. That's why we embraced free enterprise, and it made us the most prosperous people in the history of the world. That's why we embraced individual liberty, and we became the freest people ever, and the result was the American miracle. But now as I travel the country, people say what I feel. This country is changing. It feels different. We feel like we're being left behind and left out. And the reason is simple: because in 2008, we elected as president someone who wasn't interested in fixing America. We elected someone as president who wants to change America, who wants to make it more like the rest of the world. And so he undermines the Constitution, and he undermines free enterprise by expanding government, and he betrays our allies and cuts deals with our enemies and guts our military. And that's why 2016 is a turning point in our history. If we elect Hillary Clinton, the next four years will be worse than the last eight, and our children will be the first Americans ever to inherit a diminished country. But if we elect the right person \u2014 if you elect me \u2014 we will turn this country around, we will reclaim the American dream and this nation will be stronger and greater than it has ever been. +p598 +asVKASICH +p599 +(lp600 +VThank you, Wolf. Just last weekend, just last week, a friend asked one of my daughters, "Do you like politics?" And my daughter said, "No, I don't. And the reason I don't like it is because there's too much fighting, too much yelling. It's so loud, I don't like it." You know, I turned to my friend and I said, "You know, she's really on to something." And when we think about our country and the big issues that we face in this country; creating jobs, making sure people can keep their jobs, the need for rising wages, whether our children when they graduate from college can find a job, protecting the homeland, destroying +p601 +aVWell, first of all, Wolf, I said last February that we needed to have people on the ground, troops on the ground in a coalition similar to what we had in the first Gulf War. I remember when the Egyptian ambassador to the United States stood in the Rose Garden and pledged Arab commitment to removing Saddam Hussein from Kuwait. Before we came out here tonight, I am told that the Saudis have organized 34 countries who want to join in the battle against terrorism. First and foremost, we need to go and destroy +p602 +aVNo, I don't think it is. And I want to go back to two other issues. One is the metadata. We know we have to hold this data for a longer period of time. And, you know, in a lot of ways, Chris is right. Look, what a president has to do is take a position. We don't want to err on the side of having less. We want to err on the side of having more. That's good for our families. In addition to that, Wolf, there is a big problem. It's called encryption. And the people in San Bernardino were communicating with people who the FBI had been watching. But because their phone was encrypted, because the intelligence officials could not see who they were talking to, it was lost. We have to solve the encryption problem. It is not easy. A president of the United States, again, has to bring people together, have a position. We need to be able to penetrate these people when they are involved in these plots and these plans. And we have to give the local authorities the ability to penetrate to disrupt. That's what we need to do. Encryption is a major problem, and Congress has got to deal with this and so does the president to keep us safe. +p603 +aVYeah, let me \u2014 let me just suggest to everybody, and I hear \u2014 last February, I said we needed to have people on the ground in a coalition with Europe and our allies. This is not going to get done just by working with the Sunnis. And it is not going to get done if we just embed a few people. We have to go massively, like we did in the first Gulf War where we destroyed Saddam's ability to take Kuwait. We need to have a coalition that will stand for nothing less than the total destruction of +p604 +aVI don't understand this thing about Assad. He has to go. Assad is aligned with Iran and Russia. The one thing we want to prevent is we want to prevent Iran being able to extend a Shia crescent all across the Middle East. Assad has got to go. And there are moderates there. There are moderates in Syria who we should be supporting. I do not support a civil war. I don't want to be policeman of the world. But we can't back off of this. And let me tell you, at the end, the Saudis have agreed to put together a coalition inside of Syria to stabilize that country. +p605 +aVHe must go. It will be a blow to Iran and Russia. +p606 +aVThe foreign policy, you have to know how to pick and choose. There's no way, if Saddam had not had weapons of mass destruction, I would have gone, because I don't believe that the U.S. should be involved directly in civil wars. I opposed the U.S. involvement in Lebanon. We ended up having to withdraw our marines after our barracks were blown up. There is a difference between Iraq, where you have Sunni, Shia, and Kurds put together after the First World War by the Western powers. It doesn't work. It needs to break up into three parts. And for the Russians, frankly, it's time that we punched the Russians in the nose. They've gotten away with too much in this world and we need to stand up against them, not just there, but also in Eastern Europe where they threaten some of our most precious allies. +p607 +aVIt sounds more and more what my daughter said that I said in the beginning, all the fighting and arguing is not advancing us. +p608 +aVIt is not the way we're going to strengthen our country. We will strengthen our country when we come together. And, look, you've got Rand Paul, you've got Ted Cruz, you've got Marco, you've got a lot of people on this stage that have studied these issues. You know what a leader does? A leader has a sound program, has a good policy, and then brings people together to solve problems. Guess what? Both in Congress in balancing the budget and in Ohio fixing the economy \u2014 and, by the way, we talk about the fence. The first thing we better get going is strengthening our economy, because if we don't have a strong economy, we can't pay for all of this. And the world wants us to be able to function from strength, believe it or not. Get our economy going, get these people together in a room. We can fix this, ladies and gentlemen. We don't have to fight all the time. It can be done, and we will be great... +p609 +aV... when we join together. Thank you, Hugh. +p610 +aVYou know, obviously, as president of the United States, we've got to keep the people safe. That's first and foremost. But as governor of Ohio, I have an obligation to keep the 11.5 million people in Ohio safe. And we have been very effective with our Joint Terrorism Task Force, being able to make busts. In fact, we just made one three-four weeks ago against a person who was favorable to +p611 +aVNo Republican has ever been elected president of the United States without winning Ohio. Let me give you a little tip on how you win Ohio, it's reform, it's hope, it's growth, it's opportunity, and it's security. The people of Ohio are the people of America. The people of America are reflected in Ohio. Our message has to be big, and bold, and positive, and connect, not just with people's heads but also connect with their hearts. If we do it, we will beat Hillary Clinton, and we will run the White House, and we will strengthen and fix America, I promise you. +p612 +aVFirst of all, let me just say that, in the state of Ohio \u2014 and I'm the only acting executive on \u2014 on this stage today \u2014 we do have a moderate increase in the minimum wage. And I got to tell you, my father carried mail on his back. His father was a coal miner. He died of black lung. He was losing his eyesight. My mother's mother lived with us. She could barely speak English. I come from a town where if the wind blew the wrong way, people found themselves out of work. An economic theory is fine, but you know what? People need help. Now, I have a plan that, in fact, would cut taxes, but not $11 trillion or $12 trillion that would put my children further in debt. I have a plan that would not only cut taxes, lower the income tax rate for individuals, lower the tax for businesses so businesses will compete here and not move operations overseas, and also a plan \u2014 the only plan of anybody standing on this stage to get us to a balanced budget by the end of a second term. And, you know, the simple fact of the matter is, we hear a lot of promises in this debate, a lot of promises about these tax cuts or tax schemes sometimes that I call them. Hillary and the Democrats promise everything on the spending side. We've got to be responsible about what we propose on the tax side. Yes, lower taxes, lower spending. My website, JohnKasich.com, will show you exactly how we balance the budget. I balanced the budget in Washington as a chief architect, and I have balanced it in Ohio for one reason. When you balance the budget and you cut taxes, people get work. And our most important moral purpose as leaders in the political system is to make sure we create an environment for job creation so people can live their dreams and realize their God-given potential. That's why it's so important. And for those at the bottom, we've got to do what we can to train them so they can move up. But to just look the other way is not acceptable, because, you know what, as the governor of Ohio I have to deal with real challenges, and we've gotten it done in our state, and I will do it for America. +p613 +aVSure. We would move the Medicare system from a 7 percent growth down to about a 5 percent growth. And I have a whole series of ways to do that. In Ohio, we reduced Medicaid funding for the poor from 10 percent to 2.5 percent, didn't cut one benefit or didn't take anybody off the rolls. Why? Because we're innovators. I've been an innovator my entire career. And I really don't care what special interests or lobbyists have to say. I have a job to do when I take over a public office. Now, we freeze non-defense discretionary for eight years. We also put an increase in defense spending. Our tax cuts balance out. And at the end of the day, we will get to a balanced budget. And I want everybody here to know, when I was Budget Committee chairman in Washington, I stepped on every toe in that town, and we got to a balanced budget, and we had enormous job growth. And as governor of Ohio, we went from 350,000 lost jobs to a gain of 347,000 jobs. +p614 +aVI'll do it in Washington. I've done it twice; I'll do it thrice for the United States of America. +p615 +aVExcuse me. +p616 +aVYeah, I would like to make a comment. +p617 +aVI appreciate it, Jeb. I'm all of you. But I want at some point to talk about a value-added tax and $11 trillion, $12 trillion tax cuts that will put our kids way deeper in the hole than they have been at this point. So I would like to talk about it at some point, because that's what leadership is. +p618 +aVMaria, can we comment on that? +p619 +aVCan we comment on that? +p620 +aVWell, look, in 1986 Ronald Reagan basically said the people who were here, if they were law-abiding, could stay. But, what didn't happen is we didn't build the walls effectively and we didn't control the border. We need to. We need to control our border just like people have to control who goes in and out of their house. But if people think that we are going to ship 11 million people who are law-abiding, who are in this country, and somehow pick them up at their house and ship them out of Mexico \u2014 to Mexico, think about the families. Think about the children. So, you know what the answer really is? If they have been law- abiding, they pay a penalty. They get to stay. We protect the wall. Anybody else comes over, they go back. But for the 11 million people, come on, folks. We all know you can't pick them up and ship them across, back across the border. It's a silly argument. It is not an adult argument. It makes no sense. +p621 +aVJerry, Gerald, it was an attack. +p622 +aVIn the state of Ohio, the state of Ohio, we have grown 347,000 jobs. Our unemployment is half of what it was. Our fracking industry, energy industry may have contributed 20,000, but if Mr. Trump understood that the real jobs come in the downstream, not in the upstream, but in the downstream. And that's where we're going to get our jobs. But Ohio is diversified. And little false little things, sir, they don't really work when it comes to the truth. So the fact is, all I'm suggesting, we can't ship 11 million people out of this country. Children would be terrified, and it will not work. +p623 +aV...Mr. Baker, everybody got to talk about taxes... +p624 +aV...I think you were coming to me and then... +p625 +aV...Look, I hate to crash the party to you, Mr. Baker, but, you know, what's fair... +p626 +aV...Yes, sir... +p627 +aVLet me tell you this, Mr. Baker, in terms of the cyber attacks, we have the capability to not only have a defensive posture, but it also to make it clear to people that if you attack us with cyber attacks, we will destroy the mechanisms that you are using to attack us. I want to give you a little trip around the world. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years. In the Ukraine, arm the people there so they can fight for themselves. In the eastern part of Europe, make sure that Finland and the Baltics know that if the Russians move, we move. In Syria, yes, a no-fly zone in the north on the Turkish border, a no-fly zone on the south on the Jordanian border. Anybody flies in the first time, maybe they can fly out. They fly in there a second time, they will not fly out. And it also becomes a sanctuary for the people to be. And it also sends many messages in the Middle East that we're still involved. Saudi Arabia, cut off the funding for the radical clerics, the ones that preach against us. But they're fundamentally our friends. Jordan, we want the king to reign for 1,000 years. Egypt, they have been our ally and a moderating force in the Middle East throughout their history. In the groups \u2014 in the countries of the Gulf states of Bahrain, the Cleveland Clinic is opening an operation. Clearly we see the same with them. And in Israel, we have no better ally in the world, and no more criticizing them in public, we should support them. And finally China, China doesn't own the South China Sea, and I give the president some credit for being able to move a naval force in there to let the Chinese know that we're not going to put up with it any more. And in the trade agreement, the TPP, it's critical to us, not only for economic reasons and for jobs, because there are so many people who are connected to getting jobs because of trade, but it allows us to create not only economy alliances, but also potentially strategic alliances against the Chinese. They are not our enemy, but they are certainly not our friend. And finally, I will say to everyone in this room, we have been talking about taxes and economics. When the fall comes, and we run against Hillary, which will be a disaster if she got elected. I have two 16-year-old girls, and I want this country to be strong. We make promises we can't keep under the bright light of the fall, we will have trouble. We must make sure that economic programs and our military programs are solid. I served in Washington as the chairman of the Budget Committee, and we got the budget balanced. And in Ohio, as the CEO, and guess what, we have got to have a CEO mentality and a way to beat Hillary Clinton and the Democracies in the fall. And our ideas have to add up. They have to be solid. And people have to know we have the confidence to lead America. And as president, I will lead this country, as I have before in Washington and in Ohio, and will return both on domestic and international affairs. And I appreciate the opportunity to speak this time, Gerry. +p628 +aVLet me \u2014 let me also say, Gary \u2014 Gary, let me also say, Jeb is \u2014 what Jeb is talking about with the big banks is to force them to reserve their capital, people who invest it and they hold their capital, so that if the bank goes down, the people who are invested in the bank are the ones that pay. That's what he's trying to say. Secondly, I'll tell you about Wall Street: There's too much greed. And the fact is, a free enterprise system is a system that's produced the greatest wealth for the world. But you know Michael Novak, the great Catholic theologian, says that a free enterprise system that is not underlaid with values \u2014 and we should all think about the way we conduct our lives \u2014 yes, free enterprise is great, profits are great, but there have to be some values that underlay it, and they need a good ethics lesson on Wall Street on a regular basis to keep them in check so we, the people, do not lose. +p629 +aVNeil, that's the difference of being an executive. And let me just explain: when a bank is ready to go under and depositors are getting ready to lose their life savings, you just don't say we believe in philosophical concerns. You know what an executive has to decide? When there's a water crisis, how do we get water to the city? When there's a school shooting, how do you get there and help heal a community? When there are financial crisis, or a crisis with ebola, you got to go there and try to fix it. Philosophy doesn't work when you run something. And I gotta tell you, on-the-job training for president of the United States doesn't work. We've done it for 8 years, \u2014 and almost 8 years now. It does not work. We need an executive who's been tried, has been tested, and judge the decisions that that executive makes. I don't like what the Fed is doing, but I'll tell you what worries me more than anything else: turning the Fed over to the Congress of the United States... +p630 +aV...so they can print the money. That would be a very bad approach. +p631 +aVI wouldn't. I wouldn't. +p632 +aVNo. No, I didn't say that. +p633 +aVThey were \u2014 they were talking about what you would do with depositors. Would you let these banks shut down? My argument is, going forward, the banks have to reserve the capital, so that the \u2014 so that the people who own the capital start pressuring the banks to not take these risky approaches, Ted. But at the end of the day... +p634 +aV... I'm gonna tell you this. Let me tell you this. If during \u2014 if during... +p635 +aV...because if during \u2014 well, I'll tell you what (ph). +p636 +aVAs an executive \u2014 no. As an executive, I would figure out how to separate those people who can afford it versus those people, or the hard-working folks who put those money in those institutions...... let me \u2014 no, no. Let me say another thing. Here's what I mean by that. Here's what I mean by that. +p637 +aVWhen you are faced \u2014 when you are faced, in the last financial crisis, with banks going under \u2014 with banks going under, and people, people who put their \u2014 their life savings in there, you got to deal with it. You can't turn a blind eye to it. Now, going forward, that's one thing. If you had another financial crisis, perhaps there would be an effort to make sure that we do (ph). +p638 +aVWell, ladies and gentlemen, if Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders were to win this election, my 16-year-olds, I \u2014 I worry about what their life is going to be like. You know, the conservative movement is all about opportunity. It is about lower taxes. It's about balanced budgets. It's about less regulation. And it's about sending power, money and influence back to where we live so we can run America from the bottom up. In addition to that, once we have the power and the money and the influence with programs we shift out, that each of us have a responsibility to reach out and to rebuild our families, make them stronger, and connect our neighborhoods. All that together \u2014 wealth, connection, family \u2014 America's greatest days are ahead. We must win this election. +p639 +aVGood question, but I want to tell you, my great concern is that we are on the verge, perhaps, of picking someone who cannot do this job. I've watched to see people say that we should dismantle Medicare and Medicaid and leave the senior citizens out \u2014 out in the \u2014 in the cold. I've heard them talk about deporting 10 or 11 \u2014 people here from this country out of this country, splitting families. I've heard about tax schemes that don't add up, that put our kids in \u2014 in a deeper hole than they are today. We need somebody who can lead. We need somebody who can balance budgets, cut taxes... +p640 +aVYou know, frankly, I did it in Washington, in Ohio, and I will do it again in Washington, if I'm president, to get this country moving again. +p641 +aVcountry moving again. +p642 +aVListen, I want to just comment. +p643 +aVWell I want to comment on this. This is the fantasy... +p644 +aVThis is the fantasy that I talked about in the beginning. +p645 +aVI'm the only person on this stage that actually was involved in the chief architect of balancing the Federal Budget. You can't do it with empty promised. You know, these plans would put us trillions and trillions of dollars in debt. I actually have a plan. I'm the only one on this stage that has a plan that would create jobs, cut taxes, balance the budget and can get it done because I'm realistic. You just don't make promises like this. Why don't we just give a chicken in every pot, while we're, you know, coming up \u2014 coming up with these fantasy tax schemes. We'll just clean it up. Where are you gonna clean it up? You have to deal with entitlements, you have to be in a position to control discretionary spending. You gotta be creative and imaginative. Now, let me just be clear, John. I went into Ohio where we had an $8 billion hole and now we have a $2 billion surplus. We're up 347,000 jobs. When I was in Washington, I fought to get the budget balanced. I was the architect. It was the first time we did it since man walked on the moon. We cut taxes and we had a $5 trillion projected surplus when I left. That's was hard work. Fiscal discipline, know what you're doing. Creativity. This stuff is fantasy. Just like getting rid of Medicare and Medicaid. Come on, that's just not \u2014 you scare senior citizens with that. It's not responsible. +p646 +aVWell, I mean right here. To talk about we're just gonna have a 10 percent tithe and that's how we're gonna fund the government? And we're going to just fix everything with waste, fraud, and abuse? Or that we're just going to be great? Or we're going to ship 10 million Americans \u2014 or 10 million people out of this country, leaving their children here in this country and dividing families? Folks, we've got to wake up. We cannot elect somebody that doesn't know how to do the job. You have got to pick somebody who has experience, somebody that has the know-how, the discipline. And I spent my entire lifetime balancing federal budgets, growing jobs, the same in Ohio. And I will go back to Washington with my plan. +p647 +aVAnd I will have done it within 100 days, and it will pass. And we will be strong again. Thank you. +p648 +aVLet me just \u2014 let me respond. First of all, Ohio does have an energy industry, but we're diversified. We're one of the fastest growing states in the country. We came back from the dead. And you know what? It works very, very well. And secondly, when you talk about me being on the board of Lehman Brothers, I wasn't on the board of Lehman Brothers. I was a banker and I was proud of it. And I traveled the country and learned how people made jobs. We ought to have politicians who not only have government experience but know how the CEOs and the job creators work. My state is doing great across the board. And guess what, in 2011, I got a deal... +p649 +aV... an agreement with the... +p650 +aV... that he tried to take credit for four years later. It's a joke. +p651 +aVJohn Harwood, there's a bigger issue here. +p652 +aVWell, first of all, when we talk about the Import Export Bank, it's time to clean up corporate welfare. If we're gonna reform welfare for poor people, we ought to reform it for rich people, as well. Secondly, in our state, we went from a loss of 350,000 jobs to, now, a gain of 347,000 jobs to the positive. Our wages are growing faster than the national average, and I've cut taxes more than any sitting governor in this state \u2014 $5 billion, including no taxes on small business and killing the death tax. I want to go back to what we were talking about earlier, this budget deal in Washington. This is the same old stuff since I left. You spend the money today and then you hope you're going to save money tomorrow. I don't know if people understand, but I spent a lifetime with my colleagues getting us to a federal balanced budget. We actually did it. And I have a road map and a plan right now to get us to balance. Reforming entitlements, cutting taxes. You see, because if you really want to get to a balanced budget, you need to reduce your expenses and you need to grow your economy. So what I will tell you about our incentives \u2014 our incentives are tight, and at the end of the day we make sure that we gain more from the creation of jobs than what we lose. And you know what? Ohio, one of the best growing places in the country \u2014 I not only did it in Washington, I did it in Ohio, and I'll go back to Washington, and there will be no more silly deals... +p653 +aV... If I become President because we'll have a Constitutional Amendment to require a federally balanced budget so they will do their job. +p654 +aVWell, first of all, we're running a $2 billion dollar surplus, we're not having a revenue problem right now. And, sending mixed signals to kids about drugs is a disaster. Drugs is one of the greatest scourge in this country, and I spent five years of my administration working with my team to do a whole sort of things to try to reign in the problem of overdoses, and it goes on and on. We could do a whole show on that. I want to go back for a second thought on this issue of income inequality. My program would move the 104 programs of the federal Department of Education into four block grants, and send them back to the states because income inequality is driven by a lack of skills when kids don't get what they need to be able to compete and win in this country. The fact is, in order to get this economy moving again, I call for freezing regulations for a year except for the problem of public safety. I believe that we need to cut these taxes down, we need to be on a roadmap to balancing the budget, and we need to send power, money, and influence, the welfare department, the education department, job training, infrastructure, Medicaid, all of that out of Washington back to the states so we can run these programs from where we live to the top, not a one size fits all mentality that they have in Washington. And, that will get to the nub of opportunity for our children, and an ability to see wages rise. Again... +p655 +aV...One more time, in Ohio, our wages are growing faster than the national average. We've cut taxes, balanced budgets, changed the regulatory environment. Folks, you want to \u2014 +p656 +aV\u2014 fix America, this is the formula. It worked for Reagan and it works for our team in Ohio. Thank you. +p657 +aVJohn. +p658 +aVI wanna tell you, in my state, we took Medicaid, the hardest program to control, and we took it from a 10 percent growth rate to 2.5 percent without taking one person off the rolls or cutting one single benefit. And so much of what we did \u2014 to force competition, to use technology, to stand down the special interest groups \u2014 can you imagine taking Medicaid from 10 to 2.5 percent? We can take many of those same procedures, we can apply it to Medicare. We can make a stronger program. But I agree with Jeb, you can't just do this by growing the economy. You can't grow your way out of demographics. But we can give people better health care. And finally, on health care, why don't we start treating \u2014 keep giving... +p659 +aV...incentives for people to keep people healthy, rather than giving the incentives to treat them when they're sick? +p660 +aVI was on morning Joe at a town hall and a young student stood up and said, "Can I still be idealistic?" I said, absolutely, you can still change the world. And, you know the old inscription, if you save one life, you've changed the world. Folks, we have a problem here with the leadership in Washington, but I'll tell you another problem. We need to rebuild our families. We need to have stronger families. We need to know who our neighbors are. We need to come together as a country because we have to realize that America is great, not from the top-down. Oh yeah, we want to elect a good president, but America is great from the bottom-up, and the bottom-up is us in our families, in our communities, in our neighborhoods. We will renew America if we work together, and I am totally confident that we will. And God bless America. +p661 +aVHello, I'm John Kasich, the Governor of Ohio. Emma, and Reese, my children, and Karen, love 'ya girls. Thanks for watching tonight. By the way, I think I actually flew on this plane with Ronald Reagan when I was a congressman, and his goals, and mine, really much \u2014 are pretty much the same. Lift Americans, unify, give hope, grow America, and restore it is to that great, shining city on a hill. Yes, he was a great one, and I learned much from watching him. The most important thing, hope to Americans, unify, lift everyone in America. +p662 +aVJake, Jake. +p663 +aVListen, you know, I \u2014 if I were sitting at home and watch thing back and forth, I would be inclined to turn it off. I mean, people at home want to know across this country, they want to know what we're going to do to fix this place, how we'll balance a budget, how we're going to create more economic growth, how we'll pay down the debt. What we're going to do to strengthen the military. So, we just spent 10 minutes here... +p664 +aVBut \u2014 but wait a minute. It's a lot of ad hogshead. Now, I know that it may be buzzing out there, but I think it's important we get to the issues, because that's what people want, and they don't want all this fighting. +p665 +aV...Yeah, well... +p666 +aVWell, let me just say this. First of all, I think it's a bad agreement, I would never have done it. But, you know, a lot of our problems in the world today is that we don't have the relationship with our allies. If we want to go everywhere alone, we will not have the strength as (ph) if we could rebuild with our allies. Now, this agreement, we don't know what's going to happen in 18 months. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years. I've seen lots of issues in foreign affairs, and foreign \u2014 in terms of global politics, you have to be steady. Now, here's the \u2014 if they cheat, we slap the sanctions back on. If they help Hamas, and Hezbollah, we slap the sanctions back on. And, if we find out that they may be developing a nuclear weapon, than the military option is on the table. We are stronger when we work with the Western civilization, our friends in Europe, and just doing it on our own I don't think is the right policy. +p667 +aVNo, no, no. I want to \u2014 I want to \u2014 I want to say something about what the senator just said. +p668 +aVNo one is \u2014 no \u2014 let me \u2014 let me suggest to you we believe that we operate better in the world when our allies work with us. President Bush did it in the Gulf War. We work better when we are unified. Secondly, nobody's trusting Iran. They violate the deal, we put on the sanctions, and we have the high moral ground to talk to our allies in Europe to get them to go with us. If they don't go with us, we slap the sanctions on anyway. If they fund these radical groups that threaten Israel and all of the West, then we should rip up the deal and put the sanctions back on. And let me make it clear \u2014 let me make it clear... +p669 +aV... if we think \u2014 if we think they're getting close to a \u2014 to developing a nuclear weapon and we get that information, you better believe that I would do everything in my power as the commander-in-chief to stop them having a nuclear weapon. +p670 +aVWe can have it, and we can have our allies, and we can be strong as a country, and we can project across this globe with unity, not just doing it alone. That is not what gets us where we want to get as a nation. +p671 +aVWell, I agree that we should defund Planned Parenthood. I don't know many people in America who don't think that we should, and in my state, we're trying to figure out how to get it done, because we are threatened with the federal government taking all of our Medicaid money away. I think there is a way to get this done by giving governors the ability to be able to act to defund Planned Parenthood. But when (ph) it comes to closing down the federal government, you gotta be very careful about that. When we shut the government down \u2014 if we have a chance at success and it's a great principle, yes. The president of the United States is not going to sign this, and all we're gonna do is shut the government down, and then we're gonna open up \u2014 open it up, and the American people are gonna shake their heads and say, "what's the story with these Republicans?" So I think there is a way to get to cutting off the funding for Planned Parenthood. I was in the Congress for 18 years, balanced the budget, cut taxes, got it done. Changed welfare, went around the president to get welfare reform done. There are ways to do it without having to shut the government down, but I'm sympathetic to the fact that we don't want this organization to get funding, and the money ought to be reprogrammed for family planning in other organizations that don't support this tactic. But I would not be for shutting the government down... +p672 +aV...because I don't think it's going to work out. +p673 +aVWe're not \u2014 what I can tell you is this. We didn't surrender in New Jersey, six years ago, as the brand new first ever pro-life governor of New Jersey since Roe versus Wade, I defended Planned Parenthood. And I've vetoed Planned Parenthood funding, now, eight times in New Jersey. Since the day I walked in as governor, Planned Parenthood has not been funded in New Jersey. We stood up and every one of those vetoes has been sustained. But here's the problem, we're \u2014 we're fighting with each other up here. We agree. Let's ask Hillary Clinton. She believes in the systematic murder of children in the womb to preserve their body parts... +p674 +aV...Dana, in a way that maximizes their value for sale for profit. It is disgusting, and the American people need to hear it... +p675 +aV...we shouldn't be fighting with each other. She's the real opponent, she's the real problem. +p676 +aVI'll tell you what \u2014 I'll tell you what I'd be willing to fight for. I'll tell you what I'd be willing to fight for. Why will (ph) we put tax reform on the president's desk, so we can simplify this tax system? +p677 +aVNo, no, it's really important, Dana. We got to talk about what we would be willing to shut down for. Why don't we put tax reform on this president's desk, and make him veto it if that's what he wants to do? Why haven't we repealed and replaced Obamacare? Make him veto if that's what he wants to do. +p678 +aVThere's a \u2014 +p679 +aVJake \u2014 +p680 +aVOK, Jake. +p681 +aVI don't at this point in terms of changing the incentives for investment and risk-taking. But let's just stop for a second. There's one person on this stage that does have a record. I'm the only person on the stage and one of the few people in this country that led the effort as the chief architect of the last time we balanced the federal budget. We also cut taxes. And when I left Washington in 2000, we had a $5 trillion surplus, and the economy was booming. I had spent 10 years of my life to get us to that point, went out in the private sector, was a great experience, and went into Ohio and took an $8 billion hole and turned it into a $2 billion surplus. We've had the largest amount of tax cuts of any sitting governor. We've grown well over 300,000 jobs. You see, I've done it in both places. I'm the only one here that has done it in both places. It took a lot to get us to a balanced budget. It was legitimate. It was real. And we negotiated it. A lot of what we're talking about here tonight as we take this position and that position, you know what? At the end of the day, America has got to work. We've got to figure out how we come together to deal with this \u2014 with our fiscal problems because when we deal with that, we create a stronger economy for everybody. People have a chance to rise. So, you know, when we think about how we make a choice, it's the person that lands that plane. It's not somebody that talks about it. It's about the person who has done it. And I've done it in... +p682 +aV... both places. And I did it including people in the other party. And that's how we were successful. +p683 +aVAnd that's how I will be president, using that experience to drive this country forward. Thank you. +p684 +aVWell, look, people still have to get to know me, so I want to spend my time talking about my experience reforming welfare, balancing budgets, cutting taxes, providing economic growth when I was in Washington, turning Ohio around. Eight billion in the hole, $2 billion surplus, up over 300,000 jobs, big tax cuts, strengthening our credit. All those things matter but, you know, as a young man in my first election in 1978, I defeated an incumbent Democrat. I defeated an incumbent Democrat in 1982; running on the Reagan program, I was the only Republican in America to defeat an incumbent Democrat that year. And then, when I won for election of governor, I was the first Republican to defeat an incumbent in 36 years, and the first person to have never run statewide out of politics for 10 years to beat an incumbent. That hadn't happened for 96 years. So, we'll get to the point where we'll talk about Hillary Clinton, or whoever the nominee is, record. But right now, I want to give people sense of hope, sense of purpose, a sense of unity, sense that we can do it. So... +p685 +aVYou know, at the end of the day, I'm going to continue to talk about my record, because there is, did you ever notice when people run for office, they run for president, they make a lot of promises, they don't keep them. +p686 +aVI don't intend to do that, and I going to be out there pushing it out \u2014 don't worry about me and Hillary. That will all work out, and I'm from Ohio. She will not beat me there, I can promise you that. +p687 +aVCan I just \u2014 can I \u2014 Jake, can I just make one point on this whole military discussion? +p688 +aVI called for boots on the ground many months ago in a coalition with our friends who share our interest. You know, you win a battle with the military, and when we go somewhere, we need to be mobile, and lethal. We need to take care of business, and we need to come home. But, we face, also, a bigger war \u2014 and you win the bigger war with the battle of ideas. You wonder why young people, and educated people, rich people, schooled people, have tried to join +p689 +aV...to make (ph) centers (ph) of justice so that we can battle the radicals, call them out for what they are, and make sure that all of our people feel fulfilled in living in Western civilization... +p690 +aV...This is a giant battle in the world today... +p691 +aVWell, it's probably not, maybe, legal, but, I would pick Mother Theresa, the lady that I had a chance to meet, a woman who lived a life so much bigger than her own. An inspiration to everyone when we think about our responsibility to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. +p692 +aVWell, I have one now \u2014 they (ph) call me, "Unit One". My wife says, "You'll never be Unite One, I'm Unite One. You're Unit Two." +p693 +aVWell, as president, I will make this a nation that will solve problems. And how? By having the elected officials and the leaders realize they're Americans before they're Republicans or Democrats. I did it in Washington. And I've done it in Ohio by having the elected officials realize that they're Ohioans before anything else. Secondly, I will rebuild the relationships and show the respect to our allies around the world. We have no choice but to do that. We will be stronger when we are unified. And we'll fight for freedom and for human rights. And finally, a little bit of what Carly said. The people that are out there listening, America was never great because we ran America from the top down. America is great because we have run America from the bottom up, where we all live in the neighborhoods. One more time in America, we need to revive the concept of citizenship, where everybody's actions make a huge difference in changing the world. We have a Holocaust memorial on our state house grounds. And there is one line on there that stands out all the time. "If you've saved one life, you've changed the world." We need to adopt that as citizens and rebuild and reinspire our country. Thank you. +p694 +aVWell, first of all... ...first of all, Megyn, you should know that -- that President Reagan expanded Medicaid three or four times. Secondly, I had an opportunity to bring resources back to Ohio to do what? To treat the mentally ill. Ten thousand of them sit in our prisons. It costs $22,500 a year... ...to keep them in prison. I'd rather get them their medication so they could lead a decent life. Secondly, we are rehabbing the drug-addicted. Eighty percent of the people in our prisons have addictions or problems. We now treat them in the prisons, release them in the community and the recidivism rate is 10 percent and everybody across this country knows that the tsunami of drugs is -- is threatening their very families. So we're treating them and getting them on their feet. And, finally, the working poor, instead of them having come into the emergency rooms where it costs more, where they're sicker and we end up paying, we brought a program in here to make sure that people could get on their feet. And do you know what? Everybody has a right to their God-given purpose. And finally, our Medicaid is growing at one of the lowest rates in the country. And, finally, we went from $8 billion in the hole to $2 billion in the black. We've cut $5 billion in taxes... ...and we've grown 350,000 jobs. +p695 +aVChris, first of all, I was just saying to Chris Christie, they say we're outspoken, we need to take lessons from Donald Trump if we're really going to learn it. Here is the thing about Donald Trump. Donald Trump is hitting a nerve in this country. He is. He's hitting a nerve. People are frustrated. They're fed up. They don't think the government is working for them. And for people who want to just tune him out, they're making a mistake. Now, he's got his solutions. Some of us have other solutions. You know, look, I balanced the federal budget as one of the chief architects when I was in Washington. Hasn't been done since. I was a military reformer. I took the state of Ohio from an $8 billion hole and a 350,000 job loss to a $2 billion surplus and a gain of 350,000 jobs. +p696 +aVBut the point is that we all have solutions. Mr. Trump is touching a nerve because people want the wall to be built. They want to see an end to illegal immigration. They want to see it, and we all do. But we all have different ways of getting there. And you're going to hear from all of us tonight about what our ideas are. +p697 +aVDonald, if you... +p698 +aV-- this campaign, I hope you will give to me. +p699 +aVOK. +p700 +aVLet's start off with my father being a mailman. So I understand the concerns of all the folks across this country, some of whom have trouble, you know, making ends meet. But I think she will come in a narrow way. The nominee of this party, if they're going to win, has got to come at it in a big way, which is pro-growth. Which is balancing budgets. You know, we were talking about it. People were saying, could we do it? I was the chairman of the Budget Committee and the lead architect the last time it happened in Washington, and when we did it we had great economic growth, we cut taxes, and we had a big surplus. Economic growth is the key. Economic growth is the key to everything. But once you have economic growth, it is important that we reach out to people who live in the shadows, the people who don't seem to ever think that they get a fair deal. And that includes people in our minority community; that includes people who feel as though they don't have a chance to move up. You know, America is a miracle country. And we have to restore the sense that the "Amiracle" will apply to you. Each and every one of the people in this country who's watching tonight, lift everybody, unite everybody and build a stronger United States of America again. It will be and can be done. +p701 +aVWell, look, I'm an old-fashioned person here, and I happen to believe in traditional marriage. But I've also said the court has ruled -- +p702 +aVWait, Megyn, the court has ruled, and I said we'll accept it. And guess what, I just went to a wedding of a friend of mine who happens to be gay. Because somebody doesn't think the way I do, doesn't mean that I can't care about them or can't love them. So if one of my daughters happened to be that, of course I would love them and I would accept them. Because you know what? That's what we're taught when we have strong faith. So the issues like that, issues like that are planted to divide us. I think the simple fact of the matter is, and this is where I would agree with Jeb, and I've been saying it all along, we need to give everybody a chance, treat everybody with respect, and let them share in this great American dream that we have, Megan. So, look, I'm going to love my daughters, I'm going to love them no matter what they do. Because, you know what, God gives me unconditional love. I'm going to give it to my family and my friends and the people around me. +p703 +aVWell, Megyn, my father was a mailman. His father was a coal miner. My mother's mother could barely speak English. And their son today stands on this podium in the great state of Ohio not only as the governor, but a candidate for president of the United States. I do believe in miracles. You know, I've had a lot of elections. But my elections are really not about campaigns. I tell my people that these are about a movement. And a movement to do what? To restore common sense. A movement to do things like provide economic growth. And a movement not to let anybody be behind. You know, today the country is divided. You asked a question about the police and the difficulty in communities. We've got to unite our country again, because we're stronger when we are united and we are weaker when we are divided. And we've got to listen to other people's voices, respect them, but keep in mind, and I believe in terms of the things that I've read in my lifetime, the Lord'is not picking us. But because of how we respect human rights, because that we are a good force in the world, he wants America to be strong. He wants America to succeed. And he wants America to lead. And nothing is more important to me than my family, my faith, and my friends. +p704 +aVYou know, tonight we hear about what people want to do. I want to tell you what I've done. I was a member of the Armed Services Committee for 18 years. I spent a big chunk of my life studying national security issues and our role in the world. No. 2. I was the chairman of the House Budget Committee and one of the chief architects the last time we balanced a budget, and it was the first time we had done it since man walked on the moon. We had a $5 trillion surplus and we cut taxes. I spent ten years in the private sector, actually learning how business works. And now I'm the governor of Ohio, and I inherited a state that was on the brink of dying. And we turned it all around with jobs and balanced budgets and rising credit and tax cuts, and the state is unified, and people have hope again in Ohio. +p705 +aVWell, John, first of all, if I were president, we wouldn't have the divisions in the country we have today. I do want to take a second as we reflected on Judge Scalia, it's amazing \u2014 it's not even two minutes after the death of Judge Scalia, nine children here today, their father didn't wake up. His wife, sad, but I just wish we hadn't run so fast into politics. Here's my concern about this. The country is so divided right now, and now we're going to see another partisan fight take place. I really wish the president would think about not nominating somebody. If you were to nominate somebody, let's have him pick somebody that's going to have unanimous approval, and such widespread approval across the country that this could happen without a lot of recrimination. I don't think that's going to happen, and I would like the president just to, for once here, put the country first. We're going to have an election for president very soon, and the people will understand what is at stake in that election. And so I believe the president should not move forward, and I think that we ought to let the next president of the United States decide who is going to run that Supreme Court with a vote by the people of the United......States of America. +p706 +aVFirst of all \u2014 yes. First of all, look, we have to make it clear to Russia what we expect. We don't have to declare an enemy, rattle a sword or threaten, but we need to make it clear what we expect. No. 1 is we will arm the folks in Ukraine who are fighting for their freedom. They deserve it. There will be no ifs, ands or buts about it. Secondly, an attack on +p707 +aVI've got to tell you, this is just crazy, huh? This is just nuts, O.K.? Jeez, oh, man. I'm sorry, John. +p708 +aVOh, well, listen, I think being in Iraq, look, we thought there were weapons of mass destruction. Colin Powell, who is one of the most distinguished generals in modern time, said there were weapons there. But, but, the fact is we got ourselves in the middle of a civil war. The Sunni, the Shia and the Kurds, never gotten along. In fact, that country was drawn \u2014 the borders of that country were drawn after World War I by Westerners that didn't understand what was happening there. The tragedy of it is that we're still embroiled. And, frankly, if there weren't weapons of mass destruction, we should never have gone. I don't believe the United States should involve itself in civil wars. Civil wars are not in our direct interest, and if you \u2014 and look, I served on a defense committee for 18 years and was called into the Pentagon after 9/11 by Secretary Rumsfeld to deal with some of the most serious problems that we faced. The fact is, is that we should go to war when it is our direct interest. We should not be policemen of the world, but when we go, we mean business. We'll do our job. We'll tell our soldiers, our people in the service, take care of your job and then come home once we've accomplished our goals. That's what we need to do. +p709 +aVYeah. Well, first of all, those numbers, incorrect. We are \u2014 our Medicaid programs are coming in below cost estimates, and our Medicaid program in the second year grew at 2.5 percent. And Kimberley, let me tell you, when we expand Medicaid and we treat the mentally ill, then they don't live under a bridge or live in a prison, where they cost $22,500 a year. When we take the drug addicted and we treat them in the prisons, we stop the revolving door of people in and out of prisons, and we save $22,500 a year. Guess what else? They get their lives back. And the working poor, they're now getting health care. And you know that about a third of the people who are now getting that health care are people who are suffering very serious illnesses, particularly cancer. So, what I would tell you is, we've gone from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. We've cut taxes by more than any governor in America by $5 billion. We have grown the number of jobs by 400,000 private-sector jobs since I've been governor. Our credit is strong. Our pensions are strong. And frankly, we leave no one behind. Economic growth is not an end unto itself. We want everyone to rise, and we will make them personally responsible for the help that they get. And that is exactly the program we're driving in Ohio. And, boy, people ought to look at Ohio, because it has got a good formula. +p710 +aVYeah, let me say a couple of things. First of all, when Jeb was governor, his first four years as governor, he expand \u2014 his Medicaid program grew twice as fast as mine. O.K.? It's just a fact. Now, with Obamacare, I've not only sued the administration, I did not set up an exchange. And he knows that I'm not for Obamacare, never have been. But here's what's interesting about Medicaid. You know who expanded Medicaid five times to try to help the folks and give them opportunity so that you could rise and get a job? President Ronald Reagan. Now, the fact of the matter is, we expanded to get people on their feet, and once they're on their feet, we are giving them the training and the efforts that they need to be able to get work and pull out of that situation. +p711 +aVThat's what we're doing in our state. +p712 +aVLet me \u2014 let's tell you... +p713 +aVMajor \u2014 Major, we can't \u2014 we've got to \u2014 look, I have got to correct the record. And the fact of the matter is, we went from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. We're up 400,000 jobs. Our credit is rock solid. And I don't know... +p714 +aVLook, the bottom line is the people of this \u2014 of this country and this state want to see everybody rise, and they want to see unity, and I don't want to get into all this fighting tonight, because people are frankly sick of the negative campaigning. +p715 +aVAnd I'm going to stay positive about what I want to do from the... +p716 +aVBefore I get to that, this is the ninth or 10th debate. What I've been watching here, this back and forth, and these attacks, some of them are personal. I think we're fixing to lose the election to Hillary Clinton if we don't stop this. I mean, the fact is \u2014 you know what? I would suggest, why don't we take off all the negative ads and all the negative comments down from television and let us just talk about what we're for, and let's sell that, and the Republican Party will be stronger as a result... +p717 +aV... First of all, I'm for sealing the border, O.K.? And then I'm for a guest worker program. People can come in, work and go back home. We haven't closed the border because special interests, I believe, blocked it. Then, we have 11 and a half million people here. If they have not committed a crime since they've been here, make them pay a fine and some back taxes, and give them a path to legalization, never to citizenship. It is not going to happen that we're going to run around and try to drag 11 and a half million people out of their homes. I'll tell you this. Within the first hundred days, I will send a plan like this to the Congress of the United States, and if I'm president, I'll bet you dollar to doughnuts right now, it will pass. That is a reasonable proposal that the people of this country, in my judgment, will support, and so will the bulk of the Congress of the United States. +p718 +aVYou know, John, I think all people are the same. Look, I did 106 town halls, and I've been doing them left and right here in South Carolina. The first thing we have to do is grow the economy, and I know the formula because I was chairman in Washington when we balanced the budget and created so many jobs, and the same that we've been able to do in Ohio. You need common-sense regulations so small business can flourish, you need lower taxes both on business and individuals, and you need a fiscal plan to be able to get ourselves in a situation where people can predict a little bit about the future when it comes to the fiscal issues. And when you have that formula, combined with work force that's trained, you can explode the economy and create many jobs. I have done it twice, and I want to go back to Washington and do it again. John, the thing is, is I think that there are people now, these blue-collar Democrats \u2014 my dad was a blue-collar Democrat \u2014 the Democratic Party has left them. When they're arguing about being socialists, they've left \u2014 they have lost those blue-collar Democrats. And you know what I think they get out of me \u2014 is my sense of what they get out of me, and it's embarrassment about campaigns, you brag about yourself. But I think I'm a uniter, I think people sense it. I think they know I have the experience, and that I'm a man that can give people hope and a sense that they have the opportunity rise. And I'll tell you, I love these blue-collar Democrats, because they're going to vote for us come next fall, promise you that. +p719 +aVWell, I want to thank the people of South Carolina. You've been fantastic. And look, what I want you to know is I'm going to send a lot of power, money and influence back to where we all live. But as I've traveled around South Carolina, I've noticed something. You know, it's that people have a sense that you're not going to wait on a president. You know, when I was a kid, we didn't wait on presidents to come to that little blue-collar town and fix things. You know, the Lord made all of us special. The Lord wants us to be connected. I believe we're part of a very big mosaic. And I'll send the power back. And whoever gets elected president here, hopefully will take care of the issue of jobs and wages and Social Security and the border. But the spirit of the America rests in all of us. It's in our guts. It's taking care of our children. It's taking care of the lady next door who just lost her husband. It's fixing the schools where we live and telling kids to stay off drugs. You see, I think what the Lord wants is for to us engage, and in America, the spirit of America doesn't come from the top down. The spirit of America rests in us. And I want to call on everyone in America to double down and realize that you were made special to heal this country and lift it for everyone. Thank you all very much. And I hope I can have your vote in South Carolina. +p720 +aVWell, we've got to to step up the pressure. And by the way, I've gotta say, after being here, every one of my 100 town hall meetings in New Hampshire were a lot more fun than what I saw here today, were so much more positive. Look, in terms of North Korea, Martha, we have to make sure that we intercept both the ships and their aircraft, because what they're trying to do is to proliferate this very dangerous material, along with the \u2014 with the technology, the instruments that can be used for mass destruction. That's what I worry about the most, frankly, is non-state actors, people who don't have a uniform, people don't have a country, who can spread this, who are not subject to the \u2014 to the mutual assured defense. In other words, you strike us, we strike you. Some of these radicals, they don't care about that. That's what I worry about, for my children, and for their children, going forward. So, we have to be very tough. And we should tell the Chinese, look, if you're not going to do this ballistic missile defense to the Koreans, ballistic missile defense to Japan \u2014 and by the way, we should impose the same kind of sanctions on North Korea that we imposed on Iran, because they're able to shift money. They're able to send money and receive money. We've gotta to be very tough on this. And frankly, I think we could have \u2014 I think we could have let the Japanese know that if you want to take action on that \u2014 on that missile that's rising, you want to take action \u2014 you will have our support, if that's what you think is the best thing to do. We cannot continue to be weak in the face of the North Koreans, or, frankly, in the entire rest of the world. Martha, this is \u2014 this is the \u2014 relates... +p721 +aVWell, you know, David, I \u2014 I've just spent a lot of time here in this state, as I mentioned earlier, and we have to have practical solutions, just like we were just talking about a few minutes ago on North Korea. Look, the situation is, we need to finish the border. It has to be completed. Just like we lock our doors at night, the country has to be able to lock its doors. And we can have a guest worker program, where people can come in and out in an orderly way. And then for the 11.5 million that are here, if they have not committed a crime since they've been here, I believe they ought to pay some back taxes, pay a fine, never get on the path to citizenship, but get legalization. It is not \u2014 I couldn't even imagine how we would even begin to think about taking a mom or a dad out of a house when they have not committed a crime since they've been here, leaving their children in the house. I mean, that is not, in my opinion, the kind of values that we believe in. And secondly, I think at the end of the day, that Americans would support a plan like this. I think Congress would pass a plan to finish the border, guest worker, pay a fine, a path to legalization, and not citizenship. And we've got to get this done. And I will tell you this, within the first 100 days that I am president, I will put that proposal to the Congress. And I will tell you, as a former Congressman, and an executive, in Ohio, I can promise you that I believe you'll get the votes to pass that, and we can move on with that issue and protect our border. That's what I think. +p722 +aVGood evening. +p723 +aVWell, first of all, look. As the New York Times said, he's certainly not a moderate, but he can bring people together to solve problems. The fact of the matter is I've cut taxes more than anybody in the country this year. I have balanced budgets, the federal budget, the state of Ohio budget, we're running a $2 billion dollar surplus, we're up 400,000 jobs, and in Washington we were able to have significant job growth whenever we balanced the budget of which I was the architect. But, here's the beauty of it, it's not just balancing a budget, it's about jobs. You know, when I was kid growing up in a neighborhood where Dad went home at night and said, "I lost my job today", it just killed the family. It just was a devastating effect. We have to have economic growth, but once we have economic growth I believe we have to reach out to people who live in the shadows. I believe we need to help the mentally ill, the drug addicted, the working poor. We need to help the developmentally disabled to rise, and we need to help our friends in the minority community develop entrepreneurship. In other words, in American, conservatism should mean not only that some rise with conservative principles, but everybody has a chance to rise regardless of who they are so they can live their God given purpose. That's what conservatism should be. +p724 +aVDavid? +p725 +aVLook, I'm \u2014 I'm not here \u2014 I like Chris. +p726 +aVLet \u2014 but let me \u2014 let me just tell you. First of all, we have the lowest number of state employees in 30 years. Secondly, we have grown government at the rate of inflation. And I went from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. And we've grown jobs by 400,000 \u2014 that's one of the fastest growing states in the country. Our pensions are secure and our credit is rock solid. Now, I've learned that, what makes things work, what gets the economy going, not just in Ohio, but in Washington \u2014 and it's three things. Common sense regulations, which we have, lower taxes, which we have, the lowest taxes, tax cuts in the country. And thirdly, a fiscal plan to balance the budget. When you go from $8 billion in the hole to $2 billion in the black, when you cut taxes by $5 billion and you grow over 400,000 jobs, that is a record that I can take to Washington, using the same formula that I used in Washington when I was part of the effort to balance the budget to give us a surplus and to create jobs. +p727 +aVThat's what I did and I'll do it again in the first 100 days. +p728 +aVWell, right now the deals \u2014 there's no leadership. I mean, a lot of the things that we're talking about here tonight, on the border, and so many of the things. What we should be doing on foreign policy, you know what the problem is, Mary Katharine? There's not a leader that gets somebody to rise up. You have to have a leader that can inspire, and actually some of what Donald was saying is true. Look, do you know how hard it was... +p729 +aV... to get the balance the federal budget balanced? You have to plead with people. To do what we've done in Ohio, you have to plead with people, then you go back down to Washington and do the same thing. You see, we have to remind people we're Americans before we're Republicans and Democrats, and when we wait, and when we delay what we end up doing, Mary Katharine, is we make the United States weaker. In fact, it's a foreign policy issue because people look at America not solving problems and they say what are they doing over there? So the point is you have to work with people. The problem with executive authority for the president, it's really bad news for this reason. Since he's given up on working with Congress, he thinks he can impose anything he wants. He's not a king. He's a president. An executive order should be used frankly in consolidation and with consulting with the leadership in the \u2014 in the Congress. I've done it in Ohio. I consult. I could use executive orders, but I don't trump the legislature, because if you do, you aggravate them, you anger them and then the long-term prospects get bleak. We have to solve problems in America by coming together, Republicans and Democrats, Americans first, party and ideology second \u2014 in the second back seat of this country. That's what we need to do. And we can do it. And we can do it. +p730 +aVMary Katherine, let me just say this to you. You must have an agenda that you are ready to move on in the first 100 days. Jeb is right. If you delay and you wait, the Washington operators will take you down. I can tell you this, in the first 100 days, I will have legislation to freeze federal regulations, have them reviewed by the vice president, reduce state taxes on individuals, reduce taxes on corporations, have a fiscal plan to balance the budget, get the border protected and begin to fix Social Security in the first 100 days. So, anybody who is here tonight, if I get elected president, head out tomorrow and buy a seat belt, because there's going to be so much happening in the first 100 days, it's going to make your head spin. We're going to move America forward. I promise you. We're going to move us forward. +p731 +aVJeb mentioned me. Time for me to go again. +p732 +aVHe says he didn't mention me the second time. I thought I heard it, Jeb. No. I'm just kidding. Thank you all very much for listening and being patient with all of us tonight. Thank you. +p733 +aVDavid, David... +p734 +aVI wanted \u2014 I wanted to say, look, this \u2014 there can be a win-win here. I have formed a collaborative between police and community leaders because people have to respect law enforcement. A family doesn't want dad or mom going home in a box. And for our community leaders, many of them think the system not only works \u2014 not only doesn't work for them, but it works against them. And I created a big collaborative in Ohio made up of law enforcement, community leaders, the head of my public safety and a former Democrat, liberal Senate senator Nina Turner, run it. They got together, they made recommendations on recruiting, on hiring, on the use of deadly force and what we're about to do is to bring community and police together so we can have a win-win. We need more win-wins in America and we don't have to pick one over another divide. We love the police, but we've got to be responsible to the people in the community. We have to do all of that. +p735 +aVJosh? +p736 +aVJosh, I mean, clearly, when a veteran comes home, they should get health care anywhere they want to go. In our state, which is what we should do in the country, you know, if they drive a truck from Kabul to Kandahar in Afghanistan, we say, you can drive a truck from Columbus to Cleveland, and you don't have to go get a license. We're going to hand you one. And if you've got expertise in the military, we're going to give you college credit or community college credit for the things that you did for our country. And in addition to that, I'll tell you, one of the biggest things I think has to be done \u2014 and I would do it as president \u2014 the Pentagon has got to work with the returning soldier, sailor, along with the family, and we \u2014 they're the most valuable employees in the country. I call them golden employees. Everybody wants to hire a veteran. But there is a disconnect between the job openings and the veteran when the veteran comes back. The veteran is a leader. The veteran is strong. The veteran is drug free. There should be no unemployment among veterans. And if the Pentagon will work with the veterans' services agencies all across this country, Josh, we can get people jobs and we can get them jobs quickly, get them their health care......get them their college education. Let's lift them. They're the greatest people defending the United States of America and we need to take care of them, and we will. We will. +p737 +aVCarolina's going to win that one. I hate to say it. But they're going to win that one. +p738 +aVWell, folks, I've done now over 100 town hall meetings and I've loved every second of it. It has been the greatest thing in the world. And I want you to know that you've changed me, because I've listened to your stories and I've had your hugs and I've seen your tears, and I've seen you walk away and say, I now have hope. You know, I've had a conservative message, but a positive message \u2014 not just a conservative message, but a positive message about how we can bring people together, how we can restore America's strength, lift everyone. New Hampshire, please give me a chance to carry this message forward to the United States of America. And then, I will come back. Thank you, loved it. And God bless you. +p739 +aVWell, first of all, I had a national reporter say, you know, there's three lanes. There's the establishment lane, the anti-establishment lane, and then there's the Kasich lane. And the reason is, is that I've been a reformer all of my career, fighting to reform welfare, fighting to reform the Pentagon, also being in a position to balance the budget, because that is very, very hard to do. And then in Ohio, of course, I had to bring about big reform, again, because we were so far in the hole and now we just found out we are up over 400,000 jobs since I took over as governor. You know, the situation is this. We cannot fix things in this country \u2014 the Social Security, the border, balancing the budget, getting wages to grow faster \u2014 unless we lead as conservatives, but we also invite people in from the other party. We have to come together as a country. And we have to stop all the divisions. And, you know, that's been my message in New Hampshire. And having been in New Hampshire and here in Iowa, but in New Hampshire, I just received the support of seven out of eight of the newspapers in that state because they see positive, they see unity, they see coming together, and they see a record of change and a record of accomplishment. And it isn't because I'm all that great. It's because I've been assembling a team of people who want to be involved in something that's a little bigger than themselves. I'll keep \u2014 I'll keep heading in that direction, believe me. +p740 +aVChris... ... there was a question about foreign policy, by the way, and experience. And I \u2014 I thought, if I didn't jump in, I might not be able to tell everybody this. I think they'd want to hear it. Look, I served on... +p741 +aV... but wait a minute... +p742 +aV...the only reason is \u2014 look... +p743 +aVOK. +p744 +aVI've always listened to you, Megyn. Go ahead. +p745 +aVYes \u2014 thank you. +p746 +aVWell, look the Joint Terrorism Task Force needs resources and tools. And those are made up of the FBI, state and local law enforcement. And Megyn, it's best not to talk anymore about back doors and encryption, it will get solved, but it needs to be solved in the situation of the White House with the technology folks. +p747 +aVBut I just have to tell you that it's best with some of these things not be said. Now I want to go back something. See, I was there when Reagan rebuilt the military. I was there in '89 when the wall came tumbling down because we were strong. And I was there when we went into the Gulf War. We didn't win that war just from the air, we won that war by assembling a group of Arab leaders who stood in the Rose Garden and stood with America. We want to destroy +p748 +aVBut we have a unique time in America to connect with people all around the world that understand that there's an existential threat against all of them, the Arabs, the Jordanians, the Saudis, the Egyptians, our friends in Europe, including the Turks. So we have a unique opportunity to bring everybody together. I saw Reagan do it, I've seen other presidents do it. And frankly, if you want to be commander in chief, you have to have the experience. At the same time we're doing all that, the Pentagon must be reformed so we get what we need for our men and women in uniform. All of that together, we're going to be just fine and America is going to continue to lead the world. +p749 +aVWell, you've got to be on top of it right away. And, you know, I don't know all the details of what Rick Snyder has done. I know there have been people who have been fired; people who are being held accountable. But the fact is, every single engine of government has to move when you see a crisis like that. And I've had many situations in the state of Ohio where we've had to move, whether it's storms, whether it was a horrible school shooting. There are many crises that come \u2014 a water crisis in Toledo. You've got to be on top of it. You've got to go the extra mile. You've got to work with local communities and you've got to work with the federal government. Because you realize that people depending on you. And so, you go the extra mile. But people have to be alert. They have to be alert to problems. And when you see a problem, you must act quickly to get on top of it. And people at home are saying they've got a problem, listen to them. Because most of the time, they're absolutely correct. So the fact is that we work for the people. The people don't work for us. And we have to have an attitude when we're in government of serving-hood. That's what really matters. We serve you. You don't serve us. We listen to you and \u2014 and then we act. +p750 +aVNo. You know, Chris, here's what happened with Medicaid in my state. We took the growth of Medicaid from over 10 percent in my second budget to 2.5 percent, without cutting off one person or cutting one benefit, because we \u2014 we innovated the government. And now mom and dad can stay in their own home, rather than being forced into a nursing home. And then we decided we could bring $14 billion of our money \u2014 I mean, Washington doesn't have any money. It was our money, and we brought them back to tend to the mentally ill. Because I don't think they ought to live in prison or live under a bridge; to treat the drug-addicted so they're not in an in-and-out-of-the-door policy out of the prisons; and to help the working poor so they don't live in emergency rooms. How has it worked? Well, we have treated the drug-addicted in our prisons and we released them in to the community, and our recidivism rate is less than 20 percent. That's basically bordering on a miracle because of our great prison director. The mentally ill? They've been stepped on for too long in this society, and we are beginning to treat them. In terms of my faith, look, all I say is that when I study scripture, I know that people who live in the shadows need to have a chance. But I'm not deciding that anybody's got to make these decisions the way that I do, on the basis of what I do. But what \u2014 I will tell you this. The time has come to stop ignoring the mentally ill in this country and begin to treat them and get them on their feet, along with, of course, with treating the drug-addicted. Because we don't want them in and out \u2014 we don't want them in and out of the prisons. Give people a chance. We talked about criminal justice reform. We've enacted it in our state. Look, the conservative message is economic growth and along with economic growth goes opportunity for everybody in America. Everybody ought to have a chance to be able to rise to their God-given purpose. And that is what we have done in Ohio. We're running surpluses. We're up 400,000 jobs. And guess what? The formula is working. I'd suggest people take a look at it. Thank you. +p751 +aVLook, we don't know what's going to happen in ten months. And if I were president of the United States right now, I'd be lining up our allies to say that, if one crossed T or one dotted I does not occur, they are \u2014 violate the agreement, we slap back on sanctions. We can slap on sanctions alone, on day one, but it's not gonna be anywhere near as effective. But the president needs to be laying the groundwork right now for the ability to slap those sanctions back on worldwide. And I'll tell you what I'm worried about \u2014 I'm worried about money. You read about all the companies now that are doing business \u2014 about to do business in Iran, and if we don't get this settled now, with other countries in the world, about sanctions, then Iran could violate that agreement, and we're the only ones putting the sanctions on. We need to move aggressively now. But I would say this to you, Bret. Number one, if they violate it, we need to move against them. And number two, if we find out they're developing a nuclear weapon and we know how to get to it, we're gonna go take it out. That is what we have to do. We cannot let things get farther down the road, like we did with North Korea. +p752 +aVThat's right. Yes. +p753 +aVI know, Bret. +p754 +aVBut Bret, here's the problem. You take a look at the \u2014 at Belgium. I talked to a diplomat from Belgium. I said, "how's it going?" He said, "we have the military in the streets right now. We never dreamt we'd ever see it." See, I think there is an opportunity to bring the world together. The Turks are being threatened. We know about the French. We know about the Belgians. We know about the Brits. Everybody is under fire and under attack, and we have to stand together as an alliance. So actually, the opportunity is there, because of the threat to all of these countries, to bring all of us together... ... and say there is something more important than money. It is the future of the world and the future of our children and grandchildren. That's the kind of leadership this country needs. It has not been in effect during the administration of Barack Obama. And that's only the beginning of the failures that they have committed, not only in the Middle East, but all over the world, including Russia and China. +p755 +aVYou know, one of our biggest national security issues is the world looks at us some time, and we look at each other and say, why can't we solve problems? Well, I've got news for you, we can. We can in fact create jobs and provide job security. We can create a situation where wages begin to rise. We can create a situation for our children to be able to get a decent job to pay down their college debt. We can re-assume our role in the world. But all of this has to come together when we have a positive attitude, an optimistic approach, an ability for us to set the tune as conservatives, to invite other people in to be part of that orchestra. You see, ladies and gentlemen, at the end of the day, I'm an optimist Because I've seen so many things get accomplished in my lifetime. And we can do it again together, all of us, to strengthen this country, work together. Thank you. +p756 +aVLook, it takes three things basically to grow jobs. And I've done it when I was in Washington when we had a balanced budget; had four years of balanced budgets; paid down a half-trillion of debt. And our economy was growing like crazy. It's the same thing that I did in Ohio. It's a simple formula: common sense regulations, which is why I think we should freeze all federal regulations for one year, except for health and safety. It requires tax cuts, because that sends a message to the job creators that things are headed the right way. And if you tax cuts \u2014 if you cut taxes for corporations, and you cut taxes for individuals, you're going to make things move, particularly the corporate tax, which is the highest, of course, in the \u2014 in the world. But in addition to that, we have to have fiscal discipline. We have to show that we can march to a balanced budget. And when you do that, when you're in a position of managing regulations; when you reduce taxes; and when you have fiscal discipline, you see the job creators begin to get very comfortable with the fact that they can invest. Right now, you don't have the \u2014 you have taxes that are too high. You have regulations \u2014 I mean, come on, they're affecting everybody here, particularly our small businesses. They are \u2014 they're in a position where they're smothering people. And I mean, are you kidding me? We're nowhere close to a balanced budget or fiscal discipline. Those three things put together are going to give confidence to job creators and you will begin to see wages rise. You will begin to see jobs created in a robust economy. And how do I know it? Because I've done it. I did it as the chairman of the Budget Committee, working with Senator Domenici. And I've done it in the state of Ohio as the chief executive. Our wages are growing faster than the national average. We're running surpluses. And we can take that message and that formula to Washington to lift every single American to a better life. +p757 +aVWell, if that's the case, we're going to win every state, if Bernie Sanders is the nominee. That's not even an issue. But look......and I know Bernie, and I can promise you he's not going to be president of the United States. So here's this \u2014 the situation, I think, Maria. And this is what we have to \u2014 I \u2014 I've got to tell you, when wages don't rise \u2014 and they haven't for a lot of families for a number of years \u2014 it's very, very difficult for them. Part of the reason why it hasn't risen because sometimes we're not giving people the skills they need. Sometimes it's because the Federal Reserve kept interest rates so low that the wealthy were able to invest in \u2014 in strong assets like the stock market when everybody else was left behind. People are upset about it. I'll tell you what else they're upset about: you're 50 or 51 years old, and some kid walks in and tells you you're out of work, and you don't know where to go and where to turn. Do we have answer for that? We do. There are ways to retrain the 50 and 51-year-olds, because they've got great value. I'll tell you what else people are concerned about. Their kids come out of college, they have high debt and they can't get a good job. We got to do a lot about the high cost of high \u2014 higher education, but we've got to make sure we're training people for jobs that exist, that are good jobs that can pay. Let me tell you that, in this country \u2014 in this country, people are concerned about their economic future. They're very concerned about it. And they wonder whether somebody is getting something to \u2014 keeping them from getting it. That's not the America that I've ever known. My father used to say, "Johnny, we never \u2014 we don't hate the rich. We just want to be the rich." And we just got to make sure that every American has the tools, in K-through-12 and in vocational education, in higher education. And we got to fight like crazy so people can think the American dream still exists, because it does, with rising wages, with full employment and with everybody in America \u2014 and I mean everybody in America \u2014 having an opportunity to realize the American dream of having a better life than their mother and their father. I'm president \u2014 look, I've done it once. I've done it once in Washington, with great jobs and lower taxes. The economy was really booming. And now in Ohio, with the same formula, wages higher than the \u2014 than the national average. A growth of 385,000 jobs. It's not that hard. Just know where you want to go, stick to your guts. Get it done, because our \u2014 our children and grandchildren are counting on us to get it done. And, folks, we will. You count on it. +p758 +aVWell, let me \u2014 let me first of all talk a little bit about my experience. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years, and by the way, one of the members of that committee was Senator Strom Thurmond from South Carolina. Let em also tell you......that after the 9/11 attacks, Secretary Rumsfeld invited me to the Pentagon with a meeting of the former secretaries of Defense. And in that meeting, I suggested we had a problem with technology, and that I wanted to take people from Silicon Valley into the Pentagon to solve our most significant problems. So I not only had the opportunity to go through the Cold War struggles in Central America, and even after 9/11 to be involved. With Saudi Arabia and oil production, first of all, it's so critical for us to be energy independent, and we're getting there because of fracking and we ought to explore because, see, energy independence gives us leverage and flexibility, and secondly, if you want to bring jobs back to the United States of America in industry, low prices make the difference. We're seeing it in my state and we'll see it in this country. And that's why we must make sure we continue to frack. In terms of Saudi Arabia, look, my biggest problem with them is they're funding radical clerics through their madrasses. That is a bad deal and an evil situation, and presidents have looked the other way. And I was going to tell you, whether I'm president or not, we better make it clear to the Saudis that we're going to support you, we're in relation with you just like we were in the first Gulf War, but you've got to knock off the funding and teaching of radical clerics who are the very people who try to destroy us and will turn around and destroy them. So look, in foreign policy \u2014 in foreign policy, it's strength, but you've got to be cool. You've got to have a clear vision of where you want to go. And I'm going to tell you, that it \u2014 I'm going to suggest to you here tonight, that you can't do on the job training. I've seen so much of it \u2013 a Soviet Union, the coming down of a wall, the issues that we saw around the world in Central America, the potential spread of communism, and 9/11 and Gulf War. You see what the Saudi's \u2014 deliver them a strong message but at the end of the day we have to keep our cool because most of the time they're going right with us. And they must be part of our coalition to destroy +p759 +aVI \u2014 I've been for pausing on admitting the Syrian refugees. And the reasons why I've done is I don't believe we have a good process of being able to vet them. But you know, we don't want to put everybody in the same category. And I'll go back to something that had been mentioned just a few minutes ago. If we're going to have a coalition, we're going to have to have a coalition not just of people in the western part of the world, our European allies, but we need the Saudis, we need the Egyptians, we need the Jordanians, we need the Gulf states. We need Jordan. We need all of them to be part of exactly what the first George Bush put together in the first Gulf War. It was a coalition made up of Arabs and Americans and westerners and we're going to need it again. And if we try to put everybody in the same \u2014 call everybody the same thing, we can't do it. And that's just not acceptable. But I think a pause on Syrian refugees has been exactly right for all the governors that have called for it, and also, of course, for me as the governor of Ohio. +p760 +aVNeil, Neil \u2014 can I say one thing about this. I'm a free trader. I support +p761 +aVFor too long \u2014 no, for too long, what happens is somebody dumps their product in our country and take our people's jobs, and then we go to an international court and it takes them like a year or two to figure out whether they were cheating us. And guess what? The worker's out of a job. So when they \u2014 be found against that country that's selling products in here lower than the cost of what it takes to produce them, then what do we tell the worker? Oh, well, you know, it just didn't work out for you. I think we should be for free trade but I think fair trade. And when countries violate trade agreements or dump product in this country, we need \u2014 we need to stand up against those countries that do that without making them into an enemy. And I want to just suggest to you. How do I know this? Because so many people in my family worked in steel mills, and they didn't work with a white collar, they worked in a blue collar. And the fact is those jobs are critical, they're hard working members of the middle class and they need to be paid attention to because they're Americans and they carry the load. So let's demand open trade but fair trade in this country. That's what I think we need to do. +p762 +aVWell, I created a task force well over a year ago and the purpose was to bring law enforcement, community people, clergy and the person that I named as one of the co-chair was a lady by the name of Nina Turner, a former State Senator, a liberal Democrat. She actually ran against one of my friends and our head of public safety. And they say down as a group trying to make sure that we can begin to heal some of these problems that we see between community and police. And they came back with 23 recommendations. One of them is a statewide use of deadly force. And it is now being put into place everyplace across the state of Ohio. Secondly, a policy on recruiting and hiring, and then more resources for \u2014 for training. But let me also tell you, one of the issues has got to be the integration of both community and police. Community has to understand that that police officer wants to get home at night, and not \u2014 not to lose their life. Their family is waiting for them. At the same time, law enforcement understands there are people in the community who not only think that the system doesn't work for them, but works against them. See, in Ohio, we've had some controversial decisions. But the leaders have come forward to realize that protest is fine, but violence is wrong. And it has been a remarkable situation in our state. And as president of the United States, it's all about communication, folks. It's all about getting people to listen to one another's problems. And when you do that, you will be amazed at how much progress you can make, and how much healing we can have. Because, folks, at the end of the day, the country needs healed. I've heard a lot of hot rhetoric here tonight, but I've got to tell you, as somebody that actually passed a budget; that paid down a half-a-trillion dollars of our national debt, you can't do it alone. You've got to bring people together. You've got to give people hope. And together, we can solve these problems that hurt us and heal America. And that is what's so critical for our neighborhoods, our families, our children, and our grandchildren. +p763 +aVYou know, in our country, there are a lot of people who feel as though they just don't have the power. You know, they feel like if they don't have a lobbyist, if they're not wealthy, that somehow they don't get to play. But all of my career, you know, having been raised in \u2014 by a mailman father whose father was a coal miner, who died of black lung and was losing his eyesight; or a mother whose mother could barely speak English. You see, all of my career, I've fought about giving voice to the people that I grew up with and voice to the people that elected me. Whether it's welfare reform and getting something back for the hard-earned taxpayers; whether it's engaging in Pentagon reform and taking on the big contractors that were charging thousands of dollars for hammers and screw drivers and ripping us off; or whether it's taking on the special interests in the nursing home industry in Ohio, so that mom and dad can have the ability to stay in their own home, rather than being forced into a nursing home. Look, that's who I stand up for. That's who's in my mind......And if you really want to believe that you can get your voice back, I will tell you, as I have all my career, I will continue to fight for you, because you're the ones that built this country, and will carry it into the future. Thank you. +p764 +asVQUICK +p765 +(lp766 +VGentlemen \u2014 we'll \u2014 we'll get back to this \u2014 just a minute \u2014 just a minute we're gonna continue this. I wanna talk taxes... +p767 +aVDr. Carson, let's talk about taxes. You have a flat tax plan of 10 percent flat taxes, and \u2014 I've looked at it \u2014 and this is something that is very appealing to a lot of voters, but I've had a really tough time trying to make the math work on this. If you were to took a 10 percent tax, with the numbers right now in total personal income, you're gonna come in with bring in $1.5 trillion. That is less than half of what we bring in right now. And by the way, it's gonna leave us in a $2 trillion hole. So what analysis got you to the point where you think this will work? +p768 +aVI \u2014 I understand that, but if you \u2014 if you look at the numbers you probably have to get to 28. +p769 +aV15 percent still leaves you with a $1.1 trillion hole. +p770 +aVYou'd have to cut \u2014 you'd have to cut government about 40 percent to make it work with a $1.1 trillion hole. +p771 +aVThat is true, I looked at the numbers. +p772 +aVDr. Carson, thank you. +p773 +aVGovernor... +p774 +aVDr. Carson, let me get 30 seconds with Dr. Carson... +p775 +aVThank you. +p776 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, thank you. +p777 +aVGentlemen, I'm sorry, we need to... +p778 +aVWe're going to move on. +p779 +aVThirty seconds. +p780 +aVWe'll get to everyone. Ms. Fiorina, I \u2014 I'd like to ask you a question. You are running for president of the United States because of your record running Hewlett-Packard. But the stock market is usually a fair indicator of the performance of a CEO, and the market was not kind to you. Someone who invested a dollar in your company the day you took office had lost half of the dollar by the day you left. Obviously, you've talked in the past about what a difficult time it was for technology companies, but anybody who was following the market knows that your stock was a much worse performer, if you looked at your competitors, if you looked at the overall market. I just wonder, in terms of all of that \u2014 you know, we look back, your board fired you. I just wondered why you think we should hire you now. +p781 +aVMrs. Fiorina, it's interesting that you bring up Mr. Perkins, because... ...he said a lot of very questionable things. Last year, in an interview, he said that he thinks wealthy people should get more votes than poor people. I think his quote was that, "if you pay zero dollars in taxes, you should get zero votes. If you pay a million dollars, you should get a million votes." Is this the type of person you want defending you? +p782 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p783 +aVThank you, we're out of time. Thank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Carl. +p784 +aVGovernor Christie, I'd like to a question next. Actually, I have a question for you . In your tell it like it is campaign, you've said a lot of tough things. You've said that we need to raise the retirement age for Social Security. You think that we need to cut benefits for people who make over $80,000 and eliminate them entirely for seniors who are making over $200,000. Governor Huckabee, who is here on the stage, has said that you and others who think this way are trying to rob seniors of the benefits that they've earned. It raises the question: When it is acceptable to break a social compact? +p785 +aV...Governor... +p786 +aV...Thank you. +p787 +aVWelcome back to the presidential debate for the Republicans. We are live in Boulder, Colorado, right here on +p788 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. +p789 +aVSenator Rubio, you yourself have said that you've had issues. You have a lack of bookkeeping skills. You accidentally inter-mingled campaign money with your personal money. You faced (ph) foreclosure on a second home that you bought. And just last year, you liquidated a $68,000 retirement fund. That's something that cost you thousands of dollars in taxes and penalties. In terms of all of that, it raises the question whether you have the maturity and wisdom to lead this $17 trillion economy. What do you say? +p790 +aVSenator, I understand all of that. I had a lot of student loans when I got out, too. But you've had a windfall that a lot of Americans haven't. You made over a million dollars on a book deal, and some of these problems came after that. +p791 +aVBut you \u2014 but you liquidated that retirement account after the fact, and that cost you about $24,000 out of that in taxes and feed. That \u2014 that was after you'd already come into that windfall. That's why I raised the question. +p792 +aVYes, thank you John. Senator Cruz, working women in this country still earn just 77 percent of what men earn. And I know that you've said you've been very sympathetic to our cause. But you've also you said that the Democrats' moves to try and change this are the political show votes. I just wonder what you would do as President to try and help in this cause? +p793 +aVMrs. Fiorina \u2014 +p794 +aVMrs. Fiorina, we will come back to you. +p795 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Carl? +p796 +aVMr. Trump, let's stay on this issue of immigration. You have been very critical of Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook who has wanted to increase the number of these H1Bs. +p797 +aVSo you're in favor of... +p798 +aVWhere did I read this and come up with this that you were... +p799 +aVYou know, Mr. \u2014 you know, Mr. Trump, if I may . You've been \u2014 you have been \u2014 you had talked a little bit about Marco Rubio. I think you called him Mark Zuckerberg's personal senator because he was in favor of the H1B. +p800 +aVSo this was an erroneous article the whole way around? +p801 +aVMy apologies. I'm sorry. +p802 +aVYes, you can. +p803 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you very much. I would like to introduce my colleague, Rick Santelli, he has some comments as well, sir. +p804 +aVRick, thank you very much. Governor Huckabee, you have railed against income inequality. You've said that some Wall Street executives should have gone to jail over the roles that they played during the financial crisis. Apart from your tax plan, are there specific steps you would require from corporate America to try and reduce the income inequality. +p805 +aVGovernor? +p806 +aVGovernor? +p807 +aVThank you. +p808 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee. +p809 +aVHow about 15 more seconds? +p810 +aVGovernor? +p811 +aVGovernor, I'm sorry... +p812 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p813 +aVGovernor, thank you. Appreciate it. John? +p814 +aVIt's at the moderator discretion. +p815 +aVWelcome back to the University of Colorado and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p816 +aVThank you, sir. +p817 +aVYou were. You get 30 seconds. +p818 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Carl? +p819 +aVHigher education is the example... +p820 +aVI want to go back, if I can, to the issue of... +p821 +aVI want to go back, if I may, to the... +p822 +aVSenator Paul, among the leading conservative opponents to the creation of Medicare back in the 1960s was Ronald Reagan. He warned that it would lead to socialism. Considering the mounting cost of Medicare, was he right to oppose it? +p823 +aVSenator, thank you. [ +p824 +aVWelcome back to Boulder, Colorado and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p825 +aVThank you, Governor. +p826 +aVGovernor. +p827 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Paul, let's go back to you. Do these solutions sound like they work? +p828 +aVDo these solutions sound like they would work? +p829 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Governor? +p830 +aVGood evening, everyone. I'm Becky Quick, along with my +p831 +aVGovernor Jindal, let's talk a little bit about the news of the day. Just a few hours ago, the Republicans and the Democrats in the House voted on a budget deal that will increase spending by about $80 billion dollars over the next two years. You, however, have called the Republicans who have been willing to work with the Democrats to do things like this the, "Surrender Party of the Republican caucus." Would you have shut the government down instead? +p832 +aV...But Governor... +p833 +aV...if you didn't have a choice, if you didn't control things in the house, would you take the choice of shutting things down, or would you go ahead and agree with them? +p834 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p835 +aVGovernor Pataki, let's get to your point. You wanted to make a comment on the budget. You want to get in on the idea, what would you do if you were in Washington? Would you compromise... +p836 +aVGovernor Pataki, thank you. John? +p837 +aVGovernor Pataki, let's talk a little bit about what's happened on Wall Street. Some of your colleagues in the Republican Party, including some of the people on this stage, have bashed Wall Street. They say that it was largely responsible for the financial crisis. You're a former governor of New York, and you relied very heavily on Wall Street for income. Do you think they've gone too far? +p838 +aVGovernor Pataki, thank you. +p839 +aVCarl? +p840 +aVWelcome back, everyone. This is the Republican Presidential Debate on +p841 +aVSenator, I'm sorry your minute is up. +p842 +aVThank you very much, Senator Santorum. +p843 +aVAnd Graham, Mr. Graham, yes, that was a question to you, too. +p844 +aVYou have 30 seconds. +p845 +aVSenator Graham, thank you. +p846 +aVI'm sorry. That's your 30 seconds... +p847 +aVSenator Graham... +p848 +aVThank you, Senator. +p849 +aVGentlemen, hold on a second. +p850 +aVGo ahead, +p851 +aVGovernor Pataki... +p852 +aV\u2014 I'm sorry, that was a... +p853 +aVGovernor Pataki... +p854 +aVI'm sorry to talk over you, sir. That was a minute. +p855 +aVThank you very much. +p856 +aVCarl? +p857 +aVYou guys are making this just like home. This is just like . +p858 +aVGovernor Jindal, I want to go back to something that you mentioned before with your tax plan. I know that you want to put a 2 percent tax on all families, just to make sure everyone has some skin in the game. But every working American pays 6.2 percent, when it comes to Social Security taxes. They pay another 1.45 percent of Medicare. Isn't that skin in the game? +p859 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p860 +aVWelcome back to Boulder, Colorado, and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p861 +aVNo, no. +p862 +aVI \u2014 I'm with you. I still have a BlackBerry, too. Senator \u2014 Senator Santorum, how about you? +p863 +aVThank you. Governor? +p864 +aVThank you. Senator Graham? +p865 +aVWe take your time back. Yes. +p866 +aVJohn? +p867 +asVGRAHAM +p868 +(lp869 +VThank you very much. I just returned from Iraq two weeks ago. It was my 36th trip to Iraq and Afghanistan in the last decade. Toward the end, I met a very impressive Special Forces sergeant. It was his job to train Iraqi Kurdish commandos. He was so proud of what he was doing and so proud of the people he was training. He was the replacement for Master Sergeant Wheeler, a Delta Force member who was killed two months ago in a raid against an +p870 +aVYou may think this makes us safe, but it doesn't. The good news for everybody in this room is, after 36 trips to Iraq and Afghanistan, most people over there, Wolf, are not buying what +p871 +aVI will support the Republican nominee, whoever he or she may be. Like Bob Dole, I may sleep late that day if it's Trump. But the bottom line, if it's Trump, so be it. That's who I'll support. Please understand we're in a war that we can't afford to lose, and what he said about banning Muslims coming here to America has made us all less safe, and it's the worst possible thing he could do in this war. He clearly doesn't understand this war and how to win it. For God's sakes, pick somebody who is worthy of the sacrifice of those who are fighting this war and who actually knows how to win, and I don't believe that's Mr. Trump, and I know it's not Hillary Clinton. +p872 +aVRick, please understand the only way we're gonna win the war against radical Islam is for the world to unite. Very few fathers and mothers want to turn their daughters and sons over to +p873 +aVWell, here's what I'm here to tell you, when I first started this process of running for president., I said, " if you didn't realize we need more America boots on the ground in Iraq and eventually in Syria as a part of the regional army - not ready to be commander in chief." Like nobody said a word, now everybody's on board except Senator Paul. Senator Paul and Senator Cruz, are isolationists. They both want to restrict the ability of the NSA to do the following; find out if somebody overseas is calling into America and if somebody is on the other end of the phone, don't you want to know who their talking to? IF a terrorist is calling into America and we can match up phone numbers we get a get a court order to find out what the content is. We're at war folks, they're not trying to steal your car, they're trying to kills us all. So yes, I would re-institute this program. There's four things you need to understand about this war, it's a religious war, them against the world, if you don't fight them over there, they're coming here. If you don't hit them first, they're going to hit us. If you're not determined to fight it as a ware, you're going to lose it. So if you're worried about somebody having your phone in the government, don't be. The only thing you need to worry about is if you're talking to terrorist and a judge gives an order to listen to what you're saying. That's all you need to worry about. +p874 +aVCan I say something? +p875 +aVYeah. There are at least 3,500 American muslims serving in the armed forces. Thank you for your service. You are not the enemy. Your religion is not the enemy. Let me make this real to you. I was at the second presidential election in Afghanistan. The guy guarding me was an American Muslim sergeant in the Army who grew up in Kabul, left when he was \u2014 graduated high school, joined the U.S. Army, went back to his high school where they were doing polling, people voting, he took me there and cried like a baby. I cried like a baby. He is the solution to this problem, folks. He is not the problem. Leave the faith alone. Go after the radicals that kill us all. +p876 +aVThank you. This is why I own a flip phone. You don't have to worry about all of this stuff. The bottom line is, we're at war. They're trying to come here to kill us all and it's up to the government to protect you within constitutional means. Any system that would allow a terrorist to communicate with somebody in our country and we can't find out what they're saying is stupid. If I'm president of the United States, and you join +p877 +aVWell, what you want to do is you want to knock them off line. How about this idea? If you pledge allegiance to al-Baghdadi, you can't get married in America? The bottom line is you have to go after them everywhere. The key to winning this war is to provide the capacity to those in the faith who reject the ideology. The key to fighting this war is to fight it in their backyard, not ours. Two years ago I came up with a plan that requires more American boots on the ground in Iraq. The first thing out of my mouth running for President was, if you don't understand we need 10,000 troops in Iraq, rather than 3,500, you're not ready. What would I do in Syria? I'd form a regional army of Arabs and Turkey. Ninety percent them, 10 percent us. Up to 10,000 U.S. forces to go in on the ground and destroy the caliphate and its roots. Take Raqqah away from +p878 +aVYeh, it's just you're not going to win that way, Rick. There's nobody left in Syria to train. Between the Russians and Assad, they have killed all the people we trained, and our President sat on the sidelines and watched people get killed that we enticed into the fight. There is nobody left to train. I would get the Arabs who are threatened by +p879 +aVWell, number one, dead men don't preach anything. If you don't understand we need a ground force to go into Syria, then you're not ready to destroy +p880 +aVYeah. I just don't make this up, Wolf. I talk to people who are combat trained who have won in Iraq who I trust. Here's what I want to tell the Arab world and Turkey. We're not going to send 100,000 troops. You're going to do the fighting this time and we're gonna help you. We paid for the last two wars, you're gonna pay for this one. And, by the way, they get it because +p881 +aVTwo years ago. +p882 +aVYes. +p883 +aVI think we need to have a military strategy regarding Libya. They've just take over Gaddafi's hometown called Sur. There's about 2000 of them. Here's what I've learned in my 36 visits, you can't deter these guys, they're ready to die, bring on the virgins. Dying is first place in their world. What we have to do is work with others over time to destroy to ideology. We have to offer a hopeful life to compete with the glory of this. Most young people folks want the same thing you do. They don't want to live in the 11th century. So yes, you have to destroy the caliphate. I want to work with Arabs and Turkey to do it, but here's the key is to not leave. If we left Germany and Japan only god knows what would've happened. If we have 10000 troops left in Iraq, there would be no +p884 +aVI want to talk to General Keane first. I want to find out, what do we need militarily to keep them contained and eventually destroy them in Libya. They're in nine countries. You want to deal with Libya, go to Iraq and Syria. You want to prevent another 9/11, take the caliphate headquarters away from +p885 +aVNo. What I would do is I would try to make friends throughout the world to destroy a common threat to the world. These people are religious Nazis. Most people in Islam don't buy what they're selling. I've told you a thousand times that I would partner with the Arabs in Turkey. But, the reason they don't partner with Obama is they just don't trust him. Do you think they would trust me? I know them all. I've been working for a decade to figure out how to win this war. To my good friend Ted Cruz, please ask him the following question, you say you would keep Assad in power, I will tell you that is the worst possible thing that could come out of an American leaders mouth. It would be disastrous. His favorite movie is, apparently, Princess Bride. Ted, getting in bed with Iran and Russia to save Assad is inconceivable. +p886 +aVPrincess Buttercup would not like this. +p887 +aV...I didn't get to say yes. Yes. +p888 +aVYeah, this is an important discussion. The American president is the strongest voice in the world \u2014 until Obama came along. Now, we're just one of many. When you ask people to help you, when you entice Syrians to join your cause, to take down the dictator they hate to destroy +p889 +aV...we'd better do something about it, and I have a plan. +p890 +aVI don't think it's necessary. If you don't want to be there, I don't want you to be there. I just retired after 33 years in the Air Force, 140 days on the ground as an Air Force Reservist. To those who are watching, thank you for your service. I've had a small walk in your shoes. We have the best military in the world. Obama has put it in a box. Let's take it out of the box and use it before we get attacked here. We don't need a draft, we need a commander in chief who knows what the hell they're doing. +p891 +aVAnd, I am that guy. +p892 +aVBut, the reason they don't partner with Obama is they just don't trust him. Do you think they would trust me? I know them all. I've been working for a decade to figure out how to win this war. To my good friend Ted Cruz, please ask him the following question, you say you would keep Assad in power, I will tell you that is the worst possible thing that could come out of an American leaders mouth. It would be disastrous. His favorite movie is, apparently, Princess Bride. Ted, getting in bed with Iran and Russia to save Assad is inconceivable. +p893 +aVPrincess Buttercup would not like this. +p894 +aV...I didn't get to say yes. Yes. +p895 +aVYeah, this is an important discussion. The American president is the strongest voice in the world \u2014 until Obama came along. Now, we're just one of many. When you ask people to help you, when you entice Syrians to join your cause, to take down the dictator they hate to destroy +p896 +aV...we'd better do something about it, and I have a plan. +p897 +aVI don't think it's necessary. If you don't want to be there, I don't want you to be there. I just retired after 33 years in the Air Force, 140 days on the ground as an Air Force Reservist. To those who are watching, thank you for your service. I've had a small walk in your shoes. We have the best military in the world. Obama has put it in a box. Let's take it out of the box and use it before we get attacked here. We don't need a draft, we need a commander in chief who knows what the hell they're doing. +p898 +aVAnd, I am that guy. +p899 +aVCan, can I... +p900 +aVThis is important. We're not fighting all the wars with our kids. If you've been to Iraq and Afghanistan and you made any friends, you've lots of bunch. Thousands have died in Iraq and Afghanistan fighting. +p901 +aVDon't belittle their sacrifice. +p902 +aVNo. +p903 +aVTo, to those the (well) times in the Army were a bigger problem than they are today. If you want to fix this, you get the Army to 500,000, not 420,000. You want to win this war, grow the Navy to 350 ships, not 275. Sequestration is Latin for doing really dumb things. We're going to have the smallest Navy since 1915, the smallest Army since 1940. I was yelling and screaming don't do sequestration. I was right. If I am President of the United States, Commander in Chief, we're going to rebuild our military without a draft... +p904 +aV...and we're going to go on the offense and they're ready to go. +p905 +aVThey are ready to go. They just need to be led. +p906 +aVWell I stand unique, having been a military lawyer for 33 years. I've been a defense attorney, a prosecutor, and a military judge. Mr. Trump, you don't have to speak about everything, that's not required. I would make sure that everybody had a fair trial. Does that make sense to you? We're at war folks and this stuff has to stop. It's bad for morale to hear somebody wanting to be Commander in Chief that would deny due process to somebody who's been charged in the military. For God's sakes Mr. Trump, you're asking to be the Commander in Chief , the leader of the free world, up your game. As to women, if you want to kill terrorists, I'm your guy. +p907 +aVWell, the first thing I would do is make adjustments to reality. I want to look and see if this was a terrorist arranged marriage between the couple in California. The fact that they met online accidentally is almost zero. So, no, I would have a time-out on Syrian refugees because you'd be crazy if you didn't after Paris. But, I've been to the refugee camps in Turkey, and Jordan. Trust me with your Christian \u2014 and I'm a lousy Christian saved by grace, but \u2014 this is important. We've got to stop this war. Do you realize that there are more Syrian refugees in Lebanon going to school than Lebanese children? Do you realize if this war goes for another year the King of Jordan could fall? Let's have a no-fly zone. +p908 +aVI would \u2014 make changes to that bill in light of what I know today. +p909 +aVThe next president is going to be a war-time president, whether they like it or not. I'm ready for that job. Two years ago isolationism led by Senator Paul and Cruz was white hot in our party. Now it is in retreat because events have proven me more right than wrong and has proven them to be wrong. In the first debate I called for American troops on the ground to protect our homeland. Nobody came forward. Now, most have. We've spent a lot of carnage to get them to where I have always been. Make me president, I will keep you and your family safe. +p910 +aVWell, number one, thank you for having me here tonight. How about a round of applause for Boulder, Colorado? This is a beautiful place. Looking at their academic standards, the only way I could have gotten into this university is to be invited to this debate tonight. But here's my take on things. Without national security, there is no economic security. Without the sacrifice of the veteran, all of our hopes and dreams are at risk. Just a few days ago, Hillary Clinton said that the problems with the V.A. are being exaggerated by Republicans. They are not, they are real. +p911 +aVWell, let me tell you what is real. The threat to our homeland. I've never seen so many threats to our homeland than I do today. Barack Obama is an incompetent Commander in Chief. There are more terrorist organizations with safe havens to attack the American homeland than anytime since 9/11. We're in the process of reducing our defense spending by half. I am looking at this budget with one view in mind, will it restore the ability to defend this nation. We're on track to have the smallest army since 1940, the smallest navy since 1915, this budget, if it is paid for, will put $40 billion dollars back in the defense department at a time we need it. The number one role of the federal government's to defend this nation, I intend to be a Commander in Chief that can win a war we cannot afford to lose. +p912 +aVHere's the problem. We're being walked all over because our commander in chief is weak in the eyes of our enemies. Do you think Putin would be in the Ukraine today if Ronald Reagan were president? Why are the Chinese stealing our intellectual property, hacking into our system? Why are they building islands over resource-rich waters? Because they can get away with it. At the end of the day, ladies and gentlemen, the foreign policy of Barack Obama needs to be replaced, and the last person you want to find to replace his foreign policy is his secretary of state. So to the Chinese, when it comes to dealing with me, you've got a clenched fist or an open hand. You pick. The party's over, to all the dictators. Make me commander-in-chief and this crap stops. +p913 +aVNo, I \u2014 I think I'm trying to solve problems that somebody had better solve. Now, you don't have to believe that climate change is real. I have been to the Antarctic. I've been to Alaska. I'm not a scientist, and I've got the grades to prove it. But I've talked to the climatologists of the world, and 90 percent of them are telling me that greenhouse gas effect is real. That we're heating up the planet. I just want a solution that would be good for the economy, that doesn't destroy it. I want to fix an immigration system. I'm not gonna tell you, if you like your doctor, you can keep it \u2014 keep him. Do you like your health care, you're gonna keep it. I'm tired of telling people things that they want to hear, that we know we're not gonna do. We're not gonna eliminate the corporate tax. But we can make it lower. We're going to fix immigration, only if we work together. I want to secure the border because, if we don't, we're going to get hurt and hit again. I want to fix a broken visa system. I want to increase legal immigration, because we're gonna have a shortage of workers over time. As to the 11 million, I want to talk about fixing the problem. We're not going to deport 11 million people and their legal citizen children. But we will deport felons. And those who stay will have to learn our language to stay, because I don't speak it well but look how far I've come. +p914 +aVAt the end of the day, folks, I am trying to solve a problem and win an election. I am tired of losing. Good God, look who we're running against. The number one candidate on the other side thought she was flat broke after her and her husband were in the White House for eight years. The number two guy went to the Soviet Union on his honeymoon and I don't think he ever came back. If we don't beat these people, who the hell are we going to beat? +p915 +aVThe first thing... +p916 +aV\u2014 that we have to do is come to grips with the reality that we're facing as Americans. In 1950, there were 16 workers for every Social Security recipient. Today, there's three. In 20 years, there are two. I want to make sure that no American company leaves America because you can't find a worker. American workers always get the first preference. But if you can't find an American worker, after you advertise at a competitive wage, I don't want you to be at a loss. Bring people in based on merit. Let's take a broken immigration... +p917 +aV\u2014 system... +p918 +aV\u2014 and make a merit-based immigration system that will help our economy. We're going to need workers in the future. +p919 +aVLet's just choose rationally. +p920 +aVWe owe to every businessperson and worker in America the best environment in the world to create a job. We owe that to American businesses. Thirty-five percent corporate tax rate is the second highest in the world. We need to lower it so they don't leave. The goal is to help the middle class. We can talk about corporations all day long but my goal is to help the middle class, somebody who makes too much to be on government assistance but still lives paycheck to paycheck. When the kid gets sick you don't go on vacation. +p921 +aVThat's the purpose of my presidency, to grow the economy here. And let me tell you, our Democratic friends have a list a mile long of more government. That's not going to grow the middle class, that's going to create a burden on your children, which they're already overburdened. The best way to grow the middle class is to make it a good place to create a job. You know why Boeing came to South Carolina when they could have gone anywhere to build the 787? Because we wanted them. We had a low-tax structure. +p922 +aVA permitting structure that allowed them to build the building even faster than they thought they could build it. We welcomed them there. I'm going to take the South Carolina attitude \u2014 +p923 +aVI think everybody owes an obligation to the country. The ones that I'm most worried about are the 1 percent of Americans in uniform, who have been fighting this war for 14 years. They need a commander in chief who knows what the hell they're doing. My first job as President of the United States is to rebuild the military and use it smartly. Admiral Mullen said the debt is a big threat to our national security. He's right. But people go where they're welcome when it comes to job creation. If I'm President of the United States you will be welcomed in America. +p924 +aVThis will be the place to come \u2014 +p925 +aVAnd if I'm president of the United States \u2014 +p926 +aV\u2014 our enemies \u2014 +p927 +aVWell, number one, Social Security is not just a concept to me. I know why it exists; 50 percent of today's seniors would be in poverty without a Social Security check. I promise you, if you make me your president, I will save Social Security because I know why it exists. Now, if you're looking for good beer policy, I'm your best bet. My dad owned a bar. I know beer. We grew up, my sister and myself, in the back of that bar in one room with my mom, my dad and my sister who's nine years younger. When I was 21, my mom was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease. Neither parent finished high school. She died within a year. We were wiped out from the medical bills. And if it wasn't for a Social Security survivor benefit check coming into my family, we wouldn't' have made it because my dad died 15 months later. So I... +p928 +aVWait a minute, please. I'm 22 and we're wiped out. I am 60. I'm not married. I have a military retirement. I'm in good shape. I would give up some of my benefits to help those who need it more than I do. To young people here, I will ask you to work a little bit longer because we have to. The purpose of my presidency is to save this country and to save Social Security by working across the aisle just like Ronald Reagan. This is the biggest issue facing this nation. +p929 +aVWell, number one, the only reason I have an iPhone is because I gave my number to Donald Trump. Don't do that. +p930 +aVDonald has done more to upgrade my technology than my whole staff. Number one, Fox News. Sorry about +p931 +aVWell, I think a national holiday would be the day that commander-in-chief Barack Obama doesn't have that job. But unlike these other three, I want to win New Hampshire. Go Tom Brady. Go Patriots. Sorry, Colorado is late in the... +p932 +aVSomebody said \u2014 or maybe I saw it on the bill of a cap \u2014 that let's make America great again. America is great. I intend to make America strong again. I'm going to be the champion of the middle class, where I came from. If you make me your president, our best days are ahead. I'm ready to be commander- in-chief, ladies and gentlemen, on day one. I intend to war \u2014 win a war that we cannot afford to lose. I will be a commander-in-chief worthy of the sacrifice of those brave Americans who have been defending our nation. They have had our back. God knows, they have had our back... +p933 +aV\u2014 and I intend to have their back as commander-in- chief. Make me commander-in-chief. +p934 +aVOne, thanks, CNN, for having people at this debate. I'm Lindsey Graham from South Carolina, in case you can't tell. I want to thank Ms. Reagan (ph) for inviting me. It means the world to me. I'm the only candidate tonight who served in the military while Ronald Reagan was our president and our commander in chief. It was one of the highlights of my life. I'm running for president to destroy radical Islam, to win the war on terror, to protect you and your family. And in that quest, I have an uncompromising determination to win this war, just like President Reagan had an uncompromising determination to destroy the evil empire, and win the Cold War. Above all others on both sides of the isle, I'm most qualified to be commander and chief on day one -- 33 years in the Air Force, 35 trips to Iraq and Afghanistan, I understand this war. I have a plan to win it, and I intend to win it. +p935 +aVWell, all I can say, if you looked at polling in 2012 and 2008 at this level, we'd have -- at this stage, we would have President Perry and President Giuliani. I have a long way to go. And here's what I'm going to try to do tonight -- convince you that I'm best qualified to be the commander-in-chief of the one percent who are doing the fighting for the rest of us. And we'll have a serious discussion tonight. All of us are going to say we want to destroy +p936 +aVWell, what I hope Republican voters, libertarian, vegetarians, Democrats, you name it, will look for somebody to lead us in a new direction, domestically, but particularly on the foreign policy front. President Obama is making a mess of the world. What I'm trying to tell you here tonight, that Syria is hell on Earth and it's not going to get fixed by insulting each other. I've been there 35 times to Iraq and Afghanistan. I am ready to be commander-in-chief on day one. I've been in the military 33 years, 140 days on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan. I am so ready to get on with winning a war that we can't afford to lose. I hope you believe that experience matters. It's an all- volunteer force of -- when you vote for commander-in-chief, they are stuck with your choice. We've had one novice being commander-in- chief. Let's don't replace one novice with another. And if I thought... +p937 +aV-- I could win this war without more American ground forces in Iraq and Syria, I would tell you, but we can't... +p938 +aV-- and if we don't get on with this, they are coming here. +p939 +aVThank you. +p940 +aVProbably for a good reason. +p941 +aVWell, let's talk about immigration. Number one, I like Rick. I don't remember the Santorum plan when I was in the Senate. The peanut gallery on this is interesting. I have been trying to solve this problem for a decade. There are no democrats here tonight. If you're here, raise your hand. You went to the wrong -- we'll, welcome. Thank you very much for coming. +p942 +aVThe bottom line, I'm trying to pitch the problem. We're not going to deport 11 million people here illegally, but we'll start with felons, and off they go. And, as to the rest, you can stay, but you got to learn our language. I don't speak it very well, well, look how far I've come? Speaking English is a good thing. You got to pay taxes, you got to pay a fine, you got to get in the back of the line. You've got to secure your border or they'll keep coming. If you don't control who gets a job that never ends -- so (ph) got two borders. One with Canadia -- Canada, one with Mexico. I never met an illegal Canadian. This is an economic problem, so, folks, let's solve it. Amnesty is doing nothing, and that's what we've been doing. As to birthright citizenship, once we clean up this mess, in the future, prospectively, I'm going to look at the following. There are people buying tourist visas that go to resorts with maternity wards with the expressed purpose of having a children here in America. There are rich Asians, there are rich people up in the Mid-East... +p943 +aV...That to me is bastardizing citizenship... +p944 +aV...Yeah, I'd like to stop that in the future... +p945 +aV...What do you do with the 11 million? +p946 +aV...What are you going to do with the 11 million? +p947 +aV...Well, what about the other half... +p948 +aV...How many democrats support yourplan... +p949 +aV...How many democrats did you have on your bill? +p950 +aV...I can tell you. None. +p951 +aV...That went nowhere. +p952 +aV...George W. Bush... +p953 +aV...Who won with hispanics. +p954 +aV...Compared to what we're doing... +p955 +aV...Hispanics... +p956 +aV...Are Americans... +p957 +aV...In my world, hispanics are Americans... +p958 +aV...I have a little different take on where the country is going on this issue. Number one, in 1950, there were 16 workers for every retiree. How many are there today? There's three. In 20 years, there's going to be two, and you're going to have 80 million baby boomers like me retiree in mass wanting a Social Security check, and their Medicare bills paid. We're going to need more legal immigration. Let's just make it logical. Let's pick people from all over the world on our terms, not just somebody from Mexico. Let's create a rational, legal immigration system because we have a declining workforce. +p959 +aV...Strom Thurmond had four kids after he was 67, if you're not willing to do that, we've got to come up with a new legal immigration system. +p960 +aVYes, number one, how does President Obama sleep at night? Look what you let happen on your watch. Your commanders told you, don't withdrawal from Iraq because we'll lose of our gains. Three years ago your entire national security team, Senator McCain and I begged you to do a no-fly zone and help the Free Syrian Army while it would matter. But you said no. I'm not blaming Bobby, I'm not blaming Rick, I'm not blaming anybody, I'm blaming Barack Obama for this mess. +p961 +aVRight. +p962 +aVI'm saying this, if they don't understand that Barack Obama's policies are not working, that we're not going to destroy +p963 +aV-- does that include American ground forces in Syria as part of a regional army? Are all of you willing to commit to American ground forces going into Syria as part of a regional army to destroy the caliphate and its headquarters? +p964 +aVWell, you know, Kim Davis, I'm not worried about her attacking me. I am worried about radical Islamic terrorists who are already here planning another 9/11. We're at war, folks. I'm not fighting a crime. I want to have a legal system that understands the difference between fighting a war and fighting a crime, and here's the reality. Young men from the Mid- East are different than Kim Davis. And we've got to understand that. +p965 +aVIslamic websites need to be monitored. +p966 +aVAnd if you are on one, I want to know what you're doing. +p967 +aVI wasn't the best law student. By the end of this debate, it would be the most time I've ever spent in any library. But on the first day in law school view (ph), it's called "Marbury v. Madison." The group in our constitutional democracy that interprets "The Constitution" as to what it means is the Supreme Court. In a 5-4 decision by the Supreme Court, they have ruled that same-sex marriage bans at the state level violate the Fourteenth Amendment to "The United States Constitution" equal protection clause. I don't agree with it, but that is the law of the land. But as president, what I want make sure of is that everybody in this room, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, whatever religion that you can practice your faith without government interference, you can marry people consistent with the tenets of your faith. That's the number one obligation of my presidency, is to protect religious people when they exercise their religious rights. But this decision is the law as it is of right now. And here's the one thing I want to tell you, Jake. +p968 +aVWait -- wait a minute. Whether you're the wedding cake baker or the gay couple or the Baptist preacher, radical Islam would kill you all if they could. +p969 +aVLet's don't lose sight of the big picture here. +p970 +aVHe's one of the most qualified men to ever come before the United States Senate and I don't agree with his decision, but 99 times out of 100, I will. To the Republicans, the biggest prize on the table in 2017 is the presidency. If it is Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders, they are going to pick people that we will disagree with all the time. Please understand, we have to win this election. The court's at stake. It is the most important reason for us to turn out, to make sure we don't lose the judiciary for decades to come. +p971 +aVI've been called a lot of things but never elite before. My dad owned a liquor store, a bar and a poolroom. So only in America can you go from the back of a liquor store to being an elite. +p972 +aVI introduced her at a conference about Africa. I thought Secretary Clinton did a good job when it came to dealing with our problems in Africa, particularly among women. George W. Bush set $40 billion aside and Rick Santorum helped him and President Bush wiped out an entire -- wiped out +p973 +aVWell, Ronald Reagan did a couple of really big things that we should all remember. He sat down with Tip O'Neill, the most liberal guy in the entire House. They started drinking together. That's the first thing I'm going to do as president. We're going to drink more. And what did this -- two great Irishmen do? They found a way to save Social Security from bankruptcy by adjusting the age of retirement from 65 to 67. So, yes, I will say nice things at times about Democrats. Yes, I will work them -- work with them. I will put the country ahead of party. Absolutely I want to work with them. At the end of the day, Hugh, I'm lucky to be standing here. I'm the first in my family to ever go to college. Neither one of my parents finished high school. Darline's here with me tonight. We owned a restaurant... +p974 +aVWell, wait a minute. We... +p975 +aVYou asked me a question. This is important. Republicans need to tell the American people we get it as to who you are. When my mom died, I was 21. When my dad died, when I was 22. We were wiped out financially. If it weren't for Social Security survivor benefit check coming into Darline, we wouldn't have made it. I don't need a lecture from Democrats about Social Security. +p976 +aVI want to save it, just like Ronald Reagan did. +p977 +aVIf you want to see manufacturing, come to South Carolina... +p978 +aV...We'll show 'ya. +p979 +aVWell, I know this. That when my mom and dad owned a restaurant, the bar, the pool room, that if you increased the minimum wage it'd been hard to hire more people. Hillary Clinton has a list a mile long to help the middle class. We're talking all around this. The middle class for the last six and a half years has been squeezed, and squeezed hard. To the middle class, I understand who you are. You're one broken down car from not going on vacation. You're from one sick child away from having to change your whole budget. Here's what I want to do as your president. I want to grow this economy. When Boeing came to South Carolina to build a 787, everybody paid more they would have lost their employees to Boeing. If you're a waitress out there wanting more money, I'm not going to increase the minimum wage, I'm going to try to create an environment where somebody else will open up a restaurant across the street to hire you away at a higher rate, or they'll have to pay you more to keep you. You got to borrow money to create jobs in this country. Banking is locked down because of Dodd-Frank. The tax code is a complete mess, but nobody's talked about the elephant in the room, which is debt. Not one more penny to the federal government until w2e come up with a plan to get out of debt. +p980 +aVIt's probably a small bit, but the ones that get it... +p981 +aVYeah, but I... +p982 +aV...Have you ever thought why all of us say that... +p983 +aVIf I believed they were trying to break out and get a bomb, absolutely. And here's the most important thing: they know I would if I had to. And none of us are going to be able to defend this country adequately until we rebuild our military. A weak economy, a military in decline, the world on fire, does that sound familiar to you? Michael, does that sound familiar to you? The first thing I'm going to do as commander in chief on day one is call the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and say, what do you need that you don't have? We're cutting our military; we're on track to have the smallest Army since 1940, the smallest Navy since 1915 and John Kasich says he wants to close more bases. I want to rebuild our military and I want the Iranians to know that, if I had to, I would use it. The worst nightmare in the world is a radical Islamic regime with a weapon of mass destruction. The only reason 3,000 of us died on 9/11 is not 3 million, not 3 million is because they couldn't get the weapons to kill us. They're on track to get a bomb even if they don't cheat. This deal is a nightmare for Israel. They are coming here if we don't watch it terrorism with a nuclear capability sponsored by Iran. So, yes, I would use military force to stop them. I would set this deal aside and I would get you a better deal. If you gave $100 billion, I could get almost anybody out of jail. We couldn't even get our hostages out of jail. +p984 +aVDo you think Putin would be in the Ukraine or Syria today if Ronald Reagan were president? No. This is what happens when you have a weak, unqualified commander- in-chief who doesn't understand the role America plays in the world. Why is it bad for you that Russia's helping Assad? He's the magnet for Sunni extremists. The Syrian people are not going to accept him as their legitimate leader. By Assad being helped by Russia, it means the war never ends. It means the next 9/11, which is most likely to occur from an attack from Syria. It's more likely. At the end of the day, if I'm president of the United States, I've told you what I'm going to do. There's nobody left in Syria to train. We're going to get a regional army who doesn't like +p985 +aV... and if the war in Syria continues, it is coming here. For God's sakes, let's get on with... +p986 +aV... with fixing the problem in Syria. +p987 +aVBobby, you were in the Congress, and all I can tell you, to everybody here, if you want to repeal Obamacare, get a new president. If you want to defund Planned Parenthood, elect a pro-life president, because that's the only way. If we pass the Cardin bill, Graham, Menendez, it would go to the president. He would veto it. 67 votes are required to override the veto. +p988 +aVWait a minute. Now, you asked me a question. So I don't want to take off the table the ability to slow down Obama in his last 13 to 14 months, because I want 60 votes to stop what I think he's going to do between now and January 2017. Five Republicans deflect -- leave -- we're in trouble. So folks, the world really is the way it is. President Obama is president. The goal is to get him out of there and pick somebody who would actually do something to repeal Obamacare, who would get you a better agreement. So Bobby, he would veto the bill, we don't have 67 votes, and you're giving away a defense against Obama for the rest of his presidency. No, I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to tell you things I can't do. I'm not going to tell you by shutting the government down, we're going to defund Obamacare as long as he's president. All that does is hurt us. I am trying to lead this party to winning. +p989 +aVAre you going to shut the government down? +p990 +aVAre you going to shut the government... +p991 +aVCan I just say something? You know, Bobby, we're running to be president of the United States, the most important job in the free world. With it comes a certain amount of honesty. I'm tired of telling people things they want to hear that I know we can't do. He is not going to sign a bill that would defund ObamaCare. If I am president of the United States, I wouldn't put one penny in -- in my budget for Planned Parenthood, not one penny. I'm as offended by these videos as you are. But the one thing I'm not going to do going into 2016 is shut the government down and tank our ability to win. What you're saying and what Senator Cruz is saying, I am really sick of hearing, trying to get the bottom... +p992 +aV-- the Republican Party in a position... +p993 +aV-- to win. That's what I'm trying to do. And that does matter to me ... +p994 +aVIt matters a lot. +p995 +aVWell, number one, I will win a war that we can't afford to lose. I have a plan to destroy radical Islam because it has to be. These are religious Nazis running while President Obama has made one mistake after another and it's caught up with us. What do I have to offer that's different? I get my foreign policy from being in on the ground. I've been to Iraq and Afghanistan in the Middle East 35 times in the last decade, trying to understand how we got in this mess. Our leading candidate gets his foreign policy from watching television. And what I heard last night is the Cartoon Network, oh, I'm big, I'm strong, we're going to hit them in the head. +p996 +aVThat's not foreign policy. That's a cartoon character. John Kasich, a good friend of mine, said in New Hampshire, we're going to close more bases on his watch. On my watch, we're going to open up more bases. The military is in decline, folks. We're going to have the smallest military in modern times, spending half of what we'd normally spend by the end of this decade. +p997 +aVWhat do I offer? What do I offer? To make your families safe and our country strong again, a vision and a determination to win a war that we cannot afford to lose. +p998 +aVYou can trust me to do the following: that when I get on change with Hillary Clinton, we won't be debating about the science, we'll be debating about the solutions. In her world, cap- and-trade would dominate, that we will destroy the economy in the name of helping the environment. In my world, we'll focus on energy independence and a clean environment. When it comes to fossil fuels, we're going to find more here and use less. Over time, we're going to become energy independent. I am tired of sending $300 billion overseas to buy oil from people who hate our guts. The choice between a weak economy and a strong environment is a false choice, that is not the choice I'll offer America. A healthy environment, a strong economy and energy independent America -- that would be the purpose of my presidency, is break the strangle hold that people enjoy on fossil fuels who hate our guts. +p999 +aVIf we don't stop them over there, they are coming here just as sure as I stand here in front of you. One thing I want to be clear about tonight. If you're running for president of the United States and you don't understand that we need more American ground forces in Iraq and that America has to be part of a regional ground force that will go into Syria and destroy +p1000 +aVRight. Mac +p1001 +aVI think America is dying to work, you just need to give them a chance. To all the Americans who want a better life, don't vote for Hillary Clinton. You're not going to get it. She's not going to repeal "Obamacare" and replace it. I will. She's not going to build the Keystone Pipeline. I will. She's not going to change Dodd-Frank. I will. Until you change the policies of Barack Obama, we're never going to grow this economy. Until you change the policies of Barack Obama, we're never going to be safe. She represents a third term of a failed presidency. I'm fluent in Clinton-speak; I've been dealing with this crowd for 20 years. You know, when Bill Clinton says it depends on what the meaning of is is, that means is is whatever Bill wants it to mean. When Hillary Clinton tells you I've given you all the emails you need, that means she hasn't. So to the people who are dying for a better America, you better change course, and she doesn't represent the change that we need. Do we all agree that +p1002 +aVI don't think it's a war on women for all of us as Americans to stand up and stop harvesting organs from little babies. Let's take the money that we would give to Planned Parenthood and put it in women's health care without having to harvest the organs of the unborn. The only way we're going to defund Planned Parenthood is have a pro-life president. You want to see a war on women? Come with me to Iraq and Afghanistan, folks. I've been there 35 times. I will show you what they do to women. These mythical Arab armies that my friends talk about that are going to protect us don't exist. If I am president of the United States, we're going to send soldiers back to Iraq, back to Syria, to keep us from being attacked here and keep soldiers in Afghanistan because we must. I cannot tell you how much our nation is threatened and how we need a commander in chief who understands the threats to this nation. If you're running for president of the United States and you do not understand that we cannot defend this nation without more of our soldiers over there, you are not ready for this job. +p1003 +aVChange the Mexico City policy, not take one dime of taxpayer money to fund abortion organizations overseas, and restore the NSA that's been gutted. We're going dark when it comes to detecting the next attack. We have gutted our ability to detect the next attack. And I would not stand for that as president of the United States. I would take the fight to these guys, whatever it took, as long as it took. +p1004 +aVThank you. First thing I'd tell the American people, whatever it takes to defend our nation, I would do. To the 1 percent who have been fighting this war for over a decade, I'd try my best to be a commander-in-chief worthy of your sacrifice. We're going to lose Social Security and Medicare if Republicans and Democrats do not come together and find a solution like Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neill. I will be the Ronald Reagan if I can find a Tip O'Neill. When I was 21, my mom died. When I was 22, my dad died. We owned a liquor store, restaurant, bar and we lived in the back. Every penny we needed from -- every penny we got from Social Security, because my sister was a minor, we needed. Today, I'm 60, I'm not married, I don't have any kids. I would give up some Social Security to save a system that Americans are going to depend on now and in the future. Half of American seniors would be in poverty without a Social Security check. If you make your president, I'm going to put the country ahead of the party. I'm going to do what it takes to defend this nation. This nation has been great to me, and that's the only way I know to pay you back. Mac +p1005 +aVNot the change we need at a time we need it. +p1006 +aVWe need somebody ready to be commander-in-chief on day one, who understands there are no moderates in Iran, they've been killed a long time ago. That the Ayatollah is a radical jihadist who really means it when he chants, "Death to America, death to Israel." And this deal is giving him a pathway to a bomb, a missile to deliver it, and money to pay for it all. We need a president who can solve our problems, bring us together. We're becoming Greece if we don't work together. At the end of the day, ladies and gentlemen, our best days are ahead of us only if we work together, and I intend to put this country on a path of success by working together and doing the hard things that should have been done a very long time ago. +p1007 +asVREGAN +p1008 +(lp1009 +VIn Tuesday's State of the Union Address, the president said that our economy is strong. He cited the significant decline we've seen in unemployment rate and the millions of jobs that have been created. What is your assessment of the economy right now? And I would like to hear from all of you on this one, beginning with Ms. Fiorina. +p1010 +aVThank you Governor Huckabee. Senator Santorum? +p1011 +aVThank you. Well, since we've been talking about the Middle East, Senator Santorum, conflicts between Saudi Arabia and Iran have certainly escalated, amid accusations that Saudi Arabia bombed the Iranian Embassy in Yemen after the Saudi Embassy in Tehran was attacked. As we confront an increasingly unstable Middle East, how will you, as president, navigate this administration's promises to Iran while standing by our historic allies in the region? +p1012 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p1013 +aVGovernor Huckabee, if I could just follow-up with that. Do we need to be in Afghanistan? +p1014 +aVThank you Governor Huckabee. Ms. Fiorina, nearly 600 women say they were attacked in a German city on New Year's Eve by men of Arab or North African descent and 45 percent of those alleged attacks were sexual assaults. Twenty-two of those 32 men arrested so far are asylum-seekers. Are you worried about similar problems in the United States? +p1015 +aVI want to stay with you on this. The world shares a common enemy right now in the way of +p1016 +aVMs. Fiorina, thank you. +p1017 +aVWelcome back, everyone, to the Republican presidential debate. On to the next round of questions \u2014 Sandra. +p1018 +aVMs. Fiorina, the president has just issued an executive order to expand the gun laws and background checks. And none of you on stage agree with this. But recent polls show the majority of Americans are in favor of universal background checks. +p1019 +aVIt's the poll data. +p1020 +aVSo tell me......why, in your view, is the president's proposal a problem? +p1021 +aVMs. Fiorina, you've said that was when you were CEO of HP, you actually worked with the government. +p1022 +aV\u2014 to try and combat some of these terrorist threats. +p1023 +aVWhat did you do? +p1024 +aVMs. Fiorina, thank you. +p1025 +aVGovernor Huckabee, an American in San Bernardino murdered 14 people while terrorists with Belgian and French passports murdered 130 people. Were facing a threat within our borders, and from outside the United States. Those European terrorists, they could have come here at any time given that we have a visa waiver program that enables people to travel back and forth. It exists within those countries, and 36 others. In countries around the world, including many in Europe, cannot ensure that their citizens are not jihadists, why are we waiving the visa requirement at all? +p1026 +aVIf you get the visa waiver program, does that shut down international commerce? +p1027 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p1028 +aVSenator Santorum, thank you. +p1029 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p1030 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from North Charleston. We want to jump right back in. Sandra is kicking it off. +p1031 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you know it used to be you could graduate from high school and get a pretty good job at the local factory, enough to take care of your family and yourself. Those days seem to be gone. It's pretty hard to do that nowadays. Businesses are increasingly turning to automation to increase their productivity levels. It's happening right here, in fact, at the Boeing factory in North Charleston. The president says automation threatens workers' ability to get higher wages. Do you agree with that? And if so, do you have a solution? +p1032 +aVThank you very much, Governor Huckabee. Senator Santorum, 40% of babies born today are born to single moms. That's twice as high as reported back in 1980, and it's 11 times as high as in 1940. Studies show that children are always better off economically, most often \u2014 and emotionally, with two parents in a household. From a policy perspective, should the government be doing anything to encourage family formation? +p1033 +aVThank you. +p1034 +aVCarly Fiorina? +p1035 +aVThank you to all the candidates. That does it, everyone for the first debate right here in North Charleston. +p1036 +aVGood evening, and welcome to the historic Milwaukee Theater. Tonight, you'll hear from 12 Republican candidates vying to become the next President of the United States. I'm Trish Regan, along with my co-moderators, Sandra Smith, and from the Wall Street Journal, Jerry Seib. +p1037 +aVLet's introduce them. New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie. Former Arkansas Governor, Mike Huckabee. Former Pennsylvania Senator, Rick Santorum. And, Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindal. +p1038 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p1039 +aVAll right, Governor Jindal, you have pushed Louisiana's energy resources as a means to grow jobs in your state. But as oil prices have plunged in recent months, so has jobs growth. Louisiana now has an unemployment rate above the national average. Will your energy-focused jobs plan for the country be subject to the same market ups and downs? +p1040 +aVAll right, Governor Jindal, thank you. Governor Christie, you have said that the Democrats' message is one of, quote, "free stuff." In contrast, Republicans want to reduce spending. How do you win a national election when the Democrats are offering free health care, a free or subsidized college education, and you're the party that is seemingly offering nothing in the way of immediate tangible benefits? +p1041 +aVSenator Santorum, a single mom with no job and two kids in New Hampshire, home of the first in the nation primary, is eligible for more than $30,000 a year in benefits. Even if she could find a job, she would need to find child care. And in many cases may conclude it's better for her to live off government benefits. Senator, how do you help and incentivize her to go to work? And if you're the one that's going to cut her benefits, why should she vote for you? +p1042 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you. All right, we are just getting started. Medicare, Social Security and the future of ObamaCare \u2014 that is all straight ahead, live from Milwaukee and the Republican presidential debate. +p1043 +aVWelcome back to the Milwaukee Theater, and the Republican Presidential Debate. On to the next round of questions, Gerry has the next question. +p1044 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you differ from many of your GOP opponents on the stage tonight over accepting Syrian refugees into this country. You have said, "We don't have an obligation to just open our doors." As the Islamic state continues to expand, slaughtering and crucifying Christians, including women and children, refugees continue to flee their land by the thousands. Should America open its doors to accept any refugees in this country? If so, how many? +p1045 +aVAlright, Governor Huckabee, thank you. +p1046 +aVNext question to you, Governor... +p1047 +aV...Next question to you, Governor... +p1048 +aV...let me get in......Let me get in here, because the next question, it's to you, and it's on Obamacare. It is still unpopular with the American people. You've seen the polls, they've shown nearly half the country still opposes this law. You have been critical of your GOP opponents, some of them standing on the stage tonight, others later. Notably, Ted Cruz, for not having comprehensive plans. You say you do. What specifically makes your plan to replace Obamacare better than the opponents, some of them standing next to you. +p1049 +aVGovernor Jindal, thank you. +p1050 +aVWe'll get to that. +p1051 +aVRonald Reagan did work with Tip O'Neill. Anyway, we are going to take a quick break. Coming up, one of the top issues for voters, how much you're paying in taxes. We are live from Milwaukee with the Republican presidential debate. See you right back here. +p1052 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate. We are live from Milwaukee. A top issue on the campaign trail, taxes and how much you pay. All right, I've got a question for all of you here. When looking at the federal income tax, state income tax and local tax, in some cases, combined, some Americans are paying over 50 percent of their paycheck to the government. What is the highest percentage, all in, in the way of taxes, that any American should have to pay and what is the lowest? I'd like to, again, to hear from each of you. And I want those two all in numbers. I'm going to start with you, Senator Santorum. +p1053 +aVAll in. OK, Governor Christie? +p1054 +aVAnd we'll get back to you. Governor Jindal? +p1055 +aVGovernor Huckabee, Americans, under your plan, would pay a tax on every single thing that they purchase. Given that consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of GDP, some economists worry that your tax plan would actually discourage spending, thereby slowing our economy. How do you respond? +p1056 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p1057 +aVSenator Santorum, you agree with Governor Christie. You also have said that the Fed should be audited. But many worry that given the Congressional challenges that they face, by having Congressional oversight of the Fed, which has been historically an independent body, you would be making the Fed much more political. How would you navigate that risk? +p1058 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee, both Senator Santorum and Governor Christie were boat \u2014 both critical of the Federal Reserve. Also, many have questioned whether Janet Yellen is the right person to be running the Fed. If elected president, would you keep Janet Yellen? +p1059 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee, thank you. All right, Senator Santorum, by the way, today is the 240th... +p1060 +aV\u2014 of the United States... +p1061 +aV\u2014 Marine Corps. Tomorrow is Veterans Day. We honor and recognize all those who have fought for, and served this great nation, Senator. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, meanwhile, which provides patient care, and federal benefits to those veterans, as well as their families, is beset by scandal. What new ideas do you have to fix the broken V.A. healthcare system? +p1062 +asVHEMMER +p1063 +(lp1064 +VSo, here we go. Ninety-seven hours before Iowa chooses, in fact the last two winners in this state are on this stage tonight. Governor Huckabee, in 2008, you won by nine points here, but this time your support seems to be going to Senator Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. Why, Governor, is your message not working this time? +p1065 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Santorum, four short years ago you won Iowa. You beat Mitt Romney, pretty much shocked the country. But, just the other day you talked about what is in the greater good for your campaign. Is Monday night your last stand? +p1066 +aVOK. +p1067 +aV... Senator, do you want to name... ... Senator, do you want to name that entertainer your refering to? +p1068 +aVBut senator, since you mentioned... +p1069 +aVSenator, quickly then, after this debate, you mentioned Donald trump's name. Immediately, you're going to event across town here in Des Moines as a guest of Donald Trump. +p1070 +aVSo are you laying the groundwork for maybe your future? Perhaps an endorsement of Mr. Trump? +p1071 +aVThank you, senator. One moment. We'll get to you in a moment, Governor. We have a few coming up. +p1072 +aVThank you. Governor Gilmore. As of one week ago, you have not held a single campaign event here in the state of Iowa. As of one week ago, in fact, you were the only one in the Republican field who had not made a campaign visit to this state. You know how it works here. You know how it's worked over time. Why should anyone caucus for you on Monday night? +p1073 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p1074 +aVMs. Fiorina, same topic. The president says that many are exaggerating the threat from +p1075 +aVThank you. +p1076 +aVGovernor Gilmore, some time this spring 34 more detainees are cleared from release from Gitmo. If you were president, as you say, this president wants to close it. As president, if Gitmo were closed and an enemy combatant were found or captured in the field of battle, perhaps Syria or Iraq or Libya, and you don't have Gitmo, where would you put them? +p1077 +aVGovernor, thank you for that. +p1078 +aVWelcome back to Des Moines on what will be a long night here. Let's get back to the questions. Let's get back to the questions with Martha. +p1079 +aVLet me stay with you, Ms. Fiorina. You've said you will shrink the federal government by 30 percent over the next two years, and those jobs will not be filled, and you'll do it through retirement. Your critics would argue that's exactly what you did at Hewlett Packard when 30,000 people lost their jobs. If it did not work at H.P., why would it work at the federal government? +p1080 +aVThank you. +p1081 +aVGovernor Huckabee, Nikki Haley, Republican governor from South Carolina, recently said... +p1082 +aVI did not, but we... +p1083 +aVWe have plenty for you -- you bet, Governor. We have a couple more in the hopper for you in a moment here. +p1084 +aVFirst, Governor -- Governor Huckabee, Nikki Haley warned about listening to "the siren call of the angriest voices," to which Donald Trump said he is "very, very angry." Who is right, Governor? +p1085 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1086 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you've mentioned the economy several times tonight. Let's go back to that for a moment because in America today 50% of the American workers are making less than $30,000 dollars a year. Let's talk about what you could do for them. The Conservative Club for Growth has had an issue with your policy on taxes for years. In fact, it called you, "Tax Hike Mike". And, the record shows state spending in Arkansas increased 54% when you were in charge, 94% if you include federal dollars during that same period. When it comes to helping people at the margins, $30,000, $32,000 dollars a year, what's better? A tax and spend approach, or shrinking government? +p1087 +aVGovernor Huckabee, thank you. Same issue, Senator Santorum. The President says criticism of his economic policy is political hot air. You consistently talk about manufacturing jobs leaving America. You support a flat tax of 20%. How would a flat tax bring back two million jobs to America? +p1088 +aVSenator, thank you. +p1089 +aVThank you Ms. Fiorina. Governor Gilmore. Who are the moderate Muslims do you seek advice and counsel from on how to deal with the threat from radical Islamic terrorism? +p1090 +aVThank you governor. Governor Huckabee. Here in Iowa 43 percent of Democratic caucus goers describe themselves as socialist. That's a higher number than those who say they are capitalist. I guess you could say, they're feeling the burn. This is a country rooted in capitalism, the United States of America. How did we get here? +p1091 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum, the president says politics in America have become meaner over the past several years with him in the White House. Two weeks ago at the State of the Union he said the following. "A president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide." Lincoln and Roosevelt, that's pretty good company. If he is right, do Republicans share some of the blame? +p1092 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1093 +aVIn the closing few moments, the candidates have an opportunity to make a closing statement, 30 seconds for each. And, we want to start tonight with the former Virginia Governor, Jim Gilmore. +p1094 +aV... Thank you, Governor. +p1095 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p1096 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1097 +aVThat concludes our debate tonight, but the night has just begun. +p1098 +aVThis is first official event in the campaign for the Republican nomination for president. Welcome to Cleveland Ohio. It is debate night. I'm Bill Hemmer. Mac +p1099 +aVSo you will hear from all 17 candidates tonight, and you'll meet seven of them right now, starting with three-time governor in the state of Texas, Rick Perry. Mac +p1100 +aVTwo-time. Two-time governor of the State of Louisiana, Acting Governor Bobby Jindal. So you will hear from all 17 candidates tonight, and you'll meet seven of them right now, starting with three-time governor in the state of Texas, Rick Perry. Mac +p1101 +aVTwo-time. Two-time governor of the State of Louisiana, Acting Governor Bobby Jindal. Mac +p1102 +aVThe senior senator from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham. Mac +p1103 +aVAnd former Virginia governor, Jim Gilmore. Mac +p1104 +aVGentle. Mac +p1105 +aVWait til you hear what the others are going to get later, huh? Mac +p1106 +aVOne year from now, a Republican nominee will be standing on this stage in this very same arena. That person is in Cleveland today. So let's get started. First topic, electability. First question to Governor Perry from Texas. Welcome, Governor. +p1107 +aVYou were in charge of the 12th largest economy in the world, and you recently said that four years ago, you weren't ready for this job. Why should someone vote for you now? +p1108 +aVThank you, Governor. Mac +p1109 +aVSenator Santorum, you won the Iowa caucus four years ago and 10 other states. But you failed to beat Mitt Romney for the nomination. And no one here tonight is going to question your conviction or your love for country. But has your moment passed, Senator? +p1110 +aVThank you, Senator. Mac +p1111 +aVSenator Lindsey Graham, you worked with Democrats and President Obama when it came to climate change, something you know is extremely unpopular with conservative Republicans. How can they trust you based on that record? +p1112 +aVThank you, Senator. Mac +p1113 +aVThank you, Governor. Mac +p1114 +aVThis Saturday, August 8th, two days from now marks one year since the strikes began against +p1115 +aVAnd the senator to your right has called for 20,000 American troops in Syria and Iraq so far today, Senator Graham, and I'll give this question to you. Why should the American people after two wars in Iraq sacrifice yet again on a third war? +p1116 +aVSenator, thank you. Mac +p1117 +aVIt is debate night, and welcome back to Cleveland, Ohio. Let's get back to the questions right now with Martha. Mac +p1118 +aVExcuse me, Martha. I have not heard the bell just yet, so you're all very well behaved so far. Governor Gilmore, 30 seconds. +p1119 +aVThank you, Governor. I've got to move on to immigration here. Senator Santorum, you would argue you have one of the tougher positions on illegal immigration in the entire 17 candidate field at the moment. We often talk about this issue on the abstract level in Washington, D.C., but you know how it's being talked about in states like Iowa and New Hampshire among illegals in our country today -- 11 million plus. And some are asking, what would you say to a child, born and raised in America, who could see their family broken apart by your policy? +p1120 +aVGovernor Perry, try and answer this question again. What do you say to the family of illegals? Are you going to break them apart? +p1121 +aVGovernor, thank you. Mac +p1122 +aVAnd so right now, we're 30 minutes in. Going to jump back into the topics and continue our discussion of national issues on the domestic level. The issue that is really number one on the minds of many voters, that's the economy and jobs. Mac +p1123 +aVThank you, Governor. Your last topic brings us to the state of Ohio. You know, the saying, right? No Republican wins the White House unless you win here in the Buckeye state. Well, here in the Buckeye state, the Governor John Kasich took the federal money for Medicaid expansion under Obamacare. And Governor Jindal of Louisiana, you passed on those tax dollars. Why do you think Governor Kasich got it wrong here? +p1124 +aVSo Governor Kasich was wrong, just to be clear. +p1125 +aVI didn't hear an answer regarding Governor Kasich, but for now I'll go to Governor Pataki. Yes or no? +p1126 +aVGovernor Pataki, three term governor of New York. Is he right, Governor Jindal from Louisiana? +p1127 +aVYes or no, would you have expanded Obamacare in the state of New York, had you been governor at that time? +p1128 +aVOK. +p1129 +aVThank you, Governor Pataki. In a moment here, we'll talk to the candidates about an issue today on Planned Parenthood, and also the U.S. Supreme Court. That's all next here in Cleveland. +p1130 +aVWelcome back to Cleveland, Ohio. Want to get back to the questions and the issues in this debate now, with my co-anchor, Martha. Mac +p1131 +aVNext question on the U.S. Supreme Court. It's been 42 years, Senator Santorum, since Roe v. Wade, and many consider, in this country, to be a case of settled law. Recently the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on same-sex marriage. Is that now settled law in America today? +p1132 +aVAlright, Senator, thank you. To Governor Gilmore. For years, presidential candidates have not said they would have a litmus test for justices nominated to the Supreme Court. Recently, Hillary Clinton broke that precedent. She said she would apply that on the case of Citizens United, which deals with campaign finance laws in America today. Is it time for conservatives to impose a litmus test on abortion? +p1133 +aVSo, no litmus test? +p1134 +aVThank you, governor. Mac +p1135 +aVAs the first debate of the nomination season continues, welcome back to Cleveland. Let's get back to the questions right now, and the issues here in the U.S. Martha? Mac +p1136 +aVThank you, Senator. Executive power. It appears that you all have a little bit of an issue with it at the moment. I want to move through this as quickly as I can, from stage left to stage right. On the second day of his presidency, January 22nd 2009, President Obama signed one of his first executive orders. That was close Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Still open today. What would be your first executive order? Governor Gilmore, start. +p1137 +aVSenator Graham. +p1138 +aVGovernor Jindal, your first executive order would be in the White House would be what? +p1139 +aVGovernor Perry. +p1140 +aVThat will be a long day. +p1141 +aVSenator Santorum? +p1142 +aVFirst order, Carly Fiorina? +p1143 +aVGovernor Pataki? +p1144 +aVThank you all. Mac +p1145 +aVThank you, senator. Mac +p1146 +aVThank you, Senator. I need a two-word answer to the following query. In 2008, then-Senator Barack Obama described Hillary Clinton as, quote, "likable enough," end quote. What two words would you use to describe the Democratic frontrunner? Governor Pataki to start. +p1147 +aVWow. Carly Fiorina. +p1148 +aVGovernor Jindal? +p1149 +aVGovernor? +p1150 +aVNot a lot of compliments. To be continued. Mac +p1151 +aVThank you Governor. Senator Santorum? +p1152 +aVAll right. Senator thank you. Mac +p1153 +aVCarly Fiorina, closing statement. +p1154 +aVThank you. Mac +p1155 +aVAnd to Governor Pataki, closing statement now. +p1156 +aVThank you, Governor. Mac +p1157 +aVThat concludes the first debate of the 2016 Republican primary. We would like to thank all seven of you for being here today. +p1158 +asVUNIDENTIFIED +p1159 +(lp1160 +VWhy don't, why don't we... +p1161 +asVBAIER +p1162 +(lp1163 +VLess than a year from now, in this very arena, one of these 10 candidates or one of the seven on the previous debate tonight will accept the Republican party's nomination. Tonight's candidates were selected based on an average of five national polls. Just a few hours ago, you heard from the candidates ranked 11th through 17. And now, the prime-time event, the top 10. +p1164 +aVNeurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Florida Senator Marco Rubio. +p1165 +aVIt might be. It might be. We'll see. [ +p1166 +aVIt might be. The rules for tonight are simple. One minute for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups. And if a candidate runs over, you'll hear this. Pleasant, no? We also have a big crowd here with us tonight in the home of the Cavaliers, as I mentioned. And while we expect them... ... we expect them to be enthusiastic, as you heard, we don't want to take anything away from the valuable time for the candidate. So, we're looking for somewhere between a reaction to a LeBron James dunk and the Cleveland Public Library across the street. Somewhere there, we'll find a balance tonight. Without further ado, let's begin. +p1167 +aVGentlemen, we know how much you love hand-raising questions. So we promise, this is the only one tonight: the only one. Is there anyone on stage, and can I see hands, who is unwilling tonight to pledge your support to the eventual nominee of the Republican party and pledge to not run an independent campaign against that person. Again, we're looking for you to raise your hand now -- raise your hand now if you won't make that pledge tonight. Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump to be clear, you're standing on a Republican primary debate stage. +p1168 +aVThe place where the RNC will give the nominee the nod. +p1169 +aVAnd that experts say an independent run would almost certainly hand the race over to Democrats and likely another Clinton. You can't say tonight that you can make that pledge? +p1170 +aVSo tonight, you can't say if another one of these... +p1171 +aVOK. +p1172 +aVDr. Paul. +p1173 +aVOK. +p1174 +aVJust to be clear, you can't make a -- we're gonna -- we're going to move on. You're not gonna make the pledge tonight? +p1175 +aVOK. Alright. +p1176 +aVGovernor Bush, you have insisted that you're your own man. You say you have a life experience uniquely your own. Not your father's, not your brother's. But there are several opponents on this stage who get big- applause lines in early voting states with this line: quote, "the last thing the country needs is another Bush in the Oval Office." So do you understand the real concern in this country about dynastic politics? +p1177 +aVGovernor Christie, you're not exactly the darling of conservatives. You tout your record as a Republican governor in a blue state. On Facebook, the most people talking about you, not surprisingly, come from your state of New Jersey, and one of the top issues they are talking about is the economy. This -- this may be why. Under your watch, New Jersey has undergone nine credit rating downgrades. The state's 44th in private sector growth. You face an employee pension crisis and the Garden State has the third highest foreclosure rate in the country. So why should voters believe that your management of the country's finances would be any different? +p1178 +aVSenator Paul, you recently blamed the rise of +p1179 +aVGentlemen, the next series of questions deals with ObamaCare and the role of the federal government. Mr. Trump, ObamaCare is one of the things you call a disaster. +p1180 +aVSaying it needs to be repealed and replaced. +p1181 +aVNow, 15 years ago, you called yourself a liberal on health care. You were for a single-payer system, a Canadian-style system. Why were you for that then and why aren't you for it now? +p1182 +aVBut on ObamaCare... +p1183 +aVMr. Trump, hold up one second. +p1184 +aVAll right, now, hold on, Senator Paul... +p1185 +aVOK. +p1186 +aVAll right, let me... Mr. Trump, it's not just your past support for single- payer health care. You've also supported a host of other liberal policies. Use -- you've also donated to several Democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton included, Nancy Pelosi. You explained away those donations saying you did that to get business-related favors. And you said recently, quote, "When you give, they do whatever the hell you want them to do." +p1187 +aVSo what specifically did... +p1188 +aV-- they do? +p1189 +aVHold on. We're going to -- we're going to move on. We'll come back to you, Governor Walker. +p1190 +aVWe have many questions to come. +p1191 +aVMany questions to come. Governor Huckabee, on Facebook, John Pietricone asked this, "Will you abolish or take away the powers and cut the size of the EPA, the IRS, the Department of Education?" Now, broadly... ...broadly, the size of government is a big concern for Facebook users, Facebook persons, as well as, obviously, conservatives. But year after year, decade after decade, there are promises from Republicans to shrink government. But year after year, decade after decade, it doesn't happen. In fact, it gets bigger, even under Republican politicians. So the question is, at this point, is the government simply too big for any one person, even a Republican, to shrink? +p1192 +aVDr. Carson... +p1193 +aVDr. Carson, do you agree with that? +p1194 +aVGovernor Bush? +p1195 +aVWe're going to come back to you, Dr. Carson. Governor Bush, you are one of the few people on the stage who advocates for Common Core education standards, reading and math. A lot of people on this stage vigorously oppose a federal involvement in education. They say it should all be handled locally. President Obama's secretary of education, Arnie Duncan, has said that most of the criticism of Common Core is due to a, quote, "fringe group of critics." Do you think that's accurate? +p1196 +aVSenator Rubio, why is Governor Bush wrong on Common Core? +p1197 +aVAnd do you agree with your old friend? +p1198 +aVWe have many more questions coming on a host of topics, here from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Stay with us. +p1199 +aVWe have many more questions coming on a host of topics. Here from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Stay with us. +p1200 +aVGentlemen, another question for a few of you. Yesterday, just yesterday, President Obama criticized Republican lawmakers trying to block the Iran deal, calling them knee-jerk partisans, adding that hardliners in Iran who chant "death to America" were, quote, "making common cause with the Republican caucus." Here's what two of your opponents on the 5 p.m. debate stage said about Iran. +p1201 +aVNow, I wanna ask a few of you this. First, Governor Walker. You've said that you would tear up the Iran deal on day one. If this deal is undone, what then? +p1202 +aVSenator Paul, would you tear up the deal on day one? +p1203 +aVGovernor Huckabee, what do you think about what Senator Paul just said? +p1204 +aVThank you, gentlemen. +p1205 +aVWelcome back to Cleveland. Our next topic is foreign policy. Candidates, you may not have seen the late developing news today our Fox Pentagon team broke earlier this evening about a top Iranian general traveling to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. His name is General Qassem Soleimani, he's blamed for hundreds of U.S. troop's deaths in Iraq, and Afghanistan. His trip to Russia appears to directly violate U.N. Security Council resolutions to confine him to Iran. So, Mr. Trump, if you were president, how would you respond to this? +p1206 +aVAnother new development today, Senior Defense officials tell Fox they strongly suspect Russia was behind the cyber attack on the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs office... +p1207 +aV...email. This comes in the wake of the Director of National Intelligence blaming the Chinese for the largest ever cyber attack, stealing personal data of tens of millions of Americans. Senator Cruz, in your view, have Russia and China committed acts of cyber war, and if you were president, what would you do about it? +p1208 +aVDr. Carson, in August of 2012 President Obama famously declared Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons, quote, "that's a redline for us," and that there would be enormous consequences. One year later, with overwhelming evidence the Assad had, in fact, used chemical weapons and crossed that red line, President Obama declined to use military force against the Assad regime. As president, would you have used military force there? +p1209 +aVGovernor Walker, as president, what would you do if Russian President Vladimir Putin started a campaign to destabilize +p1210 +aVGovernor -- Governor Huckabee, the culture of the American military is definitely changing. Women are moving into combat roles. Don't Ask, Don't Tell has obviously been dropped. And now Defense Secretary Ashton Carter recently directed the military to prepare for a moment when it is welcoming transgender persons to serve openly. As commander in chief, how would you handle that? +p1211 +aVSenator Paul, the first budget you proposed as senator cut all financial aid to Israel. You have since changed your view on that issue. What made you change your mind. +p1212 +aVOK. But you still say that Israel could be one of the countries that is cut from financial aid? +p1213 +aVGovernor Christie, what do you think of that answer? +p1214 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p1215 +aVSenator, we're going to finish up with some more questions, thank you. +p1216 +aVNow each candidate will make a closing statement. You'll all have 30 seconds to make a closing statement for this debate. We'll start with Ohio Governor John Kasich. +p1217 +aVSenator Marco Rubio. +p1218 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1219 +aVGovernor Mike Huckabee, closing statement. +p1220 +aVMr. Trump, closing statement, sir. +p1221 +aVGentlemen, thank you. +p1222 +aVThat's it. +p1223 +aVNine p.m. on the East Coast. Eight o'clock here in Des Moines, Iowa. Welcome to the seventh Republican presidential debate of the 2016 campaign. I'm Bret Baier, along with my comoderators Megyn Kelly and Chris Wallace. +p1224 +aVGoogle sees political searches spike during televised presidential debates \u2014 no surprise there. But they spike by more than 440 percent on average, as voters across America seek to learn more about what's happening on the live debate stage. +p1225 +aVOhio Governor John Kasich. And Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. +p1226 +aVTonight's rules are simple. Up to 60 seconds for each answer, 30 seconds for each follow-up response. And if a candidate goes over the allotted time, you will hear this. Double. +p1227 +aVI think the double is the one we want. Very pleasing. We have a crowd of about 1,600 here, and while they have agreed to respect the candidates and listen intently, we can tell you they are very excited to be here. Am I right? +p1228 +aVGovernor Bush, it's hard for anyone of your pedigree to avoid being called establishment. But isn't that part of the problem in this race, that three others on this stage are splitting the main stream Republican vote and there by possibly handing this nomination over to an anti-establishment candidate? +p1229 +aVThank you governor. +p1230 +aVSenator Paul, you are definitely not in the establishment category. But at the beginning of this campaign, you said you were your own man when asked about your father, former Texas Congressman and three-time presidential candidate Ron Paul. Senator Cruz's campaign is out with a video saying that Cruz is the intellectual and political heir to your father's 2012 campaign and the liberty movement. And your father now says it's realistic that Donald Trump will be your party's nominee. So did you make a mistake by not fully \u2014 more fully embracing your father politically at the beginning of this campaign? +p1231 +aVSenator Cruz, your response to that? +p1232 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1233 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1234 +aVWe'll come back to... +p1235 +aVOK. Go ahead, go ahead. +p1236 +aVWelcome back. Let's get right back to the questions. Chris. +p1237 +aVGovernor Bush, just today, a wounded warrior organization designed to help wounded veterans and their families is coming under fire for raising tens of millions of dollars, but spending almost half of that on travel and hotels and dinners and luxury, lavish conferences. So taking care of veterans is obviously a huge issue in the country that has asked so many to serve and sacrifice so much. If you were president. would you police these charity organizations that say they're helping vets? +p1238 +aVGovernor Bush, thank you. Speaking of veterans, we have a question from a veteran who is one of the top Youtube creators. Over the course of the evening, gentlemen, we will hear from some of Youtube's most followed stars. And here's one of them. +p1239 +aVSenator Paul, that question to you. +p1240 +aVSenator Paul, thank you. +p1241 +aVThank you, Megyn. Gentlemen, I'll ask you some questions about federal spending and the role of the federal government. Everybody always said they want to cut federal spending and usually they start by saying they'll cut waste, fraud, and abuse, but that really doesn't ever materialize. We all know that. Governor Christie, you talk a lot about entitlement reform and you say that that's where the federal government can get savings needed to balance the budget. But can you name even one thing that the federal government does now that it should not do at all? +p1242 +aVI want one. Yes. +p1243 +aVAnything bigger than that? +p1244 +aVAnd, Governor, I realize everyone on this stage opposes Obamacare and you're not alone. Google Data shows that in the last month when people searched "policy repeals," that there were a lot of them. Obamacare took the top two spots. But today there are millions of people who gained health insurance from Obamacare and they now rely on it. So the question, Senator Cruz, if you repeal Obamacare, as you say you will, will you be fine if millions of those people don't have health insurance? And what is your specific plan for covering the uninsured? +p1245 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. Governor Bush, you've advocated for statehood for Puerto Rico. The Puerto Rican economy is collapsing under unsustainable debt burden. Only about 1 million of its 4 million residents are currently employed. So should American citizens who you say are already overtaxed, bail out Puerto Rico as well? +p1246 +aVGovernor Kasich, you're one of two remaining sitting governors still in the race. Your colleague, Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan is under fire \u2014 he and his administration \u2014 for the Flint, Michigan water crisis and the botched response to it. How would you have handled that? +p1247 +aVSenator Rubio, on the issue of climate change, in 2008, you wanted Florida to get ahead of other states and establish a cap- and-trade system, a program for carbon emissions, which many Republicans thought at the time would hurt the Florida economy. Now, you're a skeptic of climate change science. And in fact, you warn that federal efforts to fight climate change will cost U.S. jobs and hurt the U.S. economy. So why the change? +p1248 +aVThanks, Senator. +p1249 +aVThank you. +p1250 +aVSenator Rubio, first before I ask you a question, any response to Governor Bush? +p1251 +aVNow let's talk about electability, Senator. +p1252 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1253 +aVMuch more to come, including where the candidates stand on foreign policy. And, once again, you can go to Google.com, or open your Google search app and search, "Fox News Debate" to vote on which candidate you think is winning the debate tonight. We'll be right back. +p1254 +aVGentlemen. I'd like to ask you a few questions about foreign policy broadly. Dr. Carson, many experts believe Russian leader Vladimir Putin has greater ideas, bigger designs for the region beyond Russia's actions inside Ukraine. Fast forward to February 2017 and it is President Carson, and Russian uniformed commandos cross the Estonian border and they occupy a city in Estonia. Estonia, a member of +p1255 +aVGentlemen, you've all said that the Iran nuclear deal is a bad one. Senator Rubio, you were among the candidates who've said you would tear it up on day one. But as you know, Iran has already received tens of millions of dollars \u2014 tens of billions of dollars in this deal and has quickly reestablished ties economically with Europe. The major concessions, in other words, are up front in this deal. So should you win by the time you take office, the remaining parts of the deal would be the constraints on Iran. So why blow up those constraints on day one, letting Iran off the hook? +p1256 +aVGovernor Kasich, you've said that Marco Rubio is wrong... ... that Senator Rubio is wrong with tearing it up on day one. +p1257 +aVBut Governor Kasich, you know that the most powerful sanctions are the multilateral ones. +p1258 +aVAnd these European countries are already reestablishing these ties. +p1259 +aVThey don't want... +p1260 +aVGovernor, thank you. Governor Christie... ... Libya is the newest base for +p1261 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1262 +aVWelcome back to Des Moines. Let's resume the debate. Megyn? +p1263 +aVComing up, closing statements from the candidates as our debate continues, live, from Des Moines, Iowa. +p1264 +aVNew Jersey governor, Chris Christie. +p1265 +aVThank you governor. +p1266 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. +p1267 +aVThank you senator. +p1268 +aVAnd we have you covered from Iowa, all the way to the conventions and on to the general election. Thanks again for joining us. For all of us here in Des Moines, have a great evening. +p1269 +asVMADDOW +p1270 +(lp1271 +VWe are super excited to be here at the University of New Hampshire. Tonight, this is the first time that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have squared off exactly like this. Face-to-face, just one-on-one, just the two of them. +p1272 +aVAnd we do hope that the candidates will take this opportunity to show us the distinctions\u2014show us the differences between them. That's the whole reason that we're here tonight. We're not here for talking points. We're to learn about the difference between the candidates. And with that, let's get going. Please join us in welcoming Secretary Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders. +p1273 +aVAnd with that, that's it. We're going to begin with 60- second opening statements from each of the candidates. And as agreed to in advance by the two campaigns, we're going to begin tonight with Senator Sanders. +p1274 +aVSecretary Clinton, Senator Sanders is campaigning against you now, at this point in the campaign, basically arguing that you are not progressive enough to be the Democratic nominee. He has said that if you voted for the Iraq war, if you are in favor of the death penalty, if you wobbled on things like the Keystone Pipeline or TPP, if you said single payer health care could never happen, then you're too far to the right of the Democratic Party to be the party's standard bearer. Given those policy positions, why should liberal Democrats support you and not Senator Sanders? +p1275 +aVSenator Sanders, have you established a list of what it means to be a progressive that is unrealistic? +p1276 +aVThank you Senator. +p1277 +aVSenator Sanders, as a Vermonter, you have almost a home state advantage here in New Hampshire. But back home across the border, you also have a long history of running against Democrats as a third-party candidate, for governor, Senate, for Congress. In 1988 your candidacy as a third-party candidate arguably cost the Democrats a congressional seat and sent a Republican instead. How can you lead the Democratic Party nationally when you have not been a member of the Democratic Party until very recently? +p1278 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p1279 +aVSo, Senator, to that point, Secretary Clinton is raising the issue of endorsements by your home state Democrats. She's implying that that says something about the people who know you best. +p1280 +aVHow do you see it? +p1281 +aVSecretary. +p1282 +aVSenator Sanders, you'll have 30 seconds to respond to that. +p1283 +aVSenator Sanders, Secretary Clinton, obviously we've touched a nerve. We're going to be back with more on this subject, and much more, right after this. Stay with us. +p1284 +aVSecretary Clinton, on the issue of Wall Street... +p1285 +aV... on the issue of Wall Street, when our reporters go out and talk to people on the ground in the early states, what they tell us over and over again when they find voters who are leaning toward Senator Sanders rather than yourself is that the most frequent area of concern that they hear from those voters is the issue of Wall Street and whether or not you are too close to Wall Street. Last night, when you were asked about speaking fees and the amount of speaking fees you got from Goldman Sachs speeches, you said that's what they offered. Have you been too dismissive of voters' concerns about this issue in your own campaign and your own career? +p1286 +aVSenator Sanders, you have been a critic of Secretary Clinton taking those speaking fees and having donations from Wall Street. What about her defense of her record? +p1287 +aVSenator Sanders, let me turn to, I think, where this direction is heading anyway, which is the broader issue of big business and power in our political system. You on the campaign trail have railed against big name American corporations like Boeing, and General Electric, and Wal Mart. But, some big businesses in this country have also been part of advancing progressive goals like that nationwide initiative to expand employment opportunities for veterans. That was all about cooperation between the Obama administration and some very big business. The Affordable Care Act, some of the thorniest problems in that bill were worked out in cooperation with big business in order to accomplish progressive goals. Could you work with them, or have you made enemies of big business in this country with the way you've approached them in this campaign? +p1288 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. And with that, we're going to take a break. +p1289 +aVWelcome back\u2014welcome back to the Democratic candidates' debate. We're going to be talking about America in the world, both in terms of some trade issues, but also national security. And Secretary Clinton, we're going to start with you. There are more than 4,000 American troops back in Iraq right now as part of the fight against +p1290 +aVTo be clear, to the specific question, if that strategic goal that you're describing requires considerably more of Americans\u2014an ever-increasing number of Americans in Iraq and maybe in Syria, are you OK with the numbers increasing? +p1291 +aVThank you, Madam Secretary. +p1292 +aVSecretary Clinton, at the\u2014at the last Democratic debate in Charleston\u2014I want to get specific here\u2014Senator Sanders called for moving as aggressively as we can to normalize relations with Iran. Your campaign has criticized him for saying that. Now that he's standing next to you here on this stage, can you explain why the U.S. shouldn't try to normalize relations in Iran in your view? +p1293 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to ask you about a national security issue that is closer to home. There are thousands of veterans, over 100,000 veterans living in the state of New Hampshire. If either one of you is nominated as the Democratic Party's nominee, you will likely face a Republican opponent in the general election who wants to privatize or even abolish big parts of the V.A. It's a newly popular idea in conservative politics. How will you win the argument on that issue given the problems that have been exposed at the V.A. in the last few years? What's your argument that the V.A. should still exist and should not be privatized? +p1294 +aVSenator Sanders, you, as a congressional leader on veterans issues and the Veterans Committee, you've worked in a very bipartisan way with Senator John McCain and others on veterans issues. Is the right contour of the fight, the way she's talking about this issue? +p1295 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Sanders, Secretary Clinton, we're going to take another break. We'll be talking about Social Security and some of those other issues when we come back. +p1296 +aVSenator\u2014Senator Sanders, in 1964... +p1297 +aVIn 1964, I heard that the Republicans nominated Barry Goldwater, who was the hero of the conservative movement. He was, however, far to the right of most of that party. In 1972, the Democrats nominated George McGovern, who was a hero of liberals in the antiwar movement, but he was to the left of his party's mainstream. Both of those nominees made activists very excited, and they both got destroyed in the general election. Even Democrats who love you worry about your fate in a general election. And I know you have good head-to-head polling numbers against Republican frontrunners right now. We know that. But do you have a general election strategy that is different than the way you're running right now to try to get the nomination? +p1298 +aVSecretary Clinton, your campaign surrogates, and people who have endorsed you, have suggested that or even said that if Senator Sanders is the nominee, that Democrats will suffer nationwide and the chances will go down of Democrats holding onto the White House. With him here standing next to you, can you tell us whether or not you believe he would win the general election if he were nominated? +p1299 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. Senator, in December, one of your campaign staffers was fired from your campaign for taking voter data essentially from the Clinton campaign. You apologized for that when the incident was made public. Your campaign has now been criticized for its operatives essentially impersonating culinary union members wearing union pins in Nevada, and the Nashua Telegraph has complained recently that you falsely implied in an advertisement that they had endorsed you when they did not. None of these issues obviously is the end of the world, but they all are of a piece. Are you in some sense losing control of your campaign? +p1300 +aVJust to follow up on that, the title of the ad in question was Endorsement. +p1301 +aVSecretary Clinton, do you want 30 seconds on that issue? +p1302 +aVAnd with that, we will . +p1303 +aVWelcome back to the University of New Hampshire, and the Democratic candidates' debate. Secretary Clinton, on the issue of the death penalty, here in New Hampshire, the one person who is on death row is there for killing a police officer. It's a crime that has caused anguish in this state, both among death penalty opponents and death penalty supporters. The last time I had the chance to talk with you on this issue, on the death penalty, you said that capital punishment has a place in a very few federal cases, but you also said you would breathe a sigh of relief if the Supreme Court abolished the death penalty nationwide. Tonight, do you still support capital punishment, even if you do so reluctantly? +p1304 +aVSenator Sanders, you have singled out the death penalty, and Senator Clinton's support for the death penalty, as an issue that makes it hard to consider as progressive in your mind... +p1305 +aVAnother issue related to the proper role of government, and in this case, specifically the role of government between the federal government and the states. I want to talk for a moment about the issue of Flint, Michigan. On the Flint lead poisoning disaster, you have both been highly critical of Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan, and how the state in Michigan both caused the lead poisoning problem, and has not acted fast enough to fix it. You have both been outspoken on that. The fact is that Michigan though has not fixed it. There is no door to door delivery of clean water in Flint even today. Not a single lead pipe has been replaced in Flint, even today. If the state is failing, would you, Secretary Clinton, would you as President order a federal response to get it right over and above the wishes of the state? +p1306 +aVSenator Sanders are there things the President could be doing? President Obama could be ordering, done, right now, in Flint, Michigan that are not being done that you as President would do? +p1307 +aVSenator, thank you. +p1308 +aVThe home stretch. +p1309 +aVSecretary Clinton, Republicans, particularly in campaign years, often talk about which departments of government\u2014which agencies of government they would get rid of if they were elected president. The EPA, the Department of Education, the Commerce Department, oops\u2014is\u2014is there a department of government that you would get rid of? Or is there a whole new one that you would create? +p1310 +aVThank you, Secretary Clinton. +p1311 +aVThank you very much. Thank you. +p1312 +aVWe also want to thank our host, the University of New Hampshire, and the people of New Hampshire. You guys get to vote in just five days. I can't wait to see how it turns out. Don't screw up. +p1313 +asVSEIB +p1314 +(lp1315 +VThis evening Fox Business is partnering with the Wall Street Journal to bring you the fourth republican presidential debate of the 2016 campaign. For the next hour, four of the candidates will be here answering the question voters want answered. +p1316 +aVSenator Santorum, you're all obviously highly critical of President Obama's economic record. But federal statistics show that payrolls have expanded by 8.7 million new jobs so far during his time in office. All the jobs lost in the recession were recovered by last year. And in October, the economy added jobs at the fastest rate since 2009. So what's wrong with the Obama jobs record? +p1317 +aVGovernor Jindal, Republicans have now 32 of the nation's 50 governor seats. But, even while you're doing very well at the state level, you keep falling short nationally. You've lost the popular vote in five of the last six presidential elections. Are Democrats simply putting forward a better national economic message than the one Republicans are offering? And what should Republicans do about it. +p1318 +aVSenator Santorum, we're in the Upper-Midwest, heart of the American auto industry. The Auto Alliance says the state of Wisconsin, where we are tonight, is home to 176 auto supplier companies. Back in 2008, you opposed the use of federal bailout funds for automakers as proposed then by the Bush administration. The automakers survived. In retrospect, do you still think that was the right position. +p1319 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p1320 +aVGovernor Jindal, there's a new trade deal the Obama administration has completed with 11 other Pacific nations. The U.S. Trade Representative's office says that deal will cut 18,000 different tariffs on American goods sent to the Pacific and will cut tariffs on goods made in your state of Louisiana by as much as 40 percent. Even a skeptical about \u2014 a skeptic about this deal, now that the details are public, are you going to be for it? +p1321 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1322 +aV...Guys... +p1323 +aVGovernor Christie... +p1324 +aV...last word, briefly +p1325 +aV...Thank you both, Governors. +p1326 +aV...No, no, Senator Santorum... +p1327 +aV...I have a question for you. Just about everybody agrees that the nation's infrastructure is in bad shape. Urban highway congestion costs the economy more than $100 billion dollars annually, nearly one in four bridges in the National Highway System is structurally deficient, or obsolete. Congress is working on a six year highway bill to try to fix this problem. It only funds it for about three years. Should Americans be asked to pay more in federal gas taxes in order to address this problem? +p1328 +aVSenator, I don't think we got to infrastructure, but I understand. +p1329 +aVNo, no. To do the things you're talking about, that you're all talking about, getting things done in Washington, you have to work with the other side. So a question, who in Congress do you most admire on the Democratic side? I need one name from each of you. And let's start with Governor Jindal. +p1330 +aVGovernor Huckabee? +p1331 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1332 +aVSenator Santorum? +p1333 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p1334 +aVGovernor Jindal, you've proposed something different. You've proposed eliminating the federal corporate income tax entirely. Why would have you wage-earners and investors pay an income tax but not a corporation? +p1335 +aVWelcome back to the Republican Presidential Debate live from Milwaukee's historic theater. Let's get back to the questions. Governor Christie, by keeping interest rates so low for so long, is the Fed creating a new financial bubble in real estate or stock as prices that will burst and create problems down the road, or has it been right to err on the side of trying to help the recovery through low rates? +p1336 +aVCandidates, it's time for closing statements, 30 seconds. Governor Jindal, we'll start with you. +p1337 +aVSenator Santorum. +p1338 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p1339 +aVGovernor Christie. +p1340 +asVTAPPER +p1341 +(lp1342 +VI'm Jake Tapper. We're live at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California for the main event. Round 2 of CNN's presidential debate starts now. The eleven leading Republican candidates for president are at their podiums. They are ready to face off, and if you've been watching this race, you know anything could happen over the next few hours. To viewers who are just joining us, welcome to the Air Force One Pavilion of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Our thanks to the staff here and especially to former first lady Nancy Reagan for this impressive setting with Ronald Reagan's presidential plane as our backdrop. This debate is airing on CNN networks in the United States and around the world. It's also being broadcast on the Salem Radio Network. I know everyone is very eager to get started. But first, I want to explain the ground rules tonight. My name is Jake Tapper. I'll be the moderator. I will be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt. He worked in the Reagan administration for six years. And by CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. I will ask follow-up questions, I will attempt to guide the discussion. Candidates, I will try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have one minute to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you've been singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. These 11 Republicans are positioned on the stage based on their ranking in recent national polls. Our goal for this evening is a debate. A true debate, with candidates addressing each other in areas where they differ. Where they disagree \u2014 on policy, on politics, on leadership. Now, let's begin. I'd like to invite each candidate to take 30 seconds to introduce him or herself to our audience. First to you, Senator Paul. +p1343 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1344 +aVThank you one and all for being here. There are many important policy issues facing our nation. We're going to get to many of them tonight, but I do want to start off with some current events in the news, and also some of the comments the candidates have recently made on the campaign trail. Mrs. Fiorina, I want to start with you. Fellow Republican candidate, and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, has suggested that your party's frontrunner, Mr. Donald Trump, would be dangerous as President. He said he wouldn't want, quote, "such a hot head with his finger on the nuclear codes." You, as well, have raised concerns about Mr. Trump's temperament. You've dismissed him as an entertainer. Would you feel comfortable with Donald trump's finger on the nuclear codes? +p1345 +aVYou didn't answer my question. Would you feel comfortable with Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear codes? It's an issue that one of your fellow candidates has raised. +p1346 +aVMr. Trump? +p1347 +aVMr. \u2014 Senator Paul, your name has been invoked. +p1348 +aVMr. Trump? +p1349 +aVI want to \u2014 I want to give Mr. Trump... +p1350 +aV... Mr. Trump, I want to give you another chance \u2014 Mr. Trump, I want to give you a chance to respond to something that your rival to your left, Governor Bush, said. Governor Bush told me last week when I read him the quote from Governor Jindal that he agrees you're not a serious candidate. Tell Governor Bush why you are a serious candidate and what your qualifications are to be commander-in-chief. +p1351 +aVGovernor Bush, would you feel comfortable with Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear codes? +p1352 +aVGovernor Walker? +p1353 +aVLet's move on. +p1354 +aVA phenomenon going on in the race right now is the political... OK, Governor Kasich, go ahead. +p1355 +aVWe have a lot of issues coming up, sir. +p1356 +aVWe are getting to the issues, sir. Phenomenon going on in the race is the political outsiders in the race, Dr. Carson, Donald Trump, Carly Fiorina, all together, have majority support in the polls. Governor Christie, I want to ask you about something that Dr. Carson said the other day. Dr. Carson said campaigning is easier for him, because he's not a politician. He can just tell the truth, therefore, while politicians, quote, "Have their finger in the air to see and do what is politically expedient." Governor Christie, tell Dr. Carson, is that a fair description of you? +p1357 +aVWell, let's find out. Thank you. +p1358 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. Dr. Carson, who were you thinking about on this stage when you said that? +p1359 +aVAnd more broadly, is experience in government not important for a president to have? +p1360 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1361 +aVThank you. +p1362 +aVThank you. Thank you Ms. Fiorina. Governor Bush, in addition to the fact that he's an outsider, one of the reasons Mr. Trump is a frontrunner, Republican voters say, is because they like the fact that he is not bought and paid for by wealthy donors. Mr. Trump has repeatedly said that the $100 million you've raised for your campaign makes you a puppet for your donors. Are you? +p1363 +aVIs there anything else you want to say about this? +p1364 +aVGovernor \u2014 +p1365 +aVSure Dr. Carson. +p1366 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Let's move to Russia if we could. Russia is sending troops and tanks into Syria right now to prop up a U.S. enemy, Bashar al-Assad. President Obama's incoming top general says, quote, "Russia presents the greatest threat to our national security." Mr. Trump, you say you can do business with President Vladimir Putin, you say you will get along, quote, "very well." What would you do right now if you were president, to get the Russians out of Syria? +p1367 +aVSo, you \u2014 just to clarify, the only answer I heard to the question I asked is that you would \u2014 you would reach out to Vladimir Putin, and you would do what? You would... +p1368 +aVSenator Rubio, you've taken a very different approach to the \u2014 the question of Russia. You've called Vladimir Putin a, quote, "gangster." Why would President Rubio's approach be more effective than President Trump's? +p1369 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. +p1370 +aVI want to bring in Carly Fiorina. +p1371 +aVMs. Fiorina, you have met... +p1372 +aV...yeah, you've met Vladimir Putin. Yes. +p1373 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p1374 +aVThank you. +p1375 +aVThank you. Thank you, Ms. Fiorina. While you're \u2014 while you brought up the subject of General Suleimani of the Quds forces from Iran, the next president, no matter who he or she may be, will inherit President Obama's Iran deal. Senator Cruz, Governor Kasich says that anyone who is promising to rip up the Iran deal on day one, as you have promised to do, is, quote, "inexperienced," and, quote, "playing to a crowd." Respond to Governor Kasich, please. +p1376 +aVWhy is that not, as Governor Kasich says, playing to the crowd and an example of you being inexperienced? +p1377 +aVGovernor Kasich... +p1378 +aV...Did Senator Cruz just play to the crowd? +p1379 +aV...Thank you, Governor. I want to go to Senator Paul. +p1380 +aVI want to go to Senator Paul. Senator Paul, the White House is rolling out the red carpet next week for the President of China, President Xi. Governor Walker says that President Obama should cancel the state dinner because of China's currency manipulation, and because of China's alleged cyber attacks against the United States. Is Governor Walker right? +p1381 +aVGovernor Walker, Senator Paul seemed to suggest... +p1382 +aV...that canceling the state dinner would be rash, and reckless. +p1383 +aV...Governor Bush... +p1384 +aVGovernor Bush, your father was the chief diplomatic envoy to China back when Nixon opened relations to China. Is Scott Walker's approach the right one, canceling the state dinner? +p1385 +aVI want to turn... +p1386 +aV...I want to turn to Governor Huckabee who has been very patient. Somebody had to be 11th, and he is, but, I do want to change the subject to the event that you had... +p1387 +aV... however you want, but I want to ask this question. +p1388 +aVAll right, sir, go ahead. +p1389 +aVOK. ( +p1390 +aVWe're going to turn now to Hugh Hewitt, from Salem Radio Network. +p1391 +aVThank you, Senator Paul. I want to turn now to my colleague Dana Bash. +p1392 +aVThat would be fair, you're right. You're the third senator. +p1393 +aVWe're going to go to Dana Bash... +p1394 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1395 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1396 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1397 +aVThank you, Senator. I want to... +p1398 +aV... turn back to Governor Huckabee... +p1399 +aVI want to turn back to Governor Huckabee. Governor Huckabee, last week, you held a rally for a county clerk in Kentucky who was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, as I don't need to tell you. You've called what happened to Kim Davis, that clerk, "an example of the criminalization of Christianity." There are several people on the stage who disagree with you. Governor Bush, for example, says that that clerk is sworn to uphold the law. Is Governor Bush on the wrong side of the criminalization of Christianity? +p1400 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1401 +aVWell, I'm not telling you that, Governor. But Governor Bush is, because he \u2014 because he disagrees. He thinks that Kim Davis swore to uphold the law. You disagree? You're not \u2014 you don't... +p1402 +aVOK. Please do. +p1403 +aVYou did... +p1404 +aVGovernor, you said, quote, "she is sworn to uphold the law." +p1405 +aVLet me go to my colleague Dana Bash, who has a question. +p1406 +aVDana, I want to continue on the subject. Governor Bush, you recently said while discussing Planned Parenthood, quote, you're "not sure we need a half billion for women's health issues." Now you've since said that you misspoke, you didn't mean to say "women's health issues." But Donald Trump said that quote, that comment, which Hillary Clinton did seize upon immediately, will haunt you the same way Mitt Romney's 47 percent video haunted him. Tell Donald Trump why he's wrong. +p1407 +aVThank you, Governor Bush. Donald Trump, let me just... +p1408 +aVThe quote was, "I'm not sure we need half a billion dollars for women's health issues." He said he misspoke. You said that that's going to haunt him. Why do you think that? +p1409 +aVGovernor Bush? +p1410 +aVI want to \u2014 we're going to get to \u2014 +p1411 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1412 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1413 +aVWe're going to \u2014 we're going to get to many of these issues. This \u2014 we're still in the first block, believe it or not. We're going to get to many of these issues, but before we end this block, Ms. Fiorina, I do want to ask you about this. In an interview last week in Rolling Stone magazine, Donald Trump said the following about you. Quote, "Look at that face. Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?" Mr. Trump later said he was talking about your persona, not your appearance. Please feel free to respond what you think about his persona. +p1414 +aVAll right. On that note, in less than two minutes \u2014 we're going to take a very quick break. In less than two minutes, the most contentious issue on the campaign trail. And the candidates on the stage are split over how to handle it. That's coming up next. Please give some applause to the candidates. +p1415 +aVWelcome to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate. No topic perhaps has been more combustible in this campaign than the issue of immigration. Mr. Trump, you have called for deporting every undocumented immigrant, Governor Christie has said, quote, "There are not enough law enforcement officers \u2014 local, county, state and federal combined \u2014 to forcibly deport 11 to 12 million people." Tell Governor Christie how much your plan will cost, and how you will get it done. +p1416 +aVGovernor Christie, you and I have talked about this in an interview. You say that his big wall, his plan to deport 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants, it sounds great, but it's never going to happen. Tell him why you're skeptical of his plans? +p1417 +aVThank you, Governor Christie... +p1418 +aVI want to bring in Dr. Carson because he too has been skeptical of your plan to immediately deport 11 to 12 million illegal immigrants. He said, quote, "People who say that have no idea what this entails." Why do you say that, Dr. Carson? +p1419 +aV...Dr. Carson... +p1420 +aVWith all due respect, you said about Donald Trump's plan to deport 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants, "People who say that have no idea what this entails." Why not? +p1421 +aV...let's continue the conversation about illegal immigration with Dana Bash. +p1422 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Senator Cruz \u2014 Senator Cruz, this week, we learned more about Dr. Carson's plan for the 11 million to 12 million undocumented immigrants in this country. Dr. Carson proposed giving these undocumented immigrants a six- month grace period to pay back taxes then to let them become guest workers and only to deport people who failed to do that. +p1423 +aVWell, how would you say it, sir? I was just reading the Wall Street Journal quote, but please tell us. +p1424 +aVOK, from the horse's mouth, Senator Cruz, does that fit your definition of amnesty? +p1425 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Rubio... +p1426 +aV... I'm not sure... +p1427 +aVWe'll come back to you \u2014 we'll come back to you in one second, sir. But Senator Rubio, I'm not sure exactly whose plan he's \u2014 he's saying is \u2014 constitutes amnesty, but I know he has said it about your plan in the past, so I want to give you a chance to respond, then, Dr. Carson, we'll come to you. +p1428 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1429 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator \u2014 Dr. Carson... ... I want to give you 30 seconds. I'd like you to answer the question. Senator Cruz describes plans such as yours as amnesty. Why is your plan not amnesty? +p1430 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. I want to talk about the issue of birthright citizenship, which \u2014 which has emerged since the first debate as \u2014 as an a \u2014 a major issue in this campaign. Mr. Trump, you say that babies born in the United States to undocumented immigrants should not any longer get automatic American citizenship. Ms. Fiorina says that you are pandering on this issue and acting like the politicians that you rail against. What's your message to Ms. Fiorina on birthright citizenship? +p1431 +aVMs. Fiorina, the vast majority of countries do not have birthright citizenship... ...Donald Trump is right about that. Why is it pandering when he's \u2014 he says this? +p1432 +aVMs. Fiorina... +p1433 +aVPlease. +p1434 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p1435 +aVThank you. +p1436 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Mr. Trump, I want to give you the chance to respond... +p1437 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. Senator Paul... +p1438 +aVSenator Paul, I want to bring you in. Where \u2014 where do you stand on the issue of birthright citizenship? +p1439 +aVAll right. Senator Paul, thank you so much. Let's turn to a new topic. We've received a lot of questions on social media about the economy and about jobs. We have two CEOs on stage right now. Ms. Fiorina, you were CEO of Hewlett Packard. Donald Trump says you, quote, "ran HP into the ground," you laid off tens of thousands of people, you got viciously fired. For voters looking to somebody with private-sector experience to create American jobs, why should they pick you and not Donald Trump? +p1440 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p1441 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p1442 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 Mr. Trump, why would you be better at creating jobs than Carly Fiorina? +p1443 +aVMs. Fiorina, I want to give you a chance to respond. +p1444 +aVMr. Trump. +p1445 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. +p1446 +aVGovernor Christie's name has been invoked. I'd like to give him a 30 second opportunity. +p1447 +aVMs. Fiorina, I want to give you +p1448 +aVGovernor Kasich, I'm coming to you next, but Ms. Fiorina's name was mentioned, and I have to give her the opportunity to respond if she wants it. +p1449 +aVThank you. +p1450 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Kasich, I want to come \u2014 I'm coming to you. I'm coming to you. Let me ask the question. You can use the time however you want. +p1451 +aVDonald Trump says that the hedge fund guys are getting away with murder by paying a lower tax rate. He wants to raise the taxes of hedge fund managers, as does Governor Bush. Do you agree? +p1452 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1453 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. +p1454 +aVGovernor Huckabee, I want to bring you in on the question of hedge fund managers and taxing them. You have said that you are bothered by the fact that hedge fund managers pay such a low tax rate and make 2,500 times what people who work for them make. Do you agree with what Donald Trump and Governor Bush have proposed, raising their tax rates? +p1455 +aVThank you, Governor. Dr. Carson, you support scrapping the entire tax code and replacing it with a flat tax based on the principal on tithing from the Bible. If you make $10 billion, you pay $1 billion in taxes, if you make $10, you pay $1 in taxes. Donald Trump believes in progressive taxation. He says it's not right that rich people pay the same as the poor. Tell Donald Trump why his ideas on taxes are wrong. +p1456 +aVMr. Trump... +p1457 +aV...What do you think of the flat tax? Do you think it's fair? +p1458 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. Senator Paul? +p1459 +aVGovernor Walker, I want to go to you. Dr. Carson wants to raise the Federal Minimum Wage, you have called it a lame idea. Why is raising the Federal Minimum Wage lame? +p1460 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1461 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1462 +aVDr. Carson, Governor Walker didn't really answer the question, but I'll let you respond. He called raising the Federal Minimum Wage lame, what do you think of that? +p1463 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson... +p1464 +aVLet me bring in our partner from Salem Radio Network, Hugh Hewitt. +p1465 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate. Let's turn to some issues now in foreign policy. Mr. Trump, Senator Rubio said it was, quote, "very concerning to him" that in a recent interview you didn't seem to know the details about some of the enemies the U.S. faces. Rubio said, if you don't know the answers to those questions, you will not be able to serve as commander-in-chief. Please respond to Senator Rubio. +p1466 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1467 +aVMr. Trump? Senator Rubio seemed to be suggesting that you don't know information that... +p1468 +aVAll right. Senator Rubio. +p1469 +aVBut are you saying that you have the knowledge to be the president that Mr. Trump does not have? +p1470 +aVMr. Trump? +p1471 +aVSenator Rubio, he did invoke your absentee record in the Senate. +p1472 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. I want to turn now to Hugh Hewitt. +p1473 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1474 +aVSenator... +p1475 +aVSenator Paul? +p1476 +aVSenator Paul... +p1477 +aVThank you, Senator Paul... +p1478 +aVThank you, Senator Paul... +p1479 +aVI understand that Governor Bush's name has been invoked, and then we can go to you, Senator Rubio. +p1480 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1481 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Rubio? +p1482 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1483 +aVDr. Carson? +p1484 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1485 +aVI mean, it is interesting that you say that, because I want to ask Governor Christie about something else that you have said. Governor Christie, we just marked the 14th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Now Dr. Carson has said that if he had been president at the time, the United States would not have gone to war in Afghanistan. What does that say to you about how Dr. Carson would respond as president if America were attacked again? +p1486 +aVDr. Carson? +p1487 +aV... Governor Christie. +p1488 +aVDr. Carson? +p1489 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1490 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1491 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee. +p1492 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1493 +aVThank you, governor, I want to turn to +p1494 +aVGovernor Walker, there is a big debate now, we have been talking about +p1495 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Paul, I want to go to you, because you have said that the boots on the ground to fight +p1496 +aVThank you, Senator. We're going to turn to some domestic issues now. I want to bring in my colleague, Dana Bash. +p1497 +aVSure.... +p1498 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1499 +aV...Thank you, Governor. Dana Bash... +p1500 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina... +p1501 +aV...Thank you, we're going to turn now to domestic issues with Dana Bash. +p1502 +aV...Dana Bash... +p1503 +aVThank you. Dana Bash? +p1504 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1505 +aV...Governor Bush... +p1506 +aV...I want to let you respond. +p1507 +aVThank you, Governor... ...And, that's what we should do, and I hope I'll be working members of the United States Senate to fight hard for the passage of people that have that kind of qualification. +p1508 +aVSenator Cruz, 30 seconds. +p1509 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1510 +aVThank you, Semator. +p1511 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee, I want to bring you in very quickly if you could. Will you have a litmus test when it comes to appointing Supreme Court nominees? +p1512 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1513 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1514 +aVThank you, Governor. We're going to take a quick break. Coming up, one of the hottest questions that you have been asking us via social media. We will pose it to the candidates. That's coming up right after this. +p1515 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican presidential debate at the Reagan Library here in Simi Valley \u2014 Simi Valley, California. Many people on social media wanted us to ask about marijuana legalization. Senator Paul, Governor Christie recently said, quote, "if you're getting high in Colorado today," where marijuana has been legalized, "enjoy it until January 2017, because I will enforce the federal laws against marijuana." Will you? +p1516 +aVI want to give that \u2014 I want to give the person that you called a hypocrite an opportunity to respond. Do you want to identify that person? +p1517 +aVIs there somebody you were specifically thinking of? +p1518 +aVThat's what I though, but I wanted to say it. +p1519 +aVOK. +p1520 +aVGovernor Bush, please. +p1521 +aVI want to go right now \u2014 I want to go right now... +p1522 +aVThat's true. Go ahead, Christie, please. +p1523 +aVYou may respond, and then I'll bring in you, Ms. Fiorina. +p1524 +aVYes, Senator Paul. +p1525 +aVI want to bring in Ms. Fiorina \u2014 I want to bring in Ms. Fiorina on this issue. +p1526 +aVHugh \u2014 Hugh, I'd like to... +p1527 +aVI'd like to turn it over \u2014 I'd like to turn to Dana Bush. +p1528 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1529 +aVI'm coming to you right now on a separate issue, sir. We received... ( +p1530 +aVWe received a lot of questions from social media about climate change. Senator Rubio, Ronald Reagan's secretary of state, George Shultz, reminds us that when Reagan was president he faced a similar situation to the one that we're facing now. There were dire warnings from the mass consensus of the scientific community about the ozone layer shrinking. Shultz says Ronald Reagan urged skeptics in industry to come up with a plan. He said, do it as an insurance policy in case the scientists are right. The scientists were right. Reagan and his approach worked. Secretary Shultz asks, why not take out an insurance policy and approach climate change the Reagan way? +p1531 +aVI'm citing George Shultz. +p1532 +aVGovernor Christie, you have said that climate change is real, and that humans help contribute to it. Without getting into the issue of China versus the United States, which I understand you've talked about before, what do you make of skeptics of climate change such as Senator Rubio? +p1533 +aVJust for the record, I was citing Secretary of State George Shultz, Ronald Reagan's secretary of state who I don't think anybody would call him left-wing. +p1534 +aVI called you a skeptic. +p1535 +aVI want to go another question right now. +p1536 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1537 +aVI'm turning to... +p1538 +aV...I'm turning to another \u2014 I'm turning to another issue right now. Senator Cruz. Well, I think we've heard from several this evening. A backlash against vaccines was blamed for a measles outbreak here in California. Dr. Carson, Donald Trump has publicly and repeatedly linked vaccines, childhood vaccines, to autism, which, as you know, the medical community adamantly disputes. You're a pediatric neurosurgeon. Should Mr. Trump stop saying this? +p1539 +aVShould he stop saying it? Should he stop saying that vaccines cause autism? +p1540 +aVMr. Trump, as president, you would... +p1541 +aVI'm going right to you. +p1542 +aVMr. Trump, as president, you would be in charge of the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health, both of which say you are wrong. How would you handle this as president? +p1543 +aVThank you. +p1544 +aVDr. \u2014 Dr. Carson? +p1545 +aVDr. Carson, you just heard his medical take. +p1546 +aVDr. Paul? Dr. Paul, I'd like to bring you in. +p1547 +aVAlright, thank you so much... +p1548 +aVComing up \u2014 I'm sorry, Governor Huckabee, please. +p1549 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1550 +aVWe have to take another quick break. Coming up, Ronald Reagan looming large over this debate. So how Reaganesque exactly are these Republicans? We will find out next. +p1551 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California. We have a few last questions for you. Two of them a little lighthearted, the other one more serious. We'll start with one of the more light questions. Senator Paul, I'm going to start with you and we're just going to go down the line. Earlier this year, the Treasury Department announced that a woman will appear on the $10 bill. What woman would you like to see on the $10 bill? +p1552 +aVGovernor Huckabee? +p1553 +aVSenator Paul (sic). +p1554 +aVI'm sorry. Senator Rubio? +p1555 +aVJust the senators. +p1556 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1557 +aVDr. Carson? +p1558 +aVMr. Trump. +p1559 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1560 +aVGovernor Walker. +p1561 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p1562 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1563 +aVGovernor Christie. +p1564 +aVAlright. Some good entries if anybody at the mint was listening. Here's the next lighthearted question, you all know that the United States Secret Service uses codenames for the president, and his family. Ronald Reagan's codename, for example, was, "Rawhide", an homage to his performances in Westerns. Nancy Reagan's was, "Rainbow". You don't have to come up the one for your spouse, but, what would you want, Governor Christie, I'll start with you, your Secret Service codename to be. +p1565 +aVGovernor Walker? +p1566 +aVMr. Trump? +p1567 +aVDr. Carson? +p1568 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1569 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1570 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p1571 +aVSenator Paul. +p1572 +aVThat's a mouthful, but OK. OK, here's the more serious question, Ronald Reagan, the 40th President, used the plane behind you to accomplish a great many things. Perhaps, most notably, to challenge Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the wall, and ultimately, to make peace with the +p1573 +aVThat concludes this Republican presidential debate. On behalf of everyone here at CNN, we want to thank the candidates, the Reagan Library, and the Republican National Committee. Thank you, also, to Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash. The next presidential debate will also be right here on CNN, among the Democratic candidates, who will face off for the first time on October the 13th. That debate, a partnership with Facebook, will be moderated by my colleague, Anderson Cooper. And Anderson picks up our coverage of tonight's debate right now. Before I throw to Anderson, let's have one final round of applause for the candidates. +p1574 +aVWe're live at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California for one of the most highly anticipated primary season debates ever. On this stage 15 candidates in two rounds of questioning with one goal, to show they have what it takes to be the Republican Presidential Nominee. Welcome to our viewers, I'm Jake Tapper. Tonight's debate is airing on CNN networks around the world, and, of course, here in the United States. It's also being broadcast across the country on the Salmen Radio Network. We want to thank our host, former First Lady Nancy Reagan, and the Reagan Library for this very impressive setting, the Air Force One pavilion. Behind me, you can see the actual plane... ...That Ronald Reagan flew in when he was president. Now, because the GOP field is so large, we have divided the candidates into two groups based on their rankings in recent national polls. Later this evening we will hear from the top 11 contenders. The other four candidates are taking part in the first round, and they are ready to join us now. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindal. The former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania, Rick Santorum. and former New York Governor, George Pataki. Ladies and gentleman, please welcome these Republican candidates for President of the United States. And, now, if you would, please rise for our national anthem performed by actress and singer, Natalie Hill. I'd like to ask the candidates to please take their podiums while I tell you a little more about how tonight debate will work. I'm Jake Tapper. I'll be the moderator. Joining me in the questioning, Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt; he worked in the Reagan administration for six years and CNN's chief political correspondent, Dana Bash. I will follow up and guide the discussion; candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have one minute to answer questions and 30 seconds for followups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you have been singled out for criticism. We have timing lights that are visible to the candidates. Those lights will warn them when their time is up. Our goal tonight is to have a true debate, candidates actually addressing each other in areas where they disagree, where they differ on policy, on politics and on leadership. Now that everyone is in place, it's time for the candidates to introduce themselves to our audience. Please keep it brief. Governor Pataki, you're first. +p1575 +aVThank you candidates. We're going to talk a lot about policy and your proposals this evening. But first, Governor Jindal, I want to start with you. You have said that the front runner, Donald Trump, is a, quote, "unstable, narcissistic, ego maniac." Now, we are in the house of Reagan, who made famous the so-called 11th Commandment, "Thou shalt not speak ill of thy fellow Republican." What drove you to violate that unofficial commandment? +p1576 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1577 +aVSenator Santorum, do you think Governor Jindal is wrong for attacking your party's front runner? +p1578 +aVThank you. Governor Jindal, do you want to respond to that? +p1579 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1580 +aVSenator Santorum, just to assure you, we will get to those issues. But just a couple more on this general subject. Senator Graham, you have called Donald Trump a, quote, "wrecking ball for the Republican party." Voters in your home state of South Carolina, in a recent poll, prefer Donald Trump 30 percent to your 4 percent. How do you explain why so many of your constituents would rather have Donald Trump as the Republican nominee than you? +p1581 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. We're going to bring in Hugh Hewitt now, who has a question for Governor Pataki. +p1582 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1583 +aVSenator Graham? One of the -- the reasons why Donald Trump, Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina are doing well is because they are political outsiders. In fact, that's one of the things -- in fact, there are two things that they have in common. They've never been elected to office before and they're doing better than all of you in the polls. The four of you have a combined seven decades in elected office. Senator Graham, in this election season, do Republican voters see your service in government as a liability and not an asset? +p1584 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1585 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1586 +aVThank you, Senator. Let's turn to the topic of immigration. For that, I want to bring in my colleague, Dana Bash. +p1587 +aVThank you, Governor. I -- I want to change the subject. We're staying on immigration, and I'm bringing you in, Governor Pataki... +p1588 +aV... and Senator Graham, I'm coming to you as well. +p1589 +aVGovernor Pataki, Republicans right now are -- are debating birthright citizenship, the policy of granting U.S. citizenship to every baby born in this country, even if they born to undocumented immigrants. Senator Graham wants to end the policy of birthright citizenship. Governor Pataki, you support keeping it. Tell him why he's wrong. +p1590 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1591 +aVGovernor... +p1592 +aVWhat I -- what I asked about was about birthright citizenship and why you think that we should preserve birthright... +p1593 +aVSenator Graham, most countries in the world do not have birthright citizenship. +p1594 +aVWhy do you think Governor Pataki is wrong? +p1595 +aVWas that a... +p1596 +aV...Thank you Senator... +p1597 +aV...Thank you Senator... +p1598 +aV...We'll come back to you Senator Santorum, I promise... +p1599 +aV...alright... +p1600 +aVThank you, Senator... +p1601 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Pataki, I want to let you have the final word here. +p1602 +aVGovernor Pataki? +p1603 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1604 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Graham, your response when it comes to Syrian refugees? +p1605 +aVThank you, Senator. I want to turn now -- +p1606 +aVWe're going to keep talking about the situation in the Middle East. Let me bring in my colleague, Dana Bash, again. +p1607 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1608 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1609 +aVThank you, thank you, Governor. +p1610 +aVGovernor Pataki -- +p1611 +aVThank you, Governor. Sorry. We have rules and timing. Governor Jindal, I do want to bring you in. I want to turn to a story in news in the story today. A 14-year-old Muslim high school student in Texas was arrested on Monday for bringing a homemade clock to school after it was mistaken for a fake bomb. Police released the young man after they determined it was, in fact, a clock. Today, President Obama invited that student to the White House. Governor Jindal, throughout your campaign, you've spoken many times about Muslim extremists in this country. How would you, as president, strike a balance between vigilance and discrimination? +p1612 +aVGovernor Jindal, I'm afraid you didn't answer the question. How do you strike the balance between vigilance and discrimination? Obviously, we know how you feel about the vigilance part of this. Do you ever see the discrimination part of it? +p1613 +aVThank you, Governor. We will get to that subject later in the debate. Senator Graham? +p1614 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1615 +aVGovernor Pataki? +p1616 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1617 +aVWe'll get to that subject in the next block. We're going to take a very quick break. When we come back, both Jeb Bush and Donald Trump agree on one thing when it comes to taxes. We'll see if any of the candidates on stage agree as well. +p1618 +aVThat's next. Stay with us. +p1619 +aVWelcome back to the CNN Republican Debate at the beautiful Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California. Before we took the break, you were all chomping at the bit to talk about Kim Davis, that Kentucky clerk. Governor Pataki said he would have fired Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk jailed for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses. Senator Santorum, do you agree with Governor Pataki? +p1620 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Pataki, your response? +p1621 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum? +p1622 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1623 +aVWe're coming to both of you. +p1624 +aVWhat... +p1625 +aVGovernor Jindal... +p1626 +aVSenator Graham, do you want to weigh in? +p1627 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1628 +aVSenator... +p1629 +aVThank you, Senator. I want to stay with the subject of Supreme Court judges -- justices. Governor Jindal, both Senators graham and Santorum voted to confirm chief justice of the United States, John Roberts, who has led with the majority twice to uphold ObamaCare. Do you think that Graham's and Santorum's votes to confirm John Roberts were a mistake? +p1630 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Graham, I want to give you an opportunity to respond -- -- I would note that Anthony Kennedy, was, of course, a Ronald Reagan appointee. Senator Graham, do you stand by your vote for John Roberts? +p1631 +aVSenator Santorum, do you stand by your vote for John Roberts? +p1632 +aVGovernor Jindal, I'm going to give you 30 seconds to respond. +p1633 +aVLet me bring back Hugh Hewitt. +p1634 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1635 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1636 +aV...I want to turn -- you're going to be involved in the next question... +p1637 +aV...Senator Graham... +p1638 +aV...Thank you, Senator... +p1639 +aV...Thank you Senator. Senator Graham, I want to turn to the minimum... +p1640 +aV...Well, let's talk about South Carolina... +p1641 +aV...Senator, let's turn to the minimum wage. Senator Santorum is the only person on the stage who has proposed increasing the federal minimum wage. How would that affect South Carolinians? Do you agree with Senator Santorum that the federal minimum wage should be increased? +p1642 +aVSenator Graham, thank you so much. Senator Santorum... Senator Graham is suggesting that your proposal would not allot South Carolinians to hire more workers. +p1643 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1644 +aVThank you, Senator. We have to take a quick break. When we come back, confrontation or negotiation? How will these candidates attempt to handle Russian President Vladimir Putin? That's next. +p1645 +aVAnd we're back at the CNN Republican Debate at the Reagan Library in beautiful Simi Valley, California. Let's turn now to some issues of foreign policy. Senator Graham, you all oppose the U.S. nuclear deal with Iran. Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton, a Republican, is pushing for a U.S. military strike against Iran, against its nuclear facilities. Senator Graham, would you authorize, as president, a nuclear strike against -- I mean, sorry -- a strike against Iran's nuclear facilities? +p1646 +aVGovernor -- -- Hugh -- I'm going to go to Hugh Hewitt for a question for Governor Pataki. +p1647 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1648 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Graham -- +p1649 +aVWe're bringing you in on this question as well. Senator Graham, Vladimir Putin in recent days has sent an estimated six more tanks, four helicopters and Russian ground troops into Syria to help support President Assad, an enemy of the United States. The Russian military is also buzzing American planes and Naval vessels around the world. Your front-runner, Donald Trump, says he can do details with President Putin, that the two of them will get along, quote, "very well." Why would your confrontational approach work better than Mr. Trump's negotiation? +p1650 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1651 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1652 +aVGovernor Jindal, how would President Jindal... ... get the Russians out of Syria? +p1653 +aV... +p1654 +aVWell... +p1655 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1656 +aVThank you, Senator... +p1657 +aVThank you, Senator. The final question... +p1658 +aVThe final questions for these four Republicans as the top contenders get ready to take their places on the debate stage when we come back right after this. Welcome back to the CNN Republican debates at the Reagan Library in beautiful Simi Valley, California. We have time for one more question for the candidates. Governor Pataki, let's start with you. You have all spent the last hour and a half debating each other. The other 11 candidates are on their way to the stage. What is the one thing as a candidate that you offer that no one at the next debate can offer? +p1659 +aVThank you, senator. +p1660 +aVThank you. +p1661 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum? +p1662 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1663 +aVThank you. +p1664 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1665 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Governor Jindal, what is something that you offer as a candidate that the other 11 candidates coming on stage in a few minutes cannot offer? +p1666 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Graham? +p1667 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1668 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. Our thanks to the candidates for a great debate. In just a moment, we're bringing the candidates from both of tonight's debates together for a group photo. That will be a first in this campaign. And then, of course, the main event, the top 11 candidates going head to head. I will be back as moderator. Right now, let's go to my colleague, Anderson Cooper. +p1669 +asVSANTORUM +p1670 +(lp1671 +VYou know, listening to what your network was talking about prior to this race, this debate, reminded me of the coverage that many on this floor are getting. This race, this debate, was called the, "Undercard Debate". The undercard debate. It wasn't advertised significantly. In fact, the entire hour lead up to this there was no conversation about any of the four people on this debate stage, and that is the chronic situation. In fact, they listed -- they put a poll up from Wall Street Journal/NBC News, they listed the candidates, and they failed to mention I wasn't listed. I got zero, why? Because they -- NBC, Wall Street Journal poll never includes my name on the list. This is what the media has been doing over the past year, and trying to segregate, and take Iowans out of the process. What Iowans deserve... ... is to hear from every candidate on equal footing. Had they applied the same rules four years ago, I would have been in the undercard debate. The guy who won the Iowa Caucuses would have been in the undercard debate, not talked about. We would have been talking about, maybe, an entertainer that may have been trying to run. Ladies and gentlemen, you have a chance on Monday to put the record straight about who you want, not who will entertain you. +p1672 +aVBut, who will fight for what you believe in, and I hope you do... +p1673 +aVWell, look. The entire lead up to this debate was talking about whether Donald Trump is going to show up for the next debate. The people of Iowa, who I know pretty darn well, care a lot about the issues. They care about who is going to be the leader of the free world. Who is going to be able to take on +p1674 +aVAnd we are not hearing any of those things. We are hearing about whether someone is going to show up for the next debate or not. +p1675 +aVYes, I am. +p1676 +aVYou know, this, again, more of the politics of trying to get people to throw stuff at each other. I'm not going to throw mud at anybody on this stage tonight. I'm not going to throw mud at anybody on the stage later. I'm not going to attack Donald Trump. What I'm -- Mike Huckabee and I were asked to come to an event where money was going to be raise to do help our veterans. You know, I thought about it. And I thought about. I said well, wait a minute, now, if there were no political considerations and I had some time because I'm not doing anything at 9:00 tonight. And so if I had some time, would I go... ... if I could help raise money for veterans? And the answer was yes, I would. And so I'm going. +p1677 +aVThank you for the question, Martha. We have to have an honest discussion with the American people about the nature of the threat that we confront. This president says that +p1678 +aVWhat I would say is that we have to create jobs that give people wages and benefits that can help them provide for themselves and their families. And that's why I announced from a factory floor in western Pennsylvania, I pledge to make America the number one manufacturing nation, again, in the world. And we can do it. China is starting to reorient itself away from a manufacturing economy that's dumping products on the -- overseas to providing more services to their people. This is an opportunity for America. It's an opportunity for us to get those jobs back. And by the way, do you want to solve global climate change? Take 2 million jobs from China in manufacturing and moving them back here to the United States, where we produce one-fifth the CO2 when we make things. We can help -- we can do every -- we can do it all. We can take care of the environment. We can create more jobs here. Seventy-four percent of Americans don't have a college degree. And unfortunately most folks who, in the Republican Party, don't talk about what we're going to do to create jobs for people who feel like neither political party cares about them. When you elect me, we'll create opportunities for working men and women in this country -- all over this country. +p1679 +aVWell, in fact, the plan that I put forward is scored by the Tax Foundation as bringing three and a half million jobs into this country, and we have provisions in the flat tax for the corporate side that actually has a phase in of manufacturing. Manufacturers initially don't pay any income tax. Ten percent the next year, and 20. We're going to also have a repatriation provision which says that if you have money overseas, and you're Apple, and you got a couple hundred billion dollars there, bring it back. The most you'll be taxed 10%, invest it here in America. Create jobs here in America with all that money that's sitting overseas. We also -- it's not just taxes. It's regulation. I've pledged to cut every single Obamacare -- I mean, excuse me, Obama regulation, including Obamacare, and remove those regulations that cost more than a hundred million dollars in the economy. That will liberate -- and that includes waters of the U.S., and the ozone regulations, they -- the mercury regulations. All of these just crush our manufactures and don't create an opportunity for us to survive. And, remember, China produces five times as much CO2 and other pollutants per dollar of GDP as we do. You want to help the environment? Bring jobs back to America. +p1680 +aVWell, I've been to the March for Life for about 25 years and I thought -- I think that's a pretty good record. Spoken at it a few times and I have shepherded every single piece of pro-life piece of legislation that's passed over the last 20 years. I've either authored it or shepherded it through the United States Congress and I'm pretty proud of that record too. But we have an election going on and there was some snow coming. So I decided that maybe it would be better for me to get out and do some campaigning and not be stuck as my wife and kids were for a week, piling out of two and a half feet of snow. So, here's what I would say. If you want someone that is going to talk a good game, there are a lot of folks on this stage that have talked a good game on the issue of life. Not only have I talked a good game on life and I've done some things. But I've also lived it. You know, one of the things Saint Francis said was, you know, if you preach the gospel, then if you have to, speak. The bottom line is, that twice in my life, we were counseled to have an abortion, one with our son Gabriel and one with our little girl Bella. And neither time did Karen and I for a moment think about it because we know that life begins at conception. We know the dignity of every human life and we know the potential of every child, no matter how long that life lives. And that is a message that can come across to all Americans and without having to say a word and defend the institution of life and the dignity of life in this country. +p1681 +aVThe president of the United States has been the most divisive president in -- certainly in my lifetime. This is a man who constantly... He is not trustworthy. You can't sit down and negotiate with him. He won't keep a deal. We have heard that over and over again. And here is what he does that really, really creates the friction in Washington. He personally attacks people. He ascribes motives to them that aren't true and then he tears them down. How are you going to work with someone if you don't treat them decently, honestly, and respectfully? I was a tough fighter when I was in Washington. I had very sharp elbows. I fought. I went there and joined a game named Jim Nussle here from Iowa with the "gang of seven." And we, in four years' time, took a Congress that had been controlled by Democrats for 40 years, and brought in the first Republican majority because we fought and we fought tough. But you know what? I was able to then work with those same people that we fought with and able to pass welfare reform. Unborn Victims of Violence Act. Pro-life bills. Health savings accounts. A whole laundry list of things not because I was mean, but because I was able to be respectful in the disagreements. And that's what we need in Washington, someone who can be respectful and still unite this country. +p1682 +aVI just want to thank the people of Iowa. Over the last five years I've done 700 speeches and town hall meetings all throughout the state of Iowa, and it has been an incredible right. Thank you. I want to thank all the wonderful folks like Pastor Carey Gordon who gave me a smooth stone and said you go slay Goliaths. Someone like Jim and Janet Cook who over this past Christmas gave up Christmas presents for their kids, and they have more than I do, just they can help me and my campaign. That's the kind of people... ... in Iowa. And, here's what I'm asking you to do. You're good people. You know good leaders. Lead. Pick the right person, not what the polls say. Not who the money give people to. Pick the leader you know is best for this country. Thank you. +p1683 +aVWell, all he has to do is listen to the Democratic debate and find out how bad the economy is. All they do is complain about the hollowing out of the middle of America, and how America is struggling so badly, and have to make these radical changes in Washington. But they've been in control for the last seven years, and what have we seen? The most important jobs, I believe, in this country are the ones that fill the middle. For the 74% of Americans who don't have a college degree between the age of 25 and 65 are manufacturing jobs. Your governor, and your legislature, and your team here have done an amazing job of bringing manufacturing jobs back to South Carolina. Right here. Right here in Charleston, right down in the street in Boeing. You've done a great job, and what's happened? You've grown this economy, you've strengthened the center of your state, the middle. That's because you know that if you're really going to create wealth and opportunity, you got to get jobs, and good paying jobs for everybody. And, so what's happened? Two million jobs, manufacturing jobs, have left this country because of Barack Obama. Regulations, EPA, workplace regulations, things driving people off-shore all because of his number one priority, global climate change. Well, let me tell you this, Mr. President. For every dollar of GDP, China creates five times as much pollution as we do here. You want to \u2014 lower global climate change, bring those jobs back to America and let American workers do that job with less pollution. +p1684 +aVWell, the historic promises that we have made to \u2014 to Iran in this agreement need to be torn up on the first day in office of the next president. And let me tell you why, because Iran has already torn it up. Iran has not approved the agreement that President Obama has said that they have approved. They have approved a different agreement in their parliament. The fact of the matter is they have violated this agreement. Carly just mentioned some of those violations. They have launched ballistic missiles, tested them, in clear violation. And here's the pathetic part. The president announced that they were going to impose sanctions. And then President Rouhani went on Twitter and said there would be retaliation. And what did we do? We backed down. Ladies and gentlemen, there are 50 some Citadel cadets in this audience tonight. I would ask them to stand up if they will. And here's what I want to tell each and every one of them, as you stand. Here's what I want to tell them. Whether it's you're watching that movie this weekend that just came out when we abandoned our men and women in Benghazi, or whether it's we treat Iran, that gave courtesies to our sailors, as they made them record a hostage video, let me tell you this, if you choose to serve this country, I will have your back. I will not let America be trampled upon anymore by these radical jihadists. +p1685 +aVI would just say that if we were doing a better job within the government, we wouldn't need the private sector to do the things that we're asking them to do. I've had a little experience in this in the private sector myself. And what I found was a government with layers and layers of bureaucracy, of people who had some technical expertise but they had no authority, number one. And one of the things I found out about in the bureaucracy is if a lot of people have authority, nobody has authority, number one. And number two, that if you don't do anything, you don't get fired. It's only when you do something and something goes wrong, you get fired. So they do nothing. And that's what is happening in our Defense Department right now. We have a capability that they're trying to develop to play defense. We have a lot of technologists that are very skilled. And they're trying to figure out how to play defense. But what we don't have is we don't have folks who are thinking about offense. We don't have war-fighters. We have technologists. Technologists are not war-fighters. Technologists are thinking, how do I protect cyber-security, how do I secure, how do I protect? And we need to have a much more dynamic, how do we \u2014 how do we go after them? How do we respond? And we need leadership that's willing to make sure that when someone attacks us \u2014 and ladies and gentlemen, they're attacking us as we speak. They're attacking us all day every day, not just the government, but they're attacking private sector companies all day every day. They have to learn that we're going to pay \u2014 they're going to pay a price when they do so. And then right now, just like in every other aspect of our national security, people who attack us are not paying a price. We need a leader who will make sure that they know when they mess with America, they're going to pay a price. +p1686 +aVLook, Facebook and Twitter can teach us things. We can cooperate with them. We can share ideas and information. But this is a \u2014 and this is a very dicey area for the government to go in and require the industry to do its job. It needs to develop that capability. We need to be \u2014 have responsible dialogue, but I don't think requirements are the order of the day. +p1687 +aVWell, the most devastating attack that could occur is an electromagnetic pulse attack, and that would be an attack that would be triggered by a nuclear explosion in the upper atmosphere of our country. The best way to stop that from happening is to make sure that those who contemplating and actually war-gaming and talking about using it, Iran, doesn't get a nuclear weapon so they can't explode that device. And the president of the United States has put Iran on a path to a nuclear weapon. And we have done nothing to do anything to harden our grid. There is actually a bill in Congress that would put money forward to try to put redundancy and harden our electric grid so it could actually survive an EMP. An EMP is a devastating explosion that sends a pulse that knocks out all electric, everything, everything that is connected to any kind \u2014 that is wired, that has a circuit board gets fried out. Everything is gone. Cars stop. Planes fall out of the sky. This is a devastating attack. And this president has done nothing, number one, to take the most probable person to \u2014 probable country to launch an attack and stop them, and has done nothing to try to defend us, particularly our electric grid. The bottom line is, I put the original sanctions on the Iranian nuclear program when I was in the United States Senate. I've been fighting for 12 years with one thing in mind, that we must stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. And......because they're different than every other country. They do not want a nuclear weapon to defend themselves. They want a nuclear weapon to have theological ends to bring about their mahdi so they can control the world. And that is the most serious threat facing this country right now. +p1688 +aVWell, the numbers just don't add up. I mean, they have not added manufacturing jobs. Manufacturing jobs have been lost in this country, 2 million of them. The bottom line is that this president has done more to take jobs away from the hard-working people who are struggling the most. And that's folks who are, as I said, the 74 percent of Americans who don't have a college degree. And they're out there talking about, well, we're going to provide free college for everybody. Well, who is going to pay for it? The 74 percent that don't have a college degree. They're not \u2014 nobody is focused. Let's just be honest, nobody is focused on the people who are struggling the most in America today. We talk about immigration. Talk about the president's immigration plan. He wants to bring in more and more people into this country. Let people who are here illegally stay in this country. Almost all of the people who are here illegally, and most of the people who came here legally over the last 20 years, they're working in wage-earning jobs. That is why wages have flat-lined. And we have unfortunately two political parties with most of the candidates in this field for some form of amnesty, some form of allowing people to stay here even though they're here illegally and for increasing levels of legal immigration. I'm someone who believes that we need to be the party that stands for the American worker. And when we say we need to send people back, I mean we send people back. And let me just make one point. I was in Storm Lake, Iowa, the other day, near a Tyson's plant, 91 percent of the kids that go to the elementary school there are minority kids. And they said, well, what are you going to do with all of these people, their families, they've lived here for a long time? I said, I'm going to give them a gift. I'm going to give them a gift of being able to help the country they were born in. And I'm going to export America, the education they were able to see. They learned English language. They learned about capitalism. They learned about democracy. You want to stop flow of immigrants? Let's send six million Mexicans, Hondurans, Guatemalans, El Savadorians......back into their country, so they can start a renaissance in their country so they won't be coming over here anymore. +p1689 +aVYou know, we've had this debate about the economy, and we haven't talked the one issue now increasingly even the right, and even the are coming to agreement. I've run around doing 300 town hall meetings talking about a book written by a liberal Harvard sociologist, not a normal thing for me to be talking about, but I now name Robert Putnam who wrote a book called, "Our Kids". And, he wrote this book, I think, ostensibly to support the Democratic argument that the middle of America's hollowing out, and income gap is widening, and rich are getting richer. When he studied all the information as to what was going on, he realized that the biggest reason that we're seeing the hollowing out of the middle of America is the breakdown of the American family. The reality is that if you're a single parent \u2014 a child of a single parent, and you grew up in a single parent family neighborhood, you went to that single parent family school, the chance of you ever, ever reaching the top 20% of income earners is 3% in America. At least \u2014 I don't know about you, but that's not good enough. And, we have been too politically correct in this country because we don't want to offend anybody to fight for the lives of our children. You want \u2014 You want to be shocked? You read the first few chapters of Mr. \u2014 Dr. Putnam' book. He talks about Port Clinton, Ohio and growing up there in the 1950's, and how poor kids actually survived and did well, even though they were poor and disadvantaged. But, then he goes to the towns today and these kids are failing, and failing miserably. They don't even have a shot, and we won't even have the courage to have leadership at the federal level \u2014 not with legislation, but the most powerful tool a president have, the bully pulpit to encourage each and everyone of you, churches and businesses, and educators, and community leaders to let's have a national campaign to rebuild the American family, and give every child its birthright which is a Mom and a Dad who loves them. That will change this economy. +p1690 +aVLadies and gentlemen, America is frustrated and angry and looking for someone who's a fighter, but I also think they're looking for someone who's a winner. Somebody who can go out there and take on the establishment and make a difference. And take on someone who's going to be the person who's going to be between a Republican holding the presidency and that's Hillary Clinton. And there's one person on this stage, one person in the race who's done it and done it repeatedly. I've taken on Hillary Clinton on the issues you care about. Partial-birth abortion. Go and google Rick Santorum and Hillary Clinton and there you'll see a five-minute debate. I'll let you decide who won the debate. I'll tell you who won, because we passed the bill and I know I'm out of time but I'm going to take some of Rand Paul's time here for a second. If you're looking for someone who fought Hillary Clinton on Iran's sanctions, she was one of four who voted \u2014 who's deciding vote who voted against Iran's sanctions, so we didn't get it in place as earlier as we should have. I've fought battles against her. In 1994, I ran against the Clinton machine. James Carville and Paul Begala, ran the race against me when I took on the author of Hillary care. And each one of those battles, I won. You want a fighter, you want a winner, I'd appreciate your vote. Thank you. +p1691 +aVThank you, Wolf. It's great to be here in Las Vegas. And I just want to thank everybody for the opportunity to be here. This is an important time in our country's history. We have entered World War III. World War III has begun and we have a leader who refuses to identify it and be truthful to the American people to the stakes that are involved, in part, because his policies have led us here. His policy toward Iran lit the fuse of a nuclear Iran. Just a few weeks ago the International Atomic Agency reported that Iran has had a nuclear program, but they don't know if it's continuing because they refuse to share any information about the current status. And this President marches on, forgiving them hundreds of billions of dollars to allow them to not just reconstitute their robust nuclear program, pursue their missile program, but also to foment terror around the world. And then his policies in the Middle East with Iraq create +p1692 +aVOf course I do. But what Donald Trump was saying was nothing against Muslims. His comment was against this administration who doesn't have a policy to properly vet people coming into this country. Let's just be honest about what's \u2014 what's being talked about here. And I know people will pile on because it makes sense to pile on, maybe from the polls. But he brings up a legitimate issue. The fact of the matter is not all Muslims are Jihadists and no one, including I suspect, Donald Trump would say that. But the reality is, all Jihadists are Muslims. That's a reality. And we have \u2014 we have to stop worrying about offending some people and start defending all Americans. Because we're not right now. +p1693 +aVI would agree \u2014 I would agree that Donald Trump's proposal was not the right proposal. But he brings up a very important issue that I think we've been ignoring for far too long in this country. The reality is that, yes, we need to get reformist Muslims to join us. We need to get those who are being persecuted and killed within the Middle East to join us. But we also have to protect this country from those who want to harm us and we have to defeat those who are radicalized in the Middle East and wherever we find them around the world. +p1694 +aVJust because it couldn't have prevented San Bernardino doesn't mean that we shouldn't have all tools available to us that doesn't impinge upon people's privacy. This sort of data collection is not collecting people's phones calls, their voices; they're not collecting information that's personal. There's no names attached to these numbers. They're simply numbers and times and relationships that throughout algorithms that computer technology can be able to sort through relationship about what numbers are calling what numbers and be able to track those down to see if there's any leakage's between someone who's potentially a terrorist. That is to me just fundamental that we have to have this type of data to be able to not impinge upon people's privacy. In fact, I would make the argument that the more data we can collect that's anonymous that we can through, through using algorithms, the less we need to involve people in and imposing themselves in people's privacy. +p1695 +aVLook, I agree with Governor Huckabee, that we should in fact be looking at people's social media posts. That's just common sense. But we've defunded and tied the hands behind the backs of our intelligence agencies because of political correctness. We're not allowed to ask any questions or really pursue, whether there's any mosque that they're attending that could be spreading Jihadism, and we know that in this country there are Imams that are doing that. But we're not allowed to ask those questions, we're not allowed to pursue to those things because we have a president who denies the reality of the enemy we confront. +p1696 +aVI don't. I don't think we should be able to deny someone's constitutional rights based on a list kept by the government that nobody knows how they get on it, or how they get off of it. If you're going to make that list public, if you're going to put criteria out there as to how you're going to get on it, if you're going to deny someone's constitutional right, than I think there has to be more transparency. Let's just be honest, when someone applies for a gun, you do a background check. And, if you're on the terrorist watch list, guess what very well may happen? You may get denied that. That's a discretion of the people \u2014 of the ATF in making that kind of decision. I want to leave that discretion \u2014 as long as this list is not well known, as long as it's not transparent, we have to leave that discretion. I want to make a comment about what Mike said, and George said, about mus \u2014 Islam. The fact of the matter is, Islam is different. I know this is going to come as a shock to a lot of people, and I mean the sincerely. Islam is not just a religion. It is also a political governing structure. The fact of the matter is, Islam is a religion, but it is also Sharia law, it is also a civil government, it is also a form of government. And, so, the idea that that is protected under the First Amendment is wrong. And, in fact, that political structure is what is the big problem. The imposition of Sharia law adherence to fundamental Islam as it was practiced in the Seventh Century... +p1697 +aV...There has to be a line drawn. +p1698 +aVWell, there's all sorts of theological reasons why we may not want to go into Syria right now to take +p1699 +aVI would have no problem with Sy \u2014 with boots on the ground in Syria in a training capacity. I do not want American troops on the front line in Syria because I don't believe that that would serve to the interest. Again, understanding what +p1700 +aVNo look, I'm committed to whatever is necessary understanding the nature of the enemy. The enemy is a theocracy and their allure is their theocracy. It's their doctrine and so we have to understand that doctrine. That's why, I love the fact that people are angry and outraged in Washington and want someone new and fresh. But we need someone who understands and has knowledge and experience in these areas. And I can see that you know, Senator Graham has that experience and we have a little difference of opinion. But frankly, it's not that big of difference in our opinion, we both want to defeat +p1701 +aVAnd the fact that we have a nuclear treaty with the Shiites in Iran, that we have now partnered with the Russians and appearing to allow Assad to stay, which is a satellite Alawites, very interrelated to the Shiites, this looks to +p1702 +aVWell, I would establish a no-fly zone. And, I think we just... +p1703 +aVWell \u2014 the first thing you have to do is establish a no-fly zone, and you don't do that by just sort of declaring it. You work through the process of making sure you work with people who, hopefully, have the same objective that you do. And, if they don't, then you establish the no-fly zone, and you take the consequences of whatever \u2014 who violates that law. +p1704 +aV...I don't think it's a war with Russia anymore than Turkey went to war with Russia when Turkey shot down a plane... +p1705 +aVThese are \u2014 these are incidents not something that we're threatening the motherland. This is a tactical decision within an area that we have an obligation for the refugees, for providing stability to the rebels, and an opportunity for the rebels to reconstitute. And, making sure that we stop the flow of refugees into Europe, and into the United States to establish a no-fly zone. And, Russia either is going to comply with it or not, and if they don't, I think it can be contained to that region. +p1706 +aVWell, I would establish a no-fly zone. And, I think we just... +p1707 +aVWell \u2014 the first thing you have to do is establish a no-fly zone, and you don't do that by just sort of declaring it. You work through the process of making sure you work with people who, hopefully, have the same objective that you do. And, if they don't, then you establish the no-fly zone, and you take the consequences of whatever \u2014 who violates that law. +p1708 +aV...I don't think it's a war with Russia anymore than Turkey went to war with Russia when Turkey shot down a plane... +p1709 +aVThese are \u2014 these are incidents not something that we're threatening the motherland. This is a tactical decision within an area that we have an obligation for the refugees, for providing stability to the rebels, and an opportunity for the rebels to reconstitute. And, making sure that we stop the flow of refugees into Europe, and into the United States to establish a no-fly zone. And, Russia either is going to comply with it or not, and if they don't, I think it can be contained to that region. +p1710 +aVI would use the studies that were done that were ignored by this military that there were certain positions that frankly were not suitable. And they pushed a political agenda above what is in the best interest of the safety, security, and effective of our, of our fighting units. So I would go back to using what we should be doing. Which is putting forth people on those front line positions who are best prepared to do the job, survive the job, and come back home safely. +p1711 +aVI would change the policy to reflect what is the best interest of the people that we're asking. I've got a son who's going, who's going into the Air Force right now, and I, as a father, I want to make sure that, if he's out there on the front line \u2014 and he may be a pilot flying an airplane \u2014 I want to make sure that the person who's responsible for, for his wing has the ability to do the job they're doing. And if they don't have that ability to do the job, if we're doing a social promotion as opposed to what's best for the efficacy of our fighting force and for the survivability of our men and women, I'll change that policy. +p1712 +aVSo what you just said is you agree with me. Because that's exactly what I said. +p1713 +aVI said if you can't do the job, you shouldn't be able to...you shouldn't have the position. +p1714 +aVNo, I did not say that, George. I mean, you may, you may have heard that, but I didn't say that. What I said was, if they can in fact do the job that any, any other person can do, I will allow them to do so. +p1715 +aVBut if they cannot, I would reverse the policy. And what happened here is there were many studies done, particularly in the Marine Corps, which begged this President not to move forward with this because people are going to get killed as a result of it. The President went forward anyway. +p1716 +aVOf course there is a proper way to vet refugees coming into the United States. But not from the +p1717 +aVLindsay says this is a real war, until it comes to immigration. And, then, all of a sudden it's not such a real war. The reality is that we've seen since the events of 9/11, the president talks about how he's worried about discrimination and acts against Muslims. There's four times as many acts of violence against Jews than there are against Muslims. I never hear the president talk about that. The reality is that under this president, since 9/11, this anti-Muslim United States of America has doubled the rate of Muslim immigration. Since 9/11. That's what we've done. So, the idea that we have an immigration system that is working... +p1718 +aVIs not \u2014 and, I'm out of time. +p1719 +aVHere's the problem. I was with, in fact, one my guests here today is the Sheriff in Cochise County, down on the border in Arizona. And, he talked with me last night when I was with him about all of the children coming across. All of the children, why? Because we've created a magnet. These children are not coming over, and in great shape, not coming over \u2014 and not in harms way, and \u2014 going through difficult times. We're attracting people. He's also the Sheriff that caught Syrian's at the border. We have through the policies supported by almost everybody in this field......A policy that says amnesty. The world hears this, and knows that if they can come across this border, by and large, they're going to be able to stay. That has to change. +p1720 +aVBarack Obama has not kept this country safe. Hillary Clinton will not keep this country safe. We need to nominate someone who America knows will keep this country safe. Ten years ago I put the sanctions on Iran's nuclear program. Before that, I gave speech after speech, including to President Bush, to identify the enemy and call these radical Islamists who they are. Ladies and gentlemen, this week +p1721 +aVThe middle of America is hollowing out. All you have to do is listen to the last Democratic debate and you would think there was a Republican president in office the way they complained about how bad things are in America and how the middle \u2014 the middle of America is hollowing out. I agree with Mike Huckabee. I spent this morning in Chicago at Fabtech, which is a sheet manufac \u2014 a sheet metal fabricators conference. Thousands of people there explained the latest and newest technologies. You know what I was told? I was told when I went to booth after booth that there are 250,000 welder jobs open in America \u2014 250,000 welder jobs paying anywhere from $50,000 to $70,000 a year, and if you want to weld pipe on a, you know, for oil and gas pipelines, you can make $100,000 a year. Every manufacturer \u2014 I go to one every single week. In fact, I have with me in the \u2014 in the crowd here today a gentleman who is a supporter of mine from Rockwall, Texas, Ed Grand-Lienard. He runs Special Products. And he tells me he has jobs open in every skill that he \u2014 he \u2014 he could possibly hire for in Rockwall, Texas, but he can't find people. So the issue is, yes, we need a tax code. I \u2014 I propose a 20 percent flat tax \u2014 20 percent on corporations, 20 percent on \u2014 on individuals, full expensing, which will be powerful for manufacturing, a 0 percent rate, initially, for manufacturers. We're going to have a very powerful tax code. We're going to do something about regulation. We're going to suspected every single ObamaCare regu \u2014 Obama regulation that cost over $100,000 to the economy. But we have to start doing something about training and employing people who are sitting on the sidelines because they don't see a path. And we have a \u2014 a bureaucracy in Washington and a president in Washington \u2014 and even among Republicans who think everybody has to go to college. People need to go to work and we need to provide......opportunities for them to go to work out of high school. +p1722 +aVWell, the answer is first that we need to do something about a tax code that doesn't penalize. One thing that I'm excited about our tax code, proposed changes, is it's very pro-family. You have a $2,700 tax credit, period, for every person in that family, so that family, you know, would have about an $8,000 tax credit, which would be refundable. So every dollar she works, she's still only losing 20 cents. The problem with the tax code today, because of all the different provisions, you're right, you go back to work, you lose welfare benefits, you're losing money. Throw on top of that the \u2014 even a bigger problem, over 50 percent of children being raised in a home today of a single mom are raised in a home where the father is born \u2014 father is (sic) living at the child \u2014 the time the child is born. Now what does that mean? That means we have incentivized people not to marry. We've incentivized people to cohabitate instead of not marry, why? Because mom will lose welfare benefits if she marries father. It's not just mom going back to work, but it's mother and father marrying to form a more stable family for that child to be raised in a two-parent family. So we've got all sorts of really corrupt incentives that were put in place, well meaning by the left. But we need to remove those. We need to remove those incentives. We need to adopt a tax code that says we're going to be pro-family and pro-work. And that's what we'll do. +p1723 +aVAbsolutely. I'm a capitalist, not a corporatist. I'm not someone who believes we should be bailing out corporations whether their auto industries, or banks. And, it is simply a matter that there's auto industry \u2014 the auto industry would have survived, it would have survived through a bankruptcy process of \u2014 instead of Washington picking a winner and a loser. And, in this case, the losers are the bondholders, and the winners were the unions. That's fine. They did it, the unions \u2014 the unions survived. We \u2014 we have not survived in continuing to grow manufacturing jobs. We have a \u2014 we have a president, and an economy right now, that is killing \u2014 choking our ability to be able to compete. I'm one of the few people up here who actually believes that we need a level playing field when it comes to manufacturing. That means a good tax code, a good regulatory environment, low energy prices, better opportunities for workers to get training, and, also, I'm \u2014 a supporter of the +p1724 +aV...Let me settle this argument... +p1725 +aV...Well... +p1726 +aVI'll answer that in a second, but, I want to answer this other problem because this is a real legitimate debate between Chris and Bobby, and if somebody says we need someone who can win in a blue state, and Bobby says we need a real principled conservative. Ninety-two percent conservative voting record, unlike some of the other senators that Bobby mentioned who hasn't done anything to cut federal spending, I was actually the author of welfare reform, which is the only time we've ever seen a federal entitlement actually cut. We cut it. Senate did exactly what every conservative says they want to do. We took the program, we eliminated the federal entitlement, we blocked (ph) to the state, we capped the amount of money, cut it by about 10%, and then put two requirements, work, and time limits. We need to do that with the rest of the \u2014 means (ph) tested federal entitlements. I've done it. And I did it with a bipartisan support in the House and Senate, and after fighting two presidential vetoes by Bill Clinton. So I had a democratic president we had to get this through. No record of accomplishment. I agree with the folks who are from the Congress in this race. I have a record of accomplishment of being a conservative on everything. National security, on moral and cultural issues, on the economy, and twice won a blue state. The first time I beat the author of Hillarycare. I had Bill and Hillary in my state, James Carville managed the race against me, a state with a million more Democrats than Republicans. And I ran on health savings accounts, on private sector health care, as a conservative, pro-life, pro-family, and I won. And then in 2000, I was the only senator to win a state as a conservative that George Bush lost. You want someone who can win Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, with a conservative message, I'm your guy. +p1727 +aVI'll be happy to answer that if you give me more time. +p1728 +aVI'm going to answer two questions for the price of one. The infrastructure question, the answer is... We need to get the federal government out of this infrastructure business, other than vital economic highways. It has been said that if we cut the gas tax to 3 to 5 cents and send the rest back to the states, and just take care of the federal infrastructure that's vital for our economy, let the \u2014 we don't need the federal government and the road business that it is today. Number one. Number two, you know who I respect in the Democratic Party? You know why I respect them? Because they fight! Because they're not willing to back down, and they're willing to stand up and fight and win. And so I respect them because they are willing to take it to us. +p1729 +aVWell, I'll tell you, I have a 20 percent flat tax. That's one all income \u2014 so capital gains, corporations, individuals, 20 percent. I think that's a fair number, one out of five, to be able to \u2014 to help support the federal government. By the way it also approximates, if you take out some of the deductions, it approximates how much the federal government is, on average, spent of GDP, which is about 18 to 19 percent of GDP. So it actually fits with shrinking the size of government down to more like post-World War II levels. So the second thing we do is I don't allow for deductibility of state and local taxes, which will require state and local taxes to go down in order to be treated for their \u2014 for their people to be treated fairly. So the answer is, 20 percent and probably 33 percent overall. +p1730 +aVWell, I don't \u2014 I agree with Governor Christie, I don't think you can make it any more political than it's been. They \u2014 they are protecting a president that is over-taxing and over- regulating, shutting down this economy. And he \u2014 and they're keeping it up like Atlas, trying to hold up the Earth by \u2014 by these ridiculously low interest rates. And it's hurting American seniors, who are seeing no Social Security increases, seeing no \u2014 no savings. They're \u2014 they're putting their money aside. They're getting nothing in their deposit accounts. This is hurting the people who have acted responsibly, all in favor of those who, um, you know, are \u2014 are speculators and \u2014 and those on Wall Street. It's not a good deal for \u2014 for the vast majority of responsible Americans. The other thing we have with the Fed is they've been given way too much authority. Under Dodd-Frank, they've been given this enormous new authority. I mean they \u2014 they now have almost become the most powerful entity in Washington, DC. We need to repeal Dodd-Frank, get away that authority from the Fed and put them under more \u2014 more scrutiny. That's only part of the problem. I understand the Fed is interesting for a business channel, but I think for most Americans, the most important business is the family. And we haven't really talked much about the importance of the family to the economy. And \u2014 and ladies and gentlemen, every single book, from left to right, that's been written over the last couple of years has said the biggest problem in America today at the hollowing out of the middle of America is the breakdown of the nuclear family in America. We'd better be the party that's out there talking about this issue and what we're going to do to help strengthen marriage and return dads into homes in all communities. You want to talk about the communities that are hurting the most, the ones you see the protests in......there are no dads. And we need to do something about it. +p1731 +aVHappy Birthday. +p1732 +aV\u2014 States Marine Corps. +p1733 +aVThat's very personal to me. I grew up on a V.A. grounds. I lived in apartments on V.A. grounds my entire childhood. Both my Mom and Dad, after World War II, marry \u2014 met at a V.A., married, and that's where I lived. Kitchen table discussion was, particularly when I was growing up in the 1960's and 1970's, was the decline of the V.A. When they joined in the early 1950's, the V.A. was the top. They were the best, they were the best and brightest coming in after the war. And, we believed in the cause that we fought, and we invested in our hospitals to make sure that our veterans who left World War II were taken care of. But, after Vietnam, and during Vietnam, that began to change, and it really hasn't recovered since. The bottom line is the V.A. is antiquated. There's no need for a V.A. healthcare system as it existed after World War \u2014 why? Because we have the best private healthcare system in the world, we didn't need \u2014 we needed it in 1950's, hospitals were not particularly advanced, so, we built the best. We didn't maintain the best. Government didn't keep its promises to its veterans. So, what we need to do is two things. Number one, we need to allow veterans to go to private sector hospitals for their routine and ordinary care to get the best care in their community possible. And, there is a place for the Veterans Administration. There are injuries, and there are \u2014 things like +p1734 +aVIt should come as no surprise to Chris, or anybody else, that Barack Obama doesn't stand behind our men and women in uniform here at home because he hasn't stood behind them overseas. The rules of engagement that we've allowed our soldiers to go and fight against have put them in harm's way for political purposes. This has been the most politicized wars that we've ever seen under this administration. He gets in, and gets out, based upon what the polls are saying, what pressure he's getting from groups. Talk about a Commander in Chief. We need a commander in chief who has a vision and plan of how we're going to execute the national security of our country. Commander in chief is not an entry level position. Experience matters, and that's why I would ask for your support as a Commander in Chief, because I have the experience against the enemy......to confront to do the job. +p1735 +aVI announced from a factory floor in Western Pennsylvania. This campaign has all been about two words for me, working families. Working. Getting people the opportunity to see those wages rise, to be on the side of the American workers so they can get good paying jobs, and that means we have to start making things in America again. We need a president who's going to not just put policies in place, but is going to stand up at the bully pulpit and talk about the dignity of being a welder. The dignity of being a carpenter, about going to work and earning success. And, also, the importance of families, the importance of families and fathers, and mothers raising their children, and committing to that so that they can give children in our country the best opportunity to success. Working families is the key for us to win this election. +p1736 +aVYes, I think it's one thing to shrink the size of a state government but it's another thing to actually get something accomplished in Washington. It's a much tougher field. And I'm the one in the \u2014 on this stage and, frankly, on both stages that has actually gone to Washington, said we would shrink government, said we would shake things up and actually delivered for the conservative cause, everything from welfare reform, which was the largest, most significant accomplishment in the last 25 years for conservatism. I authored the bill when I was in the House of Representatives; I managed the bill on the floor of the United States Senate. You need a conservative who can deliver and that's what I bring to the table. +p1737 +aVWell, if you look at my flat tax, it actually takes the best of what Steve Forbes, Art Laffer, many have been advocating for a long time, which is a very strong pro-growth tax code \u2014 very simple. And, it adjusts it to make sure that it is not regressive. We have a $2,750 per person tax credit \u2014 that's $2,750 off the taxes due, not a deduction, a credit. And, we think \u2014 in fact, if you run the numbers, no American who's going to be paying more taxes under our proposal, so, we've accomplished both. We have a system that has a low single rate, but we take care of American families. I'm talking about $2,750 per person. That means a family four, that's $11,000 dollar tax credit. That's a very, very strong pro-family \u2014 and if you looked at the Wall Street Journal today, and so many of the publications that have been out there, they've talked about how the biggest problem of the hollowing out of the middle of this country. For workers to be able to raise is actually, the breakdown of the American family. William Galston, a liberal, said that on the pages of the Wall Street Journal today that the key to poverty is families. So, we put forth a pro-growth \u2014 Steve Forbes plan, combined it with a pro- family plan, and that's why I think it's going to work out, and work effectively. +p1738 +aVWhat we should be \u2014 we shouldn't be putting tariffs on anything. That hurts working men and women in this country. What we should be doing is making our manufacturing more competitive. One of the reasons I introduced the 20/20 plan, a 20 percent flat tax on corporations, as well as on individuals, is so we can be competitive, so we can bring those manufacturing jobs back. You want to talk about cutting pollution? You do a little back- of-the-envelope. We \u2014 we produce, per dollar of GDP, about one-fifth of the CO2 and other pollutants that China produces. So we're five times more efficient in producing goods here, as far as the environment \u2014 environment is concerned. Why don't we \u2014 if we really want to tackle environmental problems, global warming, what we need to do is take those jobs from China and bring them back here to the United States, employ workers in this country. We've lost two million jobs \u2014 two million jobs \u2014 under this administration in manufacturing \u2014 15,000 manufacturers have left this country. Why? Because of bad tax policy, bad regulatory policy and, yes, bad trade policy. We need to have a president that's going to pledge, as I have \u2014 I'm going to make America the number-one manufacturer so working men and women can have good paying jobs again in America. +p1739 +aV\u2014 with competition... +p1740 +aV\u2014 for low wage workers. +p1741 +aV and I... +p1742 +aVThat's not what's happening. +p1743 +aVA true conservative wants to create a level playing field. That's what \u2014 that's what we're \u2014 that's what government is supposed to do. They're not supposed to favor one group over another. And when it comes to our manufacturers, the level playing field is not in the United States. It's international. And so the federal government should have laws, tax laws, regulatory laws and, yes, finance laws. There's 60 other ex-im banks all over \u2014 all over the world. Every major competitor for the United States' manufacturing dollar has one of those banks. And guess what? They use those banks a heck of a lot more than their \u2014 than the United States of America does, number one. So in order to have a level playing field, which is what conservatives talk about all the time, level playing field, then we have to have export financing and here's why.Because export financing doesn't help Boeing, or G.E. G.E. just lost a contract, you know what they did? They went to . They got the X.M. (ph) bank in France to support it, and what did they do? They moved manufacturing out of South Carolina, out of Texas, moved to \u2014 Hungary, and to France. G.E. is still making money. G.E. is still doing well, but American workers are out of jobs. That's why we have to have this level playing field so we can compete with the rest of the world. +p1744 +aVWell, first, since you mention Colorado, I want to thank the people of Colorado because four years ago you \u2014 gave me the honor of winning the nomination out here in the state of Colorado. On a night we won three states, and it catapulted us to win 11 states ultimately, so, I just want to thank you very, very much for that support, and \u2014 in response to that, I do drink a lot of Coors beer, so... I try to help. The answer is pretty simple. The answer is simple. There are no shortage of breweries around the United States of America. I \u2014 I do \u2014 as I travel around the country, I do pints and politics, and I go to breweries all over the place, and there \u2014 there's almost no town in America anymore that doesn't have a brewery, so I don't think we need to worry too much. They're obviously \u2014 if there's \u2014 if there's some anti- competitive issues, you know, we have agencies to look at that. But, no, I'm not \u2014 I'm not concerned that Americans are not going to have choices in beer. +p1745 +aVAnd I care about, by the way. I care about choices. +p1746 +aVWell, I \u2014 I would say this, that what you're seeing is \u2014 in health care, you're seeing a lot of consolidation, and that consolidation is occurring because of Obamacare. You're seeing it particularly in an area that I am concerned about, and that's in insurance \u2014 health insurance. You're seeing the big health insurance companies fold up. You've seen Obama try to seed health insurance companies, and they've all failed, I think, except one. Why? Because we have a system of Obamacare with minimum loss ratios that make it virtually impossible for a small insurer to operate effectively. And this was the motive behind Obamacare. This wasn't incidental. This was deliberate, to make it so impossible for small insurers to survive... +p1747 +aV...that they consolidate into a small group. Then the left can say, "there is no competition, we need a single payer." That's why we have to repeal Obamacare. +p1748 +aVThank you. Can I just say something about that? +p1749 +aVWell, if you look at our plan that I introduced, the 2020 Clear Vision for America, we increase growth by 10 percent, 1 percent a year. So we go from 2.3 to 3.3, in repealing Obamacare, it's another .7. So you're looking at 4 percent growth, according to the Tax Foundation. And unlike Donald Trump and Bobby Jindal, we don't add $10 trillion to the deficit. In fact, our plan, while it creates as many jobs as their plan does and grows the economy as much as theirs does, we are a revenue-neutral plan because I believe that we need to reduce the size of government, yes, but we also need to reduce our deficit, and we need to get our budget balanced so we can start paying down this debt. And adding a trillion dollars with a tax cut and getting no more growth is not the way to do it. But that's only half of it. The word "economy" comes from the Greek "euthokis" (ph) which means family. The family is the first economy. And the one thing that we do not talk about enough is how stable families are vitally important for the middle of America to be prosperous and to grow and be safe. And I will have policies, not just tax policies, but others that will make sure that families are strong again in America. +p1750 +aVMLB, NHL, so I'm a big sports fan. And "The Wall Street Journal." Those are the three apps I use the most. +p1751 +aVWell, since we're usually in the Super Bowl at the Pittsburgh Steelers... Steeler nation, anybody? +p1752 +aVNo. I was in......was in Kansas City over the weekend to watch the Steeler game and about a third of the crowd were Steeler fans. So I'm usually not alone when I call on Steeler Nation. But we are used to being in the Super Bowl, so actually, it is in Pennsylvania already. +p1753 +aVI grew up in a steel town of Western Pennsylvania, outside of Pittsburgh, and when I announced for president, I announced from the factory floor. When I talk about making America the number one manufacturer again in the world, it's not just talk. When I talk about having the opportunity for people to rise again, it's not just because it polls well. I represented the old steel valley of Pittsburgh. I represented a 70% Democratic district, and won with 60% of the vote. Why? Because I aligned myself with working men and women who feel that neither party, and certainly not Washington D.C. cares about them. You elect me, we will get American workers on the side of the Republican party, and we can not be stopped if we do. +p1754 +aVHi, I'm Rick Santorum. Some of you may know me because I led the fight to end partial birth abortion. Some of you may know me because the I led the fight to end welfare as we know it, put people back to work, reduce poverty and reduce the federal budget. Some of you may know me because I successfully put sanctions on the Iranian nuclear program in Congress, over opposition of both parties initially. But hopefully, most of you know me most because I'm the proud father of seven children with particularly a special little disabled girl, who is the heart and core of my heart and married to a wonderful woman named Karen for 25 years, who is the love of my life. +p1755 +aVI think personal attacks, just please one person, Hillary Clinton. And all we do when we go after each other -- and we've seen a bunch of it, from people up on this stage, people who are going to be on the stage afterwards, who go after and make personal attacks on people. There are plenty of policy differences between the candidates up here and the candidates later. Donald Trump has ever right to run for president as a Republican, as anybody else in this audience, and he may have positions I disagree with, but he has the right to do that and the people should be given the benefit of the doubt for people to see through these things. I don't think it helps when Republicans attack Republicans personally. I'll say some things tonight which will be very big differences. The issue of immigration is one that there are huge differences in this field, and I will be out there talking about how we have to control immigration. How we have to look after the American worker. The focus of this debate should be on how we're going to win this election and help improve the quality of life for American workers, and we aren't doing that, when we're out there picking at each other and calling each other names. The name we should call out is, what are we going to do for average Americans losing ground in America today. And that should be our focus. +p1756 +aVWell, in fact, just about everybody in this field supports some pathway to citizenship. There are just a few, Governor Jindal, Senator Cruz, Senator Rubio, Jeb Bush, a lot of others, Senator Graham, all support some sort of amnesty at some point in time or another. And this is really the interesting thing about this whole debate. This debate should not be about what we're going to do with someone who's here illegally. This debate should not be about what we're going to do with someone who's here illegally; This debate should be about what -- what every other debate on every other policy issue is in America. What's in the best interest of hardworking Americans? What's in the best interest of our country. We've had to focus because the other side has set up for us, here is who we have to be concerned about on the issue of immigration, someone who's here illegally and their family, and what are we going to do about it? A greater leader will see that the objection of every law in America is to do what's in the best interest of America. And what's in the best interest of America right now is to look at wages, look at employment among wager earners. 70 to 90 percent of people who've come into this country, 35 million over the last 20 years, are wage earners that are holding wages down, taking jobs away from America. +p1757 +aVWell, just because you don't call it amnesty doesn't mean that what -- what almost everybody in this field is for is allowing people who are in this country illegally, people who broke the law to come into this country, people who came here legally and overstayed, to stay in -- in America. Again, we have 35 million -- we have the highest percentage of -- of -- of immigrants in this country, as far as numbers ever, as far as percentage, the -- the highest in 105 years. Wages are flatlining. The reason that you're seeing the angst and the anger out there and the reason this issue has taken off is because workers in America know that their wages are being undermined. If you look at, from the year 2000 to the year 2014, there're 5.7 million net new jobs created. What percentage of those jobs are held by people who weren't born here? The answer is all of them. The fact is, American workers are -- are getting hurt by immigration... +p1758 +aV... and that's why they're upset. +p1759 +aV...Hold on, hold on, hold on... +p1760 +aV...He mentioned my name, and that i didn't have a plan. And, the fact of the matter is... +p1761 +aV...that I did have a plan back in 2006. I introduced a plan called, A Comprehensive Border Security Bill, which did, in fact, put the resources to build the fencing, and deploy the troops, and the technology necessary which... +p1762 +aVAs you know, Lindsay... +p1763 +aV...As you know, 40 to 60 percent of the 11 million are here on visa overstays. We know exactly who they are, we should know where they are, but we have a government that doesn't tell them to return home. You can solve half of the problem of the 11 million... +p1764 +aV...by simply telling the 11 million that they have to return to their country of origin, so, that's half your problem... +p1765 +aV...Now, it's not 11 million... +p1766 +aVI don't know how many democrats I had on my bill... +p1767 +aVBut, the point is -- the point is is that I had a bill... +p1768 +aVWell, you're right, Lindsay, it went no where because we had a president back then who was for more comprehensive immigration reform... +p1769 +aV...That's right... +p1770 +aVYou know what we need to do... +p1771 +aVLindsay, is we need to win -- we need to win fighting for Americans. We need to win fighting for the workers in this country... +p1772 +aV...who are hurting, including including hispanics... +p1773 +aV...the people who are hurt the most by illegal immigration are hispanics. +p1774 +aV...The folks -- the folks who are -- hurt the worst are recent immigrants. By illegal immigrants coming to this country last year alone, 700,000 illegal immigrants came into this country. Who do you think are most impacted? It's the folks who came into this country, played by the rules, did what they were supposed to do. Came here, and went to work, and now they're finding themselves out of work because someone illegally is willing to come in and work for less... +p1775 +aVI just want to say -- I just want to say, I have seven kids, I've done my part. +p1776 +aVI have proposed 10,000 troops, I did so about six or seven months ago, that we needed to deploy additional troops to do exactly what Lindsey said, arm the Kurds, arm -- +p1777 +aVI've said -- I've said 10,000 and, if more is necessary, look, the answer is this, once +p1778 +aV16 years ago, this country was tremendously inspired by a young woman who faced a gunman in Columbine and was challenged about her faith and she refused to deny God. We saw her as a hero. Today, someone who refuses to defy (sic) a judge's unconstitutional verdict is ridiculed and criticized, chastised because she's standing up and denying -- not denying her God and her faith. That is a huge difference in 16 years. People have a fundamental right in the First Amendment. There's no more important right. It is the right that is the trunk that all other rights come from, and that's the freedom of conscience. And when we say in America that we have no room -- how many bakers, how many florists, how many pastors, how many clerks are we going to throw in jail because they stand up and say, "I cannot violate what my faith says is against its teachings"? Is there not room in America? I believe there has to be room. First, I believe we have to pass the First Amendment Defense Act, which provides that room for government officials and others who do not want to be complicit in what they believe is against their faith. Second, we need as a president who's going to fight a court that is abusive, that has superseded their authority. Judicial supremacy is not in the Constitution, and we need a president and a Congress to stand up to a court when it exceeds its constitutional authority. +p1779 +aVI hope so. If they're wrong. +p1780 +aVNo, what you have is judicial supremacy. You don't have a rule of law when the court has the final say on everything. +p1781 +aVMartin Luther King wrote a letter from the Birmingham jail. And he said in that letter that there are just laws and there are unjust laws. And we have no obligation to -- to condone and accept unjust laws. And he -- and they -- then he followed up and said what's an unjust law? An unjust law is a job that -- a law that go against the moral code or God's law or the natural law. I would argue that what the Supreme Court did is against the natural law, it's against God's law and we have every obligation to stand in opposition to it. +p1782 +aVWell, contrary to what Governor Jindal said, Governor -- Justice Roberts had a long record and it was a long, good record. And so he made a bad decision on -- a couple of bad decisions on ObamaCare but he's made a lot of great decisions, too. And so I don't -- I don't regret at all standing up for John Roberts but, you know, it's easy to sit out in Louisiana and talk about how, you know, well, I'd be tougher. I fought when I was in the United States Senate. We fought, for the first time, to defeat justices and judges that Bill Clinton nominated and I fought with President Bush to defend his nominees, to push even a filibuster, breaking the filibuster. I led that fight against someone who didn't want to end the filibuster in order for us to get good, conservative justices. So I have been there on the front line, fighting for judges and conservative justices and I will do so as president like none other. +p1783 +aVActually, I'm going to be proposing a plan, I call it the 20/20 perfect vision for America as flat tax, a 20 percent flat tax on income, 20 percent flat tax on capital gains and on corporations. We eliminate all the deductions, special interest provisions and corporations. We deal with the carried interest issue, because everybody pays the same 20 percent. So, there's no advantage as to how you take your income. That will create growth. We're going to allow expensing for corporations. For manufacturing, again, I print -- I pledged, when I announced that I was going to run for president on the factory floor that I would make America the number one manufacturer in the world. Why? Because we need to put Americans back to work. Hard working Americans, who are not doing well in this economy, and we start creating jobs here, and manufacturing. These people from all skill levels are going to be able to work. We put a 20 percent rate on corporations, we're competitive with almost every country in the world. We allow for expensing, we have a three year phase in. We start at zero for manufacturers, phase it up to 20. You're going to see an enormous investment of capital, and equipment. You're going to see people -- you're going to have problems finding folks are going to be able to work in manufacturing. That's how many jobs we're going to create. So, the answer is, you know, we're going to lower, and flatten taxes. We're going to put government on a -- on a budget. A 10 percent across the board cut... +p1784 +aV...employment. We've got a lot of plans. +p1785 +aV...Let me just... +p1786 +aV...He talked about manufacturing, and the fact is that we have a zero percent rate that faces the 20, we'd have a seven percent repatriation, so money -- about two trillion dollars over seas... +p1787 +aV...Would come back, and be invested in equipment here. We will create more jobs with this plan, than any plan out... +p1788 +aVLindsay, what percentage of American workers make the minimum wage right now? +p1789 +aVIt's less than one percent. +p1790 +aV...So, what you're saying, what every Republican's up here saying is we're against the minimum wage because, if you're not for increasing it, than whoevers making the minimum wage right now... +p1791 +aV...The answer is Republicans don't believe in a floor wage in America. Fine, you go ahead and make that case to the American public, I'm not going to. Not from a party that supported bailouts. I didn't, but this party did. +p1792 +aVNot from a party that supports special interest tax provisions for a whole bunch of other businesses, and, but, when it comes to hardworking Americans who are at the bottom of the income scale, we can't provide some level of income support? What I've proposed is not anything but the (ph) presidents (ph) proposed (ph) I believe that would be harmful to the American public, but a $.50 cents an hour increase over three years, which is what I'm proposing. So we would have a minimum wage which would be roughly in the area of what it's been historically, about 5 percent of wages. To me, if you're going to talk to 90 percent of American workers -- by the way, 90 percent of American workers don't own a bar. They don't own a business. They work for a living. They're wage -- most of them are wage earners. And Republicans are losing elections because we're not talking about them. All we want to talk about is, what happened to our business? There are people who work in that business. I was at a -- I was at the convention four years ago, and on the signs -- on all of the seats the night I spoke was a sign that said, "We built that," because Barack Obama had talked about how businesses didn't build their own businesses. Then we trotted out one small-business person after another for almost an hour that night talking about how they built their businesses. And that's wonderful. But you know what we didn't do? We didn't bring one worker on that stage. How are you going to win, ladies and gentlemen? How are we going to win if 90 percent of Americans don't think we care at all... +p1793 +aV... about them and their chance to rise... +p1794 +aVAs you know, Hugh, 12 years ago I authored the Iran Freedom Support Act, which put sanctions on the Iran nuclear program as we came within four votes of passing a very strong version of that. The four people who opposed on the floor: Joe Biden, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. And we came four votes short. But for 12 years, I have been laser-beam focused on the issue of Iran with a nuclear weapon. Why? Because I understand who they are. Yes, they are radical Islamists, that's true. But their particular version of it, which is an apocalyptic version, which is a death cult, they believe in bringing about the end of the -- end of the world. If you -- if you poll Iranians and Iraqis, Shiites in the region, more than two-thirds of them believe that the end of the world is going to come within their lifetime. Why? Because their regime preaches it. They believe in bringing about the end of times. That's their theological goal and we are in the process of giving them a nuclear weapon to do just that. That's why, on day one, I would say to the Iranian government, you open up all of these facilities for inspection, you make them available to the U.N. and to the U.S., everything, we can go everywhere or else we will take out those facilities. And when people say, you're going to start a war -- +p1795 +aV-- my response is, no, I'm going to stop a war because a nuclear Iran is the end. +p1796 +aVI came to Washington in the most unlikely way. I defeated a 14-year incumbent, a 60 percent Democratic district. I went to Washington thinking I was only going to be there for one term, and so I just shook things up. We sent the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee to jail. We ended 40 years, 40 years of Democratic control of the Congress. And I led that fight with reforms, substantive reforms, welfare reform. I led the charge -- I wrote the bill when I was in the House. I led the charge in the United States Senate. Partial-birth abortion -- in fact, three pro-life bills, bipartisan pro-life bills. I mentioned the Iran bill. We also passed one on Syria. Health savings accounts, as many of you know, I authored the original bill on health savings accounts, pushed that through the Congress for private sector health care reform. An outsider who came to Washington from the tough state of Pennsylvania, and we got conservative things done. I made things happen in a town where things don't happen very much. Now, after 10 years of seeing the mess, the retreat that we see in the Republican party in Washington, D.C., it's time to get someone who is an outsider. +p1797 +aVWho can go to Washington, D.C., and get things done. You know what, you have a lot of folks who will tell you a lot of things. Look at their record. I went to Washington as an outsider. +p1798 +aVShook things up, got things done. +p1799 +aVAnd that's why you can trust me to do it again. +p1800 +aVI would say the message that got us the win in Iowa and 10 other states against pretty overwhelming odds, is the message that's going to deliver us in this election. You know, we didn't start out four years ago at the top of the heap. We were behind where we were today. But we stuck to our message. We stuck to the fact that Americans are tired of Washington corporate interests and Democrats who are interested in just politics and power and they're looking for someone who's going to fight for them; looking for someone who's going to grow manufacturing sector of our economy, so those 74 percent of Americans who don't have a college degree have a chance to rise again. Someone who's going to stand up, and be very clear with our enemies as to the lines their going to draw and stand with them. I've got a track record. The reason I did so well last time is not just because of the vision, it's because I have a track record in Washington, D.C. of getting things done. Iran sanctions -- the Iran sanctions that brought them to the table, those are sanctions that we put in place when I was in the United States Senate, and a whole host of other things that put me in a position of saying, I not only have a great vision, but I can govern effectively in Washington. +p1801 +aVMy father was born in Italy, and shortly after he was born my grandfather immigrated to this country. And under the laws of this country, he wasn't allowed to be with his father for seven years. Spent the first seven years of his life in Fascist Italy, under Benito Mussolini. Not a very pleasant place to be. I asked my dad after -- obviously, when I found out about this. And I said, "Didn't you resent America for not letting you be with your father in those formative and very threatening years?" You know what he said to me? "America was worth the wait." We're a country of laws, Bill. We're a country of laws, not of men, not of people who do whatever they want to do. I know we have a president who wants to do whatever he wants to do, and take his pen and his phone and just tell everybody what he thinks is best. But the reason America is a great country, the reason is because our compassion is in our laws. And when we live by those laws and we treat everybody equally under the law, that's when people feel good about being Americans. And I put forth an immigration policy that is as strong in favor of the folks who are struggling in America the most than anybody else. It's the strongest pro-worker immigration plan. It says that after 35 million people have come here over the last 20 years, almost all of whom are unskilled workers, flattening wages, creating horrible opportunity -- a lack of opportunities for unskilled workers, we're going to do something about reducing the level of immigration by 25 percent. We're going to be tough at the border, we're going to be tough on all of the illegal immigrants that everybody else in this field -- we're going to be different. We're going to be actually out there trying to create a better life for hard-working Americans. +p1802 +aVI think it's -- yeah, I think it's a one-two punch. Number one, we have to create better paying jobs. I mean, that's just the bottom line. We haven't. And that's the reason that I've said under my presidency, we'll create jobs and make American the number one manufacturing country in the world. If we want to create jobs for the folks that you're talking about, who are having trouble getting off government benefits, primarily because of their low skill level, there is no better way -- it's worked for 100 years in America -- putting people back to work in manufacturing is it. I'm going to be introducing a plan which I call the 2020 Perfect Vision for America. It's a 20 percent flat rate tax, it'll take a blowtorch to the -- to the IRS. It will create a manufacturing juggernaut in this country. And you combine that with reforms of our welfare system. You're looking at the -- at the man who introduced and fought on the floor as a freshman senator and passed the Welfare Reform Act of 1996 over two President Clinton vetoes. Got 70 votes in the United States Senate. Bipartisan issue. And I ended a federal entitlement. Never been done before, never been done since. What we need to do is take the rest of the federal entitlements, not just welfare, but food stamps and Medicaid and housing programs and do the same thing we did with welfare. Work requirements and time limits. That will change everything. Mac +p1803 +aVIt is not any more than Dred Scott was settled law to Abraham Lincoln, who, in his first inaugural address, said "it won't stand." And they went ahead and passed laws in direct contravention to a rogue Supreme Court. This is a rogue Supreme Court decision, just like Justice Roberts said. There is no constitutional basis for the Supreme Court's decision, and I know something about this. The -- one of the times the Supreme Court spoke that I thought they were acting outside of their authority was in a partial-birth abortion case. You know, these Planned Parenthood tapes, what they're showing are partial-birth abortions. Abortions being done where the baby's being delivered first, to preserve those organs, and then they crush the skull. Well, the Supreme Court found a bill that I was the author of unconstitutional. What did I do? I didn't stop. I didn't say "oh, well we lost. It's the law of the land." We worked together. The House and Senate, under my leadership, and we passed a bill, and we said, "Supreme Court, you're wrong." We're a coequal branch of the government. We have every right to be able to stand up and say what is constitutional. We passed a bill, bipartisan support, and the Supreme Court, they -- they sided with us. Sometimes it just takes someone to lead and stand up to the court. +p1804 +aVJust ditto to that. We're going to suspend -- I've -- I've said this for four years. We're going to suspend and repeal every executive order, every regulation that cost American jobs and is -- is -- is impacting our freedom. And second, the First Amendment Defense Act, which is protecting religious liberty, if it's not passed by then, which I suspect it won't, because the president will veto it, I will institute an executive order to make sure that people of faith are not being -- not being harassed and persecuted by the federal government for standing up for the religious beliefs. +p1805 +aVI came to Washington, D.C. in 1990. That sounds like a long time ago. It was. It was 25 years ago, and I came by defeating the Democratic incumbent. I came as a reformer. I started the Gang of Seven, and it led to the overtaking of the 40-year Democratic rule of Congress, because I didn't -- I stood up to the old-boy network in Washington, D.C. because I believed that Washington was not the solution, that Washington was the problem, just like Ronald Reagan said. I was a child of Ronald Reagan. And I went there, and for 16 years, I fought the insiders and was able to get things done. That's the difference. We need to elect someone who will stand with the American people, who understands its greatness, who understands what an open economy and freedom is all about, but at the same time, has a record of being able to get things done in Washington like we've never seen before. Reforms, everything from moral and cultural issues to economic issues. Those of you health savings accounts. Health savings accounts are something that we introduced. It's a private-sector solution that believes in freedom, not Obamacare that believes in government control. Those are the things we brought, and we were able to get things done. If you want someone who's not going to divide Washington, but gets things done, then you should make me your president. +p1806 +aVI'll tell you how optimistic I am about America. Karen and I have seven children. You don't have seven children and bring them into this world if you're not optimistic about the future of this country. I am, but people are upset, and they're upset for a reason about the future of this country. Donald Trump actually seized on it when he talked about immigration. And I think the reason he did is because immigration is sort of an example of what's broken and what's wrong in Washington, D..C. You see, you have one side, the Democrats, and with immigration, all they care about is votes. They don't care about American workers, they just care about bringing as many people in so they can get as many votes as they can. ON the other side, you have so many Republicans, and what do they care about? Helping business make profits. There's nobody out there looking out for the American worker. I'm looking out for the American worker. I'm the only one on this stage who has a plan that's actually reduced -- actually going to reduce immigration. Actually going to do something to help the American worker. And you combine that with a plan to make manufacturing -- this country number one in manufacturing, you've got someone who's going to help revitalize and give hope to America, the place -- the place is that is the most hopeless today. That's why I ask for your support for president. +p1807 +asVQUESTION +p1808 +(lp1809 +VMy name is Ashley Tofil. Ms. Fiorina, in November, you said that you would not talk to Vladimir Putin after you were elected because you would be communicating from a position of weakness. Do you believe that it is feasible to not communicate with another world leader? And do you think that that also is a sign of weakness? +p1810 +aVMy name is Carla Hernandez. I'm from the University of Texas at Austin. And my question is directed to all the candidates. If the Bible clearly states that we need to embrace those in need and not fear, how can we justify not accepting refugees? +p1811 +aVPlease describe one action you would do to make the economic environment more favorable for small businesses and entrepreneurs and anyone dreaming of opening their own business. +p1812 +aVHi, I'm Adithya Sivakumar. I'm from Vanderbilt University. And I was wondering with U.S. designated state sponsors of terrorism such as Iran and other traditional U.S. enemies fighting +p1813 +aVNew Hampshire has been hard hit by the heroin epidemic, and we're on track to have twice as many overdose deaths this year as in 2013. What specifically would you do to address this crisis? +p1814 +aVAs a young person, I'm very concerned about climate change and how it will affect my future. As a presidential candidate, what will you do to address climate change? (END +p1815 +aVI'm Mark Watson. I'm known for my views on Youtube, but I'm also a veteran who served in the Army for eight years. As an African-American living near Ferguson, I've seen the strain between police officers and the communities they serve firsthand. Now, there are great tools like body cameras that \u2014 to protect both officers and citizens, but we all currently have better cameras in our pockets than in our precincts. Why aren't we using the technology available to better protect our communities? +p1816 +aVI'm Dulce Candy, a Youtube creator who immigrated to the United States from Mexico when I was a little girl. Since then, I am proud to say I served in the armed forces in Iraq, became a citizen and I am now an entrepreneur. There are many immigrants who contribute positively to the American economy, but some of the comments in the campaign make us question our place in this country. If America does not seem like a welcoming place for immigrant entrepreneurs, will the American economy suffer? +p1817 +aVI'm Nabela Noor. I'm a Muslim American born and raised in the U.S. who creates beauty and lifestyle videos on Youtube. In 2015, the number of hate crimes against Muslims in the U.S. has tripled, and on social media, where I spend a lot of time, I've seen many attacks directed towards fellow Muslims. This culture of hatred is only driving +p1818 +asVCAVUTO +p1819 +(lp1820 +VIt is 9:00 p.m. on the East Coast, 8:00 p.m. here inside the Milwaukee theater. Welcome to the Republican presidential debate here on the Fox Business Network. I'm Neil Cavuto, alongside my co-moderators, Maria Bartiromo, and the editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal, Gerard Baker. +p1821 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. +p1822 +aVIt sounds like a game show but it's not. Now I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the elephant in the room, and I'm not talking about your party's fine symbol. I'm talking about the purpose of tonight's debate. The economy and what each of you would do to improve it. No more, no less. We are focused on those issues, and what you have said on those issues in your words and what your opponents have said in their words about your words. That is the agenda tonight. How each of you plans to make America better tomorrow. And so we begin. Candidates, as we gather tonight in this very august theater, just outside and across the country, picketers are gathering as well. They're demanding an immediate hike in the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Just a few hours ago, near Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed doing the same for all state workers, the first governor to do so. Mr. Trump, as the leading presidential candidate on this stage and one whose tax plan exempts couples making up to $50,000 a year from paying any federal income taxes at all, are you sympathetic to the protesters cause since a $15 wage works out to about $31,000 a year? +p1823 +aVSo do not raise the minimum wage? +p1824 +aVDr. Carson, you have long bemoaned this lackluster recovery. And this Facebook map show Americans share your concern. The green represents how the jobs issue is resonating all across the nation, especially here in the state of Wisconsin. You suggested one minimum wage does not fit all, and that perhaps we should offer a lower or starter wage for young people. Those protesters outside are looking for $15 and nothing less. Where are you? +p1825 +aVSo, sir, just to be clear, you would not raise it? +p1826 +aVSenator Rubio, you called the recent Democratic debate in Las Vegas a night of giveaways, including free health care, free college and a host of other government-paid benefits. Since you aren't a fan of all they're giving away, tell us tonight what you would take back. +p1827 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. +p1828 +aVAll right. We're only just getting started. Coming up, your taxes. Stick around. You're watching FOX Business +p1829 +aVWelcome back to the Milwaukee Theater and the Republican presidential debate. Let's get right back to our questions. Dr. Carson, to you. You recently railed against the double- standard in the media, sir, that seems obsessed with inconsistencies and potential exaggerations in your life story, but looked the other way when it came to then-Senator Barack Obama's. Still, as a candidate whose brand has always been trust, are you worried your campaign \u2014 which you've always said, sir, is bigger than you \u2014 is now being hurt by you? +p1830 +aVI'll just forget that follow-up there. +p1831 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1832 +aVAlright, thank you. We're going to take a break here. Coming up, a big issue many Americans are facing, taxes. The Republican Presidential Debate continues now, live, from Milwaukee. +p1833 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from Milwaukee. Let's get back to the questions. And we want to touch on obviously one of the biggest of this issue in this year, taxes. And this will go to several of you. One of the biggest economic concerns of course in the country are taxes. Facebook data certainly backs that up. Once again the green on this map that we're going to see here shows how the conversation around taxes is resonating across the nation, especially here in Wisconsin. First off, Dr. Carson, to you. You say you are in favor of a tax system, I guess akin to tithing, sir, with a flat tax rate of up to 15 percent because you said, if everybody pays this, I think God is a pretty fair guy, so tithing is a pretty fair process. But Donald Trump says that is not fair. That wealthier taxpayers should pay a higher rate because it's a fair thing to do. So whose plan would God endorse then, Doctor? Yours or Mr. Trump's? +p1834 +aVRight. +p1835 +aVThank you very much. Senator Paul, you said you want to blow up the tax code and start over with an across-the-board 14.5 percent fair and flat tax. You happily offered that it is not revenue neutral and that's the idea. You want to choke off the amount of money coming into Washington. But don't you risk, sir, creating a near-term budget crisis just as your presidency would be beginning? +p1836 +aVThere are no deductions on your \u2014 under your plan? +p1837 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1838 +aVSenator Paul... Senator Paul, you have already said, sir, that that would be a mistake in not talking to Vladimir Putin, or to rule it out. You've argued that it's never a good idea to close down communication. With that in mind, do you think the same applies to administration efforts right now to include the Iranians in talks on Syria? +p1839 +aV...Well, then how would you respond? +p1840 +aVBut if you're not going to respond in a no-fly zone strategy, what would yours be? +p1841 +aVAll right. And look at the time, look at the time. You are watching FOX Business, we'll take a break. Stick around. +p1842 +aVSenator Cruz \u2014 and I will get to you \u2014 but, Senator Cruz, on that theme, Facebook data shows that over the last month alone, nearly 1 million people \u2014 nearly 1 million \u2014 have been concerned about reining in Wall Street, apparently believing that some have not been punished enough. So, as an accomplished litigator yourself and a former solicitor general, would you go after the very people who believe and fear that Wall Street has ignored, in other words, the crooks that Bernie Sanders say have gotten away with a financial murder? +p1843 +aVSenator......Senator, I really want to be clear here. Are you saying, sir, that if Bank of America were on the brink, you would let it fail? +p1844 +aVSir, I understand that. I just want to be clear, if you don't mind, that millions of depositors would be on the line with that decision. And I just want to be clear. If it were to happen again, for whatever the reason, you would let it go, you would let a Bank of America go? +p1845 +aVOK, I think it's fair to say you're not fans of Hillary Clinton's resume. Alright, Mr. Trump.... +p1846 +aVI had a feeling. Perhaps the most successful capitalist on this stage tonight, you've acknowledged that some give capitalism a bad name. You've been particularly critical of businesses that find all sorts of ways of paying their taxes by keeping money abroad, but your own plan includes an incentive to bring \u2014 that more the $2 trillion dollars home. Isn't that, like, a one-time bounty... +p1847 +aV...Some of the guys you all but call pirates, so they still keep the loot, and pay only a price to bring it back. +p1848 +aV...Alright, gentlemen, I know you want to \u2014 and I want to, be we also promised to get people home tonight, and we are going to take a quick break here. I think it is fair to say at this juncture that you can discuss these issues, and only business issues, but still keep it interesting. Stick around for these candidates closing statements. +p1849 +aVSenator Marco Rubio? +p1850 +aVDr. Ben Carson? +p1851 +aVDonald Trump? +p1852 +aVCandidates, we want to thank you all. We also appreciate your helping save time by talking over one another at times. That was welcomed. But by all means, it was a very riveting debate. Business issues can be \u2014 can be riveting, because it wasn't about us, it's about them. +p1853 +aVThat'll do it. Thank you for joining us. +p1854 +aVIt is 9:00 p.m. here at the North Charleston Coliseum and Performing Arts Center in South Carolina. Welcome to the sixth Republican presidential of the 2016 campaign, here on the Fox Business Network. I'm Neil Cavuto, alongside my friend and co-moderator Maria Bartiromo. +p1855 +aVNow, the seven candidates on the stage tonight were selected based on their standing in six national polls, as well as polls in the early-voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire, those standings determining the position on the stage of the candidates tonight. And here they are. Businessman Donald Trump. Texas senator Ted Cruz. Florida senator Marco Rubio. Neurosurgeon Ben Carson. New Jersey governor Chris Christie. Former Florida governor Jeb Bush. And Ohio governor John Kasich. +p1856 +aVGovernor Kasich, we are not even two weeks into this stock trading year, but investors already lost $1.6 trillion in market value. That makes it the worst start to a new year ever. Many worry that things will get even worse, and that banks and financial stocks are particularly vulnerable. Now, if this escalates, like it did back when Barack Obama first assumed the presidency, what actions would you take if this same thing happens all over again just as, in this example, you are taking over the presidency? +p1857 +aVGovernor Bush, the president just told the nation two nights ago that America is back and that the idea that our enemies are getting stronger or that this country is getting weaker, well, it's just rhetoric and hot air. Now other Democrats go even further, sir, saying Republicans even suggesting such comments actually embolden our enemies. I guess they would include you. What do you say? +p1858 +aVSo I take it from that you do not agree with the president. +p1859 +aVSenator Rubio, the president says that +p1860 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1861 +aVMr. Trump, at the State of the Union, the president pointed to a guest who was a Syrian refugee you might recall whose wife and daughter and other family members were killed in an air attack. Now he fled that country seeking asylum here, ultimately ended up in Detroit where he's now trying to start a new life. The president says that that doctor is the real face of these refugees and not the one that you and some of your colleagues on this stage are painting; that you prefer the face of fear and terror and that you would refuse to let in anyone into this country seeking legitimate asylum. How do you answer that? +p1862 +aVAll right. Welcome back to the Republican presidential , right here in North Charleston, South Carolina. Let's get right back to the questions. And I'll start with you, Senator Cruz. Now you are, of course, a strict constitutionalist \u2014 no one would doubt that. And as you know, the U.S. Constitution says only natural-born citizens are eligible for the office of president of the United States. Stop me if you've heard this before. Now, you were born...... you were born in Canada to an American mother. So you were and are considered an American citizen. But that fellow next to you, Donald Trump \u2014 and others \u2014 have said that being born in Canada means you are not natural-born, and that has raised questions about your eligibility. Do you want to try to close this topic once and for all tonight? +p1863 +aVMr. Trump......that you raised it because of his rising poll numbers. +p1864 +aVWhy are you saying this now \u2014 right now? Why are you raising this issue now? +p1865 +aVSenator, do you want to respond? +p1866 +aVMarco Rubio. I'm sorry, it's the time constraints. You and Governor Christie have been exchanging some fairly nasty words of late, and I will allow the governor to respond as well. The governor went so far to say, you won't be able to slime your way to the White House. He's referring to a series of ads done by a PAC, speaking on your behalf, that say quote,"One high tax, Common Core, liberal, energy-loving, Obamacare, Medicaid-expanding president is enough. You think you went too far on that and do you want to apologize to the governor? +p1867 +aVThat is not my question. +p1868 +aVIs he a liberal? +p1869 +aVIs he a liberal? +p1870 +aVGovernor? +p1871 +aVYou were? +p1872 +aVWell, we are not done. Coming up, one of the top things people are talking about on Facebook, guns. And you can join us live us on this stage in the conversation during this commercial break right from home. You can go to Facebook.com/. We will be streaming live and talking about how we think the is going so far. We're back in a moment in Charleston, South Carolina. +p1873 +aVSenator Rubio, you said that President Obama wants to take people's guns away. Yet under his presidency, gun sales have more than doubled. That doesn't sound like a White House unfriendly to gun owners. +p1874 +aVBut what fact can you point to, Senator \u2014 what fact can you point to that the president would take away everyone's gun? You don't think that's ? +p1875 +aVGovernor Christie, you, too, have criticized the president's recent executive action on gun control, saying it's unconstitutional, another step to bypass Congress. But hasn't your own position on guns evolved, sir? The New Jersey Star-Ledger reports that you signed several laws to regulate the possession of firearms, and that you argued back in August 2013, and I quote, "These common sense measures will strengthen New Jersey's already tough gun laws." So isn't that kind of what the president wants to do now? +p1876 +aVMaria... +p1877 +aVGovernor bush, for the third time in as many months, the Iranians have provoked us, detaining us, as we've been discussing, with these 10 Navy sailors Tehran had said strayed into their waters. The sailors were released, but only after shown on video apologizing for the incident. This occurring only weeks after Iran fired multiple rockets within 1,500 yards of a U.S. aircraft carrier and then continued to test medium range missiles. Now you've claimed that such actions indicate Tehran has little to fear from a President Obama. I wonder, sir, what would change if they continued doing this sort of thing under a President Jeb Bush? +p1878 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Kasich, while everyone has been focusing on Iran's provocations, I'm wondering what you make of what Saudi Arabia has been doing and its recent moves in the region, including its execution of a well-known Shi'ite cleric and its move to dramatically increase oil production, some say in an effort to drive down oil prices and force a lot of U.S. oil producers out of business. Sure enough, oil prices have tumbled. One brokerage house is predicting a third or more of American oil producers and those heavily invested in fracking will go bankrupt, and soon Saudi Arabia and +p1879 +aVThank you John. +p1880 +aVBut you said \u2014 you said that he made those comments and they represented him being unhinged after he made them. +p1881 +aVWell \u2014 well, after he made them......his poll numbers went up eight points in South Carolina. Now \u2014 now, wait... +p1882 +aVAre you \u2014 are you saying \u2014 are you saying that all those people who agree with Mr. Trump are unhinged? +p1883 +aVMr. Trump, sometimes maybe in the heat of the campaign, you say things and you have to dial them back. Last week, the New York Times editorial board quoted as saying that you would oppose, "up to 45 percent tariff on Chinese goods." +p1884 +aVWell... +p1885 +aVYou never said because they provided that... +p1886 +aVSo they've never said to put a tariff on their... +p1887 +aVI'm sorry, you lost me. +p1888 +aVThen I apologize. Then I want to understand, if you don't want a 45 percent tariff, say that wasn't the figure, would you be open \u2014 are you open to slapping a higher tariff on Chinese goods of any sort to go back at them? +p1889 +aVI know... +p1890 +aVSo you're open to a tariff? +p1891 +aVAll right. +p1892 +aVHe is right. If you put a tariff on a good, it's Americans who pay. +p1893 +aVGovernor Christie, going back to your U.S. Attorney days, you had been praised by both parties as certainly a tough law and order guy. So I wonder what you make of recent statistics that showed violent crimes that have been spiking sometimes by double digit ratings in 30 cities across the country. Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn said, "most local law enforcement officials feel abandoned by Washington." Former NYC Police Chief Ray Kelly, says that, "police are being less proactive because they're being overly scrutinized and second guessed and they're afraid of being sued or thrown in jail." What would you do as president to address this? +p1894 +aVThank you governor. Governor Kasich, as someone has to deal with controversial police shootings in your own state, what do you make of Chicago's move recently to sort of retrain police? Maybe make them not so quick to use their guns? +p1895 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1896 +aVGentlemen, gentlemen \u2014 +p1897 +aVVery quick, very quick. +p1898 +aVDo you think they like each other? +p1899 +aVAll right, gentlemen, we've got to stop. I know you are very passionate about that. Governor Bush, fears have gripped this country obviously, and you touched on it earlier since the San Bernardino attacks. Since our last , the national conversation has changed, according to Facebook data as well. Now this first graphic shows the issues that were most talked about right before those attacks and now after: the issues of Islam, homeland security and +p1900 +aVWould you answer this question? +p1901 +aVFair enough. So Tim Cook \u2014 so Tim Cook says he's going to keep it private. +p1902 +aVBut if Tim cook is telling you no, Mr. President. +p1903 +aVDo you ask or do you order? +p1904 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p1905 +aVGovernor Bush? +p1906 +aVDr. Ben Carson? +p1907 +aVSenator Ted Cruz? +p1908 +aVGentlemen, thank you all. All of you. That wraps up our debate. We went a little bit over here. But we wanted to make sure everyone was able to say their due. He's upset. All right. Thank you for joining us. Much more to come in the Spin Room ahead. +p1909 +asVBLITZER +p1910 +(lp1911 +VWelcome to the CNN-Facebook Republican presidential debate here at the Venetian Las Vegas. We have a very enthusiastic audience. Everyone is here. They're looking forward to a serious and spirited discussion about the security of this nation. I'm Wolf Blitzer, your moderator tonight. This debate is airing on CNN networks here in the United States and around the world, and on the Salem Radio Network. The nine leading candidates, they are here. Let's welcome them right now. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Businessman and real estate developer Donald Trump. Retired neurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. And Ohio Governor John Kasich. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome these Republican candidates for president of the United States. This is the final Republican debate before the election year begins, and we're taking a moment for the photographs of the candidates together on the stage. Now, everyone, please rise for the national anthem sung by Ayla Brown. +p1912 +aVI know everyone is eager to get started. So, candidates, please take your places while I explain the ground rules for tonight. As moderator, I'll guide the discussion, and I'll be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt and CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. We also asked Republicans and independents nationwide to share their questions for the candidates. We teamed up with Facebook to send a campaign camper across the country over the past several weeks. Thousands of people stepped inside and recorded their questions on video. Millions more have weighed in on Facebook. Candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have a minute and 15 seconds to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you're singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know that we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. And as the candidates requested, a bell will sound like this. We know you are all eager to jump in and debate these important issues, so, please, wait until you're called on. These nine Republicans are positioned on stage based on their ranking in the recent polls, so let's begin right now. I'd like to invite each candidate to introduce himself or herself to our audience. You'll have one minute. First to you, Senator Paul. +p1913 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p1914 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1915 +aVMs. Fiorina? +p1916 +aVGovernor Bush? +p1917 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1918 +aVSenator Cruz. +p1919 +aVDr. Carson. +p1920 +aVMr. Trump. +p1921 +aVThank you. Since you last debated, Americans have witnessed terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino. The FBI director says the country now faces the greatest terror threat since 9/11. You all have different approaches to keeping the country safe. And that will be the focus of tonight's debate. Mr. Trump, as you mentioned in your opening statement, part of your strategy is to focus in on America's borders. To keep the country safe, you say you want to temporarily ban non-American Muslims from coming to the United States; ban refugees fleeing +p1922 +aVGovernor Bush, you called Mr. Trump "unhinged" when he proposed banning non-American Muslims from the United States. Why is that unhinged? +p1923 +aVMr. Trump? +p1924 +aVSenator Rubio \u2014 I'm going to go to Senator Rubio and get his thoughts. You have said banning Muslims is unconstitutional. But according to a recent ABC News-Washington Post poll, a majority of Republicans support Mr. Trump's idea. Why are they wrong? +p1925 +aVHugh Hewitt, you have a question. +p1926 +aVGovernor Christie, Americans are clearly more afraid today than at any time since 9/11. As you mentioned in your opening statement, today in Los Angeles, 650 schoolchildren didn't go to \u2014 650,000 schoolchildren didn't go to school because of an e-mail threat, this two weeks after an attack killed 14 people in San Bernardino. Is this the new normal? And if so, what steps would you take as president of the United States to ensure that fear does not paralyze America? +p1927 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, one of the killers in San Bernardino was an American who was not on anyone's watch list. How are you going to find that radicalized person and stop another such attack? +p1928 +aVThank you. Dana Bash, you have the next question. +p1929 +aVThank you. Dr. Carson, you're in favor of monitoring mosques and schools where there is anti-America sentiment, what do you consider anti- America? +p1930 +aVDr. Carson, who was right in that little debate that we just heard between Senator Rubio and Senator Paul? +p1931 +aVHold on a sec, we have a lot more to come and everybody's going to have their full opportunity. Governor Bush, six days after 9/11 your brother visited a mosque and said quote, "Islam is peace." The conversation tonight is about banning Muslims and surveillance of mosques, are President Bush's words still relevant in today's Republican party? +p1932 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you pointed out you were a CEO in Silicon Valley on 9/11. Companies there, they say they won't help the FBI now crack encrypted communication from +p1933 +aVBut my question was: Should these Silicon Valley companies be forced to cooperate with the FBI? +p1934 +aVMr. Trump, you recently suggested closing that Internet up, those were your words, as a way to stop +p1935 +aVLet me follow up, Mr. Trump. So, are you open to closing parts of the Internet? +p1936 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, is shutting down any part of the Internet a good idea? +p1937 +aVThank you, Governor. The fight against radical Islamic terrorists and +p1938 +aVThank you. To be clear, Senator Cruz, would you carpet bomb Raqqa, the +p1939 +aVThank you. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you've been critical of Senator Cruz's strategy. You say his voting record doesn't match his rhetoric. Why? +p1940 +aVBecause I asked the question, Senator, because you said this. You said he, referring to Senator Cruz, voted against the Defense Authorization Act every year that it came up, and I assume that if he voted against it, he would veto it as president. That's the bill that funds our troops. +p1941 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1942 +aVSenator Rubio. +p1943 +aVWe are going to have much more on this... +p1944 +aVWe're going to have much more on this. But I want to move now back to Mr. Trump. +p1945 +aVHold on. Hold on. Hold on. +p1946 +aVWe have a lot... +p1947 +aVWe have a lot to discuss. I want to move to Mr. Trump right now. We have a question on this war against +p1948 +aVMr. Trump. +p1949 +aVGovernor Bush. Governor Bush. +p1950 +aVMr. Trump. +p1951 +aVJust one at a time, go ahead... +p1952 +aVGo ahead, Mr. Trump. +p1953 +aVGovernor Bush, please. +p1954 +aVOne at a time. +p1955 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1956 +aVThank you. +p1957 +aVAll right. Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash, Hugh, go ahead with the next question. +p1958 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Rubio? Let's continue this conversation. This is a critically important issue. +p1959 +aVWe will get to \u2014 we have a lot of time, Ms. Fiorina. I want to get to Senator Rubio right now. Let's talk about, one of the aspects of your strategy, you say the only way to defeat +p1960 +aVThank you, Senator. Stand by. Ms. Fiorina, the former defense secretary, Bob Gates, says the chances of getting Sunni-Arab forces on the ground to get the job done, his words, "chances very remote." What's your strategy? +p1961 +aVThank you. Governor Christie, what's your strategy? +p1962 +aVDr. Carson, what is your strategy? +p1963 +aVThank you. Everyone stand by. We're only just beginning. Coming up, which candidates on this stage tonight want to move foreign policy in a dramatically new direction? We'll be right back. +p1964 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate here at the Venetian, Las Vegas. The war against +p1965 +aVThank you. +p1966 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you supported the removal of Moammar Gadhafi in Libya. Now that country is in turmoil, as +p1967 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1968 +aVStandby. Everybody standby for a moment. Governor Kasich, go ahead. +p1969 +aVThank you. +p1970 +aVWe're going to talk about Assad in a moment. Mr. Trump, are Americans safer with dictators running the world in the Middle East? +p1971 +aVThank you. Mr. Trump? +p1972 +aVAll right. +p1973 +aVThank you. +p1974 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East... +p1975 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East better off with dictators? +p1976 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1977 +aVHold on Governor Bush., here's the question. You said, "getting rid of Saddam Hussein in your words was a pretty good deal." In light of what has happened in Iraq, do you still feel that way? +p1978 +aVSenator Paul, was getting rid of Saddam Hussein a pretty good deal? +p1979 +aVThank you. Hugh Hewitt, go ahead. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hugh. +p1980 +aVSenator, Senator, we're going to get to you. Wait your turn. We have two hours of debate. We'll have plenty of time. Let Hugh ask his question. +p1981 +aVSenator, please. +p1982 +aVSenator... +p1983 +aVYou'll have plenty of opportunity. Hugh, go ahead. +p1984 +aVThese are the rules all of you agreed to. Hugh, go ahead with your question. +p1985 +aVLet's continue with Russia right now. We have another question from Facebook. Listen and watch. +p1986 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you know, U.S. and Russian warplanes are flying all over Syria right now. With so many lives on the line, is this a good time for the United States not to talk to Putin? +p1987 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Christie, if the U.S. imposed a no-fly zone over Syria and a Russian plane encroached, invaded that no-fly zone, would you be prepared to shoot down that Russian plane and risk war with Russia? +p1988 +aVSenator Paul \u2014 Senator Paul, I want you to respond to what we just heard from Governor Christie. If there was a no-fly zone, you say that potentially could lead to World War III. Why? +p1989 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1990 +aVAll right, let's go back \u2014 Hugh and Dana? +p1991 +aVOne at a time. Hugh, go ahead. +p1992 +aVGovernor, thank you very much. So, Dr. Carson, you recently visited a refugee camp in Jordan and you deemed it your words, "really quite nice." Saying the people there didn't want to come to the United States. Do you think these camps are a long-term solution of the problem of Syrian refugees? +p1993 +aVSenator Paul, you oppose letting in Syrian refugees at this time into the United States. The U.S. has already accepted 2,000 Syrian refugees, including 13 living here in Las Vegas right now. Would you send them back? What would you do with these people? +p1994 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1995 +aVSenator Paul, you didn't answer the question about the 2,000 Syrian refugees who are already here in the United States. Will you send them back or let them stay? +p1996 +aVWe have another \u2014 we have another question. We have another question from Facebook. Let's listen. +p1997 +aVGovernor Christie, you say there should be a pause in allowing new refugees to come into the United States, including orphans under the age of five. What do you say to Carla? +p1998 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1999 +aVThank you, Governor. There is much more coming up. We are only just beginning. Coming up, what other global hot spots await the next president of the United States. +p2000 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate. We're here at the Venetian Las Vegas. Tonight we have been focusing on the Middle East, but let's turn to some other world threats that you will potentially face as Commander in Chief. Ms. Fiorina, candidates here have called the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un a maniac who is mentally unstable. Last week he said he now has a hydrogen bomb. If you were elected president, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p2001 +aVDr. Carson, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p2002 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Dana and Hugh you have questions as well. +p2003 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Some of you on this stage have questioned whether your opponents have temperament, the right temperament, to be in control of the nuclear codes. Dana, you have a question on this? +p2004 +aVThank you, senator. Thank you. +p2005 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2006 +aVThank you, Senator. We're a month and a half away now from the first real test who will be the Republican presidential nominee. Hugh, you have a question? +p2007 +aVAll right. Candidates, we have more coming up. When we come back, everyone will have an opportunity to explain why this particular candidate, each of you on the stage, believes he or she should be the Republican presidential nominee. +p2008 +aVNow it's time for the closing statements from the candidates. Each one has 30 seconds. Senator Paul. +p2009 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p2010 +aVGovernor Christie. +p2011 +aVMs. Fiorina. +p2012 +aVGovernor Bush. +p2013 +aVSenator Rubio. +p2014 +aVSenator Cruz. +p2015 +aVDr. Carson. +p2016 +aVThanks to all the Republican presidential candidates. That does it for this Republican presidential debate. +p2017 +aVI'd now like to ask the candidates to please take your places while I tell you a little bit more about how tonight's debate will work. As the moderator, I'll guide the discussion asking questions and follow-ups, as will Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt. Candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have a minutes and 15 seconds to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you're singled out for criticism. We have timing lights that are visible to the candidates, those lights will warn you when your time is up. And as the candidates requested, a bell will sound like this. We know you're all eager to jump in and debate these important issues, but please wait until you're called on. Now that everyone is this place, it's time for the candidates to introduce themselves to our audience. You'll each have one minute. Senator Graham, you're first. +p2018 +aVGovernor Pataki. +p2019 +aVSenator Santorum. +p2020 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p2021 +aVLet's begin. The United States just suffered the worst terrorist attack since 9-11, the murder of 14 people by two terrorists, one of whom was an American citizen. In response, Republican frontrunner Donald Trump proposed a temporary ban on all Muslims coming into the United States until the government can figure out what is going on. Senator Graham, the polls show most Republicans do support Mr. Trump. What do you say to them? +p2022 +aVSenator Graham, you say you'd rather lose the election without Trump than try to win with him. Does that mean you'll be voting for the Democratic nominee if Donald Trump wins the presidential nomination? +p2023 +aVGovernor Pataki, you mentioned Donald Trump in your opening statement. You've also suggested Mr. Trump's plan is un-American and absurd. Why? +p2024 +aVSenator Santorum, you object to Mr. Trump's proposals on the grounds that it's unworkable. You've made religious liberty a hallmark of your career. Do you believe in religious liberty for Muslims as well as Christians? +p2025 +aVSenator Graham. +p2026 +aVSenator Santorum. +p2027 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you called Mr. Trump's plan to ban Muslims impossible and unconstitutional. But what is your specific plan to prevent would-be Jihadists from carrying out attacks against Americans? +p2028 +aVThe terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino have sparked a debate here in the United States about the balance between privacy and security. I want to bring in CNN's Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt for more on this. +p2029 +aVGovernor Pataki. +p2030 +aVThere are a lot of people who have been frustrated, especially Senator Graham, that law enforcement can't tap into information on terrorist cell phones. Senator Graham has called on companies in Silicon Valley to change their business models. As president of the United States, would you force these companies to change their models so the government can better monitor the traffic on these cell phones? +p2031 +aVSenator Graham? +p2032 +aVSenator Graham. +p2033 +aVHere is a question we have on the fight against +p2034 +aVGovernor Huckabee, how would you defeat +p2035 +aVSenator Graham, you have an aggressive military plan to try to defeat +p2036 +aVSenator Santorum, following up on what we just heard from Senator Graham, at least one U.S. intelligence report from the White House has concluded that, in order to defeat +p2037 +aVSenator Graham, you're shaking your head. +p2038 +aVI'm going to bring Governor Pataki in a minute, but go ahead and respond, Senator Graham. +p2039 +aVGovernor Pataki, should the U.S. send ground troops into Syria? +p2040 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you have not put a number of how many U.S. ground troops would be needed to combat +p2041 +aVSenator Graham, and I just want to remind our viewers, you want 10,000 U.S. ground troops in Iraq, and 10,000 in Syria? +p2042 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you have said as president you would tell +p2043 +aVSenator Samtorum? +p2044 +aVGovernor Pataki, you support ground troops - deploying grounds troops. +p2045 +aVThe U.S. Army's Former Cheif of Staff, General Raymond Odierno said that, and I'm quoting, "now +p2046 +aVBut how long would you be willing to commit U.S. troops to fight +p2047 +aVSenator Graham, you called for U.S. ground troops as we know in Iraq and Syria. +p2048 +aVAs you know, there's a growing +p2049 +aVAre you ready to deploy U.S. troops to Libya to try to defeat +p2050 +aVSenator? Senator, are you ready to commit U.S. ground troops to Libya? +p2051 +aVAlright, gentleman, standby. The fight against +p2052 +aVWe're live here at the Venetian in Las Vegas. Welcome back. As the U.S. fight against +p2053 +aVWe have a video question from Facebook. Let's watch. +p2054 +aVGovernor Pataki. +p2055 +aVHe says he was wondering with U.S. designated state sponsors of terrorism like Iran and other traditional U.S. enemies fighting +p2056 +aVHugh Hewitt and Dana Bash have questions. Hugh go ahead. +p2057 +aVGovernor Pataki, let me stick with you. Governor Pataki, a U.S. Army Sargent Bowe Bergdahl now facing a court marshall after leaving his base in Afghanistan, getting captured by the Taliban - Donald Trump, has called for his execution. The former house speak John Boehner says "he's innocent until proven guilty." Where do you stand? +p2058 +aVSenator Graham, where do you stand? +p2059 +aVGovernor Huckabee? Governor Huckbee, +p2060 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Pataki, speaking of those four Americans being held in Iran right now. Iran has suggested they might be willing to have a prisoner swap, release Iranian prisoners held in the United States, in exchange for those four Americans. Would you support that? +p2061 +aVWe have to take a quick break, but, Governor, Israel has exchanged a lot of the prisoners it was holding for Israeli soldiers who were being held by Hamas, for example. +p2062 +aVThank you. Let's take another quick break. The scramble, the scramble to protect Americans after +p2063 +aVWelcome back to the Republican Presidential Debate here at the Venetian in Las Vegas. Gentlemen, in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks, the Obama Administration policy of allowing Syrian refugees to come into the United States has come under fire. Senator Santorum, you say accepting Syrian refugees is dangerous. You say it just takes one Jihadist to destroy the world. Do you think there is any way to properly vet refugees coming into the United States? +p2064 +aVGovernor Pataki, you have said you wouldn't accept a single Syrian refugee. What should become of them? +p2065 +aVLet's go back to Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt for more questions. Dana? +p2066 +aVThank you, Senator. Gentlemen, standby, we are going to take another very quick break. Coming up, with America on edge, who has what it takes to be the next Commander in Chief? These candidates, they will make their case. +p2067 +aVWelcome back. We're live here at the Venetian Las Vegas. Gentlemen, it's time for your closing statements. Each candidate will have 30 seconds. Senator graham, you're first. +p2068 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Pataki. +p2069 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum. +p2070 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee. +p2071 +aVThank you. Thanks to all of the candidates for a very important discussion on critically important issues. This debate night is just getting started here at the Venetian Las Vegas. The top nine candidates, they are standing by for their turn on this stage in just a little while. I'll be back as the moderator. +p2072 +asVMODERATOR +p2073 +(lp2074 +VComing up more of our debate, including questions about President Obama's foreign policy and these guys and their better ideas. Coming up. +p2075 +asVFIORINA +p2076 +(lp2077 +VLike all of you I'm angry. I'm angry at what's happening to our nation. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. Bombastic insults wont take it back. Political rhetoric that promises a lot and delivers little, won't take it back. All of our problems can be solved. All of our wounds can be healed by a tested leader who is willing to fight for the character of our nation. I have been tested. I have beaten breast cancer. I have buried a child. I started as a secretary. I fought my way to the top of corporate America while being called every B word in the book. I fought my way into this election and on to this debate stage while all the political insiders and the pundits told, "it couldn't be done." I've been told, "no,: all my life. And all my life, I've refused to accept no as an answer. Citizens, it is time to take our country back from the political class, from the media, from the liberal elite. It can be done, it must be done, join me and we will get it done. +p2078 +aVWhat I think we need to stand for are solutions. I offer myself as a leader to the people of this country because I think they're looking for solutions, not lawyers arguing over laws or entertainers throwing out sound bites that draw media attention. We need to solve the problem. To solve the problem, we need to do something here at home and something over there in their caliphate. We need to deny them territory. But here at home, we need to do two fundamental things. Number one, we need to recognize that technology has moved on. The Patriot Act was signed in 2001, roughly. The iPhone was invented in 2007. The iPad was invented in 2011. Snapchat and Twitter, all the rest of it, have been around just for several years. Technology has moved on, and the terrorists have moved on with it. Let me tell you a story. Soon after 9/11, I got a phone call from the NSA. They needed help. I gave them help. I stopped a truckload of equipment. I had it turned around. It was escorted by the NSA into headquarters. We need the private sector's help, because government is not innovating. Technology is running ahead by leaps and bound. The private sector will help, just as I helped after 9/11. But they must be engaged, and they must be asked. I will ask them. I know them. +p2079 +aVYou know, listening to this conversation, let me just say, we have a lot of argument about laws but none of it solves the problem. Let's examine what happened, why did we miss the Tsarnaev brothers, why did we miss the San Bernardino couple? It wasn't because we had stopped collected metadata it was because, I think, as someone who comes from the technology world, we were using the wrong algorithms. This is a place where the private sector could be helpful because the government is woefully behind the technology curve. But secondly, the bureaucratic processes that have been in place since 9/11 are woefully inadequate as well. What do we now know? That DHS vets people by going into databases of known or suspected terrorists. And yet, we also know that +p2080 +aVThey do not need to be forced. They need to be asked to bring the best and brightest, the most recent technology to the table. I was asked as a CEO. I complied happily. And they will as well. But they have not been asked. That's why it cost billions of dollars to build an Obama website that failed because the private sector wasn't asked. +p2081 +aVI hope at some point you're going to ask me my strategy. +p2082 +aVWell, first I'll just point out that talking tough is not the same as being strong. And to wage war, we need a commander in chief who has made tough calls in tough times and stood up to be held accountable over and over, not first-term senators who've never made an executive decision in their life. One of the things I would immediately do, in addition to defeating them here at home, is bring back the warrior class \u2014 Petraeus, McChrystal, Mattis, Keane, Flynn. Every single one of these generals I know. Every one was retired early because they told President Obama things that he didn't want to hear. We must have Sunni-Arabs involved in this coalition. We must commit leadership, strength, support and resolve. I'll just add that Margaret Thatcher once said, "If you want something talked about, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman." +p2083 +aVThat is exactly what President Obama said. I'm amazed to hear that from a republican presidential candidate. But let's just start with, who got it wrong? Who really got it wrong? Hillary Clinton has gotten every foreign policy challenge wrong. Hitting the reset button with Vladimir Putin \u2013 recall that she called Bashar Al-Assad a positive reformer and then she opened an embassy and then later she said, over, and over, and over again, "Bashar Al-Assad must go." Although she wasn't prepared to do anything about it. Recall that Hillary Clinton was all for toppling Gadhafi then didn't listen to her own people on the ground. And then of course, when she lied about the terrorist attack in Benghazi, she invited more terrorist attacks. +p2084 +aVWe've mismanaged going into Iraq. +p2085 +aVWe've mismanaged going out of Iraq. +p2086 +aVWe actually... +p2087 +aVI didn't say I would cut off all communication with Putin. What I said was as president of the United States, now is not the time to talk with him. Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. There is a time and a place for everything. There is a time and a place for talk. And there is a time and a place for action. I know Vladimir Putin. He respects strength. He lied to our president's face; didn't both to tell him about warplanes and troops going into Syria. We need to speak to him from a position of strength. So as commander in chief, I will not speak to him until we've set up that no-fly zone; until we've gathered our Sunni-Arab allies and begun to deny +p2088 +aVThis doesn't do a thing to solve the problems...It doesn't do a thing to solve the problems. +p2089 +aVIt will not solve the problem. +p2090 +aVLadies and gentleman, this is why the American people are standing up. +p2091 +aVThis is why the nation is fed up... +p2092 +aVWe have been talking about this... +p2093 +aVSorry, but you haven't gotten to me. This is why... +p2094 +aVthe people are fed up with the political class. +p2095 +aVWell, first, Kim Jong-Un is a dangerous leader, without a doubt. And both Republican and Democrat administrations have been completely ineffective in dealing with him. So we must continue to isolate him. We will need China as part of that strategy. China is a rising adversary. So one of the things we have to do if we want China's support is to push back on China. They, too, recognize one thing \u2014 strength and their own economic interest. I have done business in China for 25 years, so I know that in order to get China to cooperate with us, we must first actually retaliate against their cyber-attacks so they know we're serious. We have to push back on their desire to control the trade route through the South China Sea through which flows $5 trillion worth of goods and services every year. We cannot let them control the disputed islands, and we must work with the Australians, the South Koreans, the Japanese and the Filipinos to contain China. And then we must ask for their support and their help with North Korea. Because believe it or not, China is as concerned about Kim Jong-Un as we are. +p2096 +aVI too remember September 11th. I remember immediately putting into place security procedures all throughout our company that did business in 170 countries where we thought corporate interests would be attacked next. To take our country back, to keep our nation safe, we have to begin by beating Hillary Clinton. We need to unify our party. We need to better than our government, which 75 percent of the American people now think is corrupt and incompetent. They're right. We need to better than our politics. 80 percent think we have a professional/political class of both parties that cares more about its power, position and privilege than actually on getting anything done. We need to unify our party, we need a real Conservative in the White House, and we need to beat Hillary Clinton to take our country back and keep our nation safe. I can. I am. And together, if you join me, we will take our country back. +p2097 +aVWell, first of all, I must say as I think about that question, I think about a woman I met the other day. I would guess she was 40 years old. She had several children. And she said to me, you know, Carly, I go to bed every night afraid for my children's future. And that really struck me. This is America. A mother is going to bed afraid for her children's future. And the reason she's afraid for her children's future is because we've had problems for a long time. Yes, problems have gotten much worse under Democrats. But the truth is, this government has been growing bigger and bigger, more corrupt, less effective, crushing the engine of economic growth for a very long time. This isn't about just replacing a Democrat with a Republican now. It's about actually challenging the status quo of big government. Big government has created a big business called politics. And there are lots of people invested in the status quo of that big business called politics. Specifically, we need actually to do five things to really get this economy going again. We need to go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dollar is being spent, we can challenge any dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. We need to actually reform the tax code. Go to a three-page tax code. Yes, there are plans that would reform our tax code to three pages. In addition to rolling back what President Obama has done, we need to do a top-to-bottom review of every single regulation on the books. That hasn't been done in 50 years. We need to pass the +p2098 +aVWell, first Obamacare has to be repealed because it's failing... ...it's failing the very people it was intended to help, but, also, it is croney-capitalism at its worst. Who helped write this bill? Drug companies, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, every single one of those kinds of companies are bulking up to deal with big government. See, that's what happens. As government gets bigger, and bigger \u2014 and it has been for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike \u2014 and business have to bulk up to deal with big government. So, we have to repeal it. It's tens of thousands of pages long, no one can possible understand it except the big companies, the lawyers, the accountants, the lobbyists that they hire to protect their interests. Then, we have to give back to states the responsibility to manage a high risk pool. We need to try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried. Health insurance has always been a cozy, little game between regulators and health insurance companies. We need to try the free market. The free market. Where people actually have to compete. And, we 'ought to have the government ensure that you must \u2014 and I don't use that term often, that government 'ought to do something, but every healthcare provider 'ought to publish its costs, its prices, its outcomes, because as patients we don't know what we're buying. Now, let me just say \u2014 let me just say, I know more about innovation and entrepreneurship than anyone on this panel because I have led innovative businesses in the most highly competitive industry in the world for decades. The truth is the secret sauce of America is innovation, and entrepreneurship, it is why we must cut our government down to size, and hold it accountable. It's why we have to take our government back, because innovation and entrepreneurship is crushed by the crushing load of a 73,000 page tax code. It is crushed... ...by regulatory thicket that is so vast we don't even know what's in it anymore. It is crushed as well by government bureaucrats who don't do their jobs very well, and who are not held accountable, which is why I've said we got to take our government back, and to do that, we have to know where every dollar being spent, and be able to move any dollar. We have to hack through this regulatory thicket, repeal so much, but, also, know what's in that regulatory thicket \u2014 we don't even know what regulations have been passed. Third, we need to build a meritocracy \u2014 Scott Walker, by the way, is trying now to do in Wisconsin... ...Finally, we need to get to a three page tax code, and, yes, that plan exists. +p2099 +aVSorry, I can't hear you. +p2100 +aV...Absolutely... +p2101 +aV...You need to give... +p2102 +aVThe alternative is to allow states to manage high risk pools for those who really need help. Look, I'm a cancer survivor, OK? I understand that you cannot have someone who's battled cancer just become known as a pre-existing condition. I understand that you cannot allow families to go bankrupt if they truly need help. But, I also understand that Obamacare isn't helping anyone. We're throwing more, and more people into Medicaid, and fewer, and fewer doctors are taking those payments. The point is Obamacare is crushing small businesses, it is not helping the families it was intended to help. So, let us allow states to manage high risk pools. Let us try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried, the free market. Let us ensure that as patients, and customers... +p2103 +aV...that we have information to shop wisely for our health care. +p2104 +aV...Yes, the middle ground is this... +p2105 +aV...This is why \u2014 this is why we must combine, actually, zero-based budgeting with tax reform because unless we can examine, and cut, and move, every single dollar of discretionary spending in the federal government, we cannot reform taxes and reduce spending at the same time. Ask yourself this question, how is it possible that the federal government gets more money each and every year, which the federal government has been doing, receiving more money every year for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike, and yet, never has enough money to do the important things? The answer? All the money's always spoken for. All the money's spoken for. So, we have to go to zero-based budgeting, which is a simple idea \u2014 by the way, there's been a bill for zeros-based (ph) budgeting... ...It exists, it can be voted on. Every dollar must be examined. Any dollar can be cut. Any dollar can be cut, any dollar can be moved. We have to go to a three page tax code. You lower every rate, you close every loophole, why? Because the government uses the tax code to decide winners, and losers. You have to strip the corruption out of the tax code to pay for it. You have to know where every single dollar is being spent... +p2106 +aV...Cut where you need to, and invest where you need to... +p2107 +aV...The two go hand in hand... +p2108 +aVYou know, Mr. Trump fancies himself a very good negotiator. And, I accept that he's done a lot of good deals, so, Mr. Trump 'ought to know that we should not speak to people from a position of weakness. Senator Paul should know that as well. One of the reasons I've said that I would not be talking to Vladimir Putin right now, although I have met him as well, not in a green room for a show, but in a private meeting. One of the reasons I've said I wouldn't be talking to Vladimir Putin right now is because we are speaking to him from a position of weakness brought on by this administration, so, I wouldn't talk to him for awhile, but, I would do this. I would start rebuilding the Sixth Fleet right under his nose, rebuilding the military \u2014 the missile defense program in Poland right under his nose. I would conduct very aggressive military exercises in the Baltic States so that he understood we would protect our +p2109 +aV...we have the strongest military on the face of the planet, and everyone has to know it. +p2110 +aV...Ronald Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. +p2111 +aV...he walked away, he quit talks... +p2112 +aV...when it was time to quit talking... +p2113 +aVCan I just \u2014 could I just say, as a chief executive who's had to make tough calls to save jobs and to grow jobs, I think what's interesting about Dodd-Frank is it's a great example of how socialism starts. Socialism starts when government creates a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. Government created the problem. Government created the problem of a real estate boom. How did we create it? Under Republican and Democrats alike, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, everybody gathered together, Republicans and Democrats, and said, "home ownership is part of the American dream. Let's create a bubble," and then government stepped in \u2014 by the way, under president George W. Bush, banks were told \u2014 encouraged \u2014 told, really \u2014 to buy other banks, to take money. And now what do we have with Dodd-Frank? The classic of crony capitalism. The big have gotten bigger, 1,590 community banks have gone out of business, and on top of all that, we've created something called the Consumer Financial Production Bureau, a vast bureaucracy with no congressional oversight that's digging through hundreds of millions of your credit records to detect fraud. This is how socialism starts, ladies and gentlemen. We must take our government back. +p2114 +aVImagine a Clinton presidency. Our military will continue to deteriorate. Our veterans will not be cared for. And, no, Mrs. Clinton, that situation is not exaggerated. The rich will get richer. The poor will get poorer. The middle class will continue to get crushed. And as bad as that picture is, what's even worse is that a Clinton presidency will corrode the character of this nation. Why? Because of the Clinton way: Say whatever you have to, lie as long as you can get away with it. We must beat Hillary Clinton. Carly Fiorina can beat Hillary Clinton. I will beat Hillary Clinton. And under a President Fiorina, we will restore the character of this nation, the security of this nation, the prosperity of this nation, because as citizens, we will take our government back. +p2115 +aVWell, gee, after the last debate, I was told that I didn't smile enough. +p2116 +aVBut I also think that these are very serious times; 75 percent of the American people think the federal government is corrupt. I agree with them. And this big powerful, corrupt bureaucracy works now only for the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected. Meantime, wages have stagnated for 40 years. We have more Americans out of work or just Americans who quit looking for work for 40 years. Ours was intended to be a citizen government. This is about more than replacing a D with an R. We need a leader who will help us take our government back. +p2117 +aVLet me just say on taxes, how long have we been talking about tax reform in Washington, D.C.? We have been talking about it for decades. We now have a 73,000-page tax code. There have been more than 4,000 changes to the tax plan since 2001 alone. There are loads of great ideas, great conservative ideas from wonderful think tanks about how to reform the tax code. The problem is we never get it done. We have talked about tax reform in every single election for decades. It never happens. And the politicians always say it is so complicated, nobody but a politician can figure it out. The truth is this, the big problem, we need a leader in Washington who understands how to get something done, not to talk about it, not to propose it, to get it done. +p2118 +aVThat's right, three pages. +p2119 +aVYou know why three? +p2120 +aVNo. You know why three? Because only if it's about three pages are you leveling the playing field between the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected who can hire the armies of lawyers and accountants and, yes, lobbyists to help them navigate their way through 73,000 pages. Three pages is about the maximum that a single business owner or a farmer or just a couple can understand without hiring somebody. Almost 60 percent of American people now need to hire an expert to understand their taxes. So yes, you're going to hear a lot of talk about tax reform \u2014 +p2121 +aV\u2014 the issue is who is going to get it done. +p2122 +aVYou know, the +p2123 +aVWell, this is one of the reasons why Tom Perkins and I had disagreements in the boardroom, Becky. Nevertheless, one of the things that I think people don't always understand is how accountable a CEO actually is. So you know, I had to report results every 90 days in excruciating detail. I had to answer every single question about every single result and every single projection in public until there were no more questions. And if I misrepresented those results or those projections in any way, I was held criminally liable. Imagine \u2014 imagine \u2014 if a politician were held to that standard of account. I will run on my record all day long. And I believe people need a leader who is prepared to make tough calls in tough times and stand up... +p2124 +aV...and be held accountable. +p2125 +aVYou know, I want to go back for a moment to what we were just talking about. Crony capitalism is alive and well, and has been so in Washington, D.C. for decades. What's crony capitalism? Crony capitalism is what happens when government gets so big and so powerful that only the big and the powerful can handle it. So why are the pharmaceutical companies consolidating? Why are there five even bigger Wall Street banks now, instead of the ten we used to have on Wall Street? Because when government gets big and powerful, the big feel like they need to get even bigger to deal with all that power, and meanwhile, the small and the powerless \u2014 in this case, 1,590 community banks \u2014 go out of business. You see, folks, this is how socialism starts. Government causes a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. This is why, fundamentally, we have to take our government back. The student loan problem has been created by government. Government trying to level the playing field between Internet and brick-and-mortar creates a problem. The FCC jumping in now and saying, "we're going to put 400 pages of regulation over the Internet," is going to create massive problems. But guess who pushed for that regulation? The big Internet companies. This is what's going on. Big and powerful use big and powerful government to their advantage. It's why you see Walgreens buying Rite Aid. It's why you see the pharmaceuticals getting together. It's you see the health insurance companies getting together. It's why you see the banks consolidating. And meanwhile, small businesses are getting crushed. Community- based businesses and farms are getting crushed. Community banks are going out of business. Big government favors the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected, and crushes the small and the powerless. +p2126 +aVIt is why we have to simplify. It is why we have to reduce the size and power of government. +p2127 +aVIt's the only way to level the playing field between big and powerful and small and powerless. +p2128 +aVBecky, it is the height of hypocrisy for Mrs. Clinton to talk about being the first woman President, when every single policy she espouses, and every single policy of President Obama has been demonstrably bad for women. 92 percent \u2014 92 percent of the jobs lost during Barack Obama's first term belonged to women. Senator Cruz is precisely right. Three million women have fallen into poverty under this administration. The number of women \u2014 +p2129 +aV\u2014 living in extreme poverty is the highest level on record. I am a conservative because I know our values, our principles and our policies \u2014 +p2130 +aV\u2014 work better to lift everyone up, men and women. +p2131 +aVNo, the Federal Government should not play a larger role. Look, every time the Federal Government gets engaged in something it gets worse. And then the Government steps in to try and solve the problem and we get a little further down to that progressive vision that Hillary Clinton is talking about. Companies should, if they want to attract the best workers, provide a good set of benefits. But honestly, if you're a small business owner today you are being crushed. We have 400,000 small businesses forming every year in this country. How great is that? They are employing themselves, they are potentially employing others. The bad news is, we have 470,000 going out of business every year. And why? They cite Obamacare. They are refusing to... +p2132 +aVI think it's a wonderful that that businesses start a 401(k). The point I'm making is this, the Federal Government should not be in a lot of things. There is no Constitutional role for the Federal Government in setting up \u2014 retirement plans. There is no Constitutional role for the Federal Government to be setting minimum wages... +p2133 +aV... The more the Government gets engaged in the economy, the slower the economy becomes. The more the Government gets engaged in the economy, it is demonstrably true... +p2134 +aV... The more the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected are advantaged. +p2135 +aVJohn, I \u2014 if I \u2014 a lot of people have jumped in here. I'd like to jump in. A lot of people have jumped in here. +p2136 +aVI understand. +p2137 +aVI would just say that... ... I would just say this, we've heard a lot of great ideas up here, and I agree with what Senator Rubio said. Every election we talk about this. Every election we talk about Medicare and Social Security reform. It never happens. I would like to start with a basic. Let us actually go to zero- based budgeting so we know where the money is being spent. It's kind of basic. There is a bill sitting in the House that would actually pass and have us go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dime of your money is being spent instead of only talking about how much more we're going to spend year after year after year. My point is this. While there are lots of good ideas for reform, we have never tackled the basics. And we finally need to tackle the basics to cut this government down to size and hold it accountable. So let's start by knowing where your money is being spent by the federal government. +p2138 +aVYou know, every election we hear a lot of talk. We hear a lot of good plans. We hear actually a lot of good intentions. But somehow for decades, nothing really has changed. What we need now is a proven leader who has produced results. That's how you go from secretary to CEO. You lead and you produce results. I will cut this government down to size and hold it accountable, simplify the tax code, roll back the regulations that have been spewing out of Washington, D.C. for 50 years. I may not be your dream candidate just yet, but I can assure you I am Hillary Clinton's worst nightmare. And in your heart of hearts, you cannot wait to see a debate between Hillary Clinton and Carly Fiorina. I will tell you this, I will beat Hillary Clinton. And with your vote and your support and your prayers, I will lead with the citizens of this great nation the resurgence of this great nation. +p2139 +aVGood evening. My story, from secretary to CEO, is only possible in this nation, and proves that everyone of us has potential. My husband, Frank, of 30 years, started out driving a tow truck for a family owned auto body shop. We have come to a pivotal point in our nation's history where this nation's possibilities and potential are being crushed by a government grown so big, so powerful, so inept, so corrupt, and a political class that refuses to do anything about it. I am prepared to lead the resurgence of this great nation. +p2140 +aVYou know, I think Mr. Trump is a wonderful entertainer. He's been terrific at that business. I also think that one of the benefits of a presidential campaign is the character and capability, judgment and temperament of every single one of us is revealed over time and under pressure. All of us will be revealed over time and under pressure. I look forward to a long race. +p2141 +aVThat's not for me to answer; it is for the voters of this country to answer, and I have a lot of faith in the common sense and good judgment of the voters of the United States of America. +p2142 +aVJake, I'll tell you \u2014 I'll tell you why people are supporting outsiders. It's because you know what happens if someone's been in the system their whole life, they don't know how broken the system is. A fish swims in water, it doesn't know it's water. It's not that politicians are bad people, it's that they've been in that system forever. The truth is 75 percent of the American people think the government is corrupt; 82 percent of the American people think these problems that have festered for 50 years in some cases, 25 years in other cases. The border's been insecure for 25 years; 307,000 veterans have died waiting for health care. These things have gone on for so long because no one will challenge the status quo. You know what a leader does? They challenge the status quo, they solve problems that have festered for a long time and they produce results. That is what my whole life has been about. People know this is about far more than replacing a D with an R \u2014 +p2143 +aV\u2014 this is about changing the system. +p2144 +aVHaving... +p2145 +aVHaving met Vladimir Putin, if I may... +p2146 +aVHaving met Vladimir Putin, I wouldn't talk to him at all. We've talked way too much to him. What I would do, immediately, is begin rebuilding the Sixth Fleet, I would begin rebuilding the missile defense program in Poland, I would conduct regular, aggressive military exercises in the Baltic states. I'd probably send a few thousand more troops into Germany. Vladimir Putin would get the message. By the way, the reason it is so critically important that every one of us know General Suleimani's name is because Russia is in Syria right now, because the head of the Quds force traveled to Russia and talked Vladimir Putin into aligning themselves with Iran and Syria to prop up Bashar al- Assad. Russia is a bad actor, but Vladimir Putin is someone we should not talk to, because the only way he will stop is to sense strength and resolve on the other side, and we have all of that within our control. We could rebuild the Sixth Fleet. I will. We haven't. We could rebuild the missile defense program. We haven't. I will. We could also, to Senator Rubio's point, give the Egyptians what they've asked for, which is intelligence. We could give the Jordanians what they've asked for... +p2147 +aV...bombs and materiel. We have not supplied it... +p2148 +aV...I will. We could arm the Kurds. They've been asking us for three years. All of this is within our control. +p2149 +aV...Jake... +p2150 +aV...Jake, ... +p2151 +aVAnd then it'll be my turn. +p2152 +aVJake? +p2153 +aVJake? +p2154 +aVDana, I'd like to... +p2155 +aVDana, I would like to link these two issues, both of which are incredibly important, Iran and Planned Parenthood. One has something to do with the defense of the security of this nation. The other has something to do with the defense of the character of this nation. You have not heard a plan about Iran from any politician up here, here is my plan. On day one in the Oval Office, I will make two phone calls, the first to my good friend to Bibi Netanyahu to reassure him we will stand with the state of Israel. The second, to the supreme leader, to tell him that unless and until he opens every military and every nuclear facility to real anytime, anywhere inspections by our people, not his, we, the United States of America, will make it as difficult as possible and move money around the global financial system. We can do that, we don't need anyone's cooperation to do it. And every ally and every adversary we have in this world will know that the United States in America is back in the leadership business, which is how we must stand with our allies. As regards Planned Parenthood, anyone who has watched this videotape, I dare Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama to watch these tapes. Watch a fully formed fetus on the table, it's heart beating, it's legs kicking while someone says we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain. This is about the character of our nation, and if we will not stand up in and force President Obama to veto this bill, shame on us. +p2156 +aVYou know, it's interesting to me, Mr. Trump said that he heard Mr. Bush very clearly and what Mr. Bush said. I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said. +p2157 +aVDana, with all being said to Mr. Trump... +p2158 +aVImmigration did not come up in 2016 because Mr. Trump brought it up. We talked about it in 2012, we talked about it in 2008. We talked about it in 2004. +p2159 +aVWe have been talking about it for 25 years. This is why people are tired of politicians. +p2160 +aVFirst let me say, We have just spent a good bit of time discussing, as Republicans, how to solve this problem. I would ask your audience at home to ask a very basic question. Why have Democrats not solved this problem? President Obama campaigned in 2007 and 2008 on solving the immigration problem. He entered Washington with majorities in the House and the Senate. He could have chosen to do anything to solve this pro \u2014 this problem. Instead, he chose to do nothing. Why? because the Democrats don't want this issue solved. +p2161 +aVThey want it to be an issue that they can use. As to birthright citizenship... +p2162 +aV...the truth is, you can't just wave your hands and say "the 14th Amendment is gonna go away." It will take an extremely arduous vote in Congress, followed by two-thirds of the states, and if that doesn't work to amend the Constitution, then it is a long, arduous process in court. And meanwhile, what will continue to go on is what has gone on for 25 years. With all due respect, Mr. Trump, we've been talking about illegal immigration for 25 years. San Francisco has been a sanctuary city since 1989. There are 300 of them. And meanwhile, what has happened? Nothing. The border remains insecure. The legal immigration system remains broken. Look, we know what it takes to secure a border. We've heard a lot of great ideas here. Money, manpower, technology... +p2163 +aV...mostly, apparently, leadership... +p2164 +aV...the kind of leadership that understands how to get results. +p2165 +aVBut you \u2014 you would stipulate, Mr. Trump, but not everyone agrees with you. +p2166 +aVOK. +p2167 +aVI led Hewlett Packard through a very difficult time, the worst technology recession in 25 years. The +p2168 +aV\u2014 out a full-page ad in the New York Times to say he was wrong, I was right. I was a terrific CEO, the board was dysfunctional. And he thinks I will make a magnificent president of the United States. +p2169 +aVYou know, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld is a well-known Clintonite and honestly had it out for me from the moment that I arrived at Hewlett Packard. But honestly, Mr. Trump, I find it quite rich that you would talk about this. You know, there are a lot of us Americans who believe that we are going to have trouble someday paying back the interest on our debt because politicians have run up mountains of debt using other people's money. That is in fact precisely the way you ran your casinos. You ran up mountains of debt, as well as losses, using other people's money, and you were forced to file for bankruptcy not once \u2014 +p2170 +aV\u2014 not twice, four times, a record four times. Why should we trust you to manage the finances \u2014 +p2171 +aV\u2014 of this nation any differently than you managed the finances \u2014 +p2172 +aV\u2014 of your casinos? +p2173 +aVWell \u2014 +p2174 +aVWell, Mr. Trump \u2014 +p2175 +aVA track record of leadership is not a game. It is the issue in this election. +p2176 +aVWell, I thought we had been hearing quite a bit about Govenor Christie's record as governor, actually. I think track records are very important. I completely agree that what's at stake here is the future of this nation, and the future of every American. But I do think that a track record of leadership is vital because in the end this election is about leadership. And let's talk about what leadership is. It's not about braggadocio, it is about challenging the status quo, solving problems, producing results. And the highest calling of leadership is to unlock potential in others. +p2177 +aVProblems have festered in Washington for too long. And the potential of this nation is being crushed. +p2178 +aVYou see, Governor Christie, people spend time talking about their track records, and Mr. Trump and I have every right to do the same. And Mrs. Clinton has to defend her track record. Her track record of lying about Benghazi, of lying about her e- mails, about lying about her servers. She does not have a track record of accomplishment. Like Mrs. Clinton, I, too, have travels hundreds of thousands of miles around the globe. But unlike Mrs. Clinton, I know flying is an activity, not an accomplishment. Mrs. Clinton \u2014 if you want to stump a Democrat, ask them to name a accomplishment of Mrs. Clinton's. +p2179 +aVWe just spent \u2014 we just spent the last 10 minutes... +p2180 +aV...Jake, since everyone has gotten to weigh in on this military issue, I'd like to be able to do the same. We have spent probably 12 minutes talking about the past. Let's talk about the future. We need the strongest military on the face of the planet, and everyone has to know it. And, specifically, what that means is we need about 50 Army brigades, we need about 36 Marine battalions, we need somewhere between 300, and 350 naval ships, we need to upgrade every leg of the nuclear triad... +p2181 +aV...we need to reform the Department of Defense, we need as well... +p2182 +aV...to invest in our military technology, and we need to care for our veterans so 307,000... +p2183 +aV...aren't dying waiting for health care. +p2184 +aVJake, may I just say... +p2185 +aVJake \u2014 Jake... +p2186 +aVI very much hope I am the only person on this stage who can say this, but I know there are millions of Americans out there who will say the same thing. My husband Frank and I buried a child to drug addiction. So, we must invest more in the treatment of drugs. +p2187 +aVI agree with Senator Paul. I agree with states' rights. But we are misleading young people when we tell them that marijuana is just like having a beer. It's not. And the marijuana that kids are smoking today is not the same as the marijuana that Jeb Bush smoked 40 years ago. We do \u2014 sorry, Barbara. We do need \u2014 we do need criminal justice reform. We have the highest incarceration rates in the world. Two-thirds of the people in our prisons are there for non-violent offenses, mostly drug related. It's clearly not working. But we need to tell young people the truth. Drug addiction is an epidemic, and it is taking too many of our young people. I know this sadly from personal experience. +p2188 +aVI wouldn't change the $10 bill, or the $20 bill. I think, honestly, it's a gesture. I don't think it helps to change our history. What I would think is that we ought to recognize that women are not a special interest group. Women are the majority of this nation. We are half the potential of this nation, and this nation will be better off when every woman has the opportunity to live the life she chooses. +p2189 +aVSecretariat. +p2190 +aVI think what this nation can be and must be is symbolized by Lady Liberty and Lady Justice. Lady Liberty stands tall and strong. She is clear-eyed and resolute. She doesn't shield her eyes from the realities of the world, but she faces outward into the world nevertheless, as we always must. And she holds her torch high, because she knows she is a beacon of hope in a very troubled world. And Lady Justice, Lady Justice holds a sword by her side, because she is a fighter, a warrior for the values and the principles that have made this nation great. She holds a scale in her other hand. And with that scale she says all of us are equal in the eyes of God. And so all of us must be equal in the eyes of the law and the government, powerful and powerless alike. And she wears a blindfold. And with that blindfold she is saying to us that it must be true, it can be true that in this country, in this century, it doesn't matter who you are, it doesn't matter what you look like, it doesn't matter how you start, it doesn't matter your circumstances, here in this nation, every American's life must be filled with the possibilities that come from their God-given gifts. One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. +p2191 +aVWhen America does not lead, the world is a dangerous and a tragic place. This is a bad deal. Obama broke every rule of negotiation. Yes, our allies are not perfect, but Iran is at the heart of most of the evil that is going on in the Middle East through their proxy. +p2192 +aVYou know, when I started my campaign on May 4th of last year, I was 17 out of 16 candidates. Nobody polled my name. Nobody had ever heard of me. Less than 4 percent of you had ever heard of me. The people in Iowa showed up and they are still showing up. Hundreds and hundreds of them at every event. I have done over 150 events in the state of Iowa and I have 15 more coming up. Now, by the way, I start there because someone asked me about midway through my campaign, what's the biggest surprise to you on the campaign trail? And I will tell you what the biggest surprise is: the chasm, the yawning chasm, between what the national media talks about and what the people of Iowa and the people of this great nation talk about. That's the biggest surprise. So guess what, Martha? Guess what, sorry. The people of Iowa never ask me about a crisis in the GOP, they never ask me about the polls. They never ask me about the other candidates. What they ask me about is Carly, tell us why zero based budgeting is so important. Tell us why you are a leader who is going to produce results. Tell us how you are going to defeat +p2193 +aVWell let me tell you this: news flash, President Obama, news flash, Mrs. Clinton -- climate change is not our most pressing national security threat. Actually -- actually, it is +p2194 +aVYou know, we have a professional, political class of both parties. We have been talking about the same issues for election cycle after election cycle. Yeah, government is big and out of control, and the only way to get it under control is to control the money. And the only way to control the money is to ask the federal government to budget the way you do, to examine every dollar, to cut any dollar to spend -- to move any dollar. The fancy word for that is zero-base budgeting. I call it common sense. That three-page tax code I talk about all the time here in Iowa? It's been around for 20 years. But politicians don't want to talk about it, and you bet the lobbyists don't want to talk about it. In fact, nobody wants to vote on a three-page tax code or zero- base budgeting, although they've both been around for a long time. You know why? Because if you get those two things done, you are goring everybody's ox. You are taking the political establishment apart. You are actually challenging the status quo, which is what we need in the Oval Office. So you know who I'm going to count on? The citizens of this great nation, because you have extraordinary power. But when you do not use it... ... you are losing it. So take out your smartphones, folks. The people of Iowa know what I'm talking about. You take out your smartphones. if you agree with me that three-page tax code needs to be passed, lobbyists aren't going to be in my office. If you agree we gotta finally pass zero-base budgeting, take out your smartphones. Press one for yes, ladies and gentlemen. Press two for no. Citizens, we must take our country back. +p2195 +aVWell, first of all, I haven't said that. What I have said is that in the process of examining every dollar, cutting any dollar and moving any dollar, we happen to know that in this vast federal bureaucracy we have about 260,000 federal government employees who are going to retire, and we shouldn't replace them. Secondly, at Hewlett Packard, as you know -- the people of Iowa know this -- we went through a tough time. The worst technology recession in 25 years -- a great company called Gateway used to do be right here in Iowa. But they didn't make the tough calls necessary to save all those jobs, and so they lost every one of those jobs. Yes, I've had to make some tough calls. We saved 80,000 jobs. We went on to grow to 160,000 jobs. And, frankly, I think the American people know we need a president who's going to make some tough calls. So let me tell you where I'm going to start. The American people got a bill passed through Congress that said we could fire the top 400 senior executives at the V.A. for dereliction of duty. When we know that 307,000 veterans have died waiting for health care and the V.A. handed out $142 million worth of bonuses for superb performance, I'm going to start by firing 400... ... senior executives at the V.A. +p2196 +aVHe is right there. He is right there. +p2197 +aVIt wasn't a personal attack. I was pointing out the fact that Hillary Clinton will do anything to gain and hang on to power, anything. Listen, if my husband did what Bill Clinton did, I would have left him long ago. So, here's the deal. Hillary Clinton has been climbing the ladder to try and get power and here now she is trying for the White House. She is probably more qualified for the big house, honestly. She has escaped prosecution more times than El Chapo, perhaps Sean Penn should interview her. The woman should be prosecuted. And while Mrs. Clinton has flown hundreds of thousands of world around the global, I have too. And I know flying is an activity not an accomplishment. While I know that she has held many positions and many titles she has not accomplished much of anything in her life. She has gotten every single foreign policy challenge wrong. She continues to lie to the American people. It's called the Clinton way. Both Bill and Hillary practice it, the Clinton way. Say whatever you have to say, do whatever you have to say. Lie as long as you can get away with it. Hillary Clinton cannot be the president of these United States. +p2198 +aVWell, you know, Hillary Clinton hasn't been indicted either. So that tells us a lot about our justice system in this country. But, look, the facts of Planned Parenthood have not changed, folks, and I will not be rendered silent on this issue or any other issue. And it doesn't matter what stage I'm on. Here are the facts. Planned Parenthood engages in partial birth abortion, in late-term abortion. They alter those abortion techniques to harvest and sell body parts. They have admitted that they are not going to accept compensation for this anymore. The reality is, most Americans find this practice horrific. Most Americans find horrific that Hillary Clinton's position on this is it's not a life until it's born. Most Americans find horrific Hillary Clinton's position or the Democrat party's position, that a young woman does not need her mother's permission to get an abortion. But if you are 13 years old, you can get an abortion, but you can't go to a tanning salon without your mother's permission. A president Fiorina -- in a president Fiorina budget, there will not be one dime for Planned Parenthood, although there would be a lot of money for women's health and we will finally pass the pain capable unborn child protection act. I will always stand for life and religious liberty... ... because this is about the character of our nation. +p2199 +aVMartha, can I just say we've been talking tonight about a lot of issues and we've also been talking about the fact that the game is rigged and frankly, the media has a lot to do with that. It is outrageous frankly, that Fox News, and you, would question the pro-life credentials of Rick Santorum. That is outrageous. +p2200 +aVIn over 150 events I have come to know and love the people of Iowa. And the people of Iowa know what the rest of Americans have figured out, this ain't working anymore. The government no longer works for those who pay for it. The professional political class says and does whatever they need to do to win, and then does whatever they please. We need to return to a citizen government. That is why I am running for President. The media, the establishment, they all want to tell you this elections over, they know who's going to win it, except that you haven't... ... cast a single vote yet. So, the people of Iowa, stand with me, fight with me. Caucus for me. It is time to take our country back. +p2201 +aVWell, thank you. Good evening. If I may begin by saying how honored I am to be standing here with two former Iowa Caucus winners. Governor, Senator. And how honored I am to be talking with all of you. You know, I'm not a political insider. I haven't spent my lifetime running for office. The truth is I have had and been blessed by a lot of opportunities to do a lot of things in my life. And unlike another woman in this race, I actually love spending time with my husband. I'm standing here because I think we have to restore a citizen government in this country. I think we have to end crony capitalism. The crony capitalism that starts with both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. You know, Hillary Clinton sits inside government and rakes in millions, handing out access and favors. And Donald Trump sits outside government and rakes in billions buying people like Hillary Clinton. The state of our economy is not strong. We have record numbers of men out of work. We have record numbers of women living in poverty. We have young people who no longer believe that the American dream applies to them. We have working families whose wages have stagnated for decades, all while the rich get richer, the powerful get more powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected get more connected. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. +p2202 +aVAmerica must lead because when we do not lead, when this exceptional nation does not lead, the world is more dangerous and a more tragic place. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, they all refuse to lead. Worse, they refuse to respond when this nation is provoked. Hillary Clinton famously asked what difference does it make how four Americans died in Benghazi? Mrs. Clinton, here's what difference it makes. When you do not stand up and say the truth, that this was a purposeful terrorist attack, when you do not say the United States of America will retaliate for that attack, terrorists assume it's open season. We have refused to respond to every provocation. The President wouldn't even mention the fact that Iran had taken two Navy boats and our sailors \u2014 hostage. He didn't mention the fact that they violated the Geneva convention. He didn't respond to the fact that Iran launched two ballistic missile just a short time ago, in direct violation of a deal they had just signed. We didn't respond to the fact that North Korea attacked Sony Pictures. When we refuse to respond over, and over to provocation and bad behavior, we will get more provocation and bad behavior. I know most of our allies personally. I have met many of our adversaries. I know our military and our intelligence capability, and I know this. When we will not stand with our allies, when we will not respond to our adversaries, when we do not lead in the world the world is a dangerous and tragic place. I will be a Commander in Chief who will lead. +p2203 +aVOf course I'm worried about similar problems in the United States. We can not allow refugees to enter this country unless we can adequately vet them and we know we can't. Therefore we should stop allowing refugees into this country. And by the way, we do not need to be lectured about why we're angry and frustrated and fearful because we've had an illegal immigration problem in this country for 25 years. And we have every right to be frustrated about the fact that politicians stand up in election after election after election and promise us to fix the problem and yet, it has never been fixed. I offer leadership that understands that actions speak louder than words, that results count. We must secure our border. We must fix our broken immigration system. We must enforce a pro-American immigration system that serves our interests, not the rest of the world. I understand what it takes to translate goals into results and that is what I will do as president of the United States. Of course, we should be worried, for heavens sakes. This administration has now told us they don't know who has overstayed a visa. This administration has told us they don't even bother to check Facebook or Twitter to find out who's pledging allegiance to jihadis. We can do better than this, citizens. We need to take our country back. +p2204 +aVWe need to be very clear-eyed now about who are our allies and who are our adversaries. In the fight against +p2205 +aVAnd we all believe the polling data all the time, don't we? +p2206 +aVOh, it's a problem for so many reasons. First of all, it is yet another lawless executive order. You see, he doesn't like the fact that Congress has rejected his ideas twice on a bipartisan basis, so he's decided he just gets to override them. Sorry, Mr. President, not the way "The Constitution" works. Secondly......secondly, he basically admitted in that speech that he hasn't been paying much attention to enforcing the laws we have. He said, gee, we need a few more FBI agents. That would have helped, perhaps, stop a tragedy here in South Carolina with Dylann Roof, a guy who clearly never should have been sold a gun. In other words, Mr. President, you're right, we need to enforce the laws we have. Let's enforce the laws we have. There are criminals running around with guns who shouldn't have them. We don't prosecute any of them. Less than 1 percent. But I want to go back to the technology issue for a moment, if I may, as well, because in this regard, I disagree with Senator Santorum. Look, I come from the technology industry and I can tell you there is one thing that bureaucracies don't know how to do. They do not know how to innovate. We have come seven generations of technology since 2011. We have bureaucracies that are incapable of bringing in that innovation. So, yes, there are some very specific things that we should ask the private sector to help us with, including making sure we have the latest and greatest in algorithms to search through all these databases so that we find terrorists before they attack us, not after it's too late. And, finally, when a president who understands technology in the Oval Office. Mrs. Clinton, actually, you cannot wipe a server with a towel. +p2207 +aVYes, and see... +p2208 +aVAs CEO of Hewlett Packard... +p2209 +aVAs CEO of Hewlett Packard, I was asked very specifically for some very real help. The help I was asked to provide, this is now public information. So I am not revealing what \u2014 something that was \u2014 was classified. We had a very large shipment of equipment, software and hardware, headed to a retail outlet. And I was called by the head of the NSA, who had an urgent need for that capability, to begin laying out a program to track terrorists. We turned that truck around on a highway and it was escorted to the headquarters in San Jose. In World War II, our government went to the private sector and said, help us do things that we cannot do. The private sector has capabilities that the government does not have. There are some legal authorities that are required. The Sony attack could have been detected and repelled, had legal authorities been passed in Congress allowing private networks and public networks to work together. Those legal authorities have not yet been passed. Yes, I was asked to help. I know the technology industry. They will help again. But they must be asked by a president who understands what they have. +p2210 +aVFor decades, the professional political class in both parties has been talking about the middle class. For decades, Republicans in particular have been talking about reducing the size and scope of government, spending less money, reducing the complexity. And yet, for 40 years, the government has gotten bigger and more expensive. We now have a 75,000 plus page tax code, although politicians have run for office for decades promising reform. And all the while, middle class incomes have stagnated. You see, when government gets bigger and bigger, more powerful, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer and the middle class gets squeezed. We need to understand who the job creators are in this country, because we need more jobs to grow the middle class and to grow the wages of the middle class. Who creates jobs? Small businesses, new businesses, family-owned businesses. They create two thirds of the new jobs in this country and they employ half the people. I started out typing for a nine person real estate firm. My husband Frank started out driving a tow truck for a family-owned auto body shop. And we are crushing small businesses and destroying the middle class. So here's my blueprint to take back America. Let us first actually reform the tax code from 73,000 pages down to three. There's a 20-year-old plan to do exactly that. And then let us begin piece by piece to focus on every single dollar the government spends, so that we will spend less overall and still have enough for our priorities. And that requires the government to budget the way you do at home \u2014 examine every dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. The fancy term for that is zero- based budgeting, but I call it common sense. Citizens, we've got to take our country back. +p2211 +aVMy husband Frank, that I mentioned, I love spending time with. He's down there. He was real excited the other day because in New Hampshire, he was introduced as my eye candy. You know, everybody out there watching knows this. You cannot wait to see the debate between me and Hillary Clinton. You would pay to see that fight. And that's because you know I will win. And that's important. We've got to start by beating Hillary Clinton. All of my life, I have been told to sit down and be quiet. Settle. Settle. Don't challenge the system. That's what the American people are being told now and we have been told that for way too long \u2014 sit down and be quiet about our God, about our guns, about the abortion industry, settle for illegal immigration that's been a problem for decades, as so many of our problems have festered for decades. Accept a system of government and politics that no longer works for us. I will not sit down and be quiet. And neither will you. So I ask you to stand with me, fight with me, vote for me, citizens. It is time to take our future back, time to take our politics back. It is time to take our government back. Citizens, it is time. We must take our country back. +p2212 +aVWell, I would begin by reminding people that at this point in previous presidential elections, Jimmy Carter couldn't win, Ronald Reagan couldn't win, Bill Clinton couldn't win, and neither could've Barack Obama. I started as a secretary and became ultimately the chief executive of the largest technology company in the world, almost $90 billion in over 150 countries. I know personally how extraordinary and unique this nation is. I think to be commander in chief in the 21st century requires someone who understands how the economy works, someone who understands how the world works and who's in it; I know more world leaders on the stage today than anyone running, with the possible exception of Hillary Clinton; understands bureaucracies, how to cut them down to size and hold them accountable; and understands technology, which is a tool, but it's also a weapon that's being used against us. Most importantly, I think I understand leadership, which sometimes requires a tough call in a tough time. But mostly, the highest calling of leadership is to challenge the status-quo and unlock the potential of others. We need a leader who will lead the resurgence of this great nation and unlock its potential once again. Thank you. +p2213 +aVWell, I don't know. I didn't get a phone call from Bill Clinton before I jumped in the race. Did any of you get a phone call from Bill Clinton? I didn't. Maybe it's because I hadn't given money to the foundation or donated to his wife's Senate campaign. Here's the thing that I would ask Donald Trump in all seriousness. He is the party's frontrunner right now, and good for him. I think he's tapped into an anger that people feel. They're sick of politics as usual. You know, whatever your issue, your cause, the festering problem you hoped would resolved, the political class has failed you. That's just a fact, and that's what Donald Trump taps into. I would also just say this. Since he has changed his mind on amnesty, on health care and on abortion, I would just ask, what are the principles by which he will govern? Mac +p2214 +aVLet me say first that it is disturbing that every time one of these home-grown terrorist attacks occurs, and, as your question points out, they are occurring with far too great frequency, it turns out we had warning signals. It turns out we knew something was wrong. It turns out some dot wasn't connected, and so the first thing we have to do is make sure that everyone and every responsible agency is attuned to all of these possibilities and symptoms. We even had warnings about the Boston Marathon bombers, and yet the dots weren't connected. So we need to get on a different mindset. Secondly, I certainly support that we need to tear down cyber walls, not on a mass basis, but on a targeted basis. But let me just say that we also need down -- to tear down the cyber walls that China is erecting, that Russia is erecting. We need to be very well aware of the fact that China and Russia are using technology to attack us, just as +p2215 +aVI absolutely would call on them to collaborate and cooperate, yes. +p2216 +aVYeah. Sometimes it's a complicated situation, but some things are black and white. On day one in the Oval Office, I would make two phone calls. The first one would be to my good friend, Bibi Netanyahu, to reassure him we will stand with the State of Israel. The second will be to the supreme leader of Iran. He might not take my phone call, but he would get the message, and the message is this: Until you open every nuclear and every military facility to full, open, anytime/anywhere, for real, inspections, we are going to make it as difficult as possible for you to move money around the global financial system. I hope Congress says no to this deal. But realistically, even if they do, the money is flowing. China and Russia have never been on our side of the table. The Europeans have moved on. We have to stop the money flow. And by the way, as important as those two phone calls are, they are also very important because they say this. America is back in the leadership business. And when America does not lead, the world is a dangerous and a tragic place. This is a bad deal. Obama broke every rule of negotiation. Yes, our allies are not perfect. But Iran is at the heart of most of the evil that is going on in the Middle East through their proxies. Mac +p2217 +aVLet me tell you what I would do immediately, day two in the Oval Office. I would hold a Camp David summit with our Arab allies, not to talk them into this lousy deal with Iran, but to say to them, "what is it that you need to defeat +p2218 +aVI agree with my colleagues. We need to begin by undoing -- I would begin by undoing a whole set of things that President Obama has done, whether it's illegal amnesty or this latest round of EPA regulations. But let me go back to something that's very important. We have been debating right here the core difference between conservatism and progressivism. Conservatives, I am a conservative because I believe no one of us is any better than any other one of us. Every one of us is gifted by God, whether it is those poor babies being picked over or it's someone whose life is tangled up in a web of dependence. Progressives don't believe that. They believe some are smarter than others, some are better than others, so some are going to need to take care of others. That is the fight we have to have, and we have to undo a whole set of things that President Obama has done that get at the heart of his disrespect and disregard for too many Americans. +p2219 +aVThis is a great nation. It is a unique nation in all of human history and on the face of the planet, because here, our founders believed that everyone has a right to fulfill their potential and that that right --they called it life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness -- comes from God and cannot be taken away by government. We have arrived at a point in our nation's history where the potential of this nation and too many Americans is being crushed by the weight, the power, the cost, the complexity, the ineptitude, the corruption of the federal government, and only someone who will challenge the status quo of Washington, D.C. can lead the resurgence of this great nation. I will do that. Mac +p2220 +aVNot trustworthy. No accomplishment. +p2221 +aVHillary Clinton lies about Benghazi, she lies about e- mails. She is still defending Planned Parenthood, and she is still her party's frontrunner. 2016 is going to be a fight between conservatism, and a Democrat party that is undermining the very character of this nation. We need a nominee who is going to throw every punch, not pull punches, and someone who cannot stumble before he even gets into the ring. I am not a member of the political class. I am a conservative; I can win this job, I can do this job, I need your help, I need your support. I will, with your help and support, lead the resurgence of this great nation. Thank you. +p2222 +asVBUSH +p2223 +(lp2224 +VOur freedom is under attack. Our economy is under water. The leading democrat is under investigation. And America is under the gun to lead the free world to protect our civilized way of life. Serious times require strong leadership, that's what at stake right now. Regarding national security, we need to restore the defense cuts of Barack Obama to rebuild our military, to destroy +p2225 +aVWell, first of all, we need to destroy +p2226 +aVLook, he mentioned me. I can bring \u2014 I can talk. This is \u2014 this is the problem. Banning all Muslims will make it harder for us to do exactly what we need to do, which is to destroy +p2227 +aVThey are relevant if we want to destroy +p2228 +aVDonald, this has got... +p2229 +aVThis is another example of the lack of seriousness. Look, this is \u2014 this is troubling because we're at war. They've declared war on us and we need to have a serious strategy to destroy +p2230 +aVYou said on September 30th that +p2231 +aVI'm talking right now. I'm talking. +p2232 +aVSeptember 30th you said... +p2233 +aVA little of your own medicine there, Donald. +p2234 +aVDonald, you're not going to be able to insult your way to the presidency. That's not going to happen. And I do have the strength. Leadership, leadership is not about attacking people and disparaging people. Leadership is about creating a serious strategy to deal with the threat of our time. And I laid out that strategy before the attacks in Paris and before the attacks in San Bernardino. And it is the way forward. We need to increase our military spending. We need to deal with a no- fly zone in Syria, a safe zone. We need to focus on building a military that is second-to-none... +p2235 +aV... so that we can destroy Islamic terrorism. +p2236 +aVI think we're focusing a whole... +p2237 +aVI do. I think the lesson's learned are that we have to have to have a strategy to get and a strategy to get out. Which means, that you create a stable situation. This president and this is what the focus ought to be, it's not the differences between us, it's Barack Obama does not believe America's leadership in the world is a force for good. He does not believe that our strength is a place where security can take place. He leads from behind. He creates an environment that now we're creating the most unstable situation we've had since the World War II era. The focus ought to be on the single fact that Hillary Clinton wants to double down on a failed foreign policy and we need to be united to defeat that because we're going to be in a place that is far less secure than it is today. Don't you all agree? +p2238 +aVBecause I \u2014 first of all, I know what I don't know. I know what I don't know. I would seek out, as I have, the best advice that exists. I won't get my information from the shows. I don't know if that's Saturday morning or Sunday morning. I don't know which one. I will seek out the best advice, and I will create a strategy and I will persuade the American people what the role of America should be. I've laid out a policy of rebuilding our military. All of the talk that we're seeing here \u2014 most of which I agree on, frankly \u2014 requires a much stronger military. We now have a lack of readiness that is quite scary. We have planes that were \u2014 that Harry Truman inaugurated, the B-52. We have \u2014 the Navy has been gutted and decimated. The readiness of the Marines is way down. If we're serious about America's leadership in the world, then we need to make sure that we have the back of the armed forces. The Armed Forces Radio is here listening to this today. I hope they know that if I'm president, I'll be a commander-in-chief, not an agitator- in-chief or a divider-in-chief, that I will lead this country in a way that will create greater security and greater safety. +p2239 +aVSo I was \u2014 I was \u2014 I was mentioned, so I can bring up something, I think, right? Look, the simple fact is, if you think this is tough you're not being treated fairly... +p2240 +aV... imagine what it's going to be like dealing with Putin or dealing with President Xi. +p2241 +aVOr dealing with the Islamic terrorism that exists. +p2242 +aVThis is a tough business to run for president. +p2243 +aVAnd it's \u2014 and we need...... to have a leader that is... +p2244 +aVYou're never going to be president of the United States by insulting your way to the presidency. +p2245 +aVDoesn't matter. Doesn't matter. +p2246 +aVYes. +p2247 +aVNo it isn't but it is an important subject to talk about for sure. And I think people have good ideas on this. Clearly, we need to secure the border. Coming here legally needs to be a lot easier than coming here illegally. If you don't have that, you don't have the rule of law. We now have a national security consideration, public health issues, we have an epidemic of heroine overdoses in all places in this country because of the ease of bringing heroine in. We have to secure the border. It is a serious undertaking and yes, we do need more fencing and we do need to use technology, and we do need more border control. And we need to have better cooperation by the way with local law enforcement. There are 800,000 cops on the beat, they ought to be trained to be the eyes and ears for law enforcement for the threat against terror as well as for immigration. This is a serious challenge and if we can get it right, yes, we'll start winning votes again. The real problem isn't anybody on this stage, the real problem is Barack Obama has had six years to advocate a position to fix this and he's done nothing. The congress has funded these programs of building more fencing and doing all this and he hasn't done it. He wants to maintain it as a wedge issue and so does Hillary Clinton. Republicans need to fix it and when we do, we'll be better off. +p2248 +aVI completely agree with Chris. And this administration has been so lax. Think about it. Hillary Clinton is using a private server for \u2014 where classified information go by. This is a \u2014 this is a serious administration? The president receives an inspector general's report that the Office of Personnel Management could be hacked into; they had antiquated firewalls; 23 million files have been \u2014 are in the hands of the Chinese allegedly, including, by the way, members of the press, it turns out, last week. Maybe that's the only part that's good news, so that you guys can get a feel for what it's like now to see this type of attack. This is something \u2014 we have to have the best defensive capabilities. We need to coordinate all of our efforts with the private sector. We need to give them liability relief so that we can do that. And offensively, we need to have capabilities second to none. We need to create a situation where they know that there will be adverse impacts if they continue to do what they're doing. They'll respect that. They'll respect a United States that is serious about protecting our \u2014 our infrastructure. If we don't do it, we'll continue to see what's \u2014 exactly what's happening, not just from the Chinese, by the way. The Russians and rogue actors, including +p2249 +aVAsk yourself, which candidate will keep you and our country safer, stronger and freer? Hillary Clinton has aligned herself with Barack Obama on +p2250 +aVYou've already made two comments, John. It's my turn. +p2251 +aVI got about four minutes in the last debate. I'm going to get my question right now. +p2252 +aVYes. +p2253 +aVFirst of all, we could get to 4 percent growth. The new normal of 2 percent puts huge demands on government. The reason why we have structural deficits is that more and more people are relying on government and the growth that we don't have makes \u2014 makes the deficit grow. A 4 percent growth strategy starts with tax reform. And the proposal that I've laid out is the one the Wall Street Journal editorial board has said is the most pro-growth of all the proposals out there. We cut the \u2014 we eliminate a lot of deductions and cut the rates down. A corporate rate of 20 percent, which puts us 5 percent above \u2014 below that of China, and allows us full expensing of investing. It would create an explosion of investment back into this country, creating higher-wage jobs, and so that's part of it. On the regulatory side I think we need to repeal every rule that Barack Obama has in terms of work in progress, every one of them. And start over. For those that are already in existence, the regulation of the Internet, we have to start over, but we ought to do that. The clean power act, we ought to repeal that and \u2014 and start over on that. The waters of the United States act, which is going to be devastating for agriculture and many industries, we should repeal that. We should repeal the rules because the economic costs of this far exceed the social benefit. And if we're serious about being serious about high growth, then we have to recognize that small businesses right now, more of them are closing than \u2014 than are \u2014 than are being set up. Hillary Clinton has said that Barack Obama's policies get an A. Really? One in 10 people right now aren't working or have given up altogether, as you said. That's not an A. One in seven people are living in poverty. That's not an A. One in five children are on food stamps. That is not an A. It may be the best that Hillary Clinton can do, but it's not the best America can do. +p2254 +aVThank you, Donald, for allowing me to speak at the debate. That's really nice of you. Really appreciate that. What a generous man you are. Twelve million illegal immigrants, to send them back, 500,000 a month, is just not \u2014 not possible. And it's not embracing American values. And it would tear communities apart. And it would send a signal that we're not the kind of country that I know America is. And even having this conversation sends a powerful signal \u2014 they're doing high-fives in the Clinton campaign right now when they hear this. That's the problem with this. We have to win the presidency. And the way you win the presidency is to have practical plans. Lay them out there. What we need to do is allow people to earn legal status where they pay a fine, where they work, where they don't commit crimes, where they learn English, and over an extended period of time, they earn legal status. That's the path \u2014 a proper path... +p2255 +aVI'm gonna fight as hard as I can to make sure that we shift power away from Washington, simplify the tax code, to spur economic activity in this country. Of course it's the highest priority. If we don't do that, we're stuck with the "new normal" of 2 percent growth. Hillary Clinton says, basically, we just gotta get used to it. Two percent growth means declining income for the middle class. It means more than 6 million people are stuck in poverty than the day that Barack Obama was inaugurated. It means \u2014 it means more demands on government \u2014 growing the economy is the first job, if we're going to be serious about dealing with the deficit and debt. And more importantly, people are really struggling right now. In this economy, the disposable income of the great middle is down 2,300 bucks. So yeah, we've created jobs, your \u2014 argue (ph) \u2014 brought that up early, and it was a good question. Jobs are being created, but they're lower-income jobs than the jobs that were lost. And the net effect of this is we need to jump-start the economy. I think of Jonathan (ph) and Reagan Love (ph), who are supporters of mine. Jonathan has been deployed by the National Guard, he is \u2014 he's in Oklahoma. Reagan Love \u2014 by the way, pretty great name, I think \u2014 is a teacher. When \u2014 if they had this tax cut, what they told me was that that $2,300 of money in their pocket \u2014 they would go back to South Carolina and start a business. Imagine what it would be like, instead of having more businesses closed than started, we had it the exact opposite. We would grow our economy, and the government would get the revenue necessary to make things \u2014 make things better. Hillary Clinton's approach to this is more top-down, more regulation, more taxes, more government, and it will destroy our economy. +p2256 +aVIt is \u2014 I'd say it is Islamic terrorism, and, back to the question of what we are dealing with in Iraq, when we pull back voids are filled. That's the lesson of history, and, sadly, this president does not believe in American leadership. He does not believe it, and the net result is that we have a caliphate the size of Indiana that gains energy each and everyday to recruit Americans in our own country, and the threat to the homeland relates to the fact that we have not dealt with this threat of terror in the Middle East. We should have a no fly zone in Syria. We should have a support for the remnants of the Syrian Free Army, and create safe zones. If you want to deal with the four million refugees that are leaving Syria because of the devastation there, then we 'ought to create safe zones for them to stay in the region rather than go to Europe. And, that requires American leadership. Without American leadership every other country in the neighborhood beings to change their priorities. It is tragic that you see Iraq, and other countries now talking to Russia. It wasn't that long ago that Russia had no influence in the region at all. And, so, the United States needs to lead across the board. This president, and Hillary Clinton both do not believe the United States has a leadership role to play, and we're now paying a price, and it will have a huge impact on the economy of this country if we don't deal with this. +p2257 +aV...They're not doing that... +p2258 +aV +p2259 +aVDonald \u2014 Donald's wrong on this. He is absolutely wrong on this. We're not going to be the world's policeman, but we sure as heck better be the world's leader. That's \u2014 there's a huge difference where, without us leading... ...voids are filled, and the idea that it's a good idea for Putin to be in Syria, let +p2260 +aVWe're not \u2014 we shouldn't have another financial crisis. What we ought to do is raise the capital requirements so banks aren't too big to fail. Dodd-Frank has actually done the opposite, totally the opposite, where banks now have higher concentration of risk in assets and the capital requirements aren't high enough. If we were serious about it, we would raise the capital requirements and lessen the load on the community banks and other financial institutions. This vast overreach has created a huge problem for our country, and Hillary Clinton wants to double down on that. I was in Washington, Iowa, about three months ago talking about how bad Washington, D.C., is. It was \u2014 get the \u2014 kind of the \u2014 anyway. We had... It \u2014 and I talked to a banker there. This is a bank that had $125 million of assets, four branches. Their compliance costs because of Dodd-Frank went from $100,000 to $600,000 in a two-year period. The net effect of that is \u2014 and they had \u2014 they had not one loan that went bad during the financial crisis. They knew \u2014 they knew their borrowers. They gave back to the community. They were engaged in the community. And imagine America without its community banks. Well, that's what's happening because of Dodd-Frank. That's \u2014 that's my worry. My worry is that the real economy has been hurt by the vast overreach of the Obama administration. And Hillary Clinton, she wants to double down on that. She wants to create even more so. She is a captive of the left of her party to the point now where she is \u2014 she was for the trade agreement in \u2014 the Pacific agreement. Now she's against it. She was \u2014 hinted she was for the XL pipeline. Now she's opposed to it. All the things that would create sustained economic growth she's now doubling down against it. +p2261 +aVYou could, if you were serious about... +p2262 +aVNo, I can't say that. But I can say, if you created higher capital requirements, that's the solution to this, not having concentration of assets. The bigger banks now have more and more control over \u2014 over the financial assets of this country. And that is the wrong approach to take. +p2263 +aVMaria? +p2264 +aV...We've had a 10% reduction in carbon emissions, and it isn't because of Solyndra. It isn't because of the central planners in Washington D.C. It's because we've had a great American success story, the explosion of natural gas. Taking two existing technologies, and applying it through innovation has created lower carbon emissions, lower energy costs \u2014 40% of all the economic activity in the age of Obama has come from the energy sector, and Hillary Clinton wants to suppress that. We \u2014 I think we ought to be expanding this. High growth is the path to lower carbon, and more jobs. I know for a fact, as Governor of the State of Florida, we created the largest land purchasing programs, and environment clean-up programs because we had a growing economy. Our revenues were growing at 4.4%. It allowed for resources to be able to protect the natural system. We got to get to a conservation... ...in environmental policy that goes beyond just carbon... +p2265 +aVJane Horton is sitting with my wife here today. Her husband, Chris, was killed in action in Afghanistan. And Jane spends her time now defending and fighting for military families. They're both heroes. I don't think we need an agitator-in-chief or a divider-in-chief. We need a commander-in-chief that will rebuild our military and restore respect to our veterans by revamping and fixing a broken Veterans Administration, That's my pledge to you. I ask for your support. Thank you. +p2266 +aVYou know, I am by my nature impatient. And this is not an endeavor that rewards that. You gotta be patient. You gotta be \u2014 stick with it, and all that. But also, I can't fake anger. I believe this is still the most extraordinary country on the face of the Earth. And it troubles me that people are rewarded for tearing down our country. It's never been that way in American politics before. I can't do it. I just don't believe that this country's days are going to be deeply \u2014 you know, going down. I think we're on the verge of the greatest time, and I want to fix the things to let people rise up. +p2267 +aVCould I \u2014 could I bring something up here, because I'm a constituent of the senator and I helped him and I expected that he would do constituent service, which means that he shows up to work. He got endorsed by the Sun-Sentinel because he was the most talented guy in the field. He's a gifted politician. But Marco, when you signed up for this, this was a six-year term, and you should be showing up to work. I mean, literally, the Senate \u2014 what is it, like a French work week? You get, like, three days where you have to show up? You can campaign, or just resign and let someone else take the job. There are a lot of people living paycheck to paycheck in Florida as well, they're looking for a senator that will fight for them each and every day. +p2268 +aVHe wasn't my senator. +p2269 +aVWell, I've been \u2014 +p2270 +aVNo, no. What I said was I don't believe that I would be president of the United States and have the same dysfunction that exists in Washington, D.C. now. +p2271 +aVDon't vote for me if you want to keep the gridlock in Washington, D.C. +p2272 +aVBut if you want someone who has a proven, effective leadership, that was a governor of a state, that transformed the culture there, elect me so I can fight for the American people and change the culture in Washington, D.C. +p2273 +aV, the great majority of Republicans and Americans believe in a hopeful future. They don't believe in building walls and a pessimistic view of the future. They're concerned that Washington is so dysfunctional it is holding them back. There are lids on people's aspirations. Think about it: six and a half million people working part-time. Workforce participation rates lower than they were in 1977. Six million more people living in poverty than the day that Barack Obama got elected president, and the left just wants more of the same. We have to offer a compelling alternative that is based on hope and optimism and grounded in serious policy, which I've laid out. And you can go get it at jeb2016.com. +p2274 +aVWell, the deal was done. Barack Obama got his massive tax increase, and there was no spending cuts. You just see the recent deal announced today or yesterday, more spending, more tax increasing, more regulation. And now we have to accept 2 percent, the new normal for economic growth. And the net result is the middle class has $2,300 less in their pockets than the day that Barack Obama got elected president. And now they see Hillary Clinton proposing a third term of economic policy for our country. We need to reverse that. And my record was one of cutting taxes each and every year. You don't have to guess about it, because I actually have a record. $19 billion of tax cuts, 1.3 million jobs created. We were one of two states to go to AAA bond rating, and our government spending was far less than the spending in people's income. +p2275 +aVYou find me... +p2276 +aVYou find me a Democrat \u2014 you find me a Democrat that will cut spending ten dollars? Heck, find me a Republican in Congress that would cut spending ten dollars. I'll talk to them. +p2277 +aVLook, the \u2014 the deal is already done. The biggest tax increase happened under the watch of Barack Obama, and spending's gone up. You find a Democrat that's for cutting taxes \u2014 cutting spending ten dollars, I'll give them a warm kiss. +p2278 +aVLook, the \u2014 the simple fact is that my plan actually gives the middle class the greatest break: $2,000 per family. And if you make $40,000 a year, a family of four, you don't pay any income tax at all. Simplifying the code and lowering rates, both for corporations and \u2014 and personal rates, is exactly what we need to do. You think about the regulatory cost and the tax cost \u2014 that's why small businesses are closing, rather than being formed in our country right now. The big corporations have the scale to deal with all of this. And what I think all of us are saying is, our monetary policy, our tax policy, regulatory policy needs to be radically changed so we can create high sustained growth for income to rise. The government has tried it their way. Under \u2014 under Barack Obama and the proposals of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and others, they've tried it their way, and it has failed miserably. We need to take a new approach of taxing \u2014 reforming how we tax, and reforming the regulations in our \u2014 in our country before it's too late. +p2279 +aVWe don't need the federal government to be involved in this at all. +p2280 +aVWe don't need the Federal Government to be involved in this, because when they do we create a $1.2 trillion debt. In Florida, we have the lowest in-state tuition of any state, because there's accountability, just as John said. Let the states do this. You'll create a much better graduation rate at a lower cost, and you won't in debt the next generation with recourse debt on their backs. It's always a solution of the left to create more Government from the Federal Government. It is broke, it is not working. +p2281 +aVWell, first of all, I'm 7 and 0 in my fantasy league. +p2282 +aVGronkowski is still going strong. I have Ryan Tannehill, Marco, as my quarterback, he was 18 for 19 last week. So I'm doing great. But we're not gambling. And I think this has become something that needs to be looked at in terms of regulation. Effectively it is day trading without any regulation at all. And when you have insider information, which apparently has been the case, where people use that information and use big data to try to take advantage of it, there has to be some regulation. If they can't regulate themselves, then the NFL needs to look at just, you know, moving away from them a little bit. And there should be some regulation. I have no clue whether the federal government is the proper place, my instinct is to say, hell no, just about everything about the federal government. +p2283 +aVBecky \u2014 +p2284 +aV\u2014 the governor's absolutely right. But we also need to reform Medicare and Social Security. We can't just allow it to continue on its current path the way that Hillary Clinton wants to do because there'll be major reductions in benefits in the next decade if we do nothing. I have a concrete plan to do just that, which allows people to keep HSAs to encourage savings, it allows for people that are retiring with Social Security to be able to get a minimum of 125 percent of the poverty level so that there is a baseline that in this generous country of ours no one goes below. +p2285 +aVYou have to reform Social Security, and the simple way to do it is to make sure that the wealthiest don't receive the same benefits as people that are lower-income. And make sure you enhance savings in the private market. The idea of 401(k)s. I have a small business that I set up. It took \u2014 it took an arm and a leg to be able to set up a 401(k). Because of all the federal mandates and federal laws, it was too expensive. We need to incent private savings and make sure that Social Security is protected for those that have it. +p2286 +aVBut the idea that you can't \u2014 that you're just gonna grow your way out of this \u2014 I have a plan to grow the economy at 4 percent, but you're gonna have to make adjustments for both Medicare and Social Security. [ +p2287 +aVAmerica's at a crossroads. The D.C. politicians continue to make things worse. I have a proven record of success, 32 years in business, and 8 years as Governor of the state of Florida. I will change the culture in Washington, just as I changed the culture in Tallahassee. I will do so in a way that will bring people together. We need a unifier, not a cynical divider in chief, and that's exactly what I will do. Imagine a country where people are lifted out of poverty again. Imagine a country where the middle class can get rising income again. I know we can do this because we're still the most extraordinary country on the face of the Earth. +p2288 +aVI'm Jeb Bush, and I believe America's on the verge of its greatest century, and I'm ready to lead. I'm a committed, conservative reformer that cut taxes, that balanced budgets, that took on the special interest in Florida, and we won. I look forward to talking tonight about how we can fix a broken Washington D.C., and create an environment where people can rise up again in this great country. Thank you. +p2289 +aVI think the voters will make that determination. But what I know to be true is that the next president of the United States is going to have to fix an extraordinary difficult situation. This administration, with President Obama and Hillary Clinton, has created insecurity the likes of which we never would've imagined. There's not a place in the world where we're better off today than six and a half years ago. And that requires a steadiness. That requires an understanding of how the world works. That requires an understanding and appreciation of American leadership in the world. You can't just, you know, talk about this stuff and insult leaders around the world and expect a good result. You have to do this with a steady hand, and I believe I have those skills. +p2290 +aVNo. Absolutely not. People are supporting me because I have a proven record of conservative leadership where I cut taxes $19 billion over eight years. We shrunk the state government workforce, we created a climate that led the nation in job growth seven out of eight years. We were one of two states to go to AAA bond rating. People know that we need principle-centered leadership, a disrupter to go to Washington, D.C. The one guy that had some special interests that I know of that tried to get me to change my views on something \u2014 that was generous and gave me money \u2014 was Donald Trump. He wanted casino gambling in Florida \u2014 +p2291 +aVYes you did. +p2292 +aVYou wanted it and you didn't get it because I was opposed to \u2014 +p2293 +aV\u2014 casino gambling before \u2014 +p2294 +aVduring and after. And that's not \u2014 I'm not going to be bought by anybody. +p2295 +aVNo way. Believe me. +p2296 +aVNot even possible. +p2297 +aVYou've got, according to your \u2014 to what you said on one of the talk shows, you got Hillary Clinton to go to your wedding \u2014 +p2298 +aV\u2014 because you gave her money. Maybe it works for Hillary Clinton \u2014 +p2299 +aV\u2014 it doesn't work for anybody on this \u2014 on stage. +p2300 +aVBut the simple fact is \u2014 +p2301 +aVNo. The simple fact is, Donald, you could not take \u2014 +p2302 +aVI was asked the question. +p2303 +aVSo he supports Pelosi, he supports Schumer, he supports Clinton \u2014 +p2304 +aVWhen he \u2014 and he \u2014 when he asked \u2014 when he asked Florida to have casino gambling, we said no. +p2305 +aVWe said no. And that's the simple fact. The simple fact is \u2014 +p2306 +aVDon't cut me off. +p2307 +aVNo, I don't think so, but we need to be strong against China. We should use offensive tactics as it relates to cyber security, send a deterrent signal to China. There should be super sanctions in what President Obama has proposed. There's many other tools that we have without canceling a dinner. That's not going to change anything, but we can be much stronger as it relates to that. As it relates to Iran, it's not a strategy to tear up an agreement. A strategy would be how do we confront Iran? And, the first thing that we need to do is to establish our commitment to Israel which has been altered by this administration. And, make sure that they have the most sophisticated weapons to send a signal to Iran that we have Israel's back. If we do that, it's going to create a healthier deterrent effect than anything else I can think of. +p2308 +aVI don't think \u2014 you're not stating my views right. +p2309 +aVI think there needs to be accommodation for someone acting on faith. Religious conscience is \u2014 is \u2014 is a first freedom. It's \u2014 it's a powerful part of our \u2014 of our Bill of Rights. And, in a big, tolerant country, we should respect the rule of law, allow people in \u2014 in \u2014 in this country \u2014 I'm a \u2014 I was opposed to the decision, but we \u2014 you can't just say, "well, they \u2014 gays can't get married now." But this woman, there should be some accommodation for her conscience, just as there should be for people that are florists that don't want to participate in weddings, or bakers. A great country like us should find a way to have accommodations for people so that we can solve the problem in the right way. This should be solved at the local level... +p2310 +aVAnd so we do agree, Mike. +p2311 +aVWell, he's wrong on a lot of things, but on this he's wrong because I'm the most pro-life governor on this stage. I got to act on my core beliefs. It's part of who I am. Life is a gift from God. And from beginning end we need to respect it and err on the side of life. And so I defunded Planned Parenthood. We created a climate where parental notification took place. We were the only state to fund crisis pregnancy centers with state moneys. We were totally focused on this. And I would bring that kind of philosophy to Washington, D.C. So here is a solution to this. Title X of the HHS funding, there is something that was the "Reagan Rule." It was passed in 1988. And in that rule it was defined, and the courts approved this, that a Planned Parenthood, you couldn't separate the money between the actual abortion procedures, and there are 330,000 abortions that take place in this clinic, and their promotion of it. He interpreted it the right way, the courts ruled in his favor, and Planned Parenthood did not get funding during that time until President Clinton came in. When I'm elected president, we will restore that interpretation of Title X. And this deal will be finished. +p2312 +aVThere are 13,000 community-based organizations that provide health services to women, 13,000 in this country. I don't believe that Planned Parenthood should get a penny from the federal government. Those organizations should get funding, just as I increased funding when I was governor of the state. That's the way you do this is you improve the condition for people. And, Donald, when I was governor, we also increased the opportunities for women. Women's income grew three times faster than the national average when I was governor. +p2313 +aVWe improved \u2014 we improved \u2014 +p2314 +aV\u2014 we increased child support \u2014 we increased child support with a broken system by 90 percent. +p2315 +aVI have a proven record. I have a proven record. +p2316 +aVHe did, he did. You're proud of your family, just as I am. +p2317 +aVTo subject my wife into the middle of a raucous political conversation was completely inappropriate, and I hope you apologize for that, Donald. +p2318 +aVShe is. She's fantastic. +p2319 +aVShe is absolutely the love of my life, and she's right here... +p2320 +aVAnd why don't you apologize to her right now. +p2321 +aVYeah. +p2322 +aVSo, here's the deal. My wife is a Mexican-American. She's an American by choice. She loves this country as much as anybody in this room, and she wants a secure border. But she wants to embrace the traditional American values that make us special and make us unique. We're at a crossroads right now. Are we going to take the Reagan approach, the hopeful optimistic approach, the approach that says that, you come to our country legally, you pursue your dreams with a vengeance, you create opportunities for all of us? Or the Donald Trump approach? The approach that says that everything is bad, that everything is coming to an end. I... +p2323 +aVI'm on the Reagan side of this. +p2324 +aVLook, first of all, I wrote a book about this, three \u2014 four years ago, now. And I laid out a comprehensive, conservative approach for immigration reform. And it does require securing the border. No one disagrees with that. But to build a wall, and to deport people \u2014 half a million a month \u2014 would cost hundreds of billions of dollars, Donald. Hundreds of billions of dollars. It would destroy community life, it would tear families apart. And it would send a signal to the rest of the world that the United States values that are so important for our long-term success no longer matter in this country. +p2325 +aVWell, I've been speaking English here tonight, and I'll keep speaking English. But the simple fact is, if a high school kid asks me a question in Spanish, a school \u2014 by the way, a voucher program that was created under my watch, the largest voucher program in the country, where kids can go to a Christian school, and they ask me a question in Spanish, I'm going to show respect and answer that question in Spanish. Even though they do speak English, and even though they embrace American values. +p2326 +aVYeah. +p2327 +aVWell, first of all, Hugh, if you're looking at Republican advisers, you have to go to the last two administrations. That happened to be 41 and 43. So just by definition, if you're \u2014 and many of the people here that are seeking advice from the foreign policy experts in the Republican side, they \u2014 they served in my dad's administration, my brother's administration. Of course that's the case. But I'm my own man. I'm going to create a strategy that is based on the simple fact that the United States needs to lead the world. The first thing that we need to do is to stop the craziness of the sequester. Rebuild our military so that our \u2014 so that we don't deploy people over and over again without the necessary equipment to keep them safe, to send a signal to the world that we're serious. If we're going to lead the world, then we need to have the strongest military possible. We need to rebuild our counterintelligence and intelligence capabilities. We need to focus on the fact that the next president is going to start in 2017, not in 1990 \u2014 you know, 30 years ago, or when my brother started. The world is dramatically different. And I believe that we need to restore America's presence and leadership in the world. Name a country where our relationship is better today than it was the \u2014 the day that Barack Obama got elected president. Under Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama, we have seen a weakness that now creates huge problems for the next president of the United States. So I'll have a team that will be \u2014 that will be following the doctrine I set up, and it will be peace through strength. We're sitting here in this library, which is a wonderful place to talk about this, because that's exactly what happened in the 1980s, and the world was a lot safer because of... +p2328 +aVThe leadership of Ronald Reagan and my... +p2329 +aVSo you \u2014 the \u2014 the first chance... +p2330 +aVRight after me, and then I'll \u2014 I'll yield \u2014 yield the floor. What do you guys say in the Senate when you're talking and debating? +p2331 +aVHere's the facts: When Donald Trump talks about judgment, what was his position on who would've been the best negotiator to deal with Iran? It wasn't a Republican; it was Hillary Clinton. That's what you believe. I mean, the lack of judgment and the lack of understanding about how the world works is really dangerous in this kind of time that we're saying. So is that the judgment that you bring to the table, that Hillary Clinton... +p2332 +aV... is a great negotiator, that she could bring about a better deal on Iran? +p2333 +aVYou know what? As it relates to my brother, there's one thing I know for sure. He kept us safe. I don't know if you remember... ... Donald... ... you remember the \u2014 the rumble? You remember the fire fighter with his arms around it? He sent a clear signal that the United States would be strong and fight Islamic terrorism, and he did keep us safe. +p2334 +aVThat's \u2014 that's my brother. +p2335 +aVHere's the lessons of history: When we \u2014 we pull back, voids are created. We left Iraq. We should've had a \u2014 a forces agreement to stay there with a small force, and instead of that, we politically and militarily pulled back, and now we have the creation of +p2336 +aV... because of what President Obama's done by pulling back. +p2337 +aVWell, I'm surprised Senator Cruz would say that since he was as strong supporter of John Roberts at the time. I will talk about what I will do as it relates to appointing Supreme Court Justices. We need to make sure that we have justices that, with a proven experienced record of respect for upholding the constitution. That is what we need. We can't have \u2014 the history in recent past is appoint people that have no experience so that you can't get attacked. And, that makes it harder for people to have confidence that they won't veer off... +p2338 +aVJohn Roberts has made some really good decisions, for sure, but he did not have a proven, extensive record that would have made the clarity the important thing, and that's what we need to do. And, I'm willing to fight for those nominees to make sure that they get passed. You can't do it the politically expedient way anymore. This is the culture in Washington. You have to fight hard for these appointments. This is perhaps the most important thing that the next president will do. +p2339 +aVWell, first of all, he, as I said, supported John Roberts. He supported him, publicly. So, you can rewrite history, I guess, Ted, but the simple fact is that you supported him because he had all the criteria that you would have thought would have made a great justice. And, I think he is doing a good job. But, the simple fact is that going forward, what we need to do is to have someone that has a long standing set of rulings that consistently makes it clear that he is a focused, exclusively on upholding the Constitution of the United States so they won't try to use the bench as a means to which legislate. +p2340 +aVHe was talking about me. +p2341 +aVWell, I \u2014 I wanted to \u2014 be \u2014 make it easier for him. +p2342 +aVAnd I just did. +p2343 +aVSo, 40 years ago, I smoked marijuana, and I admit it. I'm sure that other people might have done it and may not want to say it in front of 25 million people. My mom's not happy that I just did. That's true. And here's the deal. Here's the deal. We have \u2014 we have a serious epidemic of drugs that goes way beyond marijuana. What goes on in Colorado, as far as I'm concerned, that should be a state decision. But if you look at the problem of drugs in this \u2014 in this society today, it's a serious problem. Rand, you know this because you're campaigning in New Hampshire like all of us, and you see the epidemic of heroin, the overdoses of heroin that's taking place. People's families are \u2014 are being torn apart. It is appropriate for the government to play a consistent role to be able to provide more treatment, more prevention \u2014 we're the state that has the most drug courts across every circuit in \u2014 in \u2014 in Florida, there are drug courts to give people a second chance. That's the best way to do this. +p2344 +aVNo, you're wrong \u2014 you're wrong about this. +p2345 +aVI don't want to put poor people in jail, Randy. +p2346 +aVHere's the deal. No, I did not oppose when the legislature passed the bill to deal with that very issue. That's the way to solve this problem. Medical marijuana on the ballot was opened up, there was a huge loophole, it was the first step to getting to a place. And as a citizen of Florida, I voted no. +p2347 +aVNot very far. I think we need to do this state by state. There are places that get this right, and we need to make sure that we protect the privacy laws. This is a complicated place. But I do think the natural impulse on the left \u2014 Hillary Clinton, immediately after one of these horrific violent acts took place, immediately said we need to have federal gun laws. President Obama almost reflexively always says the same thing. And the net result is, you're going to take away rights of \u2014 of law-abiding citizens, the 99.999 percent of the people that are law- abiding citizens. That's not the right approach to do it. In Florida, we have a background check. We have concealed-weapon permit holders, and in fact, there's 1,200,000 of them. We have a reduction in violent crime because we put people behind bars when they use a gun in the commission of the crime. That's the better approach. But we're living in a society today where despair kind of grows in isolation. +p2348 +aVI \u2014 I think there needs to be a hearing, but the fact is, we need to encourage that kind of involvement. That's \u2014 that's exactly what we need to do. +p2349 +aVI would go with Ronald Reagan's partner, Margaret Thatcher. Probably illegal, but what the heck? Since it's not going to happen. A strong leader is what we need in the White House, and she certainly was a strong leader that restored the United Kingdom into greatness. +p2350 +aVEver Ready, it's very high energy, Donald. +p2351 +aVSix million more people are living in poverty than the day that Barack Obama got elected president. Six million more people. The middle class has had declining income, workforce participation rates are lower than they were in 1977. For the first time in modern history, more businesses are failing than are being created. That is what the next president will have to deal with. And I believe we can reverse course by creating a strategy of high sustained economic growth, not the new normal of 2 percent that all the left says we just have to get used to, but a 4 percent growth strategy where we reform how we tax, fix the broken regulatory system, embrace the energy revolution in our midst, fix the immigration system so we can turn it into an economic driver, deal with the structural fiscal problems that exist because of our entitlement problems that will overwhelm and create way too much debt. If we grow at 4 percent, people are going to be lifted out of poverty. The great middle that defines our country will have a chance to be able to pursue their dreams as they see fit. That should be the great challenge and the great opportunity for the next president of the United States, to forge consensus to go back to a high-growth strategy. And then we'll be able to lead the world. Without a high-growth strategy, our country will never have the resources or the optimism to be able to lead the world, which the world desperately needs our leadership. +p2352 +aVAbsolutely, I do, and I'm gonna run hard, run with heart, and run to win. I'm gonna have to earn this. Maybe the barrier -- the bar's even higher for me. That's fine. I've got a record in Florida. I'm proud of my dad, and I'm certainly proud of my brother. In Florida, they called me Jeb, because I earned it. I cut taxes every year, totaling $19 billion. We were -- we had -- we balanced every budget. We went from $1 billion of reserves to $9 billion of reserves. We were one of two states that went to AAA bond rating. They keep -- they called me Veto Corleone. Because I vetoed 2,500 separate line-items in the budget. I am my own man. I governed as a conservative, and I govern effectively. And the net effect was, during my eight years, 1.3 million jobs were created. We left the state better off because I applied conservative principles in a purple state the right way, and people rose up. +p2353 +aVI do. I believe that the great majority of people coming here illegally have no other option. They want to provide for their family. But we need to control our border. It's not -- it's our responsibility to pick and choose who comes in. So I -- I've written a book about this and yet this week, I did come up with a comprehensive strategy that -- that really mirrored what we said in the book, which is that we need to deal with E-Verify, we need to deal with people that come with a legal visa and overstay. We need to be much more strategic on how we deal with border enforcement, border security. We need to eliminate the sanctuary cities in this country. It is ridiculous and tragic......that people are dying because of the fact that -- that local governments are not following the federal law. There's much to do. And I think rather than talking about this as a wedge issue, which Barack Obama has done now for six long years, the next president -- and I hope to be that president -- will fix this once and for all so that we can turn this into a driver for high sustained economic growth. And there should be a path to earned legal status... ...for those that are here. Not -- not amnesty, earned legal status, which means you pay a fine and do many things over an extended period of time. +p2354 +aV...I remember... +p2355 +aV...I remember, Megyn. +p2356 +aVKnowing what we know now, with faulty intelligence, and not having security be the first priority when -- when we invaded, it was a mistake. I wouldn't have gone in, however, for the people that did lose their lives, and the families that suffer because of it -- I know this full well because as governor of the state of Florida, I called every one of them. Every one of them that I could find to tell them that I was praying for them, that I cared about them, and it was really hard to do. And, every one of them said that their child did not die in vain, or their wife, of their husband did not die in vain. So, why it was difficult for me to do it was based on that. Here's the lesson that we should take from this, which relates to this whole subject. Barack Obama became president, and he abandoned Iraq. He left, and when he left Al Qaida was done for. +p2357 +aVNo, I don't. And I don't believe the federal government should be involved in the creation of standards directly or indirectly, the creation of curriculum or content. It is clearly a state responsibility. I'm for higher standards... ...measured in an intellectually honest way, with abundant school choice, ending social promotion. And I know how to do this because as governor of the state of Florida I created the first statewide voucher program in the country, the second statewide voucher program, in the country and the third statewide voucher program in the country. And we had rising student achievement across the board, because high standards, robust accountability, ending social promotion in third grade, real school choice across the board, challenging the teachers union and beating them is the way to go. And Florida's low income kids had the greatest gains inside the country. Our graduation rate improved by 50 percent. That's what I'm for. +p2358 +aVHe is definitely my friend. And I think the states ought to create these standards. And if states want to opt out of Common Core, fine. Just make sure your standards are high. Because today in America, a third of our kids, after we spend more per student than any country in the world other than a couple rounding errors, to be honest with you, 30 percent are college- and/or career-ready. If we are going to compete in this world we're in today, there is no possible way we can do it with lowering expectations and dumbing down everything. Children are going to suffer and families' hearts are going to be broken that their kids won't be able to get a job in the 21st Century. +p2359 +aVWe've done it 27 times since World War II. I think we need to lift our spirits and have high, lofty expectations for this great country of ours. The new normal of two percent that the left is saying you can't do anything about is so dangerous for our country. There's 6 million people living in poverty today, more than when Barack Obama got elected. 6.5 million people are working part-time, most of whom want to work full-time. We've created rules and taxes on top of every aspiration of people, and the net result is we're not growing fast, income's not growing. A four percent growth strategy means you fix a convoluted tax code. You get in and you change every aspect of regulations that are job killers. You get rid of Obamacare and replace it with something that doesn't suppress wages and kill jobs. You embrace the energy revolution in our country. This president and Hillary Clinton, who can't even say she's for the XL pipeline even after she's left? Give me a break. Of course we're for it. We should be for these things to create high sustained economic growth. And frankly, fixing our immigration system and turning it into an economic driver is part of this as well. We can do this. +p2360 +aVNone of which is true. +p2361 +aVNo. It's not true. But I have said that Mr. Trump's language is divisive. I want to win. I want one of these people here or the ones at 5:00, to be the next president of the United States. We're not going on win by doing what Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton do each and every day. Dividing the country. Saying, creating a grievance kind of environment. We're going to win when we unite people with a hopeful, optimistic message. I have that message because I was a governor of a state that saw people lifted up, because we had high sustained economic growth. Our economy grew at double the rate of the nation. We created 1.3 million jobs. We led the nation seven out of those eight years. We were only one of two states that went to AAA bond rating. I cut taxes, $19 billion. If you do that and apply conservative principles the right way, you create an environment where everybody rises up. That's how we're going to win. Campaigning in places to give people hope that their life is better because too many people are suffering today in America. +p2362 +aVHere's what I believe. I believe we're at the verge of the greatest time to be alive in this world. But Washington is holding us back. How we tax, how we regulate. We're not embracing the energy revolution in our midst, a broken immigration system that has been politicized rather than turning it into an economic driver. We're not protecting and preserving our entitlement system or reforming for the next generation. All these things languish while we have politicians in Washington using these as wedge issues. Here's my commitment to you, because I did it as Florida. We can fix these things. We can grow economically and restore America's leadership in the world, so that everybody has a chance to rise up. I humbly ask for your vote, whenever you're gonna get to vote, whenever the primary is. Thank you all very much. +p2363 +aVRight. +p2364 +aVNot on specific issues, not at all. I think the next president \u2014 if I'm president, I will appoint people \u2014 I'll nominate people that have a proven record in the judiciary. The problem in the past has been we have appointed people thinking you can get it through the Senate because they didn't have a record. And the problem is that sometimes we're surprised. The simple fact is the next president needs to appoint someone with a proven conservative record, similar to Justice Scalia, that is a lover of liberty, that believes in limited government, that consistently applied that kind of philosophy, that didn't try to legislator from the bench, that was respectful of the Constitution. And then fight and fight, and fight for that nomination to make sure that that nomination passes. Of course, the president, by the way, has every right to nominate Supreme Court justices. I'm an Article II guy in the Constitution. We're running for the president of the United States. We want a strong executive for sure. But in return for that, there should be a consensus orientation on that nomination, and there's no doubt in my mind that Barack Obama will not have a consensus pick when he submits that person to the Senate. +p2365 +aVYes. +p2366 +aVNo, it doesn't, and that's the problem. The lack of leadership in this country by Barack Obama, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, thinking that this is a policy that works, this policy of containment with +p2367 +aVThe very basic fact is that Vladimir Putin is not going to be an ally of the United States. The whole world knows this. It's a simple, basic fact. They're not taking out \u2014 they're not even attempting to take out +p2368 +aV... Let me finish... +p2369 +aV... This is ridiculous... +p2370 +aV... This is coming from a guy who gets his foreign policy from the shows. +p2371 +aV... This is a guy who thinks that Hillary Clinton is a great negotiator in Iran... +p2372 +aV... This is a man who insults his way to the nomination... +p2373 +aVI think it's my turn, isn't it? +p2374 +aVI've got about five or six... +p2375 +aVDo I get to do it five or six times or just once, responding to that? +p2376 +aVSo here's the deal. I'm sick and tired of Barack Obama blaming my brother for all of the problems that he has had. And, frankly, I could care less about the insults that Donald Trump gives to me. It's blood sport for him. He enjoys it. And I'm glad he's happy about it. But I am sick and tired... +p2377 +aVI am sick and tired of him going after my family. My dad is the greatest man alive in my mind. And while Donald Trump was building a reality TV show, my brother was building a security apparatus to keep us safe. And I'm proud of what he did. And he has had the gall to go after my brother. +p2378 +aVHe has had the gall to go after my mother. Hold on. Let me finish. He has had the gall to go after my mother. +p2379 +aVLook, I won the lottery when I was born 63 years ago, looked up, and I saw my mom. My mom is the strongest woman I know. +p2380 +aVThis is not about my family or his family. This is about the South Carolina families that need someone to be a commander in chief that can lead. I'm that person. +p2381 +aVCan I just... +p2382 +aVI'm not going to invite Donald Trump to the rally in Charleston on Monday afternoon when my brother is coming to speak. +p2383 +aVI'm rescinding the invitation. I thought you might want to come, but I guess not. +p2384 +aVI'd like \u2014 can I \u2014 can I... +p2385 +aVLook, I admire the fact that Governor Kasich is supporting spending more money on drug treatment and mental health. I think that's a high priority all across this country, but expanding Obamacare is what we're talking about, and Obamacare's expansion, even though the federal government is paying for the great majority of it, is creating further debt on the backs of our children and grandchildren. We should be fighting Obamacare, repealing Obamacare, replacing it with something totally different. When I was \u2014 as a private citizen, Florida was confronted with the choice. The governor was supportive of doing what John did. So was the Florida Senate. A committed speaker of the House asked me to go as a private citizen to make the case against the expansion. I did, and it wasn't expanded there, just as it wasn't expanded in South Carolina under Governor Haley. +p2386 +aVSouth Carolina \u2014 South Carolinians need to know this, because the Cato Institute, which grades governors based on their spending, rank him right at the bottom. +p2387 +aVAnd Governor Haley is ranked at the top. +p2388 +aVNo. He mentioned my name. +p2389 +aVLet me finish, though. No, no, no \u2014 hey, wait, wait, wait. Just hold, Major, hold, Major. Hold on, Major. +p2390 +aVSouth Carolinians want to make that, they elect the most conservative governor or candidate that can win. +p2391 +aVOf course not. It won't have an impact on hedge funds managers paying ordinary income. In fact, it's not just hedge fund people, but people that are doing \u2014 they're in the business of investing other people's money, getting capital gains treatment is not appropriate. They should be paying ordinary income. That's their business. They're grateful to be able to make a lot of money, I'm sure. And what we do is lower the rates. It's not the end of the world that private equity people and hedge fund folks that are, right now, getting capital gains treatment for the income they earn, pay ordinary income like everybody else in this room. That's not a problem at all. What we need to do is reform the tax code to simplify the rates, to shift power away from Washington, D.C. That's what I did as governor of the state of Florida, $19 billion dollars of tax cuts, and it stimulated seven out of the eight years. Florida led the nation in job growth. +p2392 +aVThank you. +p2393 +aVGreat question. I feel like I have to get into my inner Chris Christie, and point out that the reason why I should be president is listening to two senators talk about arcane amendments to bills that didn't pass. This is \u2014 this is the problem. We need a leader to fix this problem. And I have a detailed plan to do just that, including controlling the border, dealing with the visa over-stayers, making sure that we have a path to legal status, not to citizenship, for those that come out from the shadows and pay a fine, learn English, don't commit crimes, work and pay taxes. That is the better approach. +p2394 +aVThe great majority of people that come to this country come because they have no other choice. They want to come to provide for their families. That doesn't mean it's right. That doesn't mean it's right. We should pick who comes to our country. We should control our border. Coming here legally should be a lot easier than coming here illegally. But the motivation, they're not all rapists, as you-know-who said. They're not that. These are people that are coming to provide for their families. And we should show a little more respect for the fact that they're struggling. It doesn't mean we shouldn't be controlling the border. That's exactly what we should be doing. +p2395 +aV... So, you know......This is the standard operating procedure, to disparage me. That's fine... +p2396 +aV... But, if you want to talk about weakness, you want to talk about weakness? It's weak to disparage women. +p2397 +aVIt's weak to denigrate the disabled. And,it's really weak to call John McCain a loser because he was a... +p2398 +aV... That is outrageous. The guy's an American hero. +p2399 +aV... The simple fact is I've also laid out my plans on immigration... +p2400 +aV Just, for the record make sure my mother's listening, if she's watching the debate. I didn't say that I was going to moon somebody... +p2401 +aVSo, there \u2014 so, there is all sorts of intrigue about where I disagree with my brother, there would be one right there. You should not use eminent domain for private purposes. A baseball stadium or a parking lot for a limo... +p2402 +aVIt's very different. Transmission lines, pipe lines, bridges and highways. All of that is proper use of imminent domain. Not to take an elderly woman's home to build a parking lot so that high-rollers can come from New York City to build casinos in Atlantic City. +p2403 +aVMy name was mentioned twice. +p2404 +aVHe called me a liar. +p2405 +aVAlso, he talked about one of my heroes, Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan was a liberal maybe in the 1950s. He was a conservative reformed governor for eight years before he became president, and no one should suggest he made an evolution for political purposes. He was a conservative, and he didn't tear down people like Donald Trump is. He tore down the Berlin Wall. +p2406 +aVHe was a great guy. +p2407 +aVThat was me. +p2408 +aVYeah, well, I have got to respond to this. +p2409 +aVSounds like a good plan. +p2410 +aVOr you could ask me two questions, so I could get two minutes instead of one. +p2411 +aVI think the dysfunction in Washington is really dangerous, that's what I think. And we need a proven leader that has a record of solving problems, someone who doesn't cut and run; someone who could be a commander in chief to unite our country around common purposes; someone who doesn't disparage people. Someone that doesn't brag, for example, that he has been bankrupt four times and it was great, because he could use the legal system. Someone... +p2412 +aVWe need someone with a proven record to be able to forge consensus to solve problems. And right now, both Republicans and Democrats in Washington don't get it. People are struggling \u2014 63 percent of Americans can't make a $500 car payment. Most Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. And we need someone has a proven record of growing the economy, reforming the things that are broken. And I'm that person. +p2413 +aVYeah... +p2414 +aVYeah. +p2415 +aVHere we go. +p2416 +aVHere's the record. Here's the record. We led the nation in job growth seven out of eight years. When I left there was $9 billion of reserves, 35 percent of general revenue. No state came close to that. +p2417 +aVWhen I \u2014 during my time, we were one of the two states to go to AAA bond rating. We didn't go bankrupt like Trump did and call it success when people are laid off, when vendors don't get paid. That's not success. What we did was create an environment where people had a chance to have income. Personal income during my time went up by 4.4 percent. +p2418 +aVThe government grew by... +p2419 +aV... half of that. +p2420 +aVThank you all very much. The next president is going to be confronted with an unforeseen challenge. That's almost certain. It could be a pandemic, a major natural disaster or an attack on our country. The question for South Carolinians and Americans is who do you want to have sitting behind the big desk in the Oval Office? Because that's the question. It's not the things we're talking about today. It's the great challenge that may happen. I believe I will have a steady hand as commander in chief and president of the United States. I will unite this country around common purposes because I did it as governor of the state of Florida. When I was governor, we had eight hurricanes and four tropical storms in 16 months. Our state was on its back. We recovered far faster than what people thought because we led. We want to challenge rather than cutting and running. That's what we need in Washington, D.C. We need someone with a servant's heart that has a backbone, that isn't going to focus on polls and focus groups. The focus will be on the American people to keep them safe and secure. I ask for your vote next Saturday. +p2421 +aVChris, why don't you mention my name so I can get into this. +p2422 +aV... I appreciate that, I really do, thank you. +p2423 +aVWell, first of all he said the exact same thing about me, that I would make a great Vice Presidential nominee when Mitt Romney was considering. I said the same thing about Marco. I think we were both right at the time, and Mitt picked somebody else. So, let's move on to the 2016 race. Who has the leadership skills... ...who has the leadership skills to lead? And, I'm proud of the fact that I have 12 Medal of Honor recipients, over 30 admirals and generals that believe that I would be a steady hand as Commander in Chief. That I serve as Governor of the state of Florida where we cut taxes and reduced government. I took on very powerful interests, forged consensus, fought for my beliefs, implemented them and the state was better off. We had eight hurricanes and four tropical storms in 16 months. The whole state was turned upside down. It required a steady hand. Leadership. You learn this, you learn it by doing it. It's not something that you just go up, and on the job do it. It's not the same. Look, let's be clear. Marco Rubio is a gifted, gifted politician, and he may have the skills to be a President of the United States, but we've tried it the old way with Barack Obama, with soaring eloquence and we got \u2014 we didn't get a leader we got someone who wants to divide the country up. The next President......going to have to forge consensus to bring about a set of common purposes so that we can move forward again in this country... +p2424 +aV... this relates to strategic patience. +p2425 +aVThis relates to the strategic patience of the Obama administration. They come up with these great marketing terms, and what they do is they pull back, and voids are filled, and they're now filled by asymmetric threats of terror, as well as nation-states on the run. The next president of the United States is gonna have to get the United States back in the game, and if a preemptive strike is necessary to keep us safe, then we should do it. +p2426 +aVWell, first of all, it's interesting that that happened literally days when this hostage release took place in Iran. A day or two days afterwards, North Korea took a \u2014 held an American student hostage. I think it's when we send a signal of weakness, when we are negotiating to release people that committed crimes in our country for people that didn't commit crimes that are held hostage in Iran. We saw the shameful treatment of our sailors, that this creates weakness \u2014 sends a signal of weakness around the world. The next president of the United States is going to have to get back in the game. Where the United States' word matters. Where we back up our allies, where we don't send signals of weakness. We need to use every \u2014 every influence possible to get this student back. And I think John is right about this, there are crippling sanctions that are available, as it relates to the two or three banks that North Korea uses to \u2014 to \u2014 use it \u2014 illicit trade. We ought to re-establish sanctions, not just because of the student, but because of their actions that they're taking right now, as it relates to building this missile capability. +p2427 +aVGood evening. HAM: Mr. Trump. +p2428 +aVThe difference \u2014 the difference between eminent domain for public purpose \u2014 as Donald said, roads and infrastructure, pipelines and all that \u2014 that's for public purpose. But what Donald Trump did was use eminent domain to try to take the property of an elderly woman on the strip in Atlantic City. That is not public purpose, that is down right wrong. And here's the problem with that. The problem was, it was to tear down \u2014 it was to tear down \u2014 it was to tear down the house... +p2429 +aVAnd the net result was \u2014 you tried. +p2430 +aVAnd you lost in the court. +p2431 +aVThat is not true. And the simple fact is to turn this into a limousine parking lot for his casinos is a not public use. And in Florida, based on what we did, we made that impossible. It is part of our Constitution. That's the better approach. That is the conservative approach. +p2432 +aVHow tough it is to take away property from an elderly woman? +p2433 +aVHow tough it is to take away a property from an elderly woman? +p2434 +aVI consider it a public use. +p2435 +aVIt's a public use. It's a public use. +p2436 +aVIt's a public use. +p2437 +aVYeah. +p2438 +aVIt's a public use. +p2439 +aVEstablished by the courts \u2014 federal, state courts. +p2440 +aVI would like to see more millionaires. I think we need to grow more millionaires, we need create a prosperity society where people can rise up. This notion that somehow we're undertaxed as a nation is just fool hearty, when we have entitlements growing far faster than our ability to pay for it. A conservative, because that's the point of this, believes in limited government, believes in a entrepreneurial capitalism and a strong national defense. But it also has to be, we need to reform things. In my town hall meetings, I went to a place where a woman described her neighbor, who has a better economic deal by not working than her struggling to make ends meet. We need to be on the side of working people. And you know, the problem with the left is, another tax, another regulation, another mandate makes it harder for them to rise up. Everything that we should do should be focused on high, sustained economic growth, where the middle class gets a raise for the first time, and where people are rewarded for work, rather than non-work. And I know how to do this. And if people are interested in the specifics of this, they ought to go to jeb2016.com. +p2441 +aVMartha \u2014 Martha, if I... +p2442 +aVI would. And I would do it in concert, again, with our Arab allies and with Europe, most particularly in this case. This is the lesson learned: in history, if you bomb something and not do anything as it relates to deal with the aftermath of this, if you don't have a stable government, you get what we have in Libya. And this is not \u2014 leading from behind is not an effective policy. We have to lead. Without the United States, nothing seems to work. Europe doesn't have the ability to \u2014 to \u2014 to lead \u2014 forward lead in this regard. And so dealing with the caliphate is important, because it now has spawned other areas. There have been 70-plus attacks in 17 countries, either inspired by +p2443 +aVMartha and David, I just... +p2444 +aVMartha and David... +p2445 +aVNo, no, I wouldn't. No, I wouldn't. And it was used sparingly, Congress has changed the laws and I \u2014 and I think where we stand is the appropriate place. But what we need to do is to make sure that we expand our intelligence capabilities. The idea that we're going to solve this fight with predator drones, killing people somehow is a \u2014 is more acceptable than capturing them, securing the information. This is why closing Guantanamo is a complete disaster. What we need to do is make sure that we are kept safe......by having intelligence capabilities, both human and technological intelligence capabilities far superior than what we have today. That's how you get a more safe place is by making sure that we're fully engaged. And right now, this administration doesn't do that. +p2446 +aVThis is a \u2014 this is an important subject. I agree with everything that's been said here about repealing unconstitutional rules and rules that are creating real burdens for investing that creating jobs. But we also ought to get back to being a Tenth Amendment country, as well, a country that respects the states to be able to make more decisions. And in the Bush administration, we would shift transportation dollars back to the states. I trust Kasich and Christie to build the roads and the infrastructure of their states than Washington, D.C. EPA delegated authority, back to the states. Education dollars, back to the states. I would like to see reform take place all across the country, where there's more vouchers, more freedom. If we did that, we would shrink government's power in Washington, D.C. and we would have a much more effective government, where people would begin to trust our government again, because now, no one believes it works. +p2447 +aVYou mentioned me. He mentioned me. One other thing that I think we ought to do, along with repealing Obamacare, we need to shift all of this power of healthcare, which is the most egregious form of federal power that is suppressing wages and incomes, and allow governors to have the Medicaid plans so that they can create 21st century Medicaid insurance for people that are stuck in poverty. There's so much that can be done, but I don't trust Washington to do it. I trust the state capitals to be the place \u2014 to be the source of innovation and reform in this country. HAM: Thank you, governors. Martha and David, back to you. +p2448 +aVI didn't mention him the second time. +p2449 +aV... Say it again? +p2450 +aV... I do, and I do think that we should not impose any kind of political agenda on the military. There should be \u2014 if women can meet the requirements, the minimum requirements for combat service they ought to have the right to do it. For sure. It ought to be focused on the morale as well. We got to make sure that we have readiness much higher than we do today. We need to eliminate the sequester which is devastating our military. We can't be focusing on the political side of this, we need to realize that our military force is how we project our word in the world. When we're weak militarily it doesn't matter what we say. We can talk about red lines, and +p2451 +aV... Why would they worry about it... +p2452 +aV... Well, the Draft's not going to be reinstituted, but why \u2014 if women are accessing... +p2453 +aVNo. I didn't say that. You \u2014 you asked a question not about the draft, you asked about registering. And if women are going to be... +p2454 +aVIf \u2014 but... +p2455 +aV... we don't have a draft. I'm not suggesting we have a draft. What I'm suggesting is that we ought to have readiness being the first priority of our military, and secondly, that we make sure that the morale is high. And right now, neither one of those are acceptable because we've been gutting the military budget. We also need to reform our procurement process. We need to make sure there are more men and women in uniform than people \u2014 than civilians in our Defense Department. There's a lot of things that we need to reform to bring our defense capabilities into the 21st century and I'm the guy that could do that. That's why I have the support of generals, of admirals, of 12 Medal of Honor recipients and many other people that know that I would be a steady commander-in-chief and rebuild our military. +p2456 +aVI totally agree that we need to give veterans more choices. A veterans card to be able to go to a private provider will enhance the quality of the service inside the Department of Veterans Affairs. We need career civil service reform. Only three people were fired after waiting lists were dropped where veterans didn't get care and people died. It is outrageous. And Hillary Clinton says that that's acceptable? Because she is captive of the public service uniforms. Career civil service reform would allow the next president to fire people that are \u2014 that are showing sheer incompetence. At a town hall meeting today, someone came \u2014 told a story of their father who looked like he was 85. He had \u2014 he got a bill eight years later from an operation he had, eight years it took. They couldn't resolve the dispute and then he was told that he died. Literally, the Veterans Administration sent a death certificate to this guy and it took nine months to clarify the guy \u2014 I met him. He's voting for me. And he is \u2014 likely to be alive. This is \u2014 this is outrageous. It is completely outrageous. So, giving veterans more choices, creating centers of excellence, focusing on the true problems that exist. Dr. Carson is completely right. We need to start focusing on this earlier, before they become veterans so that there's a customized plan so people don't fall through the cracks. We can do this, but it's going to require someone who has proven leadership skills to make it happen. +p2457 +aVLook, I'm pro-life. In fact, on this stage, I'm the most pro-life person because I've acted on it for eight years as governor of the state of Florida. Where we abolished partial-birth abortion, where parents have the right to be notified when their teenage child is having an abortion. We were the first state to do a choose life license plate to raise money for adoption. We were the first state to have state monies go to crisis pregnancy centers, which recently was just increased to $4 million a year. We created greater regulation on abortion clinics, where there were horrific procedures. So I'm pro life, but I believe there should be exceptions: rape, incest and when the life of the mother is in danger. And so, that belief, and my consistency on this, makes me, I think, poised to be in the right place, the sweet spot for a Republican nominee. And others may have a different view and I respect it. +p2458 +aVPeyton Manning is supporting me. And I'm for Denver. +p2459 +aVI want to thank the people of New Hampshire, and I want to celebrate the birthday of a great president, Ronald Reagan would have been 105 today. President Reagan believed in the future of our country, believed in its greatness, had a hopeful, optimistic message. Drew people towards our cause. We need someone who has a proven record to take our case to the American people because our philosophy is by far the best one. Limited government, entrepreneurial capitalism, of peace through strength. I believe I have the skills to take our party to victory in November. I ask for your support on Tuesday to keep America, and make America a safer, stronger, and freer. Thank you all very much. +p2460 +aVBret, we're just starting. The first vote hasn't been counted. Why don't we let the process work. I trust Iowans, Granite staters, people in South Carolina, people in Nevada, to start this process out. I kind of miss Donald Trump. He was a little teddy bear to me. We always had such a loving relationship in these debates and in between and the tweets. I kind of miss him. I wish he was here. Everybody else was in the witness protection program when I went after him on behalf of what the Republican cause should be: conservative principles, believing in limited government, believing in accountability. Leading by fixing the things that are broken. Look, I am in the establishment because my dad, the greatest man alive was president of the United States and my brother, who I adore as well as fantastic brother was president. Fine, I'll take it. I guess I'm part of the establishment Barbara Bush is my mom. I'll take that, too. But this election is not about our pedigree, this is an election about people that are really hurting. We need a leader that will fix things and have a proven record to do it. And we need someone who will take on Hillary Clinton in November. Someone who has a proven record, who has been tested, who is totally transparent. I released 34 years of tax returns... ... and 300,000 e-mails in my government record. To get the information from Hillary Clinton, you need to get a subpoena from the FBI. +p2461 +aVNo, you weren't. Your name wasn't mentioned, Ted. +p2462 +aV... Chris, keep it coming... +p2463 +aV... Thank you Chris... +p2464 +aVWell, first, I was critical of the Senators not giving the authorization for the use of military force. They should have made it more open ended for the next president. We shouldn't have the war fighters have their arms tied behind their back as President Obama wanted to do, but they had a chance to show support and it wasn't popular at the time. It became popular after the attack in Paris, and San Bernardino. Now we hear the tough talk. Prior to that, in the Reagan Library, I gave a detailed plan. Exactly what to do as it relates to +p2465 +aVOf course. And there's all sorts of ways that can be done at the state, local and federal level to do that. But the first duty of the next president of the United States is to fix the mess at the Department of Veterans Affairs. That's his first responsibility. Look, we have waiting lists for veterans that are \u2014 that are leaving because of the sequester where we're gutting the military. More and more military personnel are leaving becoming veterans, and the waiting list grows. They've given out $140 million of bonuses to Veterans Department employees, including reducing the waiting lists, without giving veterans care. People died, and only three people have been fired. I will make sure that we fire the sheer incompetence inside the Department of Veterans Affairs and then we'll give veterans a choice card so that they don't have to travel hours and hours to get care if they want to go to their private provider. You want to make the Veterans Administration do a better job, give them \u2014 give veterans choices and you'll get a much better result. And as it relates to all the other organizations, let me give you a good example. In Houston, Texas, there's an organization in place because someone acted on their heart, wanted to make sure that there's no homeless veterans in Houston. And they've come pretty close to that without federal government assistance. We need to mobilize the entire country to treat our veterans and treat them with much more respect than they get today. +p2466 +aVNo, they shouldn't. And I believe that Puerto Rico ought to have the right of self-determination. If I was a Puerto Rican, I'd vote for statehood so that they have full citizenship. They serve in the military. They would have to pay federal taxes. They would \u2014 they would accept the responsibilities of full U.S. citizenship. But they should have the right of determine \u2014 self-determination. Before you get to that, though, Puerto Rico is going to have to deal with the structural problems they face. You know, it's \u2014 it's a fact that if you can pay for a $79 one-way ticket to Orlando, and you can escape the challenges of a declining economy and high crime rates, you move to Orlando. And a lot of people are doing that. And the spiraling out-of- control requires Puerto Rico to make structural reforms. The federal government can play a role in allowing them to do that, but they should not \u2014 the process of statehood or the status of Puerto Rico won't be solved until we get to the bigger issue of how you deal with the structural economic problems they're facing right now. +p2467 +aVWell, I'm kind of confused because he was the sponsor of the Gang of Eight bill that did require a bunch of thresholds but ultimately allowed for citizenship over an extended period of time. I mean, that's a fact. And he asked me to support that. And I \u2014 I supported him because I think people, when you're elected, you need to do things. And he led the charge to finally fix this immigration problem that has existed now for, as Marco says, for 30 years. And then he cut and run because it wasn't popular amongst conservatives, I guess. Here's what I believe. And I wrote a book about this called Immigration Wars. You can get it at $2.99 on Amazon. It's not a bestseller. I can promise you. There won't be any \u2014 you can get it. It's affordable for everybody. We should have a path to legal status for the 12 million people that are here illegally. It means, come out from the shadows, pay a fine, earn legal status by working, by paying taxes, learning English. Not committing crimes and earn legal status where you're not cutting in front of the line for people that are patiently waiting outside. I think that is the \u2014 I think that's the conservative consensus pragmatic approach to how to solve this problem. +p2468 +aVSo did you. +p2469 +aVYeah. So did you, Marco. +p2470 +aVMarco, Marco \u2014 he brought up my name. I have supported a consensus approach to solving this problem wherever it came up. and in 2007 it almost passed when my brother was president of the United States. A bipartisan approach got close. Barack Obama actually had the poison pill to stop it then. And when you led the charge with the Gang of Eight, I supported it because you asked me to. I think it's important for people in elected office to try to forge consensus to solve problems. There's never going do be perfect bill. +p2471 +aVBut when you didn't do that and you ask people to support, you shouldn't cut and run. +p2472 +aVYou should stick with it and that's exactly what happened. He cut and run. And that's a tragedy because now... ... it's harder and harder to actually solve this problem. +p2473 +aVCan I \u2014 can I \u2014 I just... +p2474 +aVThat beautiful young woman who's an entrepreneur who served in the military, first of all, is deserving of our respect for service in the military and the fact that she's an entrepreneur. And we should be a welcoming nation. Our identity is not based on race or ethnicity, it's based on a set of shared values. That's American citizenship. And Dulce Candy \u2014 a pretty cool name, actually \u2014 that is now an entrepreneur over Youtube is part of that American spirit, and we should celebrate it as conservatives. That's what we believe in. You can \u2014 you can deal with the threat of terror and also recognize that this country should be aspirational across the board. +p2475 +aVWell, first of all, I've seen polls where I'm beating Hillary Clinton pretty regularly. And I believe I can, because I have a proven record, a record of accomplishment, a record of cutting taxes, of shrinking the government, of reforming education, of challenging the status quo, eliminating career civil service protections, shrinking the government workforce by 11 percent, but leading the nation in job growth. That's the record of accomplishment that should be taken to Hillary Clinton, who has no record of accomplishment. So I'm confident if I win this nomination, I will aggressively go against her and beat her. As it relates to the super PACs, I have no control over that. And this is beanbag compared to what the Clinton hit machine is going to do to the Republican nominee. The simple fact is, we all have a record. It all will be scrutinized. There's give and take. It's called the politics. And that's the way it is. I'm running hard and I believe I'll be the Republican nominee and I'll be the one best suited to beat Hillary Clinton, who should not be president of the United States. +p2476 +aVWell first of all, I think it's important that when we're running for the highest office in the land that we recognize that we're living in dangerous times and we have to be serious about it, that our words have consequences. Donald Trump, for example \u2014 I'm glad \u2014 I mentioned his name again just if anybody was missing him... ... Mr. Trump believed that in reaction to people's fears that we should ban all Muslims. Well, that creates an environment that's toxic in our own country. Nobela is a rising entrepreneur. She wants to pursue the American dream. She's an American citizen. She should not feel uncomfortable about her citizenship. She's not the threat. The threat is Islamic terrorism. We need to focus our energies there, not these broad, blanket, kind of statements that will make it harder for us to deal with +p2477 +aVWe desperately need a conservative leader as president of the United States. I have a proven record as governor of the state of Florida, as a conservative leader. And I also have detailed plans to fix the mess in Washington, D.C. As president I will restore and rebuild our military, restore the alliances and keep us safe. And as our party's nominee, I will defeat Hillary Clinton in November. I ask for your support on the caucuses come Monday night and I will make you proud as our party's nominee. Thank you very much. +p2478 +aVWell first of all, the idea that somehow we're better off today than the day that Barack Obama was inaugurated president of the United States is totally an alternative universe. The simple fact is that the world has been torn asunder. Think about it. With grandiose language, the president talks about red lines and nothing to follow it up; talks about +p2479 +aVNo. And worse \u2014 worse yet, to be honest with you, Hillary Clinton would be a national security disaster. Think about it. She wants to continue down the path of Iran, Benghazi, the Russian reset, Dodd-Frank, all the things that have \u2014 that have gone wrong in this country, she would be a national security mess. And that is wrong. And you know what? Here's the problem. If she gets elected, she's under investigation with the FBI right now. If she gets elected, her first 100 days, instead of setting an agenda, she might be going back and forth between the White House and the courthouse. We need to stop that. +p2480 +aVNeil, my name was mentioned here. Neil, my name was mentioned as well. Here's the deal, Chris is totally right. He's been a good governor, and he's a heck of a lot better than his predecessor that would have bankrupted New Jersey. Everybody on this stage is better than Hillary Clinton. And I think the focus ought to be on making sure that we leave this nomination process, as wild and woolly as it's going to be \u2014 this is not being bad. These attack ads are going to be part of life. Everybody just needs to get used to it. Everybody's record's going to be scrutinized, and at the end of the day we need to unite behind the winner so we can defeat Hillary Clinton, because she is a disaster. Our country rise up again, but we need to have a compelling conservative agenda that we present to the American people in a way that doesn't disparage people, that unites us around our common purpose. And so everybody needs to discount some of the things you're going to hear in these ads, and discount the \u2014 the back-and-forth here, because every person here is better than Hillary Clinton. +p2481 +aVFirst of all, I'd like to recognize Governor Haley for her incredible leadership in the aftermath of the \u2014 \u2014 the Emanuel AME church killings. And I also want to recognize the people in that church that showed the grace of God and the grace of forgiveness and the mercy that they showed. I don't know if any of us could have done what they did, one after another, within 48 hours of that tragedy taking place. Look, here's the deal, in this particular case, the FBI made a mistake. The law itself requires a background check, but that didn't fulfill their part of the bargain within the time that they were supposed to do. We don't need to add new rules, we need to make sure the FBI does its job. Because that person should not have gotten a gun, should not \u2014 would not have passed a background check. The first impulse of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton is to take rights away from law- abiding citizens. That's what they do, whether it's the San Bernardino attack or if it's these tragedies that take place, I think we need to focus on what the bigger issue is. It isn't law-abiding gun owners. Look, I have an A plus rating in the NRA and we also have a reduction in gun violence because in Florida, if you commit a crime with a gun, you're going away. You're going away for a long, long while. And that's what we should focus on is the violence in our communities. Target the efforts for people that are committing crimes with guns, and if you do that, and get it right, you're going to be much better off than creating a political argument where there's a big divide. The other issue is mental health. That's a serious issue that we could work on. Republicans and Democrats alike believe this. The president's first impulse is do this by executive order, power he doesn't have. Why not go to Congress and in a bipartisan way, begin to deal with the process of mental health issues so that people that are spiraling out of control because of mental health challenges don't have access to guns. +p2482 +aVWell, first of all, under President Jeb Bush, we would restore the strength of the military. Last week, Secretary Carter announced that the Navy's going to be cut again. It's now half the size of what it was prior to Operation Desert Storm. The deployments are too high for the military personnel. We don't have procurement being done for refreshing the equipment. The B-52 is still operational as the long range bomber; it was inaugurated in the age of Harry Truman. The planes are older than the pilots. We're gutting our military, and so the Iranians and the Chinese and the Russians and many other countries look at the United States not as serious as we once were. We have to eliminate the sequester, rebuild our military in a way that makes it clear that we're back in the game. Secondly, as it relates to Iran, we need to confront their ambitions across the board. We should reimpose sanctions, they've already violated sanctions after this agreement was signed by testing medium-range missiles. Thirdly, we need to move our embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem to send a serious signal that we're back in the game with Israel......and sign an agreement that makes sure that the world knows that they will have technological superiority. We need to get back in the game as it relates to our Arab nations. The rest of the world is moving away from us towards other alliances because we are weak. This president and John Kerry and Hillary Clinton all have made it harder for the next president to act, but he must act to confront the ambitions of Iran. We can get back in the game to restore order and security for our own country. +p2483 +aVDonald, Donald \u2014 can I \u2014 I hope you reconsider this, because this policy is a policy that makes it impossible to build the coalition necessary to take out +p2484 +aVYeah, they are unhinged. +p2485 +aVNo, not at all, absolutely not. I can see why people are angry and scared, because this president has created a condition where our national security has weakened dramatically. I totally get that. But we're running for the presidency of the United States here. This isn't \u2014 this isn't, you know, a different kind of job. You have to lead. You cannot make rash statements and expect the rest of the world to respond as though, well, it's just politics. Every time we send signals like this, we send a signal of weakness, not strength. And so it was his statement, which is why I'm asking him to consider changing his views. +p2486 +aVSo, are we going to ban Muslims from India, from Indonesia, from countries that are strong allies \u2014 that we need to build better relationships with? Of course not. What we need to do is destroy +p2487 +aVAbsolutely. +p2488 +aVYeah. +p2489 +aVHere's \u2014 apart from the \u2014 apart from the higher prices on consumers and people are living paycheck to paycheck, apart from that, there will be retaliation. +p2490 +aVSo they soybean sales from Iowa, entire soybean production goes \u2014 the equivalent of it goes to China. Or how about Boeing right here within a mile? Do you think that the Chinese, if they had a 45 percent tariff imposed on all their imports wouldn't retaliate and start buying Airbus? Of course, they would. This would be devastating for the economy. We need someone with a steady hand being president of the United States. +p2491 +aVThey're a mile away from here. +p2492 +aVMy name was mentioned. My name was mentioned here. The simple fact is that the plane that's being build here is being sold to China. You can \u2014 if you \u2014 you flew in with your 767, didn't you? Right there, right next to the plant. +p2493 +aVWhen you head back to airport tonight, go check and see what the... +p2494 +aVCheck it out. +p2495 +aVThere's \u2014 look, there's \u2014 +p2496 +aVI would try to convince him otherwise, but this last back and forth between two senators \u2014 back bench senators, you know, explains why we have the mess in Washington, D.C. We need a president that will fix our immigration laws and stick with it, not bend with the wind. The simple fact is one of the ways, Maria, to solve the problem you described is narrow the number of people coming by family petitioning to what every other country has so that we have the best and the brightest that come to our country. We need to control the border, we need to do all of this in a comprehensive way, not just going back and forth and talking about stuff \u2014 +p2497 +aVOh, I'll talk about that, too. But you haven't asked me a question in a while, Neil, so I thought I'd get that off my chest if you don't mind. +p2498 +aVI got that. And the problem today is there's no confidence in Washington, D.C. There needs to be more than one meeting, there needs to complete dialogue with the large technology companies. They understand that there's a national security risk. We ought to give them a little bit of a liability release so that they share data amongst themselves and share data with the federal government, they're not fearful of a lawsuit. We need to make sure that we keep the country safe. This is the first priority. The cybersecurity challenges that we face, this administration failed us completely, completely. Not just the hacking of OPM, but that is \u2014 that is just shameful. 23 million files in the hands of the Chinese? So it's not just the government \u2014 the private sector companies, it's also our own government that needs to raise the level of our game. We should put the NSA in charge of the civilian side of this as well. That expertise needs to spread all across the government and there needs to be much more cooperation with our private sector. +p2499 +aVYou've got to keep asking. You've got to keep asking because this is a hugely important issue. If you can encrypt messages, +p2500 +aVWell, if the law would change, yeah. But I think there has to be recognition that if we \u2014 if we are too punitive, then you'll go to other \u2014 other technology companies outside the United States. And what we want to do is to control this. We also want to dominate this from a commercial side. So there's a lot of balanced interests. But the president leads in this regard. That's what we need. We need leadership, someone who has a backbone and sticks with things, rather than just talks about them as though anything matters when you're talking about amendments that don't even actually are part of a bill that ever passed. +p2501 +aVWho can you count on to keep us safer, stronger and freer? Results count, and as governor, I pushed Florida up to the top in terms of jobs, income and small business growth. Detailed plans count, and I believe that the plan I've laid out to destroy +p2502 +asVFRANTA +p2503 +(lp2504 +VHi, I'm Connor Franta, I'm 23 and my audience is around the same age. Getting my generation to vote should be a priority for any presidential candidate. Now I know Senator Sanders is pretty popular among my peers, but what I want to know is, how are all of you planning on engaging us further in this election? +p2505 +asVWALKER +p2506 +(lp2507 +VGood evening, I'm Scott Walker, and tonight, I want to thank and Mrs. Reagan, and the Reagan Library for hosting us. You see, in my lifetime, the greatest president was a governor from California. Ronald Reagan knew how to go big, and go bold. He understood the essence of moving this country forward, and that's what I did when I took on the status quo in my state, and the Washington based special interest. Now, more than ever, America needs a leader who will go big and bold again. Someone who's been tested. I'm ready to be that leader. Thank you. +p2508 +aVBut Jake, Jake, Jake, Jake... +p2509 +aVBut Jake, this \u2014 this is \u2014 this... +p2510 +aVJake, this is \u2014 this is \u2014 this is... +p2511 +aVThis is actually what's wrong \u2014 this is what's wrong with this debate. We're not talking about real issues. And Mr. Trump, we don't need an apprentice in the White House. We don't need an apprentice in the White House. We have one right now. He told us all the things we wanted to hear back in 2008. We don't know who you are or where you're going. We need someone who can actually get the job done. And you talked about business. +p2512 +aVYou \u2014 you \u2014 let me finish... +p2513 +aVNo, no... +p2514 +aVYou're using the talking... +p2515 +aVMr. Trump, you're using the talking points of the Democrats... +p2516 +aV... and as we all know... +p2517 +aV... that failed three times in four and a half years when I got elected, because it is working. We balanced a budget. You want to talk about balanced budgets? You took four major projects into bankruptcy over and over and over again. You can't take America into bankruptcy. That's what's wrong with the politicians in Washington right now. They think we can take a country into bankruptcy. +p2518 +aVJake, yeah, absolutely, I'll take this on, because this is an issue that's important in this race. Just because he says it doesn't make it true. The facts are the facts. We balanced a $3.6 billion budget deficit, we did it by cutting taxes \u2014 $4.7 billion to help working families, family farmers, small business owners and senior citizens. And it's about time people in America stand up and take note of this. If you want someone that can actually take on the special interest of Washington, which you yourself said you were part of, using the system, we need somebody that will stand up and fight for average Americans to put them back in charge of their government. I'm the one who is taking that on. I'll do that as your next president. +p2519 +aVTwo parts to that, one on China, one back for a second on Iran. When it comes to China, why would we be giving an official state visit to a country that's been involved in a massive cyber attack against the United States? That's not just a visit, that's a 21 gun salute on the South Lawn of the White House. It just doesn't make any sense. If we're ever going to send a message to them, wouldn't this be the time, when they've issued this, sort of, massive attack against us? And, Jake, for the question, I was one of the first ones to call for terminating the bad deal with Iran on day one. The President came after me and said I need to bone up. You know, the President who called +p2520 +aVJake, just one more moment. This is \u2014 there's something bigger to this. Now, I \u2014 like so many other governors here, I defunded Planned Parenthood four-and-a-half years ago, in a Blue State. But it's bigger than that. We did that in a Blue State, we took the money and put it into women's health, so we did exactly what we're talking about here. But I think the bigger issue here is we should be able to do this nationally, and this is precisely why so many Republicans are upset with Washington. They see the House and they see the Senate and they say why can't we pass this. Why can't we defund Planned \u2014 put it in a spending bill. Forget about the 60-vote rule, there's no reason \u2014 and the Constitution doesn't call for 60 votes. Pass it with 51 votes, put it on the desk of the president \u2014 +p2521 +aV\u2014 and go forward and actually make a point. This is why \u2014 +p2522 +aV\u2014 people are upset with Washington. +p2523 +aVSo, the best way to help people see their wages go up is to get them the education, the skill they need, to take on careers that pay more than minimum wage. And, it's why we talk about it, it's all about jobs. You want to help actually get jobs, it's why on that last question we were trying to jump in on taxes. To me, it's not just about taxes, cutting taxes. I've done it as much as anyone has. I've cut income taxes, I've cut property taxes. In fact, property taxes are lower today in my state than they were before we took office. The real issues about jobs. Ronald Reagan, our plan is based on the Ronald Reagan tax cuts of 1986. That brought about one of the longest sustained periods of economic growth in American history. All the things we should be talking about tonight are about how do we create jobs, helping people get the skills and the education qualifications they need to succeed. That's the way you help people create jobs. It's part of our large plan to reform the tax code, to cut taxes, to put in place an education system that gives people the skills and education that they need. To put in place all the above energy policy, but you start on day one with repealing Obamacare. I'm the only one on this stage that's actually got a plan, introduced an actual plan to repeal Obamacare on day one. I'll send a bill up to Congress, and to make sure enact it... +p2524 +aV...I'm going to sign an order that makes the Congress live by the same rules as everybody else. +p2525 +aV...That will ensure they repeal Obamacare... +p2526 +aV...Jake, Jake, Jake, I just want to address that issue because you said I didn't answer, and I did. I said, to me, I think the real focus shouldn't be \u2014 you know, Hillary Clinton talks about the minimum wage. That's her answer to grow the economy. The answer is to give people the skills and the education so they make far more than minimum wage. I don't want to argue about how low things are going to be, I want to talk about how do we lift everyone up in America. That's what Reagan talked about. It wasn't how bad things were, it was how to make it better for everyone. That's what we've done in Wisconsin, that's exactly what we'd do as... +p2527 +aV... the key issue here is talking about leadership. Now, there's a lot of greater people up here, and you've heard a lot of great ideas out there. But I would ask the American people, look at who's been tested. When there were 100,000 protesters in my capital, I didn't back down, when they issued death threats against me and threats against my family, I didn't back down, when they tried to recall me, I didn't back down, and when they made me the \u2014 one of their number-one targets last year, I didn't back down. Give me the chance to be your president. +p2528 +aVI won't back down... +p2529 +aV... on any of these issues. +p2530 +aVTo be clear, what I said the other day was that we need to lift the political restrictions that are already in play. Barack Obama's administration has put political restrictions on the military personnel already in Iraq. We need to lift those and then we need to listen to our military experts, not the political forces in the White House, but our military experts about how many more we sent in. And we certainly shouldn't have a commander-in-chief who sends a message to our adversaries as to how far we're going to go, and how far we're willing to fight, so I'm not putting a troop number. What I'm saying is lift the political restrictions. When you do that, you empower our military personnel already there to work with the Kurd and the Sunni allies, to reclaim the territory taken by +p2531 +aV... a lot of those people, though, and I'm going to echo what Senator Rubio just said. This is an issue where, we're talking about my state, it's thousands of manufacturing jobs. Thousands of manufacturing jobs for a rule the Obama administration, own EPA has said will have a marginal impact on climate change. So we're going to put thousands and thousands of jobs in my state, I think it's something like 30,000 in Ohio, other states across this country, we're going to put people \u2014 manufacturing jobs, the kind of jobs that are far greater than minimum wage, this administration is willing to put at risk for something its own EPA says is marginal (ph)... +p2532 +aVFirst of all, I got to say to Carson, Huckabee, thanks a lot for making the rest of us look like chumps up here, but, I'd pick Clara Barton. I once worked for the American Red Cross, she was a great founder of the Red Cross. +p2533 +aVHarley. I love riding Harley's. +p2534 +aVWell, I turned 13 years old two days before Ronald Reagan was first elected. A lot of people forget this, but just a few days before that election 1980, he was behind in the polls. And I think what changed things was people in America realized they didn't want to hear what was bad about America, they wanted to know how it was going to be better. Ronald Reagan wasn't just a conservative Republican, he was an eternal optimist in the American people. And I am too. So here's what I think will make America better. We need to live in a world where our children are free, are free from the threats of radical Islamic terrorism. We need to live in an America where we have an economy, where everyone can live their piece of the American dream, no matter what that dream is. And we need to live in an America where we have a federal government that is not too big to fail, but ultimately small enough to succeed, where we send powers back to the states and back to the people. That's what I did in Wisconsin. We took on the big government union bosses, the big government special interests, many of whom came in from Washington, to spend millions of dollars to try and take me out because we stood up to them, we didn't back down in any of those instances. If you give me the chance as your next president, I won't back down any day, anyway, anyhow. I'll fight and win for you and your families every single day I'm in office. +p2535 +aVWell, I'm pro-life, I've always been pro-life, and I've got a position that I think is consistent with many Americans out there in that... ...in that I believe that that is an unborn child that's in need of protection out there, and I've said many a time that that unborn child can be protected, and there are many other alternatives that can also protect the life of that mother. That's been consistently proven. Unlike Hillary Clinton, who has a radical position in terms of support for Planned Parenthood, I defunded Planned Parenthood more than four years ago, long before any of these videos came out... ...I've got a position that's in line with everyday America. +p2536 +aVChris, I actually said that on your show earlier this year. I acknowledged that. I said I actually listened to the American people. And I think people across America want a leader who's actually going to listen to them. I talked to border state governors and other elected officials. I look at how this president, particularly through last November, messed up the immigration system in this country. Most importantly, I listened to the people of America. I believe we need to secure the border. I've been to the border with Governor Abbott in Texas and others, seeing the problems that they have there. There is international criminal organizations penetrating our southern based borders, and we need to do something about it. Secure the border, enforce the law, no amnesty, and go forward with the legal immigration system that gives priority to American working families and wages. +p2537 +aVI don't know about additional ones. We need to focus on the ones we have. You look at Egypt, probably the best relationship we've had in Israel, at least in my lifetime, incredibly important. You look at the Saudis -- in fact, earlier this year, I met with Saudi leaders, and leaders from the United Arab Emirates, and I asked them what's the greatest challenge in the world today? Set aside the Iran deal. They said it's the disengagement of America. We are leading from behind under the Obama-Clinton doctrine -- America's a great country. We need to stand up and start leading again, and we need to have allies, not just in Israel, but throughout the Persian Gulf. +p2538 +aVJust one second on this, though. We -- we spent a lot of time talking about Hillary Clinton and ---and pitting us back and forth. Let's be clear, we should be talking about Hillary Clinton on that last subject, because everywhere in the world that Hillary Clinton touched is more messed up today than before she and the president . +p2539 +aVIt's true. +p2540 +aVWell, the voters in Wisconsin elected me last year for the third time because they wanted someone who aimed high, not aimed low. Before I came in, the unemployment rate was over eight percent. It's now down to 4.6 percent. We've more than made up for the jobs that were lost during the recession. And the rate in which people are working is almost five points higher than it is nationally. You know, people like Hillary Clinton think you grow the economy by growing Washington. One report last year showed that six of the top 10 wealthiest counties in America were in or around Washington, D.C.. I think most of us in America understand that people, not the government creates jobs. And one of the best things we can do is get the government out of the way, repeal Obamacare, put in -- reign in all the out of control regulations, put in place an all of the above energy policy, give people the education, the skills that the need to succeed, and lower the tax rate and reform the tax code. That's what I'll do as president, just like I did in Wisconsin. +p2541 +aVWell, first off, let's remember. I still remember, as a kid, tying a yellow ribbon around a tree in front of my house during the 444 days that Iran held 52 Americans hostage. Iran is not a place we should be doing business with. To me, you terminate the deal on day one, you reinstate the sanctions authorized by Congress, you go to Congress and put in place even more crippling sanctions in place, and then you convince our allies to do the same. This is not just bad with Iran, this is bad with +p2542 +aVWell, I think the most important thing we can do when it comes to policing -- it's something you've had a guest on who's a friend of mine Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clark, who's talked to me about this many times in the past -- it's about training. It's about making sure that law enforcement professionals, not only in the way in to their positions but all the way through their time, have the proper training, particularly when it comes to the use of force. And that we protect and stand up and support those men and women who are doing their jobs in law enforcement. And for the very few that don't, that there are consequences to show that we treat everyone the same here in America. +p2543 +aVWell first off, for the cyber attack with Russia the other day, it's sad to think right now, but probably the Russian and Chinese government know more about Hillary Clinton's e-mail server than do the members of the United States Congress. And -- and that has put our national security at risk. If I am president, he won't think about that. You know, Putin believes in the old Lenin adage: you probe with bayonets. When you find mush, you push. When you find steel, you stop. Under Obama and Clinton, we found a lot of mush over the last two years. We need to have a national security that puts steel in front of our enemies. I would send weapons to Ukraine. I would work with +p2544 +aVWell, thanks, Megyn. I'm certainly an imperfect man. And it's only by the blood of Jesus Christ that I've been redeemed from my sins. So I know that God doesn't call me to do a specific thing, God hasn't given me a list, a Ten Commandments, if you will, of things to act on the first day. What God calls us to do is follow his will. And ultimately that's what I'm going to try to do. And I hope people've seen it in my state, even in the big challenges I took on when I had over 100,000 protesters in and around our capital, trying to do what I thought was the right thing. It wasn't just how I took on those political battles. It was ultimately how I acted. Not responding in kind. Not lashing out. But just being decent going forward and living my life in a way that would be a testimony to him and our faith. +p2545 +aVThanks. I'm guy with a wife and two kids, and Harley. One article called me "aggressively normal." I ran for governor because I was worried about my kids' future. Then, I took on the big government union bosses, and we won. They tried to recall me, and we won. They target us again, and we won. We balanced the budget, cut taxes, and turned our state around with big, bold reforms. It wasn't too late for Wisconsin, and it's not too late for America. That's why I ask for your vote. +p2546 +asVMALE +p2547 +(lp2548 +VThat's a good one. +p2549 +aV +p2550 +asVMITCHELL +p2551 +(lp2552 +VThank you, Lester. Secretary Clinton, Senator Sanders favors what he calls "Medicare for all." Now, you said that what he is proposing would tear up Obamacare and replace it. Secretary Clinton, is it fair to say to say that Bernie Sanders wants to kill Obamacare? +p2553 +aVSenator Sanders? +p2554 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor Sanders... +p2555 +aVSenator Sanders, let me ask you this, though... +p2556 +aV... you've talked about Medicare for all... +p2557 +aV.. and tonight you've released a very detailed plan, just two... +p2558 +aV... well, two hours before the debate, you did. +p2559 +aVBut let me ask you about Vermont. Because in Vermont \u2014 you tried in the state of Vermont, and Vermont walked away from this kind of idea, of \u2014 of Medicare for all, single-payer, because they concluded it would require major tax increases... +p2560 +aV... and by some estimates, it would double the budget. If you couldn't sell it in Vermont, Senator... +p2561 +aV... how can you sell it to the country? +p2562 +aVSenator Sanders \u2014 Senator Sanders, you've talked a lot about things you want to do. You want free education for everyone, you want the Federal Minimum Wage raised to $15 an hour. You want to expand Social Security... +p2563 +aV... benefits. You've been specific about what you want, but let's talk about how to pay for all this. You now said that you would raise taxes today, two hours or so ago, you said you would raise taxes to pay for your health care plan. You haven't been specific about how to pay for the other things... +p2564 +aV... Will you tell us tonight? +p2565 +aV... OK... O' +p2566 +aV... Secretary Clinton, you mentioned earlier \u2014 Secretary Clinton, do you want to respond? +p2567 +aVOK, we're out of time. Senator Sanders, +p2568 +aVSenator Sanders... +p2569 +aV... Senator Sanders, let me ask you a question about taxes. +p2570 +aVThe most googled political issue... +p2571 +aVIn the last month was taxes. Now, in your healthcare plan, the plan you released tonight, you would not only raise taxes on the wealthy, but the details you released indicate you would raise taxes on the middle class also. Is that correct? +p2572 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, let me just follow up on that. +p2573 +aVOn Meet the Press on December 20th, you said that you would only raise taxes on the middle class to pay for family leave. And, having said that, now you say you're going to raise middle class taxes to pay for healthcare as well. Is that breaking your word? +p2574 +aVThank you Lester. Senator Sanders, the nuclear deal is now enforced. Iran is getting it's billions of dollars, several Americans who have been held are now going to be heading home. The president said today, "it's a good day. It's a good day for diplomacy. It's a time now to restore diplomatic relations for the first time since 1979 and actually re- opened a U.S. Embassy in Tehran." +p2575 +aVYour response Secretary Clinton? +p2576 +aVYou mentioned Syria. Let me ask you about Syria, all of you. Let's turn to Syria and the civil war that has been raging there. Are there any circumstances in which you could see deploying significant numbers of ground forces in Syria, not just specials forces but significant ground forces to combat +p2577 +aVSenator Sanders, ground forces yes or no? +p2578 +aVGovernor O'Malley? +p2579 +aVGovernor O'Malley. O' +p2580 +aVI have a question. I have a question for Senator Sanders. Did the policies of the Obama administration, in which Secretary Clinton of course was a part, create a vacuum in Iraq and Syria that helped +p2581 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to talk to you about red lines, because former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in a recent interview that President Obama's decision to stand down on planned missile strikes against Damascus after Assad had used chemical weapons hurt the president's credibility. Should the president have stuck to his red line once he drew it? +p2582 +aVBut should he \u2014 should he have stuck to his... +p2583 +aV... line? Did it hurt U.S. credibility? +p2584 +aVYour time is up. +p2585 +aVSenator.... +p2586 +aVYou're out of time. +p2587 +aVSenator Sanders. +p2588 +aVYour time is us. Lester. +p2589 +aVJust a \u2014 just a quick follow-up, though, Secretary Clinton. Just a moment, Governor. O' +p2590 +aVBut \u2014 but \u2014 Secretary Clinton, you said that the leaders from the intelligence community went to Silicon Valley, they were flatly turned down. They got nowhere. +p2591 +aVSenator Sanders, let me ask you a question. You called Bill Clinton's past transgressions, quote, "totally, totally, totally disgraceful and unacceptable." Senator, do you regret saying that? +p2592 +aV...too long. O' +p2593 +asVGARRETT +p2594 +(lp2595 +VSenator Cruz. John mentioned this is about dollars and incentives. We also want to talk about economic growth engagements. You have proposed a consumption tax, you called it the "back tax." Some analysts compare it more to an attributed "value-added tax." From the perspective from economic growth in building wages, how does that work, and how would you address those longstanding conservative concerns that something approaching the "value-added tax" would be used to constantly increase those rates to pay for future government spending and become an escalator of taxation, not of growth? +p2596 +aVNow, the question \u2014 conservatives have sort of this idea conceptually for a long time, but especially on this consumption value-added tax system. In Europe, where it exists, it has become an escalator of taxation to feed government spending, and that's why conservatives have long resisted it. Why and what would you do as president to make sure that doesn't happen? +p2597 +aVGovernor Bush, a question for you \u2014 but if you want to jump in, please. +p2598 +aVJump in, and then I've got a question for you. +p2599 +aVReal quickly, jump in, because I have got a question for Governor Bush, but jump in. +p2600 +aVUnderstood, Governor Kasich. +p2601 +aVYeah, Governor Bush, fine. +p2602 +aVLet me get in a question from... +p2603 +aVI understand, I understand. +p2604 +aVI have a question on economic growth, Governor Bush. +p2605 +aVA , Governor. +p2606 +aVI know, understood. Governor Bush. +p2607 +aVGovernor Bush, from the perspective, economic growth \u2014 viewed from this perspective of economic growth, you have proposed a tax on hedge fund managers. The Americans for Tax Reform, a conservative tax group you're probably aware of, has said no Republican should be for higher taxes on capital gains. And many conservatives wonder if this proposal of yours would undermine not only that philosophy, but undercut your projection of 4 percent economic growth annually under your presidency? +p2608 +aV... Dr. Carson... +p2609 +aVSenator Rubio... For the purposes of the lines \u2014 lines you would draw legislatively as a president on immigration reform, define amnesty. +p2610 +aVVery quickly, Senator Cruz. +p2611 +aVGovernor Bush, I want to bring this out to a little wider philosophical aspect, if you will. +p2612 +aVYou have said illegal immigrants, quote, "broke the law, but it's not a felony," still quoting you, "it's an act of love, it's an act of commitment to your family." Mr. Trump has, as you are well aware, denounced that statement over and over. Do you still believe it? What does that mean to you? And how does that inform your approach to immigration reform? +p2613 +aVFundamentally, do you believe this rhetoric is insufficiently compassionate to this issue? +p2614 +aVMr. Trump... +p2615 +aV... Governor Kasich, here in South Carolina earlier this week, you said the idea, the concept of deporting 11 million undocumented workers... +p2616 +aV... We will leave the moon metaphors to be adjudicated later, I assure you. Governor Kasich, you said earlier this week in South Carolina, the concept, the idea of deporting 11 million undocumented workers in this country is nuts. Why is it you are so opposed to that idea? Senator Cruz has said it's a simple application of existing law. The application of that is not inhumane, it is just. Why do you disagree? +p2617 +aV... What are you for on immigration? +p2618 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 Mr. Trump. I was with you in Pendleton, South Carolina, earlier this week at the Rodeo Arena. It was a bit chilly there. You promised the crowd, and they rose to their feet, that if Ford or a company like were to move a factory to Mexico, you would try to stop it or threaten them with a 35 percent tax or tariff on every car sold. +p2619 +aVRight. So my question is, based on your understanding of the presidency, where do you derive that power? Would you need the consent of Congress to go along? And do you see the presidency as a perch from which you can cajole and/or threaten private industry to do something you think is better for the U.S. economy? +p2620 +aVThank you, governor. +p2621 +asVHEWITT +p2622 +(lp2623 +VSenator Cruz, you've said you disagree with Mr. Trump's policy. I don't want a cage match; you've tweeted you don't want a cage match. But Republican primary voters deserve to know, with the kind of specificity and responsiveness you delivered in your nine Supreme Court arguments, how you disagree with Mr. Trump. Would you spell that out with us? +p2624 +aVSo you're saying you disagree because he's too broad and you have a narrower focus? Why do you disagree with him? +p2625 +aVCarly Fiorina... ... this is the Christmas dinner debate. This will be the debate that Americans talk about at Christmas. And thus far, in the first 10 minutes, we haven't heard a lot about Ronald Reagan's city on a hill. We've heard a lot about keeping Americans out or keeping Americans safe and everyone else out. Is this what you want the party to stand for? +p2626 +aVDr. Carson...... you mentioned in your opening remarks that you're a pediatric neurologist surgeon... +p2627 +aVNeurosurgeon. And people admire and respect and are inspired by your life story, your kindness, your evangelical core support. We're talking about ruthless things tonight \u2014 carpet bombing, toughness, war. And people wonder, could you do that? Could you order air strikes that would kill innocent children by not the scores, but the hundreds and the thousands? Could you wage war as a commander-in-chief? +p2628 +aVSo you are OK with the deaths of thousands of innocent children and civilian? It's like... +p2629 +aVThat is what war \u2014 can you be as ruthless as Churchill was in prosecuting the war against the Nazis? +p2630 +aVMr. Trump, we are talking about the most important thing, that's why it's heated. And it's, you are OK with Mr. Assad staying in power, but you are also in favor of winning. If he stays in power, Iran is winning, Hezbollah is winning. Iran is winning in Yemen. They are winning everywhere. If they are winning how can we be winning? +p2631 +aVGovernor Christie, is he right? Because if we step back, Iran goes nuclear. Is Donald Trump right? +p2632 +aVSenator Paul, let me ask you, you heard Governor Kasich say Assad must go. Do you agree? +p2633 +aVGovernor Bush, a commander-in-chief question. You've said that Mr. Trump is not qualified to be president because he's not qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin. Why are you better qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin than Mr. Trump? +p2634 +aVMr. Trump? +p2635 +aVBut, Mr. Trump, it's not CNN \u2014 I was on CNN last night... +p2636 +aV... watching... +p2637 +aVBut it wasn't \u2014 it wasn't CNN. It was me. I watched you last night for 16 minutes. It's not CNN. +p2638 +aVIt's not CNN. It's America's watching you. +p2639 +aVIt's America's watching. +p2640 +aVGovernor \u2014 thank you, Governor. +p2641 +aVDr. Carson, commander-in-chief question again. You've been the head of neurosurgery for a big hospital. You're on a lot of boards of a lot of companies. You've traveled the world. You're going traveling again next week. But does that prepare you to command troops from Djibouti to Japan, troops from Afghanistan to Iraq to be in charge of the men and women watching on Armed Services Network tonight? +p2642 +aVMr. Trump...... Dr. Carson just referenced the single most important job of the president, the command, the control and the care of our nuclear forces. And he mentioned the triad. The B-52s are older than I am. The missiles are old. The submarines are aging out. It's an executive order. It's a commander-in-chief decision. What's your priority among our nuclear triad? +p2643 +aVOf the three legs of the triad, though, do you have a priority? I want to go to Senator Rubio after that and ask him. +p2644 +aVSenator Rubio, do you have a response? +p2645 +aVMy listeners tell me again and again they are worried that Hillary Clinton will win the White House because you'll run as an independent. Are you ready to assure Republicans tonight that you will run as a Republican and abide by the decision of the Republicans? +p2646 +aVDr. Carson, last week... +p2647 +aVPlease. +p2648 +aVDr. Carson, Mr. Trump just committed to stay the distance regardless of the result. How about you? +p2649 +aVThank you, Jake. Mr. Trump, two years ago, President Obama drew a red line that the Syrian dictator Bashar Assad crossed, President Obama threatened to strike. He did not, his knees buckled. We now have 4 million refugees, Syria is a living hell, and he turned to the Congress for the authority to back him up. You have three senators to your right that said, no. Do they bear responsibility for this refugee crisis, and what would you have done when Bashar Assad crossed the line? +p2650 +aVHow much responsibility, Mr. Trump, do the senators hold? +p2651 +aVSenator Rubio... +p2652 +aVSenator Paul? +p2653 +aVI'd like to talk about winning because I think all of you are more qualified than former Secretary of State Clinton, and as were the people in the first debate, but there are different styles, and Carly Fiorina, Governor Kasich, you're conveniently located next to each other, and you have different styles. Governor Kasich, you've been on my show a lot. You refused to attack Hillary Clinton, you just don't want to go there, you want to do the up with people. Go, Ohio, OK, and I like that. Carly Fiorina, I don't have to bring up the Secretary of State \u2014 you bring her up, so . Which one of you is wrong? Governor Kasich? +p2654 +aVGovernor. +p2655 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2656 +aVCarly Fiorina, your style? +p2657 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Christie, your name was mentioned. I want to give you a chance to respond. +p2658 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2659 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. There is a lot more coming up. Ahead, a world of trouble. The challenges that one of these candidates may face in the Oval Office, and how he or she will handle it. Stay with us. +p2660 +aVOh, you're the best interview in America. +p2661 +aV... makes an interesting case (ph) here (ph). +p2662 +aVThank you, Jake. I've done a lot of great interviews with all of you, but, Governor Bush, I talked to you in February about the biggest elephant in a room full of elephants, which is your last name. And you said you would not be burdened either by your brother or your father's legacy in the Middle East. And then, a week later, you rolled out your list of foreign policy advisers, and it was a lot of the band getting back together again. So on behalf of the military that is watching... +p2663 +aV...OK, the active duty military that are at the end of the sphere (ph), what kind of a commander in chief is Jeb Bush going to be, and who are the advisers that are new to your team? +p2664 +aVMr. \u2014 Mr. Trump. +p2665 +aVI want to ask you a question, though, you promised us great leaders. And I believe that. But Jeb Bush has laid out 20 different people that have experience around the world. There are 190 countries, you can't run the world by yourself. When are we going to get some names on your military and your foreign policy advisers? +p2666 +aVThank you, Jake. Tomorrow is \u2014 Republicans know this \u2014 tomorrow is Constitution Day. We've been talking about the 10th Amendment. Let's talk about the Second Amendment. Governor Bush, one of the things the Supreme Court has gotten right is that it's an individual right and it's protected for individuals to hold it. Last week, you said the next step in gun issues is to make sure they're not in the hands of mentally ill. In this state, there's a controversial law that allows guns to be taken away from people without a hearing. Where does it go \u2014 and the problem of violence is endemic, but where does it go from what you said last week, how far into people's lives to take guns away from them? +p2667 +aVIf a family member calls and says, "My child, my brother, my sister is disturbed," ought the state be able to go and get their weapon without a hearing? +p2668 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2669 +aVSenator Cruz, I want to go to you. Your constitutional litigant (ph), are you afraid of the next- step theory of what happens to Second Amendment rights? +p2670 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2671 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2672 +aVThank you, senator. +p2673 +aVWait, let's pursue that in fact Governor Pataki? +p2674 +aVYou called for following and finding those Imams who are preaching violence in mosques. How exactly would you do that and what Mosques would you shut down? How extensive of a surveillance program are you proposing? +p2675 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p2676 +aVGovernor Huckabee... ...As Governor Pataki noted earlier, we have a history of religious intoleration in this country. About the American Muslims who would be subject to this kind of surveillance, does it violate their First Amendment rights? +p2677 +aVSenator Santorum... ...I want to start then, not on the First Amendment, but on the Second Amendment. There is a terror watchlist. You can legally purchase a gun in the United States if you're on that watchlist. Your old colleague, Peter King in the House, wants to change that law. Do you agree with him? +p2678 +aVGovernor... +p2679 +aVGovernor, back to you. Your response? +p2680 +aVSenator Graham, are you trying to get in? +p2681 +aVThank you, Wolf. Governor Huckabee, ten minutes ago you blasted President Obama for destabilizing Iraq. You hit former Secretary of State Clinton for supporting the Muslim brotherhood in Egypt. But you have said recently you would sanction countries that don't join the fight aggressively against +p2682 +aVWhich country? +p2683 +aVWhich countries are those, governor, that you would sanction? +p2684 +aVThat's an easy, give. Are you going to sanction any of our allies who say, no this isn't our fight we're gonna let you do this. Are you going to leave our allies alone? For example, Indonesia and Malaysia \u2014 other Muslim countries \u2014 will you leave them alone? +p2685 +aVSenator Graham, I just named two Islamic countries... ...Senator Graham, I just named two Islamic countries that are allies that he suggested we sanction. Is that the appropriate approach to this war? +p2686 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you... +p2687 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you, the opposite of getting into bed is shooting down the prince's plane. Senator Santorum has \u2014 Senator Graham has said he would shoot down Russian planes bombing Syrian fighters on our side. Would you shoot down a Russian plane bombing American allied fighters in Syria? +p2688 +aVWhat \u2014 if they fly into it, would you shoot it down? +p2689 +aVThe consequences would be war with Russia. Would you risk... +p2690 +aVSenator Graham, do you agree? +p2691 +aVOK, we know you agree, Senator Graham. How about you, Governor Pataki, would you shoot down Russian planes? +p2692 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you... +p2693 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you, the opposite of getting into bed is shooting down the prince's plane. Senator Santorum has \u2014 Senator Graham has said he would shoot down Russian planes bombing Syrian fighters on our side. Would you shoot down a Russian plane bombing American allied fighters in Syria? +p2694 +aVWhat \u2014 if they fly into it, would you shoot it down? +p2695 +aVThe consequences would be war with Russia. Would you risk... +p2696 +aVSenator Graham, do you agree? +p2697 +aVOK, we know you agree, Senator Graham. How about you, Governor Pataki, would you shoot down Russian planes? +p2698 +aVSenator Graham, in 2013 you were part of the leadership that pushed through immigration reform, comprehensive immigration reform in the Senate of the United States. It died in the House. Many accused you of amnesty, and may have undermined your ability to get your message out on the war. Would you sign that bill again today? Would you \u2014 sponsor that bill again today? +p2699 +aVBut, Senator, I misunderstand, did you... +p2700 +aVSenator Santorum, is that sufficient for you? +p2701 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2702 +aVYep. Governor Huckabee, you have said that children of immigrants who came here illegally should not be punished by their parents actions. As president, would you continue President Obama's policy, vis-a-vis, the Dreamers? +p2703 +aVSenator... +p2704 +aVSenator Santorum, you... ...Your position on that policy, assuming that it was passed constitutionally, would you allow this, would you support such an act? +p2705 +aVThank you, Jake. Governor, you signed the pledge to support the Republican nominee and you promptly broke it. By doing so, by Tweeting out that you would not support Donald Trump, have you released Donald Trump to be a free agent again or anyone else in the field? +p2706 +aVGovernor... +p2707 +aV-- you said on Twitter that you would not support Donald Trump. If he's the nominee... +p2708 +aV-- will you support him? +p2709 +aVWould you really vote for Hillary Clinton... +p2710 +aV-- or vote for Donald Trump if he's the nominee? +p2711 +aVGovernor Jindal, Senator Graham just said it's all about winning and, in fact, if former Secretary of State Clinton is the successor to President Obama, none of this matters and all this conversation is beside the point. In the Washington elite, they have a habit of saying nice things about each other until election time. Senator Graham has praised Secretary of State Clinton as a great choice to be the secretary of state, as a national treasure. Can anyone from inside of Washington win this election cycle, having praised Secretary of State Clinton that way? +p2712 +aVSenator Graham, took a shot at there and you're having a good debate but there is this problem of Washington elites and saying wonderful things about each other. +p2713 +aVIs that responsive to calling Hillary Clinton a national treasure, Senator? +p2714 +aVBut Senator, can you go back and forth that way, and expect to have an argument with the American people to persuade them about that? +p2715 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2716 +aVThank you, senator. +p2717 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2718 +aVLet's talk about the economy, if We could. Governor Pataki. +p2719 +aVJeb Bush and Donald Trump are both proposing raising taxes on hedge fund managers who pay at a lower rate. Governor Pataki, you were the governor of New York, home of Wall Street. Do you agree that hedge fund managers need to be paying a higher rate? +p2720 +aVSo you are with Jeb Bush and Donald Trump on the hedge fund? +p2721 +aVGovernor Jindal -- Governor Jindal, that's three Republicans running for president who support hedge fund managers paying a higher rate. Are you the fourth? +p2722 +aVLet's stay on the topic of taxes. +p2723 +aVI want to bring in my colleague, Dana Bash. +p2724 +aVThere are other ways, Governor, than bombing Iran. I want to quote Rick Santorum. "We should send a very clear message that If you are a scientist and you're going to work on a nuclear program to develop a bomb for Iran, you are not safe." Does that message work? Is anything that works on the table? +p2725 +aVSenator Santorum, stay on that: any means necessary? Is that what you meant to say? Is that what's still on this table after this, what many of us believe is a catastrophic deal? +p2726 +asVJINDAL +p2727 +(lp2728 +V...Thank you. +p2729 +aVA couple of things. In Louisiana, we're actually a top 10 state for job growth. As we sit here today, we have more people working in Louisiana than ever before, earning a higher income than ever before. We've had 60 months in a row of consecutive job growth in our state. So the reality is, we have diversified our economy. Yes, I've got an interview plan that says all of the above, that creates good manufacturing jobs in America. We've also got one of the fastest growing IT sectors by percentage. We are growing Louisiana's economy. But let me get to the point that is, I think, the most important issue here tonight. You're going to have several hours of debate on the economy and we're going to have a great discussion about energy plans and tax rates. And that's all great. The most important thing we have to do, we have a fundamental choice to make, folks. Are we willing to cut the government economy so we can grow the American economy? That is the most fundamental question we've got to answer. We are on the path to socialism right now. These are mutually exclusive. The hour is late, but it is not too late for America. Though under President Obama, you asked about his economy. We've got record dependents, a record number of Americans on food stamps, record low participation rate in the work force. This is a fundamental choice. Sending a big government Republican to DC is not enough to fix this problem. It's not enough just to beat Hillary Clinton. We've got to change the direction of our country. What that means is let's shrink the government, not slow its growth rate, but actually shrink the government so we can grow the American economy. That is the fundamental issue we should be debating here tonight. +p2730 +aVNo, I think right now there's not much difference between the two parties. The reason we keep losing nationally is we try to be cheaper versions of the Democratic party. What if the Republicans, what if Republicans actually embraced our own principles? So I earlier said if you want bigger paychecks, you want more jobs, you want less government dependence, you're going to have to cut government spending. Here's the dirty little secret. You're going to hear a lot of Republicans tonight in this debate and the next one talk about cutting government spending. It's going to sound great. There's only one of us that's actually cut government spending. Not two, there's one, and you're looking at him. We've got four senators running. They've never cut anything in D.C. They give these long speeches called filibusters, they pat themselves on the back, nothing changes. When they go to relieve themselves their cause and the toilet get flushed at the same time, and the American people lose. We've got a bunch of governors running, we've got seven current former governors running. I'm the only one that has cut government spending. Everybody else can talk about it. If they haven't done it in their state capitals, what makes them thank that \u2014 what makes us think they'll do it if we send them to D.C. Look, when politicians talk, we need to look at what they have done, not what they have said. Otherwise, it's a bunch of hot air. We've cut our budget 26 percent. Record number of Louisianans working. If Republicans want to win national elections, let's be conservatives, let's be Republicans, let's not be a second version of the liberal party, let's cut government spending and grow the American economy. +p2731 +aVWait, wait, wait. I want to respond. He has criticized something I said. I want to respond to that. Mike, with all due respect, I admire your social views, I share many of those views, your record as Governor tells a different story. Was \u2014 your time as Governor spending in Arkansas went up 65 percent, number of state workers went up 20 percent, the taxes for the average citizen went up 47 percent. That's not a record of cutting. I'm saying we've actually cut. We reduced the size of our budget. So wanting to cut is one thing, actually cutting is a different thing. Facts don't lie. +p2732 +aVI was absolutely a skeptic of giving this president more power. He negotiated a bad deal with Iran. He breaks the law routinely. I don't know why Congress would want to concede more authority to him. Look, this trade deal is 6,000 pages long. Unlike ObamaCare, I think we should read it before we decide whether we would vote for it or not vote for it. I am for trade deals, but I want to make sure they are fair trade deals. I want to come back to something that Chris had said earlier. Look, I absolutely agree we've got to beat Hillary Clinton. But just sending any Republican is not good enough. We've had a Republican majority in the Senate and the House. What has changed? If we send another big government Republican to the White House, we will not do enough to fix what is wrong in this country. Chris, I think records matter. I think the way we govern matter. Under your leadership in New Jersey, your budget has gone up 15 percent. It's gone down 26 percent in Louisiana. It has gone up $5 million in New Jersey. It's gone down $9 billion in Louisiana. In New Jersey, you've had nine credit downgrades, setting a record. We've had eight credit upgrades in Louisiana. My point is this. If politicians say they're going to be conservative, they say they're going to cut spending but they don't do it, why should we send them to DC? It gets harder, not easier, when we send them to DC. Let's not be a second liberal party. Let's actually cut government spending. Let's grow the American economy. Let's not just beat Hillary, let's elect a conservative to the White House, not just any Republican. +p2733 +aVBut wait a minute, records matter. Records \u2014 records matter. Yes, we've got to... +p2734 +aV\u2014 beat Hillary Clinton. But Chris, it's also true that you expanded food stamps at a time that we've got record numbers of Americans on food stamps. It's also true you caved into ObamaCare. You expanded Medicaid. We've got a choice in front of us. This is an important debate. This is not about comparing Louisiana to New Jersey or Bobby to Chris. This is an important debate for the American people. This is supposed to be an economics debate. Let's have a debate. Do we want to grow government or do we want to grow the American economy? Do we want to grow dependence on government, or do we want to grow good paying jobs in the private sector... +p2735 +aV...you don't grow the economy by putting more people on food stamps, more people in Medicaid, you grow the economy by cutting government, cutting spending. That's what we've done in Louisiana, you haven't done that in New Jersey... +p2736 +aV...We need a conservative, not a big government republican in D.C. +p2737 +aV...This is how we.... +p2738 +aV...This is how we move our country forward, look, this is not about between me and Chris... +p2739 +aV...This is about......are we going to be the party... +p2740 +aVWell, look, only one other opponent, actually, one other candidate, actually, has a plan. That's Jeb Bush, and he creates a new entitlement program. My plan actually gets rid of all of Obamacare, it's great that Senator Cruz will shut down the government over Obamacare, but he still hasn't given us his plan to get rid of it. It's great that other republicans talk about getting rid of it. You go to a town hall in Iowa, or New Hampshire, ask them how they're actually going to get rid of it \u2014 my plan has been online for over a year. It gets rid of all of Obamacare, it reduces the cost. It actually puts Americans, their patients, their doctors back in control. And, it actually helps those that really need this help \u2014 but, this is one of the most critical issues we face domestically. I think I \u2014 look, right now, I think I am the only candidate running that refused to expand Medicaid. I'm the only one that turned down \u2014 that did what we could to fight Obamacare. This is an important point, and, look, I appreciate Chris's nice compliments to me. And, Chris, you look to me very well, I love Mary-pat, but this isn't about me and Chris. This is about the country, and this is about what direction \u2014 this is the most important election in our lifetimes. Folks, a couple of years ago they told us give them the republican majorities in the House and the Senate, they'd stop Obamacare, and amnesty, and the bad Iran deal \u2014 nothing changed. If they fooled us once, shame on them. If they fooled us twice, shame on us. Don't let them fool us again. Chris, look, I'll give you your ribbon for participation, and a juicebox, but in the real world, it's about results......but, in the real world it's about results. It's about actually cutting government spending, not just talking about cutting government spending. +p2741 +aVWe can waste our time. And I think this is why people were so frustrated with the last debate with these kinds of silly questions. We've only got a certain amount of time to talk about the economy. Let me use my time to say this. I want to fire everybody in D.C. in both parties. I think they all \u2014 we need term limits, get rid of them all, make them live under the same rules they passed on the rest of us. +p2742 +aVSo under our tax plan, look, the top rate is 25 percent, 10 percent, 2 percent. That 2 percent is the most important. I think everybody should pay something. I think everybody should have skin in the game. We shouldn't be creating one group of Americans that's dependent on government, another group that's paying taxes. I want to come back to an earlier point though, that Chris said. Look, we all agree Hillary Clinton is bad. We all agree we need to beat her. But let's not pretend that out-of-control government spending is only a Democratic issue. This is a bipartisan issue, and just sending another big government Republican to D.C. is not good enough. We need to actually cut government spending. We need to cut \u2014 and we're not going to do it just by sending any Republican. I'm glad he's vetoed taxes. The Tax Foundation graded New Jersey the 50th worst business climate due to taxes, high taxes in the state of New Jersey. +p2743 +aVWell, a couple of reasons. Look, we know big companies don't pay those taxes today. They hire lobbyists and accountants and lawyers. It's the small businesses that get hit. I want to get rid of the corporate tax, I want to bring the jobs and investment back to America. Make the CEOs pay the same rates as everybody else. Get rid of all the corporate welfare as well. Like I said, make everybody pay something, earned success is so much better than unearned success. And let's actually shrink the size of government. My plan purposely does that. Look, we can talk all night about tax plans, energy plans, I think you will find a lot of agreement among all the Republicans. We all want to get rid of the death tax, the marriage penalty. We all want lower, fewer brackets. We want to downsize, take away power from the IRS. What we really need to be talking about is this, these last seven years, we've had more government spending, more government dependence. Poverty has gone up. Inequality has gone up. Only the top 10 percent have seen their incomes go up \u2014 their median incomes go up. We actually have more inequality thanks to what we have seen, the largest most expensive experiment in progressive government. We can't keep spending money we don't have. And the reality is, the last couple of years it hasn't mattered whether Republicans or Democrats were in control. We keep stealing from our children. That is immoral. It is wrong. And we're creating more government dependence. If we really want to grow the economy, yes, you need a rational energy plan, and you've got to rein in the EPA, and you've got to repeal Obamacare, and you've got to cut taxes. But none of that will be enough if we're not serious about cutting government spending. We cannot afford to elect a big- government Republican. We need somebody. This is the most important election. Hillary Clinton is gift-wrapping this election to us. Let's not waste this opportunity to apply conservative principles and cut the size of government. +p2744 +aVWell, a couple things, first, I want to echo what others have said and thank those veterans that run towards danger, not away from it, so we can live in the greatest country in the history of the world. I think every veteran should get that card, and they should be allowed to get that health care wherever they want in the private sector. But, I also think \u2014 or the public sector, I also think we need to fire some of the V.A. bureaucrats. Somebody should go to jail over these scandals, and it is a crime that it has not happened. When it comes \u2014 when it comes to uniting the American people, one of the things we've done to honor our veterans in Louisiana, we've given thousands \u2014 and I've hand delivered these, to veterans \u2014 medals to veterans to thank them for their service. I'll just give you one quick example, I know my time is out, but, we've had Vietnam war veterans with tears in their eyes saying nobody has ever thanked them before. We've had World War II veterans, children, who said they never heard the stories of their parents heroic sacrifice. Whatever conflict, whenever they served, one of the things we can do is to teach our children we do live in the greatest country in the history of the world. We got a president who doesn't believe in American exceptionalism, but we still do, and it's because of those men and women in uniform. We should thank them everyday, not just veterans day. +p2745 +aVYou know, I have spent a lot of time tonight talking about the need to cut the size of government. The reason I'm doing that \u2014 it's not just about balancing the budget, or balancing a bunch of numbers. Because I believe in the American dream. I think President Obama's done a lot of damage to our country. I think that one of the worst things he has done is try to change the idea of America to be one of dependence. There are a lot of politicians that talk about cutting government spending, I'm the only one that's actually done it that's running for President. The rest of them, it's a lot of hot air. If you want your paychecks to go up, if you want more good paying jobs, if you want the government out of your lives, we've got to cut the size of government. It's not enough just to elect any republican, we've seen that. We've got to elect a republican that will take on the establishment in both parties. I'm asking for your support. Thank you. +p2746 +aVI think the reason voters are so frustrated is nothing seems to change in D.C. Look, over the next several hours, you're going to hear several Republicans all tell you they want to shrink the size of government and grow the American economy and it sounds great and we've got to do it. Here's the truth \u2014 of all these folks talking, I'm the only one that has cut the size of government. There's not two of us, there's one of us. The rest of it is all just hot air. When politicians talk, we need to pay attention to what they do, not what they say. I'm the only one that's reduced the size of government. Let's shrink the government economy. Let's grow the American economy. +p2747 +aVWell, look, I think that's a false choice. I think this is a very bad deal. Whenever they tell us in D.C. they're going to cut tomorrow, that means they're never going to cut. Tomorrow never seems to happen. Instead, why don't we actually follow our conservative principles? Why not insist on structural reforms? Why not cut spending? I don't mean strength (ph) the growth rate, I mean, actually spend less. Why not a balanced budget in the amendment \u2014 an amendment to the Constitution? Why not a super-majority vote before they grow our taxes, before they grow the government faster than the economy? Let's be honest, $18 trillion dollars of debt. Record low participation rate in the workforce, record number of Americans on food stamps. We are going the way of Europe. The left is trying to turn the American Dream into the European Nightmare. If you're a Republican... +p2748 +aV... willing to stand up and fight... +p2749 +aVI think that's a false choice. If I were \u2014 I were to lead, we would pass a conservative budget, challenge the President to do the right thing. And, here's the problem, the Republicans never want to fight. Give Pelosi and Reed credit, they forced Obamacare and socialism down our throats, why won't the Republicans fight half as hard for freedom and opportunity. This was a bad budget. +p2750 +aVAbsolutely, Jhon. And what we did is we cut state spending. We've cut our budget 26 percent, according to Cato and other analysis, the only candidate that's actually reduced government spending. Look, the left always complains there's not enough money for government. We have 30,000 fewer state employees than the day I took office, eight credit upgrades, we're a top 10 state for private sector job creation. We've got a choice. You grow the government economy or the American economy. When I became governor, we had 25 years in a row of outmigration. We were coming back from Katrina. The question many were asking, will Louisiana rebuild, should Louisiana rebuild? Seven years in a row, more people moving into the state than were leaving the state. We now have more people working than ever before, erg a higher income than ever before. Yes, we've reduced the size of government. That's exactly what we need to do in DC. In DC, the Republicans slowed the growth rate, they claimed victory. That's not enough. Let's be honest with where we are today. We are running off of a cliff. Look, we'll be the next Greece and we can talk and we can rearrange the chairs. Over over $18 trillion of debt, no wonder our economy has been stagnant. We haven't had real growth. If you're a young student here, you've not seen a robust American economy. +p2751 +aVWell, Jhon, a couple of things. Not only did we not raise taxes, we did the largest income tax cut in the state's history. And I'm proud of that record. I think that's the kind of leadership voters want in DC. Look, if you want a Republican that's going go grow government spending, if you want a \u2014 a president or if you want a candidate who's going to income taxes, I'm not your guy. If you want somebody that's going to do and say the things that can't be said, can't be done, I'm asking a vote for me to join my cause. That's how dangerous these times are. This is \u2014 this is a \u2014 this is \u2014 these are dangerous times for America. I think we have a chance to rescue the idea of America, but if we don't do it now, four years will be too late from now. So, yes, I'm proud we cut taxes, we cut spending, 30,000 fewer state government bureaucrats than the day I took office. I absolutely will do that in DC. +p2752 +aVThank you. +p2753 +aVAbsolutely, John. I'd go further. My tax plan, like everybody's, like a lot of Republicans' \u2014 look, I'd get rid of the death penalty and the marriage penalty, and I'd simplify the brackets to 25 percent, 10 percent, 2 percent, so that an average middle-class family \u2014 a teacher marries a law enforcement official (ph)... +p2754 +aV...I \u2014 I'm gonna get that. Pays 25 percent today, would pay 10 percent under my plan. But my plan does three things different from other people's plans. One \u2014 remember, I said 2 percent. I think everybody should pay something, even if it's only 2 percent. That's the most important 2 percent in my plan. I know a lot of Republicans brag \u2014 y'all can clap, it doesn't scare me. Go ahead. I heard some people. There are millions of \u2014 there are millions of folks that wouldn't pay taxes in Jeb's plan and Trump's plan. I think that's a mistake. In terms of the corporate tax, secondly, I'd get rid of the corporate tax. We do have the highest corporate tax rate in the developed world. I'd get rid of it. I'd get rid of all the corporate welfare. Make the CEOs pay their same tax rates the way the rest of us do. And third, I'd purposely shrink the size of government. You know, that is a \u2014 that is an intentional feature of my plan. We've got a choice: do we grow government \u2014 the government economy, or the American economy? So I say get rid of the corporate tax, bring those jobs and investment here to the United States, stop sending jobs and investment overseas. +p2755 +aVLook, I think the government should work to change that, but that doesn't \u2014 does not mean I'm for the government mandating that. We already have too many government mandates out of DC. Do I want people to have paid leave? Sure. Do I want people to earn higher wages? Sure. Do I want them to have better benefits? Sure. The government can't wave a magic wand and make that happen. Here's the problem. The last seven years, President Obama has tried to teach the American people that government is the answer to all of our problems. Where has that gotten us? We're on a path toward socialism. The way that folks can get better paying jobs with better benefits is if we have a growing economy. That means to repeal all of ObamaCare, a lower flatter tax code. That means that we have an energy plan that makes sense. That means that we embrace an all of the above approach to energy. Those are good paying jobs \u2014 $50,000, $70,000, $90,000 a year jobs with benefits. But this president won't let us produce more energy on our domestic federal lands and waters. He won't allow the Canadians to build the Keystone Pipeline. He's got an EPA that's doing everything they can to kill private sector jobs in America. So, yes, I want families to have better paying jobs and better benefits, but we're not going to get that with a government mandate, we're going to get that with a growing economy. +p2756 +aVA couple things. You're talking about payroll taxes that fund programs. People pay for their Medicare, they pay for their Social Security. I want every American to worry and care about how those folks in D.C. are spending our money. If $18 trillion of debt \u2014 they're misspending our money. Earned success is so much more fulfilling than unearned success. I don't want us to continue to create one class of Americans that pays income taxes, that pays for government, another class of Americans that's growing more and more dependent on government. That's what we have today. Socialism is bad, not only for taxpayers, but people that they say they're trying to help. There's dignity in work, dignity in self-sufficiency. I wanna quote you a president. Our previous president said this: he said, "the problem is, is that tax rates are too high, government income revenues are too low." He said, "paradoxically, lowering tax rates now is the best way to produce higher government revenues later." No, that wasn't President Reagan, as many are probably guessing at home. That was President Kennedy. I see you know the answer. That was President Kennedy. Imagine if he were alive today \u2014 and if he was at that last Democratic debate, imagine if you tried to say that in a party that's veering towards socialism. That wouldn't be welcome in today's Democratic party. +p2757 +aVWell, thank you. Look, if Senator Santorum wants to concede the tax cut wing of the Republican Party, I'm happy to fight for that side of the Republican Party. He's exactly right. I explicitly want to shrink the size of government; 22 percent over 10 years is not too much. We cut our state budget 26 percent in eight years. This is a fundamental choice. We mustn't become a cheaper version of the Democratic Party, a second liberal party. We need to proudly say we're willing to cut taxes, shrink government, grow the American economy. President Kennedy said it to the Democratic Party. Why can't we say it in the Republican Party in 2015, let's cut taxes. +p2758 +aVJohn, our budget is balanced. We balanced our budget every year for eight years. Yeah, we've had to cut spending. You know what? We privatized or closed nine of our 10 charity hospitals. We did statewide school choice; $1.6 billion (ph) budget cut. You're quoting an old number from the beginning of the year. We closed that gap. What they talk about, just like D.C., government's the only place where you give them less money than they wanted, they count it as a cut. They take last year's budget. They add inflation. They call it a baseline. We need to do zero-based budgets. We need to say just because you got money last year, you don't have it this year. Let me close, though. We balanced our budget. We didn't raise taxes. In eight years, we never raised taxes. We cut taxes. Our \u2014 our taxpayers, our families have been better off for it. +p2759 +aV absolutely they should be accountable. They should be accountable to their students through the market. Look, you either trust the American people to make their own choices or you don't. I know the Left thinks we need to be protected from ourselves. President Obama is trying to limit competition to the higher education market. As a result, you're going to see tuition prices continue to go up. We've had $1 trillion of student debt and counting. And he wants to exempt certain schools from the same oversight he wants to apply only to the for-profit market. For some reason, the private sector is a bad word to this president. It's not in the real world. In Louisiana, we fought so that the dollars follow the child and so the child following the dollar. What that means, from K-12, what that means is that parents and their families can decide what's the best way for their children to be educated. Higher education, we have a +p2760 +aVI was just saying to my colleagues, I may be the last person in this audience without an iPhone. I'm actually one of the last folks \u2014 I still have a BlackBerry in my pocket. And I basically use it for scheduling. I use it to keep up when my wife is here and my three kids at home. The only games on that phone are Bricklayer. I use it to keep up with the news through the Internet. I may be the last American out there without an iPhone. +p2761 +aVMy apologies. +p2762 +aVWell, absolutely, when the Saints go back to repeat, we were talking about beer sales earlier, all those folks from being hung over in Louisiana from drinking to celebrate Drew Brees winning this, I think it would be a great day to take off. No, look, on a serious note, I do want to say this about the Super Bowl and our athletes. They can be great role models for our children and I'm obviously a Saints fan. Drew Brees and his wife great role models, great Christians. So, yes, it should be a holiday. +p2763 +aVMy message is to conservatives, this is our hour. Thanks to the insanity, the incompetence of the Democratic party, the American people are ready to turn our government over to us. It's not enough to let just any Republican, however. The reality is the idea of America is slipping away. As Christians, we believe that the tomb is empty. As Americans, we believe that our best days are always ahead of us, and they can be again. We must win this election. We cannot allow Hillary Clinton to take us down this path towards socialism \u2014 further down this path. I've got the courage to apply our conservative principles. I can't do it alone. With your help, with God's grace, we can save the idea of America before it's too late. +p2764 +aVHi, I'm Bobby Jindal. Now, look, I don't have a famous last name. My daddy didn't run for president. I don't have a reality TV show. I'll tell you what I do have, I've got the backbone, I've got the bandwidth, I've got the experience to get us through these tough times, to make sure that we don't turn the American dream into the European nightmare. Thank you for having me today. +p2765 +aVWell, Jake, I'm in compliance with the 11th Commandment, and I would tell my fellow Republicans, let's stop treating Donald Trump like a Republican. If he were really a conservative... If he were really a conservative and 30 points ahead, I would endorse him. He's not a conservative. He's not a liberal. He's not a Democrat. He's not a Republican. He's not an independent. He believes in Donald Trump. Here is the reality, the idea of America is slipping away. Eighteen trillion dollars of debt, Planned Parenthood selling baby parts across our country. Our government is creating a new entitlement program, when we can't afford the government we've got today. We've got a president who won't even say the words radical Islamic terrorism. He has declared war on trans fats and a truce with Iran. Think about that. He's more worried about Twinkies than he is about the ayatollahs having a nuclear weapon. That's what is happening, the idea of America is slipping away. We must not let that happen on our watch. We have a once in a lifetime opportunity to rescue the idea of America, the choice for conservatives. Do we depend on proven conservative principles like Ronald Reagan did, or do we turn this over to a narcissist who only believes in himself... +p2766 +aVThank you, Jake. +p2767 +aVAbsolutely. Look, the reality is, Hillary Clinton is gift-wrapping this election to us. They are running their weakest candidate. They have got a socialist that is gaining on Hillary Clinton. Folks, you can't make that up. A socialist is doing well in the Democratic primary. The best way for us to give this election back would be to nominate a Donald Trump. He'll implode in the general election, or if, God forbid, if he were in the White House, we have no idea what he would do. You can't just attack him on policy. He doesn't care about policy. It's not enough to say he was for socialized medicine or higher taxes... +p2768 +aVHe's not serious. +p2769 +aVYeah, I wanted to clarify -- I want to make very clear that everybody understands my position is, we need to secure the border, period. Any talk of doing any more -- we don't need a comprehensive plan, don't need an 1,000-page bill, like the Gang of Eight. We don't need amnesty. Everybody in D.C. talks about it. We need to get it done. As president, I'll get it done in six months. It won't be perfect, but we can get it done. I'm not for amnesty. We do need to secure the border. A smart immigration makes our -- our country stronger. Right now, we've got a weak one. One of the things I've said -- I know the left -- I know Hillary didn't like this -- immigration without assimilation is invasion. We need to insist the people who come here come here legally, learn English, adopt our values, roll up their sleeves and get to work. We do need to secure the border. +p2770 +aVDana, that's not right. What I've said consistently is secure the border. I've said after that is done, the American people will deal with the folks that are here pragmatically and compassionately. Now, Rick, if he wants to say that Rubio, Senator Rubio, or Jeb or others are for amnesty, that's his right. I'm not for amnesty. I've never been for amnesty, will never be for amnesty. Secure the border. We don't need to do that as a comprehensive -- I've also said we need to put an end to sanctuary cities. It's not enough to defund them; I think we need to criminalize, accuse and jail those mayors and councilman as accessories... ( +p2771 +aV... for the crimes committed by people who shouldn't be here in the first place. +p2772 +aVJake, look, America's the most compassionate country in the entire world. We do more for folks around this world, and that's the nature of the American people. Two things. One, let us draw line, a direct line, between this refugee crisis, and this president's failed foreign policy. Jake, look, America is the most compassionate country in the entire world. We do more for folks around this world. And that's the nature of the American people. Two things: one, let us draw a line, a direct line between this refugee crisis and this president's failed foreign policy. He drew a red line in Syria and did not enforce it and now we're seeing millions of refugees potentially, hundreds of thousands going into Europe. The answer is not to put a Band-aid on this and allow even more people to come into America. We should not short-circuit; we have got a vetting process, we've got a normal refugee process. Simply allowing more into our country doesn't solve this problem. The way to solve this problem is for us to be clear to our friends and allies that we're going to replace Assad, we're going to hunt down and destroy +p2773 +aVWe -- it is important we insist on that in immigration going -- +p2774 +aVLook, absolutely. We need to do whatever is necessary to hunt down and kill these radical Islamic terrorists but this president has helped -- his policies have helped to contribute to this problem. He went to the Pentagon the same week they announced they were cutting back the number of troops in the Army to say that we're not going to win this through guns, it's going to be a change of hearts and minds. This will be a generational conflict, that is nonsense. These are barbarians. They are burning, crucifying people alive, Christians and other Muslims. We need to hunt them down and -- +p2775 +aV-- by having a president willing to -- +p2776 +aV-- Islamic -- +p2777 +aVWell, Jake, look, I think the American people -- we don't discriminate anybody based on the color of their skin or their creed. I think the way you strike that balance, you say to Muslim leaders, they have got two responsibilities. One, it's not enough to denounce just simply generic acts of violence. They have got to denounce the individuals by name, and say these are not martyrs. These terrorists are not martyrs; rather, they are going straight to hell. They are not going to enjoy a reward in their afterlife. Secondly, they have to explicitly embrace the same freedoms for everybody else they want for themselves. Look, I know it's politically incorrect to say this, the president says Fort Hood was an issue of workplace violence. We are at war with radical Islam. Our president loves to apologize for America, he goes to the National Prayer Breakfast, brings up the Crusades, criticizes Christians. We're at war today with radical Islamic extremists. It's not politically correct to say that, but the way you strike that balance, you say to Muslim leaders, denounce these fools, these radical terrorists by name, say they are not martyrs. +p2778 +aVSure, I don't think a 14-year-old should ever get arrested for bringing a clock to school. So, if you're asking me I'm glad he wasn't -- he was released. I'm glad that police are careful. I'm glad they are worried about security and safety issues. Look, in America we don't tolerate them. The biggest discrimination is going on against Christian business owners and individuals who believe in traditional forms of marriage. They are throwing this woman in jail in Kentucky. Let's talk about that. Let's talk about the Christian florist, the caterer, the musician, who simply want to say, don't arrest us for having -- or don't discriminate against us, don't shut down our businesses, don't fine us thousands of dollars for believing marriage is between a man and a woman. Lets talk about not discriminating against Christians. +p2779 +aVJake -- Jake... +p2780 +aVJake, I've got a practical question. +p2781 +aVI've got a practical question. I'd like the left to give us a list of jobs that Christians aren't allowed to have. If we're not allowed to be clerks, bakers, musicians, caterers, are we allowed to be pastors ? +p2782 +aVWe're not allowed to be elected officials. I firmly -- this is an important point. The First Amendment rights, the right to religious freedom is in the First Amendment of "The Constitution." It isn't breaking the law to exercise our constitutional rights. America did not create religious liberty, religious liberty created the United States of America. It is the reason we're here today. +p2783 +aVI think actually putting Roberts, I think putting Kennedy, I think putting -- before them, I think putting Souter on the bench was a mistake. But look, I think the -- the first responsibility starts in the White House. The reality is conservatives have not been willing to stand up for our beliefs, unlike the liberals -- look, you never worry about where the Democratic judges are going to vote, it's always the conservatives. You've never had a Democratic judge wake up and say, surprise, I've evolved, I've become a conservative. It's always the Republicans, because we have presidents that try to find judges with no records, no rulings, no writings. I'll tell you, I am going to have a litmus test. For judges, I'm going to find judges that are conservative, judges that are going to be pro-life, judges that are going to follow "The Constitution," judges, by the way, that are going to follow the American law, not international law. They're not appointed there to interpret international law, they're there to apply "The United States Constitution." Judges understand, their job is not to write law. If they want to write law, they should run for the Senate or the House. It's time for a Republican president as the next commander in chief, I will do as the Democrats have done. I will appoint bold judges that are actually consistent with my values that will be conservatives and enforce the Senate -- +p2784 +aVThank you, Jake. But look, it's not a minor ruling. Justice Roberts twice rewrote the law to save ObamaCare, the biggest expansion of government, creating a new entitlement when we can't afford the government we've got today, an expansion of socialism in our country. It's not that he got a minor ruling wrong. This is twice he rewrote the law. Now, look, I have a lot of respect for these senators that have big bladders. They give great speeches in the Senate. And I respect that. I've actually signed the executive order. I've actually signed a law protecting religious liberty in the state of Louisiana. It's not 99-1. The one that he got wrong was a big one. Twice he bent over backwards to save ObamaCare. If the Republicans had voted the way that we should -- they should have, we would still have our 19th Amendment rights and ObamaCare would not be the law of the land. +p2785 +aVNo. And it's not only whether they can win. They shouldn't win this election cycle. One of the things I do agree -- and I want to thank Donald Trump after I've criticized him for everything from being a narcissist to an egomaniac -- one of the things he was right about was to say nonsense to the D.C. establishment. It is time to fire all of them. You've got a choice between honest Socialists on the Left, like Bernie Sanders, and lying conservatives on the Right. We have got the majority; what good has it done us? See, they said they were going to stop amnesty. They said they were going to repeal ObamaCare. They didn't do either. Now they're not even willing to fight to defund Planned Parenthood. They've already -- McConnell has already waved the white flag of defeat. They are not willing to stand up to fight for the issues that count. I think it is time to have term limits. I think it's time to have part-time citizen legislators. Let's pay them a per diem instead of a six-figure salary, stop them from being seven-figure lobbyists. Let's also pay them a per diem for every day they don't go to D.C. Let's keep them out of D.C., working in the real -- -- let's make them live under the same rules and laws they apply to the rest of us. Not only shouldn't they be elected, they can't be elected. Let's fire all of them from their current positions. +p2786 +aVTwo things, Jake. One, I'm absolutely for all of these carve-outs and loopholes and special interests for as -- they get lobbyists. They get sweetheart deals you and I and the rest of this audience couldn't get. So as part of an overall comprehensive tax reform that has a lower, flatter tax code, sure. As a single, I am just to raise taxes, no. I don't want to give the government more money. The government has grown over this president where now, it's going to overwhelm the American economy. We've got to cut the size of the government economy. Nobody else running for president has done that. I'm the only candidate. I've cut my state budget 26 percent. Everybody else talks about it, we have done it. So, there's a part of overall tax reform that cuts rates, flattens and lowers the tax code, sure. But I'm not for raising taxes on anybody. We already have too much money going to D.C. +p2787 +aVJake, I'd like to answer that question. +p2788 +aVWell, Jake, I want to answer that question. I want to go back to Iran. I didn't get a chance to answer that as well. Look, on Russia, across the world, dictators walk all over this president. He treats our friends like dirt. He lets our enemies walk all over us. The only group he's able to out-negotiate are the Senate Republicans. They never should've passed this bad Corker bill. Instead of a two-thirds vote to reject -- to approve the Iran deal, now it takes a two-thirds vote to reject the Iran deal. I want to ask Lindsey a question. Will the Senate Republicans -- they still have time -- are they willing to use the nuclear option, meaning get rid of the filibusters, stop Iran from becoming a nuclear power? Now is the time for the Senate Republicans to stand up and fight. We are tired of the establishment saying there's nothing we can do. All night tonight, we've heard Republicans say things like, "Well, if the Supreme Court's ruled, there's nothing I can do about religious liberty," you know. "The president did this. There's nothing we can do about it for two more years." There is something we can do. We won the Senate. We won the House. What was the point of winning those chambers if we're not going to do anything with them? You're going back tonight. You still have time before the Thursday deadline. Will y'all use the nuclear option to stop Iran from becoming a nuclear power? +p2789 +aVLindsey... +p2790 +aVLindsey, well, that's my frustration. Listen to what you've heard. You -- you basically heard a Senate Republican say, "We can't defund Planned Parenthood, despite these barbaric videos." +p2791 +aV"We can't -- we can't..." +p2792 +aV"... we can't get rid of Obamacare" -- Lindsey, let me answer this question now. I wish the Senate Republicans had half the fight in them the Senate Democrats did. Look, President Obama didn't give up on Obamacare when they lost the Senate election in Massachusetts. I want my side to follow the Constitution. They broke the Constitution, they broke the law, but they forced Obamacare down our throats, even when they didn't have 60 votes. I wish Republicans in D.C. had half the fight of the Senate Democrats to get rid of Obamacare, to defund Planned Parenthood. If we can't defund Planned Parenthood now, if we can't stand for innocent human life after these barbaric videos, it is time to be done with the Republican Party. We defunded them in Louisiana. Let's defund them in D.C. If we can't win... +p2793 +aV-- on that issue, there is no point for being cheaper Democrats, no point grabbing a second liberal party. It is time to get rid of the Republican Party, start over with a new one that's at least conservative. Give Harry Reid and Pelosi credit. At least they fight for what they believe in. I want senators and House members in DC to fight for what we believe in, as well. It's time to have Republican... +p2794 +aV-- with a backbone in DC. +p2795 +aVJake, I'm a doer, not a talker. Look, the idea of America is slipping away from us. If you want somebody who is going to manage the slow decline of this country, makes incremental changes, vote for somebody else. If you want to vote for somebody who understands what is at stake -- Planned Parenthood is selling baby parts across this country, and the Senate Republicans have already given up, even without a fight. I am tired of this surrender (ph) caucus, I am angrier at the Republicans in D.C. than I am at the president. The president is a socialist. At least he fights for what we believe in. We don't need to just send any Republican to the White House. We need to sent somebody who understands that it's time to make big changes. It's time to take on the establishment, it's time to take on the D.C. permanent governing class. Every Republican says they will shrink the size of the government. I'm the only one that has done it. Cut our budget 26 percent. If you want somebody that's going to make incremental change, vote for somebody else. It's time to get the idea of America back. At some point, we're going to be held -- we'll be asked, what did you do when the idea of America was slipping away? I'll promise you this. I will give every ounce of blood, energy, sweat I've got to save the idea of America, the greatest country in the history of the world. +p2796 +aVWell, first of all, thank you all for having us. You know, I won two record elections. Last time I was elected governor, won a record margin in my state. Martha, we got a lot of politicians that will kiss babies, cut ribbons, do whatever it takes to be popular. That's not why I ran for office. I ran for office to make the generational changes in Louisiana. We've cut 26 percent of our budget. We have 30,000 fewer state bureaucrats than the day I took office. I don't think anybody has cut that much government anywhere, at any time. As a result, eight credit upgrades; as a result, a top ten state for private sector job creation. And we fought for statewide school choice, where the dollars follow the child, instead of the child following the dollars. We've been the most pro-life state six years in a row. My point is this: I won two landslide elections, I made big changes. I think our country is tired of the politicians who simply read the polls and fail to lead. Both Democrats and Republicans have gotten us in the mess we're in -- $18 trillion of debt, a bad deal with Iran, we're not staying with Israel. I think the American people are look for real leadership. That's what I've done in Louisiana, that's what I'll do in America. +p2797 +aVWell, to start with, unlike President Obama, I'll actually name the enemy that we confront. We've got a president who cannot bring himself to say the words "radical Islamic terrorism." Now, Bill, he loves to criticize America, apologize for us, criticize medieval Christians. How can we beat an enemy if our commander-in-chief doesn't have the moral honesty and clarity to say that Islam has a problem, and that problem is radical Islam, to say they've got to condemn not generic acts of violence, but the individual murderers who are committing these acts of violence. We've got a president who instead says, we're going to change hearts and minds. Well, you know what? Sometimes you win a war by killing murderous, evil terrorists. We're going to take the political handcuffs off the military. We will arm and train the Kurds. We will work with our Sunni allies. They know we will be committed to victory. We had this failed red line with Assad and it discouraged folks that want to help us on the ground. Finally, we'll take off the political handcuffs. We'll go to the Congress. This president has gone to Congress and said give me a three-year deadline, give me a ban on ground troops. I'm going to go to the commanders and say give me a plan to win. You can't send your troops into harm's way unless you give them every opportunity to be successful. +p2798 +aVWell, this goes to the question you were just asking. Look, under President Obama and Secretary Clinton, they're working hard to change the American dream into the European nightmare. They do celebrate more dependence on the government. Give Bernie Sanders credit. At least he's honest enough to call himself a socialist. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, they're no better. If we were to expand Medicaid, for every uninsured person we would cover, we'd kick more than one person out of private insurance or remove their opportunity to get private insurance. We're going to have too many people in the cart rather than pulling the cart. This isn't free money. I know some people like to say, "well, this is free money." We pay federal taxes. We are borrowing money from China today. Yesterday, the president stunningly admitted this. He said, "we don't have leverage with China to get a better deal on Iran because we need them to lend us money to continue operating our government." The president of the United States admitting that he's weakening our government's position, our foreign policy standing, because he can't control spending in D.C.. There is a better way to provide health care. The Oregon study showed this. Simply expanding Medicaid does not improve health care outcomes. In Louisiana, instead we're helping people getting better paying jobs so they can provide for their own health care. +p2799 +aVI don't -- look, I don't think anybody should be expanding Medicaid. I think it's a mistake to create new and more expensive entitlement programs when we can't afford the ones we've got today. We've got to stop this culture of government dependence. +p2800 +aVI'll say this. I don't think anybody should expand Medicaid. I think it was a mistake to expand Medicaid everywhere in Ohio and across the country. +p2801 +aVWell, a couple of things. Planned Parenthood had better hope that Hillary Clinton wins this election, because I guarantee under President Jindal, January 2017, the Department of Justice and the IRS and everybody else that we can send from the federal government will be going in to Planned Parenthood. This is absolutely disgusting, and revolts the conscience of the nation. Absolutely, we need to defund Planned Parenthood. In my own state, for example, we launched an investigation, asked the FBI to cooperate. We just, earlier this week, kicked them out of Medicaid in Louisiana as well, canceled their provider contract. They don't provide any abortions in Louisiana. But in terms of shutting down the government, I don't think President Obama should choose to shut down the government simply to send taxpayer dollars to this group that has been caught, I believe, breaking the law, but also offending our values and our ethics. It is time for Republicans in D.C. to fight. Too often, they give up, they negotiate with themselves. They said they would get rid of the unconstitutional amnesty. They didn't do that. They said they would repeal Obamacare if we gave them the majority. They didn't do that either. They said they'd shrink and balance the budget. They haven't done that. Absolutely, they should fight to fund -- defund Planned Parenthood, and I don't think the president should shut down the government simply to send our taxpayer dollars to this group. Mac +p2802 +aVTo repeal these unconstitutional illegal orders, whether it's amnesty or whether it's this president going around the Congress, whether it's in Obamacare, to restore the rule of law. I'd also go after these sanctuary cities, do everything we can to make sure that we are not -- that we are actually prosecuting and cutting off funding for cities that are harboring illegal aliens, and then finally making sure the IRS is not going after conservative or religious groups. I would sign an executive order protecting religious liberty, our first amendment rights, so Christian business owners and individuals don't face discrimination for having a traditional view of marriage. +p2803 +aVSocialist and government dependent. +p2804 +aVYou know, we've got a lot of great talkers running for president. We've already got a great talker in the White House. We cannot afford four more years of on the job training. We need a doer, not a talker. We also need a nominee, a candidate who will endorse our own principles. Jeb Bush says we've got to be willing to lose the primary in order to win the general. Let me translate that for you. That's the establishment telling us to hide our conservative principles to get the left and the media to like us. That never works. If we do that again, we will lose again, we will deserve to lose again. One principle, for example, we've got to embrace is on immigration. We must insist on assimilation -- immigration without assimilation is an invasion. We need to tell folks who want to come here, they need to come here legally. They need to learn English, adopt our values, roll up their sleeves and get to work. I'm tired of the hyphenated Americans and the division. I've got the backbone, I've got the band width, I've got the experience to get us through this. I'm asking folks not just to join my campaign, but join a cause. It is time to believe in America again. Mac +p2805 +asVMUIR +p2806 +(lp2807 +VWe will be tackling many critical issues right here tonight, and we begin with opening statements, in alphabetical order, and Secretary Clinton. +p2808 +aVSenator Sanders. +p2809 +aVSenator Sanders thank you and thank you all. We do have a lot of important issues to get here tonight and we want to address the controversy of the last 24 hours right off the top because we heard some of the most heated rhetoric of the campaign so far between two of the campaigns on this stage tonight. Senator Sanders, you fired a campaign staffer you have sued the Democratic National Committee; all of this after your campaign acknowledge that some of your staffers quote, "irresponsibly accessed data from another campaign." The Clinton campaign called this a very egregious breech of data of ethics and said, quote, "our data was stolen." Did they overstate this or were your staffers essentially stealing part of the Clinton playbook? +p2810 +aVBut Senator, you do mention the DNC -- the vender. But you said of your staff that they did the wrong thing. +p2811 +aVSo, does Secretary Clinton deserve an apology tonight? +p2812 +aVSecretary Clinton... +p2813 +aVSecretary Clinton, he has apologized. How do your react? +p2814 +aV(?): All three candidates are weighing in. +p2815 +aVGood let's move on -- Senator Sanders, let's move on right to some of those issues. It is just six days before Christmas, as we all know in this country. It's typically a joyful time, as it is this year, as well. But it's also an anxious time. President Obama has acknowledged that what we saw in San Bernardino was an act of terrorism. But we remember the president said, right before Thanksgiving, there is no known specific and credible intelligence indicating a plot on the homeland. We now know that this couple had assembled an arsenal. They were not on law enforcement's radar. They were completely undetected. So as we approach another holiday, with the president again saying, late this week, no credible threat, Secretary Clinton, how confident should the American people be, that there aren't others like that couple right now in the U.S. going undetected? And what would you do as president to find them? +p2816 +aV(inaudible) thank you. I am the very first post-9/11 mayor and the very first post-9/11 governor. I understand, from the ground up, that when attacks like San Bernardino happen, when attacks like the attacks of 9/11 happen, that when people call 911, the first people to show up are the local first responders. Many of the things Secretary Clinton said are absolutely true, but they underscore a lack of investment that we have, as a nation, failed to make over these last 15 years in intelligence gathering, intelligence analysis, intelligence sharing. Not only in theater, in Syria and Iraq and other places where we embalk ourselves in toppling dictators without having any idea what comes next, but here in the homeland, as we protect people from this threat of the lone wolves and these changing tactics and strategies. I believe that what's happened here is that the president had us on the right course, but it's a lack of battle tempo. We have to increase the battle tempo, we have to bring a modern way of getting things done and forcing the sharing of information and do a much better job of acting on it in order to prevent these sorts of attacks in the future. +p2817 +aVAnd we're going to break down these issues tonight, but I do want to go to Senator Sanders because the concern going into Christmas is significant, as you know. A new ABC News poll shows 77 percent of Americans have little or no confidence in the government's ability to prevent a lone wolf attack. How would you specifically find would-be terrorist who are going undetected? +p2818 +aVSenator, thank you. +p2819 +aVGovernor, we have to abide the rules here, we'll call on you here shortly, but... O' +p2820 +aVBut I do want pick up on something... O' +p2821 +aVWe will. +p2822 +aVBut let me just establish that for you, senator. Really quickly governor, we are going to call on you tonight and it's very clear you have a lot to say but please wait until you're called upon. And senator, he invoked your record and I'll let you respond. +p2823 +aVI'll let you respond. +p2824 +aVAnd you will get some to as well. +p2825 +aVSenator, thank you. I want to move on here. Secretary Clinton, you brought up Donald Trump a short time ago. +p2826 +aVSecretary Clinton, thank you. We're going to move on from guns here and go back to something you mentioned a short time ago. You brought up Donald Trump first here this evening. We've now seen the polling done well after his proposed ban on Muslims coming to America. Thirty-six percent of Americans, more than a third, agree with him. You have weighed in already on Donald Trump. You've weighed in on the proposed ban. But what would you say to the millions of Americans watching tonight who agree with him? Are they wrong? +p2827 +aVSecretary, thank you. Senator Sanders, I did want to ask you about a neighbor in San Bernardino who reportedly witnessed packages being delivered to that couple's home, that it set off red flags, but they didn't report it because they were afraid to profile. What would you say to Americans afraid to profile? Is it ever acceptable? +p2828 +aVBut I'm asking about -- I'm asking about profiling. Because a lot of people are afraid of that. +p2829 +aVSenator, thank you. +p2830 +aVMartha, we're going to turn now to refugees coming to America. And on the subject of refugees, more than half of all Americans now say they oppose taking in refugees from Syria and across the Middle East. Secretary Clinton, you have said that it would undermine who we are as Americans, shutting our doors. But New Hampshire's governor, where we are right here tonight, a democrat and a supporter of yours, is among more than 30 governors who are now concerned. Governor Maggie Hassan says, "we should halt acceptance of Syrian refugees until U.S. authorities can assure the vetting process, halt Syrian refugees." Is she wrong? +p2831 +aVBut a halt? +p2832 +aVGovernor O'Malley, obviously you were governor yourself at one time. What would you say to New Hampshire's governor tonight? Is she wrong on this? O' +p2833 +aVSo the idea of a halt or a pause? O' +p2834 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p2835 +aVI want to take this to Senator -- I'm going to take this to Senator Sanders next, because I think there... +p2836 +aVSenator, thank you. +p2837 +aVYeah, but, Secretary Clinton -- Secretary Clinton... +p2838 +aVSenator Sanders, Senator Sanders, hold on. One moment, please. I'm going to ask the secretary here, because there does appear to be some daylight here between the policies, at least in respect to when you take out Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Right now or do you wait? Do you tackle +p2839 +aVBut that's what he's saying, we should put that aside for now and go after +p2840 +aVShe says we have to proceed on both fronts at once. +p2841 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. O' +p2842 +aVGovernor O'Malley? O' +p2843 +aVBut -- you criticized -- you criticized Secretary Clinton for what came next. What's your proposal for what comes after Assad? O' +p2844 +aVSenator Sanders, please. Go ahead. Senator Sanders, a last word on this. +p2845 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. When we come back here tonight, the other major issues of this election: jobs, the economy, health care. Which candidates will make the best case for the middle class, as our coverage of the Democratic debate, here in New Hampshire, continues right after this on ABC. +p2846 +aVWelcome back tonight. As you can see, we have a packed audience here in New Hampshire and we're going to continue. We've already had a spirited conversation here at the top of the broadcast about +p2847 +aVWe're going to continue here, and Secretary, you'll get a chance on this too. But as I pointed out the CEO pay, 200 percent of their time -- for that family of just 2 percent. You've all said, "you would raise the minimum wage." But Senator Sanders what else - speak to that household tonight. 20 years, just a 2 percent raise, how as president would you get them a raise right away? +p2848 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. Governor O'Malley, what would propose that would be different, how would you get the middle class a raise and without waiting another 20 years for another 2 percent. O' +p2849 +aVGovernor, thank you. Secretary Clinton... As you were walking in, I was talking about the median American household getting a two percent raise over the last 20 years, that CEO pay in that same time frame has gone up 200 percent. So for those families watching tonight, how do you get them a raise if you're president? +p2850 +aVSecretary... +p2851 +aVSecretary, thank you. +p2852 +aVWe're going to -- we're going to... +p2853 +aVAnd we're going to talk about college education in a moment. But Secretary Clinton, I did want to ask you, the last time you ran for president, Fortune Magazine put you on its cover with the headline Business Loves Hillary, pointing out your support for many CEOs in corporate America. I'm curious, eight years later, should corporate America love Hillary Clinton? +p2854 +aVSecretary, thank you. Senator Sanders... I want to stay on this and ask you how big a role does corporate America play in a healthy economy and will corporate America love a President Sanders? +p2855 +aVSenator, thank you. I want to... Governor, let me just ask you, though, because it is an important question, how important a role do you think corporate America plays in a healthy economy here in the U.S.? O' +p2856 +aVGovernor O'Malley, thank you. I do want to ask you, Secretary Clinton. Let me just ask you... +p2857 +aVWe did -- we did -- Secretary Clinton, let me just ask you... +p2858 +aVAnd in particular... +p2859 +aVSecretary Clinton, thank you. +p2860 +aVSenator? +p2861 +aVSenator Sanders... +p2862 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2863 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p2864 +aVWe're going to get right into this Senator but I want to ask about taxes next. This is included. +p2865 +aVShe was asking about that... +p2866 +aVAre we back on health care - Secretary Clinton hold one moment. Senator Sanders... +p2867 +aVSecretary Clinton, please. +p2868 +aVSo let's ask about it. Secretary Clinton, let's turn to the taxes. +p2869 +aVThis is where we are going next, we are going next to taxes here... +p2870 +aVThis is fun. applause]This is democracy at work. Secretary Clinton, let me ask you about your tax plan because from the crushing cost of college education, the next question most families have; is will my taxes go up under the next president? You have said it's your goal not to raise taxes on families making under $200,000 a year a goal. But can you say that's a promise as you stand here tonight? +p2871 +aVA promise? +p2872 +aVSecretary Clinton... +p2873 +aVPlease. +p2874 +aVSenator, thank you. Let me bring in Governor O'Malley... +p2875 +aVYou've heard... +p2876 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p2877 +aVThank you. I want to bring in Governor O'Malley on this. We heard the promise from Secretary Clinton because people want to know about their taxes, will they go up. She has now promised here tonight not to raise them on families making $250,000 or less. Can you make that same promise if you're elected? O' +p2878 +aVGovernor O'Malley, thank you. A spirited debate on taxes. And there will be more with the Democratic debate in New Hampshire, when we come back right here on ABC. More in a moment. ( +p2879 +aVWelcome back tonight to New Hampshire. The Democratic debate continues here on ABC. And Secretary Clinton, we want to turn to race, now, in America. There is a real concern in this country from Black Lives Matter and from other community groups that we're just now seeing, with smartphones and cell phones, what many have been dealing with for years when they come in contact with police. But you also have many in law enforcement who now say there has been a so-called Ferguson effect, police holding back because they're afraid of backlash. +p2880 +aVIn fact, the FBI director is calling it a chill wind blowing through American law enforcement. So, if elected president, how would you bridge the divide between the two? +p2881 +aVSecretary, thank you. +p2882 +aVGovernor O'Malley, how would you bridge the divide? O' +p2883 +aVGovernor, thank you. And Senator Sanders, when you hear the FBI director calling it a chill wind blowing through American law enforcement, does that concern you as well when you -- +p2884 +aVSenator, thank you. We want to turn now to an issue. This next issue has destroyed so many families across the country, and in particular right here in New Hampshire, heroin. And there's a stunning new figure out. A recent poll -- 48 percent here, in this state alone, say they know someone who has abused heroin. We're going to turn tonight to Dan Tuohy of the New Hampshire Union Leader who has this question. +p2885 +aVSenator Sanders, I'm going to take this to you first because you've seen what's happened with heroin right on the border in your own state. +p2886 +aVSenator, thank you. Secretary Clinton? +p2887 +aVSecretary, thank you. O' +p2888 +aVGovernor O'Malley, thank you. Martha? +p2889 +aVI do want to follow up here for each of you. And a similar line of questioning. Senator Sanders, your wife Jane shares an office at your campaign headquarters in Burlington. We've seen the pictures, the desks right next to each other. Would she have a desk close by in the west wing? +p2890 +aVSenator, thank you. Governor O'Malley -- Governor O'Malley, you have talked about your wife, Katie, here tonight. She's a district court judge. And the question for you is, would she have to give that up as first lady, or will she share an office in the west wing as well? O' +p2891 +aVGovernor O'Malley, thank you, (inaudible). O' +p2892 +aVGovernor, thank you. We'll be back with much more from New Hampshire. The Democratic debate continues right after this. ( +p2893 +aVWelcome back tonight. It's been an evening of lively discussion among the candidates and it's time for closing statements. We began in alphabetical order, so we'll reverse the order at the end and begin with you, Senator Sanders. +p2894 +aVGovernor, thank you. Secretary Clinton? +p2895 +aVGood evening, again, everyone. This is the first time since Iowa and the only time before the New Hampshire primary that the Republican candidates will have the opportunity to face each other. The people of Iowa have been heard. Now it's New Hampshire's turn. In just three days, voters here will decide who they think should be the Republican nominee for president. +p2896 +aVSo let's welcome the candidates for the Republican nomination for president. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. +p2897 +aVTexas Senator Ted Cruz. +p2898 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. +p2899 +aVAnd Ohio Governor John Kasich. +p2900 +aVAnd Dr. Ben Carson, please come out on the stage. He's standing there, as well. Dr. Carson. +p2901 +aVAnd lastly, we welcome back to the debate stage, Donald Trump. +p2902 +aVIt was so noisy in here. Yes. Yes. We're going to introduce Ohio Governor John kasich. The applause so loud here in the hall. +p2903 +aVSo let's get started. We welcome you all to the debate stage here tonight. We're going to tackle the issues Americans are most concerned about, the economy, +p2904 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. I want to bring this to Senator Cruz, then. Because Senator, you did said of Trump's behavior this week, that's not the temperament of a leader to keep this country safe. Why not? +p2905 +aVSenator Cruz, I did ask about Mr. Trump. You said he doesn't have the temperament to be commander-in-chief. Do you stand by those words? +p2906 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. We're going to continue on this notion of readiness and experience. I'm going to come back. +p2907 +aVIf you would like to respond, Mr. Trump. +p2908 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. And we're going to continue on this notion of readiness and on experience, but I want to ask about a headline that was back in the papers again this morning. Dr. Carson, on the day of the Iowa caucuses, the Cruz campaign sent out messages and voicemails saying, quote, "Breaking news. Dr. Ben Carson will be planning to suspend his campaign following tonight's caucuses. Please inform any Carson caucus-goers of this news." But as we can all see, you are still standing here tonight. Late this week, your campaign sent this e-mail, quote, "This kind of deceitful behavior is why the American people don't trust politicians. If Senator Cruz does not act, then he clearly represents D.C. values." What kind of action do you think Senator Cruz should take? +p2909 +aVSenator Cruz. Dr. Carson, thank you. Senator Cruz, you have said that Dr. Carson and his wife have become friends of yours. I'm curious as why you didn't call ahead of time to either the doctor or his wife or have your campaign check in with the other campaign before sending out those messages. +p2910 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. We're going to move on here. Back to the issues... +p2911 +aVDr. Carson, please. +p2912 +aVDr. Carson, thank you. Thank you, doctor. Senator Rubio. I want to stay on the issue of readiness to be president and experience and questions about you being a first-term senator. Governor Christie warning voters here in New Hampshire against voting for another first-term senator as America did with Barack Obama in 2008. Arguing that you are, quote, " not ready to be president of the United States." And Senator Santorum, who we all know, dropped out of the race and endorsed you, had a hard time when asked on national television, listing your accomplishments as senator. Tonight, what are your accomplishments in the Senate that demonstrate you are ready to be president of the United States? +p2913 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I do want to ask Governor Christie, Governor Christie, you said fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me when it comes to electing a first-term senator. You heard Senator Rubio make the case that he does have the experience. Your response? +p2914 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Rubio? +p2915 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I want to bring in governor bush on this, because you... +p2916 +aV... have made this... +p2917 +aVIf you'd like to respond to economic... +p2918 +aVSenator Rubio? +p2919 +aVGovernor Christie, we will \u2014 we will... +p2920 +aVGovernor Christie \u2014 thank you, Governor. I will mention \u2014 listen... +p2921 +aV... Listen, people... Governor Bush, I'll mention your name so that you can come in on this... +p2922 +aVI want to bring you in on this because you've made this central to your campaign right here in New Hampshire in the last couple of days. Four Years ago you said of Senator Rubio, he was ready to be Vice President. You spoke of his experience as well. You said he has the fortitude to be a good President, but just this week you said Senator Rubio accomplished, quote, "nothing" in the Senate. How do you square the two? +p2923 +aV... We're going to continue with leadership now. Martha? +p2924 +aVMartha, we're going to turn to immigration now. And I want to bring in Governor Kasich because you told us in an ABC interview, Governor, quote, "It is completely ridiculous to think we are going to go into neighborhoods, grab people out of their homes and ship people back to Mexico." Adding, quote, "That's not where the party is. The party is not for departing 11.5 million people." But Mr. Trump and Senator Cruz, who have made deportation central to their campaigns, top the national polls. So, my question for you, are you not where the voters are? +p2925 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. I want to bring this next to Senator Cruz. You heard what the governor said. He said, "We need practical solutions." And you've said, "I don't intend to send jack boots to knock on doors. That's not how we enforce the law for any crime." So, what is your plan? How will you deport 11.5 million undocumented people? And be specific. How would you do it? +p2926 +aVLet me just ask you this, though, because Governor Kasich was talking about the families and what you do with the families that you would have to send home. Can you tell the American people tonight how you would do that? +p2927 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. I want to bring in Senator Rubio. This question is about immigration, it is also about leadership. You're aware of the criticism from many candidates on this stage tonight that you co-authored the so-called Gang of Eight bill that would have created a path to citizenship for people here illegally. Governor Christie has said of you, as soon as you felt the heat, you turned tail and run. Governor Bush has said, "I don't think we need people cutting and running anymore." Did you fight for your own legislation, Senator, or did you run from it? +p2928 +aVBut I'm asking, did you fight for the legislation at the time or did you run from it as you're... +p2929 +aVGovernor Christie? +p2930 +aVGovernor thank you. Senator Rubio? +p2931 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. We want to turn to health care in this country, and for that, author and commentator, Mary Katherine Ham tonight. HAM: Thanks, David. Good evening, guys. +p2932 +aVMary Katherine, thank you. We want to turn now to the issue of eminent domain, which is being debated right here in New Hampshire. And Josh McElveen is the political director and the anchor of +p2933 +aVJosh, thank you. When we come back here tonight, jobs, +p2934 +aVAnd, we welcome you back to the Republican debate from New Hampshire tonight here on ABC. We're going to turn now to what it means to be a conservative, and I want to turn to Governor Kasich. Governor, while campaigning here in New Hampshire, you were already asked about groans from some conservatives after your endorsements from the New York Times, and the Boston Globe. You said, quote, "What conservatives have to know is they have to say, look isn't it nice to have a conservative like me liked? And, maybe the ought to think about it because if I get elected president, the Republican party and the definition of conservatism is going to change." How would you change conservatism? +p2935 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. Mr. Trump, you've heard the argument from many of the candidates on this stage that you're not a true conservative. Tell the voters watching tonight why you are. +p2936 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. Senator Rubio, you have said yourself that you don't think Donald Trump is running as a conservative. Did he convince you? +p2937 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I want to turn this discussion to the economy now. And Mr. Trump, Governor Christie has said, "I tell everybody who goes to a Donald Trump event, if you get to ask a question, just ask him how." Christie said, "I don't care which of the things he talks about, just ask him how." You have said that you'd be the greatest jobs president God ever created. Tell Americans watching tonight how many jobs you would create in the first term and how. +p2938 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. There are a lot of governors on this stage tonight and Governor Christie, Governor Kasich said of you, quote, "In Ohio, we balanced a budget. They don't have one over in New Jersey. Our credit has been strengthened. Their credit has been downgraded. We've got more jobs." How important are those metrics in choosing the next president? And is his job \u2014 is his record on jobs, I should say, actually stronger than yours? +p2939 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Kasich? +p2940 +aVHe didn't say your record was better than his. +p2941 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. +p2942 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. I do want to turn from jobs to taxes. +p2943 +aVIf you would like to respond to the governor, you can. +p2944 +aVI'm coming to you next with a question, anyway. You can respond to that question. +p2945 +aVWe're going from jobs to taxes, and here's the... +p2946 +aVTo the Gang of Eight bill first? +p2947 +aVThe governor wasn't talking about the president, he was talking about the Gang of Eight bill. +p2948 +aVSo, let me ask you about taxes, Senator Rubio. +p2949 +aVA recent poll, 68 percent of Americans favor raising taxes on people making more than $1 million a year. Are they wrong? +p2950 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I want to bring in Governor Bush. And Governor, I just want to repeat that number for you \u2014 68 percent of Americans favor raising taxes on people making more than a million. What do you say to the people who believe that tonight? +p2951 +aVKnew that was coming. Governor, thank you. +p2952 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you. Martha? +p2953 +aVMartha, thank you. We're just going to \u2014 we're going to stay on +p2954 +aVIf elected president, would you bring it back? +p2955 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. Mr. Trump, you said not only does it work, but that you'd bring it back. +p2956 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. Governor Bush, you have said that you won't rule waterboarding out. Congress has passed laws banning the use of waterboarding by the military and the CIA, as you know. Would you want Congress to change that if you're elected president? +p2957 +aVGovernor Bush, thank you. Senator Rubio, I do want to ask you, you have said that you do not want to telegraph to the enemy what you would do as commander in chief. But for the American people watching tonight who want to know where the next president will stand, do you believe waterboarding is torture? +p2958 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. We want to turn now to the topic of executive orders, and for that, we're going to turn back to Mary Katharine Ham. Mary Katharine? HAM: Thanks, David. Senator Cruz, on the campaign trail you've promised voters a lot, in fact if you're elected president you'd say you end Common Core immediately, abolish the IRS, and do away with sanctuary cities. You've also been a persistent critic of President Obama's executive overreach, going it alone, not working with Congress. How do you intend to implement this aggressive agenda within your Constitutional authority, especially given that it would require working with Congress and Washington players with whom you're happy to say you have a strained relationship? +p2959 +aVMary Katherine, thank you. We want to turn to something the governor of New Hampshire said... +p2960 +aVA connection here on the stage. We're going to move on to what the governor of New Hampshire said just this week, and that is that heroin overdose is not the second-leading cause of death in this state. You don't need me to tell you that. But there's another number, 48 percent of the people here in this state knows someone who has abused heroin. Josh, who covers this for +p2961 +aVMartha? +p2962 +aVGovernor, well come to you in the next segment. When we come back, questions about race, about our veterans and social issues what younger conservative voters are now saying as we continue with New Hampshire with the Republican debate, right here on ABC. +p2963 +aVWelcome back to New Hampshire, ABC News coverage of the Republican debate, and it's great to have you back at the podiums, and we want to turn to race in America. And Mr. Trump, there are many who argue cell phones and smartphones are just now exposing what's been happening in this country for years. Cases of excessive force against minorities. As you know, Mr. Trump, on the other side, the FBI director recently said there's a chill wind blowing through law enforcement because of increased scrutiny. You have said police are the most mistreated people in America. As president, how do you bridge the divide? +p2964 +aVGreat. Mr. Trump, I did ask about bridging the divide though as president. So what would you say to the American families who say we have lived through this, we have seen excessive force? What would you say to those people? +p2965 +aVI do want to ask \u2014 Governor Kasich? +p2966 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Rubio, I want to ask you next, President Obama visited a mosque this week in America for the first time in his presidency. President George W. Bush visited a mosque after September 11th. You said of President Obama, quote, "he's always pitting people against each other." So I'm curious, how are the two visits different, and would you visit a mosque as president? +p2967 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. Martha? +p2968 +aVJosh, thank you. I want to turn to a family that New Hampshire voters know quite well, and Senator Cruz, the issue of hostages has been a very real and painful one here in this state. As we all know, James Foley was killed. His mother, Diane, said our government should be willing to negotiate, arguing that families should also be allowed to raise money for ransom. What would you say to Diane Foley tonight? Should families be allowed to raise money for ransom for their loved ones? +p2969 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. Mr. Trump, what would you say to Diane Foley? Should families be allowed to raise money for ransom? +p2970 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. We want to turn now to social issues and young voters and for the question, from Mary Katherine. HAM: Thank you David. Senator Rubio. One of the lazier pieces of political conventional wisdom is that so-called social issues are hurting Republicans with young people. But on the two most prominent social issues, polling with millennials actually moves in different directions. On one hand, it is clear, young people across the political spectrum increasingly favor same sex marriage. However young voters have not moved to the left on abortion. In fact, large numbers of them favor at least some modest restrictions that conservatives have supported. How do you speak to millennials on both these issues, while Democrats will inevitable charge intolerance and extremism? +p2971 +aVMary Katherine, thank you. We're going to have closing statements here in just a moment, but before we go, quick lightning round. Come November, two battle-ground states, but they face off tomorrow in the Super Bowl. Governor Kasich, who wins? +p2972 +aVGovernor Bush? +p2973 +aVSenator Rubio? +p2974 +aV Mr. Trump? +p2975 +aVAll right, Dr. Carson? +p2976 +aVYeah. Governor Christie, the last word? +p2977 +aVDenver. Thank you so much, gentlemen. Closing statements in just a moment, right here, as the ABC News Republican debate continues from New Hampshire, right after this. +p2978 +aVWe welcome you back. The New Hampshire primary, of course, is Tuesday, but time now for closing statements. And we begin tonight with Governor Kasich. +p2979 +aVGovernor Bush. +p2980 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Senator Rubio. +p2981 +aVThank you. Mr. Trump. +p2982 +asVWALLACE +p2983 +(lp2984 +VAlso of note, Fox News is partnering for tonight's debate with Facebook. For the past several weeks, we've been asking you for questions for the candidates on Facebook. Nearly 6 million of you, 6 million, viewed the debate videos on our site, and more than 40,000 of you submitted questions: some of which you will hear us asking the candidates tonight. +p2985 +aVKentucky Senator Rand Paul. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. And your very own governor of Ohio... ... John Kasich. +p2986 +aVBrett -- Brett, I think you would call that a home field advantage. +p2987 +aVSenator Rubio, when Jeb Bush announced his candidacy for presidency, he said this: "There's no passing off responsibility when you're a governor, no blending into the legislative crowd." Could you please address Governor Bush across the stage here, and explain to him why you, someone who has never held executive office, are better prepared to be president than he is, a man who you say did a great job running your state of Florida for eight years. +p2988 +aVSenator Cruz, your colleague, Senator Paul, right there next to you, said a few months ago he agrees with you on a number of issues, but he says you do nothing to grow the party. He says you feed red meat to the base, but you don't reach out to minorities. You have a toxic relationship with GOP leaders in Congress. You even called the Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell a liar recently. How can you win in 2016 when you're such a divisive figure? +p2989 +aVGovernor Huckabee, like Governor Walker, you have staked out strong positions on social issues. You favor a constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage. You favor a constitutional amendment banning abortions, except for the life of the mother. Millions of people in this country agree with you, but according to the polls, and again this an electability question, according to the polls, more people don't, so how do you persuade enough Independents and Democrats to get elected in 2016? +p2990 +aVGentlemen, we're turning to a new subject that all of you have been talking about and some of you have been disagreeing about, and that is the issue of immigration. Governor Bush, you released a new plan this week on illegal immigration focusing on enforcement, which some suggest is your effort to show that you're not soft on that issue. I want to ask you about a statement that you made last year about illegal immigrants. And here's what you said. "They broke the law, but it's not a felony, it's an act of love. It's an act of commitment to your family." Do you stand by that statement and do you stand by your support for earned legal status? +p2991 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, it has not escaped anybody's notice that you say that the Mexican government, the Mexican government is sending criminals -- rapists, drug dealers, across the border. Governor Bush has called those remarks, quote, "extraordinarily ugly." I'd like you -- you're right next to him -- tell us -- talk to him directly and say how you respond to that and -- and you have repeatedly said that you have evidence that the Mexican government is doing this, but you have evidence you have refused or declined to share. Why not use this first Republican presidential debate to share your proof with the American people? +p2992 +aVMr. Trump, I'll give you 30 seconds -- I'll give you 30 seconds to answer my question, which was, what evidence do you have, specific evidence that the Mexican government is sending criminals across the border? Thirty seconds. +p2993 +aVAll right. Obviously there's a lot more to talk about this. We're going to have more questions for the candidates on illegal immigration, plus other key topics including your questions on Facebook. +p2994 +aVWelcome back to FOX News/Facebook Republican Debate Night. We're going to continue the questions now on illegal immigration. We kind of ended with a cliffhanger there. So let's continue the conversation. Governor Kasich, I know you don't like to talk about Donald Trump. But I do want to ask you about the merit of what he just said. When you say that the American government is stupid, that the Mexican government is sending criminals, that we're being bamboozled, is that an adequate response to the question of illegal immigration? +p2995 +aVRespectfully, can we talk about illegal immigration? +p2996 +aVAll right, well, Senator Rubio, let me see if I can do better with you. Is it as simple as our leaders are stupid, their leaders are smart, and all of these illegals coming over are criminals? +p2997 +aVGovernor Walker. Governor Walker, from 2002 until as recently as 2013, just two years ago, you supported comprehensive immigration reform, including a path to citizenship. Now you say that was a quick reaction to something you hadn't really thought about, and that you've changed your mind. Other than politics, could you explain why in the last two years you've changed your position on a path to citizenship, and are there other past positions that we shouldn't hold you to? +p2998 +aVSenator Cruz, some 1,400 people submitted questions on this very hot topic of illegal immigration on Facebook, and a number of them were about the murder of Kate Steinle in San Francisco, allegedly shot down by an illegal. Doug Bettencourt sent this question, "will you support Kate Steinle's Law," which would impose a mandatory five-year prison term for an illegal who is deported and then returns to this country? "And will you defund sanctuary cities for violating federal law?" +p2999 +aVGentlemen, we're obviously digging into some subjects in depth, but we're also going to change it up every once in a while throughout the next hour and have many rounds where we ask, you are not going to like it, only a couple of candidates questions on those subjects. This is the first of the many rounds, and it's about somebody whose name probably hasn't been mentioned enough so far tonight. Governor Kasich, let me start with you. Whoever the Republican nominee -- Whoever the Republican nominee is, it looks at least for now like whoever that nominee is, he or she, will be facing off against Hillary Clinton. You know how she will come after whoever the Republican nominee is. She will say that you, whoever it is, support the rich while she supports the middle class. That you want to suppress the rights of women and minorities. She wants to move the country forward while you, the Republicans, want to take the country back to the past. How will you, if you're the nominee, how will you answer that and take Hillary Clinton on? +p3000 +aVI know that all of you would like to answer this question, but we're only going to ask one other candidate before we move on to a different subject, Dr. Carson. Basically, same question to you. If Hillary Clinton is the nominee and she comes at you with that kind of line of attack, how will you take Iraq? +p3001 +aVGentlemen, we're going to turn now to the subject of the economy, jobs and money and the government. And Governor Bush, I'm going to start with you. You have made a bold promise in your announcement. You have promised four percent economic growth and 19 million new jobs if you are fortunate enough to serve two terms as president. That many jobs, 19 million, would be triple what your father and your brother accomplished together. And four percent growth, the last president to average that was Lyndon Johnson during the height of the Vietnam War. So question, how on Earth specifically would you pull that off? +p3002 +aVGovernor Walker. Governor Walker, when you ran for governor of Wisconsin back in 2010, you promised that you would create 250,000 jobs in your first term, first four years. In fact, Wisconsin added barely half that and ranked 35th in the country in job growth. Now you're running for president, and you're promising an economic plan in which everyone will earn a piece of the American dream. Given your record in Wisconsin, why should voters believe you? +p3003 +aVGovernor Christie, I want to engage you and Governor Huckabee in a subject that is a big issue in both of your campaigns, and that is entitlement reform. You say that you -- to save the system that you want to raise the retirement age -- have to raise the retirement age, and to cut benefits for Social Security and Medicare, and you say that some of the candidates here on the stage are lying. Governor Huckabee says he can save Social Security and Medicare without doing any of that. Is he lying? +p3004 +aVGovernor Huckabee? You say that changing entitlements, the kind of thing that Governor Christie is talking about, would be breaking a promise to the American people, and you say that you can keep those programs, save Social Security, save Medicare, without those kinds of reforms through a FairTax, which is a broad tax on consumption. Please explain to Governor Christie how that would work, and how you could save these programs without the kind of painful reforms he says we need? +p3005 +aV...Thirty seconds. +p3006 +aV...Alright, this is it. Thirty Seconds, finally. +p3007 +aVAll right. Enough. Mr. Trump. +p3008 +aVMr. Trump, you talk a lot about how you are the person on this stage to grow the economy, I want to ask you about your business records. From corporations, Trump corporations, casinos and hotels, have declared bankruptcy four times over the last quarter-century. +p3009 +aVNo, but the concept sir... +p3010 +aV... that's your line, but your companies have gone bankrupt. +p3011 +aVWell sir, let's just talk about the latest example......which is Trump Entertainment Resorts, which went bankrupt in 2009. In that case alone, lenders to your company lost over $1 billion and more than 1,100 people were laid off. +p3012 +aVIs that the way that you'd run the country? +p3013 +aVSo... +p3014 +aVSenator Rubio. Senator Rubio, more than 3,000 people sent us questions about the economy and jobs on Facebook. And here is a video question from Tania Cioloko from Philadelphia. Here she is. +p3015 +aVSenator, how do you answer Tania? +p3016 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. +p3017 +aVSenator Paul, closing statement. +p3018 +aVDr. Carson, closing statement. +p3019 +aVGovernor Bush, closing statement, sir. +p3020 +aVTonight, we're partnering with Google for an exclusive second-screen experience. Search Fox News debate on Google any time in the next two hours to access exclusive content. You can see the campaigns respond to the debate in real time, and you can weigh in by voting on the topics being discussed. Just go to google.com or open your Google search app and type in Fox News debate. +p3021 +aVNeurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. +p3022 +aVApparently Iowa's near Kentucky. +p3023 +aVSenator Rubio, I want to explore this sort of larger issue. The campaign has in a sense turned into a battle for the soul of the Republican party: establishment versus grassroots, pragmatic versus principle. You say that you can unite all of the factions inside the GOP. How? +p3024 +aVGovernor Kasich, I want to get back to this question of where conservatives are this year. You call yourself a, quote, "inside-outside guy, a reformer who knows how to get things done," but you reject the establishment label. First question is why do you reject it? And secondly, what do you say to Republican voters this year who view practical government experience as a liability and not an asset? +p3025 +aVDr. Carson, I want to pick up on that with you. Governor Kasich likes to say he knows how to land the plane. You've landed a lot of planes in the O.R. But what about the idea of running for president with no experience in government at all? +p3026 +aVGentlemen, we're now going to start to drill down into specific issues that are on voters' minds. I'm going to start with one of the biggest ones, which is foreign terror. According to Google, +p3027 +aVSenator Rubio, does Senator Cruz's record match his rhetoric? +p3028 +aVSenator Cruz, you've got 30 seconds. You were mentioned. +p3029 +aVGentlemen. +p3030 +aVMay I \u2014 may I just say, we are going to continue the questions about foreign terror, gentlemen, right after this break. +p3031 +aVThank you. Governor Christie, you have compared both Senators Cruz and Rubio to Barack Obama, saying that we cannot afford another inexperienced President. You've also said that Senator Cruz's vote to curtail the NSA surveillance program made America less safe. Is either of them ready to be Commander in Chief? +p3032 +aVGovernor Bush... +p3033 +aV... I don't think that your name was mentioned... +p3034 +aV... Sir, I think \u2014 I think the question was... +p3035 +aV... It's not my question that you get a chance to respond to, it's his answer. You don't get 30 seconds to respond to me... +p3036 +aV... You don't get 30 seconds to respond to me... +p3037 +aV... If I could go on. Sir, I know you like to argue about the rules, but we're going to conduct a debate... +p3038 +aV... Governor Bush... +p3039 +aVGovernor Bush, here's the question \u2014 I'm going to ask Governor Bush the question. You criticized several candidates in this field on this stage for what you call unrealistic ideas about how to fight terrorists, including Rubio, and Cruz on the issue of their refusing to give the President authority to enforce the redline in Syria. But, given the fact that your brother got us into two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that have still not ended. That have still not ended, what lessons have you learned from his mistakes, sir? +p3040 +aVSenator Cruz, now you get a chance to respond. +p3041 +aV... It is a debate, sir. +p3042 +aVI think the questions were about issues. Senator Rubio, what would you like to respond sir... +p3043 +aVThank you. +p3044 +aVGood. +p3045 +aVSenator Paul, go ahead. +p3046 +aVWell... ... we'll be talking about foreign policy a little bit later. We're going to talk... +p3047 +aVThis debate is just getting started. Coming up, the role of the federal government. But first, join tonight's conversation right from your home. Go to google.com or open your Google search app and search Fox News Debate to vote on which issue is most important to you in this election. More from the Iowa Events Center and the Republican presidential debate in a moment. +p3048 +aVGentlemen, we're going to turn now to what we call electability, issues that you're either facing in the primaries or issues that you're certainly going to face in a general election. So you may not be altogether unhappy if you're not included in this round. Senator Cruz, you pride yourself on standing up to the D.C. cartel, but as we've seen to a certain degree tonight, there's a price for standing up to the D.C. cartel. Thirteen Republican senators have endorsed other candidates, none have endorsed you. You \u2014 twice last year, you asked for a colleague to second a motion, a routine courtesy on the Senate floor, and no senator would do it. Top GOP officials worry that if you're at the top of the ticket \u2014 some officials \u2014 that not only will you lose the White House, but it will tank the ticket all the way down the line. The question is does your style sometimes get in the way of your ability to get things done, sir? +p3049 +aVGovernor Christie, two of your former top aides go on trial in May for fraud and conspiracy in the "Bridge-gate" case, the politically motivated closure of lanes to the George Washington Bridge. Another former aide who has already pleaded guilty and will likely testify for the government, as you know, says that you knew about this whole deal. Can the GOP take the chance of nominating you with this scandal still out there, sir? +p3050 +aVGentlemen, almost 60% of Republican caucus-goers identify themselves as Evangelicals, so I'd like to spend a few minutes exploring social issues. Governor Kasich, you talk a good deal about your faith. In fact, you say it played a role in your decision to expand Medicaid, and you say that when you meet Saint Peter at the Pearly Gates, he's going to ask what you did for the poor, not what you did to keep government small. Senator Cruz is on the opposite side of this issue from you, so does that mean that you're getting in and he isn't? +p3051 +aVGentlemen, we had a case study on religious liberty just this last summer. A county clerk in Kentucky named Kim Davis refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples after the Supreme Court ruling, saying that it violated her religious beliefs. Governor Christie, you said that she must follow the law or be moved to another job that would be in keeping with her conscience. But some conservatives say that that violates her religious liberty. +p3052 +aVThank you, sir. Senator Rubio, during the last debate, you said Governor Christie had changed his position and his mind on gun control, on common core, and backing President Obama's nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. He said you're wrong on the facts and you can't, quote, "slime your way to the White House." I assume in the last two weeks, you've done some fact-checking. Do you want to take anything back? +p3053 +aVThank you, senator. Senator Paul, in May on the campaign trail you, said you didn't get into politics to fight about abortion. You said you were more concerned about the national debt. Your answer is to turn abortion back to the states the way it was before Roe v. Wade. Does that mean that if a liberal state, let's say, wants to make abortion legal, that you're okay with that and what do you say to conservative voters who believe deeply that abortion is murder? +p3054 +aVSir, just 30 seconds to answer my specific... Just 30 seconds to answer my specific question. Do you favor the idea that abortion should be a states' rights issue and if a liberal state wants to make it legal, that that's their choice? Yes or no? +p3055 +aVThank you, sir. +p3056 +aVWe're not finished yet. More to come from the presidential debate, live from Des Moines, Iowa, next. And remember, to see how the campaigns are responding to the debate in real time, go togoogle.com or open your Google search app and search Fox News debate, and please stay with us. +p3057 +aVWe have another question from one of Youtube's top creators. Here it is. +p3058 +aVGovernor Bush, how do you answer Nabela? +p3059 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Cruz, change of subject. You called for an end to the renewable fuel standards which mandate that refineries blend biofuels, including ethanol into gasoline. As you well know, ethanol's a big industry in this state, $10 billion dollars a year. Last week, Terry Branstad, the popular Governor of Iowa... ... Who is in the hall tonight, said that you're bankrolled by big oil, and that Iowa voters would be making a mistake supporting you. Why should those voters side with you over the six- term governor of the state, sir? +p3060 +aVDr. Carson, I'd like to ask you about exactly that issue. Where are you on the mandatory ethanol standard, and precisely this question. Should government be in the business of picking winners and losers, or should it be left to the market place? +p3061 +aVDoctor, thank you. +p3062 +aVDr. Ben Carson. +p3063 +aVAnd don't forget, after all the talk, the first voting of the 2016 campaign happens in just four days. The first Americans to vote, the Iowa caucuses are Monday and Fox News will have complete coverage. +p3064 +asVSMITH +p3065 +(lp3066 +VGovernor Huckabee, same question to you. Where do you see the country right now? +p3067 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Thank you, candidates. Moving to the world stage. The middle east is on the brink of chaos. Iran continues to provoke the United States, North Korea claims it's tested a hydrogen bomb, and Afghanistan is in danger of falling back into Taliban hands. Critics of the administration say it's all due to lack of U.S. leadership. To you, Mrs. Fiorina, how do you see America's role in the world today? +p3068 +aVGovernor Huckabee, in Afghanistan, the Taliban is strengthening. Attacks are on the rise and thousands more civilians have been wounded or killed. Much of the Taliban surge can be attributed to the withdrawal of U.S. forces there. You have expressed skepticism with the war there, saying you see no end game in sight. What, then, is your solution to the growing conflict there? +p3069 +aVAll right, thank you, candidates. We're just getting started. Jobs, Homeland Security, gun rights, all those issues are coming up straight ahead. We're live from North Charleston and the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back. +p3070 +aVAll right, let's get started. Senator Santorum, to you first. President Obama has urged technology leaders to make it hard for terrorists to use technology to escape from justice. Hillary Clinton says social media companies can help by swiftly shutting down terrorist accounts. The companies say that they're already working with law enforcement and any proposed legislation would do more harm than good. Should companies like Facebook and Twitter be required by law to more actively \u2014 be more actively engaged in fighting terror? +p3071 +aVSenator, would you \u2014 would you require anything of those companies like Facebook and Twitter if you were president? +p3072 +aVThank you, Senator. +p3073 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee, you called President Obama's executive orders on gun control unconstitutional and completely insane. +p3074 +aVYou even told gun store owners to ignore the President's orders. Yet, innocent people are dying from gun violence in cities like Detroit, Chicago, and Charleston everyday. Is there anything that can be done at the federal level to prevent guns from falling into the hands of criminals? +p3075 +aV +p3076 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p3077 +aVSenator Santorum, many of our military leaders believe America's critical infrastructure is vulnerable to a terrorist attack. This is the power in our homes, the water we drink, the Internet and phone systems by which we stay connected. If attacked, these essential services that underpin American society could come to a grinding halt. Do you have a specific plan to protect us from this type of attack? +p3078 +aVSenator Santorum, I want to stay with you on this, moving to jobs and the economy. In his State of the Union Address the other night, President Obama touted his record on jobs, citing more than 14 million new jobs and boasted of nearly 900,000 manufacturing jobs added in the past six years. Do you dispute his track record of creating jobs? +p3079 +aVGovernor Huckabee, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mike Mullen, has said the greatest threat to our security is our national debt. Our national debt is now on pace to top $19 trillion. Yet, you as well as Ms. Fiorina have laid forward no plan to reform entitlements. How can you say you're going to pay down our country's debt without cutting Social Security or Medicare? +p3080 +aVOK. We're going to continue this conversation. We're taking a quick break and then coming up, the candidates' plans for strengthening the middle class. We're live in North Charleston with the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back. +p3081 +aVAll right, thanks, Trish. Well, let's get started with Ms. Fiorina. Today, the middle class represents about 50 percent of the U.S. population, down from about 61 percent back in 1971. That's according to Pew Research. The same research revealed a widening income gap in America. The rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. What will you do to strengthen a middle class that is no longer the majority? +p3082 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p3083 +aVThank you, Senator. We're not finished yet. More Republican Presidential Debate in North Charleston after this. +p3084 +aVWelcome back, it's time for the closing statements. Candidates will each get one minute, starting with Senator Santorum. Thank you very much, I want to thank the people of Charleston, which has become a little bit of a second home to me, because I am very privileged to have two young men who go to the Citadel here and they're here tonight, my son John and my son Daniel. +p3085 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Governor Mike Huckabee. +p3086 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3087 +aVAlright, this debate will last one hour. Each candidate will have up to 90 seconds to respond to each question. One minute for each follow up. When your time is up, you're going to hear this bell. Alright, that's it, so let's begin with Governor Christie. Governor, economically, our country is struggling with some of the anemic growth we have seen on record. More than 90 million Americans are unemployed, or they are not in the workforce altogether. The number of people now willing, able, and wanting to go to work is at a level that has fallen to a level we have not been since the 1970's. For those that are working, wages aren't budging while other things, costs, like housing, remain high. As President, what concrete steps will you take to get America back to work. +p3088 +aVThank you. Governor Huckabee, we're here Wisconsin, a state that has seen the biggest decline in middle-class households of any American state. With more than 120,000 manufacturing jobs being lost in the last 15 years. As we move away from a manufacturing economy to a services based, technological economy, how are you going to help the millions of Americans that are stuck in this transition? +p3089 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee, you have characterized entitlement reform as both political and economic suicide. Taxpayers currently spend more than $600 billion per year on social welfare programs, with the intended goal of getting people back on their feet and working again. Today a record number of Americans aren't even looking for work. Are our social welfare programs, while well-intended, creating a culture of dependency? If so, how will you fix it? +p3090 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3091 +aVDo you have something to add, Governor? +p3092 +aVAll right. Let's, let's bring Governor Christie in next. +p3093 +aVAll right. Well, let's get the \u2014 let's keep the conversation going. Let's bring Governor Christie in here because we're talking about national debt, climbing toward $19 trillion, Governor. Our federal government employed nearly three million workers, our tax code is more than 74,000 pages long. If you're elected President, Governor Christie, what concrete steps would you take to reduce the size of the federal government? +p3094 +aVGovernor Christie, China is stealing our technology. China is pirating our intellectual property, and China's hacking into our computers, spying on American corporations, and spying on our citizens. China also slaps tariffs on U.S. goods, making it harder for us to sell our products. How are you going to stop them? +p3095 +aV...Alright... +p3096 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p3097 +aVAll right. Governor Jindal, thank you. All right. Well, we are not finished yet. More from the Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee, next. +p3098 +aVSo would you change leadership at the Fed? +p3099 +aVSenator Santorum, thank you. I have a question for all of you. Americans connection to the military has been increasingly fading. As a society, how do we restore that sense of duty, that sense of pride, that was the hallmark of the greatest generation. Again, I'd like to ask each of you, 30 seconds each, beginning with Governor Jindal. +p3100 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p3101 +aVGovernor Christie. +p3102 +aVSenator Santorum. +p3103 +aVAlright, thank you gentlemen. That does it, everyone, for the first debate here in Milwaukee. In just about one hour from now, at 9:00PM Eastern, eight more candidates are going to be taking to the stage. Right now though, special coverage of the Republican Presidential Debate, live from Milwaukee, continues right here on Fox Business. +p3104 +asVBAKER +p3105 +(lp3106 +VThe candidates on stage tonight were selected based on their standing in an average of four national polls. Those standings determining their position on the stage. And here they are. At center stage, businessman Donald Trump. Neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson. +p3107 +aVTonight's rules are simple. Up to 90 second for each answer. One minute for each follow-up response. And if a candidate goes over their allotted time, you'll here this. +p3108 +aVMs. Fiorina, while you've all pointed out how weak the current recovery has been and how disappointing by any historical standards, in the general election, the Democrats will inevitably ask you and voters to compare the recent president's jobs performance. Now, in seven years under President Obama, the U.S. has added an average of 107,000 jobs a month. Under President Clinton, the economy added about 240,000 jobs a month. Under George W. Bush, it was only 13,000 a month. If you win the nomination, you'll probably be facing a Democrat named Clinton. How are you going to respond to the claim that Democratic presidents are better at creating jobs than Republicans? +p3109 +aVThank you. Thank you. Senator Paul, income inequality has been rising in the United States. Fifty years ago, for example, the average CEO of a big corporation in this country earned 20 times the average salary of one of his or her workers. Today, that CEO earns about 300 times the average salary of a worker. Does it matter at all that the gap between the rich and everyone else is widening? +p3110 +aVThank you, Senator. +p3111 +aVSenator Rubio... +p3112 +aVYes, one quick comment, yes. +p3113 +aVGovernor Bush... +p3114 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor, you...You should let Jeb speak. +p3115 +aVMr. Trump, Mr. Trump, you yourself \u2014 you yourself said let Governor Bush speak. Governor Bush? +p3116 +aVSenator Rubio? Senator... +p3117 +aVSenator Rubio, Senator Rubio, let me \u2014 let me take you to a question that I think gets to the root of a lot of the anxiety that people have in this country. The economy is undergoing a transformation through information technology. Americans are anxious that the new economy isn't producing higher-paying jobs. Many are concerned that the new wealth seems to be going mainly to innovators and investors. Meanwhile, with factories run by robots and shopping done increasingly on smartphones, many traditional jobs are just going away. How do you reassure American workers that their jobs are not being steadily replaced by machines? +p3118 +aVThank you. Senator Cruz \u2014 Senator Cruz, entitlements. You've argued for raising the retirement age and reducing benefits for future retirees, but reducing any sort of benefits for the elderly has always been notoriously hard to do politically. When Speaker Paul Ryan proposed replacing traditional Medicare with federally funded private plans a few years ago, a liberal group responded with a commercial that featured a granny being pushed off a cliff. What's going to be different this time? +p3119 +aV...I said for future retirees was your statement... +p3120 +aVSenator Rubio. Can I just come to Senator Rubio? We're coming to you, Mr. Trump, in one second. I \u2014 I promise. +p3121 +aVSenator Rubio, your tax plan includes a large expansion of child tax credits to raise off (ph) the tax incomes for low-income parents. A similar tax credit that you previously proposed in the Senate was estimated to cost as much as $170 billion a year, according to the Tax Foundation. Isn't \u2014 isn't there a risk you're just adding another expensive entitle program to an already overburdened federal budget? +p3122 +aVGovernor Kasich? Let me come to Governor Kasich. +p3123 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p3124 +aVVery quickly, Senator. +p3125 +aVPlease. +p3126 +aV...Gentleman, we need to move on... +p3127 +aV...We need to move... +p3128 +aV...We need too... +p3129 +aV...We do need to move on. Mr. Trump... +p3130 +aV...Very quick. +p3131 +aVLet's talk about \u2014 No, no, Governor, I really must move on. I really want to move on. Mr. Trump, let's talk about the international economy... +p3132 +aV...We really need to move on... +p3133 +aV...No, governor, I promise I will come to you... +p3134 +aV...Listen... +p3135 +aV...Mr. Trump, can I ask you about... +p3136 +aV...the U.S. just concluded an international trade agreement with 11 countries in the Pacific. You've said that you'd rather have no deal... +p3137 +aV...than sign the one that's on the table... +p3138 +aV...Most economists \u2014 most economists say that trade is boosted growth, and every single post war president has supported the expansion of international trade, including the last three republican presidents. Why would you reverse more than 50 years of U.S. trade policy? +p3139 +aVThe \u2014 the deal, as you say, the terms of the deal were published \u2014 were published just last week, the details, 5,000 pages of it, and 80 percent of U.S. trade with countries in the Pacific, these countries, these 11 countries, is actually tariff-free, and these \u2014 the trade deal only affects the other 20 percent. Which \u2014 are there particular parts of the deal that you think were badly negotiated? +p3140 +aVThere was a separate \u2014 separate... +p3141 +aVBut isn't that \u2014 isn't that part of the problem? When I say, Senator, that if \u2014 if this deal is not ratified by \u2014 by the U.S. \u2014 by the Senate, then it would actually give China an opportunity to grow its economic leadership, which it's been seeking to do? And if the U.S. is unable to take part in this trade deal with these countries in Asia, China will take the lead? +p3142 +aVThank you. Thanks, Senator. +p3143 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich, I want to ask you about China, in particular hundreds of American companies have been subjected to cyber attacks from the Chinese military, yet state-backed Chinese companies, growing their presence in the United States, Chinese investments in U.S., which were nearly nonexistent a few years ago, are now over $50 billion. And as my newspaper recently reported, Chinese companies are planning to bid for one of the largest hotel chains in the United States, what would be the largest ever Chinese takeover of a U.S. company. Would you stop them? +p3144 +aVThank you, Governor. Plenty of opportunities. Thank you. Neil? +p3145 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate, live from Milwaukee. Now let's get straight back to the questions, and Governor Bush. Governor, Hillary Clinton recently said that if we had another financial crisis like the one in 2008, she wouldn't bail out the banks. Would you? +p3146 +aVBut, Governor, but can I just quickly \u2014 did \u2014 you can't seriously guarantee that there won't be another financial crisis, can you? +p3147 +aVEver? There will never be another financial crisis? +p3148 +aVDr. Carson, if I may, just on that point, despite measures taken, as the governor says, since the crisis to make the financial system safer, the major banks in the U.S., many of them are actually bigger than ever. Asset held by JPMorgan Chase, for example, the very largest bank, have increased by nearly 40 percent to over $2.6 trillion. Do you think JPMorgan and the other big banks should be broken up? +p3149 +aVBut just to be clear, just \u2014 just to be clear, then, you wouldn't \u2014 you wouldn't favor breaking up the big banks? You think they're big enough \u2014 they're OK as they are, as big as they are? +p3150 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p3151 +aVThank you. +p3152 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate. And now, candidates, it's time for your closing statements. You get 30 seconds each, and, Senator Paul, we will begin with you. +p3153 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p3154 +asVHOLT +p3155 +(lp3156 +VGood evening and welcome to the NBC News Youtube Democratic candidate's debate. After all the campaigning, soon, Americans will have their say with the first votes of the 2016 campaign just 15 days away in Iowa. And New Hampshire not far behind. Tonight will be the final opportunity to see these candidates face to face before the voting begins. Our purpose here tonight is to highlight and examine the differences among the three Democratic candidates. So let's get started. Please welcome Secretary Hillary Clinton, Senator Bernie Sanders and Governor Martin O'Malley. Well, welcome to all of you. Hope you're excited, we're excited. We want to thank our hosts, the Congressional Black Caucus Institute. I'm joined by my colleague Andrea Mitchell tonight. The rules are simple. Sixty seconds for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups or rebuttals. I know you'll all keep exactly to time, so our job should be pretty easy here tonight. We'll have questions from the Youtube community throughout the debate. This is a critical point in the race. You've been defining your differences with each other especially vigorously in the last week on the campaign trail. We're here to facilitate this conversation on behalf of the voters so that they know exactly where you stand as you face off tonight. Let's have a great debate. We'll begin with 45 second opening statements from each candidate, starting with Secretary Clinton. +p3157 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders, your opening statement, sir. +p3158 +aVSenator, thank you. And Governor O'Malley, your opening statement, sir. O' +p3159 +aVAll right. And Governor, thank you. All right, to our first question, now. The first question, I'll be addressing to all of the candidates. President Obama came to office determined to swing for the fences on health care reform. Voters want to know how you would define your presidency? How would you think big? So complete this sentence: in my first 100 days in office, my top three priorities will be \u2014 fill in the blank. Senator Sanders. +p3160 +aVSecretary Clinton, same question, my first 100 days in office, my top three priorities will be. +p3161 +aVGovernor O'Malley, same question. O' +p3162 +aVThank you. You've all... O' +p3163 +aVAll right governor thank you. We've all laid out large visions and we're going to cover a lot of the ground you talked about as we continue in the evening. The last couple of weeks of this campaign have featured some of the sharpest exchanges in the race. Let's start with one of them, the issue of guns. Senator Sanders, last week Secretary Clinton called you quote, "a pretty reliable vote for the gun lobby." Right before the debate you changed your position on immunity from lawsuits for gun manufacturers, can you tell us why? +p3164 +aVSenator, but you didn't answer the question that you did change your position on immunity from gun manufacturers. So can you... +p3165 +aVSecretary Clinton, would you like to respond to Senator Sanders. +p3166 +aVAll right, Governor O'Malley, you signed tough gun control measures as governor of Maryland and there are a lot Democrats in the audience here in South Carolina who own guns. This conversation might be worrying many of them. They may be hearing, "you want to take my guns. What would you say to them? O' +p3167 +aVAlright, Governor, thank you. Secretary Clinton, this is a community that has suffered a lot of heartache in the last year. Of course, as you mentioned, the church shootings. We won't forget the video of Walter Scott being shot in the back while running from police. We understand that a jury will decide whether that police officer was justified, but it plays straight to the fears of many African American men that their lives are cheap. Is that perception, or in your view, is it reality? +p3168 +aVYou time is up. Senator Sanders, my next question is... +p3169 +aV... It's actually \u2014 actually my next question is to you... +p3170 +aVSenator Sanders... +p3171 +aVSenator. Senator Sanders... +p3172 +aV... Just over a week ago the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus endorsed Secretary Clinton, not you. He said that choosing her over you was not a hard decision. In fact, our polling shows she's beating you more than two to one among minority voters. How can you be the nominee if you don't have that support? +p3173 +aVGovernor, I'm going to come to you in a second. Google searches for the words, "Black Lives Matter" surpassed, "civil rights movement". And, here in South Carolina, "black lives matter" was the number one trending political issue. +p3174 +aVAll right. Let's talk... O' +p3175 +aVLet's talk more about policing and the criminal justice system. Senator Sanders, a few times tonight we're going to hear from some of the most prominent voices on YouTube, starting with Franchesca Ramsey, who tackles racial stereotypes through her videos. Let's watch. +p3176 +aVSenator Sanders. +p3177 +aVWould you like me to read it back to you? +p3178 +aVProsecutors \u2014 "I believe there's a huge conflict of interest when local prosecutors investigate cases of police violence within their communities. Most recently, we saw this with a non- indictment of the officers involved in the case of 12-year-old Tamir Rice. How would you presidency ensure incidents of police violence are investigated and prosecuted fairly?" +p3179 +aVSecretary Clinton, this question is for you. Tonight parts of America are in the grip of a deadly heroin epidemic, spanning race and class, hitting small towns and cities alike. It has become a major issue in this race. In a lot of places where you've been campaigning, despite an estimated trillion dollars spent, many say the war on drugs has failed. So what would you do? +p3180 +aVAnd that's time. +p3181 +aVSenator... +p3182 +aVSenator Sanders, would you like to respond? +p3183 +aVThat's... +p3184 +aV... time. +p3185 +aVWe're going to get into all that coming up. O' +p3186 +aVBut we're going to take a break and we need to take a break... O' +p3187 +aV... and when we come back, the anger brewing in America. +p3188 +aVWelcome back to Charleston. Let's turn to another area where there has been fierce disagreement \u2014 that would be health care. Senator Sanders and Secretary Clinton, you both mentioned it in your 100-day priorities. Let's turn to my colleague, Andrea Mitchell now to lead that questioning. +p3189 +aVAnd that's time. We're gonna take a turn now. Secretary Clinton, in his final State of the Union address, President Obama said his biggest regret was his inability to bring the country together. If President Obama couldn't do it, how will you? O' +p3190 +aVThat's time. Senator Sanders, response. +p3191 +aVThat's time. But let me continue with the... +p3192 +aVSenator Sanders, let me continue, you call yourself a Democratic socialist... +p3193 +aVAnd throughout your career in politics, you've been critical of the Democratic party, you've been saying in a book you wrote, quote, "There wasn't a hell of a big difference between the the two major parties." How would you will a general election... +p3194 +aVHow will you win a general election labeling yourself a democratic socialist? +p3195 +aVYes, but senator, you can... +p3196 +aVAnd that is right. +p3197 +aVSecretary Clinton, our next question is for you. Here's another quantitative problem. +p3198 +aVAnd we're going to get into that coming up. But Secretary Clinton, here's a question from YouTube. It's from a young video blogger who has over 5 million subscribers. He has a question about the importance of younger voters. +p3199 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p3200 +aVThat's time... +p3201 +aVA quick follow up \u2014 a thirty second follow up. Why is Senator Sanders beating you to 2 to 1 among younger votes? +p3202 +aVWe're going to take... +p3203 +aVWe're going to take a break. When we come back; big banks, big business and big differences among the three candidates on the American Economy. We'll be right back. +p3204 +aVWelcome back from Charleston. Let's turn now to the economy. Senator Sanders, you released a tough new ad last week in which without mentioning Secretary Clinton by name, you talk about two Democratic visions for regulating Wall Street. "One says it's OK to take millions from big banks and tell them what to do. My plan, break up the big banks, close the tax loopholes and make them pay their fair share." What do you see as the difference between what you would do about the banks and what Secretary Clinton would do? +p3205 +aVSecretary Clinton, help the voter understand the daylight between the two of you here. +p3206 +aVSenator Sanders, your response. +p3207 +aVThat's time. Governor O'Malley... +p3208 +aVI have a question for you... +p3209 +aVThirty-second response. +p3210 +aVGovernor O'Malley. O' +p3211 +aVSecretary Clinton, 30-second response. +p3212 +aVThat's time. Andrea. +p3213 +aV... Senator... +p3214 +aVWe have got a lot to ground to cover here. Many Democratic voters are passionate about the need to do something to combat the threat of climate change, including the team of scientists from Youtube's MinuteEarth channel. Here's their take. +p3215 +aVSenator Sanders, Americans love their SUVs, which spiked in sales last year as gas prices plummeted. How do you convince Americans that the problem of climate change is so urgent that they need to change their behavior? +p3216 +aVGovernor O'Malley, 30 seconds. O' +p3217 +aVThat's time. We're going to take a break. +p3218 +aVWhen we return, the late-breaking developments regarding Iran. The threat of +p3219 +aVCharleston, Andrea Mitchell has questions now starting with Iran. +p3220 +aVSenator Sanders mentioned Russia a moment ago. Secretary Clinton, you famously handed Russia's foreign minister a reset button in 2009. Since then, Russia has annexed Crimea, fomented a war in Ukraine, provided weapons that downed an airliner and launched operations, as we just did discuss, to support Assad in Syria. As president, would you hand Vladimir Putin a reset button? +p3221 +aVWhat's your relationship with him? +p3222 +aVWe to want turn right now to the issue of balancing national security concerns with the privacy rights of Americans. That brings us to YouTube and this question. +p3223 +aVSo, Governor O'Malley. O' +p3224 +aVThat's time. You have all talked about what you would do fighting +p3225 +aVThat's a question to Senator Sanders. I wasn't clear, I apologize. +p3226 +aVBut in terms of lone wolves, the threat, how would you do it? +p3227 +aVWe have to go to a \u2014 we have to go to a break, and when we come back, we're going to get to some of the burning questions these candidates have yet to answer and are totally eager to talk about. +p3228 +aVAnd welcome back to Charleston. As we were going to a break, Secretary Clinton, I cut you off. I'll give you 30 seconds to respond on the issue of lone wolves. O' +p3229 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p3230 +aVAnd Andrea has a follow-up. O' +p3231 +aVAll right, that's time, and \u2014 and we do......we do have to move on. Secretary Clinton, this is the first time... +p3232 +aVThirty \u2014 30 \u2014 30 seconds, Senator. +p3233 +aVAll right. Secretary Clinton......this is the first time that a spouse of a former president could be elected president. You have said that President Clinton would advise you on economic issues, but be specific, if you can. Are you talking about a kitchen-table role on economics, or will he have a real policy role? +p3234 +aVSenator sanders, a 30 second response, sir. +p3235 +aVWe will take a break. We'll continue from Charleston right after this. +p3236 +aVWelcome back everybody. Finally, before we go tonight, we set out here to understand points of differences between you. We believe we've learned a lot here, but before we leave, is there anything that you really wanted to say tonight that you haven't gotten a chance to say. And, we'll start with Governor O'Malley. Didn't see that coming, did you? O' +p3237 +aVSixty seconds, we'd appreciate it. O' +p3238 +aVAnd that's time. O' +p3239 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p3240 +aVAnd that's time. +p3241 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders? +p3242 +asVCHAFEE +p3243 +(lp3244 +VThank you, Anderson. Thank you, CNN, and thank you Facebook for organizing this debate. Not only will Americans be electing a new president next year, we also will be electing a world leader. Voters should assess the candidate's experience, character and vision for the future as they make this important decision. I'm the only one running for president that has been a mayor, a United States senator, and a governor. As mayor, I brought labor peace to my city and kept taxes down. I was reelected three times. As a senator, I earned a reputation for courageous votes against the Bush-Cheney tax cuts the favored the wealthy, against the tragedy of the Iraq war, for environmental stewardship, for protection of our civil liberties. I served on the Foreign Relations Committee and I chaired the Middle East Subcommittee for four years. As governor, I came in at the depths of the recession and we turned my state around. Rhode Island had the biggest drop of the unemployment rate over my four budgets of all but one state. It happens to be Nevada, where we're having this debate. I'm very proud that over my almost 30 years of public service, I have had no scandals. I've always been honest. I have the courage to take the long-term view, and I've shown good judgment. I have high ethical standards. As we look to the future, I want to address the income inequality, close the gap between the haves and the have-nots. I want to address climate change, a real threat to our planet. And I believe in prosperity through peace. I want to end these wars. I look forward to the discussion ahead. Thank you +p3245 +aVAnderson, you're looking at a block of granite when it comes to the issues. Whether it's... +p3246 +aVDid you hear what I said? On the issues. I have not changed on the issues. I was a liberal Republican, then I was an independent, and now I'm a proud Democrat. But I have not changed on the issues. And I open my record to scrutiny. Whether it's on the environment, a woman's right to choose, gay marriage, fiscal responsibility, aversion to foreign entanglements, using the tools of government to help the less fortunate. Time and time again, I have never changed. You're looking at a block of granite when it comes to the issues. So I have not changed. +p3247 +aVThe party left me. There's no doubt about that. There was no room for a liberal moderate Republican in that party. I even had a primary for my reelection in 2006. I won it. But the money poured in to defeat me in Rhode Island as a Republican. That's what we were up against. +p3248 +aVYes, I have a good record of voting for gun commonsense safety legislation, but the reality is, despite these tragedies that happen time and time again, when legislators step up to pass commonsense gun safety legislation, the gun lobby moves in and tells the people they're coming to take away your guns. And, they're successful at it, in Colorado and others states, the legislators that vote for commonsense gun safety measures then get defeated. I even saw in Rhode Island. So, I would bring the gun lobby in and say we've got to change this. Where can we find common ground? Wayne Lapierre from the NRA, whoever it is, the leaders. Come one, we've go to change this. We're not coming to take away your guns, we believe in the Second Amendment, but let's find common ground here. +p3249 +aVWell, we just heard Senator Sanders say that it's the worst decision in American history. That's very significant, the worst decision in American history, I just heard from Senator Sanders. So, as we look ahead, if you're going to make those poor judgment calls, a critical time in our history, we just finished with the Vietnam era, getting back into another quagmire \u2014 if you're looking ahead, and you're looking at someone who made that poor decision in 2002 to go into Iraq when there was no real evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq \u2014 I know because I did my homework, and, so, that's an indication of how someone will perform in the future. And that's what's important. +p3250 +aVOK. I just have to answer one thing that Senator Webb said about the Iran deal, because I'm a strong proponent of what President Obama \u2014 and he said that because of that the Iran deal that enabled Russia to come in. No, that's not true, Senator Webb. I respect your foreign policy chops. But Russia is aligned with Iran and with Assad and the Alawite Shias in Syria. So that Iran deal did not allow Russia to come in. +p3251 +aVIt's certainly the chaos in the Middle East. There's no doubt about it. +p3252 +aVAnd it all started with the Iraq invasion. +p3253 +aVAbsolutely. We have to repair American credibility after we told the world that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, which he didn't. So there's an issue of American credibility out there. So any time someone is running to be our leader, and a world leader, which the American president is, credibility is an issue out there with the world. And we have repair work to be done. I think we need someone that has the best in ethical standards as our next president. That's how I feel. +p3254 +aVThe Glass-Steagall was my very first vote, I'd just arrived, my dad had died in office, I was appointed to the office, it was my very first vote. +p3255 +aVI'd just arrived at the Senate. I think we'd get some takeovers, and that was one. It was my very first vote, and it was 92-5. It was the... +p3256 +aVBut let me just say... +p3257 +aVI think you're being a little rough. I'd just arrived at the United States Senate. I'd been mayor of my city. My dad had died. I'd been appointed by the governor. It was the first vote and it was 90-5, because it was a conference report. But let me just say about income inequality. We've had a lot of talk over the last few minutes, hours, or tens of minutes, but no one is saying how we're going to fix it. And it all started with the Bush tax cuts that favored the wealthy. So let's go back to the tax code. And 0.6 percent of Americans are at the top echelon, over 464,000, 0.6 Americans. That's less than 1 percent. But they generate 30 percent of the revenue. And they're doing fine. +p3258 +aVSo there's still a lot more money to be had from this top echelon. I'm saying let's have another tier and put that back into the tax bracket. And that will generate $42 billion. +p3259 +aVAnd then we can help the middle class and hard-earning Americans \u2014 hard-working Americans. +p3260 +aVNo, that was another 99 to one vote for the Patriot Act, and it was seen as at the time modernizing our ability to do what we've always done to tap phones which always required a warrant. And I voted for that. +p3261 +aVNo, no. As long as you're getting a warrant, I believe that under the Fourth Amendment, you should be able to do surveillance, but you need a warrant. That's what the Fourth Amendment says. And in the Patriot Act, section 215 started to get broadened too far. So I would be in favor of addressing and reforming section 215 of the Patriot Act. +p3262 +aVNo, I would bring him home. The courts have ruled that what he did \u2014 what he did was say the American... +p3263 +aV... the American government was acting illegally. That's what the federal courts have said; what Snowden did showed that the American government was acting illegally for the Fourth Amendment. So I would bring him home. +p3264 +aVCertainly, ending the wars. We've got to stop these wars. You have to have a new dynamic, a new paradigm. We just spent a half-billion dollars arming and training soldiers, the rebel soldiers in Syria. They quickly join the other side. We bombed the... +p3265 +aVI'd like to finish my question \u2014 my answer. And also we just bombed a hospital. We've had drone strikes that hit civilian weddings. So I would change how we \u2014 our approach to the Middle East. We need a new paradigm in the Middle East. +p3266 +aVI guess the coal lobby. I've worked hard for climate change and I want to work with the coal lobby. But in my time in the Senate, tried to bring them to the table so that we could address carbon dioxide. I'm proud to be at odds with the coal lobby. +p3267 +aVThank you, Anderson. Thank you, CNN. And thank you, Facebook, for sponsoring this debate. America has many challenges confronting us \u2014 ending the perpetual wars, addressing climate change, addressing income inequality, funding education, funding infrastructure, funding healthcare, helping black Americans, helping Native Americans. We have many challenges. Who is best able to confront these challenges? I've served in government at many levels. I know what it's like to solve problems at the local level because I did it as mayor. I know how to get legislation passed through Congress because I did it as a senator. I know how to turn around a state because I did as governor of Rhode Island. But what I'm most proud of is that in 30 years of public service, I have had no scandals. I have high ethical standards. And what I'm most proud of is my judgment, particularly in the Iraq war vote. There was a lot of pressure \u2014 political pressure, public pressure. But I did my homework and I did not believe that the evidence was there that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. And we live now with the consequences. So that kind of judgment is what we want in a president going forward. And I'm running for president to end the wars. I want to be the peacemaker. I am a proven peacemaker. Please go to Chafee 2016 to learn more about me. Thank you. +p3268 +asVBROWNLEE +p3269 +(lp3270 +VHi, my name Marques Brownlee, and I've been making YouTube videos about electronics and gadgets for the past seven years. I think America's future success is tied to getting all kinds of tech right. Tech companies are responsible for the encryption technology to protect personal data, but the government wants a back door into that information. So do you think it's possible to find common ground? And where do you stand on privacy versus security? +p3271 +asVCOOPER +p3272 +(lp3273 +VI'm Anderson Cooper. Thanks for joining us. We've already welcomed the candidates on stage. They are in place at their podiums. Before we dive into the issues, I want to quickly explain some of the groundrules tonight. As the moderator, I'll ask questions, followups and guide the discussion. I'll be joined in the questioning by CNN's Juan Carlos Lopez and Dana Bash, a well as Don Lemon who will share questions from Democrats around the country. Each candidate will get one minute to answer questions, and 30 seconds for followups and rebuttals. I'll give candidates time to respond if they have been singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know that we have lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. I want the candidates to be able to introduce themselves to our audience. Each candidate will have two minutes to introduce themselves. Let's begin with Governor Chafee. Governor? +p3274 +aVThank you very much, Governor. Senator Webb, you have two minutes. +p3275 +aVGovernor O'Malley, you have two minutes. O' +p3276 +aVGovernor O'Malley, thank you very much. Senator Sanders. +p3277 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p3278 +aVThank you, all. It is time to start the debate. Are you all ready? All right. Let's begin. We're going to be discussing a lot of the issues, many of the issues, important issues that you have brought up. But I want to begin with concerns that voters have about each of the candidates here on this stage that they have about each of you. Secretary Clinton, I want to start with you. Plenty of politicians evolve on issues, but even some Democrats believe you change your positions based on political expediency. You were against same-sex marriage. Now you're for it. You defended President Obama's immigration policies. Now you say they're too harsh. You supported his trade deal dozen of times. You even called it the "gold standard". Now, suddenly, last week, you're against it. Will you say anything to get elected? +p3279 +aVSecretary Clinton, though, with all due respect, the question is really about political expediency. Just in July, New Hampshire, you told the crowd you'd, quote, "take a back seat to no one when it comes to progressive values." Last month in Ohio, you said you plead guilty to, quote, "being kind of moderate and center." Do you change your political identity based on who you're talking to? +p3280 +aVJust for the record, are you a progressive, or are you a moderate? +p3281 +aVSecretary... +p3282 +aV...thank you... +p3283 +aV...Senator... +p3284 +aVSenator Sanders. A Gallup poll says half the country would not put a socialist in the White House. You call yourself a democratic socialist. How can any kind of socialist win a general election in the United States? +p3285 +aVDenmark is a country that has a population \u2014 Denmark is a country that has a population of 5.6 million people. The question is really about electability here, and that's what I'm trying to get at. You \u2014 the \u2014 the Republican attack ad against you in a general election \u2014 it writes itself. You supported the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. You honeymooned in the Soviet Union. And just this weekend, you said you're not a capitalist. Doesn't \u2014 doesn't that ad write itself? +p3286 +aVYou don't consider yourself a capitalist, though? +p3287 +aVJust let me just be clear. Is there anybody else on the stage who is not a capitalist? +p3288 +aVSenator Sanders? +p3289 +aVWe're going to get... +p3290 +aVWe're going to have a lot more on these issues. But I do want to just quickly get everybody in on the question of electability. Governor Chafee, you've been everything but a socialist. When you were senator from Rhode Island, you were a Republican. When you were elected governor, you were an independent. You've only been a Democrat for little more than two years. Why should Democratic voters trust you won't change again? +p3291 +aVIt seems like pretty soft granite. I mean, you've been a Republican, you've been an independent. +p3292 +aVThen why change labels? +p3293 +aVGovernor O'Malley, the concern of voters about you is that you tout our record as Baltimore's mayor. As we all know, we all saw it. That city exploded in riots and violence in April. The current top prosecutor in Baltimore, also a Democrat, blames your zero tolerance policies for sowing the seeds of unrest. Why should Americans trust you with the country when they see what's going on in the city that you ran for more than seven years? O' +p3294 +aVShe actually \u2014 just for the record, when she was asked which policies, to name two, she said zero tolerance. I mean, there's a number of old policies that we're seeing the results of. That distress of communities, where communities don't want to step forward and say who killed a 3-year-old, it's a direct result of these failed policies. O' +p3295 +aVIn one year alone, though, 100,000 arrests were made in your city, a city of 640,000 people. The +p3296 +aVThank you, Governor. O' +p3297 +aVSenator Webb, in 2006, you called affirmative action "state-sponsored racism." In 2010, you wrote an op/ed saying it discriminates against whites. Given that nearly half the Democratic Party is non-white, aren't you out of step with where the Democratic Party is now? +p3298 +aVSenator Webb, thank you very much. Let's move on to some of the most pressing issues facing our country right now, some of the biggest issues right now in the headlines today. We're going to start with guns. The shooting in Oregon earlier this month, once again it brought the issue of guns into the national conversation. Over the last week, guns have been the most discussed political topic on Facebook by two to one. Senator Sanders, you voted against the Brady bill that mandated background checks and a waiting period. You also supported allowing riders to bring guns in checked bags on Amtrak trains. For a decade, you said that holding gun manufacturers legally responsible for mass shootings is a bad idea. Now, you say you're reconsidering that. Which is it: shield the gun companies from lawsuits or not? +p3299 +aVDo you want to shield gun companies from lawsuits? +p3300 +aVSecretary Clinton, is Bernie Sanders tough enough on guns? +p3301 +aVWe're going to bring you all in on this. But, Senator Sanders, you have to give a response. +p3302 +aVGovernor O'Malley, you passed gun legislation as governor of Maryland, but you had a Democratic-controlled legislature. President Obama couldn't convince Congress to pass gun legislation after the massacres in Aurora, in Newtown, and Charleston. How can you? O' +p3303 +aVSenator Sanders, I want you to be able to respond, 30 seconds. +p3304 +aVLet me bring in somebody who has a different viewpoint. Senator Webb, your rating from the NRA, you once had an A rating from the NRA. You've said gun violence goes down when more people are allowed to carry guns. Would encouraging more people to be armed be part of your response to a mass shooting? +p3305 +aVSenator... +p3306 +aVSenator \u2014 Governor Chafee, you have an F rating from the NRA, what do you think about what Senator Webb just said? +p3307 +aVI want to... O' +p3308 +aV...I want to move on to another issue, which is in the headlines right now, another crisis making headlines. Secretary Clinton, Russia, they're challenging the U.S. in Syria. According to U.S. intelligence, they've lied about who they're bombing. You spearheaded the reset with Russia. Did you underestimate the Russians, and as president, what would your response to Vladimir Putin be right now in Syria? +p3309 +aVSenator Sanders, what would you do differently. +p3310 +aVOn this issue of foreign policy, I want to go to... +p3311 +aVI want to go to Dana Bash. Dana? +p3312 +aVBut, Senator Sanders, you didn't answer the question. Under what \u2014 under what circumstances would you actually use force? +p3313 +aVI'm gonna bring you all in on this. Governor \u2014 Governor O'Malley, Secretary Clinton... +p3314 +aVSecretary Clinton voted to authorize military force in Iraq, supported more troops in Afghanistan. As Secretary of State, she wanted to arm Syrian rebels and push for the bombing of Libya. Is she too quick to use military force? O' +p3315 +aVDoes she \u2014 does she want to use military force too rapidly? O' +p3316 +aVGovernor O'Malley, just for the record, on the campaign trail, you've been saying that Secretary Clinton is always quick for the \u2014 for the military intervention. Senator \u2014 Secretary Clinton, you can respond. +p3317 +aVWell \u2014 yes, you'll be coming in next, but she was directly quoted, Senator. +p3318 +aVOK. +p3319 +aVSecretary? +p3320 +aVThank you. +p3321 +aVThank you, Secretary. +p3322 +aVSenator Webb, you said as president you would never have used military force in Libya and that the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi was, in your words, "inevitable." Should Secretary Clinton have seen that attack coming? +p3323 +aVSenator... +p3324 +aVYou're over your time as of now. +p3325 +aVYou agreed to these debate rules. +p3326 +aVSenator Sanders, I want you to be able to respond. +p3327 +aVI'd like you to be able to respond and get in on this. +p3328 +aVHe doesn't seem to be the type of guy to regret a lot. +p3329 +aVSecretary Clinton, on the campaign trail, Governor Webb has said that he would never have used military force in Libya and that the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi was inevitable. Should you have seen that attack coming? +p3330 +aVBut American citizens did lose their lives in Benghazi. +p3331 +aVGovernor O'Malley? +p3332 +aVSenator Webb, I want you to be able to respond. +p3333 +aVSenator Webb? +p3334 +aVSecretary (sic) Webb, you served in Vietnam. You're a marine. Once a marine, always a marine. You served as a marine in Vietnam. You're a decorated war hero. You eventually became secretary of the navy. During the Vietnam War, the man standing next to you, Senator Sanders, applied for status as a conscientious objector. Given his history, can he serve as a credible commander-in-chief? +p3335 +aVSenator Sanders, tell an American soldier who is watching right now tonight in Afghanistan why you can be commander-in- chief given that you applied for conscientious objector status. +p3336 +aVVery quickly, 30 seconds for each of you. Governor Chafee, who or what is the greatest national security threat to the United States? I want to go down the line. +p3337 +aVOK. Senator, I can give you 30 seconds to respond. +p3338 +aVThirty seconds for each of you. Governor Chafee, what is the greatest national security threat to the United States? +p3339 +aVOK. +p3340 +aVGovernor O'Malley? O' +p3341 +aVSecretary Clinton, the greatest national security threat? +p3342 +aVSenator Sanders, greatest national security threat? +p3343 +aVSenator Webb? +p3344 +aVAll right. We're going to take a short break. Do these candidates see eye to eye on an issue that is driving a big wedge between Republicans? That is next. We'll be right back. +p3345 +aVAnd welcome back. We are live in Nevada, in Las Vegas, at the Wynn Resort for the first Democratic presidential debate. The questions continue. We begin with Secretary Clinton. Secretary Clinton, you are going to be testifying before Congress next week about your e-mails. For the last eight months, you haven't been able to put this issue behind you. You dismissed it; you joked about it; you called it a mistake. What does that say about your ability to handle far more challenging crises as president? +p3346 +aVSecretary... +p3347 +aVSecretary Clinton, Secretary Clinton, with all due respect, it's a little hard \u2014 I mean, isn't it a little bit hard to call this just a partisan issue? There's an FBI investigation, and President Obama himself just two days ago said this is a legitimate issue. +p3348 +aVThank you. +p3349 +aVSenator Sanders? +p3350 +aVIt's obviously very popular in this crowd, and it's \u2014 hold on. I know that plays well in this room. But I got to be honest, Governor Chafee, for the record, on the campaign trail, you've said a different thing. You said this is a huge issue. Standing here in front of Secretary Clinton, are you willing to say that to her face? +p3351 +aVSecretary Clinton, do you want to respond? +p3352 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor... Governor O'Malley... Governor, it's popular in the room, but a lot of people do want to know these answers. Governor O'Malley, you expressed concern on the campaign trail that the Democratic Party is, and I quote, "being defined by Hillary Clinton's email scandal." You heard her answer, do you still feel that way tonight? O' +p3353 +aV...Thank you, governor. O' +p3354 +aVI want to talk about issues of race in America, for that I want to start of with Don Lemon. +p3355 +aVThe question from Arthur... +p3356 +aV...Do black lives matter, or do all lives matter? Let's put that question to Senator Sanders. +p3357 +aVGovernor O'Malley, the question from Arthur was do black lives matter, or do all lives matter? O' +p3358 +aVSecretary Clinton, what would you do for African Americans in this country that President Obama couldn't? +p3359 +aV...Thank you, Senator... +p3360 +aVSenator... +p3361 +aVSenator Webb? +p3362 +aVThanks, sir. +p3363 +aVSenator Sanders, let's talk about income inequality. Wages and incomes are flat. You've argued that the gap between rich and poor is wider than at any time since the 1920s. We've had a Democratic president for seven years. What are you going to be able to do that President Obama didn't? +p3364 +aVSecretary Clinton... +p3365 +aVI'll let you jump in a moment. Everybody will get in on this in a moment. Secretary Clinton, how would you address this issue? In all candor, you and your husband are part of the one percent. How can you credibly represent the views of the middle class? +p3366 +aVGovernor O'Malley, (inaudible). O' +p3367 +aVJust for viewers at home who may not be reading up on this, Glass-Steagall is the Depression-era banking law repealed in 1999 that prevented commercial banks from engaging in investment banking and insurance activities. Secretary Clinton, he raises a fundamental difference on this stage. Senator Sanders wants to break up the big Wall Street banks. You don't. You say charge the banks more, continue to monitor them. Why is your plan better? +p3368 +aVSenator Sanders, Secretary Clinton just said that her policy is tougher than yours. +p3369 +aVWhy? +p3370 +aVSenator... +p3371 +aVSecretary Clinton, you have to be able to respond. He brought you up. +p3372 +aV +p3373 +aVThank you. Thank you. Senator Sanders... +p3374 +aVGovernor O'Malley? Where do you stand? +p3375 +aVSecretary Clinton... O' +p3376 +aVI have to let you respond. +p3377 +aVThank you. +p3378 +aVThank... +p3379 +aVSenator Sanders... Senator Sanders, in 2008, congressional leaders were told, without the 2008 bailout, the U.S. was possibly days away from a complete meltdown. Despite that, you still voted against it. As president, would you stand by your principles if it risked the country's financial stability? +p3380 +aVWe're going to talk about that in a minute. But, Senator Webb, I want to get you in. You have said neither party has the guts to take on Wall Street. Is the system rigged? +p3381 +aVYou agreed to these rules and you're wasting time. So if you would finish your answer, we'll move on. +p3382 +aVGovernor Chafee, you have attacked Secretary Clinton for being too close to Wall Street banks. In 1999 you voted for the very bill that made banks bigger. +p3383 +aVAre you saying you didn't know what you were voting for? +p3384 +aVWell, with all due respect, Governor... +p3385 +aV... what does that say about you that you're casting a vote for something you weren't really sure about? +p3386 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3387 +aVI want to bring in Dana Bash. +p3388 +aVDana? +p3389 +aVSenator Sanders, I want to bring it over to Juan Carlos Lopez from CNN en Espanol. We're obviously in Nevada. It's had the highest percentage of undocumented immigrants of any state in the country as of last year. Juan Carlos? +p3390 +aVSenator Webb... O' +p3391 +aV...Thank you, Senator. +p3392 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p3393 +aV...Secretary... +p3394 +aVSecretary Clinton, let me ask you. Two of your rivals from your left, Governor O'Malley, and Senator Sanders, want to provide instate college tuition to undocumented immigrants. Where do you stand on that? +p3395 +aVSo, on the record, you believe that undocumented immigrants should get instate college tuition. +p3396 +aVGovernor O'Malley? O' +p3397 +aV...Senator... O' +p3398 +aVSenator Sanders, you talked about your record on the Veteran affairs committee. You served on that committee for the last eight years, including two years as its chairman while veterans died waiting for health care. You and Senator McCain ultimately addressed the issue with bi-partisan legislation. Why did it take 18 Inspector General reports, and a CNN investigation, and others, before you and your colleagues took action? +p3399 +aVGovernor Chafee, you and Hillary Clinton both voted for the Patriot Act which created the NSA surveillance program. You've emphasized civil liberties, privacy during your campaign. Aren't these two things in conflict? +p3400 +aVDo you regret that vote? +p3401 +aVSecretary Clinton, do you regret your vote on the Patriot Act? +p3402 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator Sanders, you're the only one on this stage who voted against the Patriot Act in 2001... +p3403 +aV... and the reauthorization votes. Let me ask you, if elected, would you shut down the NSA surveillance program? +p3404 +aVWould you shut down the NSA surveillance program? +p3405 +aVYou would, point blank. +p3406 +aVGovernor Chafee, Edward Snowden, is he a traitor or a hero? +p3407 +aVBring him home, no jail time? +p3408 +aVSecretary Clinton, hero or traitor? +p3409 +aVShould he do jail time? Cl +p3410 +aVGovernor O'Malley, Snowden? O' +p3411 +aVSenator Sanders, Edward Snowden? +p3412 +aVIs he a hero? +p3413 +aVSenator Webb, Edward Snowden? +p3414 +aVAnother \u2014 another question for each of you, starting with Governor Chafee. Name the one thing \u2014 the one way that your administration would not be a third term of President Obama. +p3415 +aVPresident Obama's generals right now are suggesting keeping troops in Afghanistan after the time he wanted them pulled out. Would you keep them there? +p3416 +aVGovernor O'Malley, how would you be different than President Obama's administration? O' +p3417 +aVSecretary Clinton, how would you not be a third term of President Obama? +p3418 +aVIs there a policy difference? +p3419 +aVSenator Sanders? +p3420 +aVSenator Webb, how would you not be a third term for Obama? +p3421 +aVSenator Sanders, he cited you. You don't hear a lot of Democratic presidential candidates talking about revolution. What do you mean? +p3422 +aVAnd we want to \u2014 and we're going to talk more about climate change and environmental issues coming up. Some of the candidates have tried marijuana, as have pretty much \u2014 probably everybody in this room. ( +p3423 +aVAnd welcome back to this CNN Democratic presidential debate. It has been quite a night so far. We are in the final block of this debate. All the candidates are back, which I'm very happy to see. ( +p3424 +aVIt's a long story. Let's continue, shall we? Secretary Clinton, welcome back. +p3425 +aVThat's right. Secretary Clinton, Governor O'Malley says the presidency is not a crown to be passed back and forth between two royal families. This year has been the year of the outsider in politics, just ask Bernie Sanders. Why should Democrats embrace an insider like yourself? +p3426 +aVGovernor O'Malley, do you want to tell Secretary Clinton why she shouldn't get the crown? O' +p3427 +aVSecretary Clinton, you have to be able to respond, if you want. +p3428 +aV(inaudible). Senator Sanders, does she have the right stuff? +p3429 +aVwe've got \u2014 we \u2014 a lot of questions we've got about climate change, and we're gonna go to Don Lemon. Don? +p3430 +aVGovernor... O' +p3431 +aV...Governor O'Malley, thank you very much. Senator Webb, you have a very different view than just about anybody else on this stage, and unlike a lot of Democrats. You're pro-coal, you're pro-offshore drilling, you're pro-Keystone pipeline. Are \u2014 again, are you \u2014 the question is, are you out of step with the Democratic party? +p3432 +aVSenator Sanders, are you tougher on \u2014 on climate change than Secretary Clinton? +p3433 +aVSenator \u2014 thank you, Senator. +p3434 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want you to be able to respond, then I'm gonna go to (ph) (inaudible). +p3435 +aVThank you. +p3436 +aVDana Bash? +p3437 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders? +p3438 +aVGovernor O'Malley? O' +p3439 +aVGovernor, thank you. The issue now, particularly in this state, is recreational marijuana. I want to go to Juan Carlos Lopez. +p3440 +aVSecretary Clinton, thank you. I want to go to Don Lemon with another Facebook question. +p3441 +aVWe're going to hear from all the candidates coming up. We're going to take a short break. More from the candidates in a moment. +p3442 +aVAnd welcome back to the final round of the CNN Democratic presidential debate. This is a question to each of you. Each of you, by the way, are going to have closing statements to make. Each of you will have 90 seconds. But a final question to each of you. If you can, just try to \u2014 15 seconds if you can. Governor Chafee, Franklin Delano Roosevelt once said, "I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made." You've all made a few people upset over your political careers. Which enemy are you most proud of? +p3443 +aVGovernor O'Malley? O' +p3444 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p3445 +aVSenator Sanders? +p3446 +aVSenator Webb? +p3447 +aVAll right. Time for closing statements. Each of you will have 90 seconds. Governor Chafee, let's begin with you. +p3448 +aVGovernor Chafee, thank you very much. Senator Webb, your final statement for 90 seconds. +p3449 +aVSenator Webb, thank you very much. Governor O'Malley, you have 90 seconds. O' +p3450 +aVGovernor O'Malley, thank you very much. Senator Sanders, final, closing thoughts, 90 seconds. +p3451 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p3452 +asVHUCKABEE +p3453 +(lp3454 +VWell, John, I don't really have any weaknesses that I can think of. But my wife is down here in the front, and I'm sure, if you'd like to talk to her later, she can give you more than you'll ever be able to take care of. If I have a weakness, it's that I try to live by the rules. I try to live by the rules, no matter what they are, and I was brought up that way as a kid. Play by the rules. And I'll tell you what a weakness is of this country: there are a lot of people who are sick and tired because Washington does not play by the same rules that the American people have to play by. +p3455 +aVWell, I would really appreciate that. First of all, yes, we've stolen. Yes, we've lied to the American people about Social Security, and Medicare. But, you know what we're not telling them? It's their money. This isn't the governments money. This is not entitlement, it's not welfare. This is money that people have confiscated out of their paychecks. Everytime they got a paycheck, the government reached in and took something out of it before they ever saw it. Now, we're going to blame the people. Today congress decided to take another $150 billion dollars away from Social Security so they can borrow more money. That makes no sense to everybody. And, they're always going to say, "Well, we're going to fix this one day." No their not. It's like a 400 pound man saying, "I'm going to go on a diet, but I'm eating a sack of Krispy Kremes before I do." And, people are sick of believing that the government is never going to really address this. But, let me tell you who not to blame. Let's quit blaming the people on Social Security. Let's quit making it a problem for them. It's like them getting mugged, and then us saying, well, we're going to mug you some more. You ought to just be able to get over it, get used to it... +p3456 +aV...No, sir... +p3457 +aV...we need to honor our promises... +p3458 +aV...before I go. This is the only time I've had a chance, let me finish. +p3459 +aV...This is a matter not of math, this is a matter of morality. If this country that does not keep its promise to seniors then what promise can this country hope to be trusted to keep? And, the fact is, none of them. [ +p3460 +aVAnd, the only way \u2014 no... +p3461 +aV...Chris... +p3462 +aV...Chris... +p3463 +aVSince he brought me up, do I not get to respond? +p3464 +aVJohn, listen, let's keep in mind that for one-third of the 60 million Americans on Social Security it represents 90 percent of their income. And, when I hear people talking about means testing, let's just remember what that means. If we means test Social Security, it means that the government decides whether or not I deserve it. If a person lives in a seven room house, does the government get to say you don't need seven rooms, we're going to take two of them away? Folks, the government has no business stealing even more from the people who have paid this in. I just want to remind you, people paid their money. They expect to have it. And, if this government doesn't pay it, than tell me what's different between the government and Bernie Madolf, who sits in prison today for doing less than what the government has done to the people on social security and Medicare in this country. +p3465 +aVI don't think it's so much about when the government orders a corporation to do something. In fact, that's part of the problem. If you saw that blimp that got cut loose from Maryland today, it's a perfect example of government. I mean, what we had was something the government made \u2014 basically a bag of gas \u2014 that cut loose, destroyed everything in its path, left thousands of people powerless, but they couldn't get rid of it because we had too much money invested in it, so we had to keep it. That is our government today. We saw it in the blimp. That's exactly what we saw. So look, corporations ought to exercise some responsibility. When CEO income has risen 90 percent above the average worker, when the bottom 90 percent of this country's economy has had stagnant wages for the past 40 years, somebody is taking it in the teeth. And it's not the folks on Wall Street. I'm not anti-Wall Street, but I don't believe the government ought to wear a team jersey, pick winners and losers. +p3466 +aVThe government ought to wear a striped shirt and just make sure the game... +p3467 +aV...is paid \u2014 played fairly. +p3468 +aVNow, everybody else has fudged their time and gone over, so please, don't cut me off too quick, Becky. +p3469 +aVLet me just close it out this way. +p3470 +aVWe need to be focusing on what fixes this country. And I'll tell you one thing that we never talk about \u2014 we haven't talked about it tonight. Why aren't we talking about \u2014 instead of cutting benefits for old people, cutting benefits for sick people \u2014 why don't we say, "let's cure the four big cost-driving diseases... +p3471 +aV..."diabetes, heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer's?" +p3472 +aVIf you do that, you don't just change the economy, you transform the lives of millions of hurting Americans. +p3473 +aVGosh, I'd love for us to talk about something like that. Thank you. +p3474 +aVYou know, of the few questions I've got, the last one I need is to give him some more time. I love Donald Trump. He is a good man. I'm wearing a Trump tie tonight. Get over that one, OK? [ +p3475 +aVI don't know. [ +p3476 +aVI have no idea. +p3477 +aVYou're welcome. Let me tell you, Donald Trump would be a president every day of the week and twice on Sunday, rather than Hillary. I've spent a lifetime in politics fighting the Clinton machine. You want to talk about what we're going to be up against next year? I'm the only guy on this stage \u2014 you know, everybody has an "only guy" \u2014 "I'm the only guy this; I'm the only guy that." Well, let me tell you one thing that I am the only guy: The only guy that has consistently fought the Clinton machine every election I was ever in over the past 26 years. And not only did I fight them, but I beat them. Somebody says "I'm a fighter." Well, I want to know, did you win? Well, I did. And not only did I fight them and win, I lived to tell about it and I'm standing on this stage tonight as evidence of that. And I think that ought to be worth something. +p3478 +aVWell, and specifically to Medicare, Becky, because 85 percent of the cost of Medicare is chronic disease. The fact is if we don't address what's costing so much, we can't throw enough money at this. And it's why I've continued to focus on the fact that we need to declare war on the four big cost drivers because 80 percent of all medical costs in this country are chronic disease. We don't have a health care crisis in America, we have a health crisis. And until we deal with the health of Americans and do what we did with polio \u2014 when I was a little kid, we eradicated it. You know how much money we spent on polio last year in America? We didn't spend any. We've saved billions of dollars. You want to fix Medicare? Focus on the diseases that are costing us the trillions of dollars. Alzheimers, diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Eradicate those and you fix Medicare and you've fixed America, its economy and you've made people's lives a heck of a lot better. +p3479 +aVYou know, I know to a lot of people in the media, this is just a great big game, and we're the players. And, we come out here, and we do our thing. And, sometimes we're held up in contempt by people who write columns, but, I guarantee you to every person on this stage there's something deep inside of us that would cause us to give up our livelihoods and step out on this stage and fight for the people of America. I've got five grandkids. I do not want to walk my five grandkids through the charred remains of a once great country called America, and say, "Here you go, $20 trillion dollars of debt. Good luck making something out of this mess." And, for those of us who are serious enough to run for president, think long and hard why we're here, and hopefully you'll know we're not here for ourselves. We honest to god are here to get this country back on track. I know this, I certainly am. +p3480 +aV...Thank you. +p3481 +aVI'm Mike Huckabee. I'm delighted to be on this stage with some remarkable fellow Republicans. None of us are a self-professed socialist. None of us on this state are under investigation by the FBI because we destroyed government records, or because we leaked secrets. I know that there are some in the Wall-Street-to-Washington axis of power who speak of all of us contemptuously. But I'm here to say that I think we are, in fact, the A team. We have some remarkable people, and, in fact, not only are we the A team; we even have our own Mr. T, who doesn't mind saying about others, "you're a fool." And I'm delighted to be here with all of these guys, and would put any of them in an administration that I led. Thank you very much. +p3482 +aVI would certainly love to get in on this, because I think the single... +p3483 +aVI've been patiently waiting, and I'm going to just say this about Iran. +p3484 +aVBecause I think it is incredibly important. This is really about the survival of Western civilization. This is not just a little conflict with a Middle Eastern country that we've just now given over $100 billion to, the equivalent in U.S. terms is $5 trillion. This threatens Israel immediately, this threatens the entire Middle East, but it threatens the United States of America. And we can't treat a nuclear Iranian government as if it is just some government that would like to have power. This is a government for 36 years has killed Americans, they kidnapped Americans, they have maimed Americans. They have sponsored terrorist groups, Hamas and Hezbollah, and they threaten the very essence of Western civilization. To give them this agreement, that the president treats like the Magna Carta, but Iranians treat it like it's toilet paper, and we must, simply, make it very clear that the next president, one of us on this stage, will absolutely not honor that agreement, and will destroy it and will be tough with Iran, because otherwise, we put every person in this world in a very dangerous place. +p3485 +aVNo, I don't think he's on the wrong side of such an issue. Jeb is a friend. I'm not up here to fight with Jeb or to fight with anybody else. But I am here to fight for somebody who is a county clerk elected under the Kentucky constitution that 75 percent of the people of that state had voted for that said that marriage was between a man and a woman. The Supreme Court in a very, very divided decision decided out of thin air that they were just going to redefine marriage. It's a decision that the other justices in dissent said they didn't have and there wasn't a constitutional shred of capacity for them to do it. I thought that everybody here passed ninth-grade civics. The courts cannot legislate. That's what Roberts said. But heck, it's what we learned in civics. The courts can't make a law. They can interpret one. They can review one. They can't implement it. They can't force it. But here's what happened: Because the courts just decided that something was going to be and people relinquished it and the other two branches of government sat by silently \u2014 I thought we had three branches of government, they were all equal to each other, we have separation of powers, and we have checks and balances. If the court can just make a decision and we just all surrender to it, we have what Jefferson said was judicial tyranny. The reason that this is a real issue that we need to think about... +p3486 +aVNo, no. Let me finish this one thought, Jake. I haven't gotten that much time, so I'm going to take just what little I can here. We made accommodation to the Fort Hood shooter to let him grow a beard. We made accommodations to the detainees at Gitmo \u2014 I've been to Gitmo, and I've seen the accommodations that we made to the Muslim detainees who killed Americans. You're telling me that you cannot make an accommodation for an elected Democrat county clerk from Rowan County, Kentucky? What else is it other than the criminalization of her faith and the exaltation of the faith of everyone else who might be a Fort Hood shooter or a detainee at Gitmo? +p3487 +aVI have a different idea. I think we ought to get rid of all the taxes on people who produce. Why should we penalize productivity? And it's why I'm an unabashed supporter of the "fair tax," which would be a tax on our consumption, rather than a tax on our productivity. In other words, you're not going to tax anybody for what they earn, whether it's worker whose working by the hour or whether it's a hedge fund manager. If they can produce something and bring capital and labor to create jobs, we need some jobs. And I think the "fair tax" makes more sense. Now, Jake, I've been listening to everybody on the stage and there is a lot of back and forth about I'm the only one who has done this, the only one who has done that, I've done great things. We've all done great things or we wouldn't be on this stage. But it occurs to me as we're sitting here in the Reagan Library that most of us would like to pay tribute to a guy who, when he got elected, didn't get elected telling everybody how great he was. He got elected telling everybody how great the American people were. And he empowered them to live their dreams, which is what I'd love to see us do by no longer penalizing the people who are out there working because they are taking a gut punch right now. +p3488 +aV...You don't want me operating on you, I assure you. +p3489 +aVJust today \u2014 just today, there was a new report that 50 different intelligence analysts have said that what they sent up the ladder was doctored by senior officials, so that they could give some happy talk to the situation that we face. I love the idea of a good intellectual capacity to deal with our enemies, but the fact is, if you don't have good intelligence that is reliable and honest, you won't have good intelligence and you cannot make good decisions. The next president is primarily elected not just to know things, but to know what to do with the things that he knows. And the most dangerous person in any room is the person who doesn't know what he doesn't know. +p3490 +aVAnd the reason Barack Obama has been dangerous to this country and we better elect someone who had some executive experience, is because we cannot afford another eight years having a person in the office who doesn't know what he does not know. +p3491 +aVYou better believe I will, because I'm tired of liberals always having a litmus test and conservatives are supposed to pretend we don't. Well let me tell you what mine would be. Number one, I'd ask do you think that the unborn child is a human being or is it just a blob of tissue? I'd want to know the answer to that. I'd want to know do you believe in the First Amendment, do you believe that religious liberty is the fundamental liberty around which all the other freedoms of this country are based? And I'd want to know do you really believe in the Second Amendment, do you believe that we have an individual right to bear arms to protect ourselves and our family and to protect our country? And do you believe in the Fifth and the 14th Amendment? Do you believe that a person, before they're deprived of life and liberty, should in fact have due process and equal protection under the law? Because if you do, you're going to do more than defund Planned Parenthood. +p3492 +aVOne final thing. I'd make darn sure that we absolutely believe the 10th Amendment. Every governor on this stage would share this much with you. Every one of us \u2014 our biggest fight wasn't always with the legislature or even with the Democrats. My gosh, half the time, it was with the federal government who apparently never understood \u2014 +p3493 +aV\u2014 that if it's not reserved in the Constitution, then the 10th Amendment says it's left to the states. But somebody forgot to send a memo to Washington. +p3494 +aVJake? Jake? +p3495 +aVI think we need to remember that there are maybe some controversies about autism, but there is no controversy about the things that are really driving the medical costs in this country. And I would really believe that the next president ought to declare a war on cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer's, because those are the four things that are causing the greatest level of cost. John Kennedy said, "we'll go to the moon in a decade and bring a man back," and we did it. I grew up in the '50s. I remember the polio vaccine. We saved billions of dollars since that time, because we haven't had to treat for polio. Why doesn't this country focus on cures rather than treatment? Why don't we put a definitive focus scientifically on finding the cure for cancer, for heart disease, for diabetes and for Alzheimer's, a disease alone that will cost us \u2014 +p3496 +aV$1.1 trillion by the year 2050. We change the economy and the country. +p3497 +aVThat's an easy one. I'd put my wife on there. I've been married to her 41 years. She's fought cancer and lived through it. She's raised three kids, five great grandkids, and she's put up with me. I mean, who else could possibly be on that money other than my wife. And that way, she could spend her own money with her face. +p3498 +aVI'd go with Duck Hunter. +p3499 +aVAt the end of my presidency I would like to believe that the world would be a safe place, and there wouldn't be the threats. not only to the U.S., but to Israel and our allies, because we would have the most incredible well-trained, well-equipped, well- prepared military in the history of mankind. And they would know that the commander-in-chief would never send them to a mission without all the resources necessary, but people wouldn't bully us anymore. Because they would know that that would be an invitation to their destruction. Domestically, we would be operating under a tax system that eliminated the IRS. People wouldn't be punished for their work, and for what they produced. And life would be really deemed precious. Abortion would be no more. It would be as much of a scourge in our past as slavery is. And we would have a peaceful country, where people respected each other and people respected law enforcement. And we would focus on cures. And we would make this country not only safe from our enemies without, but safe from the enemies within. And it would be a good place to raise our kids and our grandkids. +p3500 +aVChris, I disagree with the idea that the real issue is a constitutional amendment. That's a long and difficult process. I've actually taken the position that's bolder than that. A lot of people are talking about defunding planned parenthood, as if that's a huge game changer. I think it's time to do something even more bold. I think the next president ought to invoke the Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the constitution now that we clearly know that that baby inside the mother's womb is a person at the moment of conception. The reason we know that it is is because of the DNA schedule that we now have clear scientific evidence on. And, this notion that we just continue to ignore the personhood of the individual is a violation of that unborn child's Fifth and 14th Amendment rights for due process and equal protection under the law. It's time that we recognize the Supreme Court is not the Supreme Being, and we change the policy to be pro-life and protect children instead of rip up their body parts and sell them like they're parts to a Buick. +p3501 +aVNot me. But you're welcome to give me a check, Donald if you'd like. +p3502 +aVIt's not too big to shrink. But the problem is we have a Wall Street-to-Washington axis of power that has controlled the political climate. The donor class feeds the political class who does the dance that the donor class wants. And the result is federal government keeps getting bigger. Every person on this stage who has been a governor will tell that you the biggest fight they had was not the other party. Wasn't even the legislature. It was the federal government, who continually put mandates on the states that we had to suck up and pay for. And the fact is there are a lot of things happening at the federal level that are absolutely beyond the jurisdiction of the Constitution. This is power that should be shifted back to the states, whether it's the EPA, there is no role at the federal level for the Department of Education. And I'm still one who says that we can get rid of the Internal Revenue Service if we would pass the FairTax, which is a tax on consumption rather than a tax on people's income, and move power back where the founders believed it should have been all along. +p3503 +aVWell, let's all be reminded, 60 million Americans are on Social Security, 60 million. A third of those people depend on 90% of their income from Social Security. Nobody in this country is on Social Security because they made the decision when they were starting work at 14 that they wanted to trust some of their money with the government. The government took it out of their check whether they wanted them to or not. And, if person goes to 65, they're going to spend 51 years with the government reaching into their pocket at every paycheck. Now, here's the point, whose fault is it that the system is screwed up? Is it the recipients, or is it the government? And, if Congress wants to mess with the retirement program, why don't we let them start by changing their retirement program, and not have one, instead of talking about getting rid of Social Security and Medicare that was robbed $700 billion dollars to pay for Obamacare. It's always that the government figures that they can do this off the backs of people, many of whom are poor, and depend on that money, and I just think it's fundamentally lying to the people and stealing from them, and we shouldn't be doing it. +p3504 +aVWell, you ask about how we fund it. One of the reasons that Social Security is in so much trouble is that the only funding stream comes from people who get a wage. The people who get wages is declining dramatically. Most of the income in this country is made by people at the top who get dividends and -- and capital gains. The FairTax transforms the process by which we fund Social Security and Medicare because the money paid in consumption is paid by everybody, including illegals, prostitutes, pimps, drug dealers, all the people that are freeloading off the system now. That's why it ought to be a transformed system. +p3505 +aVRonald Reagan said "trust, but verify." President Obama is "trust, but vilify." He trusts our enemies and vilifies everyone who disagrees with him. And the reason we disagree with him has nothing to do with party. +p3506 +aVIt has to do with the incredibly dangerous place that this world is gonna be as a result of a deal in which we got nothing. We didn't even get four hostages out. We got nothing, and Iran gets everything they want. We said we would have anywhere, anytime negotiations and inspections, we gave that up. We said that we would make sure that they didn't have any nuclear capacity, we gave that up. The president can't tell us what we got. I'll tell you what the world got. The world has a burgeoning nuclear power that didn't, as the Soviets, say "we might defend ourselves in a war." What the Iranians have said is, "we will wipe Israel off the face of the map, and we will bring death to America." When someone points a gun at your head and loads it, by God, you ought to take them seriously, and we need to take that seriously. +p3507 +aVThe military is not a social experiment. The purpose of the military is kill people and break things. It's not to transform the culture by trying out some ideas that some people think would make us a different country and more diverse. The purpose is to protect America. I'm not sure how paying for transgender surgery for soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines makes our country safer. We've reduced the military by 25 percent... ... under President Obama. The disaster is that we've forgotten why we have a military. The purpose of it is to make sure that we protect every American, wherever that American is, and if an American is calling out for help, whether it's in Benghazi or at the border, then we ought to be able to answer it. We've not done that because we've decimated our military. We're flying B-52s. The most recent one that was put in service was November of 1962. A lot of the B-52s we're flying, we've only got 44 that are in service combat ready, and the fact is, most of them are older than me. And that's pretty scary. +p3508 +aVIt seems like this election has been a whole lot about a person who's very high in the polls, that doesn't have a clue about how to govern. A person who has been filled with scandals, and who could not lead, and, of course, I'm talking about Hillary Clinton. I think America... +p3509 +aV...is in trouble, but it's not beyond repair. But it's going to take leadership who sees the greatness of this country, and who believes that once again we can be one nation, under God. I'll be my best to do that, and thank you for your support. +p3510 +aVI don't think it's that the message isn't working, I think it's the message isn't getting out because the message that I have this time, Bill, it's exactly what I said eight years ago. I talked about people who are standing on their feet on factory floors, people who lift heavy things, who sweat through their clothes, they're getting gut punched. They are not having a fair shake in this economy. I talked about that eight years ago, and I'm talking about it now. I talked about the importance of preserving life, of not just saying we're going to defund Planned Parenthood, but let's do something bolder. Let's get rid of abortion once and for all by applying the Fifth, and Fourteenth amendment to every person from conception because that means that we recognize that no person can be deprived of life or liberty unless they have due process. And, that's not happening in our country. And, I believe, and continue to practice that we need the Fair Tax to revive our economy. To make it so that people are able to be rewarded for their work rather than punished for it. +p3511 +aVYou know, I -- I would leave that to other people. I'm not going to get into an argument with all the New Yorkers, because there's a lot of them. This much I will tell you. I wish that some of those New Yorkers had funded as much of my campaign as they did the corporately funded candidates, but they didn't. And to be honest with you, when I say I'm -- wish they had, I'm glad they didn't. I'm not a New York-funded campaign. I'm not bankrolled by the corporatists, I'm not bankrolled by Goldman Sachs and Citibank and AIG and all the big brokers -- brokerage houses and the billionaires. I'm sponsored by people like Thomas, a part-time Uber driver in Pennsylvania who sent me $25 this week. He's between jobs. He's driving an Uber car. But he believed in what I'm talking about enough that, even on a limited, part-time income, he sent me $25 to help in my campaign. I'll stand with the Thomases of the world any day. I'll leave all the discussion of the big financiers to other candidates. But there's only a few of us in the entire Republican process who are not corporately funded by the same group. And let me just finish by saying, you want to know why things never change depending on whether Democrats or Republicans are in power, and why Republicans in Iowa and the rest of the country are so frustrated? The reason is, is because if you follow the money, the same folks who finance the Democrats finance the Republicans, and no matter what the speeches and the ads, they get the same results. If you want a different result, I'm available. +p3512 +aVWell, I don't trust him. I've never said I trusted him. But if somebody is willing to take a shot at the people we are taking shots at, I'm more than willing to let them use their own bullets to do it. But let's be very clear about how we take out +p3513 +aVNo, I don't think that it's impossible, but we're not going to do it by doing the same things we've been doing for all these many years. And, we've lost five million manufacturing jobs just since the year 2000. The other day I was in Newton, Iowa. It used to be a vibrant place where Maytag washers and dryers were built. Went out of business in 2007, all those shops went to Mexico. All those people lost their jobs. There was a guy in my forum that day, he lost his job. He still has never found an employment that got anywhere near the job that he had. Let me ask you, how many people do you think living around the Beltway know a guy like that? Care about a guy like that? Not many. And, that's because they're six of the ten richest counties in America that surround Washington D.C. People who live in the bubbles of the high finance world of New York, the government world of Washington, the entertainment world of Hollywood, don't have a clue about how hard people out here in Iowa are working every single day. And, I believe one of the values of campaigning in Iowa, you can't win unless you go out and talk to farmers and housewives -- and welders, and unemployed truck drivers, and I hate... ... That a president could become president who never met people who have to struggle to make a living and put food on the table. +p3514 +aVA lot of Americans are angry. And I think it's important to understand why they are mad. They are mad because they see a government that continues to do fine. They see people at the top. They are doing fine. But that person you asked Rick about a moment ago, that lady that's making 10,000 bucks a year, do you know what our poverty programs do to people? They keep them in poverty. They keep them in poverty because we have these arbitrary thresholds... ... that mean that if you go to work, you lose all the benefits for your kids, Medicaid, WIC, Section 8 housing, food stamps, and then your kids go hungry. I know a little about poverty. My sister is here tonight. Now both of us could tell you we did not grow up rich. My mother grew up in a house, oldest of seven kids. She had lived in a house that didn't have floors. Just dirt. No electricity. No running water. I resent it when people say, oh, people are poor because they want to be. No, they are not. Nobody wants to be poor. And that's a stupid, foolish thing, mean thing to say. People are poor because they don't know how to get out of the hole. And government shouldn't push them back in the hole which is what our policies do when they punish people who want to go to work and don't let them out. We can fix that, but it takes some leadership to get it done. +p3515 +aVWell, I didn't have a tax and spend approach. You got to understand where the Club for Growth comes from, a bunch of rich guys sitting around writing checks to go after people they don't like. And, they don't like me sometimes because I was fighting for the guys at the bottom, not just the guys at the top. I cut 94 taxes in a state that had never had a general major tax decrease in its history. I also was able to see per capita income growth in my state go up by 50%. I think that's a pretty darn good record. Look at the overall record and it was fine. But, it's not about stats from when I was governor. Look, one of the reasons I support the Fairtax is because it's the one thing, Bill, that would truly empower people at the bottom of the economy by no longer punishing them for their work. If a guy works an hourly job, and he works eight hours, gets paid for it, terrific. But, if he works 16 hours, he doesn't get a double paycheck because he's going to be bumped up into a new tax bracket, and the government will get more of his second shift than he will. So, we've actually punished him for being industrious, hardworking, and that is a foolish economic policy... ... that's hurting Americans about as much as anything. +p3516 +aVI honestly don't understand how anybody with IQ above plant life would honestly think... ... that we would be better off if we let the government have all of the private property and that the government would dole out what they thought we should have. I'm not "feeling the Bern," Bill. I'm not feeling it. And when Bernie Sanders promises these kids free college, I'm telling them, because I get asked, what about free college? I said, look, if we give you free college when you are 20, pal, you are going to be paying for it when you are 30, when you are 40, and when you are 50. There is no such thing as the government giving you anything. They will definitely make a mess of it. And I just think there are a lot of people who have never understood the basic understanding of economics, that you do not make people rich by tearing down those who are you providing jobs, and you don't help poor people by taking away. You give them jobs. Let them work. Let them earn. And then you let them keep the money that they earned. That's how we build a great economy. +p3517 +aVWell, this week there was a little dust up about a video we put together with the music of Adele, so I thought it'd be appropriate for me to begin tonight by saying, "Hello, Iowa. It's me." +p3518 +aVAnd, you know me. You gave me the largest number of votes in the history of the Iowa caucus eight years ago, and I think you did it because you trusted me, you believed that I had your best interest at heart. When I was governor I had a little plaque in my office in the Governor's office, and it simply said this. Come, let us reason together. I believe the next President needs to put that plaque in the oval office, and needs to lead this country by saying, "Come, let us reason together." God bless you, and thank you for your support. +p3519 +aVI wish I saw the country in the same place that the president presented it to be the other night in the State of the Union. He talked about how great the economy was doing. And I guess for the people he hangs out with, it's probably doing great. But the president should've stood in the line at the layaway counter at Walmart just before Christmas. He would have heard a very different story about the economy of America. I wish I could introduce him the lady who cleans the building where our campaign headquarters is located in Little Rock. Her name is Kathleen. She works all day at a local hospital cleaning, and then she goes to the building where a bank, and our headquarters, and other offices are she spends another seven hours. She works 15 hours a day. I guarantee you she's not working 15 hours a day because she loves scrubbing toilets, and sweeping floors. She's working that many hours because that's what it takes for her to make it work. And, she's not alone. There are people all over this country who are working like that. Many of them working two jobs \u2014 and they used to have one job, and that would take care of them. But, because of wage stagnation, which we've had for 40 years, because the fact that they're punished for working harder if they work that many hours. The government gets more of their second shift than they do. And, as a result there are a lot of people who are hurting today. I wish the President knew more of them. He might make a change in the economy and the way he's managing it. +p3520 +aVLet me put that in context. When I went to Afghanistan, I saw a land that looked like the land of the Flintstones. It was desolate. It was barren. It was primitive. And it's been that way for thousands of years. They want to take the world back to be just like that. We don't. We need to make a clear goal as to why we want to be anywhere in the Middle East, and I'll tell you why we want to be and need to be, is to destroy radical Islam and everything that threatens civilization. It's not just a threat......to Israel or to America, it's a threat to every civilized person on this Earth. And we need to be equipping not only the Kurds in Iraq, we need to be making sure that those who are willing to fight radical Muslims will do it, but we need to never ever spend a drop of American blood unless there is a clearly defined goal and we can't make sure we win unless we have a military that's the strongest in the history of mankind. We've got to rebuild our navy. It's the smallest navy we've had since 1915, when my grandfather got on a destroyer in World War I when he was in the U.S. Navy. We've got young men in Air Force B-52s, one in particular, he's flying a B-52 that his father flew in the '80s and his grandfather flew in the '50s. Those planes are older than me. We've got to have a military that the world is afraid of, use it sparingly, but when we do, the whole world will know that America is on their tail and they will be on their tail on the ground, never ever to rise up again. +p3521 +aVOnly if there is a concerted effort to destroy the advance of radical Islamists who are against us. As far as what are we going to make it look like. Frankly, I don't know what we can make it look like. You can't create for other people a desire for freedom and democracy. And frankly, that is not the role of the United States. The role of the United States military is not to build schools, it is not to build bridges, it is not to go around and pass out food packets. It is to kill and destroy our enemy and make America safe and that is the purpose we should be there if we're going to be there. +p3522 +aV Yes, I did. +p3523 +aVWell, why don't we start by making sure the Justice Department never does an idiotic program like Fast and Furious where the U.S. Government put guns......in the hands of Mexican drug lords......and end up killing one of our border agents. You know, they want to talk about law abiding citizens, I just find it amazing the President keeps saying the gun show loophole. There is no gun show loophole. I promise you I've been to more gun shows than President Obama. +p3524 +aVAnd, I've bought more weapons at them, and you fill out forms. The President also says things that it's easier to get a gun now than it is to grow trees. Again, I purchase guns, and I can assure you that it is much more difficult to purchase a firearm than it is to get the ingredients of a salad at the supermarket. What the President keeps pushing are ideas that have never worked. Ideas that would not have stopped San Bernadino, Sandy Hook, Aurora, and at some point you wonder if you keep retrying things that don't work, maybe we should just see if we could resell all those used lottery tickets that didn't work real well because that's the logic of just keep doing the same thing, but something that has failed. Of course, we want to stop gun violence, but the one common thing that has happened in most mass shootings is that they happened in gun- free zones where people who would have been law abiding citizens, who could have stood up and at least tried to stop it and we're not allowed to under the law. +p3525 +aVWell, we shouldn't be and that's one of the reasons that I think there a lot of voices in our country who are saying it's time to relook at the visa program. The European Union is a failure, it's not allowed for even the economic goals that they were trying to achieve. But, what we're not seeing is that it's making Europe less safe, and it's proven not to be exactly what they all thought it was going to be. Our first and foremost responsibility in this country, and the first responsibility of the President of the United States is protect America, and protect Americans. We have a President who seems to be more interested in protecting the reputation and image of Islam than he is protecting us. And, I want to be very clear......that this President. Makes comments like he did the other night, that we have to be so careful because we don't want to offend Muslims. He needs to read his own FBI crime stats from last year which would show him that of the hate crimes in the country, over 5,500, about 1,100 were religious hate crimes. And, of those, 58% were directed toward Jews. Only 16% directed toward Muslims. Maybe what the President should have talked about the other night is how we ought to be more careful in the anti-semitic comments that are going toward American Jews than toward Muslims because by three times as many......they're being targeted for religious hate crime. +p3526 +aVIt does not shut down international commerce, but it may slow it down. And, you don't want to slowdown commerce that is making us safer. It's worth it. This lady who came and joined with the San Bernardino killer had passed three background checks, and that's why a lot of Americans didn't buy it when the President said we'll bring in Syrian refugees, but don't worry we'll check them out. We have a lot of confidence in a president who told us that we could keep our doctor, we could keep our health insurance, and cost us less, and now the latest is if you like your gun you can keep it too, and frankly, we don't buy it. We don't believe it. He's lost his credibility, and his inept... ...inability to work with Congress and pass legislation has led him to do what I never even imagined doing as a governor, and that's just going and doing it my own way. That's why we elect a president, is to lead, is to be able to shepherd things through. And if I can do it with a 90 percent Democrat legislature in Arkansas, there is no excuse for any president not being able to lead in Washington if he knows what the heck he is doing when he gets there. +p3527 +aVWell, first of all, let's just remember that Social Security is not the government's money, it belongs to the people who had it taken out of their checks involuntarily their entire working lives. For the government to say, well it is fault of working people that we have a Social Security problem, no. It is the fault of a government that used those people's money for something other than protecting those people's accounts. So let's not blame them and punish them. But here is a fact, and I sometimes hear Republicans say well, we're going to have to cut this and extend the age. You know what I think a lot of times when I hear people say, well, let's make people work to their 70. That sounds great for white-collar people who sat at a desk most of their lives. You ever talk to somebody that stood on concrete floor for the first 40 years of their working life? Do you think they can stand another five years or 10 years, many of them will retired virtually crippled because they worked hard. And we're going to punish them some more? I don't think so. Here's the fact. Four percent economic growth, we fully fund Social Security and Medicare. Our problem is not that Social Security is just too generous to seniors. It isn't. Our problem is that our politicians have not created the kind of policies that would bring economic growth. And I still support strongly that we get rid of the 77,000 pages of the monstrous tax code......pass the fair tax, supercharge this economy with the rocket fuel that happens with the consumption tax and we don't have to cut Social Security to any senior who has worked their lifetime for it. +p3528 +aVLet me go back to the reason so many people are having a hard time getting ahead. The tax system punishes them. Think about this. If you work really hard and you start moving up the economic ladder, you get bumped into a different tax bracket. So the government thinks it deserves more of your hard work than you do. And it's one of the reasons that no matter how many different reforms you have to a tax on people's productivity, you're still taxing their work, their savings. You're taxing their capital gains, inheritance, dividends, you're taxing everything that produces something. And it's way I really believe it's time to do something bold, not something minute. This is no time for a tap of the hammer, a twist of the screwdriver. It's time for something big. That's why the fair tax transforms our economy. And we don't punish workers. It's the only way we're going to get middle class people moving ahead again, because the harder they work, the more they keep. No payroll tax deducted from their checks. They get their entire paycheck. And, one of the most important parts, it's built on the common sense with which we raised our kids, and trained dogs. You reward behavior you want more of. And, you punish behavior you want less of. That's how I raise kids, it's how I trained our dogs, and folks, it's not that difficult. We now punish the behavior we say we want more of by taxing it, and we reward the behavior that we say we want less of, so if you make a good investment, we punish you with a tax. If you make a bad investment you can write that off and the rest of the taxpayers will help subsidize you, and bail you out. +p3529 +aVWell, Rick, I'm pretty sure I did also fight the Clinton machine because every election I was ever in in Arkansas, I assure you, they were behind it, helping finance and campaign for every opponent. And I share with you the understanding that it's going to be a tough battle. But I spent the first half of my adult life in the private and nonprofit sector, raising a family, understanding how tough it is for people to make it. And that first half of my life is what led me to believe that America needs a different kind of leadership, not people who spent their whole life running from one office to the next, and living off the government dime. And I got involved because I got sick of what I saw. I also believe that there's got to be some leadership that not only addresses the monetary and military issues of this country, but the moral issues of this country. At the end of every political speech, most of us say, God bless America. But how can he do that when we continue to slaughter 4,000 babies a day? And I want to be the president that treats every person, including the unborn, as a person. And protect them under the 5th and 14th amendments of the constitution. I close with this word from a gentleman in East Texas named Butel Lucre. He's 100 years old and I met him down in East Texas. And he said this to me. "I sure wish, Mike, we had the days when The Ten Commandments were in all of our capitals and in every school, and we prayed again. You know, he may be 100 years old, but I believe some of those old ideas to get this country back where we unapologetically get on our knees before we get on our feet might be the best solutions we've ever sought as a country. And I ask for your support and your vote. Thank you. +p3530 +aVWolf, I want to say thanks to you and CNN for giving us the opportunity especially to focus on national security issues at a time when Americans are not only angry \u2014 angry at their government that they feel like has failed them, been indifferent to them, cost them their livelihoods \u2014 but they're in addition to angry, they're just plain scared. They're scared when they thing that they go to a Christmas party and get shot at by somebody who sat and had lunch with them an hour earlier. They're scared when they realize that our government, who promises that it can vet people and is begging us to approve bringing 10,000 Syrian refugees into this country, can't even catch somebody after a third background check, who had posted things on social media clearly indicating she wanted to kill Americans. And we couldn't catch that. We've lost confidence in our government. And when Americans lose confidence in their government, we're in a dangerous place. We're in danger because we have an enemy that is out to kill us, and we have a government that we don't trust any more. This election is about going back to having a government we can trust with leaders who have the courage and conviction to actually lead and not follow. +p3531 +aVWell, let me begin by saying I'm not that afraid of Donald Trump. And, in the sense that I'd rather him be President than I had Hillary be president any day. And so if he becomes president, I think he will do a whole lot more to protect us than Hillary will. And a whole lot more than Barack Obama has done in his eight years. So I want to make it very clear that when I was making that comment, I was simply speaking that I'm not sure that you can have a religious test per se. And it's very impractical because if somebody comes to our borders and says I'd like to come in. They say are you a Muslim? Well, they're \u2014 if they're going to come in here to kill us, they're not gonna say yeah, and I'm coming to kill you. They're going to lie about it. Anybody that will kill you, for God's sake, will lie to you. So that's why I say it's impractical. But what he has done, and I don't think a lot of people understand, he has touched a nerve because people are angry and afraid that we are facing an enemy that this administration refuses to acknowledge, refuses to want to go fight. And our only answer is to go after +p3532 +aVNo. I'm not taking it away, I just want to make sure that everything we use is going to be effective. We're spending billions of dollars, let's make sure it's effective. Let's use every tool, but let's also check out the Facebook posts, let's look at Twitter accounts. My gosh, we were told we couldn't do it because it might invade somebody's privacy. This lady who came over here and shot up San Bernardino was posting things on Facebook, yet, we were restricted from looking. Every college kid who goes to a frat party gets drunk and puts his picture on Facebook is going to have a potential employer looking at that photo before he gets hired. Why should we have more attention? I mean, for heaven's sake, towards some college kid who wants to one day ten years from to get a job, then we're going after who wants to come in with a semi automatic weapon or a pipe bomb and blow up a bunch of Americans. This is what I think a lot of Americans are frustrated with, it's the duplicity of our policy that is illogical and irrational. Our goal ought to be, "protect Americans and put Americans first not last," which is what I think this administration has done. +p3533 +aVNo, it does not violate their First Amendment rights to have someone go and listen to the sermons. You can go to any church in America, it's a public place, you can listen, and \u2014 you know, if you go to my church, you'll probably get a real blessing. Heck, it'll be a wonderful experience. You go to some people's church, you may go to sleep, I don't know what happens in every church, but, the point is that these are public places, and folks are invited to come. So, if it's a public place, and people are invited to come, how does it violate anybody's First Amendment rights that somebody shows up because they might want to just listen in and see is there something that is a little nefarious? And, if there is, then you take the second step of getting a search warrant, you do whatever you have to do. That's all protected under the constitution. So, Huge, I hear people act like there's something that is terrible about going and sitting in and listening to the sermons of a mosque. If Islam is as wonderful, and peaceful as its adherents say, shouldn't they be begging us to all come in and listen to these peaceful sermons? Shouldn't they be begging us all to come, and listen, and bring the FBI so we'd all want to convert to Islam? +p3534 +aVI don't disagree. I don't disagree with anything that the Senator just said because that's exactly right. But, I just want to go back to the point that when people say we can't go into the mosque, we can't listen. That's utter nonsense. Of course we can. And, if we can't, if there's something so secretive going on in there that somebody isn't allowed to go and hear it, maybe we do need for sure to send somebody in there and gather the intelligence. And, that's all to the world I'm saying, I think it stands to be true. +p3535 +aVThe way we defeat them ideologically is that we remind people that what their intent is is to kill us, and that it is our intent to use every means possible to get to them before they get to us. We are pretending that this is a war that is not that significant. We have a president who called it the JV team, said we had contained it. Nine hours after he said we contained it, there was a massacre in Paris. We've got to make it so untenable for somebody to join +p3536 +aVWolf, it may be sufficient, but rather than put a number \u2014 and I'm comfortable that we say 10,000, 20,000 \u2014 look, I think we make a mistake when we start telling the enemy what our limitations are. I think we make a huge mistake when we say we're gonna do up to this. I think what we say is, we're gonna do whatever it takes. If it's 10,000, if it's 100,000, if it's 3,000 sorties a day, if it's 5,000 sorties a day. We never tell our enemy what our limitations are, what we are willing and what we're unwilling to do. And that's one of the mistakes I believe that we're making militarily. But the biggest mistake we've made militarily is letting Barack Obama cut our defense forces by 25 percent and leaving us at the least prepared position we've been in since before World War II. We have to get our Military rebuilt from the ground up. And all over America I hear young people say, would you tell me what you're going to do? Would you give me free college? Will you make sure that I can have medical marijuana? You know what we ought to tell young people? We aren't going to give you anything. We're give you the opportunity to get off your butt and go serve your country and secure your freedom. Because if you don't, nobody else is. +p3537 +aVI'd sure want them to think we would. And I'd want to make sure that we did everything we could. But we can't do it with our current Military strength. We've got to build up and have the most robust, well trained, well equipped, well prepared and ample Military force in the history of the world because we're not fighting just a known enemy in one place. We're fighting people all over the world who can go anywhere. And the reason I say that is because if we tried to win this war on the cheap or we try to do it with the, "light footprint," we're making a huge mistake. When all of us were in grade school, one thing we all knew, the bully never picked on the kid except for the weak one. When all of us were in grade school, one thing we all knew, the bully never picked on the kid, except for the weak one. He never picked on the kid he knew, he'd whip him. We need to make to sure that we have the kind of military that +p3538 +aVWell, I want to be real clear, I don't trust Putin, I don't trust Assad. I'm not saying that I would endorse him for his reelection bid. The man is a tyrant, he's killed lots of people, but he wasn't killing Americans. And, the thing that I'm concerned about is that we have seen a complete destabilization, not only of Syria, but we've seen it in Yemen, that the President pronouncing great shape just before it collapsed. +p3539 +aVWell what we have done, and we created an impossible atmosphere. This administration has put more pressure on Israel to stop building bedrooms in Judea and Samaria than they've put on Iranians to stop building a nuclear bomb. And I'm just simply pointing out the obvious, that we need to recognize who our friends are, who our enemies are... +p3540 +aV... but I'm convinced... +p3541 +aVWell, first of all, it would be the Iranians. I would have never entered into this deal. I don't know why on God's earth that the senators gave it so that it was easier for Obama to have the agreement than it would be to make it a treaty. +p3542 +aVI would make sure that there was economic pressure put on them. Why not? Why should we fund every single battle against radical Islam? Why should we stand back and watch Israel get targeted, the United States get targeted and we watch with people with their hands in their pocket, and their hands in our pocket because we're getting them a lot of money. And let's say your hands can be in your pocket, you can stand still, but your hands aren't going to be in our pockets anymore. We're not going to give you another dime unless you engage the battle with us. We are not sending our sons and daughters, and grandsons and granddaughters to war to fight for your interest. You either get in with us or be on your own. But we're not gonna fight the battle for you. +p3543 +aVI wouldn't reinstate a draft, but, I think it's noteworthy that we are fighting all the battles we have with less than one percent of the American population. +p3544 +aVI wouldn't reinstate a draft, but, I think it's noteworthy that we are fighting all the battles we have with less than one percent of the American population. We have the lowest level of percentage of population participating in the military than ever. And they're over-deployed, they're over used, especially among our reserves and Guard troops. Any governor will tell you. +p3545 +aVWell, I would say that, if you want a college education, let's go back and reinstate the full-blown G.I. bill. You give something to your country; your country gives something back to you. We need to ask young people to step up and buy their own freedom because there's not going to be enough people left at less than one percent. And as my good friend Ken Howard, former Dean of the War College, has often said, we're fighting all the wars with other people's kids. And that's one of the things that's making us much less safe, is because we don't have enough Americans truly invested in the process of defeating our enemies. Therefore, I do think without a draft we do need to ask people to recognize we are at war. +p3546 +aVI'm not belittling their sacrifice, Lindsey, but I'm just making note that on the part of Americans we have sent National Guard troops over for an 18-month em \u2014 18-month deployment. They come back for five, they go back for another 18. We're wearing these guys out. They agreed to be citizen soldiers. We turned them into full time soldiers because we've not kept up the pace by recruiting enough people in the military to fully fill these forces, and that's what we need to be doing. +p3547 +aVThe horrors that those families have to go through, if that were my son, my daughter, I'd give my last drop of blood to get them back. You bet I would. Is it a good policy? No. It's a terrible policy because once we do it, we're only going to invite more and more hostages, more and more ransoms, and the diasters gets even worse. But I don't blame any of these families. You know who I blame? I blame a policy in our government that has made it so that families are so desperate that they're willing to pay ransom to terrorists organizations because they don't believe our government will fight the fight for them and they think they're out there on their own. My goodness people, this is America. When did we have to start telling people that you've got to bake your own bread in order to fight the battles? That's what we have a government for, it's what we pay taxes for. And I believe, those families ought to have a better expectation of what this government will do. We should never has sat at the table with the Iranians as long Sayed Abadnini is sitting in an Iranian prison. As long as the Washington Post report is over there. Until the four hostages of America were on an airplane safely out of Tehran. We should've told them, " we won't even walk into the room with you much less sit down and negotiate with you." That's what we ought to be doing. +p3548 +aVWe just need to take a real pause and all the people that coming here and we don't know who they are or what their affiliations are. What George just said is right. We can't take the risk. And why should we take the risk? And if it's such a doggone good idea to bring people here that we really don't know who they are and Obama thinks that we're being un-Christian to not do it, I've got a suggestion. Let's send the first wave of them to Chappaqua, Martha's Vineyard and the upper east side of Manhattan and to the south lawn of the White House where we'll set up a camp. Let's see how that works out. And if they behave wonderfully, that's fine. I want to say, I don't want someone lecturing me about what it means to be a Christian that I should invite a potential terrorist into my backyard. On one hand, the left says separation of church and state. Let's not have any discussion of religion, and then the left wants to tell me what it means to be a Christian. They need to figure out if they know more about being a Christian than I do, then tell me... On one hand, the left says separation of church and state. Let's not have any discussion of religion, and then the left wants to tell me what it means to be a Christian. They need to figure out if they know more about being a Christian than I do \u2014 then tell me. They are no longer going to say separation of church and state, but, we have the most fundamental right above everything else \u2014 is not to protect the reputation of Islam. It is to protect Americans first and foremost. That is our job. +p3549 +aVNo, because he did it unconstitutionally. Twenty-three times he's said he couldn't do it, and then one day he woke up and he found he had a pen in one hand, and a phone in another, and wow. That Constitution didn't mean much anymore. Look, President's can't just do what they want to do. That's the purpose of getting elected and working with other people who got elected, is that our system was designed to function with the power of persuasion, it's really what you elect a president to do. +p3550 +aV...Let me finish, Hugh. You elect him to lead which means that if you think it's a good idea to not punish the children for something their parents did, then you go to the members of Congress and you persuade them. And, you persuade the American people. You don't just jump up and shove it up the nostrils of Congress, and the American people because you think you have a superior intellect, and a superior will, and a superior theology than everybody else. Our system is not a system of tyranny. We don't elect kings, we elect servants. If I'm elected president, I don't consider myself to be elected to be the king of the country, but the servant of the country to work with other people who are elected to get things done that need to be done. +p3551 +aVThe terrorists don't win just because they kill us. The terrorists win when they make us change everything we do in our daily lives and alter our routines. And they're doing that, from getting on a plane to going in a building. And it is high time that we recognize that we have to take them out, not a little bit, but totally, because I want my grandkids to grow up not in fear, but in faith and in freedom. And if you give me the opportunity to be president of the United States, I will fight for your grandkids as much as I will for mine. Thank you and God bless you. +p3552 +aVWell, first of all, Trish, I don't know why we have to move away from manufacturing. The only reason we have is because... ...we have a tax code that has punished manufacturing. I hear a lot of people talk about the plans to simplify the tax code. I've got one better than any of the simplifications, it's called a, "Fair Tax", and it eliminates all of the taxes on our productivity. Here's what would happen. We'd get rid of taxes on people's work, so, we wouldn't punish people for working anymore. Yeah, we've lost five million manufacturing jobs just since the year 2000 \u2014 160,000 manufacturing plants have close in this country, which means a lot of people \u2014 that the governors talking about, he's exactly right. They don't have jobs anymore. And the reason they don't have jobs is because their jobs are in Mexico, they're in China, they're in Indonesia. Bring the jobs back. And with the fair tax, you do that, because you don't tax capital and labor and you bring a real sense of equity to the opportunity so that people will not only make it easier to function, they'll get the manufacturing jobs back. And here's the best part. We don't reduce the IRS, we get rid of the IRS. We completely eliminate them......because the government has no business knowing how much money we make and how we made it. It's none of their business. And that's why I believe that manufacturing is critical. If we can't feed ourselves, fuel ourselves and fight for ourselves, we can't be free. And by the way, fighting for ourselves means manufacturing our own weapons of self-defense. +p3553 +aVWell, Sandra, first of all, let me mention the fact that I think there's a big difference between welfare programs and what some people call entitlements. Namely, Social Security and Medicare. I just want to remind everybody out there who has ever had a paycheck, the government didn't ask you if you wanted them to take money out of your check for Social Security and Medicare. They did that involuntarily. Those are not entitlements and that's not welfare. That's an earned benefit. And by gosh, you paid for it. And if the government screwed it up, you shouldn't have to pay the penalty because of an incompetent government. That's different than the social programs that we've spent $2 trillion on since the War on Poverty began exactly 50 years ago this year. Now the reason we still have so much poverty is because it was never designed to get people out of poverty. It was designed to make sure that there was an industry of poverty, so that the people in the poverty industry would have a lot of jobs. But the people who are poor haven't been benefited. Having grown up poor, I know a little something about it. Nobody who is poor wants to be. That's a nonsense statement and I hear it all the time. Well, poor people ought to work harder. They're working as hard as they can, for gosh sake. But the problem is the system keeps pushing them down because, if they work, then they get punished. They lose all the benefits. When we did welfare reform in the '90s, you know what we did? We said you're not going to lose everything at once. There's not an arbitrary threshold. So as you move up the ladder from work and training, you'll actually always be better off than you were before. That's the American way. +p3554 +aVWell, I'd just like to respond, with all due respect to, to the Governor, to the state just south of me, I would say that a lot of us have cut things. And during the recession of 2001 to 2003, when 91 percent of our state budget was basically three things, educate, medicate and incarcerate, we ended up cutting 11 percent out of the state budget through that recession so we didn't have to go in and raise a bunch of taxes, and there were people who thought we should. So it's just not accurate to say that nobody else up here has ever cut. I believe every governor has probably had to make tough decisions. I'm, I'm guessing my colleague Governor Christie has, as I'm tossing him the ball like Arkansas did to Ol' Miss the other day. +p3555 +aVSandra, before we get too far away, he specifically brought out some things about the record that I need to correct. +p3556 +aVSandra, I've been concerned that this administration has not done anything to help stop the slaughter of Christians. We didn't help the Kurds, we said we would. But, the idea that we're just going to open our doors, and we have no idea who these people are \u2014 what we do know is that only one out of five of the so called, "Syrian Refugees", who went into Europe were actually Syrian. Many of them, we had no idea who they were. They weren't Syrian. Are we going to open the doors so that the +p3557 +aV...I'd like to get that opportunity to go... +p3558 +aVWell, since we're not going to answer the question, let me just remind everybody, tomorrow is Veterans Day. And here's what I would like to remind everybody. The VA has been a disaster in large part because the people in Congress have never bothered to fix it, and this president has certainly not... +p3559 +aVLet me finish, please. I'm going to ask you just this, what would happen if the Congress and the president had to get their health care from the VA? We would fix the problem and we would fix Congress. +p3560 +aVWell, thank you very much. I still want to go back to the fact that if we got rid of all the taxes on our work, got rid of the taxes on our savings, investments, capital gains, and inheritance, and made a zero tax, we'd pay at the point of consumption. Because why should we punish people for their productivity? And the fair tax doesn't punish people for doing well and building the economy. There's $31 trillion parked offshore. What happens if that money comes back to America? You'd think it'd goose the economy? I guarantee you it would. And that's why the fair tax is the best solution we have for economic growth in this country. +p3561 +aVWell, first of all, do you know an American that will just stop spending? I don't. No, that's not going to be the problem. Look, Americans will go to the marketplace with more money they've ever had. For the first time they'll be having their whole paycheck. You see, most people don't understand that when you buy something that is made in America, 22 percent of the cost of it is the embedded tax they never even know they paid. It's why China has beaten the daylights out of us, they can build stuff that we can't because they're not taxing it, when they don't tax capital and labor and we do. They bring something over here, it's automatically cheaper even without the regulatory environment because they're not embedding the taxes, we are. Take the embedded taxes out. Give a person his whole paycheck because every American would no longer have a payroll tax taken out. It means they'd see their real paycheck for the first time. When they go to spend that money, they'll actually have it. And they only pay taxes on the stuff that's new. So a lot of Americans will buy used stuff. Look, here's the point, Americans are not going to quit shopping. Americans are not going to quit buying. But it would be nice if Americans could control how much they paid in tax, rather than having the government reach into their pockets and take it out before they ever had a chance to even see it, much less spend it. And that's why the fair tax makes a heck of a lot more sense than punishing productivity and rewarding irresponsibility. +p3562 +aVWell, my wife's name is Janet and when you say Janet Yelling, I'm very familiar with what you mean. But, look, I think the Fed is in a big trouble because they haven't addressed the number one issue that's hurting Americans and that's the fact that wages for the bottom 90 percent of the economy have been stagnant for 40 years. In the 25 years after World War II, up to 1971, wages grew by 85 percent in this country. People were \u2014 were moving up in the middle class. There was a middle class. That's not happening any more, and in large measure, the Fed has manipulated the dollar so it doesn't have a standard. Tie the dollar to something fixed and if it's not going to be gold, make it the commodity basket. But here's what we've got to do. We absolutely have to get it where the people who go out there and work get something in return. And if the dollar keeps fluctuating, and this is as crazy as \u2014 as is the price of bread, well, the fact is, people can't get ahead then. +p3563 +aVAbsolutely. Absolutely, because what we need to is to make sure that they tie the monetary standard to something that makes sense, rather than to their own whims, because who's getting gut punched? It ain't the people in Wall Street, it's the folks on Main Street. They're the ones who's wages have been stagnant for 40 years. And the average American today has a total savings of 1,000 bucks. One root canal and they're in trouble. And if their car breaks down the same week......they're out of business. +p3564 +aVWell, I think thanking our veterans is a wonderful thing to do, but, they sure appreciate a better paycheck. They'd appreciate the fact that we kept our promises to them. The men and women in uniform put on the uniform of our nation, they went halfway around the world, they face dangers on our behalf, and we promised them if they did that, when they came home we'd take care of their medical care, we'd make is possible for their kids to go to college, and they'd be able to bind to a home. They kept their promises to us. We have not kept our promises to them, and today, less than one percent of Americans go to the military for service. We're fighting wars with other people's kids in large measure because we've not taken seriously the moral, not the monetary, the moral obligation to take care of the veterans and to keep America's promise to the ones who kept their promise to America. +p3565 +aVIn many ways, I feel like I'm the luckiest guy on Earth. I really do. It's a long way from a little brick rent house on second street in Hope, Arkansas to this stage where I'm running for President of the United States. It's not about me, not about these guys \u2014 'ought to be about you, and I've never been the favorite of the people who have the most money. But, I want to be the favorite of the people who still want to believe the American dream can work for them. Today in our office, I got a letter from a third grader in North Dakota, her name is Reese. She sent $6 dollars from her allowance, and said, "I want to help you be president." You know, I'm going to keep standing on this stage, and keep fighting for one reason, because somewhere out there in North Dakota, and all over America, there are kids like Reese who need a president who will never forget where they came from, and I promise I won't. +p3566 +asVCRUZ +p3567 +(lp3568 +VThank you, Wolf. America is at war. Our enemy is not violent extremism. It is not some unnamed malevolent force. It is radical Islamic terrorist. We have a president who is unwilling to utter its name. The men and women on this stage, every one of us, is better prepared to keep this nation safe than is Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. We need a president who understands the first obligation of the commander-in-chief is to keep America safe. If I am elected president, we will hunt down and kill the terrorists. We will utterly destroy +p3569 +aVWell, listen, Hugh, everyone understands why Donald has suggested what he has. We're looking at a president who's engaged in this double-speak where he doesn't call radical Islamic terrorism by its name. Indeed, he gives a speech after the San Bernardino attack where his approach is to try to go after the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens rather than to keep us safe. And even worse, President Obama and Hillary Clinton are proposing bringing tens of thousands of Syrian refugees to this country when the head of the FBI has told Congress they cannot vet those refugees. I understand why Donald made that proposal. I introduced legislation in the Senate that I believe is more narrowly focused at the actual threat, which is radical Islamic terrorism, and what my legislation would do is suspend all refugees for three years from countries where +p3570 +aVWell, you know, I'm reminded of what FDR's grandfather said. He said, "All horse-thieves are Democrats, but not all Democrats are horse-thieves." In this instance, there are millions of peaceful Muslims across the world, in countries like India, where there is not the problems we are seeing in nations that are controlled \u2014 have territory controlled by Al Qaida or +p3571 +aVWell, Dana, the premise of your question is not accurate. I'm very proud to have joined with conservatives in both the Senate and the House to reform how we target bad guys. And what the USA Freedom Act did is it did two things. Number one, it ended the federal government's bulk collection of phone metadata of millions of law-abiding citizens. But number two in the second half of it that is critical. It strengthened the tools of national security and law enforcement to go after terrorists. It gave us greater tools and we are seeing those tools work right now in San Bernardino. And in particular, what it did is the prior program only covered a relatively narrow slice of phone calls. When you had a terrorist, you could only search a relatively narrow slice of numbers, primarily land lines. The USA Freedom Act expands that so now we have cell phones, now we have Internet phones, now we have the phones that terrorists are likely to use and the focus of law enforcement is on targeting the bad guys. You know what the Obama administration keeps getting wrong is whenever anything bad happens they focus on law-abiding citizens instead of focusing on the bad guys. We need to focus on radical Islamic terrorists and we need to stop them before they carry out acts of terror. +p3572 +aVWell, you know, I would note that Marco knows what he's saying isn't true. You know, Mark Levin wrote a column last week that says that the attack ads his Super PAC is running that are saying the same thing, that they are knowingly false and they are, in fact, Alinsky-like attacks like Barack Obama. And the reason is simple. What he knows is that the old program covered 20 percent to 30 percent of phone numbers to search for terrorists. The new program covers nearly 100 percent. That gives us greater ability to stop acts of terrorism, and he knows that that's the case. +p3573 +aVWhat it means is using overwhelming air power to utterly and completely destroy +p3574 +aVYou would carpet bomb where +p3575 +aVWell, you know, Marco has continued these attacks, and he knows they're not true. Yes, it is true that I voted against the National Defense Authorization Act, because when I campaigned in Texas I told voters in Texas that I would oppose the federal government having the authority to detain U.S. citizens permanently with no due process. I have repeatedly supported an effort to take that out of that bill, and I honored that campaign commitment. +p3576 +aVBut more broadly, you know, the notion Marco is suggesting, that somehow \u2014 he also has tossed more than a few insults this direction \u2014 let's be absolutely clear. +p3577 +aVWolf, I believe in a America first foreign policy, that far too often President Obama and Hillary Clinton \u2014 and, unfortunately, more than a few Republicans \u2014 have gotten distracted from the central focus of keeping this country safe. So let's go back to the beginning of the Obama administration, when Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama led +p3578 +aV... we ought to hunt down our enemies and kill +p3579 +aVWell, it's more than not shedding a tear. It's actively getting involved to topple a government. And we keep hearing from President Obama and Hillary Clinton and Washington Republicans that they're searching for these mythical moderate rebels. It's like a purple unicorn. They never exist. These moderate rebels end up being jihadists. And I'll tell you whose view on Assad is the same as mine. It's Prime Minister Netanyahu. Prime Minister Netanyahu has said Israel doesn't have a dog in that fight because Assad is a puppet of Iran, a Shia radical Islamic terrorist, but at the same time, Prime Minister Netanyahu doesn't want to see Syria governed by +p3580 +aVThe question of whether we should toppling dictatorships is asking the wrong question. We should be defeating our enemies. So the problem with defeating... +p3581 +aVWell, but let me explain, the focus should be... +p3582 +aV... on defeating our enemies. So, for example... +p3583 +aV... a regime we should change is Iran... +p3584 +aV... because Iran has declared war on us. But we shouldn't be toppling regimes...... that are fighting radical Islamic terrorists that are helping... +p3585 +aVWell, he \u2014 he has attempted to muddy the waters, but I think that anyone who watched the battle that we had. You know, there was a time for choosing as Reagan put it. Where there was a battle over amnesty and some chose, like Senator Rubio to stand with Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer and support a massive amnesty plan. Others chose to stand with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and the American people and secure the border. And let me mention, this issue is actually directly connected to what we've been talking about. Because the front line with +p3586 +aVLook, I understand Marco wants to raise confusion, it is not accurate what he just said that I supported legalization. Indeed, I led the fight against his legalization and amnesty. And you know, there was one commentator that put it this way that, for Marco to suggest our record's the same is like suggesting "the fireman and the arsonist because they are both at the scene of the fire." He was fighting to grant amnesty and not to secure the border, I was fighting to secure the border. And this also goes to trust, listening on to campaign trails. Candidates all the time make promises. You know, Marco said," he learned that the American people didn't trust the federal government." +p3587 +aVIn Florida promising to... +p3588 +aVgo in the fight against amnesty... +p3589 +aVHe campaigned promising to lead the fight against amnesty. +p3590 +aVI have never supported a legalization... +p3591 +aVI have never supported legalization, and I do not intend to support legalization. Let me tell you how you do this, what you do is you enforce the law... +p3592 +aVWatt you do is enforcement the law... +p3593 +aVWhat you do... +p3594 +aVWhat you do is you enforce the law. I've laid out a very, very detailed immigration plan on my website, tedcruz.org. It's 11 pages of existing federal law and in particular the question of what to do with people who are here now? You enforce the law. That means you stop the Obama administration's policy of releasing criminal illegal aliens. Do you know how many aliens Bill Clinton deported? 12 million. Do you know how many illegal aliens, George W. Bush deported? 10 million. We can enforce the laws and if we secure the border, that solves the problem. And as president I will solve this problem and secure the border. +p3595 +aVDana, what I said in private is exactly what I'll say here, which is that the judgment that every voter is making of every one of us up here is who has the experience, who has the vision, who has the judgment to be commander in chief. That is the most important decision for the voters to make. That's a standard I'm held to. And it's a standard everyone else is held to. And I will note, you know, in the whole course of this discussion about our foreign policy threats, it actually illustrates the need for clarity of focus. You know, my daughters, Caroline and Catherine, came tonight. They're 7 and 5. And you think about the Los Angeles schools canceling their schools today. And every parent is wondering, how do we keep our kids safe? We need a commander in chief who does what Ronald Reagan did with communism, which is he set out a global strategy to defeat Soviet communism. And he directed all of his... I'm answering the question, Dana. He directed all of his forces to defeating communism. One of the things we've seen here is how easy it is for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to get distracted from dealing with radical Islamic terrorism. They won't even call it by its name. We need a president who stands up, number one, and says, we will defeat +p3596 +aVAnd we need to be focused on defeating... +p3597 +aV... defeating radical Islamic terrorists. +p3598 +aVWhat I'm saying, Dana, is that is a judgment for every voter to make. What I can tell you is all nine of the people here would make an infinitely better commander in chief than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. +p3599 +aVAnd there is a real danger, Dana, when people get distracted. I'm answering the question, Wolf. There's a real danger when people get distracted by peripheral issues. They get distracted by democracy building. They get distracted about military conflicts. We need to focus on defeating jihadism. +p3600 +aVAnd I will do everything necessary to keep our children safe. +p3601 +aVJudgment, strength, clarity and trust. Barack Obama has said he doesn't believe in American leadership or America winning \u2014 he is wrong. America can win again and we will win again. Ronald Reagan reignited the American economy, rebuilt the Military, bankrupted the Soviet Union and defeated Soviet Communism. I will do the same thing. Cutting taxes, cutting regulation, unleashing small businesses and rebuilding the Military to defeat radical Islamic terrorism \u2014 our strategy is simple. We win, they lose. We've done it before and we can do it again. +p3602 +aVWell, Maria, it's great to be with you. It's great to be here in Milwaukee. You know, the question you asked really I think is the most important question any of us can have \u2014 face, which is, how do we get the economy growing? How do we bring back economic growth? Because economic growth, it's foundational to every other challenge we have. As you rightly noted, from 2008 to today, our economy has grown 1.2 percent a year on average. The Obama economy is a disaster, and the IMF is telling us this is a new normal. It doesn't have to be. If you look at the history of America, there are three levers that government has had to facilitate economic growth. The first is tax reform. And as you noted, I have rolled out a bold and simple flat tax: 10 percent for every American that would produce booming growth and 4.9 million new jobs within a decade. The second element is regulatory reform, pulling back the armies of regulators that have descended like locusts on small businesses. And the third element is sound money. Every time we've pursued all three of those \u2014 whether in the 1920s with Calvin Coolidge or the 1960s with JFK or the 1980s with Ronald Reagan \u2014 the result has been incredible economic growth. We have done it before, and with leadership, we can do it again. +p3603 +aVWell, my Mom is here, so I don't think we should be pushing any grannies off cliffs. And, you miss-stated what I've said on entitlement reform. What I've said is for seniors we should make no changes whatsoever, for younger workers we should gradually raise the retirement age, we should have benefits grow more slowly, and we should allow them to keep a portion of their taxes in a personal account that they control, and can pass on to their kids... +p3604 +aVI want to go back to the discussion we had a minute ago because, you know, what was said was right. The democrats are laughing \u2014 because if republicans join democrats as the party of amnesty, we will lose. And, you know, I understand that when the mainstream media covers immigration, it doesn't often see it as an economic issue. But, I can tell you for millions \u2014 of Americans at home watching this, it is a very personal economic issue. And, I will say the politics of it will be very, very different if a bunch of lawyers or bankers were crossing the Rio Grande. Or if a bunch of people with journalism degrees were coming over and driving down the wages in the press. Then, we would see stories about the economic calamity that is befalling our nation. And, I will say for those of us who believe people 'ought to come to this country legally, and we should enforce the law, we're tired of being told it's anti-immigrant. It's offensive. I am the son of an immigrant who came legally from Cuba... ...to seek the American dream. And, we can embrace legal immigration while believing in the rule of law \u2014 and I would note, try going illegally to another country. Try going to China, or Japan. Try going to Mexico. See what they do. Every sovereign nation secures its borders, and it is not compassionate to say we're not going to enforce the laws... ...And we're going to drive down the wages for millions of hardworking men and women. That is abandoning the working... +p3605 +aVWell, sure, you put your finger on what the problem is. The current system isn't fair. Washington is fundamentally corrupt. There are more words in the IRS code than there are in the Bible \u2014 and \u2014 and not a one of them is as good. Every one of them reflects a carve-out or a subsidy, and it's all about empowering the Washington cartel. My simple Flat Tax says that, for a family of four, for the first $36,000 you earn, you pay no taxes whatsoever. No income taxes, no payroll taxes, no nothing. Above that, every American pays 10 percent across the board \u2014 a flat, fair tax. Which means that no longer do you have hedge-fund billionaires paying a lower tax rate than their secretaries. On the business side, I've got a business flat tax of 16 percent \u2014 again, that applies across the board. Right now, with our corporate income tax, giant corporations with armies of accountants regularly are paying little to no taxes while small businesses are getting hammered. This is fair and across-the-board. Now, you ask, how do the numbers add up? I would encourage folks, if you go to our website, tedcruz.org, we have the specific numbers on the website. This plan eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax, eliminates the corporate income tax, and it abolishes the IRS. And the effect of that is incredible economic growth. It means every income group will see double-digit increases, from the very poorest to the very weakest, of at least 14 percent. So if you're a single mom, if you're making $40,000 a year, what that means is an extra about $5,000 in your pocket to provide for your kids, to make ends meet. It has a powerful, powerful effect. And there's one other really powerful feature of my plan, which is that it's border-adjustable. Which means, if you're an exporter \u2014 if you're a farmer, if you're a rancher, if you're a manufacturer, you don't pay the businesses flat tax. Exports are free of that tax, but all imports pay that 16 percent business flat tax, which means this tax plan would cause jobs to boom, and it would let America compete with China and the world on a level playing field. +p3606 +aVWell, the numbers the Tax Foundation had put out is that the static cost of the plan is $3.6 trillion over 10 years, but the dynamic cost of the plan, which \u2014 which is the cost that factors in growth, is about $768 billion. It is less than a trillion. It costs less than virtually every other plan people have put up here, and yet it produces more growth and it's one of the very few plans that abolishes the IRS. But on top of that, today, we rolled out a spending plan. $500 billion in specific cuts \u2014 five major agencies that I would eliminate. The IRS, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Energy, the Department of Commerce, and HUD \u2014 and then 25 specific programs. Again, that's on our website at tedcruz.org. You want to look at specificity? It's easy for everyone to say, "cut spending". It's much harder and riskier to put out, chapter and verse, specifically the programs you would cut to stop bankrupting our kids and grandkids. +p3607 +aV...Middle ground that brings both of these together... +p3608 +aV...Exactly right, that we have to defend this nation. You think defending this nation is expensive, try not defending it. That's a lot more expensive. But, you can do that, and pay for it. You can do that, and also be fiscally responsible. You know, I mention that the 25 programs that I put today, that I would eliminate them. Among them are corporate welfare, like sugar subsidies. Let's take that as an example. Sugar subsidies. Sugar farmers farm under... ...under roughly 0.2% of the farmland in America, and yet they give 40% of the lobbying money. That sort of corporate welfare is why we're bankrupting our kids, and grandkids. I would end those subsidies to pay for defending this nation... +p3609 +aVAbsolutely yes. You know, I have spent much of my adult life enforcing the law and defending the Constitution. And the problem that underlies all of this is the cronyism and corruption of Washington. You know, the opening question Jerry asked, would you bail out the big banks again? Nobody gave you an answer to that. I'll give you an answer. Absolutely not. And what we have right now is we have Washington \u2014 as government gets bigger and bigger, you know, the biggest lie in all of Washington and in all of politics is that Republicans are the party of the rich. The truth is, the rich do great with big government. They get in bed with big government. The big banks get bigger and bigger and bigger under Dodd-Frank and community banks are going out of business. And, by the way, the consequence of that is small businesses can't get business loans, and it is that fundamental corruption that is why six of the 10 wealthiest counties in America are in and around Washington, D.C. And let me give you a contrast to Washington cronyism. Some weeks ago, a woman named Sabina Loving testified at a hearing that I chaired in the Senate. Sabina Loving is an African-American single mom who started a tax preparation business in the south side of Chicago. She found a store front, she wanted to have her own business. She started a business. But then the IRS promulgated new regulations targeting tax preparers. They did it under a more than 100-year-old statute called the Dead Horse Act. Now, this statute and the IRS in classic Washington crony fashion had exemptions for lawyers and big fancy accountants, but Sabina had to pay $1,000 an employee. It would have driven her out of business, and Ms. Loving sued the IRS. She took the Obama IRS to court, and she won, and they struck down the rule for picking the big guys over the little guys. +p3610 +aVYes. Now, let's be clear, there is a role for the Federal Reserve \u2014 what the Fed is doing now is it is a series of philosopher- kings trying to guess what's happening with the economy. You look at the Fed, one of the reasons we had the financial crash is throughout the 2000s, we had loose money, we had an asset bubble, it drove up the price of real estate, drove up the price of commodities, and then in the third quarter of 2008, the Fed tightened the money and crashed those asset prices, which caused a cascading collapse. That's why I am supporting getting back to rules-based monetary system not with a bunch of philosopher-kings deciding, but tied... +p3611 +aVSo let me be clear. I would not bail them out, but instead of adjusting monetary policy according to whims and getting it wrong over and over again and causing booms and busts, what the Fed should be doing is, number one, keeping our money tied to a stable level of gold, and, number two, serving as a lender of last resort. That's what central banks do. So if you have a run on the bank, the Fed can serve as a lender of last resort, but it's not a bailout. It is a loan at higher interest rates. That's how central banks have worked. And I'll point out \u2014 look, we had a gold standard under Bretton Woods, we had it for about 170 years of our nation's history, and enjoyed booming economic growth and lower inflation than we have had with the Fed now. We need to get back to sound money, which helps, in particular, working men and women. What Washington does \u2014 the people who are doing well in the Obama economy are those with power and influence in the Obama government. The people who working men and women... +p3612 +aVSo, Governor Kasich... +p3613 +aV...why would you then bail out rich Wall Street banks, but not Main street, not Mom and Pop, not Sabina Loving? +p3614 +aVBut you just said an executive... +p3615 +aV...knows to step in and bail out a bank. +p3616 +aVSo you said you'd abandon philosophy and abandon principle... +p3617 +aV...but what would you do if the bank was failing? +p3618 +aVSo you \u2014 you would bail them out. +p3619 +aVAnd, Maria, I will note, she's got a lot of experience, but her policies have proven disastrous. If you look at foreign policy, every region in the world has gotten worse. Under her leadership, we abandon the nation of Israel. Under her leadership, radical Islamic terrorism has been on to the rise. Under her leadership, and Obama's leadership, Iran is getting $100 billion dollars, and on the verge of getting a nuclear weapon. Everything she's put her hand to, or has touched \u2014 and when we talk about the cronyism of Washington, Hillary Clinton embodies the cronyism... ...of Washington. And, I'll give you an example of that, which is the Congressional exemption from Obamacare, which is fundamentally wrong, and I'll tell you this, if I'm elected president, I will veto any statute that exempts members of congress. The law should apply evenly to every American. +p3620 +aVMaria, critically, when it comes to climate change... +p3621 +aV...Our \u2014 our... +p3622 +aVFifty-eight years ago, my father fled Cuba. As he stood on the deck of that ferryboat with the wind and salt air blowing, he looked back at the oppression and torture he was escaping. And yet he looked forward to the promise of America. His story is our story. What ties Americans together is we are all the children of those who risked everything for freedom. America is in crisis now. I believe in America. And if we get back to the free market principles and constitutional liberties that built this country, we can turn this country around. I believe that 2016 will be an election like 1980, that we will win by following Reagan's admonition to paint in bold colors, not pale pastels. We're building a grassroots army. I ask you to join us at tedcruz.org. And we, the people, can turn this nation around. +p3623 +aVI'm too agreeable, easy going. You know, I think my biggest weakness is exactly the opposite. I'm a fighter. I am passionate about what I believe. I've been passionate my whole life about the Constitution. And, you know, for six-and-a-half years, we've had a gigantic party. If you want someone to grab a beer with, I may not be that guy. But if you want someone to drive you home, I will get the job done and I will get you home. +p3624 +aVBecky, if you want a 10 percent flat tax where the numbers add up, I rolled out my tax plan today, you can find it on line at tedcruz.org. It is a simple flat tax where for individuals, a family of four pays nothing on the first $36,000. After that you pay 10 percent as a flat tax going up. The billionaire and the working man, no hedge fund manager pays less than his secretary. On top of that, there is a business flat tax of 16 percent. Now that applies universally to giant corporations that with lobbyists right now are not paying taxes, and as small business. And you wanted to know the numbers, the Tax Foundation, which has scored every one of our plans, shows that this plan will allow the economy to generate 4.9 million jobs, to raise wages over 12 percent, and to generate 14 percent growth. And it costs, with dynamic scoring, less than a trillion dollars. Those are the hard numbers. And every single income decile sees a double-digit increase in after-tax income. +p3625 +aVGrowth is the answer. And as Reagan demonstrated, if we cut taxes, we can bring back growth. +p3626 +aVYou know, let me say something at the outset. The questions that have been asked so far in this debate illustrate why the American people don't trust the media. This is not a cage match. And, you look at the questions \u2014 "Donald Trump, are you a comic-book villain?" "Ben Carson, can you do math?" "John Kasich, will you insult two people over here?" "Marco Rubio, why don't you resign?" "Jeb Bush, why have your numbers fallen?" How about talking about the substantive issues the people care about? +p3627 +aVAnd Carl \u2014 Carl, I'm not finished yet. The contrast with the Democratic debate, where every fawning question from the media was, "Which of you is more handsome and why?" And let me be clear. +p3628 +aVLet me be clear. The men and women on this stage have more ideas, more experience, more common sense than every participant in the Democratic debate. That debate reflected a debate between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. And nobody watching at home believed that any of the moderators had any intention of voting in a Republican primary. The questions that are being asked shouldn't be trying to get people to tear into each other. It should be what are your substantive positions... +p3629 +aVYou want me to answer that question? I'm happy to answer the question... +p3630 +aVLet me tell you how that question... +p3631 +aVLet me tell you how that question... +p3632 +aV... so you don't actually want to hear the answer, John? +p3633 +aVYou don't want to hear the answer. You just want to... +p3634 +aVYou're not interested in an answer. +p3635 +aV...Then I'll buy you a tequila... +p3636 +aV...Or, even some famous Colorado brownies. +p3637 +aVWell, sure. This deal in Washington is an example of why Washington's broken. Republican leadership joined with every single Democrat, add $80 trillion to our debt to do nothing to fix the problems. And, let me now on Social Security because we were getting into a good substantive exchange, and I want to say I think both Chris, and Mike are right. Governor Huckabee's exactly right, we need to honor the promises made to our seniors, but for younger workers \u2014 look. I'm 44 years old. It is hard to find someone in my generation that thinks Social Security will be there for us. We can save and preserve and strengthen Social Security by making no changes for seniors, but for younger workers gradually increasing the retirement age, changing the rate of growth so that it matches inflation, and critically allowing younger workers to keep a portion of our tax payments in a personal account that we own, we control them, we can pass on to our kids. +p3638 +aVWell, we've gotta turn the economy around for people who are struggling. The Democrats' answer to everything is more government control over wages, and more empowering trial lawyers to file lawsuits. You know, you look at women working. I'll tell you, in my family there are a lot of single moms in my family. My sister was a single mom, both of my aunts who were a single moms. My mom who's here today, was a single mom when my father left us when I was 3 years old. Now, thank God, my father was invited to a Bible study and became born again and he came back to my mom and me and we were raised together. But I \u2014 the struggle of single moms is extraordinary. And you know, when you see Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and all the Democrats talking about wanting to address the plight of working women, not a one of them mentioned the fact that under Barack Obama, 3.7 million women have entered poverty. Not a one of them mentioned the fact that under Barack Obama and the big government economy, the median wage for women has dropped $733. The the truth of the matter is, big government benefits the wealthy, it benefits the lobbyists, it benefits the giant corporations. And the people who are getting hammered are small businesses, it's single moms, it's Hispanics. That is who I'm fighting for. The people that Washington leaves behind. +p3639 +aVWell, Rick, it's a very important question. I have got deep concerns about the Fed. The first thing I think we need to do is audit the Fed. And I am an original co-sponsor of Rand Paul's audit the Fed legislation. The second thing we need to do is I think we need to bring together a bipartisan commission to look at getting back to rules- based monetary policy, end this star chamber that has been engaging in this incredible experiment of quantitative easing, QE1, QE2, QE3, QE- infinity. And the people who are being impacted, you know, a question that was asked earlier, Becky asked, was about working women. You know, it's interesting, you look at on Wall Street, the Fed is doing great. It's driving up stock prices. Wall Street is doing great. You know, today, the top 1 percent earn a higher share of our income than any year since 1928. But if you look at working men and women. If you look at a single mom buying groceries, she sees hamburger prices have gone up nearly 40 percent. She sees her cost of electricity going up. She sees her health insurance going up. And loose money is one of the major problems. We need sound money. And I think the Fed should get out of the business of trying to juice our economy and simply be focused on sound money and monetary stability, ideally tied to gold. +p3640 +aVLet me say on that... +p3641 +aV...Rand is exactly right. His plan is a good plan, and I will note that my 10% plan also eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax, +p3642 +aV...eliminates the business... [ +p3643 +aV...income tax... [ +p3644 +aV...10% flat rate... +p3645 +aV...is the lowest personal rate any candidate up here has, and what it would also enable us to do is for every citizen to fill out their taxes on a postcard so we can eliminate the IRS. +p3646 +aVYou know, everyone here talks about the need to take on Washington. The natural next question is who actually has done so. Who actually has stood up not just to Democrats, but to leaders in our own party? When millions of Americans rose up against Obamacare, I was proud to lead that fight. When millions of Americans rose up against amnesty, I was proud to lead that fight. When millions of Americans rose up against Planned Parenthood, I was proud to lead that fight. If people are promising they're going to take on Washington and cronyism, you need to look to who has been doing it. In my family, my dad fled oppression in Cuba to come to America. Freedom is personal for me, and I will always keep my word and fight for freedom. +p3647 +aVI'm Ted Cruz. I am the son of an Irish-Italian mom and a Cuban immigrant dad who fled oppression and came to America seeking freedom. I'm a husband to my best friend, Heidi, who's here tonight. I'm a dad to two little girls who are the loves of my life, Caroline and Catherine. If you're fed up with Washington, if you're looking for someone to stand up to career politicians in both parties, I'm the only one on this stage who has done that over and over again, and if we stand together, we can bring America back. +p3648 +aVWell, let me tell you, Jake, the single biggest national security threat facing America right now is the threat of a nuclear Iran. We've seen six and a half years of President Obama leading from behind. Weakness is provocative, and this Iranian nuclear deal is nothing short of catastrophic. This deal, on its face, will send over $100 billion to the Ayatollah Khamenei, making the Obama administration the world's leading financier of radical Islamic terrorism. +p3649 +aVThis deal abandons four American hostages in Iran, and this deal will only accelerate Iran's acquiring nuclear weapons. You'd better believe it. If I am elected president, on the very first day in office, I will rip to shreds this catastrophic Iranian nuclear deal. +p3650 +aVWell, let's be clear when it comes to experience. What President Obama wants to do is he's run to the United Nations, and he wants to use the United Nations to bind the United States, and take away our sovereignty. Well, I spent five and a half years as a Solicitor General of Texas, the lead lawyer for the state, in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, and I went in front of the Supreme Court, and took on the world court of the United Nations in a case called Medellin v. Texas, and we won a historic victory saying the World Court, and the U.N., has no power to bind the United States, and no President of the United States, Republican or Democrat, has the authority to give away our sovereignty. And, so, if there's anyone up here who would be bound by this catastrophic deal with Iran, they're giving up the core responsibility of commander in chief, and as president, I would never do that. +p3651 +aVJake, Jake... +p3652 +aVJake, there is no more important topic in 2016 than this topic right here, and I've listened to several folks saying, "Well, gosh, if they cheat, we'll act." We won't know under this agreement \u2014 there are several facilities in Iran they designate as military facilities that are off limit all together. Beyond that, the other facilities, we give them 24 days notice before inspecting them. That is designed to allow them to hide the evidence. And most astonishingly, this agreement trusts the Iranians to inspect themselves. That makes no sense whatsoever. And let me know \u2014 President Obama is violating federal law... +p3653 +aV... by not handing over the side deals, and we ought to see the United States Congress... +p3654 +aV... stand up together and say, "Hand over this treaty, and protect this country." +p3655 +aVWell, let me tell you, Dana, number one, I'm proud to stand for life. These Planned Parenthood videos are horrifying. I would encourage every American to watch the videos. See \u2014 seeing your Planned Parenthood officials callously, heartlessly bartering and selling the body parts of human beings, and then ask yourself, "are these my values?" These are horrifying. On these videos, Planned Parenthood also essentially confesses to multiple felonies. It is a felony with ten years' jail term to sell the body parts of unborn children for profit. That's what these videos show Planned Parenthood doing. Absolutely we shouldn't be sending $500 million of taxpayer money to funding an ongoing criminal enterprise, and I'll tell you, the fact that Republican leadership in both houses has begun this discussion by preemptively surrendering to Barack Obama and saying, "we'll give in because Obama threatens a veto." You know, Obama's committed to his principles. His liberal principles, he will fight for them. He says... +p3656 +aVI will veto any budget that doesn't fund Planned Parenthood, and Republicans surrender. We need to stop surrendering and start standing... +p3657 +aV...for our principles. +p3658 +aVWell, Jake, you know, I'm \u2014 I'm very glad that Donald Trump's being in this race has forced the mainstream media finally to talk about illegal immigration. I think that's very important. I like and respect Ben Carson. I'll let him talk about his own plans. But I will say this: The natural next question that primary voters are asking, after we focus on illegal immigration is, okay, what are the records of the various candidates? And this is an issue on which there are stark differences. A majority of the men and women on this stage have previously and publicly embraced amnesty. I am the only candidate on this stage who has never supported amnesty and, in fact, who helped lead the fight to stop a massive amnesty plan. In 2013, when Barack Obama and Harry Reid joined the Washington Republicans in a massive, I stood shoulder to shoulder with Jeff Sessions helping lead the fight. You know, folks here have talked about, how do you secure the borders? Well, I've been leading the fight in the Senate to triple the Border Patrol, to put in place fencings and walls, to put in place a strong biometric exit/entry system... +p3659 +aVWell, Dana, I've known John Roberts for 20 years, he's amazingly talented lawyer, but, yes, it was a mistake when he was appointed to the Supreme Court. He's a good enough lawyer that he knows in these Obamacare cases he changed the statute, he changed the law in order to force that failed law on millions of Americans for a political outcome. And, you know, we're frustrated as conservatives. We keep winning elections, and then we don't get the outcome we want. And, let me focus on two moments in time. Number one, in 1990, in one room was David Souter, and in another room was Edith Jones, the rock ribbed (ph) conservative on the fifth circuit court of appeals. George Herbert Walker Bush appointed David Souter. And then in 2005, in one room was John Roberts, in another room was my former boss, Mike Luttig, the rock ribbed (ph) conservative on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals... +p3660 +aV...George W. Bush appointed John Roberts, and let me give you the consequences of that. If, instead, the President Bush had appointed Edith Jones, and Mike Luttig, which is who I would have appointed, Obamacare would have been struck down three years ago, and the marriage laws of all 50 states would be on the books. These matter, and I fought to defend the constitution my whole life... +p3661 +aV...and I will as president as well. +p3662 +aVIt is true that after George W. Bush nominated John Roberts, I supported his confirmation. That was a mistake and I regret that. I wouldn't have nominated John Roberts, and indeed, Governor Bush pointed out why. It wasn't that the President Bushes wanted to appoint a liberal to the court, it's that it was the easier choice. Both David Souter and John Roberts, they didn't have a long paper trail. If you had nominated Edith Jones or Mike Ludig (ph) you would have had a bloody fight and they weren't willing to spend political capital to put a strong judicial conservative on the court. I have spent my entire life, starting from clerking for Chief Justice William Rehnquist on the United States Supreme Court, one of the most principled jurists. We have an out-of-control Court, and I give you my word, if I'm elected president, every single Supreme Court justice will faithfully follow the law and will not act like philosopher kings \u2014 +p3663 +aV\u2014 imposing their liberal policies on millions of Americans \u2014 +p3664 +aV\u2014 who need to be trusted to govern ourselves. +p3665 +aVI \u2014 I am not, and \u2014 and you mentioned that the U.S. Supreme Court had rightly upheld the individual right to keep and bear arms. I was proud to lead 31 states before the U.S. Supreme Court defending the Second Amendment, and we won that landmark victory. And indeed, just a couple of years ago, when Harry Reid and Barack Obama came after the right to keep and bear arms of millions of Americans, I was proud to lead the fight in the United States Senate to protect our right to keep and bear arms, and for that reason... +p3666 +aV... I was honored to be endorsed by Gun Owners of America... +p3667 +aV... as the strongest supporter of the Second Amendment on this stage today, and I will... +p3668 +aV... fight every day to defend the Bill of Rights. +p3669 +aVWell, I wouldn't change the $10 bill, I'd change the $20. I'd take Jackson off and I'd leave Alexander Hamilton right where he is as one of our Founding Fathers. And I very much agree with Marco that it should be Rosa Parks. She was a principled pioneer that helped change this country, helped remedy racial injustice, and that would be an honor that would be entirely appropriate. +p3670 +aVYou know, as a Cuban, I might go with Cohiba (ph), and I'll tell you, I'd go with, for Heidi, Angel, because she is my angel. +p3671 +aVRonald Reagan believed in America. If I'm elected president our friends and allies across the globe will know that we stand with them. the bust of Winston Churchill will be back in the Oval Office, and the American embassy in Israel will be in Jerusalem. Enemies across this world will know the United States is not to be trifled with. +p3672 +aVChris, I believe the American people are looking for someone to speak the truth. If you're looking for someone to go to Washington, to go along to get along, to get -- to agree with the career politicians in both parties who get in bed with the lobbyists and special interests, then I ain't your guy. There is a reason... .... that we have $18 trillion in debt. Because as conservatives, as Republicans, we keep winning elections. We got a Republican House, we've got a Republican Senate, and we don't have leaders who honor their commitments. I will always tell the truth and do what I said I would do. +p3673 +aVChris, absolutely yes. And not only will I support it......I have authored Kate's law in the United States Senate and filed that legislation. I tried to get the Senate to vote to pass Kate's law on the floor of the Senate just one week ago, and the leader of our own party blocked a vote on Kate's law. You know, there was reference made to our leaders being stupid. It's not a question of stupidity. It's that they don't want to enforce the immigration laws. That there are far too many in the Washington cartel that support amnesty. President Obama has talked about fundamentally transforming this country. There's 7 billion people across the face of the globe, many of whom want to come to this country. If they come legally, great. But if they come illegally and they get amnesty, that is how we fundamentally change this country, and it really is striking. A majority of the candidates on this stage have supported amnesty. I have never supported amnesty, and I led the fight against Chuck Schumer's gang of eight amnesty legislation in the Senate. +p3674 +aVMegyn, we need a commander in chief that speaks the truth. We will not defeat radical Islamic terrorism so long as we have a president unwilling to utter the words, "radical Islamic terrorism". When I asked General Dempsey, the chairman of the joint chiefs, what would be required militarily to destroy +p3675 +aVMegyn, of course it's an ideological problem, that's one of the reasons I introduce the Expatriate Terrorist Act in the Senate that said if any American travels to the Middle East and joining +p3676 +aVWell, Bret, of course they have, and over the last six and a half years we've seen the consequences of the Obama-Clinton foreign policy. Leading from behind is a disaster. We have abandoned and alienated our friends and allies, and our enemies are stronger. Radical Islam is on the rise, Iran's on the verge of acquiring a nuclear weapon, China is waging cyber warfare against America, Russia -- General Soleimani, you just mentioned, the Iranian general is the head of the al Quds forces. He's directly responsible for the murder of over 500 American servicemen in Iraq, and part of this Iranian deal was lifting the international sanctions on General Soleimani. The day General Soleimani flew back from Moscow to Iran was the day we believed that Russia used cyber warfare against the Joint Chiefs. We need a new commander in chief that will stand up to our enemies, and that will have credibility... It is worth emphasizing that Iran released our hostages in 1981 the day Ronald Reagan was sworn into office. +p3677 +aVBrett, can I -- Brett, can I jump in on this one? +p3678 +aVWell, I am blessed to receive a word from God every day in receiving the scriptures and reading the scriptures. And God speaks through the Bible. I'm the son of a pastor and evangelist and I've described many times how my father, when I was a child, was an alcoholic. He wasn't a Christian. And my father left my mother and left me when I was just three years old. And someone invited him to Clay Road Baptist Church. And he gave his heart to Jesus and it turned him around. And he got on a plane and he flew back to my mother and me. I would also note that the scripture tells us, "you shall know them by their fruit." We see lots of "campaign conservatives." But if we're going to win in 2016, we need a consistent conservative, someone who has been a fiscal conservative, a social conservative, a national security conservative. There are real differences among the candidates on issues like amnesty, like Obamacare, like religious liberty, like life and marriage. And I have been proud to fight and stand for religious liberty, to stand against Planned Parenthood, to defend life for my entire career. And I will be proud to continue to do so as president of the United States. +p3679 +aVIf I'm elected president, let me tell you about my first day in office. The first thing I intend to do is to rescind every illegal and unconstitutional executive action taken by Barack Obama. The next thing I intend to do is instruct the Department of Justice to open an investigation into these videos and to prosecute Planned Parenthood for any criminal violations. The next thing I intend to do is instruct the Department of Justice and the IRS to start (sic) persecuting religious liberty, and then intend to cancel the Iran deal, and finally move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. I will keep my word. My father fled Cuba, and I will fight to defend liberty because my family knows what it's like to lose it. +p3680 +aVWell, we have 80 years of precedent of not confirming Supreme Court justices in an election year. And let me say, Justice Scalia... +p3681 +aVEighty years of not confirming. For example, L.B.J. nominated Abe Fortas. Fortas did not get confirmed. He was defeated. +p3682 +aVNo, Kennedy was confirmed in '87... +p3683 +aVHe was appointed in... +p3684 +aVIn this case it's both. But if I could answer the question... +p3685 +aVJustice Scalia was a legal giant. He was somebody that I knew for 20 years. He was a brilliant man. He was faithful to the Constitution. He changed the arc of American legal history. And I'll tell you, his passing tonight, our prayers are with his family, with his wife, Maureen, who he adored, his nine children, his 36 grandkids. But it underscores the stakes of this election. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that will strike down every restriction on abortion adopted by the states. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that will reverse the Heller decision, one of Justice Scalia's seminal decisions, that upheld the Second Amendment right to keep and to bear arms. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that would undermine the religious liberty of millions of Americans \u2014 and the stakes of this election, for this year, for the Senate, the Senate needs to stand strong and say, "We're not going to give up the U.S. Supreme Court for a generation by allowing Barack Obama to make one more liberal appointee." And then for the state of South Carolina, one of the most important judgments for the men and women of South Carolina to make is who on this stage has the background, the principle, the character, the judgment and the strength of resolve to nominate and confirm principled constitutionalists to the court? That will be what I will do if I'm elected president. +p3686 +aVWell, we need to focus on what the objective is, you know? Your question about the first three questions you would ask in this Situation Room. I think it is a problem if the president, commander in chief, we've elected does not have the experience and background to understand the threats facing this country coming in on Day 1. If you look at the threats facing this country, the single gravest threat, national security threat, is the threat of a nuclear Iran. That's why I've pledged on Day 1 to rip to shreds this Iranian nuclear deal, and anyone that thinks you can negotiate Khamenei does not understand the nature of Khamenei. When it comes to +p3687 +aVWe have Kurds in both Iraq and Syria. They are fighting +p3688 +aVWell, let me say it at the outset that everyone here understands \u2014 everyone understands that how \u2014 that the middle class has been left behind in the last seven years of the Obama economy, and we've got to bring jobs back. We've got to get people back to work. We've got to get wages going up again. We've got to get people moving from part-time work to full-time work. We all agree on that, but it's not going to be solved with magic pixie dust. It's just going to be solved by declaring into the air, "Let there be jobs." We actually have to understand the principles that made America great in the first place. Now, where do you get economic growth? If you look at cause and effect over our nation's history, every time we lessen the burden of Washington on small-business owners, on job creators, we see incredible economic growth. You do that through tax reform and regulatory reform. My tax plan \u2014 typical family of four, first $36,000 you earn, you pay nothing in taxes \u2014 no income taxes, no payroll taxes, no nothing. Above 10 percent, everyone pays the same simple, flat 10 percent income rate. It's flat and fair. You can fill out your taxes on a postcard, and we abolish the I.R.S. If you want to see the postcard, I've got it on my website. +p3689 +aVNow, Major, the business flat tax that is in my tax plan is not a VAT. A VAT in Europe is a sales tax. The business flat tax is not a sales tax, it is a tax of 16 percent opposed fairly and evenly across the board on all business. One of the things that's critical is we're doing that in conjunction with abolishing the corporate income tax, with abolishing the Obamacare taxes, with abolishing the payroll taxes, which are the biggest taxes paid by most working Americans, and with abolishing the death tax, which is cruel and unfair. And you asked about economic growth \u2014 the nonpartisan Tax Foundation estimated a simple flat tax that would produce 4.9 million new jobs, it would increase capital investment by 44 percent and would lift everyone's income by double digits. That's how you turn the country around, not just hoping and praying for it, but implementing policies that work. +p3690 +aVWell, you know, your question highlights a sharp difference on immigration on this stage. You know, in a Republican primary, everyone talks tough on immigration. Everyone is against illegal immigration in a Republican primary. But as voters, we've been burned over and over again by people that give us a great campaign speech and they don't walk the walk. There are sharp differences on amnesty. If you look at the folks on this stage, when Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer and establishment Republicans were leading the fight to pass a massive amnesty plan, I stood with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and the American people and led the fight to defeat that amnesty plan. +p3691 +aVNow, that moment... +p3692 +aVThat moment was what Reagan would call "a time for choosing." When it comes to deciding which side of the line you're on, the Rubio-Schumer amnesty plan......apparently supported by the donor class, which is why Washington supported it. The Rubio-Schumer amnesty plan passed the Senate, and it was on the verge of passing the House. House leadership intended to take it up and pass it with the Democrats overruling most of the Republicans. And the question for anyone on illegal immigration is, where were you in that fight? Where did you stand? You are right. There is a difference between Senator Rubio and me on this question. +p3693 +aVMajor, I get a response to that. +p3694 +aVYou know, the lines are very, very clear. Marco right now supports citizenship for 12 million people here illegally. I oppose citizenship. Marco stood on the debate stage and said that. But I would note not only that \u2014 Marco has a long record when it comes to amnesty. In the state of Florida, as speaker of the house, he supported in-state tuition for illegal immigrants. In addition to that, Marco went on Univision in Spanish and said he would not rescind President Obama's illegal executive amnesty on his first day in office. I have promised to rescind every single illegal executive action, including that one. And on the question... +p3695 +aV. +p3696 +aVThat is simply... +p3697 +aVThat is absolutely false. What he said is knowingly false. And I would note, if you want to assess \u2014 if you want to assess... +p3698 +aV... who is telling the truth... If you want to assess who is telling the truth......then you should look to Jeff Sessions, who said, without Ted Cruz the Rubio-Schumer amnesty bill would have passed, and Ted was responsible. You should look to Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin, that said... +p3699 +aVI think it is a very important question because the people who have been hurt the most in the Obama economy had been the most vulnerable. It's been young people. It's been Hispanics. It's been African-Americans. It's been single moms. We have the lowest percentage of Americans working today in any year since 1977. And the sad reality is big government, massive taxes, massive regulation, doesn't work. What we need to do instead is bring back booming economic growth, let \u2014 small businesses are the heart of the economy. Two-thirds of all new jobs come from small businesses. If we want to lift people out of poverty \u2014 you know, I think of these issues from the perspective of my dad. My dad fled Cuba in 1957. He was just 18. He couldn't speak English. He had nothing. He had $100 in his underwear. And he washed dishes making 50 cents an hour and paid his way through school. Today, my dad is a pastor. He travels the country preaching the gospel. Now, I think about all of these issues. How would it impact my dad when he was washing dishes? If we had Obamacare in place right now, the odds are very high my father would have been laid off, because it's teenaged kids like my dad who have gotten laid off. If he didn't get laid off, the odds are high he would have had his hours forcibly reduced to 28, 29 hours a week. We need to lift the burdens on small businesses so you have jobs, and we need welfare reform that gets people off of welfare and back to work. +p3700 +aVYou know, flexibility is a good thing, but it shouldn't \u2014 you shouldn't be flexible on core principles. I like Donald, he is an amazing entertainer, but his policies for most of his life... +p3701 +aVFor most of his life, his policies have been very, very liberal. For most of his life, he has described himself as very pro- choice and as a supporter of partial birth abortion. Right now, today, as a candidate, he supports federal taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood. I disagree with him on that. That's a matter of principle, and I'll tell you... +p3702 +aVDon, I need to go on... +p3703 +aVI will say, it is fairly remarkable to see Donald defending Ben after he called, "pathological," and compared him to a child molester. Both of which were offensive and wrong. But let me say this \u2014 you notice Donald didn't disagree with the substance that he supports taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood. And Donald has this weird pattern, when you point to his own record, he screams, "Liar, liar, liar." You want to go... +p3704 +aVYou want to go... +p3705 +aVIf you want to watch the video, go to our website at Tedcruz.org. +p3706 +aVYou can see it out of Donald's own mouth. +p3707 +aVYou supported it when we were battling over defunding Planned Parenthood. You went on... +p3708 +aVYou said, "Planned Parenthood does wonderful things and we should not defund it." +p3709 +aVSo I'll tell you what... +p3710 +aVYou see, you and I... +p3711 +aVDon, the reasoned principle matters. The reasoned principle matters, sadly was illustrated by the first questions today. The next president is going to appoint one, two, three, four Supreme Court justices. If Donald Trump is president, he will appoint liberals. If Donald Trump is president, your Second Amendment will gone... +p3712 +aVYou know how I know that? +p3713 +aVI did not nominate John Roberts. I would not have nominated John Roberts. +p3714 +aVI supported... +p3715 +aVYou need to learn to not interrupt people. +p3716 +aVDonald, adults learn... +p3717 +aVAdults learn not to interrupt people. +p3718 +aVI did not nominate him. I would not have nominated him. I would've nominated my former boss Liberman, who was Justice Scalia's first law clerk. And you know how I know that Donald's Supreme Court justices will be liberals? Because his entire life, he support liberals from Jimmy Carter, to Hillary Clinton, to John Kerry. In 2004, he contributed to John Kerry. Nobody who cares about judges would contribute to John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid. +p3719 +aVThat's what Donald Trump does. +p3720 +aVSouth Carolina, you have a critical choice to make. Our country literally hangs in the balance. Do you want another Washington deal maker who will do business as usual, cut deals with the Democrats, grow government, grow debt and give up our fundamental liberties? Or do you want a conservative, a proven conservative that will stand and fight with you each and every day? Listen, repealing Obamacare is not going to be easy. Passing a simple flat tax that abolishes the I.R.S. is not going to be easy, but if we stand with the American people, we can do it. And today, we saw just how great the stakes are. Two branches of government hang in the balance. Not just the presidency but the Supreme Court. If we get this wrong, if we nominate the wrong candidates, the Second Amendment, life, marriage, religious liberty \u2014 every one of those hangs in the balance. My little girls are here. I don't want to look my daughters in the eyes and say, "We lost their liberties." Who do you know will defend the Constitution and Bill of Rights? And as a commander in chief, who do you know will stand up to our enemies as the clam, steady, deliberate, strength to defeat our enemies, to secure our borders and to keep America safe. +p3721 +aVWell, you know, David, the assessment the voters are making here in New Hampshire and across the country is they are evaluating each and every one of us. They are looking to our experience. They are looking to our knowledge. They are looking to our temperament and judgment. They are looking to our clarity of vision and our strength of resolve. The world is getting much more dangerous. We've had seven years with Barack Obama in the oval office, a commander-in-chief that is unwilling even to acknowledge the enemy we're facing. This is a president who, in the wake of Paris, in the wake of San Bernardino, will not even use the words radical Islamic terrorism, much less focus on defeating the enemy. I am convinced every individual standing on this stage, would make a much better commander-in-chief than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders. And the primary voters are making the assessment for each of us, who is best prepared to keep this country safe, to rebuild the military, to rebuild our Navy, our Air Force, our Army, our Marines, and to ensure that we keep America safe. +p3722 +aVI think that is an assessment the voters are going to make. And they are going to make it of each and everyone of us. They are going to assess who is level-headed, who has clear vision, who has judgment, who can confront our enemies, who can confront the threats we face in this country, and who can have the judgment when to engage and when not to engage \u2014 both are incredibly important for a commander-in-chief, knowing how to go after our enemies. In the case of Iran, for example, who has the clarity of vision to understand that the Ayatollah Khamenei, when he chants, "Death to America," he means it. We need a president with the judgment and resolve to keep this country safe from radical Islamic terrorists. +p3723 +aVBen is a good and honorable man and Ben and Candy have become friends. He has an amazing life story that has inspired millions, including me. When this transpired, I apologized to him then and I do so now. Ben, I'm sorry. Let me tell you the facts of what occurred for those who are interested in knowing. On Monday night, about 6:30 p.m., CNN reported that Ben was not going from Iowa to New Hampshire or South Carolina. Rather, he was, quote, "Taking a break from campaigning." They reported that on television, CNN's political anchors, Jake Tapper and Dana Bash and Wolf Blitzer, said it was highly unusual and highly significant. My political team saw CNN's report breaking news and they forwarded that news to our volunteers, it was being covered on live television. Now, at the time, I was at the caucuses, I was getting ready to speak at the caucuses just like Ben was, just like everyone else was. I knew nothing about this. A couple hours later, I found out about it. I was told that Ben was unhappy. I called him that evening because I respect him very, very highly. I didn't reach him that evening. I reached him the next day and apologized. He asked me then, he said, Ted, would you make this apologize in public? I said, yes, I will. And I did so. I regret that subsequently, CNN reported on that \u2014 they didn't correct that story until 9:15 that night. So from 6:30 p.m. to 9:15, that's what CNN was reporting. Subsequent to that initial report, Ben's campaign put out a statement saying that he was not suspending his campaign. I wish that our campaign staff had forwarded that statement. They were unaware of it, I wish that they had, that's why I apologized. +p3724 +aVWell, I would note, initially the fact that we're seeing the launch, and we're seeing the launch from a nuclear North Korea is the direct result of the failures of the first Clinton administration. The Clinton administration led the world in relaxing sanctions against North Korea. Billions of dollars flowed into North Korea in exchange for promises not to build nuclear weapons. They took those billions and built nuclear weapons. And, I would note also the lead negotiator in that failed North Korea sanctions deal was a woman named Wendy Sherman who Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton promptly recruited to come back to be the lead negotiator with Iran. So, what we are seeing with North Korea is foreshadowing of where we will be with Iran. With respect to North Korea and what we should do now, one of the first things we should do is expand our missile defense capacity. We ought to put missile defense interceptors in South Korea. South Korea wants them. One of the real risks of this launch, North Korea wants to launch a satellite, and one of the greatest risks of the satellite is they would place a nuclear device in the satellite. As it would orbit around the Earth, and as it got over the United States they would detonate that nuclear weapon and set of what's called an EMP, and electromagnetic pulse which could take down the entire electrical grid on the Eastern seaboard, potentially killing millions. We need to harden the grid to defend ourselves, and we need missile defense to protect ourselves against North Korea. +p3725 +aVYou know, at this point I'm not going to speculate on that without the intelligence briefing that any Commander in Chief would have, knowing what exactly is there. One of the real problems... +p3726 +aV... Actually, with respect, I have gotten the intelligence briefings on the Mid-East. Those have been going on for many years. I haven't gotten the intelligence briefing tonight on what North Korea's doing because I'm here in new Hampshire. When you're responding to an immediate incident, you need to know the intelligence of what's occurring. But what I was saying \u2014 look, it is qualitatively different dealing with a country once they have nuclear weapons. It's why you prevent them from getting nuclear weapons in the first place \u2014 because your hands are somewhat tied once they have nukes. It's why this Iranian nuclear deal is so catastrophic, and it's why I've pledged, on the very first day in office, to rip to shreds this Iranian nuclear deal so we're not sitting here in five years, wondering what to do about an Iranian missile launch when they have nuclear weapons. The stakes are too high for that. +p3727 +aVSo, in terms of a practical solution, I've laid out the most detailed plan for solving illegal immigration. It's 11 pages, single-spaced, chapter and verse. It's on our website, tedcruz.org. In short, we're going to do, we're going to build a wall. We're going to triple the border patrol. We're going to increase \u2014 and actually, since Donald enjoyed that, I will simply say, I've got somebody in mind to build it. We're going to increase four-fold, the fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft, so that you have technology monitoring an attempted incursion to direct the boots on the ground where they're occurring. We're going to put in place a strong e-verify system in the workplace, so you can't get a job without proving you are here legally. We'll put in place a biometric exit-entry system on visas, because 40 percent of illegal immigration comes not over the border illegally, but people coming on visas and overstaying. We will end sanctuary cities by cutting off taxpayer dollars to any jurisdiction that defies federal immigration law. And we will end welfare benefits for those here illegally. +p3728 +aVWhat you do is, you enforce the law. You know, under the Constitution, the president has an obligation to, quote, "Take care that the laws be faithfully executed." Federal immigration law provides, if someone is here illegally and is apprehended, they are to be deported. We saw just this past week the head of the border patrol union testify before Congress that President Obama had given the order to the border patrol to stand down, not to enforce the law. That is wrong. I will enforce the law, and for everyone who says, you can't possibly do that, I would note that in eight years, Bill Clinton deported 12 million people. In eight years, George W. Bush deported 10 million people. Enforcing the law \u2014 we can do it. What is missing is the political will. And when they were deporting the people, the border wasn't secure, so they'd come right back. Once you secure the border, enforcing the law will solve this problem and that will benefit American workers. +p3729 +aVGood evening. +p3730 +aVWell, let me take two different parts of that. Let me start with socialized medicine. Socialized medicine is a disaster. It does not work. If you look at the countries that have imposed socialized medicine, that have put the government in charge of providing medicine, what inevitably happens is rationing. You have a scarcity of doctors. You have rationing. And that means the elderly are told, we're going to ration a hip replacement, we're going to ration a knee replacement. We're going to ration end- of-life care. We're right now heading into a medical system with about a 90,000-doctor shortage in America and socialized medicine; whether proposed by the Democrats or proposed by a Republican would hurt the people of this country. What should we do on health care? If I'm elected president, we will repeal every word of Obamacare. And once we do that, we will adopt common sense reforms, number one, we'll allow people to purchase health insurance across state lines that will drive down prices and expand the availability of low cost catastrophic insurance. We'll expand health savings accounts; and we will de-link health insurance from employment so that you don't lose your health insurance when you lose your job, and that way health insurance can be personal, portable and affordable and we keep government from getting in between us and our doctors. HAM: Dr. Carson, you have some experience with this matter. In the past, you have said that Obamacare should be replaced before it's repealed. How and why? +p3731 +aVWell, sure. It starts with a commander-in-chief that sets the objective. And the objective has to be utterly and completely destroying +p3732 +aVMartha, I will tell you, I have visited with active duty military, with veterans over and over and over again in town halls all over the state of New Hampshire. What we are doing to our sons and daughters, it is immoral. We are sending them into fight with their arms tied behind their back. They cannot defend themselves. And it is wrong. And I will tell you this. Look. America has always been reluctant to use military force. It's the last step we take. But if and when we use it when it comes to defeating +p3733 +aVAbsolutely, yes. +p3734 +aVWell, under the definition of torture, no, it's not. Under the law, torture is excruciating pain that is equivalent to losing organs and systems, so under the definition of torture, it is not. It is enhanced interrogation, it is vigorous interrogation, but it does not meet the generally recognized definition of torture. +p3735 +aVI would not bring it back in any sort of widespread use. And indeed, I joined with Senator McCain in legislation that would prohibit line officers from employing it because I think bad things happen when enhanced interrogation is employed at lower levels. But when it comes to keeping this country safe, the commander in chief has inherent constitutional authority to keep this country safe. And so, if it were necessary to, say, prevent a city from facing an imminent terrorist attack, you can rest assured that as commander in chief, I would use whatever enhanced interrogation methods we could to keep this country safe. +p3736 +aVWell, thank you for that question. You know, there are three avenues of presidential authority to change the direction of this country. The first is executive power, the second is foreign policy, and the third is legislation. Executive power, as we all know, has been the preferred vehicle of President Obama, abusing his authority, abusing his constitutional authority. Now, the silver lining of that is everything done with executive power can be undone with executive power, so I have pledged on day one I will rescind every single illegal and unconstitutional executive action Barack Obama has done. That means on day one his efforts to restrict the Second Amendment go away with the strike of a pen. That means on day one his illegal executive amnesty goes away with the strike of a pen. The reason I can end Common Core at the federal level is because Obama is abusing executive power using Race to the Top funds in the Department of Education to force it on the states. That's one avenue. The second avenue of change is foreign policy, and foreign policy can change the fastest. It's worth remembering that Iran released our hostages the day Reagan......was sworn in. And, the third is legislation, and that can only be done with the people behind you, which is why the two big legislative initiatives I'm campaigning on are repealing Obamacare, and adopting a simple flat tax to abolish the IRS. HAM: Mr. Trump, Senator Cruz is known for opposing deals, you literally wrote the book on making them. Senator Cruz has mentioned that on the trail. What would you say to those conservatives that are concerned that a deal maker will just perpetuate the same deals in Washington and the way that things run now ... +p3737 +aVWell, Josh, as you noted, this is a problem that, for me, I understand first-hand. My older sister, Myriam, who was my half- sister, struggled her whole life with drug and alcohol addiction. My father and her mom divorced when she was a little girl and she was angry her whole life, and she ended up marrying a man who had been in and out of jail. She then became a single mom and she herself went to jail several times and she ended up spending some time in a crack house. I still remember my father and me driving up to get Myriam out of that crack house to try to convince her she needed to be a mom to \u2014 to my nephew Joey. She wasn't willing to listen. She was not willing to change the path she was on. She was angry. I was \u2014 had just gotten my first job coming out of law school. I took a $20,000 loan on a credit card to put my nephew, Joey, in Valley Forge Military Academy \u2014 he was in sixth grade at the time, to pay his way through that. And about five, six years ago, Miriam died of an overdose. It was \u2014 the coroner ruled it accidental. We don't know. She went to one night, had taken too many pills, and Joey walked in and found her dead. This is an absolute epidemic. We need leadership to solve it. Solving it has to occur at the state and local level with programs like A.A., and counseling, and churches and charities. But it also has to be securing the borders, because you have got Mexican cartels that are smuggling vast amounts of heroin into this country. We know how to secure the borders. What is missing is the political will to do it. And as president, I will secure the border, we will end this deluge of drugs that is flowing over our southern border and that is killing Americans across this country. +p3738 +aVWell, look, I recognize it is an agonizing experience when anyone is facing a loved \u2014 loved member who's been kidnapped. But at the same time, putting in place legal regimes that encourage the payment of ransom has the effect of putting a bounty on other Americans. There is a reason it has been longstanding U.S. policy that we don't negotiate with terrorists, we don't pay ransoms. If you look at what President Obama has done over and over again, whether it was the James Bergdahl deal, which was absolutely shameful, releasing five senior Taliban terrorists to bring Bergdahl back, or whether it was this recent deal with Iran, where, again, up to 21 terrorists or potential terrorists were \u2014 were released or not prosecuted in order to bring back four Americans, what that does \u2014 does is it effectively puts a bounty on American servicemen and women serving abroad, on American tourists traveling abroad. And the proper approach......is a president and commander in chief that defends this country and that goes after \u2014 goes after the terrorists, rather than showing them weakness and encouraging them to target more Americans. +p3739 +aVWith an eye to February 20th, Carolina. +p3740 +aVYou know, every candidate running for president says they will stand up to Washington. The natural follow up question is when have you ever stood up to Washington. Last week we saw a powerful illustration of that. I campaigned in the state of Iowa four-square against the ethanol mandate, something everyone said was political suicide. My two leading competitors both attacked me for it. The governor of the state said vote for anyone but Cruz, and lobbyists spent millions of dollars in attack ads, but I stood and said we should have no mandates, a level playing field, and the people of Iowa put country and our children above the cronyism and corporate welfare...... We can turn this country around if we get back to the Constitution. And, I will always stand with the American people against the bipartisan corruption of Washington. +p3741 +aVWell, Megyn, let me say at the outset to the men and women of Iowa, thank you for the incredible hospitality over this past year. By Monday, you will have welcomed me into all 99 counties in Iowa. You will have welcomed my dad to preach at your churches. You will have welcomed Heidi and our girls, Caroline and Catherine, into your homes. And I'm so grateful for the diligence, for the seriousness with which the men and women of Iowa approach this process. If I am elected president, keep an eye on the tarmac, because I'll be back, because Iowa in 2017 will not be fly-over country. It will be fly-to country. Now, secondly, let me say I'm a maniac and everyone on this stage is stupid, fat, and ugly. And Ben, you're a terrible surgeon. Now that we've gotten the Donald Trump portion out of the way... I want to thank everyone here for showing the men and women of Iowa the respect to show up and make the case to the people of this state and the people of the country why each of us believe we would make the best commander in chief. +p3742 +aVWell, let me be clear, if Donald engages in insults or anybody else, I don't intend to reciprocate. I have not insulted Donald personally and I don't intend to. I am glad Donald is running. I'm glad he has produced enormous enthusiasm, and, every Donald Trump voter or potential voter, I hope to earn your support. I know everyone else on this stage hopes to earn your support. Now, there is a difference between personal insults and attacks \u2014 between going into the mud with ad hominems and focusing on issues and substance. +p3743 +aVWell, I agree with Rand that I very much respect Ron Paul and that I think anyone who is able to win in the Republican Party has to be able to bring together the disparate elements of the Reagan coalition. You've got to be able to bring together conservatives and evangelicals and libertarians, and stitch together a winning majority. When it comes to the audit the Fed bill, as Rand knows well, I was an original sponsor of the bill, I'm strongly supportive of it. It didn't have the votes to pass. And I had commitments to be at a town hall in New Hampshire. But I look forward to signing that bill into law as president and auditing the Fed and providing needed accountability at the Federal Reserve. +p3744 +aVWell, Chris, I will apologize to nobody for the vigorousness with which I will fight terrorism, go after +p3745 +aVChris, in 1981, when Ronald Reagan came to the Oval Office, he encountered a military that had been debilitated just as the current military has, just like Jimmy Carter weakened our readiness, undermined our ability to defend this country, so too has Barack Obama. Just as morale in the military has plummeted in the last seven, so it had then. What Reagan did is he began with tax reform and regulatory reform, unleashing the engine of the American free enterprise system. It brought booming economic growth and that growth fueled rebuilding the military. I intend to do the exact same thing to defeat radical Islamic terrorism \u2014 +p3746 +aV... and to devote the resources from the booming economy to rebuilding our Navy, rebuilding our Air Force, rebuilding our Army and ensuring we have the capacity to keep this country safe. +p3747 +aVChris? Chris I was mentioned in that question. +p3748 +aV... Actually, I was... +p3749 +aV... Chris, your questions that you... +p3750 +aV... What was your question... +p3751 +aV... Your question was you have disagreed... +p3752 +aV... opening statement. +p3753 +aV... This entire question was an attack, but that's +p3754 +aVChris, I would note that that the last four questions have been, "Rand, please attack Ted. Marco, please attack Ted. Chris, please attack Ted. Jeb, please attack Ted..." Let me just say this... +p3755 +aV... Well, no, no. A debate actually is a policy issue, but I will say this. Gosh, if you guys ask one more mean question I may have to leave the stage. Chris, the most important determination any voter is going to make in this election is who's best prepared to be Commander in Chief. Who has the experience, who has the knowledge, who has the judgement, who has the clarity, and vision and strength of resolve to keep this country safe. That is what this debate is all about, and I would suggest let's stay focused on those issues \u2014 rather than just attacks directed at each other. +p3756 +aVSure. Well, let's take it one at a time. First of all, we have seen now in six years of Obamacare that it has been a disaster. It is the biggest job-killer in this country. Millions of Americans have lost their jobs, have been forced into part-time work, have lost their health insurance, have lost their doctors, have seen their premiums skyrocket. If I'm elected president, we will repeal every word of Obamacare. Now, once that is done, everyone agrees we need healthcare reform. It should follow the principles of expanding competition, empowering patients, and keeping government from getting in between us and our doctors. Three specific reforms that reflect those principles. Number one, we should allow people to purchase health insurance across state lines. That will create a true 50-state national marketplace which will drive down the cost of low-cost, catastrophic health insurance. Number two, we should expand health savings accounts so people can save in a tax-advantaged way for more routine healthcare needs. And number three, we should work to de-link health insurance from employment so if you lose your job, your health insurance goes with you and it is personal, portable and affordable. And I'll tell you, Bret, I think that's a much more attractive vision for healthcare than the Washington-drive, top-down Obamacare that is causing so many millions of people to hurt. +p3757 +aVI want this bill to be voted down. I don't want immigration reform to fail. I want immigration reform to pass. I believe if this amendment were to pass, the chances of this bill passing into law would increase dramatically. I believe if the amendments I introduced were adopted, that the bill would pass. And my effort in introducing them was to find a solution that reflected common ground and that fixed the problem. If the proponents of this bill actually demonstrate a commitment not to politics, not to campaigning all the time, but to actually fixing this problem, to finding a middle ground. That would fix the problem, and also allow, for those 11 million people who are here illegally, a legal status, with citizenship off the table. +p3758 +aVYou know, the amendment you're talking about is one sentence \u2014 it's 38 words. Anyone can go online at tedcruz.org and read exactly what it said. In those 38 words, it said anyone here illegally is permanently ineligible for citizenship. It didn't say a word about legalization. I introduced... +p3759 +aVBut \u2014 but Megyn, the bill was 1,000 pages. I introduced a series of amendments, each designed to fix problems in the bill. The fact that each amendment didn't fix every problem didn't mean that I supported the rest of the bill. And I'll tell you who supported my amendment \u2014 Jeff Sessions, the strongest opponent of amnesty in the United States Congress. And he did so because taking citizenship off the table was important, and it revealed the hypocrisy of the proponents of this bill, who were looking for votes. Listen, we can solve immigration. We just heard an argument back and forth that we can't solve immigration. I have a detailed immigration plan that is on my website, tedcruz.org. It was designed with Iowa's own Congressman Steve King and Jeff Sessions, and... ... we have the tools in federal law to do this now. We can build the fence. We can triple the border patrol. We can end sanctuary cities by cutting off... ... funding to them. We can end welfare for those here illegally. And what is missing is the political will, because too many Democrats and, sadly, too many Republicans don't want to solve this problem. If I am elected president... ... we will secure the border... +p3760 +aV... and we will end the illegal immigration. +p3761 +aVYou know, John Adams famously said, "facts are are stubborn things." The facts are are very, very simple. When that battle was waged, my friend Senator Rubio chose to stand with Barack Obama and Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer and support amnesty. And I stood alongside Jeff Sessions and Steve King, and we led the fight against amnesty. And if you want to know who's telling the truth, you should look and ask people like Jeff Sessions and Steve King and Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin, all of whom say, as Jeff Sessions said, responding to these false attacks just recently in Alabama \u2014 he said, "if it wasn't for Ted Cruz, the Gang of Eight Rubio/Schumer bill would have passed. But because Ted stood up and helped lead the effort, millions rose up to kill it. +p3762 +aVYou know, I like Marco. He's very charming. He's very smooth. But the facts are simple. When he ran for election in the state of Florida, he told the people of Florida, "if you elect me, I will lead the fight against amnesty." When I ran in Texas, I told the people of Texas, "if you elect me, I will lead the fight against amnesty." We both made the identical promises. But when we came to Washington, we made a different choice. Marco made the choice to go the direction of the major donors \u2014 to support amnesty because he thought it was politically advantageous. I honored my commitments, and as president, I will honor every commitment that I make to the men and women of this country. +p3763 +aVWell, Chris, you are exactly right that I am not the candidate of career politicians in Washington. And I'll tell you the endorsements that I am proud of are the over 200,000 volunteers across this country who have signed up to volunteer for our campaign. The endorsements that I am proud of are leading conservatives like Iowa's own Congressman Steve King, who is a national co-chairman of my campaign. The endorsements that I'm proud of are conservative leaders like Dr. James Dobson, and over 700,000 contributions nationwide, people going to our Web site, tedcruz.org. This is a grassroots campaign and, you know, when I ran for senate in Texas, I told the people of Texas that I'm not going there to go along to get along. Washington is broken. And the people I have been accountable to every single day in the Senate are the 27 million Texans who I represent and I made a promise to them that I make to you today, which is, if I am elected, every single day I will do two things: tell the truth, and do what I said I would do. +p3764 +aVWell, Chris, I'm glad to discuss my views on ethanol and energy. I think God has blessed this country with enormous natural resources, and we should pursue all of the above. We should be developing oil, and gas, and coal, and nuclear, and wind, and solar, and ethanol, and biofuels. But, I don't believe that Washington should be picking winners and losers. And, I think there should be no mandates, and no subsidies whatsoever. And, indeed, my tax plan that I've introduced, it's available on our website. It's a simple flat tax for everyone. It'll produce enormous economic growth, and it eliminates every mandate, every subsidy, so there's no subsidies for oil and gas, no subsidies for anyone. Now, it is true that there are a bunch of lobbyists, and a bunch of Democrats in this state spending millions of dollars trying to convince the people of Iowa that I somehow oppose ethanol. It's not true. I have introduced legislation that would phase out the ethanol mandate over five years, but that is in the context of having no mandates whatsoever for anyone. And, I would not that there's a much more important government regulation to ethanol, and that's the EPA's blend wall that makes it illegal to sell mid-level blends of ethanol in gasoline. I will... ... Tear down the EPA's blend wall which will enable ethanol to expand its market share by up to 60%, all without mandates. All without any government mandates whatsoever through the marketplace. And, I'll note finally, Chris, there is a reason that Iowa's Congressman Steve King, perhaps the fiercest defender of farmers in this state, is sharing my campaign. Because he understands that I'm committed to a fair, and level playing field for every energy source without lobbyists, and without Washington picking winners and losers. +p3765 +aVNinety-three hours. The media noise will soon be over and it's now for the men and women of Iowa to decide. Our country is in crisis. We're worried the future of our children and we've have been burned over and over again. The central question in this race is trust. Who do you know will kill the terrorists, defend the constitution and repeal Obamacare? Who do you know will stop amnesty and secure the borders? Who do you know will defend life, marriage and religious liberty? Examine our records, pray on it and I will be honored if you and your family will come caucus for us on Monday night. +p3766 +aVWell, Maria, thank you for that question, and let me say thank you to the state of South Carolina for welcoming us. Let me start \u2014 I want to get to the substance of the question on jobs, but I want to start with something. Today, many of us picked up our newspapers, and we were horrified to see the sight of 10 American sailors on their knees, with their hands on their heads. In that State of the Union, President Obama didn't so much as mention the 10 sailors that had been captured by Iran. President Obama's preparing to send $100 billion or more to the Ayatollah Khamenei. And I'll tell you, it was heartbreaking. But the good news is the next commander-in-chief is standing on this stage. And I give you my word, if I am elected president, no service man or service woman will be forced to be on their knees, and any nation that captures our fighting men will feel the full force and fury of the United States of America. Now, on to your substantive question. The president tried to paint a rosy picture of jobs. And you know, he's right. If you're a Washington lobbyist, if you make your money in and around Washington, things are doing great. The millionaires and billionaires are doing great under Obama. But we have the lowest percentage of Americans working today of any year since 1977. Median wages have stagnated. And the Obama-Clinton economy has left behind the working men and women of this country. The reason all of us are here is we believe we should be fighting for the working men and women of this country, and not Washington, D.C. +p3767 +aVWell Maria, thank you for passing on that hit piece in the front page of the New York Times. You know the nice thing about the mainstream media, they don't hide their views. The New York Times a few weeks back had a columnist who wrote a column saying, "Anybody But Cruz." Had that actually \u2014 that same columnist wrote a column comparing me to an evil demonic spirit from the move, "It Follows" that jumps apparently from body to body possessing people. So you know the New York Times and I don't have exactly have the warmest of relationships. Now in terms of their really stunning hit piece, what they mentioned is when I was running for senate \u2014 unlike Hillary Clinton, I don't have masses of money in the bank, hundreds of millions of dollars. When I was running for senate just about every lobbyist, just about all of the establishment opposed me in the senate race in Texas and my opponent in that race was worth over 200 million dollars. He put a 25 million dollar check up from his own pocket to fund that campaign and my wife Heidi and I, we ended up investing everything we owned. We took a loan against our assets to invest it in that campaign to defend ourselves against those attacks. And the entire New York times attack \u2014 is that I disclosed that loan on one filing with the United States Senate, that was a public filing. But it was not on a second filing with +p3768 +aVWell, Neil, I'm glad we're focusing on the important topics of the evening. You know, back in September, my friend Donald said that he had had his lawyers look at this from every which way, and there was no issue there. There was nothing to this birther issue. Now, since September, the Constitution hasn't changed. But the poll numbers have. And I recognize \u2014 I recognize that Donald is dismayed that his poll numbers are falling in Iowa. But the facts and the law here are really quite clear. Under longstanding U.S. law, the child of a U.S. citizen born abroad is a natural-born citizen. If a soldier has a child abroad, that child is a natural-born citizen. That's why John McCain, even though he was born in Panama, was eligible to run for president. If an American missionary has a child abroad, that child is a natural-born citizen. That's why George Romney, Mitt's dad, was eligible to run for president, even though he was born in Mexico. At the end of the day, the legal issue is quite straightforward, but I would note that the birther theories that Donald has been relying on \u2014 some of the more extreme ones insist that you must not only be born on U.S. soil, but have two parents born on U.S. soil. Under that theory, not only would I be disqualified, Marco Rubio would be disqualified, Bobby Jindal would be disqualified and, interestingly enough, Donald J. Trump would be disqualified. +p3769 +aVBecause \u2014 because Donald's mother was born in Scotland. She was naturalized. Now, Donald... +p3770 +aV... on the issue \u2014 on the issue of citizenship, Donald... +p3771 +aV... on the issue of citizenship, Donald, I'm not going to use your mother's birth against you. +p3772 +aVYou're an American, as is everybody else on this stage, and I would suggest we focus on who's best prepared to be commander- in-chief, because that's the most important question facing the country. +p3773 +aVNeil... +p3774 +aVWell, listen, I've spent my entire life defending the Constitution before the U.S. Supreme Court. And I'll tell you, I'm not going to be taking legal advice from Donald Trump. +p3775 +aVThe chances of any litigation proceeding and succeeding on this are zero. And Mr. Trump is very focused... +p3776 +aV... on Larry Tribe. Let me tell you who Larry Tribe is. He's a left-wing judicial activist, Harvard Law professor who was Al Gore's lawyer in Bush versus Gore. He's a major Hillary Clinton supporter. And there's a reason why Hillary's supporters are echoing Donald's attacks on me, because Hillary... +p3777 +aV... wants to face Donald Trump in the general election. +p3778 +aVAnd I'll tell you what, Donald, you \u2014 you very kindly just a moment ago offered me the V.P. slot. I'll tell you what. If this all works out, I'm happy to consider naming you as V.P. So if you happen to be right, you could get the top job at the end of the day. +p3779 +aVActually, I'd love to get you to build a wall. +p3780 +aVThe answer is simple. Your prosecute criminals. You target the bad guys. You know, a minute ago, Neil asked: What has President Obama do \u2014 done to illustrate that he wants to go after guns? Well, he appointed Eric Holder as attorney general. Eric Holder said he viewed his mission as brainwashing the American people against guns. He appointed Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, someone who has been a radical against the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. He launched Fast and Furious, illegally selling guns to Mexican drug lords that were then used to shoot law enforcement officials. And I'll tell you what Hillary Clinton has said: Hillary Clinton says she agrees with the dissenters \u2014 the Supreme Court dissenters in the Heller case. There were four dissenters, and they said that they believe the Second Amendment protects no individual right to keep and bear arms whatsoever, which means, if their view prevailed and the next president's going to get one, two, three, maybe four Supreme Court justices, the court will rule that not a single person in this room has any right under the Second Amendment and the government could confiscate your guns. And I'll note that California senator \u2014 Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein said, if she could say to Mr. America and Mrs. America, "give me your guns, I'm rounding them up," she would. And let me make a final point on this. Listen, in any Republican primary, everyone is going to say they support the Second Amendment. Unless you are clinically insane......that's what you say in a primary. But the voters are savvier than that. They recognize that people's actions don't always match their words. I've got a proven record fighting to defend the Second Amendment. There's a reason Gun Owners of America has endorsed me in this race. There's a reason the NRA gave me their Carter Knight Freedom Fund award......and there's a reason, when Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer came after our right to keep and bear arms, that I led the opposition, along with millions of Americans \u2014 we defeated that gun control legislation. And I would note the other individuals on this stage were nowhere to be found in that fight. +p3781 +aVYou know, I think most people know exactly what New York values are. +p3782 +aVWhat \u2014 what \u2014 you're from New York? So you might not. But I promise you, in the state of South Carolina, they do. And listen, there are many, many wonderful, wonderful working men and women in the state of New York. But everyone understands that the values in New York City are socially liberal or pro-abortion or pro- gay-marriage, focus around money and the media. And \u2014 and I would note indeed, the reason I said that is I was asked \u2014 my friend Donald has taken to it as advance playing Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA", and I was asked what I thought of that. And I said, "well, if he wanted to play a song, maybe he could play, 'New York, New York'?" And \u2014 and \u2014 you know, the concept of New York values is not that complicated to figure out. Not too many years ago, Donald did a long interview with Tim Russert. And in that interview, he explained his views on a whole host of issues that were very, very different from the views he's describing now. And his explanation \u2014 he said, "look, I'm from New York, that's what we believe in New York. Those aren't Iowa values, but this is what we believe in New York." And so that was his explanation. And \u2014 and I guess I can \u2014 can frame it another way. Not a lot of conservatives come out of Manhattan. I'm just saying. +p3783 +aVYou know I understand why Donald made the comments he did and I understand why Americans are feeling frustrated and scared and angry when we have a president who refuses to acknowledge the threat we face and even worse, who acts as an apologist for radical Islamic terrorism. I think what we need is a commander in chief who is focused like a laser on keeping this country safe and on defeating radical Islamic terrorism. What should we do? First, we should pass the Expatriate Terrorist Act, legislation I've introduced that says if an American goes and joins +p3784 +aVThanks for coming back to me, Maria. Both Donald and Jeb have good points, and there is a middle ground. Donald is right that China is running over President Obama like he is a child, President Obama is not protecting American workers and we are getting hammered. You know, I sat down with the senior leadership of John Deere. They discussed how \u2014 how hard it is to sell tractors in China, because all the regulatory barriers. They're protectionist. But Jeb is also right that, if we just impose a tariff, they'll put reciprocal tariffs, which will hurt Iowa farmers and South Carolina producers and 20 percent of the American jobs that depend on exports. So the way you do it is you pass a tax plan like the tax plan I've introduced: a simple flat tax, 10 percent for individuals, and a 16 percent business flat tax, you abolish the IRS......and here's the critical point, Maria \u2014 the business flat tax enables us to abolish the corporate income tax, the death tax, the Obamacare taxes, the payroll taxes, and they're border-adjustable, so every export pays no taxes whatsoever. It's tax-free \u2014 a huge advantage for our farmers and ranchers and manufacturers \u2014 and every import pays the 16 percent business flat tax. It's like a tariff, but here's the difference: if we impose a tariff, China responds. The business flat tax, they already impose their taxes on us, so there's no reciprocal......tariffs that come against us. It puts us on a level, even playing field, which brings jobs here at home... +p3785 +aV... and as president, I'm going to fight for the working men and women. +p3786 +aVMaria, I assume that I can respond to that. +p3787 +aVWell, Marco has been floating this attack for a few weeks now, but the problem is, the business flat tax in my proposal is not a vat. A vat is imposed as a sales tax when you buy a good. This is a business flat tax. It is imposed on business and a critical piece that Marco seems to be missing is that this 16 percent business flat tax enables us to eliminate the corporate income tax. It goes away. It enables us to eliminate the death tax. If you're a farmer, if you're a rancher, if you are small business owner, the death tax is gone. We eliminate the payroll tax, we eliminate the Obamacare taxes. And listen, there is a real difference between Marco's tax plan and mine. Mine gives every American a simple, flat tax of 10 percent. Marco's top tax rate is 35 percent. My tax plan enables you to fill out your taxes on a postcard so we can abolish the IRS. Marco leaves the IRS code in with all of the complexity. We need to break the Washington cartel, and the only way to do it is to end all the subsidies and all......the mandates and have a simple flat tax. The final observation, invoked Ronald Reagan. I would note that Art Laffer, Ronald Reagan's chief economic adviser, has written publicly, that my simple flat tax is the best tax plan of any of the individuals on this stage cause it produces economic growth, it raises wages and it helps everyone from the very poorest to the very richest. +p3788 +aVMaria... +p3789 +aVMaria, I'd just like to say... +p3790 +aVBut Maria, radical Islamic terrorism was not invented 24 months ago; 24 months ago, we had Al Qaida. We had Boko Haram. We had Hamas. We had Hezbollah. We had Iran putting operatives in South America and Central America. It's the reason why I stood with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and led the fight to stop the Gang of Eight amnesty bill, because it was clear then, like it's clear now, that border security is national security. +p3791 +aVIt is also the case that that Rubio-Schumer amnesty bill, one of the things it did is it expanded Barack Obama's power to let in Syrian refugees. It enabled him \u2014 the president to certify them en masse without mandating meaningful background checks. I think that's a mistake. That's why I've been leading the fight to stop it. And I would note the Senate just a few weeks ago voted to suspend refugees from Middle Eastern countries. I voted yes to suspend that. Marco voted on the other side. So you don't get to say we need to secure the borders, and at the same time try to give Barack Obama more authority to allow Middle Eastern refugees coming in, when the head of the FBI tells us they cannot vet them to determine if they are +p3792 +aVI'm going to get a response to that, Neil. There's no way he launches 11 attack \u2014 +p3793 +aVI'm going to \u2014 he had no fewer than 11 attacks there. I appreciate your dumping your research folder on the stage. +p3794 +aVBut I will say \u2014 +p3795 +aV\u2014 at least half of the things Marco said are flat-out false. They're absolutely false. +p3796 +aVSo let's start \u2014 let's start with immigration. Let's start with immigration and have a little bit of clarity. Marco stood with Chuck Schumer and Barack Obama on amnesty. I stood with Jeff Sessions and Steve King. Marco stood today, standing on this stage Marco supports legalization and citizenship for 12 million illegals. I opposed and oppose legalization and citizenship. And by the way, the attack he keeps throwing out on the military budget, Marco knows full well I voted for his amendment to increase military spending to $697 billion. What he said, and he said it in the last, it's simply not true. And as president, I will rebuild the military and keep this country safe. +p3797 +aV"13 Hours" \u2014 tomorrow morning, a new movie will debut about the incredible bravery of the men fighting for their lives in Benghazi and the politicians that abandoned them. I want to speak to all our fighting men and women. I want to speak to all the moms and dads whose sons and daughters are fighting for this country, and the incredible sense of betrayal when you have a commander-in-chief who will not even speak the name of our enemy, radical Islamic terrorism, when you have a commander-in- chief who sends $150 billion to the Ayatollah Khamenei, who's responsible for murdering hundreds of our servicemen and women. I want to speak to all of those maddened by political correctness, where Hillary Clinton apologizes for saying all lives matter. This will end. It will end on January 2017. And if I am elected president, to every soldier and sailor and airman and marine, and to every police officer and firefighter and first responder who risk their lives to keep us safe, I will have your back. +p3798 +asVOBRADOVICH +p3799 +(lp3800 +VSenator Sanders, you've actually talked about immigration as being a wage issue in the United States. And I want to actually go directly to the wage issue now. You called for raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour everywhere in the country. But the President's former chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, Alan Krueger, has said a national increase of $15 could lead to undesirable and unintended consequences of job loss. What level of job loss would you consider unacceptable? +p3801 +aVYou said there are consequences... You said there are consequences for -- for any policy. Do you think job losses are a consequence that are... +p3802 +aVYou're calling for a $15 an hour wage now but why did you stop at $10.10 in your state? O' +p3803 +aVYes, Senator Sanders, you famously said in the last debate that you were sick and tired of hearing about your damn e- mails. But then you told the Wall Street Journal that the question about whether or not Secretary Clinton's e-mails compromised classified information were valid questions. So which is it? Is it an issue or is it not? +p3804 +aVI'm sorry, I couldn't hear you. Secretary Clinton, your response. +p3805 +asVTODD +p3806 +(lp3807 +VGood evening, and welcome to the +p3808 +aVAnd neither party has seen this yet. These candidates are both running for the Democratic nomination, but they are very different from each other when it comes to what matters most and how they would go about the job of being president. Our job tonight is to draw out those differences so you, the voters, can understand them and be fully informed. +p3809 +aVFirst, I want to say a special thanks to the New Hampshire Union Leader for helping make this debate possible, and the readers, who helped provide some of the questions and topics that we'll be addressing tonight. The rules tonight, by the way, are simple: 90 seconds for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. +p3810 +aVThank you, Senator. Secretary Clinton. +p3811 +aVAll right. Let's get started. Secretary Clinton, last night you cited the Concord Monitor when you said of Senator Sanders that, quote, "It's very hard to see how any of his proposals could ever be achievable." So please tell us why you think if he's elected president on a platform of promising things like free public college and universal healthcare, that he cannot achieve those things. +p3812 +aVThank you, Secretary. Senator Sanders, so just explain how you spent nearly two decades in Congress and haven't gotten any of these things passed. Why do you think as president you'll be able to achieve big, big new programs like this? +p3813 +aVGo. +p3814 +aVYes, go ahead. +p3815 +aVAll right, thank you both. Rachel. +p3816 +aVI'd like to follow up on a comment that Secretary Clinton said, Senator. President Obama has not called for abolishing the death penalty. President Obama is for the big Asian trade deal known as TPP, and just yesterday you said you can't be both a moderate or a progressive, but you can't be both. Is President Obama, in your judgment, based on these policies positions, a progressive? +p3817 +aV...Secretary Clinton, go ahead... +p3818 +aV 30 seconds, and then we'll move. +p3819 +aVThank you. +p3820 +aV... Secretary, we're gonna... +p3821 +aVThirty seconds. +p3822 +aVThank you both. +p3823 +aVAll right, welcome back. Let's get right to it. Senator Sanders, you were talking about all of your campaign contributions and campaign finance reform. You rail against big money in politics. But do you realize there is one public financing system that we do have in place, and it is\u2014it is in place to run for president. Why aren't you walking the walk on that? Why aren't you participating in the presidential public financing system which is designed to essentially keep big money out of presidential politics? +p3824 +aVWell, going on that then, why criticize her on Super PACs, and you got\u2014and all this when it is\u2014you know, that's the system? I mean, you could be participating in a publicly-financing\u2014public financing system... +p3825 +aV... and being able to set\u2014being able to set an example. +p3826 +aV... she has had more people praise her plan than yours. +p3827 +aVThank you both. Let me move on to our next question here, and in fact it comes to us through New England Cable News. Secretary Clinton, it's addressed to you, and it's about this issue of the speeches, particularly to Goldman Sachs. This is what the questioner wrote verbatim. "I am concerned with the abuses of Wall Street has taken with the American taxpayers money," and then she asks whether you would release the transcripts of your Goldman Sachs speeches, and then added, "Don't you think the voting public has a right to know what was said?" But, let's make that bigger. Are you willing to release the transcripts of all your paid speeches? We do know through reporting that there were transcription services for all of those paid speeches. In full disclosure, would you release all of them? +p3828 +aVSenator, you sound like you want to respond. Go ahead. +p3829 +aVWe'll be right back. And we're going to get to trade and a lot of other issues. +p3830 +aVGo ahead, Senator Sanders\u201430 seconds, your response. +p3831 +aVAll right. Senator, I want to stay, though... +p3832 +aVGo ahead. 30 seconds. +p3833 +aVLet me\u2014let\u2014we're gonna\u2014we're staying\u2014we're staying basically on this topic. Obviously you've been emphasizing this difference on the Iraq war, but one place where you do agree, and one place where you voted to authorize the use of force, was in favor of the war in Afghanistan. Right now, it is possible President Obama is going to be leaving the next president, perhaps President Sanders, at least 10,000 troops in Afghanistan. How long will those troops be in Afghanistan under President Sanders? +p3834 +aVCan you address a question on Afghanistan? How long are these troops going to be there? If President Obama leaves you 10,000 troops, how long do you think they're going to be there? +p3835 +aVSecretary Clinton, 30 seconds: How long are these troops going to be in Afghanistan? We have more American troops in Afghanistan than what we were talking about with Iraq. +p3836 +aVYou know, Senator Sanders, nobody knows who your foreign policy advisers are. You haven't given a major foreign policy speech. And it doesn't sound like all the time that foreign policy is a priority, other than when you're asked about it, and you say you're going to crush +p3837 +aVAll right, Senator, 30 seconds. +p3838 +aV30 seconds, madam secretary. +p3839 +aVAlright, as Commander in Chief, Senator Sanders, you've got to prioritize potential threats to the United States. Three countries, North Korea, Iran, Russia. How would you rank them in order of their threat to America's security right now... +p3840 +aV... Starting with the biggest threat. +p3841 +aV... I didn't say that... +p3842 +aV... No... +p3843 +aV... We already had that. I'm talking about these three countries. How would you orient our national security, our national defense posture. +p3844 +aVSecretary of Defense Ash Carter this week picked one of those three, and he has said Russia is, basically, the most important national security threat. Sort of reorienting the defense and the challenges to that. Do you agree with his decisions... +p3845 +aVSecretary Clinton, what do you think of Secretary of Defense Ash Carter. He's basically putting Russia above Iran, above North Korea, as sort of the chief national security challenge right now. +p3846 +aVThank you both, Rachel? +p3847 +aVAnd we are back. We're gonna get into a little bit of election politics, electability, in a little bit. Senator Sanders, The Iowa Democratic Party has declared Hillary Clinton the winner of Monday's Iowa caucuses\u2014narrowest of margins. Today, the Des Moines Register has an editorial that calls for the audit of the results, saying, quote, "what happened Monday night at the Democratic caucuses was a debacle, period. The results were too close not to do a complete audit." Senator Sanders, do you accept the idea that Hillary Clinton won Iowa? And do you\u2014or do you believe the caucuses are still an open question? +p3848 +aVSecretary Clinton, will you participate in some sort of audit, if that's what the party wants to do? You good with that? +p3849 +aVThat's fair enough. OK. +p3850 +aVGood, we move on. We're happy with that. We have more questions. +p3851 +aVWe'll stay on this issue. We'll stay on this topic. Secretary Clinton, just like there are some Democrats that question Senator Sanders' ability in the general election, many Democratic voters that our reporters have been running into in Iowa and New Hampshire, they tell our reporters over and over again they're worried about the emails issue, not because they don't believe your explanation, but because it's a drip-drip, because the cloud is hanging over your head and that it will impact the general election. They see your numbers right now and they think it's the email issue as to why you're not polling very well. So can you reassure these Democrats that somehow the email issue isn't going to blow up your candidacy if you're the nominee? +p3852 +aVAll right, Madam Secretary, there is an open\u2014there is an open FBI investigation into this matter about how you may have handled classified material. Are you 100 percent confident that nothing is going to come of this FBI investigation? +p3853 +aVWell, Senator sanders, you famously at the first debate said you didn't give a darn about her emails; I think you used another . +p3854 +aVYou're right. I'm trying to\u2014it's a\u2014it's a family hour still right now. After 11:00, I'll say it the other way. And you mostly have refrained from commenting on it, but recently you called it a very serious issue, and then the other day you said well she's getting slapped with the email controversy. Are you\u2014how are you feeling about these darn emails now? +p3855 +aVOK. Senator Sanders, thank you. +p3856 +aVSecretary Clinton, let me turn to the issue of trade. In the '90s you supported +p3857 +aVWell, Senator Sanders, I know you want to respond on this, you have never supported a trade deal since you've been in Congress. +p3858 +aVBut if you do that as president... If you do that as president, how are you not essentially letting China, who will do all of these deals around the world, how are you going to prevent China from essentially setting the rules of trade for the world? +p3859 +aVAll right. Thank you both. We're going to sneak in one more break here, and when we come back we'll squeeze as many questions as we can before we end this thing. We'll be right back. +p3860 +aVAll right. Welcome back here in the final minutes. +p3861 +aVThe home stretch of this only Democratic debate in the final week before the primary. Let me start with you, Secretary Clinton, on this question. Obviously, President Obama got a lot of ambitious stuff done in his first year and a half. You're going to have to make choices. And there's a lot of heavy lifts. And he made choices. He did healthcare and it came at the expense, arguably, of immigration reform. Had he put immigration reform first, perhaps that gets done and healthcare doesn't. So there are three big lifts that you've talked about: immigration, gun reform, climate change. What do you do first? Because you know the first one is the one you have the best shot at getting done. +p3862 +aVAll right, but Senator Sanders......you've still got to do something first. As you know, history said\u2014shows what you pick first is your best shot at getting, and how you prioritize things. +p3863 +aVImmigration reform, for instance, fell by the wayside in the first term because of this. +p3864 +aVOK. Thank you. +p3865 +aVAll right, before we go, I want to ask each one of these. Secretary Clinton, you've made it clear when you look at Senator Sanders, you do not see a president, but do you see\u2014 +p3866 +aVBut do you see\u2014do you see a vice president? +p3867 +aVWould you unite the party by trying to pick Senator Sanders as your running mate? +p3868 +aVSenator, would you consider the secretary? +p3869 +aVSecretary Clinton, closing statements. You are first. +p3870 +aVThank you, Madam Secretary. Senator Sanders. +p3871 +aVWell, there you have it. I promise you, Rachel and I have a lot more questions, but we just don't have any more time, unless we could a third hour, but I don't think so. Our debate coverage\u2014 debate coverage will continue in just a moment with our colleague . And we want to thank all of you for being here, and we want to thank the two candidates for taking part in this important event. +p3872 +aVWe'll see you in a few minutes. Thank you. +p3873 +asVLEVESQUE +p3874 +(lp3875 +VHere to New Hampshire again. As you know, this auditorium is filled with many Saint Anselm college students. They know the outstanding student debt right now in America is $1.3 trillion. That private education costs have gone up in the last decade 26 percent, and 40 percent for public education. So knowing that, we know you want to make public education more affordable but how do you really lower the cost? Senator Sanders, you mentioned a few minutes ago that you want free tuition for public colleges. +p3876 +aVHow does that really lower the cost other than just shifting the cost to taxpayers? +p3877 +aVGovernor O'Malley, how do you propose -- Governor O'Malley, how do you propose lowering some of these costs associated with higher education? O' +p3878 +asVHARWOOD +p3879 +(lp3880 +VMr. Trump, you've done very well in this campaign so far by promising to build a wall and make another country pay for it. +p3881 +aVSend 11 million people out of the country. Cut taxes $10 trillion without increasing the deficit. +p3882 +aVAnd make Americans better off because your greatness would replace the stupidity and incompetence of others. +p3883 +aVLet's be honest. Is this a comic book version of a presidential campaign? +p3884 +aVWe're at the 60 seconds. +p3885 +aVWe're at 60 seconds, but I gotta ask you, you talked about your tax plan. You say that it would not increase the deficit because you cut taxes $10 trillion in the economy would take off like... +p3886 +aVHold on, hold on. The economy would take off like a rocket ship. +p3887 +aVI talked to economic advisers who have served presidents of both parties. They said that you have as chance of cutting taxes that much without increasing the deficit as you would of flying away from that podium by flapping your arms. +p3888 +aVThe Tax Foundation says \u2014 has looked at all of our plans and \u2014 and his creates, even with the dynamic effect, $8 trillion dollar deficit... +p3889 +aVGovernor Kasich, hold it, I'm coming to you right now. The... +p3890 +aVWell, I'm asking you about this. +p3891 +aVI'm about to ask you about this. That is, you had some very strong words to say yesterday about what's happening in your party and what you're hearing from the two gentlemen we've just heard from. Would you repeat it? +p3892 +aVWell, let's just get more pointed about it. You said yesterday that you were hearing proposals that were just crazy from your colleagues. Who were you talking about? +p3893 +aVHold on. I think there's a \u2014 I've got question for \u2014 +p3894 +aVHold on, Governor. I've got a question for Governor Bush. +p3895 +aVNo, we're moving to Governor Bush. Governor, the fact that you're at the fifth lectern tonight shows how far your stock has fallen in this race, despite the big investment your donors have made. You noted recently, after slashing your payroll, that you had better things to do than sit around and be demonized by other people. I wanted to ask you \u2014 +p3896 +aVOK. +p3897 +aVGot it. +p3898 +aVBut it's a \u2014 OK. It's a \u2014 it's a question about why you're having difficulty. I want to ask you in this context. Ben Bernanke, who was appointed Fed chairman by your brother, recently wrote a book in which he said he no longer considers himself a Republican because the Republican Party has given in to know- nothingism. Is that why you're having a difficult time in this race? +p3899 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3900 +aVWe're gonna get down the line. Becky's got a question. +p3901 +aVSenator Paul, I've got a question for you on the same subject. +p3902 +aVSenator Paul? +p3903 +aVYou used your time on something else. Senator Paul? +p3904 +aVSenator Paul, the budget deal crafted by Speaker Boehner and passed by the House today makes cuts in entitlement programs, Medicare and Social Security disability, which are the very programs conservatives say need cutting to shrink government and solve our country's long-term budget deficit. Do you oppose that budget deal because it doesn't cut those programs enough? +p3905 +aVSenator, if what you just said is true, why did Speaker Boehner craft this deal and why did Paul Ryan, who has a strong reputation for fiscal discipline, vote for it? +p3906 +aVThank you, Senator . +p3907 +aVJim, thanks. Governor Bush, in a debate like this four years ago, every Republican running for president pledged to oppose a budget deal containing any tax increase even if it had spending cuts ten times as large. A few months later, you told Congress, put me in, coach, you said you would take that deal. Still feel that way? +p3908 +aVBut to \u2014 to the point that you made to Congress, if you were president and you were offered a bipartisan deal that had one dollar... +p3909 +aV...one dollar of tax increases per ten dollars of spending cuts, would you take it? +p3910 +aVSo you don't want the coach to put you in any more? +p3911 +aVThank you, governor. Carl? +p3912 +aVGovernor John Kasich, you've called for abolishing the Export Import Bank, which provides subsidies to help American companies compete with overseas competitors. You call that corporate welfare. One of the largest newspapers in your state wrote an editorial, said they found that strange, writing, that if that's corporate welfare, what does Kasich call the millions of dollars in financial incentives doled out to attract or retain jobs by his development effort \u2014 jobs Ohio. If subsidies are good enough for Ohio companies, why aren't they good enough for companies trying to compete overseas? +p3913 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3914 +aVThank you, Governor. Thank you. +p3915 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate on +p3916 +aVIt sounds like you think Senator Sessions is wrong to believe there is enough abuse in that program that we shouldn't... +p3917 +aVThank you, Senator. Becky? +p3918 +aVGovernor Bush, the tax reform bill that Ronald Reagan signed in 1986 cut the top personal income tax rate to 28 percent \u2014 just like your plan does. But President Reagan taxed capital gains at the same rate, while you would tax them at just 20 percent. Given the problems we've been discussing, growing gap between rich and poor, why would you tax labor at a higher rate than income from investments? +p3919 +aVSenator Rubio, 30 seconds to you. The Tax Foundation, which was alluded to earlier, scored your tax plan and concluded that you give nearly twice as much of a gain in after-tax income to the top 1 percent as to people in the middle of the income scale. Since you're the champion of Americans living paycheck-to- paycheck, don't you have that backward? +p3920 +aVThe Tax Foundation \u2014 just to be clear, they said the... +p3921 +aVNo, I did not. +p3922 +aVSenator, the Tax Foundation said after-tax income for the top 1 percent under your plan would go up 27.9 percent. +p3923 +aVAnd people in the middle of the income spectrum, about 15 percent. +p3924 +aV +p3925 +aVSenator, thank you. +p3926 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you've written about the huge divide in values between middle America and the big coastal cities like New York and Los Angeles. As a preacher as well as a politician, you know that presidents need the moral authority to bring the entire country together. The leading Republican candidate, when you look at the average of national polls right now, is Donald Trump. When you look at him, do you see someone with the moral authority to unite the country? +p3927 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3928 +aVThank you, Governor. Don't forget my colleague, Sharon Epperson. +p3929 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said something that many in your party do not believe, which is that climate change is undeniable, that human activity contributes to it, and you said, quote: "The question is, what do we do to deal with it?". So what do we do? +p3930 +aVWhat should we do? +p3931 +aVYou mean government? +p3932 +aVThank you, Governor. Becky. +p3933 +aVGovernor Bush, Mr. Trump says that he is capable of growing the economy so much that Social Security and Medicare don't have to be touched. Do you want to explain how that is going to happen, Mr. Trump? +p3934 +aVHold on, Governor. I've got a question for \u2014 for Dr. Carson. +p3935 +aVYes. You've said that you would like to replace Medicare with a system of individual family savings accounts, so that families could cover their own expenses. Obviously, that would be a very controversial idea. Explain how that would work, exactly. +p3936 +aVGovernor, do you also think that... +p3937 +aV...that Dr. Carson's right, that we can replace Medicare with individual savings accounts? +p3938 +aVMrs. Fiorina, we're right at the end of our time. +p3939 +aVYou all wanted us to limit . All right. Go ahead. +p3940 +aVWe have now reached the point in the program where candidates are going to give their closing statements, 30 seconds apiece. We're going to go right to left and start with you, Senator Paul. +p3941 +aVGovernor Christie? +p3942 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Cruz? +p3943 +aVThank you, Senator. Mrs. Fiorina? +p3944 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Dr. Carson? +p3945 +aVMr. Trump? +p3946 +aVJust for the record, the debate was always going to be two hours. Senator Rubio? +p3947 +aVSenator Rubio. +p3948 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Bush? +p3949 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Huckabee. +p3950 +aVThank you... +p3951 +aVGovernor Kasich? +p3952 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3953 +aVWe're going to pose this question to all candidates and go left to right, starting with Governor Jindal. Governor, a majority of Republican voters at this point in the campaign have made clear that they prefer someone from outside the political system. In 30 seconds, tell us why your experience inside the system would be more valuable than the fresh eyes an outsider would bring. +p3954 +aVThanks, Governor Jindal. Senator Santorum? +p3955 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Pataki? +p3956 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Graham. +p3957 +aVSenator Graham, thank you very much. Becky? +p3958 +aVJust hold on, Governor Pataki, we're going to go to Senator Graham on this question because we believe you are likely to be the only person on this stage tonight who supports this budget deal. Now, you just heard Governor Jindal say that it's a phony deal, it doesn't do anything, and people like you are surrendering rather than fighting by supporting it. Why is he wrong? +p3959 +aVThank you, Senator Graham... +p3960 +aV...Governor, we're going to get to you in just a moment, we're going to try to keep this shorter... +p3961 +aVGovernor Jindal, a question about fiscal policy, especially since you noted that this deal doesn't solve the long-term debt situation. When you came into office with a budget surplus in the state of Louisiana, now, years later, the state legislature faced a $1.6 billion budget gap and the Republican state treasurer called one of your approaches to that problem "nonsense on a stick," quoting him. Are you going to do for the federal budget what you did for the Louisiana budget? +p3962 +aVBut Governor Jindal, as you know, many Republicans are opposed to the approach that you've taken in Louisiana. They complain that you have tried so hard to avoid anything that could be called a tax increase so that you could run for president saying you'd never raised taxes, David Vitter, the Republican who's now running to succeed you, has told voters, I won't be like Jindal, I'm not using the governorship as a stepping stone to higher office. +p3963 +aVGovernor Jindal, thank you. +p3964 +aVWe're going to take a quick break. The Republican presidential debate continues live from Boulder, Colorado in a moment. +p3965 +aVGovernor Jindal, Senator Santorum just raised the issue of corporate taxes, and cutting corporate taxes is very popular in your party because our rate, at 35 percent, is one of the highest in the world. But nobody has figured out how to identify a set of loopholes that would allow that tax rate to be lowered. So can you tell us specifically what loopholes you'd do away with? +p3966 +aVWe're talking corporate taxes. +p3967 +aVThanks, Governor. Becky? +p3968 +aVSo the tax credit right now that we have for domestic manufacturing, which manufacturers say is... +p3969 +aV...important, you would get rid of that? +p3970 +aVSenator Graham, Americans have gotten used to seeing headlines about more and more big corporations relocating overseas to cut their tax bill. Now, many in Washington think the way to stop that is to lower our corporate tax rate. But as we've seen, tax reform takes time. It hasn't happened yet. In the meantime, do you fault those companies for leaving? Do companies owe anything to their country, as well as their shareholders? +p3971 +aVSenator Graham. +p3972 +aVI want to remind candidates, you've got a one-minute limit on the \u2014 on the response. But I just want to follow up, Senator Graham. Four years ago, the nominee of your party said that corporations are people, too. If that is true, the question is, do they owe any obligation to the country? +p3973 +aVSenator Graham \u2014 +p3974 +aV\u2014 thank you very much. +p3975 +aVWe're moving on. +p3976 +aVSenator, we're moving on. I'd like to bring on my colleague, Rick Santelli \u2014 Rick. +p3977 +aVSenator, that \u2014 I mean, Governor, if that's true, why was our economy limping six years ago and now it's the strongest in the world? +p3978 +aVGovernor Pataki, you've indicated you believe climate change is real and caused at least in part by human activity. So, in 60 seconds, tell us what the federal government should do about it. +p3979 +aVIs there a role for government? +p3980 +aVSo, subsidies for those programs? For \u2014 for those alternative energy sources? +p3981 +aVThank you, Governor. Thank you, Governor. Carl? +p3982 +aVGovernor, if you cut spending and cut government so much, why did your legislature have such a big deficit? +p3983 +aVNo, we're going to move on. I'm going to bring on my colleague Sharon Epperson. +p3984 +aVAnd thank you, Sharon. This is the Republican Presidential Debate, live from Boulder, Colorado. We'll be right back. +p3985 +aVOK, now we're at the point of the evening where we're just about to give our candidates a holiday from this debate, but not before they tell us in 30 seconds their closing statements. Senator Graham, you're first. +p3986 +aVSenator Graham... +p3987 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. Governor Pataki? +p3988 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum? +p3989 +aVSenator Santorum, thank you. Governor Jindal? +p3990 +aVGovernor Jindal, thank you very much. Carl? +p3991 +asVPAUL +p3992 +(lp3993 +VThe question is, how do we keep America safe from terrorism? Trump says we ought to close that Internet thing. The question really is, what does he mean by that? Like they do in North Korea? Like they do in China? Rubio says we should collect all Americans' records all of the time. The Constitution says otherwise. I think they're both wrong. I think we defeat terrorism by showing them that we do not fear them. I think if we ban certain religions, if we censor the Internet, I think that at that point the terrorists will have won. Regime change hasn't won. Toppling secular dictators in the Middle East has only led to chaos and the rise of radical Islam. I think if we want to defeat terrorism, I think if we truly are sincere about defeating terrorism, we need to quit arming the allies of +p3994 +aVYou know, I think Marco gets it completely wrong. We are not any safer through the bulk collection of all Americans' records. In fact, I think we're less safe. We get so distracted by all of the information, we're not spending enough time getting specific immigration \u2014 specific information on terrorists. The other thing is, is the one thing that might have stopped San Bernardino, that might have stopped 9/11 would have been stricter controls on those who came here. And Marco has opposed at every point increased security \u2014 border security for those who come to our country. On his Gang of Eight bill, he would have liberalized immigration, but he did not \u2014 and he steadfastly opposed any new border security requirements for refugees or students. Last week, I introduced another bill saying we need more security, we need more scrutiny. Once again, Marco opposed this. So Marco can't have it both ways. He thinks he wants to be this, "Oh, I'm great and strong on national defense." But he's the weakest of all the candidates on immigration. He is the one for an open border that is leaving us defenseless. If we want to defend the country, we have to defend against who's coming in, and Marco is \u2014 has more of an allegiance to Chuck Schumer and to the liberals than he does to conservative policy. +p3995 +aVIf I was mentioned in the question, can I respond? +p3996 +aVMarco still misunderstands the immigration issue. What I put forward was an amendment that would have temporarily halted immigration from high-risk terrorist countries, but would have started it up, but I wanted them to go through Global Entry, which is a program where we do background checks. The thing is, is that every terrorist attack we've had since 9/11 has been legal immigration. Marco wants to expand that. I want more rules, more scrutiny, and to defend the country, you have to defend the border. +p3997 +aVWolf... +p3998 +aVWolf, this legislation... +p3999 +aVThis legislation on indefinite detention... +p4000 +aV... I think deserves a little more attention. +p4001 +aVI think that by arming the allies of +p4002 +aVI think that if you believe in regime change, you're mistaken. In 2013, we put 600 tons of weapons \u2014 us, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar \u2014 into the war against Assad. By pushing Assad back, we did create a safe space. We had people coming to our Foreign Relations Committee and saying, "Oh, we need to arm the allies of Al Qaida." They are still saying this. It is a crazy notion. This is the biggest debate we should be having tonight is is regime change a good idea; has it been a good idea. There are still people \u2014 the majority on the stage, they want to topple Assad. And then there will be chaos, and I think +p4003 +aVThese are the fundamental questions of our time, these foreign policy questions, whether or not regime change is a good idea or a bad idea. I don't think because I think the regime change was a bad idea it means that Hussein was necessarily a good idea. There is often variations of evil on both sides of the war. What we have to decide is whether or not regime change is a good idea. It's what the neoconservatives have wanted. It's what the vast majority of those on the stage want. They still want regime change. They want it in Syria. They wanted it in Iraq. They want it in Libya. It has not worked. Out of regime change you get chaos. From the chaos you have seen repeatedly the rise of radical Islam. So we get this profession of, oh, my goodness, they want to do something about terrorism and yet they're the problem because they allow terrorism to arise out of that chaos. +p4004 +aVNo, I think it's a huge mistake. I think regime change in Syria, and this is what \u2014 I've been saying this for several years now. In 2013 when we first went in, I said, you are going to give arms to the allies of al Qaida, to radical jihadists? That's crazy. But the other thing I said is the great irony is you will be back fighting against your own weapons. Had Assad been bombed when he used chemical weapons two years ago, +p4005 +aVWell, I think if you're in favor of World War III, you have your candidate. You know, here's...... the thing. My goodness, what we want in a leader is someone with judgment, not someone who is so reckless as to stand on the stage and say, "Yes, I'm jumping up and down; I'm going to shoot down Russian planes." Russia already flies in that airspace. It may not be something we're in love with the fact that they're there, but they were invited by Iraq and by Syria to fly in that airspace. And so if we announce we're going to have a no-fly zone, and others have said this. Hillary Clinton is also for it. It is a recipe for disaster. It's a recipe for World War III. We need to confront Russia from a position of strength, but we don't need to confront Russia from a point of recklessness that would lead to war. This is something \u2014 this type of judgment, you know, it's having that kind of judgment; who you would appoint and how you're going to conduct affairs, that is incredibly important. I mean, I think when we think about the judgment of someone who might want World War III, we might think about someone who might shut down a bridge because they don't like their friends; they don't want to \u2014 you know, they want to a Democrat. So I think we need to be very careful. +p4006 +aVYou know, I think we need to set the record straight on this, because I think Marco misspoke about the bill. On the Gang of Eight bill, there was no provisions really for extra scrutiny or safety for refugees. At the time the bill came up, two Iraqi refugees came to my home town, Bowling Green, Kentucky. Their fingerprints were on a bomb from Iraq. They were in the database, but we didn't pick them up. We relocated them here, put them in government housing, got them on food stamps. And we began providing for them, but we didn't have adequate security. On the Gang of Eight bill, on Marco's bill, we had an opportunity. There was a conservative consensus for an amendment I put forward called Trust, But Verify that would have strengthened border security on both refugees, students and those coming here. And Marco sided and I guess was more sympathetic to Chuck Schumer and to the president than he was to conservative principles. But this goes directly to national defense. And if he wants to run as a national \u2014 national defense conservative, he's got to explain why he hasn't stepped up to support border security. +p4007 +aVWhat my bill would do would be only for refugees going forward. So I haven't taken a position on sending anyone home. But I have taken the position that we have a lot of problems here in our country. And that one of the things that we do \u2014 charity is about giving your own money. Charity isn't giving someone else's money. To put everyone in government housing and food stamps and bring them in from around the world I think is a mistake. To give of your own money, I've given to my church. My church has helped people that came from Bosnia. That's a good thing. But we shouldn't have a program where we just say that we're going to take care of the world's refugees. Nobody in the Middle East is doing anything. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait \u2014 all the Gulf nations are doing nothing. They need to step up and take... +p4008 +aVThe greatest threat to our national security is our debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. And whose fault is it? Well, frankly, it's both parties' fault. You have those on the right who clamor and say, oh, we will spend anything on the military, and those on the left who say the same for domestic welfare. But what most Americans don't realize is there is an unholy alliance. They come together. There's a secret handshake. We spend more money on everything. And we are not stronger nation if we go further into debt. We are not projecting power from bankruptcy court. To me, there is no greater threat than our debt. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage because I'm willing to hold the line on all spending. I hope you will consider me in the election. Thank you very much. +p4009 +aVAbsolutely. And I think that we ought to look where income inequality seems to be the worst. It seems to be worst in cities run by Democrats, governors of... States run by Democrats and countries currently run by Democrats. So the thing is, let's look for root causes. But I would also say \u2014 lay some blame at the \u2014 the feet of the Federal Reserve. I think the Federal Reserve has made this problem worse. By artificially keeping interest rates below the market rate, average ordinary citizens have a tough time earning interest, have a tough time making money. They're actually talking now about negative interest. The money as it's created through quantitative easing or other means tends to start out in the big banks in New York. And because we're now paying interest for them to keep the money there, much of that money has not filtered out into the economy. So what we're finding is there is increasing income disparity and income inequality. We also find that as the Federal Reserve destroys the value of the currency, what you're finding is that, if you're poor, if you make $20,000 a year and you have three or four kids, and you're trying to get by, as your prices rise or as the value of the dollar shrinks, these are the people that are hurt the worst. So really we need to reexamine whether we not \u2014 we want a Federal Reserve that's involved so much in determining interest rates. We also need to look at root causes as to what caused the housing boom and the housing collapse. But the bottom line is, if you want less income inequality, move to a city with a Republican mayor or a state with a Republican governor. +p4010 +aVWell, it's a great question, Neil, and thanks for including me in the tax debate. I think what's important about the tax debate is, is that we have to ask the question, where is money best spent, in the private sector or in the government sector? I want a government really, really small, so small you can barely see it. So I want lower taxes and much more money in the private sector. My tax plan, however, is the only tax plan among any of the candidates on the stage that is part of a balanced budget plan. I put forward three plans that actually balance the budget over a five-year period. Each of these plans have details on exactly where we would cut. The question came up earlier, where would you cut? Nobody likes to say where they would cut. I've put pencil to paper and done three budgets that actually balance. I'm also in favor of a plan called the penny plan where we'd just cut 1 percent across the board and the budget actually balances in less than five years. So I think what is extraordinary about my tax plan is it is in the context of balancing the budget. What is also extraordinary about my tax plan is it gets rid of the payroll tax. Democrats demagogue this issue to death, and when they do they say, oh, a millionaire would get a bigger tax cut than someone making $10,000. That's proportionality, as Ben is trying to explain to folks. But the thing is, is if we get rid of the payroll tax, everybody is going to get a tax cut. And this is something that I think the public at large will support and could win an election. +p4011 +aVOurs is 14.5 percent for corporations, 14.5 percent for individuals. No payroll tax for the employee. The business tax pays for social security, and there would be two remaining deductions \u2014 home mortgage and charity. +p4012 +aVThank you. +p4013 +aVNeil, there's a point I'd like to make here... ....Neil, a point that I'd like to make about the tax credits. We have to decide what is conservative and what isn't conservative. Is it fiscally conservative to have a trillion-dollar expenditure? We're not talking about giving people back their tax money. He's talking about giving people money they didn't pay. It's a welfare transfer payment. So here's what we have. Is it conservative to have $1 trillion in transfer payments \u2014 a new welfare program that's a refundable tax credit? Add that to Marco's plan for $1 trillion in new military spending, and you get something that looks, to me, not very conservative. Thank you. +p4014 +aVNevertheless, it's not very conservative, Marco. +p4015 +aVHow is it conservative? +p4016 +aVYeah, but, Marco! Marco! How is it conservative, how is it conservative to add a trillion-dollar expenditure for the federal government that you're not paying for? +p4017 +aVHow is it conservative? +p4018 +aVHow is it conservative to add a trillion dollars in military expenditures? You can not be a conservative if you're going to keep promoting new programs that you're not going to pay for. +p4019 +aVNo. I don't think we're any safer \u2014 I do not think we are any safer from bankruptcy court. As we go further, and further into debt, we become less, and less safe. This is the most important thing we're going to talk about tonight. Can you be a conservative, and be liberal on military spending? Can you be for unlimited military spending, and say, Oh, I'm going to make the country safe? No, we need a safe country, but, you know, we spend more on our military than the next ten countries combined? I want a strong national defense, but I don't want us to be bankrupt. +p4020 +aVHey, Gerard, you know, we might want to point out China is not part of this deal. +p4021 +aVBefore we get a little bit off-kilter here... +p4022 +aVThere is an argument that China doesn't like the deal, because in us doing the deal, we'll be trading with their competitors. You're exactly right. But I think we've sort of missed the point a little bit here. There is an important point, though, about how we discuss these trade treaties that I do agree with Mr. Trump on. We should negotiate from a position of strength. And we also should negotiate using the full force and the constitutional power that was given to us. I think it's a mistake that we give up power to the presidency on these trade deals. We give up the power to filibuster, and I'm kind of fond of that power. We give up the power to amend. And I think, really, one of the big problems we have in our country is, over the last century, really, so much power has gravitated to the executive branch. Really, Congress is kind of a bystander. We don't write the rules. We don't make the laws. The executive branch does. So even in trade \u2014 and I am for trade \u2014 I think we should be careful about giving so much power to the presidency. +p4023 +aVI'd like first to respond to the acquisition, we should \u2014 I think it's particularly naive, particularly foolish to think that we're not going to talk to Russia. The idea of a no fly zone, realize that this is also something that Hillary Clinton agrees with several on our side with, you're asking for a no fly zone in an area in which Russia already flies. Russia flies in that zone at the invitation of Iraq. I'm not saying it's a good thing, but you better know at least what we're getting into. So, when you think it's going to be a good idea to have a no fly zone over Iraq, realize that means you are saying we are going to shoot down Russian planes. If you're ready for that, be ready to send your sons and daughters to another war in Iraq. I don't want to see that happen. I think the first war in Iraq was a mistake... You can be strong without being involved in every civil war around the war... +p4024 +aVRonald Reagan was strong, but Ronald Reagan didn't... +p4025 +aV...send troops into the Middle East... +p4026 +aV...Can I finish... +p4027 +aV...Can I finish my time? Could I finish with my time? +p4028 +aVYes, I would like to finish my response, basically. +p4029 +aVThis is an important question. This is an incredibly important question. And the question goes to be, who do we want to be our commander-in-chief? Do you want a commander-in-chief who says something that we never did throughout the entire Cold War, to discontinue having conversations with the Russians? I am not happy about them flying over there. But I'm not naive enough to say, well, Iraq has them flying over their airspace, we're just going to announce that we're shooting them down? That is naive to the point of being something you might hear in junior high. But it's scary... +p4030 +aVThe first thing I would do is I wouldn't arm our enemies. I wouldn't arm +p4031 +aVGerard, can I comment... +p4032 +aVThe first thing I would do as president is repeal the regulations that are hampering our energy that the President has put in place. Including the Clean Power Act. While I do think that man may have a role in our climate, I think nature also has a role. The planet's 4.5 billion years old, we've been through geologic age after geologic age. We've had times when the temperatures been warmer, we've had times when the temperatures been colder. We've had times when the carbon in the atmosphere's been higher. So, I think before we \u2014 we need to look before we leap. President's often fond of saying he wants a balance solution, but, really we do need to balance both keeping the environment clean, and we will have some rules for that. We got to balance that with the economy. He's devastated my state. I say the President's not only destroying Kentucky, he's destroying the democrat party down there because nobody wants to associate with him. So, what we really need is somebody that understands that we do need energy of all forms, and that means we will have solar, and wind, and hydro, but we will still have coal, and we still will have natural gas. And, we've got to have an all of the above policy. But, it would be a mistake to shut down all of our industries in the coal fields, and shut down the coal power plants. If we did so we're going to have a day where we wake up and some of our big cities are either very cold, or very hot. So, I think it's a big danger, and we shouldn't do it. And, what we should do is say we want all of the above... ...We want to free up the energy sector, and let people produce, let them drill, let them explore. +p4033 +aVWe're the richest, freest, most humanitarian nation in the history of mankind. But we also borrow a million dollars a minute. And the question I have for all Americans is, think about it, can you be a fiscal conservative if you don't conserve all of the money? If you're a profligate spender, you spend money in an unlimited fashion for the military, is that a conservative notion? We have to be conservative with all spending, domestic spending and welfare spending. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage. +p4034 +aVYou know, I left my medical practice and ran for office because I was concerned about an $18 trillion debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. Now, on the floor of the Congress, the Washington establishment from both parties puts forward a bill that will explode the deficit. It allows President Obama to borrow unlimited amounts of money. I will stand firm. I will spend every ounce of energy to stop it. I will begin tomorrow to filibuster it. And I ask everyone in America to call Congress tomorrow and say enough is enough; no more debt. +p4035 +aVNo, I oppose it because you're taking money from the entitlement and then spending it immediately on other items. That's what they're doing. They're taking money from Social Security and they're going to spend it on the military and they're going to spend it on domestic spending. Here's the thing. When you look at raising the debt limit, it should be leverage to try to reform government. In 2011, the sequester was passed as a reform to slow down the rate of government. Instead, the Washington establishment raised both. We raised the military spending, took from entitlements, and raised domestic spending and the deficit will explode under this. This is the unholy alliance that people need to know about between right and left. Right and left are spending us into oblivion. We should use the debt ceiling, as precisely to Don, to force upon them budgetary reforms. +p4036 +aVWell, that's a real question. Is there going to be any change in the House with new leadership? I frankly don't think there will be much change because I think what's going to happen is you're going to get more of the same. People in Washington think they were sent there to be adults and govern and do all this. Well, you know what I'm worried about? Not keeping the government open. I'm worried about bankrupting the American people. We're borrowing a million dollars a minute. That is important. And that's what we have to contrast. Keeping the government open and continuing to borrow a million dollars a minute. +p4037 +aVWell, thank you very much. I would like to thank Ted for co-sponsoring my bill, audit the Fed. And I think it's precisely because of the arrogance of someone like Ben Bernanke, who now calls us all know-nothings, that is precisely why we need audit the Fed. I think it is really very much a huge problem that an organization as powerful as the Fed comes in, lobbies against them being audited on the Hill. I would prevent them lobbying Congress. I don't think the Fed should be involved with lobbying us. I think we should examine how the Fed has really been part of the problem. You want to study income inequality, let's bring the Fed forward and talk about Fed policy and how it causes income inequality. Let's also bring the Fed forward and have them explain how they caused the housing boom and the crisis, and what they've done to make us better or worse. I think the Fed has been a great problem in our society. What you need to do is free up interest rates. Interest rates are the price of money, and we shouldn't have price controls on the price of money. +p4038 +aV...John... +p4039 +aVJohn, I'd like to address this? John, could I follow up on this? +p4040 +aVWhat are the rules on who gets to follow up. How do we decide on who gets to follow up? I've seen plenty of other people follow up? +p4041 +aVI'd like to just mention something about my tax plan, and how it relates to the discussion... +p4042 +aVAlright. Much of the discussion is centered over whether or not the different tax plans help, or affect the middle class. In fact, it's the chief argument by democrats against many of the different flat tax proposals. Mine is unique in the sense that my tax plan actually gets rid of the payroll tax as well. It shifts it to the business, and it would allow middle class people to get a tax cut. If you just cut their income tax, there isn't much income tax to cut. Mine actually cuts the payroll tax, and I think it would spread the tax cut across all socioeconomic levels, and would allow then it to be something that would be broadly supported by the public in an election. +p4043 +aVThe question always is, what works better, the private marketplace or government? And what distributes goods better? It always seems to be the private marketplace does a better job. Is there an area for a safety net? Can you have Medicare or Social Security? Yes. But you ought to acknowledge the government doesn't do a very good job at it. The main problem with Medicare right now is that the average person pays in taxes over their whole lifetime about $100,000. But the average person takes out about $350,000. We have this enormous mismatch because we have smaller and smaller families. When people ask me, whose fault is it? Whose fault is it that Medicare is broken, out of money, that Social Security is broken, out of money? And I say, look, it's not Republicans' fault, it's not Democrats' fault, it's your grandparents' fault for having too many damn kids. After the war we had all of these kids, Baby Boomers. Now we're having smaller families. We used to have 16 workers for one retiree, now you have three workers for one retiree. It's not working. I have a bill to fix Medicare. I've a bill to fix Social Security. For both of them you have to gradually raise the age. If you're not willing to do that, nobody wants to do it, but if you're not willing to gradually raise the age, you're not serious about fixing either one of them. +p4044 +aVSay again? +p4045 +aVYou can't do nothing. And that's what I hear from some people, "we'll do nothing and it will just be fixed." That's absurd, and I think people who don't want to fix it, really, or unwilling to take the chance to say, "something has to change," are missing the boat here. The age will have to gradually rise, there is no question. It's the only way you fix Medicare, the only way you fix Social Security. You will also have to means-test the benefits and declare there's not enough money. It isn't "I put money in, I'm getting it back." There is no money, it's a stack of paper. There is no money in the Social Security account. There is no money in the Medicare account. There's only a promise to pay by the next generation, and the next generation's not big enough to pay it. [ +p4046 +aVLiberty thrives when government is small. I want a government so small I can barely see it. I want a government so small that the individual has a chance to thrive and prosper. I think, though, government is too big now. And what you're going to see in Washington this week is establishment Republicans have made an agreement with the president to raise the debt ceiling in an unlimited fashion; no limit to the debt ceiling raise. This is extraordinary. It's extraordinarily wrong. You'll see me on the floor of the Senate tomorrow filibustering this and saying enough is enough, no more debt. +p4047 +aVGood evening, everyone. I'm an eye surgeon from Bowling Green, Kentucky. My wife, Kelly, and I have been married for nearly 25 years, and I spend my days defending the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I think there's nothing more important than understanding that the Constitution restrains government, not the people. Thank you. +p4048 +aVI kind of have to laugh when I think of, "Mmm, sounds like a non sequitur." He was asked whether or not he would be capable and it would be in good hands to be in charge of the nuclear weapons, and all of a sudden, there's a sideways attack at me. I think that really goes to really the judgment. Do we want someone with that kind of character, that kind of careless language to be negotiating with Putin? Do we want someone like that to be negotiating with Iran? I think really there's a sophomoric quality that is entertaining about Mr. Trump, but I am worried. I'm very concerned about him \u2014 having him in charge of the nuclear weapons, because I think his response, his \u2014 his visceral response to attack people on their appearance \u2014 short, tall, fat, ugly \u2014 my goodness, that happened in junior high. Are we not way above that? Would we not all be worried to have someone like that in charge of the nuclear arsenal? +p4049 +aVI think this goes back to essentially what we've been saying for the last two or three questions. Carly Fiorina also said we're not going to talk with Putin. Well, think if Reagan had said that during the Cold War? We continued to talk with the Russians throughout the Cold War which is much more significant that where we are now. Should we continue to talk with Iran? Yes. Should we cut up the agreement immediately? That's absurd. Wouldn't you want to know if they complied? Now, I'm going to vote against the agreement because I don't think there's significant leverage, but it doesn't mean that I would immediately not look at the agreement, and cut it up without looking to see if whether or not Iran has complied. The same goes with China. I don't think we need to be rash, I don't think we need to be reckless, and I think need to leave lines of communication open. Often we talk about whether we should be engaged in the world, or disengaged in the world, and I think this is an example of some who want to isolate us, actually, and not be engaged. We do need to be engaged with Russia. It doesn't mean we give them a free pass, or China a free pass, but, to be engaged, to continue to talk. We did throughout the Cold War, and it would be a big mistake not to do it here. +p4050 +aVI think this gets to the point of wisdom on when to intervene and when we shouldn't. Had we bombed Assad at the time, like President Obama wanted, and like Hillary Clinton wanted and many Republicans wanted, I think +p4051 +aVWell, I hate to say it, but Donald Trump has a bit of a point here. The case that was decided around 1900 was, people had a green card, were here legally, and they said that their children were citizens. There's never been a direct Supreme Court case on people who were here illegally, whether or not their kids are citizens. So it hasn't really been completely adjudicated. The 14th Amendment says that "those who are here and under the jurisdiction." The original author of the \u2014 of the 14th Amendment said on the Senate floor that this was applying to slaves, and did not specifically apply to others. +p4052 +aVWell, I'm glad we're having a discussion about taxes because everybody laments that we lose jobs overseas, we have. Our companies, and our jobs are being chased overseas by a 70,000 page tax code, so, that's why I've chosen to get rid of the whole thing, and have one single rate, 14 and a-half percent for everybody, business, and for corporate income, and personal income. But, we also get rid of the payroll tax, so the working class would get a tax break as well. So, I think a flat tax, eliminating the tax code, getting rid of all the loopholes, is the way to go, and it's the way we get America going again. +p4053 +aVHugh, can I \u2014 can I make a response to that? +p4054 +aVCan I make a response to that? +p4055 +aVMay I make a response to that? +p4056 +aVHe's referred to me. +p4057 +aVHe's referred to me... +p4058 +aV... in his remarks. May I make a response? +p4059 +aVAbsolutely. Go ahead. +p4060 +aVMay I respond? +p4061 +aVThe remark was made that there hadn't been anyone else on the podium opposed to the Iraq War. I've made my career as being an opponent of the Iraq War. I was opposed to the Syria war. I was opposed to arming people who are our enemies. Iran is now stronger because Hussein is gone. Hussein was the great bulwark and counterbalance to the Iranians. So when we complain about the Iranians, you need to remember that the Iraq War made it worse. Originally, Governor Bush was asked, was the Iraq War a mistake, and he said, "No. We'd do it again." We have to learn sometimes the interventions backfire. The Iraq War backfired and did not help us. We're still paying the repercussions of a bad decision. +p4062 +aVWe have make the decision now in Syria, should we topple Assad? Many up here wanted to topple Assad, and it's like \u2014 I said no, because if you do... +p4063 +aV... +p4064 +aVIf you want boots on the ground, and you want them to be our sons and daughters, you got 14 other choices. There will always be a Bush or Clinton for you, if you want to go back to war in Iraq. But the thing is, the first war was a mistake. And I'm not sending our sons and our daughters back to Iraq. The war didn't work. We can amplify those who live there. The Kurds deserve to be armed and I'll arm them. We can use our Air Force to amplify the forces there. But the boots on the ground need to be the people who live there. My goodness, I'm still upset with the Saudi Arabians for everything they do over there. They've funded the arms that went to the jihadists. They're not accepting any of the people, any of the migrants that have been \u2014 the refugees that are being pushed out of Syria. Saudi Arabia is not accepting one. Why are we always the world's patsies that we have to go over there and fight their wars for them? They need to fight their wars, we need to defend American interests, but it is not in America's national security interests to have another war in Iraq. +p4065 +aVI think one of the great problems, and what American people don't like about politics, is hypocrisy. People have one standard for others and not for them \u2014 for themselves. There is at least one prominent example on the stage of someone who says they smoked pot in high school, and yet the people going to \u2014 to jail for this are poor people, often African-Americans and often Hispanics, and yet the rich kids who use drugs aren't. I personally think that this is a crime for which the only victim is the individual, and I think that America has to take a different attitude. I would like to see more rehabilitation and less incarceration. I'm a fan of the drug courts which try to direct you back towards work and less time in jail. But the bottom line is the states. We say we like the 10th Amendment, until we start talking about this. And I think the federal government has gone too far, I think that the war on drugs has had a racial outcome, and really has been something that has really damaged our inner cities. Not only do the drugs damage them, we damage them again by incarcerating them and then preventing them from getting employment over time. So I don't think that the federal government should override the states. I believe in the 10th Amendment and I really will say that the states are left to themselves. +p4066 +aVWell, I think if we left it open, we could see how many people smoked pot in high school. +p4067 +aVWell, you know, the thing is that... +p4068 +aVYeah, I was talking about \u2014 well, let me... +p4069 +aVBut let me respond. The thing is, is that in Florida, Governor Bush campaigned against medical marijuana. That means that a small child like Morgan Hintz (ph) that has seizures is day, is failing on non-traditional medications, is not allowed to use cannabis oil. And if they do that in Florida, they will take the child away, they will put the parents in jail. And that's what that means if you're against allowing people use medical marijuana, you'll actually put them in jail. +p4070 +aVAnd actually, under the current circumstances, kids who had privilege like you do, don't go to jail, but the poor kids in our inner cities go to jail. I don't think that's fair. And I think we need to acknowledge it, and it is hypocritical to still want to put poor people in jail... +p4071 +aVWell, you vote \u2014 you oppose medical marijuana... +p4072 +aVBut that means you'll put people in jail. +p4073 +aVMay I respond? +p4074 +aVUnderstand what they're saying. if they're going to say we are going to enforce the federal law against what the state law is, they aren't really believing in the Tenth Amendment. Governor Christie would go into Colorado, and if you're breaking any federal law on marijuana, even though the state law allows it, he would put you in jail. If a young mother is trying to give her child cannabis oil for medical marijuana for seizure treatment, he would put her in jail, if it violates federal law. I would let Colorado do what the Tenth Amendment says. This power \u2014 we were never intended to have crime dealing at the federal level. Crime was supposed to be left to the states. Colorado has made their decision. And I don't want the federal government interfering and putting moms in jail, who are trying to get medicine for their kid... +p4075 +aVMay I respond? May I respond? +p4076 +aVHere is the thing, he doesn't want to make it about medical marijuana, but what if New Jersey's medical marijuana contradicts the federal law? He's saying he'll send the federal government in, and he will enforce the federal law. That's not consistent with the Tenth Amendment. It is not consistent with states' rights. And it is not consistent with the conservative vision for the country. I don't think we should be sending the federal police in to arrest a mother and separate them from their child for giving a medicine to their child for seizures. +p4077 +aVIf you want a skeptic \u2014 if you want a skeptic, Jake, I will happily jump into that briar patch. If you want a real... +p4078 +aVA second opinion? One of the greatest \u2014 one of the greatest medical discoveries of all times was \u2014 were the vaccines, particularly for smallpox. And if you want to read a story, it's called The Speckled Monster, it's an amazing story, it was all done voluntary. But people came in by the droves. George Washington wouldn't let his wife visit until she got vaccinated. So I'm all for vaccines. But I'm also for freedom. I'm also a little concerned about how they're bunched up. My kids had all of their vaccines, and even if the science doesn't say bunching them up is a problem, I ought to have the right to spread out my vaccines out a little bit at the very least. +p4079 +aVOoh, that's a tough one. You know, I'm big on \u2014 that we were \u2014 and I love what Carly said about women's suffrage. I think Susan B. Anthony might be a good choice. +p4080 +aVJustice Never Sleeps. +p4081 +aVI met Ronald Reagan as a teenager, and my family, we're big supporters of him when he ran against Gerald Ford. It was a big deal because he was the grassroots, running against the establishment, and I'll never forget that. And, how he stood up and said, you know what, this is something new that our country needs, and our party needs. If I were president, I would try to be one who says, you know what, I'm a Reagan Conservative. I'm someone who believes in peace through strength, and I would try to lead the country in that way knowing that our goal is peace, and that war is the last resort, not the first resort. And, that when we go to war, we go to war in a constitutional way, which means that we have to vote on it, that war is initiated by congress, not by the president, that we go to war electively (ph). That when we go to war, we don't fight with one arm tied behind our back, we fight all out to win, but then we come home. +p4082 +aVThis is what's wrong! +p4083 +aVI mean, this is what's wrong. He buys and sells politicians of all stripes, he's already... +p4084 +aVHey, look, look! He's already hedging his bet on the Clintons, OK? So if he doesn't run as a Republican, maybe he supports Clinton, or maybe he runs as an independent... +p4085 +aV...but I'd say that he's already hedging his bets because he's used to buying politicians. +p4086 +aVFirst of all, only +p4087 +aVMegyn, may I respond? May I respond? +p4088 +aVI want to collect more records from terrorists, but less records from innocent Americans. The Fourth Amendment was what we fought the Revolution over! John Adams said it was the spark that led to our war for independence, and I'm proud of standing for the Bill of Rights, and I will continue to stand for the Bill of Rights. +p4089 +aVUse the Fourth Amendment! +p4090 +aVUse the Fourth Amendment! +p4091 +aVGet a warrant! +p4092 +aVGet a judge to sign the warrant! +p4093 +aVSee, here's the problem. +p4094 +aVHere's the problem, governor. Here's the problem, governor. You fundamentally misunderstand the Bill of Rights. Every time you did a case, you got a warrant from a judge. I'm talking about searches without warrants... +p4095 +aV...indiscriminately, of all Americans' records, and that's what I fought to end. I don't trust President Obama with our records. I know you gave him a big hug, and if you want to give him a big hug again, go right ahead. +p4096 +aVI've got a news flash... +p4097 +aVNews flash, the Republican Party's been fighting against a single-payer system... +p4098 +aV-- for a decade. So I think you're on the wrong side of this if you're still arguing for a single-payer system. +p4099 +aVI oppose the Iranian deal, and will vote against it. I don't think that the president negotiated from a position of strength, but I don't immediately discount negotiations. I'm a Reagan conservative. Reagan did negotiate with the Soviets. But you have to negotiate from a position of strength, and I think President Obama gave away too much, too early. If there's going to be a negotiation, you're going to have to believe somehow that the Iranians are going to comply. And I asked this question to John Kerry, I said "do you believe they're trustworthy?" and he said "No." And I said, "well, how are we gonna get them to comply?" I would have never released the sanctions before there was consistent evidence of compliance. +p4100 +aVLook, I don't want my marriage or my guns registered in Washington. And if people have an opinion, it's a religious opinion that is heartly felt, obviously they should be allowed to practice that and no government should interfere with them. One of the things, one of the things that really got to me was the thing in Houston where you had the government, the mayor actually, trying to get the sermons of ministers. When the government tries to invade the church to enforce its own opinion on marriage, that's when it's time to resist. +p4101 +aVWell, let's be clear, I'm the only one on the stage who actually has a five-year budget that balances. I've put pencil to paper... +p4102 +aV... and I've said -- and I've said I would cut spending, and I've said exactly where. Each one of my budgets has taken a meat axe to foreign aid, because I think we ought to quit sending it to countries that hate us. I think we ought to quit sending it to countries that burn our flag. Israel is not one of those. But even Benjamin Netanyahu said that ultimately, they will be stronger when they're independent. My position is exactly the same. We shouldn't borrow money from China to send it anywhere, but why don't we start with eliminating aid to our enemies. +p4103 +aVI still say exactly what my original opinion is. Do you borrow money from China to send it to anyone? Out of your surplus, you can help your allies, and Israel is a great ally. And this is no particular animus of Israel, but what I will say, and I will say over and over again, we cannot give away money we don't have. We do not project power from bankruptcy court. We're borrowing a million dollars a minute. It's got to stop somewhere. +p4104 +aVI'm a different kind of Republican. I've introduced a five-year balanced budget. I've introduced the largest tax cut in our history. I stood for ten and a half hours on the Senate floor to defend your right to be left alone. But I've also gone to Chicago. I've gone to Detroit. I've been to Ferguson, I've been to Baltimore, because I want our party to be bigger, better and bolder, and I'm the only one that leads Hillary Clinton in five states that were won by President Obama. I'm a different kind of Republican. +p4105 +aVYou know, I've always had a great deal of respect. There's probably no person I respect more in the country or in recent history than my father. I think he was probably the most honest man in politics that we've ever seen in a generation. And so in no way have I ever said that I don't embrace my father or love my father or appreciate everything that he has done for the country. I think what's interesting about where that liberty vote goes that my father brought to the Republican Party is, I don't think they're necessarily going to go for Ted. You know, Ted didn't show up. We had an audit-the-Fed vote, which was the biggest thing my dad had been advocating for, for 30 years, Ted didn't have time to show up. He was the only Republican that didn't show up for it. And so I think really that vote is going to stay in the Paul household. I think more of it is coming and it's going to grow. The NSA is another big issue. Ted said he was for NSA reform, but then he told Marco Rubio, no, no, no, I voted for the bill because I'm for the government collecting 100 percent of your cell phone records. I don't think Ted can have it both ways. They want to say they're getting some of the liberty vote. But we don't see it happening at all. We think we're going to do very well in Iowa with the liberty vote. +p4106 +aVMay I respond? +p4107 +aVWell, I mean, I was talked about in the question. +p4108 +aVJust very quickly, I would like to respond. The bulk collection of your phone data, the invasion of your privacy did not stop one terrorist attack. I don't think you have to give up your liberty for a false sense of security. When we look at this bulk collection, the court has looked at this. Even the court declared it to be illegal. If we want to collect the records of terrorists, let's do it the old fashioned way. Let's use the Fourth Amendment. Let's put a name on a warrant, let's ask a judge for it. Let's respect the history of our country. John Adams said that we fought a War for Independence because we wanted to fight against generalized warrants. Let's don't forget that. +p4109 +aVMy budget was mentioned. My budget was mentioned. +p4110 +aV... Senator Cruz, I'd like to respond... +p4111 +aV... and I'd like to respond. +p4112 +aVThank you, Marco. +p4113 +aVThank you. The issue in Syria's a very important one, and it's one we need to get right. The question is, should we be bombing both sides of the war? Some want to topple Assad. In fact, they want to bomb +p4114 +aV. +p4115 +aVYeah, no, I think that's a \u2014 that's a huge mistake, to be closing down mosques. But I would say that if you want to defend the country, it begins with border security. And this is where I've had my disagreement with Senator Rubio. When he brought forward the "Gang of Eight" bill to give citizenship to those who came here illegally, I put forward an amendment that says we should have more scrutiny on those who are coming as students, those who are coming as immigrants, those who are coming as refugees, because we had two refugees come to my town in Bowling Green and try to attack us. Marco opposed this because they made a deal. He made a deal with Chuck Schumer that he would oppose any conservative amendments. And I think that's a mistake, and I just don't think Marco can have it both ways. You can't be in favor of defend us... ... against Islam \u2014 radical Islam \u2014 if you're not for border security. +p4116 +aVYou know, I've supported legislation to allow body cameras. I've been to Ferguson, I've been trying to look for solutions to our criminal justice problem. One thing I discovered in Ferguson was that a third of the budget for the city of Ferguson was being reaped by civil fines. People were just being fined to death. Now you and I and many of the people in this audience, if we get a $100 fine, we can survive it. If you're living on the edge of poverty and you get a $100 fine or your car towed, a lot of times you lose your job. I also think the war on drugs has disproportionately affected our African-American community, and what we need to do is make sure that the war on drugs is equal protection under the law and that we don't unfairly incarcerate another generation of young African-American males. In Ferguson, for every 100 African-American women, there are only 60 African-American men. Drug use is about equal between white and black, but our prisons \u2014 three out of four people in prison are black or brown. I think something has to change. I think it's a big thing that our party needs to be part of, and I've been a leader in Congress on trying to bring about criminal justice reform. +p4117 +aVI was there and I saw the debate. I saw Ted Cruz say, "we'll take citizenship off the table, and then the bill will pass, and I'm for the bill." The bill would involve legalization. He can't have it both ways. But what is particularly insulting, though, is that he is the king of saying, "you're for amnesty." Everybody's for amnesty except for Ted Cruz. But it's a falseness, and that's an authenticity problem \u2014 that everybody he knows is not as perfect as him because we're all for amnesty. I was for legalization. I think, frankly, if you have border security, you can have legalization. So was Ted, but now he says it wasn't so. That's not true. +p4118 +aVYou know, I think abortion is always wrong. I've supported a variety of solutions, both state as well as federal. In fact, just last week, I introduced the Life at Conception act, which would say that the 14th amendment would defend an individual even in the womb. But I think on the broader question of religion and politics, you know, I think liberty, itself requires a virtue \u2014 requires a virtuous people. In fact, Washington said that democracy requires a virtuous people. Oz Guinness, the theologian, said that liberty requires restraint but the only restraint consistent with liberty is self-restraint. There's a lot packed into that statement. But the bottom line is we must have virtue, we must have a religious bearing as a nation. The government is not always going to save us and it's not always going to come from government. But if we don't know right and wrong, I think we have lost our way. I think we become unmoored and I think without the religious foundation that guides us all, I think we have a great risk of going horribly in the wrong direction. +p4119 +aVBoth. No, both the federal and a state approach. I have said that we could leave it to the states but I've also introduced a federal solution as well. So the federal solution would be the Life at Conception act which is an act that would federalize the issue. But I've also said for the most part, these issues would be left back to the states. So there might be an occasion if we did overturn Roe v. Wade \u2014 Roe v. Wade nationalized the issue. If you had the court reverse Roe v. Wade, it would become a state issue once again. I think it would be better the more \u2014 the less abortions we have, so the more states that we have that made abortion illegal, the better, as far as trying to save and preserve lives. +p4120 +aVYou know, I've never really brought this up unless asked the question, but I have responded to the question. I don't blame Hillary Clinton at all for this. I don't think she's responsible for his behavior. But I do think that her position as promoting women's rights and fairness to women in the workplace, that if what Bill Clinton did any CEO in our country did with an intern, with a 22-year- old, 21-year-old intern in their office, they would be fired. They would never be hired again. Fired, never hired again and probably shunned in their community. And the thing is, she can't be a champion of women's rights at the same time she's got this that is always lurking out there, this type of behavior. So it is difficult. +p4121 +aVYeah. But I combine this also with the millions upon millions of dollars they've taken from regimes in the Middle East who treat women like cattle. +p4122 +aVWell, thanks for having me. It's great to be back. I'm an eye surgeon from Bowling Green, Kentucky, I miss doing eye surgery, still get to do a little bit. Did a couple of cataract surgeries over Christmas holidays. Got to go to Haiti last year. I've gotten to do some incredible things. Got to be on the floor of the Senate. And it has been amazing to me. But the thing that is most important to me and caused me to run for office is I'm worried about the country and how much debt we're adding. And I am the one true fiscal conservative who will look at all spending. And that's the only way we'll ever balance our budget. Thank you. +p4123 +asVBASH +p4124 +(lp4125 +VA crucial question is how to balance surveillance with privacy and keeping Americans safe. Senator Cruz, you voted for a bill that President Obama signed into law just this past June that made it harder for the government to access Americans' phone records. In light of the San Bernardino attack, was your vote a mistake? +p4126 +aVThank you. Senator Rubio, Senator Cruz is right there was bipartisan support for that. But you voted against it. So, is Senator Cruz wrong? +p4127 +aVSenator Cruz? +p4128 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator \u2014 Senator Rubio, please respond. +p4129 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I know this is \u2014 this has been a very big issue for you. You hear many of your colleagues are calling for increased surveillance by law enforcement. You call that hogwash. Why is that hogwash? +p4130 +aVSenator Rubio? +p4131 +aVGovernor Christie, Governor Christie... ...Governor Christie, I'll come to you in a minute. Go ahead, Senator Paul. +p4132 +aVGo ahead, please. +p4133 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about immigration in a while. But, Governor Christie, just listening to this... +p4134 +aVListening to this, you talked \u2014 you heard Senator Paul, Senator Cruz talk about how important it is to protect Americans' privacy, even in a time of grave danger. Why \u2014 what's wrong with that? +p4135 +aVSenator Paul, you said +p4136 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I want to go back to my initial question, which is you saying that +p4137 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about regime change in a bit. But Governor Kasich, would you like to respond to Senator Paul? +p4138 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. We've been talking tonight about programs and policy proposals that you all have to keep Americans safe and it's a big discussion on the campaign trail. Also about border security and immigration. So let's talk about immigration. Senator Rubio. You co-authored a bill with Democrats two years ago that allowed a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Do you still support that path to citizenship, which means giving those immigrants rights, like the right to vote? +p4139 +aVSenator, you haven't answered the question. You described a very long path but does that path end at citizenship? +p4140 +aVThank you, senator. +p4141 +aVThank you, senator. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, on the campaign trail, Senator Rubio has said that his immigration plan is not that different from yours. Is that true? +p4142 +aVSenator Rubio, please. +p4143 +aVSenator Cruz? +p4144 +aVSenator Cruz? +p4145 +aVSenator Cruz, can you answer that question please? +p4146 +aVSenator Cruz? +p4147 +aVOne at a time please. +p4148 +aVMs. Fiorina, please wait your turn, we're going to get to you. +p4149 +aVSenator Cruz go ahead. +p4150 +aVMr. Trump, you like to say that you restarted this conversation in the campaign. +p4151 +aVSo who do you side with? Who do you side with in this, Senator Rubio or Senator Cruz? +p4152 +aVThank you. Governor Bush? +p4153 +aVListening to this, do you think this is the tone \u2014 this immigration debate that republicans need to take to win back Hispanics into our party especially states like where we are in Nevada that has a pretty Hispanic community? +p4154 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said if China launches a cyber- attack against the U.S. on your watch, "they're going to see cyber- warfare like they have never seen before." What exactly would that response look like? +p4155 +aVGovernor Bush, what you just heard from Governor Christie, are you concerned that that could really escalate with China, that they would retaliate? And, for example, as the NSA has said, attack the U.S. and maybe it's power grid, which the Chinese have the capability to do? +p4156 +aVMr. Trump, just this weekend you said Senator Cruz is not qualified to be president because he doesn't have the right temperament and acted like a maniac when he arrived in the Senate. But last month you said you were open to naming Senator Cruz as your running mate. +p4157 +aVSo why would you be willing to put somebody who's a maniac one heartbeat away from the presidency? +p4158 +aVOkay. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, you have not been willing to attack Mr. Trump in public. +p4159 +aVBut you did question his judgment in having control of American's nuclear arsenal during a private meeting with supporters. Why are you willing to say things about him in private and not in public? +p4160 +aVSenator, senator, I just... +p4161 +aVSenator, a lot of people have seen... +p4162 +aV... a lot of people have seen these comments you made in private. I just want to clarify what you're saying right now is you do believe Mr. Trump has the judgment to be commander in chief? +p4163 +aVGovernor Kasich, Senator Cruz is so committed to stripping federal funds from Planned Parenthood that it could result in shutting down the federal government in just about two weeks. Do you agree with Senator Cruz's tactic? +p4164 +aVThank you. +p4165 +aVThank you. Senator Cruz, I would just add that, on this stage not that long ago, Senator Graham said that this tactic that you're pushing would tank the Republicans' ability to win in 2016. +p4166 +aVThank you, senator. +p4167 +aVThank you... +p4168 +aVGovernor \u2014 governor, I want to go to you. Is it what Senator Cruz says, a surrender by Republicans? +p4169 +aVBut... +p4170 +aVBut is it... +p4171 +aVBut, governor, the \u2014 but, governor, the reality is, in just two weeks' time... ...we are going to be facing a question about whether or not it's enough to shut down the government to make that statement, because there is still a Democrat in the White House. Do you oppose it or support it? +p4172 +aVYes or no, do you support this shutdown? +p4173 +aVWe're talking about Planned Parenthood right now. +p4174 +aVCan you answer yes or no? +p4175 +aVOne more time. I'm sorry, I just want to get the answer. +p4176 +aVSo you would support a shutdown. +p4177 +aVGovernor Bush, Mr. Trump has suggested that your views on immigration are influenced by your Mexican born wife. He said that, quote, "If my wife were from Mexico, I think I would have a soft spot for people from Mexico." Did Mr. Trump go to far in invoking your wife? +p4178 +aVMr. Trump? +p4179 +aVMr. Trump... +p4180 +aVGo ahead. +p4181 +aVMs. Fiorina \u2014 Ms. Fiorina, we're going to come to you, we're going to come to you. I just want to give Governor Bush a chance to respond to what Mr. Trump said. +p4182 +aVOK, on that note, you have criticized Governor Bush for speaking Spanish on the campaign trail. You said, quote, "He should really set an example by speaking English in the United States." What's wrong with speaking Spanish? +p4183 +aVThank you. +p4184 +aV...Thank you.... +p4185 +aVGovernor Bush, let's talk about the issue that's very important to Republican voters, and that's the Supreme Court. After Chief Justice John Roberts voted to uphold Obamacare twice, Senator Cruz criticized your brother for appointing John Roberts to the Supreme Court. Looking back on it, did your brother make a mistake? +p4186 +aV...Is John Roberts one of those people? +p4187 +aVDo you like what you just heard, Senator Cruz? +p4188 +aVMr. Trump, you have said once or twice that you are really rich, and you are by far the richest person on this stage. Chris Christie says billionaires like you and even people who make and earn far less should no longer get Social Security, or at least there should be limits based on \u2014 on their income. You think he's wrong, and if so, why? +p4189 +aVWhat about the country as a \u2014 as a policy? +p4190 +aVSo is a voluntary program the way to get the Social Security system solvent again like that. +p4191 +aVSenator Santorum, you want to give the intelligence community more power to collect American's phone data. But the government had this ability until just days before the San Bernardino attack. If it couldn't prevent San Bernardino, why will it protect America? +p4192 +aVSenator Graham, when this program was exposed, you said, " you have nothing to worry about if you're not talking to terrorist." Do you understand why though some Americans are concerned that the government is keeping tabs on them in any way? +p4193 +aVThank you. Governor Huckabee, you said, "not one terrorist plot has been foiled by the NSA's collection of American's phone records. The director of the CIA says,. "not having these programs makes it ability to find terrorists, quote, "much more challenging."" Are you taking a potential tool to fight terrorists? +p4194 +aVSenator Santorum? +p4195 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator Graham... +p4196 +aVSenator Graham... +p4197 +aVSenator Graham, we've heard here tonight a lot about the fact that you want to send U.S. troops, ground troops, into Iraq, and Syria to defeat +p4198 +aVGovernor Huckabee... +p4199 +aVGovernor Huckabee, would you reinstate the draft? +p4200 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator Graham... +p4201 +aVSenator Graham... +p4202 +aVSenator Graham, we've heard here tonight a lot about the fact that you want to send U.S. troops, ground troops, into Iraq, and Syria to defeat +p4203 +aVGovernor Huckabee... +p4204 +aVGovernor Huckabee, would you reinstate the draft? +p4205 +aVSo what would you do about it? +p4206 +aVSenator... +p4207 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. +p4208 +aVSenator Graham. +p4209 +aVSenator Graham, quick response. +p4210 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. +p4211 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. +p4212 +aVSenator Santorum, earlier this month the Pentagon opened all U.S. military combat positions to women. You previously opposed allowing women in combat roles. As President, would you change the Pentagon's new policy? +p4213 +aVSo, just to be clear, you're saying, yes, you would change the policy back? +p4214 +aVGovernor Pataki, as you mentioned earlier, you have two sons who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Would you maintain this new policy as President, or do you agree with Senator Santorum. +p4215 +aVSenator Santorum. +p4216 +aVNow Governor Pataki, do you a final response? +p4217 +aVGovernor Huckabee, the U.S. has a program that allows visitors from America's closest allies to travel to the U.S. without obtaining a visa. But new legislation in Congress says that privilege should not apply to those who have visited is hot spots like Iraq and Syria in the last five years. You say that legislation doesn't go far enough. Why? +p4218 +aVSenator Santorum, Governor Jindal has supported a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants once the border is secure. Why do you disagree with that? +p4219 +aVSenator, your time's up. I want to get the governor to respond to that. +p4220 +aVSenator -- Senator Santorum, do you buy that, that the governor's not for amnesty? +p4221 +aVSenator, your time is up... +p4222 +aVYour time is up. And Governor, I'm sorry. Just -- you -- you really need to clarify your position, because you say you're not for amnesty, but you have been for a path to citizenship... +p4223 +aVThank you. Senator Graham, you mentioned this earlier; you are calling for an additional 20,000 U.S. ground forces to fight +p4224 +aVNo one on this stage has gone that far. So are you saying, for Iraq and Syria, are you saying that everybody to your right is not fit for the Oval Office? +p4225 +aVSenator -- +p4226 +aV-- Senator Santorum, I know you're raising your hand. You're committing to this number of troops, both in Iraq and on the ground in Syria? +p4227 +aVAnd he's saying 20,000. Would you...? +p4228 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Jindal? +p4229 +aVSenator Santorum, you just heard Governor Jindal and Governor Pataki talk about tax reform. Jeb Bush has proposed a tax reform plan, and in it, he limits deductions, including the popular home mortgage deduction. Would you do the same as president? +p4230 +aV...times up, Senator. +p4231 +aV...OK, times up, Senator. Governor, just to bring you back into this, you said that you would be OK with what is effectively raising taxes on hedge fund managers as part of a tax reform plan. Would you aslo be for doing away with people's deductions for their mortgages. +p4232 +aVGovernor Chafee, you were the only Republican in the Senate to vote against the Iraq war. You say Secretary Clinton should be disqualified from the presidency because she voted in favor of using force in Iraq. She has since said that her vote was a mistake. Why isn't that good enough? +p4233 +aVSecretary Clinton, he's questioning your judgment. +p4234 +aVSenator Sanders \u2014 Senator Sanders, I want to bring you in here. My question for you is, as a congressman, you voted against the Iraq War. You voted against the Gulf War. You're just talking about Syria, but under what circumstances would a President Sanders actually use force? +p4235 +aVAll right. +p4236 +aVThank you. CNN visited college campuses, along with Facebook. And not surprisingly college affordability was among the most pressing issue. Senator Sanders, you've mentioned a couple of times you do have a plan to make public colleges free for everyone. Secretary Clinton has criticized that in saying she's not in favor of making a college free for Donald Trump's kids. Do you think taxpayers should pick up the tab for wealthy children? +p4237 +aVAnd, Secretary Clinton, it's not just college tuition that Senator Sanders is talking about, expanding Social Security and giving all Americans Medicare. What's wrong with that? +p4238 +aVSecretary Clinton... +p4239 +aVCan you answer the... +p4240 +aVSecretary Clinton, the question was not just about tuition, though. It was about Senator Sanders' plan to expand Social Security, to make Medicare available to all Americans. Is that something that you would support? And if not, why not? +p4241 +aVDo you want to expand it? +p4242 +aVSecretary Clinton, you now support mandated paid family leave. +p4243 +aVCarly Fiorina, the first female CEO of a Fortune 50 company, argues, if the government requires paid leave, it will force small businesses to, quote, "hire fewer people and create fewer jobs." What do you say not only to Carly Fiorina, but also a small-business owner out there who says, you know, I like this idea, but I just can't afford it? +p4244 +aVIt's on the federal level. +p4245 +aVBut Secretary \u2014 Secretary Clinton, even many people who agree with you might say, look, this is very hard to do, especially in today's day and age. There are so many people who say, "Really? Another government program? Is that what you're proposing? And at the expense of taxpayer money?" +p4246 +asVEPPERSON +p4247 +(lp4248 +VThank you, John. Mrs. Fiorina, you were the CEO of a large corporation that offers a 401(k) to its employees. But more than half of American have no access to an employer sponsored retirement plan. That includes the workers at small businesses, and the growing ranks of Uber drivers and other part-timers in the freelance economy. Should the Federal Government play a larger role in helping to set up retirement plans for these workers? +p4249 +aVSo you wouldn't agree \u2014 you wouldn't agree with a start for 401(k) for businesses or anything like that? +p4250 +aVThank you very much. +p4251 +aVThank you, the rules say one minute. +p4252 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. We appreciate it. Thank you, thank you. I want to turn my attention now, to you now, Governor Kasich. Most people can't get a college degree without going into debt. Over 40 million Americans have student loans and many of them cannot pay them back. This country has over $100 billion in student loan defaults. That's billion with a b. What will you do to make sure that students, their families, taxpayers, won't feel the economic impact of this burden for generations? Well, first of all, in Ohio we're changing the whole system. Universities will not get paid one dime unless the student graduates or \u2014 graduates or completes a course. Secondly, you can be in high school and complete almost an entire first year before you go to college and get credit to do that. And, of course, in addition to that, we are working now to go after the cost drivers in our universities. And let me give you an example. Universities today have so many non-academic assets. At Ohio State they sold the parking garage and the parking lot, and they got $500 million because they shouldn't be in the parking lot business. They shouldn't be in the ding business, they shouldn't be in the dorm business. And, of course, we need to take advantage of on-line education to reduce these costs and begin to dis-intermediate the cost of four years. Now, for those who that have these big high costs, I think we can seriously look at an idea of where you can do public service. I mean legitimate, public service and begin to pay off some of that debt through the public service that you do. And in the meantime, it may inspire us to care more about our country, more about ourselves. This is a big moral issue in America. Living a life bigger than yourself, and being a center of healing and justice. And people can learn it through public service. +p4253 +aVThank you, thank you. +p4254 +aVThank you, John. Senator Graham, one in every four workers has saved less than $1,000 for retirement. Millions of Americans rely on their Social Security benefits for the majority of their retirement income. Now, you called for reforms to Social Security, but what would you do to fix the other part of the problem for future retirees and get people to save more? +p4255 +aVBut Senator Graham... +p4256 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. Thank you, Senator Graham. Governor Jindal, you've been a strong supporter of for-profit colleges. These are institutions that educate many veterans, minorities and working class Americans. They make up about 11 percent of the college population at these schools, but they account for 44 percent of student loan defaults. Should for-profit schools be held accountable when they take taxpayer money and leave students deep in debt? +p4257 +asVSANDERS +p4258 +(lp4259 +VWell, Gwen and Judy, thank you very much for hosting this event. And, PBS, thank you. Nine months ago, our campaign began. And when it began, we had no political organization, no money, and not much name recognition outside of the state of Vermont. A lot has happened in nine months. And what has happened is, I think, the American people have responded to a series of basic truths, and that is that we have today a campaign finance system which is corrupt, which is undermining American democracy, which allows Wall Street and billionaires to pour huge sums of money into the political process to elect the candidates of their choice. And aligned with a corrupt campaign finance system is a rigged economy. And that's an economy where ordinary Americans are working longer hours for low wagers. They are worried to death about the future of their kids. And yet they are seeing almost all new income and all new wealth going to the top 1 percent. And then in addition to that, the American people are looking around and they see a broken criminal justice system. They see more people in jail in the United States of America than any other country on earth, 2.2 million. We're spending $80 billion a year locking up fellow Americans. They see kids getting arrested for marijuana, getting in prison, getting a criminal record, while they see executives on Wall Street who pay billions of dollars in settlements and get no prosecution at all. No criminal records for them. I think what our campaign is indicating is that the American people are tired of establishment politics, tired of establishment economics. They want a political revolution in which millions of Americans stand up, come together, not let the Trumps of the world divide us, and say, you know what, in this great country, we need a government that represents all of us, not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors. Thank you. +p4260 +aVWell, to put that in a context, Judy, I think we have to understand that in the last 30 years in this country there has been a massive transfer of wealth going from the hands of working families into the top one-tenth of 1% whose percentage of wealth has doubled. In other words, the very rich are getting richer, almost everybody is going \u2014 getting poorer. What I believe is the United States, in fact, should join the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee healthcare to all people. Our Medicare for all single-payer proposal will save the average middle class family $5,000 a year. I do believe that in the year 2016 we have to look in terms of public education as colleges as part of public education making public colleges and universities tuition free. I believe that when real unemployment is close to 10%, and when our infrastructure, our roads, our bridges, our water systems, Flint, Michigan comes to mind. Our waste water plants, our rail, our airports, in many places are disintegrating. Yeah, we can create 13 million jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure at a cost of a trillion dollars. +p4261 +aV... Of course there will be a limit, but when today you have massive levels of income and wealth inequality, when the middle class is disappearing, you have the highest rate of child poverty of almost any major country on Earth. Yes, in my view, the government of a democratic society has a moral responsibility to play a vital role in making sure all of our people have a decent standard of living. +p4262 +aVWell, let us level with the American people. Secretary Clinton has been going around the country saying Bernie Sanders wants to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, people are going to lose their MedicAid, they're going to lose their +p4263 +aVThat is absolutely inaccurate. Look, here is the reality, folks. There is one major country on Earth that does not guarantee health care to all people. There is one major country \u2014 the United States \u2014 which ends up spending almost three times per capita what they do in the U.K. guaranteeing health care to all people, 50 percent more than they do in France guaranteeing health care to all people, far more than our Canadian neighbors, who guarantee health care to all people. Please do not tell me that in this country, if \u2014 and here's the if \u2014 we have the courage to take on the drug companies, and have the courage to take on the insurance companies, and the medical equipment suppliers, if we do that, yes, we can guarantee health care to all people in a much more cost effective way. +p4264 +aVWell, Secretary Clinton, you're not in the White House yet. And let us be clear that every proposal that I have introduced has been paid for. For example, all right, who in America denies that we have an infrastructure that is crumbling? Roads, bridges, water systems, wastewater plants, who denies that? Who denies that real unemployment today, including those who have given up looking for work and are working part-time is close to 10 percent? Who denies that African-American youth unemployment, real, is over 50 percent. We need to create jobs. So yes, I will do away with the outrageous loopholes that allow profitable multinational corporations to stash billions of dollars in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda and in a given year pay zero, zero in federal income tax. Yes, I'm going to do away with that. We will use those proceeds, a hundred billion a year, to invest in rebuilding our infrastructure. Yes, I believe that as a result of the illegal behavior on Wall Street, that they are a Wall Street that drove this country into the worst economic downturn since the Great Recession \u2014 Great Depression. Yes, I do believe that now after the American people bailed Wall Street out, yes, they should pay a Wall Street speculation tax so that we can make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We bailed them out. Now it is their time to help the middle class. +p4265 +aVA brief response. +p4266 +aVHere is where we are with public education. A 100, 150 years ago incredibly brave Americans said, you know what, working class kids, low income kids should not have to work in factories or on the farms. Like rich kids, they deserve to get a free education. And that free education of extraordinary accomplishment was from first grade to 12th grade. The world has changed. This is 2016. In many ways, a college degree today is equivalent to what a high school degree was 50, 60 years ago. So, yes, I do believe that when we talk about public education in America, today, in a rapidly changing world, we should have free tuition at public colleges and universities. That should be a right of all Americans regardless of the income of their families. +p4267 +aVLook, we are fighting for every vote that we can get from women, from men, straight, gay, African-Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans. We are trying to bring America together around an agenda that works for working families and the middle class. I am very proud, if my memory is not correct \u2014 I think I am \u2014 that I have a lifetime \u2014 and I've been in Congress a few years \u2014 a lifetime 100 percent pro-choice voting record. I am very proud that over the years we have had the support in my state of Vermont from very significant majorities of women. I'm very proud that I support legislation that is currently in the Congress, got support of almost all progressive Democrats in the House and Senate, which says we will end the absurdity of women today making 79 cents on the dollar compared to men. And we will join the rest of the other \u2014 the industrialized world in saying that paid family and medical leave should be a right of all working families. +p4268 +aVWell, you know, I think, from a historical point of view, somebody with my background, somebody with my views, somebody who has spent his entire life taking on the big money interests, I think a Sanders victory would be of some historical accomplishment, as well. +p4269 +aVLet me concur with the secretary, no question women's rights are under fierce attack all over this country. And I will tell you something that really galls me. I will not shock anybody to suggest that in politics there is occasionally a little bit of hypocrisy. Just a little bit. All over this country we have Republican candidates for president saying we hate the government. Government is the enemy. We're going to cut Social Security to help you. We're going to cut Medicare and Medicaid, federal aid to education to help you, because the government is so terrible. But, by the way, when it comes to a woman having to make a very personal choice, ah, in that case, my Republican colleagues love the government and want the government to make that choice for every woman in America. If that's not hypocrisy, I don't know what hypocrisy is. +p4270 +aVThis is one of the great tragedies in our country today. And we can no longer continue to sweep it under the rug. It has to be dealt with. Today a male African-American baby born today stands a one-in-four chance of ending up in jail. That is beyond unspeakable. So what we have to do is the radical reform of a broken criminal justice system. What we have to do is end over-policing in African-American neighborhoods. The reality is that both the African-American community and the white community do marijuana at about equal rates. The reality is four times as many blacks get arrested for marijuana. Truth is that far more blacks get stopped for traffic violations. The truth is that sentencing for blacks is higher than for whites. We need fundamental police reform, clearly, clearly, when we talk about a criminal justice system. I would hope that we could all agree that we are sick and tired of seeing videos on television of unarmed people, often African-Americans, shot by police officers. What we have got to do is make it clear that any police officer who breaks the law will, in fact, be held accountable. +p4271 +aVNothing that Secretary Clinton said do I disagree with. This mandatory sentencing, a very bad idea. It takes away discretion from judges. We have got to demilitarize local police departments so they do not look like occupying armies. We have got to make sure that local police departments look like the communities they serve in their diversity. And, where we are failing abysmally is in the very high rate of recidivism we see. People are being released from jail without the education, without the job training, without the resources that they need to get their lives together, then they end up \u2014 we're shocked that they end up back in jail again. So, we have a lot of work to do. But, here is a pledge I've made throughout this campaign, and it's really not a very radical pledge. When we have more people in jail, disproportionately African American and Latino, than China does, a communist authoritarian society four times our size. Here's my promise, at the end of my first term as president we will not have more people in jail than any other country. We will invest in education, and jobs for our kids, not incarceration and more jails. +p4272 +aVWell, I think, Judy, what has to be appreciated is that, as a result of the disastrous and illegal behavior on Wall Street, millions of lives were hurt. People lost their jobs, their homes, their life savings. Turns out that the African-American community and the Latino community were hit especially hard. As I understand it, the African-American community lost half of their wealth as a result of the Wall Street collapse. So when you have childhood African-American poverty rates of 35 percent, when you have youth unemployment at 51 percent, when you have unbelievable rates of incarceration \u2014 which, by the way, leaves the children back home without a dad or even a mother \u2014 clearly, we are looking at institutional racism. We are looking at an economy in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. And sadly, in America today, in our economy, a whole lot of those poor people are African-American. +p4273 +aVAbsolutely, because what we will do is say, instead of giving tax breaks to billionaires, we are going to create millions of jobs for low-income kids so they're not hanging out on street corners. We're going to make sure that those kids stay in school or are able to get a college education. And I think when you give low-income kids \u2014 African-American, white, Latino kids \u2014 the opportunities to get their lives together, they are not going to end up in jail. They're going to end up in the productive economy, which is where we want them. +p4274 +aVWhite people? +p4275 +aVYeah, you can, because African-Americans and Latinos not only face the general economic crises of low wages, and high unemployment, and poor educational opportunities, but they face other problems, as well. So, yes, we can talk about it as a racial issue. But it is a general economic issue. And here's what the economic issue is. The wages that high school graduates receive today are significantly less, whether you are white or black, than they used to be. Why is that? Because of a series of disastrous trade policies which have allowed corporate America through +p4276 +aVThe answer is yes. We've got 11 million undocumented people in this country. I have talked to some of the young kids with tears rolling down their cheeks, are scared to death that today they may or their parents may be deported. I believe that we have got to pass comprehensive immigration reform, something that I strongly supported. I believe that we have got to move toward a path toward citizenship. I agree with President Obama who used executive orders to protect families because the Congress, the House was unable or refused to act. And in fact I would go further. What would motivate me and what would be the guiding light for me in terms of immigration reform, Judy, is to bring families together, not divide them up. And let me say this also. Somebody who is very fond of the president, agrees with him most of the time, I disagree with his recent deportation policies. And I would not support those. Bottom line is a path towards citizenship for 11 million undocumented people, if Congress doesn't do the right thing, we use the executive orders of the president. +p4277 +aVSecretary Clinton, I do have a disagreement here. If my memory is correct, I think when we saw children coming from these horrendous, horrendously violent areas of Honduras and neighboring countries, people who are fleeing drug violence and cartel violence, I thought it was a good idea to allow those children to stay in this country. That was not, as I understand it, the secretary's position. In terms of 2007 immigration reform, yeah, I did vote against it. I voted against it because the Southern Poverty Law Center, among other groups, said that the guest-worker programs that were embedded in this agreement were akin to slavery. Akin to slavery, where people came into this country to do guest work were abused, were exploited, and if they stood up for their rights, they'd be thrown out of this country. So it wasn't just me who opposed it. It was +p4278 +aVWell, let me just respond. I worked with Ted Kennedy. He was the chairman of my committee. And I loved Ted Kennedy. But on this issue, when you have one of the large Latino organizations in America saying vote no, and you have the AFL-CIO saying vote no, and you have leading progressive Democrats, in fact, voting no, I don't apologize for that vote. But in terms of the children, I don't know to whom you're sending a message. Who are you sending a message to? These are children who are leaving countries and neighborhoods where their lives are at stake. That was the fact. I don't think we use them to send a message. I think we welcome them into this country and do the best we can to help them get their lives together. +p4279 +aVOK. You know, you judge a nation not by the number of millionaires and billionaires it has, but by how you treat, we treat, the most vulnerable and fragile people in our nation. And by those standards, we're not doing particularly well. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty among almost any major country on Earth. And in terms of seniors, there are millions of seniors \u2014 and I've talked to them in my state of Vermont and all over this country \u2014 who are trying to get by on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year Social Security. And you know what? You do the arithmetic. You can't get by on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year. And here's an area where Secretary Clinton and I believe we have a difference. I have long supported the proposition that we should lift the cap on taxable income coming into the Social Security Trust Fund, starting at $250,000. And when we \u2014 and when we do that, we don't do what the Republicans want, which is to cut Social Security. We do what the American people want, to expand Social Security by $1,300 a year for people under $16,000, and we extend the life of Social Security for 58 years. Yes, the wealthiest people, the top 1.5 percent, will pay more in taxes. But a great nation like ours should not be in a position where elderly people are cutting their pills in half, where they don't have decent nutrition, where they can't heat their homes in the wintertime. That is not what America should be about. If elected president, I will do everything I can to expand Social Security benefits, not just for seniors, but for disabled veterans, as well. +p4280 +aVIn all due respect......In all due respect, Secretary Clinton, a lot of the progressive groups, the online groups have really asked you a simple question. Are you coming onboard a proposal? And what is that proposal? Now, the proposal that I have outlined, you know, should be familiar to you, because it is what essentially Barack Obama campaigned on in 2008. You opposed him then. I would hope that you would come onboard and say that this is the simple and straightforward thing to do. We're asking the top 1.5 percent, including passive income, to start paying a little bit more so that the elderly and disabled vets in this country can live with security and dignity. I hope you will make a decision soon on this. +p4281 +aVThat's my bill. Check it out. +p4282 +aVWhat we are talking about in reality is a corrupt campaign finance system, that's what we're talking about. We have to be honest about it. It is undermining American democracy. When extraordinarily wealthy people make very large contributions to Super PACs, and in many cases in this campaign, Super PACs have raised more money than individual candidates have, OK? We had a decision to make early on, do we do a Super PAC? And, we said no. We don't represent Wall Street, we don't represent the billionaire class, so it ends up I'm the only candidate up here of the many candidates who has no Super PAC. But, what we did is we said to the working families of this country, look, we know things are tough, but if you want to help us go beyond establishment politics, and establishment economics, send us something. And, it turns out that up until \u2014 and this has blown me away, never in a million years would I have believed that I would be standing here tonight telling you that we have received three and a half million individual contributions from well over a million people. Now, Secretary Clinton's Super PAC, as I understand it, received $25 million dollars last reporting period, $15 million dollars from Wall Street. Our average contribution is $27 dollars, I'm very proud of that. +p4283 +aVThe people aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street... But let's not \u2014 but let's not \u2014 let's not insult \u2014 let's not insult the intelligence of the American people. People aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street make huge campaign contributions? I guess just for the fun of it; they want to throw money around. Why does the pharmaceutical industry make huge campaign contributions? Any connection maybe to the fact that our people pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs? Why does the fossil fuel industry pay \u2014 spend huge amounts of money on campaign contributions? Any connection to the fact that not one Republican candidate for president thinks and agrees with the scientific community that climate change is real and that we have got to transform our energy system? And when we talk about Wall Street, let's talk about Wall Street. I voted for Dodd-Frank, got an important amendment in it. In my view, it doesn't go anywhere near far enough. But when we talk about Wall Street, you have Wall Street and major banks have paid $200 billion in fines since the great crash. No Wall Street executive has been prosecuted. +p4284 +aVLet me, you know, again, respectfully disagree with Secretary Clinton here. When you have three out of the four largest financial institutions in this country bigger today than they were when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, when you have six financial institutions having assets equivalent to 58 percent of the GDP of America, while issuing two-thirds of the credit cards and a third of the mortgages, look, I think if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, that great trust-buster would have said break them up. I think he would have been right. I think he would have said bring back a 21st-century Glass-Steagall legislation. I think that would have been right, as well. That's my view. +p4285 +aVHey, I'm in the United States Senate, and anyone who doesn't think that there is an enormous amount of waste and inefficiency and bureaucracy throughout government would be very, very mistaken. I believe in government, but I believe in efficient government, not wasteful government. +p4286 +aVIf I could just answer that, we have also got to take a look at the waste and inefficiencies in the Department of Defense, which is the one major agency of government that has not been able to be audited. And I have the feeling you're going to find a lot of cost overruns there and a lot of waste and duplicative activities. +p4287 +aVLet me \u2014 let me just say this. What a President of the United States has got to do and what is his or her major, I think, responsibility is to, a, make certain that we keep our people safe, that we work with allies around the world to protect democratic values, that we do all that we can to create a world of peace and prosperity. I voted against the war in Iraq because I listened very carefully to what President Bush and Vice President Cheney had to say and I didn't believe them. And if you go to my Web site,berniesanders.com, what you find is not only going to help lead the opposition to that war, but much of what I feared would happen when I spoke on the floor of the House, in fact, did happen in terms of the instability that occurred. Now I think an area in kind of a vague way, or not so vague, where Secretary Clinton and I disagree is the area of regime change. Look, the truth is that a powerful nation like the United States, certainly working with our allies, we can overthrow dictators all over the world. And God only knows Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator. We could overthrow Assad tomorrow if we wanted to. We got rid of Gadhafi. But the point about foreign policy is not just to know that you can overthrow a terrible dictator, it's to understand what happens the day after. And in Libya, for example, the United States, Secretary Clinton, as secretary of state, working with some other countries, did get rid of a terrible dictator named Gadhafi. But what happened is a political vacuum developed. +p4288 +aVJudy, if I can, there is no question, Secretary Clinton and I are friends, and I have a lot of respect for her, that she has enormous experience in foreign affairs. Secretary of state for four years. You've got a bit of experience, I would imagine. But judgment matters as well. Judgment matters as well. And she and I looked at the same evidence coming from the Bush administration regarding Iraq. I lead the opposition against it. She voted for it. But more importantly, in terms of this Libya resolution that you have noted before, this was a virtually unanimous consent. Everybody voted for it wanting to see Libya move toward democracy, of course we all wanted to do that. That is very different than talking about specific action for regime change, which I did not support. +p4289 +aVJudy, one area very briefly... +p4290 +aVWhere the secretary and I have a very profound difference, in the last debate \u2014 and I believe in her book \u2014 very good book, by the way \u2014 in her book and in this last debate, she talked about getting the approval or the support or the mentoring of Henry Kissinger. Now, I find it rather amazing, because I happen to believe that Henry Kissinger was one of the most destructive secretaries of state in the modern history of this country. I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend. I will not take advice from Henry Kissinger. And in fact, Kissinger's actions in Cambodia, when the United States bombed that country, overthrew Prince Sihanouk, created the instability for Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge to come in, who then butchered some 3 million innocent people, one of the worst genocides in the history of the world. So count me in as somebody who will not be listening to Henry Kissinger. +p4291 +aVWell, it ain't Henry Kissinger. That's for sure. +p4292 +aVIt is. +p4293 +aVI find \u2014 I mean, it's just a very different, you know, historical perspective here. Kissinger was one of those people during the Vietnam era who talked about the domino theory. Not everybody remembers that. You do. I do. The domino theory, you know, if Vietnam goes, China, da, da, da, da, da, da, da. That's what he talked about, the great threat of China. And then, after the war, this is the guy who, in fact, yes, you're right, he opened up relations with China, and now pushed various type of trade agreements, resulting in American workers losing their jobs as corporations moved to China. The terrible, authoritarian, Communist dictatorship he warned us about, now he's urging companies to shut down and move to China. Not my kind of guy. +p4294 +aVWell, this is what I would say. It is a complicated relationship. I congratulate Secretary of State John Kerry and the president for working on this agreement. As you've indicated, what is happening in Syria, the number of people, the hundreds of thousands of people who have been killed \u2014 men, women, 20,000 children, the people who are forced to flee their own country \u2014 their own country \u2014 it is unspeakable. It is a real horror. Now, what I think is that right now we have got to do our best in developing positive relations with Russia. But let's be clear: Russia's aggressive actions in the Crimea and in Ukraine have brought about a situation where President Obama and +p4295 +aVLet me just \u2014 just say this. For a start, the secretary and I disagree \u2014 and I think the president does not agree with her \u2014 in terms of the concept of a no-fly zone in Syria. I think you do have a humanitarian tragedy there, as I mentioned a moment ago. I applaud Secretary Kerry and the president for trying to put together this agreement. Let's hope that it holds. But furthermore, what we have got to do, I'm sorry, yes, I do believe that we have got to do everything that we can, and it will not happen tomorrow. But I do hope that in years to come, just as occurred with Cuba, 10, 20 years ago, people would say, reach normalized relations with Cuba. And by the way, I hope we can end the trade embargo with Cuba as well. But the idea that we some day maybe have decent relations with Iran, maybe put pressure on them so they end their support for terrorism around the world, yes, that is something I want to achieve. And I believe that the best way to do that is to be aggressive, to be principled, but to have the goal of trying to improve relations. That's how you make peace in the world. You sit down and you work with people, you make demands of people, in this case demanding Iran stop the support of international terrorism. +p4296 +aVWe have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of work to do. But I recall when Secretary Clinton ran against then-Senator Obama, she was critical of him for suggesting that maybe you want to talk to Iran, that you want to talk to our enemies. I have no illusion. Of course you are right. Iran is sponsoring terrorism in many parts of the world, destabilizing areas. Everybody knows that. But our goal is, in fact, to try over a period of time to, in fact, deal with our enemies, not just ignore that reality. +p4297 +aVNo, I think the idea was that president \u2014 then-Senator Obama was wrong for suggesting that it is a good idea to talk to your opponents. It's easier to talk to your friends. It's harder to talk to your enemies. I think we should do both. +p4298 +aVA couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to go on a congressional delegation. And I went to one of these Turkish refugee camps right on the border of Syria. And what a sad sight that was: Men, women, children forced out of their homes. And Turkey, by the way, did a very decent thing, providing what was reasonable housing and conditions for those people. It seems to me that given our history as a nation that has been a beacon of hope for the oppressed, for the downtrodden, that I very strongly disagree with those Republican candidates who say, you know what, we've got to turn our backs on women and children who left their home with nothing, nothing at all. That is not what America is supposed to be about. So I believe that working with Europe \u2014 and, by the way, you know, we've got some very wealthy countries there in that part of the world. You got Kuwait and you got Qatar and you got Saudi Arabia. They have a responsibility, as well. But I think this is a worldwide \u2014 that the entire world needs to come together to deal with this horrific refugee crisis we're seeing from Syria and Afghanistan, as well. +p4299 +aVYou know, Franklin Delano Roosevelt took the oath of office in 1933 at a time when 25 percent of the American people were unemployed, country was in incredible despair. And he stood before the American people and he said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself," a profound statement that gave the American people the courage to believe that, yes, we could get out of that terrible depression. And then what he did is redefine the role of government. You know, you had Herbert Hoover before that saying, no, we got to only worry about the deficit. So what if mass unemployment exists? So what if children are going hungry? That's not the role of the government. And when FDR said, "Yeah, it is," that we're going to use all of the resources that we have to create jobs, to build homes, to feed people, to protect the farmers, we are a nation which if we come together there is nothing that we could not accomplish. And kind of \u2014 that's what I see our campaign is about right now. In this particular moment of serious crises, saying to the American people don't give up on the political process. don't listen to the Trumps of the world and allowing them to divide us. If we reengage and get involved, yeah, we can have health care for all people, we can make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We do not have to have massive levels of income and wealth inequality. In the same light, as the foreign leader, Winston Churchill's politics were not my politics. He was kind of a conservative guy in many respects. But nobody can deny that as a wartime leader, he rallied the British people when they stood virtually alone against the Nazi juggernaut and rallied them and eventually won an extraordinary victory. Those are two leaders that I admire very much. +p4300 +aVThat is......Madam Secretary, that is a low blow. I have worked with President Obama for the last seven years. When President Obama came into office we were losing 800,000 jobs a month, 800,000 jobs a month. We had a $1.4 trillion deficit. And the world's financial system is on the verge of collapse. As a result of his efforts and the efforts of Joe Biden against unprecedented, I was there in the Senate, unprecedented Republican obstructionism, we have made enormous progress. But you know what? Last I heard we lived in a democratic society. Last I heard, a United States senator had the right to disagree with the president, including a president who has done such an extraordinary job. So I have voiced criticisms. You're right. Maybe you haven't. I have. But I think to suggest that I have voiced criticism, this blurb that you talk about, you know what the blurb said? The blurb said that the next president of the United States has got to be aggressive in bringing people into the political process. That's what I said. That is what I believe. President Obama and I are friends. As you know, he came to Vermont to campaign for me when he was a senator. I have worked for his re-election. His first election and his re-election. But I think it is really unfair to suggest that I have not been supportive of the president. I have been a strong ally with him on virtually every issue. Do senators have the right to disagree with the president? Have you ever disagreed with a president? I suspect you may have. +p4301 +aVWell, one of us ran against Barack Obama. I was not that candidate. All right, look, this has been a great debate. A lot of interesting issues have come together. Let me conclude by just saying this. There is no president, in my view, not Hillary Clinton, not Bernie Sanders, who has the capability or the power to take on Wall Street, large campaign donors, the corporate media, the big money interests in this country alone. This campaign is not just about electing a president. What this campaign is about is creating a process for a political revolution in which millions of Americans, working people who have given up on the political process, they don't think anybody hears their pains or their concerns. Young people for whom getting involved in politics is as, you know, it's like going to the moon. It ain't going to happen. Low income people who are not involved in the political process. What this campaign is not only about electing someone who has the most progressive agenda, it is about bringing tens of millions of people together to demand that we have a government that represents all of us and not just the 1 percent, who today have so much economic and political power. Thank you all very much. +p4302 +aVRachel, thank you very much. Millions of Americans are giving up on the political process. And they're giving up on the political process because they understand the economy is rigged. They are working longer hours for low wages. They're worried about the future of their kids, and yet almost all new income and wealth is going to the top 1 percent. Not what America is supposed to be about. Not the fairness that we grew up believing that America was about. And then sustaining that rigged economy is a corrupt campaign finance system undermining American democracy, where billionaire, Wall Street, corporate America can contribute unlimited sums of money into super PACs and into candidates. Our job, together, is to end a rigged economy, create an economy that works for all, and absolutely overturn Citizens United. One person, one vote. That's what American democracy is about. +p4303 +aVWell, I haven't quite run for president before. Let's deal with some of the comments that Secretary Clinton made. And by the way, you know, sometimes there's a lot of drama here. I have known Secretary Clinton for 25 years and respect her very much. Here is the issue. Every major country on earth, whether it's the U.K., whether it's France, whether it's Canada, has managed to provide healthcare to all people as a right and they are spending significantly less per capita on health care than we are. So I do not accept the belief that the United States of America can't do that. I do not accept the belief that the United States of America and our government can't stand up to the ripoffs of the pharmaceutical industry which charge us by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. Number two, in the economy today, everybody understands that we need a well educated workforce. This is 2016. When we talk about public education, it can no longer be K through 12th grade. I do believe that public colleges and universities should be tuition free. Well, how do we pay for that? It's an expensive proposition. I do believe that we should substantially lower student debt in this country, which is crushing millions of people. We pay for it, in my view, by a tax on Wall Street speculation. The middle class bailed out Wall Street in their time of need. Now, it is Wall Street's time to help the middle class. +p4304 +aVLet me... +p4305 +aV... this is a good discussion here. +p4306 +aVAnd let me just say this. As Secretary Clinton may know, I am on the Health Education Labor Committee. That committee wrote the Affordable Care Act. The idea I would dismantle health care in America while we're waiting to pass a Medicare for all is just not accurate. The Affordable Care Act has clearly, as Secretary Clinton made the point, done a lot of good things, but, what it has not done is dealt with the fact we have 29 million people today who have zero health insurance, we have even more who are underinsured with large deductibles and copayments and prescription drug prices are off the wall. So I do believe that in the future, not by dismantling what we have here\u2014I helped write that bill\u2014but by moving forward, rallying the American people, I do believe we should have health care for all. +p4307 +aVNo, not at all. Here's the reality of American economic life today. The reality is that we have one of lowest voter turnouts of any major country on earth because so many people have given up on the political process. The reality is that there has been trillions of dollars of wealth going from the middle class in the last 30 years to the top 1/10th of 1 percent. The reality is we that have a corrupt campaign finance system which separates the American people's needs and desires from what Congress is doing. So to my mind, what we have got to do is wage a political revolution where millions of people have given up on the political process, stand up and fight back, demand the government that represents us and not just a handful of campaign contribution\u2014contributors. Now all of the ideas that I'm talking about, they are not radical ideas. Making public colleges and universities tuition free, that exists in countries all over the world, used to exist in the United States. Rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, and creating 13 million jobs by doing away with tax loopholes that large corporations now enjoy by putting their money into the Cayman Islands and other tax havens. That is not a radical idea. What we need to do is to stand up to the big money interests, and the campaign contributors. When we do that, we can, in fact, transform America. +p4308 +aVLet me just pick up on this point. This whole discussion began because I commented, not making overall evaluation about the Secretary. She was in Ohio, I think, in September or November and she got up and said something like, I have been\u2014I'm paraphrasing, I have been criticized because people think I'm a moderate. Well, I am a moderate. That's where this came from. It wasn't me paraphrasing her. It is what she said, and all that I said was there's nothing wrong with being a moderate. But, you can't be a moderate, you can't a progressive. In terms of President Obama, I think if we remember where this country was seven years ago, 800,000 jobs being lost every month, $1.4 trillion dollar deficit. The world's financial system on the verge of collapse. I think that President Obama, Vice President Biden, and the Democratic leadership in the House and the Senate have done a fantastic job. We are in much better shape than we were seven years ago, although my Republican colleagues seem to have forgotten where we were seven years ago. That's the fact, but, we still have a very long way to go. Do I think President Obama is a progressive? Yes, I do. I disagree with him on a number of issues including the trade agreement. But, yes, I think he has done an excellent job. +p4309 +aVThat's right, I mean, instead of arguing about definitions, let's talk about... +p4310 +aV... What we should do, and one of the things we should do is not only talk the talk, but walk the walk. I am very proud to be the only candidate up here who does not have a Super PAC, who's not raising huge sums of money from Wall Street...... And special interests. I am enormously proud. Never believed it would happen that we have raised 3.5 million individual contributions, averaging $27 dollars a piece. That is what the political revolution means. +p4311 +aVWell, Rachel, actually, that wasn't accurate. In 1988 the Republican did win, I believe, by 3 points. I came in second. It was 34-31, I think, 19 for the Democrat. In that race the Democrat was the spoiler, not me. And it is true......it is true, it's not to be denied, I am the longest- serving independent in the history of the United States Congress. People of Vermont sent me to Washington as an independent. That is true. But on the other hand, I have\u2014when I was in the House for 16 years, I caucused with the Democrats. In the Senate for nine years caucused with the Democrats, of course. And I was elected by the Democrats to be chair of the Veterans Committee three years ago, which I'm very proud of. And now am the rankings member on the Budget Committee, leader of the Democrats in opposition to the majority Republicans. I am running for president as a Democrat. And if elected, not only do I hope to bring forth a major change in national priorities, but let me be frank, I do want to see major changes in the Democratic Party. I want to see working people and young people come into the party in a way that doesn't exist now. And you know what, I want a 50-state strategy so the Democratic Party is not just the party of 25 states. +p4312 +aVWell, I don't see it quite like that. +p4313 +aVI am\u2014will absolutely admit that Secretary Clinton has the support of far more governors, mayors, members of the House. She has the entire establishment or almost the entire establishment behind her. That's a fact. I don't deny it. But I am pretty proud that we have over a million people who have contributed to our campaign averaging 27 bucks apiece. That we have had meetings where 25,000-30,000 people have come out. That our campaign is a campaign of the people, by the people, and for the people. So, Rachel, yes, Secretary Clinton does represent the establishment. I represent, I hope, ordinary Americans, and by the way, who are not all that enamored with the establishment, but I am very proud to have people like Keith Ellison and Raul Grijalva in the House, the co-chairmen of the House Progressive Caucus. +p4314 +aVWhat being part of the establishment is, is, in the last quarter, having a super PAC that raised $15 million from Wall Street, that throughout one's life raised a whole lot of money from the drug companies and other special interests. To my mind, if we do not get a handle on money in politics and the degree to which big money controls the political process in this country, nobody is going to bring about the changes that is needed in this country for the middle class and working families. +p4315 +aVWhat... +p4316 +aV... you know... +p4317 +aV. +p4318 +aVLet's talk about\u2014OK, let's talk... +p4319 +aV... let us talk about issues. +p4320 +aVLet's talk about issues. +p4321 +aVLet's... +p4322 +aV... let's\u2014let's\u2014let's talk about issues. +p4323 +aVLet's talk\u2014let's talk about issues, all right? Let's talk about why, in the 1990s, Wall Street got deregulated. Did it have anything to do with the fact that Wall Street provided\u2014spent billions of dollars on lobbying and campaign contributions? Well, some people might think, yeah, that had some influence. Let's ask why it is that we pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, and your medicine can be doubled tomorrow, and there's nothing that the government can do to stop it. You think it has anything to do with the huge amounts of campaign contributions and lobbying from the fossil fuel industry? Let's talk about climate change. Do you think there's a reason why not one Republican has the guts to recognize that climate change is real, and that we need to transform our energy system? Do you think it has anything to do with the Koch brothers and ExxonMobil pouring huge amounts of money into the political system? That is what goes on in America. I am not\u2014I like......there is a reason. You know, there is a reason why these people are putting huge amounts of money into our political system. And in my view, it is undermining American democracy and it is allowing Congress to represent wealthy campaign contributors and not the working families of this country. +p4324 +aVI think as Secretary Clinton knows, there is nobody who fought harder. I was on the House Financial Committee at that time. I heard the arguments coming from Democrats and Republicans\u2014Robert Rubin, Alan Greenspan\u2014about great an idea it would be if we did away with Glass-Steagall and if we allowed investor banks and commercial banks and big insurance companies to merge. Go to YouTube today. Look up Greenspan-Sanders. Listen to what I told them then. I helped lead the effort against deregulation. Unfortunately, we lost that. The result is\u2014was the worst financial disaster since the Great Depression. +p4325 +aVChuck, actually we looked at it, but it turns out to be a disaster. The way it is structured right now, if you make it all the way to California, you could do pretty well. But in terms of the early states\u2014Iowa, New Hampshire, the other states\u2014it just doesn't work. Your point is well taken. I believe in public funding of elections, absolutely. But this system is\u2014I don't know if the secretary would agree\u2014is currently very antiquated and no longer applies to modern day politics. +p4326 +aVBut if the... +p4327 +aVLet me just say this. Wall Street is perhaps the most powerful economic and political force in this country. You have companies like Goldman Sachs, who just recently paid a settlement fine with the federal government for $5 billion for defrauding investors. Goldman Sachs was one of those companies whose illegal activity helped destroy our economy and ruin the lives of millions of Americans. But this is what a rigged economy and a corrupt campaign finance system and a broken criminal justice is about. These guys are so powerful that not one of the executives on Wall Street has been charged with anything after paying, in this case of Goldman Sachs, a $5 billion fine. Kid gets caught with marijuana, that kid has a police record. A Wall Street executive destroys the economy, $5 billion settlement with the government, no criminal record. That is what power is about. That is what corruption is about. And that is what has to change in the United States of America. +p4328 +aVI would say that\u2014that folks who have looked at this issue for a long time, whether it's Elizabeth Warren or many other economists, will tell you that right now, yes, we do need a 21st century Glass-Steagall legislation. And I would tell you also that when you have three out of the four largest banks in America today, bigger than they were\u2014significantly bigger than when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, I think if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, a good Republican by the way, what he would say is: Break them up; they are too powerful economically; they are too powerful politically. And that is what I believe and many economists believe. Time to break them up. +p4329 +aVWell, we've had a number of economists supporting our legislation. And here's where we are. The American people can judge. Six largest financial institutions in America today have assets of roughly $10 trillion; equivalent to 58 percent of the GDP of the United States of America. That is a lot of money. They issue two thirds of the credit cards, and by the way they're ripping off a whole lot of people with high interest rates on the credit cards, and they write about one third of the mortgages. That is a lot of power for six financial institutions. That's it. I think it is too much power. Too much economic power, too much political power, and the economists that I talk to say we should break them up. +p4330 +aVYeah, I do. I agree with much of what the Secretary said, but, madam Secretary, it is not one streak. Wall Street is an entity of unbelievable economic and political power. That's a fact. And, I want to say something, and it may sound harsh, not to you, but to the American people. In a sense, in my view, the business model of Wall Street is fraud. It's fraud. I believe that corruption is rampant, and the fact that major bank after major bank has reached multi billion dollar settlements with the United States government when we have a weak regulator system tells me that not only did we have to bail them out once, if we don't start breaking them up, we're going to have to bail them out again, and I do not want to see that happen... +p4331 +aVOf course I can work with them, but let's be clear. When I talked about Boeing and I talked about General Electric, what I was referring to is an outrage. I suspect the secretary agrees request me. Right now you have a loophole such that these guys are putting their profits, multi-billion dollar profitable corporations putting billions of dollars into the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, and other tax havens. And in a given year, Rachel, after making billions of dollars in profit, do you know how much they're paying in taxes to the United States government in a given year? Zero. Now explain to me how that makes any sense at all. So what I have said with regard to Boeing and GE and other multinationals that pay zero taxes, you know what we're going to do? We're going to end that loophole. They are going to pay their fair share of taxes. We're going to use that money to rebuild our infrastructure and create up to 13 million jobs. Can I work with corporations? Are there good corporations doing incredible cutting edge research and development? Absolutely they are. And we should be proud of them. But on the other hand, there are many corporations who have turned their backs on the American worker, who have said, if I can make another nickel in profit by going to China and shutting down in the United States of America, that's what I will do. I will do my best to transform our trade policy and take on these corporations who want to invest in low-income countries around the world rather than in the United States of America. +p4332 +aVOK. Let me agree with much of what the secretary said, but where we have a different background on this issue is we differ on the war in Iraq, which created barbaric organizations like +p4333 +aVWell, I think our great task is to make certain that our young men and women in the military do not get sucked into never- ending, perpetual warfare within the quagmire of Syria and Iraq. And I will do my very best to make sure that that doesn't happen. I agree with the secretary that I think what has to happen\u2014and let me just mention what King Abdullah of Jordan said. I think he hit the nail on the head. And what he said is essentially the war against +p4334 +aVWell, you can't simply withdraw tomorrow. Wish we could, and allow, you know, the Taliban or anybody else to reclaim that country. But what we must do, and what we have seen in recent months, is some progress in Iraq, where finally the Iraqi army, which has not been a particularly effective fighting force, retook Ramadi. +p4335 +aVWell, that's not quite accurate. I did give a speech at Georgetown where I talked about democratic socialism and foreign policy. Maybe I shouldn't have combined the two in the same speech, because the foreign policy part of it didn't get much attention. So, let me take this opportunity to give you a very short speech here on the issue. I think, while it is true that the secretary and I voted differently on the war in Iraq, what is important is that we learn the lesson of the war in Iraq. And that lesson is intrinsic to my foreign policy if elected president, is the United States cannot do it alone. We cannot be the policeman of the world. We are now spending more I believe than the next eight countries on defense. We have got to work in strong coalition with the major powers of the world and with those Muslim countries that are prepared to stand up and take on terrorism. So I would say that the key doctrine of the Sanders administration would be no, we cannot continue to do it alone; we need to work in coalition. +p4336 +aV I fully, fully concede that Secretary Clinton, who was secretary of State for four years, has more experience\u2014hat is not arguable\u2014in foreign affairs. But experience is not the only point, judgment is. And once again, back in 2002, when we both looked at the same evidence about the wisdom of the war in Iraq, one of us voted the right way and one of us didn't. In terms of Iran and in terms of Saudi Arabia, of course they hate each other. That's no great secret. But John Kerry, who is I think doing a very good job, has tried to at least get these people in the room together because both of them are being threatened by +p4337 +aVWell... +p4338 +aVWho said That think we should normalize relations with Iran tomorrow? I never said that. I think we should move forward as quickly as we can. And you're right. They are a sponsor of terrorism around the world and we have to address that. But you know, a number of years ago, people were saying normal relationship with Cuba, what a bad and silly idea. They're Communists, they are our enemy. Well guess what? Change has come. So please don't suggest that I think we normalize relations with Tehran tomorrow. We don't. But I would like to see us move forward, and hopefully some day that will happen. And I would say if I might, Madam Secretary\u2014and you can correct me if I'm wrong. When you ran against Senator Obama you thought him naive because he thought it was a good idea to talk to our enemies. I think those are exactly the people you have to talk to and you have to negotiate with. +p4339 +aVOK. +p4340 +aVI think President Obama had the right idea, and the bottom line is that of course there have to be conditions. But, of course it doesn't do us any good to not talk with our adversaries... +p4341 +aVJust to set the record straight, I very strongly supported the agreement which makes certain that Iran does not get a nuclear weapon. +p4342 +aV... +p4343 +aV +p4344 +aV... No, no... +p4345 +aV... +p4346 +aVClearly North Korea is a very strange situation because it is such an isolated country run by a handful of dictators, or maybe just one, who seems to be somewhat paranoid. And, who had nuclear weapons. And, our goal there, in my view, is to work and lean strongly on China to put as much pressure. China is one of the few major countries in the world that has significant support for North Korea, and I think we got to do everything we can to put pressure on China. I worry very much about an isolated, paranoid country with atomic bombs. I think, clearly, we got to work closely with China to resolve the serious problems we have, and I worry about Putin and his military adventurism in the Crimea and the Ukraine. +p4347 +aV... No, I don't. I worry very, very much about an isolated country. That's what makes me nervous. Russia lives in the world. China lives in the world. North Korea is a very, very strange country because it is so isolated, and I do feel that a nation with nuclear weapons, they have got to be dealt with. Dealt with effectively. +p4348 +aVLet me agree. You know, as the secretary knows, I chaired\u2014I had the privilege and the honor of chairing the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs. And it is interesting to me, you know, Republicans give a lot of speeches about how much they love veterans. I work with the American Legion, the VFW, the DAV, the Vietnam Vets, and virtually every veterans organization to put together the most comprehensive piece of the veterans legislation in the modern history of America. That's what I did. And I brought it to the floor of the Senate. Every Democrat voted for it, I got two Republicans. We ended up with 56 votes and I couldn't get the 60 votes that I needed. That is pathetic. This was legislation supported by all of the veterans organizations, addressing many of the serious problems that veterans face in health care and in how we deliver benefits to them. So Republicans talk a good game about veterans, but when it came to put money on the line to protect our veterans, frankly, they were not there. What I did next, Rachel, is I had to retreat a little bit, I had to compromise. I did work with John McCain. I did work with Jeff Miller over in the House. And we put together not the bill that I wanted, but probably the most comprehensive V.A. health care bill in the modern history of this country. Secretary Clinton is absolutely right, there are people, Koch brothers among others, who have a group called Concerned Veterans of America, funded by the Koch brothers. The Koch brothers, by the way, want to destroy Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, every governmental program passed since the 1930s. Yes, there are people out there who want to privatize it. The last point that I'd make. I had a hearing. I had all of the veterans groups in front of me. And I said to them, tell me when a veteran gets in to the V.A., understanding there are waiting lines and real problems, when a veteran gets into the system, is the quality of care good? Without exception, what they said, good, excellent, very good. We've got to strengthen the V.A. We do not privatize the V.A. +p4349 +aVWell, I agree with the Des Moines Register, but let's not blow this out of proportion. This is not a\u2014this is not, like, a winner-take-all thing. I think where we now stand\u2014correct me if I'm wrong\u2014you have 22 delegates, I have 20 delegates. We need 2,500 delegates to win the nomination. You know, so this is not\u2014this is not the biggest deal in the world. We think, by the way, based on talking to our precinct captains, we may have at least two more delegates. What the Des Moines Register said\u2014you know, there were coin\u2014I think there were half a dozen coin flips\u2014a fairly chaotic type situation. At the end of the day, no matter how it's recounted, it will break roughly even. And by the way, I love and respect the caucus process in Iowa. See, and I don't have to say it, because they voted already. And I love New Hampshire, too, because you haven't voted, but......but, look, I think people are blowing this up out of proportion. But I think we need improvements in the process by which results are determined. +p4350 +aVOh . See, when you are old, then they go back all these years. All right. What have you got? +p4351 +aVWell, you know, a general election is different than a primary and caucus process. But let me just say this. In terms of where we are right now, as you mention, Rachel, in a number of national and state, including New Hampshire. For example, the last poll I saw\u2014there may have been a new one\u2014last one I saw here in New Hampshire, a battleground state, had me defeating Trump by 19; the secretary defeating him by one. There were also pretty large margins in Iowa and Wisconsin. These are polls. Polls go up. Polls go down. But here's why I think I will be, if nominated, the strongest candidate. Democrats win when there is a large voter turnout; when people are excited; when working people, middle class people and young people are prepared to engage in the political process. Republicans win when people are demoralized and you have a small voter turnout, which by the way is why they love voter suppression. I believe that our campaign up to now has shown that we can create an enormous amount of enthusiasm from working people, from young people, who will get involved in the political process and which will drive us to a very large voter turnout. If there is a large voter turnout, not only do we retain the White House, but I think we regain the Senate. We win governors' chairs up and down the line. So I believe if you want to retain the White House, if you want to see Democrats do well across the board, I think our campaign is the one that creates the large voter turnout and helps us win. +p4352 +aV +p4353 +aVI am feeling exactly the way I felt at the first debate. There's a process under way. I will not politicize it. +p4354 +aVAnd by the way\u2014and by the way, if I may, the secretary probably doesn't know that there's not a day that goes by when I am not asked to attack her on that issue, and I have refrained from doing that and I will continue to refrain from doing that. +p4355 +aVNot losing control of our campaign. You know, we have hired a whole lot of people in a rapid way and I am familiar with the first two instances and they are unacceptable, and we have apologized and dealt with that. In terms of the last one, as I understand it, we did not suggest that we had the endorsement of a newspaper. Newspapers who make endorsements also say positive things about other candidates, and to the best of my knowledge, that is what we did. So we never said, never said that somebody, a newspaper endorsed us that did not. What we did say is blah blah blah blah was said by the newspaper. +p4356 +aVBut that was only for\u2014that was not to be on television. That's an important point. That was just something\u2014as the secretary knows, you put titles on ads and you send them out, but there was no word in that ad, none, that said that those newspapers had endorsed us. +p4357 +aV... Look, I hear what the Secretary said, and I understand, but look, there are\u2014all of us know that we have seen in recent years horrible, horrible crimes. It's hard to imagine how people can do, bomb, and kill 168 people in Oklahoma City, or do the Boston Marathon bombing, but this is what I believe, and for a couple of reasons. Number one, too many innocent people, including minorities, African Americans, have been executed when they were not guilty. That's number one. We have to be very careful about making sure about that. But, second of all, and maybe, in a deeper reason, of course there are barbaric acts out there. But, in a world of so much violence and killing, I just don't believe that government itself should be part of the killing. So, when somebody commits......somebody commits any of these terrible crimes that we have seen, you lock them up, and you toss away the key. They're never going to get out. But, I just don't' want to see government be part of killing. That's all. +p4358 +aVAbsolutely. I think the Secretary described the situation appropriately. You know, I don't go around asking for governor's resignations every day. In fact, I think I never have in my life. But I did ask for the resignation of Governor Snyder because his irresponsibility......was so outrageous. What we are talking about are children being poisoned. That's what we're talking about. We don't know, no one knows for sure because they haven't done the appropriate studies, but there's no question that kids' intellectual development may have been impacted. We don't know how many thousands. The idea that there has not been a dramatic response is beyond comprehension. And when you have one of the, I think, significant public health crises of recent years, of course the federal government comes in. And of course the federal government says, you're not going to be poisoning little kids and impacting their entire lives. Last point on this. And I suspect the secretary agrees. One wonders if this were a white suburban community what kind of response there would have been. Flint, Michigan, is a poor community. It is disproportionately African-American and minority. And what has happened there is absolutely unacceptable. +p4359 +aVAbsolutely right. +p4360 +aVChuck, I believe in trade, but I do not believe in unfettered free trade. I believe in fair trade which works for the middle class and working families of this country and not just large multinational corporations. I was not only in opposition to +p4361 +aVNo, let... +p4362 +aV... I am absolutely supportive of comprehensive immigration reform and a path towards citizenship for 11 million people today who are living in the shadows. All right? We got to do that. But you miss\u2014when you looked at the issues, you missed two of the most important. And that is you're not going to accomplish what has to be done for working families and the middle class unless there is campaign finance reform. So long as big money interests control the United States Congress, it is gonna be very hard to do what has to be done for working families. So let me be very clear. No nominee of mine, if I'm elected president, to the United States Supreme Court will get that nomination unless he or she is loud and clear, and says they will vote to overturn Citizens United. Second point\u2014second point is that the only way we make change in terms of health care, in terms of dealing with a broken criminal justice system which, today, allows us to have more people in jail than any other country\u2014largely African-American and Latino\u2014the only way we create millions of jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure or have a tax system that says to the wealthy that they are going to pay their fair share, is when millions of people become involved in the political process. No, you just can't negotiate with Mitch McConnell. Mitch is gonna have to look out the window and see a whole lot of people saying, "Mitch, stop representing the billionaire class. Start listening to working families." And as president, that's what I will work hard on. +p4363 +aVI agree with what the secretary said. We shouldn't be getting ahead of ourselves. And as I have said many times, you know, sometimes in these campaigns, things get a little bit out of hand. I happen to respect the secretary very much, I hope it's mutual. And on our worst days, I think it is fair to say we are 100 times better than any Republican candidate. +p4364 +aVI\u2014my dad came to this country at the age of 17 from Poland. Didn't have any money, couldn't speak English, he died pretty young, and I think it would have been beyond his wildest dreams to see his son up here on this stage today running for president. I love this country and my dad loved this country, and he was the most proud American because of what it gave him in terms of raising his family, even though we never had much money. But today in America, we are the only major country on earth that doesn't guarantee health care to all people, that doesn't guarantee paid family and medical leave. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth. We are seeing millions of families unable to send their kids to college in the United States of America. I'm running for president because I believe it is just too late for establishment politics and establishment economics. I do believe we need a political revolution where millions of people stand up and say loudly and clearly that our government belongs to all of us and not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors. Thank you all. +p4365 +aVThank you. As we honor the extraordinary life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., it's important not only that we remember what he stood for, but that we pledge to continue his vision to transform our country. As we look out at our country today, what the American people understand is we have an economy that's rigged, that ordinary Americans are working longer hours for lower wages, 47 million people living in poverty, and almost all of the new income and wealth going to the top one percent. And then, to make a bad situation worse, we have a corrupt campaign finance system where millionaires and billionaires are spending extraordinary amounts of money to buy elections. This campaign is about a political revolution to not only elect the president, but to transform this country. +p4366 +aVWell, that's what our campaign is about. It is thinking big. It is understanding that in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, we should have health care for every man, woman, and child as a right that we should raise the minimum wage to at least $15 an hour; that we have got to create millions of decent- paying jobs by rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure. So, what my first days are about is bringing America together, to end the decline of the middle class, to tell the wealthiest people in this country that yes, they are going to start paying their fair share of taxes, and that we are going to have a government that works for all of us, and not just big campaign contributors. +p4367 +aVWell, I think Secretary Clinton knows that what she says is very disingenuous. I have a D-minus voting record from the NRA. I was in 1988, there were three candidates running for congress in the state of Vermont, I stood up to the gun lobby and came out and maintained the position that in this country we should not be selling military style assault weapons. I have supported from day one and instant background check to make certain that people who should have guns do not have guns. And that includes people of criminal backgrounds, people who are mentally unstable. I support what President Obama is doing in terms of trying to close the gun show loop holes and I think it should be a federal crime if people act as dormant. We have seen in this city a horrendous tragedy of a crazed person praying with people in the coming up and shooting nine people. This should not be a political issue. What we should be doing is working together. And by the way, as a senator from a rural state that has virtually no gun control, I believe that I am in an excellent position to bring people together to fight the sensible... +p4368 +aVWhat I have said, is that gun manufacturer's liability bill has some good provisions among other things, we've prohibited ammunition that would've killed cops who had protection on. We have child safety protection work on guns in that legislation. And what we also said, "is a small mom and pop gun shop who sells a gun legally to somebody should not be held liable if somebody does something terrible with that gun." So what I said is, " I would re-look at it." We are going to re- look at it and I will support stronger provisions. +p4369 +aV...Well, I \u2014 look... +p4370 +aV... Let me respond to what the secretary said. We have a criminal justice system which is broken. Who in America is satisfied that we have more people in jail than any other country on Earth, including China? Disproportionately African American, and Latino. Who is satisfied that 51% of African American young people are either unemployed, or underemployed? Who is satisfied that millions of people have police records for possessing marijuana when the CEO's of Wall Street companies who destroyed our economy have no police records. +p4371 +aV... We need to take a very hard look at our... +p4372 +aV... criminal justice system, investing in jobs, and education not in jails and incarceration . +p4373 +aVWell, let me talk about polling. As Secretary Clinton well knows, when this campaign began she was 50 points ahead of me. We were all of three percentage points. Guess what? In Iowa, New Hampshire, the race is very, very close. Maybe we're ahead New Hampshire. In terms of polling, guess what? We are running ahead of Secretary Clinton. In terms of taking on my taking on my good friend, Donald Trump, beating him by 19 points in New Hampshire, 13 points in the last national poll that we saw. To answer your question. When the African American community becomes familiar with my Congressional record and with our agenda, and with our views on the economy, and criminal justice \u2014 just as the general population has become more supportive, so will the African American community, so will the Latino community. We have the momentum, we're on a path to a victory. O' +p4374 +aVI apologize for not hearing all of that question. +p4375 +aVYes. +p4376 +aVAbsolutely. This is a responsibility for the U.S. Justice Department to get involved. Whenever anybody in this country is killed while in police custody, it should automatically trigger a U.S. attorney general's investigation. Second of all, and I speak as a mayor who worked very closely and well with police officers, the vast majority of whom are honest, hard- working people trying to do a difficult job, but let us be clear. If a police officer breaks the law, like any public official, that officer must be held accountable. And thirdly, we have got to de-militarize our police departments so they don't look like occupying armies. We've got to move toward community policing. And fourthly, we have got to make our police departments look like the communities they serve in their diversity. +p4377 +aVSure. I agree... I agree with everything the Secretary said, but let me just add this, there is a responsibility on the part of the pharmaceutical industry and the drug companies who are producing all of these drugs and not looking at the consequence of it. And second of all, when we talk about addiction being a disease, the Secretary is right, what that means is we need a revolution in this country in terms of mental health treatment. People should be able to get the treatment that they need when they need it, not two months from now, which is why I believe in universal... +p4378 +aV... healthcare with mental health... +p4379 +aV... a part of that. +p4380 +aVOK. +p4381 +aVSecretary \u2014 Secretary Clinton didn't answer your question. Because what her campaign was saying \u2014 Bernie Sanders, who has fought for universal health care for my entire life, he wants to end Medicare, end Medicaid, end the children's health insurance program. That is nonsense. What a Medicare-for-all program does is finally provide in this country health care for every man, woman and child as a right. Now, the truth is, that Frank Delano Roosevelt, Harry Truman, do you know what they believed in? They believed that health care should be available to all of our people. I'm on the committee that wrote the Affordable Care Act. I made the Affordable Care Act along with Jim Clyburn a better piece of legislation. I voted for it, but right now, what we have to deal with is the fact that 29 million people still have no health insurance. We are paying the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, getting ripped off. And here's the important point, we are spending far more per person on health care than the people of any other country. My proposal, provide health care to all people, get private insurance out of health insurance, lower the cost of health care for middle class families by 5,000 bucks. That's the vision we need to take. +p4382 +aVBut \u2014 what if we have... +p4383 +aVIt is \u2014 it is absolutely inaccurate. O' +p4384 +aVNo one is tearing this up, we're going to go forward. But with the secretary neglected to mention, not just the 29 million still have no health insurance, that even more are underinsured with huge copayments and deductibles. Tell me why we are spending almost three times more than the British, who guarantee health care to all of their people? Fifty percent more than the French, more than the Canadians. The vision from FDR and Harry Truman was health care for all people as a right in a cost-effective way. We're not going to tear up the Affordable Care Act. I helped write it. But we are going to move on top of that to a Medicaid-for-all system. O' +p4385 +aVYeah. +p4386 +aVYes. +p4387 +aVNot all that detailed. +p4388 +aVWell. +p4389 +aVWell, that's \u2014 you might want to ask... +p4390 +aVAndrea, let me just say this. +p4391 +aVLet me just say that you might want to ask the governor of the state of Vermont why he could not do it. I'm not the governor. I'm the senator from the state of Vermont. But second of all \u2014 second of all...... here is what the real point is, in terms of all of the issues you've raised \u2014 the good questions you've raised. You know what it all comes down to? Do you know why we can't do what every other country \u2014 major country on Earth is doing? It's because we have a campaign finance system that is corrupt, we have super PACs, we have the pharmaceutical industry pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into campaign contributions and lobbying, and the private insurance companies as well. What this is really about is not the rational way to go forward \u2014 it's Medicare for all \u2014 it is whether we have the guts to stand up to the private insurance companies and all of their money, and the pharmaceutical industry. That's what this debate should be about. +p4392 +aVA couple of years ago, when we understood that veterans were not getting the quality care they needed in the timely manner, I worked with folks like John McCain and others to pass the most comprehensive veteran's health care legislation in modern history. But let me rephrase your question because I think, in all do respect, you're expression. In all do respect, you're missing the main point. And the main point in the Congress, it's not the Republicans and Democrats hate each other. That's a mythology from the media. The real issue is that Congress is owned by big money and refuses to do what the American people want them to do. The real issue is that in area after area, raising the minimum wage to $15 bucks an hour. The American people want it. Rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, creating 13 million jobs, the American people want it. The pay equity for women, the American people want it. Demanding that the wealthy start paying their fair share of taxes. The American people want it. +p4393 +aVThe point is, we have to make Congress respond to the needs of the people, not big money. +p4394 +aVI do. +p4395 +aVDid I say that? +p4396 +aVBecause of what I believe in what I was just saying. The Democratic party needs major reform. To those of you in South Carolina, you know what, in Mississippi, we need a 50-state strategy so that people in South Carolina and Mississippi can get the resources that they need. Instead of being dependent on super PACs, what we need is to be dependent on small, individual campaign contributors. We need an agenda that speaks to the needs of working families and low-income people. Not wealthy campaign contributors. +p4397 +aVWe need to expand what the input into the Democratic party. I am very proud that in this campaign, we have seen an enormous amount of excitement from young people, from working people. We have received more individual contributions than any candidate in the history of this country up to this point. O' +p4398 +aVAnd I respectfully disagree. +p4399 +aVAnd I respectfully disagree with my friend over here. And that is, you are right. All of us have denounced Trump's attempts to divide this country: the anti-Latino rhetoric, the racist rhetoric, he anti-Muslim rhetoric. But where I disagree with you, Governor O'Malley, is I do believe we have to deal with the fundamental issues of a handful of billionaires... O' +p4400 +aV... who control economic and political life of this country. O' +p4401 +aVNothing real will get happened. Unless we have a political revolution. Where millions of people finally stand up. +p4402 +aVIs that your strategy... +p4403 +aVWell, the first difference is I don't take money from big banks. I don't get personal speaking fees from Goldman Sachs. What I would do... What I would do is understand that when you have three out of the four largest banks today, bigger than they were when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, when you have the six largest financial institutions having assets of 60 percent of the GDP of America, it is very clear to me what you have to do. You've got to bring back the 21st century Glass-Steagall legislation and you've got to break up these huge financial institutions. They have too much economic power and they have too much financial power over our entire economy. If Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, the old Republican trust buster, what he would say is these guys are too powerful. Break them up. I believe that's what the American people to want see. That's my view. +p4404 +aVOK. First of all... +p4405 +aVSet the record right. In 2006 when I ran for the Senate, Senator Barack Obama was kind enough to campaign for me, 2008, I did my best to see that he was elected and in 2012, I worked as hard as I could to see that he was reelected. He and I are friends. We've worked together on many issues. We have some differences of opinion. But here is the issue, Secretary touched on it, can you really reform Wall Street when they are spending millions and millions of dollars on campaign contributions and when they are providing speaker fees to individuals? So it's easy to say, well, I'm going to do this and do that, but I have doubts when people receive huge amounts of money from Wall Street. I am very proud, I do not have a super PAC. I do not want Wall Street's money. I'll rely on the middle class and working families... +p4406 +aV... campaign contributions. +p4407 +aVLet me give you an example of how corrupt \u2014 how corrupt this system is. Goldman Sachs recently fined $5 billion. Goldman Sachs has given this country two secretaries of treasury, one on the Republicans, one under Democrats. O' +p4408 +aVThe leader of Goldman Sachs is a billionaire who comes to Congress and tells us we should cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Secretary Clinton \u2014 and you're not the only one, so I don't mean to just point the finger at you, you've received over $600,000 in speaking fees from Goldman Sachs in one year. I find it very strange that a major financial institution that pays $5 billion in fines for breaking the law, not one of their executives is prosecuted, while kids who smoke marijuana get a jail sentence. +p4409 +aVIf you want to... +p4410 +aVAnyone who wants to check my record in taking on Wall Street, in fighting against the deregulation of Wall Street when Wall Street put billions of dollars in lobbying, in campaign contributions to get the government off their backs. They got the government off their backs. Turns out that they were crooks, and they destroyed our economy. I think it's time to put the government back on their backs. +p4411 +aV... Yeah... +p4412 +aV... That's true. +p4413 +aVGood. You're right. I want to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, create 13 million jobs. We do that by doing away with the absurd loophole that now allows major profitable corporations to stash their money in the Cayman Islands, and not in some years, pay a nickel in taxes. Yes, I do. I plead guilty. I want every kid in this country who has the ability to be able to go to a public college, or university, tuition free. And, by the way, I want to substantially lower student debt interest rates in this country as well. How do I pay for it? I pay for it through a tax on Wall Street speculation. This country, and the middle class, bailed out Wall Street. Now, it is Wall Street's time to help the middle class. In fact... O' +p4414 +aV... we have documented, unlike Secretary Clinton, I have documented exactly how I would pay for our ambitious agenda. O' +p4415 +aV... Here is the main two points... +p4416 +aVYeah. +p4417 +aV... I got it. +p4418 +aVWhat is correct, and I'm disappointed that Secretary Clinton's campaign has made this criticism. It's a Republican criticism. Secretary Clinton does know a lot about healthcare, and she understands, I believe, that a medicare for all, single payer program will substantially lower the cost of healthcare for middle class families. So, what we have got to acknowledge, and I hope the Secretary does, is we are doing away with private health insurance premiums. So, instead of paying $10,000 dollars to Blue Cross, or Blue Shield, yes, some middle class families would be paying slightly more in taxes, but the result would be that that middle class family would be saving some $5,000 dollars in healthcare costs. A little bit more in taxes, do away with private health insurance premiums. It's a pretty good deal. +p4419 +aVYeah. +p4420 +aVNo, it is not breaking my word. When you are \u2014 it's one thing to say I'm raising taxes, it's another thing to say that we are doing away with private health insurance premiums. So, if I save you $10,000 in private health insurance, and you pay a little bit more in taxes in total, there are huge savings in what your family is spending. O' +p4421 +aVI was mayor for eight years, I did that as well. O' +p4422 +aVI think we already are. Younger generation understands it instinctively. I was home in Burlington, Vermont, on Christmas Eve, the temperature was 65 degrees. People in Vermont know what's going on. People who did ice fishing, where their ice is no longer there on the lake understand what's going on. I'm on both the Environmental and Energy Committees. The debate is over. Climate change is real. It is already causing major problems. And if we do not act boldly and decisively, a bad situation will become worse. It is amazing to me, and I think we'll have agreement on this up here, that we have a major party, called the Republican Party that is so owned by the fossil fuel industry and their campaign contributions that they don't even have the courage, the decency to listen to the scientists. It is beyond my comprehension how we can elect a president of the United States, somebody like Trump, who believes that climate change is a hoax invented by the Chinese. Bottom line is, we need to be bold and decisive, we can create millions of jobs. We must, for the sake of our kids and grandchildren, transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energy. I've got the most comprehensive legislation in the Senate to do that. And as president, I will fight to make that happen. +p4423 +aVI think what we've got to do is move as aggressively as we can to normalize relations with Iran. Understanding that Iran's behavior in so many ways is something that we disagree with; their support terrorism, the anti-American rhetoric that we're hearing from of their leadership is something that is not acceptable. On the other hand, the fact that we've managed to reach an agreement, something that I've very strongly supported that prevents Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and we did that without going to war. And that I believe we're seeing a fall in our relationships with Iran is a very positive step. So if your question is, do I want to see that relationship become more positive in the future? Yes. Can I tell that we should open an embassy in Tehran tomorrow? No, I don't think we should. But I think the goal has go to be as we've done with Cuba, to move in warm relations with a very powerful and important country in this world. +p4424 +aVAs everybody you know, this is incredibly complicated and difficult issue and I applaud. I know President Obama's been getting a lot of criticism on this. I think he is doing the right thing. What the nightmare is, which many of my Republican colleagues appear to want is to not have learned the lesson of Iraq. To get American young men and women involved in perpetual warfare in the quagmire of Syria and the Middle East would be an unmitigated disaster that as president, I will do everything in my power to avoid. O' +p4425 +aVWe should \u2014 we should learn \u2014 we should learn from King Abdullah of Jordan, one of the few heroes in a very unheroic place. And what Abdullah said is this is a war with a soul of Islam and that Muslim troops should be on the ground with our support and the support of other major countries. That is how we destroy +p4426 +aVNo. I think the vacuum was created by the disastrous war in Iraq, which I vigorously opposed. Not only did I vote against it, I helped lead the opposition. And what happened there is yes, it's easy to get rid of a two-bit dictator like Saddam Hussein, but there wasn't the kind of thought as to what happens the day after you get him and what kind of political vacuum occurs. And who rises up? Groups like +p4427 +aVLet me just... +p4428 +aVOK. Let me suggest... +p4429 +aVWhere Secretary Clinton and I think, I agree with most of what she said. But where I think we do have an honest disagreement, is that in the incredible quagmire of Syria, where it's hard to know who's fighting who and if you give arms to this guy, it may end up in +p4430 +aVOK. I just wanted to add, in the previous question, I voted against the USA Patriot Act for many of the reasons that Governor O'Malley mentioned. But it is not only the government that we have to worry about, it is private corporations. You would all be amazed, or maybe not, about the amount of information private companies and the government has in terms of the Web sites that you access, the products that you buy, where you are this very moment. And it is very clear to me that public policy has not caught up with the explosion of technology. So yes, we have to work with Silicon Valley to make sure that we do not allow +p4431 +aVRight. What we have got to do there is, among other things, as I was just saying, have Silicon Valley help us to make sure that information being transmitted through the Internet or in other ways by +p4432 +aVCan I get 50 seconds? +p4433 +aVCan I get a \u2014 can I just get a very brief response? Very brief. +p4434 +aVOK. One \u2014 and I agree with what the secretary said, and what Governor O'Malley said. But here's an issue that we also should talk about. We have a $600 billion military budget. It is a budget larger than the next eight countries'. Unfortunately, much of that budget continues to fight the old Cold War with the Soviet Union. Very little of that budget \u2014 less than 10 percent \u2014 actually goes into fighting +p4435 +aVGreat ideas, Governor O'Malley, Secretary Clinton, but here's the truth. If you have an administration stacked with Wall Street appointees, it ain't going to accomplish very much. So here's a promise that I make \u2014 and I mentioned a moment ago how corrupt the system is \u2014 Goldman Sachs, paying a $5 billion fine, gives this country, in recent history, a Republican secretary of treasury, a Democratic secretary of treasury. Here's a promise. If elected president, Goldman Sachs is not going to have \u2014 bring forth a secretary of treasury for a Sanders administration. +p4436 +aVI was asked a question. You know, one of the things, Andrea, and I \u2014 that question annoys me. I cannot walk down the street \u2014 Secretary Clinton knows this \u2014 without being told how much I have to attack secretary Clinton, want to get me on the front pages of the paper, I'd make some vicious attack. I have avoided doing that. Trying to run an issue-oriented campaign. +p4437 +aVI was asked a question. +p4438 +aVWell \u2014 then if I don't answer it, then there's another front page, so it's yes. And I mean this seriously. You know that. We've been through this. Yes, his behavior was deplorable. Have I ever once said a word about that issue? No, I have not. I'm going to debate Secretary Clinton, Governor O'Malley, on the issues facing the American people, not Bill Clinton's personal behavior. +p4439 +aVWell, Secretary Clinton was right and what I did which I think is also right, is demanded the resignation of governor. A man who acts that irresponsibly should not stay in power. Now, we are a great nation \u2014 and we've heard a lot of great ideas here tonight. Let's be honest and let's be truthful. Very little is going to be done to transform our economy and to create the kind of middle class we need unless we end a corrupt campaign finance system which is undermining American democracy. We've got to get rid of Super PACs, we've got to get rid of Citizens' United and what we've got to do is create a political revolution which revitalizes American democracy; which brings millions of young people and working people into the political process. To say loudly and clearly," that the government of the United States of America belongs to all of us and not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors." +p4440 +aVGood evening. I am running for president of the United States because it is too late for establishment politics and establishment economics. I'm running for president because our economy is rigged because working people are working longer hours for lower wages and almost all of new wealth and income being created is going to the top one percent. I'm running for president because I'm going to create an economy that works for working families not just billionaires. I'm running for president because we have a campaign finance system which is corrupt, where billionaires are spending hundreds of millionaires of dollars to buy candidates who will represent their interests rather than the middle class and working families. I'm running because we need to address the planetary crisis of climate change and take on the fossil fuel industry and transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energy. I'm running for president because I want a new foreign policy; one that takes on Isis, one that destroys +p4441 +aVDavid, let me give you a little bit of background here. The DNC has hired vendors. On two occasions, there were breeches in information two months ago. Our staff found information on our computers from the Clinton campaign. And when our staffers said, "whoa, what's going here?" They went to the DNC quietly. They went to the vendor and said, "hey, something is wrong," and that was quietly dealt with. None of that information was looked at. Our staffer at that point did exactly the right thing. A few days ago a similar incident happened. There was a breach because the DNC vendor screwed up, information came to our campaign. In this case, our staff did the wrong thing -- they looked at that information. As soon as we learned that they looked at that information - we fired that person. We are now doing an independent internal investigation to see who else was involved. Thirdly, what I have a really problem, and as you mentioned - this is a problem, I recognize it as a problem. But what the DNC did arbitrarily without discussing it with us is shut off our access to our information crippling our campaign. That is an egregious act. I'm glad that late last night, that was resolved. +p4442 +aVFourthly, I work -- look forward to working with Secretary Clinton for an investigation, an independent investigation, about all of the breaches that have occurred from day one in this campaign, because I am not convinced that information from our campaign may not have ended up in her campaign. Don't know that. But we need an independent investigation, and I hope Secretary Clinton will agree with me for the need of that. Last point. When we saw the breach two months, we didn't go running to the media and make a big deal about it. And it bothers me very much that, rather than working on this issue to resolve it, it has become many press releases from the Clinton campaign later. +p4443 +aVAbsolutely. +p4444 +aVYes, I apologize. +p4445 +aVNot only -- not only do I apologize to Secretary Clinton -- and I hope we can work together on an independent investigation from day one -- I want to apologize to my supporters. This is not the type of campaign that we run. And if I find anybody else involved in this, they will also be fired. +p4446 +aVLet me agree with Governor O'Malley and let me agree with Secretary Clinton. You know, we had this incident before, Secretary, with your famous e-mails. Right? And what I said and I think what Governor O'Malley is saying, and I hope you say, is when the middle class of this country is disappearing, when we have massive income and wealth inequality, when we're the only major country on earth not guaranteeing health care to all people, all the issues that the governor talked about, the secretary talked about, those are the issues. Media notwithstanding. Those are the issues that the American people want discussed. I hope those are the issues we'll discuss. +p4447 +aVI'm one of the 77 percent. I think this is a very difficult issue. Let me agree with much of what the secretary and the governor have said. Let me tell you what I think we have got to do. I think it's a two-pronged issue. Number one, our goal is to crush and destroy +p4448 +aVIt's a country in which people choose to buy guns. I think half of the -- more than half of the people in my own state of Vermont, my guess here in New Hampshire, are gun owners. That's the right of people. But this is what I do believe. I believe that when we have some 300 million guns in this country, I believe that when we have seen these horrific mass killings, not only in San Bernardino, but in Colorado and movie theaters in Colorado, I think we have got to bring together the vast majority of the people who do in fact believe in sensible gun safety regulations. For example, talking about polls, a poll recently came out, overwhelming majority of the American people say we should strengthen the instant background check. Who denies that it is crazy... Who denies that it is crazy to allow people to own guns who are criminals or are mentally unstable? We've got to eliminate the gun show loophole. In my view, we have got to see that weapons designed by the military to kill people are not in the hands of civilians. I think there is a consensus. I think -- I'm not going to say that everybody is in agreement. It's a divided country on guns. But there is a broad consensus on sensible gun safety regulations that I, coming from a state that has virtually no gun control, will do my best to bring together. O' +p4449 +aVWhoa, whoa, whoa. Let's calm down a little bit, Martin. +p4450 +aVFirst of all, let's have some rules here, commentators. +p4451 +aVAll right. +p4452 +aVHe sure did. +p4453 +aVSure did. All right. First off, we can do all the great speeches we want but you're not going to succeed unless there is a consensus. In 1988, just to set the record straight governor, I ran for the U.S. House. We have one House member from Vermont, three candidates in the race. One candidate said, you know what, I don't think it's a great idea that we sell automatic weapons in this country that are used by the military to kill people very rapidly. Gun people said, there were three candidates in the race, you vote for one of the others, but not Bernie Sanders. I lost that election by three percentage points. Quite likely, for that reason. So please, do not explain to me, coming from a state where democratic governors and republican governors have supported virtually no gun control. Excuse me. Do not tell me that I have not shown courage in standing up to the gun people, in voting to ban assault weapons, voting for instant background checks, voting to end the gun show loop hole and now we're in a position to create a consensus in America on gun safety. +p4454 +aVWell, the answer is, obviously, if you see suspicious activity, you report it. That's kind of a no-brainer. You know, somebody is loading guns and ammunition into a house, I think it's a good idea to call 911. Do it. +p4455 +aVBut I want to talk -- I want to talk about something else, because Secretary Clinton I think made some interesting and good points. What you have now is a very dangerous moment in American history. The secretary is right: Our people are fearful. They are anxious on a number of levels. They are anxious about international terrorism and the possibility of another attack on America. We all understand that. But you know what else they're anxious about? They're anxious about the fact that they are working incredibly long hours, they're worried about their kids, and they're seeing all the new income and wealth -- virtually all of it -- going to the top 1 percent. And they're looking around them, and they're looking at Washington, and they're saying the rich are getting much richer, I'm getting poorer, what are you going to do about it? What are you going to do for my kids? And somebody like a Trump comes along and says, "I know the answers. The answer is that all of the Mexicans, they're criminals and rapists, we've got to hate the Mexicans. Those are your enemies. We hate all the Muslims, because all of the Muslims are terrorists. We've got to hate the Muslims." Meanwhile, the rich get richer. So what I say to those people who go to Donald Trump's rallies, understand: He thinks a low minimum wage in America is a good idea. He thinks low wages are a good idea. I believe we stand together to address the real issues facing this country, not allow them to divide us by race or where we come from. Let's create an America that works for all of us, not the handful on top. +p4456 +aVExcuse me. May I have a chance to respond to this issue? +p4457 +aVYeah, but the rule includes equal -- got it. All right. +p4458 +aVAll right. Let's keep going. OK. +p4459 +aVYeah. +p4460 +aVAnd I also voted and helped lead the effort against the war in Iraq, which will go down in history as one of the worst foreign blunders -- foreign policy blunders in the history of our country. I voted against the first Gulf War, which set the stage, I believe, for the second Iraq war. And what I believe right now, and I believe this is terribly important, is the United States of America cannot succeed, or be thought of as the policeman of the world, that when there's an international crisis all over the world, in France and in the U.K. Or -- hey, just call up the American military and the American taxpayers, they're going to send the troops. And if they have to be in the Middle East for 20 or 30 years no problem. +p4461 +aVI have a problem with that, Martha. What I believe has got to happen is there must be an international coalition, including Russia, a well-coordinated effort. But I agree, as I mentioned a moment ago, with King Abdullah. This is a war for the soul of Islam. The troops on the ground should not be American troops. They should be Muslim troops. I believe that countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar have got to step up to the plate, have got to contribute the money that we need, and the troops that we need, to destroy +p4462 +aVMy plan is to make it work, to tell Saudi Arabia that instead of going to war in Yemen, they, one of the wealthiest countries on Earth, are going to have to go to war against +p4463 +aVI have a difference of opinion with Secretary Clinton on this. Our differences are fairly deep on this issue. We disagreed on the war in Iraq. We both listened to the information from Bush and Cheney. I voted against the war. But I think -- and I say this with due respect -- that I worry too much that Secretary Clinton is too much into regime change and a little bit too aggressive without knowing what the unintended consequences might be. Yes, we could get rid of Saddam Hussein, but that destabilized the entire region. Yes, we could get rid of Gadhafi, a terrible dictator, but that created a vacuum for +p4464 +aVI was not the secretary of state... +p4465 +aVI happen to think... O' +p4466 +aVSecretary Clinton is right. This is a complicated issue. I don't think anyone has a magical solution. But this is what I do believe. Yes, of course Assad is a terrible dictator. But I think we have got to get our foreign policies and priorities right. The immediate -- it is not Assad who is attacking the United States. It is +p4467 +aVDavid... +p4468 +aVCould I just say -- just say this... +p4469 +aVCan I just say this... +p4470 +aVOf course the United States must lead. But the United States is not the policeman of the world. The United States must not be involved in perpetual warfare in the Middle East. The United States, at the same time, cannot successfully fight Assad and +p4471 +aVFirst of all, we recognize that we have a rigged economy, as you've indicated. Middle class in this country for the last 40 years has been disappearing; are we better off today than we were when Bush left office? Absolutely. But as you've indicated for millions of American workers, people in New Hampshire -- all over America, they're working longer hours for lower wages deeply worried about their kids. So what do we do? First statement is, we tell the billionaire class, "they cannot have it all." For a start, they're going to start to pay their fair share of taxes. Second of all what we do, is you raise the minimum wage to living wage, 15 bucks an hour over the next several years. Next thing we do, pay equity for women workers. Women should not be making 79 cents on the dollar compared to that. Next thing that we do, real unemployment -- official unemployment, 5 percent, real employment 10 percent, youth unemployment, off the charts. We rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, our roads our bridges, our rail systems, we create 13 million jobs with a trillion-dollar investment. Furthermore, in a competitive global economy, it is imperative that we have the best educated workforce in the world. That is why I'm going to have a tax on Wall Street speculation to make certain that public colleges and universities in America are tuition free. +p4472 +aVNo, I think they won't. So Hillary and I have a difference. The CEOs of large multinationals may like Hillary. They ain't going to like me and Wall Street is going to like me even less. And the reason for that is we've got to deal with the elephant in the room, which is the greed, recklessness and illegal behavior on Wall Street. When you have six financial institutions in this country that issue two-thirds of the credit cards and one-third of the mortgages, when three out of four of them are larger today than when we bailed them out because they are too big to fail, we've got to re- establish Glass-Steagall, we have got to break the large financial institutions up. +p4473 +aVSo I don't think... ... having said that, I don't think I'm going to get a whole lot of campaign contributions from Wall Street. I don't have a super PAC. I don't want campaign contributions from corporate America. And let me be clear: While there are some great corporations creating jobs and trying to do the right thing, in my view -- and I say this very seriously -- the greed of the billionaire class, the greed of Wall Street is destroying this economy and is destroying the lives of millions of Americans. We need an economy that works for the middle class, not just a handful of billionaires, and I will fight and lead to make that happen. +p4474 +aVLet me just -- let me just... +p4475 +aVLet me just jump in. My name was invoked. +p4476 +aVSo with that invocation, let me say a few words. Secretary Clinton, I don't have a super PAC. I don't get any money from Wall Street. You have gotten a whole lot of money over the years from Wall Street. But most importantly, when you look at what happened in the 1990s, go to berniesanders.com. I'll advertise my Web site as well. And what you'll find is that I led -- helped lead the effort as a member of the House financial committee against Alan Greenspan, against a guy named Bill Clinton, maybe you know him, maybe you don't. Against the Republican leadership, who all thought it would be a great idea to merge investor banks and commercial banks and large insurance companies. What a brilliant idea that would be. Go to YouTube. Find out what I said to Greenspan. At the end of the day, if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, and the governor makes a good point about trade, anti-trade, anti-monopoly activities. Wall Street today has too much political power. It has too much economic power. To get deregulated -- listen to this, they spent $5 billion in lobbying and campaign contributions over a 10-year period. +p4477 +aVWall Street is a threat to the economy. They've got to be broken up. +p4478 +aVYes, exactly, exactly. +p4479 +aVYes, well, roughly. Let me say this. As a member of the Health Education Committee that helped write the Affordable Care Act, much of what Secretary Clinton said about what we have done, among other things, ending the obscenity of this pre-existing situation is a step forward. Seventeen more million more people have health care. It is a step forward. A step forward. But this is what we also have to say. Not only are deductibles rising, 29 million Americans still have no health insurance and millions of people can't afford to go to the doctor. Major crisis and primary health care. Here is the bottom line. Why is it that the United States of America today is the only major country on earth that does not guarantee health care to all people as a right? Why is it... +p4480 +aVWhy is it that we are -- why is it that we spend almost three times per capita as to what they spend in the U.K., 50 percent more than what they pay in France, countries that guarantee health care to all of their people and in many cases, have better health care outcomes. Bottom line. This ties into campaign finance reform. The insurance companies, the drug companies are bribing the United States Congress. We need to pass a Medicare for all single payer system. It will lower the cost of health care for a middle-class family by thousands of dollars a year. +p4481 +aVBut they will not be paying, Martha, any private insurance. So it's unfair to say in total... +p4482 +aVI can tell you that adding up the fact you're not paying any private insurance, businesses are not paying any private insurance. The average middle-class family will be saving thousands of dollars a year. +p4483 +aVAnd universities. +p4484 +aVWell, Neil, I think we've got to work on a two-pronged approach. And your point is absolutely well taken. The cost of college education is escalating a lot faster than the cost of inflation. There are a lot of factors involved in that. And that is that we have some colleges and universities that are spending a huge amount of money on fancy dormitories and on giant football stadiums. Maybe we should focus on quality education with well-paid faculty members. But... +p4485 +aVAnd I understand in many universities a heck of a lot of vice presidents who earn a big salary. But, bottom line is this is the year 2015. If we are going to be competitive in the global economy we need the best educated workforce. It is insane to my mind, hundreds of thousands of young people today, bright qualified people, cannot go to college because they cannot afford -- their families cannot afford to send them. Millions coming out of school as you indicated, deeply in debt. What do we do? My proposal is to put a speculation tax on wall street, raise very substantial sums of money, not only make public colleges and universities tuition-free, but also substantially lower interest rates on student debt. You have families out there paying 6 percent, 8 percent, 10 percent on student debt; refinance their homes at 3 percent. What sense is that? So I think we need radical changes in the funding of higher education. We should look at college today the way high school was looked at 60 years ago. All young people who have the ability should be able to get a college education. ( +p4486 +aVMay I respond to the critique on the ... +p4487 +aVI would just... +p4488 +aVBut Secretary Clinton is wrong. As you know, because I know you know a lot about health care. You know that the United States per capita pays far and away more than other country. And it is unfair simply to say how much more the program will cost without making sure that people know that, we are doing away with cost of private insurance and that the middle class will be paying substantially less for health care on the single payer than on the Secretary's Clinton proposal. +p4489 +aVNow, this is getting to be fun. +p4490 +aVLet me respond to... +p4491 +aVLet me respond to... +p4492 +aVNumber one, most important economic reality of today is that over the last 30 years, there has been a transfer of trillions of dollars from the middle class to the top one-tenth of one percent who are seeing a doubling of the percentage of wealth that they own. Now, when Secretary Clinton says, "I'm not going raise taxes on the middle class," let me tell you what she is saying. She is disagreeing with FDR on Social Security, LBJ on Medicare and with the vast majority of progressive Democrats in the House and the Senate, who today are fighting to end the disgrace of the United States being the only major country on Earth that doesn't provide paid family and medical leave. What the legislation is is $1.61 a week. Now, you can say that's a tax on the middle class. It will provide three months paid family and medical leave for the working families of this country. I think, Secretary Clinton, $1.61 a week is a pretty good investment. +p4493 +aVDavid, thank you. +p4494 +aVThen (inaudible)... +p4495 +aVEvery (inaudible) Democrat and senator in support of this proposal introduced by your good friend and my good friend, Kirsten Gillibrand, Rosa DeLauro, that is the legislation out there that will finally provide family and medical leave. +p4496 +aVWell, this whole issue concerns me. And I agree with much of what the secretary and the governor have said. But let's be clear. Today in America we have more people in jail than any other country on earth, 2.2 million people. Predominantly African-American and Hispanic. We are spending $80 billion a year locking up our fellow Americans. I think, and this is not easy, but I think we need to make wage a major effort, to come together as a country and end institutional racism. We need major, major reforms of a very broken criminal justice system. Now, what does that mean? Well, for a start it means that police officers should not be shooting unarmed people, predominantly African-Americans. +p4497 +aVIt means that we have to rethink the so-called war on drugs which has destroyed the lives of millions of people, which is why I have taken marijuana out of the Controlled Substance Act. So that it will not be a federal crime. +p4498 +aVThat is why we need to make... That is why we need to make police -- and I speak as a former mayor. I was a mayor for eight years, worked very closely with a great police department. And what we did is try to move that department toward community policing, so that the police officers become part of the community and not, as we see, in some cities an oppressive force. We need to make police departments look like the communities they serve in terms of diversity. We need to end minimal sentencing. We need, basically, to pledge that we're going to invest in this country, in jobs and education, not more jails and incarceration. +p4499 +aVYes. Look, this is a tragedy for New Hampshire. It is a tragedy for my state of Vermont. It is a tragedy all over this country. The number of heroin deaths are growing very, very significantly. What do we do? Well, for a start, this may seem like a radical idea, but I think we have got to tell the medical profession and doctors who are prescribing opiates and the pharmaceutical industry that they have got to start getting their act together, we cannot have this huge number of opiates out there throughout this country, where young people are taking them, getting hooked, and then going to heroin. Second of all, and the reason I believe in a health care for all program, we need to understand that addiction is a disease, not a criminal activity. And that means -- and that means radically changing the way we deal with mental health and addiction issues. When somebody is addicted and seeking help, they should not have to wait three, four months in order to get that help. They should be able to walk in the door tomorrow and get a variety of treatments that work for them. So those are some of the areas that I think we've got to move on. +p4500 +aVBut what... +p4501 +aVLook, the secretary is right. This is a terribly complicated issue. There are no simple solutions. But where we have a disagreement is that I think if you look at the history of regime changes, you go back to Mossadegh in Iran, you go back to Salvador Allende who we overthrew in Chile, you go back to overthrowing Saddam Hussein in Iraq, you go back to where we are today in Syria with a dictator named Assad. The truth is it is relatively easy for a powerful nation like America to overthrow a dictator but it is very hard to predict the unintended consequences and the turmoil and the instability that follows after you overthrow that dictator. So I think Secretary Clinton and I have a fundamental disagreement. I'm not quite the fan of regime change that I believe she is. O' +p4502 +aVGiven the fact that she's a lot smarter than me, yes, she would. And let me, by the way, take this moment to congratulate Hillary Clinton, who I thought not only did an outstanding job as our first lady, but redefined what that role could be. So, I thank you very much for that. My wife, Jane, has been -- way back when before I knew her, a foster parent. Many, many kids came into her home and received the kind of love that they desperately needed. And she turned around many lives. She is the best parent and grandmother that I know. She has devoted her life, when I was mayor of the city of Burlington, actually when I first met her, we started a youth office, which started a after-school programs for kids, started a child care center, started a youth newspaper. We got the kids involved in a whole lot of issues. She led that effort. So I think, at a time when so many of our kids are desperately looking for constructive activity, where too many of our kids are hanging around on street corners, potentially getting into trouble, I think we need a forceful advocate for the children, for teenagers, for the little children, to deal with the dysfunctional child care system, and I think my wife would do a great job in helping me accomplish those goals. +p4503 +aVWell, thank you very much for hosting this debate, and let me applaud my colleagues up here. Because I think frankly, maybe I'm wrong, but on our worst day, I think we have a lot more to offer the American people than the right wing's extremists. +p4504 +aVBut what my parents did accomplish is they were able to send both of their sons to college. We were the first in the family. So I know something about economic anxiety and living in a family does not have sufficient income. And that is why I am pledged, if elected president of the United States, to bring about a political revolution where millions of people begin to stand up and finally say enough is enough, this great country and our government belong to all of us, not just a handful of billionaires. Thank you very much. +p4505 +aVWell, John, let me concur with you and with all Americans who are shocked and disgusted by what we saw in Paris yesterday. Together, leading the world, this country will rid our planet of this barbarous organization called +p4506 +aVAbsolutely. In fact, climate change is directly related to the growth of terrorism. And if we do not get our act together and listen to what the scientists say, you're going to see countries all over the world -- this is what the CIA says -- they're going to be struggling over limited amounts of water, limited amounts of land to grow their crops ask you're going to see all kinds of international conflict. But, of course, international terrorism is a major issue that we have got to address today. And I agree with much of what the Secretary and the Governor have said. But let me have one area of disagreement with the Secretary. I think she said something like the bulk of the responsibility is not ours. Well, in fact, I would argue that the disastrous invasion of Iraq, something that I strongly opposed, has unraveled the region completely and led to the rise of al-Qaeda and to +p4507 +aVI don't think any -- I don't think any sensible person would disagree that the invasion of Iraq led to the massive level of instability we are seeing right now. I think that was one of the worst foreign policy blunders in the more than history of the United States. +p4508 +aVI think we have a disagreement, and the disagreement is that not only did I vote against the war in Iraq. If you look at history, John, you will find that regime change -- whether it was in the early '50s in Iran, whether it was toppling Salvador Allende in Chile, whether it is overthrowing the government of Guatemala way back when -- these invasions, these toppling of governments, regime changes have unintended consequences. I would say that on this issue, I'm a little bit more conservative than the Secretary... +p4509 +aV... And that I am not a great fan of regime change. +p4510 +aVThe Secretary's obviously right. It is enormously complicated. But here's something that I believe we have to do as we put together an international coalition, and that is we have to understand that the Muslim nations in the region -- Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, Jordan -- all of these nations, they're going to have to get their hands dirty, their boots on the ground. They are going to have to take on +p4511 +aVWhen you talk about the long-term consequences of war, let's talk about the men and women who came home from war. The 500,000 who came home with +p4512 +aVI don't think the term is what's important. What is important to understand is we have organizations, whether it is +p4513 +aVLet me do that but let me pick up on an issue, a very important issue that we have not yet discussed. This nation is the most powerful military in the world. We're spending over $600 billion a year on the military and yet, significantly less than 10 percent of that money is used to be fighting international terrorism. We are spending hundreds of billions of dollars maintaining 5,000 nuclear weapons. I think we need major reform in the military, making it more cost effective, but also focusing on the real crisis that faces us. The Cold War is over. And our focus has got to be on intelligence, increased manpower, fighting internationally targets. So, in terms of refugees, I believe that the United States has the moral responsibility with Europe, with Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia to make sure that when people leave countries like Afghanistan and Syria with nothing more than the clothing on their back that, of course, we reach out. Now, what the magic number is, I don't know, because we don't know the extent of the problem. But I certainly think that the United States should take its full responsibility in helping those people. +p4514 +aVLet me put those proposals-- and you're absolutely right. That is what I want to do. That is what is going to have to happen, if we want to revitalize and rebuild the crumbling middle class. In the last 30 years, there has been a massive redistribution of wealth. And I know that term gets my Republican friends nervous. The problem is, this redistribution has gone in the wrong direction. Trillions of dollars have gone from the middle class and working families to the top one-tenth of one percent who have doubled the percentage of wealth they now own. Yes, I do believe that we must end corporate loopholes, such that major corporations year after year pay virtually zero in federal income tax, because they're stashing the money in the Cayman Islands. Yes, I do believe there must be a tax on Wall Street speculation. We bailed out Wall Street. It's their time to bail out the middle class, help our kids be able to go to college tuition-free. So we pay for this by do demanding that the wealthiest people and the largest corporations, who have gotten away with murder for years, start paying their fair share. +p4515 +aVWe haven't come up with an exact number yet, but it will not be as high as the number under Dwight D. Eisenhower, which was 90 percent. But it will be... I'm not that much of a socialist compared to Eisenhower. But -- but we are going to end the absurdity, as Warren Buffet often remind us. O' +p4516 +aVThat billionaires pay an effective tax rate lower than nurses or truck drivers. That makes no sense at all. There has to be real tax reform, and the wealthiest and large corporations will pay when I'm president. O' +p4517 +aVI am on the committee that helped write the Affordable Care Act. We have made some good progress. Now what we have to take on is the pharmaceutical industry that is ripping off the American people every single day. I am proud that I was the first member of Congress to take Americans over the Canadian border to buy breast cancer drugs for one-tenth the price they were paying in the United States. But at the end of the day, no doubt, the Affordable Care Act is a step forward. I think we all support it. I believe we've got to go further. I want to end the international embarrassment of the United States of America being the only major country on earth that doesn't guarantee health care to all people as a right, not a privilege. And also -- also, what we should be clear about is we end up spending -- and I think the secretary knows this -- far more per capita on health care than any other major country, and our outcomes, health care outcomes are not necessarily that good. O' +p4518 +aVKathie, let me say this. You know, no public policy doesn't have, in some cases, negative consequences. But at the end of the day, what you have right now are millions of Americans working two or three jobs because their wages that they are earning are just too low. Real inflation accounted for wages has declined precipitously over the years. So I believe that, in fact, this country needs to move towards a living wage. It is not a radical idea to say that if somebody works 40 hours a week, that person should not be living in poverty. It is not a radical idea to say that a single mom should be earning enough money to take care of her kids. So I believe that over the next few years, not tomorrow, but over the next few years, we have got to move the minimum wage to a living wage, 15 bucks an hour. And I apologize to nobody for that. +p4519 +aVThis is what I think -- this is what many economists believe that one of the reasons that real unemployment in this country is 10 percent, one of the reasons that African American youth unemployment and underemployment is 51 percent is the average worker in America doesn't have any disposable income. You have no disposable income when you are make 10, 12 bucks an hour. When we put money into the hands of working people, they're going to go out and buy goods, they're going to buy services and they're going to create jobs in doing that. Kathie, that is the kind of economy I believe, put money in the hands of working people, raise the minimum wage to 15 buck an hour. O' +p4520 +aVLet me just... +p4521 +aVLet me just add to that. Just because this is not an esoteric argument. You're seeing cities like Seattle. You're seeing cities like San Francisco, cities like Los Angeles doing it, and they are doing it well and workers are able to have more disposable income. +p4522 +aVNot good enough. Here's the story. I mean, you know, let's not be naive about it. Why do -- why, over her political career has Wall Street been a major -- the major campaign contributor to Hillary Clinton? You know, maybe they're dumb and they don't know what they're going to get, but I don't think so. Here is the major issue when we talk about Wall Street. It ain't complicated. You have six financial institutions today that have assets of 56 percent, equivalent to 56 percent of the GDP In America. They issue two-thirds of the credit cards and one-third of the mortgages. If Teddy Roosevelt, a good Republican, were alive today, you know what he'd say? "Break them up." Reestablish Glass-Steagall. And Teddy Roosevelt is right. That is the issue. Now I am the only candidate up here that doesn't have a super PAC. I am not asking Wall Street or the billionaires for money. I will break up these banks. Support community banks and credit unions. That's the future of banking in America. +p4523 +aVI have never heard a candidate never, who has received huge amounts of money from oil, from coal, from Wall Street, from the military industrial complex, not one candidate say, oh, these campaign contributions will not influence me. I'm going to be independent. Well, why do they make millions of dollars of campaign contributions? they expect to get something. Everybody knows that. Once again, I am running a campaign differently than any other candidate. We are relying on small campaign donors, 750,000 of them, 30 bucks a piece. That's who I'm indebted to. +p4524 +aVNo, I have not. +p4525 +aVSo was I, John. Let me get a chance to respond. This issue touches on two broad issues. It's not just Wall Street. It's campaign -- a corrupt campaign finance system. And it is easy to talk the talk about ending Citizens United, but what I think we need to do is show by example that we are prepared to not rely on large corporations and Wall Street for campaign contributions, and that's what I'm doing. In terms of Wall Street, I respectfully disagree with you, madam secretary, in the sense that the issue here is when you have such incredible power and such incredible wealth. When you have Wall Street spending $5 billion over a 10-year period to get -- to get deregulated, the only answer they know is break them up, reestablish Glass-Stegall. +p4526 +aVThe big banks-- +p4527 +aVLook-- +p4528 +aVI don't know and with all due respect to the secretary, Wall Street played by the rules? Who are we kidding? The business model of Wall Street is fraud. That's what it is. And we have -- and let me make this promise. One of the problems we have had -- I think all Americans understand this, is whether it's Republican administrations or Democratic administrations, we have seen Wall Street and Goldman Sachs dominate administrations. Here's my promise-- Wall Street representatives will not be in my cabinet. +p4529 +aVLet's do more -- let's do more than reverse the immunity. Let's... +p4530 +aVLet me hear if there's any difference between the Secretary and myself. I have voted time and again to -- for -- for the background check, and I want to see it improved and expanded. I want to see us do away with the gun show loophole. In 1988, I lost an election because I said we should not have assault weapons on the streets of America. We have to do away with the strawman proposal. We need radical changes in mental health in America so somebody who is suicidal or homicidal can get the emergency care they need. We have -- I don't know that there's any disagreement here... O' +p4531 +aVWe have got to come forward with a consensus that in fact will work. +p4532 +aVThere were parts of that bill which agree with parts -- I disagree. I am certainly, absolutely, willing to look at that bill again and make sure there's a stronger bill. +p4533 +aVWith all -- with all due respect... I think it's fair to say that Baltimore is not now one of the safest cities in America, but the issue is... O' +p4534 +aVThe issue is -- I believe, and I believe this honestly, and I don't know that there's much difference on guns between us. But I believe coming from a state that has virtually no gun control, I believe that I am in position to reach out to the 60 or 70 percent of the American people who agree with us on those issues. The problem is... +p4535 +aV... people all over this country -- not you, Secretary Clinton -- are shouting at each other. And what we need to do is bring people together to work on the agreement where there is broad consensus and that's what I intend to do. O' +p4536 +aVAbsolutely. +p4537 +aVYes. +p4538 +aVYes. +p4539 +aVYes, I agree. +p4540 +aVWell, I -- if I might. I think the issue here is -- and I applaud Secretary Clinton. She did. She's the senator from New York. She worked -- and many of us supported you -- in trying to rebuild that devastation. But at the end of the day, Wall Street today has enormous economic and political power. Their business model is greed and fraud. And for the sake of our economy, they must -- the major banks must be broken up. +p4541 +aVWell, (inaudible) the major issue right now is whether or not we reestablish Glass-Steagall. I led the effort, unfortunately unsuccessfully, against deregulation because I knew when you merge large insurance companies and investment banks and commercial banks it was not going to be good. The issue now is do we break them ?up do we reestablish Glass-Steagall. And Secretary Clinton, unfortunately, is on the wrong side. +p4542 +aVLet me... O' +p4543 +aVThank you. Looking forward to it. +p4544 +aVYes. +p4545 +aVRight. +p4546 +aVAnd we are going to do a political revolution, which brings working people, young people, senior citizens, minorities together. Because every issue that I am talking about-- paid family and medical leave, breaking up the banks on Wall Street, asking the wealth to pay their fair share of taxes, rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, raising the minimum wage to 15 bucks an hour -- every one of those issues is supported by a significant majority of the American people. The problem is, that as a result of a corrupt campaign finance system, Congress is not listening to the American people. Its listening to the big money interest. What the political revolution is about is bringing people together to finally say, enough is enough. This government belongs to us. Not just the billionaires. +p4547 +aVYes. +p4548 +aVYes. +p4549 +aVYeah. +p4550 +aVWhat we need is leadership in this country which revitalizes American democracy, and makes people understand that if they stand up and fight back and take on the billionaire class, we can bring about the change that we need. If we are not successful, if we continue the same old, same old of Washington being run by corporate lobbyists and big-money interests, nothing changes. What I am very happy in this campaign that we have had rallies with tens of thousands of people, mostly young people. What the polls are showing is that we are actually defeating the secretary among younger people. We're giving young people and working people hope that real change can take place in America. That's what the political revolution is about. +p4551 +aVNo. That's just media stuff. I was sick and tired of Hillary Clinton's e-mail. I am still sick and tired of Hillary Clinton's e-mails. And the issue is, the problem is, the front pages every day were dealing with it. I didn't know I had so much power. But after I said that, we're not hearing so much about Hillary Clinton's e-mails. What I would like for the media now is for us to be talking about why the middle class is disappearing, why we have more people in jail than any other country, why we have massive levels of income and wealth inequality, and we're the only major country on Earth without paid family and medical leave. We've gotten off the Hillary's e-mails, good. Let's go to the major issues facing America. +p4552 +aVWell, this is what I would say, and the Congressman was right. According to the statistics that I'm familiar with, a black male baby born today stands a one in four chance of ending up in the criminal justice system. Fifty-one percent of high school African-American graduates are unemployed or underemployed. We have more people in jail today than any other country on earth. We're spending $80 billion locking people up, disproportionately Latino and African American. We need, very clearly, major, major reform in a broken criminal justice system. From top to bottom. And that means when police officers out in a community do illegal activity -- kill people who are unarmed who should not be killed, they must be held accountable. It means that we end minimum sentencing for those people arrested. It means that we take marijuana out of the federal law as a crime and give states the freedom to go forward with legalizing marijuana. +p4553 +aVNo, it is not throwing -- it is an extraordinary investment for this country. Germany, many other countries do it already. In fact, if you remember, 50, 60 years ago, the University of California, City University of New York were virtually tuition-free. Here is the story -- it's not just the college graduates should be $50,000 or $100,000 in debt. More importantly, I want kids in Burlington, Vermont, or Baltimore, Maryland, who are in the sixth grade or the eighth grade, who don't have a lot of money, whose parents -- like my parents -- may never have gone to college. Do you know where I'm going, Kevin? I want those kids to know that if they study hard, they do their homework, regardless of the income of their families, they will in fact be able to get a college education because we are going to make public colleges and universities tuition-free. This is revolutionary for education in America. It will give hope to millions of young people. +p4554 +aVYes. +p4555 +aVWell, I think that they're be pretty smart, because I think a lot of the states will do the right thing, and I think those states that don't will pay a heavy penalty. Bottom line here is, in the year 2015, we should look at a college degree the same way we looked at a high school degree 50 or 60 years ago. If you want to make it into the middle class -- I'm not saying in all cases -- we need plumbers, and we need carpenters, and electricians, that's for sure, and they should get help as well. But bottom line now, is in America, in the year 2015, any person who has the ability and the desire should be able to get an education, college education, regardless of the income of his or her family. And we must substantially lower, as my legislation does, interest rates on student debt. +p4556 +aVIt's not going to happen tomorrow. And it's probably not going to happen until we have real campaign finance reform and get rid of all these superpacs, and the power of the insurance companies and the drug companies. But at the end of the day, Nancy, here is the question -- in this great country of ours, with so much intelligence and so much capability, why do we remain the only major country on earth that does not guarantee health care to all people as a right? Why do we continue to get ripped off by the drug companies who can charge us any prices they want? Why is it that we are spending per capita far, far more than Canada, which is 100 miles away from my door, that guarantees health care to all people? It will not happen tomorrow. But when millions of people stand up and are prepared to take on the insurance companies and the drug companies, it will happen, and I will lead that effort. Medicare for all, single-payer system is the way we should go. +p4557 +aVWell, let me just say something. +p4558 +aVWe don't eliminate Medicare. We expand Medicare to all people. And we will not, under this proposal, have a situation that we have right now with the Affordable Care Act where you have states like South Carolina, and many other Republican states, that because of their right wing political ideology, are denying millions of people the expansion of Medicaid that we passed in the Affordable Care Act. Ultimately, we have got to say as a nation, Secretary Clinton, is health care a right of all people or is it not? I believe it is a right. O' +p4559 +aVJohn, I had the honor of being chairman of the U.S. Senate committee on Veterans' Affairs for two years. And in that capacity, I met with just an extraordinary group of people from World War II, from korea, vietnam, all of the wars. People came back from Iraq and Afghanistan without legs, without arms. And I was determined to do everything that I could to make VA health care the best in the world, to expand benefits to the men and women who put their lives on the line to defending. We brought together legislation supported by the American Legion, the VFW, the DOD, Vietnam Vets, all of the veterans organizations, which was comprehensive. Clearly the best piece of veterans' legislation brought forth in decades. I could only get two Republican votes on that. We ended up with 56 votes. We needed 60. So what I had to do then is go back and start working on a bill that wasn't the bill that I wanted. Sit down with people like John Mccain. Sit down with people like Jeff Miller, the Republican chairman of the house, and work on a bill. It wasn't the bill that I wanted, but yet it turned out to be one of the more significant pieces of veterans' legislation passed in recent history. So the crisis was I lost what I wanted. But I had to stand up and come back and get the best that we could. +p4560 +aVJohn -- John, this country today has more income and wealth inequality than any major country on Earth. We have a corrupt campaign finance system dominated by Super PACs. We are the only major country on Earth that doesn't guarantee healthcare to all people. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty, and we're the only country in the world -- virtually the only country that doesn't guarantee paid family and medical leave. That's not the America that I think we should be. But in order to bring about the changes that we need, we need a political revolution. Millions of people are going to have to stand up, turn off the TV, get involved in the political process and tell the big- money interest that we are taking back our country. Please go to berniesanders.com. Please become part of the political revolution. Thank you. +p4561 +aVAnderson, thank you very much. I think most Americans understand that our country today faces a series of unprecedented crises. The middle class of this country for the last 40 years has been disappearing. Millions of Americans are working longer hours for lower wages, and yet almost all of the new income and wealth being created is going to the top one percent. As a result of this disastrous Citizens United Supreme Court decision, our campaign finance system is corrupt and is undermining American democracy. Millionaires and billionaires are pouring unbelievable sums of money into the political process in order to fund super PACs and to elect candidates who represent their interests, not the interests of working people. Today, the scientific community is virtually unanimous: climate change is real, it is caused by human activity, and we have a moral responsibility to transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energy and leave this planet a habitable planet for our children and our grandchildren. Today in America, we have more people in jail than any other country on Earth. African-American youth unemployment is 51 percent. Hispanic youth unemployment is 36 percent. It seems to me that instead of building more jails and providing more incarceration, maybe \u2014 just maybe \u2014 we should be putting money into education and jobs for our kids. What this campaign is about is whether we can mobilize our people to take back our government from a handful of billionaires and create the vibrant democracy we know we can and should have. Thank you. +p4562 +aVWell, we're gonna win because first, we're gonna explain what democratic socialism is. And what democratic socialism is about is saying that it is immoral and wrong that the top one-tenth of 1 percent in this country own almost 90 percent \u2014 almost \u2014 own almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent. That it is wrong, today, in a rigged economy, that 57 percent of all new income is going to the top 1 percent. That when you look around the world, you see every other major country providing health care to all people as a right, except the United States. You see every other major country saying to moms that, when you have a baby, we're not gonna separate you from your newborn baby, because we are going to have \u2014 we are gonna have medical and family paid leave, like every other country on Earth. Those are some of the principles that I believe in, and I think we should look to countries like Denmark, like Sweden and Norway, and learn from what they have accomplished for their working people. +p4563 +aVWell, first of all, let's look at the facts. The facts that are very simple. Republicans win when there is a low voter turnout, and that is what happened last November. Sixty-three percent of the American people didn't vote, Anderson. Eighty percent of young people didn't vote. We are bringing out huge turnouts, and creating excitement all over this country. Democrats at the White House on down will win, when there is excitement and a large voter turnout, and that is what this campaign is doing. +p4564 +aVDo I consider myself part of the casino capitalist process by which so few have so much and so many have so little by which Wall Street's greed and recklessness wrecked this economy? No, I don't. I believe in a society where all people do well. Not just a handful of billionaires. +p4565 +aVI think everybody is in agreement that we are a great entrepreneurial nation. We have got to encourage that. Of course, we have to support small and medium-sized businesses. But you can have all of the growth that you want and it doesn't mean anything if all of the new income and wealth is going to the top 1 percent. So what we need to do is support small and medium-sized businesses, the backbone of our economy, but we have to make sure that every family in this country gets a fair shake... +p4566 +aV... not just for billionaires. +p4567 +aVLet's begin, Anderson, by understanding that Bernie Sanders has a D-minus voting rating (ph) from the NRA. Let's also understand that back in 1988 when I first ran for the United States Congress, way back then, I told the gun owners of the state of Vermont and I told the people of the state of Vermont, a state which has virtually no gun control, that I supported a ban on assault weapons. And over the years, I have strongly avoided instant background checks, doing away with this terrible gun show loophole. And I think we've got to move aggressively at the federal level in dealing with the straw man purchasers. Also I believe, and I've fought for, to understand that there are thousands of people in this country today who are suicidal, who are homicidal, but can't get the healthcare that they need, the mental healthcare, because they don't have insurance or they're too poor. I believe that everybody in this country who has a mental crisis has got to get mental health counseling immediately. +p4568 +aVOf course not. This was a large and complicated bill. There were provisions in it that I think made sense. For example, do I think that a gun shop in the state of Vermont that sells legally a gun to somebody, and that somebody goes out and does something crazy, that that gun shop owner should be held responsible? I don't. On the other hand, where you have manufacturers and where you have gun shops knowingly giving guns to criminals or aiding and abetting that, of course we should take action. +p4569 +aVAs a senator from a rural state, what I can tell Secretary Clinton, that all the shouting in the world is not going to do what I would hope all of us want, and that is keep guns out of the hands of people who should not have those guns and end this horrible violence that we are seeing. I believe that there is a consensus in this country. A consensus has said we need to strengthen and expand instant background checks, do away with this gun show loophole, that we have to address the issue of mental health, that we have to deal with the strawman purchasing issue, and that when we develop that consensus, we can finally, finally do something to address this issue. +p4570 +aVI think the governor gave a very good example about the weaknesses in that law and I think we have to take another look at it. But here is the point, Governor. We can raise our voices, but I come from a rural state, and the views on gun control in rural states are different than in urban states, whether we like it or not. Our job is to bring people together around strong, commonsense gun legislation. I think there is a vast majority in this country who want to do the right thing, and I intend to lead the country in bringing our people together. O' +p4571 +aVIt's exactly about rural. O' +p4572 +aVGovernor... O' +p4573 +aVWell, as somebody who has a D-minus voting record... O' +p4574 +aVI don't think I am pandering. But you have not been in the United States Congress. O' +p4575 +aVAnd when you want to, check it out. And if you think \u2014 if you think that we can simply go forward and pass something tomorrow without bringing people together, you are sorely mistaken. +p4576 +aV...Excuse me... O' +p4577 +aV...I want to make... O' +p4578 +aVWell, let's understand that when we talk about Syria, you're talking about a quagmire in a quagmire. You're talking about groups of people trying to overthrow Assad, other groups of people fighting +p4579 +aVLet me just respond to something the secretary said. First of all, she is talking about, as I understand it, a no-fly zone in Syria, which I think is a very dangerous situation. Could lead to real problems. Second of all, I heard the same evidence from President Bush and Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld about why we should overthrow Saddam Hussein and get involved in the \u2014 I would urge people to go to berniesanders.com, hear what I said in 2002. And I say, without any joy in my heart, that much of what I thought would happen about the destabilization, in fact, did happen. So I think... +p4580 +aVI think the president is trying very hard to thread a tough needle here, and that is to support those people who are against Assad, against +p4581 +aVWell, obviously, I voted, when President Clinton said, "let's stop ethnic cleansing in Kosovo," I voted for that. I voted to make sure that Osama bin Laden was held accountable in Afghanistan. When our country is threatened, or when our allies are threatened, I believe that we need coalitions to come together to address the major crises of this country. I do not support the United States getting involved in unilateral action. ( +p4582 +aVI don't believe that any... +p4583 +aVPardon me? +p4584 +aVWell, I think Mr. Putin is going to regret what he is doing. I think that when he gets into that... +p4585 +aVWell, I think he's already regretting what he did in Crimea and what he is doing in the Ukraine. I think he is really regretting the decline of his economy. And I think what he is trying to do now is save some face. But I think when Russians get killed in Syria and when he gets bogged down, I think the Russian people are going to give him a message that maybe they should come home, maybe they should start working with the United States to rectify the situation now. +p4586 +aVWell, first of all, let me applaud my good friend Jim Webb for his service to this country in so many ways. Jim and I, under Jim's leadership, as he indicated, passed the most significant veterans education bill in recent history. We followed suit with a few years later passing, under my leadership, the most significant veterans' health care legislation in the modern history of this country. When I was a young man \u2014 I'm not a young man today. When I was a young man, I strongly opposed the war in Vietnam. Not the brave men like Jim who fought in that war, but the policy which got us involved in that war. That was my view then. I am not a pacifist, Anderson. I supported the war in Afghanistan. I supported President Clinton's effort to deal with ethnic cleansing in Kosovo. I support air strikes in Syria and what the president is trying to do. Yes, I happen to believe from the bottom of my heart that war should be the last resort that we have got to exercise diplomacy. But yes, I am prepared to take this country into war if that is necessary. +p4587 +aVThe scientific community is telling us that if we do not address the global crisis of climate change, transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to sustainable energy, the planet that we're going to be leaving our kids and our grandchildren may well not be habitable. That is a major crisis. +p4588 +aVLet me say this. Let me say \u2014 let me say something that may not be great politics. But I think the secretary is right, and that is that the American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn e-mails. +p4589 +aVYou know? The middle class \u2014 Anderson, and let me say something about the media, as well. I go around the country, talk to a whole lot of people. Middle class in this country is collapsing. We have 27 million people living in poverty. We have massive wealth and income inequality. Our trade policies have cost us millions of decent jobs. The American people want to know whether we're going to have a democracy or an oligarchy as a result of Citizens Union. Enough of the e-mails. Let's talk about the real issues facing America. +p4590 +aVBlack lives matter. And the reason \u2014 the reason those words matter is the African American community knows that on any given day some innocent person like Sandra Bland can get into a car, and then three days later she's going to end up dead in jail, or their kids... ...are going to get shot. We need to combat institutional racism from top to bottom, and we need major, major reforms in a broken criminal justice system... ...In which we have more people in jail than China. And, I intended to tackle that issue. To make sure that our people have education and jobs rather than jail cells. +p4591 +aVWell, first of all, let's remember where we were when Bush left office. We were losing 800,000 jobs a month. And I know my Republican friends seem to have some amnesia on this issue, but the world's financial crisis was on \u2014 the world's financial markets system was on the verge of collapse. That's where we were. Are we better off today than we were then? Absolutely. But the truth is that for the 40 years, the great middle class of this country has been disappearing. And in my view what we need to do is create millions of jobs by rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure; raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour; pay equity for women workers; and our disastrous trade policies, which have cost us millions of jobs; and make every public college and university in this country tuition free. +p4592 +aVWell, that's not true. +p4593 +aVLet us be clear that the greed and recklessness and illegal behavior of Wall Street, where fraud is a business model, helped to destroy this economy and the lives of millions of people. Check the record. In the 1990s \u2014 and all due respect \u2014 in the 1990s, when I had the Republican leadership and Wall Street spending billions of dollars in lobbying, when the Clinton administration, when Alan Greenspan said, "what a great idea it would be to allow these huge banks to merge," Bernie Sanders fought them, and helped lead the opposition to deregulation. Today, it is my view that when you have the three... +p4594 +aV...largest banks in America \u2014 are much bigger than they were when we bailed them out for being too big to fail, we have got to break them up. +p4595 +aVI will, just a second. +p4596 +aVI'll tell him. In my view, Secretary Clinton, you do not \u2014 Congress does not regulate Wall Street. Wall Street regulates Congress. And we have gotta break off these banks. Going to them... +p4597 +aV...and saying, "please, do the right thing"... +p4598 +aV...is kind of naive. +p4599 +aVWell, I remember that meeting very well. I remember it like it was yesterday. Hank Paulson, Bernanke came in, and they say, "guys, the economy is going to collapse because Wall Street is going under. It's gonna take the economy with them." And you know what I said to Hank Paulson? I said, "Hank, your guys \u2014 you come from Goldman Sachs. Your millionaire and billionaire friends caused this problem. How about your millionaire and billionaire friends paying for the bailout, not working families in this country?" So to answer your question, no, I would not have let the economy collapse. But it was wrong to ask the middle class to bail out Wall Street. And by the way, I want Wall Street now to help kids in this country go to college, public colleges and universities, free with a Wall Street speculation tax. +p4600 +aVWell, let me tell you, Donald Trump and his billionaire friends under my policies are going to pay a hell of a lot more in taxes today \u2014 taxes in the future than they're paying today. But in terms of education, this is what I think. This is the year 2015. A college degree today, Dana, is the equivalent of what a high school degree was 50 years ago. And what we said 50 years ago and a hundred years ago is that every kid in this country should be able to get a high school education regardless of the income of their family. I think we have to say that is true for everybody going to college. I think we don't need a complicated system, which the secretary is talking about, the income goes down, the income goes down, if you're poor you have to work, and so forth and so on. I pay for my program, by the way, through a tax on Wall Street speculation, which will not only make public colleges and universities tuition-free, it will substantially lower interest rates on college debt, a major crisis in this country. +p4601 +aV... in order to make it possible for them to afford their education. And I want colleges to get their costs down. They are outrageously high in what they're charging. +p4602 +aVWhen the Republicans \u2014 when the Republicans in the Congress and some Democrats were talking about cutting Social Security and benefits for disabled veterans, for the so-called chained CPI, I founded a caucus called the Defending Social Security Caucus. My view is that when you have millions of seniors in this country trying to get by \u2014 and I don't know how they do on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year \u2014 you don't cut Social Security, you expand it. And the way you expand it is by lifting the cap on taxable incomes so that you do away with the absurdity of a millionaire paying the same amount into the system as somebody making $118,000. You do that, Social Security is solvent until 2061 and you can expand benefits. +p4603 +aVI didn't leave anybody at the altar. I voted against that piece of legislation because it had guest-worker provisions in it which the Southern Poverty Law Center talked about being semi-slavery. Guest workers are coming in, they're working under terrible conditions, but if they stand up for their rights, they're thrown out of the country. I was not the only progressive to vote against that legislation for that reason. Tom Harkin, a very good friend of Hillary Clinton's and mine, one of the leading labor advocates, also voted against that. +p4604 +aVI know that. But point being is that progressives did vote against that for that reason. My view right now \u2014 and always has been \u2014 is that when you have 11 million undocumented people in this country, we need comprehensive immigration reform, we need a path toward citizenship, we need to take people out of the shadows. O' +p4605 +aVWell, I was chairman for two years, and when I was chairman we did take action. What we did is pass a $15 billion dollar piece of legislation which brought in many, many new doctors, and nurses into the V.A. so that veterans in this country could get the health care when they needed it, and not be on long waiting lines. And, the other part of that legislation said that if a veteran is living more than 40 miles away from a V.A. facility, that veteran could get health care from the community health center, or the private sector. As a result of that legislation, we went further in than any time in recent history in improving health care for the men and women of this country who put their lives on the line to defend them. +p4606 +aVIt was 99 to one and I was maybe the one. I don't know. +p4607 +aVI'm sorry? +p4608 +aVAbsolutely. Of course. +p4609 +aVWell, I would shut down \u2014 make \u2014 I'd shut down what exists right now is that virtually every telephone call in this country ends up in a file at the NSA. That is unacceptable to me. But it's not just government surveillance. I think the government is involved in our e-mails; is involved in our websites. Corporate America is doing it as well. If we are a free country, we have the right to be free. Yes, we have to defend ourselves against terrorism, but there are ways to do that without impinging on our constitutional rights and our privacy rights. O' +p4610 +aVI think Snowden played a very important role in educating the American people to the degree in which our civil liberties and our constitutional rights are being undermined. +p4611 +aVHe did \u2014 he did break the law, and I think there should be a penalty to that. But I think what he did in educating us should be taken into consideration before he is (inaudible). +p4612 +aVI have a lot of respect for president Obama. I have worked with him time and time again on many, many issues. But here's where I do disagree. I believe that the power of corporate America, the power of Wall Street, the power of the drug companies, the power of the corporate media is so great that the only way we really transform America and do the things that the middle class and working class desperately need is through a political revolution when millions of people begin to come together and stand up and say: Our government is going to work for all of us, not just a handful of billionaires. +p4613 +aVWhat I mean is that we need to have one of the larger voter turnouts in the world, not one of the lowest. We need to raise public consciousness. We need the American people to know what's going on in Washington in a way that today they do not know. And when people come together in a way that does not exist now and are prepared to take on the big money interest, then we could bring the kind of change we need. O' +p4614 +aVI think \u2014 I think that there is profound frustration all over this country with establishment politics. I am the only candidate running for president who is not a billionaire, who has raised substantial sums of money, and I do not have a super PAC. I am not raising money from millionaires and billionaires, and in fact, tonight, in terms of what a political revolution is about, there are 4,000 house parties \u2014 100,000 people in this country \u2014 watching this debate tonight who want real change in this country. +p4615 +aVWell, I will tell you this. I believe \u2014 and Pope Francis made this point. This is a moral issue. The scientists are telling us that we need to move extremely boldly. I am proud that, along with Senator Barbara Boxer, a few years ago, we introduced the first piece of climate change legislation which called for a tax on carbon. And let me also tell you that nothing is gonna happen unless we are prepared to deal with campaign finance reform, because the fossil fuel industry is funding the Republican Party, which denies the reality of climate change... ...and certainly is not prepared to go forward aggressively. This is a moral issue. We have got to be extremely aggressive in working with China, India, Russia. +p4616 +aVThe planet \u2014 the future of the planet is at stake. +p4617 +aVYeah, Dana, here's the point: Every other major country on Earth, every one, including some small countries, say that when a mother has a baby, she should stay home with that baby. We are the only major country. That is an international embarrassment that we do not provide family \u2014 paid family and medical leave. Second of all, the secretary is right. Republicans tell us we can't do anything except give tax breaks to billionaires and cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. That's not what the American people want. +p4618 +aVI suspect I would vote yes. And I would vote yes because I am seeing in this country too many lives being destroyed for non-violent offenses. We have a criminal justice system that lets CEOs on Wall Street walk away, and yet we are imprisoning or giving jail sentences to young people who are smoking marijuana. I think we have to think through this war on drugs... ...which has done an enormous amount of damage. We need to rethink our criminal justice system, we we've got a lot of work to do in that area. O' +p4619 +aVThe Republican party, since I've been in the Senate, and since President Obama has been in office, has played a terrible, terrible role of being total obstructionists. Every effort that he has made, that some of us have made, they have said no, no, no. Now, in my view, the only way we can take on the right wing republicans who are, by the way, I hope will not continue to control the Senate and the House when one of us elected President... ...But the only way we can get things done is by having millions of people coming together. If we want free tuition at public colleges and universities, millions of young people are going to have to demand it, and give the Republicans an offer they can't refuse. If we want to raise the minimum wage to $15 bucks an hour, workers are going to have to come together and look the Republicans in the eye, and say, "We know what's going on. You vote against us, you are out of your job." +p4620 +aVAs someone who has taken on probably every special interest that there is in Washington, I would lump Wall Street and the pharmaceutical industry at the top of my life of people who do not like me. +p4621 +aVThis is a great country, but we have many, many serious problems. We should not be the country that has the highest rate of childhood poverty of any major country and more wealth and income inequality than any other country. We should not be the only major country on Earth that does not guarantee health care to all of our people as a right of citizenship and we should not be the only major country that does not provide medical and \u2014 and parental leave \u2014 family and parental leave to all of our families. Now, at the end of our day, here is the truth that very few candidates will say, is that nobody up here, certainly no Republican, can address the major crises facing our country unless millions of people begin to stand up to the billionaire class that has so much power over our economy and our political life. Jim Webb is right: Money is pouring in to this campaign through super PACs. We are doing it the old-fashioned way: 650,000 individual contributions. And if people want to help us out, BernieSanders.com. We are averaging $30 bucks apiece. We would appreciate your help. +p4622 +asVBARTIROMO +p4623 +(lp4624 +VTonight we're partnering with the Wall Street Journal to ask questions on the economy that voters want answered. We're also working with Facebook, who tells us that since the first Republican debate, more than 58 million people have joined the political conversation online. More than 9 million are talking specifically about the economy. +p4625 +aVBusinesswoman Carly Fiorina. Ohio Governor John Kasich. And Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. +p4626 +aVWe've asked people on Facebook to submit their questions for the candidates. Seth Bell wrote, "We are approaching $20 trillion in national debt. Specifically, what plans do you have to cut federal spending?" Governor Kasich, you have spoken much about your success in balancing the budget under President Clinton. Today the national debt is at record highs and growing unsustainably. Interest will be the fastest-growing part of the federal budget, tripling over the next 10 years. Social Security, the lifeline of millions of American seniors, is rushing toward insolvency. With all of the tax plans presented tonight, estimated to cost anywhere between $2 trillion and $12 trillion over a decade, what specific steps will you take to balance the budget? +p4627 +aVDid you want to name any specific steps, sir? +p4628 +aVThank you, sir. +p4629 +aVSenator Cruz, the International Monetary Fund recently cut its expectations for economic growth. Many economists expect a recession to hit the U.S. within the next year due to the weakening of manufacturing. The next president will have to deal with it. You say tax reform is a powerful lever to spur economic expansion. You're calling for a 10 percent income tax and a 16 percent business tax. What other elements do you need in this plan to actually create jobs? +p4630 +aVThank you, sir. +p4631 +aVGovernor Bush... +p4632 +aVWe have more questions for you, Governor Kasich, coming up. We have more questions for you, Governor Kasich. +p4633 +aVWe will \u2014 we will certainly get to that. Governor Bush? +p4634 +aVAlmost 40 percent of Americans are without a job and are not looking. Many have given up. That's what the participation rate tells us. You've said your policies will drive the economy back to 4 percent growth, which we haven't seen since the year 2000. What specific regulations would you change? And how will that lead to jobs and growth? +p4635 +aVThank you, sir. +p4636 +aVMr. Trump, a federal appeals court just dealt a blow to the Obama administration's plan to prevent the deportation of 5 million people living in this country illegally. The White House is appealing to the Supreme Court. At the heart of this issue is the effect that illegal immigrants are having on our economy, what will you do about it? +p4637 +aVCan we just send 5 million people back with no effect on economy? +p4638 +aVSo what will you do? +p4639 +aVThank you, sir. +p4640 +aVWe go back to Facebook. Dewayne Wesley Cato asks on Facebook, how do we get rid of regulations choking our businesses? Ms. Fiorina? Specifically, under the president's Affordable Care Act, employers with 50 or more employees are required to offer health insurance, or be fined. Many are opting to pay the fine. Others are cutting back employee hours to duck the law altogether. What specific ways will you alleviate the pressure on small business? +p4641 +aVJust to be clear, you want to repeal Obamacare... ..but, what's the alternative? +p4642 +aVJust to be clear, you say you would repeal Obamacare... +p4643 +aV...But, what is the alternative... +p4644 +aV...and how does that help small business... +p4645 +aV...Thank you... +p4646 +aVSenator Cruz, there isn't anyone in this audience or watching at home tonight who would not like to pay less in taxes. Most people just want a fair shake, and they don't want their money to be wasted. But explain how your plan works. How can you cut taxes as much as you propose without running up debt and deficits? +p4647 +aVBut you haven't told us how to pay for it. +p4648 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Bush, Republican primary voters say tax reform should be a priority for Congress and the administration. But, Governor Bush, how important is tax reform in your domestic policy agenda? Will you guarantee it in the first year of your presidency? +p4649 +aVThank you, Governor. +p4650 +aVThat's right. That's right. +p4651 +aVComing up, the biggest threats facing the next commander-in-chief. You're watching the Republican presidential debate, live tonight from Milwaukee. We'll be right back. +p4652 +aVWelcome back. Welcome back to the Republican presidential debate. The candidates taking the questions you want answered. Also tonight, you can see what America is saying about the debate. Go to Facebook and type #gopdebate into the search box. Now, back to the questions. Americans face security threats at home and abroad. Last year, terrorist attacks rose 61 percent, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace, with the most deaths occurring in just five countries, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Syria. Dr. Carson, you were against putting troops on the ground in Iraq and against a large military force in Afghanistan. Do you support the president's decision to now put 50 special ops forces in Syria and leave 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan? +p4653 +aVWe asked Facebook to take a look at some of the major issues we're talking about, and tackling in this debate tonight. This word cloud shows what people are focusing on the most. The bigger the word, the more the talk. One of the most discussed issues in the last month, homeland security. Governor Bush, what is the biggest threat facing America today? +p4654 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, in 2012 debate, President Obama mocked Mitt Romney's assertion that Russia was the top geopolitical challenge facing the United States, saying he was a Cold War dinosaur. Now, Russia has invaded Ukraine, and has put troops in Syria. You have said you will have a good relationship with Mr. Putin. So, what does President Trump do in response to Russia's aggression? +p4655 +aVThank you, sir. +p4656 +aVThank you, governor. +p4657 +aVSenator Rubio. +p4658 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. +p4659 +aVMore questions \u2014 more questions coming up, when the Republican presidential debate comes right back, live from Milwaukee. Stay with us. +p4660 +aVWelcome back to the fourth Republican presidential debate. Senator Rubio, Hillary Clinton is the clear front runner for the Democratic nomination. If she is indeed the nominee, you will be facing a candidate with an impressive resume. She was the first lady of the United States, a U.S. senator from New York, and secretary of state under Barack Obama. She has arguably more experience, certainly more time in government than almost all of you on stage tonight. Why should the American people trust you to lead this country, even though she has been so much closer to the office? +p4661 +aVSenator Paul, you were one of 15 republicans to vote for an amendment which states that human activity contributed to climate change. President Obama has announced an aggressive plan to cut carbon emissions. At the same time, energy production in America has boomed. Is it possible to continue this boom, and move toward energy self-sufficiency, while at the same time pursuing a meaningful climate change program? +p4662 +aVCarly Fiorina? +p4663 +aVFormer Governor Jeb Bush? +p4664 +aVSenator Ted Cruz? +p4665 +aVHe's funny. +p4666 +aVThank you. +p4667 +aVTonight we are working with Facebook to ask the candidates the questions voters want answered. And according to Facebook, the U.S. election has dominated the global conversation, with 131 million people talking about the 2016 race. That makes it the number one issue talked about on Facebook last year worldwide. +p4668 +aVTonight's rules are simple: up to 90 seconds for each answer, one minute for each follow-up response. And if a candidate goes over the allotted time, you'll hear this. So let's get started. Candidates, jobs and growth \u2014 two of the biggest issues facing the country right now. In his State of the Union address earlier this week, the president said, quote, "we have the strongest, most durable economy in the world." And according to our Facebook research, jobs is one of the biggest issues resonating across the country, including here in South Carolina. The president is touting 14 million new jobs and an unemployment rate cut in half. The president said that anyone who claims America's economy is in decline is peddling fiction. Senator Cruz, what do you see that he doesn't? +p4669 +aVThank you, sir. +p4670 +aVWe know that recent global events have many people worried \u2014 Iran detaining American sailors, forcing them to apologize; North Korea and its nuclear ambitions; an aggressive China; and a Middle East that continues to deteriorate, not to mention +p4671 +aVJust to be clear Governor, where and when would you use military action? +p4672 +aVDr. Carson, the president says he does not want to treat +p4673 +aVSenator Cruz, the New York Times is reporting that you failed to properly disclose a million dollars in loans from Goldman Sachs and CitiBank. During your senate race, your campaign said, "it was inadvertent." A million dollars is inadvertent? +p4674 +aVThank you. +p4675 +aVThank you, senator. Mr. Trump, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley in her response to the State of the Union address......appeared to choose sides within the party, saying Republicans should resist, quote, "the siren call of the angriest voices". She confirmed, she was referring to you among others. Was she out of line? And, how would a President Trump unite the party? +p4676 +aVBut what are you going to do about it? +p4677 +aVGovernor Kasich...... Governor Kasich, Hillary Clinton is getting some serious competition from Senator Bernie Sanders. He's now at 41 percent in the latest CBS/New York Times poll. Vice President Biden sang his praises, saying Bernie is speaking to a yearning that is deep and real, and he has credibility on it. So what does it say about our country that a candidate who is a self-avowed socialist and who doesn't think a 90 percent tax rate is too high could be the Democratic nominee? +p4678 +aVDr. Carson, one of the other candidates on this stage has brought Bill Clinton's past indiscretions. Is that a legitimate topic in this election? And what do you think of the notion that Hillary Clinton is an enabler of sexual misconduct? +p4679 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debates, right here in North Charleston. Let's get right back to the questions. Governor Bush, gun rights, one of the top issues seen on Facebook with close to 3 million people talking about it in the past month. Right here in Charleston, Dylann Roof, who has been accused of killing nine people in a nearby church, reportedly had not passed his background check when he got his gun. What is the harm in tightening standards for not only who buys guns, but those who sell them? +p4680 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, are there any circumstances that you think we should be limiting gun sales of any kind in America? +p4681 +aVThank you sir. +p4682 +aVThank you, sir. +p4683 +aVSo what is the answer, Senator Cruz, to stop mass shootings and violent crime, up in 30 cities across the country? +p4684 +aVSenator...... let me follow up and switch gears. Senator Cruz, you suggested Mr. Trump, quote, "embodies New York values." Could you explain what you mean by that? +p4685 +aVI am from New York. I don't. +p4686 +aVAre you sure about that? +p4687 +aVThere's much more ahead including the fight against +p4688 +aVWe welcome back to the Republican Presidential , right back to the questions. Candidates, the man who made fighting +p4689 +aVThe air-strikes. +p4690 +aVNow in their 16th month are ineffective. Dr. Carson, do you think Senator Graham is right in wanting to send 20,000 troops \u2014 ground troops to Iraq and Syria to take out +p4691 +aVThank you, sir. Senator Graham has also said that the U.S. will find Arab support for its coalition if it removes Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. And I quote, "The now king of Saudi Arabia told us, 'you can have our army, you just got to deal with Assad.' "The emir of Qatar said, 'I'll pay for the operation, but they are not going to fight +p4692 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump \u2014 Mr. Trump, your comments about banning Muslims from entering the country created a firestorm. According to Facebook, it was the most-talked-about moment online of your entire campaign, with more than 10 million people talking about the issue. Is there anything you've heard that makes you want to rethink this position? +p4693 +aVWe \u2014 we want to hear from all of you on this. According to Pew Research, the U.S. admits more than 100,000 Muslim immigrants every single year on a permanent lifetime basis. I want to ask the rest of you to comment on this. Do you agree that we should pause Muslim immigration until we get a better handle on our homeland security situation, as Mr. Trump has said? Beginning with you, Governor Kasich. +p4694 +aVThank you, sir, we want to hear from the rest of you, Governor Christie, your take. +p4695 +aVSenator Rubio, where do you stand? +p4696 +aVSenator Cruz, where do you stand? Senator Cruz? +p4697 +aVDr. Carson, where do you stand? Do you agree with Mr. Trump? +p4698 +aVSo, to be clear, the both of you do not agree with Mr. Trump? +p4699 +aVThank you governor. +p4700 +aVWe're getting... +p4701 +aVPrices go higher for... +p4702 +aVYeah. +p4703 +aVReal quick, Senator \u2014 go ahead, Senator Cruz. And then we have to get to tax reform. +p4704 +aVThank you, Governor Bush. Thank you, Mr. Trump. Very briefly. +p4705 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. +p4706 +aVThank you, Mr. Trmup. Thank you, Governor. +p4707 +aVSenator briefly. +p4708 +aVWe've got to get to tax reform, gentlemen. We've got to get to tax reform, and we've got to get to the... +p4709 +aV... we've got to get to the national debt as well. Coming up next, the growing national debt, the war on crime, tax reform. More from North Charleston, South Carolina, when we come right back. +p4710 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential here in North Charleston. Right back to the questions. Governor Christie, we have spoken much about cutting spending, given the $19 trillion debt. But according to one report, America needs $3.6 trillion in infrastructure spending by 2020. Here in South Carolina, 11 percent of bridges are considered structurally deficient, costing drivers a billion dollars a year in auto repairs. What is your plan to fix the ailing roads and bridges without breaking the bank? +p4711 +aVThank you, sir. Dr. Carson......it is true U.S. companies have $2 trillion in cash sitting overseas right now. That could be used for investment and jobs in America. Also, several companies right now are pursuing mergers to move their corporate headquarters abroad, and take advantage of much lower taxes. What will you do to stop the flow of companies building cash away from America, and those leaving America altogether? +p4712 +aVThank you, sir. Senator Rubio... +p4713 +aVWhich is why we raised it. Senator Rubio? Thank you, Mr. Trump. +p4714 +aVOne of the biggest fiscal challenges is our entitlement programs, particularly Social Security and Medicare. What policies will you put forward to make sure these programs are more financially secure? +p4715 +aVThank you senator. +p4716 +aVSenator Cruz, yes. You were meant to. Yes, of course. +p4717 +aVThank you senator. +p4718 +aVThank you senator. I have to get to a question for Mr. Trump. +p4719 +aVYes. +p4720 +aVThank you, Governor. Thank you, Governor. +p4721 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Coming up, how would the candidates protect America, and another terror attack, if we were to see it. But first, you can join us live on stage during the commercial break right from home. Go to facebook.com/foxbusiness. We'll be streaming live and answering your questions during this break next. More from South Carolina coming up. Stay with us. +p4722 +aVMr. Trump, your net worth is in the multi-billions of dollars and have an ongoing thriving hotel and real estate business. Are you planning on putting your assets in a blind trust should you become president? With such vast wealth, how difficult will it be for you to disentangle yourself from your business and your money and prioritize America's interest first? +p4723 +aVSo you'll put your assets in a blind trust? +p4724 +aVThank you sir. +p4725 +aVSenator Rubio? Under current law, the U.S. is on track to issue more new permanent immigrants on green cards over the next five years than the entire population of South Carolina. The CBO says your 2013 immigration bill would have increased green cardholders by another 10 million over 10 years. Why are you so interested in opening up borders to foreigners when American workers have a hard enough time finding work? +p4726 +aVSo your thinking has changed? +p4727 +aVThank you, Senator. +p4728 +aVThank you, Senator. +p4729 +aVWhen we come right back, closing statements. Stay with us. +p4730 +aVWelcome back. Candidates, it is time for your closing statements. You get 60 seconds each. Governor John Kasich, we begin with you. +p4731 +aVGovernor Chris Christie? +p4732 +aVSenator Marco Rubio? +p4733 +aVMr. Donald Trump? +p4734 +aVCandidates, thank you. +p4735 +asVCLINTON +p4736 +(lp4737 +VThank you. +p4738 +aVI'm running for president to knock down all the barriers that are holding Americans back, and to rebuild the ladders of opportunity that will give every American a chance to advance, especially those who have been left out and left behind. I know a lot of Americans are angry about the economy. And for good cause. Americans haven't had a raise in 15 years. There aren't enough good-paying jobs, especially for young people. And yes, the economy is rigged in favor of those at the top. We both agree that we have to get unaccountable money out of our political system and that we have to do much more to ensure that Wall Street never wrecks main street again. But I want to go further. I want to tackle those barriers that stand in the way of too many Americans right now. African-Americans who face discrimination in the job market, education, housing, and the criminal justice system. Hardworking immigrant families living in fear, who should be brought out of the shadows so they and their children can have a better future. Guaranteeing that women's work finally gets the pay, the equal pay that we deserve. I think America can only live up to its potential when we make sure that every American has a chance to live up to his or her potential. That will be my mission as president. And I think together we will make progress. +p4739 +aVJudy, I think that the best analysis that I've seen based on Senator Sanders plans is that it would probably increase the size of the federal government by about 40%, but what is most concerning to me is that in looking at the plans \u2014 let's take healthcare for example. Last week in a CNN town hall, the Senator told a questioner that the questioner would spend about $500 dollars in taxes to get about $5,000 dollars in healthcare. Every progressive economist who has analyzed that says that the numbers don't add up, and that's a promise that cannot be kept, and it's really important now that we are getting into the rest of the country that both of us are held to account for explaining what we are proposing because, especially with healthcare, this is not about math. This is about people's lives, and we should level with the American people about what we can do to make sure they get quality affordable healthcare. +p4740 +aVI can only say that we both share the goal of universal health care coverage. You know, before it was called Obamacare, it was called Hillarycare. And I took on the drug companies and I took on the insurance companies to try to get us universal health care coverage. And why I am a staunch supporter of President Obama's principal accomplishment \u2014 namely the Affordable Care Act \u2014 is because I know how hard it was to get that done. We are at 90 percent coverage. We have to get the remaining 10. I've set forth very specific plans about how to get costs down, especially prescription drug costs. And it is difficult to in any way argue with the goal that we both share. But I think the American people deserve to know specifically how this would work. If it's Medicare for all, then you no longer have the Affordable Care Act, because the Affordable Care Act, as you know very well, is based on the insurance system, based on exchanges, based on a subsidy system. The Children's Health Insurance Program, which I helped to create, which covers 8 million kids, is also a different kind of program. So if you're having Medicare for all, single-payer, you need to level with people about what they will have at the end of the process you are proposing. And based on every analysis that I can find by people who are sympathetic to the goal, the numbers don't add up, and many people will actually be worse off than they are right now. +p4741 +aVWell, let me just \u2014 let me just say, once again......that, having been in the trenches fighting for this, I believe strongly we have to guarantee health care. I believe we are on the path to doing that. The last thing we need is to throw our country into a contentious debate about health care again. And we are not England. We are not France. We inherited a system that was set up during World War II; 170 million Americans get health insurance right now through their employers. So what we have tried to do and what President Obama succeeded in doing was to build on the health care system we have, get us to 90 percent coverage. We have to get the other 10 percent of the way to 100. I far prefer that and the chances we have to be successful there than trying to start all over again, gridlocking our system, and trying to get from zero to 100 percent. +p4742 +aVNo. But it is absolutely fair and necessary for Americans to vet both of our proposals, to ask the really hard questions about, what is it we think we can accomplish, why do we believe that, and what would be the results for the average American family? In my case, whether it's health care, or getting us to debt-free tuition, or moving us toward paid family leave, I have been very specific about where I would raise the money, how much it would cost, and how I would move this agenda forward. I've tried to be as specific to answer questions so that my proposals can be vetted, because I feel like we have to level with people for the very reason, Gwen, that you are mentioning. There is a great deal of skepticism about the federal government. I'm aware of that. It comes from the right, from the left, from people on all sides of the political spectrum. So we have a special obligation to make clear what we stand for, which is why I think we should not make promises we can't keep, because that will further, I think, alienate Americans from understanding and believing we can together make some real changes in people's lives. +p4743 +aVI will put a price tag. My price tag is about $100 billion a year. And again, paid for. And what I have said is I will not throw us further into debt. I believe I can get the money that I need by taxing the wealthy, by closing loopholes, the things that we are way overdue for doing. And I think once I'm in the White House we will have enough political capital to be able to do that. But I am conscious of the fact that we have to also be very clear, especially with young people, about what kind of government is going to do what for them and what it will cost. +p4744 +aVYou know, I think, again, both of us share the goal of trying to make college affordable for all young Americans. And I have set forth a compact that would do just that for debt-free tuition. We differ, however, on a couple of key points. One of them being that if you don't have some agreement within the system from states and from families and from students, it's hard to get to where we need to go. And Senator Sanders's plan really rests on making sure that governors like Scott Walker contribute $23 billion on the first day to make college free. I am a little skeptical about your governor actually caring enough about higher education to make any kind of commitment like that. +p4745 +aVWell, first, Judy, I have spent my entire adult life working toward making sure that women are empowered to make their own choices, even if that choice is not to vote for me. I believe that it's most important that we unleash the full potential of women and girls in our society. And I feel very strongly that I have an agenda, I have a record that really does respond to a lot of the specific needs that the women in our country face. So I'm going to keep making that case. I'm going to keep making sure that everything I've done, everything that I stand for is going to be well known. But I have no argument with anyone making up her mind about who to support. I just hope that by the end of this campaign there will be a lot more supporting me. That's what I'm working towards. +p4746 +aVWell, look, I think that she's been saying that for as long as I've known her, which is about 25 years. But it doesn't change my view that we need to empower everyone, women and men, to make the best decisions in their minds that they can make. That's what I've always stood for. And when it comes to the issues that are really on the front lines as to whether we're going to have equal pay, paid family leave, some opportunity for, you know, women to go as far as their hard work and talent take them, I think that we still have some barriers to knock down, which is why that's at the core of my campaign. I would note, just for a historic aside, somebody told me earlier today we've had like 200 presidential primary debates, and this is the first time there have been a majority of women on the stage. So, you know, we'll take our progress wherever we can find it. +p4747 +aVYou know, I have said \u2014 I have said many times, you know, I'm not asking people to support me because I'm a woman. I'm asking people to support me because I think I'm the most qualified, experienced, and ready person to be the president and the commander-in-chief. And I appreciate greatly Senator Sanders' voting record. And I was very proud to get the endorsement of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, because I've been a leader on these issues. I have gone time and time again to take on the vested interests who would keep women's health care decisions the province of the government instead of women ourselves. I'm very proud that +p4748 +aVYou know, I completely agree with Senator Sanders. The first speech I gave in this campaign back in April was about criminal justice reform and ending the era of mass incarceration. The statistics from Wisconsin are particularly troubling, because it is the highest rate of incarceration for African-Americans in our nation, twice the national average. And we know of the tragic, terrible event that lead to the death of Dontre Hamilton right here in Milwaukee, a young man unarmed, who should still be with us. His family certainly believes that. And so do I. So we have work to do. There have been some good recommendations about what needs to happen. President Obama's policing commission came out with some. I have fully endorsed those. But we have to restore policing that will actually protect the communities that police officers are sworn to protect. And, then we have to go after sentencing, and that's one of the problems here in Wisconsin because so much of what happened in the criminal justice system doesn't happen at the federal level, it happens at the state and local level. But, I would also add this. There are other racial discrepancies. Really systemic racism in this state, as in others, education, in employment, in the kinds of factors that too often lead from a position where young people, particularly young men, are pushed out of school early, are denied employment opportunities. So, when we talk about criminal justice reform, and ending the era of mass incarceration, we also have to talk about jobs, education, housing, and other ways of helping communities. +p4749 +aVWell, I'm just not sure I agree completely with that assessment. I think under President Obama we have seen a lot of advances, the Affordable Care Act has helped more African Americans than any other group to get insurance, to be taken care of, but we also know a lot more than we did. We have a lot more social media, we have everybody with a cellphone. So, we are seeing the dark side of the remaining systemic racism that we have to root out in our society. I think President Obama has set a great example. I think he has addressed a lot of these issues that have been quite difficult, but he has gone forward. Now, what we have to do is to build on an honest conversation about where we go next. We now have much more information about what must be done to fix our criminal justice system. We now have some good models about how better to provide employment, housing and education. I think what President Obama did was to exemplify the importance of this issue as our first African American president, and to address it both from the President's office, and through his advocacy, such as working with young men, and Mrs. Obama's work with young women. But, we can't rest. We have work to do, and we now know a lot more than we ever did before. So, it's going to be my responsibility to make sure we move forward to solve these problems that are now out in the open. Nobody can deny them. To use the Justice Department, as we just saw, they have said they are going to sue Ferguson, that entered into a consent agreement, and then tried to back out. So, we're going to enforce the law, we're going to change policing practices, we're going to change incarceration practices, but we're also going to emphasize education, jobs, and housing. +p4750 +aVLook, I am deeply concerned about what's happening in every community in America, and that includes white communities, where we are seeing an increase in alcoholism, addiction, earlier deaths. People with a high school education or less are not even living as long as their parents lived. This is a remarkable and horrifying fact. And that's why I've come forward with, for example, a plan to revitalize coal country, the coalfield communities that have been so hard hit by the changing economy, by the reduction in the use of coal. You know, coal miners and their families who helped turn on the lights and power our factories for generations are now wondering, has our country forgotten us? Do people not care about all of our sacrifice? And I'm going to do everything I can to address distressed communities, whether they are communities of color, whether they are white communities, whether they are in any part of our country. I particularly appreciate the proposal that Congressman Jim Clyburn has \u2014 the 10-20-30 proposal \u2014 to try to spend more federal dollars in communities with persistent generational poverty. And you know what? If you look at the numbers, there are actually as many, if not more white communities that are truly being left behind and left out. So, yes, I do think it would be a terrible oversight not to try to address the very real problems that white Americans \u2014 particularly those without a lot of education whose jobs have \u2014 you know, no longer provided them or even no longer present in their communities, because we have to focus where the real hurt is. And that's why, as president, I will look at communities that need special help and try to deliver that. +p4751 +aVI strongly support the president's executive actions. I hope the Supreme Court upholds them. I think there is constitutional and legal authority for the president to have done what he did. I am against the raids. I'm against the kind of inhumane treatment that is now being visited upon families, waking them up in the middle of the night, rounding them up. We should be deporting criminals, not hardworking immigrant families who do the very best they can and often are keeping economies going in many places in our country. I'm a strong supporter of comprehensive immigration reform. Have been ever since I was in the Senate. I was one of the original sponsors of the +p4752 +aVTwo quick responses. One, with respect to the Central American children, I made it very clear that those children needed to be processed appropriately, but we also had to send a message to families and communities in Central America not to send their children on this dangerous journey in the hands of smugglers. I've also called for the end of family detention, for the end of privately-run detention centers, along with private prisons, which I think are really against the common good and the rule of law. And with respect to the 2007 bill, this was Ted Kennedy's bill. And I think Ted Kennedy had a very clear idea about what needed to be done. And I was proud to stand with him and support it. +p4753 +aVWell, that just wasn't \u2014 that just wasn't the fact, Senator. The fact is that there was a great effort made by the Obama administration and others to really send a clear message, because we knew that so many of these children were being abused, being treated terribly while they tried to get to our border. So we have a disagreement on this. I think now what I've called for is counsel for every child so that no child has to face any kind of process without someone who speaks and advocates for that child so that the right decision hopefully can be made. +p4754 +aVI think \u2014 I think it's fair to say we don't have a disagreement. We both believe there has to be more money going into the Social Security system. I've said I'm looking at a couple of different ways, one which you mentioned, Senator, but also trying to expand the existing tax to passive income that wealthy people have so that we do get more revenue into the Social Security Trust Fund. I have a slightly different approach, though, about what we should do with that initially. First, rather than expand benefits for everyone, I do want to take care of low-income seniors who worked at low-wage jobs. I want to take care of women. When the Social Security program was started in the 1930s, not very many women worked. And women have been disadvantaged ever since. They do not get any credit for their care-taking responsibilities. And the people who are often the most hard-hit are widows, because when their spouse dies, they can lose up to one-half of their Social Security monthly payment. So we have no disagreement about the need to buttress Social Security, get more revenue into the program. But I want to start by helping those people who are most at risk, the ones who, yes, are cutting their pills in half, who don't believe they can make the rent, who are worried about what comes next for them. +p4755 +aVWell, Senator, look, I think we're in vigorous agreement here. We both want to get more revenue in. I have yet to see a proposal that you're describing that the \u2014 raising the cap would apply to passive income. That has not been... +p4756 +aVWell, that has not been a part of most of the proposals that I've seen. I'm interested in making sure we get the maximum amount of revenue from those who can well afford to provide it. So I'm going to come up with the best way forward. We're going to end up in the same place. We're going to get more revenue. I'm going to prioritize those recipients who need the most help first. +p4757 +aVI can't speak for the Koch Brothers, you're referring to a Super PAC that we don't coordinate with, that was set up to support President Obama, that has now decided that they want to support me. They are the ones who should respond to any questions. Let's talk about our campaigns. I'm very proud of the fact that we have more than 750 thousand donors, and the vast majority of them are giving small contributions. So, I'm proud of Senator Sanders, and his supporters. I think it's great that Senator Sanders, President Obama and I have more donors than any three people who have every run, certainly on the Democratic side. That's the way it should be, and I'm going to continue to reach out to thank all my online contributors for everything they are doing for me, to encourage them and help me do more just as Senator Sanders is. I think that is the real key here. We both have a lot of small donors. I think that sets us apart from a lot of what's happening right now on the Republican side. The Koch Brothers have a very clear political agenda. It is an agenda, in my view, that would do great harm to our country. We're going to fight it as hard as we can, and we're going to fight whoever the Republicans nominate who will depend on the Koch Brothers, and others. +p4758 +aVWe are mixing apples and oranges. My 750,000 donors have contributed more than a million and a half donations. I'm very proud. That, I think, between the two of us demonstrates the strength of the support we have among people who want to see change in our country. But, the real issue, I think, that the Senator is injecting into this is that if you had a Super PAC, like President Obama has, which now says it wants to support me. It's not my PAC. If you take donations from Wall Street, you can't be independent. I would just say, I debated then Senator Obama numerous times on stages like this, and he was the recipient of the largest number of Wall Street donations of anybody running on the Democratic side ever. Now, when it mattered, he stood up and took on Wall Street. He pushed through, and he passed the Dodd-Frank regulation, the toughest regulations since the 1930's. So, let's not in anyway imply here that either President Obama or myself, would in anyway not take on any vested interested, whether it's Wall Street, or drug companies, or insurance companies, or frankly, the gun lobby to stand up to do what's best for the American people. +p4759 +aVWell, let's just \u2014 let's just follow up on this, because, you know, I've made it very clear that no bank is too big to fail, no executive too powerful to jail, and because of Dodd-Frank, we now have in law a process that the president, the Federal Reserve, and others can use if any bank poses a systemic risk. I think that's a major accomplishment. I agree, however, it doesn't go far enough, because what it focuses on are the big banks, which Senator Sanders has talked about a lot, for good reason. I go further in the plan that I've proposed, which has been called the toughest, most effective, comprehensive plan for reining in the other risks that the financial system could face. It was an investment bank, Lehman Brothers, that contributed to our collapse. It was a big insurance company, AIG. It was Countrywide Mortgage. My plan would sweep all of them into a regulatory framework so we can try to get ahead of what the next problems might be. And I believe that not only Barney Frank, Paul Krugman, and others, have said that what I have proposed is the most effective. It goes in the right direction. We have Dodd-Frank. We can use it to break up the banks, if that's appropriate. But let's not kid ourselves. As we speak, there are new problems on the horizon. I want to get ahead of those, and that's why I've proposed a much more comprehensive approach to deal with all of these... +p4760 +aVAbsolutely. And, you know, there are a number of programs that I think are duplicative and redundant and not producing the results that people deserve. There are a lot of training programs and education programs that I think can be streamlined and put into a much better format so that if we do continue them they can be more useful, in public schools, community colleges, and colleges and universities. I would like to take a hard look at every part of the federal government and really do the kind of analysis that would rebuild some confidence in people that we're taking a hard look about what we have, you know, and what we don't need anymore. And that's what I intend to do. +p4761 +aVLook, I think we are readier than we used to be, but it's a constant effort that has to be undertaken to make sure we are as ready as we need to be. We have made a lot of improvements in our domestic security since 9/11, and we have been able to foil and prevent attacks, yet we see the terrible attack in San Bernardino and know that we haven't done enough. So we have to go after this both abroad and at home. We have to go after terrorist networks, predominantly +p4762 +aVIf I could just respond. Two points. One, Senator Sanders voted in 1998 on what I think is fair to call a regime change resolution with respect to Iraq, calling for the end of Saddam Hussein's regime. He voted in favor of regime change with Libya, voted in favor of the Security Council being an active participate in setting the parameters for what we would do, which of course we followed through on. I do not believe a vote in 2002 is a plan to defeat +p4763 +aVYou did support a U.N. Security Council approach, which we did follow up on. And, look, I think it's important to look at what the most important counterterrorism judgment of the first four years of the Obama administration was, and that was the very difficult decision as to whether or not to advise the president to go after bin Laden. I looked at the evidence. I looked at the intelligence. I got the briefings. I recommended that the president go forward. It was a hard choice. Not all of his top national security advisors agreed with that. And at the end of the day, it was the president's decision. So he had to leave the Situation Room after hearing from the small group advising him and he had to make that decision. I'm proud that I gave him that advice. And I'm very grateful to the brave Navy +p4764 +aVWell, I know journalists have asked who you do listen to on foreign policy, and we have yet to know who that is. +p4765 +aVThat's fine. That's fine. You know, I listen to a wide variety of voices that have expertise in various areas. I think it is fair to say, whatever the complaints that you want to make about him are, that with respect to China, one of the most challenging relationships we have, his opening up China and his ongoing relationships with the leaders of China is an incredibly useful relationship for the United States of America. So if we want to pick and choose \u2014 and I certainly do \u2014 people I listen to, people I don't listen to, people I listen to for certain areas, then I think we have to be fair and look at the entire world, because it's a big, complicated world out there. +p4766 +aVAnd, yes, people we may disagree with on a number of things may have some insight, may have some relationships that are important for the president to understand in order to best protect the United States. +p4767 +aVWell, with respect to Syria, I really do appreciate the efforts that Secretary Kerry has made. The agreement on humanitarian relief now needs to be implemented, because there are enclaves that are literally filled with starving people throughout Syria. The agreement on a cease-fire, though, is something that has to be implemented more quickly than the schedule that the Russians agreed to. You know, the Russians wanted to buy time. Are they buying time to continue their bombardment on behalf of the Assad regime to further decimate what's left of the opposition, which would be a grave disservice to any kind of eventual cease-fire? So I know Secretary Kerry is working extremely hard to try to move that cease-fire up as quickly as possible. But I would add this. You know, the Security Council finally got around to adopting a resolution. At the core of that resolution is an agreement I negotiated in June of 2012 in Geneva, which set forth a cease-fire and moving toward a political resolution, trying to bring the parties at stake in Syria together. This is incredibly complicated, because we've got Iran as a big player, in addition to Russia. We have Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and others who have very important interests in their view. This is one of the areas I've disagreed with Senator Sanders on, who has called for Iranian troops trying to end civil war in Syria, which I think would be a grave mistake. Putting Iranian troops right on the border of the Golan right next to Israel would be a nonstarter for me. Trying to get Iran and Saudi Arabia to work together, as he has suggested in the past, is equally a nonstarter. So let's support what Secretary Kerry and the president are doing, but let's hope that we can accelerate the cease-fire, because I fear that the Russians will continue their bombing, try to do everything they can to destroy what's left of the opposition. And remember, the Russians have not gone after +p4768 +aVWell, I respectfully disagree. I think we have achieved a great deal with the Iranian nuclear agreement to put a lid on the Iranian nuclear weapons program. That has to be enforced absolutely with consequences for Iran at the slightest deviation from their requirements under the agreement. I do not think we should promise or even look toward normalizing relations because we have a lot of other business to get done with Iran. Yes, they have to stop being the main state sponsor of terrorism. Yes, they have to stop trying to destabilize the Middle East, causing even more chaos. Yes, they've got to get out of Syria. They've got to quit sponsoring Hezbollah and Hamas. They have got to quit trying to ship rockets into Gaza that can be used against Israel. We have a lot of work to do with Iran before we ever say that they could move toward normalized relations with us. +p4769 +aV... Senator Sanders, from a debate in 2008, quote what I said. The question was, would you meet with an adversary without conditions? I said no. And in fact, in Obama administration, we did not meet with anybody without conditions. That is the appropriate approach in order to get the results that you are seeking. +p4770 +aVWell, I was pleased that +p4771 +aVI certainly agree with FDR for all the reasons Senator Sanders said. And I agree about the role that he played both in war and in peace on the economy and defeating fascism around the world. I would choose Nelson Mandela for his generosity of heart, his understanding of the need for reconciliation. But I want to \u2014 I want to follow up on something having to do with leadership, because, you know, today Senator Sanders said that President Obama failed the presidential leadership test. And this is not the first time that he has criticized President Obama. In the past he has called him weak. He has called him a disappointment. He wrote a forward for a book that basically argued voters should have buyers' remorse when it comes to President Obama's leadership and legacy. And I just couldn't agree \u2014 disagree more with those kinds of comments. You know, from my perspective, maybe because I understand what President Obama inherited, not only the worst financial crisis but the antipathy of the Republicans in Congress, I don't think he gets the credit he deserves for being a president......who got us out of that......put us on firm ground, and has sent us into the future. And it is a \u2014 the kind of criticism that we've heard from Senator Sanders about our president I expect from Republicans. I do not expect from someone running for the Democratic nomination to succeed President Obama. +p4772 +aVYou know, Senator, what I am concerned about, is not disagreement on issues, saying that this is what I would rather do, I don't agree with the president on that, calling the president weak, calling him a disappointment, calling several times that he should have a primary opponent when he ran for re-election in 2012, you know, I think that goes further than saying we have our disagreements. As a senator, yes, I was a senator. I understand we can disagree on the path forward. But those kinds of personal assessments and charges are ones that I find particularly troubling. +p4773 +aVYou know, we \u2014 we agree that we've got to get unaccountable money out of politics. We agree that Wall Street should never be allowed to wreck Main Street again. But here's the point I want to make tonight. I am not a single-issue candidate, and I do not believe we live in a single-issue country. I think that a lot of what we have to overcome to break down the barriers that are holding people back, whether it's poison in the water of the children of Flint, or whether it's the poor miners who are being left out and left behind in coal country, or whether it is any other American today who feels somehow put down and oppressed by racism, by sexism, by discrimination against the +p4774 +aVWell, I'm happy to be here in New Hampshire for this debate, as we move toward the primary on Tuesday. I believe that America has the opportunity to once again live by our values, live up to our values in the 21st century, but I think that America can only do that if Americans can succeed. And there are lots of reasons why Americans today are feeling left out and left behind. Yes, of course, the economy has not been working for most Americans. Yes, of course, we have special interests that are unfortunately doing too much to rig the game. But there's also the continuing challenges of racism, of sexism, of discrimination against the +p4775 +aVWell, let me start by saying that Senator Sanders and I share some very big progressive goals. I've been fighting for universal healthcare for many years, and we're now on the path to achieving it. I don't want us to start over again. I think that would be a great mistake, to once again plunge our country into a contentious debate about whether we should have and what kind of system we should have for healthcare. I want to build on the progress we've made; got from 90 percent coverage to 100 percent coverage. And I don't want to rip away the security that people finally have; 18 million people now have healthcare; preexisting conditions are no longer a bar. So we have a difference. I also believe in affordable college, but I don't believe in free college, because every expert that I have talked to says, look, how will you ever control the costs. What I want to do is make sure middle class kids, not Donald Trump's kids, get to be able to afford college. I want to get the economy going again. It's not just enough about what we're against, as important as that is. I have a plan to create new jobs, manufacturing, infrastructure, clean energy jobs that will make us the 21st century clean energy super power. I also want to make sure small businesses can start and grow again. And of course, I believe in raising the minimum wage and equal pay for work. But the numbers just don't add up, from what Senator Sanders has been proposing. That's why all of the independent experts, all of the editorial boards that have vetted both of us have concluded that it is just not achievable. Let's go down a path where we can actually tell people what we will do. A progressive is someone who makes progress. That's what I intend to do. +p4776 +aVIf I could just follow up on that. There is no disagreement between us on universal coverage for health care, the disagreement is where do we start from and where do we end up. The Republicans want to repeal the Affordable Care Act, I want to improve it. I want to build on it, get the costs down, get prescription drug costs down. Senator Sanders wants us to start all over again. This was a major achievement of President Obama, of our country. It is helping people right now. I am not going to wait and have us plunge back into a contentious national debate that has very little chance of succeeding. Let's make the Affordable Care Act work for everybody. +p4777 +aVWell because I am a progressive who gets things done. And the root of that word, progressive, is progress. But I've heard Senator Sanders comments, and it's really caused me to wonder who's left in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Under his definition, President Obama is not progressive because he took donations from Wall Street; Vice President Biden is not progressive because she supported Keystone; Senator Shaheen is not progressive because she supports the trade pact. Even the late, great Senator Paul Wellstone would not fit this definition because he voted for +p4778 +aVWell, Chuck... +p4779 +aV... If I could, you know, in the very first debate I was asked am I a moderate or a progressive and I said I'm a progressive who likes to get things done. Cherry picking a quote here or there doesn't change my record of having fought for racial justice, having fought for kids rights, having fought the kind of inequities that fueled my interest in service in the first place going back to my days in the Children's Defense Fund. It certainly didn't stop me from taking on the drug companies and the insurance companies. Before it was called Hillarycare\u2014I mean, before it was called ObamaCare it was called Hillarycare because we took them on, and we weren't successful, but we kept fighting and we got the children's health insurance program. Every step along the way I have stood up, and fought, and have the scars to prove it. So, again......I think it's important that, look, I understand Senator Sanders really trying to distinguish himself. I understand that, that's what you do in campaigns, but at the same time let's not be\u2014in, I think an unfair way, making an accusation, or making an attack about where I stand and about where I've always stood. It is fair to say, Senator, that in your definition, as you being the self-proclaimed gatekeeper for progressivism, I don't know anyone else who fits that definition, but I know a lot of really hard fighting progressives in the Democratic party who have stood up time, and time again against special interests, against the powerful on behalf of those who are left behind and left out. And, that's what we ought to be celebrating. Let's talk about what we would do as President, and Commander in Chief to make sure the progress continues into the future. +p4780 +aV... Well, you began it yesterday with your comments... +p4781 +aVYou know, the person who first put out the idea of a 50-state party strategy is former Governor Howard Dean, who is with us tonight. And I'm very proud and grateful to have the support of so many elected Vermonters and former officials. Two former governors, the current governor, the current other senator. I really appreciate that. And I think it's because they've worked with me, they've seen what I do. They know what kind of a colleague I am. They want me as their partner in the White House. And that's exactly what I will do. We'll get things done together. Democrats, Republicans, independents, we're going to make progress together when I'm president. +p4782 +aVWell, look, I've got to just jump in here because, honestly, Senator Sanders is the only person who I think would characterize me, a woman running to be the first woman president, as exemplifying the establishment. And I've got to tell you that it is......it is really quite amusing to me. People support me because they know me. They know my life's work. They have worked with me and many have also worked with Senator Sanders. And at the end of the day they endorse me because they know I can get things done. I am not going to make promises I can't keep. I am not going to talk about big ideas like single-payer and then not level with people about how much it will cost. A respected health economist said that these plans would cost a trillion dollars more a year. I'm not going to tell people that I will raise your incomes and not your taxes, and not mean it, because I don't want to see the kind of struggle that the middle class is going through exemplified by these promises that would raise taxes and make it much more difficult for many, many Americans to get ahead and stay ahead. That is not my agenda. +p4783 +aVYeah, but I\u2014I think it's fair to really ask what's behind that comment. You know, Senator Sanders has said he wants to run a positive campaign. I've tried to keep my disagreements over issues, as it should be. But time and time again, by innuendo, by insinuation, there is this attack that he is putting forth, which really comes down to\u2014you know, anybody who ever took donations or speaking fees from any interest group has to be bought. And I just absolutely reject that, Senator. And I really don't think these kinds of attacks by insinuation are worthy of you. And enough is enough. If you've got something to say, say it directly. But you will not find that I ever changed a view or a vote because of any donation that I ever received. +p4784 +aVAnd I have stood up and I have represented my constituents to the best of my abilities, and I'm very proud of that. +p4785 +aVSo I think it's time to end the very artful smear that you and your campaign have been carrying out... +p4786 +aV... in recent weeks, and let's talk......let's talk about about the issues. Let's talk about the issues that divide us. +p4787 +aVAnd let's\u2014let's... +p4788 +aV... we both agree with campaign finance reform. +p4789 +aVI\u2014I worked hard for McCain-Feingold. +p4790 +aVI want to reverse Citizens United. +p4791 +aVAnd so\u2014let's talk about issues. +p4792 +aVWell, you know, Senator, I don't think\u2014I don't... +p4793 +aV... I don't think you could find any person in political life today who has been subjected to more attacks and had more money spent against her by special interests, among whom you have named a few, than I. And I'm proud of that. You know, when I took on the drug companies and the insurance companies for universal health care coverage, they went after me with a vengeance. Today, you've got hedge fund billionaires aligned with Karl Rove, running ads against me to try to get Democrats to vote for you. I know this game. I'm going to stop this game. But while we're talking about votes, you're the one who voted to deregulate swaps and derivatives in 2000, which contributed to the over-leveraging of Lehman Brothers, which was one of the culprits that brought down the economy. So I don't know\u2014I'm not impugning your motive because you voted to deregulate swaps and derivatives. People make mistakes and I'm certainly not saying you did it for any kind of financial advantage. What we've got to do as Democrats\u2014what we've got to do as Democrats is to be united to actually solve these problems. And what I believe is that I have a better track record and a better opportunity to actually get that job done. That's what this election should be about. +p4794 +aVOn the issue of Wall Street. +p4795 +aVWell you know, Rachel, I think I may not have done the job I should in explaining my record. You know, I did\u2014when I left the secretary of State's office, like so many former officials, military leaders, journalists, others, I did go on the speaking circuit. I spoke to heart doctors, I spoke to the American Camping Association, I spoke to auto dealers, and yes, I spoke to firms on Wall Street. They wanted me to talk about the world, what my experience had been as secretary of State. But what I want people to know is I went to Wall Street before the crash. I was the one saying you're going to wreck the economy because of these shenanigans with mortgages. I called to end the carried interest loophole that hedge fund managers enjoy. I proposed changes in CEO compensation. I called for a consumer protection financial bureau before it was created. And I think the best evidence that the Wall Street people at least know where I stand and where I have always stood is because they are trying to beat me in this primary. They have collected and spent as much as $6 million on these ads. Hedge fund billionaires, Karl Rove, another billionaire, jumped in. And why are they doing that? These are guys who try to make smart investments. They know my record, they know me, they know that I say what I believe and I will do it. And I also have a pretty good understanding about how to stop them. So I do want people to know that, and I think it's important for everybody to understand I have a record, I have stood firm and I will be the person who prevents them from ever wrecking the economy again. +p4796 +aVIf I could, let me just say that of course it has to change. It has to change. And that's why I have put forward a plan to do just that. And it's been judged to be the toughest, most effective and comprehensive one. I have great respect for Senator Sanders's commitment to try to restore Glass-Steagall. But I do not believe that that is enough. And in fact, I don't believe it really addresses a lot of the biggest issues we have. You know, we now have power under the Dodd-Frank legislation to break up banks. And I've said I will use that power if they pose a systemic risk. But I want to go further, because it was investment banks, it was insurance companies, it was mortgage companies, all of which contributed. So let's not just be narrowly focused on one part of the problem. We have a lot of issues with corporate power that have to be addressed. My plan takes us further and it would do the job. +p4797 +aVLook we have a law\u2014look, you know, I\u2014I appreciate the senator's advocacy. We have a law. It was passed. It was signed by President Obama. It lays out a process that you go through to determine whether a systemic risk is posed. And by the way, President Obama signed that, pushed it through, even though he took donations from Wall Street, because he's a responsible president. So we have a law in place. If the circumstances warrant it, I will certainly use it. And from what you say, I know you will as well. But that is not enough. And I keep going back to this because part of the reason the Wall Street guys are trying so hard to stop me\u2014the hedge fund guys, the shadow banking guys\u2014is because I've got their number on all of that. And my plan goes so much further to try to prevent the problems of the future. You know, we can't just fight the last war. We've got to be prepared to stop these guys if they ever try to use their economic power once again, to hurt the economy, and to hurt so many Americans. And my plan, Paul Krugman, Barney Frank, a lot of experts who understand what the new challenges might be, have said I am exactly on point, and the Wall Street guys actually know that. +p4798 +aVI will look into it. I don't know the status, but I will certainly look into it. But, I can only repeat what is the fact that I spoke to a lot of different groups with a lot of different constituents, a lot of different kinds of members about issues that had to do with world affairs. I probably described more times than I can remember how stressful it was advising the President about going after Bin Laden. My view on this is look at my record. Look at what I am proposing, and\u2014we have a vigorous agreement here. We both want to reign in the excesses of Wall Street. I also want to reign in the excesses of Johnson Controls that we bailed out when they were an autoparts company, and we saved the auto industry, and now they want to avoid paying taxes. I want to go after the pharmaceutical companies like Valeant, and Turns that are increasing prices without any regard to the impact on people's health. Now, if all we're going to talk about is one part of our economy, and indeed one streak in our economy, we're missing the big oil companies. We're missing other big energy companies. We're missing the big picture, and I have a record of trying to go at the problems that actually exist, and I will continue to do that. +p4799 +aV... Well, Senator, no one wants to see that happen. I mean, look, I care deeply about this because just like you I have met so many people who had their life savings wiped out, who lost their homes, who are barely back with their heads above water. This was a disaster for our country, and we can never let that happen again. We have no disagreement about this. But, I think it's a broader target list than just Wall Street, and I believe that we have to be very focused on how we try to take back the power and increase the empowerment of the American people. And, I think I have that kind of experience, maybe because they've beat me up for so many years, and I know exactly how to handle them because I've been in the arena with them time and time again. +p4800 +aVWell, I think what the president understands, and what he's trying to do, is that we have to support the Arab and Kurdish fighters on the ground who are actually doing the fighting. I agree with the president. I've said myself, we will not send American combat troops back to either Syria or Iraq\u2014that is off the table. But we do have special forces, we do have trainers, we do have the military personnel who are helping with the airstrikes that the United States is leading so that we can try to take out +p4801 +aVNo. I mean, of course that's a theoretical question, and we don't know what it would be for, and we don't know how many numbers there are. I am against American combat troops being in Syria and Iraq. I support special forces. I support trainers. I support the air campaign. And I think we're making some progress. I want to continue to intensify that, and that's exactly what the president is doing. +p4802 +aVIf I could\u2014if I could... +p4803 +aV... respectfully add\u2014look, we did differ. A vote in 2002 is not a plan to defeat +p4804 +aVOh, absolutely. The president decided to leave more troops than he had originally planned in Afghanistan. We have a very cooperative government there, with Ashraf Ghani and his top\u2014his top partner, Abdullah. And they are doing their very best. And the Afghan army is actually fighting. The Afghan army is taking heavy losses defending Afghan territory. And I would have to make an evaluation based on the circumstances at the time I took office as to how much help they continue to need. Because it's not just the Taliban. We now are seeing outposts of, you know, fighters claiming to be affiliated with +p4805 +aVA group of national security experts, military intelligence experts, issued a very concerning statement about Senator Sanders's views on foreign policy and national security, pointing out some of the comments he has made on these issues, such as inviting Iranian troops into Syria to try to resolve the conflict there; putting them right at the doorstep of Israel. Asking Saudi Arabia and Iran to work together, when they can't stand each other and are engaged in a proxy battle right at this moment. So I do think questions have been raised and questions have to be answered because when New Hampshire voters go on Tuesday to cast your vote, you are voting both for a president and a commander in chief. And there is no way to predict what comes in the door of that White House from day to day that can pose a threat to the United States or one of our friends and allies, and I think this is a big part of the job interview that we are all conducting with the voters here. +p4806 +aVWell, let me just add that, you know, I've said this before and I'm very proud of it, that when it comes to judgment, having run a hard race against Senator Obama at the time, he turned to me to be secretary of State. And when it comes to the biggest counterterrorism issues that we faced in this administration, namely whether or not to go after bin Laden, I was at that table, I was exercising my judgment to advise the president on what to do, on that, on Iran, on Russia on China, on a whole raft of issues. Because I know from my own experience that you've got to be ready on day one. There is just too much unpredictable threat and danger in the world today, you know, to try to just say wait, I'll get to that when I can. That is just not an acceptable approach. +p4807 +aVAbsolutely. You know, I did put together the coalition to impose sanctions. I actually started the negotiations that led to the nuclear agreement, sending some much my closest aides to begin the conversations with the Iranians. I'm very pleased we got that nuclear agreement. It puts a lid on the nuclear weapons program. We have to enforce it, there have to be consequences attached to it. But that is not our only problem with Iran. We have to figure out how to deal with Iran as the principal state sponsor of terrorism in the world. They are destabilizing governments in the region. They continue to support Hezbollah and Hamas in Lebanon against Israel. A lot of work that we have do is going to be incredibly hard. I'm prepared to do that work, but I believe, just as I did with imposing the sanctions, you have to get action for action. If we were to normalize relations right now, we would remove one of the biggest pieces of leverage we have to try to influence and change Iranian behavior. The president doesn't think we should. I certainly don't think we should. I believe we have to take this step by step to try to reign in Iranian aggression, their support for terrorism and the other bad behavior that can come back and haunt us. +p4808 +aVWell Senator, let me just correct the record if I can. You know\u2014let me correct the record. +p4809 +aVAs I\u2014as I certainly recall, the question was to meet with without conditions. And you're right, I was against that. I was against it then I would be against it now. +p4810 +aVPart of diplomacy, the hard work of diplomacy is trying to extract whatever concessions you can get, and giving something the other side wants. Of course you've got to try to make peace with, and work with those who are your adversaries, but you don't just rush in, open the door, and say, "Here I am. Let's talk and make a deal." That's not the way it works. +p4811 +aV... Well, we set conditions on Iran. We worked hard to get them established, and to be enforced, and then we talked. That's exactly the right......and, that's what I did with the President, so he and I are on the very same page. +p4812 +aVI haven't talked to Secretary Carter, but here's what I would think he's planning. We do have the nuclear weapons agreement with Iran, that's an enforcement consequence, action for action, follow on. We have a plan, we will watch them, we will be vigilant. We do have to worry about North Korea. They continue to develop their nuclear weapons capability, and they're working very hard on their ballistic missile capability. And, I know that some of those plans could very well lead to a missile that might reach Hawaii, if not the West Coast. We do have to try to get the countries in the region to work with us to do everything we can to confine, and constrain them. But, what Secretary Carter is looking at is the constant pressure that Russia's putting on our European allies. The way that Russia is trying to move the boundaries of the post-World War II Europe. The way that he is trying to set European countries against one another, seizing territory, holding it in Crimea. Beginning to explore whether they could make some inroads in the Baltics. We know that they are deeply engaged in supporting Assad because they want to have a place in the Middle East. They have a naval base, they have an air base in Syria. They want to hang on to that. I think what Secretary Carter is seeing, and I'm glad he is, is that we got to get +p4813 +aVWell, first of all, I'm absolutely against privatizing the V.A. And I am going do everything I can to build on the reforms that Senator Sanders and others in Congress have passed to try to fix what's wrong with the V.A. There are a lot of issues about wait times and services that have to be fixed because our veterans deserve nothing but the best. But you're absolutely right, you know, Rachel, this is another part of the Koch brothers agenda. They've actually formed an organization to try to begin to convince Americans we should no longer have guaranteed health care, specialized care for our veterans. I will fight that as hard as I can. I think there's where we can enlist the veterans service organizations, the veterans of America, because, yes, let's fix the V.A., but we will never let it be privatized, and that is a promise. +p4814 +aVWhatever they decide to do, that's fine. +p4815 +aVAll right. +p4816 +aVI can only tell you what I believe, and that is that I am the strongest candidate to take it to the Republicans and win in November. And I say that with great\u2014with great respect for the campaign that Senator Sanders has been running. I personally am thrilled at the numbers of people, and particularly young people who are coming to support your campaign. I hope that I will be able to earn their support. They may not support me now, but I support them and we'll work together. But what I'm concerned about is the views of many Democrats who know their states, who know how hard it is to win a general election. And it also will push whoever the nominee is into the spotlight. I've been vetted. There's hardly anything you don't know about me. And I think it's fair to say that whoever is in that position, Senator Sanders or anyone else who might have run, will face the most withering onslaught. So, I think that I am the person who can do all aspects of the job. I think I'm the person best prepared to take the case to the Republicans. And I think that at the end of the day, it's not so much electability. It is who the American people can believe can keep them safe, can get the economy moving again, can get incomes rising, can build on the progressive accomplishments of President Obama. And I think that the coalition that President Obama put together to win twice is a coalition that I can put together and add to. And that's what I'm prepared to... +p4817 +aVAbsolutely I can. You know, before it was emails, it was Benghazi, and the Republicans were stirring up so much controversy about that. And I testified for 11 hours, answered their questions. They basically said yeah, didn't get her. We tried. That was all a political ploy. Now, we had a development in the email matter today when it came out that Secretary Powell and close aides to Former Secretary Rice used private e-mail accounts. and now you have these people in the government who are doing the same thing to Secretary Powell and Secretary Rice's aide they've been doing to me, which is that I never sent or received any classified material. They are retroactively classifying it. I agree completely with Secretary Powell, who said today this is an absurdity. And so I think the American people will know it's an absurdity. I have absolutely no concerns about it whatsoever. +p4818 +aVI am 100 percent confident. This is a security review that was requested. It is being carried out. It will be resolved. But I have to add if there's going to be a security review about me, there's going to have to be security reviews about a lot of other people, including Republican office holders, because we've got this absurd situation of retroactive classifications. Honest to goodness, this is\u2014this just beggars the imagination. So I have absolutely no concerns about it, but we've got to get to the bottom of what's really going on here, and I hope that will happen. +p4819 +aVNo. +p4820 +aVYes, I do. And\u2014you know, what I hope the Supreme Court will do is make it absolutely clear that any state that continues capital punishment either must meet the highest standards of evidentiary proof of effective assistance of counsel or they cannot continue it because that, to me, is the real dividing line. I have much more confidence in the federal system, and I do reserve it for particularly heinous crimes in the federal system, like terrorism. I have strong feelings about that. I thought it was appropriate after a very thorough trial that Timothy McVeigh received the death penalty for blowing up the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people, including 19 children in a daycare center. I do for very limited, particularly heinous crimes believe it is an appropriate punishment, but I deeply disagree with the way that too many states are still implementing it. If it were possible to separate the federal from the state system by the Supreme Court, that would, I think, be an appropriate outcome. +p4821 +aVAbsolutely. Absolutely. You know, Rachel, you and I have talked about this before. I thank you for going to Flint to hold that town hall. I will be in Flint at the Mayor's invitation on Sunday to get an in depth briefing about what is, and is not happening. This is an emergency. Everyday that goes by that these people, particularly the children, are not tested so we can know what steps must be taken to try to remediate the effects of the poisoning that they have been living with is a day lost in a child's life. I know from the work that I've done over so many years, lead, the toxic nature of lead can affect you brain development, your body development, your behavior. I absolutely believe that what is being done is not sufficient. We need to be absolutely clear about everything that should be done from today to tomorrow, into the future to try to remedy the terrible burden that the people of Flint are barring. That includes fixing their pipes, it includes guaranteeing whatever healthcare and educational embellishments they may need going forward, and I think the federal government has way where it can bill the state of Michigan. If Michigan won't do it, there have to be ways that we can begin to move, and then make them pay for it, and hold them accountable. +p4822 +aVYou know, Chuck, I've only had responsibility for voting for trade agreements as a senator. And I voted a multinational trade agreement when I was senator, the +p4823 +aVWell, I\u2014I don't accept that premise, Chuck. I think that we've got so much business we have to do. We've talked a lot tonight about what we're against\u2014we're against income inequality. We're against the abuses of powerful interests. We're against a lot of things. I'm for a lot of things. I don't want to just stop bad things from happening, I want to start good things from happening. And I believe, if I'm so fortunate to get the nomination, I will begin to work immediately on putting together an agenda, beginning to talk with members of Congress and others about how we can push forward. I want to have half a billion more solar panels deployed, the first four years. I want to have enough clean energy to power every home the next four years. I want us to keep working on the Affordable Care Act, to get not only to 100 percent coverage, but bring down the costs of prescription drugs and out-of-pocket costs. I want to move forward on paid family leave, on early childhood education, I want us to do more for small businesses. Small businesses have to create most of the jobs, and we're not creating and growing small businesses. I think, if you have a smart agenda, you pick the committees that you know have to begin to work on these various pieces\u2014because that's the way Congress is set up. You go through different committees, and you really make a big push in the beginning. Immigration reform, economic revitalization with manufacturing, with infrastructure\u2014we put it out there, and we begin to work on an ambitious, big, bold agenda that will actually produce the results that I want to see for our country. +p4824 +aVThe answer to both of those is no. I'm interested in making what we have work better. I want to streamline programs that are duplicative and redundant. I want to have a top-to-bottom review about what works and what doesn't work, and be absolutely clear we're getting rid of what doesn't work. I have had the opportunity to run a big agency. I was very flattered when Henry Kissinger said I ran the State Department better\u2014better than anybody had run it in a long time. So I have an idea of what it's going to take to make our government work more efficiently. And when you put together a budget, you have to make a lot of hard decisions, but I think it's not appropriate to say "I'm going to get rid of this, get rid of that" until you have a very good process that gives you the information about what to do. But I want to add something else, you know, because look, we have so much work to do in our country, and I think it's the greatest work that Americans will be called to do. And of course, we have to have people in every community involved in it. We have to have the political voice, the political grassroots speaking up and speaking out about what we have to try to accomplish in Washington. But we also need to have a very clear set of goals that we are going to achieve, and we need to level with the American people about what they are, what they will cost, what will be expected of our citizenry. So I see as president having a constant dialogue with Americans here's what we're trying to get done, here's why I need your help, here's why you may think comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship isn't something you care about, but I'm telling you it will help fix the labor market, it will bring people out of the shadows\u2014 +p4825 +aVI never said that. +p4826 +aVLook... +p4827 +aVWell, I'm certainly going to unite the party, but I'm not\u2014I'm not getting ahead of myself. I think that would be a little bit presumptuous. If I'm so fortunate as to be the nominee, the first person I will call to talk to about where we go and how we get it done will be Senator Sanders. +p4828 +aVThat's true. That's true. +p4829 +aVWell first, thanks to +p4830 +aVWell, good evening. And I want to thank the Congressional Black Caucus Institute and the people of Charleston for hosting us here on the eve of Martin Luther King Day tomorrow. You know, I remember well when my youth minister took me to hear Dr. King. I was a teenager. And his moral clarity, the message that he conveyed that evening really stayed with me and helped to set me on a path to service. I also remember that he spent the last day of his life in Memphis, fighting for dignity and higher pay for working people. And that is our fight still. We have to get the economy working and incomes rising for everyone, including those who have been left out and left behind. We have to keep our communities and our country safe. We need a president who can do all aspects of the job. I understand that this is the hardest job in the world. I'm prepared and ready to take it on and I hope to earn your support to be the nominee of the Democratic Party and the next president of the United States. +p4831 +aVI would work quickly to present to the Congress my plans for creating more good jobs in manufacturing, infrastructure, clean and renewable energy, raising the minimum wage, and guaranteeing, finally, equal pay for women's work. I would also......I would also be presenting my plans to build on the Affordable Care Act and to improve it by decreasing the out-of-pocket costs by putting a cap on prescription drug costs; by looking for ways that we can put the prescription drug business and the health insurance company business on a more stable platform that doesn't take too much money out of the pockets of hard-working Americans. And third, I would be working, in every way that I knew, to bring our country together. We do have too much division, too much mean- spiritedness. There's a lot we have to do on immigration reform, on voting rights, on campaign finance reform, but we need to do it together. That's how we'll have the kind of country for the 21st century that we know will guarantee our children and grandchildren the kind of future they deserve. +p4832 +aVYes look, I have made it clear based on Senator Sanders' own record that he has voted with the NRA, with the gun lobby numerous times. He voted against the Brady Bill five times. He voted for what we call, the Charleston Loophole. He voted for immunity from gunmakers and sellers which the NRA said, "was the most important piece of gun legislation in 20 years. " He voted to let guns go onto the Amtrak, guns go into National Parks. He voted against doing research to figure out how we can save lives. Let's not forget what this is about, 90 people a day die from gun violence in our country. That's 33,000 people a year. One of the most horrific examples not a block from here where we had nine people murdered. Now, I am pleased to hear that Senator Sanders has reversed his position on immunity and I look forward to him joining with those members of congress who have already introduced legislation. There is no other industry in America that was given the total pass that the gun makers and dealers were and that needs to be reversed. +p4833 +aVWell, sadly it's reality, and it has been heartbreaking, and incredibly outraging to see the constant stories of young men like Walter Scott, as you said, who have been killed by police officers. Their needs to be a concerted effort to address the systemic racism in our criminal justice system. And, that requires a very clear, agenda for retraining police officers, looking at ways to end racial profiling, finding more ways to really bring the disparities that stalk our country into high relief. One out of three African American men may well end up going to prison. That's the statistic. I want people hear to think what we would be doing if it was one out of three white men, and very often, the black men are arrested, convicted and incarcerated ......for offensive that do not lead to the same results for white men. So, we have a very serious problem that we can no longer ignore. +p4834 +aVWell, Lester, you're right. Everywhere I go to campaign, I'm meeting families who are affected by the drug problem that mostly is opioids and heroin now, and lives are being lost and children are being orphaned. And I've met a lot of grandparents who are now taking care of grandchildren. So I have tried to come out with a comprehensive approach that, number one, does tell the states that we will work with you from the federal government putting more money, about a billion dollars a year, to help states have a different approach to dealing with this epidemic. The policing needs to change. Police officers must be equipped with the antidote to a heroin overdose or an opioid overdose, known as Narcan. They should be able to administer it. So should firefighters and others. We have to move away from treating the use of drugs as a crime and instead, move it to where it belongs, as a health issue. And we need to divert more people from the criminal justice system into drug courts, into treatment, and recovery. +p4835 +aVSo this is the kind of approach that we should take in dealing with what is now... +p4836 +aV... a growing epidemic. +p4837 +aVWell, Andrea, I am absolutely committed to universal health care. I have worked on this for a long time, people may remember that I took on the health insurance industry back in the '90s, and I didn't quit until we got the children's health insurance program that ensures eight million kids. And I certainly respect Senator Sanders' intentions, but when you're talking about health care, the details really matter. And therefore, we have been raising questions about the nine bills that he introduced over 20 years, as to how they would work and what would be the impact on people's health care? He didn't like that, his campaign didn't like it either. And tonight, he's come out with a new health care plan. And again, we need to get into the details. But here's what I believe, the Democratic Party and the United States worked since Harry Truman to get the Affordable Care Act passed. We finally have a path to universal health care. We have accomplished so much already. I do not to want see the Republicans repeal it, and I don't to want see us start over again with a contentious debate. I want us to defend and build on the Affordable Care Act and improve it. +p4838 +aVBut \u2014 Senator Sanders, if I can... You know, I have to say I'm not sure whether we're talking about the plan you just introduced tonight, or we're talking about the plan you introduced nine times in the Congress. But the fact is, we have the Affordable Care Act. That is one of the greatest accomplishments of President Obama, of the Democratic Party, and of our country. And we have already seen 19 million Americans get insurance. We have seen the end of pre-existing conditions keeping people from getting insurance. We have seen women no longer paying more for our insurance than men. And we have seen young people, up to the age of 26, being able to stay on their parent's policy. +p4839 +aVNow, there are things we can do to improve it, but to tear it up and start over again, pushing our country back into that kind of a contentious debate, I think is the wrong direction. +p4840 +aVAnd that's exactly what we are able to do based on the foundation of the Affordable Care Act \u2014 what Governor O'Malley just said is one of the models that we will be looking at to make sure we do get costs down, we do limit a lot of the unnecessary costs that we still have in the system. But, with all due respect, to start over again with a whole new debate is something that I think would set us back. The Republicans just voted last week to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and thank goodness, President Obama vetoed it and saved Obamacare for the American people. +p4841 +aVWell, as someone who \u2014 as someone who has a little bit of experience standing up to the health insurance industry, that spent, you know......many, many millions of dollars attacking me, and probably will so again, because of what I believe we can do building on the Affordable Care Act, I think it's important to point out that there are a lot of reasons we have the health care system we have today. I know how much money influences the political decision-making. That's why I'm for huge campaign finance reform. However, we started a system that had private health insurance. And even during the Affordable Care Act debate, there was an opportunity to vote for what was called the public option. In other words, people could buy in to Medicare, and even when the Democrats were in charge of the Congress, we couldn't get the votes for that. So, what I'm saying is really simple. This has been the fight of the Democratic Party for decades. We have the Affordable Care Act. Let's make it work. Let's take the models that states are doing. We now have driven costs down to the lowest they've been in 50 years. Now we've got to get individual costs down. That's what I'm planning to do. +p4842 +aVWell, I think it's an important point the president made in his State of the Union. And here's what I would say. I will go anywhere, to meet with anyone, at any time to find common ground. That's what I did as a first lady, when I worked with both Democrats and Republicans to get the Children's Health Insurance Program, when I worked with Tom DeLay, one of the most partisan of Republicans, to reform the adoption and foster care system. What I did, working in the Senate, where I crossed the aisle often, working even with the senator from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham, to get Tricare for national guardsmen and women. And it's what I did as Secretary of State, on numerous occasions, and most particularly, rounding up two-thirds votes in order to pass a treaty that lowered the nuclear weapons in both Russia and the United States. So I know it's hard, but I also know you've got to work at it every single day. I look out here, I see a lot of my friends from the Congress. And I know that they work at it every single day. Because maybe you can't only find a little sliver of common ground to cooperate with somebody from the other party, but who knows. If you're successful there, maybe you can build even more. That's what I would do. +p4843 +aVWell thanks for the question and congratulations on five million viewers on YouTube, that's quite an accomplishment. Look, this election is mostly about the future and therefore it is of greatest urgency for young people. I've laid out my ideas about what we can do to make college affordable; how we can help people pay off their student debts and save thousands of dollars, how we can create more good jobs because a lot of the young people that I talk with are pretty disappointed the economic prospects they feel their facing. So making community college free, making it possible to attend a public college or university with debt free tuition, looking for ways to protect our rights especially from the concerted Republican assault; on voting rights, on women's rights, on gay rights, on civil rights, on workers rights. And I know how much young people value their independence, their autonomy, and their rights. So I think this is an election where we have to pull young people and older people together to have a strategy about how we're going to encourage even more American's to vote because it absolutely clear to me... +p4844 +aVThat turning over our White House to the Republicans would be bad for everybody especially young people. +p4845 +aVLook, I have the greatest respect for Senator Sanders and for his supports and I'm going to keep working as hard as I can to reach as many people of all ages about what I will do, what the experience and the ideas that I have that I will bring to the White House and I hope to have their support when I'm the Democratic nominee. +p4846 +aVWell, there's no daylight on the basic premise that there should be no bank too big to fail and no individual too powerful to jail. We agree on that. But where we disagree is the comments that Senator Sanders has made that don't just affect me, I can take that, but he's criticized President Obama for taking donations from Wall Street, and President Obama has led our country out of the great recession. Senator Sanders called him weak, disappointing. He even, in 2011, publicly sought someone to run in a primary against President Obama. Now, I personally believe that President Obama's work to push through the Dodd-Frank... The Dodd-Frank bill and then to sign it was one of the most important regulatory schemes we've had since the 1930s. So I'm going to defend Dodd-Frank and I'm going to defend President Obama for taking on Wall Street, taking on the financial industry and getting results. +p4847 +aVYou know, I think since \u2014 since Senator Standers followed up on this... +p4848 +aVYour profusion of comments about your feelings towards President Obama are a little strange given what you said about him in 2011. But look, I have a plan that most commentators have said is tougher, more effective, and more comprehensive. O' +p4849 +aVIt builds on the Dodd-Frank \u2014 yes, it is. It builds on the Dodd-Frank, regulatory scheme... O' +p4850 +aV... but it goes much further, because... O' +p4851 +aV... both the governor and the senator have focused only on the big banks. Lehman Brothers, AIG, the shadow banking sector were as big a problem in what caused the Great Recession, I go after them. And I can tell you that the hedge fund billionaires who are running ads against me right now, and Karl Rove, who started running an ad against me right now, funded by money from the financial services sector, sure thing, I'm the one they don't want to be up against. +p4852 +aVYes, well, first of all \u2014 first of all, Paul Krugman, Barney Frank, others have all endorsed my plan. Secondly, we have Dodd-Frank. It gives us the authority already to break up big banks that pose... O' +p4853 +aVThat pose a risk to the financial sector. I want to go further and add to that. And, you know, Governor, you have raised money on Wall Street. You raised a lot of money on Wall Street when you were the head of the Democratic Governor's Association... O' +p4854 +aVAnd you were... O' +p4855 +aVYes, well, the point is that if we're going to be serious about this and not just try to score political points, we should know what's in Dodd-Frank, and what's in Dodd-Frank already gives the president the authority......with his regulators to make those decisions. +p4856 +aVWell, the last point on this is, Senator Sanders, you're the only one on this stage that voted to deregulate the financial market in 2000, to take the cops off the street, to use Governor O'Malley's phrase, to make the SEC and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission no longer able to regulate swaps and derivatives, which were one of the main cause of the collapse in '08. So there's plenty... +p4857 +aVThere's plenty of problems that we all have to face together. And the final thing I would say, we're at least having a vigorous debate about reining in Wall Street... +p4858 +aV... The Republicans want to give them more power, and repeal Dodd-Frank. That's what we need to stop... +p4859 +aVWell, I have actually documented every way that I'm going to pay for what I'm doing because I think the American public deserves to know. And, you can go to my website and actually see that. But, there are serious questions about how we're going to pay for what we want to see our country do. And, I'm the only candidate standing here tonight who has said I will not raise taxes on the middle class. I want to raise incomes, not taxes, and I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that the wealthy pay for debt free tuition, for child care, for paid family leave. To help us bring down student debt we're going to refinance that student debt, saving kids thousands of dollars. Yeah, and that will also come out of the \u2014 some of the pockets of people in the financial services industry... +p4860 +aVBut I will tell you exactly how I pay for everything I've proposed... +p4861 +aVAnd let me... +p4862 +aVWell, I'm very proud of the Iran Nuclear Agreement. I was very pleased to be part of what the president put into action when he took office. I was responsible for getting those sanctions imposed which put the pressure on Iran. It brought them to the negotiating table which resulted in this agreement. And so, they have been so far, following their requirements under the agreement. But I think we still have to carefully watch them. We've had one good day over 36 year and I think we need more good days before we move more rapidly toward any kind of normalization. And we have to be sure that they are truly going to implement the agreement. And then, we have to go after them on a lot of their other bad behavior in the region which is causing enormous problems in Syria, Yemen, Iraq and elsewhere. +p4863 +aVAbsolutely not. I have a three point plan that does not include American Ground forces. It includes the United States leading an air coalition which is what we're doing, supporting fighters on the ground; the Iraqi Army which is beginning to show more ability, the Sunni fighters that we are now helping to reconstitute and Kurdish on both sides of the border. I think we also have try to disrupt their supply chain of foreign fighters and foreign money and we do have to contest them in online space. So I'm very committed to both going after +p4864 +aVLook, I think that the president's decision to go after the chemical weapons once there was a potential opportunity to build on when the Russians opened that door resulted in a very positive outcome. We were able to get the chemical weapons out. I know from my own experience as secretary of State that we were deeply worried about Assad's forces using chemical weapons because it would have had not only a horrific affect on people in Syria, but it could very well have affected the surrounding states, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Turkey. So getting those chemical weapons out was a big deal, but... +p4865 +aVWell \u2014 but \u2014 but... +p4866 +aVI think, as commander in chief, you've got to constantly be evaluating the decisions you have to make. I know a little bit about this, having spent many hours in the situation room, advising President Obama. And I want to just add to something that Senator Sanders said, the United States had a very big interest in trying to help stabilize the region. If there is any blame to be spread around, it starts with the prime minister of Iraq, who sectarianized his military, setting Shia against Sunni. It is amplified by Assad, who has waged one of the bloodiest, most terrible attacks on his own people: 250,000-plus dead, millions fleeing. Causing this vacuum that has been filled unfortunately, by terrorist groups, including +p4867 +aV... and go after +p4868 +aVBut overall, a lot of the forces at work in the region are ones that we cannot directly influence, but we can... +p4869 +aVWell, it would depend on what I got for it and I can tell you what we got in the first term, we got a new start treaty to reduce nuclear weapons between the United States and Russia. We got permission to resupply our troops in Afghanistan by traveling across Russia. We got Russia to sign on to our sanctions against Iran and other very important commitments. So look, in diplomacy, you are always trying to see how you can figure out the interest of the other to see if there isn't some way you can advance your security and your values. When Putin came back in the fall of 2011, it was very clear he came back with a mission. And I began speaking out as soon as that happened because there were some fraudulent elections held, and Russians poured out into the streets to demand their freedom, and he cracked down. And in fact, accused me of fomenting it. So we now know that he has a mixed record to say the least and we have to figure out how to deal with him. +p4870 +aVWell, my relationship with him, it's \u2014 it's interesting. It's one, I think, of respect. We've had some very tough dealings with one another. And I know that he's someone that you have to continuingly stand up to because, like many bullies, he is somebody who will take as much as he possibly can unless you do. And we need to get the Europeans to be more willing to stand up, I was pleased they put sanctions on after Crimea and eastern Ukraine and the downing of the airliner, but we've got to be more united in preventing Putin from taking a more aggressive stance in Europe and the Middle East. +p4871 +aVOh, we're breaking? OK. +p4872 +aVWell, I wanted to say, and I'll do it quickly, I was very pleased that leaders of President Obama's administration went out to Silicon Valley last week and began exactly this conversation about what we can do, consistent with privacy and security. We need better intelligence cooperation, we need to be sure that we are getting the best intelligence that we can from friends and allies around the world. And then, we've got to recognize our first line of defense against lone wolf attacks is among Muslim Americans. And it is not only shameful, it is dangerous for the kinds of comments you're hearing from the Republican side. We need to be reaching out and unifying our country against terrorist attacks and lone wolves, and working with Muslim Americans. +p4873 +aVThat is not what I've heard. Let me leave it at that. O' +p4874 +aVWell, it'll start at the kitchen table, we'll see how it goes from there. And I......I'm going to have the very best advisers that I can possibly have, and when it comes to the economy and what was accomplished under my husband's leadership and the '90s \u2014 especially when it came to raising incomes for everybody and lifting more people out of poverty than at any time in recent history \u2014 you bet. I'm going to ask for his ideas, I'm going ask for his advice, and I'm going use him as a goodwill emissary to go around the country to find the best ideas we've got, because I do believe, as he said, everything that's wrong with America has been solved somewhere in America. We just have to do more of it, and we have to reach out, especially into poor communities and communities of color, to give more people their own chance to get ahead. +p4875 +aVWell Lester, I spent a lot of time last week being outraged by what's happening in Flint, Michigan and I think every single American should be outraged. We've had a city in the United States of America where the population which is poor in many ways and majority African American has been drinking and bathing in lead contaminated water. And the governor of that state acted as though he didn't really care. He had request for help and he had basically stone walled. I'll tell you what, if the kids in a rich suburb of Detroit had been drinking contaminated water and being bathed in it, there would've been action. So I sent my top campaign aide down there to talk to the mayor of Flint to see what I could to help. I issued a statement about what we needed to do and then I went on a T.V. show and I said, "it was outrageous that the governor hadn't acted and within two hours he had." +p4876 +aVI want to be a president who takes care of the big problems and the problems that are affecting the people of our country everyday. +p4877 +aVWell, thank you. And I'm delighted to be here in New Hampshire for this debate. You know, the American president has to both keep our families safe and make the economy grow in a way that helps everyone, not just those at the top. That's the job. I have a strategy to combat and defeat +p4878 +aVI very much appreciate that comment, Bernie. It really is important that we go forward on this. I know that you now have your data back, and that there has been an agreement for an independent inquiry into what did happen. Obviously, we were distressed when we learned of it, because we have worked very hard -- I said in the beginning of this campaign, we want to reach as many voters as possible, and we have tens of thousands of volunteers doing that, and entering data all the time to keep up with what people are telling us. And so, now that, I think, you know, we have resolved your data, we have agreed on an independent inquiry, we should move on. Because I don't think the American people are all that interested in this. I think they're more interested in what we have to say about all the big issues facing us. O' +p4879 +aVWell, first, the most important job of being president is obviously to keep our country safe and to keep the families of America safe. I have a plan that I've put forward to go after +p4880 +aVWell, I think you have to look at both the terrorism challenge that we face abroad and certainly at home and the role that guns play in delivering the violence that stalks us. Clearly, we have to have a very specific set of actions to take. You know, when Senator Sanders talks about a coalition, I agree with him about that. We've got to build a coalition abroad. We also have to build a coalition at home. Abroad, we need a coalition that is going to take on +p4881 +aVYes, I'm getting... +p4882 +aV... I'm getting to that. Because I think if you only think about the coalition abroad you're missing the main point, which is we need a coalition here at home. Guns, in and of themselves, in my opinion, will not make Americans safer. We lose 33,000 people a year already to gun violence, arming more people to do what I think is not the appropriate response to terrorism. I think what is... Is creating much deeper, closer relations and, yes, coalitions within our own country. The first line of defense against radicalization is in Muslim-American community. People who we should be welcoming and working with. I worry greatly that the rhetoric coming from the Republicans, particularly Donald Trump, is sending a message to Muslims here in the United States and literally around the world that there is a "clash of civilizations," that there is some kind of Western plot or even "war against Islam," which then I believe fans the flames of radicalization. So guns have to be looked at as its own problem, but we also have to figure out how we're going to deal with the radicalization here in the United States. +p4883 +aVYes, let's tell the truth, Martin. O' +p4884 +aVHe invoked mine as well. +p4885 +aVI do and this is an important issue and I know we'll get to a lot of other critical ones as well. I actually agree with Governor O'Malley about the need for common sense gun safety measures. And I applaud his record in Maryland. I just wish he wouldn't misrepresent mine. I have been for the Brady bill, I have been against assault weapons. I have voted not to give gun makers and sellers immunity. And I also know that -- and I'm glad to see this -- Senator Sanders has really moved in face of the facts about what we're confronting in our country. I know that he has said in the two previous that he wants to take on this immunity issue because we need to send a strong message to the gun manufacturers, to the sellers, to the gun lobby. And I would hope, Senator Sanders, that you would join the Democrats who are trying to close the Charleston loophole, that you would sponsor or co-sponsor legislation to remove the absolute immunity. We need to move on this consensus that exists in the country. It's no longer enough just to say the vast majority of Americans want common sense gun safety measures including gun owners. We need, and only the three of us will do this, nobody on the Republican side will even admit there's a problem. And in whatever way the three of us can we need to move this agenda forward and begin to deal with the gun lobby and the intimidation that they present. +p4886 +aVWell I think a lot of people are understandably reacting out of fear and anxiety about what they're seeing. First what they saw in Paris, now what they have seen in San Bernardino. And Mr. Trump has a great capacity to use bluster and bigotry to inflame people and to make think there are easy answers to very complex questions. So what I would say is, number one, we need to be united against the threats that we face. We need to have everybody in our country focused on watching what happens and reporting it if it's suspicious, reporting what you hear. Making sure that Muslim Americans don't feel left out or marginalized at the very moment when we need their help. +p4887 +aVYou know, I was a senator from New York after 9/11, and we spent countless hours trying to figure out how to protect the city and the state from perhaps additional attacks. One of the best things that was done, and George W. Bush did this and I give him credit, was to reach out to Muslim Americans and say, we're in this together. You are not our adversary, you are our partner. And we also need to make sure that the really discriminatory messages that Trump is sending around the world don't fall on receptive ears. He is becoming +p4888 +aVI would not want to go to that point. I would hope that, given the extraordinary capacities that the tech community has and the legitimate needs and questions from law enforcement, that there could be a Manhattan-like project, something that would bring the government and the tech communities together to see they're not adversaries, they've got to be partners. It doesn't do anybody any good if terrorists can move toward encrypted communication that no law enforcement agency can break into before or after. There must be some way. I don't know enough about the technology, Martha, to be able to say what it is, but I have a lot of confidence in our tech experts. And maybe the back door is the wrong door, and I understand what Apple and others are saying about that. But I also understand, when a law enforcement official charged with the responsibility of preventing attacks -- to go back to our early questions, how do we prevent attacks -- well, if we can't know what someone is planning, we are going to have to rely on the neighbor or, you know, the member of the mosque or the teacher, somebody to see something. +p4889 +aVI just think there's got to be a way, and I would hope that our tech companies would work with government to figure that out. Otherwise, law enforcement is blind -- blind before, blind during, and, unfortunately, in many instances, blind after. So we always have to balance liberty and security, privacy and safety, but I know that law enforcement needs the tools to keep us safe. And that's what I hope, there can be some understanding and cooperation to achieve. +p4890 +aVWell, I agree that we have to have the toughest screening and vetting... +p4891 +aVI don't think a halt is necessary. What we have to do is put all of our resources through the Department of Homeland Security, through the State Department, through our intelligence agencies, and we have to have an increased vetting and screening. Now, this takes, David, 18 months to 24 months, two years. So I know it's not going to happen overnight and everything that can be done should be done. But the process should move forward while we are also taking on +p4892 +aVSo, I think it's absolutely wrong policy for us to be even imagining we're going end up putting tens of thousands of American troops into Syria and Iraq to fight +p4893 +aVWell, I just think you're asking a question with a false choice. I believe if we lead an air coalition, which we are now in the position of doing and intensify it, if we continue to build back up the Iraqi army, which has had some recent success in Ramadi, as you know, if we get back talking to the tribal sheiks in Anbar to try to rebuild those relationships, which were very successful, in going after Al Qaida in Iraq, if we get the Turks to pay more attention to +p4894 +aVWell, I just want to quickly add... +p4895 +aVMartha, that -- you know, one of the reasons why I have advocated for a no-fly zone is in order to create those safe refuges within Syria, to try to protect people on the ground both from Assad's forces, who are continuing to drop barrel bombs, and from +p4896 +aVI do not think it would come to that. We are already de-conflicting air space. We know... +p4897 +aVNo, I don't think so. I am advocating... +p4898 +aVI am advocating the no-fly zone both because I think it would help us on the ground to protect Syrians; I'm also advocating it because I think it gives us some leverage in our conversations with Russia. Now that Russia has joined us in the Security Council, has adopted an agreement that we hashed out a long day in Geneva three years ago, now I think we can have those conversations. The no-fly zone, I would hope, would be also shared by Russia. If they will begin to turn their military attention away from going after the adversaries of Assad toward +p4899 +aVThat is exactly... +p4900 +aVThat is exactly what I just said and what I just described. +p4901 +aVAnd that is important, because now we have a U.N. Security Council that will enable us to do that. And, you know, with all due respect, Senator, you voted for regime change with respect to Libya. You joined the Senate in voting to get rid of Gadhafi, and you asked that there be a Security Council validation of that with a resolution. All of these are very difficult issues. I know that; I've been dealing with them for a long time. And, of course, we have to continue to do what is necessary when someone like Gadhafi, a despot with American blood on his hands, is overturned. But I'll tell you what would have happened, if we had not joined with our European partners and our Arab partners to assist the people in Libya, you would be looking at Syria. Now the Libyans are turning their attention to try to dislodge +p4902 +aVI think we're missing the point here. We are doing both at the same time. +p4903 +aVWell, I don't agree with that, because we will not get the support on the ground in Syria to dislodge +p4904 +aVSince he has been making all kinds of comments. I think it's fair to say, Assad has killed, by last count, about 250,000 Syrians. The reason we are in the mess we're in, that +p4905 +aVAnd we finally have a U.N. Security Council Resolution bringing the world together to go after a political transition in Syria. +p4906 +aVIf the United States does not lead, there is not another leader. There is a vacuum. +p4907 +aVAnd we have to lead, if we're going to be successful. +p4908 +aVSorry. +p4909 +aVWell, I've been talking to a lot of these families, and this is such an outrage, both because it's bad for our economy, we're a 70 percent consumption economy, people need to feel optimistic and confident, they need to believe their hard work is going to be rewarded, and it's bad for our democracy. It's absolutely the case that if people feel that the game is rigged, that has consequences. I think it's great standing up here with the senator and the governor talking about these issues, because you're not going to hear anything like this from any of the Republicans who are running for president. They don't want to raise the minimum wage; they don't want to do anything to increase incomes. At the center of my economic policy is raising incomes, because people haven't been able to get ahead, and the cost of everything, from college tuition to prescription drugs, has gone up. Of course we have to raise the minimum wage. Of course we have to do more to incentivize profit sharing, like we see with Market Basket right here in New Hampshire and New England, where all of the employees get a chance to share in the profits. And we've got to do more on equal pay for equal work. That means pass the Paycheck Fairness Act so we have transparency about how much people are making. That's the way to get women's wages up, and that's good for them and good for their families and good for our communities. And there is a lot we can do in college affordability. I have debt-free tuition plans, free community college plans, getting student debt down. I also am very committed to getting the price of drugs down. And there's a lot. You can go to my website... +p4910 +aV... hillaryclinton.com, and read about it. But I guess the final thing that -- that I would say is this is the kind of debate we need to take to the Republicans in the fall. +p4911 +aVThis is the election... +p4912 +aV... issues they have to respond to. +p4913 +aVEverybody should. Look, I have said I want to be the president for the struggling, the striving and the successful. I want to make sure the wealthy pay their fair share, which they have not been doing. I want the Buffett Rule to be in effect, where millionaires have to pay 30 percent tax rates instead of 10 percent to nothing in some cases. I want to make sure we rein in the excessive use of political power to feather the nest and support the super wealthy. But I also want to create jobs and I want to be a partner with the private sector. I'm particularly keen on creating jobs in small business. My dad was a small businessman, a really small business. I want to do more to help incentivize and create more small businesses. So if -- if people who are in the private sector know what I stand for, it's what I fought for as a senator, it's what I will do as president, and they want to be part of once again building our economy so it works for everybody, more power to them, because they are the kind of business leaders who understand that if we don't get the American economy moving and growing, we're not going to recognize our country and we're not going to give our kids the same opportunities that we had. +p4914 +aVOK... +p4915 +aVLet me respond... +p4916 +aVUnder the rules, I have been -- I have been invoked, David, so let me respond very quickly. Number one... +p4917 +aVNumber one, there are currently two hedge fund billionaires running ads against me here in New Hampshire. They started in Iowa. Now, you'd have to ask yourself, why are they running ads against me? And the answer is: Because they know I will go right after them, that I will not let their agenda be America's agenda. Secondly, I think it's important to point out that about 3 percent of my donations come from people in the finance and investment world. You can go to opensecrets.org and check that. I have more donations from students and teachers than I do from people associated with Wall Street. Now, number three -- and let me say this -- when Governor O'Malley was heading the Democratic Governors Association, he had no trouble at all going to Wall Street to raise money to run campaigns for Democratic governors. And he also had no trouble appointing an investment banker to be in charge of his consumer protection bureau when he was governor. So, you know, again, the difference between us and the Republicans is night and day. And there is only one person on this stage who voted to take away authority from the SEC and the Commodities Future Trading Commission that they could no longer regulate what are called swaps and derivatives, which actually contributed to the collapse of Lehman Brothers, and that was Senator Sanders. So if we're going to be talking like this, we can -- and maybe we can score some political points -- but the fact is: Every one of us stands for the kind of economy that will work better for every American. And if that means taking on Wall Street, I have a plan that is tough and comprehensive and praised by a lot of folks who say it goes further than what both Senator Sanders and Governor O'Malley are proposing. +p4918 +aVWell, I would certainly build on the successes of the Affordable Care Act and work to fix some of the glitches that you just referenced. Number one, we do have more people who have access to health care. We have ended the terrible situation that people with pre- existing conditions were faced with where they couldn't find at any affordable price health care. Women are not charged more than men any longer for our health insurance. And we keep young people on our policies until they turn 26. Those are all really positive developments. But out-of-pocket costs have gone up too much and prescription drug costs have gone through the roof. And so what I have proposed, number one, is a $5,000 tax credit to help people who have very large out-of-pocket costs be able to afford those. Number two, I want Medicare to be able to negotiate for lower drug prices just like they negotiate with other countries' health systems. We end up paying the highest prices in the world. And I want us to be absolutely clear about making sure the insurance companies in the private employer policy arena as well as in the Affordable Care exchanges are properly regulated so that we are not being gamed. And I think that's an important point to make because I'm going through and analyzing the points you were making, Martha. We don't have enough competition and we don't have enough oversight of what the insurance companies are charging everybody right now. +p4919 +aVYes. +p4920 +aVWell, they're glitches because... +p4921 +aVIt is. Because part of this is the startup challenges that this system is facing. We have fought, as Democrats, for decades to get a health care plan. I know. I've got the scars to show from the effort back in the early '90s. We want to build on it and fix it. And I'm confident we can do that. And it will have effects in the private market. And one of the reasons in some states why the percentage cost has gone up so much is because governors there would not extend Medicaid. And so people are still going to get health care, thankfully, in emergency rooms, in hospitals. Those costs are then added to the overall cost, which does increase the insurance premiums for people in the private system. +p4922 +aVRight. +p4923 +aVWell, I have what I call the new college compact. Because I think everybody has to have some skin in this game, you know. Number one, States have been dis-investing in higher education. In fact, I think New Hampshire, in state tuition for public colleges and universities, is among the highest if not the highest in the country. So states over a period of decades have put their money elsewhere; into prisons, into highways, into things other than higher education. So under my compact, the federal government will match money that the states begin to put back in to the higher education system. Secondly, I don't believe in free tuition for everybody. I believe we should focus on middle-class families, working families, and poor kids who have the ambition and the talent to go to college and get ahead. So I have proposed debt free tuition, which I think is affordable and I would move a lot of the Pell Grant and other aid into the arena where it could be used for living expense. So I put all of this together, again, on my website and I've gotten such a good response. But I want to quickly say, one of the areas that Senator Sanders touched on in talking about education and certainly talking about health care is his commitment to really changing the systems. Free college, a single payer system for health--and it's been estimated we're looking at 18 to $20 trillion, about a 40 percent in the federal budget. And I have looked at his proposed plans for health care for example, and it really does transfer every bit of our health care system including private health care, to the states to have the states run. And I think we've got to be really thoughtful about how we're going to afford what we proposed, which is why everything that I have proposed I will tell you exactly how I'm going to pay for it; including college. +p4924 +aVWell, the only thing - the only thing I can go on Senator Sanders... +p4925 +aVYour proposal is to go and send the health care system to the state. +p4926 +aVAnd my analysis is that you are going to get more taxes out of middle class families. I'm the only person... +p4927 +aV... saying, no middle class tax raises. That's off the table... +p4928 +aVThat is a pledge that I'm making. I made it when I ran in 2008. +p4929 +aVYes, and it was the same one that President Obama made. Because I don't think we should be imposing new big programs that are going to raise middle class families' taxes. We just heard that most families haven't had a wage increase since 2001. Since, you know, the end of the last Clinton administration when incomes did go up for everybody. And we've got to get back to where people can save money again, where they can invest in their families, and I don't think a middle-class tax should be part of anybody's plan right now. +p4930 +aVSenator, I have been -- I have been fighting for paid... +p4931 +aV... family leave for a very long time... +p4932 +aVI have a way to pay for it that actually makes the wealthiest pay for it... +p4933 +aV... not everybody else. +p4934 +aVWell, David, I think this is one of the most important challenges facing not just our next president but our country. We have systemic racism and injustice and inequities in our country and in particular, in our justice system that must be addressed and must be ended. I feel very strongly that we have to reform our criminal justice system and we have to find ways to try to bring law enforcement together again with the communities that they are sworn to protect. Trust has been totally lost in a lot of places. At the same time, we know that in many parts of our country police officers are bridging those divides and they're acting heroically. The young officer who was killed responding to the Planned Parenthood murders. The officer who told the victims of the San Bernardino killings that he would take a bullet before them. So I think that we need to build on the work of the policing commissioner that President Obama impaneled. We need to get a bipartisan commitment to work together on this. And we need to hear the voices of those men and women and boys and girls who feel like strangers in their own country and do whatever is necessary to not only deal with the immediate problems within the criminal justice system, but more opportunities, more jobs, better education so that we can begin to rebuild that very valuable asset known as trust. +p4935 +aVYou know, on my very first visit to New Hampshire in this campaign, I was in Keene, and I was asked, "what are you going to do about the heroin epidemic?" And all over New Hampshire, I met grandmothers who are raising children because they lost the father or the mother to an overdose. I met young people who are desperately trying to get clean and have nowhere to go, because there are not enough facilities. So this is a major epidemic, and it has hit New Hampshire and Vermont particularly hard. I've had had two town halls, one in Keene, one in Laconia, dedicated exclusively to talking about what we can do. And I've heard some great ideas about how law enforcement is changing its behavior, how the recovery community is reaching out. And I was proud to get the endorsement of Mayor Walsh of Boston, who has made his struggle with alcoholism a real clarion call for action in this arena. So, I've laid out a five-point plan about what we can do together. I would like the federal government to offer $10 billion over ten years to work with states, and I really applaud Governor Hassan for taking up this challenge and working with the legislature here to come up with a plan. We need to do more on the prescribing end of it. There are too many opioids being prescribed, and that leads directly now to heroin addiction. And we need to change the way we do law enforcement, and of course, we need more programs and facilities, so when somebody is ready to get help, there's a place for them to go. And every law enforcement should carry the antidote to overdose, Naloxone, so that they can save lives that are on the brink of expiring. +p4936 +aVWell, first, let's remember why we became part of a coalition to stop Gadhafi from committing massacres against his people. The United States was asked to support the Europeans and the Arab partners that we had and we did a lot of due diligence about whether we should or not, and eventually, yes, I recommended and the president decided that we would support the action to protect civilians on the ground and that led to the overthrow of Gadhafi. I think that what Libya then did by having a full free election, which elected moderates, was an indication of their crying need and desire to get on the right path. Now, the whole region has been rendered unstable, in part because of the aftermath of the Arab Spring, in part because of the very effective outreach and propagandizing that +p4937 +aVMartha, we offered a lot more than they were willing to take. We offered a lot more. We also got rid of their chemical weapons, which was a big help, and we also went after a lot of the shoulder-fired missiles to round them up. You know, we can't -- if we're not going to send American troops, which there was never any idea of doing that, then to try to send trainers, to try to send experts, is something we offered, Europeans offered, the U.N. offered, and there wasn't a lot of responsiveness at first. I think a lot of the Libyans who had been forced out of their country by Gadhafi who came back to try to be part of a new government, believed they knew what to do and it turned out that they were no match for some of the, you know, militaristic forces inside that country. But I'm not giving up on Libya and I don't think anybody should. We've been at this a couple of years. +p4938 +aVWell, there's always a retrospective to say what mistakes were made. But I know that we offered a lot of help and I know it was difficult for the Libyans to accept help. What we could have done if they had said yes would have been a lot more than what we were able to have done. +p4939 +aVWell, I would just repeat that. +p4940 +aVWait a minute. I think it's only fair to put on the record, Senator Sanders voted in the Senate for a resolution calling for ending the Gadhafi regime and asking that the U.N. be brought in, either a congressional vote or a U.N. Security Council vote. We got a U.N. Security council vote. Now, I understand that this is very difficult. And I'm not standing here today and saying that Libya is as far along as Tunisia. We saw what happened in Egypt. I cautioned about a quick overthrow of Mubarak, and we now are back with basically an army dictatorship. This is a part of the world where the United States has tried to play two different approaches. One, work with the tough men, the dictators, for our own benefit and promote democracy. That's a hard road to walk. But I think it's the right road for us to try to travel. O' +p4941 +aVWell, the role has been defined by each person who's held it. And I am very grateful for all my predecessors and my successors because each of them not only did what she could to support her husband and our country but often chose to work on important issues that were of particular concern. Obviously, Mrs. Obama has been a terrific leader when it comes to young people's health, particularly nutrition and exercise. And I think has had a big impact. So whoever is part of the family of a president has an extraordinary privilege of not only having a front row seat on history but making her or maybe his contribution. And with respect to my own husband, I am probably still going to pick the flowers and the china for state dinners and stuff like that. But I will certainly turn to him as prior presidents have for special missions, for advice, and in particular, how we're going to get the economy working again for everybody, which he knows a little bit about. +p4942 +aVOn January 20th, 2017, the next president of the United States will walk into the White House. If, heaven forbid, that next president is a Republican, I think it's pretty clear we know what will happen. A lot of the rights that have been won over years, from women's rights to voter rights to gay rights to worker rights, will be at risk. Social Security, which Republicans call a Ponzi scheme, may face privatization. Our vets may see the V.A. hospital that needs to be improved and made better for them turned over to privatization. Planned Parenthood will be defunded. The list goes on because the differences are so stark. You know, everybody says every election's important, and there's truth to that. This is a watershed election. I know how important it is that we have a Democrat succeed President Obama in the White House. And I will do all that I can in this campaign to reach out and explain what I stand for and what I will do as president. You know, I became a grandmother 15 months ago, and so I spent a lot of time thinking about my granddaughter's future. But as president, I will spend even more time thinking about the futures of all the kids and the grandchildren in this country because I want to make sure every single child has a chance to live up to his or her God-given potential. If you will join me in this campaign, we will make that a mission. Thank you, good night and may the force be with you. +p4943 +aVWell, our prayers are with the people of France tonight, but that is not enough. We need to have a resolve that will bring the world together to root out the kind of radical jihadist ideology that motivates organizations like +p4944 +aVWell, John, I think that we have to look at +p4945 +aVWell, John, look, I think that what happened when we abided by the agreement that George W. Bush made with the Iraqis to leave by 2011, is that an Iraqi army was left that had been trained and that was prepared to defend Iraq. Unfortunately, Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister, set about decimating it. And then, with the revolution against Assad -- and I did early on say we needed to try to find a way to train and equip moderates very early so that we would have a better idea of how to deal with Assad because I thought there would be extremist groups filling the vacuum. So, yes, this has developed. I think that there are many other reasons why it has in addition to what happened in the region, but I don't think that the United States has the bulk of the responsibility. I really put that on Assad and on the Iraqis and on the region itself. +p4946 +aVThank you, John. Well, thank you, John. I think it's important we put this in historic context. The United States has, unfortunately, been victimized by terrorism going back decades. In the 1980s, it was in Beirut, Lebanon, under President Reagan's administration, and 258 Americans, marines, embassy personnel, and others were murdered. We also had attacks on two of our embassies in Tanzania, Kenya, when my husband was president. Again, Americans murdered. And then, of course, 9/11 happened, which happened before there was an invasion of Iraq. I have said the invasion of Iraq was a mistake. But I think if we're ever going to really tackle the problems posed by jihadi extreme terrorism, we need to understand it and realize that it has antecedents to what happened in Iraq and we have to continue to be vigilant about it. +p4947 +aVWell, of course, each of these cases needs to be looked at individually and analyzed. Part of the problem that we have currently in the Middle East is that Assad has hung on to power with the very strong support of Russia and Iran and with the proxy of Hezbollah being there basically fighting his battles. So I don't think you can paint with a broad brush. This is an incredibly complicated region of the world. It's become more complicated. And many of the fights that are going on are not ones that the United States has either started or have a role in. The Shi'a-Sunni split. The dictatorships have suppressed people's aspirations. The increasing globalization without any real safety valve for people to have a better life. We saw that in Egypt. We saw a dictator overthrown. We saw a Muslim brotherhood president installed, and then we saw him ousted and the army back. So, I think we've got to understand the complexity of the world that we are facing and no place is more so than in the Middle East. +p4948 +aVWell, I think -- I think that is very unfair to a few you mentioned, most particularly Jordan, which has put a lot on the line for the United States, has also taken in hundreds of thousands of refugees from Syria, and has been, therefore, subjected to threats and attacks by extremists themselves. I do agree that in particular, Turkey and the Gulf nations have got to make up their minds. Are they going to stand with us against this kind of jihadi radicalism or not? And there are many ways of doing it. They can provide forces. They can provide resources. But they need to be absolutely clear about where they stand. +p4949 +aVWell, we did have a plan, and I think it's fair to say that of all of the Arab leaders, Gaddafi probably had more blood on his hands of Americans than anybody else. And when he moved on his own people, threatening a massacre, genocide, the Europeans and the Arabs, our allies and partners, did ask for American help and we provided it. And we didn't put a single boot on the ground, and Gaddafi was deposed. The Libyans turned out for one of the most successful, fairest elections that any Arab country has had. They elected moderate leaders. Now, there has been a lot of turmoil and trouble as they have tried to deal with these radical elements which you find in this arc of instability, from north Africa to Afghanistan. And it is imperative that we do more not only to help our friends and partners protect themselves and protect our own homeland, but also to work to try to deal with this arc of instability, which does have a lot of impact on what happens in a country like Libya. +p4950 +aVWell, I think it's perfectly fair to say that we invested quite a bit in development aid. Some of the bravest people that I had the privilege of working with as secretary of state were our development professionals who went sometimes alone, sometimes with our military, into very dangerous places in Iraq, in Afghanistan, elsewhere. So, there does need to be a whole of government approach, but just because we're involved and we have a strategy doesn't mean we're going to be able to dictate the outcome. These are often very long- term kinds of investments that have to be made. +p4951 +aVI don't think we're at war with Islam. I don't think we're at war with all Muslims. I think we're at war with jihadists who have -- +p4952 +aVI think +p4953 +aVI think with this kind of barbarism and nihilism, it's very hard to understand, other than the lust for power, the rejection of modernity, the total disregard for human rights, freedom, or any other value that we know and respect. Historically, it is important to try to understand your adversary in order to figure out how they are thinking, what they will be doing, how they will react. I plead that it's very difficult when you deal with +p4954 +aVYes. +p4955 +aVWell, we have an authorization to use military force against terrorists. We passed it after 9/11. +p4956 +aVIt certainly does cover it. I would like to see it updated. +p4957 +aVNo, it would have to go through the Congress, and I know the White House has actually been working with members of Congress. Maybe now we can get it moving again so that we can upgrade it so that it does include all the tools and everything in our arsenal that we can use to try to work with our allies and our friends, come up with better intelligence. You know, it is difficult finding intelligence that is actionable in a lot of these places, but we have to keep trying. And we have to do more to prevent the flood of foreign fighters that have gone to Syria, especially the ones with western passports, that come back. So there's a lot of work we need to do and I want to be sure what's called the +p4958 +aVI think that is the number one requirement. I also said that we should take increased numbers of refugees. The administration originally said 10. I said we should go to 65, but only if we have as careful a screening and vetting process as we can imagine, whatever resources it takes because I do not want us to, in any way, inadvertently allow people who wish us harm to come into our country. But I want to say a quick word about what Senator Sanders and then Governor O'Malley said. We do have to take a hard look at the defense budget and we do have to figure out how we get ready to fight the adversaries of the future, not the past. But we have to also be very clear that we do have some continuing challenges. We've got challenges in the South China Sea because of what China is doing in building up these military installations. We have problems with Russia. Just the other day, Russia allowed a television camera to see the plans for a drone submarine that could carry a tactical nuclear weapon. So we've got to look at the full range and then come to some smart decisions about having more streamlined and focused approach. +p4959 +aVWell, first of all, it isn't the middle class. I have made very clear that hardworking, middle-class families need a raise, not a tax increase. In fact, wages adjusted for inflation haven't risen since the turn of the last century, after my husband's administration. So we have a lot of work to do to get jobs going again, get incomes rising again. And I have laid out specific plans -- you can go to my web site, hillaryclinton.com, and read the details. And I will pay for it by, yes, taxing the wealthy more, closing corporate loopholes, deductions, and other kinds of favorable treatment. And I can do it without raising the debt, without raising taxes on the middle class and making it reasonably manageable within our budget so that we can be fiscally responsible at the same time. +p4960 +aVWell, we're going to have to redo the way the prescription drug industry does business. For example, it is outrageous that we don't have an opportunity for Medicare to negotiate for lower prices. In fact, American consumers pay the highest prices in the world for drugs that we help to be developed through the National Institute of Health and that we then tested through the FDA. So there's more to my plan than just the cap. We have to go after price gouging and monopolistic practices and get Medicare the authority to negotiate. +p4961 +aVWell, look, I believe that we've made great progress as a country with the Affordable Care Act. We've been struggling to get this done since Harry Truman. And it was not only a great accomplishment of the Democratic Party, but of President Obama. I do think that it's important to defend it. The Republicans have voted to repeal it nearly 60 times. They would like to rip it up and start all over again, throw our nation back into this really contentious debate that we've had about health care for quite some time now. I want to build on and improve the Affordable Care Act. I would certainly tackle the cost issues, because I think that once the foundation was laid with a system to try to get as many people as possible into it, to end insurance discrimination against people with preexisting conditions or women, for example, that, yes, we were going to have to figure out how to get more competition in the insurance market, how to get the costs of -- particularly, prescription drugs, but other out-of-pocket expenses down. But I think it's important to understand there's a significant difference that I have with Senator Sanders about how best to provide quality, affordable health care for everyone. And it's-- it's a worthy debate. It's an important one that we should be engaged in. +p4962 +aVWell, first of all, I know that the President has appealed the decision to the Supreme Court. And my reading of the law and the Constitution convinces me that the President has the authority that he is attempting to exercise with respect to dreamers and their parents, because I think all of us on this stage agree that we need comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship. Border security has always been a part of that debate. And it is a fact that the net immigration from Mexico and South has basically zeroed out. So, what we want to do is to say, look, we have 11 million people who have been here, many of them for decades. They have children who are doing so well, I've met and worked with dreamers. I think any parent would be so proud of them. So let's move toward what we should be doing as a nation and follow the values of our immigration history and begin to make it possible for them to come out of the shadows and to have a future that gives them a full chance of citizenship. +p4963 +aVKathie, I think -- Kathie the... +p4964 +aVBut I do take what Alan Krueger said seriously. He is the foremost expert in our country on the minimum wage, and what its effects are. And the overall message is that it doesn't result in job loss. However, what Alan Krueger said in the piece you're referring to is that if we went to $15, there are no international comparisons. That is why I support a $12 national federal minimum wage. That is what the Democrats in the Senate have put forward as a proposal. But I do believe that is a minimum. And places like Seattle, like Los Angeles, like New York City, they can go higher. It's what happened in Governor O'Malley's state. There was a minimum wage at the state level, and some places went higher. I think that is... O' +p4965 +aVI think that is the smartest way to be able to move forward because if you go to $12 it would be the highest historical average we've ever had. O' +p4966 +aVBut you would index it -- you would index it to the median wage. Of course, you would. Do the $12 and you would index it. But I... O' +p4967 +aVHe's not wall street. O' +p4968 +aVThat's not fair. He's a progressive economist. +p4969 +aVWell, I think it's pretty clear that they know that I will. You have two billionaire hedge fund managers who started a super PAC and they're advertising against me in Iowa as we speak. So they clearly think I'm going to do what I say I will do and you can look at what I did in the Senate. I did introduce legislation to reign in compensation. I looked at ways that the shareholders would have more control over what was going on in that arena. And specifically said to Wall Street, that what they were doing in the mortgage market was bringing our country down. I've laid out a very aggressive plan to reign in Wall Street -- not just the big banks. That's a part of the problem and I am going right at them. I have a comprehensive, tough plan. But I went further than that. We have to go after what is called the shadow banking industry. Those hedge funds. Look at what happened in '08, AIG, a big insurance company, Lehman Brothers, an investment bank helped to bring our economy down. So, I want to look at the whole problem and that's why my proposal is much more comprehensive than anything else that's been put forth. +p4970 +aVWell John, wait a minute. Wait a minute, he has basically used his answer to impune my integrity. Let's be frank here. +p4971 +aVOh, wait a minute, senator. You know, not only do I have hundreds of thousands of donors, most of them small. And I'm very proud that for the first time a majority of my donors are women, 60 percent. So, I represented New York, and I represented New York on 9/11 when we were attacked. Where were we attacked? We were attacked in downtown Manhattan where Wall Street is. I did spend a whole lot of time and effort helping them rebuild. That was good for New York. It was good for the economy and it was a way to rebuke the terrorists who had attacked our country. So, you know, it's fine for you to say what you're going to say, but I looked very carefully at your proposal. Reinstating Glass- Steagall is a part of what very well could help, but it is nowhere near enough. My proposal is tougher, more effective, and more comprehensive because I go after all of Wall Street not just the big banks. O' +p4972 +aVWell, you know, governor, I know that when you had a chance to appoint a commissioner for financial regulation, you chose an investment banker in 2010. So for me, it is looking at what works and what we need to do to try to move past what happened in '08. And I will go back and say again, AIG was not a big bank. It had to be bailed out and it nearly destroyed us. Lehman Brothers was not a big bank. It was an investment bank. And its bankruptcy and its failure nearly destroyed us. So I've said, if the big banks don't play by the rules, I will break them up. +p4973 +aVAnd I will also go after executives who are responsible for the decisions that have such bad consequences for our country. +p4974 +aVWell, I think that there are different records. I -- you know, know that Senator Sanders had a different vote than I did when it came to giving immunity to gun makers and sellers. That was a terrible mistake. It basically gave the gun lobby even more power to intimidate legislators, not just in Washington but across the country. But just think about this-- since we last debated in Las Vegas, nearly 3,000 people have been killed by guns. Twenty-one mass shootings, including one last weekend in Des Moins where three were murdered. Two hundred children have been killed. This is an emergency. There are a lot of things we've got to do in our country, reigning in Wall Street is certainly one of them. I agree with that. That's why I've got such a good plan. But we have to also go after the gun lobby and 92 percent of Americans agree we should have universal background checks. Close the gun show loophole, close the online loophole and... +p4975 +aVI will do everything I can as president to get that accomplished. +p4976 +aVI -- I said I made a mistake on Iraq, and I would love to see Senator Sanders join with some of my colleague in addition the Senate that I see in the audience. Let's reverse the immunity. Let's put the gun makers and sellers on notice that they're not going to get away with it. +p4977 +aVBut wait, I just want to say this Senator. There is broad consensus, 92 percent in the most recently poll of Americans want gun safety measures... +p4978 +aV... and 85 percent of gun owners agree. +p4979 +aVWe've got the consensus, what we're lacking is political leadership... +p4980 +aV... and that's what you and others can start providing in the Senate. +p4981 +aVWell, I'm sorry that whoever tweeted that had that impression because I worked closely with New Yorkers after 9/11 for my entire first term to rebuild. So, yes, I did know people. I've had a lot of folks give me donations from all kinds of backgrounds say, I don't agree with you on everything, but I like what you do. I like how you stand up. I'm going to support you, and I think that is absolutely appropriate. +p4982 +aVWell, I'll tell you who is on my side. Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize winning economist, who said my plan for what we should do to reign in Wall Street was more comprehensive and better. Paul Volcker, one of the leading lights of trying to reign in the excesses, has also said he does not support reinstating Glass-Steagall. So, I mean this may seem like a bit of an arcane discussion. I have nothing against the passion that my two friends here have about reinstating Glass-Steagall. I just don't think it would get the job done. I'm all about making sure we actually get results for whatever we do. +p4983 +aVI agree completely. I couldn't have said it better myself. But I did want to -- I wanted to follow up. Look, we need more Americans to be involved in the political process. And I give Senator Sanders a lot of credit for really lighting a fire under many people -- young, old, everybody -- who sees a chance to be involved and have their voice heard. Look at what's happening with the Republicans. They are doing everything they can to prevent the voices of Americans to be heard. They're trying to prevent people from registering to vote. So, we do need to take on the Republicans very clearly and directly. But the other thing I just wanted quickly to say is, I think President Obama deserves more credit than he gets for what he got done in Washington, despite the Republican obstructionists. +p4984 +aVI think after 11 hours, that's pretty clear, yes. And, you know, I do think it's important to do exactly what Senator Sanders said, and that is to start talking about the issues that the American people really care about, and that they talk to each of us about. And to contrast, even -- there are differences among us. You've heard some of those tonight. I still want to get back to health care, because I think that's a worthy topic to explore. But the differences among us pale compared to what's happening on the Republican side. And if you listen to what they say -- and I had a chance over those 11 hours to watch and listen, as well as what I see in their debates -- they are putting forth alarming plans. I mean, all of us support funding Planned Parenthood. All of us believe climate change is real. All of us want equal pay for equal work. They don't believe in any of that. So let's focus on what this election is really going to be about. +p4985 +aVWell, John, I come from the '60s, a long time ago. There was a lot of activism on campus -- Civil Rights activism, antiwar activism, women's rights activism -- and I do appreciate the way young people are standing up and speaking out. Obviously, I believe that on a college campus, there should be enough respect so people hear each other. But what happened at the university there, what's happening at other universities, I think reflects the deep sense of, you know, concern, even despair that so many young people, particularly of color, have... You know, I recently met with a group of mothers who lost their children to either killings by police or random killings in their neighborhoods, and hearing their stories was so incredibly, profoundly heartbreaking. Each one of them, you know, described their child, had a picture. You know, the mother of the young man with his friends in the car who was playing loud music and, you know, some older white man pulled out a gun and shot him because they wouldn't turn the radio down. Or a young woman who had been performing at President Obama's second inauguration coming home, absolutely stellar young woman, hanging out with her friends in a park getting shot by a gang member. And, of course, I met the mothers of Eric Garner and Tamir Rice, and Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin and so many of them who have lost their children. So, your original question is the right question. And it's not just a question for parents and grandparents to answer. It's really a question for all of us to answer, every single one of our children deserves the chance to live up to his or her god-given potential. And that's what we need to be doing to the best of our ability in our country. +p4986 +aVKevin, if I could just jump in. I -- I believe that we should make community college free. We should have debt-free college if you go to a public college or university. You should not have to borrow a dime to pay tuition. I want to use pell grants to help defray the living expenses that often make a difference, whether a young person can stay in school or not. I disagree with free college for everybody. I don't think taxpayers should be paying to send Donald Trump's kids to college. I think it ought to be a compact -- families contribute, kids contribute. And together we make it possible for a new generation of young people to refinance their debt and not come out with debt in the future. +p4987 +aVNo. Revolution never came. I waited and I got the scars to show for it. We now have this great accomplishment known as the Affordable Care Act, and I don't think we should have to be defending it among Democrats. We ought to be working to improve it and prevent Republicans from both underming it and even repealing it. I have looked at -- I have looked at the legislation that Senator Sanders has proposed, and basically, he does eliminate the Affordable Care Act, eliminates private insurance, eliminates Medicare, eliminates Medicaid, Tricare, children's health insurance program -- puts it all together in a big program which he then hands over to the states to administer. And I have to tell you, I would not want -- if I lived in Iowa, Terry Branstad administering my health care. I -- I think -- I think as Democrats we ought to proudly support the Affordable Care Act, improve it, and make it the model that we know it can be. +p4988 +aVWell, there are so many, I don't know where to start. I guess the one I -- I would pick is the fact that I was part of a very small group that had to advise the president about whether or not to go after Bin Laden. I spent a lot of time in the situation room as secretary of state and there were many very difficult choices presented to us. But probably that was the most challenging because there was no certainty attached to it. The intelligence was by no means absolute. We had all kinds of questions that we discussed and, you know, at the end, I recommended to the president that we take the chance to do what we could to find out whether that was bin Laden and to finally bring him to justice. It was an excruciating experience. I couldn't talk to anybody about it. In fact, after it happened, the president called my husband -- he called all the former presidents and he said to Bill, "Well I assume Hillary has told you about this." And Bill said, "No, no, she hasn't." There was nobody to talk to and it really did give me an insight into the very difficult problems presidents face. +p4989 +aVWell, thank you very much to CBS and everyone here this evening for giving us another chance to appear before you. I've heard a lot about me in this debate, and I'm going to keep talking and thinking about all of you because ultimately, I think the president's job is to do everything possible, everything that she can do to lift up the people of this country. Starting with our children and moving forward. I've spent my entire life, since I started as a young lawyer for the Children's Defense Fund, trying to figure out how we can even the odds for so many people in America, this great country of ours, who are behind, who don't have a chance. And that's what I will do as your president. I will work my heart out. I need your help. All of you in Iowa, I need you to caucus for me. Please go to hillaryclinton.com and be part of making this country what we know it can and should be. +p4990 +aVWell, thank you, and thanks to everyone for hosting this first of the Democratic debates. I'm Hillary Clinton. I have been proud and privileged to serve as first lady, as a senator from New York, and as secretary of state. I'm the granddaughter of a factory worker and the grandmother of a wonderful one-year-old child. And every day, I think about what we need to do to make sure that opportunity is available not just for her, but for all of our children. I have spent a very long time \u2014 my entire adult life \u2014 looking for ways to even the odds to help people have a chance to get ahead, and, in particular, to find the ways for each child to live up to his or her God-given potential. I've traveled across our country over the last months listening and learning, and I've put forward specific plans about how we're going to create more good-paying jobs: by investing in infrastructure and clean energy, by making it possible once again to invest in science and research, and taking the opportunity posed by climate change to grow our economy. At the center of my campaign is how we're going to raise wages. Yes, of course, raise the minimum wage, but we have to do so much more, including finding ways so that companies share profits with the workers who helped to make them. And then we have to figure out how we're going to make the tax system a fairer one. Right now, the wealthy pay too little and the middle class pays too much. So I have specific recommendations about how we're going to close those loopholes, make it clear that the wealthy will have to pay their fair share, and have a series of tax cuts for middle-class families. And I want to do more to help us balance family and work. I believe in equal pay for equal work for women, but I also believe it's about time we had paid family leave for American families and join the rest of the world. During the course of the evening tonight, I'll have a chance to lay out all of my plans and the work that I've done behind them. But for me, this is about bringing our country together again. And I will do everything I can to heal the divides \u2014 the divides economically, because there's too much inequality; the racial divides; the continuing discrimination against the +p4991 +aVWell, actually, I have been very consistent. Over the course of my entire life, I have always fought for the same values and principles, but, like most human beings \u2014 including those of us who run for office \u2014 I do absorb new information. I do look at what's happening in the world. You know, take the trade deal. I did say, when I was secretary of state, three years ago, that I hoped it would be the gold standard. It was just finally negotiated last week, and in looking at it, it didn't meet my standards. My standards for more new, good jobs for Americans, for raising wages for Americans. And I want to make sure that I can look into the eyes of any middle-class American and say, "this will help raise your wages." And I concluded I could not. +p4992 +aVNo. I think that, like most people that I know, I have a range of views, but they are rooted in my values and my experience. And I don't take a back seat to anyone when it comes to progressive experience and progressive commitment. You know, when I left law school, my first job was with the Children's Defense Fund, and for all the years since, I have been focused on how we're going to un-stack the deck, and how we're gonna make it possible for more people to have the experience I had. You know, to be able to come from a grandfather who was a factory worker, a father who was a small business person, and now asking the people of America to elect me president. +p4993 +aVI'm a progressive. But I'm a progressive who likes to get things done. And I know... ...how to find common ground, and I know how to stand my ground, and I have proved that in every position that I've had, even dealing with Republicans who never had a good word to say about me, honestly. But we found ways to work together on everything from... +p4994 +aV...reforming foster care and adoption to the Children's Health Insurance Program, which insures... +p4995 +aV...8 million kids. So I have a long history of getting things done, rooted in the same values... +p4996 +aV...I've always had. +p4997 +aVWell, let me just follow-up on that, Anderson, because when I think about capitalism, I think about all the small businesses that were started because we have the opportunity and the freedom in our country for people to do that and to make a good living for themselves and their families. And I don't think we should confuse what we have to do every so often in America, which is save capitalism from itself. And I think what Senator Sanders is saying certainly makes sense in the terms of the inequality that we have. But we are not Denmark. I love Denmark. We are the United States of America. And it's our job to rein in the excesses of capitalism so that it doesn't run amok and doesn't cause the kind of inequities we're seeing in our economic system. But we would be making a grave mistake to turn our backs on what built the greatest middle class in the history... +p4998 +aV... of the world. +p4999 +aVNo, not at all. I think that we have to look at the fact that we lose 90 people a day from gun violence. This has gone on too long and it's time the entire country stood up against the NRA. The majority of our country... ... supports background checks, and even the majority of gun owners do. Senator Sanders did vote five times against the Brady bill. Since it was passed, more than 2 million prohibited purchases have been prevented. He also did vote, as he said, for this immunity provision. I voted against it. I was in the Senate at the same time. It wasn't that complicated to me. It was pretty straightforward to me that he was going to give immunity to the only industry in America. Everybody else has to be accountable, but not the gun manufacturers. And we need to stand up and say: Enough of that. We're not going to let it continue. +p5000 +aVWell, first of all, we got a lot of business done with the Russians when Medvedev was the president, and not Putin. We got a nuclear arms deal, we got the Iranian sanctions, we got an ability to bring important material and equipment to our soldiers in Afghanistan. There's no doubt that when Putin came back in and said he was going to be President, that did change the relationship. We have to stand up to his bullying, and specifically in Syria, it is important \u2014 and I applaud the administration because they are engaged in talks right now with the Russians to make it clear that they've got to be part of the solution to try to end that bloody conflict. And, to \u2014 provide safe zones so that people are not going to have to be flooding out of Syria at the rate they are. And, I think it's important too that the United States make it very clear to Putin that it's not acceptable for him to be in Syria creating more chaos, bombing people on behalf of Assad, and we can't do that if we don't take more of a leadership position, which is what I'm advocating. +p5001 +aV...Well, nobody does. Nobody does, Senator Sanders. +p5002 +aVWell, I recall very well being on a debate stage, I think, about 25 times with then Senator Obama, debating this very issue. After the election, he asked me to become Secretary of State. He valued my judgment, and I spent a lot of time with him... ...in the Situation Room, going over some very difficult issues. You know, I \u2014 I agree completely. We don't want American troops on the ground in Syria. I never said that. What I said was we had to put together a coalition \u2014 in fact, something that I worked on before I left the State Department \u2014 to do, and yes, that it should include Arabs, people in the region. Because what I worry about is what will happen with +p5003 +aVWell, first of all, I... +p5004 +aVWell, I am in the middle, here, and... Lots of things coming from all directions. +p5005 +aVYou know, I have to say, I was very pleased when Governor O'Malley endorsed me for president in 2008, and I enjoyed his strong support in that campaign. And I consider him, obviously, a friend. Let me say \u2014 because there's a lot of loose talk going on here \u2014 we are already flying in Syria just as we are flying in Iraq. The president has made a very tough decision. What I believe and why I have advocated that the no-fly zone \u2014 which of course would be in a coalition \u2014 be put on the table is because I'm trying to figure out what leverage we have to get Russia to the table. You know, diplomacy is not about getting to the perfect solution. It's about how you balance the risks. +p5006 +aVAnd I think we have an opportunity here \u2014 and I know that inside the administration this is being hotly debated \u2014 to get that leverage to try to get the Russians to have to deal with everybody in the region and begin to move toward a political, diplomatic solution in Syria. +p5007 +aVWell, let's remember what was going on. We had a murderous dictator, Gadhafi, who had American blood on his hands, as I'm sure you remember, threatening to massacre large numbers of the Libyan people. We had our closest allies in Europe burning up the phone lines begging us to help them try to prevent what they saw as a mass genocide, in their words. And we had the Arabs standing by our side saying, "We want you to help us deal with Gadhafi." Our response, which I think was smart power at its best, is that the United States will not lead this. We will provide essential, unique capabilities that we have, but the Europeans and the Arabs had to be first over the line. We did not put one single American soldier on the ground in Libya. And I'll say this for the Libyan people... +p5008 +aVBut let \u2014 I'll get to that. But I think it's important, since I understand Senator Webb's very strong feelings about this, to explain where we were then and to point out that I think President Obama made the right decision at the time. And the Libyan people had a free election the first time since 1951. And you know what, they voted for moderates, they voted with the hope of democracy. Because of the Arab Spring, because of a lot of other things, there was turmoil to be followed. But unless you believe the United States should not send diplomats to any place that is dangerous, which I do not, then when we send them forth, there is always the potential for danger and risk. +p5009 +aVI \u2014 I think it has to be continued threat from the spread of nuclear weapons, nuclear material that can fall into the wrong hands. I know the terrorists are constantly seeking it, and that's why we have to stay vigilant, but also united around the world to prevent that. +p5010 +aVWell, I've taken responsibility for it. I did say it was a mistake. What I did was allowed by the State Department, but it wasn't the best choice. And I have been as transparent as I know to be, turning over 55,000 pages of my e-mails, asking that they be made public. And you're right. I am going to be testifying. I've been asking to testify for some time and to do it in public, which was not originally agreed to. But let's just take a minute here and point out that this committee is basically an arm of the Republican National Committee. It is a partisan vehicle, as admitted by the House Republican majority leader, Mr. McCarthy, to drive down my poll numbers. Big surprise. And that's what they have attempted to do. I am still standing. I am happy to be part of this debate. And I intend to keep talking about the issues that matter to the American people. You know, I believe strongly that we need to be talking about what people talk to me about, like how are we going to make college affordable? How are we going to pay down student debt? +p5011 +aVHow are we going to get health care for everybody... +p5012 +aVWell, I never said it wasn't legitimate. I said that I have answered all the questions and I will certainly be doing so again before this committee. But I think it would be really unfair not to look at the entire picture. This committee has spent $4.5 million of taxpayer money, and they said that they were trying to figure out what we could do better to protect our diplomats so that something like Benghazi wouldn't happen again. There were already seven committee reports about what to do. So I think it's pretty clear what their obvious goal is. +p5013 +aVBut I'll be there. I'll answer their questions. But tonight, I want to talk not about my e-mails, but about what the American people want from the next president of the United States. +p5014 +aVThank you. Me, too. Me, too. +p5015 +aVThank you, Bernie. Thank you. +p5016 +aVNo. +p5017 +aVWell, I think that President Obama has been a great moral leader on these issues, and has laid out an agenda that has been obstructed by the Republicans at every turn, so... ...So, what we need to be doing is not only reforming criminal justice \u2014 I have talked about that at some length, including things like body cameras, but we also need to be following the recommendations of the commissioner that President Obama empanelled on policing. There is an agenda there that we need to be following up on. Similarly, we need to tackle mass incarceration, and this may be the only bi-partisan issue in the congress this year. We actually have people on both sides of the aisle who have reached the same conclusion, that we can not keep imprisoning more people than anybody else in the world. But, I believe that the debate, and the discussion has to go further, Anderson, because we've got to do more about the lives of these children. That's why I started off by saying we need to be committed to making it possible for every child to live up to his or her god given potential. That is... +p5018 +aV...really hard to do if you don't have early childhood education... +p5019 +aV...if you don't have schools that are able to meet the needs of the people, or good housing, there's a long list... ...We need a new New Deal for communities of color... +p5020 +aVWell, you know, both Bill and I have been very blessed. Neither of us came from wealthy families and we've worked really hard our entire lives. And I want to make sure every single person in this country has the same opportunities that he and I have had, to make the most of their God-given potential and to have the chances that they should have in America for a good education, good job training, and then good jobs. I have a five point economic plan, because this inequality challenge we face, we have faced it at other points. It's absolutely right. It hasn't been this bad since the 1920s. But if you look at the Republicans versus the Democrats when it comes to economic policy, there is no comparison. The economy does better when you have a Democrat in the White House and that's why we need to have a Democrat in the White House in January 2017. +p5021 +aVWell, my plan is more comprehensive. And frankly, it's tougher because of course we have to deal with the problem that the banks are still too big to fail. We can never let the American taxpayer and middle class families ever have to bail out the kind of speculative behavior that we saw. But we also have to worry about some of the other players \u2014 AIG, a big insurance company; Lehman Brothers, an investment bank. There's this whole area called "shadow banking." That's where the experts tell me the next potential problem could come from. +p5022 +aVSo I'm with both Senator Sanders and Governor O'Malley in putting a lot of attention onto the banks. And the plan that I have put forward would actually empower regulators to break up big banks if we thought they posed a risk. But I want to make sure we're going to cover everybody, not what caused the problem last time, but what could cause it next time. +p5023 +aVYeah. You know, I \u2014 I respect the passion an intensity. I represented Wall Street, as a senator from New York, and I went to Wall Street in December of 2007 \u2014 before the big crash that we had \u2014 and I basically said, "cut it out! Quit foreclosing on homes! Quit engaging in these kinds of speculative behaviors." I took on the Bush administration for the same thing. So I have thought deeply and long about what we're gonna do to do exactly what I think both the senator and the governor want, which is to rein in and stop this risk. And my plan would have the potential of actually sending the executives to jail. Nobody went to jail after $100 billion in fines were paid... +p5024 +aV...and would give regulators the authority to go after the big banks. +p5025 +aVBut I'm telling you \u2014 I will say it tonight. If only you look at the big banks, you may be missing the forest for the trees. +p5026 +aVSo... +p5027 +aV...no, that's not what... +p5028 +aV...that \u2014 I think Dodd-Frank was a very... +p5029 +aV...good start, and I think that we have to implement it. We have to prevent the Republicans from ripping it apart. We have to save the Consumer Financial Protection board, which is finally beginning to act to protect consumers. We have work to do. You've got no argument from me. But I know, if we don't come in with a very tough and comprehensive approach, like the plan I'm recommending, we're gonna be behind instead of ahead... +p5030 +aV...on what the next crisis could be. O' +p5031 +aVWell, you know, everybody on this stage has changed a position or two. We've been around a cumulative quite some period of time. You know, we know that if you are learning, you're gonna change your position. I never took a position on Keystone until I took a position on Keystone. But I have been on the forefront of dealing with climate change, starting in 2009, when President Obama and I crashed (ph) a meeting with the Chinese and got them to sign up to the first international agreement to combat climate change that they'd ever joined. So I'm... +p5032 +aV...not taking a back seat to anybody on my values... +p5033 +aV...my principles and the results that I get. +p5034 +aVWell, let me address college affordability, because I have a plan that I think will really zero in on what the problems are. First, all the 40 million Americans who currently have student debt will be able to refinance their debt to a low interest rate. That will save thousands of dollars for people who are now struggling under this cumbersome, burdensome college debt. As a young student in Nevada said to me, the hardest thing about going to college should not be paying for it. So then we have to make it more affordable. How do we make it more affordable? My plan would enable anyone to go to a public college or university tuition free. You would not have to borrow money for tuition. But I do believe \u2014 and maybe it's because I worked when I went through college; I worked when I went through law school \u2014 I think it's important for everybody to have some part of getting this accomplished. That's why I call it a compact. +p5035 +aVBut, yes, I would like students to work 10 hours a week... +p5036 +aVWell, I fully support Social Security. And the most important fight we're going to have is defending it against continuing Republican efforts to privatize it. +p5037 +aVI want to enhance the benefits for the poorest recipients of Social Security. We have a lot of women on Social Security, particularly widowed and single women who didn't make a lot of money during their careers, and they are impoverished, and they need more help from the Social Security system. And I will focus \u2014 I will focus on helping those people who need it the most. And of course I'm going to defend Social Security. I'm going to look for ways to try to make sure it's solvent into the future. And we also need to talk about health care at some time, because we agree on the goals, we just disagree on the means. +p5038 +aVWell, first of all, I want to make sure every child gets health care. That's why I helped to create the Children's Health Insurance Program, and I want to support states that are expanding health care and including undocumented children and others. I want to open up the opportunity for immigrants to be able to buy in to the exchanges under the Affordable Care Act. I think to go beyond that, as I understand what Governor O'Malley has recommended, so that they would get the same subsidies. I think that is \u2014 it raises so many issues. It would be very difficult to administer, it needs to be part of a comprehensive immigration reform, when we finally do get to it. +p5039 +aVI want to follow up because I think underneath Juan Carlos' important questions, there is such a difference between everything you're hearing here on this stage, and what we hear from the Republicans. O' +p5040 +aVDemonize hard-working immigrants who have insulted them. You know, I came to Las Vegas in, I think, May. Early may. Met with a group of +p5041 +aV...than even the executive orders that President Obama has signed when I'm president. ( +p5042 +aVMy plan would support any state that takes that position, and would work with those states and encourage more states to do the same thing. +p5043 +aVIf their states agree, then we want more states to do the same thing. +p5044 +aVNo, I don't. I think that it was necessary to make sure that we were able after 9/11 to put in place the security that we needed. And it is true that it did require that there be a process. What happened, however, is that the Bush administration began to chip away at that process. And I began to speak out about their use of warrantless surveillance and the other behavior that they engaged in. We always have to keep the balance of civil liberties, privacy and security. It's not easy in a democracy, but we have to keep it in mind. +p5045 +aVHe broke the laws of the United States. He could have been a whistleblower. He could have gotten all of the protections of being a whistleblower. He could have raised all the issues that he has raised. And I think there would have been a positive response to that. +p5046 +aVWell, I think that's pretty obvious. I think being the first woman president would be quite a change from the presidents we've had up until this point, including President Obama. +p5047 +aVWell, there's a lot that I would like to do to build on the successes of President Obama, but also, as I'm laying out, to go beyond. And that's in my economic plans, how I would deal with the prescription drug companies, how I would deal with college, how I would deal with a full range of issues that I've been talking about throughout this campaign to go further. +p5048 +aVWell, thank you. ( +p5049 +aVYou know, it does take me a little longer. That's all I can say. +p5050 +aVWell, I can't think of anything more of an outsider than electing the first woman president, but I'm not just running because I would be the first woman president. +p5051 +aVI'm running because I have a lifetime of experience in getting results and fighting for people, fighting for kids, for women, for families, fighting to even the odds. And I know what it takes to get things done. I know how to find common ground and I know how to stand my ground. And I think we're going to need both of those in Washington to get anything that we're talking about up here accomplished. So I'm very happy that I have both the commitment of a lifetime and the experience of a lifetime to bring together to offer the American people. +p5052 +aVWell, I would not ask anyone to vote for me based on my last name. I would ask them to listen to what I'm proposing, look at what I've accomplished in the Senate, as secretary of of state, and then draw your own conclusion. I certainly am not campaigning to become president because my last name is Clinton. I'm campaigning because I think I have the right combination of what the country needs, at this point, and I think I can take the fight to the Republicans, because we cannot afford a Republican to succeed Barack Obama as president of the United States. +p5053 +aVWell, that \u2014 that's exactly what I've been doing. When we met in Copenhagen in 2009 and, literally, President Obama and I were hunting for the Chinese, going throughout this huge convention center, because we knew we had to get them to agree to something. Because there will be no effective efforts against climate change unless China and India join with the rest of the world. They told us they'd left for the airport; we found out they were having a secret meeting. We marched up, we broke in, we said, "We've been looking all over for you. Let's sit down and talk about what we need to do." And we did come up with the first international agreement that China has signed. Thanks to President Obama's leadership, it's now gone much further. +p5054 +aVAnd I do think that the bilateral agreement that President Obama made with the Chinese was significant. Now, it needs to go further, and there will be an international meeting at the end of this year, and we must get verifiable commitments to fight climate change from every country gathered there. +p5055 +aVMm-hmm. +p5056 +aVWell, I'm surprised she says that, because California has had a paid leave program for a number of years. And it's... +p5057 +aVWell, but all \u2014 well, on a state level, a state as big as many countries in the world. And it has not had the ill effects that the Republicans are always saying it will have. And I think this is \u2014 this is typical Republican scare tactics. We can design a system and pay for it that does not put the burden on small businesses. I remember as a young mother, you know, having a baby wake up who was sick and I'm supposed to be in court, because I was practicing law. I know what it's like. And I think we need to recognize the incredible challenges that so many parents face, particularly working moms. I see my good friend, Senator Gillibrand, in the front row. She's been a champion of this. We need to get a consensus through this campaign, which is why I'm talking about it everywhere I go, and we need to join the rest of the advanced world in having it. +p5058 +aVWell, look, you know, when people say that \u2014 it's always the Republicans or their sympathizers who say, "You can't have paid leave, you can't provide health care." They don't mind having big government to interfere with a woman's right to choose and to try to take down Planned Parenthood. They're fine with big government when it comes to that. I'm sick of it. You know, we can do these things. We should not be paralyzed \u2014 we should not be paralyzed by the Republicans and their constant refrain, "big government this, big government that," that except for what they want to impose on the American people. I know we can afford it, because we're going to make the wealthy pay for it. That is the way to get it done. +p5059 +aVNo. I think that we have the opportunity through the states that are pursuing recreational marijuana to find out a lot more than we know today. I do support the use of medical marijuana, and I think even there we need to do a lot more research so that we know exactly how we're going to help people for whom medical marijuana provides relief. So, I think we're just at the beginning, but I agree completely with the idea that we have got to stop imprisoning people who use marijuana. Therefore, we need more states, cities, and the federal government to begin to address this so that we don't have this terrible result that Senator Sanders was talking about where we have a huge population in our prisons for nonviolent, low-level offenses that are primarily due to marijuana. +p5060 +aVWell, in addition to the NRA, the health insurance companies, the drug companies, the Iranians. Probably the Republicans. +p5061 +aVThank you very much, Anderson. And thanks to all the viewers who tuned in tonight. I think what you did see is that, in this debate, we tried to deal with some of the very tough issues facing our country. That's in stark contrast to the Republicans who are currently running for president. What you have to ask yourself is: Who amongst us has the vision for actually making the changes that are going to improve the lives of the American people? Who has the tenacity and the ability and the proven track record of getting that done? Now, I revere my late mother, and she gave me a lot of good advice. But one of the best pieces of advice she gave me was, you know, the issue is not whether or not you get knocked down. It's whether you get back up. America's been knocked down. That Great Recession, 9 million people lost their jobs, 5 million lost their homes, $13 trillion in wealth disappeared. And although we've made progress, we're standing but not running the way America needs to. My mission as president will be to raise incomes for hard-working middle-class families and to make sure that we get back to the basic bargain I was raised with: If you work hard and you do your part, you should be able to get ahead and stay ahead. Please join me in this campaign. Please come and make it clear that America's best days are still ahead. Thank you very much. +p5062 +asVTRUMP +p5063 +(lp5064 +VThank you. I began this journey six months ago. My total focus was on building up our military, building up our strength, building up our borders, making sure that China, Japan, Mexico, both at the border and in trade, no longer takes advantage of our country. Certainly would never have made that horrible, disgusting, absolutely incompetent deal with Iran where they get $150 billion. They're a terrorist nation. But I began it talking about other things. And those things are things that I'm very good at and maybe that's why I'm center stage. People saw it. People liked it. People respected it. A month ago things changed. Radical Islamic terrorism came into effect even more so than it has been in the past. People like what I say. People respect what I say. And we've opened up a very big discussion that needed to be opened up. Thank you very much. +p5065 +aVWe are not talking about isolation. We're talking about security. We're not talking about religion. We're talking about security. Our country is out of control. People are pouring across the southern border. I will build a wall. It will be a great wall. People will not come in unless they come in legally. Drugs will not pour through that wall. As far as other people like in the migration, where they're going, tens of thousands of people having cell phones with +p5066 +aVJeb doesn't really believe I'm unhinged. He said that very simply because he has failed in this campaign. It's been a total disaster. Nobody cares. And frankly, I'm the most solid person up here. I built a tremendous company and all I want to do is make America great again. I don't want our country to be taken away from us, and that's what's happening. The policies that we've suffered under other presidents have been a disaster for our country. We want to make America great again. And Jeb, in all fairness, he doesn't believe that. +p5067 +aVWell, look, this is so easy to answer. +p5068 +aVI would certainly be open to closing areas where we are at war with somebody. I sure as hell don't want to let people that want to kill us and kill our nation use our Internet. Yes, sir, I am. +p5069 +aVWe have to be much tougher. We have to be much stronger than we've been. We have people that know what is going on. You take a look at just the attack in California the other day. There were numerous people, including the mother, that knew what was going on. They saw a pipe bomb sitting all over the floor. They saw ammunition all over the place. They knew exactly what was going on. When you had the World Trade Center go, people were put into planes that were friends, family, girlfriends, and they were put into planes and they were sent back, for the most part, to Saudi Arabia. They knew what was going on. They went home and they wanted to watch their boyfriends on television. I would be very, very firm with families. Frankly, that will make people think because they may not care much about their lives, but they do care, believe it or not, about their families' lives. +p5070 +aVLook, the problem is we need toughness. Honestly, I think Jeb is a very nice person. He's a very nice person. But we need tough people. We need toughness. We need intelligence and we need tough. Jeb said when they come across the southern border they come as an act of love. +p5071 +aVAm I talking or are you talking, Jeb? +p5072 +aVYou can go back. You're not talking. You interrupted me. +p5073 +aVAre you going to apologize, Jeb? No. Am I allowed to finish? +p5074 +aVExcuse me, am I allowed to finish? +p5075 +aVSo... +p5076 +aV... again... +p5077 +aVI know you're trying to build up your energy, Jeb, but it's not working very well. +p5078 +aVLook, look, look. We need a toughness. We need strength. We're not respected, you know, as a nation anymore. We don't have that level of respect that we need. And if we don't get it back fast, we're just going to go weaker, weaker and just disintegrate. We can't allow that to happen. We need strength. We don't have it. When Jeb comes out and he talks about the border, and I saw it and I was witness to it, and so was everyone else, and I was standing there, "they come across as an act of love," he's saying the same thing right now with radical Islam. And we can't have that in our country. It just won't work. We need strength. +p5079 +aVWith Jeb's attitude, we will never be great again, that I can tell you. We will never be great again. +p5080 +aVSo, they can kill us, but we can't kill them? That's what you're saying. And as far as the Internet is concerned, we're not talking about closing the Internet. I'm talking about parts of Syria, parts of Iraq, where +p5081 +aVIn my opinion, we've spent $4 trillion trying to topple various people that frankly, if they were there and if we could've spent that $4 trillion in the United States to fix our roads, our bridges, and all of the other problems; our airports and all of the other problems we've had, we would've been a lot better off. I can tell you that right now. We have done a tremendous disservice, not only to Middle East, we've done a tremendous disservice to humanity. The people that have been killed, the people that have wiped away, and for what? It's not like we had victory. It's a mess. The Middle East is totally destabilized. A total and complete mess. I wish we had the $4 trillion or $5 trillion. I wish it were spent right here in the United States, on our schools, hospitals, roads, airports, and everything else that are all falling apart. +p5082 +aVWell, there's nothing to respond to. Well, people feel differently. I mean, the fact is Benghazi was a disaster because of Libya, everything just fell into place. It could not have been worse. What do we have now? We have nothing. We've spent $3 trillion and probably much more \u2013 I have no idea what we've spent. Thousands and thousands of lives, we have nothing. Wounded warriors all over the place who I love, we have nothing for it. And by the way \u2013 and Ben said incorrectly \u2013 and I'm not saying this as a knock \u2013 he's one of finest men. You're not going to find a finer men. But I've been talking about oil for three years. I've been saying,, "take the oil, take the oil." I didn't say, "just bomb it," I said," take it and use it and distribute it so that the wounded warriors -" People, I've been saying this now for many years. +p5083 +aVNow, all of a sudden everybody's saying, "take the oil." It wasn't so fashionable to take the oil six months ago. I've been saying it for years. +p5084 +aVI think Assad is a bad guy, a very bad guy, all right? Lots of people killed. I think we are backing people we have no idea who they are. The rebels, we call them the rebels, the patriotic rebels. We have no idea. A lot of people think, Hugh, that they are +p5085 +aVI think it's very sad that CNN leads Jeb Bush, Governor Bush, down a road by starting off virtually all the questions, "Mr. Trump this, Mister" \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched the first debate, and the first long number of questions were, "Mr. Trump said this, Mr. Trump said that. Mr. Trump" \u2014 these poor guys \u2014 although, I must tell you, Santorum, good guy. Governor Huckabee, good guy. They were very nice, and I respect them greatly. But I thought it was very unfair that virtually the entire early portion of the debate was Trump this, Trump that, in order to get ratings, I guess. In order to get ratings, I guess. +p5086 +aVI just think it's very \u2014 excuse me. +p5087 +aVExcuse me. I think it's very unprofessional. +p5088 +aVWell, I think it's very unprofessional. +p5089 +aVOK, fine. +p5090 +aVThis isn't tough and easy. I wish it... +p5091 +aVI wish it was always this easy as you, Jeb. +p5092 +aVOh, yeah. +p5093 +aVOh, I know. You're a tough guy, Jeb. I know. +p5094 +aVYou're tough. +p5095 +aVWell, let's see. I'm at 42, and you're at 3. So, so far, I'm doing better. +p5096 +aVSo far, I'm doing better. You know, you started off over here, Jeb. You're moving over further and further. Pretty soon you're going to be off the end... +p5097 +aVI believe I did. +p5098 +aVI have a very hardline position, we have a country or we don't have a country. People that have come into our country illegally, they have to go. They have to come back into through a legal process. I want a strong border. I do want a wall. Walls do work, you just have to speak to the folks in Israel. Walls work if they're properly constructed. I know how to build, believe me, I know how to build. I feel a very, very strong bind, and really I'm bound to this country, we either have a border or we don't. People can come into the country, we welcome people to come but they have to come in legally. +p5099 +aVWell, first of all, I think we need somebody absolutely that we can trust, who is totally responsible; who really knows what he or she is doing. That is so powerful and so important. And one of the things that I'm frankly most proud of is that in 2003, 2004, I was totally against going into Iraq because you're going to destabilize the Middle East. I called it. I called it very strongly. And it was very important. But we have to be extremely vigilant and extremely careful when it comes to nuclear. Nuclear changes the whole ball game. Frankly, I would have said get out of Syria; get out \u2014 if we didn't have the power of weaponry today. The power is so massive that we can't just leave areas that 50 years ago or 75 years ago we wouldn't care. It was hand-to-hand combat. The biggest problem this world has today is not President Obama with global warming, which is inconceivable, this is what he's saying. The biggest problem we have is nuclear \u2014 nuclear proliferation and having some maniac, having some madman go out and get a nuclear weapon. That's in my opinion, that is the single biggest problem that our country faces right now. +p5100 +aVI think \u2014 I think, for me, nuclear is just the power, the devastation is very important to me. +p5101 +aVI did. +p5102 +aVLet me just say that I have gotten to know him over the last three or four days. He has a wonderful temperament. He's just fine. Don't worry about it. +p5103 +aVYou better not attack... +p5104 +aVI really am. I'll be honest, I really am. I mean, the people have been putting me... I really am. +p5105 +aVLet me just. Can I just finish my... +p5106 +aVI've gained great respect for the Republican leadership. I've gained great respect for many \u2014 and I'm going to even say \u2014 I mean, in different forms for the people on the dais, in different forms. In different forms. But I have great respect for the people I have met through this process. I've never done this process before. I've never been a politician. I mean, for the last six months I've been a politician. But I will tell you, I am totally committed to the Republican Party. I feel very honored to be the front runner. And I think I'll do very well if I'm chosen. If I'm so fortunate to be chosen, I think I'll do very well. Polls have come out recently saying I would beat Hillary. I will do everything in my power to beat Hillary Clinton, I promise you. +p5107 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We don't win on trade. We don't win on the military. We can't defeat +p5108 +aVI can't be Neil. And the and the reason I can't be is that we are a country that is being beaten on every front economically, militarily. There is nothing that we do now to win. We don't win anymore. Our taxes are too high. I've come up with a tax plan that many, many people like very much. It's going to be a tremendous plan. I think it'll make our country and our economy very dynamic. But, taxes too high, wages too high, we're not going to be able to compete against the world. I hate to say it, but we have to leave it the way it is. People have to go out, they have to work really hard and have to get into that upper stratum. But we can not do this if we are going to compete with the rest of the world. We just can't do it. +p5109 +aVI would not do it. +p5110 +aVI was so happy yesterday when I saw that decision come down. That was an unbelievable decision. And we don't have enough of those decisions coming down. He of the executive order, because nobody wants to listen to him, including the Democrats, so he just goes around signing executive orders. That was a great day. And, frankly, we have to stop illegal immigration. It's hurting us economically. It's hurting us from every standpoint. It's causing tremendous difficulty with respect to drugs and what that does to many of our inner cities in particular. And it really is \u2014 was such an unbelievable moment because the courts have not been ruling in our favor. And it was a 2-1 decision. And it was a terrific thing that happened. And I will tell you, we are a country of laws. We need borders. We will have a wall. The wall will be built. The wall will be successful. And if you think walls don't work, all you have to do is ask Israel. The wall works, believe me. Properly done. Believe me. +p5111 +aVYou are going to have to bring people \u2014 you are going to have to send people out. Look, we're a country... +p5112 +aVMaria, we're a country of laws. We either have a country or we don't have a country. We are a country of laws. Going to have to go out and they will come back but they are going to have to go out and hopefully they get back. But we have no choice if we're going to run our country properly and if we're going to be a country. +p5113 +aVAll I can say is, you're lucky in Ohio that you struck oil. That is for one thing. Let me just tell you that Dwight Eisenhower, good president, great president, people liked him. "I like Ike," right? The expression. "I like Ike." Moved a 1.5 million illegal immigrants out of this country, moved them just beyond the border. They came back. Moved them again beyond the border, they came back. Didn't like it. Moved them way south. They never came back. Dwight Eisenhower. You don't get nicer. You don't get friendlier. They moved a 1.5 million out. We have no choice. We have no choice. +p5114 +aVNo, it's unfair. +p5115 +aV... built an unbelievable company worth billions and billions of dollars. I don't have to hear from this man, believe me. I don't have to hear from him. +p5116 +aVWe have millions of people right now on line trying to come into this country. Very, very unfair to the people that want to come into our country legally. They've gone through the process. They're on line. They're waiting. Very, very unfair to them. That I can tell you. +p5117 +aVYes. +p5118 +aVNo, I'm sorry. No, excuse me. I was there. +p5119 +aVPlease, if I could just... +p5120 +aVWe have to make our military bigger, better, stronger than ever before so that nobody messes with us, and a long run, it's going to save us. I agree with Marco, I agree with Ted, we have no choice. And, I can tell you this with certainty. We all have a different tax plan. Some I don't totally agree with. One thing we understand, each one of those tax plans is better than the mess that we have right now. +p5121 +aV...Yes... +p5122 +aV...Yeah... +p5123 +aV...It's a horrible deal... +p5124 +aVThe TPP is horrible deal. It is a deal that is going to lead to nothing but trouble. It's a deal that was designed for China to come in, as they always do, through the back door and totally take advantage of everyone. It's 5,600 pages long. So complex that nobodies read it. It's like Obamacare; nobody ever read it. They passed it; nobody read it. And look at mess we have right now. And it will be repealed. But this is one of the worst trade deals. And I would, yes, rather not have it. With all of these countries, and all of the bad ones getting advantage and taking advantage of what the good ones would normally get, I'd rather make individual deals with individual countries. We will do much better. We lose a fortune on trade. The United States loses with everybody. We're losing now over $500 billion in terms of imbalance with China, $75 billion a year imbalance with Japan. By the way, Mexico, $50 billion a year imbalance. So I must say, Gerard, I just think it's a terrible deal. I love trade. I'm a free trader, 100 percent. But we need smart people making the deals, and we don't have smart people making the deals. +p5125 +aVYes. Well, the currency manipulation they don't discuss in the agreement, which is a disaster. If you look at the way China and India and almost everybody takes advantage of the United States \u2014 China in particular, because they're so good. It's the number-one abuser of this country. And if you look at the way they take advantage, it's through currency manipulation. It's not even discussed in the almost 6,000-page agreement. It's not even discussed. +p5126 +aVAnd as you understand, I mean, you understand very well from the Wall Street Journal, currency manipulation is the single great weapon people have. They don't even discuss it in this agreement. So I say, it's a very bad deal, should not be approved. If it is approved, it will just be more bad trade deals, more loss of jobs for our country. We are losing jobs like nobody's ever lost jobs before. I want to bring jobs back into this country. +p5127 +aVWell, first of all, it's not only Russia. We have problems with North Korea where they actually have nuclear weapons. You know, nobody talks about it, we talk about Iran, and that's one of the worst deals ever made. One of the worst contracts ever signed, ever, in anything, and it's a disgrace. But, we have somebody over there, a madman, who already has nuclear weapons we don't talk about that. That's a problem. China is a problem, both economically in what they're doing in the South China Sea, I mean, they are becoming a very, very major force. So, we have more than just Russia. But, as far as the Ukraine is concerned, and you could Syria \u2014 as far as Syria, I like \u2014 if Putin wants to go in, and I got to know him very well because we were both on 60 Minutes, we were stablemates, and we did very well that night. But, you know that. But, if Putin wants to go and knocked the hell out of +p5128 +aV...They blew up \u2014 hold it.... +p5129 +aV...They blew up, wait a minute... ...They blew up a Russian airplane. He cannot be in love with these people. He's going in, and we can go in, and everybody should go in. As far as the Ukraine is concerned, we have a group of people, and a group of countries, including Germany \u2014 tremendous economic behemoth \u2014 why are we always doing the work? We are \u2014 I'm all for protecting Ukraine and working \u2014 but, we have countries that are surrounding the Ukraine that aren't doing anything. They say, "Keep going, keep going, you dummies, keep going. Protect us..." ...And we have to get smart. We can't continue to be the policeman of the world. We are $19 trillion dollars, we have a country that's going to hell, we have an infrastructure that's falling apart. Our roads, our bridges, our schools, our airports, and we have to start investing money in our country. +p5130 +aVAssad is a bad guy, but we have no idea who the so-called rebels \u2014 I read about the rebels, nobody even knows who they are. I spoke to a general two weeks ago, he said \u2014 he was very up on exactly what we're talking about. He said, "You know, Mr. Trump? We're giving hundreds of millions of dollars of equipment to these people, we have no idea who they are." So, I don't like Assad. Who's going to like Assad? But, we have no idea who these people, and what they're going to be, and what they're going to represent. They may be far worse than Assad. Look at Libya. Look at Iraq. Look at the mess we have after spending $2 trillion dollars, thousands of lives, wounded warriors all over the place \u2014 who I love, OK? All over. We have nothing. And, I said, keep the oil. And we should have kept the oil, believe me. We should have kept the oil. And, you know what? We should have given the oil... ..We should've given big chunks to the people that lost their arms, their legs, and their families, and their sons, and daughters, because right now, you know who has a lot of that oil? Iran, and +p5131 +aVWhy does she keep interrupting everybody? Terrible. +p5132 +aVWe are not. +p5133 +aV...No, no, no... +p5134 +aVWell, what's happening right now, Neil, is something that not been a subject of conversation by politicians. As primarily the only politician, I guess other than Carly on the stage, they haven't talked about a corporate inversion. A corporate inversion \u2014 companies are leaving. You know, we used to leave New York to go to Florida. We got better taxes, we got, maybe, something else. Now, they're the United States to go to other countries. They have trillions of dollars in those other countries. They're going for two reasons, they can't get their money back in. It's something where the democrats and the republicans both agree, it's the only thing I can think of. They both agree, let the money come back in. Three and a half years, they still can't make a deal. They can't get the money in. It's probably two and a half trillion, but, I think it's much more than that. All of that money could become \u2014 could come right in and be used to rebuild our country, and investments in our country. They can't do it. What we have to do, and what I've done, is made the tax rate \u2014 and one of the reasons they don't the taxes so obnoxious, they can't do it. Where, I made it a 10% number, as you know. I've been very highly praised for it. A lot of money's going to come back in, we're going to get rid of the bureaucratic problems, and roadblocks, because that's also a problem. And, we're going to have all of this money pour back into the United States. It's going to be used to build businesses, for jobs, and everything else. And, as I say, my expression is, let's make America great again. +p5135 +aVThank you. Over the years, I've created tens of thousands of jobs and a great company. It's a company I'm very proud of. Some of the most iconic assets anywhere in the world. And I will tell you, I don't have to give you a website because I'm self-funding my campaign. I'm putting up my own money. I want to do something really special. I want to make our country greater than it's ever been. I think we have that potential. We cannot lose this election. We cannot let Hillary Clinton, who is the worst secretary of state in the history of our country, win this election. We will fight. We will win. And we truly will make this even more special. We have to make it better than ever before. And I will tell you, the United States can actually be better than ever before. Thank you. +p5136 +aVI think maybe my greatest weakness is that I trust people too much. I'm too trusting. And when they let me down, if they let me down, I never forgive. I find it very, very hard to forgive people that deceived me. So I don't know if you would call that a weakness, but my wife said "let up." +p5137 +aVRight. +p5138 +aVRight. +p5139 +aVThat's right. +p5140 +aVNo, not a comic book, and it's not a very nicely asked question the way you say that. Larry Kudlow is an example, who I have a lot of respect for, who loves my tax plan. We're reducing taxes to 15 percent. We're bringing corporate taxes down, bringing money back in, corporate inversions. We have $2.5 trillion outside of the United States which we want to bring back in. As far as the wall is concerned, we're going to build a wall. We're going to create a border. We're going to let people in, but they're going to come in legally. They're going to come in legally. And it's something that can be done, and I get questioned about that. They built the great wall of China. That's 13,000 miles. Here, we actually need 1,000 because we have natural barriers. So we need 1,000. We can do a wall. We're going to have a big, fat beautiful door right in the middle of the wall. We're going to have people come in, but they're coming in legally. And Mexico's going to pay for the wall because Mexico \u2014 I love the Mexican people; I respect the Mexican leaders \u2014 but the leaders are much sharper, smarter and more cunning than our leaders. And just to finish, people say, how will you get Mexico to pay? A politician other than the people in the states \u2014 I don't want to \u2014 a politician cannot get them to pay. I can. We lose, we have a trade imbalance... Excuse me, John. ... of $50 billion... +p5141 +aV... believe me the world is peanuts by comparison. +p5142 +aVRight. Dynamically. +p5143 +aVThen you have to get rid of Larry Kudlow, who sits on your panel, who's a great guy, who came out the other day and said, I love Trump's tax plan. +p5144 +aVFirst of all, John got lucky with a thing called fracking, OK? He hit oil. He got lucky with fracking. Believe me, that is why Ohio is doing well. Number \u2014 and that is important for you to know. Number two, this was the man that was a managing general partner at Lehman Brothers when it went down the tubes and almost took every one of us with it, including Ben and myself, because I was there and I watched what happened. And Lehman Brothers started it all. He was on the board. And he was a managing general partner. And just thirdly, he was so nice. He was such a nice guy. And he said, oh, I'm never going to attack. But then his poll numbers tanked. He has got \u2014 that is why he is on the end. And he got nasty. And he got nasty. So you know what? You can have him. +p5145 +aVI think you're \u2014 +p5146 +aVWell, first of all, like many other very big businessmen, I could name them here, but I'm not going to do that for a lot of obvious reasons, but the biggest, and almost all of them, they've all used the chapter laws, the bankruptcy laws to their own benefit. Before this, I was a very successful person as a developer and as a businessman. Atlantic City has gone bad. I mean, Chris will know about that. I'm not blaming Chris, by the way, but he will know about that. Caesar's \u2014 excuse me \u2014 Caesar's, the Rolls-Royce, as you know, is in bankruptcy. Almost every hotel in Atlantic City has either been in bankruptcy or will be in bankruptcy \u2014 the biggest. But also the biggest people (ph) \u2014 now I've used that to my advantage as a business man, for my family, for myself. I never filed for bankruptcy. But many, many people did. What happened with Atlantic City is very, very disgraceful. Now hundreds of companies I've opened. I've used it three times, maybe four times. Came out great. But I guess I'm supposed to come out great. That is what I could do for the country. We owe $19 trillion, boy am I good at solving debt problems. Nobody can solve it like me. But I will tell you this, Atlantic City, you're using that, hundreds of companies that I have opened have thrived. I built a net worth of way over $10 billion, and I have done it four times out of hundreds. And I'm glad I did it. I used the laws of the country to my benefit, I'm sorry. +p5147 +aVThank you. +p5148 +aVI was not at all critical of him. I was not at all. In fact, frankly, he's complaining about the fact that we're losing some of the most talented people. They go to Harvard. They go to Yale. They go to Princeton. They come from another country and they're immediately sent out. I am all in favor of keeping these talented people here so they can go to work in Silicon Valley. +p5149 +aVSo I have nothing at all critical of him. +p5150 +aVProbably, I don't know \u2014 you people write the stuff. I don't know where you... And if I could say just one thing. I am the only person in either campaign that's self-funding. I'm putting up 100 percent of my own money. And right now, I will be putting up a tremendous \u2014 so far, I've put up less than anybody and I have the best results. Wouldn't that be nice if the country could do that? But I will be putting \u2014 I will be putting up, you know, tremendous amounts of money. SuperPacs are a disaster. They're a scam. They cause dishonesty. And you better get rid of them because they are causing a lot of bad decisions to be made by some very good people. And I'm not blaming these folks \u2014 well, I guess I could. Very good people are making very bad decisions right now. And if anything comes out of this whole thing with some of these nasty and ridiculous questions, I will tell you, you better get rid of the SuperPacs because they causing a big problem with this country, not only in dishonesty and what's going on, but also in a lot of bad decisions that have been made for the benefit of lobbyists and special interests. +p5151 +aVI never said that. I never said that. +p5152 +aVYou've got another gentleman in Florida, who happens to be a very nice guy, but not... +p5153 +aV... he's really doing some bad... +p5154 +aVI'm in favor of people coming into this country legally. And you know what? They can have it anyway you want. You can call it visas, you can call it work permits, you can call it anything you want. I've created tens of thousands of jobs, and in all due respect \u2014 and actually some of these folks I really like a lot \u2014 but I'm the only one that can say that. I have created tens of thousands of jobs, and I'll be creating many millions of jobs if I'm given \u2014 if I'm given the opportunity to be president. As far as Mark is concerned, as far as the visas are concerned, if we need people, they have \u2014 it's fine. They have to come into this country legally. We have a country of borders. We have a country of laws. We have to obey the laws. It's fine if they come in, but they have to come in legally. +p5155 +aVYes. +p5156 +aVOr somebody else. Right. +p5157 +aVYes, I might feel more comfortable. I would say that I would and I have a permit, which is very unusual in New York \u2014 a permit to carry. And I do carry on occasion, sometimes a lot. But I like to be unpredictable so that people don't know exactly... +p5158 +aVBy the way, unlike our country where we're totally predictable and the enemy, whether it's +p5159 +aVI would change them. I would change them. +p5160 +aVSuch a nasty \u2014 such a nasty question, but thank you, Governor. +p5161 +aVYes, it's very simple. We're going to make a really dynamic economy from what we have right now, which is not at all dynamic. We're going to bring jobs back from Japan, we're going to bring jobs back from China, we're going to bring, frankly, jobs back from Mexico where, as you probably saw, Nabisco is leaving Chicago with one of their biggest plants, and they're moving it to Mexico. We're going to bring jobs and manufacturing back. We're going to cut costs. We're going to save Social Security, and we're going to save Medicare. [ +p5162 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We used to win, we don't win anymore. We lose on trade. We lose with +p5163 +aVAnd, I'll do that with the country. We will make America great again. And, thank you everybody. Just for the record. +p5164 +aVThat's not right. That is absolutely not right. You know that. That is not right. [ +p5165 +aVI'm Donald Trump. I wrote "The Art of the Deal". I say not in a braggadocious way, I've made billions and billions of dollars dealing with people all over the world, and I want to put whatever that talent is to work for this country so we have great trade deals, we make our country rich again, we make it great again. We build our military, we take care of our vets, we get rid of Obamacare, and we have a great life altogether. Thank you. Thank you. +p5166 +aVWell, first of all, Rand Paul shouldn't even be on this stage. He's number 11, he's got 1 percent in the polls, and how he got up here, there's far too many people anyway. As far as temperament \u2014 and we all know that \u2014 as far as temperament, I think I have a great temperament. I built a phenomenal business with incredible, iconic assets, one of the really truly great real-estate businesses. And I may be an entertainer, because I've had tremendous success with number-one bestsellers all over the place, with "The Apprentice" and everything else I've done. But I will tell you this: What I am far and away greater than an entertainer is a businessman, and that's the kind of mindset this country needs to bring it back, because we owe $19 trillion right now, $19 trillion, and you need this kind of thinking to bring our country back. And believe me, my temperament is very good, very calm. But we will be respected outside of this country. We are not respected now. +p5167 +aVI never attacked him on his look, and believe me, there's plenty of subject matter right there. That I can tell you. +p5168 +aVI've actually been in politics all my life, although I've been on that side as opposed to this side. I'm now a politician for about three months. Obviously, I'm doing pretty well. I'm number one in every poll by a lot. But the qualification is that I've dealt with people all over the world, been successful all over the world. Everything I've done virtually has been a tremendous success. When markets changed, when things turned, I heard Governor Pataki, who, by the way, was a failed governor in New York, a very seriously failed \u2014 he wouldn't be elected dog catcher right now. I heard what he had to say. And I will tell you this: Atlantic City, I've made a tremendous amount of money in Atlantic City. I left seven years ago, I've gotten great credit for my timing, and that's what I'm all about. I'm a businessman, did really well, really well, and Jeb, what I want to do is put that ability into this country to make our country rich again. And I can do that, and I'm not sure that anybody else in the group will be able to do that. +p5169 +aVBut I have to say... +p5170 +aVWell, in Wisconsin... +p5171 +aVExcuse me. +p5172 +aVIn Wisconsin, you're losing $2.2 billion right now. +p5173 +aVI would do so much better than that. +p5174 +aVNo. +p5175 +aVI'm using facts. +p5176 +aVEvery major business leader has used the \u2014 I never went bankrupt, by the way, as you know, everybody knows. But we \u2014 hundreds of companies, hundreds of deals, I've used ???: ... into bankruptcy. That's what's wrong with politicians in Washington right now. They think we can take a country into bankruptcy. +p5177 +aVEvery major business leader, has used the \u2014 I never went bank bankrupt, by the way, as you know, everybody knows. But \u2014 hundreds of companies, hundreds of deals, I used the law four times and made a tremendous thing. I'm in business. I did a very good job. But I will say this, and people are very, very impressed with what I've done, the business people. But when the folks of Iowa found out the true facts of the job that you've done in Wisconsin, all of a sudden you, tubed (ph), he was No. 1 and now he's No. 6 or seven in the polls. So, look, we brought it out, you were supposed to make a billion dollars in the state. You lost 2.2 \u2014 you have right now, a huge budget deficit. That's not a Democratic point. That's a point. That's a fact. And when the people of Iowa found that out, I went to No. 1 and you went down the tubes. +p5178 +aVI didn't \u2014 +p5179 +aVTotally false. +p5180 +aVI would have gotten it. +p5181 +aVI promise I would have gotten it. +p5182 +aVI promise if I wanted it, I would have gotten it. +p5183 +aVI know my people. +p5184 +aVI know my people. +p5185 +aVNo. I just will tell you that, you know, Jeb made the statement. I'm not only referring to him. I \u2014 a lot of money was raised by a lot of different people that are standing up here. And the donors, the special interests, the lobbyists have very strong power over these people. I'm spending all of my money, I'm not spending \u2014 I'm not getting any \u2014 I turned down \u2014 I turn down so much, I could have right now from special interests and donors, I could have double and triple what he's got. I've turned it down. I turned down last week $5 million from somebody. So I will tell you I understand the game, I've been on the other side all of my life. And they have a lot of control over our politicians. And I don't say that favorably, and I'm not sure if there's another system, but I say this. I am not accepting any money from anybody. Nobody has control of me other than the people of this country. I'm going to do the right thing. +p5186 +aVThat's true. That's true. +p5187 +aVI was \u2014 excuse me, Jeb. +p5188 +aVI was a businessman, I got along with Clinton, I got along with everybody. That was my job, to get along with people. +p5189 +aVI didn't want to \u2014 excuse me. One second. +p5190 +aVOK, more energy tonight. I like that. Look \u2014 +p5191 +aVI didn't want \u2014 it was my obligation as a businessman to my family, to my company, to my employees, to get along with all politicians. I get along with all of them, and I did a damn good job in doing it. Go ahead. +p5192 +aVGot along with everybody. +p5193 +aVWrong. +p5194 +aVDon't make things up. Jeb, don't make things up. Come on. +p5195 +aVDon't make things up. +p5196 +aVSo, number one, they have to respect you. He has absolutely no respect for President Obama. Zero. Syria's a mess. You look at what's going on with +p5197 +aVI believe that I will get along \u2014 we will do \u2014 between that, Ukraine, all of the other problems, we won't have the kind of problems that our country has right now with Russia and many other nations. +p5198 +aVI wouldn't have drawn the line, but once he drew it, he had no choice but to go across. They do bear some responsibility, but I think he probably didn't do it, not for that reason. Somehow, he just doesn't have courage. There is something missing from our president. Had he crossed the line and really gone in with force, done something to Assad \u2014 if he had gone in with tremendous force, you wouldn't have millions of people displaced all over the world. +p5199 +aVThey had a responsibility, absolutely. I think we have three of them here... +p5200 +aVI think they had a responsibility, yes. +p5201 +aVJeb, just... +p5202 +aVI think it will haunt him. I think it's a terrible. I think it's going to haunt him absolutely. He came back later and he said he misspoke. There was no question because I heard when he said the statement. I was watching and he said the statement. And I said, wow, I can't believe it. I will take care of women. I respect women. I will take care of women. One thing we will say and I would like to get back to the Iran situation. We're talking about Iran. The agreement was terrible. It was incompetent. I've never seen anything like it. One of the worst contracts of any kind I've ever seen. And nobody ever mentions North Korea where you have this maniac sitting there and he actually has nuclear weapons and somebody better start thinking about North Korea and perhaps a couple of other places. But certainly North Korea. And Ted and I have spoken. We've \u2014 a lot of us have spoken. We're talking about Iran. They are bad actors, bad things are going to happen. But in the meantime, you have somebody right now in North Korea who has got nuclear weapons and who is saying almost every other week, I'm ready to use them. And we don't even mention it. +p5203 +aVSo why didn't you say it? Why didn't you say it? +p5204 +aVI know, but why did you say it? I heard it myself. Why did you say it? +p5205 +aVYou said you're going to cut funding for women's health. You said it. +p5206 +aVYou said it. +p5207 +aVI think she's got a beautiful face, and I think she's a beautiful woman. +p5208 +aVCorrect. First of all, I want to build a wall, a wall that works. So important, and it's a big part of it. Second of all, we have a lot of really bad dudes in this country from outside, and I think Chris knows that, maybe as well as anybody. They go, if I get elected, first day they're gone. Gangs all over the place. Chicago, Baltimore, no matter where you look. We have a country based on laws. I will make sure that those laws are adhered to. These are illegal immigrants. I don't think you'd even be asking this question if I didn't run because when I ran, and I brought this up, my opening remarks at Trump Tower, I took heat like nobody has taken heat in a long time. And, then they found out with the killing of Katie, from San Francisco, and so many other crimes, they found out that I was right. And, most people, many people, apologized to me. I don't think you'd even be talking about illegal immigration if it weren't for me. So, we have a country of laws, they're going to go out, and they'll come back if they deserve to come back. If they've had a bad record, if they've been arrested, if they've been in jail, they're never coming back. We're going to have a country again. Right now, we don't have a country, we don't have a border, and we're going to do something about it, and it can be done with proper management, and it can be done with heart. +p5209 +aV...By the way, I agree with \u2014 with what Chris is saying, but, I will say this. Illegal immigration is costing us more than $200 billion dollars a year just to maintain what we have. +p5210 +aVCorrect. +p5211 +aVWell, I have to tell you, I hear phenomenal things. I hear your wife is a lovely woman... +p5212 +aVI don't know her, and this is a total mischaracterization... +p5213 +aVGood. +p5214 +aVNo, I won't do that, because I've said nothing wrong. +p5215 +aVBut I do hear she's a lovely woman. +p5216 +aVJeb said... +p5217 +aV... that they come into our country as an act of love. With all of the problems we that we have, in so many instances \u2014 we have wonderful people coming in. But with all of the problems \u2014 this is not an act of love. He's weak on immigration \u2014 by the way, in favor of Common Core, which is also a disaster, but weak on immigration. He doesn't get my vote. +p5218 +aVNot with this intensity. +p5219 +aVAs I said, we are spending $200 billion \u2014 we are spending $200 billion a year on maintaining what we have. We will move them out. The great ones will come back, the good ones will come back. They'll be expedited, they'll be back, they'll come back legally. We'll have a country \u2014 they'll come back, legally. +p5220 +aVWell, I think it's wonderful and all, but I did it a little bit half-heartedly, but I do mean it to a large extent. We have a country, where, to assimilate, you have to speak English. And I think that where he was, and the way it came out didn't sound right to me. We have to have assimilation \u2014 to have a country, we have to have assimilation. I'm not the first one to say this, Dana. We've had many people over the years, for many, many years, saying the same thing. This is a country where we speak English, not Spanish. +p5221 +aVThis is a reporter, not a high school kid. +p5222 +aVWell, first of all, the \u2014 the 14th Amendment says very, very clearly to a lot of great legal scholars \u2014 not television scholars, but legal scholars \u2014 that it is wrong. It can be corrected with an act of Congress, probably doesn't even need that. A woman gets pregnant. She's nine months, she walks across the border, she has the baby in the United States, and we take care of the baby for 85 years. I don't think so. And by the way, Mexico and almost every other country anywhere in the world doesn't have that. We're the only ones dumb enough, stupid enough to have it. And people \u2014 and by the way, this is not just with respect to Mexico. They are coming from Asia to have babies here, and all of a sudden, we have to take care of the babies for the life of the baby. The 14th Amendment, it reads properly, you can go and \u2014 it's probably going to be have to be check \u2014 go through a process of court, probably ends up at the Supreme Court, but there are a lot of great legal scholars that say that is not correct. And in my opinion, it makes absolutely no \u2014 we're the only \u2014 one of the only countries, we're going to take care of those babies for 70, 75, 80, 90 years? I don't think so. +p5223 +aVI agree 100 percent, by the way, with Carly on the fact that the Democrats do not want to solve this problem, for the obvious reasons, but they do not. But I believe that a reading of the 14th Amendment allows you to have an interpretation where this is not legal and where it can't be done. I've seen both sides, but some of the greatest scholars agree with me, without having to go through Congress. If you do go through Congress, you can absolutely solve the problem. +p5224 +aVThat's true, sure. +p5225 +aVWell \u2014 +p5226 +aV\u2014 let me \u2014 well, let me just explain. The head of the Yale Business School, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, wrote a paper recently, one of the worst tenures for a CEO that he has ever seen, ranked one of the top 20 in the history of business. The company is a disaster and continues to be a disaster. They still haven't recovered. In fact, today, on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, they fired another 25 or 30,000 people saying we still haven't recovered from the catastrophe. When Carly says the revenues went up, that's because she bought Compaq, it was a terrible deal, and it really led to the destruction of the company. Now one other company before that was Lucent. Carly was at Lucent before that. And Lucent turned out to be a catastrophe also. So I only say this. She can't run any of my companies. That I can tell you. +p5227 +aVI never filed for bankruptcy. +p5228 +aVI'll tell you why; it's very simple. +p5229 +aVI'll tell you. I was running \u2014 +p5230 +aV\u2014 Carly, Carly \u2014 +p5231 +aV\u2014 I've made over $10 billion. I had a casino company \u2014 Caesars just filed for bankruptcy. Chris will tell you \u2014 it's not Chris' fault either \u2014 but almost everybody in Atlantic City is either in trouble or filed for \u2014 maybe I'll blame Chris. +p5232 +aVBut Atlantic City is a disaster \u2014 +p5233 +aVWait a minute, Carly. Wait. I let you speak. Atlantic City is a disaster, and I did great in Atlantic City. I knew when to get out. My timing was great. And I got a lot of credit for it. Many of the great business people that you know \u2014 and Carl Icon (ph) is going to work with me on making great deals for this country. But whether it's Carl or so many others that we read about all the time \u2014 +p5234 +aV\u2014 they have used the laws of the land, which is the \u2014 +p5235 +aV...Well, I'd like to respond, I'd like to respond... +p5236 +aVWell, I think the thing about the flat tax, I know it very well. What I don't like is that if you make $200 million a year, you pay ten percent, you're paying very little relatively to somebody that's making $50,000 a year, and has to hire H&R Block to do the \u2014 because it's so complicated. One thing I'll say to Ben is that we've had a graduated tax system for many years, so it's not a socialistic thing. What I'd like to do, and I'll be putting in the plan in about two weeks, and I think people are going to like it, it's a major reduction in taxes. It's a major reduction for the middle class. The hedge fund guys won't like me as much as they like me right now. I know them all, but they'll pay more. I know people that are making a tremendous amount of money and paying virtually no tax, and I think it's unfair. +p5237 +aVWell, I heard Hugh Hewitt, a nice man, he apologized because he actually said that we had a misunderstanding. And he said today that Donald Trump is maybe the best interview there is anywhere that he has ever done. Now unless he was just saying that on CNN to be nice, but he did say that... +p5238 +aVAnd we had a legitimate misunderstanding in terms of his pronunciation of a word. But I would say just... +p5239 +aVWell, I think it was. And he actually said that. Did you say that? +p5240 +aVOK. So I will say this, though, Hugh was giving me name after name, Arab name, Arab name, and there are few people anywhere, anywhere that would have known those names. I think he was reading them off a sheet. And frankly I will have \u2014 and I told him, I will have the finest team that anybody has put together and we will solve a lot of problems. You know, right now they know a lot and look at what is happening. The world is blowing up around us. We will have great teams and great people. +p5241 +aVI hope that answers your question. I mean, you are in the Senate, but I hope that answers your question. +p5242 +aVNo, I don't think he's suggesting that at all. I mean... +p5243 +aVI don't think he's suggesting that at all. +p5244 +aVWell, you have to understand, I am not sitting in the United States Senate with, by the way, the worst voting record there is today. Number one. I am not sitting in the United States Senate. I'm a businessman doing business transactions. +p5245 +aVI am doing business transactions. I will know more about this \u2014 and, as you said, that was very acceptable, and when you listen to that whole interview, it's a great interview, you said it, I didn't. Well, now I did. But... +p5246 +aVListen, just one second. Just one second. +p5247 +aVI will know... +p5248 +aV...I will know more about the problems of this world by the time I sit, and you look at what's going in this world right now by people that supposedly know, this world is a mess. +p5249 +aV +p5250 +aV I'm \u2014 and I'm meeting with people that are terrific people, but I have to say something because it's about judgment. I am the only person on this dais \u2014 the only person \u2014 that fought very, very hard against us (ph), and I wasn't a sitting politician going into Iraq, because I said going into Iraq \u2014 that was in 2003, you can check it out, check out \u2014 I'll give you 25 different stories. In fact, a delegation was sent to my office to see me because I was so vocal about it. I'm a very militaristic person, but you have to know when to use the military. I'm the only person up here that fought against going into Iraq. +p5251 +aVJust excuse me, one second, Rand... +p5252 +aVIf you don't mind, Rand \u2014 you know, you are on last \u2014 you do have your 1 percent. I would like \u2014 and I think it's very important. I think it's important, because it's about judgment. It's about judgment. I didn't want to go into Iraq, and I fought it, because what I said \u2014 what I said... +p5253 +aV... was you're going to \u2014 you're going to destabilize... +p5254 +aV... the Middle East, and that's what happened. +p5255 +aVIf you think about it... +p5256 +aVYour brother \u2014 and your brother's administration gave us Barack Obama, because it was such a disaster, those last three months, that Abraham Lincoln couldn't have been elected. +p5257 +aVI don't know. You feel safe right now? I don't feel so safe. +p5258 +aVOr the collapse of the economy. +p5259 +aVSpeaking for myself, I'm OK with it. I think there's a certain truth to it. I know people that, frankly, it has no impact on their life whatsoever. There are many people. I would almost say leave it up to them, but I would be willing to check it off, and say I will not get Social Security. I do not... +p5260 +aVAs a policy, I would almost leave it up to the people. Don't forget they pay in and they pay in, and maybe they do well, and maybe some people want it. But the fact is that there are people that truly don't need it, and there are many people that do need it very, very badly. And I would be willing to write mine off 100 percent, Dana. +p5261 +aVWell, I \u2014 I \u2014 I'd like to respond. +p5262 +aVI'd like to respond. +p5263 +aVAutism has become an epidemic. Twenty-five years ago, 35 years ago, you look at the statistics, not even close. It has gotten totally out of control. I am totally in favor of vaccines. But I want smaller doses over a longer period of time. Because you take a baby in \u2014 and I've seen it \u2014 and I've seen it, and I had my children taken care of over a long period of time, over a two or three year period of time. Same exact amount, but you take this little beautiful baby, and you pump \u2014 I mean, it looks just like it's meant for a horse, not for a child, and we've had so many instances, people that work for me. Just the other day, two years old, two and a half years old, a child, a beautiful child went to have the vaccine, and came back, and a week later got a tremendous fever, got very, very sick, now is autistic. I only say it's not \u2014 I'm in favor of vaccines, do them over a longer period of time, same amount. +p5264 +aVBut just in \u2014 in little sections. +p5265 +aVI think \u2014 and I think you're going to have \u2014 I think you're going to see a big impact on autism. +p5266 +aVAnd that's all I'm saying, Jake. That's all I'm saying. +p5267 +aVWell, because she's been sitting for three hours, I think my daughter, Ivanka, who's right here. +p5268 +aVOther than that we'll go with Rosa Parks. I like that. +p5269 +aVHumble. +p5270 +aVIf I become president, we will do something really special. We will make this country greater than ever before. We'll have more jobs. We'll have more of everything. We were discussing disease, we were discussing all sorts of things tonight, many of which will just be words, it will just pass on. I don't want to say politicians, all talk, no action. But a lot of what we talked about is words and it will be forgotten very quickly. If I'm president, many of the things that we discussed tonight will not be forgotten. We'll find solutions. And the world will respect us. They will respect us like never before. And it will be actually a friendlier world. And I have to say, it is a great honor to be here tonight. +p5271 +aVI fully understand. +p5272 +aVI fully understand. +p5273 +aVI cannot say. I have to respect the person that, if it's not me, the person that wins, if I do win, and I'm leading by quite a bit, that's what I want to do. I can totally make that pledge. If I'm the nominee, I will pledge I will not run as an independent. But -- and I am discussing it with everybody, but I'm, you know, talking about a lot of leverage. We want to win, and we will win. But I want to win as the Republican. I want to run as the Republican nominee. +p5274 +aVWell, I've given him plenty of money. +p5275 +aVI will not make the pledge at this time. +p5276 +aVOnly Rosie O'Donnell. +p5277 +aVThank you. +p5278 +aVYes, I'm sure it was. +p5279 +aVI think the big problem this country has is being politically correct. I've been challenged by so many people, and I don't frankly have time for total political correctness. And to be honest with you, this country doesn't have time either. This country is in big trouble. We don't win anymore. We lose to China. We lose to Mexico both in trade and at the border. We lose to everybody. And frankly, what I say, and oftentimes it's fun, it's kidding. We have a good time. What I say is what I say. And honestly Megyn, if you don't like it, I'm sorry. I've been very nice to you, although I could probably maybe not be, based on the way you have treated me. But I wouldn't do that. But you know what, we -- we need strength, we need energy, we need quickness and we need brain in this country to turn it around. That, I can tell you right now. +p5280 +aVSo, if it weren't for me, you wouldn't even be talking about illegal immigration, Chris. You wouldn't even be talking about it. This was not a subject that was on anybody's mind until I brought it up at my announcement. And I said, Mexico is sending. Except the reporters, because they're a very dishonest lot, generally speaking, in the world of politics, they didn't cover my statement the way I said it. The fact is, since then, many killings ,murders, crime, drugs pouring across the border, are money going out and the drugs coming in. And I said we need to build a wall, and it has to be built quickly. And I don't mind having a big beautiful door in that wall so that people can come into this country legally. But we need, Jeb, to build a wall, we need to keep illegals out. +p5281 +aVBorder Patrol, I was at the border last week. Border Patrol, people that I deal with, that I talk to, they say this is what's happening. Because our leaders are stupid. Our politicians are stupid. And the Mexican government is much smarter, much sharper, much more cunning. And they send the bad ones over because they don't want to pay for them. They don't want to take care of them. Why should they when the stupid leaders of the United States will do it for them? And that's what is happening whether you like it or not. +p5282 +aVA complete disaster, yes. +p5283 +aVCorrect. +p5284 +aVFirst of all, I'd like to just go back to one. In July of 2004, I came out strongly against the war with Iraq, because it was going to destabilize the Middle East. And I'm the only one on this stage that knew that and had the vision to say it. And that's exactly what happened. +p5285 +aVAnd the Middle East became totally destabilized. So I just want to say. As far as single payer, it works in Canada. It works incredibly well in Scotland. It could have worked in a different age, which is the age you're talking about here. What I'd like to see is a private system without the artificial lines around every state. I have a big company with thousands and thousands of employees. And if I'm negotiating in New York or in New Jersey or in California, I have like one bidder. Nobody can bid. You know why? Because the insurance companies are making a fortune because they have control of the politicians, of course, with the exception of the politicians on this stage. But they have total control of the politicians. They're making a fortune. Get rid of the artificial lines and you will have......yourself great plans. And then we have to take care of the people that can't take care of themselves. And I will do that through a different system. +p5286 +aVI'm not -- I'm not are -- I don't think you heard me. You're having a hard time tonight. +p5287 +aVYou'd better believe it. +p5288 +aVIf I ask them, if I need them, you know, most of the people on this stage I've given to, just so you understand, a lot of money. +p5289 +aVMany of them. +p5290 +aVNot much. +p5291 +aVBut I... +p5292 +aVI have good... +p5293 +aVGood. +p5294 +aVSounds good. Sounds good to me, Governor. I will tell you that our system is broken. I gave to many people, before this, before two months ago, I was a businessman. I give to everybody. When they call, I give. And do you know what? When I need something from them two years later, three years later, I call them, they are there for me. +p5295 +aVAnd that's a broken system. +p5296 +aVWell, I'll tell you what, with Hillary Clinton, I said be at my wedding and she came to my wedding. You know why? She didn't have a choice because I gave. I gave to a foundation that, frankly, that foundation is supposed to do good. I didn't know her money would be used on private jets going all over the world. It was. But... +p5297 +aVBecause I have used the laws of this country just like the greatest people that you read about every day in business have used the laws of this country, the chapter laws, to do a great job for my company, for myself, for my employees, for my family, et cetera. I have never gone bankrupt, by the way. I have never. But out of hundreds of deals... +p5298 +aVExcuse me. Excuse me. +p5299 +aVExcuse me, what am I saying? Out of hundreds of deals that I've done, hundreds, on four occasions I've taken advantage of the laws of this country, like other people. I'm not going to name their names because I'm not going to embarrass, but virtually every person that you read about on the front page of the business sections, they've used the law. The difference is, when somebody else uses those laws, nobody writes about it. When I use it, they say, "Trump, Trump, Trump." The fact is, I built a net worth of more than $10 billion. I have a great, great company. I employ thousands of people. And I'm very proud of the job I did. Again Chris, hundreds and hundreds of deals. Four times, I've taken advantage of the laws. And frankly, so has everybody else in my position. +p5300 +aVWell, I... +p5301 +aVLet me just tell you about the lenders. First of all, these lenders aren't babies. These are total killers. These are not the nice, sweet little people that you think, OK? You know, I mean you're living in a world of the make-believe, Chris, you want to know the truth. And I had the good sense to leave Atlantic City, which by the way, Caesars just went bankrupt. Every company, Chris can tell you, every company virtually in Atlantic City went bankrupt. Every company. And let me just tell you. I had the good sense, and I've gotten a lot of credit in the financial pages, seven years ago I left Atlantic City before it totally cratered, and I made a lot of money in Atlantic City, and I'm very proud of it. I want to tell you that. Very, very proud of it. +p5302 +aVAnd by the way, this country right now owes $19 trillion. And they need somebody like me to straighten out that mess. +p5303 +aVI don't think they like me very much. I'll tell you what. I've evolved on many issues over the years. And you know who else has? Is Ronald Reagan evolved on many issues. And I am pro-life. And if you look at the question, I was in business. They asked me a question as to pro-life or choice. And I said if you let it run, that I hate the concept of abortion. I hate the concept of abortion. And then since then, I've very much evolved. And what happened is friends of mine years ago were going to have a child, and it was going to be aborted. And it wasn't aborted. And that child today is a total superstar, a great, great child. And I saw that. And I saw other instances. And I am very, very proud to say that I am pro-life. As far as being a Republican is concerned, I come from a place, New York City, which is virtually, I mean, it is almost exclusively Democrat. And I have really started to see some of the negatives -- as an example, and I have a lot of liking for this man, but the last number of months of his brother's administration were a catastrophe. And unfortunately, those few months gave us President Obama. And you can't be happy about that. +p5304 +aVFirst of all, Jeb, I am very happy that you denied that, and I appreciate that very much. He is a true gentleman. He really is. One thing he did say, and I mean that. The one thing he did say about me, however, was my tone. And I also understand that. But when you have people that are cutting Christians' heads off, when you have a world that the border and at so many places, that it is medieval times, we've never -- it almost has to be as bad as it ever was in terms of the violence and the horror, we don't have time for tone. We have to go out and get the job done. +p5305 +aVI would be so different from what you have right now. Like, the polar opposite. We have a president who doesn't have a clue. I would say he's incompetent, but I don't want to do that because that's not nice. But if you look at the deals we make, whether it's the nuclear deal with 24 hour periods -- and by the way, before you get to the 24 hours, you have to go through a system. You look at Sgt. Bergdahl, we get Bergdahl, a traitor, and they get five of the big, great killers leaders that they want. We have people in Washington that don't know what they're doing. Now... I agree. Now, with Iran, we're making a deal, you would say, we want him. We want out our prisoners. We want all these things, and we don't get anything. We're giving them $150 billion dollars plus, they are going to be -- I'll tell you what, if Iran was a stock, you folks should go out and buy it right now because you'll quadruple -- this, what's happening in Iran, is a disgrace, and it's going to lead to destruction in large portions of the world. +p5306 +aVOur country is in serious trouble. We don't win anymore. We don't beat China in trade. We don't beat Japan, with their millions and millions of cars coming into this country, in trade. We can't beat Mexico, at the border or in trade. We can't do anything right. Our military has to be strengthened. Our vets have to be taken care of. We have to end Obamacare, and we have to make our country great again, and I will do that. Thank you. +p5307 +aVWell, I can say this. If the president, and if I were president now, I would certainly want to try and nominate a justice. I'm sure that, frankly, I'm absolutely sure that President Obama will try and do it. I hope that our Senate is going to be able \u2014 Mitch, and the entire group, is going to be able to do something about it. In times of delay, we could have a Diane Sykes, or you could have a Bill Pryor \u2014 we have some fantastic people. But this is a tremendous blow to conservatism. It's a tremendous blow, frankly, to our country. +p5308 +aV... I think he's going to do it whether or I'm O.K. with it or not. I think it's up to Mitch McConnell and everybody else to stop it. It's called delay, delay, delay. +p5309 +aVWhat we want to do, when we want to do it, and how hard do we want to hit? Because we are going to have to hit very, very hard to knock out +p5310 +aV... called me a genius, I like him so far, I have to tell you. Let me just tell you this. Jeb is so wrong. Jeb is absolutely self \u2014 just so you understand, you know what that is? That's Jeb's special interest and lobbyist talking. Look, let me just tell you something, Jeb \u2014 Jeb is so wrong. You got to fight +p5311 +aV... You'll end up with World War III... +p5312 +aV... We're supporting troops... +p5313 +aV... that we don't even know who they are. +p5314 +aV... We're supporting troops that we don't even know who they are... +p5315 +aVWe have no idea who they are. +p5316 +aV... Oh, yeah, yeah... +p5317 +aV... Let 44 million in New Hampshire, it was practically ... +p5318 +aV... 44 million \u2014 give me a break. +p5319 +aVFirst of all, I have to say, as a businessman, I get along with everybody. I have business all over the world. I know so many of the people in the audience. And by the way, I'm a self-funder. I don't have \u2014 I have my wife and I have my son. That's all I have. I don't have this. So let me just tell you, I get along with everybody, which is my obligation to my company, to myself, et cetera. Obviously, the war in Iraq was a big, fat mistake. All right? Now, you can take it any way you want, and it took \u2014 it took Jeb Bush, if you remember at the beginning of his announcement, when he announced for president, it took him five days. He went back, it was a mistake, it wasn't a mistake. It took him five days before his people told him what to say, and he ultimately said, "It was a mistake." The war in Iraq, we spent $2 trillion, thousands of lives, we don't even have it. Iran has taken over Iraq, with the second-largest oil reserves in the world. Obviously, it was a mistake. +p5320 +aVGeorge Bush made a mistake. We can make mistakes. But that one was a beauty. We should have never been in Iraq. We have destabilized the Middle East. +p5321 +aVYou do whatever you want. You call it whatever you want. I want to tell you. They lied. They said there were weapons of mass destruction, there were none. And they knew there were none. There were no weapons of mass destruction. +p5322 +aVI'm being nice. +p5323 +aVHe spent $22 million in... +p5324 +aVThe World Trade Center came down during your brother's reign, remember that. +p5325 +aVThat's not keeping us safe. +p5326 +aVShe should be running. +p5327 +aVHow did he keep us safe when the World Trade Center \u2014 the World \u2014 excuse me. I lost hundreds of friends. The World Trade Center came down during the reign of George Bush. He kept us safe? That is not safe. That is not safe, Marco. That is not safe. +p5328 +aVAnd George Bush \u2014 by the way, George Bush had the chance, also, and he didn't listen to the advice of his C.I.A. +p5329 +aVI don't want to go. +p5330 +aVYes. +p5331 +aVFirst of all, the \u2014 when you say I'm the only candidate, if you listen to the Democrats, they want to do many things to Social Security, and I want to do them on its own merit. You listen to them, what they want to do to Social Security, none of these folks are getting elected, O.K., whether they can do it or not. I'm going to save Social Security. I'm going to bring jobs back from China. I'm going to bring jobs back from Mexico and from Japan, where they're all \u2014 every country throughout the world \u2014 now Vietnam, that's the new one. They are taking our jobs. They are taking our wealth. They are taking our base. And you and I have had this discussion. We're going to make our economy strong again. I'm lowering taxes. We have $2.5 trillion offshore. We have 2.5 trillion that I think is actually five trillion because the government has no idea when they say 2.5, they have no idea what they're doing or saying, as they've proven very well. We're going to bring that money back. You take a look at what happened just this week. China bought the Chicago Stock Exchange, China, a Chinese company. Carrier is moving to Mexico, air conditioning company. Not only the ones I talk about all the time, Nabisco and Ford and \u2014 they're all moving out. We have an economy that last quarter, G.D.P. didn't grow. It was flat. We have to make our economy grow again. We're dying. This country is dying. And our workers are losing their jobs, and you're going... +p5332 +aVI'm the only one who is going to save Social Security, believe me. +p5333 +aVBecause you have tremendous waste. I'll tell you... +p5334 +aVYou have tremendous waste, fraud and abuse. That we're taking care of. That we're taking care of. It's tremendous. We have in Social Security right now thousands and thousands of people that are over 106 years old. Now, you know they don't exist. They don't exist. There's tremendous waste, fraud and abuse, and we're going to get it. But we're not going to hurt the people who have been paying into Social Security their whole life and then all of a sudden they're supposed to get less. We're bringing our jobs back. We're going to make our economy great again. +p5335 +aVI want everybody taken care of, but we have to take care of our people in this country. We're not taking care of our people. We have no border. We have no control. People are flooding across. We can't have it. We either have a border, and I'm very strongly \u2014 I'm not proposing. I will build a wall. I will build a wall. Remember this, the wall will be paid for by Mexico. We are not being treated right. We are not being treated properly. If we don't have borders, if we don't have strength, we don't have a country. People are flowing across. We have to take care of our people. Believe me. +p5336 +aVLook......When I announced that I was running for president on June 16th, illegal immigration wasn't even a subject. If I didn't bring it up, we wouldn't even be talking. Now, I don't often agree with Marco, and I don't often agree with Ted, but I can in this case. The weakest person on this stage by far on illegal immigration is Jeb Bush. They come out of an act of love, whether you like it or not. He is so weak on illegal immigration it's laughable, and everybody knows it. +p5337 +aV... Spend a little more money on the commercials... +p5338 +aV. I don't know what you're talking about. +p5339 +aV... I never called him \u2014 I don't call him.. +p5340 +aVHe also said about language... +p5341 +aV... Language. Two days ago he said he would take his pants off and moon everybody, and that's fine. Nobody reports that. He gets up and says that, and then he tells me, oh, my language was a little bit rough... +p5342 +aV... My language. Give me a break... +p5343 +aV... You did say it, you did say it. Been reported in 10 different news... +p5344 +aVOr a tax. +p5345 +aVI would build consensus with Congress, and Congress would agree with me. I'll give you an example, because I don't like the idea of using executive orders like our president. It is a disaster what he's doing. I would build consensus, but consensus means you have to work hard. You have to cajole. You have to get them into the Oval Office and get them all together, and you have to make deals. Let me just tell you, I mentioned before, China \u2014 big Chinese company bought the Chicago Exchange. Kerry is moving \u2014 and if you saw the people, because they have a video of the announcement that Carrier is moving to Mexico, O.K.? Well, I'll tell you what. I would go right now to Carrier and I would say I am going to work awfully hard. You're going to make air conditioners now in Mexico. You're going to get all of these 1,400 people that are being laid off \u2014 they're laid off. They were crying. They were \u2014 it was a very sad situation. You're going to go to Mexico. You're going to make air conditioners in Mexico, you're going to put them across our border with no tax. I'm going to tell them right now, I am going to get consensus from Congress and we're going to tax you when those air conditioners come. So stay where you are or build in the United States, because we are killing ourselves with trade pacts that are no good for us and no good for our workers. +p5346 +aVJohn, in life you have flexibility. You do have flexibility. When you're fighting wars, you're going one way, you have a plan. It's a beautiful plan. It can't lose. The enemy makes a change, and all of a sudden you have to change. You have to have flexibility. In Ronald Reagan, though, in terms of what we're talking about, was the great example. He was a somewhat liberal Democrat who became a somewhat, pretty strong conservative. He became \u2014 most importantly, he became a great president. He made many of the changes that I've made \u2014 I mean, I've seen as I grew up, I've seen, and as I get older and wiser, and I feel that I am a conservative. Now, I also feel I'm a common-sense conservative, because some of the views I don't agree with. And I think a lot of people agree with me, obviously, based on what's happening. +p5347 +aVWell, I think these people always hit me with eminent domain, and frankly, I'm not in love with eminent domain. But eminent domain is something you need very strongly. When Jeb had said, "You used eminent domain privately for a parking lot." It wasn't for a parking lot. The state of New Jersey \u2014 too bad Chris Christie is not here, he could tell you \u2014 the state of New Jersey went to build a very large tower that was going to employ thousands of people. I mean, it was going to really do a big job in terms of economic development. Now, just so you understand, I got hit very hard. It's private, it's private eminent domain. You understand that they took over a stadium in Texas, and they used private eminent domain, but he just found that out after he made the charge. +p5348 +aVYeah. Well, Jeb wouldn't have known about it. +p5349 +aVYou shouldn't have used it then, Jeb. +p5350 +aVThank you very much, I appreciate it. +p5351 +aVYou probably are worse than Jeb Bush. You are single biggest liar. This guy's lied \u2014 let me just tell you, this guy lied about Ben Carson when he took votes away from Ben Carson in Iowa, and he just continues. Today, we had robo-calls saying, "Donald Trump is not going to run in South Carolina," where I'm leading by a lot. I'm not going to vote for Ted Cruz. This is the same thing he did to Ben Carson. This guy will say anything, nasty guy. Now I know why he doesn't have one endorsement from any of his colleagues. +p5352 +aVHe's a nasty guy. +p5353 +aVWhere did I support it? Where did I... +p5354 +aVAgain, where did I support it? +p5355 +aVHey Ted, where I support it? +p5356 +aVWhere did I support? +p5357 +aVThat's a lot of lies. +p5358 +aVIt does do wonderful things, but not as it relates to abortion. +p5359 +aVExcuse me. Excuse me, there are wonderful things having to do with women's health. +p5360 +aVBut not when it comes to abortion. +p5361 +aVHold on... +p5362 +aVTed Cruz told your brother that he wanted John Roberts to be on the United States Supreme Court. They both pushed him, he twice approved Obamacare. +p5363 +aVO.K., governor. +p5364 +aVYou pushed him. You pushed him. +p5365 +aVYou worked with him and you pushed him. Why do you lie? +p5366 +aVWhy do you lie? +p5367 +aVYou pushed him. +p5368 +aVYeah, yeah, I know, you're an adult. +p5369 +aVWell, I would say my wife tells me I'm wrong all the time. And I listen. +p5370 +aVOh, let me just say \u2014 look, I am very open \u2014 I hired top people. I've had great success. I built a great, great company. I don't need to do this. I'm self-funding. I'm spending a lot of money. I've spent \u2014 like in New Hampshire, I spent $3 million. Jeb bush spent $44 million. He came in five, and I came in No. 1. That's what the country needs, folks. I spent 3, he spends 42 of their money, of special interest money. And it's just \u2014 this is not going to make \u2014 excuse me. This is not going to make our country great again. This is not what we need in our country. We need people that know what the hell they're doing. And politicians, they're all talk, they're no action. And that's why people are supporting me. I do listen to people. I hire experts. I hire top, top people. And I do listen. And you know what? Sometimes they're wrong. You have to know what to do, when to do it. But sometimes they're wrong. +p5371 +aVWell, I'll tell you \u2014 over the years, I've made many speeches. People have asked me, big companies have asked me to make speeches, and friends of mine that run big companies on success. And occasion, in order to sort of really highlight something, I'll use a profanity. One of the profanities that I got credited with using, that I didn't use, was a very bad word, two weeks ago, that I never used. I said, "You." And everybody said "Oh, he didn't say anything wrong." But you bleeped it, so everyone thinks I said the \u2014 I didn't say anything. I never said the word. It is very unfair, that criticism. Now, I will say this, with all of that being said, I have said I will not do it at all, because if I say a word that's a little bit off color, a little bit, it ends up being a headline. I will not do it again. I was a very good student at a great school not using \u2014 by the way \u2014 not using profanity is very easy. +p5372 +aVThat's not \u2014 let me respond. That's another lie. I never went bankrupt! +p5373 +aVNo, but it's another lie. +p5374 +aVNo, but it's another lie. This guy doesn't know what he's talking about. Just a lie. +p5375 +aVLet me just tell you. Jeb goes around saying, just like the biggest business leaders in this country, I've used the laws of the land to chapter \u2014 I bought a company, I threw it immediately into a chapter, I made a great deal. I uses the laws to my benefit, because I run a company. +p5376 +aVExcuse me, Jeb! +p5377 +aVI never went bankrupt, never. Now \u2014 but you don't want to say that. Now, let me just say, I've used it, just like the biggest leaders in the country. Let me tell you something \u2014 Florida. Florida, he put so much debt on Florida. You know, we keep saying he's a wonderful governor, wonderful governor. He put so much debt on Florida, and he increased spending so much that as soon as he got out of office, Florida crashed. I happened to be there. It's my second home. Florida crashed. He didn't do a good job as governor. +p5378 +aVAnd you haven't \u2014 excuse me, you haven't heard that. You listen to the good record in Florida. You take a look at what happened, as soon as that year ended he got out, Florida crashed. Too much debt. He loaded it up with debt, and his spending went through the roof. +p5379 +aVBy the way... +p5380 +aV... he was not a good governor. +p5381 +aVTake a look at your numbers. +p5382 +aVFlorida went down the tubes right after he got out of office. +p5383 +aVWent right down because of what he did to it. +p5384 +aVThank you. Politicians are all talk, no action. You've seen where they've take you to. We are 19 trillion dollars right now. It's going to be increased with that horrible budget from a month ago that was just approved by politicians. We need a change. We need a very big change. We're going to make our country great again. I say this every night, every day, every afternoon, and it's so true \u2014 we don't win anymore. We don't win with health care, we don't win with +p5385 +aVI actually think I have the best temperament. I built a massive corporation. I employ thousands and thousands of people. I've gotten along with people for years and years, have tremendous relationships with many people, including politicians on both sides. And no matter how you cut it, when I \u2014 when I came out, I hit immigration, I hit it very hard. Everybody said, "Oh, the temperament," because I talked about illegal immigration. Now, everybody's coming to me, they're all trying to say, well, he's right, we have to come to him. I hit other things. I talked about Muslims. We have a problem. Nobody else wanted to mention the problem, I brought it up. I took a lot of heat. We have to have a temporary something, because there's something going on that's not good. And remember this, I'm the only one up here, when the war of Iraq \u2014 in Iraq, I was the one that said, "Don't go, don't do it, you're going to destabilize the Middle East." So, I'm not one with a trigger. I'm not one with a trigger. Other people up here, believe me, would be a lot faster. But I'll build the mill arbitrary stronger, bigger, better than anybody up here, and nobody is going to mess with us. That, I can tell you. +p5386 +aVAm I allowed to respond? I have to respond. +p5387 +aVFirst of all, I respect what Ted just said, but if you noticed, he didn't answer your question. And that's what's going to happen \u2014 OK. That's what's going to happen with our enemies and the people we compete against. We're going to win with Trump. We're going to win. We don't win anymore. Our country doesn't win anymore. We're going to win with Trump. And people back down with Trump. And that's what I like and that's what the country is going to like. +p5388 +aVWell, let me say a couple of things. First of all, Marco said earlier on that President Obama knows exactly what he's doing, like we have this president that really knows. I disagree, respectfully, with Marco. I think we have a president who, as a president, is totally incompetent, and he doesn't know what he's doing. I think he has no idea what he's doing. And our country is going to hell. So, I just want to say, we disagree on that. Is that okay? +p5389 +aVGood. +p5390 +aVAs to North Korea? +p5391 +aVWe have \u2014 tremendous \u2014 has been just sucked out of our country by China. China says they don't have that good of control over North Korea. They have tremendous control. I deal with the Chinese all of the time. I do tremendous \u2014 the largest bank in the world is in one of my buildings in Manhattan. I deal with them. They tell me. They have total, absolute control, practically, of North Korea. They are sucking trillions of dollars out of our country \u2014 they're rebuilding China with the money they take out of our country. I would get on with China, let China solve that problem. They can do it quickly and surgically. That's what we should do with North Korea. +p5392 +aVGood evening. +p5393 +aVYes. HAM: In the Democratic primary, Hillary Clinton has criticized Bernie Sanders' plan for single payer government health care, noting it would require big, across the board tax increases for Americans. In doing so, she's doubling down on Obamacare, despite its persistent unpopularity. Mr. Trump, you have said you want to appeal Obamacare. You have also said, quote, "Everybody's got to be covered," adding, quote, "The government's going to pay for it." Are you closer to Bernie Sanders' vision for health care than Hillary Clinton's? +p5394 +aVI don't think I am. I think I'm closer to common sense. We are going to repeal Obamacare. We're going to repeal Obamacare. We are going to replace Obamacare with something so much better. And there are so many examples of it. And I will tell you, part of the reason we have some people laughing, because you have insurance people that take care of everybody up here. I am self-funded. The only one they're not taking care of is me. We have our lines around each state. The insurance companies are getting rich on Obamacare. The insurance companies are getting rich on health care and health services and everything having to do with health. We are going to end that. We're going to take out the artificial boundaries, the artificial lines. We're going to get a plan where people compete, free enterprise. They compete. So much better. In addition to that, you have the health care savings plans, which are excellent. What I do say is, there will be a certain number of people that will be on the street dying and as a Republican, I don't want that to happen. We're going to take care of people that are dying on the street because there will be a group of people that are not going to be able to even think in terms of private or anything else and we're going to take care of those people. And I think everybody on this stage would have to agree......you're not going to let people die, sitting in the middle of a street in any city in this country. +p5395 +aVWell, let me just tell you about eminent domain because almost all of these people actually criticize it, but so many people have hit me with commercials and other things about eminent domain. Eminent domain is an absolute necessity for a country, for our country. Without it, you wouldn't have roads, you wouldn't have hospitals, you wouldn't have anything. You wouldn't have schools, you wouldn't have bridges. You need eminent domain. And a lot of the big conservatives that tell me how conservative they are \u2014 I think I'm more than they are \u2014 they tell me, oh \u2014 well, they all want the Keystone Pipeline. The Keystone Pipeline, without eminent domain, it wouldn't go 10 feet, OK? You need eminent domain. And eminent domain is a good thing, not a bad thing. And what a lot of people don't know because they were all saying, oh, you're going to take their property. When somebody \u2014 when eminent domain is used on somebody's property, that person gets a fortune. They get at least fair market value, and if they are smart, they'll get two or three times the value of their property. But without eminent domain, you don't have roads, highways, schools, bridges or anything. So eminent domain \u2014 it's not that I love it, but eminent domain is absolutely \u2014 it's a necessity for a country. And certainly it's a necessity for our country. +p5396 +aVYes. +p5397 +aVJeb wants to be \u2014 he wants to be a tough guy tonight. I didn't take the property. +p5398 +aVI didn't take the property. +p5399 +aVThe woman ultimately didn't want to do that. I walked away. +p5400 +aVWell, let me just \u2014 you know, he wants to be a tough guy. A lot of times, you'll have \u2014 you'll have \u2014 and it didn't work very well. +p5401 +aVA lot of time \u2014 let me talk. Quiet. A lot of times \u2014 a lot of times... +p5402 +aV... you \u2014 let me talk. Let me talk. Quiet. A lot of times......that's all of his donors and special interests out there. So \u2014 it's what it is. That's what \u2014 and by the way, let me just tell you, we needed tickets. You can't get them. You know who has the tickets for the \u2014 I'm talking about, to the television audience? Donors, special interests, the people that are putting up the money. That's who it is. The RNC told us. We have all donors in the audience. And the reason they're not loving me......the reason they're not \u2014 excuse me. The reason they're not loving me is, I don't want their money. I'm going to do the right thing for the American public. I don't want their money. I don't need their money. And I'm the only one up here that can say that. Eminent domain, the Keystone pipeline \u2014 do you consider that a private job? Do you \u2014 do you consider that... +p5403 +aVNo \u2014 no, let me ask you, Jeb. Do you consider the Keystone pipeline private? +p5404 +aVIs it public or private? +p5405 +aVReal \u2014 a public use? +p5406 +aVNo, it's a private job. +p5407 +aVIt's a private job. +p5408 +aVYou wouldn't have the Keystone pipeline that you want so badly without eminent domain. +p5409 +aVYou wouldn't have massive \u2014 excuse me, Josh \u2014 you wouldn't have massive factories without eminent domain. +p5410 +aVWell, I think I am, and to me, I view the word conservative as a derivative I \u2014 of \u2014 of the word conserve. We want to converse our money. We want to conserve our wealth. We want to conserve. We want to be smart. We want to be smart where we go, where we spend, how we spend. We want to conserve our country. We want to save our country. And we have people that have no idea how to do that and they are not doing it, and it's a very important word and it's something I believe in very, very strongly. +p5411 +aVWell, before I go there, I will tell you, I will bring jobs back from China. I will bring jobs back from Japan. I will bring jobs back from Mexico, where New Hampshire, by the way, has been virtually wiped out. They've lost so many businesses going to Mexico because of horrible trade deals. And now we're about to sign another trade deal, TPP, which is going to be a disaster for this country because they don't talk about monetary manipulation. It is going to be a disaster. I'm going to bring jobs back and I'll start bringing them back very fast. Under my tax plan \u2014 right now, we're the highest taxed country in the world. Under my plan, we cut not only taxes for the middle class, but we cut taxes for corporations. We will bring back trillions of dollars that's offshore. Right now, they have $2.5 trillion, and in my opinion, it's much more than that. That's what the government says. All of that money is going to come back. And we're not going to lose Pfizer, which is now leaving, and other great companies, which is now leaving. And they're all leaving. We have many, many companies that are leaving this country. We're not going to lose them anymore because we're going to have a tax structure that is going to keep them in our country. +p5412 +aVWell, four years ago, I said, bomb the oil and take the oil. And if we did that, they wouldn't have the wealth they have right now. Now, I still say the same thing, because we're doing little pinpricks. We're not even bombing \u2014 if somebody's driving a truck, they give notice to the person driving the truck, "we're going to bomb." If they don't get out of the truck, the truck sails away with the oil. We actually have a case where we don't want to bomb the oil, because we don't want to hurt \u2014 pollute the atmosphere. Can you imagine General Douglas MacArthur or General Patton saying we can't bomb because we're gonna hurt the atmosphere? You have to knock the hell out of the oil. You have to take the oil. And you have also back channels of banking. You have people that you think are our great allies, our friends, in the Middle East, that are paying tremendous numbers of \u2014 tremendous amounts of money to +p5413 +aVYou have to go in \u2014 first of all, when you take away their money, when you take away their wealth, that'll very much weaken \u2014 and it will happen fairly fast. They'll last for about a year, based on all of the wealth they've accumulated. But when you stop the banking channels and when you stop the oil and take the oil \u2014 not just bomb it, take it \u2014 when you do that, it's going to dry up very quickly. They're going to become a very weakened power, quickly. Thank you. +p5414 +aVWell, I'll tell you what. In the Middle East, we have people chopping the heads off Christians, we have people chopping the heads off many other people. We have things that we have never seen before \u2014 as a group, we have never seen before, what's happening right now. The medieval times \u2014 I mean, we studied medieval times \u2014 not since medieval times have people seen what's going on. I would bring back waterboarding and I'd bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding. +p5415 +aV... No, a good deal maker will make great deals, but we'll do it the way our founders thought it should be done. People get together, they make deals. Ronald Reagan did it with Tip O'Neil very successfully, you didn't hear so much about executive orders, if you heard about it at all. You have to be able to get a consensus. Now, the real person like it was mentioned about the deal with Iran, how bad a deal is that? It doesn't get any more amateurish than that. A good deal maker would never make a deal like that. With Congress, you have to get everybody in a room, and you have to get them to agree. But, you have to get them to agree what you want, and that's part of being a deal maker. You can't leave the White House, go to Hawaii and play golf for three weeks and be a real deal maker. It doesn't work that way. You have to get people in, grab them, hug them, kiss them, and get the deal done. But, it's got to be the deal that you want. HAM: Governor Kasich, is the problem with Washington that there are too many deals, or too few? +p5416 +aVSome? +p5417 +aVWell... +p5418 +aVYes. OK, good. It looked like he was looking right at me, right there. I think that \u2014 I look at what's going on, I look at all of the polls, I do very, very well against Hillary Clinton. I can tell you, I'm the last person that she wants to run against. And I think you can see what we've done in terms of galvanizing. I've been all over the country. We're \u2014 last night, I was in South Carolina, we had 12,000 people. It set up in about four days. We have galvanized and we've created a movement. A lot of it has to do with \u2014 as an example, Josh's question on drugs. I'm the first person that said, "Build a wall." But I mean, a real wall, not a toy wall like they have right now. A real wall. And you'll solve lots of problems. But we will galvanize the people of this country, and we will beat Hillary Clinton. Because \u2014 assuming that she runs, by the way, how she gets away with the e-mail stuff is hard to believe. So, I don't know that she's going to be running. But on the assumption she runs... I mean, look. And speaking of that, if she runs, she's running for one reason. She's going to be able to run for one reason, and that's because the Democrats are protecting her. Because so many people have done so much less than her, and they were absolutely \u2014 their lives have been destroyed. But on the assumption they do protect her, I will win the election and we will win it by a lot. We will win it handily. We cannot have another four years of essentially Barack Obama. +p5419 +aVWell, there is a divide, but I have to say that the police are absolutely mistreated and misunderstood, and if there is an incident, whether it's an incident done purposely \u2014 which is a horror, and you should really take very strong action \u2014 or if it is a mistake, it's on your news casts all night, all week, all month, and it never ends. The police in this country have done an unbelievable job of keeping law and order, and they're afraid for their jobs, they're afraid of the mistreatment they get, and I'm telling you that not only, me speaking, minorities all over the country, they respect the police of this country and we have to give them more respect. They can't act. They can't act. They're afraid for losing their pension, their job. They don't know what to do. And I deal with them all the time. We have to give great respect, far greater than we are right now, to our really fantastic police. +p5420 +aVWell, they do. And, you know, they sue. Everybody sues, right? They see excessive \u2014 I mean, they go out, they sue. We have so much litigation \u2014 I see the courts, I see what they're doing. They sue, and you know what? We don't want excessive force. But at what point \u2014 you know, either you're going to have a police force that can do its job... I was just up in Manchester, I met with the police officers yesterday. Tremendous people. They love the area, they love the people, they love all the people. They want to do their job. And you're going to have abuse and you're going to have problems, and you've got to solve the problems and you have to weed out the problems. But the police in this country are absolutely amazing people. +p5421 +aVWell, I \u2014 I know Diane Foley very well. Her husband and \u2014 these are tremendous people. I spoke for them, I raised a lot of money for the foundation. I fully understand, James, one of \u2014 that was really the first that we saw, really visually saw \u2014 it was so horrible. And I will tell you, though, with all of that being said, you can not negotiate this way with terrorists. If you do, you are going to have many, many more James Foleys. James Foley was a great young man. His parents are incredible people. They've done such a good job, since his \u2014 since his death. But you just cannot negotiate that way with terrorists, or you're gonna have so many other James Foleys. And one thing on the vets \u2014 during the last debate, I raised $6 million for the vets, and I will tell you something......I will tell you that I think nobody here, nobody on this stage, gets along with the veterans groups in New Hampshire better than I do without ball (ph) to sarel (ph) and all of the people that I deal with and these are great people. The one thing that we're not mentioning, there's tremendous fraud, waste and abuse in the Veterans Administration and if I'm running things, that's going to disappear......and it's going to disappear quickly. +p5422 +aVCarolina. +p5423 +aVThat's because he got Ben Carson's votes, by the way, but we won't . Our country that we love so much doesn't win anymore. We don't win with the military, we don't' win on the border. You look at New Hampshire with the tremendous problem we have with heroin. Number one thing I hear from the people of New Hampshire, who I love, and developed such relationships, we don't win with healthcare. We don't win with trade. You look at what other countries are doing to us. China. Everyone, they're killing us on trade. If I'm elected president, we will win, and we will win, and we will win. Thank you, thank you very much. +p5424 +aVIt's not fear and terror, it's reality. You just have to look today at Indonesia, bombings all over. You look at California, you look, frankly, at Paris where there's a \u2014 the strictest no-gun policy of any city anywhere in the world, and you see what happens: 130 people dead with many to follow. They're very, very badly wounded. They will \u2014 some will follow. And you look around, and you see what's happening, and this is not the case when he introduced the doctor \u2014 very nice, everything perfect but that is not representative of what you have in that line of migration. That could be the great Trojan Horse. It could be people that are going to do great, great destruction. When I look at the migration, I looked at the line, I said it actually on your show recently, where are the women? It looked like very few women. Very few children. Strong, powerful men, young and people are looking at that and they're saying what's going on? You look at the kind of damage that two people that two people that got married, they were radicalized \u2014 they got married, they killed 15 people in actually 15 \u2014 going to be probably 16 but you look at that and you take a look \u2014 a good strong look and that's what we have. We are nineteen trillion dollars \u2014 our country's a mess and we can't let all these people come into our country and break our borders. We can't do it. +p5425 +aVBut I was born here. +p5426 +aV. Big difference. +p5427 +aVOK, good. Because it wouldn't work. +p5428 +aV... first of all, let me just tell you something \u2014 and you know, because you just saw the numbers yourself \u2014 NBC Wall Street Journal just came out with a poll \u2014 headline: Trump way up, Cruz going down. I mean, so don't \u2014 so you can't \u2014 you can't......they don't like the Wall Street Journal. They don't like NBC, but I like the poll. And frankly, it just came out, and in Iowa now, as you know, Ted, in the last three polls, I'm beating you. So \u2014 you know, you shouldn't misrepresent how well you're doing with the polls. You don't have to say that. In fact, I was all for you until you started doing that, because that's a misrepresentation, number one. Number two, this isn't me saying it. I don't care. I think I'm going to win fair and square to win this way. Thank you. Lawrence Tribe and from Harvard \u2014 of Harvard, said that there is a serious question as to whether or not Ted can do this. OK? There are other attorneys that feel, and very, very fine constitutional attorneys, that feel that because he was not born on the land, he cannot run for office. Here's the problem. We're running. We're running. He does great. I win. I choose him as my vice presidential candidate, and the Democrats sue because we can't take him along for the ride. I don't like that. OK? The fact is \u2014 and if for some reason he beats the rest of the field, he beats the rest of the field . See, they don't like that. They don't like that. No, they don't like he beats the rest of the field, because they want me. But \u2014 if for some reason, Neil, he beats the rest of the field, I already know the Democrats are going to be bringing a suit. You have a big lawsuit over your head while you're running. And if you become the nominee, who the hell knows if you can even serve in office? So you should go out, get a declaratory judgment, let the courts decide. And you shouldn't have mentioned the polls because I would have been much... +p5429 +aVBecause now he's going a little bit better. No, I didn't care . It's true. No, it's true. Hey look, he never had a chance. Now, he's doing better. He's got probably a four or five percent chance. +p5430 +aVThe fact is, there is a big overhang. There's a big question mark on your head. And you can't do that to the party. You really can't. You can't do that to the party. You have to have certainty. Even if it was a one percent chance, and it's far greater than one percent because . I mean, you have great constitutional lawyers that say you can't run. If there was a \u2014 and you know I'm not bringing a suit. I promise. But the Democrats are going to bring a lawsuit, and you have to have certainty. You can't have a question. I can agree with you or not, but you can't have a question over your head. +p5431 +aVYou don't have to. Take it from Lawrence Tribe. Take it from your professors... +p5432 +aVHe's wrong. He's wrong. +p5433 +aVHe is not the only one. +p5434 +aVThere are many lawyers. +p5435 +aVNo \u2014 no...... I think if it doesn't... I like that. I like it. I'd consider it. But I think I'll go back to building buildings if it doesn't work out. +p5436 +aVI have a feeling it's going to work out, actually. +p5437 +aVOkay. First of all, Nikki this afternoon said I'm a friend of hers. Actually a close friend. And wherever you are sitting Nikki, I'm a friend. We're friends. That's good. But she did say there was anger. And I could say, oh, I'm not angry. I'm very angry because our country is being run horribly and I will gladly accept the mantle of anger. Our military is a disaster. Our healthcare is a horror show. Obamacare, we're going to repeal it and replace it. We have no borders. Our vets are being treated horribly. Illegal immigration is beyond belief. Our country is being run by incompetent people. And yes, I am angry. And I won't be angry when we fix it, but until we fix it, I'm very, very angry. And I say that to Nikki. So when Nikki said that, I wasn't offended. She said the truth. One of your colleagues interviewed me. And said, well, she said you were angry and I said to myself, huh, she's right. I'm not fighting that. I didn't find it offensive at all. I'm angry because our country is a mess. +p5438 +aVNo. I am a 2nd amendment person. If we had guns in California on the other side where the bullets went in the different direction, you wouldn't have 14 or 15 people dead right now. If even in Paris, if they had guns on the other side, going in the opposite direction, you wouldn't have 130 people plus dead. So the answer is no and what Jeb said is absolutely correct. We have a huge mental health problem in this country. We're closing hospitals, we're closing wards, we're closing so many because the states want to save money. We have to get back into looking at what's causing it. The guns don't pull the trigger. It's the people that pull the trigger and we have to find out what is going on. We have to protect our 2nd amendment and you cannot do this and certainly what Barack Obama was doing with the executive order. He doesn't want to get people together, the old-fashioned way, where you get Congress. You get the Congress, you get the Senate, you get together, you do legislation. He just writes out an executive order. Not supposed to happen that way. +p5439 +aVYou get the Congress. You get the Senate. You get together. You do legislation. He just writes out an order, executive order. It's not supposed to happen that way. +p5440 +aVSo conservatives actually do come out of Manhattan, including William F. Buckley and others, just so you understand. And just so \u2014 if I could, because he insulted a lot of people. I've had more calls on that statement that Ted made \u2014 New York is a great place. It's got great people, it's got loving people, wonderful people. When the World Trade Center came down, I saw something that no place on Earth could have handled more beautifully, more humanely than New York. You had two one hundred... ...you had two 110-story buildings come crashing down. I saw them come down. Thousands of people killed, and the cleanup started the next day, and it was the most horrific cleanup, probably in the history of doing this, and in construction. I was down there, and I've never seen anything like it. And the people in New York fought and fought and fought, and we saw more death, and even the smell of death \u2014 nobody understood it. And it was with us for months, the smell, the air. And we rebuilt downtown Manhattan, and everybody in the world watched and everybody in the world loved New York and loved New Yorkers. And I have to tell you, that was a very insulting statement that Ted made. +p5441 +aVNo. No. Look, we have to stop with political correctness. We have to get down to creating a country that's not going to have the kind of problems that we've had with people flying planes into the World Trade Centers, with the \u2014 with the shootings in California, with all the problems all over the world. I just left Indonesia \u2014 bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb. We have to find out what's going on. I said temporarily. I didn't say permanently. I said temporarily. And I have many great Muslim friends. And some of them, I will say, not all, have called me and said, "Donald, thank you very much; you're exposing an unbelievable problem and we have to get to the bottom of it." And unlike President Obama, where he refuses even to use the term of what's going on, he can't use the term for whatever reason. And if you can't use the term, you're never going to solve the problem. My Muslim friends, some, said, "thank you very much; we'll get to the bottom of it." But we have a serious problem. And we can't be the stupid country any more. We're laughed at all over the world. +p5442 +aVEleven points, to be exact. +p5443 +aVI want security for this country. OK? I want security. I'm tired of seeing what's going on, between the border where the people flow over; people come in; they live; they shoot. I want security for this country. We have a serious problem with, as you know, with radical Islam. We have a tremendous problem. It's not only a problem here. It's a problem all over the world. I want to find out why those two young people \u2014 those two horrible young people in California when they shot the 14 people, killed them \u2014 people they knew, people that held the wedding reception for them. I want to find out \u2014 many people saw pipe bombs and all sorts of things all over their apartment. Why weren't they vigilant? Why didn't they call? Why didn't they call the police? And by the way, the police are the most mistreated people in this country. I will tell you that. The most mistreated people. In fact, we need to \u2014 wait a minute \u2014 we need vigilance. We have to find out \u2014 many people knew about what was going on. Why didn't they turn those two people in so that you wouldn't have had all the death? There's something going on and it's bad. And I'm saying we have to get to the bottom of it. That's all I'm saying. We need security. +p5444 +aVThat's wrong. They were wrong. It's the New York Times, they are always wrong. +p5445 +aVThey were wrong. +p5446 +aVNo, I said, " I would use \u2014 " they were asking me what to do about North Korea. China, they don't like to tell us but they have total control \u2014 just about, of North Korea. They can solve the problem of North Korea if they wanted to but they taunt us. They say, " well, we don't really have control." Without China, North Korea doesn't even eat. China is ripping us on trade. They're devaluing their currency and they're killing our companies. Thousands of thousands \u2014 you look at the number of companies and the number in terms of manufacturing of plans that we've lost \u2014 50,000 because of China. +p5447 +aVWe've lost anywhere between four and seven million jobs because of China. What I said then was, "we have very unfair trade with China. We're going to have a trade deficit of 505 billion dollars this year with China." A lot of that is because they devalue their currency. What I said to the New York Times, is that, "we have great power, economic power over China and if we wanted to use that and the amount \u2014 where the 45 percent comes in, that would be the amount they saw their devaluations that we should get." That we should get. What I'm saying is this, I'm saying that we do it but if they don't start treating us fairly and stop devaluing and let their currency rise so that our companies can compete and we don't lose all of these millions of jobs that we're losing, I would certainly start taxing goods that come in from China. Who the hell has to lose 505 billion dollars a year? +p5448 +aVIt's not that complicated actually. +p5449 +aVOK, just so you understand \u2014 I know so much about trading about with China. Carl Icahn today as you know endorsed. Many businessmen want to endorse me. +p5450 +aVCarl said, "no, no \u2014 " but he's somebody \u2014 these are the kind of people that we should use to negotiate and not the China people that we have who are political hacks who don't know what they're doing and we have problems like this. If these are the kinds of people \u2014 we should use our best and our finest. Now, on that tariff \u2014 here's what I'm saying, China \u2014 they send their goods and we don't tax it \u2014 they do whatever they want to do. They do whatever what they do, OK. When we do business with China, they tax us. You don't know it, they tax us. I have many friends that deal with China. They can't \u2014 when they order the product and when they finally get the product it is taxed. If you looking at what happened with Boeing and if you look at what happened with so many companies that deal \u2014 so we don't have an equal playing field. I'm saying, absolutely, we don't have to continue to lose 505 billion dollars as a trade deficit for the privilege of dealing with China. I'm a free trader. I believe in it but we have to be smart and we have to use smart people to negotiate. I have the largest bank in the world as a tenant of mine. I sell tens' of millions of . I love China. I love the Chinese people but they laugh themselves, they can't believe how stupid the American leadership is. +p5451 +aVI'm totally open to a tariff. If they don't treat us fairly, hey, their whole trade is tariffed. You can't deal in China without tariffs. They do it to us, we don't it. It's not fair trade. +p5452 +aVI'm happy to have him tonight... +p5453 +aVNeil, the problem... +p5454 +aV... with what Marco is saying is that it takes too long, they're sucking us dry and it takes too long. It would just \u2014 you absolutely have to get involved with China, they are taking so much of what we have in terms of jobs in terms of money. We just can't do it any longer. +p5455 +aVYou looking at me? +p5456 +aVCan I tell you what? It will never happen because they'll let their currency go up. They're never going to let it happen. Japan, the same thing. They are devaluing \u2014 it's so impossible for \u2014 you look at Caterpillar Tractor and what's happening with Caterpillar and Kamatsu. Kamatsu is a tractor company in Japan. Friends of mine are ordering Kamatsu tractors now because they've de-valued the yen to such an extent that you can't buy a Caterpillar tractor. And we're letting them get away with it and we can't let them get away with it. And that's why we have to use Carl and we have to use our great businesspeople and not political hacks to negotiate with these guys. +p5457 +aVAnd we don't need a weak person being president of the United State, OK? Because that's what we'd get if it were Jeb \u2014 I tell you what, we don't need that. +p5458 +aVWe don't need that. That's essentially what we have now, and we don't need that. And that's why we're in the trouble that we're in now. And by the way, Jeb you mentioned Boeing, take a look. They order planes, they make Boeing build their plant in China. They don't want them made here. They want those planes made in China. +p5459 +aVThat's not the way the game is supposed to be played. +p5460 +aVNo, the new planes. I'm not talking about now, I'm talking about in the future they're building massive plants in China because China does not want Boeing building their planes here, they want them built in China, because China happens to be smart the way they do it, not the way we do it. +p5461 +aVI'll check for you. +p5462 +aVMaria \u2014 Maria, what you were talking about just now is called corporate inversion. It's one of the biggest problems our country has. Right now, corporations, by the thousands, are thinking of leaving our country with the jobs \u2014 leave them behind. They're leaving because of taxes, but they are also leaving because they can't get their money back and everybody agrees, Democrats and Republicans, that is should come back in. But they can't get along. They can't even make a deal. Here is the case, they both agree, they can't make a deal. We have to do something. Corporate inversion is one of the biggest problems we have. So many companies are going to leave our country. +p5463 +aVThank you. +p5464 +aVWell, it's an interesting question because I'm very proud of my company. As you too know, I know I built a very great company. But if I become president, I couldn't care less about my company. It's peanuts. I want to use that same up here, whatever it may be to make America rich again and to make America great again. I have Ivanka, and Eric and Don sitting there. Run the company kids, have a good time. I'm going to do it for America. So I would \u2014 I would be willing to do that. +p5465 +aVI would put it in a blind trust. Well, I don't know if it's a blind trust if Ivanka, Don and Eric run it. If that's a blind trust, I don't know. But I would probably have my children run it with my executives and I wouldn't ever be involved because I wouldn't care about anything but our country, anything. +p5466 +aVThank you. +p5467 +aVI stood yesterday with 75 construction workers. They're tough, they're strong, they're great people. Half of them had tears pouring down their face. They were watching the humiliation of our young ten sailors, sitting on the floor with their knees in a begging position, their hands up. And Iranian wise guys having guns to their heads. It was a terrible sight. A terrible sight. And the only reason we got them back is because we owed them with a stupid deal, $150 billion. If I'm president, there won't be stupid deals anymore. We will make America great again. We will win on everything we do. Thank you. +p5468 +asVPATAKI +p5469 +(lp5470 +VThank you, Wolf. I want to speak to you this evening not as a Republican or a presidential candidate, but as an American. As we saw today in L.A., we are at a crisis in our country. Radical Islam poses a threat to our safety not just overseas, but literally in every community in America. And yet at a time when we should be united, we have a president who has divided us, who refuses to call radical Islam what it is, let alone have a coherent strategy to defeat it. The leading Democrat, Hillary Clinton, won't call +p5471 +aVAbsolutely. It's one of many absurd things this President has said. To target a religion and say that regardless of whether you're an American soldier who has fought on our side or allies we have overseas, simply because of your religion we're going to ban you is un-American, it is unconstitutional and it is wrong. And by the way, Wolf, now there was a group that tried to do that 150 to 160 years ago, they were called the Know-Nothing Party. They wanted to ban Catholics. They thought they were going to destroy America. Well, Donald Trump is the Know-Nothing candidate of the 21st century and cannot be our nominee. By the way, though. I fault Hillary and Obama as well because by not distinguishing between Muslims and radicalized Jihadists, by refusing to acknowledge that it's radical Muslim, radical Islamists who are carrying out these attacks against America \u2014 they let Americans who are confused and angry lump everyone together. We have to embrace the Muslims who embrace our freedom and living and safety. We have to destroy those who embrace Jihad and want to engage in violence against us here or abroad. +p5472 +aVYes. +p5473 +aVYou know, I think it's very important that we do everything in our power to prevent radicalization of Americans right here. And it is happening, not just overseas, but it's happening here from Mosques on social media. And truth \u2014 interaction and community meetings. New York police department had a very active group, aggressively monitoring and using intelligence to \u2014 in certain Muslim communities, consistent with our constitution, consistent of our civil rights, so they could have the intelligence as to where these sermons are being given, and who is being radicalized. And, they stopped and prevented dozens, and dozens of attacks in New York. You know, I'm a great believer in the First Amendment, of Freedom of Speech. I wish we had more of it on our college campuses, but you can't shout fire in a crowded theater. Calling on Americans to engage in violence against their fellow Americans in the name of jihad is crying fire in a crowded theater. It is not constitutionally protected speech, it should be shut down. And, by the way, the two murders who went to Garland, Texas to massacre many Americans before the Texas police officer courageously killed them, had been radicalized here. Getting to that metadata question, one of those terrorists, the day before the attacks, had sent......109 message to a known terrorist overseas. We could not read those messages, we can not read those today... +p5474 +aV...We have got to do far better. +p5475 +aVYes, Wolf. +p5476 +aVI would pass a law requiring them to do that. Let me just give you one example. I mentioned in Garland, Texas, where that murderer, that terrorist, the day before sent 109 messages overseas to a known terrorist. But they were encrypted. So to this date we don't know what that said. Companies are entitled to encrypt and protect their knowledge and their intelligence. But what we need is a back door for law enforcement to be able, when they can establish that that communication poses a risk to our safety and engages in terrorism, to get a court order and go in and access those communications. Allow the companies to continue encryption, provide an entry way for law enforcement when they can prove to a court that there is a sufficient risk of an attack upon us that they have the right to look at those messages. +p5477 +aVAnd just one more thing, Wolf. When that murderer came from Pakistan to San Bernardino and committed those atrocious crimes just a few weeks ago, she applied for a visa. She had posted on social media jihadist messages. Because this administration is so politically correct, they have a rule that they cannot look at social media postings of people applying to come to the United States. That is utterly absurd. One of the things we must do, the next president must do is get rid of that law and make sure we do everything in our power to find out if someone poses a threat to our existence here. +p5478 +aVWolf, I think the answer is we have to send troops with allies and supporters. Wherever it is necessary to destroy the training centers, recruitment centers, planning hubs of +p5479 +aVYes. +p5480 +aVYou know, I don't think it's a function of years of going after +p5481 +aVYou know, I don't want to see us occupy a country. I've been to Iraq a couple of times and Afghanistan. The first time I went, I had an uneasy feeling that when we went there we were liberators. But as we stayed ,we became occupiers. I saw American troops move into some of Saddam's old hideous marble palaces. And I thought that was exactly the wrong message. We do not have to occupy. We do not have to nation build and try to create a democracy where one hasn't existed. WE have to destroy +p5482 +aVI'm not sure \u2014 ally with which groups? I didn't quite catch that. +p5483 +aVNot at all. Iran is our enemy. They are the number one sponsor of state terror. The Iranian Deal is a disaster. And by the way, I don't think the next president has to aggregate it. It was never ratified by the Iranians. They have tested long-range ballistic missiles in violation of U.N. resolutions. They have broken the agreement. It is void. They can never have a nuclear weapon and should not get relief. With respect to the other groups, like Hezbollah, of course we should not work with them. I'll tell you who we should work with in Syria. There are two groups. One are the PYD, the \u2014 the Kurds in Syria who led the defense of Kobani, and are in northern and eastern Syria and anti- +p5484 +aVI could create... +p5485 +aVI would create the no-fly zone, and let me tell you, something very simply. Putin is a bully, and the most important and effective thing you can do to a bully is punch him in the face. Create a no-fly zone. If Russian planes violate that space, either us, or the Turks, should shoot them down to keep our word. And, I guarantee you that Putin would back off. Bullies, when you stand up to them, back down. We have had, under Obama, and under Hillary as Secretary of State, nothing but weakness in the face of Russia, whether it was in the Crimea, whether it was in Ukraine, or now in the Middle East. I would give the Ukrainians lethal weapons so they could defend themselves. I would create the no-fly zone, and if Russian planes flew into it in violation of what we have declared, yes. +p5486 +aVI could create... +p5487 +aVI would create the no-fly zone, and let me tell you, something very simply. Putin is a bully, and the most important and effective thing you can do to a bully is punch him in the face. Create a no-fly zone. If Russian planes violate that space, either us, or the Turks, should shoot them down to keep our word. And, I guarantee you that Putin would back off. Bullies, when you stand up to them, back down. We have had, under Obama, and under Hillary as Secretary of State, nothing but weakness in the face of Russia, whether it was in the Crimea, whether it was in Ukraine, or now in the Middle East. I would give the Ukrainians lethal weapons so they could defend themselves. I would create the no-fly zone, and if Russian planes flew into it in violation of what we have declared, yes. +p5488 +aVNo, I completely disagree with Rick. This is America. And we've made enormous progress. And I don't care if you're a man or a woman. I care if you're good and capable of doing the job. If you can do the job \u2014 don't lower standards, don't lower the criteria \u2014 but if a woman is capable of doing these jobs, there is no reason why we should deny a patriot who wants to serve and help defend our country that right. +p5489 +aVIt's not. +p5490 +aVNo, you said you would reverse the policy which excluded women from those jobs whether or not they were able to do that. That is wrong. +p5491 +aVAh. +p5492 +aVYes, I think what Rick said is very different from what he said initially which was that, "he would reverse the policy that gave woman not the right but the opportunity to serve in combat." They can only do it if they're fit and capable and meet the same standards as men. And so, to reverse that policy and deny a woman who is prepared to risk her life to defend our freedom and is capable of doing everything a man could do is not the right thing for America in the 21st century. By the way, you see in Iraq, the Peshmerga, the Kurds ,many of their top fighters are women. This is the 21st century. We're not radical Islam. We want to give women the opportunity to do whatever they are capable of achieving in this country. +p5493 +aVOf course he's innocent until proven guilty. I happen to believe he's guilty. The military did a very clear and long study as to whether or not he deserted in the face of enemy and they are not court marshalling him. I don't think he should executed. I do think he will have a fair military trial, not a civilian trial, at which time, assuming he's found guilty as I think he would, he will be sentenced appropriately. But there's a bigger issue here, this administration has failed to protect us because they have treated radical Islamists as Americans who should be tried in civil court. That is ridiculous. They are enemy aliens engaged in terror against Americans. And by the way, the fact that this president is now threatening to close Guantanamo Bay when we know that time after time, terrorists he released are involved in a high level capacity helping +p5494 +aVYou know, again, it comes down to something that, as Mike said, breaks your heart. We clearly want to get them back. But the idea that by taking a journalist, for example, and holding him hostage in Iran, they're going to be able to get some of their terrorist leaders back, is simply bad policy. Israel has shown the way on this in rejecting hostage exchanges such as this and then not paying ransom. But, by the way, Mike is absolutely right. We have to do more to protect our people overseas, but then we also have to do more to help our veterans when they come back here today. We haven't talked about that. But more talking about defeating terrorism, one of the things we have to do is give our veterans the support and help that they require. What has happened at the VA is a disgrace. Give our veterans a medical card that they can use to get the best quality care anywhere, including outside of the VA system. +p5495 +aVAnd that \u2014 but that was involved in combat, where they were actually involved in a war against each other and exchanged prisoners. We have not been in a war with Iran. They have taken civilians as hostages. It's a totally different situation. And we cannot encourage them to do any more of that. +p5496 +aVYou know, I think what I said earlier is that I would create a no-fly zone in Syria. Turkey just agreed to take 3 million more Syrian refugees. The EU just came up with a funding program to provide camps for Syrian refugees, but I would also create that no-fly zone where refugees can be there. I have to say I agree with Rick, because this President is talking about taking 10,000 people from Syria, who we cannot vet. This administration, allegedly, vetted the woman who carried out the attacks in San Bernardino and never found out that she had a false address and was on social media talking about radical Jihad. Coming from Syria, it's impossible to do that check. And we know, by the way, that +p5497 +aVThank you. This debate has been about terrorism and appropriately so. I'm proud to have been governor of New York on September 11th and have led our state through and during the aftermath of that horrible attack. I vowed then that if I ever had the chance to lead this country, I would do everything in my power to make sure that Americans were safe. But I also saw a positive from that. New Yorkers and the American people came together and vowed that we weren't just going to defend ourselves. We were not going to live in fear. We were going to rise to new heights and celebrate our freedom. Come to Lower Manhattan today. You will see a magnificent tribute to those who died, the memorial and the museum. You will also see a new tower soaring 1,776 feet tall, the Freedom Tower, a symbol of our freedom, a symbol of our belief that as a free people we can soar to new heights. Give us the chance to unite Americans, not just Republicans. And this country's future is unlimited. +p5498 +aVWe need an outsider to run our party and to win the next election. Washington has become a corrupt insider game and everybody talks about how they're going to change the taxes, grow the economy. Nothing seems to change. But, by the way, Bobby, I shrunk the size of New York State's government when I left. We had reduced the employment by over 25,000 and cut taxes. But I understand that to change Washington you have to understand government as well. You can't just be an outsider. You can't just be someone who throws stones at Washington. You have to be someone who can actually bring people together across party lines. I can do that, I will do that if I have the chance to lead this party. +p5499 +aVBecky, can I comment on this question? +p5500 +aV...John, can I quickly comment on this one... +p5501 +aV...But, I want to speak on this issue... +p5502 +aV...I think it was a bad deal, but I would have voted for it for a very simple reason. Barack Obama is the first president in American history to hold our military hostage. He knew that we needed funding for overseas contingency operations, $40 million dollars that would go to support our troops. And, he was prepared, and had vetoed it, unless this deal went through. I have two sons, they both served overseas. One in Iraq, and one in Afghanistan, and I understand that we have got to do far more to help our military, help our veterans, and help protect our security. This is a bad deal, but to protect our military, I would have signed it. Uh, it's not going to be the case, if I have a chance to lead this country, we're going to reduce the deficit, shrink the government, lower the tax burden and grow the private sector because that's how you solve deficits. +p5503 +aVThank you. +p5504 +aVNo, I don't think we need a military response, but we need a coordinated response. And I have to say that I think the Obama administration has been completely lax, to say the least, in dealing with these cyber-attacks, not just by governments like North Korea, but by, particularly, Chinese and other companies. And what I would do is put in place a policy where if we know a company, say, a Chinese company, is hacking into American companies, stealing trade secrets, as we know they do every day, we will retaliate against that company and say that that company's not going to be allowed to continue to do trade with the United States. I would also look at what we're doing at the federal level and put in place what Israel has done: a \u2014 one federal agency dealing with cybersecurity and charged with working across silos to make sure we have the best technology. And, Jim, I've gotta tell you something, talking about cybersecurity. Hillary Clinton put a server, an unsecure server, in her home as secretary of state. We have no doubt that that was hacked, and that state secrets are out there to the Iranians, the Russians, the Chinese and others. That alone should disqualify her from being president of the United States. +p5505 +aVI think they have gone too far. I think we've seen Wall Street really blossom and do very well while the rest of the country is struggling, and it's because we have this corrupt connection between Wall Street and Washington. And, John, you were just talking about what loopholes would you get rid of. I would get rid of virtually every single one of them. They cost American taxpayers $1.4 trillion a year. I would throw them all out. +p5506 +aVNo, I wouldn't. I was going to say... +p5507 +aV...no, I would keep \u2014 first, yes, but what I would do is ii would lower the tax on manufacturing to the lowest in the developed world \u2014 12 percent. We all have plans. I have a plan. We all have plans. My plan, the Tax Foundation said, would create five and a half million new jobs over the next decade. The difference, though, is I will get my plan enacted because, when I was governor of New York, I passed sweeping tax code \u2014 cuts in a Democratic state with a Democratic legislature. I \u2014 you know, Bobby, you're talking about your tax cuts? I cut taxes more than everybody on this stage, more than everybody on the next stage, combined. By more than the other 49 states, in New York state. I don't just have a plan. I will enact tax cuts, get rid of those loopholes and make the system fairer for all Americans. +p5508 +aVThank you. +p5509 +aVLet me \u2014 let me try to get a word in edgewise. +p5510 +aVIn Washington, they talk over each other... +p5511 +aVYes. Very simply, you guys talk over each other in Washington all the time. I'm not used to that. I listen when people talk. We have a skills gap. You mentioned the construction company. The construction industry says one of their biggest problems are they can't find the craftsmen to do the work. What we have to... +p5512 +aV\u2014 do in America is honor blue collar work again. We have to honor the carpenter, the plumber, the electrician, who can actually build something and instead of just saying that a college degree live \u2014 delivers prestige, let's celebrate those who do things with their hands and elevate their skills using training in high school and community... +p5513 +aV\u2014 colleges so that we can... +p5514 +aV\u2014 have a better quality workforce that we honor... +p5515 +aV\u2014 as they build America's future. +p5516 +aVThank you. +p5517 +aVThank you. +p5518 +aVHey, Rick. +p5519 +aVI'm doing great. +p5520 +aVNot at all. +p5521 +aVNo, I don't support it. But let me go back a little bit here. We need to grow our economy faster. We've had the worst economic recovery since the Great Depression. And it's because of policy in Washington and policy at the Fed. And let me go back to Washington. In 2009 \u2014 +p5522 +aVJohn, no question Barack Obama inherited a economic disaster in 2009. But what did he do? Instead of focusing on pro-growth policies in the economy, he rammed through ObamaCare, the worst law of my lifetime, that hurt small businesses, hurt companies, raised taxes and almost completely eliminated one industry because of its taxes. The Fed had to act. And the Fed did act and appropriately in reducing interest rates but they've reduced them now for seven straight years, that's never happened before. They've been zero for way too long. They should raise the rates; the Fed should get out of manipulating the market and the Fed also, by the way, should reduce its balance sheet, $2.7 trillion. Let some of those bonds mature and put the money back in the banking system so our economy can grow. +p5523 +aVYeah, absolutely. I \u2014 one of the things that troubles me about the Republican Party is too often we question science that everyone accepts. I mean, it's ridiculous that, in the 21st century, we're questioning whether or not vaccines are the appropriate way to go. Of course they are. And it's also not appropriate to think that human activity, putting CO2 into the atmosphere, doesn't make the earth warmer. All things being equal, it does. It's uncontroverted. I think part of the problem is that Republicans think about climate change, say, "oh my God, we're gonna have higher taxes, more Obama, more big government, the EPA shutting down factories." That's not the solution that I see. I want Republicans to embrace innovation and technology. You know, there's one country in the world that has fewer greenhouse gas emissions than the rest of \u2014 of the world. You know what that is? The United States. Our emissions are lower than they were in 1995. Not because of a \u2014 of a government program, but because of fracking, private sector creation... +p5524 +aV...replace coal plants \u2014 government's roles \u2014 is to incentivize innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit in America. We could have far more clean energy. We could have next-generation nuclear, thorium reactors that have no risk of meltdown. We could have solar panels on every home that are four times more efficient than today. +p5525 +aVR&D \u2014 R&D credits. Let the private sector do this, develop this innovation. And not only would we solve our problems, we would have clean energy, cheaper energy here. We could export those technologies to places like China and like India so we would grow our economy, have a far greater impact globally, have a secure domestic source of energy, and cleaner, healthier air. That's the solution. Embrace science, embrace innovation and change. +p5526 +aVThe one I use the most is Uber. You know, I used to get driven......when I was governor, I had a driver. I don't anymore, but.... And it's an example of what millennials are doing to change America for the better. And I tweet a lot, too. So Uber, Tweet \u2014 Twitter and then I communicate with my family. +p5527 +aVI \u2014 I am a long suffering Jets fan. So my answer is obviously no, there's no reason to take off the day after the Super Bowl. But let me just add this. The Mets are going to win tonight. Let's go, Mets. +p5528 +aVThank you for the opportunity to be with this great audience tonight. I'm a limited government conservative and I mean by that that not just when it comes to economic issues leaving them to the state, but social issues, as well. And in that I differ from every single other candidate seeking the Republican nomination. I take the Tenth Amendment very, very seriously. I'm a Republican who embraces science and understands we have to work with the next generation of millennials to have the innovation and technology so that we can grow a 21st century economy. And I'm a Republican who understands in Washington, when you're a leader, you have to put aside partisan politics to do what's right for the people. We are one America. If we work together across party lines, there's no problem we can't solve and the 21st century will be America's greatest century. Thank you very much. +p5529 +aVThank you, Jake. Hi, I'm George Pataki, and I am honored to be here this afternoon with all of you at the Reagan Library. You know, when I think of Ronald Reagan, I think of his tremendous smile, a smile that reflected his optimism and his unending belief and faith in America and in Americans. And it was that belief in America that led to a great presidency, a presidency that led to decades of safety, security and prosperity for America. That's exactly the type of leadership we need in Washington today and that's why I'm running for President of the United States. Thank you. +p5530 +aVNo. Hugh, not at all. I have not broken the pledge because Donald Trump is not going to be the Republican nominee, period, flat out, I guarantee you that. I would vote... +p5531 +aV-- for the Republican nominee... +p5532 +aVHe's not going to be the nominee. +p5533 +aVHe's not going to be the nominee, Hugh. And let me just say one word here. This is an important election with an enormous number of challenges facing the American people. And the first four questions are about Donald Trump. +p5534 +aVNo, I would not vote for Hillary Clinton. +p5535 +aVNo, I will vote for the Republican nominee. But let me say this flat out, Donald Trump is unfit to be president of the United States or the Republican Party's nominee. Look at what he did in Atlantic City. He says he's going to make America great again? He invested four casinos in Atlantic City and he said, essentially, I'm going to make Atlantic City great again. Every one of those casinos went bankrupt. Over 5,000 Americans lost their job. And you know people who, in this difficult economic time, have lost their job and the pain that causes. He didn't lose anything, 5,000 lost their jobs. He will do for America what he did for Atlantic City and that is not someone we will nominate. +p5536 +aVThank you. +p5537 +aVOK. All right. Thank you. +p5538 +aVYeah, it's a small part of a very important issue, and let me comment on what my colleagues were saying here. We all agree you have to secure the border. We have to make sure that people come to America legally. That has got to be step one. Step two is, we have to stop releasing criminals into the communities. If you are charged with a crime as an illegal alien, you should either be in jail or be deported. You should not released, as the Obama administration has done. Of course, we should outlaw sanctuary cities and hold them responsible. But we can't ignore 11 million people who are here. What are we going to do? We're not going to send them back, despite somebody saying we're going to drag kids out of classrooms and send them back. But we have to send a message that we are a nation that depends on the rule of law, and when your first act is to break the law, there has to be a consequence. So what I would do is require those who want to have legal status, not citizenship, come forward, acknowledge they broke the law, and if they do it again, they can be immediately deported, and then do what we do in communities across America when we want to sanction someone... +p5539 +aV... and that is community service -- 200 hours working in a hospital... +p5540 +aV... working in a school, and then they could have legal... +p5541 +aVI don't -- I don't think that we should tell that child born in America that we're going to send them back. The way to avoid that is to have an intelligent immigration policy where we know who is coming here, why they are coming here, so we don't have this flood of people coming here for the wrong reasons. +p5542 +aVWe have to deal with the people who are here illegally. We can't just ignore them, or send them back. I think my policy would work to give them legal status, make them a part of an economy that will grow, and help America. +p5543 +aVLindsey, let me comment on this. Last week was the anniversary of September 11th and I was governor of New York on September 11th and led us through that horrible day. And I learned that we cannot assume that because radical Islam is a continent away, it doesn't pose a threat to us here in America. It did then, and today, I think, we are at greater risk of an attack than at any time since. We have got to destroy +p5544 +aVJake... +p5545 +aVJake, if I can comment on this. Yes, Kim Davis is different from Islamist radicalists from the Middle East. But on the other hand, we have run rule in America, an elected official can't say I'm not going to follow that law if it conflicts with my beliefs. I think she should have been fired and if she worked for me, I would have fired her. We have to uphold the rule of law. +p5546 +aVImagine one minute -- Jake, imagine one minute that was a Muslim who said I don't believe in gay marriage, and refused to perform that wedding. We wouldn't have had that outrage. There's a place where religion supersedes the rule of law. It's called Iran. It shouldn't be the United States. +p5547 +aVMy response is kind of, "Wow." You know, we're going to have a president who defies the Supreme Court because they don't agree? +p5548 +aVThen you don't have the rule of law... +p5549 +aVThe -- the elected representatives of the people always have the opportunity to change that law. The Supreme Court makes a determination, but it's ultimately the elected officials who decide whether or not that would be accepted. By the way, if I have a chance to lead this country, I will appoint judges who understand their role. They're not going to be making the law; they're going to be interpreting law that the elected officials passed. +p5550 +aVBut there's a huge difference between an individual standing up and saying I am going to stand for my religious freedom and my religious rights. I applaud that. This is America. You should be able to engage in your religious belief in the way you see fit. But when you are an elected official and you take an oath of office to uphold the law, all the laws, you cannot pick and choose or you no longer have a society that depends on the rule of law. +p5551 +aVYes, I -- I didn't agree with the Supreme Court's decision, but it is the law of this land. And I am a great admirer of Martin Luther King. And he was prepared to break the law. But it wasn't in an office of political power. It was civil disobedience, where what he was willing to do is voluntarily go to jail with his followers to send a message to the elected representatives that these laws were wrong and had to be changed. And because of his courage, we didn't ignore the courts, we changed the laws and made America a better place. That's the way to do it. +p5552 +aVYes? +p5553 +aVI would throw out the entire corrupt tax code. It's a symbol of the corruption and the power of the lobbyists and the special interests in Washington. It is 74,000 pages of incomprehensible gobbledygook. What I would do is get rid of the 1.4 million every year in exemptions and loopholes, dramatically lower the rates. The normal American person is paying higher taxes than they should because of loopholes, and one of them is that carried interest loophole. I would tax that income the same as ordinary income. I'd lower the rate to 24 percent for all Americans, but I would not give a special break to the Wall Street fat caps -- fat cats. +p5554 +aVIt's hard for me to say I'm with Donald trump on anything, but on this issue, I agree with him. But let me just make one other point. It's not just throwing out the tax code to break the back of the special interests that control Washington. It's other reforms. I would propose a law -- right now there are over 400 former members of the House and Senate who are registered lobbyists in Washington. I would propose a law on day one, you serve one day in the House or Senate, there's a lifetime ban on you ever being a lobbyist in Washington, D.C. You get elected, you go back home. You don't stay and support the special interests. +p5555 +aVCan I just... +p5556 +aVNo, I would not. I would keep that deduction. I would lower the rates dramatically, so, yes, that root that has a special carve out would pay more, but everybody else is going to pay less. I would keep the home mortgage deduction, the charitable deduction, and others. And, by the way, you know, I agree with Rick on manufacturing, but my approach is different. I would pass a rate on manufacturing of 12 percent, the lowest in the developed world so we can make this America again. I know how important those jobs are. When I work -- went through college, Christmas and summer vacations, I worked in a factory. My grandparents worked in a factory. We have the opportunity now with lower energy costs, with the world labor cost getting higher, to make things in America so we don't have to worry about China. Lower the tax burden on manufacturing, improve the work skills... +p5557 +aV...of Americans. Get rid of job killing regulations. If we're going to... +p5558 +aV...If we're going to make this America... +p5559 +aVNot on the table but I think there's a lot that does work. And that is to have a strong America, a strong military and a resolve where the Iranians know that not only are we going to reject this deal on day one and reimpose sanctions but, if they move forward with the nuclear program, their safety for those facilities will be at risk. I'll tell you a couple of things I'd do. I'd give the Israelis bombs called MOPs, massive ordnance penetrators. Give them to Israel. Let the Iranians know we're prepared to work with Israel to make sure they never have a nuclear weapon. And let me point out that Hillary Clinton, supporting this deal, she was the senator from New York on September 11th, she saw what happened at the hands of radical Islam. This is the senator who did the reset program with Russia, who allowed the Middle East to deteriorate to flames, who has lied about Benghazi and is now supporting the Iranian deal. That's the opponent we're going to have next November. We have got to win this election. Everything we say is wonderful. But we have to win and, once we win, we have to actually do what we say. I can do this. +p5560 +aVI think there are two things, Jake. Two things that we need as Republicans. First, we have to win the election. You're going to hear a lot of great ideas, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that. None of it matters unless you win the election. And the second is, once you win, you have to be able to govern successfully. You've heard a lot of fighting back and forth, you didn't get this done, you didn't get that done. That's the way Washington is today. You have to have a leader, a president, who will actually get a conservative agenda through. I'm running because I have done both those things, and I did them in one of the most liberal states in America. I got elected three times in the state of New York. Twice by the largest pluralities ever for a Republican. I ran as a Republican conservative. If I get the nomination, I will be able to get broad support and win this election, and take the White House back for our party. But more importantly, once I've won, I will put in place a sweeping conservative agenda. I did that in New York. Over $143 billion in tax cuts. More than the other 49 states combined. Taking one million people off welfare and putting them into jobs, in a state where the Democrats control the state assembly. +p5561 +aV103-47. I got them to support a conservative agenda. If I get elected president, I will make things work in Washington. +p5562 +aVFor the Republican party and for the United States. +p5563 +aVI think he means somebody who hasn't been a career politician, and who's been out of office for awhile. I think the last eight years in the private sector have allowed me to see government from the outside, and I think that is a positive thing. Yes, I thought about running four years ago. I was ready to lead, but I wasn't ready to run. But I look at this country today, and I look at how divided we are, I look at how politicians are always posturing and issuing sound bites but never solving problems. What I did in New York was bring people together, an overwhelmingly Democratic state. But I was able to get Democrats to support the most conservative sweeping policy changes in any state in America. And when I look at Washington today, we need to bring us together. We need to solve problems, we need to rebuild our military so we can stand up to radical Islam, we need to get our economy growing much faster by throwing out the corrupt tax code and lowering the rates. We have to end crony capitalism in Washington, where the lobbyists and the powerful can get tax breaks and tax credits, and the American people don't get laws in their interest. I can do that. And I can do it regardless of what the makeup of Congress is because I did it in New York state. So we need new leadership -- yes. I will be that new leader. Mac +p5564 +aVMartha, religious liberty doesn't include encouraging a fellow American to engage in violent jihad and kill an American here. That is not protected free speech. That is not protected religious belief. That is like shouting "fire" in a crowded theater, and that is illegal, and I would do everything in our power not just to go after those who are here who we know who are here, before they can radicalize other Americans to carry out attacks, and it's not just the ones they've arrested. Think back to Garland, Texas. But for that Texas police officer, we could have had a mass murder. We have to shut down their internet capability. We have to shut down, whether or not they're in prisons preaching or on -- in mosques preaching. No radical Islam that is allowed to engage in encouraging violence against Americans, that is not protected speech. Let me just add one thing about +p5565 +aVI think he is right. I don't think you expand entitlements when so many people are dependent on government and when the money the federal government is offering is going to be taken away from you after just a couple of years. But getting back to Martha's question about how we end dependency, do we have to have a cultural change? The answer is no. And I know this, because when I ran for governor of New York, one in 11 of every man, woman, and child in the state of New York was on welfare. On welfare. Think about that. And people said "you can't win, you can't change the culture." But I knew that good people who wanted to be a part of the American dream have become trapped in dependency because the federal government and the state government had made it in their economic interest not to take a job because the benefits that they didn't work were better. I changed that. We put in place mandatory work fair (ph). But we allowed people to keep health care. We put in place child care support. +p5566 +aVNo, it should be repealed. And by the way, when I left, there were over 1 million fewer people on welfare in New York state than when I took office... +p5567 +aV... replacing dependency with opportunity. +p5568 +aVYes. Mac +p5569 +aVMy heart has not changed, because I've always been appalled by abortion. I'm a Catholic, I believe life begins at conception. But as Bill said earlier, Roe v. Wade, it's has been the law for 42 years, and I don't think we should continue to try to change it. But we can do is defund Planned Parenthood, and by the way, put in place an absolute permanent ban on any taxpayer dollars ever being used to fund abortions. Also, when you look at these videos, they are horrific and show just a hideous disrespect for life. What else we can do is that we should believe in science. You know, Hillary Clinton's always saying how Republicans don't follow science? Well, they're the ones not listening to the scientists today, because doctors say that at 20 weeks that is a viable life inside the womb. And at that point, it's a life that we have the right to protect, and I think we should protect. So, I would pass legislation outlawing abortion after 20 weeks. It is Hillary, it is Biden, it is the others who insist on allowing abortion well into viable (inaudible) wrong, and that should be stopped. Mac +p5570 +aVBill, I defeated Mario Cuomo. In the first day in office, my first executive order, I revoked every one of the executive orders that he had -- he had enacted over the prior 12 years. I would do that to Barack Obama's executive orders. But I'd sign a second one, as I did in New York, as well, having a hard hiring freeze on adding new employees except for the military or defense-related positions. I'd sign that executive order. When I left the workforce, New York State had been reduced by over 15 percent. We can do that in Washington. I will do that in Washington. +p5571 +aVDivisive and with no vision. No vision at all. +p5572 +aVWith all the candidates, why me? My background is different. I look at Washington, and I hear the talk, and I see the promises and it seems nothing ever changes. Washington gets bigger, taxes get higher, and the American people feel more distance from our government. I have the opportunity not just to run, but to win in the deep blue state of New York three times. And not only did I win, but I then worked with a Democratic legislature to put in place the most sweeping conservative reforms of any state in America, taking us from the most dangerous state in America to the fourth safest; reducing our welfare rolls by over 1 million, and replacing over 700,000 private sector jobs. I can govern by bringing people together. And also, I've been tested in a way no one else has. I was governor on September 11th, and I'm proud of my leadership in bringing New York through that time. And when I left, we were stronger, we were safer, and we were more united than at any time in my lifetime. We need to bring people together in Washington. The talk has got to stop, the action has got to begin. People can promise you something, I delivered in the blue state of New York. I will deliver for the American people if I have the privilege of leading this country. +p5573 +asVCHRISTIE +p5574 +(lp5575 +VThank you Wolf. America has been betrayed. We've been betrayed by the leadership that Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton have provided to this country over the last number of years. Think about just what's happened today. The second largest school district in America in Los Angeles closed based on a threat. Think about the effect that, that's going to have on those children when they go back to school tomorrow wondering filled with anxiety to whether they're really going to be safe. Think about the mothers who will take those children tomorrow morning to the bus stop wondering whether their children will arrive back on that bus safe and sound. Think about the fathers of Los Angeles, who tomorrow will head off to work and wonder about the safety of their wives and their children. What is Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton done to this country? That the most basic responsibility of an administration is to protect the safety and security of the American people. I will tell you this, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I've fought terrorists and won and when we get back in the White House we will fight terrorists and win again and America will be safe. +p5576 +aVWolf, unfortunately, it's the new normal under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The fact is that if you listen to Hillary Clinton the other day, what she said to the American people was, as regards to +p5577 +aVListen, I want to talk to the audience at home for a second. If your eyes are glazing over like mine, this is what it's like to be on the floor of the United States Senate. I mean, endless debates about how many angels on the head of a pin from people who've never had to make a consequential decision in an executive position. The fact is, for seven years, I had to make these decisions after 9/11, make a decision about how to proceed forward with an investigation or how to pull back, whether you use certain actionable intelligence or whether not to. And yet they continue to debate about this bill and in the subcommittee and what \u2014 nobody in America cares about that. What they care about is, are we going to have a president who actually knows what they're doing to make these decisions? And for the seven years afterwards, New Jersey was threatened like no other region in this country and what we did was we took action within the constitution to make sure that law enforcement had all the information they needed. We prosecuted two of the biggest terrorism cases in the world and stopped Fort Dix from being attacked by six American radicalized Muslims from a Mosque in New Jersey because we worked with the Muslim American community to get intelligence and we used the Patriot Act to get other intelligence to make sure we did those cases. This is the difference between actually been a federal prosecutor, actually doing something, and not just spending your life as one of hundred debating it. Let's talk about how we do this, not about which bill, which one these guys like more. The American people don't care about that. +p5578 +aVWolf, you sit up here and you listen to this stuff, and you think that so many of these people have had so much to do in this national debate, they talk like they were bystanders. You know, we talk about our military being degraded over time, and yet we've had folks on this stage who've been a part of Congress who have participated in sequester; who participated in the degrading of this military over time. And that's why I think people get so frustrated with Washington, D.C. now. That's why they're so angry with the \u2014 the electorate is so angry with everybody who is involved in government in Washington, D.C. Because if you listen to the folks up here, you think that they weren't even there; they had nothing to do with this. This is a difference between being a governor and being in a legislature. See, because when something doesn't work in New Jersey, they look at me, say: "Why didn't it get done? Why didn't you do it?" You have to be responsible and accountable. And so on +p5579 +aVWell, I think we have to focus, Hugh, on exactly what the priorities are. And to me, what I've always said is that the president has set up an awful situation through his deal with Iran, because what his deal with Iran has done is empower them and enrich them. And that's the way +p5580 +aVNot only would I be prepared to do it, I would do it. A no-fly zone means a no-fly zone, Wolf. That's what it means. See, maybe \u2014 maybe because I'm from New Jersey, I just have this kind of plain language hangup. But I would make very clear \u2014 I would not talk to Vladimir Putin. In fact, I would talk to Vladimir Putin a lot. But I'd say to him, "Listen, Mr. President, there's a no-fly zone in Syria; you fly in, it applies to you." And yes, we would shoot down the planes of Russian pilots if in fact they were stupid enough to think that this president was the same feckless weakling that the president we have in the Oval Office is right now. +p5581 +aVWell, Wolf, I'll tell you what reckless is. What reckless is is calling Assad a reformer. What reckless is allowing Russia to come into Crimea and Ukraine. What reckless is is inviting Russia into Syria to team with Iran. That is reckless. And the reckless people are the folks in the White House right now. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are the reckless people. And if you think that a no-fly zone is a reckless policy, you're welcome to your opinion. But how is it working so far? As we have 250,000 Syrians murdered, slaughtered; millions running around the world, running for their lives. It's not working. We need to try something else. And that is not reckless. +p5582 +aVWhat I say to Carla is that the first job of the president of the United States is to protect your safety and your security and the security and safety of your family. And this debate stops with me in the discussions with the FBI director. Now, listen, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I know Jim Comey. We've worked together. He was the U.S. attorney in Manhattan when I was a U.S. attorney in New Jersey. And when Jim Comey gets up before Congress and says, we cannot effectively vet these people, for me as president, that's the end of the conversation. We have to put America's security first. The American people \u2014 we on this stage need to open our ears. We need to open our ears. The American people are not whispering to us. They are screaming to us. And they're screaming to us that it's our job to actually make this government work. It's so dysfunctional under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. It's so ineffective. It's so ineffectual that the American people say, we don't trust them to do anything anymore. So I'm not going to let Syrian refugees, any Syrian refugees in this country. And it was widows and orphans, by the way, and we now know from watching the San Bernardino attack that women can commit heinous, heinous acts against humanity just the same as men can do it. And so I don't back away from that position for a minute. When the FBI director tells me that he can vet those people, then we'll consider it and not a moment before because your safety and security is what's most important to me. +p5583 +aVWell, what it would like is, we have one of the great advantages of America being the open society that we are. It is, we are not hiding things from the American people, but China everyday is conducting business in a way that hides things from their people. So if they want to come in and attack all the personnel records in the federal government, which they've done, and which \u2014 they now have my Social Security number and my fingerprints, as well as maybe some other folks' who are on this stage. The fact is, they need to be fought back on. And what we need to do is go at the things that they are most sensitive and most embarrassing to them; that they're hiding; get that information and put it out in public. Let the Chinese people start to digest how corrupt the Chinese government is; how they steal from the Chinese people; and how they're enriching oligarchs all throughout China. They need to understand that. And we need to take those type of steps. This president has seen personnel records of people who have sacrificed for the American people and for the federal government stolen by the Chinese and he's done nothing in return. This is why \u2014 this is what I said at the beginning that this administration, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton through their foreign policy, have betrayed the American people, because the weakness they've displayed has led to Putin's incursions in the Middle East and in eastern Europe, and has led \u2014 has led to significant problems in the Middle East as well, and the death and murder of lots of folks. +p5584 +aVOn September 10th, 2001, I was named chief federal prosecutor in New Jersey and on September 11th, 2001, my wife and my brother who are in the audience tonight went through the World Trade Center and to their offices just blocks away from the Trade Center. I lost touch with them for six hours that day and prayed that they were alive. Luckily, they were sent home. But many of our friends and others in our neighborhood lost their lives that day. Terrorism \u2014 radical jihadist terrorism is not theoretical to me. It's real. And for seven years, I spent my life protecting our country against another one of those attacks. You won't have to worry when I'm President of the Untied States whether that can be done because I've already done it. I want the chance to do it again to protect you, your children and your families. If you give me the chance and give me your vote I will protect America from the wars that are being brought to our door step. +p5585 +aVI don't see a lot of weakness on this stage, quite frankly. Where I see the weakness is in those three people that are left on the Democratic stage. You know, I see a socialist, an isolationist and a pessimist. And for the sake of me, I can't figure out which one is which. But I will \u2014 but I will tell you this, the socialist says they're going to pay for everything and give you everything for free, except they don't say they're going to raise it through taxes to 90 percent to do it. The isolationist is the one who wants to continue to follow a foreign policy that has fewer democracies today than when Barack Obama came into office around the world. But I know who the pessimist is. It's Hillary Clinton. And you put me on that stage against her next September, she won't get within 10 miles of the White House. Take it to the bank. +p5586 +aVWell, I wish you would have asked that question years ago when they broke it. I mean, let me be honest with the people who are watching at home. The government has lied to you and they have stolen from you. They told you that your Social Security money is in a trust fund. All that's in that trust fund is a pile of IOUs for money they spent on something else a long time ago. And they've stolen from you because now they know they cannot pay these benefits and Social Security is going to be insolvent in seven to eight years. We're sitting up here talking about all these other things; 71 percent of federal spending today is on entitlements, and debt service. And, that's with zero percent interest rates. Now, I'm the only person that's put out a detailed plan on how to deal with entitlements. And we'll save a trillion dollars over the next 10 years. And, here's the difference between me and Hillary Clinton. What Hillary Clinton's going to say, and has said before is, she wants to raise Social Security taxes. Now, let me ask you a question everybody, and, this is for the guy, you know, who owns a landscaping business out there. If somebody's already stolen money from you, are you going to give them more? Or, are you going to deal with the problem by saying, I'm going to give people who've done well in this country less benefit on the backend. We need to get realistic about this. We're not \u2014 the American people \u2014 forget about anything else, they've already been lied to and stolen from. And... +p5587 +aV...I'm going to go to Washington to stop it... +p5588 +aV...The only way we're going to be morale, the only way we're going to keep our promise to seniors is start by following the first rule we should all follow, which is to look at them, treat them like adults, and tell them the truth. It isn't there anymore, Mike. They stole it. It got stolen from them. It's not theirs anymore. The government stole it, and spent it a long time ago... +p5589 +aVSo, let's stop fooling around about this, let's tell people the truth. For once, let's do that, and stop trying to give them some kind of fantasy that's never going to come true. +p5590 +aVYou bet they do. And if I were the prosecutor, that is exactly where they would be. The fact is that this Justice Department under this president has been a political Justice Department. It has been a Justice Department that decided that they want to pick who the winners and losers are. They like General Motors, so they give them a pass. They don't like somebody else like David Petraeus, they prosecute them and send a decorated general on to disgrace. It's a political Justice Department. And, Jim, you know full well that in the seven years I was U.S. attorney we went after pharmaceutical companies. We went after companies that were ripping off shareholders. We went after companies that were doing things that were against the law. And to expand on Mr. Carson's \u2014 or Dr. Carson's question, let's face it, we have laws already. We don't need newer (ph) laws. We don't need Hillary Clinton's price controls for \u2014 again, does anybody out there think that giving Washington, D.C., the opportunity to run the pharmaceutical industry is a good idea, given how well they have done running the government? So what we do, though, is, if there is somebody who is price- gouging, we have laws for prosecutors to take that on. Let's let a Justice Department \u2014 and I will make an attorney general who will enforce the law and make justice more than just a word. It will be a way of life. +p5591 +aVJohn, I'll tell you something. You want to talk about moral authority. Let's talk about something that happened this week in the news. You know, the FBI director, the president's appointed FBI director has said this week that because of a lack of support from politicians like the president of the United States, that police officers are afraid to get out of their cars; that they're afraid to enforce the law. And he says, the president's appointee, that crime is going up because of this. And when the president of the United States gets out to speak about it, does he support police officers? Does he stand up for law enforcement? No, he doesn't. I'll tell you this, the number one job of the president of the United States is to protect the safety and security of the American people. This president has failed, and when I'm in the Oval Office, police officers will know that they will have the support of the president of the Untied States. That's real moral authority that we need in the Oval Office. +p5592 +aVCarl, are we really talking about getting government involved in fantasy football? We have \u2014 wait a second, we have $19 trillion in debt. We have people out of work. We have +p5593 +aVWell, first off, what we don't do is do what Hillary Clinton and John Kerry and Barack Obama want us to do, which is their solution for everything, put more taxes on it, give more money to Washington, D.C., and then they will fix it. Well, there is no evidence that they can fix anything in Washington, D.C. +p5594 +aVWhat we should do is to be investing in all types of energy, John, all types of energy. I've laid out... +p5595 +aVNo, John. John, do you want me to answer or do you want to answer? How are we going to do this? Because, I've got to tell you the truth, even in New Jersey what you're doing is called rude. So... We've laid out a national energy plan that says that we should invest in all types of energy. I will tell you, you could win a bet at a bar tonight, since we're talking about fantasy football, if you ask who the top three states in America are that produce solar energy: California and Arizona are easy, but number three is New Jersey. Why? Because we work with the private sector to make solar energy affordable and available to businesses and individuals in our state. We need to make sure that we do everything across all kinds of energy: natural gas, oil, absolutely. But also where it's affordable, solar, wind in Iowa has become very affordable and it makes sense. That is the way we deal with global warming, climate change, or any of those problems, not through government intervention, not through government taxes, and for God's sake, don't send Washington another dime until they stop wasting the money they're already sending there. +p5596 +aVAnd \u2014 and \u2014 and I \u2014 you know, Ben is absolutely right in saying that what we don't need to do is to send more money to Washington, D.C. to fix this problem. And that's what you'll hear from Hillary Clinton \u2014 and I've already heard from her \u2014 is that, send more money in Social Security, send more money in Medicare taxes, send more money for Medicaid, and that's gonna solve the problem. What we know is we're living longer. That's a blessing. It's a blessing that we're living longer, so we have to increase the retirement age to reflect that blessing. We need to make sure that people understand, as Jeb said before, that if you've done extraordinarily well in this country, do you want them to take more out of your taxes now and think they're gonna give it back to you later? Or would you rather take less later on? +p5597 +aVI want to talk to the folks at home. I want to ask you: Are you fed up with how Washington taxes you? Are you fed up with how Washington wastes your money? Are you concerned like I am that the debt and deficits of Washington, D.C. are endangering America's future? I've got one more question for you then. Are you serious about this election? Because if you are, you need to elect someone who's deadly serious about changing this culture. I am deadly serious about changing this culture. I changed it in New Jersey. I'm deadly serious about doing this job the right way. I'm prepared. I'm tested. I'm ready. And I want to make this our government. For the people who say we can't do it, I say hell no, we can do it together. +p5598 +aVHi, my name is Chris Christie, and I'd like to you take the camera off me and put it on the audience because I'd like to ask all of you, how many of you, raise your hand, believe that in today's Barak Obama America your children will have a better life than you've had? You see? That's why I'm running for President. because leadership is not about me, it's about our country. And, what we talk about tonight, it's not about us, it's about the people in the audience tonight, because in seven short years this president has stripped away their trust, and their faith, and their belief that the next generation will have a better life. He's stolen that from us, and when I'm president, I'm going to take it back. +p5599 +aVWell, I know Ben wasn't talking about me, I'm sure he was talking about one of the other guys, not me. As far as being an outsider is concerned \u2014 as far as being an outsider is concerned, let me tell you this, Jake, I'm a Republican in New Jersey. I wake up every morning as an outsider. I wake up every morning with a Democratic legislature who trying to beat my head in and fight me because I'm trying to bring conservative change to a state that needed it desperately. And so, everyone can talk us here about their credentials. But the bottom line is, every morning I get up, I veto 400 bills from a crazy liberal Democratic legislature, not one of them has been overridden. I've vetoed more tax increases than any governor in American history, according to Americans for Tax Reform. What folks want in this country is somebody to go down there and get the job done. And that's exactly what I'll do. So, I know this much, that what the American people want to hire right now is somebody who believes in them. And believes that they are the ones who can fix our country. I will be the vessel through which they can fix this country, but it's not about me. It's about all of you. And getting this government off your back and out of your way, and letting you succeed. I know Ben wasn't talking about me. +p5600 +aVLook at him smiling at me right now. I know Ben didn't mean it about me. One of these other guys, I'm sure. +p5601 +aVBe honest, Ben, be honest. +p5602 +aVSee, Jake, it wasn't me. +p5603 +aVI was \u2014 +p5604 +aVShe is, and so if she, based on conscience, can't sign that \u2014 that marriage license, then there should be someone in her office to be able to do it, and if the law needs to be changed in the state of Kentucky, which is what she's advocating, it should be changed. +p5605 +aVAnd why don't we do the same thing with Planned Parenthood? +p5606 +aVWe elected a Republican Congress to do this. And they should be doing it, and they're not. And they're giving the president a pass. +p5607 +aVI put it in the list, Dana. We should be doing these things and forcing the president to take action. +p5608 +aVLet's force him to do what he says he's going to do. Now I don't know whether he'll do it or not, but let's force him to do it. +p5609 +aVFirst of, Jake, I don't yield to anybody on how to enforce the law. I'm the only person on this stage who spent seven years as a United States Attorney after September 11th, and I know how to do this. The fact is though that for 15,000 people a day to be deported every day for two years is an undertaking that almost none of us could accomplish given the current levels of funding, and the current number of law enforcement officers. Here's what we need to do, and I think this is where Donald is absolutely right. What we need to do is to secure our border, and we need to do it with more than just a wall. We need to use electronics, we need to use drones, we need to use FBI, DEA, and ATF, and yes, we need to take the fingerprint of every person who comes into this country on a visa, and when they overstay their visa, we need to tap them on the shoulder, and say, "You have overstayed your welcome, you're taking advantage of the American people. It's time for you to go." If we had that kind of system in place, we wouldn't have the 11 million people we have now. +p5610 +aVJake listen. While I'm as entertained as anyone by this personal back-and-forth about the history of Donald and Carly's career, for the 55-year-old construction worker out in that audience tonight who doesn't have a job, who can't fund his child's education, I've got to tell you the truth. They could care less about your careers, they care about theirs. Let's start talking about that on this stage and stop playing \u2014 and stop playing the games. Stop playing \u2014 +p5611 +aVJohn \u2014 I'm not done yet, John. +p5612 +aVStop \u2014 and stop playing \u2014 and Carly \u2014 Carly, listen. You can interrupt everybody else on this stage, you're not going to interrupt me, OK? The fact is that we don't want to hear about your careers, back and forth and volleying back and forth about who did well and who did poorly. You're both successful people. Congratulations. You know who's not successful? The middle class in this country who's getting plowed over by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Let's start talking about those issues tonight and stop this childish back-and-forth between the two of you. +p5613 +aVListen, you know, Hugh, it's an important point. And the question is, who is going to prosecute Hillary Clinton? The Obama White House seems to have in interest, the Justice Department seems to have no interest. I think it's time to put a former federal prosecutor on the same stage as Hillary Clinton. And I will prosecute her during those debates on that stage for the record we're talking about here. The fact she had a private email server in her basement, using national security secrets running through it, could have been hacked by the Russians, the Chinese, or two 18-year-olds on a toot (ph) wanting to have some fun. No one is answering that question from the Hillary Clinton campaign... +p5614 +aVYou know why? Because she knows she's wrong, and she cannot look in the mirror at herself, and she cannot tell the American people the truth. +p5615 +aVWell, Jake, I was named U.S. attorney by President Bush on September 10th, 2001. And that next day my wife Mary Pat did what she did every day, she traveled through the World Trade Center and went to her office two blocks from the World Trade Center. And after those planes hit, for five-and-a-half-hours after that, I couldn't reach her, didn't know whether she was dead or alive, and we had three children at the time, 8, 5 and 1. And I had to confront what so many thousands of others in my region had to confront, the idea I might become a single parent, the idea that my life and my children's life might be changed forever. We lost friends that day. We went to the funerals. And I will tell you that what those people wanted and what they deserved was for America to answer back against what had been done to them. And I support what President Bush did at that time, going into Afghanistan, hunting al Qaeda and its leaders, getting its sanctuary out of place, and making it as difficult around the world for them to move people and money. And then he went to prosecutors like us, and he said, never again. Don't prosecute these people after the crime is committed. Intervene before the crime happens. I absolutely believe that what the president did at the time was right. And I am proud to have been one of the people on the stage who was part of making sure that what Governor Bush said before was the truth. America was safe for those seven years and Barack Obama has taken that safety away from us. +p5616 +aVLet me say this, Jake, is that while that may have been a fine idea that Dr. Carson had, these people were out to kill us. I stood in that region with my family, and every time a plane went overhead in the weeks after that, people's heads jerked to the sky because they thought it was happening again. You do not need to go through subtle diplomacy at that point. That could be handled later on. What you need is a strong American leader who will take the steps that are necessary to protect our nation. That's what I would do as commander-in-chief in this circumstance. And that's what President George W. Bush did in 2001. +p5617 +aVJake, you brought my issue up. +p5618 +aVYou know, I enjoy the interplay. Thank you, gentlemen. I'll just say this, first off, New Jersey is the first state in the nation that now says if you are non-violent, non-dealing drug user, that you don't go to jail for your first offense. You go to mandatory treatment. You see, Jake, I'm pro-life. And I think you need to be pro-life for more than just the time in the womb. It gets tougher when they get out of the womb. And when they're the 16-year-old drug addict in the Florida county lockup, that life is just as precious as the life in the womb. And so, that's why I'm for rehabilitation, why I think the war on drugs has been a failure. But I'll end with this. That doesn't mean we should be legalizing gate way drugs. And if Senator Paul thinks that the only victim is the person, look at the decrease in productivity, look at the way people get used and move on to other drugs when they use marijuana as a gateway drug, it is not them that are the only victims. Their families are the victims too, their children are the victims too, and their employers are the victims also. That's why I'll enforce the federal law, while you can still put an emphasis on rehabilitation, which we've done in New Jersey. +p5619 +aVAnd Senator Paul knows that that's simply not the truth. In New Jersey, we have medical marijuana laws, which I supported and implemented. This is not medical marijuana. There's goes as much \u2014 a further step beyond. This is recreational use of marijuana. This is much different. And so, while he would like to use a sympathetic story to back up his point, it doesn't work. I'm not against medical marijuana. We do it in New Jersey. But I'm against the recreational use against marijuana. If he wants to change the federal law, get Congress to pass the law to change it, and get a president to sign it. +p5620 +aVNo, it's not. But with Donald, it's a good start. That's really good. No, listen. This is an issue that \u2014 that we've gotta talk about, and we haven't talked about yet. 71 percent of all federal spending is on entitlements and debt service. When John Kennedy was elected president in 1960, it was 26 percent. Harvard and Dartmouth says that Social Security's going to go insolvent in seven to eight years. So what I say is very simple. We need to save this program for the good people out there who have paid into the system and need it. And if that means making sure that folks like Donald and many of us on the stage don't get it, that's the right thing to do because here's what Hillary Clinton is going to want to do. She's going to want to put more money into a system that has already lied to us and stolen from us. This government doesn't need more money to make Social Security solvent. We need to be not paying out benefits to people who don't really need it. We need to protect the people who Social Security means the difference between picking between heat and rent and food. That's why I put out the proposal and that's the people I'm trying to... +p5621 +aVI don't think Senator Rubio is a skeptic of climate change. I think what Senator Rubio said I agree with. That in fact we don't need this massive government intervention to deal with the problem. Look at what we have done in New Jersey. We have already reached our clean air goals for 2020. And when I was governor, I pulled out of the regional cap and trade deal, the only state in the Northeast that did that. And we still reached our goals. Why? Because 53 percent of our electricity comes from nuclear. We use natural gas. We use solar power. We're the third-highest- using solar power state. You know why? Because we made all of those things economically feasible. I agree with Marco. We shouldn't be destroying our economy in order to chase some wild left-wing idea that somehow us by ourselves is going to fix the climate. We can contribute to that and be economically sound. We have proven we can do that in New Jersey. Nuclear needs to be back on the table in a significant way in this country if we want to go after this problem. +p5622 +aVI understand. No, no, listen, everybody makes a mistake every once in a while, Jake, even George Shultz. And if that's truly a representation of what he believes we should be doing, then with all due respect to the former secretary of state, I disagree with him. +p5623 +aVI think the Adams family has been shorted in the currency business. Our country wouldn't be here without John Adams, and he would not have been able to do it without Abigal Adams, so, I'd put Abigail Adams on the bill. +p5624 +aVYou know, I've been called a lot of names by a lot of different people, and now I got to get called by names by the Secret Service? I would just say True Heart. +p5625 +aVI turned 18 in 1980, and my first vote was for Ronald Reagan. Boy, am I glad I did it. And I think the country is, too. A Christie presidency won't be about me. It will be about you. Tonight, you sit at home in your living room, frustrated that you play by the rules, you pay the taxes, you do the hard things to raise your family, yet you feel like America's generosity is being taken advantage of. That you've been \u2014 system is being gamed, and that you're turning out to fall further and further behind. Our presidency \u2014 our presidency \u2014 will be about ending that, about enforcing the law, level the playing field for everybody, and once again reward those folks who play by the rules, and think that justice means more than just the word. But it means a way of life. And I will tell you this, around the world, I will not shake hands with, I will not meet with, and I will not agree to anything with a country that says death to us and death to Israel and holds our hostages while we sign agreements with them. It will be an America that be strong and resolute, and will once again be able to stick out its chest and say, "we truly are the greatest nation in the world, because we live our lives that way, each and every day." +p5626 +aVIf you think it's bad now, you should've seen it when I got there. The fact is -- the fact is, in the eight years before I became governor, taxes and fees were raised at the state level 115 times. In the eight years before I became governor, spending was increased 56 percent. And in the eight years before I become governor, taxes and fees were raised at the state level 115 times. In the eight years before I became Governor, spending was increased 56 percent, and in the eight years before I became governor, there was zero net private sector job growth in New Jersey. Zero. For eight years. So, what did we do? We came in, we balanced an $11 billion deficit on a $29 billion budget by cutting over 800 programs in the state budget. We brought the budget into balance with no tax increases. In fact, we vetoed five income tax increases during my time as governor. We cut business taxes $2.3 billion, and we cut regulation by one-third of what my predecessor put in place. And, what's happened since? A hundred ninety-two thousand private sector jobs in the five and a half years I've been governor. We have a lot of work to do in New Jersey, but I am darn proud we've brought our state back. +p5627 +aVYes, I do. And I'll tell you why: because I'm the only person on this stage who's actually filed applications under the Patriot Act, who has gone before the federal -- the Foreign Intelligence Service court, who has prosecuted and investigated and jailed terrorists in this country after September 11th. I was appointed U.S. attorney by President Bush on September 10th, 2001, and the world changed enormously the next day, and that happened in my state. This is not theoretical to me. I went to the funerals. We lost friends of ours in the Trade Center that day. My own wife was two blocks from the Trade Center that day, at her office, having gone through it that morning. When you actually have to be responsible for doing this, you can do it, and we did it, for seven years in my office, respecting civil liberties and protecting the homeland. And I will make no apologies, ever, for protecting the lives and the safety of the American people. We have to give more tools to our folks to be able to do that, not fewer, and then trust those people and oversee them to do it the right way. As president, that is exactly what I'll do. +p5628 +aVAnd -- and, Megyn? Megyn, that's a -- that, you know, that's a completely ridiculous answer. "I want to collect more records from terrorists, but less records from other people." How are you supposed to know, Megyn? +p5629 +aVWhat are you supposed to... +p5630 +aV...how are you supposed to -- no, I'll tell you how you, look... +p5631 +aVLet me tell you something, you go... +p5632 +aVWhen you -- you know, senator... +p5633 +aVListen, senator, you know, when you're sitting in a subcommittee, just blowing hot air about this, you can say things like that. When you're responsible for protecting the lives of the American people, then what you need to do is to make sure... +p5634 +aV...is to make sure that you use the system the way it's supposed to work. +p5635 +aVThere is no... +p5636 +aVAnd you know -- you know, Senator Paul? Senator Paul, you know, the hugs that I remember are the hugs that I gave to the families who lost their people on September 11th. Those are the hugs I remember, and those had nothing to do -- and those had nothing to do with politics, unlike what you're doing by cutting speeches on the floor of the Senate, then putting them on the Internet within half an hour to raise money for your campaign... +p5637 +aV...and while still putting our country at risk. +p5638 +aVYou know what, Megyn, can I... +p5639 +aVNo, he's not lying, he's just wrong. I mean, so, there's a difference -- I'm the only guy on this stage who's put out a detailed, 12 point plan on entitlement reform and here's why -- because 71% of federal spending right now is on entitlements, and debt service, 71%. And we have spent the last hour and five minutes talking about the other 29%, and no time on the 71%, and that makes no sense. Now, let me tell you exactly what we would do on Social Security. Yes, we'd raise the retirement age two years, and phase it in over 25 years, that means we'd raise it one month a year for 25 years when we're all living longer, and living better lives. Secondly, we would means test Social Security for those who are making over $200,000 dollars a year in retirement income, and have $4 to $5 million dollars in liquid assets saved. They don't need that Social Security check. Social Security is meant to be -- to make sure that no one who's worked hard, and played by the rules, and paid into the system grows old in poverty in America. If we don't deal with this problem, it will bankrupt our country, or lead to massive tax increases, neither one that we want in this country. +p5640 +aVChris... +p5641 +aVYeah, sure. And, I don't disagree with ending Congress' retirement program. I'm a governor, I don't have a retirement program in my state, and I don't disagree with that. But, here's the news to the American people, he's complaining about the lying and stealing. The lying and stealing has already occurred. The trust fund is filled with IOU's. We can't fix the problem just by ending Congress's retirement, that's worth about, "this" much. We need to go at the fundamental problem, and the fundamental problem is that this system is broken. It has been stolen from. We have been lied to, and we need a strong leader to tell the truth and fix... +p5642 +aVWell, listen. You know, if we want to deal with these issues, we have to deal with them in a way that makes sense. I agree with what Dr. Carson said earlier. The first thing we need to do to make America stronger is to strengthen our military, and I put out a really specific plan: no less than 500,000 active duty soldiers in the Army. No less than 185,000 active duty marines in the Marine Corps. Bring us to a 350 ship Navy again, and modernize the Ohio class of submarines, and bring our Air Force back to 2,600 aircraft that are ready to go. Those are the kind of things that are going to send a clear message around the world. Those are the things that we need to start working on immediately to make our country stronger and make it better. Those are the things that we need to be able to be doing. And as we move towards dealing with foreign aid, I don't disagree with Senator Paul's position that we shouldn't be funding our enemies. But I absolutely believe that Israel is a priority to be able to fund and keep them strong and safe after eight years of this administration. +p5643 +aVWell, thank you, Megyn. Listen, I was born into a middle class family in New Jersey. My dad came home from serving in the Army after having lost his father, worked in the Breyers ice cream plant in Newark, New Jersey. Was the first person to graduate from college. He put himself through college at night. My mom was a secretary. I was appointed United States attorney on September 10, 2001. And I spent the next seven years of my career fighting terrorism and putting terrorists in jail. I'm a conservative, pro-life governor in a state where it is really tough to be both. A state like New Jersey, with lots of Democrats, but still we cut taxes, we balanced budgets. We fought the teacher's union. This president has had weak leadership, which has led to bad choices. We have got to stop worrying about being loved and start worrying about being respected. And that's exactly how I'll lead our country. +p5644 +aVWell, first I want to share a story with you that relates to your question. I was in New Hampshire last week, and a woman approached me after the town hall meeting and she said to me, "Governor, I'm really concerned." I said, "What are your concerns?" And, she said, "I don't quite how to describe it," she said. "But, every month when my bills come in, I feel this awful anxiety in the pit of my stomach that I'm not going to have enough to pay them that month." There are tens of millions of Americans living that way after the worst recovery from an economic recession since World War II. And, let's be clear, if we do not change course, if we follow the President's lead, and that's exactly what Secretary Clinton will do, we're going to be in the same circumstance \u2014 with government picking the winners and losers. So, let me be clear about what we'll do. First, Make the tax code fairer, flatter, and simplier. Get rid of all the special interest deductions. You know, the American people feel like the tax code is rigged for the rich, and you know why they feel that way? Because it is. We'll get rid of all those special interest deductions except for the home mortgage interest deduction, and the charitable contribution deduction. Everyone will get lower rates, keep more of their own money, be able to file their tax returns in 15 minutes, and, by the way, the good thing, I'll be able to fire a whole bunch of IRS agents once we do that. And, in addition, we need to get the government off of our backs. Dodd-Frank, all the different regulations, 81,000 pages of new regulation by this administration just last year \u2014 it is suffocating small business, it is suffocating the folks who are trying to make a living. I will do what I did in New Jersey......lift if off their backs. +p5645 +aVYes, sure. If anybody believes the stuff they heard from that Democratic debate a few weeks ago, there's nothing for free. What they forgot to tell was that they're going to raise your tax rates to 70 or 80 percent in order to provide all of that stuff. But let me ask the folks at home one very simple question, do you want to give Washington more control over your life? Do you think they're doing such a great job that now let's have them control what our corporations pay their employees? Let's have them control every aspect of our economy? Is Washington doing that good a job for you right now? And the fact is that if you listen to Hillary Clinton, she has made it very clear, she believes that she can make decisions for you better than you can make them for yourself. She believes that Washington, D.C., should pick the winners and losers in our economy, and in our life. And here's what I believe as a Republican, I believe the greatness of America is not in its government. The greatness of America is in the American people. And what we need to do is get the government the hell out of the way and let the American people win once again. +p5646 +aVFirst off, let me, let me just say this in response to this back and forth. For the people who are out there right now, I want to guarantee you one thing real clearly. If you think that Mike Huckabee won't be the kind of President who will cut back spending, or Chris Christie, or John Kasich, wait 'til you see what Hillary Clinton will do to this country and how she will drown us in debt. She is the real adversary tonight and we'd better stay focused as Republicans on her. Now I've forward, I put forward an entitlement reform plan. We spend 71 cents of every dollar in America on entitlements and debt service, and if \u2014 you know, Willy Sutton used to say, when they asked him why he robbed banks, he said that's 'cause that's where the money is, OK? And where the money is in the federal government are these entitlement programs and debt service. What I've said is we need to get a hold of that. We cannot continue to go down the $19 trillion in debt. So our plan will save over $1 trillion over the next 10 years and make sure that Social Security and Medicare are there for those who truly need it and also make sure that we have money to be able to reduce taxes and spend on the things we need to spend. I will also, on my first day as \u2014 as president, sign a executive order that says no more regulation for the next 120 days by any government agency or department. We are drowning in regulations. Stop and then we'll go out there and we'll cut and reduce regulation that small business owners across this country want us to do. You'll grow the economy then. More money will come into the system and we'll get more closer to balance. But the bottom line is, believe me, Hillary Clinton's coming for your wallet, everybody. Don't worry about Huckabee or Jindal, worry about her. +p5647 +aVWell, let's start with this, remember why we're in the position we're in with China, because an absolutely weak and feckless foreign policy that was engineered by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. That's why we're in the position we're in......because the Chinese......the Chinese don't take us seriously and why should they? Why should they? They hacked into the American government's personnel file and took millions of records in cyberwarfare against this country. I'm one of the victims of that hack. They took my Social Security number, my fingerprints as a former United States attorney that was on file in there. And what has this president done? Not one thing. Let me be really clear about what I would do. If the Chinese commit cyberwarfare against us, they are going to see cyberwarfare like they have never seen before. And that is a closed society in China......where they're hiding information from their own people. The information we take, we'll make sure all the Chinese people see it. Then they'll have some real fun in Beijing when we start showing them how they're spending their money in China. And one last thing. One last thing. I will tell you this, they're building those artificial islands in the South China Sea and the president won't \u2014 up until recently, wouldn't sail a ship within 12 miles or fly a plane over it. I'll tell you this, the first thing I'll do with the Chinese is I'll throw \u2014 I'll fly Air Force One over those islands. They'll know we mean business. +p5648 +aVI'll tell you, Gerry, it's interesting, if you go to New Jersey, they'll call me lots of different things. A liberal is not one of them. Um, and......I would say this. I have great respect for Bobby's record in Louisiana. I think he's been a wonderful governor and I think he's provided outstanding leadership for that state and I respect him for what he's done. And I think that all of us deserve that same level of respect. And my point is this. You know, the differences between me and Bobby Jindal, we can talk about those, and obviously, Bobby wants to spent a lot of time tonight talking about that. I'll tell you what I want to talk about. I want to talk about what's going to happen to this country if we have another four years of Barack Obama's policies. And by the way, it will be even worse, because Hillary Clinton is running so far to the left to treaty to catch up to her socialist opponent, Bernie Sanders, it's hard to even see her anymore. The fact is \u2014 the fact is that we'd better be focused on it. And I'll tell you what I'll bring to the table, the fact that I've won in a blue state, that I've won in a state that has 750,000 more Democrats than Republicans......that I won in a state for reelection after governing as a pro-life conservative......and got 61 percent of the vote. That's the person you want on the stage prosecuting the case against Hillary Clinton. +p5649 +aVI don't... +p5650 +aV..Let me... +p5651 +aV...Let me just... +p5652 +aV...Sure. It's interesting. I complimented Bobby, imagine how much time he'd want if I actually criticized him. You know, the fact is, he's done \u2014 done a nice job down in Louisiana, and I don't have any problem with the job he's done. I've cut spending $2 billion dollars, except for our pension and health care in New Jersey, which was driven predominantly by Obamacare. We have reduce the number of employees we have on the state payroll by 15%, but, you know what? The people out there don't care about any of that. You know what they care about? They care about who's going to be able to beat Hillary Clinton......Who's going to keep their eye on the ball? I'm going to keep my eye on the ball. +p5653 +aVYeah, listen. We stopped Obamacare in New Jersey because we refused to participate in the federal exchange. But, here's the bigger issue. What do you think's going to happen when Hillary Clinton's elected president of the United States? The woman who tried to impose healthcare on this country over 20 years ago? And, she was stopped then by a strong group of republicans, and an American public that said, "No, thank you." What she will do \u2014 what she will do is move us towards a single payer system. She will completely nationalize the federal health care system. That's what she wanted to do 20 years ago, and I guarantee you that's what she'll do if you give her the keys to the White House one more time. The fact is we need someone who knows how to beat democrats, who knows how to beat democrats in a democratic area. I've done it twice as governor of New Jersey, and Hillary Clinton doesn't want one minute on that stage with me next September when I'm debating her, and prosecuting her for her vision for America... +p5654 +aVI'll continue in the pattern and just say... And just say this to everybody, since it seems to be an open question. I'll tell you the thing that disturbs me the most about what's going on with the Democratic Party in Washington, that they're not standing behind our police officers across this country. That they're allowing lawlessness... That they're allowing lawlessness to reign in this country. I spent seven years of my life in law enforcement, here's what every law enforcement, 700,000, should know tonight. When President Christie is in the Oval Office, I'll have your back. +p5655 +aVYes. You know, our tax plan puts forward a highest rate of 28 percent for those who are doing the most and making the most in this country and 8 percent on the low end. And I agree with Senator Santorum, we get rid of all of the deductions and loopholes, except for the home mortgage interest deduction and the charitable contribution deduction. That means getting rid of the state and local income tax deduction, as well, because that will put more pressure on governors and on local officials not to keep raising those taxes, saying we can deduct them. And so ours will be 28 on the high end, 8 on the low end. And I will tell you one other thing. Americans for Tax Reform came out with a report six weeks ago and said I vetoed more tax increases than any governor in American history. I will do exactly the same thing as president of the United States. +p5656 +aVGerry, this has been the most political Federal Reserve I've seen in my lifetime. Now, when they first cut interest rates during the economic recession and the crisis, that was the right thing to do. But they've kept those interest rates artificially low for one reason, and one reason only. Because they're trying to politically support Barack Obama and his agenda. And it's been wrong. And what it's done, in an administration where the President has talked about income inequality, he's had more income inequality in this administration than any previous administration. The middle class is doing worse than it's ever done before. And the investor class, the wealthy, are doing even better because of this cheap money from the Fed. And here's the worst part, we had one and a half percent GDP growth last quarter. If we slide back towards a recession, you cannot lower interest rates below zero. Where are we going to go if we need help if the economy slides back into recession? And with this government- controlled economy that Barack Obama, we're moving right towards it. The Fed should be audited and the Fed should stop playing politics with our money supply. That's what they've done. It's been the wrong thing to do. It's hurting the American economy. And......let me......let me add one other thing on this. Be very aware now, because what Hillary Clinton is talking about doing, if she's president of the United States, is to make sure that the government gets even more involved in the economy, even more involved in making choices for everybody. You do not want that to happen. You need someone who's going to stand up on that stage and prosecute the case against her and prosecute it strong. That's what I'll do. +p5657 +aVThe way to reconnect Americans to the men and women in uniform is to first, and foremost, give them a Commander in Chief who respects the military, and respects everyone who wears the uniform. Starts at the top there... And Secretary Clinton says, there's no crisis at the V.A.. That send a long, and hard message to our veterans that she doesn't get it, and she doesn't respect their service. When the President of the United States doesn't back up law enforcement officers in uniform, he loses the moral authority to any man or woman who is uniform. I spent seven years in law enforcement......I respect these folks, and I will do so as Commander in Chief of the military. +p5658 +aVI want to tell the American people who are watching tonight the truth. I saw the most disgraceful thing I've seen in this entire campaign a few weeks ago. Hillary Clinton was asked the enemy she's most proud of, and she said, "Republicans". In a world where we have Al-Qaeda, and +p5659 +aVWhat about Kasich? Can I introduce Kasich? +p5660 +aVSure. First, let's remember something. Every morning when a United States senator wakes up, they think about what kind of speech can I give or what kind of bill can I drop? Every morning, when I wake up, I think about what kind of problem do I need to solve for the people who actually elected me? It's a different experience, it's a much different experience. And the fact is, Marco, you shouldn't compare yourself to Joe Biden and you shouldn't say that that's what we're doing. Here is exactly what we're doing. You have not be involved in a consequential decision where you had to be held accountable. You just simply haven't. And the fact is \u2014 the fact when you talk about the Hezbollah Sanctions Act that you list as one of your accomplishments you just did, you weren't even there to vote for it. That's not leadership, that's truancy. And the fact is that what we need to do \u2014 what we need to have in this country is not to make the same mistake we made eight years ago. The fact is it does matter when you have to make decisions and be held accountable for them. It does matter when the challenges don't come on a list of a piece of paper of what to vote yes or no every day, but when the problems come in from the people that you serve. I like Marco Rubio, and he's a smart person and a good guy, but he simply does not have the experience to be president of the United States and make these decisions. We've watched it happen, everybody. For the last seven years, the people of New Hampshire are smart. Do not make the same mistake again. +p5661 +aVHold on one second. +p5662 +aVExcuse me... +p5663 +aVI think he mentioned me and my record in there, so I think I get a chance to respond. You see, everybody, I want the people at home to think about this. That's what Washington, D.C. Does. The drive-by shot at the beginning with incorrect and incomplete information and then the memorized 25-second speech that is exactly what his advisers gave him. See Marco \u2014 Marco, the thing is this. When you're president of the United States, when you're a governor of a state, the memorized 30-second speech where you talk about how great America is at the end of it doesn't solve one problem for one person. They expect you to plow the snow. They expect you to get the schools open. And when the worst natural disaster in your state's history hits you, they expect you to rebuild their state, which is what I've done. None of that stuff happens on the floor of the United States Senate. It's a fine job, I'm glad you ran for it, but it does not prepare you for president of the United States. +p5664 +aVThere it is. There it is. The memorized 25-second speech. There it is, everybody. +p5665 +aVYou know what the shame is \u2014 you know what the shame is, Marco? The shame is that you would actually criticize somebody for showing up to work, plowing the streets, getting the trains running back on time when you've never been responsible for that in your entire life. +p5666 +aVAnd the fact is, I went back, it got done and here's... +p5667 +aVOh, so \u2014 wait a second. Is that one of the skills you get as a United States senator ESP also? Because I don't think it is. +p5668 +aVIt gets very unruly when he gets off his talking points. +p5669 +aVLet's get something... +p5670 +aVNo. Let's make something very clear. I learned seven years as a federal prosecutor in dealing with types of situations like we're talking about in North Korea, where criminals take people hostage. You never pay ransom to the criminals. Ever. You never pay ransom to the criminals. Everyone out at home watching tonight understands that principle. And so, what you need to do is to engage in a much different way with these folks. They do not understand anything but toughness and strength, and we need to engage the Chinese to deal with the North Koreans, but we also need to make sure that they understand there's a commander-in-chief who will not pay ransom for any hostage. This president and his former secretary of State are for paying ransom for hostages. When do that, you endanger even more Americans around the world to be the subject of this type of hostage taking and illegal detention. You need a strong commander-in-chief who will look these folks in the eye and say, we will not put up with this and we will take whatever actions we need to take, not only to get our people home safely, but to swiftly and surely punish those who believe they can violate the law and violate American's sovereign rights to travel the world freely and safely. This is unacceptable. And this is why this president is so weak and why the secretary of State, who is embracing a third Barack Obama term, would be even weaker. +p5671 +aVYeah, David, I would just like you to listen, again, everybody. This is the difference between being a governor who actually has to be responsible for problems and not answering a question. The question was, "Did he fight for his legislation?" It's abundantly clear that he didn't. It's abundantly clear that he didn't fight for the legislation. When the teachers unions attacked me with $20 million of ads because I wanted to reform teacher tenure, I fought them and fought them and fought them and I won. When they didn't want \u2014 when people wanted to raise taxes in my state at Democratic legislature and threatened to close down the government, I told them, fine. Close down the government. I'll get in my cars, head to the governor's mansion, order a pizza, open a beer and watch the Mets. You can call me when the government reopens. And guess what they didn't do? They didn't pass a tax increase, because I vetoed it and they never closed the government because they knew I would fight for what I believed in. The fact of the matter is, a leader must fight for what they believe in. Not handicap it and say, well maybe since I can't win this one, I'll run. That's not what leadership is. That's what Congress is. +p5672 +aVGood evening. +p5673 +aVWell, he deserves credit for his record on jobs. He's done a very good job as governor of Ohio. Never said that John hasn't. He's done a very good job. But \u2014 but unfortunately, John's been so busy doing over stuff, he's using old statistics. That's OK. New Jersey had its best year of job growth in the last 15 years under five different governors this year in New Jersey. New Jersey cut spending over $2.3 billion and we have 10,000 fewer employees than we had when I walked in the door. John has a bigger government now and more employees than he had when he walked in the door. But all that doesn't matter. What really matters is this, that executive experience really matters. You heard this on the stage tonight. We've heard it said on the stage that President Obama knows exactly what he's doing. I'd like to ask all the veterans listening out there tonight, who are waiting in line for healthcare, who are literally dying because the Veterans Administration doesn't work, do you think Barack Obama knows what he's doing? I don't. And I'll tell you something. Anybody who evaluates him is knowing what he's doing and managing the government doesn't know how to manage a government themselves. And one last thing, David, which I think is really important. I listened to Senator Rubio's answer on his bill. He said his bill couldn't pass on the gang of eight. He acted as if he was somehow disembodied from the bill. It was his bill. He said this idea doesn't work. It was his idea. See, when you're a governor, you have to take responsibility for these things. You can't just act as if it happened out of nowhere. We have to take responsibility as executives. I take responsibility for my record in New Jersey. We've rebuilt the economy and rebuilt after the second-worst natural disaster in American history. I'm proud of my record. And by the way, I like Kasich's record, too. He's a good governor. +p5674 +aVDavid? Hey, David? David? Hey, David? I actually have experience with raising taxes on millionaires in my state. It was done. It was done by my predecessor. And I want everybody in the public who is in that 68 percent, I want to tell you the truth. You're wrong. And here is why you're wrong. After New Jersey raised taxes on millionaires, we lost, in the next four years, $70 billion in wealth left our state. It left our state to go where it would be treated more kindly. If the United States raised taxes any further, that money will leave the United States, as well. We won't have better jobs. Let New Jersey be the canary in the coal mine. It is a failed idea and a failed policy, it's class warfare. It happened in my state. I've stopped it from happening again. But we cannot do it. The 68 percent of the people are wrong about that, it will hurt the American economy. We tried it in New Jersey. Come take a look \u2014 it did not work. +p5675 +aVOf course I would. As a former United States attorney who spent seven years of my life fighting this on the streets of my state, I would do that. But we need to do more. And let me tell you what we've done in New Jersey, Josh. We are working with the folks in New Hampshire in their legislature right now to show them how we're helping to solve this problem in New Jersey. Not just for this campaign \u2014 three years ago, I proposed a law that we signed into effect, which said that anyone who was a non- violent, non-dealing, first-time drug offender no longer goes to prison in New Jersey. They go to mandatory, in-patient drug treatment. What has happened is, crime has gone down 20 percent in those years. The prison population has gone down 10 percent. We've now closed the state prison \u2014 closed a state prison, and we're turning it into a drug rehabilitation facility, so people can get the tools they need. Listen, everyone out there knows this in New Hampshire. This is a disease. It's not a moral failing, it's a disease. And we need to get people the treatment they need. And let me tell you why. Because I'm pro-life. And I'm pro life not just for the nine months in the womb, I'm pro-life for when they get out and it's a lot more complicated. Sixteen-year-old, heroin-addicted drug girl on the floor of the county lockup, I'm pro-life for her life. The 42-year-old lawyer who is taking Oxycontin and can't get out of bed and support his family \u2014 I'm pro-life for his life. Everyone of those lives is an individual gift from God. And the last thing is this. These efforts we've taken over the last three years, 2015 in New Jersey, for the first time in four years, drug overdose deaths have gone down, not up. I'll bring the same solutions to the country. +p5676 +aVYou bet I would. And the fact is that because I took strong action to make sure that anyone who was showing symptoms \u2014 remember what happened with that nurse. She was showing symptoms and coming back from a place that had the ebola virus active and she had been treating patients. This was not just some \u2014 like, we picked up her just for the heck of it, alright? We did it because she was showing symptoms, and the fact is that's the way we should make these decision. You make these decisions based upon the symptoms, the medicine, and the law. We quarantined her, she turned out to test negative ultimately after 48 hours, and we released her back to the State of Maine. But, I want to add something on the issue of mosques. Now, I'm the only one up here who's had a law enforcement background as a U.S. Attorney after September 11th. I went to mosques throughout my state to build bridges. To build bridges between our community in law enforcement so we can get intelligence and information from these folks. I've had the experience of working with them as Governor of New Jersey as well. We cannot mix the radical Islamic jihadist with everyday Muslim-Americans. New Jersey is the second largest Muslim- American population in America, of any state. These are good, law abiding, hard working people. What they need is our cooperation, and our understanding. They do not just need broadsides against them because of the religious faith they practice. +p5677 +aVMartha? +p5678 +aVCan I \u2014 can I be really \u2014 can I be really clear on this, because I am the father of two daughters. One of them is here tonight. What my wife and I have taught our daughters right from the beginning, that their sense of self-worth, their sense of value, their sense of what they want to do with their life comes not from the outside, but comes from within. And if a young woman in this country wants to go and fight to defend their country, she should be permitted to do so. Part of that also needs to be part of a greater effort in this country, and so there's no reason why one \u2014 young women should be discriminated against from registering for the selective service. The fact is, we need to be a party and a people that makes sure that our women in this country understand anything they can dream, anything that they want to aspire to, they can do. That's the way we raised our daughters and that's what we should aspire to as president for all of the women in our country. +p5679 +aVWell, I've been pretty helpful to the pro-life cause in one of the most pro-choice states in the union. I've stood up for the first time and now for the last six years we've de-funded Planned Parenthood, not talked about it like they do in Washington D.C. But for six years as governor, Planned Parenthood does not receive that funding from the state budget anymore; over $50 million worth of money that's been saved now, that is not going to do exactly what Hillary Clinton wants to have done and has advocated for. She believes that organization, which engages in the systematic murder of children in the womb, in order to maximize the value of their body parts for sale on the open market, is an acceptable position. Let me tell you something, I don't care if you are a millennial or whether you are in your 90s, no one is for that type of activity, unless you are the most radical type of extremist on this issue, like Senator Clinton and her party is on this issue. I'll say one other thing. The fact is, that I believe that if a woman has been raped, that is a birth and a pregnancy that she should be able to terminate. If she is the victim of incest \u2014 this is not a woman's choice. This is a woman being violated. And the fact is that we have always has believed, as has Ronald Reagan, that we have self-defense for women who have been raped and impregnated because of it, or the subject of incest and been impregnated for it. That woman should not have to deliver that child if they believe that violation is now an act of self-defense by terminating that pregnancy. HAM: Thank you, all. Back to you, David and Martha. +p5680 +aVDenver. +p5681 +aVThank you. I've spent the last 13 years of my life focused on one thing: serving the people who have given me the opportunity to serve them. Not about politics, not about partisanship, but putting the people of my state and our country first. I'm proud to have rebuild my state after Hurricane Sandy, and I'm incredibly proud to be on this stage tonight with these men asking for your vote. New Hampshire, I spent 70 days here with you. You've gotten to know my heart. My heart is to help you solve the problems of your state......and the problems of our nation. If you give me your vote on Tuesday I will do just that. +p5682 +aVThey're not wrong. But what's wrong is your premise in the question. You can do both. There is no reason why you can't stand for principles, go and fight for them and be able also, to have to get things done in government. You know, what people are frustrated about in Washington, D.C.., and I know the folks out there tonight are incredibly frustrated because what they see is a government that doesn't work for them. You know, for the 45-year-old construction worker out there, who is having a hard time making things meet. He's lost $4,000 in the last seven years in his income because of this administration. He doesn't want to hear the talk about politics Megyn and who is establishment and who is grassroots. And who's compromised and who is principled. What he wants is something to get done. And that's the difference between being a governor and having done that for the last six years in New Jersey and being someone who has never had to be responsible for any of those decisions. Barack Obama was never responsible for those decisions. Hillary Clinton has never been responsible for those kind of decisions where they were held accountable. I've been held accountable for six years as the governor of New Jersey and with a Democratic legislature, I've gotten conservative things done. That's exactly what I'll do as president of the United States. +p5683 +aVWell, let me say that I do believe that the vote on NSA made the country less safe. Well, let me tell you what the country should really be worried about. I watched that town hall meeting with the Democrats the other night, and I heard Hillary Clinton asked a direct question by an Iowan, and that's what Iowans like to do. They like to ask direct questions. And, they asked about her email situation. And, here's what she said to the American people. She did it for convenience. For her convenience. She put America's secrets at risk for her convenience. She put American intelligence officers at risk for her convenience. She put American strategy at risk for her convenience. Let me tell you who's not qualified to be President of the United States, Chris. Hillary Rodham Clinton did that to our country. She is not qualified to be President of the United States. The fact is what we need is someone on that stage who has been tested, who has been through it, who has made decisions, who has sit in the chair of consequence and can prosecute the case against Hillary Clinton on... ... that stage, and that is exactly what I am ready to do. +p5684 +aVTalk about what? I... +p5685 +aVWell, because you can do it without profiling, Megyn, when you do it on the facts. What those facts knew was that these folks had weapons. They knew that they were talking about trying to take our country and attack it. That's not profiling, that's law enforcement. And that's the difference between somebody who knows how to do this and somebody who's never done it before. +p5686 +aVThey knew they were talking about the issues of attacking people, Megyn. They knew that. +p5687 +aVListen, I think that what people should do is use their common sense. And the fact is, let law enforcement make those decisions. I've told people that from the time I was U.S. attorney 13 years ago. It's not for them to make those decisions about whether or not something is legal or illegal, or profiling or not. You see something that's suspicious, you call law enforcement and let law enforcement make those decisions. That's what should be done. That can be done. That can be done without profiling people. What that is, is just common sense. They thought something was wrong. And here's the problem in this country right now. The problem is that Barack Obama has made law enforcement the enemy, Hillary Clinton has made law enforcement the enemy. They're not supporting our law enforcement officers, it's making everybody nervous to get out of their cars, if you're a law enforcement officer. It's making... ... everybody nervous to get out of their cars if you're a law enforcement officer. It's making people in neighborhoods nervous to go to law enforcement. As president, I will support law enforcement and we'll stop radical terrorist attacks in this country by supporting our intelligence community and law enforcement community. +p5688 +aVYes. You want one? +p5689 +aVHow about one that I've done in New Jersey for the last six years. That's get rid of Planned Parenthood funding from the United States of America. +p5690 +aVBigger than that? Let me tell you something, when you see thousands upon thousands upon thousands of children being murdered in the womb, I can't think of anything better than that. +p5691 +aVMegyn? +p5692 +aVI want to ask the people of the audience. Like, I'm standing here, I \u2014 I watched the video of Senator Cruz. I watched the video of Senator Rubio. I heard what they said. And this is why you need to send someone from outside of Washington to Washington. I feel like... ... I feel like I need \u2014 I feel like I need a Washington to English dictionary converter, right? I mean, I heard what they both said, I saw it on the video. And the fact is this is what makes a difference when you're a governor. You can change your mind. Ted can change his mind. Marco can change his mind. It's perfectly legal in this country to change your mind. But when you're a governor, you have to admit it. You can't hide behind parliamentary tricks. That's the difference, and that's the kind of leader we need in the White House. Stop the Washington bull and let's get things done. +p5693 +aVSure, because there has been three different investigations and proven that I knew nothing. And the fact is that what I did do, what I did do from the beginning, Chris, as soon as I found out about it, I fired the people who were responsible. And that's what you expect from a leader. And, I'll tell you something else. I inherited a state in New Jersey that was downtrodden, and beaten by liberal democratic policies, high taxation, high regulation. And, this year, in 2015, New Jersey's had the best year of job growth that our state has ever had in the last 15 years. That's because we've put conservative policies in place. And, I'll tell you one other thing, you know why the Republican party will want to take a chance on me? Because they know that Hillary Clinton will never be prosecuted by this justice department, and they're going to want to put a former federal prosecutor on the stage to prosecute her next September. And, there is no one on this stage better prepared to prosecute the case against Hillary Clinton than I am. I will be ready. I will take her on, and when I take her on I guarantee you one thing, she will never get within 10 miles of the White House. The days for the Clintons in public housing are over. +p5694 +aVNo, what I said, Chris, was that the law needs to be followed. And that someone in that office has to do their job. So if Ms. Davis wanted to step aside and get rid of her ability to be able to do that, there should be someone else in that office who it didn't violate their conscience so they could follow the law of the state of Kentucky. I never said that Ms. Davis should either lose her job or that she had to do it. But what I did say was that the person who came in for the license needed to get it. And so if there's someone in that organization, and it turns out there was, who was willing to be able to do that, that's what we should do. But just as importantly, and I agree with what John said. You know, we all have our own individual interpretations of our faith. And here's the problem with what's going on around the world. The radical Islamic jihadists, what they want to do is impose their faith upon each and every one of us \u2014 every one of us. And the reason why this war against them is so important is that very basis of religious liberty. They want everyone in this country to follow their religious beliefs the way they do. They do not want us to exercise religious liberty. That's why as commander in chief, I will take on +p5695 +aVBret, let me tell you, this is another one of those places where Hillary Clinton has so much to answer for, and why she is completely unqualified to be commander in chief. In a previous Democratic debate, Martha Raddatz, three times, asked Hillary Clinton about the failure in Libya, a policy that she took credit for, and said, "what is your measure of responsibility, Madam Secretary, for the failure in Libya?" Three times, she refused to answer the question, because she refuses to be held accountable for anything that goes wrong. If it had gone right, believe me, she would have been running around to be able to take credit for it. Here's what I'd do. This is about the bigger, broader war against +p5696 +aVOn September 11, my wife was two blocks from the World Trade Center. When those buildings came down, she was trapped in her building and I didn't hear from her over six hours. We have three children, eight, five and one. And I had to confront the possibility of being a single parent. Terrorism in this country scares everyone. And the fact is that we need a commander-in- chief who not only understands how to protect us, but feels in here what it means to face the possibility of loss. I've faced it. I've prosecuted terrorists. I have made the decisions that need to be made as a governor to protect us and as president of the United States, no one will keep this country safer than I will. +p5697 +aVWell, Maria, I'm glad to have heard from you in the summary of that question about what's going on in the world. Because Tuesday night, I watched story time with Barack Obama. And I've got to tell you, it sounded like everything in the world was going amazing, you know? The fact is, there's a number of things that the next president is going to have to do to clean up this mess. The first thing is we have to strengthen our alliances around the world. And the best way to do that is to start talking to our allies again and having them be able to count on our word. Lots of people will say lots of different things about me in this campaign and others, but the one thing they've never said about me is that I'm misunderstood. And so when we talk to our allies and we give them our word, in a Christie administration, they know we're going to keep it. Next, we have to talk to our adversaries, and we have to make sure they understand the limits of our patience. And this president, given what Ted said right at the beginning, he's absolutely right. It's a \u2014 it's absolutely disgraceful that Secretary Kerry and others said in their response to what's going on in Iran that this was a good thing; it showed how the relationship was getting better. The president doesn't understand \u2014 and by the way, neither does Secretary Clinton \u2014 and here's my warning to everybody out in the audience tonight. If you're worried about the world being on fire, you're worried about how we're going to use our military, you're worried about strengthening our military and you're worried most of all about keeping your homes and your families safe and secure, you cannot give Hillary Clinton a third term of Barack Obama's leadership. I will not do that. If I'm the nominee, she won't get within 10 miles of the White House. +p5698 +aVMIlitary action, Maria, would be used when it was absolutely necessary to protect American lives and protect American interests around the world. We are not the world's policeman, but we need to stand up and be ready. And the problem, Maria, is that the military is not ready, either. We need to rebuild our military, and this president has let it diminish to a point where tinpot dictators like the mullahs in Iran are taking our Navy ships. It is disgraceful, and in a Christie administration, they would know much, much better than to do that. +p5699 +aVI stood on the stage and watched Marco in rather indignantly, look at Governor Bush and say, someone told you that because we're running for the same office, that criticizing me will get you to that office. It appears that the same someone who has been whispering in old Marco's ear too. So the indignation that you carry on, some of the stuff, you have to also own then. So let's set the facts straight. First of all, I didn't support Sonia Sotomayor. Secondly, I never wrote a check to Planned Parenthood. Third, if you look at my record as governor of New Jersey, I have vetoed a 50-caliber rifle ban. I have vetoed a reduction this clip size. I vetoed a statewide I.D. system for gun owners and I pardoned, six out-of-state folks who came through our state and were arrested for owning a gun legally in another state so they never have to face charges. And on Common Core, Common Core has been eliminated in New Jersey. So listen, this is the difference between being a governor and a senator. See when you're a senator, what you get to do is just talk and talk and talk. And you talk so much that nobody can ever keep up with what you're saying is accurate or not. When you're a governor, you're held accountable for everything you do. And the people of New Jersey, I've seen it. +p5700 +aVAnd the last piece is this. I like Marco too, and two years ago, he called me a conservative reformer that New Jersey needed. That was before he was running against me. Now that he is, he's changed his tune. I'm never going to change my tune. I like Marco Rubio. He's a good guy, a smart guy, and he would be a heck of a lot better president than Hillary Rodham Clinton would ever be. +p5701 +aVNo, absolutely not. The president wants to do things without working with his Congress, without working with the legislature, and without getting the consent of the American people. And the fact is that that's not a democracy. That's a dictatorship. And we need to very, very concerned about that. See, here's the thing. I don't think the founders put the Second Amendment as number two by accident. I don't think they dropped all the amendments into a hat and picked them out of a hat. I think they made the Second Amendment the second amendment because they thought it was just that important. The fact is in New Jersey, what we have done is to make it easier now to get a conceal and carry permit. We have made it easier to do that, not harder. And the way we've done it properly through regulatory action, not by signing unconstitutional executive orders. This guy is a petulant child. That's what he is. I mean, you know...... the fact is, Neil, let's think about \u2014 let's think about \u2014 and I want to maybe \u2014 I hope the president is watching tonight, because here's what I'd like to tell him. Mr. President, we're not against you. We're against your policies. When you became president, you had a Democratic Congress and a filibuster-proof Democratic Senate. You had only 21 Republican governors in this country. And now after seven years of your policies, we have the biggest majority we've had since the 1920s in the House; a Republican majority in the Senate; and 31 out of 50 Republican governors. The American people have rejected your agenda and now you're trying to go around it. That's not right. It's not constitutional. And we are going to kick your rear end out of the White House come this fall. +p5702 +aVMaria, you look at what this president and his secretary of state, Secretary of State Clinton, has done to get us in this spot. You think about it \u2014 this is the president who said, along with his secretary of state \u2014 drew a red line in Syria, said, if Assad uses chemical weapons against his people, that we're going to attack. He used chemical weapons, he's killed, now, over a quarter of a million of his own people, and this president has done nothing. In fact, he's done worse than nothing. This president \u2014 and, by the way, Secretary Clinton, who called Assad a reformer \u2014 she called Assad a reformer. Now, the fact is, what this president has done is invited Russia to play an even bigger role, bring in Vladimir Putin to negotiate getting those chemical weapons back from Assad, yet what do we have today? We have the Russians and the Iranians working together, not to fight +p5703 +aVNow Maria, listen. I said right from the beginning that we should take no Syrian refugees of any kind. And the reason I said that is because the FBI director told the American people, told Congress, that he could not guarantee he could vet them and it would be safe. That's the end of the conversation. I can tell you, after spending seven years as a former federal prosecutor, right after 9/11, dealing with this issue. Here's the way you need to deal with it. You can't just ban all Muslims. You have to ban radical Islamic jihadists. You have to ban the people who are trying to hurt us. The only way to figure that out is to go back to getting the intelligence community the funding and the tools that it needs to be able to keep America safe. And this summer, we didn't do that. We took it away from the NSA, it was a bad decision by the president. Bad by those in the Senate who voted for it and if I'm president, we'll make our intelligence community strong, and won't have to keep everybody out, we're just going to keep the bad folk out and make sure they don't harm us. +p5704 +aVWell, I'm glad you asked that, Maria. Here's \u2014 here's our plan. We've all been talking about tax reforms tonight, and paying for infrastructure is caught right up in tax reform. If you reform the corporate tax system in this country, which, as was mentioned before, is the highest rate in the world \u2014 and we double tax, as you know. And what that's led to over $2 trillion of American companies' monies that are being kept offshore, because they don't want to pay the second tax. And who can blame them? They pay tax once overseas. They don't want to pay 35 percent tax on the way back. So beside reforming that tax code, bringing it down to 25 percent and eliminating those special-interest loopholes that the lobbyists and the lawyers and the accountants have given \u2014 bring that rate down to 25 percent, but also, a one-time repatriation of that money. Bring the money \u2014 the $2 trillion \u2014 back to the United States. We'll tax it, that one time, at 8.75 percent, because 35 percent of zero is zero, but 8.75 percent of $2 trillion is a lot of money. And I would then dedicate that money to rebuilding infrastructure here in this country. It would not necessitate us raising any taxes. It would bring the money back into the United States to help build jobs by American companies and get our economy moving again, and growing as a higher rate, and it would rebuild those roads and bridges and tunnels that you were talking about. And \u2014 and \u2014 and the last piece of this, Maria, is this. You know, the fact is that this president has penalized corporations in America. He's penalized \u2014 and doesn't understand. In fact, what that hurts is hurt hardworking taxpayers. You've seen middle-class wages go backwards $3,700 during the Obama administration. That's wrong for hardworking taxpayers in this country. We'd rebuild infrastructure that would also create jobs in this country, and we'd work with the states to do it the right way, to do it more efficiently and more effectively. And remember this \u2014 I'm credible on this for this reason: Americans for Tax Reform says that I've vetoed more tax increases than any governor in American history. We don't need to raise taxes to get this done. We need to make the government run smarter and better, and reform this corporate tax system, bring that money back to the United States to build jobs and rebuild our infrastructure, and we need to use it also to protect our grid from terrorists. All of those things are important, and all those things would happen in a Christie administration. +p5705 +aVMaria, I'd like to interrupt this on the floor of the Senate to actually answer the question you asked, which was on entitlements. Do you remember that, everybody? This was a question on entitlements. And the reason \u2014 and the reason......no, you already had your chance, Marco, and you blew it. Here's the thing. The fact is, the reason why... +p5706 +aV... the fact is \u2014 the fact is the reason why that no one wants to answer entitlements up here is because it's hard. It's a hard problem. And I'm the only one up on this stage who back in April put forward a detailed entitlement reform plan that will save over $1 trillion, save Social Security, save Medicare, and avoid this \u2014 avoid what Hillary Rodham Clinton will do to you. Because what she will do is come in and she will raise Social Security taxes. Bernie Sanders has already said it. And she is just one or two more poll drops down from even moving further left than she's moved already to get to the left of Bernie on this. We have seniors out there who are scared to death because this Congress \u2014 this one that we have right now, just stole $150 billion from the Social Security retirement fund to give it to the Social Security disability fund. A Republican Congress did that. And the fact is it was wrong. And they consorted with Barack Obama to steal from Social Security. We need to reform Social Security. Mine is the only plan that saves over $1 trillion and that's why I'm answering your question. +p5707 +aVWell, first off, let's face it, the FBI director James Comey was a friend of mine who I worked with as U.S. Attorney of New Jersey. He was the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan. He said, "there's a chill wind blowing through law enforcement in this country." Here's why, the president of the United States and both his attorney's general, they give the benefit of the doubt to the criminal, not to the police officers. That's the truth of the matter and you see it every time with this president. Every time he's got a chance, going all the way back to \u2014 remember that Great Beer Summit he had after he messed up that time. This is a guy who just believes that law enforcement are the bad guys. Now, I for seven years was the U.S. Attorney of New Jersey. I worked hard with not only federal agents but with police officers and here's the problem, sanctuary cities is part of the problem in this country. That's where crime is happening in these cities where they don't enforce the immigration laws. And this president turns his back \u2014 this president doesn't enforce the marijuana laws in this country because he doesn't agree with them. And he allows states to go ahead and do whatever they want on a substance that's illegal. This president allows lawlessness throughout this country. Here's what I would do Neil, I would appoint an Attorney General and I would have one very brief conversation with that Attorney General. I'd say, "General, enforce the law against everyone justly, fairly, and aggressively. Make our streets safe again. Make our police officers proud of what they do but more important than that, let them know how proud we are of them." We do that, this country would be safe and secure again not only from criminals but from the terrorist who threaten us as well. I'm the only person on this stage who's done that and we will get it done as President of the United States. +p5708 +aVMaria, Neil, thank you for a great tonight. When I think about the folks who are out there at home tonight watching, and I think about what they had to watch this week \u2014 the spectacle they had to watch on the floor of the House of Representatives, with the president of the United States, who talked a fantasy land about the way they're feeling. They know that this country is not respected around the world anymore. They know that this country is pushing the middle class, the hardworking taxpayers, backwards, and they saw a president who doesn't understand their pain, and doesn't have any plan for getting away from it. I love this country. It's the most exceptional country the world has ever known. We need someone to fight for the people. We need a fighter for this country again. I've lived my whole life fighting \u2014 fighting for things that I believe in, fighting for justice and to protect people from crime and terrorism, fighting to stand up for folks who have not had enough and need an opportunity to get more, and to stand up and fight against the special interests. But here's the best way that we're going to make America much more exceptional: it is to make sure we put someone on that stage in September who will fight Hillary Clinton and make sure she never, ever gets in the White House again. I am the man who can bring us together to do that, and I ask for your vote. +p5709 +asVWILKINS +p5710 +(lp5711 +V...law school. My question for the candidates is, do black lives matter, or do all lives matter? +p5712 +asVCARSON +p5713 +(lp5714 +VThank you, Wolf. Please join me for a moment of silence and remembrance of the San Bernardino victims. Thank you. You know, our country since its inception has been at war, every 15 or 20 years. But the war that we are fighting now against radical Islamist jihadists is one that we must win. Our very existence is dependent upon that. You know, as a pediatric neurosurgeon, I frequently faced life and death situations, and had to come up with the right diagnosis, the right plan, and execute that plan frequently with other colleagues. Right now, the United States of America is the patient. And the patient is in critical condition and will not be cured by political correctness and will not be cured by timidity. And I am asking the Congress, which represents the people, to declare a war on +p5715 +aVFirst of all, let me just complain a little bit. This is the first time I've spoken and several people have had multiple questions so please try to pay attention to that. Now, as far as monitoring is concerned, what my point is, we need to make sure that any place \u2013 I don't care whether it's a mosque, a school, a supermarket, a theater, you know it doesn't matter. If there are a lot of people getting there and engaging in radicalizing activities then we need to be suspicious of it. We have to get rid of all this PC stuff. And people are worried about if somebody's going to say that I'm Islamophobic or what have you. This is craziness because we are at war. That's why I asked congress, go ahead and declare the war . We need to be on a war footing. We need to understand that our nation is in grave danger. You know, what the Muslim Brotherhood said in the explanatory memorandum that was discovered during the Holy Land Foundation Trial was that, "they will take advantage of our PC attitude to get us. :" We have to be better than this. We have to be smarter than they are. +p5716 +aVI think you have to ask them about that. I don't want to get in between them. Let them fight. +p5717 +aVNeurosurgeon. +p5718 +aVWell, interestingly enough, you should see the eyes of some of those children when I say to them we're going to have to open your head up and take out this tumor. They're not happy about it, believe me. And they don't like me very much at that point. But later on, they love me. Sometimes you \u2014 I sound like him. You know, later on, you know, they really realize what's going on. And by the same token, you have to be able to look at the big picture and understand that it's actually merciful if you go ahead and finish the job, rather than death by 1,000 pricks. +p5719 +aVYou got it. You got it. +p5720 +aVRuthless is not necessarily the word I would use, but tough, resolute, understanding what the problems are, and understanding that the job of the president of the United States is to protect the people of this country and to do what is necessary in order to get it done. +p5721 +aVFirst of all, I've been talking about this for over a year. We have to destroy their caliphate because that gives them legitimacy to go ahead with the global Jihad. We have to take their energy because they are \u2014 +p5722 +aVNo one is ever better off with dictators but there comes a time you know, when you're on an airplane, they always say, "in case of an emergency oxygen masks will drop down. Put yours on first and then administer help to your neighbor." We need oxygen right now. And we need to start thinking about the needs of the American people before we go and solve everybody else's problems. The fact of the matter is, is that the Middle East has been in turmoil for thousands of years. For us to think that we're going to in there and fix that with a couple of little bombs and a few little decorations is relatively foolish. +p5723 +aVWell, you know, there's a false narrative that only the political class has the wisdom and the ability to be commander-in- chief. But if you go back and you study the design of our country, it was really designed for the citizen statesman. And we need to be talking about where does your experience come from? You know, and I've had a lot of experience building things, organizing things, you know, a national scholarship program. One of the things that you'll notice if you look through my life is that I don't do a lot of talking. I do a lot of doing. And really, it says more about a person than how much they talk. And then some people say you're weak because, you know, you're not loud and you're not boisterous and you're not rude. But the fact of the matter is, look and see what I've done. And that speaks volumes about strength. +p5724 +aVWell, it was very interesting having an opportunity to talk to the Syrians themselves. And I asked them: What do you want? What is your supreme desire? Their supreme desire was to be settled back in their own country. I said, "What can Americans and other countries do?" They said, "Support the efforts of those who are trying to provide safety for us, including the Jordanians." Of course, they had a brand new hospital, for instance, that was unstaffed because there wasn't enough money to do it. But here's what's really neat. If you go into Hasakah province in northeast Syria, that's an area that's as big as Lebanon. It's controlled by the Kurds, the Christians and the moderate Sunnis. And there are airstrips and hotels. You could settle a lot of people there. All we would have to do is be willing to provide them with some weaponry, some defensive weaponry. And we seem to be afraid to give the Kurds weaponry. We like to send it for some strange reason through Baghdad, and then they only get a tenth of it. And if we would support them, we'd have a perfect ideal there. We don't need to set this up as we either take a bunch of refugees who will be infiltrated with terrorists, I guarantee you. For them not to be would be terrorist malpractice. And we need to \u2014 to choose the right choice, not these false choices. +p5725 +aVWell, I definitely believe that he is unstable, and I do, in fact, believe that China has a lot more influence with him than we do. But we also recognize that North Korea is in severe financial straits, and they have decided to use their resources to build their military, rather than to feed their people and to take care of the various humanitarian responsibilities that they have. We can capitalize upon that. You know, we should use our economic power in lots of different ways. I think we can use that in order to keep Putin contained, because he is a one-horse show. Energy. And we have an abundance of energy, but we have archaic energy exportation rules. We need to get rid of those, allow ourselves to really make Europe dependent on us and other parts of the world dependent on us for energy. Put him back in his little box where he belongs. And, you know, we need to be doing lots of other things with the resources that we have. So economic power works just as well as military power, perhaps even better. And speaking of that, our Military needs to be upgraded. You know, you look at things like our Ohio Class submarines, they're 25 years old. Our minuteman 3 missiles \u2014 they are 34 years old. Our B-52 bombers \u2014 50 years old. You know, if we don't get the military right nothing else matters. +p5726 +aVWell, you know, the statement that I made last week, that I would leave the party was contingent upon whether in fact the party acts like they have in the past with a lot of subterfuge and dishonesty, or like they're going act now because I spike to Reince Priebus, and he assured me that the Washington Post writer had it all wrong, and that they're not be engaging in anything to thwart the will of the people. That's why I got into this race, as a member of we the people, to try bring some honesty and integrity back to the process. +p5727 +aVI've been fortunate enough to travel to 58 different countries and I thank God everyday that I was born in this country. The most exceptional country that the world has ever known. And I want to make sure that we preserve that exceptionalism for the next generation. My mother told me if I work hard and I really believed in American principles and I believed in God, anything is possible. I believe that is true, and that's why I'm not anxious to give away American values and principles for the sake of political correctness. +p5728 +aVWell, first of all, delighted to be here. My family's here, and my little granddaughter, who's three years old, said she wanted to come to the debate. So this is very cool. As far as the minimum wage is concerned, people need to be educated on the minimum wage. Every time we raise the minimum wage, the number of jobless people increases. It's particularly a problem in the black community. Only 19.8 percent of black teenagers have a job, who are looking for one. You know, that \u2014 and that's because of those high wages. If you lower those wages, that comes down. You know, I can remember, as a youngster \u2014 you know, my first job working in a laboratory as a lab assistant, and multiple other jobs. But I would not have gotten those jobs if someone had to pay me a large amount of money. But what I did gain from those jobs is a tremendous amount of experience, and how to operate in the world and how to relate to different people, and how to become a responsible individual. And that's what gave me what I needed to ascend the ladder of opportunity in this country. That's what we need to be thinking about. How do we allow people to ascend the ladder of opportunity, rather than how do we give them everything and keep them dependent? +p5729 +aVI would not raise it. I would not raise it, specifically because I'm interested in making sure that people are able to enter the job market and take advantage of opportunities. +p5730 +aVWell, first of all, thank you not asking me what I said in the 10th grade. I appreciate that. +p5731 +aVThe fact of the matter is, you know, what \u2014 we should vet all candidates. I have no problem with being vetted. What I do have a problem with is being lied about and then putting that out there as truth. And I don't even mind that so much, if they do it about \u2014 with everybody, like people on the other side. But, you know, when I look at somebody like Hillary Clinton, who sits there and tells her daughter and a government official that no, this was a terrorist attack, and then tells everybody else that it was a video. Where I came from, they call that a lie. And... I think that's very different from, you know, somebody misinterpreting, when I said that I was offered a scholarship to West Point, that is the words that they used. But, I've had many people come and say the same thing to me. That is what people do in those situations. We have to start treating people the same, and finding out what people really think and what they're made of. People who know me know that I'm an honest person. +p5732 +aVWell, you know, when I say tithing, I'm talking about the concept of proportionality. +p5733 +aVEverybody should pay the same proportion of what they make. You make $10 billion, you pay a billion. You make $10, you pay one. You get same rights and privileges. I don't see how anything gets a whole lot fairer than that. But you also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes because that is the thing that tilts it in one direction or another. And you have to set the rate at an appropriate level. Now I will say that, there are a lot of people who say, if you get rid of the deductions, you ruin the American dream because, you know, home mortgage deduction. But the fact of the matter is, people had homes before 1913 when we introduced the federal income tax, and later after that started deductions. And they say there will be no more charitable giving. We had churches before that and charitable organizations before that. The fact of the matter is, I believe if you put more money in people's pockets that they will actually be more generous rather than less generous. And it's... ... the money that they earned. And, the other thing is, I do care about the poor people. And in the system that we're putting together, there will be a rebate for people at the poverty level. But I also want to emphasize the fact that as we get the economy moving, and I hope I get a question about how do we get the economy moving, there will be a lot more opportunities for poor people not to be poor people because this is America. This is the land of dreams. And our policies should be aimed at allowing people to realize that dream. +p5734 +aVWell, putting the special ops people in there is better than not having them there, because they \u2014 that's why they're called special ops, they're actually able to guide some of the other things that we're doing there. And what we have to recognize is that Putin is trying to really spread his influence throughout the Middle East. This is going to be his base. And we have to oppose him there in an effective way. We also must recognize that it's a very complex place. You know, the Chinese are there, as well as the Russians, and you have all kinds of factions there. What we've been doing so far is very ineffective, but we can't give up ground right there. But we have to look at this on a much more global scale. We're talking about global jihadists. And their desire is to destroy us and to destroy our way of life. So we have to be saying, how do we make them look like losers? Because that's the way that they're able to gather a lot of influence. And I think in order to make them look like losers, we have to destroy their caliphate. And you look for the easiest place to do that? It would be in Iraq. And if \u2014 outside of Anbar in Iraq, there's a big energy field. Take that from them. Take all of that land from them. We could do that, I believe, fairly easily, I've learned from talking to several generals, and then you move on from there. But you have to continue to face them, because our goal is not to contain them, but to destroy them before they destroy us. +p5735 +aVWell, I think we should have policies that don't allow them to just enlarge themselves at the expense of smaller entities. And certainly some of the policies, some of the monetary and Fed policies that we're using makes it very easy for them, makes it very easy for the big corporations, quite frankly, at these very low interest rates to buy back their stock and to drive the price of that up artificially. Those are the kinds of things that led to the problem in the first place. And I think this all really gets back to this whole regulation issue which is creating a very abnormal situation. This country was \u2014 declared its independence in 1776. In less than 100 years, it was the number-one economic power in the world. And the reason was because we had an atmosphere that encouraged entrepreneurial risk- taking and capital investment. Those are the fuels that drive it. And what we've done now is let the creep of regulation turn into a stampede of regulations, which is involved in every aspect of our lives. If we can get that out, it makes a big difference. And even for the average person, every single regulation costs money. And it's shifted to the individual. So \u2014 and it hurts the poor and the middle class much more than it does the rich. They go into the store and they buy a bar of soap, it costs 10 cents more, they notice it. And the middle class, when they come to the cash register, have a whole cart full of things that cost 5, 10 or 15 cents more, they notice it. It is hurting the poor. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton won't tell you that that's the thing that's really hurting middle class in the core. They'll say it's the rich, take their money, but that won't help. You can take all of the rich's money and it won't make a dent in the problem that we're having. We have to come back to the fundamental principles that made America great. +p5736 +aVI would have policies that wouldn't allow that to occur. I don't want to go in and tear anybody down. I mean, that doesn't help us. But what does help us is stop tinkering around the edges and fix the actual problems that exist that are creating the problem in the first place. +p5737 +aVIn the two hours of this \u2014 of this debate, five people have died from drug-related deaths, $100 million has been added to our national debt, 200 babies have been killed by abortionists, and two veterans have taken their lives out of despair. This is a narrative that we can change, not we the Democrats, not we the Republicans, but we the people of America, because there is something special about this nation, and we must embrace it and be proud of it and never give it away for the sake of political correctness. +p5738 +aVProbably in terms of the applying for the job of president, a weakness would be not really seeing myself in that position until hundreds of thousands of people began to tell me that I needed to do it. I do, however, believe in Reagan's 11th commandment, and will not be engaging in awful things about my compatriots here. And recognizing that it's so important, this election, because we're talking about America for the people versus America for the government. +p5739 +aVWell, first of all, I didn't say that the rate would be 10 percent. I used the tithing analogy. +p5740 +aVThe rate \u2014 the rate \u2014 the rate is gonna be much closer to 15 percent. +p5741 +aVYou also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes. You also have to some strategically cutting in several places. Remember, we have 645 federal agencies and sub-agencies. Anybody who tells me that we need every penny and every one of those is in a fantasy world. So, also, we can stimulate the economy. That's gonna be the real growth engine. Stimulating the economy \u2014 because it's tethered down right now with so many regulations... +p5742 +aVThat's not true. +p5743 +aVWhen \u2014 when we put all the facts down, you'll be able to see that it's not true, it works out very well. +p5744 +aVSince I was attacked too. +p5745 +aVLet me just say, if you're talking about an $18 trillion economy, you're talking about a 15 percent tax on your gross domestic product. You're talking about $2.7 trillion. We have a budget closer to $3.5 trillion. But if you also apply that same 15 percent to several other things, including corporate taxes, and including the capital gains taxes, you make that amount up pretty quickly. So that is not by any stretch a pie in the sky. +p5746 +aVWell, there is no question that some people go overboard when it comes to trying to make profits, and they don't take into consideration the American people. What we have to start thinking about, as leaders, particularly in government, is what can we do for the average American? And you think about the reasons that we're having such difficulty right now with our job market. Well, the average small manufacturer, whatever they're manufacturing, drugs or anything, if they have less than 50 employees, the average cost in terms of regulations is $34,000 per employee. Makes it a whole lot easier for them to want to go somewhere else. So what we're going to have to start doing instead of, you know, picking on this group or this group, is we're going to have to have a major reduction in the regulatory influence that is going on. The government is not supposed to be in every part of our lives, and that is what is causing the problem. +p5747 +aVWell, obviously, you don't understand my views on homosexuality. I believe that our Constitution protects everybody, regardless of their sexual orientation or any other aspect. I also believe that marriage is between one man and one woman. And there is no reason that you can't be perfectly fair to the gay community. They shouldn't automatically assume that because you believe that marriage is between one man and one woman that you are a homophobe. And this is one of the myths that the left perpetrates on our society, and this is how they frighten people and get people to shut up. You know, that's what the PC culture is all about, and it's destroying this nation. The fact of the matter is we the American people are not each other's enemies, it's those people who are trying to divide us who are the enemies. And we need to make that very clear to everybody. +p5748 +aVWell, that's easy to answer. I didn't have an involvement with them. That is total propaganda, and this is what happens in our society. Total propaganda. I did a couple of speeches for them, I do speeches for other people. They were paid speeches. It is absolutely absurd to say that I had any kind of a relationship with them. Do I take the product? Yes. I think it's a good product. +p5749 +aVIf somebody put me on their homepage, they did it without my permission. +p5750 +aVNo, it speaks to the fact that I don't know those \u2014 See? They know. +p5751 +aVWell, first of all, I was wrong about taking the oil subsidy. I have studied that issue in great detail. And what I have concluded is that the best policy is to get rid of all government subsidies, and get the government out of our lives, and let people rise and fall based on how good they are. And \u2014 you know, all of this too big to fail stuff and picking and choosing winners and losers \u2014 this is a bunch of crap, and it is really causing a great deal of \u2014 great deal of problems for our society right now. And \u2014 and \u2014 you know, it goes back to the whole concept of regulations, which are in everything. The reason that I \u2014 I hate them so much is because every single regulation costs in terms of goods and services. That cost gets passed on to the people. Now, who are the people who are hurt by that? It's poor people and middle class. Doesn't hurt rich people if their bar of soap goes up ten cents, but it hurts the poor and the middle class. And Bernie Sanders will tell them that it's because of the rich. Well, I'll tell you something: you can take everything from the top 1 percent, and you apply it to our fiscal gap, and you won't even make a dent in it. +p5752 +aVAbout Medicare? +p5753 +aVWell, first of all the \u2014 the plan gives people the option of \u2014 of opting out. But I think they will see a very good option here. You know, the annual Medicare budget is over $600 billion. And there are 48 million people involved \u2014 40 million, 65 and over, and 8 million other. Divide that out. That comes out to $12,500 for each one. Now, I can tell you there are a lot of private-sector things that you could do with $12,500, which will get you a lot more than you get from this government program. And that's really a theme of a lot of the things that I'm talking about. How do we utilize our intellect rather than allowing the government to use its, quote, "intellect," in order to help us to be able to live healthier and better lives? It was never intended that the government should be in every aspect of our lives. This is a country that is of, for and by the people. +p5754 +aVI just want to thank all my colleagues here for being civil, and not falling for the traps. And, I also just want to thank the audience for being attentive, and noticing the questions, and the noticing the answers. And, this is what I am finding throughout America. People are waking up because it is going to be us who will determine the direction of our country. And, it was made for we the people, we are the ones who decide who we are, and we should never give away the values and principles that made America into a great nation for the sake of political correctness. +p5755 +aVHi, I'm Ben Carson, and I'm a retired pediatric neurosurgeon. I'm here with my wife, Candy, of 40 years, and two of my sons, and their wives. I stress the pediatric part of my career because the reason that I've gotten involved in this race is because I'm very concerned about the future of our children, and the direction of our country is one that does not portend well, unless we, the people, intervene and retake our rightful place at the pinnacle. +p5756 +aVTypically, politicians do things that are politically expedient. And they are looking for whatever their particular goal is. That is not the reason that I have gotten into this thing. I'm extraordinary concerned about the direction of this country, the divisiveness that is going on, fiscal irresponsibility, the failure to take a leadership position in the world. All of those things will lead to a situation where the next generation will not have a chance that we've had now. So I don't \u2014 I don't want to really get into describing who's a politician and who's not a politician, but I think the people have kind of made that decision for themselves already, and will continue to do so as time goes on. +p5757 +aVJake, can I say something about that? +p5758 +aVYou know, when I entered this race, all the political pundits said it's impossible; you can't do it because you're not connected with the money. And there's no way that you can raise what you need in order to compete successfully. I in no way am willing to get in the bed with special interest group or lick the boots of billionaires. I have said to the people if they want me to do this, please get involved. And we now have over 500,000 donations, and the money is coming in. But the pundits forgot about one thing, and that is the people. And they are really in charge. +p5759 +aVWell, first of all, I recognize that we have an incredible illegal immigration problem. I was down in Arizona a few weeks ago at the border. I mean, the fences that were there were not manned, and those are the kind of fences when I was a kid that would barely slow us down. So, I don't see any purpose in having that. Now, what we need to do is look at something that actually works. Yuma County, Arizona. They stop 97 percent of the illegal immigrants through there. They put in a double fence with a road so that there was quick access by the enforcement people. If we don't seal the border, the rest of this stuff clearly doesn't matter. It's kind of ridiculous all the other things we talk about. We have the ability to do it, we don't have the will to do it. There was one area where they had cut a hole in the fence, and to repair it, they put a few strands of barb wire across. Well, the photographers who were there with us, they wanted to photograph us from the side of the Mexicans, and they went through there, and they were not physically fit people, and they took their cameras and things with them, and shot us from the other side. That's how easy it is to get across. And, the drugs, I mean, it goes on, and on, and on. ICE tells them to release these people, 67,000 criminals released... +p5760 +aV...on to our property, it's ridiculous. +p5761 +aVWell, I have also said, if anybody knows how to do that, that I would be willing to listen. And, if they can, you know, specify exactly how that's going to be done, and what the cost, and it sounds reasonable, then I think it's worth discussing... +p5762 +aVNot exactly what I said. +p5763 +aVWell, what I said, after we seal the borders, after we turn off the spigot that dispenses all the goodies so we don't have people coming in here, including employment, that people who had a pristine record, we should consider allowing them to become guest workers, primarily in the agricultural sphere, because that's the place where Americans don't seem to want to work. That's what I said. And they have a six-month period to do that. If they don't do it within that time period, then they become illegal, and as illegals, they will be treated as such. +p5764 +aVCan I \u2014 can I \u2014 can I just... +p5765 +aVCan I correct... +p5766 +aVOK. +p5767 +aVMy plan is not amnesty for a number of reasons. Number one, you know, I've talked to farmers, and they said they cannot hire Americans to do the kind of job that I'm talking about. And the second reason is because the individuals who register as guest workers, they don't get to vote, they are not American citizens, and they don't get the rights and privileges of American citizens. So that's key. But the other thing that I want to bring up is, I mentioned something earlier. I think it was just sort of glossed over. I talked about the success in Yuma County, I mean, incredible success, and the Department of Justice said, "No, we don't want to do that. That's too successful." We don't have to keep reinventing the wheel. All we have to do is look at things that work. All we have to do is use a little common sense. +p5768 +aVIt's all about America. You know, the people who say the guy who paid a billion dollars because he had 10, he has still got $9 billion left, that's not fair, we need to take more of his money. That's called socialism. That doesn't work so well. What made America into a great nation was the fact that we said, that guy just put in $1 billion, let's create an environment that's even more conducive to his success so that next year he can put in $2 billion. And that's the kind of thing that helps us to grow. We can't grow by continuing to take a piece of pie, and dividing it, and redistributing it. But, I'm also looking at what doctor \u2014 at what Governor Huckabee talked about... +p5769 +aVThe Fair Tax. Looking at both of them, and evaluating them both, and I'm talking to the American people because one of the things we must recognize is that this country is of, for, and by the people. And, it's really time that the government get out of the way, and let the people be the ones who decide how they want to run their country. +p5770 +aVWell, first of all, let me say what I actually said about raising the minimum wage. I was asked should it be raised, I said, probably, or possibly. But, what I added, which I think is the most important thing, so, I said we need to get both sides of this issue to sit down, and talk about it. Negotiate a reasonable minimum wage, and index that so that we never have to have this conversation again in the history of America. I think we also have to have two minimum wages, a starter, and a sustaining because how are young people ever going to get a job if you have such a high minimum wage that it makes it impractical to hire them... +p5771 +aVJake, Jake... +p5772 +aVI haven't had an opportunity to weigh in on foreign policy, and I just want to mention that when the war, when the issue occurred in 2003, I suggested to President Bush that he not go to war? OK. So I just want that on the record. And, you know, a lot of people are very much against us getting involved right now with global jihadism. And they refer back to our invasion of Iraq. And they seem to think that that was what caused it. What caused it was withdrawing from there and creating a vacuum which allowed this terrible situation to occur. But it is very different from what is going on today. We're talking about global jihadists who actually want to destroy us. They are an existential threat to our nation. And we have to be mature enough to recognize that our children will have no future if we put our heads in the sand. We have to recognize we have two choices. We either allow them the continue to progress and appear to be the winners, or we use every resource available to us to destroy... +p5773 +aV... them first. +p5774 +aVWell, recognize that, you know, President George W. Bush is a great friend of ours, and we spent many wonderful days at the White House. I haven't been there in the last seven years. I probably have to have a food-tester. But at any rate, I didn't suggest that nothing be done. What I suggested to President Bush is to be Kennedy-esque, in the sense that when the Russians got ahead of us in the space race, what we did is use the bully pulpit to galvanize everybody, business, industry, academia behind a national goal to put a man on the moon and bring him back safely. I said, you can do the same kind of thing. Declare that within five to 10 years we will become petroleum independent. The moderate Arab states would have been so concerned about that, they would have turned over Osama bin Laden and anybody else you wanted on a silver platter within two weeks. There are smart ways to do things and there are muscular ways to do things. And sometimes you have to look at both of those to come up with the right solution. +p5775 +aVI have no argument with having a strong leader, and to be aggressive where aggression is needed. But it is not needed in every circumstance. There is a time when you can use your intellect to come up with other ways to do things. And I think that's what we have to start thinking about. There is no question that a lot of these problems that we have been talking about in terms of the international situation is because we are weak. It is because our Navy is so small. It is because our Air Force is incapable of doing the same things that it did a few years ago. It's because our Marines Corps is not ready to be deployed. +p5776 +aVThere are a lot of problems that are going on, and we need to solve those problems, we need to build up our military... +p5777 +aVWell, let me put it this way, there has \u2014 there have been numerous studies, and they have not demonstrated that there is any correlation between vaccinations and autism. This was something that was spread widely 15 or 20 years ago, and it has not been adequately, you know, revealed to the public what's actually going on. Vaccines are very important. Certain ones. The ones that would prevent death or crippling. There are others, there are a multitude of vaccines which probably don't fit in that category, and there should be some discretion in those cases. But, you know, a lot of this is \u2014 is \u2014 is pushed by big government. And I think that's one of the things that people so vehemently want to get rid of, big government. You know, we have 4.1 million federal employees. Six hundred and fifty federal agencies and department (sic). That's why they have to take so much of our taxes. +p5778 +aVWell, you know, I've just explained it to him. He can read about it if he wants to. I think he's an intelligent man and will make the correct decision after getting the real facts. +p5779 +aVHe's an OK doctor. But, you know, the fact of the matter is, we have extremely well-documented proof that there's no autism associated with vaccinations. But it is true that we are probably giving way too many in too short a period of time. And a lot of pediatricians now recognize that, and, I think, are cutting down on the number and the proximity in which those are done, and I think that's appropriate. +p5780 +aVI'd put my mother on there. You know, she was one of 24 children, got married at age 13, had only a third grade education, had to raise two sons by herself, refused to be a victim. Wouldn't let us be victims, and has been an inspiration to many people. +p5781 +aVOne Nation. +p5782 +aVWell, you know, I was a radical Democrat before I started listening to Ronald Reagan. And he didn't sound like what they said Republicans were. He sounded logical. And I hope that I sound logical also. Because when I look at what is going on with the United States of America, I see a lot of things that are not logical. I see us allowing people to divide us, when in fact our strength is in our unity. I see people exercising the most irresponsible fiscal habits that anyone could possibly do. And hiding it from the American people, so that the majority of people have no idea what our financial situation is. So, when someone comes along and says, free college, free phones, free this and that, and the other, they say, "wow, that's nice," having no idea that they're destabilizing our position. And I think also that Ronald Reagan was a master at understanding that a pinnacle nation has to be a nation that leads. If we learn to lead in the Middle East right now, a coalition will form behind us, but never they do it if we just sit there and talk about it. Real leadership is what I would hopefully bring to America. +p5783 +aVWell, I could take issue with -- with all of those things, but we don't have time. But I will say, we have a debate here tonight, and we will have an opportunity to explore those areas, and I'm looking very much forward to demonstrating that, in fact, the thing that is probably most important is having a brain, and to be able to figure things out and learn things very rapidly. So, you know, experience comes from a large number of different arenas, and America became a great nation early on not because it was flooded with politicians, but because it was flooded with people who understood the value of personal responsibility, hard work, creativity, innovation, and that's what will get us on the right track now, as well. +p5784 +aVWell, thank you, Megyn, I wasn't sure I was going to get to talk again. +p5785 +aVAlright. You know, what we do in order to get the information that we need is our business, and I wouldn't necessarily be broadcasting what we're going to do. We. . .uh. . .we've gotten into this -- this mindset of fighting politically correct wars. There is no such thing as a politically correct war. And, the left, of course, will say Carson doesn't believe in the Geneva Convention. Carson doesn't believe in fighting stupid wars. And -- and what we have to remember is we want to utilize the tremendous intellect that we have in the military to win wars. And I've talked to a lot of the generals, a lot of our advanced people. And believe me, if we gave them the mission, which is what the commander-in-chief does, they would be able to carry it out. And if we don't tie their hands behind their back, they will do it......extremely effectively. +p5786 +aVWhat I agree with is that we need a significantly changed taxation system. And the one that I've advocated is based on tithing, because I think God is a pretty fair guy. And he said, you know, if you give me a tithe, it doesn't matter how much you made. If you've had a bumper crop, you don't owe me triple tithes. And if you've had no crops at all, you don't owe me no tithes. So there must be something inherently fair about that. And that's why I've advocated a proportional tax system. You make $10 billion, you pay a billion. You make $10, you pay one. And everybody gets treated the same way. And you get rid of the deductions, you get rid of all the loopholes, and... +p5787 +aVAnd I have a lot more to say about it. +p5788 +aVIf Hillary is the candidate, which I doubt, that would be a dream come true. But you know, the fact of the matter is, she is the epitome of the progressive -- the secular progressive movement. And she counts on the fact that people are uninformed, the Alinsky Model, taking advantage of useful idiots. Well, I just happen to believe that people are not stupid. And the way I will come at it is to educate people, help people to actually understand that it is that progressive movement that is causing them the problems. You know, you look at the -- the national debt and how it's being driven up. If I was trying to destroy this country, what I would do is find a way to drive wedges between all the people, drive the debt to an unsustainable level, and then step off the stage as a world leader and let our enemies increase while we decreased our capacity as a military person. And that's what she's doing. +p5789 +aVWell, what we have to stop and think about is that we have weakened ourselves militarily to such an extent that if affects all of our military policies. Our Navy is at its smallest size since 1917; our Air Force, since 1940. In recent testimony, the commandant of the Marine Corps said half of the non-deployed units were not ready and you know, the sequester is cutting the heart out of our personnel. Our generals are retiring because they don't want to be part of this, and at the same time, our enemies are increasing. Our -- our friends can't trust us anymore. You know, Ukraine was a nuclear-armed state. They gave away their nuclear arms with the understanding that we would protect them. We won't even give them offensive weapons. You know, we turned our back on Israel, our ally. You know, in a situation like that, of course Obama's not going to be able to do anything. I would shore up our military first, because if you don't get the military right, nothing else is going to work. +p5790 +aVWell, I think the bully pulpit is a wonderful place to start healing that divide. You know, we have the purveyors of hatred who take every single incident between people of two races and try to make a race war out of it, and drive wedges into people. And this does not need to be done. What we need to think about instead -- you know, I was asked by an NPR reporter once, why don't I talk about race that often. I said it's because I'm a neurosurgeon. And she thought that was a strange response. And you say -- I said, you see, when I take someone to the operating room, I'm actually operating on the thing that makes them who they are. The skin doesn't make them who they are. The hair doesn't make them who they are. And it's time for us to move beyond that. Because......our strength as a nation comes in our unity. We are the United States of America, not the divided states. And those who want to destroy us are trying to divide us, and we shouldn't let them do it. +p5791 +aVWell, I haven't said anything about me being the only one to do anything, so let me try that. I'm the only one to separate Siamese twins... The -- the only one to operate on babies while they were still in mother's womb, the only one to take out half of a brain, although you would think, if you go to Washington, that someone had beat me to it. But I -- but I'm very hopeful that I'm not the only one who's willing to pick up the baton of freedom, because freedom is not free, and we must fight for it every day. Every one of us must fight for it, because we're fighting for our children and the next generation. +p5792 +aVWell, the current Constitution actually doesn't address that particular situation, but the fact of the matter is the Supreme Court, obviously, is a very important part of our governmental system. And when our Constitution was put in place, the average age of death was under 50, and therefore the whole concept of lifetime appointments for Supreme Court judges and federal judges was not considered to be a big deal. Obviously, that has changed, and it's something that probably needs to be looked at pretty carefully at some point. But, we need to start thinking about the divisiveness that is going on in our country. I looked at some of the remarks that people made after finding out that Justice Scalia had died, and they were truly nasty remarks. And that we have managed to get to that position in our country is truly a shame. And we should be thinking about how we could create some healing in this land. But, right now, we're not going to get healing with President Obama. That's very United Nations clear. So, I...... fully agree that we should not allow a judge to be appointed during his time. +p5793 +aVNo, it isn't. First of all, let me go back to your first question for me. It wasn't phrased as who gets to nominate Supreme Court appointees. Of course that's the president. So I know that there are some left-wing media who would try to make hay on that. Secondly, thank you for including me in the debate. Two questions already. This is great. Now, as far......as far as those 2 a.m. phone calls are concerned, judgment is what is required. And the kinds of things that you come up with are sometimes very, very difficult and very unique. One of the things that I was known for is doing things that have not been done before. So no amount of experience really prepares you to do something that has never been done before. That's where judgment comes in. And that, I think, is a situation that we're in right now, a situation that we have never been in before with the kinds of threats that pose real danger to our nation, and it comes in very handy in those situations. +p5794 +aVWell, first of all, let me just address the Iraq question. You know, I was not particularly in favor of us going to war in Iraq, primarily because I have studied, you know, the Middle East, recognizing that those are nations that are ruled by dictators and have been for thousands of years. And when you go in and you remove one of those dictators, unless you have an appropriate plan for replacing them, you're going to have chaos. Now, fortunately, we were able to stabilize the situation, and it was the current administration that turned tail and ran and destabilized the situation. Now, having said that, in terms of the rules of engagement, I was talking about, you know, Obama has said, you know, we shouldn't bomb tankers, you know, coming out of refineries because there may be people in there, or because the environment may be hurt. You know, that's just asinine thinking. And the fact of the matter is... You know, we \u2014 obviously, you're not going to accomplish all of your goals without some collateral damage. You have to be able to assess what is acceptable and what is not. +p5795 +aVWell, first of all, let me just mention on the tax issue. Bencarson.com, go read about it, because my tax plan has been praised by Cato, by Wall Street Journal. Forbes said it is the best, the most pro-growth tax plan, and it's based on real fairness for everybody. Starts at the 150 percent poverty level, but even the people below that have to pay something, because everybody has to have skin in the game, and the millions of people can't, you know, talk about what other people have to pay and have no skin in the game. And it deals with corporate tax rate, and makes it the same as everybody else......everybody pays exactly the same. +p5796 +aV... And, as far as Medicare and Medicaid, my main goal is to get rid of Obamacare and put the care back in the hands of ... +p5797 +aVWell, first of all, please go to my website, bencarson.com, and read my immigration policy, O.K.? Because it actually makes sense. Now, the \u2014 as far as these fines are concerned, you know? Here's the big problem. We've got all these government regulators, and all they're doing is running around looking for people to fine. And we've got 645 different federal agencies and sub-agencies. Way, way too many, and they don't have anything else to do. I think what we really need to do is start trimming the regulatory agencies rather than going after the people who are trying to increase the viability, economic viability of our society. Now, that doesn't mean there aren't some people out there who are doing bad things. But I'm not sure that the way to solve that problem is by increasing all the regulatory burden. You know, when you consider how much regulations cost us each year, you know? $2 trillion dollars per family, $24,000 per family, that happens to be the same level as the poverty level...... for a family of four. If you want to get rid of poverty, get rid of all the regulations. +p5798 +aVBefore you ask the question, can I respond to the \u2014 you know, they mentioned my name a couple of times. +p5799 +aVAll right. Well, first of all, you know, so many people have said to me, "You need to scream and jump and down \u2014 jump up and down like everybody else." Is that really what you want? What we just saw? I don't think so. And you know, I \u2014 when I got into this race, I decided to look under the hood of the engine of what runs Washington, D.C., and my first inclination was to run away, but I didn't do it because I'm thinking about our children and the fact that we are the United States of America. And anybody up here is going to be much better than what's going to come on the other side. And what happened tonight with \u2014 with Justice Scalia tells you that we cannot afford to lose this election, and we cannot be tearing each other down. +p5800 +aVWell, first of all, I'm not a politician, so I'm never going to become a politician. But here's what \u2014 here's what people need to know. People need to know that free college is not \u2014 it's a non-starter. You know, you have to look at our economic situation. We're on the verge of economic collapse and, you know, we're \u2014 it's not just the $19 trillion, but it's also the $200 trillion in unfunded liabilities. What we need to think about is, what does that do to the average person? When we have a debt of that nature, it causes the Fed to change their policy, it causes the central bank to keep the \u2014 the rates low, and who does does that affect? Mr. Average, who used to go to the bank every Friday and put part of his check in the bank and watch it grow over three decades and be able to retire with a nice nest egg, that's gone. That part of the American dream is gone. All of these things are disappearing, and Bernie Sanders and people like Hillary Clinton blame it on the rich. They say those evil rich people, if we take their money we can solve the problem. It's not the evil rich people. It's the irresponsible, evil government. +p5801 +aVThis is the first generation not expected to do better than their parents. Some people say it's the new normal, but there's nothing normal about it in an exceptional American. I, like you, am a member of we, the people, and we know that our country is heading off the cliff. Joseph Stalin said if you want to bring America down you, have to undermine three things: our spiritual life, our patriotism and our morality. We, the people, can stop that decline, starting right here in South Carolina. If all the people who say, "I love Ben Carson and his policies, but he can't win," vote for me, not only can we win, but we can turn this thing around. You know, we have this manipulation by the political class and by the media telling us who we're supposed to pick and how we're supposed to live. We, the people, are the only people who will determine that. And if you elect me as your next president, I promise you that you will get somebody who is accountable to everybody and beholden to no one. Thank you. +p5802 +aVWell, you know, when I wasn't introduced No. 2, as was the plan, I thought maybe he thought I already had dropped out. But... But you know, today is the 105th anniversary, or \u2014 105th birthday of Ronald Reagan. His 11 Commandment was not to speak ill of another Republican. So, I'm not going to use this opportunity to savage the reputation of Senator Cruz. But I will say \u2014 I will say \u2014 I will say that I was very disappointed that members of his team thought so little of me that they thought that after having hundreds, if not thousands of volunteers and college students who sacrificed their time and were dedicated to the cause \u2014 one even died \u2014 to think that I would just walk away ten minutes before the caucus and say, "Forget about you guys." I mean, who would do something like that? Now, I don't think anyone on this stage would do something like that. And to assume that someone would, what does that tell you? So, unfortunately, it did happen. It gives us a very good example of certain types of Washington ethics. Washington ethics. Washington ethics basically says, if it's legal, you do what you need to do in order to win. That's not my ethics. My ethics is, you do what's right. +p5803 +aVSince I was mentioned... +p5804 +aVThis is great you guys. I want you all to mention me when you say something. In fact, the time line indicates that initial tweet from CNN was followed by another one within one minute that clarified that I was not dropping out. So, what happened to that one, it is unclear. But the bottom line is, we can see what happened, everybody can see what happened and you can make your own judgment. +p5805 +aVGood evening. +p5806 +aVWell, thank you. You know, I was hoping to get a chance to talk about North Korea. I was the only one who didn't get to do that, and I've got stuff to say about it, let me tell you. But at any rate, you have to replace it with something that makes sense. It doesn't make sense. And the reason that I dislike Obamacare is because the government comes in and tells the people \u2014 which the nation is supposed to be centered on \u2014 that we don't care what you think, this is what we're doing. And if you don't like it, too bad. That's a problem. And we can't afford to do that because that will fundamentally change America. I have proposed a health empowerment account system. Everybody gets a health empowerment account the day they are born, they keep it until they die. They can pass it on. We pay for it with the same dollars that we pay for traditional health care with, recognizing that we spend twice as much as many countries per capita and health care and don't have as such access. We give people the ability to shift money within their health empowerment account so that each family basically becomes its own insurance company without a middleman; that saves you a awful lot of money. And that will lower the cost of your catastrophic insurance tremendously, because the only thing coming out of that is catastrophic health care. And then in terms of taking care of the indigent, we have another whole system, and I can go ahead and explain it, but I don't have the time, but I'd be happy to if you give me some more time. But go to my website bencarson.com, read about it. You can read about everything that's been discussed here in great detail. HAM: Thank you, Dr. Carson. David, Martha, back to you. +p5807 +aVI want to say something about this, because I'm not here just to add beauty to the stage. You know, I've been talking about Libya for quite a long time. I think I was the first one to start talking about it because I say we have to have a proactive foreign policy strategy. And of course, the next place that +p5808 +aVI would support the possibility of renewed airstrikes if in conjunction with our Joint Chiefs and our military people they felt that was an appropriate strategy. The fact of the matter is none of us up here is a military expert, and we sometimes act like we are, but we're not. And if we actually sit down and talk with them and get them to understand our plan and their impression of what needs to be done, I think we're going to make a lot more progress. +p5809 +aVIt's the same question? +p5810 +aVYes. Well, first of all, I think it would be a pretty easy contrast, quite frankly, between myself and Hillary Clinton. In one case, you have someone who is known as a deceitful individual. An individual who at Benghazi, which I will never let go, quite frankly, because I think of those two men who went up there on the top of that compound with machine guns, firing away, allowing their colleagues to escape. And I'm sure, in the back of their mind, they were just saying, if we can just hold on, help is on the way. But help was not on the way. When did we in the United States not send people to help our own people? You know, this is not who we are. And \u2014 I would simply make it a referendum on honesty and integrity versus deceit and the Washington way. +p5811 +aVWell, you know, it's not a simple issue, and now, you know, we've gotten evidence that there can been active viruses in other bodily fluids like saliva and urine. So, this is going to be, obviously, a big deal. Do we quarantine people? If we have evidence that they are infected, and that there is evidence that that infection can spread by something that they're doing, yes. But, just willy-nilly going out and quarantining a bunch of people because they've been to Brazil, I don't believe that that's going to work. What we really need to be thinking about is how do we get this disease under control? And this is where we need rapid response. We need a rapid response for ebola, we need rapid response for Zika, there will be other things that will come up. These are the kinds of things that the NIH, the CDC, can be very effective in. We need to give the the appropriate support for those kind of things. +p5812 +aVCan I say something... +p5813 +aVSomething about the draft. Very quickly. +p5814 +aVYou know, 14 percent decrease in the number of people applying for voluntary military service, and I think part of it is because of the way that we treat our veterans. You know, we wouldn't be a free country if it wasn't for them, and we have 22 veterans per day committing suicide. So, I think what we should do is have an external support system for people once they volunteer and it should follow them throughout their career, should follow them for three years, five years afterwards, a year before they get out, should be working on integrating them back into society, so that they quit on Friday and they start their new job. They should have health empowerment accounts that are subsidized so they can go to any medical facility and be taken care of. They can go to a V.A. if they want to. But if we start taking care of our veterans the right way, we won't have to ever worry about a draft again. +p5815 +aVWith 100 percent certainly, I will predict the winner \u2014 it will either be Denver or Carolina. +p5816 +aVFor many months, the political class, pundits, the media, have tried to ignore or bury me. They say that politics is too complex, and too sleazy. You can't survive. Well, guess what? I'm still here, and I'm not going any place either. And, I believe there is still a place in our country for faith, integrity, and common sense. Hundreds of thousands of you drafted me to run for president...... And, I am going to with the help of God, and you, once again place the American people at the pinnacle with the government there to serve it. +p5817 +aVWell, I will gladly confess that I'm the only one on this stage with no political title. You're not going to hear a lot of polished political speech from me, but you will hear the truth. And I don't think you have to be a politician to tell the truth. In fact, sometimes it's not that way... ... and I've had more two a.m. phone calls than everybody here put together, making life and death decisions, put together very complex teams to accomplish things that have never been done before. And we are in a situation right now in our country that we have never been in before. We need people who think out of the box and can solve problems; can utilize the resources around them; very smart people, to focus on the problem and solve the problem. The American people are terrified. That's why we have this abnormal situation going on right now. We don't need more of the same solutions. We need different solutions to solve the problems and to save our nation. +p5818 +aVWell, I don't know about the GOP messaging, but I can tell you about my messaging. You know, need to stop allowing political correctness to dictate our policies, because it's going to kill us if we don't. And in the Holy Land Foundation trial in 2006 in Texas, they had a memorandum, an explanatory memorandum that talked about the fact that Americans would be easy to overcome and to commit civilization jihad because they were going to be trying to protect the rights of the very people who were trying to subvert them. But I believe in the Teddy Roosevelt philosophy. Teddy Roosevelt said, we are a nation of immigrants. As such, everybody is welcome from any race, any country, any religion, if they want to be Americans. If they want to accept our values and our laws. If not, they can stay where they are. +p5819 +aVOh, great. As I said before, we are a land of immigrants, but we have to be intelligent about the way that we form our immigration policies, and that's one of the reasons that I have called on us to declare war on the Islamic State because we need to reorient our immigration policies and our visa policies for people who are coming into this country because there are many people out there who want to destroy us. Now, I recognize that the vast majority of people coming in here probably are not those kinds of people, but that's not good enough. If you've got 10 people coming to your house and you know one of them is a terrorist, you're probably going to keep them all out. You know, we probably have to figure out a way to make sure that we keep America safe. +p5820 +aVLook, first of all, I recognize that Vladimir Putin is an opportunist and he's a bully, and we have to face him down. And I would \u2014 first of all, face him down in that whole region, the whole Baltic region. I think we need to put in some armored brigades there. We only have one or two. We need much more than that. We need to be doing military exercises if not only Estonia but Latvia and Lithuania. They're terrified by the saber rattling. I think we ought to put in our missile defense system. I think we ought to give Ukraine offensive weapons and I think we ought to fight them on the economic basis because Putin is a one- horse country: oil and energy. And we ought to fight them on that level. We ought to be helping in terms of the technology for fracking, keeping the price low, quite frankly, because that's what's keeping him contained. So, yes, I'd absolutely would go in if he attacked. I think on Article IV of +p5821 +aVWell, as anyone knows who's been listening to me, you know? I'm very much against the government being involved in every aspect of our lives, you know? We last year there was an additional 81,000 pages of government regulations. If you stack that up it would be a three-story building. This is absolutely absurd. And, they've insinuated themselves into everything. Now, as far as the renewable fuel standard is concerned, certain promises were made, certain government contracts were issued which extend all the way into the year 2022, and I believe that it's probably unfair to withdraw the rug because people have invested money. People have invested a lot of energy into that. But, you know, we are blessed with tremendous energy in this nation, and we need to be talking for new sources of energy. Seventy percent of our population lives by costly. What about hydroelectric power? We can develop that, you know? We have so much natural gas now, and we can liquify it, and we can transfer it across the sea so we can make Europe dependent on us instead of Putin \u2014 put him back in his little box where he belongs. Those are the kinds of things that we ought to be doing. And, you know, take advantage of the tremendous opportunities in energy that God has given us, not get involved in these little petty arguments. And we can get a lot of them out if we get the government out of our lives. +p5822 +aVI want to thank the people of Iowa for being so welcoming to me. Please think of our founding fathers as you listen. We the people of the United States in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the benefits of liberty to ourselves and our prosperity, do ordain and establish this constitution of the United States of America. Folks, it's not too late. Enough said. +p5823 +aVWell, I'm very happy to get a question this early on. I was going to ask you to wake me up when that time came. You know, I find it really quite fascinating some of the president's proclamations. The fact of the matter is he doesn't realize that we now live in the 21st century, and that war is very different than it used to be before. Not armies massively marching on each other and air forces, but now we have dirty bombs and we have cyber attacks and we have people who will be attacking our electrical grid. And, you know, we have a whole variety of things that they can do and they can do these things simultaneously. And we have enemies who are obtaining nuclear weapons that they can explode in our exoatmosphere and destroy our electric grid. I mean, just think about a scenario like that. They explode the bomb, we have an electromagnetic pulse. They hit us with a cyberattack simultaneously and dirty bombs. Can you imagine the chaos that would ensue at that point? He needs to recognize that those kinds of things are in fact an existential threat to us. But here's the real key. We have the world's best military, even though he's done everything he can to diminish it. And the fact of the matter is if we give them a mission and we don't tie their hands behind their back, they can get it accomplished. +p5824 +aVNeil, I was mentioned too. +p5825 +aVYeah, he said everybody. And \u2014 and I just want to take this opportunity to say, you know, in the 2012 election, you know, we \u2014 and when I say we, Republicans \u2014 tore themselves apart. You know, we have to stop this because, you know, if we manage to damage ourselves, and we lose the next election, and a progressive gets in there and they get two or three Supreme Court picks, this nation is over as we know it. And we got to look at the big picture here. +p5826 +aVWell, there's not question that we should be able to look at past president whether they're married to somebody who's running for president or not in terms of their past behavior and what it means. But you know, here's the real issue, is this America anymore? Do we still have standards? Do we still have values and principles? You know, you look at what's going on, you see all the divisiveness and the hatred that goes on in our society. You know, we have a war on virtual everything \u2014 race wars, gender wars, income wars, religious wars, age wars. Every war you can imaging, we have people at each other's throat and our strength is actually in our unity. You know, you go to the internet, you start reading an article and you go to the comments section \u2014 you cannot go five comments down before people are calling each all manner of names. Where did that spirit come from in America? It did not come from our Judeo-Christian roots, I can tell you that. And wherever it came from we need to start once again recognizing that there is such a thing as right and wrong. And let's not let the secular progressives drive that out of us. The majority of people in American actually have values and principles and they believe in the very things that made America great. They've been beaten into submission. It's time for us to stand up for what we believe in. +p5827 +aVWait a minute, who in their 16th month? +p5828 +aVOK. +p5829 +aVWell, there's no question that +p5830 +aVWell, first of all, recognize it is a substantial problem. But like all of our problems, there isn't a single one that can't be solved with common sense if you remove the ego and the politics. And clearly, what we need to do is get a group of experts together, including people from other countries, some of our friends from Israel, who have had experience screening these people and come up with new guidelines for immigration, and for visas, for people who are coming into this country. That is the thing that obviously makes sense, we can do that. And as far as the Syrians are concerned, Al-Hasakah province, perfect place. They have infrastructure. All we need to do is protect them, they will be in their own country. And that is what they told me when I was in Jordan in November. Let's listen to them and let's not listen to our politicians. +p5831 +aVWell, I would suggest a fair tax system, and that's what we have proposed. A flat tax for everybody \u2014 no exemptions, no deductions, no shelters, because some people have a better capability of taking advantage of those than others. You know, and then the other thing we have to do is stop spending so much money. You know, I \u2014 my \u2014 my mother taught me this. You know, she only had a third-grade education, but \u2014 you know, she knew how to stretch a dollar. I mean, she would drive a car until it wouldn't make a sound, and then gather up all her coins and buy a new car. In fact, if my mother were secretary of treasury, we would not be in a deficit situation. But...... you know, the \u2014 the \u2014 the fact of the matter is \u2014 you know, if we fix the taxation system, make it absolutely fair, and get rid of the incredible regulations \u2014 because every regulation is a tax, it's a \u2014 on goods and services. And it's the most regressive tax there is. You know, when you go into the store and buy a box of laundry detergent, and the price has up \u2014 you know, 50 cents because of regulations, a poor person notices that. A rich person does not. Middle class may notice it when they get to the cash register. And everything is costing more money, and we are killing our \u2014 our \u2014 our people like this. And Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton will say it's those evil rich people. It's not the evil rich people. It's the evil government that is \u2014 that is putting all these regulations on us so that we can't survive. +p5832 +aVCan I just add one very quick thing? And I just want to say, you know, last week we released our tax plan. And multiple reputable journals, including The Wall Street Journal, said ours is the best. Just want to get that out there, just saying. +p5833 +aVYou know, in recent travels around this country, I've encountered so many Americans who are discouraged and angry as they watch our freedom, our security and the American dream slipping away under an unresponsive government that is populated by bureaucrats and special interest groups. We're not going to solve this problem with traditional politics. The only way we're going to solve this problem is with we, the people. And I ask you to join me in truth and honesty and integrity. Bencarson.com \u2014 we will heal, inspire and revive America for our children. +p5834 +asVQUINTANILLA +p5835 +(lp5836 +VGood evening, I'm Carl Quintanilla, with my colleagues Becky Quick and John Harwood. We'll be joined tonight by some of +p5837 +aVGovernor? +p5838 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p5839 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Bush. +p5840 +aVSenator Rubio. +p5841 +aVMr. Trump? +p5842 +aVDr. Carson? +p5843 +aVMrs. Fiorina? +p5844 +aVFixed it. +p5845 +aVSenator Cruz? +p5846 +aVGovernor Christie? +p5847 +aVSenator Paul? +p5848 +aVThanks to all the candidates. John? +p5849 +aVHold it. We'll cut it back to you in just a minute. Becky's moving on. +p5850 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor. thank you, Governor. +p5851 +aVMr. Trump, 30 seconds. +p5852 +aVThank you, Governor. +p5853 +aVWe're going to try to move on. +p5854 +aVYou want to bring 70,000 pages to three? +p5855 +aVIs that using really small type? +p5856 +aVIs that using really small type? +p5857 +aVMrs. Fiorina \u2014 +p5858 +aVWe're going to \u2014 +p5859 +aVWe will come around the bend, i promise. This one is for Senator Rubio. You've been a young man in a hurry ever since you won your first election in your 20s. You've had a big accomplishment in the Senate, an immigration bill providing a path to citizenship the conservatives in your party hate, and even you don't support anymore. Now, you're skipping more votes than any senator to run for president. Why not slow down, get a few more things done first or least finish what you start? +p5860 +aVSo when the Sun-Sentinel says Rubio should resign, not rip us off, when they say Floridians sent you to Washington to do a job, when they say you act like you hate your job, do you? +p5861 +aVWell, do you hate your job? +p5862 +aVIs that the standard? +p5863 +aVSenator, thank you. John. +p5864 +aVThank you, Senator. +p5865 +aVSenator Cruz. Congressional Republicans, Democrats and the White House are about to strike a compromise that would raise the debt limit, prevent a government shutdown and calm financial markets that fear of \u2014 another Washington-created crisis is on the way. Does your opposition to it show that you're not the kind of problem-solver American voters want? +p5866 +aV do we get credit ? +p5867 +aVSo, this is a question about , which you have 30 seconds left to answer, should you choose to do so. +p5868 +aVOK. I asked you about the debt limit and I got no answer. +p5869 +aVWe promised we would get to everyone this block. Governor Huckabee, I'm going to give you 60 seconds on this. +p5870 +aV...Governor... +p5871 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p5872 +aV...Senator Cruz... +p5873 +aVOK, alright. +p5874 +aVSenator Cruz... +p5875 +aV...Before we go to break, we're clearly not having that beer you mentioned, but I'll give you 30 more seconds... +p5876 +aVOK. +p5877 +aVI'll give you 30 seconds to respond... +p5878 +aVRespond on the debt limit, or an answer to the governor, which ever you choose. +p5879 +aV30 seconds, Governor Huckabee. +p5880 +aVGovernor, thank you. We will take a break. The Republican Presidential debate, live from Boulder, Colorado, coming back after a break on +p5881 +aVMrs. Fiorina, in 2010, while running for Senate in Tech Ridge (ph), California, you called an Internet sales tax a bad idea. Traditional brick and mortar stores obviously disagree. Now that the Internet shopping playing field has matured, what would be a fair plan to even that playing field? +p5882 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p5883 +aVOK. +p5884 +aVThank you very much. +p5885 +aVDr. Carson, we know you as a physician, but we wanted to ask you about your involvement on some corporate boards, including Costco's. Last year, a marketing study called the warehouse retailer the number one gay-friendly brand in America, partly because of its domestic partner benefits. Why would you serve on a company whose policies seem to run counter to your views on homosexuality? +p5886 +aVOne more question. This is a company called Mannatech, a maker of nutritional supplements, with which you had a 10-year relationship. They offered claims that they could cure autism, cancer, they paid $7 million to settle a deceptive marketing lawsuit in Texas, and yet you're involvement continued. Why? +p5887 +aVTo be fair, you were on the homepage of their website with the logo over your shoulder \u2014 +p5888 +aVDoes that not speak to your vetting process or judgment in any way. +p5889 +aVApparently. We will take a break. We'll be back in Boulder in just a minute. +p5890 +aV...We'll come back around. I want to get to governor Kasich. +p5891 +aVGovernor Kasich, let's talk ... +p5892 +aV...about Marijuana, Governor Kasich... +p5893 +aVAlright, but 30 seconds, you made a case. Sure, 30 seconds. +p5894 +aVSenator, thank you. +p5895 +aVOh, no, no, no... +p5896 +aV...Ok... +p5897 +aV...We're going to go to... +p5898 +aVOK. Thank you, Senator. Governor Kasich, let's talk about marijuana. We're broadcasting from Colorado which has seen $150 million in new revenue for the state since legalizing last year. Governor Hickenlooper is not a big fan of legalization, but he's said the people who used to be smoking it are still smoking it, they're just now paying taxes. Given the budget pressures in Ohio, and other states, is this a revenue stream you'd like to have? +p5899 +aVThank you, Governor. +p5900 +aVThank you. We'll be back from Boulder, Colorado in just a moment. +p5901 +aVMr. Trump, you've said you have a special permit to carry a gun in New York. +p5902 +aVAfter the Oregon mass shooting on October 1st, you said, "By the way, it was a gun-free zone. If you had a couple of teachers with guns, you would have been a hell of a lot better off." +p5903 +aVWould you feel more comfortable if your employees brought guns to work? +p5904 +aVAre you carrying one now? +p5905 +aVWe called a few Trump resorts, a few Trump properties that \u2014 that do not allow guns with or without a permit. Would you change those policies? +p5906 +aVOK. All right. Thank you. John? +p5907 +aVGovernor Bush, daily fantasy sports has become a phenomenon in this country, will award billions of dollars in prize money this year. But to play you have to assess your odds, put money at risk, wait for an outcome that's out of your control. Isn't that the definition of gambling, and should the Federal Government treat it as such? +p5908 +aVI had a feeling you were going to brag about that. +p5909 +aVThis is the\u2014 well, we're going to take a break. We want to save time for closing statements after the break. So this is the Republican presidential debate in Boulder, and we'll be right back. +p5910 +aVSenator Rubio... +p5911 +aV...yeah, I just wanted . +p5912 +aVI want to give you 30 seconds here. +p5913 +aVThat concludes tonight's debate. On behalf of my colleagues Becky Quick, John Harwood, Sharon Epperson, Rick Santelli and Jim Cramer, we'd like to our host, the University of Colorado at Boulder, the Republican National Committee, the candidates and, of course, tonight's audience. +p5914 +aV...Question, in the meantime, for Senator Santorum. You have advocated a flat tax, so we'd like to ask you about fairness. Why is it fair to tax all Americans at the same rate, as opposed to taxing more affluent Americans at higher rates? +p5915 +aVSenator, thank you. John \u2014 Becky? +p5916 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live in boulder, Colorado, on cNBC. We resume our questions now with Jim Cramer, the host of +p5917 +aVSenator Graham. You have said you believe that climate change is real. You've said you accept tax increases as part of a budget deal with Democrats. You've co-sponsored a Senate immigration bill providing a path to citizenship for those in the country illegally. Are you in the wrong party's debate? +p5918 +aVMy question for Governor Jindal, Paul Ryan says he would take the speaker job if it did not take away from his family time. The Department of Labor says 13 percent of American workers are eligible for paid family leave and the U.S. is the only developed nation in the world not to have guaranteed paid maternity leave for new moms. Should the government work to change that? +p5919 +aVGovernor, thank you. John? +p5920 +ag4344 +aVWelcome back to the University of Colorado, and the Republican Presidential Debate on +p5921 +aVWell, let's get to that. I mean, another example, for example, is Walgreens. +p5922 +aVI'm sure you do. Walgreens/Rite Aid. Big deal, consolidation in drug stores, semiconductors, food. What is the line at which something becomes anti-competitive in your view? +p5923 +aVSenator. +p5924 +aVThank you. Becky. +p5925 +aVQuestion for Senator Santorum. +p5926 +aVAfter this question maybe. The 2015 Nobel Prize winner for economics argues that slow growth causes poverty, and that leads to inequality. What would you do to ease inequality? And what would you do solve poverty? By the way, thanks to Larry Kudlow, +p5927 +aVGovernor Jindal, I'll give you 30 seconds on this. +p5928 +aVWe've got one more. One more lightning round. Governor Jindal, should the day after the Super Bowl be a national holiday? +p5929 +aVSenator? +p5930 +aVGovernor? +p5931 +aVFinally, Senator? +p5932 +aVThat concludes our first part of the evening. +p5933 +asVAUDIENCE +p5934 +(lp5935 +VBoo. +p5936 +aVBoo. +p5937 +asVSTRASSEL +p5938 +(lp5939 +VMr. Trump. +p5940 +aVYou have made a lot of promises and you have also \u2014 you're the only candidate who has said he would not touch entitlements. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has estimated that your ideas would cost an additional $12 trillion to $15 trillion over the next 10 years and that we would have to have annual economic growth of anywhere from 7.7 percent to 9 percent annually to pay for them. Are you proposing more than you can actually deliver, at least not without big deficits? +p5941 +aVBut in terms of... +p5942 +aVO.K. But how would you actually do that? Can I ask you? Because right now, Social Security and Medicare... +p5943 +aVThey take up two-thirds of the federal budget, and they're growing. +p5944 +aVO.K., I have a question, a related tax question. Senator Rubio, you have the highest tax rate of anyone up on the stage in terms of the top tax rates, 35 percent. Some economists say, "It would limit its potential to boost economic growth." You do that so that you will have more revenue to pay for a tripling of the Child Tax Credit. Normally, it's liberals who like to use the tax code to insert social policy. Why should conservatives who want to tax adopt the other side's approach? +p5945 +aVGovernor Kasich, this on is on size of government. In 2013, you pushed through a Medicaid reform in your state over the rejections of many of the Republicans in your state. Total enrollment and overall cost of program have gone well beyond what anyone had expected, including yourself. How can you argue that this overall growth fits in with conservative ambition to significantly cut back on the size of federal welfare programs? +p5946 +aVSenator Cruz. Senator Cruz, you have promised to deport illegal aliens. You have also promised to reverse President Obama's executive action that gives temporary amnesty to illegals brought here by their parent as children. As president, you would have the names and addresses of the some 800,000 of those that have registered under that action. Now, you have said that in this country, we shouldn't go door to door, look for illegals, but in this case you would have a list. Would you use it? +p5947 +aVSo would you \u2014 would you use the addresses? +p5948 +aVWould you pick them up? +p5949 +aVSenator Rubio, your reply. +p5950 +aVAll right. Senator Cruz. Your response, Senator Cruz. +p5951 +aV... O.K.... +p5952 +aVMoving subjects. Dr. Carson, this week Morgan Stanley agreed to pay a $3.2 billion fine to state and federal authorities for contributing to the mortgage crisis. You have a lot of Democrats out saying that we should be jailing more executives, so two questions. Should financial executives be held legally responsible for financial crisis, and do you think fines like these are an effective way to deter companies from future behavior like that? +p5953 +aVSenator Cruz, you were mentioned in the mix here, your response? +p5954 +aVAnd now, Marco Rubio. +p5955 +aVWe'll be back with a few final thoughts in a moment. +p5956 +asVGILMORE +p5957 +(lp5958 +VWell, Bill, can I first... +p5959 +aVWell, first of all, Bill, let me say one thing, I have been in Iowa. But this is not the place where I'm choosing to begin my campaign. I am beginning my campaign in New Hampshire and I decided to do that based upon the process that is in place in Iowa and the primary that's in place in New Hampshire. But never mind that, I want to return to something. I'm the only veteran, Bill and Martha in this race. And I'm not going to any Donald Trump event over across town on some sort of faux veteran sort of issue. I'm going to speak to you tonight about the issue that really confronts veterans. I'm going to talk to you about the concerns that they have got with the veterans administration. The lousy appeals process that they have got. The fact that sometimes they get good service at the V.A. and sometimes they don't and the fact that post traumatic stress syndrome is not properly recognized. That psychology positions are unavailable in the Veterans Administration. And I will say this to you -- as the only veteran in -- in this race, when I become president of the United States, the veterans are going to be treated with respect and competently in success in the Veterans' Administration in this country. +p5960 +aVFirst of all, Bill, I think that Gitmo ought to remain open. But I also want to point out to you that what you are saying is the exact right topic to all of these other candidates. And that's this international challenge that we are facing, the international war that America is in, even to this day. And I'm the candidate who is best qualified to deal with this issue. A degree in foreign policy in Russian area studies. I'm the only United States Army veteran having gone to Europe during the Cold War as United States Army Intelligence agent, the governor during the 9/11 attack, the chairman of the National Commission on Homeland Security for the United States for five years. And this is what I will do. If I become the president, I'm going to rebuild the United States military. We're going to take the sequester off the defense budget. Give the Navy the ships it needs. Refit the United States Army. Refit the United States Marine Corps. And on this international guerrilla war, we need to recognize our Special Forces, our intelligence community, and the people that we need in order to really protect us. And finally, this war of ideas, we must win this. We must say to the world that radical Islamism is the threat. It isn't just confined to +p5961 +aVHey, did you miss me? Did you skip me? +p5962 +aVI'm going to have something to say about this, but you just keep going. +p5963 +aVYes, I'll be there. +p5964 +aVYou know, Martha, it may be out of the barn in that the Iranians may be moving towards a nuclear program, because this nuclear deal actually gives them a time frame up the road when they are going to be able to do that kind of program. And that's very dangerous because it means people in the Middle East have to begin to react to that right now. The United States, I think, has to continue to exercise its influence in the Middle East, stay active, and not do this pull-back type of program that we are seeing all over the place with President Obama, which is creating this kind of danger. The world is a more dangerous place now than when I was an intelligence agent. We have not only this international guerrilla war but also these challenges from these other countries as well. But, Martha, I want to say one more thing to you and Bill. I disagree with Carly Fiorina when she says that it's just a political class in Washington. The truth is that the country has changed. And there are powerful forces at this point that are really controlling our lives. And that's why people are so angry. One of those is government, which is regulating everything through the Environmental Protection Agency, through other places. But the biggest one is the organized establishment media. And I just noticed just now you gave Carly Fiorina two one-minute answers in a row. This media across the country is manipulating and shaping and framing this campaign and has been for at least a year now in order to get the kind of choices that people are going to have an opportunity to see. This is wrong. It has to change. And when I'm president, it's going to change. +p5965 +aVI'll take it. +p5966 +aVMartha, I just visited a community mental health clinic in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, just three days ago, as a matter of fact. And when I was governor of Virginia, I tried to move more of those resources into the community, which will give us the facilities and the abilities to begin to identify people who actually might be dangerous and who abuse Second Amendment rights. But I do believe this is one of the really principle issues in this campaign. The president and Hillary Clinton are working very hard to change the culture of this country in order to put us in a position where we can't exercise Second Amendment rights. That's wrong. I am a board member of the National Rifle Association. The reason I'm a board member is because I believe that individuals in this country can be trusted to exercise their rights under the Second Amendment and under the Bill of Rights. To take away people's Second Amendment rights is to redefine the individual in the society, and I'm not going to put up with it. As President of the United States, when Jim Gilmore's President of the United States, I can tell you this. Gun control is not going to be an issue. If gun control... ... comes to the President's desk when I'm president, I'll veto it as fast as it takes Hillary Clinton to eliminate her emails. +p5967 +aVYou know Bill, that raises, I think, the question of the future of the Republican party. The question is -- first of all, I stand second to no one in standing up to radical Islamism. I understand that +p5968 +aVWell, thank you very much, Bill. And, thank you, and Fox and Google for including me in this debate tonight. I think it's been a wonderful opportunity. I'm the son of a meat cutter. My father worked for Safeway stores for 45 years. My mother was a secretary, she ended her career as the Secretary for the Methodist Bishop. I didn't have a father that could give me a million dollar loan to start my business. But, my father did talk character, and he provided for his family, and he was a wonderful example. And, I'm not about to go across town tonight to carry the coat for some billionaire. Instead, I intend to run for President of the United States, speak to the issue of this international war, and challenge that we're in. This issue of veterans rights, and the issue of Second Amendment rights, and I ask for your support... +p5969 +aVI think the times are different now. I think the times are much more serious. Because Obama and Clinton policies, the United States is moving further and further into a decline. I want to reverse that decline. That's why I've entered this race, and I think I have the experience to do it. Former elected prosecutor, attorney general, governor, I was elected to all of those offices. A person who, in fact, has a long experience in foreign-policy issues, which is different from many of the other governors and prospective governors who are running. I was an Army intelligence agent and a veteran during the Cold War, assigned to West Germany. I was the chairman of the National Commission on Homeland Security and Terrorism for the United States for five years. I was a person who has dealt extensively with these homeland security issues. I was a governor during the 9/11 attack. I understand both of these issues, how to build the economy and doing that as a governor who'd built jobs, had cut taxes and also a governor who understands foreign-policy, and that's why I entered this race. +p5970 +aVWell, yes, indeed. I chaired the National Commission on Homeland Security Committee for United States. We warned about the 9/11 attack before the 9/11 attack occurred. I was the governor during the 9/11 attack when the Pentagon was struck. And I'm going to tell you this, we need to use the benefit of our law enforcement people across this country, combined with our intelligence people across this country. We need to use our technological advantages, because what we've warned of is an international guerrilla movement that threatens this country. It's going to happen in this country, there are going to be further attacks. We have to be prepared to defend the American people, prepare them for a long war, stand up for the defense of this country, and stand up for the values of this country... +p5971 +aVI'll tell them that we're going to grow the economy so that we can give people better opportunities so they don't have to rely exclusively on benefit types of programs. Some do, but many Americans are dying to have an opportunity to grow and to create something inside this economy. And I'm glad that I have a chance to answer this question. I've had the growth code (ph) there for about five years, and it's this specific program. We're going to do a tax cut for all Americans. We're going to have a three-bracket tax code, 10, 15 and 25 percent. We're going to combine all commercial activity in business into one place in the tax code and charge it 15 percent, which is going to suddenly make us competitive with the rest of the world. And we're going to eliminate the death tax. With a couple of additional tweaks, we know what this will do. It will cause the economy to grow, to explode, to create more jobs. And first of all, we've got to recognize that there is problem that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have caused. And that problem is too big regulations like the EPA, too much new taxes on business that we have seen and "Obamacare." These are drags on the economy, it's a deliberate drag. I propose to reverse that and get this economy moving again. +p5972 +aVWell, as you know, I'm a former elected prosecutor, a former elected attorney general, trained at the University of Virginia in constitutional law, and I don't believe in litmus tests except this. I believe we should be appointing Supreme Court justices who will follow the law and not try to make the law. Now, the challenge we're seeing today is that the Supreme Court is being converted into some type of political body. They have to have some legal basis and precedence for being able to follow the law instead of making the law up, and my goal is -- in appointing Supreme Court justices, would be to point -- to appoint justices who would follow the law. Bill, I want to say one more thing about... +p5973 +aVNot -- not on that, no. But let me say one more thing. I want to -- before my time runs out I want to get back to this issue of +p5974 +aVWell, it's not a matter of what the first executive order would be, Bill. The matter is what orders exist now that shouldn't exist? The president has done an executive order with respect to illegal immigration that is illegal. Illegal. And it creates a -- a contempt for the law, for the rule of law. If i were the president of the United States, I would go and look at every executive order that exists right now and determine which ones want to be voided, because the president shouldn't be legislating: not through that vehicle or any other. We should be relying upon the leadership of the Congress to pass the laws. +p5975 +aVProfessional politician that can't be trusted. +p5976 +aVWell, I was a conservative governor of Virginia, I governed that way, and that's my track record. But the key thing that we're seeing now is serious challenges to this country that must change, the direction of this nation must change. And that's why I've offered a specific program to the people of America tonight to address the fundamental problem of getting our country growing again, getting our economy growing, wages up, opportunities for people. And second, the international crisis we are facing is most dreadful and most dangerous. I have the experience as a prosecutor, attorney general, governor, United States Army intelligence veteran, governor during the 9/11 attack, chairman of the Terrorism Commission for this country. It's time for real substance and real experience. And that's what I'll offer to the people of the United States in this candidacy for the presidency. Mac +p5977 +asVSANTELLI +p5978 +(lp5979 +VSenator Cruz, let's focus on our central bank, the Federal Reserve. You've been a fierce critic of the Fed, arguing for more transparency. Where do you want to take that? Do you want to get Congress involved in monetary policy, or is it time to slap the Fed back and downsize them completely? What are your thoughts? What do you believe? +p5980 +aVSenator Paul, the same question to you. +p5981 +aVThank you, Senator. Dr. Carson, you told The Des Moines Register that you don't like government subsidies, it interferes with the free market. But you've also said that you're in favor of taking oil subsidies and putting them towards ethanol processing. Isn't that just swapping one subsidy for another, Doctor? +p5982 +aVThank you, Doctor. Becky? +p5983 +aVThanks, John. Governor Pataki. +p5984 +aVHow are you doing tonight? +p5985 +aVListen, America's central bank, the Federal Reserve, they've kept interest rates near zero since the 2008 financial crisis. And, by the way, they had a meeting today, you think they raised rates? No. Shocking, isn't it? +p5986 +aVListen, it's been a rough ride for American savers and retirees, they really rely on this interest income. And it's been a bonanza for the stock market, a bonanza. And for investors that like the little bit more risk, it's been a bonanza for them as well. So I guess what I'm asking is, do you think this policy is fair and do you support it? +p5987 +aVThanks, Governor. Senator Santorum, in the 2012 presidential debate, you were for the export-import bank, which facilitates government funding for U.S. exports. American companies like GE and Boeing are among the beneficiaries. But you said that killing the bank here \u2014 and I'm going to quote you \u2014 "is the last thing a true conservative should be doing." I don't know, government-backed funding isn't normally what I hear from true conservatives. So why is this situation different? +p5988 +asVMACCALLUM +p5989 +(lp5990 +VSo it will come as no surprise that there is an idea out there that there is a civil war brewing within the GOP over the meaning of conservative and the question of who is electable. There are some in the GOP who are so outraged by Trump and Cruz that they say they would actually rather have Hillary Clinton in the White House. So, Carly Fiorina, I ask you this. Is your party in crisis? +p5991 +aVGovernor Huckabee, word is that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is considering getting into this race. If he does, that would make four New Yorkers, including Sanders, Clinton, and Trump. One candidate in this race has criticized so-called "New York values". So tell me, in your opinion, are New York values different than Iowa values? +p5992 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum, according to Google, the Paris terror attacks were the largest story that was searched in 2015, with nearly 1 billion searches of that story worldwide. There have been at 18 terror attacks so far this year -- in just January alone, in 2016, and it will likely, as we all know, get worse. But what can an American president do to stop these terrifying killings? +p5993 +aVThank you, Senator. +p5994 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you have said when it comes to +p5995 +aVThank you. +p5996 +aVComing up, we're going to have more on the top issues in this campaign, and you can engage in tonight's conversation right from home. Go to google.com, search "FOX News debate." You can vote on which candidate you think is winning so far in tonight's debate. And you can check results after the debate is over. We are back in a moment live from the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. +p5997 +aVAlright, Governor Huckabee, government grows and grows. In fact, neighborhoods in and around the Beltway get richer and richer all the time while our manufacturing towns are disappearing. Still Republicans from Reagan to Bush have bowed to shrink the size of government, but it never works. Is this Presidency, and presidency, simply too small a David to slay the Goliath of government? +p5998 +aVAlright, Carly Fiorina, you've said that you can get the tax code down to three short simple pages. But, when lobbyists who have twisted the arms of members of Congress come sit with you in the Oval Office and say, "Madam President, sorry, I cannot be with you on this one," you may understand what previous presidents have gone through. No? +p5999 +aVSenator Santorum, Bernie Sanders asked a woman in Iowa what it's like to live in poverty. She broke down in tears, saying that she lives on less than $10,000 a year and that she is ashamed every day. She leans on her parents for help. She says she can't buy presents for her children. We are all sympathetic to this woman's plight. On the other hand, the G.O.P. is supposed to be the party of smaller government. So what would you look her in the eye and say? +p6000 +aVThank you, Senator. +p6001 +aVGovernor Gilmore, thanks to the Iranian nuclear deal, President Rouhani is currently on a tour of Europe meeting with our closest allies in France and Italy. In fact, he has already landed some 50 to 85 billion are the estimates in deals with those countries, with our allies. More on the way. You and others say that you would rip up that deal. But, really, by the time the next president is in office, won't that horse be well out of the barn? +p6002 +aVWe have another question for you, Governor Gilmore, back to back, here we go. According to Google... +p6003 +aVYou got it. According to Google, gun control is the most searched issue last month, making up nearly 80 percent of all the U.S. searches. People are looking for information on guns. When it comes to the tragic mass killings that we have seen in this country, Donald Trump says that what we need to do is build quote "more institutions for people who are sickos." Charles Krauthammer also says that in some cases involuntary commitment would help. And you have agreed with that. Given that institutions would be extraordinarily expensive to begin building, how much is too much to ask on this from the American taxpayer? +p6004 +aVThank you, Governor Gilmore. +p6005 +aVStill more to come from the Republican Presidential debate tonight. And, see how the campaigns are responding to the debate in realtime, go to Google.com and open your google search app. Type in, "Fox News Debate". We'll see you, just a moment -- back. +p6006 +aVWe are back live at the Iowa events center and this question goes to Carly Fiorina. In the last debate you said as part of your introduction, quote, " And unlike the other woman candidate in this case I actually love spending time with my husband." +p6007 +aVBut back in September in an interview you said that you would stick only to the record, your record versus Hillary Clinton's record. And never resort to personal attacks. So what changed? +p6008 +aVAll right. Carly, I want to stay with you on this next question as well. You waded into the Planned Parenthood early on. You took some heat for it. Now the people who shot that undercover video are the ones who got indicted and Planned Parenthood is untouched. Hillary Clinton has been crowing about this. Any regrets about this? +p6009 +aVThank you Carly Fiorina. Let me just ask a quick question here to Senator Santorum. Carly Fiorina was the only one of the GOP candidates to attend the March for Life in Washington last week. Where were you. +p6010 +aVAll right. Coming up, we will have the closing statements from our candidates tonight as we continue live from the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. We'll be right back. +p6011 +aVAlright, let's go now to Senator Rick Santorum. +p6012 +aV +p6013 +aVCarly Fiorina. +p6014 +aVThank you, Carly. +p6015 +aVIn one hour, seven more candidates take the stage for a debate hosted by Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly, and Chris Wallace. But, up next, the O'Reilly Factor. Good night everybody. +p6016 +asVCOONEY +p6017 +(lp6018 +VThanks, John. Candidates, we've already heard your answers on what you would do with Syrian refugees, but a crucial part of the immigration debate here at home is control of our own borders. Republicans say the borders -- securing borders is a top priority. Democrats say they want to plan for comprehensive immigration reform. So, Governor O'Malley, are you willing to compromise on this particular issue to focus on border security first in favor of keeping the country safe? O' +p6019 +aVThank you. Now, Secretary Clinton said you would go further than the President when it comes to taking executive action to implement immigration reforms. But the President's already facing legal trouble on this. We've seen it more just in the past week. Realistically, how could you go further with executive action? +p6020 +aVKathie. +p6021 +aVSenator -- Senator Sanders, we've heard a lot about this, your offer -- you want to offer free tuition to public universities and colleges. A couple of questions about this. 63 percent of those who enroll graduate. First question, isn't this throwing a lot of money away if we're looking at a third of these people are not going to complete college? +p6022 +aVWell, one of the things you want to do is to have the states pay for about a third of this $70 billion plan, correct? +p6023 +aVThere are 16 states that are running budget deficits right now. Where are are they expected to come up with this? +p6024 +aVGovernor O'Malley, jump in now. O' +p6025 +aVAll right, Nancy Cordes has a question. +p6026 +asVMCELVEEN +p6027 +(lp6028 +VSecretary Clinton, how does your plan differentiate from your opponents? +p6029 +aVThank you Secretary Clinton, thank you. +p6030 +aVBack to you David. +p6031 +aVThank you, David. And good evening, candidates. Mr. Trump, you have said, quote, "I love eminent domain" which is the seizure of private property for the sake of the greater good theoretically. You tried to use the measure in business endeavors, you've said you'd support its use for the Keystone Pipeline project. Here in New Hampshire, a project, though, known as the Northern pass would bring hydro-electric power from Canada into the Northeastern grid. Do you see eminent domain as an appropriate tool to get that done? +p6032 +aVSo would that be yes on the Northern Pass project? +p6033 +aVMr. Trump, take 30 seconds. +p6034 +aVAll right, gentlemen... +p6035 +aVGentlemen, we do have to move forward. Dave, Martha, back to you. +p6036 +aVYou're all aware, candidates, this is a major problem here in New Hampshire. It's a very deadly problem as well. Last month, New Hampshire senators Kelly Ayotte, Republican, and Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat, they went down to Washington, along with the police chief of the state's largest city to testify before the Judiciary Committee in D.C. Senator Cruz, you're a member of that committee. Your campaign schedule didn't allow you to attend this. Even so, the police chief called your absence outrageous, given the severity of the problem. Last week, though, you told a personal story of a close family member's struggle with addiction. What can you say to law enforcement right now to convince them that you understand the severity of this problem and you're not just saying what people want to hear days before the primary? +p6037 +aVAnd Governor Christie, you have talked a lot about this issue here in New Hampshire. State reforms, criminal justice reforms, access to treatment. To Senator Cruz's point, let's take it a step further. Would you be willing to engage in cross-border enforcement into Mexico, a place where law enforcement in New Hampshire has traced at lot of this supply back to. Would you engage in cross-border enforcement without the cooperation without the Mexican government? +p6038 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you very much. David, Martha, back to you. +p6039 +aVThank you, Martha. None of you on stage tonight have ever worn a uniform as a member of the armed services. That's the reality of it. But as commander-in-chief, you'll also be charged with the care of 23 million active duty service members and veterans in this country. Some have suggested privatizing the V.A. as a way to enhance care and increase the quality of the care and access. Others say that veterans should carry I.D. cards that allow them access to any hospital or health care provider. Governor Bush, what specifically would you do to ensure that those who have sacrificed for us are cared for? +p6040 +aVGovernor Kasich, do you have a favored approach? +p6041 +aVSenator Rubio, go ahead? +p6042 +aVSenator Rubio, thanks very much. Going to move forward now. David, Martha, back to you. +p6043 +asVLOPEZ +p6044 +(lp6045 +VGracias, Anderson. Senator Sanders, in 2013, you voted for immigration reform. But in 2007, when Democrats controlled Congress and the Bush White House was onboard, you voted against it. Why should Latino voters trust you now when you left them at the altar at the moment when reform was very close? +p6046 +aVTom Harkin isn't running for president. You are. +p6047 +aVSecretary Clinton \u2014 Secretary Clinton, Governor O'Malley wants to open up Obamacare to millions of undocumented immigrants and their children, including almost 90,000 people right here in Nevada. Do you? +p6048 +aVGovernor O'Malley? O' +p6049 +aVSenator Webb, do you support the undocumented immigrants getting Obamacare? +p6050 +aV...Thank you, Senator. +p6051 +aVThank you, Anderson. Senator Sanders, right here in Nevada, there will be a measure to legalize recreational marijuana on the 2016 ballot. You've said you smoked marijuana twice; it didn't quite work for you. If you were a Nevada resident, how would you vote? +p6052 +aVSecretary Clinton, you told Christiane Amanpour you didn't smoke pot when you were young, and you're not going to start now. When asked about legalizing recreational marijuana, you told her let's wait and see how it plays out in Colorado and Washington. It's been more than a year since you've said that. Are you ready to take a position tonight? +p6053 +asVDICKERSON +p6054 +(lp6055 +VBefore we start the debate here are the rules. The candidates have one minute to respond to our questions and 30 seconds to respond to our follow-up. Any candidate who is attacked by another candidate gets 30 seconds for rebuttal. Here's how we'll keep time, after a question is asked the green light goes on. When there are 15 seconds left the candidate gets a yellow warning light. And when time's up the light turns red. That means stop talking. Those are the rules. So let's get started. You will each have one minute for an opening statement to share your thoughts about the attacks in your Paris and lay out your visions for America. First, Senator Sanders. +p6056 +aVAll right, Senator Sanders. Secretary Clinton. +p6057 +aVGovernor O'Malley. O' +p6058 +aVAll right, thank you, Governor. Thank all of you. The terror attacks last night underscore biggest challenge facing the next president of the United States. At a time of crisis, the country and the world look to the president for leadership and for answers. So, Secretary Clinton, I'd like to start with you. Hours before the attacks, President Obama said, "I don't think +p6059 +aVBut as -- Secretary Clinton, the question was about, was +p6060 +aVOkay, Governor O'Malley, would you critique the administration's response to +p6061 +aVSenator Sanders, you said you want to rid the planet of +p6062 +aVQuickly, just let me ask you a follow-up on that, Senator Sanders. When you say the disastrous vote on Iraq, let's just be clear about what you're saying. You're saying Secretary Clinton, who was then Senator Clinton, voted for the Iraq war. And are you making a direct link between her vote for that or and what's happening now for +p6063 +aVAlright. Let's let Secretary Clinton respond to that. +p6064 +aVSenator Sanders let me just follow this line of thinking. You criticized then, Senator Clinton's vote. Do you have anything to criticize in the way she performed as Secretary of State? +p6065 +aVAlright. +p6066 +aVSenator let me... O' +p6067 +aVAll right, Secretary Clinton. +p6068 +aVI understand. Quickly, Senator. +p6069 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p6070 +aVLet me ask you, Secretary Clinton, a question about leadership. We're talking about what role does America take? Let me ask you about Libya. So Libya is a country in which +p6071 +aVGovernor O' Malley I want to ask you a question and you can add whatever you'd like to. But let me ask you, is the world too dangerous a place for a governor who has no foreign policy experience? O' +p6072 +aVSecretary Clinton, you mentioned radical jihadists. Marco Rubio, also running for president, said that this attack showed and the attack in Paris showed that we are at war with radical Islam. Do you agree with that characterization, radical Islam? +p6073 +aVJust to interrupt. He didn't say all Muslims. He just said radical Islam. Is that a phrase you don't... +p6074 +aVThe reason I ask is you gave a speech at Georgetown University in which you said, that it was important to show, quote, "respect, even for one's enemies. Trying to understand and in so far as psychologically possible, empathize with their perspective and point of view." Can you explain what that means in the context of this kind of barbarism? +p6075 +aVJust quickly, do either of you, radical Islam, do either of you use that phrase? +p6076 +aVGovernor O' Malley, you have been making the case when you talk about lack of forward vision, you're essentially saying that Secretary Clinton lacks that vision and this critique matches up with this discussion of language. The critique is that the softness of language betrays a softness of approach. So if this language -- if you don't call it by what it is, how can your approach be effective to the cause? that's the critique. O' +p6077 +aVSecretary Clinton, the French president has called this attack an act of war. +p6078 +aVA couple of days ago you were asked if you would declare war on +p6079 +aVAnd you think that covers all of this? +p6080 +aVIf you were in the Senate, would you be okay with the commander in chief doing that without it coming back to you? +p6081 +aVSenator, let me just -- let's add to whatever you've got to say. Refugees. You've been a little vague on what you would do about the Syrian refugees. What's your view on them now? +p6082 +aVGovernor O'Malley, you have a magic number. I think it's 65,000. Does that number go up or down based on what happened yesterday? O' +p6083 +aVJust very quickly, 65,000, the number stays? O' +p6084 +aVBut for you, what would you want? O' +p6085 +aVSecretary Clinton, let me ask you a question from twitter which has come in and this is a question on this issue of refugees. The question is, with the U.S. preparing to absorb Syrian refugees, how do you propose we screen those coming in to keep citizens safe? +p6086 +aVAlright. Senator Sanders, I'm sorry. We're going to have to take a break now. We will have more of the Democratic debate here from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. +p6087 +aVWant to turn now from terrorism to another important issue for many Americans, the financial squeeze on the the middle class. For that, we go to my CBS News Colleague, Nancy Cordes. Nancy? +p6088 +aVAll right, I am sorry, Governor, we're going to have to go, I apologize. O' +p6089 +aVGovernor -- Governor, you're breaking the rules. I'm sorry, we're going to have to cut for a commercial. We'll be right back here from Drake University here in Des Moines, Iowa. O' +p6090 +aVThere is a lot of presidential history here in Iowa. It hosted the first in the nation caucuses. Herbert Hoover was born in West Branch, and tonight, we are in Polk County, named for our 11th president, with three people who hope to be number 45. Joining my now to question them are Iowans Kevin Cooney of +p6091 +aVYou have -- you have given me the perfect segue. We are going to talk about Wall Street, but now we've got to go do a commercial. We're coming to the end of the first hour. But there's another hour behind it and we're going to talk about Wall Street so hang with us. +p6092 +aVGood evening again, as we begin the second half of the debate. Joining me in the questioning are the candidates -- of the candidates are CBS news congressional correspondent Nancy Cordes, Kevin Cooney of CBS Des Moines affiliate +p6093 +aVSenator Sanders you said that the donations to Secretary Clinton are compromising. So what did you think of her answer? +p6094 +aVGreat follow up because you -- and Secretary Clinton, you will get a chance to respond. You said they know what they're going to get. What are they going to get? +p6095 +aVHold on. He was attacked. O' +p6096 +aVHold on, he was attacked. Glass-Steagall... +p6097 +aVAll right. Senator, we have to get Governor O' Malley in. Governor, along with your answer, how many Wall Street veterans would you have in your administration? O' +p6098 +aVAnyone from Wall Street? O' +p6099 +aVHold on. +p6100 +aVAll right, I want to switch to the -- switch to the issue of guns here. Secretary Clinton, you said that Senator Sanders is not tough enough on guns, but basically he now supports roughly the same things you do. So can tell us what the exact difference is going forward between the two of you on the issue of gun control? +p6101 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to... +p6102 +aVSecretary Clinton, just a quick follow-up. You say that Senator Sanders took a vote that -- on immunity that you don't like. So if he can be tattooed by a single vote and that ruins all future opinions by him on this issue, why then isn't he right when he says your wrong vote on Iraq tattoos you forever in your judgment? +p6103 +aVBut was that a mistake, Senator? +p6104 +aVSenator, a mistake or not, your immunity vote? Quickly, before I go to... +p6105 +aVSo not a mistake? O' +p6106 +aVHold on. +p6107 +aVSorry. I'm going to bring in Nancy Cordes with a question from twitter about this exchange. +p6108 +aVFinal word. Final word, Governor O'Malley, before we go to commercial. O' +p6109 +aVWe have to -- we have to go for a commercial, Senator. I'm sorry. We have to go for a commercial here. We'll be right back with the Democratic debate here in Des Moines, Iowa on CBS. +p6110 +aVBack now in Des Moines with the candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination. Senator Sanders, I want to start with you. Let's say you're elected president. Congratulations. +p6111 +aVYou've said you'll have a revolution. +p6112 +aVBut there's a conservative revolution going on in America right now. As John Boehner knows and as Democrats know, who have lost in state houses across the country. +p6113 +aVThose conservatives are watching tonight and probably shaking their heads. So how do you deal with that part of the country? The revolution's already happening, but on the other side? +p6114 +aVSenator, as a 30-second follow-up, we've heard already tonight this figure, 92 percent of support for background checks. Let's look at that as an example. There was something 92 percent of the public was for. There had been these mass shootings. There was emotional support behind it. +p6115 +aVBipartisan support. +p6116 +aVThe president, the full force of his office. +p6117 +aVIt went nowhere. That's the model you're talking about. Nothing happened. +p6118 +aVA question from Kathie Obradovich. +p6119 +aVSecretary Clinton, just one more question on the e- mail question. For Democrats, there's an FBI investigation going on. Can you satisfy Democrats, who might worry about an another shoe dropping, that you and your staff have been totally truthful to them, and that another shoe is not going to drop? +p6120 +aVRace relations is another issue everyone cares about, and we're going to switch to that now. Governor O'Malley, let me ask you a question. The head of the FBI recently said it might be possible that some police forces are not enforcing the law, because they're worried about being caught on camera. The acting head of the drug enforcement administration said a similar thing. Where are you on this question? And what would do you if you were president, and two top members of your administration were floating that idea? O' +p6121 +aVAll right, Governor... Senator Sanders, one of your former colleagues, an African- American member of Congress, said to me recently that a young African- American man had asked him where to find hope in life. And he said, "I just don't know what to tell him about being young and black in America today." What would you tell that young African-American man? +p6122 +aVSecretary Clinton, you told some Black Lives Matter activists recently that there's a difference between rhetoric in activism and what you were trying to do, was -- get laws passed that would help what they were pushing for. But recently, at the University of Missouri, that activism was very, very effective. So would you suggest that kind of activism take place at other universities across the country? +p6123 +aVAll right, over to Kevin Cooney. +p6124 +aVThirty seconds. +p6125 +aVI'm sorry, governor. We've got to take a break or the machine breaks down. You're watching the Democratic debate here on CBS. +p6126 +aVWe begin the final segment of this debate with something none of you saw coming. Something quite unexpected. Soon after your inauguration, you will face a crisis. All presidents do. What crisis you have experienced in your life that suggests you've been testd and can face that inevitable challenge? Secretary Clinton, you first. +p6127 +aVGovernor O' Malley, what crisis proves that you're tested? O' +p6128 +aVSenator Sanders what, experience would you draw on in a crisis? +p6129 +aVAll right, Senator Sanders... We've ended the evening on crisis, which underscores and reminds us again of what happened last night. Now, let's move to closing statements. Governor O'Malley, you're first. O' +p6130 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p6131 +aVSenator Sanders? +p6132 +aVGood evening. I'm John Dickerson. This holiday weekend, as America honors our first president, we're about to hear from six men who hope to be the 45th. The candidates for the Republican nomination are here in South Carolina for their ninth debate, one week before this state holds the first-in-the-South primary. George Washington wrote that the truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains taken to bring it to light. We hope to shed some light on the candidates' positions tonight to help voters make up their minds. So gentlemen, please join us on stage. With us tonight \u2014 with us tonight are retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson of Florida, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Businessman Donald Trump of New York. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Former Governor Jeb Bush of Florida. And Governor John Kasich of Ohio. Now, as most of you have heard by now, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died today at the age of 79. He was the longest-serving member of the court, appointed by President Reagan in 1986. Justice Scalia was the court's leading conservative, and even those who disagreed with his opinions regarded him as a brilliant legal scholar. Please join us and the candidates on our stage in a moment of silence for Justice Antonin Scalia. Thank you. We will talk to the candidates about Justice Scalia and the road ahead when the debate begins in a moment. +p6133 +aVBefore we get started, candidates, here are the rules. When we ask you a question, you will have one minute to answer, and 30 seconds more if we ask a follow-up. If you're attacked by another candidate, you get 30 seconds to respond. And here's how we keep time. After we ask a question, you'll get a green light. The yellow light means you have 30 seconds left to finish your answer, and when time is up, the light turns red. That means please stop talking. If you keep talking, you'll hear this. You don't want to hear that. Joining me in the questioning tonight, my CBS News colleague, chief White House correspondent Major Garrett, and Kimberley Strassel, who is on the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal. And you can participate in the debate through our partnership with Twitter. Tweet us your questions and comments using the hashtag "# +p6134 +aVSo, just to be clear on this, Mr. Trump, you're O.K. with the president nominating somebody ... +p6135 +aVGovernor Kasich, I want to get your thoughts on this. Justice Scalia was a real believer, obviously, in the strict word of the Constitution. Now, Harry Reid says that a failure to fill his vacancy would be, quote, "shameful abdication of one of the Senate's most essential constitutional responsibilities." Where do you come down on this? +p6136 +aVDr. Carson. Dr. Carson, you, like others, put out a statement after the death was announced, and you said the president should delay. You've written a book on the Constitution recently. What does the Constitution say about whose duty it is here to act in this kind of a situation? +p6137 +aVSenator Rubio, you're a... Senator Rubio, you're a lawyer. Quickly, can you address the issue of whether the Constitution tells us who has the power to appoint Supreme Court justices? And then, also, the Senate Republicans last year floated an idea of removing the filibuster for Senate \u2014 excuse me, for Supreme Court nominations. You seemed open to that. What's your feeling on that now? +p6138 +aVQuickly, though, on this question... Very quickly, Senator, on this specific question, though. You were once in favor of dropping the threshold... +p6139 +aV... majority \u2014 you were never in favor of that? +p6140 +aVO.K. Thank you, Senator. Governor Bush, I would like to ask you, conservatives for a long time have felt like that their Republican presidents have picked justices that didn't turn out to be real conservatives. +p6141 +aVBernie Sanders has said he would have a litmus test. He would make sure that he appointed a justice who was going to overturn Citizens United. If they can have a litmus test for a nominee, what about you? Would you have a litmus test for a nominee? And what would it be? +p6142 +aVRight, so, Senator Cruz, the Constitution... So, Senator Cruz, the Constitution says the president "shall appoint with advice and consent from the Senate," just to clear that up. So he has the constitutional power. But you don't think he should. Where do you set that date if you're president? Does it begin in election year, in December, November, September? And once you set the date, when you're president, will you abide by that date? +p6143 +aVJust can I \u2014 I'm sorry to interrupt, were any appointed in an election year, or is that just there were 80 years... +p6144 +aVBut Kennedy was confirmed in '88. +p6145 +aVHe was appointed in '87. +p6146 +aV... confirmed in '88. That's the question, is it appointing or confirming, what's the difference? +p6147 +aVSorry, I just want to get the facts straight for the audience. But I apologize. +p6148 +aVAll right. Thank you, Senator Cruz. All right, we're going to move on to national security here, and we are going to \u2014 I want to read a quote from Secretary Robert Gates, former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who served for eight year \u2014 under eight presidents. And this is what he said about Republican candidates, quote, "Part of the concern that I have with the campaign is that the solutions being offered are so simplistic and so at odds with the way the world really works." So, in that spirit, we're going to work tonight to be more specific. Mr. Trump, I want to start with you. You have said as president, you'll get up to speed very quickly. You'll know more quickly as president than any of the experts. So, you've been elected president. It's your first day in the Situation Room. What three questions do you ask your national security experts about the world? +p6149 +aVSenator Rubio \u2014 just 30 seconds on this question, Senator Rubio. Are those the questions you would ask? +p6150 +aVLet me ask you a follow-up, a full, proper question, then. Violent extremists are operating or active in 40 countries. Some 80 countries are in different degrees of instability. And so, that's just the crises overseas. Barack Obama walked into an economic collapse when he came into office. We face international health crises, from Ebola to Zika. So, there is a lot of opportunity for crisis, as you have talked about. What would you point to in your past to show voters that you've been in a crisis and that you've been tested when that inevitable crisis comes when you're president? +p6151 +aVDr. Carson, I want to ask you a question... Dr. Carson, you said you've had more 2 a.m. \u2014 2 a.m. phone calls than anybody up on this stage. But when those 2 a.m. phone calls came, you operated on a foundation of all of that amazing medical work that you did, all of that learning. So if you were to be president, though, you wouldn't have the political foundation that hones those instincts when the 2 a.m. phone call comes. So isn't that a liability? +p6152 +aVGovernor Kasich, Russia is being credited......Russia is being credited with bombing U.S.-backed rebels on behalf of Assad in Aleppo and Syria. They've also moved into the Crimea, eastern Ukraine. You've said you want to punch them in the nose. What does that mean? What are you going to do? +p6153 +aVGovernor......Governor Bush. +p6154 +aVYou said defeating +p6155 +aVMr. Trump, you're......Mr. Trump, you were mentioned here. You did say that you could get along very well with Vladimir Putin. You did at one point say let Russia take care of +p6156 +aV... All right... +p6157 +aV... All right, Governor Bush, please respond. +p6158 +aV... O.K., settle... +p6159 +aV... All right, Mr. Trump, all right... +p6160 +aVGentleman, I think we're going to leave that there. I've got a question for Senator... +p6161 +aV... All right, all right, gentlemen, gentlemen, let's leave it there so I can ask a question of Senator Cruz, who's also running for president. Senator Cruz, you talked about the first Gulf War as being a kind of model for your focused and determined effort to go after +p6162 +aVVery quickly, 30-second follow-up. You've said that, essentially, the Kurds would be the American ground forces in there. The criticism that experts have on that is that the Kurds only can work within their territory. If they take larger amounts of territory, you have an ethnic war with the Arabs. So the Kurds can't really do as much as you seem to be putting on their backs. +p6163 +aVAll right. Mr. Trump......On Monday, George W. Bush will campaign in South Carolina for his brother. As you've said tonight, and you've often said, the Iraq war and your opposition to it was a sign of your good judgment. In 2008, in an interview with Wolf Blitzer, talking about President George W. Bush's conduct of the war, you said you were surprised that Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi didn't try to impeach him. You said, quote: "Which, personally, I think would have been a wonderful thing." When you were asked what you meant by that and you said: "For the war, for the war, he lied, he got us into the war with lies." Do you still believe President Bush should have been impeached? +p6164 +aVSo... +p6165 +aVBut so I'm going to \u2014 so you still think he should be impeached? +p6166 +aVAll right. O.K. All right. Governor Bush \u2014 when a member on the stage's brother gets attacked... +p6167 +aV... the brother gets to respond. +p6168 +aVGovernor Kasich, would you weigh in on......Governor Kasich, please weigh in. +p6169 +aVWhy is it nuts? Talk about it. Give us your sense of... +p6170 +aVThirty seconds, Senator Rubio. +p6171 +aVAll right, Dr. Carson, we have a cleansing... +p6172 +aVWe have a cleansing... +p6173 +aVAll right. Well, Dr. Carson, I have got a question now for you. A moment of pause here. You have said, Dr. Carson, that \u2014 referring to yourself, that people bought into the idea that, quote, "A nice person can't be tough on terrorists." You have called for loosening the rules of engagement for the military, which could lead to more civilian casualties. So, explain why those casualties would be acceptable in the fight against +p6174 +aVAll right, thank you, Dr. Carson. We're going to have to take a commercial break here. Thank you to all the candidates. We'll be right back with CBS News's 2016 debate in Greenville, South Carolina. +p6175 +aVWe're back with the Republicans who could be president. The topic now is money and how the candidates would spend it. We'll turn the questioning over to Kimberley Strassel of The Wall Street Journal and Major Garrett of CBS News. Kim? +p6176 +aVDr. Carson, before we go to break, could you give us your sense of this conversation about either Medicaid or economic growth through taxation? +p6177 +aVDoctor... +p6178 +aV... Dr. Carson, I'm sorry, we have to go to a commercial. The free market wants what it wants. Back soon with the 2016 Republican debate in Greenville, South Carolina. +p6179 +aVWelcome back. We'll begin the second half of the debate with one of the hottest issues in the Republican campaign, immigration. But before I turn it back to Major Garrett and Kim Strassel, I have one question for Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump, in the Republican National Committee's Spanish-language response to the State of the Union, Congressman Diaz-Balart said, quote, "It's essential that we find a legislative solution," talking about immigration, "to offer a permanent and humane solution to those who live in the shadows. What does that mean to you, "a humane solution to those who live in the shadows"? +p6180 +aVSenator Cruz, I have a question for you. Speaker Paul Ryan has made a big commitment to trying to lift the 50 million poor out of poverty. Arthur Brooks, who is the president of the American Enterprise Institute, says, quote, "If we are not warriors for the poor every day, free enterprise has no matter." How you have been, in your campaign, a warrior for the poor? +p6181 +aVAll right. Mr. Trump, thank you so much. We're going to take a break for a moment. We'll be back in a moment with the CBS News Republican debate. +p6182 +aVWe're back now from Greenville, South Carolina, with the candidates for the Republican presidential nomination. Mr. Trump, I have a question for you. Presidents have to, on the one hand, be firm, but also be flexible. You have been flexible and changed your opinion on a number of things, from abortion to Hillary Clinton. But you have said, rightly, that it's just like Ronald Reagan, who changed his mind on things. But at the same time, you're criticizing Senator Cruz for what you say is a change on immigration. He disputes that, of course. So, why is your change of opinion make you like Reagan, and when he changes his opinion, it's a huge character flaw? +p6183 +aVWhich conservative idea don't you agree with? +p6184 +aVAll right. Governor Bush, I think by "they," he is referring to your brother, these on the hook for your brother. +p6185 +aVBut that was his brother. +p6186 +aVHold on, gentleman, I'm going to turn this car around. +p6187 +aVAll right, gentlemen. +p6188 +aVWell, hold on. We're going to \u2014 gentlemen, we're in danger of driving this into the dirt. Senator Rubio, I'd like you to jump in here... +p6189 +aVI understand, you're on deck, governor. +p6190 +aVSenator Cruz, 30 seconds on this one. +p6191 +aVWe're going to switch... +p6192 +aVWe're going to switch here to Senator Marco Rubio. Senator Marco Rubio, please weigh in. +p6193 +aVI thought you had a point? +p6194 +aVI thought you had a point you wanted to make. +p6195 +aVYou're on deck, sir. +p6196 +aVSenator, I wanted to ask you, just going back to immigration, in the last debate, you listed your series of accomplishments in the Senate. One thing you left off was \u2014 was immigration reform. Is it the case that in your list of accomplishments you can't mention that? +p6197 +aVDr. Carson, I have......Dr. Carson, I have a question for you. Candidates are... +p6198 +aVAll right. You have 30 seconds, Doctor. +p6199 +aVDr. Carson, I \u2014 let me ask you a different question. When you were \u2014 you were the first one, really, to talk about political correctness. Everybody now talks about it, but that was really what sparked your \u2014 your rise. Politicians are often accused of glossing over any hard choices people have to make, just always selling happy, nice things. So in the \u2014 in the spirit of saying something that might be politically incorrect, tell the voters something that they need to hear but that might be politically incorrect? +p6200 +aVGovernor Kasich. Governor Kasich, you've been described as the Democrats' favorite Republican. You talked about in New Hampshire, Democrats would come up to you and say, "I hope you win." Why will that help you win a Republican nomination? +p6201 +aVMr. Trump, let me ask you a question. Presidents in both parties say that the one thing you need in your administration is somebody who can tell you you're wrong. You don't necessarily seem like somebody who has somebody who tells you you're wrong a lot. Can you tell us of an instance where somebody has said, "Donald Trump, you're wrong," and you listened to them? +p6202 +aVAbout what? +p6203 +aVLet me \u2014 something, in talking to voters that they wish somebody would tell you to cut it out is the profanity. What's your reaction to that? +p6204 +aVAll right. O.K. Governor Bush, I'd like to ask you... +p6205 +aVWell, can I \u2014 how about you respond, and then you can answer the question I'm about to ask you. +p6206 +aVIt'll be... +p6207 +aVIf we adjudicate this, the night will be over. Governor, in 2012, you said that your father and Ronald Reagan would have a hard time in today's Republican Party, based on their records of trying to find accommodation and finding some degree of common ground. Do you still feel that way? +p6208 +aVHold on, Mr. Trump. +p6209 +aVHold on, Mr. Trump. +p6210 +aVO.K., Mr. Trump, your response. +p6211 +aVThe bells are ringing, sir. +p6212 +aVAll right. Thank you. Senator Rubio, I want to ask you a 30-second question, no president can... +p6213 +aVNo \u2014 well, I'll ask the question, you do what you want. +p6214 +aVNo president can know everything, right? So a smart leader knows how to ask questions. So if you could talk to any previous president, what's the smart question you would ask about that job that you would want to know? +p6215 +aVAll right. That's going to have to be it there, Senator Rubio. We have got to go to a break. We will be right back with the CBS News Republican debate in Greenville, South Carolina. +p6216 +aVTime now for closing statements. You will each have one minute, and we'll begin with Governor Kasich. +p6217 +aVDr. Carson \u2014 Dr. Carson, you're next. +p6218 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor Bush. +p6219 +aVSenator Cruz? Senator Cruz, your closing statement? +p6220 +aVMr. Trump, your closing statements? +p6221 +as. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/downloads/data/script3.pickle b/downloads/data/script3.pickle new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6a11625 --- /dev/null +++ b/downloads/data/script3.pickle @@ -0,0 +1,2117 @@ +(dp0 +VUNKNOWN +p1 +(lp2 +VIf you're not going to have my back, I'm going to have my back. +p3 +aVA couple things here. First of all... +p4 +aVWe have grown \u2014 we have grown... +p5 +aVTrue. It's true. +p6 +aV...let me follow up that... +p7 +aV +p8 +aVOh, great. +p9 +asVIFILL +p10 +(lp11 +VWe want to also extend our warm thanks to Milwaukee Public Radio and Milwaukee Public Television, as well as all of our friends at the PBS member stations across the country tuning in tonight. This is the sixth time the Democrats have met face to face. Each time, we learn more about them and the presidents they say they want to be. You know you're watching \u2014 whether you're a Democrat, a Republican, or neither \u2014 because you believe the outcome of the election is important to you. And we believe that, too. With that, let's welcome the candidates to the stage. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. +p12 +aVWelcome to you both. +p13 +aVWith Iowa and New Hampshire behind us, we are now broadening the conversation to America's heartland and beyond, including here in Wisconsin. Now let's turn to the candidates for their opening statements. The order was decided by coin toss. And, Senator Sanders, you go first. +p14 +aVThank you, Senator Sanders. Thank you, Senator Sanders. Secretary Clinton. +p15 +aVFinal thought, Senator. +p16 +aVI'd like to move along. I'd like to move along. Secretary Clinton, you might \u2014 you also have proposed fairly expansive ideas about government. You may remember this pledge from a State of the Union Address at which I believe you were present, in which these words were said: "The era of big government is over." You may remember that. When asked your feelings about the federal government this week, 61 percent of New Hampshire Democrats told exit pollsters that they are angry or at least dissatisfied. Given what you and Senator Sanders are proposing, an expanding government in almost every area of our lives, is it fair for Americans who fear government to fear you? +p17 +aVBut I haven't heard either of you put a price tag on your \u2014 you say... +p18 +aVSenator? +p19 +aVSenator, do you worry at all that you will be the instrument of thwarting history, as Senator Clinton keeps claiming, that she might be the first woman president? +p20 +aVThank you both. We turn now to the first of several questions from our partners at Facebook. They were selected from a curated group of people we've been following of undecided voters. The first comes from Claudia Looze, a 54-year-old woman who works as a program manager at a public affairs cable network in Madison, Wisconsin. And she writes: "Wisconsin is number one in African-American male incarceration, according to a University of Wisconsin study. They found that Wisconsin's incarceration rate for black men, which is at 13 percent, was nearly double the country's rate. What can we do across the nation to address this?" Senator Sanders. +p21 +aVLet me turn this on its head, because when we talk about race in this country, we always talk about African-Americans, people of color. I want to talk about white people, OK? +p22 +aVI know. So many people will be surprised to find out that we are sitting in one of the most racially polarized metropolitan areas in the country. By the middle of this century, the nation is going to be majority nonwhite. Our public schools are already there. If working-class, white Americans are about to be outnumbered, are already underemployed in many cases, and one study found they are dying sooner, don't they have a reason to be resentful, Senator \u2014 Secretary Clinton? +p23 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, I want you to respond to that, but I also want you to \u2014 am I wrong? Is it even right to be describing this as a matter of race? +p24 +aVIf you would allow me now to move on, we've been talking about children. I want to talk about seniors. That takes us to our second Facebook question from Farheen Hakeem, who writes, "My father" \u2014 she's a 40-year-old woman who works for a nonprofit here in Milwaukee. And she writes, "My father gets just $16 in food assistance per month as part of Medicaid's family community program in Milwaukee County for low-income seniors. How will you as president work to ensure low-income seniors get their basic needs met?" Start with you, Senator Sanders. +p25 +aVSenator Sanders, are you saying... +p26 +aVThere's a lot more to come in just a few minutes. Stay with us for more of the PBS NewsHour Democratic Debate. +p27 +aVHow about you, Senator Clinton \u2014 Secretary Clinton? +p28 +aVWe spent the first part of this debate talking about domestic insecurity. The second part, we want to talk about our foreign policy insecurities. And we want to start with a question for you, Secretary Clinton, about America's role in the world. Americans are becoming increasingly worried that attacks abroad are coming home, that they already are, in fact, here. According to exit polls from last week, from earlier this week, more than two-thirds of Democrats in New Hampshire are concerned about sending their children to fight in wars they can't win. They fret that the next attack is just around the corner and we are not ready. Are we? +p29 +aVSenator Sanders... +p30 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p31 +aVLet me move on. You have both mentioned the humanitarian tragedies which have been an outgrowth in part of what has happened in Syria and in Libya. More than a million refugees entered Europe in 2015. Another 76,000 just last month, that is about 2,000 arrivals every day. Nearly 400 people have been lost at sea so far this year, crossing the Mediterranean. And there are reports that 10,000 children are missing. If we are leaders in this world, where should the U.S. be on this? What should the United States be doing, Secretary Clinton? +p32 +aVSenator, if you would like respond to \u2014 you may respond to that but it is time for closing statements and you can use your time for closing statements to do that. +p33 +aVThank you. Thank you Senator Clinton. Thank you, Senator Sanders. We also want to thank our partners at Facebook and our hosts here at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. +p34 +aVI'm going to remain here in Milwaukee tomorrow evening for a special edition of Washington Week here on PBS. +p35 +asVWOODRUFF +p36 +(lp37 +VGood evening, and thank you. We are happy to welcome you to Milwaukee for this Democratic debate. We are especially pleased to thank our partners at Facebook, who have helped us set up a vibrant conversation among voters who are undecided. And tonight you're going to hear some of their questions for the candidates. And you can follow along at home on the PBS NewsHour page on Facebook. We also want to thank our hosts, the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, on whose campus we meet, here in the beautiful Helen Bader Concert Hall. +p38 +aVWelcome, Senator, great to see you. And former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Very good to be here with you. +p39 +aVNow, a word about format. There will be two short breaks, and the rules are simple: 90 seconds for each answer and 30 seconds for the other candidate to respond. +p40 +aVThank you both. Thank you both. And we'll be right back after a short break to begin questions. +p41 +aVAnd, welcome back to this PBS Newshour debate, Democratic debate, here in Milwaukee. Let's get right to the questions. Senator Sanders, to you first. Coming off the results in Iowa and New Hampshire, there are many voters who are taking a closer look at you, and your ideas, and they're asking how big a role do you foresee for the federal government? It's already spending 21% of the entire U.S. economy. How much larger would government be in the lives of Americans under a Sanders presidency? +p42 +aVBut, my question is how big would government be? Would there be any limit on the size of the role of government... +p43 +aVNext, we're going to... +p44 +aVVery brief, thank you. +p45 +aVSecretary Clinton, your campaign \u2014 you and your campaign have made a clear appeal to women voters. You have talked repeatedly about the fact, we know you would be, if elected, the first woman president. But in New Hampshire 55 percent of the women voters supported and voted for Senator Sanders. What are women missing about you? +p46 +aVAs you know, just quickly, as you know, your strong supporter, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, said the other day that there's a special place in Hell for women who don't support other women. Do you agree with what she said? +p47 +aVSenator Sanders, you're in the minority, but we still want to hear from you. +p48 +aVFinal comment. +p49 +aVSecretary Clinton, I was talking recently with a 23 year old black woman who voted for President Obama because she said she thought relations between the races would get better under his leadership, and his example. Hardly anyone believes that they have. Why do you think race relations would be better under a Clinton presidency? What would you do that the nation's first African American has not been able to? +p50 +aVSenator Sanders? +p51 +aVSo race relation was be better under a Sanders presidency than they've been? +p52 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders, one of the causes of anxiety for working class Americans is connected to immigrants. President Obama, as you know, has issued executive actions to permit some 5 million undocumented immigrants who are living now in the United States to come out of the shadows without fear of deportation to get work permits. Would you go further than that? And if so, how specifically would you do it? Should an undocumented family watching this debate tonight, say, in Nevada, rest easy, not fear of further deportations under a Sanders presidency? +p53 +aVI'd like... +p54 +aVWe're going to move on. Secretary Clinton, your campaign has recently ramped up criticism of Senator Sanders for attending Democratic Party fundraisers from which you say he benefited. But nearly half of your financial sector donations appear to come from just two wealthy financiers, George Soros and Donald Sussman, for a total of about $10 million. You have said that there's no quid pro quo involved. Is that also true of the donations that wealthy Republicans give to Republican candidates, contributors including the Koch Brothers? +p55 +aVI'm asking if Democratic donors are different than Republican donors. +p56 +aVWe have to go to a break. We... +p57 +aVAll right. Thank you both. It is time for a break. And when we come back, we're going to turn to some new topics, including how these candidates will keep America safe. +p58 +aVWelcome back to the Democratic presidential debate. Before we return to our questions, we have a follow-up question from our Facebook group. And it is to Senator Sanders. Senator, it comes from Bill Corfield. He is a 55-year-old musician from Troy, Ohio. And he asks: "Are there any areas of government you would like to reduce?" +p59 +aVJust a final word. +p60 +aVSenator, let me \u2014 let me move on to another country with which the U.S. has a complicated relationship, Senator Sanders, and that's Russia. On the one hand, we're aware that Russia is a country that the United States needs to cooperate with. Just tonight, Secretary of State John Kerry has announced what appears to be an agreement with the Russians to lead \u2014 that could lead toward a ceasefire in Syria, would be the first cessation of conflict in that country, in that civil war in five years, but it comes at a very high price, because not only have all \u2014 have we seen the deaths, the removal of so many people, millions of people, we now see the Russians in the last few weeks have bombed in a way that benefits President Assad, has not gone after +p61 +aVAnd we have a final question from our Facebook family. And it goes to Senator Sanders. It comes from Robert Andrews. He's a 40-year-old stay-at-home dad in Dover, Massachusetts. He says, "The world has seen many great leaders in the course of human history. Can you name two leaders \u2014 one American and one foreign \u2014 who would influence your foreign policy decisions? And why do you see them as \u2014 why are they influential?" +p62 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p63 +aVAnd we want to thank our audience, our quiet audience here in Helen Bader Concert Hall, and to all of you watching at home. Thank you all. Stay tuned for analysis of the debate and the overall race for the Democratic nomination. That's coming up next here on PBS stations and online atPBS.org/NewsHour. +p64 +aVAnd I'm going to be returning to Washington. I hope you'll join us for the PBS NewsHour tomorrow and every night. That's it from all of us here in Milwaukee. We thank you. +p65 +asVRUBIO +p66 +(lp67 +VThank you Wolf. It's really amazing to be back in Las Vegas. I spent six years as a child growing not far from where we stand tonight. I use to sit on the porch of our home and listen to my grandfather tell stories as he smoked one of three daily cigars. One of the things my grandfather instilled in me, was that I was really blessed because I was a citizen of the greatest country in the history of our mankind. But there have always been people in American politics that wanted America to be more like the rest of the world. And In 2008, one of them was elected president of this country and the result has been a disaster. Today you have millions of Americans that feel left out and out of place in their own country, struggling to live paycheck to paycheck, called bigots because they hold on to traditional values. And around the world, America's influence has declined while this president has destroyed our military, our allies no longer trust us, and our adversaries no longer respect us. And that is why this election is so important. That is why I'm running for president. And that's why I'm going to ask you for your vote tonight. If you elect me president, we will have a president that believes America is the greatest country in the world and we will have a president that acts like it. +p68 +aVWell, I understand why they feel that way, because this president hasn't kept us safe. The problem is we had an attack in San Bernardino. And we were paying attention to the most important issue we have faced in a decade since 9/11, and then all the talk was about this proposal, which isn't going to happen. But this is what's important to do is we must deal frontally with this threat of radical Islamists, especially from +p69 +aVHe is and so are those that voted for it. There were some that voted for it because they wanted to keep it alive and they were afraid the whole program would expire. Here's the world we live in. This is a radical jihadist group that is increasingly sophisticated in its ability, for example, to radicalize American citizens, in its inability to exploit loopholes in our legal immigration system, in its ability to capture and hold territory in the Middle East, as I outlined earlier, in multiple countries. This is not just the most capable, it is the most sophisticated terror threat we have ever faced. We are now at a time when we need more tools, not less tools. And that took we lost, the metadata program, was a valuable tool that we no longer have at our disposal. +p70 +aVDana, may I interject here? +p71 +aVLet me be very careful when answering this, because I don't think national television in front of 15 million people is the place to discuss classified information. So let me just be very clear. There is nothing that we are allowed to do under this bill that we could not do before. This bill did, however, take away a valuable tool that allowed the National Security Agency and other law \u2014 and other intelligence agencies to quickly and rapidly access phone records and match them up with other phone records to see who terrorists have been calling. Because I promise you, the next time there is attack on \u2014 an attack on this country, the first thing people are going to want to know is, why didn't we know about it and why didn't we stop it? And the answer better not be because we didn't have access to records or information that would have allowed us to identify these killers before they attacked. +p72 +aVI want to thank Rand for another 30 seconds, because, number one, what he's pointing to is a bill last week that \u2014 amendment that he voted for that only 10 people voted for. You know why? Because it's not focused on terrorists. It would have banned anyone from coming here. Someone from Taiwan would not have been able to come here as a tourist. Number two, this program, this metadata program is actually more strict than what a regular law enforcement agency has now. If a regular law enforcement agency wants your phone records, all they have to do is issue a subpoena. But now the intelligence agency is not able to quickly gather records and look at them to see who these terrorists are calling. And the terrorists that attacked us in San Bernardino was an American citizen, born and raised in this country. And I bet you we wish we would have had access to five years of his records so we could see who he was working with... +p73 +aVDo I get another 30 seconds? He mentioned me. +p74 +aVWell, let me begin by saying that we have to understand who +p75 +aVThat is accurate. Three times he voted against the Defense Authorization Act, which is a bill that funds the troops. It also, by the way, funds the Iron Dome and other important programs. And I have to assume that if you vote against it in the Senate, you would also veto it as president. He has also supported, by the way, a budget that is called the containment budget. And it is a budget that would radically reduce the amount of money we spend on our military. You can't carpet bomb +p76 +aVYes, let me \u2014 three points of distinction. The first is, if you're an American citizen and you decide to join up with +p77 +aVWell, they most certainly will have to be worked on to provide more than what they are doing now. There's no doubt about it. And there's one \u2014 one major reason why they have not been willing to be a broader part of the coalition, and that is they have lost complete trust and confidence in this president. This president cut a deal with their moral enemy, the Shia, in Iran. And this is the reason why they no longer trust this president and are willing to work alongside them. But they have as much invested in this as we do. In fact, more so, for it is the king of Saudi Arabia they want to behead first. It's the king of Jordan that they want to dethrone. It's the \u2014 they want to go into Egypt the way they've already gone into Libya. And on another point that we need to talk about, Assad is one of the main reasons why +p78 +aVTo begin with, Moammar Gadhafi and the revolt against Gadhafi was not started by the United States. It was started by the Libyan people. And the reason why I argued we needed to get involved is because he was going to go one way or the other. And my argument then was proven true, and that is, the longer that civil war took, the more militias would be formed and the more unstable the country would be after the fact. As far as Moammar Gadhafi is concerned, by the way, Moammar Gadhafi is the man that killed those Americans over Lockerbie, Scotland. Moammar Gadhafi is also the man that bombed that cafe in Berlin and killed those Marines. And you want to know why Moammar Gadhafi started cooperating on his nuclear program? Because we got rid of Saddam Hussein. And so he got scared that he would be next, and that's why he started cooperating. Look, we will have to work around the world with less than ideal governments. The government in Saudi Arabia is not a democracy, but we will have to work with them. The government in Jordan is not perfect, but we will have to work with them. But anti-American dictators like Assad, who help Hezbollah, who helped get those IEDs into Iraq, if they go, I will not shed a tear. +p79 +aVYeah. Immigration is not an issue that I read about in the newspaper or watch a documentary on PBS or CNN. It's an issues I've lived around my whole life. My family are immigrants. My wife's family are immigrants. All of my neighbors are immigrants. I see every aspect of this problem. The good, the bad, and the ugly. And here's what we learned in 2013. The American people don't trust the Federal Government to enforce our immigration laws, and we will not be able to do anything on immigration until we first prove to the American people that illegal immigration is under control. And we can do that. We know what it takes to do that. It takes at least 20,000 more additional border agents. It takes completing those 700 miles of fencing. It takes a mandatory e-verify system and a mandatory entry/exit tracking system to prevent overstays. After we have done that, the second thing we have to do is reform and modernize the legal immigration system. And after we have done those two things, I think the American people are gonna be reasonable with what do you do with someone who has been in this country for 10 or 12 years who hasn't otherwise violated our laws \u2014 because if they're a criminal they can't stay. They'll have to undergo a background check, pay a fine, start paying taxes. And ultimately, they'll given a work permit and that's all they're gonna be allowed to have for at least 10 years. But you can't get to that third step until you have done the other two things, and that was the lesson we learned in 2013. There is no trust that the Federal Government will enforce the law. They will not support you until you see it done first. +p80 +aVBut I've answered that question repeatedly. I am personally open \u2014 after all that has happened and after ten years in that probationary status where all they have is a permit, I personally am open to allowing people to apply for a green card. That may not be a majority position in my party, but that's down the road. You can't even begin that process until you prove to people \u2014 not just pass a law that says you're gonna bring illegal immigration under control. You're gonna have to do it and prove to people that it's working. And that was the lesson of 2013. And it's more true today, than it was then. After a migratory crisis on the border with minors coming over that you're seeing start up again now, after all these executive orders the President has issued. More than ever we need to... +p81 +aV... prove to people that illegal immigration is under control. +p82 +aVYeah, a couple points. In 2013 we had never faced a crisis like the Syrian refugee crisis now. Up until that point, a refugee meant someone fleeing oppression, fleeing Communism like it is in my community. As far as Ted's record, I'm always puzzled by his attack on this issue. Ted, you support legalizing people who are in this country illegally. Ted Cruz supported a 500-percent increase in the number of H-1 visas, the guest workers that are allowed into this country, and Ted supports doubling the number of green cards. So I think what's important for us to understand and there is a way forward on this issue that we an bring our country together on. And while I'm president I will do it. And it will begin by bringing illegal immigration under control and proving to the American people. +p83 +aVNo, no, give him time. +p84 +aVTed, do you... +p85 +aVDid Ted Cruz fight to support legalizing people that are in this country illegally? +p86 +aVDoes Ted Cruz rule out ever legalizing people that are in this country now? +p87 +aVWould you rule it out? +p88 +aVWell, he's just admitted \u2014 as he's just admitted, the reason why those refugees were allowed in was because they messed up in how they used the actual database. They should have know. They didn't because they didn't run the actual law as it exists now. It didn't work well. As far as the refugees are concerned, it's not that America doesn't want to accept refugees, Wolf. It's that we may not be able to, because this is an issue we have to be 100 percent right on. If we allow 9,999 Syrian refugees into the United States, and all of them are good people, but we allow one person in who's an +p89 +aVI do. First, let's explain to people at home who the triad \u2014 what the triad is. Maybe a lot of people haven't heard that terminology before. The triad is our ability of the United States to conduct nuclear attacks using airplanes, using missiles launched from silos or from the ground, and also from our nuclear subs' ability to attack. And it's important \u2014 all three of them are critical. It gives us the ability at deterrence. Now, some have become more critical than others; for example, the submarines. And that's the Ohio Class submarine that needs to be modernized. The air component also needs to be modernized. The B-52, as someone earlier pointed out, is an outdated model that was flown by the grandparents of people that are flying it now. And we need a serious modernization program as well on our silo-launched missiles. All three are critical for the defense of the country. +p90 +aVThank you. As we near the end of this year, we enter one of the most important elections in a generation. For what's at stake in this election is not simply what party's going to be in charge. But our very identity as a people and as a nation. For over 200 years this has been a special country. A unique place where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything. But now millions of Americans feel like they're being left behind. Insecure in their future and unsafe in the face of terrorism. This election is about electing a president that will restore our economic vibrancy so that the American dream can expand to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And rebuild our Military and our intelligence programs so that we can remain the strongest nation on earth. Tonight I ask you for your vote. If you do this, we will rebuild this country, and together we will usher in a new American century \u2014 the greatest era in the history of this great land. +p91 +aVWell, let me begin by answering both the first question and this one, because they're related. As I've said many times before, my parents were never rich people. My father was a bartender. My mother was a maid. They worked for a living. But they were successful people, because, despite the fact that they weren't well educated and had those jobs, they made enough money to buy a home in a safe and stable neighborhood, retire with dignity, leave all four of their children better off than themselves. We call that the American dream, but in fact, it's a universal dream of a better life that people have all over the world. It is a reminder that every country in the world has rich people. What makes America special is that we have millions and millions of people that are not rich, that through hard work and perseverance are able to be successful. The problem is that today people are not successful working as hard as ever because the economy is not providing jobs that pay enough. If I thought that raising the minimum wage was the best way to help people increase their pay, I would be all for it, but it isn't. In the 20th century, it's a disaster. If you raise the minimum wage, you're going to make people more expensive than a machine. And that means all this automation that's replacing jobs and people right now is only going to be accelerated. Here's the best way to raise wages. Make America the best place in the world to start a business or expand an existing business, tax reform and regulatory reform, bring our debt under control, fully utilize our energy resources so we can reinvigorate manufacturing, repeal and replace Obamacare, and make higher education faster and easier to access, especially vocational training. For the life of me, I don't know why we have stigmatized vocational education. Welders make more money than philosophers. We need more welders and less philosophers. If we do that \u2014 and if we do this \u2014 if we do this, we will be able to increase wages for millions of Americans and we will be able to leave everyone better off without making anyone worse off. +p92 +aVWell, you know, that's an excellent question, because what we are going through in this country is not simply an economic downturn. We are living through a massive economic transformation. I mean, this economy is nothing like what it was like five years ago, not to mention 15 or 20 years ago. And it isn't just a different economy. It's changing faster than ever. You know, it took the telephone 75 years to reach 100 million users. It took Candy Crush one year to reach some 100 million users. So the world is changing faster than ever, and it is disruptive. Number one, we are in a global competition now, and several of the candidates have said that. There are now dozens of developed economies on this planet that we have to compete with. And we lose that competition because we have the highest business tax rate in the industrialized world, because we have regulations that continue to grow by the billions every single week, because we have a crazy health care law that discourages companies from hiring people, but because we're not fully utilizing our energy resources, that if we did, it would bring back all kinds of growth, especially in manufacturing, and because we have an outdated higher education system. Our higher education system is completely outdated. It is too expensive, too hard to access, and it doesn't teach 21st century skills. If we do what needs to be done \u2014 tax reform, regulatory reform, fully utilize our energy resources, repeal and replace Obamacare, and modernize higher education, then we can grasp the potential and the promise of this new economy. And we won't just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And then truly this new century can be a new American century. +p93 +aVThe most important job I'm ever going to have, the most important job anyone in this room will ever have, is the job of being a parent. Not the job of being president, or the job of being a senator, or the job of being a congressman. The most important job any of us will ever do is the job of being a president (sic), because the most important institution in society is the family. If the family breaks down, society breaks down. You can't have a strong nation without strong values, and no one is born with strong values. They have to be taught to you in strong families and reinforced in you in strong communities. And so when we set out to do tax reform, we endeavor to have a pro-family tax code, and we endeavor to do it because we know how difficult it is for families in the 21st century to afford the cost of living. It is expensive to raise children in the 21st century, and families that are raising children are raising the future taxpayers of the United States, and everything costs more. In 35 out of 50 states, child care costs more than college. There are millions of people watching this broadcast tonight that understand exactly what I'm talking about. They don't know how they're going to make that payment every month, and if they can't make it, they can't work, because someone needs to watch their kids during the day. They don't know how they're going to save for their kids' future, to go to college. And so, yes, I have a child tax credit increase, and I'm proud of it. I am proud that I have a pro-family tax code, because the pro- family tax plan I have will strengthen the most important institution in the \u2014 in the country, the family. +p94 +aVNow I get my 60 seconds to respond. He's talking about my tax plan. +p95 +aVSo let me begin with this. I actually believe \u2014 first of all, this is their money. They do pay. It is refundable, not just against the taxes they pay to the government, but also the \u2014 on their federal income tax, it's refundable against the payroll tax. Everyone pays payroll tax. This is their money. This is not our money. And here's what I don't understand \u2014 if you invest that money in a piece of equipment, if you invest that money in a business, you get to write it off your taxes. But if you invest it in your children, in the future of America and strengthening your family, we're not going to recognize that in our tax code? The family is the most important institution in society. And, yes... +p96 +aV... I do want to rebuild the American military. +p97 +aVI know that Rand is a committed isolationist. I'm not. I believe the world is a stronger and a better place, when the United States is the strongest military power in the world. +p98 +aVBecause... +p99 +aV...are you talking about the military, Rand? +p100 +aVWe can't even have an economy if we're not safe. There are radical jihadist in the Middle East beheading people and crucifying Christians. A radical Shia cleric in Iran trying to get a nuclear weapon, the Chinese taking over the South China Sea... ...Yes, I believe the world is a safer \u2014 no, no, I don't believe, I know that the world is a safer place when America is the strongest military power in the world. +p101 +aVYou know, if I may respond... +p102 +aVI need to add a couple of points to this. The first is, I've never met Vladimir Putin, but I know enough about him to know he is a gangster. He is basically an organized crime figure that runs a country, controls a $2 trillion economy. And is using to build up his military in a rapid way despite the fact his economy is a disaster. He understands only geopolitical strength. And every time he has acted anywhere in the world, whether it's in Ukraine or Georgia before that, or now in the Middle East, it's because he is trusting in weakness. His calculation in the Middle East is that he has seen what this president has done, which is nothing, the president has no strategy, our allies in the region do not trust us. For goodness sake, there is only one pro-American free enterprise democracy in the Middle East, it is the state of Israel. And we have a president that treats the prime minister of Israel with less respect than what he gives the ayatollah in Iran. And so our allies in the region don't trust us. Vladimir Putin is exploiting that weakness, for purposes of edging the Americans out as the most important geopolitical power broker in the region. And we do have a vested interest. And here's why. Because all those radical terrorist groups that, by the way, are not just in Syria and in Iraq, +p103 +aVCan I just add what \u2014 he's right on point there. Do you know why these banks are so big? The government made them big. The government made them big by adding thousands and thousands of pages of regulations. So the big banks, they have an army of lawyers, they have an army of compliance officers. They can deal with all these things. The small banks, like Governor Bush was saying, they can't deal with all these regulations. They can't deal with all \u2014 they cannot hire the fanciest law firm in Washington or the best lobbying firm to deal with all these regulations. And so the result is, the big banks get bigger, the small banks struggle to lend or even exist, and the result is what you have today. And in Dodd-Frank, you have actually codified too big to fail. We have actually created a category of systemically important institutions, and these banks go around bragging about it. You know what they say to people with a wink and a nod? We are so big, we are so important that if we get in trouble, the government has to bail us out. This is an outrage. We need to repeal Dodd-Frank as soon as possible. +p104 +aVWell, that's a great question, and let me begin by answering it. This election is about the future, about what kind of country this nation is gonna be in the 21st century. This next (ph) election is actually a generational choice. A choice about what kind of nation we will be in the 21st century. For over 2.5 centuries, America's been a special country, the one place on earth where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything, a nation that's been a force for good on this planet. But now, a growing number of Americans feel out of place in their own country. We have a society that stigmatizes those that hold cultural values that are traditional. We have a society where people \u2014 millions of people \u2014 are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, but they're living paycheck to paycheck because the economy has changed underneath their feet. We have young Americans who owe thousands of dollars in student loans for a degree that doesn't lead to a job. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses dying than starting, and around the world, every day brings news of a new humiliation for America \u2014 many the direct response \u2014 direct consequence of decisions made when Hillary Clinton was the secretary of the \u2014 of state. And so here's the truth: this election is about the future, and the Democratic Party, and the political left has no ideas about the future. All their ideas are the same, tired ideas of the past. More government, more spending. For every issue for America, their answer is a new tax on someone, and a new government program. This nation is going to turn the page, and that's what this election should be about, and, as I said at the first debate... ...If I am our nominee, they will be the party of the past, we will be the party of the 21st century. +p105 +aVOurs \u2014 the story of America is an extraordinary story. It is the story of a nation that for over two centuries each generation has left the next better off than themselves. But now, because Washington is out of touch, for the fault of both political parties, for the first time in our history, that is in doubt. And that is what this election must be about, because if the next four years are anything like the last eight years, our children will be the first Americans ever left worse off by their parents. This election is about making a different choice, about applying our principles of limited government and free enterprise to the unique issues of our time. And if we do, we will not just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And the 21st century can be a new American century. So tonight, I ask you for your vote and I ask you to join us at my website, marcorubio.com. +p106 +asVKASICH +p107 +(lp108 +VThank you, Wolf. Just last weekend, just last week, a friend asked one of my daughters, "Do you like politics?" And my daughter said, "No, I don't. And the reason I don't like it is because there's too much fighting, too much yelling. It's so loud, I don't like it." You know, I turned to my friend and I said, "You know, she's really on to something." And when we think about our country and the big issues that we face in this country; creating jobs, making sure people can keep their jobs, the need for rising wages, whether our children when they graduate from college can find a job, protecting the homeland, destroying +p109 +aVWell, first of all, Wolf, I said last February that we needed to have people on the ground, troops on the ground in a coalition similar to what we had in the first Gulf War. I remember when the Egyptian ambassador to the United States stood in the Rose Garden and pledged Arab commitment to removing Saddam Hussein from Kuwait. Before we came out here tonight, I am told that the Saudis have organized 34 countries who want to join in the battle against terrorism. First and foremost, we need to go and destroy +p110 +aVNo, I don't think it is. And I want to go back to two other issues. One is the metadata. We know we have to hold this data for a longer period of time. And, you know, in a lot of ways, Chris is right. Look, what a president has to do is take a position. We don't want to err on the side of having less. We want to err on the side of having more. That's good for our families. In addition to that, Wolf, there is a big problem. It's called encryption. And the people in San Bernardino were communicating with people who the FBI had been watching. But because their phone was encrypted, because the intelligence officials could not see who they were talking to, it was lost. We have to solve the encryption problem. It is not easy. A president of the United States, again, has to bring people together, have a position. We need to be able to penetrate these people when they are involved in these plots and these plans. And we have to give the local authorities the ability to penetrate to disrupt. That's what we need to do. Encryption is a major problem, and Congress has got to deal with this and so does the president to keep us safe. +p111 +aVYeah, let me \u2014 let me just suggest to everybody, and I hear \u2014 last February, I said we needed to have people on the ground in a coalition with Europe and our allies. This is not going to get done just by working with the Sunnis. And it is not going to get done if we just embed a few people. We have to go massively, like we did in the first Gulf War where we destroyed Saddam's ability to take Kuwait. We need to have a coalition that will stand for nothing less than the total destruction of +p112 +aVI don't understand this thing about Assad. He has to go. Assad is aligned with Iran and Russia. The one thing we want to prevent is we want to prevent Iran being able to extend a Shia crescent all across the Middle East. Assad has got to go. And there are moderates there. There are moderates in Syria who we should be supporting. I do not support a civil war. I don't want to be policeman of the world. But we can't back off of this. And let me tell you, at the end, the Saudis have agreed to put together a coalition inside of Syria to stabilize that country. +p113 +aVHe must go. It will be a blow to Iran and Russia. +p114 +aVThe foreign policy, you have to know how to pick and choose. There's no way, if Saddam had not had weapons of mass destruction, I would have gone, because I don't believe that the U.S. should be involved directly in civil wars. I opposed the U.S. involvement in Lebanon. We ended up having to withdraw our marines after our barracks were blown up. There is a difference between Iraq, where you have Sunni, Shia, and Kurds put together after the First World War by the Western powers. It doesn't work. It needs to break up into three parts. And for the Russians, frankly, it's time that we punched the Russians in the nose. They've gotten away with too much in this world and we need to stand up against them, not just there, but also in Eastern Europe where they threaten some of our most precious allies. +p115 +aVIt sounds more and more what my daughter said that I said in the beginning, all the fighting and arguing is not advancing us. +p116 +aVIt is not the way we're going to strengthen our country. We will strengthen our country when we come together. And, look, you've got Rand Paul, you've got Ted Cruz, you've got Marco, you've got a lot of people on this stage that have studied these issues. You know what a leader does? A leader has a sound program, has a good policy, and then brings people together to solve problems. Guess what? Both in Congress in balancing the budget and in Ohio fixing the economy \u2014 and, by the way, we talk about the fence. The first thing we better get going is strengthening our economy, because if we don't have a strong economy, we can't pay for all of this. And the world wants us to be able to function from strength, believe it or not. Get our economy going, get these people together in a room. We can fix this, ladies and gentlemen. We don't have to fight all the time. It can be done, and we will be great... +p117 +aV... when we join together. Thank you, Hugh. +p118 +aVYou know, obviously, as president of the United States, we've got to keep the people safe. That's first and foremost. But as governor of Ohio, I have an obligation to keep the 11.5 million people in Ohio safe. And we have been very effective with our Joint Terrorism Task Force, being able to make busts. In fact, we just made one three-four weeks ago against a person who was favorable to +p119 +aVNo Republican has ever been elected president of the United States without winning Ohio. Let me give you a little tip on how you win Ohio, it's reform, it's hope, it's growth, it's opportunity, and it's security. The people of Ohio are the people of America. The people of America are reflected in Ohio. Our message has to be big, and bold, and positive, and connect, not just with people's heads but also connect with their hearts. If we do it, we will beat Hillary Clinton, and we will run the White House, and we will strengthen and fix America, I promise you. +p120 +aVFirst of all, let me just say that, in the state of Ohio \u2014 and I'm the only acting executive on \u2014 on this stage today \u2014 we do have a moderate increase in the minimum wage. And I got to tell you, my father carried mail on his back. His father was a coal miner. He died of black lung. He was losing his eyesight. My mother's mother lived with us. She could barely speak English. I come from a town where if the wind blew the wrong way, people found themselves out of work. An economic theory is fine, but you know what? People need help. Now, I have a plan that, in fact, would cut taxes, but not $11 trillion or $12 trillion that would put my children further in debt. I have a plan that would not only cut taxes, lower the income tax rate for individuals, lower the tax for businesses so businesses will compete here and not move operations overseas, and also a plan \u2014 the only plan of anybody standing on this stage to get us to a balanced budget by the end of a second term. And, you know, the simple fact of the matter is, we hear a lot of promises in this debate, a lot of promises about these tax cuts or tax schemes sometimes that I call them. Hillary and the Democrats promise everything on the spending side. We've got to be responsible about what we propose on the tax side. Yes, lower taxes, lower spending. My website, JohnKasich.com, will show you exactly how we balance the budget. I balanced the budget in Washington as a chief architect, and I have balanced it in Ohio for one reason. When you balance the budget and you cut taxes, people get work. And our most important moral purpose as leaders in the political system is to make sure we create an environment for job creation so people can live their dreams and realize their God-given potential. That's why it's so important. And for those at the bottom, we've got to do what we can to train them so they can move up. But to just look the other way is not acceptable, because, you know what, as the governor of Ohio I have to deal with real challenges, and we've gotten it done in our state, and I will do it for America. +p121 +aVSure. We would move the Medicare system from a 7 percent growth down to about a 5 percent growth. And I have a whole series of ways to do that. In Ohio, we reduced Medicaid funding for the poor from 10 percent to 2.5 percent, didn't cut one benefit or didn't take anybody off the rolls. Why? Because we're innovators. I've been an innovator my entire career. And I really don't care what special interests or lobbyists have to say. I have a job to do when I take over a public office. Now, we freeze non-defense discretionary for eight years. We also put an increase in defense spending. Our tax cuts balance out. And at the end of the day, we will get to a balanced budget. And I want everybody here to know, when I was Budget Committee chairman in Washington, I stepped on every toe in that town, and we got to a balanced budget, and we had enormous job growth. And as governor of Ohio, we went from 350,000 lost jobs to a gain of 347,000 jobs. +p122 +aVI'll do it in Washington. I've done it twice; I'll do it thrice for the United States of America. +p123 +aVExcuse me. +p124 +aVYeah, I would like to make a comment. +p125 +aVI appreciate it, Jeb. I'm all of you. But I want at some point to talk about a value-added tax and $11 trillion, $12 trillion tax cuts that will put our kids way deeper in the hole than they have been at this point. So I would like to talk about it at some point, because that's what leadership is. +p126 +aVMaria, can we comment on that? +p127 +aVCan we comment on that? +p128 +aVWell, look, in 1986 Ronald Reagan basically said the people who were here, if they were law-abiding, could stay. But, what didn't happen is we didn't build the walls effectively and we didn't control the border. We need to. We need to control our border just like people have to control who goes in and out of their house. But if people think that we are going to ship 11 million people who are law-abiding, who are in this country, and somehow pick them up at their house and ship them out of Mexico \u2014 to Mexico, think about the families. Think about the children. So, you know what the answer really is? If they have been law- abiding, they pay a penalty. They get to stay. We protect the wall. Anybody else comes over, they go back. But for the 11 million people, come on, folks. We all know you can't pick them up and ship them across, back across the border. It's a silly argument. It is not an adult argument. It makes no sense. +p129 +aVJerry, Gerald, it was an attack. +p130 +aVIn the state of Ohio, the state of Ohio, we have grown 347,000 jobs. Our unemployment is half of what it was. Our fracking industry, energy industry may have contributed 20,000, but if Mr. Trump understood that the real jobs come in the downstream, not in the upstream, but in the downstream. And that's where we're going to get our jobs. But Ohio is diversified. And little false little things, sir, they don't really work when it comes to the truth. So the fact is, all I'm suggesting, we can't ship 11 million people out of this country. Children would be terrified, and it will not work. +p131 +aV...Mr. Baker, everybody got to talk about taxes... +p132 +aV...I think you were coming to me and then... +p133 +aV...Look, I hate to crash the party to you, Mr. Baker, but, you know, what's fair... +p134 +aV...Yes, sir... +p135 +aVLet me tell you this, Mr. Baker, in terms of the cyber attacks, we have the capability to not only have a defensive posture, but it also to make it clear to people that if you attack us with cyber attacks, we will destroy the mechanisms that you are using to attack us. I want to give you a little trip around the world. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years. In the Ukraine, arm the people there so they can fight for themselves. In the eastern part of Europe, make sure that Finland and the Baltics know that if the Russians move, we move. In Syria, yes, a no-fly zone in the north on the Turkish border, a no-fly zone on the south on the Jordanian border. Anybody flies in the first time, maybe they can fly out. They fly in there a second time, they will not fly out. And it also becomes a sanctuary for the people to be. And it also sends many messages in the Middle East that we're still involved. Saudi Arabia, cut off the funding for the radical clerics, the ones that preach against us. But they're fundamentally our friends. Jordan, we want the king to reign for 1,000 years. Egypt, they have been our ally and a moderating force in the Middle East throughout their history. In the groups \u2014 in the countries of the Gulf states of Bahrain, the Cleveland Clinic is opening an operation. Clearly we see the same with them. And in Israel, we have no better ally in the world, and no more criticizing them in public, we should support them. And finally China, China doesn't own the South China Sea, and I give the president some credit for being able to move a naval force in there to let the Chinese know that we're not going to put up with it any more. And in the trade agreement, the TPP, it's critical to us, not only for economic reasons and for jobs, because there are so many people who are connected to getting jobs because of trade, but it allows us to create not only economy alliances, but also potentially strategic alliances against the Chinese. They are not our enemy, but they are certainly not our friend. And finally, I will say to everyone in this room, we have been talking about taxes and economics. When the fall comes, and we run against Hillary, which will be a disaster if she got elected. I have two 16-year-old girls, and I want this country to be strong. We make promises we can't keep under the bright light of the fall, we will have trouble. We must make sure that economic programs and our military programs are solid. I served in Washington as the chairman of the Budget Committee, and we got the budget balanced. And in Ohio, as the CEO, and guess what, we have got to have a CEO mentality and a way to beat Hillary Clinton and the Democracies in the fall. And our ideas have to add up. They have to be solid. And people have to know we have the confidence to lead America. And as president, I will lead this country, as I have before in Washington and in Ohio, and will return both on domestic and international affairs. And I appreciate the opportunity to speak this time, Gerry. +p136 +aVLet me \u2014 let me also say, Gary \u2014 Gary, let me also say, Jeb is \u2014 what Jeb is talking about with the big banks is to force them to reserve their capital, people who invest it and they hold their capital, so that if the bank goes down, the people who are invested in the bank are the ones that pay. That's what he's trying to say. Secondly, I'll tell you about Wall Street: There's too much greed. And the fact is, a free enterprise system is a system that's produced the greatest wealth for the world. But you know Michael Novak, the great Catholic theologian, says that a free enterprise system that is not underlaid with values \u2014 and we should all think about the way we conduct our lives \u2014 yes, free enterprise is great, profits are great, but there have to be some values that underlay it, and they need a good ethics lesson on Wall Street on a regular basis to keep them in check so we, the people, do not lose. +p137 +aVNeil, that's the difference of being an executive. And let me just explain: when a bank is ready to go under and depositors are getting ready to lose their life savings, you just don't say we believe in philosophical concerns. You know what an executive has to decide? When there's a water crisis, how do we get water to the city? When there's a school shooting, how do you get there and help heal a community? When there are financial crisis, or a crisis with ebola, you got to go there and try to fix it. Philosophy doesn't work when you run something. And I gotta tell you, on-the-job training for president of the United States doesn't work. We've done it for 8 years, \u2014 and almost 8 years now. It does not work. We need an executive who's been tried, has been tested, and judge the decisions that that executive makes. I don't like what the Fed is doing, but I'll tell you what worries me more than anything else: turning the Fed over to the Congress of the United States... +p138 +aV...so they can print the money. That would be a very bad approach. +p139 +aVI wouldn't. I wouldn't. +p140 +aVNo. No, I didn't say that. +p141 +aVThey were \u2014 they were talking about what you would do with depositors. Would you let these banks shut down? My argument is, going forward, the banks have to reserve the capital, so that the \u2014 so that the people who own the capital start pressuring the banks to not take these risky approaches, Ted. But at the end of the day... +p142 +aV... I'm gonna tell you this. Let me tell you this. If during \u2014 if during... +p143 +aV...because if during \u2014 well, I'll tell you what (ph). +p144 +aVAs an executive \u2014 no. As an executive, I would figure out how to separate those people who can afford it versus those people, or the hard-working folks who put those money in those institutions...... let me \u2014 no, no. Let me say another thing. Here's what I mean by that. Here's what I mean by that. +p145 +aVWhen you are faced \u2014 when you are faced, in the last financial crisis, with banks going under \u2014 with banks going under, and people, people who put their \u2014 their life savings in there, you got to deal with it. You can't turn a blind eye to it. Now, going forward, that's one thing. If you had another financial crisis, perhaps there would be an effort to make sure that we do (ph). +p146 +aVWell, ladies and gentlemen, if Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders were to win this election, my 16-year-olds, I \u2014 I worry about what their life is going to be like. You know, the conservative movement is all about opportunity. It is about lower taxes. It's about balanced budgets. It's about less regulation. And it's about sending power, money and influence back to where we live so we can run America from the bottom up. In addition to that, once we have the power and the money and the influence with programs we shift out, that each of us have a responsibility to reach out and to rebuild our families, make them stronger, and connect our neighborhoods. All that together \u2014 wealth, connection, family \u2014 America's greatest days are ahead. We must win this election. +p147 +asVMADDOW +p148 +(lp149 +VWe are super excited to be here at the University of New Hampshire. Tonight, this is the first time that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have squared off exactly like this. Face-to-face, just one-on-one, just the two of them. +p150 +aVAnd we do hope that the candidates will take this opportunity to show us the distinctions\u2014show us the differences between them. That's the whole reason that we're here tonight. We're not here for talking points. We're to learn about the difference between the candidates. And with that, let's get going. Please join us in welcoming Secretary Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders. +p151 +aVAnd with that, that's it. We're going to begin with 60- second opening statements from each of the candidates. And as agreed to in advance by the two campaigns, we're going to begin tonight with Senator Sanders. +p152 +aVSecretary Clinton, Senator Sanders is campaigning against you now, at this point in the campaign, basically arguing that you are not progressive enough to be the Democratic nominee. He has said that if you voted for the Iraq war, if you are in favor of the death penalty, if you wobbled on things like the Keystone Pipeline or TPP, if you said single payer health care could never happen, then you're too far to the right of the Democratic Party to be the party's standard bearer. Given those policy positions, why should liberal Democrats support you and not Senator Sanders? +p153 +aVSenator Sanders, have you established a list of what it means to be a progressive that is unrealistic? +p154 +aVThank you Senator. +p155 +aVSenator Sanders, as a Vermonter, you have almost a home state advantage here in New Hampshire. But back home across the border, you also have a long history of running against Democrats as a third-party candidate, for governor, Senate, for Congress. In 1988 your candidacy as a third-party candidate arguably cost the Democrats a congressional seat and sent a Republican instead. How can you lead the Democratic Party nationally when you have not been a member of the Democratic Party until very recently? +p156 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p157 +aVSo, Senator, to that point, Secretary Clinton is raising the issue of endorsements by your home state Democrats. She's implying that that says something about the people who know you best. +p158 +aVHow do you see it? +p159 +aVSecretary. +p160 +aVSenator Sanders, you'll have 30 seconds to respond to that. +p161 +aVSenator Sanders, Secretary Clinton, obviously we've touched a nerve. We're going to be back with more on this subject, and much more, right after this. Stay with us. +p162 +aVSecretary Clinton, on the issue of Wall Street... +p163 +aV... on the issue of Wall Street, when our reporters go out and talk to people on the ground in the early states, what they tell us over and over again when they find voters who are leaning toward Senator Sanders rather than yourself is that the most frequent area of concern that they hear from those voters is the issue of Wall Street and whether or not you are too close to Wall Street. Last night, when you were asked about speaking fees and the amount of speaking fees you got from Goldman Sachs speeches, you said that's what they offered. Have you been too dismissive of voters' concerns about this issue in your own campaign and your own career? +p164 +aVSenator Sanders, you have been a critic of Secretary Clinton taking those speaking fees and having donations from Wall Street. What about her defense of her record? +p165 +aVSenator Sanders, let me turn to, I think, where this direction is heading anyway, which is the broader issue of big business and power in our political system. You on the campaign trail have railed against big name American corporations like Boeing, and General Electric, and Wal Mart. But, some big businesses in this country have also been part of advancing progressive goals like that nationwide initiative to expand employment opportunities for veterans. That was all about cooperation between the Obama administration and some very big business. The Affordable Care Act, some of the thorniest problems in that bill were worked out in cooperation with big business in order to accomplish progressive goals. Could you work with them, or have you made enemies of big business in this country with the way you've approached them in this campaign? +p166 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. And with that, we're going to take a break. +p167 +aVWelcome back\u2014welcome back to the Democratic candidates' debate. We're going to be talking about America in the world, both in terms of some trade issues, but also national security. And Secretary Clinton, we're going to start with you. There are more than 4,000 American troops back in Iraq right now as part of the fight against +p168 +aVTo be clear, to the specific question, if that strategic goal that you're describing requires considerably more of Americans\u2014an ever-increasing number of Americans in Iraq and maybe in Syria, are you OK with the numbers increasing? +p169 +aVThank you, Madam Secretary. +p170 +aVSecretary Clinton, at the\u2014at the last Democratic debate in Charleston\u2014I want to get specific here\u2014Senator Sanders called for moving as aggressively as we can to normalize relations with Iran. Your campaign has criticized him for saying that. Now that he's standing next to you here on this stage, can you explain why the U.S. shouldn't try to normalize relations in Iran in your view? +p171 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to ask you about a national security issue that is closer to home. There are thousands of veterans, over 100,000 veterans living in the state of New Hampshire. If either one of you is nominated as the Democratic Party's nominee, you will likely face a Republican opponent in the general election who wants to privatize or even abolish big parts of the V.A. It's a newly popular idea in conservative politics. How will you win the argument on that issue given the problems that have been exposed at the V.A. in the last few years? What's your argument that the V.A. should still exist and should not be privatized? +p172 +aVSenator Sanders, you, as a congressional leader on veterans issues and the Veterans Committee, you've worked in a very bipartisan way with Senator John McCain and others on veterans issues. Is the right contour of the fight, the way she's talking about this issue? +p173 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Sanders, Secretary Clinton, we're going to take another break. We'll be talking about Social Security and some of those other issues when we come back. +p174 +aVSenator\u2014Senator Sanders, in 1964... +p175 +aVIn 1964, I heard that the Republicans nominated Barry Goldwater, who was the hero of the conservative movement. He was, however, far to the right of most of that party. In 1972, the Democrats nominated George McGovern, who was a hero of liberals in the antiwar movement, but he was to the left of his party's mainstream. Both of those nominees made activists very excited, and they both got destroyed in the general election. Even Democrats who love you worry about your fate in a general election. And I know you have good head-to-head polling numbers against Republican frontrunners right now. We know that. But do you have a general election strategy that is different than the way you're running right now to try to get the nomination? +p176 +aVSecretary Clinton, your campaign surrogates, and people who have endorsed you, have suggested that or even said that if Senator Sanders is the nominee, that Democrats will suffer nationwide and the chances will go down of Democrats holding onto the White House. With him here standing next to you, can you tell us whether or not you believe he would win the general election if he were nominated? +p177 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. Senator, in December, one of your campaign staffers was fired from your campaign for taking voter data essentially from the Clinton campaign. You apologized for that when the incident was made public. Your campaign has now been criticized for its operatives essentially impersonating culinary union members wearing union pins in Nevada, and the Nashua Telegraph has complained recently that you falsely implied in an advertisement that they had endorsed you when they did not. None of these issues obviously is the end of the world, but they all are of a piece. Are you in some sense losing control of your campaign? +p178 +aVJust to follow up on that, the title of the ad in question was Endorsement. +p179 +aVSecretary Clinton, do you want 30 seconds on that issue? +p180 +aVAnd with that, we will . +p181 +aVWelcome back to the University of New Hampshire, and the Democratic candidates' debate. Secretary Clinton, on the issue of the death penalty, here in New Hampshire, the one person who is on death row is there for killing a police officer. It's a crime that has caused anguish in this state, both among death penalty opponents and death penalty supporters. The last time I had the chance to talk with you on this issue, on the death penalty, you said that capital punishment has a place in a very few federal cases, but you also said you would breathe a sigh of relief if the Supreme Court abolished the death penalty nationwide. Tonight, do you still support capital punishment, even if you do so reluctantly? +p182 +aVSenator Sanders, you have singled out the death penalty, and Senator Clinton's support for the death penalty, as an issue that makes it hard to consider as progressive in your mind... +p183 +aVAnother issue related to the proper role of government, and in this case, specifically the role of government between the federal government and the states. I want to talk for a moment about the issue of Flint, Michigan. On the Flint lead poisoning disaster, you have both been highly critical of Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan, and how the state in Michigan both caused the lead poisoning problem, and has not acted fast enough to fix it. You have both been outspoken on that. The fact is that Michigan though has not fixed it. There is no door to door delivery of clean water in Flint even today. Not a single lead pipe has been replaced in Flint, even today. If the state is failing, would you, Secretary Clinton, would you as President order a federal response to get it right over and above the wishes of the state? +p184 +aVSenator Sanders are there things the President could be doing? President Obama could be ordering, done, right now, in Flint, Michigan that are not being done that you as President would do? +p185 +aVSenator, thank you. +p186 +aVThe home stretch. +p187 +aVSecretary Clinton, Republicans, particularly in campaign years, often talk about which departments of government\u2014which agencies of government they would get rid of if they were elected president. The EPA, the Department of Education, the Commerce Department, oops\u2014is\u2014is there a department of government that you would get rid of? Or is there a whole new one that you would create? +p188 +aVThank you, Secretary Clinton. +p189 +aVThank you very much. Thank you. +p190 +aVWe also want to thank our host, the University of New Hampshire, and the people of New Hampshire. You guys get to vote in just five days. I can't wait to see how it turns out. Don't screw up. +p191 +asVQUESTION +p192 +(lp193 +VMy name is Ashley Tofil. Ms. Fiorina, in November, you said that you would not talk to Vladimir Putin after you were elected because you would be communicating from a position of weakness. Do you believe that it is feasible to not communicate with another world leader? And do you think that that also is a sign of weakness? +p194 +aVMy name is Carla Hernandez. I'm from the University of Texas at Austin. And my question is directed to all the candidates. If the Bible clearly states that we need to embrace those in need and not fear, how can we justify not accepting refugees? +p195 +asVCAVUTO +p196 +(lp197 +VIt is 9:00 p.m. on the East Coast, 8:00 p.m. here inside the Milwaukee theater. Welcome to the Republican presidential debate here on the Fox Business Network. I'm Neil Cavuto, alongside my co-moderators, Maria Bartiromo, and the editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal, Gerard Baker. +p198 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. +p199 +aVIt sounds like a game show but it's not. Now I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the elephant in the room, and I'm not talking about your party's fine symbol. I'm talking about the purpose of tonight's debate. The economy and what each of you would do to improve it. No more, no less. We are focused on those issues, and what you have said on those issues in your words and what your opponents have said in their words about your words. That is the agenda tonight. How each of you plans to make America better tomorrow. And so we begin. Candidates, as we gather tonight in this very august theater, just outside and across the country, picketers are gathering as well. They're demanding an immediate hike in the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Just a few hours ago, near Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed doing the same for all state workers, the first governor to do so. Mr. Trump, as the leading presidential candidate on this stage and one whose tax plan exempts couples making up to $50,000 a year from paying any federal income taxes at all, are you sympathetic to the protesters cause since a $15 wage works out to about $31,000 a year? +p200 +aVSo do not raise the minimum wage? +p201 +aVDr. Carson, you have long bemoaned this lackluster recovery. And this Facebook map show Americans share your concern. The green represents how the jobs issue is resonating all across the nation, especially here in the state of Wisconsin. You suggested one minimum wage does not fit all, and that perhaps we should offer a lower or starter wage for young people. Those protesters outside are looking for $15 and nothing less. Where are you? +p202 +aVSo, sir, just to be clear, you would not raise it? +p203 +aVSenator Rubio, you called the recent Democratic debate in Las Vegas a night of giveaways, including free health care, free college and a host of other government-paid benefits. Since you aren't a fan of all they're giving away, tell us tonight what you would take back. +p204 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. +p205 +aVAll right. We're only just getting started. Coming up, your taxes. Stick around. You're watching FOX Business +p206 +aVWelcome back to the Milwaukee Theater and the Republican presidential debate. Let's get right back to our questions. Dr. Carson, to you. You recently railed against the double- standard in the media, sir, that seems obsessed with inconsistencies and potential exaggerations in your life story, but looked the other way when it came to then-Senator Barack Obama's. Still, as a candidate whose brand has always been trust, are you worried your campaign \u2014 which you've always said, sir, is bigger than you \u2014 is now being hurt by you? +p207 +aVI'll just forget that follow-up there. +p208 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p209 +aVAlright, thank you. We're going to take a break here. Coming up, a big issue many Americans are facing, taxes. The Republican Presidential Debate continues now, live, from Milwaukee. +p210 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from Milwaukee. Let's get back to the questions. And we want to touch on obviously one of the biggest of this issue in this year, taxes. And this will go to several of you. One of the biggest economic concerns of course in the country are taxes. Facebook data certainly backs that up. Once again the green on this map that we're going to see here shows how the conversation around taxes is resonating across the nation, especially here in Wisconsin. First off, Dr. Carson, to you. You say you are in favor of a tax system, I guess akin to tithing, sir, with a flat tax rate of up to 15 percent because you said, if everybody pays this, I think God is a pretty fair guy, so tithing is a pretty fair process. But Donald Trump says that is not fair. That wealthier taxpayers should pay a higher rate because it's a fair thing to do. So whose plan would God endorse then, Doctor? Yours or Mr. Trump's? +p211 +aVRight. +p212 +aVThank you very much. Senator Paul, you said you want to blow up the tax code and start over with an across-the-board 14.5 percent fair and flat tax. You happily offered that it is not revenue neutral and that's the idea. You want to choke off the amount of money coming into Washington. But don't you risk, sir, creating a near-term budget crisis just as your presidency would be beginning? +p213 +aVThere are no deductions on your \u2014 under your plan? +p214 +aVThank you, Senator. +p215 +aVSenator Paul... Senator Paul, you have already said, sir, that that would be a mistake in not talking to Vladimir Putin, or to rule it out. You've argued that it's never a good idea to close down communication. With that in mind, do you think the same applies to administration efforts right now to include the Iranians in talks on Syria? +p216 +aV...Well, then how would you respond? +p217 +aVBut if you're not going to respond in a no-fly zone strategy, what would yours be? +p218 +aVAll right. And look at the time, look at the time. You are watching FOX Business, we'll take a break. Stick around. +p219 +aVSenator Cruz \u2014 and I will get to you \u2014 but, Senator Cruz, on that theme, Facebook data shows that over the last month alone, nearly 1 million people \u2014 nearly 1 million \u2014 have been concerned about reining in Wall Street, apparently believing that some have not been punished enough. So, as an accomplished litigator yourself and a former solicitor general, would you go after the very people who believe and fear that Wall Street has ignored, in other words, the crooks that Bernie Sanders say have gotten away with a financial murder? +p220 +aVSenator......Senator, I really want to be clear here. Are you saying, sir, that if Bank of America were on the brink, you would let it fail? +p221 +aVSir, I understand that. I just want to be clear, if you don't mind, that millions of depositors would be on the line with that decision. And I just want to be clear. If it were to happen again, for whatever the reason, you would let it go, you would let a Bank of America go? +p222 +aVOK, I think it's fair to say you're not fans of Hillary Clinton's resume. Alright, Mr. Trump.... +p223 +aVI had a feeling. Perhaps the most successful capitalist on this stage tonight, you've acknowledged that some give capitalism a bad name. You've been particularly critical of businesses that find all sorts of ways of paying their taxes by keeping money abroad, but your own plan includes an incentive to bring \u2014 that more the $2 trillion dollars home. Isn't that, like, a one-time bounty... +p224 +aV...Some of the guys you all but call pirates, so they still keep the loot, and pay only a price to bring it back. +p225 +aV...Alright, gentlemen, I know you want to \u2014 and I want to, be we also promised to get people home tonight, and we are going to take a quick break here. I think it is fair to say at this juncture that you can discuss these issues, and only business issues, but still keep it interesting. Stick around for these candidates closing statements. +p226 +aVSenator Marco Rubio? +p227 +aVDr. Ben Carson? +p228 +aVDonald Trump? +p229 +aVCandidates, we want to thank you all. We also appreciate your helping save time by talking over one another at times. That was welcomed. But by all means, it was a very riveting debate. Business issues can be \u2014 can be riveting, because it wasn't about us, it's about them. +p230 +aVThat'll do it. Thank you for joining us. +p231 +asVBLITZER +p232 +(lp233 +VWelcome to the CNN-Facebook Republican presidential debate here at the Venetian Las Vegas. We have a very enthusiastic audience. Everyone is here. They're looking forward to a serious and spirited discussion about the security of this nation. I'm Wolf Blitzer, your moderator tonight. This debate is airing on CNN networks here in the United States and around the world, and on the Salem Radio Network. The nine leading candidates, they are here. Let's welcome them right now. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Businessman and real estate developer Donald Trump. Retired neurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. And Ohio Governor John Kasich. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome these Republican candidates for president of the United States. This is the final Republican debate before the election year begins, and we're taking a moment for the photographs of the candidates together on the stage. Now, everyone, please rise for the national anthem sung by Ayla Brown. +p234 +aVI know everyone is eager to get started. So, candidates, please take your places while I explain the ground rules for tonight. As moderator, I'll guide the discussion, and I'll be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt and CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. We also asked Republicans and independents nationwide to share their questions for the candidates. We teamed up with Facebook to send a campaign camper across the country over the past several weeks. Thousands of people stepped inside and recorded their questions on video. Millions more have weighed in on Facebook. Candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have a minute and 15 seconds to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you're singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know that we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. And as the candidates requested, a bell will sound like this. We know you are all eager to jump in and debate these important issues, so, please, wait until you're called on. These nine Republicans are positioned on stage based on their ranking in the recent polls, so let's begin right now. I'd like to invite each candidate to introduce himself or herself to our audience. You'll have one minute. First to you, Senator Paul. +p235 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p236 +aVGovernor Christie? +p237 +aVMs. Fiorina? +p238 +aVGovernor Bush? +p239 +aVSenator Rubio? +p240 +aVSenator Cruz. +p241 +aVDr. Carson. +p242 +aVMr. Trump. +p243 +aVThank you. Since you last debated, Americans have witnessed terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino. The FBI director says the country now faces the greatest terror threat since 9/11. You all have different approaches to keeping the country safe. And that will be the focus of tonight's debate. Mr. Trump, as you mentioned in your opening statement, part of your strategy is to focus in on America's borders. To keep the country safe, you say you want to temporarily ban non-American Muslims from coming to the United States; ban refugees fleeing +p244 +aVGovernor Bush, you called Mr. Trump "unhinged" when he proposed banning non-American Muslims from the United States. Why is that unhinged? +p245 +aVMr. Trump? +p246 +aVSenator Rubio \u2014 I'm going to go to Senator Rubio and get his thoughts. You have said banning Muslims is unconstitutional. But according to a recent ABC News-Washington Post poll, a majority of Republicans support Mr. Trump's idea. Why are they wrong? +p247 +aVHugh Hewitt, you have a question. +p248 +aVGovernor Christie, Americans are clearly more afraid today than at any time since 9/11. As you mentioned in your opening statement, today in Los Angeles, 650 schoolchildren didn't go to \u2014 650,000 schoolchildren didn't go to school because of an e-mail threat, this two weeks after an attack killed 14 people in San Bernardino. Is this the new normal? And if so, what steps would you take as president of the United States to ensure that fear does not paralyze America? +p249 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, one of the killers in San Bernardino was an American who was not on anyone's watch list. How are you going to find that radicalized person and stop another such attack? +p250 +aVThank you. Dana Bash, you have the next question. +p251 +aVThank you. Dr. Carson, you're in favor of monitoring mosques and schools where there is anti-America sentiment, what do you consider anti- America? +p252 +aVDr. Carson, who was right in that little debate that we just heard between Senator Rubio and Senator Paul? +p253 +aVHold on a sec, we have a lot more to come and everybody's going to have their full opportunity. Governor Bush, six days after 9/11 your brother visited a mosque and said quote, "Islam is peace." The conversation tonight is about banning Muslims and surveillance of mosques, are President Bush's words still relevant in today's Republican party? +p254 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you pointed out you were a CEO in Silicon Valley on 9/11. Companies there, they say they won't help the FBI now crack encrypted communication from +p255 +aVBut my question was: Should these Silicon Valley companies be forced to cooperate with the FBI? +p256 +aVMr. Trump, you recently suggested closing that Internet up, those were your words, as a way to stop +p257 +aVLet me follow up, Mr. Trump. So, are you open to closing parts of the Internet? +p258 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, is shutting down any part of the Internet a good idea? +p259 +aVThank you, Governor. The fight against radical Islamic terrorists and +p260 +aVThank you. To be clear, Senator Cruz, would you carpet bomb Raqqa, the +p261 +aVThank you. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you've been critical of Senator Cruz's strategy. You say his voting record doesn't match his rhetoric. Why? +p262 +aVBecause I asked the question, Senator, because you said this. You said he, referring to Senator Cruz, voted against the Defense Authorization Act every year that it came up, and I assume that if he voted against it, he would veto it as president. That's the bill that funds our troops. +p263 +aVSenator Cruz? +p264 +aVSenator Rubio. +p265 +aVWe are going to have much more on this... +p266 +aVWe're going to have much more on this. But I want to move now back to Mr. Trump. +p267 +aVHold on. Hold on. Hold on. +p268 +aVWe have a lot... +p269 +aVWe have a lot to discuss. I want to move to Mr. Trump right now. We have a question on this war against +p270 +aVMr. Trump. +p271 +aVGovernor Bush. Governor Bush. +p272 +aVMr. Trump. +p273 +aVJust one at a time, go ahead... +p274 +aVGo ahead, Mr. Trump. +p275 +aVGovernor Bush, please. +p276 +aVOne at a time. +p277 +aVGovernor Bush. +p278 +aVThank you. +p279 +aVAll right. Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash, Hugh, go ahead with the next question. +p280 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Rubio? Let's continue this conversation. This is a critically important issue. +p281 +aVWe will get to \u2014 we have a lot of time, Ms. Fiorina. I want to get to Senator Rubio right now. Let's talk about, one of the aspects of your strategy, you say the only way to defeat +p282 +aVThank you, Senator. Stand by. Ms. Fiorina, the former defense secretary, Bob Gates, says the chances of getting Sunni-Arab forces on the ground to get the job done, his words, "chances very remote." What's your strategy? +p283 +aVThank you. Governor Christie, what's your strategy? +p284 +aVDr. Carson, what is your strategy? +p285 +aVThank you. Everyone stand by. We're only just beginning. Coming up, which candidates on this stage tonight want to move foreign policy in a dramatically new direction? We'll be right back. +p286 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate here at the Venetian, Las Vegas. The war against +p287 +aVThank you. +p288 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you supported the removal of Moammar Gadhafi in Libya. Now that country is in turmoil, as +p289 +aVSenator Cruz? +p290 +aVStandby. Everybody standby for a moment. Governor Kasich, go ahead. +p291 +aVThank you. +p292 +aVWe're going to talk about Assad in a moment. Mr. Trump, are Americans safer with dictators running the world in the Middle East? +p293 +aVThank you. Mr. Trump? +p294 +aVAll right. +p295 +aVThank you. +p296 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East... +p297 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East better off with dictators? +p298 +aVGovernor Bush. +p299 +aVHold on Governor Bush., here's the question. You said, "getting rid of Saddam Hussein in your words was a pretty good deal." In light of what has happened in Iraq, do you still feel that way? +p300 +aVSenator Paul, was getting rid of Saddam Hussein a pretty good deal? +p301 +aVThank you. Hugh Hewitt, go ahead. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hugh. +p302 +aVSenator, Senator, we're going to get to you. Wait your turn. We have two hours of debate. We'll have plenty of time. Let Hugh ask his question. +p303 +aVSenator, please. +p304 +aVSenator... +p305 +aVYou'll have plenty of opportunity. Hugh, go ahead. +p306 +aVThese are the rules all of you agreed to. Hugh, go ahead with your question. +p307 +aVLet's continue with Russia right now. We have another question from Facebook. Listen and watch. +p308 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you know, U.S. and Russian warplanes are flying all over Syria right now. With so many lives on the line, is this a good time for the United States not to talk to Putin? +p309 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Christie, if the U.S. imposed a no-fly zone over Syria and a Russian plane encroached, invaded that no-fly zone, would you be prepared to shoot down that Russian plane and risk war with Russia? +p310 +aVSenator Paul \u2014 Senator Paul, I want you to respond to what we just heard from Governor Christie. If there was a no-fly zone, you say that potentially could lead to World War III. Why? +p311 +aVGovernor Christie? +p312 +aVAll right, let's go back \u2014 Hugh and Dana? +p313 +aVOne at a time. Hugh, go ahead. +p314 +aVGovernor, thank you very much. So, Dr. Carson, you recently visited a refugee camp in Jordan and you deemed it your words, "really quite nice." Saying the people there didn't want to come to the United States. Do you think these camps are a long-term solution of the problem of Syrian refugees? +p315 +aVSenator Paul, you oppose letting in Syrian refugees at this time into the United States. The U.S. has already accepted 2,000 Syrian refugees, including 13 living here in Las Vegas right now. Would you send them back? What would you do with these people? +p316 +aVSenator Rubio? +p317 +aVSenator Paul, you didn't answer the question about the 2,000 Syrian refugees who are already here in the United States. Will you send them back or let them stay? +p318 +aVWe have another \u2014 we have another question. We have another question from Facebook. Let's listen. +p319 +aVGovernor Christie, you say there should be a pause in allowing new refugees to come into the United States, including orphans under the age of five. What do you say to Carla? +p320 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p321 +aVThank you, Governor. There is much more coming up. We are only just beginning. Coming up, what other global hot spots await the next president of the United States. +p322 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate. We're here at the Venetian Las Vegas. Tonight we have been focusing on the Middle East, but let's turn to some other world threats that you will potentially face as Commander in Chief. Ms. Fiorina, candidates here have called the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un a maniac who is mentally unstable. Last week he said he now has a hydrogen bomb. If you were elected president, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p323 +aVDr. Carson, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p324 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Dana and Hugh you have questions as well. +p325 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Some of you on this stage have questioned whether your opponents have temperament, the right temperament, to be in control of the nuclear codes. Dana, you have a question on this? +p326 +aVThank you, senator. Thank you. +p327 +aVThank you, Senator. +p328 +aVThank you, Senator. We're a month and a half away now from the first real test who will be the Republican presidential nominee. Hugh, you have a question? +p329 +aVAll right. Candidates, we have more coming up. When we come back, everyone will have an opportunity to explain why this particular candidate, each of you on the stage, believes he or she should be the Republican presidential nominee. +p330 +aVNow it's time for the closing statements from the candidates. Each one has 30 seconds. Senator Paul. +p331 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p332 +aVGovernor Christie. +p333 +aVMs. Fiorina. +p334 +aVGovernor Bush. +p335 +aVSenator Rubio. +p336 +aVSenator Cruz. +p337 +aVDr. Carson. +p338 +aVThanks to all the Republican presidential candidates. That does it for this Republican presidential debate. +p339 +asVFIORINA +p340 +(lp341 +VLike all of you I'm angry. I'm angry at what's happening to our nation. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. Bombastic insults wont take it back. Political rhetoric that promises a lot and delivers little, won't take it back. All of our problems can be solved. All of our wounds can be healed by a tested leader who is willing to fight for the character of our nation. I have been tested. I have beaten breast cancer. I have buried a child. I started as a secretary. I fought my way to the top of corporate America while being called every B word in the book. I fought my way into this election and on to this debate stage while all the political insiders and the pundits told, "it couldn't be done." I've been told, "no,: all my life. And all my life, I've refused to accept no as an answer. Citizens, it is time to take our country back from the political class, from the media, from the liberal elite. It can be done, it must be done, join me and we will get it done. +p342 +aVWhat I think we need to stand for are solutions. I offer myself as a leader to the people of this country because I think they're looking for solutions, not lawyers arguing over laws or entertainers throwing out sound bites that draw media attention. We need to solve the problem. To solve the problem, we need to do something here at home and something over there in their caliphate. We need to deny them territory. But here at home, we need to do two fundamental things. Number one, we need to recognize that technology has moved on. The Patriot Act was signed in 2001, roughly. The iPhone was invented in 2007. The iPad was invented in 2011. Snapchat and Twitter, all the rest of it, have been around just for several years. Technology has moved on, and the terrorists have moved on with it. Let me tell you a story. Soon after 9/11, I got a phone call from the NSA. They needed help. I gave them help. I stopped a truckload of equipment. I had it turned around. It was escorted by the NSA into headquarters. We need the private sector's help, because government is not innovating. Technology is running ahead by leaps and bound. The private sector will help, just as I helped after 9/11. But they must be engaged, and they must be asked. I will ask them. I know them. +p343 +aVYou know, listening to this conversation, let me just say, we have a lot of argument about laws but none of it solves the problem. Let's examine what happened, why did we miss the Tsarnaev brothers, why did we miss the San Bernardino couple? It wasn't because we had stopped collected metadata it was because, I think, as someone who comes from the technology world, we were using the wrong algorithms. This is a place where the private sector could be helpful because the government is woefully behind the technology curve. But secondly, the bureaucratic processes that have been in place since 9/11 are woefully inadequate as well. What do we now know? That DHS vets people by going into databases of known or suspected terrorists. And yet, we also know that +p344 +aVThey do not need to be forced. They need to be asked to bring the best and brightest, the most recent technology to the table. I was asked as a CEO. I complied happily. And they will as well. But they have not been asked. That's why it cost billions of dollars to build an Obama website that failed because the private sector wasn't asked. +p345 +aVI hope at some point you're going to ask me my strategy. +p346 +aVWell, first I'll just point out that talking tough is not the same as being strong. And to wage war, we need a commander in chief who has made tough calls in tough times and stood up to be held accountable over and over, not first-term senators who've never made an executive decision in their life. One of the things I would immediately do, in addition to defeating them here at home, is bring back the warrior class \u2014 Petraeus, McChrystal, Mattis, Keane, Flynn. Every single one of these generals I know. Every one was retired early because they told President Obama things that he didn't want to hear. We must have Sunni-Arabs involved in this coalition. We must commit leadership, strength, support and resolve. I'll just add that Margaret Thatcher once said, "If you want something talked about, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman." +p347 +aVThat is exactly what President Obama said. I'm amazed to hear that from a republican presidential candidate. But let's just start with, who got it wrong? Who really got it wrong? Hillary Clinton has gotten every foreign policy challenge wrong. Hitting the reset button with Vladimir Putin \u2013 recall that she called Bashar Al-Assad a positive reformer and then she opened an embassy and then later she said, over, and over, and over again, "Bashar Al-Assad must go." Although she wasn't prepared to do anything about it. Recall that Hillary Clinton was all for toppling Gadhafi then didn't listen to her own people on the ground. And then of course, when she lied about the terrorist attack in Benghazi, she invited more terrorist attacks. +p348 +aVWe've mismanaged going into Iraq. +p349 +aVWe've mismanaged going out of Iraq. +p350 +aVWe actually... +p351 +aVI didn't say I would cut off all communication with Putin. What I said was as president of the United States, now is not the time to talk with him. Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. There is a time and a place for everything. There is a time and a place for talk. And there is a time and a place for action. I know Vladimir Putin. He respects strength. He lied to our president's face; didn't both to tell him about warplanes and troops going into Syria. We need to speak to him from a position of strength. So as commander in chief, I will not speak to him until we've set up that no-fly zone; until we've gathered our Sunni-Arab allies and begun to deny +p352 +aVThis doesn't do a thing to solve the problems...It doesn't do a thing to solve the problems. +p353 +aVIt will not solve the problem. +p354 +aVLadies and gentleman, this is why the American people are standing up. +p355 +aVThis is why the nation is fed up... +p356 +aVWe have been talking about this... +p357 +aVSorry, but you haven't gotten to me. This is why... +p358 +aVthe people are fed up with the political class. +p359 +aVWell, first, Kim Jong-Un is a dangerous leader, without a doubt. And both Republican and Democrat administrations have been completely ineffective in dealing with him. So we must continue to isolate him. We will need China as part of that strategy. China is a rising adversary. So one of the things we have to do if we want China's support is to push back on China. They, too, recognize one thing \u2014 strength and their own economic interest. I have done business in China for 25 years, so I know that in order to get China to cooperate with us, we must first actually retaliate against their cyber-attacks so they know we're serious. We have to push back on their desire to control the trade route through the South China Sea through which flows $5 trillion worth of goods and services every year. We cannot let them control the disputed islands, and we must work with the Australians, the South Koreans, the Japanese and the Filipinos to contain China. And then we must ask for their support and their help with North Korea. Because believe it or not, China is as concerned about Kim Jong-Un as we are. +p360 +aVI too remember September 11th. I remember immediately putting into place security procedures all throughout our company that did business in 170 countries where we thought corporate interests would be attacked next. To take our country back, to keep our nation safe, we have to begin by beating Hillary Clinton. We need to unify our party. We need to better than our government, which 75 percent of the American people now think is corrupt and incompetent. They're right. We need to better than our politics. 80 percent think we have a professional/political class of both parties that cares more about its power, position and privilege than actually on getting anything done. We need to unify our party, we need a real Conservative in the White House, and we need to beat Hillary Clinton to take our country back and keep our nation safe. I can. I am. And together, if you join me, we will take our country back. +p361 +aVWell, first of all, I must say as I think about that question, I think about a woman I met the other day. I would guess she was 40 years old. She had several children. And she said to me, you know, Carly, I go to bed every night afraid for my children's future. And that really struck me. This is America. A mother is going to bed afraid for her children's future. And the reason she's afraid for her children's future is because we've had problems for a long time. Yes, problems have gotten much worse under Democrats. But the truth is, this government has been growing bigger and bigger, more corrupt, less effective, crushing the engine of economic growth for a very long time. This isn't about just replacing a Democrat with a Republican now. It's about actually challenging the status quo of big government. Big government has created a big business called politics. And there are lots of people invested in the status quo of that big business called politics. Specifically, we need actually to do five things to really get this economy going again. We need to go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dollar is being spent, we can challenge any dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. We need to actually reform the tax code. Go to a three-page tax code. Yes, there are plans that would reform our tax code to three pages. In addition to rolling back what President Obama has done, we need to do a top-to-bottom review of every single regulation on the books. That hasn't been done in 50 years. We need to pass the +p362 +aVWell, first Obamacare has to be repealed because it's failing... ...it's failing the very people it was intended to help, but, also, it is croney-capitalism at its worst. Who helped write this bill? Drug companies, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, every single one of those kinds of companies are bulking up to deal with big government. See, that's what happens. As government gets bigger, and bigger \u2014 and it has been for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike \u2014 and business have to bulk up to deal with big government. So, we have to repeal it. It's tens of thousands of pages long, no one can possible understand it except the big companies, the lawyers, the accountants, the lobbyists that they hire to protect their interests. Then, we have to give back to states the responsibility to manage a high risk pool. We need to try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried. Health insurance has always been a cozy, little game between regulators and health insurance companies. We need to try the free market. The free market. Where people actually have to compete. And, we 'ought to have the government ensure that you must \u2014 and I don't use that term often, that government 'ought to do something, but every healthcare provider 'ought to publish its costs, its prices, its outcomes, because as patients we don't know what we're buying. Now, let me just say \u2014 let me just say, I know more about innovation and entrepreneurship than anyone on this panel because I have led innovative businesses in the most highly competitive industry in the world for decades. The truth is the secret sauce of America is innovation, and entrepreneurship, it is why we must cut our government down to size, and hold it accountable. It's why we have to take our government back, because innovation and entrepreneurship is crushed by the crushing load of a 73,000 page tax code. It is crushed... ...by regulatory thicket that is so vast we don't even know what's in it anymore. It is crushed as well by government bureaucrats who don't do their jobs very well, and who are not held accountable, which is why I've said we got to take our government back, and to do that, we have to know where every dollar being spent, and be able to move any dollar. We have to hack through this regulatory thicket, repeal so much, but, also, know what's in that regulatory thicket \u2014 we don't even know what regulations have been passed. Third, we need to build a meritocracy \u2014 Scott Walker, by the way, is trying now to do in Wisconsin... ...Finally, we need to get to a three page tax code, and, yes, that plan exists. +p363 +aVSorry, I can't hear you. +p364 +aV...Absolutely... +p365 +aV...You need to give... +p366 +aVThe alternative is to allow states to manage high risk pools for those who really need help. Look, I'm a cancer survivor, OK? I understand that you cannot have someone who's battled cancer just become known as a pre-existing condition. I understand that you cannot allow families to go bankrupt if they truly need help. But, I also understand that Obamacare isn't helping anyone. We're throwing more, and more people into Medicaid, and fewer, and fewer doctors are taking those payments. The point is Obamacare is crushing small businesses, it is not helping the families it was intended to help. So, let us allow states to manage high risk pools. Let us try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried, the free market. Let us ensure that as patients, and customers... +p367 +aV...that we have information to shop wisely for our health care. +p368 +aV...Yes, the middle ground is this... +p369 +aV...This is why \u2014 this is why we must combine, actually, zero-based budgeting with tax reform because unless we can examine, and cut, and move, every single dollar of discretionary spending in the federal government, we cannot reform taxes and reduce spending at the same time. Ask yourself this question, how is it possible that the federal government gets more money each and every year, which the federal government has been doing, receiving more money every year for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike, and yet, never has enough money to do the important things? The answer? All the money's always spoken for. All the money's spoken for. So, we have to go to zero-based budgeting, which is a simple idea \u2014 by the way, there's been a bill for zeros-based (ph) budgeting... ...It exists, it can be voted on. Every dollar must be examined. Any dollar can be cut. Any dollar can be cut, any dollar can be moved. We have to go to a three page tax code. You lower every rate, you close every loophole, why? Because the government uses the tax code to decide winners, and losers. You have to strip the corruption out of the tax code to pay for it. You have to know where every single dollar is being spent... +p370 +aV...Cut where you need to, and invest where you need to... +p371 +aV...The two go hand in hand... +p372 +aVYou know, Mr. Trump fancies himself a very good negotiator. And, I accept that he's done a lot of good deals, so, Mr. Trump 'ought to know that we should not speak to people from a position of weakness. Senator Paul should know that as well. One of the reasons I've said that I would not be talking to Vladimir Putin right now, although I have met him as well, not in a green room for a show, but in a private meeting. One of the reasons I've said I wouldn't be talking to Vladimir Putin right now is because we are speaking to him from a position of weakness brought on by this administration, so, I wouldn't talk to him for awhile, but, I would do this. I would start rebuilding the Sixth Fleet right under his nose, rebuilding the military \u2014 the missile defense program in Poland right under his nose. I would conduct very aggressive military exercises in the Baltic States so that he understood we would protect our +p373 +aV...we have the strongest military on the face of the planet, and everyone has to know it. +p374 +aV...Ronald Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. +p375 +aV...he walked away, he quit talks... +p376 +aV...when it was time to quit talking... +p377 +aVCan I just \u2014 could I just say, as a chief executive who's had to make tough calls to save jobs and to grow jobs, I think what's interesting about Dodd-Frank is it's a great example of how socialism starts. Socialism starts when government creates a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. Government created the problem. Government created the problem of a real estate boom. How did we create it? Under Republican and Democrats alike, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, everybody gathered together, Republicans and Democrats, and said, "home ownership is part of the American dream. Let's create a bubble," and then government stepped in \u2014 by the way, under president George W. Bush, banks were told \u2014 encouraged \u2014 told, really \u2014 to buy other banks, to take money. And now what do we have with Dodd-Frank? The classic of crony capitalism. The big have gotten bigger, 1,590 community banks have gone out of business, and on top of all that, we've created something called the Consumer Financial Production Bureau, a vast bureaucracy with no congressional oversight that's digging through hundreds of millions of your credit records to detect fraud. This is how socialism starts, ladies and gentlemen. We must take our government back. +p378 +aVImagine a Clinton presidency. Our military will continue to deteriorate. Our veterans will not be cared for. And, no, Mrs. Clinton, that situation is not exaggerated. The rich will get richer. The poor will get poorer. The middle class will continue to get crushed. And as bad as that picture is, what's even worse is that a Clinton presidency will corrode the character of this nation. Why? Because of the Clinton way: Say whatever you have to, lie as long as you can get away with it. We must beat Hillary Clinton. Carly Fiorina can beat Hillary Clinton. I will beat Hillary Clinton. And under a President Fiorina, we will restore the character of this nation, the security of this nation, the prosperity of this nation, because as citizens, we will take our government back. +p379 +asVBUSH +p380 +(lp381 +VOur freedom is under attack. Our economy is under water. The leading democrat is under investigation. And America is under the gun to lead the free world to protect our civilized way of life. Serious times require strong leadership, that's what at stake right now. Regarding national security, we need to restore the defense cuts of Barack Obama to rebuild our military, to destroy +p382 +aVWell, first of all, we need to destroy +p383 +aVLook, he mentioned me. I can bring \u2014 I can talk. This is \u2014 this is the problem. Banning all Muslims will make it harder for us to do exactly what we need to do, which is to destroy +p384 +aVThey are relevant if we want to destroy +p385 +aVDonald, this has got... +p386 +aVThis is another example of the lack of seriousness. Look, this is \u2014 this is troubling because we're at war. They've declared war on us and we need to have a serious strategy to destroy +p387 +aVYou said on September 30th that +p388 +aVI'm talking right now. I'm talking. +p389 +aVSeptember 30th you said... +p390 +aVA little of your own medicine there, Donald. +p391 +aVDonald, you're not going to be able to insult your way to the presidency. That's not going to happen. And I do have the strength. Leadership, leadership is not about attacking people and disparaging people. Leadership is about creating a serious strategy to deal with the threat of our time. And I laid out that strategy before the attacks in Paris and before the attacks in San Bernardino. And it is the way forward. We need to increase our military spending. We need to deal with a no- fly zone in Syria, a safe zone. We need to focus on building a military that is second-to-none... +p392 +aV... so that we can destroy Islamic terrorism. +p393 +aVI think we're focusing a whole... +p394 +aVI do. I think the lesson's learned are that we have to have to have a strategy to get and a strategy to get out. Which means, that you create a stable situation. This president and this is what the focus ought to be, it's not the differences between us, it's Barack Obama does not believe America's leadership in the world is a force for good. He does not believe that our strength is a place where security can take place. He leads from behind. He creates an environment that now we're creating the most unstable situation we've had since the World War II era. The focus ought to be on the single fact that Hillary Clinton wants to double down on a failed foreign policy and we need to be united to defeat that because we're going to be in a place that is far less secure than it is today. Don't you all agree? +p395 +aVBecause I \u2014 first of all, I know what I don't know. I know what I don't know. I would seek out, as I have, the best advice that exists. I won't get my information from the shows. I don't know if that's Saturday morning or Sunday morning. I don't know which one. I will seek out the best advice, and I will create a strategy and I will persuade the American people what the role of America should be. I've laid out a policy of rebuilding our military. All of the talk that we're seeing here \u2014 most of which I agree on, frankly \u2014 requires a much stronger military. We now have a lack of readiness that is quite scary. We have planes that were \u2014 that Harry Truman inaugurated, the B-52. We have \u2014 the Navy has been gutted and decimated. The readiness of the Marines is way down. If we're serious about America's leadership in the world, then we need to make sure that we have the back of the armed forces. The Armed Forces Radio is here listening to this today. I hope they know that if I'm president, I'll be a commander-in-chief, not an agitator- in-chief or a divider-in-chief, that I will lead this country in a way that will create greater security and greater safety. +p396 +aVSo I was \u2014 I was \u2014 I was mentioned, so I can bring up something, I think, right? Look, the simple fact is, if you think this is tough you're not being treated fairly... +p397 +aV... imagine what it's going to be like dealing with Putin or dealing with President Xi. +p398 +aVOr dealing with the Islamic terrorism that exists. +p399 +aVThis is a tough business to run for president. +p400 +aVAnd it's \u2014 and we need...... to have a leader that is... +p401 +aVYou're never going to be president of the United States by insulting your way to the presidency. +p402 +aVDoesn't matter. Doesn't matter. +p403 +aVYes. +p404 +aVNo it isn't but it is an important subject to talk about for sure. And I think people have good ideas on this. Clearly, we need to secure the border. Coming here legally needs to be a lot easier than coming here illegally. If you don't have that, you don't have the rule of law. We now have a national security consideration, public health issues, we have an epidemic of heroine overdoses in all places in this country because of the ease of bringing heroine in. We have to secure the border. It is a serious undertaking and yes, we do need more fencing and we do need to use technology, and we do need more border control. And we need to have better cooperation by the way with local law enforcement. There are 800,000 cops on the beat, they ought to be trained to be the eyes and ears for law enforcement for the threat against terror as well as for immigration. This is a serious challenge and if we can get it right, yes, we'll start winning votes again. The real problem isn't anybody on this stage, the real problem is Barack Obama has had six years to advocate a position to fix this and he's done nothing. The congress has funded these programs of building more fencing and doing all this and he hasn't done it. He wants to maintain it as a wedge issue and so does Hillary Clinton. Republicans need to fix it and when we do, we'll be better off. +p405 +aVI completely agree with Chris. And this administration has been so lax. Think about it. Hillary Clinton is using a private server for \u2014 where classified information go by. This is a \u2014 this is a serious administration? The president receives an inspector general's report that the Office of Personnel Management could be hacked into; they had antiquated firewalls; 23 million files have been \u2014 are in the hands of the Chinese allegedly, including, by the way, members of the press, it turns out, last week. Maybe that's the only part that's good news, so that you guys can get a feel for what it's like now to see this type of attack. This is something \u2014 we have to have the best defensive capabilities. We need to coordinate all of our efforts with the private sector. We need to give them liability relief so that we can do that. And offensively, we need to have capabilities second to none. We need to create a situation where they know that there will be adverse impacts if they continue to do what they're doing. They'll respect that. They'll respect a United States that is serious about protecting our \u2014 our infrastructure. If we don't do it, we'll continue to see what's \u2014 exactly what's happening, not just from the Chinese, by the way. The Russians and rogue actors, including +p406 +aVAsk yourself, which candidate will keep you and our country safer, stronger and freer? Hillary Clinton has aligned herself with Barack Obama on +p407 +aVYou've already made two comments, John. It's my turn. +p408 +aVI got about four minutes in the last debate. I'm going to get my question right now. +p409 +aVYes. +p410 +aVFirst of all, we could get to 4 percent growth. The new normal of 2 percent puts huge demands on government. The reason why we have structural deficits is that more and more people are relying on government and the growth that we don't have makes \u2014 makes the deficit grow. A 4 percent growth strategy starts with tax reform. And the proposal that I've laid out is the one the Wall Street Journal editorial board has said is the most pro-growth of all the proposals out there. We cut the \u2014 we eliminate a lot of deductions and cut the rates down. A corporate rate of 20 percent, which puts us 5 percent above \u2014 below that of China, and allows us full expensing of investing. It would create an explosion of investment back into this country, creating higher-wage jobs, and so that's part of it. On the regulatory side I think we need to repeal every rule that Barack Obama has in terms of work in progress, every one of them. And start over. For those that are already in existence, the regulation of the Internet, we have to start over, but we ought to do that. The clean power act, we ought to repeal that and \u2014 and start over on that. The waters of the United States act, which is going to be devastating for agriculture and many industries, we should repeal that. We should repeal the rules because the economic costs of this far exceed the social benefit. And if we're serious about being serious about high growth, then we have to recognize that small businesses right now, more of them are closing than \u2014 than are \u2014 than are being set up. Hillary Clinton has said that Barack Obama's policies get an A. Really? One in 10 people right now aren't working or have given up altogether, as you said. That's not an A. One in seven people are living in poverty. That's not an A. One in five children are on food stamps. That is not an A. It may be the best that Hillary Clinton can do, but it's not the best America can do. +p411 +aVThank you, Donald, for allowing me to speak at the debate. That's really nice of you. Really appreciate that. What a generous man you are. Twelve million illegal immigrants, to send them back, 500,000 a month, is just not \u2014 not possible. And it's not embracing American values. And it would tear communities apart. And it would send a signal that we're not the kind of country that I know America is. And even having this conversation sends a powerful signal \u2014 they're doing high-fives in the Clinton campaign right now when they hear this. That's the problem with this. We have to win the presidency. And the way you win the presidency is to have practical plans. Lay them out there. What we need to do is allow people to earn legal status where they pay a fine, where they work, where they don't commit crimes, where they learn English, and over an extended period of time, they earn legal status. That's the path \u2014 a proper path... +p412 +aVI'm gonna fight as hard as I can to make sure that we shift power away from Washington, simplify the tax code, to spur economic activity in this country. Of course it's the highest priority. If we don't do that, we're stuck with the "new normal" of 2 percent growth. Hillary Clinton says, basically, we just gotta get used to it. Two percent growth means declining income for the middle class. It means more than 6 million people are stuck in poverty than the day that Barack Obama was inaugurated. It means \u2014 it means more demands on government \u2014 growing the economy is the first job, if we're going to be serious about dealing with the deficit and debt. And more importantly, people are really struggling right now. In this economy, the disposable income of the great middle is down 2,300 bucks. So yeah, we've created jobs, your \u2014 argue (ph) \u2014 brought that up early, and it was a good question. Jobs are being created, but they're lower-income jobs than the jobs that were lost. And the net effect of this is we need to jump-start the economy. I think of Jonathan (ph) and Reagan Love (ph), who are supporters of mine. Jonathan has been deployed by the National Guard, he is \u2014 he's in Oklahoma. Reagan Love \u2014 by the way, pretty great name, I think \u2014 is a teacher. When \u2014 if they had this tax cut, what they told me was that that $2,300 of money in their pocket \u2014 they would go back to South Carolina and start a business. Imagine what it would be like, instead of having more businesses closed than started, we had it the exact opposite. We would grow our economy, and the government would get the revenue necessary to make things \u2014 make things better. Hillary Clinton's approach to this is more top-down, more regulation, more taxes, more government, and it will destroy our economy. +p413 +aVIt is \u2014 I'd say it is Islamic terrorism, and, back to the question of what we are dealing with in Iraq, when we pull back voids are filled. That's the lesson of history, and, sadly, this president does not believe in American leadership. He does not believe it, and the net result is that we have a caliphate the size of Indiana that gains energy each and everyday to recruit Americans in our own country, and the threat to the homeland relates to the fact that we have not dealt with this threat of terror in the Middle East. We should have a no fly zone in Syria. We should have a support for the remnants of the Syrian Free Army, and create safe zones. If you want to deal with the four million refugees that are leaving Syria because of the devastation there, then we 'ought to create safe zones for them to stay in the region rather than go to Europe. And, that requires American leadership. Without American leadership every other country in the neighborhood beings to change their priorities. It is tragic that you see Iraq, and other countries now talking to Russia. It wasn't that long ago that Russia had no influence in the region at all. And, so, the United States needs to lead across the board. This president, and Hillary Clinton both do not believe the United States has a leadership role to play, and we're now paying a price, and it will have a huge impact on the economy of this country if we don't deal with this. +p414 +aV...They're not doing that... +p415 +aV +p416 +aVDonald \u2014 Donald's wrong on this. He is absolutely wrong on this. We're not going to be the world's policeman, but we sure as heck better be the world's leader. That's \u2014 there's a huge difference where, without us leading... ...voids are filled, and the idea that it's a good idea for Putin to be in Syria, let +p417 +aVWe're not \u2014 we shouldn't have another financial crisis. What we ought to do is raise the capital requirements so banks aren't too big to fail. Dodd-Frank has actually done the opposite, totally the opposite, where banks now have higher concentration of risk in assets and the capital requirements aren't high enough. If we were serious about it, we would raise the capital requirements and lessen the load on the community banks and other financial institutions. This vast overreach has created a huge problem for our country, and Hillary Clinton wants to double down on that. I was in Washington, Iowa, about three months ago talking about how bad Washington, D.C., is. It was \u2014 get the \u2014 kind of the \u2014 anyway. We had... It \u2014 and I talked to a banker there. This is a bank that had $125 million of assets, four branches. Their compliance costs because of Dodd-Frank went from $100,000 to $600,000 in a two-year period. The net effect of that is \u2014 and they had \u2014 they had not one loan that went bad during the financial crisis. They knew \u2014 they knew their borrowers. They gave back to the community. They were engaged in the community. And imagine America without its community banks. Well, that's what's happening because of Dodd-Frank. That's \u2014 that's my worry. My worry is that the real economy has been hurt by the vast overreach of the Obama administration. And Hillary Clinton, she wants to double down on that. She wants to create even more so. She is a captive of the left of her party to the point now where she is \u2014 she was for the trade agreement in \u2014 the Pacific agreement. Now she's against it. She was \u2014 hinted she was for the XL pipeline. Now she's opposed to it. All the things that would create sustained economic growth she's now doubling down against it. +p418 +aVYou could, if you were serious about... +p419 +aVNo, I can't say that. But I can say, if you created higher capital requirements, that's the solution to this, not having concentration of assets. The bigger banks now have more and more control over \u2014 over the financial assets of this country. And that is the wrong approach to take. +p420 +aVMaria? +p421 +aV...We've had a 10% reduction in carbon emissions, and it isn't because of Solyndra. It isn't because of the central planners in Washington D.C. It's because we've had a great American success story, the explosion of natural gas. Taking two existing technologies, and applying it through innovation has created lower carbon emissions, lower energy costs \u2014 40% of all the economic activity in the age of Obama has come from the energy sector, and Hillary Clinton wants to suppress that. We \u2014 I think we ought to be expanding this. High growth is the path to lower carbon, and more jobs. I know for a fact, as Governor of the State of Florida, we created the largest land purchasing programs, and environment clean-up programs because we had a growing economy. Our revenues were growing at 4.4%. It allowed for resources to be able to protect the natural system. We got to get to a conservation... ...in environmental policy that goes beyond just carbon... +p422 +aVJane Horton is sitting with my wife here today. Her husband, Chris, was killed in action in Afghanistan. And Jane spends her time now defending and fighting for military families. They're both heroes. I don't think we need an agitator-in-chief or a divider-in-chief. We need a commander-in-chief that will rebuild our military and restore respect to our veterans by revamping and fixing a broken Veterans Administration, That's my pledge to you. I ask for your support. Thank you. +p423 +asVHEWITT +p424 +(lp425 +VSenator Cruz, you've said you disagree with Mr. Trump's policy. I don't want a cage match; you've tweeted you don't want a cage match. But Republican primary voters deserve to know, with the kind of specificity and responsiveness you delivered in your nine Supreme Court arguments, how you disagree with Mr. Trump. Would you spell that out with us? +p426 +aVSo you're saying you disagree because he's too broad and you have a narrower focus? Why do you disagree with him? +p427 +aVCarly Fiorina... ... this is the Christmas dinner debate. This will be the debate that Americans talk about at Christmas. And thus far, in the first 10 minutes, we haven't heard a lot about Ronald Reagan's city on a hill. We've heard a lot about keeping Americans out or keeping Americans safe and everyone else out. Is this what you want the party to stand for? +p428 +aVDr. Carson...... you mentioned in your opening remarks that you're a pediatric neurologist surgeon... +p429 +aVNeurosurgeon. And people admire and respect and are inspired by your life story, your kindness, your evangelical core support. We're talking about ruthless things tonight \u2014 carpet bombing, toughness, war. And people wonder, could you do that? Could you order air strikes that would kill innocent children by not the scores, but the hundreds and the thousands? Could you wage war as a commander-in-chief? +p430 +aVSo you are OK with the deaths of thousands of innocent children and civilian? It's like... +p431 +aVThat is what war \u2014 can you be as ruthless as Churchill was in prosecuting the war against the Nazis? +p432 +aVMr. Trump, we are talking about the most important thing, that's why it's heated. And it's, you are OK with Mr. Assad staying in power, but you are also in favor of winning. If he stays in power, Iran is winning, Hezbollah is winning. Iran is winning in Yemen. They are winning everywhere. If they are winning how can we be winning? +p433 +aVGovernor Christie, is he right? Because if we step back, Iran goes nuclear. Is Donald Trump right? +p434 +aVSenator Paul, let me ask you, you heard Governor Kasich say Assad must go. Do you agree? +p435 +aVGovernor Bush, a commander-in-chief question. You've said that Mr. Trump is not qualified to be president because he's not qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin. Why are you better qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin than Mr. Trump? +p436 +aVMr. Trump? +p437 +aVBut, Mr. Trump, it's not CNN \u2014 I was on CNN last night... +p438 +aV... watching... +p439 +aVBut it wasn't \u2014 it wasn't CNN. It was me. I watched you last night for 16 minutes. It's not CNN. +p440 +aVIt's not CNN. It's America's watching you. +p441 +aVIt's America's watching. +p442 +aVGovernor \u2014 thank you, Governor. +p443 +aVDr. Carson, commander-in-chief question again. You've been the head of neurosurgery for a big hospital. You're on a lot of boards of a lot of companies. You've traveled the world. You're going traveling again next week. But does that prepare you to command troops from Djibouti to Japan, troops from Afghanistan to Iraq to be in charge of the men and women watching on Armed Services Network tonight? +p444 +aVMr. Trump...... Dr. Carson just referenced the single most important job of the president, the command, the control and the care of our nuclear forces. And he mentioned the triad. The B-52s are older than I am. The missiles are old. The submarines are aging out. It's an executive order. It's a commander-in-chief decision. What's your priority among our nuclear triad? +p445 +aVOf the three legs of the triad, though, do you have a priority? I want to go to Senator Rubio after that and ask him. +p446 +aVSenator Rubio, do you have a response? +p447 +aVMy listeners tell me again and again they are worried that Hillary Clinton will win the White House because you'll run as an independent. Are you ready to assure Republicans tonight that you will run as a Republican and abide by the decision of the Republicans? +p448 +aVDr. Carson, last week... +p449 +aVPlease. +p450 +aVDr. Carson, Mr. Trump just committed to stay the distance regardless of the result. How about you? +p451 +asVBAKER +p452 +(lp453 +VThe candidates on stage tonight were selected based on their standing in an average of four national polls. Those standings determining their position on the stage. And here they are. At center stage, businessman Donald Trump. Neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson. +p454 +aVTonight's rules are simple. Up to 90 second for each answer. One minute for each follow-up response. And if a candidate goes over their allotted time, you'll here this. +p455 +aVMs. Fiorina, while you've all pointed out how weak the current recovery has been and how disappointing by any historical standards, in the general election, the Democrats will inevitably ask you and voters to compare the recent president's jobs performance. Now, in seven years under President Obama, the U.S. has added an average of 107,000 jobs a month. Under President Clinton, the economy added about 240,000 jobs a month. Under George W. Bush, it was only 13,000 a month. If you win the nomination, you'll probably be facing a Democrat named Clinton. How are you going to respond to the claim that Democratic presidents are better at creating jobs than Republicans? +p456 +aVThank you. Thank you. Senator Paul, income inequality has been rising in the United States. Fifty years ago, for example, the average CEO of a big corporation in this country earned 20 times the average salary of one of his or her workers. Today, that CEO earns about 300 times the average salary of a worker. Does it matter at all that the gap between the rich and everyone else is widening? +p457 +aVThank you, Senator. +p458 +aVSenator Rubio... +p459 +aVYes, one quick comment, yes. +p460 +aVGovernor Bush... +p461 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor, you...You should let Jeb speak. +p462 +aVMr. Trump, Mr. Trump, you yourself \u2014 you yourself said let Governor Bush speak. Governor Bush? +p463 +aVSenator Rubio? Senator... +p464 +aVSenator Rubio, Senator Rubio, let me \u2014 let me take you to a question that I think gets to the root of a lot of the anxiety that people have in this country. The economy is undergoing a transformation through information technology. Americans are anxious that the new economy isn't producing higher-paying jobs. Many are concerned that the new wealth seems to be going mainly to innovators and investors. Meanwhile, with factories run by robots and shopping done increasingly on smartphones, many traditional jobs are just going away. How do you reassure American workers that their jobs are not being steadily replaced by machines? +p465 +aVThank you. Senator Cruz \u2014 Senator Cruz, entitlements. You've argued for raising the retirement age and reducing benefits for future retirees, but reducing any sort of benefits for the elderly has always been notoriously hard to do politically. When Speaker Paul Ryan proposed replacing traditional Medicare with federally funded private plans a few years ago, a liberal group responded with a commercial that featured a granny being pushed off a cliff. What's going to be different this time? +p466 +aV...I said for future retirees was your statement... +p467 +aVSenator Rubio. Can I just come to Senator Rubio? We're coming to you, Mr. Trump, in one second. I \u2014 I promise. +p468 +aVSenator Rubio, your tax plan includes a large expansion of child tax credits to raise off (ph) the tax incomes for low-income parents. A similar tax credit that you previously proposed in the Senate was estimated to cost as much as $170 billion a year, according to the Tax Foundation. Isn't \u2014 isn't there a risk you're just adding another expensive entitle program to an already overburdened federal budget? +p469 +aVGovernor Kasich? Let me come to Governor Kasich. +p470 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p471 +aVVery quickly, Senator. +p472 +aVPlease. +p473 +aV...Gentleman, we need to move on... +p474 +aV...We need to move... +p475 +aV...We need too... +p476 +aV...We do need to move on. Mr. Trump... +p477 +aV...Very quick. +p478 +aVLet's talk about \u2014 No, no, Governor, I really must move on. I really want to move on. Mr. Trump, let's talk about the international economy... +p479 +aV...We really need to move on... +p480 +aV...No, governor, I promise I will come to you... +p481 +aV...Listen... +p482 +aV...Mr. Trump, can I ask you about... +p483 +aV...the U.S. just concluded an international trade agreement with 11 countries in the Pacific. You've said that you'd rather have no deal... +p484 +aV...than sign the one that's on the table... +p485 +aV...Most economists \u2014 most economists say that trade is boosted growth, and every single post war president has supported the expansion of international trade, including the last three republican presidents. Why would you reverse more than 50 years of U.S. trade policy? +p486 +aVThe \u2014 the deal, as you say, the terms of the deal were published \u2014 were published just last week, the details, 5,000 pages of it, and 80 percent of U.S. trade with countries in the Pacific, these countries, these 11 countries, is actually tariff-free, and these \u2014 the trade deal only affects the other 20 percent. Which \u2014 are there particular parts of the deal that you think were badly negotiated? +p487 +aVThere was a separate \u2014 separate... +p488 +aVBut isn't that \u2014 isn't that part of the problem? When I say, Senator, that if \u2014 if this deal is not ratified by \u2014 by the U.S. \u2014 by the Senate, then it would actually give China an opportunity to grow its economic leadership, which it's been seeking to do? And if the U.S. is unable to take part in this trade deal with these countries in Asia, China will take the lead? +p489 +aVThank you. Thanks, Senator. +p490 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich, I want to ask you about China, in particular hundreds of American companies have been subjected to cyber attacks from the Chinese military, yet state-backed Chinese companies, growing their presence in the United States, Chinese investments in U.S., which were nearly nonexistent a few years ago, are now over $50 billion. And as my newspaper recently reported, Chinese companies are planning to bid for one of the largest hotel chains in the United States, what would be the largest ever Chinese takeover of a U.S. company. Would you stop them? +p491 +aVThank you, Governor. Plenty of opportunities. Thank you. Neil? +p492 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate, live from Milwaukee. Now let's get straight back to the questions, and Governor Bush. Governor, Hillary Clinton recently said that if we had another financial crisis like the one in 2008, she wouldn't bail out the banks. Would you? +p493 +aVBut, Governor, but can I just quickly \u2014 did \u2014 you can't seriously guarantee that there won't be another financial crisis, can you? +p494 +aVEver? There will never be another financial crisis? +p495 +aVDr. Carson, if I may, just on that point, despite measures taken, as the governor says, since the crisis to make the financial system safer, the major banks in the U.S., many of them are actually bigger than ever. Asset held by JPMorgan Chase, for example, the very largest bank, have increased by nearly 40 percent to over $2.6 trillion. Do you think JPMorgan and the other big banks should be broken up? +p496 +aVBut just to be clear, just \u2014 just to be clear, then, you wouldn't \u2014 you wouldn't favor breaking up the big banks? You think they're big enough \u2014 they're OK as they are, as big as they are? +p497 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p498 +aVThank you. +p499 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate. And now, candidates, it's time for your closing statements. You get 30 seconds each, and, Senator Paul, we will begin with you. +p500 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p501 +asVCRUZ +p502 +(lp503 +VThank you, Wolf. America is at war. Our enemy is not violent extremism. It is not some unnamed malevolent force. It is radical Islamic terrorist. We have a president who is unwilling to utter its name. The men and women on this stage, every one of us, is better prepared to keep this nation safe than is Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. We need a president who understands the first obligation of the commander-in-chief is to keep America safe. If I am elected president, we will hunt down and kill the terrorists. We will utterly destroy +p504 +aVWell, listen, Hugh, everyone understands why Donald has suggested what he has. We're looking at a president who's engaged in this double-speak where he doesn't call radical Islamic terrorism by its name. Indeed, he gives a speech after the San Bernardino attack where his approach is to try to go after the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens rather than to keep us safe. And even worse, President Obama and Hillary Clinton are proposing bringing tens of thousands of Syrian refugees to this country when the head of the FBI has told Congress they cannot vet those refugees. I understand why Donald made that proposal. I introduced legislation in the Senate that I believe is more narrowly focused at the actual threat, which is radical Islamic terrorism, and what my legislation would do is suspend all refugees for three years from countries where +p505 +aVWell, you know, I'm reminded of what FDR's grandfather said. He said, "All horse-thieves are Democrats, but not all Democrats are horse-thieves." In this instance, there are millions of peaceful Muslims across the world, in countries like India, where there is not the problems we are seeing in nations that are controlled \u2014 have territory controlled by Al Qaida or +p506 +aVWell, Dana, the premise of your question is not accurate. I'm very proud to have joined with conservatives in both the Senate and the House to reform how we target bad guys. And what the USA Freedom Act did is it did two things. Number one, it ended the federal government's bulk collection of phone metadata of millions of law-abiding citizens. But number two in the second half of it that is critical. It strengthened the tools of national security and law enforcement to go after terrorists. It gave us greater tools and we are seeing those tools work right now in San Bernardino. And in particular, what it did is the prior program only covered a relatively narrow slice of phone calls. When you had a terrorist, you could only search a relatively narrow slice of numbers, primarily land lines. The USA Freedom Act expands that so now we have cell phones, now we have Internet phones, now we have the phones that terrorists are likely to use and the focus of law enforcement is on targeting the bad guys. You know what the Obama administration keeps getting wrong is whenever anything bad happens they focus on law-abiding citizens instead of focusing on the bad guys. We need to focus on radical Islamic terrorists and we need to stop them before they carry out acts of terror. +p507 +aVWell, you know, I would note that Marco knows what he's saying isn't true. You know, Mark Levin wrote a column last week that says that the attack ads his Super PAC is running that are saying the same thing, that they are knowingly false and they are, in fact, Alinsky-like attacks like Barack Obama. And the reason is simple. What he knows is that the old program covered 20 percent to 30 percent of phone numbers to search for terrorists. The new program covers nearly 100 percent. That gives us greater ability to stop acts of terrorism, and he knows that that's the case. +p508 +aVWhat it means is using overwhelming air power to utterly and completely destroy +p509 +aVYou would carpet bomb where +p510 +aVWell, you know, Marco has continued these attacks, and he knows they're not true. Yes, it is true that I voted against the National Defense Authorization Act, because when I campaigned in Texas I told voters in Texas that I would oppose the federal government having the authority to detain U.S. citizens permanently with no due process. I have repeatedly supported an effort to take that out of that bill, and I honored that campaign commitment. +p511 +aVBut more broadly, you know, the notion Marco is suggesting, that somehow \u2014 he also has tossed more than a few insults this direction \u2014 let's be absolutely clear. +p512 +aVWolf, I believe in a America first foreign policy, that far too often President Obama and Hillary Clinton \u2014 and, unfortunately, more than a few Republicans \u2014 have gotten distracted from the central focus of keeping this country safe. So let's go back to the beginning of the Obama administration, when Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama led +p513 +aV... we ought to hunt down our enemies and kill +p514 +aVWell, it's more than not shedding a tear. It's actively getting involved to topple a government. And we keep hearing from President Obama and Hillary Clinton and Washington Republicans that they're searching for these mythical moderate rebels. It's like a purple unicorn. They never exist. These moderate rebels end up being jihadists. And I'll tell you whose view on Assad is the same as mine. It's Prime Minister Netanyahu. Prime Minister Netanyahu has said Israel doesn't have a dog in that fight because Assad is a puppet of Iran, a Shia radical Islamic terrorist, but at the same time, Prime Minister Netanyahu doesn't want to see Syria governed by +p515 +aVThe question of whether we should toppling dictatorships is asking the wrong question. We should be defeating our enemies. So the problem with defeating... +p516 +aVWell, but let me explain, the focus should be... +p517 +aV... on defeating our enemies. So, for example... +p518 +aV... a regime we should change is Iran... +p519 +aV... because Iran has declared war on us. But we shouldn't be toppling regimes...... that are fighting radical Islamic terrorists that are helping... +p520 +aVWell, he \u2014 he has attempted to muddy the waters, but I think that anyone who watched the battle that we had. You know, there was a time for choosing as Reagan put it. Where there was a battle over amnesty and some chose, like Senator Rubio to stand with Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer and support a massive amnesty plan. Others chose to stand with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and the American people and secure the border. And let me mention, this issue is actually directly connected to what we've been talking about. Because the front line with +p521 +aVLook, I understand Marco wants to raise confusion, it is not accurate what he just said that I supported legalization. Indeed, I led the fight against his legalization and amnesty. And you know, there was one commentator that put it this way that, for Marco to suggest our record's the same is like suggesting "the fireman and the arsonist because they are both at the scene of the fire." He was fighting to grant amnesty and not to secure the border, I was fighting to secure the border. And this also goes to trust, listening on to campaign trails. Candidates all the time make promises. You know, Marco said," he learned that the American people didn't trust the federal government." +p522 +aVIn Florida promising to... +p523 +aVgo in the fight against amnesty... +p524 +aVHe campaigned promising to lead the fight against amnesty. +p525 +aVI have never supported a legalization... +p526 +aVI have never supported legalization, and I do not intend to support legalization. Let me tell you how you do this, what you do is you enforce the law... +p527 +aVWatt you do is enforcement the law... +p528 +aVWhat you do... +p529 +aVWhat you do is you enforce the law. I've laid out a very, very detailed immigration plan on my website, tedcruz.org. It's 11 pages of existing federal law and in particular the question of what to do with people who are here now? You enforce the law. That means you stop the Obama administration's policy of releasing criminal illegal aliens. Do you know how many aliens Bill Clinton deported? 12 million. Do you know how many illegal aliens, George W. Bush deported? 10 million. We can enforce the laws and if we secure the border, that solves the problem. And as president I will solve this problem and secure the border. +p530 +aVDana, what I said in private is exactly what I'll say here, which is that the judgment that every voter is making of every one of us up here is who has the experience, who has the vision, who has the judgment to be commander in chief. That is the most important decision for the voters to make. That's a standard I'm held to. And it's a standard everyone else is held to. And I will note, you know, in the whole course of this discussion about our foreign policy threats, it actually illustrates the need for clarity of focus. You know, my daughters, Caroline and Catherine, came tonight. They're 7 and 5. And you think about the Los Angeles schools canceling their schools today. And every parent is wondering, how do we keep our kids safe? We need a commander in chief who does what Ronald Reagan did with communism, which is he set out a global strategy to defeat Soviet communism. And he directed all of his... I'm answering the question, Dana. He directed all of his forces to defeating communism. One of the things we've seen here is how easy it is for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to get distracted from dealing with radical Islamic terrorism. They won't even call it by its name. We need a president who stands up, number one, and says, we will defeat +p531 +aVAnd we need to be focused on defeating... +p532 +aV... defeating radical Islamic terrorists. +p533 +aVWhat I'm saying, Dana, is that is a judgment for every voter to make. What I can tell you is all nine of the people here would make an infinitely better commander in chief than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. +p534 +aVAnd there is a real danger, Dana, when people get distracted. I'm answering the question, Wolf. There's a real danger when people get distracted by peripheral issues. They get distracted by democracy building. They get distracted about military conflicts. We need to focus on defeating jihadism. +p535 +aVAnd I will do everything necessary to keep our children safe. +p536 +aVJudgment, strength, clarity and trust. Barack Obama has said he doesn't believe in American leadership or America winning \u2014 he is wrong. America can win again and we will win again. Ronald Reagan reignited the American economy, rebuilt the Military, bankrupted the Soviet Union and defeated Soviet Communism. I will do the same thing. Cutting taxes, cutting regulation, unleashing small businesses and rebuilding the Military to defeat radical Islamic terrorism \u2014 our strategy is simple. We win, they lose. We've done it before and we can do it again. +p537 +aVWell, Maria, it's great to be with you. It's great to be here in Milwaukee. You know, the question you asked really I think is the most important question any of us can have \u2014 face, which is, how do we get the economy growing? How do we bring back economic growth? Because economic growth, it's foundational to every other challenge we have. As you rightly noted, from 2008 to today, our economy has grown 1.2 percent a year on average. The Obama economy is a disaster, and the IMF is telling us this is a new normal. It doesn't have to be. If you look at the history of America, there are three levers that government has had to facilitate economic growth. The first is tax reform. And as you noted, I have rolled out a bold and simple flat tax: 10 percent for every American that would produce booming growth and 4.9 million new jobs within a decade. The second element is regulatory reform, pulling back the armies of regulators that have descended like locusts on small businesses. And the third element is sound money. Every time we've pursued all three of those \u2014 whether in the 1920s with Calvin Coolidge or the 1960s with JFK or the 1980s with Ronald Reagan \u2014 the result has been incredible economic growth. We have done it before, and with leadership, we can do it again. +p538 +aVWell, my Mom is here, so I don't think we should be pushing any grannies off cliffs. And, you miss-stated what I've said on entitlement reform. What I've said is for seniors we should make no changes whatsoever, for younger workers we should gradually raise the retirement age, we should have benefits grow more slowly, and we should allow them to keep a portion of their taxes in a personal account that they control, and can pass on to their kids... +p539 +aVI want to go back to the discussion we had a minute ago because, you know, what was said was right. The democrats are laughing \u2014 because if republicans join democrats as the party of amnesty, we will lose. And, you know, I understand that when the mainstream media covers immigration, it doesn't often see it as an economic issue. But, I can tell you for millions \u2014 of Americans at home watching this, it is a very personal economic issue. And, I will say the politics of it will be very, very different if a bunch of lawyers or bankers were crossing the Rio Grande. Or if a bunch of people with journalism degrees were coming over and driving down the wages in the press. Then, we would see stories about the economic calamity that is befalling our nation. And, I will say for those of us who believe people 'ought to come to this country legally, and we should enforce the law, we're tired of being told it's anti-immigrant. It's offensive. I am the son of an immigrant who came legally from Cuba... ...to seek the American dream. And, we can embrace legal immigration while believing in the rule of law \u2014 and I would note, try going illegally to another country. Try going to China, or Japan. Try going to Mexico. See what they do. Every sovereign nation secures its borders, and it is not compassionate to say we're not going to enforce the laws... ...And we're going to drive down the wages for millions of hardworking men and women. That is abandoning the working... +p540 +aVWell, sure, you put your finger on what the problem is. The current system isn't fair. Washington is fundamentally corrupt. There are more words in the IRS code than there are in the Bible \u2014 and \u2014 and not a one of them is as good. Every one of them reflects a carve-out or a subsidy, and it's all about empowering the Washington cartel. My simple Flat Tax says that, for a family of four, for the first $36,000 you earn, you pay no taxes whatsoever. No income taxes, no payroll taxes, no nothing. Above that, every American pays 10 percent across the board \u2014 a flat, fair tax. Which means that no longer do you have hedge-fund billionaires paying a lower tax rate than their secretaries. On the business side, I've got a business flat tax of 16 percent \u2014 again, that applies across the board. Right now, with our corporate income tax, giant corporations with armies of accountants regularly are paying little to no taxes while small businesses are getting hammered. This is fair and across-the-board. Now, you ask, how do the numbers add up? I would encourage folks, if you go to our website, tedcruz.org, we have the specific numbers on the website. This plan eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax, eliminates the corporate income tax, and it abolishes the IRS. And the effect of that is incredible economic growth. It means every income group will see double-digit increases, from the very poorest to the very weakest, of at least 14 percent. So if you're a single mom, if you're making $40,000 a year, what that means is an extra about $5,000 in your pocket to provide for your kids, to make ends meet. It has a powerful, powerful effect. And there's one other really powerful feature of my plan, which is that it's border-adjustable. Which means, if you're an exporter \u2014 if you're a farmer, if you're a rancher, if you're a manufacturer, you don't pay the businesses flat tax. Exports are free of that tax, but all imports pay that 16 percent business flat tax, which means this tax plan would cause jobs to boom, and it would let America compete with China and the world on a level playing field. +p541 +aVWell, the numbers the Tax Foundation had put out is that the static cost of the plan is $3.6 trillion over 10 years, but the dynamic cost of the plan, which \u2014 which is the cost that factors in growth, is about $768 billion. It is less than a trillion. It costs less than virtually every other plan people have put up here, and yet it produces more growth and it's one of the very few plans that abolishes the IRS. But on top of that, today, we rolled out a spending plan. $500 billion in specific cuts \u2014 five major agencies that I would eliminate. The IRS, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Energy, the Department of Commerce, and HUD \u2014 and then 25 specific programs. Again, that's on our website at tedcruz.org. You want to look at specificity? It's easy for everyone to say, "cut spending". It's much harder and riskier to put out, chapter and verse, specifically the programs you would cut to stop bankrupting our kids and grandkids. +p542 +aV...Middle ground that brings both of these together... +p543 +aV...Exactly right, that we have to defend this nation. You think defending this nation is expensive, try not defending it. That's a lot more expensive. But, you can do that, and pay for it. You can do that, and also be fiscally responsible. You know, I mention that the 25 programs that I put today, that I would eliminate them. Among them are corporate welfare, like sugar subsidies. Let's take that as an example. Sugar subsidies. Sugar farmers farm under... ...under roughly 0.2% of the farmland in America, and yet they give 40% of the lobbying money. That sort of corporate welfare is why we're bankrupting our kids, and grandkids. I would end those subsidies to pay for defending this nation... +p544 +aVAbsolutely yes. You know, I have spent much of my adult life enforcing the law and defending the Constitution. And the problem that underlies all of this is the cronyism and corruption of Washington. You know, the opening question Jerry asked, would you bail out the big banks again? Nobody gave you an answer to that. I'll give you an answer. Absolutely not. And what we have right now is we have Washington \u2014 as government gets bigger and bigger, you know, the biggest lie in all of Washington and in all of politics is that Republicans are the party of the rich. The truth is, the rich do great with big government. They get in bed with big government. The big banks get bigger and bigger and bigger under Dodd-Frank and community banks are going out of business. And, by the way, the consequence of that is small businesses can't get business loans, and it is that fundamental corruption that is why six of the 10 wealthiest counties in America are in and around Washington, D.C. And let me give you a contrast to Washington cronyism. Some weeks ago, a woman named Sabina Loving testified at a hearing that I chaired in the Senate. Sabina Loving is an African-American single mom who started a tax preparation business in the south side of Chicago. She found a store front, she wanted to have her own business. She started a business. But then the IRS promulgated new regulations targeting tax preparers. They did it under a more than 100-year-old statute called the Dead Horse Act. Now, this statute and the IRS in classic Washington crony fashion had exemptions for lawyers and big fancy accountants, but Sabina had to pay $1,000 an employee. It would have driven her out of business, and Ms. Loving sued the IRS. She took the Obama IRS to court, and she won, and they struck down the rule for picking the big guys over the little guys. +p545 +aVYes. Now, let's be clear, there is a role for the Federal Reserve \u2014 what the Fed is doing now is it is a series of philosopher- kings trying to guess what's happening with the economy. You look at the Fed, one of the reasons we had the financial crash is throughout the 2000s, we had loose money, we had an asset bubble, it drove up the price of real estate, drove up the price of commodities, and then in the third quarter of 2008, the Fed tightened the money and crashed those asset prices, which caused a cascading collapse. That's why I am supporting getting back to rules-based monetary system not with a bunch of philosopher-kings deciding, but tied... +p546 +aVSo let me be clear. I would not bail them out, but instead of adjusting monetary policy according to whims and getting it wrong over and over again and causing booms and busts, what the Fed should be doing is, number one, keeping our money tied to a stable level of gold, and, number two, serving as a lender of last resort. That's what central banks do. So if you have a run on the bank, the Fed can serve as a lender of last resort, but it's not a bailout. It is a loan at higher interest rates. That's how central banks have worked. And I'll point out \u2014 look, we had a gold standard under Bretton Woods, we had it for about 170 years of our nation's history, and enjoyed booming economic growth and lower inflation than we have had with the Fed now. We need to get back to sound money, which helps, in particular, working men and women. What Washington does \u2014 the people who are doing well in the Obama economy are those with power and influence in the Obama government. The people who working men and women... +p547 +aVSo, Governor Kasich... +p548 +aV...why would you then bail out rich Wall Street banks, but not Main street, not Mom and Pop, not Sabina Loving? +p549 +aVBut you just said an executive... +p550 +aV...knows to step in and bail out a bank. +p551 +aVSo you said you'd abandon philosophy and abandon principle... +p552 +aV...but what would you do if the bank was failing? +p553 +aVSo you \u2014 you would bail them out. +p554 +aVAnd, Maria, I will note, she's got a lot of experience, but her policies have proven disastrous. If you look at foreign policy, every region in the world has gotten worse. Under her leadership, we abandon the nation of Israel. Under her leadership, radical Islamic terrorism has been on to the rise. Under her leadership, and Obama's leadership, Iran is getting $100 billion dollars, and on the verge of getting a nuclear weapon. Everything she's put her hand to, or has touched \u2014 and when we talk about the cronyism of Washington, Hillary Clinton embodies the cronyism... ...of Washington. And, I'll give you an example of that, which is the Congressional exemption from Obamacare, which is fundamentally wrong, and I'll tell you this, if I'm elected president, I will veto any statute that exempts members of congress. The law should apply evenly to every American. +p555 +aVMaria, critically, when it comes to climate change... +p556 +aV...Our \u2014 our... +p557 +aVFifty-eight years ago, my father fled Cuba. As he stood on the deck of that ferryboat with the wind and salt air blowing, he looked back at the oppression and torture he was escaping. And yet he looked forward to the promise of America. His story is our story. What ties Americans together is we are all the children of those who risked everything for freedom. America is in crisis now. I believe in America. And if we get back to the free market principles and constitutional liberties that built this country, we can turn this country around. I believe that 2016 will be an election like 1980, that we will win by following Reagan's admonition to paint in bold colors, not pale pastels. We're building a grassroots army. I ask you to join us at tedcruz.org. And we, the people, can turn this nation around. +p558 +asVTODD +p559 +(lp560 +VGood evening, and welcome to the +p561 +aVAnd neither party has seen this yet. These candidates are both running for the Democratic nomination, but they are very different from each other when it comes to what matters most and how they would go about the job of being president. Our job tonight is to draw out those differences so you, the voters, can understand them and be fully informed. +p562 +aVFirst, I want to say a special thanks to the New Hampshire Union Leader for helping make this debate possible, and the readers, who helped provide some of the questions and topics that we'll be addressing tonight. The rules tonight, by the way, are simple: 90 seconds for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. +p563 +aVThank you, Senator. Secretary Clinton. +p564 +aVAll right. Let's get started. Secretary Clinton, last night you cited the Concord Monitor when you said of Senator Sanders that, quote, "It's very hard to see how any of his proposals could ever be achievable." So please tell us why you think if he's elected president on a platform of promising things like free public college and universal healthcare, that he cannot achieve those things. +p565 +aVThank you, Secretary. Senator Sanders, so just explain how you spent nearly two decades in Congress and haven't gotten any of these things passed. Why do you think as president you'll be able to achieve big, big new programs like this? +p566 +aVGo. +p567 +aVYes, go ahead. +p568 +aVAll right, thank you both. Rachel. +p569 +aVI'd like to follow up on a comment that Secretary Clinton said, Senator. President Obama has not called for abolishing the death penalty. President Obama is for the big Asian trade deal known as TPP, and just yesterday you said you can't be both a moderate or a progressive, but you can't be both. Is President Obama, in your judgment, based on these policies positions, a progressive? +p570 +aV...Secretary Clinton, go ahead... +p571 +aV 30 seconds, and then we'll move. +p572 +aVThank you. +p573 +aV... Secretary, we're gonna... +p574 +aVThirty seconds. +p575 +aVThank you both. +p576 +aVAll right, welcome back. Let's get right to it. Senator Sanders, you were talking about all of your campaign contributions and campaign finance reform. You rail against big money in politics. But do you realize there is one public financing system that we do have in place, and it is\u2014it is in place to run for president. Why aren't you walking the walk on that? Why aren't you participating in the presidential public financing system which is designed to essentially keep big money out of presidential politics? +p577 +aVWell, going on that then, why criticize her on Super PACs, and you got\u2014and all this when it is\u2014you know, that's the system? I mean, you could be participating in a publicly-financing\u2014public financing system... +p578 +aV... and being able to set\u2014being able to set an example. +p579 +aV... she has had more people praise her plan than yours. +p580 +aVThank you both. Let me move on to our next question here, and in fact it comes to us through New England Cable News. Secretary Clinton, it's addressed to you, and it's about this issue of the speeches, particularly to Goldman Sachs. This is what the questioner wrote verbatim. "I am concerned with the abuses of Wall Street has taken with the American taxpayers money," and then she asks whether you would release the transcripts of your Goldman Sachs speeches, and then added, "Don't you think the voting public has a right to know what was said?" But, let's make that bigger. Are you willing to release the transcripts of all your paid speeches? We do know through reporting that there were transcription services for all of those paid speeches. In full disclosure, would you release all of them? +p581 +aVSenator, you sound like you want to respond. Go ahead. +p582 +aVWe'll be right back. And we're going to get to trade and a lot of other issues. +p583 +aVGo ahead, Senator Sanders\u201430 seconds, your response. +p584 +aVAll right. Senator, I want to stay, though... +p585 +aVGo ahead. 30 seconds. +p586 +aVLet me\u2014let\u2014we're gonna\u2014we're staying\u2014we're staying basically on this topic. Obviously you've been emphasizing this difference on the Iraq war, but one place where you do agree, and one place where you voted to authorize the use of force, was in favor of the war in Afghanistan. Right now, it is possible President Obama is going to be leaving the next president, perhaps President Sanders, at least 10,000 troops in Afghanistan. How long will those troops be in Afghanistan under President Sanders? +p587 +aVCan you address a question on Afghanistan? How long are these troops going to be there? If President Obama leaves you 10,000 troops, how long do you think they're going to be there? +p588 +aVSecretary Clinton, 30 seconds: How long are these troops going to be in Afghanistan? We have more American troops in Afghanistan than what we were talking about with Iraq. +p589 +aVYou know, Senator Sanders, nobody knows who your foreign policy advisers are. You haven't given a major foreign policy speech. And it doesn't sound like all the time that foreign policy is a priority, other than when you're asked about it, and you say you're going to crush +p590 +aVAll right, Senator, 30 seconds. +p591 +aV30 seconds, madam secretary. +p592 +aVAlright, as Commander in Chief, Senator Sanders, you've got to prioritize potential threats to the United States. Three countries, North Korea, Iran, Russia. How would you rank them in order of their threat to America's security right now... +p593 +aV... Starting with the biggest threat. +p594 +aV... I didn't say that... +p595 +aV... No... +p596 +aV... We already had that. I'm talking about these three countries. How would you orient our national security, our national defense posture. +p597 +aVSecretary of Defense Ash Carter this week picked one of those three, and he has said Russia is, basically, the most important national security threat. Sort of reorienting the defense and the challenges to that. Do you agree with his decisions... +p598 +aVSecretary Clinton, what do you think of Secretary of Defense Ash Carter. He's basically putting Russia above Iran, above North Korea, as sort of the chief national security challenge right now. +p599 +aVThank you both, Rachel? +p600 +aVAnd we are back. We're gonna get into a little bit of election politics, electability, in a little bit. Senator Sanders, The Iowa Democratic Party has declared Hillary Clinton the winner of Monday's Iowa caucuses\u2014narrowest of margins. Today, the Des Moines Register has an editorial that calls for the audit of the results, saying, quote, "what happened Monday night at the Democratic caucuses was a debacle, period. The results were too close not to do a complete audit." Senator Sanders, do you accept the idea that Hillary Clinton won Iowa? And do you\u2014or do you believe the caucuses are still an open question? +p601 +aVSecretary Clinton, will you participate in some sort of audit, if that's what the party wants to do? You good with that? +p602 +aVThat's fair enough. OK. +p603 +aVGood, we move on. We're happy with that. We have more questions. +p604 +aVWe'll stay on this issue. We'll stay on this topic. Secretary Clinton, just like there are some Democrats that question Senator Sanders' ability in the general election, many Democratic voters that our reporters have been running into in Iowa and New Hampshire, they tell our reporters over and over again they're worried about the emails issue, not because they don't believe your explanation, but because it's a drip-drip, because the cloud is hanging over your head and that it will impact the general election. They see your numbers right now and they think it's the email issue as to why you're not polling very well. So can you reassure these Democrats that somehow the email issue isn't going to blow up your candidacy if you're the nominee? +p605 +aVAll right, Madam Secretary, there is an open\u2014there is an open FBI investigation into this matter about how you may have handled classified material. Are you 100 percent confident that nothing is going to come of this FBI investigation? +p606 +aVWell, Senator sanders, you famously at the first debate said you didn't give a darn about her emails; I think you used another . +p607 +aVYou're right. I'm trying to\u2014it's a\u2014it's a family hour still right now. After 11:00, I'll say it the other way. And you mostly have refrained from commenting on it, but recently you called it a very serious issue, and then the other day you said well she's getting slapped with the email controversy. Are you\u2014how are you feeling about these darn emails now? +p608 +aVOK. Senator Sanders, thank you. +p609 +aVSecretary Clinton, let me turn to the issue of trade. In the '90s you supported +p610 +aVWell, Senator Sanders, I know you want to respond on this, you have never supported a trade deal since you've been in Congress. +p611 +aVBut if you do that as president... If you do that as president, how are you not essentially letting China, who will do all of these deals around the world, how are you going to prevent China from essentially setting the rules of trade for the world? +p612 +aVAll right. Thank you both. We're going to sneak in one more break here, and when we come back we'll squeeze as many questions as we can before we end this thing. We'll be right back. +p613 +aVAll right. Welcome back here in the final minutes. +p614 +aVThe home stretch of this only Democratic debate in the final week before the primary. Let me start with you, Secretary Clinton, on this question. Obviously, President Obama got a lot of ambitious stuff done in his first year and a half. You're going to have to make choices. And there's a lot of heavy lifts. And he made choices. He did healthcare and it came at the expense, arguably, of immigration reform. Had he put immigration reform first, perhaps that gets done and healthcare doesn't. So there are three big lifts that you've talked about: immigration, gun reform, climate change. What do you do first? Because you know the first one is the one you have the best shot at getting done. +p615 +aVAll right, but Senator Sanders......you've still got to do something first. As you know, history said\u2014shows what you pick first is your best shot at getting, and how you prioritize things. +p616 +aVImmigration reform, for instance, fell by the wayside in the first term because of this. +p617 +aVOK. Thank you. +p618 +aVAll right, before we go, I want to ask each one of these. Secretary Clinton, you've made it clear when you look at Senator Sanders, you do not see a president, but do you see\u2014 +p619 +aVBut do you see\u2014do you see a vice president? +p620 +aVWould you unite the party by trying to pick Senator Sanders as your running mate? +p621 +aVSenator, would you consider the secretary? +p622 +aVSecretary Clinton, closing statements. You are first. +p623 +aVThank you, Madam Secretary. Senator Sanders. +p624 +aVWell, there you have it. I promise you, Rachel and I have a lot more questions, but we just don't have any more time, unless we could a third hour, but I don't think so. Our debate coverage\u2014 debate coverage will continue in just a moment with our colleague . And we want to thank all of you for being here, and we want to thank the two candidates for taking part in this important event. +p625 +aVWe'll see you in a few minutes. Thank you. +p626 +asVPAUL +p627 +(lp628 +VThe question is, how do we keep America safe from terrorism? Trump says we ought to close that Internet thing. The question really is, what does he mean by that? Like they do in North Korea? Like they do in China? Rubio says we should collect all Americans' records all of the time. The Constitution says otherwise. I think they're both wrong. I think we defeat terrorism by showing them that we do not fear them. I think if we ban certain religions, if we censor the Internet, I think that at that point the terrorists will have won. Regime change hasn't won. Toppling secular dictators in the Middle East has only led to chaos and the rise of radical Islam. I think if we want to defeat terrorism, I think if we truly are sincere about defeating terrorism, we need to quit arming the allies of +p629 +aVYou know, I think Marco gets it completely wrong. We are not any safer through the bulk collection of all Americans' records. In fact, I think we're less safe. We get so distracted by all of the information, we're not spending enough time getting specific immigration \u2014 specific information on terrorists. The other thing is, is the one thing that might have stopped San Bernardino, that might have stopped 9/11 would have been stricter controls on those who came here. And Marco has opposed at every point increased security \u2014 border security for those who come to our country. On his Gang of Eight bill, he would have liberalized immigration, but he did not \u2014 and he steadfastly opposed any new border security requirements for refugees or students. Last week, I introduced another bill saying we need more security, we need more scrutiny. Once again, Marco opposed this. So Marco can't have it both ways. He thinks he wants to be this, "Oh, I'm great and strong on national defense." But he's the weakest of all the candidates on immigration. He is the one for an open border that is leaving us defenseless. If we want to defend the country, we have to defend against who's coming in, and Marco is \u2014 has more of an allegiance to Chuck Schumer and to the liberals than he does to conservative policy. +p630 +aVIf I was mentioned in the question, can I respond? +p631 +aVMarco still misunderstands the immigration issue. What I put forward was an amendment that would have temporarily halted immigration from high-risk terrorist countries, but would have started it up, but I wanted them to go through Global Entry, which is a program where we do background checks. The thing is, is that every terrorist attack we've had since 9/11 has been legal immigration. Marco wants to expand that. I want more rules, more scrutiny, and to defend the country, you have to defend the border. +p632 +aVWolf... +p633 +aVWolf, this legislation... +p634 +aVThis legislation on indefinite detention... +p635 +aV... I think deserves a little more attention. +p636 +aVI think that by arming the allies of +p637 +aVI think that if you believe in regime change, you're mistaken. In 2013, we put 600 tons of weapons \u2014 us, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar \u2014 into the war against Assad. By pushing Assad back, we did create a safe space. We had people coming to our Foreign Relations Committee and saying, "Oh, we need to arm the allies of Al Qaida." They are still saying this. It is a crazy notion. This is the biggest debate we should be having tonight is is regime change a good idea; has it been a good idea. There are still people \u2014 the majority on the stage, they want to topple Assad. And then there will be chaos, and I think +p638 +aVThese are the fundamental questions of our time, these foreign policy questions, whether or not regime change is a good idea or a bad idea. I don't think because I think the regime change was a bad idea it means that Hussein was necessarily a good idea. There is often variations of evil on both sides of the war. What we have to decide is whether or not regime change is a good idea. It's what the neoconservatives have wanted. It's what the vast majority of those on the stage want. They still want regime change. They want it in Syria. They wanted it in Iraq. They want it in Libya. It has not worked. Out of regime change you get chaos. From the chaos you have seen repeatedly the rise of radical Islam. So we get this profession of, oh, my goodness, they want to do something about terrorism and yet they're the problem because they allow terrorism to arise out of that chaos. +p639 +aVNo, I think it's a huge mistake. I think regime change in Syria, and this is what \u2014 I've been saying this for several years now. In 2013 when we first went in, I said, you are going to give arms to the allies of al Qaida, to radical jihadists? That's crazy. But the other thing I said is the great irony is you will be back fighting against your own weapons. Had Assad been bombed when he used chemical weapons two years ago, +p640 +aVWell, I think if you're in favor of World War III, you have your candidate. You know, here's...... the thing. My goodness, what we want in a leader is someone with judgment, not someone who is so reckless as to stand on the stage and say, "Yes, I'm jumping up and down; I'm going to shoot down Russian planes." Russia already flies in that airspace. It may not be something we're in love with the fact that they're there, but they were invited by Iraq and by Syria to fly in that airspace. And so if we announce we're going to have a no-fly zone, and others have said this. Hillary Clinton is also for it. It is a recipe for disaster. It's a recipe for World War III. We need to confront Russia from a position of strength, but we don't need to confront Russia from a point of recklessness that would lead to war. This is something \u2014 this type of judgment, you know, it's having that kind of judgment; who you would appoint and how you're going to conduct affairs, that is incredibly important. I mean, I think when we think about the judgment of someone who might want World War III, we might think about someone who might shut down a bridge because they don't like their friends; they don't want to \u2014 you know, they want to a Democrat. So I think we need to be very careful. +p641 +aVYou know, I think we need to set the record straight on this, because I think Marco misspoke about the bill. On the Gang of Eight bill, there was no provisions really for extra scrutiny or safety for refugees. At the time the bill came up, two Iraqi refugees came to my home town, Bowling Green, Kentucky. Their fingerprints were on a bomb from Iraq. They were in the database, but we didn't pick them up. We relocated them here, put them in government housing, got them on food stamps. And we began providing for them, but we didn't have adequate security. On the Gang of Eight bill, on Marco's bill, we had an opportunity. There was a conservative consensus for an amendment I put forward called Trust, But Verify that would have strengthened border security on both refugees, students and those coming here. And Marco sided and I guess was more sympathetic to Chuck Schumer and to the president than he was to conservative principles. But this goes directly to national defense. And if he wants to run as a national \u2014 national defense conservative, he's got to explain why he hasn't stepped up to support border security. +p642 +aVWhat my bill would do would be only for refugees going forward. So I haven't taken a position on sending anyone home. But I have taken the position that we have a lot of problems here in our country. And that one of the things that we do \u2014 charity is about giving your own money. Charity isn't giving someone else's money. To put everyone in government housing and food stamps and bring them in from around the world I think is a mistake. To give of your own money, I've given to my church. My church has helped people that came from Bosnia. That's a good thing. But we shouldn't have a program where we just say that we're going to take care of the world's refugees. Nobody in the Middle East is doing anything. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait \u2014 all the Gulf nations are doing nothing. They need to step up and take... +p643 +aVThe greatest threat to our national security is our debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. And whose fault is it? Well, frankly, it's both parties' fault. You have those on the right who clamor and say, oh, we will spend anything on the military, and those on the left who say the same for domestic welfare. But what most Americans don't realize is there is an unholy alliance. They come together. There's a secret handshake. We spend more money on everything. And we are not stronger nation if we go further into debt. We are not projecting power from bankruptcy court. To me, there is no greater threat than our debt. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage because I'm willing to hold the line on all spending. I hope you will consider me in the election. Thank you very much. +p644 +aVAbsolutely. And I think that we ought to look where income inequality seems to be the worst. It seems to be worst in cities run by Democrats, governors of... States run by Democrats and countries currently run by Democrats. So the thing is, let's look for root causes. But I would also say \u2014 lay some blame at the \u2014 the feet of the Federal Reserve. I think the Federal Reserve has made this problem worse. By artificially keeping interest rates below the market rate, average ordinary citizens have a tough time earning interest, have a tough time making money. They're actually talking now about negative interest. The money as it's created through quantitative easing or other means tends to start out in the big banks in New York. And because we're now paying interest for them to keep the money there, much of that money has not filtered out into the economy. So what we're finding is there is increasing income disparity and income inequality. We also find that as the Federal Reserve destroys the value of the currency, what you're finding is that, if you're poor, if you make $20,000 a year and you have three or four kids, and you're trying to get by, as your prices rise or as the value of the dollar shrinks, these are the people that are hurt the worst. So really we need to reexamine whether we not \u2014 we want a Federal Reserve that's involved so much in determining interest rates. We also need to look at root causes as to what caused the housing boom and the housing collapse. But the bottom line is, if you want less income inequality, move to a city with a Republican mayor or a state with a Republican governor. +p645 +aVWell, it's a great question, Neil, and thanks for including me in the tax debate. I think what's important about the tax debate is, is that we have to ask the question, where is money best spent, in the private sector or in the government sector? I want a government really, really small, so small you can barely see it. So I want lower taxes and much more money in the private sector. My tax plan, however, is the only tax plan among any of the candidates on the stage that is part of a balanced budget plan. I put forward three plans that actually balance the budget over a five-year period. Each of these plans have details on exactly where we would cut. The question came up earlier, where would you cut? Nobody likes to say where they would cut. I've put pencil to paper and done three budgets that actually balance. I'm also in favor of a plan called the penny plan where we'd just cut 1 percent across the board and the budget actually balances in less than five years. So I think what is extraordinary about my tax plan is it is in the context of balancing the budget. What is also extraordinary about my tax plan is it gets rid of the payroll tax. Democrats demagogue this issue to death, and when they do they say, oh, a millionaire would get a bigger tax cut than someone making $10,000. That's proportionality, as Ben is trying to explain to folks. But the thing is, is if we get rid of the payroll tax, everybody is going to get a tax cut. And this is something that I think the public at large will support and could win an election. +p646 +aVOurs is 14.5 percent for corporations, 14.5 percent for individuals. No payroll tax for the employee. The business tax pays for social security, and there would be two remaining deductions \u2014 home mortgage and charity. +p647 +aVThank you. +p648 +aVNeil, there's a point I'd like to make here... ....Neil, a point that I'd like to make about the tax credits. We have to decide what is conservative and what isn't conservative. Is it fiscally conservative to have a trillion-dollar expenditure? We're not talking about giving people back their tax money. He's talking about giving people money they didn't pay. It's a welfare transfer payment. So here's what we have. Is it conservative to have $1 trillion in transfer payments \u2014 a new welfare program that's a refundable tax credit? Add that to Marco's plan for $1 trillion in new military spending, and you get something that looks, to me, not very conservative. Thank you. +p649 +aVNevertheless, it's not very conservative, Marco. +p650 +aVHow is it conservative? +p651 +aVYeah, but, Marco! Marco! How is it conservative, how is it conservative to add a trillion-dollar expenditure for the federal government that you're not paying for? +p652 +aVHow is it conservative? +p653 +aVHow is it conservative to add a trillion dollars in military expenditures? You can not be a conservative if you're going to keep promoting new programs that you're not going to pay for. +p654 +aVNo. I don't think we're any safer \u2014 I do not think we are any safer from bankruptcy court. As we go further, and further into debt, we become less, and less safe. This is the most important thing we're going to talk about tonight. Can you be a conservative, and be liberal on military spending? Can you be for unlimited military spending, and say, Oh, I'm going to make the country safe? No, we need a safe country, but, you know, we spend more on our military than the next ten countries combined? I want a strong national defense, but I don't want us to be bankrupt. +p655 +aVHey, Gerard, you know, we might want to point out China is not part of this deal. +p656 +aVBefore we get a little bit off-kilter here... +p657 +aVThere is an argument that China doesn't like the deal, because in us doing the deal, we'll be trading with their competitors. You're exactly right. But I think we've sort of missed the point a little bit here. There is an important point, though, about how we discuss these trade treaties that I do agree with Mr. Trump on. We should negotiate from a position of strength. And we also should negotiate using the full force and the constitutional power that was given to us. I think it's a mistake that we give up power to the presidency on these trade deals. We give up the power to filibuster, and I'm kind of fond of that power. We give up the power to amend. And I think, really, one of the big problems we have in our country is, over the last century, really, so much power has gravitated to the executive branch. Really, Congress is kind of a bystander. We don't write the rules. We don't make the laws. The executive branch does. So even in trade \u2014 and I am for trade \u2014 I think we should be careful about giving so much power to the presidency. +p658 +aVI'd like first to respond to the acquisition, we should \u2014 I think it's particularly naive, particularly foolish to think that we're not going to talk to Russia. The idea of a no fly zone, realize that this is also something that Hillary Clinton agrees with several on our side with, you're asking for a no fly zone in an area in which Russia already flies. Russia flies in that zone at the invitation of Iraq. I'm not saying it's a good thing, but you better know at least what we're getting into. So, when you think it's going to be a good idea to have a no fly zone over Iraq, realize that means you are saying we are going to shoot down Russian planes. If you're ready for that, be ready to send your sons and daughters to another war in Iraq. I don't want to see that happen. I think the first war in Iraq was a mistake... You can be strong without being involved in every civil war around the war... +p659 +aVRonald Reagan was strong, but Ronald Reagan didn't... +p660 +aV...send troops into the Middle East... +p661 +aV...Can I finish... +p662 +aV...Can I finish my time? Could I finish with my time? +p663 +aVYes, I would like to finish my response, basically. +p664 +aVThis is an important question. This is an incredibly important question. And the question goes to be, who do we want to be our commander-in-chief? Do you want a commander-in-chief who says something that we never did throughout the entire Cold War, to discontinue having conversations with the Russians? I am not happy about them flying over there. But I'm not naive enough to say, well, Iraq has them flying over their airspace, we're just going to announce that we're shooting them down? That is naive to the point of being something you might hear in junior high. But it's scary... +p665 +aVThe first thing I would do is I wouldn't arm our enemies. I wouldn't arm +p666 +aVGerard, can I comment... +p667 +aVThe first thing I would do as president is repeal the regulations that are hampering our energy that the President has put in place. Including the Clean Power Act. While I do think that man may have a role in our climate, I think nature also has a role. The planet's 4.5 billion years old, we've been through geologic age after geologic age. We've had times when the temperatures been warmer, we've had times when the temperatures been colder. We've had times when the carbon in the atmosphere's been higher. So, I think before we \u2014 we need to look before we leap. President's often fond of saying he wants a balance solution, but, really we do need to balance both keeping the environment clean, and we will have some rules for that. We got to balance that with the economy. He's devastated my state. I say the President's not only destroying Kentucky, he's destroying the democrat party down there because nobody wants to associate with him. So, what we really need is somebody that understands that we do need energy of all forms, and that means we will have solar, and wind, and hydro, but we will still have coal, and we still will have natural gas. And, we've got to have an all of the above policy. But, it would be a mistake to shut down all of our industries in the coal fields, and shut down the coal power plants. If we did so we're going to have a day where we wake up and some of our big cities are either very cold, or very hot. So, I think it's a big danger, and we shouldn't do it. And, what we should do is say we want all of the above... ...We want to free up the energy sector, and let people produce, let them drill, let them explore. +p668 +aVWe're the richest, freest, most humanitarian nation in the history of mankind. But we also borrow a million dollars a minute. And the question I have for all Americans is, think about it, can you be a fiscal conservative if you don't conserve all of the money? If you're a profligate spender, you spend money in an unlimited fashion for the military, is that a conservative notion? We have to be conservative with all spending, domestic spending and welfare spending. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage. +p669 +asVBASH +p670 +(lp671 +VA crucial question is how to balance surveillance with privacy and keeping Americans safe. Senator Cruz, you voted for a bill that President Obama signed into law just this past June that made it harder for the government to access Americans' phone records. In light of the San Bernardino attack, was your vote a mistake? +p672 +aVThank you. Senator Rubio, Senator Cruz is right there was bipartisan support for that. But you voted against it. So, is Senator Cruz wrong? +p673 +aVSenator Cruz? +p674 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator \u2014 Senator Rubio, please respond. +p675 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I know this is \u2014 this has been a very big issue for you. You hear many of your colleagues are calling for increased surveillance by law enforcement. You call that hogwash. Why is that hogwash? +p676 +aVSenator Rubio? +p677 +aVGovernor Christie, Governor Christie... ...Governor Christie, I'll come to you in a minute. Go ahead, Senator Paul. +p678 +aVGo ahead, please. +p679 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about immigration in a while. But, Governor Christie, just listening to this... +p680 +aVListening to this, you talked \u2014 you heard Senator Paul, Senator Cruz talk about how important it is to protect Americans' privacy, even in a time of grave danger. Why \u2014 what's wrong with that? +p681 +aVSenator Paul, you said +p682 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I want to go back to my initial question, which is you saying that +p683 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about regime change in a bit. But Governor Kasich, would you like to respond to Senator Paul? +p684 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. We've been talking tonight about programs and policy proposals that you all have to keep Americans safe and it's a big discussion on the campaign trail. Also about border security and immigration. So let's talk about immigration. Senator Rubio. You co-authored a bill with Democrats two years ago that allowed a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Do you still support that path to citizenship, which means giving those immigrants rights, like the right to vote? +p685 +aVSenator, you haven't answered the question. You described a very long path but does that path end at citizenship? +p686 +aVThank you, senator. +p687 +aVThank you, senator. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, on the campaign trail, Senator Rubio has said that his immigration plan is not that different from yours. Is that true? +p688 +aVSenator Rubio, please. +p689 +aVSenator Cruz? +p690 +aVSenator Cruz? +p691 +aVSenator Cruz, can you answer that question please? +p692 +aVSenator Cruz? +p693 +aVOne at a time please. +p694 +aVMs. Fiorina, please wait your turn, we're going to get to you. +p695 +aVSenator Cruz go ahead. +p696 +aVMr. Trump, you like to say that you restarted this conversation in the campaign. +p697 +aVSo who do you side with? Who do you side with in this, Senator Rubio or Senator Cruz? +p698 +aVThank you. Governor Bush? +p699 +aVListening to this, do you think this is the tone \u2014 this immigration debate that republicans need to take to win back Hispanics into our party especially states like where we are in Nevada that has a pretty Hispanic community? +p700 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said if China launches a cyber- attack against the U.S. on your watch, "they're going to see cyber- warfare like they have never seen before." What exactly would that response look like? +p701 +aVGovernor Bush, what you just heard from Governor Christie, are you concerned that that could really escalate with China, that they would retaliate? And, for example, as the NSA has said, attack the U.S. and maybe it's power grid, which the Chinese have the capability to do? +p702 +aVMr. Trump, just this weekend you said Senator Cruz is not qualified to be president because he doesn't have the right temperament and acted like a maniac when he arrived in the Senate. But last month you said you were open to naming Senator Cruz as your running mate. +p703 +aVSo why would you be willing to put somebody who's a maniac one heartbeat away from the presidency? +p704 +aVOkay. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, you have not been willing to attack Mr. Trump in public. +p705 +aVBut you did question his judgment in having control of American's nuclear arsenal during a private meeting with supporters. Why are you willing to say things about him in private and not in public? +p706 +aVSenator, senator, I just... +p707 +aVSenator, a lot of people have seen... +p708 +aV... a lot of people have seen these comments you made in private. I just want to clarify what you're saying right now is you do believe Mr. Trump has the judgment to be commander in chief? +p709 +asVSANDERS +p710 +(lp711 +VWell, Gwen and Judy, thank you very much for hosting this event. And, PBS, thank you. Nine months ago, our campaign began. And when it began, we had no political organization, no money, and not much name recognition outside of the state of Vermont. A lot has happened in nine months. And what has happened is, I think, the American people have responded to a series of basic truths, and that is that we have today a campaign finance system which is corrupt, which is undermining American democracy, which allows Wall Street and billionaires to pour huge sums of money into the political process to elect the candidates of their choice. And aligned with a corrupt campaign finance system is a rigged economy. And that's an economy where ordinary Americans are working longer hours for low wagers. They are worried to death about the future of their kids. And yet they are seeing almost all new income and all new wealth going to the top 1 percent. And then in addition to that, the American people are looking around and they see a broken criminal justice system. They see more people in jail in the United States of America than any other country on earth, 2.2 million. We're spending $80 billion a year locking up fellow Americans. They see kids getting arrested for marijuana, getting in prison, getting a criminal record, while they see executives on Wall Street who pay billions of dollars in settlements and get no prosecution at all. No criminal records for them. I think what our campaign is indicating is that the American people are tired of establishment politics, tired of establishment economics. They want a political revolution in which millions of Americans stand up, come together, not let the Trumps of the world divide us, and say, you know what, in this great country, we need a government that represents all of us, not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors. Thank you. +p712 +aVWell, to put that in a context, Judy, I think we have to understand that in the last 30 years in this country there has been a massive transfer of wealth going from the hands of working families into the top one-tenth of 1% whose percentage of wealth has doubled. In other words, the very rich are getting richer, almost everybody is going \u2014 getting poorer. What I believe is the United States, in fact, should join the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee healthcare to all people. Our Medicare for all single-payer proposal will save the average middle class family $5,000 a year. I do believe that in the year 2016 we have to look in terms of public education as colleges as part of public education making public colleges and universities tuition free. I believe that when real unemployment is close to 10%, and when our infrastructure, our roads, our bridges, our water systems, Flint, Michigan comes to mind. Our waste water plants, our rail, our airports, in many places are disintegrating. Yeah, we can create 13 million jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure at a cost of a trillion dollars. +p713 +aV... Of course there will be a limit, but when today you have massive levels of income and wealth inequality, when the middle class is disappearing, you have the highest rate of child poverty of almost any major country on Earth. Yes, in my view, the government of a democratic society has a moral responsibility to play a vital role in making sure all of our people have a decent standard of living. +p714 +aVWell, let us level with the American people. Secretary Clinton has been going around the country saying Bernie Sanders wants to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, people are going to lose their MedicAid, they're going to lose their +p715 +aVThat is absolutely inaccurate. Look, here is the reality, folks. There is one major country on Earth that does not guarantee health care to all people. There is one major country \u2014 the United States \u2014 which ends up spending almost three times per capita what they do in the U.K. guaranteeing health care to all people, 50 percent more than they do in France guaranteeing health care to all people, far more than our Canadian neighbors, who guarantee health care to all people. Please do not tell me that in this country, if \u2014 and here's the if \u2014 we have the courage to take on the drug companies, and have the courage to take on the insurance companies, and the medical equipment suppliers, if we do that, yes, we can guarantee health care to all people in a much more cost effective way. +p716 +aVWell, Secretary Clinton, you're not in the White House yet. And let us be clear that every proposal that I have introduced has been paid for. For example, all right, who in America denies that we have an infrastructure that is crumbling? Roads, bridges, water systems, wastewater plants, who denies that? Who denies that real unemployment today, including those who have given up looking for work and are working part-time is close to 10 percent? Who denies that African-American youth unemployment, real, is over 50 percent. We need to create jobs. So yes, I will do away with the outrageous loopholes that allow profitable multinational corporations to stash billions of dollars in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda and in a given year pay zero, zero in federal income tax. Yes, I'm going to do away with that. We will use those proceeds, a hundred billion a year, to invest in rebuilding our infrastructure. Yes, I believe that as a result of the illegal behavior on Wall Street, that they are a Wall Street that drove this country into the worst economic downturn since the Great Recession \u2014 Great Depression. Yes, I do believe that now after the American people bailed Wall Street out, yes, they should pay a Wall Street speculation tax so that we can make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We bailed them out. Now it is their time to help the middle class. +p717 +aVA brief response. +p718 +aVHere is where we are with public education. A 100, 150 years ago incredibly brave Americans said, you know what, working class kids, low income kids should not have to work in factories or on the farms. Like rich kids, they deserve to get a free education. And that free education of extraordinary accomplishment was from first grade to 12th grade. The world has changed. This is 2016. In many ways, a college degree today is equivalent to what a high school degree was 50, 60 years ago. So, yes, I do believe that when we talk about public education in America, today, in a rapidly changing world, we should have free tuition at public colleges and universities. That should be a right of all Americans regardless of the income of their families. +p719 +aVLook, we are fighting for every vote that we can get from women, from men, straight, gay, African-Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans. We are trying to bring America together around an agenda that works for working families and the middle class. I am very proud, if my memory is not correct \u2014 I think I am \u2014 that I have a lifetime \u2014 and I've been in Congress a few years \u2014 a lifetime 100 percent pro-choice voting record. I am very proud that over the years we have had the support in my state of Vermont from very significant majorities of women. I'm very proud that I support legislation that is currently in the Congress, got support of almost all progressive Democrats in the House and Senate, which says we will end the absurdity of women today making 79 cents on the dollar compared to men. And we will join the rest of the other \u2014 the industrialized world in saying that paid family and medical leave should be a right of all working families. +p720 +aVWell, you know, I think, from a historical point of view, somebody with my background, somebody with my views, somebody who has spent his entire life taking on the big money interests, I think a Sanders victory would be of some historical accomplishment, as well. +p721 +aVLet me concur with the secretary, no question women's rights are under fierce attack all over this country. And I will tell you something that really galls me. I will not shock anybody to suggest that in politics there is occasionally a little bit of hypocrisy. Just a little bit. All over this country we have Republican candidates for president saying we hate the government. Government is the enemy. We're going to cut Social Security to help you. We're going to cut Medicare and Medicaid, federal aid to education to help you, because the government is so terrible. But, by the way, when it comes to a woman having to make a very personal choice, ah, in that case, my Republican colleagues love the government and want the government to make that choice for every woman in America. If that's not hypocrisy, I don't know what hypocrisy is. +p722 +aVThis is one of the great tragedies in our country today. And we can no longer continue to sweep it under the rug. It has to be dealt with. Today a male African-American baby born today stands a one-in-four chance of ending up in jail. That is beyond unspeakable. So what we have to do is the radical reform of a broken criminal justice system. What we have to do is end over-policing in African-American neighborhoods. The reality is that both the African-American community and the white community do marijuana at about equal rates. The reality is four times as many blacks get arrested for marijuana. Truth is that far more blacks get stopped for traffic violations. The truth is that sentencing for blacks is higher than for whites. We need fundamental police reform, clearly, clearly, when we talk about a criminal justice system. I would hope that we could all agree that we are sick and tired of seeing videos on television of unarmed people, often African-Americans, shot by police officers. What we have got to do is make it clear that any police officer who breaks the law will, in fact, be held accountable. +p723 +aVNothing that Secretary Clinton said do I disagree with. This mandatory sentencing, a very bad idea. It takes away discretion from judges. We have got to demilitarize local police departments so they do not look like occupying armies. We have got to make sure that local police departments look like the communities they serve in their diversity. And, where we are failing abysmally is in the very high rate of recidivism we see. People are being released from jail without the education, without the job training, without the resources that they need to get their lives together, then they end up \u2014 we're shocked that they end up back in jail again. So, we have a lot of work to do. But, here is a pledge I've made throughout this campaign, and it's really not a very radical pledge. When we have more people in jail, disproportionately African American and Latino, than China does, a communist authoritarian society four times our size. Here's my promise, at the end of my first term as president we will not have more people in jail than any other country. We will invest in education, and jobs for our kids, not incarceration and more jails. +p724 +aVWell, I think, Judy, what has to be appreciated is that, as a result of the disastrous and illegal behavior on Wall Street, millions of lives were hurt. People lost their jobs, their homes, their life savings. Turns out that the African-American community and the Latino community were hit especially hard. As I understand it, the African-American community lost half of their wealth as a result of the Wall Street collapse. So when you have childhood African-American poverty rates of 35 percent, when you have youth unemployment at 51 percent, when you have unbelievable rates of incarceration \u2014 which, by the way, leaves the children back home without a dad or even a mother \u2014 clearly, we are looking at institutional racism. We are looking at an economy in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. And sadly, in America today, in our economy, a whole lot of those poor people are African-American. +p725 +aVAbsolutely, because what we will do is say, instead of giving tax breaks to billionaires, we are going to create millions of jobs for low-income kids so they're not hanging out on street corners. We're going to make sure that those kids stay in school or are able to get a college education. And I think when you give low-income kids \u2014 African-American, white, Latino kids \u2014 the opportunities to get their lives together, they are not going to end up in jail. They're going to end up in the productive economy, which is where we want them. +p726 +aVWhite people? +p727 +aVYeah, you can, because African-Americans and Latinos not only face the general economic crises of low wages, and high unemployment, and poor educational opportunities, but they face other problems, as well. So, yes, we can talk about it as a racial issue. But it is a general economic issue. And here's what the economic issue is. The wages that high school graduates receive today are significantly less, whether you are white or black, than they used to be. Why is that? Because of a series of disastrous trade policies which have allowed corporate America through +p728 +aVThe answer is yes. We've got 11 million undocumented people in this country. I have talked to some of the young kids with tears rolling down their cheeks, are scared to death that today they may or their parents may be deported. I believe that we have got to pass comprehensive immigration reform, something that I strongly supported. I believe that we have got to move toward a path toward citizenship. I agree with President Obama who used executive orders to protect families because the Congress, the House was unable or refused to act. And in fact I would go further. What would motivate me and what would be the guiding light for me in terms of immigration reform, Judy, is to bring families together, not divide them up. And let me say this also. Somebody who is very fond of the president, agrees with him most of the time, I disagree with his recent deportation policies. And I would not support those. Bottom line is a path towards citizenship for 11 million undocumented people, if Congress doesn't do the right thing, we use the executive orders of the president. +p729 +aVSecretary Clinton, I do have a disagreement here. If my memory is correct, I think when we saw children coming from these horrendous, horrendously violent areas of Honduras and neighboring countries, people who are fleeing drug violence and cartel violence, I thought it was a good idea to allow those children to stay in this country. That was not, as I understand it, the secretary's position. In terms of 2007 immigration reform, yeah, I did vote against it. I voted against it because the Southern Poverty Law Center, among other groups, said that the guest-worker programs that were embedded in this agreement were akin to slavery. Akin to slavery, where people came into this country to do guest work were abused, were exploited, and if they stood up for their rights, they'd be thrown out of this country. So it wasn't just me who opposed it. It was +p730 +aVWell, let me just respond. I worked with Ted Kennedy. He was the chairman of my committee. And I loved Ted Kennedy. But on this issue, when you have one of the large Latino organizations in America saying vote no, and you have the AFL-CIO saying vote no, and you have leading progressive Democrats, in fact, voting no, I don't apologize for that vote. But in terms of the children, I don't know to whom you're sending a message. Who are you sending a message to? These are children who are leaving countries and neighborhoods where their lives are at stake. That was the fact. I don't think we use them to send a message. I think we welcome them into this country and do the best we can to help them get their lives together. +p731 +aVOK. You know, you judge a nation not by the number of millionaires and billionaires it has, but by how you treat, we treat, the most vulnerable and fragile people in our nation. And by those standards, we're not doing particularly well. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty among almost any major country on Earth. And in terms of seniors, there are millions of seniors \u2014 and I've talked to them in my state of Vermont and all over this country \u2014 who are trying to get by on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year Social Security. And you know what? You do the arithmetic. You can't get by on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year. And here's an area where Secretary Clinton and I believe we have a difference. I have long supported the proposition that we should lift the cap on taxable income coming into the Social Security Trust Fund, starting at $250,000. And when we \u2014 and when we do that, we don't do what the Republicans want, which is to cut Social Security. We do what the American people want, to expand Social Security by $1,300 a year for people under $16,000, and we extend the life of Social Security for 58 years. Yes, the wealthiest people, the top 1.5 percent, will pay more in taxes. But a great nation like ours should not be in a position where elderly people are cutting their pills in half, where they don't have decent nutrition, where they can't heat their homes in the wintertime. That is not what America should be about. If elected president, I will do everything I can to expand Social Security benefits, not just for seniors, but for disabled veterans, as well. +p732 +aVIn all due respect......In all due respect, Secretary Clinton, a lot of the progressive groups, the online groups have really asked you a simple question. Are you coming onboard a proposal? And what is that proposal? Now, the proposal that I have outlined, you know, should be familiar to you, because it is what essentially Barack Obama campaigned on in 2008. You opposed him then. I would hope that you would come onboard and say that this is the simple and straightforward thing to do. We're asking the top 1.5 percent, including passive income, to start paying a little bit more so that the elderly and disabled vets in this country can live with security and dignity. I hope you will make a decision soon on this. +p733 +aVThat's my bill. Check it out. +p734 +aVWhat we are talking about in reality is a corrupt campaign finance system, that's what we're talking about. We have to be honest about it. It is undermining American democracy. When extraordinarily wealthy people make very large contributions to Super PACs, and in many cases in this campaign, Super PACs have raised more money than individual candidates have, OK? We had a decision to make early on, do we do a Super PAC? And, we said no. We don't represent Wall Street, we don't represent the billionaire class, so it ends up I'm the only candidate up here of the many candidates who has no Super PAC. But, what we did is we said to the working families of this country, look, we know things are tough, but if you want to help us go beyond establishment politics, and establishment economics, send us something. And, it turns out that up until \u2014 and this has blown me away, never in a million years would I have believed that I would be standing here tonight telling you that we have received three and a half million individual contributions from well over a million people. Now, Secretary Clinton's Super PAC, as I understand it, received $25 million dollars last reporting period, $15 million dollars from Wall Street. Our average contribution is $27 dollars, I'm very proud of that. +p735 +aVThe people aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street... But let's not \u2014 but let's not \u2014 let's not insult \u2014 let's not insult the intelligence of the American people. People aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street make huge campaign contributions? I guess just for the fun of it; they want to throw money around. Why does the pharmaceutical industry make huge campaign contributions? Any connection maybe to the fact that our people pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs? Why does the fossil fuel industry pay \u2014 spend huge amounts of money on campaign contributions? Any connection to the fact that not one Republican candidate for president thinks and agrees with the scientific community that climate change is real and that we have got to transform our energy system? And when we talk about Wall Street, let's talk about Wall Street. I voted for Dodd-Frank, got an important amendment in it. In my view, it doesn't go anywhere near far enough. But when we talk about Wall Street, you have Wall Street and major banks have paid $200 billion in fines since the great crash. No Wall Street executive has been prosecuted. +p736 +aVLet me, you know, again, respectfully disagree with Secretary Clinton here. When you have three out of the four largest financial institutions in this country bigger today than they were when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, when you have six financial institutions having assets equivalent to 58 percent of the GDP of America, while issuing two-thirds of the credit cards and a third of the mortgages, look, I think if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, that great trust-buster would have said break them up. I think he would have been right. I think he would have said bring back a 21st-century Glass-Steagall legislation. I think that would have been right, as well. That's my view. +p737 +aVHey, I'm in the United States Senate, and anyone who doesn't think that there is an enormous amount of waste and inefficiency and bureaucracy throughout government would be very, very mistaken. I believe in government, but I believe in efficient government, not wasteful government. +p738 +aVIf I could just answer that, we have also got to take a look at the waste and inefficiencies in the Department of Defense, which is the one major agency of government that has not been able to be audited. And I have the feeling you're going to find a lot of cost overruns there and a lot of waste and duplicative activities. +p739 +aVLet me \u2014 let me just say this. What a President of the United States has got to do and what is his or her major, I think, responsibility is to, a, make certain that we keep our people safe, that we work with allies around the world to protect democratic values, that we do all that we can to create a world of peace and prosperity. I voted against the war in Iraq because I listened very carefully to what President Bush and Vice President Cheney had to say and I didn't believe them. And if you go to my Web site,berniesanders.com, what you find is not only going to help lead the opposition to that war, but much of what I feared would happen when I spoke on the floor of the House, in fact, did happen in terms of the instability that occurred. Now I think an area in kind of a vague way, or not so vague, where Secretary Clinton and I disagree is the area of regime change. Look, the truth is that a powerful nation like the United States, certainly working with our allies, we can overthrow dictators all over the world. And God only knows Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator. We could overthrow Assad tomorrow if we wanted to. We got rid of Gadhafi. But the point about foreign policy is not just to know that you can overthrow a terrible dictator, it's to understand what happens the day after. And in Libya, for example, the United States, Secretary Clinton, as secretary of state, working with some other countries, did get rid of a terrible dictator named Gadhafi. But what happened is a political vacuum developed. +p740 +aVJudy, if I can, there is no question, Secretary Clinton and I are friends, and I have a lot of respect for her, that she has enormous experience in foreign affairs. Secretary of state for four years. You've got a bit of experience, I would imagine. But judgment matters as well. Judgment matters as well. And she and I looked at the same evidence coming from the Bush administration regarding Iraq. I lead the opposition against it. She voted for it. But more importantly, in terms of this Libya resolution that you have noted before, this was a virtually unanimous consent. Everybody voted for it wanting to see Libya move toward democracy, of course we all wanted to do that. That is very different than talking about specific action for regime change, which I did not support. +p741 +aVJudy, one area very briefly... +p742 +aVWhere the secretary and I have a very profound difference, in the last debate \u2014 and I believe in her book \u2014 very good book, by the way \u2014 in her book and in this last debate, she talked about getting the approval or the support or the mentoring of Henry Kissinger. Now, I find it rather amazing, because I happen to believe that Henry Kissinger was one of the most destructive secretaries of state in the modern history of this country. I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend. I will not take advice from Henry Kissinger. And in fact, Kissinger's actions in Cambodia, when the United States bombed that country, overthrew Prince Sihanouk, created the instability for Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge to come in, who then butchered some 3 million innocent people, one of the worst genocides in the history of the world. So count me in as somebody who will not be listening to Henry Kissinger. +p743 +aVWell, it ain't Henry Kissinger. That's for sure. +p744 +aVIt is. +p745 +aVI find \u2014 I mean, it's just a very different, you know, historical perspective here. Kissinger was one of those people during the Vietnam era who talked about the domino theory. Not everybody remembers that. You do. I do. The domino theory, you know, if Vietnam goes, China, da, da, da, da, da, da, da. That's what he talked about, the great threat of China. And then, after the war, this is the guy who, in fact, yes, you're right, he opened up relations with China, and now pushed various type of trade agreements, resulting in American workers losing their jobs as corporations moved to China. The terrible, authoritarian, Communist dictatorship he warned us about, now he's urging companies to shut down and move to China. Not my kind of guy. +p746 +aVWell, this is what I would say. It is a complicated relationship. I congratulate Secretary of State John Kerry and the president for working on this agreement. As you've indicated, what is happening in Syria, the number of people, the hundreds of thousands of people who have been killed \u2014 men, women, 20,000 children, the people who are forced to flee their own country \u2014 their own country \u2014 it is unspeakable. It is a real horror. Now, what I think is that right now we have got to do our best in developing positive relations with Russia. But let's be clear: Russia's aggressive actions in the Crimea and in Ukraine have brought about a situation where President Obama and +p747 +aVLet me just \u2014 just say this. For a start, the secretary and I disagree \u2014 and I think the president does not agree with her \u2014 in terms of the concept of a no-fly zone in Syria. I think you do have a humanitarian tragedy there, as I mentioned a moment ago. I applaud Secretary Kerry and the president for trying to put together this agreement. Let's hope that it holds. But furthermore, what we have got to do, I'm sorry, yes, I do believe that we have got to do everything that we can, and it will not happen tomorrow. But I do hope that in years to come, just as occurred with Cuba, 10, 20 years ago, people would say, reach normalized relations with Cuba. And by the way, I hope we can end the trade embargo with Cuba as well. But the idea that we some day maybe have decent relations with Iran, maybe put pressure on them so they end their support for terrorism around the world, yes, that is something I want to achieve. And I believe that the best way to do that is to be aggressive, to be principled, but to have the goal of trying to improve relations. That's how you make peace in the world. You sit down and you work with people, you make demands of people, in this case demanding Iran stop the support of international terrorism. +p748 +aVWe have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of work to do. But I recall when Secretary Clinton ran against then-Senator Obama, she was critical of him for suggesting that maybe you want to talk to Iran, that you want to talk to our enemies. I have no illusion. Of course you are right. Iran is sponsoring terrorism in many parts of the world, destabilizing areas. Everybody knows that. But our goal is, in fact, to try over a period of time to, in fact, deal with our enemies, not just ignore that reality. +p749 +aVNo, I think the idea was that president \u2014 then-Senator Obama was wrong for suggesting that it is a good idea to talk to your opponents. It's easier to talk to your friends. It's harder to talk to your enemies. I think we should do both. +p750 +aVA couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to go on a congressional delegation. And I went to one of these Turkish refugee camps right on the border of Syria. And what a sad sight that was: Men, women, children forced out of their homes. And Turkey, by the way, did a very decent thing, providing what was reasonable housing and conditions for those people. It seems to me that given our history as a nation that has been a beacon of hope for the oppressed, for the downtrodden, that I very strongly disagree with those Republican candidates who say, you know what, we've got to turn our backs on women and children who left their home with nothing, nothing at all. That is not what America is supposed to be about. So I believe that working with Europe \u2014 and, by the way, you know, we've got some very wealthy countries there in that part of the world. You got Kuwait and you got Qatar and you got Saudi Arabia. They have a responsibility, as well. But I think this is a worldwide \u2014 that the entire world needs to come together to deal with this horrific refugee crisis we're seeing from Syria and Afghanistan, as well. +p751 +aVYou know, Franklin Delano Roosevelt took the oath of office in 1933 at a time when 25 percent of the American people were unemployed, country was in incredible despair. And he stood before the American people and he said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself," a profound statement that gave the American people the courage to believe that, yes, we could get out of that terrible depression. And then what he did is redefine the role of government. You know, you had Herbert Hoover before that saying, no, we got to only worry about the deficit. So what if mass unemployment exists? So what if children are going hungry? That's not the role of the government. And when FDR said, "Yeah, it is," that we're going to use all of the resources that we have to create jobs, to build homes, to feed people, to protect the farmers, we are a nation which if we come together there is nothing that we could not accomplish. And kind of \u2014 that's what I see our campaign is about right now. In this particular moment of serious crises, saying to the American people don't give up on the political process. don't listen to the Trumps of the world and allowing them to divide us. If we reengage and get involved, yeah, we can have health care for all people, we can make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We do not have to have massive levels of income and wealth inequality. In the same light, as the foreign leader, Winston Churchill's politics were not my politics. He was kind of a conservative guy in many respects. But nobody can deny that as a wartime leader, he rallied the British people when they stood virtually alone against the Nazi juggernaut and rallied them and eventually won an extraordinary victory. Those are two leaders that I admire very much. +p752 +aVThat is......Madam Secretary, that is a low blow. I have worked with President Obama for the last seven years. When President Obama came into office we were losing 800,000 jobs a month, 800,000 jobs a month. We had a $1.4 trillion deficit. And the world's financial system is on the verge of collapse. As a result of his efforts and the efforts of Joe Biden against unprecedented, I was there in the Senate, unprecedented Republican obstructionism, we have made enormous progress. But you know what? Last I heard we lived in a democratic society. Last I heard, a United States senator had the right to disagree with the president, including a president who has done such an extraordinary job. So I have voiced criticisms. You're right. Maybe you haven't. I have. But I think to suggest that I have voiced criticism, this blurb that you talk about, you know what the blurb said? The blurb said that the next president of the United States has got to be aggressive in bringing people into the political process. That's what I said. That is what I believe. President Obama and I are friends. As you know, he came to Vermont to campaign for me when he was a senator. I have worked for his re-election. His first election and his re-election. But I think it is really unfair to suggest that I have not been supportive of the president. I have been a strong ally with him on virtually every issue. Do senators have the right to disagree with the president? Have you ever disagreed with a president? I suspect you may have. +p753 +aVWell, one of us ran against Barack Obama. I was not that candidate. All right, look, this has been a great debate. A lot of interesting issues have come together. Let me conclude by just saying this. There is no president, in my view, not Hillary Clinton, not Bernie Sanders, who has the capability or the power to take on Wall Street, large campaign donors, the corporate media, the big money interests in this country alone. This campaign is not just about electing a president. What this campaign is about is creating a process for a political revolution in which millions of Americans, working people who have given up on the political process, they don't think anybody hears their pains or their concerns. Young people for whom getting involved in politics is as, you know, it's like going to the moon. It ain't going to happen. Low income people who are not involved in the political process. What this campaign is not only about electing someone who has the most progressive agenda, it is about bringing tens of millions of people together to demand that we have a government that represents all of us and not just the 1 percent, who today have so much economic and political power. Thank you all very much. +p754 +aVRachel, thank you very much. Millions of Americans are giving up on the political process. And they're giving up on the political process because they understand the economy is rigged. They are working longer hours for low wages. They're worried about the future of their kids, and yet almost all new income and wealth is going to the top 1 percent. Not what America is supposed to be about. Not the fairness that we grew up believing that America was about. And then sustaining that rigged economy is a corrupt campaign finance system undermining American democracy, where billionaire, Wall Street, corporate America can contribute unlimited sums of money into super PACs and into candidates. Our job, together, is to end a rigged economy, create an economy that works for all, and absolutely overturn Citizens United. One person, one vote. That's what American democracy is about. +p755 +aVWell, I haven't quite run for president before. Let's deal with some of the comments that Secretary Clinton made. And by the way, you know, sometimes there's a lot of drama here. I have known Secretary Clinton for 25 years and respect her very much. Here is the issue. Every major country on earth, whether it's the U.K., whether it's France, whether it's Canada, has managed to provide healthcare to all people as a right and they are spending significantly less per capita on health care than we are. So I do not accept the belief that the United States of America can't do that. I do not accept the belief that the United States of America and our government can't stand up to the ripoffs of the pharmaceutical industry which charge us by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. Number two, in the economy today, everybody understands that we need a well educated workforce. This is 2016. When we talk about public education, it can no longer be K through 12th grade. I do believe that public colleges and universities should be tuition free. Well, how do we pay for that? It's an expensive proposition. I do believe that we should substantially lower student debt in this country, which is crushing millions of people. We pay for it, in my view, by a tax on Wall Street speculation. The middle class bailed out Wall Street in their time of need. Now, it is Wall Street's time to help the middle class. +p756 +aVLet me... +p757 +aV... this is a good discussion here. +p758 +aVAnd let me just say this. As Secretary Clinton may know, I am on the Health Education Labor Committee. That committee wrote the Affordable Care Act. The idea I would dismantle health care in America while we're waiting to pass a Medicare for all is just not accurate. The Affordable Care Act has clearly, as Secretary Clinton made the point, done a lot of good things, but, what it has not done is dealt with the fact we have 29 million people today who have zero health insurance, we have even more who are underinsured with large deductibles and copayments and prescription drug prices are off the wall. So I do believe that in the future, not by dismantling what we have here\u2014I helped write that bill\u2014but by moving forward, rallying the American people, I do believe we should have health care for all. +p759 +aVNo, not at all. Here's the reality of American economic life today. The reality is that we have one of lowest voter turnouts of any major country on earth because so many people have given up on the political process. The reality is that there has been trillions of dollars of wealth going from the middle class in the last 30 years to the top 1/10th of 1 percent. The reality is we that have a corrupt campaign finance system which separates the American people's needs and desires from what Congress is doing. So to my mind, what we have got to do is wage a political revolution where millions of people have given up on the political process, stand up and fight back, demand the government that represents us and not just a handful of campaign contribution\u2014contributors. Now all of the ideas that I'm talking about, they are not radical ideas. Making public colleges and universities tuition free, that exists in countries all over the world, used to exist in the United States. Rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, and creating 13 million jobs by doing away with tax loopholes that large corporations now enjoy by putting their money into the Cayman Islands and other tax havens. That is not a radical idea. What we need to do is to stand up to the big money interests, and the campaign contributors. When we do that, we can, in fact, transform America. +p760 +aVLet me just pick up on this point. This whole discussion began because I commented, not making overall evaluation about the Secretary. She was in Ohio, I think, in September or November and she got up and said something like, I have been\u2014I'm paraphrasing, I have been criticized because people think I'm a moderate. Well, I am a moderate. That's where this came from. It wasn't me paraphrasing her. It is what she said, and all that I said was there's nothing wrong with being a moderate. But, you can't be a moderate, you can't a progressive. In terms of President Obama, I think if we remember where this country was seven years ago, 800,000 jobs being lost every month, $1.4 trillion dollar deficit. The world's financial system on the verge of collapse. I think that President Obama, Vice President Biden, and the Democratic leadership in the House and the Senate have done a fantastic job. We are in much better shape than we were seven years ago, although my Republican colleagues seem to have forgotten where we were seven years ago. That's the fact, but, we still have a very long way to go. Do I think President Obama is a progressive? Yes, I do. I disagree with him on a number of issues including the trade agreement. But, yes, I think he has done an excellent job. +p761 +aVThat's right, I mean, instead of arguing about definitions, let's talk about... +p762 +aV... What we should do, and one of the things we should do is not only talk the talk, but walk the walk. I am very proud to be the only candidate up here who does not have a Super PAC, who's not raising huge sums of money from Wall Street...... And special interests. I am enormously proud. Never believed it would happen that we have raised 3.5 million individual contributions, averaging $27 dollars a piece. That is what the political revolution means. +p763 +aVWell, Rachel, actually, that wasn't accurate. In 1988 the Republican did win, I believe, by 3 points. I came in second. It was 34-31, I think, 19 for the Democrat. In that race the Democrat was the spoiler, not me. And it is true......it is true, it's not to be denied, I am the longest- serving independent in the history of the United States Congress. People of Vermont sent me to Washington as an independent. That is true. But on the other hand, I have\u2014when I was in the House for 16 years, I caucused with the Democrats. In the Senate for nine years caucused with the Democrats, of course. And I was elected by the Democrats to be chair of the Veterans Committee three years ago, which I'm very proud of. And now am the rankings member on the Budget Committee, leader of the Democrats in opposition to the majority Republicans. I am running for president as a Democrat. And if elected, not only do I hope to bring forth a major change in national priorities, but let me be frank, I do want to see major changes in the Democratic Party. I want to see working people and young people come into the party in a way that doesn't exist now. And you know what, I want a 50-state strategy so the Democratic Party is not just the party of 25 states. +p764 +aVWell, I don't see it quite like that. +p765 +aVI am\u2014will absolutely admit that Secretary Clinton has the support of far more governors, mayors, members of the House. She has the entire establishment or almost the entire establishment behind her. That's a fact. I don't deny it. But I am pretty proud that we have over a million people who have contributed to our campaign averaging 27 bucks apiece. That we have had meetings where 25,000-30,000 people have come out. That our campaign is a campaign of the people, by the people, and for the people. So, Rachel, yes, Secretary Clinton does represent the establishment. I represent, I hope, ordinary Americans, and by the way, who are not all that enamored with the establishment, but I am very proud to have people like Keith Ellison and Raul Grijalva in the House, the co-chairmen of the House Progressive Caucus. +p766 +aVWhat being part of the establishment is, is, in the last quarter, having a super PAC that raised $15 million from Wall Street, that throughout one's life raised a whole lot of money from the drug companies and other special interests. To my mind, if we do not get a handle on money in politics and the degree to which big money controls the political process in this country, nobody is going to bring about the changes that is needed in this country for the middle class and working families. +p767 +aVWhat... +p768 +aV... you know... +p769 +aV. +p770 +aVLet's talk about\u2014OK, let's talk... +p771 +aV... let us talk about issues. +p772 +aVLet's talk about issues. +p773 +aVLet's... +p774 +aV... let's\u2014let's\u2014let's talk about issues. +p775 +aVLet's talk\u2014let's talk about issues, all right? Let's talk about why, in the 1990s, Wall Street got deregulated. Did it have anything to do with the fact that Wall Street provided\u2014spent billions of dollars on lobbying and campaign contributions? Well, some people might think, yeah, that had some influence. Let's ask why it is that we pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, and your medicine can be doubled tomorrow, and there's nothing that the government can do to stop it. You think it has anything to do with the huge amounts of campaign contributions and lobbying from the fossil fuel industry? Let's talk about climate change. Do you think there's a reason why not one Republican has the guts to recognize that climate change is real, and that we need to transform our energy system? Do you think it has anything to do with the Koch brothers and ExxonMobil pouring huge amounts of money into the political system? That is what goes on in America. I am not\u2014I like......there is a reason. You know, there is a reason why these people are putting huge amounts of money into our political system. And in my view, it is undermining American democracy and it is allowing Congress to represent wealthy campaign contributors and not the working families of this country. +p776 +aVI think as Secretary Clinton knows, there is nobody who fought harder. I was on the House Financial Committee at that time. I heard the arguments coming from Democrats and Republicans\u2014Robert Rubin, Alan Greenspan\u2014about great an idea it would be if we did away with Glass-Steagall and if we allowed investor banks and commercial banks and big insurance companies to merge. Go to YouTube today. Look up Greenspan-Sanders. Listen to what I told them then. I helped lead the effort against deregulation. Unfortunately, we lost that. The result is\u2014was the worst financial disaster since the Great Depression. +p777 +aVChuck, actually we looked at it, but it turns out to be a disaster. The way it is structured right now, if you make it all the way to California, you could do pretty well. But in terms of the early states\u2014Iowa, New Hampshire, the other states\u2014it just doesn't work. Your point is well taken. I believe in public funding of elections, absolutely. But this system is\u2014I don't know if the secretary would agree\u2014is currently very antiquated and no longer applies to modern day politics. +p778 +aVBut if the... +p779 +aVLet me just say this. Wall Street is perhaps the most powerful economic and political force in this country. You have companies like Goldman Sachs, who just recently paid a settlement fine with the federal government for $5 billion for defrauding investors. Goldman Sachs was one of those companies whose illegal activity helped destroy our economy and ruin the lives of millions of Americans. But this is what a rigged economy and a corrupt campaign finance system and a broken criminal justice is about. These guys are so powerful that not one of the executives on Wall Street has been charged with anything after paying, in this case of Goldman Sachs, a $5 billion fine. Kid gets caught with marijuana, that kid has a police record. A Wall Street executive destroys the economy, $5 billion settlement with the government, no criminal record. That is what power is about. That is what corruption is about. And that is what has to change in the United States of America. +p780 +aVI would say that\u2014that folks who have looked at this issue for a long time, whether it's Elizabeth Warren or many other economists, will tell you that right now, yes, we do need a 21st century Glass-Steagall legislation. And I would tell you also that when you have three out of the four largest banks in America today, bigger than they were\u2014significantly bigger than when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, I think if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, a good Republican by the way, what he would say is: Break them up; they are too powerful economically; they are too powerful politically. And that is what I believe and many economists believe. Time to break them up. +p781 +aVWell, we've had a number of economists supporting our legislation. And here's where we are. The American people can judge. Six largest financial institutions in America today have assets of roughly $10 trillion; equivalent to 58 percent of the GDP of the United States of America. That is a lot of money. They issue two thirds of the credit cards, and by the way they're ripping off a whole lot of people with high interest rates on the credit cards, and they write about one third of the mortgages. That is a lot of power for six financial institutions. That's it. I think it is too much power. Too much economic power, too much political power, and the economists that I talk to say we should break them up. +p782 +aVYeah, I do. I agree with much of what the Secretary said, but, madam Secretary, it is not one streak. Wall Street is an entity of unbelievable economic and political power. That's a fact. And, I want to say something, and it may sound harsh, not to you, but to the American people. In a sense, in my view, the business model of Wall Street is fraud. It's fraud. I believe that corruption is rampant, and the fact that major bank after major bank has reached multi billion dollar settlements with the United States government when we have a weak regulator system tells me that not only did we have to bail them out once, if we don't start breaking them up, we're going to have to bail them out again, and I do not want to see that happen... +p783 +aVOf course I can work with them, but let's be clear. When I talked about Boeing and I talked about General Electric, what I was referring to is an outrage. I suspect the secretary agrees request me. Right now you have a loophole such that these guys are putting their profits, multi-billion dollar profitable corporations putting billions of dollars into the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, and other tax havens. And in a given year, Rachel, after making billions of dollars in profit, do you know how much they're paying in taxes to the United States government in a given year? Zero. Now explain to me how that makes any sense at all. So what I have said with regard to Boeing and GE and other multinationals that pay zero taxes, you know what we're going to do? We're going to end that loophole. They are going to pay their fair share of taxes. We're going to use that money to rebuild our infrastructure and create up to 13 million jobs. Can I work with corporations? Are there good corporations doing incredible cutting edge research and development? Absolutely they are. And we should be proud of them. But on the other hand, there are many corporations who have turned their backs on the American worker, who have said, if I can make another nickel in profit by going to China and shutting down in the United States of America, that's what I will do. I will do my best to transform our trade policy and take on these corporations who want to invest in low-income countries around the world rather than in the United States of America. +p784 +aVOK. Let me agree with much of what the secretary said, but where we have a different background on this issue is we differ on the war in Iraq, which created barbaric organizations like +p785 +aVWell, I think our great task is to make certain that our young men and women in the military do not get sucked into never- ending, perpetual warfare within the quagmire of Syria and Iraq. And I will do my very best to make sure that that doesn't happen. I agree with the secretary that I think what has to happen\u2014and let me just mention what King Abdullah of Jordan said. I think he hit the nail on the head. And what he said is essentially the war against +p786 +aVWell, you can't simply withdraw tomorrow. Wish we could, and allow, you know, the Taliban or anybody else to reclaim that country. But what we must do, and what we have seen in recent months, is some progress in Iraq, where finally the Iraqi army, which has not been a particularly effective fighting force, retook Ramadi. +p787 +aVWell, that's not quite accurate. I did give a speech at Georgetown where I talked about democratic socialism and foreign policy. Maybe I shouldn't have combined the two in the same speech, because the foreign policy part of it didn't get much attention. So, let me take this opportunity to give you a very short speech here on the issue. I think, while it is true that the secretary and I voted differently on the war in Iraq, what is important is that we learn the lesson of the war in Iraq. And that lesson is intrinsic to my foreign policy if elected president, is the United States cannot do it alone. We cannot be the policeman of the world. We are now spending more I believe than the next eight countries on defense. We have got to work in strong coalition with the major powers of the world and with those Muslim countries that are prepared to stand up and take on terrorism. So I would say that the key doctrine of the Sanders administration would be no, we cannot continue to do it alone; we need to work in coalition. +p788 +aV I fully, fully concede that Secretary Clinton, who was secretary of State for four years, has more experience\u2014hat is not arguable\u2014in foreign affairs. But experience is not the only point, judgment is. And once again, back in 2002, when we both looked at the same evidence about the wisdom of the war in Iraq, one of us voted the right way and one of us didn't. In terms of Iran and in terms of Saudi Arabia, of course they hate each other. That's no great secret. But John Kerry, who is I think doing a very good job, has tried to at least get these people in the room together because both of them are being threatened by +p789 +aVWell... +p790 +aVWho said That think we should normalize relations with Iran tomorrow? I never said that. I think we should move forward as quickly as we can. And you're right. They are a sponsor of terrorism around the world and we have to address that. But you know, a number of years ago, people were saying normal relationship with Cuba, what a bad and silly idea. They're Communists, they are our enemy. Well guess what? Change has come. So please don't suggest that I think we normalize relations with Tehran tomorrow. We don't. But I would like to see us move forward, and hopefully some day that will happen. And I would say if I might, Madam Secretary\u2014and you can correct me if I'm wrong. When you ran against Senator Obama you thought him naive because he thought it was a good idea to talk to our enemies. I think those are exactly the people you have to talk to and you have to negotiate with. +p791 +aVOK. +p792 +aVI think President Obama had the right idea, and the bottom line is that of course there have to be conditions. But, of course it doesn't do us any good to not talk with our adversaries... +p793 +aVJust to set the record straight, I very strongly supported the agreement which makes certain that Iran does not get a nuclear weapon. +p794 +aV... +p795 +aV +p796 +aV... No, no... +p797 +aV... +p798 +aVClearly North Korea is a very strange situation because it is such an isolated country run by a handful of dictators, or maybe just one, who seems to be somewhat paranoid. And, who had nuclear weapons. And, our goal there, in my view, is to work and lean strongly on China to put as much pressure. China is one of the few major countries in the world that has significant support for North Korea, and I think we got to do everything we can to put pressure on China. I worry very much about an isolated, paranoid country with atomic bombs. I think, clearly, we got to work closely with China to resolve the serious problems we have, and I worry about Putin and his military adventurism in the Crimea and the Ukraine. +p799 +aV... No, I don't. I worry very, very much about an isolated country. That's what makes me nervous. Russia lives in the world. China lives in the world. North Korea is a very, very strange country because it is so isolated, and I do feel that a nation with nuclear weapons, they have got to be dealt with. Dealt with effectively. +p800 +aVLet me agree. You know, as the secretary knows, I chaired\u2014I had the privilege and the honor of chairing the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs. And it is interesting to me, you know, Republicans give a lot of speeches about how much they love veterans. I work with the American Legion, the VFW, the DAV, the Vietnam Vets, and virtually every veterans organization to put together the most comprehensive piece of the veterans legislation in the modern history of America. That's what I did. And I brought it to the floor of the Senate. Every Democrat voted for it, I got two Republicans. We ended up with 56 votes and I couldn't get the 60 votes that I needed. That is pathetic. This was legislation supported by all of the veterans organizations, addressing many of the serious problems that veterans face in health care and in how we deliver benefits to them. So Republicans talk a good game about veterans, but when it came to put money on the line to protect our veterans, frankly, they were not there. What I did next, Rachel, is I had to retreat a little bit, I had to compromise. I did work with John McCain. I did work with Jeff Miller over in the House. And we put together not the bill that I wanted, but probably the most comprehensive V.A. health care bill in the modern history of this country. Secretary Clinton is absolutely right, there are people, Koch brothers among others, who have a group called Concerned Veterans of America, funded by the Koch brothers. The Koch brothers, by the way, want to destroy Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, every governmental program passed since the 1930s. Yes, there are people out there who want to privatize it. The last point that I'd make. I had a hearing. I had all of the veterans groups in front of me. And I said to them, tell me when a veteran gets in to the V.A., understanding there are waiting lines and real problems, when a veteran gets into the system, is the quality of care good? Without exception, what they said, good, excellent, very good. We've got to strengthen the V.A. We do not privatize the V.A. +p801 +aVWell, I agree with the Des Moines Register, but let's not blow this out of proportion. This is not a\u2014this is not, like, a winner-take-all thing. I think where we now stand\u2014correct me if I'm wrong\u2014you have 22 delegates, I have 20 delegates. We need 2,500 delegates to win the nomination. You know, so this is not\u2014this is not the biggest deal in the world. We think, by the way, based on talking to our precinct captains, we may have at least two more delegates. What the Des Moines Register said\u2014you know, there were coin\u2014I think there were half a dozen coin flips\u2014a fairly chaotic type situation. At the end of the day, no matter how it's recounted, it will break roughly even. And by the way, I love and respect the caucus process in Iowa. See, and I don't have to say it, because they voted already. And I love New Hampshire, too, because you haven't voted, but......but, look, I think people are blowing this up out of proportion. But I think we need improvements in the process by which results are determined. +p802 +aVOh . See, when you are old, then they go back all these years. All right. What have you got? +p803 +aVWell, you know, a general election is different than a primary and caucus process. But let me just say this. In terms of where we are right now, as you mention, Rachel, in a number of national and state, including New Hampshire. For example, the last poll I saw\u2014there may have been a new one\u2014last one I saw here in New Hampshire, a battleground state, had me defeating Trump by 19; the secretary defeating him by one. There were also pretty large margins in Iowa and Wisconsin. These are polls. Polls go up. Polls go down. But here's why I think I will be, if nominated, the strongest candidate. Democrats win when there is a large voter turnout; when people are excited; when working people, middle class people and young people are prepared to engage in the political process. Republicans win when people are demoralized and you have a small voter turnout, which by the way is why they love voter suppression. I believe that our campaign up to now has shown that we can create an enormous amount of enthusiasm from working people, from young people, who will get involved in the political process and which will drive us to a very large voter turnout. If there is a large voter turnout, not only do we retain the White House, but I think we regain the Senate. We win governors' chairs up and down the line. So I believe if you want to retain the White House, if you want to see Democrats do well across the board, I think our campaign is the one that creates the large voter turnout and helps us win. +p804 +aV +p805 +aVI am feeling exactly the way I felt at the first debate. There's a process under way. I will not politicize it. +p806 +aVAnd by the way\u2014and by the way, if I may, the secretary probably doesn't know that there's not a day that goes by when I am not asked to attack her on that issue, and I have refrained from doing that and I will continue to refrain from doing that. +p807 +aVNot losing control of our campaign. You know, we have hired a whole lot of people in a rapid way and I am familiar with the first two instances and they are unacceptable, and we have apologized and dealt with that. In terms of the last one, as I understand it, we did not suggest that we had the endorsement of a newspaper. Newspapers who make endorsements also say positive things about other candidates, and to the best of my knowledge, that is what we did. So we never said, never said that somebody, a newspaper endorsed us that did not. What we did say is blah blah blah blah was said by the newspaper. +p808 +aVBut that was only for\u2014that was not to be on television. That's an important point. That was just something\u2014as the secretary knows, you put titles on ads and you send them out, but there was no word in that ad, none, that said that those newspapers had endorsed us. +p809 +aV... Look, I hear what the Secretary said, and I understand, but look, there are\u2014all of us know that we have seen in recent years horrible, horrible crimes. It's hard to imagine how people can do, bomb, and kill 168 people in Oklahoma City, or do the Boston Marathon bombing, but this is what I believe, and for a couple of reasons. Number one, too many innocent people, including minorities, African Americans, have been executed when they were not guilty. That's number one. We have to be very careful about making sure about that. But, second of all, and maybe, in a deeper reason, of course there are barbaric acts out there. But, in a world of so much violence and killing, I just don't believe that government itself should be part of the killing. So, when somebody commits......somebody commits any of these terrible crimes that we have seen, you lock them up, and you toss away the key. They're never going to get out. But, I just don't' want to see government be part of killing. That's all. +p810 +aVAbsolutely. I think the Secretary described the situation appropriately. You know, I don't go around asking for governor's resignations every day. In fact, I think I never have in my life. But I did ask for the resignation of Governor Snyder because his irresponsibility......was so outrageous. What we are talking about are children being poisoned. That's what we're talking about. We don't know, no one knows for sure because they haven't done the appropriate studies, but there's no question that kids' intellectual development may have been impacted. We don't know how many thousands. The idea that there has not been a dramatic response is beyond comprehension. And when you have one of the, I think, significant public health crises of recent years, of course the federal government comes in. And of course the federal government says, you're not going to be poisoning little kids and impacting their entire lives. Last point on this. And I suspect the secretary agrees. One wonders if this were a white suburban community what kind of response there would have been. Flint, Michigan, is a poor community. It is disproportionately African-American and minority. And what has happened there is absolutely unacceptable. +p811 +aVAbsolutely right. +p812 +aVChuck, I believe in trade, but I do not believe in unfettered free trade. I believe in fair trade which works for the middle class and working families of this country and not just large multinational corporations. I was not only in opposition to +p813 +aVNo, let... +p814 +aV... I am absolutely supportive of comprehensive immigration reform and a path towards citizenship for 11 million people today who are living in the shadows. All right? We got to do that. But you miss\u2014when you looked at the issues, you missed two of the most important. And that is you're not going to accomplish what has to be done for working families and the middle class unless there is campaign finance reform. So long as big money interests control the United States Congress, it is gonna be very hard to do what has to be done for working families. So let me be very clear. No nominee of mine, if I'm elected president, to the United States Supreme Court will get that nomination unless he or she is loud and clear, and says they will vote to overturn Citizens United. Second point\u2014second point is that the only way we make change in terms of health care, in terms of dealing with a broken criminal justice system which, today, allows us to have more people in jail than any other country\u2014largely African-American and Latino\u2014the only way we create millions of jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure or have a tax system that says to the wealthy that they are going to pay their fair share, is when millions of people become involved in the political process. No, you just can't negotiate with Mitch McConnell. Mitch is gonna have to look out the window and see a whole lot of people saying, "Mitch, stop representing the billionaire class. Start listening to working families." And as president, that's what I will work hard on. +p815 +aVI agree with what the secretary said. We shouldn't be getting ahead of ourselves. And as I have said many times, you know, sometimes in these campaigns, things get a little bit out of hand. I happen to respect the secretary very much, I hope it's mutual. And on our worst days, I think it is fair to say we are 100 times better than any Republican candidate. +p816 +aVI\u2014my dad came to this country at the age of 17 from Poland. Didn't have any money, couldn't speak English, he died pretty young, and I think it would have been beyond his wildest dreams to see his son up here on this stage today running for president. I love this country and my dad loved this country, and he was the most proud American because of what it gave him in terms of raising his family, even though we never had much money. But today in America, we are the only major country on earth that doesn't guarantee health care to all people, that doesn't guarantee paid family and medical leave. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth. We are seeing millions of families unable to send their kids to college in the United States of America. I'm running for president because I believe it is just too late for establishment politics and establishment economics. I do believe we need a political revolution where millions of people stand up and say loudly and clearly that our government belongs to all of us and not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors. Thank you all. +p817 +asVBARTIROMO +p818 +(lp819 +VTonight we're partnering with the Wall Street Journal to ask questions on the economy that voters want answered. We're also working with Facebook, who tells us that since the first Republican debate, more than 58 million people have joined the political conversation online. More than 9 million are talking specifically about the economy. +p820 +aVBusinesswoman Carly Fiorina. Ohio Governor John Kasich. And Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. +p821 +aVWe've asked people on Facebook to submit their questions for the candidates. Seth Bell wrote, "We are approaching $20 trillion in national debt. Specifically, what plans do you have to cut federal spending?" Governor Kasich, you have spoken much about your success in balancing the budget under President Clinton. Today the national debt is at record highs and growing unsustainably. Interest will be the fastest-growing part of the federal budget, tripling over the next 10 years. Social Security, the lifeline of millions of American seniors, is rushing toward insolvency. With all of the tax plans presented tonight, estimated to cost anywhere between $2 trillion and $12 trillion over a decade, what specific steps will you take to balance the budget? +p822 +aVDid you want to name any specific steps, sir? +p823 +aVThank you, sir. +p824 +aVSenator Cruz, the International Monetary Fund recently cut its expectations for economic growth. Many economists expect a recession to hit the U.S. within the next year due to the weakening of manufacturing. The next president will have to deal with it. You say tax reform is a powerful lever to spur economic expansion. You're calling for a 10 percent income tax and a 16 percent business tax. What other elements do you need in this plan to actually create jobs? +p825 +aVThank you, sir. +p826 +aVGovernor Bush... +p827 +aVWe have more questions for you, Governor Kasich, coming up. We have more questions for you, Governor Kasich. +p828 +aVWe will \u2014 we will certainly get to that. Governor Bush? +p829 +aVAlmost 40 percent of Americans are without a job and are not looking. Many have given up. That's what the participation rate tells us. You've said your policies will drive the economy back to 4 percent growth, which we haven't seen since the year 2000. What specific regulations would you change? And how will that lead to jobs and growth? +p830 +aVThank you, sir. +p831 +aVMr. Trump, a federal appeals court just dealt a blow to the Obama administration's plan to prevent the deportation of 5 million people living in this country illegally. The White House is appealing to the Supreme Court. At the heart of this issue is the effect that illegal immigrants are having on our economy, what will you do about it? +p832 +aVCan we just send 5 million people back with no effect on economy? +p833 +aVSo what will you do? +p834 +aVThank you, sir. +p835 +aVWe go back to Facebook. Dewayne Wesley Cato asks on Facebook, how do we get rid of regulations choking our businesses? Ms. Fiorina? Specifically, under the president's Affordable Care Act, employers with 50 or more employees are required to offer health insurance, or be fined. Many are opting to pay the fine. Others are cutting back employee hours to duck the law altogether. What specific ways will you alleviate the pressure on small business? +p836 +aVJust to be clear, you want to repeal Obamacare... ..but, what's the alternative? +p837 +aVJust to be clear, you say you would repeal Obamacare... +p838 +aV...But, what is the alternative... +p839 +aV...and how does that help small business... +p840 +aV...Thank you... +p841 +aVSenator Cruz, there isn't anyone in this audience or watching at home tonight who would not like to pay less in taxes. Most people just want a fair shake, and they don't want their money to be wasted. But explain how your plan works. How can you cut taxes as much as you propose without running up debt and deficits? +p842 +aVBut you haven't told us how to pay for it. +p843 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Bush, Republican primary voters say tax reform should be a priority for Congress and the administration. But, Governor Bush, how important is tax reform in your domestic policy agenda? Will you guarantee it in the first year of your presidency? +p844 +aVThank you, Governor. +p845 +aVThat's right. That's right. +p846 +aVComing up, the biggest threats facing the next commander-in-chief. You're watching the Republican presidential debate, live tonight from Milwaukee. We'll be right back. +p847 +aVWelcome back. Welcome back to the Republican presidential debate. The candidates taking the questions you want answered. Also tonight, you can see what America is saying about the debate. Go to Facebook and type #gopdebate into the search box. Now, back to the questions. Americans face security threats at home and abroad. Last year, terrorist attacks rose 61 percent, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace, with the most deaths occurring in just five countries, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Syria. Dr. Carson, you were against putting troops on the ground in Iraq and against a large military force in Afghanistan. Do you support the president's decision to now put 50 special ops forces in Syria and leave 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan? +p848 +aVWe asked Facebook to take a look at some of the major issues we're talking about, and tackling in this debate tonight. This word cloud shows what people are focusing on the most. The bigger the word, the more the talk. One of the most discussed issues in the last month, homeland security. Governor Bush, what is the biggest threat facing America today? +p849 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, in 2012 debate, President Obama mocked Mitt Romney's assertion that Russia was the top geopolitical challenge facing the United States, saying he was a Cold War dinosaur. Now, Russia has invaded Ukraine, and has put troops in Syria. You have said you will have a good relationship with Mr. Putin. So, what does President Trump do in response to Russia's aggression? +p850 +aVThank you, sir. +p851 +aVThank you, governor. +p852 +aVSenator Rubio. +p853 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. +p854 +aVMore questions \u2014 more questions coming up, when the Republican presidential debate comes right back, live from Milwaukee. Stay with us. +p855 +aVWelcome back to the fourth Republican presidential debate. Senator Rubio, Hillary Clinton is the clear front runner for the Democratic nomination. If she is indeed the nominee, you will be facing a candidate with an impressive resume. She was the first lady of the United States, a U.S. senator from New York, and secretary of state under Barack Obama. She has arguably more experience, certainly more time in government than almost all of you on stage tonight. Why should the American people trust you to lead this country, even though she has been so much closer to the office? +p856 +aVSenator Paul, you were one of 15 republicans to vote for an amendment which states that human activity contributed to climate change. President Obama has announced an aggressive plan to cut carbon emissions. At the same time, energy production in America has boomed. Is it possible to continue this boom, and move toward energy self-sufficiency, while at the same time pursuing a meaningful climate change program? +p857 +aVCarly Fiorina? +p858 +aVFormer Governor Jeb Bush? +p859 +aVSenator Ted Cruz? +p860 +aVHe's funny. +p861 +aVThank you. +p862 +asVCLINTON +p863 +(lp864 +VThank you. +p865 +aVI'm running for president to knock down all the barriers that are holding Americans back, and to rebuild the ladders of opportunity that will give every American a chance to advance, especially those who have been left out and left behind. I know a lot of Americans are angry about the economy. And for good cause. Americans haven't had a raise in 15 years. There aren't enough good-paying jobs, especially for young people. And yes, the economy is rigged in favor of those at the top. We both agree that we have to get unaccountable money out of our political system and that we have to do much more to ensure that Wall Street never wrecks main street again. But I want to go further. I want to tackle those barriers that stand in the way of too many Americans right now. African-Americans who face discrimination in the job market, education, housing, and the criminal justice system. Hardworking immigrant families living in fear, who should be brought out of the shadows so they and their children can have a better future. Guaranteeing that women's work finally gets the pay, the equal pay that we deserve. I think America can only live up to its potential when we make sure that every American has a chance to live up to his or her potential. That will be my mission as president. And I think together we will make progress. +p866 +aVJudy, I think that the best analysis that I've seen based on Senator Sanders plans is that it would probably increase the size of the federal government by about 40%, but what is most concerning to me is that in looking at the plans \u2014 let's take healthcare for example. Last week in a CNN town hall, the Senator told a questioner that the questioner would spend about $500 dollars in taxes to get about $5,000 dollars in healthcare. Every progressive economist who has analyzed that says that the numbers don't add up, and that's a promise that cannot be kept, and it's really important now that we are getting into the rest of the country that both of us are held to account for explaining what we are proposing because, especially with healthcare, this is not about math. This is about people's lives, and we should level with the American people about what we can do to make sure they get quality affordable healthcare. +p867 +aVI can only say that we both share the goal of universal health care coverage. You know, before it was called Obamacare, it was called Hillarycare. And I took on the drug companies and I took on the insurance companies to try to get us universal health care coverage. And why I am a staunch supporter of President Obama's principal accomplishment \u2014 namely the Affordable Care Act \u2014 is because I know how hard it was to get that done. We are at 90 percent coverage. We have to get the remaining 10. I've set forth very specific plans about how to get costs down, especially prescription drug costs. And it is difficult to in any way argue with the goal that we both share. But I think the American people deserve to know specifically how this would work. If it's Medicare for all, then you no longer have the Affordable Care Act, because the Affordable Care Act, as you know very well, is based on the insurance system, based on exchanges, based on a subsidy system. The Children's Health Insurance Program, which I helped to create, which covers 8 million kids, is also a different kind of program. So if you're having Medicare for all, single-payer, you need to level with people about what they will have at the end of the process you are proposing. And based on every analysis that I can find by people who are sympathetic to the goal, the numbers don't add up, and many people will actually be worse off than they are right now. +p868 +aVWell, let me just \u2014 let me just say, once again......that, having been in the trenches fighting for this, I believe strongly we have to guarantee health care. I believe we are on the path to doing that. The last thing we need is to throw our country into a contentious debate about health care again. And we are not England. We are not France. We inherited a system that was set up during World War II; 170 million Americans get health insurance right now through their employers. So what we have tried to do and what President Obama succeeded in doing was to build on the health care system we have, get us to 90 percent coverage. We have to get the other 10 percent of the way to 100. I far prefer that and the chances we have to be successful there than trying to start all over again, gridlocking our system, and trying to get from zero to 100 percent. +p869 +aVNo. But it is absolutely fair and necessary for Americans to vet both of our proposals, to ask the really hard questions about, what is it we think we can accomplish, why do we believe that, and what would be the results for the average American family? In my case, whether it's health care, or getting us to debt-free tuition, or moving us toward paid family leave, I have been very specific about where I would raise the money, how much it would cost, and how I would move this agenda forward. I've tried to be as specific to answer questions so that my proposals can be vetted, because I feel like we have to level with people for the very reason, Gwen, that you are mentioning. There is a great deal of skepticism about the federal government. I'm aware of that. It comes from the right, from the left, from people on all sides of the political spectrum. So we have a special obligation to make clear what we stand for, which is why I think we should not make promises we can't keep, because that will further, I think, alienate Americans from understanding and believing we can together make some real changes in people's lives. +p870 +aVI will put a price tag. My price tag is about $100 billion a year. And again, paid for. And what I have said is I will not throw us further into debt. I believe I can get the money that I need by taxing the wealthy, by closing loopholes, the things that we are way overdue for doing. And I think once I'm in the White House we will have enough political capital to be able to do that. But I am conscious of the fact that we have to also be very clear, especially with young people, about what kind of government is going to do what for them and what it will cost. +p871 +aVYou know, I think, again, both of us share the goal of trying to make college affordable for all young Americans. And I have set forth a compact that would do just that for debt-free tuition. We differ, however, on a couple of key points. One of them being that if you don't have some agreement within the system from states and from families and from students, it's hard to get to where we need to go. And Senator Sanders's plan really rests on making sure that governors like Scott Walker contribute $23 billion on the first day to make college free. I am a little skeptical about your governor actually caring enough about higher education to make any kind of commitment like that. +p872 +aVWell, first, Judy, I have spent my entire adult life working toward making sure that women are empowered to make their own choices, even if that choice is not to vote for me. I believe that it's most important that we unleash the full potential of women and girls in our society. And I feel very strongly that I have an agenda, I have a record that really does respond to a lot of the specific needs that the women in our country face. So I'm going to keep making that case. I'm going to keep making sure that everything I've done, everything that I stand for is going to be well known. But I have no argument with anyone making up her mind about who to support. I just hope that by the end of this campaign there will be a lot more supporting me. That's what I'm working towards. +p873 +aVWell, look, I think that she's been saying that for as long as I've known her, which is about 25 years. But it doesn't change my view that we need to empower everyone, women and men, to make the best decisions in their minds that they can make. That's what I've always stood for. And when it comes to the issues that are really on the front lines as to whether we're going to have equal pay, paid family leave, some opportunity for, you know, women to go as far as their hard work and talent take them, I think that we still have some barriers to knock down, which is why that's at the core of my campaign. I would note, just for a historic aside, somebody told me earlier today we've had like 200 presidential primary debates, and this is the first time there have been a majority of women on the stage. So, you know, we'll take our progress wherever we can find it. +p874 +aVYou know, I have said \u2014 I have said many times, you know, I'm not asking people to support me because I'm a woman. I'm asking people to support me because I think I'm the most qualified, experienced, and ready person to be the president and the commander-in-chief. And I appreciate greatly Senator Sanders' voting record. And I was very proud to get the endorsement of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, because I've been a leader on these issues. I have gone time and time again to take on the vested interests who would keep women's health care decisions the province of the government instead of women ourselves. I'm very proud that +p875 +aVYou know, I completely agree with Senator Sanders. The first speech I gave in this campaign back in April was about criminal justice reform and ending the era of mass incarceration. The statistics from Wisconsin are particularly troubling, because it is the highest rate of incarceration for African-Americans in our nation, twice the national average. And we know of the tragic, terrible event that lead to the death of Dontre Hamilton right here in Milwaukee, a young man unarmed, who should still be with us. His family certainly believes that. And so do I. So we have work to do. There have been some good recommendations about what needs to happen. President Obama's policing commission came out with some. I have fully endorsed those. But we have to restore policing that will actually protect the communities that police officers are sworn to protect. And, then we have to go after sentencing, and that's one of the problems here in Wisconsin because so much of what happened in the criminal justice system doesn't happen at the federal level, it happens at the state and local level. But, I would also add this. There are other racial discrepancies. Really systemic racism in this state, as in others, education, in employment, in the kinds of factors that too often lead from a position where young people, particularly young men, are pushed out of school early, are denied employment opportunities. So, when we talk about criminal justice reform, and ending the era of mass incarceration, we also have to talk about jobs, education, housing, and other ways of helping communities. +p876 +aVWell, I'm just not sure I agree completely with that assessment. I think under President Obama we have seen a lot of advances, the Affordable Care Act has helped more African Americans than any other group to get insurance, to be taken care of, but we also know a lot more than we did. We have a lot more social media, we have everybody with a cellphone. So, we are seeing the dark side of the remaining systemic racism that we have to root out in our society. I think President Obama has set a great example. I think he has addressed a lot of these issues that have been quite difficult, but he has gone forward. Now, what we have to do is to build on an honest conversation about where we go next. We now have much more information about what must be done to fix our criminal justice system. We now have some good models about how better to provide employment, housing and education. I think what President Obama did was to exemplify the importance of this issue as our first African American president, and to address it both from the President's office, and through his advocacy, such as working with young men, and Mrs. Obama's work with young women. But, we can't rest. We have work to do, and we now know a lot more than we ever did before. So, it's going to be my responsibility to make sure we move forward to solve these problems that are now out in the open. Nobody can deny them. To use the Justice Department, as we just saw, they have said they are going to sue Ferguson, that entered into a consent agreement, and then tried to back out. So, we're going to enforce the law, we're going to change policing practices, we're going to change incarceration practices, but we're also going to emphasize education, jobs, and housing. +p877 +aVLook, I am deeply concerned about what's happening in every community in America, and that includes white communities, where we are seeing an increase in alcoholism, addiction, earlier deaths. People with a high school education or less are not even living as long as their parents lived. This is a remarkable and horrifying fact. And that's why I've come forward with, for example, a plan to revitalize coal country, the coalfield communities that have been so hard hit by the changing economy, by the reduction in the use of coal. You know, coal miners and their families who helped turn on the lights and power our factories for generations are now wondering, has our country forgotten us? Do people not care about all of our sacrifice? And I'm going to do everything I can to address distressed communities, whether they are communities of color, whether they are white communities, whether they are in any part of our country. I particularly appreciate the proposal that Congressman Jim Clyburn has \u2014 the 10-20-30 proposal \u2014 to try to spend more federal dollars in communities with persistent generational poverty. And you know what? If you look at the numbers, there are actually as many, if not more white communities that are truly being left behind and left out. So, yes, I do think it would be a terrible oversight not to try to address the very real problems that white Americans \u2014 particularly those without a lot of education whose jobs have \u2014 you know, no longer provided them or even no longer present in their communities, because we have to focus where the real hurt is. And that's why, as president, I will look at communities that need special help and try to deliver that. +p878 +aVI strongly support the president's executive actions. I hope the Supreme Court upholds them. I think there is constitutional and legal authority for the president to have done what he did. I am against the raids. I'm against the kind of inhumane treatment that is now being visited upon families, waking them up in the middle of the night, rounding them up. We should be deporting criminals, not hardworking immigrant families who do the very best they can and often are keeping economies going in many places in our country. I'm a strong supporter of comprehensive immigration reform. Have been ever since I was in the Senate. I was one of the original sponsors of the +p879 +aVTwo quick responses. One, with respect to the Central American children, I made it very clear that those children needed to be processed appropriately, but we also had to send a message to families and communities in Central America not to send their children on this dangerous journey in the hands of smugglers. I've also called for the end of family detention, for the end of privately-run detention centers, along with private prisons, which I think are really against the common good and the rule of law. And with respect to the 2007 bill, this was Ted Kennedy's bill. And I think Ted Kennedy had a very clear idea about what needed to be done. And I was proud to stand with him and support it. +p880 +aVWell, that just wasn't \u2014 that just wasn't the fact, Senator. The fact is that there was a great effort made by the Obama administration and others to really send a clear message, because we knew that so many of these children were being abused, being treated terribly while they tried to get to our border. So we have a disagreement on this. I think now what I've called for is counsel for every child so that no child has to face any kind of process without someone who speaks and advocates for that child so that the right decision hopefully can be made. +p881 +aVI think \u2014 I think it's fair to say we don't have a disagreement. We both believe there has to be more money going into the Social Security system. I've said I'm looking at a couple of different ways, one which you mentioned, Senator, but also trying to expand the existing tax to passive income that wealthy people have so that we do get more revenue into the Social Security Trust Fund. I have a slightly different approach, though, about what we should do with that initially. First, rather than expand benefits for everyone, I do want to take care of low-income seniors who worked at low-wage jobs. I want to take care of women. When the Social Security program was started in the 1930s, not very many women worked. And women have been disadvantaged ever since. They do not get any credit for their care-taking responsibilities. And the people who are often the most hard-hit are widows, because when their spouse dies, they can lose up to one-half of their Social Security monthly payment. So we have no disagreement about the need to buttress Social Security, get more revenue into the program. But I want to start by helping those people who are most at risk, the ones who, yes, are cutting their pills in half, who don't believe they can make the rent, who are worried about what comes next for them. +p882 +aVWell, Senator, look, I think we're in vigorous agreement here. We both want to get more revenue in. I have yet to see a proposal that you're describing that the \u2014 raising the cap would apply to passive income. That has not been... +p883 +aVWell, that has not been a part of most of the proposals that I've seen. I'm interested in making sure we get the maximum amount of revenue from those who can well afford to provide it. So I'm going to come up with the best way forward. We're going to end up in the same place. We're going to get more revenue. I'm going to prioritize those recipients who need the most help first. +p884 +aVI can't speak for the Koch Brothers, you're referring to a Super PAC that we don't coordinate with, that was set up to support President Obama, that has now decided that they want to support me. They are the ones who should respond to any questions. Let's talk about our campaigns. I'm very proud of the fact that we have more than 750 thousand donors, and the vast majority of them are giving small contributions. So, I'm proud of Senator Sanders, and his supporters. I think it's great that Senator Sanders, President Obama and I have more donors than any three people who have every run, certainly on the Democratic side. That's the way it should be, and I'm going to continue to reach out to thank all my online contributors for everything they are doing for me, to encourage them and help me do more just as Senator Sanders is. I think that is the real key here. We both have a lot of small donors. I think that sets us apart from a lot of what's happening right now on the Republican side. The Koch Brothers have a very clear political agenda. It is an agenda, in my view, that would do great harm to our country. We're going to fight it as hard as we can, and we're going to fight whoever the Republicans nominate who will depend on the Koch Brothers, and others. +p885 +aVWe are mixing apples and oranges. My 750,000 donors have contributed more than a million and a half donations. I'm very proud. That, I think, between the two of us demonstrates the strength of the support we have among people who want to see change in our country. But, the real issue, I think, that the Senator is injecting into this is that if you had a Super PAC, like President Obama has, which now says it wants to support me. It's not my PAC. If you take donations from Wall Street, you can't be independent. I would just say, I debated then Senator Obama numerous times on stages like this, and he was the recipient of the largest number of Wall Street donations of anybody running on the Democratic side ever. Now, when it mattered, he stood up and took on Wall Street. He pushed through, and he passed the Dodd-Frank regulation, the toughest regulations since the 1930's. So, let's not in anyway imply here that either President Obama or myself, would in anyway not take on any vested interested, whether it's Wall Street, or drug companies, or insurance companies, or frankly, the gun lobby to stand up to do what's best for the American people. +p886 +aVWell, let's just \u2014 let's just follow up on this, because, you know, I've made it very clear that no bank is too big to fail, no executive too powerful to jail, and because of Dodd-Frank, we now have in law a process that the president, the Federal Reserve, and others can use if any bank poses a systemic risk. I think that's a major accomplishment. I agree, however, it doesn't go far enough, because what it focuses on are the big banks, which Senator Sanders has talked about a lot, for good reason. I go further in the plan that I've proposed, which has been called the toughest, most effective, comprehensive plan for reining in the other risks that the financial system could face. It was an investment bank, Lehman Brothers, that contributed to our collapse. It was a big insurance company, AIG. It was Countrywide Mortgage. My plan would sweep all of them into a regulatory framework so we can try to get ahead of what the next problems might be. And I believe that not only Barney Frank, Paul Krugman, and others, have said that what I have proposed is the most effective. It goes in the right direction. We have Dodd-Frank. We can use it to break up the banks, if that's appropriate. But let's not kid ourselves. As we speak, there are new problems on the horizon. I want to get ahead of those, and that's why I've proposed a much more comprehensive approach to deal with all of these... +p887 +aVAbsolutely. And, you know, there are a number of programs that I think are duplicative and redundant and not producing the results that people deserve. There are a lot of training programs and education programs that I think can be streamlined and put into a much better format so that if we do continue them they can be more useful, in public schools, community colleges, and colleges and universities. I would like to take a hard look at every part of the federal government and really do the kind of analysis that would rebuild some confidence in people that we're taking a hard look about what we have, you know, and what we don't need anymore. And that's what I intend to do. +p888 +aVLook, I think we are readier than we used to be, but it's a constant effort that has to be undertaken to make sure we are as ready as we need to be. We have made a lot of improvements in our domestic security since 9/11, and we have been able to foil and prevent attacks, yet we see the terrible attack in San Bernardino and know that we haven't done enough. So we have to go after this both abroad and at home. We have to go after terrorist networks, predominantly +p889 +aVIf I could just respond. Two points. One, Senator Sanders voted in 1998 on what I think is fair to call a regime change resolution with respect to Iraq, calling for the end of Saddam Hussein's regime. He voted in favor of regime change with Libya, voted in favor of the Security Council being an active participate in setting the parameters for what we would do, which of course we followed through on. I do not believe a vote in 2002 is a plan to defeat +p890 +aVYou did support a U.N. Security Council approach, which we did follow up on. And, look, I think it's important to look at what the most important counterterrorism judgment of the first four years of the Obama administration was, and that was the very difficult decision as to whether or not to advise the president to go after bin Laden. I looked at the evidence. I looked at the intelligence. I got the briefings. I recommended that the president go forward. It was a hard choice. Not all of his top national security advisors agreed with that. And at the end of the day, it was the president's decision. So he had to leave the Situation Room after hearing from the small group advising him and he had to make that decision. I'm proud that I gave him that advice. And I'm very grateful to the brave Navy +p891 +aVWell, I know journalists have asked who you do listen to on foreign policy, and we have yet to know who that is. +p892 +aVThat's fine. That's fine. You know, I listen to a wide variety of voices that have expertise in various areas. I think it is fair to say, whatever the complaints that you want to make about him are, that with respect to China, one of the most challenging relationships we have, his opening up China and his ongoing relationships with the leaders of China is an incredibly useful relationship for the United States of America. So if we want to pick and choose \u2014 and I certainly do \u2014 people I listen to, people I don't listen to, people I listen to for certain areas, then I think we have to be fair and look at the entire world, because it's a big, complicated world out there. +p893 +aVAnd, yes, people we may disagree with on a number of things may have some insight, may have some relationships that are important for the president to understand in order to best protect the United States. +p894 +aVWell, with respect to Syria, I really do appreciate the efforts that Secretary Kerry has made. The agreement on humanitarian relief now needs to be implemented, because there are enclaves that are literally filled with starving people throughout Syria. The agreement on a cease-fire, though, is something that has to be implemented more quickly than the schedule that the Russians agreed to. You know, the Russians wanted to buy time. Are they buying time to continue their bombardment on behalf of the Assad regime to further decimate what's left of the opposition, which would be a grave disservice to any kind of eventual cease-fire? So I know Secretary Kerry is working extremely hard to try to move that cease-fire up as quickly as possible. But I would add this. You know, the Security Council finally got around to adopting a resolution. At the core of that resolution is an agreement I negotiated in June of 2012 in Geneva, which set forth a cease-fire and moving toward a political resolution, trying to bring the parties at stake in Syria together. This is incredibly complicated, because we've got Iran as a big player, in addition to Russia. We have Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and others who have very important interests in their view. This is one of the areas I've disagreed with Senator Sanders on, who has called for Iranian troops trying to end civil war in Syria, which I think would be a grave mistake. Putting Iranian troops right on the border of the Golan right next to Israel would be a nonstarter for me. Trying to get Iran and Saudi Arabia to work together, as he has suggested in the past, is equally a nonstarter. So let's support what Secretary Kerry and the president are doing, but let's hope that we can accelerate the cease-fire, because I fear that the Russians will continue their bombing, try to do everything they can to destroy what's left of the opposition. And remember, the Russians have not gone after +p895 +aVWell, I respectfully disagree. I think we have achieved a great deal with the Iranian nuclear agreement to put a lid on the Iranian nuclear weapons program. That has to be enforced absolutely with consequences for Iran at the slightest deviation from their requirements under the agreement. I do not think we should promise or even look toward normalizing relations because we have a lot of other business to get done with Iran. Yes, they have to stop being the main state sponsor of terrorism. Yes, they have to stop trying to destabilize the Middle East, causing even more chaos. Yes, they've got to get out of Syria. They've got to quit sponsoring Hezbollah and Hamas. They have got to quit trying to ship rockets into Gaza that can be used against Israel. We have a lot of work to do with Iran before we ever say that they could move toward normalized relations with us. +p896 +aV... Senator Sanders, from a debate in 2008, quote what I said. The question was, would you meet with an adversary without conditions? I said no. And in fact, in Obama administration, we did not meet with anybody without conditions. That is the appropriate approach in order to get the results that you are seeking. +p897 +aVWell, I was pleased that +p898 +aVI certainly agree with FDR for all the reasons Senator Sanders said. And I agree about the role that he played both in war and in peace on the economy and defeating fascism around the world. I would choose Nelson Mandela for his generosity of heart, his understanding of the need for reconciliation. But I want to \u2014 I want to follow up on something having to do with leadership, because, you know, today Senator Sanders said that President Obama failed the presidential leadership test. And this is not the first time that he has criticized President Obama. In the past he has called him weak. He has called him a disappointment. He wrote a forward for a book that basically argued voters should have buyers' remorse when it comes to President Obama's leadership and legacy. And I just couldn't agree \u2014 disagree more with those kinds of comments. You know, from my perspective, maybe because I understand what President Obama inherited, not only the worst financial crisis but the antipathy of the Republicans in Congress, I don't think he gets the credit he deserves for being a president......who got us out of that......put us on firm ground, and has sent us into the future. And it is a \u2014 the kind of criticism that we've heard from Senator Sanders about our president I expect from Republicans. I do not expect from someone running for the Democratic nomination to succeed President Obama. +p899 +aVYou know, Senator, what I am concerned about, is not disagreement on issues, saying that this is what I would rather do, I don't agree with the president on that, calling the president weak, calling him a disappointment, calling several times that he should have a primary opponent when he ran for re-election in 2012, you know, I think that goes further than saying we have our disagreements. As a senator, yes, I was a senator. I understand we can disagree on the path forward. But those kinds of personal assessments and charges are ones that I find particularly troubling. +p900 +aVYou know, we \u2014 we agree that we've got to get unaccountable money out of politics. We agree that Wall Street should never be allowed to wreck Main Street again. But here's the point I want to make tonight. I am not a single-issue candidate, and I do not believe we live in a single-issue country. I think that a lot of what we have to overcome to break down the barriers that are holding people back, whether it's poison in the water of the children of Flint, or whether it's the poor miners who are being left out and left behind in coal country, or whether it is any other American today who feels somehow put down and oppressed by racism, by sexism, by discrimination against the +p901 +aVWell, I'm happy to be here in New Hampshire for this debate, as we move toward the primary on Tuesday. I believe that America has the opportunity to once again live by our values, live up to our values in the 21st century, but I think that America can only do that if Americans can succeed. And there are lots of reasons why Americans today are feeling left out and left behind. Yes, of course, the economy has not been working for most Americans. Yes, of course, we have special interests that are unfortunately doing too much to rig the game. But there's also the continuing challenges of racism, of sexism, of discrimination against the +p902 +aVWell, let me start by saying that Senator Sanders and I share some very big progressive goals. I've been fighting for universal healthcare for many years, and we're now on the path to achieving it. I don't want us to start over again. I think that would be a great mistake, to once again plunge our country into a contentious debate about whether we should have and what kind of system we should have for healthcare. I want to build on the progress we've made; got from 90 percent coverage to 100 percent coverage. And I don't want to rip away the security that people finally have; 18 million people now have healthcare; preexisting conditions are no longer a bar. So we have a difference. I also believe in affordable college, but I don't believe in free college, because every expert that I have talked to says, look, how will you ever control the costs. What I want to do is make sure middle class kids, not Donald Trump's kids, get to be able to afford college. I want to get the economy going again. It's not just enough about what we're against, as important as that is. I have a plan to create new jobs, manufacturing, infrastructure, clean energy jobs that will make us the 21st century clean energy super power. I also want to make sure small businesses can start and grow again. And of course, I believe in raising the minimum wage and equal pay for work. But the numbers just don't add up, from what Senator Sanders has been proposing. That's why all of the independent experts, all of the editorial boards that have vetted both of us have concluded that it is just not achievable. Let's go down a path where we can actually tell people what we will do. A progressive is someone who makes progress. That's what I intend to do. +p903 +aVIf I could just follow up on that. There is no disagreement between us on universal coverage for health care, the disagreement is where do we start from and where do we end up. The Republicans want to repeal the Affordable Care Act, I want to improve it. I want to build on it, get the costs down, get prescription drug costs down. Senator Sanders wants us to start all over again. This was a major achievement of President Obama, of our country. It is helping people right now. I am not going to wait and have us plunge back into a contentious national debate that has very little chance of succeeding. Let's make the Affordable Care Act work for everybody. +p904 +aVWell because I am a progressive who gets things done. And the root of that word, progressive, is progress. But I've heard Senator Sanders comments, and it's really caused me to wonder who's left in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Under his definition, President Obama is not progressive because he took donations from Wall Street; Vice President Biden is not progressive because she supported Keystone; Senator Shaheen is not progressive because she supports the trade pact. Even the late, great Senator Paul Wellstone would not fit this definition because he voted for +p905 +aVWell, Chuck... +p906 +aV... If I could, you know, in the very first debate I was asked am I a moderate or a progressive and I said I'm a progressive who likes to get things done. Cherry picking a quote here or there doesn't change my record of having fought for racial justice, having fought for kids rights, having fought the kind of inequities that fueled my interest in service in the first place going back to my days in the Children's Defense Fund. It certainly didn't stop me from taking on the drug companies and the insurance companies. Before it was called Hillarycare\u2014I mean, before it was called ObamaCare it was called Hillarycare because we took them on, and we weren't successful, but we kept fighting and we got the children's health insurance program. Every step along the way I have stood up, and fought, and have the scars to prove it. So, again......I think it's important that, look, I understand Senator Sanders really trying to distinguish himself. I understand that, that's what you do in campaigns, but at the same time let's not be\u2014in, I think an unfair way, making an accusation, or making an attack about where I stand and about where I've always stood. It is fair to say, Senator, that in your definition, as you being the self-proclaimed gatekeeper for progressivism, I don't know anyone else who fits that definition, but I know a lot of really hard fighting progressives in the Democratic party who have stood up time, and time again against special interests, against the powerful on behalf of those who are left behind and left out. And, that's what we ought to be celebrating. Let's talk about what we would do as President, and Commander in Chief to make sure the progress continues into the future. +p907 +aV... Well, you began it yesterday with your comments... +p908 +aVYou know, the person who first put out the idea of a 50-state party strategy is former Governor Howard Dean, who is with us tonight. And I'm very proud and grateful to have the support of so many elected Vermonters and former officials. Two former governors, the current governor, the current other senator. I really appreciate that. And I think it's because they've worked with me, they've seen what I do. They know what kind of a colleague I am. They want me as their partner in the White House. And that's exactly what I will do. We'll get things done together. Democrats, Republicans, independents, we're going to make progress together when I'm president. +p909 +aVWell, look, I've got to just jump in here because, honestly, Senator Sanders is the only person who I think would characterize me, a woman running to be the first woman president, as exemplifying the establishment. And I've got to tell you that it is......it is really quite amusing to me. People support me because they know me. They know my life's work. They have worked with me and many have also worked with Senator Sanders. And at the end of the day they endorse me because they know I can get things done. I am not going to make promises I can't keep. I am not going to talk about big ideas like single-payer and then not level with people about how much it will cost. A respected health economist said that these plans would cost a trillion dollars more a year. I'm not going to tell people that I will raise your incomes and not your taxes, and not mean it, because I don't want to see the kind of struggle that the middle class is going through exemplified by these promises that would raise taxes and make it much more difficult for many, many Americans to get ahead and stay ahead. That is not my agenda. +p910 +aVYeah, but I\u2014I think it's fair to really ask what's behind that comment. You know, Senator Sanders has said he wants to run a positive campaign. I've tried to keep my disagreements over issues, as it should be. But time and time again, by innuendo, by insinuation, there is this attack that he is putting forth, which really comes down to\u2014you know, anybody who ever took donations or speaking fees from any interest group has to be bought. And I just absolutely reject that, Senator. And I really don't think these kinds of attacks by insinuation are worthy of you. And enough is enough. If you've got something to say, say it directly. But you will not find that I ever changed a view or a vote because of any donation that I ever received. +p911 +aVAnd I have stood up and I have represented my constituents to the best of my abilities, and I'm very proud of that. +p912 +aVSo I think it's time to end the very artful smear that you and your campaign have been carrying out... +p913 +aV... in recent weeks, and let's talk......let's talk about about the issues. Let's talk about the issues that divide us. +p914 +aVAnd let's\u2014let's... +p915 +aV... we both agree with campaign finance reform. +p916 +aVI\u2014I worked hard for McCain-Feingold. +p917 +aVI want to reverse Citizens United. +p918 +aVAnd so\u2014let's talk about issues. +p919 +aVWell, you know, Senator, I don't think\u2014I don't... +p920 +aV... I don't think you could find any person in political life today who has been subjected to more attacks and had more money spent against her by special interests, among whom you have named a few, than I. And I'm proud of that. You know, when I took on the drug companies and the insurance companies for universal health care coverage, they went after me with a vengeance. Today, you've got hedge fund billionaires aligned with Karl Rove, running ads against me to try to get Democrats to vote for you. I know this game. I'm going to stop this game. But while we're talking about votes, you're the one who voted to deregulate swaps and derivatives in 2000, which contributed to the over-leveraging of Lehman Brothers, which was one of the culprits that brought down the economy. So I don't know\u2014I'm not impugning your motive because you voted to deregulate swaps and derivatives. People make mistakes and I'm certainly not saying you did it for any kind of financial advantage. What we've got to do as Democrats\u2014what we've got to do as Democrats is to be united to actually solve these problems. And what I believe is that I have a better track record and a better opportunity to actually get that job done. That's what this election should be about. +p921 +aVOn the issue of Wall Street. +p922 +aVWell you know, Rachel, I think I may not have done the job I should in explaining my record. You know, I did\u2014when I left the secretary of State's office, like so many former officials, military leaders, journalists, others, I did go on the speaking circuit. I spoke to heart doctors, I spoke to the American Camping Association, I spoke to auto dealers, and yes, I spoke to firms on Wall Street. They wanted me to talk about the world, what my experience had been as secretary of State. But what I want people to know is I went to Wall Street before the crash. I was the one saying you're going to wreck the economy because of these shenanigans with mortgages. I called to end the carried interest loophole that hedge fund managers enjoy. I proposed changes in CEO compensation. I called for a consumer protection financial bureau before it was created. And I think the best evidence that the Wall Street people at least know where I stand and where I have always stood is because they are trying to beat me in this primary. They have collected and spent as much as $6 million on these ads. Hedge fund billionaires, Karl Rove, another billionaire, jumped in. And why are they doing that? These are guys who try to make smart investments. They know my record, they know me, they know that I say what I believe and I will do it. And I also have a pretty good understanding about how to stop them. So I do want people to know that, and I think it's important for everybody to understand I have a record, I have stood firm and I will be the person who prevents them from ever wrecking the economy again. +p923 +aVIf I could, let me just say that of course it has to change. It has to change. And that's why I have put forward a plan to do just that. And it's been judged to be the toughest, most effective and comprehensive one. I have great respect for Senator Sanders's commitment to try to restore Glass-Steagall. But I do not believe that that is enough. And in fact, I don't believe it really addresses a lot of the biggest issues we have. You know, we now have power under the Dodd-Frank legislation to break up banks. And I've said I will use that power if they pose a systemic risk. But I want to go further, because it was investment banks, it was insurance companies, it was mortgage companies, all of which contributed. So let's not just be narrowly focused on one part of the problem. We have a lot of issues with corporate power that have to be addressed. My plan takes us further and it would do the job. +p924 +aVLook we have a law\u2014look, you know, I\u2014I appreciate the senator's advocacy. We have a law. It was passed. It was signed by President Obama. It lays out a process that you go through to determine whether a systemic risk is posed. And by the way, President Obama signed that, pushed it through, even though he took donations from Wall Street, because he's a responsible president. So we have a law in place. If the circumstances warrant it, I will certainly use it. And from what you say, I know you will as well. But that is not enough. And I keep going back to this because part of the reason the Wall Street guys are trying so hard to stop me\u2014the hedge fund guys, the shadow banking guys\u2014is because I've got their number on all of that. And my plan goes so much further to try to prevent the problems of the future. You know, we can't just fight the last war. We've got to be prepared to stop these guys if they ever try to use their economic power once again, to hurt the economy, and to hurt so many Americans. And my plan, Paul Krugman, Barney Frank, a lot of experts who understand what the new challenges might be, have said I am exactly on point, and the Wall Street guys actually know that. +p925 +aVI will look into it. I don't know the status, but I will certainly look into it. But, I can only repeat what is the fact that I spoke to a lot of different groups with a lot of different constituents, a lot of different kinds of members about issues that had to do with world affairs. I probably described more times than I can remember how stressful it was advising the President about going after Bin Laden. My view on this is look at my record. Look at what I am proposing, and\u2014we have a vigorous agreement here. We both want to reign in the excesses of Wall Street. I also want to reign in the excesses of Johnson Controls that we bailed out when they were an autoparts company, and we saved the auto industry, and now they want to avoid paying taxes. I want to go after the pharmaceutical companies like Valeant, and Turns that are increasing prices without any regard to the impact on people's health. Now, if all we're going to talk about is one part of our economy, and indeed one streak in our economy, we're missing the big oil companies. We're missing other big energy companies. We're missing the big picture, and I have a record of trying to go at the problems that actually exist, and I will continue to do that. +p926 +aV... Well, Senator, no one wants to see that happen. I mean, look, I care deeply about this because just like you I have met so many people who had their life savings wiped out, who lost their homes, who are barely back with their heads above water. This was a disaster for our country, and we can never let that happen again. We have no disagreement about this. But, I think it's a broader target list than just Wall Street, and I believe that we have to be very focused on how we try to take back the power and increase the empowerment of the American people. And, I think I have that kind of experience, maybe because they've beat me up for so many years, and I know exactly how to handle them because I've been in the arena with them time and time again. +p927 +aVWell, I think what the president understands, and what he's trying to do, is that we have to support the Arab and Kurdish fighters on the ground who are actually doing the fighting. I agree with the president. I've said myself, we will not send American combat troops back to either Syria or Iraq\u2014that is off the table. But we do have special forces, we do have trainers, we do have the military personnel who are helping with the airstrikes that the United States is leading so that we can try to take out +p928 +aVNo. I mean, of course that's a theoretical question, and we don't know what it would be for, and we don't know how many numbers there are. I am against American combat troops being in Syria and Iraq. I support special forces. I support trainers. I support the air campaign. And I think we're making some progress. I want to continue to intensify that, and that's exactly what the president is doing. +p929 +aVIf I could\u2014if I could... +p930 +aV... respectfully add\u2014look, we did differ. A vote in 2002 is not a plan to defeat +p931 +aVOh, absolutely. The president decided to leave more troops than he had originally planned in Afghanistan. We have a very cooperative government there, with Ashraf Ghani and his top\u2014his top partner, Abdullah. And they are doing their very best. And the Afghan army is actually fighting. The Afghan army is taking heavy losses defending Afghan territory. And I would have to make an evaluation based on the circumstances at the time I took office as to how much help they continue to need. Because it's not just the Taliban. We now are seeing outposts of, you know, fighters claiming to be affiliated with +p932 +aVA group of national security experts, military intelligence experts, issued a very concerning statement about Senator Sanders's views on foreign policy and national security, pointing out some of the comments he has made on these issues, such as inviting Iranian troops into Syria to try to resolve the conflict there; putting them right at the doorstep of Israel. Asking Saudi Arabia and Iran to work together, when they can't stand each other and are engaged in a proxy battle right at this moment. So I do think questions have been raised and questions have to be answered because when New Hampshire voters go on Tuesday to cast your vote, you are voting both for a president and a commander in chief. And there is no way to predict what comes in the door of that White House from day to day that can pose a threat to the United States or one of our friends and allies, and I think this is a big part of the job interview that we are all conducting with the voters here. +p933 +aVWell, let me just add that, you know, I've said this before and I'm very proud of it, that when it comes to judgment, having run a hard race against Senator Obama at the time, he turned to me to be secretary of State. And when it comes to the biggest counterterrorism issues that we faced in this administration, namely whether or not to go after bin Laden, I was at that table, I was exercising my judgment to advise the president on what to do, on that, on Iran, on Russia on China, on a whole raft of issues. Because I know from my own experience that you've got to be ready on day one. There is just too much unpredictable threat and danger in the world today, you know, to try to just say wait, I'll get to that when I can. That is just not an acceptable approach. +p934 +aVAbsolutely. You know, I did put together the coalition to impose sanctions. I actually started the negotiations that led to the nuclear agreement, sending some much my closest aides to begin the conversations with the Iranians. I'm very pleased we got that nuclear agreement. It puts a lid on the nuclear weapons program. We have to enforce it, there have to be consequences attached to it. But that is not our only problem with Iran. We have to figure out how to deal with Iran as the principal state sponsor of terrorism in the world. They are destabilizing governments in the region. They continue to support Hezbollah and Hamas in Lebanon against Israel. A lot of work that we have do is going to be incredibly hard. I'm prepared to do that work, but I believe, just as I did with imposing the sanctions, you have to get action for action. If we were to normalize relations right now, we would remove one of the biggest pieces of leverage we have to try to influence and change Iranian behavior. The president doesn't think we should. I certainly don't think we should. I believe we have to take this step by step to try to reign in Iranian aggression, their support for terrorism and the other bad behavior that can come back and haunt us. +p935 +aVWell Senator, let me just correct the record if I can. You know\u2014let me correct the record. +p936 +aVAs I\u2014as I certainly recall, the question was to meet with without conditions. And you're right, I was against that. I was against it then I would be against it now. +p937 +aVPart of diplomacy, the hard work of diplomacy is trying to extract whatever concessions you can get, and giving something the other side wants. Of course you've got to try to make peace with, and work with those who are your adversaries, but you don't just rush in, open the door, and say, "Here I am. Let's talk and make a deal." That's not the way it works. +p938 +aV... Well, we set conditions on Iran. We worked hard to get them established, and to be enforced, and then we talked. That's exactly the right......and, that's what I did with the President, so he and I are on the very same page. +p939 +aVI haven't talked to Secretary Carter, but here's what I would think he's planning. We do have the nuclear weapons agreement with Iran, that's an enforcement consequence, action for action, follow on. We have a plan, we will watch them, we will be vigilant. We do have to worry about North Korea. They continue to develop their nuclear weapons capability, and they're working very hard on their ballistic missile capability. And, I know that some of those plans could very well lead to a missile that might reach Hawaii, if not the West Coast. We do have to try to get the countries in the region to work with us to do everything we can to confine, and constrain them. But, what Secretary Carter is looking at is the constant pressure that Russia's putting on our European allies. The way that Russia is trying to move the boundaries of the post-World War II Europe. The way that he is trying to set European countries against one another, seizing territory, holding it in Crimea. Beginning to explore whether they could make some inroads in the Baltics. We know that they are deeply engaged in supporting Assad because they want to have a place in the Middle East. They have a naval base, they have an air base in Syria. They want to hang on to that. I think what Secretary Carter is seeing, and I'm glad he is, is that we got to get +p940 +aVWell, first of all, I'm absolutely against privatizing the V.A. And I am going do everything I can to build on the reforms that Senator Sanders and others in Congress have passed to try to fix what's wrong with the V.A. There are a lot of issues about wait times and services that have to be fixed because our veterans deserve nothing but the best. But you're absolutely right, you know, Rachel, this is another part of the Koch brothers agenda. They've actually formed an organization to try to begin to convince Americans we should no longer have guaranteed health care, specialized care for our veterans. I will fight that as hard as I can. I think there's where we can enlist the veterans service organizations, the veterans of America, because, yes, let's fix the V.A., but we will never let it be privatized, and that is a promise. +p941 +aVWhatever they decide to do, that's fine. +p942 +aVAll right. +p943 +aVI can only tell you what I believe, and that is that I am the strongest candidate to take it to the Republicans and win in November. And I say that with great\u2014with great respect for the campaign that Senator Sanders has been running. I personally am thrilled at the numbers of people, and particularly young people who are coming to support your campaign. I hope that I will be able to earn their support. They may not support me now, but I support them and we'll work together. But what I'm concerned about is the views of many Democrats who know their states, who know how hard it is to win a general election. And it also will push whoever the nominee is into the spotlight. I've been vetted. There's hardly anything you don't know about me. And I think it's fair to say that whoever is in that position, Senator Sanders or anyone else who might have run, will face the most withering onslaught. So, I think that I am the person who can do all aspects of the job. I think I'm the person best prepared to take the case to the Republicans. And I think that at the end of the day, it's not so much electability. It is who the American people can believe can keep them safe, can get the economy moving again, can get incomes rising, can build on the progressive accomplishments of President Obama. And I think that the coalition that President Obama put together to win twice is a coalition that I can put together and add to. And that's what I'm prepared to... +p944 +aVAbsolutely I can. You know, before it was emails, it was Benghazi, and the Republicans were stirring up so much controversy about that. And I testified for 11 hours, answered their questions. They basically said yeah, didn't get her. We tried. That was all a political ploy. Now, we had a development in the email matter today when it came out that Secretary Powell and close aides to Former Secretary Rice used private e-mail accounts. and now you have these people in the government who are doing the same thing to Secretary Powell and Secretary Rice's aide they've been doing to me, which is that I never sent or received any classified material. They are retroactively classifying it. I agree completely with Secretary Powell, who said today this is an absurdity. And so I think the American people will know it's an absurdity. I have absolutely no concerns about it whatsoever. +p945 +aVI am 100 percent confident. This is a security review that was requested. It is being carried out. It will be resolved. But I have to add if there's going to be a security review about me, there's going to have to be security reviews about a lot of other people, including Republican office holders, because we've got this absurd situation of retroactive classifications. Honest to goodness, this is\u2014this just beggars the imagination. So I have absolutely no concerns about it, but we've got to get to the bottom of what's really going on here, and I hope that will happen. +p946 +aVNo. +p947 +aVYes, I do. And\u2014you know, what I hope the Supreme Court will do is make it absolutely clear that any state that continues capital punishment either must meet the highest standards of evidentiary proof of effective assistance of counsel or they cannot continue it because that, to me, is the real dividing line. I have much more confidence in the federal system, and I do reserve it for particularly heinous crimes in the federal system, like terrorism. I have strong feelings about that. I thought it was appropriate after a very thorough trial that Timothy McVeigh received the death penalty for blowing up the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people, including 19 children in a daycare center. I do for very limited, particularly heinous crimes believe it is an appropriate punishment, but I deeply disagree with the way that too many states are still implementing it. If it were possible to separate the federal from the state system by the Supreme Court, that would, I think, be an appropriate outcome. +p948 +aVAbsolutely. Absolutely. You know, Rachel, you and I have talked about this before. I thank you for going to Flint to hold that town hall. I will be in Flint at the Mayor's invitation on Sunday to get an in depth briefing about what is, and is not happening. This is an emergency. Everyday that goes by that these people, particularly the children, are not tested so we can know what steps must be taken to try to remediate the effects of the poisoning that they have been living with is a day lost in a child's life. I know from the work that I've done over so many years, lead, the toxic nature of lead can affect you brain development, your body development, your behavior. I absolutely believe that what is being done is not sufficient. We need to be absolutely clear about everything that should be done from today to tomorrow, into the future to try to remedy the terrible burden that the people of Flint are barring. That includes fixing their pipes, it includes guaranteeing whatever healthcare and educational embellishments they may need going forward, and I think the federal government has way where it can bill the state of Michigan. If Michigan won't do it, there have to be ways that we can begin to move, and then make them pay for it, and hold them accountable. +p949 +aVYou know, Chuck, I've only had responsibility for voting for trade agreements as a senator. And I voted a multinational trade agreement when I was senator, the +p950 +aVWell, I\u2014I don't accept that premise, Chuck. I think that we've got so much business we have to do. We've talked a lot tonight about what we're against\u2014we're against income inequality. We're against the abuses of powerful interests. We're against a lot of things. I'm for a lot of things. I don't want to just stop bad things from happening, I want to start good things from happening. And I believe, if I'm so fortunate to get the nomination, I will begin to work immediately on putting together an agenda, beginning to talk with members of Congress and others about how we can push forward. I want to have half a billion more solar panels deployed, the first four years. I want to have enough clean energy to power every home the next four years. I want us to keep working on the Affordable Care Act, to get not only to 100 percent coverage, but bring down the costs of prescription drugs and out-of-pocket costs. I want to move forward on paid family leave, on early childhood education, I want us to do more for small businesses. Small businesses have to create most of the jobs, and we're not creating and growing small businesses. I think, if you have a smart agenda, you pick the committees that you know have to begin to work on these various pieces\u2014because that's the way Congress is set up. You go through different committees, and you really make a big push in the beginning. Immigration reform, economic revitalization with manufacturing, with infrastructure\u2014we put it out there, and we begin to work on an ambitious, big, bold agenda that will actually produce the results that I want to see for our country. +p951 +aVThe answer to both of those is no. I'm interested in making what we have work better. I want to streamline programs that are duplicative and redundant. I want to have a top-to-bottom review about what works and what doesn't work, and be absolutely clear we're getting rid of what doesn't work. I have had the opportunity to run a big agency. I was very flattered when Henry Kissinger said I ran the State Department better\u2014better than anybody had run it in a long time. So I have an idea of what it's going to take to make our government work more efficiently. And when you put together a budget, you have to make a lot of hard decisions, but I think it's not appropriate to say "I'm going to get rid of this, get rid of that" until you have a very good process that gives you the information about what to do. But I want to add something else, you know, because look, we have so much work to do in our country, and I think it's the greatest work that Americans will be called to do. And of course, we have to have people in every community involved in it. We have to have the political voice, the political grassroots speaking up and speaking out about what we have to try to accomplish in Washington. But we also need to have a very clear set of goals that we are going to achieve, and we need to level with the American people about what they are, what they will cost, what will be expected of our citizenry. So I see as president having a constant dialogue with Americans here's what we're trying to get done, here's why I need your help, here's why you may think comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship isn't something you care about, but I'm telling you it will help fix the labor market, it will bring people out of the shadows\u2014 +p952 +aVI never said that. +p953 +aVLook... +p954 +aVWell, I'm certainly going to unite the party, but I'm not\u2014I'm not getting ahead of myself. I think that would be a little bit presumptuous. If I'm so fortunate as to be the nominee, the first person I will call to talk to about where we go and how we get it done will be Senator Sanders. +p955 +aVThat's true. That's true. +p956 +aVWell first, thanks to +p957 +asVTRUMP +p958 +(lp959 +VThank you. I began this journey six months ago. My total focus was on building up our military, building up our strength, building up our borders, making sure that China, Japan, Mexico, both at the border and in trade, no longer takes advantage of our country. Certainly would never have made that horrible, disgusting, absolutely incompetent deal with Iran where they get $150 billion. They're a terrorist nation. But I began it talking about other things. And those things are things that I'm very good at and maybe that's why I'm center stage. People saw it. People liked it. People respected it. A month ago things changed. Radical Islamic terrorism came into effect even more so than it has been in the past. People like what I say. People respect what I say. And we've opened up a very big discussion that needed to be opened up. Thank you very much. +p960 +aVWe are not talking about isolation. We're talking about security. We're not talking about religion. We're talking about security. Our country is out of control. People are pouring across the southern border. I will build a wall. It will be a great wall. People will not come in unless they come in legally. Drugs will not pour through that wall. As far as other people like in the migration, where they're going, tens of thousands of people having cell phones with +p961 +aVJeb doesn't really believe I'm unhinged. He said that very simply because he has failed in this campaign. It's been a total disaster. Nobody cares. And frankly, I'm the most solid person up here. I built a tremendous company and all I want to do is make America great again. I don't want our country to be taken away from us, and that's what's happening. The policies that we've suffered under other presidents have been a disaster for our country. We want to make America great again. And Jeb, in all fairness, he doesn't believe that. +p962 +aVWell, look, this is so easy to answer. +p963 +aVI would certainly be open to closing areas where we are at war with somebody. I sure as hell don't want to let people that want to kill us and kill our nation use our Internet. Yes, sir, I am. +p964 +aVWe have to be much tougher. We have to be much stronger than we've been. We have people that know what is going on. You take a look at just the attack in California the other day. There were numerous people, including the mother, that knew what was going on. They saw a pipe bomb sitting all over the floor. They saw ammunition all over the place. They knew exactly what was going on. When you had the World Trade Center go, people were put into planes that were friends, family, girlfriends, and they were put into planes and they were sent back, for the most part, to Saudi Arabia. They knew what was going on. They went home and they wanted to watch their boyfriends on television. I would be very, very firm with families. Frankly, that will make people think because they may not care much about their lives, but they do care, believe it or not, about their families' lives. +p965 +aVLook, the problem is we need toughness. Honestly, I think Jeb is a very nice person. He's a very nice person. But we need tough people. We need toughness. We need intelligence and we need tough. Jeb said when they come across the southern border they come as an act of love. +p966 +aVAm I talking or are you talking, Jeb? +p967 +aVYou can go back. You're not talking. You interrupted me. +p968 +aVAre you going to apologize, Jeb? No. Am I allowed to finish? +p969 +aVExcuse me, am I allowed to finish? +p970 +aVSo... +p971 +aV... again... +p972 +aVI know you're trying to build up your energy, Jeb, but it's not working very well. +p973 +aVLook, look, look. We need a toughness. We need strength. We're not respected, you know, as a nation anymore. We don't have that level of respect that we need. And if we don't get it back fast, we're just going to go weaker, weaker and just disintegrate. We can't allow that to happen. We need strength. We don't have it. When Jeb comes out and he talks about the border, and I saw it and I was witness to it, and so was everyone else, and I was standing there, "they come across as an act of love," he's saying the same thing right now with radical Islam. And we can't have that in our country. It just won't work. We need strength. +p974 +aVWith Jeb's attitude, we will never be great again, that I can tell you. We will never be great again. +p975 +aVSo, they can kill us, but we can't kill them? That's what you're saying. And as far as the Internet is concerned, we're not talking about closing the Internet. I'm talking about parts of Syria, parts of Iraq, where +p976 +aVIn my opinion, we've spent $4 trillion trying to topple various people that frankly, if they were there and if we could've spent that $4 trillion in the United States to fix our roads, our bridges, and all of the other problems; our airports and all of the other problems we've had, we would've been a lot better off. I can tell you that right now. We have done a tremendous disservice, not only to Middle East, we've done a tremendous disservice to humanity. The people that have been killed, the people that have wiped away, and for what? It's not like we had victory. It's a mess. The Middle East is totally destabilized. A total and complete mess. I wish we had the $4 trillion or $5 trillion. I wish it were spent right here in the United States, on our schools, hospitals, roads, airports, and everything else that are all falling apart. +p977 +aVWell, there's nothing to respond to. Well, people feel differently. I mean, the fact is Benghazi was a disaster because of Libya, everything just fell into place. It could not have been worse. What do we have now? We have nothing. We've spent $3 trillion and probably much more \u2013 I have no idea what we've spent. Thousands and thousands of lives, we have nothing. Wounded warriors all over the place who I love, we have nothing for it. And by the way \u2013 and Ben said incorrectly \u2013 and I'm not saying this as a knock \u2013 he's one of finest men. You're not going to find a finer men. But I've been talking about oil for three years. I've been saying,, "take the oil, take the oil." I didn't say, "just bomb it," I said," take it and use it and distribute it so that the wounded warriors -" People, I've been saying this now for many years. +p978 +aVNow, all of a sudden everybody's saying, "take the oil." It wasn't so fashionable to take the oil six months ago. I've been saying it for years. +p979 +aVI think Assad is a bad guy, a very bad guy, all right? Lots of people killed. I think we are backing people we have no idea who they are. The rebels, we call them the rebels, the patriotic rebels. We have no idea. A lot of people think, Hugh, that they are +p980 +aVI think it's very sad that CNN leads Jeb Bush, Governor Bush, down a road by starting off virtually all the questions, "Mr. Trump this, Mister" \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched the first debate, and the first long number of questions were, "Mr. Trump said this, Mr. Trump said that. Mr. Trump" \u2014 these poor guys \u2014 although, I must tell you, Santorum, good guy. Governor Huckabee, good guy. They were very nice, and I respect them greatly. But I thought it was very unfair that virtually the entire early portion of the debate was Trump this, Trump that, in order to get ratings, I guess. In order to get ratings, I guess. +p981 +aVI just think it's very \u2014 excuse me. +p982 +aVExcuse me. I think it's very unprofessional. +p983 +aVWell, I think it's very unprofessional. +p984 +aVOK, fine. +p985 +aVThis isn't tough and easy. I wish it... +p986 +aVI wish it was always this easy as you, Jeb. +p987 +aVOh, yeah. +p988 +aVOh, I know. You're a tough guy, Jeb. I know. +p989 +aVYou're tough. +p990 +aVWell, let's see. I'm at 42, and you're at 3. So, so far, I'm doing better. +p991 +aVSo far, I'm doing better. You know, you started off over here, Jeb. You're moving over further and further. Pretty soon you're going to be off the end... +p992 +aVI believe I did. +p993 +aVI have a very hardline position, we have a country or we don't have a country. People that have come into our country illegally, they have to go. They have to come back into through a legal process. I want a strong border. I do want a wall. Walls do work, you just have to speak to the folks in Israel. Walls work if they're properly constructed. I know how to build, believe me, I know how to build. I feel a very, very strong bind, and really I'm bound to this country, we either have a border or we don't. People can come into the country, we welcome people to come but they have to come in legally. +p994 +aVWell, first of all, I think we need somebody absolutely that we can trust, who is totally responsible; who really knows what he or she is doing. That is so powerful and so important. And one of the things that I'm frankly most proud of is that in 2003, 2004, I was totally against going into Iraq because you're going to destabilize the Middle East. I called it. I called it very strongly. And it was very important. But we have to be extremely vigilant and extremely careful when it comes to nuclear. Nuclear changes the whole ball game. Frankly, I would have said get out of Syria; get out \u2014 if we didn't have the power of weaponry today. The power is so massive that we can't just leave areas that 50 years ago or 75 years ago we wouldn't care. It was hand-to-hand combat. The biggest problem this world has today is not President Obama with global warming, which is inconceivable, this is what he's saying. The biggest problem we have is nuclear \u2014 nuclear proliferation and having some maniac, having some madman go out and get a nuclear weapon. That's in my opinion, that is the single biggest problem that our country faces right now. +p995 +aVI think \u2014 I think, for me, nuclear is just the power, the devastation is very important to me. +p996 +aVI did. +p997 +aVLet me just say that I have gotten to know him over the last three or four days. He has a wonderful temperament. He's just fine. Don't worry about it. +p998 +aVYou better not attack... +p999 +aVI really am. I'll be honest, I really am. I mean, the people have been putting me... I really am. +p1000 +aVLet me just. Can I just finish my... +p1001 +aVI've gained great respect for the Republican leadership. I've gained great respect for many \u2014 and I'm going to even say \u2014 I mean, in different forms for the people on the dais, in different forms. In different forms. But I have great respect for the people I have met through this process. I've never done this process before. I've never been a politician. I mean, for the last six months I've been a politician. But I will tell you, I am totally committed to the Republican Party. I feel very honored to be the front runner. And I think I'll do very well if I'm chosen. If I'm so fortunate to be chosen, I think I'll do very well. Polls have come out recently saying I would beat Hillary. I will do everything in my power to beat Hillary Clinton, I promise you. +p1002 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We don't win on trade. We don't win on the military. We can't defeat +p1003 +aVI can't be Neil. And the and the reason I can't be is that we are a country that is being beaten on every front economically, militarily. There is nothing that we do now to win. We don't win anymore. Our taxes are too high. I've come up with a tax plan that many, many people like very much. It's going to be a tremendous plan. I think it'll make our country and our economy very dynamic. But, taxes too high, wages too high, we're not going to be able to compete against the world. I hate to say it, but we have to leave it the way it is. People have to go out, they have to work really hard and have to get into that upper stratum. But we can not do this if we are going to compete with the rest of the world. We just can't do it. +p1004 +aVI would not do it. +p1005 +aVI was so happy yesterday when I saw that decision come down. That was an unbelievable decision. And we don't have enough of those decisions coming down. He of the executive order, because nobody wants to listen to him, including the Democrats, so he just goes around signing executive orders. That was a great day. And, frankly, we have to stop illegal immigration. It's hurting us economically. It's hurting us from every standpoint. It's causing tremendous difficulty with respect to drugs and what that does to many of our inner cities in particular. And it really is \u2014 was such an unbelievable moment because the courts have not been ruling in our favor. And it was a 2-1 decision. And it was a terrific thing that happened. And I will tell you, we are a country of laws. We need borders. We will have a wall. The wall will be built. The wall will be successful. And if you think walls don't work, all you have to do is ask Israel. The wall works, believe me. Properly done. Believe me. +p1006 +aVYou are going to have to bring people \u2014 you are going to have to send people out. Look, we're a country... +p1007 +aVMaria, we're a country of laws. We either have a country or we don't have a country. We are a country of laws. Going to have to go out and they will come back but they are going to have to go out and hopefully they get back. But we have no choice if we're going to run our country properly and if we're going to be a country. +p1008 +aVAll I can say is, you're lucky in Ohio that you struck oil. That is for one thing. Let me just tell you that Dwight Eisenhower, good president, great president, people liked him. "I like Ike," right? The expression. "I like Ike." Moved a 1.5 million illegal immigrants out of this country, moved them just beyond the border. They came back. Moved them again beyond the border, they came back. Didn't like it. Moved them way south. They never came back. Dwight Eisenhower. You don't get nicer. You don't get friendlier. They moved a 1.5 million out. We have no choice. We have no choice. +p1009 +aVNo, it's unfair. +p1010 +aV... built an unbelievable company worth billions and billions of dollars. I don't have to hear from this man, believe me. I don't have to hear from him. +p1011 +aVWe have millions of people right now on line trying to come into this country. Very, very unfair to the people that want to come into our country legally. They've gone through the process. They're on line. They're waiting. Very, very unfair to them. That I can tell you. +p1012 +aVYes. +p1013 +aVNo, I'm sorry. No, excuse me. I was there. +p1014 +aVPlease, if I could just... +p1015 +aVWe have to make our military bigger, better, stronger than ever before so that nobody messes with us, and a long run, it's going to save us. I agree with Marco, I agree with Ted, we have no choice. And, I can tell you this with certainty. We all have a different tax plan. Some I don't totally agree with. One thing we understand, each one of those tax plans is better than the mess that we have right now. +p1016 +aV...Yes... +p1017 +aV...Yeah... +p1018 +aV...It's a horrible deal... +p1019 +aVThe TPP is horrible deal. It is a deal that is going to lead to nothing but trouble. It's a deal that was designed for China to come in, as they always do, through the back door and totally take advantage of everyone. It's 5,600 pages long. So complex that nobodies read it. It's like Obamacare; nobody ever read it. They passed it; nobody read it. And look at mess we have right now. And it will be repealed. But this is one of the worst trade deals. And I would, yes, rather not have it. With all of these countries, and all of the bad ones getting advantage and taking advantage of what the good ones would normally get, I'd rather make individual deals with individual countries. We will do much better. We lose a fortune on trade. The United States loses with everybody. We're losing now over $500 billion in terms of imbalance with China, $75 billion a year imbalance with Japan. By the way, Mexico, $50 billion a year imbalance. So I must say, Gerard, I just think it's a terrible deal. I love trade. I'm a free trader, 100 percent. But we need smart people making the deals, and we don't have smart people making the deals. +p1020 +aVYes. Well, the currency manipulation they don't discuss in the agreement, which is a disaster. If you look at the way China and India and almost everybody takes advantage of the United States \u2014 China in particular, because they're so good. It's the number-one abuser of this country. And if you look at the way they take advantage, it's through currency manipulation. It's not even discussed in the almost 6,000-page agreement. It's not even discussed. +p1021 +aVAnd as you understand, I mean, you understand very well from the Wall Street Journal, currency manipulation is the single great weapon people have. They don't even discuss it in this agreement. So I say, it's a very bad deal, should not be approved. If it is approved, it will just be more bad trade deals, more loss of jobs for our country. We are losing jobs like nobody's ever lost jobs before. I want to bring jobs back into this country. +p1022 +aVWell, first of all, it's not only Russia. We have problems with North Korea where they actually have nuclear weapons. You know, nobody talks about it, we talk about Iran, and that's one of the worst deals ever made. One of the worst contracts ever signed, ever, in anything, and it's a disgrace. But, we have somebody over there, a madman, who already has nuclear weapons we don't talk about that. That's a problem. China is a problem, both economically in what they're doing in the South China Sea, I mean, they are becoming a very, very major force. So, we have more than just Russia. But, as far as the Ukraine is concerned, and you could Syria \u2014 as far as Syria, I like \u2014 if Putin wants to go in, and I got to know him very well because we were both on 60 Minutes, we were stablemates, and we did very well that night. But, you know that. But, if Putin wants to go and knocked the hell out of +p1023 +aV...They blew up \u2014 hold it.... +p1024 +aV...They blew up, wait a minute... ...They blew up a Russian airplane. He cannot be in love with these people. He's going in, and we can go in, and everybody should go in. As far as the Ukraine is concerned, we have a group of people, and a group of countries, including Germany \u2014 tremendous economic behemoth \u2014 why are we always doing the work? We are \u2014 I'm all for protecting Ukraine and working \u2014 but, we have countries that are surrounding the Ukraine that aren't doing anything. They say, "Keep going, keep going, you dummies, keep going. Protect us..." ...And we have to get smart. We can't continue to be the policeman of the world. We are $19 trillion dollars, we have a country that's going to hell, we have an infrastructure that's falling apart. Our roads, our bridges, our schools, our airports, and we have to start investing money in our country. +p1025 +aVAssad is a bad guy, but we have no idea who the so-called rebels \u2014 I read about the rebels, nobody even knows who they are. I spoke to a general two weeks ago, he said \u2014 he was very up on exactly what we're talking about. He said, "You know, Mr. Trump? We're giving hundreds of millions of dollars of equipment to these people, we have no idea who they are." So, I don't like Assad. Who's going to like Assad? But, we have no idea who these people, and what they're going to be, and what they're going to represent. They may be far worse than Assad. Look at Libya. Look at Iraq. Look at the mess we have after spending $2 trillion dollars, thousands of lives, wounded warriors all over the place \u2014 who I love, OK? All over. We have nothing. And, I said, keep the oil. And we should have kept the oil, believe me. We should have kept the oil. And, you know what? We should have given the oil... ..We should've given big chunks to the people that lost their arms, their legs, and their families, and their sons, and daughters, because right now, you know who has a lot of that oil? Iran, and +p1026 +aVWhy does she keep interrupting everybody? Terrible. +p1027 +aVWe are not. +p1028 +aV...No, no, no... +p1029 +aVWell, what's happening right now, Neil, is something that not been a subject of conversation by politicians. As primarily the only politician, I guess other than Carly on the stage, they haven't talked about a corporate inversion. A corporate inversion \u2014 companies are leaving. You know, we used to leave New York to go to Florida. We got better taxes, we got, maybe, something else. Now, they're the United States to go to other countries. They have trillions of dollars in those other countries. They're going for two reasons, they can't get their money back in. It's something where the democrats and the republicans both agree, it's the only thing I can think of. They both agree, let the money come back in. Three and a half years, they still can't make a deal. They can't get the money in. It's probably two and a half trillion, but, I think it's much more than that. All of that money could become \u2014 could come right in and be used to rebuild our country, and investments in our country. They can't do it. What we have to do, and what I've done, is made the tax rate \u2014 and one of the reasons they don't the taxes so obnoxious, they can't do it. Where, I made it a 10% number, as you know. I've been very highly praised for it. A lot of money's going to come back in, we're going to get rid of the bureaucratic problems, and roadblocks, because that's also a problem. And, we're going to have all of this money pour back into the United States. It's going to be used to build businesses, for jobs, and everything else. And, as I say, my expression is, let's make America great again. +p1030 +aVThank you. Over the years, I've created tens of thousands of jobs and a great company. It's a company I'm very proud of. Some of the most iconic assets anywhere in the world. And I will tell you, I don't have to give you a website because I'm self-funding my campaign. I'm putting up my own money. I want to do something really special. I want to make our country greater than it's ever been. I think we have that potential. We cannot lose this election. We cannot let Hillary Clinton, who is the worst secretary of state in the history of our country, win this election. We will fight. We will win. And we truly will make this even more special. We have to make it better than ever before. And I will tell you, the United States can actually be better than ever before. Thank you. +p1031 +asVCHRISTIE +p1032 +(lp1033 +VThank you Wolf. America has been betrayed. We've been betrayed by the leadership that Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton have provided to this country over the last number of years. Think about just what's happened today. The second largest school district in America in Los Angeles closed based on a threat. Think about the effect that, that's going to have on those children when they go back to school tomorrow wondering filled with anxiety to whether they're really going to be safe. Think about the mothers who will take those children tomorrow morning to the bus stop wondering whether their children will arrive back on that bus safe and sound. Think about the fathers of Los Angeles, who tomorrow will head off to work and wonder about the safety of their wives and their children. What is Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton done to this country? That the most basic responsibility of an administration is to protect the safety and security of the American people. I will tell you this, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I've fought terrorists and won and when we get back in the White House we will fight terrorists and win again and America will be safe. +p1034 +aVWolf, unfortunately, it's the new normal under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The fact is that if you listen to Hillary Clinton the other day, what she said to the American people was, as regards to +p1035 +aVListen, I want to talk to the audience at home for a second. If your eyes are glazing over like mine, this is what it's like to be on the floor of the United States Senate. I mean, endless debates about how many angels on the head of a pin from people who've never had to make a consequential decision in an executive position. The fact is, for seven years, I had to make these decisions after 9/11, make a decision about how to proceed forward with an investigation or how to pull back, whether you use certain actionable intelligence or whether not to. And yet they continue to debate about this bill and in the subcommittee and what \u2014 nobody in America cares about that. What they care about is, are we going to have a president who actually knows what they're doing to make these decisions? And for the seven years afterwards, New Jersey was threatened like no other region in this country and what we did was we took action within the constitution to make sure that law enforcement had all the information they needed. We prosecuted two of the biggest terrorism cases in the world and stopped Fort Dix from being attacked by six American radicalized Muslims from a Mosque in New Jersey because we worked with the Muslim American community to get intelligence and we used the Patriot Act to get other intelligence to make sure we did those cases. This is the difference between actually been a federal prosecutor, actually doing something, and not just spending your life as one of hundred debating it. Let's talk about how we do this, not about which bill, which one these guys like more. The American people don't care about that. +p1036 +aVWolf, you sit up here and you listen to this stuff, and you think that so many of these people have had so much to do in this national debate, they talk like they were bystanders. You know, we talk about our military being degraded over time, and yet we've had folks on this stage who've been a part of Congress who have participated in sequester; who participated in the degrading of this military over time. And that's why I think people get so frustrated with Washington, D.C. now. That's why they're so angry with the \u2014 the electorate is so angry with everybody who is involved in government in Washington, D.C. Because if you listen to the folks up here, you think that they weren't even there; they had nothing to do with this. This is a difference between being a governor and being in a legislature. See, because when something doesn't work in New Jersey, they look at me, say: "Why didn't it get done? Why didn't you do it?" You have to be responsible and accountable. And so on +p1037 +aVWell, I think we have to focus, Hugh, on exactly what the priorities are. And to me, what I've always said is that the president has set up an awful situation through his deal with Iran, because what his deal with Iran has done is empower them and enrich them. And that's the way +p1038 +aVNot only would I be prepared to do it, I would do it. A no-fly zone means a no-fly zone, Wolf. That's what it means. See, maybe \u2014 maybe because I'm from New Jersey, I just have this kind of plain language hangup. But I would make very clear \u2014 I would not talk to Vladimir Putin. In fact, I would talk to Vladimir Putin a lot. But I'd say to him, "Listen, Mr. President, there's a no-fly zone in Syria; you fly in, it applies to you." And yes, we would shoot down the planes of Russian pilots if in fact they were stupid enough to think that this president was the same feckless weakling that the president we have in the Oval Office is right now. +p1039 +aVWell, Wolf, I'll tell you what reckless is. What reckless is is calling Assad a reformer. What reckless is allowing Russia to come into Crimea and Ukraine. What reckless is is inviting Russia into Syria to team with Iran. That is reckless. And the reckless people are the folks in the White House right now. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are the reckless people. And if you think that a no-fly zone is a reckless policy, you're welcome to your opinion. But how is it working so far? As we have 250,000 Syrians murdered, slaughtered; millions running around the world, running for their lives. It's not working. We need to try something else. And that is not reckless. +p1040 +aVWhat I say to Carla is that the first job of the president of the United States is to protect your safety and your security and the security and safety of your family. And this debate stops with me in the discussions with the FBI director. Now, listen, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I know Jim Comey. We've worked together. He was the U.S. attorney in Manhattan when I was a U.S. attorney in New Jersey. And when Jim Comey gets up before Congress and says, we cannot effectively vet these people, for me as president, that's the end of the conversation. We have to put America's security first. The American people \u2014 we on this stage need to open our ears. We need to open our ears. The American people are not whispering to us. They are screaming to us. And they're screaming to us that it's our job to actually make this government work. It's so dysfunctional under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. It's so ineffective. It's so ineffectual that the American people say, we don't trust them to do anything anymore. So I'm not going to let Syrian refugees, any Syrian refugees in this country. And it was widows and orphans, by the way, and we now know from watching the San Bernardino attack that women can commit heinous, heinous acts against humanity just the same as men can do it. And so I don't back away from that position for a minute. When the FBI director tells me that he can vet those people, then we'll consider it and not a moment before because your safety and security is what's most important to me. +p1041 +aVWell, what it would like is, we have one of the great advantages of America being the open society that we are. It is, we are not hiding things from the American people, but China everyday is conducting business in a way that hides things from their people. So if they want to come in and attack all the personnel records in the federal government, which they've done, and which \u2014 they now have my Social Security number and my fingerprints, as well as maybe some other folks' who are on this stage. The fact is, they need to be fought back on. And what we need to do is go at the things that they are most sensitive and most embarrassing to them; that they're hiding; get that information and put it out in public. Let the Chinese people start to digest how corrupt the Chinese government is; how they steal from the Chinese people; and how they're enriching oligarchs all throughout China. They need to understand that. And we need to take those type of steps. This president has seen personnel records of people who have sacrificed for the American people and for the federal government stolen by the Chinese and he's done nothing in return. This is why \u2014 this is what I said at the beginning that this administration, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton through their foreign policy, have betrayed the American people, because the weakness they've displayed has led to Putin's incursions in the Middle East and in eastern Europe, and has led \u2014 has led to significant problems in the Middle East as well, and the death and murder of lots of folks. +p1042 +aVOn September 10th, 2001, I was named chief federal prosecutor in New Jersey and on September 11th, 2001, my wife and my brother who are in the audience tonight went through the World Trade Center and to their offices just blocks away from the Trade Center. I lost touch with them for six hours that day and prayed that they were alive. Luckily, they were sent home. But many of our friends and others in our neighborhood lost their lives that day. Terrorism \u2014 radical jihadist terrorism is not theoretical to me. It's real. And for seven years, I spent my life protecting our country against another one of those attacks. You won't have to worry when I'm President of the Untied States whether that can be done because I've already done it. I want the chance to do it again to protect you, your children and your families. If you give me the chance and give me your vote I will protect America from the wars that are being brought to our door step. +p1043 +asVCARSON +p1044 +(lp1045 +VThank you, Wolf. Please join me for a moment of silence and remembrance of the San Bernardino victims. Thank you. You know, our country since its inception has been at war, every 15 or 20 years. But the war that we are fighting now against radical Islamist jihadists is one that we must win. Our very existence is dependent upon that. You know, as a pediatric neurosurgeon, I frequently faced life and death situations, and had to come up with the right diagnosis, the right plan, and execute that plan frequently with other colleagues. Right now, the United States of America is the patient. And the patient is in critical condition and will not be cured by political correctness and will not be cured by timidity. And I am asking the Congress, which represents the people, to declare a war on +p1046 +aVFirst of all, let me just complain a little bit. This is the first time I've spoken and several people have had multiple questions so please try to pay attention to that. Now, as far as monitoring is concerned, what my point is, we need to make sure that any place \u2013 I don't care whether it's a mosque, a school, a supermarket, a theater, you know it doesn't matter. If there are a lot of people getting there and engaging in radicalizing activities then we need to be suspicious of it. We have to get rid of all this PC stuff. And people are worried about if somebody's going to say that I'm Islamophobic or what have you. This is craziness because we are at war. That's why I asked congress, go ahead and declare the war . We need to be on a war footing. We need to understand that our nation is in grave danger. You know, what the Muslim Brotherhood said in the explanatory memorandum that was discovered during the Holy Land Foundation Trial was that, "they will take advantage of our PC attitude to get us. :" We have to be better than this. We have to be smarter than they are. +p1047 +aVI think you have to ask them about that. I don't want to get in between them. Let them fight. +p1048 +aVNeurosurgeon. +p1049 +aVWell, interestingly enough, you should see the eyes of some of those children when I say to them we're going to have to open your head up and take out this tumor. They're not happy about it, believe me. And they don't like me very much at that point. But later on, they love me. Sometimes you \u2014 I sound like him. You know, later on, you know, they really realize what's going on. And by the same token, you have to be able to look at the big picture and understand that it's actually merciful if you go ahead and finish the job, rather than death by 1,000 pricks. +p1050 +aVYou got it. You got it. +p1051 +aVRuthless is not necessarily the word I would use, but tough, resolute, understanding what the problems are, and understanding that the job of the president of the United States is to protect the people of this country and to do what is necessary in order to get it done. +p1052 +aVFirst of all, I've been talking about this for over a year. We have to destroy their caliphate because that gives them legitimacy to go ahead with the global Jihad. We have to take their energy because they are \u2014 +p1053 +aVNo one is ever better off with dictators but there comes a time you know, when you're on an airplane, they always say, "in case of an emergency oxygen masks will drop down. Put yours on first and then administer help to your neighbor." We need oxygen right now. And we need to start thinking about the needs of the American people before we go and solve everybody else's problems. The fact of the matter is, is that the Middle East has been in turmoil for thousands of years. For us to think that we're going to in there and fix that with a couple of little bombs and a few little decorations is relatively foolish. +p1054 +aVWell, you know, there's a false narrative that only the political class has the wisdom and the ability to be commander-in- chief. But if you go back and you study the design of our country, it was really designed for the citizen statesman. And we need to be talking about where does your experience come from? You know, and I've had a lot of experience building things, organizing things, you know, a national scholarship program. One of the things that you'll notice if you look through my life is that I don't do a lot of talking. I do a lot of doing. And really, it says more about a person than how much they talk. And then some people say you're weak because, you know, you're not loud and you're not boisterous and you're not rude. But the fact of the matter is, look and see what I've done. And that speaks volumes about strength. +p1055 +aVWell, it was very interesting having an opportunity to talk to the Syrians themselves. And I asked them: What do you want? What is your supreme desire? Their supreme desire was to be settled back in their own country. I said, "What can Americans and other countries do?" They said, "Support the efforts of those who are trying to provide safety for us, including the Jordanians." Of course, they had a brand new hospital, for instance, that was unstaffed because there wasn't enough money to do it. But here's what's really neat. If you go into Hasakah province in northeast Syria, that's an area that's as big as Lebanon. It's controlled by the Kurds, the Christians and the moderate Sunnis. And there are airstrips and hotels. You could settle a lot of people there. All we would have to do is be willing to provide them with some weaponry, some defensive weaponry. And we seem to be afraid to give the Kurds weaponry. We like to send it for some strange reason through Baghdad, and then they only get a tenth of it. And if we would support them, we'd have a perfect ideal there. We don't need to set this up as we either take a bunch of refugees who will be infiltrated with terrorists, I guarantee you. For them not to be would be terrorist malpractice. And we need to \u2014 to choose the right choice, not these false choices. +p1056 +aVWell, I definitely believe that he is unstable, and I do, in fact, believe that China has a lot more influence with him than we do. But we also recognize that North Korea is in severe financial straits, and they have decided to use their resources to build their military, rather than to feed their people and to take care of the various humanitarian responsibilities that they have. We can capitalize upon that. You know, we should use our economic power in lots of different ways. I think we can use that in order to keep Putin contained, because he is a one-horse show. Energy. And we have an abundance of energy, but we have archaic energy exportation rules. We need to get rid of those, allow ourselves to really make Europe dependent on us and other parts of the world dependent on us for energy. Put him back in his little box where he belongs. And, you know, we need to be doing lots of other things with the resources that we have. So economic power works just as well as military power, perhaps even better. And speaking of that, our Military needs to be upgraded. You know, you look at things like our Ohio Class submarines, they're 25 years old. Our minuteman 3 missiles \u2014 they are 34 years old. Our B-52 bombers \u2014 50 years old. You know, if we don't get the military right nothing else matters. +p1057 +aVWell, you know, the statement that I made last week, that I would leave the party was contingent upon whether in fact the party acts like they have in the past with a lot of subterfuge and dishonesty, or like they're going act now because I spike to Reince Priebus, and he assured me that the Washington Post writer had it all wrong, and that they're not be engaging in anything to thwart the will of the people. That's why I got into this race, as a member of we the people, to try bring some honesty and integrity back to the process. +p1058 +aVI've been fortunate enough to travel to 58 different countries and I thank God everyday that I was born in this country. The most exceptional country that the world has ever known. And I want to make sure that we preserve that exceptionalism for the next generation. My mother told me if I work hard and I really believed in American principles and I believed in God, anything is possible. I believe that is true, and that's why I'm not anxious to give away American values and principles for the sake of political correctness. +p1059 +aVWell, first of all, delighted to be here. My family's here, and my little granddaughter, who's three years old, said she wanted to come to the debate. So this is very cool. As far as the minimum wage is concerned, people need to be educated on the minimum wage. Every time we raise the minimum wage, the number of jobless people increases. It's particularly a problem in the black community. Only 19.8 percent of black teenagers have a job, who are looking for one. You know, that \u2014 and that's because of those high wages. If you lower those wages, that comes down. You know, I can remember, as a youngster \u2014 you know, my first job working in a laboratory as a lab assistant, and multiple other jobs. But I would not have gotten those jobs if someone had to pay me a large amount of money. But what I did gain from those jobs is a tremendous amount of experience, and how to operate in the world and how to relate to different people, and how to become a responsible individual. And that's what gave me what I needed to ascend the ladder of opportunity in this country. That's what we need to be thinking about. How do we allow people to ascend the ladder of opportunity, rather than how do we give them everything and keep them dependent? +p1060 +aVI would not raise it. I would not raise it, specifically because I'm interested in making sure that people are able to enter the job market and take advantage of opportunities. +p1061 +aVWell, first of all, thank you not asking me what I said in the 10th grade. I appreciate that. +p1062 +aVThe fact of the matter is, you know, what \u2014 we should vet all candidates. I have no problem with being vetted. What I do have a problem with is being lied about and then putting that out there as truth. And I don't even mind that so much, if they do it about \u2014 with everybody, like people on the other side. But, you know, when I look at somebody like Hillary Clinton, who sits there and tells her daughter and a government official that no, this was a terrorist attack, and then tells everybody else that it was a video. Where I came from, they call that a lie. And... I think that's very different from, you know, somebody misinterpreting, when I said that I was offered a scholarship to West Point, that is the words that they used. But, I've had many people come and say the same thing to me. That is what people do in those situations. We have to start treating people the same, and finding out what people really think and what they're made of. People who know me know that I'm an honest person. +p1063 +aVWell, you know, when I say tithing, I'm talking about the concept of proportionality. +p1064 +aVEverybody should pay the same proportion of what they make. You make $10 billion, you pay a billion. You make $10, you pay one. You get same rights and privileges. I don't see how anything gets a whole lot fairer than that. But you also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes because that is the thing that tilts it in one direction or another. And you have to set the rate at an appropriate level. Now I will say that, there are a lot of people who say, if you get rid of the deductions, you ruin the American dream because, you know, home mortgage deduction. But the fact of the matter is, people had homes before 1913 when we introduced the federal income tax, and later after that started deductions. And they say there will be no more charitable giving. We had churches before that and charitable organizations before that. The fact of the matter is, I believe if you put more money in people's pockets that they will actually be more generous rather than less generous. And it's... ... the money that they earned. And, the other thing is, I do care about the poor people. And in the system that we're putting together, there will be a rebate for people at the poverty level. But I also want to emphasize the fact that as we get the economy moving, and I hope I get a question about how do we get the economy moving, there will be a lot more opportunities for poor people not to be poor people because this is America. This is the land of dreams. And our policies should be aimed at allowing people to realize that dream. +p1065 +aVWell, putting the special ops people in there is better than not having them there, because they \u2014 that's why they're called special ops, they're actually able to guide some of the other things that we're doing there. And what we have to recognize is that Putin is trying to really spread his influence throughout the Middle East. This is going to be his base. And we have to oppose him there in an effective way. We also must recognize that it's a very complex place. You know, the Chinese are there, as well as the Russians, and you have all kinds of factions there. What we've been doing so far is very ineffective, but we can't give up ground right there. But we have to look at this on a much more global scale. We're talking about global jihadists. And their desire is to destroy us and to destroy our way of life. So we have to be saying, how do we make them look like losers? Because that's the way that they're able to gather a lot of influence. And I think in order to make them look like losers, we have to destroy their caliphate. And you look for the easiest place to do that? It would be in Iraq. And if \u2014 outside of Anbar in Iraq, there's a big energy field. Take that from them. Take all of that land from them. We could do that, I believe, fairly easily, I've learned from talking to several generals, and then you move on from there. But you have to continue to face them, because our goal is not to contain them, but to destroy them before they destroy us. +p1066 +aVWell, I think we should have policies that don't allow them to just enlarge themselves at the expense of smaller entities. And certainly some of the policies, some of the monetary and Fed policies that we're using makes it very easy for them, makes it very easy for the big corporations, quite frankly, at these very low interest rates to buy back their stock and to drive the price of that up artificially. Those are the kinds of things that led to the problem in the first place. And I think this all really gets back to this whole regulation issue which is creating a very abnormal situation. This country was \u2014 declared its independence in 1776. In less than 100 years, it was the number-one economic power in the world. And the reason was because we had an atmosphere that encouraged entrepreneurial risk- taking and capital investment. Those are the fuels that drive it. And what we've done now is let the creep of regulation turn into a stampede of regulations, which is involved in every aspect of our lives. If we can get that out, it makes a big difference. And even for the average person, every single regulation costs money. And it's shifted to the individual. So \u2014 and it hurts the poor and the middle class much more than it does the rich. They go into the store and they buy a bar of soap, it costs 10 cents more, they notice it. And the middle class, when they come to the cash register, have a whole cart full of things that cost 5, 10 or 15 cents more, they notice it. It is hurting the poor. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton won't tell you that that's the thing that's really hurting middle class in the core. They'll say it's the rich, take their money, but that won't help. You can take all of the rich's money and it won't make a dent in the problem that we're having. We have to come back to the fundamental principles that made America great. +p1067 +aVI would have policies that wouldn't allow that to occur. I don't want to go in and tear anybody down. I mean, that doesn't help us. But what does help us is stop tinkering around the edges and fix the actual problems that exist that are creating the problem in the first place. +p1068 +aVIn the two hours of this \u2014 of this debate, five people have died from drug-related deaths, $100 million has been added to our national debt, 200 babies have been killed by abortionists, and two veterans have taken their lives out of despair. This is a narrative that we can change, not we the Democrats, not we the Republicans, but we the people of America, because there is something special about this nation, and we must embrace it and be proud of it and never give it away for the sake of political correctness. +p1069 +as. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/downloads/data/script4.pickle b/downloads/data/script4.pickle new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2c49acc --- /dev/null +++ b/downloads/data/script4.pickle @@ -0,0 +1,3034 @@ +(dp0 +VCRAMER +p1 +(lp2 +VDr. Carson, in recent weeks, a number of pharmaceutical companies has been accused of profiteering, for dramatically raising the prices of life-saving drugs. You have spent a lifetime in medicine. Have these companies gone too far? Should the government be involved in controlling some of these price increases? +p3 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Governor Christie, there has been a lot of political rhetoric that some bank executives should have gone to jail for the 2008 financial crisis. But General Motors paid more than $1 billion in fines and settlements for its ignition switch defect. One hundred and twenty- four people died as a result of these faulty switches. No one went to jail. As a former prosecutor, do you believe the people responsible for the switch and the cover-up belong behind bars? +p4 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. +p5 +asVUNKNOWN +p6 +(lp7 +VIf you're not going to have my back, I'm going to have my back. +p8 +aVA couple things here. First of all... +p9 +aVWe have grown \u2014 we have grown... +p10 +aVTrue. It's true. +p11 +aV...let me follow up that... +p12 +aV +p13 +aVOh, great. +p14 +asVIFILL +p15 +(lp16 +VWe want to also extend our warm thanks to Milwaukee Public Radio and Milwaukee Public Television, as well as all of our friends at the PBS member stations across the country tuning in tonight. This is the sixth time the Democrats have met face to face. Each time, we learn more about them and the presidents they say they want to be. You know you're watching \u2014 whether you're a Democrat, a Republican, or neither \u2014 because you believe the outcome of the election is important to you. And we believe that, too. With that, let's welcome the candidates to the stage. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. +p17 +aVWelcome to you both. +p18 +aVWith Iowa and New Hampshire behind us, we are now broadening the conversation to America's heartland and beyond, including here in Wisconsin. Now let's turn to the candidates for their opening statements. The order was decided by coin toss. And, Senator Sanders, you go first. +p19 +aVThank you, Senator Sanders. Thank you, Senator Sanders. Secretary Clinton. +p20 +aVFinal thought, Senator. +p21 +aVI'd like to move along. I'd like to move along. Secretary Clinton, you might \u2014 you also have proposed fairly expansive ideas about government. You may remember this pledge from a State of the Union Address at which I believe you were present, in which these words were said: "The era of big government is over." You may remember that. When asked your feelings about the federal government this week, 61 percent of New Hampshire Democrats told exit pollsters that they are angry or at least dissatisfied. Given what you and Senator Sanders are proposing, an expanding government in almost every area of our lives, is it fair for Americans who fear government to fear you? +p22 +aVBut I haven't heard either of you put a price tag on your \u2014 you say... +p23 +aVSenator? +p24 +aVSenator, do you worry at all that you will be the instrument of thwarting history, as Senator Clinton keeps claiming, that she might be the first woman president? +p25 +aVThank you both. We turn now to the first of several questions from our partners at Facebook. They were selected from a curated group of people we've been following of undecided voters. The first comes from Claudia Looze, a 54-year-old woman who works as a program manager at a public affairs cable network in Madison, Wisconsin. And she writes: "Wisconsin is number one in African-American male incarceration, according to a University of Wisconsin study. They found that Wisconsin's incarceration rate for black men, which is at 13 percent, was nearly double the country's rate. What can we do across the nation to address this?" Senator Sanders. +p26 +aVLet me turn this on its head, because when we talk about race in this country, we always talk about African-Americans, people of color. I want to talk about white people, OK? +p27 +aVI know. So many people will be surprised to find out that we are sitting in one of the most racially polarized metropolitan areas in the country. By the middle of this century, the nation is going to be majority nonwhite. Our public schools are already there. If working-class, white Americans are about to be outnumbered, are already underemployed in many cases, and one study found they are dying sooner, don't they have a reason to be resentful, Senator \u2014 Secretary Clinton? +p28 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, I want you to respond to that, but I also want you to \u2014 am I wrong? Is it even right to be describing this as a matter of race? +p29 +aVIf you would allow me now to move on, we've been talking about children. I want to talk about seniors. That takes us to our second Facebook question from Farheen Hakeem, who writes, "My father" \u2014 she's a 40-year-old woman who works for a nonprofit here in Milwaukee. And she writes, "My father gets just $16 in food assistance per month as part of Medicaid's family community program in Milwaukee County for low-income seniors. How will you as president work to ensure low-income seniors get their basic needs met?" Start with you, Senator Sanders. +p30 +aVSenator Sanders, are you saying... +p31 +aVThere's a lot more to come in just a few minutes. Stay with us for more of the PBS NewsHour Democratic Debate. +p32 +aVHow about you, Senator Clinton \u2014 Secretary Clinton? +p33 +aVWe spent the first part of this debate talking about domestic insecurity. The second part, we want to talk about our foreign policy insecurities. And we want to start with a question for you, Secretary Clinton, about America's role in the world. Americans are becoming increasingly worried that attacks abroad are coming home, that they already are, in fact, here. According to exit polls from last week, from earlier this week, more than two-thirds of Democrats in New Hampshire are concerned about sending their children to fight in wars they can't win. They fret that the next attack is just around the corner and we are not ready. Are we? +p34 +aVSenator Sanders... +p35 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p36 +aVLet me move on. You have both mentioned the humanitarian tragedies which have been an outgrowth in part of what has happened in Syria and in Libya. More than a million refugees entered Europe in 2015. Another 76,000 just last month, that is about 2,000 arrivals every day. Nearly 400 people have been lost at sea so far this year, crossing the Mediterranean. And there are reports that 10,000 children are missing. If we are leaders in this world, where should the U.S. be on this? What should the United States be doing, Secretary Clinton? +p37 +aVSenator, if you would like respond to \u2014 you may respond to that but it is time for closing statements and you can use your time for closing statements to do that. +p38 +aVThank you. Thank you Senator Clinton. Thank you, Senator Sanders. We also want to thank our partners at Facebook and our hosts here at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. +p39 +aVI'm going to remain here in Milwaukee tomorrow evening for a special edition of Washington Week here on PBS. +p40 +asVWOODRUFF +p41 +(lp42 +VGood evening, and thank you. We are happy to welcome you to Milwaukee for this Democratic debate. We are especially pleased to thank our partners at Facebook, who have helped us set up a vibrant conversation among voters who are undecided. And tonight you're going to hear some of their questions for the candidates. And you can follow along at home on the PBS NewsHour page on Facebook. We also want to thank our hosts, the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, on whose campus we meet, here in the beautiful Helen Bader Concert Hall. +p43 +aVWelcome, Senator, great to see you. And former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Very good to be here with you. +p44 +aVNow, a word about format. There will be two short breaks, and the rules are simple: 90 seconds for each answer and 30 seconds for the other candidate to respond. +p45 +aVThank you both. Thank you both. And we'll be right back after a short break to begin questions. +p46 +aVAnd, welcome back to this PBS Newshour debate, Democratic debate, here in Milwaukee. Let's get right to the questions. Senator Sanders, to you first. Coming off the results in Iowa and New Hampshire, there are many voters who are taking a closer look at you, and your ideas, and they're asking how big a role do you foresee for the federal government? It's already spending 21% of the entire U.S. economy. How much larger would government be in the lives of Americans under a Sanders presidency? +p47 +aVBut, my question is how big would government be? Would there be any limit on the size of the role of government... +p48 +aVNext, we're going to... +p49 +aVVery brief, thank you. +p50 +aVSecretary Clinton, your campaign \u2014 you and your campaign have made a clear appeal to women voters. You have talked repeatedly about the fact, we know you would be, if elected, the first woman president. But in New Hampshire 55 percent of the women voters supported and voted for Senator Sanders. What are women missing about you? +p51 +aVAs you know, just quickly, as you know, your strong supporter, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, said the other day that there's a special place in Hell for women who don't support other women. Do you agree with what she said? +p52 +aVSenator Sanders, you're in the minority, but we still want to hear from you. +p53 +aVFinal comment. +p54 +aVSecretary Clinton, I was talking recently with a 23 year old black woman who voted for President Obama because she said she thought relations between the races would get better under his leadership, and his example. Hardly anyone believes that they have. Why do you think race relations would be better under a Clinton presidency? What would you do that the nation's first African American has not been able to? +p55 +aVSenator Sanders? +p56 +aVSo race relation was be better under a Sanders presidency than they've been? +p57 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders, one of the causes of anxiety for working class Americans is connected to immigrants. President Obama, as you know, has issued executive actions to permit some 5 million undocumented immigrants who are living now in the United States to come out of the shadows without fear of deportation to get work permits. Would you go further than that? And if so, how specifically would you do it? Should an undocumented family watching this debate tonight, say, in Nevada, rest easy, not fear of further deportations under a Sanders presidency? +p58 +aVI'd like... +p59 +aVWe're going to move on. Secretary Clinton, your campaign has recently ramped up criticism of Senator Sanders for attending Democratic Party fundraisers from which you say he benefited. But nearly half of your financial sector donations appear to come from just two wealthy financiers, George Soros and Donald Sussman, for a total of about $10 million. You have said that there's no quid pro quo involved. Is that also true of the donations that wealthy Republicans give to Republican candidates, contributors including the Koch Brothers? +p60 +aVI'm asking if Democratic donors are different than Republican donors. +p61 +aVWe have to go to a break. We... +p62 +aVAll right. Thank you both. It is time for a break. And when we come back, we're going to turn to some new topics, including how these candidates will keep America safe. +p63 +aVWelcome back to the Democratic presidential debate. Before we return to our questions, we have a follow-up question from our Facebook group. And it is to Senator Sanders. Senator, it comes from Bill Corfield. He is a 55-year-old musician from Troy, Ohio. And he asks: "Are there any areas of government you would like to reduce?" +p64 +aVJust a final word. +p65 +aVSenator, let me \u2014 let me move on to another country with which the U.S. has a complicated relationship, Senator Sanders, and that's Russia. On the one hand, we're aware that Russia is a country that the United States needs to cooperate with. Just tonight, Secretary of State John Kerry has announced what appears to be an agreement with the Russians to lead \u2014 that could lead toward a ceasefire in Syria, would be the first cessation of conflict in that country, in that civil war in five years, but it comes at a very high price, because not only have all \u2014 have we seen the deaths, the removal of so many people, millions of people, we now see the Russians in the last few weeks have bombed in a way that benefits President Assad, has not gone after +p66 +aVAnd we have a final question from our Facebook family. And it goes to Senator Sanders. It comes from Robert Andrews. He's a 40-year-old stay-at-home dad in Dover, Massachusetts. He says, "The world has seen many great leaders in the course of human history. Can you name two leaders \u2014 one American and one foreign \u2014 who would influence your foreign policy decisions? And why do you see them as \u2014 why are they influential?" +p67 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p68 +aVAnd we want to thank our audience, our quiet audience here in Helen Bader Concert Hall, and to all of you watching at home. Thank you all. Stay tuned for analysis of the debate and the overall race for the Democratic nomination. That's coming up next here on PBS stations and online atPBS.org/NewsHour. +p69 +aVAnd I'm going to be returning to Washington. I hope you'll join us for the PBS NewsHour tomorrow and every night. That's it from all of us here in Milwaukee. We thank you. +p70 +asVRUBIO +p71 +(lp72 +VThank you Wolf. It's really amazing to be back in Las Vegas. I spent six years as a child growing not far from where we stand tonight. I use to sit on the porch of our home and listen to my grandfather tell stories as he smoked one of three daily cigars. One of the things my grandfather instilled in me, was that I was really blessed because I was a citizen of the greatest country in the history of our mankind. But there have always been people in American politics that wanted America to be more like the rest of the world. And In 2008, one of them was elected president of this country and the result has been a disaster. Today you have millions of Americans that feel left out and out of place in their own country, struggling to live paycheck to paycheck, called bigots because they hold on to traditional values. And around the world, America's influence has declined while this president has destroyed our military, our allies no longer trust us, and our adversaries no longer respect us. And that is why this election is so important. That is why I'm running for president. And that's why I'm going to ask you for your vote tonight. If you elect me president, we will have a president that believes America is the greatest country in the world and we will have a president that acts like it. +p73 +aVWell, I understand why they feel that way, because this president hasn't kept us safe. The problem is we had an attack in San Bernardino. And we were paying attention to the most important issue we have faced in a decade since 9/11, and then all the talk was about this proposal, which isn't going to happen. But this is what's important to do is we must deal frontally with this threat of radical Islamists, especially from +p74 +aVHe is and so are those that voted for it. There were some that voted for it because they wanted to keep it alive and they were afraid the whole program would expire. Here's the world we live in. This is a radical jihadist group that is increasingly sophisticated in its ability, for example, to radicalize American citizens, in its inability to exploit loopholes in our legal immigration system, in its ability to capture and hold territory in the Middle East, as I outlined earlier, in multiple countries. This is not just the most capable, it is the most sophisticated terror threat we have ever faced. We are now at a time when we need more tools, not less tools. And that took we lost, the metadata program, was a valuable tool that we no longer have at our disposal. +p75 +aVDana, may I interject here? +p76 +aVLet me be very careful when answering this, because I don't think national television in front of 15 million people is the place to discuss classified information. So let me just be very clear. There is nothing that we are allowed to do under this bill that we could not do before. This bill did, however, take away a valuable tool that allowed the National Security Agency and other law \u2014 and other intelligence agencies to quickly and rapidly access phone records and match them up with other phone records to see who terrorists have been calling. Because I promise you, the next time there is attack on \u2014 an attack on this country, the first thing people are going to want to know is, why didn't we know about it and why didn't we stop it? And the answer better not be because we didn't have access to records or information that would have allowed us to identify these killers before they attacked. +p77 +aVI want to thank Rand for another 30 seconds, because, number one, what he's pointing to is a bill last week that \u2014 amendment that he voted for that only 10 people voted for. You know why? Because it's not focused on terrorists. It would have banned anyone from coming here. Someone from Taiwan would not have been able to come here as a tourist. Number two, this program, this metadata program is actually more strict than what a regular law enforcement agency has now. If a regular law enforcement agency wants your phone records, all they have to do is issue a subpoena. But now the intelligence agency is not able to quickly gather records and look at them to see who these terrorists are calling. And the terrorists that attacked us in San Bernardino was an American citizen, born and raised in this country. And I bet you we wish we would have had access to five years of his records so we could see who he was working with... +p78 +aVDo I get another 30 seconds? He mentioned me. +p79 +aVWell, let me begin by saying that we have to understand who +p80 +aVThat is accurate. Three times he voted against the Defense Authorization Act, which is a bill that funds the troops. It also, by the way, funds the Iron Dome and other important programs. And I have to assume that if you vote against it in the Senate, you would also veto it as president. He has also supported, by the way, a budget that is called the containment budget. And it is a budget that would radically reduce the amount of money we spend on our military. You can't carpet bomb +p81 +aVYes, let me \u2014 three points of distinction. The first is, if you're an American citizen and you decide to join up with +p82 +aVWell, they most certainly will have to be worked on to provide more than what they are doing now. There's no doubt about it. And there's one \u2014 one major reason why they have not been willing to be a broader part of the coalition, and that is they have lost complete trust and confidence in this president. This president cut a deal with their moral enemy, the Shia, in Iran. And this is the reason why they no longer trust this president and are willing to work alongside them. But they have as much invested in this as we do. In fact, more so, for it is the king of Saudi Arabia they want to behead first. It's the king of Jordan that they want to dethrone. It's the \u2014 they want to go into Egypt the way they've already gone into Libya. And on another point that we need to talk about, Assad is one of the main reasons why +p83 +aVTo begin with, Moammar Gadhafi and the revolt against Gadhafi was not started by the United States. It was started by the Libyan people. And the reason why I argued we needed to get involved is because he was going to go one way or the other. And my argument then was proven true, and that is, the longer that civil war took, the more militias would be formed and the more unstable the country would be after the fact. As far as Moammar Gadhafi is concerned, by the way, Moammar Gadhafi is the man that killed those Americans over Lockerbie, Scotland. Moammar Gadhafi is also the man that bombed that cafe in Berlin and killed those Marines. And you want to know why Moammar Gadhafi started cooperating on his nuclear program? Because we got rid of Saddam Hussein. And so he got scared that he would be next, and that's why he started cooperating. Look, we will have to work around the world with less than ideal governments. The government in Saudi Arabia is not a democracy, but we will have to work with them. The government in Jordan is not perfect, but we will have to work with them. But anti-American dictators like Assad, who help Hezbollah, who helped get those IEDs into Iraq, if they go, I will not shed a tear. +p84 +aVYeah. Immigration is not an issue that I read about in the newspaper or watch a documentary on PBS or CNN. It's an issues I've lived around my whole life. My family are immigrants. My wife's family are immigrants. All of my neighbors are immigrants. I see every aspect of this problem. The good, the bad, and the ugly. And here's what we learned in 2013. The American people don't trust the Federal Government to enforce our immigration laws, and we will not be able to do anything on immigration until we first prove to the American people that illegal immigration is under control. And we can do that. We know what it takes to do that. It takes at least 20,000 more additional border agents. It takes completing those 700 miles of fencing. It takes a mandatory e-verify system and a mandatory entry/exit tracking system to prevent overstays. After we have done that, the second thing we have to do is reform and modernize the legal immigration system. And after we have done those two things, I think the American people are gonna be reasonable with what do you do with someone who has been in this country for 10 or 12 years who hasn't otherwise violated our laws \u2014 because if they're a criminal they can't stay. They'll have to undergo a background check, pay a fine, start paying taxes. And ultimately, they'll given a work permit and that's all they're gonna be allowed to have for at least 10 years. But you can't get to that third step until you have done the other two things, and that was the lesson we learned in 2013. There is no trust that the Federal Government will enforce the law. They will not support you until you see it done first. +p85 +aVBut I've answered that question repeatedly. I am personally open \u2014 after all that has happened and after ten years in that probationary status where all they have is a permit, I personally am open to allowing people to apply for a green card. That may not be a majority position in my party, but that's down the road. You can't even begin that process until you prove to people \u2014 not just pass a law that says you're gonna bring illegal immigration under control. You're gonna have to do it and prove to people that it's working. And that was the lesson of 2013. And it's more true today, than it was then. After a migratory crisis on the border with minors coming over that you're seeing start up again now, after all these executive orders the President has issued. More than ever we need to... +p86 +aV... prove to people that illegal immigration is under control. +p87 +aVYeah, a couple points. In 2013 we had never faced a crisis like the Syrian refugee crisis now. Up until that point, a refugee meant someone fleeing oppression, fleeing Communism like it is in my community. As far as Ted's record, I'm always puzzled by his attack on this issue. Ted, you support legalizing people who are in this country illegally. Ted Cruz supported a 500-percent increase in the number of H-1 visas, the guest workers that are allowed into this country, and Ted supports doubling the number of green cards. So I think what's important for us to understand and there is a way forward on this issue that we an bring our country together on. And while I'm president I will do it. And it will begin by bringing illegal immigration under control and proving to the American people. +p88 +aVNo, no, give him time. +p89 +aVTed, do you... +p90 +aVDid Ted Cruz fight to support legalizing people that are in this country illegally? +p91 +aVDoes Ted Cruz rule out ever legalizing people that are in this country now? +p92 +aVWould you rule it out? +p93 +aVWell, he's just admitted \u2014 as he's just admitted, the reason why those refugees were allowed in was because they messed up in how they used the actual database. They should have know. They didn't because they didn't run the actual law as it exists now. It didn't work well. As far as the refugees are concerned, it's not that America doesn't want to accept refugees, Wolf. It's that we may not be able to, because this is an issue we have to be 100 percent right on. If we allow 9,999 Syrian refugees into the United States, and all of them are good people, but we allow one person in who's an +p94 +aVI do. First, let's explain to people at home who the triad \u2014 what the triad is. Maybe a lot of people haven't heard that terminology before. The triad is our ability of the United States to conduct nuclear attacks using airplanes, using missiles launched from silos or from the ground, and also from our nuclear subs' ability to attack. And it's important \u2014 all three of them are critical. It gives us the ability at deterrence. Now, some have become more critical than others; for example, the submarines. And that's the Ohio Class submarine that needs to be modernized. The air component also needs to be modernized. The B-52, as someone earlier pointed out, is an outdated model that was flown by the grandparents of people that are flying it now. And we need a serious modernization program as well on our silo-launched missiles. All three are critical for the defense of the country. +p95 +aVThank you. As we near the end of this year, we enter one of the most important elections in a generation. For what's at stake in this election is not simply what party's going to be in charge. But our very identity as a people and as a nation. For over 200 years this has been a special country. A unique place where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything. But now millions of Americans feel like they're being left behind. Insecure in their future and unsafe in the face of terrorism. This election is about electing a president that will restore our economic vibrancy so that the American dream can expand to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And rebuild our Military and our intelligence programs so that we can remain the strongest nation on earth. Tonight I ask you for your vote. If you do this, we will rebuild this country, and together we will usher in a new American century \u2014 the greatest era in the history of this great land. +p96 +aVWell, let me begin by answering both the first question and this one, because they're related. As I've said many times before, my parents were never rich people. My father was a bartender. My mother was a maid. They worked for a living. But they were successful people, because, despite the fact that they weren't well educated and had those jobs, they made enough money to buy a home in a safe and stable neighborhood, retire with dignity, leave all four of their children better off than themselves. We call that the American dream, but in fact, it's a universal dream of a better life that people have all over the world. It is a reminder that every country in the world has rich people. What makes America special is that we have millions and millions of people that are not rich, that through hard work and perseverance are able to be successful. The problem is that today people are not successful working as hard as ever because the economy is not providing jobs that pay enough. If I thought that raising the minimum wage was the best way to help people increase their pay, I would be all for it, but it isn't. In the 20th century, it's a disaster. If you raise the minimum wage, you're going to make people more expensive than a machine. And that means all this automation that's replacing jobs and people right now is only going to be accelerated. Here's the best way to raise wages. Make America the best place in the world to start a business or expand an existing business, tax reform and regulatory reform, bring our debt under control, fully utilize our energy resources so we can reinvigorate manufacturing, repeal and replace Obamacare, and make higher education faster and easier to access, especially vocational training. For the life of me, I don't know why we have stigmatized vocational education. Welders make more money than philosophers. We need more welders and less philosophers. If we do that \u2014 and if we do this \u2014 if we do this, we will be able to increase wages for millions of Americans and we will be able to leave everyone better off without making anyone worse off. +p97 +aVWell, you know, that's an excellent question, because what we are going through in this country is not simply an economic downturn. We are living through a massive economic transformation. I mean, this economy is nothing like what it was like five years ago, not to mention 15 or 20 years ago. And it isn't just a different economy. It's changing faster than ever. You know, it took the telephone 75 years to reach 100 million users. It took Candy Crush one year to reach some 100 million users. So the world is changing faster than ever, and it is disruptive. Number one, we are in a global competition now, and several of the candidates have said that. There are now dozens of developed economies on this planet that we have to compete with. And we lose that competition because we have the highest business tax rate in the industrialized world, because we have regulations that continue to grow by the billions every single week, because we have a crazy health care law that discourages companies from hiring people, but because we're not fully utilizing our energy resources, that if we did, it would bring back all kinds of growth, especially in manufacturing, and because we have an outdated higher education system. Our higher education system is completely outdated. It is too expensive, too hard to access, and it doesn't teach 21st century skills. If we do what needs to be done \u2014 tax reform, regulatory reform, fully utilize our energy resources, repeal and replace Obamacare, and modernize higher education, then we can grasp the potential and the promise of this new economy. And we won't just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And then truly this new century can be a new American century. +p98 +aVThe most important job I'm ever going to have, the most important job anyone in this room will ever have, is the job of being a parent. Not the job of being president, or the job of being a senator, or the job of being a congressman. The most important job any of us will ever do is the job of being a president (sic), because the most important institution in society is the family. If the family breaks down, society breaks down. You can't have a strong nation without strong values, and no one is born with strong values. They have to be taught to you in strong families and reinforced in you in strong communities. And so when we set out to do tax reform, we endeavor to have a pro-family tax code, and we endeavor to do it because we know how difficult it is for families in the 21st century to afford the cost of living. It is expensive to raise children in the 21st century, and families that are raising children are raising the future taxpayers of the United States, and everything costs more. In 35 out of 50 states, child care costs more than college. There are millions of people watching this broadcast tonight that understand exactly what I'm talking about. They don't know how they're going to make that payment every month, and if they can't make it, they can't work, because someone needs to watch their kids during the day. They don't know how they're going to save for their kids' future, to go to college. And so, yes, I have a child tax credit increase, and I'm proud of it. I am proud that I have a pro-family tax code, because the pro- family tax plan I have will strengthen the most important institution in the \u2014 in the country, the family. +p99 +aVNow I get my 60 seconds to respond. He's talking about my tax plan. +p100 +aVSo let me begin with this. I actually believe \u2014 first of all, this is their money. They do pay. It is refundable, not just against the taxes they pay to the government, but also the \u2014 on their federal income tax, it's refundable against the payroll tax. Everyone pays payroll tax. This is their money. This is not our money. And here's what I don't understand \u2014 if you invest that money in a piece of equipment, if you invest that money in a business, you get to write it off your taxes. But if you invest it in your children, in the future of America and strengthening your family, we're not going to recognize that in our tax code? The family is the most important institution in society. And, yes... +p101 +aV... I do want to rebuild the American military. +p102 +aVI know that Rand is a committed isolationist. I'm not. I believe the world is a stronger and a better place, when the United States is the strongest military power in the world. +p103 +aVBecause... +p104 +aV...are you talking about the military, Rand? +p105 +aVWe can't even have an economy if we're not safe. There are radical jihadist in the Middle East beheading people and crucifying Christians. A radical Shia cleric in Iran trying to get a nuclear weapon, the Chinese taking over the South China Sea... ...Yes, I believe the world is a safer \u2014 no, no, I don't believe, I know that the world is a safer place when America is the strongest military power in the world. +p106 +aVYou know, if I may respond... +p107 +aVI need to add a couple of points to this. The first is, I've never met Vladimir Putin, but I know enough about him to know he is a gangster. He is basically an organized crime figure that runs a country, controls a $2 trillion economy. And is using to build up his military in a rapid way despite the fact his economy is a disaster. He understands only geopolitical strength. And every time he has acted anywhere in the world, whether it's in Ukraine or Georgia before that, or now in the Middle East, it's because he is trusting in weakness. His calculation in the Middle East is that he has seen what this president has done, which is nothing, the president has no strategy, our allies in the region do not trust us. For goodness sake, there is only one pro-American free enterprise democracy in the Middle East, it is the state of Israel. And we have a president that treats the prime minister of Israel with less respect than what he gives the ayatollah in Iran. And so our allies in the region don't trust us. Vladimir Putin is exploiting that weakness, for purposes of edging the Americans out as the most important geopolitical power broker in the region. And we do have a vested interest. And here's why. Because all those radical terrorist groups that, by the way, are not just in Syria and in Iraq, +p108 +aVCan I just add what \u2014 he's right on point there. Do you know why these banks are so big? The government made them big. The government made them big by adding thousands and thousands of pages of regulations. So the big banks, they have an army of lawyers, they have an army of compliance officers. They can deal with all these things. The small banks, like Governor Bush was saying, they can't deal with all these regulations. They can't deal with all \u2014 they cannot hire the fanciest law firm in Washington or the best lobbying firm to deal with all these regulations. And so the result is, the big banks get bigger, the small banks struggle to lend or even exist, and the result is what you have today. And in Dodd-Frank, you have actually codified too big to fail. We have actually created a category of systemically important institutions, and these banks go around bragging about it. You know what they say to people with a wink and a nod? We are so big, we are so important that if we get in trouble, the government has to bail us out. This is an outrage. We need to repeal Dodd-Frank as soon as possible. +p109 +aVWell, that's a great question, and let me begin by answering it. This election is about the future, about what kind of country this nation is gonna be in the 21st century. This next (ph) election is actually a generational choice. A choice about what kind of nation we will be in the 21st century. For over 2.5 centuries, America's been a special country, the one place on earth where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything, a nation that's been a force for good on this planet. But now, a growing number of Americans feel out of place in their own country. We have a society that stigmatizes those that hold cultural values that are traditional. We have a society where people \u2014 millions of people \u2014 are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, but they're living paycheck to paycheck because the economy has changed underneath their feet. We have young Americans who owe thousands of dollars in student loans for a degree that doesn't lead to a job. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses dying than starting, and around the world, every day brings news of a new humiliation for America \u2014 many the direct response \u2014 direct consequence of decisions made when Hillary Clinton was the secretary of the \u2014 of state. And so here's the truth: this election is about the future, and the Democratic Party, and the political left has no ideas about the future. All their ideas are the same, tired ideas of the past. More government, more spending. For every issue for America, their answer is a new tax on someone, and a new government program. This nation is going to turn the page, and that's what this election should be about, and, as I said at the first debate... ...If I am our nominee, they will be the party of the past, we will be the party of the 21st century. +p110 +aVOurs \u2014 the story of America is an extraordinary story. It is the story of a nation that for over two centuries each generation has left the next better off than themselves. But now, because Washington is out of touch, for the fault of both political parties, for the first time in our history, that is in doubt. And that is what this election must be about, because if the next four years are anything like the last eight years, our children will be the first Americans ever left worse off by their parents. This election is about making a different choice, about applying our principles of limited government and free enterprise to the unique issues of our time. And if we do, we will not just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And the 21st century can be a new American century. So tonight, I ask you for your vote and I ask you to join us at my website, marcorubio.com. +p111 +aVThank you for that question. I would begin by saying that I'm not sure it's a weakness, but I do believe that I share a sense of optimism for America's future that, today, is eroding from too many of our people. I think there's a sense in this country today that somehow our best days are behind us. And that doesn't have to be true. Our greatest days lie ahead if we are willing to do what it takes now. If we're willing to do what it takes now, the 21st century is going to be the new American century, greater than any other era we've had in the history of this great nation. +p112 +aVThat's an interesting question. That's exactly what the Republican establishment says too. Why don't you wait in line? Wait for what? This country is running out of time. We can't afford to have another four years like the last eight years. Watching this broadcast tonight are millions of people that are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, everything costs more, and they haven't had a raise in decades. You have small businesses in America that are struggling. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses closing than starting. We have a world that's out of control and has grown dangerous and a president that is weakening our military and making our foreign policy unstable and unreliable in the eyes of our allies. And our adversaries continue to grow stronger. We have a \u2014 they say there's no bipartisanship in Washington? We have a $19 trillion bipartisan debt and it continues to grow as we borrow money from countries that do not like us to pay for government we cannot afford. The time to act is now. The time to turn the page is now. If we \u2014 if we don't act now, we are going to be the first generation in American history that leaves our children worse off than ourselves. +p113 +aVLet me say, I read that editorial today with a great amusement. It's actually evidence of the bias that exists in the American media today. +p114 +aVLet me \u2014 let me answer your question on the Sun-Sentinel editorial today. Back in 2004, one of my predecessors to the Senate by the name of Bob Graham, a Democrat, ran for president missing over 30 percent of his votes. I don't recall them calling for his resignation \u2014 +p115 +aVLater that year, in 2004, John Kerry ran for president missing close to 60 to 70 percent of his votes. I don't recall the Sun \u2014 in fact, the Sun-Sentinel endorsed him. In 2008, Barack Obama missed 60 or 70 percent of his votes, and the same newspaper endorsed him again. So this is another example of the double standard that exists in this country between the mainstream media and the conservative movement. +p116 +aVI get to respond, right? +p117 +aVWell, it's interesting. Over the last few weeks, I've listened to Jeb as he walked around the country and said that you're modeling your campaign after John McCain, that you're going to launch a furious comeback the way he did, by fighting hard in New Hampshire and places like that, carrying your own bag at the airport. You know how many votes John McCain missed when he was carrying out that furious comeback that you're now modeling after? +p118 +aVNo Jeb, I don't remember \u2014 well, let me tell you. I don't remember you ever complaining about John McCain's vote record. The only reason why you're doing it now is because we're running for the same position, and someone has convinced you that attacking me is going to help you. +p119 +aVHere's the bottom line. I'm not \u2014 my campaign is going to be about the future of America, it's not going to be about attacking anyone else on this stage. I will continue to have tremendous admiration and respect for Governor Bush. I'm not running against Governor Bush, I'm not running against anyone on this stage. I'm running for president because there is no way we can elect Hillary Clinton to continue the policies of Barack Obama. +p120 +aVWell, you just \u2014 you just listed a litany of discredited attacks from Democrats and my political opponents, and I'm not gonna waste 60 seconds detailing them all. But I'm going to tell you the truth. Here's the truth. I didn't inherit any money. My dad was a bartender, my mother was a maid. They worked hard to provide us the chance at a better life. They didn't save enough money for us to go to school. I had to work my way through school. I had to borrow money to go to school. I tried (ph), early in my marriage, explaining to my wife why someone named Sallie Mae was taking $1,000 out of our bank account every month. I know what it's like to owe that money, and we've worked hard. We've worked hard our whole life to provide a better family \u2014 a better life for our family. We own a home four blocks away from the place that I grew up in. My four children have been able to receive a good Christian education, and I've been able to save for them to go to college so they never have to have the loans that I did. But I'm not worried about my finances, I'm worried about the finances of everyday Americans who today are struggling in an economy that is not producing good paying jobs while everything else costs more. And that's what this economy needs to \u2014 that's what this debate needs to be about. This debate needs to be about the men and women across this country that are struggling on a daily basis to provide for their families the better future that we've always said this country is all about. +p121 +aVAnd I used it to pay off my loans. And it's available on paperback, if you're interested in buying my book. +p122 +aVYeah, again, as I said, we're raising a family in the 21st century and it's one of the reasons why my tax plan is a pro- family tax plan. It increases the per child tax credit, because I didn't read about this in a book. I know for a fact how difficult it is to raise children, how expensive it's become for working families. And I make a lot more than the average American. Imagine how hard it is for these people out there that are making 40, 50, $60,000 a year, and they're trying to provide for their families at a time when this economy is not growing. We can't afford another four years of that. Which is what we're gonna get if we elect a big government liberal like Hillary Clinton to the White House. Thank you, senator. +p123 +aVWell, first of all, if a company gets caught doing that, they should never be able to use the program again. If you get caught abusing this program, you should never be able to use it again. The second thing I said is we need to add reforms, not just increase the numbers, but add reforms. For example, before you hire anyone from abroad, you should have to advertise that job for 180 days. You also have to prove that you're going to pay these people more than you would pay someone else, so that you're not undercutting it by bringing in cheap labor. But here's the best solution of all. We need to get back to training people in this country to do the jobs of the 21st century. Why, for the life of me, I do not understand why did we stop doing vocational education in America, people that can work with their hands; people you can train to do this work while they're still in high school so they can graduate ready to go work. But the best way to close this gap is to modernize higher education so Americans have the skills for those jobs. But in the interim, in the absence of that, what's happening is some of these tech companies are taking those \u2014 those centers (ph) to Canada because they can get people to go over there instead of here. But the ideal scenario is to train Americans to do the work so we don't have to rely on people from abroad. +p124 +aVWell, I believe that there are abuses, those companies should be permanently barred from ever using the program again and we should put strict standards in place to ensure that they're not being abused, like the prevailing wage requirement and like the advertising requirement. +p125 +aVSince I've been mentioned, can I respond? +p126 +aVOK. I know the Democrats have the ultimate SuperPac. It's called the mainstream media who every single day... ... and I'll tell you why. Last week, Hillary Clinton went before a committee. She admitted she had sent e-mails to her family saying, "Hey, this attack at Benghazi was caused by Al Qaida-like elements." She spent over a week telling the families of those victims and the American people that it was because of a video. And yet the mainstream media is going around saying it was the greatest week in Hillary Clinton's campaign. It was the week she got exposed as a liar. It was the week that she got exposed as a liar... But she has her super PAC helping her out, the American mainstream media. +p127 +aVNo, that's \u2014 you're wrong. In fact, the largest after- tax gains is for the people at the lower end of the tax spectrum under my plan. And there's a bunch of things my tax plan does to help them. Number one, you have people in this country that... +p128 +aV...you wrote a story on it, and you had to go back and correct it. +p129 +aVYou did. No, you did. +p130 +aVWell, you're talking about \u2014 yeah. +p131 +aVYeah, but that \u2014 because the math is, if you \u2014 5 percent of a million is a lot more than 5 percent of a thousand. So yeah, someone who makes more money... +p132 +aV...numerically, it's gonna be higher. But the greatest gains, percentage-wise, for people, are gonna be at the lower end of our plan, and here's why: because in addition to a general personal exemption, we are increasing the per-child tax credit for working families. We are lowering taxes on small business. You know, a lot of business activity in America is conducted like the guy that does my dry cleaning. He's an S corporation. He pays on his personal rate, and he is paying higher than the big dry-cleaning chain down the street, because he's paying at his personal rate. Under my plan, no business, big or small, will pay more than 25 percent flat rate on their business income. That is a dramatic tax decrease for hard-working people who run their own businesses. +p133 +aV...The other thing I'd like to make about our plan, one more point, it is the most pro growth tax plan that I can imagine because it doesn't tax investments at all. You know why? Because the more you tax something, the less of it you get. I want to be in \u2014 I want America to be the best... +p134 +aV...in the world for people... +p135 +aVI was mentioned in the question. +p136 +aVThank you. Well, I've learned the rules on this. Look, in addition to what Donald was saying is we also need to talk about the legal immigration system for permanent residents. Today, we have a legal immigration system for permanent residency that is largely based on whether or not you have a relative living here. And that's the way my parents came legally in 1956. But in 2015, we have a very different economy. Our legal immigration system from now on has to be merit-based. It has to be based on what skills you have, what you can contribute economically, and most important of all, on whether or not you're coming here to become an American, not just live in America, but be an American. +p137 +aVNo. No. What I said was that I think that Dr. Carson's ideas are good ideas. They're not my ideas, and I don't necessarily agree with all of them. But this is what you're seeing in the Republican debate that you didn't see in that Democrat debate. You didn't see it for a minute. You didn't see these kind of ideas being batted around, and being batted around in a way that's civil and smart and that's trying to help to inform the voter out there. What you saw was a parade of, "I'll give you this for free; I'll give you that for free." Let me tell you, everybody, when they say they want to give it to you for free, keep your hands on your wallets because they're coming to you to pay for it. And that's why I think these ideas up here are great, and that's what we should have is have more discussions like this and less gotcha. +p138 +aVI want to take off from that point and argue the same thing. And that is that one of the things you're watching tonight are 11 quality candidates debating an important issue. The Republican Party is blessed to have 11 good candidates, 10 good candidates. The Democrats can't even come up with one. And on this issue of the Medicare in particular, it's important because they're going to demagogue what we're saying here tonight. Everyone up here tonight that's talking about reforms, I think and I know for myself I speak to this, we're all talking about reforms for future generations. Nothing has to change for current beneficiaries. My mother is on Medicare and Social Security. I'm against anything that's bad for my mother. So, we're talking about \u2014 we're talking about reform for people like me and people like Senator Cruz, as he talked about earlier, who are years away from retirement that have a way to plan for these changes, and way that's very reasonable. And it's not too much to ask of our generation after everything our parents and our grandparents did for us. +p139 +aVYou know, America doesn't owe me anything. I have a debt to America I'll never repay. This isn't just the country I was born in, this is the nation that literally changed the history of my family. My parents in this country were able to give me the chance to do all the things they never did. We call that the American Dream, although, it's built on the universal dream of a better life. The fact that it's happened for so many people here throughout our history, that's what makes us special. But, now for millions of Americans, it's slipping away. And, we have a government and leaders in government that are completely out of touch, and that's why I'm running for president. Because we can't just save the American Dream, we can expand it to reach more people, and change more lives than ever before. And, that's why tonight I'm asking you for your vote. +p140 +asVKASICH +p141 +(lp142 +VThank you, Wolf. Just last weekend, just last week, a friend asked one of my daughters, "Do you like politics?" And my daughter said, "No, I don't. And the reason I don't like it is because there's too much fighting, too much yelling. It's so loud, I don't like it." You know, I turned to my friend and I said, "You know, she's really on to something." And when we think about our country and the big issues that we face in this country; creating jobs, making sure people can keep their jobs, the need for rising wages, whether our children when they graduate from college can find a job, protecting the homeland, destroying +p143 +aVWell, first of all, Wolf, I said last February that we needed to have people on the ground, troops on the ground in a coalition similar to what we had in the first Gulf War. I remember when the Egyptian ambassador to the United States stood in the Rose Garden and pledged Arab commitment to removing Saddam Hussein from Kuwait. Before we came out here tonight, I am told that the Saudis have organized 34 countries who want to join in the battle against terrorism. First and foremost, we need to go and destroy +p144 +aVNo, I don't think it is. And I want to go back to two other issues. One is the metadata. We know we have to hold this data for a longer period of time. And, you know, in a lot of ways, Chris is right. Look, what a president has to do is take a position. We don't want to err on the side of having less. We want to err on the side of having more. That's good for our families. In addition to that, Wolf, there is a big problem. It's called encryption. And the people in San Bernardino were communicating with people who the FBI had been watching. But because their phone was encrypted, because the intelligence officials could not see who they were talking to, it was lost. We have to solve the encryption problem. It is not easy. A president of the United States, again, has to bring people together, have a position. We need to be able to penetrate these people when they are involved in these plots and these plans. And we have to give the local authorities the ability to penetrate to disrupt. That's what we need to do. Encryption is a major problem, and Congress has got to deal with this and so does the president to keep us safe. +p145 +aVYeah, let me \u2014 let me just suggest to everybody, and I hear \u2014 last February, I said we needed to have people on the ground in a coalition with Europe and our allies. This is not going to get done just by working with the Sunnis. And it is not going to get done if we just embed a few people. We have to go massively, like we did in the first Gulf War where we destroyed Saddam's ability to take Kuwait. We need to have a coalition that will stand for nothing less than the total destruction of +p146 +aVI don't understand this thing about Assad. He has to go. Assad is aligned with Iran and Russia. The one thing we want to prevent is we want to prevent Iran being able to extend a Shia crescent all across the Middle East. Assad has got to go. And there are moderates there. There are moderates in Syria who we should be supporting. I do not support a civil war. I don't want to be policeman of the world. But we can't back off of this. And let me tell you, at the end, the Saudis have agreed to put together a coalition inside of Syria to stabilize that country. +p147 +aVHe must go. It will be a blow to Iran and Russia. +p148 +aVThe foreign policy, you have to know how to pick and choose. There's no way, if Saddam had not had weapons of mass destruction, I would have gone, because I don't believe that the U.S. should be involved directly in civil wars. I opposed the U.S. involvement in Lebanon. We ended up having to withdraw our marines after our barracks were blown up. There is a difference between Iraq, where you have Sunni, Shia, and Kurds put together after the First World War by the Western powers. It doesn't work. It needs to break up into three parts. And for the Russians, frankly, it's time that we punched the Russians in the nose. They've gotten away with too much in this world and we need to stand up against them, not just there, but also in Eastern Europe where they threaten some of our most precious allies. +p149 +aVIt sounds more and more what my daughter said that I said in the beginning, all the fighting and arguing is not advancing us. +p150 +aVIt is not the way we're going to strengthen our country. We will strengthen our country when we come together. And, look, you've got Rand Paul, you've got Ted Cruz, you've got Marco, you've got a lot of people on this stage that have studied these issues. You know what a leader does? A leader has a sound program, has a good policy, and then brings people together to solve problems. Guess what? Both in Congress in balancing the budget and in Ohio fixing the economy \u2014 and, by the way, we talk about the fence. The first thing we better get going is strengthening our economy, because if we don't have a strong economy, we can't pay for all of this. And the world wants us to be able to function from strength, believe it or not. Get our economy going, get these people together in a room. We can fix this, ladies and gentlemen. We don't have to fight all the time. It can be done, and we will be great... +p151 +aV... when we join together. Thank you, Hugh. +p152 +aVYou know, obviously, as president of the United States, we've got to keep the people safe. That's first and foremost. But as governor of Ohio, I have an obligation to keep the 11.5 million people in Ohio safe. And we have been very effective with our Joint Terrorism Task Force, being able to make busts. In fact, we just made one three-four weeks ago against a person who was favorable to +p153 +aVNo Republican has ever been elected president of the United States without winning Ohio. Let me give you a little tip on how you win Ohio, it's reform, it's hope, it's growth, it's opportunity, and it's security. The people of Ohio are the people of America. The people of America are reflected in Ohio. Our message has to be big, and bold, and positive, and connect, not just with people's heads but also connect with their hearts. If we do it, we will beat Hillary Clinton, and we will run the White House, and we will strengthen and fix America, I promise you. +p154 +aVFirst of all, let me just say that, in the state of Ohio \u2014 and I'm the only acting executive on \u2014 on this stage today \u2014 we do have a moderate increase in the minimum wage. And I got to tell you, my father carried mail on his back. His father was a coal miner. He died of black lung. He was losing his eyesight. My mother's mother lived with us. She could barely speak English. I come from a town where if the wind blew the wrong way, people found themselves out of work. An economic theory is fine, but you know what? People need help. Now, I have a plan that, in fact, would cut taxes, but not $11 trillion or $12 trillion that would put my children further in debt. I have a plan that would not only cut taxes, lower the income tax rate for individuals, lower the tax for businesses so businesses will compete here and not move operations overseas, and also a plan \u2014 the only plan of anybody standing on this stage to get us to a balanced budget by the end of a second term. And, you know, the simple fact of the matter is, we hear a lot of promises in this debate, a lot of promises about these tax cuts or tax schemes sometimes that I call them. Hillary and the Democrats promise everything on the spending side. We've got to be responsible about what we propose on the tax side. Yes, lower taxes, lower spending. My website, JohnKasich.com, will show you exactly how we balance the budget. I balanced the budget in Washington as a chief architect, and I have balanced it in Ohio for one reason. When you balance the budget and you cut taxes, people get work. And our most important moral purpose as leaders in the political system is to make sure we create an environment for job creation so people can live their dreams and realize their God-given potential. That's why it's so important. And for those at the bottom, we've got to do what we can to train them so they can move up. But to just look the other way is not acceptable, because, you know what, as the governor of Ohio I have to deal with real challenges, and we've gotten it done in our state, and I will do it for America. +p155 +aVSure. We would move the Medicare system from a 7 percent growth down to about a 5 percent growth. And I have a whole series of ways to do that. In Ohio, we reduced Medicaid funding for the poor from 10 percent to 2.5 percent, didn't cut one benefit or didn't take anybody off the rolls. Why? Because we're innovators. I've been an innovator my entire career. And I really don't care what special interests or lobbyists have to say. I have a job to do when I take over a public office. Now, we freeze non-defense discretionary for eight years. We also put an increase in defense spending. Our tax cuts balance out. And at the end of the day, we will get to a balanced budget. And I want everybody here to know, when I was Budget Committee chairman in Washington, I stepped on every toe in that town, and we got to a balanced budget, and we had enormous job growth. And as governor of Ohio, we went from 350,000 lost jobs to a gain of 347,000 jobs. +p156 +aVI'll do it in Washington. I've done it twice; I'll do it thrice for the United States of America. +p157 +aVExcuse me. +p158 +aVYeah, I would like to make a comment. +p159 +aVI appreciate it, Jeb. I'm all of you. But I want at some point to talk about a value-added tax and $11 trillion, $12 trillion tax cuts that will put our kids way deeper in the hole than they have been at this point. So I would like to talk about it at some point, because that's what leadership is. +p160 +aVMaria, can we comment on that? +p161 +aVCan we comment on that? +p162 +aVWell, look, in 1986 Ronald Reagan basically said the people who were here, if they were law-abiding, could stay. But, what didn't happen is we didn't build the walls effectively and we didn't control the border. We need to. We need to control our border just like people have to control who goes in and out of their house. But if people think that we are going to ship 11 million people who are law-abiding, who are in this country, and somehow pick them up at their house and ship them out of Mexico \u2014 to Mexico, think about the families. Think about the children. So, you know what the answer really is? If they have been law- abiding, they pay a penalty. They get to stay. We protect the wall. Anybody else comes over, they go back. But for the 11 million people, come on, folks. We all know you can't pick them up and ship them across, back across the border. It's a silly argument. It is not an adult argument. It makes no sense. +p163 +aVJerry, Gerald, it was an attack. +p164 +aVIn the state of Ohio, the state of Ohio, we have grown 347,000 jobs. Our unemployment is half of what it was. Our fracking industry, energy industry may have contributed 20,000, but if Mr. Trump understood that the real jobs come in the downstream, not in the upstream, but in the downstream. And that's where we're going to get our jobs. But Ohio is diversified. And little false little things, sir, they don't really work when it comes to the truth. So the fact is, all I'm suggesting, we can't ship 11 million people out of this country. Children would be terrified, and it will not work. +p165 +aV...Mr. Baker, everybody got to talk about taxes... +p166 +aV...I think you were coming to me and then... +p167 +aV...Look, I hate to crash the party to you, Mr. Baker, but, you know, what's fair... +p168 +aV...Yes, sir... +p169 +aVLet me tell you this, Mr. Baker, in terms of the cyber attacks, we have the capability to not only have a defensive posture, but it also to make it clear to people that if you attack us with cyber attacks, we will destroy the mechanisms that you are using to attack us. I want to give you a little trip around the world. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years. In the Ukraine, arm the people there so they can fight for themselves. In the eastern part of Europe, make sure that Finland and the Baltics know that if the Russians move, we move. In Syria, yes, a no-fly zone in the north on the Turkish border, a no-fly zone on the south on the Jordanian border. Anybody flies in the first time, maybe they can fly out. They fly in there a second time, they will not fly out. And it also becomes a sanctuary for the people to be. And it also sends many messages in the Middle East that we're still involved. Saudi Arabia, cut off the funding for the radical clerics, the ones that preach against us. But they're fundamentally our friends. Jordan, we want the king to reign for 1,000 years. Egypt, they have been our ally and a moderating force in the Middle East throughout their history. In the groups \u2014 in the countries of the Gulf states of Bahrain, the Cleveland Clinic is opening an operation. Clearly we see the same with them. And in Israel, we have no better ally in the world, and no more criticizing them in public, we should support them. And finally China, China doesn't own the South China Sea, and I give the president some credit for being able to move a naval force in there to let the Chinese know that we're not going to put up with it any more. And in the trade agreement, the TPP, it's critical to us, not only for economic reasons and for jobs, because there are so many people who are connected to getting jobs because of trade, but it allows us to create not only economy alliances, but also potentially strategic alliances against the Chinese. They are not our enemy, but they are certainly not our friend. And finally, I will say to everyone in this room, we have been talking about taxes and economics. When the fall comes, and we run against Hillary, which will be a disaster if she got elected. I have two 16-year-old girls, and I want this country to be strong. We make promises we can't keep under the bright light of the fall, we will have trouble. We must make sure that economic programs and our military programs are solid. I served in Washington as the chairman of the Budget Committee, and we got the budget balanced. And in Ohio, as the CEO, and guess what, we have got to have a CEO mentality and a way to beat Hillary Clinton and the Democracies in the fall. And our ideas have to add up. They have to be solid. And people have to know we have the confidence to lead America. And as president, I will lead this country, as I have before in Washington and in Ohio, and will return both on domestic and international affairs. And I appreciate the opportunity to speak this time, Gerry. +p170 +aVLet me \u2014 let me also say, Gary \u2014 Gary, let me also say, Jeb is \u2014 what Jeb is talking about with the big banks is to force them to reserve their capital, people who invest it and they hold their capital, so that if the bank goes down, the people who are invested in the bank are the ones that pay. That's what he's trying to say. Secondly, I'll tell you about Wall Street: There's too much greed. And the fact is, a free enterprise system is a system that's produced the greatest wealth for the world. But you know Michael Novak, the great Catholic theologian, says that a free enterprise system that is not underlaid with values \u2014 and we should all think about the way we conduct our lives \u2014 yes, free enterprise is great, profits are great, but there have to be some values that underlay it, and they need a good ethics lesson on Wall Street on a regular basis to keep them in check so we, the people, do not lose. +p171 +aVNeil, that's the difference of being an executive. And let me just explain: when a bank is ready to go under and depositors are getting ready to lose their life savings, you just don't say we believe in philosophical concerns. You know what an executive has to decide? When there's a water crisis, how do we get water to the city? When there's a school shooting, how do you get there and help heal a community? When there are financial crisis, or a crisis with ebola, you got to go there and try to fix it. Philosophy doesn't work when you run something. And I gotta tell you, on-the-job training for president of the United States doesn't work. We've done it for 8 years, \u2014 and almost 8 years now. It does not work. We need an executive who's been tried, has been tested, and judge the decisions that that executive makes. I don't like what the Fed is doing, but I'll tell you what worries me more than anything else: turning the Fed over to the Congress of the United States... +p172 +aV...so they can print the money. That would be a very bad approach. +p173 +aVI wouldn't. I wouldn't. +p174 +aVNo. No, I didn't say that. +p175 +aVThey were \u2014 they were talking about what you would do with depositors. Would you let these banks shut down? My argument is, going forward, the banks have to reserve the capital, so that the \u2014 so that the people who own the capital start pressuring the banks to not take these risky approaches, Ted. But at the end of the day... +p176 +aV... I'm gonna tell you this. Let me tell you this. If during \u2014 if during... +p177 +aV...because if during \u2014 well, I'll tell you what (ph). +p178 +aVAs an executive \u2014 no. As an executive, I would figure out how to separate those people who can afford it versus those people, or the hard-working folks who put those money in those institutions...... let me \u2014 no, no. Let me say another thing. Here's what I mean by that. Here's what I mean by that. +p179 +aVWhen you are faced \u2014 when you are faced, in the last financial crisis, with banks going under \u2014 with banks going under, and people, people who put their \u2014 their life savings in there, you got to deal with it. You can't turn a blind eye to it. Now, going forward, that's one thing. If you had another financial crisis, perhaps there would be an effort to make sure that we do (ph). +p180 +aVWell, ladies and gentlemen, if Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders were to win this election, my 16-year-olds, I \u2014 I worry about what their life is going to be like. You know, the conservative movement is all about opportunity. It is about lower taxes. It's about balanced budgets. It's about less regulation. And it's about sending power, money and influence back to where we live so we can run America from the bottom up. In addition to that, once we have the power and the money and the influence with programs we shift out, that each of us have a responsibility to reach out and to rebuild our families, make them stronger, and connect our neighborhoods. All that together \u2014 wealth, connection, family \u2014 America's greatest days are ahead. We must win this election. +p181 +aVGood question, but I want to tell you, my great concern is that we are on the verge, perhaps, of picking someone who cannot do this job. I've watched to see people say that we should dismantle Medicare and Medicaid and leave the senior citizens out \u2014 out in the \u2014 in the cold. I've heard them talk about deporting 10 or 11 \u2014 people here from this country out of this country, splitting families. I've heard about tax schemes that don't add up, that put our kids in \u2014 in a deeper hole than they are today. We need somebody who can lead. We need somebody who can balance budgets, cut taxes... +p182 +aVYou know, frankly, I did it in Washington, in Ohio, and I will do it again in Washington, if I'm president, to get this country moving again. +p183 +aVcountry moving again. +p184 +aVListen, I want to just comment. +p185 +aVWell I want to comment on this. This is the fantasy... +p186 +aVThis is the fantasy that I talked about in the beginning. +p187 +aVI'm the only person on this stage that actually was involved in the chief architect of balancing the Federal Budget. You can't do it with empty promised. You know, these plans would put us trillions and trillions of dollars in debt. I actually have a plan. I'm the only one on this stage that has a plan that would create jobs, cut taxes, balance the budget and can get it done because I'm realistic. You just don't make promises like this. Why don't we just give a chicken in every pot, while we're, you know, coming up \u2014 coming up with these fantasy tax schemes. We'll just clean it up. Where are you gonna clean it up? You have to deal with entitlements, you have to be in a position to control discretionary spending. You gotta be creative and imaginative. Now, let me just be clear, John. I went into Ohio where we had an $8 billion hole and now we have a $2 billion surplus. We're up 347,000 jobs. When I was in Washington, I fought to get the budget balanced. I was the architect. It was the first time we did it since man walked on the moon. We cut taxes and we had a $5 trillion projected surplus when I left. That's was hard work. Fiscal discipline, know what you're doing. Creativity. This stuff is fantasy. Just like getting rid of Medicare and Medicaid. Come on, that's just not \u2014 you scare senior citizens with that. It's not responsible. +p188 +aVWell, I mean right here. To talk about we're just gonna have a 10 percent tithe and that's how we're gonna fund the government? And we're going to just fix everything with waste, fraud, and abuse? Or that we're just going to be great? Or we're going to ship 10 million Americans \u2014 or 10 million people out of this country, leaving their children here in this country and dividing families? Folks, we've got to wake up. We cannot elect somebody that doesn't know how to do the job. You have got to pick somebody who has experience, somebody that has the know-how, the discipline. And I spent my entire lifetime balancing federal budgets, growing jobs, the same in Ohio. And I will go back to Washington with my plan. +p189 +aVAnd I will have done it within 100 days, and it will pass. And we will be strong again. Thank you. +p190 +aVLet me just \u2014 let me respond. First of all, Ohio does have an energy industry, but we're diversified. We're one of the fastest growing states in the country. We came back from the dead. And you know what? It works very, very well. And secondly, when you talk about me being on the board of Lehman Brothers, I wasn't on the board of Lehman Brothers. I was a banker and I was proud of it. And I traveled the country and learned how people made jobs. We ought to have politicians who not only have government experience but know how the CEOs and the job creators work. My state is doing great across the board. And guess what, in 2011, I got a deal... +p191 +aV... an agreement with the... +p192 +aV... that he tried to take credit for four years later. It's a joke. +p193 +aVJohn Harwood, there's a bigger issue here. +p194 +aVWell, first of all, when we talk about the Import Export Bank, it's time to clean up corporate welfare. If we're gonna reform welfare for poor people, we ought to reform it for rich people, as well. Secondly, in our state, we went from a loss of 350,000 jobs to, now, a gain of 347,000 jobs to the positive. Our wages are growing faster than the national average, and I've cut taxes more than any sitting governor in this state \u2014 $5 billion, including no taxes on small business and killing the death tax. I want to go back to what we were talking about earlier, this budget deal in Washington. This is the same old stuff since I left. You spend the money today and then you hope you're going to save money tomorrow. I don't know if people understand, but I spent a lifetime with my colleagues getting us to a federal balanced budget. We actually did it. And I have a road map and a plan right now to get us to balance. Reforming entitlements, cutting taxes. You see, because if you really want to get to a balanced budget, you need to reduce your expenses and you need to grow your economy. So what I will tell you about our incentives \u2014 our incentives are tight, and at the end of the day we make sure that we gain more from the creation of jobs than what we lose. And you know what? Ohio, one of the best growing places in the country \u2014 I not only did it in Washington, I did it in Ohio, and I'll go back to Washington, and there will be no more silly deals... +p195 +aV... If I become President because we'll have a Constitutional Amendment to require a federally balanced budget so they will do their job. +p196 +aVWell, first of all, we're running a $2 billion dollar surplus, we're not having a revenue problem right now. And, sending mixed signals to kids about drugs is a disaster. Drugs is one of the greatest scourge in this country, and I spent five years of my administration working with my team to do a whole sort of things to try to reign in the problem of overdoses, and it goes on and on. We could do a whole show on that. I want to go back for a second thought on this issue of income inequality. My program would move the 104 programs of the federal Department of Education into four block grants, and send them back to the states because income inequality is driven by a lack of skills when kids don't get what they need to be able to compete and win in this country. The fact is, in order to get this economy moving again, I call for freezing regulations for a year except for the problem of public safety. I believe that we need to cut these taxes down, we need to be on a roadmap to balancing the budget, and we need to send power, money, and influence, the welfare department, the education department, job training, infrastructure, Medicaid, all of that out of Washington back to the states so we can run these programs from where we live to the top, not a one size fits all mentality that they have in Washington. And, that will get to the nub of opportunity for our children, and an ability to see wages rise. Again... +p197 +aV...One more time, in Ohio, our wages are growing faster than the national average. We've cut taxes, balanced budgets, changed the regulatory environment. Folks, you want to \u2014 +p198 +aV\u2014 fix America, this is the formula. It worked for Reagan and it works for our team in Ohio. Thank you. +p199 +aVJohn. +p200 +aVI wanna tell you, in my state, we took Medicaid, the hardest program to control, and we took it from a 10 percent growth rate to 2.5 percent without taking one person off the rolls or cutting one single benefit. And so much of what we did \u2014 to force competition, to use technology, to stand down the special interest groups \u2014 can you imagine taking Medicaid from 10 to 2.5 percent? We can take many of those same procedures, we can apply it to Medicare. We can make a stronger program. But I agree with Jeb, you can't just do this by growing the economy. You can't grow your way out of demographics. But we can give people better health care. And finally, on health care, why don't we start treating \u2014 keep giving... +p201 +aV...incentives for people to keep people healthy, rather than giving the incentives to treat them when they're sick? +p202 +aVI was on morning Joe at a town hall and a young student stood up and said, "Can I still be idealistic?" I said, absolutely, you can still change the world. And, you know the old inscription, if you save one life, you've changed the world. Folks, we have a problem here with the leadership in Washington, but I'll tell you another problem. We need to rebuild our families. We need to have stronger families. We need to know who our neighbors are. We need to come together as a country because we have to realize that America is great, not from the top-down. Oh yeah, we want to elect a good president, but America is great from the bottom-up, and the bottom-up is us in our families, in our communities, in our neighborhoods. We will renew America if we work together, and I am totally confident that we will. And God bless America. +p203 +asVQUICK +p204 +(lp205 +VGentlemen \u2014 we'll \u2014 we'll get back to this \u2014 just a minute \u2014 just a minute we're gonna continue this. I wanna talk taxes... +p206 +aVDr. Carson, let's talk about taxes. You have a flat tax plan of 10 percent flat taxes, and \u2014 I've looked at it \u2014 and this is something that is very appealing to a lot of voters, but I've had a really tough time trying to make the math work on this. If you were to took a 10 percent tax, with the numbers right now in total personal income, you're gonna come in with bring in $1.5 trillion. That is less than half of what we bring in right now. And by the way, it's gonna leave us in a $2 trillion hole. So what analysis got you to the point where you think this will work? +p207 +aVI \u2014 I understand that, but if you \u2014 if you look at the numbers you probably have to get to 28. +p208 +aV15 percent still leaves you with a $1.1 trillion hole. +p209 +aVYou'd have to cut \u2014 you'd have to cut government about 40 percent to make it work with a $1.1 trillion hole. +p210 +aVThat is true, I looked at the numbers. +p211 +aVDr. Carson, thank you. +p212 +aVGovernor... +p213 +aVDr. Carson, let me get 30 seconds with Dr. Carson... +p214 +aVThank you. +p215 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, thank you. +p216 +aVGentlemen, I'm sorry, we need to... +p217 +aVWe're going to move on. +p218 +aVThirty seconds. +p219 +aVWe'll get to everyone. Ms. Fiorina, I \u2014 I'd like to ask you a question. You are running for president of the United States because of your record running Hewlett-Packard. But the stock market is usually a fair indicator of the performance of a CEO, and the market was not kind to you. Someone who invested a dollar in your company the day you took office had lost half of the dollar by the day you left. Obviously, you've talked in the past about what a difficult time it was for technology companies, but anybody who was following the market knows that your stock was a much worse performer, if you looked at your competitors, if you looked at the overall market. I just wonder, in terms of all of that \u2014 you know, we look back, your board fired you. I just wondered why you think we should hire you now. +p220 +aVMrs. Fiorina, it's interesting that you bring up Mr. Perkins, because... ...he said a lot of very questionable things. Last year, in an interview, he said that he thinks wealthy people should get more votes than poor people. I think his quote was that, "if you pay zero dollars in taxes, you should get zero votes. If you pay a million dollars, you should get a million votes." Is this the type of person you want defending you? +p221 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p222 +aVThank you, we're out of time. Thank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Carl. +p223 +aVGovernor Christie, I'd like to a question next. Actually, I have a question for you . In your tell it like it is campaign, you've said a lot of tough things. You've said that we need to raise the retirement age for Social Security. You think that we need to cut benefits for people who make over $80,000 and eliminate them entirely for seniors who are making over $200,000. Governor Huckabee, who is here on the stage, has said that you and others who think this way are trying to rob seniors of the benefits that they've earned. It raises the question: When it is acceptable to break a social compact? +p224 +aV...Governor... +p225 +aV...Thank you. +p226 +aVWelcome back to the presidential debate for the Republicans. We are live in Boulder, Colorado, right here on +p227 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. +p228 +aVSenator Rubio, you yourself have said that you've had issues. You have a lack of bookkeeping skills. You accidentally inter-mingled campaign money with your personal money. You faced (ph) foreclosure on a second home that you bought. And just last year, you liquidated a $68,000 retirement fund. That's something that cost you thousands of dollars in taxes and penalties. In terms of all of that, it raises the question whether you have the maturity and wisdom to lead this $17 trillion economy. What do you say? +p229 +aVSenator, I understand all of that. I had a lot of student loans when I got out, too. But you've had a windfall that a lot of Americans haven't. You made over a million dollars on a book deal, and some of these problems came after that. +p230 +aVBut you \u2014 but you liquidated that retirement account after the fact, and that cost you about $24,000 out of that in taxes and feed. That \u2014 that was after you'd already come into that windfall. That's why I raised the question. +p231 +aVYes, thank you John. Senator Cruz, working women in this country still earn just 77 percent of what men earn. And I know that you've said you've been very sympathetic to our cause. But you've also you said that the Democrats' moves to try and change this are the political show votes. I just wonder what you would do as President to try and help in this cause? +p232 +aVMrs. Fiorina \u2014 +p233 +aVMrs. Fiorina, we will come back to you. +p234 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Carl? +p235 +aVMr. Trump, let's stay on this issue of immigration. You have been very critical of Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook who has wanted to increase the number of these H1Bs. +p236 +aVSo you're in favor of... +p237 +aVWhere did I read this and come up with this that you were... +p238 +aVYou know, Mr. \u2014 you know, Mr. Trump, if I may . You've been \u2014 you have been \u2014 you had talked a little bit about Marco Rubio. I think you called him Mark Zuckerberg's personal senator because he was in favor of the H1B. +p239 +aVSo this was an erroneous article the whole way around? +p240 +aVMy apologies. I'm sorry. +p241 +aVYes, you can. +p242 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you very much. I would like to introduce my colleague, Rick Santelli, he has some comments as well, sir. +p243 +aVRick, thank you very much. Governor Huckabee, you have railed against income inequality. You've said that some Wall Street executives should have gone to jail over the roles that they played during the financial crisis. Apart from your tax plan, are there specific steps you would require from corporate America to try and reduce the income inequality. +p244 +aVGovernor? +p245 +aVGovernor? +p246 +aVThank you. +p247 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee. +p248 +aVHow about 15 more seconds? +p249 +aVGovernor? +p250 +aVGovernor, I'm sorry... +p251 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p252 +aVGovernor, thank you. Appreciate it. John? +p253 +aVIt's at the moderator discretion. +p254 +aVWelcome back to the University of Colorado and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p255 +aVThank you, sir. +p256 +aVYou were. You get 30 seconds. +p257 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Carl? +p258 +aVHigher education is the example... +p259 +aVI want to go back, if I can, to the issue of... +p260 +aVI want to go back, if I may, to the... +p261 +aVSenator Paul, among the leading conservative opponents to the creation of Medicare back in the 1960s was Ronald Reagan. He warned that it would lead to socialism. Considering the mounting cost of Medicare, was he right to oppose it? +p262 +aVSenator, thank you. [ +p263 +aVWelcome back to Boulder, Colorado and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p264 +aVThank you, Governor. +p265 +aVGovernor. +p266 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Paul, let's go back to you. Do these solutions sound like they work? +p267 +aVDo these solutions sound like they would work? +p268 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Governor? +p269 +asVMADDOW +p270 +(lp271 +VWe are super excited to be here at the University of New Hampshire. Tonight, this is the first time that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have squared off exactly like this. Face-to-face, just one-on-one, just the two of them. +p272 +aVAnd we do hope that the candidates will take this opportunity to show us the distinctions\u2014show us the differences between them. That's the whole reason that we're here tonight. We're not here for talking points. We're to learn about the difference between the candidates. And with that, let's get going. Please join us in welcoming Secretary Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders. +p273 +aVAnd with that, that's it. We're going to begin with 60- second opening statements from each of the candidates. And as agreed to in advance by the two campaigns, we're going to begin tonight with Senator Sanders. +p274 +aVSecretary Clinton, Senator Sanders is campaigning against you now, at this point in the campaign, basically arguing that you are not progressive enough to be the Democratic nominee. He has said that if you voted for the Iraq war, if you are in favor of the death penalty, if you wobbled on things like the Keystone Pipeline or TPP, if you said single payer health care could never happen, then you're too far to the right of the Democratic Party to be the party's standard bearer. Given those policy positions, why should liberal Democrats support you and not Senator Sanders? +p275 +aVSenator Sanders, have you established a list of what it means to be a progressive that is unrealistic? +p276 +aVThank you Senator. +p277 +aVSenator Sanders, as a Vermonter, you have almost a home state advantage here in New Hampshire. But back home across the border, you also have a long history of running against Democrats as a third-party candidate, for governor, Senate, for Congress. In 1988 your candidacy as a third-party candidate arguably cost the Democrats a congressional seat and sent a Republican instead. How can you lead the Democratic Party nationally when you have not been a member of the Democratic Party until very recently? +p278 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p279 +aVSo, Senator, to that point, Secretary Clinton is raising the issue of endorsements by your home state Democrats. She's implying that that says something about the people who know you best. +p280 +aVHow do you see it? +p281 +aVSecretary. +p282 +aVSenator Sanders, you'll have 30 seconds to respond to that. +p283 +aVSenator Sanders, Secretary Clinton, obviously we've touched a nerve. We're going to be back with more on this subject, and much more, right after this. Stay with us. +p284 +aVSecretary Clinton, on the issue of Wall Street... +p285 +aV... on the issue of Wall Street, when our reporters go out and talk to people on the ground in the early states, what they tell us over and over again when they find voters who are leaning toward Senator Sanders rather than yourself is that the most frequent area of concern that they hear from those voters is the issue of Wall Street and whether or not you are too close to Wall Street. Last night, when you were asked about speaking fees and the amount of speaking fees you got from Goldman Sachs speeches, you said that's what they offered. Have you been too dismissive of voters' concerns about this issue in your own campaign and your own career? +p286 +aVSenator Sanders, you have been a critic of Secretary Clinton taking those speaking fees and having donations from Wall Street. What about her defense of her record? +p287 +aVSenator Sanders, let me turn to, I think, where this direction is heading anyway, which is the broader issue of big business and power in our political system. You on the campaign trail have railed against big name American corporations like Boeing, and General Electric, and Wal Mart. But, some big businesses in this country have also been part of advancing progressive goals like that nationwide initiative to expand employment opportunities for veterans. That was all about cooperation between the Obama administration and some very big business. The Affordable Care Act, some of the thorniest problems in that bill were worked out in cooperation with big business in order to accomplish progressive goals. Could you work with them, or have you made enemies of big business in this country with the way you've approached them in this campaign? +p288 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. And with that, we're going to take a break. +p289 +aVWelcome back\u2014welcome back to the Democratic candidates' debate. We're going to be talking about America in the world, both in terms of some trade issues, but also national security. And Secretary Clinton, we're going to start with you. There are more than 4,000 American troops back in Iraq right now as part of the fight against +p290 +aVTo be clear, to the specific question, if that strategic goal that you're describing requires considerably more of Americans\u2014an ever-increasing number of Americans in Iraq and maybe in Syria, are you OK with the numbers increasing? +p291 +aVThank you, Madam Secretary. +p292 +aVSecretary Clinton, at the\u2014at the last Democratic debate in Charleston\u2014I want to get specific here\u2014Senator Sanders called for moving as aggressively as we can to normalize relations with Iran. Your campaign has criticized him for saying that. Now that he's standing next to you here on this stage, can you explain why the U.S. shouldn't try to normalize relations in Iran in your view? +p293 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to ask you about a national security issue that is closer to home. There are thousands of veterans, over 100,000 veterans living in the state of New Hampshire. If either one of you is nominated as the Democratic Party's nominee, you will likely face a Republican opponent in the general election who wants to privatize or even abolish big parts of the V.A. It's a newly popular idea in conservative politics. How will you win the argument on that issue given the problems that have been exposed at the V.A. in the last few years? What's your argument that the V.A. should still exist and should not be privatized? +p294 +aVSenator Sanders, you, as a congressional leader on veterans issues and the Veterans Committee, you've worked in a very bipartisan way with Senator John McCain and others on veterans issues. Is the right contour of the fight, the way she's talking about this issue? +p295 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Sanders, Secretary Clinton, we're going to take another break. We'll be talking about Social Security and some of those other issues when we come back. +p296 +aVSenator\u2014Senator Sanders, in 1964... +p297 +aVIn 1964, I heard that the Republicans nominated Barry Goldwater, who was the hero of the conservative movement. He was, however, far to the right of most of that party. In 1972, the Democrats nominated George McGovern, who was a hero of liberals in the antiwar movement, but he was to the left of his party's mainstream. Both of those nominees made activists very excited, and they both got destroyed in the general election. Even Democrats who love you worry about your fate in a general election. And I know you have good head-to-head polling numbers against Republican frontrunners right now. We know that. But do you have a general election strategy that is different than the way you're running right now to try to get the nomination? +p298 +aVSecretary Clinton, your campaign surrogates, and people who have endorsed you, have suggested that or even said that if Senator Sanders is the nominee, that Democrats will suffer nationwide and the chances will go down of Democrats holding onto the White House. With him here standing next to you, can you tell us whether or not you believe he would win the general election if he were nominated? +p299 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. Senator, in December, one of your campaign staffers was fired from your campaign for taking voter data essentially from the Clinton campaign. You apologized for that when the incident was made public. Your campaign has now been criticized for its operatives essentially impersonating culinary union members wearing union pins in Nevada, and the Nashua Telegraph has complained recently that you falsely implied in an advertisement that they had endorsed you when they did not. None of these issues obviously is the end of the world, but they all are of a piece. Are you in some sense losing control of your campaign? +p300 +aVJust to follow up on that, the title of the ad in question was Endorsement. +p301 +aVSecretary Clinton, do you want 30 seconds on that issue? +p302 +aVAnd with that, we will . +p303 +aVWelcome back to the University of New Hampshire, and the Democratic candidates' debate. Secretary Clinton, on the issue of the death penalty, here in New Hampshire, the one person who is on death row is there for killing a police officer. It's a crime that has caused anguish in this state, both among death penalty opponents and death penalty supporters. The last time I had the chance to talk with you on this issue, on the death penalty, you said that capital punishment has a place in a very few federal cases, but you also said you would breathe a sigh of relief if the Supreme Court abolished the death penalty nationwide. Tonight, do you still support capital punishment, even if you do so reluctantly? +p304 +aVSenator Sanders, you have singled out the death penalty, and Senator Clinton's support for the death penalty, as an issue that makes it hard to consider as progressive in your mind... +p305 +aVAnother issue related to the proper role of government, and in this case, specifically the role of government between the federal government and the states. I want to talk for a moment about the issue of Flint, Michigan. On the Flint lead poisoning disaster, you have both been highly critical of Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan, and how the state in Michigan both caused the lead poisoning problem, and has not acted fast enough to fix it. You have both been outspoken on that. The fact is that Michigan though has not fixed it. There is no door to door delivery of clean water in Flint even today. Not a single lead pipe has been replaced in Flint, even today. If the state is failing, would you, Secretary Clinton, would you as President order a federal response to get it right over and above the wishes of the state? +p306 +aVSenator Sanders are there things the President could be doing? President Obama could be ordering, done, right now, in Flint, Michigan that are not being done that you as President would do? +p307 +aVSenator, thank you. +p308 +aVThe home stretch. +p309 +aVSecretary Clinton, Republicans, particularly in campaign years, often talk about which departments of government\u2014which agencies of government they would get rid of if they were elected president. The EPA, the Department of Education, the Commerce Department, oops\u2014is\u2014is there a department of government that you would get rid of? Or is there a whole new one that you would create? +p310 +aVThank you, Secretary Clinton. +p311 +aVThank you very much. Thank you. +p312 +aVWe also want to thank our host, the University of New Hampshire, and the people of New Hampshire. You guys get to vote in just five days. I can't wait to see how it turns out. Don't screw up. +p313 +asVQUESTION +p314 +(lp315 +VMy name is Ashley Tofil. Ms. Fiorina, in November, you said that you would not talk to Vladimir Putin after you were elected because you would be communicating from a position of weakness. Do you believe that it is feasible to not communicate with another world leader? And do you think that that also is a sign of weakness? +p316 +aVMy name is Carla Hernandez. I'm from the University of Texas at Austin. And my question is directed to all the candidates. If the Bible clearly states that we need to embrace those in need and not fear, how can we justify not accepting refugees? +p317 +asVCAVUTO +p318 +(lp319 +VIt is 9:00 p.m. on the East Coast, 8:00 p.m. here inside the Milwaukee theater. Welcome to the Republican presidential debate here on the Fox Business Network. I'm Neil Cavuto, alongside my co-moderators, Maria Bartiromo, and the editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal, Gerard Baker. +p320 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. +p321 +aVIt sounds like a game show but it's not. Now I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the elephant in the room, and I'm not talking about your party's fine symbol. I'm talking about the purpose of tonight's debate. The economy and what each of you would do to improve it. No more, no less. We are focused on those issues, and what you have said on those issues in your words and what your opponents have said in their words about your words. That is the agenda tonight. How each of you plans to make America better tomorrow. And so we begin. Candidates, as we gather tonight in this very august theater, just outside and across the country, picketers are gathering as well. They're demanding an immediate hike in the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Just a few hours ago, near Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed doing the same for all state workers, the first governor to do so. Mr. Trump, as the leading presidential candidate on this stage and one whose tax plan exempts couples making up to $50,000 a year from paying any federal income taxes at all, are you sympathetic to the protesters cause since a $15 wage works out to about $31,000 a year? +p322 +aVSo do not raise the minimum wage? +p323 +aVDr. Carson, you have long bemoaned this lackluster recovery. And this Facebook map show Americans share your concern. The green represents how the jobs issue is resonating all across the nation, especially here in the state of Wisconsin. You suggested one minimum wage does not fit all, and that perhaps we should offer a lower or starter wage for young people. Those protesters outside are looking for $15 and nothing less. Where are you? +p324 +aVSo, sir, just to be clear, you would not raise it? +p325 +aVSenator Rubio, you called the recent Democratic debate in Las Vegas a night of giveaways, including free health care, free college and a host of other government-paid benefits. Since you aren't a fan of all they're giving away, tell us tonight what you would take back. +p326 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. +p327 +aVAll right. We're only just getting started. Coming up, your taxes. Stick around. You're watching FOX Business +p328 +aVWelcome back to the Milwaukee Theater and the Republican presidential debate. Let's get right back to our questions. Dr. Carson, to you. You recently railed against the double- standard in the media, sir, that seems obsessed with inconsistencies and potential exaggerations in your life story, but looked the other way when it came to then-Senator Barack Obama's. Still, as a candidate whose brand has always been trust, are you worried your campaign \u2014 which you've always said, sir, is bigger than you \u2014 is now being hurt by you? +p329 +aVI'll just forget that follow-up there. +p330 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p331 +aVAlright, thank you. We're going to take a break here. Coming up, a big issue many Americans are facing, taxes. The Republican Presidential Debate continues now, live, from Milwaukee. +p332 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from Milwaukee. Let's get back to the questions. And we want to touch on obviously one of the biggest of this issue in this year, taxes. And this will go to several of you. One of the biggest economic concerns of course in the country are taxes. Facebook data certainly backs that up. Once again the green on this map that we're going to see here shows how the conversation around taxes is resonating across the nation, especially here in Wisconsin. First off, Dr. Carson, to you. You say you are in favor of a tax system, I guess akin to tithing, sir, with a flat tax rate of up to 15 percent because you said, if everybody pays this, I think God is a pretty fair guy, so tithing is a pretty fair process. But Donald Trump says that is not fair. That wealthier taxpayers should pay a higher rate because it's a fair thing to do. So whose plan would God endorse then, Doctor? Yours or Mr. Trump's? +p333 +aVRight. +p334 +aVThank you very much. Senator Paul, you said you want to blow up the tax code and start over with an across-the-board 14.5 percent fair and flat tax. You happily offered that it is not revenue neutral and that's the idea. You want to choke off the amount of money coming into Washington. But don't you risk, sir, creating a near-term budget crisis just as your presidency would be beginning? +p335 +aVThere are no deductions on your \u2014 under your plan? +p336 +aVThank you, Senator. +p337 +aVSenator Paul... Senator Paul, you have already said, sir, that that would be a mistake in not talking to Vladimir Putin, or to rule it out. You've argued that it's never a good idea to close down communication. With that in mind, do you think the same applies to administration efforts right now to include the Iranians in talks on Syria? +p338 +aV...Well, then how would you respond? +p339 +aVBut if you're not going to respond in a no-fly zone strategy, what would yours be? +p340 +aVAll right. And look at the time, look at the time. You are watching FOX Business, we'll take a break. Stick around. +p341 +aVSenator Cruz \u2014 and I will get to you \u2014 but, Senator Cruz, on that theme, Facebook data shows that over the last month alone, nearly 1 million people \u2014 nearly 1 million \u2014 have been concerned about reining in Wall Street, apparently believing that some have not been punished enough. So, as an accomplished litigator yourself and a former solicitor general, would you go after the very people who believe and fear that Wall Street has ignored, in other words, the crooks that Bernie Sanders say have gotten away with a financial murder? +p342 +aVSenator......Senator, I really want to be clear here. Are you saying, sir, that if Bank of America were on the brink, you would let it fail? +p343 +aVSir, I understand that. I just want to be clear, if you don't mind, that millions of depositors would be on the line with that decision. And I just want to be clear. If it were to happen again, for whatever the reason, you would let it go, you would let a Bank of America go? +p344 +aVOK, I think it's fair to say you're not fans of Hillary Clinton's resume. Alright, Mr. Trump.... +p345 +aVI had a feeling. Perhaps the most successful capitalist on this stage tonight, you've acknowledged that some give capitalism a bad name. You've been particularly critical of businesses that find all sorts of ways of paying their taxes by keeping money abroad, but your own plan includes an incentive to bring \u2014 that more the $2 trillion dollars home. Isn't that, like, a one-time bounty... +p346 +aV...Some of the guys you all but call pirates, so they still keep the loot, and pay only a price to bring it back. +p347 +aV...Alright, gentlemen, I know you want to \u2014 and I want to, be we also promised to get people home tonight, and we are going to take a quick break here. I think it is fair to say at this juncture that you can discuss these issues, and only business issues, but still keep it interesting. Stick around for these candidates closing statements. +p348 +aVSenator Marco Rubio? +p349 +aVDr. Ben Carson? +p350 +aVDonald Trump? +p351 +aVCandidates, we want to thank you all. We also appreciate your helping save time by talking over one another at times. That was welcomed. But by all means, it was a very riveting debate. Business issues can be \u2014 can be riveting, because it wasn't about us, it's about them. +p352 +aVThat'll do it. Thank you for joining us. +p353 +asVBLITZER +p354 +(lp355 +VWelcome to the CNN-Facebook Republican presidential debate here at the Venetian Las Vegas. We have a very enthusiastic audience. Everyone is here. They're looking forward to a serious and spirited discussion about the security of this nation. I'm Wolf Blitzer, your moderator tonight. This debate is airing on CNN networks here in the United States and around the world, and on the Salem Radio Network. The nine leading candidates, they are here. Let's welcome them right now. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Businessman and real estate developer Donald Trump. Retired neurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. And Ohio Governor John Kasich. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome these Republican candidates for president of the United States. This is the final Republican debate before the election year begins, and we're taking a moment for the photographs of the candidates together on the stage. Now, everyone, please rise for the national anthem sung by Ayla Brown. +p356 +aVI know everyone is eager to get started. So, candidates, please take your places while I explain the ground rules for tonight. As moderator, I'll guide the discussion, and I'll be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt and CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. We also asked Republicans and independents nationwide to share their questions for the candidates. We teamed up with Facebook to send a campaign camper across the country over the past several weeks. Thousands of people stepped inside and recorded their questions on video. Millions more have weighed in on Facebook. Candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have a minute and 15 seconds to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you're singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know that we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. And as the candidates requested, a bell will sound like this. We know you are all eager to jump in and debate these important issues, so, please, wait until you're called on. These nine Republicans are positioned on stage based on their ranking in the recent polls, so let's begin right now. I'd like to invite each candidate to introduce himself or herself to our audience. You'll have one minute. First to you, Senator Paul. +p357 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p358 +aVGovernor Christie? +p359 +aVMs. Fiorina? +p360 +aVGovernor Bush? +p361 +aVSenator Rubio? +p362 +aVSenator Cruz. +p363 +aVDr. Carson. +p364 +aVMr. Trump. +p365 +aVThank you. Since you last debated, Americans have witnessed terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino. The FBI director says the country now faces the greatest terror threat since 9/11. You all have different approaches to keeping the country safe. And that will be the focus of tonight's debate. Mr. Trump, as you mentioned in your opening statement, part of your strategy is to focus in on America's borders. To keep the country safe, you say you want to temporarily ban non-American Muslims from coming to the United States; ban refugees fleeing +p366 +aVGovernor Bush, you called Mr. Trump "unhinged" when he proposed banning non-American Muslims from the United States. Why is that unhinged? +p367 +aVMr. Trump? +p368 +aVSenator Rubio \u2014 I'm going to go to Senator Rubio and get his thoughts. You have said banning Muslims is unconstitutional. But according to a recent ABC News-Washington Post poll, a majority of Republicans support Mr. Trump's idea. Why are they wrong? +p369 +aVHugh Hewitt, you have a question. +p370 +aVGovernor Christie, Americans are clearly more afraid today than at any time since 9/11. As you mentioned in your opening statement, today in Los Angeles, 650 schoolchildren didn't go to \u2014 650,000 schoolchildren didn't go to school because of an e-mail threat, this two weeks after an attack killed 14 people in San Bernardino. Is this the new normal? And if so, what steps would you take as president of the United States to ensure that fear does not paralyze America? +p371 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, one of the killers in San Bernardino was an American who was not on anyone's watch list. How are you going to find that radicalized person and stop another such attack? +p372 +aVThank you. Dana Bash, you have the next question. +p373 +aVThank you. Dr. Carson, you're in favor of monitoring mosques and schools where there is anti-America sentiment, what do you consider anti- America? +p374 +aVDr. Carson, who was right in that little debate that we just heard between Senator Rubio and Senator Paul? +p375 +aVHold on a sec, we have a lot more to come and everybody's going to have their full opportunity. Governor Bush, six days after 9/11 your brother visited a mosque and said quote, "Islam is peace." The conversation tonight is about banning Muslims and surveillance of mosques, are President Bush's words still relevant in today's Republican party? +p376 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you pointed out you were a CEO in Silicon Valley on 9/11. Companies there, they say they won't help the FBI now crack encrypted communication from +p377 +aVBut my question was: Should these Silicon Valley companies be forced to cooperate with the FBI? +p378 +aVMr. Trump, you recently suggested closing that Internet up, those were your words, as a way to stop +p379 +aVLet me follow up, Mr. Trump. So, are you open to closing parts of the Internet? +p380 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, is shutting down any part of the Internet a good idea? +p381 +aVThank you, Governor. The fight against radical Islamic terrorists and +p382 +aVThank you. To be clear, Senator Cruz, would you carpet bomb Raqqa, the +p383 +aVThank you. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you've been critical of Senator Cruz's strategy. You say his voting record doesn't match his rhetoric. Why? +p384 +aVBecause I asked the question, Senator, because you said this. You said he, referring to Senator Cruz, voted against the Defense Authorization Act every year that it came up, and I assume that if he voted against it, he would veto it as president. That's the bill that funds our troops. +p385 +aVSenator Cruz? +p386 +aVSenator Rubio. +p387 +aVWe are going to have much more on this... +p388 +aVWe're going to have much more on this. But I want to move now back to Mr. Trump. +p389 +aVHold on. Hold on. Hold on. +p390 +aVWe have a lot... +p391 +aVWe have a lot to discuss. I want to move to Mr. Trump right now. We have a question on this war against +p392 +aVMr. Trump. +p393 +aVGovernor Bush. Governor Bush. +p394 +aVMr. Trump. +p395 +aVJust one at a time, go ahead... +p396 +aVGo ahead, Mr. Trump. +p397 +aVGovernor Bush, please. +p398 +aVOne at a time. +p399 +aVGovernor Bush. +p400 +aVThank you. +p401 +aVAll right. Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash, Hugh, go ahead with the next question. +p402 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Rubio? Let's continue this conversation. This is a critically important issue. +p403 +aVWe will get to \u2014 we have a lot of time, Ms. Fiorina. I want to get to Senator Rubio right now. Let's talk about, one of the aspects of your strategy, you say the only way to defeat +p404 +aVThank you, Senator. Stand by. Ms. Fiorina, the former defense secretary, Bob Gates, says the chances of getting Sunni-Arab forces on the ground to get the job done, his words, "chances very remote." What's your strategy? +p405 +aVThank you. Governor Christie, what's your strategy? +p406 +aVDr. Carson, what is your strategy? +p407 +aVThank you. Everyone stand by. We're only just beginning. Coming up, which candidates on this stage tonight want to move foreign policy in a dramatically new direction? We'll be right back. +p408 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate here at the Venetian, Las Vegas. The war against +p409 +aVThank you. +p410 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you supported the removal of Moammar Gadhafi in Libya. Now that country is in turmoil, as +p411 +aVSenator Cruz? +p412 +aVStandby. Everybody standby for a moment. Governor Kasich, go ahead. +p413 +aVThank you. +p414 +aVWe're going to talk about Assad in a moment. Mr. Trump, are Americans safer with dictators running the world in the Middle East? +p415 +aVThank you. Mr. Trump? +p416 +aVAll right. +p417 +aVThank you. +p418 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East... +p419 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East better off with dictators? +p420 +aVGovernor Bush. +p421 +aVHold on Governor Bush., here's the question. You said, "getting rid of Saddam Hussein in your words was a pretty good deal." In light of what has happened in Iraq, do you still feel that way? +p422 +aVSenator Paul, was getting rid of Saddam Hussein a pretty good deal? +p423 +aVThank you. Hugh Hewitt, go ahead. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hugh. +p424 +aVSenator, Senator, we're going to get to you. Wait your turn. We have two hours of debate. We'll have plenty of time. Let Hugh ask his question. +p425 +aVSenator, please. +p426 +aVSenator... +p427 +aVYou'll have plenty of opportunity. Hugh, go ahead. +p428 +aVThese are the rules all of you agreed to. Hugh, go ahead with your question. +p429 +aVLet's continue with Russia right now. We have another question from Facebook. Listen and watch. +p430 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you know, U.S. and Russian warplanes are flying all over Syria right now. With so many lives on the line, is this a good time for the United States not to talk to Putin? +p431 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Christie, if the U.S. imposed a no-fly zone over Syria and a Russian plane encroached, invaded that no-fly zone, would you be prepared to shoot down that Russian plane and risk war with Russia? +p432 +aVSenator Paul \u2014 Senator Paul, I want you to respond to what we just heard from Governor Christie. If there was a no-fly zone, you say that potentially could lead to World War III. Why? +p433 +aVGovernor Christie? +p434 +aVAll right, let's go back \u2014 Hugh and Dana? +p435 +aVOne at a time. Hugh, go ahead. +p436 +aVGovernor, thank you very much. So, Dr. Carson, you recently visited a refugee camp in Jordan and you deemed it your words, "really quite nice." Saying the people there didn't want to come to the United States. Do you think these camps are a long-term solution of the problem of Syrian refugees? +p437 +aVSenator Paul, you oppose letting in Syrian refugees at this time into the United States. The U.S. has already accepted 2,000 Syrian refugees, including 13 living here in Las Vegas right now. Would you send them back? What would you do with these people? +p438 +aVSenator Rubio? +p439 +aVSenator Paul, you didn't answer the question about the 2,000 Syrian refugees who are already here in the United States. Will you send them back or let them stay? +p440 +aVWe have another \u2014 we have another question. We have another question from Facebook. Let's listen. +p441 +aVGovernor Christie, you say there should be a pause in allowing new refugees to come into the United States, including orphans under the age of five. What do you say to Carla? +p442 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p443 +aVThank you, Governor. There is much more coming up. We are only just beginning. Coming up, what other global hot spots await the next president of the United States. +p444 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate. We're here at the Venetian Las Vegas. Tonight we have been focusing on the Middle East, but let's turn to some other world threats that you will potentially face as Commander in Chief. Ms. Fiorina, candidates here have called the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un a maniac who is mentally unstable. Last week he said he now has a hydrogen bomb. If you were elected president, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p445 +aVDr. Carson, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p446 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Dana and Hugh you have questions as well. +p447 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Some of you on this stage have questioned whether your opponents have temperament, the right temperament, to be in control of the nuclear codes. Dana, you have a question on this? +p448 +aVThank you, senator. Thank you. +p449 +aVThank you, Senator. +p450 +aVThank you, Senator. We're a month and a half away now from the first real test who will be the Republican presidential nominee. Hugh, you have a question? +p451 +aVAll right. Candidates, we have more coming up. When we come back, everyone will have an opportunity to explain why this particular candidate, each of you on the stage, believes he or she should be the Republican presidential nominee. +p452 +aVNow it's time for the closing statements from the candidates. Each one has 30 seconds. Senator Paul. +p453 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p454 +aVGovernor Christie. +p455 +aVMs. Fiorina. +p456 +aVGovernor Bush. +p457 +aVSenator Rubio. +p458 +aVSenator Cruz. +p459 +aVDr. Carson. +p460 +aVThanks to all the Republican presidential candidates. That does it for this Republican presidential debate. +p461 +asVFIORINA +p462 +(lp463 +VLike all of you I'm angry. I'm angry at what's happening to our nation. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. Bombastic insults wont take it back. Political rhetoric that promises a lot and delivers little, won't take it back. All of our problems can be solved. All of our wounds can be healed by a tested leader who is willing to fight for the character of our nation. I have been tested. I have beaten breast cancer. I have buried a child. I started as a secretary. I fought my way to the top of corporate America while being called every B word in the book. I fought my way into this election and on to this debate stage while all the political insiders and the pundits told, "it couldn't be done." I've been told, "no,: all my life. And all my life, I've refused to accept no as an answer. Citizens, it is time to take our country back from the political class, from the media, from the liberal elite. It can be done, it must be done, join me and we will get it done. +p464 +aVWhat I think we need to stand for are solutions. I offer myself as a leader to the people of this country because I think they're looking for solutions, not lawyers arguing over laws or entertainers throwing out sound bites that draw media attention. We need to solve the problem. To solve the problem, we need to do something here at home and something over there in their caliphate. We need to deny them territory. But here at home, we need to do two fundamental things. Number one, we need to recognize that technology has moved on. The Patriot Act was signed in 2001, roughly. The iPhone was invented in 2007. The iPad was invented in 2011. Snapchat and Twitter, all the rest of it, have been around just for several years. Technology has moved on, and the terrorists have moved on with it. Let me tell you a story. Soon after 9/11, I got a phone call from the NSA. They needed help. I gave them help. I stopped a truckload of equipment. I had it turned around. It was escorted by the NSA into headquarters. We need the private sector's help, because government is not innovating. Technology is running ahead by leaps and bound. The private sector will help, just as I helped after 9/11. But they must be engaged, and they must be asked. I will ask them. I know them. +p465 +aVYou know, listening to this conversation, let me just say, we have a lot of argument about laws but none of it solves the problem. Let's examine what happened, why did we miss the Tsarnaev brothers, why did we miss the San Bernardino couple? It wasn't because we had stopped collected metadata it was because, I think, as someone who comes from the technology world, we were using the wrong algorithms. This is a place where the private sector could be helpful because the government is woefully behind the technology curve. But secondly, the bureaucratic processes that have been in place since 9/11 are woefully inadequate as well. What do we now know? That DHS vets people by going into databases of known or suspected terrorists. And yet, we also know that +p466 +aVThey do not need to be forced. They need to be asked to bring the best and brightest, the most recent technology to the table. I was asked as a CEO. I complied happily. And they will as well. But they have not been asked. That's why it cost billions of dollars to build an Obama website that failed because the private sector wasn't asked. +p467 +aVI hope at some point you're going to ask me my strategy. +p468 +aVWell, first I'll just point out that talking tough is not the same as being strong. And to wage war, we need a commander in chief who has made tough calls in tough times and stood up to be held accountable over and over, not first-term senators who've never made an executive decision in their life. One of the things I would immediately do, in addition to defeating them here at home, is bring back the warrior class \u2014 Petraeus, McChrystal, Mattis, Keane, Flynn. Every single one of these generals I know. Every one was retired early because they told President Obama things that he didn't want to hear. We must have Sunni-Arabs involved in this coalition. We must commit leadership, strength, support and resolve. I'll just add that Margaret Thatcher once said, "If you want something talked about, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman." +p469 +aVThat is exactly what President Obama said. I'm amazed to hear that from a republican presidential candidate. But let's just start with, who got it wrong? Who really got it wrong? Hillary Clinton has gotten every foreign policy challenge wrong. Hitting the reset button with Vladimir Putin \u2013 recall that she called Bashar Al-Assad a positive reformer and then she opened an embassy and then later she said, over, and over, and over again, "Bashar Al-Assad must go." Although she wasn't prepared to do anything about it. Recall that Hillary Clinton was all for toppling Gadhafi then didn't listen to her own people on the ground. And then of course, when she lied about the terrorist attack in Benghazi, she invited more terrorist attacks. +p470 +aVWe've mismanaged going into Iraq. +p471 +aVWe've mismanaged going out of Iraq. +p472 +aVWe actually... +p473 +aVI didn't say I would cut off all communication with Putin. What I said was as president of the United States, now is not the time to talk with him. Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. There is a time and a place for everything. There is a time and a place for talk. And there is a time and a place for action. I know Vladimir Putin. He respects strength. He lied to our president's face; didn't both to tell him about warplanes and troops going into Syria. We need to speak to him from a position of strength. So as commander in chief, I will not speak to him until we've set up that no-fly zone; until we've gathered our Sunni-Arab allies and begun to deny +p474 +aVThis doesn't do a thing to solve the problems...It doesn't do a thing to solve the problems. +p475 +aVIt will not solve the problem. +p476 +aVLadies and gentleman, this is why the American people are standing up. +p477 +aVThis is why the nation is fed up... +p478 +aVWe have been talking about this... +p479 +aVSorry, but you haven't gotten to me. This is why... +p480 +aVthe people are fed up with the political class. +p481 +aVWell, first, Kim Jong-Un is a dangerous leader, without a doubt. And both Republican and Democrat administrations have been completely ineffective in dealing with him. So we must continue to isolate him. We will need China as part of that strategy. China is a rising adversary. So one of the things we have to do if we want China's support is to push back on China. They, too, recognize one thing \u2014 strength and their own economic interest. I have done business in China for 25 years, so I know that in order to get China to cooperate with us, we must first actually retaliate against their cyber-attacks so they know we're serious. We have to push back on their desire to control the trade route through the South China Sea through which flows $5 trillion worth of goods and services every year. We cannot let them control the disputed islands, and we must work with the Australians, the South Koreans, the Japanese and the Filipinos to contain China. And then we must ask for their support and their help with North Korea. Because believe it or not, China is as concerned about Kim Jong-Un as we are. +p482 +aVI too remember September 11th. I remember immediately putting into place security procedures all throughout our company that did business in 170 countries where we thought corporate interests would be attacked next. To take our country back, to keep our nation safe, we have to begin by beating Hillary Clinton. We need to unify our party. We need to better than our government, which 75 percent of the American people now think is corrupt and incompetent. They're right. We need to better than our politics. 80 percent think we have a professional/political class of both parties that cares more about its power, position and privilege than actually on getting anything done. We need to unify our party, we need a real Conservative in the White House, and we need to beat Hillary Clinton to take our country back and keep our nation safe. I can. I am. And together, if you join me, we will take our country back. +p483 +aVWell, first of all, I must say as I think about that question, I think about a woman I met the other day. I would guess she was 40 years old. She had several children. And she said to me, you know, Carly, I go to bed every night afraid for my children's future. And that really struck me. This is America. A mother is going to bed afraid for her children's future. And the reason she's afraid for her children's future is because we've had problems for a long time. Yes, problems have gotten much worse under Democrats. But the truth is, this government has been growing bigger and bigger, more corrupt, less effective, crushing the engine of economic growth for a very long time. This isn't about just replacing a Democrat with a Republican now. It's about actually challenging the status quo of big government. Big government has created a big business called politics. And there are lots of people invested in the status quo of that big business called politics. Specifically, we need actually to do five things to really get this economy going again. We need to go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dollar is being spent, we can challenge any dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. We need to actually reform the tax code. Go to a three-page tax code. Yes, there are plans that would reform our tax code to three pages. In addition to rolling back what President Obama has done, we need to do a top-to-bottom review of every single regulation on the books. That hasn't been done in 50 years. We need to pass the +p484 +aVWell, first Obamacare has to be repealed because it's failing... ...it's failing the very people it was intended to help, but, also, it is croney-capitalism at its worst. Who helped write this bill? Drug companies, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, every single one of those kinds of companies are bulking up to deal with big government. See, that's what happens. As government gets bigger, and bigger \u2014 and it has been for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike \u2014 and business have to bulk up to deal with big government. So, we have to repeal it. It's tens of thousands of pages long, no one can possible understand it except the big companies, the lawyers, the accountants, the lobbyists that they hire to protect their interests. Then, we have to give back to states the responsibility to manage a high risk pool. We need to try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried. Health insurance has always been a cozy, little game between regulators and health insurance companies. We need to try the free market. The free market. Where people actually have to compete. And, we 'ought to have the government ensure that you must \u2014 and I don't use that term often, that government 'ought to do something, but every healthcare provider 'ought to publish its costs, its prices, its outcomes, because as patients we don't know what we're buying. Now, let me just say \u2014 let me just say, I know more about innovation and entrepreneurship than anyone on this panel because I have led innovative businesses in the most highly competitive industry in the world for decades. The truth is the secret sauce of America is innovation, and entrepreneurship, it is why we must cut our government down to size, and hold it accountable. It's why we have to take our government back, because innovation and entrepreneurship is crushed by the crushing load of a 73,000 page tax code. It is crushed... ...by regulatory thicket that is so vast we don't even know what's in it anymore. It is crushed as well by government bureaucrats who don't do their jobs very well, and who are not held accountable, which is why I've said we got to take our government back, and to do that, we have to know where every dollar being spent, and be able to move any dollar. We have to hack through this regulatory thicket, repeal so much, but, also, know what's in that regulatory thicket \u2014 we don't even know what regulations have been passed. Third, we need to build a meritocracy \u2014 Scott Walker, by the way, is trying now to do in Wisconsin... ...Finally, we need to get to a three page tax code, and, yes, that plan exists. +p485 +aVSorry, I can't hear you. +p486 +aV...Absolutely... +p487 +aV...You need to give... +p488 +aVThe alternative is to allow states to manage high risk pools for those who really need help. Look, I'm a cancer survivor, OK? I understand that you cannot have someone who's battled cancer just become known as a pre-existing condition. I understand that you cannot allow families to go bankrupt if they truly need help. But, I also understand that Obamacare isn't helping anyone. We're throwing more, and more people into Medicaid, and fewer, and fewer doctors are taking those payments. The point is Obamacare is crushing small businesses, it is not helping the families it was intended to help. So, let us allow states to manage high risk pools. Let us try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried, the free market. Let us ensure that as patients, and customers... +p489 +aV...that we have information to shop wisely for our health care. +p490 +aV...Yes, the middle ground is this... +p491 +aV...This is why \u2014 this is why we must combine, actually, zero-based budgeting with tax reform because unless we can examine, and cut, and move, every single dollar of discretionary spending in the federal government, we cannot reform taxes and reduce spending at the same time. Ask yourself this question, how is it possible that the federal government gets more money each and every year, which the federal government has been doing, receiving more money every year for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike, and yet, never has enough money to do the important things? The answer? All the money's always spoken for. All the money's spoken for. So, we have to go to zero-based budgeting, which is a simple idea \u2014 by the way, there's been a bill for zeros-based (ph) budgeting... ...It exists, it can be voted on. Every dollar must be examined. Any dollar can be cut. Any dollar can be cut, any dollar can be moved. We have to go to a three page tax code. You lower every rate, you close every loophole, why? Because the government uses the tax code to decide winners, and losers. You have to strip the corruption out of the tax code to pay for it. You have to know where every single dollar is being spent... +p492 +aV...Cut where you need to, and invest where you need to... +p493 +aV...The two go hand in hand... +p494 +aVYou know, Mr. Trump fancies himself a very good negotiator. And, I accept that he's done a lot of good deals, so, Mr. Trump 'ought to know that we should not speak to people from a position of weakness. Senator Paul should know that as well. One of the reasons I've said that I would not be talking to Vladimir Putin right now, although I have met him as well, not in a green room for a show, but in a private meeting. One of the reasons I've said I wouldn't be talking to Vladimir Putin right now is because we are speaking to him from a position of weakness brought on by this administration, so, I wouldn't talk to him for awhile, but, I would do this. I would start rebuilding the Sixth Fleet right under his nose, rebuilding the military \u2014 the missile defense program in Poland right under his nose. I would conduct very aggressive military exercises in the Baltic States so that he understood we would protect our +p495 +aV...we have the strongest military on the face of the planet, and everyone has to know it. +p496 +aV...Ronald Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. +p497 +aV...he walked away, he quit talks... +p498 +aV...when it was time to quit talking... +p499 +aVCan I just \u2014 could I just say, as a chief executive who's had to make tough calls to save jobs and to grow jobs, I think what's interesting about Dodd-Frank is it's a great example of how socialism starts. Socialism starts when government creates a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. Government created the problem. Government created the problem of a real estate boom. How did we create it? Under Republican and Democrats alike, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, everybody gathered together, Republicans and Democrats, and said, "home ownership is part of the American dream. Let's create a bubble," and then government stepped in \u2014 by the way, under president George W. Bush, banks were told \u2014 encouraged \u2014 told, really \u2014 to buy other banks, to take money. And now what do we have with Dodd-Frank? The classic of crony capitalism. The big have gotten bigger, 1,590 community banks have gone out of business, and on top of all that, we've created something called the Consumer Financial Production Bureau, a vast bureaucracy with no congressional oversight that's digging through hundreds of millions of your credit records to detect fraud. This is how socialism starts, ladies and gentlemen. We must take our government back. +p500 +aVImagine a Clinton presidency. Our military will continue to deteriorate. Our veterans will not be cared for. And, no, Mrs. Clinton, that situation is not exaggerated. The rich will get richer. The poor will get poorer. The middle class will continue to get crushed. And as bad as that picture is, what's even worse is that a Clinton presidency will corrode the character of this nation. Why? Because of the Clinton way: Say whatever you have to, lie as long as you can get away with it. We must beat Hillary Clinton. Carly Fiorina can beat Hillary Clinton. I will beat Hillary Clinton. And under a President Fiorina, we will restore the character of this nation, the security of this nation, the prosperity of this nation, because as citizens, we will take our government back. +p501 +aVWell, gee, after the last debate, I was told that I didn't smile enough. +p502 +aVBut I also think that these are very serious times; 75 percent of the American people think the federal government is corrupt. I agree with them. And this big powerful, corrupt bureaucracy works now only for the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected. Meantime, wages have stagnated for 40 years. We have more Americans out of work or just Americans who quit looking for work for 40 years. Ours was intended to be a citizen government. This is about more than replacing a D with an R. We need a leader who will help us take our government back. +p503 +aVLet me just say on taxes, how long have we been talking about tax reform in Washington, D.C.? We have been talking about it for decades. We now have a 73,000-page tax code. There have been more than 4,000 changes to the tax plan since 2001 alone. There are loads of great ideas, great conservative ideas from wonderful think tanks about how to reform the tax code. The problem is we never get it done. We have talked about tax reform in every single election for decades. It never happens. And the politicians always say it is so complicated, nobody but a politician can figure it out. The truth is this, the big problem, we need a leader in Washington who understands how to get something done, not to talk about it, not to propose it, to get it done. +p504 +aVThat's right, three pages. +p505 +aVYou know why three? +p506 +aVNo. You know why three? Because only if it's about three pages are you leveling the playing field between the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected who can hire the armies of lawyers and accountants and, yes, lobbyists to help them navigate their way through 73,000 pages. Three pages is about the maximum that a single business owner or a farmer or just a couple can understand without hiring somebody. Almost 60 percent of American people now need to hire an expert to understand their taxes. So yes, you're going to hear a lot of talk about tax reform \u2014 +p507 +aV\u2014 the issue is who is going to get it done. +p508 +aVYou know, the +p509 +aVWell, this is one of the reasons why Tom Perkins and I had disagreements in the boardroom, Becky. Nevertheless, one of the things that I think people don't always understand is how accountable a CEO actually is. So you know, I had to report results every 90 days in excruciating detail. I had to answer every single question about every single result and every single projection in public until there were no more questions. And if I misrepresented those results or those projections in any way, I was held criminally liable. Imagine \u2014 imagine \u2014 if a politician were held to that standard of account. I will run on my record all day long. And I believe people need a leader who is prepared to make tough calls in tough times and stand up... +p510 +aV...and be held accountable. +p511 +aVYou know, I want to go back for a moment to what we were just talking about. Crony capitalism is alive and well, and has been so in Washington, D.C. for decades. What's crony capitalism? Crony capitalism is what happens when government gets so big and so powerful that only the big and the powerful can handle it. So why are the pharmaceutical companies consolidating? Why are there five even bigger Wall Street banks now, instead of the ten we used to have on Wall Street? Because when government gets big and powerful, the big feel like they need to get even bigger to deal with all that power, and meanwhile, the small and the powerless \u2014 in this case, 1,590 community banks \u2014 go out of business. You see, folks, this is how socialism starts. Government causes a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. This is why, fundamentally, we have to take our government back. The student loan problem has been created by government. Government trying to level the playing field between Internet and brick-and-mortar creates a problem. The FCC jumping in now and saying, "we're going to put 400 pages of regulation over the Internet," is going to create massive problems. But guess who pushed for that regulation? The big Internet companies. This is what's going on. Big and powerful use big and powerful government to their advantage. It's why you see Walgreens buying Rite Aid. It's why you see the pharmaceuticals getting together. It's you see the health insurance companies getting together. It's why you see the banks consolidating. And meanwhile, small businesses are getting crushed. Community- based businesses and farms are getting crushed. Community banks are going out of business. Big government favors the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected, and crushes the small and the powerless. +p512 +aVIt is why we have to simplify. It is why we have to reduce the size and power of government. +p513 +aVIt's the only way to level the playing field between big and powerful and small and powerless. +p514 +aVBecky, it is the height of hypocrisy for Mrs. Clinton to talk about being the first woman President, when every single policy she espouses, and every single policy of President Obama has been demonstrably bad for women. 92 percent \u2014 92 percent of the jobs lost during Barack Obama's first term belonged to women. Senator Cruz is precisely right. Three million women have fallen into poverty under this administration. The number of women \u2014 +p515 +aV\u2014 living in extreme poverty is the highest level on record. I am a conservative because I know our values, our principles and our policies \u2014 +p516 +aV\u2014 work better to lift everyone up, men and women. +p517 +aVNo, the Federal Government should not play a larger role. Look, every time the Federal Government gets engaged in something it gets worse. And then the Government steps in to try and solve the problem and we get a little further down to that progressive vision that Hillary Clinton is talking about. Companies should, if they want to attract the best workers, provide a good set of benefits. But honestly, if you're a small business owner today you are being crushed. We have 400,000 small businesses forming every year in this country. How great is that? They are employing themselves, they are potentially employing others. The bad news is, we have 470,000 going out of business every year. And why? They cite Obamacare. They are refusing to... +p518 +aVI think it's a wonderful that that businesses start a 401(k). The point I'm making is this, the Federal Government should not be in a lot of things. There is no Constitutional role for the Federal Government in setting up \u2014 retirement plans. There is no Constitutional role for the Federal Government to be setting minimum wages... +p519 +aV... The more the Government gets engaged in the economy, the slower the economy becomes. The more the Government gets engaged in the economy, it is demonstrably true... +p520 +aV... The more the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected are advantaged. +p521 +aVJohn, I \u2014 if I \u2014 a lot of people have jumped in here. I'd like to jump in. A lot of people have jumped in here. +p522 +aVI understand. +p523 +aVI would just say that... ... I would just say this, we've heard a lot of great ideas up here, and I agree with what Senator Rubio said. Every election we talk about this. Every election we talk about Medicare and Social Security reform. It never happens. I would like to start with a basic. Let us actually go to zero- based budgeting so we know where the money is being spent. It's kind of basic. There is a bill sitting in the House that would actually pass and have us go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dime of your money is being spent instead of only talking about how much more we're going to spend year after year after year. My point is this. While there are lots of good ideas for reform, we have never tackled the basics. And we finally need to tackle the basics to cut this government down to size and hold it accountable. So let's start by knowing where your money is being spent by the federal government. +p524 +aVYou know, every election we hear a lot of talk. We hear a lot of good plans. We hear actually a lot of good intentions. But somehow for decades, nothing really has changed. What we need now is a proven leader who has produced results. That's how you go from secretary to CEO. You lead and you produce results. I will cut this government down to size and hold it accountable, simplify the tax code, roll back the regulations that have been spewing out of Washington, D.C. for 50 years. I may not be your dream candidate just yet, but I can assure you I am Hillary Clinton's worst nightmare. And in your heart of hearts, you cannot wait to see a debate between Hillary Clinton and Carly Fiorina. I will tell you this, I will beat Hillary Clinton. And with your vote and your support and your prayers, I will lead with the citizens of this great nation the resurgence of this great nation. +p525 +asVBUSH +p526 +(lp527 +VOur freedom is under attack. Our economy is under water. The leading democrat is under investigation. And America is under the gun to lead the free world to protect our civilized way of life. Serious times require strong leadership, that's what at stake right now. Regarding national security, we need to restore the defense cuts of Barack Obama to rebuild our military, to destroy +p528 +aVWell, first of all, we need to destroy +p529 +aVLook, he mentioned me. I can bring \u2014 I can talk. This is \u2014 this is the problem. Banning all Muslims will make it harder for us to do exactly what we need to do, which is to destroy +p530 +aVThey are relevant if we want to destroy +p531 +aVDonald, this has got... +p532 +aVThis is another example of the lack of seriousness. Look, this is \u2014 this is troubling because we're at war. They've declared war on us and we need to have a serious strategy to destroy +p533 +aVYou said on September 30th that +p534 +aVI'm talking right now. I'm talking. +p535 +aVSeptember 30th you said... +p536 +aVA little of your own medicine there, Donald. +p537 +aVDonald, you're not going to be able to insult your way to the presidency. That's not going to happen. And I do have the strength. Leadership, leadership is not about attacking people and disparaging people. Leadership is about creating a serious strategy to deal with the threat of our time. And I laid out that strategy before the attacks in Paris and before the attacks in San Bernardino. And it is the way forward. We need to increase our military spending. We need to deal with a no- fly zone in Syria, a safe zone. We need to focus on building a military that is second-to-none... +p538 +aV... so that we can destroy Islamic terrorism. +p539 +aVI think we're focusing a whole... +p540 +aVI do. I think the lesson's learned are that we have to have to have a strategy to get and a strategy to get out. Which means, that you create a stable situation. This president and this is what the focus ought to be, it's not the differences between us, it's Barack Obama does not believe America's leadership in the world is a force for good. He does not believe that our strength is a place where security can take place. He leads from behind. He creates an environment that now we're creating the most unstable situation we've had since the World War II era. The focus ought to be on the single fact that Hillary Clinton wants to double down on a failed foreign policy and we need to be united to defeat that because we're going to be in a place that is far less secure than it is today. Don't you all agree? +p541 +aVBecause I \u2014 first of all, I know what I don't know. I know what I don't know. I would seek out, as I have, the best advice that exists. I won't get my information from the shows. I don't know if that's Saturday morning or Sunday morning. I don't know which one. I will seek out the best advice, and I will create a strategy and I will persuade the American people what the role of America should be. I've laid out a policy of rebuilding our military. All of the talk that we're seeing here \u2014 most of which I agree on, frankly \u2014 requires a much stronger military. We now have a lack of readiness that is quite scary. We have planes that were \u2014 that Harry Truman inaugurated, the B-52. We have \u2014 the Navy has been gutted and decimated. The readiness of the Marines is way down. If we're serious about America's leadership in the world, then we need to make sure that we have the back of the armed forces. The Armed Forces Radio is here listening to this today. I hope they know that if I'm president, I'll be a commander-in-chief, not an agitator- in-chief or a divider-in-chief, that I will lead this country in a way that will create greater security and greater safety. +p542 +aVSo I was \u2014 I was \u2014 I was mentioned, so I can bring up something, I think, right? Look, the simple fact is, if you think this is tough you're not being treated fairly... +p543 +aV... imagine what it's going to be like dealing with Putin or dealing with President Xi. +p544 +aVOr dealing with the Islamic terrorism that exists. +p545 +aVThis is a tough business to run for president. +p546 +aVAnd it's \u2014 and we need...... to have a leader that is... +p547 +aVYou're never going to be president of the United States by insulting your way to the presidency. +p548 +aVDoesn't matter. Doesn't matter. +p549 +aVYes. +p550 +aVNo it isn't but it is an important subject to talk about for sure. And I think people have good ideas on this. Clearly, we need to secure the border. Coming here legally needs to be a lot easier than coming here illegally. If you don't have that, you don't have the rule of law. We now have a national security consideration, public health issues, we have an epidemic of heroine overdoses in all places in this country because of the ease of bringing heroine in. We have to secure the border. It is a serious undertaking and yes, we do need more fencing and we do need to use technology, and we do need more border control. And we need to have better cooperation by the way with local law enforcement. There are 800,000 cops on the beat, they ought to be trained to be the eyes and ears for law enforcement for the threat against terror as well as for immigration. This is a serious challenge and if we can get it right, yes, we'll start winning votes again. The real problem isn't anybody on this stage, the real problem is Barack Obama has had six years to advocate a position to fix this and he's done nothing. The congress has funded these programs of building more fencing and doing all this and he hasn't done it. He wants to maintain it as a wedge issue and so does Hillary Clinton. Republicans need to fix it and when we do, we'll be better off. +p551 +aVI completely agree with Chris. And this administration has been so lax. Think about it. Hillary Clinton is using a private server for \u2014 where classified information go by. This is a \u2014 this is a serious administration? The president receives an inspector general's report that the Office of Personnel Management could be hacked into; they had antiquated firewalls; 23 million files have been \u2014 are in the hands of the Chinese allegedly, including, by the way, members of the press, it turns out, last week. Maybe that's the only part that's good news, so that you guys can get a feel for what it's like now to see this type of attack. This is something \u2014 we have to have the best defensive capabilities. We need to coordinate all of our efforts with the private sector. We need to give them liability relief so that we can do that. And offensively, we need to have capabilities second to none. We need to create a situation where they know that there will be adverse impacts if they continue to do what they're doing. They'll respect that. They'll respect a United States that is serious about protecting our \u2014 our infrastructure. If we don't do it, we'll continue to see what's \u2014 exactly what's happening, not just from the Chinese, by the way. The Russians and rogue actors, including +p552 +aVAsk yourself, which candidate will keep you and our country safer, stronger and freer? Hillary Clinton has aligned herself with Barack Obama on +p553 +aVYou've already made two comments, John. It's my turn. +p554 +aVI got about four minutes in the last debate. I'm going to get my question right now. +p555 +aVYes. +p556 +aVFirst of all, we could get to 4 percent growth. The new normal of 2 percent puts huge demands on government. The reason why we have structural deficits is that more and more people are relying on government and the growth that we don't have makes \u2014 makes the deficit grow. A 4 percent growth strategy starts with tax reform. And the proposal that I've laid out is the one the Wall Street Journal editorial board has said is the most pro-growth of all the proposals out there. We cut the \u2014 we eliminate a lot of deductions and cut the rates down. A corporate rate of 20 percent, which puts us 5 percent above \u2014 below that of China, and allows us full expensing of investing. It would create an explosion of investment back into this country, creating higher-wage jobs, and so that's part of it. On the regulatory side I think we need to repeal every rule that Barack Obama has in terms of work in progress, every one of them. And start over. For those that are already in existence, the regulation of the Internet, we have to start over, but we ought to do that. The clean power act, we ought to repeal that and \u2014 and start over on that. The waters of the United States act, which is going to be devastating for agriculture and many industries, we should repeal that. We should repeal the rules because the economic costs of this far exceed the social benefit. And if we're serious about being serious about high growth, then we have to recognize that small businesses right now, more of them are closing than \u2014 than are \u2014 than are being set up. Hillary Clinton has said that Barack Obama's policies get an A. Really? One in 10 people right now aren't working or have given up altogether, as you said. That's not an A. One in seven people are living in poverty. That's not an A. One in five children are on food stamps. That is not an A. It may be the best that Hillary Clinton can do, but it's not the best America can do. +p557 +aVThank you, Donald, for allowing me to speak at the debate. That's really nice of you. Really appreciate that. What a generous man you are. Twelve million illegal immigrants, to send them back, 500,000 a month, is just not \u2014 not possible. And it's not embracing American values. And it would tear communities apart. And it would send a signal that we're not the kind of country that I know America is. And even having this conversation sends a powerful signal \u2014 they're doing high-fives in the Clinton campaign right now when they hear this. That's the problem with this. We have to win the presidency. And the way you win the presidency is to have practical plans. Lay them out there. What we need to do is allow people to earn legal status where they pay a fine, where they work, where they don't commit crimes, where they learn English, and over an extended period of time, they earn legal status. That's the path \u2014 a proper path... +p558 +aVI'm gonna fight as hard as I can to make sure that we shift power away from Washington, simplify the tax code, to spur economic activity in this country. Of course it's the highest priority. If we don't do that, we're stuck with the "new normal" of 2 percent growth. Hillary Clinton says, basically, we just gotta get used to it. Two percent growth means declining income for the middle class. It means more than 6 million people are stuck in poverty than the day that Barack Obama was inaugurated. It means \u2014 it means more demands on government \u2014 growing the economy is the first job, if we're going to be serious about dealing with the deficit and debt. And more importantly, people are really struggling right now. In this economy, the disposable income of the great middle is down 2,300 bucks. So yeah, we've created jobs, your \u2014 argue (ph) \u2014 brought that up early, and it was a good question. Jobs are being created, but they're lower-income jobs than the jobs that were lost. And the net effect of this is we need to jump-start the economy. I think of Jonathan (ph) and Reagan Love (ph), who are supporters of mine. Jonathan has been deployed by the National Guard, he is \u2014 he's in Oklahoma. Reagan Love \u2014 by the way, pretty great name, I think \u2014 is a teacher. When \u2014 if they had this tax cut, what they told me was that that $2,300 of money in their pocket \u2014 they would go back to South Carolina and start a business. Imagine what it would be like, instead of having more businesses closed than started, we had it the exact opposite. We would grow our economy, and the government would get the revenue necessary to make things \u2014 make things better. Hillary Clinton's approach to this is more top-down, more regulation, more taxes, more government, and it will destroy our economy. +p559 +aVIt is \u2014 I'd say it is Islamic terrorism, and, back to the question of what we are dealing with in Iraq, when we pull back voids are filled. That's the lesson of history, and, sadly, this president does not believe in American leadership. He does not believe it, and the net result is that we have a caliphate the size of Indiana that gains energy each and everyday to recruit Americans in our own country, and the threat to the homeland relates to the fact that we have not dealt with this threat of terror in the Middle East. We should have a no fly zone in Syria. We should have a support for the remnants of the Syrian Free Army, and create safe zones. If you want to deal with the four million refugees that are leaving Syria because of the devastation there, then we 'ought to create safe zones for them to stay in the region rather than go to Europe. And, that requires American leadership. Without American leadership every other country in the neighborhood beings to change their priorities. It is tragic that you see Iraq, and other countries now talking to Russia. It wasn't that long ago that Russia had no influence in the region at all. And, so, the United States needs to lead across the board. This president, and Hillary Clinton both do not believe the United States has a leadership role to play, and we're now paying a price, and it will have a huge impact on the economy of this country if we don't deal with this. +p560 +aV...They're not doing that... +p561 +aV +p562 +aVDonald \u2014 Donald's wrong on this. He is absolutely wrong on this. We're not going to be the world's policeman, but we sure as heck better be the world's leader. That's \u2014 there's a huge difference where, without us leading... ...voids are filled, and the idea that it's a good idea for Putin to be in Syria, let +p563 +aVWe're not \u2014 we shouldn't have another financial crisis. What we ought to do is raise the capital requirements so banks aren't too big to fail. Dodd-Frank has actually done the opposite, totally the opposite, where banks now have higher concentration of risk in assets and the capital requirements aren't high enough. If we were serious about it, we would raise the capital requirements and lessen the load on the community banks and other financial institutions. This vast overreach has created a huge problem for our country, and Hillary Clinton wants to double down on that. I was in Washington, Iowa, about three months ago talking about how bad Washington, D.C., is. It was \u2014 get the \u2014 kind of the \u2014 anyway. We had... It \u2014 and I talked to a banker there. This is a bank that had $125 million of assets, four branches. Their compliance costs because of Dodd-Frank went from $100,000 to $600,000 in a two-year period. The net effect of that is \u2014 and they had \u2014 they had not one loan that went bad during the financial crisis. They knew \u2014 they knew their borrowers. They gave back to the community. They were engaged in the community. And imagine America without its community banks. Well, that's what's happening because of Dodd-Frank. That's \u2014 that's my worry. My worry is that the real economy has been hurt by the vast overreach of the Obama administration. And Hillary Clinton, she wants to double down on that. She wants to create even more so. She is a captive of the left of her party to the point now where she is \u2014 she was for the trade agreement in \u2014 the Pacific agreement. Now she's against it. She was \u2014 hinted she was for the XL pipeline. Now she's opposed to it. All the things that would create sustained economic growth she's now doubling down against it. +p564 +aVYou could, if you were serious about... +p565 +aVNo, I can't say that. But I can say, if you created higher capital requirements, that's the solution to this, not having concentration of assets. The bigger banks now have more and more control over \u2014 over the financial assets of this country. And that is the wrong approach to take. +p566 +aVMaria? +p567 +aV...We've had a 10% reduction in carbon emissions, and it isn't because of Solyndra. It isn't because of the central planners in Washington D.C. It's because we've had a great American success story, the explosion of natural gas. Taking two existing technologies, and applying it through innovation has created lower carbon emissions, lower energy costs \u2014 40% of all the economic activity in the age of Obama has come from the energy sector, and Hillary Clinton wants to suppress that. We \u2014 I think we ought to be expanding this. High growth is the path to lower carbon, and more jobs. I know for a fact, as Governor of the State of Florida, we created the largest land purchasing programs, and environment clean-up programs because we had a growing economy. Our revenues were growing at 4.4%. It allowed for resources to be able to protect the natural system. We got to get to a conservation... ...in environmental policy that goes beyond just carbon... +p568 +aVJane Horton is sitting with my wife here today. Her husband, Chris, was killed in action in Afghanistan. And Jane spends her time now defending and fighting for military families. They're both heroes. I don't think we need an agitator-in-chief or a divider-in-chief. We need a commander-in-chief that will rebuild our military and restore respect to our veterans by revamping and fixing a broken Veterans Administration, That's my pledge to you. I ask for your support. Thank you. +p569 +aVYou know, I am by my nature impatient. And this is not an endeavor that rewards that. You gotta be patient. You gotta be \u2014 stick with it, and all that. But also, I can't fake anger. I believe this is still the most extraordinary country on the face of the Earth. And it troubles me that people are rewarded for tearing down our country. It's never been that way in American politics before. I can't do it. I just don't believe that this country's days are going to be deeply \u2014 you know, going down. I think we're on the verge of the greatest time, and I want to fix the things to let people rise up. +p570 +aVCould I \u2014 could I bring something up here, because I'm a constituent of the senator and I helped him and I expected that he would do constituent service, which means that he shows up to work. He got endorsed by the Sun-Sentinel because he was the most talented guy in the field. He's a gifted politician. But Marco, when you signed up for this, this was a six-year term, and you should be showing up to work. I mean, literally, the Senate \u2014 what is it, like a French work week? You get, like, three days where you have to show up? You can campaign, or just resign and let someone else take the job. There are a lot of people living paycheck to paycheck in Florida as well, they're looking for a senator that will fight for them each and every day. +p571 +aVHe wasn't my senator. +p572 +aVWell, I've been \u2014 +p573 +aVNo, no. What I said was I don't believe that I would be president of the United States and have the same dysfunction that exists in Washington, D.C. now. +p574 +aVDon't vote for me if you want to keep the gridlock in Washington, D.C. +p575 +aVBut if you want someone who has a proven, effective leadership, that was a governor of a state, that transformed the culture there, elect me so I can fight for the American people and change the culture in Washington, D.C. +p576 +aV, the great majority of Republicans and Americans believe in a hopeful future. They don't believe in building walls and a pessimistic view of the future. They're concerned that Washington is so dysfunctional it is holding them back. There are lids on people's aspirations. Think about it: six and a half million people working part-time. Workforce participation rates lower than they were in 1977. Six million more people living in poverty than the day that Barack Obama got elected president, and the left just wants more of the same. We have to offer a compelling alternative that is based on hope and optimism and grounded in serious policy, which I've laid out. And you can go get it at jeb2016.com. +p577 +aVWell, the deal was done. Barack Obama got his massive tax increase, and there was no spending cuts. You just see the recent deal announced today or yesterday, more spending, more tax increasing, more regulation. And now we have to accept 2 percent, the new normal for economic growth. And the net result is the middle class has $2,300 less in their pockets than the day that Barack Obama got elected president. And now they see Hillary Clinton proposing a third term of economic policy for our country. We need to reverse that. And my record was one of cutting taxes each and every year. You don't have to guess about it, because I actually have a record. $19 billion of tax cuts, 1.3 million jobs created. We were one of two states to go to AAA bond rating, and our government spending was far less than the spending in people's income. +p578 +aVYou find me... +p579 +aVYou find me a Democrat \u2014 you find me a Democrat that will cut spending ten dollars? Heck, find me a Republican in Congress that would cut spending ten dollars. I'll talk to them. +p580 +aVLook, the \u2014 the deal is already done. The biggest tax increase happened under the watch of Barack Obama, and spending's gone up. You find a Democrat that's for cutting taxes \u2014 cutting spending ten dollars, I'll give them a warm kiss. +p581 +aVLook, the \u2014 the simple fact is that my plan actually gives the middle class the greatest break: $2,000 per family. And if you make $40,000 a year, a family of four, you don't pay any income tax at all. Simplifying the code and lowering rates, both for corporations and \u2014 and personal rates, is exactly what we need to do. You think about the regulatory cost and the tax cost \u2014 that's why small businesses are closing, rather than being formed in our country right now. The big corporations have the scale to deal with all of this. And what I think all of us are saying is, our monetary policy, our tax policy, regulatory policy needs to be radically changed so we can create high sustained growth for income to rise. The government has tried it their way. Under \u2014 under Barack Obama and the proposals of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and others, they've tried it their way, and it has failed miserably. We need to take a new approach of taxing \u2014 reforming how we tax, and reforming the regulations in our \u2014 in our country before it's too late. +p582 +aVWe don't need the federal government to be involved in this at all. +p583 +aVWe don't need the Federal Government to be involved in this, because when they do we create a $1.2 trillion debt. In Florida, we have the lowest in-state tuition of any state, because there's accountability, just as John said. Let the states do this. You'll create a much better graduation rate at a lower cost, and you won't in debt the next generation with recourse debt on their backs. It's always a solution of the left to create more Government from the Federal Government. It is broke, it is not working. +p584 +aVWell, first of all, I'm 7 and 0 in my fantasy league. +p585 +aVGronkowski is still going strong. I have Ryan Tannehill, Marco, as my quarterback, he was 18 for 19 last week. So I'm doing great. But we're not gambling. And I think this has become something that needs to be looked at in terms of regulation. Effectively it is day trading without any regulation at all. And when you have insider information, which apparently has been the case, where people use that information and use big data to try to take advantage of it, there has to be some regulation. If they can't regulate themselves, then the NFL needs to look at just, you know, moving away from them a little bit. And there should be some regulation. I have no clue whether the federal government is the proper place, my instinct is to say, hell no, just about everything about the federal government. +p586 +aVBecky \u2014 +p587 +aV\u2014 the governor's absolutely right. But we also need to reform Medicare and Social Security. We can't just allow it to continue on its current path the way that Hillary Clinton wants to do because there'll be major reductions in benefits in the next decade if we do nothing. I have a concrete plan to do just that, which allows people to keep HSAs to encourage savings, it allows for people that are retiring with Social Security to be able to get a minimum of 125 percent of the poverty level so that there is a baseline that in this generous country of ours no one goes below. +p588 +aVYou have to reform Social Security, and the simple way to do it is to make sure that the wealthiest don't receive the same benefits as people that are lower-income. And make sure you enhance savings in the private market. The idea of 401(k)s. I have a small business that I set up. It took \u2014 it took an arm and a leg to be able to set up a 401(k). Because of all the federal mandates and federal laws, it was too expensive. We need to incent private savings and make sure that Social Security is protected for those that have it. +p589 +aVBut the idea that you can't \u2014 that you're just gonna grow your way out of this \u2014 I have a plan to grow the economy at 4 percent, but you're gonna have to make adjustments for both Medicare and Social Security. [ +p590 +aVAmerica's at a crossroads. The D.C. politicians continue to make things worse. I have a proven record of success, 32 years in business, and 8 years as Governor of the state of Florida. I will change the culture in Washington, just as I changed the culture in Tallahassee. I will do so in a way that will bring people together. We need a unifier, not a cynical divider in chief, and that's exactly what I will do. Imagine a country where people are lifted out of poverty again. Imagine a country where the middle class can get rising income again. I know we can do this because we're still the most extraordinary country on the face of the Earth. +p591 +asVHEWITT +p592 +(lp593 +VSenator Cruz, you've said you disagree with Mr. Trump's policy. I don't want a cage match; you've tweeted you don't want a cage match. But Republican primary voters deserve to know, with the kind of specificity and responsiveness you delivered in your nine Supreme Court arguments, how you disagree with Mr. Trump. Would you spell that out with us? +p594 +aVSo you're saying you disagree because he's too broad and you have a narrower focus? Why do you disagree with him? +p595 +aVCarly Fiorina... ... this is the Christmas dinner debate. This will be the debate that Americans talk about at Christmas. And thus far, in the first 10 minutes, we haven't heard a lot about Ronald Reagan's city on a hill. We've heard a lot about keeping Americans out or keeping Americans safe and everyone else out. Is this what you want the party to stand for? +p596 +aVDr. Carson...... you mentioned in your opening remarks that you're a pediatric neurologist surgeon... +p597 +aVNeurosurgeon. And people admire and respect and are inspired by your life story, your kindness, your evangelical core support. We're talking about ruthless things tonight \u2014 carpet bombing, toughness, war. And people wonder, could you do that? Could you order air strikes that would kill innocent children by not the scores, but the hundreds and the thousands? Could you wage war as a commander-in-chief? +p598 +aVSo you are OK with the deaths of thousands of innocent children and civilian? It's like... +p599 +aVThat is what war \u2014 can you be as ruthless as Churchill was in prosecuting the war against the Nazis? +p600 +aVMr. Trump, we are talking about the most important thing, that's why it's heated. And it's, you are OK with Mr. Assad staying in power, but you are also in favor of winning. If he stays in power, Iran is winning, Hezbollah is winning. Iran is winning in Yemen. They are winning everywhere. If they are winning how can we be winning? +p601 +aVGovernor Christie, is he right? Because if we step back, Iran goes nuclear. Is Donald Trump right? +p602 +aVSenator Paul, let me ask you, you heard Governor Kasich say Assad must go. Do you agree? +p603 +aVGovernor Bush, a commander-in-chief question. You've said that Mr. Trump is not qualified to be president because he's not qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin. Why are you better qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin than Mr. Trump? +p604 +aVMr. Trump? +p605 +aVBut, Mr. Trump, it's not CNN \u2014 I was on CNN last night... +p606 +aV... watching... +p607 +aVBut it wasn't \u2014 it wasn't CNN. It was me. I watched you last night for 16 minutes. It's not CNN. +p608 +aVIt's not CNN. It's America's watching you. +p609 +aVIt's America's watching. +p610 +aVGovernor \u2014 thank you, Governor. +p611 +aVDr. Carson, commander-in-chief question again. You've been the head of neurosurgery for a big hospital. You're on a lot of boards of a lot of companies. You've traveled the world. You're going traveling again next week. But does that prepare you to command troops from Djibouti to Japan, troops from Afghanistan to Iraq to be in charge of the men and women watching on Armed Services Network tonight? +p612 +aVMr. Trump...... Dr. Carson just referenced the single most important job of the president, the command, the control and the care of our nuclear forces. And he mentioned the triad. The B-52s are older than I am. The missiles are old. The submarines are aging out. It's an executive order. It's a commander-in-chief decision. What's your priority among our nuclear triad? +p613 +aVOf the three legs of the triad, though, do you have a priority? I want to go to Senator Rubio after that and ask him. +p614 +aVSenator Rubio, do you have a response? +p615 +aVMy listeners tell me again and again they are worried that Hillary Clinton will win the White House because you'll run as an independent. Are you ready to assure Republicans tonight that you will run as a Republican and abide by the decision of the Republicans? +p616 +aVDr. Carson, last week... +p617 +aVPlease. +p618 +aVDr. Carson, Mr. Trump just committed to stay the distance regardless of the result. How about you? +p619 +asVBAKER +p620 +(lp621 +VThe candidates on stage tonight were selected based on their standing in an average of four national polls. Those standings determining their position on the stage. And here they are. At center stage, businessman Donald Trump. Neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson. +p622 +aVTonight's rules are simple. Up to 90 second for each answer. One minute for each follow-up response. And if a candidate goes over their allotted time, you'll here this. +p623 +aVMs. Fiorina, while you've all pointed out how weak the current recovery has been and how disappointing by any historical standards, in the general election, the Democrats will inevitably ask you and voters to compare the recent president's jobs performance. Now, in seven years under President Obama, the U.S. has added an average of 107,000 jobs a month. Under President Clinton, the economy added about 240,000 jobs a month. Under George W. Bush, it was only 13,000 a month. If you win the nomination, you'll probably be facing a Democrat named Clinton. How are you going to respond to the claim that Democratic presidents are better at creating jobs than Republicans? +p624 +aVThank you. Thank you. Senator Paul, income inequality has been rising in the United States. Fifty years ago, for example, the average CEO of a big corporation in this country earned 20 times the average salary of one of his or her workers. Today, that CEO earns about 300 times the average salary of a worker. Does it matter at all that the gap between the rich and everyone else is widening? +p625 +aVThank you, Senator. +p626 +aVSenator Rubio... +p627 +aVYes, one quick comment, yes. +p628 +aVGovernor Bush... +p629 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor, you...You should let Jeb speak. +p630 +aVMr. Trump, Mr. Trump, you yourself \u2014 you yourself said let Governor Bush speak. Governor Bush? +p631 +aVSenator Rubio? Senator... +p632 +aVSenator Rubio, Senator Rubio, let me \u2014 let me take you to a question that I think gets to the root of a lot of the anxiety that people have in this country. The economy is undergoing a transformation through information technology. Americans are anxious that the new economy isn't producing higher-paying jobs. Many are concerned that the new wealth seems to be going mainly to innovators and investors. Meanwhile, with factories run by robots and shopping done increasingly on smartphones, many traditional jobs are just going away. How do you reassure American workers that their jobs are not being steadily replaced by machines? +p633 +aVThank you. Senator Cruz \u2014 Senator Cruz, entitlements. You've argued for raising the retirement age and reducing benefits for future retirees, but reducing any sort of benefits for the elderly has always been notoriously hard to do politically. When Speaker Paul Ryan proposed replacing traditional Medicare with federally funded private plans a few years ago, a liberal group responded with a commercial that featured a granny being pushed off a cliff. What's going to be different this time? +p634 +aV...I said for future retirees was your statement... +p635 +aVSenator Rubio. Can I just come to Senator Rubio? We're coming to you, Mr. Trump, in one second. I \u2014 I promise. +p636 +aVSenator Rubio, your tax plan includes a large expansion of child tax credits to raise off (ph) the tax incomes for low-income parents. A similar tax credit that you previously proposed in the Senate was estimated to cost as much as $170 billion a year, according to the Tax Foundation. Isn't \u2014 isn't there a risk you're just adding another expensive entitle program to an already overburdened federal budget? +p637 +aVGovernor Kasich? Let me come to Governor Kasich. +p638 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p639 +aVVery quickly, Senator. +p640 +aVPlease. +p641 +aV...Gentleman, we need to move on... +p642 +aV...We need to move... +p643 +aV...We need too... +p644 +aV...We do need to move on. Mr. Trump... +p645 +aV...Very quick. +p646 +aVLet's talk about \u2014 No, no, Governor, I really must move on. I really want to move on. Mr. Trump, let's talk about the international economy... +p647 +aV...We really need to move on... +p648 +aV...No, governor, I promise I will come to you... +p649 +aV...Listen... +p650 +aV...Mr. Trump, can I ask you about... +p651 +aV...the U.S. just concluded an international trade agreement with 11 countries in the Pacific. You've said that you'd rather have no deal... +p652 +aV...than sign the one that's on the table... +p653 +aV...Most economists \u2014 most economists say that trade is boosted growth, and every single post war president has supported the expansion of international trade, including the last three republican presidents. Why would you reverse more than 50 years of U.S. trade policy? +p654 +aVThe \u2014 the deal, as you say, the terms of the deal were published \u2014 were published just last week, the details, 5,000 pages of it, and 80 percent of U.S. trade with countries in the Pacific, these countries, these 11 countries, is actually tariff-free, and these \u2014 the trade deal only affects the other 20 percent. Which \u2014 are there particular parts of the deal that you think were badly negotiated? +p655 +aVThere was a separate \u2014 separate... +p656 +aVBut isn't that \u2014 isn't that part of the problem? When I say, Senator, that if \u2014 if this deal is not ratified by \u2014 by the U.S. \u2014 by the Senate, then it would actually give China an opportunity to grow its economic leadership, which it's been seeking to do? And if the U.S. is unable to take part in this trade deal with these countries in Asia, China will take the lead? +p657 +aVThank you. Thanks, Senator. +p658 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich, I want to ask you about China, in particular hundreds of American companies have been subjected to cyber attacks from the Chinese military, yet state-backed Chinese companies, growing their presence in the United States, Chinese investments in U.S., which were nearly nonexistent a few years ago, are now over $50 billion. And as my newspaper recently reported, Chinese companies are planning to bid for one of the largest hotel chains in the United States, what would be the largest ever Chinese takeover of a U.S. company. Would you stop them? +p659 +aVThank you, Governor. Plenty of opportunities. Thank you. Neil? +p660 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate, live from Milwaukee. Now let's get straight back to the questions, and Governor Bush. Governor, Hillary Clinton recently said that if we had another financial crisis like the one in 2008, she wouldn't bail out the banks. Would you? +p661 +aVBut, Governor, but can I just quickly \u2014 did \u2014 you can't seriously guarantee that there won't be another financial crisis, can you? +p662 +aVEver? There will never be another financial crisis? +p663 +aVDr. Carson, if I may, just on that point, despite measures taken, as the governor says, since the crisis to make the financial system safer, the major banks in the U.S., many of them are actually bigger than ever. Asset held by JPMorgan Chase, for example, the very largest bank, have increased by nearly 40 percent to over $2.6 trillion. Do you think JPMorgan and the other big banks should be broken up? +p664 +aVBut just to be clear, just \u2014 just to be clear, then, you wouldn't \u2014 you wouldn't favor breaking up the big banks? You think they're big enough \u2014 they're OK as they are, as big as they are? +p665 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p666 +aVThank you. +p667 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate. And now, candidates, it's time for your closing statements. You get 30 seconds each, and, Senator Paul, we will begin with you. +p668 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p669 +asVHUCKABEE +p670 +(lp671 +VWell, John, I don't really have any weaknesses that I can think of. But my wife is down here in the front, and I'm sure, if you'd like to talk to her later, she can give you more than you'll ever be able to take care of. If I have a weakness, it's that I try to live by the rules. I try to live by the rules, no matter what they are, and I was brought up that way as a kid. Play by the rules. And I'll tell you what a weakness is of this country: there are a lot of people who are sick and tired because Washington does not play by the same rules that the American people have to play by. +p672 +aVWell, I would really appreciate that. First of all, yes, we've stolen. Yes, we've lied to the American people about Social Security, and Medicare. But, you know what we're not telling them? It's their money. This isn't the governments money. This is not entitlement, it's not welfare. This is money that people have confiscated out of their paychecks. Everytime they got a paycheck, the government reached in and took something out of it before they ever saw it. Now, we're going to blame the people. Today congress decided to take another $150 billion dollars away from Social Security so they can borrow more money. That makes no sense to everybody. And, they're always going to say, "Well, we're going to fix this one day." No their not. It's like a 400 pound man saying, "I'm going to go on a diet, but I'm eating a sack of Krispy Kremes before I do." And, people are sick of believing that the government is never going to really address this. But, let me tell you who not to blame. Let's quit blaming the people on Social Security. Let's quit making it a problem for them. It's like them getting mugged, and then us saying, well, we're going to mug you some more. You ought to just be able to get over it, get used to it... +p673 +aV...No, sir... +p674 +aV...we need to honor our promises... +p675 +aV...before I go. This is the only time I've had a chance, let me finish. +p676 +aV...This is a matter not of math, this is a matter of morality. If this country that does not keep its promise to seniors then what promise can this country hope to be trusted to keep? And, the fact is, none of them. [ +p677 +aVAnd, the only way \u2014 no... +p678 +aV...Chris... +p679 +aV...Chris... +p680 +aVSince he brought me up, do I not get to respond? +p681 +aVJohn, listen, let's keep in mind that for one-third of the 60 million Americans on Social Security it represents 90 percent of their income. And, when I hear people talking about means testing, let's just remember what that means. If we means test Social Security, it means that the government decides whether or not I deserve it. If a person lives in a seven room house, does the government get to say you don't need seven rooms, we're going to take two of them away? Folks, the government has no business stealing even more from the people who have paid this in. I just want to remind you, people paid their money. They expect to have it. And, if this government doesn't pay it, than tell me what's different between the government and Bernie Madolf, who sits in prison today for doing less than what the government has done to the people on social security and Medicare in this country. +p682 +aVI don't think it's so much about when the government orders a corporation to do something. In fact, that's part of the problem. If you saw that blimp that got cut loose from Maryland today, it's a perfect example of government. I mean, what we had was something the government made \u2014 basically a bag of gas \u2014 that cut loose, destroyed everything in its path, left thousands of people powerless, but they couldn't get rid of it because we had too much money invested in it, so we had to keep it. That is our government today. We saw it in the blimp. That's exactly what we saw. So look, corporations ought to exercise some responsibility. When CEO income has risen 90 percent above the average worker, when the bottom 90 percent of this country's economy has had stagnant wages for the past 40 years, somebody is taking it in the teeth. And it's not the folks on Wall Street. I'm not anti-Wall Street, but I don't believe the government ought to wear a team jersey, pick winners and losers. +p683 +aVThe government ought to wear a striped shirt and just make sure the game... +p684 +aV...is paid \u2014 played fairly. +p685 +aVNow, everybody else has fudged their time and gone over, so please, don't cut me off too quick, Becky. +p686 +aVLet me just close it out this way. +p687 +aVWe need to be focusing on what fixes this country. And I'll tell you one thing that we never talk about \u2014 we haven't talked about it tonight. Why aren't we talking about \u2014 instead of cutting benefits for old people, cutting benefits for sick people \u2014 why don't we say, "let's cure the four big cost-driving diseases... +p688 +aV..."diabetes, heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer's?" +p689 +aVIf you do that, you don't just change the economy, you transform the lives of millions of hurting Americans. +p690 +aVGosh, I'd love for us to talk about something like that. Thank you. +p691 +aVYou know, of the few questions I've got, the last one I need is to give him some more time. I love Donald Trump. He is a good man. I'm wearing a Trump tie tonight. Get over that one, OK? [ +p692 +aVI don't know. [ +p693 +aVI have no idea. +p694 +aVYou're welcome. Let me tell you, Donald Trump would be a president every day of the week and twice on Sunday, rather than Hillary. I've spent a lifetime in politics fighting the Clinton machine. You want to talk about what we're going to be up against next year? I'm the only guy on this stage \u2014 you know, everybody has an "only guy" \u2014 "I'm the only guy this; I'm the only guy that." Well, let me tell you one thing that I am the only guy: The only guy that has consistently fought the Clinton machine every election I was ever in over the past 26 years. And not only did I fight them, but I beat them. Somebody says "I'm a fighter." Well, I want to know, did you win? Well, I did. And not only did I fight them and win, I lived to tell about it and I'm standing on this stage tonight as evidence of that. And I think that ought to be worth something. +p695 +aVWell, and specifically to Medicare, Becky, because 85 percent of the cost of Medicare is chronic disease. The fact is if we don't address what's costing so much, we can't throw enough money at this. And it's why I've continued to focus on the fact that we need to declare war on the four big cost drivers because 80 percent of all medical costs in this country are chronic disease. We don't have a health care crisis in America, we have a health crisis. And until we deal with the health of Americans and do what we did with polio \u2014 when I was a little kid, we eradicated it. You know how much money we spent on polio last year in America? We didn't spend any. We've saved billions of dollars. You want to fix Medicare? Focus on the diseases that are costing us the trillions of dollars. Alzheimers, diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Eradicate those and you fix Medicare and you've fixed America, its economy and you've made people's lives a heck of a lot better. +p696 +aVYou know, I know to a lot of people in the media, this is just a great big game, and we're the players. And, we come out here, and we do our thing. And, sometimes we're held up in contempt by people who write columns, but, I guarantee you to every person on this stage there's something deep inside of us that would cause us to give up our livelihoods and step out on this stage and fight for the people of America. I've got five grandkids. I do not want to walk my five grandkids through the charred remains of a once great country called America, and say, "Here you go, $20 trillion dollars of debt. Good luck making something out of this mess." And, for those of us who are serious enough to run for president, think long and hard why we're here, and hopefully you'll know we're not here for ourselves. We honest to god are here to get this country back on track. I know this, I certainly am. +p697 +aV...Thank you. +p698 +asVCRUZ +p699 +(lp700 +VThank you, Wolf. America is at war. Our enemy is not violent extremism. It is not some unnamed malevolent force. It is radical Islamic terrorist. We have a president who is unwilling to utter its name. The men and women on this stage, every one of us, is better prepared to keep this nation safe than is Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. We need a president who understands the first obligation of the commander-in-chief is to keep America safe. If I am elected president, we will hunt down and kill the terrorists. We will utterly destroy +p701 +aVWell, listen, Hugh, everyone understands why Donald has suggested what he has. We're looking at a president who's engaged in this double-speak where he doesn't call radical Islamic terrorism by its name. Indeed, he gives a speech after the San Bernardino attack where his approach is to try to go after the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens rather than to keep us safe. And even worse, President Obama and Hillary Clinton are proposing bringing tens of thousands of Syrian refugees to this country when the head of the FBI has told Congress they cannot vet those refugees. I understand why Donald made that proposal. I introduced legislation in the Senate that I believe is more narrowly focused at the actual threat, which is radical Islamic terrorism, and what my legislation would do is suspend all refugees for three years from countries where +p702 +aVWell, you know, I'm reminded of what FDR's grandfather said. He said, "All horse-thieves are Democrats, but not all Democrats are horse-thieves." In this instance, there are millions of peaceful Muslims across the world, in countries like India, where there is not the problems we are seeing in nations that are controlled \u2014 have territory controlled by Al Qaida or +p703 +aVWell, Dana, the premise of your question is not accurate. I'm very proud to have joined with conservatives in both the Senate and the House to reform how we target bad guys. And what the USA Freedom Act did is it did two things. Number one, it ended the federal government's bulk collection of phone metadata of millions of law-abiding citizens. But number two in the second half of it that is critical. It strengthened the tools of national security and law enforcement to go after terrorists. It gave us greater tools and we are seeing those tools work right now in San Bernardino. And in particular, what it did is the prior program only covered a relatively narrow slice of phone calls. When you had a terrorist, you could only search a relatively narrow slice of numbers, primarily land lines. The USA Freedom Act expands that so now we have cell phones, now we have Internet phones, now we have the phones that terrorists are likely to use and the focus of law enforcement is on targeting the bad guys. You know what the Obama administration keeps getting wrong is whenever anything bad happens they focus on law-abiding citizens instead of focusing on the bad guys. We need to focus on radical Islamic terrorists and we need to stop them before they carry out acts of terror. +p704 +aVWell, you know, I would note that Marco knows what he's saying isn't true. You know, Mark Levin wrote a column last week that says that the attack ads his Super PAC is running that are saying the same thing, that they are knowingly false and they are, in fact, Alinsky-like attacks like Barack Obama. And the reason is simple. What he knows is that the old program covered 20 percent to 30 percent of phone numbers to search for terrorists. The new program covers nearly 100 percent. That gives us greater ability to stop acts of terrorism, and he knows that that's the case. +p705 +aVWhat it means is using overwhelming air power to utterly and completely destroy +p706 +aVYou would carpet bomb where +p707 +aVWell, you know, Marco has continued these attacks, and he knows they're not true. Yes, it is true that I voted against the National Defense Authorization Act, because when I campaigned in Texas I told voters in Texas that I would oppose the federal government having the authority to detain U.S. citizens permanently with no due process. I have repeatedly supported an effort to take that out of that bill, and I honored that campaign commitment. +p708 +aVBut more broadly, you know, the notion Marco is suggesting, that somehow \u2014 he also has tossed more than a few insults this direction \u2014 let's be absolutely clear. +p709 +aVWolf, I believe in a America first foreign policy, that far too often President Obama and Hillary Clinton \u2014 and, unfortunately, more than a few Republicans \u2014 have gotten distracted from the central focus of keeping this country safe. So let's go back to the beginning of the Obama administration, when Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama led +p710 +aV... we ought to hunt down our enemies and kill +p711 +aVWell, it's more than not shedding a tear. It's actively getting involved to topple a government. And we keep hearing from President Obama and Hillary Clinton and Washington Republicans that they're searching for these mythical moderate rebels. It's like a purple unicorn. They never exist. These moderate rebels end up being jihadists. And I'll tell you whose view on Assad is the same as mine. It's Prime Minister Netanyahu. Prime Minister Netanyahu has said Israel doesn't have a dog in that fight because Assad is a puppet of Iran, a Shia radical Islamic terrorist, but at the same time, Prime Minister Netanyahu doesn't want to see Syria governed by +p712 +aVThe question of whether we should toppling dictatorships is asking the wrong question. We should be defeating our enemies. So the problem with defeating... +p713 +aVWell, but let me explain, the focus should be... +p714 +aV... on defeating our enemies. So, for example... +p715 +aV... a regime we should change is Iran... +p716 +aV... because Iran has declared war on us. But we shouldn't be toppling regimes...... that are fighting radical Islamic terrorists that are helping... +p717 +aVWell, he \u2014 he has attempted to muddy the waters, but I think that anyone who watched the battle that we had. You know, there was a time for choosing as Reagan put it. Where there was a battle over amnesty and some chose, like Senator Rubio to stand with Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer and support a massive amnesty plan. Others chose to stand with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and the American people and secure the border. And let me mention, this issue is actually directly connected to what we've been talking about. Because the front line with +p718 +aVLook, I understand Marco wants to raise confusion, it is not accurate what he just said that I supported legalization. Indeed, I led the fight against his legalization and amnesty. And you know, there was one commentator that put it this way that, for Marco to suggest our record's the same is like suggesting "the fireman and the arsonist because they are both at the scene of the fire." He was fighting to grant amnesty and not to secure the border, I was fighting to secure the border. And this also goes to trust, listening on to campaign trails. Candidates all the time make promises. You know, Marco said," he learned that the American people didn't trust the federal government." +p719 +aVIn Florida promising to... +p720 +aVgo in the fight against amnesty... +p721 +aVHe campaigned promising to lead the fight against amnesty. +p722 +aVI have never supported a legalization... +p723 +aVI have never supported legalization, and I do not intend to support legalization. Let me tell you how you do this, what you do is you enforce the law... +p724 +aVWatt you do is enforcement the law... +p725 +aVWhat you do... +p726 +aVWhat you do is you enforce the law. I've laid out a very, very detailed immigration plan on my website, tedcruz.org. It's 11 pages of existing federal law and in particular the question of what to do with people who are here now? You enforce the law. That means you stop the Obama administration's policy of releasing criminal illegal aliens. Do you know how many aliens Bill Clinton deported? 12 million. Do you know how many illegal aliens, George W. Bush deported? 10 million. We can enforce the laws and if we secure the border, that solves the problem. And as president I will solve this problem and secure the border. +p727 +aVDana, what I said in private is exactly what I'll say here, which is that the judgment that every voter is making of every one of us up here is who has the experience, who has the vision, who has the judgment to be commander in chief. That is the most important decision for the voters to make. That's a standard I'm held to. And it's a standard everyone else is held to. And I will note, you know, in the whole course of this discussion about our foreign policy threats, it actually illustrates the need for clarity of focus. You know, my daughters, Caroline and Catherine, came tonight. They're 7 and 5. And you think about the Los Angeles schools canceling their schools today. And every parent is wondering, how do we keep our kids safe? We need a commander in chief who does what Ronald Reagan did with communism, which is he set out a global strategy to defeat Soviet communism. And he directed all of his... I'm answering the question, Dana. He directed all of his forces to defeating communism. One of the things we've seen here is how easy it is for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to get distracted from dealing with radical Islamic terrorism. They won't even call it by its name. We need a president who stands up, number one, and says, we will defeat +p728 +aVAnd we need to be focused on defeating... +p729 +aV... defeating radical Islamic terrorists. +p730 +aVWhat I'm saying, Dana, is that is a judgment for every voter to make. What I can tell you is all nine of the people here would make an infinitely better commander in chief than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. +p731 +aVAnd there is a real danger, Dana, when people get distracted. I'm answering the question, Wolf. There's a real danger when people get distracted by peripheral issues. They get distracted by democracy building. They get distracted about military conflicts. We need to focus on defeating jihadism. +p732 +aVAnd I will do everything necessary to keep our children safe. +p733 +aVJudgment, strength, clarity and trust. Barack Obama has said he doesn't believe in American leadership or America winning \u2014 he is wrong. America can win again and we will win again. Ronald Reagan reignited the American economy, rebuilt the Military, bankrupted the Soviet Union and defeated Soviet Communism. I will do the same thing. Cutting taxes, cutting regulation, unleashing small businesses and rebuilding the Military to defeat radical Islamic terrorism \u2014 our strategy is simple. We win, they lose. We've done it before and we can do it again. +p734 +aVWell, Maria, it's great to be with you. It's great to be here in Milwaukee. You know, the question you asked really I think is the most important question any of us can have \u2014 face, which is, how do we get the economy growing? How do we bring back economic growth? Because economic growth, it's foundational to every other challenge we have. As you rightly noted, from 2008 to today, our economy has grown 1.2 percent a year on average. The Obama economy is a disaster, and the IMF is telling us this is a new normal. It doesn't have to be. If you look at the history of America, there are three levers that government has had to facilitate economic growth. The first is tax reform. And as you noted, I have rolled out a bold and simple flat tax: 10 percent for every American that would produce booming growth and 4.9 million new jobs within a decade. The second element is regulatory reform, pulling back the armies of regulators that have descended like locusts on small businesses. And the third element is sound money. Every time we've pursued all three of those \u2014 whether in the 1920s with Calvin Coolidge or the 1960s with JFK or the 1980s with Ronald Reagan \u2014 the result has been incredible economic growth. We have done it before, and with leadership, we can do it again. +p735 +aVWell, my Mom is here, so I don't think we should be pushing any grannies off cliffs. And, you miss-stated what I've said on entitlement reform. What I've said is for seniors we should make no changes whatsoever, for younger workers we should gradually raise the retirement age, we should have benefits grow more slowly, and we should allow them to keep a portion of their taxes in a personal account that they control, and can pass on to their kids... +p736 +aVI want to go back to the discussion we had a minute ago because, you know, what was said was right. The democrats are laughing \u2014 because if republicans join democrats as the party of amnesty, we will lose. And, you know, I understand that when the mainstream media covers immigration, it doesn't often see it as an economic issue. But, I can tell you for millions \u2014 of Americans at home watching this, it is a very personal economic issue. And, I will say the politics of it will be very, very different if a bunch of lawyers or bankers were crossing the Rio Grande. Or if a bunch of people with journalism degrees were coming over and driving down the wages in the press. Then, we would see stories about the economic calamity that is befalling our nation. And, I will say for those of us who believe people 'ought to come to this country legally, and we should enforce the law, we're tired of being told it's anti-immigrant. It's offensive. I am the son of an immigrant who came legally from Cuba... ...to seek the American dream. And, we can embrace legal immigration while believing in the rule of law \u2014 and I would note, try going illegally to another country. Try going to China, or Japan. Try going to Mexico. See what they do. Every sovereign nation secures its borders, and it is not compassionate to say we're not going to enforce the laws... ...And we're going to drive down the wages for millions of hardworking men and women. That is abandoning the working... +p737 +aVWell, sure, you put your finger on what the problem is. The current system isn't fair. Washington is fundamentally corrupt. There are more words in the IRS code than there are in the Bible \u2014 and \u2014 and not a one of them is as good. Every one of them reflects a carve-out or a subsidy, and it's all about empowering the Washington cartel. My simple Flat Tax says that, for a family of four, for the first $36,000 you earn, you pay no taxes whatsoever. No income taxes, no payroll taxes, no nothing. Above that, every American pays 10 percent across the board \u2014 a flat, fair tax. Which means that no longer do you have hedge-fund billionaires paying a lower tax rate than their secretaries. On the business side, I've got a business flat tax of 16 percent \u2014 again, that applies across the board. Right now, with our corporate income tax, giant corporations with armies of accountants regularly are paying little to no taxes while small businesses are getting hammered. This is fair and across-the-board. Now, you ask, how do the numbers add up? I would encourage folks, if you go to our website, tedcruz.org, we have the specific numbers on the website. This plan eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax, eliminates the corporate income tax, and it abolishes the IRS. And the effect of that is incredible economic growth. It means every income group will see double-digit increases, from the very poorest to the very weakest, of at least 14 percent. So if you're a single mom, if you're making $40,000 a year, what that means is an extra about $5,000 in your pocket to provide for your kids, to make ends meet. It has a powerful, powerful effect. And there's one other really powerful feature of my plan, which is that it's border-adjustable. Which means, if you're an exporter \u2014 if you're a farmer, if you're a rancher, if you're a manufacturer, you don't pay the businesses flat tax. Exports are free of that tax, but all imports pay that 16 percent business flat tax, which means this tax plan would cause jobs to boom, and it would let America compete with China and the world on a level playing field. +p738 +aVWell, the numbers the Tax Foundation had put out is that the static cost of the plan is $3.6 trillion over 10 years, but the dynamic cost of the plan, which \u2014 which is the cost that factors in growth, is about $768 billion. It is less than a trillion. It costs less than virtually every other plan people have put up here, and yet it produces more growth and it's one of the very few plans that abolishes the IRS. But on top of that, today, we rolled out a spending plan. $500 billion in specific cuts \u2014 five major agencies that I would eliminate. The IRS, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Energy, the Department of Commerce, and HUD \u2014 and then 25 specific programs. Again, that's on our website at tedcruz.org. You want to look at specificity? It's easy for everyone to say, "cut spending". It's much harder and riskier to put out, chapter and verse, specifically the programs you would cut to stop bankrupting our kids and grandkids. +p739 +aV...Middle ground that brings both of these together... +p740 +aV...Exactly right, that we have to defend this nation. You think defending this nation is expensive, try not defending it. That's a lot more expensive. But, you can do that, and pay for it. You can do that, and also be fiscally responsible. You know, I mention that the 25 programs that I put today, that I would eliminate them. Among them are corporate welfare, like sugar subsidies. Let's take that as an example. Sugar subsidies. Sugar farmers farm under... ...under roughly 0.2% of the farmland in America, and yet they give 40% of the lobbying money. That sort of corporate welfare is why we're bankrupting our kids, and grandkids. I would end those subsidies to pay for defending this nation... +p741 +aVAbsolutely yes. You know, I have spent much of my adult life enforcing the law and defending the Constitution. And the problem that underlies all of this is the cronyism and corruption of Washington. You know, the opening question Jerry asked, would you bail out the big banks again? Nobody gave you an answer to that. I'll give you an answer. Absolutely not. And what we have right now is we have Washington \u2014 as government gets bigger and bigger, you know, the biggest lie in all of Washington and in all of politics is that Republicans are the party of the rich. The truth is, the rich do great with big government. They get in bed with big government. The big banks get bigger and bigger and bigger under Dodd-Frank and community banks are going out of business. And, by the way, the consequence of that is small businesses can't get business loans, and it is that fundamental corruption that is why six of the 10 wealthiest counties in America are in and around Washington, D.C. And let me give you a contrast to Washington cronyism. Some weeks ago, a woman named Sabina Loving testified at a hearing that I chaired in the Senate. Sabina Loving is an African-American single mom who started a tax preparation business in the south side of Chicago. She found a store front, she wanted to have her own business. She started a business. But then the IRS promulgated new regulations targeting tax preparers. They did it under a more than 100-year-old statute called the Dead Horse Act. Now, this statute and the IRS in classic Washington crony fashion had exemptions for lawyers and big fancy accountants, but Sabina had to pay $1,000 an employee. It would have driven her out of business, and Ms. Loving sued the IRS. She took the Obama IRS to court, and she won, and they struck down the rule for picking the big guys over the little guys. +p742 +aVYes. Now, let's be clear, there is a role for the Federal Reserve \u2014 what the Fed is doing now is it is a series of philosopher- kings trying to guess what's happening with the economy. You look at the Fed, one of the reasons we had the financial crash is throughout the 2000s, we had loose money, we had an asset bubble, it drove up the price of real estate, drove up the price of commodities, and then in the third quarter of 2008, the Fed tightened the money and crashed those asset prices, which caused a cascading collapse. That's why I am supporting getting back to rules-based monetary system not with a bunch of philosopher-kings deciding, but tied... +p743 +aVSo let me be clear. I would not bail them out, but instead of adjusting monetary policy according to whims and getting it wrong over and over again and causing booms and busts, what the Fed should be doing is, number one, keeping our money tied to a stable level of gold, and, number two, serving as a lender of last resort. That's what central banks do. So if you have a run on the bank, the Fed can serve as a lender of last resort, but it's not a bailout. It is a loan at higher interest rates. That's how central banks have worked. And I'll point out \u2014 look, we had a gold standard under Bretton Woods, we had it for about 170 years of our nation's history, and enjoyed booming economic growth and lower inflation than we have had with the Fed now. We need to get back to sound money, which helps, in particular, working men and women. What Washington does \u2014 the people who are doing well in the Obama economy are those with power and influence in the Obama government. The people who working men and women... +p744 +aVSo, Governor Kasich... +p745 +aV...why would you then bail out rich Wall Street banks, but not Main street, not Mom and Pop, not Sabina Loving? +p746 +aVBut you just said an executive... +p747 +aV...knows to step in and bail out a bank. +p748 +aVSo you said you'd abandon philosophy and abandon principle... +p749 +aV...but what would you do if the bank was failing? +p750 +aVSo you \u2014 you would bail them out. +p751 +aVAnd, Maria, I will note, she's got a lot of experience, but her policies have proven disastrous. If you look at foreign policy, every region in the world has gotten worse. Under her leadership, we abandon the nation of Israel. Under her leadership, radical Islamic terrorism has been on to the rise. Under her leadership, and Obama's leadership, Iran is getting $100 billion dollars, and on the verge of getting a nuclear weapon. Everything she's put her hand to, or has touched \u2014 and when we talk about the cronyism of Washington, Hillary Clinton embodies the cronyism... ...of Washington. And, I'll give you an example of that, which is the Congressional exemption from Obamacare, which is fundamentally wrong, and I'll tell you this, if I'm elected president, I will veto any statute that exempts members of congress. The law should apply evenly to every American. +p752 +aVMaria, critically, when it comes to climate change... +p753 +aV...Our \u2014 our... +p754 +aVFifty-eight years ago, my father fled Cuba. As he stood on the deck of that ferryboat with the wind and salt air blowing, he looked back at the oppression and torture he was escaping. And yet he looked forward to the promise of America. His story is our story. What ties Americans together is we are all the children of those who risked everything for freedom. America is in crisis now. I believe in America. And if we get back to the free market principles and constitutional liberties that built this country, we can turn this country around. I believe that 2016 will be an election like 1980, that we will win by following Reagan's admonition to paint in bold colors, not pale pastels. We're building a grassroots army. I ask you to join us at tedcruz.org. And we, the people, can turn this nation around. +p755 +aVI'm too agreeable, easy going. You know, I think my biggest weakness is exactly the opposite. I'm a fighter. I am passionate about what I believe. I've been passionate my whole life about the Constitution. And, you know, for six-and-a-half years, we've had a gigantic party. If you want someone to grab a beer with, I may not be that guy. But if you want someone to drive you home, I will get the job done and I will get you home. +p756 +aVBecky, if you want a 10 percent flat tax where the numbers add up, I rolled out my tax plan today, you can find it on line at tedcruz.org. It is a simple flat tax where for individuals, a family of four pays nothing on the first $36,000. After that you pay 10 percent as a flat tax going up. The billionaire and the working man, no hedge fund manager pays less than his secretary. On top of that, there is a business flat tax of 16 percent. Now that applies universally to giant corporations that with lobbyists right now are not paying taxes, and as small business. And you wanted to know the numbers, the Tax Foundation, which has scored every one of our plans, shows that this plan will allow the economy to generate 4.9 million jobs, to raise wages over 12 percent, and to generate 14 percent growth. And it costs, with dynamic scoring, less than a trillion dollars. Those are the hard numbers. And every single income decile sees a double-digit increase in after-tax income. +p757 +aVGrowth is the answer. And as Reagan demonstrated, if we cut taxes, we can bring back growth. +p758 +aVYou know, let me say something at the outset. The questions that have been asked so far in this debate illustrate why the American people don't trust the media. This is not a cage match. And, you look at the questions \u2014 "Donald Trump, are you a comic-book villain?" "Ben Carson, can you do math?" "John Kasich, will you insult two people over here?" "Marco Rubio, why don't you resign?" "Jeb Bush, why have your numbers fallen?" How about talking about the substantive issues the people care about? +p759 +aVAnd Carl \u2014 Carl, I'm not finished yet. The contrast with the Democratic debate, where every fawning question from the media was, "Which of you is more handsome and why?" And let me be clear. +p760 +aVLet me be clear. The men and women on this stage have more ideas, more experience, more common sense than every participant in the Democratic debate. That debate reflected a debate between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. And nobody watching at home believed that any of the moderators had any intention of voting in a Republican primary. The questions that are being asked shouldn't be trying to get people to tear into each other. It should be what are your substantive positions... +p761 +aVYou want me to answer that question? I'm happy to answer the question... +p762 +aVLet me tell you how that question... +p763 +aVLet me tell you how that question... +p764 +aV... so you don't actually want to hear the answer, John? +p765 +aVYou don't want to hear the answer. You just want to... +p766 +aVYou're not interested in an answer. +p767 +aV...Then I'll buy you a tequila... +p768 +aV...Or, even some famous Colorado brownies. +p769 +aVWell, sure. This deal in Washington is an example of why Washington's broken. Republican leadership joined with every single Democrat, add $80 trillion to our debt to do nothing to fix the problems. And, let me now on Social Security because we were getting into a good substantive exchange, and I want to say I think both Chris, and Mike are right. Governor Huckabee's exactly right, we need to honor the promises made to our seniors, but for younger workers \u2014 look. I'm 44 years old. It is hard to find someone in my generation that thinks Social Security will be there for us. We can save and preserve and strengthen Social Security by making no changes for seniors, but for younger workers gradually increasing the retirement age, changing the rate of growth so that it matches inflation, and critically allowing younger workers to keep a portion of our tax payments in a personal account that we own, we control them, we can pass on to our kids. +p770 +aVWell, we've gotta turn the economy around for people who are struggling. The Democrats' answer to everything is more government control over wages, and more empowering trial lawyers to file lawsuits. You know, you look at women working. I'll tell you, in my family there are a lot of single moms in my family. My sister was a single mom, both of my aunts who were a single moms. My mom who's here today, was a single mom when my father left us when I was 3 years old. Now, thank God, my father was invited to a Bible study and became born again and he came back to my mom and me and we were raised together. But I \u2014 the struggle of single moms is extraordinary. And you know, when you see Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and all the Democrats talking about wanting to address the plight of working women, not a one of them mentioned the fact that under Barack Obama, 3.7 million women have entered poverty. Not a one of them mentioned the fact that under Barack Obama and the big government economy, the median wage for women has dropped $733. The the truth of the matter is, big government benefits the wealthy, it benefits the lobbyists, it benefits the giant corporations. And the people who are getting hammered are small businesses, it's single moms, it's Hispanics. That is who I'm fighting for. The people that Washington leaves behind. +p771 +aVWell, Rick, it's a very important question. I have got deep concerns about the Fed. The first thing I think we need to do is audit the Fed. And I am an original co-sponsor of Rand Paul's audit the Fed legislation. The second thing we need to do is I think we need to bring together a bipartisan commission to look at getting back to rules- based monetary policy, end this star chamber that has been engaging in this incredible experiment of quantitative easing, QE1, QE2, QE3, QE- infinity. And the people who are being impacted, you know, a question that was asked earlier, Becky asked, was about working women. You know, it's interesting, you look at on Wall Street, the Fed is doing great. It's driving up stock prices. Wall Street is doing great. You know, today, the top 1 percent earn a higher share of our income than any year since 1928. But if you look at working men and women. If you look at a single mom buying groceries, she sees hamburger prices have gone up nearly 40 percent. She sees her cost of electricity going up. She sees her health insurance going up. And loose money is one of the major problems. We need sound money. And I think the Fed should get out of the business of trying to juice our economy and simply be focused on sound money and monetary stability, ideally tied to gold. +p772 +aVLet me say on that... +p773 +aV...Rand is exactly right. His plan is a good plan, and I will note that my 10% plan also eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax, +p774 +aV...eliminates the business... [ +p775 +aV...income tax... [ +p776 +aV...10% flat rate... +p777 +aV...is the lowest personal rate any candidate up here has, and what it would also enable us to do is for every citizen to fill out their taxes on a postcard so we can eliminate the IRS. +p778 +aVYou know, everyone here talks about the need to take on Washington. The natural next question is who actually has done so. Who actually has stood up not just to Democrats, but to leaders in our own party? When millions of Americans rose up against Obamacare, I was proud to lead that fight. When millions of Americans rose up against amnesty, I was proud to lead that fight. When millions of Americans rose up against Planned Parenthood, I was proud to lead that fight. If people are promising they're going to take on Washington and cronyism, you need to look to who has been doing it. In my family, my dad fled oppression in Cuba to come to America. Freedom is personal for me, and I will always keep my word and fight for freedom. +p779 +asVTODD +p780 +(lp781 +VGood evening, and welcome to the +p782 +aVAnd neither party has seen this yet. These candidates are both running for the Democratic nomination, but they are very different from each other when it comes to what matters most and how they would go about the job of being president. Our job tonight is to draw out those differences so you, the voters, can understand them and be fully informed. +p783 +aVFirst, I want to say a special thanks to the New Hampshire Union Leader for helping make this debate possible, and the readers, who helped provide some of the questions and topics that we'll be addressing tonight. The rules tonight, by the way, are simple: 90 seconds for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. +p784 +aVThank you, Senator. Secretary Clinton. +p785 +aVAll right. Let's get started. Secretary Clinton, last night you cited the Concord Monitor when you said of Senator Sanders that, quote, "It's very hard to see how any of his proposals could ever be achievable." So please tell us why you think if he's elected president on a platform of promising things like free public college and universal healthcare, that he cannot achieve those things. +p786 +aVThank you, Secretary. Senator Sanders, so just explain how you spent nearly two decades in Congress and haven't gotten any of these things passed. Why do you think as president you'll be able to achieve big, big new programs like this? +p787 +aVGo. +p788 +aVYes, go ahead. +p789 +aVAll right, thank you both. Rachel. +p790 +aVI'd like to follow up on a comment that Secretary Clinton said, Senator. President Obama has not called for abolishing the death penalty. President Obama is for the big Asian trade deal known as TPP, and just yesterday you said you can't be both a moderate or a progressive, but you can't be both. Is President Obama, in your judgment, based on these policies positions, a progressive? +p791 +aV...Secretary Clinton, go ahead... +p792 +aV 30 seconds, and then we'll move. +p793 +aVThank you. +p794 +aV... Secretary, we're gonna... +p795 +aVThirty seconds. +p796 +aVThank you both. +p797 +aVAll right, welcome back. Let's get right to it. Senator Sanders, you were talking about all of your campaign contributions and campaign finance reform. You rail against big money in politics. But do you realize there is one public financing system that we do have in place, and it is\u2014it is in place to run for president. Why aren't you walking the walk on that? Why aren't you participating in the presidential public financing system which is designed to essentially keep big money out of presidential politics? +p798 +aVWell, going on that then, why criticize her on Super PACs, and you got\u2014and all this when it is\u2014you know, that's the system? I mean, you could be participating in a publicly-financing\u2014public financing system... +p799 +aV... and being able to set\u2014being able to set an example. +p800 +aV... she has had more people praise her plan than yours. +p801 +aVThank you both. Let me move on to our next question here, and in fact it comes to us through New England Cable News. Secretary Clinton, it's addressed to you, and it's about this issue of the speeches, particularly to Goldman Sachs. This is what the questioner wrote verbatim. "I am concerned with the abuses of Wall Street has taken with the American taxpayers money," and then she asks whether you would release the transcripts of your Goldman Sachs speeches, and then added, "Don't you think the voting public has a right to know what was said?" But, let's make that bigger. Are you willing to release the transcripts of all your paid speeches? We do know through reporting that there were transcription services for all of those paid speeches. In full disclosure, would you release all of them? +p802 +aVSenator, you sound like you want to respond. Go ahead. +p803 +aVWe'll be right back. And we're going to get to trade and a lot of other issues. +p804 +aVGo ahead, Senator Sanders\u201430 seconds, your response. +p805 +aVAll right. Senator, I want to stay, though... +p806 +aVGo ahead. 30 seconds. +p807 +aVLet me\u2014let\u2014we're gonna\u2014we're staying\u2014we're staying basically on this topic. Obviously you've been emphasizing this difference on the Iraq war, but one place where you do agree, and one place where you voted to authorize the use of force, was in favor of the war in Afghanistan. Right now, it is possible President Obama is going to be leaving the next president, perhaps President Sanders, at least 10,000 troops in Afghanistan. How long will those troops be in Afghanistan under President Sanders? +p808 +aVCan you address a question on Afghanistan? How long are these troops going to be there? If President Obama leaves you 10,000 troops, how long do you think they're going to be there? +p809 +aVSecretary Clinton, 30 seconds: How long are these troops going to be in Afghanistan? We have more American troops in Afghanistan than what we were talking about with Iraq. +p810 +aVYou know, Senator Sanders, nobody knows who your foreign policy advisers are. You haven't given a major foreign policy speech. And it doesn't sound like all the time that foreign policy is a priority, other than when you're asked about it, and you say you're going to crush +p811 +aVAll right, Senator, 30 seconds. +p812 +aV30 seconds, madam secretary. +p813 +aVAlright, as Commander in Chief, Senator Sanders, you've got to prioritize potential threats to the United States. Three countries, North Korea, Iran, Russia. How would you rank them in order of their threat to America's security right now... +p814 +aV... Starting with the biggest threat. +p815 +aV... I didn't say that... +p816 +aV... No... +p817 +aV... We already had that. I'm talking about these three countries. How would you orient our national security, our national defense posture. +p818 +aVSecretary of Defense Ash Carter this week picked one of those three, and he has said Russia is, basically, the most important national security threat. Sort of reorienting the defense and the challenges to that. Do you agree with his decisions... +p819 +aVSecretary Clinton, what do you think of Secretary of Defense Ash Carter. He's basically putting Russia above Iran, above North Korea, as sort of the chief national security challenge right now. +p820 +aVThank you both, Rachel? +p821 +aVAnd we are back. We're gonna get into a little bit of election politics, electability, in a little bit. Senator Sanders, The Iowa Democratic Party has declared Hillary Clinton the winner of Monday's Iowa caucuses\u2014narrowest of margins. Today, the Des Moines Register has an editorial that calls for the audit of the results, saying, quote, "what happened Monday night at the Democratic caucuses was a debacle, period. The results were too close not to do a complete audit." Senator Sanders, do you accept the idea that Hillary Clinton won Iowa? And do you\u2014or do you believe the caucuses are still an open question? +p822 +aVSecretary Clinton, will you participate in some sort of audit, if that's what the party wants to do? You good with that? +p823 +aVThat's fair enough. OK. +p824 +aVGood, we move on. We're happy with that. We have more questions. +p825 +aVWe'll stay on this issue. We'll stay on this topic. Secretary Clinton, just like there are some Democrats that question Senator Sanders' ability in the general election, many Democratic voters that our reporters have been running into in Iowa and New Hampshire, they tell our reporters over and over again they're worried about the emails issue, not because they don't believe your explanation, but because it's a drip-drip, because the cloud is hanging over your head and that it will impact the general election. They see your numbers right now and they think it's the email issue as to why you're not polling very well. So can you reassure these Democrats that somehow the email issue isn't going to blow up your candidacy if you're the nominee? +p826 +aVAll right, Madam Secretary, there is an open\u2014there is an open FBI investigation into this matter about how you may have handled classified material. Are you 100 percent confident that nothing is going to come of this FBI investigation? +p827 +aVWell, Senator sanders, you famously at the first debate said you didn't give a darn about her emails; I think you used another . +p828 +aVYou're right. I'm trying to\u2014it's a\u2014it's a family hour still right now. After 11:00, I'll say it the other way. And you mostly have refrained from commenting on it, but recently you called it a very serious issue, and then the other day you said well she's getting slapped with the email controversy. Are you\u2014how are you feeling about these darn emails now? +p829 +aVOK. Senator Sanders, thank you. +p830 +aVSecretary Clinton, let me turn to the issue of trade. In the '90s you supported +p831 +aVWell, Senator Sanders, I know you want to respond on this, you have never supported a trade deal since you've been in Congress. +p832 +aVBut if you do that as president... If you do that as president, how are you not essentially letting China, who will do all of these deals around the world, how are you going to prevent China from essentially setting the rules of trade for the world? +p833 +aVAll right. Thank you both. We're going to sneak in one more break here, and when we come back we'll squeeze as many questions as we can before we end this thing. We'll be right back. +p834 +aVAll right. Welcome back here in the final minutes. +p835 +aVThe home stretch of this only Democratic debate in the final week before the primary. Let me start with you, Secretary Clinton, on this question. Obviously, President Obama got a lot of ambitious stuff done in his first year and a half. You're going to have to make choices. And there's a lot of heavy lifts. And he made choices. He did healthcare and it came at the expense, arguably, of immigration reform. Had he put immigration reform first, perhaps that gets done and healthcare doesn't. So there are three big lifts that you've talked about: immigration, gun reform, climate change. What do you do first? Because you know the first one is the one you have the best shot at getting done. +p836 +aVAll right, but Senator Sanders......you've still got to do something first. As you know, history said\u2014shows what you pick first is your best shot at getting, and how you prioritize things. +p837 +aVImmigration reform, for instance, fell by the wayside in the first term because of this. +p838 +aVOK. Thank you. +p839 +aVAll right, before we go, I want to ask each one of these. Secretary Clinton, you've made it clear when you look at Senator Sanders, you do not see a president, but do you see\u2014 +p840 +aVBut do you see\u2014do you see a vice president? +p841 +aVWould you unite the party by trying to pick Senator Sanders as your running mate? +p842 +aVSenator, would you consider the secretary? +p843 +aVSecretary Clinton, closing statements. You are first. +p844 +aVThank you, Madam Secretary. Senator Sanders. +p845 +aVWell, there you have it. I promise you, Rachel and I have a lot more questions, but we just don't have any more time, unless we could a third hour, but I don't think so. Our debate coverage\u2014 debate coverage will continue in just a moment with our colleague . And we want to thank all of you for being here, and we want to thank the two candidates for taking part in this important event. +p846 +aVWe'll see you in a few minutes. Thank you. +p847 +asVHARWOOD +p848 +(lp849 +VMr. Trump, you've done very well in this campaign so far by promising to build a wall and make another country pay for it. +p850 +aVSend 11 million people out of the country. Cut taxes $10 trillion without increasing the deficit. +p851 +aVAnd make Americans better off because your greatness would replace the stupidity and incompetence of others. +p852 +aVLet's be honest. Is this a comic book version of a presidential campaign? +p853 +aVWe're at the 60 seconds. +p854 +aVWe're at 60 seconds, but I gotta ask you, you talked about your tax plan. You say that it would not increase the deficit because you cut taxes $10 trillion in the economy would take off like... +p855 +aVHold on, hold on. The economy would take off like a rocket ship. +p856 +aVI talked to economic advisers who have served presidents of both parties. They said that you have as chance of cutting taxes that much without increasing the deficit as you would of flying away from that podium by flapping your arms. +p857 +aVThe Tax Foundation says \u2014 has looked at all of our plans and \u2014 and his creates, even with the dynamic effect, $8 trillion dollar deficit... +p858 +aVGovernor Kasich, hold it, I'm coming to you right now. The... +p859 +aVWell, I'm asking you about this. +p860 +aVI'm about to ask you about this. That is, you had some very strong words to say yesterday about what's happening in your party and what you're hearing from the two gentlemen we've just heard from. Would you repeat it? +p861 +aVWell, let's just get more pointed about it. You said yesterday that you were hearing proposals that were just crazy from your colleagues. Who were you talking about? +p862 +aVHold on. I think there's a \u2014 I've got question for \u2014 +p863 +aVHold on, Governor. I've got a question for Governor Bush. +p864 +aVNo, we're moving to Governor Bush. Governor, the fact that you're at the fifth lectern tonight shows how far your stock has fallen in this race, despite the big investment your donors have made. You noted recently, after slashing your payroll, that you had better things to do than sit around and be demonized by other people. I wanted to ask you \u2014 +p865 +aVOK. +p866 +aVGot it. +p867 +aVBut it's a \u2014 OK. It's a \u2014 it's a question about why you're having difficulty. I want to ask you in this context. Ben Bernanke, who was appointed Fed chairman by your brother, recently wrote a book in which he said he no longer considers himself a Republican because the Republican Party has given in to know- nothingism. Is that why you're having a difficult time in this race? +p868 +aVThank you, Governor. +p869 +aVWe're gonna get down the line. Becky's got a question. +p870 +aVSenator Paul, I've got a question for you on the same subject. +p871 +aVSenator Paul? +p872 +aVYou used your time on something else. Senator Paul? +p873 +aVSenator Paul, the budget deal crafted by Speaker Boehner and passed by the House today makes cuts in entitlement programs, Medicare and Social Security disability, which are the very programs conservatives say need cutting to shrink government and solve our country's long-term budget deficit. Do you oppose that budget deal because it doesn't cut those programs enough? +p874 +aVSenator, if what you just said is true, why did Speaker Boehner craft this deal and why did Paul Ryan, who has a strong reputation for fiscal discipline, vote for it? +p875 +aVThank you, Senator . +p876 +aVJim, thanks. Governor Bush, in a debate like this four years ago, every Republican running for president pledged to oppose a budget deal containing any tax increase even if it had spending cuts ten times as large. A few months later, you told Congress, put me in, coach, you said you would take that deal. Still feel that way? +p877 +aVBut to \u2014 to the point that you made to Congress, if you were president and you were offered a bipartisan deal that had one dollar... +p878 +aV...one dollar of tax increases per ten dollars of spending cuts, would you take it? +p879 +aVSo you don't want the coach to put you in any more? +p880 +aVThank you, governor. Carl? +p881 +aVGovernor John Kasich, you've called for abolishing the Export Import Bank, which provides subsidies to help American companies compete with overseas competitors. You call that corporate welfare. One of the largest newspapers in your state wrote an editorial, said they found that strange, writing, that if that's corporate welfare, what does Kasich call the millions of dollars in financial incentives doled out to attract or retain jobs by his development effort \u2014 jobs Ohio. If subsidies are good enough for Ohio companies, why aren't they good enough for companies trying to compete overseas? +p882 +aVThank you, Governor. +p883 +aVThank you, Governor. Thank you. +p884 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate on +p885 +aVIt sounds like you think Senator Sessions is wrong to believe there is enough abuse in that program that we shouldn't... +p886 +aVThank you, Senator. Becky? +p887 +aVGovernor Bush, the tax reform bill that Ronald Reagan signed in 1986 cut the top personal income tax rate to 28 percent \u2014 just like your plan does. But President Reagan taxed capital gains at the same rate, while you would tax them at just 20 percent. Given the problems we've been discussing, growing gap between rich and poor, why would you tax labor at a higher rate than income from investments? +p888 +aVSenator Rubio, 30 seconds to you. The Tax Foundation, which was alluded to earlier, scored your tax plan and concluded that you give nearly twice as much of a gain in after-tax income to the top 1 percent as to people in the middle of the income scale. Since you're the champion of Americans living paycheck-to- paycheck, don't you have that backward? +p889 +aVThe Tax Foundation \u2014 just to be clear, they said the... +p890 +aVNo, I did not. +p891 +aVSenator, the Tax Foundation said after-tax income for the top 1 percent under your plan would go up 27.9 percent. +p892 +aVAnd people in the middle of the income spectrum, about 15 percent. +p893 +aV +p894 +aVSenator, thank you. +p895 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you've written about the huge divide in values between middle America and the big coastal cities like New York and Los Angeles. As a preacher as well as a politician, you know that presidents need the moral authority to bring the entire country together. The leading Republican candidate, when you look at the average of national polls right now, is Donald Trump. When you look at him, do you see someone with the moral authority to unite the country? +p896 +aVThank you, Governor. +p897 +aVThank you, Governor. Don't forget my colleague, Sharon Epperson. +p898 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said something that many in your party do not believe, which is that climate change is undeniable, that human activity contributes to it, and you said, quote: "The question is, what do we do to deal with it?". So what do we do? +p899 +aVWhat should we do? +p900 +aVYou mean government? +p901 +aVThank you, Governor. Becky. +p902 +aVGovernor Bush, Mr. Trump says that he is capable of growing the economy so much that Social Security and Medicare don't have to be touched. Do you want to explain how that is going to happen, Mr. Trump? +p903 +aVHold on, Governor. I've got a question for \u2014 for Dr. Carson. +p904 +aVYes. You've said that you would like to replace Medicare with a system of individual family savings accounts, so that families could cover their own expenses. Obviously, that would be a very controversial idea. Explain how that would work, exactly. +p905 +aVGovernor, do you also think that... +p906 +aV...that Dr. Carson's right, that we can replace Medicare with individual savings accounts? +p907 +aVMrs. Fiorina, we're right at the end of our time. +p908 +aVYou all wanted us to limit . All right. Go ahead. +p909 +aVWe have now reached the point in the program where candidates are going to give their closing statements, 30 seconds apiece. We're going to go right to left and start with you, Senator Paul. +p910 +aVGovernor Christie? +p911 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Cruz? +p912 +aVThank you, Senator. Mrs. Fiorina? +p913 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Dr. Carson? +p914 +aVMr. Trump? +p915 +aVJust for the record, the debate was always going to be two hours. Senator Rubio? +p916 +aVSenator Rubio. +p917 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Bush? +p918 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Huckabee. +p919 +aVThank you... +p920 +aVGovernor Kasich? +p921 +aVThank you, Governor. +p922 +asVPAUL +p923 +(lp924 +VThe question is, how do we keep America safe from terrorism? Trump says we ought to close that Internet thing. The question really is, what does he mean by that? Like they do in North Korea? Like they do in China? Rubio says we should collect all Americans' records all of the time. The Constitution says otherwise. I think they're both wrong. I think we defeat terrorism by showing them that we do not fear them. I think if we ban certain religions, if we censor the Internet, I think that at that point the terrorists will have won. Regime change hasn't won. Toppling secular dictators in the Middle East has only led to chaos and the rise of radical Islam. I think if we want to defeat terrorism, I think if we truly are sincere about defeating terrorism, we need to quit arming the allies of +p925 +aVYou know, I think Marco gets it completely wrong. We are not any safer through the bulk collection of all Americans' records. In fact, I think we're less safe. We get so distracted by all of the information, we're not spending enough time getting specific immigration \u2014 specific information on terrorists. The other thing is, is the one thing that might have stopped San Bernardino, that might have stopped 9/11 would have been stricter controls on those who came here. And Marco has opposed at every point increased security \u2014 border security for those who come to our country. On his Gang of Eight bill, he would have liberalized immigration, but he did not \u2014 and he steadfastly opposed any new border security requirements for refugees or students. Last week, I introduced another bill saying we need more security, we need more scrutiny. Once again, Marco opposed this. So Marco can't have it both ways. He thinks he wants to be this, "Oh, I'm great and strong on national defense." But he's the weakest of all the candidates on immigration. He is the one for an open border that is leaving us defenseless. If we want to defend the country, we have to defend against who's coming in, and Marco is \u2014 has more of an allegiance to Chuck Schumer and to the liberals than he does to conservative policy. +p926 +aVIf I was mentioned in the question, can I respond? +p927 +aVMarco still misunderstands the immigration issue. What I put forward was an amendment that would have temporarily halted immigration from high-risk terrorist countries, but would have started it up, but I wanted them to go through Global Entry, which is a program where we do background checks. The thing is, is that every terrorist attack we've had since 9/11 has been legal immigration. Marco wants to expand that. I want more rules, more scrutiny, and to defend the country, you have to defend the border. +p928 +aVWolf... +p929 +aVWolf, this legislation... +p930 +aVThis legislation on indefinite detention... +p931 +aV... I think deserves a little more attention. +p932 +aVI think that by arming the allies of +p933 +aVI think that if you believe in regime change, you're mistaken. In 2013, we put 600 tons of weapons \u2014 us, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar \u2014 into the war against Assad. By pushing Assad back, we did create a safe space. We had people coming to our Foreign Relations Committee and saying, "Oh, we need to arm the allies of Al Qaida." They are still saying this. It is a crazy notion. This is the biggest debate we should be having tonight is is regime change a good idea; has it been a good idea. There are still people \u2014 the majority on the stage, they want to topple Assad. And then there will be chaos, and I think +p934 +aVThese are the fundamental questions of our time, these foreign policy questions, whether or not regime change is a good idea or a bad idea. I don't think because I think the regime change was a bad idea it means that Hussein was necessarily a good idea. There is often variations of evil on both sides of the war. What we have to decide is whether or not regime change is a good idea. It's what the neoconservatives have wanted. It's what the vast majority of those on the stage want. They still want regime change. They want it in Syria. They wanted it in Iraq. They want it in Libya. It has not worked. Out of regime change you get chaos. From the chaos you have seen repeatedly the rise of radical Islam. So we get this profession of, oh, my goodness, they want to do something about terrorism and yet they're the problem because they allow terrorism to arise out of that chaos. +p935 +aVNo, I think it's a huge mistake. I think regime change in Syria, and this is what \u2014 I've been saying this for several years now. In 2013 when we first went in, I said, you are going to give arms to the allies of al Qaida, to radical jihadists? That's crazy. But the other thing I said is the great irony is you will be back fighting against your own weapons. Had Assad been bombed when he used chemical weapons two years ago, +p936 +aVWell, I think if you're in favor of World War III, you have your candidate. You know, here's...... the thing. My goodness, what we want in a leader is someone with judgment, not someone who is so reckless as to stand on the stage and say, "Yes, I'm jumping up and down; I'm going to shoot down Russian planes." Russia already flies in that airspace. It may not be something we're in love with the fact that they're there, but they were invited by Iraq and by Syria to fly in that airspace. And so if we announce we're going to have a no-fly zone, and others have said this. Hillary Clinton is also for it. It is a recipe for disaster. It's a recipe for World War III. We need to confront Russia from a position of strength, but we don't need to confront Russia from a point of recklessness that would lead to war. This is something \u2014 this type of judgment, you know, it's having that kind of judgment; who you would appoint and how you're going to conduct affairs, that is incredibly important. I mean, I think when we think about the judgment of someone who might want World War III, we might think about someone who might shut down a bridge because they don't like their friends; they don't want to \u2014 you know, they want to a Democrat. So I think we need to be very careful. +p937 +aVYou know, I think we need to set the record straight on this, because I think Marco misspoke about the bill. On the Gang of Eight bill, there was no provisions really for extra scrutiny or safety for refugees. At the time the bill came up, two Iraqi refugees came to my home town, Bowling Green, Kentucky. Their fingerprints were on a bomb from Iraq. They were in the database, but we didn't pick them up. We relocated them here, put them in government housing, got them on food stamps. And we began providing for them, but we didn't have adequate security. On the Gang of Eight bill, on Marco's bill, we had an opportunity. There was a conservative consensus for an amendment I put forward called Trust, But Verify that would have strengthened border security on both refugees, students and those coming here. And Marco sided and I guess was more sympathetic to Chuck Schumer and to the president than he was to conservative principles. But this goes directly to national defense. And if he wants to run as a national \u2014 national defense conservative, he's got to explain why he hasn't stepped up to support border security. +p938 +aVWhat my bill would do would be only for refugees going forward. So I haven't taken a position on sending anyone home. But I have taken the position that we have a lot of problems here in our country. And that one of the things that we do \u2014 charity is about giving your own money. Charity isn't giving someone else's money. To put everyone in government housing and food stamps and bring them in from around the world I think is a mistake. To give of your own money, I've given to my church. My church has helped people that came from Bosnia. That's a good thing. But we shouldn't have a program where we just say that we're going to take care of the world's refugees. Nobody in the Middle East is doing anything. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait \u2014 all the Gulf nations are doing nothing. They need to step up and take... +p939 +aVThe greatest threat to our national security is our debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. And whose fault is it? Well, frankly, it's both parties' fault. You have those on the right who clamor and say, oh, we will spend anything on the military, and those on the left who say the same for domestic welfare. But what most Americans don't realize is there is an unholy alliance. They come together. There's a secret handshake. We spend more money on everything. And we are not stronger nation if we go further into debt. We are not projecting power from bankruptcy court. To me, there is no greater threat than our debt. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage because I'm willing to hold the line on all spending. I hope you will consider me in the election. Thank you very much. +p940 +aVAbsolutely. And I think that we ought to look where income inequality seems to be the worst. It seems to be worst in cities run by Democrats, governors of... States run by Democrats and countries currently run by Democrats. So the thing is, let's look for root causes. But I would also say \u2014 lay some blame at the \u2014 the feet of the Federal Reserve. I think the Federal Reserve has made this problem worse. By artificially keeping interest rates below the market rate, average ordinary citizens have a tough time earning interest, have a tough time making money. They're actually talking now about negative interest. The money as it's created through quantitative easing or other means tends to start out in the big banks in New York. And because we're now paying interest for them to keep the money there, much of that money has not filtered out into the economy. So what we're finding is there is increasing income disparity and income inequality. We also find that as the Federal Reserve destroys the value of the currency, what you're finding is that, if you're poor, if you make $20,000 a year and you have three or four kids, and you're trying to get by, as your prices rise or as the value of the dollar shrinks, these are the people that are hurt the worst. So really we need to reexamine whether we not \u2014 we want a Federal Reserve that's involved so much in determining interest rates. We also need to look at root causes as to what caused the housing boom and the housing collapse. But the bottom line is, if you want less income inequality, move to a city with a Republican mayor or a state with a Republican governor. +p941 +aVWell, it's a great question, Neil, and thanks for including me in the tax debate. I think what's important about the tax debate is, is that we have to ask the question, where is money best spent, in the private sector or in the government sector? I want a government really, really small, so small you can barely see it. So I want lower taxes and much more money in the private sector. My tax plan, however, is the only tax plan among any of the candidates on the stage that is part of a balanced budget plan. I put forward three plans that actually balance the budget over a five-year period. Each of these plans have details on exactly where we would cut. The question came up earlier, where would you cut? Nobody likes to say where they would cut. I've put pencil to paper and done three budgets that actually balance. I'm also in favor of a plan called the penny plan where we'd just cut 1 percent across the board and the budget actually balances in less than five years. So I think what is extraordinary about my tax plan is it is in the context of balancing the budget. What is also extraordinary about my tax plan is it gets rid of the payroll tax. Democrats demagogue this issue to death, and when they do they say, oh, a millionaire would get a bigger tax cut than someone making $10,000. That's proportionality, as Ben is trying to explain to folks. But the thing is, is if we get rid of the payroll tax, everybody is going to get a tax cut. And this is something that I think the public at large will support and could win an election. +p942 +aVOurs is 14.5 percent for corporations, 14.5 percent for individuals. No payroll tax for the employee. The business tax pays for social security, and there would be two remaining deductions \u2014 home mortgage and charity. +p943 +aVThank you. +p944 +aVNeil, there's a point I'd like to make here... ....Neil, a point that I'd like to make about the tax credits. We have to decide what is conservative and what isn't conservative. Is it fiscally conservative to have a trillion-dollar expenditure? We're not talking about giving people back their tax money. He's talking about giving people money they didn't pay. It's a welfare transfer payment. So here's what we have. Is it conservative to have $1 trillion in transfer payments \u2014 a new welfare program that's a refundable tax credit? Add that to Marco's plan for $1 trillion in new military spending, and you get something that looks, to me, not very conservative. Thank you. +p945 +aVNevertheless, it's not very conservative, Marco. +p946 +aVHow is it conservative? +p947 +aVYeah, but, Marco! Marco! How is it conservative, how is it conservative to add a trillion-dollar expenditure for the federal government that you're not paying for? +p948 +aVHow is it conservative? +p949 +aVHow is it conservative to add a trillion dollars in military expenditures? You can not be a conservative if you're going to keep promoting new programs that you're not going to pay for. +p950 +aVNo. I don't think we're any safer \u2014 I do not think we are any safer from bankruptcy court. As we go further, and further into debt, we become less, and less safe. This is the most important thing we're going to talk about tonight. Can you be a conservative, and be liberal on military spending? Can you be for unlimited military spending, and say, Oh, I'm going to make the country safe? No, we need a safe country, but, you know, we spend more on our military than the next ten countries combined? I want a strong national defense, but I don't want us to be bankrupt. +p951 +aVHey, Gerard, you know, we might want to point out China is not part of this deal. +p952 +aVBefore we get a little bit off-kilter here... +p953 +aVThere is an argument that China doesn't like the deal, because in us doing the deal, we'll be trading with their competitors. You're exactly right. But I think we've sort of missed the point a little bit here. There is an important point, though, about how we discuss these trade treaties that I do agree with Mr. Trump on. We should negotiate from a position of strength. And we also should negotiate using the full force and the constitutional power that was given to us. I think it's a mistake that we give up power to the presidency on these trade deals. We give up the power to filibuster, and I'm kind of fond of that power. We give up the power to amend. And I think, really, one of the big problems we have in our country is, over the last century, really, so much power has gravitated to the executive branch. Really, Congress is kind of a bystander. We don't write the rules. We don't make the laws. The executive branch does. So even in trade \u2014 and I am for trade \u2014 I think we should be careful about giving so much power to the presidency. +p954 +aVI'd like first to respond to the acquisition, we should \u2014 I think it's particularly naive, particularly foolish to think that we're not going to talk to Russia. The idea of a no fly zone, realize that this is also something that Hillary Clinton agrees with several on our side with, you're asking for a no fly zone in an area in which Russia already flies. Russia flies in that zone at the invitation of Iraq. I'm not saying it's a good thing, but you better know at least what we're getting into. So, when you think it's going to be a good idea to have a no fly zone over Iraq, realize that means you are saying we are going to shoot down Russian planes. If you're ready for that, be ready to send your sons and daughters to another war in Iraq. I don't want to see that happen. I think the first war in Iraq was a mistake... You can be strong without being involved in every civil war around the war... +p955 +aVRonald Reagan was strong, but Ronald Reagan didn't... +p956 +aV...send troops into the Middle East... +p957 +aV...Can I finish... +p958 +aV...Can I finish my time? Could I finish with my time? +p959 +aVYes, I would like to finish my response, basically. +p960 +aVThis is an important question. This is an incredibly important question. And the question goes to be, who do we want to be our commander-in-chief? Do you want a commander-in-chief who says something that we never did throughout the entire Cold War, to discontinue having conversations with the Russians? I am not happy about them flying over there. But I'm not naive enough to say, well, Iraq has them flying over their airspace, we're just going to announce that we're shooting them down? That is naive to the point of being something you might hear in junior high. But it's scary... +p961 +aVThe first thing I would do is I wouldn't arm our enemies. I wouldn't arm +p962 +aVGerard, can I comment... +p963 +aVThe first thing I would do as president is repeal the regulations that are hampering our energy that the President has put in place. Including the Clean Power Act. While I do think that man may have a role in our climate, I think nature also has a role. The planet's 4.5 billion years old, we've been through geologic age after geologic age. We've had times when the temperatures been warmer, we've had times when the temperatures been colder. We've had times when the carbon in the atmosphere's been higher. So, I think before we \u2014 we need to look before we leap. President's often fond of saying he wants a balance solution, but, really we do need to balance both keeping the environment clean, and we will have some rules for that. We got to balance that with the economy. He's devastated my state. I say the President's not only destroying Kentucky, he's destroying the democrat party down there because nobody wants to associate with him. So, what we really need is somebody that understands that we do need energy of all forms, and that means we will have solar, and wind, and hydro, but we will still have coal, and we still will have natural gas. And, we've got to have an all of the above policy. But, it would be a mistake to shut down all of our industries in the coal fields, and shut down the coal power plants. If we did so we're going to have a day where we wake up and some of our big cities are either very cold, or very hot. So, I think it's a big danger, and we shouldn't do it. And, what we should do is say we want all of the above... ...We want to free up the energy sector, and let people produce, let them drill, let them explore. +p964 +aVWe're the richest, freest, most humanitarian nation in the history of mankind. But we also borrow a million dollars a minute. And the question I have for all Americans is, think about it, can you be a fiscal conservative if you don't conserve all of the money? If you're a profligate spender, you spend money in an unlimited fashion for the military, is that a conservative notion? We have to be conservative with all spending, domestic spending and welfare spending. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage. +p965 +aVYou know, I left my medical practice and ran for office because I was concerned about an $18 trillion debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. Now, on the floor of the Congress, the Washington establishment from both parties puts forward a bill that will explode the deficit. It allows President Obama to borrow unlimited amounts of money. I will stand firm. I will spend every ounce of energy to stop it. I will begin tomorrow to filibuster it. And I ask everyone in America to call Congress tomorrow and say enough is enough; no more debt. +p966 +aVNo, I oppose it because you're taking money from the entitlement and then spending it immediately on other items. That's what they're doing. They're taking money from Social Security and they're going to spend it on the military and they're going to spend it on domestic spending. Here's the thing. When you look at raising the debt limit, it should be leverage to try to reform government. In 2011, the sequester was passed as a reform to slow down the rate of government. Instead, the Washington establishment raised both. We raised the military spending, took from entitlements, and raised domestic spending and the deficit will explode under this. This is the unholy alliance that people need to know about between right and left. Right and left are spending us into oblivion. We should use the debt ceiling, as precisely to Don, to force upon them budgetary reforms. +p967 +aVWell, that's a real question. Is there going to be any change in the House with new leadership? I frankly don't think there will be much change because I think what's going to happen is you're going to get more of the same. People in Washington think they were sent there to be adults and govern and do all this. Well, you know what I'm worried about? Not keeping the government open. I'm worried about bankrupting the American people. We're borrowing a million dollars a minute. That is important. And that's what we have to contrast. Keeping the government open and continuing to borrow a million dollars a minute. +p968 +aVWell, thank you very much. I would like to thank Ted for co-sponsoring my bill, audit the Fed. And I think it's precisely because of the arrogance of someone like Ben Bernanke, who now calls us all know-nothings, that is precisely why we need audit the Fed. I think it is really very much a huge problem that an organization as powerful as the Fed comes in, lobbies against them being audited on the Hill. I would prevent them lobbying Congress. I don't think the Fed should be involved with lobbying us. I think we should examine how the Fed has really been part of the problem. You want to study income inequality, let's bring the Fed forward and talk about Fed policy and how it causes income inequality. Let's also bring the Fed forward and have them explain how they caused the housing boom and the crisis, and what they've done to make us better or worse. I think the Fed has been a great problem in our society. What you need to do is free up interest rates. Interest rates are the price of money, and we shouldn't have price controls on the price of money. +p969 +aV...John... +p970 +aVJohn, I'd like to address this? John, could I follow up on this? +p971 +aVWhat are the rules on who gets to follow up. How do we decide on who gets to follow up? I've seen plenty of other people follow up? +p972 +aVI'd like to just mention something about my tax plan, and how it relates to the discussion... +p973 +aVAlright. Much of the discussion is centered over whether or not the different tax plans help, or affect the middle class. In fact, it's the chief argument by democrats against many of the different flat tax proposals. Mine is unique in the sense that my tax plan actually gets rid of the payroll tax as well. It shifts it to the business, and it would allow middle class people to get a tax cut. If you just cut their income tax, there isn't much income tax to cut. Mine actually cuts the payroll tax, and I think it would spread the tax cut across all socioeconomic levels, and would allow then it to be something that would be broadly supported by the public in an election. +p974 +aVThe question always is, what works better, the private marketplace or government? And what distributes goods better? It always seems to be the private marketplace does a better job. Is there an area for a safety net? Can you have Medicare or Social Security? Yes. But you ought to acknowledge the government doesn't do a very good job at it. The main problem with Medicare right now is that the average person pays in taxes over their whole lifetime about $100,000. But the average person takes out about $350,000. We have this enormous mismatch because we have smaller and smaller families. When people ask me, whose fault is it? Whose fault is it that Medicare is broken, out of money, that Social Security is broken, out of money? And I say, look, it's not Republicans' fault, it's not Democrats' fault, it's your grandparents' fault for having too many damn kids. After the war we had all of these kids, Baby Boomers. Now we're having smaller families. We used to have 16 workers for one retiree, now you have three workers for one retiree. It's not working. I have a bill to fix Medicare. I've a bill to fix Social Security. For both of them you have to gradually raise the age. If you're not willing to do that, nobody wants to do it, but if you're not willing to gradually raise the age, you're not serious about fixing either one of them. +p975 +aVSay again? +p976 +aVYou can't do nothing. And that's what I hear from some people, "we'll do nothing and it will just be fixed." That's absurd, and I think people who don't want to fix it, really, or unwilling to take the chance to say, "something has to change," are missing the boat here. The age will have to gradually rise, there is no question. It's the only way you fix Medicare, the only way you fix Social Security. You will also have to means-test the benefits and declare there's not enough money. It isn't "I put money in, I'm getting it back." There is no money, it's a stack of paper. There is no money in the Social Security account. There is no money in the Medicare account. There's only a promise to pay by the next generation, and the next generation's not big enough to pay it. [ +p977 +aVLiberty thrives when government is small. I want a government so small I can barely see it. I want a government so small that the individual has a chance to thrive and prosper. I think, though, government is too big now. And what you're going to see in Washington this week is establishment Republicans have made an agreement with the president to raise the debt ceiling in an unlimited fashion; no limit to the debt ceiling raise. This is extraordinary. It's extraordinarily wrong. You'll see me on the floor of the Senate tomorrow filibustering this and saying enough is enough, no more debt. +p978 +asVBASH +p979 +(lp980 +VA crucial question is how to balance surveillance with privacy and keeping Americans safe. Senator Cruz, you voted for a bill that President Obama signed into law just this past June that made it harder for the government to access Americans' phone records. In light of the San Bernardino attack, was your vote a mistake? +p981 +aVThank you. Senator Rubio, Senator Cruz is right there was bipartisan support for that. But you voted against it. So, is Senator Cruz wrong? +p982 +aVSenator Cruz? +p983 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator \u2014 Senator Rubio, please respond. +p984 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I know this is \u2014 this has been a very big issue for you. You hear many of your colleagues are calling for increased surveillance by law enforcement. You call that hogwash. Why is that hogwash? +p985 +aVSenator Rubio? +p986 +aVGovernor Christie, Governor Christie... ...Governor Christie, I'll come to you in a minute. Go ahead, Senator Paul. +p987 +aVGo ahead, please. +p988 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about immigration in a while. But, Governor Christie, just listening to this... +p989 +aVListening to this, you talked \u2014 you heard Senator Paul, Senator Cruz talk about how important it is to protect Americans' privacy, even in a time of grave danger. Why \u2014 what's wrong with that? +p990 +aVSenator Paul, you said +p991 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I want to go back to my initial question, which is you saying that +p992 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about regime change in a bit. But Governor Kasich, would you like to respond to Senator Paul? +p993 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. We've been talking tonight about programs and policy proposals that you all have to keep Americans safe and it's a big discussion on the campaign trail. Also about border security and immigration. So let's talk about immigration. Senator Rubio. You co-authored a bill with Democrats two years ago that allowed a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Do you still support that path to citizenship, which means giving those immigrants rights, like the right to vote? +p994 +aVSenator, you haven't answered the question. You described a very long path but does that path end at citizenship? +p995 +aVThank you, senator. +p996 +aVThank you, senator. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, on the campaign trail, Senator Rubio has said that his immigration plan is not that different from yours. Is that true? +p997 +aVSenator Rubio, please. +p998 +aVSenator Cruz? +p999 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1000 +aVSenator Cruz, can you answer that question please? +p1001 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1002 +aVOne at a time please. +p1003 +aVMs. Fiorina, please wait your turn, we're going to get to you. +p1004 +aVSenator Cruz go ahead. +p1005 +aVMr. Trump, you like to say that you restarted this conversation in the campaign. +p1006 +aVSo who do you side with? Who do you side with in this, Senator Rubio or Senator Cruz? +p1007 +aVThank you. Governor Bush? +p1008 +aVListening to this, do you think this is the tone \u2014 this immigration debate that republicans need to take to win back Hispanics into our party especially states like where we are in Nevada that has a pretty Hispanic community? +p1009 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said if China launches a cyber- attack against the U.S. on your watch, "they're going to see cyber- warfare like they have never seen before." What exactly would that response look like? +p1010 +aVGovernor Bush, what you just heard from Governor Christie, are you concerned that that could really escalate with China, that they would retaliate? And, for example, as the NSA has said, attack the U.S. and maybe it's power grid, which the Chinese have the capability to do? +p1011 +aVMr. Trump, just this weekend you said Senator Cruz is not qualified to be president because he doesn't have the right temperament and acted like a maniac when he arrived in the Senate. But last month you said you were open to naming Senator Cruz as your running mate. +p1012 +aVSo why would you be willing to put somebody who's a maniac one heartbeat away from the presidency? +p1013 +aVOkay. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, you have not been willing to attack Mr. Trump in public. +p1014 +aVBut you did question his judgment in having control of American's nuclear arsenal during a private meeting with supporters. Why are you willing to say things about him in private and not in public? +p1015 +aVSenator, senator, I just... +p1016 +aVSenator, a lot of people have seen... +p1017 +aV... a lot of people have seen these comments you made in private. I just want to clarify what you're saying right now is you do believe Mr. Trump has the judgment to be commander in chief? +p1018 +asVEPPERSON +p1019 +(lp1020 +VThank you, John. Mrs. Fiorina, you were the CEO of a large corporation that offers a 401(k) to its employees. But more than half of American have no access to an employer sponsored retirement plan. That includes the workers at small businesses, and the growing ranks of Uber drivers and other part-timers in the freelance economy. Should the Federal Government play a larger role in helping to set up retirement plans for these workers? +p1021 +aVSo you wouldn't agree \u2014 you wouldn't agree with a start for 401(k) for businesses or anything like that? +p1022 +aVThank you very much. +p1023 +aVThank you, the rules say one minute. +p1024 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. We appreciate it. Thank you, thank you. I want to turn my attention now, to you now, Governor Kasich. Most people can't get a college degree without going into debt. Over 40 million Americans have student loans and many of them cannot pay them back. This country has over $100 billion in student loan defaults. That's billion with a b. What will you do to make sure that students, their families, taxpayers, won't feel the economic impact of this burden for generations? Well, first of all, in Ohio we're changing the whole system. Universities will not get paid one dime unless the student graduates or \u2014 graduates or completes a course. Secondly, you can be in high school and complete almost an entire first year before you go to college and get credit to do that. And, of course, in addition to that, we are working now to go after the cost drivers in our universities. And let me give you an example. Universities today have so many non-academic assets. At Ohio State they sold the parking garage and the parking lot, and they got $500 million because they shouldn't be in the parking lot business. They shouldn't be in the ding business, they shouldn't be in the dorm business. And, of course, we need to take advantage of on-line education to reduce these costs and begin to dis-intermediate the cost of four years. Now, for those who that have these big high costs, I think we can seriously look at an idea of where you can do public service. I mean legitimate, public service and begin to pay off some of that debt through the public service that you do. And in the meantime, it may inspire us to care more about our country, more about ourselves. This is a big moral issue in America. Living a life bigger than yourself, and being a center of healing and justice. And people can learn it through public service. +p1025 +aVThank you, thank you. +p1026 +asVSANDERS +p1027 +(lp1028 +VWell, Gwen and Judy, thank you very much for hosting this event. And, PBS, thank you. Nine months ago, our campaign began. And when it began, we had no political organization, no money, and not much name recognition outside of the state of Vermont. A lot has happened in nine months. And what has happened is, I think, the American people have responded to a series of basic truths, and that is that we have today a campaign finance system which is corrupt, which is undermining American democracy, which allows Wall Street and billionaires to pour huge sums of money into the political process to elect the candidates of their choice. And aligned with a corrupt campaign finance system is a rigged economy. And that's an economy where ordinary Americans are working longer hours for low wagers. They are worried to death about the future of their kids. And yet they are seeing almost all new income and all new wealth going to the top 1 percent. And then in addition to that, the American people are looking around and they see a broken criminal justice system. They see more people in jail in the United States of America than any other country on earth, 2.2 million. We're spending $80 billion a year locking up fellow Americans. They see kids getting arrested for marijuana, getting in prison, getting a criminal record, while they see executives on Wall Street who pay billions of dollars in settlements and get no prosecution at all. No criminal records for them. I think what our campaign is indicating is that the American people are tired of establishment politics, tired of establishment economics. They want a political revolution in which millions of Americans stand up, come together, not let the Trumps of the world divide us, and say, you know what, in this great country, we need a government that represents all of us, not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors. Thank you. +p1029 +aVWell, to put that in a context, Judy, I think we have to understand that in the last 30 years in this country there has been a massive transfer of wealth going from the hands of working families into the top one-tenth of 1% whose percentage of wealth has doubled. In other words, the very rich are getting richer, almost everybody is going \u2014 getting poorer. What I believe is the United States, in fact, should join the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee healthcare to all people. Our Medicare for all single-payer proposal will save the average middle class family $5,000 a year. I do believe that in the year 2016 we have to look in terms of public education as colleges as part of public education making public colleges and universities tuition free. I believe that when real unemployment is close to 10%, and when our infrastructure, our roads, our bridges, our water systems, Flint, Michigan comes to mind. Our waste water plants, our rail, our airports, in many places are disintegrating. Yeah, we can create 13 million jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure at a cost of a trillion dollars. +p1030 +aV... Of course there will be a limit, but when today you have massive levels of income and wealth inequality, when the middle class is disappearing, you have the highest rate of child poverty of almost any major country on Earth. Yes, in my view, the government of a democratic society has a moral responsibility to play a vital role in making sure all of our people have a decent standard of living. +p1031 +aVWell, let us level with the American people. Secretary Clinton has been going around the country saying Bernie Sanders wants to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, people are going to lose their MedicAid, they're going to lose their +p1032 +aVThat is absolutely inaccurate. Look, here is the reality, folks. There is one major country on Earth that does not guarantee health care to all people. There is one major country \u2014 the United States \u2014 which ends up spending almost three times per capita what they do in the U.K. guaranteeing health care to all people, 50 percent more than they do in France guaranteeing health care to all people, far more than our Canadian neighbors, who guarantee health care to all people. Please do not tell me that in this country, if \u2014 and here's the if \u2014 we have the courage to take on the drug companies, and have the courage to take on the insurance companies, and the medical equipment suppliers, if we do that, yes, we can guarantee health care to all people in a much more cost effective way. +p1033 +aVWell, Secretary Clinton, you're not in the White House yet. And let us be clear that every proposal that I have introduced has been paid for. For example, all right, who in America denies that we have an infrastructure that is crumbling? Roads, bridges, water systems, wastewater plants, who denies that? Who denies that real unemployment today, including those who have given up looking for work and are working part-time is close to 10 percent? Who denies that African-American youth unemployment, real, is over 50 percent. We need to create jobs. So yes, I will do away with the outrageous loopholes that allow profitable multinational corporations to stash billions of dollars in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda and in a given year pay zero, zero in federal income tax. Yes, I'm going to do away with that. We will use those proceeds, a hundred billion a year, to invest in rebuilding our infrastructure. Yes, I believe that as a result of the illegal behavior on Wall Street, that they are a Wall Street that drove this country into the worst economic downturn since the Great Recession \u2014 Great Depression. Yes, I do believe that now after the American people bailed Wall Street out, yes, they should pay a Wall Street speculation tax so that we can make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We bailed them out. Now it is their time to help the middle class. +p1034 +aVA brief response. +p1035 +aVHere is where we are with public education. A 100, 150 years ago incredibly brave Americans said, you know what, working class kids, low income kids should not have to work in factories or on the farms. Like rich kids, they deserve to get a free education. And that free education of extraordinary accomplishment was from first grade to 12th grade. The world has changed. This is 2016. In many ways, a college degree today is equivalent to what a high school degree was 50, 60 years ago. So, yes, I do believe that when we talk about public education in America, today, in a rapidly changing world, we should have free tuition at public colleges and universities. That should be a right of all Americans regardless of the income of their families. +p1036 +aVLook, we are fighting for every vote that we can get from women, from men, straight, gay, African-Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans. We are trying to bring America together around an agenda that works for working families and the middle class. I am very proud, if my memory is not correct \u2014 I think I am \u2014 that I have a lifetime \u2014 and I've been in Congress a few years \u2014 a lifetime 100 percent pro-choice voting record. I am very proud that over the years we have had the support in my state of Vermont from very significant majorities of women. I'm very proud that I support legislation that is currently in the Congress, got support of almost all progressive Democrats in the House and Senate, which says we will end the absurdity of women today making 79 cents on the dollar compared to men. And we will join the rest of the other \u2014 the industrialized world in saying that paid family and medical leave should be a right of all working families. +p1037 +aVWell, you know, I think, from a historical point of view, somebody with my background, somebody with my views, somebody who has spent his entire life taking on the big money interests, I think a Sanders victory would be of some historical accomplishment, as well. +p1038 +aVLet me concur with the secretary, no question women's rights are under fierce attack all over this country. And I will tell you something that really galls me. I will not shock anybody to suggest that in politics there is occasionally a little bit of hypocrisy. Just a little bit. All over this country we have Republican candidates for president saying we hate the government. Government is the enemy. We're going to cut Social Security to help you. We're going to cut Medicare and Medicaid, federal aid to education to help you, because the government is so terrible. But, by the way, when it comes to a woman having to make a very personal choice, ah, in that case, my Republican colleagues love the government and want the government to make that choice for every woman in America. If that's not hypocrisy, I don't know what hypocrisy is. +p1039 +aVThis is one of the great tragedies in our country today. And we can no longer continue to sweep it under the rug. It has to be dealt with. Today a male African-American baby born today stands a one-in-four chance of ending up in jail. That is beyond unspeakable. So what we have to do is the radical reform of a broken criminal justice system. What we have to do is end over-policing in African-American neighborhoods. The reality is that both the African-American community and the white community do marijuana at about equal rates. The reality is four times as many blacks get arrested for marijuana. Truth is that far more blacks get stopped for traffic violations. The truth is that sentencing for blacks is higher than for whites. We need fundamental police reform, clearly, clearly, when we talk about a criminal justice system. I would hope that we could all agree that we are sick and tired of seeing videos on television of unarmed people, often African-Americans, shot by police officers. What we have got to do is make it clear that any police officer who breaks the law will, in fact, be held accountable. +p1040 +aVNothing that Secretary Clinton said do I disagree with. This mandatory sentencing, a very bad idea. It takes away discretion from judges. We have got to demilitarize local police departments so they do not look like occupying armies. We have got to make sure that local police departments look like the communities they serve in their diversity. And, where we are failing abysmally is in the very high rate of recidivism we see. People are being released from jail without the education, without the job training, without the resources that they need to get their lives together, then they end up \u2014 we're shocked that they end up back in jail again. So, we have a lot of work to do. But, here is a pledge I've made throughout this campaign, and it's really not a very radical pledge. When we have more people in jail, disproportionately African American and Latino, than China does, a communist authoritarian society four times our size. Here's my promise, at the end of my first term as president we will not have more people in jail than any other country. We will invest in education, and jobs for our kids, not incarceration and more jails. +p1041 +aVWell, I think, Judy, what has to be appreciated is that, as a result of the disastrous and illegal behavior on Wall Street, millions of lives were hurt. People lost their jobs, their homes, their life savings. Turns out that the African-American community and the Latino community were hit especially hard. As I understand it, the African-American community lost half of their wealth as a result of the Wall Street collapse. So when you have childhood African-American poverty rates of 35 percent, when you have youth unemployment at 51 percent, when you have unbelievable rates of incarceration \u2014 which, by the way, leaves the children back home without a dad or even a mother \u2014 clearly, we are looking at institutional racism. We are looking at an economy in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. And sadly, in America today, in our economy, a whole lot of those poor people are African-American. +p1042 +aVAbsolutely, because what we will do is say, instead of giving tax breaks to billionaires, we are going to create millions of jobs for low-income kids so they're not hanging out on street corners. We're going to make sure that those kids stay in school or are able to get a college education. And I think when you give low-income kids \u2014 African-American, white, Latino kids \u2014 the opportunities to get their lives together, they are not going to end up in jail. They're going to end up in the productive economy, which is where we want them. +p1043 +aVWhite people? +p1044 +aVYeah, you can, because African-Americans and Latinos not only face the general economic crises of low wages, and high unemployment, and poor educational opportunities, but they face other problems, as well. So, yes, we can talk about it as a racial issue. But it is a general economic issue. And here's what the economic issue is. The wages that high school graduates receive today are significantly less, whether you are white or black, than they used to be. Why is that? Because of a series of disastrous trade policies which have allowed corporate America through +p1045 +aVThe answer is yes. We've got 11 million undocumented people in this country. I have talked to some of the young kids with tears rolling down their cheeks, are scared to death that today they may or their parents may be deported. I believe that we have got to pass comprehensive immigration reform, something that I strongly supported. I believe that we have got to move toward a path toward citizenship. I agree with President Obama who used executive orders to protect families because the Congress, the House was unable or refused to act. And in fact I would go further. What would motivate me and what would be the guiding light for me in terms of immigration reform, Judy, is to bring families together, not divide them up. And let me say this also. Somebody who is very fond of the president, agrees with him most of the time, I disagree with his recent deportation policies. And I would not support those. Bottom line is a path towards citizenship for 11 million undocumented people, if Congress doesn't do the right thing, we use the executive orders of the president. +p1046 +aVSecretary Clinton, I do have a disagreement here. If my memory is correct, I think when we saw children coming from these horrendous, horrendously violent areas of Honduras and neighboring countries, people who are fleeing drug violence and cartel violence, I thought it was a good idea to allow those children to stay in this country. That was not, as I understand it, the secretary's position. In terms of 2007 immigration reform, yeah, I did vote against it. I voted against it because the Southern Poverty Law Center, among other groups, said that the guest-worker programs that were embedded in this agreement were akin to slavery. Akin to slavery, where people came into this country to do guest work were abused, were exploited, and if they stood up for their rights, they'd be thrown out of this country. So it wasn't just me who opposed it. It was +p1047 +aVWell, let me just respond. I worked with Ted Kennedy. He was the chairman of my committee. And I loved Ted Kennedy. But on this issue, when you have one of the large Latino organizations in America saying vote no, and you have the AFL-CIO saying vote no, and you have leading progressive Democrats, in fact, voting no, I don't apologize for that vote. But in terms of the children, I don't know to whom you're sending a message. Who are you sending a message to? These are children who are leaving countries and neighborhoods where their lives are at stake. That was the fact. I don't think we use them to send a message. I think we welcome them into this country and do the best we can to help them get their lives together. +p1048 +aVOK. You know, you judge a nation not by the number of millionaires and billionaires it has, but by how you treat, we treat, the most vulnerable and fragile people in our nation. And by those standards, we're not doing particularly well. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty among almost any major country on Earth. And in terms of seniors, there are millions of seniors \u2014 and I've talked to them in my state of Vermont and all over this country \u2014 who are trying to get by on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year Social Security. And you know what? You do the arithmetic. You can't get by on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year. And here's an area where Secretary Clinton and I believe we have a difference. I have long supported the proposition that we should lift the cap on taxable income coming into the Social Security Trust Fund, starting at $250,000. And when we \u2014 and when we do that, we don't do what the Republicans want, which is to cut Social Security. We do what the American people want, to expand Social Security by $1,300 a year for people under $16,000, and we extend the life of Social Security for 58 years. Yes, the wealthiest people, the top 1.5 percent, will pay more in taxes. But a great nation like ours should not be in a position where elderly people are cutting their pills in half, where they don't have decent nutrition, where they can't heat their homes in the wintertime. That is not what America should be about. If elected president, I will do everything I can to expand Social Security benefits, not just for seniors, but for disabled veterans, as well. +p1049 +aVIn all due respect......In all due respect, Secretary Clinton, a lot of the progressive groups, the online groups have really asked you a simple question. Are you coming onboard a proposal? And what is that proposal? Now, the proposal that I have outlined, you know, should be familiar to you, because it is what essentially Barack Obama campaigned on in 2008. You opposed him then. I would hope that you would come onboard and say that this is the simple and straightforward thing to do. We're asking the top 1.5 percent, including passive income, to start paying a little bit more so that the elderly and disabled vets in this country can live with security and dignity. I hope you will make a decision soon on this. +p1050 +aVThat's my bill. Check it out. +p1051 +aVWhat we are talking about in reality is a corrupt campaign finance system, that's what we're talking about. We have to be honest about it. It is undermining American democracy. When extraordinarily wealthy people make very large contributions to Super PACs, and in many cases in this campaign, Super PACs have raised more money than individual candidates have, OK? We had a decision to make early on, do we do a Super PAC? And, we said no. We don't represent Wall Street, we don't represent the billionaire class, so it ends up I'm the only candidate up here of the many candidates who has no Super PAC. But, what we did is we said to the working families of this country, look, we know things are tough, but if you want to help us go beyond establishment politics, and establishment economics, send us something. And, it turns out that up until \u2014 and this has blown me away, never in a million years would I have believed that I would be standing here tonight telling you that we have received three and a half million individual contributions from well over a million people. Now, Secretary Clinton's Super PAC, as I understand it, received $25 million dollars last reporting period, $15 million dollars from Wall Street. Our average contribution is $27 dollars, I'm very proud of that. +p1052 +aVThe people aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street... But let's not \u2014 but let's not \u2014 let's not insult \u2014 let's not insult the intelligence of the American people. People aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street make huge campaign contributions? I guess just for the fun of it; they want to throw money around. Why does the pharmaceutical industry make huge campaign contributions? Any connection maybe to the fact that our people pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs? Why does the fossil fuel industry pay \u2014 spend huge amounts of money on campaign contributions? Any connection to the fact that not one Republican candidate for president thinks and agrees with the scientific community that climate change is real and that we have got to transform our energy system? And when we talk about Wall Street, let's talk about Wall Street. I voted for Dodd-Frank, got an important amendment in it. In my view, it doesn't go anywhere near far enough. But when we talk about Wall Street, you have Wall Street and major banks have paid $200 billion in fines since the great crash. No Wall Street executive has been prosecuted. +p1053 +aVLet me, you know, again, respectfully disagree with Secretary Clinton here. When you have three out of the four largest financial institutions in this country bigger today than they were when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, when you have six financial institutions having assets equivalent to 58 percent of the GDP of America, while issuing two-thirds of the credit cards and a third of the mortgages, look, I think if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, that great trust-buster would have said break them up. I think he would have been right. I think he would have said bring back a 21st-century Glass-Steagall legislation. I think that would have been right, as well. That's my view. +p1054 +aVHey, I'm in the United States Senate, and anyone who doesn't think that there is an enormous amount of waste and inefficiency and bureaucracy throughout government would be very, very mistaken. I believe in government, but I believe in efficient government, not wasteful government. +p1055 +aVIf I could just answer that, we have also got to take a look at the waste and inefficiencies in the Department of Defense, which is the one major agency of government that has not been able to be audited. And I have the feeling you're going to find a lot of cost overruns there and a lot of waste and duplicative activities. +p1056 +aVLet me \u2014 let me just say this. What a President of the United States has got to do and what is his or her major, I think, responsibility is to, a, make certain that we keep our people safe, that we work with allies around the world to protect democratic values, that we do all that we can to create a world of peace and prosperity. I voted against the war in Iraq because I listened very carefully to what President Bush and Vice President Cheney had to say and I didn't believe them. And if you go to my Web site,berniesanders.com, what you find is not only going to help lead the opposition to that war, but much of what I feared would happen when I spoke on the floor of the House, in fact, did happen in terms of the instability that occurred. Now I think an area in kind of a vague way, or not so vague, where Secretary Clinton and I disagree is the area of regime change. Look, the truth is that a powerful nation like the United States, certainly working with our allies, we can overthrow dictators all over the world. And God only knows Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator. We could overthrow Assad tomorrow if we wanted to. We got rid of Gadhafi. But the point about foreign policy is not just to know that you can overthrow a terrible dictator, it's to understand what happens the day after. And in Libya, for example, the United States, Secretary Clinton, as secretary of state, working with some other countries, did get rid of a terrible dictator named Gadhafi. But what happened is a political vacuum developed. +p1057 +aVJudy, if I can, there is no question, Secretary Clinton and I are friends, and I have a lot of respect for her, that she has enormous experience in foreign affairs. Secretary of state for four years. You've got a bit of experience, I would imagine. But judgment matters as well. Judgment matters as well. And she and I looked at the same evidence coming from the Bush administration regarding Iraq. I lead the opposition against it. She voted for it. But more importantly, in terms of this Libya resolution that you have noted before, this was a virtually unanimous consent. Everybody voted for it wanting to see Libya move toward democracy, of course we all wanted to do that. That is very different than talking about specific action for regime change, which I did not support. +p1058 +aVJudy, one area very briefly... +p1059 +aVWhere the secretary and I have a very profound difference, in the last debate \u2014 and I believe in her book \u2014 very good book, by the way \u2014 in her book and in this last debate, she talked about getting the approval or the support or the mentoring of Henry Kissinger. Now, I find it rather amazing, because I happen to believe that Henry Kissinger was one of the most destructive secretaries of state in the modern history of this country. I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend. I will not take advice from Henry Kissinger. And in fact, Kissinger's actions in Cambodia, when the United States bombed that country, overthrew Prince Sihanouk, created the instability for Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge to come in, who then butchered some 3 million innocent people, one of the worst genocides in the history of the world. So count me in as somebody who will not be listening to Henry Kissinger. +p1060 +aVWell, it ain't Henry Kissinger. That's for sure. +p1061 +aVIt is. +p1062 +aVI find \u2014 I mean, it's just a very different, you know, historical perspective here. Kissinger was one of those people during the Vietnam era who talked about the domino theory. Not everybody remembers that. You do. I do. The domino theory, you know, if Vietnam goes, China, da, da, da, da, da, da, da. That's what he talked about, the great threat of China. And then, after the war, this is the guy who, in fact, yes, you're right, he opened up relations with China, and now pushed various type of trade agreements, resulting in American workers losing their jobs as corporations moved to China. The terrible, authoritarian, Communist dictatorship he warned us about, now he's urging companies to shut down and move to China. Not my kind of guy. +p1063 +aVWell, this is what I would say. It is a complicated relationship. I congratulate Secretary of State John Kerry and the president for working on this agreement. As you've indicated, what is happening in Syria, the number of people, the hundreds of thousands of people who have been killed \u2014 men, women, 20,000 children, the people who are forced to flee their own country \u2014 their own country \u2014 it is unspeakable. It is a real horror. Now, what I think is that right now we have got to do our best in developing positive relations with Russia. But let's be clear: Russia's aggressive actions in the Crimea and in Ukraine have brought about a situation where President Obama and +p1064 +aVLet me just \u2014 just say this. For a start, the secretary and I disagree \u2014 and I think the president does not agree with her \u2014 in terms of the concept of a no-fly zone in Syria. I think you do have a humanitarian tragedy there, as I mentioned a moment ago. I applaud Secretary Kerry and the president for trying to put together this agreement. Let's hope that it holds. But furthermore, what we have got to do, I'm sorry, yes, I do believe that we have got to do everything that we can, and it will not happen tomorrow. But I do hope that in years to come, just as occurred with Cuba, 10, 20 years ago, people would say, reach normalized relations with Cuba. And by the way, I hope we can end the trade embargo with Cuba as well. But the idea that we some day maybe have decent relations with Iran, maybe put pressure on them so they end their support for terrorism around the world, yes, that is something I want to achieve. And I believe that the best way to do that is to be aggressive, to be principled, but to have the goal of trying to improve relations. That's how you make peace in the world. You sit down and you work with people, you make demands of people, in this case demanding Iran stop the support of international terrorism. +p1065 +aVWe have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of work to do. But I recall when Secretary Clinton ran against then-Senator Obama, she was critical of him for suggesting that maybe you want to talk to Iran, that you want to talk to our enemies. I have no illusion. Of course you are right. Iran is sponsoring terrorism in many parts of the world, destabilizing areas. Everybody knows that. But our goal is, in fact, to try over a period of time to, in fact, deal with our enemies, not just ignore that reality. +p1066 +aVNo, I think the idea was that president \u2014 then-Senator Obama was wrong for suggesting that it is a good idea to talk to your opponents. It's easier to talk to your friends. It's harder to talk to your enemies. I think we should do both. +p1067 +aVA couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to go on a congressional delegation. And I went to one of these Turkish refugee camps right on the border of Syria. And what a sad sight that was: Men, women, children forced out of their homes. And Turkey, by the way, did a very decent thing, providing what was reasonable housing and conditions for those people. It seems to me that given our history as a nation that has been a beacon of hope for the oppressed, for the downtrodden, that I very strongly disagree with those Republican candidates who say, you know what, we've got to turn our backs on women and children who left their home with nothing, nothing at all. That is not what America is supposed to be about. So I believe that working with Europe \u2014 and, by the way, you know, we've got some very wealthy countries there in that part of the world. You got Kuwait and you got Qatar and you got Saudi Arabia. They have a responsibility, as well. But I think this is a worldwide \u2014 that the entire world needs to come together to deal with this horrific refugee crisis we're seeing from Syria and Afghanistan, as well. +p1068 +aVYou know, Franklin Delano Roosevelt took the oath of office in 1933 at a time when 25 percent of the American people were unemployed, country was in incredible despair. And he stood before the American people and he said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself," a profound statement that gave the American people the courage to believe that, yes, we could get out of that terrible depression. And then what he did is redefine the role of government. You know, you had Herbert Hoover before that saying, no, we got to only worry about the deficit. So what if mass unemployment exists? So what if children are going hungry? That's not the role of the government. And when FDR said, "Yeah, it is," that we're going to use all of the resources that we have to create jobs, to build homes, to feed people, to protect the farmers, we are a nation which if we come together there is nothing that we could not accomplish. And kind of \u2014 that's what I see our campaign is about right now. In this particular moment of serious crises, saying to the American people don't give up on the political process. don't listen to the Trumps of the world and allowing them to divide us. If we reengage and get involved, yeah, we can have health care for all people, we can make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We do not have to have massive levels of income and wealth inequality. In the same light, as the foreign leader, Winston Churchill's politics were not my politics. He was kind of a conservative guy in many respects. But nobody can deny that as a wartime leader, he rallied the British people when they stood virtually alone against the Nazi juggernaut and rallied them and eventually won an extraordinary victory. Those are two leaders that I admire very much. +p1069 +aVThat is......Madam Secretary, that is a low blow. I have worked with President Obama for the last seven years. When President Obama came into office we were losing 800,000 jobs a month, 800,000 jobs a month. We had a $1.4 trillion deficit. And the world's financial system is on the verge of collapse. As a result of his efforts and the efforts of Joe Biden against unprecedented, I was there in the Senate, unprecedented Republican obstructionism, we have made enormous progress. But you know what? Last I heard we lived in a democratic society. Last I heard, a United States senator had the right to disagree with the president, including a president who has done such an extraordinary job. So I have voiced criticisms. You're right. Maybe you haven't. I have. But I think to suggest that I have voiced criticism, this blurb that you talk about, you know what the blurb said? The blurb said that the next president of the United States has got to be aggressive in bringing people into the political process. That's what I said. That is what I believe. President Obama and I are friends. As you know, he came to Vermont to campaign for me when he was a senator. I have worked for his re-election. His first election and his re-election. But I think it is really unfair to suggest that I have not been supportive of the president. I have been a strong ally with him on virtually every issue. Do senators have the right to disagree with the president? Have you ever disagreed with a president? I suspect you may have. +p1070 +aVWell, one of us ran against Barack Obama. I was not that candidate. All right, look, this has been a great debate. A lot of interesting issues have come together. Let me conclude by just saying this. There is no president, in my view, not Hillary Clinton, not Bernie Sanders, who has the capability or the power to take on Wall Street, large campaign donors, the corporate media, the big money interests in this country alone. This campaign is not just about electing a president. What this campaign is about is creating a process for a political revolution in which millions of Americans, working people who have given up on the political process, they don't think anybody hears their pains or their concerns. Young people for whom getting involved in politics is as, you know, it's like going to the moon. It ain't going to happen. Low income people who are not involved in the political process. What this campaign is not only about electing someone who has the most progressive agenda, it is about bringing tens of millions of people together to demand that we have a government that represents all of us and not just the 1 percent, who today have so much economic and political power. Thank you all very much. +p1071 +aVRachel, thank you very much. Millions of Americans are giving up on the political process. And they're giving up on the political process because they understand the economy is rigged. They are working longer hours for low wages. They're worried about the future of their kids, and yet almost all new income and wealth is going to the top 1 percent. Not what America is supposed to be about. Not the fairness that we grew up believing that America was about. And then sustaining that rigged economy is a corrupt campaign finance system undermining American democracy, where billionaire, Wall Street, corporate America can contribute unlimited sums of money into super PACs and into candidates. Our job, together, is to end a rigged economy, create an economy that works for all, and absolutely overturn Citizens United. One person, one vote. That's what American democracy is about. +p1072 +aVWell, I haven't quite run for president before. Let's deal with some of the comments that Secretary Clinton made. And by the way, you know, sometimes there's a lot of drama here. I have known Secretary Clinton for 25 years and respect her very much. Here is the issue. Every major country on earth, whether it's the U.K., whether it's France, whether it's Canada, has managed to provide healthcare to all people as a right and they are spending significantly less per capita on health care than we are. So I do not accept the belief that the United States of America can't do that. I do not accept the belief that the United States of America and our government can't stand up to the ripoffs of the pharmaceutical industry which charge us by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. Number two, in the economy today, everybody understands that we need a well educated workforce. This is 2016. When we talk about public education, it can no longer be K through 12th grade. I do believe that public colleges and universities should be tuition free. Well, how do we pay for that? It's an expensive proposition. I do believe that we should substantially lower student debt in this country, which is crushing millions of people. We pay for it, in my view, by a tax on Wall Street speculation. The middle class bailed out Wall Street in their time of need. Now, it is Wall Street's time to help the middle class. +p1073 +aVLet me... +p1074 +aV... this is a good discussion here. +p1075 +aVAnd let me just say this. As Secretary Clinton may know, I am on the Health Education Labor Committee. That committee wrote the Affordable Care Act. The idea I would dismantle health care in America while we're waiting to pass a Medicare for all is just not accurate. The Affordable Care Act has clearly, as Secretary Clinton made the point, done a lot of good things, but, what it has not done is dealt with the fact we have 29 million people today who have zero health insurance, we have even more who are underinsured with large deductibles and copayments and prescription drug prices are off the wall. So I do believe that in the future, not by dismantling what we have here\u2014I helped write that bill\u2014but by moving forward, rallying the American people, I do believe we should have health care for all. +p1076 +aVNo, not at all. Here's the reality of American economic life today. The reality is that we have one of lowest voter turnouts of any major country on earth because so many people have given up on the political process. The reality is that there has been trillions of dollars of wealth going from the middle class in the last 30 years to the top 1/10th of 1 percent. The reality is we that have a corrupt campaign finance system which separates the American people's needs and desires from what Congress is doing. So to my mind, what we have got to do is wage a political revolution where millions of people have given up on the political process, stand up and fight back, demand the government that represents us and not just a handful of campaign contribution\u2014contributors. Now all of the ideas that I'm talking about, they are not radical ideas. Making public colleges and universities tuition free, that exists in countries all over the world, used to exist in the United States. Rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, and creating 13 million jobs by doing away with tax loopholes that large corporations now enjoy by putting their money into the Cayman Islands and other tax havens. That is not a radical idea. What we need to do is to stand up to the big money interests, and the campaign contributors. When we do that, we can, in fact, transform America. +p1077 +aVLet me just pick up on this point. This whole discussion began because I commented, not making overall evaluation about the Secretary. She was in Ohio, I think, in September or November and she got up and said something like, I have been\u2014I'm paraphrasing, I have been criticized because people think I'm a moderate. Well, I am a moderate. That's where this came from. It wasn't me paraphrasing her. It is what she said, and all that I said was there's nothing wrong with being a moderate. But, you can't be a moderate, you can't a progressive. In terms of President Obama, I think if we remember where this country was seven years ago, 800,000 jobs being lost every month, $1.4 trillion dollar deficit. The world's financial system on the verge of collapse. I think that President Obama, Vice President Biden, and the Democratic leadership in the House and the Senate have done a fantastic job. We are in much better shape than we were seven years ago, although my Republican colleagues seem to have forgotten where we were seven years ago. That's the fact, but, we still have a very long way to go. Do I think President Obama is a progressive? Yes, I do. I disagree with him on a number of issues including the trade agreement. But, yes, I think he has done an excellent job. +p1078 +aVThat's right, I mean, instead of arguing about definitions, let's talk about... +p1079 +aV... What we should do, and one of the things we should do is not only talk the talk, but walk the walk. I am very proud to be the only candidate up here who does not have a Super PAC, who's not raising huge sums of money from Wall Street...... And special interests. I am enormously proud. Never believed it would happen that we have raised 3.5 million individual contributions, averaging $27 dollars a piece. That is what the political revolution means. +p1080 +aVWell, Rachel, actually, that wasn't accurate. In 1988 the Republican did win, I believe, by 3 points. I came in second. It was 34-31, I think, 19 for the Democrat. In that race the Democrat was the spoiler, not me. And it is true......it is true, it's not to be denied, I am the longest- serving independent in the history of the United States Congress. People of Vermont sent me to Washington as an independent. That is true. But on the other hand, I have\u2014when I was in the House for 16 years, I caucused with the Democrats. In the Senate for nine years caucused with the Democrats, of course. And I was elected by the Democrats to be chair of the Veterans Committee three years ago, which I'm very proud of. And now am the rankings member on the Budget Committee, leader of the Democrats in opposition to the majority Republicans. I am running for president as a Democrat. And if elected, not only do I hope to bring forth a major change in national priorities, but let me be frank, I do want to see major changes in the Democratic Party. I want to see working people and young people come into the party in a way that doesn't exist now. And you know what, I want a 50-state strategy so the Democratic Party is not just the party of 25 states. +p1081 +aVWell, I don't see it quite like that. +p1082 +aVI am\u2014will absolutely admit that Secretary Clinton has the support of far more governors, mayors, members of the House. She has the entire establishment or almost the entire establishment behind her. That's a fact. I don't deny it. But I am pretty proud that we have over a million people who have contributed to our campaign averaging 27 bucks apiece. That we have had meetings where 25,000-30,000 people have come out. That our campaign is a campaign of the people, by the people, and for the people. So, Rachel, yes, Secretary Clinton does represent the establishment. I represent, I hope, ordinary Americans, and by the way, who are not all that enamored with the establishment, but I am very proud to have people like Keith Ellison and Raul Grijalva in the House, the co-chairmen of the House Progressive Caucus. +p1083 +aVWhat being part of the establishment is, is, in the last quarter, having a super PAC that raised $15 million from Wall Street, that throughout one's life raised a whole lot of money from the drug companies and other special interests. To my mind, if we do not get a handle on money in politics and the degree to which big money controls the political process in this country, nobody is going to bring about the changes that is needed in this country for the middle class and working families. +p1084 +aVWhat... +p1085 +aV... you know... +p1086 +aV. +p1087 +aVLet's talk about\u2014OK, let's talk... +p1088 +aV... let us talk about issues. +p1089 +aVLet's talk about issues. +p1090 +aVLet's... +p1091 +aV... let's\u2014let's\u2014let's talk about issues. +p1092 +aVLet's talk\u2014let's talk about issues, all right? Let's talk about why, in the 1990s, Wall Street got deregulated. Did it have anything to do with the fact that Wall Street provided\u2014spent billions of dollars on lobbying and campaign contributions? Well, some people might think, yeah, that had some influence. Let's ask why it is that we pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, and your medicine can be doubled tomorrow, and there's nothing that the government can do to stop it. You think it has anything to do with the huge amounts of campaign contributions and lobbying from the fossil fuel industry? Let's talk about climate change. Do you think there's a reason why not one Republican has the guts to recognize that climate change is real, and that we need to transform our energy system? Do you think it has anything to do with the Koch brothers and ExxonMobil pouring huge amounts of money into the political system? That is what goes on in America. I am not\u2014I like......there is a reason. You know, there is a reason why these people are putting huge amounts of money into our political system. And in my view, it is undermining American democracy and it is allowing Congress to represent wealthy campaign contributors and not the working families of this country. +p1093 +aVI think as Secretary Clinton knows, there is nobody who fought harder. I was on the House Financial Committee at that time. I heard the arguments coming from Democrats and Republicans\u2014Robert Rubin, Alan Greenspan\u2014about great an idea it would be if we did away with Glass-Steagall and if we allowed investor banks and commercial banks and big insurance companies to merge. Go to YouTube today. Look up Greenspan-Sanders. Listen to what I told them then. I helped lead the effort against deregulation. Unfortunately, we lost that. The result is\u2014was the worst financial disaster since the Great Depression. +p1094 +aVChuck, actually we looked at it, but it turns out to be a disaster. The way it is structured right now, if you make it all the way to California, you could do pretty well. But in terms of the early states\u2014Iowa, New Hampshire, the other states\u2014it just doesn't work. Your point is well taken. I believe in public funding of elections, absolutely. But this system is\u2014I don't know if the secretary would agree\u2014is currently very antiquated and no longer applies to modern day politics. +p1095 +aVBut if the... +p1096 +aVLet me just say this. Wall Street is perhaps the most powerful economic and political force in this country. You have companies like Goldman Sachs, who just recently paid a settlement fine with the federal government for $5 billion for defrauding investors. Goldman Sachs was one of those companies whose illegal activity helped destroy our economy and ruin the lives of millions of Americans. But this is what a rigged economy and a corrupt campaign finance system and a broken criminal justice is about. These guys are so powerful that not one of the executives on Wall Street has been charged with anything after paying, in this case of Goldman Sachs, a $5 billion fine. Kid gets caught with marijuana, that kid has a police record. A Wall Street executive destroys the economy, $5 billion settlement with the government, no criminal record. That is what power is about. That is what corruption is about. And that is what has to change in the United States of America. +p1097 +aVI would say that\u2014that folks who have looked at this issue for a long time, whether it's Elizabeth Warren or many other economists, will tell you that right now, yes, we do need a 21st century Glass-Steagall legislation. And I would tell you also that when you have three out of the four largest banks in America today, bigger than they were\u2014significantly bigger than when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, I think if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, a good Republican by the way, what he would say is: Break them up; they are too powerful economically; they are too powerful politically. And that is what I believe and many economists believe. Time to break them up. +p1098 +aVWell, we've had a number of economists supporting our legislation. And here's where we are. The American people can judge. Six largest financial institutions in America today have assets of roughly $10 trillion; equivalent to 58 percent of the GDP of the United States of America. That is a lot of money. They issue two thirds of the credit cards, and by the way they're ripping off a whole lot of people with high interest rates on the credit cards, and they write about one third of the mortgages. That is a lot of power for six financial institutions. That's it. I think it is too much power. Too much economic power, too much political power, and the economists that I talk to say we should break them up. +p1099 +aVYeah, I do. I agree with much of what the Secretary said, but, madam Secretary, it is not one streak. Wall Street is an entity of unbelievable economic and political power. That's a fact. And, I want to say something, and it may sound harsh, not to you, but to the American people. In a sense, in my view, the business model of Wall Street is fraud. It's fraud. I believe that corruption is rampant, and the fact that major bank after major bank has reached multi billion dollar settlements with the United States government when we have a weak regulator system tells me that not only did we have to bail them out once, if we don't start breaking them up, we're going to have to bail them out again, and I do not want to see that happen... +p1100 +aVOf course I can work with them, but let's be clear. When I talked about Boeing and I talked about General Electric, what I was referring to is an outrage. I suspect the secretary agrees request me. Right now you have a loophole such that these guys are putting their profits, multi-billion dollar profitable corporations putting billions of dollars into the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, and other tax havens. And in a given year, Rachel, after making billions of dollars in profit, do you know how much they're paying in taxes to the United States government in a given year? Zero. Now explain to me how that makes any sense at all. So what I have said with regard to Boeing and GE and other multinationals that pay zero taxes, you know what we're going to do? We're going to end that loophole. They are going to pay their fair share of taxes. We're going to use that money to rebuild our infrastructure and create up to 13 million jobs. Can I work with corporations? Are there good corporations doing incredible cutting edge research and development? Absolutely they are. And we should be proud of them. But on the other hand, there are many corporations who have turned their backs on the American worker, who have said, if I can make another nickel in profit by going to China and shutting down in the United States of America, that's what I will do. I will do my best to transform our trade policy and take on these corporations who want to invest in low-income countries around the world rather than in the United States of America. +p1101 +aVOK. Let me agree with much of what the secretary said, but where we have a different background on this issue is we differ on the war in Iraq, which created barbaric organizations like +p1102 +aVWell, I think our great task is to make certain that our young men and women in the military do not get sucked into never- ending, perpetual warfare within the quagmire of Syria and Iraq. And I will do my very best to make sure that that doesn't happen. I agree with the secretary that I think what has to happen\u2014and let me just mention what King Abdullah of Jordan said. I think he hit the nail on the head. And what he said is essentially the war against +p1103 +aVWell, you can't simply withdraw tomorrow. Wish we could, and allow, you know, the Taliban or anybody else to reclaim that country. But what we must do, and what we have seen in recent months, is some progress in Iraq, where finally the Iraqi army, which has not been a particularly effective fighting force, retook Ramadi. +p1104 +aVWell, that's not quite accurate. I did give a speech at Georgetown where I talked about democratic socialism and foreign policy. Maybe I shouldn't have combined the two in the same speech, because the foreign policy part of it didn't get much attention. So, let me take this opportunity to give you a very short speech here on the issue. I think, while it is true that the secretary and I voted differently on the war in Iraq, what is important is that we learn the lesson of the war in Iraq. And that lesson is intrinsic to my foreign policy if elected president, is the United States cannot do it alone. We cannot be the policeman of the world. We are now spending more I believe than the next eight countries on defense. We have got to work in strong coalition with the major powers of the world and with those Muslim countries that are prepared to stand up and take on terrorism. So I would say that the key doctrine of the Sanders administration would be no, we cannot continue to do it alone; we need to work in coalition. +p1105 +aV I fully, fully concede that Secretary Clinton, who was secretary of State for four years, has more experience\u2014hat is not arguable\u2014in foreign affairs. But experience is not the only point, judgment is. And once again, back in 2002, when we both looked at the same evidence about the wisdom of the war in Iraq, one of us voted the right way and one of us didn't. In terms of Iran and in terms of Saudi Arabia, of course they hate each other. That's no great secret. But John Kerry, who is I think doing a very good job, has tried to at least get these people in the room together because both of them are being threatened by +p1106 +aVWell... +p1107 +aVWho said That think we should normalize relations with Iran tomorrow? I never said that. I think we should move forward as quickly as we can. And you're right. They are a sponsor of terrorism around the world and we have to address that. But you know, a number of years ago, people were saying normal relationship with Cuba, what a bad and silly idea. They're Communists, they are our enemy. Well guess what? Change has come. So please don't suggest that I think we normalize relations with Tehran tomorrow. We don't. But I would like to see us move forward, and hopefully some day that will happen. And I would say if I might, Madam Secretary\u2014and you can correct me if I'm wrong. When you ran against Senator Obama you thought him naive because he thought it was a good idea to talk to our enemies. I think those are exactly the people you have to talk to and you have to negotiate with. +p1108 +aVOK. +p1109 +aVI think President Obama had the right idea, and the bottom line is that of course there have to be conditions. But, of course it doesn't do us any good to not talk with our adversaries... +p1110 +aVJust to set the record straight, I very strongly supported the agreement which makes certain that Iran does not get a nuclear weapon. +p1111 +aV... +p1112 +aV +p1113 +aV... No, no... +p1114 +aV... +p1115 +aVClearly North Korea is a very strange situation because it is such an isolated country run by a handful of dictators, or maybe just one, who seems to be somewhat paranoid. And, who had nuclear weapons. And, our goal there, in my view, is to work and lean strongly on China to put as much pressure. China is one of the few major countries in the world that has significant support for North Korea, and I think we got to do everything we can to put pressure on China. I worry very much about an isolated, paranoid country with atomic bombs. I think, clearly, we got to work closely with China to resolve the serious problems we have, and I worry about Putin and his military adventurism in the Crimea and the Ukraine. +p1116 +aV... No, I don't. I worry very, very much about an isolated country. That's what makes me nervous. Russia lives in the world. China lives in the world. North Korea is a very, very strange country because it is so isolated, and I do feel that a nation with nuclear weapons, they have got to be dealt with. Dealt with effectively. +p1117 +aVLet me agree. You know, as the secretary knows, I chaired\u2014I had the privilege and the honor of chairing the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs. And it is interesting to me, you know, Republicans give a lot of speeches about how much they love veterans. I work with the American Legion, the VFW, the DAV, the Vietnam Vets, and virtually every veterans organization to put together the most comprehensive piece of the veterans legislation in the modern history of America. That's what I did. And I brought it to the floor of the Senate. Every Democrat voted for it, I got two Republicans. We ended up with 56 votes and I couldn't get the 60 votes that I needed. That is pathetic. This was legislation supported by all of the veterans organizations, addressing many of the serious problems that veterans face in health care and in how we deliver benefits to them. So Republicans talk a good game about veterans, but when it came to put money on the line to protect our veterans, frankly, they were not there. What I did next, Rachel, is I had to retreat a little bit, I had to compromise. I did work with John McCain. I did work with Jeff Miller over in the House. And we put together not the bill that I wanted, but probably the most comprehensive V.A. health care bill in the modern history of this country. Secretary Clinton is absolutely right, there are people, Koch brothers among others, who have a group called Concerned Veterans of America, funded by the Koch brothers. The Koch brothers, by the way, want to destroy Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, every governmental program passed since the 1930s. Yes, there are people out there who want to privatize it. The last point that I'd make. I had a hearing. I had all of the veterans groups in front of me. And I said to them, tell me when a veteran gets in to the V.A., understanding there are waiting lines and real problems, when a veteran gets into the system, is the quality of care good? Without exception, what they said, good, excellent, very good. We've got to strengthen the V.A. We do not privatize the V.A. +p1118 +aVWell, I agree with the Des Moines Register, but let's not blow this out of proportion. This is not a\u2014this is not, like, a winner-take-all thing. I think where we now stand\u2014correct me if I'm wrong\u2014you have 22 delegates, I have 20 delegates. We need 2,500 delegates to win the nomination. You know, so this is not\u2014this is not the biggest deal in the world. We think, by the way, based on talking to our precinct captains, we may have at least two more delegates. What the Des Moines Register said\u2014you know, there were coin\u2014I think there were half a dozen coin flips\u2014a fairly chaotic type situation. At the end of the day, no matter how it's recounted, it will break roughly even. And by the way, I love and respect the caucus process in Iowa. See, and I don't have to say it, because they voted already. And I love New Hampshire, too, because you haven't voted, but......but, look, I think people are blowing this up out of proportion. But I think we need improvements in the process by which results are determined. +p1119 +aVOh . See, when you are old, then they go back all these years. All right. What have you got? +p1120 +aVWell, you know, a general election is different than a primary and caucus process. But let me just say this. In terms of where we are right now, as you mention, Rachel, in a number of national and state, including New Hampshire. For example, the last poll I saw\u2014there may have been a new one\u2014last one I saw here in New Hampshire, a battleground state, had me defeating Trump by 19; the secretary defeating him by one. There were also pretty large margins in Iowa and Wisconsin. These are polls. Polls go up. Polls go down. But here's why I think I will be, if nominated, the strongest candidate. Democrats win when there is a large voter turnout; when people are excited; when working people, middle class people and young people are prepared to engage in the political process. Republicans win when people are demoralized and you have a small voter turnout, which by the way is why they love voter suppression. I believe that our campaign up to now has shown that we can create an enormous amount of enthusiasm from working people, from young people, who will get involved in the political process and which will drive us to a very large voter turnout. If there is a large voter turnout, not only do we retain the White House, but I think we regain the Senate. We win governors' chairs up and down the line. So I believe if you want to retain the White House, if you want to see Democrats do well across the board, I think our campaign is the one that creates the large voter turnout and helps us win. +p1121 +aV +p1122 +aVI am feeling exactly the way I felt at the first debate. There's a process under way. I will not politicize it. +p1123 +aVAnd by the way\u2014and by the way, if I may, the secretary probably doesn't know that there's not a day that goes by when I am not asked to attack her on that issue, and I have refrained from doing that and I will continue to refrain from doing that. +p1124 +aVNot losing control of our campaign. You know, we have hired a whole lot of people in a rapid way and I am familiar with the first two instances and they are unacceptable, and we have apologized and dealt with that. In terms of the last one, as I understand it, we did not suggest that we had the endorsement of a newspaper. Newspapers who make endorsements also say positive things about other candidates, and to the best of my knowledge, that is what we did. So we never said, never said that somebody, a newspaper endorsed us that did not. What we did say is blah blah blah blah was said by the newspaper. +p1125 +aVBut that was only for\u2014that was not to be on television. That's an important point. That was just something\u2014as the secretary knows, you put titles on ads and you send them out, but there was no word in that ad, none, that said that those newspapers had endorsed us. +p1126 +aV... Look, I hear what the Secretary said, and I understand, but look, there are\u2014all of us know that we have seen in recent years horrible, horrible crimes. It's hard to imagine how people can do, bomb, and kill 168 people in Oklahoma City, or do the Boston Marathon bombing, but this is what I believe, and for a couple of reasons. Number one, too many innocent people, including minorities, African Americans, have been executed when they were not guilty. That's number one. We have to be very careful about making sure about that. But, second of all, and maybe, in a deeper reason, of course there are barbaric acts out there. But, in a world of so much violence and killing, I just don't believe that government itself should be part of the killing. So, when somebody commits......somebody commits any of these terrible crimes that we have seen, you lock them up, and you toss away the key. They're never going to get out. But, I just don't' want to see government be part of killing. That's all. +p1127 +aVAbsolutely. I think the Secretary described the situation appropriately. You know, I don't go around asking for governor's resignations every day. In fact, I think I never have in my life. But I did ask for the resignation of Governor Snyder because his irresponsibility......was so outrageous. What we are talking about are children being poisoned. That's what we're talking about. We don't know, no one knows for sure because they haven't done the appropriate studies, but there's no question that kids' intellectual development may have been impacted. We don't know how many thousands. The idea that there has not been a dramatic response is beyond comprehension. And when you have one of the, I think, significant public health crises of recent years, of course the federal government comes in. And of course the federal government says, you're not going to be poisoning little kids and impacting their entire lives. Last point on this. And I suspect the secretary agrees. One wonders if this were a white suburban community what kind of response there would have been. Flint, Michigan, is a poor community. It is disproportionately African-American and minority. And what has happened there is absolutely unacceptable. +p1128 +aVAbsolutely right. +p1129 +aVChuck, I believe in trade, but I do not believe in unfettered free trade. I believe in fair trade which works for the middle class and working families of this country and not just large multinational corporations. I was not only in opposition to +p1130 +aVNo, let... +p1131 +aV... I am absolutely supportive of comprehensive immigration reform and a path towards citizenship for 11 million people today who are living in the shadows. All right? We got to do that. But you miss\u2014when you looked at the issues, you missed two of the most important. And that is you're not going to accomplish what has to be done for working families and the middle class unless there is campaign finance reform. So long as big money interests control the United States Congress, it is gonna be very hard to do what has to be done for working families. So let me be very clear. No nominee of mine, if I'm elected president, to the United States Supreme Court will get that nomination unless he or she is loud and clear, and says they will vote to overturn Citizens United. Second point\u2014second point is that the only way we make change in terms of health care, in terms of dealing with a broken criminal justice system which, today, allows us to have more people in jail than any other country\u2014largely African-American and Latino\u2014the only way we create millions of jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure or have a tax system that says to the wealthy that they are going to pay their fair share, is when millions of people become involved in the political process. No, you just can't negotiate with Mitch McConnell. Mitch is gonna have to look out the window and see a whole lot of people saying, "Mitch, stop representing the billionaire class. Start listening to working families." And as president, that's what I will work hard on. +p1132 +aVI agree with what the secretary said. We shouldn't be getting ahead of ourselves. And as I have said many times, you know, sometimes in these campaigns, things get a little bit out of hand. I happen to respect the secretary very much, I hope it's mutual. And on our worst days, I think it is fair to say we are 100 times better than any Republican candidate. +p1133 +aVI\u2014my dad came to this country at the age of 17 from Poland. Didn't have any money, couldn't speak English, he died pretty young, and I think it would have been beyond his wildest dreams to see his son up here on this stage today running for president. I love this country and my dad loved this country, and he was the most proud American because of what it gave him in terms of raising his family, even though we never had much money. But today in America, we are the only major country on earth that doesn't guarantee health care to all people, that doesn't guarantee paid family and medical leave. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth. We are seeing millions of families unable to send their kids to college in the United States of America. I'm running for president because I believe it is just too late for establishment politics and establishment economics. I do believe we need a political revolution where millions of people stand up and say loudly and clearly that our government belongs to all of us and not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors. Thank you all. +p1134 +asVBARTIROMO +p1135 +(lp1136 +VTonight we're partnering with the Wall Street Journal to ask questions on the economy that voters want answered. We're also working with Facebook, who tells us that since the first Republican debate, more than 58 million people have joined the political conversation online. More than 9 million are talking specifically about the economy. +p1137 +aVBusinesswoman Carly Fiorina. Ohio Governor John Kasich. And Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. +p1138 +aVWe've asked people on Facebook to submit their questions for the candidates. Seth Bell wrote, "We are approaching $20 trillion in national debt. Specifically, what plans do you have to cut federal spending?" Governor Kasich, you have spoken much about your success in balancing the budget under President Clinton. Today the national debt is at record highs and growing unsustainably. Interest will be the fastest-growing part of the federal budget, tripling over the next 10 years. Social Security, the lifeline of millions of American seniors, is rushing toward insolvency. With all of the tax plans presented tonight, estimated to cost anywhere between $2 trillion and $12 trillion over a decade, what specific steps will you take to balance the budget? +p1139 +aVDid you want to name any specific steps, sir? +p1140 +aVThank you, sir. +p1141 +aVSenator Cruz, the International Monetary Fund recently cut its expectations for economic growth. Many economists expect a recession to hit the U.S. within the next year due to the weakening of manufacturing. The next president will have to deal with it. You say tax reform is a powerful lever to spur economic expansion. You're calling for a 10 percent income tax and a 16 percent business tax. What other elements do you need in this plan to actually create jobs? +p1142 +aVThank you, sir. +p1143 +aVGovernor Bush... +p1144 +aVWe have more questions for you, Governor Kasich, coming up. We have more questions for you, Governor Kasich. +p1145 +aVWe will \u2014 we will certainly get to that. Governor Bush? +p1146 +aVAlmost 40 percent of Americans are without a job and are not looking. Many have given up. That's what the participation rate tells us. You've said your policies will drive the economy back to 4 percent growth, which we haven't seen since the year 2000. What specific regulations would you change? And how will that lead to jobs and growth? +p1147 +aVThank you, sir. +p1148 +aVMr. Trump, a federal appeals court just dealt a blow to the Obama administration's plan to prevent the deportation of 5 million people living in this country illegally. The White House is appealing to the Supreme Court. At the heart of this issue is the effect that illegal immigrants are having on our economy, what will you do about it? +p1149 +aVCan we just send 5 million people back with no effect on economy? +p1150 +aVSo what will you do? +p1151 +aVThank you, sir. +p1152 +aVWe go back to Facebook. Dewayne Wesley Cato asks on Facebook, how do we get rid of regulations choking our businesses? Ms. Fiorina? Specifically, under the president's Affordable Care Act, employers with 50 or more employees are required to offer health insurance, or be fined. Many are opting to pay the fine. Others are cutting back employee hours to duck the law altogether. What specific ways will you alleviate the pressure on small business? +p1153 +aVJust to be clear, you want to repeal Obamacare... ..but, what's the alternative? +p1154 +aVJust to be clear, you say you would repeal Obamacare... +p1155 +aV...But, what is the alternative... +p1156 +aV...and how does that help small business... +p1157 +aV...Thank you... +p1158 +aVSenator Cruz, there isn't anyone in this audience or watching at home tonight who would not like to pay less in taxes. Most people just want a fair shake, and they don't want their money to be wasted. But explain how your plan works. How can you cut taxes as much as you propose without running up debt and deficits? +p1159 +aVBut you haven't told us how to pay for it. +p1160 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Bush, Republican primary voters say tax reform should be a priority for Congress and the administration. But, Governor Bush, how important is tax reform in your domestic policy agenda? Will you guarantee it in the first year of your presidency? +p1161 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1162 +aVThat's right. That's right. +p1163 +aVComing up, the biggest threats facing the next commander-in-chief. You're watching the Republican presidential debate, live tonight from Milwaukee. We'll be right back. +p1164 +aVWelcome back. Welcome back to the Republican presidential debate. The candidates taking the questions you want answered. Also tonight, you can see what America is saying about the debate. Go to Facebook and type #gopdebate into the search box. Now, back to the questions. Americans face security threats at home and abroad. Last year, terrorist attacks rose 61 percent, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace, with the most deaths occurring in just five countries, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Syria. Dr. Carson, you were against putting troops on the ground in Iraq and against a large military force in Afghanistan. Do you support the president's decision to now put 50 special ops forces in Syria and leave 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan? +p1165 +aVWe asked Facebook to take a look at some of the major issues we're talking about, and tackling in this debate tonight. This word cloud shows what people are focusing on the most. The bigger the word, the more the talk. One of the most discussed issues in the last month, homeland security. Governor Bush, what is the biggest threat facing America today? +p1166 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, in 2012 debate, President Obama mocked Mitt Romney's assertion that Russia was the top geopolitical challenge facing the United States, saying he was a Cold War dinosaur. Now, Russia has invaded Ukraine, and has put troops in Syria. You have said you will have a good relationship with Mr. Putin. So, what does President Trump do in response to Russia's aggression? +p1167 +aVThank you, sir. +p1168 +aVThank you, governor. +p1169 +aVSenator Rubio. +p1170 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. +p1171 +aVMore questions \u2014 more questions coming up, when the Republican presidential debate comes right back, live from Milwaukee. Stay with us. +p1172 +aVWelcome back to the fourth Republican presidential debate. Senator Rubio, Hillary Clinton is the clear front runner for the Democratic nomination. If she is indeed the nominee, you will be facing a candidate with an impressive resume. She was the first lady of the United States, a U.S. senator from New York, and secretary of state under Barack Obama. She has arguably more experience, certainly more time in government than almost all of you on stage tonight. Why should the American people trust you to lead this country, even though she has been so much closer to the office? +p1173 +aVSenator Paul, you were one of 15 republicans to vote for an amendment which states that human activity contributed to climate change. President Obama has announced an aggressive plan to cut carbon emissions. At the same time, energy production in America has boomed. Is it possible to continue this boom, and move toward energy self-sufficiency, while at the same time pursuing a meaningful climate change program? +p1174 +aVCarly Fiorina? +p1175 +aVFormer Governor Jeb Bush? +p1176 +aVSenator Ted Cruz? +p1177 +aVHe's funny. +p1178 +aVThank you. +p1179 +asVCLINTON +p1180 +(lp1181 +VThank you. +p1182 +aVI'm running for president to knock down all the barriers that are holding Americans back, and to rebuild the ladders of opportunity that will give every American a chance to advance, especially those who have been left out and left behind. I know a lot of Americans are angry about the economy. And for good cause. Americans haven't had a raise in 15 years. There aren't enough good-paying jobs, especially for young people. And yes, the economy is rigged in favor of those at the top. We both agree that we have to get unaccountable money out of our political system and that we have to do much more to ensure that Wall Street never wrecks main street again. But I want to go further. I want to tackle those barriers that stand in the way of too many Americans right now. African-Americans who face discrimination in the job market, education, housing, and the criminal justice system. Hardworking immigrant families living in fear, who should be brought out of the shadows so they and their children can have a better future. Guaranteeing that women's work finally gets the pay, the equal pay that we deserve. I think America can only live up to its potential when we make sure that every American has a chance to live up to his or her potential. That will be my mission as president. And I think together we will make progress. +p1183 +aVJudy, I think that the best analysis that I've seen based on Senator Sanders plans is that it would probably increase the size of the federal government by about 40%, but what is most concerning to me is that in looking at the plans \u2014 let's take healthcare for example. Last week in a CNN town hall, the Senator told a questioner that the questioner would spend about $500 dollars in taxes to get about $5,000 dollars in healthcare. Every progressive economist who has analyzed that says that the numbers don't add up, and that's a promise that cannot be kept, and it's really important now that we are getting into the rest of the country that both of us are held to account for explaining what we are proposing because, especially with healthcare, this is not about math. This is about people's lives, and we should level with the American people about what we can do to make sure they get quality affordable healthcare. +p1184 +aVI can only say that we both share the goal of universal health care coverage. You know, before it was called Obamacare, it was called Hillarycare. And I took on the drug companies and I took on the insurance companies to try to get us universal health care coverage. And why I am a staunch supporter of President Obama's principal accomplishment \u2014 namely the Affordable Care Act \u2014 is because I know how hard it was to get that done. We are at 90 percent coverage. We have to get the remaining 10. I've set forth very specific plans about how to get costs down, especially prescription drug costs. And it is difficult to in any way argue with the goal that we both share. But I think the American people deserve to know specifically how this would work. If it's Medicare for all, then you no longer have the Affordable Care Act, because the Affordable Care Act, as you know very well, is based on the insurance system, based on exchanges, based on a subsidy system. The Children's Health Insurance Program, which I helped to create, which covers 8 million kids, is also a different kind of program. So if you're having Medicare for all, single-payer, you need to level with people about what they will have at the end of the process you are proposing. And based on every analysis that I can find by people who are sympathetic to the goal, the numbers don't add up, and many people will actually be worse off than they are right now. +p1185 +aVWell, let me just \u2014 let me just say, once again......that, having been in the trenches fighting for this, I believe strongly we have to guarantee health care. I believe we are on the path to doing that. The last thing we need is to throw our country into a contentious debate about health care again. And we are not England. We are not France. We inherited a system that was set up during World War II; 170 million Americans get health insurance right now through their employers. So what we have tried to do and what President Obama succeeded in doing was to build on the health care system we have, get us to 90 percent coverage. We have to get the other 10 percent of the way to 100. I far prefer that and the chances we have to be successful there than trying to start all over again, gridlocking our system, and trying to get from zero to 100 percent. +p1186 +aVNo. But it is absolutely fair and necessary for Americans to vet both of our proposals, to ask the really hard questions about, what is it we think we can accomplish, why do we believe that, and what would be the results for the average American family? In my case, whether it's health care, or getting us to debt-free tuition, or moving us toward paid family leave, I have been very specific about where I would raise the money, how much it would cost, and how I would move this agenda forward. I've tried to be as specific to answer questions so that my proposals can be vetted, because I feel like we have to level with people for the very reason, Gwen, that you are mentioning. There is a great deal of skepticism about the federal government. I'm aware of that. It comes from the right, from the left, from people on all sides of the political spectrum. So we have a special obligation to make clear what we stand for, which is why I think we should not make promises we can't keep, because that will further, I think, alienate Americans from understanding and believing we can together make some real changes in people's lives. +p1187 +aVI will put a price tag. My price tag is about $100 billion a year. And again, paid for. And what I have said is I will not throw us further into debt. I believe I can get the money that I need by taxing the wealthy, by closing loopholes, the things that we are way overdue for doing. And I think once I'm in the White House we will have enough political capital to be able to do that. But I am conscious of the fact that we have to also be very clear, especially with young people, about what kind of government is going to do what for them and what it will cost. +p1188 +aVYou know, I think, again, both of us share the goal of trying to make college affordable for all young Americans. And I have set forth a compact that would do just that for debt-free tuition. We differ, however, on a couple of key points. One of them being that if you don't have some agreement within the system from states and from families and from students, it's hard to get to where we need to go. And Senator Sanders's plan really rests on making sure that governors like Scott Walker contribute $23 billion on the first day to make college free. I am a little skeptical about your governor actually caring enough about higher education to make any kind of commitment like that. +p1189 +aVWell, first, Judy, I have spent my entire adult life working toward making sure that women are empowered to make their own choices, even if that choice is not to vote for me. I believe that it's most important that we unleash the full potential of women and girls in our society. And I feel very strongly that I have an agenda, I have a record that really does respond to a lot of the specific needs that the women in our country face. So I'm going to keep making that case. I'm going to keep making sure that everything I've done, everything that I stand for is going to be well known. But I have no argument with anyone making up her mind about who to support. I just hope that by the end of this campaign there will be a lot more supporting me. That's what I'm working towards. +p1190 +aVWell, look, I think that she's been saying that for as long as I've known her, which is about 25 years. But it doesn't change my view that we need to empower everyone, women and men, to make the best decisions in their minds that they can make. That's what I've always stood for. And when it comes to the issues that are really on the front lines as to whether we're going to have equal pay, paid family leave, some opportunity for, you know, women to go as far as their hard work and talent take them, I think that we still have some barriers to knock down, which is why that's at the core of my campaign. I would note, just for a historic aside, somebody told me earlier today we've had like 200 presidential primary debates, and this is the first time there have been a majority of women on the stage. So, you know, we'll take our progress wherever we can find it. +p1191 +aVYou know, I have said \u2014 I have said many times, you know, I'm not asking people to support me because I'm a woman. I'm asking people to support me because I think I'm the most qualified, experienced, and ready person to be the president and the commander-in-chief. And I appreciate greatly Senator Sanders' voting record. And I was very proud to get the endorsement of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, because I've been a leader on these issues. I have gone time and time again to take on the vested interests who would keep women's health care decisions the province of the government instead of women ourselves. I'm very proud that +p1192 +aVYou know, I completely agree with Senator Sanders. The first speech I gave in this campaign back in April was about criminal justice reform and ending the era of mass incarceration. The statistics from Wisconsin are particularly troubling, because it is the highest rate of incarceration for African-Americans in our nation, twice the national average. And we know of the tragic, terrible event that lead to the death of Dontre Hamilton right here in Milwaukee, a young man unarmed, who should still be with us. His family certainly believes that. And so do I. So we have work to do. There have been some good recommendations about what needs to happen. President Obama's policing commission came out with some. I have fully endorsed those. But we have to restore policing that will actually protect the communities that police officers are sworn to protect. And, then we have to go after sentencing, and that's one of the problems here in Wisconsin because so much of what happened in the criminal justice system doesn't happen at the federal level, it happens at the state and local level. But, I would also add this. There are other racial discrepancies. Really systemic racism in this state, as in others, education, in employment, in the kinds of factors that too often lead from a position where young people, particularly young men, are pushed out of school early, are denied employment opportunities. So, when we talk about criminal justice reform, and ending the era of mass incarceration, we also have to talk about jobs, education, housing, and other ways of helping communities. +p1193 +aVWell, I'm just not sure I agree completely with that assessment. I think under President Obama we have seen a lot of advances, the Affordable Care Act has helped more African Americans than any other group to get insurance, to be taken care of, but we also know a lot more than we did. We have a lot more social media, we have everybody with a cellphone. So, we are seeing the dark side of the remaining systemic racism that we have to root out in our society. I think President Obama has set a great example. I think he has addressed a lot of these issues that have been quite difficult, but he has gone forward. Now, what we have to do is to build on an honest conversation about where we go next. We now have much more information about what must be done to fix our criminal justice system. We now have some good models about how better to provide employment, housing and education. I think what President Obama did was to exemplify the importance of this issue as our first African American president, and to address it both from the President's office, and through his advocacy, such as working with young men, and Mrs. Obama's work with young women. But, we can't rest. We have work to do, and we now know a lot more than we ever did before. So, it's going to be my responsibility to make sure we move forward to solve these problems that are now out in the open. Nobody can deny them. To use the Justice Department, as we just saw, they have said they are going to sue Ferguson, that entered into a consent agreement, and then tried to back out. So, we're going to enforce the law, we're going to change policing practices, we're going to change incarceration practices, but we're also going to emphasize education, jobs, and housing. +p1194 +aVLook, I am deeply concerned about what's happening in every community in America, and that includes white communities, where we are seeing an increase in alcoholism, addiction, earlier deaths. People with a high school education or less are not even living as long as their parents lived. This is a remarkable and horrifying fact. And that's why I've come forward with, for example, a plan to revitalize coal country, the coalfield communities that have been so hard hit by the changing economy, by the reduction in the use of coal. You know, coal miners and their families who helped turn on the lights and power our factories for generations are now wondering, has our country forgotten us? Do people not care about all of our sacrifice? And I'm going to do everything I can to address distressed communities, whether they are communities of color, whether they are white communities, whether they are in any part of our country. I particularly appreciate the proposal that Congressman Jim Clyburn has \u2014 the 10-20-30 proposal \u2014 to try to spend more federal dollars in communities with persistent generational poverty. And you know what? If you look at the numbers, there are actually as many, if not more white communities that are truly being left behind and left out. So, yes, I do think it would be a terrible oversight not to try to address the very real problems that white Americans \u2014 particularly those without a lot of education whose jobs have \u2014 you know, no longer provided them or even no longer present in their communities, because we have to focus where the real hurt is. And that's why, as president, I will look at communities that need special help and try to deliver that. +p1195 +aVI strongly support the president's executive actions. I hope the Supreme Court upholds them. I think there is constitutional and legal authority for the president to have done what he did. I am against the raids. I'm against the kind of inhumane treatment that is now being visited upon families, waking them up in the middle of the night, rounding them up. We should be deporting criminals, not hardworking immigrant families who do the very best they can and often are keeping economies going in many places in our country. I'm a strong supporter of comprehensive immigration reform. Have been ever since I was in the Senate. I was one of the original sponsors of the +p1196 +aVTwo quick responses. One, with respect to the Central American children, I made it very clear that those children needed to be processed appropriately, but we also had to send a message to families and communities in Central America not to send their children on this dangerous journey in the hands of smugglers. I've also called for the end of family detention, for the end of privately-run detention centers, along with private prisons, which I think are really against the common good and the rule of law. And with respect to the 2007 bill, this was Ted Kennedy's bill. And I think Ted Kennedy had a very clear idea about what needed to be done. And I was proud to stand with him and support it. +p1197 +aVWell, that just wasn't \u2014 that just wasn't the fact, Senator. The fact is that there was a great effort made by the Obama administration and others to really send a clear message, because we knew that so many of these children were being abused, being treated terribly while they tried to get to our border. So we have a disagreement on this. I think now what I've called for is counsel for every child so that no child has to face any kind of process without someone who speaks and advocates for that child so that the right decision hopefully can be made. +p1198 +aVI think \u2014 I think it's fair to say we don't have a disagreement. We both believe there has to be more money going into the Social Security system. I've said I'm looking at a couple of different ways, one which you mentioned, Senator, but also trying to expand the existing tax to passive income that wealthy people have so that we do get more revenue into the Social Security Trust Fund. I have a slightly different approach, though, about what we should do with that initially. First, rather than expand benefits for everyone, I do want to take care of low-income seniors who worked at low-wage jobs. I want to take care of women. When the Social Security program was started in the 1930s, not very many women worked. And women have been disadvantaged ever since. They do not get any credit for their care-taking responsibilities. And the people who are often the most hard-hit are widows, because when their spouse dies, they can lose up to one-half of their Social Security monthly payment. So we have no disagreement about the need to buttress Social Security, get more revenue into the program. But I want to start by helping those people who are most at risk, the ones who, yes, are cutting their pills in half, who don't believe they can make the rent, who are worried about what comes next for them. +p1199 +aVWell, Senator, look, I think we're in vigorous agreement here. We both want to get more revenue in. I have yet to see a proposal that you're describing that the \u2014 raising the cap would apply to passive income. That has not been... +p1200 +aVWell, that has not been a part of most of the proposals that I've seen. I'm interested in making sure we get the maximum amount of revenue from those who can well afford to provide it. So I'm going to come up with the best way forward. We're going to end up in the same place. We're going to get more revenue. I'm going to prioritize those recipients who need the most help first. +p1201 +aVI can't speak for the Koch Brothers, you're referring to a Super PAC that we don't coordinate with, that was set up to support President Obama, that has now decided that they want to support me. They are the ones who should respond to any questions. Let's talk about our campaigns. I'm very proud of the fact that we have more than 750 thousand donors, and the vast majority of them are giving small contributions. So, I'm proud of Senator Sanders, and his supporters. I think it's great that Senator Sanders, President Obama and I have more donors than any three people who have every run, certainly on the Democratic side. That's the way it should be, and I'm going to continue to reach out to thank all my online contributors for everything they are doing for me, to encourage them and help me do more just as Senator Sanders is. I think that is the real key here. We both have a lot of small donors. I think that sets us apart from a lot of what's happening right now on the Republican side. The Koch Brothers have a very clear political agenda. It is an agenda, in my view, that would do great harm to our country. We're going to fight it as hard as we can, and we're going to fight whoever the Republicans nominate who will depend on the Koch Brothers, and others. +p1202 +aVWe are mixing apples and oranges. My 750,000 donors have contributed more than a million and a half donations. I'm very proud. That, I think, between the two of us demonstrates the strength of the support we have among people who want to see change in our country. But, the real issue, I think, that the Senator is injecting into this is that if you had a Super PAC, like President Obama has, which now says it wants to support me. It's not my PAC. If you take donations from Wall Street, you can't be independent. I would just say, I debated then Senator Obama numerous times on stages like this, and he was the recipient of the largest number of Wall Street donations of anybody running on the Democratic side ever. Now, when it mattered, he stood up and took on Wall Street. He pushed through, and he passed the Dodd-Frank regulation, the toughest regulations since the 1930's. So, let's not in anyway imply here that either President Obama or myself, would in anyway not take on any vested interested, whether it's Wall Street, or drug companies, or insurance companies, or frankly, the gun lobby to stand up to do what's best for the American people. +p1203 +aVWell, let's just \u2014 let's just follow up on this, because, you know, I've made it very clear that no bank is too big to fail, no executive too powerful to jail, and because of Dodd-Frank, we now have in law a process that the president, the Federal Reserve, and others can use if any bank poses a systemic risk. I think that's a major accomplishment. I agree, however, it doesn't go far enough, because what it focuses on are the big banks, which Senator Sanders has talked about a lot, for good reason. I go further in the plan that I've proposed, which has been called the toughest, most effective, comprehensive plan for reining in the other risks that the financial system could face. It was an investment bank, Lehman Brothers, that contributed to our collapse. It was a big insurance company, AIG. It was Countrywide Mortgage. My plan would sweep all of them into a regulatory framework so we can try to get ahead of what the next problems might be. And I believe that not only Barney Frank, Paul Krugman, and others, have said that what I have proposed is the most effective. It goes in the right direction. We have Dodd-Frank. We can use it to break up the banks, if that's appropriate. But let's not kid ourselves. As we speak, there are new problems on the horizon. I want to get ahead of those, and that's why I've proposed a much more comprehensive approach to deal with all of these... +p1204 +aVAbsolutely. And, you know, there are a number of programs that I think are duplicative and redundant and not producing the results that people deserve. There are a lot of training programs and education programs that I think can be streamlined and put into a much better format so that if we do continue them they can be more useful, in public schools, community colleges, and colleges and universities. I would like to take a hard look at every part of the federal government and really do the kind of analysis that would rebuild some confidence in people that we're taking a hard look about what we have, you know, and what we don't need anymore. And that's what I intend to do. +p1205 +aVLook, I think we are readier than we used to be, but it's a constant effort that has to be undertaken to make sure we are as ready as we need to be. We have made a lot of improvements in our domestic security since 9/11, and we have been able to foil and prevent attacks, yet we see the terrible attack in San Bernardino and know that we haven't done enough. So we have to go after this both abroad and at home. We have to go after terrorist networks, predominantly +p1206 +aVIf I could just respond. Two points. One, Senator Sanders voted in 1998 on what I think is fair to call a regime change resolution with respect to Iraq, calling for the end of Saddam Hussein's regime. He voted in favor of regime change with Libya, voted in favor of the Security Council being an active participate in setting the parameters for what we would do, which of course we followed through on. I do not believe a vote in 2002 is a plan to defeat +p1207 +aVYou did support a U.N. Security Council approach, which we did follow up on. And, look, I think it's important to look at what the most important counterterrorism judgment of the first four years of the Obama administration was, and that was the very difficult decision as to whether or not to advise the president to go after bin Laden. I looked at the evidence. I looked at the intelligence. I got the briefings. I recommended that the president go forward. It was a hard choice. Not all of his top national security advisors agreed with that. And at the end of the day, it was the president's decision. So he had to leave the Situation Room after hearing from the small group advising him and he had to make that decision. I'm proud that I gave him that advice. And I'm very grateful to the brave Navy +p1208 +aVWell, I know journalists have asked who you do listen to on foreign policy, and we have yet to know who that is. +p1209 +aVThat's fine. That's fine. You know, I listen to a wide variety of voices that have expertise in various areas. I think it is fair to say, whatever the complaints that you want to make about him are, that with respect to China, one of the most challenging relationships we have, his opening up China and his ongoing relationships with the leaders of China is an incredibly useful relationship for the United States of America. So if we want to pick and choose \u2014 and I certainly do \u2014 people I listen to, people I don't listen to, people I listen to for certain areas, then I think we have to be fair and look at the entire world, because it's a big, complicated world out there. +p1210 +aVAnd, yes, people we may disagree with on a number of things may have some insight, may have some relationships that are important for the president to understand in order to best protect the United States. +p1211 +aVWell, with respect to Syria, I really do appreciate the efforts that Secretary Kerry has made. The agreement on humanitarian relief now needs to be implemented, because there are enclaves that are literally filled with starving people throughout Syria. The agreement on a cease-fire, though, is something that has to be implemented more quickly than the schedule that the Russians agreed to. You know, the Russians wanted to buy time. Are they buying time to continue their bombardment on behalf of the Assad regime to further decimate what's left of the opposition, which would be a grave disservice to any kind of eventual cease-fire? So I know Secretary Kerry is working extremely hard to try to move that cease-fire up as quickly as possible. But I would add this. You know, the Security Council finally got around to adopting a resolution. At the core of that resolution is an agreement I negotiated in June of 2012 in Geneva, which set forth a cease-fire and moving toward a political resolution, trying to bring the parties at stake in Syria together. This is incredibly complicated, because we've got Iran as a big player, in addition to Russia. We have Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and others who have very important interests in their view. This is one of the areas I've disagreed with Senator Sanders on, who has called for Iranian troops trying to end civil war in Syria, which I think would be a grave mistake. Putting Iranian troops right on the border of the Golan right next to Israel would be a nonstarter for me. Trying to get Iran and Saudi Arabia to work together, as he has suggested in the past, is equally a nonstarter. So let's support what Secretary Kerry and the president are doing, but let's hope that we can accelerate the cease-fire, because I fear that the Russians will continue their bombing, try to do everything they can to destroy what's left of the opposition. And remember, the Russians have not gone after +p1212 +aVWell, I respectfully disagree. I think we have achieved a great deal with the Iranian nuclear agreement to put a lid on the Iranian nuclear weapons program. That has to be enforced absolutely with consequences for Iran at the slightest deviation from their requirements under the agreement. I do not think we should promise or even look toward normalizing relations because we have a lot of other business to get done with Iran. Yes, they have to stop being the main state sponsor of terrorism. Yes, they have to stop trying to destabilize the Middle East, causing even more chaos. Yes, they've got to get out of Syria. They've got to quit sponsoring Hezbollah and Hamas. They have got to quit trying to ship rockets into Gaza that can be used against Israel. We have a lot of work to do with Iran before we ever say that they could move toward normalized relations with us. +p1213 +aV... Senator Sanders, from a debate in 2008, quote what I said. The question was, would you meet with an adversary without conditions? I said no. And in fact, in Obama administration, we did not meet with anybody without conditions. That is the appropriate approach in order to get the results that you are seeking. +p1214 +aVWell, I was pleased that +p1215 +aVI certainly agree with FDR for all the reasons Senator Sanders said. And I agree about the role that he played both in war and in peace on the economy and defeating fascism around the world. I would choose Nelson Mandela for his generosity of heart, his understanding of the need for reconciliation. But I want to \u2014 I want to follow up on something having to do with leadership, because, you know, today Senator Sanders said that President Obama failed the presidential leadership test. And this is not the first time that he has criticized President Obama. In the past he has called him weak. He has called him a disappointment. He wrote a forward for a book that basically argued voters should have buyers' remorse when it comes to President Obama's leadership and legacy. And I just couldn't agree \u2014 disagree more with those kinds of comments. You know, from my perspective, maybe because I understand what President Obama inherited, not only the worst financial crisis but the antipathy of the Republicans in Congress, I don't think he gets the credit he deserves for being a president......who got us out of that......put us on firm ground, and has sent us into the future. And it is a \u2014 the kind of criticism that we've heard from Senator Sanders about our president I expect from Republicans. I do not expect from someone running for the Democratic nomination to succeed President Obama. +p1216 +aVYou know, Senator, what I am concerned about, is not disagreement on issues, saying that this is what I would rather do, I don't agree with the president on that, calling the president weak, calling him a disappointment, calling several times that he should have a primary opponent when he ran for re-election in 2012, you know, I think that goes further than saying we have our disagreements. As a senator, yes, I was a senator. I understand we can disagree on the path forward. But those kinds of personal assessments and charges are ones that I find particularly troubling. +p1217 +aVYou know, we \u2014 we agree that we've got to get unaccountable money out of politics. We agree that Wall Street should never be allowed to wreck Main Street again. But here's the point I want to make tonight. I am not a single-issue candidate, and I do not believe we live in a single-issue country. I think that a lot of what we have to overcome to break down the barriers that are holding people back, whether it's poison in the water of the children of Flint, or whether it's the poor miners who are being left out and left behind in coal country, or whether it is any other American today who feels somehow put down and oppressed by racism, by sexism, by discrimination against the +p1218 +aVWell, I'm happy to be here in New Hampshire for this debate, as we move toward the primary on Tuesday. I believe that America has the opportunity to once again live by our values, live up to our values in the 21st century, but I think that America can only do that if Americans can succeed. And there are lots of reasons why Americans today are feeling left out and left behind. Yes, of course, the economy has not been working for most Americans. Yes, of course, we have special interests that are unfortunately doing too much to rig the game. But there's also the continuing challenges of racism, of sexism, of discrimination against the +p1219 +aVWell, let me start by saying that Senator Sanders and I share some very big progressive goals. I've been fighting for universal healthcare for many years, and we're now on the path to achieving it. I don't want us to start over again. I think that would be a great mistake, to once again plunge our country into a contentious debate about whether we should have and what kind of system we should have for healthcare. I want to build on the progress we've made; got from 90 percent coverage to 100 percent coverage. And I don't want to rip away the security that people finally have; 18 million people now have healthcare; preexisting conditions are no longer a bar. So we have a difference. I also believe in affordable college, but I don't believe in free college, because every expert that I have talked to says, look, how will you ever control the costs. What I want to do is make sure middle class kids, not Donald Trump's kids, get to be able to afford college. I want to get the economy going again. It's not just enough about what we're against, as important as that is. I have a plan to create new jobs, manufacturing, infrastructure, clean energy jobs that will make us the 21st century clean energy super power. I also want to make sure small businesses can start and grow again. And of course, I believe in raising the minimum wage and equal pay for work. But the numbers just don't add up, from what Senator Sanders has been proposing. That's why all of the independent experts, all of the editorial boards that have vetted both of us have concluded that it is just not achievable. Let's go down a path where we can actually tell people what we will do. A progressive is someone who makes progress. That's what I intend to do. +p1220 +aVIf I could just follow up on that. There is no disagreement between us on universal coverage for health care, the disagreement is where do we start from and where do we end up. The Republicans want to repeal the Affordable Care Act, I want to improve it. I want to build on it, get the costs down, get prescription drug costs down. Senator Sanders wants us to start all over again. This was a major achievement of President Obama, of our country. It is helping people right now. I am not going to wait and have us plunge back into a contentious national debate that has very little chance of succeeding. Let's make the Affordable Care Act work for everybody. +p1221 +aVWell because I am a progressive who gets things done. And the root of that word, progressive, is progress. But I've heard Senator Sanders comments, and it's really caused me to wonder who's left in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Under his definition, President Obama is not progressive because he took donations from Wall Street; Vice President Biden is not progressive because she supported Keystone; Senator Shaheen is not progressive because she supports the trade pact. Even the late, great Senator Paul Wellstone would not fit this definition because he voted for +p1222 +aVWell, Chuck... +p1223 +aV... If I could, you know, in the very first debate I was asked am I a moderate or a progressive and I said I'm a progressive who likes to get things done. Cherry picking a quote here or there doesn't change my record of having fought for racial justice, having fought for kids rights, having fought the kind of inequities that fueled my interest in service in the first place going back to my days in the Children's Defense Fund. It certainly didn't stop me from taking on the drug companies and the insurance companies. Before it was called Hillarycare\u2014I mean, before it was called ObamaCare it was called Hillarycare because we took them on, and we weren't successful, but we kept fighting and we got the children's health insurance program. Every step along the way I have stood up, and fought, and have the scars to prove it. So, again......I think it's important that, look, I understand Senator Sanders really trying to distinguish himself. I understand that, that's what you do in campaigns, but at the same time let's not be\u2014in, I think an unfair way, making an accusation, or making an attack about where I stand and about where I've always stood. It is fair to say, Senator, that in your definition, as you being the self-proclaimed gatekeeper for progressivism, I don't know anyone else who fits that definition, but I know a lot of really hard fighting progressives in the Democratic party who have stood up time, and time again against special interests, against the powerful on behalf of those who are left behind and left out. And, that's what we ought to be celebrating. Let's talk about what we would do as President, and Commander in Chief to make sure the progress continues into the future. +p1224 +aV... Well, you began it yesterday with your comments... +p1225 +aVYou know, the person who first put out the idea of a 50-state party strategy is former Governor Howard Dean, who is with us tonight. And I'm very proud and grateful to have the support of so many elected Vermonters and former officials. Two former governors, the current governor, the current other senator. I really appreciate that. And I think it's because they've worked with me, they've seen what I do. They know what kind of a colleague I am. They want me as their partner in the White House. And that's exactly what I will do. We'll get things done together. Democrats, Republicans, independents, we're going to make progress together when I'm president. +p1226 +aVWell, look, I've got to just jump in here because, honestly, Senator Sanders is the only person who I think would characterize me, a woman running to be the first woman president, as exemplifying the establishment. And I've got to tell you that it is......it is really quite amusing to me. People support me because they know me. They know my life's work. They have worked with me and many have also worked with Senator Sanders. And at the end of the day they endorse me because they know I can get things done. I am not going to make promises I can't keep. I am not going to talk about big ideas like single-payer and then not level with people about how much it will cost. A respected health economist said that these plans would cost a trillion dollars more a year. I'm not going to tell people that I will raise your incomes and not your taxes, and not mean it, because I don't want to see the kind of struggle that the middle class is going through exemplified by these promises that would raise taxes and make it much more difficult for many, many Americans to get ahead and stay ahead. That is not my agenda. +p1227 +aVYeah, but I\u2014I think it's fair to really ask what's behind that comment. You know, Senator Sanders has said he wants to run a positive campaign. I've tried to keep my disagreements over issues, as it should be. But time and time again, by innuendo, by insinuation, there is this attack that he is putting forth, which really comes down to\u2014you know, anybody who ever took donations or speaking fees from any interest group has to be bought. And I just absolutely reject that, Senator. And I really don't think these kinds of attacks by insinuation are worthy of you. And enough is enough. If you've got something to say, say it directly. But you will not find that I ever changed a view or a vote because of any donation that I ever received. +p1228 +aVAnd I have stood up and I have represented my constituents to the best of my abilities, and I'm very proud of that. +p1229 +aVSo I think it's time to end the very artful smear that you and your campaign have been carrying out... +p1230 +aV... in recent weeks, and let's talk......let's talk about about the issues. Let's talk about the issues that divide us. +p1231 +aVAnd let's\u2014let's... +p1232 +aV... we both agree with campaign finance reform. +p1233 +aVI\u2014I worked hard for McCain-Feingold. +p1234 +aVI want to reverse Citizens United. +p1235 +aVAnd so\u2014let's talk about issues. +p1236 +aVWell, you know, Senator, I don't think\u2014I don't... +p1237 +aV... I don't think you could find any person in political life today who has been subjected to more attacks and had more money spent against her by special interests, among whom you have named a few, than I. And I'm proud of that. You know, when I took on the drug companies and the insurance companies for universal health care coverage, they went after me with a vengeance. Today, you've got hedge fund billionaires aligned with Karl Rove, running ads against me to try to get Democrats to vote for you. I know this game. I'm going to stop this game. But while we're talking about votes, you're the one who voted to deregulate swaps and derivatives in 2000, which contributed to the over-leveraging of Lehman Brothers, which was one of the culprits that brought down the economy. So I don't know\u2014I'm not impugning your motive because you voted to deregulate swaps and derivatives. People make mistakes and I'm certainly not saying you did it for any kind of financial advantage. What we've got to do as Democrats\u2014what we've got to do as Democrats is to be united to actually solve these problems. And what I believe is that I have a better track record and a better opportunity to actually get that job done. That's what this election should be about. +p1238 +aVOn the issue of Wall Street. +p1239 +aVWell you know, Rachel, I think I may not have done the job I should in explaining my record. You know, I did\u2014when I left the secretary of State's office, like so many former officials, military leaders, journalists, others, I did go on the speaking circuit. I spoke to heart doctors, I spoke to the American Camping Association, I spoke to auto dealers, and yes, I spoke to firms on Wall Street. They wanted me to talk about the world, what my experience had been as secretary of State. But what I want people to know is I went to Wall Street before the crash. I was the one saying you're going to wreck the economy because of these shenanigans with mortgages. I called to end the carried interest loophole that hedge fund managers enjoy. I proposed changes in CEO compensation. I called for a consumer protection financial bureau before it was created. And I think the best evidence that the Wall Street people at least know where I stand and where I have always stood is because they are trying to beat me in this primary. They have collected and spent as much as $6 million on these ads. Hedge fund billionaires, Karl Rove, another billionaire, jumped in. And why are they doing that? These are guys who try to make smart investments. They know my record, they know me, they know that I say what I believe and I will do it. And I also have a pretty good understanding about how to stop them. So I do want people to know that, and I think it's important for everybody to understand I have a record, I have stood firm and I will be the person who prevents them from ever wrecking the economy again. +p1240 +aVIf I could, let me just say that of course it has to change. It has to change. And that's why I have put forward a plan to do just that. And it's been judged to be the toughest, most effective and comprehensive one. I have great respect for Senator Sanders's commitment to try to restore Glass-Steagall. But I do not believe that that is enough. And in fact, I don't believe it really addresses a lot of the biggest issues we have. You know, we now have power under the Dodd-Frank legislation to break up banks. And I've said I will use that power if they pose a systemic risk. But I want to go further, because it was investment banks, it was insurance companies, it was mortgage companies, all of which contributed. So let's not just be narrowly focused on one part of the problem. We have a lot of issues with corporate power that have to be addressed. My plan takes us further and it would do the job. +p1241 +aVLook we have a law\u2014look, you know, I\u2014I appreciate the senator's advocacy. We have a law. It was passed. It was signed by President Obama. It lays out a process that you go through to determine whether a systemic risk is posed. And by the way, President Obama signed that, pushed it through, even though he took donations from Wall Street, because he's a responsible president. So we have a law in place. If the circumstances warrant it, I will certainly use it. And from what you say, I know you will as well. But that is not enough. And I keep going back to this because part of the reason the Wall Street guys are trying so hard to stop me\u2014the hedge fund guys, the shadow banking guys\u2014is because I've got their number on all of that. And my plan goes so much further to try to prevent the problems of the future. You know, we can't just fight the last war. We've got to be prepared to stop these guys if they ever try to use their economic power once again, to hurt the economy, and to hurt so many Americans. And my plan, Paul Krugman, Barney Frank, a lot of experts who understand what the new challenges might be, have said I am exactly on point, and the Wall Street guys actually know that. +p1242 +aVI will look into it. I don't know the status, but I will certainly look into it. But, I can only repeat what is the fact that I spoke to a lot of different groups with a lot of different constituents, a lot of different kinds of members about issues that had to do with world affairs. I probably described more times than I can remember how stressful it was advising the President about going after Bin Laden. My view on this is look at my record. Look at what I am proposing, and\u2014we have a vigorous agreement here. We both want to reign in the excesses of Wall Street. I also want to reign in the excesses of Johnson Controls that we bailed out when they were an autoparts company, and we saved the auto industry, and now they want to avoid paying taxes. I want to go after the pharmaceutical companies like Valeant, and Turns that are increasing prices without any regard to the impact on people's health. Now, if all we're going to talk about is one part of our economy, and indeed one streak in our economy, we're missing the big oil companies. We're missing other big energy companies. We're missing the big picture, and I have a record of trying to go at the problems that actually exist, and I will continue to do that. +p1243 +aV... Well, Senator, no one wants to see that happen. I mean, look, I care deeply about this because just like you I have met so many people who had their life savings wiped out, who lost their homes, who are barely back with their heads above water. This was a disaster for our country, and we can never let that happen again. We have no disagreement about this. But, I think it's a broader target list than just Wall Street, and I believe that we have to be very focused on how we try to take back the power and increase the empowerment of the American people. And, I think I have that kind of experience, maybe because they've beat me up for so many years, and I know exactly how to handle them because I've been in the arena with them time and time again. +p1244 +aVWell, I think what the president understands, and what he's trying to do, is that we have to support the Arab and Kurdish fighters on the ground who are actually doing the fighting. I agree with the president. I've said myself, we will not send American combat troops back to either Syria or Iraq\u2014that is off the table. But we do have special forces, we do have trainers, we do have the military personnel who are helping with the airstrikes that the United States is leading so that we can try to take out +p1245 +aVNo. I mean, of course that's a theoretical question, and we don't know what it would be for, and we don't know how many numbers there are. I am against American combat troops being in Syria and Iraq. I support special forces. I support trainers. I support the air campaign. And I think we're making some progress. I want to continue to intensify that, and that's exactly what the president is doing. +p1246 +aVIf I could\u2014if I could... +p1247 +aV... respectfully add\u2014look, we did differ. A vote in 2002 is not a plan to defeat +p1248 +aVOh, absolutely. The president decided to leave more troops than he had originally planned in Afghanistan. We have a very cooperative government there, with Ashraf Ghani and his top\u2014his top partner, Abdullah. And they are doing their very best. And the Afghan army is actually fighting. The Afghan army is taking heavy losses defending Afghan territory. And I would have to make an evaluation based on the circumstances at the time I took office as to how much help they continue to need. Because it's not just the Taliban. We now are seeing outposts of, you know, fighters claiming to be affiliated with +p1249 +aVA group of national security experts, military intelligence experts, issued a very concerning statement about Senator Sanders's views on foreign policy and national security, pointing out some of the comments he has made on these issues, such as inviting Iranian troops into Syria to try to resolve the conflict there; putting them right at the doorstep of Israel. Asking Saudi Arabia and Iran to work together, when they can't stand each other and are engaged in a proxy battle right at this moment. So I do think questions have been raised and questions have to be answered because when New Hampshire voters go on Tuesday to cast your vote, you are voting both for a president and a commander in chief. And there is no way to predict what comes in the door of that White House from day to day that can pose a threat to the United States or one of our friends and allies, and I think this is a big part of the job interview that we are all conducting with the voters here. +p1250 +aVWell, let me just add that, you know, I've said this before and I'm very proud of it, that when it comes to judgment, having run a hard race against Senator Obama at the time, he turned to me to be secretary of State. And when it comes to the biggest counterterrorism issues that we faced in this administration, namely whether or not to go after bin Laden, I was at that table, I was exercising my judgment to advise the president on what to do, on that, on Iran, on Russia on China, on a whole raft of issues. Because I know from my own experience that you've got to be ready on day one. There is just too much unpredictable threat and danger in the world today, you know, to try to just say wait, I'll get to that when I can. That is just not an acceptable approach. +p1251 +aVAbsolutely. You know, I did put together the coalition to impose sanctions. I actually started the negotiations that led to the nuclear agreement, sending some much my closest aides to begin the conversations with the Iranians. I'm very pleased we got that nuclear agreement. It puts a lid on the nuclear weapons program. We have to enforce it, there have to be consequences attached to it. But that is not our only problem with Iran. We have to figure out how to deal with Iran as the principal state sponsor of terrorism in the world. They are destabilizing governments in the region. They continue to support Hezbollah and Hamas in Lebanon against Israel. A lot of work that we have do is going to be incredibly hard. I'm prepared to do that work, but I believe, just as I did with imposing the sanctions, you have to get action for action. If we were to normalize relations right now, we would remove one of the biggest pieces of leverage we have to try to influence and change Iranian behavior. The president doesn't think we should. I certainly don't think we should. I believe we have to take this step by step to try to reign in Iranian aggression, their support for terrorism and the other bad behavior that can come back and haunt us. +p1252 +aVWell Senator, let me just correct the record if I can. You know\u2014let me correct the record. +p1253 +aVAs I\u2014as I certainly recall, the question was to meet with without conditions. And you're right, I was against that. I was against it then I would be against it now. +p1254 +aVPart of diplomacy, the hard work of diplomacy is trying to extract whatever concessions you can get, and giving something the other side wants. Of course you've got to try to make peace with, and work with those who are your adversaries, but you don't just rush in, open the door, and say, "Here I am. Let's talk and make a deal." That's not the way it works. +p1255 +aV... Well, we set conditions on Iran. We worked hard to get them established, and to be enforced, and then we talked. That's exactly the right......and, that's what I did with the President, so he and I are on the very same page. +p1256 +aVI haven't talked to Secretary Carter, but here's what I would think he's planning. We do have the nuclear weapons agreement with Iran, that's an enforcement consequence, action for action, follow on. We have a plan, we will watch them, we will be vigilant. We do have to worry about North Korea. They continue to develop their nuclear weapons capability, and they're working very hard on their ballistic missile capability. And, I know that some of those plans could very well lead to a missile that might reach Hawaii, if not the West Coast. We do have to try to get the countries in the region to work with us to do everything we can to confine, and constrain them. But, what Secretary Carter is looking at is the constant pressure that Russia's putting on our European allies. The way that Russia is trying to move the boundaries of the post-World War II Europe. The way that he is trying to set European countries against one another, seizing territory, holding it in Crimea. Beginning to explore whether they could make some inroads in the Baltics. We know that they are deeply engaged in supporting Assad because they want to have a place in the Middle East. They have a naval base, they have an air base in Syria. They want to hang on to that. I think what Secretary Carter is seeing, and I'm glad he is, is that we got to get +p1257 +aVWell, first of all, I'm absolutely against privatizing the V.A. And I am going do everything I can to build on the reforms that Senator Sanders and others in Congress have passed to try to fix what's wrong with the V.A. There are a lot of issues about wait times and services that have to be fixed because our veterans deserve nothing but the best. But you're absolutely right, you know, Rachel, this is another part of the Koch brothers agenda. They've actually formed an organization to try to begin to convince Americans we should no longer have guaranteed health care, specialized care for our veterans. I will fight that as hard as I can. I think there's where we can enlist the veterans service organizations, the veterans of America, because, yes, let's fix the V.A., but we will never let it be privatized, and that is a promise. +p1258 +aVWhatever they decide to do, that's fine. +p1259 +aVAll right. +p1260 +aVI can only tell you what I believe, and that is that I am the strongest candidate to take it to the Republicans and win in November. And I say that with great\u2014with great respect for the campaign that Senator Sanders has been running. I personally am thrilled at the numbers of people, and particularly young people who are coming to support your campaign. I hope that I will be able to earn their support. They may not support me now, but I support them and we'll work together. But what I'm concerned about is the views of many Democrats who know their states, who know how hard it is to win a general election. And it also will push whoever the nominee is into the spotlight. I've been vetted. There's hardly anything you don't know about me. And I think it's fair to say that whoever is in that position, Senator Sanders or anyone else who might have run, will face the most withering onslaught. So, I think that I am the person who can do all aspects of the job. I think I'm the person best prepared to take the case to the Republicans. And I think that at the end of the day, it's not so much electability. It is who the American people can believe can keep them safe, can get the economy moving again, can get incomes rising, can build on the progressive accomplishments of President Obama. And I think that the coalition that President Obama put together to win twice is a coalition that I can put together and add to. And that's what I'm prepared to... +p1261 +aVAbsolutely I can. You know, before it was emails, it was Benghazi, and the Republicans were stirring up so much controversy about that. And I testified for 11 hours, answered their questions. They basically said yeah, didn't get her. We tried. That was all a political ploy. Now, we had a development in the email matter today when it came out that Secretary Powell and close aides to Former Secretary Rice used private e-mail accounts. and now you have these people in the government who are doing the same thing to Secretary Powell and Secretary Rice's aide they've been doing to me, which is that I never sent or received any classified material. They are retroactively classifying it. I agree completely with Secretary Powell, who said today this is an absurdity. And so I think the American people will know it's an absurdity. I have absolutely no concerns about it whatsoever. +p1262 +aVI am 100 percent confident. This is a security review that was requested. It is being carried out. It will be resolved. But I have to add if there's going to be a security review about me, there's going to have to be security reviews about a lot of other people, including Republican office holders, because we've got this absurd situation of retroactive classifications. Honest to goodness, this is\u2014this just beggars the imagination. So I have absolutely no concerns about it, but we've got to get to the bottom of what's really going on here, and I hope that will happen. +p1263 +aVNo. +p1264 +aVYes, I do. And\u2014you know, what I hope the Supreme Court will do is make it absolutely clear that any state that continues capital punishment either must meet the highest standards of evidentiary proof of effective assistance of counsel or they cannot continue it because that, to me, is the real dividing line. I have much more confidence in the federal system, and I do reserve it for particularly heinous crimes in the federal system, like terrorism. I have strong feelings about that. I thought it was appropriate after a very thorough trial that Timothy McVeigh received the death penalty for blowing up the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people, including 19 children in a daycare center. I do for very limited, particularly heinous crimes believe it is an appropriate punishment, but I deeply disagree with the way that too many states are still implementing it. If it were possible to separate the federal from the state system by the Supreme Court, that would, I think, be an appropriate outcome. +p1265 +aVAbsolutely. Absolutely. You know, Rachel, you and I have talked about this before. I thank you for going to Flint to hold that town hall. I will be in Flint at the Mayor's invitation on Sunday to get an in depth briefing about what is, and is not happening. This is an emergency. Everyday that goes by that these people, particularly the children, are not tested so we can know what steps must be taken to try to remediate the effects of the poisoning that they have been living with is a day lost in a child's life. I know from the work that I've done over so many years, lead, the toxic nature of lead can affect you brain development, your body development, your behavior. I absolutely believe that what is being done is not sufficient. We need to be absolutely clear about everything that should be done from today to tomorrow, into the future to try to remedy the terrible burden that the people of Flint are barring. That includes fixing their pipes, it includes guaranteeing whatever healthcare and educational embellishments they may need going forward, and I think the federal government has way where it can bill the state of Michigan. If Michigan won't do it, there have to be ways that we can begin to move, and then make them pay for it, and hold them accountable. +p1266 +aVYou know, Chuck, I've only had responsibility for voting for trade agreements as a senator. And I voted a multinational trade agreement when I was senator, the +p1267 +aVWell, I\u2014I don't accept that premise, Chuck. I think that we've got so much business we have to do. We've talked a lot tonight about what we're against\u2014we're against income inequality. We're against the abuses of powerful interests. We're against a lot of things. I'm for a lot of things. I don't want to just stop bad things from happening, I want to start good things from happening. And I believe, if I'm so fortunate to get the nomination, I will begin to work immediately on putting together an agenda, beginning to talk with members of Congress and others about how we can push forward. I want to have half a billion more solar panels deployed, the first four years. I want to have enough clean energy to power every home the next four years. I want us to keep working on the Affordable Care Act, to get not only to 100 percent coverage, but bring down the costs of prescription drugs and out-of-pocket costs. I want to move forward on paid family leave, on early childhood education, I want us to do more for small businesses. Small businesses have to create most of the jobs, and we're not creating and growing small businesses. I think, if you have a smart agenda, you pick the committees that you know have to begin to work on these various pieces\u2014because that's the way Congress is set up. You go through different committees, and you really make a big push in the beginning. Immigration reform, economic revitalization with manufacturing, with infrastructure\u2014we put it out there, and we begin to work on an ambitious, big, bold agenda that will actually produce the results that I want to see for our country. +p1268 +aVThe answer to both of those is no. I'm interested in making what we have work better. I want to streamline programs that are duplicative and redundant. I want to have a top-to-bottom review about what works and what doesn't work, and be absolutely clear we're getting rid of what doesn't work. I have had the opportunity to run a big agency. I was very flattered when Henry Kissinger said I ran the State Department better\u2014better than anybody had run it in a long time. So I have an idea of what it's going to take to make our government work more efficiently. And when you put together a budget, you have to make a lot of hard decisions, but I think it's not appropriate to say "I'm going to get rid of this, get rid of that" until you have a very good process that gives you the information about what to do. But I want to add something else, you know, because look, we have so much work to do in our country, and I think it's the greatest work that Americans will be called to do. And of course, we have to have people in every community involved in it. We have to have the political voice, the political grassroots speaking up and speaking out about what we have to try to accomplish in Washington. But we also need to have a very clear set of goals that we are going to achieve, and we need to level with the American people about what they are, what they will cost, what will be expected of our citizenry. So I see as president having a constant dialogue with Americans here's what we're trying to get done, here's why I need your help, here's why you may think comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship isn't something you care about, but I'm telling you it will help fix the labor market, it will bring people out of the shadows\u2014 +p1269 +aVI never said that. +p1270 +aVLook... +p1271 +aVWell, I'm certainly going to unite the party, but I'm not\u2014I'm not getting ahead of myself. I think that would be a little bit presumptuous. If I'm so fortunate as to be the nominee, the first person I will call to talk to about where we go and how we get it done will be Senator Sanders. +p1272 +aVThat's true. That's true. +p1273 +aVWell first, thanks to +p1274 +asVTRUMP +p1275 +(lp1276 +VThank you. I began this journey six months ago. My total focus was on building up our military, building up our strength, building up our borders, making sure that China, Japan, Mexico, both at the border and in trade, no longer takes advantage of our country. Certainly would never have made that horrible, disgusting, absolutely incompetent deal with Iran where they get $150 billion. They're a terrorist nation. But I began it talking about other things. And those things are things that I'm very good at and maybe that's why I'm center stage. People saw it. People liked it. People respected it. A month ago things changed. Radical Islamic terrorism came into effect even more so than it has been in the past. People like what I say. People respect what I say. And we've opened up a very big discussion that needed to be opened up. Thank you very much. +p1277 +aVWe are not talking about isolation. We're talking about security. We're not talking about religion. We're talking about security. Our country is out of control. People are pouring across the southern border. I will build a wall. It will be a great wall. People will not come in unless they come in legally. Drugs will not pour through that wall. As far as other people like in the migration, where they're going, tens of thousands of people having cell phones with +p1278 +aVJeb doesn't really believe I'm unhinged. He said that very simply because he has failed in this campaign. It's been a total disaster. Nobody cares. And frankly, I'm the most solid person up here. I built a tremendous company and all I want to do is make America great again. I don't want our country to be taken away from us, and that's what's happening. The policies that we've suffered under other presidents have been a disaster for our country. We want to make America great again. And Jeb, in all fairness, he doesn't believe that. +p1279 +aVWell, look, this is so easy to answer. +p1280 +aVI would certainly be open to closing areas where we are at war with somebody. I sure as hell don't want to let people that want to kill us and kill our nation use our Internet. Yes, sir, I am. +p1281 +aVWe have to be much tougher. We have to be much stronger than we've been. We have people that know what is going on. You take a look at just the attack in California the other day. There were numerous people, including the mother, that knew what was going on. They saw a pipe bomb sitting all over the floor. They saw ammunition all over the place. They knew exactly what was going on. When you had the World Trade Center go, people were put into planes that were friends, family, girlfriends, and they were put into planes and they were sent back, for the most part, to Saudi Arabia. They knew what was going on. They went home and they wanted to watch their boyfriends on television. I would be very, very firm with families. Frankly, that will make people think because they may not care much about their lives, but they do care, believe it or not, about their families' lives. +p1282 +aVLook, the problem is we need toughness. Honestly, I think Jeb is a very nice person. He's a very nice person. But we need tough people. We need toughness. We need intelligence and we need tough. Jeb said when they come across the southern border they come as an act of love. +p1283 +aVAm I talking or are you talking, Jeb? +p1284 +aVYou can go back. You're not talking. You interrupted me. +p1285 +aVAre you going to apologize, Jeb? No. Am I allowed to finish? +p1286 +aVExcuse me, am I allowed to finish? +p1287 +aVSo... +p1288 +aV... again... +p1289 +aVI know you're trying to build up your energy, Jeb, but it's not working very well. +p1290 +aVLook, look, look. We need a toughness. We need strength. We're not respected, you know, as a nation anymore. We don't have that level of respect that we need. And if we don't get it back fast, we're just going to go weaker, weaker and just disintegrate. We can't allow that to happen. We need strength. We don't have it. When Jeb comes out and he talks about the border, and I saw it and I was witness to it, and so was everyone else, and I was standing there, "they come across as an act of love," he's saying the same thing right now with radical Islam. And we can't have that in our country. It just won't work. We need strength. +p1291 +aVWith Jeb's attitude, we will never be great again, that I can tell you. We will never be great again. +p1292 +aVSo, they can kill us, but we can't kill them? That's what you're saying. And as far as the Internet is concerned, we're not talking about closing the Internet. I'm talking about parts of Syria, parts of Iraq, where +p1293 +aVIn my opinion, we've spent $4 trillion trying to topple various people that frankly, if they were there and if we could've spent that $4 trillion in the United States to fix our roads, our bridges, and all of the other problems; our airports and all of the other problems we've had, we would've been a lot better off. I can tell you that right now. We have done a tremendous disservice, not only to Middle East, we've done a tremendous disservice to humanity. The people that have been killed, the people that have wiped away, and for what? It's not like we had victory. It's a mess. The Middle East is totally destabilized. A total and complete mess. I wish we had the $4 trillion or $5 trillion. I wish it were spent right here in the United States, on our schools, hospitals, roads, airports, and everything else that are all falling apart. +p1294 +aVWell, there's nothing to respond to. Well, people feel differently. I mean, the fact is Benghazi was a disaster because of Libya, everything just fell into place. It could not have been worse. What do we have now? We have nothing. We've spent $3 trillion and probably much more \u2013 I have no idea what we've spent. Thousands and thousands of lives, we have nothing. Wounded warriors all over the place who I love, we have nothing for it. And by the way \u2013 and Ben said incorrectly \u2013 and I'm not saying this as a knock \u2013 he's one of finest men. You're not going to find a finer men. But I've been talking about oil for three years. I've been saying,, "take the oil, take the oil." I didn't say, "just bomb it," I said," take it and use it and distribute it so that the wounded warriors -" People, I've been saying this now for many years. +p1295 +aVNow, all of a sudden everybody's saying, "take the oil." It wasn't so fashionable to take the oil six months ago. I've been saying it for years. +p1296 +aVI think Assad is a bad guy, a very bad guy, all right? Lots of people killed. I think we are backing people we have no idea who they are. The rebels, we call them the rebels, the patriotic rebels. We have no idea. A lot of people think, Hugh, that they are +p1297 +aVI think it's very sad that CNN leads Jeb Bush, Governor Bush, down a road by starting off virtually all the questions, "Mr. Trump this, Mister" \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched the first debate, and the first long number of questions were, "Mr. Trump said this, Mr. Trump said that. Mr. Trump" \u2014 these poor guys \u2014 although, I must tell you, Santorum, good guy. Governor Huckabee, good guy. They were very nice, and I respect them greatly. But I thought it was very unfair that virtually the entire early portion of the debate was Trump this, Trump that, in order to get ratings, I guess. In order to get ratings, I guess. +p1298 +aVI just think it's very \u2014 excuse me. +p1299 +aVExcuse me. I think it's very unprofessional. +p1300 +aVWell, I think it's very unprofessional. +p1301 +aVOK, fine. +p1302 +aVThis isn't tough and easy. I wish it... +p1303 +aVI wish it was always this easy as you, Jeb. +p1304 +aVOh, yeah. +p1305 +aVOh, I know. You're a tough guy, Jeb. I know. +p1306 +aVYou're tough. +p1307 +aVWell, let's see. I'm at 42, and you're at 3. So, so far, I'm doing better. +p1308 +aVSo far, I'm doing better. You know, you started off over here, Jeb. You're moving over further and further. Pretty soon you're going to be off the end... +p1309 +aVI believe I did. +p1310 +aVI have a very hardline position, we have a country or we don't have a country. People that have come into our country illegally, they have to go. They have to come back into through a legal process. I want a strong border. I do want a wall. Walls do work, you just have to speak to the folks in Israel. Walls work if they're properly constructed. I know how to build, believe me, I know how to build. I feel a very, very strong bind, and really I'm bound to this country, we either have a border or we don't. People can come into the country, we welcome people to come but they have to come in legally. +p1311 +aVWell, first of all, I think we need somebody absolutely that we can trust, who is totally responsible; who really knows what he or she is doing. That is so powerful and so important. And one of the things that I'm frankly most proud of is that in 2003, 2004, I was totally against going into Iraq because you're going to destabilize the Middle East. I called it. I called it very strongly. And it was very important. But we have to be extremely vigilant and extremely careful when it comes to nuclear. Nuclear changes the whole ball game. Frankly, I would have said get out of Syria; get out \u2014 if we didn't have the power of weaponry today. The power is so massive that we can't just leave areas that 50 years ago or 75 years ago we wouldn't care. It was hand-to-hand combat. The biggest problem this world has today is not President Obama with global warming, which is inconceivable, this is what he's saying. The biggest problem we have is nuclear \u2014 nuclear proliferation and having some maniac, having some madman go out and get a nuclear weapon. That's in my opinion, that is the single biggest problem that our country faces right now. +p1312 +aVI think \u2014 I think, for me, nuclear is just the power, the devastation is very important to me. +p1313 +aVI did. +p1314 +aVLet me just say that I have gotten to know him over the last three or four days. He has a wonderful temperament. He's just fine. Don't worry about it. +p1315 +aVYou better not attack... +p1316 +aVI really am. I'll be honest, I really am. I mean, the people have been putting me... I really am. +p1317 +aVLet me just. Can I just finish my... +p1318 +aVI've gained great respect for the Republican leadership. I've gained great respect for many \u2014 and I'm going to even say \u2014 I mean, in different forms for the people on the dais, in different forms. In different forms. But I have great respect for the people I have met through this process. I've never done this process before. I've never been a politician. I mean, for the last six months I've been a politician. But I will tell you, I am totally committed to the Republican Party. I feel very honored to be the front runner. And I think I'll do very well if I'm chosen. If I'm so fortunate to be chosen, I think I'll do very well. Polls have come out recently saying I would beat Hillary. I will do everything in my power to beat Hillary Clinton, I promise you. +p1319 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We don't win on trade. We don't win on the military. We can't defeat +p1320 +aVI can't be Neil. And the and the reason I can't be is that we are a country that is being beaten on every front economically, militarily. There is nothing that we do now to win. We don't win anymore. Our taxes are too high. I've come up with a tax plan that many, many people like very much. It's going to be a tremendous plan. I think it'll make our country and our economy very dynamic. But, taxes too high, wages too high, we're not going to be able to compete against the world. I hate to say it, but we have to leave it the way it is. People have to go out, they have to work really hard and have to get into that upper stratum. But we can not do this if we are going to compete with the rest of the world. We just can't do it. +p1321 +aVI would not do it. +p1322 +aVI was so happy yesterday when I saw that decision come down. That was an unbelievable decision. And we don't have enough of those decisions coming down. He of the executive order, because nobody wants to listen to him, including the Democrats, so he just goes around signing executive orders. That was a great day. And, frankly, we have to stop illegal immigration. It's hurting us economically. It's hurting us from every standpoint. It's causing tremendous difficulty with respect to drugs and what that does to many of our inner cities in particular. And it really is \u2014 was such an unbelievable moment because the courts have not been ruling in our favor. And it was a 2-1 decision. And it was a terrific thing that happened. And I will tell you, we are a country of laws. We need borders. We will have a wall. The wall will be built. The wall will be successful. And if you think walls don't work, all you have to do is ask Israel. The wall works, believe me. Properly done. Believe me. +p1323 +aVYou are going to have to bring people \u2014 you are going to have to send people out. Look, we're a country... +p1324 +aVMaria, we're a country of laws. We either have a country or we don't have a country. We are a country of laws. Going to have to go out and they will come back but they are going to have to go out and hopefully they get back. But we have no choice if we're going to run our country properly and if we're going to be a country. +p1325 +aVAll I can say is, you're lucky in Ohio that you struck oil. That is for one thing. Let me just tell you that Dwight Eisenhower, good president, great president, people liked him. "I like Ike," right? The expression. "I like Ike." Moved a 1.5 million illegal immigrants out of this country, moved them just beyond the border. They came back. Moved them again beyond the border, they came back. Didn't like it. Moved them way south. They never came back. Dwight Eisenhower. You don't get nicer. You don't get friendlier. They moved a 1.5 million out. We have no choice. We have no choice. +p1326 +aVNo, it's unfair. +p1327 +aV... built an unbelievable company worth billions and billions of dollars. I don't have to hear from this man, believe me. I don't have to hear from him. +p1328 +aVWe have millions of people right now on line trying to come into this country. Very, very unfair to the people that want to come into our country legally. They've gone through the process. They're on line. They're waiting. Very, very unfair to them. That I can tell you. +p1329 +aVYes. +p1330 +aVNo, I'm sorry. No, excuse me. I was there. +p1331 +aVPlease, if I could just... +p1332 +aVWe have to make our military bigger, better, stronger than ever before so that nobody messes with us, and a long run, it's going to save us. I agree with Marco, I agree with Ted, we have no choice. And, I can tell you this with certainty. We all have a different tax plan. Some I don't totally agree with. One thing we understand, each one of those tax plans is better than the mess that we have right now. +p1333 +aV...Yes... +p1334 +aV...Yeah... +p1335 +aV...It's a horrible deal... +p1336 +aVThe TPP is horrible deal. It is a deal that is going to lead to nothing but trouble. It's a deal that was designed for China to come in, as they always do, through the back door and totally take advantage of everyone. It's 5,600 pages long. So complex that nobodies read it. It's like Obamacare; nobody ever read it. They passed it; nobody read it. And look at mess we have right now. And it will be repealed. But this is one of the worst trade deals. And I would, yes, rather not have it. With all of these countries, and all of the bad ones getting advantage and taking advantage of what the good ones would normally get, I'd rather make individual deals with individual countries. We will do much better. We lose a fortune on trade. The United States loses with everybody. We're losing now over $500 billion in terms of imbalance with China, $75 billion a year imbalance with Japan. By the way, Mexico, $50 billion a year imbalance. So I must say, Gerard, I just think it's a terrible deal. I love trade. I'm a free trader, 100 percent. But we need smart people making the deals, and we don't have smart people making the deals. +p1337 +aVYes. Well, the currency manipulation they don't discuss in the agreement, which is a disaster. If you look at the way China and India and almost everybody takes advantage of the United States \u2014 China in particular, because they're so good. It's the number-one abuser of this country. And if you look at the way they take advantage, it's through currency manipulation. It's not even discussed in the almost 6,000-page agreement. It's not even discussed. +p1338 +aVAnd as you understand, I mean, you understand very well from the Wall Street Journal, currency manipulation is the single great weapon people have. They don't even discuss it in this agreement. So I say, it's a very bad deal, should not be approved. If it is approved, it will just be more bad trade deals, more loss of jobs for our country. We are losing jobs like nobody's ever lost jobs before. I want to bring jobs back into this country. +p1339 +aVWell, first of all, it's not only Russia. We have problems with North Korea where they actually have nuclear weapons. You know, nobody talks about it, we talk about Iran, and that's one of the worst deals ever made. One of the worst contracts ever signed, ever, in anything, and it's a disgrace. But, we have somebody over there, a madman, who already has nuclear weapons we don't talk about that. That's a problem. China is a problem, both economically in what they're doing in the South China Sea, I mean, they are becoming a very, very major force. So, we have more than just Russia. But, as far as the Ukraine is concerned, and you could Syria \u2014 as far as Syria, I like \u2014 if Putin wants to go in, and I got to know him very well because we were both on 60 Minutes, we were stablemates, and we did very well that night. But, you know that. But, if Putin wants to go and knocked the hell out of +p1340 +aV...They blew up \u2014 hold it.... +p1341 +aV...They blew up, wait a minute... ...They blew up a Russian airplane. He cannot be in love with these people. He's going in, and we can go in, and everybody should go in. As far as the Ukraine is concerned, we have a group of people, and a group of countries, including Germany \u2014 tremendous economic behemoth \u2014 why are we always doing the work? We are \u2014 I'm all for protecting Ukraine and working \u2014 but, we have countries that are surrounding the Ukraine that aren't doing anything. They say, "Keep going, keep going, you dummies, keep going. Protect us..." ...And we have to get smart. We can't continue to be the policeman of the world. We are $19 trillion dollars, we have a country that's going to hell, we have an infrastructure that's falling apart. Our roads, our bridges, our schools, our airports, and we have to start investing money in our country. +p1342 +aVAssad is a bad guy, but we have no idea who the so-called rebels \u2014 I read about the rebels, nobody even knows who they are. I spoke to a general two weeks ago, he said \u2014 he was very up on exactly what we're talking about. He said, "You know, Mr. Trump? We're giving hundreds of millions of dollars of equipment to these people, we have no idea who they are." So, I don't like Assad. Who's going to like Assad? But, we have no idea who these people, and what they're going to be, and what they're going to represent. They may be far worse than Assad. Look at Libya. Look at Iraq. Look at the mess we have after spending $2 trillion dollars, thousands of lives, wounded warriors all over the place \u2014 who I love, OK? All over. We have nothing. And, I said, keep the oil. And we should have kept the oil, believe me. We should have kept the oil. And, you know what? We should have given the oil... ..We should've given big chunks to the people that lost their arms, their legs, and their families, and their sons, and daughters, because right now, you know who has a lot of that oil? Iran, and +p1343 +aVWhy does she keep interrupting everybody? Terrible. +p1344 +aVWe are not. +p1345 +aV...No, no, no... +p1346 +aVWell, what's happening right now, Neil, is something that not been a subject of conversation by politicians. As primarily the only politician, I guess other than Carly on the stage, they haven't talked about a corporate inversion. A corporate inversion \u2014 companies are leaving. You know, we used to leave New York to go to Florida. We got better taxes, we got, maybe, something else. Now, they're the United States to go to other countries. They have trillions of dollars in those other countries. They're going for two reasons, they can't get their money back in. It's something where the democrats and the republicans both agree, it's the only thing I can think of. They both agree, let the money come back in. Three and a half years, they still can't make a deal. They can't get the money in. It's probably two and a half trillion, but, I think it's much more than that. All of that money could become \u2014 could come right in and be used to rebuild our country, and investments in our country. They can't do it. What we have to do, and what I've done, is made the tax rate \u2014 and one of the reasons they don't the taxes so obnoxious, they can't do it. Where, I made it a 10% number, as you know. I've been very highly praised for it. A lot of money's going to come back in, we're going to get rid of the bureaucratic problems, and roadblocks, because that's also a problem. And, we're going to have all of this money pour back into the United States. It's going to be used to build businesses, for jobs, and everything else. And, as I say, my expression is, let's make America great again. +p1347 +aVThank you. Over the years, I've created tens of thousands of jobs and a great company. It's a company I'm very proud of. Some of the most iconic assets anywhere in the world. And I will tell you, I don't have to give you a website because I'm self-funding my campaign. I'm putting up my own money. I want to do something really special. I want to make our country greater than it's ever been. I think we have that potential. We cannot lose this election. We cannot let Hillary Clinton, who is the worst secretary of state in the history of our country, win this election. We will fight. We will win. And we truly will make this even more special. We have to make it better than ever before. And I will tell you, the United States can actually be better than ever before. Thank you. +p1348 +aVI think maybe my greatest weakness is that I trust people too much. I'm too trusting. And when they let me down, if they let me down, I never forgive. I find it very, very hard to forgive people that deceived me. So I don't know if you would call that a weakness, but my wife said "let up." +p1349 +aVRight. +p1350 +aVRight. +p1351 +aVThat's right. +p1352 +aVNo, not a comic book, and it's not a very nicely asked question the way you say that. Larry Kudlow is an example, who I have a lot of respect for, who loves my tax plan. We're reducing taxes to 15 percent. We're bringing corporate taxes down, bringing money back in, corporate inversions. We have $2.5 trillion outside of the United States which we want to bring back in. As far as the wall is concerned, we're going to build a wall. We're going to create a border. We're going to let people in, but they're going to come in legally. They're going to come in legally. And it's something that can be done, and I get questioned about that. They built the great wall of China. That's 13,000 miles. Here, we actually need 1,000 because we have natural barriers. So we need 1,000. We can do a wall. We're going to have a big, fat beautiful door right in the middle of the wall. We're going to have people come in, but they're coming in legally. And Mexico's going to pay for the wall because Mexico \u2014 I love the Mexican people; I respect the Mexican leaders \u2014 but the leaders are much sharper, smarter and more cunning than our leaders. And just to finish, people say, how will you get Mexico to pay? A politician other than the people in the states \u2014 I don't want to \u2014 a politician cannot get them to pay. I can. We lose, we have a trade imbalance... Excuse me, John. ... of $50 billion... +p1353 +aV... believe me the world is peanuts by comparison. +p1354 +aVRight. Dynamically. +p1355 +aVThen you have to get rid of Larry Kudlow, who sits on your panel, who's a great guy, who came out the other day and said, I love Trump's tax plan. +p1356 +aVFirst of all, John got lucky with a thing called fracking, OK? He hit oil. He got lucky with fracking. Believe me, that is why Ohio is doing well. Number \u2014 and that is important for you to know. Number two, this was the man that was a managing general partner at Lehman Brothers when it went down the tubes and almost took every one of us with it, including Ben and myself, because I was there and I watched what happened. And Lehman Brothers started it all. He was on the board. And he was a managing general partner. And just thirdly, he was so nice. He was such a nice guy. And he said, oh, I'm never going to attack. But then his poll numbers tanked. He has got \u2014 that is why he is on the end. And he got nasty. And he got nasty. So you know what? You can have him. +p1357 +aVI think you're \u2014 +p1358 +aVWell, first of all, like many other very big businessmen, I could name them here, but I'm not going to do that for a lot of obvious reasons, but the biggest, and almost all of them, they've all used the chapter laws, the bankruptcy laws to their own benefit. Before this, I was a very successful person as a developer and as a businessman. Atlantic City has gone bad. I mean, Chris will know about that. I'm not blaming Chris, by the way, but he will know about that. Caesar's \u2014 excuse me \u2014 Caesar's, the Rolls-Royce, as you know, is in bankruptcy. Almost every hotel in Atlantic City has either been in bankruptcy or will be in bankruptcy \u2014 the biggest. But also the biggest people (ph) \u2014 now I've used that to my advantage as a business man, for my family, for myself. I never filed for bankruptcy. But many, many people did. What happened with Atlantic City is very, very disgraceful. Now hundreds of companies I've opened. I've used it three times, maybe four times. Came out great. But I guess I'm supposed to come out great. That is what I could do for the country. We owe $19 trillion, boy am I good at solving debt problems. Nobody can solve it like me. But I will tell you this, Atlantic City, you're using that, hundreds of companies that I have opened have thrived. I built a net worth of way over $10 billion, and I have done it four times out of hundreds. And I'm glad I did it. I used the laws of the country to my benefit, I'm sorry. +p1359 +aVThank you. +p1360 +aVI was not at all critical of him. I was not at all. In fact, frankly, he's complaining about the fact that we're losing some of the most talented people. They go to Harvard. They go to Yale. They go to Princeton. They come from another country and they're immediately sent out. I am all in favor of keeping these talented people here so they can go to work in Silicon Valley. +p1361 +aVSo I have nothing at all critical of him. +p1362 +aVProbably, I don't know \u2014 you people write the stuff. I don't know where you... And if I could say just one thing. I am the only person in either campaign that's self-funding. I'm putting up 100 percent of my own money. And right now, I will be putting up a tremendous \u2014 so far, I've put up less than anybody and I have the best results. Wouldn't that be nice if the country could do that? But I will be putting \u2014 I will be putting up, you know, tremendous amounts of money. SuperPacs are a disaster. They're a scam. They cause dishonesty. And you better get rid of them because they are causing a lot of bad decisions to be made by some very good people. And I'm not blaming these folks \u2014 well, I guess I could. Very good people are making very bad decisions right now. And if anything comes out of this whole thing with some of these nasty and ridiculous questions, I will tell you, you better get rid of the SuperPacs because they causing a big problem with this country, not only in dishonesty and what's going on, but also in a lot of bad decisions that have been made for the benefit of lobbyists and special interests. +p1363 +aVI never said that. I never said that. +p1364 +aVYou've got another gentleman in Florida, who happens to be a very nice guy, but not... +p1365 +aV... he's really doing some bad... +p1366 +aVI'm in favor of people coming into this country legally. And you know what? They can have it anyway you want. You can call it visas, you can call it work permits, you can call it anything you want. I've created tens of thousands of jobs, and in all due respect \u2014 and actually some of these folks I really like a lot \u2014 but I'm the only one that can say that. I have created tens of thousands of jobs, and I'll be creating many millions of jobs if I'm given \u2014 if I'm given the opportunity to be president. As far as Mark is concerned, as far as the visas are concerned, if we need people, they have \u2014 it's fine. They have to come into this country legally. We have a country of borders. We have a country of laws. We have to obey the laws. It's fine if they come in, but they have to come in legally. +p1367 +aVYes. +p1368 +aVOr somebody else. Right. +p1369 +aVYes, I might feel more comfortable. I would say that I would and I have a permit, which is very unusual in New York \u2014 a permit to carry. And I do carry on occasion, sometimes a lot. But I like to be unpredictable so that people don't know exactly... +p1370 +aVBy the way, unlike our country where we're totally predictable and the enemy, whether it's +p1371 +aVI would change them. I would change them. +p1372 +aVSuch a nasty \u2014 such a nasty question, but thank you, Governor. +p1373 +aVYes, it's very simple. We're going to make a really dynamic economy from what we have right now, which is not at all dynamic. We're going to bring jobs back from Japan, we're going to bring jobs back from China, we're going to bring, frankly, jobs back from Mexico where, as you probably saw, Nabisco is leaving Chicago with one of their biggest plants, and they're moving it to Mexico. We're going to bring jobs and manufacturing back. We're going to cut costs. We're going to save Social Security, and we're going to save Medicare. [ +p1374 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We used to win, we don't win anymore. We lose on trade. We lose with +p1375 +aVAnd, I'll do that with the country. We will make America great again. And, thank you everybody. Just for the record. +p1376 +aVThat's not right. That is absolutely not right. You know that. That is not right. [ +p1377 +asVCHRISTIE +p1378 +(lp1379 +VThank you Wolf. America has been betrayed. We've been betrayed by the leadership that Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton have provided to this country over the last number of years. Think about just what's happened today. The second largest school district in America in Los Angeles closed based on a threat. Think about the effect that, that's going to have on those children when they go back to school tomorrow wondering filled with anxiety to whether they're really going to be safe. Think about the mothers who will take those children tomorrow morning to the bus stop wondering whether their children will arrive back on that bus safe and sound. Think about the fathers of Los Angeles, who tomorrow will head off to work and wonder about the safety of their wives and their children. What is Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton done to this country? That the most basic responsibility of an administration is to protect the safety and security of the American people. I will tell you this, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I've fought terrorists and won and when we get back in the White House we will fight terrorists and win again and America will be safe. +p1380 +aVWolf, unfortunately, it's the new normal under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The fact is that if you listen to Hillary Clinton the other day, what she said to the American people was, as regards to +p1381 +aVListen, I want to talk to the audience at home for a second. If your eyes are glazing over like mine, this is what it's like to be on the floor of the United States Senate. I mean, endless debates about how many angels on the head of a pin from people who've never had to make a consequential decision in an executive position. The fact is, for seven years, I had to make these decisions after 9/11, make a decision about how to proceed forward with an investigation or how to pull back, whether you use certain actionable intelligence or whether not to. And yet they continue to debate about this bill and in the subcommittee and what \u2014 nobody in America cares about that. What they care about is, are we going to have a president who actually knows what they're doing to make these decisions? And for the seven years afterwards, New Jersey was threatened like no other region in this country and what we did was we took action within the constitution to make sure that law enforcement had all the information they needed. We prosecuted two of the biggest terrorism cases in the world and stopped Fort Dix from being attacked by six American radicalized Muslims from a Mosque in New Jersey because we worked with the Muslim American community to get intelligence and we used the Patriot Act to get other intelligence to make sure we did those cases. This is the difference between actually been a federal prosecutor, actually doing something, and not just spending your life as one of hundred debating it. Let's talk about how we do this, not about which bill, which one these guys like more. The American people don't care about that. +p1382 +aVWolf, you sit up here and you listen to this stuff, and you think that so many of these people have had so much to do in this national debate, they talk like they were bystanders. You know, we talk about our military being degraded over time, and yet we've had folks on this stage who've been a part of Congress who have participated in sequester; who participated in the degrading of this military over time. And that's why I think people get so frustrated with Washington, D.C. now. That's why they're so angry with the \u2014 the electorate is so angry with everybody who is involved in government in Washington, D.C. Because if you listen to the folks up here, you think that they weren't even there; they had nothing to do with this. This is a difference between being a governor and being in a legislature. See, because when something doesn't work in New Jersey, they look at me, say: "Why didn't it get done? Why didn't you do it?" You have to be responsible and accountable. And so on +p1383 +aVWell, I think we have to focus, Hugh, on exactly what the priorities are. And to me, what I've always said is that the president has set up an awful situation through his deal with Iran, because what his deal with Iran has done is empower them and enrich them. And that's the way +p1384 +aVNot only would I be prepared to do it, I would do it. A no-fly zone means a no-fly zone, Wolf. That's what it means. See, maybe \u2014 maybe because I'm from New Jersey, I just have this kind of plain language hangup. But I would make very clear \u2014 I would not talk to Vladimir Putin. In fact, I would talk to Vladimir Putin a lot. But I'd say to him, "Listen, Mr. President, there's a no-fly zone in Syria; you fly in, it applies to you." And yes, we would shoot down the planes of Russian pilots if in fact they were stupid enough to think that this president was the same feckless weakling that the president we have in the Oval Office is right now. +p1385 +aVWell, Wolf, I'll tell you what reckless is. What reckless is is calling Assad a reformer. What reckless is allowing Russia to come into Crimea and Ukraine. What reckless is is inviting Russia into Syria to team with Iran. That is reckless. And the reckless people are the folks in the White House right now. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are the reckless people. And if you think that a no-fly zone is a reckless policy, you're welcome to your opinion. But how is it working so far? As we have 250,000 Syrians murdered, slaughtered; millions running around the world, running for their lives. It's not working. We need to try something else. And that is not reckless. +p1386 +aVWhat I say to Carla is that the first job of the president of the United States is to protect your safety and your security and the security and safety of your family. And this debate stops with me in the discussions with the FBI director. Now, listen, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I know Jim Comey. We've worked together. He was the U.S. attorney in Manhattan when I was a U.S. attorney in New Jersey. And when Jim Comey gets up before Congress and says, we cannot effectively vet these people, for me as president, that's the end of the conversation. We have to put America's security first. The American people \u2014 we on this stage need to open our ears. We need to open our ears. The American people are not whispering to us. They are screaming to us. And they're screaming to us that it's our job to actually make this government work. It's so dysfunctional under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. It's so ineffective. It's so ineffectual that the American people say, we don't trust them to do anything anymore. So I'm not going to let Syrian refugees, any Syrian refugees in this country. And it was widows and orphans, by the way, and we now know from watching the San Bernardino attack that women can commit heinous, heinous acts against humanity just the same as men can do it. And so I don't back away from that position for a minute. When the FBI director tells me that he can vet those people, then we'll consider it and not a moment before because your safety and security is what's most important to me. +p1387 +aVWell, what it would like is, we have one of the great advantages of America being the open society that we are. It is, we are not hiding things from the American people, but China everyday is conducting business in a way that hides things from their people. So if they want to come in and attack all the personnel records in the federal government, which they've done, and which \u2014 they now have my Social Security number and my fingerprints, as well as maybe some other folks' who are on this stage. The fact is, they need to be fought back on. And what we need to do is go at the things that they are most sensitive and most embarrassing to them; that they're hiding; get that information and put it out in public. Let the Chinese people start to digest how corrupt the Chinese government is; how they steal from the Chinese people; and how they're enriching oligarchs all throughout China. They need to understand that. And we need to take those type of steps. This president has seen personnel records of people who have sacrificed for the American people and for the federal government stolen by the Chinese and he's done nothing in return. This is why \u2014 this is what I said at the beginning that this administration, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton through their foreign policy, have betrayed the American people, because the weakness they've displayed has led to Putin's incursions in the Middle East and in eastern Europe, and has led \u2014 has led to significant problems in the Middle East as well, and the death and murder of lots of folks. +p1388 +aVOn September 10th, 2001, I was named chief federal prosecutor in New Jersey and on September 11th, 2001, my wife and my brother who are in the audience tonight went through the World Trade Center and to their offices just blocks away from the Trade Center. I lost touch with them for six hours that day and prayed that they were alive. Luckily, they were sent home. But many of our friends and others in our neighborhood lost their lives that day. Terrorism \u2014 radical jihadist terrorism is not theoretical to me. It's real. And for seven years, I spent my life protecting our country against another one of those attacks. You won't have to worry when I'm President of the Untied States whether that can be done because I've already done it. I want the chance to do it again to protect you, your children and your families. If you give me the chance and give me your vote I will protect America from the wars that are being brought to our door step. +p1389 +aVI don't see a lot of weakness on this stage, quite frankly. Where I see the weakness is in those three people that are left on the Democratic stage. You know, I see a socialist, an isolationist and a pessimist. And for the sake of me, I can't figure out which one is which. But I will \u2014 but I will tell you this, the socialist says they're going to pay for everything and give you everything for free, except they don't say they're going to raise it through taxes to 90 percent to do it. The isolationist is the one who wants to continue to follow a foreign policy that has fewer democracies today than when Barack Obama came into office around the world. But I know who the pessimist is. It's Hillary Clinton. And you put me on that stage against her next September, she won't get within 10 miles of the White House. Take it to the bank. +p1390 +aVWell, I wish you would have asked that question years ago when they broke it. I mean, let me be honest with the people who are watching at home. The government has lied to you and they have stolen from you. They told you that your Social Security money is in a trust fund. All that's in that trust fund is a pile of IOUs for money they spent on something else a long time ago. And they've stolen from you because now they know they cannot pay these benefits and Social Security is going to be insolvent in seven to eight years. We're sitting up here talking about all these other things; 71 percent of federal spending today is on entitlements, and debt service. And, that's with zero percent interest rates. Now, I'm the only person that's put out a detailed plan on how to deal with entitlements. And we'll save a trillion dollars over the next 10 years. And, here's the difference between me and Hillary Clinton. What Hillary Clinton's going to say, and has said before is, she wants to raise Social Security taxes. Now, let me ask you a question everybody, and, this is for the guy, you know, who owns a landscaping business out there. If somebody's already stolen money from you, are you going to give them more? Or, are you going to deal with the problem by saying, I'm going to give people who've done well in this country less benefit on the backend. We need to get realistic about this. We're not \u2014 the American people \u2014 forget about anything else, they've already been lied to and stolen from. And... +p1391 +aV...I'm going to go to Washington to stop it... +p1392 +aV...The only way we're going to be morale, the only way we're going to keep our promise to seniors is start by following the first rule we should all follow, which is to look at them, treat them like adults, and tell them the truth. It isn't there anymore, Mike. They stole it. It got stolen from them. It's not theirs anymore. The government stole it, and spent it a long time ago... +p1393 +aVSo, let's stop fooling around about this, let's tell people the truth. For once, let's do that, and stop trying to give them some kind of fantasy that's never going to come true. +p1394 +aVYou bet they do. And if I were the prosecutor, that is exactly where they would be. The fact is that this Justice Department under this president has been a political Justice Department. It has been a Justice Department that decided that they want to pick who the winners and losers are. They like General Motors, so they give them a pass. They don't like somebody else like David Petraeus, they prosecute them and send a decorated general on to disgrace. It's a political Justice Department. And, Jim, you know full well that in the seven years I was U.S. attorney we went after pharmaceutical companies. We went after companies that were ripping off shareholders. We went after companies that were doing things that were against the law. And to expand on Mr. Carson's \u2014 or Dr. Carson's question, let's face it, we have laws already. We don't need newer (ph) laws. We don't need Hillary Clinton's price controls for \u2014 again, does anybody out there think that giving Washington, D.C., the opportunity to run the pharmaceutical industry is a good idea, given how well they have done running the government? So what we do, though, is, if there is somebody who is price- gouging, we have laws for prosecutors to take that on. Let's let a Justice Department \u2014 and I will make an attorney general who will enforce the law and make justice more than just a word. It will be a way of life. +p1395 +aVJohn, I'll tell you something. You want to talk about moral authority. Let's talk about something that happened this week in the news. You know, the FBI director, the president's appointed FBI director has said this week that because of a lack of support from politicians like the president of the United States, that police officers are afraid to get out of their cars; that they're afraid to enforce the law. And he says, the president's appointee, that crime is going up because of this. And when the president of the United States gets out to speak about it, does he support police officers? Does he stand up for law enforcement? No, he doesn't. I'll tell you this, the number one job of the president of the United States is to protect the safety and security of the American people. This president has failed, and when I'm in the Oval Office, police officers will know that they will have the support of the president of the Untied States. That's real moral authority that we need in the Oval Office. +p1396 +aVCarl, are we really talking about getting government involved in fantasy football? We have \u2014 wait a second, we have $19 trillion in debt. We have people out of work. We have +p1397 +aVWell, first off, what we don't do is do what Hillary Clinton and John Kerry and Barack Obama want us to do, which is their solution for everything, put more taxes on it, give more money to Washington, D.C., and then they will fix it. Well, there is no evidence that they can fix anything in Washington, D.C. +p1398 +aVWhat we should do is to be investing in all types of energy, John, all types of energy. I've laid out... +p1399 +aVNo, John. John, do you want me to answer or do you want to answer? How are we going to do this? Because, I've got to tell you the truth, even in New Jersey what you're doing is called rude. So... We've laid out a national energy plan that says that we should invest in all types of energy. I will tell you, you could win a bet at a bar tonight, since we're talking about fantasy football, if you ask who the top three states in America are that produce solar energy: California and Arizona are easy, but number three is New Jersey. Why? Because we work with the private sector to make solar energy affordable and available to businesses and individuals in our state. We need to make sure that we do everything across all kinds of energy: natural gas, oil, absolutely. But also where it's affordable, solar, wind in Iowa has become very affordable and it makes sense. That is the way we deal with global warming, climate change, or any of those problems, not through government intervention, not through government taxes, and for God's sake, don't send Washington another dime until they stop wasting the money they're already sending there. +p1400 +aVAnd \u2014 and \u2014 and I \u2014 you know, Ben is absolutely right in saying that what we don't need to do is to send more money to Washington, D.C. to fix this problem. And that's what you'll hear from Hillary Clinton \u2014 and I've already heard from her \u2014 is that, send more money in Social Security, send more money in Medicare taxes, send more money for Medicaid, and that's gonna solve the problem. What we know is we're living longer. That's a blessing. It's a blessing that we're living longer, so we have to increase the retirement age to reflect that blessing. We need to make sure that people understand, as Jeb said before, that if you've done extraordinarily well in this country, do you want them to take more out of your taxes now and think they're gonna give it back to you later? Or would you rather take less later on? +p1401 +aVI want to talk to the folks at home. I want to ask you: Are you fed up with how Washington taxes you? Are you fed up with how Washington wastes your money? Are you concerned like I am that the debt and deficits of Washington, D.C. are endangering America's future? I've got one more question for you then. Are you serious about this election? Because if you are, you need to elect someone who's deadly serious about changing this culture. I am deadly serious about changing this culture. I changed it in New Jersey. I'm deadly serious about doing this job the right way. I'm prepared. I'm tested. I'm ready. And I want to make this our government. For the people who say we can't do it, I say hell no, we can do it together. +p1402 +asVCARSON +p1403 +(lp1404 +VThank you, Wolf. Please join me for a moment of silence and remembrance of the San Bernardino victims. Thank you. You know, our country since its inception has been at war, every 15 or 20 years. But the war that we are fighting now against radical Islamist jihadists is one that we must win. Our very existence is dependent upon that. You know, as a pediatric neurosurgeon, I frequently faced life and death situations, and had to come up with the right diagnosis, the right plan, and execute that plan frequently with other colleagues. Right now, the United States of America is the patient. And the patient is in critical condition and will not be cured by political correctness and will not be cured by timidity. And I am asking the Congress, which represents the people, to declare a war on +p1405 +aVFirst of all, let me just complain a little bit. This is the first time I've spoken and several people have had multiple questions so please try to pay attention to that. Now, as far as monitoring is concerned, what my point is, we need to make sure that any place \u2013 I don't care whether it's a mosque, a school, a supermarket, a theater, you know it doesn't matter. If there are a lot of people getting there and engaging in radicalizing activities then we need to be suspicious of it. We have to get rid of all this PC stuff. And people are worried about if somebody's going to say that I'm Islamophobic or what have you. This is craziness because we are at war. That's why I asked congress, go ahead and declare the war . We need to be on a war footing. We need to understand that our nation is in grave danger. You know, what the Muslim Brotherhood said in the explanatory memorandum that was discovered during the Holy Land Foundation Trial was that, "they will take advantage of our PC attitude to get us. :" We have to be better than this. We have to be smarter than they are. +p1406 +aVI think you have to ask them about that. I don't want to get in between them. Let them fight. +p1407 +aVNeurosurgeon. +p1408 +aVWell, interestingly enough, you should see the eyes of some of those children when I say to them we're going to have to open your head up and take out this tumor. They're not happy about it, believe me. And they don't like me very much at that point. But later on, they love me. Sometimes you \u2014 I sound like him. You know, later on, you know, they really realize what's going on. And by the same token, you have to be able to look at the big picture and understand that it's actually merciful if you go ahead and finish the job, rather than death by 1,000 pricks. +p1409 +aVYou got it. You got it. +p1410 +aVRuthless is not necessarily the word I would use, but tough, resolute, understanding what the problems are, and understanding that the job of the president of the United States is to protect the people of this country and to do what is necessary in order to get it done. +p1411 +aVFirst of all, I've been talking about this for over a year. We have to destroy their caliphate because that gives them legitimacy to go ahead with the global Jihad. We have to take their energy because they are \u2014 +p1412 +aVNo one is ever better off with dictators but there comes a time you know, when you're on an airplane, they always say, "in case of an emergency oxygen masks will drop down. Put yours on first and then administer help to your neighbor." We need oxygen right now. And we need to start thinking about the needs of the American people before we go and solve everybody else's problems. The fact of the matter is, is that the Middle East has been in turmoil for thousands of years. For us to think that we're going to in there and fix that with a couple of little bombs and a few little decorations is relatively foolish. +p1413 +aVWell, you know, there's a false narrative that only the political class has the wisdom and the ability to be commander-in- chief. But if you go back and you study the design of our country, it was really designed for the citizen statesman. And we need to be talking about where does your experience come from? You know, and I've had a lot of experience building things, organizing things, you know, a national scholarship program. One of the things that you'll notice if you look through my life is that I don't do a lot of talking. I do a lot of doing. And really, it says more about a person than how much they talk. And then some people say you're weak because, you know, you're not loud and you're not boisterous and you're not rude. But the fact of the matter is, look and see what I've done. And that speaks volumes about strength. +p1414 +aVWell, it was very interesting having an opportunity to talk to the Syrians themselves. And I asked them: What do you want? What is your supreme desire? Their supreme desire was to be settled back in their own country. I said, "What can Americans and other countries do?" They said, "Support the efforts of those who are trying to provide safety for us, including the Jordanians." Of course, they had a brand new hospital, for instance, that was unstaffed because there wasn't enough money to do it. But here's what's really neat. If you go into Hasakah province in northeast Syria, that's an area that's as big as Lebanon. It's controlled by the Kurds, the Christians and the moderate Sunnis. And there are airstrips and hotels. You could settle a lot of people there. All we would have to do is be willing to provide them with some weaponry, some defensive weaponry. And we seem to be afraid to give the Kurds weaponry. We like to send it for some strange reason through Baghdad, and then they only get a tenth of it. And if we would support them, we'd have a perfect ideal there. We don't need to set this up as we either take a bunch of refugees who will be infiltrated with terrorists, I guarantee you. For them not to be would be terrorist malpractice. And we need to \u2014 to choose the right choice, not these false choices. +p1415 +aVWell, I definitely believe that he is unstable, and I do, in fact, believe that China has a lot more influence with him than we do. But we also recognize that North Korea is in severe financial straits, and they have decided to use their resources to build their military, rather than to feed their people and to take care of the various humanitarian responsibilities that they have. We can capitalize upon that. You know, we should use our economic power in lots of different ways. I think we can use that in order to keep Putin contained, because he is a one-horse show. Energy. And we have an abundance of energy, but we have archaic energy exportation rules. We need to get rid of those, allow ourselves to really make Europe dependent on us and other parts of the world dependent on us for energy. Put him back in his little box where he belongs. And, you know, we need to be doing lots of other things with the resources that we have. So economic power works just as well as military power, perhaps even better. And speaking of that, our Military needs to be upgraded. You know, you look at things like our Ohio Class submarines, they're 25 years old. Our minuteman 3 missiles \u2014 they are 34 years old. Our B-52 bombers \u2014 50 years old. You know, if we don't get the military right nothing else matters. +p1416 +aVWell, you know, the statement that I made last week, that I would leave the party was contingent upon whether in fact the party acts like they have in the past with a lot of subterfuge and dishonesty, or like they're going act now because I spike to Reince Priebus, and he assured me that the Washington Post writer had it all wrong, and that they're not be engaging in anything to thwart the will of the people. That's why I got into this race, as a member of we the people, to try bring some honesty and integrity back to the process. +p1417 +aVI've been fortunate enough to travel to 58 different countries and I thank God everyday that I was born in this country. The most exceptional country that the world has ever known. And I want to make sure that we preserve that exceptionalism for the next generation. My mother told me if I work hard and I really believed in American principles and I believed in God, anything is possible. I believe that is true, and that's why I'm not anxious to give away American values and principles for the sake of political correctness. +p1418 +aVWell, first of all, delighted to be here. My family's here, and my little granddaughter, who's three years old, said she wanted to come to the debate. So this is very cool. As far as the minimum wage is concerned, people need to be educated on the minimum wage. Every time we raise the minimum wage, the number of jobless people increases. It's particularly a problem in the black community. Only 19.8 percent of black teenagers have a job, who are looking for one. You know, that \u2014 and that's because of those high wages. If you lower those wages, that comes down. You know, I can remember, as a youngster \u2014 you know, my first job working in a laboratory as a lab assistant, and multiple other jobs. But I would not have gotten those jobs if someone had to pay me a large amount of money. But what I did gain from those jobs is a tremendous amount of experience, and how to operate in the world and how to relate to different people, and how to become a responsible individual. And that's what gave me what I needed to ascend the ladder of opportunity in this country. That's what we need to be thinking about. How do we allow people to ascend the ladder of opportunity, rather than how do we give them everything and keep them dependent? +p1419 +aVI would not raise it. I would not raise it, specifically because I'm interested in making sure that people are able to enter the job market and take advantage of opportunities. +p1420 +aVWell, first of all, thank you not asking me what I said in the 10th grade. I appreciate that. +p1421 +aVThe fact of the matter is, you know, what \u2014 we should vet all candidates. I have no problem with being vetted. What I do have a problem with is being lied about and then putting that out there as truth. And I don't even mind that so much, if they do it about \u2014 with everybody, like people on the other side. But, you know, when I look at somebody like Hillary Clinton, who sits there and tells her daughter and a government official that no, this was a terrorist attack, and then tells everybody else that it was a video. Where I came from, they call that a lie. And... I think that's very different from, you know, somebody misinterpreting, when I said that I was offered a scholarship to West Point, that is the words that they used. But, I've had many people come and say the same thing to me. That is what people do in those situations. We have to start treating people the same, and finding out what people really think and what they're made of. People who know me know that I'm an honest person. +p1422 +aVWell, you know, when I say tithing, I'm talking about the concept of proportionality. +p1423 +aVEverybody should pay the same proportion of what they make. You make $10 billion, you pay a billion. You make $10, you pay one. You get same rights and privileges. I don't see how anything gets a whole lot fairer than that. But you also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes because that is the thing that tilts it in one direction or another. And you have to set the rate at an appropriate level. Now I will say that, there are a lot of people who say, if you get rid of the deductions, you ruin the American dream because, you know, home mortgage deduction. But the fact of the matter is, people had homes before 1913 when we introduced the federal income tax, and later after that started deductions. And they say there will be no more charitable giving. We had churches before that and charitable organizations before that. The fact of the matter is, I believe if you put more money in people's pockets that they will actually be more generous rather than less generous. And it's... ... the money that they earned. And, the other thing is, I do care about the poor people. And in the system that we're putting together, there will be a rebate for people at the poverty level. But I also want to emphasize the fact that as we get the economy moving, and I hope I get a question about how do we get the economy moving, there will be a lot more opportunities for poor people not to be poor people because this is America. This is the land of dreams. And our policies should be aimed at allowing people to realize that dream. +p1424 +aVWell, putting the special ops people in there is better than not having them there, because they \u2014 that's why they're called special ops, they're actually able to guide some of the other things that we're doing there. And what we have to recognize is that Putin is trying to really spread his influence throughout the Middle East. This is going to be his base. And we have to oppose him there in an effective way. We also must recognize that it's a very complex place. You know, the Chinese are there, as well as the Russians, and you have all kinds of factions there. What we've been doing so far is very ineffective, but we can't give up ground right there. But we have to look at this on a much more global scale. We're talking about global jihadists. And their desire is to destroy us and to destroy our way of life. So we have to be saying, how do we make them look like losers? Because that's the way that they're able to gather a lot of influence. And I think in order to make them look like losers, we have to destroy their caliphate. And you look for the easiest place to do that? It would be in Iraq. And if \u2014 outside of Anbar in Iraq, there's a big energy field. Take that from them. Take all of that land from them. We could do that, I believe, fairly easily, I've learned from talking to several generals, and then you move on from there. But you have to continue to face them, because our goal is not to contain them, but to destroy them before they destroy us. +p1425 +aVWell, I think we should have policies that don't allow them to just enlarge themselves at the expense of smaller entities. And certainly some of the policies, some of the monetary and Fed policies that we're using makes it very easy for them, makes it very easy for the big corporations, quite frankly, at these very low interest rates to buy back their stock and to drive the price of that up artificially. Those are the kinds of things that led to the problem in the first place. And I think this all really gets back to this whole regulation issue which is creating a very abnormal situation. This country was \u2014 declared its independence in 1776. In less than 100 years, it was the number-one economic power in the world. And the reason was because we had an atmosphere that encouraged entrepreneurial risk- taking and capital investment. Those are the fuels that drive it. And what we've done now is let the creep of regulation turn into a stampede of regulations, which is involved in every aspect of our lives. If we can get that out, it makes a big difference. And even for the average person, every single regulation costs money. And it's shifted to the individual. So \u2014 and it hurts the poor and the middle class much more than it does the rich. They go into the store and they buy a bar of soap, it costs 10 cents more, they notice it. And the middle class, when they come to the cash register, have a whole cart full of things that cost 5, 10 or 15 cents more, they notice it. It is hurting the poor. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton won't tell you that that's the thing that's really hurting middle class in the core. They'll say it's the rich, take their money, but that won't help. You can take all of the rich's money and it won't make a dent in the problem that we're having. We have to come back to the fundamental principles that made America great. +p1426 +aVI would have policies that wouldn't allow that to occur. I don't want to go in and tear anybody down. I mean, that doesn't help us. But what does help us is stop tinkering around the edges and fix the actual problems that exist that are creating the problem in the first place. +p1427 +aVIn the two hours of this \u2014 of this debate, five people have died from drug-related deaths, $100 million has been added to our national debt, 200 babies have been killed by abortionists, and two veterans have taken their lives out of despair. This is a narrative that we can change, not we the Democrats, not we the Republicans, but we the people of America, because there is something special about this nation, and we must embrace it and be proud of it and never give it away for the sake of political correctness. +p1428 +aVProbably in terms of the applying for the job of president, a weakness would be not really seeing myself in that position until hundreds of thousands of people began to tell me that I needed to do it. I do, however, believe in Reagan's 11th commandment, and will not be engaging in awful things about my compatriots here. And recognizing that it's so important, this election, because we're talking about America for the people versus America for the government. +p1429 +aVWell, first of all, I didn't say that the rate would be 10 percent. I used the tithing analogy. +p1430 +aVThe rate \u2014 the rate \u2014 the rate is gonna be much closer to 15 percent. +p1431 +aVYou also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes. You also have to some strategically cutting in several places. Remember, we have 645 federal agencies and sub-agencies. Anybody who tells me that we need every penny and every one of those is in a fantasy world. So, also, we can stimulate the economy. That's gonna be the real growth engine. Stimulating the economy \u2014 because it's tethered down right now with so many regulations... +p1432 +aVThat's not true. +p1433 +aVWhen \u2014 when we put all the facts down, you'll be able to see that it's not true, it works out very well. +p1434 +aVSince I was attacked too. +p1435 +aVLet me just say, if you're talking about an $18 trillion economy, you're talking about a 15 percent tax on your gross domestic product. You're talking about $2.7 trillion. We have a budget closer to $3.5 trillion. But if you also apply that same 15 percent to several other things, including corporate taxes, and including the capital gains taxes, you make that amount up pretty quickly. So that is not by any stretch a pie in the sky. +p1436 +aVWell, there is no question that some people go overboard when it comes to trying to make profits, and they don't take into consideration the American people. What we have to start thinking about, as leaders, particularly in government, is what can we do for the average American? And you think about the reasons that we're having such difficulty right now with our job market. Well, the average small manufacturer, whatever they're manufacturing, drugs or anything, if they have less than 50 employees, the average cost in terms of regulations is $34,000 per employee. Makes it a whole lot easier for them to want to go somewhere else. So what we're going to have to start doing instead of, you know, picking on this group or this group, is we're going to have to have a major reduction in the regulatory influence that is going on. The government is not supposed to be in every part of our lives, and that is what is causing the problem. +p1437 +aVWell, obviously, you don't understand my views on homosexuality. I believe that our Constitution protects everybody, regardless of their sexual orientation or any other aspect. I also believe that marriage is between one man and one woman. And there is no reason that you can't be perfectly fair to the gay community. They shouldn't automatically assume that because you believe that marriage is between one man and one woman that you are a homophobe. And this is one of the myths that the left perpetrates on our society, and this is how they frighten people and get people to shut up. You know, that's what the PC culture is all about, and it's destroying this nation. The fact of the matter is we the American people are not each other's enemies, it's those people who are trying to divide us who are the enemies. And we need to make that very clear to everybody. +p1438 +aVWell, that's easy to answer. I didn't have an involvement with them. That is total propaganda, and this is what happens in our society. Total propaganda. I did a couple of speeches for them, I do speeches for other people. They were paid speeches. It is absolutely absurd to say that I had any kind of a relationship with them. Do I take the product? Yes. I think it's a good product. +p1439 +aVIf somebody put me on their homepage, they did it without my permission. +p1440 +aVNo, it speaks to the fact that I don't know those \u2014 See? They know. +p1441 +aVWell, first of all, I was wrong about taking the oil subsidy. I have studied that issue in great detail. And what I have concluded is that the best policy is to get rid of all government subsidies, and get the government out of our lives, and let people rise and fall based on how good they are. And \u2014 you know, all of this too big to fail stuff and picking and choosing winners and losers \u2014 this is a bunch of crap, and it is really causing a great deal of \u2014 great deal of problems for our society right now. And \u2014 and \u2014 you know, it goes back to the whole concept of regulations, which are in everything. The reason that I \u2014 I hate them so much is because every single regulation costs in terms of goods and services. That cost gets passed on to the people. Now, who are the people who are hurt by that? It's poor people and middle class. Doesn't hurt rich people if their bar of soap goes up ten cents, but it hurts the poor and the middle class. And Bernie Sanders will tell them that it's because of the rich. Well, I'll tell you something: you can take everything from the top 1 percent, and you apply it to our fiscal gap, and you won't even make a dent in it. +p1442 +aVAbout Medicare? +p1443 +aVWell, first of all the \u2014 the plan gives people the option of \u2014 of opting out. But I think they will see a very good option here. You know, the annual Medicare budget is over $600 billion. And there are 48 million people involved \u2014 40 million, 65 and over, and 8 million other. Divide that out. That comes out to $12,500 for each one. Now, I can tell you there are a lot of private-sector things that you could do with $12,500, which will get you a lot more than you get from this government program. And that's really a theme of a lot of the things that I'm talking about. How do we utilize our intellect rather than allowing the government to use its, quote, "intellect," in order to help us to be able to live healthier and better lives? It was never intended that the government should be in every aspect of our lives. This is a country that is of, for and by the people. +p1444 +aVI just want to thank all my colleagues here for being civil, and not falling for the traps. And, I also just want to thank the audience for being attentive, and noticing the questions, and the noticing the answers. And, this is what I am finding throughout America. People are waking up because it is going to be us who will determine the direction of our country. And, it was made for we the people, we are the ones who decide who we are, and we should never give away the values and principles that made America into a great nation for the sake of political correctness. +p1445 +asVQUINTANILLA +p1446 +(lp1447 +VGood evening, I'm Carl Quintanilla, with my colleagues Becky Quick and John Harwood. We'll be joined tonight by some of +p1448 +aVGovernor? +p1449 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p1450 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Bush. +p1451 +aVSenator Rubio. +p1452 +aVMr. Trump? +p1453 +aVDr. Carson? +p1454 +aVMrs. Fiorina? +p1455 +aVFixed it. +p1456 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1457 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1458 +aVSenator Paul? +p1459 +aVThanks to all the candidates. John? +p1460 +aVHold it. We'll cut it back to you in just a minute. Becky's moving on. +p1461 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor. thank you, Governor. +p1462 +aVMr. Trump, 30 seconds. +p1463 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1464 +aVWe're going to try to move on. +p1465 +aVYou want to bring 70,000 pages to three? +p1466 +aVIs that using really small type? +p1467 +aVIs that using really small type? +p1468 +aVMrs. Fiorina \u2014 +p1469 +aVWe're going to \u2014 +p1470 +aVWe will come around the bend, i promise. This one is for Senator Rubio. You've been a young man in a hurry ever since you won your first election in your 20s. You've had a big accomplishment in the Senate, an immigration bill providing a path to citizenship the conservatives in your party hate, and even you don't support anymore. Now, you're skipping more votes than any senator to run for president. Why not slow down, get a few more things done first or least finish what you start? +p1471 +aVSo when the Sun-Sentinel says Rubio should resign, not rip us off, when they say Floridians sent you to Washington to do a job, when they say you act like you hate your job, do you? +p1472 +aVWell, do you hate your job? +p1473 +aVIs that the standard? +p1474 +aVSenator, thank you. John. +p1475 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1476 +aVSenator Cruz. Congressional Republicans, Democrats and the White House are about to strike a compromise that would raise the debt limit, prevent a government shutdown and calm financial markets that fear of \u2014 another Washington-created crisis is on the way. Does your opposition to it show that you're not the kind of problem-solver American voters want? +p1477 +aV do we get credit ? +p1478 +aVSo, this is a question about , which you have 30 seconds left to answer, should you choose to do so. +p1479 +aVOK. I asked you about the debt limit and I got no answer. +p1480 +aVWe promised we would get to everyone this block. Governor Huckabee, I'm going to give you 60 seconds on this. +p1481 +aV...Governor... +p1482 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1483 +aV...Senator Cruz... +p1484 +aVOK, alright. +p1485 +aVSenator Cruz... +p1486 +aV...Before we go to break, we're clearly not having that beer you mentioned, but I'll give you 30 more seconds... +p1487 +aVOK. +p1488 +aVI'll give you 30 seconds to respond... +p1489 +aVRespond on the debt limit, or an answer to the governor, which ever you choose. +p1490 +aV30 seconds, Governor Huckabee. +p1491 +aVGovernor, thank you. We will take a break. The Republican Presidential debate, live from Boulder, Colorado, coming back after a break on +p1492 +aVMrs. Fiorina, in 2010, while running for Senate in Tech Ridge (ph), California, you called an Internet sales tax a bad idea. Traditional brick and mortar stores obviously disagree. Now that the Internet shopping playing field has matured, what would be a fair plan to even that playing field? +p1493 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p1494 +aVOK. +p1495 +aVThank you very much. +p1496 +aVDr. Carson, we know you as a physician, but we wanted to ask you about your involvement on some corporate boards, including Costco's. Last year, a marketing study called the warehouse retailer the number one gay-friendly brand in America, partly because of its domestic partner benefits. Why would you serve on a company whose policies seem to run counter to your views on homosexuality? +p1497 +aVOne more question. This is a company called Mannatech, a maker of nutritional supplements, with which you had a 10-year relationship. They offered claims that they could cure autism, cancer, they paid $7 million to settle a deceptive marketing lawsuit in Texas, and yet you're involvement continued. Why? +p1498 +aVTo be fair, you were on the homepage of their website with the logo over your shoulder \u2014 +p1499 +aVDoes that not speak to your vetting process or judgment in any way. +p1500 +aVApparently. We will take a break. We'll be back in Boulder in just a minute. +p1501 +aV...We'll come back around. I want to get to governor Kasich. +p1502 +aVGovernor Kasich, let's talk ... +p1503 +aV...about Marijuana, Governor Kasich... +p1504 +aVAlright, but 30 seconds, you made a case. Sure, 30 seconds. +p1505 +aVSenator, thank you. +p1506 +aVOh, no, no, no... +p1507 +aV...Ok... +p1508 +aV...We're going to go to... +p1509 +aVOK. Thank you, Senator. Governor Kasich, let's talk about marijuana. We're broadcasting from Colorado which has seen $150 million in new revenue for the state since legalizing last year. Governor Hickenlooper is not a big fan of legalization, but he's said the people who used to be smoking it are still smoking it, they're just now paying taxes. Given the budget pressures in Ohio, and other states, is this a revenue stream you'd like to have? +p1510 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1511 +aVThank you. We'll be back from Boulder, Colorado in just a moment. +p1512 +aVMr. Trump, you've said you have a special permit to carry a gun in New York. +p1513 +aVAfter the Oregon mass shooting on October 1st, you said, "By the way, it was a gun-free zone. If you had a couple of teachers with guns, you would have been a hell of a lot better off." +p1514 +aVWould you feel more comfortable if your employees brought guns to work? +p1515 +aVAre you carrying one now? +p1516 +aVWe called a few Trump resorts, a few Trump properties that \u2014 that do not allow guns with or without a permit. Would you change those policies? +p1517 +aVOK. All right. Thank you. John? +p1518 +aVGovernor Bush, daily fantasy sports has become a phenomenon in this country, will award billions of dollars in prize money this year. But to play you have to assess your odds, put money at risk, wait for an outcome that's out of your control. Isn't that the definition of gambling, and should the Federal Government treat it as such? +p1519 +aVI had a feeling you were going to brag about that. +p1520 +aVThis is the\u2014 well, we're going to take a break. We want to save time for closing statements after the break. So this is the Republican presidential debate in Boulder, and we'll be right back. +p1521 +aVSenator Rubio... +p1522 +aV...yeah, I just wanted . +p1523 +aVI want to give you 30 seconds here. +p1524 +aVThat concludes tonight's debate. On behalf of my colleagues Becky Quick, John Harwood, Sharon Epperson, Rick Santelli and Jim Cramer, we'd like to our host, the University of Colorado at Boulder, the Republican National Committee, the candidates and, of course, tonight's audience. +p1525 +asVSANTELLI +p1526 +(lp1527 +VSenator Cruz, let's focus on our central bank, the Federal Reserve. You've been a fierce critic of the Fed, arguing for more transparency. Where do you want to take that? Do you want to get Congress involved in monetary policy, or is it time to slap the Fed back and downsize them completely? What are your thoughts? What do you believe? +p1528 +aVSenator Paul, the same question to you. +p1529 +aVThank you, Senator. Dr. Carson, you told The Des Moines Register that you don't like government subsidies, it interferes with the free market. But you've also said that you're in favor of taking oil subsidies and putting them towards ethanol processing. Isn't that just swapping one subsidy for another, Doctor? +p1530 +aVThank you, Doctor. Becky? +p1531 +as. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/downloads/data/script5.pickle b/downloads/data/script5.pickle new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f007a35 --- /dev/null +++ b/downloads/data/script5.pickle @@ -0,0 +1,4509 @@ +(dp0 +VCRAMER +p1 +(lp2 +VDr. Carson, in recent weeks, a number of pharmaceutical companies has been accused of profiteering, for dramatically raising the prices of life-saving drugs. You have spent a lifetime in medicine. Have these companies gone too far? Should the government be involved in controlling some of these price increases? +p3 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Governor Christie, there has been a lot of political rhetoric that some bank executives should have gone to jail for the 2008 financial crisis. But General Motors paid more than $1 billion in fines and settlements for its ignition switch defect. One hundred and twenty- four people died as a result of these faulty switches. No one went to jail. As a former prosecutor, do you believe the people responsible for the switch and the cover-up belong behind bars? +p4 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. +p5 +asVUNKNOWN +p6 +(lp7 +VIf you're not going to have my back, I'm going to have my back. +p8 +aVA couple things here. First of all... +p9 +aVWe have grown \u2014 we have grown... +p10 +aVTrue. It's true. +p11 +aV...let me follow up that... +p12 +aV +p13 +aVOh, great. +p14 +asVIFILL +p15 +(lp16 +VWe want to also extend our warm thanks to Milwaukee Public Radio and Milwaukee Public Television, as well as all of our friends at the PBS member stations across the country tuning in tonight. This is the sixth time the Democrats have met face to face. Each time, we learn more about them and the presidents they say they want to be. You know you're watching \u2014 whether you're a Democrat, a Republican, or neither \u2014 because you believe the outcome of the election is important to you. And we believe that, too. With that, let's welcome the candidates to the stage. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. +p17 +aVWelcome to you both. +p18 +aVWith Iowa and New Hampshire behind us, we are now broadening the conversation to America's heartland and beyond, including here in Wisconsin. Now let's turn to the candidates for their opening statements. The order was decided by coin toss. And, Senator Sanders, you go first. +p19 +aVThank you, Senator Sanders. Thank you, Senator Sanders. Secretary Clinton. +p20 +aVFinal thought, Senator. +p21 +aVI'd like to move along. I'd like to move along. Secretary Clinton, you might \u2014 you also have proposed fairly expansive ideas about government. You may remember this pledge from a State of the Union Address at which I believe you were present, in which these words were said: "The era of big government is over." You may remember that. When asked your feelings about the federal government this week, 61 percent of New Hampshire Democrats told exit pollsters that they are angry or at least dissatisfied. Given what you and Senator Sanders are proposing, an expanding government in almost every area of our lives, is it fair for Americans who fear government to fear you? +p22 +aVBut I haven't heard either of you put a price tag on your \u2014 you say... +p23 +aVSenator? +p24 +aVSenator, do you worry at all that you will be the instrument of thwarting history, as Senator Clinton keeps claiming, that she might be the first woman president? +p25 +aVThank you both. We turn now to the first of several questions from our partners at Facebook. They were selected from a curated group of people we've been following of undecided voters. The first comes from Claudia Looze, a 54-year-old woman who works as a program manager at a public affairs cable network in Madison, Wisconsin. And she writes: "Wisconsin is number one in African-American male incarceration, according to a University of Wisconsin study. They found that Wisconsin's incarceration rate for black men, which is at 13 percent, was nearly double the country's rate. What can we do across the nation to address this?" Senator Sanders. +p26 +aVLet me turn this on its head, because when we talk about race in this country, we always talk about African-Americans, people of color. I want to talk about white people, OK? +p27 +aVI know. So many people will be surprised to find out that we are sitting in one of the most racially polarized metropolitan areas in the country. By the middle of this century, the nation is going to be majority nonwhite. Our public schools are already there. If working-class, white Americans are about to be outnumbered, are already underemployed in many cases, and one study found they are dying sooner, don't they have a reason to be resentful, Senator \u2014 Secretary Clinton? +p28 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, I want you to respond to that, but I also want you to \u2014 am I wrong? Is it even right to be describing this as a matter of race? +p29 +aVIf you would allow me now to move on, we've been talking about children. I want to talk about seniors. That takes us to our second Facebook question from Farheen Hakeem, who writes, "My father" \u2014 she's a 40-year-old woman who works for a nonprofit here in Milwaukee. And she writes, "My father gets just $16 in food assistance per month as part of Medicaid's family community program in Milwaukee County for low-income seniors. How will you as president work to ensure low-income seniors get their basic needs met?" Start with you, Senator Sanders. +p30 +aVSenator Sanders, are you saying... +p31 +aVThere's a lot more to come in just a few minutes. Stay with us for more of the PBS NewsHour Democratic Debate. +p32 +aVHow about you, Senator Clinton \u2014 Secretary Clinton? +p33 +aVWe spent the first part of this debate talking about domestic insecurity. The second part, we want to talk about our foreign policy insecurities. And we want to start with a question for you, Secretary Clinton, about America's role in the world. Americans are becoming increasingly worried that attacks abroad are coming home, that they already are, in fact, here. According to exit polls from last week, from earlier this week, more than two-thirds of Democrats in New Hampshire are concerned about sending their children to fight in wars they can't win. They fret that the next attack is just around the corner and we are not ready. Are we? +p34 +aVSenator Sanders... +p35 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p36 +aVLet me move on. You have both mentioned the humanitarian tragedies which have been an outgrowth in part of what has happened in Syria and in Libya. More than a million refugees entered Europe in 2015. Another 76,000 just last month, that is about 2,000 arrivals every day. Nearly 400 people have been lost at sea so far this year, crossing the Mediterranean. And there are reports that 10,000 children are missing. If we are leaders in this world, where should the U.S. be on this? What should the United States be doing, Secretary Clinton? +p37 +aVSenator, if you would like respond to \u2014 you may respond to that but it is time for closing statements and you can use your time for closing statements to do that. +p38 +aVThank you. Thank you Senator Clinton. Thank you, Senator Sanders. We also want to thank our partners at Facebook and our hosts here at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. +p39 +aVI'm going to remain here in Milwaukee tomorrow evening for a special edition of Washington Week here on PBS. +p40 +asVWOODRUFF +p41 +(lp42 +VGood evening, and thank you. We are happy to welcome you to Milwaukee for this Democratic debate. We are especially pleased to thank our partners at Facebook, who have helped us set up a vibrant conversation among voters who are undecided. And tonight you're going to hear some of their questions for the candidates. And you can follow along at home on the PBS NewsHour page on Facebook. We also want to thank our hosts, the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, on whose campus we meet, here in the beautiful Helen Bader Concert Hall. +p43 +aVWelcome, Senator, great to see you. And former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Very good to be here with you. +p44 +aVNow, a word about format. There will be two short breaks, and the rules are simple: 90 seconds for each answer and 30 seconds for the other candidate to respond. +p45 +aVThank you both. Thank you both. And we'll be right back after a short break to begin questions. +p46 +aVAnd, welcome back to this PBS Newshour debate, Democratic debate, here in Milwaukee. Let's get right to the questions. Senator Sanders, to you first. Coming off the results in Iowa and New Hampshire, there are many voters who are taking a closer look at you, and your ideas, and they're asking how big a role do you foresee for the federal government? It's already spending 21% of the entire U.S. economy. How much larger would government be in the lives of Americans under a Sanders presidency? +p47 +aVBut, my question is how big would government be? Would there be any limit on the size of the role of government... +p48 +aVNext, we're going to... +p49 +aVVery brief, thank you. +p50 +aVSecretary Clinton, your campaign \u2014 you and your campaign have made a clear appeal to women voters. You have talked repeatedly about the fact, we know you would be, if elected, the first woman president. But in New Hampshire 55 percent of the women voters supported and voted for Senator Sanders. What are women missing about you? +p51 +aVAs you know, just quickly, as you know, your strong supporter, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, said the other day that there's a special place in Hell for women who don't support other women. Do you agree with what she said? +p52 +aVSenator Sanders, you're in the minority, but we still want to hear from you. +p53 +aVFinal comment. +p54 +aVSecretary Clinton, I was talking recently with a 23 year old black woman who voted for President Obama because she said she thought relations between the races would get better under his leadership, and his example. Hardly anyone believes that they have. Why do you think race relations would be better under a Clinton presidency? What would you do that the nation's first African American has not been able to? +p55 +aVSenator Sanders? +p56 +aVSo race relation was be better under a Sanders presidency than they've been? +p57 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders, one of the causes of anxiety for working class Americans is connected to immigrants. President Obama, as you know, has issued executive actions to permit some 5 million undocumented immigrants who are living now in the United States to come out of the shadows without fear of deportation to get work permits. Would you go further than that? And if so, how specifically would you do it? Should an undocumented family watching this debate tonight, say, in Nevada, rest easy, not fear of further deportations under a Sanders presidency? +p58 +aVI'd like... +p59 +aVWe're going to move on. Secretary Clinton, your campaign has recently ramped up criticism of Senator Sanders for attending Democratic Party fundraisers from which you say he benefited. But nearly half of your financial sector donations appear to come from just two wealthy financiers, George Soros and Donald Sussman, for a total of about $10 million. You have said that there's no quid pro quo involved. Is that also true of the donations that wealthy Republicans give to Republican candidates, contributors including the Koch Brothers? +p60 +aVI'm asking if Democratic donors are different than Republican donors. +p61 +aVWe have to go to a break. We... +p62 +aVAll right. Thank you both. It is time for a break. And when we come back, we're going to turn to some new topics, including how these candidates will keep America safe. +p63 +aVWelcome back to the Democratic presidential debate. Before we return to our questions, we have a follow-up question from our Facebook group. And it is to Senator Sanders. Senator, it comes from Bill Corfield. He is a 55-year-old musician from Troy, Ohio. And he asks: "Are there any areas of government you would like to reduce?" +p64 +aVJust a final word. +p65 +aVSenator, let me \u2014 let me move on to another country with which the U.S. has a complicated relationship, Senator Sanders, and that's Russia. On the one hand, we're aware that Russia is a country that the United States needs to cooperate with. Just tonight, Secretary of State John Kerry has announced what appears to be an agreement with the Russians to lead \u2014 that could lead toward a ceasefire in Syria, would be the first cessation of conflict in that country, in that civil war in five years, but it comes at a very high price, because not only have all \u2014 have we seen the deaths, the removal of so many people, millions of people, we now see the Russians in the last few weeks have bombed in a way that benefits President Assad, has not gone after +p66 +aVAnd we have a final question from our Facebook family. And it goes to Senator Sanders. It comes from Robert Andrews. He's a 40-year-old stay-at-home dad in Dover, Massachusetts. He says, "The world has seen many great leaders in the course of human history. Can you name two leaders \u2014 one American and one foreign \u2014 who would influence your foreign policy decisions? And why do you see them as \u2014 why are they influential?" +p67 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p68 +aVAnd we want to thank our audience, our quiet audience here in Helen Bader Concert Hall, and to all of you watching at home. Thank you all. Stay tuned for analysis of the debate and the overall race for the Democratic nomination. That's coming up next here on PBS stations and online atPBS.org/NewsHour. +p69 +aVAnd I'm going to be returning to Washington. I hope you'll join us for the PBS NewsHour tomorrow and every night. That's it from all of us here in Milwaukee. We thank you. +p70 +asVRUBIO +p71 +(lp72 +VThank you Wolf. It's really amazing to be back in Las Vegas. I spent six years as a child growing not far from where we stand tonight. I use to sit on the porch of our home and listen to my grandfather tell stories as he smoked one of three daily cigars. One of the things my grandfather instilled in me, was that I was really blessed because I was a citizen of the greatest country in the history of our mankind. But there have always been people in American politics that wanted America to be more like the rest of the world. And In 2008, one of them was elected president of this country and the result has been a disaster. Today you have millions of Americans that feel left out and out of place in their own country, struggling to live paycheck to paycheck, called bigots because they hold on to traditional values. And around the world, America's influence has declined while this president has destroyed our military, our allies no longer trust us, and our adversaries no longer respect us. And that is why this election is so important. That is why I'm running for president. And that's why I'm going to ask you for your vote tonight. If you elect me president, we will have a president that believes America is the greatest country in the world and we will have a president that acts like it. +p73 +aVWell, I understand why they feel that way, because this president hasn't kept us safe. The problem is we had an attack in San Bernardino. And we were paying attention to the most important issue we have faced in a decade since 9/11, and then all the talk was about this proposal, which isn't going to happen. But this is what's important to do is we must deal frontally with this threat of radical Islamists, especially from +p74 +aVHe is and so are those that voted for it. There were some that voted for it because they wanted to keep it alive and they were afraid the whole program would expire. Here's the world we live in. This is a radical jihadist group that is increasingly sophisticated in its ability, for example, to radicalize American citizens, in its inability to exploit loopholes in our legal immigration system, in its ability to capture and hold territory in the Middle East, as I outlined earlier, in multiple countries. This is not just the most capable, it is the most sophisticated terror threat we have ever faced. We are now at a time when we need more tools, not less tools. And that took we lost, the metadata program, was a valuable tool that we no longer have at our disposal. +p75 +aVDana, may I interject here? +p76 +aVLet me be very careful when answering this, because I don't think national television in front of 15 million people is the place to discuss classified information. So let me just be very clear. There is nothing that we are allowed to do under this bill that we could not do before. This bill did, however, take away a valuable tool that allowed the National Security Agency and other law \u2014 and other intelligence agencies to quickly and rapidly access phone records and match them up with other phone records to see who terrorists have been calling. Because I promise you, the next time there is attack on \u2014 an attack on this country, the first thing people are going to want to know is, why didn't we know about it and why didn't we stop it? And the answer better not be because we didn't have access to records or information that would have allowed us to identify these killers before they attacked. +p77 +aVI want to thank Rand for another 30 seconds, because, number one, what he's pointing to is a bill last week that \u2014 amendment that he voted for that only 10 people voted for. You know why? Because it's not focused on terrorists. It would have banned anyone from coming here. Someone from Taiwan would not have been able to come here as a tourist. Number two, this program, this metadata program is actually more strict than what a regular law enforcement agency has now. If a regular law enforcement agency wants your phone records, all they have to do is issue a subpoena. But now the intelligence agency is not able to quickly gather records and look at them to see who these terrorists are calling. And the terrorists that attacked us in San Bernardino was an American citizen, born and raised in this country. And I bet you we wish we would have had access to five years of his records so we could see who he was working with... +p78 +aVDo I get another 30 seconds? He mentioned me. +p79 +aVWell, let me begin by saying that we have to understand who +p80 +aVThat is accurate. Three times he voted against the Defense Authorization Act, which is a bill that funds the troops. It also, by the way, funds the Iron Dome and other important programs. And I have to assume that if you vote against it in the Senate, you would also veto it as president. He has also supported, by the way, a budget that is called the containment budget. And it is a budget that would radically reduce the amount of money we spend on our military. You can't carpet bomb +p81 +aVYes, let me \u2014 three points of distinction. The first is, if you're an American citizen and you decide to join up with +p82 +aVWell, they most certainly will have to be worked on to provide more than what they are doing now. There's no doubt about it. And there's one \u2014 one major reason why they have not been willing to be a broader part of the coalition, and that is they have lost complete trust and confidence in this president. This president cut a deal with their moral enemy, the Shia, in Iran. And this is the reason why they no longer trust this president and are willing to work alongside them. But they have as much invested in this as we do. In fact, more so, for it is the king of Saudi Arabia they want to behead first. It's the king of Jordan that they want to dethrone. It's the \u2014 they want to go into Egypt the way they've already gone into Libya. And on another point that we need to talk about, Assad is one of the main reasons why +p83 +aVTo begin with, Moammar Gadhafi and the revolt against Gadhafi was not started by the United States. It was started by the Libyan people. And the reason why I argued we needed to get involved is because he was going to go one way or the other. And my argument then was proven true, and that is, the longer that civil war took, the more militias would be formed and the more unstable the country would be after the fact. As far as Moammar Gadhafi is concerned, by the way, Moammar Gadhafi is the man that killed those Americans over Lockerbie, Scotland. Moammar Gadhafi is also the man that bombed that cafe in Berlin and killed those Marines. And you want to know why Moammar Gadhafi started cooperating on his nuclear program? Because we got rid of Saddam Hussein. And so he got scared that he would be next, and that's why he started cooperating. Look, we will have to work around the world with less than ideal governments. The government in Saudi Arabia is not a democracy, but we will have to work with them. The government in Jordan is not perfect, but we will have to work with them. But anti-American dictators like Assad, who help Hezbollah, who helped get those IEDs into Iraq, if they go, I will not shed a tear. +p84 +aVYeah. Immigration is not an issue that I read about in the newspaper or watch a documentary on PBS or CNN. It's an issues I've lived around my whole life. My family are immigrants. My wife's family are immigrants. All of my neighbors are immigrants. I see every aspect of this problem. The good, the bad, and the ugly. And here's what we learned in 2013. The American people don't trust the Federal Government to enforce our immigration laws, and we will not be able to do anything on immigration until we first prove to the American people that illegal immigration is under control. And we can do that. We know what it takes to do that. It takes at least 20,000 more additional border agents. It takes completing those 700 miles of fencing. It takes a mandatory e-verify system and a mandatory entry/exit tracking system to prevent overstays. After we have done that, the second thing we have to do is reform and modernize the legal immigration system. And after we have done those two things, I think the American people are gonna be reasonable with what do you do with someone who has been in this country for 10 or 12 years who hasn't otherwise violated our laws \u2014 because if they're a criminal they can't stay. They'll have to undergo a background check, pay a fine, start paying taxes. And ultimately, they'll given a work permit and that's all they're gonna be allowed to have for at least 10 years. But you can't get to that third step until you have done the other two things, and that was the lesson we learned in 2013. There is no trust that the Federal Government will enforce the law. They will not support you until you see it done first. +p85 +aVBut I've answered that question repeatedly. I am personally open \u2014 after all that has happened and after ten years in that probationary status where all they have is a permit, I personally am open to allowing people to apply for a green card. That may not be a majority position in my party, but that's down the road. You can't even begin that process until you prove to people \u2014 not just pass a law that says you're gonna bring illegal immigration under control. You're gonna have to do it and prove to people that it's working. And that was the lesson of 2013. And it's more true today, than it was then. After a migratory crisis on the border with minors coming over that you're seeing start up again now, after all these executive orders the President has issued. More than ever we need to... +p86 +aV... prove to people that illegal immigration is under control. +p87 +aVYeah, a couple points. In 2013 we had never faced a crisis like the Syrian refugee crisis now. Up until that point, a refugee meant someone fleeing oppression, fleeing Communism like it is in my community. As far as Ted's record, I'm always puzzled by his attack on this issue. Ted, you support legalizing people who are in this country illegally. Ted Cruz supported a 500-percent increase in the number of H-1 visas, the guest workers that are allowed into this country, and Ted supports doubling the number of green cards. So I think what's important for us to understand and there is a way forward on this issue that we an bring our country together on. And while I'm president I will do it. And it will begin by bringing illegal immigration under control and proving to the American people. +p88 +aVNo, no, give him time. +p89 +aVTed, do you... +p90 +aVDid Ted Cruz fight to support legalizing people that are in this country illegally? +p91 +aVDoes Ted Cruz rule out ever legalizing people that are in this country now? +p92 +aVWould you rule it out? +p93 +aVWell, he's just admitted \u2014 as he's just admitted, the reason why those refugees were allowed in was because they messed up in how they used the actual database. They should have know. They didn't because they didn't run the actual law as it exists now. It didn't work well. As far as the refugees are concerned, it's not that America doesn't want to accept refugees, Wolf. It's that we may not be able to, because this is an issue we have to be 100 percent right on. If we allow 9,999 Syrian refugees into the United States, and all of them are good people, but we allow one person in who's an +p94 +aVI do. First, let's explain to people at home who the triad \u2014 what the triad is. Maybe a lot of people haven't heard that terminology before. The triad is our ability of the United States to conduct nuclear attacks using airplanes, using missiles launched from silos or from the ground, and also from our nuclear subs' ability to attack. And it's important \u2014 all three of them are critical. It gives us the ability at deterrence. Now, some have become more critical than others; for example, the submarines. And that's the Ohio Class submarine that needs to be modernized. The air component also needs to be modernized. The B-52, as someone earlier pointed out, is an outdated model that was flown by the grandparents of people that are flying it now. And we need a serious modernization program as well on our silo-launched missiles. All three are critical for the defense of the country. +p95 +aVThank you. As we near the end of this year, we enter one of the most important elections in a generation. For what's at stake in this election is not simply what party's going to be in charge. But our very identity as a people and as a nation. For over 200 years this has been a special country. A unique place where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything. But now millions of Americans feel like they're being left behind. Insecure in their future and unsafe in the face of terrorism. This election is about electing a president that will restore our economic vibrancy so that the American dream can expand to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And rebuild our Military and our intelligence programs so that we can remain the strongest nation on earth. Tonight I ask you for your vote. If you do this, we will rebuild this country, and together we will usher in a new American century \u2014 the greatest era in the history of this great land. +p96 +aVWell, let me begin by answering both the first question and this one, because they're related. As I've said many times before, my parents were never rich people. My father was a bartender. My mother was a maid. They worked for a living. But they were successful people, because, despite the fact that they weren't well educated and had those jobs, they made enough money to buy a home in a safe and stable neighborhood, retire with dignity, leave all four of their children better off than themselves. We call that the American dream, but in fact, it's a universal dream of a better life that people have all over the world. It is a reminder that every country in the world has rich people. What makes America special is that we have millions and millions of people that are not rich, that through hard work and perseverance are able to be successful. The problem is that today people are not successful working as hard as ever because the economy is not providing jobs that pay enough. If I thought that raising the minimum wage was the best way to help people increase their pay, I would be all for it, but it isn't. In the 20th century, it's a disaster. If you raise the minimum wage, you're going to make people more expensive than a machine. And that means all this automation that's replacing jobs and people right now is only going to be accelerated. Here's the best way to raise wages. Make America the best place in the world to start a business or expand an existing business, tax reform and regulatory reform, bring our debt under control, fully utilize our energy resources so we can reinvigorate manufacturing, repeal and replace Obamacare, and make higher education faster and easier to access, especially vocational training. For the life of me, I don't know why we have stigmatized vocational education. Welders make more money than philosophers. We need more welders and less philosophers. If we do that \u2014 and if we do this \u2014 if we do this, we will be able to increase wages for millions of Americans and we will be able to leave everyone better off without making anyone worse off. +p97 +aVWell, you know, that's an excellent question, because what we are going through in this country is not simply an economic downturn. We are living through a massive economic transformation. I mean, this economy is nothing like what it was like five years ago, not to mention 15 or 20 years ago. And it isn't just a different economy. It's changing faster than ever. You know, it took the telephone 75 years to reach 100 million users. It took Candy Crush one year to reach some 100 million users. So the world is changing faster than ever, and it is disruptive. Number one, we are in a global competition now, and several of the candidates have said that. There are now dozens of developed economies on this planet that we have to compete with. And we lose that competition because we have the highest business tax rate in the industrialized world, because we have regulations that continue to grow by the billions every single week, because we have a crazy health care law that discourages companies from hiring people, but because we're not fully utilizing our energy resources, that if we did, it would bring back all kinds of growth, especially in manufacturing, and because we have an outdated higher education system. Our higher education system is completely outdated. It is too expensive, too hard to access, and it doesn't teach 21st century skills. If we do what needs to be done \u2014 tax reform, regulatory reform, fully utilize our energy resources, repeal and replace Obamacare, and modernize higher education, then we can grasp the potential and the promise of this new economy. And we won't just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And then truly this new century can be a new American century. +p98 +aVThe most important job I'm ever going to have, the most important job anyone in this room will ever have, is the job of being a parent. Not the job of being president, or the job of being a senator, or the job of being a congressman. The most important job any of us will ever do is the job of being a president (sic), because the most important institution in society is the family. If the family breaks down, society breaks down. You can't have a strong nation without strong values, and no one is born with strong values. They have to be taught to you in strong families and reinforced in you in strong communities. And so when we set out to do tax reform, we endeavor to have a pro-family tax code, and we endeavor to do it because we know how difficult it is for families in the 21st century to afford the cost of living. It is expensive to raise children in the 21st century, and families that are raising children are raising the future taxpayers of the United States, and everything costs more. In 35 out of 50 states, child care costs more than college. There are millions of people watching this broadcast tonight that understand exactly what I'm talking about. They don't know how they're going to make that payment every month, and if they can't make it, they can't work, because someone needs to watch their kids during the day. They don't know how they're going to save for their kids' future, to go to college. And so, yes, I have a child tax credit increase, and I'm proud of it. I am proud that I have a pro-family tax code, because the pro- family tax plan I have will strengthen the most important institution in the \u2014 in the country, the family. +p99 +aVNow I get my 60 seconds to respond. He's talking about my tax plan. +p100 +aVSo let me begin with this. I actually believe \u2014 first of all, this is their money. They do pay. It is refundable, not just against the taxes they pay to the government, but also the \u2014 on their federal income tax, it's refundable against the payroll tax. Everyone pays payroll tax. This is their money. This is not our money. And here's what I don't understand \u2014 if you invest that money in a piece of equipment, if you invest that money in a business, you get to write it off your taxes. But if you invest it in your children, in the future of America and strengthening your family, we're not going to recognize that in our tax code? The family is the most important institution in society. And, yes... +p101 +aV... I do want to rebuild the American military. +p102 +aVI know that Rand is a committed isolationist. I'm not. I believe the world is a stronger and a better place, when the United States is the strongest military power in the world. +p103 +aVBecause... +p104 +aV...are you talking about the military, Rand? +p105 +aVWe can't even have an economy if we're not safe. There are radical jihadist in the Middle East beheading people and crucifying Christians. A radical Shia cleric in Iran trying to get a nuclear weapon, the Chinese taking over the South China Sea... ...Yes, I believe the world is a safer \u2014 no, no, I don't believe, I know that the world is a safer place when America is the strongest military power in the world. +p106 +aVYou know, if I may respond... +p107 +aVI need to add a couple of points to this. The first is, I've never met Vladimir Putin, but I know enough about him to know he is a gangster. He is basically an organized crime figure that runs a country, controls a $2 trillion economy. And is using to build up his military in a rapid way despite the fact his economy is a disaster. He understands only geopolitical strength. And every time he has acted anywhere in the world, whether it's in Ukraine or Georgia before that, or now in the Middle East, it's because he is trusting in weakness. His calculation in the Middle East is that he has seen what this president has done, which is nothing, the president has no strategy, our allies in the region do not trust us. For goodness sake, there is only one pro-American free enterprise democracy in the Middle East, it is the state of Israel. And we have a president that treats the prime minister of Israel with less respect than what he gives the ayatollah in Iran. And so our allies in the region don't trust us. Vladimir Putin is exploiting that weakness, for purposes of edging the Americans out as the most important geopolitical power broker in the region. And we do have a vested interest. And here's why. Because all those radical terrorist groups that, by the way, are not just in Syria and in Iraq, +p108 +aVCan I just add what \u2014 he's right on point there. Do you know why these banks are so big? The government made them big. The government made them big by adding thousands and thousands of pages of regulations. So the big banks, they have an army of lawyers, they have an army of compliance officers. They can deal with all these things. The small banks, like Governor Bush was saying, they can't deal with all these regulations. They can't deal with all \u2014 they cannot hire the fanciest law firm in Washington or the best lobbying firm to deal with all these regulations. And so the result is, the big banks get bigger, the small banks struggle to lend or even exist, and the result is what you have today. And in Dodd-Frank, you have actually codified too big to fail. We have actually created a category of systemically important institutions, and these banks go around bragging about it. You know what they say to people with a wink and a nod? We are so big, we are so important that if we get in trouble, the government has to bail us out. This is an outrage. We need to repeal Dodd-Frank as soon as possible. +p109 +aVWell, that's a great question, and let me begin by answering it. This election is about the future, about what kind of country this nation is gonna be in the 21st century. This next (ph) election is actually a generational choice. A choice about what kind of nation we will be in the 21st century. For over 2.5 centuries, America's been a special country, the one place on earth where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything, a nation that's been a force for good on this planet. But now, a growing number of Americans feel out of place in their own country. We have a society that stigmatizes those that hold cultural values that are traditional. We have a society where people \u2014 millions of people \u2014 are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, but they're living paycheck to paycheck because the economy has changed underneath their feet. We have young Americans who owe thousands of dollars in student loans for a degree that doesn't lead to a job. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses dying than starting, and around the world, every day brings news of a new humiliation for America \u2014 many the direct response \u2014 direct consequence of decisions made when Hillary Clinton was the secretary of the \u2014 of state. And so here's the truth: this election is about the future, and the Democratic Party, and the political left has no ideas about the future. All their ideas are the same, tired ideas of the past. More government, more spending. For every issue for America, their answer is a new tax on someone, and a new government program. This nation is going to turn the page, and that's what this election should be about, and, as I said at the first debate... ...If I am our nominee, they will be the party of the past, we will be the party of the 21st century. +p110 +aVOurs \u2014 the story of America is an extraordinary story. It is the story of a nation that for over two centuries each generation has left the next better off than themselves. But now, because Washington is out of touch, for the fault of both political parties, for the first time in our history, that is in doubt. And that is what this election must be about, because if the next four years are anything like the last eight years, our children will be the first Americans ever left worse off by their parents. This election is about making a different choice, about applying our principles of limited government and free enterprise to the unique issues of our time. And if we do, we will not just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And the 21st century can be a new American century. So tonight, I ask you for your vote and I ask you to join us at my website, marcorubio.com. +p111 +aVThank you for that question. I would begin by saying that I'm not sure it's a weakness, but I do believe that I share a sense of optimism for America's future that, today, is eroding from too many of our people. I think there's a sense in this country today that somehow our best days are behind us. And that doesn't have to be true. Our greatest days lie ahead if we are willing to do what it takes now. If we're willing to do what it takes now, the 21st century is going to be the new American century, greater than any other era we've had in the history of this great nation. +p112 +aVThat's an interesting question. That's exactly what the Republican establishment says too. Why don't you wait in line? Wait for what? This country is running out of time. We can't afford to have another four years like the last eight years. Watching this broadcast tonight are millions of people that are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, everything costs more, and they haven't had a raise in decades. You have small businesses in America that are struggling. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses closing than starting. We have a world that's out of control and has grown dangerous and a president that is weakening our military and making our foreign policy unstable and unreliable in the eyes of our allies. And our adversaries continue to grow stronger. We have a \u2014 they say there's no bipartisanship in Washington? We have a $19 trillion bipartisan debt and it continues to grow as we borrow money from countries that do not like us to pay for government we cannot afford. The time to act is now. The time to turn the page is now. If we \u2014 if we don't act now, we are going to be the first generation in American history that leaves our children worse off than ourselves. +p113 +aVLet me say, I read that editorial today with a great amusement. It's actually evidence of the bias that exists in the American media today. +p114 +aVLet me \u2014 let me answer your question on the Sun-Sentinel editorial today. Back in 2004, one of my predecessors to the Senate by the name of Bob Graham, a Democrat, ran for president missing over 30 percent of his votes. I don't recall them calling for his resignation \u2014 +p115 +aVLater that year, in 2004, John Kerry ran for president missing close to 60 to 70 percent of his votes. I don't recall the Sun \u2014 in fact, the Sun-Sentinel endorsed him. In 2008, Barack Obama missed 60 or 70 percent of his votes, and the same newspaper endorsed him again. So this is another example of the double standard that exists in this country between the mainstream media and the conservative movement. +p116 +aVI get to respond, right? +p117 +aVWell, it's interesting. Over the last few weeks, I've listened to Jeb as he walked around the country and said that you're modeling your campaign after John McCain, that you're going to launch a furious comeback the way he did, by fighting hard in New Hampshire and places like that, carrying your own bag at the airport. You know how many votes John McCain missed when he was carrying out that furious comeback that you're now modeling after? +p118 +aVNo Jeb, I don't remember \u2014 well, let me tell you. I don't remember you ever complaining about John McCain's vote record. The only reason why you're doing it now is because we're running for the same position, and someone has convinced you that attacking me is going to help you. +p119 +aVHere's the bottom line. I'm not \u2014 my campaign is going to be about the future of America, it's not going to be about attacking anyone else on this stage. I will continue to have tremendous admiration and respect for Governor Bush. I'm not running against Governor Bush, I'm not running against anyone on this stage. I'm running for president because there is no way we can elect Hillary Clinton to continue the policies of Barack Obama. +p120 +aVWell, you just \u2014 you just listed a litany of discredited attacks from Democrats and my political opponents, and I'm not gonna waste 60 seconds detailing them all. But I'm going to tell you the truth. Here's the truth. I didn't inherit any money. My dad was a bartender, my mother was a maid. They worked hard to provide us the chance at a better life. They didn't save enough money for us to go to school. I had to work my way through school. I had to borrow money to go to school. I tried (ph), early in my marriage, explaining to my wife why someone named Sallie Mae was taking $1,000 out of our bank account every month. I know what it's like to owe that money, and we've worked hard. We've worked hard our whole life to provide a better family \u2014 a better life for our family. We own a home four blocks away from the place that I grew up in. My four children have been able to receive a good Christian education, and I've been able to save for them to go to college so they never have to have the loans that I did. But I'm not worried about my finances, I'm worried about the finances of everyday Americans who today are struggling in an economy that is not producing good paying jobs while everything else costs more. And that's what this economy needs to \u2014 that's what this debate needs to be about. This debate needs to be about the men and women across this country that are struggling on a daily basis to provide for their families the better future that we've always said this country is all about. +p121 +aVAnd I used it to pay off my loans. And it's available on paperback, if you're interested in buying my book. +p122 +aVYeah, again, as I said, we're raising a family in the 21st century and it's one of the reasons why my tax plan is a pro- family tax plan. It increases the per child tax credit, because I didn't read about this in a book. I know for a fact how difficult it is to raise children, how expensive it's become for working families. And I make a lot more than the average American. Imagine how hard it is for these people out there that are making 40, 50, $60,000 a year, and they're trying to provide for their families at a time when this economy is not growing. We can't afford another four years of that. Which is what we're gonna get if we elect a big government liberal like Hillary Clinton to the White House. Thank you, senator. +p123 +aVWell, first of all, if a company gets caught doing that, they should never be able to use the program again. If you get caught abusing this program, you should never be able to use it again. The second thing I said is we need to add reforms, not just increase the numbers, but add reforms. For example, before you hire anyone from abroad, you should have to advertise that job for 180 days. You also have to prove that you're going to pay these people more than you would pay someone else, so that you're not undercutting it by bringing in cheap labor. But here's the best solution of all. We need to get back to training people in this country to do the jobs of the 21st century. Why, for the life of me, I do not understand why did we stop doing vocational education in America, people that can work with their hands; people you can train to do this work while they're still in high school so they can graduate ready to go work. But the best way to close this gap is to modernize higher education so Americans have the skills for those jobs. But in the interim, in the absence of that, what's happening is some of these tech companies are taking those \u2014 those centers (ph) to Canada because they can get people to go over there instead of here. But the ideal scenario is to train Americans to do the work so we don't have to rely on people from abroad. +p124 +aVWell, I believe that there are abuses, those companies should be permanently barred from ever using the program again and we should put strict standards in place to ensure that they're not being abused, like the prevailing wage requirement and like the advertising requirement. +p125 +aVSince I've been mentioned, can I respond? +p126 +aVOK. I know the Democrats have the ultimate SuperPac. It's called the mainstream media who every single day... ... and I'll tell you why. Last week, Hillary Clinton went before a committee. She admitted she had sent e-mails to her family saying, "Hey, this attack at Benghazi was caused by Al Qaida-like elements." She spent over a week telling the families of those victims and the American people that it was because of a video. And yet the mainstream media is going around saying it was the greatest week in Hillary Clinton's campaign. It was the week she got exposed as a liar. It was the week that she got exposed as a liar... But she has her super PAC helping her out, the American mainstream media. +p127 +aVNo, that's \u2014 you're wrong. In fact, the largest after- tax gains is for the people at the lower end of the tax spectrum under my plan. And there's a bunch of things my tax plan does to help them. Number one, you have people in this country that... +p128 +aV...you wrote a story on it, and you had to go back and correct it. +p129 +aVYou did. No, you did. +p130 +aVWell, you're talking about \u2014 yeah. +p131 +aVYeah, but that \u2014 because the math is, if you \u2014 5 percent of a million is a lot more than 5 percent of a thousand. So yeah, someone who makes more money... +p132 +aV...numerically, it's gonna be higher. But the greatest gains, percentage-wise, for people, are gonna be at the lower end of our plan, and here's why: because in addition to a general personal exemption, we are increasing the per-child tax credit for working families. We are lowering taxes on small business. You know, a lot of business activity in America is conducted like the guy that does my dry cleaning. He's an S corporation. He pays on his personal rate, and he is paying higher than the big dry-cleaning chain down the street, because he's paying at his personal rate. Under my plan, no business, big or small, will pay more than 25 percent flat rate on their business income. That is a dramatic tax decrease for hard-working people who run their own businesses. +p133 +aV...The other thing I'd like to make about our plan, one more point, it is the most pro growth tax plan that I can imagine because it doesn't tax investments at all. You know why? Because the more you tax something, the less of it you get. I want to be in \u2014 I want America to be the best... +p134 +aV...in the world for people... +p135 +aVI was mentioned in the question. +p136 +aVThank you. Well, I've learned the rules on this. Look, in addition to what Donald was saying is we also need to talk about the legal immigration system for permanent residents. Today, we have a legal immigration system for permanent residency that is largely based on whether or not you have a relative living here. And that's the way my parents came legally in 1956. But in 2015, we have a very different economy. Our legal immigration system from now on has to be merit-based. It has to be based on what skills you have, what you can contribute economically, and most important of all, on whether or not you're coming here to become an American, not just live in America, but be an American. +p137 +aVNo. No. What I said was that I think that Dr. Carson's ideas are good ideas. They're not my ideas, and I don't necessarily agree with all of them. But this is what you're seeing in the Republican debate that you didn't see in that Democrat debate. You didn't see it for a minute. You didn't see these kind of ideas being batted around, and being batted around in a way that's civil and smart and that's trying to help to inform the voter out there. What you saw was a parade of, "I'll give you this for free; I'll give you that for free." Let me tell you, everybody, when they say they want to give it to you for free, keep your hands on your wallets because they're coming to you to pay for it. And that's why I think these ideas up here are great, and that's what we should have is have more discussions like this and less gotcha. +p138 +aVI want to take off from that point and argue the same thing. And that is that one of the things you're watching tonight are 11 quality candidates debating an important issue. The Republican Party is blessed to have 11 good candidates, 10 good candidates. The Democrats can't even come up with one. And on this issue of the Medicare in particular, it's important because they're going to demagogue what we're saying here tonight. Everyone up here tonight that's talking about reforms, I think and I know for myself I speak to this, we're all talking about reforms for future generations. Nothing has to change for current beneficiaries. My mother is on Medicare and Social Security. I'm against anything that's bad for my mother. So, we're talking about \u2014 we're talking about reform for people like me and people like Senator Cruz, as he talked about earlier, who are years away from retirement that have a way to plan for these changes, and way that's very reasonable. And it's not too much to ask of our generation after everything our parents and our grandparents did for us. +p139 +aVYou know, America doesn't owe me anything. I have a debt to America I'll never repay. This isn't just the country I was born in, this is the nation that literally changed the history of my family. My parents in this country were able to give me the chance to do all the things they never did. We call that the American Dream, although, it's built on the universal dream of a better life. The fact that it's happened for so many people here throughout our history, that's what makes us special. But, now for millions of Americans, it's slipping away. And, we have a government and leaders in government that are completely out of touch, and that's why I'm running for president. Because we can't just save the American Dream, we can expand it to reach more people, and change more lives than ever before. And, that's why tonight I'm asking you for your vote. +p140 +aVThank you. My name is Marco Rubio. I'm from Florida. My wife Jeanette and I are the proud \u2014 we've been married 17 years, and we're the proud parents of four children, two of whom were able to join us here this evening. I'm honored to be here at the Reagan Library, at a place that honors the legacy of a man who inspired not just my interest in public service, but also our love for country. And I'm also aware that California has a drought, and so that's why I made sure I brought my own water. +p141 +aVWell, first of all, I have an understanding of exactly what it is Russia and Putin are doing, and it's pretty straightforward. He wants to reposition Russia, once again, as a geopolitical force. He himself said that the destruction of the Soviet Union \u2014 the fall of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century, and now he's trying to reverse that. He's trying to destroy +p142 +aVLet me tell you \u2014 I will tell you we have zero responsibility, because let's remember what the president said. He said the attack he would conduct would be a pinprick. Well, the United States military was not build to conduct pinprick attacks. If the United States military is going to be engaged by a commander-in-chief, it should only be engaged in an endeavor to win. And we're not going to authorize use of force if you're not put in a position where they can win. And quite frankly, people don't trust this president as commander-in-chief because of that. +p143 +aVHold on, a second, Jake, he asked me, as well. I'd like to actually... +p144 +aV... respond. I think I'm the first senator. The No. 1 test for use of military force should be the vital national security interest of the United States. The reason why I opposed President Obama bombing Syria, is because he couldn't answer the question what do you do if chemical weapons end up in the hands of radical Islamic terrorists like al-Nusra, like Al Qaida, like +p145 +aVIn the middle of negotiating this treaty, Khamenei led the assembled masses in chanting, death to America. I'm reminded of a great editorial cartoon. It shows the Ayatollah Khamenei saying, "Death to all Americans," and then it shows John Kerry coming back, saying, "Can we meet ya half way?" We need a commander-in-chief who will stand up and protect this country. And I'll tell you, I can't wait to stand on that debate stage with Hillary Clinton and to make abundantly clear if you vote for Hillary, you are voting for the Ayatollah Khomeini to possess a nuclear weapon and if you elect me as president, under no circumstances will a theocratic ayatollah who chants death to America ever be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon. +p146 +aVMs. Dana, I agree that English is the unifying language of our country, and everyone should learn to speak it. It's important. I want to tell you a story about someone that didn't speak English that well. It was my grandfather; he came to this country in the 1960s, as a \u2014 escaping Cuba. And he lived with us, growing up. And my grandfather loved America. He understood what was so special about this country. He loved Ronald Reagan; he would be very proud of the fact that we're here this evening. My grandfather instilled in me the belief that I was blessed to live in the one society in all of human history where even I, the son of a bartender and a maid, could aspire to have anything, and be anything that I was willing to work hard to achieve. But he taught me that in Spanish, because it was the language he was most comfortable in. And he became a conservative, even though he got his news in Spanish. And so, I do give interviews in Spanish, and here's why \u2014 because I believe that free enterprise and limited government is the best way to help people who are trying to achieve upward mobility. And if they get their news in Spanish, I want them to hear that directly from me. Not from a translator at Univision. +p147 +aVWell, let me say that legal immigration is not an issue I read about in the newspaper. Immigration, illegal immigration, all the good aspects of immigration and all the negative ones as well, I live with. My family's immigrants. My neighbors are all immigrants. My in-laws are all immigrants. So I've seen every aspect of it, and I can tell you America doesn't have one immigration problem, it has three. First, despite the fact that we are the most generous country in the history of the world in allowing people to come here legally, we have people still coming illegally. Second, we have a legal immigration system that no longer works. It primary is built on the basis of whether you have a relative living here instead of merit. And third, we have 11 million or 12 million people, many of whom have been here for longer than a decade who are already here illegally. And we must deal with all three of these problems. We cannot deal with all three of these problems in one massive piece of legislation. I learned that. We tried it that way. Here's the way forward: First, we must \u2014 we must secure our border, the physical border, with \u2014 with a wall, absolutely. But we also need to have an entry/exit tracking system. 40 percent of the people who come here illegally come legally, and then they overstay the visa. We also need a mandatory e-verify system. After we've done that, step two would be to modernize our legal immigration system so you come to America on the basis of what you can contribute economically, not whether or not simply you have a relative living here. And after we've done those two things, I believe the American people... +p148 +aV... will be very reasonable and responsible about what you do with someone who's been here and isn't a criminal. If you're a criminal, obviously, you will not be able to stay. +p149 +aVYes, well, it does. But it's in the following way, this is an important question. I think if you're running for president, these are important issues, because look at around the world today. There is a lunatic in North Korea with dozens of nuclear weapons and long-range rocket that can already hit the very place in which we stand tonight. The Chinese are rapidly expanding their military. They hack into our computers. They're building artificial islands in the South China Sea, the most important shipping lane in the world. A gangster in Moscow is not just threatening Europe, he's threatening to destroy and divide +p150 +aVWell, that's why we have a debate. I think that we should have a deeper debate about these issues, because there is no more important decision that a president will make. +p151 +aVWell, you should ask him questions in detail about the foreign policy issues our president will confront, because you had better be able to lead our country on the first day. Not six months from now, not a year from now, on the first day in office, our president could very well confront a national security crisis. You can't predict it. Sometimes you cannot control it. And it is the most \u2014 the federal government does all kinds of things it's not supposed to be doing. It regulates bathrooms. It regulates schools that belong to local communities. But the one thing that the federal government must do, the one thing that only the federal government can do is keep us safe. And a president better be up-to-date on those issues on his first day in office, on her first day in office. +p152 +aVTrust (ph) me, I get that. OK. +p153 +aVI never get to addressed, and... +p154 +aV...and when I do, I'm gonna jump in. +p155 +aVYeah. He did. Let me \u2014 I'm proud to serve in the United States Senate. You know, when I ran five years ago, the entire leadership of my party in Washington lined up against me. But I'm glad I won. And I'm glad that I ran, because this country's headed in the wrong direction. And if we keep electing the same people, nothing is going to change. And you're right, I have missed some votes, and I'll tell you why, Mr. Trump. Because in my years in the Senate, I've figured out very quickly that the political establishment in Washington, D.C. in both political parties is completely out of touch with the lives of our people. You have millions of people in this country living paycheck to paycheck, and nothing is being done about it. We are about to leave our children with $18 trillion in \u2014 in \u2014 in debt, and they're about to raise the debt limit again. We have a world that grows increasingly dangerous, and we are eviscerating our military spending and signing deals with Iran. And these \u2014 if this thing continues, we are going to be the first Americans to leave our children worse off than ourselves. That's why I'm missing votes. Because I am leaving the Senate, I'm not running for re-election, and I'm running for president because I know this: unless we have the right president, we cannot make America fulfill its potential, but with the right person in office, the 21st century can be the greatest era that our nation has ever known. +p156 +aVI want to go even deeper \u2014 and I want to go even deeper in that direction, because I think the belief that somehow by retreating, America makes the world safer has been disproven every single time it's ever been tried. Syria's a perfect example of it. The uprising in Syria was not started by the United States; it was started by the Syrian people. And I warned at the time \u2014 this was three and a half years ago \u2014 I openly and repeatedly warned that if we did not find moderate elements on the ground that we could equip and arm, that void would be filled by radical jihadists. Well, the president didn't listen, the administration didn't follow through, and that's exactly what happened. That is why +p157 +aV... as you asked earlier today. +p158 +aVBut radical terrorism cannot be solved by intellect. It cannot \u2014 they require \u2014 what they need, is they need an operating space. That's what Afghanistan was for Al Qaida. It was a vacuum that they filled, and they created an operating space. That's why they had to be drawn out of there. That's why they had to be destroyed. It is the reason why +p159 +aVThere's a broader issue here, Hugh. And there's a broader issue here as well. First of all, the only people that follow the law are law-abiding people. Criminals by definition ignore the law, so you can pass all the gun laws in the world, like the left wants. The criminals are going to ignore it because they are criminals. Here's the real issue. The real issue \u2014 the real issue is not what are people using to commit violence, but why are they committing the violence? And here's the truth: Because you cannot separate the social, moral wellbeing of your people from their economic and other wellbeing. You cannot separate it. You can't have a strong country without strong people, you cannot have strong people without strong values, and you cannot have strong values without strong families and the institutions in this country that defend and support those families. +p160 +aVWell, and today, we have a left-wing government under this president that is undermining all of the institutions and society that support the family and teach those values. +p161 +aVBecause we're not going to destroy our economy the way the left-wing government that we are under now wants to do. We're not going to... +p162 +aVWell, and I don't \u2014 he may have lined up with their positions on this issue. But here is the bottom line. Every proposal they put forward are going to be proposals that will make it harder to do business in America, that will make it harder to create jobs in America. Single parents are already struggling across this country to provide for their families. Maybe a billionaire here in California can afford an increase in their utility rates, but a working family in Tampa, Florida, or anywhere across this country cannot afford it. So we are not going to destroy our economy. We are not going to make America a harder place to create jobs in order to pursue policies that will do absolutely nothing, nothing to change our climate, to change our weather, because America is a lot of things, the greatest country in the world, absolutely. But America is not a planet. And we are not even the largest carbon producer anymore, China is. And they're drilling a hole and digging anywhere in the world that they can get a hold of. So the bottom line is, I am not in favor of any policies that make America a harder place for people to live, or to work, or to raise their families. +p163 +aVJake, you mentioned me and called me a denier. Let me say, climate change... +p164 +aVOK. A skeptic. You can measure the climate. You can measure it. That's not the issue we're discussing. Here is what I'm skeptical of. I'm skeptical of the decisions that the left wants us to make, because I know the impact those are going to have and they're all going to be on our economy. They will not do a thing to lower the rise of the sea. They will not do a thing to cure the drought here in California. But what they will do is they will make America a more expensive place to create jobs. And today with millions of people watching this broadcast that are struggling paycheck to paycheck that do not know how they're going to pay their bills at the end of this month, I'm not in favor of anything that is going to make it harder for them to raise their family. +p165 +aVSenator Rubio, you mean? +p166 +aVI know we all look alike. +p167 +aVThe \u2014 Rosa Parks, an everyday American that changed the course of history. +p168 +aVWell, there are some people in Florida upset at me over a joke I made about Florida State, but, what the heck, I want my codename to be Gator. +p169 +aVOne of the things that made Ronald Reagan a great president, is that he understood that America was a unique nation, like any other that had existed throughout human history. He knew it was founded on universal principles that were powerful, the dignity of all people, human rights, the rights of all to live in freedom and liberty, and choose their own path in life. He didn't just believe it, he acted on it. That's why bringing down communism was so important to him. If I'm honored with the opportunity to be president, I hope that our Air Force One will fly, first and foremost, to our allies; in Israel, in South Korea, and Japan. They know we stand with them. That America can be counted on. It would also fly to China, not just to meet with our enemies, not just to meet with those adversaries of ours that are there, but also to meet with those that aspire to freedom and liberty within China. I would even invite them to my inauguration. We would also fly into Moscow and into Russia. And not just meet with the leaders of Russia, but also meet with those who aspire to freedom and liberty in Russia. And ultimately, I hope that my Air Force One, if I become president, will one day land in a free Cuba, where its people can choose its leaders and its own destiny. +p170 +asVKASICH +p171 +(lp172 +VThank you, Wolf. Just last weekend, just last week, a friend asked one of my daughters, "Do you like politics?" And my daughter said, "No, I don't. And the reason I don't like it is because there's too much fighting, too much yelling. It's so loud, I don't like it." You know, I turned to my friend and I said, "You know, she's really on to something." And when we think about our country and the big issues that we face in this country; creating jobs, making sure people can keep their jobs, the need for rising wages, whether our children when they graduate from college can find a job, protecting the homeland, destroying +p173 +aVWell, first of all, Wolf, I said last February that we needed to have people on the ground, troops on the ground in a coalition similar to what we had in the first Gulf War. I remember when the Egyptian ambassador to the United States stood in the Rose Garden and pledged Arab commitment to removing Saddam Hussein from Kuwait. Before we came out here tonight, I am told that the Saudis have organized 34 countries who want to join in the battle against terrorism. First and foremost, we need to go and destroy +p174 +aVNo, I don't think it is. And I want to go back to two other issues. One is the metadata. We know we have to hold this data for a longer period of time. And, you know, in a lot of ways, Chris is right. Look, what a president has to do is take a position. We don't want to err on the side of having less. We want to err on the side of having more. That's good for our families. In addition to that, Wolf, there is a big problem. It's called encryption. And the people in San Bernardino were communicating with people who the FBI had been watching. But because their phone was encrypted, because the intelligence officials could not see who they were talking to, it was lost. We have to solve the encryption problem. It is not easy. A president of the United States, again, has to bring people together, have a position. We need to be able to penetrate these people when they are involved in these plots and these plans. And we have to give the local authorities the ability to penetrate to disrupt. That's what we need to do. Encryption is a major problem, and Congress has got to deal with this and so does the president to keep us safe. +p175 +aVYeah, let me \u2014 let me just suggest to everybody, and I hear \u2014 last February, I said we needed to have people on the ground in a coalition with Europe and our allies. This is not going to get done just by working with the Sunnis. And it is not going to get done if we just embed a few people. We have to go massively, like we did in the first Gulf War where we destroyed Saddam's ability to take Kuwait. We need to have a coalition that will stand for nothing less than the total destruction of +p176 +aVI don't understand this thing about Assad. He has to go. Assad is aligned with Iran and Russia. The one thing we want to prevent is we want to prevent Iran being able to extend a Shia crescent all across the Middle East. Assad has got to go. And there are moderates there. There are moderates in Syria who we should be supporting. I do not support a civil war. I don't want to be policeman of the world. But we can't back off of this. And let me tell you, at the end, the Saudis have agreed to put together a coalition inside of Syria to stabilize that country. +p177 +aVHe must go. It will be a blow to Iran and Russia. +p178 +aVThe foreign policy, you have to know how to pick and choose. There's no way, if Saddam had not had weapons of mass destruction, I would have gone, because I don't believe that the U.S. should be involved directly in civil wars. I opposed the U.S. involvement in Lebanon. We ended up having to withdraw our marines after our barracks were blown up. There is a difference between Iraq, where you have Sunni, Shia, and Kurds put together after the First World War by the Western powers. It doesn't work. It needs to break up into three parts. And for the Russians, frankly, it's time that we punched the Russians in the nose. They've gotten away with too much in this world and we need to stand up against them, not just there, but also in Eastern Europe where they threaten some of our most precious allies. +p179 +aVIt sounds more and more what my daughter said that I said in the beginning, all the fighting and arguing is not advancing us. +p180 +aVIt is not the way we're going to strengthen our country. We will strengthen our country when we come together. And, look, you've got Rand Paul, you've got Ted Cruz, you've got Marco, you've got a lot of people on this stage that have studied these issues. You know what a leader does? A leader has a sound program, has a good policy, and then brings people together to solve problems. Guess what? Both in Congress in balancing the budget and in Ohio fixing the economy \u2014 and, by the way, we talk about the fence. The first thing we better get going is strengthening our economy, because if we don't have a strong economy, we can't pay for all of this. And the world wants us to be able to function from strength, believe it or not. Get our economy going, get these people together in a room. We can fix this, ladies and gentlemen. We don't have to fight all the time. It can be done, and we will be great... +p181 +aV... when we join together. Thank you, Hugh. +p182 +aVYou know, obviously, as president of the United States, we've got to keep the people safe. That's first and foremost. But as governor of Ohio, I have an obligation to keep the 11.5 million people in Ohio safe. And we have been very effective with our Joint Terrorism Task Force, being able to make busts. In fact, we just made one three-four weeks ago against a person who was favorable to +p183 +aVNo Republican has ever been elected president of the United States without winning Ohio. Let me give you a little tip on how you win Ohio, it's reform, it's hope, it's growth, it's opportunity, and it's security. The people of Ohio are the people of America. The people of America are reflected in Ohio. Our message has to be big, and bold, and positive, and connect, not just with people's heads but also connect with their hearts. If we do it, we will beat Hillary Clinton, and we will run the White House, and we will strengthen and fix America, I promise you. +p184 +aVFirst of all, let me just say that, in the state of Ohio \u2014 and I'm the only acting executive on \u2014 on this stage today \u2014 we do have a moderate increase in the minimum wage. And I got to tell you, my father carried mail on his back. His father was a coal miner. He died of black lung. He was losing his eyesight. My mother's mother lived with us. She could barely speak English. I come from a town where if the wind blew the wrong way, people found themselves out of work. An economic theory is fine, but you know what? People need help. Now, I have a plan that, in fact, would cut taxes, but not $11 trillion or $12 trillion that would put my children further in debt. I have a plan that would not only cut taxes, lower the income tax rate for individuals, lower the tax for businesses so businesses will compete here and not move operations overseas, and also a plan \u2014 the only plan of anybody standing on this stage to get us to a balanced budget by the end of a second term. And, you know, the simple fact of the matter is, we hear a lot of promises in this debate, a lot of promises about these tax cuts or tax schemes sometimes that I call them. Hillary and the Democrats promise everything on the spending side. We've got to be responsible about what we propose on the tax side. Yes, lower taxes, lower spending. My website, JohnKasich.com, will show you exactly how we balance the budget. I balanced the budget in Washington as a chief architect, and I have balanced it in Ohio for one reason. When you balance the budget and you cut taxes, people get work. And our most important moral purpose as leaders in the political system is to make sure we create an environment for job creation so people can live their dreams and realize their God-given potential. That's why it's so important. And for those at the bottom, we've got to do what we can to train them so they can move up. But to just look the other way is not acceptable, because, you know what, as the governor of Ohio I have to deal with real challenges, and we've gotten it done in our state, and I will do it for America. +p185 +aVSure. We would move the Medicare system from a 7 percent growth down to about a 5 percent growth. And I have a whole series of ways to do that. In Ohio, we reduced Medicaid funding for the poor from 10 percent to 2.5 percent, didn't cut one benefit or didn't take anybody off the rolls. Why? Because we're innovators. I've been an innovator my entire career. And I really don't care what special interests or lobbyists have to say. I have a job to do when I take over a public office. Now, we freeze non-defense discretionary for eight years. We also put an increase in defense spending. Our tax cuts balance out. And at the end of the day, we will get to a balanced budget. And I want everybody here to know, when I was Budget Committee chairman in Washington, I stepped on every toe in that town, and we got to a balanced budget, and we had enormous job growth. And as governor of Ohio, we went from 350,000 lost jobs to a gain of 347,000 jobs. +p186 +aVI'll do it in Washington. I've done it twice; I'll do it thrice for the United States of America. +p187 +aVExcuse me. +p188 +aVYeah, I would like to make a comment. +p189 +aVI appreciate it, Jeb. I'm all of you. But I want at some point to talk about a value-added tax and $11 trillion, $12 trillion tax cuts that will put our kids way deeper in the hole than they have been at this point. So I would like to talk about it at some point, because that's what leadership is. +p190 +aVMaria, can we comment on that? +p191 +aVCan we comment on that? +p192 +aVWell, look, in 1986 Ronald Reagan basically said the people who were here, if they were law-abiding, could stay. But, what didn't happen is we didn't build the walls effectively and we didn't control the border. We need to. We need to control our border just like people have to control who goes in and out of their house. But if people think that we are going to ship 11 million people who are law-abiding, who are in this country, and somehow pick them up at their house and ship them out of Mexico \u2014 to Mexico, think about the families. Think about the children. So, you know what the answer really is? If they have been law- abiding, they pay a penalty. They get to stay. We protect the wall. Anybody else comes over, they go back. But for the 11 million people, come on, folks. We all know you can't pick them up and ship them across, back across the border. It's a silly argument. It is not an adult argument. It makes no sense. +p193 +aVJerry, Gerald, it was an attack. +p194 +aVIn the state of Ohio, the state of Ohio, we have grown 347,000 jobs. Our unemployment is half of what it was. Our fracking industry, energy industry may have contributed 20,000, but if Mr. Trump understood that the real jobs come in the downstream, not in the upstream, but in the downstream. And that's where we're going to get our jobs. But Ohio is diversified. And little false little things, sir, they don't really work when it comes to the truth. So the fact is, all I'm suggesting, we can't ship 11 million people out of this country. Children would be terrified, and it will not work. +p195 +aV...Mr. Baker, everybody got to talk about taxes... +p196 +aV...I think you were coming to me and then... +p197 +aV...Look, I hate to crash the party to you, Mr. Baker, but, you know, what's fair... +p198 +aV...Yes, sir... +p199 +aVLet me tell you this, Mr. Baker, in terms of the cyber attacks, we have the capability to not only have a defensive posture, but it also to make it clear to people that if you attack us with cyber attacks, we will destroy the mechanisms that you are using to attack us. I want to give you a little trip around the world. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years. In the Ukraine, arm the people there so they can fight for themselves. In the eastern part of Europe, make sure that Finland and the Baltics know that if the Russians move, we move. In Syria, yes, a no-fly zone in the north on the Turkish border, a no-fly zone on the south on the Jordanian border. Anybody flies in the first time, maybe they can fly out. They fly in there a second time, they will not fly out. And it also becomes a sanctuary for the people to be. And it also sends many messages in the Middle East that we're still involved. Saudi Arabia, cut off the funding for the radical clerics, the ones that preach against us. But they're fundamentally our friends. Jordan, we want the king to reign for 1,000 years. Egypt, they have been our ally and a moderating force in the Middle East throughout their history. In the groups \u2014 in the countries of the Gulf states of Bahrain, the Cleveland Clinic is opening an operation. Clearly we see the same with them. And in Israel, we have no better ally in the world, and no more criticizing them in public, we should support them. And finally China, China doesn't own the South China Sea, and I give the president some credit for being able to move a naval force in there to let the Chinese know that we're not going to put up with it any more. And in the trade agreement, the TPP, it's critical to us, not only for economic reasons and for jobs, because there are so many people who are connected to getting jobs because of trade, but it allows us to create not only economy alliances, but also potentially strategic alliances against the Chinese. They are not our enemy, but they are certainly not our friend. And finally, I will say to everyone in this room, we have been talking about taxes and economics. When the fall comes, and we run against Hillary, which will be a disaster if she got elected. I have two 16-year-old girls, and I want this country to be strong. We make promises we can't keep under the bright light of the fall, we will have trouble. We must make sure that economic programs and our military programs are solid. I served in Washington as the chairman of the Budget Committee, and we got the budget balanced. And in Ohio, as the CEO, and guess what, we have got to have a CEO mentality and a way to beat Hillary Clinton and the Democracies in the fall. And our ideas have to add up. They have to be solid. And people have to know we have the confidence to lead America. And as president, I will lead this country, as I have before in Washington and in Ohio, and will return both on domestic and international affairs. And I appreciate the opportunity to speak this time, Gerry. +p200 +aVLet me \u2014 let me also say, Gary \u2014 Gary, let me also say, Jeb is \u2014 what Jeb is talking about with the big banks is to force them to reserve their capital, people who invest it and they hold their capital, so that if the bank goes down, the people who are invested in the bank are the ones that pay. That's what he's trying to say. Secondly, I'll tell you about Wall Street: There's too much greed. And the fact is, a free enterprise system is a system that's produced the greatest wealth for the world. But you know Michael Novak, the great Catholic theologian, says that a free enterprise system that is not underlaid with values \u2014 and we should all think about the way we conduct our lives \u2014 yes, free enterprise is great, profits are great, but there have to be some values that underlay it, and they need a good ethics lesson on Wall Street on a regular basis to keep them in check so we, the people, do not lose. +p201 +aVNeil, that's the difference of being an executive. And let me just explain: when a bank is ready to go under and depositors are getting ready to lose their life savings, you just don't say we believe in philosophical concerns. You know what an executive has to decide? When there's a water crisis, how do we get water to the city? When there's a school shooting, how do you get there and help heal a community? When there are financial crisis, or a crisis with ebola, you got to go there and try to fix it. Philosophy doesn't work when you run something. And I gotta tell you, on-the-job training for president of the United States doesn't work. We've done it for 8 years, \u2014 and almost 8 years now. It does not work. We need an executive who's been tried, has been tested, and judge the decisions that that executive makes. I don't like what the Fed is doing, but I'll tell you what worries me more than anything else: turning the Fed over to the Congress of the United States... +p202 +aV...so they can print the money. That would be a very bad approach. +p203 +aVI wouldn't. I wouldn't. +p204 +aVNo. No, I didn't say that. +p205 +aVThey were \u2014 they were talking about what you would do with depositors. Would you let these banks shut down? My argument is, going forward, the banks have to reserve the capital, so that the \u2014 so that the people who own the capital start pressuring the banks to not take these risky approaches, Ted. But at the end of the day... +p206 +aV... I'm gonna tell you this. Let me tell you this. If during \u2014 if during... +p207 +aV...because if during \u2014 well, I'll tell you what (ph). +p208 +aVAs an executive \u2014 no. As an executive, I would figure out how to separate those people who can afford it versus those people, or the hard-working folks who put those money in those institutions...... let me \u2014 no, no. Let me say another thing. Here's what I mean by that. Here's what I mean by that. +p209 +aVWhen you are faced \u2014 when you are faced, in the last financial crisis, with banks going under \u2014 with banks going under, and people, people who put their \u2014 their life savings in there, you got to deal with it. You can't turn a blind eye to it. Now, going forward, that's one thing. If you had another financial crisis, perhaps there would be an effort to make sure that we do (ph). +p210 +aVWell, ladies and gentlemen, if Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders were to win this election, my 16-year-olds, I \u2014 I worry about what their life is going to be like. You know, the conservative movement is all about opportunity. It is about lower taxes. It's about balanced budgets. It's about less regulation. And it's about sending power, money and influence back to where we live so we can run America from the bottom up. In addition to that, once we have the power and the money and the influence with programs we shift out, that each of us have a responsibility to reach out and to rebuild our families, make them stronger, and connect our neighborhoods. All that together \u2014 wealth, connection, family \u2014 America's greatest days are ahead. We must win this election. +p211 +aVGood question, but I want to tell you, my great concern is that we are on the verge, perhaps, of picking someone who cannot do this job. I've watched to see people say that we should dismantle Medicare and Medicaid and leave the senior citizens out \u2014 out in the \u2014 in the cold. I've heard them talk about deporting 10 or 11 \u2014 people here from this country out of this country, splitting families. I've heard about tax schemes that don't add up, that put our kids in \u2014 in a deeper hole than they are today. We need somebody who can lead. We need somebody who can balance budgets, cut taxes... +p212 +aVYou know, frankly, I did it in Washington, in Ohio, and I will do it again in Washington, if I'm president, to get this country moving again. +p213 +aVcountry moving again. +p214 +aVListen, I want to just comment. +p215 +aVWell I want to comment on this. This is the fantasy... +p216 +aVThis is the fantasy that I talked about in the beginning. +p217 +aVI'm the only person on this stage that actually was involved in the chief architect of balancing the Federal Budget. You can't do it with empty promised. You know, these plans would put us trillions and trillions of dollars in debt. I actually have a plan. I'm the only one on this stage that has a plan that would create jobs, cut taxes, balance the budget and can get it done because I'm realistic. You just don't make promises like this. Why don't we just give a chicken in every pot, while we're, you know, coming up \u2014 coming up with these fantasy tax schemes. We'll just clean it up. Where are you gonna clean it up? You have to deal with entitlements, you have to be in a position to control discretionary spending. You gotta be creative and imaginative. Now, let me just be clear, John. I went into Ohio where we had an $8 billion hole and now we have a $2 billion surplus. We're up 347,000 jobs. When I was in Washington, I fought to get the budget balanced. I was the architect. It was the first time we did it since man walked on the moon. We cut taxes and we had a $5 trillion projected surplus when I left. That's was hard work. Fiscal discipline, know what you're doing. Creativity. This stuff is fantasy. Just like getting rid of Medicare and Medicaid. Come on, that's just not \u2014 you scare senior citizens with that. It's not responsible. +p218 +aVWell, I mean right here. To talk about we're just gonna have a 10 percent tithe and that's how we're gonna fund the government? And we're going to just fix everything with waste, fraud, and abuse? Or that we're just going to be great? Or we're going to ship 10 million Americans \u2014 or 10 million people out of this country, leaving their children here in this country and dividing families? Folks, we've got to wake up. We cannot elect somebody that doesn't know how to do the job. You have got to pick somebody who has experience, somebody that has the know-how, the discipline. And I spent my entire lifetime balancing federal budgets, growing jobs, the same in Ohio. And I will go back to Washington with my plan. +p219 +aVAnd I will have done it within 100 days, and it will pass. And we will be strong again. Thank you. +p220 +aVLet me just \u2014 let me respond. First of all, Ohio does have an energy industry, but we're diversified. We're one of the fastest growing states in the country. We came back from the dead. And you know what? It works very, very well. And secondly, when you talk about me being on the board of Lehman Brothers, I wasn't on the board of Lehman Brothers. I was a banker and I was proud of it. And I traveled the country and learned how people made jobs. We ought to have politicians who not only have government experience but know how the CEOs and the job creators work. My state is doing great across the board. And guess what, in 2011, I got a deal... +p221 +aV... an agreement with the... +p222 +aV... that he tried to take credit for four years later. It's a joke. +p223 +aVJohn Harwood, there's a bigger issue here. +p224 +aVWell, first of all, when we talk about the Import Export Bank, it's time to clean up corporate welfare. If we're gonna reform welfare for poor people, we ought to reform it for rich people, as well. Secondly, in our state, we went from a loss of 350,000 jobs to, now, a gain of 347,000 jobs to the positive. Our wages are growing faster than the national average, and I've cut taxes more than any sitting governor in this state \u2014 $5 billion, including no taxes on small business and killing the death tax. I want to go back to what we were talking about earlier, this budget deal in Washington. This is the same old stuff since I left. You spend the money today and then you hope you're going to save money tomorrow. I don't know if people understand, but I spent a lifetime with my colleagues getting us to a federal balanced budget. We actually did it. And I have a road map and a plan right now to get us to balance. Reforming entitlements, cutting taxes. You see, because if you really want to get to a balanced budget, you need to reduce your expenses and you need to grow your economy. So what I will tell you about our incentives \u2014 our incentives are tight, and at the end of the day we make sure that we gain more from the creation of jobs than what we lose. And you know what? Ohio, one of the best growing places in the country \u2014 I not only did it in Washington, I did it in Ohio, and I'll go back to Washington, and there will be no more silly deals... +p225 +aV... If I become President because we'll have a Constitutional Amendment to require a federally balanced budget so they will do their job. +p226 +aVWell, first of all, we're running a $2 billion dollar surplus, we're not having a revenue problem right now. And, sending mixed signals to kids about drugs is a disaster. Drugs is one of the greatest scourge in this country, and I spent five years of my administration working with my team to do a whole sort of things to try to reign in the problem of overdoses, and it goes on and on. We could do a whole show on that. I want to go back for a second thought on this issue of income inequality. My program would move the 104 programs of the federal Department of Education into four block grants, and send them back to the states because income inequality is driven by a lack of skills when kids don't get what they need to be able to compete and win in this country. The fact is, in order to get this economy moving again, I call for freezing regulations for a year except for the problem of public safety. I believe that we need to cut these taxes down, we need to be on a roadmap to balancing the budget, and we need to send power, money, and influence, the welfare department, the education department, job training, infrastructure, Medicaid, all of that out of Washington back to the states so we can run these programs from where we live to the top, not a one size fits all mentality that they have in Washington. And, that will get to the nub of opportunity for our children, and an ability to see wages rise. Again... +p227 +aV...One more time, in Ohio, our wages are growing faster than the national average. We've cut taxes, balanced budgets, changed the regulatory environment. Folks, you want to \u2014 +p228 +aV\u2014 fix America, this is the formula. It worked for Reagan and it works for our team in Ohio. Thank you. +p229 +aVJohn. +p230 +aVI wanna tell you, in my state, we took Medicaid, the hardest program to control, and we took it from a 10 percent growth rate to 2.5 percent without taking one person off the rolls or cutting one single benefit. And so much of what we did \u2014 to force competition, to use technology, to stand down the special interest groups \u2014 can you imagine taking Medicaid from 10 to 2.5 percent? We can take many of those same procedures, we can apply it to Medicare. We can make a stronger program. But I agree with Jeb, you can't just do this by growing the economy. You can't grow your way out of demographics. But we can give people better health care. And finally, on health care, why don't we start treating \u2014 keep giving... +p231 +aV...incentives for people to keep people healthy, rather than giving the incentives to treat them when they're sick? +p232 +aVI was on morning Joe at a town hall and a young student stood up and said, "Can I still be idealistic?" I said, absolutely, you can still change the world. And, you know the old inscription, if you save one life, you've changed the world. Folks, we have a problem here with the leadership in Washington, but I'll tell you another problem. We need to rebuild our families. We need to have stronger families. We need to know who our neighbors are. We need to come together as a country because we have to realize that America is great, not from the top-down. Oh yeah, we want to elect a good president, but America is great from the bottom-up, and the bottom-up is us in our families, in our communities, in our neighborhoods. We will renew America if we work together, and I am totally confident that we will. And God bless America. +p233 +aVHello, I'm John Kasich, the Governor of Ohio. Emma, and Reese, my children, and Karen, love 'ya girls. Thanks for watching tonight. By the way, I think I actually flew on this plane with Ronald Reagan when I was a congressman, and his goals, and mine, really much \u2014 are pretty much the same. Lift Americans, unify, give hope, grow America, and restore it is to that great, shining city on a hill. Yes, he was a great one, and I learned much from watching him. The most important thing, hope to Americans, unify, lift everyone in America. +p234 +aVJake, Jake. +p235 +aVListen, you know, I \u2014 if I were sitting at home and watch thing back and forth, I would be inclined to turn it off. I mean, people at home want to know across this country, they want to know what we're going to do to fix this place, how we'll balance a budget, how we're going to create more economic growth, how we'll pay down the debt. What we're going to do to strengthen the military. So, we just spent 10 minutes here... +p236 +aVBut \u2014 but wait a minute. It's a lot of ad hogshead. Now, I know that it may be buzzing out there, but I think it's important we get to the issues, because that's what people want, and they don't want all this fighting. +p237 +aV...Yeah, well... +p238 +aVWell, let me just say this. First of all, I think it's a bad agreement, I would never have done it. But, you know, a lot of our problems in the world today is that we don't have the relationship with our allies. If we want to go everywhere alone, we will not have the strength as (ph) if we could rebuild with our allies. Now, this agreement, we don't know what's going to happen in 18 months. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years. I've seen lots of issues in foreign affairs, and foreign \u2014 in terms of global politics, you have to be steady. Now, here's the \u2014 if they cheat, we slap the sanctions back on. If they help Hamas, and Hezbollah, we slap the sanctions back on. And, if we find out that they may be developing a nuclear weapon, than the military option is on the table. We are stronger when we work with the Western civilization, our friends in Europe, and just doing it on our own I don't think is the right policy. +p239 +aVNo, no, no. I want to \u2014 I want to \u2014 I want to say something about what the senator just said. +p240 +aVNo one is \u2014 no \u2014 let me \u2014 let me suggest to you we believe that we operate better in the world when our allies work with us. President Bush did it in the Gulf War. We work better when we are unified. Secondly, nobody's trusting Iran. They violate the deal, we put on the sanctions, and we have the high moral ground to talk to our allies in Europe to get them to go with us. If they don't go with us, we slap the sanctions on anyway. If they fund these radical groups that threaten Israel and all of the West, then we should rip up the deal and put the sanctions back on. And let me make it clear \u2014 let me make it clear... +p241 +aV... if we think \u2014 if we think they're getting close to a \u2014 to developing a nuclear weapon and we get that information, you better believe that I would do everything in my power as the commander-in-chief to stop them having a nuclear weapon. +p242 +aVWe can have it, and we can have our allies, and we can be strong as a country, and we can project across this globe with unity, not just doing it alone. That is not what gets us where we want to get as a nation. +p243 +aVWell, I agree that we should defund Planned Parenthood. I don't know many people in America who don't think that we should, and in my state, we're trying to figure out how to get it done, because we are threatened with the federal government taking all of our Medicaid money away. I think there is a way to get this done by giving governors the ability to be able to act to defund Planned Parenthood. But when (ph) it comes to closing down the federal government, you gotta be very careful about that. When we shut the government down \u2014 if we have a chance at success and it's a great principle, yes. The president of the United States is not going to sign this, and all we're gonna do is shut the government down, and then we're gonna open up \u2014 open it up, and the American people are gonna shake their heads and say, "what's the story with these Republicans?" So I think there is a way to get to cutting off the funding for Planned Parenthood. I was in the Congress for 18 years, balanced the budget, cut taxes, got it done. Changed welfare, went around the president to get welfare reform done. There are ways to do it without having to shut the government down, but I'm sympathetic to the fact that we don't want this organization to get funding, and the money ought to be reprogrammed for family planning in other organizations that don't support this tactic. But I would not be for shutting the government down... +p244 +aV...because I don't think it's going to work out. +p245 +aVWe're not \u2014 what I can tell you is this. We didn't surrender in New Jersey, six years ago, as the brand new first ever pro-life governor of New Jersey since Roe versus Wade, I defended Planned Parenthood. And I've vetoed Planned Parenthood funding, now, eight times in New Jersey. Since the day I walked in as governor, Planned Parenthood has not been funded in New Jersey. We stood up and every one of those vetoes has been sustained. But here's the problem, we're \u2014 we're fighting with each other up here. We agree. Let's ask Hillary Clinton. She believes in the systematic murder of children in the womb to preserve their body parts... +p246 +aV...Dana, in a way that maximizes their value for sale for profit. It is disgusting, and the American people need to hear it... +p247 +aV...we shouldn't be fighting with each other. She's the real opponent, she's the real problem. +p248 +aVI'll tell you what \u2014 I'll tell you what I'd be willing to fight for. I'll tell you what I'd be willing to fight for. Why will (ph) we put tax reform on the president's desk, so we can simplify this tax system? +p249 +aVNo, no, it's really important, Dana. We got to talk about what we would be willing to shut down for. Why don't we put tax reform on this president's desk, and make him veto it if that's what he wants to do? Why haven't we repealed and replaced Obamacare? Make him veto if that's what he wants to do. +p250 +aVThere's a \u2014 +p251 +aVJake \u2014 +p252 +aVOK, Jake. +p253 +aVI don't at this point in terms of changing the incentives for investment and risk-taking. But let's just stop for a second. There's one person on this stage that does have a record. I'm the only person on the stage and one of the few people in this country that led the effort as the chief architect of the last time we balanced the federal budget. We also cut taxes. And when I left Washington in 2000, we had a $5 trillion surplus, and the economy was booming. I had spent 10 years of my life to get us to that point, went out in the private sector, was a great experience, and went into Ohio and took an $8 billion hole and turned it into a $2 billion surplus. We've had the largest amount of tax cuts of any sitting governor. We've grown well over 300,000 jobs. You see, I've done it in both places. I'm the only one here that has done it in both places. It took a lot to get us to a balanced budget. It was legitimate. It was real. And we negotiated it. A lot of what we're talking about here tonight as we take this position and that position, you know what? At the end of the day, America has got to work. We've got to figure out how we come together to deal with this \u2014 with our fiscal problems because when we deal with that, we create a stronger economy for everybody. People have a chance to rise. So, you know, when we think about how we make a choice, it's the person that lands that plane. It's not somebody that talks about it. It's about the person who has done it. And I've done it in... +p254 +aV... both places. And I did it including people in the other party. And that's how we were successful. +p255 +aVAnd that's how I will be president, using that experience to drive this country forward. Thank you. +p256 +aVWell, look, people still have to get to know me, so I want to spend my time talking about my experience reforming welfare, balancing budgets, cutting taxes, providing economic growth when I was in Washington, turning Ohio around. Eight billion in the hole, $2 billion surplus, up over 300,000 jobs, big tax cuts, strengthening our credit. All those things matter but, you know, as a young man in my first election in 1978, I defeated an incumbent Democrat. I defeated an incumbent Democrat in 1982; running on the Reagan program, I was the only Republican in America to defeat an incumbent Democrat that year. And then, when I won for election of governor, I was the first Republican to defeat an incumbent in 36 years, and the first person to have never run statewide out of politics for 10 years to beat an incumbent. That hadn't happened for 96 years. So, we'll get to the point where we'll talk about Hillary Clinton, or whoever the nominee is, record. But right now, I want to give people sense of hope, sense of purpose, a sense of unity, sense that we can do it. So... +p257 +aVYou know, at the end of the day, I'm going to continue to talk about my record, because there is, did you ever notice when people run for office, they run for president, they make a lot of promises, they don't keep them. +p258 +aVI don't intend to do that, and I going to be out there pushing it out \u2014 don't worry about me and Hillary. That will all work out, and I'm from Ohio. She will not beat me there, I can promise you that. +p259 +aVCan I just \u2014 can I \u2014 Jake, can I just make one point on this whole military discussion? +p260 +aVI called for boots on the ground many months ago in a coalition with our friends who share our interest. You know, you win a battle with the military, and when we go somewhere, we need to be mobile, and lethal. We need to take care of business, and we need to come home. But, we face, also, a bigger war \u2014 and you win the bigger war with the battle of ideas. You wonder why young people, and educated people, rich people, schooled people, have tried to join +p261 +aV...to make (ph) centers (ph) of justice so that we can battle the radicals, call them out for what they are, and make sure that all of our people feel fulfilled in living in Western civilization... +p262 +aV...This is a giant battle in the world today... +p263 +aVWell, it's probably not, maybe, legal, but, I would pick Mother Theresa, the lady that I had a chance to meet, a woman who lived a life so much bigger than her own. An inspiration to everyone when we think about our responsibility to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. +p264 +aVWell, I have one now \u2014 they (ph) call me, "Unit One". My wife says, "You'll never be Unite One, I'm Unite One. You're Unit Two." +p265 +aVWell, as president, I will make this a nation that will solve problems. And how? By having the elected officials and the leaders realize they're Americans before they're Republicans or Democrats. I did it in Washington. And I've done it in Ohio by having the elected officials realize that they're Ohioans before anything else. Secondly, I will rebuild the relationships and show the respect to our allies around the world. We have no choice but to do that. We will be stronger when we are unified. And we'll fight for freedom and for human rights. And finally, a little bit of what Carly said. The people that are out there listening, America was never great because we ran America from the top down. America is great because we have run America from the bottom up, where we all live in the neighborhoods. One more time in America, we need to revive the concept of citizenship, where everybody's actions make a huge difference in changing the world. We have a Holocaust memorial on our state house grounds. And there is one line on there that stands out all the time. "If you've saved one life, you've changed the world." We need to adopt that as citizens and rebuild and reinspire our country. Thank you. +p266 +asVQUICK +p267 +(lp268 +VGentlemen \u2014 we'll \u2014 we'll get back to this \u2014 just a minute \u2014 just a minute we're gonna continue this. I wanna talk taxes... +p269 +aVDr. Carson, let's talk about taxes. You have a flat tax plan of 10 percent flat taxes, and \u2014 I've looked at it \u2014 and this is something that is very appealing to a lot of voters, but I've had a really tough time trying to make the math work on this. If you were to took a 10 percent tax, with the numbers right now in total personal income, you're gonna come in with bring in $1.5 trillion. That is less than half of what we bring in right now. And by the way, it's gonna leave us in a $2 trillion hole. So what analysis got you to the point where you think this will work? +p270 +aVI \u2014 I understand that, but if you \u2014 if you look at the numbers you probably have to get to 28. +p271 +aV15 percent still leaves you with a $1.1 trillion hole. +p272 +aVYou'd have to cut \u2014 you'd have to cut government about 40 percent to make it work with a $1.1 trillion hole. +p273 +aVThat is true, I looked at the numbers. +p274 +aVDr. Carson, thank you. +p275 +aVGovernor... +p276 +aVDr. Carson, let me get 30 seconds with Dr. Carson... +p277 +aVThank you. +p278 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, thank you. +p279 +aVGentlemen, I'm sorry, we need to... +p280 +aVWe're going to move on. +p281 +aVThirty seconds. +p282 +aVWe'll get to everyone. Ms. Fiorina, I \u2014 I'd like to ask you a question. You are running for president of the United States because of your record running Hewlett-Packard. But the stock market is usually a fair indicator of the performance of a CEO, and the market was not kind to you. Someone who invested a dollar in your company the day you took office had lost half of the dollar by the day you left. Obviously, you've talked in the past about what a difficult time it was for technology companies, but anybody who was following the market knows that your stock was a much worse performer, if you looked at your competitors, if you looked at the overall market. I just wonder, in terms of all of that \u2014 you know, we look back, your board fired you. I just wondered why you think we should hire you now. +p283 +aVMrs. Fiorina, it's interesting that you bring up Mr. Perkins, because... ...he said a lot of very questionable things. Last year, in an interview, he said that he thinks wealthy people should get more votes than poor people. I think his quote was that, "if you pay zero dollars in taxes, you should get zero votes. If you pay a million dollars, you should get a million votes." Is this the type of person you want defending you? +p284 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p285 +aVThank you, we're out of time. Thank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Carl. +p286 +aVGovernor Christie, I'd like to a question next. Actually, I have a question for you . In your tell it like it is campaign, you've said a lot of tough things. You've said that we need to raise the retirement age for Social Security. You think that we need to cut benefits for people who make over $80,000 and eliminate them entirely for seniors who are making over $200,000. Governor Huckabee, who is here on the stage, has said that you and others who think this way are trying to rob seniors of the benefits that they've earned. It raises the question: When it is acceptable to break a social compact? +p287 +aV...Governor... +p288 +aV...Thank you. +p289 +aVWelcome back to the presidential debate for the Republicans. We are live in Boulder, Colorado, right here on +p290 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. +p291 +aVSenator Rubio, you yourself have said that you've had issues. You have a lack of bookkeeping skills. You accidentally inter-mingled campaign money with your personal money. You faced (ph) foreclosure on a second home that you bought. And just last year, you liquidated a $68,000 retirement fund. That's something that cost you thousands of dollars in taxes and penalties. In terms of all of that, it raises the question whether you have the maturity and wisdom to lead this $17 trillion economy. What do you say? +p292 +aVSenator, I understand all of that. I had a lot of student loans when I got out, too. But you've had a windfall that a lot of Americans haven't. You made over a million dollars on a book deal, and some of these problems came after that. +p293 +aVBut you \u2014 but you liquidated that retirement account after the fact, and that cost you about $24,000 out of that in taxes and feed. That \u2014 that was after you'd already come into that windfall. That's why I raised the question. +p294 +aVYes, thank you John. Senator Cruz, working women in this country still earn just 77 percent of what men earn. And I know that you've said you've been very sympathetic to our cause. But you've also you said that the Democrats' moves to try and change this are the political show votes. I just wonder what you would do as President to try and help in this cause? +p295 +aVMrs. Fiorina \u2014 +p296 +aVMrs. Fiorina, we will come back to you. +p297 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Carl? +p298 +aVMr. Trump, let's stay on this issue of immigration. You have been very critical of Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook who has wanted to increase the number of these H1Bs. +p299 +aVSo you're in favor of... +p300 +aVWhere did I read this and come up with this that you were... +p301 +aVYou know, Mr. \u2014 you know, Mr. Trump, if I may . You've been \u2014 you have been \u2014 you had talked a little bit about Marco Rubio. I think you called him Mark Zuckerberg's personal senator because he was in favor of the H1B. +p302 +aVSo this was an erroneous article the whole way around? +p303 +aVMy apologies. I'm sorry. +p304 +aVYes, you can. +p305 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you very much. I would like to introduce my colleague, Rick Santelli, he has some comments as well, sir. +p306 +aVRick, thank you very much. Governor Huckabee, you have railed against income inequality. You've said that some Wall Street executives should have gone to jail over the roles that they played during the financial crisis. Apart from your tax plan, are there specific steps you would require from corporate America to try and reduce the income inequality. +p307 +aVGovernor? +p308 +aVGovernor? +p309 +aVThank you. +p310 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee. +p311 +aVHow about 15 more seconds? +p312 +aVGovernor? +p313 +aVGovernor, I'm sorry... +p314 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p315 +aVGovernor, thank you. Appreciate it. John? +p316 +aVIt's at the moderator discretion. +p317 +aVWelcome back to the University of Colorado and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p318 +aVThank you, sir. +p319 +aVYou were. You get 30 seconds. +p320 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Carl? +p321 +aVHigher education is the example... +p322 +aVI want to go back, if I can, to the issue of... +p323 +aVI want to go back, if I may, to the... +p324 +aVSenator Paul, among the leading conservative opponents to the creation of Medicare back in the 1960s was Ronald Reagan. He warned that it would lead to socialism. Considering the mounting cost of Medicare, was he right to oppose it? +p325 +aVSenator, thank you. [ +p326 +aVWelcome back to Boulder, Colorado and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p327 +aVThank you, Governor. +p328 +aVGovernor. +p329 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Paul, let's go back to you. Do these solutions sound like they work? +p330 +aVDo these solutions sound like they would work? +p331 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Governor? +p332 +asVMADDOW +p333 +(lp334 +VWe are super excited to be here at the University of New Hampshire. Tonight, this is the first time that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have squared off exactly like this. Face-to-face, just one-on-one, just the two of them. +p335 +aVAnd we do hope that the candidates will take this opportunity to show us the distinctions\u2014show us the differences between them. That's the whole reason that we're here tonight. We're not here for talking points. We're to learn about the difference between the candidates. And with that, let's get going. Please join us in welcoming Secretary Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders. +p336 +aVAnd with that, that's it. We're going to begin with 60- second opening statements from each of the candidates. And as agreed to in advance by the two campaigns, we're going to begin tonight with Senator Sanders. +p337 +aVSecretary Clinton, Senator Sanders is campaigning against you now, at this point in the campaign, basically arguing that you are not progressive enough to be the Democratic nominee. He has said that if you voted for the Iraq war, if you are in favor of the death penalty, if you wobbled on things like the Keystone Pipeline or TPP, if you said single payer health care could never happen, then you're too far to the right of the Democratic Party to be the party's standard bearer. Given those policy positions, why should liberal Democrats support you and not Senator Sanders? +p338 +aVSenator Sanders, have you established a list of what it means to be a progressive that is unrealistic? +p339 +aVThank you Senator. +p340 +aVSenator Sanders, as a Vermonter, you have almost a home state advantage here in New Hampshire. But back home across the border, you also have a long history of running against Democrats as a third-party candidate, for governor, Senate, for Congress. In 1988 your candidacy as a third-party candidate arguably cost the Democrats a congressional seat and sent a Republican instead. How can you lead the Democratic Party nationally when you have not been a member of the Democratic Party until very recently? +p341 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p342 +aVSo, Senator, to that point, Secretary Clinton is raising the issue of endorsements by your home state Democrats. She's implying that that says something about the people who know you best. +p343 +aVHow do you see it? +p344 +aVSecretary. +p345 +aVSenator Sanders, you'll have 30 seconds to respond to that. +p346 +aVSenator Sanders, Secretary Clinton, obviously we've touched a nerve. We're going to be back with more on this subject, and much more, right after this. Stay with us. +p347 +aVSecretary Clinton, on the issue of Wall Street... +p348 +aV... on the issue of Wall Street, when our reporters go out and talk to people on the ground in the early states, what they tell us over and over again when they find voters who are leaning toward Senator Sanders rather than yourself is that the most frequent area of concern that they hear from those voters is the issue of Wall Street and whether or not you are too close to Wall Street. Last night, when you were asked about speaking fees and the amount of speaking fees you got from Goldman Sachs speeches, you said that's what they offered. Have you been too dismissive of voters' concerns about this issue in your own campaign and your own career? +p349 +aVSenator Sanders, you have been a critic of Secretary Clinton taking those speaking fees and having donations from Wall Street. What about her defense of her record? +p350 +aVSenator Sanders, let me turn to, I think, where this direction is heading anyway, which is the broader issue of big business and power in our political system. You on the campaign trail have railed against big name American corporations like Boeing, and General Electric, and Wal Mart. But, some big businesses in this country have also been part of advancing progressive goals like that nationwide initiative to expand employment opportunities for veterans. That was all about cooperation between the Obama administration and some very big business. The Affordable Care Act, some of the thorniest problems in that bill were worked out in cooperation with big business in order to accomplish progressive goals. Could you work with them, or have you made enemies of big business in this country with the way you've approached them in this campaign? +p351 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. And with that, we're going to take a break. +p352 +aVWelcome back\u2014welcome back to the Democratic candidates' debate. We're going to be talking about America in the world, both in terms of some trade issues, but also national security. And Secretary Clinton, we're going to start with you. There are more than 4,000 American troops back in Iraq right now as part of the fight against +p353 +aVTo be clear, to the specific question, if that strategic goal that you're describing requires considerably more of Americans\u2014an ever-increasing number of Americans in Iraq and maybe in Syria, are you OK with the numbers increasing? +p354 +aVThank you, Madam Secretary. +p355 +aVSecretary Clinton, at the\u2014at the last Democratic debate in Charleston\u2014I want to get specific here\u2014Senator Sanders called for moving as aggressively as we can to normalize relations with Iran. Your campaign has criticized him for saying that. Now that he's standing next to you here on this stage, can you explain why the U.S. shouldn't try to normalize relations in Iran in your view? +p356 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to ask you about a national security issue that is closer to home. There are thousands of veterans, over 100,000 veterans living in the state of New Hampshire. If either one of you is nominated as the Democratic Party's nominee, you will likely face a Republican opponent in the general election who wants to privatize or even abolish big parts of the V.A. It's a newly popular idea in conservative politics. How will you win the argument on that issue given the problems that have been exposed at the V.A. in the last few years? What's your argument that the V.A. should still exist and should not be privatized? +p357 +aVSenator Sanders, you, as a congressional leader on veterans issues and the Veterans Committee, you've worked in a very bipartisan way with Senator John McCain and others on veterans issues. Is the right contour of the fight, the way she's talking about this issue? +p358 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Sanders, Secretary Clinton, we're going to take another break. We'll be talking about Social Security and some of those other issues when we come back. +p359 +aVSenator\u2014Senator Sanders, in 1964... +p360 +aVIn 1964, I heard that the Republicans nominated Barry Goldwater, who was the hero of the conservative movement. He was, however, far to the right of most of that party. In 1972, the Democrats nominated George McGovern, who was a hero of liberals in the antiwar movement, but he was to the left of his party's mainstream. Both of those nominees made activists very excited, and they both got destroyed in the general election. Even Democrats who love you worry about your fate in a general election. And I know you have good head-to-head polling numbers against Republican frontrunners right now. We know that. But do you have a general election strategy that is different than the way you're running right now to try to get the nomination? +p361 +aVSecretary Clinton, your campaign surrogates, and people who have endorsed you, have suggested that or even said that if Senator Sanders is the nominee, that Democrats will suffer nationwide and the chances will go down of Democrats holding onto the White House. With him here standing next to you, can you tell us whether or not you believe he would win the general election if he were nominated? +p362 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. Senator, in December, one of your campaign staffers was fired from your campaign for taking voter data essentially from the Clinton campaign. You apologized for that when the incident was made public. Your campaign has now been criticized for its operatives essentially impersonating culinary union members wearing union pins in Nevada, and the Nashua Telegraph has complained recently that you falsely implied in an advertisement that they had endorsed you when they did not. None of these issues obviously is the end of the world, but they all are of a piece. Are you in some sense losing control of your campaign? +p363 +aVJust to follow up on that, the title of the ad in question was Endorsement. +p364 +aVSecretary Clinton, do you want 30 seconds on that issue? +p365 +aVAnd with that, we will . +p366 +aVWelcome back to the University of New Hampshire, and the Democratic candidates' debate. Secretary Clinton, on the issue of the death penalty, here in New Hampshire, the one person who is on death row is there for killing a police officer. It's a crime that has caused anguish in this state, both among death penalty opponents and death penalty supporters. The last time I had the chance to talk with you on this issue, on the death penalty, you said that capital punishment has a place in a very few federal cases, but you also said you would breathe a sigh of relief if the Supreme Court abolished the death penalty nationwide. Tonight, do you still support capital punishment, even if you do so reluctantly? +p367 +aVSenator Sanders, you have singled out the death penalty, and Senator Clinton's support for the death penalty, as an issue that makes it hard to consider as progressive in your mind... +p368 +aVAnother issue related to the proper role of government, and in this case, specifically the role of government between the federal government and the states. I want to talk for a moment about the issue of Flint, Michigan. On the Flint lead poisoning disaster, you have both been highly critical of Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan, and how the state in Michigan both caused the lead poisoning problem, and has not acted fast enough to fix it. You have both been outspoken on that. The fact is that Michigan though has not fixed it. There is no door to door delivery of clean water in Flint even today. Not a single lead pipe has been replaced in Flint, even today. If the state is failing, would you, Secretary Clinton, would you as President order a federal response to get it right over and above the wishes of the state? +p369 +aVSenator Sanders are there things the President could be doing? President Obama could be ordering, done, right now, in Flint, Michigan that are not being done that you as President would do? +p370 +aVSenator, thank you. +p371 +aVThe home stretch. +p372 +aVSecretary Clinton, Republicans, particularly in campaign years, often talk about which departments of government\u2014which agencies of government they would get rid of if they were elected president. The EPA, the Department of Education, the Commerce Department, oops\u2014is\u2014is there a department of government that you would get rid of? Or is there a whole new one that you would create? +p373 +aVThank you, Secretary Clinton. +p374 +aVThank you very much. Thank you. +p375 +aVWe also want to thank our host, the University of New Hampshire, and the people of New Hampshire. You guys get to vote in just five days. I can't wait to see how it turns out. Don't screw up. +p376 +asVTAPPER +p377 +(lp378 +VI'm Jake Tapper. We're live at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California for the main event. Round 2 of CNN's presidential debate starts now. The eleven leading Republican candidates for president are at their podiums. They are ready to face off, and if you've been watching this race, you know anything could happen over the next few hours. To viewers who are just joining us, welcome to the Air Force One Pavilion of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Our thanks to the staff here and especially to former first lady Nancy Reagan for this impressive setting with Ronald Reagan's presidential plane as our backdrop. This debate is airing on CNN networks in the United States and around the world. It's also being broadcast on the Salem Radio Network. I know everyone is very eager to get started. But first, I want to explain the ground rules tonight. My name is Jake Tapper. I'll be the moderator. I will be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt. He worked in the Reagan administration for six years. And by CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. I will ask follow-up questions, I will attempt to guide the discussion. Candidates, I will try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have one minute to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you've been singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. These 11 Republicans are positioned on the stage based on their ranking in recent national polls. Our goal for this evening is a debate. A true debate, with candidates addressing each other in areas where they differ. Where they disagree \u2014 on policy, on politics, on leadership. Now, let's begin. I'd like to invite each candidate to take 30 seconds to introduce him or herself to our audience. First to you, Senator Paul. +p379 +aVSenator Cruz? +p380 +aVThank you one and all for being here. There are many important policy issues facing our nation. We're going to get to many of them tonight, but I do want to start off with some current events in the news, and also some of the comments the candidates have recently made on the campaign trail. Mrs. Fiorina, I want to start with you. Fellow Republican candidate, and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, has suggested that your party's frontrunner, Mr. Donald Trump, would be dangerous as President. He said he wouldn't want, quote, "such a hot head with his finger on the nuclear codes." You, as well, have raised concerns about Mr. Trump's temperament. You've dismissed him as an entertainer. Would you feel comfortable with Donald trump's finger on the nuclear codes? +p381 +aVYou didn't answer my question. Would you feel comfortable with Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear codes? It's an issue that one of your fellow candidates has raised. +p382 +aVMr. Trump? +p383 +aVMr. \u2014 Senator Paul, your name has been invoked. +p384 +aVMr. Trump? +p385 +aVI want to \u2014 I want to give Mr. Trump... +p386 +aV... Mr. Trump, I want to give you another chance \u2014 Mr. Trump, I want to give you a chance to respond to something that your rival to your left, Governor Bush, said. Governor Bush told me last week when I read him the quote from Governor Jindal that he agrees you're not a serious candidate. Tell Governor Bush why you are a serious candidate and what your qualifications are to be commander-in-chief. +p387 +aVGovernor Bush, would you feel comfortable with Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear codes? +p388 +aVGovernor Walker? +p389 +aVLet's move on. +p390 +aVA phenomenon going on in the race right now is the political... OK, Governor Kasich, go ahead. +p391 +aVWe have a lot of issues coming up, sir. +p392 +aVWe are getting to the issues, sir. Phenomenon going on in the race is the political outsiders in the race, Dr. Carson, Donald Trump, Carly Fiorina, all together, have majority support in the polls. Governor Christie, I want to ask you about something that Dr. Carson said the other day. Dr. Carson said campaigning is easier for him, because he's not a politician. He can just tell the truth, therefore, while politicians, quote, "Have their finger in the air to see and do what is politically expedient." Governor Christie, tell Dr. Carson, is that a fair description of you? +p393 +aVWell, let's find out. Thank you. +p394 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. Dr. Carson, who were you thinking about on this stage when you said that? +p395 +aVAnd more broadly, is experience in government not important for a president to have? +p396 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p397 +aVThank you. +p398 +aVThank you. Thank you Ms. Fiorina. Governor Bush, in addition to the fact that he's an outsider, one of the reasons Mr. Trump is a frontrunner, Republican voters say, is because they like the fact that he is not bought and paid for by wealthy donors. Mr. Trump has repeatedly said that the $100 million you've raised for your campaign makes you a puppet for your donors. Are you? +p399 +aVIs there anything else you want to say about this? +p400 +aVGovernor \u2014 +p401 +aVSure Dr. Carson. +p402 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Let's move to Russia if we could. Russia is sending troops and tanks into Syria right now to prop up a U.S. enemy, Bashar al-Assad. President Obama's incoming top general says, quote, "Russia presents the greatest threat to our national security." Mr. Trump, you say you can do business with President Vladimir Putin, you say you will get along, quote, "very well." What would you do right now if you were president, to get the Russians out of Syria? +p403 +aVSo, you \u2014 just to clarify, the only answer I heard to the question I asked is that you would \u2014 you would reach out to Vladimir Putin, and you would do what? You would... +p404 +aVSenator Rubio, you've taken a very different approach to the \u2014 the question of Russia. You've called Vladimir Putin a, quote, "gangster." Why would President Rubio's approach be more effective than President Trump's? +p405 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. +p406 +aVI want to bring in Carly Fiorina. +p407 +aVMs. Fiorina, you have met... +p408 +aV...yeah, you've met Vladimir Putin. Yes. +p409 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p410 +aVThank you. +p411 +aVThank you. Thank you, Ms. Fiorina. While you're \u2014 while you brought up the subject of General Suleimani of the Quds forces from Iran, the next president, no matter who he or she may be, will inherit President Obama's Iran deal. Senator Cruz, Governor Kasich says that anyone who is promising to rip up the Iran deal on day one, as you have promised to do, is, quote, "inexperienced," and, quote, "playing to a crowd." Respond to Governor Kasich, please. +p412 +aVWhy is that not, as Governor Kasich says, playing to the crowd and an example of you being inexperienced? +p413 +aVGovernor Kasich... +p414 +aV...Did Senator Cruz just play to the crowd? +p415 +aV...Thank you, Governor. I want to go to Senator Paul. +p416 +aVI want to go to Senator Paul. Senator Paul, the White House is rolling out the red carpet next week for the President of China, President Xi. Governor Walker says that President Obama should cancel the state dinner because of China's currency manipulation, and because of China's alleged cyber attacks against the United States. Is Governor Walker right? +p417 +aVGovernor Walker, Senator Paul seemed to suggest... +p418 +aV...that canceling the state dinner would be rash, and reckless. +p419 +aV...Governor Bush... +p420 +aVGovernor Bush, your father was the chief diplomatic envoy to China back when Nixon opened relations to China. Is Scott Walker's approach the right one, canceling the state dinner? +p421 +aVI want to turn... +p422 +aV...I want to turn to Governor Huckabee who has been very patient. Somebody had to be 11th, and he is, but, I do want to change the subject to the event that you had... +p423 +aV... however you want, but I want to ask this question. +p424 +aVAll right, sir, go ahead. +p425 +aVOK. ( +p426 +aVWe're going to turn now to Hugh Hewitt, from Salem Radio Network. +p427 +aVThank you, Senator Paul. I want to turn now to my colleague Dana Bash. +p428 +aVThat would be fair, you're right. You're the third senator. +p429 +aVWe're going to go to Dana Bash... +p430 +aVSenator Cruz? +p431 +aVThank you, Senator. +p432 +aVThank you, Senator. +p433 +aVThank you, Senator. I want to... +p434 +aV... turn back to Governor Huckabee... +p435 +aVI want to turn back to Governor Huckabee. Governor Huckabee, last week, you held a rally for a county clerk in Kentucky who was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, as I don't need to tell you. You've called what happened to Kim Davis, that clerk, "an example of the criminalization of Christianity." There are several people on the stage who disagree with you. Governor Bush, for example, says that that clerk is sworn to uphold the law. Is Governor Bush on the wrong side of the criminalization of Christianity? +p436 +aVThank you, Governor. +p437 +aVWell, I'm not telling you that, Governor. But Governor Bush is, because he \u2014 because he disagrees. He thinks that Kim Davis swore to uphold the law. You disagree? You're not \u2014 you don't... +p438 +aVOK. Please do. +p439 +aVYou did... +p440 +aVGovernor, you said, quote, "she is sworn to uphold the law." +p441 +aVLet me go to my colleague Dana Bash, who has a question. +p442 +aVDana, I want to continue on the subject. Governor Bush, you recently said while discussing Planned Parenthood, quote, you're "not sure we need a half billion for women's health issues." Now you've since said that you misspoke, you didn't mean to say "women's health issues." But Donald Trump said that quote, that comment, which Hillary Clinton did seize upon immediately, will haunt you the same way Mitt Romney's 47 percent video haunted him. Tell Donald Trump why he's wrong. +p443 +aVThank you, Governor Bush. Donald Trump, let me just... +p444 +aVThe quote was, "I'm not sure we need half a billion dollars for women's health issues." He said he misspoke. You said that that's going to haunt him. Why do you think that? +p445 +aVGovernor Bush? +p446 +aVI want to \u2014 we're going to get to \u2014 +p447 +aVThank you, Governor. +p448 +aVThank you, Governor. +p449 +aVWe're going to \u2014 we're going to get to many of these issues. This \u2014 we're still in the first block, believe it or not. We're going to get to many of these issues, but before we end this block, Ms. Fiorina, I do want to ask you about this. In an interview last week in Rolling Stone magazine, Donald Trump said the following about you. Quote, "Look at that face. Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?" Mr. Trump later said he was talking about your persona, not your appearance. Please feel free to respond what you think about his persona. +p450 +aVAll right. On that note, in less than two minutes \u2014 we're going to take a very quick break. In less than two minutes, the most contentious issue on the campaign trail. And the candidates on the stage are split over how to handle it. That's coming up next. Please give some applause to the candidates. +p451 +aVWelcome to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate. No topic perhaps has been more combustible in this campaign than the issue of immigration. Mr. Trump, you have called for deporting every undocumented immigrant, Governor Christie has said, quote, "There are not enough law enforcement officers \u2014 local, county, state and federal combined \u2014 to forcibly deport 11 to 12 million people." Tell Governor Christie how much your plan will cost, and how you will get it done. +p452 +aVGovernor Christie, you and I have talked about this in an interview. You say that his big wall, his plan to deport 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants, it sounds great, but it's never going to happen. Tell him why you're skeptical of his plans? +p453 +aVThank you, Governor Christie... +p454 +aVI want to bring in Dr. Carson because he too has been skeptical of your plan to immediately deport 11 to 12 million illegal immigrants. He said, quote, "People who say that have no idea what this entails." Why do you say that, Dr. Carson? +p455 +aV...Dr. Carson... +p456 +aVWith all due respect, you said about Donald Trump's plan to deport 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants, "People who say that have no idea what this entails." Why not? +p457 +aV...let's continue the conversation about illegal immigration with Dana Bash. +p458 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Senator Cruz \u2014 Senator Cruz, this week, we learned more about Dr. Carson's plan for the 11 million to 12 million undocumented immigrants in this country. Dr. Carson proposed giving these undocumented immigrants a six- month grace period to pay back taxes then to let them become guest workers and only to deport people who failed to do that. +p459 +aVWell, how would you say it, sir? I was just reading the Wall Street Journal quote, but please tell us. +p460 +aVOK, from the horse's mouth, Senator Cruz, does that fit your definition of amnesty? +p461 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Rubio... +p462 +aV... I'm not sure... +p463 +aVWe'll come back to you \u2014 we'll come back to you in one second, sir. But Senator Rubio, I'm not sure exactly whose plan he's \u2014 he's saying is \u2014 constitutes amnesty, but I know he has said it about your plan in the past, so I want to give you a chance to respond, then, Dr. Carson, we'll come to you. +p464 +aVThank you, Senator. +p465 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator \u2014 Dr. Carson... ... I want to give you 30 seconds. I'd like you to answer the question. Senator Cruz describes plans such as yours as amnesty. Why is your plan not amnesty? +p466 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. I want to talk about the issue of birthright citizenship, which \u2014 which has emerged since the first debate as \u2014 as an a \u2014 a major issue in this campaign. Mr. Trump, you say that babies born in the United States to undocumented immigrants should not any longer get automatic American citizenship. Ms. Fiorina says that you are pandering on this issue and acting like the politicians that you rail against. What's your message to Ms. Fiorina on birthright citizenship? +p467 +aVMs. Fiorina, the vast majority of countries do not have birthright citizenship... ...Donald Trump is right about that. Why is it pandering when he's \u2014 he says this? +p468 +aVMs. Fiorina... +p469 +aVPlease. +p470 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p471 +aVThank you. +p472 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Mr. Trump, I want to give you the chance to respond... +p473 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. Senator Paul... +p474 +aVSenator Paul, I want to bring you in. Where \u2014 where do you stand on the issue of birthright citizenship? +p475 +aVAll right. Senator Paul, thank you so much. Let's turn to a new topic. We've received a lot of questions on social media about the economy and about jobs. We have two CEOs on stage right now. Ms. Fiorina, you were CEO of Hewlett Packard. Donald Trump says you, quote, "ran HP into the ground," you laid off tens of thousands of people, you got viciously fired. For voters looking to somebody with private-sector experience to create American jobs, why should they pick you and not Donald Trump? +p476 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p477 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p478 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 Mr. Trump, why would you be better at creating jobs than Carly Fiorina? +p479 +aVMs. Fiorina, I want to give you a chance to respond. +p480 +aVMr. Trump. +p481 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. +p482 +aVGovernor Christie's name has been invoked. I'd like to give him a 30 second opportunity. +p483 +aVMs. Fiorina, I want to give you +p484 +aVGovernor Kasich, I'm coming to you next, but Ms. Fiorina's name was mentioned, and I have to give her the opportunity to respond if she wants it. +p485 +aVThank you. +p486 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Kasich, I want to come \u2014 I'm coming to you. I'm coming to you. Let me ask the question. You can use the time however you want. +p487 +aVDonald Trump says that the hedge fund guys are getting away with murder by paying a lower tax rate. He wants to raise the taxes of hedge fund managers, as does Governor Bush. Do you agree? +p488 +aVThank you, Governor. +p489 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. +p490 +aVGovernor Huckabee, I want to bring you in on the question of hedge fund managers and taxing them. You have said that you are bothered by the fact that hedge fund managers pay such a low tax rate and make 2,500 times what people who work for them make. Do you agree with what Donald Trump and Governor Bush have proposed, raising their tax rates? +p491 +aVThank you, Governor. Dr. Carson, you support scrapping the entire tax code and replacing it with a flat tax based on the principal on tithing from the Bible. If you make $10 billion, you pay $1 billion in taxes, if you make $10, you pay $1 in taxes. Donald Trump believes in progressive taxation. He says it's not right that rich people pay the same as the poor. Tell Donald Trump why his ideas on taxes are wrong. +p492 +aVMr. Trump... +p493 +aV...What do you think of the flat tax? Do you think it's fair? +p494 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. Senator Paul? +p495 +aVGovernor Walker, I want to go to you. Dr. Carson wants to raise the Federal Minimum Wage, you have called it a lame idea. Why is raising the Federal Minimum Wage lame? +p496 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p497 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p498 +aVDr. Carson, Governor Walker didn't really answer the question, but I'll let you respond. He called raising the Federal Minimum Wage lame, what do you think of that? +p499 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson... +p500 +aVLet me bring in our partner from Salem Radio Network, Hugh Hewitt. +p501 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate. Let's turn to some issues now in foreign policy. Mr. Trump, Senator Rubio said it was, quote, "very concerning to him" that in a recent interview you didn't seem to know the details about some of the enemies the U.S. faces. Rubio said, if you don't know the answers to those questions, you will not be able to serve as commander-in-chief. Please respond to Senator Rubio. +p502 +aVSenator Rubio? +p503 +aVMr. Trump? Senator Rubio seemed to be suggesting that you don't know information that... +p504 +aVAll right. Senator Rubio. +p505 +aVBut are you saying that you have the knowledge to be the president that Mr. Trump does not have? +p506 +aVMr. Trump? +p507 +aVSenator Rubio, he did invoke your absentee record in the Senate. +p508 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. I want to turn now to Hugh Hewitt. +p509 +aVThank you, Governor. +p510 +aVSenator... +p511 +aVSenator Paul? +p512 +aVSenator Paul... +p513 +aVThank you, Senator Paul... +p514 +aVThank you, Senator Paul... +p515 +aVI understand that Governor Bush's name has been invoked, and then we can go to you, Senator Rubio. +p516 +aVThank you, Governor. +p517 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Rubio? +p518 +aVThank you, Senator. +p519 +aVDr. Carson? +p520 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p521 +aVI mean, it is interesting that you say that, because I want to ask Governor Christie about something else that you have said. Governor Christie, we just marked the 14th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Now Dr. Carson has said that if he had been president at the time, the United States would not have gone to war in Afghanistan. What does that say to you about how Dr. Carson would respond as president if America were attacked again? +p522 +aVDr. Carson? +p523 +aV... Governor Christie. +p524 +aVDr. Carson? +p525 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p526 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p527 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee. +p528 +aVThank you, Governor. +p529 +aVThank you, governor, I want to turn to +p530 +aVGovernor Walker, there is a big debate now, we have been talking about +p531 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Paul, I want to go to you, because you have said that the boots on the ground to fight +p532 +aVThank you, Senator. We're going to turn to some domestic issues now. I want to bring in my colleague, Dana Bash. +p533 +aVSure.... +p534 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p535 +aV...Thank you, Governor. Dana Bash... +p536 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina... +p537 +aV...Thank you, we're going to turn now to domestic issues with Dana Bash. +p538 +aV...Dana Bash... +p539 +aVThank you. Dana Bash? +p540 +aVThank you, Senator. +p541 +aV...Governor Bush... +p542 +aV...I want to let you respond. +p543 +aVThank you, Governor... ...And, that's what we should do, and I hope I'll be working members of the United States Senate to fight hard for the passage of people that have that kind of qualification. +p544 +aVSenator Cruz, 30 seconds. +p545 +aVThank you, Senator. +p546 +aVThank you, Semator. +p547 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee, I want to bring you in very quickly if you could. Will you have a litmus test when it comes to appointing Supreme Court nominees? +p548 +aVThank you, Governor. +p549 +aVThank you, Governor. +p550 +aVThank you, Governor. We're going to take a quick break. Coming up, one of the hottest questions that you have been asking us via social media. We will pose it to the candidates. That's coming up right after this. +p551 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican presidential debate at the Reagan Library here in Simi Valley \u2014 Simi Valley, California. Many people on social media wanted us to ask about marijuana legalization. Senator Paul, Governor Christie recently said, quote, "if you're getting high in Colorado today," where marijuana has been legalized, "enjoy it until January 2017, because I will enforce the federal laws against marijuana." Will you? +p552 +aVI want to give that \u2014 I want to give the person that you called a hypocrite an opportunity to respond. Do you want to identify that person? +p553 +aVIs there somebody you were specifically thinking of? +p554 +aVThat's what I though, but I wanted to say it. +p555 +aVOK. +p556 +aVGovernor Bush, please. +p557 +aVI want to go right now \u2014 I want to go right now... +p558 +aVThat's true. Go ahead, Christie, please. +p559 +aVYou may respond, and then I'll bring in you, Ms. Fiorina. +p560 +aVYes, Senator Paul. +p561 +aVI want to bring in Ms. Fiorina \u2014 I want to bring in Ms. Fiorina on this issue. +p562 +aVHugh \u2014 Hugh, I'd like to... +p563 +aVI'd like to turn it over \u2014 I'd like to turn to Dana Bush. +p564 +aVThank you, Governor. +p565 +aVI'm coming to you right now on a separate issue, sir. We received... ( +p566 +aVWe received a lot of questions from social media about climate change. Senator Rubio, Ronald Reagan's secretary of state, George Shultz, reminds us that when Reagan was president he faced a similar situation to the one that we're facing now. There were dire warnings from the mass consensus of the scientific community about the ozone layer shrinking. Shultz says Ronald Reagan urged skeptics in industry to come up with a plan. He said, do it as an insurance policy in case the scientists are right. The scientists were right. Reagan and his approach worked. Secretary Shultz asks, why not take out an insurance policy and approach climate change the Reagan way? +p567 +aVI'm citing George Shultz. +p568 +aVGovernor Christie, you have said that climate change is real, and that humans help contribute to it. Without getting into the issue of China versus the United States, which I understand you've talked about before, what do you make of skeptics of climate change such as Senator Rubio? +p569 +aVJust for the record, I was citing Secretary of State George Shultz, Ronald Reagan's secretary of state who I don't think anybody would call him left-wing. +p570 +aVI called you a skeptic. +p571 +aVI want to go another question right now. +p572 +aVThank you, Governor. +p573 +aVI'm turning to... +p574 +aV...I'm turning to another \u2014 I'm turning to another issue right now. Senator Cruz. Well, I think we've heard from several this evening. A backlash against vaccines was blamed for a measles outbreak here in California. Dr. Carson, Donald Trump has publicly and repeatedly linked vaccines, childhood vaccines, to autism, which, as you know, the medical community adamantly disputes. You're a pediatric neurosurgeon. Should Mr. Trump stop saying this? +p575 +aVShould he stop saying it? Should he stop saying that vaccines cause autism? +p576 +aVMr. Trump, as president, you would... +p577 +aVI'm going right to you. +p578 +aVMr. Trump, as president, you would be in charge of the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health, both of which say you are wrong. How would you handle this as president? +p579 +aVThank you. +p580 +aVDr. \u2014 Dr. Carson? +p581 +aVDr. Carson, you just heard his medical take. +p582 +aVDr. Paul? Dr. Paul, I'd like to bring you in. +p583 +aVAlright, thank you so much... +p584 +aVComing up \u2014 I'm sorry, Governor Huckabee, please. +p585 +aVThank you, Governor. +p586 +aVWe have to take another quick break. Coming up, Ronald Reagan looming large over this debate. So how Reaganesque exactly are these Republicans? We will find out next. +p587 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California. We have a few last questions for you. Two of them a little lighthearted, the other one more serious. We'll start with one of the more light questions. Senator Paul, I'm going to start with you and we're just going to go down the line. Earlier this year, the Treasury Department announced that a woman will appear on the $10 bill. What woman would you like to see on the $10 bill? +p588 +aVGovernor Huckabee? +p589 +aVSenator Paul (sic). +p590 +aVI'm sorry. Senator Rubio? +p591 +aVJust the senators. +p592 +aVSenator Cruz? +p593 +aVDr. Carson? +p594 +aVMr. Trump. +p595 +aVGovernor Bush. +p596 +aVGovernor Walker. +p597 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p598 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p599 +aVGovernor Christie. +p600 +aVAlright. Some good entries if anybody at the mint was listening. Here's the next lighthearted question, you all know that the United States Secret Service uses codenames for the president, and his family. Ronald Reagan's codename, for example, was, "Rawhide", an homage to his performances in Westerns. Nancy Reagan's was, "Rainbow". You don't have to come up the one for your spouse, but, what would you want, Governor Christie, I'll start with you, your Secret Service codename to be. +p601 +aVGovernor Walker? +p602 +aVMr. Trump? +p603 +aVDr. Carson? +p604 +aVSenator Cruz? +p605 +aVSenator Rubio? +p606 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p607 +aVSenator Paul. +p608 +aVThat's a mouthful, but OK. OK, here's the more serious question, Ronald Reagan, the 40th President, used the plane behind you to accomplish a great many things. Perhaps, most notably, to challenge Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the wall, and ultimately, to make peace with the +p609 +aVThat concludes this Republican presidential debate. On behalf of everyone here at CNN, we want to thank the candidates, the Reagan Library, and the Republican National Committee. Thank you, also, to Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash. The next presidential debate will also be right here on CNN, among the Democratic candidates, who will face off for the first time on October the 13th. That debate, a partnership with Facebook, will be moderated by my colleague, Anderson Cooper. And Anderson picks up our coverage of tonight's debate right now. Before I throw to Anderson, let's have one final round of applause for the candidates. +p610 +asVQUESTION +p611 +(lp612 +VMy name is Ashley Tofil. Ms. Fiorina, in November, you said that you would not talk to Vladimir Putin after you were elected because you would be communicating from a position of weakness. Do you believe that it is feasible to not communicate with another world leader? And do you think that that also is a sign of weakness? +p613 +aVMy name is Carla Hernandez. I'm from the University of Texas at Austin. And my question is directed to all the candidates. If the Bible clearly states that we need to embrace those in need and not fear, how can we justify not accepting refugees? +p614 +asVCAVUTO +p615 +(lp616 +VIt is 9:00 p.m. on the East Coast, 8:00 p.m. here inside the Milwaukee theater. Welcome to the Republican presidential debate here on the Fox Business Network. I'm Neil Cavuto, alongside my co-moderators, Maria Bartiromo, and the editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal, Gerard Baker. +p617 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. +p618 +aVIt sounds like a game show but it's not. Now I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the elephant in the room, and I'm not talking about your party's fine symbol. I'm talking about the purpose of tonight's debate. The economy and what each of you would do to improve it. No more, no less. We are focused on those issues, and what you have said on those issues in your words and what your opponents have said in their words about your words. That is the agenda tonight. How each of you plans to make America better tomorrow. And so we begin. Candidates, as we gather tonight in this very august theater, just outside and across the country, picketers are gathering as well. They're demanding an immediate hike in the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Just a few hours ago, near Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed doing the same for all state workers, the first governor to do so. Mr. Trump, as the leading presidential candidate on this stage and one whose tax plan exempts couples making up to $50,000 a year from paying any federal income taxes at all, are you sympathetic to the protesters cause since a $15 wage works out to about $31,000 a year? +p619 +aVSo do not raise the minimum wage? +p620 +aVDr. Carson, you have long bemoaned this lackluster recovery. And this Facebook map show Americans share your concern. The green represents how the jobs issue is resonating all across the nation, especially here in the state of Wisconsin. You suggested one minimum wage does not fit all, and that perhaps we should offer a lower or starter wage for young people. Those protesters outside are looking for $15 and nothing less. Where are you? +p621 +aVSo, sir, just to be clear, you would not raise it? +p622 +aVSenator Rubio, you called the recent Democratic debate in Las Vegas a night of giveaways, including free health care, free college and a host of other government-paid benefits. Since you aren't a fan of all they're giving away, tell us tonight what you would take back. +p623 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. +p624 +aVAll right. We're only just getting started. Coming up, your taxes. Stick around. You're watching FOX Business +p625 +aVWelcome back to the Milwaukee Theater and the Republican presidential debate. Let's get right back to our questions. Dr. Carson, to you. You recently railed against the double- standard in the media, sir, that seems obsessed with inconsistencies and potential exaggerations in your life story, but looked the other way when it came to then-Senator Barack Obama's. Still, as a candidate whose brand has always been trust, are you worried your campaign \u2014 which you've always said, sir, is bigger than you \u2014 is now being hurt by you? +p626 +aVI'll just forget that follow-up there. +p627 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p628 +aVAlright, thank you. We're going to take a break here. Coming up, a big issue many Americans are facing, taxes. The Republican Presidential Debate continues now, live, from Milwaukee. +p629 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from Milwaukee. Let's get back to the questions. And we want to touch on obviously one of the biggest of this issue in this year, taxes. And this will go to several of you. One of the biggest economic concerns of course in the country are taxes. Facebook data certainly backs that up. Once again the green on this map that we're going to see here shows how the conversation around taxes is resonating across the nation, especially here in Wisconsin. First off, Dr. Carson, to you. You say you are in favor of a tax system, I guess akin to tithing, sir, with a flat tax rate of up to 15 percent because you said, if everybody pays this, I think God is a pretty fair guy, so tithing is a pretty fair process. But Donald Trump says that is not fair. That wealthier taxpayers should pay a higher rate because it's a fair thing to do. So whose plan would God endorse then, Doctor? Yours or Mr. Trump's? +p630 +aVRight. +p631 +aVThank you very much. Senator Paul, you said you want to blow up the tax code and start over with an across-the-board 14.5 percent fair and flat tax. You happily offered that it is not revenue neutral and that's the idea. You want to choke off the amount of money coming into Washington. But don't you risk, sir, creating a near-term budget crisis just as your presidency would be beginning? +p632 +aVThere are no deductions on your \u2014 under your plan? +p633 +aVThank you, Senator. +p634 +aVSenator Paul... Senator Paul, you have already said, sir, that that would be a mistake in not talking to Vladimir Putin, or to rule it out. You've argued that it's never a good idea to close down communication. With that in mind, do you think the same applies to administration efforts right now to include the Iranians in talks on Syria? +p635 +aV...Well, then how would you respond? +p636 +aVBut if you're not going to respond in a no-fly zone strategy, what would yours be? +p637 +aVAll right. And look at the time, look at the time. You are watching FOX Business, we'll take a break. Stick around. +p638 +aVSenator Cruz \u2014 and I will get to you \u2014 but, Senator Cruz, on that theme, Facebook data shows that over the last month alone, nearly 1 million people \u2014 nearly 1 million \u2014 have been concerned about reining in Wall Street, apparently believing that some have not been punished enough. So, as an accomplished litigator yourself and a former solicitor general, would you go after the very people who believe and fear that Wall Street has ignored, in other words, the crooks that Bernie Sanders say have gotten away with a financial murder? +p639 +aVSenator......Senator, I really want to be clear here. Are you saying, sir, that if Bank of America were on the brink, you would let it fail? +p640 +aVSir, I understand that. I just want to be clear, if you don't mind, that millions of depositors would be on the line with that decision. And I just want to be clear. If it were to happen again, for whatever the reason, you would let it go, you would let a Bank of America go? +p641 +aVOK, I think it's fair to say you're not fans of Hillary Clinton's resume. Alright, Mr. Trump.... +p642 +aVI had a feeling. Perhaps the most successful capitalist on this stage tonight, you've acknowledged that some give capitalism a bad name. You've been particularly critical of businesses that find all sorts of ways of paying their taxes by keeping money abroad, but your own plan includes an incentive to bring \u2014 that more the $2 trillion dollars home. Isn't that, like, a one-time bounty... +p643 +aV...Some of the guys you all but call pirates, so they still keep the loot, and pay only a price to bring it back. +p644 +aV...Alright, gentlemen, I know you want to \u2014 and I want to, be we also promised to get people home tonight, and we are going to take a quick break here. I think it is fair to say at this juncture that you can discuss these issues, and only business issues, but still keep it interesting. Stick around for these candidates closing statements. +p645 +aVSenator Marco Rubio? +p646 +aVDr. Ben Carson? +p647 +aVDonald Trump? +p648 +aVCandidates, we want to thank you all. We also appreciate your helping save time by talking over one another at times. That was welcomed. But by all means, it was a very riveting debate. Business issues can be \u2014 can be riveting, because it wasn't about us, it's about them. +p649 +aVThat'll do it. Thank you for joining us. +p650 +asVBLITZER +p651 +(lp652 +VWelcome to the CNN-Facebook Republican presidential debate here at the Venetian Las Vegas. We have a very enthusiastic audience. Everyone is here. They're looking forward to a serious and spirited discussion about the security of this nation. I'm Wolf Blitzer, your moderator tonight. This debate is airing on CNN networks here in the United States and around the world, and on the Salem Radio Network. The nine leading candidates, they are here. Let's welcome them right now. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Businessman and real estate developer Donald Trump. Retired neurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. And Ohio Governor John Kasich. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome these Republican candidates for president of the United States. This is the final Republican debate before the election year begins, and we're taking a moment for the photographs of the candidates together on the stage. Now, everyone, please rise for the national anthem sung by Ayla Brown. +p653 +aVI know everyone is eager to get started. So, candidates, please take your places while I explain the ground rules for tonight. As moderator, I'll guide the discussion, and I'll be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt and CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. We also asked Republicans and independents nationwide to share their questions for the candidates. We teamed up with Facebook to send a campaign camper across the country over the past several weeks. Thousands of people stepped inside and recorded their questions on video. Millions more have weighed in on Facebook. Candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have a minute and 15 seconds to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you're singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know that we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. And as the candidates requested, a bell will sound like this. We know you are all eager to jump in and debate these important issues, so, please, wait until you're called on. These nine Republicans are positioned on stage based on their ranking in the recent polls, so let's begin right now. I'd like to invite each candidate to introduce himself or herself to our audience. You'll have one minute. First to you, Senator Paul. +p654 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p655 +aVGovernor Christie? +p656 +aVMs. Fiorina? +p657 +aVGovernor Bush? +p658 +aVSenator Rubio? +p659 +aVSenator Cruz. +p660 +aVDr. Carson. +p661 +aVMr. Trump. +p662 +aVThank you. Since you last debated, Americans have witnessed terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino. The FBI director says the country now faces the greatest terror threat since 9/11. You all have different approaches to keeping the country safe. And that will be the focus of tonight's debate. Mr. Trump, as you mentioned in your opening statement, part of your strategy is to focus in on America's borders. To keep the country safe, you say you want to temporarily ban non-American Muslims from coming to the United States; ban refugees fleeing +p663 +aVGovernor Bush, you called Mr. Trump "unhinged" when he proposed banning non-American Muslims from the United States. Why is that unhinged? +p664 +aVMr. Trump? +p665 +aVSenator Rubio \u2014 I'm going to go to Senator Rubio and get his thoughts. You have said banning Muslims is unconstitutional. But according to a recent ABC News-Washington Post poll, a majority of Republicans support Mr. Trump's idea. Why are they wrong? +p666 +aVHugh Hewitt, you have a question. +p667 +aVGovernor Christie, Americans are clearly more afraid today than at any time since 9/11. As you mentioned in your opening statement, today in Los Angeles, 650 schoolchildren didn't go to \u2014 650,000 schoolchildren didn't go to school because of an e-mail threat, this two weeks after an attack killed 14 people in San Bernardino. Is this the new normal? And if so, what steps would you take as president of the United States to ensure that fear does not paralyze America? +p668 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, one of the killers in San Bernardino was an American who was not on anyone's watch list. How are you going to find that radicalized person and stop another such attack? +p669 +aVThank you. Dana Bash, you have the next question. +p670 +aVThank you. Dr. Carson, you're in favor of monitoring mosques and schools where there is anti-America sentiment, what do you consider anti- America? +p671 +aVDr. Carson, who was right in that little debate that we just heard between Senator Rubio and Senator Paul? +p672 +aVHold on a sec, we have a lot more to come and everybody's going to have their full opportunity. Governor Bush, six days after 9/11 your brother visited a mosque and said quote, "Islam is peace." The conversation tonight is about banning Muslims and surveillance of mosques, are President Bush's words still relevant in today's Republican party? +p673 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you pointed out you were a CEO in Silicon Valley on 9/11. Companies there, they say they won't help the FBI now crack encrypted communication from +p674 +aVBut my question was: Should these Silicon Valley companies be forced to cooperate with the FBI? +p675 +aVMr. Trump, you recently suggested closing that Internet up, those were your words, as a way to stop +p676 +aVLet me follow up, Mr. Trump. So, are you open to closing parts of the Internet? +p677 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, is shutting down any part of the Internet a good idea? +p678 +aVThank you, Governor. The fight against radical Islamic terrorists and +p679 +aVThank you. To be clear, Senator Cruz, would you carpet bomb Raqqa, the +p680 +aVThank you. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you've been critical of Senator Cruz's strategy. You say his voting record doesn't match his rhetoric. Why? +p681 +aVBecause I asked the question, Senator, because you said this. You said he, referring to Senator Cruz, voted against the Defense Authorization Act every year that it came up, and I assume that if he voted against it, he would veto it as president. That's the bill that funds our troops. +p682 +aVSenator Cruz? +p683 +aVSenator Rubio. +p684 +aVWe are going to have much more on this... +p685 +aVWe're going to have much more on this. But I want to move now back to Mr. Trump. +p686 +aVHold on. Hold on. Hold on. +p687 +aVWe have a lot... +p688 +aVWe have a lot to discuss. I want to move to Mr. Trump right now. We have a question on this war against +p689 +aVMr. Trump. +p690 +aVGovernor Bush. Governor Bush. +p691 +aVMr. Trump. +p692 +aVJust one at a time, go ahead... +p693 +aVGo ahead, Mr. Trump. +p694 +aVGovernor Bush, please. +p695 +aVOne at a time. +p696 +aVGovernor Bush. +p697 +aVThank you. +p698 +aVAll right. Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash, Hugh, go ahead with the next question. +p699 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Rubio? Let's continue this conversation. This is a critically important issue. +p700 +aVWe will get to \u2014 we have a lot of time, Ms. Fiorina. I want to get to Senator Rubio right now. Let's talk about, one of the aspects of your strategy, you say the only way to defeat +p701 +aVThank you, Senator. Stand by. Ms. Fiorina, the former defense secretary, Bob Gates, says the chances of getting Sunni-Arab forces on the ground to get the job done, his words, "chances very remote." What's your strategy? +p702 +aVThank you. Governor Christie, what's your strategy? +p703 +aVDr. Carson, what is your strategy? +p704 +aVThank you. Everyone stand by. We're only just beginning. Coming up, which candidates on this stage tonight want to move foreign policy in a dramatically new direction? We'll be right back. +p705 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate here at the Venetian, Las Vegas. The war against +p706 +aVThank you. +p707 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you supported the removal of Moammar Gadhafi in Libya. Now that country is in turmoil, as +p708 +aVSenator Cruz? +p709 +aVStandby. Everybody standby for a moment. Governor Kasich, go ahead. +p710 +aVThank you. +p711 +aVWe're going to talk about Assad in a moment. Mr. Trump, are Americans safer with dictators running the world in the Middle East? +p712 +aVThank you. Mr. Trump? +p713 +aVAll right. +p714 +aVThank you. +p715 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East... +p716 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East better off with dictators? +p717 +aVGovernor Bush. +p718 +aVHold on Governor Bush., here's the question. You said, "getting rid of Saddam Hussein in your words was a pretty good deal." In light of what has happened in Iraq, do you still feel that way? +p719 +aVSenator Paul, was getting rid of Saddam Hussein a pretty good deal? +p720 +aVThank you. Hugh Hewitt, go ahead. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hugh. +p721 +aVSenator, Senator, we're going to get to you. Wait your turn. We have two hours of debate. We'll have plenty of time. Let Hugh ask his question. +p722 +aVSenator, please. +p723 +aVSenator... +p724 +aVYou'll have plenty of opportunity. Hugh, go ahead. +p725 +aVThese are the rules all of you agreed to. Hugh, go ahead with your question. +p726 +aVLet's continue with Russia right now. We have another question from Facebook. Listen and watch. +p727 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you know, U.S. and Russian warplanes are flying all over Syria right now. With so many lives on the line, is this a good time for the United States not to talk to Putin? +p728 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Christie, if the U.S. imposed a no-fly zone over Syria and a Russian plane encroached, invaded that no-fly zone, would you be prepared to shoot down that Russian plane and risk war with Russia? +p729 +aVSenator Paul \u2014 Senator Paul, I want you to respond to what we just heard from Governor Christie. If there was a no-fly zone, you say that potentially could lead to World War III. Why? +p730 +aVGovernor Christie? +p731 +aVAll right, let's go back \u2014 Hugh and Dana? +p732 +aVOne at a time. Hugh, go ahead. +p733 +aVGovernor, thank you very much. So, Dr. Carson, you recently visited a refugee camp in Jordan and you deemed it your words, "really quite nice." Saying the people there didn't want to come to the United States. Do you think these camps are a long-term solution of the problem of Syrian refugees? +p734 +aVSenator Paul, you oppose letting in Syrian refugees at this time into the United States. The U.S. has already accepted 2,000 Syrian refugees, including 13 living here in Las Vegas right now. Would you send them back? What would you do with these people? +p735 +aVSenator Rubio? +p736 +aVSenator Paul, you didn't answer the question about the 2,000 Syrian refugees who are already here in the United States. Will you send them back or let them stay? +p737 +aVWe have another \u2014 we have another question. We have another question from Facebook. Let's listen. +p738 +aVGovernor Christie, you say there should be a pause in allowing new refugees to come into the United States, including orphans under the age of five. What do you say to Carla? +p739 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p740 +aVThank you, Governor. There is much more coming up. We are only just beginning. Coming up, what other global hot spots await the next president of the United States. +p741 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate. We're here at the Venetian Las Vegas. Tonight we have been focusing on the Middle East, but let's turn to some other world threats that you will potentially face as Commander in Chief. Ms. Fiorina, candidates here have called the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un a maniac who is mentally unstable. Last week he said he now has a hydrogen bomb. If you were elected president, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p742 +aVDr. Carson, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p743 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Dana and Hugh you have questions as well. +p744 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Some of you on this stage have questioned whether your opponents have temperament, the right temperament, to be in control of the nuclear codes. Dana, you have a question on this? +p745 +aVThank you, senator. Thank you. +p746 +aVThank you, Senator. +p747 +aVThank you, Senator. We're a month and a half away now from the first real test who will be the Republican presidential nominee. Hugh, you have a question? +p748 +aVAll right. Candidates, we have more coming up. When we come back, everyone will have an opportunity to explain why this particular candidate, each of you on the stage, believes he or she should be the Republican presidential nominee. +p749 +aVNow it's time for the closing statements from the candidates. Each one has 30 seconds. Senator Paul. +p750 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p751 +aVGovernor Christie. +p752 +aVMs. Fiorina. +p753 +aVGovernor Bush. +p754 +aVSenator Rubio. +p755 +aVSenator Cruz. +p756 +aVDr. Carson. +p757 +aVThanks to all the Republican presidential candidates. That does it for this Republican presidential debate. +p758 +asVFIORINA +p759 +(lp760 +VLike all of you I'm angry. I'm angry at what's happening to our nation. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. Bombastic insults wont take it back. Political rhetoric that promises a lot and delivers little, won't take it back. All of our problems can be solved. All of our wounds can be healed by a tested leader who is willing to fight for the character of our nation. I have been tested. I have beaten breast cancer. I have buried a child. I started as a secretary. I fought my way to the top of corporate America while being called every B word in the book. I fought my way into this election and on to this debate stage while all the political insiders and the pundits told, "it couldn't be done." I've been told, "no,: all my life. And all my life, I've refused to accept no as an answer. Citizens, it is time to take our country back from the political class, from the media, from the liberal elite. It can be done, it must be done, join me and we will get it done. +p761 +aVWhat I think we need to stand for are solutions. I offer myself as a leader to the people of this country because I think they're looking for solutions, not lawyers arguing over laws or entertainers throwing out sound bites that draw media attention. We need to solve the problem. To solve the problem, we need to do something here at home and something over there in their caliphate. We need to deny them territory. But here at home, we need to do two fundamental things. Number one, we need to recognize that technology has moved on. The Patriot Act was signed in 2001, roughly. The iPhone was invented in 2007. The iPad was invented in 2011. Snapchat and Twitter, all the rest of it, have been around just for several years. Technology has moved on, and the terrorists have moved on with it. Let me tell you a story. Soon after 9/11, I got a phone call from the NSA. They needed help. I gave them help. I stopped a truckload of equipment. I had it turned around. It was escorted by the NSA into headquarters. We need the private sector's help, because government is not innovating. Technology is running ahead by leaps and bound. The private sector will help, just as I helped after 9/11. But they must be engaged, and they must be asked. I will ask them. I know them. +p762 +aVYou know, listening to this conversation, let me just say, we have a lot of argument about laws but none of it solves the problem. Let's examine what happened, why did we miss the Tsarnaev brothers, why did we miss the San Bernardino couple? It wasn't because we had stopped collected metadata it was because, I think, as someone who comes from the technology world, we were using the wrong algorithms. This is a place where the private sector could be helpful because the government is woefully behind the technology curve. But secondly, the bureaucratic processes that have been in place since 9/11 are woefully inadequate as well. What do we now know? That DHS vets people by going into databases of known or suspected terrorists. And yet, we also know that +p763 +aVThey do not need to be forced. They need to be asked to bring the best and brightest, the most recent technology to the table. I was asked as a CEO. I complied happily. And they will as well. But they have not been asked. That's why it cost billions of dollars to build an Obama website that failed because the private sector wasn't asked. +p764 +aVI hope at some point you're going to ask me my strategy. +p765 +aVWell, first I'll just point out that talking tough is not the same as being strong. And to wage war, we need a commander in chief who has made tough calls in tough times and stood up to be held accountable over and over, not first-term senators who've never made an executive decision in their life. One of the things I would immediately do, in addition to defeating them here at home, is bring back the warrior class \u2014 Petraeus, McChrystal, Mattis, Keane, Flynn. Every single one of these generals I know. Every one was retired early because they told President Obama things that he didn't want to hear. We must have Sunni-Arabs involved in this coalition. We must commit leadership, strength, support and resolve. I'll just add that Margaret Thatcher once said, "If you want something talked about, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman." +p766 +aVThat is exactly what President Obama said. I'm amazed to hear that from a republican presidential candidate. But let's just start with, who got it wrong? Who really got it wrong? Hillary Clinton has gotten every foreign policy challenge wrong. Hitting the reset button with Vladimir Putin \u2013 recall that she called Bashar Al-Assad a positive reformer and then she opened an embassy and then later she said, over, and over, and over again, "Bashar Al-Assad must go." Although she wasn't prepared to do anything about it. Recall that Hillary Clinton was all for toppling Gadhafi then didn't listen to her own people on the ground. And then of course, when she lied about the terrorist attack in Benghazi, she invited more terrorist attacks. +p767 +aVWe've mismanaged going into Iraq. +p768 +aVWe've mismanaged going out of Iraq. +p769 +aVWe actually... +p770 +aVI didn't say I would cut off all communication with Putin. What I said was as president of the United States, now is not the time to talk with him. Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. There is a time and a place for everything. There is a time and a place for talk. And there is a time and a place for action. I know Vladimir Putin. He respects strength. He lied to our president's face; didn't both to tell him about warplanes and troops going into Syria. We need to speak to him from a position of strength. So as commander in chief, I will not speak to him until we've set up that no-fly zone; until we've gathered our Sunni-Arab allies and begun to deny +p771 +aVThis doesn't do a thing to solve the problems...It doesn't do a thing to solve the problems. +p772 +aVIt will not solve the problem. +p773 +aVLadies and gentleman, this is why the American people are standing up. +p774 +aVThis is why the nation is fed up... +p775 +aVWe have been talking about this... +p776 +aVSorry, but you haven't gotten to me. This is why... +p777 +aVthe people are fed up with the political class. +p778 +aVWell, first, Kim Jong-Un is a dangerous leader, without a doubt. And both Republican and Democrat administrations have been completely ineffective in dealing with him. So we must continue to isolate him. We will need China as part of that strategy. China is a rising adversary. So one of the things we have to do if we want China's support is to push back on China. They, too, recognize one thing \u2014 strength and their own economic interest. I have done business in China for 25 years, so I know that in order to get China to cooperate with us, we must first actually retaliate against their cyber-attacks so they know we're serious. We have to push back on their desire to control the trade route through the South China Sea through which flows $5 trillion worth of goods and services every year. We cannot let them control the disputed islands, and we must work with the Australians, the South Koreans, the Japanese and the Filipinos to contain China. And then we must ask for their support and their help with North Korea. Because believe it or not, China is as concerned about Kim Jong-Un as we are. +p779 +aVI too remember September 11th. I remember immediately putting into place security procedures all throughout our company that did business in 170 countries where we thought corporate interests would be attacked next. To take our country back, to keep our nation safe, we have to begin by beating Hillary Clinton. We need to unify our party. We need to better than our government, which 75 percent of the American people now think is corrupt and incompetent. They're right. We need to better than our politics. 80 percent think we have a professional/political class of both parties that cares more about its power, position and privilege than actually on getting anything done. We need to unify our party, we need a real Conservative in the White House, and we need to beat Hillary Clinton to take our country back and keep our nation safe. I can. I am. And together, if you join me, we will take our country back. +p780 +aVWell, first of all, I must say as I think about that question, I think about a woman I met the other day. I would guess she was 40 years old. She had several children. And she said to me, you know, Carly, I go to bed every night afraid for my children's future. And that really struck me. This is America. A mother is going to bed afraid for her children's future. And the reason she's afraid for her children's future is because we've had problems for a long time. Yes, problems have gotten much worse under Democrats. But the truth is, this government has been growing bigger and bigger, more corrupt, less effective, crushing the engine of economic growth for a very long time. This isn't about just replacing a Democrat with a Republican now. It's about actually challenging the status quo of big government. Big government has created a big business called politics. And there are lots of people invested in the status quo of that big business called politics. Specifically, we need actually to do five things to really get this economy going again. We need to go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dollar is being spent, we can challenge any dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. We need to actually reform the tax code. Go to a three-page tax code. Yes, there are plans that would reform our tax code to three pages. In addition to rolling back what President Obama has done, we need to do a top-to-bottom review of every single regulation on the books. That hasn't been done in 50 years. We need to pass the +p781 +aVWell, first Obamacare has to be repealed because it's failing... ...it's failing the very people it was intended to help, but, also, it is croney-capitalism at its worst. Who helped write this bill? Drug companies, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, every single one of those kinds of companies are bulking up to deal with big government. See, that's what happens. As government gets bigger, and bigger \u2014 and it has been for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike \u2014 and business have to bulk up to deal with big government. So, we have to repeal it. It's tens of thousands of pages long, no one can possible understand it except the big companies, the lawyers, the accountants, the lobbyists that they hire to protect their interests. Then, we have to give back to states the responsibility to manage a high risk pool. We need to try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried. Health insurance has always been a cozy, little game between regulators and health insurance companies. We need to try the free market. The free market. Where people actually have to compete. And, we 'ought to have the government ensure that you must \u2014 and I don't use that term often, that government 'ought to do something, but every healthcare provider 'ought to publish its costs, its prices, its outcomes, because as patients we don't know what we're buying. Now, let me just say \u2014 let me just say, I know more about innovation and entrepreneurship than anyone on this panel because I have led innovative businesses in the most highly competitive industry in the world for decades. The truth is the secret sauce of America is innovation, and entrepreneurship, it is why we must cut our government down to size, and hold it accountable. It's why we have to take our government back, because innovation and entrepreneurship is crushed by the crushing load of a 73,000 page tax code. It is crushed... ...by regulatory thicket that is so vast we don't even know what's in it anymore. It is crushed as well by government bureaucrats who don't do their jobs very well, and who are not held accountable, which is why I've said we got to take our government back, and to do that, we have to know where every dollar being spent, and be able to move any dollar. We have to hack through this regulatory thicket, repeal so much, but, also, know what's in that regulatory thicket \u2014 we don't even know what regulations have been passed. Third, we need to build a meritocracy \u2014 Scott Walker, by the way, is trying now to do in Wisconsin... ...Finally, we need to get to a three page tax code, and, yes, that plan exists. +p782 +aVSorry, I can't hear you. +p783 +aV...Absolutely... +p784 +aV...You need to give... +p785 +aVThe alternative is to allow states to manage high risk pools for those who really need help. Look, I'm a cancer survivor, OK? I understand that you cannot have someone who's battled cancer just become known as a pre-existing condition. I understand that you cannot allow families to go bankrupt if they truly need help. But, I also understand that Obamacare isn't helping anyone. We're throwing more, and more people into Medicaid, and fewer, and fewer doctors are taking those payments. The point is Obamacare is crushing small businesses, it is not helping the families it was intended to help. So, let us allow states to manage high risk pools. Let us try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried, the free market. Let us ensure that as patients, and customers... +p786 +aV...that we have information to shop wisely for our health care. +p787 +aV...Yes, the middle ground is this... +p788 +aV...This is why \u2014 this is why we must combine, actually, zero-based budgeting with tax reform because unless we can examine, and cut, and move, every single dollar of discretionary spending in the federal government, we cannot reform taxes and reduce spending at the same time. Ask yourself this question, how is it possible that the federal government gets more money each and every year, which the federal government has been doing, receiving more money every year for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike, and yet, never has enough money to do the important things? The answer? All the money's always spoken for. All the money's spoken for. So, we have to go to zero-based budgeting, which is a simple idea \u2014 by the way, there's been a bill for zeros-based (ph) budgeting... ...It exists, it can be voted on. Every dollar must be examined. Any dollar can be cut. Any dollar can be cut, any dollar can be moved. We have to go to a three page tax code. You lower every rate, you close every loophole, why? Because the government uses the tax code to decide winners, and losers. You have to strip the corruption out of the tax code to pay for it. You have to know where every single dollar is being spent... +p789 +aV...Cut where you need to, and invest where you need to... +p790 +aV...The two go hand in hand... +p791 +aVYou know, Mr. Trump fancies himself a very good negotiator. And, I accept that he's done a lot of good deals, so, Mr. Trump 'ought to know that we should not speak to people from a position of weakness. Senator Paul should know that as well. One of the reasons I've said that I would not be talking to Vladimir Putin right now, although I have met him as well, not in a green room for a show, but in a private meeting. One of the reasons I've said I wouldn't be talking to Vladimir Putin right now is because we are speaking to him from a position of weakness brought on by this administration, so, I wouldn't talk to him for awhile, but, I would do this. I would start rebuilding the Sixth Fleet right under his nose, rebuilding the military \u2014 the missile defense program in Poland right under his nose. I would conduct very aggressive military exercises in the Baltic States so that he understood we would protect our +p792 +aV...we have the strongest military on the face of the planet, and everyone has to know it. +p793 +aV...Ronald Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. +p794 +aV...he walked away, he quit talks... +p795 +aV...when it was time to quit talking... +p796 +aVCan I just \u2014 could I just say, as a chief executive who's had to make tough calls to save jobs and to grow jobs, I think what's interesting about Dodd-Frank is it's a great example of how socialism starts. Socialism starts when government creates a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. Government created the problem. Government created the problem of a real estate boom. How did we create it? Under Republican and Democrats alike, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, everybody gathered together, Republicans and Democrats, and said, "home ownership is part of the American dream. Let's create a bubble," and then government stepped in \u2014 by the way, under president George W. Bush, banks were told \u2014 encouraged \u2014 told, really \u2014 to buy other banks, to take money. And now what do we have with Dodd-Frank? The classic of crony capitalism. The big have gotten bigger, 1,590 community banks have gone out of business, and on top of all that, we've created something called the Consumer Financial Production Bureau, a vast bureaucracy with no congressional oversight that's digging through hundreds of millions of your credit records to detect fraud. This is how socialism starts, ladies and gentlemen. We must take our government back. +p797 +aVImagine a Clinton presidency. Our military will continue to deteriorate. Our veterans will not be cared for. And, no, Mrs. Clinton, that situation is not exaggerated. The rich will get richer. The poor will get poorer. The middle class will continue to get crushed. And as bad as that picture is, what's even worse is that a Clinton presidency will corrode the character of this nation. Why? Because of the Clinton way: Say whatever you have to, lie as long as you can get away with it. We must beat Hillary Clinton. Carly Fiorina can beat Hillary Clinton. I will beat Hillary Clinton. And under a President Fiorina, we will restore the character of this nation, the security of this nation, the prosperity of this nation, because as citizens, we will take our government back. +p798 +aVWell, gee, after the last debate, I was told that I didn't smile enough. +p799 +aVBut I also think that these are very serious times; 75 percent of the American people think the federal government is corrupt. I agree with them. And this big powerful, corrupt bureaucracy works now only for the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected. Meantime, wages have stagnated for 40 years. We have more Americans out of work or just Americans who quit looking for work for 40 years. Ours was intended to be a citizen government. This is about more than replacing a D with an R. We need a leader who will help us take our government back. +p800 +aVLet me just say on taxes, how long have we been talking about tax reform in Washington, D.C.? We have been talking about it for decades. We now have a 73,000-page tax code. There have been more than 4,000 changes to the tax plan since 2001 alone. There are loads of great ideas, great conservative ideas from wonderful think tanks about how to reform the tax code. The problem is we never get it done. We have talked about tax reform in every single election for decades. It never happens. And the politicians always say it is so complicated, nobody but a politician can figure it out. The truth is this, the big problem, we need a leader in Washington who understands how to get something done, not to talk about it, not to propose it, to get it done. +p801 +aVThat's right, three pages. +p802 +aVYou know why three? +p803 +aVNo. You know why three? Because only if it's about three pages are you leveling the playing field between the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected who can hire the armies of lawyers and accountants and, yes, lobbyists to help them navigate their way through 73,000 pages. Three pages is about the maximum that a single business owner or a farmer or just a couple can understand without hiring somebody. Almost 60 percent of American people now need to hire an expert to understand their taxes. So yes, you're going to hear a lot of talk about tax reform \u2014 +p804 +aV\u2014 the issue is who is going to get it done. +p805 +aVYou know, the +p806 +aVWell, this is one of the reasons why Tom Perkins and I had disagreements in the boardroom, Becky. Nevertheless, one of the things that I think people don't always understand is how accountable a CEO actually is. So you know, I had to report results every 90 days in excruciating detail. I had to answer every single question about every single result and every single projection in public until there were no more questions. And if I misrepresented those results or those projections in any way, I was held criminally liable. Imagine \u2014 imagine \u2014 if a politician were held to that standard of account. I will run on my record all day long. And I believe people need a leader who is prepared to make tough calls in tough times and stand up... +p807 +aV...and be held accountable. +p808 +aVYou know, I want to go back for a moment to what we were just talking about. Crony capitalism is alive and well, and has been so in Washington, D.C. for decades. What's crony capitalism? Crony capitalism is what happens when government gets so big and so powerful that only the big and the powerful can handle it. So why are the pharmaceutical companies consolidating? Why are there five even bigger Wall Street banks now, instead of the ten we used to have on Wall Street? Because when government gets big and powerful, the big feel like they need to get even bigger to deal with all that power, and meanwhile, the small and the powerless \u2014 in this case, 1,590 community banks \u2014 go out of business. You see, folks, this is how socialism starts. Government causes a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. This is why, fundamentally, we have to take our government back. The student loan problem has been created by government. Government trying to level the playing field between Internet and brick-and-mortar creates a problem. The FCC jumping in now and saying, "we're going to put 400 pages of regulation over the Internet," is going to create massive problems. But guess who pushed for that regulation? The big Internet companies. This is what's going on. Big and powerful use big and powerful government to their advantage. It's why you see Walgreens buying Rite Aid. It's why you see the pharmaceuticals getting together. It's you see the health insurance companies getting together. It's why you see the banks consolidating. And meanwhile, small businesses are getting crushed. Community- based businesses and farms are getting crushed. Community banks are going out of business. Big government favors the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected, and crushes the small and the powerless. +p809 +aVIt is why we have to simplify. It is why we have to reduce the size and power of government. +p810 +aVIt's the only way to level the playing field between big and powerful and small and powerless. +p811 +aVBecky, it is the height of hypocrisy for Mrs. Clinton to talk about being the first woman President, when every single policy she espouses, and every single policy of President Obama has been demonstrably bad for women. 92 percent \u2014 92 percent of the jobs lost during Barack Obama's first term belonged to women. Senator Cruz is precisely right. Three million women have fallen into poverty under this administration. The number of women \u2014 +p812 +aV\u2014 living in extreme poverty is the highest level on record. I am a conservative because I know our values, our principles and our policies \u2014 +p813 +aV\u2014 work better to lift everyone up, men and women. +p814 +aVNo, the Federal Government should not play a larger role. Look, every time the Federal Government gets engaged in something it gets worse. And then the Government steps in to try and solve the problem and we get a little further down to that progressive vision that Hillary Clinton is talking about. Companies should, if they want to attract the best workers, provide a good set of benefits. But honestly, if you're a small business owner today you are being crushed. We have 400,000 small businesses forming every year in this country. How great is that? They are employing themselves, they are potentially employing others. The bad news is, we have 470,000 going out of business every year. And why? They cite Obamacare. They are refusing to... +p815 +aVI think it's a wonderful that that businesses start a 401(k). The point I'm making is this, the Federal Government should not be in a lot of things. There is no Constitutional role for the Federal Government in setting up \u2014 retirement plans. There is no Constitutional role for the Federal Government to be setting minimum wages... +p816 +aV... The more the Government gets engaged in the economy, the slower the economy becomes. The more the Government gets engaged in the economy, it is demonstrably true... +p817 +aV... The more the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected are advantaged. +p818 +aVJohn, I \u2014 if I \u2014 a lot of people have jumped in here. I'd like to jump in. A lot of people have jumped in here. +p819 +aVI understand. +p820 +aVI would just say that... ... I would just say this, we've heard a lot of great ideas up here, and I agree with what Senator Rubio said. Every election we talk about this. Every election we talk about Medicare and Social Security reform. It never happens. I would like to start with a basic. Let us actually go to zero- based budgeting so we know where the money is being spent. It's kind of basic. There is a bill sitting in the House that would actually pass and have us go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dime of your money is being spent instead of only talking about how much more we're going to spend year after year after year. My point is this. While there are lots of good ideas for reform, we have never tackled the basics. And we finally need to tackle the basics to cut this government down to size and hold it accountable. So let's start by knowing where your money is being spent by the federal government. +p821 +aVYou know, every election we hear a lot of talk. We hear a lot of good plans. We hear actually a lot of good intentions. But somehow for decades, nothing really has changed. What we need now is a proven leader who has produced results. That's how you go from secretary to CEO. You lead and you produce results. I will cut this government down to size and hold it accountable, simplify the tax code, roll back the regulations that have been spewing out of Washington, D.C. for 50 years. I may not be your dream candidate just yet, but I can assure you I am Hillary Clinton's worst nightmare. And in your heart of hearts, you cannot wait to see a debate between Hillary Clinton and Carly Fiorina. I will tell you this, I will beat Hillary Clinton. And with your vote and your support and your prayers, I will lead with the citizens of this great nation the resurgence of this great nation. +p822 +aVGood evening. My story, from secretary to CEO, is only possible in this nation, and proves that everyone of us has potential. My husband, Frank, of 30 years, started out driving a tow truck for a family owned auto body shop. We have come to a pivotal point in our nation's history where this nation's possibilities and potential are being crushed by a government grown so big, so powerful, so inept, so corrupt, and a political class that refuses to do anything about it. I am prepared to lead the resurgence of this great nation. +p823 +aVYou know, I think Mr. Trump is a wonderful entertainer. He's been terrific at that business. I also think that one of the benefits of a presidential campaign is the character and capability, judgment and temperament of every single one of us is revealed over time and under pressure. All of us will be revealed over time and under pressure. I look forward to a long race. +p824 +aVThat's not for me to answer; it is for the voters of this country to answer, and I have a lot of faith in the common sense and good judgment of the voters of the United States of America. +p825 +aVJake, I'll tell you \u2014 I'll tell you why people are supporting outsiders. It's because you know what happens if someone's been in the system their whole life, they don't know how broken the system is. A fish swims in water, it doesn't know it's water. It's not that politicians are bad people, it's that they've been in that system forever. The truth is 75 percent of the American people think the government is corrupt; 82 percent of the American people think these problems that have festered for 50 years in some cases, 25 years in other cases. The border's been insecure for 25 years; 307,000 veterans have died waiting for health care. These things have gone on for so long because no one will challenge the status quo. You know what a leader does? They challenge the status quo, they solve problems that have festered for a long time and they produce results. That is what my whole life has been about. People know this is about far more than replacing a D with an R \u2014 +p826 +aV\u2014 this is about changing the system. +p827 +aVHaving... +p828 +aVHaving met Vladimir Putin, if I may... +p829 +aVHaving met Vladimir Putin, I wouldn't talk to him at all. We've talked way too much to him. What I would do, immediately, is begin rebuilding the Sixth Fleet, I would begin rebuilding the missile defense program in Poland, I would conduct regular, aggressive military exercises in the Baltic states. I'd probably send a few thousand more troops into Germany. Vladimir Putin would get the message. By the way, the reason it is so critically important that every one of us know General Suleimani's name is because Russia is in Syria right now, because the head of the Quds force traveled to Russia and talked Vladimir Putin into aligning themselves with Iran and Syria to prop up Bashar al- Assad. Russia is a bad actor, but Vladimir Putin is someone we should not talk to, because the only way he will stop is to sense strength and resolve on the other side, and we have all of that within our control. We could rebuild the Sixth Fleet. I will. We haven't. We could rebuild the missile defense program. We haven't. I will. We could also, to Senator Rubio's point, give the Egyptians what they've asked for, which is intelligence. We could give the Jordanians what they've asked for... +p830 +aV...bombs and materiel. We have not supplied it... +p831 +aV...I will. We could arm the Kurds. They've been asking us for three years. All of this is within our control. +p832 +aV...Jake... +p833 +aV...Jake, ... +p834 +aVAnd then it'll be my turn. +p835 +aVJake? +p836 +aVJake? +p837 +aVDana, I'd like to... +p838 +aVDana, I would like to link these two issues, both of which are incredibly important, Iran and Planned Parenthood. One has something to do with the defense of the security of this nation. The other has something to do with the defense of the character of this nation. You have not heard a plan about Iran from any politician up here, here is my plan. On day one in the Oval Office, I will make two phone calls, the first to my good friend to Bibi Netanyahu to reassure him we will stand with the state of Israel. The second, to the supreme leader, to tell him that unless and until he opens every military and every nuclear facility to real anytime, anywhere inspections by our people, not his, we, the United States of America, will make it as difficult as possible and move money around the global financial system. We can do that, we don't need anyone's cooperation to do it. And every ally and every adversary we have in this world will know that the United States in America is back in the leadership business, which is how we must stand with our allies. As regards Planned Parenthood, anyone who has watched this videotape, I dare Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama to watch these tapes. Watch a fully formed fetus on the table, it's heart beating, it's legs kicking while someone says we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain. This is about the character of our nation, and if we will not stand up in and force President Obama to veto this bill, shame on us. +p839 +aVYou know, it's interesting to me, Mr. Trump said that he heard Mr. Bush very clearly and what Mr. Bush said. I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said. +p840 +aVDana, with all being said to Mr. Trump... +p841 +aVImmigration did not come up in 2016 because Mr. Trump brought it up. We talked about it in 2012, we talked about it in 2008. We talked about it in 2004. +p842 +aVWe have been talking about it for 25 years. This is why people are tired of politicians. +p843 +aVFirst let me say, We have just spent a good bit of time discussing, as Republicans, how to solve this problem. I would ask your audience at home to ask a very basic question. Why have Democrats not solved this problem? President Obama campaigned in 2007 and 2008 on solving the immigration problem. He entered Washington with majorities in the House and the Senate. He could have chosen to do anything to solve this pro \u2014 this problem. Instead, he chose to do nothing. Why? because the Democrats don't want this issue solved. +p844 +aVThey want it to be an issue that they can use. As to birthright citizenship... +p845 +aV...the truth is, you can't just wave your hands and say "the 14th Amendment is gonna go away." It will take an extremely arduous vote in Congress, followed by two-thirds of the states, and if that doesn't work to amend the Constitution, then it is a long, arduous process in court. And meanwhile, what will continue to go on is what has gone on for 25 years. With all due respect, Mr. Trump, we've been talking about illegal immigration for 25 years. San Francisco has been a sanctuary city since 1989. There are 300 of them. And meanwhile, what has happened? Nothing. The border remains insecure. The legal immigration system remains broken. Look, we know what it takes to secure a border. We've heard a lot of great ideas here. Money, manpower, technology... +p846 +aV...mostly, apparently, leadership... +p847 +aV...the kind of leadership that understands how to get results. +p848 +aVBut you \u2014 you would stipulate, Mr. Trump, but not everyone agrees with you. +p849 +aVOK. +p850 +aVI led Hewlett Packard through a very difficult time, the worst technology recession in 25 years. The +p851 +aV\u2014 out a full-page ad in the New York Times to say he was wrong, I was right. I was a terrific CEO, the board was dysfunctional. And he thinks I will make a magnificent president of the United States. +p852 +aVYou know, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld is a well-known Clintonite and honestly had it out for me from the moment that I arrived at Hewlett Packard. But honestly, Mr. Trump, I find it quite rich that you would talk about this. You know, there are a lot of us Americans who believe that we are going to have trouble someday paying back the interest on our debt because politicians have run up mountains of debt using other people's money. That is in fact precisely the way you ran your casinos. You ran up mountains of debt, as well as losses, using other people's money, and you were forced to file for bankruptcy not once \u2014 +p853 +aV\u2014 not twice, four times, a record four times. Why should we trust you to manage the finances \u2014 +p854 +aV\u2014 of this nation any differently than you managed the finances \u2014 +p855 +aV\u2014 of your casinos? +p856 +aVWell \u2014 +p857 +aVWell, Mr. Trump \u2014 +p858 +aVA track record of leadership is not a game. It is the issue in this election. +p859 +aVWell, I thought we had been hearing quite a bit about Govenor Christie's record as governor, actually. I think track records are very important. I completely agree that what's at stake here is the future of this nation, and the future of every American. But I do think that a track record of leadership is vital because in the end this election is about leadership. And let's talk about what leadership is. It's not about braggadocio, it is about challenging the status quo, solving problems, producing results. And the highest calling of leadership is to unlock potential in others. +p860 +aVProblems have festered in Washington for too long. And the potential of this nation is being crushed. +p861 +aVYou see, Governor Christie, people spend time talking about their track records, and Mr. Trump and I have every right to do the same. And Mrs. Clinton has to defend her track record. Her track record of lying about Benghazi, of lying about her e- mails, about lying about her servers. She does not have a track record of accomplishment. Like Mrs. Clinton, I, too, have travels hundreds of thousands of miles around the globe. But unlike Mrs. Clinton, I know flying is an activity, not an accomplishment. Mrs. Clinton \u2014 if you want to stump a Democrat, ask them to name a accomplishment of Mrs. Clinton's. +p862 +aVWe just spent \u2014 we just spent the last 10 minutes... +p863 +aV...Jake, since everyone has gotten to weigh in on this military issue, I'd like to be able to do the same. We have spent probably 12 minutes talking about the past. Let's talk about the future. We need the strongest military on the face of the planet, and everyone has to know it. And, specifically, what that means is we need about 50 Army brigades, we need about 36 Marine battalions, we need somewhere between 300, and 350 naval ships, we need to upgrade every leg of the nuclear triad... +p864 +aV...we need to reform the Department of Defense, we need as well... +p865 +aV...to invest in our military technology, and we need to care for our veterans so 307,000... +p866 +aV...aren't dying waiting for health care. +p867 +aVJake, may I just say... +p868 +aVJake \u2014 Jake... +p869 +aVI very much hope I am the only person on this stage who can say this, but I know there are millions of Americans out there who will say the same thing. My husband Frank and I buried a child to drug addiction. So, we must invest more in the treatment of drugs. +p870 +aVI agree with Senator Paul. I agree with states' rights. But we are misleading young people when we tell them that marijuana is just like having a beer. It's not. And the marijuana that kids are smoking today is not the same as the marijuana that Jeb Bush smoked 40 years ago. We do \u2014 sorry, Barbara. We do need \u2014 we do need criminal justice reform. We have the highest incarceration rates in the world. Two-thirds of the people in our prisons are there for non-violent offenses, mostly drug related. It's clearly not working. But we need to tell young people the truth. Drug addiction is an epidemic, and it is taking too many of our young people. I know this sadly from personal experience. +p871 +aVI wouldn't change the $10 bill, or the $20 bill. I think, honestly, it's a gesture. I don't think it helps to change our history. What I would think is that we ought to recognize that women are not a special interest group. Women are the majority of this nation. We are half the potential of this nation, and this nation will be better off when every woman has the opportunity to live the life she chooses. +p872 +aVSecretariat. +p873 +aVI think what this nation can be and must be is symbolized by Lady Liberty and Lady Justice. Lady Liberty stands tall and strong. She is clear-eyed and resolute. She doesn't shield her eyes from the realities of the world, but she faces outward into the world nevertheless, as we always must. And she holds her torch high, because she knows she is a beacon of hope in a very troubled world. And Lady Justice, Lady Justice holds a sword by her side, because she is a fighter, a warrior for the values and the principles that have made this nation great. She holds a scale in her other hand. And with that scale she says all of us are equal in the eyes of God. And so all of us must be equal in the eyes of the law and the government, powerful and powerless alike. And she wears a blindfold. And with that blindfold she is saying to us that it must be true, it can be true that in this country, in this century, it doesn't matter who you are, it doesn't matter what you look like, it doesn't matter how you start, it doesn't matter your circumstances, here in this nation, every American's life must be filled with the possibilities that come from their God-given gifts. One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. +p874 +asVBUSH +p875 +(lp876 +VOur freedom is under attack. Our economy is under water. The leading democrat is under investigation. And America is under the gun to lead the free world to protect our civilized way of life. Serious times require strong leadership, that's what at stake right now. Regarding national security, we need to restore the defense cuts of Barack Obama to rebuild our military, to destroy +p877 +aVWell, first of all, we need to destroy +p878 +aVLook, he mentioned me. I can bring \u2014 I can talk. This is \u2014 this is the problem. Banning all Muslims will make it harder for us to do exactly what we need to do, which is to destroy +p879 +aVThey are relevant if we want to destroy +p880 +aVDonald, this has got... +p881 +aVThis is another example of the lack of seriousness. Look, this is \u2014 this is troubling because we're at war. They've declared war on us and we need to have a serious strategy to destroy +p882 +aVYou said on September 30th that +p883 +aVI'm talking right now. I'm talking. +p884 +aVSeptember 30th you said... +p885 +aVA little of your own medicine there, Donald. +p886 +aVDonald, you're not going to be able to insult your way to the presidency. That's not going to happen. And I do have the strength. Leadership, leadership is not about attacking people and disparaging people. Leadership is about creating a serious strategy to deal with the threat of our time. And I laid out that strategy before the attacks in Paris and before the attacks in San Bernardino. And it is the way forward. We need to increase our military spending. We need to deal with a no- fly zone in Syria, a safe zone. We need to focus on building a military that is second-to-none... +p887 +aV... so that we can destroy Islamic terrorism. +p888 +aVI think we're focusing a whole... +p889 +aVI do. I think the lesson's learned are that we have to have to have a strategy to get and a strategy to get out. Which means, that you create a stable situation. This president and this is what the focus ought to be, it's not the differences between us, it's Barack Obama does not believe America's leadership in the world is a force for good. He does not believe that our strength is a place where security can take place. He leads from behind. He creates an environment that now we're creating the most unstable situation we've had since the World War II era. The focus ought to be on the single fact that Hillary Clinton wants to double down on a failed foreign policy and we need to be united to defeat that because we're going to be in a place that is far less secure than it is today. Don't you all agree? +p890 +aVBecause I \u2014 first of all, I know what I don't know. I know what I don't know. I would seek out, as I have, the best advice that exists. I won't get my information from the shows. I don't know if that's Saturday morning or Sunday morning. I don't know which one. I will seek out the best advice, and I will create a strategy and I will persuade the American people what the role of America should be. I've laid out a policy of rebuilding our military. All of the talk that we're seeing here \u2014 most of which I agree on, frankly \u2014 requires a much stronger military. We now have a lack of readiness that is quite scary. We have planes that were \u2014 that Harry Truman inaugurated, the B-52. We have \u2014 the Navy has been gutted and decimated. The readiness of the Marines is way down. If we're serious about America's leadership in the world, then we need to make sure that we have the back of the armed forces. The Armed Forces Radio is here listening to this today. I hope they know that if I'm president, I'll be a commander-in-chief, not an agitator- in-chief or a divider-in-chief, that I will lead this country in a way that will create greater security and greater safety. +p891 +aVSo I was \u2014 I was \u2014 I was mentioned, so I can bring up something, I think, right? Look, the simple fact is, if you think this is tough you're not being treated fairly... +p892 +aV... imagine what it's going to be like dealing with Putin or dealing with President Xi. +p893 +aVOr dealing with the Islamic terrorism that exists. +p894 +aVThis is a tough business to run for president. +p895 +aVAnd it's \u2014 and we need...... to have a leader that is... +p896 +aVYou're never going to be president of the United States by insulting your way to the presidency. +p897 +aVDoesn't matter. Doesn't matter. +p898 +aVYes. +p899 +aVNo it isn't but it is an important subject to talk about for sure. And I think people have good ideas on this. Clearly, we need to secure the border. Coming here legally needs to be a lot easier than coming here illegally. If you don't have that, you don't have the rule of law. We now have a national security consideration, public health issues, we have an epidemic of heroine overdoses in all places in this country because of the ease of bringing heroine in. We have to secure the border. It is a serious undertaking and yes, we do need more fencing and we do need to use technology, and we do need more border control. And we need to have better cooperation by the way with local law enforcement. There are 800,000 cops on the beat, they ought to be trained to be the eyes and ears for law enforcement for the threat against terror as well as for immigration. This is a serious challenge and if we can get it right, yes, we'll start winning votes again. The real problem isn't anybody on this stage, the real problem is Barack Obama has had six years to advocate a position to fix this and he's done nothing. The congress has funded these programs of building more fencing and doing all this and he hasn't done it. He wants to maintain it as a wedge issue and so does Hillary Clinton. Republicans need to fix it and when we do, we'll be better off. +p900 +aVI completely agree with Chris. And this administration has been so lax. Think about it. Hillary Clinton is using a private server for \u2014 where classified information go by. This is a \u2014 this is a serious administration? The president receives an inspector general's report that the Office of Personnel Management could be hacked into; they had antiquated firewalls; 23 million files have been \u2014 are in the hands of the Chinese allegedly, including, by the way, members of the press, it turns out, last week. Maybe that's the only part that's good news, so that you guys can get a feel for what it's like now to see this type of attack. This is something \u2014 we have to have the best defensive capabilities. We need to coordinate all of our efforts with the private sector. We need to give them liability relief so that we can do that. And offensively, we need to have capabilities second to none. We need to create a situation where they know that there will be adverse impacts if they continue to do what they're doing. They'll respect that. They'll respect a United States that is serious about protecting our \u2014 our infrastructure. If we don't do it, we'll continue to see what's \u2014 exactly what's happening, not just from the Chinese, by the way. The Russians and rogue actors, including +p901 +aVAsk yourself, which candidate will keep you and our country safer, stronger and freer? Hillary Clinton has aligned herself with Barack Obama on +p902 +aVYou've already made two comments, John. It's my turn. +p903 +aVI got about four minutes in the last debate. I'm going to get my question right now. +p904 +aVYes. +p905 +aVFirst of all, we could get to 4 percent growth. The new normal of 2 percent puts huge demands on government. The reason why we have structural deficits is that more and more people are relying on government and the growth that we don't have makes \u2014 makes the deficit grow. A 4 percent growth strategy starts with tax reform. And the proposal that I've laid out is the one the Wall Street Journal editorial board has said is the most pro-growth of all the proposals out there. We cut the \u2014 we eliminate a lot of deductions and cut the rates down. A corporate rate of 20 percent, which puts us 5 percent above \u2014 below that of China, and allows us full expensing of investing. It would create an explosion of investment back into this country, creating higher-wage jobs, and so that's part of it. On the regulatory side I think we need to repeal every rule that Barack Obama has in terms of work in progress, every one of them. And start over. For those that are already in existence, the regulation of the Internet, we have to start over, but we ought to do that. The clean power act, we ought to repeal that and \u2014 and start over on that. The waters of the United States act, which is going to be devastating for agriculture and many industries, we should repeal that. We should repeal the rules because the economic costs of this far exceed the social benefit. And if we're serious about being serious about high growth, then we have to recognize that small businesses right now, more of them are closing than \u2014 than are \u2014 than are being set up. Hillary Clinton has said that Barack Obama's policies get an A. Really? One in 10 people right now aren't working or have given up altogether, as you said. That's not an A. One in seven people are living in poverty. That's not an A. One in five children are on food stamps. That is not an A. It may be the best that Hillary Clinton can do, but it's not the best America can do. +p906 +aVThank you, Donald, for allowing me to speak at the debate. That's really nice of you. Really appreciate that. What a generous man you are. Twelve million illegal immigrants, to send them back, 500,000 a month, is just not \u2014 not possible. And it's not embracing American values. And it would tear communities apart. And it would send a signal that we're not the kind of country that I know America is. And even having this conversation sends a powerful signal \u2014 they're doing high-fives in the Clinton campaign right now when they hear this. That's the problem with this. We have to win the presidency. And the way you win the presidency is to have practical plans. Lay them out there. What we need to do is allow people to earn legal status where they pay a fine, where they work, where they don't commit crimes, where they learn English, and over an extended period of time, they earn legal status. That's the path \u2014 a proper path... +p907 +aVI'm gonna fight as hard as I can to make sure that we shift power away from Washington, simplify the tax code, to spur economic activity in this country. Of course it's the highest priority. If we don't do that, we're stuck with the "new normal" of 2 percent growth. Hillary Clinton says, basically, we just gotta get used to it. Two percent growth means declining income for the middle class. It means more than 6 million people are stuck in poverty than the day that Barack Obama was inaugurated. It means \u2014 it means more demands on government \u2014 growing the economy is the first job, if we're going to be serious about dealing with the deficit and debt. And more importantly, people are really struggling right now. In this economy, the disposable income of the great middle is down 2,300 bucks. So yeah, we've created jobs, your \u2014 argue (ph) \u2014 brought that up early, and it was a good question. Jobs are being created, but they're lower-income jobs than the jobs that were lost. And the net effect of this is we need to jump-start the economy. I think of Jonathan (ph) and Reagan Love (ph), who are supporters of mine. Jonathan has been deployed by the National Guard, he is \u2014 he's in Oklahoma. Reagan Love \u2014 by the way, pretty great name, I think \u2014 is a teacher. When \u2014 if they had this tax cut, what they told me was that that $2,300 of money in their pocket \u2014 they would go back to South Carolina and start a business. Imagine what it would be like, instead of having more businesses closed than started, we had it the exact opposite. We would grow our economy, and the government would get the revenue necessary to make things \u2014 make things better. Hillary Clinton's approach to this is more top-down, more regulation, more taxes, more government, and it will destroy our economy. +p908 +aVIt is \u2014 I'd say it is Islamic terrorism, and, back to the question of what we are dealing with in Iraq, when we pull back voids are filled. That's the lesson of history, and, sadly, this president does not believe in American leadership. He does not believe it, and the net result is that we have a caliphate the size of Indiana that gains energy each and everyday to recruit Americans in our own country, and the threat to the homeland relates to the fact that we have not dealt with this threat of terror in the Middle East. We should have a no fly zone in Syria. We should have a support for the remnants of the Syrian Free Army, and create safe zones. If you want to deal with the four million refugees that are leaving Syria because of the devastation there, then we 'ought to create safe zones for them to stay in the region rather than go to Europe. And, that requires American leadership. Without American leadership every other country in the neighborhood beings to change their priorities. It is tragic that you see Iraq, and other countries now talking to Russia. It wasn't that long ago that Russia had no influence in the region at all. And, so, the United States needs to lead across the board. This president, and Hillary Clinton both do not believe the United States has a leadership role to play, and we're now paying a price, and it will have a huge impact on the economy of this country if we don't deal with this. +p909 +aV...They're not doing that... +p910 +aV +p911 +aVDonald \u2014 Donald's wrong on this. He is absolutely wrong on this. We're not going to be the world's policeman, but we sure as heck better be the world's leader. That's \u2014 there's a huge difference where, without us leading... ...voids are filled, and the idea that it's a good idea for Putin to be in Syria, let +p912 +aVWe're not \u2014 we shouldn't have another financial crisis. What we ought to do is raise the capital requirements so banks aren't too big to fail. Dodd-Frank has actually done the opposite, totally the opposite, where banks now have higher concentration of risk in assets and the capital requirements aren't high enough. If we were serious about it, we would raise the capital requirements and lessen the load on the community banks and other financial institutions. This vast overreach has created a huge problem for our country, and Hillary Clinton wants to double down on that. I was in Washington, Iowa, about three months ago talking about how bad Washington, D.C., is. It was \u2014 get the \u2014 kind of the \u2014 anyway. We had... It \u2014 and I talked to a banker there. This is a bank that had $125 million of assets, four branches. Their compliance costs because of Dodd-Frank went from $100,000 to $600,000 in a two-year period. The net effect of that is \u2014 and they had \u2014 they had not one loan that went bad during the financial crisis. They knew \u2014 they knew their borrowers. They gave back to the community. They were engaged in the community. And imagine America without its community banks. Well, that's what's happening because of Dodd-Frank. That's \u2014 that's my worry. My worry is that the real economy has been hurt by the vast overreach of the Obama administration. And Hillary Clinton, she wants to double down on that. She wants to create even more so. She is a captive of the left of her party to the point now where she is \u2014 she was for the trade agreement in \u2014 the Pacific agreement. Now she's against it. She was \u2014 hinted she was for the XL pipeline. Now she's opposed to it. All the things that would create sustained economic growth she's now doubling down against it. +p913 +aVYou could, if you were serious about... +p914 +aVNo, I can't say that. But I can say, if you created higher capital requirements, that's the solution to this, not having concentration of assets. The bigger banks now have more and more control over \u2014 over the financial assets of this country. And that is the wrong approach to take. +p915 +aVMaria? +p916 +aV...We've had a 10% reduction in carbon emissions, and it isn't because of Solyndra. It isn't because of the central planners in Washington D.C. It's because we've had a great American success story, the explosion of natural gas. Taking two existing technologies, and applying it through innovation has created lower carbon emissions, lower energy costs \u2014 40% of all the economic activity in the age of Obama has come from the energy sector, and Hillary Clinton wants to suppress that. We \u2014 I think we ought to be expanding this. High growth is the path to lower carbon, and more jobs. I know for a fact, as Governor of the State of Florida, we created the largest land purchasing programs, and environment clean-up programs because we had a growing economy. Our revenues were growing at 4.4%. It allowed for resources to be able to protect the natural system. We got to get to a conservation... ...in environmental policy that goes beyond just carbon... +p917 +aVJane Horton is sitting with my wife here today. Her husband, Chris, was killed in action in Afghanistan. And Jane spends her time now defending and fighting for military families. They're both heroes. I don't think we need an agitator-in-chief or a divider-in-chief. We need a commander-in-chief that will rebuild our military and restore respect to our veterans by revamping and fixing a broken Veterans Administration, That's my pledge to you. I ask for your support. Thank you. +p918 +aVYou know, I am by my nature impatient. And this is not an endeavor that rewards that. You gotta be patient. You gotta be \u2014 stick with it, and all that. But also, I can't fake anger. I believe this is still the most extraordinary country on the face of the Earth. And it troubles me that people are rewarded for tearing down our country. It's never been that way in American politics before. I can't do it. I just don't believe that this country's days are going to be deeply \u2014 you know, going down. I think we're on the verge of the greatest time, and I want to fix the things to let people rise up. +p919 +aVCould I \u2014 could I bring something up here, because I'm a constituent of the senator and I helped him and I expected that he would do constituent service, which means that he shows up to work. He got endorsed by the Sun-Sentinel because he was the most talented guy in the field. He's a gifted politician. But Marco, when you signed up for this, this was a six-year term, and you should be showing up to work. I mean, literally, the Senate \u2014 what is it, like a French work week? You get, like, three days where you have to show up? You can campaign, or just resign and let someone else take the job. There are a lot of people living paycheck to paycheck in Florida as well, they're looking for a senator that will fight for them each and every day. +p920 +aVHe wasn't my senator. +p921 +aVWell, I've been \u2014 +p922 +aVNo, no. What I said was I don't believe that I would be president of the United States and have the same dysfunction that exists in Washington, D.C. now. +p923 +aVDon't vote for me if you want to keep the gridlock in Washington, D.C. +p924 +aVBut if you want someone who has a proven, effective leadership, that was a governor of a state, that transformed the culture there, elect me so I can fight for the American people and change the culture in Washington, D.C. +p925 +aV, the great majority of Republicans and Americans believe in a hopeful future. They don't believe in building walls and a pessimistic view of the future. They're concerned that Washington is so dysfunctional it is holding them back. There are lids on people's aspirations. Think about it: six and a half million people working part-time. Workforce participation rates lower than they were in 1977. Six million more people living in poverty than the day that Barack Obama got elected president, and the left just wants more of the same. We have to offer a compelling alternative that is based on hope and optimism and grounded in serious policy, which I've laid out. And you can go get it at jeb2016.com. +p926 +aVWell, the deal was done. Barack Obama got his massive tax increase, and there was no spending cuts. You just see the recent deal announced today or yesterday, more spending, more tax increasing, more regulation. And now we have to accept 2 percent, the new normal for economic growth. And the net result is the middle class has $2,300 less in their pockets than the day that Barack Obama got elected president. And now they see Hillary Clinton proposing a third term of economic policy for our country. We need to reverse that. And my record was one of cutting taxes each and every year. You don't have to guess about it, because I actually have a record. $19 billion of tax cuts, 1.3 million jobs created. We were one of two states to go to AAA bond rating, and our government spending was far less than the spending in people's income. +p927 +aVYou find me... +p928 +aVYou find me a Democrat \u2014 you find me a Democrat that will cut spending ten dollars? Heck, find me a Republican in Congress that would cut spending ten dollars. I'll talk to them. +p929 +aVLook, the \u2014 the deal is already done. The biggest tax increase happened under the watch of Barack Obama, and spending's gone up. You find a Democrat that's for cutting taxes \u2014 cutting spending ten dollars, I'll give them a warm kiss. +p930 +aVLook, the \u2014 the simple fact is that my plan actually gives the middle class the greatest break: $2,000 per family. And if you make $40,000 a year, a family of four, you don't pay any income tax at all. Simplifying the code and lowering rates, both for corporations and \u2014 and personal rates, is exactly what we need to do. You think about the regulatory cost and the tax cost \u2014 that's why small businesses are closing, rather than being formed in our country right now. The big corporations have the scale to deal with all of this. And what I think all of us are saying is, our monetary policy, our tax policy, regulatory policy needs to be radically changed so we can create high sustained growth for income to rise. The government has tried it their way. Under \u2014 under Barack Obama and the proposals of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and others, they've tried it their way, and it has failed miserably. We need to take a new approach of taxing \u2014 reforming how we tax, and reforming the regulations in our \u2014 in our country before it's too late. +p931 +aVWe don't need the federal government to be involved in this at all. +p932 +aVWe don't need the Federal Government to be involved in this, because when they do we create a $1.2 trillion debt. In Florida, we have the lowest in-state tuition of any state, because there's accountability, just as John said. Let the states do this. You'll create a much better graduation rate at a lower cost, and you won't in debt the next generation with recourse debt on their backs. It's always a solution of the left to create more Government from the Federal Government. It is broke, it is not working. +p933 +aVWell, first of all, I'm 7 and 0 in my fantasy league. +p934 +aVGronkowski is still going strong. I have Ryan Tannehill, Marco, as my quarterback, he was 18 for 19 last week. So I'm doing great. But we're not gambling. And I think this has become something that needs to be looked at in terms of regulation. Effectively it is day trading without any regulation at all. And when you have insider information, which apparently has been the case, where people use that information and use big data to try to take advantage of it, there has to be some regulation. If they can't regulate themselves, then the NFL needs to look at just, you know, moving away from them a little bit. And there should be some regulation. I have no clue whether the federal government is the proper place, my instinct is to say, hell no, just about everything about the federal government. +p935 +aVBecky \u2014 +p936 +aV\u2014 the governor's absolutely right. But we also need to reform Medicare and Social Security. We can't just allow it to continue on its current path the way that Hillary Clinton wants to do because there'll be major reductions in benefits in the next decade if we do nothing. I have a concrete plan to do just that, which allows people to keep HSAs to encourage savings, it allows for people that are retiring with Social Security to be able to get a minimum of 125 percent of the poverty level so that there is a baseline that in this generous country of ours no one goes below. +p937 +aVYou have to reform Social Security, and the simple way to do it is to make sure that the wealthiest don't receive the same benefits as people that are lower-income. And make sure you enhance savings in the private market. The idea of 401(k)s. I have a small business that I set up. It took \u2014 it took an arm and a leg to be able to set up a 401(k). Because of all the federal mandates and federal laws, it was too expensive. We need to incent private savings and make sure that Social Security is protected for those that have it. +p938 +aVBut the idea that you can't \u2014 that you're just gonna grow your way out of this \u2014 I have a plan to grow the economy at 4 percent, but you're gonna have to make adjustments for both Medicare and Social Security. [ +p939 +aVAmerica's at a crossroads. The D.C. politicians continue to make things worse. I have a proven record of success, 32 years in business, and 8 years as Governor of the state of Florida. I will change the culture in Washington, just as I changed the culture in Tallahassee. I will do so in a way that will bring people together. We need a unifier, not a cynical divider in chief, and that's exactly what I will do. Imagine a country where people are lifted out of poverty again. Imagine a country where the middle class can get rising income again. I know we can do this because we're still the most extraordinary country on the face of the Earth. +p940 +aVI'm Jeb Bush, and I believe America's on the verge of its greatest century, and I'm ready to lead. I'm a committed, conservative reformer that cut taxes, that balanced budgets, that took on the special interest in Florida, and we won. I look forward to talking tonight about how we can fix a broken Washington D.C., and create an environment where people can rise up again in this great country. Thank you. +p941 +aVI think the voters will make that determination. But what I know to be true is that the next president of the United States is going to have to fix an extraordinary difficult situation. This administration, with President Obama and Hillary Clinton, has created insecurity the likes of which we never would've imagined. There's not a place in the world where we're better off today than six and a half years ago. And that requires a steadiness. That requires an understanding of how the world works. That requires an understanding and appreciation of American leadership in the world. You can't just, you know, talk about this stuff and insult leaders around the world and expect a good result. You have to do this with a steady hand, and I believe I have those skills. +p942 +aVNo. Absolutely not. People are supporting me because I have a proven record of conservative leadership where I cut taxes $19 billion over eight years. We shrunk the state government workforce, we created a climate that led the nation in job growth seven out of eight years. We were one of two states to go to AAA bond rating. People know that we need principle-centered leadership, a disrupter to go to Washington, D.C. The one guy that had some special interests that I know of that tried to get me to change my views on something \u2014 that was generous and gave me money \u2014 was Donald Trump. He wanted casino gambling in Florida \u2014 +p943 +aVYes you did. +p944 +aVYou wanted it and you didn't get it because I was opposed to \u2014 +p945 +aV\u2014 casino gambling before \u2014 +p946 +aVduring and after. And that's not \u2014 I'm not going to be bought by anybody. +p947 +aVNo way. Believe me. +p948 +aVNot even possible. +p949 +aVYou've got, according to your \u2014 to what you said on one of the talk shows, you got Hillary Clinton to go to your wedding \u2014 +p950 +aV\u2014 because you gave her money. Maybe it works for Hillary Clinton \u2014 +p951 +aV\u2014 it doesn't work for anybody on this \u2014 on stage. +p952 +aVBut the simple fact is \u2014 +p953 +aVNo. The simple fact is, Donald, you could not take \u2014 +p954 +aVI was asked the question. +p955 +aVSo he supports Pelosi, he supports Schumer, he supports Clinton \u2014 +p956 +aVWhen he \u2014 and he \u2014 when he asked \u2014 when he asked Florida to have casino gambling, we said no. +p957 +aVWe said no. And that's the simple fact. The simple fact is \u2014 +p958 +aVDon't cut me off. +p959 +aVNo, I don't think so, but we need to be strong against China. We should use offensive tactics as it relates to cyber security, send a deterrent signal to China. There should be super sanctions in what President Obama has proposed. There's many other tools that we have without canceling a dinner. That's not going to change anything, but we can be much stronger as it relates to that. As it relates to Iran, it's not a strategy to tear up an agreement. A strategy would be how do we confront Iran? And, the first thing that we need to do is to establish our commitment to Israel which has been altered by this administration. And, make sure that they have the most sophisticated weapons to send a signal to Iran that we have Israel's back. If we do that, it's going to create a healthier deterrent effect than anything else I can think of. +p960 +aVI don't think \u2014 you're not stating my views right. +p961 +aVI think there needs to be accommodation for someone acting on faith. Religious conscience is \u2014 is \u2014 is a first freedom. It's \u2014 it's a powerful part of our \u2014 of our Bill of Rights. And, in a big, tolerant country, we should respect the rule of law, allow people in \u2014 in \u2014 in this country \u2014 I'm a \u2014 I was opposed to the decision, but we \u2014 you can't just say, "well, they \u2014 gays can't get married now." But this woman, there should be some accommodation for her conscience, just as there should be for people that are florists that don't want to participate in weddings, or bakers. A great country like us should find a way to have accommodations for people so that we can solve the problem in the right way. This should be solved at the local level... +p962 +aVAnd so we do agree, Mike. +p963 +aVWell, he's wrong on a lot of things, but on this he's wrong because I'm the most pro-life governor on this stage. I got to act on my core beliefs. It's part of who I am. Life is a gift from God. And from beginning end we need to respect it and err on the side of life. And so I defunded Planned Parenthood. We created a climate where parental notification took place. We were the only state to fund crisis pregnancy centers with state moneys. We were totally focused on this. And I would bring that kind of philosophy to Washington, D.C. So here is a solution to this. Title X of the HHS funding, there is something that was the "Reagan Rule." It was passed in 1988. And in that rule it was defined, and the courts approved this, that a Planned Parenthood, you couldn't separate the money between the actual abortion procedures, and there are 330,000 abortions that take place in this clinic, and their promotion of it. He interpreted it the right way, the courts ruled in his favor, and Planned Parenthood did not get funding during that time until President Clinton came in. When I'm elected president, we will restore that interpretation of Title X. And this deal will be finished. +p964 +aVThere are 13,000 community-based organizations that provide health services to women, 13,000 in this country. I don't believe that Planned Parenthood should get a penny from the federal government. Those organizations should get funding, just as I increased funding when I was governor of the state. That's the way you do this is you improve the condition for people. And, Donald, when I was governor, we also increased the opportunities for women. Women's income grew three times faster than the national average when I was governor. +p965 +aVWe improved \u2014 we improved \u2014 +p966 +aV\u2014 we increased child support \u2014 we increased child support with a broken system by 90 percent. +p967 +aVI have a proven record. I have a proven record. +p968 +aVHe did, he did. You're proud of your family, just as I am. +p969 +aVTo subject my wife into the middle of a raucous political conversation was completely inappropriate, and I hope you apologize for that, Donald. +p970 +aVShe is. She's fantastic. +p971 +aVShe is absolutely the love of my life, and she's right here... +p972 +aVAnd why don't you apologize to her right now. +p973 +aVYeah. +p974 +aVSo, here's the deal. My wife is a Mexican-American. She's an American by choice. She loves this country as much as anybody in this room, and she wants a secure border. But she wants to embrace the traditional American values that make us special and make us unique. We're at a crossroads right now. Are we going to take the Reagan approach, the hopeful optimistic approach, the approach that says that, you come to our country legally, you pursue your dreams with a vengeance, you create opportunities for all of us? Or the Donald Trump approach? The approach that says that everything is bad, that everything is coming to an end. I... +p975 +aVI'm on the Reagan side of this. +p976 +aVLook, first of all, I wrote a book about this, three \u2014 four years ago, now. And I laid out a comprehensive, conservative approach for immigration reform. And it does require securing the border. No one disagrees with that. But to build a wall, and to deport people \u2014 half a million a month \u2014 would cost hundreds of billions of dollars, Donald. Hundreds of billions of dollars. It would destroy community life, it would tear families apart. And it would send a signal to the rest of the world that the United States values that are so important for our long-term success no longer matter in this country. +p977 +aVWell, I've been speaking English here tonight, and I'll keep speaking English. But the simple fact is, if a high school kid asks me a question in Spanish, a school \u2014 by the way, a voucher program that was created under my watch, the largest voucher program in the country, where kids can go to a Christian school, and they ask me a question in Spanish, I'm going to show respect and answer that question in Spanish. Even though they do speak English, and even though they embrace American values. +p978 +aVYeah. +p979 +aVWell, first of all, Hugh, if you're looking at Republican advisers, you have to go to the last two administrations. That happened to be 41 and 43. So just by definition, if you're \u2014 and many of the people here that are seeking advice from the foreign policy experts in the Republican side, they \u2014 they served in my dad's administration, my brother's administration. Of course that's the case. But I'm my own man. I'm going to create a strategy that is based on the simple fact that the United States needs to lead the world. The first thing that we need to do is to stop the craziness of the sequester. Rebuild our military so that our \u2014 so that we don't deploy people over and over again without the necessary equipment to keep them safe, to send a signal to the world that we're serious. If we're going to lead the world, then we need to have the strongest military possible. We need to rebuild our counterintelligence and intelligence capabilities. We need to focus on the fact that the next president is going to start in 2017, not in 1990 \u2014 you know, 30 years ago, or when my brother started. The world is dramatically different. And I believe that we need to restore America's presence and leadership in the world. Name a country where our relationship is better today than it was the \u2014 the day that Barack Obama got elected president. Under Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama, we have seen a weakness that now creates huge problems for the next president of the United States. So I'll have a team that will be \u2014 that will be following the doctrine I set up, and it will be peace through strength. We're sitting here in this library, which is a wonderful place to talk about this, because that's exactly what happened in the 1980s, and the world was a lot safer because of... +p980 +aVThe leadership of Ronald Reagan and my... +p981 +aVSo you \u2014 the \u2014 the first chance... +p982 +aVRight after me, and then I'll \u2014 I'll yield \u2014 yield the floor. What do you guys say in the Senate when you're talking and debating? +p983 +aVHere's the facts: When Donald Trump talks about judgment, what was his position on who would've been the best negotiator to deal with Iran? It wasn't a Republican; it was Hillary Clinton. That's what you believe. I mean, the lack of judgment and the lack of understanding about how the world works is really dangerous in this kind of time that we're saying. So is that the judgment that you bring to the table, that Hillary Clinton... +p984 +aV... is a great negotiator, that she could bring about a better deal on Iran? +p985 +aVYou know what? As it relates to my brother, there's one thing I know for sure. He kept us safe. I don't know if you remember... ... Donald... ... you remember the \u2014 the rumble? You remember the fire fighter with his arms around it? He sent a clear signal that the United States would be strong and fight Islamic terrorism, and he did keep us safe. +p986 +aVThat's \u2014 that's my brother. +p987 +aVHere's the lessons of history: When we \u2014 we pull back, voids are created. We left Iraq. We should've had a \u2014 a forces agreement to stay there with a small force, and instead of that, we politically and militarily pulled back, and now we have the creation of +p988 +aV... because of what President Obama's done by pulling back. +p989 +aVWell, I'm surprised Senator Cruz would say that since he was as strong supporter of John Roberts at the time. I will talk about what I will do as it relates to appointing Supreme Court Justices. We need to make sure that we have justices that, with a proven experienced record of respect for upholding the constitution. That is what we need. We can't have \u2014 the history in recent past is appoint people that have no experience so that you can't get attacked. And, that makes it harder for people to have confidence that they won't veer off... +p990 +aVJohn Roberts has made some really good decisions, for sure, but he did not have a proven, extensive record that would have made the clarity the important thing, and that's what we need to do. And, I'm willing to fight for those nominees to make sure that they get passed. You can't do it the politically expedient way anymore. This is the culture in Washington. You have to fight hard for these appointments. This is perhaps the most important thing that the next president will do. +p991 +aVWell, first of all, he, as I said, supported John Roberts. He supported him, publicly. So, you can rewrite history, I guess, Ted, but the simple fact is that you supported him because he had all the criteria that you would have thought would have made a great justice. And, I think he is doing a good job. But, the simple fact is that going forward, what we need to do is to have someone that has a long standing set of rulings that consistently makes it clear that he is a focused, exclusively on upholding the Constitution of the United States so they won't try to use the bench as a means to which legislate. +p992 +aVHe was talking about me. +p993 +aVWell, I \u2014 I wanted to \u2014 be \u2014 make it easier for him. +p994 +aVAnd I just did. +p995 +aVSo, 40 years ago, I smoked marijuana, and I admit it. I'm sure that other people might have done it and may not want to say it in front of 25 million people. My mom's not happy that I just did. That's true. And here's the deal. Here's the deal. We have \u2014 we have a serious epidemic of drugs that goes way beyond marijuana. What goes on in Colorado, as far as I'm concerned, that should be a state decision. But if you look at the problem of drugs in this \u2014 in this society today, it's a serious problem. Rand, you know this because you're campaigning in New Hampshire like all of us, and you see the epidemic of heroin, the overdoses of heroin that's taking place. People's families are \u2014 are being torn apart. It is appropriate for the government to play a consistent role to be able to provide more treatment, more prevention \u2014 we're the state that has the most drug courts across every circuit in \u2014 in \u2014 in Florida, there are drug courts to give people a second chance. That's the best way to do this. +p996 +aVNo, you're wrong \u2014 you're wrong about this. +p997 +aVI don't want to put poor people in jail, Randy. +p998 +aVHere's the deal. No, I did not oppose when the legislature passed the bill to deal with that very issue. That's the way to solve this problem. Medical marijuana on the ballot was opened up, there was a huge loophole, it was the first step to getting to a place. And as a citizen of Florida, I voted no. +p999 +aVNot very far. I think we need to do this state by state. There are places that get this right, and we need to make sure that we protect the privacy laws. This is a complicated place. But I do think the natural impulse on the left \u2014 Hillary Clinton, immediately after one of these horrific violent acts took place, immediately said we need to have federal gun laws. President Obama almost reflexively always says the same thing. And the net result is, you're going to take away rights of \u2014 of law-abiding citizens, the 99.999 percent of the people that are law- abiding citizens. That's not the right approach to do it. In Florida, we have a background check. We have concealed-weapon permit holders, and in fact, there's 1,200,000 of them. We have a reduction in violent crime because we put people behind bars when they use a gun in the commission of the crime. That's the better approach. But we're living in a society today where despair kind of grows in isolation. +p1000 +aVI \u2014 I think there needs to be a hearing, but the fact is, we need to encourage that kind of involvement. That's \u2014 that's exactly what we need to do. +p1001 +aVI would go with Ronald Reagan's partner, Margaret Thatcher. Probably illegal, but what the heck? Since it's not going to happen. A strong leader is what we need in the White House, and she certainly was a strong leader that restored the United Kingdom into greatness. +p1002 +aVEver Ready, it's very high energy, Donald. +p1003 +aVSix million more people are living in poverty than the day that Barack Obama got elected president. Six million more people. The middle class has had declining income, workforce participation rates are lower than they were in 1977. For the first time in modern history, more businesses are failing than are being created. That is what the next president will have to deal with. And I believe we can reverse course by creating a strategy of high sustained economic growth, not the new normal of 2 percent that all the left says we just have to get used to, but a 4 percent growth strategy where we reform how we tax, fix the broken regulatory system, embrace the energy revolution in our midst, fix the immigration system so we can turn it into an economic driver, deal with the structural fiscal problems that exist because of our entitlement problems that will overwhelm and create way too much debt. If we grow at 4 percent, people are going to be lifted out of poverty. The great middle that defines our country will have a chance to be able to pursue their dreams as they see fit. That should be the great challenge and the great opportunity for the next president of the United States, to forge consensus to go back to a high-growth strategy. And then we'll be able to lead the world. Without a high-growth strategy, our country will never have the resources or the optimism to be able to lead the world, which the world desperately needs our leadership. +p1004 +asVWALKER +p1005 +(lp1006 +VGood evening, I'm Scott Walker, and tonight, I want to thank and Mrs. Reagan, and the Reagan Library for hosting us. You see, in my lifetime, the greatest president was a governor from California. Ronald Reagan knew how to go big, and go bold. He understood the essence of moving this country forward, and that's what I did when I took on the status quo in my state, and the Washington based special interest. Now, more than ever, America needs a leader who will go big and bold again. Someone who's been tested. I'm ready to be that leader. Thank you. +p1007 +aVBut Jake, Jake, Jake, Jake... +p1008 +aVBut Jake, this \u2014 this is \u2014 this... +p1009 +aVJake, this is \u2014 this is \u2014 this is... +p1010 +aVThis is actually what's wrong \u2014 this is what's wrong with this debate. We're not talking about real issues. And Mr. Trump, we don't need an apprentice in the White House. We don't need an apprentice in the White House. We have one right now. He told us all the things we wanted to hear back in 2008. We don't know who you are or where you're going. We need someone who can actually get the job done. And you talked about business. +p1011 +aVYou \u2014 you \u2014 let me finish... +p1012 +aVNo, no... +p1013 +aVYou're using the talking... +p1014 +aVMr. Trump, you're using the talking points of the Democrats... +p1015 +aV... and as we all know... +p1016 +aV... that failed three times in four and a half years when I got elected, because it is working. We balanced a budget. You want to talk about balanced budgets? You took four major projects into bankruptcy over and over and over again. You can't take America into bankruptcy. That's what's wrong with the politicians in Washington right now. They think we can take a country into bankruptcy. +p1017 +aVJake, yeah, absolutely, I'll take this on, because this is an issue that's important in this race. Just because he says it doesn't make it true. The facts are the facts. We balanced a $3.6 billion budget deficit, we did it by cutting taxes \u2014 $4.7 billion to help working families, family farmers, small business owners and senior citizens. And it's about time people in America stand up and take note of this. If you want someone that can actually take on the special interest of Washington, which you yourself said you were part of, using the system, we need somebody that will stand up and fight for average Americans to put them back in charge of their government. I'm the one who is taking that on. I'll do that as your next president. +p1018 +aVTwo parts to that, one on China, one back for a second on Iran. When it comes to China, why would we be giving an official state visit to a country that's been involved in a massive cyber attack against the United States? That's not just a visit, that's a 21 gun salute on the South Lawn of the White House. It just doesn't make any sense. If we're ever going to send a message to them, wouldn't this be the time, when they've issued this, sort of, massive attack against us? And, Jake, for the question, I was one of the first ones to call for terminating the bad deal with Iran on day one. The President came after me and said I need to bone up. You know, the President who called +p1019 +aVJake, just one more moment. This is \u2014 there's something bigger to this. Now, I \u2014 like so many other governors here, I defunded Planned Parenthood four-and-a-half years ago, in a Blue State. But it's bigger than that. We did that in a Blue State, we took the money and put it into women's health, so we did exactly what we're talking about here. But I think the bigger issue here is we should be able to do this nationally, and this is precisely why so many Republicans are upset with Washington. They see the House and they see the Senate and they say why can't we pass this. Why can't we defund Planned \u2014 put it in a spending bill. Forget about the 60-vote rule, there's no reason \u2014 and the Constitution doesn't call for 60 votes. Pass it with 51 votes, put it on the desk of the president \u2014 +p1020 +aV\u2014 and go forward and actually make a point. This is why \u2014 +p1021 +aV\u2014 people are upset with Washington. +p1022 +aVSo, the best way to help people see their wages go up is to get them the education, the skill they need, to take on careers that pay more than minimum wage. And, it's why we talk about it, it's all about jobs. You want to help actually get jobs, it's why on that last question we were trying to jump in on taxes. To me, it's not just about taxes, cutting taxes. I've done it as much as anyone has. I've cut income taxes, I've cut property taxes. In fact, property taxes are lower today in my state than they were before we took office. The real issues about jobs. Ronald Reagan, our plan is based on the Ronald Reagan tax cuts of 1986. That brought about one of the longest sustained periods of economic growth in American history. All the things we should be talking about tonight are about how do we create jobs, helping people get the skills and the education qualifications they need to succeed. That's the way you help people create jobs. It's part of our large plan to reform the tax code, to cut taxes, to put in place an education system that gives people the skills and education that they need. To put in place all the above energy policy, but you start on day one with repealing Obamacare. I'm the only one on this stage that's actually got a plan, introduced an actual plan to repeal Obamacare on day one. I'll send a bill up to Congress, and to make sure enact it... +p1023 +aV...I'm going to sign an order that makes the Congress live by the same rules as everybody else. +p1024 +aV...That will ensure they repeal Obamacare... +p1025 +aV...Jake, Jake, Jake, I just want to address that issue because you said I didn't answer, and I did. I said, to me, I think the real focus shouldn't be \u2014 you know, Hillary Clinton talks about the minimum wage. That's her answer to grow the economy. The answer is to give people the skills and the education so they make far more than minimum wage. I don't want to argue about how low things are going to be, I want to talk about how do we lift everyone up in America. That's what Reagan talked about. It wasn't how bad things were, it was how to make it better for everyone. That's what we've done in Wisconsin, that's exactly what we'd do as... +p1026 +aV... the key issue here is talking about leadership. Now, there's a lot of greater people up here, and you've heard a lot of great ideas out there. But I would ask the American people, look at who's been tested. When there were 100,000 protesters in my capital, I didn't back down, when they issued death threats against me and threats against my family, I didn't back down, when they tried to recall me, I didn't back down, and when they made me the \u2014 one of their number-one targets last year, I didn't back down. Give me the chance to be your president. +p1027 +aVI won't back down... +p1028 +aV... on any of these issues. +p1029 +aVTo be clear, what I said the other day was that we need to lift the political restrictions that are already in play. Barack Obama's administration has put political restrictions on the military personnel already in Iraq. We need to lift those and then we need to listen to our military experts, not the political forces in the White House, but our military experts about how many more we sent in. And we certainly shouldn't have a commander-in-chief who sends a message to our adversaries as to how far we're going to go, and how far we're willing to fight, so I'm not putting a troop number. What I'm saying is lift the political restrictions. When you do that, you empower our military personnel already there to work with the Kurd and the Sunni allies, to reclaim the territory taken by +p1030 +aV... a lot of those people, though, and I'm going to echo what Senator Rubio just said. This is an issue where, we're talking about my state, it's thousands of manufacturing jobs. Thousands of manufacturing jobs for a rule the Obama administration, own EPA has said will have a marginal impact on climate change. So we're going to put thousands and thousands of jobs in my state, I think it's something like 30,000 in Ohio, other states across this country, we're going to put people \u2014 manufacturing jobs, the kind of jobs that are far greater than minimum wage, this administration is willing to put at risk for something its own EPA says is marginal (ph)... +p1031 +aVFirst of all, I got to say to Carson, Huckabee, thanks a lot for making the rest of us look like chumps up here, but, I'd pick Clara Barton. I once worked for the American Red Cross, she was a great founder of the Red Cross. +p1032 +aVHarley. I love riding Harley's. +p1033 +aVWell, I turned 13 years old two days before Ronald Reagan was first elected. A lot of people forget this, but just a few days before that election 1980, he was behind in the polls. And I think what changed things was people in America realized they didn't want to hear what was bad about America, they wanted to know how it was going to be better. Ronald Reagan wasn't just a conservative Republican, he was an eternal optimist in the American people. And I am too. So here's what I think will make America better. We need to live in a world where our children are free, are free from the threats of radical Islamic terrorism. We need to live in an America where we have an economy, where everyone can live their piece of the American dream, no matter what that dream is. And we need to live in an America where we have a federal government that is not too big to fail, but ultimately small enough to succeed, where we send powers back to the states and back to the people. That's what I did in Wisconsin. We took on the big government union bosses, the big government special interests, many of whom came in from Washington, to spend millions of dollars to try and take me out because we stood up to them, we didn't back down in any of those instances. If you give me the chance as your next president, I won't back down any day, anyway, anyhow. I'll fight and win for you and your families every single day I'm in office. +p1034 +asVMALE +p1035 +(lp1036 +VThat's a good one. +p1037 +asVHEWITT +p1038 +(lp1039 +VSenator Cruz, you've said you disagree with Mr. Trump's policy. I don't want a cage match; you've tweeted you don't want a cage match. But Republican primary voters deserve to know, with the kind of specificity and responsiveness you delivered in your nine Supreme Court arguments, how you disagree with Mr. Trump. Would you spell that out with us? +p1040 +aVSo you're saying you disagree because he's too broad and you have a narrower focus? Why do you disagree with him? +p1041 +aVCarly Fiorina... ... this is the Christmas dinner debate. This will be the debate that Americans talk about at Christmas. And thus far, in the first 10 minutes, we haven't heard a lot about Ronald Reagan's city on a hill. We've heard a lot about keeping Americans out or keeping Americans safe and everyone else out. Is this what you want the party to stand for? +p1042 +aVDr. Carson...... you mentioned in your opening remarks that you're a pediatric neurologist surgeon... +p1043 +aVNeurosurgeon. And people admire and respect and are inspired by your life story, your kindness, your evangelical core support. We're talking about ruthless things tonight \u2014 carpet bombing, toughness, war. And people wonder, could you do that? Could you order air strikes that would kill innocent children by not the scores, but the hundreds and the thousands? Could you wage war as a commander-in-chief? +p1044 +aVSo you are OK with the deaths of thousands of innocent children and civilian? It's like... +p1045 +aVThat is what war \u2014 can you be as ruthless as Churchill was in prosecuting the war against the Nazis? +p1046 +aVMr. Trump, we are talking about the most important thing, that's why it's heated. And it's, you are OK with Mr. Assad staying in power, but you are also in favor of winning. If he stays in power, Iran is winning, Hezbollah is winning. Iran is winning in Yemen. They are winning everywhere. If they are winning how can we be winning? +p1047 +aVGovernor Christie, is he right? Because if we step back, Iran goes nuclear. Is Donald Trump right? +p1048 +aVSenator Paul, let me ask you, you heard Governor Kasich say Assad must go. Do you agree? +p1049 +aVGovernor Bush, a commander-in-chief question. You've said that Mr. Trump is not qualified to be president because he's not qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin. Why are you better qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin than Mr. Trump? +p1050 +aVMr. Trump? +p1051 +aVBut, Mr. Trump, it's not CNN \u2014 I was on CNN last night... +p1052 +aV... watching... +p1053 +aVBut it wasn't \u2014 it wasn't CNN. It was me. I watched you last night for 16 minutes. It's not CNN. +p1054 +aVIt's not CNN. It's America's watching you. +p1055 +aVIt's America's watching. +p1056 +aVGovernor \u2014 thank you, Governor. +p1057 +aVDr. Carson, commander-in-chief question again. You've been the head of neurosurgery for a big hospital. You're on a lot of boards of a lot of companies. You've traveled the world. You're going traveling again next week. But does that prepare you to command troops from Djibouti to Japan, troops from Afghanistan to Iraq to be in charge of the men and women watching on Armed Services Network tonight? +p1058 +aVMr. Trump...... Dr. Carson just referenced the single most important job of the president, the command, the control and the care of our nuclear forces. And he mentioned the triad. The B-52s are older than I am. The missiles are old. The submarines are aging out. It's an executive order. It's a commander-in-chief decision. What's your priority among our nuclear triad? +p1059 +aVOf the three legs of the triad, though, do you have a priority? I want to go to Senator Rubio after that and ask him. +p1060 +aVSenator Rubio, do you have a response? +p1061 +aVMy listeners tell me again and again they are worried that Hillary Clinton will win the White House because you'll run as an independent. Are you ready to assure Republicans tonight that you will run as a Republican and abide by the decision of the Republicans? +p1062 +aVDr. Carson, last week... +p1063 +aVPlease. +p1064 +aVDr. Carson, Mr. Trump just committed to stay the distance regardless of the result. How about you? +p1065 +aVThank you, Jake. Mr. Trump, two years ago, President Obama drew a red line that the Syrian dictator Bashar Assad crossed, President Obama threatened to strike. He did not, his knees buckled. We now have 4 million refugees, Syria is a living hell, and he turned to the Congress for the authority to back him up. You have three senators to your right that said, no. Do they bear responsibility for this refugee crisis, and what would you have done when Bashar Assad crossed the line? +p1066 +aVHow much responsibility, Mr. Trump, do the senators hold? +p1067 +aVSenator Rubio... +p1068 +aVSenator Paul? +p1069 +aVI'd like to talk about winning because I think all of you are more qualified than former Secretary of State Clinton, and as were the people in the first debate, but there are different styles, and Carly Fiorina, Governor Kasich, you're conveniently located next to each other, and you have different styles. Governor Kasich, you've been on my show a lot. You refused to attack Hillary Clinton, you just don't want to go there, you want to do the up with people. Go, Ohio, OK, and I like that. Carly Fiorina, I don't have to bring up the Secretary of State \u2014 you bring her up, so . Which one of you is wrong? Governor Kasich? +p1070 +aVGovernor. +p1071 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1072 +aVCarly Fiorina, your style? +p1073 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Christie, your name was mentioned. I want to give you a chance to respond. +p1074 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1075 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. There is a lot more coming up. Ahead, a world of trouble. The challenges that one of these candidates may face in the Oval Office, and how he or she will handle it. Stay with us. +p1076 +aVOh, you're the best interview in America. +p1077 +aV... makes an interesting case (ph) here (ph). +p1078 +aVThank you, Jake. I've done a lot of great interviews with all of you, but, Governor Bush, I talked to you in February about the biggest elephant in a room full of elephants, which is your last name. And you said you would not be burdened either by your brother or your father's legacy in the Middle East. And then, a week later, you rolled out your list of foreign policy advisers, and it was a lot of the band getting back together again. So on behalf of the military that is watching... +p1079 +aV...OK, the active duty military that are at the end of the sphere (ph), what kind of a commander in chief is Jeb Bush going to be, and who are the advisers that are new to your team? +p1080 +aVMr. \u2014 Mr. Trump. +p1081 +aVI want to ask you a question, though, you promised us great leaders. And I believe that. But Jeb Bush has laid out 20 different people that have experience around the world. There are 190 countries, you can't run the world by yourself. When are we going to get some names on your military and your foreign policy advisers? +p1082 +aVThank you, Jake. Tomorrow is \u2014 Republicans know this \u2014 tomorrow is Constitution Day. We've been talking about the 10th Amendment. Let's talk about the Second Amendment. Governor Bush, one of the things the Supreme Court has gotten right is that it's an individual right and it's protected for individuals to hold it. Last week, you said the next step in gun issues is to make sure they're not in the hands of mentally ill. In this state, there's a controversial law that allows guns to be taken away from people without a hearing. Where does it go \u2014 and the problem of violence is endemic, but where does it go from what you said last week, how far into people's lives to take guns away from them? +p1083 +aVIf a family member calls and says, "My child, my brother, my sister is disturbed," ought the state be able to go and get their weapon without a hearing? +p1084 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1085 +aVSenator Cruz, I want to go to you. Your constitutional litigant (ph), are you afraid of the next- step theory of what happens to Second Amendment rights? +p1086 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1087 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1088 +aVThank you, senator. +p1089 +asVBAKER +p1090 +(lp1091 +VThe candidates on stage tonight were selected based on their standing in an average of four national polls. Those standings determining their position on the stage. And here they are. At center stage, businessman Donald Trump. Neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson. +p1092 +aVTonight's rules are simple. Up to 90 second for each answer. One minute for each follow-up response. And if a candidate goes over their allotted time, you'll here this. +p1093 +aVMs. Fiorina, while you've all pointed out how weak the current recovery has been and how disappointing by any historical standards, in the general election, the Democrats will inevitably ask you and voters to compare the recent president's jobs performance. Now, in seven years under President Obama, the U.S. has added an average of 107,000 jobs a month. Under President Clinton, the economy added about 240,000 jobs a month. Under George W. Bush, it was only 13,000 a month. If you win the nomination, you'll probably be facing a Democrat named Clinton. How are you going to respond to the claim that Democratic presidents are better at creating jobs than Republicans? +p1094 +aVThank you. Thank you. Senator Paul, income inequality has been rising in the United States. Fifty years ago, for example, the average CEO of a big corporation in this country earned 20 times the average salary of one of his or her workers. Today, that CEO earns about 300 times the average salary of a worker. Does it matter at all that the gap between the rich and everyone else is widening? +p1095 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1096 +aVSenator Rubio... +p1097 +aVYes, one quick comment, yes. +p1098 +aVGovernor Bush... +p1099 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor, you...You should let Jeb speak. +p1100 +aVMr. Trump, Mr. Trump, you yourself \u2014 you yourself said let Governor Bush speak. Governor Bush? +p1101 +aVSenator Rubio? Senator... +p1102 +aVSenator Rubio, Senator Rubio, let me \u2014 let me take you to a question that I think gets to the root of a lot of the anxiety that people have in this country. The economy is undergoing a transformation through information technology. Americans are anxious that the new economy isn't producing higher-paying jobs. Many are concerned that the new wealth seems to be going mainly to innovators and investors. Meanwhile, with factories run by robots and shopping done increasingly on smartphones, many traditional jobs are just going away. How do you reassure American workers that their jobs are not being steadily replaced by machines? +p1103 +aVThank you. Senator Cruz \u2014 Senator Cruz, entitlements. You've argued for raising the retirement age and reducing benefits for future retirees, but reducing any sort of benefits for the elderly has always been notoriously hard to do politically. When Speaker Paul Ryan proposed replacing traditional Medicare with federally funded private plans a few years ago, a liberal group responded with a commercial that featured a granny being pushed off a cliff. What's going to be different this time? +p1104 +aV...I said for future retirees was your statement... +p1105 +aVSenator Rubio. Can I just come to Senator Rubio? We're coming to you, Mr. Trump, in one second. I \u2014 I promise. +p1106 +aVSenator Rubio, your tax plan includes a large expansion of child tax credits to raise off (ph) the tax incomes for low-income parents. A similar tax credit that you previously proposed in the Senate was estimated to cost as much as $170 billion a year, according to the Tax Foundation. Isn't \u2014 isn't there a risk you're just adding another expensive entitle program to an already overburdened federal budget? +p1107 +aVGovernor Kasich? Let me come to Governor Kasich. +p1108 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1109 +aVVery quickly, Senator. +p1110 +aVPlease. +p1111 +aV...Gentleman, we need to move on... +p1112 +aV...We need to move... +p1113 +aV...We need too... +p1114 +aV...We do need to move on. Mr. Trump... +p1115 +aV...Very quick. +p1116 +aVLet's talk about \u2014 No, no, Governor, I really must move on. I really want to move on. Mr. Trump, let's talk about the international economy... +p1117 +aV...We really need to move on... +p1118 +aV...No, governor, I promise I will come to you... +p1119 +aV...Listen... +p1120 +aV...Mr. Trump, can I ask you about... +p1121 +aV...the U.S. just concluded an international trade agreement with 11 countries in the Pacific. You've said that you'd rather have no deal... +p1122 +aV...than sign the one that's on the table... +p1123 +aV...Most economists \u2014 most economists say that trade is boosted growth, and every single post war president has supported the expansion of international trade, including the last three republican presidents. Why would you reverse more than 50 years of U.S. trade policy? +p1124 +aVThe \u2014 the deal, as you say, the terms of the deal were published \u2014 were published just last week, the details, 5,000 pages of it, and 80 percent of U.S. trade with countries in the Pacific, these countries, these 11 countries, is actually tariff-free, and these \u2014 the trade deal only affects the other 20 percent. Which \u2014 are there particular parts of the deal that you think were badly negotiated? +p1125 +aVThere was a separate \u2014 separate... +p1126 +aVBut isn't that \u2014 isn't that part of the problem? When I say, Senator, that if \u2014 if this deal is not ratified by \u2014 by the U.S. \u2014 by the Senate, then it would actually give China an opportunity to grow its economic leadership, which it's been seeking to do? And if the U.S. is unable to take part in this trade deal with these countries in Asia, China will take the lead? +p1127 +aVThank you. Thanks, Senator. +p1128 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich, I want to ask you about China, in particular hundreds of American companies have been subjected to cyber attacks from the Chinese military, yet state-backed Chinese companies, growing their presence in the United States, Chinese investments in U.S., which were nearly nonexistent a few years ago, are now over $50 billion. And as my newspaper recently reported, Chinese companies are planning to bid for one of the largest hotel chains in the United States, what would be the largest ever Chinese takeover of a U.S. company. Would you stop them? +p1129 +aVThank you, Governor. Plenty of opportunities. Thank you. Neil? +p1130 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate, live from Milwaukee. Now let's get straight back to the questions, and Governor Bush. Governor, Hillary Clinton recently said that if we had another financial crisis like the one in 2008, she wouldn't bail out the banks. Would you? +p1131 +aVBut, Governor, but can I just quickly \u2014 did \u2014 you can't seriously guarantee that there won't be another financial crisis, can you? +p1132 +aVEver? There will never be another financial crisis? +p1133 +aVDr. Carson, if I may, just on that point, despite measures taken, as the governor says, since the crisis to make the financial system safer, the major banks in the U.S., many of them are actually bigger than ever. Asset held by JPMorgan Chase, for example, the very largest bank, have increased by nearly 40 percent to over $2.6 trillion. Do you think JPMorgan and the other big banks should be broken up? +p1134 +aVBut just to be clear, just \u2014 just to be clear, then, you wouldn't \u2014 you wouldn't favor breaking up the big banks? You think they're big enough \u2014 they're OK as they are, as big as they are? +p1135 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1136 +aVThank you. +p1137 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate. And now, candidates, it's time for your closing statements. You get 30 seconds each, and, Senator Paul, we will begin with you. +p1138 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p1139 +asVHUCKABEE +p1140 +(lp1141 +VWell, John, I don't really have any weaknesses that I can think of. But my wife is down here in the front, and I'm sure, if you'd like to talk to her later, she can give you more than you'll ever be able to take care of. If I have a weakness, it's that I try to live by the rules. I try to live by the rules, no matter what they are, and I was brought up that way as a kid. Play by the rules. And I'll tell you what a weakness is of this country: there are a lot of people who are sick and tired because Washington does not play by the same rules that the American people have to play by. +p1142 +aVWell, I would really appreciate that. First of all, yes, we've stolen. Yes, we've lied to the American people about Social Security, and Medicare. But, you know what we're not telling them? It's their money. This isn't the governments money. This is not entitlement, it's not welfare. This is money that people have confiscated out of their paychecks. Everytime they got a paycheck, the government reached in and took something out of it before they ever saw it. Now, we're going to blame the people. Today congress decided to take another $150 billion dollars away from Social Security so they can borrow more money. That makes no sense to everybody. And, they're always going to say, "Well, we're going to fix this one day." No their not. It's like a 400 pound man saying, "I'm going to go on a diet, but I'm eating a sack of Krispy Kremes before I do." And, people are sick of believing that the government is never going to really address this. But, let me tell you who not to blame. Let's quit blaming the people on Social Security. Let's quit making it a problem for them. It's like them getting mugged, and then us saying, well, we're going to mug you some more. You ought to just be able to get over it, get used to it... +p1143 +aV...No, sir... +p1144 +aV...we need to honor our promises... +p1145 +aV...before I go. This is the only time I've had a chance, let me finish. +p1146 +aV...This is a matter not of math, this is a matter of morality. If this country that does not keep its promise to seniors then what promise can this country hope to be trusted to keep? And, the fact is, none of them. [ +p1147 +aVAnd, the only way \u2014 no... +p1148 +aV...Chris... +p1149 +aV...Chris... +p1150 +aVSince he brought me up, do I not get to respond? +p1151 +aVJohn, listen, let's keep in mind that for one-third of the 60 million Americans on Social Security it represents 90 percent of their income. And, when I hear people talking about means testing, let's just remember what that means. If we means test Social Security, it means that the government decides whether or not I deserve it. If a person lives in a seven room house, does the government get to say you don't need seven rooms, we're going to take two of them away? Folks, the government has no business stealing even more from the people who have paid this in. I just want to remind you, people paid their money. They expect to have it. And, if this government doesn't pay it, than tell me what's different between the government and Bernie Madolf, who sits in prison today for doing less than what the government has done to the people on social security and Medicare in this country. +p1152 +aVI don't think it's so much about when the government orders a corporation to do something. In fact, that's part of the problem. If you saw that blimp that got cut loose from Maryland today, it's a perfect example of government. I mean, what we had was something the government made \u2014 basically a bag of gas \u2014 that cut loose, destroyed everything in its path, left thousands of people powerless, but they couldn't get rid of it because we had too much money invested in it, so we had to keep it. That is our government today. We saw it in the blimp. That's exactly what we saw. So look, corporations ought to exercise some responsibility. When CEO income has risen 90 percent above the average worker, when the bottom 90 percent of this country's economy has had stagnant wages for the past 40 years, somebody is taking it in the teeth. And it's not the folks on Wall Street. I'm not anti-Wall Street, but I don't believe the government ought to wear a team jersey, pick winners and losers. +p1153 +aVThe government ought to wear a striped shirt and just make sure the game... +p1154 +aV...is paid \u2014 played fairly. +p1155 +aVNow, everybody else has fudged their time and gone over, so please, don't cut me off too quick, Becky. +p1156 +aVLet me just close it out this way. +p1157 +aVWe need to be focusing on what fixes this country. And I'll tell you one thing that we never talk about \u2014 we haven't talked about it tonight. Why aren't we talking about \u2014 instead of cutting benefits for old people, cutting benefits for sick people \u2014 why don't we say, "let's cure the four big cost-driving diseases... +p1158 +aV..."diabetes, heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer's?" +p1159 +aVIf you do that, you don't just change the economy, you transform the lives of millions of hurting Americans. +p1160 +aVGosh, I'd love for us to talk about something like that. Thank you. +p1161 +aVYou know, of the few questions I've got, the last one I need is to give him some more time. I love Donald Trump. He is a good man. I'm wearing a Trump tie tonight. Get over that one, OK? [ +p1162 +aVI don't know. [ +p1163 +aVI have no idea. +p1164 +aVYou're welcome. Let me tell you, Donald Trump would be a president every day of the week and twice on Sunday, rather than Hillary. I've spent a lifetime in politics fighting the Clinton machine. You want to talk about what we're going to be up against next year? I'm the only guy on this stage \u2014 you know, everybody has an "only guy" \u2014 "I'm the only guy this; I'm the only guy that." Well, let me tell you one thing that I am the only guy: The only guy that has consistently fought the Clinton machine every election I was ever in over the past 26 years. And not only did I fight them, but I beat them. Somebody says "I'm a fighter." Well, I want to know, did you win? Well, I did. And not only did I fight them and win, I lived to tell about it and I'm standing on this stage tonight as evidence of that. And I think that ought to be worth something. +p1165 +aVWell, and specifically to Medicare, Becky, because 85 percent of the cost of Medicare is chronic disease. The fact is if we don't address what's costing so much, we can't throw enough money at this. And it's why I've continued to focus on the fact that we need to declare war on the four big cost drivers because 80 percent of all medical costs in this country are chronic disease. We don't have a health care crisis in America, we have a health crisis. And until we deal with the health of Americans and do what we did with polio \u2014 when I was a little kid, we eradicated it. You know how much money we spent on polio last year in America? We didn't spend any. We've saved billions of dollars. You want to fix Medicare? Focus on the diseases that are costing us the trillions of dollars. Alzheimers, diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Eradicate those and you fix Medicare and you've fixed America, its economy and you've made people's lives a heck of a lot better. +p1166 +aVYou know, I know to a lot of people in the media, this is just a great big game, and we're the players. And, we come out here, and we do our thing. And, sometimes we're held up in contempt by people who write columns, but, I guarantee you to every person on this stage there's something deep inside of us that would cause us to give up our livelihoods and step out on this stage and fight for the people of America. I've got five grandkids. I do not want to walk my five grandkids through the charred remains of a once great country called America, and say, "Here you go, $20 trillion dollars of debt. Good luck making something out of this mess." And, for those of us who are serious enough to run for president, think long and hard why we're here, and hopefully you'll know we're not here for ourselves. We honest to god are here to get this country back on track. I know this, I certainly am. +p1167 +aV...Thank you. +p1168 +aVI'm Mike Huckabee. I'm delighted to be on this stage with some remarkable fellow Republicans. None of us are a self-professed socialist. None of us on this state are under investigation by the FBI because we destroyed government records, or because we leaked secrets. I know that there are some in the Wall-Street-to-Washington axis of power who speak of all of us contemptuously. But I'm here to say that I think we are, in fact, the A team. We have some remarkable people, and, in fact, not only are we the A team; we even have our own Mr. T, who doesn't mind saying about others, "you're a fool." And I'm delighted to be here with all of these guys, and would put any of them in an administration that I led. Thank you very much. +p1169 +aVI would certainly love to get in on this, because I think the single... +p1170 +aVI've been patiently waiting, and I'm going to just say this about Iran. +p1171 +aVBecause I think it is incredibly important. This is really about the survival of Western civilization. This is not just a little conflict with a Middle Eastern country that we've just now given over $100 billion to, the equivalent in U.S. terms is $5 trillion. This threatens Israel immediately, this threatens the entire Middle East, but it threatens the United States of America. And we can't treat a nuclear Iranian government as if it is just some government that would like to have power. This is a government for 36 years has killed Americans, they kidnapped Americans, they have maimed Americans. They have sponsored terrorist groups, Hamas and Hezbollah, and they threaten the very essence of Western civilization. To give them this agreement, that the president treats like the Magna Carta, but Iranians treat it like it's toilet paper, and we must, simply, make it very clear that the next president, one of us on this stage, will absolutely not honor that agreement, and will destroy it and will be tough with Iran, because otherwise, we put every person in this world in a very dangerous place. +p1172 +aVNo, I don't think he's on the wrong side of such an issue. Jeb is a friend. I'm not up here to fight with Jeb or to fight with anybody else. But I am here to fight for somebody who is a county clerk elected under the Kentucky constitution that 75 percent of the people of that state had voted for that said that marriage was between a man and a woman. The Supreme Court in a very, very divided decision decided out of thin air that they were just going to redefine marriage. It's a decision that the other justices in dissent said they didn't have and there wasn't a constitutional shred of capacity for them to do it. I thought that everybody here passed ninth-grade civics. The courts cannot legislate. That's what Roberts said. But heck, it's what we learned in civics. The courts can't make a law. They can interpret one. They can review one. They can't implement it. They can't force it. But here's what happened: Because the courts just decided that something was going to be and people relinquished it and the other two branches of government sat by silently \u2014 I thought we had three branches of government, they were all equal to each other, we have separation of powers, and we have checks and balances. If the court can just make a decision and we just all surrender to it, we have what Jefferson said was judicial tyranny. The reason that this is a real issue that we need to think about... +p1173 +aVNo, no. Let me finish this one thought, Jake. I haven't gotten that much time, so I'm going to take just what little I can here. We made accommodation to the Fort Hood shooter to let him grow a beard. We made accommodations to the detainees at Gitmo \u2014 I've been to Gitmo, and I've seen the accommodations that we made to the Muslim detainees who killed Americans. You're telling me that you cannot make an accommodation for an elected Democrat county clerk from Rowan County, Kentucky? What else is it other than the criminalization of her faith and the exaltation of the faith of everyone else who might be a Fort Hood shooter or a detainee at Gitmo? +p1174 +aVI have a different idea. I think we ought to get rid of all the taxes on people who produce. Why should we penalize productivity? And it's why I'm an unabashed supporter of the "fair tax," which would be a tax on our consumption, rather than a tax on our productivity. In other words, you're not going to tax anybody for what they earn, whether it's worker whose working by the hour or whether it's a hedge fund manager. If they can produce something and bring capital and labor to create jobs, we need some jobs. And I think the "fair tax" makes more sense. Now, Jake, I've been listening to everybody on the stage and there is a lot of back and forth about I'm the only one who has done this, the only one who has done that, I've done great things. We've all done great things or we wouldn't be on this stage. But it occurs to me as we're sitting here in the Reagan Library that most of us would like to pay tribute to a guy who, when he got elected, didn't get elected telling everybody how great he was. He got elected telling everybody how great the American people were. And he empowered them to live their dreams, which is what I'd love to see us do by no longer penalizing the people who are out there working because they are taking a gut punch right now. +p1175 +aV...You don't want me operating on you, I assure you. +p1176 +aVJust today \u2014 just today, there was a new report that 50 different intelligence analysts have said that what they sent up the ladder was doctored by senior officials, so that they could give some happy talk to the situation that we face. I love the idea of a good intellectual capacity to deal with our enemies, but the fact is, if you don't have good intelligence that is reliable and honest, you won't have good intelligence and you cannot make good decisions. The next president is primarily elected not just to know things, but to know what to do with the things that he knows. And the most dangerous person in any room is the person who doesn't know what he doesn't know. +p1177 +aVAnd the reason Barack Obama has been dangerous to this country and we better elect someone who had some executive experience, is because we cannot afford another eight years having a person in the office who doesn't know what he does not know. +p1178 +aVYou better believe I will, because I'm tired of liberals always having a litmus test and conservatives are supposed to pretend we don't. Well let me tell you what mine would be. Number one, I'd ask do you think that the unborn child is a human being or is it just a blob of tissue? I'd want to know the answer to that. I'd want to know do you believe in the First Amendment, do you believe that religious liberty is the fundamental liberty around which all the other freedoms of this country are based? And I'd want to know do you really believe in the Second Amendment, do you believe that we have an individual right to bear arms to protect ourselves and our family and to protect our country? And do you believe in the Fifth and the 14th Amendment? Do you believe that a person, before they're deprived of life and liberty, should in fact have due process and equal protection under the law? Because if you do, you're going to do more than defund Planned Parenthood. +p1179 +aVOne final thing. I'd make darn sure that we absolutely believe the 10th Amendment. Every governor on this stage would share this much with you. Every one of us \u2014 our biggest fight wasn't always with the legislature or even with the Democrats. My gosh, half the time, it was with the federal government who apparently never understood \u2014 +p1180 +aV\u2014 that if it's not reserved in the Constitution, then the 10th Amendment says it's left to the states. But somebody forgot to send a memo to Washington. +p1181 +aVJake? Jake? +p1182 +aVI think we need to remember that there are maybe some controversies about autism, but there is no controversy about the things that are really driving the medical costs in this country. And I would really believe that the next president ought to declare a war on cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer's, because those are the four things that are causing the greatest level of cost. John Kennedy said, "we'll go to the moon in a decade and bring a man back," and we did it. I grew up in the '50s. I remember the polio vaccine. We saved billions of dollars since that time, because we haven't had to treat for polio. Why doesn't this country focus on cures rather than treatment? Why don't we put a definitive focus scientifically on finding the cure for cancer, for heart disease, for diabetes and for Alzheimer's, a disease alone that will cost us \u2014 +p1183 +aV$1.1 trillion by the year 2050. We change the economy and the country. +p1184 +aVThat's an easy one. I'd put my wife on there. I've been married to her 41 years. She's fought cancer and lived through it. She's raised three kids, five great grandkids, and she's put up with me. I mean, who else could possibly be on that money other than my wife. And that way, she could spend her own money with her face. +p1185 +aVI'd go with Duck Hunter. +p1186 +aVAt the end of my presidency I would like to believe that the world would be a safe place, and there wouldn't be the threats. not only to the U.S., but to Israel and our allies, because we would have the most incredible well-trained, well-equipped, well- prepared military in the history of mankind. And they would know that the commander-in-chief would never send them to a mission without all the resources necessary, but people wouldn't bully us anymore. Because they would know that that would be an invitation to their destruction. Domestically, we would be operating under a tax system that eliminated the IRS. People wouldn't be punished for their work, and for what they produced. And life would be really deemed precious. Abortion would be no more. It would be as much of a scourge in our past as slavery is. And we would have a peaceful country, where people respected each other and people respected law enforcement. And we would focus on cures. And we would make this country not only safe from our enemies without, but safe from the enemies within. And it would be a good place to raise our kids and our grandkids. +p1187 +asVCRUZ +p1188 +(lp1189 +VThank you, Wolf. America is at war. Our enemy is not violent extremism. It is not some unnamed malevolent force. It is radical Islamic terrorist. We have a president who is unwilling to utter its name. The men and women on this stage, every one of us, is better prepared to keep this nation safe than is Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. We need a president who understands the first obligation of the commander-in-chief is to keep America safe. If I am elected president, we will hunt down and kill the terrorists. We will utterly destroy +p1190 +aVWell, listen, Hugh, everyone understands why Donald has suggested what he has. We're looking at a president who's engaged in this double-speak where he doesn't call radical Islamic terrorism by its name. Indeed, he gives a speech after the San Bernardino attack where his approach is to try to go after the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens rather than to keep us safe. And even worse, President Obama and Hillary Clinton are proposing bringing tens of thousands of Syrian refugees to this country when the head of the FBI has told Congress they cannot vet those refugees. I understand why Donald made that proposal. I introduced legislation in the Senate that I believe is more narrowly focused at the actual threat, which is radical Islamic terrorism, and what my legislation would do is suspend all refugees for three years from countries where +p1191 +aVWell, you know, I'm reminded of what FDR's grandfather said. He said, "All horse-thieves are Democrats, but not all Democrats are horse-thieves." In this instance, there are millions of peaceful Muslims across the world, in countries like India, where there is not the problems we are seeing in nations that are controlled \u2014 have territory controlled by Al Qaida or +p1192 +aVWell, Dana, the premise of your question is not accurate. I'm very proud to have joined with conservatives in both the Senate and the House to reform how we target bad guys. And what the USA Freedom Act did is it did two things. Number one, it ended the federal government's bulk collection of phone metadata of millions of law-abiding citizens. But number two in the second half of it that is critical. It strengthened the tools of national security and law enforcement to go after terrorists. It gave us greater tools and we are seeing those tools work right now in San Bernardino. And in particular, what it did is the prior program only covered a relatively narrow slice of phone calls. When you had a terrorist, you could only search a relatively narrow slice of numbers, primarily land lines. The USA Freedom Act expands that so now we have cell phones, now we have Internet phones, now we have the phones that terrorists are likely to use and the focus of law enforcement is on targeting the bad guys. You know what the Obama administration keeps getting wrong is whenever anything bad happens they focus on law-abiding citizens instead of focusing on the bad guys. We need to focus on radical Islamic terrorists and we need to stop them before they carry out acts of terror. +p1193 +aVWell, you know, I would note that Marco knows what he's saying isn't true. You know, Mark Levin wrote a column last week that says that the attack ads his Super PAC is running that are saying the same thing, that they are knowingly false and they are, in fact, Alinsky-like attacks like Barack Obama. And the reason is simple. What he knows is that the old program covered 20 percent to 30 percent of phone numbers to search for terrorists. The new program covers nearly 100 percent. That gives us greater ability to stop acts of terrorism, and he knows that that's the case. +p1194 +aVWhat it means is using overwhelming air power to utterly and completely destroy +p1195 +aVYou would carpet bomb where +p1196 +aVWell, you know, Marco has continued these attacks, and he knows they're not true. Yes, it is true that I voted against the National Defense Authorization Act, because when I campaigned in Texas I told voters in Texas that I would oppose the federal government having the authority to detain U.S. citizens permanently with no due process. I have repeatedly supported an effort to take that out of that bill, and I honored that campaign commitment. +p1197 +aVBut more broadly, you know, the notion Marco is suggesting, that somehow \u2014 he also has tossed more than a few insults this direction \u2014 let's be absolutely clear. +p1198 +aVWolf, I believe in a America first foreign policy, that far too often President Obama and Hillary Clinton \u2014 and, unfortunately, more than a few Republicans \u2014 have gotten distracted from the central focus of keeping this country safe. So let's go back to the beginning of the Obama administration, when Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama led +p1199 +aV... we ought to hunt down our enemies and kill +p1200 +aVWell, it's more than not shedding a tear. It's actively getting involved to topple a government. And we keep hearing from President Obama and Hillary Clinton and Washington Republicans that they're searching for these mythical moderate rebels. It's like a purple unicorn. They never exist. These moderate rebels end up being jihadists. And I'll tell you whose view on Assad is the same as mine. It's Prime Minister Netanyahu. Prime Minister Netanyahu has said Israel doesn't have a dog in that fight because Assad is a puppet of Iran, a Shia radical Islamic terrorist, but at the same time, Prime Minister Netanyahu doesn't want to see Syria governed by +p1201 +aVThe question of whether we should toppling dictatorships is asking the wrong question. We should be defeating our enemies. So the problem with defeating... +p1202 +aVWell, but let me explain, the focus should be... +p1203 +aV... on defeating our enemies. So, for example... +p1204 +aV... a regime we should change is Iran... +p1205 +aV... because Iran has declared war on us. But we shouldn't be toppling regimes...... that are fighting radical Islamic terrorists that are helping... +p1206 +aVWell, he \u2014 he has attempted to muddy the waters, but I think that anyone who watched the battle that we had. You know, there was a time for choosing as Reagan put it. Where there was a battle over amnesty and some chose, like Senator Rubio to stand with Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer and support a massive amnesty plan. Others chose to stand with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and the American people and secure the border. And let me mention, this issue is actually directly connected to what we've been talking about. Because the front line with +p1207 +aVLook, I understand Marco wants to raise confusion, it is not accurate what he just said that I supported legalization. Indeed, I led the fight against his legalization and amnesty. And you know, there was one commentator that put it this way that, for Marco to suggest our record's the same is like suggesting "the fireman and the arsonist because they are both at the scene of the fire." He was fighting to grant amnesty and not to secure the border, I was fighting to secure the border. And this also goes to trust, listening on to campaign trails. Candidates all the time make promises. You know, Marco said," he learned that the American people didn't trust the federal government." +p1208 +aVIn Florida promising to... +p1209 +aVgo in the fight against amnesty... +p1210 +aVHe campaigned promising to lead the fight against amnesty. +p1211 +aVI have never supported a legalization... +p1212 +aVI have never supported legalization, and I do not intend to support legalization. Let me tell you how you do this, what you do is you enforce the law... +p1213 +aVWatt you do is enforcement the law... +p1214 +aVWhat you do... +p1215 +aVWhat you do is you enforce the law. I've laid out a very, very detailed immigration plan on my website, tedcruz.org. It's 11 pages of existing federal law and in particular the question of what to do with people who are here now? You enforce the law. That means you stop the Obama administration's policy of releasing criminal illegal aliens. Do you know how many aliens Bill Clinton deported? 12 million. Do you know how many illegal aliens, George W. Bush deported? 10 million. We can enforce the laws and if we secure the border, that solves the problem. And as president I will solve this problem and secure the border. +p1216 +aVDana, what I said in private is exactly what I'll say here, which is that the judgment that every voter is making of every one of us up here is who has the experience, who has the vision, who has the judgment to be commander in chief. That is the most important decision for the voters to make. That's a standard I'm held to. And it's a standard everyone else is held to. And I will note, you know, in the whole course of this discussion about our foreign policy threats, it actually illustrates the need for clarity of focus. You know, my daughters, Caroline and Catherine, came tonight. They're 7 and 5. And you think about the Los Angeles schools canceling their schools today. And every parent is wondering, how do we keep our kids safe? We need a commander in chief who does what Ronald Reagan did with communism, which is he set out a global strategy to defeat Soviet communism. And he directed all of his... I'm answering the question, Dana. He directed all of his forces to defeating communism. One of the things we've seen here is how easy it is for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to get distracted from dealing with radical Islamic terrorism. They won't even call it by its name. We need a president who stands up, number one, and says, we will defeat +p1217 +aVAnd we need to be focused on defeating... +p1218 +aV... defeating radical Islamic terrorists. +p1219 +aVWhat I'm saying, Dana, is that is a judgment for every voter to make. What I can tell you is all nine of the people here would make an infinitely better commander in chief than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. +p1220 +aVAnd there is a real danger, Dana, when people get distracted. I'm answering the question, Wolf. There's a real danger when people get distracted by peripheral issues. They get distracted by democracy building. They get distracted about military conflicts. We need to focus on defeating jihadism. +p1221 +aVAnd I will do everything necessary to keep our children safe. +p1222 +aVJudgment, strength, clarity and trust. Barack Obama has said he doesn't believe in American leadership or America winning \u2014 he is wrong. America can win again and we will win again. Ronald Reagan reignited the American economy, rebuilt the Military, bankrupted the Soviet Union and defeated Soviet Communism. I will do the same thing. Cutting taxes, cutting regulation, unleashing small businesses and rebuilding the Military to defeat radical Islamic terrorism \u2014 our strategy is simple. We win, they lose. We've done it before and we can do it again. +p1223 +aVWell, Maria, it's great to be with you. It's great to be here in Milwaukee. You know, the question you asked really I think is the most important question any of us can have \u2014 face, which is, how do we get the economy growing? How do we bring back economic growth? Because economic growth, it's foundational to every other challenge we have. As you rightly noted, from 2008 to today, our economy has grown 1.2 percent a year on average. The Obama economy is a disaster, and the IMF is telling us this is a new normal. It doesn't have to be. If you look at the history of America, there are three levers that government has had to facilitate economic growth. The first is tax reform. And as you noted, I have rolled out a bold and simple flat tax: 10 percent for every American that would produce booming growth and 4.9 million new jobs within a decade. The second element is regulatory reform, pulling back the armies of regulators that have descended like locusts on small businesses. And the third element is sound money. Every time we've pursued all three of those \u2014 whether in the 1920s with Calvin Coolidge or the 1960s with JFK or the 1980s with Ronald Reagan \u2014 the result has been incredible economic growth. We have done it before, and with leadership, we can do it again. +p1224 +aVWell, my Mom is here, so I don't think we should be pushing any grannies off cliffs. And, you miss-stated what I've said on entitlement reform. What I've said is for seniors we should make no changes whatsoever, for younger workers we should gradually raise the retirement age, we should have benefits grow more slowly, and we should allow them to keep a portion of their taxes in a personal account that they control, and can pass on to their kids... +p1225 +aVI want to go back to the discussion we had a minute ago because, you know, what was said was right. The democrats are laughing \u2014 because if republicans join democrats as the party of amnesty, we will lose. And, you know, I understand that when the mainstream media covers immigration, it doesn't often see it as an economic issue. But, I can tell you for millions \u2014 of Americans at home watching this, it is a very personal economic issue. And, I will say the politics of it will be very, very different if a bunch of lawyers or bankers were crossing the Rio Grande. Or if a bunch of people with journalism degrees were coming over and driving down the wages in the press. Then, we would see stories about the economic calamity that is befalling our nation. And, I will say for those of us who believe people 'ought to come to this country legally, and we should enforce the law, we're tired of being told it's anti-immigrant. It's offensive. I am the son of an immigrant who came legally from Cuba... ...to seek the American dream. And, we can embrace legal immigration while believing in the rule of law \u2014 and I would note, try going illegally to another country. Try going to China, or Japan. Try going to Mexico. See what they do. Every sovereign nation secures its borders, and it is not compassionate to say we're not going to enforce the laws... ...And we're going to drive down the wages for millions of hardworking men and women. That is abandoning the working... +p1226 +aVWell, sure, you put your finger on what the problem is. The current system isn't fair. Washington is fundamentally corrupt. There are more words in the IRS code than there are in the Bible \u2014 and \u2014 and not a one of them is as good. Every one of them reflects a carve-out or a subsidy, and it's all about empowering the Washington cartel. My simple Flat Tax says that, for a family of four, for the first $36,000 you earn, you pay no taxes whatsoever. No income taxes, no payroll taxes, no nothing. Above that, every American pays 10 percent across the board \u2014 a flat, fair tax. Which means that no longer do you have hedge-fund billionaires paying a lower tax rate than their secretaries. On the business side, I've got a business flat tax of 16 percent \u2014 again, that applies across the board. Right now, with our corporate income tax, giant corporations with armies of accountants regularly are paying little to no taxes while small businesses are getting hammered. This is fair and across-the-board. Now, you ask, how do the numbers add up? I would encourage folks, if you go to our website, tedcruz.org, we have the specific numbers on the website. This plan eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax, eliminates the corporate income tax, and it abolishes the IRS. And the effect of that is incredible economic growth. It means every income group will see double-digit increases, from the very poorest to the very weakest, of at least 14 percent. So if you're a single mom, if you're making $40,000 a year, what that means is an extra about $5,000 in your pocket to provide for your kids, to make ends meet. It has a powerful, powerful effect. And there's one other really powerful feature of my plan, which is that it's border-adjustable. Which means, if you're an exporter \u2014 if you're a farmer, if you're a rancher, if you're a manufacturer, you don't pay the businesses flat tax. Exports are free of that tax, but all imports pay that 16 percent business flat tax, which means this tax plan would cause jobs to boom, and it would let America compete with China and the world on a level playing field. +p1227 +aVWell, the numbers the Tax Foundation had put out is that the static cost of the plan is $3.6 trillion over 10 years, but the dynamic cost of the plan, which \u2014 which is the cost that factors in growth, is about $768 billion. It is less than a trillion. It costs less than virtually every other plan people have put up here, and yet it produces more growth and it's one of the very few plans that abolishes the IRS. But on top of that, today, we rolled out a spending plan. $500 billion in specific cuts \u2014 five major agencies that I would eliminate. The IRS, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Energy, the Department of Commerce, and HUD \u2014 and then 25 specific programs. Again, that's on our website at tedcruz.org. You want to look at specificity? It's easy for everyone to say, "cut spending". It's much harder and riskier to put out, chapter and verse, specifically the programs you would cut to stop bankrupting our kids and grandkids. +p1228 +aV...Middle ground that brings both of these together... +p1229 +aV...Exactly right, that we have to defend this nation. You think defending this nation is expensive, try not defending it. That's a lot more expensive. But, you can do that, and pay for it. You can do that, and also be fiscally responsible. You know, I mention that the 25 programs that I put today, that I would eliminate them. Among them are corporate welfare, like sugar subsidies. Let's take that as an example. Sugar subsidies. Sugar farmers farm under... ...under roughly 0.2% of the farmland in America, and yet they give 40% of the lobbying money. That sort of corporate welfare is why we're bankrupting our kids, and grandkids. I would end those subsidies to pay for defending this nation... +p1230 +aVAbsolutely yes. You know, I have spent much of my adult life enforcing the law and defending the Constitution. And the problem that underlies all of this is the cronyism and corruption of Washington. You know, the opening question Jerry asked, would you bail out the big banks again? Nobody gave you an answer to that. I'll give you an answer. Absolutely not. And what we have right now is we have Washington \u2014 as government gets bigger and bigger, you know, the biggest lie in all of Washington and in all of politics is that Republicans are the party of the rich. The truth is, the rich do great with big government. They get in bed with big government. The big banks get bigger and bigger and bigger under Dodd-Frank and community banks are going out of business. And, by the way, the consequence of that is small businesses can't get business loans, and it is that fundamental corruption that is why six of the 10 wealthiest counties in America are in and around Washington, D.C. And let me give you a contrast to Washington cronyism. Some weeks ago, a woman named Sabina Loving testified at a hearing that I chaired in the Senate. Sabina Loving is an African-American single mom who started a tax preparation business in the south side of Chicago. She found a store front, she wanted to have her own business. She started a business. But then the IRS promulgated new regulations targeting tax preparers. They did it under a more than 100-year-old statute called the Dead Horse Act. Now, this statute and the IRS in classic Washington crony fashion had exemptions for lawyers and big fancy accountants, but Sabina had to pay $1,000 an employee. It would have driven her out of business, and Ms. Loving sued the IRS. She took the Obama IRS to court, and she won, and they struck down the rule for picking the big guys over the little guys. +p1231 +aVYes. Now, let's be clear, there is a role for the Federal Reserve \u2014 what the Fed is doing now is it is a series of philosopher- kings trying to guess what's happening with the economy. You look at the Fed, one of the reasons we had the financial crash is throughout the 2000s, we had loose money, we had an asset bubble, it drove up the price of real estate, drove up the price of commodities, and then in the third quarter of 2008, the Fed tightened the money and crashed those asset prices, which caused a cascading collapse. That's why I am supporting getting back to rules-based monetary system not with a bunch of philosopher-kings deciding, but tied... +p1232 +aVSo let me be clear. I would not bail them out, but instead of adjusting monetary policy according to whims and getting it wrong over and over again and causing booms and busts, what the Fed should be doing is, number one, keeping our money tied to a stable level of gold, and, number two, serving as a lender of last resort. That's what central banks do. So if you have a run on the bank, the Fed can serve as a lender of last resort, but it's not a bailout. It is a loan at higher interest rates. That's how central banks have worked. And I'll point out \u2014 look, we had a gold standard under Bretton Woods, we had it for about 170 years of our nation's history, and enjoyed booming economic growth and lower inflation than we have had with the Fed now. We need to get back to sound money, which helps, in particular, working men and women. What Washington does \u2014 the people who are doing well in the Obama economy are those with power and influence in the Obama government. The people who working men and women... +p1233 +aVSo, Governor Kasich... +p1234 +aV...why would you then bail out rich Wall Street banks, but not Main street, not Mom and Pop, not Sabina Loving? +p1235 +aVBut you just said an executive... +p1236 +aV...knows to step in and bail out a bank. +p1237 +aVSo you said you'd abandon philosophy and abandon principle... +p1238 +aV...but what would you do if the bank was failing? +p1239 +aVSo you \u2014 you would bail them out. +p1240 +aVAnd, Maria, I will note, she's got a lot of experience, but her policies have proven disastrous. If you look at foreign policy, every region in the world has gotten worse. Under her leadership, we abandon the nation of Israel. Under her leadership, radical Islamic terrorism has been on to the rise. Under her leadership, and Obama's leadership, Iran is getting $100 billion dollars, and on the verge of getting a nuclear weapon. Everything she's put her hand to, or has touched \u2014 and when we talk about the cronyism of Washington, Hillary Clinton embodies the cronyism... ...of Washington. And, I'll give you an example of that, which is the Congressional exemption from Obamacare, which is fundamentally wrong, and I'll tell you this, if I'm elected president, I will veto any statute that exempts members of congress. The law should apply evenly to every American. +p1241 +aVMaria, critically, when it comes to climate change... +p1242 +aV...Our \u2014 our... +p1243 +aVFifty-eight years ago, my father fled Cuba. As he stood on the deck of that ferryboat with the wind and salt air blowing, he looked back at the oppression and torture he was escaping. And yet he looked forward to the promise of America. His story is our story. What ties Americans together is we are all the children of those who risked everything for freedom. America is in crisis now. I believe in America. And if we get back to the free market principles and constitutional liberties that built this country, we can turn this country around. I believe that 2016 will be an election like 1980, that we will win by following Reagan's admonition to paint in bold colors, not pale pastels. We're building a grassroots army. I ask you to join us at tedcruz.org. And we, the people, can turn this nation around. +p1244 +aVI'm too agreeable, easy going. You know, I think my biggest weakness is exactly the opposite. I'm a fighter. I am passionate about what I believe. I've been passionate my whole life about the Constitution. And, you know, for six-and-a-half years, we've had a gigantic party. If you want someone to grab a beer with, I may not be that guy. But if you want someone to drive you home, I will get the job done and I will get you home. +p1245 +aVBecky, if you want a 10 percent flat tax where the numbers add up, I rolled out my tax plan today, you can find it on line at tedcruz.org. It is a simple flat tax where for individuals, a family of four pays nothing on the first $36,000. After that you pay 10 percent as a flat tax going up. The billionaire and the working man, no hedge fund manager pays less than his secretary. On top of that, there is a business flat tax of 16 percent. Now that applies universally to giant corporations that with lobbyists right now are not paying taxes, and as small business. And you wanted to know the numbers, the Tax Foundation, which has scored every one of our plans, shows that this plan will allow the economy to generate 4.9 million jobs, to raise wages over 12 percent, and to generate 14 percent growth. And it costs, with dynamic scoring, less than a trillion dollars. Those are the hard numbers. And every single income decile sees a double-digit increase in after-tax income. +p1246 +aVGrowth is the answer. And as Reagan demonstrated, if we cut taxes, we can bring back growth. +p1247 +aVYou know, let me say something at the outset. The questions that have been asked so far in this debate illustrate why the American people don't trust the media. This is not a cage match. And, you look at the questions \u2014 "Donald Trump, are you a comic-book villain?" "Ben Carson, can you do math?" "John Kasich, will you insult two people over here?" "Marco Rubio, why don't you resign?" "Jeb Bush, why have your numbers fallen?" How about talking about the substantive issues the people care about? +p1248 +aVAnd Carl \u2014 Carl, I'm not finished yet. The contrast with the Democratic debate, where every fawning question from the media was, "Which of you is more handsome and why?" And let me be clear. +p1249 +aVLet me be clear. The men and women on this stage have more ideas, more experience, more common sense than every participant in the Democratic debate. That debate reflected a debate between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. And nobody watching at home believed that any of the moderators had any intention of voting in a Republican primary. The questions that are being asked shouldn't be trying to get people to tear into each other. It should be what are your substantive positions... +p1250 +aVYou want me to answer that question? I'm happy to answer the question... +p1251 +aVLet me tell you how that question... +p1252 +aVLet me tell you how that question... +p1253 +aV... so you don't actually want to hear the answer, John? +p1254 +aVYou don't want to hear the answer. You just want to... +p1255 +aVYou're not interested in an answer. +p1256 +aV...Then I'll buy you a tequila... +p1257 +aV...Or, even some famous Colorado brownies. +p1258 +aVWell, sure. This deal in Washington is an example of why Washington's broken. Republican leadership joined with every single Democrat, add $80 trillion to our debt to do nothing to fix the problems. And, let me now on Social Security because we were getting into a good substantive exchange, and I want to say I think both Chris, and Mike are right. Governor Huckabee's exactly right, we need to honor the promises made to our seniors, but for younger workers \u2014 look. I'm 44 years old. It is hard to find someone in my generation that thinks Social Security will be there for us. We can save and preserve and strengthen Social Security by making no changes for seniors, but for younger workers gradually increasing the retirement age, changing the rate of growth so that it matches inflation, and critically allowing younger workers to keep a portion of our tax payments in a personal account that we own, we control them, we can pass on to our kids. +p1259 +aVWell, we've gotta turn the economy around for people who are struggling. The Democrats' answer to everything is more government control over wages, and more empowering trial lawyers to file lawsuits. You know, you look at women working. I'll tell you, in my family there are a lot of single moms in my family. My sister was a single mom, both of my aunts who were a single moms. My mom who's here today, was a single mom when my father left us when I was 3 years old. Now, thank God, my father was invited to a Bible study and became born again and he came back to my mom and me and we were raised together. But I \u2014 the struggle of single moms is extraordinary. And you know, when you see Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and all the Democrats talking about wanting to address the plight of working women, not a one of them mentioned the fact that under Barack Obama, 3.7 million women have entered poverty. Not a one of them mentioned the fact that under Barack Obama and the big government economy, the median wage for women has dropped $733. The the truth of the matter is, big government benefits the wealthy, it benefits the lobbyists, it benefits the giant corporations. And the people who are getting hammered are small businesses, it's single moms, it's Hispanics. That is who I'm fighting for. The people that Washington leaves behind. +p1260 +aVWell, Rick, it's a very important question. I have got deep concerns about the Fed. The first thing I think we need to do is audit the Fed. And I am an original co-sponsor of Rand Paul's audit the Fed legislation. The second thing we need to do is I think we need to bring together a bipartisan commission to look at getting back to rules- based monetary policy, end this star chamber that has been engaging in this incredible experiment of quantitative easing, QE1, QE2, QE3, QE- infinity. And the people who are being impacted, you know, a question that was asked earlier, Becky asked, was about working women. You know, it's interesting, you look at on Wall Street, the Fed is doing great. It's driving up stock prices. Wall Street is doing great. You know, today, the top 1 percent earn a higher share of our income than any year since 1928. But if you look at working men and women. If you look at a single mom buying groceries, she sees hamburger prices have gone up nearly 40 percent. She sees her cost of electricity going up. She sees her health insurance going up. And loose money is one of the major problems. We need sound money. And I think the Fed should get out of the business of trying to juice our economy and simply be focused on sound money and monetary stability, ideally tied to gold. +p1261 +aVLet me say on that... +p1262 +aV...Rand is exactly right. His plan is a good plan, and I will note that my 10% plan also eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax, +p1263 +aV...eliminates the business... [ +p1264 +aV...income tax... [ +p1265 +aV...10% flat rate... +p1266 +aV...is the lowest personal rate any candidate up here has, and what it would also enable us to do is for every citizen to fill out their taxes on a postcard so we can eliminate the IRS. +p1267 +aVYou know, everyone here talks about the need to take on Washington. The natural next question is who actually has done so. Who actually has stood up not just to Democrats, but to leaders in our own party? When millions of Americans rose up against Obamacare, I was proud to lead that fight. When millions of Americans rose up against amnesty, I was proud to lead that fight. When millions of Americans rose up against Planned Parenthood, I was proud to lead that fight. If people are promising they're going to take on Washington and cronyism, you need to look to who has been doing it. In my family, my dad fled oppression in Cuba to come to America. Freedom is personal for me, and I will always keep my word and fight for freedom. +p1268 +aVI'm Ted Cruz. I am the son of an Irish-Italian mom and a Cuban immigrant dad who fled oppression and came to America seeking freedom. I'm a husband to my best friend, Heidi, who's here tonight. I'm a dad to two little girls who are the loves of my life, Caroline and Catherine. If you're fed up with Washington, if you're looking for someone to stand up to career politicians in both parties, I'm the only one on this stage who has done that over and over again, and if we stand together, we can bring America back. +p1269 +aVWell, let me tell you, Jake, the single biggest national security threat facing America right now is the threat of a nuclear Iran. We've seen six and a half years of President Obama leading from behind. Weakness is provocative, and this Iranian nuclear deal is nothing short of catastrophic. This deal, on its face, will send over $100 billion to the Ayatollah Khamenei, making the Obama administration the world's leading financier of radical Islamic terrorism. +p1270 +aVThis deal abandons four American hostages in Iran, and this deal will only accelerate Iran's acquiring nuclear weapons. You'd better believe it. If I am elected president, on the very first day in office, I will rip to shreds this catastrophic Iranian nuclear deal. +p1271 +aVWell, let's be clear when it comes to experience. What President Obama wants to do is he's run to the United Nations, and he wants to use the United Nations to bind the United States, and take away our sovereignty. Well, I spent five and a half years as a Solicitor General of Texas, the lead lawyer for the state, in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, and I went in front of the Supreme Court, and took on the world court of the United Nations in a case called Medellin v. Texas, and we won a historic victory saying the World Court, and the U.N., has no power to bind the United States, and no President of the United States, Republican or Democrat, has the authority to give away our sovereignty. And, so, if there's anyone up here who would be bound by this catastrophic deal with Iran, they're giving up the core responsibility of commander in chief, and as president, I would never do that. +p1272 +aVJake, Jake... +p1273 +aVJake, there is no more important topic in 2016 than this topic right here, and I've listened to several folks saying, "Well, gosh, if they cheat, we'll act." We won't know under this agreement \u2014 there are several facilities in Iran they designate as military facilities that are off limit all together. Beyond that, the other facilities, we give them 24 days notice before inspecting them. That is designed to allow them to hide the evidence. And most astonishingly, this agreement trusts the Iranians to inspect themselves. That makes no sense whatsoever. And let me know \u2014 President Obama is violating federal law... +p1274 +aV... by not handing over the side deals, and we ought to see the United States Congress... +p1275 +aV... stand up together and say, "Hand over this treaty, and protect this country." +p1276 +aVWell, let me tell you, Dana, number one, I'm proud to stand for life. These Planned Parenthood videos are horrifying. I would encourage every American to watch the videos. See \u2014 seeing your Planned Parenthood officials callously, heartlessly bartering and selling the body parts of human beings, and then ask yourself, "are these my values?" These are horrifying. On these videos, Planned Parenthood also essentially confesses to multiple felonies. It is a felony with ten years' jail term to sell the body parts of unborn children for profit. That's what these videos show Planned Parenthood doing. Absolutely we shouldn't be sending $500 million of taxpayer money to funding an ongoing criminal enterprise, and I'll tell you, the fact that Republican leadership in both houses has begun this discussion by preemptively surrendering to Barack Obama and saying, "we'll give in because Obama threatens a veto." You know, Obama's committed to his principles. His liberal principles, he will fight for them. He says... +p1277 +aVI will veto any budget that doesn't fund Planned Parenthood, and Republicans surrender. We need to stop surrendering and start standing... +p1278 +aV...for our principles. +p1279 +aVWell, Jake, you know, I'm \u2014 I'm very glad that Donald Trump's being in this race has forced the mainstream media finally to talk about illegal immigration. I think that's very important. I like and respect Ben Carson. I'll let him talk about his own plans. But I will say this: The natural next question that primary voters are asking, after we focus on illegal immigration is, okay, what are the records of the various candidates? And this is an issue on which there are stark differences. A majority of the men and women on this stage have previously and publicly embraced amnesty. I am the only candidate on this stage who has never supported amnesty and, in fact, who helped lead the fight to stop a massive amnesty plan. In 2013, when Barack Obama and Harry Reid joined the Washington Republicans in a massive, I stood shoulder to shoulder with Jeff Sessions helping lead the fight. You know, folks here have talked about, how do you secure the borders? Well, I've been leading the fight in the Senate to triple the Border Patrol, to put in place fencings and walls, to put in place a strong biometric exit/entry system... +p1280 +aVWell, Dana, I've known John Roberts for 20 years, he's amazingly talented lawyer, but, yes, it was a mistake when he was appointed to the Supreme Court. He's a good enough lawyer that he knows in these Obamacare cases he changed the statute, he changed the law in order to force that failed law on millions of Americans for a political outcome. And, you know, we're frustrated as conservatives. We keep winning elections, and then we don't get the outcome we want. And, let me focus on two moments in time. Number one, in 1990, in one room was David Souter, and in another room was Edith Jones, the rock ribbed (ph) conservative on the fifth circuit court of appeals. George Herbert Walker Bush appointed David Souter. And then in 2005, in one room was John Roberts, in another room was my former boss, Mike Luttig, the rock ribbed (ph) conservative on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals... +p1281 +aV...George W. Bush appointed John Roberts, and let me give you the consequences of that. If, instead, the President Bush had appointed Edith Jones, and Mike Luttig, which is who I would have appointed, Obamacare would have been struck down three years ago, and the marriage laws of all 50 states would be on the books. These matter, and I fought to defend the constitution my whole life... +p1282 +aV...and I will as president as well. +p1283 +aVIt is true that after George W. Bush nominated John Roberts, I supported his confirmation. That was a mistake and I regret that. I wouldn't have nominated John Roberts, and indeed, Governor Bush pointed out why. It wasn't that the President Bushes wanted to appoint a liberal to the court, it's that it was the easier choice. Both David Souter and John Roberts, they didn't have a long paper trail. If you had nominated Edith Jones or Mike Ludig (ph) you would have had a bloody fight and they weren't willing to spend political capital to put a strong judicial conservative on the court. I have spent my entire life, starting from clerking for Chief Justice William Rehnquist on the United States Supreme Court, one of the most principled jurists. We have an out-of-control Court, and I give you my word, if I'm elected president, every single Supreme Court justice will faithfully follow the law and will not act like philosopher kings \u2014 +p1284 +aV\u2014 imposing their liberal policies on millions of Americans \u2014 +p1285 +aV\u2014 who need to be trusted to govern ourselves. +p1286 +aVI \u2014 I am not, and \u2014 and you mentioned that the U.S. Supreme Court had rightly upheld the individual right to keep and bear arms. I was proud to lead 31 states before the U.S. Supreme Court defending the Second Amendment, and we won that landmark victory. And indeed, just a couple of years ago, when Harry Reid and Barack Obama came after the right to keep and bear arms of millions of Americans, I was proud to lead the fight in the United States Senate to protect our right to keep and bear arms, and for that reason... +p1287 +aV... I was honored to be endorsed by Gun Owners of America... +p1288 +aV... as the strongest supporter of the Second Amendment on this stage today, and I will... +p1289 +aV... fight every day to defend the Bill of Rights. +p1290 +aVWell, I wouldn't change the $10 bill, I'd change the $20. I'd take Jackson off and I'd leave Alexander Hamilton right where he is as one of our Founding Fathers. And I very much agree with Marco that it should be Rosa Parks. She was a principled pioneer that helped change this country, helped remedy racial injustice, and that would be an honor that would be entirely appropriate. +p1291 +aVYou know, as a Cuban, I might go with Cohiba (ph), and I'll tell you, I'd go with, for Heidi, Angel, because she is my angel. +p1292 +aVRonald Reagan believed in America. If I'm elected president our friends and allies across the globe will know that we stand with them. the bust of Winston Churchill will be back in the Oval Office, and the American embassy in Israel will be in Jerusalem. Enemies across this world will know the United States is not to be trifled with. +p1293 +asVTODD +p1294 +(lp1295 +VGood evening, and welcome to the +p1296 +aVAnd neither party has seen this yet. These candidates are both running for the Democratic nomination, but they are very different from each other when it comes to what matters most and how they would go about the job of being president. Our job tonight is to draw out those differences so you, the voters, can understand them and be fully informed. +p1297 +aVFirst, I want to say a special thanks to the New Hampshire Union Leader for helping make this debate possible, and the readers, who helped provide some of the questions and topics that we'll be addressing tonight. The rules tonight, by the way, are simple: 90 seconds for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. +p1298 +aVThank you, Senator. Secretary Clinton. +p1299 +aVAll right. Let's get started. Secretary Clinton, last night you cited the Concord Monitor when you said of Senator Sanders that, quote, "It's very hard to see how any of his proposals could ever be achievable." So please tell us why you think if he's elected president on a platform of promising things like free public college and universal healthcare, that he cannot achieve those things. +p1300 +aVThank you, Secretary. Senator Sanders, so just explain how you spent nearly two decades in Congress and haven't gotten any of these things passed. Why do you think as president you'll be able to achieve big, big new programs like this? +p1301 +aVGo. +p1302 +aVYes, go ahead. +p1303 +aVAll right, thank you both. Rachel. +p1304 +aVI'd like to follow up on a comment that Secretary Clinton said, Senator. President Obama has not called for abolishing the death penalty. President Obama is for the big Asian trade deal known as TPP, and just yesterday you said you can't be both a moderate or a progressive, but you can't be both. Is President Obama, in your judgment, based on these policies positions, a progressive? +p1305 +aV...Secretary Clinton, go ahead... +p1306 +aV 30 seconds, and then we'll move. +p1307 +aVThank you. +p1308 +aV... Secretary, we're gonna... +p1309 +aVThirty seconds. +p1310 +aVThank you both. +p1311 +aVAll right, welcome back. Let's get right to it. Senator Sanders, you were talking about all of your campaign contributions and campaign finance reform. You rail against big money in politics. But do you realize there is one public financing system that we do have in place, and it is\u2014it is in place to run for president. Why aren't you walking the walk on that? Why aren't you participating in the presidential public financing system which is designed to essentially keep big money out of presidential politics? +p1312 +aVWell, going on that then, why criticize her on Super PACs, and you got\u2014and all this when it is\u2014you know, that's the system? I mean, you could be participating in a publicly-financing\u2014public financing system... +p1313 +aV... and being able to set\u2014being able to set an example. +p1314 +aV... she has had more people praise her plan than yours. +p1315 +aVThank you both. Let me move on to our next question here, and in fact it comes to us through New England Cable News. Secretary Clinton, it's addressed to you, and it's about this issue of the speeches, particularly to Goldman Sachs. This is what the questioner wrote verbatim. "I am concerned with the abuses of Wall Street has taken with the American taxpayers money," and then she asks whether you would release the transcripts of your Goldman Sachs speeches, and then added, "Don't you think the voting public has a right to know what was said?" But, let's make that bigger. Are you willing to release the transcripts of all your paid speeches? We do know through reporting that there were transcription services for all of those paid speeches. In full disclosure, would you release all of them? +p1316 +aVSenator, you sound like you want to respond. Go ahead. +p1317 +aVWe'll be right back. And we're going to get to trade and a lot of other issues. +p1318 +aVGo ahead, Senator Sanders\u201430 seconds, your response. +p1319 +aVAll right. Senator, I want to stay, though... +p1320 +aVGo ahead. 30 seconds. +p1321 +aVLet me\u2014let\u2014we're gonna\u2014we're staying\u2014we're staying basically on this topic. Obviously you've been emphasizing this difference on the Iraq war, but one place where you do agree, and one place where you voted to authorize the use of force, was in favor of the war in Afghanistan. Right now, it is possible President Obama is going to be leaving the next president, perhaps President Sanders, at least 10,000 troops in Afghanistan. How long will those troops be in Afghanistan under President Sanders? +p1322 +aVCan you address a question on Afghanistan? How long are these troops going to be there? If President Obama leaves you 10,000 troops, how long do you think they're going to be there? +p1323 +aVSecretary Clinton, 30 seconds: How long are these troops going to be in Afghanistan? We have more American troops in Afghanistan than what we were talking about with Iraq. +p1324 +aVYou know, Senator Sanders, nobody knows who your foreign policy advisers are. You haven't given a major foreign policy speech. And it doesn't sound like all the time that foreign policy is a priority, other than when you're asked about it, and you say you're going to crush +p1325 +aVAll right, Senator, 30 seconds. +p1326 +aV30 seconds, madam secretary. +p1327 +aVAlright, as Commander in Chief, Senator Sanders, you've got to prioritize potential threats to the United States. Three countries, North Korea, Iran, Russia. How would you rank them in order of their threat to America's security right now... +p1328 +aV... Starting with the biggest threat. +p1329 +aV... I didn't say that... +p1330 +aV... No... +p1331 +aV... We already had that. I'm talking about these three countries. How would you orient our national security, our national defense posture. +p1332 +aVSecretary of Defense Ash Carter this week picked one of those three, and he has said Russia is, basically, the most important national security threat. Sort of reorienting the defense and the challenges to that. Do you agree with his decisions... +p1333 +aVSecretary Clinton, what do you think of Secretary of Defense Ash Carter. He's basically putting Russia above Iran, above North Korea, as sort of the chief national security challenge right now. +p1334 +aVThank you both, Rachel? +p1335 +aVAnd we are back. We're gonna get into a little bit of election politics, electability, in a little bit. Senator Sanders, The Iowa Democratic Party has declared Hillary Clinton the winner of Monday's Iowa caucuses\u2014narrowest of margins. Today, the Des Moines Register has an editorial that calls for the audit of the results, saying, quote, "what happened Monday night at the Democratic caucuses was a debacle, period. The results were too close not to do a complete audit." Senator Sanders, do you accept the idea that Hillary Clinton won Iowa? And do you\u2014or do you believe the caucuses are still an open question? +p1336 +aVSecretary Clinton, will you participate in some sort of audit, if that's what the party wants to do? You good with that? +p1337 +aVThat's fair enough. OK. +p1338 +aVGood, we move on. We're happy with that. We have more questions. +p1339 +aVWe'll stay on this issue. We'll stay on this topic. Secretary Clinton, just like there are some Democrats that question Senator Sanders' ability in the general election, many Democratic voters that our reporters have been running into in Iowa and New Hampshire, they tell our reporters over and over again they're worried about the emails issue, not because they don't believe your explanation, but because it's a drip-drip, because the cloud is hanging over your head and that it will impact the general election. They see your numbers right now and they think it's the email issue as to why you're not polling very well. So can you reassure these Democrats that somehow the email issue isn't going to blow up your candidacy if you're the nominee? +p1340 +aVAll right, Madam Secretary, there is an open\u2014there is an open FBI investigation into this matter about how you may have handled classified material. Are you 100 percent confident that nothing is going to come of this FBI investigation? +p1341 +aVWell, Senator sanders, you famously at the first debate said you didn't give a darn about her emails; I think you used another . +p1342 +aVYou're right. I'm trying to\u2014it's a\u2014it's a family hour still right now. After 11:00, I'll say it the other way. And you mostly have refrained from commenting on it, but recently you called it a very serious issue, and then the other day you said well she's getting slapped with the email controversy. Are you\u2014how are you feeling about these darn emails now? +p1343 +aVOK. Senator Sanders, thank you. +p1344 +aVSecretary Clinton, let me turn to the issue of trade. In the '90s you supported +p1345 +aVWell, Senator Sanders, I know you want to respond on this, you have never supported a trade deal since you've been in Congress. +p1346 +aVBut if you do that as president... If you do that as president, how are you not essentially letting China, who will do all of these deals around the world, how are you going to prevent China from essentially setting the rules of trade for the world? +p1347 +aVAll right. Thank you both. We're going to sneak in one more break here, and when we come back we'll squeeze as many questions as we can before we end this thing. We'll be right back. +p1348 +aVAll right. Welcome back here in the final minutes. +p1349 +aVThe home stretch of this only Democratic debate in the final week before the primary. Let me start with you, Secretary Clinton, on this question. Obviously, President Obama got a lot of ambitious stuff done in his first year and a half. You're going to have to make choices. And there's a lot of heavy lifts. And he made choices. He did healthcare and it came at the expense, arguably, of immigration reform. Had he put immigration reform first, perhaps that gets done and healthcare doesn't. So there are three big lifts that you've talked about: immigration, gun reform, climate change. What do you do first? Because you know the first one is the one you have the best shot at getting done. +p1350 +aVAll right, but Senator Sanders......you've still got to do something first. As you know, history said\u2014shows what you pick first is your best shot at getting, and how you prioritize things. +p1351 +aVImmigration reform, for instance, fell by the wayside in the first term because of this. +p1352 +aVOK. Thank you. +p1353 +aVAll right, before we go, I want to ask each one of these. Secretary Clinton, you've made it clear when you look at Senator Sanders, you do not see a president, but do you see\u2014 +p1354 +aVBut do you see\u2014do you see a vice president? +p1355 +aVWould you unite the party by trying to pick Senator Sanders as your running mate? +p1356 +aVSenator, would you consider the secretary? +p1357 +aVSecretary Clinton, closing statements. You are first. +p1358 +aVThank you, Madam Secretary. Senator Sanders. +p1359 +aVWell, there you have it. I promise you, Rachel and I have a lot more questions, but we just don't have any more time, unless we could a third hour, but I don't think so. Our debate coverage\u2014 debate coverage will continue in just a moment with our colleague . And we want to thank all of you for being here, and we want to thank the two candidates for taking part in this important event. +p1360 +aVWe'll see you in a few minutes. Thank you. +p1361 +asVHARWOOD +p1362 +(lp1363 +VMr. Trump, you've done very well in this campaign so far by promising to build a wall and make another country pay for it. +p1364 +aVSend 11 million people out of the country. Cut taxes $10 trillion without increasing the deficit. +p1365 +aVAnd make Americans better off because your greatness would replace the stupidity and incompetence of others. +p1366 +aVLet's be honest. Is this a comic book version of a presidential campaign? +p1367 +aVWe're at the 60 seconds. +p1368 +aVWe're at 60 seconds, but I gotta ask you, you talked about your tax plan. You say that it would not increase the deficit because you cut taxes $10 trillion in the economy would take off like... +p1369 +aVHold on, hold on. The economy would take off like a rocket ship. +p1370 +aVI talked to economic advisers who have served presidents of both parties. They said that you have as chance of cutting taxes that much without increasing the deficit as you would of flying away from that podium by flapping your arms. +p1371 +aVThe Tax Foundation says \u2014 has looked at all of our plans and \u2014 and his creates, even with the dynamic effect, $8 trillion dollar deficit... +p1372 +aVGovernor Kasich, hold it, I'm coming to you right now. The... +p1373 +aVWell, I'm asking you about this. +p1374 +aVI'm about to ask you about this. That is, you had some very strong words to say yesterday about what's happening in your party and what you're hearing from the two gentlemen we've just heard from. Would you repeat it? +p1375 +aVWell, let's just get more pointed about it. You said yesterday that you were hearing proposals that were just crazy from your colleagues. Who were you talking about? +p1376 +aVHold on. I think there's a \u2014 I've got question for \u2014 +p1377 +aVHold on, Governor. I've got a question for Governor Bush. +p1378 +aVNo, we're moving to Governor Bush. Governor, the fact that you're at the fifth lectern tonight shows how far your stock has fallen in this race, despite the big investment your donors have made. You noted recently, after slashing your payroll, that you had better things to do than sit around and be demonized by other people. I wanted to ask you \u2014 +p1379 +aVOK. +p1380 +aVGot it. +p1381 +aVBut it's a \u2014 OK. It's a \u2014 it's a question about why you're having difficulty. I want to ask you in this context. Ben Bernanke, who was appointed Fed chairman by your brother, recently wrote a book in which he said he no longer considers himself a Republican because the Republican Party has given in to know- nothingism. Is that why you're having a difficult time in this race? +p1382 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1383 +aVWe're gonna get down the line. Becky's got a question. +p1384 +aVSenator Paul, I've got a question for you on the same subject. +p1385 +aVSenator Paul? +p1386 +aVYou used your time on something else. Senator Paul? +p1387 +aVSenator Paul, the budget deal crafted by Speaker Boehner and passed by the House today makes cuts in entitlement programs, Medicare and Social Security disability, which are the very programs conservatives say need cutting to shrink government and solve our country's long-term budget deficit. Do you oppose that budget deal because it doesn't cut those programs enough? +p1388 +aVSenator, if what you just said is true, why did Speaker Boehner craft this deal and why did Paul Ryan, who has a strong reputation for fiscal discipline, vote for it? +p1389 +aVThank you, Senator . +p1390 +aVJim, thanks. Governor Bush, in a debate like this four years ago, every Republican running for president pledged to oppose a budget deal containing any tax increase even if it had spending cuts ten times as large. A few months later, you told Congress, put me in, coach, you said you would take that deal. Still feel that way? +p1391 +aVBut to \u2014 to the point that you made to Congress, if you were president and you were offered a bipartisan deal that had one dollar... +p1392 +aV...one dollar of tax increases per ten dollars of spending cuts, would you take it? +p1393 +aVSo you don't want the coach to put you in any more? +p1394 +aVThank you, governor. Carl? +p1395 +aVGovernor John Kasich, you've called for abolishing the Export Import Bank, which provides subsidies to help American companies compete with overseas competitors. You call that corporate welfare. One of the largest newspapers in your state wrote an editorial, said they found that strange, writing, that if that's corporate welfare, what does Kasich call the millions of dollars in financial incentives doled out to attract or retain jobs by his development effort \u2014 jobs Ohio. If subsidies are good enough for Ohio companies, why aren't they good enough for companies trying to compete overseas? +p1396 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1397 +aVThank you, Governor. Thank you. +p1398 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate on +p1399 +aVIt sounds like you think Senator Sessions is wrong to believe there is enough abuse in that program that we shouldn't... +p1400 +aVThank you, Senator. Becky? +p1401 +aVGovernor Bush, the tax reform bill that Ronald Reagan signed in 1986 cut the top personal income tax rate to 28 percent \u2014 just like your plan does. But President Reagan taxed capital gains at the same rate, while you would tax them at just 20 percent. Given the problems we've been discussing, growing gap between rich and poor, why would you tax labor at a higher rate than income from investments? +p1402 +aVSenator Rubio, 30 seconds to you. The Tax Foundation, which was alluded to earlier, scored your tax plan and concluded that you give nearly twice as much of a gain in after-tax income to the top 1 percent as to people in the middle of the income scale. Since you're the champion of Americans living paycheck-to- paycheck, don't you have that backward? +p1403 +aVThe Tax Foundation \u2014 just to be clear, they said the... +p1404 +aVNo, I did not. +p1405 +aVSenator, the Tax Foundation said after-tax income for the top 1 percent under your plan would go up 27.9 percent. +p1406 +aVAnd people in the middle of the income spectrum, about 15 percent. +p1407 +aV +p1408 +aVSenator, thank you. +p1409 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you've written about the huge divide in values between middle America and the big coastal cities like New York and Los Angeles. As a preacher as well as a politician, you know that presidents need the moral authority to bring the entire country together. The leading Republican candidate, when you look at the average of national polls right now, is Donald Trump. When you look at him, do you see someone with the moral authority to unite the country? +p1410 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1411 +aVThank you, Governor. Don't forget my colleague, Sharon Epperson. +p1412 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said something that many in your party do not believe, which is that climate change is undeniable, that human activity contributes to it, and you said, quote: "The question is, what do we do to deal with it?". So what do we do? +p1413 +aVWhat should we do? +p1414 +aVYou mean government? +p1415 +aVThank you, Governor. Becky. +p1416 +aVGovernor Bush, Mr. Trump says that he is capable of growing the economy so much that Social Security and Medicare don't have to be touched. Do you want to explain how that is going to happen, Mr. Trump? +p1417 +aVHold on, Governor. I've got a question for \u2014 for Dr. Carson. +p1418 +aVYes. You've said that you would like to replace Medicare with a system of individual family savings accounts, so that families could cover their own expenses. Obviously, that would be a very controversial idea. Explain how that would work, exactly. +p1419 +aVGovernor, do you also think that... +p1420 +aV...that Dr. Carson's right, that we can replace Medicare with individual savings accounts? +p1421 +aVMrs. Fiorina, we're right at the end of our time. +p1422 +aVYou all wanted us to limit . All right. Go ahead. +p1423 +aVWe have now reached the point in the program where candidates are going to give their closing statements, 30 seconds apiece. We're going to go right to left and start with you, Senator Paul. +p1424 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1425 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Cruz? +p1426 +aVThank you, Senator. Mrs. Fiorina? +p1427 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Dr. Carson? +p1428 +aVMr. Trump? +p1429 +aVJust for the record, the debate was always going to be two hours. Senator Rubio? +p1430 +aVSenator Rubio. +p1431 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Bush? +p1432 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Huckabee. +p1433 +aVThank you... +p1434 +aVGovernor Kasich? +p1435 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1436 +asVPAUL +p1437 +(lp1438 +VThe question is, how do we keep America safe from terrorism? Trump says we ought to close that Internet thing. The question really is, what does he mean by that? Like they do in North Korea? Like they do in China? Rubio says we should collect all Americans' records all of the time. The Constitution says otherwise. I think they're both wrong. I think we defeat terrorism by showing them that we do not fear them. I think if we ban certain religions, if we censor the Internet, I think that at that point the terrorists will have won. Regime change hasn't won. Toppling secular dictators in the Middle East has only led to chaos and the rise of radical Islam. I think if we want to defeat terrorism, I think if we truly are sincere about defeating terrorism, we need to quit arming the allies of +p1439 +aVYou know, I think Marco gets it completely wrong. We are not any safer through the bulk collection of all Americans' records. In fact, I think we're less safe. We get so distracted by all of the information, we're not spending enough time getting specific immigration \u2014 specific information on terrorists. The other thing is, is the one thing that might have stopped San Bernardino, that might have stopped 9/11 would have been stricter controls on those who came here. And Marco has opposed at every point increased security \u2014 border security for those who come to our country. On his Gang of Eight bill, he would have liberalized immigration, but he did not \u2014 and he steadfastly opposed any new border security requirements for refugees or students. Last week, I introduced another bill saying we need more security, we need more scrutiny. Once again, Marco opposed this. So Marco can't have it both ways. He thinks he wants to be this, "Oh, I'm great and strong on national defense." But he's the weakest of all the candidates on immigration. He is the one for an open border that is leaving us defenseless. If we want to defend the country, we have to defend against who's coming in, and Marco is \u2014 has more of an allegiance to Chuck Schumer and to the liberals than he does to conservative policy. +p1440 +aVIf I was mentioned in the question, can I respond? +p1441 +aVMarco still misunderstands the immigration issue. What I put forward was an amendment that would have temporarily halted immigration from high-risk terrorist countries, but would have started it up, but I wanted them to go through Global Entry, which is a program where we do background checks. The thing is, is that every terrorist attack we've had since 9/11 has been legal immigration. Marco wants to expand that. I want more rules, more scrutiny, and to defend the country, you have to defend the border. +p1442 +aVWolf... +p1443 +aVWolf, this legislation... +p1444 +aVThis legislation on indefinite detention... +p1445 +aV... I think deserves a little more attention. +p1446 +aVI think that by arming the allies of +p1447 +aVI think that if you believe in regime change, you're mistaken. In 2013, we put 600 tons of weapons \u2014 us, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar \u2014 into the war against Assad. By pushing Assad back, we did create a safe space. We had people coming to our Foreign Relations Committee and saying, "Oh, we need to arm the allies of Al Qaida." They are still saying this. It is a crazy notion. This is the biggest debate we should be having tonight is is regime change a good idea; has it been a good idea. There are still people \u2014 the majority on the stage, they want to topple Assad. And then there will be chaos, and I think +p1448 +aVThese are the fundamental questions of our time, these foreign policy questions, whether or not regime change is a good idea or a bad idea. I don't think because I think the regime change was a bad idea it means that Hussein was necessarily a good idea. There is often variations of evil on both sides of the war. What we have to decide is whether or not regime change is a good idea. It's what the neoconservatives have wanted. It's what the vast majority of those on the stage want. They still want regime change. They want it in Syria. They wanted it in Iraq. They want it in Libya. It has not worked. Out of regime change you get chaos. From the chaos you have seen repeatedly the rise of radical Islam. So we get this profession of, oh, my goodness, they want to do something about terrorism and yet they're the problem because they allow terrorism to arise out of that chaos. +p1449 +aVNo, I think it's a huge mistake. I think regime change in Syria, and this is what \u2014 I've been saying this for several years now. In 2013 when we first went in, I said, you are going to give arms to the allies of al Qaida, to radical jihadists? That's crazy. But the other thing I said is the great irony is you will be back fighting against your own weapons. Had Assad been bombed when he used chemical weapons two years ago, +p1450 +aVWell, I think if you're in favor of World War III, you have your candidate. You know, here's...... the thing. My goodness, what we want in a leader is someone with judgment, not someone who is so reckless as to stand on the stage and say, "Yes, I'm jumping up and down; I'm going to shoot down Russian planes." Russia already flies in that airspace. It may not be something we're in love with the fact that they're there, but they were invited by Iraq and by Syria to fly in that airspace. And so if we announce we're going to have a no-fly zone, and others have said this. Hillary Clinton is also for it. It is a recipe for disaster. It's a recipe for World War III. We need to confront Russia from a position of strength, but we don't need to confront Russia from a point of recklessness that would lead to war. This is something \u2014 this type of judgment, you know, it's having that kind of judgment; who you would appoint and how you're going to conduct affairs, that is incredibly important. I mean, I think when we think about the judgment of someone who might want World War III, we might think about someone who might shut down a bridge because they don't like their friends; they don't want to \u2014 you know, they want to a Democrat. So I think we need to be very careful. +p1451 +aVYou know, I think we need to set the record straight on this, because I think Marco misspoke about the bill. On the Gang of Eight bill, there was no provisions really for extra scrutiny or safety for refugees. At the time the bill came up, two Iraqi refugees came to my home town, Bowling Green, Kentucky. Their fingerprints were on a bomb from Iraq. They were in the database, but we didn't pick them up. We relocated them here, put them in government housing, got them on food stamps. And we began providing for them, but we didn't have adequate security. On the Gang of Eight bill, on Marco's bill, we had an opportunity. There was a conservative consensus for an amendment I put forward called Trust, But Verify that would have strengthened border security on both refugees, students and those coming here. And Marco sided and I guess was more sympathetic to Chuck Schumer and to the president than he was to conservative principles. But this goes directly to national defense. And if he wants to run as a national \u2014 national defense conservative, he's got to explain why he hasn't stepped up to support border security. +p1452 +aVWhat my bill would do would be only for refugees going forward. So I haven't taken a position on sending anyone home. But I have taken the position that we have a lot of problems here in our country. And that one of the things that we do \u2014 charity is about giving your own money. Charity isn't giving someone else's money. To put everyone in government housing and food stamps and bring them in from around the world I think is a mistake. To give of your own money, I've given to my church. My church has helped people that came from Bosnia. That's a good thing. But we shouldn't have a program where we just say that we're going to take care of the world's refugees. Nobody in the Middle East is doing anything. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait \u2014 all the Gulf nations are doing nothing. They need to step up and take... +p1453 +aVThe greatest threat to our national security is our debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. And whose fault is it? Well, frankly, it's both parties' fault. You have those on the right who clamor and say, oh, we will spend anything on the military, and those on the left who say the same for domestic welfare. But what most Americans don't realize is there is an unholy alliance. They come together. There's a secret handshake. We spend more money on everything. And we are not stronger nation if we go further into debt. We are not projecting power from bankruptcy court. To me, there is no greater threat than our debt. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage because I'm willing to hold the line on all spending. I hope you will consider me in the election. Thank you very much. +p1454 +aVAbsolutely. And I think that we ought to look where income inequality seems to be the worst. It seems to be worst in cities run by Democrats, governors of... States run by Democrats and countries currently run by Democrats. So the thing is, let's look for root causes. But I would also say \u2014 lay some blame at the \u2014 the feet of the Federal Reserve. I think the Federal Reserve has made this problem worse. By artificially keeping interest rates below the market rate, average ordinary citizens have a tough time earning interest, have a tough time making money. They're actually talking now about negative interest. The money as it's created through quantitative easing or other means tends to start out in the big banks in New York. And because we're now paying interest for them to keep the money there, much of that money has not filtered out into the economy. So what we're finding is there is increasing income disparity and income inequality. We also find that as the Federal Reserve destroys the value of the currency, what you're finding is that, if you're poor, if you make $20,000 a year and you have three or four kids, and you're trying to get by, as your prices rise or as the value of the dollar shrinks, these are the people that are hurt the worst. So really we need to reexamine whether we not \u2014 we want a Federal Reserve that's involved so much in determining interest rates. We also need to look at root causes as to what caused the housing boom and the housing collapse. But the bottom line is, if you want less income inequality, move to a city with a Republican mayor or a state with a Republican governor. +p1455 +aVWell, it's a great question, Neil, and thanks for including me in the tax debate. I think what's important about the tax debate is, is that we have to ask the question, where is money best spent, in the private sector or in the government sector? I want a government really, really small, so small you can barely see it. So I want lower taxes and much more money in the private sector. My tax plan, however, is the only tax plan among any of the candidates on the stage that is part of a balanced budget plan. I put forward three plans that actually balance the budget over a five-year period. Each of these plans have details on exactly where we would cut. The question came up earlier, where would you cut? Nobody likes to say where they would cut. I've put pencil to paper and done three budgets that actually balance. I'm also in favor of a plan called the penny plan where we'd just cut 1 percent across the board and the budget actually balances in less than five years. So I think what is extraordinary about my tax plan is it is in the context of balancing the budget. What is also extraordinary about my tax plan is it gets rid of the payroll tax. Democrats demagogue this issue to death, and when they do they say, oh, a millionaire would get a bigger tax cut than someone making $10,000. That's proportionality, as Ben is trying to explain to folks. But the thing is, is if we get rid of the payroll tax, everybody is going to get a tax cut. And this is something that I think the public at large will support and could win an election. +p1456 +aVOurs is 14.5 percent for corporations, 14.5 percent for individuals. No payroll tax for the employee. The business tax pays for social security, and there would be two remaining deductions \u2014 home mortgage and charity. +p1457 +aVThank you. +p1458 +aVNeil, there's a point I'd like to make here... ....Neil, a point that I'd like to make about the tax credits. We have to decide what is conservative and what isn't conservative. Is it fiscally conservative to have a trillion-dollar expenditure? We're not talking about giving people back their tax money. He's talking about giving people money they didn't pay. It's a welfare transfer payment. So here's what we have. Is it conservative to have $1 trillion in transfer payments \u2014 a new welfare program that's a refundable tax credit? Add that to Marco's plan for $1 trillion in new military spending, and you get something that looks, to me, not very conservative. Thank you. +p1459 +aVNevertheless, it's not very conservative, Marco. +p1460 +aVHow is it conservative? +p1461 +aVYeah, but, Marco! Marco! How is it conservative, how is it conservative to add a trillion-dollar expenditure for the federal government that you're not paying for? +p1462 +aVHow is it conservative? +p1463 +aVHow is it conservative to add a trillion dollars in military expenditures? You can not be a conservative if you're going to keep promoting new programs that you're not going to pay for. +p1464 +aVNo. I don't think we're any safer \u2014 I do not think we are any safer from bankruptcy court. As we go further, and further into debt, we become less, and less safe. This is the most important thing we're going to talk about tonight. Can you be a conservative, and be liberal on military spending? Can you be for unlimited military spending, and say, Oh, I'm going to make the country safe? No, we need a safe country, but, you know, we spend more on our military than the next ten countries combined? I want a strong national defense, but I don't want us to be bankrupt. +p1465 +aVHey, Gerard, you know, we might want to point out China is not part of this deal. +p1466 +aVBefore we get a little bit off-kilter here... +p1467 +aVThere is an argument that China doesn't like the deal, because in us doing the deal, we'll be trading with their competitors. You're exactly right. But I think we've sort of missed the point a little bit here. There is an important point, though, about how we discuss these trade treaties that I do agree with Mr. Trump on. We should negotiate from a position of strength. And we also should negotiate using the full force and the constitutional power that was given to us. I think it's a mistake that we give up power to the presidency on these trade deals. We give up the power to filibuster, and I'm kind of fond of that power. We give up the power to amend. And I think, really, one of the big problems we have in our country is, over the last century, really, so much power has gravitated to the executive branch. Really, Congress is kind of a bystander. We don't write the rules. We don't make the laws. The executive branch does. So even in trade \u2014 and I am for trade \u2014 I think we should be careful about giving so much power to the presidency. +p1468 +aVI'd like first to respond to the acquisition, we should \u2014 I think it's particularly naive, particularly foolish to think that we're not going to talk to Russia. The idea of a no fly zone, realize that this is also something that Hillary Clinton agrees with several on our side with, you're asking for a no fly zone in an area in which Russia already flies. Russia flies in that zone at the invitation of Iraq. I'm not saying it's a good thing, but you better know at least what we're getting into. So, when you think it's going to be a good idea to have a no fly zone over Iraq, realize that means you are saying we are going to shoot down Russian planes. If you're ready for that, be ready to send your sons and daughters to another war in Iraq. I don't want to see that happen. I think the first war in Iraq was a mistake... You can be strong without being involved in every civil war around the war... +p1469 +aVRonald Reagan was strong, but Ronald Reagan didn't... +p1470 +aV...send troops into the Middle East... +p1471 +aV...Can I finish... +p1472 +aV...Can I finish my time? Could I finish with my time? +p1473 +aVYes, I would like to finish my response, basically. +p1474 +aVThis is an important question. This is an incredibly important question. And the question goes to be, who do we want to be our commander-in-chief? Do you want a commander-in-chief who says something that we never did throughout the entire Cold War, to discontinue having conversations with the Russians? I am not happy about them flying over there. But I'm not naive enough to say, well, Iraq has them flying over their airspace, we're just going to announce that we're shooting them down? That is naive to the point of being something you might hear in junior high. But it's scary... +p1475 +aVThe first thing I would do is I wouldn't arm our enemies. I wouldn't arm +p1476 +aVGerard, can I comment... +p1477 +aVThe first thing I would do as president is repeal the regulations that are hampering our energy that the President has put in place. Including the Clean Power Act. While I do think that man may have a role in our climate, I think nature also has a role. The planet's 4.5 billion years old, we've been through geologic age after geologic age. We've had times when the temperatures been warmer, we've had times when the temperatures been colder. We've had times when the carbon in the atmosphere's been higher. So, I think before we \u2014 we need to look before we leap. President's often fond of saying he wants a balance solution, but, really we do need to balance both keeping the environment clean, and we will have some rules for that. We got to balance that with the economy. He's devastated my state. I say the President's not only destroying Kentucky, he's destroying the democrat party down there because nobody wants to associate with him. So, what we really need is somebody that understands that we do need energy of all forms, and that means we will have solar, and wind, and hydro, but we will still have coal, and we still will have natural gas. And, we've got to have an all of the above policy. But, it would be a mistake to shut down all of our industries in the coal fields, and shut down the coal power plants. If we did so we're going to have a day where we wake up and some of our big cities are either very cold, or very hot. So, I think it's a big danger, and we shouldn't do it. And, what we should do is say we want all of the above... ...We want to free up the energy sector, and let people produce, let them drill, let them explore. +p1478 +aVWe're the richest, freest, most humanitarian nation in the history of mankind. But we also borrow a million dollars a minute. And the question I have for all Americans is, think about it, can you be a fiscal conservative if you don't conserve all of the money? If you're a profligate spender, you spend money in an unlimited fashion for the military, is that a conservative notion? We have to be conservative with all spending, domestic spending and welfare spending. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage. +p1479 +aVYou know, I left my medical practice and ran for office because I was concerned about an $18 trillion debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. Now, on the floor of the Congress, the Washington establishment from both parties puts forward a bill that will explode the deficit. It allows President Obama to borrow unlimited amounts of money. I will stand firm. I will spend every ounce of energy to stop it. I will begin tomorrow to filibuster it. And I ask everyone in America to call Congress tomorrow and say enough is enough; no more debt. +p1480 +aVNo, I oppose it because you're taking money from the entitlement and then spending it immediately on other items. That's what they're doing. They're taking money from Social Security and they're going to spend it on the military and they're going to spend it on domestic spending. Here's the thing. When you look at raising the debt limit, it should be leverage to try to reform government. In 2011, the sequester was passed as a reform to slow down the rate of government. Instead, the Washington establishment raised both. We raised the military spending, took from entitlements, and raised domestic spending and the deficit will explode under this. This is the unholy alliance that people need to know about between right and left. Right and left are spending us into oblivion. We should use the debt ceiling, as precisely to Don, to force upon them budgetary reforms. +p1481 +aVWell, that's a real question. Is there going to be any change in the House with new leadership? I frankly don't think there will be much change because I think what's going to happen is you're going to get more of the same. People in Washington think they were sent there to be adults and govern and do all this. Well, you know what I'm worried about? Not keeping the government open. I'm worried about bankrupting the American people. We're borrowing a million dollars a minute. That is important. And that's what we have to contrast. Keeping the government open and continuing to borrow a million dollars a minute. +p1482 +aVWell, thank you very much. I would like to thank Ted for co-sponsoring my bill, audit the Fed. And I think it's precisely because of the arrogance of someone like Ben Bernanke, who now calls us all know-nothings, that is precisely why we need audit the Fed. I think it is really very much a huge problem that an organization as powerful as the Fed comes in, lobbies against them being audited on the Hill. I would prevent them lobbying Congress. I don't think the Fed should be involved with lobbying us. I think we should examine how the Fed has really been part of the problem. You want to study income inequality, let's bring the Fed forward and talk about Fed policy and how it causes income inequality. Let's also bring the Fed forward and have them explain how they caused the housing boom and the crisis, and what they've done to make us better or worse. I think the Fed has been a great problem in our society. What you need to do is free up interest rates. Interest rates are the price of money, and we shouldn't have price controls on the price of money. +p1483 +aV...John... +p1484 +aVJohn, I'd like to address this? John, could I follow up on this? +p1485 +aVWhat are the rules on who gets to follow up. How do we decide on who gets to follow up? I've seen plenty of other people follow up? +p1486 +aVI'd like to just mention something about my tax plan, and how it relates to the discussion... +p1487 +aVAlright. Much of the discussion is centered over whether or not the different tax plans help, or affect the middle class. In fact, it's the chief argument by democrats against many of the different flat tax proposals. Mine is unique in the sense that my tax plan actually gets rid of the payroll tax as well. It shifts it to the business, and it would allow middle class people to get a tax cut. If you just cut their income tax, there isn't much income tax to cut. Mine actually cuts the payroll tax, and I think it would spread the tax cut across all socioeconomic levels, and would allow then it to be something that would be broadly supported by the public in an election. +p1488 +aVThe question always is, what works better, the private marketplace or government? And what distributes goods better? It always seems to be the private marketplace does a better job. Is there an area for a safety net? Can you have Medicare or Social Security? Yes. But you ought to acknowledge the government doesn't do a very good job at it. The main problem with Medicare right now is that the average person pays in taxes over their whole lifetime about $100,000. But the average person takes out about $350,000. We have this enormous mismatch because we have smaller and smaller families. When people ask me, whose fault is it? Whose fault is it that Medicare is broken, out of money, that Social Security is broken, out of money? And I say, look, it's not Republicans' fault, it's not Democrats' fault, it's your grandparents' fault for having too many damn kids. After the war we had all of these kids, Baby Boomers. Now we're having smaller families. We used to have 16 workers for one retiree, now you have three workers for one retiree. It's not working. I have a bill to fix Medicare. I've a bill to fix Social Security. For both of them you have to gradually raise the age. If you're not willing to do that, nobody wants to do it, but if you're not willing to gradually raise the age, you're not serious about fixing either one of them. +p1489 +aVSay again? +p1490 +aVYou can't do nothing. And that's what I hear from some people, "we'll do nothing and it will just be fixed." That's absurd, and I think people who don't want to fix it, really, or unwilling to take the chance to say, "something has to change," are missing the boat here. The age will have to gradually rise, there is no question. It's the only way you fix Medicare, the only way you fix Social Security. You will also have to means-test the benefits and declare there's not enough money. It isn't "I put money in, I'm getting it back." There is no money, it's a stack of paper. There is no money in the Social Security account. There is no money in the Medicare account. There's only a promise to pay by the next generation, and the next generation's not big enough to pay it. [ +p1491 +aVLiberty thrives when government is small. I want a government so small I can barely see it. I want a government so small that the individual has a chance to thrive and prosper. I think, though, government is too big now. And what you're going to see in Washington this week is establishment Republicans have made an agreement with the president to raise the debt ceiling in an unlimited fashion; no limit to the debt ceiling raise. This is extraordinary. It's extraordinarily wrong. You'll see me on the floor of the Senate tomorrow filibustering this and saying enough is enough, no more debt. +p1492 +aVGood evening, everyone. I'm an eye surgeon from Bowling Green, Kentucky. My wife, Kelly, and I have been married for nearly 25 years, and I spend my days defending the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I think there's nothing more important than understanding that the Constitution restrains government, not the people. Thank you. +p1493 +aVI kind of have to laugh when I think of, "Mmm, sounds like a non sequitur." He was asked whether or not he would be capable and it would be in good hands to be in charge of the nuclear weapons, and all of a sudden, there's a sideways attack at me. I think that really goes to really the judgment. Do we want someone with that kind of character, that kind of careless language to be negotiating with Putin? Do we want someone like that to be negotiating with Iran? I think really there's a sophomoric quality that is entertaining about Mr. Trump, but I am worried. I'm very concerned about him \u2014 having him in charge of the nuclear weapons, because I think his response, his \u2014 his visceral response to attack people on their appearance \u2014 short, tall, fat, ugly \u2014 my goodness, that happened in junior high. Are we not way above that? Would we not all be worried to have someone like that in charge of the nuclear arsenal? +p1494 +aVI think this goes back to essentially what we've been saying for the last two or three questions. Carly Fiorina also said we're not going to talk with Putin. Well, think if Reagan had said that during the Cold War? We continued to talk with the Russians throughout the Cold War which is much more significant that where we are now. Should we continue to talk with Iran? Yes. Should we cut up the agreement immediately? That's absurd. Wouldn't you want to know if they complied? Now, I'm going to vote against the agreement because I don't think there's significant leverage, but it doesn't mean that I would immediately not look at the agreement, and cut it up without looking to see if whether or not Iran has complied. The same goes with China. I don't think we need to be rash, I don't think we need to be reckless, and I think need to leave lines of communication open. Often we talk about whether we should be engaged in the world, or disengaged in the world, and I think this is an example of some who want to isolate us, actually, and not be engaged. We do need to be engaged with Russia. It doesn't mean we give them a free pass, or China a free pass, but, to be engaged, to continue to talk. We did throughout the Cold War, and it would be a big mistake not to do it here. +p1495 +aVI think this gets to the point of wisdom on when to intervene and when we shouldn't. Had we bombed Assad at the time, like President Obama wanted, and like Hillary Clinton wanted and many Republicans wanted, I think +p1496 +aVWell, I hate to say it, but Donald Trump has a bit of a point here. The case that was decided around 1900 was, people had a green card, were here legally, and they said that their children were citizens. There's never been a direct Supreme Court case on people who were here illegally, whether or not their kids are citizens. So it hasn't really been completely adjudicated. The 14th Amendment says that "those who are here and under the jurisdiction." The original author of the \u2014 of the 14th Amendment said on the Senate floor that this was applying to slaves, and did not specifically apply to others. +p1497 +aVWell, I'm glad we're having a discussion about taxes because everybody laments that we lose jobs overseas, we have. Our companies, and our jobs are being chased overseas by a 70,000 page tax code, so, that's why I've chosen to get rid of the whole thing, and have one single rate, 14 and a-half percent for everybody, business, and for corporate income, and personal income. But, we also get rid of the payroll tax, so the working class would get a tax break as well. So, I think a flat tax, eliminating the tax code, getting rid of all the loopholes, is the way to go, and it's the way we get America going again. +p1498 +aVHugh, can I \u2014 can I make a response to that? +p1499 +aVCan I make a response to that? +p1500 +aVMay I make a response to that? +p1501 +aVHe's referred to me. +p1502 +aVHe's referred to me... +p1503 +aV... in his remarks. May I make a response? +p1504 +aVAbsolutely. Go ahead. +p1505 +aVMay I respond? +p1506 +aVThe remark was made that there hadn't been anyone else on the podium opposed to the Iraq War. I've made my career as being an opponent of the Iraq War. I was opposed to the Syria war. I was opposed to arming people who are our enemies. Iran is now stronger because Hussein is gone. Hussein was the great bulwark and counterbalance to the Iranians. So when we complain about the Iranians, you need to remember that the Iraq War made it worse. Originally, Governor Bush was asked, was the Iraq War a mistake, and he said, "No. We'd do it again." We have to learn sometimes the interventions backfire. The Iraq War backfired and did not help us. We're still paying the repercussions of a bad decision. +p1507 +aVWe have make the decision now in Syria, should we topple Assad? Many up here wanted to topple Assad, and it's like \u2014 I said no, because if you do... +p1508 +aV... +p1509 +aVIf you want boots on the ground, and you want them to be our sons and daughters, you got 14 other choices. There will always be a Bush or Clinton for you, if you want to go back to war in Iraq. But the thing is, the first war was a mistake. And I'm not sending our sons and our daughters back to Iraq. The war didn't work. We can amplify those who live there. The Kurds deserve to be armed and I'll arm them. We can use our Air Force to amplify the forces there. But the boots on the ground need to be the people who live there. My goodness, I'm still upset with the Saudi Arabians for everything they do over there. They've funded the arms that went to the jihadists. They're not accepting any of the people, any of the migrants that have been \u2014 the refugees that are being pushed out of Syria. Saudi Arabia is not accepting one. Why are we always the world's patsies that we have to go over there and fight their wars for them? They need to fight their wars, we need to defend American interests, but it is not in America's national security interests to have another war in Iraq. +p1510 +aVI think one of the great problems, and what American people don't like about politics, is hypocrisy. People have one standard for others and not for them \u2014 for themselves. There is at least one prominent example on the stage of someone who says they smoked pot in high school, and yet the people going to \u2014 to jail for this are poor people, often African-Americans and often Hispanics, and yet the rich kids who use drugs aren't. I personally think that this is a crime for which the only victim is the individual, and I think that America has to take a different attitude. I would like to see more rehabilitation and less incarceration. I'm a fan of the drug courts which try to direct you back towards work and less time in jail. But the bottom line is the states. We say we like the 10th Amendment, until we start talking about this. And I think the federal government has gone too far, I think that the war on drugs has had a racial outcome, and really has been something that has really damaged our inner cities. Not only do the drugs damage them, we damage them again by incarcerating them and then preventing them from getting employment over time. So I don't think that the federal government should override the states. I believe in the 10th Amendment and I really will say that the states are left to themselves. +p1511 +aVWell, I think if we left it open, we could see how many people smoked pot in high school. +p1512 +aVWell, you know, the thing is that... +p1513 +aVYeah, I was talking about \u2014 well, let me... +p1514 +aVBut let me respond. The thing is, is that in Florida, Governor Bush campaigned against medical marijuana. That means that a small child like Morgan Hintz (ph) that has seizures is day, is failing on non-traditional medications, is not allowed to use cannabis oil. And if they do that in Florida, they will take the child away, they will put the parents in jail. And that's what that means if you're against allowing people use medical marijuana, you'll actually put them in jail. +p1515 +aVAnd actually, under the current circumstances, kids who had privilege like you do, don't go to jail, but the poor kids in our inner cities go to jail. I don't think that's fair. And I think we need to acknowledge it, and it is hypocritical to still want to put poor people in jail... +p1516 +aVWell, you vote \u2014 you oppose medical marijuana... +p1517 +aVBut that means you'll put people in jail. +p1518 +aVMay I respond? +p1519 +aVUnderstand what they're saying. if they're going to say we are going to enforce the federal law against what the state law is, they aren't really believing in the Tenth Amendment. Governor Christie would go into Colorado, and if you're breaking any federal law on marijuana, even though the state law allows it, he would put you in jail. If a young mother is trying to give her child cannabis oil for medical marijuana for seizure treatment, he would put her in jail, if it violates federal law. I would let Colorado do what the Tenth Amendment says. This power \u2014 we were never intended to have crime dealing at the federal level. Crime was supposed to be left to the states. Colorado has made their decision. And I don't want the federal government interfering and putting moms in jail, who are trying to get medicine for their kid... +p1520 +aVMay I respond? May I respond? +p1521 +aVHere is the thing, he doesn't want to make it about medical marijuana, but what if New Jersey's medical marijuana contradicts the federal law? He's saying he'll send the federal government in, and he will enforce the federal law. That's not consistent with the Tenth Amendment. It is not consistent with states' rights. And it is not consistent with the conservative vision for the country. I don't think we should be sending the federal police in to arrest a mother and separate them from their child for giving a medicine to their child for seizures. +p1522 +aVIf you want a skeptic \u2014 if you want a skeptic, Jake, I will happily jump into that briar patch. If you want a real... +p1523 +aVA second opinion? One of the greatest \u2014 one of the greatest medical discoveries of all times was \u2014 were the vaccines, particularly for smallpox. And if you want to read a story, it's called The Speckled Monster, it's an amazing story, it was all done voluntary. But people came in by the droves. George Washington wouldn't let his wife visit until she got vaccinated. So I'm all for vaccines. But I'm also for freedom. I'm also a little concerned about how they're bunched up. My kids had all of their vaccines, and even if the science doesn't say bunching them up is a problem, I ought to have the right to spread out my vaccines out a little bit at the very least. +p1524 +aVOoh, that's a tough one. You know, I'm big on \u2014 that we were \u2014 and I love what Carly said about women's suffrage. I think Susan B. Anthony might be a good choice. +p1525 +aVJustice Never Sleeps. +p1526 +aVI met Ronald Reagan as a teenager, and my family, we're big supporters of him when he ran against Gerald Ford. It was a big deal because he was the grassroots, running against the establishment, and I'll never forget that. And, how he stood up and said, you know what, this is something new that our country needs, and our party needs. If I were president, I would try to be one who says, you know what, I'm a Reagan Conservative. I'm someone who believes in peace through strength, and I would try to lead the country in that way knowing that our goal is peace, and that war is the last resort, not the first resort. And, that when we go to war, we go to war in a constitutional way, which means that we have to vote on it, that war is initiated by congress, not by the president, that we go to war electively (ph). That when we go to war, we don't fight with one arm tied behind our back, we fight all out to win, but then we come home. +p1527 +asVBASH +p1528 +(lp1529 +VA crucial question is how to balance surveillance with privacy and keeping Americans safe. Senator Cruz, you voted for a bill that President Obama signed into law just this past June that made it harder for the government to access Americans' phone records. In light of the San Bernardino attack, was your vote a mistake? +p1530 +aVThank you. Senator Rubio, Senator Cruz is right there was bipartisan support for that. But you voted against it. So, is Senator Cruz wrong? +p1531 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1532 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator \u2014 Senator Rubio, please respond. +p1533 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I know this is \u2014 this has been a very big issue for you. You hear many of your colleagues are calling for increased surveillance by law enforcement. You call that hogwash. Why is that hogwash? +p1534 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1535 +aVGovernor Christie, Governor Christie... ...Governor Christie, I'll come to you in a minute. Go ahead, Senator Paul. +p1536 +aVGo ahead, please. +p1537 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about immigration in a while. But, Governor Christie, just listening to this... +p1538 +aVListening to this, you talked \u2014 you heard Senator Paul, Senator Cruz talk about how important it is to protect Americans' privacy, even in a time of grave danger. Why \u2014 what's wrong with that? +p1539 +aVSenator Paul, you said +p1540 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I want to go back to my initial question, which is you saying that +p1541 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about regime change in a bit. But Governor Kasich, would you like to respond to Senator Paul? +p1542 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. We've been talking tonight about programs and policy proposals that you all have to keep Americans safe and it's a big discussion on the campaign trail. Also about border security and immigration. So let's talk about immigration. Senator Rubio. You co-authored a bill with Democrats two years ago that allowed a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Do you still support that path to citizenship, which means giving those immigrants rights, like the right to vote? +p1543 +aVSenator, you haven't answered the question. You described a very long path but does that path end at citizenship? +p1544 +aVThank you, senator. +p1545 +aVThank you, senator. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, on the campaign trail, Senator Rubio has said that his immigration plan is not that different from yours. Is that true? +p1546 +aVSenator Rubio, please. +p1547 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1548 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1549 +aVSenator Cruz, can you answer that question please? +p1550 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1551 +aVOne at a time please. +p1552 +aVMs. Fiorina, please wait your turn, we're going to get to you. +p1553 +aVSenator Cruz go ahead. +p1554 +aVMr. Trump, you like to say that you restarted this conversation in the campaign. +p1555 +aVSo who do you side with? Who do you side with in this, Senator Rubio or Senator Cruz? +p1556 +aVThank you. Governor Bush? +p1557 +aVListening to this, do you think this is the tone \u2014 this immigration debate that republicans need to take to win back Hispanics into our party especially states like where we are in Nevada that has a pretty Hispanic community? +p1558 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said if China launches a cyber- attack against the U.S. on your watch, "they're going to see cyber- warfare like they have never seen before." What exactly would that response look like? +p1559 +aVGovernor Bush, what you just heard from Governor Christie, are you concerned that that could really escalate with China, that they would retaliate? And, for example, as the NSA has said, attack the U.S. and maybe it's power grid, which the Chinese have the capability to do? +p1560 +aVMr. Trump, just this weekend you said Senator Cruz is not qualified to be president because he doesn't have the right temperament and acted like a maniac when he arrived in the Senate. But last month you said you were open to naming Senator Cruz as your running mate. +p1561 +aVSo why would you be willing to put somebody who's a maniac one heartbeat away from the presidency? +p1562 +aVOkay. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, you have not been willing to attack Mr. Trump in public. +p1563 +aVBut you did question his judgment in having control of American's nuclear arsenal during a private meeting with supporters. Why are you willing to say things about him in private and not in public? +p1564 +aVSenator, senator, I just... +p1565 +aVSenator, a lot of people have seen... +p1566 +aV... a lot of people have seen these comments you made in private. I just want to clarify what you're saying right now is you do believe Mr. Trump has the judgment to be commander in chief? +p1567 +aVGovernor Kasich, Senator Cruz is so committed to stripping federal funds from Planned Parenthood that it could result in shutting down the federal government in just about two weeks. Do you agree with Senator Cruz's tactic? +p1568 +aVThank you. +p1569 +aVThank you. Senator Cruz, I would just add that, on this stage not that long ago, Senator Graham said that this tactic that you're pushing would tank the Republicans' ability to win in 2016. +p1570 +aVThank you, senator. +p1571 +aVThank you... +p1572 +aVGovernor \u2014 governor, I want to go to you. Is it what Senator Cruz says, a surrender by Republicans? +p1573 +aVBut... +p1574 +aVBut is it... +p1575 +aVBut, governor, the \u2014 but, governor, the reality is, in just two weeks' time... ...we are going to be facing a question about whether or not it's enough to shut down the government to make that statement, because there is still a Democrat in the White House. Do you oppose it or support it? +p1576 +aVYes or no, do you support this shutdown? +p1577 +aVWe're talking about Planned Parenthood right now. +p1578 +aVCan you answer yes or no? +p1579 +aVOne more time. I'm sorry, I just want to get the answer. +p1580 +aVSo you would support a shutdown. +p1581 +aVGovernor Bush, Mr. Trump has suggested that your views on immigration are influenced by your Mexican born wife. He said that, quote, "If my wife were from Mexico, I think I would have a soft spot for people from Mexico." Did Mr. Trump go to far in invoking your wife? +p1582 +aVMr. Trump? +p1583 +aVMr. Trump... +p1584 +aVGo ahead. +p1585 +aVMs. Fiorina \u2014 Ms. Fiorina, we're going to come to you, we're going to come to you. I just want to give Governor Bush a chance to respond to what Mr. Trump said. +p1586 +aVOK, on that note, you have criticized Governor Bush for speaking Spanish on the campaign trail. You said, quote, "He should really set an example by speaking English in the United States." What's wrong with speaking Spanish? +p1587 +aVThank you. +p1588 +aV...Thank you.... +p1589 +aVGovernor Bush, let's talk about the issue that's very important to Republican voters, and that's the Supreme Court. After Chief Justice John Roberts voted to uphold Obamacare twice, Senator Cruz criticized your brother for appointing John Roberts to the Supreme Court. Looking back on it, did your brother make a mistake? +p1590 +aV...Is John Roberts one of those people? +p1591 +aVDo you like what you just heard, Senator Cruz? +p1592 +aVMr. Trump, you have said once or twice that you are really rich, and you are by far the richest person on this stage. Chris Christie says billionaires like you and even people who make and earn far less should no longer get Social Security, or at least there should be limits based on \u2014 on their income. You think he's wrong, and if so, why? +p1593 +aVWhat about the country as a \u2014 as a policy? +p1594 +aVSo is a voluntary program the way to get the Social Security system solvent again like that. +p1595 +asVEPPERSON +p1596 +(lp1597 +VThank you, John. Mrs. Fiorina, you were the CEO of a large corporation that offers a 401(k) to its employees. But more than half of American have no access to an employer sponsored retirement plan. That includes the workers at small businesses, and the growing ranks of Uber drivers and other part-timers in the freelance economy. Should the Federal Government play a larger role in helping to set up retirement plans for these workers? +p1598 +aVSo you wouldn't agree \u2014 you wouldn't agree with a start for 401(k) for businesses or anything like that? +p1599 +aVThank you very much. +p1600 +aVThank you, the rules say one minute. +p1601 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. We appreciate it. Thank you, thank you. I want to turn my attention now, to you now, Governor Kasich. Most people can't get a college degree without going into debt. Over 40 million Americans have student loans and many of them cannot pay them back. This country has over $100 billion in student loan defaults. That's billion with a b. What will you do to make sure that students, their families, taxpayers, won't feel the economic impact of this burden for generations? Well, first of all, in Ohio we're changing the whole system. Universities will not get paid one dime unless the student graduates or \u2014 graduates or completes a course. Secondly, you can be in high school and complete almost an entire first year before you go to college and get credit to do that. And, of course, in addition to that, we are working now to go after the cost drivers in our universities. And let me give you an example. Universities today have so many non-academic assets. At Ohio State they sold the parking garage and the parking lot, and they got $500 million because they shouldn't be in the parking lot business. They shouldn't be in the ding business, they shouldn't be in the dorm business. And, of course, we need to take advantage of on-line education to reduce these costs and begin to dis-intermediate the cost of four years. Now, for those who that have these big high costs, I think we can seriously look at an idea of where you can do public service. I mean legitimate, public service and begin to pay off some of that debt through the public service that you do. And in the meantime, it may inspire us to care more about our country, more about ourselves. This is a big moral issue in America. Living a life bigger than yourself, and being a center of healing and justice. And people can learn it through public service. +p1602 +aVThank you, thank you. +p1603 +asVSANDERS +p1604 +(lp1605 +VWell, Gwen and Judy, thank you very much for hosting this event. And, PBS, thank you. Nine months ago, our campaign began. And when it began, we had no political organization, no money, and not much name recognition outside of the state of Vermont. A lot has happened in nine months. And what has happened is, I think, the American people have responded to a series of basic truths, and that is that we have today a campaign finance system which is corrupt, which is undermining American democracy, which allows Wall Street and billionaires to pour huge sums of money into the political process to elect the candidates of their choice. And aligned with a corrupt campaign finance system is a rigged economy. And that's an economy where ordinary Americans are working longer hours for low wagers. They are worried to death about the future of their kids. And yet they are seeing almost all new income and all new wealth going to the top 1 percent. And then in addition to that, the American people are looking around and they see a broken criminal justice system. They see more people in jail in the United States of America than any other country on earth, 2.2 million. We're spending $80 billion a year locking up fellow Americans. They see kids getting arrested for marijuana, getting in prison, getting a criminal record, while they see executives on Wall Street who pay billions of dollars in settlements and get no prosecution at all. No criminal records for them. I think what our campaign is indicating is that the American people are tired of establishment politics, tired of establishment economics. They want a political revolution in which millions of Americans stand up, come together, not let the Trumps of the world divide us, and say, you know what, in this great country, we need a government that represents all of us, not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors. Thank you. +p1606 +aVWell, to put that in a context, Judy, I think we have to understand that in the last 30 years in this country there has been a massive transfer of wealth going from the hands of working families into the top one-tenth of 1% whose percentage of wealth has doubled. In other words, the very rich are getting richer, almost everybody is going \u2014 getting poorer. What I believe is the United States, in fact, should join the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee healthcare to all people. Our Medicare for all single-payer proposal will save the average middle class family $5,000 a year. I do believe that in the year 2016 we have to look in terms of public education as colleges as part of public education making public colleges and universities tuition free. I believe that when real unemployment is close to 10%, and when our infrastructure, our roads, our bridges, our water systems, Flint, Michigan comes to mind. Our waste water plants, our rail, our airports, in many places are disintegrating. Yeah, we can create 13 million jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure at a cost of a trillion dollars. +p1607 +aV... Of course there will be a limit, but when today you have massive levels of income and wealth inequality, when the middle class is disappearing, you have the highest rate of child poverty of almost any major country on Earth. Yes, in my view, the government of a democratic society has a moral responsibility to play a vital role in making sure all of our people have a decent standard of living. +p1608 +aVWell, let us level with the American people. Secretary Clinton has been going around the country saying Bernie Sanders wants to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, people are going to lose their MedicAid, they're going to lose their +p1609 +aVThat is absolutely inaccurate. Look, here is the reality, folks. There is one major country on Earth that does not guarantee health care to all people. There is one major country \u2014 the United States \u2014 which ends up spending almost three times per capita what they do in the U.K. guaranteeing health care to all people, 50 percent more than they do in France guaranteeing health care to all people, far more than our Canadian neighbors, who guarantee health care to all people. Please do not tell me that in this country, if \u2014 and here's the if \u2014 we have the courage to take on the drug companies, and have the courage to take on the insurance companies, and the medical equipment suppliers, if we do that, yes, we can guarantee health care to all people in a much more cost effective way. +p1610 +aVWell, Secretary Clinton, you're not in the White House yet. And let us be clear that every proposal that I have introduced has been paid for. For example, all right, who in America denies that we have an infrastructure that is crumbling? Roads, bridges, water systems, wastewater plants, who denies that? Who denies that real unemployment today, including those who have given up looking for work and are working part-time is close to 10 percent? Who denies that African-American youth unemployment, real, is over 50 percent. We need to create jobs. So yes, I will do away with the outrageous loopholes that allow profitable multinational corporations to stash billions of dollars in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda and in a given year pay zero, zero in federal income tax. Yes, I'm going to do away with that. We will use those proceeds, a hundred billion a year, to invest in rebuilding our infrastructure. Yes, I believe that as a result of the illegal behavior on Wall Street, that they are a Wall Street that drove this country into the worst economic downturn since the Great Recession \u2014 Great Depression. Yes, I do believe that now after the American people bailed Wall Street out, yes, they should pay a Wall Street speculation tax so that we can make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We bailed them out. Now it is their time to help the middle class. +p1611 +aVA brief response. +p1612 +aVHere is where we are with public education. A 100, 150 years ago incredibly brave Americans said, you know what, working class kids, low income kids should not have to work in factories or on the farms. Like rich kids, they deserve to get a free education. And that free education of extraordinary accomplishment was from first grade to 12th grade. The world has changed. This is 2016. In many ways, a college degree today is equivalent to what a high school degree was 50, 60 years ago. So, yes, I do believe that when we talk about public education in America, today, in a rapidly changing world, we should have free tuition at public colleges and universities. That should be a right of all Americans regardless of the income of their families. +p1613 +aVLook, we are fighting for every vote that we can get from women, from men, straight, gay, African-Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans. We are trying to bring America together around an agenda that works for working families and the middle class. I am very proud, if my memory is not correct \u2014 I think I am \u2014 that I have a lifetime \u2014 and I've been in Congress a few years \u2014 a lifetime 100 percent pro-choice voting record. I am very proud that over the years we have had the support in my state of Vermont from very significant majorities of women. I'm very proud that I support legislation that is currently in the Congress, got support of almost all progressive Democrats in the House and Senate, which says we will end the absurdity of women today making 79 cents on the dollar compared to men. And we will join the rest of the other \u2014 the industrialized world in saying that paid family and medical leave should be a right of all working families. +p1614 +aVWell, you know, I think, from a historical point of view, somebody with my background, somebody with my views, somebody who has spent his entire life taking on the big money interests, I think a Sanders victory would be of some historical accomplishment, as well. +p1615 +aVLet me concur with the secretary, no question women's rights are under fierce attack all over this country. And I will tell you something that really galls me. I will not shock anybody to suggest that in politics there is occasionally a little bit of hypocrisy. Just a little bit. All over this country we have Republican candidates for president saying we hate the government. Government is the enemy. We're going to cut Social Security to help you. We're going to cut Medicare and Medicaid, federal aid to education to help you, because the government is so terrible. But, by the way, when it comes to a woman having to make a very personal choice, ah, in that case, my Republican colleagues love the government and want the government to make that choice for every woman in America. If that's not hypocrisy, I don't know what hypocrisy is. +p1616 +aVThis is one of the great tragedies in our country today. And we can no longer continue to sweep it under the rug. It has to be dealt with. Today a male African-American baby born today stands a one-in-four chance of ending up in jail. That is beyond unspeakable. So what we have to do is the radical reform of a broken criminal justice system. What we have to do is end over-policing in African-American neighborhoods. The reality is that both the African-American community and the white community do marijuana at about equal rates. The reality is four times as many blacks get arrested for marijuana. Truth is that far more blacks get stopped for traffic violations. The truth is that sentencing for blacks is higher than for whites. We need fundamental police reform, clearly, clearly, when we talk about a criminal justice system. I would hope that we could all agree that we are sick and tired of seeing videos on television of unarmed people, often African-Americans, shot by police officers. What we have got to do is make it clear that any police officer who breaks the law will, in fact, be held accountable. +p1617 +aVNothing that Secretary Clinton said do I disagree with. This mandatory sentencing, a very bad idea. It takes away discretion from judges. We have got to demilitarize local police departments so they do not look like occupying armies. We have got to make sure that local police departments look like the communities they serve in their diversity. And, where we are failing abysmally is in the very high rate of recidivism we see. People are being released from jail without the education, without the job training, without the resources that they need to get their lives together, then they end up \u2014 we're shocked that they end up back in jail again. So, we have a lot of work to do. But, here is a pledge I've made throughout this campaign, and it's really not a very radical pledge. When we have more people in jail, disproportionately African American and Latino, than China does, a communist authoritarian society four times our size. Here's my promise, at the end of my first term as president we will not have more people in jail than any other country. We will invest in education, and jobs for our kids, not incarceration and more jails. +p1618 +aVWell, I think, Judy, what has to be appreciated is that, as a result of the disastrous and illegal behavior on Wall Street, millions of lives were hurt. People lost their jobs, their homes, their life savings. Turns out that the African-American community and the Latino community were hit especially hard. As I understand it, the African-American community lost half of their wealth as a result of the Wall Street collapse. So when you have childhood African-American poverty rates of 35 percent, when you have youth unemployment at 51 percent, when you have unbelievable rates of incarceration \u2014 which, by the way, leaves the children back home without a dad or even a mother \u2014 clearly, we are looking at institutional racism. We are looking at an economy in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. And sadly, in America today, in our economy, a whole lot of those poor people are African-American. +p1619 +aVAbsolutely, because what we will do is say, instead of giving tax breaks to billionaires, we are going to create millions of jobs for low-income kids so they're not hanging out on street corners. We're going to make sure that those kids stay in school or are able to get a college education. And I think when you give low-income kids \u2014 African-American, white, Latino kids \u2014 the opportunities to get their lives together, they are not going to end up in jail. They're going to end up in the productive economy, which is where we want them. +p1620 +aVWhite people? +p1621 +aVYeah, you can, because African-Americans and Latinos not only face the general economic crises of low wages, and high unemployment, and poor educational opportunities, but they face other problems, as well. So, yes, we can talk about it as a racial issue. But it is a general economic issue. And here's what the economic issue is. The wages that high school graduates receive today are significantly less, whether you are white or black, than they used to be. Why is that? Because of a series of disastrous trade policies which have allowed corporate America through +p1622 +aVThe answer is yes. We've got 11 million undocumented people in this country. I have talked to some of the young kids with tears rolling down their cheeks, are scared to death that today they may or their parents may be deported. I believe that we have got to pass comprehensive immigration reform, something that I strongly supported. I believe that we have got to move toward a path toward citizenship. I agree with President Obama who used executive orders to protect families because the Congress, the House was unable or refused to act. And in fact I would go further. What would motivate me and what would be the guiding light for me in terms of immigration reform, Judy, is to bring families together, not divide them up. And let me say this also. Somebody who is very fond of the president, agrees with him most of the time, I disagree with his recent deportation policies. And I would not support those. Bottom line is a path towards citizenship for 11 million undocumented people, if Congress doesn't do the right thing, we use the executive orders of the president. +p1623 +aVSecretary Clinton, I do have a disagreement here. If my memory is correct, I think when we saw children coming from these horrendous, horrendously violent areas of Honduras and neighboring countries, people who are fleeing drug violence and cartel violence, I thought it was a good idea to allow those children to stay in this country. That was not, as I understand it, the secretary's position. In terms of 2007 immigration reform, yeah, I did vote against it. I voted against it because the Southern Poverty Law Center, among other groups, said that the guest-worker programs that were embedded in this agreement were akin to slavery. Akin to slavery, where people came into this country to do guest work were abused, were exploited, and if they stood up for their rights, they'd be thrown out of this country. So it wasn't just me who opposed it. It was +p1624 +aVWell, let me just respond. I worked with Ted Kennedy. He was the chairman of my committee. And I loved Ted Kennedy. But on this issue, when you have one of the large Latino organizations in America saying vote no, and you have the AFL-CIO saying vote no, and you have leading progressive Democrats, in fact, voting no, I don't apologize for that vote. But in terms of the children, I don't know to whom you're sending a message. Who are you sending a message to? These are children who are leaving countries and neighborhoods where their lives are at stake. That was the fact. I don't think we use them to send a message. I think we welcome them into this country and do the best we can to help them get their lives together. +p1625 +aVOK. You know, you judge a nation not by the number of millionaires and billionaires it has, but by how you treat, we treat, the most vulnerable and fragile people in our nation. And by those standards, we're not doing particularly well. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty among almost any major country on Earth. And in terms of seniors, there are millions of seniors \u2014 and I've talked to them in my state of Vermont and all over this country \u2014 who are trying to get by on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year Social Security. And you know what? You do the arithmetic. You can't get by on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year. And here's an area where Secretary Clinton and I believe we have a difference. I have long supported the proposition that we should lift the cap on taxable income coming into the Social Security Trust Fund, starting at $250,000. And when we \u2014 and when we do that, we don't do what the Republicans want, which is to cut Social Security. We do what the American people want, to expand Social Security by $1,300 a year for people under $16,000, and we extend the life of Social Security for 58 years. Yes, the wealthiest people, the top 1.5 percent, will pay more in taxes. But a great nation like ours should not be in a position where elderly people are cutting their pills in half, where they don't have decent nutrition, where they can't heat their homes in the wintertime. That is not what America should be about. If elected president, I will do everything I can to expand Social Security benefits, not just for seniors, but for disabled veterans, as well. +p1626 +aVIn all due respect......In all due respect, Secretary Clinton, a lot of the progressive groups, the online groups have really asked you a simple question. Are you coming onboard a proposal? And what is that proposal? Now, the proposal that I have outlined, you know, should be familiar to you, because it is what essentially Barack Obama campaigned on in 2008. You opposed him then. I would hope that you would come onboard and say that this is the simple and straightforward thing to do. We're asking the top 1.5 percent, including passive income, to start paying a little bit more so that the elderly and disabled vets in this country can live with security and dignity. I hope you will make a decision soon on this. +p1627 +aVThat's my bill. Check it out. +p1628 +aVWhat we are talking about in reality is a corrupt campaign finance system, that's what we're talking about. We have to be honest about it. It is undermining American democracy. When extraordinarily wealthy people make very large contributions to Super PACs, and in many cases in this campaign, Super PACs have raised more money than individual candidates have, OK? We had a decision to make early on, do we do a Super PAC? And, we said no. We don't represent Wall Street, we don't represent the billionaire class, so it ends up I'm the only candidate up here of the many candidates who has no Super PAC. But, what we did is we said to the working families of this country, look, we know things are tough, but if you want to help us go beyond establishment politics, and establishment economics, send us something. And, it turns out that up until \u2014 and this has blown me away, never in a million years would I have believed that I would be standing here tonight telling you that we have received three and a half million individual contributions from well over a million people. Now, Secretary Clinton's Super PAC, as I understand it, received $25 million dollars last reporting period, $15 million dollars from Wall Street. Our average contribution is $27 dollars, I'm very proud of that. +p1629 +aVThe people aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street... But let's not \u2014 but let's not \u2014 let's not insult \u2014 let's not insult the intelligence of the American people. People aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street make huge campaign contributions? I guess just for the fun of it; they want to throw money around. Why does the pharmaceutical industry make huge campaign contributions? Any connection maybe to the fact that our people pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs? Why does the fossil fuel industry pay \u2014 spend huge amounts of money on campaign contributions? Any connection to the fact that not one Republican candidate for president thinks and agrees with the scientific community that climate change is real and that we have got to transform our energy system? And when we talk about Wall Street, let's talk about Wall Street. I voted for Dodd-Frank, got an important amendment in it. In my view, it doesn't go anywhere near far enough. But when we talk about Wall Street, you have Wall Street and major banks have paid $200 billion in fines since the great crash. No Wall Street executive has been prosecuted. +p1630 +aVLet me, you know, again, respectfully disagree with Secretary Clinton here. When you have three out of the four largest financial institutions in this country bigger today than they were when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, when you have six financial institutions having assets equivalent to 58 percent of the GDP of America, while issuing two-thirds of the credit cards and a third of the mortgages, look, I think if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, that great trust-buster would have said break them up. I think he would have been right. I think he would have said bring back a 21st-century Glass-Steagall legislation. I think that would have been right, as well. That's my view. +p1631 +aVHey, I'm in the United States Senate, and anyone who doesn't think that there is an enormous amount of waste and inefficiency and bureaucracy throughout government would be very, very mistaken. I believe in government, but I believe in efficient government, not wasteful government. +p1632 +aVIf I could just answer that, we have also got to take a look at the waste and inefficiencies in the Department of Defense, which is the one major agency of government that has not been able to be audited. And I have the feeling you're going to find a lot of cost overruns there and a lot of waste and duplicative activities. +p1633 +aVLet me \u2014 let me just say this. What a President of the United States has got to do and what is his or her major, I think, responsibility is to, a, make certain that we keep our people safe, that we work with allies around the world to protect democratic values, that we do all that we can to create a world of peace and prosperity. I voted against the war in Iraq because I listened very carefully to what President Bush and Vice President Cheney had to say and I didn't believe them. And if you go to my Web site,berniesanders.com, what you find is not only going to help lead the opposition to that war, but much of what I feared would happen when I spoke on the floor of the House, in fact, did happen in terms of the instability that occurred. Now I think an area in kind of a vague way, or not so vague, where Secretary Clinton and I disagree is the area of regime change. Look, the truth is that a powerful nation like the United States, certainly working with our allies, we can overthrow dictators all over the world. And God only knows Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator. We could overthrow Assad tomorrow if we wanted to. We got rid of Gadhafi. But the point about foreign policy is not just to know that you can overthrow a terrible dictator, it's to understand what happens the day after. And in Libya, for example, the United States, Secretary Clinton, as secretary of state, working with some other countries, did get rid of a terrible dictator named Gadhafi. But what happened is a political vacuum developed. +p1634 +aVJudy, if I can, there is no question, Secretary Clinton and I are friends, and I have a lot of respect for her, that she has enormous experience in foreign affairs. Secretary of state for four years. You've got a bit of experience, I would imagine. But judgment matters as well. Judgment matters as well. And she and I looked at the same evidence coming from the Bush administration regarding Iraq. I lead the opposition against it. She voted for it. But more importantly, in terms of this Libya resolution that you have noted before, this was a virtually unanimous consent. Everybody voted for it wanting to see Libya move toward democracy, of course we all wanted to do that. That is very different than talking about specific action for regime change, which I did not support. +p1635 +aVJudy, one area very briefly... +p1636 +aVWhere the secretary and I have a very profound difference, in the last debate \u2014 and I believe in her book \u2014 very good book, by the way \u2014 in her book and in this last debate, she talked about getting the approval or the support or the mentoring of Henry Kissinger. Now, I find it rather amazing, because I happen to believe that Henry Kissinger was one of the most destructive secretaries of state in the modern history of this country. I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend. I will not take advice from Henry Kissinger. And in fact, Kissinger's actions in Cambodia, when the United States bombed that country, overthrew Prince Sihanouk, created the instability for Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge to come in, who then butchered some 3 million innocent people, one of the worst genocides in the history of the world. So count me in as somebody who will not be listening to Henry Kissinger. +p1637 +aVWell, it ain't Henry Kissinger. That's for sure. +p1638 +aVIt is. +p1639 +aVI find \u2014 I mean, it's just a very different, you know, historical perspective here. Kissinger was one of those people during the Vietnam era who talked about the domino theory. Not everybody remembers that. You do. I do. The domino theory, you know, if Vietnam goes, China, da, da, da, da, da, da, da. That's what he talked about, the great threat of China. And then, after the war, this is the guy who, in fact, yes, you're right, he opened up relations with China, and now pushed various type of trade agreements, resulting in American workers losing their jobs as corporations moved to China. The terrible, authoritarian, Communist dictatorship he warned us about, now he's urging companies to shut down and move to China. Not my kind of guy. +p1640 +aVWell, this is what I would say. It is a complicated relationship. I congratulate Secretary of State John Kerry and the president for working on this agreement. As you've indicated, what is happening in Syria, the number of people, the hundreds of thousands of people who have been killed \u2014 men, women, 20,000 children, the people who are forced to flee their own country \u2014 their own country \u2014 it is unspeakable. It is a real horror. Now, what I think is that right now we have got to do our best in developing positive relations with Russia. But let's be clear: Russia's aggressive actions in the Crimea and in Ukraine have brought about a situation where President Obama and +p1641 +aVLet me just \u2014 just say this. For a start, the secretary and I disagree \u2014 and I think the president does not agree with her \u2014 in terms of the concept of a no-fly zone in Syria. I think you do have a humanitarian tragedy there, as I mentioned a moment ago. I applaud Secretary Kerry and the president for trying to put together this agreement. Let's hope that it holds. But furthermore, what we have got to do, I'm sorry, yes, I do believe that we have got to do everything that we can, and it will not happen tomorrow. But I do hope that in years to come, just as occurred with Cuba, 10, 20 years ago, people would say, reach normalized relations with Cuba. And by the way, I hope we can end the trade embargo with Cuba as well. But the idea that we some day maybe have decent relations with Iran, maybe put pressure on them so they end their support for terrorism around the world, yes, that is something I want to achieve. And I believe that the best way to do that is to be aggressive, to be principled, but to have the goal of trying to improve relations. That's how you make peace in the world. You sit down and you work with people, you make demands of people, in this case demanding Iran stop the support of international terrorism. +p1642 +aVWe have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of work to do. But I recall when Secretary Clinton ran against then-Senator Obama, she was critical of him for suggesting that maybe you want to talk to Iran, that you want to talk to our enemies. I have no illusion. Of course you are right. Iran is sponsoring terrorism in many parts of the world, destabilizing areas. Everybody knows that. But our goal is, in fact, to try over a period of time to, in fact, deal with our enemies, not just ignore that reality. +p1643 +aVNo, I think the idea was that president \u2014 then-Senator Obama was wrong for suggesting that it is a good idea to talk to your opponents. It's easier to talk to your friends. It's harder to talk to your enemies. I think we should do both. +p1644 +aVA couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to go on a congressional delegation. And I went to one of these Turkish refugee camps right on the border of Syria. And what a sad sight that was: Men, women, children forced out of their homes. And Turkey, by the way, did a very decent thing, providing what was reasonable housing and conditions for those people. It seems to me that given our history as a nation that has been a beacon of hope for the oppressed, for the downtrodden, that I very strongly disagree with those Republican candidates who say, you know what, we've got to turn our backs on women and children who left their home with nothing, nothing at all. That is not what America is supposed to be about. So I believe that working with Europe \u2014 and, by the way, you know, we've got some very wealthy countries there in that part of the world. You got Kuwait and you got Qatar and you got Saudi Arabia. They have a responsibility, as well. But I think this is a worldwide \u2014 that the entire world needs to come together to deal with this horrific refugee crisis we're seeing from Syria and Afghanistan, as well. +p1645 +aVYou know, Franklin Delano Roosevelt took the oath of office in 1933 at a time when 25 percent of the American people were unemployed, country was in incredible despair. And he stood before the American people and he said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself," a profound statement that gave the American people the courage to believe that, yes, we could get out of that terrible depression. And then what he did is redefine the role of government. You know, you had Herbert Hoover before that saying, no, we got to only worry about the deficit. So what if mass unemployment exists? So what if children are going hungry? That's not the role of the government. And when FDR said, "Yeah, it is," that we're going to use all of the resources that we have to create jobs, to build homes, to feed people, to protect the farmers, we are a nation which if we come together there is nothing that we could not accomplish. And kind of \u2014 that's what I see our campaign is about right now. In this particular moment of serious crises, saying to the American people don't give up on the political process. don't listen to the Trumps of the world and allowing them to divide us. If we reengage and get involved, yeah, we can have health care for all people, we can make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We do not have to have massive levels of income and wealth inequality. In the same light, as the foreign leader, Winston Churchill's politics were not my politics. He was kind of a conservative guy in many respects. But nobody can deny that as a wartime leader, he rallied the British people when they stood virtually alone against the Nazi juggernaut and rallied them and eventually won an extraordinary victory. Those are two leaders that I admire very much. +p1646 +aVThat is......Madam Secretary, that is a low blow. I have worked with President Obama for the last seven years. When President Obama came into office we were losing 800,000 jobs a month, 800,000 jobs a month. We had a $1.4 trillion deficit. And the world's financial system is on the verge of collapse. As a result of his efforts and the efforts of Joe Biden against unprecedented, I was there in the Senate, unprecedented Republican obstructionism, we have made enormous progress. But you know what? Last I heard we lived in a democratic society. Last I heard, a United States senator had the right to disagree with the president, including a president who has done such an extraordinary job. So I have voiced criticisms. You're right. Maybe you haven't. I have. But I think to suggest that I have voiced criticism, this blurb that you talk about, you know what the blurb said? The blurb said that the next president of the United States has got to be aggressive in bringing people into the political process. That's what I said. That is what I believe. President Obama and I are friends. As you know, he came to Vermont to campaign for me when he was a senator. I have worked for his re-election. His first election and his re-election. But I think it is really unfair to suggest that I have not been supportive of the president. I have been a strong ally with him on virtually every issue. Do senators have the right to disagree with the president? Have you ever disagreed with a president? I suspect you may have. +p1647 +aVWell, one of us ran against Barack Obama. I was not that candidate. All right, look, this has been a great debate. A lot of interesting issues have come together. Let me conclude by just saying this. There is no president, in my view, not Hillary Clinton, not Bernie Sanders, who has the capability or the power to take on Wall Street, large campaign donors, the corporate media, the big money interests in this country alone. This campaign is not just about electing a president. What this campaign is about is creating a process for a political revolution in which millions of Americans, working people who have given up on the political process, they don't think anybody hears their pains or their concerns. Young people for whom getting involved in politics is as, you know, it's like going to the moon. It ain't going to happen. Low income people who are not involved in the political process. What this campaign is not only about electing someone who has the most progressive agenda, it is about bringing tens of millions of people together to demand that we have a government that represents all of us and not just the 1 percent, who today have so much economic and political power. Thank you all very much. +p1648 +aVRachel, thank you very much. Millions of Americans are giving up on the political process. And they're giving up on the political process because they understand the economy is rigged. They are working longer hours for low wages. They're worried about the future of their kids, and yet almost all new income and wealth is going to the top 1 percent. Not what America is supposed to be about. Not the fairness that we grew up believing that America was about. And then sustaining that rigged economy is a corrupt campaign finance system undermining American democracy, where billionaire, Wall Street, corporate America can contribute unlimited sums of money into super PACs and into candidates. Our job, together, is to end a rigged economy, create an economy that works for all, and absolutely overturn Citizens United. One person, one vote. That's what American democracy is about. +p1649 +aVWell, I haven't quite run for president before. Let's deal with some of the comments that Secretary Clinton made. And by the way, you know, sometimes there's a lot of drama here. I have known Secretary Clinton for 25 years and respect her very much. Here is the issue. Every major country on earth, whether it's the U.K., whether it's France, whether it's Canada, has managed to provide healthcare to all people as a right and they are spending significantly less per capita on health care than we are. So I do not accept the belief that the United States of America can't do that. I do not accept the belief that the United States of America and our government can't stand up to the ripoffs of the pharmaceutical industry which charge us by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. Number two, in the economy today, everybody understands that we need a well educated workforce. This is 2016. When we talk about public education, it can no longer be K through 12th grade. I do believe that public colleges and universities should be tuition free. Well, how do we pay for that? It's an expensive proposition. I do believe that we should substantially lower student debt in this country, which is crushing millions of people. We pay for it, in my view, by a tax on Wall Street speculation. The middle class bailed out Wall Street in their time of need. Now, it is Wall Street's time to help the middle class. +p1650 +aVLet me... +p1651 +aV... this is a good discussion here. +p1652 +aVAnd let me just say this. As Secretary Clinton may know, I am on the Health Education Labor Committee. That committee wrote the Affordable Care Act. The idea I would dismantle health care in America while we're waiting to pass a Medicare for all is just not accurate. The Affordable Care Act has clearly, as Secretary Clinton made the point, done a lot of good things, but, what it has not done is dealt with the fact we have 29 million people today who have zero health insurance, we have even more who are underinsured with large deductibles and copayments and prescription drug prices are off the wall. So I do believe that in the future, not by dismantling what we have here\u2014I helped write that bill\u2014but by moving forward, rallying the American people, I do believe we should have health care for all. +p1653 +aVNo, not at all. Here's the reality of American economic life today. The reality is that we have one of lowest voter turnouts of any major country on earth because so many people have given up on the political process. The reality is that there has been trillions of dollars of wealth going from the middle class in the last 30 years to the top 1/10th of 1 percent. The reality is we that have a corrupt campaign finance system which separates the American people's needs and desires from what Congress is doing. So to my mind, what we have got to do is wage a political revolution where millions of people have given up on the political process, stand up and fight back, demand the government that represents us and not just a handful of campaign contribution\u2014contributors. Now all of the ideas that I'm talking about, they are not radical ideas. Making public colleges and universities tuition free, that exists in countries all over the world, used to exist in the United States. Rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, and creating 13 million jobs by doing away with tax loopholes that large corporations now enjoy by putting their money into the Cayman Islands and other tax havens. That is not a radical idea. What we need to do is to stand up to the big money interests, and the campaign contributors. When we do that, we can, in fact, transform America. +p1654 +aVLet me just pick up on this point. This whole discussion began because I commented, not making overall evaluation about the Secretary. She was in Ohio, I think, in September or November and she got up and said something like, I have been\u2014I'm paraphrasing, I have been criticized because people think I'm a moderate. Well, I am a moderate. That's where this came from. It wasn't me paraphrasing her. It is what she said, and all that I said was there's nothing wrong with being a moderate. But, you can't be a moderate, you can't a progressive. In terms of President Obama, I think if we remember where this country was seven years ago, 800,000 jobs being lost every month, $1.4 trillion dollar deficit. The world's financial system on the verge of collapse. I think that President Obama, Vice President Biden, and the Democratic leadership in the House and the Senate have done a fantastic job. We are in much better shape than we were seven years ago, although my Republican colleagues seem to have forgotten where we were seven years ago. That's the fact, but, we still have a very long way to go. Do I think President Obama is a progressive? Yes, I do. I disagree with him on a number of issues including the trade agreement. But, yes, I think he has done an excellent job. +p1655 +aVThat's right, I mean, instead of arguing about definitions, let's talk about... +p1656 +aV... What we should do, and one of the things we should do is not only talk the talk, but walk the walk. I am very proud to be the only candidate up here who does not have a Super PAC, who's not raising huge sums of money from Wall Street...... And special interests. I am enormously proud. Never believed it would happen that we have raised 3.5 million individual contributions, averaging $27 dollars a piece. That is what the political revolution means. +p1657 +aVWell, Rachel, actually, that wasn't accurate. In 1988 the Republican did win, I believe, by 3 points. I came in second. It was 34-31, I think, 19 for the Democrat. In that race the Democrat was the spoiler, not me. And it is true......it is true, it's not to be denied, I am the longest- serving independent in the history of the United States Congress. People of Vermont sent me to Washington as an independent. That is true. But on the other hand, I have\u2014when I was in the House for 16 years, I caucused with the Democrats. In the Senate for nine years caucused with the Democrats, of course. And I was elected by the Democrats to be chair of the Veterans Committee three years ago, which I'm very proud of. And now am the rankings member on the Budget Committee, leader of the Democrats in opposition to the majority Republicans. I am running for president as a Democrat. And if elected, not only do I hope to bring forth a major change in national priorities, but let me be frank, I do want to see major changes in the Democratic Party. I want to see working people and young people come into the party in a way that doesn't exist now. And you know what, I want a 50-state strategy so the Democratic Party is not just the party of 25 states. +p1658 +aVWell, I don't see it quite like that. +p1659 +aVI am\u2014will absolutely admit that Secretary Clinton has the support of far more governors, mayors, members of the House. She has the entire establishment or almost the entire establishment behind her. That's a fact. I don't deny it. But I am pretty proud that we have over a million people who have contributed to our campaign averaging 27 bucks apiece. That we have had meetings where 25,000-30,000 people have come out. That our campaign is a campaign of the people, by the people, and for the people. So, Rachel, yes, Secretary Clinton does represent the establishment. I represent, I hope, ordinary Americans, and by the way, who are not all that enamored with the establishment, but I am very proud to have people like Keith Ellison and Raul Grijalva in the House, the co-chairmen of the House Progressive Caucus. +p1660 +aVWhat being part of the establishment is, is, in the last quarter, having a super PAC that raised $15 million from Wall Street, that throughout one's life raised a whole lot of money from the drug companies and other special interests. To my mind, if we do not get a handle on money in politics and the degree to which big money controls the political process in this country, nobody is going to bring about the changes that is needed in this country for the middle class and working families. +p1661 +aVWhat... +p1662 +aV... you know... +p1663 +aV. +p1664 +aVLet's talk about\u2014OK, let's talk... +p1665 +aV... let us talk about issues. +p1666 +aVLet's talk about issues. +p1667 +aVLet's... +p1668 +aV... let's\u2014let's\u2014let's talk about issues. +p1669 +aVLet's talk\u2014let's talk about issues, all right? Let's talk about why, in the 1990s, Wall Street got deregulated. Did it have anything to do with the fact that Wall Street provided\u2014spent billions of dollars on lobbying and campaign contributions? Well, some people might think, yeah, that had some influence. Let's ask why it is that we pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, and your medicine can be doubled tomorrow, and there's nothing that the government can do to stop it. You think it has anything to do with the huge amounts of campaign contributions and lobbying from the fossil fuel industry? Let's talk about climate change. Do you think there's a reason why not one Republican has the guts to recognize that climate change is real, and that we need to transform our energy system? Do you think it has anything to do with the Koch brothers and ExxonMobil pouring huge amounts of money into the political system? That is what goes on in America. I am not\u2014I like......there is a reason. You know, there is a reason why these people are putting huge amounts of money into our political system. And in my view, it is undermining American democracy and it is allowing Congress to represent wealthy campaign contributors and not the working families of this country. +p1670 +aVI think as Secretary Clinton knows, there is nobody who fought harder. I was on the House Financial Committee at that time. I heard the arguments coming from Democrats and Republicans\u2014Robert Rubin, Alan Greenspan\u2014about great an idea it would be if we did away with Glass-Steagall and if we allowed investor banks and commercial banks and big insurance companies to merge. Go to YouTube today. Look up Greenspan-Sanders. Listen to what I told them then. I helped lead the effort against deregulation. Unfortunately, we lost that. The result is\u2014was the worst financial disaster since the Great Depression. +p1671 +aVChuck, actually we looked at it, but it turns out to be a disaster. The way it is structured right now, if you make it all the way to California, you could do pretty well. But in terms of the early states\u2014Iowa, New Hampshire, the other states\u2014it just doesn't work. Your point is well taken. I believe in public funding of elections, absolutely. But this system is\u2014I don't know if the secretary would agree\u2014is currently very antiquated and no longer applies to modern day politics. +p1672 +aVBut if the... +p1673 +aVLet me just say this. Wall Street is perhaps the most powerful economic and political force in this country. You have companies like Goldman Sachs, who just recently paid a settlement fine with the federal government for $5 billion for defrauding investors. Goldman Sachs was one of those companies whose illegal activity helped destroy our economy and ruin the lives of millions of Americans. But this is what a rigged economy and a corrupt campaign finance system and a broken criminal justice is about. These guys are so powerful that not one of the executives on Wall Street has been charged with anything after paying, in this case of Goldman Sachs, a $5 billion fine. Kid gets caught with marijuana, that kid has a police record. A Wall Street executive destroys the economy, $5 billion settlement with the government, no criminal record. That is what power is about. That is what corruption is about. And that is what has to change in the United States of America. +p1674 +aVI would say that\u2014that folks who have looked at this issue for a long time, whether it's Elizabeth Warren or many other economists, will tell you that right now, yes, we do need a 21st century Glass-Steagall legislation. And I would tell you also that when you have three out of the four largest banks in America today, bigger than they were\u2014significantly bigger than when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, I think if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, a good Republican by the way, what he would say is: Break them up; they are too powerful economically; they are too powerful politically. And that is what I believe and many economists believe. Time to break them up. +p1675 +aVWell, we've had a number of economists supporting our legislation. And here's where we are. The American people can judge. Six largest financial institutions in America today have assets of roughly $10 trillion; equivalent to 58 percent of the GDP of the United States of America. That is a lot of money. They issue two thirds of the credit cards, and by the way they're ripping off a whole lot of people with high interest rates on the credit cards, and they write about one third of the mortgages. That is a lot of power for six financial institutions. That's it. I think it is too much power. Too much economic power, too much political power, and the economists that I talk to say we should break them up. +p1676 +aVYeah, I do. I agree with much of what the Secretary said, but, madam Secretary, it is not one streak. Wall Street is an entity of unbelievable economic and political power. That's a fact. And, I want to say something, and it may sound harsh, not to you, but to the American people. In a sense, in my view, the business model of Wall Street is fraud. It's fraud. I believe that corruption is rampant, and the fact that major bank after major bank has reached multi billion dollar settlements with the United States government when we have a weak regulator system tells me that not only did we have to bail them out once, if we don't start breaking them up, we're going to have to bail them out again, and I do not want to see that happen... +p1677 +aVOf course I can work with them, but let's be clear. When I talked about Boeing and I talked about General Electric, what I was referring to is an outrage. I suspect the secretary agrees request me. Right now you have a loophole such that these guys are putting their profits, multi-billion dollar profitable corporations putting billions of dollars into the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, and other tax havens. And in a given year, Rachel, after making billions of dollars in profit, do you know how much they're paying in taxes to the United States government in a given year? Zero. Now explain to me how that makes any sense at all. So what I have said with regard to Boeing and GE and other multinationals that pay zero taxes, you know what we're going to do? We're going to end that loophole. They are going to pay their fair share of taxes. We're going to use that money to rebuild our infrastructure and create up to 13 million jobs. Can I work with corporations? Are there good corporations doing incredible cutting edge research and development? Absolutely they are. And we should be proud of them. But on the other hand, there are many corporations who have turned their backs on the American worker, who have said, if I can make another nickel in profit by going to China and shutting down in the United States of America, that's what I will do. I will do my best to transform our trade policy and take on these corporations who want to invest in low-income countries around the world rather than in the United States of America. +p1678 +aVOK. Let me agree with much of what the secretary said, but where we have a different background on this issue is we differ on the war in Iraq, which created barbaric organizations like +p1679 +aVWell, I think our great task is to make certain that our young men and women in the military do not get sucked into never- ending, perpetual warfare within the quagmire of Syria and Iraq. And I will do my very best to make sure that that doesn't happen. I agree with the secretary that I think what has to happen\u2014and let me just mention what King Abdullah of Jordan said. I think he hit the nail on the head. And what he said is essentially the war against +p1680 +aVWell, you can't simply withdraw tomorrow. Wish we could, and allow, you know, the Taliban or anybody else to reclaim that country. But what we must do, and what we have seen in recent months, is some progress in Iraq, where finally the Iraqi army, which has not been a particularly effective fighting force, retook Ramadi. +p1681 +aVWell, that's not quite accurate. I did give a speech at Georgetown where I talked about democratic socialism and foreign policy. Maybe I shouldn't have combined the two in the same speech, because the foreign policy part of it didn't get much attention. So, let me take this opportunity to give you a very short speech here on the issue. I think, while it is true that the secretary and I voted differently on the war in Iraq, what is important is that we learn the lesson of the war in Iraq. And that lesson is intrinsic to my foreign policy if elected president, is the United States cannot do it alone. We cannot be the policeman of the world. We are now spending more I believe than the next eight countries on defense. We have got to work in strong coalition with the major powers of the world and with those Muslim countries that are prepared to stand up and take on terrorism. So I would say that the key doctrine of the Sanders administration would be no, we cannot continue to do it alone; we need to work in coalition. +p1682 +aV I fully, fully concede that Secretary Clinton, who was secretary of State for four years, has more experience\u2014hat is not arguable\u2014in foreign affairs. But experience is not the only point, judgment is. And once again, back in 2002, when we both looked at the same evidence about the wisdom of the war in Iraq, one of us voted the right way and one of us didn't. In terms of Iran and in terms of Saudi Arabia, of course they hate each other. That's no great secret. But John Kerry, who is I think doing a very good job, has tried to at least get these people in the room together because both of them are being threatened by +p1683 +aVWell... +p1684 +aVWho said That think we should normalize relations with Iran tomorrow? I never said that. I think we should move forward as quickly as we can. And you're right. They are a sponsor of terrorism around the world and we have to address that. But you know, a number of years ago, people were saying normal relationship with Cuba, what a bad and silly idea. They're Communists, they are our enemy. Well guess what? Change has come. So please don't suggest that I think we normalize relations with Tehran tomorrow. We don't. But I would like to see us move forward, and hopefully some day that will happen. And I would say if I might, Madam Secretary\u2014and you can correct me if I'm wrong. When you ran against Senator Obama you thought him naive because he thought it was a good idea to talk to our enemies. I think those are exactly the people you have to talk to and you have to negotiate with. +p1685 +aVOK. +p1686 +aVI think President Obama had the right idea, and the bottom line is that of course there have to be conditions. But, of course it doesn't do us any good to not talk with our adversaries... +p1687 +aVJust to set the record straight, I very strongly supported the agreement which makes certain that Iran does not get a nuclear weapon. +p1688 +aV... +p1689 +aV +p1690 +aV... No, no... +p1691 +aV... +p1692 +aVClearly North Korea is a very strange situation because it is such an isolated country run by a handful of dictators, or maybe just one, who seems to be somewhat paranoid. And, who had nuclear weapons. And, our goal there, in my view, is to work and lean strongly on China to put as much pressure. China is one of the few major countries in the world that has significant support for North Korea, and I think we got to do everything we can to put pressure on China. I worry very much about an isolated, paranoid country with atomic bombs. I think, clearly, we got to work closely with China to resolve the serious problems we have, and I worry about Putin and his military adventurism in the Crimea and the Ukraine. +p1693 +aV... No, I don't. I worry very, very much about an isolated country. That's what makes me nervous. Russia lives in the world. China lives in the world. North Korea is a very, very strange country because it is so isolated, and I do feel that a nation with nuclear weapons, they have got to be dealt with. Dealt with effectively. +p1694 +aVLet me agree. You know, as the secretary knows, I chaired\u2014I had the privilege and the honor of chairing the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs. And it is interesting to me, you know, Republicans give a lot of speeches about how much they love veterans. I work with the American Legion, the VFW, the DAV, the Vietnam Vets, and virtually every veterans organization to put together the most comprehensive piece of the veterans legislation in the modern history of America. That's what I did. And I brought it to the floor of the Senate. Every Democrat voted for it, I got two Republicans. We ended up with 56 votes and I couldn't get the 60 votes that I needed. That is pathetic. This was legislation supported by all of the veterans organizations, addressing many of the serious problems that veterans face in health care and in how we deliver benefits to them. So Republicans talk a good game about veterans, but when it came to put money on the line to protect our veterans, frankly, they were not there. What I did next, Rachel, is I had to retreat a little bit, I had to compromise. I did work with John McCain. I did work with Jeff Miller over in the House. And we put together not the bill that I wanted, but probably the most comprehensive V.A. health care bill in the modern history of this country. Secretary Clinton is absolutely right, there are people, Koch brothers among others, who have a group called Concerned Veterans of America, funded by the Koch brothers. The Koch brothers, by the way, want to destroy Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, every governmental program passed since the 1930s. Yes, there are people out there who want to privatize it. The last point that I'd make. I had a hearing. I had all of the veterans groups in front of me. And I said to them, tell me when a veteran gets in to the V.A., understanding there are waiting lines and real problems, when a veteran gets into the system, is the quality of care good? Without exception, what they said, good, excellent, very good. We've got to strengthen the V.A. We do not privatize the V.A. +p1695 +aVWell, I agree with the Des Moines Register, but let's not blow this out of proportion. This is not a\u2014this is not, like, a winner-take-all thing. I think where we now stand\u2014correct me if I'm wrong\u2014you have 22 delegates, I have 20 delegates. We need 2,500 delegates to win the nomination. You know, so this is not\u2014this is not the biggest deal in the world. We think, by the way, based on talking to our precinct captains, we may have at least two more delegates. What the Des Moines Register said\u2014you know, there were coin\u2014I think there were half a dozen coin flips\u2014a fairly chaotic type situation. At the end of the day, no matter how it's recounted, it will break roughly even. And by the way, I love and respect the caucus process in Iowa. See, and I don't have to say it, because they voted already. And I love New Hampshire, too, because you haven't voted, but......but, look, I think people are blowing this up out of proportion. But I think we need improvements in the process by which results are determined. +p1696 +aVOh . See, when you are old, then they go back all these years. All right. What have you got? +p1697 +aVWell, you know, a general election is different than a primary and caucus process. But let me just say this. In terms of where we are right now, as you mention, Rachel, in a number of national and state, including New Hampshire. For example, the last poll I saw\u2014there may have been a new one\u2014last one I saw here in New Hampshire, a battleground state, had me defeating Trump by 19; the secretary defeating him by one. There were also pretty large margins in Iowa and Wisconsin. These are polls. Polls go up. Polls go down. But here's why I think I will be, if nominated, the strongest candidate. Democrats win when there is a large voter turnout; when people are excited; when working people, middle class people and young people are prepared to engage in the political process. Republicans win when people are demoralized and you have a small voter turnout, which by the way is why they love voter suppression. I believe that our campaign up to now has shown that we can create an enormous amount of enthusiasm from working people, from young people, who will get involved in the political process and which will drive us to a very large voter turnout. If there is a large voter turnout, not only do we retain the White House, but I think we regain the Senate. We win governors' chairs up and down the line. So I believe if you want to retain the White House, if you want to see Democrats do well across the board, I think our campaign is the one that creates the large voter turnout and helps us win. +p1698 +aV +p1699 +aVI am feeling exactly the way I felt at the first debate. There's a process under way. I will not politicize it. +p1700 +aVAnd by the way\u2014and by the way, if I may, the secretary probably doesn't know that there's not a day that goes by when I am not asked to attack her on that issue, and I have refrained from doing that and I will continue to refrain from doing that. +p1701 +aVNot losing control of our campaign. You know, we have hired a whole lot of people in a rapid way and I am familiar with the first two instances and they are unacceptable, and we have apologized and dealt with that. In terms of the last one, as I understand it, we did not suggest that we had the endorsement of a newspaper. Newspapers who make endorsements also say positive things about other candidates, and to the best of my knowledge, that is what we did. So we never said, never said that somebody, a newspaper endorsed us that did not. What we did say is blah blah blah blah was said by the newspaper. +p1702 +aVBut that was only for\u2014that was not to be on television. That's an important point. That was just something\u2014as the secretary knows, you put titles on ads and you send them out, but there was no word in that ad, none, that said that those newspapers had endorsed us. +p1703 +aV... Look, I hear what the Secretary said, and I understand, but look, there are\u2014all of us know that we have seen in recent years horrible, horrible crimes. It's hard to imagine how people can do, bomb, and kill 168 people in Oklahoma City, or do the Boston Marathon bombing, but this is what I believe, and for a couple of reasons. Number one, too many innocent people, including minorities, African Americans, have been executed when they were not guilty. That's number one. We have to be very careful about making sure about that. But, second of all, and maybe, in a deeper reason, of course there are barbaric acts out there. But, in a world of so much violence and killing, I just don't believe that government itself should be part of the killing. So, when somebody commits......somebody commits any of these terrible crimes that we have seen, you lock them up, and you toss away the key. They're never going to get out. But, I just don't' want to see government be part of killing. That's all. +p1704 +aVAbsolutely. I think the Secretary described the situation appropriately. You know, I don't go around asking for governor's resignations every day. In fact, I think I never have in my life. But I did ask for the resignation of Governor Snyder because his irresponsibility......was so outrageous. What we are talking about are children being poisoned. That's what we're talking about. We don't know, no one knows for sure because they haven't done the appropriate studies, but there's no question that kids' intellectual development may have been impacted. We don't know how many thousands. The idea that there has not been a dramatic response is beyond comprehension. And when you have one of the, I think, significant public health crises of recent years, of course the federal government comes in. And of course the federal government says, you're not going to be poisoning little kids and impacting their entire lives. Last point on this. And I suspect the secretary agrees. One wonders if this were a white suburban community what kind of response there would have been. Flint, Michigan, is a poor community. It is disproportionately African-American and minority. And what has happened there is absolutely unacceptable. +p1705 +aVAbsolutely right. +p1706 +aVChuck, I believe in trade, but I do not believe in unfettered free trade. I believe in fair trade which works for the middle class and working families of this country and not just large multinational corporations. I was not only in opposition to +p1707 +aVNo, let... +p1708 +aV... I am absolutely supportive of comprehensive immigration reform and a path towards citizenship for 11 million people today who are living in the shadows. All right? We got to do that. But you miss\u2014when you looked at the issues, you missed two of the most important. And that is you're not going to accomplish what has to be done for working families and the middle class unless there is campaign finance reform. So long as big money interests control the United States Congress, it is gonna be very hard to do what has to be done for working families. So let me be very clear. No nominee of mine, if I'm elected president, to the United States Supreme Court will get that nomination unless he or she is loud and clear, and says they will vote to overturn Citizens United. Second point\u2014second point is that the only way we make change in terms of health care, in terms of dealing with a broken criminal justice system which, today, allows us to have more people in jail than any other country\u2014largely African-American and Latino\u2014the only way we create millions of jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure or have a tax system that says to the wealthy that they are going to pay their fair share, is when millions of people become involved in the political process. No, you just can't negotiate with Mitch McConnell. Mitch is gonna have to look out the window and see a whole lot of people saying, "Mitch, stop representing the billionaire class. Start listening to working families." And as president, that's what I will work hard on. +p1709 +aVI agree with what the secretary said. We shouldn't be getting ahead of ourselves. And as I have said many times, you know, sometimes in these campaigns, things get a little bit out of hand. I happen to respect the secretary very much, I hope it's mutual. And on our worst days, I think it is fair to say we are 100 times better than any Republican candidate. +p1710 +aVI\u2014my dad came to this country at the age of 17 from Poland. Didn't have any money, couldn't speak English, he died pretty young, and I think it would have been beyond his wildest dreams to see his son up here on this stage today running for president. I love this country and my dad loved this country, and he was the most proud American because of what it gave him in terms of raising his family, even though we never had much money. But today in America, we are the only major country on earth that doesn't guarantee health care to all people, that doesn't guarantee paid family and medical leave. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth. We are seeing millions of families unable to send their kids to college in the United States of America. I'm running for president because I believe it is just too late for establishment politics and establishment economics. I do believe we need a political revolution where millions of people stand up and say loudly and clearly that our government belongs to all of us and not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors. Thank you all. +p1711 +asVBARTIROMO +p1712 +(lp1713 +VTonight we're partnering with the Wall Street Journal to ask questions on the economy that voters want answered. We're also working with Facebook, who tells us that since the first Republican debate, more than 58 million people have joined the political conversation online. More than 9 million are talking specifically about the economy. +p1714 +aVBusinesswoman Carly Fiorina. Ohio Governor John Kasich. And Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. +p1715 +aVWe've asked people on Facebook to submit their questions for the candidates. Seth Bell wrote, "We are approaching $20 trillion in national debt. Specifically, what plans do you have to cut federal spending?" Governor Kasich, you have spoken much about your success in balancing the budget under President Clinton. Today the national debt is at record highs and growing unsustainably. Interest will be the fastest-growing part of the federal budget, tripling over the next 10 years. Social Security, the lifeline of millions of American seniors, is rushing toward insolvency. With all of the tax plans presented tonight, estimated to cost anywhere between $2 trillion and $12 trillion over a decade, what specific steps will you take to balance the budget? +p1716 +aVDid you want to name any specific steps, sir? +p1717 +aVThank you, sir. +p1718 +aVSenator Cruz, the International Monetary Fund recently cut its expectations for economic growth. Many economists expect a recession to hit the U.S. within the next year due to the weakening of manufacturing. The next president will have to deal with it. You say tax reform is a powerful lever to spur economic expansion. You're calling for a 10 percent income tax and a 16 percent business tax. What other elements do you need in this plan to actually create jobs? +p1719 +aVThank you, sir. +p1720 +aVGovernor Bush... +p1721 +aVWe have more questions for you, Governor Kasich, coming up. We have more questions for you, Governor Kasich. +p1722 +aVWe will \u2014 we will certainly get to that. Governor Bush? +p1723 +aVAlmost 40 percent of Americans are without a job and are not looking. Many have given up. That's what the participation rate tells us. You've said your policies will drive the economy back to 4 percent growth, which we haven't seen since the year 2000. What specific regulations would you change? And how will that lead to jobs and growth? +p1724 +aVThank you, sir. +p1725 +aVMr. Trump, a federal appeals court just dealt a blow to the Obama administration's plan to prevent the deportation of 5 million people living in this country illegally. The White House is appealing to the Supreme Court. At the heart of this issue is the effect that illegal immigrants are having on our economy, what will you do about it? +p1726 +aVCan we just send 5 million people back with no effect on economy? +p1727 +aVSo what will you do? +p1728 +aVThank you, sir. +p1729 +aVWe go back to Facebook. Dewayne Wesley Cato asks on Facebook, how do we get rid of regulations choking our businesses? Ms. Fiorina? Specifically, under the president's Affordable Care Act, employers with 50 or more employees are required to offer health insurance, or be fined. Many are opting to pay the fine. Others are cutting back employee hours to duck the law altogether. What specific ways will you alleviate the pressure on small business? +p1730 +aVJust to be clear, you want to repeal Obamacare... ..but, what's the alternative? +p1731 +aVJust to be clear, you say you would repeal Obamacare... +p1732 +aV...But, what is the alternative... +p1733 +aV...and how does that help small business... +p1734 +aV...Thank you... +p1735 +aVSenator Cruz, there isn't anyone in this audience or watching at home tonight who would not like to pay less in taxes. Most people just want a fair shake, and they don't want their money to be wasted. But explain how your plan works. How can you cut taxes as much as you propose without running up debt and deficits? +p1736 +aVBut you haven't told us how to pay for it. +p1737 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Bush, Republican primary voters say tax reform should be a priority for Congress and the administration. But, Governor Bush, how important is tax reform in your domestic policy agenda? Will you guarantee it in the first year of your presidency? +p1738 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1739 +aVThat's right. That's right. +p1740 +aVComing up, the biggest threats facing the next commander-in-chief. You're watching the Republican presidential debate, live tonight from Milwaukee. We'll be right back. +p1741 +aVWelcome back. Welcome back to the Republican presidential debate. The candidates taking the questions you want answered. Also tonight, you can see what America is saying about the debate. Go to Facebook and type #gopdebate into the search box. Now, back to the questions. Americans face security threats at home and abroad. Last year, terrorist attacks rose 61 percent, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace, with the most deaths occurring in just five countries, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Syria. Dr. Carson, you were against putting troops on the ground in Iraq and against a large military force in Afghanistan. Do you support the president's decision to now put 50 special ops forces in Syria and leave 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan? +p1742 +aVWe asked Facebook to take a look at some of the major issues we're talking about, and tackling in this debate tonight. This word cloud shows what people are focusing on the most. The bigger the word, the more the talk. One of the most discussed issues in the last month, homeland security. Governor Bush, what is the biggest threat facing America today? +p1743 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, in 2012 debate, President Obama mocked Mitt Romney's assertion that Russia was the top geopolitical challenge facing the United States, saying he was a Cold War dinosaur. Now, Russia has invaded Ukraine, and has put troops in Syria. You have said you will have a good relationship with Mr. Putin. So, what does President Trump do in response to Russia's aggression? +p1744 +aVThank you, sir. +p1745 +aVThank you, governor. +p1746 +aVSenator Rubio. +p1747 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. +p1748 +aVMore questions \u2014 more questions coming up, when the Republican presidential debate comes right back, live from Milwaukee. Stay with us. +p1749 +aVWelcome back to the fourth Republican presidential debate. Senator Rubio, Hillary Clinton is the clear front runner for the Democratic nomination. If she is indeed the nominee, you will be facing a candidate with an impressive resume. She was the first lady of the United States, a U.S. senator from New York, and secretary of state under Barack Obama. She has arguably more experience, certainly more time in government than almost all of you on stage tonight. Why should the American people trust you to lead this country, even though she has been so much closer to the office? +p1750 +aVSenator Paul, you were one of 15 republicans to vote for an amendment which states that human activity contributed to climate change. President Obama has announced an aggressive plan to cut carbon emissions. At the same time, energy production in America has boomed. Is it possible to continue this boom, and move toward energy self-sufficiency, while at the same time pursuing a meaningful climate change program? +p1751 +aVCarly Fiorina? +p1752 +aVFormer Governor Jeb Bush? +p1753 +aVSenator Ted Cruz? +p1754 +aVHe's funny. +p1755 +aVThank you. +p1756 +asVCLINTON +p1757 +(lp1758 +VThank you. +p1759 +aVI'm running for president to knock down all the barriers that are holding Americans back, and to rebuild the ladders of opportunity that will give every American a chance to advance, especially those who have been left out and left behind. I know a lot of Americans are angry about the economy. And for good cause. Americans haven't had a raise in 15 years. There aren't enough good-paying jobs, especially for young people. And yes, the economy is rigged in favor of those at the top. We both agree that we have to get unaccountable money out of our political system and that we have to do much more to ensure that Wall Street never wrecks main street again. But I want to go further. I want to tackle those barriers that stand in the way of too many Americans right now. African-Americans who face discrimination in the job market, education, housing, and the criminal justice system. Hardworking immigrant families living in fear, who should be brought out of the shadows so they and their children can have a better future. Guaranteeing that women's work finally gets the pay, the equal pay that we deserve. I think America can only live up to its potential when we make sure that every American has a chance to live up to his or her potential. That will be my mission as president. And I think together we will make progress. +p1760 +aVJudy, I think that the best analysis that I've seen based on Senator Sanders plans is that it would probably increase the size of the federal government by about 40%, but what is most concerning to me is that in looking at the plans \u2014 let's take healthcare for example. Last week in a CNN town hall, the Senator told a questioner that the questioner would spend about $500 dollars in taxes to get about $5,000 dollars in healthcare. Every progressive economist who has analyzed that says that the numbers don't add up, and that's a promise that cannot be kept, and it's really important now that we are getting into the rest of the country that both of us are held to account for explaining what we are proposing because, especially with healthcare, this is not about math. This is about people's lives, and we should level with the American people about what we can do to make sure they get quality affordable healthcare. +p1761 +aVI can only say that we both share the goal of universal health care coverage. You know, before it was called Obamacare, it was called Hillarycare. And I took on the drug companies and I took on the insurance companies to try to get us universal health care coverage. And why I am a staunch supporter of President Obama's principal accomplishment \u2014 namely the Affordable Care Act \u2014 is because I know how hard it was to get that done. We are at 90 percent coverage. We have to get the remaining 10. I've set forth very specific plans about how to get costs down, especially prescription drug costs. And it is difficult to in any way argue with the goal that we both share. But I think the American people deserve to know specifically how this would work. If it's Medicare for all, then you no longer have the Affordable Care Act, because the Affordable Care Act, as you know very well, is based on the insurance system, based on exchanges, based on a subsidy system. The Children's Health Insurance Program, which I helped to create, which covers 8 million kids, is also a different kind of program. So if you're having Medicare for all, single-payer, you need to level with people about what they will have at the end of the process you are proposing. And based on every analysis that I can find by people who are sympathetic to the goal, the numbers don't add up, and many people will actually be worse off than they are right now. +p1762 +aVWell, let me just \u2014 let me just say, once again......that, having been in the trenches fighting for this, I believe strongly we have to guarantee health care. I believe we are on the path to doing that. The last thing we need is to throw our country into a contentious debate about health care again. And we are not England. We are not France. We inherited a system that was set up during World War II; 170 million Americans get health insurance right now through their employers. So what we have tried to do and what President Obama succeeded in doing was to build on the health care system we have, get us to 90 percent coverage. We have to get the other 10 percent of the way to 100. I far prefer that and the chances we have to be successful there than trying to start all over again, gridlocking our system, and trying to get from zero to 100 percent. +p1763 +aVNo. But it is absolutely fair and necessary for Americans to vet both of our proposals, to ask the really hard questions about, what is it we think we can accomplish, why do we believe that, and what would be the results for the average American family? In my case, whether it's health care, or getting us to debt-free tuition, or moving us toward paid family leave, I have been very specific about where I would raise the money, how much it would cost, and how I would move this agenda forward. I've tried to be as specific to answer questions so that my proposals can be vetted, because I feel like we have to level with people for the very reason, Gwen, that you are mentioning. There is a great deal of skepticism about the federal government. I'm aware of that. It comes from the right, from the left, from people on all sides of the political spectrum. So we have a special obligation to make clear what we stand for, which is why I think we should not make promises we can't keep, because that will further, I think, alienate Americans from understanding and believing we can together make some real changes in people's lives. +p1764 +aVI will put a price tag. My price tag is about $100 billion a year. And again, paid for. And what I have said is I will not throw us further into debt. I believe I can get the money that I need by taxing the wealthy, by closing loopholes, the things that we are way overdue for doing. And I think once I'm in the White House we will have enough political capital to be able to do that. But I am conscious of the fact that we have to also be very clear, especially with young people, about what kind of government is going to do what for them and what it will cost. +p1765 +aVYou know, I think, again, both of us share the goal of trying to make college affordable for all young Americans. And I have set forth a compact that would do just that for debt-free tuition. We differ, however, on a couple of key points. One of them being that if you don't have some agreement within the system from states and from families and from students, it's hard to get to where we need to go. And Senator Sanders's plan really rests on making sure that governors like Scott Walker contribute $23 billion on the first day to make college free. I am a little skeptical about your governor actually caring enough about higher education to make any kind of commitment like that. +p1766 +aVWell, first, Judy, I have spent my entire adult life working toward making sure that women are empowered to make their own choices, even if that choice is not to vote for me. I believe that it's most important that we unleash the full potential of women and girls in our society. And I feel very strongly that I have an agenda, I have a record that really does respond to a lot of the specific needs that the women in our country face. So I'm going to keep making that case. I'm going to keep making sure that everything I've done, everything that I stand for is going to be well known. But I have no argument with anyone making up her mind about who to support. I just hope that by the end of this campaign there will be a lot more supporting me. That's what I'm working towards. +p1767 +aVWell, look, I think that she's been saying that for as long as I've known her, which is about 25 years. But it doesn't change my view that we need to empower everyone, women and men, to make the best decisions in their minds that they can make. That's what I've always stood for. And when it comes to the issues that are really on the front lines as to whether we're going to have equal pay, paid family leave, some opportunity for, you know, women to go as far as their hard work and talent take them, I think that we still have some barriers to knock down, which is why that's at the core of my campaign. I would note, just for a historic aside, somebody told me earlier today we've had like 200 presidential primary debates, and this is the first time there have been a majority of women on the stage. So, you know, we'll take our progress wherever we can find it. +p1768 +aVYou know, I have said \u2014 I have said many times, you know, I'm not asking people to support me because I'm a woman. I'm asking people to support me because I think I'm the most qualified, experienced, and ready person to be the president and the commander-in-chief. And I appreciate greatly Senator Sanders' voting record. And I was very proud to get the endorsement of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, because I've been a leader on these issues. I have gone time and time again to take on the vested interests who would keep women's health care decisions the province of the government instead of women ourselves. I'm very proud that +p1769 +aVYou know, I completely agree with Senator Sanders. The first speech I gave in this campaign back in April was about criminal justice reform and ending the era of mass incarceration. The statistics from Wisconsin are particularly troubling, because it is the highest rate of incarceration for African-Americans in our nation, twice the national average. And we know of the tragic, terrible event that lead to the death of Dontre Hamilton right here in Milwaukee, a young man unarmed, who should still be with us. His family certainly believes that. And so do I. So we have work to do. There have been some good recommendations about what needs to happen. President Obama's policing commission came out with some. I have fully endorsed those. But we have to restore policing that will actually protect the communities that police officers are sworn to protect. And, then we have to go after sentencing, and that's one of the problems here in Wisconsin because so much of what happened in the criminal justice system doesn't happen at the federal level, it happens at the state and local level. But, I would also add this. There are other racial discrepancies. Really systemic racism in this state, as in others, education, in employment, in the kinds of factors that too often lead from a position where young people, particularly young men, are pushed out of school early, are denied employment opportunities. So, when we talk about criminal justice reform, and ending the era of mass incarceration, we also have to talk about jobs, education, housing, and other ways of helping communities. +p1770 +aVWell, I'm just not sure I agree completely with that assessment. I think under President Obama we have seen a lot of advances, the Affordable Care Act has helped more African Americans than any other group to get insurance, to be taken care of, but we also know a lot more than we did. We have a lot more social media, we have everybody with a cellphone. So, we are seeing the dark side of the remaining systemic racism that we have to root out in our society. I think President Obama has set a great example. I think he has addressed a lot of these issues that have been quite difficult, but he has gone forward. Now, what we have to do is to build on an honest conversation about where we go next. We now have much more information about what must be done to fix our criminal justice system. We now have some good models about how better to provide employment, housing and education. I think what President Obama did was to exemplify the importance of this issue as our first African American president, and to address it both from the President's office, and through his advocacy, such as working with young men, and Mrs. Obama's work with young women. But, we can't rest. We have work to do, and we now know a lot more than we ever did before. So, it's going to be my responsibility to make sure we move forward to solve these problems that are now out in the open. Nobody can deny them. To use the Justice Department, as we just saw, they have said they are going to sue Ferguson, that entered into a consent agreement, and then tried to back out. So, we're going to enforce the law, we're going to change policing practices, we're going to change incarceration practices, but we're also going to emphasize education, jobs, and housing. +p1771 +aVLook, I am deeply concerned about what's happening in every community in America, and that includes white communities, where we are seeing an increase in alcoholism, addiction, earlier deaths. People with a high school education or less are not even living as long as their parents lived. This is a remarkable and horrifying fact. And that's why I've come forward with, for example, a plan to revitalize coal country, the coalfield communities that have been so hard hit by the changing economy, by the reduction in the use of coal. You know, coal miners and their families who helped turn on the lights and power our factories for generations are now wondering, has our country forgotten us? Do people not care about all of our sacrifice? And I'm going to do everything I can to address distressed communities, whether they are communities of color, whether they are white communities, whether they are in any part of our country. I particularly appreciate the proposal that Congressman Jim Clyburn has \u2014 the 10-20-30 proposal \u2014 to try to spend more federal dollars in communities with persistent generational poverty. And you know what? If you look at the numbers, there are actually as many, if not more white communities that are truly being left behind and left out. So, yes, I do think it would be a terrible oversight not to try to address the very real problems that white Americans \u2014 particularly those without a lot of education whose jobs have \u2014 you know, no longer provided them or even no longer present in their communities, because we have to focus where the real hurt is. And that's why, as president, I will look at communities that need special help and try to deliver that. +p1772 +aVI strongly support the president's executive actions. I hope the Supreme Court upholds them. I think there is constitutional and legal authority for the president to have done what he did. I am against the raids. I'm against the kind of inhumane treatment that is now being visited upon families, waking them up in the middle of the night, rounding them up. We should be deporting criminals, not hardworking immigrant families who do the very best they can and often are keeping economies going in many places in our country. I'm a strong supporter of comprehensive immigration reform. Have been ever since I was in the Senate. I was one of the original sponsors of the +p1773 +aVTwo quick responses. One, with respect to the Central American children, I made it very clear that those children needed to be processed appropriately, but we also had to send a message to families and communities in Central America not to send their children on this dangerous journey in the hands of smugglers. I've also called for the end of family detention, for the end of privately-run detention centers, along with private prisons, which I think are really against the common good and the rule of law. And with respect to the 2007 bill, this was Ted Kennedy's bill. And I think Ted Kennedy had a very clear idea about what needed to be done. And I was proud to stand with him and support it. +p1774 +aVWell, that just wasn't \u2014 that just wasn't the fact, Senator. The fact is that there was a great effort made by the Obama administration and others to really send a clear message, because we knew that so many of these children were being abused, being treated terribly while they tried to get to our border. So we have a disagreement on this. I think now what I've called for is counsel for every child so that no child has to face any kind of process without someone who speaks and advocates for that child so that the right decision hopefully can be made. +p1775 +aVI think \u2014 I think it's fair to say we don't have a disagreement. We both believe there has to be more money going into the Social Security system. I've said I'm looking at a couple of different ways, one which you mentioned, Senator, but also trying to expand the existing tax to passive income that wealthy people have so that we do get more revenue into the Social Security Trust Fund. I have a slightly different approach, though, about what we should do with that initially. First, rather than expand benefits for everyone, I do want to take care of low-income seniors who worked at low-wage jobs. I want to take care of women. When the Social Security program was started in the 1930s, not very many women worked. And women have been disadvantaged ever since. They do not get any credit for their care-taking responsibilities. And the people who are often the most hard-hit are widows, because when their spouse dies, they can lose up to one-half of their Social Security monthly payment. So we have no disagreement about the need to buttress Social Security, get more revenue into the program. But I want to start by helping those people who are most at risk, the ones who, yes, are cutting their pills in half, who don't believe they can make the rent, who are worried about what comes next for them. +p1776 +aVWell, Senator, look, I think we're in vigorous agreement here. We both want to get more revenue in. I have yet to see a proposal that you're describing that the \u2014 raising the cap would apply to passive income. That has not been... +p1777 +aVWell, that has not been a part of most of the proposals that I've seen. I'm interested in making sure we get the maximum amount of revenue from those who can well afford to provide it. So I'm going to come up with the best way forward. We're going to end up in the same place. We're going to get more revenue. I'm going to prioritize those recipients who need the most help first. +p1778 +aVI can't speak for the Koch Brothers, you're referring to a Super PAC that we don't coordinate with, that was set up to support President Obama, that has now decided that they want to support me. They are the ones who should respond to any questions. Let's talk about our campaigns. I'm very proud of the fact that we have more than 750 thousand donors, and the vast majority of them are giving small contributions. So, I'm proud of Senator Sanders, and his supporters. I think it's great that Senator Sanders, President Obama and I have more donors than any three people who have every run, certainly on the Democratic side. That's the way it should be, and I'm going to continue to reach out to thank all my online contributors for everything they are doing for me, to encourage them and help me do more just as Senator Sanders is. I think that is the real key here. We both have a lot of small donors. I think that sets us apart from a lot of what's happening right now on the Republican side. The Koch Brothers have a very clear political agenda. It is an agenda, in my view, that would do great harm to our country. We're going to fight it as hard as we can, and we're going to fight whoever the Republicans nominate who will depend on the Koch Brothers, and others. +p1779 +aVWe are mixing apples and oranges. My 750,000 donors have contributed more than a million and a half donations. I'm very proud. That, I think, between the two of us demonstrates the strength of the support we have among people who want to see change in our country. But, the real issue, I think, that the Senator is injecting into this is that if you had a Super PAC, like President Obama has, which now says it wants to support me. It's not my PAC. If you take donations from Wall Street, you can't be independent. I would just say, I debated then Senator Obama numerous times on stages like this, and he was the recipient of the largest number of Wall Street donations of anybody running on the Democratic side ever. Now, when it mattered, he stood up and took on Wall Street. He pushed through, and he passed the Dodd-Frank regulation, the toughest regulations since the 1930's. So, let's not in anyway imply here that either President Obama or myself, would in anyway not take on any vested interested, whether it's Wall Street, or drug companies, or insurance companies, or frankly, the gun lobby to stand up to do what's best for the American people. +p1780 +aVWell, let's just \u2014 let's just follow up on this, because, you know, I've made it very clear that no bank is too big to fail, no executive too powerful to jail, and because of Dodd-Frank, we now have in law a process that the president, the Federal Reserve, and others can use if any bank poses a systemic risk. I think that's a major accomplishment. I agree, however, it doesn't go far enough, because what it focuses on are the big banks, which Senator Sanders has talked about a lot, for good reason. I go further in the plan that I've proposed, which has been called the toughest, most effective, comprehensive plan for reining in the other risks that the financial system could face. It was an investment bank, Lehman Brothers, that contributed to our collapse. It was a big insurance company, AIG. It was Countrywide Mortgage. My plan would sweep all of them into a regulatory framework so we can try to get ahead of what the next problems might be. And I believe that not only Barney Frank, Paul Krugman, and others, have said that what I have proposed is the most effective. It goes in the right direction. We have Dodd-Frank. We can use it to break up the banks, if that's appropriate. But let's not kid ourselves. As we speak, there are new problems on the horizon. I want to get ahead of those, and that's why I've proposed a much more comprehensive approach to deal with all of these... +p1781 +aVAbsolutely. And, you know, there are a number of programs that I think are duplicative and redundant and not producing the results that people deserve. There are a lot of training programs and education programs that I think can be streamlined and put into a much better format so that if we do continue them they can be more useful, in public schools, community colleges, and colleges and universities. I would like to take a hard look at every part of the federal government and really do the kind of analysis that would rebuild some confidence in people that we're taking a hard look about what we have, you know, and what we don't need anymore. And that's what I intend to do. +p1782 +aVLook, I think we are readier than we used to be, but it's a constant effort that has to be undertaken to make sure we are as ready as we need to be. We have made a lot of improvements in our domestic security since 9/11, and we have been able to foil and prevent attacks, yet we see the terrible attack in San Bernardino and know that we haven't done enough. So we have to go after this both abroad and at home. We have to go after terrorist networks, predominantly +p1783 +aVIf I could just respond. Two points. One, Senator Sanders voted in 1998 on what I think is fair to call a regime change resolution with respect to Iraq, calling for the end of Saddam Hussein's regime. He voted in favor of regime change with Libya, voted in favor of the Security Council being an active participate in setting the parameters for what we would do, which of course we followed through on. I do not believe a vote in 2002 is a plan to defeat +p1784 +aVYou did support a U.N. Security Council approach, which we did follow up on. And, look, I think it's important to look at what the most important counterterrorism judgment of the first four years of the Obama administration was, and that was the very difficult decision as to whether or not to advise the president to go after bin Laden. I looked at the evidence. I looked at the intelligence. I got the briefings. I recommended that the president go forward. It was a hard choice. Not all of his top national security advisors agreed with that. And at the end of the day, it was the president's decision. So he had to leave the Situation Room after hearing from the small group advising him and he had to make that decision. I'm proud that I gave him that advice. And I'm very grateful to the brave Navy +p1785 +aVWell, I know journalists have asked who you do listen to on foreign policy, and we have yet to know who that is. +p1786 +aVThat's fine. That's fine. You know, I listen to a wide variety of voices that have expertise in various areas. I think it is fair to say, whatever the complaints that you want to make about him are, that with respect to China, one of the most challenging relationships we have, his opening up China and his ongoing relationships with the leaders of China is an incredibly useful relationship for the United States of America. So if we want to pick and choose \u2014 and I certainly do \u2014 people I listen to, people I don't listen to, people I listen to for certain areas, then I think we have to be fair and look at the entire world, because it's a big, complicated world out there. +p1787 +aVAnd, yes, people we may disagree with on a number of things may have some insight, may have some relationships that are important for the president to understand in order to best protect the United States. +p1788 +aVWell, with respect to Syria, I really do appreciate the efforts that Secretary Kerry has made. The agreement on humanitarian relief now needs to be implemented, because there are enclaves that are literally filled with starving people throughout Syria. The agreement on a cease-fire, though, is something that has to be implemented more quickly than the schedule that the Russians agreed to. You know, the Russians wanted to buy time. Are they buying time to continue their bombardment on behalf of the Assad regime to further decimate what's left of the opposition, which would be a grave disservice to any kind of eventual cease-fire? So I know Secretary Kerry is working extremely hard to try to move that cease-fire up as quickly as possible. But I would add this. You know, the Security Council finally got around to adopting a resolution. At the core of that resolution is an agreement I negotiated in June of 2012 in Geneva, which set forth a cease-fire and moving toward a political resolution, trying to bring the parties at stake in Syria together. This is incredibly complicated, because we've got Iran as a big player, in addition to Russia. We have Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and others who have very important interests in their view. This is one of the areas I've disagreed with Senator Sanders on, who has called for Iranian troops trying to end civil war in Syria, which I think would be a grave mistake. Putting Iranian troops right on the border of the Golan right next to Israel would be a nonstarter for me. Trying to get Iran and Saudi Arabia to work together, as he has suggested in the past, is equally a nonstarter. So let's support what Secretary Kerry and the president are doing, but let's hope that we can accelerate the cease-fire, because I fear that the Russians will continue their bombing, try to do everything they can to destroy what's left of the opposition. And remember, the Russians have not gone after +p1789 +aVWell, I respectfully disagree. I think we have achieved a great deal with the Iranian nuclear agreement to put a lid on the Iranian nuclear weapons program. That has to be enforced absolutely with consequences for Iran at the slightest deviation from their requirements under the agreement. I do not think we should promise or even look toward normalizing relations because we have a lot of other business to get done with Iran. Yes, they have to stop being the main state sponsor of terrorism. Yes, they have to stop trying to destabilize the Middle East, causing even more chaos. Yes, they've got to get out of Syria. They've got to quit sponsoring Hezbollah and Hamas. They have got to quit trying to ship rockets into Gaza that can be used against Israel. We have a lot of work to do with Iran before we ever say that they could move toward normalized relations with us. +p1790 +aV... Senator Sanders, from a debate in 2008, quote what I said. The question was, would you meet with an adversary without conditions? I said no. And in fact, in Obama administration, we did not meet with anybody without conditions. That is the appropriate approach in order to get the results that you are seeking. +p1791 +aVWell, I was pleased that +p1792 +aVI certainly agree with FDR for all the reasons Senator Sanders said. And I agree about the role that he played both in war and in peace on the economy and defeating fascism around the world. I would choose Nelson Mandela for his generosity of heart, his understanding of the need for reconciliation. But I want to \u2014 I want to follow up on something having to do with leadership, because, you know, today Senator Sanders said that President Obama failed the presidential leadership test. And this is not the first time that he has criticized President Obama. In the past he has called him weak. He has called him a disappointment. He wrote a forward for a book that basically argued voters should have buyers' remorse when it comes to President Obama's leadership and legacy. And I just couldn't agree \u2014 disagree more with those kinds of comments. You know, from my perspective, maybe because I understand what President Obama inherited, not only the worst financial crisis but the antipathy of the Republicans in Congress, I don't think he gets the credit he deserves for being a president......who got us out of that......put us on firm ground, and has sent us into the future. And it is a \u2014 the kind of criticism that we've heard from Senator Sanders about our president I expect from Republicans. I do not expect from someone running for the Democratic nomination to succeed President Obama. +p1793 +aVYou know, Senator, what I am concerned about, is not disagreement on issues, saying that this is what I would rather do, I don't agree with the president on that, calling the president weak, calling him a disappointment, calling several times that he should have a primary opponent when he ran for re-election in 2012, you know, I think that goes further than saying we have our disagreements. As a senator, yes, I was a senator. I understand we can disagree on the path forward. But those kinds of personal assessments and charges are ones that I find particularly troubling. +p1794 +aVYou know, we \u2014 we agree that we've got to get unaccountable money out of politics. We agree that Wall Street should never be allowed to wreck Main Street again. But here's the point I want to make tonight. I am not a single-issue candidate, and I do not believe we live in a single-issue country. I think that a lot of what we have to overcome to break down the barriers that are holding people back, whether it's poison in the water of the children of Flint, or whether it's the poor miners who are being left out and left behind in coal country, or whether it is any other American today who feels somehow put down and oppressed by racism, by sexism, by discrimination against the +p1795 +aVWell, I'm happy to be here in New Hampshire for this debate, as we move toward the primary on Tuesday. I believe that America has the opportunity to once again live by our values, live up to our values in the 21st century, but I think that America can only do that if Americans can succeed. And there are lots of reasons why Americans today are feeling left out and left behind. Yes, of course, the economy has not been working for most Americans. Yes, of course, we have special interests that are unfortunately doing too much to rig the game. But there's also the continuing challenges of racism, of sexism, of discrimination against the +p1796 +aVWell, let me start by saying that Senator Sanders and I share some very big progressive goals. I've been fighting for universal healthcare for many years, and we're now on the path to achieving it. I don't want us to start over again. I think that would be a great mistake, to once again plunge our country into a contentious debate about whether we should have and what kind of system we should have for healthcare. I want to build on the progress we've made; got from 90 percent coverage to 100 percent coverage. And I don't want to rip away the security that people finally have; 18 million people now have healthcare; preexisting conditions are no longer a bar. So we have a difference. I also believe in affordable college, but I don't believe in free college, because every expert that I have talked to says, look, how will you ever control the costs. What I want to do is make sure middle class kids, not Donald Trump's kids, get to be able to afford college. I want to get the economy going again. It's not just enough about what we're against, as important as that is. I have a plan to create new jobs, manufacturing, infrastructure, clean energy jobs that will make us the 21st century clean energy super power. I also want to make sure small businesses can start and grow again. And of course, I believe in raising the minimum wage and equal pay for work. But the numbers just don't add up, from what Senator Sanders has been proposing. That's why all of the independent experts, all of the editorial boards that have vetted both of us have concluded that it is just not achievable. Let's go down a path where we can actually tell people what we will do. A progressive is someone who makes progress. That's what I intend to do. +p1797 +aVIf I could just follow up on that. There is no disagreement between us on universal coverage for health care, the disagreement is where do we start from and where do we end up. The Republicans want to repeal the Affordable Care Act, I want to improve it. I want to build on it, get the costs down, get prescription drug costs down. Senator Sanders wants us to start all over again. This was a major achievement of President Obama, of our country. It is helping people right now. I am not going to wait and have us plunge back into a contentious national debate that has very little chance of succeeding. Let's make the Affordable Care Act work for everybody. +p1798 +aVWell because I am a progressive who gets things done. And the root of that word, progressive, is progress. But I've heard Senator Sanders comments, and it's really caused me to wonder who's left in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Under his definition, President Obama is not progressive because he took donations from Wall Street; Vice President Biden is not progressive because she supported Keystone; Senator Shaheen is not progressive because she supports the trade pact. Even the late, great Senator Paul Wellstone would not fit this definition because he voted for +p1799 +aVWell, Chuck... +p1800 +aV... If I could, you know, in the very first debate I was asked am I a moderate or a progressive and I said I'm a progressive who likes to get things done. Cherry picking a quote here or there doesn't change my record of having fought for racial justice, having fought for kids rights, having fought the kind of inequities that fueled my interest in service in the first place going back to my days in the Children's Defense Fund. It certainly didn't stop me from taking on the drug companies and the insurance companies. Before it was called Hillarycare\u2014I mean, before it was called ObamaCare it was called Hillarycare because we took them on, and we weren't successful, but we kept fighting and we got the children's health insurance program. Every step along the way I have stood up, and fought, and have the scars to prove it. So, again......I think it's important that, look, I understand Senator Sanders really trying to distinguish himself. I understand that, that's what you do in campaigns, but at the same time let's not be\u2014in, I think an unfair way, making an accusation, or making an attack about where I stand and about where I've always stood. It is fair to say, Senator, that in your definition, as you being the self-proclaimed gatekeeper for progressivism, I don't know anyone else who fits that definition, but I know a lot of really hard fighting progressives in the Democratic party who have stood up time, and time again against special interests, against the powerful on behalf of those who are left behind and left out. And, that's what we ought to be celebrating. Let's talk about what we would do as President, and Commander in Chief to make sure the progress continues into the future. +p1801 +aV... Well, you began it yesterday with your comments... +p1802 +aVYou know, the person who first put out the idea of a 50-state party strategy is former Governor Howard Dean, who is with us tonight. And I'm very proud and grateful to have the support of so many elected Vermonters and former officials. Two former governors, the current governor, the current other senator. I really appreciate that. And I think it's because they've worked with me, they've seen what I do. They know what kind of a colleague I am. They want me as their partner in the White House. And that's exactly what I will do. We'll get things done together. Democrats, Republicans, independents, we're going to make progress together when I'm president. +p1803 +aVWell, look, I've got to just jump in here because, honestly, Senator Sanders is the only person who I think would characterize me, a woman running to be the first woman president, as exemplifying the establishment. And I've got to tell you that it is......it is really quite amusing to me. People support me because they know me. They know my life's work. They have worked with me and many have also worked with Senator Sanders. And at the end of the day they endorse me because they know I can get things done. I am not going to make promises I can't keep. I am not going to talk about big ideas like single-payer and then not level with people about how much it will cost. A respected health economist said that these plans would cost a trillion dollars more a year. I'm not going to tell people that I will raise your incomes and not your taxes, and not mean it, because I don't want to see the kind of struggle that the middle class is going through exemplified by these promises that would raise taxes and make it much more difficult for many, many Americans to get ahead and stay ahead. That is not my agenda. +p1804 +aVYeah, but I\u2014I think it's fair to really ask what's behind that comment. You know, Senator Sanders has said he wants to run a positive campaign. I've tried to keep my disagreements over issues, as it should be. But time and time again, by innuendo, by insinuation, there is this attack that he is putting forth, which really comes down to\u2014you know, anybody who ever took donations or speaking fees from any interest group has to be bought. And I just absolutely reject that, Senator. And I really don't think these kinds of attacks by insinuation are worthy of you. And enough is enough. If you've got something to say, say it directly. But you will not find that I ever changed a view or a vote because of any donation that I ever received. +p1805 +aVAnd I have stood up and I have represented my constituents to the best of my abilities, and I'm very proud of that. +p1806 +aVSo I think it's time to end the very artful smear that you and your campaign have been carrying out... +p1807 +aV... in recent weeks, and let's talk......let's talk about about the issues. Let's talk about the issues that divide us. +p1808 +aVAnd let's\u2014let's... +p1809 +aV... we both agree with campaign finance reform. +p1810 +aVI\u2014I worked hard for McCain-Feingold. +p1811 +aVI want to reverse Citizens United. +p1812 +aVAnd so\u2014let's talk about issues. +p1813 +aVWell, you know, Senator, I don't think\u2014I don't... +p1814 +aV... I don't think you could find any person in political life today who has been subjected to more attacks and had more money spent against her by special interests, among whom you have named a few, than I. And I'm proud of that. You know, when I took on the drug companies and the insurance companies for universal health care coverage, they went after me with a vengeance. Today, you've got hedge fund billionaires aligned with Karl Rove, running ads against me to try to get Democrats to vote for you. I know this game. I'm going to stop this game. But while we're talking about votes, you're the one who voted to deregulate swaps and derivatives in 2000, which contributed to the over-leveraging of Lehman Brothers, which was one of the culprits that brought down the economy. So I don't know\u2014I'm not impugning your motive because you voted to deregulate swaps and derivatives. People make mistakes and I'm certainly not saying you did it for any kind of financial advantage. What we've got to do as Democrats\u2014what we've got to do as Democrats is to be united to actually solve these problems. And what I believe is that I have a better track record and a better opportunity to actually get that job done. That's what this election should be about. +p1815 +aVOn the issue of Wall Street. +p1816 +aVWell you know, Rachel, I think I may not have done the job I should in explaining my record. You know, I did\u2014when I left the secretary of State's office, like so many former officials, military leaders, journalists, others, I did go on the speaking circuit. I spoke to heart doctors, I spoke to the American Camping Association, I spoke to auto dealers, and yes, I spoke to firms on Wall Street. They wanted me to talk about the world, what my experience had been as secretary of State. But what I want people to know is I went to Wall Street before the crash. I was the one saying you're going to wreck the economy because of these shenanigans with mortgages. I called to end the carried interest loophole that hedge fund managers enjoy. I proposed changes in CEO compensation. I called for a consumer protection financial bureau before it was created. And I think the best evidence that the Wall Street people at least know where I stand and where I have always stood is because they are trying to beat me in this primary. They have collected and spent as much as $6 million on these ads. Hedge fund billionaires, Karl Rove, another billionaire, jumped in. And why are they doing that? These are guys who try to make smart investments. They know my record, they know me, they know that I say what I believe and I will do it. And I also have a pretty good understanding about how to stop them. So I do want people to know that, and I think it's important for everybody to understand I have a record, I have stood firm and I will be the person who prevents them from ever wrecking the economy again. +p1817 +aVIf I could, let me just say that of course it has to change. It has to change. And that's why I have put forward a plan to do just that. And it's been judged to be the toughest, most effective and comprehensive one. I have great respect for Senator Sanders's commitment to try to restore Glass-Steagall. But I do not believe that that is enough. And in fact, I don't believe it really addresses a lot of the biggest issues we have. You know, we now have power under the Dodd-Frank legislation to break up banks. And I've said I will use that power if they pose a systemic risk. But I want to go further, because it was investment banks, it was insurance companies, it was mortgage companies, all of which contributed. So let's not just be narrowly focused on one part of the problem. We have a lot of issues with corporate power that have to be addressed. My plan takes us further and it would do the job. +p1818 +aVLook we have a law\u2014look, you know, I\u2014I appreciate the senator's advocacy. We have a law. It was passed. It was signed by President Obama. It lays out a process that you go through to determine whether a systemic risk is posed. And by the way, President Obama signed that, pushed it through, even though he took donations from Wall Street, because he's a responsible president. So we have a law in place. If the circumstances warrant it, I will certainly use it. And from what you say, I know you will as well. But that is not enough. And I keep going back to this because part of the reason the Wall Street guys are trying so hard to stop me\u2014the hedge fund guys, the shadow banking guys\u2014is because I've got their number on all of that. And my plan goes so much further to try to prevent the problems of the future. You know, we can't just fight the last war. We've got to be prepared to stop these guys if they ever try to use their economic power once again, to hurt the economy, and to hurt so many Americans. And my plan, Paul Krugman, Barney Frank, a lot of experts who understand what the new challenges might be, have said I am exactly on point, and the Wall Street guys actually know that. +p1819 +aVI will look into it. I don't know the status, but I will certainly look into it. But, I can only repeat what is the fact that I spoke to a lot of different groups with a lot of different constituents, a lot of different kinds of members about issues that had to do with world affairs. I probably described more times than I can remember how stressful it was advising the President about going after Bin Laden. My view on this is look at my record. Look at what I am proposing, and\u2014we have a vigorous agreement here. We both want to reign in the excesses of Wall Street. I also want to reign in the excesses of Johnson Controls that we bailed out when they were an autoparts company, and we saved the auto industry, and now they want to avoid paying taxes. I want to go after the pharmaceutical companies like Valeant, and Turns that are increasing prices without any regard to the impact on people's health. Now, if all we're going to talk about is one part of our economy, and indeed one streak in our economy, we're missing the big oil companies. We're missing other big energy companies. We're missing the big picture, and I have a record of trying to go at the problems that actually exist, and I will continue to do that. +p1820 +aV... Well, Senator, no one wants to see that happen. I mean, look, I care deeply about this because just like you I have met so many people who had their life savings wiped out, who lost their homes, who are barely back with their heads above water. This was a disaster for our country, and we can never let that happen again. We have no disagreement about this. But, I think it's a broader target list than just Wall Street, and I believe that we have to be very focused on how we try to take back the power and increase the empowerment of the American people. And, I think I have that kind of experience, maybe because they've beat me up for so many years, and I know exactly how to handle them because I've been in the arena with them time and time again. +p1821 +aVWell, I think what the president understands, and what he's trying to do, is that we have to support the Arab and Kurdish fighters on the ground who are actually doing the fighting. I agree with the president. I've said myself, we will not send American combat troops back to either Syria or Iraq\u2014that is off the table. But we do have special forces, we do have trainers, we do have the military personnel who are helping with the airstrikes that the United States is leading so that we can try to take out +p1822 +aVNo. I mean, of course that's a theoretical question, and we don't know what it would be for, and we don't know how many numbers there are. I am against American combat troops being in Syria and Iraq. I support special forces. I support trainers. I support the air campaign. And I think we're making some progress. I want to continue to intensify that, and that's exactly what the president is doing. +p1823 +aVIf I could\u2014if I could... +p1824 +aV... respectfully add\u2014look, we did differ. A vote in 2002 is not a plan to defeat +p1825 +aVOh, absolutely. The president decided to leave more troops than he had originally planned in Afghanistan. We have a very cooperative government there, with Ashraf Ghani and his top\u2014his top partner, Abdullah. And they are doing their very best. And the Afghan army is actually fighting. The Afghan army is taking heavy losses defending Afghan territory. And I would have to make an evaluation based on the circumstances at the time I took office as to how much help they continue to need. Because it's not just the Taliban. We now are seeing outposts of, you know, fighters claiming to be affiliated with +p1826 +aVA group of national security experts, military intelligence experts, issued a very concerning statement about Senator Sanders's views on foreign policy and national security, pointing out some of the comments he has made on these issues, such as inviting Iranian troops into Syria to try to resolve the conflict there; putting them right at the doorstep of Israel. Asking Saudi Arabia and Iran to work together, when they can't stand each other and are engaged in a proxy battle right at this moment. So I do think questions have been raised and questions have to be answered because when New Hampshire voters go on Tuesday to cast your vote, you are voting both for a president and a commander in chief. And there is no way to predict what comes in the door of that White House from day to day that can pose a threat to the United States or one of our friends and allies, and I think this is a big part of the job interview that we are all conducting with the voters here. +p1827 +aVWell, let me just add that, you know, I've said this before and I'm very proud of it, that when it comes to judgment, having run a hard race against Senator Obama at the time, he turned to me to be secretary of State. And when it comes to the biggest counterterrorism issues that we faced in this administration, namely whether or not to go after bin Laden, I was at that table, I was exercising my judgment to advise the president on what to do, on that, on Iran, on Russia on China, on a whole raft of issues. Because I know from my own experience that you've got to be ready on day one. There is just too much unpredictable threat and danger in the world today, you know, to try to just say wait, I'll get to that when I can. That is just not an acceptable approach. +p1828 +aVAbsolutely. You know, I did put together the coalition to impose sanctions. I actually started the negotiations that led to the nuclear agreement, sending some much my closest aides to begin the conversations with the Iranians. I'm very pleased we got that nuclear agreement. It puts a lid on the nuclear weapons program. We have to enforce it, there have to be consequences attached to it. But that is not our only problem with Iran. We have to figure out how to deal with Iran as the principal state sponsor of terrorism in the world. They are destabilizing governments in the region. They continue to support Hezbollah and Hamas in Lebanon against Israel. A lot of work that we have do is going to be incredibly hard. I'm prepared to do that work, but I believe, just as I did with imposing the sanctions, you have to get action for action. If we were to normalize relations right now, we would remove one of the biggest pieces of leverage we have to try to influence and change Iranian behavior. The president doesn't think we should. I certainly don't think we should. I believe we have to take this step by step to try to reign in Iranian aggression, their support for terrorism and the other bad behavior that can come back and haunt us. +p1829 +aVWell Senator, let me just correct the record if I can. You know\u2014let me correct the record. +p1830 +aVAs I\u2014as I certainly recall, the question was to meet with without conditions. And you're right, I was against that. I was against it then I would be against it now. +p1831 +aVPart of diplomacy, the hard work of diplomacy is trying to extract whatever concessions you can get, and giving something the other side wants. Of course you've got to try to make peace with, and work with those who are your adversaries, but you don't just rush in, open the door, and say, "Here I am. Let's talk and make a deal." That's not the way it works. +p1832 +aV... Well, we set conditions on Iran. We worked hard to get them established, and to be enforced, and then we talked. That's exactly the right......and, that's what I did with the President, so he and I are on the very same page. +p1833 +aVI haven't talked to Secretary Carter, but here's what I would think he's planning. We do have the nuclear weapons agreement with Iran, that's an enforcement consequence, action for action, follow on. We have a plan, we will watch them, we will be vigilant. We do have to worry about North Korea. They continue to develop their nuclear weapons capability, and they're working very hard on their ballistic missile capability. And, I know that some of those plans could very well lead to a missile that might reach Hawaii, if not the West Coast. We do have to try to get the countries in the region to work with us to do everything we can to confine, and constrain them. But, what Secretary Carter is looking at is the constant pressure that Russia's putting on our European allies. The way that Russia is trying to move the boundaries of the post-World War II Europe. The way that he is trying to set European countries against one another, seizing territory, holding it in Crimea. Beginning to explore whether they could make some inroads in the Baltics. We know that they are deeply engaged in supporting Assad because they want to have a place in the Middle East. They have a naval base, they have an air base in Syria. They want to hang on to that. I think what Secretary Carter is seeing, and I'm glad he is, is that we got to get +p1834 +aVWell, first of all, I'm absolutely against privatizing the V.A. And I am going do everything I can to build on the reforms that Senator Sanders and others in Congress have passed to try to fix what's wrong with the V.A. There are a lot of issues about wait times and services that have to be fixed because our veterans deserve nothing but the best. But you're absolutely right, you know, Rachel, this is another part of the Koch brothers agenda. They've actually formed an organization to try to begin to convince Americans we should no longer have guaranteed health care, specialized care for our veterans. I will fight that as hard as I can. I think there's where we can enlist the veterans service organizations, the veterans of America, because, yes, let's fix the V.A., but we will never let it be privatized, and that is a promise. +p1835 +aVWhatever they decide to do, that's fine. +p1836 +aVAll right. +p1837 +aVI can only tell you what I believe, and that is that I am the strongest candidate to take it to the Republicans and win in November. And I say that with great\u2014with great respect for the campaign that Senator Sanders has been running. I personally am thrilled at the numbers of people, and particularly young people who are coming to support your campaign. I hope that I will be able to earn their support. They may not support me now, but I support them and we'll work together. But what I'm concerned about is the views of many Democrats who know their states, who know how hard it is to win a general election. And it also will push whoever the nominee is into the spotlight. I've been vetted. There's hardly anything you don't know about me. And I think it's fair to say that whoever is in that position, Senator Sanders or anyone else who might have run, will face the most withering onslaught. So, I think that I am the person who can do all aspects of the job. I think I'm the person best prepared to take the case to the Republicans. And I think that at the end of the day, it's not so much electability. It is who the American people can believe can keep them safe, can get the economy moving again, can get incomes rising, can build on the progressive accomplishments of President Obama. And I think that the coalition that President Obama put together to win twice is a coalition that I can put together and add to. And that's what I'm prepared to... +p1838 +aVAbsolutely I can. You know, before it was emails, it was Benghazi, and the Republicans were stirring up so much controversy about that. And I testified for 11 hours, answered their questions. They basically said yeah, didn't get her. We tried. That was all a political ploy. Now, we had a development in the email matter today when it came out that Secretary Powell and close aides to Former Secretary Rice used private e-mail accounts. and now you have these people in the government who are doing the same thing to Secretary Powell and Secretary Rice's aide they've been doing to me, which is that I never sent or received any classified material. They are retroactively classifying it. I agree completely with Secretary Powell, who said today this is an absurdity. And so I think the American people will know it's an absurdity. I have absolutely no concerns about it whatsoever. +p1839 +aVI am 100 percent confident. This is a security review that was requested. It is being carried out. It will be resolved. But I have to add if there's going to be a security review about me, there's going to have to be security reviews about a lot of other people, including Republican office holders, because we've got this absurd situation of retroactive classifications. Honest to goodness, this is\u2014this just beggars the imagination. So I have absolutely no concerns about it, but we've got to get to the bottom of what's really going on here, and I hope that will happen. +p1840 +aVNo. +p1841 +aVYes, I do. And\u2014you know, what I hope the Supreme Court will do is make it absolutely clear that any state that continues capital punishment either must meet the highest standards of evidentiary proof of effective assistance of counsel or they cannot continue it because that, to me, is the real dividing line. I have much more confidence in the federal system, and I do reserve it for particularly heinous crimes in the federal system, like terrorism. I have strong feelings about that. I thought it was appropriate after a very thorough trial that Timothy McVeigh received the death penalty for blowing up the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people, including 19 children in a daycare center. I do for very limited, particularly heinous crimes believe it is an appropriate punishment, but I deeply disagree with the way that too many states are still implementing it. If it were possible to separate the federal from the state system by the Supreme Court, that would, I think, be an appropriate outcome. +p1842 +aVAbsolutely. Absolutely. You know, Rachel, you and I have talked about this before. I thank you for going to Flint to hold that town hall. I will be in Flint at the Mayor's invitation on Sunday to get an in depth briefing about what is, and is not happening. This is an emergency. Everyday that goes by that these people, particularly the children, are not tested so we can know what steps must be taken to try to remediate the effects of the poisoning that they have been living with is a day lost in a child's life. I know from the work that I've done over so many years, lead, the toxic nature of lead can affect you brain development, your body development, your behavior. I absolutely believe that what is being done is not sufficient. We need to be absolutely clear about everything that should be done from today to tomorrow, into the future to try to remedy the terrible burden that the people of Flint are barring. That includes fixing their pipes, it includes guaranteeing whatever healthcare and educational embellishments they may need going forward, and I think the federal government has way where it can bill the state of Michigan. If Michigan won't do it, there have to be ways that we can begin to move, and then make them pay for it, and hold them accountable. +p1843 +aVYou know, Chuck, I've only had responsibility for voting for trade agreements as a senator. And I voted a multinational trade agreement when I was senator, the +p1844 +aVWell, I\u2014I don't accept that premise, Chuck. I think that we've got so much business we have to do. We've talked a lot tonight about what we're against\u2014we're against income inequality. We're against the abuses of powerful interests. We're against a lot of things. I'm for a lot of things. I don't want to just stop bad things from happening, I want to start good things from happening. And I believe, if I'm so fortunate to get the nomination, I will begin to work immediately on putting together an agenda, beginning to talk with members of Congress and others about how we can push forward. I want to have half a billion more solar panels deployed, the first four years. I want to have enough clean energy to power every home the next four years. I want us to keep working on the Affordable Care Act, to get not only to 100 percent coverage, but bring down the costs of prescription drugs and out-of-pocket costs. I want to move forward on paid family leave, on early childhood education, I want us to do more for small businesses. Small businesses have to create most of the jobs, and we're not creating and growing small businesses. I think, if you have a smart agenda, you pick the committees that you know have to begin to work on these various pieces\u2014because that's the way Congress is set up. You go through different committees, and you really make a big push in the beginning. Immigration reform, economic revitalization with manufacturing, with infrastructure\u2014we put it out there, and we begin to work on an ambitious, big, bold agenda that will actually produce the results that I want to see for our country. +p1845 +aVThe answer to both of those is no. I'm interested in making what we have work better. I want to streamline programs that are duplicative and redundant. I want to have a top-to-bottom review about what works and what doesn't work, and be absolutely clear we're getting rid of what doesn't work. I have had the opportunity to run a big agency. I was very flattered when Henry Kissinger said I ran the State Department better\u2014better than anybody had run it in a long time. So I have an idea of what it's going to take to make our government work more efficiently. And when you put together a budget, you have to make a lot of hard decisions, but I think it's not appropriate to say "I'm going to get rid of this, get rid of that" until you have a very good process that gives you the information about what to do. But I want to add something else, you know, because look, we have so much work to do in our country, and I think it's the greatest work that Americans will be called to do. And of course, we have to have people in every community involved in it. We have to have the political voice, the political grassroots speaking up and speaking out about what we have to try to accomplish in Washington. But we also need to have a very clear set of goals that we are going to achieve, and we need to level with the American people about what they are, what they will cost, what will be expected of our citizenry. So I see as president having a constant dialogue with Americans here's what we're trying to get done, here's why I need your help, here's why you may think comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship isn't something you care about, but I'm telling you it will help fix the labor market, it will bring people out of the shadows\u2014 +p1846 +aVI never said that. +p1847 +aVLook... +p1848 +aVWell, I'm certainly going to unite the party, but I'm not\u2014I'm not getting ahead of myself. I think that would be a little bit presumptuous. If I'm so fortunate as to be the nominee, the first person I will call to talk to about where we go and how we get it done will be Senator Sanders. +p1849 +aVThat's true. That's true. +p1850 +aVWell first, thanks to +p1851 +asVTRUMP +p1852 +(lp1853 +VThank you. I began this journey six months ago. My total focus was on building up our military, building up our strength, building up our borders, making sure that China, Japan, Mexico, both at the border and in trade, no longer takes advantage of our country. Certainly would never have made that horrible, disgusting, absolutely incompetent deal with Iran where they get $150 billion. They're a terrorist nation. But I began it talking about other things. And those things are things that I'm very good at and maybe that's why I'm center stage. People saw it. People liked it. People respected it. A month ago things changed. Radical Islamic terrorism came into effect even more so than it has been in the past. People like what I say. People respect what I say. And we've opened up a very big discussion that needed to be opened up. Thank you very much. +p1854 +aVWe are not talking about isolation. We're talking about security. We're not talking about religion. We're talking about security. Our country is out of control. People are pouring across the southern border. I will build a wall. It will be a great wall. People will not come in unless they come in legally. Drugs will not pour through that wall. As far as other people like in the migration, where they're going, tens of thousands of people having cell phones with +p1855 +aVJeb doesn't really believe I'm unhinged. He said that very simply because he has failed in this campaign. It's been a total disaster. Nobody cares. And frankly, I'm the most solid person up here. I built a tremendous company and all I want to do is make America great again. I don't want our country to be taken away from us, and that's what's happening. The policies that we've suffered under other presidents have been a disaster for our country. We want to make America great again. And Jeb, in all fairness, he doesn't believe that. +p1856 +aVWell, look, this is so easy to answer. +p1857 +aVI would certainly be open to closing areas where we are at war with somebody. I sure as hell don't want to let people that want to kill us and kill our nation use our Internet. Yes, sir, I am. +p1858 +aVWe have to be much tougher. We have to be much stronger than we've been. We have people that know what is going on. You take a look at just the attack in California the other day. There were numerous people, including the mother, that knew what was going on. They saw a pipe bomb sitting all over the floor. They saw ammunition all over the place. They knew exactly what was going on. When you had the World Trade Center go, people were put into planes that were friends, family, girlfriends, and they were put into planes and they were sent back, for the most part, to Saudi Arabia. They knew what was going on. They went home and they wanted to watch their boyfriends on television. I would be very, very firm with families. Frankly, that will make people think because they may not care much about their lives, but they do care, believe it or not, about their families' lives. +p1859 +aVLook, the problem is we need toughness. Honestly, I think Jeb is a very nice person. He's a very nice person. But we need tough people. We need toughness. We need intelligence and we need tough. Jeb said when they come across the southern border they come as an act of love. +p1860 +aVAm I talking or are you talking, Jeb? +p1861 +aVYou can go back. You're not talking. You interrupted me. +p1862 +aVAre you going to apologize, Jeb? No. Am I allowed to finish? +p1863 +aVExcuse me, am I allowed to finish? +p1864 +aVSo... +p1865 +aV... again... +p1866 +aVI know you're trying to build up your energy, Jeb, but it's not working very well. +p1867 +aVLook, look, look. We need a toughness. We need strength. We're not respected, you know, as a nation anymore. We don't have that level of respect that we need. And if we don't get it back fast, we're just going to go weaker, weaker and just disintegrate. We can't allow that to happen. We need strength. We don't have it. When Jeb comes out and he talks about the border, and I saw it and I was witness to it, and so was everyone else, and I was standing there, "they come across as an act of love," he's saying the same thing right now with radical Islam. And we can't have that in our country. It just won't work. We need strength. +p1868 +aVWith Jeb's attitude, we will never be great again, that I can tell you. We will never be great again. +p1869 +aVSo, they can kill us, but we can't kill them? That's what you're saying. And as far as the Internet is concerned, we're not talking about closing the Internet. I'm talking about parts of Syria, parts of Iraq, where +p1870 +aVIn my opinion, we've spent $4 trillion trying to topple various people that frankly, if they were there and if we could've spent that $4 trillion in the United States to fix our roads, our bridges, and all of the other problems; our airports and all of the other problems we've had, we would've been a lot better off. I can tell you that right now. We have done a tremendous disservice, not only to Middle East, we've done a tremendous disservice to humanity. The people that have been killed, the people that have wiped away, and for what? It's not like we had victory. It's a mess. The Middle East is totally destabilized. A total and complete mess. I wish we had the $4 trillion or $5 trillion. I wish it were spent right here in the United States, on our schools, hospitals, roads, airports, and everything else that are all falling apart. +p1871 +aVWell, there's nothing to respond to. Well, people feel differently. I mean, the fact is Benghazi was a disaster because of Libya, everything just fell into place. It could not have been worse. What do we have now? We have nothing. We've spent $3 trillion and probably much more \u2013 I have no idea what we've spent. Thousands and thousands of lives, we have nothing. Wounded warriors all over the place who I love, we have nothing for it. And by the way \u2013 and Ben said incorrectly \u2013 and I'm not saying this as a knock \u2013 he's one of finest men. You're not going to find a finer men. But I've been talking about oil for three years. I've been saying,, "take the oil, take the oil." I didn't say, "just bomb it," I said," take it and use it and distribute it so that the wounded warriors -" People, I've been saying this now for many years. +p1872 +aVNow, all of a sudden everybody's saying, "take the oil." It wasn't so fashionable to take the oil six months ago. I've been saying it for years. +p1873 +aVI think Assad is a bad guy, a very bad guy, all right? Lots of people killed. I think we are backing people we have no idea who they are. The rebels, we call them the rebels, the patriotic rebels. We have no idea. A lot of people think, Hugh, that they are +p1874 +aVI think it's very sad that CNN leads Jeb Bush, Governor Bush, down a road by starting off virtually all the questions, "Mr. Trump this, Mister" \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched the first debate, and the first long number of questions were, "Mr. Trump said this, Mr. Trump said that. Mr. Trump" \u2014 these poor guys \u2014 although, I must tell you, Santorum, good guy. Governor Huckabee, good guy. They were very nice, and I respect them greatly. But I thought it was very unfair that virtually the entire early portion of the debate was Trump this, Trump that, in order to get ratings, I guess. In order to get ratings, I guess. +p1875 +aVI just think it's very \u2014 excuse me. +p1876 +aVExcuse me. I think it's very unprofessional. +p1877 +aVWell, I think it's very unprofessional. +p1878 +aVOK, fine. +p1879 +aVThis isn't tough and easy. I wish it... +p1880 +aVI wish it was always this easy as you, Jeb. +p1881 +aVOh, yeah. +p1882 +aVOh, I know. You're a tough guy, Jeb. I know. +p1883 +aVYou're tough. +p1884 +aVWell, let's see. I'm at 42, and you're at 3. So, so far, I'm doing better. +p1885 +aVSo far, I'm doing better. You know, you started off over here, Jeb. You're moving over further and further. Pretty soon you're going to be off the end... +p1886 +aVI believe I did. +p1887 +aVI have a very hardline position, we have a country or we don't have a country. People that have come into our country illegally, they have to go. They have to come back into through a legal process. I want a strong border. I do want a wall. Walls do work, you just have to speak to the folks in Israel. Walls work if they're properly constructed. I know how to build, believe me, I know how to build. I feel a very, very strong bind, and really I'm bound to this country, we either have a border or we don't. People can come into the country, we welcome people to come but they have to come in legally. +p1888 +aVWell, first of all, I think we need somebody absolutely that we can trust, who is totally responsible; who really knows what he or she is doing. That is so powerful and so important. And one of the things that I'm frankly most proud of is that in 2003, 2004, I was totally against going into Iraq because you're going to destabilize the Middle East. I called it. I called it very strongly. And it was very important. But we have to be extremely vigilant and extremely careful when it comes to nuclear. Nuclear changes the whole ball game. Frankly, I would have said get out of Syria; get out \u2014 if we didn't have the power of weaponry today. The power is so massive that we can't just leave areas that 50 years ago or 75 years ago we wouldn't care. It was hand-to-hand combat. The biggest problem this world has today is not President Obama with global warming, which is inconceivable, this is what he's saying. The biggest problem we have is nuclear \u2014 nuclear proliferation and having some maniac, having some madman go out and get a nuclear weapon. That's in my opinion, that is the single biggest problem that our country faces right now. +p1889 +aVI think \u2014 I think, for me, nuclear is just the power, the devastation is very important to me. +p1890 +aVI did. +p1891 +aVLet me just say that I have gotten to know him over the last three or four days. He has a wonderful temperament. He's just fine. Don't worry about it. +p1892 +aVYou better not attack... +p1893 +aVI really am. I'll be honest, I really am. I mean, the people have been putting me... I really am. +p1894 +aVLet me just. Can I just finish my... +p1895 +aVI've gained great respect for the Republican leadership. I've gained great respect for many \u2014 and I'm going to even say \u2014 I mean, in different forms for the people on the dais, in different forms. In different forms. But I have great respect for the people I have met through this process. I've never done this process before. I've never been a politician. I mean, for the last six months I've been a politician. But I will tell you, I am totally committed to the Republican Party. I feel very honored to be the front runner. And I think I'll do very well if I'm chosen. If I'm so fortunate to be chosen, I think I'll do very well. Polls have come out recently saying I would beat Hillary. I will do everything in my power to beat Hillary Clinton, I promise you. +p1896 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We don't win on trade. We don't win on the military. We can't defeat +p1897 +aVI can't be Neil. And the and the reason I can't be is that we are a country that is being beaten on every front economically, militarily. There is nothing that we do now to win. We don't win anymore. Our taxes are too high. I've come up with a tax plan that many, many people like very much. It's going to be a tremendous plan. I think it'll make our country and our economy very dynamic. But, taxes too high, wages too high, we're not going to be able to compete against the world. I hate to say it, but we have to leave it the way it is. People have to go out, they have to work really hard and have to get into that upper stratum. But we can not do this if we are going to compete with the rest of the world. We just can't do it. +p1898 +aVI would not do it. +p1899 +aVI was so happy yesterday when I saw that decision come down. That was an unbelievable decision. And we don't have enough of those decisions coming down. He of the executive order, because nobody wants to listen to him, including the Democrats, so he just goes around signing executive orders. That was a great day. And, frankly, we have to stop illegal immigration. It's hurting us economically. It's hurting us from every standpoint. It's causing tremendous difficulty with respect to drugs and what that does to many of our inner cities in particular. And it really is \u2014 was such an unbelievable moment because the courts have not been ruling in our favor. And it was a 2-1 decision. And it was a terrific thing that happened. And I will tell you, we are a country of laws. We need borders. We will have a wall. The wall will be built. The wall will be successful. And if you think walls don't work, all you have to do is ask Israel. The wall works, believe me. Properly done. Believe me. +p1900 +aVYou are going to have to bring people \u2014 you are going to have to send people out. Look, we're a country... +p1901 +aVMaria, we're a country of laws. We either have a country or we don't have a country. We are a country of laws. Going to have to go out and they will come back but they are going to have to go out and hopefully they get back. But we have no choice if we're going to run our country properly and if we're going to be a country. +p1902 +aVAll I can say is, you're lucky in Ohio that you struck oil. That is for one thing. Let me just tell you that Dwight Eisenhower, good president, great president, people liked him. "I like Ike," right? The expression. "I like Ike." Moved a 1.5 million illegal immigrants out of this country, moved them just beyond the border. They came back. Moved them again beyond the border, they came back. Didn't like it. Moved them way south. They never came back. Dwight Eisenhower. You don't get nicer. You don't get friendlier. They moved a 1.5 million out. We have no choice. We have no choice. +p1903 +aVNo, it's unfair. +p1904 +aV... built an unbelievable company worth billions and billions of dollars. I don't have to hear from this man, believe me. I don't have to hear from him. +p1905 +aVWe have millions of people right now on line trying to come into this country. Very, very unfair to the people that want to come into our country legally. They've gone through the process. They're on line. They're waiting. Very, very unfair to them. That I can tell you. +p1906 +aVYes. +p1907 +aVNo, I'm sorry. No, excuse me. I was there. +p1908 +aVPlease, if I could just... +p1909 +aVWe have to make our military bigger, better, stronger than ever before so that nobody messes with us, and a long run, it's going to save us. I agree with Marco, I agree with Ted, we have no choice. And, I can tell you this with certainty. We all have a different tax plan. Some I don't totally agree with. One thing we understand, each one of those tax plans is better than the mess that we have right now. +p1910 +aV...Yes... +p1911 +aV...Yeah... +p1912 +aV...It's a horrible deal... +p1913 +aVThe TPP is horrible deal. It is a deal that is going to lead to nothing but trouble. It's a deal that was designed for China to come in, as they always do, through the back door and totally take advantage of everyone. It's 5,600 pages long. So complex that nobodies read it. It's like Obamacare; nobody ever read it. They passed it; nobody read it. And look at mess we have right now. And it will be repealed. But this is one of the worst trade deals. And I would, yes, rather not have it. With all of these countries, and all of the bad ones getting advantage and taking advantage of what the good ones would normally get, I'd rather make individual deals with individual countries. We will do much better. We lose a fortune on trade. The United States loses with everybody. We're losing now over $500 billion in terms of imbalance with China, $75 billion a year imbalance with Japan. By the way, Mexico, $50 billion a year imbalance. So I must say, Gerard, I just think it's a terrible deal. I love trade. I'm a free trader, 100 percent. But we need smart people making the deals, and we don't have smart people making the deals. +p1914 +aVYes. Well, the currency manipulation they don't discuss in the agreement, which is a disaster. If you look at the way China and India and almost everybody takes advantage of the United States \u2014 China in particular, because they're so good. It's the number-one abuser of this country. And if you look at the way they take advantage, it's through currency manipulation. It's not even discussed in the almost 6,000-page agreement. It's not even discussed. +p1915 +aVAnd as you understand, I mean, you understand very well from the Wall Street Journal, currency manipulation is the single great weapon people have. They don't even discuss it in this agreement. So I say, it's a very bad deal, should not be approved. If it is approved, it will just be more bad trade deals, more loss of jobs for our country. We are losing jobs like nobody's ever lost jobs before. I want to bring jobs back into this country. +p1916 +aVWell, first of all, it's not only Russia. We have problems with North Korea where they actually have nuclear weapons. You know, nobody talks about it, we talk about Iran, and that's one of the worst deals ever made. One of the worst contracts ever signed, ever, in anything, and it's a disgrace. But, we have somebody over there, a madman, who already has nuclear weapons we don't talk about that. That's a problem. China is a problem, both economically in what they're doing in the South China Sea, I mean, they are becoming a very, very major force. So, we have more than just Russia. But, as far as the Ukraine is concerned, and you could Syria \u2014 as far as Syria, I like \u2014 if Putin wants to go in, and I got to know him very well because we were both on 60 Minutes, we were stablemates, and we did very well that night. But, you know that. But, if Putin wants to go and knocked the hell out of +p1917 +aV...They blew up \u2014 hold it.... +p1918 +aV...They blew up, wait a minute... ...They blew up a Russian airplane. He cannot be in love with these people. He's going in, and we can go in, and everybody should go in. As far as the Ukraine is concerned, we have a group of people, and a group of countries, including Germany \u2014 tremendous economic behemoth \u2014 why are we always doing the work? We are \u2014 I'm all for protecting Ukraine and working \u2014 but, we have countries that are surrounding the Ukraine that aren't doing anything. They say, "Keep going, keep going, you dummies, keep going. Protect us..." ...And we have to get smart. We can't continue to be the policeman of the world. We are $19 trillion dollars, we have a country that's going to hell, we have an infrastructure that's falling apart. Our roads, our bridges, our schools, our airports, and we have to start investing money in our country. +p1919 +aVAssad is a bad guy, but we have no idea who the so-called rebels \u2014 I read about the rebels, nobody even knows who they are. I spoke to a general two weeks ago, he said \u2014 he was very up on exactly what we're talking about. He said, "You know, Mr. Trump? We're giving hundreds of millions of dollars of equipment to these people, we have no idea who they are." So, I don't like Assad. Who's going to like Assad? But, we have no idea who these people, and what they're going to be, and what they're going to represent. They may be far worse than Assad. Look at Libya. Look at Iraq. Look at the mess we have after spending $2 trillion dollars, thousands of lives, wounded warriors all over the place \u2014 who I love, OK? All over. We have nothing. And, I said, keep the oil. And we should have kept the oil, believe me. We should have kept the oil. And, you know what? We should have given the oil... ..We should've given big chunks to the people that lost their arms, their legs, and their families, and their sons, and daughters, because right now, you know who has a lot of that oil? Iran, and +p1920 +aVWhy does she keep interrupting everybody? Terrible. +p1921 +aVWe are not. +p1922 +aV...No, no, no... +p1923 +aVWell, what's happening right now, Neil, is something that not been a subject of conversation by politicians. As primarily the only politician, I guess other than Carly on the stage, they haven't talked about a corporate inversion. A corporate inversion \u2014 companies are leaving. You know, we used to leave New York to go to Florida. We got better taxes, we got, maybe, something else. Now, they're the United States to go to other countries. They have trillions of dollars in those other countries. They're going for two reasons, they can't get their money back in. It's something where the democrats and the republicans both agree, it's the only thing I can think of. They both agree, let the money come back in. Three and a half years, they still can't make a deal. They can't get the money in. It's probably two and a half trillion, but, I think it's much more than that. All of that money could become \u2014 could come right in and be used to rebuild our country, and investments in our country. They can't do it. What we have to do, and what I've done, is made the tax rate \u2014 and one of the reasons they don't the taxes so obnoxious, they can't do it. Where, I made it a 10% number, as you know. I've been very highly praised for it. A lot of money's going to come back in, we're going to get rid of the bureaucratic problems, and roadblocks, because that's also a problem. And, we're going to have all of this money pour back into the United States. It's going to be used to build businesses, for jobs, and everything else. And, as I say, my expression is, let's make America great again. +p1924 +aVThank you. Over the years, I've created tens of thousands of jobs and a great company. It's a company I'm very proud of. Some of the most iconic assets anywhere in the world. And I will tell you, I don't have to give you a website because I'm self-funding my campaign. I'm putting up my own money. I want to do something really special. I want to make our country greater than it's ever been. I think we have that potential. We cannot lose this election. We cannot let Hillary Clinton, who is the worst secretary of state in the history of our country, win this election. We will fight. We will win. And we truly will make this even more special. We have to make it better than ever before. And I will tell you, the United States can actually be better than ever before. Thank you. +p1925 +aVI think maybe my greatest weakness is that I trust people too much. I'm too trusting. And when they let me down, if they let me down, I never forgive. I find it very, very hard to forgive people that deceived me. So I don't know if you would call that a weakness, but my wife said "let up." +p1926 +aVRight. +p1927 +aVRight. +p1928 +aVThat's right. +p1929 +aVNo, not a comic book, and it's not a very nicely asked question the way you say that. Larry Kudlow is an example, who I have a lot of respect for, who loves my tax plan. We're reducing taxes to 15 percent. We're bringing corporate taxes down, bringing money back in, corporate inversions. We have $2.5 trillion outside of the United States which we want to bring back in. As far as the wall is concerned, we're going to build a wall. We're going to create a border. We're going to let people in, but they're going to come in legally. They're going to come in legally. And it's something that can be done, and I get questioned about that. They built the great wall of China. That's 13,000 miles. Here, we actually need 1,000 because we have natural barriers. So we need 1,000. We can do a wall. We're going to have a big, fat beautiful door right in the middle of the wall. We're going to have people come in, but they're coming in legally. And Mexico's going to pay for the wall because Mexico \u2014 I love the Mexican people; I respect the Mexican leaders \u2014 but the leaders are much sharper, smarter and more cunning than our leaders. And just to finish, people say, how will you get Mexico to pay? A politician other than the people in the states \u2014 I don't want to \u2014 a politician cannot get them to pay. I can. We lose, we have a trade imbalance... Excuse me, John. ... of $50 billion... +p1930 +aV... believe me the world is peanuts by comparison. +p1931 +aVRight. Dynamically. +p1932 +aVThen you have to get rid of Larry Kudlow, who sits on your panel, who's a great guy, who came out the other day and said, I love Trump's tax plan. +p1933 +aVFirst of all, John got lucky with a thing called fracking, OK? He hit oil. He got lucky with fracking. Believe me, that is why Ohio is doing well. Number \u2014 and that is important for you to know. Number two, this was the man that was a managing general partner at Lehman Brothers when it went down the tubes and almost took every one of us with it, including Ben and myself, because I was there and I watched what happened. And Lehman Brothers started it all. He was on the board. And he was a managing general partner. And just thirdly, he was so nice. He was such a nice guy. And he said, oh, I'm never going to attack. But then his poll numbers tanked. He has got \u2014 that is why he is on the end. And he got nasty. And he got nasty. So you know what? You can have him. +p1934 +aVI think you're \u2014 +p1935 +aVWell, first of all, like many other very big businessmen, I could name them here, but I'm not going to do that for a lot of obvious reasons, but the biggest, and almost all of them, they've all used the chapter laws, the bankruptcy laws to their own benefit. Before this, I was a very successful person as a developer and as a businessman. Atlantic City has gone bad. I mean, Chris will know about that. I'm not blaming Chris, by the way, but he will know about that. Caesar's \u2014 excuse me \u2014 Caesar's, the Rolls-Royce, as you know, is in bankruptcy. Almost every hotel in Atlantic City has either been in bankruptcy or will be in bankruptcy \u2014 the biggest. But also the biggest people (ph) \u2014 now I've used that to my advantage as a business man, for my family, for myself. I never filed for bankruptcy. But many, many people did. What happened with Atlantic City is very, very disgraceful. Now hundreds of companies I've opened. I've used it three times, maybe four times. Came out great. But I guess I'm supposed to come out great. That is what I could do for the country. We owe $19 trillion, boy am I good at solving debt problems. Nobody can solve it like me. But I will tell you this, Atlantic City, you're using that, hundreds of companies that I have opened have thrived. I built a net worth of way over $10 billion, and I have done it four times out of hundreds. And I'm glad I did it. I used the laws of the country to my benefit, I'm sorry. +p1936 +aVThank you. +p1937 +aVI was not at all critical of him. I was not at all. In fact, frankly, he's complaining about the fact that we're losing some of the most talented people. They go to Harvard. They go to Yale. They go to Princeton. They come from another country and they're immediately sent out. I am all in favor of keeping these talented people here so they can go to work in Silicon Valley. +p1938 +aVSo I have nothing at all critical of him. +p1939 +aVProbably, I don't know \u2014 you people write the stuff. I don't know where you... And if I could say just one thing. I am the only person in either campaign that's self-funding. I'm putting up 100 percent of my own money. And right now, I will be putting up a tremendous \u2014 so far, I've put up less than anybody and I have the best results. Wouldn't that be nice if the country could do that? But I will be putting \u2014 I will be putting up, you know, tremendous amounts of money. SuperPacs are a disaster. They're a scam. They cause dishonesty. And you better get rid of them because they are causing a lot of bad decisions to be made by some very good people. And I'm not blaming these folks \u2014 well, I guess I could. Very good people are making very bad decisions right now. And if anything comes out of this whole thing with some of these nasty and ridiculous questions, I will tell you, you better get rid of the SuperPacs because they causing a big problem with this country, not only in dishonesty and what's going on, but also in a lot of bad decisions that have been made for the benefit of lobbyists and special interests. +p1940 +aVI never said that. I never said that. +p1941 +aVYou've got another gentleman in Florida, who happens to be a very nice guy, but not... +p1942 +aV... he's really doing some bad... +p1943 +aVI'm in favor of people coming into this country legally. And you know what? They can have it anyway you want. You can call it visas, you can call it work permits, you can call it anything you want. I've created tens of thousands of jobs, and in all due respect \u2014 and actually some of these folks I really like a lot \u2014 but I'm the only one that can say that. I have created tens of thousands of jobs, and I'll be creating many millions of jobs if I'm given \u2014 if I'm given the opportunity to be president. As far as Mark is concerned, as far as the visas are concerned, if we need people, they have \u2014 it's fine. They have to come into this country legally. We have a country of borders. We have a country of laws. We have to obey the laws. It's fine if they come in, but they have to come in legally. +p1944 +aVYes. +p1945 +aVOr somebody else. Right. +p1946 +aVYes, I might feel more comfortable. I would say that I would and I have a permit, which is very unusual in New York \u2014 a permit to carry. And I do carry on occasion, sometimes a lot. But I like to be unpredictable so that people don't know exactly... +p1947 +aVBy the way, unlike our country where we're totally predictable and the enemy, whether it's +p1948 +aVI would change them. I would change them. +p1949 +aVSuch a nasty \u2014 such a nasty question, but thank you, Governor. +p1950 +aVYes, it's very simple. We're going to make a really dynamic economy from what we have right now, which is not at all dynamic. We're going to bring jobs back from Japan, we're going to bring jobs back from China, we're going to bring, frankly, jobs back from Mexico where, as you probably saw, Nabisco is leaving Chicago with one of their biggest plants, and they're moving it to Mexico. We're going to bring jobs and manufacturing back. We're going to cut costs. We're going to save Social Security, and we're going to save Medicare. [ +p1951 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We used to win, we don't win anymore. We lose on trade. We lose with +p1952 +aVAnd, I'll do that with the country. We will make America great again. And, thank you everybody. Just for the record. +p1953 +aVThat's not right. That is absolutely not right. You know that. That is not right. [ +p1954 +aVI'm Donald Trump. I wrote "The Art of the Deal". I say not in a braggadocious way, I've made billions and billions of dollars dealing with people all over the world, and I want to put whatever that talent is to work for this country so we have great trade deals, we make our country rich again, we make it great again. We build our military, we take care of our vets, we get rid of Obamacare, and we have a great life altogether. Thank you. Thank you. +p1955 +aVWell, first of all, Rand Paul shouldn't even be on this stage. He's number 11, he's got 1 percent in the polls, and how he got up here, there's far too many people anyway. As far as temperament \u2014 and we all know that \u2014 as far as temperament, I think I have a great temperament. I built a phenomenal business with incredible, iconic assets, one of the really truly great real-estate businesses. And I may be an entertainer, because I've had tremendous success with number-one bestsellers all over the place, with "The Apprentice" and everything else I've done. But I will tell you this: What I am far and away greater than an entertainer is a businessman, and that's the kind of mindset this country needs to bring it back, because we owe $19 trillion right now, $19 trillion, and you need this kind of thinking to bring our country back. And believe me, my temperament is very good, very calm. But we will be respected outside of this country. We are not respected now. +p1956 +aVI never attacked him on his look, and believe me, there's plenty of subject matter right there. That I can tell you. +p1957 +aVI've actually been in politics all my life, although I've been on that side as opposed to this side. I'm now a politician for about three months. Obviously, I'm doing pretty well. I'm number one in every poll by a lot. But the qualification is that I've dealt with people all over the world, been successful all over the world. Everything I've done virtually has been a tremendous success. When markets changed, when things turned, I heard Governor Pataki, who, by the way, was a failed governor in New York, a very seriously failed \u2014 he wouldn't be elected dog catcher right now. I heard what he had to say. And I will tell you this: Atlantic City, I've made a tremendous amount of money in Atlantic City. I left seven years ago, I've gotten great credit for my timing, and that's what I'm all about. I'm a businessman, did really well, really well, and Jeb, what I want to do is put that ability into this country to make our country rich again. And I can do that, and I'm not sure that anybody else in the group will be able to do that. +p1958 +aVBut I have to say... +p1959 +aVWell, in Wisconsin... +p1960 +aVExcuse me. +p1961 +aVIn Wisconsin, you're losing $2.2 billion right now. +p1962 +aVI would do so much better than that. +p1963 +aVNo. +p1964 +aVI'm using facts. +p1965 +aVEvery major business leader has used the \u2014 I never went bankrupt, by the way, as you know, everybody knows. But we \u2014 hundreds of companies, hundreds of deals, I've used ???: ... into bankruptcy. That's what's wrong with politicians in Washington right now. They think we can take a country into bankruptcy. +p1966 +aVEvery major business leader, has used the \u2014 I never went bank bankrupt, by the way, as you know, everybody knows. But \u2014 hundreds of companies, hundreds of deals, I used the law four times and made a tremendous thing. I'm in business. I did a very good job. But I will say this, and people are very, very impressed with what I've done, the business people. But when the folks of Iowa found out the true facts of the job that you've done in Wisconsin, all of a sudden you, tubed (ph), he was No. 1 and now he's No. 6 or seven in the polls. So, look, we brought it out, you were supposed to make a billion dollars in the state. You lost 2.2 \u2014 you have right now, a huge budget deficit. That's not a Democratic point. That's a point. That's a fact. And when the people of Iowa found that out, I went to No. 1 and you went down the tubes. +p1967 +aVI didn't \u2014 +p1968 +aVTotally false. +p1969 +aVI would have gotten it. +p1970 +aVI promise I would have gotten it. +p1971 +aVI promise if I wanted it, I would have gotten it. +p1972 +aVI know my people. +p1973 +aVI know my people. +p1974 +aVNo. I just will tell you that, you know, Jeb made the statement. I'm not only referring to him. I \u2014 a lot of money was raised by a lot of different people that are standing up here. And the donors, the special interests, the lobbyists have very strong power over these people. I'm spending all of my money, I'm not spending \u2014 I'm not getting any \u2014 I turned down \u2014 I turn down so much, I could have right now from special interests and donors, I could have double and triple what he's got. I've turned it down. I turned down last week $5 million from somebody. So I will tell you I understand the game, I've been on the other side all of my life. And they have a lot of control over our politicians. And I don't say that favorably, and I'm not sure if there's another system, but I say this. I am not accepting any money from anybody. Nobody has control of me other than the people of this country. I'm going to do the right thing. +p1975 +aVThat's true. That's true. +p1976 +aVI was \u2014 excuse me, Jeb. +p1977 +aVI was a businessman, I got along with Clinton, I got along with everybody. That was my job, to get along with people. +p1978 +aVI didn't want to \u2014 excuse me. One second. +p1979 +aVOK, more energy tonight. I like that. Look \u2014 +p1980 +aVI didn't want \u2014 it was my obligation as a businessman to my family, to my company, to my employees, to get along with all politicians. I get along with all of them, and I did a damn good job in doing it. Go ahead. +p1981 +aVGot along with everybody. +p1982 +aVWrong. +p1983 +aVDon't make things up. Jeb, don't make things up. Come on. +p1984 +aVDon't make things up. +p1985 +aVSo, number one, they have to respect you. He has absolutely no respect for President Obama. Zero. Syria's a mess. You look at what's going on with +p1986 +aVI believe that I will get along \u2014 we will do \u2014 between that, Ukraine, all of the other problems, we won't have the kind of problems that our country has right now with Russia and many other nations. +p1987 +aVI wouldn't have drawn the line, but once he drew it, he had no choice but to go across. They do bear some responsibility, but I think he probably didn't do it, not for that reason. Somehow, he just doesn't have courage. There is something missing from our president. Had he crossed the line and really gone in with force, done something to Assad \u2014 if he had gone in with tremendous force, you wouldn't have millions of people displaced all over the world. +p1988 +aVThey had a responsibility, absolutely. I think we have three of them here... +p1989 +aVI think they had a responsibility, yes. +p1990 +aVJeb, just... +p1991 +aVI think it will haunt him. I think it's a terrible. I think it's going to haunt him absolutely. He came back later and he said he misspoke. There was no question because I heard when he said the statement. I was watching and he said the statement. And I said, wow, I can't believe it. I will take care of women. I respect women. I will take care of women. One thing we will say and I would like to get back to the Iran situation. We're talking about Iran. The agreement was terrible. It was incompetent. I've never seen anything like it. One of the worst contracts of any kind I've ever seen. And nobody ever mentions North Korea where you have this maniac sitting there and he actually has nuclear weapons and somebody better start thinking about North Korea and perhaps a couple of other places. But certainly North Korea. And Ted and I have spoken. We've \u2014 a lot of us have spoken. We're talking about Iran. They are bad actors, bad things are going to happen. But in the meantime, you have somebody right now in North Korea who has got nuclear weapons and who is saying almost every other week, I'm ready to use them. And we don't even mention it. +p1992 +aVSo why didn't you say it? Why didn't you say it? +p1993 +aVI know, but why did you say it? I heard it myself. Why did you say it? +p1994 +aVYou said you're going to cut funding for women's health. You said it. +p1995 +aVYou said it. +p1996 +aVI think she's got a beautiful face, and I think she's a beautiful woman. +p1997 +aVCorrect. First of all, I want to build a wall, a wall that works. So important, and it's a big part of it. Second of all, we have a lot of really bad dudes in this country from outside, and I think Chris knows that, maybe as well as anybody. They go, if I get elected, first day they're gone. Gangs all over the place. Chicago, Baltimore, no matter where you look. We have a country based on laws. I will make sure that those laws are adhered to. These are illegal immigrants. I don't think you'd even be asking this question if I didn't run because when I ran, and I brought this up, my opening remarks at Trump Tower, I took heat like nobody has taken heat in a long time. And, then they found out with the killing of Katie, from San Francisco, and so many other crimes, they found out that I was right. And, most people, many people, apologized to me. I don't think you'd even be talking about illegal immigration if it weren't for me. So, we have a country of laws, they're going to go out, and they'll come back if they deserve to come back. If they've had a bad record, if they've been arrested, if they've been in jail, they're never coming back. We're going to have a country again. Right now, we don't have a country, we don't have a border, and we're going to do something about it, and it can be done with proper management, and it can be done with heart. +p1998 +aV...By the way, I agree with \u2014 with what Chris is saying, but, I will say this. Illegal immigration is costing us more than $200 billion dollars a year just to maintain what we have. +p1999 +aVCorrect. +p2000 +aVWell, I have to tell you, I hear phenomenal things. I hear your wife is a lovely woman... +p2001 +aVI don't know her, and this is a total mischaracterization... +p2002 +aVGood. +p2003 +aVNo, I won't do that, because I've said nothing wrong. +p2004 +aVBut I do hear she's a lovely woman. +p2005 +aVJeb said... +p2006 +aV... that they come into our country as an act of love. With all of the problems we that we have, in so many instances \u2014 we have wonderful people coming in. But with all of the problems \u2014 this is not an act of love. He's weak on immigration \u2014 by the way, in favor of Common Core, which is also a disaster, but weak on immigration. He doesn't get my vote. +p2007 +aVNot with this intensity. +p2008 +aVAs I said, we are spending $200 billion \u2014 we are spending $200 billion a year on maintaining what we have. We will move them out. The great ones will come back, the good ones will come back. They'll be expedited, they'll be back, they'll come back legally. We'll have a country \u2014 they'll come back, legally. +p2009 +aVWell, I think it's wonderful and all, but I did it a little bit half-heartedly, but I do mean it to a large extent. We have a country, where, to assimilate, you have to speak English. And I think that where he was, and the way it came out didn't sound right to me. We have to have assimilation \u2014 to have a country, we have to have assimilation. I'm not the first one to say this, Dana. We've had many people over the years, for many, many years, saying the same thing. This is a country where we speak English, not Spanish. +p2010 +aVThis is a reporter, not a high school kid. +p2011 +aVWell, first of all, the \u2014 the 14th Amendment says very, very clearly to a lot of great legal scholars \u2014 not television scholars, but legal scholars \u2014 that it is wrong. It can be corrected with an act of Congress, probably doesn't even need that. A woman gets pregnant. She's nine months, she walks across the border, she has the baby in the United States, and we take care of the baby for 85 years. I don't think so. And by the way, Mexico and almost every other country anywhere in the world doesn't have that. We're the only ones dumb enough, stupid enough to have it. And people \u2014 and by the way, this is not just with respect to Mexico. They are coming from Asia to have babies here, and all of a sudden, we have to take care of the babies for the life of the baby. The 14th Amendment, it reads properly, you can go and \u2014 it's probably going to be have to be check \u2014 go through a process of court, probably ends up at the Supreme Court, but there are a lot of great legal scholars that say that is not correct. And in my opinion, it makes absolutely no \u2014 we're the only \u2014 one of the only countries, we're going to take care of those babies for 70, 75, 80, 90 years? I don't think so. +p2012 +aVI agree 100 percent, by the way, with Carly on the fact that the Democrats do not want to solve this problem, for the obvious reasons, but they do not. But I believe that a reading of the 14th Amendment allows you to have an interpretation where this is not legal and where it can't be done. I've seen both sides, but some of the greatest scholars agree with me, without having to go through Congress. If you do go through Congress, you can absolutely solve the problem. +p2013 +aVThat's true, sure. +p2014 +aVWell \u2014 +p2015 +aV\u2014 let me \u2014 well, let me just explain. The head of the Yale Business School, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, wrote a paper recently, one of the worst tenures for a CEO that he has ever seen, ranked one of the top 20 in the history of business. The company is a disaster and continues to be a disaster. They still haven't recovered. In fact, today, on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, they fired another 25 or 30,000 people saying we still haven't recovered from the catastrophe. When Carly says the revenues went up, that's because she bought Compaq, it was a terrible deal, and it really led to the destruction of the company. Now one other company before that was Lucent. Carly was at Lucent before that. And Lucent turned out to be a catastrophe also. So I only say this. She can't run any of my companies. That I can tell you. +p2016 +aVI never filed for bankruptcy. +p2017 +aVI'll tell you why; it's very simple. +p2018 +aVI'll tell you. I was running \u2014 +p2019 +aV\u2014 Carly, Carly \u2014 +p2020 +aV\u2014 I've made over $10 billion. I had a casino company \u2014 Caesars just filed for bankruptcy. Chris will tell you \u2014 it's not Chris' fault either \u2014 but almost everybody in Atlantic City is either in trouble or filed for \u2014 maybe I'll blame Chris. +p2021 +aVBut Atlantic City is a disaster \u2014 +p2022 +aVWait a minute, Carly. Wait. I let you speak. Atlantic City is a disaster, and I did great in Atlantic City. I knew when to get out. My timing was great. And I got a lot of credit for it. Many of the great business people that you know \u2014 and Carl Icon (ph) is going to work with me on making great deals for this country. But whether it's Carl or so many others that we read about all the time \u2014 +p2023 +aV\u2014 they have used the laws of the land, which is the \u2014 +p2024 +aV...Well, I'd like to respond, I'd like to respond... +p2025 +aVWell, I think the thing about the flat tax, I know it very well. What I don't like is that if you make $200 million a year, you pay ten percent, you're paying very little relatively to somebody that's making $50,000 a year, and has to hire H&R Block to do the \u2014 because it's so complicated. One thing I'll say to Ben is that we've had a graduated tax system for many years, so it's not a socialistic thing. What I'd like to do, and I'll be putting in the plan in about two weeks, and I think people are going to like it, it's a major reduction in taxes. It's a major reduction for the middle class. The hedge fund guys won't like me as much as they like me right now. I know them all, but they'll pay more. I know people that are making a tremendous amount of money and paying virtually no tax, and I think it's unfair. +p2026 +aVWell, I heard Hugh Hewitt, a nice man, he apologized because he actually said that we had a misunderstanding. And he said today that Donald Trump is maybe the best interview there is anywhere that he has ever done. Now unless he was just saying that on CNN to be nice, but he did say that... +p2027 +aVAnd we had a legitimate misunderstanding in terms of his pronunciation of a word. But I would say just... +p2028 +aVWell, I think it was. And he actually said that. Did you say that? +p2029 +aVOK. So I will say this, though, Hugh was giving me name after name, Arab name, Arab name, and there are few people anywhere, anywhere that would have known those names. I think he was reading them off a sheet. And frankly I will have \u2014 and I told him, I will have the finest team that anybody has put together and we will solve a lot of problems. You know, right now they know a lot and look at what is happening. The world is blowing up around us. We will have great teams and great people. +p2030 +aVI hope that answers your question. I mean, you are in the Senate, but I hope that answers your question. +p2031 +aVNo, I don't think he's suggesting that at all. I mean... +p2032 +aVI don't think he's suggesting that at all. +p2033 +aVWell, you have to understand, I am not sitting in the United States Senate with, by the way, the worst voting record there is today. Number one. I am not sitting in the United States Senate. I'm a businessman doing business transactions. +p2034 +aVI am doing business transactions. I will know more about this \u2014 and, as you said, that was very acceptable, and when you listen to that whole interview, it's a great interview, you said it, I didn't. Well, now I did. But... +p2035 +aVListen, just one second. Just one second. +p2036 +aVI will know... +p2037 +aV...I will know more about the problems of this world by the time I sit, and you look at what's going in this world right now by people that supposedly know, this world is a mess. +p2038 +aV +p2039 +aV I'm \u2014 and I'm meeting with people that are terrific people, but I have to say something because it's about judgment. I am the only person on this dais \u2014 the only person \u2014 that fought very, very hard against us (ph), and I wasn't a sitting politician going into Iraq, because I said going into Iraq \u2014 that was in 2003, you can check it out, check out \u2014 I'll give you 25 different stories. In fact, a delegation was sent to my office to see me because I was so vocal about it. I'm a very militaristic person, but you have to know when to use the military. I'm the only person up here that fought against going into Iraq. +p2040 +aVJust excuse me, one second, Rand... +p2041 +aVIf you don't mind, Rand \u2014 you know, you are on last \u2014 you do have your 1 percent. I would like \u2014 and I think it's very important. I think it's important, because it's about judgment. It's about judgment. I didn't want to go into Iraq, and I fought it, because what I said \u2014 what I said... +p2042 +aV... was you're going to \u2014 you're going to destabilize... +p2043 +aV... the Middle East, and that's what happened. +p2044 +aVIf you think about it... +p2045 +aVYour brother \u2014 and your brother's administration gave us Barack Obama, because it was such a disaster, those last three months, that Abraham Lincoln couldn't have been elected. +p2046 +aVI don't know. You feel safe right now? I don't feel so safe. +p2047 +aVOr the collapse of the economy. +p2048 +aVSpeaking for myself, I'm OK with it. I think there's a certain truth to it. I know people that, frankly, it has no impact on their life whatsoever. There are many people. I would almost say leave it up to them, but I would be willing to check it off, and say I will not get Social Security. I do not... +p2049 +aVAs a policy, I would almost leave it up to the people. Don't forget they pay in and they pay in, and maybe they do well, and maybe some people want it. But the fact is that there are people that truly don't need it, and there are many people that do need it very, very badly. And I would be willing to write mine off 100 percent, Dana. +p2050 +aVWell, I \u2014 I \u2014 I'd like to respond. +p2051 +aVI'd like to respond. +p2052 +aVAutism has become an epidemic. Twenty-five years ago, 35 years ago, you look at the statistics, not even close. It has gotten totally out of control. I am totally in favor of vaccines. But I want smaller doses over a longer period of time. Because you take a baby in \u2014 and I've seen it \u2014 and I've seen it, and I had my children taken care of over a long period of time, over a two or three year period of time. Same exact amount, but you take this little beautiful baby, and you pump \u2014 I mean, it looks just like it's meant for a horse, not for a child, and we've had so many instances, people that work for me. Just the other day, two years old, two and a half years old, a child, a beautiful child went to have the vaccine, and came back, and a week later got a tremendous fever, got very, very sick, now is autistic. I only say it's not \u2014 I'm in favor of vaccines, do them over a longer period of time, same amount. +p2053 +aVBut just in \u2014 in little sections. +p2054 +aVI think \u2014 and I think you're going to have \u2014 I think you're going to see a big impact on autism. +p2055 +aVAnd that's all I'm saying, Jake. That's all I'm saying. +p2056 +aVWell, because she's been sitting for three hours, I think my daughter, Ivanka, who's right here. +p2057 +aVOther than that we'll go with Rosa Parks. I like that. +p2058 +aVHumble. +p2059 +aVIf I become president, we will do something really special. We will make this country greater than ever before. We'll have more jobs. We'll have more of everything. We were discussing disease, we were discussing all sorts of things tonight, many of which will just be words, it will just pass on. I don't want to say politicians, all talk, no action. But a lot of what we talked about is words and it will be forgotten very quickly. If I'm president, many of the things that we discussed tonight will not be forgotten. We'll find solutions. And the world will respect us. They will respect us like never before. And it will be actually a friendlier world. And I have to say, it is a great honor to be here tonight. +p2060 +asVCHRISTIE +p2061 +(lp2062 +VThank you Wolf. America has been betrayed. We've been betrayed by the leadership that Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton have provided to this country over the last number of years. Think about just what's happened today. The second largest school district in America in Los Angeles closed based on a threat. Think about the effect that, that's going to have on those children when they go back to school tomorrow wondering filled with anxiety to whether they're really going to be safe. Think about the mothers who will take those children tomorrow morning to the bus stop wondering whether their children will arrive back on that bus safe and sound. Think about the fathers of Los Angeles, who tomorrow will head off to work and wonder about the safety of their wives and their children. What is Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton done to this country? That the most basic responsibility of an administration is to protect the safety and security of the American people. I will tell you this, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I've fought terrorists and won and when we get back in the White House we will fight terrorists and win again and America will be safe. +p2063 +aVWolf, unfortunately, it's the new normal under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The fact is that if you listen to Hillary Clinton the other day, what she said to the American people was, as regards to +p2064 +aVListen, I want to talk to the audience at home for a second. If your eyes are glazing over like mine, this is what it's like to be on the floor of the United States Senate. I mean, endless debates about how many angels on the head of a pin from people who've never had to make a consequential decision in an executive position. The fact is, for seven years, I had to make these decisions after 9/11, make a decision about how to proceed forward with an investigation or how to pull back, whether you use certain actionable intelligence or whether not to. And yet they continue to debate about this bill and in the subcommittee and what \u2014 nobody in America cares about that. What they care about is, are we going to have a president who actually knows what they're doing to make these decisions? And for the seven years afterwards, New Jersey was threatened like no other region in this country and what we did was we took action within the constitution to make sure that law enforcement had all the information they needed. We prosecuted two of the biggest terrorism cases in the world and stopped Fort Dix from being attacked by six American radicalized Muslims from a Mosque in New Jersey because we worked with the Muslim American community to get intelligence and we used the Patriot Act to get other intelligence to make sure we did those cases. This is the difference between actually been a federal prosecutor, actually doing something, and not just spending your life as one of hundred debating it. Let's talk about how we do this, not about which bill, which one these guys like more. The American people don't care about that. +p2065 +aVWolf, you sit up here and you listen to this stuff, and you think that so many of these people have had so much to do in this national debate, they talk like they were bystanders. You know, we talk about our military being degraded over time, and yet we've had folks on this stage who've been a part of Congress who have participated in sequester; who participated in the degrading of this military over time. And that's why I think people get so frustrated with Washington, D.C. now. That's why they're so angry with the \u2014 the electorate is so angry with everybody who is involved in government in Washington, D.C. Because if you listen to the folks up here, you think that they weren't even there; they had nothing to do with this. This is a difference between being a governor and being in a legislature. See, because when something doesn't work in New Jersey, they look at me, say: "Why didn't it get done? Why didn't you do it?" You have to be responsible and accountable. And so on +p2066 +aVWell, I think we have to focus, Hugh, on exactly what the priorities are. And to me, what I've always said is that the president has set up an awful situation through his deal with Iran, because what his deal with Iran has done is empower them and enrich them. And that's the way +p2067 +aVNot only would I be prepared to do it, I would do it. A no-fly zone means a no-fly zone, Wolf. That's what it means. See, maybe \u2014 maybe because I'm from New Jersey, I just have this kind of plain language hangup. But I would make very clear \u2014 I would not talk to Vladimir Putin. In fact, I would talk to Vladimir Putin a lot. But I'd say to him, "Listen, Mr. President, there's a no-fly zone in Syria; you fly in, it applies to you." And yes, we would shoot down the planes of Russian pilots if in fact they were stupid enough to think that this president was the same feckless weakling that the president we have in the Oval Office is right now. +p2068 +aVWell, Wolf, I'll tell you what reckless is. What reckless is is calling Assad a reformer. What reckless is allowing Russia to come into Crimea and Ukraine. What reckless is is inviting Russia into Syria to team with Iran. That is reckless. And the reckless people are the folks in the White House right now. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are the reckless people. And if you think that a no-fly zone is a reckless policy, you're welcome to your opinion. But how is it working so far? As we have 250,000 Syrians murdered, slaughtered; millions running around the world, running for their lives. It's not working. We need to try something else. And that is not reckless. +p2069 +aVWhat I say to Carla is that the first job of the president of the United States is to protect your safety and your security and the security and safety of your family. And this debate stops with me in the discussions with the FBI director. Now, listen, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I know Jim Comey. We've worked together. He was the U.S. attorney in Manhattan when I was a U.S. attorney in New Jersey. And when Jim Comey gets up before Congress and says, we cannot effectively vet these people, for me as president, that's the end of the conversation. We have to put America's security first. The American people \u2014 we on this stage need to open our ears. We need to open our ears. The American people are not whispering to us. They are screaming to us. And they're screaming to us that it's our job to actually make this government work. It's so dysfunctional under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. It's so ineffective. It's so ineffectual that the American people say, we don't trust them to do anything anymore. So I'm not going to let Syrian refugees, any Syrian refugees in this country. And it was widows and orphans, by the way, and we now know from watching the San Bernardino attack that women can commit heinous, heinous acts against humanity just the same as men can do it. And so I don't back away from that position for a minute. When the FBI director tells me that he can vet those people, then we'll consider it and not a moment before because your safety and security is what's most important to me. +p2070 +aVWell, what it would like is, we have one of the great advantages of America being the open society that we are. It is, we are not hiding things from the American people, but China everyday is conducting business in a way that hides things from their people. So if they want to come in and attack all the personnel records in the federal government, which they've done, and which \u2014 they now have my Social Security number and my fingerprints, as well as maybe some other folks' who are on this stage. The fact is, they need to be fought back on. And what we need to do is go at the things that they are most sensitive and most embarrassing to them; that they're hiding; get that information and put it out in public. Let the Chinese people start to digest how corrupt the Chinese government is; how they steal from the Chinese people; and how they're enriching oligarchs all throughout China. They need to understand that. And we need to take those type of steps. This president has seen personnel records of people who have sacrificed for the American people and for the federal government stolen by the Chinese and he's done nothing in return. This is why \u2014 this is what I said at the beginning that this administration, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton through their foreign policy, have betrayed the American people, because the weakness they've displayed has led to Putin's incursions in the Middle East and in eastern Europe, and has led \u2014 has led to significant problems in the Middle East as well, and the death and murder of lots of folks. +p2071 +aVOn September 10th, 2001, I was named chief federal prosecutor in New Jersey and on September 11th, 2001, my wife and my brother who are in the audience tonight went through the World Trade Center and to their offices just blocks away from the Trade Center. I lost touch with them for six hours that day and prayed that they were alive. Luckily, they were sent home. But many of our friends and others in our neighborhood lost their lives that day. Terrorism \u2014 radical jihadist terrorism is not theoretical to me. It's real. And for seven years, I spent my life protecting our country against another one of those attacks. You won't have to worry when I'm President of the Untied States whether that can be done because I've already done it. I want the chance to do it again to protect you, your children and your families. If you give me the chance and give me your vote I will protect America from the wars that are being brought to our door step. +p2072 +aVI don't see a lot of weakness on this stage, quite frankly. Where I see the weakness is in those three people that are left on the Democratic stage. You know, I see a socialist, an isolationist and a pessimist. And for the sake of me, I can't figure out which one is which. But I will \u2014 but I will tell you this, the socialist says they're going to pay for everything and give you everything for free, except they don't say they're going to raise it through taxes to 90 percent to do it. The isolationist is the one who wants to continue to follow a foreign policy that has fewer democracies today than when Barack Obama came into office around the world. But I know who the pessimist is. It's Hillary Clinton. And you put me on that stage against her next September, she won't get within 10 miles of the White House. Take it to the bank. +p2073 +aVWell, I wish you would have asked that question years ago when they broke it. I mean, let me be honest with the people who are watching at home. The government has lied to you and they have stolen from you. They told you that your Social Security money is in a trust fund. All that's in that trust fund is a pile of IOUs for money they spent on something else a long time ago. And they've stolen from you because now they know they cannot pay these benefits and Social Security is going to be insolvent in seven to eight years. We're sitting up here talking about all these other things; 71 percent of federal spending today is on entitlements, and debt service. And, that's with zero percent interest rates. Now, I'm the only person that's put out a detailed plan on how to deal with entitlements. And we'll save a trillion dollars over the next 10 years. And, here's the difference between me and Hillary Clinton. What Hillary Clinton's going to say, and has said before is, she wants to raise Social Security taxes. Now, let me ask you a question everybody, and, this is for the guy, you know, who owns a landscaping business out there. If somebody's already stolen money from you, are you going to give them more? Or, are you going to deal with the problem by saying, I'm going to give people who've done well in this country less benefit on the backend. We need to get realistic about this. We're not \u2014 the American people \u2014 forget about anything else, they've already been lied to and stolen from. And... +p2074 +aV...I'm going to go to Washington to stop it... +p2075 +aV...The only way we're going to be morale, the only way we're going to keep our promise to seniors is start by following the first rule we should all follow, which is to look at them, treat them like adults, and tell them the truth. It isn't there anymore, Mike. They stole it. It got stolen from them. It's not theirs anymore. The government stole it, and spent it a long time ago... +p2076 +aVSo, let's stop fooling around about this, let's tell people the truth. For once, let's do that, and stop trying to give them some kind of fantasy that's never going to come true. +p2077 +aVYou bet they do. And if I were the prosecutor, that is exactly where they would be. The fact is that this Justice Department under this president has been a political Justice Department. It has been a Justice Department that decided that they want to pick who the winners and losers are. They like General Motors, so they give them a pass. They don't like somebody else like David Petraeus, they prosecute them and send a decorated general on to disgrace. It's a political Justice Department. And, Jim, you know full well that in the seven years I was U.S. attorney we went after pharmaceutical companies. We went after companies that were ripping off shareholders. We went after companies that were doing things that were against the law. And to expand on Mr. Carson's \u2014 or Dr. Carson's question, let's face it, we have laws already. We don't need newer (ph) laws. We don't need Hillary Clinton's price controls for \u2014 again, does anybody out there think that giving Washington, D.C., the opportunity to run the pharmaceutical industry is a good idea, given how well they have done running the government? So what we do, though, is, if there is somebody who is price- gouging, we have laws for prosecutors to take that on. Let's let a Justice Department \u2014 and I will make an attorney general who will enforce the law and make justice more than just a word. It will be a way of life. +p2078 +aVJohn, I'll tell you something. You want to talk about moral authority. Let's talk about something that happened this week in the news. You know, the FBI director, the president's appointed FBI director has said this week that because of a lack of support from politicians like the president of the United States, that police officers are afraid to get out of their cars; that they're afraid to enforce the law. And he says, the president's appointee, that crime is going up because of this. And when the president of the United States gets out to speak about it, does he support police officers? Does he stand up for law enforcement? No, he doesn't. I'll tell you this, the number one job of the president of the United States is to protect the safety and security of the American people. This president has failed, and when I'm in the Oval Office, police officers will know that they will have the support of the president of the Untied States. That's real moral authority that we need in the Oval Office. +p2079 +aVCarl, are we really talking about getting government involved in fantasy football? We have \u2014 wait a second, we have $19 trillion in debt. We have people out of work. We have +p2080 +aVWell, first off, what we don't do is do what Hillary Clinton and John Kerry and Barack Obama want us to do, which is their solution for everything, put more taxes on it, give more money to Washington, D.C., and then they will fix it. Well, there is no evidence that they can fix anything in Washington, D.C. +p2081 +aVWhat we should do is to be investing in all types of energy, John, all types of energy. I've laid out... +p2082 +aVNo, John. John, do you want me to answer or do you want to answer? How are we going to do this? Because, I've got to tell you the truth, even in New Jersey what you're doing is called rude. So... We've laid out a national energy plan that says that we should invest in all types of energy. I will tell you, you could win a bet at a bar tonight, since we're talking about fantasy football, if you ask who the top three states in America are that produce solar energy: California and Arizona are easy, but number three is New Jersey. Why? Because we work with the private sector to make solar energy affordable and available to businesses and individuals in our state. We need to make sure that we do everything across all kinds of energy: natural gas, oil, absolutely. But also where it's affordable, solar, wind in Iowa has become very affordable and it makes sense. That is the way we deal with global warming, climate change, or any of those problems, not through government intervention, not through government taxes, and for God's sake, don't send Washington another dime until they stop wasting the money they're already sending there. +p2083 +aVAnd \u2014 and \u2014 and I \u2014 you know, Ben is absolutely right in saying that what we don't need to do is to send more money to Washington, D.C. to fix this problem. And that's what you'll hear from Hillary Clinton \u2014 and I've already heard from her \u2014 is that, send more money in Social Security, send more money in Medicare taxes, send more money for Medicaid, and that's gonna solve the problem. What we know is we're living longer. That's a blessing. It's a blessing that we're living longer, so we have to increase the retirement age to reflect that blessing. We need to make sure that people understand, as Jeb said before, that if you've done extraordinarily well in this country, do you want them to take more out of your taxes now and think they're gonna give it back to you later? Or would you rather take less later on? +p2084 +aVI want to talk to the folks at home. I want to ask you: Are you fed up with how Washington taxes you? Are you fed up with how Washington wastes your money? Are you concerned like I am that the debt and deficits of Washington, D.C. are endangering America's future? I've got one more question for you then. Are you serious about this election? Because if you are, you need to elect someone who's deadly serious about changing this culture. I am deadly serious about changing this culture. I changed it in New Jersey. I'm deadly serious about doing this job the right way. I'm prepared. I'm tested. I'm ready. And I want to make this our government. For the people who say we can't do it, I say hell no, we can do it together. +p2085 +aVHi, my name is Chris Christie, and I'd like to you take the camera off me and put it on the audience because I'd like to ask all of you, how many of you, raise your hand, believe that in today's Barak Obama America your children will have a better life than you've had? You see? That's why I'm running for President. because leadership is not about me, it's about our country. And, what we talk about tonight, it's not about us, it's about the people in the audience tonight, because in seven short years this president has stripped away their trust, and their faith, and their belief that the next generation will have a better life. He's stolen that from us, and when I'm president, I'm going to take it back. +p2086 +aVWell, I know Ben wasn't talking about me, I'm sure he was talking about one of the other guys, not me. As far as being an outsider is concerned \u2014 as far as being an outsider is concerned, let me tell you this, Jake, I'm a Republican in New Jersey. I wake up every morning as an outsider. I wake up every morning with a Democratic legislature who trying to beat my head in and fight me because I'm trying to bring conservative change to a state that needed it desperately. And so, everyone can talk us here about their credentials. But the bottom line is, every morning I get up, I veto 400 bills from a crazy liberal Democratic legislature, not one of them has been overridden. I've vetoed more tax increases than any governor in American history, according to Americans for Tax Reform. What folks want in this country is somebody to go down there and get the job done. And that's exactly what I'll do. So, I know this much, that what the American people want to hire right now is somebody who believes in them. And believes that they are the ones who can fix our country. I will be the vessel through which they can fix this country, but it's not about me. It's about all of you. And getting this government off your back and out of your way, and letting you succeed. I know Ben wasn't talking about me. +p2087 +aVLook at him smiling at me right now. I know Ben didn't mean it about me. One of these other guys, I'm sure. +p2088 +aVBe honest, Ben, be honest. +p2089 +aVSee, Jake, it wasn't me. +p2090 +aVI was \u2014 +p2091 +aVShe is, and so if she, based on conscience, can't sign that \u2014 that marriage license, then there should be someone in her office to be able to do it, and if the law needs to be changed in the state of Kentucky, which is what she's advocating, it should be changed. +p2092 +aVAnd why don't we do the same thing with Planned Parenthood? +p2093 +aVWe elected a Republican Congress to do this. And they should be doing it, and they're not. And they're giving the president a pass. +p2094 +aVI put it in the list, Dana. We should be doing these things and forcing the president to take action. +p2095 +aVLet's force him to do what he says he's going to do. Now I don't know whether he'll do it or not, but let's force him to do it. +p2096 +aVFirst of, Jake, I don't yield to anybody on how to enforce the law. I'm the only person on this stage who spent seven years as a United States Attorney after September 11th, and I know how to do this. The fact is though that for 15,000 people a day to be deported every day for two years is an undertaking that almost none of us could accomplish given the current levels of funding, and the current number of law enforcement officers. Here's what we need to do, and I think this is where Donald is absolutely right. What we need to do is to secure our border, and we need to do it with more than just a wall. We need to use electronics, we need to use drones, we need to use FBI, DEA, and ATF, and yes, we need to take the fingerprint of every person who comes into this country on a visa, and when they overstay their visa, we need to tap them on the shoulder, and say, "You have overstayed your welcome, you're taking advantage of the American people. It's time for you to go." If we had that kind of system in place, we wouldn't have the 11 million people we have now. +p2097 +aVJake listen. While I'm as entertained as anyone by this personal back-and-forth about the history of Donald and Carly's career, for the 55-year-old construction worker out in that audience tonight who doesn't have a job, who can't fund his child's education, I've got to tell you the truth. They could care less about your careers, they care about theirs. Let's start talking about that on this stage and stop playing \u2014 and stop playing the games. Stop playing \u2014 +p2098 +aVJohn \u2014 I'm not done yet, John. +p2099 +aVStop \u2014 and stop playing \u2014 and Carly \u2014 Carly, listen. You can interrupt everybody else on this stage, you're not going to interrupt me, OK? The fact is that we don't want to hear about your careers, back and forth and volleying back and forth about who did well and who did poorly. You're both successful people. Congratulations. You know who's not successful? The middle class in this country who's getting plowed over by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Let's start talking about those issues tonight and stop this childish back-and-forth between the two of you. +p2100 +aVListen, you know, Hugh, it's an important point. And the question is, who is going to prosecute Hillary Clinton? The Obama White House seems to have in interest, the Justice Department seems to have no interest. I think it's time to put a former federal prosecutor on the same stage as Hillary Clinton. And I will prosecute her during those debates on that stage for the record we're talking about here. The fact she had a private email server in her basement, using national security secrets running through it, could have been hacked by the Russians, the Chinese, or two 18-year-olds on a toot (ph) wanting to have some fun. No one is answering that question from the Hillary Clinton campaign... +p2101 +aVYou know why? Because she knows she's wrong, and she cannot look in the mirror at herself, and she cannot tell the American people the truth. +p2102 +aVWell, Jake, I was named U.S. attorney by President Bush on September 10th, 2001. And that next day my wife Mary Pat did what she did every day, she traveled through the World Trade Center and went to her office two blocks from the World Trade Center. And after those planes hit, for five-and-a-half-hours after that, I couldn't reach her, didn't know whether she was dead or alive, and we had three children at the time, 8, 5 and 1. And I had to confront what so many thousands of others in my region had to confront, the idea I might become a single parent, the idea that my life and my children's life might be changed forever. We lost friends that day. We went to the funerals. And I will tell you that what those people wanted and what they deserved was for America to answer back against what had been done to them. And I support what President Bush did at that time, going into Afghanistan, hunting al Qaeda and its leaders, getting its sanctuary out of place, and making it as difficult around the world for them to move people and money. And then he went to prosecutors like us, and he said, never again. Don't prosecute these people after the crime is committed. Intervene before the crime happens. I absolutely believe that what the president did at the time was right. And I am proud to have been one of the people on the stage who was part of making sure that what Governor Bush said before was the truth. America was safe for those seven years and Barack Obama has taken that safety away from us. +p2103 +aVLet me say this, Jake, is that while that may have been a fine idea that Dr. Carson had, these people were out to kill us. I stood in that region with my family, and every time a plane went overhead in the weeks after that, people's heads jerked to the sky because they thought it was happening again. You do not need to go through subtle diplomacy at that point. That could be handled later on. What you need is a strong American leader who will take the steps that are necessary to protect our nation. That's what I would do as commander-in-chief in this circumstance. And that's what President George W. Bush did in 2001. +p2104 +aVJake, you brought my issue up. +p2105 +aVYou know, I enjoy the interplay. Thank you, gentlemen. I'll just say this, first off, New Jersey is the first state in the nation that now says if you are non-violent, non-dealing drug user, that you don't go to jail for your first offense. You go to mandatory treatment. You see, Jake, I'm pro-life. And I think you need to be pro-life for more than just the time in the womb. It gets tougher when they get out of the womb. And when they're the 16-year-old drug addict in the Florida county lockup, that life is just as precious as the life in the womb. And so, that's why I'm for rehabilitation, why I think the war on drugs has been a failure. But I'll end with this. That doesn't mean we should be legalizing gate way drugs. And if Senator Paul thinks that the only victim is the person, look at the decrease in productivity, look at the way people get used and move on to other drugs when they use marijuana as a gateway drug, it is not them that are the only victims. Their families are the victims too, their children are the victims too, and their employers are the victims also. That's why I'll enforce the federal law, while you can still put an emphasis on rehabilitation, which we've done in New Jersey. +p2106 +aVAnd Senator Paul knows that that's simply not the truth. In New Jersey, we have medical marijuana laws, which I supported and implemented. This is not medical marijuana. There's goes as much \u2014 a further step beyond. This is recreational use of marijuana. This is much different. And so, while he would like to use a sympathetic story to back up his point, it doesn't work. I'm not against medical marijuana. We do it in New Jersey. But I'm against the recreational use against marijuana. If he wants to change the federal law, get Congress to pass the law to change it, and get a president to sign it. +p2107 +aVNo, it's not. But with Donald, it's a good start. That's really good. No, listen. This is an issue that \u2014 that we've gotta talk about, and we haven't talked about yet. 71 percent of all federal spending is on entitlements and debt service. When John Kennedy was elected president in 1960, it was 26 percent. Harvard and Dartmouth says that Social Security's going to go insolvent in seven to eight years. So what I say is very simple. We need to save this program for the good people out there who have paid into the system and need it. And if that means making sure that folks like Donald and many of us on the stage don't get it, that's the right thing to do because here's what Hillary Clinton is going to want to do. She's going to want to put more money into a system that has already lied to us and stolen from us. This government doesn't need more money to make Social Security solvent. We need to be not paying out benefits to people who don't really need it. We need to protect the people who Social Security means the difference between picking between heat and rent and food. That's why I put out the proposal and that's the people I'm trying to... +p2108 +aVI don't think Senator Rubio is a skeptic of climate change. I think what Senator Rubio said I agree with. That in fact we don't need this massive government intervention to deal with the problem. Look at what we have done in New Jersey. We have already reached our clean air goals for 2020. And when I was governor, I pulled out of the regional cap and trade deal, the only state in the Northeast that did that. And we still reached our goals. Why? Because 53 percent of our electricity comes from nuclear. We use natural gas. We use solar power. We're the third-highest- using solar power state. You know why? Because we made all of those things economically feasible. I agree with Marco. We shouldn't be destroying our economy in order to chase some wild left-wing idea that somehow us by ourselves is going to fix the climate. We can contribute to that and be economically sound. We have proven we can do that in New Jersey. Nuclear needs to be back on the table in a significant way in this country if we want to go after this problem. +p2109 +aVI understand. No, no, listen, everybody makes a mistake every once in a while, Jake, even George Shultz. And if that's truly a representation of what he believes we should be doing, then with all due respect to the former secretary of state, I disagree with him. +p2110 +aVI think the Adams family has been shorted in the currency business. Our country wouldn't be here without John Adams, and he would not have been able to do it without Abigal Adams, so, I'd put Abigail Adams on the bill. +p2111 +aVYou know, I've been called a lot of names by a lot of different people, and now I got to get called by names by the Secret Service? I would just say True Heart. +p2112 +aVI turned 18 in 1980, and my first vote was for Ronald Reagan. Boy, am I glad I did it. And I think the country is, too. A Christie presidency won't be about me. It will be about you. Tonight, you sit at home in your living room, frustrated that you play by the rules, you pay the taxes, you do the hard things to raise your family, yet you feel like America's generosity is being taken advantage of. That you've been \u2014 system is being gamed, and that you're turning out to fall further and further behind. Our presidency \u2014 our presidency \u2014 will be about ending that, about enforcing the law, level the playing field for everybody, and once again reward those folks who play by the rules, and think that justice means more than just the word. But it means a way of life. And I will tell you this, around the world, I will not shake hands with, I will not meet with, and I will not agree to anything with a country that says death to us and death to Israel and holds our hostages while we sign agreements with them. It will be an America that be strong and resolute, and will once again be able to stick out its chest and say, "we truly are the greatest nation in the world, because we live our lives that way, each and every day." +p2113 +asVCARSON +p2114 +(lp2115 +VThank you, Wolf. Please join me for a moment of silence and remembrance of the San Bernardino victims. Thank you. You know, our country since its inception has been at war, every 15 or 20 years. But the war that we are fighting now against radical Islamist jihadists is one that we must win. Our very existence is dependent upon that. You know, as a pediatric neurosurgeon, I frequently faced life and death situations, and had to come up with the right diagnosis, the right plan, and execute that plan frequently with other colleagues. Right now, the United States of America is the patient. And the patient is in critical condition and will not be cured by political correctness and will not be cured by timidity. And I am asking the Congress, which represents the people, to declare a war on +p2116 +aVFirst of all, let me just complain a little bit. This is the first time I've spoken and several people have had multiple questions so please try to pay attention to that. Now, as far as monitoring is concerned, what my point is, we need to make sure that any place \u2013 I don't care whether it's a mosque, a school, a supermarket, a theater, you know it doesn't matter. If there are a lot of people getting there and engaging in radicalizing activities then we need to be suspicious of it. We have to get rid of all this PC stuff. And people are worried about if somebody's going to say that I'm Islamophobic or what have you. This is craziness because we are at war. That's why I asked congress, go ahead and declare the war . We need to be on a war footing. We need to understand that our nation is in grave danger. You know, what the Muslim Brotherhood said in the explanatory memorandum that was discovered during the Holy Land Foundation Trial was that, "they will take advantage of our PC attitude to get us. :" We have to be better than this. We have to be smarter than they are. +p2117 +aVI think you have to ask them about that. I don't want to get in between them. Let them fight. +p2118 +aVNeurosurgeon. +p2119 +aVWell, interestingly enough, you should see the eyes of some of those children when I say to them we're going to have to open your head up and take out this tumor. They're not happy about it, believe me. And they don't like me very much at that point. But later on, they love me. Sometimes you \u2014 I sound like him. You know, later on, you know, they really realize what's going on. And by the same token, you have to be able to look at the big picture and understand that it's actually merciful if you go ahead and finish the job, rather than death by 1,000 pricks. +p2120 +aVYou got it. You got it. +p2121 +aVRuthless is not necessarily the word I would use, but tough, resolute, understanding what the problems are, and understanding that the job of the president of the United States is to protect the people of this country and to do what is necessary in order to get it done. +p2122 +aVFirst of all, I've been talking about this for over a year. We have to destroy their caliphate because that gives them legitimacy to go ahead with the global Jihad. We have to take their energy because they are \u2014 +p2123 +aVNo one is ever better off with dictators but there comes a time you know, when you're on an airplane, they always say, "in case of an emergency oxygen masks will drop down. Put yours on first and then administer help to your neighbor." We need oxygen right now. And we need to start thinking about the needs of the American people before we go and solve everybody else's problems. The fact of the matter is, is that the Middle East has been in turmoil for thousands of years. For us to think that we're going to in there and fix that with a couple of little bombs and a few little decorations is relatively foolish. +p2124 +aVWell, you know, there's a false narrative that only the political class has the wisdom and the ability to be commander-in- chief. But if you go back and you study the design of our country, it was really designed for the citizen statesman. And we need to be talking about where does your experience come from? You know, and I've had a lot of experience building things, organizing things, you know, a national scholarship program. One of the things that you'll notice if you look through my life is that I don't do a lot of talking. I do a lot of doing. And really, it says more about a person than how much they talk. And then some people say you're weak because, you know, you're not loud and you're not boisterous and you're not rude. But the fact of the matter is, look and see what I've done. And that speaks volumes about strength. +p2125 +aVWell, it was very interesting having an opportunity to talk to the Syrians themselves. And I asked them: What do you want? What is your supreme desire? Their supreme desire was to be settled back in their own country. I said, "What can Americans and other countries do?" They said, "Support the efforts of those who are trying to provide safety for us, including the Jordanians." Of course, they had a brand new hospital, for instance, that was unstaffed because there wasn't enough money to do it. But here's what's really neat. If you go into Hasakah province in northeast Syria, that's an area that's as big as Lebanon. It's controlled by the Kurds, the Christians and the moderate Sunnis. And there are airstrips and hotels. You could settle a lot of people there. All we would have to do is be willing to provide them with some weaponry, some defensive weaponry. And we seem to be afraid to give the Kurds weaponry. We like to send it for some strange reason through Baghdad, and then they only get a tenth of it. And if we would support them, we'd have a perfect ideal there. We don't need to set this up as we either take a bunch of refugees who will be infiltrated with terrorists, I guarantee you. For them not to be would be terrorist malpractice. And we need to \u2014 to choose the right choice, not these false choices. +p2126 +aVWell, I definitely believe that he is unstable, and I do, in fact, believe that China has a lot more influence with him than we do. But we also recognize that North Korea is in severe financial straits, and they have decided to use their resources to build their military, rather than to feed their people and to take care of the various humanitarian responsibilities that they have. We can capitalize upon that. You know, we should use our economic power in lots of different ways. I think we can use that in order to keep Putin contained, because he is a one-horse show. Energy. And we have an abundance of energy, but we have archaic energy exportation rules. We need to get rid of those, allow ourselves to really make Europe dependent on us and other parts of the world dependent on us for energy. Put him back in his little box where he belongs. And, you know, we need to be doing lots of other things with the resources that we have. So economic power works just as well as military power, perhaps even better. And speaking of that, our Military needs to be upgraded. You know, you look at things like our Ohio Class submarines, they're 25 years old. Our minuteman 3 missiles \u2014 they are 34 years old. Our B-52 bombers \u2014 50 years old. You know, if we don't get the military right nothing else matters. +p2127 +aVWell, you know, the statement that I made last week, that I would leave the party was contingent upon whether in fact the party acts like they have in the past with a lot of subterfuge and dishonesty, or like they're going act now because I spike to Reince Priebus, and he assured me that the Washington Post writer had it all wrong, and that they're not be engaging in anything to thwart the will of the people. That's why I got into this race, as a member of we the people, to try bring some honesty and integrity back to the process. +p2128 +aVI've been fortunate enough to travel to 58 different countries and I thank God everyday that I was born in this country. The most exceptional country that the world has ever known. And I want to make sure that we preserve that exceptionalism for the next generation. My mother told me if I work hard and I really believed in American principles and I believed in God, anything is possible. I believe that is true, and that's why I'm not anxious to give away American values and principles for the sake of political correctness. +p2129 +aVWell, first of all, delighted to be here. My family's here, and my little granddaughter, who's three years old, said she wanted to come to the debate. So this is very cool. As far as the minimum wage is concerned, people need to be educated on the minimum wage. Every time we raise the minimum wage, the number of jobless people increases. It's particularly a problem in the black community. Only 19.8 percent of black teenagers have a job, who are looking for one. You know, that \u2014 and that's because of those high wages. If you lower those wages, that comes down. You know, I can remember, as a youngster \u2014 you know, my first job working in a laboratory as a lab assistant, and multiple other jobs. But I would not have gotten those jobs if someone had to pay me a large amount of money. But what I did gain from those jobs is a tremendous amount of experience, and how to operate in the world and how to relate to different people, and how to become a responsible individual. And that's what gave me what I needed to ascend the ladder of opportunity in this country. That's what we need to be thinking about. How do we allow people to ascend the ladder of opportunity, rather than how do we give them everything and keep them dependent? +p2130 +aVI would not raise it. I would not raise it, specifically because I'm interested in making sure that people are able to enter the job market and take advantage of opportunities. +p2131 +aVWell, first of all, thank you not asking me what I said in the 10th grade. I appreciate that. +p2132 +aVThe fact of the matter is, you know, what \u2014 we should vet all candidates. I have no problem with being vetted. What I do have a problem with is being lied about and then putting that out there as truth. And I don't even mind that so much, if they do it about \u2014 with everybody, like people on the other side. But, you know, when I look at somebody like Hillary Clinton, who sits there and tells her daughter and a government official that no, this was a terrorist attack, and then tells everybody else that it was a video. Where I came from, they call that a lie. And... I think that's very different from, you know, somebody misinterpreting, when I said that I was offered a scholarship to West Point, that is the words that they used. But, I've had many people come and say the same thing to me. That is what people do in those situations. We have to start treating people the same, and finding out what people really think and what they're made of. People who know me know that I'm an honest person. +p2133 +aVWell, you know, when I say tithing, I'm talking about the concept of proportionality. +p2134 +aVEverybody should pay the same proportion of what they make. You make $10 billion, you pay a billion. You make $10, you pay one. You get same rights and privileges. I don't see how anything gets a whole lot fairer than that. But you also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes because that is the thing that tilts it in one direction or another. And you have to set the rate at an appropriate level. Now I will say that, there are a lot of people who say, if you get rid of the deductions, you ruin the American dream because, you know, home mortgage deduction. But the fact of the matter is, people had homes before 1913 when we introduced the federal income tax, and later after that started deductions. And they say there will be no more charitable giving. We had churches before that and charitable organizations before that. The fact of the matter is, I believe if you put more money in people's pockets that they will actually be more generous rather than less generous. And it's... ... the money that they earned. And, the other thing is, I do care about the poor people. And in the system that we're putting together, there will be a rebate for people at the poverty level. But I also want to emphasize the fact that as we get the economy moving, and I hope I get a question about how do we get the economy moving, there will be a lot more opportunities for poor people not to be poor people because this is America. This is the land of dreams. And our policies should be aimed at allowing people to realize that dream. +p2135 +aVWell, putting the special ops people in there is better than not having them there, because they \u2014 that's why they're called special ops, they're actually able to guide some of the other things that we're doing there. And what we have to recognize is that Putin is trying to really spread his influence throughout the Middle East. This is going to be his base. And we have to oppose him there in an effective way. We also must recognize that it's a very complex place. You know, the Chinese are there, as well as the Russians, and you have all kinds of factions there. What we've been doing so far is very ineffective, but we can't give up ground right there. But we have to look at this on a much more global scale. We're talking about global jihadists. And their desire is to destroy us and to destroy our way of life. So we have to be saying, how do we make them look like losers? Because that's the way that they're able to gather a lot of influence. And I think in order to make them look like losers, we have to destroy their caliphate. And you look for the easiest place to do that? It would be in Iraq. And if \u2014 outside of Anbar in Iraq, there's a big energy field. Take that from them. Take all of that land from them. We could do that, I believe, fairly easily, I've learned from talking to several generals, and then you move on from there. But you have to continue to face them, because our goal is not to contain them, but to destroy them before they destroy us. +p2136 +aVWell, I think we should have policies that don't allow them to just enlarge themselves at the expense of smaller entities. And certainly some of the policies, some of the monetary and Fed policies that we're using makes it very easy for them, makes it very easy for the big corporations, quite frankly, at these very low interest rates to buy back their stock and to drive the price of that up artificially. Those are the kinds of things that led to the problem in the first place. And I think this all really gets back to this whole regulation issue which is creating a very abnormal situation. This country was \u2014 declared its independence in 1776. In less than 100 years, it was the number-one economic power in the world. And the reason was because we had an atmosphere that encouraged entrepreneurial risk- taking and capital investment. Those are the fuels that drive it. And what we've done now is let the creep of regulation turn into a stampede of regulations, which is involved in every aspect of our lives. If we can get that out, it makes a big difference. And even for the average person, every single regulation costs money. And it's shifted to the individual. So \u2014 and it hurts the poor and the middle class much more than it does the rich. They go into the store and they buy a bar of soap, it costs 10 cents more, they notice it. And the middle class, when they come to the cash register, have a whole cart full of things that cost 5, 10 or 15 cents more, they notice it. It is hurting the poor. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton won't tell you that that's the thing that's really hurting middle class in the core. They'll say it's the rich, take their money, but that won't help. You can take all of the rich's money and it won't make a dent in the problem that we're having. We have to come back to the fundamental principles that made America great. +p2137 +aVI would have policies that wouldn't allow that to occur. I don't want to go in and tear anybody down. I mean, that doesn't help us. But what does help us is stop tinkering around the edges and fix the actual problems that exist that are creating the problem in the first place. +p2138 +aVIn the two hours of this \u2014 of this debate, five people have died from drug-related deaths, $100 million has been added to our national debt, 200 babies have been killed by abortionists, and two veterans have taken their lives out of despair. This is a narrative that we can change, not we the Democrats, not we the Republicans, but we the people of America, because there is something special about this nation, and we must embrace it and be proud of it and never give it away for the sake of political correctness. +p2139 +aVProbably in terms of the applying for the job of president, a weakness would be not really seeing myself in that position until hundreds of thousands of people began to tell me that I needed to do it. I do, however, believe in Reagan's 11th commandment, and will not be engaging in awful things about my compatriots here. And recognizing that it's so important, this election, because we're talking about America for the people versus America for the government. +p2140 +aVWell, first of all, I didn't say that the rate would be 10 percent. I used the tithing analogy. +p2141 +aVThe rate \u2014 the rate \u2014 the rate is gonna be much closer to 15 percent. +p2142 +aVYou also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes. You also have to some strategically cutting in several places. Remember, we have 645 federal agencies and sub-agencies. Anybody who tells me that we need every penny and every one of those is in a fantasy world. So, also, we can stimulate the economy. That's gonna be the real growth engine. Stimulating the economy \u2014 because it's tethered down right now with so many regulations... +p2143 +aVThat's not true. +p2144 +aVWhen \u2014 when we put all the facts down, you'll be able to see that it's not true, it works out very well. +p2145 +aVSince I was attacked too. +p2146 +aVLet me just say, if you're talking about an $18 trillion economy, you're talking about a 15 percent tax on your gross domestic product. You're talking about $2.7 trillion. We have a budget closer to $3.5 trillion. But if you also apply that same 15 percent to several other things, including corporate taxes, and including the capital gains taxes, you make that amount up pretty quickly. So that is not by any stretch a pie in the sky. +p2147 +aVWell, there is no question that some people go overboard when it comes to trying to make profits, and they don't take into consideration the American people. What we have to start thinking about, as leaders, particularly in government, is what can we do for the average American? And you think about the reasons that we're having such difficulty right now with our job market. Well, the average small manufacturer, whatever they're manufacturing, drugs or anything, if they have less than 50 employees, the average cost in terms of regulations is $34,000 per employee. Makes it a whole lot easier for them to want to go somewhere else. So what we're going to have to start doing instead of, you know, picking on this group or this group, is we're going to have to have a major reduction in the regulatory influence that is going on. The government is not supposed to be in every part of our lives, and that is what is causing the problem. +p2148 +aVWell, obviously, you don't understand my views on homosexuality. I believe that our Constitution protects everybody, regardless of their sexual orientation or any other aspect. I also believe that marriage is between one man and one woman. And there is no reason that you can't be perfectly fair to the gay community. They shouldn't automatically assume that because you believe that marriage is between one man and one woman that you are a homophobe. And this is one of the myths that the left perpetrates on our society, and this is how they frighten people and get people to shut up. You know, that's what the PC culture is all about, and it's destroying this nation. The fact of the matter is we the American people are not each other's enemies, it's those people who are trying to divide us who are the enemies. And we need to make that very clear to everybody. +p2149 +aVWell, that's easy to answer. I didn't have an involvement with them. That is total propaganda, and this is what happens in our society. Total propaganda. I did a couple of speeches for them, I do speeches for other people. They were paid speeches. It is absolutely absurd to say that I had any kind of a relationship with them. Do I take the product? Yes. I think it's a good product. +p2150 +aVIf somebody put me on their homepage, they did it without my permission. +p2151 +aVNo, it speaks to the fact that I don't know those \u2014 See? They know. +p2152 +aVWell, first of all, I was wrong about taking the oil subsidy. I have studied that issue in great detail. And what I have concluded is that the best policy is to get rid of all government subsidies, and get the government out of our lives, and let people rise and fall based on how good they are. And \u2014 you know, all of this too big to fail stuff and picking and choosing winners and losers \u2014 this is a bunch of crap, and it is really causing a great deal of \u2014 great deal of problems for our society right now. And \u2014 and \u2014 you know, it goes back to the whole concept of regulations, which are in everything. The reason that I \u2014 I hate them so much is because every single regulation costs in terms of goods and services. That cost gets passed on to the people. Now, who are the people who are hurt by that? It's poor people and middle class. Doesn't hurt rich people if their bar of soap goes up ten cents, but it hurts the poor and the middle class. And Bernie Sanders will tell them that it's because of the rich. Well, I'll tell you something: you can take everything from the top 1 percent, and you apply it to our fiscal gap, and you won't even make a dent in it. +p2153 +aVAbout Medicare? +p2154 +aVWell, first of all the \u2014 the plan gives people the option of \u2014 of opting out. But I think they will see a very good option here. You know, the annual Medicare budget is over $600 billion. And there are 48 million people involved \u2014 40 million, 65 and over, and 8 million other. Divide that out. That comes out to $12,500 for each one. Now, I can tell you there are a lot of private-sector things that you could do with $12,500, which will get you a lot more than you get from this government program. And that's really a theme of a lot of the things that I'm talking about. How do we utilize our intellect rather than allowing the government to use its, quote, "intellect," in order to help us to be able to live healthier and better lives? It was never intended that the government should be in every aspect of our lives. This is a country that is of, for and by the people. +p2155 +aVI just want to thank all my colleagues here for being civil, and not falling for the traps. And, I also just want to thank the audience for being attentive, and noticing the questions, and the noticing the answers. And, this is what I am finding throughout America. People are waking up because it is going to be us who will determine the direction of our country. And, it was made for we the people, we are the ones who decide who we are, and we should never give away the values and principles that made America into a great nation for the sake of political correctness. +p2156 +aVHi, I'm Ben Carson, and I'm a retired pediatric neurosurgeon. I'm here with my wife, Candy, of 40 years, and two of my sons, and their wives. I stress the pediatric part of my career because the reason that I've gotten involved in this race is because I'm very concerned about the future of our children, and the direction of our country is one that does not portend well, unless we, the people, intervene and retake our rightful place at the pinnacle. +p2157 +aVTypically, politicians do things that are politically expedient. And they are looking for whatever their particular goal is. That is not the reason that I have gotten into this thing. I'm extraordinary concerned about the direction of this country, the divisiveness that is going on, fiscal irresponsibility, the failure to take a leadership position in the world. All of those things will lead to a situation where the next generation will not have a chance that we've had now. So I don't \u2014 I don't want to really get into describing who's a politician and who's not a politician, but I think the people have kind of made that decision for themselves already, and will continue to do so as time goes on. +p2158 +aVJake, can I say something about that? +p2159 +aVYou know, when I entered this race, all the political pundits said it's impossible; you can't do it because you're not connected with the money. And there's no way that you can raise what you need in order to compete successfully. I in no way am willing to get in the bed with special interest group or lick the boots of billionaires. I have said to the people if they want me to do this, please get involved. And we now have over 500,000 donations, and the money is coming in. But the pundits forgot about one thing, and that is the people. And they are really in charge. +p2160 +aVWell, first of all, I recognize that we have an incredible illegal immigration problem. I was down in Arizona a few weeks ago at the border. I mean, the fences that were there were not manned, and those are the kind of fences when I was a kid that would barely slow us down. So, I don't see any purpose in having that. Now, what we need to do is look at something that actually works. Yuma County, Arizona. They stop 97 percent of the illegal immigrants through there. They put in a double fence with a road so that there was quick access by the enforcement people. If we don't seal the border, the rest of this stuff clearly doesn't matter. It's kind of ridiculous all the other things we talk about. We have the ability to do it, we don't have the will to do it. There was one area where they had cut a hole in the fence, and to repair it, they put a few strands of barb wire across. Well, the photographers who were there with us, they wanted to photograph us from the side of the Mexicans, and they went through there, and they were not physically fit people, and they took their cameras and things with them, and shot us from the other side. That's how easy it is to get across. And, the drugs, I mean, it goes on, and on, and on. ICE tells them to release these people, 67,000 criminals released... +p2161 +aV...on to our property, it's ridiculous. +p2162 +aVWell, I have also said, if anybody knows how to do that, that I would be willing to listen. And, if they can, you know, specify exactly how that's going to be done, and what the cost, and it sounds reasonable, then I think it's worth discussing... +p2163 +aVNot exactly what I said. +p2164 +aVWell, what I said, after we seal the borders, after we turn off the spigot that dispenses all the goodies so we don't have people coming in here, including employment, that people who had a pristine record, we should consider allowing them to become guest workers, primarily in the agricultural sphere, because that's the place where Americans don't seem to want to work. That's what I said. And they have a six-month period to do that. If they don't do it within that time period, then they become illegal, and as illegals, they will be treated as such. +p2165 +aVCan I \u2014 can I \u2014 can I just... +p2166 +aVCan I correct... +p2167 +aVOK. +p2168 +aVMy plan is not amnesty for a number of reasons. Number one, you know, I've talked to farmers, and they said they cannot hire Americans to do the kind of job that I'm talking about. And the second reason is because the individuals who register as guest workers, they don't get to vote, they are not American citizens, and they don't get the rights and privileges of American citizens. So that's key. But the other thing that I want to bring up is, I mentioned something earlier. I think it was just sort of glossed over. I talked about the success in Yuma County, I mean, incredible success, and the Department of Justice said, "No, we don't want to do that. That's too successful." We don't have to keep reinventing the wheel. All we have to do is look at things that work. All we have to do is use a little common sense. +p2169 +aVIt's all about America. You know, the people who say the guy who paid a billion dollars because he had 10, he has still got $9 billion left, that's not fair, we need to take more of his money. That's called socialism. That doesn't work so well. What made America into a great nation was the fact that we said, that guy just put in $1 billion, let's create an environment that's even more conducive to his success so that next year he can put in $2 billion. And that's the kind of thing that helps us to grow. We can't grow by continuing to take a piece of pie, and dividing it, and redistributing it. But, I'm also looking at what doctor \u2014 at what Governor Huckabee talked about... +p2170 +aVThe Fair Tax. Looking at both of them, and evaluating them both, and I'm talking to the American people because one of the things we must recognize is that this country is of, for, and by the people. And, it's really time that the government get out of the way, and let the people be the ones who decide how they want to run their country. +p2171 +aVWell, first of all, let me say what I actually said about raising the minimum wage. I was asked should it be raised, I said, probably, or possibly. But, what I added, which I think is the most important thing, so, I said we need to get both sides of this issue to sit down, and talk about it. Negotiate a reasonable minimum wage, and index that so that we never have to have this conversation again in the history of America. I think we also have to have two minimum wages, a starter, and a sustaining because how are young people ever going to get a job if you have such a high minimum wage that it makes it impractical to hire them... +p2172 +aVJake, Jake... +p2173 +aVI haven't had an opportunity to weigh in on foreign policy, and I just want to mention that when the war, when the issue occurred in 2003, I suggested to President Bush that he not go to war? OK. So I just want that on the record. And, you know, a lot of people are very much against us getting involved right now with global jihadism. And they refer back to our invasion of Iraq. And they seem to think that that was what caused it. What caused it was withdrawing from there and creating a vacuum which allowed this terrible situation to occur. But it is very different from what is going on today. We're talking about global jihadists who actually want to destroy us. They are an existential threat to our nation. And we have to be mature enough to recognize that our children will have no future if we put our heads in the sand. We have to recognize we have two choices. We either allow them the continue to progress and appear to be the winners, or we use every resource available to us to destroy... +p2174 +aV... them first. +p2175 +aVWell, recognize that, you know, President George W. Bush is a great friend of ours, and we spent many wonderful days at the White House. I haven't been there in the last seven years. I probably have to have a food-tester. But at any rate, I didn't suggest that nothing be done. What I suggested to President Bush is to be Kennedy-esque, in the sense that when the Russians got ahead of us in the space race, what we did is use the bully pulpit to galvanize everybody, business, industry, academia behind a national goal to put a man on the moon and bring him back safely. I said, you can do the same kind of thing. Declare that within five to 10 years we will become petroleum independent. The moderate Arab states would have been so concerned about that, they would have turned over Osama bin Laden and anybody else you wanted on a silver platter within two weeks. There are smart ways to do things and there are muscular ways to do things. And sometimes you have to look at both of those to come up with the right solution. +p2176 +aVI have no argument with having a strong leader, and to be aggressive where aggression is needed. But it is not needed in every circumstance. There is a time when you can use your intellect to come up with other ways to do things. And I think that's what we have to start thinking about. There is no question that a lot of these problems that we have been talking about in terms of the international situation is because we are weak. It is because our Navy is so small. It is because our Air Force is incapable of doing the same things that it did a few years ago. It's because our Marines Corps is not ready to be deployed. +p2177 +aVThere are a lot of problems that are going on, and we need to solve those problems, we need to build up our military... +p2178 +aVWell, let me put it this way, there has \u2014 there have been numerous studies, and they have not demonstrated that there is any correlation between vaccinations and autism. This was something that was spread widely 15 or 20 years ago, and it has not been adequately, you know, revealed to the public what's actually going on. Vaccines are very important. Certain ones. The ones that would prevent death or crippling. There are others, there are a multitude of vaccines which probably don't fit in that category, and there should be some discretion in those cases. But, you know, a lot of this is \u2014 is \u2014 is pushed by big government. And I think that's one of the things that people so vehemently want to get rid of, big government. You know, we have 4.1 million federal employees. Six hundred and fifty federal agencies and department (sic). That's why they have to take so much of our taxes. +p2179 +aVWell, you know, I've just explained it to him. He can read about it if he wants to. I think he's an intelligent man and will make the correct decision after getting the real facts. +p2180 +aVHe's an OK doctor. But, you know, the fact of the matter is, we have extremely well-documented proof that there's no autism associated with vaccinations. But it is true that we are probably giving way too many in too short a period of time. And a lot of pediatricians now recognize that, and, I think, are cutting down on the number and the proximity in which those are done, and I think that's appropriate. +p2181 +aVI'd put my mother on there. You know, she was one of 24 children, got married at age 13, had only a third grade education, had to raise two sons by herself, refused to be a victim. Wouldn't let us be victims, and has been an inspiration to many people. +p2182 +aVOne Nation. +p2183 +aVWell, you know, I was a radical Democrat before I started listening to Ronald Reagan. And he didn't sound like what they said Republicans were. He sounded logical. And I hope that I sound logical also. Because when I look at what is going on with the United States of America, I see a lot of things that are not logical. I see us allowing people to divide us, when in fact our strength is in our unity. I see people exercising the most irresponsible fiscal habits that anyone could possibly do. And hiding it from the American people, so that the majority of people have no idea what our financial situation is. So, when someone comes along and says, free college, free phones, free this and that, and the other, they say, "wow, that's nice," having no idea that they're destabilizing our position. And I think also that Ronald Reagan was a master at understanding that a pinnacle nation has to be a nation that leads. If we learn to lead in the Middle East right now, a coalition will form behind us, but never they do it if we just sit there and talk about it. Real leadership is what I would hopefully bring to America. +p2184 +asVQUINTANILLA +p2185 +(lp2186 +VGood evening, I'm Carl Quintanilla, with my colleagues Becky Quick and John Harwood. We'll be joined tonight by some of +p2187 +aVGovernor? +p2188 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p2189 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Bush. +p2190 +aVSenator Rubio. +p2191 +aVMr. Trump? +p2192 +aVDr. Carson? +p2193 +aVMrs. Fiorina? +p2194 +aVFixed it. +p2195 +aVSenator Cruz? +p2196 +aVGovernor Christie? +p2197 +aVSenator Paul? +p2198 +aVThanks to all the candidates. John? +p2199 +aVHold it. We'll cut it back to you in just a minute. Becky's moving on. +p2200 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor. thank you, Governor. +p2201 +aVMr. Trump, 30 seconds. +p2202 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2203 +aVWe're going to try to move on. +p2204 +aVYou want to bring 70,000 pages to three? +p2205 +aVIs that using really small type? +p2206 +aVIs that using really small type? +p2207 +aVMrs. Fiorina \u2014 +p2208 +aVWe're going to \u2014 +p2209 +aVWe will come around the bend, i promise. This one is for Senator Rubio. You've been a young man in a hurry ever since you won your first election in your 20s. You've had a big accomplishment in the Senate, an immigration bill providing a path to citizenship the conservatives in your party hate, and even you don't support anymore. Now, you're skipping more votes than any senator to run for president. Why not slow down, get a few more things done first or least finish what you start? +p2210 +aVSo when the Sun-Sentinel says Rubio should resign, not rip us off, when they say Floridians sent you to Washington to do a job, when they say you act like you hate your job, do you? +p2211 +aVWell, do you hate your job? +p2212 +aVIs that the standard? +p2213 +aVSenator, thank you. John. +p2214 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2215 +aVSenator Cruz. Congressional Republicans, Democrats and the White House are about to strike a compromise that would raise the debt limit, prevent a government shutdown and calm financial markets that fear of \u2014 another Washington-created crisis is on the way. Does your opposition to it show that you're not the kind of problem-solver American voters want? +p2216 +aV do we get credit ? +p2217 +aVSo, this is a question about , which you have 30 seconds left to answer, should you choose to do so. +p2218 +aVOK. I asked you about the debt limit and I got no answer. +p2219 +aVWe promised we would get to everyone this block. Governor Huckabee, I'm going to give you 60 seconds on this. +p2220 +aV...Governor... +p2221 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p2222 +aV...Senator Cruz... +p2223 +aVOK, alright. +p2224 +aVSenator Cruz... +p2225 +aV...Before we go to break, we're clearly not having that beer you mentioned, but I'll give you 30 more seconds... +p2226 +aVOK. +p2227 +aVI'll give you 30 seconds to respond... +p2228 +aVRespond on the debt limit, or an answer to the governor, which ever you choose. +p2229 +aV30 seconds, Governor Huckabee. +p2230 +aVGovernor, thank you. We will take a break. The Republican Presidential debate, live from Boulder, Colorado, coming back after a break on +p2231 +aVMrs. Fiorina, in 2010, while running for Senate in Tech Ridge (ph), California, you called an Internet sales tax a bad idea. Traditional brick and mortar stores obviously disagree. Now that the Internet shopping playing field has matured, what would be a fair plan to even that playing field? +p2232 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p2233 +aVOK. +p2234 +aVThank you very much. +p2235 +aVDr. Carson, we know you as a physician, but we wanted to ask you about your involvement on some corporate boards, including Costco's. Last year, a marketing study called the warehouse retailer the number one gay-friendly brand in America, partly because of its domestic partner benefits. Why would you serve on a company whose policies seem to run counter to your views on homosexuality? +p2236 +aVOne more question. This is a company called Mannatech, a maker of nutritional supplements, with which you had a 10-year relationship. They offered claims that they could cure autism, cancer, they paid $7 million to settle a deceptive marketing lawsuit in Texas, and yet you're involvement continued. Why? +p2237 +aVTo be fair, you were on the homepage of their website with the logo over your shoulder \u2014 +p2238 +aVDoes that not speak to your vetting process or judgment in any way. +p2239 +aVApparently. We will take a break. We'll be back in Boulder in just a minute. +p2240 +aV...We'll come back around. I want to get to governor Kasich. +p2241 +aVGovernor Kasich, let's talk ... +p2242 +aV...about Marijuana, Governor Kasich... +p2243 +aVAlright, but 30 seconds, you made a case. Sure, 30 seconds. +p2244 +aVSenator, thank you. +p2245 +aVOh, no, no, no... +p2246 +aV...Ok... +p2247 +aV...We're going to go to... +p2248 +aVOK. Thank you, Senator. Governor Kasich, let's talk about marijuana. We're broadcasting from Colorado which has seen $150 million in new revenue for the state since legalizing last year. Governor Hickenlooper is not a big fan of legalization, but he's said the people who used to be smoking it are still smoking it, they're just now paying taxes. Given the budget pressures in Ohio, and other states, is this a revenue stream you'd like to have? +p2249 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2250 +aVThank you. We'll be back from Boulder, Colorado in just a moment. +p2251 +aVMr. Trump, you've said you have a special permit to carry a gun in New York. +p2252 +aVAfter the Oregon mass shooting on October 1st, you said, "By the way, it was a gun-free zone. If you had a couple of teachers with guns, you would have been a hell of a lot better off." +p2253 +aVWould you feel more comfortable if your employees brought guns to work? +p2254 +aVAre you carrying one now? +p2255 +aVWe called a few Trump resorts, a few Trump properties that \u2014 that do not allow guns with or without a permit. Would you change those policies? +p2256 +aVOK. All right. Thank you. John? +p2257 +aVGovernor Bush, daily fantasy sports has become a phenomenon in this country, will award billions of dollars in prize money this year. But to play you have to assess your odds, put money at risk, wait for an outcome that's out of your control. Isn't that the definition of gambling, and should the Federal Government treat it as such? +p2258 +aVI had a feeling you were going to brag about that. +p2259 +aVThis is the\u2014 well, we're going to take a break. We want to save time for closing statements after the break. So this is the Republican presidential debate in Boulder, and we'll be right back. +p2260 +aVSenator Rubio... +p2261 +aV...yeah, I just wanted . +p2262 +aVI want to give you 30 seconds here. +p2263 +aVThat concludes tonight's debate. On behalf of my colleagues Becky Quick, John Harwood, Sharon Epperson, Rick Santelli and Jim Cramer, we'd like to our host, the University of Colorado at Boulder, the Republican National Committee, the candidates and, of course, tonight's audience. +p2264 +asVSANTELLI +p2265 +(lp2266 +VSenator Cruz, let's focus on our central bank, the Federal Reserve. You've been a fierce critic of the Fed, arguing for more transparency. Where do you want to take that? Do you want to get Congress involved in monetary policy, or is it time to slap the Fed back and downsize them completely? What are your thoughts? What do you believe? +p2267 +aVSenator Paul, the same question to you. +p2268 +aVThank you, Senator. Dr. Carson, you told The Des Moines Register that you don't like government subsidies, it interferes with the free market. But you've also said that you're in favor of taking oil subsidies and putting them towards ethanol processing. Isn't that just swapping one subsidy for another, Doctor? +p2269 +aVThank you, Doctor. Becky? +p2270 +as. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/downloads/data/script6.pickle b/downloads/data/script6.pickle new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b19dd3b --- /dev/null +++ b/downloads/data/script6.pickle @@ -0,0 +1,5126 @@ +(dp0 +VCRAMER +p1 +(lp2 +VDr. Carson, in recent weeks, a number of pharmaceutical companies has been accused of profiteering, for dramatically raising the prices of life-saving drugs. You have spent a lifetime in medicine. Have these companies gone too far? Should the government be involved in controlling some of these price increases? +p3 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Governor Christie, there has been a lot of political rhetoric that some bank executives should have gone to jail for the 2008 financial crisis. But General Motors paid more than $1 billion in fines and settlements for its ignition switch defect. One hundred and twenty- four people died as a result of these faulty switches. No one went to jail. As a former prosecutor, do you believe the people responsible for the switch and the cover-up belong behind bars? +p4 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. +p5 +asVPERRY +p6 +(lp7 +VI will tell you one thing: I would whole lot rather had Carly Fiorina over there doing our negotiation than John Kerry. Maybe we would've gotten a deal where we didn't give everything away. But the issue for us is to have a Congress that stands up and says not only no, but hell no, to this money going to a regime that is going to use it for terror... +p8 +asVUNKNOWN +p9 +(lp10 +VIf you're not going to have my back, I'm going to have my back. +p11 +aVA couple things here. First of all... +p12 +aVWe have grown \u2014 we have grown... +p13 +aVTrue. It's true. +p14 +aV...let me follow up that... +p15 +aV +p16 +aVOh, great. +p17 +aV...In 2011, you told Forbes Magazine this: "I've used the laws of the country to my advantage." But at the same time, financial experts involved in those bankruptcies say that lenders to your companies lost billions of dollars. Question sir, with that record, why should we trust you to run the nation's business? +p18 +aVI do. +p19 +aVThank you. +p20 +asVIFILL +p21 +(lp22 +VWe want to also extend our warm thanks to Milwaukee Public Radio and Milwaukee Public Television, as well as all of our friends at the PBS member stations across the country tuning in tonight. This is the sixth time the Democrats have met face to face. Each time, we learn more about them and the presidents they say they want to be. You know you're watching \u2014 whether you're a Democrat, a Republican, or neither \u2014 because you believe the outcome of the election is important to you. And we believe that, too. With that, let's welcome the candidates to the stage. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. +p23 +aVWelcome to you both. +p24 +aVWith Iowa and New Hampshire behind us, we are now broadening the conversation to America's heartland and beyond, including here in Wisconsin. Now let's turn to the candidates for their opening statements. The order was decided by coin toss. And, Senator Sanders, you go first. +p25 +aVThank you, Senator Sanders. Thank you, Senator Sanders. Secretary Clinton. +p26 +aVFinal thought, Senator. +p27 +aVI'd like to move along. I'd like to move along. Secretary Clinton, you might \u2014 you also have proposed fairly expansive ideas about government. You may remember this pledge from a State of the Union Address at which I believe you were present, in which these words were said: "The era of big government is over." You may remember that. When asked your feelings about the federal government this week, 61 percent of New Hampshire Democrats told exit pollsters that they are angry or at least dissatisfied. Given what you and Senator Sanders are proposing, an expanding government in almost every area of our lives, is it fair for Americans who fear government to fear you? +p28 +aVBut I haven't heard either of you put a price tag on your \u2014 you say... +p29 +aVSenator? +p30 +aVSenator, do you worry at all that you will be the instrument of thwarting history, as Senator Clinton keeps claiming, that she might be the first woman president? +p31 +aVThank you both. We turn now to the first of several questions from our partners at Facebook. They were selected from a curated group of people we've been following of undecided voters. The first comes from Claudia Looze, a 54-year-old woman who works as a program manager at a public affairs cable network in Madison, Wisconsin. And she writes: "Wisconsin is number one in African-American male incarceration, according to a University of Wisconsin study. They found that Wisconsin's incarceration rate for black men, which is at 13 percent, was nearly double the country's rate. What can we do across the nation to address this?" Senator Sanders. +p32 +aVLet me turn this on its head, because when we talk about race in this country, we always talk about African-Americans, people of color. I want to talk about white people, OK? +p33 +aVI know. So many people will be surprised to find out that we are sitting in one of the most racially polarized metropolitan areas in the country. By the middle of this century, the nation is going to be majority nonwhite. Our public schools are already there. If working-class, white Americans are about to be outnumbered, are already underemployed in many cases, and one study found they are dying sooner, don't they have a reason to be resentful, Senator \u2014 Secretary Clinton? +p34 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, I want you to respond to that, but I also want you to \u2014 am I wrong? Is it even right to be describing this as a matter of race? +p35 +aVIf you would allow me now to move on, we've been talking about children. I want to talk about seniors. That takes us to our second Facebook question from Farheen Hakeem, who writes, "My father" \u2014 she's a 40-year-old woman who works for a nonprofit here in Milwaukee. And she writes, "My father gets just $16 in food assistance per month as part of Medicaid's family community program in Milwaukee County for low-income seniors. How will you as president work to ensure low-income seniors get their basic needs met?" Start with you, Senator Sanders. +p36 +aVSenator Sanders, are you saying... +p37 +aVThere's a lot more to come in just a few minutes. Stay with us for more of the PBS NewsHour Democratic Debate. +p38 +aVHow about you, Senator Clinton \u2014 Secretary Clinton? +p39 +aVWe spent the first part of this debate talking about domestic insecurity. The second part, we want to talk about our foreign policy insecurities. And we want to start with a question for you, Secretary Clinton, about America's role in the world. Americans are becoming increasingly worried that attacks abroad are coming home, that they already are, in fact, here. According to exit polls from last week, from earlier this week, more than two-thirds of Democrats in New Hampshire are concerned about sending their children to fight in wars they can't win. They fret that the next attack is just around the corner and we are not ready. Are we? +p40 +aVSenator Sanders... +p41 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p42 +aVLet me move on. You have both mentioned the humanitarian tragedies which have been an outgrowth in part of what has happened in Syria and in Libya. More than a million refugees entered Europe in 2015. Another 76,000 just last month, that is about 2,000 arrivals every day. Nearly 400 people have been lost at sea so far this year, crossing the Mediterranean. And there are reports that 10,000 children are missing. If we are leaders in this world, where should the U.S. be on this? What should the United States be doing, Secretary Clinton? +p43 +aVSenator, if you would like respond to \u2014 you may respond to that but it is time for closing statements and you can use your time for closing statements to do that. +p44 +aVThank you. Thank you Senator Clinton. Thank you, Senator Sanders. We also want to thank our partners at Facebook and our hosts here at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. +p45 +aVI'm going to remain here in Milwaukee tomorrow evening for a special edition of Washington Week here on PBS. +p46 +asVWOODRUFF +p47 +(lp48 +VGood evening, and thank you. We are happy to welcome you to Milwaukee for this Democratic debate. We are especially pleased to thank our partners at Facebook, who have helped us set up a vibrant conversation among voters who are undecided. And tonight you're going to hear some of their questions for the candidates. And you can follow along at home on the PBS NewsHour page on Facebook. We also want to thank our hosts, the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, on whose campus we meet, here in the beautiful Helen Bader Concert Hall. +p49 +aVWelcome, Senator, great to see you. And former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Very good to be here with you. +p50 +aVNow, a word about format. There will be two short breaks, and the rules are simple: 90 seconds for each answer and 30 seconds for the other candidate to respond. +p51 +aVThank you both. Thank you both. And we'll be right back after a short break to begin questions. +p52 +aVAnd, welcome back to this PBS Newshour debate, Democratic debate, here in Milwaukee. Let's get right to the questions. Senator Sanders, to you first. Coming off the results in Iowa and New Hampshire, there are many voters who are taking a closer look at you, and your ideas, and they're asking how big a role do you foresee for the federal government? It's already spending 21% of the entire U.S. economy. How much larger would government be in the lives of Americans under a Sanders presidency? +p53 +aVBut, my question is how big would government be? Would there be any limit on the size of the role of government... +p54 +aVNext, we're going to... +p55 +aVVery brief, thank you. +p56 +aVSecretary Clinton, your campaign \u2014 you and your campaign have made a clear appeal to women voters. You have talked repeatedly about the fact, we know you would be, if elected, the first woman president. But in New Hampshire 55 percent of the women voters supported and voted for Senator Sanders. What are women missing about you? +p57 +aVAs you know, just quickly, as you know, your strong supporter, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, said the other day that there's a special place in Hell for women who don't support other women. Do you agree with what she said? +p58 +aVSenator Sanders, you're in the minority, but we still want to hear from you. +p59 +aVFinal comment. +p60 +aVSecretary Clinton, I was talking recently with a 23 year old black woman who voted for President Obama because she said she thought relations between the races would get better under his leadership, and his example. Hardly anyone believes that they have. Why do you think race relations would be better under a Clinton presidency? What would you do that the nation's first African American has not been able to? +p61 +aVSenator Sanders? +p62 +aVSo race relation was be better under a Sanders presidency than they've been? +p63 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders, one of the causes of anxiety for working class Americans is connected to immigrants. President Obama, as you know, has issued executive actions to permit some 5 million undocumented immigrants who are living now in the United States to come out of the shadows without fear of deportation to get work permits. Would you go further than that? And if so, how specifically would you do it? Should an undocumented family watching this debate tonight, say, in Nevada, rest easy, not fear of further deportations under a Sanders presidency? +p64 +aVI'd like... +p65 +aVWe're going to move on. Secretary Clinton, your campaign has recently ramped up criticism of Senator Sanders for attending Democratic Party fundraisers from which you say he benefited. But nearly half of your financial sector donations appear to come from just two wealthy financiers, George Soros and Donald Sussman, for a total of about $10 million. You have said that there's no quid pro quo involved. Is that also true of the donations that wealthy Republicans give to Republican candidates, contributors including the Koch Brothers? +p66 +aVI'm asking if Democratic donors are different than Republican donors. +p67 +aVWe have to go to a break. We... +p68 +aVAll right. Thank you both. It is time for a break. And when we come back, we're going to turn to some new topics, including how these candidates will keep America safe. +p69 +aVWelcome back to the Democratic presidential debate. Before we return to our questions, we have a follow-up question from our Facebook group. And it is to Senator Sanders. Senator, it comes from Bill Corfield. He is a 55-year-old musician from Troy, Ohio. And he asks: "Are there any areas of government you would like to reduce?" +p70 +aVJust a final word. +p71 +aVSenator, let me \u2014 let me move on to another country with which the U.S. has a complicated relationship, Senator Sanders, and that's Russia. On the one hand, we're aware that Russia is a country that the United States needs to cooperate with. Just tonight, Secretary of State John Kerry has announced what appears to be an agreement with the Russians to lead \u2014 that could lead toward a ceasefire in Syria, would be the first cessation of conflict in that country, in that civil war in five years, but it comes at a very high price, because not only have all \u2014 have we seen the deaths, the removal of so many people, millions of people, we now see the Russians in the last few weeks have bombed in a way that benefits President Assad, has not gone after +p72 +aVAnd we have a final question from our Facebook family. And it goes to Senator Sanders. It comes from Robert Andrews. He's a 40-year-old stay-at-home dad in Dover, Massachusetts. He says, "The world has seen many great leaders in the course of human history. Can you name two leaders \u2014 one American and one foreign \u2014 who would influence your foreign policy decisions? And why do you see them as \u2014 why are they influential?" +p73 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p74 +aVAnd we want to thank our audience, our quiet audience here in Helen Bader Concert Hall, and to all of you watching at home. Thank you all. Stay tuned for analysis of the debate and the overall race for the Democratic nomination. That's coming up next here on PBS stations and online atPBS.org/NewsHour. +p75 +aVAnd I'm going to be returning to Washington. I hope you'll join us for the PBS NewsHour tomorrow and every night. That's it from all of us here in Milwaukee. We thank you. +p76 +asVKELLY +p77 +(lp78 +VWelcome to the first debate night of the 2016 presidential campaign, live from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. I'm Megyn Kelly... ... along with my co-moderators, Brett Baier and Chris Wallace. Tonight... Nice. Tonight, thousands of people here in the Q, along with millions of voters at home will get their very first chance to see the candidates face off in a debate, answering the questions you want answered. +p79 +aVAs for the candidates who will be answering those questions? Here they are. Positioned on the stage by how they stand in the polls, in the center of the stage tonight, businessman Donald Trump. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. +p80 +aVGentlemen, our first round of questions is on the subject of electability in the general election, and we start tonight with you, Dr. Carson. You are a successful neurosurgeon, but you admit that you have had to study up on foreign policy, saying there's a lot to learn. Your critics say that your inexperience shows. You've suggested that the Baltic States are not a part of +p81 +aVMr. Trump, one of the things people love about you is you speak your mind and you don't use a politician's filter. However, that is not without its downsides, in particular, when it comes to women. You've called women you don't like "fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals." Your Twitter account... +p82 +aVNo, it wasn't. Your Twitter account... +p83 +aVFor the record, it was well beyond Rosie O'Donnell. +p84 +aVYour Twitter account has several disparaging comments about women's looks. You once told a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice it would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees. Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president, and how will you answer the charge from Hillary Clinton, who was likely to be the Democratic nominee, that you are part of the war on women? +p85 +aVGovernor Walker, you've consistently said that you want to make abortion illegal even in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother. You recently signed an abortion law in Wisconsin that does have an exception for the mother's life, but you're on the record as having objected to it. Would you really let a mother die rather than have an abortion, and with 83 percent of the American public in favor of a life exception, are you too out of the mainstream on this issue to win the general election? +p86 +aVGovernor Kasich, You chose to expand Medicaid in your state, unlike several other governors on this stage tonight, and it is already over budget by some estimates costing taxpayers an additional $1.4 billion in just the first 18 months. You defended your Medicaid expansion by invoking God, saying to skeptics that when they arrive in heaven, Saint Peter isn't going to ask them how small they've kept government, but what they have done for the poor. Why should Republican voters, who generally want to shrink government, believe that you won't use your Saint Peter rationale to expand every government program? +p87 +aVAlright, gentlemen, we're gonna switch topics now and talk a bit about terror and national security. Governor Christie. You've said that Senator Paul's opposition to the NSA's collection of phone records has made the United States weaker and more vulnerable, even going so far as to say that he should be called before Congress to answer for it if we should be hit by another terrorist attack. Do you really believe you can assign blame to Senator Paul just for opposing the bulk collection of people's phone records in the event of a terrorist attack? +p88 +aVGo ahead, sir. +p89 +aVGovernor Christie, make your point. +p90 +aVGo ahead, governor. +p91 +aVAlright. +p92 +aVAlright, we've gotta cut it off there. We have plenty more we want to get to. That was an interesting exchange, thank you for that. +p93 +aVWell, I want to move on, because I have -- we're gonna get to you, governor, but I -- I really wanna get to a Facebook questioner. His name is Alex Chalgren, and he has the following question: +p94 +aVSenator Cruz, I wanna talk to you about this, because many of the Facebook users and -- and -- the -- the folks on Facebook wanted the candidates to speak to +p95 +aVYou don't see it as... ...an ideological problem -- an ideological problem in addition to a military one? +p96 +aVGovernor Bush, for days on end in this campaign, you struggled to answer a question about whether knowing what we know now... +p97 +aV...we would've invaded Iraq... +p98 +aVI remember it too, and +p99 +aVGovernor Walker, in February you said that we needed to gain partners in the Arab world. Which Arab country not already in the U.S. led coalition has potential to be our greatest partner? +p100 +aVDr. Carson, in one of his first acts as commander in chief, President Obama signed an executive order banning enhanced interrogation techniques in fighting terror. As president, would you bring back water boarding? +p101 +aVWe have a lot for you, don't worry. Fear not, you may rue that request. +p102 +aVIt's just before 10:00 p.m. on the East Coast. Welcome back to Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, and the very first Republican primary debate of the 2016 presidential campaign. Ten candidates on the stage, selected based on their standing in five national polls. And tonight they are facing off, answering the questions you want asked. We hope. +p103 +aV Sounds like somebody's a little R-rated. +p104 +aVWell, the first debate night of the 2016 presidential campaign continues from Cleveland after a short time-out. Stick around. Social issues, next. +p105 +aVSenator Rubio, you favor a rape and incest exception to abortion bans. Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York just said yesterday those exceptions are preposterous. He said they discriminate against an entire class of human beings. If you believe that life begins at conception, as you say you do, how do you justify ending a life just because it begins violently, through no fault of the baby? +p106 +aVYou don't favor a rape and incest exception? +p107 +aVMr. Trump, in 1999, you said you were, quote, "very pro- choice." Even supporting partial-birth abortion. You favored an assault weapons ban as well. In 2004, you said in most cases you identified as a Democrat. Even in this campaign, your critics say you often sound more like a Democrat than a Republican, calling several of your opponents on the stage things like clowns and puppets. When did you actually become a Republican? +p108 +aVGovernor Bush, I want to ask you, on the subject of name calling of your fellow candidates, a story appeared today quoting an anonymous GOP donor who said you called Mr. Trump a clown, a buffoon, something else that cannot be repeated on television. +p109 +aVIs it true? +p110 +aVMr. Trump, 30 seconds. +p111 +aVThe subject of gay marriage and religious liberty. Governor Kasich, if you had a son or daughter who was gay or lesbian, how would you explain to them your opposition to same-sex marriage? +p112 +aVHow would you -- how would you explain it to a child? +p113 +aVSenator Paul, in the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling on same sex marriage, Carol Fox on Facebook want to know the following. Quote: what will you do to ensure Christians are not prosecuted for speaking out against gay marriage and will Christians be forced to conduct business that conflicts with their religious beliefs? +p114 +aVGovernor Walker, many in the Black Lives Matter movement, and beyond, believe that overly-aggressive police officers targeting young African Americans is the civil rights issue of our time. Do you agree? And if so, how do you plan to address it? And if not, why not? +p115 +aVThank you. +p116 +aVWe have to stand you by, because after the break, we're going to let the candidates make their closing statements, their final thoughts, and . . . God. Stay tuned for that. +p117 +aVWelcome back. In our final moments here together, we're going to allow the candidates to offer their final thoughts. But first, we want to ask them an interesting closing question from Chase Norton on Facebook, who wants to know this of the candidates: "I want to know if any of them have received a word from God on what they should do and take care of first." Senator Cruz, start from you. Any word from God? +p118 +aVGovernor Kasich, same question. +p119 +aVGovernor Walker, same question. +p120 +aVSenator Rubio, I want to ask you the same question. But I do want to mention, a woman just came here to the stage and asked, what about the veterans? I want to hear more about what these candidates are going to do for our nation's veterans. So I put the question to you about God and the veterans, which you may find to be related. +p121 +aVDr. Carson, a question to you about God and his role, but also, one of the issues that the public was very interested in, and we touched on it earlier, is race relations in this country, and how divided we seem right now. And what, if anything, you can do -- you would do as the next president to help heal that divide. +p122 +aVGovernor Christie? +p123 +aVSenator Ted Cruz. +p124 +aVGovernor Scott Walker. +p125 +aVIt's over! +p126 +aVAre you relieved? You were nervous before, they -- they don't look relieved. They look "get me outta here." Thank you all very much, and that will do it for the first Republican primary debate night of the 2016 presidential race. Our thanks to the candidates, who will now be joined by their families on stage. +p127 +asVRUBIO +p128 +(lp129 +VThank you Wolf. It's really amazing to be back in Las Vegas. I spent six years as a child growing not far from where we stand tonight. I use to sit on the porch of our home and listen to my grandfather tell stories as he smoked one of three daily cigars. One of the things my grandfather instilled in me, was that I was really blessed because I was a citizen of the greatest country in the history of our mankind. But there have always been people in American politics that wanted America to be more like the rest of the world. And In 2008, one of them was elected president of this country and the result has been a disaster. Today you have millions of Americans that feel left out and out of place in their own country, struggling to live paycheck to paycheck, called bigots because they hold on to traditional values. And around the world, America's influence has declined while this president has destroyed our military, our allies no longer trust us, and our adversaries no longer respect us. And that is why this election is so important. That is why I'm running for president. And that's why I'm going to ask you for your vote tonight. If you elect me president, we will have a president that believes America is the greatest country in the world and we will have a president that acts like it. +p130 +aVWell, I understand why they feel that way, because this president hasn't kept us safe. The problem is we had an attack in San Bernardino. And we were paying attention to the most important issue we have faced in a decade since 9/11, and then all the talk was about this proposal, which isn't going to happen. But this is what's important to do is we must deal frontally with this threat of radical Islamists, especially from +p131 +aVHe is and so are those that voted for it. There were some that voted for it because they wanted to keep it alive and they were afraid the whole program would expire. Here's the world we live in. This is a radical jihadist group that is increasingly sophisticated in its ability, for example, to radicalize American citizens, in its inability to exploit loopholes in our legal immigration system, in its ability to capture and hold territory in the Middle East, as I outlined earlier, in multiple countries. This is not just the most capable, it is the most sophisticated terror threat we have ever faced. We are now at a time when we need more tools, not less tools. And that took we lost, the metadata program, was a valuable tool that we no longer have at our disposal. +p132 +aVDana, may I interject here? +p133 +aVLet me be very careful when answering this, because I don't think national television in front of 15 million people is the place to discuss classified information. So let me just be very clear. There is nothing that we are allowed to do under this bill that we could not do before. This bill did, however, take away a valuable tool that allowed the National Security Agency and other law \u2014 and other intelligence agencies to quickly and rapidly access phone records and match them up with other phone records to see who terrorists have been calling. Because I promise you, the next time there is attack on \u2014 an attack on this country, the first thing people are going to want to know is, why didn't we know about it and why didn't we stop it? And the answer better not be because we didn't have access to records or information that would have allowed us to identify these killers before they attacked. +p134 +aVI want to thank Rand for another 30 seconds, because, number one, what he's pointing to is a bill last week that \u2014 amendment that he voted for that only 10 people voted for. You know why? Because it's not focused on terrorists. It would have banned anyone from coming here. Someone from Taiwan would not have been able to come here as a tourist. Number two, this program, this metadata program is actually more strict than what a regular law enforcement agency has now. If a regular law enforcement agency wants your phone records, all they have to do is issue a subpoena. But now the intelligence agency is not able to quickly gather records and look at them to see who these terrorists are calling. And the terrorists that attacked us in San Bernardino was an American citizen, born and raised in this country. And I bet you we wish we would have had access to five years of his records so we could see who he was working with... +p135 +aVDo I get another 30 seconds? He mentioned me. +p136 +aVWell, let me begin by saying that we have to understand who +p137 +aVThat is accurate. Three times he voted against the Defense Authorization Act, which is a bill that funds the troops. It also, by the way, funds the Iron Dome and other important programs. And I have to assume that if you vote against it in the Senate, you would also veto it as president. He has also supported, by the way, a budget that is called the containment budget. And it is a budget that would radically reduce the amount of money we spend on our military. You can't carpet bomb +p138 +aVYes, let me \u2014 three points of distinction. The first is, if you're an American citizen and you decide to join up with +p139 +aVWell, they most certainly will have to be worked on to provide more than what they are doing now. There's no doubt about it. And there's one \u2014 one major reason why they have not been willing to be a broader part of the coalition, and that is they have lost complete trust and confidence in this president. This president cut a deal with their moral enemy, the Shia, in Iran. And this is the reason why they no longer trust this president and are willing to work alongside them. But they have as much invested in this as we do. In fact, more so, for it is the king of Saudi Arabia they want to behead first. It's the king of Jordan that they want to dethrone. It's the \u2014 they want to go into Egypt the way they've already gone into Libya. And on another point that we need to talk about, Assad is one of the main reasons why +p140 +aVTo begin with, Moammar Gadhafi and the revolt against Gadhafi was not started by the United States. It was started by the Libyan people. And the reason why I argued we needed to get involved is because he was going to go one way or the other. And my argument then was proven true, and that is, the longer that civil war took, the more militias would be formed and the more unstable the country would be after the fact. As far as Moammar Gadhafi is concerned, by the way, Moammar Gadhafi is the man that killed those Americans over Lockerbie, Scotland. Moammar Gadhafi is also the man that bombed that cafe in Berlin and killed those Marines. And you want to know why Moammar Gadhafi started cooperating on his nuclear program? Because we got rid of Saddam Hussein. And so he got scared that he would be next, and that's why he started cooperating. Look, we will have to work around the world with less than ideal governments. The government in Saudi Arabia is not a democracy, but we will have to work with them. The government in Jordan is not perfect, but we will have to work with them. But anti-American dictators like Assad, who help Hezbollah, who helped get those IEDs into Iraq, if they go, I will not shed a tear. +p141 +aVYeah. Immigration is not an issue that I read about in the newspaper or watch a documentary on PBS or CNN. It's an issues I've lived around my whole life. My family are immigrants. My wife's family are immigrants. All of my neighbors are immigrants. I see every aspect of this problem. The good, the bad, and the ugly. And here's what we learned in 2013. The American people don't trust the Federal Government to enforce our immigration laws, and we will not be able to do anything on immigration until we first prove to the American people that illegal immigration is under control. And we can do that. We know what it takes to do that. It takes at least 20,000 more additional border agents. It takes completing those 700 miles of fencing. It takes a mandatory e-verify system and a mandatory entry/exit tracking system to prevent overstays. After we have done that, the second thing we have to do is reform and modernize the legal immigration system. And after we have done those two things, I think the American people are gonna be reasonable with what do you do with someone who has been in this country for 10 or 12 years who hasn't otherwise violated our laws \u2014 because if they're a criminal they can't stay. They'll have to undergo a background check, pay a fine, start paying taxes. And ultimately, they'll given a work permit and that's all they're gonna be allowed to have for at least 10 years. But you can't get to that third step until you have done the other two things, and that was the lesson we learned in 2013. There is no trust that the Federal Government will enforce the law. They will not support you until you see it done first. +p142 +aVBut I've answered that question repeatedly. I am personally open \u2014 after all that has happened and after ten years in that probationary status where all they have is a permit, I personally am open to allowing people to apply for a green card. That may not be a majority position in my party, but that's down the road. You can't even begin that process until you prove to people \u2014 not just pass a law that says you're gonna bring illegal immigration under control. You're gonna have to do it and prove to people that it's working. And that was the lesson of 2013. And it's more true today, than it was then. After a migratory crisis on the border with minors coming over that you're seeing start up again now, after all these executive orders the President has issued. More than ever we need to... +p143 +aV... prove to people that illegal immigration is under control. +p144 +aVYeah, a couple points. In 2013 we had never faced a crisis like the Syrian refugee crisis now. Up until that point, a refugee meant someone fleeing oppression, fleeing Communism like it is in my community. As far as Ted's record, I'm always puzzled by his attack on this issue. Ted, you support legalizing people who are in this country illegally. Ted Cruz supported a 500-percent increase in the number of H-1 visas, the guest workers that are allowed into this country, and Ted supports doubling the number of green cards. So I think what's important for us to understand and there is a way forward on this issue that we an bring our country together on. And while I'm president I will do it. And it will begin by bringing illegal immigration under control and proving to the American people. +p145 +aVNo, no, give him time. +p146 +aVTed, do you... +p147 +aVDid Ted Cruz fight to support legalizing people that are in this country illegally? +p148 +aVDoes Ted Cruz rule out ever legalizing people that are in this country now? +p149 +aVWould you rule it out? +p150 +aVWell, he's just admitted \u2014 as he's just admitted, the reason why those refugees were allowed in was because they messed up in how they used the actual database. They should have know. They didn't because they didn't run the actual law as it exists now. It didn't work well. As far as the refugees are concerned, it's not that America doesn't want to accept refugees, Wolf. It's that we may not be able to, because this is an issue we have to be 100 percent right on. If we allow 9,999 Syrian refugees into the United States, and all of them are good people, but we allow one person in who's an +p151 +aVI do. First, let's explain to people at home who the triad \u2014 what the triad is. Maybe a lot of people haven't heard that terminology before. The triad is our ability of the United States to conduct nuclear attacks using airplanes, using missiles launched from silos or from the ground, and also from our nuclear subs' ability to attack. And it's important \u2014 all three of them are critical. It gives us the ability at deterrence. Now, some have become more critical than others; for example, the submarines. And that's the Ohio Class submarine that needs to be modernized. The air component also needs to be modernized. The B-52, as someone earlier pointed out, is an outdated model that was flown by the grandparents of people that are flying it now. And we need a serious modernization program as well on our silo-launched missiles. All three are critical for the defense of the country. +p152 +aVThank you. As we near the end of this year, we enter one of the most important elections in a generation. For what's at stake in this election is not simply what party's going to be in charge. But our very identity as a people and as a nation. For over 200 years this has been a special country. A unique place where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything. But now millions of Americans feel like they're being left behind. Insecure in their future and unsafe in the face of terrorism. This election is about electing a president that will restore our economic vibrancy so that the American dream can expand to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And rebuild our Military and our intelligence programs so that we can remain the strongest nation on earth. Tonight I ask you for your vote. If you do this, we will rebuild this country, and together we will usher in a new American century \u2014 the greatest era in the history of this great land. +p153 +aVWell, let me begin by answering both the first question and this one, because they're related. As I've said many times before, my parents were never rich people. My father was a bartender. My mother was a maid. They worked for a living. But they were successful people, because, despite the fact that they weren't well educated and had those jobs, they made enough money to buy a home in a safe and stable neighborhood, retire with dignity, leave all four of their children better off than themselves. We call that the American dream, but in fact, it's a universal dream of a better life that people have all over the world. It is a reminder that every country in the world has rich people. What makes America special is that we have millions and millions of people that are not rich, that through hard work and perseverance are able to be successful. The problem is that today people are not successful working as hard as ever because the economy is not providing jobs that pay enough. If I thought that raising the minimum wage was the best way to help people increase their pay, I would be all for it, but it isn't. In the 20th century, it's a disaster. If you raise the minimum wage, you're going to make people more expensive than a machine. And that means all this automation that's replacing jobs and people right now is only going to be accelerated. Here's the best way to raise wages. Make America the best place in the world to start a business or expand an existing business, tax reform and regulatory reform, bring our debt under control, fully utilize our energy resources so we can reinvigorate manufacturing, repeal and replace Obamacare, and make higher education faster and easier to access, especially vocational training. For the life of me, I don't know why we have stigmatized vocational education. Welders make more money than philosophers. We need more welders and less philosophers. If we do that \u2014 and if we do this \u2014 if we do this, we will be able to increase wages for millions of Americans and we will be able to leave everyone better off without making anyone worse off. +p154 +aVWell, you know, that's an excellent question, because what we are going through in this country is not simply an economic downturn. We are living through a massive economic transformation. I mean, this economy is nothing like what it was like five years ago, not to mention 15 or 20 years ago. And it isn't just a different economy. It's changing faster than ever. You know, it took the telephone 75 years to reach 100 million users. It took Candy Crush one year to reach some 100 million users. So the world is changing faster than ever, and it is disruptive. Number one, we are in a global competition now, and several of the candidates have said that. There are now dozens of developed economies on this planet that we have to compete with. And we lose that competition because we have the highest business tax rate in the industrialized world, because we have regulations that continue to grow by the billions every single week, because we have a crazy health care law that discourages companies from hiring people, but because we're not fully utilizing our energy resources, that if we did, it would bring back all kinds of growth, especially in manufacturing, and because we have an outdated higher education system. Our higher education system is completely outdated. It is too expensive, too hard to access, and it doesn't teach 21st century skills. If we do what needs to be done \u2014 tax reform, regulatory reform, fully utilize our energy resources, repeal and replace Obamacare, and modernize higher education, then we can grasp the potential and the promise of this new economy. And we won't just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And then truly this new century can be a new American century. +p155 +aVThe most important job I'm ever going to have, the most important job anyone in this room will ever have, is the job of being a parent. Not the job of being president, or the job of being a senator, or the job of being a congressman. The most important job any of us will ever do is the job of being a president (sic), because the most important institution in society is the family. If the family breaks down, society breaks down. You can't have a strong nation without strong values, and no one is born with strong values. They have to be taught to you in strong families and reinforced in you in strong communities. And so when we set out to do tax reform, we endeavor to have a pro-family tax code, and we endeavor to do it because we know how difficult it is for families in the 21st century to afford the cost of living. It is expensive to raise children in the 21st century, and families that are raising children are raising the future taxpayers of the United States, and everything costs more. In 35 out of 50 states, child care costs more than college. There are millions of people watching this broadcast tonight that understand exactly what I'm talking about. They don't know how they're going to make that payment every month, and if they can't make it, they can't work, because someone needs to watch their kids during the day. They don't know how they're going to save for their kids' future, to go to college. And so, yes, I have a child tax credit increase, and I'm proud of it. I am proud that I have a pro-family tax code, because the pro- family tax plan I have will strengthen the most important institution in the \u2014 in the country, the family. +p156 +aVNow I get my 60 seconds to respond. He's talking about my tax plan. +p157 +aVSo let me begin with this. I actually believe \u2014 first of all, this is their money. They do pay. It is refundable, not just against the taxes they pay to the government, but also the \u2014 on their federal income tax, it's refundable against the payroll tax. Everyone pays payroll tax. This is their money. This is not our money. And here's what I don't understand \u2014 if you invest that money in a piece of equipment, if you invest that money in a business, you get to write it off your taxes. But if you invest it in your children, in the future of America and strengthening your family, we're not going to recognize that in our tax code? The family is the most important institution in society. And, yes... +p158 +aV... I do want to rebuild the American military. +p159 +aVI know that Rand is a committed isolationist. I'm not. I believe the world is a stronger and a better place, when the United States is the strongest military power in the world. +p160 +aVBecause... +p161 +aV...are you talking about the military, Rand? +p162 +aVWe can't even have an economy if we're not safe. There are radical jihadist in the Middle East beheading people and crucifying Christians. A radical Shia cleric in Iran trying to get a nuclear weapon, the Chinese taking over the South China Sea... ...Yes, I believe the world is a safer \u2014 no, no, I don't believe, I know that the world is a safer place when America is the strongest military power in the world. +p163 +aVYou know, if I may respond... +p164 +aVI need to add a couple of points to this. The first is, I've never met Vladimir Putin, but I know enough about him to know he is a gangster. He is basically an organized crime figure that runs a country, controls a $2 trillion economy. And is using to build up his military in a rapid way despite the fact his economy is a disaster. He understands only geopolitical strength. And every time he has acted anywhere in the world, whether it's in Ukraine or Georgia before that, or now in the Middle East, it's because he is trusting in weakness. His calculation in the Middle East is that he has seen what this president has done, which is nothing, the president has no strategy, our allies in the region do not trust us. For goodness sake, there is only one pro-American free enterprise democracy in the Middle East, it is the state of Israel. And we have a president that treats the prime minister of Israel with less respect than what he gives the ayatollah in Iran. And so our allies in the region don't trust us. Vladimir Putin is exploiting that weakness, for purposes of edging the Americans out as the most important geopolitical power broker in the region. And we do have a vested interest. And here's why. Because all those radical terrorist groups that, by the way, are not just in Syria and in Iraq, +p165 +aVCan I just add what \u2014 he's right on point there. Do you know why these banks are so big? The government made them big. The government made them big by adding thousands and thousands of pages of regulations. So the big banks, they have an army of lawyers, they have an army of compliance officers. They can deal with all these things. The small banks, like Governor Bush was saying, they can't deal with all these regulations. They can't deal with all \u2014 they cannot hire the fanciest law firm in Washington or the best lobbying firm to deal with all these regulations. And so the result is, the big banks get bigger, the small banks struggle to lend or even exist, and the result is what you have today. And in Dodd-Frank, you have actually codified too big to fail. We have actually created a category of systemically important institutions, and these banks go around bragging about it. You know what they say to people with a wink and a nod? We are so big, we are so important that if we get in trouble, the government has to bail us out. This is an outrage. We need to repeal Dodd-Frank as soon as possible. +p166 +aVWell, that's a great question, and let me begin by answering it. This election is about the future, about what kind of country this nation is gonna be in the 21st century. This next (ph) election is actually a generational choice. A choice about what kind of nation we will be in the 21st century. For over 2.5 centuries, America's been a special country, the one place on earth where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything, a nation that's been a force for good on this planet. But now, a growing number of Americans feel out of place in their own country. We have a society that stigmatizes those that hold cultural values that are traditional. We have a society where people \u2014 millions of people \u2014 are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, but they're living paycheck to paycheck because the economy has changed underneath their feet. We have young Americans who owe thousands of dollars in student loans for a degree that doesn't lead to a job. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses dying than starting, and around the world, every day brings news of a new humiliation for America \u2014 many the direct response \u2014 direct consequence of decisions made when Hillary Clinton was the secretary of the \u2014 of state. And so here's the truth: this election is about the future, and the Democratic Party, and the political left has no ideas about the future. All their ideas are the same, tired ideas of the past. More government, more spending. For every issue for America, their answer is a new tax on someone, and a new government program. This nation is going to turn the page, and that's what this election should be about, and, as I said at the first debate... ...If I am our nominee, they will be the party of the past, we will be the party of the 21st century. +p167 +aVOurs \u2014 the story of America is an extraordinary story. It is the story of a nation that for over two centuries each generation has left the next better off than themselves. But now, because Washington is out of touch, for the fault of both political parties, for the first time in our history, that is in doubt. And that is what this election must be about, because if the next four years are anything like the last eight years, our children will be the first Americans ever left worse off by their parents. This election is about making a different choice, about applying our principles of limited government and free enterprise to the unique issues of our time. And if we do, we will not just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And the 21st century can be a new American century. So tonight, I ask you for your vote and I ask you to join us at my website, marcorubio.com. +p168 +aVThank you for that question. I would begin by saying that I'm not sure it's a weakness, but I do believe that I share a sense of optimism for America's future that, today, is eroding from too many of our people. I think there's a sense in this country today that somehow our best days are behind us. And that doesn't have to be true. Our greatest days lie ahead if we are willing to do what it takes now. If we're willing to do what it takes now, the 21st century is going to be the new American century, greater than any other era we've had in the history of this great nation. +p169 +aVThat's an interesting question. That's exactly what the Republican establishment says too. Why don't you wait in line? Wait for what? This country is running out of time. We can't afford to have another four years like the last eight years. Watching this broadcast tonight are millions of people that are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, everything costs more, and they haven't had a raise in decades. You have small businesses in America that are struggling. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses closing than starting. We have a world that's out of control and has grown dangerous and a president that is weakening our military and making our foreign policy unstable and unreliable in the eyes of our allies. And our adversaries continue to grow stronger. We have a \u2014 they say there's no bipartisanship in Washington? We have a $19 trillion bipartisan debt and it continues to grow as we borrow money from countries that do not like us to pay for government we cannot afford. The time to act is now. The time to turn the page is now. If we \u2014 if we don't act now, we are going to be the first generation in American history that leaves our children worse off than ourselves. +p170 +aVLet me say, I read that editorial today with a great amusement. It's actually evidence of the bias that exists in the American media today. +p171 +aVLet me \u2014 let me answer your question on the Sun-Sentinel editorial today. Back in 2004, one of my predecessors to the Senate by the name of Bob Graham, a Democrat, ran for president missing over 30 percent of his votes. I don't recall them calling for his resignation \u2014 +p172 +aVLater that year, in 2004, John Kerry ran for president missing close to 60 to 70 percent of his votes. I don't recall the Sun \u2014 in fact, the Sun-Sentinel endorsed him. In 2008, Barack Obama missed 60 or 70 percent of his votes, and the same newspaper endorsed him again. So this is another example of the double standard that exists in this country between the mainstream media and the conservative movement. +p173 +aVI get to respond, right? +p174 +aVWell, it's interesting. Over the last few weeks, I've listened to Jeb as he walked around the country and said that you're modeling your campaign after John McCain, that you're going to launch a furious comeback the way he did, by fighting hard in New Hampshire and places like that, carrying your own bag at the airport. You know how many votes John McCain missed when he was carrying out that furious comeback that you're now modeling after? +p175 +aVNo Jeb, I don't remember \u2014 well, let me tell you. I don't remember you ever complaining about John McCain's vote record. The only reason why you're doing it now is because we're running for the same position, and someone has convinced you that attacking me is going to help you. +p176 +aVHere's the bottom line. I'm not \u2014 my campaign is going to be about the future of America, it's not going to be about attacking anyone else on this stage. I will continue to have tremendous admiration and respect for Governor Bush. I'm not running against Governor Bush, I'm not running against anyone on this stage. I'm running for president because there is no way we can elect Hillary Clinton to continue the policies of Barack Obama. +p177 +aVWell, you just \u2014 you just listed a litany of discredited attacks from Democrats and my political opponents, and I'm not gonna waste 60 seconds detailing them all. But I'm going to tell you the truth. Here's the truth. I didn't inherit any money. My dad was a bartender, my mother was a maid. They worked hard to provide us the chance at a better life. They didn't save enough money for us to go to school. I had to work my way through school. I had to borrow money to go to school. I tried (ph), early in my marriage, explaining to my wife why someone named Sallie Mae was taking $1,000 out of our bank account every month. I know what it's like to owe that money, and we've worked hard. We've worked hard our whole life to provide a better family \u2014 a better life for our family. We own a home four blocks away from the place that I grew up in. My four children have been able to receive a good Christian education, and I've been able to save for them to go to college so they never have to have the loans that I did. But I'm not worried about my finances, I'm worried about the finances of everyday Americans who today are struggling in an economy that is not producing good paying jobs while everything else costs more. And that's what this economy needs to \u2014 that's what this debate needs to be about. This debate needs to be about the men and women across this country that are struggling on a daily basis to provide for their families the better future that we've always said this country is all about. +p178 +aVAnd I used it to pay off my loans. And it's available on paperback, if you're interested in buying my book. +p179 +aVYeah, again, as I said, we're raising a family in the 21st century and it's one of the reasons why my tax plan is a pro- family tax plan. It increases the per child tax credit, because I didn't read about this in a book. I know for a fact how difficult it is to raise children, how expensive it's become for working families. And I make a lot more than the average American. Imagine how hard it is for these people out there that are making 40, 50, $60,000 a year, and they're trying to provide for their families at a time when this economy is not growing. We can't afford another four years of that. Which is what we're gonna get if we elect a big government liberal like Hillary Clinton to the White House. Thank you, senator. +p180 +aVWell, first of all, if a company gets caught doing that, they should never be able to use the program again. If you get caught abusing this program, you should never be able to use it again. The second thing I said is we need to add reforms, not just increase the numbers, but add reforms. For example, before you hire anyone from abroad, you should have to advertise that job for 180 days. You also have to prove that you're going to pay these people more than you would pay someone else, so that you're not undercutting it by bringing in cheap labor. But here's the best solution of all. We need to get back to training people in this country to do the jobs of the 21st century. Why, for the life of me, I do not understand why did we stop doing vocational education in America, people that can work with their hands; people you can train to do this work while they're still in high school so they can graduate ready to go work. But the best way to close this gap is to modernize higher education so Americans have the skills for those jobs. But in the interim, in the absence of that, what's happening is some of these tech companies are taking those \u2014 those centers (ph) to Canada because they can get people to go over there instead of here. But the ideal scenario is to train Americans to do the work so we don't have to rely on people from abroad. +p181 +aVWell, I believe that there are abuses, those companies should be permanently barred from ever using the program again and we should put strict standards in place to ensure that they're not being abused, like the prevailing wage requirement and like the advertising requirement. +p182 +aVSince I've been mentioned, can I respond? +p183 +aVOK. I know the Democrats have the ultimate SuperPac. It's called the mainstream media who every single day... ... and I'll tell you why. Last week, Hillary Clinton went before a committee. She admitted she had sent e-mails to her family saying, "Hey, this attack at Benghazi was caused by Al Qaida-like elements." She spent over a week telling the families of those victims and the American people that it was because of a video. And yet the mainstream media is going around saying it was the greatest week in Hillary Clinton's campaign. It was the week she got exposed as a liar. It was the week that she got exposed as a liar... But she has her super PAC helping her out, the American mainstream media. +p184 +aVNo, that's \u2014 you're wrong. In fact, the largest after- tax gains is for the people at the lower end of the tax spectrum under my plan. And there's a bunch of things my tax plan does to help them. Number one, you have people in this country that... +p185 +aV...you wrote a story on it, and you had to go back and correct it. +p186 +aVYou did. No, you did. +p187 +aVWell, you're talking about \u2014 yeah. +p188 +aVYeah, but that \u2014 because the math is, if you \u2014 5 percent of a million is a lot more than 5 percent of a thousand. So yeah, someone who makes more money... +p189 +aV...numerically, it's gonna be higher. But the greatest gains, percentage-wise, for people, are gonna be at the lower end of our plan, and here's why: because in addition to a general personal exemption, we are increasing the per-child tax credit for working families. We are lowering taxes on small business. You know, a lot of business activity in America is conducted like the guy that does my dry cleaning. He's an S corporation. He pays on his personal rate, and he is paying higher than the big dry-cleaning chain down the street, because he's paying at his personal rate. Under my plan, no business, big or small, will pay more than 25 percent flat rate on their business income. That is a dramatic tax decrease for hard-working people who run their own businesses. +p190 +aV...The other thing I'd like to make about our plan, one more point, it is the most pro growth tax plan that I can imagine because it doesn't tax investments at all. You know why? Because the more you tax something, the less of it you get. I want to be in \u2014 I want America to be the best... +p191 +aV...in the world for people... +p192 +aVI was mentioned in the question. +p193 +aVThank you. Well, I've learned the rules on this. Look, in addition to what Donald was saying is we also need to talk about the legal immigration system for permanent residents. Today, we have a legal immigration system for permanent residency that is largely based on whether or not you have a relative living here. And that's the way my parents came legally in 1956. But in 2015, we have a very different economy. Our legal immigration system from now on has to be merit-based. It has to be based on what skills you have, what you can contribute economically, and most important of all, on whether or not you're coming here to become an American, not just live in America, but be an American. +p194 +aVNo. No. What I said was that I think that Dr. Carson's ideas are good ideas. They're not my ideas, and I don't necessarily agree with all of them. But this is what you're seeing in the Republican debate that you didn't see in that Democrat debate. You didn't see it for a minute. You didn't see these kind of ideas being batted around, and being batted around in a way that's civil and smart and that's trying to help to inform the voter out there. What you saw was a parade of, "I'll give you this for free; I'll give you that for free." Let me tell you, everybody, when they say they want to give it to you for free, keep your hands on your wallets because they're coming to you to pay for it. And that's why I think these ideas up here are great, and that's what we should have is have more discussions like this and less gotcha. +p195 +aVI want to take off from that point and argue the same thing. And that is that one of the things you're watching tonight are 11 quality candidates debating an important issue. The Republican Party is blessed to have 11 good candidates, 10 good candidates. The Democrats can't even come up with one. And on this issue of the Medicare in particular, it's important because they're going to demagogue what we're saying here tonight. Everyone up here tonight that's talking about reforms, I think and I know for myself I speak to this, we're all talking about reforms for future generations. Nothing has to change for current beneficiaries. My mother is on Medicare and Social Security. I'm against anything that's bad for my mother. So, we're talking about \u2014 we're talking about reform for people like me and people like Senator Cruz, as he talked about earlier, who are years away from retirement that have a way to plan for these changes, and way that's very reasonable. And it's not too much to ask of our generation after everything our parents and our grandparents did for us. +p196 +aVYou know, America doesn't owe me anything. I have a debt to America I'll never repay. This isn't just the country I was born in, this is the nation that literally changed the history of my family. My parents in this country were able to give me the chance to do all the things they never did. We call that the American Dream, although, it's built on the universal dream of a better life. The fact that it's happened for so many people here throughout our history, that's what makes us special. But, now for millions of Americans, it's slipping away. And, we have a government and leaders in government that are completely out of touch, and that's why I'm running for president. Because we can't just save the American Dream, we can expand it to reach more people, and change more lives than ever before. And, that's why tonight I'm asking you for your vote. +p197 +aVThank you. My name is Marco Rubio. I'm from Florida. My wife Jeanette and I are the proud \u2014 we've been married 17 years, and we're the proud parents of four children, two of whom were able to join us here this evening. I'm honored to be here at the Reagan Library, at a place that honors the legacy of a man who inspired not just my interest in public service, but also our love for country. And I'm also aware that California has a drought, and so that's why I made sure I brought my own water. +p198 +aVWell, first of all, I have an understanding of exactly what it is Russia and Putin are doing, and it's pretty straightforward. He wants to reposition Russia, once again, as a geopolitical force. He himself said that the destruction of the Soviet Union \u2014 the fall of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century, and now he's trying to reverse that. He's trying to destroy +p199 +aVLet me tell you \u2014 I will tell you we have zero responsibility, because let's remember what the president said. He said the attack he would conduct would be a pinprick. Well, the United States military was not build to conduct pinprick attacks. If the United States military is going to be engaged by a commander-in-chief, it should only be engaged in an endeavor to win. And we're not going to authorize use of force if you're not put in a position where they can win. And quite frankly, people don't trust this president as commander-in-chief because of that. +p200 +aVHold on, a second, Jake, he asked me, as well. I'd like to actually... +p201 +aV... respond. I think I'm the first senator. The No. 1 test for use of military force should be the vital national security interest of the United States. The reason why I opposed President Obama bombing Syria, is because he couldn't answer the question what do you do if chemical weapons end up in the hands of radical Islamic terrorists like al-Nusra, like Al Qaida, like +p202 +aVIn the middle of negotiating this treaty, Khamenei led the assembled masses in chanting, death to America. I'm reminded of a great editorial cartoon. It shows the Ayatollah Khamenei saying, "Death to all Americans," and then it shows John Kerry coming back, saying, "Can we meet ya half way?" We need a commander-in-chief who will stand up and protect this country. And I'll tell you, I can't wait to stand on that debate stage with Hillary Clinton and to make abundantly clear if you vote for Hillary, you are voting for the Ayatollah Khomeini to possess a nuclear weapon and if you elect me as president, under no circumstances will a theocratic ayatollah who chants death to America ever be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon. +p203 +aVMs. Dana, I agree that English is the unifying language of our country, and everyone should learn to speak it. It's important. I want to tell you a story about someone that didn't speak English that well. It was my grandfather; he came to this country in the 1960s, as a \u2014 escaping Cuba. And he lived with us, growing up. And my grandfather loved America. He understood what was so special about this country. He loved Ronald Reagan; he would be very proud of the fact that we're here this evening. My grandfather instilled in me the belief that I was blessed to live in the one society in all of human history where even I, the son of a bartender and a maid, could aspire to have anything, and be anything that I was willing to work hard to achieve. But he taught me that in Spanish, because it was the language he was most comfortable in. And he became a conservative, even though he got his news in Spanish. And so, I do give interviews in Spanish, and here's why \u2014 because I believe that free enterprise and limited government is the best way to help people who are trying to achieve upward mobility. And if they get their news in Spanish, I want them to hear that directly from me. Not from a translator at Univision. +p204 +aVWell, let me say that legal immigration is not an issue I read about in the newspaper. Immigration, illegal immigration, all the good aspects of immigration and all the negative ones as well, I live with. My family's immigrants. My neighbors are all immigrants. My in-laws are all immigrants. So I've seen every aspect of it, and I can tell you America doesn't have one immigration problem, it has three. First, despite the fact that we are the most generous country in the history of the world in allowing people to come here legally, we have people still coming illegally. Second, we have a legal immigration system that no longer works. It primary is built on the basis of whether you have a relative living here instead of merit. And third, we have 11 million or 12 million people, many of whom have been here for longer than a decade who are already here illegally. And we must deal with all three of these problems. We cannot deal with all three of these problems in one massive piece of legislation. I learned that. We tried it that way. Here's the way forward: First, we must \u2014 we must secure our border, the physical border, with \u2014 with a wall, absolutely. But we also need to have an entry/exit tracking system. 40 percent of the people who come here illegally come legally, and then they overstay the visa. We also need a mandatory e-verify system. After we've done that, step two would be to modernize our legal immigration system so you come to America on the basis of what you can contribute economically, not whether or not simply you have a relative living here. And after we've done those two things, I believe the American people... +p205 +aV... will be very reasonable and responsible about what you do with someone who's been here and isn't a criminal. If you're a criminal, obviously, you will not be able to stay. +p206 +aVYes, well, it does. But it's in the following way, this is an important question. I think if you're running for president, these are important issues, because look at around the world today. There is a lunatic in North Korea with dozens of nuclear weapons and long-range rocket that can already hit the very place in which we stand tonight. The Chinese are rapidly expanding their military. They hack into our computers. They're building artificial islands in the South China Sea, the most important shipping lane in the world. A gangster in Moscow is not just threatening Europe, he's threatening to destroy and divide +p207 +aVWell, that's why we have a debate. I think that we should have a deeper debate about these issues, because there is no more important decision that a president will make. +p208 +aVWell, you should ask him questions in detail about the foreign policy issues our president will confront, because you had better be able to lead our country on the first day. Not six months from now, not a year from now, on the first day in office, our president could very well confront a national security crisis. You can't predict it. Sometimes you cannot control it. And it is the most \u2014 the federal government does all kinds of things it's not supposed to be doing. It regulates bathrooms. It regulates schools that belong to local communities. But the one thing that the federal government must do, the one thing that only the federal government can do is keep us safe. And a president better be up-to-date on those issues on his first day in office, on her first day in office. +p209 +aVTrust (ph) me, I get that. OK. +p210 +aVI never get to addressed, and... +p211 +aV...and when I do, I'm gonna jump in. +p212 +aVYeah. He did. Let me \u2014 I'm proud to serve in the United States Senate. You know, when I ran five years ago, the entire leadership of my party in Washington lined up against me. But I'm glad I won. And I'm glad that I ran, because this country's headed in the wrong direction. And if we keep electing the same people, nothing is going to change. And you're right, I have missed some votes, and I'll tell you why, Mr. Trump. Because in my years in the Senate, I've figured out very quickly that the political establishment in Washington, D.C. in both political parties is completely out of touch with the lives of our people. You have millions of people in this country living paycheck to paycheck, and nothing is being done about it. We are about to leave our children with $18 trillion in \u2014 in \u2014 in debt, and they're about to raise the debt limit again. We have a world that grows increasingly dangerous, and we are eviscerating our military spending and signing deals with Iran. And these \u2014 if this thing continues, we are going to be the first Americans to leave our children worse off than ourselves. That's why I'm missing votes. Because I am leaving the Senate, I'm not running for re-election, and I'm running for president because I know this: unless we have the right president, we cannot make America fulfill its potential, but with the right person in office, the 21st century can be the greatest era that our nation has ever known. +p213 +aVI want to go even deeper \u2014 and I want to go even deeper in that direction, because I think the belief that somehow by retreating, America makes the world safer has been disproven every single time it's ever been tried. Syria's a perfect example of it. The uprising in Syria was not started by the United States; it was started by the Syrian people. And I warned at the time \u2014 this was three and a half years ago \u2014 I openly and repeatedly warned that if we did not find moderate elements on the ground that we could equip and arm, that void would be filled by radical jihadists. Well, the president didn't listen, the administration didn't follow through, and that's exactly what happened. That is why +p214 +aV... as you asked earlier today. +p215 +aVBut radical terrorism cannot be solved by intellect. It cannot \u2014 they require \u2014 what they need, is they need an operating space. That's what Afghanistan was for Al Qaida. It was a vacuum that they filled, and they created an operating space. That's why they had to be drawn out of there. That's why they had to be destroyed. It is the reason why +p216 +aVThere's a broader issue here, Hugh. And there's a broader issue here as well. First of all, the only people that follow the law are law-abiding people. Criminals by definition ignore the law, so you can pass all the gun laws in the world, like the left wants. The criminals are going to ignore it because they are criminals. Here's the real issue. The real issue \u2014 the real issue is not what are people using to commit violence, but why are they committing the violence? And here's the truth: Because you cannot separate the social, moral wellbeing of your people from their economic and other wellbeing. You cannot separate it. You can't have a strong country without strong people, you cannot have strong people without strong values, and you cannot have strong values without strong families and the institutions in this country that defend and support those families. +p217 +aVWell, and today, we have a left-wing government under this president that is undermining all of the institutions and society that support the family and teach those values. +p218 +aVBecause we're not going to destroy our economy the way the left-wing government that we are under now wants to do. We're not going to... +p219 +aVWell, and I don't \u2014 he may have lined up with their positions on this issue. But here is the bottom line. Every proposal they put forward are going to be proposals that will make it harder to do business in America, that will make it harder to create jobs in America. Single parents are already struggling across this country to provide for their families. Maybe a billionaire here in California can afford an increase in their utility rates, but a working family in Tampa, Florida, or anywhere across this country cannot afford it. So we are not going to destroy our economy. We are not going to make America a harder place to create jobs in order to pursue policies that will do absolutely nothing, nothing to change our climate, to change our weather, because America is a lot of things, the greatest country in the world, absolutely. But America is not a planet. And we are not even the largest carbon producer anymore, China is. And they're drilling a hole and digging anywhere in the world that they can get a hold of. So the bottom line is, I am not in favor of any policies that make America a harder place for people to live, or to work, or to raise their families. +p220 +aVJake, you mentioned me and called me a denier. Let me say, climate change... +p221 +aVOK. A skeptic. You can measure the climate. You can measure it. That's not the issue we're discussing. Here is what I'm skeptical of. I'm skeptical of the decisions that the left wants us to make, because I know the impact those are going to have and they're all going to be on our economy. They will not do a thing to lower the rise of the sea. They will not do a thing to cure the drought here in California. But what they will do is they will make America a more expensive place to create jobs. And today with millions of people watching this broadcast that are struggling paycheck to paycheck that do not know how they're going to pay their bills at the end of this month, I'm not in favor of anything that is going to make it harder for them to raise their family. +p222 +aVSenator Rubio, you mean? +p223 +aVI know we all look alike. +p224 +aVThe \u2014 Rosa Parks, an everyday American that changed the course of history. +p225 +aVWell, there are some people in Florida upset at me over a joke I made about Florida State, but, what the heck, I want my codename to be Gator. +p226 +aVOne of the things that made Ronald Reagan a great president, is that he understood that America was a unique nation, like any other that had existed throughout human history. He knew it was founded on universal principles that were powerful, the dignity of all people, human rights, the rights of all to live in freedom and liberty, and choose their own path in life. He didn't just believe it, he acted on it. That's why bringing down communism was so important to him. If I'm honored with the opportunity to be president, I hope that our Air Force One will fly, first and foremost, to our allies; in Israel, in South Korea, and Japan. They know we stand with them. That America can be counted on. It would also fly to China, not just to meet with our enemies, not just to meet with those adversaries of ours that are there, but also to meet with those that aspire to freedom and liberty within China. I would even invite them to my inauguration. We would also fly into Moscow and into Russia. And not just meet with the leaders of Russia, but also meet with those who aspire to freedom and liberty in Russia. And ultimately, I hope that my Air Force One, if I become president, will one day land in a free Cuba, where its people can choose its leaders and its own destiny. +p227 +aVWell, thank you for the question, Chris, and it's great to be here tonight. Let me begin by saying this: I'm not new to the political process; I was making a contribution as the speaker of the third largest and most diverse state in the country well before I even got into the Senate. I would add to that that this election cannot be a resume competition. It's important to be qualified, but if this election is a resume competition, then Hillary Clinton's gonna be the next president, because she's been in office and in government longer than anybody else running here tonight. Here's what this election better be about: This election better be about the future, not the past. It better be about the issues our nation and the world is facing today, not simply the issues we once faced. This country is facing an economy that has been radically transformed. You know, the largest retailer in the country and the world today, Amazon, doesn't even own a single store? And these changes have been disruptive. They have changed people's lives. The jobs that once sustained our middle class, they either don't pay enough or they are gone, and we need someone that understands that as our nominee. If I'm our nominee, how is Hillary Clinton gonna lecture me about living paycheck to paycheck? I was raised paycheck to paycheck. How is she -- how is she gonna lecture me -- how is she gonna lecture me about student loans? I owed over $100,000 just four years ago. If I'm our nominee, we will be the party of the future. +p228 +aVLet me set the record straight on a couple of things. The first is, the evidence is now clear that the majority of people coming across the border are not from Mexico. They're coming from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras. Those countries are the source of the people that are now coming in its majority. I also believe we need a fence. The problem is if El Chapo builds a tunnel under the fence, we have to be able to deal with that too. And that's why you need an e-verify system and you need an entry-exit tracking system and all sorts of other things to prevent illegal immigration. But I agree with what Governor Kasich just said. People are frustrated. This is the most generous country in the world when it comes to immigration. There are a million people a year who legally immigrate to the United States, and people feel like we're being taken advantage of. We feel like despite our generosity, we're being taken advantage of. And let me tell you who never gets talked about in these debates. The people that call my office, who have been waiting for 15 years to come to the United States. And they've paid their fees, and they hired a lawyer, and they can't get in. And they're wondering, maybe they should come illegally. And so these are important issues, and we should address it. It's a serious problem that needs to be addressed, and otherwise we're going to keep talking about this for the next 30 years, like we have for the last 30 years. +p229 +aVNot me. +p230 +aVActually, to be clear......he supported Charlie Crist. +p231 +aVHey, Charlie... +p232 +aVWell, first off, I too believe in curriculum reform. It is critically important in the 21st Century. We do need curriculum reform. And it should happen at the state and local level. That's. . . that's. . . that is where educational policy belongs, because if a parent is unhappy with what their child is being taught in school, they can go to that local school board or their state legislature, or their governor and get it changed. Here's the problem with Common Core. The Department of Education, like every federal agency, will never be satisfied. They will not stop with it being a suggestion. They will turn it into a mandate. In fact, what they will begin to say to local communities is, you will not get federal money unless do you things the way we want you to do it. And they will use Common Core or any other requirements that exists nationally to force it down the throats of our people in our states. +p233 +aVThat's a great question. +p234 +aVThat's a great question. First of all, it begins by having leaders that recognize that the economy we live in today is dramatically different from the one we had five years ago. It's an economy that now has placed us in global competition with dozens of other countries around the world. Now, the big companies that have connections with Washington, they can affect policies to help them, but the small companies like the one Tania is talking about, they're the ones that are struggling. The first thing we need to do is we need to even out the tax code for small businesses so that we lower their tax rate to 25 percent, just as we need to lower it for all businesses. We need to have a regulatory budget in America that limits the amount of regulations on our economy. We need to repeal and replace Obamacare and we need to improve higher education so that people can have access to the skills they need for 21st century jobs. And last but not least, we need to repeal Dodd-Frank. It is eviscerating small businesses and small banks. 20 \u2014 over 40 percent of small and mid-size banks that loan money to small businesses have been wiped out over the \u2014 since Dodd-Frank has passed. We need to repeal and replace Dodd-Frank. We need to make America fair again for all businesses, but especially those being run by small business owners. +p235 +aVWell, Megyn, first of all, I'm not sure that that's a correct assessment of my record. I would go on to add that I believe all-- +p236 +aVI have never said that. And I have never advocated that. What I have advocated is that we pass law in this country that says all human life at every stage of its development is worthy of protection. In fact, I think that law already exists. It is called the Constitution of the United States. And let me go further. I believe that every single human being is entitled to the protection of our laws, whether they can vote or not. Whether they can speak or not. Whether they can hire a lawyer or not. Whether they have a birth certificate or not. And I think future generations will look back at this history of our country and call us barbarians for murdering millions of babies who we never gave them a chance to live. +p237 +aVWell, first, let me say I think God has blessed us. He has blessed the Republican Party with some very good candidates. The Democrats can't even find one. And I believe God has blessed our country. This country has been extraordinarily blessed. And we have honored that blessing. And that's why God has continued to bless us. And he has blessed us with young men and women willing to risk their lives and sometimes die in uniform for the safety and security of our people. Unfortunately today we have a VA that does not do enough for them. I am proud that last year we helped change the law. We changed the law to give the power to the VA secretary the ability to fire any executive that isn't doing their job. And it is outrageous they've only fired one person to date. When I'm president of the United States, we're going to have a VA that cares more about our veterans than about the bureaucrats who work at the VA. +p238 +aVThank you. You know, both of my parents were born into poor families on the island of Cuba. They came to America because it was the only place where people like them could have a chance. Here in this country, they never made it big, but the very purpose of their life was to give us the chance to do all the things they never could. My father was a bartender. And the journey from the back of that bar to this stage tonight, to me, that is the essence of the American dream. It is what makes our nation different. And I'm running for president because I want that to still be possible for the people trying to do that now. I run for president because I believe that we can't just save the American dream; we can expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And that's why I'm asking for your vote. So we can make America greater than it has ever been. And make of this century a new American century. +p239 +asVKASICH +p240 +(lp241 +VThank you, Wolf. Just last weekend, just last week, a friend asked one of my daughters, "Do you like politics?" And my daughter said, "No, I don't. And the reason I don't like it is because there's too much fighting, too much yelling. It's so loud, I don't like it." You know, I turned to my friend and I said, "You know, she's really on to something." And when we think about our country and the big issues that we face in this country; creating jobs, making sure people can keep their jobs, the need for rising wages, whether our children when they graduate from college can find a job, protecting the homeland, destroying +p242 +aVWell, first of all, Wolf, I said last February that we needed to have people on the ground, troops on the ground in a coalition similar to what we had in the first Gulf War. I remember when the Egyptian ambassador to the United States stood in the Rose Garden and pledged Arab commitment to removing Saddam Hussein from Kuwait. Before we came out here tonight, I am told that the Saudis have organized 34 countries who want to join in the battle against terrorism. First and foremost, we need to go and destroy +p243 +aVNo, I don't think it is. And I want to go back to two other issues. One is the metadata. We know we have to hold this data for a longer period of time. And, you know, in a lot of ways, Chris is right. Look, what a president has to do is take a position. We don't want to err on the side of having less. We want to err on the side of having more. That's good for our families. In addition to that, Wolf, there is a big problem. It's called encryption. And the people in San Bernardino were communicating with people who the FBI had been watching. But because their phone was encrypted, because the intelligence officials could not see who they were talking to, it was lost. We have to solve the encryption problem. It is not easy. A president of the United States, again, has to bring people together, have a position. We need to be able to penetrate these people when they are involved in these plots and these plans. And we have to give the local authorities the ability to penetrate to disrupt. That's what we need to do. Encryption is a major problem, and Congress has got to deal with this and so does the president to keep us safe. +p244 +aVYeah, let me \u2014 let me just suggest to everybody, and I hear \u2014 last February, I said we needed to have people on the ground in a coalition with Europe and our allies. This is not going to get done just by working with the Sunnis. And it is not going to get done if we just embed a few people. We have to go massively, like we did in the first Gulf War where we destroyed Saddam's ability to take Kuwait. We need to have a coalition that will stand for nothing less than the total destruction of +p245 +aVI don't understand this thing about Assad. He has to go. Assad is aligned with Iran and Russia. The one thing we want to prevent is we want to prevent Iran being able to extend a Shia crescent all across the Middle East. Assad has got to go. And there are moderates there. There are moderates in Syria who we should be supporting. I do not support a civil war. I don't want to be policeman of the world. But we can't back off of this. And let me tell you, at the end, the Saudis have agreed to put together a coalition inside of Syria to stabilize that country. +p246 +aVHe must go. It will be a blow to Iran and Russia. +p247 +aVThe foreign policy, you have to know how to pick and choose. There's no way, if Saddam had not had weapons of mass destruction, I would have gone, because I don't believe that the U.S. should be involved directly in civil wars. I opposed the U.S. involvement in Lebanon. We ended up having to withdraw our marines after our barracks were blown up. There is a difference between Iraq, where you have Sunni, Shia, and Kurds put together after the First World War by the Western powers. It doesn't work. It needs to break up into three parts. And for the Russians, frankly, it's time that we punched the Russians in the nose. They've gotten away with too much in this world and we need to stand up against them, not just there, but also in Eastern Europe where they threaten some of our most precious allies. +p248 +aVIt sounds more and more what my daughter said that I said in the beginning, all the fighting and arguing is not advancing us. +p249 +aVIt is not the way we're going to strengthen our country. We will strengthen our country when we come together. And, look, you've got Rand Paul, you've got Ted Cruz, you've got Marco, you've got a lot of people on this stage that have studied these issues. You know what a leader does? A leader has a sound program, has a good policy, and then brings people together to solve problems. Guess what? Both in Congress in balancing the budget and in Ohio fixing the economy \u2014 and, by the way, we talk about the fence. The first thing we better get going is strengthening our economy, because if we don't have a strong economy, we can't pay for all of this. And the world wants us to be able to function from strength, believe it or not. Get our economy going, get these people together in a room. We can fix this, ladies and gentlemen. We don't have to fight all the time. It can be done, and we will be great... +p250 +aV... when we join together. Thank you, Hugh. +p251 +aVYou know, obviously, as president of the United States, we've got to keep the people safe. That's first and foremost. But as governor of Ohio, I have an obligation to keep the 11.5 million people in Ohio safe. And we have been very effective with our Joint Terrorism Task Force, being able to make busts. In fact, we just made one three-four weeks ago against a person who was favorable to +p252 +aVNo Republican has ever been elected president of the United States without winning Ohio. Let me give you a little tip on how you win Ohio, it's reform, it's hope, it's growth, it's opportunity, and it's security. The people of Ohio are the people of America. The people of America are reflected in Ohio. Our message has to be big, and bold, and positive, and connect, not just with people's heads but also connect with their hearts. If we do it, we will beat Hillary Clinton, and we will run the White House, and we will strengthen and fix America, I promise you. +p253 +aVFirst of all, let me just say that, in the state of Ohio \u2014 and I'm the only acting executive on \u2014 on this stage today \u2014 we do have a moderate increase in the minimum wage. And I got to tell you, my father carried mail on his back. His father was a coal miner. He died of black lung. He was losing his eyesight. My mother's mother lived with us. She could barely speak English. I come from a town where if the wind blew the wrong way, people found themselves out of work. An economic theory is fine, but you know what? People need help. Now, I have a plan that, in fact, would cut taxes, but not $11 trillion or $12 trillion that would put my children further in debt. I have a plan that would not only cut taxes, lower the income tax rate for individuals, lower the tax for businesses so businesses will compete here and not move operations overseas, and also a plan \u2014 the only plan of anybody standing on this stage to get us to a balanced budget by the end of a second term. And, you know, the simple fact of the matter is, we hear a lot of promises in this debate, a lot of promises about these tax cuts or tax schemes sometimes that I call them. Hillary and the Democrats promise everything on the spending side. We've got to be responsible about what we propose on the tax side. Yes, lower taxes, lower spending. My website, JohnKasich.com, will show you exactly how we balance the budget. I balanced the budget in Washington as a chief architect, and I have balanced it in Ohio for one reason. When you balance the budget and you cut taxes, people get work. And our most important moral purpose as leaders in the political system is to make sure we create an environment for job creation so people can live their dreams and realize their God-given potential. That's why it's so important. And for those at the bottom, we've got to do what we can to train them so they can move up. But to just look the other way is not acceptable, because, you know what, as the governor of Ohio I have to deal with real challenges, and we've gotten it done in our state, and I will do it for America. +p254 +aVSure. We would move the Medicare system from a 7 percent growth down to about a 5 percent growth. And I have a whole series of ways to do that. In Ohio, we reduced Medicaid funding for the poor from 10 percent to 2.5 percent, didn't cut one benefit or didn't take anybody off the rolls. Why? Because we're innovators. I've been an innovator my entire career. And I really don't care what special interests or lobbyists have to say. I have a job to do when I take over a public office. Now, we freeze non-defense discretionary for eight years. We also put an increase in defense spending. Our tax cuts balance out. And at the end of the day, we will get to a balanced budget. And I want everybody here to know, when I was Budget Committee chairman in Washington, I stepped on every toe in that town, and we got to a balanced budget, and we had enormous job growth. And as governor of Ohio, we went from 350,000 lost jobs to a gain of 347,000 jobs. +p255 +aVI'll do it in Washington. I've done it twice; I'll do it thrice for the United States of America. +p256 +aVExcuse me. +p257 +aVYeah, I would like to make a comment. +p258 +aVI appreciate it, Jeb. I'm all of you. But I want at some point to talk about a value-added tax and $11 trillion, $12 trillion tax cuts that will put our kids way deeper in the hole than they have been at this point. So I would like to talk about it at some point, because that's what leadership is. +p259 +aVMaria, can we comment on that? +p260 +aVCan we comment on that? +p261 +aVWell, look, in 1986 Ronald Reagan basically said the people who were here, if they were law-abiding, could stay. But, what didn't happen is we didn't build the walls effectively and we didn't control the border. We need to. We need to control our border just like people have to control who goes in and out of their house. But if people think that we are going to ship 11 million people who are law-abiding, who are in this country, and somehow pick them up at their house and ship them out of Mexico \u2014 to Mexico, think about the families. Think about the children. So, you know what the answer really is? If they have been law- abiding, they pay a penalty. They get to stay. We protect the wall. Anybody else comes over, they go back. But for the 11 million people, come on, folks. We all know you can't pick them up and ship them across, back across the border. It's a silly argument. It is not an adult argument. It makes no sense. +p262 +aVJerry, Gerald, it was an attack. +p263 +aVIn the state of Ohio, the state of Ohio, we have grown 347,000 jobs. Our unemployment is half of what it was. Our fracking industry, energy industry may have contributed 20,000, but if Mr. Trump understood that the real jobs come in the downstream, not in the upstream, but in the downstream. And that's where we're going to get our jobs. But Ohio is diversified. And little false little things, sir, they don't really work when it comes to the truth. So the fact is, all I'm suggesting, we can't ship 11 million people out of this country. Children would be terrified, and it will not work. +p264 +aV...Mr. Baker, everybody got to talk about taxes... +p265 +aV...I think you were coming to me and then... +p266 +aV...Look, I hate to crash the party to you, Mr. Baker, but, you know, what's fair... +p267 +aV...Yes, sir... +p268 +aVLet me tell you this, Mr. Baker, in terms of the cyber attacks, we have the capability to not only have a defensive posture, but it also to make it clear to people that if you attack us with cyber attacks, we will destroy the mechanisms that you are using to attack us. I want to give you a little trip around the world. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years. In the Ukraine, arm the people there so they can fight for themselves. In the eastern part of Europe, make sure that Finland and the Baltics know that if the Russians move, we move. In Syria, yes, a no-fly zone in the north on the Turkish border, a no-fly zone on the south on the Jordanian border. Anybody flies in the first time, maybe they can fly out. They fly in there a second time, they will not fly out. And it also becomes a sanctuary for the people to be. And it also sends many messages in the Middle East that we're still involved. Saudi Arabia, cut off the funding for the radical clerics, the ones that preach against us. But they're fundamentally our friends. Jordan, we want the king to reign for 1,000 years. Egypt, they have been our ally and a moderating force in the Middle East throughout their history. In the groups \u2014 in the countries of the Gulf states of Bahrain, the Cleveland Clinic is opening an operation. Clearly we see the same with them. And in Israel, we have no better ally in the world, and no more criticizing them in public, we should support them. And finally China, China doesn't own the South China Sea, and I give the president some credit for being able to move a naval force in there to let the Chinese know that we're not going to put up with it any more. And in the trade agreement, the TPP, it's critical to us, not only for economic reasons and for jobs, because there are so many people who are connected to getting jobs because of trade, but it allows us to create not only economy alliances, but also potentially strategic alliances against the Chinese. They are not our enemy, but they are certainly not our friend. And finally, I will say to everyone in this room, we have been talking about taxes and economics. When the fall comes, and we run against Hillary, which will be a disaster if she got elected. I have two 16-year-old girls, and I want this country to be strong. We make promises we can't keep under the bright light of the fall, we will have trouble. We must make sure that economic programs and our military programs are solid. I served in Washington as the chairman of the Budget Committee, and we got the budget balanced. And in Ohio, as the CEO, and guess what, we have got to have a CEO mentality and a way to beat Hillary Clinton and the Democracies in the fall. And our ideas have to add up. They have to be solid. And people have to know we have the confidence to lead America. And as president, I will lead this country, as I have before in Washington and in Ohio, and will return both on domestic and international affairs. And I appreciate the opportunity to speak this time, Gerry. +p269 +aVLet me \u2014 let me also say, Gary \u2014 Gary, let me also say, Jeb is \u2014 what Jeb is talking about with the big banks is to force them to reserve their capital, people who invest it and they hold their capital, so that if the bank goes down, the people who are invested in the bank are the ones that pay. That's what he's trying to say. Secondly, I'll tell you about Wall Street: There's too much greed. And the fact is, a free enterprise system is a system that's produced the greatest wealth for the world. But you know Michael Novak, the great Catholic theologian, says that a free enterprise system that is not underlaid with values \u2014 and we should all think about the way we conduct our lives \u2014 yes, free enterprise is great, profits are great, but there have to be some values that underlay it, and they need a good ethics lesson on Wall Street on a regular basis to keep them in check so we, the people, do not lose. +p270 +aVNeil, that's the difference of being an executive. And let me just explain: when a bank is ready to go under and depositors are getting ready to lose their life savings, you just don't say we believe in philosophical concerns. You know what an executive has to decide? When there's a water crisis, how do we get water to the city? When there's a school shooting, how do you get there and help heal a community? When there are financial crisis, or a crisis with ebola, you got to go there and try to fix it. Philosophy doesn't work when you run something. And I gotta tell you, on-the-job training for president of the United States doesn't work. We've done it for 8 years, \u2014 and almost 8 years now. It does not work. We need an executive who's been tried, has been tested, and judge the decisions that that executive makes. I don't like what the Fed is doing, but I'll tell you what worries me more than anything else: turning the Fed over to the Congress of the United States... +p271 +aV...so they can print the money. That would be a very bad approach. +p272 +aVI wouldn't. I wouldn't. +p273 +aVNo. No, I didn't say that. +p274 +aVThey were \u2014 they were talking about what you would do with depositors. Would you let these banks shut down? My argument is, going forward, the banks have to reserve the capital, so that the \u2014 so that the people who own the capital start pressuring the banks to not take these risky approaches, Ted. But at the end of the day... +p275 +aV... I'm gonna tell you this. Let me tell you this. If during \u2014 if during... +p276 +aV...because if during \u2014 well, I'll tell you what (ph). +p277 +aVAs an executive \u2014 no. As an executive, I would figure out how to separate those people who can afford it versus those people, or the hard-working folks who put those money in those institutions...... let me \u2014 no, no. Let me say another thing. Here's what I mean by that. Here's what I mean by that. +p278 +aVWhen you are faced \u2014 when you are faced, in the last financial crisis, with banks going under \u2014 with banks going under, and people, people who put their \u2014 their life savings in there, you got to deal with it. You can't turn a blind eye to it. Now, going forward, that's one thing. If you had another financial crisis, perhaps there would be an effort to make sure that we do (ph). +p279 +aVWell, ladies and gentlemen, if Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders were to win this election, my 16-year-olds, I \u2014 I worry about what their life is going to be like. You know, the conservative movement is all about opportunity. It is about lower taxes. It's about balanced budgets. It's about less regulation. And it's about sending power, money and influence back to where we live so we can run America from the bottom up. In addition to that, once we have the power and the money and the influence with programs we shift out, that each of us have a responsibility to reach out and to rebuild our families, make them stronger, and connect our neighborhoods. All that together \u2014 wealth, connection, family \u2014 America's greatest days are ahead. We must win this election. +p280 +aVGood question, but I want to tell you, my great concern is that we are on the verge, perhaps, of picking someone who cannot do this job. I've watched to see people say that we should dismantle Medicare and Medicaid and leave the senior citizens out \u2014 out in the \u2014 in the cold. I've heard them talk about deporting 10 or 11 \u2014 people here from this country out of this country, splitting families. I've heard about tax schemes that don't add up, that put our kids in \u2014 in a deeper hole than they are today. We need somebody who can lead. We need somebody who can balance budgets, cut taxes... +p281 +aVYou know, frankly, I did it in Washington, in Ohio, and I will do it again in Washington, if I'm president, to get this country moving again. +p282 +aVcountry moving again. +p283 +aVListen, I want to just comment. +p284 +aVWell I want to comment on this. This is the fantasy... +p285 +aVThis is the fantasy that I talked about in the beginning. +p286 +aVI'm the only person on this stage that actually was involved in the chief architect of balancing the Federal Budget. You can't do it with empty promised. You know, these plans would put us trillions and trillions of dollars in debt. I actually have a plan. I'm the only one on this stage that has a plan that would create jobs, cut taxes, balance the budget and can get it done because I'm realistic. You just don't make promises like this. Why don't we just give a chicken in every pot, while we're, you know, coming up \u2014 coming up with these fantasy tax schemes. We'll just clean it up. Where are you gonna clean it up? You have to deal with entitlements, you have to be in a position to control discretionary spending. You gotta be creative and imaginative. Now, let me just be clear, John. I went into Ohio where we had an $8 billion hole and now we have a $2 billion surplus. We're up 347,000 jobs. When I was in Washington, I fought to get the budget balanced. I was the architect. It was the first time we did it since man walked on the moon. We cut taxes and we had a $5 trillion projected surplus when I left. That's was hard work. Fiscal discipline, know what you're doing. Creativity. This stuff is fantasy. Just like getting rid of Medicare and Medicaid. Come on, that's just not \u2014 you scare senior citizens with that. It's not responsible. +p287 +aVWell, I mean right here. To talk about we're just gonna have a 10 percent tithe and that's how we're gonna fund the government? And we're going to just fix everything with waste, fraud, and abuse? Or that we're just going to be great? Or we're going to ship 10 million Americans \u2014 or 10 million people out of this country, leaving their children here in this country and dividing families? Folks, we've got to wake up. We cannot elect somebody that doesn't know how to do the job. You have got to pick somebody who has experience, somebody that has the know-how, the discipline. And I spent my entire lifetime balancing federal budgets, growing jobs, the same in Ohio. And I will go back to Washington with my plan. +p288 +aVAnd I will have done it within 100 days, and it will pass. And we will be strong again. Thank you. +p289 +aVLet me just \u2014 let me respond. First of all, Ohio does have an energy industry, but we're diversified. We're one of the fastest growing states in the country. We came back from the dead. And you know what? It works very, very well. And secondly, when you talk about me being on the board of Lehman Brothers, I wasn't on the board of Lehman Brothers. I was a banker and I was proud of it. And I traveled the country and learned how people made jobs. We ought to have politicians who not only have government experience but know how the CEOs and the job creators work. My state is doing great across the board. And guess what, in 2011, I got a deal... +p290 +aV... an agreement with the... +p291 +aV... that he tried to take credit for four years later. It's a joke. +p292 +aVJohn Harwood, there's a bigger issue here. +p293 +aVWell, first of all, when we talk about the Import Export Bank, it's time to clean up corporate welfare. If we're gonna reform welfare for poor people, we ought to reform it for rich people, as well. Secondly, in our state, we went from a loss of 350,000 jobs to, now, a gain of 347,000 jobs to the positive. Our wages are growing faster than the national average, and I've cut taxes more than any sitting governor in this state \u2014 $5 billion, including no taxes on small business and killing the death tax. I want to go back to what we were talking about earlier, this budget deal in Washington. This is the same old stuff since I left. You spend the money today and then you hope you're going to save money tomorrow. I don't know if people understand, but I spent a lifetime with my colleagues getting us to a federal balanced budget. We actually did it. And I have a road map and a plan right now to get us to balance. Reforming entitlements, cutting taxes. You see, because if you really want to get to a balanced budget, you need to reduce your expenses and you need to grow your economy. So what I will tell you about our incentives \u2014 our incentives are tight, and at the end of the day we make sure that we gain more from the creation of jobs than what we lose. And you know what? Ohio, one of the best growing places in the country \u2014 I not only did it in Washington, I did it in Ohio, and I'll go back to Washington, and there will be no more silly deals... +p294 +aV... If I become President because we'll have a Constitutional Amendment to require a federally balanced budget so they will do their job. +p295 +aVWell, first of all, we're running a $2 billion dollar surplus, we're not having a revenue problem right now. And, sending mixed signals to kids about drugs is a disaster. Drugs is one of the greatest scourge in this country, and I spent five years of my administration working with my team to do a whole sort of things to try to reign in the problem of overdoses, and it goes on and on. We could do a whole show on that. I want to go back for a second thought on this issue of income inequality. My program would move the 104 programs of the federal Department of Education into four block grants, and send them back to the states because income inequality is driven by a lack of skills when kids don't get what they need to be able to compete and win in this country. The fact is, in order to get this economy moving again, I call for freezing regulations for a year except for the problem of public safety. I believe that we need to cut these taxes down, we need to be on a roadmap to balancing the budget, and we need to send power, money, and influence, the welfare department, the education department, job training, infrastructure, Medicaid, all of that out of Washington back to the states so we can run these programs from where we live to the top, not a one size fits all mentality that they have in Washington. And, that will get to the nub of opportunity for our children, and an ability to see wages rise. Again... +p296 +aV...One more time, in Ohio, our wages are growing faster than the national average. We've cut taxes, balanced budgets, changed the regulatory environment. Folks, you want to \u2014 +p297 +aV\u2014 fix America, this is the formula. It worked for Reagan and it works for our team in Ohio. Thank you. +p298 +aVJohn. +p299 +aVI wanna tell you, in my state, we took Medicaid, the hardest program to control, and we took it from a 10 percent growth rate to 2.5 percent without taking one person off the rolls or cutting one single benefit. And so much of what we did \u2014 to force competition, to use technology, to stand down the special interest groups \u2014 can you imagine taking Medicaid from 10 to 2.5 percent? We can take many of those same procedures, we can apply it to Medicare. We can make a stronger program. But I agree with Jeb, you can't just do this by growing the economy. You can't grow your way out of demographics. But we can give people better health care. And finally, on health care, why don't we start treating \u2014 keep giving... +p300 +aV...incentives for people to keep people healthy, rather than giving the incentives to treat them when they're sick? +p301 +aVI was on morning Joe at a town hall and a young student stood up and said, "Can I still be idealistic?" I said, absolutely, you can still change the world. And, you know the old inscription, if you save one life, you've changed the world. Folks, we have a problem here with the leadership in Washington, but I'll tell you another problem. We need to rebuild our families. We need to have stronger families. We need to know who our neighbors are. We need to come together as a country because we have to realize that America is great, not from the top-down. Oh yeah, we want to elect a good president, but America is great from the bottom-up, and the bottom-up is us in our families, in our communities, in our neighborhoods. We will renew America if we work together, and I am totally confident that we will. And God bless America. +p302 +aVHello, I'm John Kasich, the Governor of Ohio. Emma, and Reese, my children, and Karen, love 'ya girls. Thanks for watching tonight. By the way, I think I actually flew on this plane with Ronald Reagan when I was a congressman, and his goals, and mine, really much \u2014 are pretty much the same. Lift Americans, unify, give hope, grow America, and restore it is to that great, shining city on a hill. Yes, he was a great one, and I learned much from watching him. The most important thing, hope to Americans, unify, lift everyone in America. +p303 +aVJake, Jake. +p304 +aVListen, you know, I \u2014 if I were sitting at home and watch thing back and forth, I would be inclined to turn it off. I mean, people at home want to know across this country, they want to know what we're going to do to fix this place, how we'll balance a budget, how we're going to create more economic growth, how we'll pay down the debt. What we're going to do to strengthen the military. So, we just spent 10 minutes here... +p305 +aVBut \u2014 but wait a minute. It's a lot of ad hogshead. Now, I know that it may be buzzing out there, but I think it's important we get to the issues, because that's what people want, and they don't want all this fighting. +p306 +aV...Yeah, well... +p307 +aVWell, let me just say this. First of all, I think it's a bad agreement, I would never have done it. But, you know, a lot of our problems in the world today is that we don't have the relationship with our allies. If we want to go everywhere alone, we will not have the strength as (ph) if we could rebuild with our allies. Now, this agreement, we don't know what's going to happen in 18 months. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years. I've seen lots of issues in foreign affairs, and foreign \u2014 in terms of global politics, you have to be steady. Now, here's the \u2014 if they cheat, we slap the sanctions back on. If they help Hamas, and Hezbollah, we slap the sanctions back on. And, if we find out that they may be developing a nuclear weapon, than the military option is on the table. We are stronger when we work with the Western civilization, our friends in Europe, and just doing it on our own I don't think is the right policy. +p308 +aVNo, no, no. I want to \u2014 I want to \u2014 I want to say something about what the senator just said. +p309 +aVNo one is \u2014 no \u2014 let me \u2014 let me suggest to you we believe that we operate better in the world when our allies work with us. President Bush did it in the Gulf War. We work better when we are unified. Secondly, nobody's trusting Iran. They violate the deal, we put on the sanctions, and we have the high moral ground to talk to our allies in Europe to get them to go with us. If they don't go with us, we slap the sanctions on anyway. If they fund these radical groups that threaten Israel and all of the West, then we should rip up the deal and put the sanctions back on. And let me make it clear \u2014 let me make it clear... +p310 +aV... if we think \u2014 if we think they're getting close to a \u2014 to developing a nuclear weapon and we get that information, you better believe that I would do everything in my power as the commander-in-chief to stop them having a nuclear weapon. +p311 +aVWe can have it, and we can have our allies, and we can be strong as a country, and we can project across this globe with unity, not just doing it alone. That is not what gets us where we want to get as a nation. +p312 +aVWell, I agree that we should defund Planned Parenthood. I don't know many people in America who don't think that we should, and in my state, we're trying to figure out how to get it done, because we are threatened with the federal government taking all of our Medicaid money away. I think there is a way to get this done by giving governors the ability to be able to act to defund Planned Parenthood. But when (ph) it comes to closing down the federal government, you gotta be very careful about that. When we shut the government down \u2014 if we have a chance at success and it's a great principle, yes. The president of the United States is not going to sign this, and all we're gonna do is shut the government down, and then we're gonna open up \u2014 open it up, and the American people are gonna shake their heads and say, "what's the story with these Republicans?" So I think there is a way to get to cutting off the funding for Planned Parenthood. I was in the Congress for 18 years, balanced the budget, cut taxes, got it done. Changed welfare, went around the president to get welfare reform done. There are ways to do it without having to shut the government down, but I'm sympathetic to the fact that we don't want this organization to get funding, and the money ought to be reprogrammed for family planning in other organizations that don't support this tactic. But I would not be for shutting the government down... +p313 +aV...because I don't think it's going to work out. +p314 +aVWe're not \u2014 what I can tell you is this. We didn't surrender in New Jersey, six years ago, as the brand new first ever pro-life governor of New Jersey since Roe versus Wade, I defended Planned Parenthood. And I've vetoed Planned Parenthood funding, now, eight times in New Jersey. Since the day I walked in as governor, Planned Parenthood has not been funded in New Jersey. We stood up and every one of those vetoes has been sustained. But here's the problem, we're \u2014 we're fighting with each other up here. We agree. Let's ask Hillary Clinton. She believes in the systematic murder of children in the womb to preserve their body parts... +p315 +aV...Dana, in a way that maximizes their value for sale for profit. It is disgusting, and the American people need to hear it... +p316 +aV...we shouldn't be fighting with each other. She's the real opponent, she's the real problem. +p317 +aVI'll tell you what \u2014 I'll tell you what I'd be willing to fight for. I'll tell you what I'd be willing to fight for. Why will (ph) we put tax reform on the president's desk, so we can simplify this tax system? +p318 +aVNo, no, it's really important, Dana. We got to talk about what we would be willing to shut down for. Why don't we put tax reform on this president's desk, and make him veto it if that's what he wants to do? Why haven't we repealed and replaced Obamacare? Make him veto if that's what he wants to do. +p319 +aVThere's a \u2014 +p320 +aVJake \u2014 +p321 +aVOK, Jake. +p322 +aVI don't at this point in terms of changing the incentives for investment and risk-taking. But let's just stop for a second. There's one person on this stage that does have a record. I'm the only person on the stage and one of the few people in this country that led the effort as the chief architect of the last time we balanced the federal budget. We also cut taxes. And when I left Washington in 2000, we had a $5 trillion surplus, and the economy was booming. I had spent 10 years of my life to get us to that point, went out in the private sector, was a great experience, and went into Ohio and took an $8 billion hole and turned it into a $2 billion surplus. We've had the largest amount of tax cuts of any sitting governor. We've grown well over 300,000 jobs. You see, I've done it in both places. I'm the only one here that has done it in both places. It took a lot to get us to a balanced budget. It was legitimate. It was real. And we negotiated it. A lot of what we're talking about here tonight as we take this position and that position, you know what? At the end of the day, America has got to work. We've got to figure out how we come together to deal with this \u2014 with our fiscal problems because when we deal with that, we create a stronger economy for everybody. People have a chance to rise. So, you know, when we think about how we make a choice, it's the person that lands that plane. It's not somebody that talks about it. It's about the person who has done it. And I've done it in... +p323 +aV... both places. And I did it including people in the other party. And that's how we were successful. +p324 +aVAnd that's how I will be president, using that experience to drive this country forward. Thank you. +p325 +aVWell, look, people still have to get to know me, so I want to spend my time talking about my experience reforming welfare, balancing budgets, cutting taxes, providing economic growth when I was in Washington, turning Ohio around. Eight billion in the hole, $2 billion surplus, up over 300,000 jobs, big tax cuts, strengthening our credit. All those things matter but, you know, as a young man in my first election in 1978, I defeated an incumbent Democrat. I defeated an incumbent Democrat in 1982; running on the Reagan program, I was the only Republican in America to defeat an incumbent Democrat that year. And then, when I won for election of governor, I was the first Republican to defeat an incumbent in 36 years, and the first person to have never run statewide out of politics for 10 years to beat an incumbent. That hadn't happened for 96 years. So, we'll get to the point where we'll talk about Hillary Clinton, or whoever the nominee is, record. But right now, I want to give people sense of hope, sense of purpose, a sense of unity, sense that we can do it. So... +p326 +aVYou know, at the end of the day, I'm going to continue to talk about my record, because there is, did you ever notice when people run for office, they run for president, they make a lot of promises, they don't keep them. +p327 +aVI don't intend to do that, and I going to be out there pushing it out \u2014 don't worry about me and Hillary. That will all work out, and I'm from Ohio. She will not beat me there, I can promise you that. +p328 +aVCan I just \u2014 can I \u2014 Jake, can I just make one point on this whole military discussion? +p329 +aVI called for boots on the ground many months ago in a coalition with our friends who share our interest. You know, you win a battle with the military, and when we go somewhere, we need to be mobile, and lethal. We need to take care of business, and we need to come home. But, we face, also, a bigger war \u2014 and you win the bigger war with the battle of ideas. You wonder why young people, and educated people, rich people, schooled people, have tried to join +p330 +aV...to make (ph) centers (ph) of justice so that we can battle the radicals, call them out for what they are, and make sure that all of our people feel fulfilled in living in Western civilization... +p331 +aV...This is a giant battle in the world today... +p332 +aVWell, it's probably not, maybe, legal, but, I would pick Mother Theresa, the lady that I had a chance to meet, a woman who lived a life so much bigger than her own. An inspiration to everyone when we think about our responsibility to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. +p333 +aVWell, I have one now \u2014 they (ph) call me, "Unit One". My wife says, "You'll never be Unite One, I'm Unite One. You're Unit Two." +p334 +aVWell, as president, I will make this a nation that will solve problems. And how? By having the elected officials and the leaders realize they're Americans before they're Republicans or Democrats. I did it in Washington. And I've done it in Ohio by having the elected officials realize that they're Ohioans before anything else. Secondly, I will rebuild the relationships and show the respect to our allies around the world. We have no choice but to do that. We will be stronger when we are unified. And we'll fight for freedom and for human rights. And finally, a little bit of what Carly said. The people that are out there listening, America was never great because we ran America from the top down. America is great because we have run America from the bottom up, where we all live in the neighborhoods. One more time in America, we need to revive the concept of citizenship, where everybody's actions make a huge difference in changing the world. We have a Holocaust memorial on our state house grounds. And there is one line on there that stands out all the time. "If you've saved one life, you've changed the world." We need to adopt that as citizens and rebuild and reinspire our country. Thank you. +p335 +aVWell, first of all... ...first of all, Megyn, you should know that -- that President Reagan expanded Medicaid three or four times. Secondly, I had an opportunity to bring resources back to Ohio to do what? To treat the mentally ill. Ten thousand of them sit in our prisons. It costs $22,500 a year... ...to keep them in prison. I'd rather get them their medication so they could lead a decent life. Secondly, we are rehabbing the drug-addicted. Eighty percent of the people in our prisons have addictions or problems. We now treat them in the prisons, release them in the community and the recidivism rate is 10 percent and everybody across this country knows that the tsunami of drugs is -- is threatening their very families. So we're treating them and getting them on their feet. And, finally, the working poor, instead of them having come into the emergency rooms where it costs more, where they're sicker and we end up paying, we brought a program in here to make sure that people could get on their feet. And do you know what? Everybody has a right to their God-given purpose. And finally, our Medicaid is growing at one of the lowest rates in the country. And, finally, we went from $8 billion in the hole to $2 billion in the black. We've cut $5 billion in taxes... ...and we've grown 350,000 jobs. +p336 +aVChris, first of all, I was just saying to Chris Christie, they say we're outspoken, we need to take lessons from Donald Trump if we're really going to learn it. Here is the thing about Donald Trump. Donald Trump is hitting a nerve in this country. He is. He's hitting a nerve. People are frustrated. They're fed up. They don't think the government is working for them. And for people who want to just tune him out, they're making a mistake. Now, he's got his solutions. Some of us have other solutions. You know, look, I balanced the federal budget as one of the chief architects when I was in Washington. Hasn't been done since. I was a military reformer. I took the state of Ohio from an $8 billion hole and a 350,000 job loss to a $2 billion surplus and a gain of 350,000 jobs. +p337 +aVBut the point is that we all have solutions. Mr. Trump is touching a nerve because people want the wall to be built. They want to see an end to illegal immigration. They want to see it, and we all do. But we all have different ways of getting there. And you're going to hear from all of us tonight about what our ideas are. +p338 +aVDonald, if you... +p339 +aV-- this campaign, I hope you will give to me. +p340 +aVOK. +p341 +aVLet's start off with my father being a mailman. So I understand the concerns of all the folks across this country, some of whom have trouble, you know, making ends meet. But I think she will come in a narrow way. The nominee of this party, if they're going to win, has got to come at it in a big way, which is pro-growth. Which is balancing budgets. You know, we were talking about it. People were saying, could we do it? I was the chairman of the Budget Committee and the lead architect the last time it happened in Washington, and when we did it we had great economic growth, we cut taxes, and we had a big surplus. Economic growth is the key. Economic growth is the key to everything. But once you have economic growth, it is important that we reach out to people who live in the shadows, the people who don't seem to ever think that they get a fair deal. And that includes people in our minority community; that includes people who feel as though they don't have a chance to move up. You know, America is a miracle country. And we have to restore the sense that the "Amiracle" will apply to you. Each and every one of the people in this country who's watching tonight, lift everybody, unite everybody and build a stronger United States of America again. It will be and can be done. +p342 +aVWell, look, I'm an old-fashioned person here, and I happen to believe in traditional marriage. But I've also said the court has ruled -- +p343 +aVWait, Megyn, the court has ruled, and I said we'll accept it. And guess what, I just went to a wedding of a friend of mine who happens to be gay. Because somebody doesn't think the way I do, doesn't mean that I can't care about them or can't love them. So if one of my daughters happened to be that, of course I would love them and I would accept them. Because you know what? That's what we're taught when we have strong faith. So the issues like that, issues like that are planted to divide us. I think the simple fact of the matter is, and this is where I would agree with Jeb, and I've been saying it all along, we need to give everybody a chance, treat everybody with respect, and let them share in this great American dream that we have, Megan. So, look, I'm going to love my daughters, I'm going to love them no matter what they do. Because, you know what, God gives me unconditional love. I'm going to give it to my family and my friends and the people around me. +p344 +aVWell, Megyn, my father was a mailman. His father was a coal miner. My mother's mother could barely speak English. And their son today stands on this podium in the great state of Ohio not only as the governor, but a candidate for president of the United States. I do believe in miracles. You know, I've had a lot of elections. But my elections are really not about campaigns. I tell my people that these are about a movement. And a movement to do what? To restore common sense. A movement to do things like provide economic growth. And a movement not to let anybody be behind. You know, today the country is divided. You asked a question about the police and the difficulty in communities. We've got to unite our country again, because we're stronger when we are united and we are weaker when we are divided. And we've got to listen to other people's voices, respect them, but keep in mind, and I believe in terms of the things that I've read in my lifetime, the Lord'is not picking us. But because of how we respect human rights, because that we are a good force in the world, he wants America to be strong. He wants America to succeed. And he wants America to lead. And nothing is more important to me than my family, my faith, and my friends. +p345 +aVYou know, tonight we hear about what people want to do. I want to tell you what I've done. I was a member of the Armed Services Committee for 18 years. I spent a big chunk of my life studying national security issues and our role in the world. No. 2. I was the chairman of the House Budget Committee and one of the chief architects the last time we balanced a budget, and it was the first time we had done it since man walked on the moon. We had a $5 trillion surplus and we cut taxes. I spent ten years in the private sector, actually learning how business works. And now I'm the governor of Ohio, and I inherited a state that was on the brink of dying. And we turned it all around with jobs and balanced budgets and rising credit and tax cuts, and the state is unified, and people have hope again in Ohio. +p346 +asVQUICK +p347 +(lp348 +VGentlemen \u2014 we'll \u2014 we'll get back to this \u2014 just a minute \u2014 just a minute we're gonna continue this. I wanna talk taxes... +p349 +aVDr. Carson, let's talk about taxes. You have a flat tax plan of 10 percent flat taxes, and \u2014 I've looked at it \u2014 and this is something that is very appealing to a lot of voters, but I've had a really tough time trying to make the math work on this. If you were to took a 10 percent tax, with the numbers right now in total personal income, you're gonna come in with bring in $1.5 trillion. That is less than half of what we bring in right now. And by the way, it's gonna leave us in a $2 trillion hole. So what analysis got you to the point where you think this will work? +p350 +aVI \u2014 I understand that, but if you \u2014 if you look at the numbers you probably have to get to 28. +p351 +aV15 percent still leaves you with a $1.1 trillion hole. +p352 +aVYou'd have to cut \u2014 you'd have to cut government about 40 percent to make it work with a $1.1 trillion hole. +p353 +aVThat is true, I looked at the numbers. +p354 +aVDr. Carson, thank you. +p355 +aVGovernor... +p356 +aVDr. Carson, let me get 30 seconds with Dr. Carson... +p357 +aVThank you. +p358 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, thank you. +p359 +aVGentlemen, I'm sorry, we need to... +p360 +aVWe're going to move on. +p361 +aVThirty seconds. +p362 +aVWe'll get to everyone. Ms. Fiorina, I \u2014 I'd like to ask you a question. You are running for president of the United States because of your record running Hewlett-Packard. But the stock market is usually a fair indicator of the performance of a CEO, and the market was not kind to you. Someone who invested a dollar in your company the day you took office had lost half of the dollar by the day you left. Obviously, you've talked in the past about what a difficult time it was for technology companies, but anybody who was following the market knows that your stock was a much worse performer, if you looked at your competitors, if you looked at the overall market. I just wonder, in terms of all of that \u2014 you know, we look back, your board fired you. I just wondered why you think we should hire you now. +p363 +aVMrs. Fiorina, it's interesting that you bring up Mr. Perkins, because... ...he said a lot of very questionable things. Last year, in an interview, he said that he thinks wealthy people should get more votes than poor people. I think his quote was that, "if you pay zero dollars in taxes, you should get zero votes. If you pay a million dollars, you should get a million votes." Is this the type of person you want defending you? +p364 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p365 +aVThank you, we're out of time. Thank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Carl. +p366 +aVGovernor Christie, I'd like to a question next. Actually, I have a question for you . In your tell it like it is campaign, you've said a lot of tough things. You've said that we need to raise the retirement age for Social Security. You think that we need to cut benefits for people who make over $80,000 and eliminate them entirely for seniors who are making over $200,000. Governor Huckabee, who is here on the stage, has said that you and others who think this way are trying to rob seniors of the benefits that they've earned. It raises the question: When it is acceptable to break a social compact? +p367 +aV...Governor... +p368 +aV...Thank you. +p369 +aVWelcome back to the presidential debate for the Republicans. We are live in Boulder, Colorado, right here on +p370 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. +p371 +aVSenator Rubio, you yourself have said that you've had issues. You have a lack of bookkeeping skills. You accidentally inter-mingled campaign money with your personal money. You faced (ph) foreclosure on a second home that you bought. And just last year, you liquidated a $68,000 retirement fund. That's something that cost you thousands of dollars in taxes and penalties. In terms of all of that, it raises the question whether you have the maturity and wisdom to lead this $17 trillion economy. What do you say? +p372 +aVSenator, I understand all of that. I had a lot of student loans when I got out, too. But you've had a windfall that a lot of Americans haven't. You made over a million dollars on a book deal, and some of these problems came after that. +p373 +aVBut you \u2014 but you liquidated that retirement account after the fact, and that cost you about $24,000 out of that in taxes and feed. That \u2014 that was after you'd already come into that windfall. That's why I raised the question. +p374 +aVYes, thank you John. Senator Cruz, working women in this country still earn just 77 percent of what men earn. And I know that you've said you've been very sympathetic to our cause. But you've also you said that the Democrats' moves to try and change this are the political show votes. I just wonder what you would do as President to try and help in this cause? +p375 +aVMrs. Fiorina \u2014 +p376 +aVMrs. Fiorina, we will come back to you. +p377 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Carl? +p378 +aVMr. Trump, let's stay on this issue of immigration. You have been very critical of Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook who has wanted to increase the number of these H1Bs. +p379 +aVSo you're in favor of... +p380 +aVWhere did I read this and come up with this that you were... +p381 +aVYou know, Mr. \u2014 you know, Mr. Trump, if I may . You've been \u2014 you have been \u2014 you had talked a little bit about Marco Rubio. I think you called him Mark Zuckerberg's personal senator because he was in favor of the H1B. +p382 +aVSo this was an erroneous article the whole way around? +p383 +aVMy apologies. I'm sorry. +p384 +aVYes, you can. +p385 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you very much. I would like to introduce my colleague, Rick Santelli, he has some comments as well, sir. +p386 +aVRick, thank you very much. Governor Huckabee, you have railed against income inequality. You've said that some Wall Street executives should have gone to jail over the roles that they played during the financial crisis. Apart from your tax plan, are there specific steps you would require from corporate America to try and reduce the income inequality. +p387 +aVGovernor? +p388 +aVGovernor? +p389 +aVThank you. +p390 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee. +p391 +aVHow about 15 more seconds? +p392 +aVGovernor? +p393 +aVGovernor, I'm sorry... +p394 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p395 +aVGovernor, thank you. Appreciate it. John? +p396 +aVIt's at the moderator discretion. +p397 +aVWelcome back to the University of Colorado and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p398 +aVThank you, sir. +p399 +aVYou were. You get 30 seconds. +p400 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Carl? +p401 +aVHigher education is the example... +p402 +aVI want to go back, if I can, to the issue of... +p403 +aVI want to go back, if I may, to the... +p404 +aVSenator Paul, among the leading conservative opponents to the creation of Medicare back in the 1960s was Ronald Reagan. He warned that it would lead to socialism. Considering the mounting cost of Medicare, was he right to oppose it? +p405 +aVSenator, thank you. [ +p406 +aVWelcome back to Boulder, Colorado and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p407 +aVThank you, Governor. +p408 +aVGovernor. +p409 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Paul, let's go back to you. Do these solutions sound like they work? +p410 +aVDo these solutions sound like they would work? +p411 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Governor? +p412 +asVBAIER +p413 +(lp414 +VLess than a year from now, in this very arena, one of these 10 candidates or one of the seven on the previous debate tonight will accept the Republican party's nomination. Tonight's candidates were selected based on an average of five national polls. Just a few hours ago, you heard from the candidates ranked 11th through 17. And now, the prime-time event, the top 10. +p415 +aVNeurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Florida Senator Marco Rubio. +p416 +aVIt might be. It might be. We'll see. [ +p417 +aVIt might be. The rules for tonight are simple. One minute for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups. And if a candidate runs over, you'll hear this. Pleasant, no? We also have a big crowd here with us tonight in the home of the Cavaliers, as I mentioned. And while we expect them... ... we expect them to be enthusiastic, as you heard, we don't want to take anything away from the valuable time for the candidate. So, we're looking for somewhere between a reaction to a LeBron James dunk and the Cleveland Public Library across the street. Somewhere there, we'll find a balance tonight. Without further ado, let's begin. +p418 +aVGentlemen, we know how much you love hand-raising questions. So we promise, this is the only one tonight: the only one. Is there anyone on stage, and can I see hands, who is unwilling tonight to pledge your support to the eventual nominee of the Republican party and pledge to not run an independent campaign against that person. Again, we're looking for you to raise your hand now -- raise your hand now if you won't make that pledge tonight. Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump to be clear, you're standing on a Republican primary debate stage. +p419 +aVThe place where the RNC will give the nominee the nod. +p420 +aVAnd that experts say an independent run would almost certainly hand the race over to Democrats and likely another Clinton. You can't say tonight that you can make that pledge? +p421 +aVSo tonight, you can't say if another one of these... +p422 +aVOK. +p423 +aVDr. Paul. +p424 +aVOK. +p425 +aVJust to be clear, you can't make a -- we're gonna -- we're going to move on. You're not gonna make the pledge tonight? +p426 +aVOK. Alright. +p427 +aVGovernor Bush, you have insisted that you're your own man. You say you have a life experience uniquely your own. Not your father's, not your brother's. But there are several opponents on this stage who get big- applause lines in early voting states with this line: quote, "the last thing the country needs is another Bush in the Oval Office." So do you understand the real concern in this country about dynastic politics? +p428 +aVGovernor Christie, you're not exactly the darling of conservatives. You tout your record as a Republican governor in a blue state. On Facebook, the most people talking about you, not surprisingly, come from your state of New Jersey, and one of the top issues they are talking about is the economy. This -- this may be why. Under your watch, New Jersey has undergone nine credit rating downgrades. The state's 44th in private sector growth. You face an employee pension crisis and the Garden State has the third highest foreclosure rate in the country. So why should voters believe that your management of the country's finances would be any different? +p429 +aVSenator Paul, you recently blamed the rise of +p430 +aVGentlemen, the next series of questions deals with ObamaCare and the role of the federal government. Mr. Trump, ObamaCare is one of the things you call a disaster. +p431 +aVSaying it needs to be repealed and replaced. +p432 +aVNow, 15 years ago, you called yourself a liberal on health care. You were for a single-payer system, a Canadian-style system. Why were you for that then and why aren't you for it now? +p433 +aVBut on ObamaCare... +p434 +aVMr. Trump, hold up one second. +p435 +aVAll right, now, hold on, Senator Paul... +p436 +aVOK. +p437 +aVAll right, let me... Mr. Trump, it's not just your past support for single- payer health care. You've also supported a host of other liberal policies. Use -- you've also donated to several Democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton included, Nancy Pelosi. You explained away those donations saying you did that to get business-related favors. And you said recently, quote, "When you give, they do whatever the hell you want them to do." +p438 +aVSo what specifically did... +p439 +aV-- they do? +p440 +aVHold on. We're going to -- we're going to move on. We'll come back to you, Governor Walker. +p441 +aVWe have many questions to come. +p442 +aVMany questions to come. Governor Huckabee, on Facebook, John Pietricone asked this, "Will you abolish or take away the powers and cut the size of the EPA, the IRS, the Department of Education?" Now, broadly... ...broadly, the size of government is a big concern for Facebook users, Facebook persons, as well as, obviously, conservatives. But year after year, decade after decade, there are promises from Republicans to shrink government. But year after year, decade after decade, it doesn't happen. In fact, it gets bigger, even under Republican politicians. So the question is, at this point, is the government simply too big for any one person, even a Republican, to shrink? +p443 +aVDr. Carson... +p444 +aVDr. Carson, do you agree with that? +p445 +aVGovernor Bush? +p446 +aVWe're going to come back to you, Dr. Carson. Governor Bush, you are one of the few people on the stage who advocates for Common Core education standards, reading and math. A lot of people on this stage vigorously oppose a federal involvement in education. They say it should all be handled locally. President Obama's secretary of education, Arnie Duncan, has said that most of the criticism of Common Core is due to a, quote, "fringe group of critics." Do you think that's accurate? +p447 +aVSenator Rubio, why is Governor Bush wrong on Common Core? +p448 +aVAnd do you agree with your old friend? +p449 +aVWe have many more questions coming on a host of topics, here from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Stay with us. +p450 +aVWe have many more questions coming on a host of topics. Here from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Stay with us. +p451 +aVGentlemen, another question for a few of you. Yesterday, just yesterday, President Obama criticized Republican lawmakers trying to block the Iran deal, calling them knee-jerk partisans, adding that hardliners in Iran who chant "death to America" were, quote, "making common cause with the Republican caucus." Here's what two of your opponents on the 5 p.m. debate stage said about Iran. +p452 +aVNow, I wanna ask a few of you this. First, Governor Walker. You've said that you would tear up the Iran deal on day one. If this deal is undone, what then? +p453 +aVSenator Paul, would you tear up the deal on day one? +p454 +aVGovernor Huckabee, what do you think about what Senator Paul just said? +p455 +aVThank you, gentlemen. +p456 +aVWelcome back to Cleveland. Our next topic is foreign policy. Candidates, you may not have seen the late developing news today our Fox Pentagon team broke earlier this evening about a top Iranian general traveling to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. His name is General Qassem Soleimani, he's blamed for hundreds of U.S. troop's deaths in Iraq, and Afghanistan. His trip to Russia appears to directly violate U.N. Security Council resolutions to confine him to Iran. So, Mr. Trump, if you were president, how would you respond to this? +p457 +aVAnother new development today, Senior Defense officials tell Fox they strongly suspect Russia was behind the cyber attack on the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs office... +p458 +aV...email. This comes in the wake of the Director of National Intelligence blaming the Chinese for the largest ever cyber attack, stealing personal data of tens of millions of Americans. Senator Cruz, in your view, have Russia and China committed acts of cyber war, and if you were president, what would you do about it? +p459 +aVDr. Carson, in August of 2012 President Obama famously declared Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons, quote, "that's a redline for us," and that there would be enormous consequences. One year later, with overwhelming evidence the Assad had, in fact, used chemical weapons and crossed that red line, President Obama declined to use military force against the Assad regime. As president, would you have used military force there? +p460 +aVGovernor Walker, as president, what would you do if Russian President Vladimir Putin started a campaign to destabilize +p461 +aVGovernor -- Governor Huckabee, the culture of the American military is definitely changing. Women are moving into combat roles. Don't Ask, Don't Tell has obviously been dropped. And now Defense Secretary Ashton Carter recently directed the military to prepare for a moment when it is welcoming transgender persons to serve openly. As commander in chief, how would you handle that? +p462 +aVSenator Paul, the first budget you proposed as senator cut all financial aid to Israel. You have since changed your view on that issue. What made you change your mind. +p463 +aVOK. But you still say that Israel could be one of the countries that is cut from financial aid? +p464 +aVGovernor Christie, what do you think of that answer? +p465 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p466 +aVSenator, we're going to finish up with some more questions, thank you. +p467 +aVNow each candidate will make a closing statement. You'll all have 30 seconds to make a closing statement for this debate. We'll start with Ohio Governor John Kasich. +p468 +aVSenator Marco Rubio. +p469 +aVThank you, Senator. +p470 +aVGovernor Mike Huckabee, closing statement. +p471 +aVMr. Trump, closing statement, sir. +p472 +aVGentlemen, thank you. +p473 +aVThat's it. +p474 +asVMADDOW +p475 +(lp476 +VWe are super excited to be here at the University of New Hampshire. Tonight, this is the first time that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have squared off exactly like this. Face-to-face, just one-on-one, just the two of them. +p477 +aVAnd we do hope that the candidates will take this opportunity to show us the distinctions\u2014show us the differences between them. That's the whole reason that we're here tonight. We're not here for talking points. We're to learn about the difference between the candidates. And with that, let's get going. Please join us in welcoming Secretary Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders. +p478 +aVAnd with that, that's it. We're going to begin with 60- second opening statements from each of the candidates. And as agreed to in advance by the two campaigns, we're going to begin tonight with Senator Sanders. +p479 +aVSecretary Clinton, Senator Sanders is campaigning against you now, at this point in the campaign, basically arguing that you are not progressive enough to be the Democratic nominee. He has said that if you voted for the Iraq war, if you are in favor of the death penalty, if you wobbled on things like the Keystone Pipeline or TPP, if you said single payer health care could never happen, then you're too far to the right of the Democratic Party to be the party's standard bearer. Given those policy positions, why should liberal Democrats support you and not Senator Sanders? +p480 +aVSenator Sanders, have you established a list of what it means to be a progressive that is unrealistic? +p481 +aVThank you Senator. +p482 +aVSenator Sanders, as a Vermonter, you have almost a home state advantage here in New Hampshire. But back home across the border, you also have a long history of running against Democrats as a third-party candidate, for governor, Senate, for Congress. In 1988 your candidacy as a third-party candidate arguably cost the Democrats a congressional seat and sent a Republican instead. How can you lead the Democratic Party nationally when you have not been a member of the Democratic Party until very recently? +p483 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p484 +aVSo, Senator, to that point, Secretary Clinton is raising the issue of endorsements by your home state Democrats. She's implying that that says something about the people who know you best. +p485 +aVHow do you see it? +p486 +aVSecretary. +p487 +aVSenator Sanders, you'll have 30 seconds to respond to that. +p488 +aVSenator Sanders, Secretary Clinton, obviously we've touched a nerve. We're going to be back with more on this subject, and much more, right after this. Stay with us. +p489 +aVSecretary Clinton, on the issue of Wall Street... +p490 +aV... on the issue of Wall Street, when our reporters go out and talk to people on the ground in the early states, what they tell us over and over again when they find voters who are leaning toward Senator Sanders rather than yourself is that the most frequent area of concern that they hear from those voters is the issue of Wall Street and whether or not you are too close to Wall Street. Last night, when you were asked about speaking fees and the amount of speaking fees you got from Goldman Sachs speeches, you said that's what they offered. Have you been too dismissive of voters' concerns about this issue in your own campaign and your own career? +p491 +aVSenator Sanders, you have been a critic of Secretary Clinton taking those speaking fees and having donations from Wall Street. What about her defense of her record? +p492 +aVSenator Sanders, let me turn to, I think, where this direction is heading anyway, which is the broader issue of big business and power in our political system. You on the campaign trail have railed against big name American corporations like Boeing, and General Electric, and Wal Mart. But, some big businesses in this country have also been part of advancing progressive goals like that nationwide initiative to expand employment opportunities for veterans. That was all about cooperation between the Obama administration and some very big business. The Affordable Care Act, some of the thorniest problems in that bill were worked out in cooperation with big business in order to accomplish progressive goals. Could you work with them, or have you made enemies of big business in this country with the way you've approached them in this campaign? +p493 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. And with that, we're going to take a break. +p494 +aVWelcome back\u2014welcome back to the Democratic candidates' debate. We're going to be talking about America in the world, both in terms of some trade issues, but also national security. And Secretary Clinton, we're going to start with you. There are more than 4,000 American troops back in Iraq right now as part of the fight against +p495 +aVTo be clear, to the specific question, if that strategic goal that you're describing requires considerably more of Americans\u2014an ever-increasing number of Americans in Iraq and maybe in Syria, are you OK with the numbers increasing? +p496 +aVThank you, Madam Secretary. +p497 +aVSecretary Clinton, at the\u2014at the last Democratic debate in Charleston\u2014I want to get specific here\u2014Senator Sanders called for moving as aggressively as we can to normalize relations with Iran. Your campaign has criticized him for saying that. Now that he's standing next to you here on this stage, can you explain why the U.S. shouldn't try to normalize relations in Iran in your view? +p498 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to ask you about a national security issue that is closer to home. There are thousands of veterans, over 100,000 veterans living in the state of New Hampshire. If either one of you is nominated as the Democratic Party's nominee, you will likely face a Republican opponent in the general election who wants to privatize or even abolish big parts of the V.A. It's a newly popular idea in conservative politics. How will you win the argument on that issue given the problems that have been exposed at the V.A. in the last few years? What's your argument that the V.A. should still exist and should not be privatized? +p499 +aVSenator Sanders, you, as a congressional leader on veterans issues and the Veterans Committee, you've worked in a very bipartisan way with Senator John McCain and others on veterans issues. Is the right contour of the fight, the way she's talking about this issue? +p500 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Sanders, Secretary Clinton, we're going to take another break. We'll be talking about Social Security and some of those other issues when we come back. +p501 +aVSenator\u2014Senator Sanders, in 1964... +p502 +aVIn 1964, I heard that the Republicans nominated Barry Goldwater, who was the hero of the conservative movement. He was, however, far to the right of most of that party. In 1972, the Democrats nominated George McGovern, who was a hero of liberals in the antiwar movement, but he was to the left of his party's mainstream. Both of those nominees made activists very excited, and they both got destroyed in the general election. Even Democrats who love you worry about your fate in a general election. And I know you have good head-to-head polling numbers against Republican frontrunners right now. We know that. But do you have a general election strategy that is different than the way you're running right now to try to get the nomination? +p503 +aVSecretary Clinton, your campaign surrogates, and people who have endorsed you, have suggested that or even said that if Senator Sanders is the nominee, that Democrats will suffer nationwide and the chances will go down of Democrats holding onto the White House. With him here standing next to you, can you tell us whether or not you believe he would win the general election if he were nominated? +p504 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. Senator, in December, one of your campaign staffers was fired from your campaign for taking voter data essentially from the Clinton campaign. You apologized for that when the incident was made public. Your campaign has now been criticized for its operatives essentially impersonating culinary union members wearing union pins in Nevada, and the Nashua Telegraph has complained recently that you falsely implied in an advertisement that they had endorsed you when they did not. None of these issues obviously is the end of the world, but they all are of a piece. Are you in some sense losing control of your campaign? +p505 +aVJust to follow up on that, the title of the ad in question was Endorsement. +p506 +aVSecretary Clinton, do you want 30 seconds on that issue? +p507 +aVAnd with that, we will . +p508 +aVWelcome back to the University of New Hampshire, and the Democratic candidates' debate. Secretary Clinton, on the issue of the death penalty, here in New Hampshire, the one person who is on death row is there for killing a police officer. It's a crime that has caused anguish in this state, both among death penalty opponents and death penalty supporters. The last time I had the chance to talk with you on this issue, on the death penalty, you said that capital punishment has a place in a very few federal cases, but you also said you would breathe a sigh of relief if the Supreme Court abolished the death penalty nationwide. Tonight, do you still support capital punishment, even if you do so reluctantly? +p509 +aVSenator Sanders, you have singled out the death penalty, and Senator Clinton's support for the death penalty, as an issue that makes it hard to consider as progressive in your mind... +p510 +aVAnother issue related to the proper role of government, and in this case, specifically the role of government between the federal government and the states. I want to talk for a moment about the issue of Flint, Michigan. On the Flint lead poisoning disaster, you have both been highly critical of Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan, and how the state in Michigan both caused the lead poisoning problem, and has not acted fast enough to fix it. You have both been outspoken on that. The fact is that Michigan though has not fixed it. There is no door to door delivery of clean water in Flint even today. Not a single lead pipe has been replaced in Flint, even today. If the state is failing, would you, Secretary Clinton, would you as President order a federal response to get it right over and above the wishes of the state? +p511 +aVSenator Sanders are there things the President could be doing? President Obama could be ordering, done, right now, in Flint, Michigan that are not being done that you as President would do? +p512 +aVSenator, thank you. +p513 +aVThe home stretch. +p514 +aVSecretary Clinton, Republicans, particularly in campaign years, often talk about which departments of government\u2014which agencies of government they would get rid of if they were elected president. The EPA, the Department of Education, the Commerce Department, oops\u2014is\u2014is there a department of government that you would get rid of? Or is there a whole new one that you would create? +p515 +aVThank you, Secretary Clinton. +p516 +aVThank you very much. Thank you. +p517 +aVWe also want to thank our host, the University of New Hampshire, and the people of New Hampshire. You guys get to vote in just five days. I can't wait to see how it turns out. Don't screw up. +p518 +asVTAPPER +p519 +(lp520 +VI'm Jake Tapper. We're live at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California for the main event. Round 2 of CNN's presidential debate starts now. The eleven leading Republican candidates for president are at their podiums. They are ready to face off, and if you've been watching this race, you know anything could happen over the next few hours. To viewers who are just joining us, welcome to the Air Force One Pavilion of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Our thanks to the staff here and especially to former first lady Nancy Reagan for this impressive setting with Ronald Reagan's presidential plane as our backdrop. This debate is airing on CNN networks in the United States and around the world. It's also being broadcast on the Salem Radio Network. I know everyone is very eager to get started. But first, I want to explain the ground rules tonight. My name is Jake Tapper. I'll be the moderator. I will be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt. He worked in the Reagan administration for six years. And by CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. I will ask follow-up questions, I will attempt to guide the discussion. Candidates, I will try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have one minute to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you've been singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. These 11 Republicans are positioned on the stage based on their ranking in recent national polls. Our goal for this evening is a debate. A true debate, with candidates addressing each other in areas where they differ. Where they disagree \u2014 on policy, on politics, on leadership. Now, let's begin. I'd like to invite each candidate to take 30 seconds to introduce him or herself to our audience. First to you, Senator Paul. +p521 +aVSenator Cruz? +p522 +aVThank you one and all for being here. There are many important policy issues facing our nation. We're going to get to many of them tonight, but I do want to start off with some current events in the news, and also some of the comments the candidates have recently made on the campaign trail. Mrs. Fiorina, I want to start with you. Fellow Republican candidate, and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, has suggested that your party's frontrunner, Mr. Donald Trump, would be dangerous as President. He said he wouldn't want, quote, "such a hot head with his finger on the nuclear codes." You, as well, have raised concerns about Mr. Trump's temperament. You've dismissed him as an entertainer. Would you feel comfortable with Donald trump's finger on the nuclear codes? +p523 +aVYou didn't answer my question. Would you feel comfortable with Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear codes? It's an issue that one of your fellow candidates has raised. +p524 +aVMr. Trump? +p525 +aVMr. \u2014 Senator Paul, your name has been invoked. +p526 +aVMr. Trump? +p527 +aVI want to \u2014 I want to give Mr. Trump... +p528 +aV... Mr. Trump, I want to give you another chance \u2014 Mr. Trump, I want to give you a chance to respond to something that your rival to your left, Governor Bush, said. Governor Bush told me last week when I read him the quote from Governor Jindal that he agrees you're not a serious candidate. Tell Governor Bush why you are a serious candidate and what your qualifications are to be commander-in-chief. +p529 +aVGovernor Bush, would you feel comfortable with Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear codes? +p530 +aVGovernor Walker? +p531 +aVLet's move on. +p532 +aVA phenomenon going on in the race right now is the political... OK, Governor Kasich, go ahead. +p533 +aVWe have a lot of issues coming up, sir. +p534 +aVWe are getting to the issues, sir. Phenomenon going on in the race is the political outsiders in the race, Dr. Carson, Donald Trump, Carly Fiorina, all together, have majority support in the polls. Governor Christie, I want to ask you about something that Dr. Carson said the other day. Dr. Carson said campaigning is easier for him, because he's not a politician. He can just tell the truth, therefore, while politicians, quote, "Have their finger in the air to see and do what is politically expedient." Governor Christie, tell Dr. Carson, is that a fair description of you? +p535 +aVWell, let's find out. Thank you. +p536 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. Dr. Carson, who were you thinking about on this stage when you said that? +p537 +aVAnd more broadly, is experience in government not important for a president to have? +p538 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p539 +aVThank you. +p540 +aVThank you. Thank you Ms. Fiorina. Governor Bush, in addition to the fact that he's an outsider, one of the reasons Mr. Trump is a frontrunner, Republican voters say, is because they like the fact that he is not bought and paid for by wealthy donors. Mr. Trump has repeatedly said that the $100 million you've raised for your campaign makes you a puppet for your donors. Are you? +p541 +aVIs there anything else you want to say about this? +p542 +aVGovernor \u2014 +p543 +aVSure Dr. Carson. +p544 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Let's move to Russia if we could. Russia is sending troops and tanks into Syria right now to prop up a U.S. enemy, Bashar al-Assad. President Obama's incoming top general says, quote, "Russia presents the greatest threat to our national security." Mr. Trump, you say you can do business with President Vladimir Putin, you say you will get along, quote, "very well." What would you do right now if you were president, to get the Russians out of Syria? +p545 +aVSo, you \u2014 just to clarify, the only answer I heard to the question I asked is that you would \u2014 you would reach out to Vladimir Putin, and you would do what? You would... +p546 +aVSenator Rubio, you've taken a very different approach to the \u2014 the question of Russia. You've called Vladimir Putin a, quote, "gangster." Why would President Rubio's approach be more effective than President Trump's? +p547 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. +p548 +aVI want to bring in Carly Fiorina. +p549 +aVMs. Fiorina, you have met... +p550 +aV...yeah, you've met Vladimir Putin. Yes. +p551 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p552 +aVThank you. +p553 +aVThank you. Thank you, Ms. Fiorina. While you're \u2014 while you brought up the subject of General Suleimani of the Quds forces from Iran, the next president, no matter who he or she may be, will inherit President Obama's Iran deal. Senator Cruz, Governor Kasich says that anyone who is promising to rip up the Iran deal on day one, as you have promised to do, is, quote, "inexperienced," and, quote, "playing to a crowd." Respond to Governor Kasich, please. +p554 +aVWhy is that not, as Governor Kasich says, playing to the crowd and an example of you being inexperienced? +p555 +aVGovernor Kasich... +p556 +aV...Did Senator Cruz just play to the crowd? +p557 +aV...Thank you, Governor. I want to go to Senator Paul. +p558 +aVI want to go to Senator Paul. Senator Paul, the White House is rolling out the red carpet next week for the President of China, President Xi. Governor Walker says that President Obama should cancel the state dinner because of China's currency manipulation, and because of China's alleged cyber attacks against the United States. Is Governor Walker right? +p559 +aVGovernor Walker, Senator Paul seemed to suggest... +p560 +aV...that canceling the state dinner would be rash, and reckless. +p561 +aV...Governor Bush... +p562 +aVGovernor Bush, your father was the chief diplomatic envoy to China back when Nixon opened relations to China. Is Scott Walker's approach the right one, canceling the state dinner? +p563 +aVI want to turn... +p564 +aV...I want to turn to Governor Huckabee who has been very patient. Somebody had to be 11th, and he is, but, I do want to change the subject to the event that you had... +p565 +aV... however you want, but I want to ask this question. +p566 +aVAll right, sir, go ahead. +p567 +aVOK. ( +p568 +aVWe're going to turn now to Hugh Hewitt, from Salem Radio Network. +p569 +aVThank you, Senator Paul. I want to turn now to my colleague Dana Bash. +p570 +aVThat would be fair, you're right. You're the third senator. +p571 +aVWe're going to go to Dana Bash... +p572 +aVSenator Cruz? +p573 +aVThank you, Senator. +p574 +aVThank you, Senator. +p575 +aVThank you, Senator. I want to... +p576 +aV... turn back to Governor Huckabee... +p577 +aVI want to turn back to Governor Huckabee. Governor Huckabee, last week, you held a rally for a county clerk in Kentucky who was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, as I don't need to tell you. You've called what happened to Kim Davis, that clerk, "an example of the criminalization of Christianity." There are several people on the stage who disagree with you. Governor Bush, for example, says that that clerk is sworn to uphold the law. Is Governor Bush on the wrong side of the criminalization of Christianity? +p578 +aVThank you, Governor. +p579 +aVWell, I'm not telling you that, Governor. But Governor Bush is, because he \u2014 because he disagrees. He thinks that Kim Davis swore to uphold the law. You disagree? You're not \u2014 you don't... +p580 +aVOK. Please do. +p581 +aVYou did... +p582 +aVGovernor, you said, quote, "she is sworn to uphold the law." +p583 +aVLet me go to my colleague Dana Bash, who has a question. +p584 +aVDana, I want to continue on the subject. Governor Bush, you recently said while discussing Planned Parenthood, quote, you're "not sure we need a half billion for women's health issues." Now you've since said that you misspoke, you didn't mean to say "women's health issues." But Donald Trump said that quote, that comment, which Hillary Clinton did seize upon immediately, will haunt you the same way Mitt Romney's 47 percent video haunted him. Tell Donald Trump why he's wrong. +p585 +aVThank you, Governor Bush. Donald Trump, let me just... +p586 +aVThe quote was, "I'm not sure we need half a billion dollars for women's health issues." He said he misspoke. You said that that's going to haunt him. Why do you think that? +p587 +aVGovernor Bush? +p588 +aVI want to \u2014 we're going to get to \u2014 +p589 +aVThank you, Governor. +p590 +aVThank you, Governor. +p591 +aVWe're going to \u2014 we're going to get to many of these issues. This \u2014 we're still in the first block, believe it or not. We're going to get to many of these issues, but before we end this block, Ms. Fiorina, I do want to ask you about this. In an interview last week in Rolling Stone magazine, Donald Trump said the following about you. Quote, "Look at that face. Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?" Mr. Trump later said he was talking about your persona, not your appearance. Please feel free to respond what you think about his persona. +p592 +aVAll right. On that note, in less than two minutes \u2014 we're going to take a very quick break. In less than two minutes, the most contentious issue on the campaign trail. And the candidates on the stage are split over how to handle it. That's coming up next. Please give some applause to the candidates. +p593 +aVWelcome to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate. No topic perhaps has been more combustible in this campaign than the issue of immigration. Mr. Trump, you have called for deporting every undocumented immigrant, Governor Christie has said, quote, "There are not enough law enforcement officers \u2014 local, county, state and federal combined \u2014 to forcibly deport 11 to 12 million people." Tell Governor Christie how much your plan will cost, and how you will get it done. +p594 +aVGovernor Christie, you and I have talked about this in an interview. You say that his big wall, his plan to deport 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants, it sounds great, but it's never going to happen. Tell him why you're skeptical of his plans? +p595 +aVThank you, Governor Christie... +p596 +aVI want to bring in Dr. Carson because he too has been skeptical of your plan to immediately deport 11 to 12 million illegal immigrants. He said, quote, "People who say that have no idea what this entails." Why do you say that, Dr. Carson? +p597 +aV...Dr. Carson... +p598 +aVWith all due respect, you said about Donald Trump's plan to deport 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants, "People who say that have no idea what this entails." Why not? +p599 +aV...let's continue the conversation about illegal immigration with Dana Bash. +p600 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Senator Cruz \u2014 Senator Cruz, this week, we learned more about Dr. Carson's plan for the 11 million to 12 million undocumented immigrants in this country. Dr. Carson proposed giving these undocumented immigrants a six- month grace period to pay back taxes then to let them become guest workers and only to deport people who failed to do that. +p601 +aVWell, how would you say it, sir? I was just reading the Wall Street Journal quote, but please tell us. +p602 +aVOK, from the horse's mouth, Senator Cruz, does that fit your definition of amnesty? +p603 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Rubio... +p604 +aV... I'm not sure... +p605 +aVWe'll come back to you \u2014 we'll come back to you in one second, sir. But Senator Rubio, I'm not sure exactly whose plan he's \u2014 he's saying is \u2014 constitutes amnesty, but I know he has said it about your plan in the past, so I want to give you a chance to respond, then, Dr. Carson, we'll come to you. +p606 +aVThank you, Senator. +p607 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator \u2014 Dr. Carson... ... I want to give you 30 seconds. I'd like you to answer the question. Senator Cruz describes plans such as yours as amnesty. Why is your plan not amnesty? +p608 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. I want to talk about the issue of birthright citizenship, which \u2014 which has emerged since the first debate as \u2014 as an a \u2014 a major issue in this campaign. Mr. Trump, you say that babies born in the United States to undocumented immigrants should not any longer get automatic American citizenship. Ms. Fiorina says that you are pandering on this issue and acting like the politicians that you rail against. What's your message to Ms. Fiorina on birthright citizenship? +p609 +aVMs. Fiorina, the vast majority of countries do not have birthright citizenship... ...Donald Trump is right about that. Why is it pandering when he's \u2014 he says this? +p610 +aVMs. Fiorina... +p611 +aVPlease. +p612 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p613 +aVThank you. +p614 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Mr. Trump, I want to give you the chance to respond... +p615 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. Senator Paul... +p616 +aVSenator Paul, I want to bring you in. Where \u2014 where do you stand on the issue of birthright citizenship? +p617 +aVAll right. Senator Paul, thank you so much. Let's turn to a new topic. We've received a lot of questions on social media about the economy and about jobs. We have two CEOs on stage right now. Ms. Fiorina, you were CEO of Hewlett Packard. Donald Trump says you, quote, "ran HP into the ground," you laid off tens of thousands of people, you got viciously fired. For voters looking to somebody with private-sector experience to create American jobs, why should they pick you and not Donald Trump? +p618 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p619 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p620 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 Mr. Trump, why would you be better at creating jobs than Carly Fiorina? +p621 +aVMs. Fiorina, I want to give you a chance to respond. +p622 +aVMr. Trump. +p623 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. +p624 +aVGovernor Christie's name has been invoked. I'd like to give him a 30 second opportunity. +p625 +aVMs. Fiorina, I want to give you +p626 +aVGovernor Kasich, I'm coming to you next, but Ms. Fiorina's name was mentioned, and I have to give her the opportunity to respond if she wants it. +p627 +aVThank you. +p628 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Kasich, I want to come \u2014 I'm coming to you. I'm coming to you. Let me ask the question. You can use the time however you want. +p629 +aVDonald Trump says that the hedge fund guys are getting away with murder by paying a lower tax rate. He wants to raise the taxes of hedge fund managers, as does Governor Bush. Do you agree? +p630 +aVThank you, Governor. +p631 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. +p632 +aVGovernor Huckabee, I want to bring you in on the question of hedge fund managers and taxing them. You have said that you are bothered by the fact that hedge fund managers pay such a low tax rate and make 2,500 times what people who work for them make. Do you agree with what Donald Trump and Governor Bush have proposed, raising their tax rates? +p633 +aVThank you, Governor. Dr. Carson, you support scrapping the entire tax code and replacing it with a flat tax based on the principal on tithing from the Bible. If you make $10 billion, you pay $1 billion in taxes, if you make $10, you pay $1 in taxes. Donald Trump believes in progressive taxation. He says it's not right that rich people pay the same as the poor. Tell Donald Trump why his ideas on taxes are wrong. +p634 +aVMr. Trump... +p635 +aV...What do you think of the flat tax? Do you think it's fair? +p636 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. Senator Paul? +p637 +aVGovernor Walker, I want to go to you. Dr. Carson wants to raise the Federal Minimum Wage, you have called it a lame idea. Why is raising the Federal Minimum Wage lame? +p638 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p639 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p640 +aVDr. Carson, Governor Walker didn't really answer the question, but I'll let you respond. He called raising the Federal Minimum Wage lame, what do you think of that? +p641 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson... +p642 +aVLet me bring in our partner from Salem Radio Network, Hugh Hewitt. +p643 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate. Let's turn to some issues now in foreign policy. Mr. Trump, Senator Rubio said it was, quote, "very concerning to him" that in a recent interview you didn't seem to know the details about some of the enemies the U.S. faces. Rubio said, if you don't know the answers to those questions, you will not be able to serve as commander-in-chief. Please respond to Senator Rubio. +p644 +aVSenator Rubio? +p645 +aVMr. Trump? Senator Rubio seemed to be suggesting that you don't know information that... +p646 +aVAll right. Senator Rubio. +p647 +aVBut are you saying that you have the knowledge to be the president that Mr. Trump does not have? +p648 +aVMr. Trump? +p649 +aVSenator Rubio, he did invoke your absentee record in the Senate. +p650 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. I want to turn now to Hugh Hewitt. +p651 +aVThank you, Governor. +p652 +aVSenator... +p653 +aVSenator Paul? +p654 +aVSenator Paul... +p655 +aVThank you, Senator Paul... +p656 +aVThank you, Senator Paul... +p657 +aVI understand that Governor Bush's name has been invoked, and then we can go to you, Senator Rubio. +p658 +aVThank you, Governor. +p659 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Rubio? +p660 +aVThank you, Senator. +p661 +aVDr. Carson? +p662 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p663 +aVI mean, it is interesting that you say that, because I want to ask Governor Christie about something else that you have said. Governor Christie, we just marked the 14th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Now Dr. Carson has said that if he had been president at the time, the United States would not have gone to war in Afghanistan. What does that say to you about how Dr. Carson would respond as president if America were attacked again? +p664 +aVDr. Carson? +p665 +aV... Governor Christie. +p666 +aVDr. Carson? +p667 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p668 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p669 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee. +p670 +aVThank you, Governor. +p671 +aVThank you, governor, I want to turn to +p672 +aVGovernor Walker, there is a big debate now, we have been talking about +p673 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Paul, I want to go to you, because you have said that the boots on the ground to fight +p674 +aVThank you, Senator. We're going to turn to some domestic issues now. I want to bring in my colleague, Dana Bash. +p675 +aVSure.... +p676 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p677 +aV...Thank you, Governor. Dana Bash... +p678 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina... +p679 +aV...Thank you, we're going to turn now to domestic issues with Dana Bash. +p680 +aV...Dana Bash... +p681 +aVThank you. Dana Bash? +p682 +aVThank you, Senator. +p683 +aV...Governor Bush... +p684 +aV...I want to let you respond. +p685 +aVThank you, Governor... ...And, that's what we should do, and I hope I'll be working members of the United States Senate to fight hard for the passage of people that have that kind of qualification. +p686 +aVSenator Cruz, 30 seconds. +p687 +aVThank you, Senator. +p688 +aVThank you, Semator. +p689 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee, I want to bring you in very quickly if you could. Will you have a litmus test when it comes to appointing Supreme Court nominees? +p690 +aVThank you, Governor. +p691 +aVThank you, Governor. +p692 +aVThank you, Governor. We're going to take a quick break. Coming up, one of the hottest questions that you have been asking us via social media. We will pose it to the candidates. That's coming up right after this. +p693 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican presidential debate at the Reagan Library here in Simi Valley \u2014 Simi Valley, California. Many people on social media wanted us to ask about marijuana legalization. Senator Paul, Governor Christie recently said, quote, "if you're getting high in Colorado today," where marijuana has been legalized, "enjoy it until January 2017, because I will enforce the federal laws against marijuana." Will you? +p694 +aVI want to give that \u2014 I want to give the person that you called a hypocrite an opportunity to respond. Do you want to identify that person? +p695 +aVIs there somebody you were specifically thinking of? +p696 +aVThat's what I though, but I wanted to say it. +p697 +aVOK. +p698 +aVGovernor Bush, please. +p699 +aVI want to go right now \u2014 I want to go right now... +p700 +aVThat's true. Go ahead, Christie, please. +p701 +aVYou may respond, and then I'll bring in you, Ms. Fiorina. +p702 +aVYes, Senator Paul. +p703 +aVI want to bring in Ms. Fiorina \u2014 I want to bring in Ms. Fiorina on this issue. +p704 +aVHugh \u2014 Hugh, I'd like to... +p705 +aVI'd like to turn it over \u2014 I'd like to turn to Dana Bush. +p706 +aVThank you, Governor. +p707 +aVI'm coming to you right now on a separate issue, sir. We received... ( +p708 +aVWe received a lot of questions from social media about climate change. Senator Rubio, Ronald Reagan's secretary of state, George Shultz, reminds us that when Reagan was president he faced a similar situation to the one that we're facing now. There were dire warnings from the mass consensus of the scientific community about the ozone layer shrinking. Shultz says Ronald Reagan urged skeptics in industry to come up with a plan. He said, do it as an insurance policy in case the scientists are right. The scientists were right. Reagan and his approach worked. Secretary Shultz asks, why not take out an insurance policy and approach climate change the Reagan way? +p709 +aVI'm citing George Shultz. +p710 +aVGovernor Christie, you have said that climate change is real, and that humans help contribute to it. Without getting into the issue of China versus the United States, which I understand you've talked about before, what do you make of skeptics of climate change such as Senator Rubio? +p711 +aVJust for the record, I was citing Secretary of State George Shultz, Ronald Reagan's secretary of state who I don't think anybody would call him left-wing. +p712 +aVI called you a skeptic. +p713 +aVI want to go another question right now. +p714 +aVThank you, Governor. +p715 +aVI'm turning to... +p716 +aV...I'm turning to another \u2014 I'm turning to another issue right now. Senator Cruz. Well, I think we've heard from several this evening. A backlash against vaccines was blamed for a measles outbreak here in California. Dr. Carson, Donald Trump has publicly and repeatedly linked vaccines, childhood vaccines, to autism, which, as you know, the medical community adamantly disputes. You're a pediatric neurosurgeon. Should Mr. Trump stop saying this? +p717 +aVShould he stop saying it? Should he stop saying that vaccines cause autism? +p718 +aVMr. Trump, as president, you would... +p719 +aVI'm going right to you. +p720 +aVMr. Trump, as president, you would be in charge of the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health, both of which say you are wrong. How would you handle this as president? +p721 +aVThank you. +p722 +aVDr. \u2014 Dr. Carson? +p723 +aVDr. Carson, you just heard his medical take. +p724 +aVDr. Paul? Dr. Paul, I'd like to bring you in. +p725 +aVAlright, thank you so much... +p726 +aVComing up \u2014 I'm sorry, Governor Huckabee, please. +p727 +aVThank you, Governor. +p728 +aVWe have to take another quick break. Coming up, Ronald Reagan looming large over this debate. So how Reaganesque exactly are these Republicans? We will find out next. +p729 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California. We have a few last questions for you. Two of them a little lighthearted, the other one more serious. We'll start with one of the more light questions. Senator Paul, I'm going to start with you and we're just going to go down the line. Earlier this year, the Treasury Department announced that a woman will appear on the $10 bill. What woman would you like to see on the $10 bill? +p730 +aVGovernor Huckabee? +p731 +aVSenator Paul (sic). +p732 +aVI'm sorry. Senator Rubio? +p733 +aVJust the senators. +p734 +aVSenator Cruz? +p735 +aVDr. Carson? +p736 +aVMr. Trump. +p737 +aVGovernor Bush. +p738 +aVGovernor Walker. +p739 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p740 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p741 +aVGovernor Christie. +p742 +aVAlright. Some good entries if anybody at the mint was listening. Here's the next lighthearted question, you all know that the United States Secret Service uses codenames for the president, and his family. Ronald Reagan's codename, for example, was, "Rawhide", an homage to his performances in Westerns. Nancy Reagan's was, "Rainbow". You don't have to come up the one for your spouse, but, what would you want, Governor Christie, I'll start with you, your Secret Service codename to be. +p743 +aVGovernor Walker? +p744 +aVMr. Trump? +p745 +aVDr. Carson? +p746 +aVSenator Cruz? +p747 +aVSenator Rubio? +p748 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p749 +aVSenator Paul. +p750 +aVThat's a mouthful, but OK. OK, here's the more serious question, Ronald Reagan, the 40th President, used the plane behind you to accomplish a great many things. Perhaps, most notably, to challenge Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the wall, and ultimately, to make peace with the +p751 +aVThat concludes this Republican presidential debate. On behalf of everyone here at CNN, we want to thank the candidates, the Reagan Library, and the Republican National Committee. Thank you, also, to Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash. The next presidential debate will also be right here on CNN, among the Democratic candidates, who will face off for the first time on October the 13th. That debate, a partnership with Facebook, will be moderated by my colleague, Anderson Cooper. And Anderson picks up our coverage of tonight's debate right now. Before I throw to Anderson, let's have one final round of applause for the candidates. +p752 +asVQUESTION +p753 +(lp754 +VMy name is Ashley Tofil. Ms. Fiorina, in November, you said that you would not talk to Vladimir Putin after you were elected because you would be communicating from a position of weakness. Do you believe that it is feasible to not communicate with another world leader? And do you think that that also is a sign of weakness? +p755 +aVMy name is Carla Hernandez. I'm from the University of Texas at Austin. And my question is directed to all the candidates. If the Bible clearly states that we need to embrace those in need and not fear, how can we justify not accepting refugees? +p756 +aVPlease describe one action you would do to make the economic environment more favorable for small businesses and entrepreneurs and anyone dreaming of opening their own business. +p757 +asVCAVUTO +p758 +(lp759 +VIt is 9:00 p.m. on the East Coast, 8:00 p.m. here inside the Milwaukee theater. Welcome to the Republican presidential debate here on the Fox Business Network. I'm Neil Cavuto, alongside my co-moderators, Maria Bartiromo, and the editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal, Gerard Baker. +p760 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. +p761 +aVIt sounds like a game show but it's not. Now I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the elephant in the room, and I'm not talking about your party's fine symbol. I'm talking about the purpose of tonight's debate. The economy and what each of you would do to improve it. No more, no less. We are focused on those issues, and what you have said on those issues in your words and what your opponents have said in their words about your words. That is the agenda tonight. How each of you plans to make America better tomorrow. And so we begin. Candidates, as we gather tonight in this very august theater, just outside and across the country, picketers are gathering as well. They're demanding an immediate hike in the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Just a few hours ago, near Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed doing the same for all state workers, the first governor to do so. Mr. Trump, as the leading presidential candidate on this stage and one whose tax plan exempts couples making up to $50,000 a year from paying any federal income taxes at all, are you sympathetic to the protesters cause since a $15 wage works out to about $31,000 a year? +p762 +aVSo do not raise the minimum wage? +p763 +aVDr. Carson, you have long bemoaned this lackluster recovery. And this Facebook map show Americans share your concern. The green represents how the jobs issue is resonating all across the nation, especially here in the state of Wisconsin. You suggested one minimum wage does not fit all, and that perhaps we should offer a lower or starter wage for young people. Those protesters outside are looking for $15 and nothing less. Where are you? +p764 +aVSo, sir, just to be clear, you would not raise it? +p765 +aVSenator Rubio, you called the recent Democratic debate in Las Vegas a night of giveaways, including free health care, free college and a host of other government-paid benefits. Since you aren't a fan of all they're giving away, tell us tonight what you would take back. +p766 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. +p767 +aVAll right. We're only just getting started. Coming up, your taxes. Stick around. You're watching FOX Business +p768 +aVWelcome back to the Milwaukee Theater and the Republican presidential debate. Let's get right back to our questions. Dr. Carson, to you. You recently railed against the double- standard in the media, sir, that seems obsessed with inconsistencies and potential exaggerations in your life story, but looked the other way when it came to then-Senator Barack Obama's. Still, as a candidate whose brand has always been trust, are you worried your campaign \u2014 which you've always said, sir, is bigger than you \u2014 is now being hurt by you? +p769 +aVI'll just forget that follow-up there. +p770 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p771 +aVAlright, thank you. We're going to take a break here. Coming up, a big issue many Americans are facing, taxes. The Republican Presidential Debate continues now, live, from Milwaukee. +p772 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from Milwaukee. Let's get back to the questions. And we want to touch on obviously one of the biggest of this issue in this year, taxes. And this will go to several of you. One of the biggest economic concerns of course in the country are taxes. Facebook data certainly backs that up. Once again the green on this map that we're going to see here shows how the conversation around taxes is resonating across the nation, especially here in Wisconsin. First off, Dr. Carson, to you. You say you are in favor of a tax system, I guess akin to tithing, sir, with a flat tax rate of up to 15 percent because you said, if everybody pays this, I think God is a pretty fair guy, so tithing is a pretty fair process. But Donald Trump says that is not fair. That wealthier taxpayers should pay a higher rate because it's a fair thing to do. So whose plan would God endorse then, Doctor? Yours or Mr. Trump's? +p773 +aVRight. +p774 +aVThank you very much. Senator Paul, you said you want to blow up the tax code and start over with an across-the-board 14.5 percent fair and flat tax. You happily offered that it is not revenue neutral and that's the idea. You want to choke off the amount of money coming into Washington. But don't you risk, sir, creating a near-term budget crisis just as your presidency would be beginning? +p775 +aVThere are no deductions on your \u2014 under your plan? +p776 +aVThank you, Senator. +p777 +aVSenator Paul... Senator Paul, you have already said, sir, that that would be a mistake in not talking to Vladimir Putin, or to rule it out. You've argued that it's never a good idea to close down communication. With that in mind, do you think the same applies to administration efforts right now to include the Iranians in talks on Syria? +p778 +aV...Well, then how would you respond? +p779 +aVBut if you're not going to respond in a no-fly zone strategy, what would yours be? +p780 +aVAll right. And look at the time, look at the time. You are watching FOX Business, we'll take a break. Stick around. +p781 +aVSenator Cruz \u2014 and I will get to you \u2014 but, Senator Cruz, on that theme, Facebook data shows that over the last month alone, nearly 1 million people \u2014 nearly 1 million \u2014 have been concerned about reining in Wall Street, apparently believing that some have not been punished enough. So, as an accomplished litigator yourself and a former solicitor general, would you go after the very people who believe and fear that Wall Street has ignored, in other words, the crooks that Bernie Sanders say have gotten away with a financial murder? +p782 +aVSenator......Senator, I really want to be clear here. Are you saying, sir, that if Bank of America were on the brink, you would let it fail? +p783 +aVSir, I understand that. I just want to be clear, if you don't mind, that millions of depositors would be on the line with that decision. And I just want to be clear. If it were to happen again, for whatever the reason, you would let it go, you would let a Bank of America go? +p784 +aVOK, I think it's fair to say you're not fans of Hillary Clinton's resume. Alright, Mr. Trump.... +p785 +aVI had a feeling. Perhaps the most successful capitalist on this stage tonight, you've acknowledged that some give capitalism a bad name. You've been particularly critical of businesses that find all sorts of ways of paying their taxes by keeping money abroad, but your own plan includes an incentive to bring \u2014 that more the $2 trillion dollars home. Isn't that, like, a one-time bounty... +p786 +aV...Some of the guys you all but call pirates, so they still keep the loot, and pay only a price to bring it back. +p787 +aV...Alright, gentlemen, I know you want to \u2014 and I want to, be we also promised to get people home tonight, and we are going to take a quick break here. I think it is fair to say at this juncture that you can discuss these issues, and only business issues, but still keep it interesting. Stick around for these candidates closing statements. +p788 +aVSenator Marco Rubio? +p789 +aVDr. Ben Carson? +p790 +aVDonald Trump? +p791 +aVCandidates, we want to thank you all. We also appreciate your helping save time by talking over one another at times. That was welcomed. But by all means, it was a very riveting debate. Business issues can be \u2014 can be riveting, because it wasn't about us, it's about them. +p792 +aVThat'll do it. Thank you for joining us. +p793 +asVBLITZER +p794 +(lp795 +VWelcome to the CNN-Facebook Republican presidential debate here at the Venetian Las Vegas. We have a very enthusiastic audience. Everyone is here. They're looking forward to a serious and spirited discussion about the security of this nation. I'm Wolf Blitzer, your moderator tonight. This debate is airing on CNN networks here in the United States and around the world, and on the Salem Radio Network. The nine leading candidates, they are here. Let's welcome them right now. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Businessman and real estate developer Donald Trump. Retired neurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. And Ohio Governor John Kasich. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome these Republican candidates for president of the United States. This is the final Republican debate before the election year begins, and we're taking a moment for the photographs of the candidates together on the stage. Now, everyone, please rise for the national anthem sung by Ayla Brown. +p796 +aVI know everyone is eager to get started. So, candidates, please take your places while I explain the ground rules for tonight. As moderator, I'll guide the discussion, and I'll be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt and CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. We also asked Republicans and independents nationwide to share their questions for the candidates. We teamed up with Facebook to send a campaign camper across the country over the past several weeks. Thousands of people stepped inside and recorded their questions on video. Millions more have weighed in on Facebook. Candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have a minute and 15 seconds to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you're singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know that we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. And as the candidates requested, a bell will sound like this. We know you are all eager to jump in and debate these important issues, so, please, wait until you're called on. These nine Republicans are positioned on stage based on their ranking in the recent polls, so let's begin right now. I'd like to invite each candidate to introduce himself or herself to our audience. You'll have one minute. First to you, Senator Paul. +p797 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p798 +aVGovernor Christie? +p799 +aVMs. Fiorina? +p800 +aVGovernor Bush? +p801 +aVSenator Rubio? +p802 +aVSenator Cruz. +p803 +aVDr. Carson. +p804 +aVMr. Trump. +p805 +aVThank you. Since you last debated, Americans have witnessed terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino. The FBI director says the country now faces the greatest terror threat since 9/11. You all have different approaches to keeping the country safe. And that will be the focus of tonight's debate. Mr. Trump, as you mentioned in your opening statement, part of your strategy is to focus in on America's borders. To keep the country safe, you say you want to temporarily ban non-American Muslims from coming to the United States; ban refugees fleeing +p806 +aVGovernor Bush, you called Mr. Trump "unhinged" when he proposed banning non-American Muslims from the United States. Why is that unhinged? +p807 +aVMr. Trump? +p808 +aVSenator Rubio \u2014 I'm going to go to Senator Rubio and get his thoughts. You have said banning Muslims is unconstitutional. But according to a recent ABC News-Washington Post poll, a majority of Republicans support Mr. Trump's idea. Why are they wrong? +p809 +aVHugh Hewitt, you have a question. +p810 +aVGovernor Christie, Americans are clearly more afraid today than at any time since 9/11. As you mentioned in your opening statement, today in Los Angeles, 650 schoolchildren didn't go to \u2014 650,000 schoolchildren didn't go to school because of an e-mail threat, this two weeks after an attack killed 14 people in San Bernardino. Is this the new normal? And if so, what steps would you take as president of the United States to ensure that fear does not paralyze America? +p811 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, one of the killers in San Bernardino was an American who was not on anyone's watch list. How are you going to find that radicalized person and stop another such attack? +p812 +aVThank you. Dana Bash, you have the next question. +p813 +aVThank you. Dr. Carson, you're in favor of monitoring mosques and schools where there is anti-America sentiment, what do you consider anti- America? +p814 +aVDr. Carson, who was right in that little debate that we just heard between Senator Rubio and Senator Paul? +p815 +aVHold on a sec, we have a lot more to come and everybody's going to have their full opportunity. Governor Bush, six days after 9/11 your brother visited a mosque and said quote, "Islam is peace." The conversation tonight is about banning Muslims and surveillance of mosques, are President Bush's words still relevant in today's Republican party? +p816 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you pointed out you were a CEO in Silicon Valley on 9/11. Companies there, they say they won't help the FBI now crack encrypted communication from +p817 +aVBut my question was: Should these Silicon Valley companies be forced to cooperate with the FBI? +p818 +aVMr. Trump, you recently suggested closing that Internet up, those were your words, as a way to stop +p819 +aVLet me follow up, Mr. Trump. So, are you open to closing parts of the Internet? +p820 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, is shutting down any part of the Internet a good idea? +p821 +aVThank you, Governor. The fight against radical Islamic terrorists and +p822 +aVThank you. To be clear, Senator Cruz, would you carpet bomb Raqqa, the +p823 +aVThank you. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you've been critical of Senator Cruz's strategy. You say his voting record doesn't match his rhetoric. Why? +p824 +aVBecause I asked the question, Senator, because you said this. You said he, referring to Senator Cruz, voted against the Defense Authorization Act every year that it came up, and I assume that if he voted against it, he would veto it as president. That's the bill that funds our troops. +p825 +aVSenator Cruz? +p826 +aVSenator Rubio. +p827 +aVWe are going to have much more on this... +p828 +aVWe're going to have much more on this. But I want to move now back to Mr. Trump. +p829 +aVHold on. Hold on. Hold on. +p830 +aVWe have a lot... +p831 +aVWe have a lot to discuss. I want to move to Mr. Trump right now. We have a question on this war against +p832 +aVMr. Trump. +p833 +aVGovernor Bush. Governor Bush. +p834 +aVMr. Trump. +p835 +aVJust one at a time, go ahead... +p836 +aVGo ahead, Mr. Trump. +p837 +aVGovernor Bush, please. +p838 +aVOne at a time. +p839 +aVGovernor Bush. +p840 +aVThank you. +p841 +aVAll right. Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash, Hugh, go ahead with the next question. +p842 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Rubio? Let's continue this conversation. This is a critically important issue. +p843 +aVWe will get to \u2014 we have a lot of time, Ms. Fiorina. I want to get to Senator Rubio right now. Let's talk about, one of the aspects of your strategy, you say the only way to defeat +p844 +aVThank you, Senator. Stand by. Ms. Fiorina, the former defense secretary, Bob Gates, says the chances of getting Sunni-Arab forces on the ground to get the job done, his words, "chances very remote." What's your strategy? +p845 +aVThank you. Governor Christie, what's your strategy? +p846 +aVDr. Carson, what is your strategy? +p847 +aVThank you. Everyone stand by. We're only just beginning. Coming up, which candidates on this stage tonight want to move foreign policy in a dramatically new direction? We'll be right back. +p848 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate here at the Venetian, Las Vegas. The war against +p849 +aVThank you. +p850 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you supported the removal of Moammar Gadhafi in Libya. Now that country is in turmoil, as +p851 +aVSenator Cruz? +p852 +aVStandby. Everybody standby for a moment. Governor Kasich, go ahead. +p853 +aVThank you. +p854 +aVWe're going to talk about Assad in a moment. Mr. Trump, are Americans safer with dictators running the world in the Middle East? +p855 +aVThank you. Mr. Trump? +p856 +aVAll right. +p857 +aVThank you. +p858 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East... +p859 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East better off with dictators? +p860 +aVGovernor Bush. +p861 +aVHold on Governor Bush., here's the question. You said, "getting rid of Saddam Hussein in your words was a pretty good deal." In light of what has happened in Iraq, do you still feel that way? +p862 +aVSenator Paul, was getting rid of Saddam Hussein a pretty good deal? +p863 +aVThank you. Hugh Hewitt, go ahead. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hugh. +p864 +aVSenator, Senator, we're going to get to you. Wait your turn. We have two hours of debate. We'll have plenty of time. Let Hugh ask his question. +p865 +aVSenator, please. +p866 +aVSenator... +p867 +aVYou'll have plenty of opportunity. Hugh, go ahead. +p868 +aVThese are the rules all of you agreed to. Hugh, go ahead with your question. +p869 +aVLet's continue with Russia right now. We have another question from Facebook. Listen and watch. +p870 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you know, U.S. and Russian warplanes are flying all over Syria right now. With so many lives on the line, is this a good time for the United States not to talk to Putin? +p871 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Christie, if the U.S. imposed a no-fly zone over Syria and a Russian plane encroached, invaded that no-fly zone, would you be prepared to shoot down that Russian plane and risk war with Russia? +p872 +aVSenator Paul \u2014 Senator Paul, I want you to respond to what we just heard from Governor Christie. If there was a no-fly zone, you say that potentially could lead to World War III. Why? +p873 +aVGovernor Christie? +p874 +aVAll right, let's go back \u2014 Hugh and Dana? +p875 +aVOne at a time. Hugh, go ahead. +p876 +aVGovernor, thank you very much. So, Dr. Carson, you recently visited a refugee camp in Jordan and you deemed it your words, "really quite nice." Saying the people there didn't want to come to the United States. Do you think these camps are a long-term solution of the problem of Syrian refugees? +p877 +aVSenator Paul, you oppose letting in Syrian refugees at this time into the United States. The U.S. has already accepted 2,000 Syrian refugees, including 13 living here in Las Vegas right now. Would you send them back? What would you do with these people? +p878 +aVSenator Rubio? +p879 +aVSenator Paul, you didn't answer the question about the 2,000 Syrian refugees who are already here in the United States. Will you send them back or let them stay? +p880 +aVWe have another \u2014 we have another question. We have another question from Facebook. Let's listen. +p881 +aVGovernor Christie, you say there should be a pause in allowing new refugees to come into the United States, including orphans under the age of five. What do you say to Carla? +p882 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p883 +aVThank you, Governor. There is much more coming up. We are only just beginning. Coming up, what other global hot spots await the next president of the United States. +p884 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate. We're here at the Venetian Las Vegas. Tonight we have been focusing on the Middle East, but let's turn to some other world threats that you will potentially face as Commander in Chief. Ms. Fiorina, candidates here have called the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un a maniac who is mentally unstable. Last week he said he now has a hydrogen bomb. If you were elected president, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p885 +aVDr. Carson, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p886 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Dana and Hugh you have questions as well. +p887 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Some of you on this stage have questioned whether your opponents have temperament, the right temperament, to be in control of the nuclear codes. Dana, you have a question on this? +p888 +aVThank you, senator. Thank you. +p889 +aVThank you, Senator. +p890 +aVThank you, Senator. We're a month and a half away now from the first real test who will be the Republican presidential nominee. Hugh, you have a question? +p891 +aVAll right. Candidates, we have more coming up. When we come back, everyone will have an opportunity to explain why this particular candidate, each of you on the stage, believes he or she should be the Republican presidential nominee. +p892 +aVNow it's time for the closing statements from the candidates. Each one has 30 seconds. Senator Paul. +p893 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p894 +aVGovernor Christie. +p895 +aVMs. Fiorina. +p896 +aVGovernor Bush. +p897 +aVSenator Rubio. +p898 +aVSenator Cruz. +p899 +aVDr. Carson. +p900 +aVThanks to all the Republican presidential candidates. That does it for this Republican presidential debate. +p901 +asVMODERATOR +p902 +(lp903 +VComing up more of our debate, including questions about President Obama's foreign policy and these guys and their better ideas. Coming up. +p904 +asVFIORINA +p905 +(lp906 +VLike all of you I'm angry. I'm angry at what's happening to our nation. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. Bombastic insults wont take it back. Political rhetoric that promises a lot and delivers little, won't take it back. All of our problems can be solved. All of our wounds can be healed by a tested leader who is willing to fight for the character of our nation. I have been tested. I have beaten breast cancer. I have buried a child. I started as a secretary. I fought my way to the top of corporate America while being called every B word in the book. I fought my way into this election and on to this debate stage while all the political insiders and the pundits told, "it couldn't be done." I've been told, "no,: all my life. And all my life, I've refused to accept no as an answer. Citizens, it is time to take our country back from the political class, from the media, from the liberal elite. It can be done, it must be done, join me and we will get it done. +p907 +aVWhat I think we need to stand for are solutions. I offer myself as a leader to the people of this country because I think they're looking for solutions, not lawyers arguing over laws or entertainers throwing out sound bites that draw media attention. We need to solve the problem. To solve the problem, we need to do something here at home and something over there in their caliphate. We need to deny them territory. But here at home, we need to do two fundamental things. Number one, we need to recognize that technology has moved on. The Patriot Act was signed in 2001, roughly. The iPhone was invented in 2007. The iPad was invented in 2011. Snapchat and Twitter, all the rest of it, have been around just for several years. Technology has moved on, and the terrorists have moved on with it. Let me tell you a story. Soon after 9/11, I got a phone call from the NSA. They needed help. I gave them help. I stopped a truckload of equipment. I had it turned around. It was escorted by the NSA into headquarters. We need the private sector's help, because government is not innovating. Technology is running ahead by leaps and bound. The private sector will help, just as I helped after 9/11. But they must be engaged, and they must be asked. I will ask them. I know them. +p908 +aVYou know, listening to this conversation, let me just say, we have a lot of argument about laws but none of it solves the problem. Let's examine what happened, why did we miss the Tsarnaev brothers, why did we miss the San Bernardino couple? It wasn't because we had stopped collected metadata it was because, I think, as someone who comes from the technology world, we were using the wrong algorithms. This is a place where the private sector could be helpful because the government is woefully behind the technology curve. But secondly, the bureaucratic processes that have been in place since 9/11 are woefully inadequate as well. What do we now know? That DHS vets people by going into databases of known or suspected terrorists. And yet, we also know that +p909 +aVThey do not need to be forced. They need to be asked to bring the best and brightest, the most recent technology to the table. I was asked as a CEO. I complied happily. And they will as well. But they have not been asked. That's why it cost billions of dollars to build an Obama website that failed because the private sector wasn't asked. +p910 +aVI hope at some point you're going to ask me my strategy. +p911 +aVWell, first I'll just point out that talking tough is not the same as being strong. And to wage war, we need a commander in chief who has made tough calls in tough times and stood up to be held accountable over and over, not first-term senators who've never made an executive decision in their life. One of the things I would immediately do, in addition to defeating them here at home, is bring back the warrior class \u2014 Petraeus, McChrystal, Mattis, Keane, Flynn. Every single one of these generals I know. Every one was retired early because they told President Obama things that he didn't want to hear. We must have Sunni-Arabs involved in this coalition. We must commit leadership, strength, support and resolve. I'll just add that Margaret Thatcher once said, "If you want something talked about, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman." +p912 +aVThat is exactly what President Obama said. I'm amazed to hear that from a republican presidential candidate. But let's just start with, who got it wrong? Who really got it wrong? Hillary Clinton has gotten every foreign policy challenge wrong. Hitting the reset button with Vladimir Putin \u2013 recall that she called Bashar Al-Assad a positive reformer and then she opened an embassy and then later she said, over, and over, and over again, "Bashar Al-Assad must go." Although she wasn't prepared to do anything about it. Recall that Hillary Clinton was all for toppling Gadhafi then didn't listen to her own people on the ground. And then of course, when she lied about the terrorist attack in Benghazi, she invited more terrorist attacks. +p913 +aVWe've mismanaged going into Iraq. +p914 +aVWe've mismanaged going out of Iraq. +p915 +aVWe actually... +p916 +aVI didn't say I would cut off all communication with Putin. What I said was as president of the United States, now is not the time to talk with him. Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. There is a time and a place for everything. There is a time and a place for talk. And there is a time and a place for action. I know Vladimir Putin. He respects strength. He lied to our president's face; didn't both to tell him about warplanes and troops going into Syria. We need to speak to him from a position of strength. So as commander in chief, I will not speak to him until we've set up that no-fly zone; until we've gathered our Sunni-Arab allies and begun to deny +p917 +aVThis doesn't do a thing to solve the problems...It doesn't do a thing to solve the problems. +p918 +aVIt will not solve the problem. +p919 +aVLadies and gentleman, this is why the American people are standing up. +p920 +aVThis is why the nation is fed up... +p921 +aVWe have been talking about this... +p922 +aVSorry, but you haven't gotten to me. This is why... +p923 +aVthe people are fed up with the political class. +p924 +aVWell, first, Kim Jong-Un is a dangerous leader, without a doubt. And both Republican and Democrat administrations have been completely ineffective in dealing with him. So we must continue to isolate him. We will need China as part of that strategy. China is a rising adversary. So one of the things we have to do if we want China's support is to push back on China. They, too, recognize one thing \u2014 strength and their own economic interest. I have done business in China for 25 years, so I know that in order to get China to cooperate with us, we must first actually retaliate against their cyber-attacks so they know we're serious. We have to push back on their desire to control the trade route through the South China Sea through which flows $5 trillion worth of goods and services every year. We cannot let them control the disputed islands, and we must work with the Australians, the South Koreans, the Japanese and the Filipinos to contain China. And then we must ask for their support and their help with North Korea. Because believe it or not, China is as concerned about Kim Jong-Un as we are. +p925 +aVI too remember September 11th. I remember immediately putting into place security procedures all throughout our company that did business in 170 countries where we thought corporate interests would be attacked next. To take our country back, to keep our nation safe, we have to begin by beating Hillary Clinton. We need to unify our party. We need to better than our government, which 75 percent of the American people now think is corrupt and incompetent. They're right. We need to better than our politics. 80 percent think we have a professional/political class of both parties that cares more about its power, position and privilege than actually on getting anything done. We need to unify our party, we need a real Conservative in the White House, and we need to beat Hillary Clinton to take our country back and keep our nation safe. I can. I am. And together, if you join me, we will take our country back. +p926 +aVWell, first of all, I must say as I think about that question, I think about a woman I met the other day. I would guess she was 40 years old. She had several children. And she said to me, you know, Carly, I go to bed every night afraid for my children's future. And that really struck me. This is America. A mother is going to bed afraid for her children's future. And the reason she's afraid for her children's future is because we've had problems for a long time. Yes, problems have gotten much worse under Democrats. But the truth is, this government has been growing bigger and bigger, more corrupt, less effective, crushing the engine of economic growth for a very long time. This isn't about just replacing a Democrat with a Republican now. It's about actually challenging the status quo of big government. Big government has created a big business called politics. And there are lots of people invested in the status quo of that big business called politics. Specifically, we need actually to do five things to really get this economy going again. We need to go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dollar is being spent, we can challenge any dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. We need to actually reform the tax code. Go to a three-page tax code. Yes, there are plans that would reform our tax code to three pages. In addition to rolling back what President Obama has done, we need to do a top-to-bottom review of every single regulation on the books. That hasn't been done in 50 years. We need to pass the +p927 +aVWell, first Obamacare has to be repealed because it's failing... ...it's failing the very people it was intended to help, but, also, it is croney-capitalism at its worst. Who helped write this bill? Drug companies, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, every single one of those kinds of companies are bulking up to deal with big government. See, that's what happens. As government gets bigger, and bigger \u2014 and it has been for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike \u2014 and business have to bulk up to deal with big government. So, we have to repeal it. It's tens of thousands of pages long, no one can possible understand it except the big companies, the lawyers, the accountants, the lobbyists that they hire to protect their interests. Then, we have to give back to states the responsibility to manage a high risk pool. We need to try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried. Health insurance has always been a cozy, little game between regulators and health insurance companies. We need to try the free market. The free market. Where people actually have to compete. And, we 'ought to have the government ensure that you must \u2014 and I don't use that term often, that government 'ought to do something, but every healthcare provider 'ought to publish its costs, its prices, its outcomes, because as patients we don't know what we're buying. Now, let me just say \u2014 let me just say, I know more about innovation and entrepreneurship than anyone on this panel because I have led innovative businesses in the most highly competitive industry in the world for decades. The truth is the secret sauce of America is innovation, and entrepreneurship, it is why we must cut our government down to size, and hold it accountable. It's why we have to take our government back, because innovation and entrepreneurship is crushed by the crushing load of a 73,000 page tax code. It is crushed... ...by regulatory thicket that is so vast we don't even know what's in it anymore. It is crushed as well by government bureaucrats who don't do their jobs very well, and who are not held accountable, which is why I've said we got to take our government back, and to do that, we have to know where every dollar being spent, and be able to move any dollar. We have to hack through this regulatory thicket, repeal so much, but, also, know what's in that regulatory thicket \u2014 we don't even know what regulations have been passed. Third, we need to build a meritocracy \u2014 Scott Walker, by the way, is trying now to do in Wisconsin... ...Finally, we need to get to a three page tax code, and, yes, that plan exists. +p928 +aVSorry, I can't hear you. +p929 +aV...Absolutely... +p930 +aV...You need to give... +p931 +aVThe alternative is to allow states to manage high risk pools for those who really need help. Look, I'm a cancer survivor, OK? I understand that you cannot have someone who's battled cancer just become known as a pre-existing condition. I understand that you cannot allow families to go bankrupt if they truly need help. But, I also understand that Obamacare isn't helping anyone. We're throwing more, and more people into Medicaid, and fewer, and fewer doctors are taking those payments. The point is Obamacare is crushing small businesses, it is not helping the families it was intended to help. So, let us allow states to manage high risk pools. Let us try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried, the free market. Let us ensure that as patients, and customers... +p932 +aV...that we have information to shop wisely for our health care. +p933 +aV...Yes, the middle ground is this... +p934 +aV...This is why \u2014 this is why we must combine, actually, zero-based budgeting with tax reform because unless we can examine, and cut, and move, every single dollar of discretionary spending in the federal government, we cannot reform taxes and reduce spending at the same time. Ask yourself this question, how is it possible that the federal government gets more money each and every year, which the federal government has been doing, receiving more money every year for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike, and yet, never has enough money to do the important things? The answer? All the money's always spoken for. All the money's spoken for. So, we have to go to zero-based budgeting, which is a simple idea \u2014 by the way, there's been a bill for zeros-based (ph) budgeting... ...It exists, it can be voted on. Every dollar must be examined. Any dollar can be cut. Any dollar can be cut, any dollar can be moved. We have to go to a three page tax code. You lower every rate, you close every loophole, why? Because the government uses the tax code to decide winners, and losers. You have to strip the corruption out of the tax code to pay for it. You have to know where every single dollar is being spent... +p935 +aV...Cut where you need to, and invest where you need to... +p936 +aV...The two go hand in hand... +p937 +aVYou know, Mr. Trump fancies himself a very good negotiator. And, I accept that he's done a lot of good deals, so, Mr. Trump 'ought to know that we should not speak to people from a position of weakness. Senator Paul should know that as well. One of the reasons I've said that I would not be talking to Vladimir Putin right now, although I have met him as well, not in a green room for a show, but in a private meeting. One of the reasons I've said I wouldn't be talking to Vladimir Putin right now is because we are speaking to him from a position of weakness brought on by this administration, so, I wouldn't talk to him for awhile, but, I would do this. I would start rebuilding the Sixth Fleet right under his nose, rebuilding the military \u2014 the missile defense program in Poland right under his nose. I would conduct very aggressive military exercises in the Baltic States so that he understood we would protect our +p938 +aV...we have the strongest military on the face of the planet, and everyone has to know it. +p939 +aV...Ronald Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. +p940 +aV...he walked away, he quit talks... +p941 +aV...when it was time to quit talking... +p942 +aVCan I just \u2014 could I just say, as a chief executive who's had to make tough calls to save jobs and to grow jobs, I think what's interesting about Dodd-Frank is it's a great example of how socialism starts. Socialism starts when government creates a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. Government created the problem. Government created the problem of a real estate boom. How did we create it? Under Republican and Democrats alike, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, everybody gathered together, Republicans and Democrats, and said, "home ownership is part of the American dream. Let's create a bubble," and then government stepped in \u2014 by the way, under president George W. Bush, banks were told \u2014 encouraged \u2014 told, really \u2014 to buy other banks, to take money. And now what do we have with Dodd-Frank? The classic of crony capitalism. The big have gotten bigger, 1,590 community banks have gone out of business, and on top of all that, we've created something called the Consumer Financial Production Bureau, a vast bureaucracy with no congressional oversight that's digging through hundreds of millions of your credit records to detect fraud. This is how socialism starts, ladies and gentlemen. We must take our government back. +p943 +aVImagine a Clinton presidency. Our military will continue to deteriorate. Our veterans will not be cared for. And, no, Mrs. Clinton, that situation is not exaggerated. The rich will get richer. The poor will get poorer. The middle class will continue to get crushed. And as bad as that picture is, what's even worse is that a Clinton presidency will corrode the character of this nation. Why? Because of the Clinton way: Say whatever you have to, lie as long as you can get away with it. We must beat Hillary Clinton. Carly Fiorina can beat Hillary Clinton. I will beat Hillary Clinton. And under a President Fiorina, we will restore the character of this nation, the security of this nation, the prosperity of this nation, because as citizens, we will take our government back. +p944 +aVWell, gee, after the last debate, I was told that I didn't smile enough. +p945 +aVBut I also think that these are very serious times; 75 percent of the American people think the federal government is corrupt. I agree with them. And this big powerful, corrupt bureaucracy works now only for the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected. Meantime, wages have stagnated for 40 years. We have more Americans out of work or just Americans who quit looking for work for 40 years. Ours was intended to be a citizen government. This is about more than replacing a D with an R. We need a leader who will help us take our government back. +p946 +aVLet me just say on taxes, how long have we been talking about tax reform in Washington, D.C.? We have been talking about it for decades. We now have a 73,000-page tax code. There have been more than 4,000 changes to the tax plan since 2001 alone. There are loads of great ideas, great conservative ideas from wonderful think tanks about how to reform the tax code. The problem is we never get it done. We have talked about tax reform in every single election for decades. It never happens. And the politicians always say it is so complicated, nobody but a politician can figure it out. The truth is this, the big problem, we need a leader in Washington who understands how to get something done, not to talk about it, not to propose it, to get it done. +p947 +aVThat's right, three pages. +p948 +aVYou know why three? +p949 +aVNo. You know why three? Because only if it's about three pages are you leveling the playing field between the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected who can hire the armies of lawyers and accountants and, yes, lobbyists to help them navigate their way through 73,000 pages. Three pages is about the maximum that a single business owner or a farmer or just a couple can understand without hiring somebody. Almost 60 percent of American people now need to hire an expert to understand their taxes. So yes, you're going to hear a lot of talk about tax reform \u2014 +p950 +aV\u2014 the issue is who is going to get it done. +p951 +aVYou know, the +p952 +aVWell, this is one of the reasons why Tom Perkins and I had disagreements in the boardroom, Becky. Nevertheless, one of the things that I think people don't always understand is how accountable a CEO actually is. So you know, I had to report results every 90 days in excruciating detail. I had to answer every single question about every single result and every single projection in public until there were no more questions. And if I misrepresented those results or those projections in any way, I was held criminally liable. Imagine \u2014 imagine \u2014 if a politician were held to that standard of account. I will run on my record all day long. And I believe people need a leader who is prepared to make tough calls in tough times and stand up... +p953 +aV...and be held accountable. +p954 +aVYou know, I want to go back for a moment to what we were just talking about. Crony capitalism is alive and well, and has been so in Washington, D.C. for decades. What's crony capitalism? Crony capitalism is what happens when government gets so big and so powerful that only the big and the powerful can handle it. So why are the pharmaceutical companies consolidating? Why are there five even bigger Wall Street banks now, instead of the ten we used to have on Wall Street? Because when government gets big and powerful, the big feel like they need to get even bigger to deal with all that power, and meanwhile, the small and the powerless \u2014 in this case, 1,590 community banks \u2014 go out of business. You see, folks, this is how socialism starts. Government causes a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. This is why, fundamentally, we have to take our government back. The student loan problem has been created by government. Government trying to level the playing field between Internet and brick-and-mortar creates a problem. The FCC jumping in now and saying, "we're going to put 400 pages of regulation over the Internet," is going to create massive problems. But guess who pushed for that regulation? The big Internet companies. This is what's going on. Big and powerful use big and powerful government to their advantage. It's why you see Walgreens buying Rite Aid. It's why you see the pharmaceuticals getting together. It's you see the health insurance companies getting together. It's why you see the banks consolidating. And meanwhile, small businesses are getting crushed. Community- based businesses and farms are getting crushed. Community banks are going out of business. Big government favors the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected, and crushes the small and the powerless. +p955 +aVIt is why we have to simplify. It is why we have to reduce the size and power of government. +p956 +aVIt's the only way to level the playing field between big and powerful and small and powerless. +p957 +aVBecky, it is the height of hypocrisy for Mrs. Clinton to talk about being the first woman President, when every single policy she espouses, and every single policy of President Obama has been demonstrably bad for women. 92 percent \u2014 92 percent of the jobs lost during Barack Obama's first term belonged to women. Senator Cruz is precisely right. Three million women have fallen into poverty under this administration. The number of women \u2014 +p958 +aV\u2014 living in extreme poverty is the highest level on record. I am a conservative because I know our values, our principles and our policies \u2014 +p959 +aV\u2014 work better to lift everyone up, men and women. +p960 +aVNo, the Federal Government should not play a larger role. Look, every time the Federal Government gets engaged in something it gets worse. And then the Government steps in to try and solve the problem and we get a little further down to that progressive vision that Hillary Clinton is talking about. Companies should, if they want to attract the best workers, provide a good set of benefits. But honestly, if you're a small business owner today you are being crushed. We have 400,000 small businesses forming every year in this country. How great is that? They are employing themselves, they are potentially employing others. The bad news is, we have 470,000 going out of business every year. And why? They cite Obamacare. They are refusing to... +p961 +aVI think it's a wonderful that that businesses start a 401(k). The point I'm making is this, the Federal Government should not be in a lot of things. There is no Constitutional role for the Federal Government in setting up \u2014 retirement plans. There is no Constitutional role for the Federal Government to be setting minimum wages... +p962 +aV... The more the Government gets engaged in the economy, the slower the economy becomes. The more the Government gets engaged in the economy, it is demonstrably true... +p963 +aV... The more the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected are advantaged. +p964 +aVJohn, I \u2014 if I \u2014 a lot of people have jumped in here. I'd like to jump in. A lot of people have jumped in here. +p965 +aVI understand. +p966 +aVI would just say that... ... I would just say this, we've heard a lot of great ideas up here, and I agree with what Senator Rubio said. Every election we talk about this. Every election we talk about Medicare and Social Security reform. It never happens. I would like to start with a basic. Let us actually go to zero- based budgeting so we know where the money is being spent. It's kind of basic. There is a bill sitting in the House that would actually pass and have us go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dime of your money is being spent instead of only talking about how much more we're going to spend year after year after year. My point is this. While there are lots of good ideas for reform, we have never tackled the basics. And we finally need to tackle the basics to cut this government down to size and hold it accountable. So let's start by knowing where your money is being spent by the federal government. +p967 +aVYou know, every election we hear a lot of talk. We hear a lot of good plans. We hear actually a lot of good intentions. But somehow for decades, nothing really has changed. What we need now is a proven leader who has produced results. That's how you go from secretary to CEO. You lead and you produce results. I will cut this government down to size and hold it accountable, simplify the tax code, roll back the regulations that have been spewing out of Washington, D.C. for 50 years. I may not be your dream candidate just yet, but I can assure you I am Hillary Clinton's worst nightmare. And in your heart of hearts, you cannot wait to see a debate between Hillary Clinton and Carly Fiorina. I will tell you this, I will beat Hillary Clinton. And with your vote and your support and your prayers, I will lead with the citizens of this great nation the resurgence of this great nation. +p968 +aVGood evening. My story, from secretary to CEO, is only possible in this nation, and proves that everyone of us has potential. My husband, Frank, of 30 years, started out driving a tow truck for a family owned auto body shop. We have come to a pivotal point in our nation's history where this nation's possibilities and potential are being crushed by a government grown so big, so powerful, so inept, so corrupt, and a political class that refuses to do anything about it. I am prepared to lead the resurgence of this great nation. +p969 +aVYou know, I think Mr. Trump is a wonderful entertainer. He's been terrific at that business. I also think that one of the benefits of a presidential campaign is the character and capability, judgment and temperament of every single one of us is revealed over time and under pressure. All of us will be revealed over time and under pressure. I look forward to a long race. +p970 +aVThat's not for me to answer; it is for the voters of this country to answer, and I have a lot of faith in the common sense and good judgment of the voters of the United States of America. +p971 +aVJake, I'll tell you \u2014 I'll tell you why people are supporting outsiders. It's because you know what happens if someone's been in the system their whole life, they don't know how broken the system is. A fish swims in water, it doesn't know it's water. It's not that politicians are bad people, it's that they've been in that system forever. The truth is 75 percent of the American people think the government is corrupt; 82 percent of the American people think these problems that have festered for 50 years in some cases, 25 years in other cases. The border's been insecure for 25 years; 307,000 veterans have died waiting for health care. These things have gone on for so long because no one will challenge the status quo. You know what a leader does? They challenge the status quo, they solve problems that have festered for a long time and they produce results. That is what my whole life has been about. People know this is about far more than replacing a D with an R \u2014 +p972 +aV\u2014 this is about changing the system. +p973 +aVHaving... +p974 +aVHaving met Vladimir Putin, if I may... +p975 +aVHaving met Vladimir Putin, I wouldn't talk to him at all. We've talked way too much to him. What I would do, immediately, is begin rebuilding the Sixth Fleet, I would begin rebuilding the missile defense program in Poland, I would conduct regular, aggressive military exercises in the Baltic states. I'd probably send a few thousand more troops into Germany. Vladimir Putin would get the message. By the way, the reason it is so critically important that every one of us know General Suleimani's name is because Russia is in Syria right now, because the head of the Quds force traveled to Russia and talked Vladimir Putin into aligning themselves with Iran and Syria to prop up Bashar al- Assad. Russia is a bad actor, but Vladimir Putin is someone we should not talk to, because the only way he will stop is to sense strength and resolve on the other side, and we have all of that within our control. We could rebuild the Sixth Fleet. I will. We haven't. We could rebuild the missile defense program. We haven't. I will. We could also, to Senator Rubio's point, give the Egyptians what they've asked for, which is intelligence. We could give the Jordanians what they've asked for... +p976 +aV...bombs and materiel. We have not supplied it... +p977 +aV...I will. We could arm the Kurds. They've been asking us for three years. All of this is within our control. +p978 +aV...Jake... +p979 +aV...Jake, ... +p980 +aVAnd then it'll be my turn. +p981 +aVJake? +p982 +aVJake? +p983 +aVDana, I'd like to... +p984 +aVDana, I would like to link these two issues, both of which are incredibly important, Iran and Planned Parenthood. One has something to do with the defense of the security of this nation. The other has something to do with the defense of the character of this nation. You have not heard a plan about Iran from any politician up here, here is my plan. On day one in the Oval Office, I will make two phone calls, the first to my good friend to Bibi Netanyahu to reassure him we will stand with the state of Israel. The second, to the supreme leader, to tell him that unless and until he opens every military and every nuclear facility to real anytime, anywhere inspections by our people, not his, we, the United States of America, will make it as difficult as possible and move money around the global financial system. We can do that, we don't need anyone's cooperation to do it. And every ally and every adversary we have in this world will know that the United States in America is back in the leadership business, which is how we must stand with our allies. As regards Planned Parenthood, anyone who has watched this videotape, I dare Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama to watch these tapes. Watch a fully formed fetus on the table, it's heart beating, it's legs kicking while someone says we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain. This is about the character of our nation, and if we will not stand up in and force President Obama to veto this bill, shame on us. +p985 +aVYou know, it's interesting to me, Mr. Trump said that he heard Mr. Bush very clearly and what Mr. Bush said. I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said. +p986 +aVDana, with all being said to Mr. Trump... +p987 +aVImmigration did not come up in 2016 because Mr. Trump brought it up. We talked about it in 2012, we talked about it in 2008. We talked about it in 2004. +p988 +aVWe have been talking about it for 25 years. This is why people are tired of politicians. +p989 +aVFirst let me say, We have just spent a good bit of time discussing, as Republicans, how to solve this problem. I would ask your audience at home to ask a very basic question. Why have Democrats not solved this problem? President Obama campaigned in 2007 and 2008 on solving the immigration problem. He entered Washington with majorities in the House and the Senate. He could have chosen to do anything to solve this pro \u2014 this problem. Instead, he chose to do nothing. Why? because the Democrats don't want this issue solved. +p990 +aVThey want it to be an issue that they can use. As to birthright citizenship... +p991 +aV...the truth is, you can't just wave your hands and say "the 14th Amendment is gonna go away." It will take an extremely arduous vote in Congress, followed by two-thirds of the states, and if that doesn't work to amend the Constitution, then it is a long, arduous process in court. And meanwhile, what will continue to go on is what has gone on for 25 years. With all due respect, Mr. Trump, we've been talking about illegal immigration for 25 years. San Francisco has been a sanctuary city since 1989. There are 300 of them. And meanwhile, what has happened? Nothing. The border remains insecure. The legal immigration system remains broken. Look, we know what it takes to secure a border. We've heard a lot of great ideas here. Money, manpower, technology... +p992 +aV...mostly, apparently, leadership... +p993 +aV...the kind of leadership that understands how to get results. +p994 +aVBut you \u2014 you would stipulate, Mr. Trump, but not everyone agrees with you. +p995 +aVOK. +p996 +aVI led Hewlett Packard through a very difficult time, the worst technology recession in 25 years. The +p997 +aV\u2014 out a full-page ad in the New York Times to say he was wrong, I was right. I was a terrific CEO, the board was dysfunctional. And he thinks I will make a magnificent president of the United States. +p998 +aVYou know, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld is a well-known Clintonite and honestly had it out for me from the moment that I arrived at Hewlett Packard. But honestly, Mr. Trump, I find it quite rich that you would talk about this. You know, there are a lot of us Americans who believe that we are going to have trouble someday paying back the interest on our debt because politicians have run up mountains of debt using other people's money. That is in fact precisely the way you ran your casinos. You ran up mountains of debt, as well as losses, using other people's money, and you were forced to file for bankruptcy not once \u2014 +p999 +aV\u2014 not twice, four times, a record four times. Why should we trust you to manage the finances \u2014 +p1000 +aV\u2014 of this nation any differently than you managed the finances \u2014 +p1001 +aV\u2014 of your casinos? +p1002 +aVWell \u2014 +p1003 +aVWell, Mr. Trump \u2014 +p1004 +aVA track record of leadership is not a game. It is the issue in this election. +p1005 +aVWell, I thought we had been hearing quite a bit about Govenor Christie's record as governor, actually. I think track records are very important. I completely agree that what's at stake here is the future of this nation, and the future of every American. But I do think that a track record of leadership is vital because in the end this election is about leadership. And let's talk about what leadership is. It's not about braggadocio, it is about challenging the status quo, solving problems, producing results. And the highest calling of leadership is to unlock potential in others. +p1006 +aVProblems have festered in Washington for too long. And the potential of this nation is being crushed. +p1007 +aVYou see, Governor Christie, people spend time talking about their track records, and Mr. Trump and I have every right to do the same. And Mrs. Clinton has to defend her track record. Her track record of lying about Benghazi, of lying about her e- mails, about lying about her servers. She does not have a track record of accomplishment. Like Mrs. Clinton, I, too, have travels hundreds of thousands of miles around the globe. But unlike Mrs. Clinton, I know flying is an activity, not an accomplishment. Mrs. Clinton \u2014 if you want to stump a Democrat, ask them to name a accomplishment of Mrs. Clinton's. +p1008 +aVWe just spent \u2014 we just spent the last 10 minutes... +p1009 +aV...Jake, since everyone has gotten to weigh in on this military issue, I'd like to be able to do the same. We have spent probably 12 minutes talking about the past. Let's talk about the future. We need the strongest military on the face of the planet, and everyone has to know it. And, specifically, what that means is we need about 50 Army brigades, we need about 36 Marine battalions, we need somewhere between 300, and 350 naval ships, we need to upgrade every leg of the nuclear triad... +p1010 +aV...we need to reform the Department of Defense, we need as well... +p1011 +aV...to invest in our military technology, and we need to care for our veterans so 307,000... +p1012 +aV...aren't dying waiting for health care. +p1013 +aVJake, may I just say... +p1014 +aVJake \u2014 Jake... +p1015 +aVI very much hope I am the only person on this stage who can say this, but I know there are millions of Americans out there who will say the same thing. My husband Frank and I buried a child to drug addiction. So, we must invest more in the treatment of drugs. +p1016 +aVI agree with Senator Paul. I agree with states' rights. But we are misleading young people when we tell them that marijuana is just like having a beer. It's not. And the marijuana that kids are smoking today is not the same as the marijuana that Jeb Bush smoked 40 years ago. We do \u2014 sorry, Barbara. We do need \u2014 we do need criminal justice reform. We have the highest incarceration rates in the world. Two-thirds of the people in our prisons are there for non-violent offenses, mostly drug related. It's clearly not working. But we need to tell young people the truth. Drug addiction is an epidemic, and it is taking too many of our young people. I know this sadly from personal experience. +p1017 +aVI wouldn't change the $10 bill, or the $20 bill. I think, honestly, it's a gesture. I don't think it helps to change our history. What I would think is that we ought to recognize that women are not a special interest group. Women are the majority of this nation. We are half the potential of this nation, and this nation will be better off when every woman has the opportunity to live the life she chooses. +p1018 +aVSecretariat. +p1019 +aVI think what this nation can be and must be is symbolized by Lady Liberty and Lady Justice. Lady Liberty stands tall and strong. She is clear-eyed and resolute. She doesn't shield her eyes from the realities of the world, but she faces outward into the world nevertheless, as we always must. And she holds her torch high, because she knows she is a beacon of hope in a very troubled world. And Lady Justice, Lady Justice holds a sword by her side, because she is a fighter, a warrior for the values and the principles that have made this nation great. She holds a scale in her other hand. And with that scale she says all of us are equal in the eyes of God. And so all of us must be equal in the eyes of the law and the government, powerful and powerless alike. And she wears a blindfold. And with that blindfold she is saying to us that it must be true, it can be true that in this country, in this century, it doesn't matter who you are, it doesn't matter what you look like, it doesn't matter how you start, it doesn't matter your circumstances, here in this nation, every American's life must be filled with the possibilities that come from their God-given gifts. One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. +p1020 +aVWhen America does not lead, the world is a dangerous and a tragic place. This is a bad deal. Obama broke every rule of negotiation. Yes, our allies are not perfect, but Iran is at the heart of most of the evil that is going on in the Middle East through their proxy. +p1021 +asVBUSH +p1022 +(lp1023 +VOur freedom is under attack. Our economy is under water. The leading democrat is under investigation. And America is under the gun to lead the free world to protect our civilized way of life. Serious times require strong leadership, that's what at stake right now. Regarding national security, we need to restore the defense cuts of Barack Obama to rebuild our military, to destroy +p1024 +aVWell, first of all, we need to destroy +p1025 +aVLook, he mentioned me. I can bring \u2014 I can talk. This is \u2014 this is the problem. Banning all Muslims will make it harder for us to do exactly what we need to do, which is to destroy +p1026 +aVThey are relevant if we want to destroy +p1027 +aVDonald, this has got... +p1028 +aVThis is another example of the lack of seriousness. Look, this is \u2014 this is troubling because we're at war. They've declared war on us and we need to have a serious strategy to destroy +p1029 +aVYou said on September 30th that +p1030 +aVI'm talking right now. I'm talking. +p1031 +aVSeptember 30th you said... +p1032 +aVA little of your own medicine there, Donald. +p1033 +aVDonald, you're not going to be able to insult your way to the presidency. That's not going to happen. And I do have the strength. Leadership, leadership is not about attacking people and disparaging people. Leadership is about creating a serious strategy to deal with the threat of our time. And I laid out that strategy before the attacks in Paris and before the attacks in San Bernardino. And it is the way forward. We need to increase our military spending. We need to deal with a no- fly zone in Syria, a safe zone. We need to focus on building a military that is second-to-none... +p1034 +aV... so that we can destroy Islamic terrorism. +p1035 +aVI think we're focusing a whole... +p1036 +aVI do. I think the lesson's learned are that we have to have to have a strategy to get and a strategy to get out. Which means, that you create a stable situation. This president and this is what the focus ought to be, it's not the differences between us, it's Barack Obama does not believe America's leadership in the world is a force for good. He does not believe that our strength is a place where security can take place. He leads from behind. He creates an environment that now we're creating the most unstable situation we've had since the World War II era. The focus ought to be on the single fact that Hillary Clinton wants to double down on a failed foreign policy and we need to be united to defeat that because we're going to be in a place that is far less secure than it is today. Don't you all agree? +p1037 +aVBecause I \u2014 first of all, I know what I don't know. I know what I don't know. I would seek out, as I have, the best advice that exists. I won't get my information from the shows. I don't know if that's Saturday morning or Sunday morning. I don't know which one. I will seek out the best advice, and I will create a strategy and I will persuade the American people what the role of America should be. I've laid out a policy of rebuilding our military. All of the talk that we're seeing here \u2014 most of which I agree on, frankly \u2014 requires a much stronger military. We now have a lack of readiness that is quite scary. We have planes that were \u2014 that Harry Truman inaugurated, the B-52. We have \u2014 the Navy has been gutted and decimated. The readiness of the Marines is way down. If we're serious about America's leadership in the world, then we need to make sure that we have the back of the armed forces. The Armed Forces Radio is here listening to this today. I hope they know that if I'm president, I'll be a commander-in-chief, not an agitator- in-chief or a divider-in-chief, that I will lead this country in a way that will create greater security and greater safety. +p1038 +aVSo I was \u2014 I was \u2014 I was mentioned, so I can bring up something, I think, right? Look, the simple fact is, if you think this is tough you're not being treated fairly... +p1039 +aV... imagine what it's going to be like dealing with Putin or dealing with President Xi. +p1040 +aVOr dealing with the Islamic terrorism that exists. +p1041 +aVThis is a tough business to run for president. +p1042 +aVAnd it's \u2014 and we need...... to have a leader that is... +p1043 +aVYou're never going to be president of the United States by insulting your way to the presidency. +p1044 +aVDoesn't matter. Doesn't matter. +p1045 +aVYes. +p1046 +aVNo it isn't but it is an important subject to talk about for sure. And I think people have good ideas on this. Clearly, we need to secure the border. Coming here legally needs to be a lot easier than coming here illegally. If you don't have that, you don't have the rule of law. We now have a national security consideration, public health issues, we have an epidemic of heroine overdoses in all places in this country because of the ease of bringing heroine in. We have to secure the border. It is a serious undertaking and yes, we do need more fencing and we do need to use technology, and we do need more border control. And we need to have better cooperation by the way with local law enforcement. There are 800,000 cops on the beat, they ought to be trained to be the eyes and ears for law enforcement for the threat against terror as well as for immigration. This is a serious challenge and if we can get it right, yes, we'll start winning votes again. The real problem isn't anybody on this stage, the real problem is Barack Obama has had six years to advocate a position to fix this and he's done nothing. The congress has funded these programs of building more fencing and doing all this and he hasn't done it. He wants to maintain it as a wedge issue and so does Hillary Clinton. Republicans need to fix it and when we do, we'll be better off. +p1047 +aVI completely agree with Chris. And this administration has been so lax. Think about it. Hillary Clinton is using a private server for \u2014 where classified information go by. This is a \u2014 this is a serious administration? The president receives an inspector general's report that the Office of Personnel Management could be hacked into; they had antiquated firewalls; 23 million files have been \u2014 are in the hands of the Chinese allegedly, including, by the way, members of the press, it turns out, last week. Maybe that's the only part that's good news, so that you guys can get a feel for what it's like now to see this type of attack. This is something \u2014 we have to have the best defensive capabilities. We need to coordinate all of our efforts with the private sector. We need to give them liability relief so that we can do that. And offensively, we need to have capabilities second to none. We need to create a situation where they know that there will be adverse impacts if they continue to do what they're doing. They'll respect that. They'll respect a United States that is serious about protecting our \u2014 our infrastructure. If we don't do it, we'll continue to see what's \u2014 exactly what's happening, not just from the Chinese, by the way. The Russians and rogue actors, including +p1048 +aVAsk yourself, which candidate will keep you and our country safer, stronger and freer? Hillary Clinton has aligned herself with Barack Obama on +p1049 +aVYou've already made two comments, John. It's my turn. +p1050 +aVI got about four minutes in the last debate. I'm going to get my question right now. +p1051 +aVYes. +p1052 +aVFirst of all, we could get to 4 percent growth. The new normal of 2 percent puts huge demands on government. The reason why we have structural deficits is that more and more people are relying on government and the growth that we don't have makes \u2014 makes the deficit grow. A 4 percent growth strategy starts with tax reform. And the proposal that I've laid out is the one the Wall Street Journal editorial board has said is the most pro-growth of all the proposals out there. We cut the \u2014 we eliminate a lot of deductions and cut the rates down. A corporate rate of 20 percent, which puts us 5 percent above \u2014 below that of China, and allows us full expensing of investing. It would create an explosion of investment back into this country, creating higher-wage jobs, and so that's part of it. On the regulatory side I think we need to repeal every rule that Barack Obama has in terms of work in progress, every one of them. And start over. For those that are already in existence, the regulation of the Internet, we have to start over, but we ought to do that. The clean power act, we ought to repeal that and \u2014 and start over on that. The waters of the United States act, which is going to be devastating for agriculture and many industries, we should repeal that. We should repeal the rules because the economic costs of this far exceed the social benefit. And if we're serious about being serious about high growth, then we have to recognize that small businesses right now, more of them are closing than \u2014 than are \u2014 than are being set up. Hillary Clinton has said that Barack Obama's policies get an A. Really? One in 10 people right now aren't working or have given up altogether, as you said. That's not an A. One in seven people are living in poverty. That's not an A. One in five children are on food stamps. That is not an A. It may be the best that Hillary Clinton can do, but it's not the best America can do. +p1053 +aVThank you, Donald, for allowing me to speak at the debate. That's really nice of you. Really appreciate that. What a generous man you are. Twelve million illegal immigrants, to send them back, 500,000 a month, is just not \u2014 not possible. And it's not embracing American values. And it would tear communities apart. And it would send a signal that we're not the kind of country that I know America is. And even having this conversation sends a powerful signal \u2014 they're doing high-fives in the Clinton campaign right now when they hear this. That's the problem with this. We have to win the presidency. And the way you win the presidency is to have practical plans. Lay them out there. What we need to do is allow people to earn legal status where they pay a fine, where they work, where they don't commit crimes, where they learn English, and over an extended period of time, they earn legal status. That's the path \u2014 a proper path... +p1054 +aVI'm gonna fight as hard as I can to make sure that we shift power away from Washington, simplify the tax code, to spur economic activity in this country. Of course it's the highest priority. If we don't do that, we're stuck with the "new normal" of 2 percent growth. Hillary Clinton says, basically, we just gotta get used to it. Two percent growth means declining income for the middle class. It means more than 6 million people are stuck in poverty than the day that Barack Obama was inaugurated. It means \u2014 it means more demands on government \u2014 growing the economy is the first job, if we're going to be serious about dealing with the deficit and debt. And more importantly, people are really struggling right now. In this economy, the disposable income of the great middle is down 2,300 bucks. So yeah, we've created jobs, your \u2014 argue (ph) \u2014 brought that up early, and it was a good question. Jobs are being created, but they're lower-income jobs than the jobs that were lost. And the net effect of this is we need to jump-start the economy. I think of Jonathan (ph) and Reagan Love (ph), who are supporters of mine. Jonathan has been deployed by the National Guard, he is \u2014 he's in Oklahoma. Reagan Love \u2014 by the way, pretty great name, I think \u2014 is a teacher. When \u2014 if they had this tax cut, what they told me was that that $2,300 of money in their pocket \u2014 they would go back to South Carolina and start a business. Imagine what it would be like, instead of having more businesses closed than started, we had it the exact opposite. We would grow our economy, and the government would get the revenue necessary to make things \u2014 make things better. Hillary Clinton's approach to this is more top-down, more regulation, more taxes, more government, and it will destroy our economy. +p1055 +aVIt is \u2014 I'd say it is Islamic terrorism, and, back to the question of what we are dealing with in Iraq, when we pull back voids are filled. That's the lesson of history, and, sadly, this president does not believe in American leadership. He does not believe it, and the net result is that we have a caliphate the size of Indiana that gains energy each and everyday to recruit Americans in our own country, and the threat to the homeland relates to the fact that we have not dealt with this threat of terror in the Middle East. We should have a no fly zone in Syria. We should have a support for the remnants of the Syrian Free Army, and create safe zones. If you want to deal with the four million refugees that are leaving Syria because of the devastation there, then we 'ought to create safe zones for them to stay in the region rather than go to Europe. And, that requires American leadership. Without American leadership every other country in the neighborhood beings to change their priorities. It is tragic that you see Iraq, and other countries now talking to Russia. It wasn't that long ago that Russia had no influence in the region at all. And, so, the United States needs to lead across the board. This president, and Hillary Clinton both do not believe the United States has a leadership role to play, and we're now paying a price, and it will have a huge impact on the economy of this country if we don't deal with this. +p1056 +aV...They're not doing that... +p1057 +aV +p1058 +aVDonald \u2014 Donald's wrong on this. He is absolutely wrong on this. We're not going to be the world's policeman, but we sure as heck better be the world's leader. That's \u2014 there's a huge difference where, without us leading... ...voids are filled, and the idea that it's a good idea for Putin to be in Syria, let +p1059 +aVWe're not \u2014 we shouldn't have another financial crisis. What we ought to do is raise the capital requirements so banks aren't too big to fail. Dodd-Frank has actually done the opposite, totally the opposite, where banks now have higher concentration of risk in assets and the capital requirements aren't high enough. If we were serious about it, we would raise the capital requirements and lessen the load on the community banks and other financial institutions. This vast overreach has created a huge problem for our country, and Hillary Clinton wants to double down on that. I was in Washington, Iowa, about three months ago talking about how bad Washington, D.C., is. It was \u2014 get the \u2014 kind of the \u2014 anyway. We had... It \u2014 and I talked to a banker there. This is a bank that had $125 million of assets, four branches. Their compliance costs because of Dodd-Frank went from $100,000 to $600,000 in a two-year period. The net effect of that is \u2014 and they had \u2014 they had not one loan that went bad during the financial crisis. They knew \u2014 they knew their borrowers. They gave back to the community. They were engaged in the community. And imagine America without its community banks. Well, that's what's happening because of Dodd-Frank. That's \u2014 that's my worry. My worry is that the real economy has been hurt by the vast overreach of the Obama administration. And Hillary Clinton, she wants to double down on that. She wants to create even more so. She is a captive of the left of her party to the point now where she is \u2014 she was for the trade agreement in \u2014 the Pacific agreement. Now she's against it. She was \u2014 hinted she was for the XL pipeline. Now she's opposed to it. All the things that would create sustained economic growth she's now doubling down against it. +p1060 +aVYou could, if you were serious about... +p1061 +aVNo, I can't say that. But I can say, if you created higher capital requirements, that's the solution to this, not having concentration of assets. The bigger banks now have more and more control over \u2014 over the financial assets of this country. And that is the wrong approach to take. +p1062 +aVMaria? +p1063 +aV...We've had a 10% reduction in carbon emissions, and it isn't because of Solyndra. It isn't because of the central planners in Washington D.C. It's because we've had a great American success story, the explosion of natural gas. Taking two existing technologies, and applying it through innovation has created lower carbon emissions, lower energy costs \u2014 40% of all the economic activity in the age of Obama has come from the energy sector, and Hillary Clinton wants to suppress that. We \u2014 I think we ought to be expanding this. High growth is the path to lower carbon, and more jobs. I know for a fact, as Governor of the State of Florida, we created the largest land purchasing programs, and environment clean-up programs because we had a growing economy. Our revenues were growing at 4.4%. It allowed for resources to be able to protect the natural system. We got to get to a conservation... ...in environmental policy that goes beyond just carbon... +p1064 +aVJane Horton is sitting with my wife here today. Her husband, Chris, was killed in action in Afghanistan. And Jane spends her time now defending and fighting for military families. They're both heroes. I don't think we need an agitator-in-chief or a divider-in-chief. We need a commander-in-chief that will rebuild our military and restore respect to our veterans by revamping and fixing a broken Veterans Administration, That's my pledge to you. I ask for your support. Thank you. +p1065 +aVYou know, I am by my nature impatient. And this is not an endeavor that rewards that. You gotta be patient. You gotta be \u2014 stick with it, and all that. But also, I can't fake anger. I believe this is still the most extraordinary country on the face of the Earth. And it troubles me that people are rewarded for tearing down our country. It's never been that way in American politics before. I can't do it. I just don't believe that this country's days are going to be deeply \u2014 you know, going down. I think we're on the verge of the greatest time, and I want to fix the things to let people rise up. +p1066 +aVCould I \u2014 could I bring something up here, because I'm a constituent of the senator and I helped him and I expected that he would do constituent service, which means that he shows up to work. He got endorsed by the Sun-Sentinel because he was the most talented guy in the field. He's a gifted politician. But Marco, when you signed up for this, this was a six-year term, and you should be showing up to work. I mean, literally, the Senate \u2014 what is it, like a French work week? You get, like, three days where you have to show up? You can campaign, or just resign and let someone else take the job. There are a lot of people living paycheck to paycheck in Florida as well, they're looking for a senator that will fight for them each and every day. +p1067 +aVHe wasn't my senator. +p1068 +aVWell, I've been \u2014 +p1069 +aVNo, no. What I said was I don't believe that I would be president of the United States and have the same dysfunction that exists in Washington, D.C. now. +p1070 +aVDon't vote for me if you want to keep the gridlock in Washington, D.C. +p1071 +aVBut if you want someone who has a proven, effective leadership, that was a governor of a state, that transformed the culture there, elect me so I can fight for the American people and change the culture in Washington, D.C. +p1072 +aV, the great majority of Republicans and Americans believe in a hopeful future. They don't believe in building walls and a pessimistic view of the future. They're concerned that Washington is so dysfunctional it is holding them back. There are lids on people's aspirations. Think about it: six and a half million people working part-time. Workforce participation rates lower than they were in 1977. Six million more people living in poverty than the day that Barack Obama got elected president, and the left just wants more of the same. We have to offer a compelling alternative that is based on hope and optimism and grounded in serious policy, which I've laid out. And you can go get it at jeb2016.com. +p1073 +aVWell, the deal was done. Barack Obama got his massive tax increase, and there was no spending cuts. You just see the recent deal announced today or yesterday, more spending, more tax increasing, more regulation. And now we have to accept 2 percent, the new normal for economic growth. And the net result is the middle class has $2,300 less in their pockets than the day that Barack Obama got elected president. And now they see Hillary Clinton proposing a third term of economic policy for our country. We need to reverse that. And my record was one of cutting taxes each and every year. You don't have to guess about it, because I actually have a record. $19 billion of tax cuts, 1.3 million jobs created. We were one of two states to go to AAA bond rating, and our government spending was far less than the spending in people's income. +p1074 +aVYou find me... +p1075 +aVYou find me a Democrat \u2014 you find me a Democrat that will cut spending ten dollars? Heck, find me a Republican in Congress that would cut spending ten dollars. I'll talk to them. +p1076 +aVLook, the \u2014 the deal is already done. The biggest tax increase happened under the watch of Barack Obama, and spending's gone up. You find a Democrat that's for cutting taxes \u2014 cutting spending ten dollars, I'll give them a warm kiss. +p1077 +aVLook, the \u2014 the simple fact is that my plan actually gives the middle class the greatest break: $2,000 per family. And if you make $40,000 a year, a family of four, you don't pay any income tax at all. Simplifying the code and lowering rates, both for corporations and \u2014 and personal rates, is exactly what we need to do. You think about the regulatory cost and the tax cost \u2014 that's why small businesses are closing, rather than being formed in our country right now. The big corporations have the scale to deal with all of this. And what I think all of us are saying is, our monetary policy, our tax policy, regulatory policy needs to be radically changed so we can create high sustained growth for income to rise. The government has tried it their way. Under \u2014 under Barack Obama and the proposals of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and others, they've tried it their way, and it has failed miserably. We need to take a new approach of taxing \u2014 reforming how we tax, and reforming the regulations in our \u2014 in our country before it's too late. +p1078 +aVWe don't need the federal government to be involved in this at all. +p1079 +aVWe don't need the Federal Government to be involved in this, because when they do we create a $1.2 trillion debt. In Florida, we have the lowest in-state tuition of any state, because there's accountability, just as John said. Let the states do this. You'll create a much better graduation rate at a lower cost, and you won't in debt the next generation with recourse debt on their backs. It's always a solution of the left to create more Government from the Federal Government. It is broke, it is not working. +p1080 +aVWell, first of all, I'm 7 and 0 in my fantasy league. +p1081 +aVGronkowski is still going strong. I have Ryan Tannehill, Marco, as my quarterback, he was 18 for 19 last week. So I'm doing great. But we're not gambling. And I think this has become something that needs to be looked at in terms of regulation. Effectively it is day trading without any regulation at all. And when you have insider information, which apparently has been the case, where people use that information and use big data to try to take advantage of it, there has to be some regulation. If they can't regulate themselves, then the NFL needs to look at just, you know, moving away from them a little bit. And there should be some regulation. I have no clue whether the federal government is the proper place, my instinct is to say, hell no, just about everything about the federal government. +p1082 +aVBecky \u2014 +p1083 +aV\u2014 the governor's absolutely right. But we also need to reform Medicare and Social Security. We can't just allow it to continue on its current path the way that Hillary Clinton wants to do because there'll be major reductions in benefits in the next decade if we do nothing. I have a concrete plan to do just that, which allows people to keep HSAs to encourage savings, it allows for people that are retiring with Social Security to be able to get a minimum of 125 percent of the poverty level so that there is a baseline that in this generous country of ours no one goes below. +p1084 +aVYou have to reform Social Security, and the simple way to do it is to make sure that the wealthiest don't receive the same benefits as people that are lower-income. And make sure you enhance savings in the private market. The idea of 401(k)s. I have a small business that I set up. It took \u2014 it took an arm and a leg to be able to set up a 401(k). Because of all the federal mandates and federal laws, it was too expensive. We need to incent private savings and make sure that Social Security is protected for those that have it. +p1085 +aVBut the idea that you can't \u2014 that you're just gonna grow your way out of this \u2014 I have a plan to grow the economy at 4 percent, but you're gonna have to make adjustments for both Medicare and Social Security. [ +p1086 +aVAmerica's at a crossroads. The D.C. politicians continue to make things worse. I have a proven record of success, 32 years in business, and 8 years as Governor of the state of Florida. I will change the culture in Washington, just as I changed the culture in Tallahassee. I will do so in a way that will bring people together. We need a unifier, not a cynical divider in chief, and that's exactly what I will do. Imagine a country where people are lifted out of poverty again. Imagine a country where the middle class can get rising income again. I know we can do this because we're still the most extraordinary country on the face of the Earth. +p1087 +aVI'm Jeb Bush, and I believe America's on the verge of its greatest century, and I'm ready to lead. I'm a committed, conservative reformer that cut taxes, that balanced budgets, that took on the special interest in Florida, and we won. I look forward to talking tonight about how we can fix a broken Washington D.C., and create an environment where people can rise up again in this great country. Thank you. +p1088 +aVI think the voters will make that determination. But what I know to be true is that the next president of the United States is going to have to fix an extraordinary difficult situation. This administration, with President Obama and Hillary Clinton, has created insecurity the likes of which we never would've imagined. There's not a place in the world where we're better off today than six and a half years ago. And that requires a steadiness. That requires an understanding of how the world works. That requires an understanding and appreciation of American leadership in the world. You can't just, you know, talk about this stuff and insult leaders around the world and expect a good result. You have to do this with a steady hand, and I believe I have those skills. +p1089 +aVNo. Absolutely not. People are supporting me because I have a proven record of conservative leadership where I cut taxes $19 billion over eight years. We shrunk the state government workforce, we created a climate that led the nation in job growth seven out of eight years. We were one of two states to go to AAA bond rating. People know that we need principle-centered leadership, a disrupter to go to Washington, D.C. The one guy that had some special interests that I know of that tried to get me to change my views on something \u2014 that was generous and gave me money \u2014 was Donald Trump. He wanted casino gambling in Florida \u2014 +p1090 +aVYes you did. +p1091 +aVYou wanted it and you didn't get it because I was opposed to \u2014 +p1092 +aV\u2014 casino gambling before \u2014 +p1093 +aVduring and after. And that's not \u2014 I'm not going to be bought by anybody. +p1094 +aVNo way. Believe me. +p1095 +aVNot even possible. +p1096 +aVYou've got, according to your \u2014 to what you said on one of the talk shows, you got Hillary Clinton to go to your wedding \u2014 +p1097 +aV\u2014 because you gave her money. Maybe it works for Hillary Clinton \u2014 +p1098 +aV\u2014 it doesn't work for anybody on this \u2014 on stage. +p1099 +aVBut the simple fact is \u2014 +p1100 +aVNo. The simple fact is, Donald, you could not take \u2014 +p1101 +aVI was asked the question. +p1102 +aVSo he supports Pelosi, he supports Schumer, he supports Clinton \u2014 +p1103 +aVWhen he \u2014 and he \u2014 when he asked \u2014 when he asked Florida to have casino gambling, we said no. +p1104 +aVWe said no. And that's the simple fact. The simple fact is \u2014 +p1105 +aVDon't cut me off. +p1106 +aVNo, I don't think so, but we need to be strong against China. We should use offensive tactics as it relates to cyber security, send a deterrent signal to China. There should be super sanctions in what President Obama has proposed. There's many other tools that we have without canceling a dinner. That's not going to change anything, but we can be much stronger as it relates to that. As it relates to Iran, it's not a strategy to tear up an agreement. A strategy would be how do we confront Iran? And, the first thing that we need to do is to establish our commitment to Israel which has been altered by this administration. And, make sure that they have the most sophisticated weapons to send a signal to Iran that we have Israel's back. If we do that, it's going to create a healthier deterrent effect than anything else I can think of. +p1107 +aVI don't think \u2014 you're not stating my views right. +p1108 +aVI think there needs to be accommodation for someone acting on faith. Religious conscience is \u2014 is \u2014 is a first freedom. It's \u2014 it's a powerful part of our \u2014 of our Bill of Rights. And, in a big, tolerant country, we should respect the rule of law, allow people in \u2014 in \u2014 in this country \u2014 I'm a \u2014 I was opposed to the decision, but we \u2014 you can't just say, "well, they \u2014 gays can't get married now." But this woman, there should be some accommodation for her conscience, just as there should be for people that are florists that don't want to participate in weddings, or bakers. A great country like us should find a way to have accommodations for people so that we can solve the problem in the right way. This should be solved at the local level... +p1109 +aVAnd so we do agree, Mike. +p1110 +aVWell, he's wrong on a lot of things, but on this he's wrong because I'm the most pro-life governor on this stage. I got to act on my core beliefs. It's part of who I am. Life is a gift from God. And from beginning end we need to respect it and err on the side of life. And so I defunded Planned Parenthood. We created a climate where parental notification took place. We were the only state to fund crisis pregnancy centers with state moneys. We were totally focused on this. And I would bring that kind of philosophy to Washington, D.C. So here is a solution to this. Title X of the HHS funding, there is something that was the "Reagan Rule." It was passed in 1988. And in that rule it was defined, and the courts approved this, that a Planned Parenthood, you couldn't separate the money between the actual abortion procedures, and there are 330,000 abortions that take place in this clinic, and their promotion of it. He interpreted it the right way, the courts ruled in his favor, and Planned Parenthood did not get funding during that time until President Clinton came in. When I'm elected president, we will restore that interpretation of Title X. And this deal will be finished. +p1111 +aVThere are 13,000 community-based organizations that provide health services to women, 13,000 in this country. I don't believe that Planned Parenthood should get a penny from the federal government. Those organizations should get funding, just as I increased funding when I was governor of the state. That's the way you do this is you improve the condition for people. And, Donald, when I was governor, we also increased the opportunities for women. Women's income grew three times faster than the national average when I was governor. +p1112 +aVWe improved \u2014 we improved \u2014 +p1113 +aV\u2014 we increased child support \u2014 we increased child support with a broken system by 90 percent. +p1114 +aVI have a proven record. I have a proven record. +p1115 +aVHe did, he did. You're proud of your family, just as I am. +p1116 +aVTo subject my wife into the middle of a raucous political conversation was completely inappropriate, and I hope you apologize for that, Donald. +p1117 +aVShe is. She's fantastic. +p1118 +aVShe is absolutely the love of my life, and she's right here... +p1119 +aVAnd why don't you apologize to her right now. +p1120 +aVYeah. +p1121 +aVSo, here's the deal. My wife is a Mexican-American. She's an American by choice. She loves this country as much as anybody in this room, and she wants a secure border. But she wants to embrace the traditional American values that make us special and make us unique. We're at a crossroads right now. Are we going to take the Reagan approach, the hopeful optimistic approach, the approach that says that, you come to our country legally, you pursue your dreams with a vengeance, you create opportunities for all of us? Or the Donald Trump approach? The approach that says that everything is bad, that everything is coming to an end. I... +p1122 +aVI'm on the Reagan side of this. +p1123 +aVLook, first of all, I wrote a book about this, three \u2014 four years ago, now. And I laid out a comprehensive, conservative approach for immigration reform. And it does require securing the border. No one disagrees with that. But to build a wall, and to deport people \u2014 half a million a month \u2014 would cost hundreds of billions of dollars, Donald. Hundreds of billions of dollars. It would destroy community life, it would tear families apart. And it would send a signal to the rest of the world that the United States values that are so important for our long-term success no longer matter in this country. +p1124 +aVWell, I've been speaking English here tonight, and I'll keep speaking English. But the simple fact is, if a high school kid asks me a question in Spanish, a school \u2014 by the way, a voucher program that was created under my watch, the largest voucher program in the country, where kids can go to a Christian school, and they ask me a question in Spanish, I'm going to show respect and answer that question in Spanish. Even though they do speak English, and even though they embrace American values. +p1125 +aVYeah. +p1126 +aVWell, first of all, Hugh, if you're looking at Republican advisers, you have to go to the last two administrations. That happened to be 41 and 43. So just by definition, if you're \u2014 and many of the people here that are seeking advice from the foreign policy experts in the Republican side, they \u2014 they served in my dad's administration, my brother's administration. Of course that's the case. But I'm my own man. I'm going to create a strategy that is based on the simple fact that the United States needs to lead the world. The first thing that we need to do is to stop the craziness of the sequester. Rebuild our military so that our \u2014 so that we don't deploy people over and over again without the necessary equipment to keep them safe, to send a signal to the world that we're serious. If we're going to lead the world, then we need to have the strongest military possible. We need to rebuild our counterintelligence and intelligence capabilities. We need to focus on the fact that the next president is going to start in 2017, not in 1990 \u2014 you know, 30 years ago, or when my brother started. The world is dramatically different. And I believe that we need to restore America's presence and leadership in the world. Name a country where our relationship is better today than it was the \u2014 the day that Barack Obama got elected president. Under Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama, we have seen a weakness that now creates huge problems for the next president of the United States. So I'll have a team that will be \u2014 that will be following the doctrine I set up, and it will be peace through strength. We're sitting here in this library, which is a wonderful place to talk about this, because that's exactly what happened in the 1980s, and the world was a lot safer because of... +p1127 +aVThe leadership of Ronald Reagan and my... +p1128 +aVSo you \u2014 the \u2014 the first chance... +p1129 +aVRight after me, and then I'll \u2014 I'll yield \u2014 yield the floor. What do you guys say in the Senate when you're talking and debating? +p1130 +aVHere's the facts: When Donald Trump talks about judgment, what was his position on who would've been the best negotiator to deal with Iran? It wasn't a Republican; it was Hillary Clinton. That's what you believe. I mean, the lack of judgment and the lack of understanding about how the world works is really dangerous in this kind of time that we're saying. So is that the judgment that you bring to the table, that Hillary Clinton... +p1131 +aV... is a great negotiator, that she could bring about a better deal on Iran? +p1132 +aVYou know what? As it relates to my brother, there's one thing I know for sure. He kept us safe. I don't know if you remember... ... Donald... ... you remember the \u2014 the rumble? You remember the fire fighter with his arms around it? He sent a clear signal that the United States would be strong and fight Islamic terrorism, and he did keep us safe. +p1133 +aVThat's \u2014 that's my brother. +p1134 +aVHere's the lessons of history: When we \u2014 we pull back, voids are created. We left Iraq. We should've had a \u2014 a forces agreement to stay there with a small force, and instead of that, we politically and militarily pulled back, and now we have the creation of +p1135 +aV... because of what President Obama's done by pulling back. +p1136 +aVWell, I'm surprised Senator Cruz would say that since he was as strong supporter of John Roberts at the time. I will talk about what I will do as it relates to appointing Supreme Court Justices. We need to make sure that we have justices that, with a proven experienced record of respect for upholding the constitution. That is what we need. We can't have \u2014 the history in recent past is appoint people that have no experience so that you can't get attacked. And, that makes it harder for people to have confidence that they won't veer off... +p1137 +aVJohn Roberts has made some really good decisions, for sure, but he did not have a proven, extensive record that would have made the clarity the important thing, and that's what we need to do. And, I'm willing to fight for those nominees to make sure that they get passed. You can't do it the politically expedient way anymore. This is the culture in Washington. You have to fight hard for these appointments. This is perhaps the most important thing that the next president will do. +p1138 +aVWell, first of all, he, as I said, supported John Roberts. He supported him, publicly. So, you can rewrite history, I guess, Ted, but the simple fact is that you supported him because he had all the criteria that you would have thought would have made a great justice. And, I think he is doing a good job. But, the simple fact is that going forward, what we need to do is to have someone that has a long standing set of rulings that consistently makes it clear that he is a focused, exclusively on upholding the Constitution of the United States so they won't try to use the bench as a means to which legislate. +p1139 +aVHe was talking about me. +p1140 +aVWell, I \u2014 I wanted to \u2014 be \u2014 make it easier for him. +p1141 +aVAnd I just did. +p1142 +aVSo, 40 years ago, I smoked marijuana, and I admit it. I'm sure that other people might have done it and may not want to say it in front of 25 million people. My mom's not happy that I just did. That's true. And here's the deal. Here's the deal. We have \u2014 we have a serious epidemic of drugs that goes way beyond marijuana. What goes on in Colorado, as far as I'm concerned, that should be a state decision. But if you look at the problem of drugs in this \u2014 in this society today, it's a serious problem. Rand, you know this because you're campaigning in New Hampshire like all of us, and you see the epidemic of heroin, the overdoses of heroin that's taking place. People's families are \u2014 are being torn apart. It is appropriate for the government to play a consistent role to be able to provide more treatment, more prevention \u2014 we're the state that has the most drug courts across every circuit in \u2014 in \u2014 in Florida, there are drug courts to give people a second chance. That's the best way to do this. +p1143 +aVNo, you're wrong \u2014 you're wrong about this. +p1144 +aVI don't want to put poor people in jail, Randy. +p1145 +aVHere's the deal. No, I did not oppose when the legislature passed the bill to deal with that very issue. That's the way to solve this problem. Medical marijuana on the ballot was opened up, there was a huge loophole, it was the first step to getting to a place. And as a citizen of Florida, I voted no. +p1146 +aVNot very far. I think we need to do this state by state. There are places that get this right, and we need to make sure that we protect the privacy laws. This is a complicated place. But I do think the natural impulse on the left \u2014 Hillary Clinton, immediately after one of these horrific violent acts took place, immediately said we need to have federal gun laws. President Obama almost reflexively always says the same thing. And the net result is, you're going to take away rights of \u2014 of law-abiding citizens, the 99.999 percent of the people that are law- abiding citizens. That's not the right approach to do it. In Florida, we have a background check. We have concealed-weapon permit holders, and in fact, there's 1,200,000 of them. We have a reduction in violent crime because we put people behind bars when they use a gun in the commission of the crime. That's the better approach. But we're living in a society today where despair kind of grows in isolation. +p1147 +aVI \u2014 I think there needs to be a hearing, but the fact is, we need to encourage that kind of involvement. That's \u2014 that's exactly what we need to do. +p1148 +aVI would go with Ronald Reagan's partner, Margaret Thatcher. Probably illegal, but what the heck? Since it's not going to happen. A strong leader is what we need in the White House, and she certainly was a strong leader that restored the United Kingdom into greatness. +p1149 +aVEver Ready, it's very high energy, Donald. +p1150 +aVSix million more people are living in poverty than the day that Barack Obama got elected president. Six million more people. The middle class has had declining income, workforce participation rates are lower than they were in 1977. For the first time in modern history, more businesses are failing than are being created. That is what the next president will have to deal with. And I believe we can reverse course by creating a strategy of high sustained economic growth, not the new normal of 2 percent that all the left says we just have to get used to, but a 4 percent growth strategy where we reform how we tax, fix the broken regulatory system, embrace the energy revolution in our midst, fix the immigration system so we can turn it into an economic driver, deal with the structural fiscal problems that exist because of our entitlement problems that will overwhelm and create way too much debt. If we grow at 4 percent, people are going to be lifted out of poverty. The great middle that defines our country will have a chance to be able to pursue their dreams as they see fit. That should be the great challenge and the great opportunity for the next president of the United States, to forge consensus to go back to a high-growth strategy. And then we'll be able to lead the world. Without a high-growth strategy, our country will never have the resources or the optimism to be able to lead the world, which the world desperately needs our leadership. +p1151 +aVAbsolutely, I do, and I'm gonna run hard, run with heart, and run to win. I'm gonna have to earn this. Maybe the barrier -- the bar's even higher for me. That's fine. I've got a record in Florida. I'm proud of my dad, and I'm certainly proud of my brother. In Florida, they called me Jeb, because I earned it. I cut taxes every year, totaling $19 billion. We were -- we had -- we balanced every budget. We went from $1 billion of reserves to $9 billion of reserves. We were one of two states that went to AAA bond rating. They keep -- they called me Veto Corleone. Because I vetoed 2,500 separate line-items in the budget. I am my own man. I governed as a conservative, and I govern effectively. And the net effect was, during my eight years, 1.3 million jobs were created. We left the state better off because I applied conservative principles in a purple state the right way, and people rose up. +p1152 +aVI do. I believe that the great majority of people coming here illegally have no other option. They want to provide for their family. But we need to control our border. It's not -- it's our responsibility to pick and choose who comes in. So I -- I've written a book about this and yet this week, I did come up with a comprehensive strategy that -- that really mirrored what we said in the book, which is that we need to deal with E-Verify, we need to deal with people that come with a legal visa and overstay. We need to be much more strategic on how we deal with border enforcement, border security. We need to eliminate the sanctuary cities in this country. It is ridiculous and tragic......that people are dying because of the fact that -- that local governments are not following the federal law. There's much to do. And I think rather than talking about this as a wedge issue, which Barack Obama has done now for six long years, the next president -- and I hope to be that president -- will fix this once and for all so that we can turn this into a driver for high sustained economic growth. And there should be a path to earned legal status... ...for those that are here. Not -- not amnesty, earned legal status, which means you pay a fine and do many things over an extended period of time. +p1153 +aV...I remember... +p1154 +aV...I remember, Megyn. +p1155 +aVKnowing what we know now, with faulty intelligence, and not having security be the first priority when -- when we invaded, it was a mistake. I wouldn't have gone in, however, for the people that did lose their lives, and the families that suffer because of it -- I know this full well because as governor of the state of Florida, I called every one of them. Every one of them that I could find to tell them that I was praying for them, that I cared about them, and it was really hard to do. And, every one of them said that their child did not die in vain, or their wife, of their husband did not die in vain. So, why it was difficult for me to do it was based on that. Here's the lesson that we should take from this, which relates to this whole subject. Barack Obama became president, and he abandoned Iraq. He left, and when he left Al Qaida was done for. +p1156 +aVNo, I don't. And I don't believe the federal government should be involved in the creation of standards directly or indirectly, the creation of curriculum or content. It is clearly a state responsibility. I'm for higher standards... ...measured in an intellectually honest way, with abundant school choice, ending social promotion. And I know how to do this because as governor of the state of Florida I created the first statewide voucher program in the country, the second statewide voucher program, in the country and the third statewide voucher program in the country. And we had rising student achievement across the board, because high standards, robust accountability, ending social promotion in third grade, real school choice across the board, challenging the teachers union and beating them is the way to go. And Florida's low income kids had the greatest gains inside the country. Our graduation rate improved by 50 percent. That's what I'm for. +p1157 +aVHe is definitely my friend. And I think the states ought to create these standards. And if states want to opt out of Common Core, fine. Just make sure your standards are high. Because today in America, a third of our kids, after we spend more per student than any country in the world other than a couple rounding errors, to be honest with you, 30 percent are college- and/or career-ready. If we are going to compete in this world we're in today, there is no possible way we can do it with lowering expectations and dumbing down everything. Children are going to suffer and families' hearts are going to be broken that their kids won't be able to get a job in the 21st Century. +p1158 +aVWe've done it 27 times since World War II. I think we need to lift our spirits and have high, lofty expectations for this great country of ours. The new normal of two percent that the left is saying you can't do anything about is so dangerous for our country. There's 6 million people living in poverty today, more than when Barack Obama got elected. 6.5 million people are working part-time, most of whom want to work full-time. We've created rules and taxes on top of every aspiration of people, and the net result is we're not growing fast, income's not growing. A four percent growth strategy means you fix a convoluted tax code. You get in and you change every aspect of regulations that are job killers. You get rid of Obamacare and replace it with something that doesn't suppress wages and kill jobs. You embrace the energy revolution in our country. This president and Hillary Clinton, who can't even say she's for the XL pipeline even after she's left? Give me a break. Of course we're for it. We should be for these things to create high sustained economic growth. And frankly, fixing our immigration system and turning it into an economic driver is part of this as well. We can do this. +p1159 +aVNone of which is true. +p1160 +aVNo. It's not true. But I have said that Mr. Trump's language is divisive. I want to win. I want one of these people here or the ones at 5:00, to be the next president of the United States. We're not going on win by doing what Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton do each and every day. Dividing the country. Saying, creating a grievance kind of environment. We're going to win when we unite people with a hopeful, optimistic message. I have that message because I was a governor of a state that saw people lifted up, because we had high sustained economic growth. Our economy grew at double the rate of the nation. We created 1.3 million jobs. We led the nation seven out of those eight years. We were only one of two states that went to AAA bond rating. I cut taxes, $19 billion. If you do that and apply conservative principles the right way, you create an environment where everybody rises up. That's how we're going to win. Campaigning in places to give people hope that their life is better because too many people are suffering today in America. +p1161 +aVHere's what I believe. I believe we're at the verge of the greatest time to be alive in this world. But Washington is holding us back. How we tax, how we regulate. We're not embracing the energy revolution in our midst, a broken immigration system that has been politicized rather than turning it into an economic driver. We're not protecting and preserving our entitlement system or reforming for the next generation. All these things languish while we have politicians in Washington using these as wedge issues. Here's my commitment to you, because I did it as Florida. We can fix these things. We can grow economically and restore America's leadership in the world, so that everybody has a chance to rise up. I humbly ask for your vote, whenever you're gonna get to vote, whenever the primary is. Thank you all very much. +p1162 +asVWALKER +p1163 +(lp1164 +VGood evening, I'm Scott Walker, and tonight, I want to thank and Mrs. Reagan, and the Reagan Library for hosting us. You see, in my lifetime, the greatest president was a governor from California. Ronald Reagan knew how to go big, and go bold. He understood the essence of moving this country forward, and that's what I did when I took on the status quo in my state, and the Washington based special interest. Now, more than ever, America needs a leader who will go big and bold again. Someone who's been tested. I'm ready to be that leader. Thank you. +p1165 +aVBut Jake, Jake, Jake, Jake... +p1166 +aVBut Jake, this \u2014 this is \u2014 this... +p1167 +aVJake, this is \u2014 this is \u2014 this is... +p1168 +aVThis is actually what's wrong \u2014 this is what's wrong with this debate. We're not talking about real issues. And Mr. Trump, we don't need an apprentice in the White House. We don't need an apprentice in the White House. We have one right now. He told us all the things we wanted to hear back in 2008. We don't know who you are or where you're going. We need someone who can actually get the job done. And you talked about business. +p1169 +aVYou \u2014 you \u2014 let me finish... +p1170 +aVNo, no... +p1171 +aVYou're using the talking... +p1172 +aVMr. Trump, you're using the talking points of the Democrats... +p1173 +aV... and as we all know... +p1174 +aV... that failed three times in four and a half years when I got elected, because it is working. We balanced a budget. You want to talk about balanced budgets? You took four major projects into bankruptcy over and over and over again. You can't take America into bankruptcy. That's what's wrong with the politicians in Washington right now. They think we can take a country into bankruptcy. +p1175 +aVJake, yeah, absolutely, I'll take this on, because this is an issue that's important in this race. Just because he says it doesn't make it true. The facts are the facts. We balanced a $3.6 billion budget deficit, we did it by cutting taxes \u2014 $4.7 billion to help working families, family farmers, small business owners and senior citizens. And it's about time people in America stand up and take note of this. If you want someone that can actually take on the special interest of Washington, which you yourself said you were part of, using the system, we need somebody that will stand up and fight for average Americans to put them back in charge of their government. I'm the one who is taking that on. I'll do that as your next president. +p1176 +aVTwo parts to that, one on China, one back for a second on Iran. When it comes to China, why would we be giving an official state visit to a country that's been involved in a massive cyber attack against the United States? That's not just a visit, that's a 21 gun salute on the South Lawn of the White House. It just doesn't make any sense. If we're ever going to send a message to them, wouldn't this be the time, when they've issued this, sort of, massive attack against us? And, Jake, for the question, I was one of the first ones to call for terminating the bad deal with Iran on day one. The President came after me and said I need to bone up. You know, the President who called +p1177 +aVJake, just one more moment. This is \u2014 there's something bigger to this. Now, I \u2014 like so many other governors here, I defunded Planned Parenthood four-and-a-half years ago, in a Blue State. But it's bigger than that. We did that in a Blue State, we took the money and put it into women's health, so we did exactly what we're talking about here. But I think the bigger issue here is we should be able to do this nationally, and this is precisely why so many Republicans are upset with Washington. They see the House and they see the Senate and they say why can't we pass this. Why can't we defund Planned \u2014 put it in a spending bill. Forget about the 60-vote rule, there's no reason \u2014 and the Constitution doesn't call for 60 votes. Pass it with 51 votes, put it on the desk of the president \u2014 +p1178 +aV\u2014 and go forward and actually make a point. This is why \u2014 +p1179 +aV\u2014 people are upset with Washington. +p1180 +aVSo, the best way to help people see their wages go up is to get them the education, the skill they need, to take on careers that pay more than minimum wage. And, it's why we talk about it, it's all about jobs. You want to help actually get jobs, it's why on that last question we were trying to jump in on taxes. To me, it's not just about taxes, cutting taxes. I've done it as much as anyone has. I've cut income taxes, I've cut property taxes. In fact, property taxes are lower today in my state than they were before we took office. The real issues about jobs. Ronald Reagan, our plan is based on the Ronald Reagan tax cuts of 1986. That brought about one of the longest sustained periods of economic growth in American history. All the things we should be talking about tonight are about how do we create jobs, helping people get the skills and the education qualifications they need to succeed. That's the way you help people create jobs. It's part of our large plan to reform the tax code, to cut taxes, to put in place an education system that gives people the skills and education that they need. To put in place all the above energy policy, but you start on day one with repealing Obamacare. I'm the only one on this stage that's actually got a plan, introduced an actual plan to repeal Obamacare on day one. I'll send a bill up to Congress, and to make sure enact it... +p1181 +aV...I'm going to sign an order that makes the Congress live by the same rules as everybody else. +p1182 +aV...That will ensure they repeal Obamacare... +p1183 +aV...Jake, Jake, Jake, I just want to address that issue because you said I didn't answer, and I did. I said, to me, I think the real focus shouldn't be \u2014 you know, Hillary Clinton talks about the minimum wage. That's her answer to grow the economy. The answer is to give people the skills and the education so they make far more than minimum wage. I don't want to argue about how low things are going to be, I want to talk about how do we lift everyone up in America. That's what Reagan talked about. It wasn't how bad things were, it was how to make it better for everyone. That's what we've done in Wisconsin, that's exactly what we'd do as... +p1184 +aV... the key issue here is talking about leadership. Now, there's a lot of greater people up here, and you've heard a lot of great ideas out there. But I would ask the American people, look at who's been tested. When there were 100,000 protesters in my capital, I didn't back down, when they issued death threats against me and threats against my family, I didn't back down, when they tried to recall me, I didn't back down, and when they made me the \u2014 one of their number-one targets last year, I didn't back down. Give me the chance to be your president. +p1185 +aVI won't back down... +p1186 +aV... on any of these issues. +p1187 +aVTo be clear, what I said the other day was that we need to lift the political restrictions that are already in play. Barack Obama's administration has put political restrictions on the military personnel already in Iraq. We need to lift those and then we need to listen to our military experts, not the political forces in the White House, but our military experts about how many more we sent in. And we certainly shouldn't have a commander-in-chief who sends a message to our adversaries as to how far we're going to go, and how far we're willing to fight, so I'm not putting a troop number. What I'm saying is lift the political restrictions. When you do that, you empower our military personnel already there to work with the Kurd and the Sunni allies, to reclaim the territory taken by +p1188 +aV... a lot of those people, though, and I'm going to echo what Senator Rubio just said. This is an issue where, we're talking about my state, it's thousands of manufacturing jobs. Thousands of manufacturing jobs for a rule the Obama administration, own EPA has said will have a marginal impact on climate change. So we're going to put thousands and thousands of jobs in my state, I think it's something like 30,000 in Ohio, other states across this country, we're going to put people \u2014 manufacturing jobs, the kind of jobs that are far greater than minimum wage, this administration is willing to put at risk for something its own EPA says is marginal (ph)... +p1189 +aVFirst of all, I got to say to Carson, Huckabee, thanks a lot for making the rest of us look like chumps up here, but, I'd pick Clara Barton. I once worked for the American Red Cross, she was a great founder of the Red Cross. +p1190 +aVHarley. I love riding Harley's. +p1191 +aVWell, I turned 13 years old two days before Ronald Reagan was first elected. A lot of people forget this, but just a few days before that election 1980, he was behind in the polls. And I think what changed things was people in America realized they didn't want to hear what was bad about America, they wanted to know how it was going to be better. Ronald Reagan wasn't just a conservative Republican, he was an eternal optimist in the American people. And I am too. So here's what I think will make America better. We need to live in a world where our children are free, are free from the threats of radical Islamic terrorism. We need to live in an America where we have an economy, where everyone can live their piece of the American dream, no matter what that dream is. And we need to live in an America where we have a federal government that is not too big to fail, but ultimately small enough to succeed, where we send powers back to the states and back to the people. That's what I did in Wisconsin. We took on the big government union bosses, the big government special interests, many of whom came in from Washington, to spend millions of dollars to try and take me out because we stood up to them, we didn't back down in any of those instances. If you give me the chance as your next president, I won't back down any day, anyway, anyhow. I'll fight and win for you and your families every single day I'm in office. +p1192 +aVWell, I'm pro-life, I've always been pro-life, and I've got a position that I think is consistent with many Americans out there in that... ...in that I believe that that is an unborn child that's in need of protection out there, and I've said many a time that that unborn child can be protected, and there are many other alternatives that can also protect the life of that mother. That's been consistently proven. Unlike Hillary Clinton, who has a radical position in terms of support for Planned Parenthood, I defunded Planned Parenthood more than four years ago, long before any of these videos came out... ...I've got a position that's in line with everyday America. +p1193 +aVChris, I actually said that on your show earlier this year. I acknowledged that. I said I actually listened to the American people. And I think people across America want a leader who's actually going to listen to them. I talked to border state governors and other elected officials. I look at how this president, particularly through last November, messed up the immigration system in this country. Most importantly, I listened to the people of America. I believe we need to secure the border. I've been to the border with Governor Abbott in Texas and others, seeing the problems that they have there. There is international criminal organizations penetrating our southern based borders, and we need to do something about it. Secure the border, enforce the law, no amnesty, and go forward with the legal immigration system that gives priority to American working families and wages. +p1194 +aVI don't know about additional ones. We need to focus on the ones we have. You look at Egypt, probably the best relationship we've had in Israel, at least in my lifetime, incredibly important. You look at the Saudis -- in fact, earlier this year, I met with Saudi leaders, and leaders from the United Arab Emirates, and I asked them what's the greatest challenge in the world today? Set aside the Iran deal. They said it's the disengagement of America. We are leading from behind under the Obama-Clinton doctrine -- America's a great country. We need to stand up and start leading again, and we need to have allies, not just in Israel, but throughout the Persian Gulf. +p1195 +aVJust one second on this, though. We -- we spent a lot of time talking about Hillary Clinton and ---and pitting us back and forth. Let's be clear, we should be talking about Hillary Clinton on that last subject, because everywhere in the world that Hillary Clinton touched is more messed up today than before she and the president . +p1196 +aVIt's true. +p1197 +aVWell, the voters in Wisconsin elected me last year for the third time because they wanted someone who aimed high, not aimed low. Before I came in, the unemployment rate was over eight percent. It's now down to 4.6 percent. We've more than made up for the jobs that were lost during the recession. And the rate in which people are working is almost five points higher than it is nationally. You know, people like Hillary Clinton think you grow the economy by growing Washington. One report last year showed that six of the top 10 wealthiest counties in America were in or around Washington, D.C.. I think most of us in America understand that people, not the government creates jobs. And one of the best things we can do is get the government out of the way, repeal Obamacare, put in -- reign in all the out of control regulations, put in place an all of the above energy policy, give people the education, the skills that the need to succeed, and lower the tax rate and reform the tax code. That's what I'll do as president, just like I did in Wisconsin. +p1198 +aVWell, first off, let's remember. I still remember, as a kid, tying a yellow ribbon around a tree in front of my house during the 444 days that Iran held 52 Americans hostage. Iran is not a place we should be doing business with. To me, you terminate the deal on day one, you reinstate the sanctions authorized by Congress, you go to Congress and put in place even more crippling sanctions in place, and then you convince our allies to do the same. This is not just bad with Iran, this is bad with +p1199 +aVWell, I think the most important thing we can do when it comes to policing -- it's something you've had a guest on who's a friend of mine Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clark, who's talked to me about this many times in the past -- it's about training. It's about making sure that law enforcement professionals, not only in the way in to their positions but all the way through their time, have the proper training, particularly when it comes to the use of force. And that we protect and stand up and support those men and women who are doing their jobs in law enforcement. And for the very few that don't, that there are consequences to show that we treat everyone the same here in America. +p1200 +aVWell first off, for the cyber attack with Russia the other day, it's sad to think right now, but probably the Russian and Chinese government know more about Hillary Clinton's e-mail server than do the members of the United States Congress. And -- and that has put our national security at risk. If I am president, he won't think about that. You know, Putin believes in the old Lenin adage: you probe with bayonets. When you find mush, you push. When you find steel, you stop. Under Obama and Clinton, we found a lot of mush over the last two years. We need to have a national security that puts steel in front of our enemies. I would send weapons to Ukraine. I would work with +p1201 +aVWell, thanks, Megyn. I'm certainly an imperfect man. And it's only by the blood of Jesus Christ that I've been redeemed from my sins. So I know that God doesn't call me to do a specific thing, God hasn't given me a list, a Ten Commandments, if you will, of things to act on the first day. What God calls us to do is follow his will. And ultimately that's what I'm going to try to do. And I hope people've seen it in my state, even in the big challenges I took on when I had over 100,000 protesters in and around our capital, trying to do what I thought was the right thing. It wasn't just how I took on those political battles. It was ultimately how I acted. Not responding in kind. Not lashing out. But just being decent going forward and living my life in a way that would be a testimony to him and our faith. +p1202 +aVThanks. I'm guy with a wife and two kids, and Harley. One article called me "aggressively normal." I ran for governor because I was worried about my kids' future. Then, I took on the big government union bosses, and we won. They tried to recall me, and we won. They target us again, and we won. We balanced the budget, cut taxes, and turned our state around with big, bold reforms. It wasn't too late for Wisconsin, and it's not too late for America. That's why I ask for your vote. +p1203 +asVMALE +p1204 +(lp1205 +VThat's a good one. +p1206 +asVHEWITT +p1207 +(lp1208 +VSenator Cruz, you've said you disagree with Mr. Trump's policy. I don't want a cage match; you've tweeted you don't want a cage match. But Republican primary voters deserve to know, with the kind of specificity and responsiveness you delivered in your nine Supreme Court arguments, how you disagree with Mr. Trump. Would you spell that out with us? +p1209 +aVSo you're saying you disagree because he's too broad and you have a narrower focus? Why do you disagree with him? +p1210 +aVCarly Fiorina... ... this is the Christmas dinner debate. This will be the debate that Americans talk about at Christmas. And thus far, in the first 10 minutes, we haven't heard a lot about Ronald Reagan's city on a hill. We've heard a lot about keeping Americans out or keeping Americans safe and everyone else out. Is this what you want the party to stand for? +p1211 +aVDr. Carson...... you mentioned in your opening remarks that you're a pediatric neurologist surgeon... +p1212 +aVNeurosurgeon. And people admire and respect and are inspired by your life story, your kindness, your evangelical core support. We're talking about ruthless things tonight \u2014 carpet bombing, toughness, war. And people wonder, could you do that? Could you order air strikes that would kill innocent children by not the scores, but the hundreds and the thousands? Could you wage war as a commander-in-chief? +p1213 +aVSo you are OK with the deaths of thousands of innocent children and civilian? It's like... +p1214 +aVThat is what war \u2014 can you be as ruthless as Churchill was in prosecuting the war against the Nazis? +p1215 +aVMr. Trump, we are talking about the most important thing, that's why it's heated. And it's, you are OK with Mr. Assad staying in power, but you are also in favor of winning. If he stays in power, Iran is winning, Hezbollah is winning. Iran is winning in Yemen. They are winning everywhere. If they are winning how can we be winning? +p1216 +aVGovernor Christie, is he right? Because if we step back, Iran goes nuclear. Is Donald Trump right? +p1217 +aVSenator Paul, let me ask you, you heard Governor Kasich say Assad must go. Do you agree? +p1218 +aVGovernor Bush, a commander-in-chief question. You've said that Mr. Trump is not qualified to be president because he's not qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin. Why are you better qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin than Mr. Trump? +p1219 +aVMr. Trump? +p1220 +aVBut, Mr. Trump, it's not CNN \u2014 I was on CNN last night... +p1221 +aV... watching... +p1222 +aVBut it wasn't \u2014 it wasn't CNN. It was me. I watched you last night for 16 minutes. It's not CNN. +p1223 +aVIt's not CNN. It's America's watching you. +p1224 +aVIt's America's watching. +p1225 +aVGovernor \u2014 thank you, Governor. +p1226 +aVDr. Carson, commander-in-chief question again. You've been the head of neurosurgery for a big hospital. You're on a lot of boards of a lot of companies. You've traveled the world. You're going traveling again next week. But does that prepare you to command troops from Djibouti to Japan, troops from Afghanistan to Iraq to be in charge of the men and women watching on Armed Services Network tonight? +p1227 +aVMr. Trump...... Dr. Carson just referenced the single most important job of the president, the command, the control and the care of our nuclear forces. And he mentioned the triad. The B-52s are older than I am. The missiles are old. The submarines are aging out. It's an executive order. It's a commander-in-chief decision. What's your priority among our nuclear triad? +p1228 +aVOf the three legs of the triad, though, do you have a priority? I want to go to Senator Rubio after that and ask him. +p1229 +aVSenator Rubio, do you have a response? +p1230 +aVMy listeners tell me again and again they are worried that Hillary Clinton will win the White House because you'll run as an independent. Are you ready to assure Republicans tonight that you will run as a Republican and abide by the decision of the Republicans? +p1231 +aVDr. Carson, last week... +p1232 +aVPlease. +p1233 +aVDr. Carson, Mr. Trump just committed to stay the distance regardless of the result. How about you? +p1234 +aVThank you, Jake. Mr. Trump, two years ago, President Obama drew a red line that the Syrian dictator Bashar Assad crossed, President Obama threatened to strike. He did not, his knees buckled. We now have 4 million refugees, Syria is a living hell, and he turned to the Congress for the authority to back him up. You have three senators to your right that said, no. Do they bear responsibility for this refugee crisis, and what would you have done when Bashar Assad crossed the line? +p1235 +aVHow much responsibility, Mr. Trump, do the senators hold? +p1236 +aVSenator Rubio... +p1237 +aVSenator Paul? +p1238 +aVI'd like to talk about winning because I think all of you are more qualified than former Secretary of State Clinton, and as were the people in the first debate, but there are different styles, and Carly Fiorina, Governor Kasich, you're conveniently located next to each other, and you have different styles. Governor Kasich, you've been on my show a lot. You refused to attack Hillary Clinton, you just don't want to go there, you want to do the up with people. Go, Ohio, OK, and I like that. Carly Fiorina, I don't have to bring up the Secretary of State \u2014 you bring her up, so . Which one of you is wrong? Governor Kasich? +p1239 +aVGovernor. +p1240 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1241 +aVCarly Fiorina, your style? +p1242 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Christie, your name was mentioned. I want to give you a chance to respond. +p1243 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1244 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. There is a lot more coming up. Ahead, a world of trouble. The challenges that one of these candidates may face in the Oval Office, and how he or she will handle it. Stay with us. +p1245 +aVOh, you're the best interview in America. +p1246 +aV... makes an interesting case (ph) here (ph). +p1247 +aVThank you, Jake. I've done a lot of great interviews with all of you, but, Governor Bush, I talked to you in February about the biggest elephant in a room full of elephants, which is your last name. And you said you would not be burdened either by your brother or your father's legacy in the Middle East. And then, a week later, you rolled out your list of foreign policy advisers, and it was a lot of the band getting back together again. So on behalf of the military that is watching... +p1248 +aV...OK, the active duty military that are at the end of the sphere (ph), what kind of a commander in chief is Jeb Bush going to be, and who are the advisers that are new to your team? +p1249 +aVMr. \u2014 Mr. Trump. +p1250 +aVI want to ask you a question, though, you promised us great leaders. And I believe that. But Jeb Bush has laid out 20 different people that have experience around the world. There are 190 countries, you can't run the world by yourself. When are we going to get some names on your military and your foreign policy advisers? +p1251 +aVThank you, Jake. Tomorrow is \u2014 Republicans know this \u2014 tomorrow is Constitution Day. We've been talking about the 10th Amendment. Let's talk about the Second Amendment. Governor Bush, one of the things the Supreme Court has gotten right is that it's an individual right and it's protected for individuals to hold it. Last week, you said the next step in gun issues is to make sure they're not in the hands of mentally ill. In this state, there's a controversial law that allows guns to be taken away from people without a hearing. Where does it go \u2014 and the problem of violence is endemic, but where does it go from what you said last week, how far into people's lives to take guns away from them? +p1252 +aVIf a family member calls and says, "My child, my brother, my sister is disturbed," ought the state be able to go and get their weapon without a hearing? +p1253 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1254 +aVSenator Cruz, I want to go to you. Your constitutional litigant (ph), are you afraid of the next- step theory of what happens to Second Amendment rights? +p1255 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1256 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1257 +aVThank you, senator. +p1258 +asVWALLACE +p1259 +(lp1260 +VAlso of note, Fox News is partnering for tonight's debate with Facebook. For the past several weeks, we've been asking you for questions for the candidates on Facebook. Nearly 6 million of you, 6 million, viewed the debate videos on our site, and more than 40,000 of you submitted questions: some of which you will hear us asking the candidates tonight. +p1261 +aVKentucky Senator Rand Paul. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. And your very own governor of Ohio... ... John Kasich. +p1262 +aVBrett -- Brett, I think you would call that a home field advantage. +p1263 +aVSenator Rubio, when Jeb Bush announced his candidacy for presidency, he said this: "There's no passing off responsibility when you're a governor, no blending into the legislative crowd." Could you please address Governor Bush across the stage here, and explain to him why you, someone who has never held executive office, are better prepared to be president than he is, a man who you say did a great job running your state of Florida for eight years. +p1264 +aVSenator Cruz, your colleague, Senator Paul, right there next to you, said a few months ago he agrees with you on a number of issues, but he says you do nothing to grow the party. He says you feed red meat to the base, but you don't reach out to minorities. You have a toxic relationship with GOP leaders in Congress. You even called the Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell a liar recently. How can you win in 2016 when you're such a divisive figure? +p1265 +aVGovernor Huckabee, like Governor Walker, you have staked out strong positions on social issues. You favor a constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage. You favor a constitutional amendment banning abortions, except for the life of the mother. Millions of people in this country agree with you, but according to the polls, and again this an electability question, according to the polls, more people don't, so how do you persuade enough Independents and Democrats to get elected in 2016? +p1266 +aVGentlemen, we're turning to a new subject that all of you have been talking about and some of you have been disagreeing about, and that is the issue of immigration. Governor Bush, you released a new plan this week on illegal immigration focusing on enforcement, which some suggest is your effort to show that you're not soft on that issue. I want to ask you about a statement that you made last year about illegal immigrants. And here's what you said. "They broke the law, but it's not a felony, it's an act of love. It's an act of commitment to your family." Do you stand by that statement and do you stand by your support for earned legal status? +p1267 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, it has not escaped anybody's notice that you say that the Mexican government, the Mexican government is sending criminals -- rapists, drug dealers, across the border. Governor Bush has called those remarks, quote, "extraordinarily ugly." I'd like you -- you're right next to him -- tell us -- talk to him directly and say how you respond to that and -- and you have repeatedly said that you have evidence that the Mexican government is doing this, but you have evidence you have refused or declined to share. Why not use this first Republican presidential debate to share your proof with the American people? +p1268 +aVMr. Trump, I'll give you 30 seconds -- I'll give you 30 seconds to answer my question, which was, what evidence do you have, specific evidence that the Mexican government is sending criminals across the border? Thirty seconds. +p1269 +aVAll right. Obviously there's a lot more to talk about this. We're going to have more questions for the candidates on illegal immigration, plus other key topics including your questions on Facebook. +p1270 +aVWelcome back to FOX News/Facebook Republican Debate Night. We're going to continue the questions now on illegal immigration. We kind of ended with a cliffhanger there. So let's continue the conversation. Governor Kasich, I know you don't like to talk about Donald Trump. But I do want to ask you about the merit of what he just said. When you say that the American government is stupid, that the Mexican government is sending criminals, that we're being bamboozled, is that an adequate response to the question of illegal immigration? +p1271 +aVRespectfully, can we talk about illegal immigration? +p1272 +aVAll right, well, Senator Rubio, let me see if I can do better with you. Is it as simple as our leaders are stupid, their leaders are smart, and all of these illegals coming over are criminals? +p1273 +aVGovernor Walker. Governor Walker, from 2002 until as recently as 2013, just two years ago, you supported comprehensive immigration reform, including a path to citizenship. Now you say that was a quick reaction to something you hadn't really thought about, and that you've changed your mind. Other than politics, could you explain why in the last two years you've changed your position on a path to citizenship, and are there other past positions that we shouldn't hold you to? +p1274 +aVSenator Cruz, some 1,400 people submitted questions on this very hot topic of illegal immigration on Facebook, and a number of them were about the murder of Kate Steinle in San Francisco, allegedly shot down by an illegal. Doug Bettencourt sent this question, "will you support Kate Steinle's Law," which would impose a mandatory five-year prison term for an illegal who is deported and then returns to this country? "And will you defund sanctuary cities for violating federal law?" +p1275 +aVGentlemen, we're obviously digging into some subjects in depth, but we're also going to change it up every once in a while throughout the next hour and have many rounds where we ask, you are not going to like it, only a couple of candidates questions on those subjects. This is the first of the many rounds, and it's about somebody whose name probably hasn't been mentioned enough so far tonight. Governor Kasich, let me start with you. Whoever the Republican nominee -- Whoever the Republican nominee is, it looks at least for now like whoever that nominee is, he or she, will be facing off against Hillary Clinton. You know how she will come after whoever the Republican nominee is. She will say that you, whoever it is, support the rich while she supports the middle class. That you want to suppress the rights of women and minorities. She wants to move the country forward while you, the Republicans, want to take the country back to the past. How will you, if you're the nominee, how will you answer that and take Hillary Clinton on? +p1276 +aVI know that all of you would like to answer this question, but we're only going to ask one other candidate before we move on to a different subject, Dr. Carson. Basically, same question to you. If Hillary Clinton is the nominee and she comes at you with that kind of line of attack, how will you take Iraq? +p1277 +aVGentlemen, we're going to turn now to the subject of the economy, jobs and money and the government. And Governor Bush, I'm going to start with you. You have made a bold promise in your announcement. You have promised four percent economic growth and 19 million new jobs if you are fortunate enough to serve two terms as president. That many jobs, 19 million, would be triple what your father and your brother accomplished together. And four percent growth, the last president to average that was Lyndon Johnson during the height of the Vietnam War. So question, how on Earth specifically would you pull that off? +p1278 +aVGovernor Walker. Governor Walker, when you ran for governor of Wisconsin back in 2010, you promised that you would create 250,000 jobs in your first term, first four years. In fact, Wisconsin added barely half that and ranked 35th in the country in job growth. Now you're running for president, and you're promising an economic plan in which everyone will earn a piece of the American dream. Given your record in Wisconsin, why should voters believe you? +p1279 +aVGovernor Christie, I want to engage you and Governor Huckabee in a subject that is a big issue in both of your campaigns, and that is entitlement reform. You say that you -- to save the system that you want to raise the retirement age -- have to raise the retirement age, and to cut benefits for Social Security and Medicare, and you say that some of the candidates here on the stage are lying. Governor Huckabee says he can save Social Security and Medicare without doing any of that. Is he lying? +p1280 +aVGovernor Huckabee? You say that changing entitlements, the kind of thing that Governor Christie is talking about, would be breaking a promise to the American people, and you say that you can keep those programs, save Social Security, save Medicare, without those kinds of reforms through a FairTax, which is a broad tax on consumption. Please explain to Governor Christie how that would work, and how you could save these programs without the kind of painful reforms he says we need? +p1281 +aV...Thirty seconds. +p1282 +aV...Alright, this is it. Thirty Seconds, finally. +p1283 +aVAll right. Enough. Mr. Trump. +p1284 +aVMr. Trump, you talk a lot about how you are the person on this stage to grow the economy, I want to ask you about your business records. From corporations, Trump corporations, casinos and hotels, have declared bankruptcy four times over the last quarter-century. +p1285 +aVNo, but the concept sir... +p1286 +aV... that's your line, but your companies have gone bankrupt. +p1287 +aVWell sir, let's just talk about the latest example......which is Trump Entertainment Resorts, which went bankrupt in 2009. In that case alone, lenders to your company lost over $1 billion and more than 1,100 people were laid off. +p1288 +aVIs that the way that you'd run the country? +p1289 +aVSo... +p1290 +aVSenator Rubio. Senator Rubio, more than 3,000 people sent us questions about the economy and jobs on Facebook. And here is a video question from Tania Cioloko from Philadelphia. Here she is. +p1291 +aVSenator, how do you answer Tania? +p1292 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. +p1293 +aVSenator Paul, closing statement. +p1294 +aVDr. Carson, closing statement. +p1295 +aVGovernor Bush, closing statement, sir. +p1296 +asVBAKER +p1297 +(lp1298 +VThe candidates on stage tonight were selected based on their standing in an average of four national polls. Those standings determining their position on the stage. And here they are. At center stage, businessman Donald Trump. Neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson. +p1299 +aVTonight's rules are simple. Up to 90 second for each answer. One minute for each follow-up response. And if a candidate goes over their allotted time, you'll here this. +p1300 +aVMs. Fiorina, while you've all pointed out how weak the current recovery has been and how disappointing by any historical standards, in the general election, the Democrats will inevitably ask you and voters to compare the recent president's jobs performance. Now, in seven years under President Obama, the U.S. has added an average of 107,000 jobs a month. Under President Clinton, the economy added about 240,000 jobs a month. Under George W. Bush, it was only 13,000 a month. If you win the nomination, you'll probably be facing a Democrat named Clinton. How are you going to respond to the claim that Democratic presidents are better at creating jobs than Republicans? +p1301 +aVThank you. Thank you. Senator Paul, income inequality has been rising in the United States. Fifty years ago, for example, the average CEO of a big corporation in this country earned 20 times the average salary of one of his or her workers. Today, that CEO earns about 300 times the average salary of a worker. Does it matter at all that the gap between the rich and everyone else is widening? +p1302 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1303 +aVSenator Rubio... +p1304 +aVYes, one quick comment, yes. +p1305 +aVGovernor Bush... +p1306 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor, you...You should let Jeb speak. +p1307 +aVMr. Trump, Mr. Trump, you yourself \u2014 you yourself said let Governor Bush speak. Governor Bush? +p1308 +aVSenator Rubio? Senator... +p1309 +aVSenator Rubio, Senator Rubio, let me \u2014 let me take you to a question that I think gets to the root of a lot of the anxiety that people have in this country. The economy is undergoing a transformation through information technology. Americans are anxious that the new economy isn't producing higher-paying jobs. Many are concerned that the new wealth seems to be going mainly to innovators and investors. Meanwhile, with factories run by robots and shopping done increasingly on smartphones, many traditional jobs are just going away. How do you reassure American workers that their jobs are not being steadily replaced by machines? +p1310 +aVThank you. Senator Cruz \u2014 Senator Cruz, entitlements. You've argued for raising the retirement age and reducing benefits for future retirees, but reducing any sort of benefits for the elderly has always been notoriously hard to do politically. When Speaker Paul Ryan proposed replacing traditional Medicare with federally funded private plans a few years ago, a liberal group responded with a commercial that featured a granny being pushed off a cliff. What's going to be different this time? +p1311 +aV...I said for future retirees was your statement... +p1312 +aVSenator Rubio. Can I just come to Senator Rubio? We're coming to you, Mr. Trump, in one second. I \u2014 I promise. +p1313 +aVSenator Rubio, your tax plan includes a large expansion of child tax credits to raise off (ph) the tax incomes for low-income parents. A similar tax credit that you previously proposed in the Senate was estimated to cost as much as $170 billion a year, according to the Tax Foundation. Isn't \u2014 isn't there a risk you're just adding another expensive entitle program to an already overburdened federal budget? +p1314 +aVGovernor Kasich? Let me come to Governor Kasich. +p1315 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1316 +aVVery quickly, Senator. +p1317 +aVPlease. +p1318 +aV...Gentleman, we need to move on... +p1319 +aV...We need to move... +p1320 +aV...We need too... +p1321 +aV...We do need to move on. Mr. Trump... +p1322 +aV...Very quick. +p1323 +aVLet's talk about \u2014 No, no, Governor, I really must move on. I really want to move on. Mr. Trump, let's talk about the international economy... +p1324 +aV...We really need to move on... +p1325 +aV...No, governor, I promise I will come to you... +p1326 +aV...Listen... +p1327 +aV...Mr. Trump, can I ask you about... +p1328 +aV...the U.S. just concluded an international trade agreement with 11 countries in the Pacific. You've said that you'd rather have no deal... +p1329 +aV...than sign the one that's on the table... +p1330 +aV...Most economists \u2014 most economists say that trade is boosted growth, and every single post war president has supported the expansion of international trade, including the last three republican presidents. Why would you reverse more than 50 years of U.S. trade policy? +p1331 +aVThe \u2014 the deal, as you say, the terms of the deal were published \u2014 were published just last week, the details, 5,000 pages of it, and 80 percent of U.S. trade with countries in the Pacific, these countries, these 11 countries, is actually tariff-free, and these \u2014 the trade deal only affects the other 20 percent. Which \u2014 are there particular parts of the deal that you think were badly negotiated? +p1332 +aVThere was a separate \u2014 separate... +p1333 +aVBut isn't that \u2014 isn't that part of the problem? When I say, Senator, that if \u2014 if this deal is not ratified by \u2014 by the U.S. \u2014 by the Senate, then it would actually give China an opportunity to grow its economic leadership, which it's been seeking to do? And if the U.S. is unable to take part in this trade deal with these countries in Asia, China will take the lead? +p1334 +aVThank you. Thanks, Senator. +p1335 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich, I want to ask you about China, in particular hundreds of American companies have been subjected to cyber attacks from the Chinese military, yet state-backed Chinese companies, growing their presence in the United States, Chinese investments in U.S., which were nearly nonexistent a few years ago, are now over $50 billion. And as my newspaper recently reported, Chinese companies are planning to bid for one of the largest hotel chains in the United States, what would be the largest ever Chinese takeover of a U.S. company. Would you stop them? +p1336 +aVThank you, Governor. Plenty of opportunities. Thank you. Neil? +p1337 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate, live from Milwaukee. Now let's get straight back to the questions, and Governor Bush. Governor, Hillary Clinton recently said that if we had another financial crisis like the one in 2008, she wouldn't bail out the banks. Would you? +p1338 +aVBut, Governor, but can I just quickly \u2014 did \u2014 you can't seriously guarantee that there won't be another financial crisis, can you? +p1339 +aVEver? There will never be another financial crisis? +p1340 +aVDr. Carson, if I may, just on that point, despite measures taken, as the governor says, since the crisis to make the financial system safer, the major banks in the U.S., many of them are actually bigger than ever. Asset held by JPMorgan Chase, for example, the very largest bank, have increased by nearly 40 percent to over $2.6 trillion. Do you think JPMorgan and the other big banks should be broken up? +p1341 +aVBut just to be clear, just \u2014 just to be clear, then, you wouldn't \u2014 you wouldn't favor breaking up the big banks? You think they're big enough \u2014 they're OK as they are, as big as they are? +p1342 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1343 +aVThank you. +p1344 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate. And now, candidates, it's time for your closing statements. You get 30 seconds each, and, Senator Paul, we will begin with you. +p1345 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p1346 +asVHUCKABEE +p1347 +(lp1348 +VWell, John, I don't really have any weaknesses that I can think of. But my wife is down here in the front, and I'm sure, if you'd like to talk to her later, she can give you more than you'll ever be able to take care of. If I have a weakness, it's that I try to live by the rules. I try to live by the rules, no matter what they are, and I was brought up that way as a kid. Play by the rules. And I'll tell you what a weakness is of this country: there are a lot of people who are sick and tired because Washington does not play by the same rules that the American people have to play by. +p1349 +aVWell, I would really appreciate that. First of all, yes, we've stolen. Yes, we've lied to the American people about Social Security, and Medicare. But, you know what we're not telling them? It's their money. This isn't the governments money. This is not entitlement, it's not welfare. This is money that people have confiscated out of their paychecks. Everytime they got a paycheck, the government reached in and took something out of it before they ever saw it. Now, we're going to blame the people. Today congress decided to take another $150 billion dollars away from Social Security so they can borrow more money. That makes no sense to everybody. And, they're always going to say, "Well, we're going to fix this one day." No their not. It's like a 400 pound man saying, "I'm going to go on a diet, but I'm eating a sack of Krispy Kremes before I do." And, people are sick of believing that the government is never going to really address this. But, let me tell you who not to blame. Let's quit blaming the people on Social Security. Let's quit making it a problem for them. It's like them getting mugged, and then us saying, well, we're going to mug you some more. You ought to just be able to get over it, get used to it... +p1350 +aV...No, sir... +p1351 +aV...we need to honor our promises... +p1352 +aV...before I go. This is the only time I've had a chance, let me finish. +p1353 +aV...This is a matter not of math, this is a matter of morality. If this country that does not keep its promise to seniors then what promise can this country hope to be trusted to keep? And, the fact is, none of them. [ +p1354 +aVAnd, the only way \u2014 no... +p1355 +aV...Chris... +p1356 +aV...Chris... +p1357 +aVSince he brought me up, do I not get to respond? +p1358 +aVJohn, listen, let's keep in mind that for one-third of the 60 million Americans on Social Security it represents 90 percent of their income. And, when I hear people talking about means testing, let's just remember what that means. If we means test Social Security, it means that the government decides whether or not I deserve it. If a person lives in a seven room house, does the government get to say you don't need seven rooms, we're going to take two of them away? Folks, the government has no business stealing even more from the people who have paid this in. I just want to remind you, people paid their money. They expect to have it. And, if this government doesn't pay it, than tell me what's different between the government and Bernie Madolf, who sits in prison today for doing less than what the government has done to the people on social security and Medicare in this country. +p1359 +aVI don't think it's so much about when the government orders a corporation to do something. In fact, that's part of the problem. If you saw that blimp that got cut loose from Maryland today, it's a perfect example of government. I mean, what we had was something the government made \u2014 basically a bag of gas \u2014 that cut loose, destroyed everything in its path, left thousands of people powerless, but they couldn't get rid of it because we had too much money invested in it, so we had to keep it. That is our government today. We saw it in the blimp. That's exactly what we saw. So look, corporations ought to exercise some responsibility. When CEO income has risen 90 percent above the average worker, when the bottom 90 percent of this country's economy has had stagnant wages for the past 40 years, somebody is taking it in the teeth. And it's not the folks on Wall Street. I'm not anti-Wall Street, but I don't believe the government ought to wear a team jersey, pick winners and losers. +p1360 +aVThe government ought to wear a striped shirt and just make sure the game... +p1361 +aV...is paid \u2014 played fairly. +p1362 +aVNow, everybody else has fudged their time and gone over, so please, don't cut me off too quick, Becky. +p1363 +aVLet me just close it out this way. +p1364 +aVWe need to be focusing on what fixes this country. And I'll tell you one thing that we never talk about \u2014 we haven't talked about it tonight. Why aren't we talking about \u2014 instead of cutting benefits for old people, cutting benefits for sick people \u2014 why don't we say, "let's cure the four big cost-driving diseases... +p1365 +aV..."diabetes, heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer's?" +p1366 +aVIf you do that, you don't just change the economy, you transform the lives of millions of hurting Americans. +p1367 +aVGosh, I'd love for us to talk about something like that. Thank you. +p1368 +aVYou know, of the few questions I've got, the last one I need is to give him some more time. I love Donald Trump. He is a good man. I'm wearing a Trump tie tonight. Get over that one, OK? [ +p1369 +aVI don't know. [ +p1370 +aVI have no idea. +p1371 +aVYou're welcome. Let me tell you, Donald Trump would be a president every day of the week and twice on Sunday, rather than Hillary. I've spent a lifetime in politics fighting the Clinton machine. You want to talk about what we're going to be up against next year? I'm the only guy on this stage \u2014 you know, everybody has an "only guy" \u2014 "I'm the only guy this; I'm the only guy that." Well, let me tell you one thing that I am the only guy: The only guy that has consistently fought the Clinton machine every election I was ever in over the past 26 years. And not only did I fight them, but I beat them. Somebody says "I'm a fighter." Well, I want to know, did you win? Well, I did. And not only did I fight them and win, I lived to tell about it and I'm standing on this stage tonight as evidence of that. And I think that ought to be worth something. +p1372 +aVWell, and specifically to Medicare, Becky, because 85 percent of the cost of Medicare is chronic disease. The fact is if we don't address what's costing so much, we can't throw enough money at this. And it's why I've continued to focus on the fact that we need to declare war on the four big cost drivers because 80 percent of all medical costs in this country are chronic disease. We don't have a health care crisis in America, we have a health crisis. And until we deal with the health of Americans and do what we did with polio \u2014 when I was a little kid, we eradicated it. You know how much money we spent on polio last year in America? We didn't spend any. We've saved billions of dollars. You want to fix Medicare? Focus on the diseases that are costing us the trillions of dollars. Alzheimers, diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Eradicate those and you fix Medicare and you've fixed America, its economy and you've made people's lives a heck of a lot better. +p1373 +aVYou know, I know to a lot of people in the media, this is just a great big game, and we're the players. And, we come out here, and we do our thing. And, sometimes we're held up in contempt by people who write columns, but, I guarantee you to every person on this stage there's something deep inside of us that would cause us to give up our livelihoods and step out on this stage and fight for the people of America. I've got five grandkids. I do not want to walk my five grandkids through the charred remains of a once great country called America, and say, "Here you go, $20 trillion dollars of debt. Good luck making something out of this mess." And, for those of us who are serious enough to run for president, think long and hard why we're here, and hopefully you'll know we're not here for ourselves. We honest to god are here to get this country back on track. I know this, I certainly am. +p1374 +aV...Thank you. +p1375 +aVI'm Mike Huckabee. I'm delighted to be on this stage with some remarkable fellow Republicans. None of us are a self-professed socialist. None of us on this state are under investigation by the FBI because we destroyed government records, or because we leaked secrets. I know that there are some in the Wall-Street-to-Washington axis of power who speak of all of us contemptuously. But I'm here to say that I think we are, in fact, the A team. We have some remarkable people, and, in fact, not only are we the A team; we even have our own Mr. T, who doesn't mind saying about others, "you're a fool." And I'm delighted to be here with all of these guys, and would put any of them in an administration that I led. Thank you very much. +p1376 +aVI would certainly love to get in on this, because I think the single... +p1377 +aVI've been patiently waiting, and I'm going to just say this about Iran. +p1378 +aVBecause I think it is incredibly important. This is really about the survival of Western civilization. This is not just a little conflict with a Middle Eastern country that we've just now given over $100 billion to, the equivalent in U.S. terms is $5 trillion. This threatens Israel immediately, this threatens the entire Middle East, but it threatens the United States of America. And we can't treat a nuclear Iranian government as if it is just some government that would like to have power. This is a government for 36 years has killed Americans, they kidnapped Americans, they have maimed Americans. They have sponsored terrorist groups, Hamas and Hezbollah, and they threaten the very essence of Western civilization. To give them this agreement, that the president treats like the Magna Carta, but Iranians treat it like it's toilet paper, and we must, simply, make it very clear that the next president, one of us on this stage, will absolutely not honor that agreement, and will destroy it and will be tough with Iran, because otherwise, we put every person in this world in a very dangerous place. +p1379 +aVNo, I don't think he's on the wrong side of such an issue. Jeb is a friend. I'm not up here to fight with Jeb or to fight with anybody else. But I am here to fight for somebody who is a county clerk elected under the Kentucky constitution that 75 percent of the people of that state had voted for that said that marriage was between a man and a woman. The Supreme Court in a very, very divided decision decided out of thin air that they were just going to redefine marriage. It's a decision that the other justices in dissent said they didn't have and there wasn't a constitutional shred of capacity for them to do it. I thought that everybody here passed ninth-grade civics. The courts cannot legislate. That's what Roberts said. But heck, it's what we learned in civics. The courts can't make a law. They can interpret one. They can review one. They can't implement it. They can't force it. But here's what happened: Because the courts just decided that something was going to be and people relinquished it and the other two branches of government sat by silently \u2014 I thought we had three branches of government, they were all equal to each other, we have separation of powers, and we have checks and balances. If the court can just make a decision and we just all surrender to it, we have what Jefferson said was judicial tyranny. The reason that this is a real issue that we need to think about... +p1380 +aVNo, no. Let me finish this one thought, Jake. I haven't gotten that much time, so I'm going to take just what little I can here. We made accommodation to the Fort Hood shooter to let him grow a beard. We made accommodations to the detainees at Gitmo \u2014 I've been to Gitmo, and I've seen the accommodations that we made to the Muslim detainees who killed Americans. You're telling me that you cannot make an accommodation for an elected Democrat county clerk from Rowan County, Kentucky? What else is it other than the criminalization of her faith and the exaltation of the faith of everyone else who might be a Fort Hood shooter or a detainee at Gitmo? +p1381 +aVI have a different idea. I think we ought to get rid of all the taxes on people who produce. Why should we penalize productivity? And it's why I'm an unabashed supporter of the "fair tax," which would be a tax on our consumption, rather than a tax on our productivity. In other words, you're not going to tax anybody for what they earn, whether it's worker whose working by the hour or whether it's a hedge fund manager. If they can produce something and bring capital and labor to create jobs, we need some jobs. And I think the "fair tax" makes more sense. Now, Jake, I've been listening to everybody on the stage and there is a lot of back and forth about I'm the only one who has done this, the only one who has done that, I've done great things. We've all done great things or we wouldn't be on this stage. But it occurs to me as we're sitting here in the Reagan Library that most of us would like to pay tribute to a guy who, when he got elected, didn't get elected telling everybody how great he was. He got elected telling everybody how great the American people were. And he empowered them to live their dreams, which is what I'd love to see us do by no longer penalizing the people who are out there working because they are taking a gut punch right now. +p1382 +aV...You don't want me operating on you, I assure you. +p1383 +aVJust today \u2014 just today, there was a new report that 50 different intelligence analysts have said that what they sent up the ladder was doctored by senior officials, so that they could give some happy talk to the situation that we face. I love the idea of a good intellectual capacity to deal with our enemies, but the fact is, if you don't have good intelligence that is reliable and honest, you won't have good intelligence and you cannot make good decisions. The next president is primarily elected not just to know things, but to know what to do with the things that he knows. And the most dangerous person in any room is the person who doesn't know what he doesn't know. +p1384 +aVAnd the reason Barack Obama has been dangerous to this country and we better elect someone who had some executive experience, is because we cannot afford another eight years having a person in the office who doesn't know what he does not know. +p1385 +aVYou better believe I will, because I'm tired of liberals always having a litmus test and conservatives are supposed to pretend we don't. Well let me tell you what mine would be. Number one, I'd ask do you think that the unborn child is a human being or is it just a blob of tissue? I'd want to know the answer to that. I'd want to know do you believe in the First Amendment, do you believe that religious liberty is the fundamental liberty around which all the other freedoms of this country are based? And I'd want to know do you really believe in the Second Amendment, do you believe that we have an individual right to bear arms to protect ourselves and our family and to protect our country? And do you believe in the Fifth and the 14th Amendment? Do you believe that a person, before they're deprived of life and liberty, should in fact have due process and equal protection under the law? Because if you do, you're going to do more than defund Planned Parenthood. +p1386 +aVOne final thing. I'd make darn sure that we absolutely believe the 10th Amendment. Every governor on this stage would share this much with you. Every one of us \u2014 our biggest fight wasn't always with the legislature or even with the Democrats. My gosh, half the time, it was with the federal government who apparently never understood \u2014 +p1387 +aV\u2014 that if it's not reserved in the Constitution, then the 10th Amendment says it's left to the states. But somebody forgot to send a memo to Washington. +p1388 +aVJake? Jake? +p1389 +aVI think we need to remember that there are maybe some controversies about autism, but there is no controversy about the things that are really driving the medical costs in this country. And I would really believe that the next president ought to declare a war on cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer's, because those are the four things that are causing the greatest level of cost. John Kennedy said, "we'll go to the moon in a decade and bring a man back," and we did it. I grew up in the '50s. I remember the polio vaccine. We saved billions of dollars since that time, because we haven't had to treat for polio. Why doesn't this country focus on cures rather than treatment? Why don't we put a definitive focus scientifically on finding the cure for cancer, for heart disease, for diabetes and for Alzheimer's, a disease alone that will cost us \u2014 +p1390 +aV$1.1 trillion by the year 2050. We change the economy and the country. +p1391 +aVThat's an easy one. I'd put my wife on there. I've been married to her 41 years. She's fought cancer and lived through it. She's raised three kids, five great grandkids, and she's put up with me. I mean, who else could possibly be on that money other than my wife. And that way, she could spend her own money with her face. +p1392 +aVI'd go with Duck Hunter. +p1393 +aVAt the end of my presidency I would like to believe that the world would be a safe place, and there wouldn't be the threats. not only to the U.S., but to Israel and our allies, because we would have the most incredible well-trained, well-equipped, well- prepared military in the history of mankind. And they would know that the commander-in-chief would never send them to a mission without all the resources necessary, but people wouldn't bully us anymore. Because they would know that that would be an invitation to their destruction. Domestically, we would be operating under a tax system that eliminated the IRS. People wouldn't be punished for their work, and for what they produced. And life would be really deemed precious. Abortion would be no more. It would be as much of a scourge in our past as slavery is. And we would have a peaceful country, where people respected each other and people respected law enforcement. And we would focus on cures. And we would make this country not only safe from our enemies without, but safe from the enemies within. And it would be a good place to raise our kids and our grandkids. +p1394 +aVChris, I disagree with the idea that the real issue is a constitutional amendment. That's a long and difficult process. I've actually taken the position that's bolder than that. A lot of people are talking about defunding planned parenthood, as if that's a huge game changer. I think it's time to do something even more bold. I think the next president ought to invoke the Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the constitution now that we clearly know that that baby inside the mother's womb is a person at the moment of conception. The reason we know that it is is because of the DNA schedule that we now have clear scientific evidence on. And, this notion that we just continue to ignore the personhood of the individual is a violation of that unborn child's Fifth and 14th Amendment rights for due process and equal protection under the law. It's time that we recognize the Supreme Court is not the Supreme Being, and we change the policy to be pro-life and protect children instead of rip up their body parts and sell them like they're parts to a Buick. +p1395 +aVNot me. But you're welcome to give me a check, Donald if you'd like. +p1396 +aVIt's not too big to shrink. But the problem is we have a Wall Street-to-Washington axis of power that has controlled the political climate. The donor class feeds the political class who does the dance that the donor class wants. And the result is federal government keeps getting bigger. Every person on this stage who has been a governor will tell that you the biggest fight they had was not the other party. Wasn't even the legislature. It was the federal government, who continually put mandates on the states that we had to suck up and pay for. And the fact is there are a lot of things happening at the federal level that are absolutely beyond the jurisdiction of the Constitution. This is power that should be shifted back to the states, whether it's the EPA, there is no role at the federal level for the Department of Education. And I'm still one who says that we can get rid of the Internal Revenue Service if we would pass the FairTax, which is a tax on consumption rather than a tax on people's income, and move power back where the founders believed it should have been all along. +p1397 +aVWell, let's all be reminded, 60 million Americans are on Social Security, 60 million. A third of those people depend on 90% of their income from Social Security. Nobody in this country is on Social Security because they made the decision when they were starting work at 14 that they wanted to trust some of their money with the government. The government took it out of their check whether they wanted them to or not. And, if person goes to 65, they're going to spend 51 years with the government reaching into their pocket at every paycheck. Now, here's the point, whose fault is it that the system is screwed up? Is it the recipients, or is it the government? And, if Congress wants to mess with the retirement program, why don't we let them start by changing their retirement program, and not have one, instead of talking about getting rid of Social Security and Medicare that was robbed $700 billion dollars to pay for Obamacare. It's always that the government figures that they can do this off the backs of people, many of whom are poor, and depend on that money, and I just think it's fundamentally lying to the people and stealing from them, and we shouldn't be doing it. +p1398 +aVWell, you ask about how we fund it. One of the reasons that Social Security is in so much trouble is that the only funding stream comes from people who get a wage. The people who get wages is declining dramatically. Most of the income in this country is made by people at the top who get dividends and -- and capital gains. The FairTax transforms the process by which we fund Social Security and Medicare because the money paid in consumption is paid by everybody, including illegals, prostitutes, pimps, drug dealers, all the people that are freeloading off the system now. That's why it ought to be a transformed system. +p1399 +aVRonald Reagan said "trust, but verify." President Obama is "trust, but vilify." He trusts our enemies and vilifies everyone who disagrees with him. And the reason we disagree with him has nothing to do with party. +p1400 +aVIt has to do with the incredibly dangerous place that this world is gonna be as a result of a deal in which we got nothing. We didn't even get four hostages out. We got nothing, and Iran gets everything they want. We said we would have anywhere, anytime negotiations and inspections, we gave that up. We said that we would make sure that they didn't have any nuclear capacity, we gave that up. The president can't tell us what we got. I'll tell you what the world got. The world has a burgeoning nuclear power that didn't, as the Soviets, say "we might defend ourselves in a war." What the Iranians have said is, "we will wipe Israel off the face of the map, and we will bring death to America." When someone points a gun at your head and loads it, by God, you ought to take them seriously, and we need to take that seriously. +p1401 +aVThe military is not a social experiment. The purpose of the military is kill people and break things. It's not to transform the culture by trying out some ideas that some people think would make us a different country and more diverse. The purpose is to protect America. I'm not sure how paying for transgender surgery for soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines makes our country safer. We've reduced the military by 25 percent... ... under President Obama. The disaster is that we've forgotten why we have a military. The purpose of it is to make sure that we protect every American, wherever that American is, and if an American is calling out for help, whether it's in Benghazi or at the border, then we ought to be able to answer it. We've not done that because we've decimated our military. We're flying B-52s. The most recent one that was put in service was November of 1962. A lot of the B-52s we're flying, we've only got 44 that are in service combat ready, and the fact is, most of them are older than me. And that's pretty scary. +p1402 +aVIt seems like this election has been a whole lot about a person who's very high in the polls, that doesn't have a clue about how to govern. A person who has been filled with scandals, and who could not lead, and, of course, I'm talking about Hillary Clinton. I think America... +p1403 +aV...is in trouble, but it's not beyond repair. But it's going to take leadership who sees the greatness of this country, and who believes that once again we can be one nation, under God. I'll be my best to do that, and thank you for your support. +p1404 +asVCRUZ +p1405 +(lp1406 +VThank you, Wolf. America is at war. Our enemy is not violent extremism. It is not some unnamed malevolent force. It is radical Islamic terrorist. We have a president who is unwilling to utter its name. The men and women on this stage, every one of us, is better prepared to keep this nation safe than is Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. We need a president who understands the first obligation of the commander-in-chief is to keep America safe. If I am elected president, we will hunt down and kill the terrorists. We will utterly destroy +p1407 +aVWell, listen, Hugh, everyone understands why Donald has suggested what he has. We're looking at a president who's engaged in this double-speak where he doesn't call radical Islamic terrorism by its name. Indeed, he gives a speech after the San Bernardino attack where his approach is to try to go after the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens rather than to keep us safe. And even worse, President Obama and Hillary Clinton are proposing bringing tens of thousands of Syrian refugees to this country when the head of the FBI has told Congress they cannot vet those refugees. I understand why Donald made that proposal. I introduced legislation in the Senate that I believe is more narrowly focused at the actual threat, which is radical Islamic terrorism, and what my legislation would do is suspend all refugees for three years from countries where +p1408 +aVWell, you know, I'm reminded of what FDR's grandfather said. He said, "All horse-thieves are Democrats, but not all Democrats are horse-thieves." In this instance, there are millions of peaceful Muslims across the world, in countries like India, where there is not the problems we are seeing in nations that are controlled \u2014 have territory controlled by Al Qaida or +p1409 +aVWell, Dana, the premise of your question is not accurate. I'm very proud to have joined with conservatives in both the Senate and the House to reform how we target bad guys. And what the USA Freedom Act did is it did two things. Number one, it ended the federal government's bulk collection of phone metadata of millions of law-abiding citizens. But number two in the second half of it that is critical. It strengthened the tools of national security and law enforcement to go after terrorists. It gave us greater tools and we are seeing those tools work right now in San Bernardino. And in particular, what it did is the prior program only covered a relatively narrow slice of phone calls. When you had a terrorist, you could only search a relatively narrow slice of numbers, primarily land lines. The USA Freedom Act expands that so now we have cell phones, now we have Internet phones, now we have the phones that terrorists are likely to use and the focus of law enforcement is on targeting the bad guys. You know what the Obama administration keeps getting wrong is whenever anything bad happens they focus on law-abiding citizens instead of focusing on the bad guys. We need to focus on radical Islamic terrorists and we need to stop them before they carry out acts of terror. +p1410 +aVWell, you know, I would note that Marco knows what he's saying isn't true. You know, Mark Levin wrote a column last week that says that the attack ads his Super PAC is running that are saying the same thing, that they are knowingly false and they are, in fact, Alinsky-like attacks like Barack Obama. And the reason is simple. What he knows is that the old program covered 20 percent to 30 percent of phone numbers to search for terrorists. The new program covers nearly 100 percent. That gives us greater ability to stop acts of terrorism, and he knows that that's the case. +p1411 +aVWhat it means is using overwhelming air power to utterly and completely destroy +p1412 +aVYou would carpet bomb where +p1413 +aVWell, you know, Marco has continued these attacks, and he knows they're not true. Yes, it is true that I voted against the National Defense Authorization Act, because when I campaigned in Texas I told voters in Texas that I would oppose the federal government having the authority to detain U.S. citizens permanently with no due process. I have repeatedly supported an effort to take that out of that bill, and I honored that campaign commitment. +p1414 +aVBut more broadly, you know, the notion Marco is suggesting, that somehow \u2014 he also has tossed more than a few insults this direction \u2014 let's be absolutely clear. +p1415 +aVWolf, I believe in a America first foreign policy, that far too often President Obama and Hillary Clinton \u2014 and, unfortunately, more than a few Republicans \u2014 have gotten distracted from the central focus of keeping this country safe. So let's go back to the beginning of the Obama administration, when Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama led +p1416 +aV... we ought to hunt down our enemies and kill +p1417 +aVWell, it's more than not shedding a tear. It's actively getting involved to topple a government. And we keep hearing from President Obama and Hillary Clinton and Washington Republicans that they're searching for these mythical moderate rebels. It's like a purple unicorn. They never exist. These moderate rebels end up being jihadists. And I'll tell you whose view on Assad is the same as mine. It's Prime Minister Netanyahu. Prime Minister Netanyahu has said Israel doesn't have a dog in that fight because Assad is a puppet of Iran, a Shia radical Islamic terrorist, but at the same time, Prime Minister Netanyahu doesn't want to see Syria governed by +p1418 +aVThe question of whether we should toppling dictatorships is asking the wrong question. We should be defeating our enemies. So the problem with defeating... +p1419 +aVWell, but let me explain, the focus should be... +p1420 +aV... on defeating our enemies. So, for example... +p1421 +aV... a regime we should change is Iran... +p1422 +aV... because Iran has declared war on us. But we shouldn't be toppling regimes...... that are fighting radical Islamic terrorists that are helping... +p1423 +aVWell, he \u2014 he has attempted to muddy the waters, but I think that anyone who watched the battle that we had. You know, there was a time for choosing as Reagan put it. Where there was a battle over amnesty and some chose, like Senator Rubio to stand with Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer and support a massive amnesty plan. Others chose to stand with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and the American people and secure the border. And let me mention, this issue is actually directly connected to what we've been talking about. Because the front line with +p1424 +aVLook, I understand Marco wants to raise confusion, it is not accurate what he just said that I supported legalization. Indeed, I led the fight against his legalization and amnesty. And you know, there was one commentator that put it this way that, for Marco to suggest our record's the same is like suggesting "the fireman and the arsonist because they are both at the scene of the fire." He was fighting to grant amnesty and not to secure the border, I was fighting to secure the border. And this also goes to trust, listening on to campaign trails. Candidates all the time make promises. You know, Marco said," he learned that the American people didn't trust the federal government." +p1425 +aVIn Florida promising to... +p1426 +aVgo in the fight against amnesty... +p1427 +aVHe campaigned promising to lead the fight against amnesty. +p1428 +aVI have never supported a legalization... +p1429 +aVI have never supported legalization, and I do not intend to support legalization. Let me tell you how you do this, what you do is you enforce the law... +p1430 +aVWatt you do is enforcement the law... +p1431 +aVWhat you do... +p1432 +aVWhat you do is you enforce the law. I've laid out a very, very detailed immigration plan on my website, tedcruz.org. It's 11 pages of existing federal law and in particular the question of what to do with people who are here now? You enforce the law. That means you stop the Obama administration's policy of releasing criminal illegal aliens. Do you know how many aliens Bill Clinton deported? 12 million. Do you know how many illegal aliens, George W. Bush deported? 10 million. We can enforce the laws and if we secure the border, that solves the problem. And as president I will solve this problem and secure the border. +p1433 +aVDana, what I said in private is exactly what I'll say here, which is that the judgment that every voter is making of every one of us up here is who has the experience, who has the vision, who has the judgment to be commander in chief. That is the most important decision for the voters to make. That's a standard I'm held to. And it's a standard everyone else is held to. And I will note, you know, in the whole course of this discussion about our foreign policy threats, it actually illustrates the need for clarity of focus. You know, my daughters, Caroline and Catherine, came tonight. They're 7 and 5. And you think about the Los Angeles schools canceling their schools today. And every parent is wondering, how do we keep our kids safe? We need a commander in chief who does what Ronald Reagan did with communism, which is he set out a global strategy to defeat Soviet communism. And he directed all of his... I'm answering the question, Dana. He directed all of his forces to defeating communism. One of the things we've seen here is how easy it is for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to get distracted from dealing with radical Islamic terrorism. They won't even call it by its name. We need a president who stands up, number one, and says, we will defeat +p1434 +aVAnd we need to be focused on defeating... +p1435 +aV... defeating radical Islamic terrorists. +p1436 +aVWhat I'm saying, Dana, is that is a judgment for every voter to make. What I can tell you is all nine of the people here would make an infinitely better commander in chief than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. +p1437 +aVAnd there is a real danger, Dana, when people get distracted. I'm answering the question, Wolf. There's a real danger when people get distracted by peripheral issues. They get distracted by democracy building. They get distracted about military conflicts. We need to focus on defeating jihadism. +p1438 +aVAnd I will do everything necessary to keep our children safe. +p1439 +aVJudgment, strength, clarity and trust. Barack Obama has said he doesn't believe in American leadership or America winning \u2014 he is wrong. America can win again and we will win again. Ronald Reagan reignited the American economy, rebuilt the Military, bankrupted the Soviet Union and defeated Soviet Communism. I will do the same thing. Cutting taxes, cutting regulation, unleashing small businesses and rebuilding the Military to defeat radical Islamic terrorism \u2014 our strategy is simple. We win, they lose. We've done it before and we can do it again. +p1440 +aVWell, Maria, it's great to be with you. It's great to be here in Milwaukee. You know, the question you asked really I think is the most important question any of us can have \u2014 face, which is, how do we get the economy growing? How do we bring back economic growth? Because economic growth, it's foundational to every other challenge we have. As you rightly noted, from 2008 to today, our economy has grown 1.2 percent a year on average. The Obama economy is a disaster, and the IMF is telling us this is a new normal. It doesn't have to be. If you look at the history of America, there are three levers that government has had to facilitate economic growth. The first is tax reform. And as you noted, I have rolled out a bold and simple flat tax: 10 percent for every American that would produce booming growth and 4.9 million new jobs within a decade. The second element is regulatory reform, pulling back the armies of regulators that have descended like locusts on small businesses. And the third element is sound money. Every time we've pursued all three of those \u2014 whether in the 1920s with Calvin Coolidge or the 1960s with JFK or the 1980s with Ronald Reagan \u2014 the result has been incredible economic growth. We have done it before, and with leadership, we can do it again. +p1441 +aVWell, my Mom is here, so I don't think we should be pushing any grannies off cliffs. And, you miss-stated what I've said on entitlement reform. What I've said is for seniors we should make no changes whatsoever, for younger workers we should gradually raise the retirement age, we should have benefits grow more slowly, and we should allow them to keep a portion of their taxes in a personal account that they control, and can pass on to their kids... +p1442 +aVI want to go back to the discussion we had a minute ago because, you know, what was said was right. The democrats are laughing \u2014 because if republicans join democrats as the party of amnesty, we will lose. And, you know, I understand that when the mainstream media covers immigration, it doesn't often see it as an economic issue. But, I can tell you for millions \u2014 of Americans at home watching this, it is a very personal economic issue. And, I will say the politics of it will be very, very different if a bunch of lawyers or bankers were crossing the Rio Grande. Or if a bunch of people with journalism degrees were coming over and driving down the wages in the press. Then, we would see stories about the economic calamity that is befalling our nation. And, I will say for those of us who believe people 'ought to come to this country legally, and we should enforce the law, we're tired of being told it's anti-immigrant. It's offensive. I am the son of an immigrant who came legally from Cuba... ...to seek the American dream. And, we can embrace legal immigration while believing in the rule of law \u2014 and I would note, try going illegally to another country. Try going to China, or Japan. Try going to Mexico. See what they do. Every sovereign nation secures its borders, and it is not compassionate to say we're not going to enforce the laws... ...And we're going to drive down the wages for millions of hardworking men and women. That is abandoning the working... +p1443 +aVWell, sure, you put your finger on what the problem is. The current system isn't fair. Washington is fundamentally corrupt. There are more words in the IRS code than there are in the Bible \u2014 and \u2014 and not a one of them is as good. Every one of them reflects a carve-out or a subsidy, and it's all about empowering the Washington cartel. My simple Flat Tax says that, for a family of four, for the first $36,000 you earn, you pay no taxes whatsoever. No income taxes, no payroll taxes, no nothing. Above that, every American pays 10 percent across the board \u2014 a flat, fair tax. Which means that no longer do you have hedge-fund billionaires paying a lower tax rate than their secretaries. On the business side, I've got a business flat tax of 16 percent \u2014 again, that applies across the board. Right now, with our corporate income tax, giant corporations with armies of accountants regularly are paying little to no taxes while small businesses are getting hammered. This is fair and across-the-board. Now, you ask, how do the numbers add up? I would encourage folks, if you go to our website, tedcruz.org, we have the specific numbers on the website. This plan eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax, eliminates the corporate income tax, and it abolishes the IRS. And the effect of that is incredible economic growth. It means every income group will see double-digit increases, from the very poorest to the very weakest, of at least 14 percent. So if you're a single mom, if you're making $40,000 a year, what that means is an extra about $5,000 in your pocket to provide for your kids, to make ends meet. It has a powerful, powerful effect. And there's one other really powerful feature of my plan, which is that it's border-adjustable. Which means, if you're an exporter \u2014 if you're a farmer, if you're a rancher, if you're a manufacturer, you don't pay the businesses flat tax. Exports are free of that tax, but all imports pay that 16 percent business flat tax, which means this tax plan would cause jobs to boom, and it would let America compete with China and the world on a level playing field. +p1444 +aVWell, the numbers the Tax Foundation had put out is that the static cost of the plan is $3.6 trillion over 10 years, but the dynamic cost of the plan, which \u2014 which is the cost that factors in growth, is about $768 billion. It is less than a trillion. It costs less than virtually every other plan people have put up here, and yet it produces more growth and it's one of the very few plans that abolishes the IRS. But on top of that, today, we rolled out a spending plan. $500 billion in specific cuts \u2014 five major agencies that I would eliminate. The IRS, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Energy, the Department of Commerce, and HUD \u2014 and then 25 specific programs. Again, that's on our website at tedcruz.org. You want to look at specificity? It's easy for everyone to say, "cut spending". It's much harder and riskier to put out, chapter and verse, specifically the programs you would cut to stop bankrupting our kids and grandkids. +p1445 +aV...Middle ground that brings both of these together... +p1446 +aV...Exactly right, that we have to defend this nation. You think defending this nation is expensive, try not defending it. That's a lot more expensive. But, you can do that, and pay for it. You can do that, and also be fiscally responsible. You know, I mention that the 25 programs that I put today, that I would eliminate them. Among them are corporate welfare, like sugar subsidies. Let's take that as an example. Sugar subsidies. Sugar farmers farm under... ...under roughly 0.2% of the farmland in America, and yet they give 40% of the lobbying money. That sort of corporate welfare is why we're bankrupting our kids, and grandkids. I would end those subsidies to pay for defending this nation... +p1447 +aVAbsolutely yes. You know, I have spent much of my adult life enforcing the law and defending the Constitution. And the problem that underlies all of this is the cronyism and corruption of Washington. You know, the opening question Jerry asked, would you bail out the big banks again? Nobody gave you an answer to that. I'll give you an answer. Absolutely not. And what we have right now is we have Washington \u2014 as government gets bigger and bigger, you know, the biggest lie in all of Washington and in all of politics is that Republicans are the party of the rich. The truth is, the rich do great with big government. They get in bed with big government. The big banks get bigger and bigger and bigger under Dodd-Frank and community banks are going out of business. And, by the way, the consequence of that is small businesses can't get business loans, and it is that fundamental corruption that is why six of the 10 wealthiest counties in America are in and around Washington, D.C. And let me give you a contrast to Washington cronyism. Some weeks ago, a woman named Sabina Loving testified at a hearing that I chaired in the Senate. Sabina Loving is an African-American single mom who started a tax preparation business in the south side of Chicago. She found a store front, she wanted to have her own business. She started a business. But then the IRS promulgated new regulations targeting tax preparers. They did it under a more than 100-year-old statute called the Dead Horse Act. Now, this statute and the IRS in classic Washington crony fashion had exemptions for lawyers and big fancy accountants, but Sabina had to pay $1,000 an employee. It would have driven her out of business, and Ms. Loving sued the IRS. She took the Obama IRS to court, and she won, and they struck down the rule for picking the big guys over the little guys. +p1448 +aVYes. Now, let's be clear, there is a role for the Federal Reserve \u2014 what the Fed is doing now is it is a series of philosopher- kings trying to guess what's happening with the economy. You look at the Fed, one of the reasons we had the financial crash is throughout the 2000s, we had loose money, we had an asset bubble, it drove up the price of real estate, drove up the price of commodities, and then in the third quarter of 2008, the Fed tightened the money and crashed those asset prices, which caused a cascading collapse. That's why I am supporting getting back to rules-based monetary system not with a bunch of philosopher-kings deciding, but tied... +p1449 +aVSo let me be clear. I would not bail them out, but instead of adjusting monetary policy according to whims and getting it wrong over and over again and causing booms and busts, what the Fed should be doing is, number one, keeping our money tied to a stable level of gold, and, number two, serving as a lender of last resort. That's what central banks do. So if you have a run on the bank, the Fed can serve as a lender of last resort, but it's not a bailout. It is a loan at higher interest rates. That's how central banks have worked. And I'll point out \u2014 look, we had a gold standard under Bretton Woods, we had it for about 170 years of our nation's history, and enjoyed booming economic growth and lower inflation than we have had with the Fed now. We need to get back to sound money, which helps, in particular, working men and women. What Washington does \u2014 the people who are doing well in the Obama economy are those with power and influence in the Obama government. The people who working men and women... +p1450 +aVSo, Governor Kasich... +p1451 +aV...why would you then bail out rich Wall Street banks, but not Main street, not Mom and Pop, not Sabina Loving? +p1452 +aVBut you just said an executive... +p1453 +aV...knows to step in and bail out a bank. +p1454 +aVSo you said you'd abandon philosophy and abandon principle... +p1455 +aV...but what would you do if the bank was failing? +p1456 +aVSo you \u2014 you would bail them out. +p1457 +aVAnd, Maria, I will note, she's got a lot of experience, but her policies have proven disastrous. If you look at foreign policy, every region in the world has gotten worse. Under her leadership, we abandon the nation of Israel. Under her leadership, radical Islamic terrorism has been on to the rise. Under her leadership, and Obama's leadership, Iran is getting $100 billion dollars, and on the verge of getting a nuclear weapon. Everything she's put her hand to, or has touched \u2014 and when we talk about the cronyism of Washington, Hillary Clinton embodies the cronyism... ...of Washington. And, I'll give you an example of that, which is the Congressional exemption from Obamacare, which is fundamentally wrong, and I'll tell you this, if I'm elected president, I will veto any statute that exempts members of congress. The law should apply evenly to every American. +p1458 +aVMaria, critically, when it comes to climate change... +p1459 +aV...Our \u2014 our... +p1460 +aVFifty-eight years ago, my father fled Cuba. As he stood on the deck of that ferryboat with the wind and salt air blowing, he looked back at the oppression and torture he was escaping. And yet he looked forward to the promise of America. His story is our story. What ties Americans together is we are all the children of those who risked everything for freedom. America is in crisis now. I believe in America. And if we get back to the free market principles and constitutional liberties that built this country, we can turn this country around. I believe that 2016 will be an election like 1980, that we will win by following Reagan's admonition to paint in bold colors, not pale pastels. We're building a grassroots army. I ask you to join us at tedcruz.org. And we, the people, can turn this nation around. +p1461 +aVI'm too agreeable, easy going. You know, I think my biggest weakness is exactly the opposite. I'm a fighter. I am passionate about what I believe. I've been passionate my whole life about the Constitution. And, you know, for six-and-a-half years, we've had a gigantic party. If you want someone to grab a beer with, I may not be that guy. But if you want someone to drive you home, I will get the job done and I will get you home. +p1462 +aVBecky, if you want a 10 percent flat tax where the numbers add up, I rolled out my tax plan today, you can find it on line at tedcruz.org. It is a simple flat tax where for individuals, a family of four pays nothing on the first $36,000. After that you pay 10 percent as a flat tax going up. The billionaire and the working man, no hedge fund manager pays less than his secretary. On top of that, there is a business flat tax of 16 percent. Now that applies universally to giant corporations that with lobbyists right now are not paying taxes, and as small business. And you wanted to know the numbers, the Tax Foundation, which has scored every one of our plans, shows that this plan will allow the economy to generate 4.9 million jobs, to raise wages over 12 percent, and to generate 14 percent growth. And it costs, with dynamic scoring, less than a trillion dollars. Those are the hard numbers. And every single income decile sees a double-digit increase in after-tax income. +p1463 +aVGrowth is the answer. And as Reagan demonstrated, if we cut taxes, we can bring back growth. +p1464 +aVYou know, let me say something at the outset. The questions that have been asked so far in this debate illustrate why the American people don't trust the media. This is not a cage match. And, you look at the questions \u2014 "Donald Trump, are you a comic-book villain?" "Ben Carson, can you do math?" "John Kasich, will you insult two people over here?" "Marco Rubio, why don't you resign?" "Jeb Bush, why have your numbers fallen?" How about talking about the substantive issues the people care about? +p1465 +aVAnd Carl \u2014 Carl, I'm not finished yet. The contrast with the Democratic debate, where every fawning question from the media was, "Which of you is more handsome and why?" And let me be clear. +p1466 +aVLet me be clear. The men and women on this stage have more ideas, more experience, more common sense than every participant in the Democratic debate. That debate reflected a debate between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. And nobody watching at home believed that any of the moderators had any intention of voting in a Republican primary. The questions that are being asked shouldn't be trying to get people to tear into each other. It should be what are your substantive positions... +p1467 +aVYou want me to answer that question? I'm happy to answer the question... +p1468 +aVLet me tell you how that question... +p1469 +aVLet me tell you how that question... +p1470 +aV... so you don't actually want to hear the answer, John? +p1471 +aVYou don't want to hear the answer. You just want to... +p1472 +aVYou're not interested in an answer. +p1473 +aV...Then I'll buy you a tequila... +p1474 +aV...Or, even some famous Colorado brownies. +p1475 +aVWell, sure. This deal in Washington is an example of why Washington's broken. Republican leadership joined with every single Democrat, add $80 trillion to our debt to do nothing to fix the problems. And, let me now on Social Security because we were getting into a good substantive exchange, and I want to say I think both Chris, and Mike are right. Governor Huckabee's exactly right, we need to honor the promises made to our seniors, but for younger workers \u2014 look. I'm 44 years old. It is hard to find someone in my generation that thinks Social Security will be there for us. We can save and preserve and strengthen Social Security by making no changes for seniors, but for younger workers gradually increasing the retirement age, changing the rate of growth so that it matches inflation, and critically allowing younger workers to keep a portion of our tax payments in a personal account that we own, we control them, we can pass on to our kids. +p1476 +aVWell, we've gotta turn the economy around for people who are struggling. The Democrats' answer to everything is more government control over wages, and more empowering trial lawyers to file lawsuits. You know, you look at women working. I'll tell you, in my family there are a lot of single moms in my family. My sister was a single mom, both of my aunts who were a single moms. My mom who's here today, was a single mom when my father left us when I was 3 years old. Now, thank God, my father was invited to a Bible study and became born again and he came back to my mom and me and we were raised together. But I \u2014 the struggle of single moms is extraordinary. And you know, when you see Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and all the Democrats talking about wanting to address the plight of working women, not a one of them mentioned the fact that under Barack Obama, 3.7 million women have entered poverty. Not a one of them mentioned the fact that under Barack Obama and the big government economy, the median wage for women has dropped $733. The the truth of the matter is, big government benefits the wealthy, it benefits the lobbyists, it benefits the giant corporations. And the people who are getting hammered are small businesses, it's single moms, it's Hispanics. That is who I'm fighting for. The people that Washington leaves behind. +p1477 +aVWell, Rick, it's a very important question. I have got deep concerns about the Fed. The first thing I think we need to do is audit the Fed. And I am an original co-sponsor of Rand Paul's audit the Fed legislation. The second thing we need to do is I think we need to bring together a bipartisan commission to look at getting back to rules- based monetary policy, end this star chamber that has been engaging in this incredible experiment of quantitative easing, QE1, QE2, QE3, QE- infinity. And the people who are being impacted, you know, a question that was asked earlier, Becky asked, was about working women. You know, it's interesting, you look at on Wall Street, the Fed is doing great. It's driving up stock prices. Wall Street is doing great. You know, today, the top 1 percent earn a higher share of our income than any year since 1928. But if you look at working men and women. If you look at a single mom buying groceries, she sees hamburger prices have gone up nearly 40 percent. She sees her cost of electricity going up. She sees her health insurance going up. And loose money is one of the major problems. We need sound money. And I think the Fed should get out of the business of trying to juice our economy and simply be focused on sound money and monetary stability, ideally tied to gold. +p1478 +aVLet me say on that... +p1479 +aV...Rand is exactly right. His plan is a good plan, and I will note that my 10% plan also eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax, +p1480 +aV...eliminates the business... [ +p1481 +aV...income tax... [ +p1482 +aV...10% flat rate... +p1483 +aV...is the lowest personal rate any candidate up here has, and what it would also enable us to do is for every citizen to fill out their taxes on a postcard so we can eliminate the IRS. +p1484 +aVYou know, everyone here talks about the need to take on Washington. The natural next question is who actually has done so. Who actually has stood up not just to Democrats, but to leaders in our own party? When millions of Americans rose up against Obamacare, I was proud to lead that fight. When millions of Americans rose up against amnesty, I was proud to lead that fight. When millions of Americans rose up against Planned Parenthood, I was proud to lead that fight. If people are promising they're going to take on Washington and cronyism, you need to look to who has been doing it. In my family, my dad fled oppression in Cuba to come to America. Freedom is personal for me, and I will always keep my word and fight for freedom. +p1485 +aVI'm Ted Cruz. I am the son of an Irish-Italian mom and a Cuban immigrant dad who fled oppression and came to America seeking freedom. I'm a husband to my best friend, Heidi, who's here tonight. I'm a dad to two little girls who are the loves of my life, Caroline and Catherine. If you're fed up with Washington, if you're looking for someone to stand up to career politicians in both parties, I'm the only one on this stage who has done that over and over again, and if we stand together, we can bring America back. +p1486 +aVWell, let me tell you, Jake, the single biggest national security threat facing America right now is the threat of a nuclear Iran. We've seen six and a half years of President Obama leading from behind. Weakness is provocative, and this Iranian nuclear deal is nothing short of catastrophic. This deal, on its face, will send over $100 billion to the Ayatollah Khamenei, making the Obama administration the world's leading financier of radical Islamic terrorism. +p1487 +aVThis deal abandons four American hostages in Iran, and this deal will only accelerate Iran's acquiring nuclear weapons. You'd better believe it. If I am elected president, on the very first day in office, I will rip to shreds this catastrophic Iranian nuclear deal. +p1488 +aVWell, let's be clear when it comes to experience. What President Obama wants to do is he's run to the United Nations, and he wants to use the United Nations to bind the United States, and take away our sovereignty. Well, I spent five and a half years as a Solicitor General of Texas, the lead lawyer for the state, in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, and I went in front of the Supreme Court, and took on the world court of the United Nations in a case called Medellin v. Texas, and we won a historic victory saying the World Court, and the U.N., has no power to bind the United States, and no President of the United States, Republican or Democrat, has the authority to give away our sovereignty. And, so, if there's anyone up here who would be bound by this catastrophic deal with Iran, they're giving up the core responsibility of commander in chief, and as president, I would never do that. +p1489 +aVJake, Jake... +p1490 +aVJake, there is no more important topic in 2016 than this topic right here, and I've listened to several folks saying, "Well, gosh, if they cheat, we'll act." We won't know under this agreement \u2014 there are several facilities in Iran they designate as military facilities that are off limit all together. Beyond that, the other facilities, we give them 24 days notice before inspecting them. That is designed to allow them to hide the evidence. And most astonishingly, this agreement trusts the Iranians to inspect themselves. That makes no sense whatsoever. And let me know \u2014 President Obama is violating federal law... +p1491 +aV... by not handing over the side deals, and we ought to see the United States Congress... +p1492 +aV... stand up together and say, "Hand over this treaty, and protect this country." +p1493 +aVWell, let me tell you, Dana, number one, I'm proud to stand for life. These Planned Parenthood videos are horrifying. I would encourage every American to watch the videos. See \u2014 seeing your Planned Parenthood officials callously, heartlessly bartering and selling the body parts of human beings, and then ask yourself, "are these my values?" These are horrifying. On these videos, Planned Parenthood also essentially confesses to multiple felonies. It is a felony with ten years' jail term to sell the body parts of unborn children for profit. That's what these videos show Planned Parenthood doing. Absolutely we shouldn't be sending $500 million of taxpayer money to funding an ongoing criminal enterprise, and I'll tell you, the fact that Republican leadership in both houses has begun this discussion by preemptively surrendering to Barack Obama and saying, "we'll give in because Obama threatens a veto." You know, Obama's committed to his principles. His liberal principles, he will fight for them. He says... +p1494 +aVI will veto any budget that doesn't fund Planned Parenthood, and Republicans surrender. We need to stop surrendering and start standing... +p1495 +aV...for our principles. +p1496 +aVWell, Jake, you know, I'm \u2014 I'm very glad that Donald Trump's being in this race has forced the mainstream media finally to talk about illegal immigration. I think that's very important. I like and respect Ben Carson. I'll let him talk about his own plans. But I will say this: The natural next question that primary voters are asking, after we focus on illegal immigration is, okay, what are the records of the various candidates? And this is an issue on which there are stark differences. A majority of the men and women on this stage have previously and publicly embraced amnesty. I am the only candidate on this stage who has never supported amnesty and, in fact, who helped lead the fight to stop a massive amnesty plan. In 2013, when Barack Obama and Harry Reid joined the Washington Republicans in a massive, I stood shoulder to shoulder with Jeff Sessions helping lead the fight. You know, folks here have talked about, how do you secure the borders? Well, I've been leading the fight in the Senate to triple the Border Patrol, to put in place fencings and walls, to put in place a strong biometric exit/entry system... +p1497 +aVWell, Dana, I've known John Roberts for 20 years, he's amazingly talented lawyer, but, yes, it was a mistake when he was appointed to the Supreme Court. He's a good enough lawyer that he knows in these Obamacare cases he changed the statute, he changed the law in order to force that failed law on millions of Americans for a political outcome. And, you know, we're frustrated as conservatives. We keep winning elections, and then we don't get the outcome we want. And, let me focus on two moments in time. Number one, in 1990, in one room was David Souter, and in another room was Edith Jones, the rock ribbed (ph) conservative on the fifth circuit court of appeals. George Herbert Walker Bush appointed David Souter. And then in 2005, in one room was John Roberts, in another room was my former boss, Mike Luttig, the rock ribbed (ph) conservative on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals... +p1498 +aV...George W. Bush appointed John Roberts, and let me give you the consequences of that. If, instead, the President Bush had appointed Edith Jones, and Mike Luttig, which is who I would have appointed, Obamacare would have been struck down three years ago, and the marriage laws of all 50 states would be on the books. These matter, and I fought to defend the constitution my whole life... +p1499 +aV...and I will as president as well. +p1500 +aVIt is true that after George W. Bush nominated John Roberts, I supported his confirmation. That was a mistake and I regret that. I wouldn't have nominated John Roberts, and indeed, Governor Bush pointed out why. It wasn't that the President Bushes wanted to appoint a liberal to the court, it's that it was the easier choice. Both David Souter and John Roberts, they didn't have a long paper trail. If you had nominated Edith Jones or Mike Ludig (ph) you would have had a bloody fight and they weren't willing to spend political capital to put a strong judicial conservative on the court. I have spent my entire life, starting from clerking for Chief Justice William Rehnquist on the United States Supreme Court, one of the most principled jurists. We have an out-of-control Court, and I give you my word, if I'm elected president, every single Supreme Court justice will faithfully follow the law and will not act like philosopher kings \u2014 +p1501 +aV\u2014 imposing their liberal policies on millions of Americans \u2014 +p1502 +aV\u2014 who need to be trusted to govern ourselves. +p1503 +aVI \u2014 I am not, and \u2014 and you mentioned that the U.S. Supreme Court had rightly upheld the individual right to keep and bear arms. I was proud to lead 31 states before the U.S. Supreme Court defending the Second Amendment, and we won that landmark victory. And indeed, just a couple of years ago, when Harry Reid and Barack Obama came after the right to keep and bear arms of millions of Americans, I was proud to lead the fight in the United States Senate to protect our right to keep and bear arms, and for that reason... +p1504 +aV... I was honored to be endorsed by Gun Owners of America... +p1505 +aV... as the strongest supporter of the Second Amendment on this stage today, and I will... +p1506 +aV... fight every day to defend the Bill of Rights. +p1507 +aVWell, I wouldn't change the $10 bill, I'd change the $20. I'd take Jackson off and I'd leave Alexander Hamilton right where he is as one of our Founding Fathers. And I very much agree with Marco that it should be Rosa Parks. She was a principled pioneer that helped change this country, helped remedy racial injustice, and that would be an honor that would be entirely appropriate. +p1508 +aVYou know, as a Cuban, I might go with Cohiba (ph), and I'll tell you, I'd go with, for Heidi, Angel, because she is my angel. +p1509 +aVRonald Reagan believed in America. If I'm elected president our friends and allies across the globe will know that we stand with them. the bust of Winston Churchill will be back in the Oval Office, and the American embassy in Israel will be in Jerusalem. Enemies across this world will know the United States is not to be trifled with. +p1510 +aVChris, I believe the American people are looking for someone to speak the truth. If you're looking for someone to go to Washington, to go along to get along, to get -- to agree with the career politicians in both parties who get in bed with the lobbyists and special interests, then I ain't your guy. There is a reason... .... that we have $18 trillion in debt. Because as conservatives, as Republicans, we keep winning elections. We got a Republican House, we've got a Republican Senate, and we don't have leaders who honor their commitments. I will always tell the truth and do what I said I would do. +p1511 +aVChris, absolutely yes. And not only will I support it......I have authored Kate's law in the United States Senate and filed that legislation. I tried to get the Senate to vote to pass Kate's law on the floor of the Senate just one week ago, and the leader of our own party blocked a vote on Kate's law. You know, there was reference made to our leaders being stupid. It's not a question of stupidity. It's that they don't want to enforce the immigration laws. That there are far too many in the Washington cartel that support amnesty. President Obama has talked about fundamentally transforming this country. There's 7 billion people across the face of the globe, many of whom want to come to this country. If they come legally, great. But if they come illegally and they get amnesty, that is how we fundamentally change this country, and it really is striking. A majority of the candidates on this stage have supported amnesty. I have never supported amnesty, and I led the fight against Chuck Schumer's gang of eight amnesty legislation in the Senate. +p1512 +aVMegyn, we need a commander in chief that speaks the truth. We will not defeat radical Islamic terrorism so long as we have a president unwilling to utter the words, "radical Islamic terrorism". When I asked General Dempsey, the chairman of the joint chiefs, what would be required militarily to destroy +p1513 +aVMegyn, of course it's an ideological problem, that's one of the reasons I introduce the Expatriate Terrorist Act in the Senate that said if any American travels to the Middle East and joining +p1514 +aVWell, Bret, of course they have, and over the last six and a half years we've seen the consequences of the Obama-Clinton foreign policy. Leading from behind is a disaster. We have abandoned and alienated our friends and allies, and our enemies are stronger. Radical Islam is on the rise, Iran's on the verge of acquiring a nuclear weapon, China is waging cyber warfare against America, Russia -- General Soleimani, you just mentioned, the Iranian general is the head of the al Quds forces. He's directly responsible for the murder of over 500 American servicemen in Iraq, and part of this Iranian deal was lifting the international sanctions on General Soleimani. The day General Soleimani flew back from Moscow to Iran was the day we believed that Russia used cyber warfare against the Joint Chiefs. We need a new commander in chief that will stand up to our enemies, and that will have credibility... It is worth emphasizing that Iran released our hostages in 1981 the day Ronald Reagan was sworn into office. +p1515 +aVBrett, can I -- Brett, can I jump in on this one? +p1516 +aVWell, I am blessed to receive a word from God every day in receiving the scriptures and reading the scriptures. And God speaks through the Bible. I'm the son of a pastor and evangelist and I've described many times how my father, when I was a child, was an alcoholic. He wasn't a Christian. And my father left my mother and left me when I was just three years old. And someone invited him to Clay Road Baptist Church. And he gave his heart to Jesus and it turned him around. And he got on a plane and he flew back to my mother and me. I would also note that the scripture tells us, "you shall know them by their fruit." We see lots of "campaign conservatives." But if we're going to win in 2016, we need a consistent conservative, someone who has been a fiscal conservative, a social conservative, a national security conservative. There are real differences among the candidates on issues like amnesty, like Obamacare, like religious liberty, like life and marriage. And I have been proud to fight and stand for religious liberty, to stand against Planned Parenthood, to defend life for my entire career. And I will be proud to continue to do so as president of the United States. +p1517 +aVIf I'm elected president, let me tell you about my first day in office. The first thing I intend to do is to rescind every illegal and unconstitutional executive action taken by Barack Obama. The next thing I intend to do is instruct the Department of Justice to open an investigation into these videos and to prosecute Planned Parenthood for any criminal violations. The next thing I intend to do is instruct the Department of Justice and the IRS to start (sic) persecuting religious liberty, and then intend to cancel the Iran deal, and finally move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. I will keep my word. My father fled Cuba, and I will fight to defend liberty because my family knows what it's like to lose it. +p1518 +asVTODD +p1519 +(lp1520 +VGood evening, and welcome to the +p1521 +aVAnd neither party has seen this yet. These candidates are both running for the Democratic nomination, but they are very different from each other when it comes to what matters most and how they would go about the job of being president. Our job tonight is to draw out those differences so you, the voters, can understand them and be fully informed. +p1522 +aVFirst, I want to say a special thanks to the New Hampshire Union Leader for helping make this debate possible, and the readers, who helped provide some of the questions and topics that we'll be addressing tonight. The rules tonight, by the way, are simple: 90 seconds for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. +p1523 +aVThank you, Senator. Secretary Clinton. +p1524 +aVAll right. Let's get started. Secretary Clinton, last night you cited the Concord Monitor when you said of Senator Sanders that, quote, "It's very hard to see how any of his proposals could ever be achievable." So please tell us why you think if he's elected president on a platform of promising things like free public college and universal healthcare, that he cannot achieve those things. +p1525 +aVThank you, Secretary. Senator Sanders, so just explain how you spent nearly two decades in Congress and haven't gotten any of these things passed. Why do you think as president you'll be able to achieve big, big new programs like this? +p1526 +aVGo. +p1527 +aVYes, go ahead. +p1528 +aVAll right, thank you both. Rachel. +p1529 +aVI'd like to follow up on a comment that Secretary Clinton said, Senator. President Obama has not called for abolishing the death penalty. President Obama is for the big Asian trade deal known as TPP, and just yesterday you said you can't be both a moderate or a progressive, but you can't be both. Is President Obama, in your judgment, based on these policies positions, a progressive? +p1530 +aV...Secretary Clinton, go ahead... +p1531 +aV 30 seconds, and then we'll move. +p1532 +aVThank you. +p1533 +aV... Secretary, we're gonna... +p1534 +aVThirty seconds. +p1535 +aVThank you both. +p1536 +aVAll right, welcome back. Let's get right to it. Senator Sanders, you were talking about all of your campaign contributions and campaign finance reform. You rail against big money in politics. But do you realize there is one public financing system that we do have in place, and it is\u2014it is in place to run for president. Why aren't you walking the walk on that? Why aren't you participating in the presidential public financing system which is designed to essentially keep big money out of presidential politics? +p1537 +aVWell, going on that then, why criticize her on Super PACs, and you got\u2014and all this when it is\u2014you know, that's the system? I mean, you could be participating in a publicly-financing\u2014public financing system... +p1538 +aV... and being able to set\u2014being able to set an example. +p1539 +aV... she has had more people praise her plan than yours. +p1540 +aVThank you both. Let me move on to our next question here, and in fact it comes to us through New England Cable News. Secretary Clinton, it's addressed to you, and it's about this issue of the speeches, particularly to Goldman Sachs. This is what the questioner wrote verbatim. "I am concerned with the abuses of Wall Street has taken with the American taxpayers money," and then she asks whether you would release the transcripts of your Goldman Sachs speeches, and then added, "Don't you think the voting public has a right to know what was said?" But, let's make that bigger. Are you willing to release the transcripts of all your paid speeches? We do know through reporting that there were transcription services for all of those paid speeches. In full disclosure, would you release all of them? +p1541 +aVSenator, you sound like you want to respond. Go ahead. +p1542 +aVWe'll be right back. And we're going to get to trade and a lot of other issues. +p1543 +aVGo ahead, Senator Sanders\u201430 seconds, your response. +p1544 +aVAll right. Senator, I want to stay, though... +p1545 +aVGo ahead. 30 seconds. +p1546 +aVLet me\u2014let\u2014we're gonna\u2014we're staying\u2014we're staying basically on this topic. Obviously you've been emphasizing this difference on the Iraq war, but one place where you do agree, and one place where you voted to authorize the use of force, was in favor of the war in Afghanistan. Right now, it is possible President Obama is going to be leaving the next president, perhaps President Sanders, at least 10,000 troops in Afghanistan. How long will those troops be in Afghanistan under President Sanders? +p1547 +aVCan you address a question on Afghanistan? How long are these troops going to be there? If President Obama leaves you 10,000 troops, how long do you think they're going to be there? +p1548 +aVSecretary Clinton, 30 seconds: How long are these troops going to be in Afghanistan? We have more American troops in Afghanistan than what we were talking about with Iraq. +p1549 +aVYou know, Senator Sanders, nobody knows who your foreign policy advisers are. You haven't given a major foreign policy speech. And it doesn't sound like all the time that foreign policy is a priority, other than when you're asked about it, and you say you're going to crush +p1550 +aVAll right, Senator, 30 seconds. +p1551 +aV30 seconds, madam secretary. +p1552 +aVAlright, as Commander in Chief, Senator Sanders, you've got to prioritize potential threats to the United States. Three countries, North Korea, Iran, Russia. How would you rank them in order of their threat to America's security right now... +p1553 +aV... Starting with the biggest threat. +p1554 +aV... I didn't say that... +p1555 +aV... No... +p1556 +aV... We already had that. I'm talking about these three countries. How would you orient our national security, our national defense posture. +p1557 +aVSecretary of Defense Ash Carter this week picked one of those three, and he has said Russia is, basically, the most important national security threat. Sort of reorienting the defense and the challenges to that. Do you agree with his decisions... +p1558 +aVSecretary Clinton, what do you think of Secretary of Defense Ash Carter. He's basically putting Russia above Iran, above North Korea, as sort of the chief national security challenge right now. +p1559 +aVThank you both, Rachel? +p1560 +aVAnd we are back. We're gonna get into a little bit of election politics, electability, in a little bit. Senator Sanders, The Iowa Democratic Party has declared Hillary Clinton the winner of Monday's Iowa caucuses\u2014narrowest of margins. Today, the Des Moines Register has an editorial that calls for the audit of the results, saying, quote, "what happened Monday night at the Democratic caucuses was a debacle, period. The results were too close not to do a complete audit." Senator Sanders, do you accept the idea that Hillary Clinton won Iowa? And do you\u2014or do you believe the caucuses are still an open question? +p1561 +aVSecretary Clinton, will you participate in some sort of audit, if that's what the party wants to do? You good with that? +p1562 +aVThat's fair enough. OK. +p1563 +aVGood, we move on. We're happy with that. We have more questions. +p1564 +aVWe'll stay on this issue. We'll stay on this topic. Secretary Clinton, just like there are some Democrats that question Senator Sanders' ability in the general election, many Democratic voters that our reporters have been running into in Iowa and New Hampshire, they tell our reporters over and over again they're worried about the emails issue, not because they don't believe your explanation, but because it's a drip-drip, because the cloud is hanging over your head and that it will impact the general election. They see your numbers right now and they think it's the email issue as to why you're not polling very well. So can you reassure these Democrats that somehow the email issue isn't going to blow up your candidacy if you're the nominee? +p1565 +aVAll right, Madam Secretary, there is an open\u2014there is an open FBI investigation into this matter about how you may have handled classified material. Are you 100 percent confident that nothing is going to come of this FBI investigation? +p1566 +aVWell, Senator sanders, you famously at the first debate said you didn't give a darn about her emails; I think you used another . +p1567 +aVYou're right. I'm trying to\u2014it's a\u2014it's a family hour still right now. After 11:00, I'll say it the other way. And you mostly have refrained from commenting on it, but recently you called it a very serious issue, and then the other day you said well she's getting slapped with the email controversy. Are you\u2014how are you feeling about these darn emails now? +p1568 +aVOK. Senator Sanders, thank you. +p1569 +aVSecretary Clinton, let me turn to the issue of trade. In the '90s you supported +p1570 +aVWell, Senator Sanders, I know you want to respond on this, you have never supported a trade deal since you've been in Congress. +p1571 +aVBut if you do that as president... If you do that as president, how are you not essentially letting China, who will do all of these deals around the world, how are you going to prevent China from essentially setting the rules of trade for the world? +p1572 +aVAll right. Thank you both. We're going to sneak in one more break here, and when we come back we'll squeeze as many questions as we can before we end this thing. We'll be right back. +p1573 +aVAll right. Welcome back here in the final minutes. +p1574 +aVThe home stretch of this only Democratic debate in the final week before the primary. Let me start with you, Secretary Clinton, on this question. Obviously, President Obama got a lot of ambitious stuff done in his first year and a half. You're going to have to make choices. And there's a lot of heavy lifts. And he made choices. He did healthcare and it came at the expense, arguably, of immigration reform. Had he put immigration reform first, perhaps that gets done and healthcare doesn't. So there are three big lifts that you've talked about: immigration, gun reform, climate change. What do you do first? Because you know the first one is the one you have the best shot at getting done. +p1575 +aVAll right, but Senator Sanders......you've still got to do something first. As you know, history said\u2014shows what you pick first is your best shot at getting, and how you prioritize things. +p1576 +aVImmigration reform, for instance, fell by the wayside in the first term because of this. +p1577 +aVOK. Thank you. +p1578 +aVAll right, before we go, I want to ask each one of these. Secretary Clinton, you've made it clear when you look at Senator Sanders, you do not see a president, but do you see\u2014 +p1579 +aVBut do you see\u2014do you see a vice president? +p1580 +aVWould you unite the party by trying to pick Senator Sanders as your running mate? +p1581 +aVSenator, would you consider the secretary? +p1582 +aVSecretary Clinton, closing statements. You are first. +p1583 +aVThank you, Madam Secretary. Senator Sanders. +p1584 +aVWell, there you have it. I promise you, Rachel and I have a lot more questions, but we just don't have any more time, unless we could a third hour, but I don't think so. Our debate coverage\u2014 debate coverage will continue in just a moment with our colleague . And we want to thank all of you for being here, and we want to thank the two candidates for taking part in this important event. +p1585 +aVWe'll see you in a few minutes. Thank you. +p1586 +asVHARWOOD +p1587 +(lp1588 +VMr. Trump, you've done very well in this campaign so far by promising to build a wall and make another country pay for it. +p1589 +aVSend 11 million people out of the country. Cut taxes $10 trillion without increasing the deficit. +p1590 +aVAnd make Americans better off because your greatness would replace the stupidity and incompetence of others. +p1591 +aVLet's be honest. Is this a comic book version of a presidential campaign? +p1592 +aVWe're at the 60 seconds. +p1593 +aVWe're at 60 seconds, but I gotta ask you, you talked about your tax plan. You say that it would not increase the deficit because you cut taxes $10 trillion in the economy would take off like... +p1594 +aVHold on, hold on. The economy would take off like a rocket ship. +p1595 +aVI talked to economic advisers who have served presidents of both parties. They said that you have as chance of cutting taxes that much without increasing the deficit as you would of flying away from that podium by flapping your arms. +p1596 +aVThe Tax Foundation says \u2014 has looked at all of our plans and \u2014 and his creates, even with the dynamic effect, $8 trillion dollar deficit... +p1597 +aVGovernor Kasich, hold it, I'm coming to you right now. The... +p1598 +aVWell, I'm asking you about this. +p1599 +aVI'm about to ask you about this. That is, you had some very strong words to say yesterday about what's happening in your party and what you're hearing from the two gentlemen we've just heard from. Would you repeat it? +p1600 +aVWell, let's just get more pointed about it. You said yesterday that you were hearing proposals that were just crazy from your colleagues. Who were you talking about? +p1601 +aVHold on. I think there's a \u2014 I've got question for \u2014 +p1602 +aVHold on, Governor. I've got a question for Governor Bush. +p1603 +aVNo, we're moving to Governor Bush. Governor, the fact that you're at the fifth lectern tonight shows how far your stock has fallen in this race, despite the big investment your donors have made. You noted recently, after slashing your payroll, that you had better things to do than sit around and be demonized by other people. I wanted to ask you \u2014 +p1604 +aVOK. +p1605 +aVGot it. +p1606 +aVBut it's a \u2014 OK. It's a \u2014 it's a question about why you're having difficulty. I want to ask you in this context. Ben Bernanke, who was appointed Fed chairman by your brother, recently wrote a book in which he said he no longer considers himself a Republican because the Republican Party has given in to know- nothingism. Is that why you're having a difficult time in this race? +p1607 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1608 +aVWe're gonna get down the line. Becky's got a question. +p1609 +aVSenator Paul, I've got a question for you on the same subject. +p1610 +aVSenator Paul? +p1611 +aVYou used your time on something else. Senator Paul? +p1612 +aVSenator Paul, the budget deal crafted by Speaker Boehner and passed by the House today makes cuts in entitlement programs, Medicare and Social Security disability, which are the very programs conservatives say need cutting to shrink government and solve our country's long-term budget deficit. Do you oppose that budget deal because it doesn't cut those programs enough? +p1613 +aVSenator, if what you just said is true, why did Speaker Boehner craft this deal and why did Paul Ryan, who has a strong reputation for fiscal discipline, vote for it? +p1614 +aVThank you, Senator . +p1615 +aVJim, thanks. Governor Bush, in a debate like this four years ago, every Republican running for president pledged to oppose a budget deal containing any tax increase even if it had spending cuts ten times as large. A few months later, you told Congress, put me in, coach, you said you would take that deal. Still feel that way? +p1616 +aVBut to \u2014 to the point that you made to Congress, if you were president and you were offered a bipartisan deal that had one dollar... +p1617 +aV...one dollar of tax increases per ten dollars of spending cuts, would you take it? +p1618 +aVSo you don't want the coach to put you in any more? +p1619 +aVThank you, governor. Carl? +p1620 +aVGovernor John Kasich, you've called for abolishing the Export Import Bank, which provides subsidies to help American companies compete with overseas competitors. You call that corporate welfare. One of the largest newspapers in your state wrote an editorial, said they found that strange, writing, that if that's corporate welfare, what does Kasich call the millions of dollars in financial incentives doled out to attract or retain jobs by his development effort \u2014 jobs Ohio. If subsidies are good enough for Ohio companies, why aren't they good enough for companies trying to compete overseas? +p1621 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1622 +aVThank you, Governor. Thank you. +p1623 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate on +p1624 +aVIt sounds like you think Senator Sessions is wrong to believe there is enough abuse in that program that we shouldn't... +p1625 +aVThank you, Senator. Becky? +p1626 +aVGovernor Bush, the tax reform bill that Ronald Reagan signed in 1986 cut the top personal income tax rate to 28 percent \u2014 just like your plan does. But President Reagan taxed capital gains at the same rate, while you would tax them at just 20 percent. Given the problems we've been discussing, growing gap between rich and poor, why would you tax labor at a higher rate than income from investments? +p1627 +aVSenator Rubio, 30 seconds to you. The Tax Foundation, which was alluded to earlier, scored your tax plan and concluded that you give nearly twice as much of a gain in after-tax income to the top 1 percent as to people in the middle of the income scale. Since you're the champion of Americans living paycheck-to- paycheck, don't you have that backward? +p1628 +aVThe Tax Foundation \u2014 just to be clear, they said the... +p1629 +aVNo, I did not. +p1630 +aVSenator, the Tax Foundation said after-tax income for the top 1 percent under your plan would go up 27.9 percent. +p1631 +aVAnd people in the middle of the income spectrum, about 15 percent. +p1632 +aV +p1633 +aVSenator, thank you. +p1634 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you've written about the huge divide in values between middle America and the big coastal cities like New York and Los Angeles. As a preacher as well as a politician, you know that presidents need the moral authority to bring the entire country together. The leading Republican candidate, when you look at the average of national polls right now, is Donald Trump. When you look at him, do you see someone with the moral authority to unite the country? +p1635 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1636 +aVThank you, Governor. Don't forget my colleague, Sharon Epperson. +p1637 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said something that many in your party do not believe, which is that climate change is undeniable, that human activity contributes to it, and you said, quote: "The question is, what do we do to deal with it?". So what do we do? +p1638 +aVWhat should we do? +p1639 +aVYou mean government? +p1640 +aVThank you, Governor. Becky. +p1641 +aVGovernor Bush, Mr. Trump says that he is capable of growing the economy so much that Social Security and Medicare don't have to be touched. Do you want to explain how that is going to happen, Mr. Trump? +p1642 +aVHold on, Governor. I've got a question for \u2014 for Dr. Carson. +p1643 +aVYes. You've said that you would like to replace Medicare with a system of individual family savings accounts, so that families could cover their own expenses. Obviously, that would be a very controversial idea. Explain how that would work, exactly. +p1644 +aVGovernor, do you also think that... +p1645 +aV...that Dr. Carson's right, that we can replace Medicare with individual savings accounts? +p1646 +aVMrs. Fiorina, we're right at the end of our time. +p1647 +aVYou all wanted us to limit . All right. Go ahead. +p1648 +aVWe have now reached the point in the program where candidates are going to give their closing statements, 30 seconds apiece. We're going to go right to left and start with you, Senator Paul. +p1649 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1650 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Cruz? +p1651 +aVThank you, Senator. Mrs. Fiorina? +p1652 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Dr. Carson? +p1653 +aVMr. Trump? +p1654 +aVJust for the record, the debate was always going to be two hours. Senator Rubio? +p1655 +aVSenator Rubio. +p1656 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Bush? +p1657 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Huckabee. +p1658 +aVThank you... +p1659 +aVGovernor Kasich? +p1660 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1661 +asVPAUL +p1662 +(lp1663 +VThe question is, how do we keep America safe from terrorism? Trump says we ought to close that Internet thing. The question really is, what does he mean by that? Like they do in North Korea? Like they do in China? Rubio says we should collect all Americans' records all of the time. The Constitution says otherwise. I think they're both wrong. I think we defeat terrorism by showing them that we do not fear them. I think if we ban certain religions, if we censor the Internet, I think that at that point the terrorists will have won. Regime change hasn't won. Toppling secular dictators in the Middle East has only led to chaos and the rise of radical Islam. I think if we want to defeat terrorism, I think if we truly are sincere about defeating terrorism, we need to quit arming the allies of +p1664 +aVYou know, I think Marco gets it completely wrong. We are not any safer through the bulk collection of all Americans' records. In fact, I think we're less safe. We get so distracted by all of the information, we're not spending enough time getting specific immigration \u2014 specific information on terrorists. The other thing is, is the one thing that might have stopped San Bernardino, that might have stopped 9/11 would have been stricter controls on those who came here. And Marco has opposed at every point increased security \u2014 border security for those who come to our country. On his Gang of Eight bill, he would have liberalized immigration, but he did not \u2014 and he steadfastly opposed any new border security requirements for refugees or students. Last week, I introduced another bill saying we need more security, we need more scrutiny. Once again, Marco opposed this. So Marco can't have it both ways. He thinks he wants to be this, "Oh, I'm great and strong on national defense." But he's the weakest of all the candidates on immigration. He is the one for an open border that is leaving us defenseless. If we want to defend the country, we have to defend against who's coming in, and Marco is \u2014 has more of an allegiance to Chuck Schumer and to the liberals than he does to conservative policy. +p1665 +aVIf I was mentioned in the question, can I respond? +p1666 +aVMarco still misunderstands the immigration issue. What I put forward was an amendment that would have temporarily halted immigration from high-risk terrorist countries, but would have started it up, but I wanted them to go through Global Entry, which is a program where we do background checks. The thing is, is that every terrorist attack we've had since 9/11 has been legal immigration. Marco wants to expand that. I want more rules, more scrutiny, and to defend the country, you have to defend the border. +p1667 +aVWolf... +p1668 +aVWolf, this legislation... +p1669 +aVThis legislation on indefinite detention... +p1670 +aV... I think deserves a little more attention. +p1671 +aVI think that by arming the allies of +p1672 +aVI think that if you believe in regime change, you're mistaken. In 2013, we put 600 tons of weapons \u2014 us, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar \u2014 into the war against Assad. By pushing Assad back, we did create a safe space. We had people coming to our Foreign Relations Committee and saying, "Oh, we need to arm the allies of Al Qaida." They are still saying this. It is a crazy notion. This is the biggest debate we should be having tonight is is regime change a good idea; has it been a good idea. There are still people \u2014 the majority on the stage, they want to topple Assad. And then there will be chaos, and I think +p1673 +aVThese are the fundamental questions of our time, these foreign policy questions, whether or not regime change is a good idea or a bad idea. I don't think because I think the regime change was a bad idea it means that Hussein was necessarily a good idea. There is often variations of evil on both sides of the war. What we have to decide is whether or not regime change is a good idea. It's what the neoconservatives have wanted. It's what the vast majority of those on the stage want. They still want regime change. They want it in Syria. They wanted it in Iraq. They want it in Libya. It has not worked. Out of regime change you get chaos. From the chaos you have seen repeatedly the rise of radical Islam. So we get this profession of, oh, my goodness, they want to do something about terrorism and yet they're the problem because they allow terrorism to arise out of that chaos. +p1674 +aVNo, I think it's a huge mistake. I think regime change in Syria, and this is what \u2014 I've been saying this for several years now. In 2013 when we first went in, I said, you are going to give arms to the allies of al Qaida, to radical jihadists? That's crazy. But the other thing I said is the great irony is you will be back fighting against your own weapons. Had Assad been bombed when he used chemical weapons two years ago, +p1675 +aVWell, I think if you're in favor of World War III, you have your candidate. You know, here's...... the thing. My goodness, what we want in a leader is someone with judgment, not someone who is so reckless as to stand on the stage and say, "Yes, I'm jumping up and down; I'm going to shoot down Russian planes." Russia already flies in that airspace. It may not be something we're in love with the fact that they're there, but they were invited by Iraq and by Syria to fly in that airspace. And so if we announce we're going to have a no-fly zone, and others have said this. Hillary Clinton is also for it. It is a recipe for disaster. It's a recipe for World War III. We need to confront Russia from a position of strength, but we don't need to confront Russia from a point of recklessness that would lead to war. This is something \u2014 this type of judgment, you know, it's having that kind of judgment; who you would appoint and how you're going to conduct affairs, that is incredibly important. I mean, I think when we think about the judgment of someone who might want World War III, we might think about someone who might shut down a bridge because they don't like their friends; they don't want to \u2014 you know, they want to a Democrat. So I think we need to be very careful. +p1676 +aVYou know, I think we need to set the record straight on this, because I think Marco misspoke about the bill. On the Gang of Eight bill, there was no provisions really for extra scrutiny or safety for refugees. At the time the bill came up, two Iraqi refugees came to my home town, Bowling Green, Kentucky. Their fingerprints were on a bomb from Iraq. They were in the database, but we didn't pick them up. We relocated them here, put them in government housing, got them on food stamps. And we began providing for them, but we didn't have adequate security. On the Gang of Eight bill, on Marco's bill, we had an opportunity. There was a conservative consensus for an amendment I put forward called Trust, But Verify that would have strengthened border security on both refugees, students and those coming here. And Marco sided and I guess was more sympathetic to Chuck Schumer and to the president than he was to conservative principles. But this goes directly to national defense. And if he wants to run as a national \u2014 national defense conservative, he's got to explain why he hasn't stepped up to support border security. +p1677 +aVWhat my bill would do would be only for refugees going forward. So I haven't taken a position on sending anyone home. But I have taken the position that we have a lot of problems here in our country. And that one of the things that we do \u2014 charity is about giving your own money. Charity isn't giving someone else's money. To put everyone in government housing and food stamps and bring them in from around the world I think is a mistake. To give of your own money, I've given to my church. My church has helped people that came from Bosnia. That's a good thing. But we shouldn't have a program where we just say that we're going to take care of the world's refugees. Nobody in the Middle East is doing anything. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait \u2014 all the Gulf nations are doing nothing. They need to step up and take... +p1678 +aVThe greatest threat to our national security is our debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. And whose fault is it? Well, frankly, it's both parties' fault. You have those on the right who clamor and say, oh, we will spend anything on the military, and those on the left who say the same for domestic welfare. But what most Americans don't realize is there is an unholy alliance. They come together. There's a secret handshake. We spend more money on everything. And we are not stronger nation if we go further into debt. We are not projecting power from bankruptcy court. To me, there is no greater threat than our debt. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage because I'm willing to hold the line on all spending. I hope you will consider me in the election. Thank you very much. +p1679 +aVAbsolutely. And I think that we ought to look where income inequality seems to be the worst. It seems to be worst in cities run by Democrats, governors of... States run by Democrats and countries currently run by Democrats. So the thing is, let's look for root causes. But I would also say \u2014 lay some blame at the \u2014 the feet of the Federal Reserve. I think the Federal Reserve has made this problem worse. By artificially keeping interest rates below the market rate, average ordinary citizens have a tough time earning interest, have a tough time making money. They're actually talking now about negative interest. The money as it's created through quantitative easing or other means tends to start out in the big banks in New York. And because we're now paying interest for them to keep the money there, much of that money has not filtered out into the economy. So what we're finding is there is increasing income disparity and income inequality. We also find that as the Federal Reserve destroys the value of the currency, what you're finding is that, if you're poor, if you make $20,000 a year and you have three or four kids, and you're trying to get by, as your prices rise or as the value of the dollar shrinks, these are the people that are hurt the worst. So really we need to reexamine whether we not \u2014 we want a Federal Reserve that's involved so much in determining interest rates. We also need to look at root causes as to what caused the housing boom and the housing collapse. But the bottom line is, if you want less income inequality, move to a city with a Republican mayor or a state with a Republican governor. +p1680 +aVWell, it's a great question, Neil, and thanks for including me in the tax debate. I think what's important about the tax debate is, is that we have to ask the question, where is money best spent, in the private sector or in the government sector? I want a government really, really small, so small you can barely see it. So I want lower taxes and much more money in the private sector. My tax plan, however, is the only tax plan among any of the candidates on the stage that is part of a balanced budget plan. I put forward three plans that actually balance the budget over a five-year period. Each of these plans have details on exactly where we would cut. The question came up earlier, where would you cut? Nobody likes to say where they would cut. I've put pencil to paper and done three budgets that actually balance. I'm also in favor of a plan called the penny plan where we'd just cut 1 percent across the board and the budget actually balances in less than five years. So I think what is extraordinary about my tax plan is it is in the context of balancing the budget. What is also extraordinary about my tax plan is it gets rid of the payroll tax. Democrats demagogue this issue to death, and when they do they say, oh, a millionaire would get a bigger tax cut than someone making $10,000. That's proportionality, as Ben is trying to explain to folks. But the thing is, is if we get rid of the payroll tax, everybody is going to get a tax cut. And this is something that I think the public at large will support and could win an election. +p1681 +aVOurs is 14.5 percent for corporations, 14.5 percent for individuals. No payroll tax for the employee. The business tax pays for social security, and there would be two remaining deductions \u2014 home mortgage and charity. +p1682 +aVThank you. +p1683 +aVNeil, there's a point I'd like to make here... ....Neil, a point that I'd like to make about the tax credits. We have to decide what is conservative and what isn't conservative. Is it fiscally conservative to have a trillion-dollar expenditure? We're not talking about giving people back their tax money. He's talking about giving people money they didn't pay. It's a welfare transfer payment. So here's what we have. Is it conservative to have $1 trillion in transfer payments \u2014 a new welfare program that's a refundable tax credit? Add that to Marco's plan for $1 trillion in new military spending, and you get something that looks, to me, not very conservative. Thank you. +p1684 +aVNevertheless, it's not very conservative, Marco. +p1685 +aVHow is it conservative? +p1686 +aVYeah, but, Marco! Marco! How is it conservative, how is it conservative to add a trillion-dollar expenditure for the federal government that you're not paying for? +p1687 +aVHow is it conservative? +p1688 +aVHow is it conservative to add a trillion dollars in military expenditures? You can not be a conservative if you're going to keep promoting new programs that you're not going to pay for. +p1689 +aVNo. I don't think we're any safer \u2014 I do not think we are any safer from bankruptcy court. As we go further, and further into debt, we become less, and less safe. This is the most important thing we're going to talk about tonight. Can you be a conservative, and be liberal on military spending? Can you be for unlimited military spending, and say, Oh, I'm going to make the country safe? No, we need a safe country, but, you know, we spend more on our military than the next ten countries combined? I want a strong national defense, but I don't want us to be bankrupt. +p1690 +aVHey, Gerard, you know, we might want to point out China is not part of this deal. +p1691 +aVBefore we get a little bit off-kilter here... +p1692 +aVThere is an argument that China doesn't like the deal, because in us doing the deal, we'll be trading with their competitors. You're exactly right. But I think we've sort of missed the point a little bit here. There is an important point, though, about how we discuss these trade treaties that I do agree with Mr. Trump on. We should negotiate from a position of strength. And we also should negotiate using the full force and the constitutional power that was given to us. I think it's a mistake that we give up power to the presidency on these trade deals. We give up the power to filibuster, and I'm kind of fond of that power. We give up the power to amend. And I think, really, one of the big problems we have in our country is, over the last century, really, so much power has gravitated to the executive branch. Really, Congress is kind of a bystander. We don't write the rules. We don't make the laws. The executive branch does. So even in trade \u2014 and I am for trade \u2014 I think we should be careful about giving so much power to the presidency. +p1693 +aVI'd like first to respond to the acquisition, we should \u2014 I think it's particularly naive, particularly foolish to think that we're not going to talk to Russia. The idea of a no fly zone, realize that this is also something that Hillary Clinton agrees with several on our side with, you're asking for a no fly zone in an area in which Russia already flies. Russia flies in that zone at the invitation of Iraq. I'm not saying it's a good thing, but you better know at least what we're getting into. So, when you think it's going to be a good idea to have a no fly zone over Iraq, realize that means you are saying we are going to shoot down Russian planes. If you're ready for that, be ready to send your sons and daughters to another war in Iraq. I don't want to see that happen. I think the first war in Iraq was a mistake... You can be strong without being involved in every civil war around the war... +p1694 +aVRonald Reagan was strong, but Ronald Reagan didn't... +p1695 +aV...send troops into the Middle East... +p1696 +aV...Can I finish... +p1697 +aV...Can I finish my time? Could I finish with my time? +p1698 +aVYes, I would like to finish my response, basically. +p1699 +aVThis is an important question. This is an incredibly important question. And the question goes to be, who do we want to be our commander-in-chief? Do you want a commander-in-chief who says something that we never did throughout the entire Cold War, to discontinue having conversations with the Russians? I am not happy about them flying over there. But I'm not naive enough to say, well, Iraq has them flying over their airspace, we're just going to announce that we're shooting them down? That is naive to the point of being something you might hear in junior high. But it's scary... +p1700 +aVThe first thing I would do is I wouldn't arm our enemies. I wouldn't arm +p1701 +aVGerard, can I comment... +p1702 +aVThe first thing I would do as president is repeal the regulations that are hampering our energy that the President has put in place. Including the Clean Power Act. While I do think that man may have a role in our climate, I think nature also has a role. The planet's 4.5 billion years old, we've been through geologic age after geologic age. We've had times when the temperatures been warmer, we've had times when the temperatures been colder. We've had times when the carbon in the atmosphere's been higher. So, I think before we \u2014 we need to look before we leap. President's often fond of saying he wants a balance solution, but, really we do need to balance both keeping the environment clean, and we will have some rules for that. We got to balance that with the economy. He's devastated my state. I say the President's not only destroying Kentucky, he's destroying the democrat party down there because nobody wants to associate with him. So, what we really need is somebody that understands that we do need energy of all forms, and that means we will have solar, and wind, and hydro, but we will still have coal, and we still will have natural gas. And, we've got to have an all of the above policy. But, it would be a mistake to shut down all of our industries in the coal fields, and shut down the coal power plants. If we did so we're going to have a day where we wake up and some of our big cities are either very cold, or very hot. So, I think it's a big danger, and we shouldn't do it. And, what we should do is say we want all of the above... ...We want to free up the energy sector, and let people produce, let them drill, let them explore. +p1703 +aVWe're the richest, freest, most humanitarian nation in the history of mankind. But we also borrow a million dollars a minute. And the question I have for all Americans is, think about it, can you be a fiscal conservative if you don't conserve all of the money? If you're a profligate spender, you spend money in an unlimited fashion for the military, is that a conservative notion? We have to be conservative with all spending, domestic spending and welfare spending. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage. +p1704 +aVYou know, I left my medical practice and ran for office because I was concerned about an $18 trillion debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. Now, on the floor of the Congress, the Washington establishment from both parties puts forward a bill that will explode the deficit. It allows President Obama to borrow unlimited amounts of money. I will stand firm. I will spend every ounce of energy to stop it. I will begin tomorrow to filibuster it. And I ask everyone in America to call Congress tomorrow and say enough is enough; no more debt. +p1705 +aVNo, I oppose it because you're taking money from the entitlement and then spending it immediately on other items. That's what they're doing. They're taking money from Social Security and they're going to spend it on the military and they're going to spend it on domestic spending. Here's the thing. When you look at raising the debt limit, it should be leverage to try to reform government. In 2011, the sequester was passed as a reform to slow down the rate of government. Instead, the Washington establishment raised both. We raised the military spending, took from entitlements, and raised domestic spending and the deficit will explode under this. This is the unholy alliance that people need to know about between right and left. Right and left are spending us into oblivion. We should use the debt ceiling, as precisely to Don, to force upon them budgetary reforms. +p1706 +aVWell, that's a real question. Is there going to be any change in the House with new leadership? I frankly don't think there will be much change because I think what's going to happen is you're going to get more of the same. People in Washington think they were sent there to be adults and govern and do all this. Well, you know what I'm worried about? Not keeping the government open. I'm worried about bankrupting the American people. We're borrowing a million dollars a minute. That is important. And that's what we have to contrast. Keeping the government open and continuing to borrow a million dollars a minute. +p1707 +aVWell, thank you very much. I would like to thank Ted for co-sponsoring my bill, audit the Fed. And I think it's precisely because of the arrogance of someone like Ben Bernanke, who now calls us all know-nothings, that is precisely why we need audit the Fed. I think it is really very much a huge problem that an organization as powerful as the Fed comes in, lobbies against them being audited on the Hill. I would prevent them lobbying Congress. I don't think the Fed should be involved with lobbying us. I think we should examine how the Fed has really been part of the problem. You want to study income inequality, let's bring the Fed forward and talk about Fed policy and how it causes income inequality. Let's also bring the Fed forward and have them explain how they caused the housing boom and the crisis, and what they've done to make us better or worse. I think the Fed has been a great problem in our society. What you need to do is free up interest rates. Interest rates are the price of money, and we shouldn't have price controls on the price of money. +p1708 +aV...John... +p1709 +aVJohn, I'd like to address this? John, could I follow up on this? +p1710 +aVWhat are the rules on who gets to follow up. How do we decide on who gets to follow up? I've seen plenty of other people follow up? +p1711 +aVI'd like to just mention something about my tax plan, and how it relates to the discussion... +p1712 +aVAlright. Much of the discussion is centered over whether or not the different tax plans help, or affect the middle class. In fact, it's the chief argument by democrats against many of the different flat tax proposals. Mine is unique in the sense that my tax plan actually gets rid of the payroll tax as well. It shifts it to the business, and it would allow middle class people to get a tax cut. If you just cut their income tax, there isn't much income tax to cut. Mine actually cuts the payroll tax, and I think it would spread the tax cut across all socioeconomic levels, and would allow then it to be something that would be broadly supported by the public in an election. +p1713 +aVThe question always is, what works better, the private marketplace or government? And what distributes goods better? It always seems to be the private marketplace does a better job. Is there an area for a safety net? Can you have Medicare or Social Security? Yes. But you ought to acknowledge the government doesn't do a very good job at it. The main problem with Medicare right now is that the average person pays in taxes over their whole lifetime about $100,000. But the average person takes out about $350,000. We have this enormous mismatch because we have smaller and smaller families. When people ask me, whose fault is it? Whose fault is it that Medicare is broken, out of money, that Social Security is broken, out of money? And I say, look, it's not Republicans' fault, it's not Democrats' fault, it's your grandparents' fault for having too many damn kids. After the war we had all of these kids, Baby Boomers. Now we're having smaller families. We used to have 16 workers for one retiree, now you have three workers for one retiree. It's not working. I have a bill to fix Medicare. I've a bill to fix Social Security. For both of them you have to gradually raise the age. If you're not willing to do that, nobody wants to do it, but if you're not willing to gradually raise the age, you're not serious about fixing either one of them. +p1714 +aVSay again? +p1715 +aVYou can't do nothing. And that's what I hear from some people, "we'll do nothing and it will just be fixed." That's absurd, and I think people who don't want to fix it, really, or unwilling to take the chance to say, "something has to change," are missing the boat here. The age will have to gradually rise, there is no question. It's the only way you fix Medicare, the only way you fix Social Security. You will also have to means-test the benefits and declare there's not enough money. It isn't "I put money in, I'm getting it back." There is no money, it's a stack of paper. There is no money in the Social Security account. There is no money in the Medicare account. There's only a promise to pay by the next generation, and the next generation's not big enough to pay it. [ +p1716 +aVLiberty thrives when government is small. I want a government so small I can barely see it. I want a government so small that the individual has a chance to thrive and prosper. I think, though, government is too big now. And what you're going to see in Washington this week is establishment Republicans have made an agreement with the president to raise the debt ceiling in an unlimited fashion; no limit to the debt ceiling raise. This is extraordinary. It's extraordinarily wrong. You'll see me on the floor of the Senate tomorrow filibustering this and saying enough is enough, no more debt. +p1717 +aVGood evening, everyone. I'm an eye surgeon from Bowling Green, Kentucky. My wife, Kelly, and I have been married for nearly 25 years, and I spend my days defending the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I think there's nothing more important than understanding that the Constitution restrains government, not the people. Thank you. +p1718 +aVI kind of have to laugh when I think of, "Mmm, sounds like a non sequitur." He was asked whether or not he would be capable and it would be in good hands to be in charge of the nuclear weapons, and all of a sudden, there's a sideways attack at me. I think that really goes to really the judgment. Do we want someone with that kind of character, that kind of careless language to be negotiating with Putin? Do we want someone like that to be negotiating with Iran? I think really there's a sophomoric quality that is entertaining about Mr. Trump, but I am worried. I'm very concerned about him \u2014 having him in charge of the nuclear weapons, because I think his response, his \u2014 his visceral response to attack people on their appearance \u2014 short, tall, fat, ugly \u2014 my goodness, that happened in junior high. Are we not way above that? Would we not all be worried to have someone like that in charge of the nuclear arsenal? +p1719 +aVI think this goes back to essentially what we've been saying for the last two or three questions. Carly Fiorina also said we're not going to talk with Putin. Well, think if Reagan had said that during the Cold War? We continued to talk with the Russians throughout the Cold War which is much more significant that where we are now. Should we continue to talk with Iran? Yes. Should we cut up the agreement immediately? That's absurd. Wouldn't you want to know if they complied? Now, I'm going to vote against the agreement because I don't think there's significant leverage, but it doesn't mean that I would immediately not look at the agreement, and cut it up without looking to see if whether or not Iran has complied. The same goes with China. I don't think we need to be rash, I don't think we need to be reckless, and I think need to leave lines of communication open. Often we talk about whether we should be engaged in the world, or disengaged in the world, and I think this is an example of some who want to isolate us, actually, and not be engaged. We do need to be engaged with Russia. It doesn't mean we give them a free pass, or China a free pass, but, to be engaged, to continue to talk. We did throughout the Cold War, and it would be a big mistake not to do it here. +p1720 +aVI think this gets to the point of wisdom on when to intervene and when we shouldn't. Had we bombed Assad at the time, like President Obama wanted, and like Hillary Clinton wanted and many Republicans wanted, I think +p1721 +aVWell, I hate to say it, but Donald Trump has a bit of a point here. The case that was decided around 1900 was, people had a green card, were here legally, and they said that their children were citizens. There's never been a direct Supreme Court case on people who were here illegally, whether or not their kids are citizens. So it hasn't really been completely adjudicated. The 14th Amendment says that "those who are here and under the jurisdiction." The original author of the \u2014 of the 14th Amendment said on the Senate floor that this was applying to slaves, and did not specifically apply to others. +p1722 +aVWell, I'm glad we're having a discussion about taxes because everybody laments that we lose jobs overseas, we have. Our companies, and our jobs are being chased overseas by a 70,000 page tax code, so, that's why I've chosen to get rid of the whole thing, and have one single rate, 14 and a-half percent for everybody, business, and for corporate income, and personal income. But, we also get rid of the payroll tax, so the working class would get a tax break as well. So, I think a flat tax, eliminating the tax code, getting rid of all the loopholes, is the way to go, and it's the way we get America going again. +p1723 +aVHugh, can I \u2014 can I make a response to that? +p1724 +aVCan I make a response to that? +p1725 +aVMay I make a response to that? +p1726 +aVHe's referred to me. +p1727 +aVHe's referred to me... +p1728 +aV... in his remarks. May I make a response? +p1729 +aVAbsolutely. Go ahead. +p1730 +aVMay I respond? +p1731 +aVThe remark was made that there hadn't been anyone else on the podium opposed to the Iraq War. I've made my career as being an opponent of the Iraq War. I was opposed to the Syria war. I was opposed to arming people who are our enemies. Iran is now stronger because Hussein is gone. Hussein was the great bulwark and counterbalance to the Iranians. So when we complain about the Iranians, you need to remember that the Iraq War made it worse. Originally, Governor Bush was asked, was the Iraq War a mistake, and he said, "No. We'd do it again." We have to learn sometimes the interventions backfire. The Iraq War backfired and did not help us. We're still paying the repercussions of a bad decision. +p1732 +aVWe have make the decision now in Syria, should we topple Assad? Many up here wanted to topple Assad, and it's like \u2014 I said no, because if you do... +p1733 +aV... +p1734 +aVIf you want boots on the ground, and you want them to be our sons and daughters, you got 14 other choices. There will always be a Bush or Clinton for you, if you want to go back to war in Iraq. But the thing is, the first war was a mistake. And I'm not sending our sons and our daughters back to Iraq. The war didn't work. We can amplify those who live there. The Kurds deserve to be armed and I'll arm them. We can use our Air Force to amplify the forces there. But the boots on the ground need to be the people who live there. My goodness, I'm still upset with the Saudi Arabians for everything they do over there. They've funded the arms that went to the jihadists. They're not accepting any of the people, any of the migrants that have been \u2014 the refugees that are being pushed out of Syria. Saudi Arabia is not accepting one. Why are we always the world's patsies that we have to go over there and fight their wars for them? They need to fight their wars, we need to defend American interests, but it is not in America's national security interests to have another war in Iraq. +p1735 +aVI think one of the great problems, and what American people don't like about politics, is hypocrisy. People have one standard for others and not for them \u2014 for themselves. There is at least one prominent example on the stage of someone who says they smoked pot in high school, and yet the people going to \u2014 to jail for this are poor people, often African-Americans and often Hispanics, and yet the rich kids who use drugs aren't. I personally think that this is a crime for which the only victim is the individual, and I think that America has to take a different attitude. I would like to see more rehabilitation and less incarceration. I'm a fan of the drug courts which try to direct you back towards work and less time in jail. But the bottom line is the states. We say we like the 10th Amendment, until we start talking about this. And I think the federal government has gone too far, I think that the war on drugs has had a racial outcome, and really has been something that has really damaged our inner cities. Not only do the drugs damage them, we damage them again by incarcerating them and then preventing them from getting employment over time. So I don't think that the federal government should override the states. I believe in the 10th Amendment and I really will say that the states are left to themselves. +p1736 +aVWell, I think if we left it open, we could see how many people smoked pot in high school. +p1737 +aVWell, you know, the thing is that... +p1738 +aVYeah, I was talking about \u2014 well, let me... +p1739 +aVBut let me respond. The thing is, is that in Florida, Governor Bush campaigned against medical marijuana. That means that a small child like Morgan Hintz (ph) that has seizures is day, is failing on non-traditional medications, is not allowed to use cannabis oil. And if they do that in Florida, they will take the child away, they will put the parents in jail. And that's what that means if you're against allowing people use medical marijuana, you'll actually put them in jail. +p1740 +aVAnd actually, under the current circumstances, kids who had privilege like you do, don't go to jail, but the poor kids in our inner cities go to jail. I don't think that's fair. And I think we need to acknowledge it, and it is hypocritical to still want to put poor people in jail... +p1741 +aVWell, you vote \u2014 you oppose medical marijuana... +p1742 +aVBut that means you'll put people in jail. +p1743 +aVMay I respond? +p1744 +aVUnderstand what they're saying. if they're going to say we are going to enforce the federal law against what the state law is, they aren't really believing in the Tenth Amendment. Governor Christie would go into Colorado, and if you're breaking any federal law on marijuana, even though the state law allows it, he would put you in jail. If a young mother is trying to give her child cannabis oil for medical marijuana for seizure treatment, he would put her in jail, if it violates federal law. I would let Colorado do what the Tenth Amendment says. This power \u2014 we were never intended to have crime dealing at the federal level. Crime was supposed to be left to the states. Colorado has made their decision. And I don't want the federal government interfering and putting moms in jail, who are trying to get medicine for their kid... +p1745 +aVMay I respond? May I respond? +p1746 +aVHere is the thing, he doesn't want to make it about medical marijuana, but what if New Jersey's medical marijuana contradicts the federal law? He's saying he'll send the federal government in, and he will enforce the federal law. That's not consistent with the Tenth Amendment. It is not consistent with states' rights. And it is not consistent with the conservative vision for the country. I don't think we should be sending the federal police in to arrest a mother and separate them from their child for giving a medicine to their child for seizures. +p1747 +aVIf you want a skeptic \u2014 if you want a skeptic, Jake, I will happily jump into that briar patch. If you want a real... +p1748 +aVA second opinion? One of the greatest \u2014 one of the greatest medical discoveries of all times was \u2014 were the vaccines, particularly for smallpox. And if you want to read a story, it's called The Speckled Monster, it's an amazing story, it was all done voluntary. But people came in by the droves. George Washington wouldn't let his wife visit until she got vaccinated. So I'm all for vaccines. But I'm also for freedom. I'm also a little concerned about how they're bunched up. My kids had all of their vaccines, and even if the science doesn't say bunching them up is a problem, I ought to have the right to spread out my vaccines out a little bit at the very least. +p1749 +aVOoh, that's a tough one. You know, I'm big on \u2014 that we were \u2014 and I love what Carly said about women's suffrage. I think Susan B. Anthony might be a good choice. +p1750 +aVJustice Never Sleeps. +p1751 +aVI met Ronald Reagan as a teenager, and my family, we're big supporters of him when he ran against Gerald Ford. It was a big deal because he was the grassroots, running against the establishment, and I'll never forget that. And, how he stood up and said, you know what, this is something new that our country needs, and our party needs. If I were president, I would try to be one who says, you know what, I'm a Reagan Conservative. I'm someone who believes in peace through strength, and I would try to lead the country in that way knowing that our goal is peace, and that war is the last resort, not the first resort. And, that when we go to war, we go to war in a constitutional way, which means that we have to vote on it, that war is initiated by congress, not by the president, that we go to war electively (ph). That when we go to war, we don't fight with one arm tied behind our back, we fight all out to win, but then we come home. +p1752 +aVThis is what's wrong! +p1753 +aVI mean, this is what's wrong. He buys and sells politicians of all stripes, he's already... +p1754 +aVHey, look, look! He's already hedging his bet on the Clintons, OK? So if he doesn't run as a Republican, maybe he supports Clinton, or maybe he runs as an independent... +p1755 +aV...but I'd say that he's already hedging his bets because he's used to buying politicians. +p1756 +aVFirst of all, only +p1757 +aVMegyn, may I respond? May I respond? +p1758 +aVI want to collect more records from terrorists, but less records from innocent Americans. The Fourth Amendment was what we fought the Revolution over! John Adams said it was the spark that led to our war for independence, and I'm proud of standing for the Bill of Rights, and I will continue to stand for the Bill of Rights. +p1759 +aVUse the Fourth Amendment! +p1760 +aVUse the Fourth Amendment! +p1761 +aVGet a warrant! +p1762 +aVGet a judge to sign the warrant! +p1763 +aVSee, here's the problem. +p1764 +aVHere's the problem, governor. Here's the problem, governor. You fundamentally misunderstand the Bill of Rights. Every time you did a case, you got a warrant from a judge. I'm talking about searches without warrants... +p1765 +aV...indiscriminately, of all Americans' records, and that's what I fought to end. I don't trust President Obama with our records. I know you gave him a big hug, and if you want to give him a big hug again, go right ahead. +p1766 +aVI've got a news flash... +p1767 +aVNews flash, the Republican Party's been fighting against a single-payer system... +p1768 +aV-- for a decade. So I think you're on the wrong side of this if you're still arguing for a single-payer system. +p1769 +aVI oppose the Iranian deal, and will vote against it. I don't think that the president negotiated from a position of strength, but I don't immediately discount negotiations. I'm a Reagan conservative. Reagan did negotiate with the Soviets. But you have to negotiate from a position of strength, and I think President Obama gave away too much, too early. If there's going to be a negotiation, you're going to have to believe somehow that the Iranians are going to comply. And I asked this question to John Kerry, I said "do you believe they're trustworthy?" and he said "No." And I said, "well, how are we gonna get them to comply?" I would have never released the sanctions before there was consistent evidence of compliance. +p1770 +aVLook, I don't want my marriage or my guns registered in Washington. And if people have an opinion, it's a religious opinion that is heartly felt, obviously they should be allowed to practice that and no government should interfere with them. One of the things, one of the things that really got to me was the thing in Houston where you had the government, the mayor actually, trying to get the sermons of ministers. When the government tries to invade the church to enforce its own opinion on marriage, that's when it's time to resist. +p1771 +aVWell, let's be clear, I'm the only one on the stage who actually has a five-year budget that balances. I've put pencil to paper... +p1772 +aV... and I've said -- and I've said I would cut spending, and I've said exactly where. Each one of my budgets has taken a meat axe to foreign aid, because I think we ought to quit sending it to countries that hate us. I think we ought to quit sending it to countries that burn our flag. Israel is not one of those. But even Benjamin Netanyahu said that ultimately, they will be stronger when they're independent. My position is exactly the same. We shouldn't borrow money from China to send it anywhere, but why don't we start with eliminating aid to our enemies. +p1773 +aVI still say exactly what my original opinion is. Do you borrow money from China to send it to anyone? Out of your surplus, you can help your allies, and Israel is a great ally. And this is no particular animus of Israel, but what I will say, and I will say over and over again, we cannot give away money we don't have. We do not project power from bankruptcy court. We're borrowing a million dollars a minute. It's got to stop somewhere. +p1774 +aVI'm a different kind of Republican. I've introduced a five-year balanced budget. I've introduced the largest tax cut in our history. I stood for ten and a half hours on the Senate floor to defend your right to be left alone. But I've also gone to Chicago. I've gone to Detroit. I've been to Ferguson, I've been to Baltimore, because I want our party to be bigger, better and bolder, and I'm the only one that leads Hillary Clinton in five states that were won by President Obama. I'm a different kind of Republican. +p1775 +asVBASH +p1776 +(lp1777 +VA crucial question is how to balance surveillance with privacy and keeping Americans safe. Senator Cruz, you voted for a bill that President Obama signed into law just this past June that made it harder for the government to access Americans' phone records. In light of the San Bernardino attack, was your vote a mistake? +p1778 +aVThank you. Senator Rubio, Senator Cruz is right there was bipartisan support for that. But you voted against it. So, is Senator Cruz wrong? +p1779 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1780 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator \u2014 Senator Rubio, please respond. +p1781 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I know this is \u2014 this has been a very big issue for you. You hear many of your colleagues are calling for increased surveillance by law enforcement. You call that hogwash. Why is that hogwash? +p1782 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1783 +aVGovernor Christie, Governor Christie... ...Governor Christie, I'll come to you in a minute. Go ahead, Senator Paul. +p1784 +aVGo ahead, please. +p1785 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about immigration in a while. But, Governor Christie, just listening to this... +p1786 +aVListening to this, you talked \u2014 you heard Senator Paul, Senator Cruz talk about how important it is to protect Americans' privacy, even in a time of grave danger. Why \u2014 what's wrong with that? +p1787 +aVSenator Paul, you said +p1788 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I want to go back to my initial question, which is you saying that +p1789 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about regime change in a bit. But Governor Kasich, would you like to respond to Senator Paul? +p1790 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. We've been talking tonight about programs and policy proposals that you all have to keep Americans safe and it's a big discussion on the campaign trail. Also about border security and immigration. So let's talk about immigration. Senator Rubio. You co-authored a bill with Democrats two years ago that allowed a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Do you still support that path to citizenship, which means giving those immigrants rights, like the right to vote? +p1791 +aVSenator, you haven't answered the question. You described a very long path but does that path end at citizenship? +p1792 +aVThank you, senator. +p1793 +aVThank you, senator. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, on the campaign trail, Senator Rubio has said that his immigration plan is not that different from yours. Is that true? +p1794 +aVSenator Rubio, please. +p1795 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1796 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1797 +aVSenator Cruz, can you answer that question please? +p1798 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1799 +aVOne at a time please. +p1800 +aVMs. Fiorina, please wait your turn, we're going to get to you. +p1801 +aVSenator Cruz go ahead. +p1802 +aVMr. Trump, you like to say that you restarted this conversation in the campaign. +p1803 +aVSo who do you side with? Who do you side with in this, Senator Rubio or Senator Cruz? +p1804 +aVThank you. Governor Bush? +p1805 +aVListening to this, do you think this is the tone \u2014 this immigration debate that republicans need to take to win back Hispanics into our party especially states like where we are in Nevada that has a pretty Hispanic community? +p1806 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said if China launches a cyber- attack against the U.S. on your watch, "they're going to see cyber- warfare like they have never seen before." What exactly would that response look like? +p1807 +aVGovernor Bush, what you just heard from Governor Christie, are you concerned that that could really escalate with China, that they would retaliate? And, for example, as the NSA has said, attack the U.S. and maybe it's power grid, which the Chinese have the capability to do? +p1808 +aVMr. Trump, just this weekend you said Senator Cruz is not qualified to be president because he doesn't have the right temperament and acted like a maniac when he arrived in the Senate. But last month you said you were open to naming Senator Cruz as your running mate. +p1809 +aVSo why would you be willing to put somebody who's a maniac one heartbeat away from the presidency? +p1810 +aVOkay. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, you have not been willing to attack Mr. Trump in public. +p1811 +aVBut you did question his judgment in having control of American's nuclear arsenal during a private meeting with supporters. Why are you willing to say things about him in private and not in public? +p1812 +aVSenator, senator, I just... +p1813 +aVSenator, a lot of people have seen... +p1814 +aV... a lot of people have seen these comments you made in private. I just want to clarify what you're saying right now is you do believe Mr. Trump has the judgment to be commander in chief? +p1815 +aVGovernor Kasich, Senator Cruz is so committed to stripping federal funds from Planned Parenthood that it could result in shutting down the federal government in just about two weeks. Do you agree with Senator Cruz's tactic? +p1816 +aVThank you. +p1817 +aVThank you. Senator Cruz, I would just add that, on this stage not that long ago, Senator Graham said that this tactic that you're pushing would tank the Republicans' ability to win in 2016. +p1818 +aVThank you, senator. +p1819 +aVThank you... +p1820 +aVGovernor \u2014 governor, I want to go to you. Is it what Senator Cruz says, a surrender by Republicans? +p1821 +aVBut... +p1822 +aVBut is it... +p1823 +aVBut, governor, the \u2014 but, governor, the reality is, in just two weeks' time... ...we are going to be facing a question about whether or not it's enough to shut down the government to make that statement, because there is still a Democrat in the White House. Do you oppose it or support it? +p1824 +aVYes or no, do you support this shutdown? +p1825 +aVWe're talking about Planned Parenthood right now. +p1826 +aVCan you answer yes or no? +p1827 +aVOne more time. I'm sorry, I just want to get the answer. +p1828 +aVSo you would support a shutdown. +p1829 +aVGovernor Bush, Mr. Trump has suggested that your views on immigration are influenced by your Mexican born wife. He said that, quote, "If my wife were from Mexico, I think I would have a soft spot for people from Mexico." Did Mr. Trump go to far in invoking your wife? +p1830 +aVMr. Trump? +p1831 +aVMr. Trump... +p1832 +aVGo ahead. +p1833 +aVMs. Fiorina \u2014 Ms. Fiorina, we're going to come to you, we're going to come to you. I just want to give Governor Bush a chance to respond to what Mr. Trump said. +p1834 +aVOK, on that note, you have criticized Governor Bush for speaking Spanish on the campaign trail. You said, quote, "He should really set an example by speaking English in the United States." What's wrong with speaking Spanish? +p1835 +aVThank you. +p1836 +aV...Thank you.... +p1837 +aVGovernor Bush, let's talk about the issue that's very important to Republican voters, and that's the Supreme Court. After Chief Justice John Roberts voted to uphold Obamacare twice, Senator Cruz criticized your brother for appointing John Roberts to the Supreme Court. Looking back on it, did your brother make a mistake? +p1838 +aV...Is John Roberts one of those people? +p1839 +aVDo you like what you just heard, Senator Cruz? +p1840 +aVMr. Trump, you have said once or twice that you are really rich, and you are by far the richest person on this stage. Chris Christie says billionaires like you and even people who make and earn far less should no longer get Social Security, or at least there should be limits based on \u2014 on their income. You think he's wrong, and if so, why? +p1841 +aVWhat about the country as a \u2014 as a policy? +p1842 +aVSo is a voluntary program the way to get the Social Security system solvent again like that. +p1843 +asVEPPERSON +p1844 +(lp1845 +VThank you, John. Mrs. Fiorina, you were the CEO of a large corporation that offers a 401(k) to its employees. But more than half of American have no access to an employer sponsored retirement plan. That includes the workers at small businesses, and the growing ranks of Uber drivers and other part-timers in the freelance economy. Should the Federal Government play a larger role in helping to set up retirement plans for these workers? +p1846 +aVSo you wouldn't agree \u2014 you wouldn't agree with a start for 401(k) for businesses or anything like that? +p1847 +aVThank you very much. +p1848 +aVThank you, the rules say one minute. +p1849 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. We appreciate it. Thank you, thank you. I want to turn my attention now, to you now, Governor Kasich. Most people can't get a college degree without going into debt. Over 40 million Americans have student loans and many of them cannot pay them back. This country has over $100 billion in student loan defaults. That's billion with a b. What will you do to make sure that students, their families, taxpayers, won't feel the economic impact of this burden for generations? Well, first of all, in Ohio we're changing the whole system. Universities will not get paid one dime unless the student graduates or \u2014 graduates or completes a course. Secondly, you can be in high school and complete almost an entire first year before you go to college and get credit to do that. And, of course, in addition to that, we are working now to go after the cost drivers in our universities. And let me give you an example. Universities today have so many non-academic assets. At Ohio State they sold the parking garage and the parking lot, and they got $500 million because they shouldn't be in the parking lot business. They shouldn't be in the ding business, they shouldn't be in the dorm business. And, of course, we need to take advantage of on-line education to reduce these costs and begin to dis-intermediate the cost of four years. Now, for those who that have these big high costs, I think we can seriously look at an idea of where you can do public service. I mean legitimate, public service and begin to pay off some of that debt through the public service that you do. And in the meantime, it may inspire us to care more about our country, more about ourselves. This is a big moral issue in America. Living a life bigger than yourself, and being a center of healing and justice. And people can learn it through public service. +p1850 +aVThank you, thank you. +p1851 +asVSANDERS +p1852 +(lp1853 +VWell, Gwen and Judy, thank you very much for hosting this event. And, PBS, thank you. Nine months ago, our campaign began. And when it began, we had no political organization, no money, and not much name recognition outside of the state of Vermont. A lot has happened in nine months. And what has happened is, I think, the American people have responded to a series of basic truths, and that is that we have today a campaign finance system which is corrupt, which is undermining American democracy, which allows Wall Street and billionaires to pour huge sums of money into the political process to elect the candidates of their choice. And aligned with a corrupt campaign finance system is a rigged economy. And that's an economy where ordinary Americans are working longer hours for low wagers. They are worried to death about the future of their kids. And yet they are seeing almost all new income and all new wealth going to the top 1 percent. And then in addition to that, the American people are looking around and they see a broken criminal justice system. They see more people in jail in the United States of America than any other country on earth, 2.2 million. We're spending $80 billion a year locking up fellow Americans. They see kids getting arrested for marijuana, getting in prison, getting a criminal record, while they see executives on Wall Street who pay billions of dollars in settlements and get no prosecution at all. No criminal records for them. I think what our campaign is indicating is that the American people are tired of establishment politics, tired of establishment economics. They want a political revolution in which millions of Americans stand up, come together, not let the Trumps of the world divide us, and say, you know what, in this great country, we need a government that represents all of us, not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors. Thank you. +p1854 +aVWell, to put that in a context, Judy, I think we have to understand that in the last 30 years in this country there has been a massive transfer of wealth going from the hands of working families into the top one-tenth of 1% whose percentage of wealth has doubled. In other words, the very rich are getting richer, almost everybody is going \u2014 getting poorer. What I believe is the United States, in fact, should join the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee healthcare to all people. Our Medicare for all single-payer proposal will save the average middle class family $5,000 a year. I do believe that in the year 2016 we have to look in terms of public education as colleges as part of public education making public colleges and universities tuition free. I believe that when real unemployment is close to 10%, and when our infrastructure, our roads, our bridges, our water systems, Flint, Michigan comes to mind. Our waste water plants, our rail, our airports, in many places are disintegrating. Yeah, we can create 13 million jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure at a cost of a trillion dollars. +p1855 +aV... Of course there will be a limit, but when today you have massive levels of income and wealth inequality, when the middle class is disappearing, you have the highest rate of child poverty of almost any major country on Earth. Yes, in my view, the government of a democratic society has a moral responsibility to play a vital role in making sure all of our people have a decent standard of living. +p1856 +aVWell, let us level with the American people. Secretary Clinton has been going around the country saying Bernie Sanders wants to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, people are going to lose their MedicAid, they're going to lose their +p1857 +aVThat is absolutely inaccurate. Look, here is the reality, folks. There is one major country on Earth that does not guarantee health care to all people. There is one major country \u2014 the United States \u2014 which ends up spending almost three times per capita what they do in the U.K. guaranteeing health care to all people, 50 percent more than they do in France guaranteeing health care to all people, far more than our Canadian neighbors, who guarantee health care to all people. Please do not tell me that in this country, if \u2014 and here's the if \u2014 we have the courage to take on the drug companies, and have the courage to take on the insurance companies, and the medical equipment suppliers, if we do that, yes, we can guarantee health care to all people in a much more cost effective way. +p1858 +aVWell, Secretary Clinton, you're not in the White House yet. And let us be clear that every proposal that I have introduced has been paid for. For example, all right, who in America denies that we have an infrastructure that is crumbling? Roads, bridges, water systems, wastewater plants, who denies that? Who denies that real unemployment today, including those who have given up looking for work and are working part-time is close to 10 percent? Who denies that African-American youth unemployment, real, is over 50 percent. We need to create jobs. So yes, I will do away with the outrageous loopholes that allow profitable multinational corporations to stash billions of dollars in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda and in a given year pay zero, zero in federal income tax. Yes, I'm going to do away with that. We will use those proceeds, a hundred billion a year, to invest in rebuilding our infrastructure. Yes, I believe that as a result of the illegal behavior on Wall Street, that they are a Wall Street that drove this country into the worst economic downturn since the Great Recession \u2014 Great Depression. Yes, I do believe that now after the American people bailed Wall Street out, yes, they should pay a Wall Street speculation tax so that we can make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We bailed them out. Now it is their time to help the middle class. +p1859 +aVA brief response. +p1860 +aVHere is where we are with public education. A 100, 150 years ago incredibly brave Americans said, you know what, working class kids, low income kids should not have to work in factories or on the farms. Like rich kids, they deserve to get a free education. And that free education of extraordinary accomplishment was from first grade to 12th grade. The world has changed. This is 2016. In many ways, a college degree today is equivalent to what a high school degree was 50, 60 years ago. So, yes, I do believe that when we talk about public education in America, today, in a rapidly changing world, we should have free tuition at public colleges and universities. That should be a right of all Americans regardless of the income of their families. +p1861 +aVLook, we are fighting for every vote that we can get from women, from men, straight, gay, African-Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans. We are trying to bring America together around an agenda that works for working families and the middle class. I am very proud, if my memory is not correct \u2014 I think I am \u2014 that I have a lifetime \u2014 and I've been in Congress a few years \u2014 a lifetime 100 percent pro-choice voting record. I am very proud that over the years we have had the support in my state of Vermont from very significant majorities of women. I'm very proud that I support legislation that is currently in the Congress, got support of almost all progressive Democrats in the House and Senate, which says we will end the absurdity of women today making 79 cents on the dollar compared to men. And we will join the rest of the other \u2014 the industrialized world in saying that paid family and medical leave should be a right of all working families. +p1862 +aVWell, you know, I think, from a historical point of view, somebody with my background, somebody with my views, somebody who has spent his entire life taking on the big money interests, I think a Sanders victory would be of some historical accomplishment, as well. +p1863 +aVLet me concur with the secretary, no question women's rights are under fierce attack all over this country. And I will tell you something that really galls me. I will not shock anybody to suggest that in politics there is occasionally a little bit of hypocrisy. Just a little bit. All over this country we have Republican candidates for president saying we hate the government. Government is the enemy. We're going to cut Social Security to help you. We're going to cut Medicare and Medicaid, federal aid to education to help you, because the government is so terrible. But, by the way, when it comes to a woman having to make a very personal choice, ah, in that case, my Republican colleagues love the government and want the government to make that choice for every woman in America. If that's not hypocrisy, I don't know what hypocrisy is. +p1864 +aVThis is one of the great tragedies in our country today. And we can no longer continue to sweep it under the rug. It has to be dealt with. Today a male African-American baby born today stands a one-in-four chance of ending up in jail. That is beyond unspeakable. So what we have to do is the radical reform of a broken criminal justice system. What we have to do is end over-policing in African-American neighborhoods. The reality is that both the African-American community and the white community do marijuana at about equal rates. The reality is four times as many blacks get arrested for marijuana. Truth is that far more blacks get stopped for traffic violations. The truth is that sentencing for blacks is higher than for whites. We need fundamental police reform, clearly, clearly, when we talk about a criminal justice system. I would hope that we could all agree that we are sick and tired of seeing videos on television of unarmed people, often African-Americans, shot by police officers. What we have got to do is make it clear that any police officer who breaks the law will, in fact, be held accountable. +p1865 +aVNothing that Secretary Clinton said do I disagree with. This mandatory sentencing, a very bad idea. It takes away discretion from judges. We have got to demilitarize local police departments so they do not look like occupying armies. We have got to make sure that local police departments look like the communities they serve in their diversity. And, where we are failing abysmally is in the very high rate of recidivism we see. People are being released from jail without the education, without the job training, without the resources that they need to get their lives together, then they end up \u2014 we're shocked that they end up back in jail again. So, we have a lot of work to do. But, here is a pledge I've made throughout this campaign, and it's really not a very radical pledge. When we have more people in jail, disproportionately African American and Latino, than China does, a communist authoritarian society four times our size. Here's my promise, at the end of my first term as president we will not have more people in jail than any other country. We will invest in education, and jobs for our kids, not incarceration and more jails. +p1866 +aVWell, I think, Judy, what has to be appreciated is that, as a result of the disastrous and illegal behavior on Wall Street, millions of lives were hurt. People lost their jobs, their homes, their life savings. Turns out that the African-American community and the Latino community were hit especially hard. As I understand it, the African-American community lost half of their wealth as a result of the Wall Street collapse. So when you have childhood African-American poverty rates of 35 percent, when you have youth unemployment at 51 percent, when you have unbelievable rates of incarceration \u2014 which, by the way, leaves the children back home without a dad or even a mother \u2014 clearly, we are looking at institutional racism. We are looking at an economy in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. And sadly, in America today, in our economy, a whole lot of those poor people are African-American. +p1867 +aVAbsolutely, because what we will do is say, instead of giving tax breaks to billionaires, we are going to create millions of jobs for low-income kids so they're not hanging out on street corners. We're going to make sure that those kids stay in school or are able to get a college education. And I think when you give low-income kids \u2014 African-American, white, Latino kids \u2014 the opportunities to get their lives together, they are not going to end up in jail. They're going to end up in the productive economy, which is where we want them. +p1868 +aVWhite people? +p1869 +aVYeah, you can, because African-Americans and Latinos not only face the general economic crises of low wages, and high unemployment, and poor educational opportunities, but they face other problems, as well. So, yes, we can talk about it as a racial issue. But it is a general economic issue. And here's what the economic issue is. The wages that high school graduates receive today are significantly less, whether you are white or black, than they used to be. Why is that? Because of a series of disastrous trade policies which have allowed corporate America through +p1870 +aVThe answer is yes. We've got 11 million undocumented people in this country. I have talked to some of the young kids with tears rolling down their cheeks, are scared to death that today they may or their parents may be deported. I believe that we have got to pass comprehensive immigration reform, something that I strongly supported. I believe that we have got to move toward a path toward citizenship. I agree with President Obama who used executive orders to protect families because the Congress, the House was unable or refused to act. And in fact I would go further. What would motivate me and what would be the guiding light for me in terms of immigration reform, Judy, is to bring families together, not divide them up. And let me say this also. Somebody who is very fond of the president, agrees with him most of the time, I disagree with his recent deportation policies. And I would not support those. Bottom line is a path towards citizenship for 11 million undocumented people, if Congress doesn't do the right thing, we use the executive orders of the president. +p1871 +aVSecretary Clinton, I do have a disagreement here. If my memory is correct, I think when we saw children coming from these horrendous, horrendously violent areas of Honduras and neighboring countries, people who are fleeing drug violence and cartel violence, I thought it was a good idea to allow those children to stay in this country. That was not, as I understand it, the secretary's position. In terms of 2007 immigration reform, yeah, I did vote against it. I voted against it because the Southern Poverty Law Center, among other groups, said that the guest-worker programs that were embedded in this agreement were akin to slavery. Akin to slavery, where people came into this country to do guest work were abused, were exploited, and if they stood up for their rights, they'd be thrown out of this country. So it wasn't just me who opposed it. It was +p1872 +aVWell, let me just respond. I worked with Ted Kennedy. He was the chairman of my committee. And I loved Ted Kennedy. But on this issue, when you have one of the large Latino organizations in America saying vote no, and you have the AFL-CIO saying vote no, and you have leading progressive Democrats, in fact, voting no, I don't apologize for that vote. But in terms of the children, I don't know to whom you're sending a message. Who are you sending a message to? These are children who are leaving countries and neighborhoods where their lives are at stake. That was the fact. I don't think we use them to send a message. I think we welcome them into this country and do the best we can to help them get their lives together. +p1873 +aVOK. You know, you judge a nation not by the number of millionaires and billionaires it has, but by how you treat, we treat, the most vulnerable and fragile people in our nation. And by those standards, we're not doing particularly well. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty among almost any major country on Earth. And in terms of seniors, there are millions of seniors \u2014 and I've talked to them in my state of Vermont and all over this country \u2014 who are trying to get by on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year Social Security. And you know what? You do the arithmetic. You can't get by on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year. And here's an area where Secretary Clinton and I believe we have a difference. I have long supported the proposition that we should lift the cap on taxable income coming into the Social Security Trust Fund, starting at $250,000. And when we \u2014 and when we do that, we don't do what the Republicans want, which is to cut Social Security. We do what the American people want, to expand Social Security by $1,300 a year for people under $16,000, and we extend the life of Social Security for 58 years. Yes, the wealthiest people, the top 1.5 percent, will pay more in taxes. But a great nation like ours should not be in a position where elderly people are cutting their pills in half, where they don't have decent nutrition, where they can't heat their homes in the wintertime. That is not what America should be about. If elected president, I will do everything I can to expand Social Security benefits, not just for seniors, but for disabled veterans, as well. +p1874 +aVIn all due respect......In all due respect, Secretary Clinton, a lot of the progressive groups, the online groups have really asked you a simple question. Are you coming onboard a proposal? And what is that proposal? Now, the proposal that I have outlined, you know, should be familiar to you, because it is what essentially Barack Obama campaigned on in 2008. You opposed him then. I would hope that you would come onboard and say that this is the simple and straightforward thing to do. We're asking the top 1.5 percent, including passive income, to start paying a little bit more so that the elderly and disabled vets in this country can live with security and dignity. I hope you will make a decision soon on this. +p1875 +aVThat's my bill. Check it out. +p1876 +aVWhat we are talking about in reality is a corrupt campaign finance system, that's what we're talking about. We have to be honest about it. It is undermining American democracy. When extraordinarily wealthy people make very large contributions to Super PACs, and in many cases in this campaign, Super PACs have raised more money than individual candidates have, OK? We had a decision to make early on, do we do a Super PAC? And, we said no. We don't represent Wall Street, we don't represent the billionaire class, so it ends up I'm the only candidate up here of the many candidates who has no Super PAC. But, what we did is we said to the working families of this country, look, we know things are tough, but if you want to help us go beyond establishment politics, and establishment economics, send us something. And, it turns out that up until \u2014 and this has blown me away, never in a million years would I have believed that I would be standing here tonight telling you that we have received three and a half million individual contributions from well over a million people. Now, Secretary Clinton's Super PAC, as I understand it, received $25 million dollars last reporting period, $15 million dollars from Wall Street. Our average contribution is $27 dollars, I'm very proud of that. +p1877 +aVThe people aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street... But let's not \u2014 but let's not \u2014 let's not insult \u2014 let's not insult the intelligence of the American people. People aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street make huge campaign contributions? I guess just for the fun of it; they want to throw money around. Why does the pharmaceutical industry make huge campaign contributions? Any connection maybe to the fact that our people pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs? Why does the fossil fuel industry pay \u2014 spend huge amounts of money on campaign contributions? Any connection to the fact that not one Republican candidate for president thinks and agrees with the scientific community that climate change is real and that we have got to transform our energy system? And when we talk about Wall Street, let's talk about Wall Street. I voted for Dodd-Frank, got an important amendment in it. In my view, it doesn't go anywhere near far enough. But when we talk about Wall Street, you have Wall Street and major banks have paid $200 billion in fines since the great crash. No Wall Street executive has been prosecuted. +p1878 +aVLet me, you know, again, respectfully disagree with Secretary Clinton here. When you have three out of the four largest financial institutions in this country bigger today than they were when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, when you have six financial institutions having assets equivalent to 58 percent of the GDP of America, while issuing two-thirds of the credit cards and a third of the mortgages, look, I think if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, that great trust-buster would have said break them up. I think he would have been right. I think he would have said bring back a 21st-century Glass-Steagall legislation. I think that would have been right, as well. That's my view. +p1879 +aVHey, I'm in the United States Senate, and anyone who doesn't think that there is an enormous amount of waste and inefficiency and bureaucracy throughout government would be very, very mistaken. I believe in government, but I believe in efficient government, not wasteful government. +p1880 +aVIf I could just answer that, we have also got to take a look at the waste and inefficiencies in the Department of Defense, which is the one major agency of government that has not been able to be audited. And I have the feeling you're going to find a lot of cost overruns there and a lot of waste and duplicative activities. +p1881 +aVLet me \u2014 let me just say this. What a President of the United States has got to do and what is his or her major, I think, responsibility is to, a, make certain that we keep our people safe, that we work with allies around the world to protect democratic values, that we do all that we can to create a world of peace and prosperity. I voted against the war in Iraq because I listened very carefully to what President Bush and Vice President Cheney had to say and I didn't believe them. And if you go to my Web site,berniesanders.com, what you find is not only going to help lead the opposition to that war, but much of what I feared would happen when I spoke on the floor of the House, in fact, did happen in terms of the instability that occurred. Now I think an area in kind of a vague way, or not so vague, where Secretary Clinton and I disagree is the area of regime change. Look, the truth is that a powerful nation like the United States, certainly working with our allies, we can overthrow dictators all over the world. And God only knows Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator. We could overthrow Assad tomorrow if we wanted to. We got rid of Gadhafi. But the point about foreign policy is not just to know that you can overthrow a terrible dictator, it's to understand what happens the day after. And in Libya, for example, the United States, Secretary Clinton, as secretary of state, working with some other countries, did get rid of a terrible dictator named Gadhafi. But what happened is a political vacuum developed. +p1882 +aVJudy, if I can, there is no question, Secretary Clinton and I are friends, and I have a lot of respect for her, that she has enormous experience in foreign affairs. Secretary of state for four years. You've got a bit of experience, I would imagine. But judgment matters as well. Judgment matters as well. And she and I looked at the same evidence coming from the Bush administration regarding Iraq. I lead the opposition against it. She voted for it. But more importantly, in terms of this Libya resolution that you have noted before, this was a virtually unanimous consent. Everybody voted for it wanting to see Libya move toward democracy, of course we all wanted to do that. That is very different than talking about specific action for regime change, which I did not support. +p1883 +aVJudy, one area very briefly... +p1884 +aVWhere the secretary and I have a very profound difference, in the last debate \u2014 and I believe in her book \u2014 very good book, by the way \u2014 in her book and in this last debate, she talked about getting the approval or the support or the mentoring of Henry Kissinger. Now, I find it rather amazing, because I happen to believe that Henry Kissinger was one of the most destructive secretaries of state in the modern history of this country. I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend. I will not take advice from Henry Kissinger. And in fact, Kissinger's actions in Cambodia, when the United States bombed that country, overthrew Prince Sihanouk, created the instability for Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge to come in, who then butchered some 3 million innocent people, one of the worst genocides in the history of the world. So count me in as somebody who will not be listening to Henry Kissinger. +p1885 +aVWell, it ain't Henry Kissinger. That's for sure. +p1886 +aVIt is. +p1887 +aVI find \u2014 I mean, it's just a very different, you know, historical perspective here. Kissinger was one of those people during the Vietnam era who talked about the domino theory. Not everybody remembers that. You do. I do. The domino theory, you know, if Vietnam goes, China, da, da, da, da, da, da, da. That's what he talked about, the great threat of China. And then, after the war, this is the guy who, in fact, yes, you're right, he opened up relations with China, and now pushed various type of trade agreements, resulting in American workers losing their jobs as corporations moved to China. The terrible, authoritarian, Communist dictatorship he warned us about, now he's urging companies to shut down and move to China. Not my kind of guy. +p1888 +aVWell, this is what I would say. It is a complicated relationship. I congratulate Secretary of State John Kerry and the president for working on this agreement. As you've indicated, what is happening in Syria, the number of people, the hundreds of thousands of people who have been killed \u2014 men, women, 20,000 children, the people who are forced to flee their own country \u2014 their own country \u2014 it is unspeakable. It is a real horror. Now, what I think is that right now we have got to do our best in developing positive relations with Russia. But let's be clear: Russia's aggressive actions in the Crimea and in Ukraine have brought about a situation where President Obama and +p1889 +aVLet me just \u2014 just say this. For a start, the secretary and I disagree \u2014 and I think the president does not agree with her \u2014 in terms of the concept of a no-fly zone in Syria. I think you do have a humanitarian tragedy there, as I mentioned a moment ago. I applaud Secretary Kerry and the president for trying to put together this agreement. Let's hope that it holds. But furthermore, what we have got to do, I'm sorry, yes, I do believe that we have got to do everything that we can, and it will not happen tomorrow. But I do hope that in years to come, just as occurred with Cuba, 10, 20 years ago, people would say, reach normalized relations with Cuba. And by the way, I hope we can end the trade embargo with Cuba as well. But the idea that we some day maybe have decent relations with Iran, maybe put pressure on them so they end their support for terrorism around the world, yes, that is something I want to achieve. And I believe that the best way to do that is to be aggressive, to be principled, but to have the goal of trying to improve relations. That's how you make peace in the world. You sit down and you work with people, you make demands of people, in this case demanding Iran stop the support of international terrorism. +p1890 +aVWe have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of work to do. But I recall when Secretary Clinton ran against then-Senator Obama, she was critical of him for suggesting that maybe you want to talk to Iran, that you want to talk to our enemies. I have no illusion. Of course you are right. Iran is sponsoring terrorism in many parts of the world, destabilizing areas. Everybody knows that. But our goal is, in fact, to try over a period of time to, in fact, deal with our enemies, not just ignore that reality. +p1891 +aVNo, I think the idea was that president \u2014 then-Senator Obama was wrong for suggesting that it is a good idea to talk to your opponents. It's easier to talk to your friends. It's harder to talk to your enemies. I think we should do both. +p1892 +aVA couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to go on a congressional delegation. And I went to one of these Turkish refugee camps right on the border of Syria. And what a sad sight that was: Men, women, children forced out of their homes. And Turkey, by the way, did a very decent thing, providing what was reasonable housing and conditions for those people. It seems to me that given our history as a nation that has been a beacon of hope for the oppressed, for the downtrodden, that I very strongly disagree with those Republican candidates who say, you know what, we've got to turn our backs on women and children who left their home with nothing, nothing at all. That is not what America is supposed to be about. So I believe that working with Europe \u2014 and, by the way, you know, we've got some very wealthy countries there in that part of the world. You got Kuwait and you got Qatar and you got Saudi Arabia. They have a responsibility, as well. But I think this is a worldwide \u2014 that the entire world needs to come together to deal with this horrific refugee crisis we're seeing from Syria and Afghanistan, as well. +p1893 +aVYou know, Franklin Delano Roosevelt took the oath of office in 1933 at a time when 25 percent of the American people were unemployed, country was in incredible despair. And he stood before the American people and he said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself," a profound statement that gave the American people the courage to believe that, yes, we could get out of that terrible depression. And then what he did is redefine the role of government. You know, you had Herbert Hoover before that saying, no, we got to only worry about the deficit. So what if mass unemployment exists? So what if children are going hungry? That's not the role of the government. And when FDR said, "Yeah, it is," that we're going to use all of the resources that we have to create jobs, to build homes, to feed people, to protect the farmers, we are a nation which if we come together there is nothing that we could not accomplish. And kind of \u2014 that's what I see our campaign is about right now. In this particular moment of serious crises, saying to the American people don't give up on the political process. don't listen to the Trumps of the world and allowing them to divide us. If we reengage and get involved, yeah, we can have health care for all people, we can make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We do not have to have massive levels of income and wealth inequality. In the same light, as the foreign leader, Winston Churchill's politics were not my politics. He was kind of a conservative guy in many respects. But nobody can deny that as a wartime leader, he rallied the British people when they stood virtually alone against the Nazi juggernaut and rallied them and eventually won an extraordinary victory. Those are two leaders that I admire very much. +p1894 +aVThat is......Madam Secretary, that is a low blow. I have worked with President Obama for the last seven years. When President Obama came into office we were losing 800,000 jobs a month, 800,000 jobs a month. We had a $1.4 trillion deficit. And the world's financial system is on the verge of collapse. As a result of his efforts and the efforts of Joe Biden against unprecedented, I was there in the Senate, unprecedented Republican obstructionism, we have made enormous progress. But you know what? Last I heard we lived in a democratic society. Last I heard, a United States senator had the right to disagree with the president, including a president who has done such an extraordinary job. So I have voiced criticisms. You're right. Maybe you haven't. I have. But I think to suggest that I have voiced criticism, this blurb that you talk about, you know what the blurb said? The blurb said that the next president of the United States has got to be aggressive in bringing people into the political process. That's what I said. That is what I believe. President Obama and I are friends. As you know, he came to Vermont to campaign for me when he was a senator. I have worked for his re-election. His first election and his re-election. But I think it is really unfair to suggest that I have not been supportive of the president. I have been a strong ally with him on virtually every issue. Do senators have the right to disagree with the president? Have you ever disagreed with a president? I suspect you may have. +p1895 +aVWell, one of us ran against Barack Obama. I was not that candidate. All right, look, this has been a great debate. A lot of interesting issues have come together. Let me conclude by just saying this. There is no president, in my view, not Hillary Clinton, not Bernie Sanders, who has the capability or the power to take on Wall Street, large campaign donors, the corporate media, the big money interests in this country alone. This campaign is not just about electing a president. What this campaign is about is creating a process for a political revolution in which millions of Americans, working people who have given up on the political process, they don't think anybody hears their pains or their concerns. Young people for whom getting involved in politics is as, you know, it's like going to the moon. It ain't going to happen. Low income people who are not involved in the political process. What this campaign is not only about electing someone who has the most progressive agenda, it is about bringing tens of millions of people together to demand that we have a government that represents all of us and not just the 1 percent, who today have so much economic and political power. Thank you all very much. +p1896 +aVRachel, thank you very much. Millions of Americans are giving up on the political process. And they're giving up on the political process because they understand the economy is rigged. They are working longer hours for low wages. They're worried about the future of their kids, and yet almost all new income and wealth is going to the top 1 percent. Not what America is supposed to be about. Not the fairness that we grew up believing that America was about. And then sustaining that rigged economy is a corrupt campaign finance system undermining American democracy, where billionaire, Wall Street, corporate America can contribute unlimited sums of money into super PACs and into candidates. Our job, together, is to end a rigged economy, create an economy that works for all, and absolutely overturn Citizens United. One person, one vote. That's what American democracy is about. +p1897 +aVWell, I haven't quite run for president before. Let's deal with some of the comments that Secretary Clinton made. And by the way, you know, sometimes there's a lot of drama here. I have known Secretary Clinton for 25 years and respect her very much. Here is the issue. Every major country on earth, whether it's the U.K., whether it's France, whether it's Canada, has managed to provide healthcare to all people as a right and they are spending significantly less per capita on health care than we are. So I do not accept the belief that the United States of America can't do that. I do not accept the belief that the United States of America and our government can't stand up to the ripoffs of the pharmaceutical industry which charge us by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. Number two, in the economy today, everybody understands that we need a well educated workforce. This is 2016. When we talk about public education, it can no longer be K through 12th grade. I do believe that public colleges and universities should be tuition free. Well, how do we pay for that? It's an expensive proposition. I do believe that we should substantially lower student debt in this country, which is crushing millions of people. We pay for it, in my view, by a tax on Wall Street speculation. The middle class bailed out Wall Street in their time of need. Now, it is Wall Street's time to help the middle class. +p1898 +aVLet me... +p1899 +aV... this is a good discussion here. +p1900 +aVAnd let me just say this. As Secretary Clinton may know, I am on the Health Education Labor Committee. That committee wrote the Affordable Care Act. The idea I would dismantle health care in America while we're waiting to pass a Medicare for all is just not accurate. The Affordable Care Act has clearly, as Secretary Clinton made the point, done a lot of good things, but, what it has not done is dealt with the fact we have 29 million people today who have zero health insurance, we have even more who are underinsured with large deductibles and copayments and prescription drug prices are off the wall. So I do believe that in the future, not by dismantling what we have here\u2014I helped write that bill\u2014but by moving forward, rallying the American people, I do believe we should have health care for all. +p1901 +aVNo, not at all. Here's the reality of American economic life today. The reality is that we have one of lowest voter turnouts of any major country on earth because so many people have given up on the political process. The reality is that there has been trillions of dollars of wealth going from the middle class in the last 30 years to the top 1/10th of 1 percent. The reality is we that have a corrupt campaign finance system which separates the American people's needs and desires from what Congress is doing. So to my mind, what we have got to do is wage a political revolution where millions of people have given up on the political process, stand up and fight back, demand the government that represents us and not just a handful of campaign contribution\u2014contributors. Now all of the ideas that I'm talking about, they are not radical ideas. Making public colleges and universities tuition free, that exists in countries all over the world, used to exist in the United States. Rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, and creating 13 million jobs by doing away with tax loopholes that large corporations now enjoy by putting their money into the Cayman Islands and other tax havens. That is not a radical idea. What we need to do is to stand up to the big money interests, and the campaign contributors. When we do that, we can, in fact, transform America. +p1902 +aVLet me just pick up on this point. This whole discussion began because I commented, not making overall evaluation about the Secretary. She was in Ohio, I think, in September or November and she got up and said something like, I have been\u2014I'm paraphrasing, I have been criticized because people think I'm a moderate. Well, I am a moderate. That's where this came from. It wasn't me paraphrasing her. It is what she said, and all that I said was there's nothing wrong with being a moderate. But, you can't be a moderate, you can't a progressive. In terms of President Obama, I think if we remember where this country was seven years ago, 800,000 jobs being lost every month, $1.4 trillion dollar deficit. The world's financial system on the verge of collapse. I think that President Obama, Vice President Biden, and the Democratic leadership in the House and the Senate have done a fantastic job. We are in much better shape than we were seven years ago, although my Republican colleagues seem to have forgotten where we were seven years ago. That's the fact, but, we still have a very long way to go. Do I think President Obama is a progressive? Yes, I do. I disagree with him on a number of issues including the trade agreement. But, yes, I think he has done an excellent job. +p1903 +aVThat's right, I mean, instead of arguing about definitions, let's talk about... +p1904 +aV... What we should do, and one of the things we should do is not only talk the talk, but walk the walk. I am very proud to be the only candidate up here who does not have a Super PAC, who's not raising huge sums of money from Wall Street...... And special interests. I am enormously proud. Never believed it would happen that we have raised 3.5 million individual contributions, averaging $27 dollars a piece. That is what the political revolution means. +p1905 +aVWell, Rachel, actually, that wasn't accurate. In 1988 the Republican did win, I believe, by 3 points. I came in second. It was 34-31, I think, 19 for the Democrat. In that race the Democrat was the spoiler, not me. And it is true......it is true, it's not to be denied, I am the longest- serving independent in the history of the United States Congress. People of Vermont sent me to Washington as an independent. That is true. But on the other hand, I have\u2014when I was in the House for 16 years, I caucused with the Democrats. In the Senate for nine years caucused with the Democrats, of course. And I was elected by the Democrats to be chair of the Veterans Committee three years ago, which I'm very proud of. And now am the rankings member on the Budget Committee, leader of the Democrats in opposition to the majority Republicans. I am running for president as a Democrat. And if elected, not only do I hope to bring forth a major change in national priorities, but let me be frank, I do want to see major changes in the Democratic Party. I want to see working people and young people come into the party in a way that doesn't exist now. And you know what, I want a 50-state strategy so the Democratic Party is not just the party of 25 states. +p1906 +aVWell, I don't see it quite like that. +p1907 +aVI am\u2014will absolutely admit that Secretary Clinton has the support of far more governors, mayors, members of the House. She has the entire establishment or almost the entire establishment behind her. That's a fact. I don't deny it. But I am pretty proud that we have over a million people who have contributed to our campaign averaging 27 bucks apiece. That we have had meetings where 25,000-30,000 people have come out. That our campaign is a campaign of the people, by the people, and for the people. So, Rachel, yes, Secretary Clinton does represent the establishment. I represent, I hope, ordinary Americans, and by the way, who are not all that enamored with the establishment, but I am very proud to have people like Keith Ellison and Raul Grijalva in the House, the co-chairmen of the House Progressive Caucus. +p1908 +aVWhat being part of the establishment is, is, in the last quarter, having a super PAC that raised $15 million from Wall Street, that throughout one's life raised a whole lot of money from the drug companies and other special interests. To my mind, if we do not get a handle on money in politics and the degree to which big money controls the political process in this country, nobody is going to bring about the changes that is needed in this country for the middle class and working families. +p1909 +aVWhat... +p1910 +aV... you know... +p1911 +aV. +p1912 +aVLet's talk about\u2014OK, let's talk... +p1913 +aV... let us talk about issues. +p1914 +aVLet's talk about issues. +p1915 +aVLet's... +p1916 +aV... let's\u2014let's\u2014let's talk about issues. +p1917 +aVLet's talk\u2014let's talk about issues, all right? Let's talk about why, in the 1990s, Wall Street got deregulated. Did it have anything to do with the fact that Wall Street provided\u2014spent billions of dollars on lobbying and campaign contributions? Well, some people might think, yeah, that had some influence. Let's ask why it is that we pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, and your medicine can be doubled tomorrow, and there's nothing that the government can do to stop it. You think it has anything to do with the huge amounts of campaign contributions and lobbying from the fossil fuel industry? Let's talk about climate change. Do you think there's a reason why not one Republican has the guts to recognize that climate change is real, and that we need to transform our energy system? Do you think it has anything to do with the Koch brothers and ExxonMobil pouring huge amounts of money into the political system? That is what goes on in America. I am not\u2014I like......there is a reason. You know, there is a reason why these people are putting huge amounts of money into our political system. And in my view, it is undermining American democracy and it is allowing Congress to represent wealthy campaign contributors and not the working families of this country. +p1918 +aVI think as Secretary Clinton knows, there is nobody who fought harder. I was on the House Financial Committee at that time. I heard the arguments coming from Democrats and Republicans\u2014Robert Rubin, Alan Greenspan\u2014about great an idea it would be if we did away with Glass-Steagall and if we allowed investor banks and commercial banks and big insurance companies to merge. Go to YouTube today. Look up Greenspan-Sanders. Listen to what I told them then. I helped lead the effort against deregulation. Unfortunately, we lost that. The result is\u2014was the worst financial disaster since the Great Depression. +p1919 +aVChuck, actually we looked at it, but it turns out to be a disaster. The way it is structured right now, if you make it all the way to California, you could do pretty well. But in terms of the early states\u2014Iowa, New Hampshire, the other states\u2014it just doesn't work. Your point is well taken. I believe in public funding of elections, absolutely. But this system is\u2014I don't know if the secretary would agree\u2014is currently very antiquated and no longer applies to modern day politics. +p1920 +aVBut if the... +p1921 +aVLet me just say this. Wall Street is perhaps the most powerful economic and political force in this country. You have companies like Goldman Sachs, who just recently paid a settlement fine with the federal government for $5 billion for defrauding investors. Goldman Sachs was one of those companies whose illegal activity helped destroy our economy and ruin the lives of millions of Americans. But this is what a rigged economy and a corrupt campaign finance system and a broken criminal justice is about. These guys are so powerful that not one of the executives on Wall Street has been charged with anything after paying, in this case of Goldman Sachs, a $5 billion fine. Kid gets caught with marijuana, that kid has a police record. A Wall Street executive destroys the economy, $5 billion settlement with the government, no criminal record. That is what power is about. That is what corruption is about. And that is what has to change in the United States of America. +p1922 +aVI would say that\u2014that folks who have looked at this issue for a long time, whether it's Elizabeth Warren or many other economists, will tell you that right now, yes, we do need a 21st century Glass-Steagall legislation. And I would tell you also that when you have three out of the four largest banks in America today, bigger than they were\u2014significantly bigger than when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, I think if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, a good Republican by the way, what he would say is: Break them up; they are too powerful economically; they are too powerful politically. And that is what I believe and many economists believe. Time to break them up. +p1923 +aVWell, we've had a number of economists supporting our legislation. And here's where we are. The American people can judge. Six largest financial institutions in America today have assets of roughly $10 trillion; equivalent to 58 percent of the GDP of the United States of America. That is a lot of money. They issue two thirds of the credit cards, and by the way they're ripping off a whole lot of people with high interest rates on the credit cards, and they write about one third of the mortgages. That is a lot of power for six financial institutions. That's it. I think it is too much power. Too much economic power, too much political power, and the economists that I talk to say we should break them up. +p1924 +aVYeah, I do. I agree with much of what the Secretary said, but, madam Secretary, it is not one streak. Wall Street is an entity of unbelievable economic and political power. That's a fact. And, I want to say something, and it may sound harsh, not to you, but to the American people. In a sense, in my view, the business model of Wall Street is fraud. It's fraud. I believe that corruption is rampant, and the fact that major bank after major bank has reached multi billion dollar settlements with the United States government when we have a weak regulator system tells me that not only did we have to bail them out once, if we don't start breaking them up, we're going to have to bail them out again, and I do not want to see that happen... +p1925 +aVOf course I can work with them, but let's be clear. When I talked about Boeing and I talked about General Electric, what I was referring to is an outrage. I suspect the secretary agrees request me. Right now you have a loophole such that these guys are putting their profits, multi-billion dollar profitable corporations putting billions of dollars into the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, and other tax havens. And in a given year, Rachel, after making billions of dollars in profit, do you know how much they're paying in taxes to the United States government in a given year? Zero. Now explain to me how that makes any sense at all. So what I have said with regard to Boeing and GE and other multinationals that pay zero taxes, you know what we're going to do? We're going to end that loophole. They are going to pay their fair share of taxes. We're going to use that money to rebuild our infrastructure and create up to 13 million jobs. Can I work with corporations? Are there good corporations doing incredible cutting edge research and development? Absolutely they are. And we should be proud of them. But on the other hand, there are many corporations who have turned their backs on the American worker, who have said, if I can make another nickel in profit by going to China and shutting down in the United States of America, that's what I will do. I will do my best to transform our trade policy and take on these corporations who want to invest in low-income countries around the world rather than in the United States of America. +p1926 +aVOK. Let me agree with much of what the secretary said, but where we have a different background on this issue is we differ on the war in Iraq, which created barbaric organizations like +p1927 +aVWell, I think our great task is to make certain that our young men and women in the military do not get sucked into never- ending, perpetual warfare within the quagmire of Syria and Iraq. And I will do my very best to make sure that that doesn't happen. I agree with the secretary that I think what has to happen\u2014and let me just mention what King Abdullah of Jordan said. I think he hit the nail on the head. And what he said is essentially the war against +p1928 +aVWell, you can't simply withdraw tomorrow. Wish we could, and allow, you know, the Taliban or anybody else to reclaim that country. But what we must do, and what we have seen in recent months, is some progress in Iraq, where finally the Iraqi army, which has not been a particularly effective fighting force, retook Ramadi. +p1929 +aVWell, that's not quite accurate. I did give a speech at Georgetown where I talked about democratic socialism and foreign policy. Maybe I shouldn't have combined the two in the same speech, because the foreign policy part of it didn't get much attention. So, let me take this opportunity to give you a very short speech here on the issue. I think, while it is true that the secretary and I voted differently on the war in Iraq, what is important is that we learn the lesson of the war in Iraq. And that lesson is intrinsic to my foreign policy if elected president, is the United States cannot do it alone. We cannot be the policeman of the world. We are now spending more I believe than the next eight countries on defense. We have got to work in strong coalition with the major powers of the world and with those Muslim countries that are prepared to stand up and take on terrorism. So I would say that the key doctrine of the Sanders administration would be no, we cannot continue to do it alone; we need to work in coalition. +p1930 +aV I fully, fully concede that Secretary Clinton, who was secretary of State for four years, has more experience\u2014hat is not arguable\u2014in foreign affairs. But experience is not the only point, judgment is. And once again, back in 2002, when we both looked at the same evidence about the wisdom of the war in Iraq, one of us voted the right way and one of us didn't. In terms of Iran and in terms of Saudi Arabia, of course they hate each other. That's no great secret. But John Kerry, who is I think doing a very good job, has tried to at least get these people in the room together because both of them are being threatened by +p1931 +aVWell... +p1932 +aVWho said That think we should normalize relations with Iran tomorrow? I never said that. I think we should move forward as quickly as we can. And you're right. They are a sponsor of terrorism around the world and we have to address that. But you know, a number of years ago, people were saying normal relationship with Cuba, what a bad and silly idea. They're Communists, they are our enemy. Well guess what? Change has come. So please don't suggest that I think we normalize relations with Tehran tomorrow. We don't. But I would like to see us move forward, and hopefully some day that will happen. And I would say if I might, Madam Secretary\u2014and you can correct me if I'm wrong. When you ran against Senator Obama you thought him naive because he thought it was a good idea to talk to our enemies. I think those are exactly the people you have to talk to and you have to negotiate with. +p1933 +aVOK. +p1934 +aVI think President Obama had the right idea, and the bottom line is that of course there have to be conditions. But, of course it doesn't do us any good to not talk with our adversaries... +p1935 +aVJust to set the record straight, I very strongly supported the agreement which makes certain that Iran does not get a nuclear weapon. +p1936 +aV... +p1937 +aV +p1938 +aV... No, no... +p1939 +aV... +p1940 +aVClearly North Korea is a very strange situation because it is such an isolated country run by a handful of dictators, or maybe just one, who seems to be somewhat paranoid. And, who had nuclear weapons. And, our goal there, in my view, is to work and lean strongly on China to put as much pressure. China is one of the few major countries in the world that has significant support for North Korea, and I think we got to do everything we can to put pressure on China. I worry very much about an isolated, paranoid country with atomic bombs. I think, clearly, we got to work closely with China to resolve the serious problems we have, and I worry about Putin and his military adventurism in the Crimea and the Ukraine. +p1941 +aV... No, I don't. I worry very, very much about an isolated country. That's what makes me nervous. Russia lives in the world. China lives in the world. North Korea is a very, very strange country because it is so isolated, and I do feel that a nation with nuclear weapons, they have got to be dealt with. Dealt with effectively. +p1942 +aVLet me agree. You know, as the secretary knows, I chaired\u2014I had the privilege and the honor of chairing the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs. And it is interesting to me, you know, Republicans give a lot of speeches about how much they love veterans. I work with the American Legion, the VFW, the DAV, the Vietnam Vets, and virtually every veterans organization to put together the most comprehensive piece of the veterans legislation in the modern history of America. That's what I did. And I brought it to the floor of the Senate. Every Democrat voted for it, I got two Republicans. We ended up with 56 votes and I couldn't get the 60 votes that I needed. That is pathetic. This was legislation supported by all of the veterans organizations, addressing many of the serious problems that veterans face in health care and in how we deliver benefits to them. So Republicans talk a good game about veterans, but when it came to put money on the line to protect our veterans, frankly, they were not there. What I did next, Rachel, is I had to retreat a little bit, I had to compromise. I did work with John McCain. I did work with Jeff Miller over in the House. And we put together not the bill that I wanted, but probably the most comprehensive V.A. health care bill in the modern history of this country. Secretary Clinton is absolutely right, there are people, Koch brothers among others, who have a group called Concerned Veterans of America, funded by the Koch brothers. The Koch brothers, by the way, want to destroy Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, every governmental program passed since the 1930s. Yes, there are people out there who want to privatize it. The last point that I'd make. I had a hearing. I had all of the veterans groups in front of me. And I said to them, tell me when a veteran gets in to the V.A., understanding there are waiting lines and real problems, when a veteran gets into the system, is the quality of care good? Without exception, what they said, good, excellent, very good. We've got to strengthen the V.A. We do not privatize the V.A. +p1943 +aVWell, I agree with the Des Moines Register, but let's not blow this out of proportion. This is not a\u2014this is not, like, a winner-take-all thing. I think where we now stand\u2014correct me if I'm wrong\u2014you have 22 delegates, I have 20 delegates. We need 2,500 delegates to win the nomination. You know, so this is not\u2014this is not the biggest deal in the world. We think, by the way, based on talking to our precinct captains, we may have at least two more delegates. What the Des Moines Register said\u2014you know, there were coin\u2014I think there were half a dozen coin flips\u2014a fairly chaotic type situation. At the end of the day, no matter how it's recounted, it will break roughly even. And by the way, I love and respect the caucus process in Iowa. See, and I don't have to say it, because they voted already. And I love New Hampshire, too, because you haven't voted, but......but, look, I think people are blowing this up out of proportion. But I think we need improvements in the process by which results are determined. +p1944 +aVOh . See, when you are old, then they go back all these years. All right. What have you got? +p1945 +aVWell, you know, a general election is different than a primary and caucus process. But let me just say this. In terms of where we are right now, as you mention, Rachel, in a number of national and state, including New Hampshire. For example, the last poll I saw\u2014there may have been a new one\u2014last one I saw here in New Hampshire, a battleground state, had me defeating Trump by 19; the secretary defeating him by one. There were also pretty large margins in Iowa and Wisconsin. These are polls. Polls go up. Polls go down. But here's why I think I will be, if nominated, the strongest candidate. Democrats win when there is a large voter turnout; when people are excited; when working people, middle class people and young people are prepared to engage in the political process. Republicans win when people are demoralized and you have a small voter turnout, which by the way is why they love voter suppression. I believe that our campaign up to now has shown that we can create an enormous amount of enthusiasm from working people, from young people, who will get involved in the political process and which will drive us to a very large voter turnout. If there is a large voter turnout, not only do we retain the White House, but I think we regain the Senate. We win governors' chairs up and down the line. So I believe if you want to retain the White House, if you want to see Democrats do well across the board, I think our campaign is the one that creates the large voter turnout and helps us win. +p1946 +aV +p1947 +aVI am feeling exactly the way I felt at the first debate. There's a process under way. I will not politicize it. +p1948 +aVAnd by the way\u2014and by the way, if I may, the secretary probably doesn't know that there's not a day that goes by when I am not asked to attack her on that issue, and I have refrained from doing that and I will continue to refrain from doing that. +p1949 +aVNot losing control of our campaign. You know, we have hired a whole lot of people in a rapid way and I am familiar with the first two instances and they are unacceptable, and we have apologized and dealt with that. In terms of the last one, as I understand it, we did not suggest that we had the endorsement of a newspaper. Newspapers who make endorsements also say positive things about other candidates, and to the best of my knowledge, that is what we did. So we never said, never said that somebody, a newspaper endorsed us that did not. What we did say is blah blah blah blah was said by the newspaper. +p1950 +aVBut that was only for\u2014that was not to be on television. That's an important point. That was just something\u2014as the secretary knows, you put titles on ads and you send them out, but there was no word in that ad, none, that said that those newspapers had endorsed us. +p1951 +aV... Look, I hear what the Secretary said, and I understand, but look, there are\u2014all of us know that we have seen in recent years horrible, horrible crimes. It's hard to imagine how people can do, bomb, and kill 168 people in Oklahoma City, or do the Boston Marathon bombing, but this is what I believe, and for a couple of reasons. Number one, too many innocent people, including minorities, African Americans, have been executed when they were not guilty. That's number one. We have to be very careful about making sure about that. But, second of all, and maybe, in a deeper reason, of course there are barbaric acts out there. But, in a world of so much violence and killing, I just don't believe that government itself should be part of the killing. So, when somebody commits......somebody commits any of these terrible crimes that we have seen, you lock them up, and you toss away the key. They're never going to get out. But, I just don't' want to see government be part of killing. That's all. +p1952 +aVAbsolutely. I think the Secretary described the situation appropriately. You know, I don't go around asking for governor's resignations every day. In fact, I think I never have in my life. But I did ask for the resignation of Governor Snyder because his irresponsibility......was so outrageous. What we are talking about are children being poisoned. That's what we're talking about. We don't know, no one knows for sure because they haven't done the appropriate studies, but there's no question that kids' intellectual development may have been impacted. We don't know how many thousands. The idea that there has not been a dramatic response is beyond comprehension. And when you have one of the, I think, significant public health crises of recent years, of course the federal government comes in. And of course the federal government says, you're not going to be poisoning little kids and impacting their entire lives. Last point on this. And I suspect the secretary agrees. One wonders if this were a white suburban community what kind of response there would have been. Flint, Michigan, is a poor community. It is disproportionately African-American and minority. And what has happened there is absolutely unacceptable. +p1953 +aVAbsolutely right. +p1954 +aVChuck, I believe in trade, but I do not believe in unfettered free trade. I believe in fair trade which works for the middle class and working families of this country and not just large multinational corporations. I was not only in opposition to +p1955 +aVNo, let... +p1956 +aV... I am absolutely supportive of comprehensive immigration reform and a path towards citizenship for 11 million people today who are living in the shadows. All right? We got to do that. But you miss\u2014when you looked at the issues, you missed two of the most important. And that is you're not going to accomplish what has to be done for working families and the middle class unless there is campaign finance reform. So long as big money interests control the United States Congress, it is gonna be very hard to do what has to be done for working families. So let me be very clear. No nominee of mine, if I'm elected president, to the United States Supreme Court will get that nomination unless he or she is loud and clear, and says they will vote to overturn Citizens United. Second point\u2014second point is that the only way we make change in terms of health care, in terms of dealing with a broken criminal justice system which, today, allows us to have more people in jail than any other country\u2014largely African-American and Latino\u2014the only way we create millions of jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure or have a tax system that says to the wealthy that they are going to pay their fair share, is when millions of people become involved in the political process. No, you just can't negotiate with Mitch McConnell. Mitch is gonna have to look out the window and see a whole lot of people saying, "Mitch, stop representing the billionaire class. Start listening to working families." And as president, that's what I will work hard on. +p1957 +aVI agree with what the secretary said. We shouldn't be getting ahead of ourselves. And as I have said many times, you know, sometimes in these campaigns, things get a little bit out of hand. I happen to respect the secretary very much, I hope it's mutual. And on our worst days, I think it is fair to say we are 100 times better than any Republican candidate. +p1958 +aVI\u2014my dad came to this country at the age of 17 from Poland. Didn't have any money, couldn't speak English, he died pretty young, and I think it would have been beyond his wildest dreams to see his son up here on this stage today running for president. I love this country and my dad loved this country, and he was the most proud American because of what it gave him in terms of raising his family, even though we never had much money. But today in America, we are the only major country on earth that doesn't guarantee health care to all people, that doesn't guarantee paid family and medical leave. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth. We are seeing millions of families unable to send their kids to college in the United States of America. I'm running for president because I believe it is just too late for establishment politics and establishment economics. I do believe we need a political revolution where millions of people stand up and say loudly and clearly that our government belongs to all of us and not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors. Thank you all. +p1959 +asVBARTIROMO +p1960 +(lp1961 +VTonight we're partnering with the Wall Street Journal to ask questions on the economy that voters want answered. We're also working with Facebook, who tells us that since the first Republican debate, more than 58 million people have joined the political conversation online. More than 9 million are talking specifically about the economy. +p1962 +aVBusinesswoman Carly Fiorina. Ohio Governor John Kasich. And Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. +p1963 +aVWe've asked people on Facebook to submit their questions for the candidates. Seth Bell wrote, "We are approaching $20 trillion in national debt. Specifically, what plans do you have to cut federal spending?" Governor Kasich, you have spoken much about your success in balancing the budget under President Clinton. Today the national debt is at record highs and growing unsustainably. Interest will be the fastest-growing part of the federal budget, tripling over the next 10 years. Social Security, the lifeline of millions of American seniors, is rushing toward insolvency. With all of the tax plans presented tonight, estimated to cost anywhere between $2 trillion and $12 trillion over a decade, what specific steps will you take to balance the budget? +p1964 +aVDid you want to name any specific steps, sir? +p1965 +aVThank you, sir. +p1966 +aVSenator Cruz, the International Monetary Fund recently cut its expectations for economic growth. Many economists expect a recession to hit the U.S. within the next year due to the weakening of manufacturing. The next president will have to deal with it. You say tax reform is a powerful lever to spur economic expansion. You're calling for a 10 percent income tax and a 16 percent business tax. What other elements do you need in this plan to actually create jobs? +p1967 +aVThank you, sir. +p1968 +aVGovernor Bush... +p1969 +aVWe have more questions for you, Governor Kasich, coming up. We have more questions for you, Governor Kasich. +p1970 +aVWe will \u2014 we will certainly get to that. Governor Bush? +p1971 +aVAlmost 40 percent of Americans are without a job and are not looking. Many have given up. That's what the participation rate tells us. You've said your policies will drive the economy back to 4 percent growth, which we haven't seen since the year 2000. What specific regulations would you change? And how will that lead to jobs and growth? +p1972 +aVThank you, sir. +p1973 +aVMr. Trump, a federal appeals court just dealt a blow to the Obama administration's plan to prevent the deportation of 5 million people living in this country illegally. The White House is appealing to the Supreme Court. At the heart of this issue is the effect that illegal immigrants are having on our economy, what will you do about it? +p1974 +aVCan we just send 5 million people back with no effect on economy? +p1975 +aVSo what will you do? +p1976 +aVThank you, sir. +p1977 +aVWe go back to Facebook. Dewayne Wesley Cato asks on Facebook, how do we get rid of regulations choking our businesses? Ms. Fiorina? Specifically, under the president's Affordable Care Act, employers with 50 or more employees are required to offer health insurance, or be fined. Many are opting to pay the fine. Others are cutting back employee hours to duck the law altogether. What specific ways will you alleviate the pressure on small business? +p1978 +aVJust to be clear, you want to repeal Obamacare... ..but, what's the alternative? +p1979 +aVJust to be clear, you say you would repeal Obamacare... +p1980 +aV...But, what is the alternative... +p1981 +aV...and how does that help small business... +p1982 +aV...Thank you... +p1983 +aVSenator Cruz, there isn't anyone in this audience or watching at home tonight who would not like to pay less in taxes. Most people just want a fair shake, and they don't want their money to be wasted. But explain how your plan works. How can you cut taxes as much as you propose without running up debt and deficits? +p1984 +aVBut you haven't told us how to pay for it. +p1985 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Bush, Republican primary voters say tax reform should be a priority for Congress and the administration. But, Governor Bush, how important is tax reform in your domestic policy agenda? Will you guarantee it in the first year of your presidency? +p1986 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1987 +aVThat's right. That's right. +p1988 +aVComing up, the biggest threats facing the next commander-in-chief. You're watching the Republican presidential debate, live tonight from Milwaukee. We'll be right back. +p1989 +aVWelcome back. Welcome back to the Republican presidential debate. The candidates taking the questions you want answered. Also tonight, you can see what America is saying about the debate. Go to Facebook and type #gopdebate into the search box. Now, back to the questions. Americans face security threats at home and abroad. Last year, terrorist attacks rose 61 percent, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace, with the most deaths occurring in just five countries, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Syria. Dr. Carson, you were against putting troops on the ground in Iraq and against a large military force in Afghanistan. Do you support the president's decision to now put 50 special ops forces in Syria and leave 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan? +p1990 +aVWe asked Facebook to take a look at some of the major issues we're talking about, and tackling in this debate tonight. This word cloud shows what people are focusing on the most. The bigger the word, the more the talk. One of the most discussed issues in the last month, homeland security. Governor Bush, what is the biggest threat facing America today? +p1991 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, in 2012 debate, President Obama mocked Mitt Romney's assertion that Russia was the top geopolitical challenge facing the United States, saying he was a Cold War dinosaur. Now, Russia has invaded Ukraine, and has put troops in Syria. You have said you will have a good relationship with Mr. Putin. So, what does President Trump do in response to Russia's aggression? +p1992 +aVThank you, sir. +p1993 +aVThank you, governor. +p1994 +aVSenator Rubio. +p1995 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. +p1996 +aVMore questions \u2014 more questions coming up, when the Republican presidential debate comes right back, live from Milwaukee. Stay with us. +p1997 +aVWelcome back to the fourth Republican presidential debate. Senator Rubio, Hillary Clinton is the clear front runner for the Democratic nomination. If she is indeed the nominee, you will be facing a candidate with an impressive resume. She was the first lady of the United States, a U.S. senator from New York, and secretary of state under Barack Obama. She has arguably more experience, certainly more time in government than almost all of you on stage tonight. Why should the American people trust you to lead this country, even though she has been so much closer to the office? +p1998 +aVSenator Paul, you were one of 15 republicans to vote for an amendment which states that human activity contributed to climate change. President Obama has announced an aggressive plan to cut carbon emissions. At the same time, energy production in America has boomed. Is it possible to continue this boom, and move toward energy self-sufficiency, while at the same time pursuing a meaningful climate change program? +p1999 +aVCarly Fiorina? +p2000 +aVFormer Governor Jeb Bush? +p2001 +aVSenator Ted Cruz? +p2002 +aVHe's funny. +p2003 +aVThank you. +p2004 +asVCLINTON +p2005 +(lp2006 +VThank you. +p2007 +aVI'm running for president to knock down all the barriers that are holding Americans back, and to rebuild the ladders of opportunity that will give every American a chance to advance, especially those who have been left out and left behind. I know a lot of Americans are angry about the economy. And for good cause. Americans haven't had a raise in 15 years. There aren't enough good-paying jobs, especially for young people. And yes, the economy is rigged in favor of those at the top. We both agree that we have to get unaccountable money out of our political system and that we have to do much more to ensure that Wall Street never wrecks main street again. But I want to go further. I want to tackle those barriers that stand in the way of too many Americans right now. African-Americans who face discrimination in the job market, education, housing, and the criminal justice system. Hardworking immigrant families living in fear, who should be brought out of the shadows so they and their children can have a better future. Guaranteeing that women's work finally gets the pay, the equal pay that we deserve. I think America can only live up to its potential when we make sure that every American has a chance to live up to his or her potential. That will be my mission as president. And I think together we will make progress. +p2008 +aVJudy, I think that the best analysis that I've seen based on Senator Sanders plans is that it would probably increase the size of the federal government by about 40%, but what is most concerning to me is that in looking at the plans \u2014 let's take healthcare for example. Last week in a CNN town hall, the Senator told a questioner that the questioner would spend about $500 dollars in taxes to get about $5,000 dollars in healthcare. Every progressive economist who has analyzed that says that the numbers don't add up, and that's a promise that cannot be kept, and it's really important now that we are getting into the rest of the country that both of us are held to account for explaining what we are proposing because, especially with healthcare, this is not about math. This is about people's lives, and we should level with the American people about what we can do to make sure they get quality affordable healthcare. +p2009 +aVI can only say that we both share the goal of universal health care coverage. You know, before it was called Obamacare, it was called Hillarycare. And I took on the drug companies and I took on the insurance companies to try to get us universal health care coverage. And why I am a staunch supporter of President Obama's principal accomplishment \u2014 namely the Affordable Care Act \u2014 is because I know how hard it was to get that done. We are at 90 percent coverage. We have to get the remaining 10. I've set forth very specific plans about how to get costs down, especially prescription drug costs. And it is difficult to in any way argue with the goal that we both share. But I think the American people deserve to know specifically how this would work. If it's Medicare for all, then you no longer have the Affordable Care Act, because the Affordable Care Act, as you know very well, is based on the insurance system, based on exchanges, based on a subsidy system. The Children's Health Insurance Program, which I helped to create, which covers 8 million kids, is also a different kind of program. So if you're having Medicare for all, single-payer, you need to level with people about what they will have at the end of the process you are proposing. And based on every analysis that I can find by people who are sympathetic to the goal, the numbers don't add up, and many people will actually be worse off than they are right now. +p2010 +aVWell, let me just \u2014 let me just say, once again......that, having been in the trenches fighting for this, I believe strongly we have to guarantee health care. I believe we are on the path to doing that. The last thing we need is to throw our country into a contentious debate about health care again. And we are not England. We are not France. We inherited a system that was set up during World War II; 170 million Americans get health insurance right now through their employers. So what we have tried to do and what President Obama succeeded in doing was to build on the health care system we have, get us to 90 percent coverage. We have to get the other 10 percent of the way to 100. I far prefer that and the chances we have to be successful there than trying to start all over again, gridlocking our system, and trying to get from zero to 100 percent. +p2011 +aVNo. But it is absolutely fair and necessary for Americans to vet both of our proposals, to ask the really hard questions about, what is it we think we can accomplish, why do we believe that, and what would be the results for the average American family? In my case, whether it's health care, or getting us to debt-free tuition, or moving us toward paid family leave, I have been very specific about where I would raise the money, how much it would cost, and how I would move this agenda forward. I've tried to be as specific to answer questions so that my proposals can be vetted, because I feel like we have to level with people for the very reason, Gwen, that you are mentioning. There is a great deal of skepticism about the federal government. I'm aware of that. It comes from the right, from the left, from people on all sides of the political spectrum. So we have a special obligation to make clear what we stand for, which is why I think we should not make promises we can't keep, because that will further, I think, alienate Americans from understanding and believing we can together make some real changes in people's lives. +p2012 +aVI will put a price tag. My price tag is about $100 billion a year. And again, paid for. And what I have said is I will not throw us further into debt. I believe I can get the money that I need by taxing the wealthy, by closing loopholes, the things that we are way overdue for doing. And I think once I'm in the White House we will have enough political capital to be able to do that. But I am conscious of the fact that we have to also be very clear, especially with young people, about what kind of government is going to do what for them and what it will cost. +p2013 +aVYou know, I think, again, both of us share the goal of trying to make college affordable for all young Americans. And I have set forth a compact that would do just that for debt-free tuition. We differ, however, on a couple of key points. One of them being that if you don't have some agreement within the system from states and from families and from students, it's hard to get to where we need to go. And Senator Sanders's plan really rests on making sure that governors like Scott Walker contribute $23 billion on the first day to make college free. I am a little skeptical about your governor actually caring enough about higher education to make any kind of commitment like that. +p2014 +aVWell, first, Judy, I have spent my entire adult life working toward making sure that women are empowered to make their own choices, even if that choice is not to vote for me. I believe that it's most important that we unleash the full potential of women and girls in our society. And I feel very strongly that I have an agenda, I have a record that really does respond to a lot of the specific needs that the women in our country face. So I'm going to keep making that case. I'm going to keep making sure that everything I've done, everything that I stand for is going to be well known. But I have no argument with anyone making up her mind about who to support. I just hope that by the end of this campaign there will be a lot more supporting me. That's what I'm working towards. +p2015 +aVWell, look, I think that she's been saying that for as long as I've known her, which is about 25 years. But it doesn't change my view that we need to empower everyone, women and men, to make the best decisions in their minds that they can make. That's what I've always stood for. And when it comes to the issues that are really on the front lines as to whether we're going to have equal pay, paid family leave, some opportunity for, you know, women to go as far as their hard work and talent take them, I think that we still have some barriers to knock down, which is why that's at the core of my campaign. I would note, just for a historic aside, somebody told me earlier today we've had like 200 presidential primary debates, and this is the first time there have been a majority of women on the stage. So, you know, we'll take our progress wherever we can find it. +p2016 +aVYou know, I have said \u2014 I have said many times, you know, I'm not asking people to support me because I'm a woman. I'm asking people to support me because I think I'm the most qualified, experienced, and ready person to be the president and the commander-in-chief. And I appreciate greatly Senator Sanders' voting record. And I was very proud to get the endorsement of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, because I've been a leader on these issues. I have gone time and time again to take on the vested interests who would keep women's health care decisions the province of the government instead of women ourselves. I'm very proud that +p2017 +aVYou know, I completely agree with Senator Sanders. The first speech I gave in this campaign back in April was about criminal justice reform and ending the era of mass incarceration. The statistics from Wisconsin are particularly troubling, because it is the highest rate of incarceration for African-Americans in our nation, twice the national average. And we know of the tragic, terrible event that lead to the death of Dontre Hamilton right here in Milwaukee, a young man unarmed, who should still be with us. His family certainly believes that. And so do I. So we have work to do. There have been some good recommendations about what needs to happen. President Obama's policing commission came out with some. I have fully endorsed those. But we have to restore policing that will actually protect the communities that police officers are sworn to protect. And, then we have to go after sentencing, and that's one of the problems here in Wisconsin because so much of what happened in the criminal justice system doesn't happen at the federal level, it happens at the state and local level. But, I would also add this. There are other racial discrepancies. Really systemic racism in this state, as in others, education, in employment, in the kinds of factors that too often lead from a position where young people, particularly young men, are pushed out of school early, are denied employment opportunities. So, when we talk about criminal justice reform, and ending the era of mass incarceration, we also have to talk about jobs, education, housing, and other ways of helping communities. +p2018 +aVWell, I'm just not sure I agree completely with that assessment. I think under President Obama we have seen a lot of advances, the Affordable Care Act has helped more African Americans than any other group to get insurance, to be taken care of, but we also know a lot more than we did. We have a lot more social media, we have everybody with a cellphone. So, we are seeing the dark side of the remaining systemic racism that we have to root out in our society. I think President Obama has set a great example. I think he has addressed a lot of these issues that have been quite difficult, but he has gone forward. Now, what we have to do is to build on an honest conversation about where we go next. We now have much more information about what must be done to fix our criminal justice system. We now have some good models about how better to provide employment, housing and education. I think what President Obama did was to exemplify the importance of this issue as our first African American president, and to address it both from the President's office, and through his advocacy, such as working with young men, and Mrs. Obama's work with young women. But, we can't rest. We have work to do, and we now know a lot more than we ever did before. So, it's going to be my responsibility to make sure we move forward to solve these problems that are now out in the open. Nobody can deny them. To use the Justice Department, as we just saw, they have said they are going to sue Ferguson, that entered into a consent agreement, and then tried to back out. So, we're going to enforce the law, we're going to change policing practices, we're going to change incarceration practices, but we're also going to emphasize education, jobs, and housing. +p2019 +aVLook, I am deeply concerned about what's happening in every community in America, and that includes white communities, where we are seeing an increase in alcoholism, addiction, earlier deaths. People with a high school education or less are not even living as long as their parents lived. This is a remarkable and horrifying fact. And that's why I've come forward with, for example, a plan to revitalize coal country, the coalfield communities that have been so hard hit by the changing economy, by the reduction in the use of coal. You know, coal miners and their families who helped turn on the lights and power our factories for generations are now wondering, has our country forgotten us? Do people not care about all of our sacrifice? And I'm going to do everything I can to address distressed communities, whether they are communities of color, whether they are white communities, whether they are in any part of our country. I particularly appreciate the proposal that Congressman Jim Clyburn has \u2014 the 10-20-30 proposal \u2014 to try to spend more federal dollars in communities with persistent generational poverty. And you know what? If you look at the numbers, there are actually as many, if not more white communities that are truly being left behind and left out. So, yes, I do think it would be a terrible oversight not to try to address the very real problems that white Americans \u2014 particularly those without a lot of education whose jobs have \u2014 you know, no longer provided them or even no longer present in their communities, because we have to focus where the real hurt is. And that's why, as president, I will look at communities that need special help and try to deliver that. +p2020 +aVI strongly support the president's executive actions. I hope the Supreme Court upholds them. I think there is constitutional and legal authority for the president to have done what he did. I am against the raids. I'm against the kind of inhumane treatment that is now being visited upon families, waking them up in the middle of the night, rounding them up. We should be deporting criminals, not hardworking immigrant families who do the very best they can and often are keeping economies going in many places in our country. I'm a strong supporter of comprehensive immigration reform. Have been ever since I was in the Senate. I was one of the original sponsors of the +p2021 +aVTwo quick responses. One, with respect to the Central American children, I made it very clear that those children needed to be processed appropriately, but we also had to send a message to families and communities in Central America not to send their children on this dangerous journey in the hands of smugglers. I've also called for the end of family detention, for the end of privately-run detention centers, along with private prisons, which I think are really against the common good and the rule of law. And with respect to the 2007 bill, this was Ted Kennedy's bill. And I think Ted Kennedy had a very clear idea about what needed to be done. And I was proud to stand with him and support it. +p2022 +aVWell, that just wasn't \u2014 that just wasn't the fact, Senator. The fact is that there was a great effort made by the Obama administration and others to really send a clear message, because we knew that so many of these children were being abused, being treated terribly while they tried to get to our border. So we have a disagreement on this. I think now what I've called for is counsel for every child so that no child has to face any kind of process without someone who speaks and advocates for that child so that the right decision hopefully can be made. +p2023 +aVI think \u2014 I think it's fair to say we don't have a disagreement. We both believe there has to be more money going into the Social Security system. I've said I'm looking at a couple of different ways, one which you mentioned, Senator, but also trying to expand the existing tax to passive income that wealthy people have so that we do get more revenue into the Social Security Trust Fund. I have a slightly different approach, though, about what we should do with that initially. First, rather than expand benefits for everyone, I do want to take care of low-income seniors who worked at low-wage jobs. I want to take care of women. When the Social Security program was started in the 1930s, not very many women worked. And women have been disadvantaged ever since. They do not get any credit for their care-taking responsibilities. And the people who are often the most hard-hit are widows, because when their spouse dies, they can lose up to one-half of their Social Security monthly payment. So we have no disagreement about the need to buttress Social Security, get more revenue into the program. But I want to start by helping those people who are most at risk, the ones who, yes, are cutting their pills in half, who don't believe they can make the rent, who are worried about what comes next for them. +p2024 +aVWell, Senator, look, I think we're in vigorous agreement here. We both want to get more revenue in. I have yet to see a proposal that you're describing that the \u2014 raising the cap would apply to passive income. That has not been... +p2025 +aVWell, that has not been a part of most of the proposals that I've seen. I'm interested in making sure we get the maximum amount of revenue from those who can well afford to provide it. So I'm going to come up with the best way forward. We're going to end up in the same place. We're going to get more revenue. I'm going to prioritize those recipients who need the most help first. +p2026 +aVI can't speak for the Koch Brothers, you're referring to a Super PAC that we don't coordinate with, that was set up to support President Obama, that has now decided that they want to support me. They are the ones who should respond to any questions. Let's talk about our campaigns. I'm very proud of the fact that we have more than 750 thousand donors, and the vast majority of them are giving small contributions. So, I'm proud of Senator Sanders, and his supporters. I think it's great that Senator Sanders, President Obama and I have more donors than any three people who have every run, certainly on the Democratic side. That's the way it should be, and I'm going to continue to reach out to thank all my online contributors for everything they are doing for me, to encourage them and help me do more just as Senator Sanders is. I think that is the real key here. We both have a lot of small donors. I think that sets us apart from a lot of what's happening right now on the Republican side. The Koch Brothers have a very clear political agenda. It is an agenda, in my view, that would do great harm to our country. We're going to fight it as hard as we can, and we're going to fight whoever the Republicans nominate who will depend on the Koch Brothers, and others. +p2027 +aVWe are mixing apples and oranges. My 750,000 donors have contributed more than a million and a half donations. I'm very proud. That, I think, between the two of us demonstrates the strength of the support we have among people who want to see change in our country. But, the real issue, I think, that the Senator is injecting into this is that if you had a Super PAC, like President Obama has, which now says it wants to support me. It's not my PAC. If you take donations from Wall Street, you can't be independent. I would just say, I debated then Senator Obama numerous times on stages like this, and he was the recipient of the largest number of Wall Street donations of anybody running on the Democratic side ever. Now, when it mattered, he stood up and took on Wall Street. He pushed through, and he passed the Dodd-Frank regulation, the toughest regulations since the 1930's. So, let's not in anyway imply here that either President Obama or myself, would in anyway not take on any vested interested, whether it's Wall Street, or drug companies, or insurance companies, or frankly, the gun lobby to stand up to do what's best for the American people. +p2028 +aVWell, let's just \u2014 let's just follow up on this, because, you know, I've made it very clear that no bank is too big to fail, no executive too powerful to jail, and because of Dodd-Frank, we now have in law a process that the president, the Federal Reserve, and others can use if any bank poses a systemic risk. I think that's a major accomplishment. I agree, however, it doesn't go far enough, because what it focuses on are the big banks, which Senator Sanders has talked about a lot, for good reason. I go further in the plan that I've proposed, which has been called the toughest, most effective, comprehensive plan for reining in the other risks that the financial system could face. It was an investment bank, Lehman Brothers, that contributed to our collapse. It was a big insurance company, AIG. It was Countrywide Mortgage. My plan would sweep all of them into a regulatory framework so we can try to get ahead of what the next problems might be. And I believe that not only Barney Frank, Paul Krugman, and others, have said that what I have proposed is the most effective. It goes in the right direction. We have Dodd-Frank. We can use it to break up the banks, if that's appropriate. But let's not kid ourselves. As we speak, there are new problems on the horizon. I want to get ahead of those, and that's why I've proposed a much more comprehensive approach to deal with all of these... +p2029 +aVAbsolutely. And, you know, there are a number of programs that I think are duplicative and redundant and not producing the results that people deserve. There are a lot of training programs and education programs that I think can be streamlined and put into a much better format so that if we do continue them they can be more useful, in public schools, community colleges, and colleges and universities. I would like to take a hard look at every part of the federal government and really do the kind of analysis that would rebuild some confidence in people that we're taking a hard look about what we have, you know, and what we don't need anymore. And that's what I intend to do. +p2030 +aVLook, I think we are readier than we used to be, but it's a constant effort that has to be undertaken to make sure we are as ready as we need to be. We have made a lot of improvements in our domestic security since 9/11, and we have been able to foil and prevent attacks, yet we see the terrible attack in San Bernardino and know that we haven't done enough. So we have to go after this both abroad and at home. We have to go after terrorist networks, predominantly +p2031 +aVIf I could just respond. Two points. One, Senator Sanders voted in 1998 on what I think is fair to call a regime change resolution with respect to Iraq, calling for the end of Saddam Hussein's regime. He voted in favor of regime change with Libya, voted in favor of the Security Council being an active participate in setting the parameters for what we would do, which of course we followed through on. I do not believe a vote in 2002 is a plan to defeat +p2032 +aVYou did support a U.N. Security Council approach, which we did follow up on. And, look, I think it's important to look at what the most important counterterrorism judgment of the first four years of the Obama administration was, and that was the very difficult decision as to whether or not to advise the president to go after bin Laden. I looked at the evidence. I looked at the intelligence. I got the briefings. I recommended that the president go forward. It was a hard choice. Not all of his top national security advisors agreed with that. And at the end of the day, it was the president's decision. So he had to leave the Situation Room after hearing from the small group advising him and he had to make that decision. I'm proud that I gave him that advice. And I'm very grateful to the brave Navy +p2033 +aVWell, I know journalists have asked who you do listen to on foreign policy, and we have yet to know who that is. +p2034 +aVThat's fine. That's fine. You know, I listen to a wide variety of voices that have expertise in various areas. I think it is fair to say, whatever the complaints that you want to make about him are, that with respect to China, one of the most challenging relationships we have, his opening up China and his ongoing relationships with the leaders of China is an incredibly useful relationship for the United States of America. So if we want to pick and choose \u2014 and I certainly do \u2014 people I listen to, people I don't listen to, people I listen to for certain areas, then I think we have to be fair and look at the entire world, because it's a big, complicated world out there. +p2035 +aVAnd, yes, people we may disagree with on a number of things may have some insight, may have some relationships that are important for the president to understand in order to best protect the United States. +p2036 +aVWell, with respect to Syria, I really do appreciate the efforts that Secretary Kerry has made. The agreement on humanitarian relief now needs to be implemented, because there are enclaves that are literally filled with starving people throughout Syria. The agreement on a cease-fire, though, is something that has to be implemented more quickly than the schedule that the Russians agreed to. You know, the Russians wanted to buy time. Are they buying time to continue their bombardment on behalf of the Assad regime to further decimate what's left of the opposition, which would be a grave disservice to any kind of eventual cease-fire? So I know Secretary Kerry is working extremely hard to try to move that cease-fire up as quickly as possible. But I would add this. You know, the Security Council finally got around to adopting a resolution. At the core of that resolution is an agreement I negotiated in June of 2012 in Geneva, which set forth a cease-fire and moving toward a political resolution, trying to bring the parties at stake in Syria together. This is incredibly complicated, because we've got Iran as a big player, in addition to Russia. We have Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and others who have very important interests in their view. This is one of the areas I've disagreed with Senator Sanders on, who has called for Iranian troops trying to end civil war in Syria, which I think would be a grave mistake. Putting Iranian troops right on the border of the Golan right next to Israel would be a nonstarter for me. Trying to get Iran and Saudi Arabia to work together, as he has suggested in the past, is equally a nonstarter. So let's support what Secretary Kerry and the president are doing, but let's hope that we can accelerate the cease-fire, because I fear that the Russians will continue their bombing, try to do everything they can to destroy what's left of the opposition. And remember, the Russians have not gone after +p2037 +aVWell, I respectfully disagree. I think we have achieved a great deal with the Iranian nuclear agreement to put a lid on the Iranian nuclear weapons program. That has to be enforced absolutely with consequences for Iran at the slightest deviation from their requirements under the agreement. I do not think we should promise or even look toward normalizing relations because we have a lot of other business to get done with Iran. Yes, they have to stop being the main state sponsor of terrorism. Yes, they have to stop trying to destabilize the Middle East, causing even more chaos. Yes, they've got to get out of Syria. They've got to quit sponsoring Hezbollah and Hamas. They have got to quit trying to ship rockets into Gaza that can be used against Israel. We have a lot of work to do with Iran before we ever say that they could move toward normalized relations with us. +p2038 +aV... Senator Sanders, from a debate in 2008, quote what I said. The question was, would you meet with an adversary without conditions? I said no. And in fact, in Obama administration, we did not meet with anybody without conditions. That is the appropriate approach in order to get the results that you are seeking. +p2039 +aVWell, I was pleased that +p2040 +aVI certainly agree with FDR for all the reasons Senator Sanders said. And I agree about the role that he played both in war and in peace on the economy and defeating fascism around the world. I would choose Nelson Mandela for his generosity of heart, his understanding of the need for reconciliation. But I want to \u2014 I want to follow up on something having to do with leadership, because, you know, today Senator Sanders said that President Obama failed the presidential leadership test. And this is not the first time that he has criticized President Obama. In the past he has called him weak. He has called him a disappointment. He wrote a forward for a book that basically argued voters should have buyers' remorse when it comes to President Obama's leadership and legacy. And I just couldn't agree \u2014 disagree more with those kinds of comments. You know, from my perspective, maybe because I understand what President Obama inherited, not only the worst financial crisis but the antipathy of the Republicans in Congress, I don't think he gets the credit he deserves for being a president......who got us out of that......put us on firm ground, and has sent us into the future. And it is a \u2014 the kind of criticism that we've heard from Senator Sanders about our president I expect from Republicans. I do not expect from someone running for the Democratic nomination to succeed President Obama. +p2041 +aVYou know, Senator, what I am concerned about, is not disagreement on issues, saying that this is what I would rather do, I don't agree with the president on that, calling the president weak, calling him a disappointment, calling several times that he should have a primary opponent when he ran for re-election in 2012, you know, I think that goes further than saying we have our disagreements. As a senator, yes, I was a senator. I understand we can disagree on the path forward. But those kinds of personal assessments and charges are ones that I find particularly troubling. +p2042 +aVYou know, we \u2014 we agree that we've got to get unaccountable money out of politics. We agree that Wall Street should never be allowed to wreck Main Street again. But here's the point I want to make tonight. I am not a single-issue candidate, and I do not believe we live in a single-issue country. I think that a lot of what we have to overcome to break down the barriers that are holding people back, whether it's poison in the water of the children of Flint, or whether it's the poor miners who are being left out and left behind in coal country, or whether it is any other American today who feels somehow put down and oppressed by racism, by sexism, by discrimination against the +p2043 +aVWell, I'm happy to be here in New Hampshire for this debate, as we move toward the primary on Tuesday. I believe that America has the opportunity to once again live by our values, live up to our values in the 21st century, but I think that America can only do that if Americans can succeed. And there are lots of reasons why Americans today are feeling left out and left behind. Yes, of course, the economy has not been working for most Americans. Yes, of course, we have special interests that are unfortunately doing too much to rig the game. But there's also the continuing challenges of racism, of sexism, of discrimination against the +p2044 +aVWell, let me start by saying that Senator Sanders and I share some very big progressive goals. I've been fighting for universal healthcare for many years, and we're now on the path to achieving it. I don't want us to start over again. I think that would be a great mistake, to once again plunge our country into a contentious debate about whether we should have and what kind of system we should have for healthcare. I want to build on the progress we've made; got from 90 percent coverage to 100 percent coverage. And I don't want to rip away the security that people finally have; 18 million people now have healthcare; preexisting conditions are no longer a bar. So we have a difference. I also believe in affordable college, but I don't believe in free college, because every expert that I have talked to says, look, how will you ever control the costs. What I want to do is make sure middle class kids, not Donald Trump's kids, get to be able to afford college. I want to get the economy going again. It's not just enough about what we're against, as important as that is. I have a plan to create new jobs, manufacturing, infrastructure, clean energy jobs that will make us the 21st century clean energy super power. I also want to make sure small businesses can start and grow again. And of course, I believe in raising the minimum wage and equal pay for work. But the numbers just don't add up, from what Senator Sanders has been proposing. That's why all of the independent experts, all of the editorial boards that have vetted both of us have concluded that it is just not achievable. Let's go down a path where we can actually tell people what we will do. A progressive is someone who makes progress. That's what I intend to do. +p2045 +aVIf I could just follow up on that. There is no disagreement between us on universal coverage for health care, the disagreement is where do we start from and where do we end up. The Republicans want to repeal the Affordable Care Act, I want to improve it. I want to build on it, get the costs down, get prescription drug costs down. Senator Sanders wants us to start all over again. This was a major achievement of President Obama, of our country. It is helping people right now. I am not going to wait and have us plunge back into a contentious national debate that has very little chance of succeeding. Let's make the Affordable Care Act work for everybody. +p2046 +aVWell because I am a progressive who gets things done. And the root of that word, progressive, is progress. But I've heard Senator Sanders comments, and it's really caused me to wonder who's left in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Under his definition, President Obama is not progressive because he took donations from Wall Street; Vice President Biden is not progressive because she supported Keystone; Senator Shaheen is not progressive because she supports the trade pact. Even the late, great Senator Paul Wellstone would not fit this definition because he voted for +p2047 +aVWell, Chuck... +p2048 +aV... If I could, you know, in the very first debate I was asked am I a moderate or a progressive and I said I'm a progressive who likes to get things done. Cherry picking a quote here or there doesn't change my record of having fought for racial justice, having fought for kids rights, having fought the kind of inequities that fueled my interest in service in the first place going back to my days in the Children's Defense Fund. It certainly didn't stop me from taking on the drug companies and the insurance companies. Before it was called Hillarycare\u2014I mean, before it was called ObamaCare it was called Hillarycare because we took them on, and we weren't successful, but we kept fighting and we got the children's health insurance program. Every step along the way I have stood up, and fought, and have the scars to prove it. So, again......I think it's important that, look, I understand Senator Sanders really trying to distinguish himself. I understand that, that's what you do in campaigns, but at the same time let's not be\u2014in, I think an unfair way, making an accusation, or making an attack about where I stand and about where I've always stood. It is fair to say, Senator, that in your definition, as you being the self-proclaimed gatekeeper for progressivism, I don't know anyone else who fits that definition, but I know a lot of really hard fighting progressives in the Democratic party who have stood up time, and time again against special interests, against the powerful on behalf of those who are left behind and left out. And, that's what we ought to be celebrating. Let's talk about what we would do as President, and Commander in Chief to make sure the progress continues into the future. +p2049 +aV... Well, you began it yesterday with your comments... +p2050 +aVYou know, the person who first put out the idea of a 50-state party strategy is former Governor Howard Dean, who is with us tonight. And I'm very proud and grateful to have the support of so many elected Vermonters and former officials. Two former governors, the current governor, the current other senator. I really appreciate that. And I think it's because they've worked with me, they've seen what I do. They know what kind of a colleague I am. They want me as their partner in the White House. And that's exactly what I will do. We'll get things done together. Democrats, Republicans, independents, we're going to make progress together when I'm president. +p2051 +aVWell, look, I've got to just jump in here because, honestly, Senator Sanders is the only person who I think would characterize me, a woman running to be the first woman president, as exemplifying the establishment. And I've got to tell you that it is......it is really quite amusing to me. People support me because they know me. They know my life's work. They have worked with me and many have also worked with Senator Sanders. And at the end of the day they endorse me because they know I can get things done. I am not going to make promises I can't keep. I am not going to talk about big ideas like single-payer and then not level with people about how much it will cost. A respected health economist said that these plans would cost a trillion dollars more a year. I'm not going to tell people that I will raise your incomes and not your taxes, and not mean it, because I don't want to see the kind of struggle that the middle class is going through exemplified by these promises that would raise taxes and make it much more difficult for many, many Americans to get ahead and stay ahead. That is not my agenda. +p2052 +aVYeah, but I\u2014I think it's fair to really ask what's behind that comment. You know, Senator Sanders has said he wants to run a positive campaign. I've tried to keep my disagreements over issues, as it should be. But time and time again, by innuendo, by insinuation, there is this attack that he is putting forth, which really comes down to\u2014you know, anybody who ever took donations or speaking fees from any interest group has to be bought. And I just absolutely reject that, Senator. And I really don't think these kinds of attacks by insinuation are worthy of you. And enough is enough. If you've got something to say, say it directly. But you will not find that I ever changed a view or a vote because of any donation that I ever received. +p2053 +aVAnd I have stood up and I have represented my constituents to the best of my abilities, and I'm very proud of that. +p2054 +aVSo I think it's time to end the very artful smear that you and your campaign have been carrying out... +p2055 +aV... in recent weeks, and let's talk......let's talk about about the issues. Let's talk about the issues that divide us. +p2056 +aVAnd let's\u2014let's... +p2057 +aV... we both agree with campaign finance reform. +p2058 +aVI\u2014I worked hard for McCain-Feingold. +p2059 +aVI want to reverse Citizens United. +p2060 +aVAnd so\u2014let's talk about issues. +p2061 +aVWell, you know, Senator, I don't think\u2014I don't... +p2062 +aV... I don't think you could find any person in political life today who has been subjected to more attacks and had more money spent against her by special interests, among whom you have named a few, than I. And I'm proud of that. You know, when I took on the drug companies and the insurance companies for universal health care coverage, they went after me with a vengeance. Today, you've got hedge fund billionaires aligned with Karl Rove, running ads against me to try to get Democrats to vote for you. I know this game. I'm going to stop this game. But while we're talking about votes, you're the one who voted to deregulate swaps and derivatives in 2000, which contributed to the over-leveraging of Lehman Brothers, which was one of the culprits that brought down the economy. So I don't know\u2014I'm not impugning your motive because you voted to deregulate swaps and derivatives. People make mistakes and I'm certainly not saying you did it for any kind of financial advantage. What we've got to do as Democrats\u2014what we've got to do as Democrats is to be united to actually solve these problems. And what I believe is that I have a better track record and a better opportunity to actually get that job done. That's what this election should be about. +p2063 +aVOn the issue of Wall Street. +p2064 +aVWell you know, Rachel, I think I may not have done the job I should in explaining my record. You know, I did\u2014when I left the secretary of State's office, like so many former officials, military leaders, journalists, others, I did go on the speaking circuit. I spoke to heart doctors, I spoke to the American Camping Association, I spoke to auto dealers, and yes, I spoke to firms on Wall Street. They wanted me to talk about the world, what my experience had been as secretary of State. But what I want people to know is I went to Wall Street before the crash. I was the one saying you're going to wreck the economy because of these shenanigans with mortgages. I called to end the carried interest loophole that hedge fund managers enjoy. I proposed changes in CEO compensation. I called for a consumer protection financial bureau before it was created. And I think the best evidence that the Wall Street people at least know where I stand and where I have always stood is because they are trying to beat me in this primary. They have collected and spent as much as $6 million on these ads. Hedge fund billionaires, Karl Rove, another billionaire, jumped in. And why are they doing that? These are guys who try to make smart investments. They know my record, they know me, they know that I say what I believe and I will do it. And I also have a pretty good understanding about how to stop them. So I do want people to know that, and I think it's important for everybody to understand I have a record, I have stood firm and I will be the person who prevents them from ever wrecking the economy again. +p2065 +aVIf I could, let me just say that of course it has to change. It has to change. And that's why I have put forward a plan to do just that. And it's been judged to be the toughest, most effective and comprehensive one. I have great respect for Senator Sanders's commitment to try to restore Glass-Steagall. But I do not believe that that is enough. And in fact, I don't believe it really addresses a lot of the biggest issues we have. You know, we now have power under the Dodd-Frank legislation to break up banks. And I've said I will use that power if they pose a systemic risk. But I want to go further, because it was investment banks, it was insurance companies, it was mortgage companies, all of which contributed. So let's not just be narrowly focused on one part of the problem. We have a lot of issues with corporate power that have to be addressed. My plan takes us further and it would do the job. +p2066 +aVLook we have a law\u2014look, you know, I\u2014I appreciate the senator's advocacy. We have a law. It was passed. It was signed by President Obama. It lays out a process that you go through to determine whether a systemic risk is posed. And by the way, President Obama signed that, pushed it through, even though he took donations from Wall Street, because he's a responsible president. So we have a law in place. If the circumstances warrant it, I will certainly use it. And from what you say, I know you will as well. But that is not enough. And I keep going back to this because part of the reason the Wall Street guys are trying so hard to stop me\u2014the hedge fund guys, the shadow banking guys\u2014is because I've got their number on all of that. And my plan goes so much further to try to prevent the problems of the future. You know, we can't just fight the last war. We've got to be prepared to stop these guys if they ever try to use their economic power once again, to hurt the economy, and to hurt so many Americans. And my plan, Paul Krugman, Barney Frank, a lot of experts who understand what the new challenges might be, have said I am exactly on point, and the Wall Street guys actually know that. +p2067 +aVI will look into it. I don't know the status, but I will certainly look into it. But, I can only repeat what is the fact that I spoke to a lot of different groups with a lot of different constituents, a lot of different kinds of members about issues that had to do with world affairs. I probably described more times than I can remember how stressful it was advising the President about going after Bin Laden. My view on this is look at my record. Look at what I am proposing, and\u2014we have a vigorous agreement here. We both want to reign in the excesses of Wall Street. I also want to reign in the excesses of Johnson Controls that we bailed out when they were an autoparts company, and we saved the auto industry, and now they want to avoid paying taxes. I want to go after the pharmaceutical companies like Valeant, and Turns that are increasing prices without any regard to the impact on people's health. Now, if all we're going to talk about is one part of our economy, and indeed one streak in our economy, we're missing the big oil companies. We're missing other big energy companies. We're missing the big picture, and I have a record of trying to go at the problems that actually exist, and I will continue to do that. +p2068 +aV... Well, Senator, no one wants to see that happen. I mean, look, I care deeply about this because just like you I have met so many people who had their life savings wiped out, who lost their homes, who are barely back with their heads above water. This was a disaster for our country, and we can never let that happen again. We have no disagreement about this. But, I think it's a broader target list than just Wall Street, and I believe that we have to be very focused on how we try to take back the power and increase the empowerment of the American people. And, I think I have that kind of experience, maybe because they've beat me up for so many years, and I know exactly how to handle them because I've been in the arena with them time and time again. +p2069 +aVWell, I think what the president understands, and what he's trying to do, is that we have to support the Arab and Kurdish fighters on the ground who are actually doing the fighting. I agree with the president. I've said myself, we will not send American combat troops back to either Syria or Iraq\u2014that is off the table. But we do have special forces, we do have trainers, we do have the military personnel who are helping with the airstrikes that the United States is leading so that we can try to take out +p2070 +aVNo. I mean, of course that's a theoretical question, and we don't know what it would be for, and we don't know how many numbers there are. I am against American combat troops being in Syria and Iraq. I support special forces. I support trainers. I support the air campaign. And I think we're making some progress. I want to continue to intensify that, and that's exactly what the president is doing. +p2071 +aVIf I could\u2014if I could... +p2072 +aV... respectfully add\u2014look, we did differ. A vote in 2002 is not a plan to defeat +p2073 +aVOh, absolutely. The president decided to leave more troops than he had originally planned in Afghanistan. We have a very cooperative government there, with Ashraf Ghani and his top\u2014his top partner, Abdullah. And they are doing their very best. And the Afghan army is actually fighting. The Afghan army is taking heavy losses defending Afghan territory. And I would have to make an evaluation based on the circumstances at the time I took office as to how much help they continue to need. Because it's not just the Taliban. We now are seeing outposts of, you know, fighters claiming to be affiliated with +p2074 +aVA group of national security experts, military intelligence experts, issued a very concerning statement about Senator Sanders's views on foreign policy and national security, pointing out some of the comments he has made on these issues, such as inviting Iranian troops into Syria to try to resolve the conflict there; putting them right at the doorstep of Israel. Asking Saudi Arabia and Iran to work together, when they can't stand each other and are engaged in a proxy battle right at this moment. So I do think questions have been raised and questions have to be answered because when New Hampshire voters go on Tuesday to cast your vote, you are voting both for a president and a commander in chief. And there is no way to predict what comes in the door of that White House from day to day that can pose a threat to the United States or one of our friends and allies, and I think this is a big part of the job interview that we are all conducting with the voters here. +p2075 +aVWell, let me just add that, you know, I've said this before and I'm very proud of it, that when it comes to judgment, having run a hard race against Senator Obama at the time, he turned to me to be secretary of State. And when it comes to the biggest counterterrorism issues that we faced in this administration, namely whether or not to go after bin Laden, I was at that table, I was exercising my judgment to advise the president on what to do, on that, on Iran, on Russia on China, on a whole raft of issues. Because I know from my own experience that you've got to be ready on day one. There is just too much unpredictable threat and danger in the world today, you know, to try to just say wait, I'll get to that when I can. That is just not an acceptable approach. +p2076 +aVAbsolutely. You know, I did put together the coalition to impose sanctions. I actually started the negotiations that led to the nuclear agreement, sending some much my closest aides to begin the conversations with the Iranians. I'm very pleased we got that nuclear agreement. It puts a lid on the nuclear weapons program. We have to enforce it, there have to be consequences attached to it. But that is not our only problem with Iran. We have to figure out how to deal with Iran as the principal state sponsor of terrorism in the world. They are destabilizing governments in the region. They continue to support Hezbollah and Hamas in Lebanon against Israel. A lot of work that we have do is going to be incredibly hard. I'm prepared to do that work, but I believe, just as I did with imposing the sanctions, you have to get action for action. If we were to normalize relations right now, we would remove one of the biggest pieces of leverage we have to try to influence and change Iranian behavior. The president doesn't think we should. I certainly don't think we should. I believe we have to take this step by step to try to reign in Iranian aggression, their support for terrorism and the other bad behavior that can come back and haunt us. +p2077 +aVWell Senator, let me just correct the record if I can. You know\u2014let me correct the record. +p2078 +aVAs I\u2014as I certainly recall, the question was to meet with without conditions. And you're right, I was against that. I was against it then I would be against it now. +p2079 +aVPart of diplomacy, the hard work of diplomacy is trying to extract whatever concessions you can get, and giving something the other side wants. Of course you've got to try to make peace with, and work with those who are your adversaries, but you don't just rush in, open the door, and say, "Here I am. Let's talk and make a deal." That's not the way it works. +p2080 +aV... Well, we set conditions on Iran. We worked hard to get them established, and to be enforced, and then we talked. That's exactly the right......and, that's what I did with the President, so he and I are on the very same page. +p2081 +aVI haven't talked to Secretary Carter, but here's what I would think he's planning. We do have the nuclear weapons agreement with Iran, that's an enforcement consequence, action for action, follow on. We have a plan, we will watch them, we will be vigilant. We do have to worry about North Korea. They continue to develop their nuclear weapons capability, and they're working very hard on their ballistic missile capability. And, I know that some of those plans could very well lead to a missile that might reach Hawaii, if not the West Coast. We do have to try to get the countries in the region to work with us to do everything we can to confine, and constrain them. But, what Secretary Carter is looking at is the constant pressure that Russia's putting on our European allies. The way that Russia is trying to move the boundaries of the post-World War II Europe. The way that he is trying to set European countries against one another, seizing territory, holding it in Crimea. Beginning to explore whether they could make some inroads in the Baltics. We know that they are deeply engaged in supporting Assad because they want to have a place in the Middle East. They have a naval base, they have an air base in Syria. They want to hang on to that. I think what Secretary Carter is seeing, and I'm glad he is, is that we got to get +p2082 +aVWell, first of all, I'm absolutely against privatizing the V.A. And I am going do everything I can to build on the reforms that Senator Sanders and others in Congress have passed to try to fix what's wrong with the V.A. There are a lot of issues about wait times and services that have to be fixed because our veterans deserve nothing but the best. But you're absolutely right, you know, Rachel, this is another part of the Koch brothers agenda. They've actually formed an organization to try to begin to convince Americans we should no longer have guaranteed health care, specialized care for our veterans. I will fight that as hard as I can. I think there's where we can enlist the veterans service organizations, the veterans of America, because, yes, let's fix the V.A., but we will never let it be privatized, and that is a promise. +p2083 +aVWhatever they decide to do, that's fine. +p2084 +aVAll right. +p2085 +aVI can only tell you what I believe, and that is that I am the strongest candidate to take it to the Republicans and win in November. And I say that with great\u2014with great respect for the campaign that Senator Sanders has been running. I personally am thrilled at the numbers of people, and particularly young people who are coming to support your campaign. I hope that I will be able to earn their support. They may not support me now, but I support them and we'll work together. But what I'm concerned about is the views of many Democrats who know their states, who know how hard it is to win a general election. And it also will push whoever the nominee is into the spotlight. I've been vetted. There's hardly anything you don't know about me. And I think it's fair to say that whoever is in that position, Senator Sanders or anyone else who might have run, will face the most withering onslaught. So, I think that I am the person who can do all aspects of the job. I think I'm the person best prepared to take the case to the Republicans. And I think that at the end of the day, it's not so much electability. It is who the American people can believe can keep them safe, can get the economy moving again, can get incomes rising, can build on the progressive accomplishments of President Obama. And I think that the coalition that President Obama put together to win twice is a coalition that I can put together and add to. And that's what I'm prepared to... +p2086 +aVAbsolutely I can. You know, before it was emails, it was Benghazi, and the Republicans were stirring up so much controversy about that. And I testified for 11 hours, answered their questions. They basically said yeah, didn't get her. We tried. That was all a political ploy. Now, we had a development in the email matter today when it came out that Secretary Powell and close aides to Former Secretary Rice used private e-mail accounts. and now you have these people in the government who are doing the same thing to Secretary Powell and Secretary Rice's aide they've been doing to me, which is that I never sent or received any classified material. They are retroactively classifying it. I agree completely with Secretary Powell, who said today this is an absurdity. And so I think the American people will know it's an absurdity. I have absolutely no concerns about it whatsoever. +p2087 +aVI am 100 percent confident. This is a security review that was requested. It is being carried out. It will be resolved. But I have to add if there's going to be a security review about me, there's going to have to be security reviews about a lot of other people, including Republican office holders, because we've got this absurd situation of retroactive classifications. Honest to goodness, this is\u2014this just beggars the imagination. So I have absolutely no concerns about it, but we've got to get to the bottom of what's really going on here, and I hope that will happen. +p2088 +aVNo. +p2089 +aVYes, I do. And\u2014you know, what I hope the Supreme Court will do is make it absolutely clear that any state that continues capital punishment either must meet the highest standards of evidentiary proof of effective assistance of counsel or they cannot continue it because that, to me, is the real dividing line. I have much more confidence in the federal system, and I do reserve it for particularly heinous crimes in the federal system, like terrorism. I have strong feelings about that. I thought it was appropriate after a very thorough trial that Timothy McVeigh received the death penalty for blowing up the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people, including 19 children in a daycare center. I do for very limited, particularly heinous crimes believe it is an appropriate punishment, but I deeply disagree with the way that too many states are still implementing it. If it were possible to separate the federal from the state system by the Supreme Court, that would, I think, be an appropriate outcome. +p2090 +aVAbsolutely. Absolutely. You know, Rachel, you and I have talked about this before. I thank you for going to Flint to hold that town hall. I will be in Flint at the Mayor's invitation on Sunday to get an in depth briefing about what is, and is not happening. This is an emergency. Everyday that goes by that these people, particularly the children, are not tested so we can know what steps must be taken to try to remediate the effects of the poisoning that they have been living with is a day lost in a child's life. I know from the work that I've done over so many years, lead, the toxic nature of lead can affect you brain development, your body development, your behavior. I absolutely believe that what is being done is not sufficient. We need to be absolutely clear about everything that should be done from today to tomorrow, into the future to try to remedy the terrible burden that the people of Flint are barring. That includes fixing their pipes, it includes guaranteeing whatever healthcare and educational embellishments they may need going forward, and I think the federal government has way where it can bill the state of Michigan. If Michigan won't do it, there have to be ways that we can begin to move, and then make them pay for it, and hold them accountable. +p2091 +aVYou know, Chuck, I've only had responsibility for voting for trade agreements as a senator. And I voted a multinational trade agreement when I was senator, the +p2092 +aVWell, I\u2014I don't accept that premise, Chuck. I think that we've got so much business we have to do. We've talked a lot tonight about what we're against\u2014we're against income inequality. We're against the abuses of powerful interests. We're against a lot of things. I'm for a lot of things. I don't want to just stop bad things from happening, I want to start good things from happening. And I believe, if I'm so fortunate to get the nomination, I will begin to work immediately on putting together an agenda, beginning to talk with members of Congress and others about how we can push forward. I want to have half a billion more solar panels deployed, the first four years. I want to have enough clean energy to power every home the next four years. I want us to keep working on the Affordable Care Act, to get not only to 100 percent coverage, but bring down the costs of prescription drugs and out-of-pocket costs. I want to move forward on paid family leave, on early childhood education, I want us to do more for small businesses. Small businesses have to create most of the jobs, and we're not creating and growing small businesses. I think, if you have a smart agenda, you pick the committees that you know have to begin to work on these various pieces\u2014because that's the way Congress is set up. You go through different committees, and you really make a big push in the beginning. Immigration reform, economic revitalization with manufacturing, with infrastructure\u2014we put it out there, and we begin to work on an ambitious, big, bold agenda that will actually produce the results that I want to see for our country. +p2093 +aVThe answer to both of those is no. I'm interested in making what we have work better. I want to streamline programs that are duplicative and redundant. I want to have a top-to-bottom review about what works and what doesn't work, and be absolutely clear we're getting rid of what doesn't work. I have had the opportunity to run a big agency. I was very flattered when Henry Kissinger said I ran the State Department better\u2014better than anybody had run it in a long time. So I have an idea of what it's going to take to make our government work more efficiently. And when you put together a budget, you have to make a lot of hard decisions, but I think it's not appropriate to say "I'm going to get rid of this, get rid of that" until you have a very good process that gives you the information about what to do. But I want to add something else, you know, because look, we have so much work to do in our country, and I think it's the greatest work that Americans will be called to do. And of course, we have to have people in every community involved in it. We have to have the political voice, the political grassroots speaking up and speaking out about what we have to try to accomplish in Washington. But we also need to have a very clear set of goals that we are going to achieve, and we need to level with the American people about what they are, what they will cost, what will be expected of our citizenry. So I see as president having a constant dialogue with Americans here's what we're trying to get done, here's why I need your help, here's why you may think comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship isn't something you care about, but I'm telling you it will help fix the labor market, it will bring people out of the shadows\u2014 +p2094 +aVI never said that. +p2095 +aVLook... +p2096 +aVWell, I'm certainly going to unite the party, but I'm not\u2014I'm not getting ahead of myself. I think that would be a little bit presumptuous. If I'm so fortunate as to be the nominee, the first person I will call to talk to about where we go and how we get it done will be Senator Sanders. +p2097 +aVThat's true. That's true. +p2098 +aVWell first, thanks to +p2099 +asVTRUMP +p2100 +(lp2101 +VThank you. I began this journey six months ago. My total focus was on building up our military, building up our strength, building up our borders, making sure that China, Japan, Mexico, both at the border and in trade, no longer takes advantage of our country. Certainly would never have made that horrible, disgusting, absolutely incompetent deal with Iran where they get $150 billion. They're a terrorist nation. But I began it talking about other things. And those things are things that I'm very good at and maybe that's why I'm center stage. People saw it. People liked it. People respected it. A month ago things changed. Radical Islamic terrorism came into effect even more so than it has been in the past. People like what I say. People respect what I say. And we've opened up a very big discussion that needed to be opened up. Thank you very much. +p2102 +aVWe are not talking about isolation. We're talking about security. We're not talking about religion. We're talking about security. Our country is out of control. People are pouring across the southern border. I will build a wall. It will be a great wall. People will not come in unless they come in legally. Drugs will not pour through that wall. As far as other people like in the migration, where they're going, tens of thousands of people having cell phones with +p2103 +aVJeb doesn't really believe I'm unhinged. He said that very simply because he has failed in this campaign. It's been a total disaster. Nobody cares. And frankly, I'm the most solid person up here. I built a tremendous company and all I want to do is make America great again. I don't want our country to be taken away from us, and that's what's happening. The policies that we've suffered under other presidents have been a disaster for our country. We want to make America great again. And Jeb, in all fairness, he doesn't believe that. +p2104 +aVWell, look, this is so easy to answer. +p2105 +aVI would certainly be open to closing areas where we are at war with somebody. I sure as hell don't want to let people that want to kill us and kill our nation use our Internet. Yes, sir, I am. +p2106 +aVWe have to be much tougher. We have to be much stronger than we've been. We have people that know what is going on. You take a look at just the attack in California the other day. There were numerous people, including the mother, that knew what was going on. They saw a pipe bomb sitting all over the floor. They saw ammunition all over the place. They knew exactly what was going on. When you had the World Trade Center go, people were put into planes that were friends, family, girlfriends, and they were put into planes and they were sent back, for the most part, to Saudi Arabia. They knew what was going on. They went home and they wanted to watch their boyfriends on television. I would be very, very firm with families. Frankly, that will make people think because they may not care much about their lives, but they do care, believe it or not, about their families' lives. +p2107 +aVLook, the problem is we need toughness. Honestly, I think Jeb is a very nice person. He's a very nice person. But we need tough people. We need toughness. We need intelligence and we need tough. Jeb said when they come across the southern border they come as an act of love. +p2108 +aVAm I talking or are you talking, Jeb? +p2109 +aVYou can go back. You're not talking. You interrupted me. +p2110 +aVAre you going to apologize, Jeb? No. Am I allowed to finish? +p2111 +aVExcuse me, am I allowed to finish? +p2112 +aVSo... +p2113 +aV... again... +p2114 +aVI know you're trying to build up your energy, Jeb, but it's not working very well. +p2115 +aVLook, look, look. We need a toughness. We need strength. We're not respected, you know, as a nation anymore. We don't have that level of respect that we need. And if we don't get it back fast, we're just going to go weaker, weaker and just disintegrate. We can't allow that to happen. We need strength. We don't have it. When Jeb comes out and he talks about the border, and I saw it and I was witness to it, and so was everyone else, and I was standing there, "they come across as an act of love," he's saying the same thing right now with radical Islam. And we can't have that in our country. It just won't work. We need strength. +p2116 +aVWith Jeb's attitude, we will never be great again, that I can tell you. We will never be great again. +p2117 +aVSo, they can kill us, but we can't kill them? That's what you're saying. And as far as the Internet is concerned, we're not talking about closing the Internet. I'm talking about parts of Syria, parts of Iraq, where +p2118 +aVIn my opinion, we've spent $4 trillion trying to topple various people that frankly, if they were there and if we could've spent that $4 trillion in the United States to fix our roads, our bridges, and all of the other problems; our airports and all of the other problems we've had, we would've been a lot better off. I can tell you that right now. We have done a tremendous disservice, not only to Middle East, we've done a tremendous disservice to humanity. The people that have been killed, the people that have wiped away, and for what? It's not like we had victory. It's a mess. The Middle East is totally destabilized. A total and complete mess. I wish we had the $4 trillion or $5 trillion. I wish it were spent right here in the United States, on our schools, hospitals, roads, airports, and everything else that are all falling apart. +p2119 +aVWell, there's nothing to respond to. Well, people feel differently. I mean, the fact is Benghazi was a disaster because of Libya, everything just fell into place. It could not have been worse. What do we have now? We have nothing. We've spent $3 trillion and probably much more \u2013 I have no idea what we've spent. Thousands and thousands of lives, we have nothing. Wounded warriors all over the place who I love, we have nothing for it. And by the way \u2013 and Ben said incorrectly \u2013 and I'm not saying this as a knock \u2013 he's one of finest men. You're not going to find a finer men. But I've been talking about oil for three years. I've been saying,, "take the oil, take the oil." I didn't say, "just bomb it," I said," take it and use it and distribute it so that the wounded warriors -" People, I've been saying this now for many years. +p2120 +aVNow, all of a sudden everybody's saying, "take the oil." It wasn't so fashionable to take the oil six months ago. I've been saying it for years. +p2121 +aVI think Assad is a bad guy, a very bad guy, all right? Lots of people killed. I think we are backing people we have no idea who they are. The rebels, we call them the rebels, the patriotic rebels. We have no idea. A lot of people think, Hugh, that they are +p2122 +aVI think it's very sad that CNN leads Jeb Bush, Governor Bush, down a road by starting off virtually all the questions, "Mr. Trump this, Mister" \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched the first debate, and the first long number of questions were, "Mr. Trump said this, Mr. Trump said that. Mr. Trump" \u2014 these poor guys \u2014 although, I must tell you, Santorum, good guy. Governor Huckabee, good guy. They were very nice, and I respect them greatly. But I thought it was very unfair that virtually the entire early portion of the debate was Trump this, Trump that, in order to get ratings, I guess. In order to get ratings, I guess. +p2123 +aVI just think it's very \u2014 excuse me. +p2124 +aVExcuse me. I think it's very unprofessional. +p2125 +aVWell, I think it's very unprofessional. +p2126 +aVOK, fine. +p2127 +aVThis isn't tough and easy. I wish it... +p2128 +aVI wish it was always this easy as you, Jeb. +p2129 +aVOh, yeah. +p2130 +aVOh, I know. You're a tough guy, Jeb. I know. +p2131 +aVYou're tough. +p2132 +aVWell, let's see. I'm at 42, and you're at 3. So, so far, I'm doing better. +p2133 +aVSo far, I'm doing better. You know, you started off over here, Jeb. You're moving over further and further. Pretty soon you're going to be off the end... +p2134 +aVI believe I did. +p2135 +aVI have a very hardline position, we have a country or we don't have a country. People that have come into our country illegally, they have to go. They have to come back into through a legal process. I want a strong border. I do want a wall. Walls do work, you just have to speak to the folks in Israel. Walls work if they're properly constructed. I know how to build, believe me, I know how to build. I feel a very, very strong bind, and really I'm bound to this country, we either have a border or we don't. People can come into the country, we welcome people to come but they have to come in legally. +p2136 +aVWell, first of all, I think we need somebody absolutely that we can trust, who is totally responsible; who really knows what he or she is doing. That is so powerful and so important. And one of the things that I'm frankly most proud of is that in 2003, 2004, I was totally against going into Iraq because you're going to destabilize the Middle East. I called it. I called it very strongly. And it was very important. But we have to be extremely vigilant and extremely careful when it comes to nuclear. Nuclear changes the whole ball game. Frankly, I would have said get out of Syria; get out \u2014 if we didn't have the power of weaponry today. The power is so massive that we can't just leave areas that 50 years ago or 75 years ago we wouldn't care. It was hand-to-hand combat. The biggest problem this world has today is not President Obama with global warming, which is inconceivable, this is what he's saying. The biggest problem we have is nuclear \u2014 nuclear proliferation and having some maniac, having some madman go out and get a nuclear weapon. That's in my opinion, that is the single biggest problem that our country faces right now. +p2137 +aVI think \u2014 I think, for me, nuclear is just the power, the devastation is very important to me. +p2138 +aVI did. +p2139 +aVLet me just say that I have gotten to know him over the last three or four days. He has a wonderful temperament. He's just fine. Don't worry about it. +p2140 +aVYou better not attack... +p2141 +aVI really am. I'll be honest, I really am. I mean, the people have been putting me... I really am. +p2142 +aVLet me just. Can I just finish my... +p2143 +aVI've gained great respect for the Republican leadership. I've gained great respect for many \u2014 and I'm going to even say \u2014 I mean, in different forms for the people on the dais, in different forms. In different forms. But I have great respect for the people I have met through this process. I've never done this process before. I've never been a politician. I mean, for the last six months I've been a politician. But I will tell you, I am totally committed to the Republican Party. I feel very honored to be the front runner. And I think I'll do very well if I'm chosen. If I'm so fortunate to be chosen, I think I'll do very well. Polls have come out recently saying I would beat Hillary. I will do everything in my power to beat Hillary Clinton, I promise you. +p2144 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We don't win on trade. We don't win on the military. We can't defeat +p2145 +aVI can't be Neil. And the and the reason I can't be is that we are a country that is being beaten on every front economically, militarily. There is nothing that we do now to win. We don't win anymore. Our taxes are too high. I've come up with a tax plan that many, many people like very much. It's going to be a tremendous plan. I think it'll make our country and our economy very dynamic. But, taxes too high, wages too high, we're not going to be able to compete against the world. I hate to say it, but we have to leave it the way it is. People have to go out, they have to work really hard and have to get into that upper stratum. But we can not do this if we are going to compete with the rest of the world. We just can't do it. +p2146 +aVI would not do it. +p2147 +aVI was so happy yesterday when I saw that decision come down. That was an unbelievable decision. And we don't have enough of those decisions coming down. He of the executive order, because nobody wants to listen to him, including the Democrats, so he just goes around signing executive orders. That was a great day. And, frankly, we have to stop illegal immigration. It's hurting us economically. It's hurting us from every standpoint. It's causing tremendous difficulty with respect to drugs and what that does to many of our inner cities in particular. And it really is \u2014 was such an unbelievable moment because the courts have not been ruling in our favor. And it was a 2-1 decision. And it was a terrific thing that happened. And I will tell you, we are a country of laws. We need borders. We will have a wall. The wall will be built. The wall will be successful. And if you think walls don't work, all you have to do is ask Israel. The wall works, believe me. Properly done. Believe me. +p2148 +aVYou are going to have to bring people \u2014 you are going to have to send people out. Look, we're a country... +p2149 +aVMaria, we're a country of laws. We either have a country or we don't have a country. We are a country of laws. Going to have to go out and they will come back but they are going to have to go out and hopefully they get back. But we have no choice if we're going to run our country properly and if we're going to be a country. +p2150 +aVAll I can say is, you're lucky in Ohio that you struck oil. That is for one thing. Let me just tell you that Dwight Eisenhower, good president, great president, people liked him. "I like Ike," right? The expression. "I like Ike." Moved a 1.5 million illegal immigrants out of this country, moved them just beyond the border. They came back. Moved them again beyond the border, they came back. Didn't like it. Moved them way south. They never came back. Dwight Eisenhower. You don't get nicer. You don't get friendlier. They moved a 1.5 million out. We have no choice. We have no choice. +p2151 +aVNo, it's unfair. +p2152 +aV... built an unbelievable company worth billions and billions of dollars. I don't have to hear from this man, believe me. I don't have to hear from him. +p2153 +aVWe have millions of people right now on line trying to come into this country. Very, very unfair to the people that want to come into our country legally. They've gone through the process. They're on line. They're waiting. Very, very unfair to them. That I can tell you. +p2154 +aVYes. +p2155 +aVNo, I'm sorry. No, excuse me. I was there. +p2156 +aVPlease, if I could just... +p2157 +aVWe have to make our military bigger, better, stronger than ever before so that nobody messes with us, and a long run, it's going to save us. I agree with Marco, I agree with Ted, we have no choice. And, I can tell you this with certainty. We all have a different tax plan. Some I don't totally agree with. One thing we understand, each one of those tax plans is better than the mess that we have right now. +p2158 +aV...Yes... +p2159 +aV...Yeah... +p2160 +aV...It's a horrible deal... +p2161 +aVThe TPP is horrible deal. It is a deal that is going to lead to nothing but trouble. It's a deal that was designed for China to come in, as they always do, through the back door and totally take advantage of everyone. It's 5,600 pages long. So complex that nobodies read it. It's like Obamacare; nobody ever read it. They passed it; nobody read it. And look at mess we have right now. And it will be repealed. But this is one of the worst trade deals. And I would, yes, rather not have it. With all of these countries, and all of the bad ones getting advantage and taking advantage of what the good ones would normally get, I'd rather make individual deals with individual countries. We will do much better. We lose a fortune on trade. The United States loses with everybody. We're losing now over $500 billion in terms of imbalance with China, $75 billion a year imbalance with Japan. By the way, Mexico, $50 billion a year imbalance. So I must say, Gerard, I just think it's a terrible deal. I love trade. I'm a free trader, 100 percent. But we need smart people making the deals, and we don't have smart people making the deals. +p2162 +aVYes. Well, the currency manipulation they don't discuss in the agreement, which is a disaster. If you look at the way China and India and almost everybody takes advantage of the United States \u2014 China in particular, because they're so good. It's the number-one abuser of this country. And if you look at the way they take advantage, it's through currency manipulation. It's not even discussed in the almost 6,000-page agreement. It's not even discussed. +p2163 +aVAnd as you understand, I mean, you understand very well from the Wall Street Journal, currency manipulation is the single great weapon people have. They don't even discuss it in this agreement. So I say, it's a very bad deal, should not be approved. If it is approved, it will just be more bad trade deals, more loss of jobs for our country. We are losing jobs like nobody's ever lost jobs before. I want to bring jobs back into this country. +p2164 +aVWell, first of all, it's not only Russia. We have problems with North Korea where they actually have nuclear weapons. You know, nobody talks about it, we talk about Iran, and that's one of the worst deals ever made. One of the worst contracts ever signed, ever, in anything, and it's a disgrace. But, we have somebody over there, a madman, who already has nuclear weapons we don't talk about that. That's a problem. China is a problem, both economically in what they're doing in the South China Sea, I mean, they are becoming a very, very major force. So, we have more than just Russia. But, as far as the Ukraine is concerned, and you could Syria \u2014 as far as Syria, I like \u2014 if Putin wants to go in, and I got to know him very well because we were both on 60 Minutes, we were stablemates, and we did very well that night. But, you know that. But, if Putin wants to go and knocked the hell out of +p2165 +aV...They blew up \u2014 hold it.... +p2166 +aV...They blew up, wait a minute... ...They blew up a Russian airplane. He cannot be in love with these people. He's going in, and we can go in, and everybody should go in. As far as the Ukraine is concerned, we have a group of people, and a group of countries, including Germany \u2014 tremendous economic behemoth \u2014 why are we always doing the work? We are \u2014 I'm all for protecting Ukraine and working \u2014 but, we have countries that are surrounding the Ukraine that aren't doing anything. They say, "Keep going, keep going, you dummies, keep going. Protect us..." ...And we have to get smart. We can't continue to be the policeman of the world. We are $19 trillion dollars, we have a country that's going to hell, we have an infrastructure that's falling apart. Our roads, our bridges, our schools, our airports, and we have to start investing money in our country. +p2167 +aVAssad is a bad guy, but we have no idea who the so-called rebels \u2014 I read about the rebels, nobody even knows who they are. I spoke to a general two weeks ago, he said \u2014 he was very up on exactly what we're talking about. He said, "You know, Mr. Trump? We're giving hundreds of millions of dollars of equipment to these people, we have no idea who they are." So, I don't like Assad. Who's going to like Assad? But, we have no idea who these people, and what they're going to be, and what they're going to represent. They may be far worse than Assad. Look at Libya. Look at Iraq. Look at the mess we have after spending $2 trillion dollars, thousands of lives, wounded warriors all over the place \u2014 who I love, OK? All over. We have nothing. And, I said, keep the oil. And we should have kept the oil, believe me. We should have kept the oil. And, you know what? We should have given the oil... ..We should've given big chunks to the people that lost their arms, their legs, and their families, and their sons, and daughters, because right now, you know who has a lot of that oil? Iran, and +p2168 +aVWhy does she keep interrupting everybody? Terrible. +p2169 +aVWe are not. +p2170 +aV...No, no, no... +p2171 +aVWell, what's happening right now, Neil, is something that not been a subject of conversation by politicians. As primarily the only politician, I guess other than Carly on the stage, they haven't talked about a corporate inversion. A corporate inversion \u2014 companies are leaving. You know, we used to leave New York to go to Florida. We got better taxes, we got, maybe, something else. Now, they're the United States to go to other countries. They have trillions of dollars in those other countries. They're going for two reasons, they can't get their money back in. It's something where the democrats and the republicans both agree, it's the only thing I can think of. They both agree, let the money come back in. Three and a half years, they still can't make a deal. They can't get the money in. It's probably two and a half trillion, but, I think it's much more than that. All of that money could become \u2014 could come right in and be used to rebuild our country, and investments in our country. They can't do it. What we have to do, and what I've done, is made the tax rate \u2014 and one of the reasons they don't the taxes so obnoxious, they can't do it. Where, I made it a 10% number, as you know. I've been very highly praised for it. A lot of money's going to come back in, we're going to get rid of the bureaucratic problems, and roadblocks, because that's also a problem. And, we're going to have all of this money pour back into the United States. It's going to be used to build businesses, for jobs, and everything else. And, as I say, my expression is, let's make America great again. +p2172 +aVThank you. Over the years, I've created tens of thousands of jobs and a great company. It's a company I'm very proud of. Some of the most iconic assets anywhere in the world. And I will tell you, I don't have to give you a website because I'm self-funding my campaign. I'm putting up my own money. I want to do something really special. I want to make our country greater than it's ever been. I think we have that potential. We cannot lose this election. We cannot let Hillary Clinton, who is the worst secretary of state in the history of our country, win this election. We will fight. We will win. And we truly will make this even more special. We have to make it better than ever before. And I will tell you, the United States can actually be better than ever before. Thank you. +p2173 +aVI think maybe my greatest weakness is that I trust people too much. I'm too trusting. And when they let me down, if they let me down, I never forgive. I find it very, very hard to forgive people that deceived me. So I don't know if you would call that a weakness, but my wife said "let up." +p2174 +aVRight. +p2175 +aVRight. +p2176 +aVThat's right. +p2177 +aVNo, not a comic book, and it's not a very nicely asked question the way you say that. Larry Kudlow is an example, who I have a lot of respect for, who loves my tax plan. We're reducing taxes to 15 percent. We're bringing corporate taxes down, bringing money back in, corporate inversions. We have $2.5 trillion outside of the United States which we want to bring back in. As far as the wall is concerned, we're going to build a wall. We're going to create a border. We're going to let people in, but they're going to come in legally. They're going to come in legally. And it's something that can be done, and I get questioned about that. They built the great wall of China. That's 13,000 miles. Here, we actually need 1,000 because we have natural barriers. So we need 1,000. We can do a wall. We're going to have a big, fat beautiful door right in the middle of the wall. We're going to have people come in, but they're coming in legally. And Mexico's going to pay for the wall because Mexico \u2014 I love the Mexican people; I respect the Mexican leaders \u2014 but the leaders are much sharper, smarter and more cunning than our leaders. And just to finish, people say, how will you get Mexico to pay? A politician other than the people in the states \u2014 I don't want to \u2014 a politician cannot get them to pay. I can. We lose, we have a trade imbalance... Excuse me, John. ... of $50 billion... +p2178 +aV... believe me the world is peanuts by comparison. +p2179 +aVRight. Dynamically. +p2180 +aVThen you have to get rid of Larry Kudlow, who sits on your panel, who's a great guy, who came out the other day and said, I love Trump's tax plan. +p2181 +aVFirst of all, John got lucky with a thing called fracking, OK? He hit oil. He got lucky with fracking. Believe me, that is why Ohio is doing well. Number \u2014 and that is important for you to know. Number two, this was the man that was a managing general partner at Lehman Brothers when it went down the tubes and almost took every one of us with it, including Ben and myself, because I was there and I watched what happened. And Lehman Brothers started it all. He was on the board. And he was a managing general partner. And just thirdly, he was so nice. He was such a nice guy. And he said, oh, I'm never going to attack. But then his poll numbers tanked. He has got \u2014 that is why he is on the end. And he got nasty. And he got nasty. So you know what? You can have him. +p2182 +aVI think you're \u2014 +p2183 +aVWell, first of all, like many other very big businessmen, I could name them here, but I'm not going to do that for a lot of obvious reasons, but the biggest, and almost all of them, they've all used the chapter laws, the bankruptcy laws to their own benefit. Before this, I was a very successful person as a developer and as a businessman. Atlantic City has gone bad. I mean, Chris will know about that. I'm not blaming Chris, by the way, but he will know about that. Caesar's \u2014 excuse me \u2014 Caesar's, the Rolls-Royce, as you know, is in bankruptcy. Almost every hotel in Atlantic City has either been in bankruptcy or will be in bankruptcy \u2014 the biggest. But also the biggest people (ph) \u2014 now I've used that to my advantage as a business man, for my family, for myself. I never filed for bankruptcy. But many, many people did. What happened with Atlantic City is very, very disgraceful. Now hundreds of companies I've opened. I've used it three times, maybe four times. Came out great. But I guess I'm supposed to come out great. That is what I could do for the country. We owe $19 trillion, boy am I good at solving debt problems. Nobody can solve it like me. But I will tell you this, Atlantic City, you're using that, hundreds of companies that I have opened have thrived. I built a net worth of way over $10 billion, and I have done it four times out of hundreds. And I'm glad I did it. I used the laws of the country to my benefit, I'm sorry. +p2184 +aVThank you. +p2185 +aVI was not at all critical of him. I was not at all. In fact, frankly, he's complaining about the fact that we're losing some of the most talented people. They go to Harvard. They go to Yale. They go to Princeton. They come from another country and they're immediately sent out. I am all in favor of keeping these talented people here so they can go to work in Silicon Valley. +p2186 +aVSo I have nothing at all critical of him. +p2187 +aVProbably, I don't know \u2014 you people write the stuff. I don't know where you... And if I could say just one thing. I am the only person in either campaign that's self-funding. I'm putting up 100 percent of my own money. And right now, I will be putting up a tremendous \u2014 so far, I've put up less than anybody and I have the best results. Wouldn't that be nice if the country could do that? But I will be putting \u2014 I will be putting up, you know, tremendous amounts of money. SuperPacs are a disaster. They're a scam. They cause dishonesty. And you better get rid of them because they are causing a lot of bad decisions to be made by some very good people. And I'm not blaming these folks \u2014 well, I guess I could. Very good people are making very bad decisions right now. And if anything comes out of this whole thing with some of these nasty and ridiculous questions, I will tell you, you better get rid of the SuperPacs because they causing a big problem with this country, not only in dishonesty and what's going on, but also in a lot of bad decisions that have been made for the benefit of lobbyists and special interests. +p2188 +aVI never said that. I never said that. +p2189 +aVYou've got another gentleman in Florida, who happens to be a very nice guy, but not... +p2190 +aV... he's really doing some bad... +p2191 +aVI'm in favor of people coming into this country legally. And you know what? They can have it anyway you want. You can call it visas, you can call it work permits, you can call it anything you want. I've created tens of thousands of jobs, and in all due respect \u2014 and actually some of these folks I really like a lot \u2014 but I'm the only one that can say that. I have created tens of thousands of jobs, and I'll be creating many millions of jobs if I'm given \u2014 if I'm given the opportunity to be president. As far as Mark is concerned, as far as the visas are concerned, if we need people, they have \u2014 it's fine. They have to come into this country legally. We have a country of borders. We have a country of laws. We have to obey the laws. It's fine if they come in, but they have to come in legally. +p2192 +aVYes. +p2193 +aVOr somebody else. Right. +p2194 +aVYes, I might feel more comfortable. I would say that I would and I have a permit, which is very unusual in New York \u2014 a permit to carry. And I do carry on occasion, sometimes a lot. But I like to be unpredictable so that people don't know exactly... +p2195 +aVBy the way, unlike our country where we're totally predictable and the enemy, whether it's +p2196 +aVI would change them. I would change them. +p2197 +aVSuch a nasty \u2014 such a nasty question, but thank you, Governor. +p2198 +aVYes, it's very simple. We're going to make a really dynamic economy from what we have right now, which is not at all dynamic. We're going to bring jobs back from Japan, we're going to bring jobs back from China, we're going to bring, frankly, jobs back from Mexico where, as you probably saw, Nabisco is leaving Chicago with one of their biggest plants, and they're moving it to Mexico. We're going to bring jobs and manufacturing back. We're going to cut costs. We're going to save Social Security, and we're going to save Medicare. [ +p2199 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We used to win, we don't win anymore. We lose on trade. We lose with +p2200 +aVAnd, I'll do that with the country. We will make America great again. And, thank you everybody. Just for the record. +p2201 +aVThat's not right. That is absolutely not right. You know that. That is not right. [ +p2202 +aVI'm Donald Trump. I wrote "The Art of the Deal". I say not in a braggadocious way, I've made billions and billions of dollars dealing with people all over the world, and I want to put whatever that talent is to work for this country so we have great trade deals, we make our country rich again, we make it great again. We build our military, we take care of our vets, we get rid of Obamacare, and we have a great life altogether. Thank you. Thank you. +p2203 +aVWell, first of all, Rand Paul shouldn't even be on this stage. He's number 11, he's got 1 percent in the polls, and how he got up here, there's far too many people anyway. As far as temperament \u2014 and we all know that \u2014 as far as temperament, I think I have a great temperament. I built a phenomenal business with incredible, iconic assets, one of the really truly great real-estate businesses. And I may be an entertainer, because I've had tremendous success with number-one bestsellers all over the place, with "The Apprentice" and everything else I've done. But I will tell you this: What I am far and away greater than an entertainer is a businessman, and that's the kind of mindset this country needs to bring it back, because we owe $19 trillion right now, $19 trillion, and you need this kind of thinking to bring our country back. And believe me, my temperament is very good, very calm. But we will be respected outside of this country. We are not respected now. +p2204 +aVI never attacked him on his look, and believe me, there's plenty of subject matter right there. That I can tell you. +p2205 +aVI've actually been in politics all my life, although I've been on that side as opposed to this side. I'm now a politician for about three months. Obviously, I'm doing pretty well. I'm number one in every poll by a lot. But the qualification is that I've dealt with people all over the world, been successful all over the world. Everything I've done virtually has been a tremendous success. When markets changed, when things turned, I heard Governor Pataki, who, by the way, was a failed governor in New York, a very seriously failed \u2014 he wouldn't be elected dog catcher right now. I heard what he had to say. And I will tell you this: Atlantic City, I've made a tremendous amount of money in Atlantic City. I left seven years ago, I've gotten great credit for my timing, and that's what I'm all about. I'm a businessman, did really well, really well, and Jeb, what I want to do is put that ability into this country to make our country rich again. And I can do that, and I'm not sure that anybody else in the group will be able to do that. +p2206 +aVBut I have to say... +p2207 +aVWell, in Wisconsin... +p2208 +aVExcuse me. +p2209 +aVIn Wisconsin, you're losing $2.2 billion right now. +p2210 +aVI would do so much better than that. +p2211 +aVNo. +p2212 +aVI'm using facts. +p2213 +aVEvery major business leader has used the \u2014 I never went bankrupt, by the way, as you know, everybody knows. But we \u2014 hundreds of companies, hundreds of deals, I've used ???: ... into bankruptcy. That's what's wrong with politicians in Washington right now. They think we can take a country into bankruptcy. +p2214 +aVEvery major business leader, has used the \u2014 I never went bank bankrupt, by the way, as you know, everybody knows. But \u2014 hundreds of companies, hundreds of deals, I used the law four times and made a tremendous thing. I'm in business. I did a very good job. But I will say this, and people are very, very impressed with what I've done, the business people. But when the folks of Iowa found out the true facts of the job that you've done in Wisconsin, all of a sudden you, tubed (ph), he was No. 1 and now he's No. 6 or seven in the polls. So, look, we brought it out, you were supposed to make a billion dollars in the state. You lost 2.2 \u2014 you have right now, a huge budget deficit. That's not a Democratic point. That's a point. That's a fact. And when the people of Iowa found that out, I went to No. 1 and you went down the tubes. +p2215 +aVI didn't \u2014 +p2216 +aVTotally false. +p2217 +aVI would have gotten it. +p2218 +aVI promise I would have gotten it. +p2219 +aVI promise if I wanted it, I would have gotten it. +p2220 +aVI know my people. +p2221 +aVI know my people. +p2222 +aVNo. I just will tell you that, you know, Jeb made the statement. I'm not only referring to him. I \u2014 a lot of money was raised by a lot of different people that are standing up here. And the donors, the special interests, the lobbyists have very strong power over these people. I'm spending all of my money, I'm not spending \u2014 I'm not getting any \u2014 I turned down \u2014 I turn down so much, I could have right now from special interests and donors, I could have double and triple what he's got. I've turned it down. I turned down last week $5 million from somebody. So I will tell you I understand the game, I've been on the other side all of my life. And they have a lot of control over our politicians. And I don't say that favorably, and I'm not sure if there's another system, but I say this. I am not accepting any money from anybody. Nobody has control of me other than the people of this country. I'm going to do the right thing. +p2223 +aVThat's true. That's true. +p2224 +aVI was \u2014 excuse me, Jeb. +p2225 +aVI was a businessman, I got along with Clinton, I got along with everybody. That was my job, to get along with people. +p2226 +aVI didn't want to \u2014 excuse me. One second. +p2227 +aVOK, more energy tonight. I like that. Look \u2014 +p2228 +aVI didn't want \u2014 it was my obligation as a businessman to my family, to my company, to my employees, to get along with all politicians. I get along with all of them, and I did a damn good job in doing it. Go ahead. +p2229 +aVGot along with everybody. +p2230 +aVWrong. +p2231 +aVDon't make things up. Jeb, don't make things up. Come on. +p2232 +aVDon't make things up. +p2233 +aVSo, number one, they have to respect you. He has absolutely no respect for President Obama. Zero. Syria's a mess. You look at what's going on with +p2234 +aVI believe that I will get along \u2014 we will do \u2014 between that, Ukraine, all of the other problems, we won't have the kind of problems that our country has right now with Russia and many other nations. +p2235 +aVI wouldn't have drawn the line, but once he drew it, he had no choice but to go across. They do bear some responsibility, but I think he probably didn't do it, not for that reason. Somehow, he just doesn't have courage. There is something missing from our president. Had he crossed the line and really gone in with force, done something to Assad \u2014 if he had gone in with tremendous force, you wouldn't have millions of people displaced all over the world. +p2236 +aVThey had a responsibility, absolutely. I think we have three of them here... +p2237 +aVI think they had a responsibility, yes. +p2238 +aVJeb, just... +p2239 +aVI think it will haunt him. I think it's a terrible. I think it's going to haunt him absolutely. He came back later and he said he misspoke. There was no question because I heard when he said the statement. I was watching and he said the statement. And I said, wow, I can't believe it. I will take care of women. I respect women. I will take care of women. One thing we will say and I would like to get back to the Iran situation. We're talking about Iran. The agreement was terrible. It was incompetent. I've never seen anything like it. One of the worst contracts of any kind I've ever seen. And nobody ever mentions North Korea where you have this maniac sitting there and he actually has nuclear weapons and somebody better start thinking about North Korea and perhaps a couple of other places. But certainly North Korea. And Ted and I have spoken. We've \u2014 a lot of us have spoken. We're talking about Iran. They are bad actors, bad things are going to happen. But in the meantime, you have somebody right now in North Korea who has got nuclear weapons and who is saying almost every other week, I'm ready to use them. And we don't even mention it. +p2240 +aVSo why didn't you say it? Why didn't you say it? +p2241 +aVI know, but why did you say it? I heard it myself. Why did you say it? +p2242 +aVYou said you're going to cut funding for women's health. You said it. +p2243 +aVYou said it. +p2244 +aVI think she's got a beautiful face, and I think she's a beautiful woman. +p2245 +aVCorrect. First of all, I want to build a wall, a wall that works. So important, and it's a big part of it. Second of all, we have a lot of really bad dudes in this country from outside, and I think Chris knows that, maybe as well as anybody. They go, if I get elected, first day they're gone. Gangs all over the place. Chicago, Baltimore, no matter where you look. We have a country based on laws. I will make sure that those laws are adhered to. These are illegal immigrants. I don't think you'd even be asking this question if I didn't run because when I ran, and I brought this up, my opening remarks at Trump Tower, I took heat like nobody has taken heat in a long time. And, then they found out with the killing of Katie, from San Francisco, and so many other crimes, they found out that I was right. And, most people, many people, apologized to me. I don't think you'd even be talking about illegal immigration if it weren't for me. So, we have a country of laws, they're going to go out, and they'll come back if they deserve to come back. If they've had a bad record, if they've been arrested, if they've been in jail, they're never coming back. We're going to have a country again. Right now, we don't have a country, we don't have a border, and we're going to do something about it, and it can be done with proper management, and it can be done with heart. +p2246 +aV...By the way, I agree with \u2014 with what Chris is saying, but, I will say this. Illegal immigration is costing us more than $200 billion dollars a year just to maintain what we have. +p2247 +aVCorrect. +p2248 +aVWell, I have to tell you, I hear phenomenal things. I hear your wife is a lovely woman... +p2249 +aVI don't know her, and this is a total mischaracterization... +p2250 +aVGood. +p2251 +aVNo, I won't do that, because I've said nothing wrong. +p2252 +aVBut I do hear she's a lovely woman. +p2253 +aVJeb said... +p2254 +aV... that they come into our country as an act of love. With all of the problems we that we have, in so many instances \u2014 we have wonderful people coming in. But with all of the problems \u2014 this is not an act of love. He's weak on immigration \u2014 by the way, in favor of Common Core, which is also a disaster, but weak on immigration. He doesn't get my vote. +p2255 +aVNot with this intensity. +p2256 +aVAs I said, we are spending $200 billion \u2014 we are spending $200 billion a year on maintaining what we have. We will move them out. The great ones will come back, the good ones will come back. They'll be expedited, they'll be back, they'll come back legally. We'll have a country \u2014 they'll come back, legally. +p2257 +aVWell, I think it's wonderful and all, but I did it a little bit half-heartedly, but I do mean it to a large extent. We have a country, where, to assimilate, you have to speak English. And I think that where he was, and the way it came out didn't sound right to me. We have to have assimilation \u2014 to have a country, we have to have assimilation. I'm not the first one to say this, Dana. We've had many people over the years, for many, many years, saying the same thing. This is a country where we speak English, not Spanish. +p2258 +aVThis is a reporter, not a high school kid. +p2259 +aVWell, first of all, the \u2014 the 14th Amendment says very, very clearly to a lot of great legal scholars \u2014 not television scholars, but legal scholars \u2014 that it is wrong. It can be corrected with an act of Congress, probably doesn't even need that. A woman gets pregnant. She's nine months, she walks across the border, she has the baby in the United States, and we take care of the baby for 85 years. I don't think so. And by the way, Mexico and almost every other country anywhere in the world doesn't have that. We're the only ones dumb enough, stupid enough to have it. And people \u2014 and by the way, this is not just with respect to Mexico. They are coming from Asia to have babies here, and all of a sudden, we have to take care of the babies for the life of the baby. The 14th Amendment, it reads properly, you can go and \u2014 it's probably going to be have to be check \u2014 go through a process of court, probably ends up at the Supreme Court, but there are a lot of great legal scholars that say that is not correct. And in my opinion, it makes absolutely no \u2014 we're the only \u2014 one of the only countries, we're going to take care of those babies for 70, 75, 80, 90 years? I don't think so. +p2260 +aVI agree 100 percent, by the way, with Carly on the fact that the Democrats do not want to solve this problem, for the obvious reasons, but they do not. But I believe that a reading of the 14th Amendment allows you to have an interpretation where this is not legal and where it can't be done. I've seen both sides, but some of the greatest scholars agree with me, without having to go through Congress. If you do go through Congress, you can absolutely solve the problem. +p2261 +aVThat's true, sure. +p2262 +aVWell \u2014 +p2263 +aV\u2014 let me \u2014 well, let me just explain. The head of the Yale Business School, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, wrote a paper recently, one of the worst tenures for a CEO that he has ever seen, ranked one of the top 20 in the history of business. The company is a disaster and continues to be a disaster. They still haven't recovered. In fact, today, on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, they fired another 25 or 30,000 people saying we still haven't recovered from the catastrophe. When Carly says the revenues went up, that's because she bought Compaq, it was a terrible deal, and it really led to the destruction of the company. Now one other company before that was Lucent. Carly was at Lucent before that. And Lucent turned out to be a catastrophe also. So I only say this. She can't run any of my companies. That I can tell you. +p2264 +aVI never filed for bankruptcy. +p2265 +aVI'll tell you why; it's very simple. +p2266 +aVI'll tell you. I was running \u2014 +p2267 +aV\u2014 Carly, Carly \u2014 +p2268 +aV\u2014 I've made over $10 billion. I had a casino company \u2014 Caesars just filed for bankruptcy. Chris will tell you \u2014 it's not Chris' fault either \u2014 but almost everybody in Atlantic City is either in trouble or filed for \u2014 maybe I'll blame Chris. +p2269 +aVBut Atlantic City is a disaster \u2014 +p2270 +aVWait a minute, Carly. Wait. I let you speak. Atlantic City is a disaster, and I did great in Atlantic City. I knew when to get out. My timing was great. And I got a lot of credit for it. Many of the great business people that you know \u2014 and Carl Icon (ph) is going to work with me on making great deals for this country. But whether it's Carl or so many others that we read about all the time \u2014 +p2271 +aV\u2014 they have used the laws of the land, which is the \u2014 +p2272 +aV...Well, I'd like to respond, I'd like to respond... +p2273 +aVWell, I think the thing about the flat tax, I know it very well. What I don't like is that if you make $200 million a year, you pay ten percent, you're paying very little relatively to somebody that's making $50,000 a year, and has to hire H&R Block to do the \u2014 because it's so complicated. One thing I'll say to Ben is that we've had a graduated tax system for many years, so it's not a socialistic thing. What I'd like to do, and I'll be putting in the plan in about two weeks, and I think people are going to like it, it's a major reduction in taxes. It's a major reduction for the middle class. The hedge fund guys won't like me as much as they like me right now. I know them all, but they'll pay more. I know people that are making a tremendous amount of money and paying virtually no tax, and I think it's unfair. +p2274 +aVWell, I heard Hugh Hewitt, a nice man, he apologized because he actually said that we had a misunderstanding. And he said today that Donald Trump is maybe the best interview there is anywhere that he has ever done. Now unless he was just saying that on CNN to be nice, but he did say that... +p2275 +aVAnd we had a legitimate misunderstanding in terms of his pronunciation of a word. But I would say just... +p2276 +aVWell, I think it was. And he actually said that. Did you say that? +p2277 +aVOK. So I will say this, though, Hugh was giving me name after name, Arab name, Arab name, and there are few people anywhere, anywhere that would have known those names. I think he was reading them off a sheet. And frankly I will have \u2014 and I told him, I will have the finest team that anybody has put together and we will solve a lot of problems. You know, right now they know a lot and look at what is happening. The world is blowing up around us. We will have great teams and great people. +p2278 +aVI hope that answers your question. I mean, you are in the Senate, but I hope that answers your question. +p2279 +aVNo, I don't think he's suggesting that at all. I mean... +p2280 +aVI don't think he's suggesting that at all. +p2281 +aVWell, you have to understand, I am not sitting in the United States Senate with, by the way, the worst voting record there is today. Number one. I am not sitting in the United States Senate. I'm a businessman doing business transactions. +p2282 +aVI am doing business transactions. I will know more about this \u2014 and, as you said, that was very acceptable, and when you listen to that whole interview, it's a great interview, you said it, I didn't. Well, now I did. But... +p2283 +aVListen, just one second. Just one second. +p2284 +aVI will know... +p2285 +aV...I will know more about the problems of this world by the time I sit, and you look at what's going in this world right now by people that supposedly know, this world is a mess. +p2286 +aV +p2287 +aV I'm \u2014 and I'm meeting with people that are terrific people, but I have to say something because it's about judgment. I am the only person on this dais \u2014 the only person \u2014 that fought very, very hard against us (ph), and I wasn't a sitting politician going into Iraq, because I said going into Iraq \u2014 that was in 2003, you can check it out, check out \u2014 I'll give you 25 different stories. In fact, a delegation was sent to my office to see me because I was so vocal about it. I'm a very militaristic person, but you have to know when to use the military. I'm the only person up here that fought against going into Iraq. +p2288 +aVJust excuse me, one second, Rand... +p2289 +aVIf you don't mind, Rand \u2014 you know, you are on last \u2014 you do have your 1 percent. I would like \u2014 and I think it's very important. I think it's important, because it's about judgment. It's about judgment. I didn't want to go into Iraq, and I fought it, because what I said \u2014 what I said... +p2290 +aV... was you're going to \u2014 you're going to destabilize... +p2291 +aV... the Middle East, and that's what happened. +p2292 +aVIf you think about it... +p2293 +aVYour brother \u2014 and your brother's administration gave us Barack Obama, because it was such a disaster, those last three months, that Abraham Lincoln couldn't have been elected. +p2294 +aVI don't know. You feel safe right now? I don't feel so safe. +p2295 +aVOr the collapse of the economy. +p2296 +aVSpeaking for myself, I'm OK with it. I think there's a certain truth to it. I know people that, frankly, it has no impact on their life whatsoever. There are many people. I would almost say leave it up to them, but I would be willing to check it off, and say I will not get Social Security. I do not... +p2297 +aVAs a policy, I would almost leave it up to the people. Don't forget they pay in and they pay in, and maybe they do well, and maybe some people want it. But the fact is that there are people that truly don't need it, and there are many people that do need it very, very badly. And I would be willing to write mine off 100 percent, Dana. +p2298 +aVWell, I \u2014 I \u2014 I'd like to respond. +p2299 +aVI'd like to respond. +p2300 +aVAutism has become an epidemic. Twenty-five years ago, 35 years ago, you look at the statistics, not even close. It has gotten totally out of control. I am totally in favor of vaccines. But I want smaller doses over a longer period of time. Because you take a baby in \u2014 and I've seen it \u2014 and I've seen it, and I had my children taken care of over a long period of time, over a two or three year period of time. Same exact amount, but you take this little beautiful baby, and you pump \u2014 I mean, it looks just like it's meant for a horse, not for a child, and we've had so many instances, people that work for me. Just the other day, two years old, two and a half years old, a child, a beautiful child went to have the vaccine, and came back, and a week later got a tremendous fever, got very, very sick, now is autistic. I only say it's not \u2014 I'm in favor of vaccines, do them over a longer period of time, same amount. +p2301 +aVBut just in \u2014 in little sections. +p2302 +aVI think \u2014 and I think you're going to have \u2014 I think you're going to see a big impact on autism. +p2303 +aVAnd that's all I'm saying, Jake. That's all I'm saying. +p2304 +aVWell, because she's been sitting for three hours, I think my daughter, Ivanka, who's right here. +p2305 +aVOther than that we'll go with Rosa Parks. I like that. +p2306 +aVHumble. +p2307 +aVIf I become president, we will do something really special. We will make this country greater than ever before. We'll have more jobs. We'll have more of everything. We were discussing disease, we were discussing all sorts of things tonight, many of which will just be words, it will just pass on. I don't want to say politicians, all talk, no action. But a lot of what we talked about is words and it will be forgotten very quickly. If I'm president, many of the things that we discussed tonight will not be forgotten. We'll find solutions. And the world will respect us. They will respect us like never before. And it will be actually a friendlier world. And I have to say, it is a great honor to be here tonight. +p2308 +aVI fully understand. +p2309 +aVI fully understand. +p2310 +aVI cannot say. I have to respect the person that, if it's not me, the person that wins, if I do win, and I'm leading by quite a bit, that's what I want to do. I can totally make that pledge. If I'm the nominee, I will pledge I will not run as an independent. But -- and I am discussing it with everybody, but I'm, you know, talking about a lot of leverage. We want to win, and we will win. But I want to win as the Republican. I want to run as the Republican nominee. +p2311 +aVWell, I've given him plenty of money. +p2312 +aVI will not make the pledge at this time. +p2313 +aVOnly Rosie O'Donnell. +p2314 +aVThank you. +p2315 +aVYes, I'm sure it was. +p2316 +aVI think the big problem this country has is being politically correct. I've been challenged by so many people, and I don't frankly have time for total political correctness. And to be honest with you, this country doesn't have time either. This country is in big trouble. We don't win anymore. We lose to China. We lose to Mexico both in trade and at the border. We lose to everybody. And frankly, what I say, and oftentimes it's fun, it's kidding. We have a good time. What I say is what I say. And honestly Megyn, if you don't like it, I'm sorry. I've been very nice to you, although I could probably maybe not be, based on the way you have treated me. But I wouldn't do that. But you know what, we -- we need strength, we need energy, we need quickness and we need brain in this country to turn it around. That, I can tell you right now. +p2317 +aVSo, if it weren't for me, you wouldn't even be talking about illegal immigration, Chris. You wouldn't even be talking about it. This was not a subject that was on anybody's mind until I brought it up at my announcement. And I said, Mexico is sending. Except the reporters, because they're a very dishonest lot, generally speaking, in the world of politics, they didn't cover my statement the way I said it. The fact is, since then, many killings ,murders, crime, drugs pouring across the border, are money going out and the drugs coming in. And I said we need to build a wall, and it has to be built quickly. And I don't mind having a big beautiful door in that wall so that people can come into this country legally. But we need, Jeb, to build a wall, we need to keep illegals out. +p2318 +aVBorder Patrol, I was at the border last week. Border Patrol, people that I deal with, that I talk to, they say this is what's happening. Because our leaders are stupid. Our politicians are stupid. And the Mexican government is much smarter, much sharper, much more cunning. And they send the bad ones over because they don't want to pay for them. They don't want to take care of them. Why should they when the stupid leaders of the United States will do it for them? And that's what is happening whether you like it or not. +p2319 +aVA complete disaster, yes. +p2320 +aVCorrect. +p2321 +aVFirst of all, I'd like to just go back to one. In July of 2004, I came out strongly against the war with Iraq, because it was going to destabilize the Middle East. And I'm the only one on this stage that knew that and had the vision to say it. And that's exactly what happened. +p2322 +aVAnd the Middle East became totally destabilized. So I just want to say. As far as single payer, it works in Canada. It works incredibly well in Scotland. It could have worked in a different age, which is the age you're talking about here. What I'd like to see is a private system without the artificial lines around every state. I have a big company with thousands and thousands of employees. And if I'm negotiating in New York or in New Jersey or in California, I have like one bidder. Nobody can bid. You know why? Because the insurance companies are making a fortune because they have control of the politicians, of course, with the exception of the politicians on this stage. But they have total control of the politicians. They're making a fortune. Get rid of the artificial lines and you will have......yourself great plans. And then we have to take care of the people that can't take care of themselves. And I will do that through a different system. +p2323 +aVI'm not -- I'm not are -- I don't think you heard me. You're having a hard time tonight. +p2324 +aVYou'd better believe it. +p2325 +aVIf I ask them, if I need them, you know, most of the people on this stage I've given to, just so you understand, a lot of money. +p2326 +aVMany of them. +p2327 +aVNot much. +p2328 +aVBut I... +p2329 +aVI have good... +p2330 +aVGood. +p2331 +aVSounds good. Sounds good to me, Governor. I will tell you that our system is broken. I gave to many people, before this, before two months ago, I was a businessman. I give to everybody. When they call, I give. And do you know what? When I need something from them two years later, three years later, I call them, they are there for me. +p2332 +aVAnd that's a broken system. +p2333 +aVWell, I'll tell you what, with Hillary Clinton, I said be at my wedding and she came to my wedding. You know why? She didn't have a choice because I gave. I gave to a foundation that, frankly, that foundation is supposed to do good. I didn't know her money would be used on private jets going all over the world. It was. But... +p2334 +aVBecause I have used the laws of this country just like the greatest people that you read about every day in business have used the laws of this country, the chapter laws, to do a great job for my company, for myself, for my employees, for my family, et cetera. I have never gone bankrupt, by the way. I have never. But out of hundreds of deals... +p2335 +aVExcuse me. Excuse me. +p2336 +aVExcuse me, what am I saying? Out of hundreds of deals that I've done, hundreds, on four occasions I've taken advantage of the laws of this country, like other people. I'm not going to name their names because I'm not going to embarrass, but virtually every person that you read about on the front page of the business sections, they've used the law. The difference is, when somebody else uses those laws, nobody writes about it. When I use it, they say, "Trump, Trump, Trump." The fact is, I built a net worth of more than $10 billion. I have a great, great company. I employ thousands of people. And I'm very proud of the job I did. Again Chris, hundreds and hundreds of deals. Four times, I've taken advantage of the laws. And frankly, so has everybody else in my position. +p2337 +aVWell, I... +p2338 +aVLet me just tell you about the lenders. First of all, these lenders aren't babies. These are total killers. These are not the nice, sweet little people that you think, OK? You know, I mean you're living in a world of the make-believe, Chris, you want to know the truth. And I had the good sense to leave Atlantic City, which by the way, Caesars just went bankrupt. Every company, Chris can tell you, every company virtually in Atlantic City went bankrupt. Every company. And let me just tell you. I had the good sense, and I've gotten a lot of credit in the financial pages, seven years ago I left Atlantic City before it totally cratered, and I made a lot of money in Atlantic City, and I'm very proud of it. I want to tell you that. Very, very proud of it. +p2339 +aVAnd by the way, this country right now owes $19 trillion. And they need somebody like me to straighten out that mess. +p2340 +aVI don't think they like me very much. I'll tell you what. I've evolved on many issues over the years. And you know who else has? Is Ronald Reagan evolved on many issues. And I am pro-life. And if you look at the question, I was in business. They asked me a question as to pro-life or choice. And I said if you let it run, that I hate the concept of abortion. I hate the concept of abortion. And then since then, I've very much evolved. And what happened is friends of mine years ago were going to have a child, and it was going to be aborted. And it wasn't aborted. And that child today is a total superstar, a great, great child. And I saw that. And I saw other instances. And I am very, very proud to say that I am pro-life. As far as being a Republican is concerned, I come from a place, New York City, which is virtually, I mean, it is almost exclusively Democrat. And I have really started to see some of the negatives -- as an example, and I have a lot of liking for this man, but the last number of months of his brother's administration were a catastrophe. And unfortunately, those few months gave us President Obama. And you can't be happy about that. +p2341 +aVFirst of all, Jeb, I am very happy that you denied that, and I appreciate that very much. He is a true gentleman. He really is. One thing he did say, and I mean that. The one thing he did say about me, however, was my tone. And I also understand that. But when you have people that are cutting Christians' heads off, when you have a world that the border and at so many places, that it is medieval times, we've never -- it almost has to be as bad as it ever was in terms of the violence and the horror, we don't have time for tone. We have to go out and get the job done. +p2342 +aVI would be so different from what you have right now. Like, the polar opposite. We have a president who doesn't have a clue. I would say he's incompetent, but I don't want to do that because that's not nice. But if you look at the deals we make, whether it's the nuclear deal with 24 hour periods -- and by the way, before you get to the 24 hours, you have to go through a system. You look at Sgt. Bergdahl, we get Bergdahl, a traitor, and they get five of the big, great killers leaders that they want. We have people in Washington that don't know what they're doing. Now... I agree. Now, with Iran, we're making a deal, you would say, we want him. We want out our prisoners. We want all these things, and we don't get anything. We're giving them $150 billion dollars plus, they are going to be -- I'll tell you what, if Iran was a stock, you folks should go out and buy it right now because you'll quadruple -- this, what's happening in Iran, is a disgrace, and it's going to lead to destruction in large portions of the world. +p2343 +aVOur country is in serious trouble. We don't win anymore. We don't beat China in trade. We don't beat Japan, with their millions and millions of cars coming into this country, in trade. We can't beat Mexico, at the border or in trade. We can't do anything right. Our military has to be strengthened. Our vets have to be taken care of. We have to end Obamacare, and we have to make our country great again, and I will do that. Thank you. +p2344 +asVCHRISTIE +p2345 +(lp2346 +VThank you Wolf. America has been betrayed. We've been betrayed by the leadership that Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton have provided to this country over the last number of years. Think about just what's happened today. The second largest school district in America in Los Angeles closed based on a threat. Think about the effect that, that's going to have on those children when they go back to school tomorrow wondering filled with anxiety to whether they're really going to be safe. Think about the mothers who will take those children tomorrow morning to the bus stop wondering whether their children will arrive back on that bus safe and sound. Think about the fathers of Los Angeles, who tomorrow will head off to work and wonder about the safety of their wives and their children. What is Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton done to this country? That the most basic responsibility of an administration is to protect the safety and security of the American people. I will tell you this, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I've fought terrorists and won and when we get back in the White House we will fight terrorists and win again and America will be safe. +p2347 +aVWolf, unfortunately, it's the new normal under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The fact is that if you listen to Hillary Clinton the other day, what she said to the American people was, as regards to +p2348 +aVListen, I want to talk to the audience at home for a second. If your eyes are glazing over like mine, this is what it's like to be on the floor of the United States Senate. I mean, endless debates about how many angels on the head of a pin from people who've never had to make a consequential decision in an executive position. The fact is, for seven years, I had to make these decisions after 9/11, make a decision about how to proceed forward with an investigation or how to pull back, whether you use certain actionable intelligence or whether not to. And yet they continue to debate about this bill and in the subcommittee and what \u2014 nobody in America cares about that. What they care about is, are we going to have a president who actually knows what they're doing to make these decisions? And for the seven years afterwards, New Jersey was threatened like no other region in this country and what we did was we took action within the constitution to make sure that law enforcement had all the information they needed. We prosecuted two of the biggest terrorism cases in the world and stopped Fort Dix from being attacked by six American radicalized Muslims from a Mosque in New Jersey because we worked with the Muslim American community to get intelligence and we used the Patriot Act to get other intelligence to make sure we did those cases. This is the difference between actually been a federal prosecutor, actually doing something, and not just spending your life as one of hundred debating it. Let's talk about how we do this, not about which bill, which one these guys like more. The American people don't care about that. +p2349 +aVWolf, you sit up here and you listen to this stuff, and you think that so many of these people have had so much to do in this national debate, they talk like they were bystanders. You know, we talk about our military being degraded over time, and yet we've had folks on this stage who've been a part of Congress who have participated in sequester; who participated in the degrading of this military over time. And that's why I think people get so frustrated with Washington, D.C. now. That's why they're so angry with the \u2014 the electorate is so angry with everybody who is involved in government in Washington, D.C. Because if you listen to the folks up here, you think that they weren't even there; they had nothing to do with this. This is a difference between being a governor and being in a legislature. See, because when something doesn't work in New Jersey, they look at me, say: "Why didn't it get done? Why didn't you do it?" You have to be responsible and accountable. And so on +p2350 +aVWell, I think we have to focus, Hugh, on exactly what the priorities are. And to me, what I've always said is that the president has set up an awful situation through his deal with Iran, because what his deal with Iran has done is empower them and enrich them. And that's the way +p2351 +aVNot only would I be prepared to do it, I would do it. A no-fly zone means a no-fly zone, Wolf. That's what it means. See, maybe \u2014 maybe because I'm from New Jersey, I just have this kind of plain language hangup. But I would make very clear \u2014 I would not talk to Vladimir Putin. In fact, I would talk to Vladimir Putin a lot. But I'd say to him, "Listen, Mr. President, there's a no-fly zone in Syria; you fly in, it applies to you." And yes, we would shoot down the planes of Russian pilots if in fact they were stupid enough to think that this president was the same feckless weakling that the president we have in the Oval Office is right now. +p2352 +aVWell, Wolf, I'll tell you what reckless is. What reckless is is calling Assad a reformer. What reckless is allowing Russia to come into Crimea and Ukraine. What reckless is is inviting Russia into Syria to team with Iran. That is reckless. And the reckless people are the folks in the White House right now. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are the reckless people. And if you think that a no-fly zone is a reckless policy, you're welcome to your opinion. But how is it working so far? As we have 250,000 Syrians murdered, slaughtered; millions running around the world, running for their lives. It's not working. We need to try something else. And that is not reckless. +p2353 +aVWhat I say to Carla is that the first job of the president of the United States is to protect your safety and your security and the security and safety of your family. And this debate stops with me in the discussions with the FBI director. Now, listen, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I know Jim Comey. We've worked together. He was the U.S. attorney in Manhattan when I was a U.S. attorney in New Jersey. And when Jim Comey gets up before Congress and says, we cannot effectively vet these people, for me as president, that's the end of the conversation. We have to put America's security first. The American people \u2014 we on this stage need to open our ears. We need to open our ears. The American people are not whispering to us. They are screaming to us. And they're screaming to us that it's our job to actually make this government work. It's so dysfunctional under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. It's so ineffective. It's so ineffectual that the American people say, we don't trust them to do anything anymore. So I'm not going to let Syrian refugees, any Syrian refugees in this country. And it was widows and orphans, by the way, and we now know from watching the San Bernardino attack that women can commit heinous, heinous acts against humanity just the same as men can do it. And so I don't back away from that position for a minute. When the FBI director tells me that he can vet those people, then we'll consider it and not a moment before because your safety and security is what's most important to me. +p2354 +aVWell, what it would like is, we have one of the great advantages of America being the open society that we are. It is, we are not hiding things from the American people, but China everyday is conducting business in a way that hides things from their people. So if they want to come in and attack all the personnel records in the federal government, which they've done, and which \u2014 they now have my Social Security number and my fingerprints, as well as maybe some other folks' who are on this stage. The fact is, they need to be fought back on. And what we need to do is go at the things that they are most sensitive and most embarrassing to them; that they're hiding; get that information and put it out in public. Let the Chinese people start to digest how corrupt the Chinese government is; how they steal from the Chinese people; and how they're enriching oligarchs all throughout China. They need to understand that. And we need to take those type of steps. This president has seen personnel records of people who have sacrificed for the American people and for the federal government stolen by the Chinese and he's done nothing in return. This is why \u2014 this is what I said at the beginning that this administration, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton through their foreign policy, have betrayed the American people, because the weakness they've displayed has led to Putin's incursions in the Middle East and in eastern Europe, and has led \u2014 has led to significant problems in the Middle East as well, and the death and murder of lots of folks. +p2355 +aVOn September 10th, 2001, I was named chief federal prosecutor in New Jersey and on September 11th, 2001, my wife and my brother who are in the audience tonight went through the World Trade Center and to their offices just blocks away from the Trade Center. I lost touch with them for six hours that day and prayed that they were alive. Luckily, they were sent home. But many of our friends and others in our neighborhood lost their lives that day. Terrorism \u2014 radical jihadist terrorism is not theoretical to me. It's real. And for seven years, I spent my life protecting our country against another one of those attacks. You won't have to worry when I'm President of the Untied States whether that can be done because I've already done it. I want the chance to do it again to protect you, your children and your families. If you give me the chance and give me your vote I will protect America from the wars that are being brought to our door step. +p2356 +aVI don't see a lot of weakness on this stage, quite frankly. Where I see the weakness is in those three people that are left on the Democratic stage. You know, I see a socialist, an isolationist and a pessimist. And for the sake of me, I can't figure out which one is which. But I will \u2014 but I will tell you this, the socialist says they're going to pay for everything and give you everything for free, except they don't say they're going to raise it through taxes to 90 percent to do it. The isolationist is the one who wants to continue to follow a foreign policy that has fewer democracies today than when Barack Obama came into office around the world. But I know who the pessimist is. It's Hillary Clinton. And you put me on that stage against her next September, she won't get within 10 miles of the White House. Take it to the bank. +p2357 +aVWell, I wish you would have asked that question years ago when they broke it. I mean, let me be honest with the people who are watching at home. The government has lied to you and they have stolen from you. They told you that your Social Security money is in a trust fund. All that's in that trust fund is a pile of IOUs for money they spent on something else a long time ago. And they've stolen from you because now they know they cannot pay these benefits and Social Security is going to be insolvent in seven to eight years. We're sitting up here talking about all these other things; 71 percent of federal spending today is on entitlements, and debt service. And, that's with zero percent interest rates. Now, I'm the only person that's put out a detailed plan on how to deal with entitlements. And we'll save a trillion dollars over the next 10 years. And, here's the difference between me and Hillary Clinton. What Hillary Clinton's going to say, and has said before is, she wants to raise Social Security taxes. Now, let me ask you a question everybody, and, this is for the guy, you know, who owns a landscaping business out there. If somebody's already stolen money from you, are you going to give them more? Or, are you going to deal with the problem by saying, I'm going to give people who've done well in this country less benefit on the backend. We need to get realistic about this. We're not \u2014 the American people \u2014 forget about anything else, they've already been lied to and stolen from. And... +p2358 +aV...I'm going to go to Washington to stop it... +p2359 +aV...The only way we're going to be morale, the only way we're going to keep our promise to seniors is start by following the first rule we should all follow, which is to look at them, treat them like adults, and tell them the truth. It isn't there anymore, Mike. They stole it. It got stolen from them. It's not theirs anymore. The government stole it, and spent it a long time ago... +p2360 +aVSo, let's stop fooling around about this, let's tell people the truth. For once, let's do that, and stop trying to give them some kind of fantasy that's never going to come true. +p2361 +aVYou bet they do. And if I were the prosecutor, that is exactly where they would be. The fact is that this Justice Department under this president has been a political Justice Department. It has been a Justice Department that decided that they want to pick who the winners and losers are. They like General Motors, so they give them a pass. They don't like somebody else like David Petraeus, they prosecute them and send a decorated general on to disgrace. It's a political Justice Department. And, Jim, you know full well that in the seven years I was U.S. attorney we went after pharmaceutical companies. We went after companies that were ripping off shareholders. We went after companies that were doing things that were against the law. And to expand on Mr. Carson's \u2014 or Dr. Carson's question, let's face it, we have laws already. We don't need newer (ph) laws. We don't need Hillary Clinton's price controls for \u2014 again, does anybody out there think that giving Washington, D.C., the opportunity to run the pharmaceutical industry is a good idea, given how well they have done running the government? So what we do, though, is, if there is somebody who is price- gouging, we have laws for prosecutors to take that on. Let's let a Justice Department \u2014 and I will make an attorney general who will enforce the law and make justice more than just a word. It will be a way of life. +p2362 +aVJohn, I'll tell you something. You want to talk about moral authority. Let's talk about something that happened this week in the news. You know, the FBI director, the president's appointed FBI director has said this week that because of a lack of support from politicians like the president of the United States, that police officers are afraid to get out of their cars; that they're afraid to enforce the law. And he says, the president's appointee, that crime is going up because of this. And when the president of the United States gets out to speak about it, does he support police officers? Does he stand up for law enforcement? No, he doesn't. I'll tell you this, the number one job of the president of the United States is to protect the safety and security of the American people. This president has failed, and when I'm in the Oval Office, police officers will know that they will have the support of the president of the Untied States. That's real moral authority that we need in the Oval Office. +p2363 +aVCarl, are we really talking about getting government involved in fantasy football? We have \u2014 wait a second, we have $19 trillion in debt. We have people out of work. We have +p2364 +aVWell, first off, what we don't do is do what Hillary Clinton and John Kerry and Barack Obama want us to do, which is their solution for everything, put more taxes on it, give more money to Washington, D.C., and then they will fix it. Well, there is no evidence that they can fix anything in Washington, D.C. +p2365 +aVWhat we should do is to be investing in all types of energy, John, all types of energy. I've laid out... +p2366 +aVNo, John. John, do you want me to answer or do you want to answer? How are we going to do this? Because, I've got to tell you the truth, even in New Jersey what you're doing is called rude. So... We've laid out a national energy plan that says that we should invest in all types of energy. I will tell you, you could win a bet at a bar tonight, since we're talking about fantasy football, if you ask who the top three states in America are that produce solar energy: California and Arizona are easy, but number three is New Jersey. Why? Because we work with the private sector to make solar energy affordable and available to businesses and individuals in our state. We need to make sure that we do everything across all kinds of energy: natural gas, oil, absolutely. But also where it's affordable, solar, wind in Iowa has become very affordable and it makes sense. That is the way we deal with global warming, climate change, or any of those problems, not through government intervention, not through government taxes, and for God's sake, don't send Washington another dime until they stop wasting the money they're already sending there. +p2367 +aVAnd \u2014 and \u2014 and I \u2014 you know, Ben is absolutely right in saying that what we don't need to do is to send more money to Washington, D.C. to fix this problem. And that's what you'll hear from Hillary Clinton \u2014 and I've already heard from her \u2014 is that, send more money in Social Security, send more money in Medicare taxes, send more money for Medicaid, and that's gonna solve the problem. What we know is we're living longer. That's a blessing. It's a blessing that we're living longer, so we have to increase the retirement age to reflect that blessing. We need to make sure that people understand, as Jeb said before, that if you've done extraordinarily well in this country, do you want them to take more out of your taxes now and think they're gonna give it back to you later? Or would you rather take less later on? +p2368 +aVI want to talk to the folks at home. I want to ask you: Are you fed up with how Washington taxes you? Are you fed up with how Washington wastes your money? Are you concerned like I am that the debt and deficits of Washington, D.C. are endangering America's future? I've got one more question for you then. Are you serious about this election? Because if you are, you need to elect someone who's deadly serious about changing this culture. I am deadly serious about changing this culture. I changed it in New Jersey. I'm deadly serious about doing this job the right way. I'm prepared. I'm tested. I'm ready. And I want to make this our government. For the people who say we can't do it, I say hell no, we can do it together. +p2369 +aVHi, my name is Chris Christie, and I'd like to you take the camera off me and put it on the audience because I'd like to ask all of you, how many of you, raise your hand, believe that in today's Barak Obama America your children will have a better life than you've had? You see? That's why I'm running for President. because leadership is not about me, it's about our country. And, what we talk about tonight, it's not about us, it's about the people in the audience tonight, because in seven short years this president has stripped away their trust, and their faith, and their belief that the next generation will have a better life. He's stolen that from us, and when I'm president, I'm going to take it back. +p2370 +aVWell, I know Ben wasn't talking about me, I'm sure he was talking about one of the other guys, not me. As far as being an outsider is concerned \u2014 as far as being an outsider is concerned, let me tell you this, Jake, I'm a Republican in New Jersey. I wake up every morning as an outsider. I wake up every morning with a Democratic legislature who trying to beat my head in and fight me because I'm trying to bring conservative change to a state that needed it desperately. And so, everyone can talk us here about their credentials. But the bottom line is, every morning I get up, I veto 400 bills from a crazy liberal Democratic legislature, not one of them has been overridden. I've vetoed more tax increases than any governor in American history, according to Americans for Tax Reform. What folks want in this country is somebody to go down there and get the job done. And that's exactly what I'll do. So, I know this much, that what the American people want to hire right now is somebody who believes in them. And believes that they are the ones who can fix our country. I will be the vessel through which they can fix this country, but it's not about me. It's about all of you. And getting this government off your back and out of your way, and letting you succeed. I know Ben wasn't talking about me. +p2371 +aVLook at him smiling at me right now. I know Ben didn't mean it about me. One of these other guys, I'm sure. +p2372 +aVBe honest, Ben, be honest. +p2373 +aVSee, Jake, it wasn't me. +p2374 +aVI was \u2014 +p2375 +aVShe is, and so if she, based on conscience, can't sign that \u2014 that marriage license, then there should be someone in her office to be able to do it, and if the law needs to be changed in the state of Kentucky, which is what she's advocating, it should be changed. +p2376 +aVAnd why don't we do the same thing with Planned Parenthood? +p2377 +aVWe elected a Republican Congress to do this. And they should be doing it, and they're not. And they're giving the president a pass. +p2378 +aVI put it in the list, Dana. We should be doing these things and forcing the president to take action. +p2379 +aVLet's force him to do what he says he's going to do. Now I don't know whether he'll do it or not, but let's force him to do it. +p2380 +aVFirst of, Jake, I don't yield to anybody on how to enforce the law. I'm the only person on this stage who spent seven years as a United States Attorney after September 11th, and I know how to do this. The fact is though that for 15,000 people a day to be deported every day for two years is an undertaking that almost none of us could accomplish given the current levels of funding, and the current number of law enforcement officers. Here's what we need to do, and I think this is where Donald is absolutely right. What we need to do is to secure our border, and we need to do it with more than just a wall. We need to use electronics, we need to use drones, we need to use FBI, DEA, and ATF, and yes, we need to take the fingerprint of every person who comes into this country on a visa, and when they overstay their visa, we need to tap them on the shoulder, and say, "You have overstayed your welcome, you're taking advantage of the American people. It's time for you to go." If we had that kind of system in place, we wouldn't have the 11 million people we have now. +p2381 +aVJake listen. While I'm as entertained as anyone by this personal back-and-forth about the history of Donald and Carly's career, for the 55-year-old construction worker out in that audience tonight who doesn't have a job, who can't fund his child's education, I've got to tell you the truth. They could care less about your careers, they care about theirs. Let's start talking about that on this stage and stop playing \u2014 and stop playing the games. Stop playing \u2014 +p2382 +aVJohn \u2014 I'm not done yet, John. +p2383 +aVStop \u2014 and stop playing \u2014 and Carly \u2014 Carly, listen. You can interrupt everybody else on this stage, you're not going to interrupt me, OK? The fact is that we don't want to hear about your careers, back and forth and volleying back and forth about who did well and who did poorly. You're both successful people. Congratulations. You know who's not successful? The middle class in this country who's getting plowed over by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Let's start talking about those issues tonight and stop this childish back-and-forth between the two of you. +p2384 +aVListen, you know, Hugh, it's an important point. And the question is, who is going to prosecute Hillary Clinton? The Obama White House seems to have in interest, the Justice Department seems to have no interest. I think it's time to put a former federal prosecutor on the same stage as Hillary Clinton. And I will prosecute her during those debates on that stage for the record we're talking about here. The fact she had a private email server in her basement, using national security secrets running through it, could have been hacked by the Russians, the Chinese, or two 18-year-olds on a toot (ph) wanting to have some fun. No one is answering that question from the Hillary Clinton campaign... +p2385 +aVYou know why? Because she knows she's wrong, and she cannot look in the mirror at herself, and she cannot tell the American people the truth. +p2386 +aVWell, Jake, I was named U.S. attorney by President Bush on September 10th, 2001. And that next day my wife Mary Pat did what she did every day, she traveled through the World Trade Center and went to her office two blocks from the World Trade Center. And after those planes hit, for five-and-a-half-hours after that, I couldn't reach her, didn't know whether she was dead or alive, and we had three children at the time, 8, 5 and 1. And I had to confront what so many thousands of others in my region had to confront, the idea I might become a single parent, the idea that my life and my children's life might be changed forever. We lost friends that day. We went to the funerals. And I will tell you that what those people wanted and what they deserved was for America to answer back against what had been done to them. And I support what President Bush did at that time, going into Afghanistan, hunting al Qaeda and its leaders, getting its sanctuary out of place, and making it as difficult around the world for them to move people and money. And then he went to prosecutors like us, and he said, never again. Don't prosecute these people after the crime is committed. Intervene before the crime happens. I absolutely believe that what the president did at the time was right. And I am proud to have been one of the people on the stage who was part of making sure that what Governor Bush said before was the truth. America was safe for those seven years and Barack Obama has taken that safety away from us. +p2387 +aVLet me say this, Jake, is that while that may have been a fine idea that Dr. Carson had, these people were out to kill us. I stood in that region with my family, and every time a plane went overhead in the weeks after that, people's heads jerked to the sky because they thought it was happening again. You do not need to go through subtle diplomacy at that point. That could be handled later on. What you need is a strong American leader who will take the steps that are necessary to protect our nation. That's what I would do as commander-in-chief in this circumstance. And that's what President George W. Bush did in 2001. +p2388 +aVJake, you brought my issue up. +p2389 +aVYou know, I enjoy the interplay. Thank you, gentlemen. I'll just say this, first off, New Jersey is the first state in the nation that now says if you are non-violent, non-dealing drug user, that you don't go to jail for your first offense. You go to mandatory treatment. You see, Jake, I'm pro-life. And I think you need to be pro-life for more than just the time in the womb. It gets tougher when they get out of the womb. And when they're the 16-year-old drug addict in the Florida county lockup, that life is just as precious as the life in the womb. And so, that's why I'm for rehabilitation, why I think the war on drugs has been a failure. But I'll end with this. That doesn't mean we should be legalizing gate way drugs. And if Senator Paul thinks that the only victim is the person, look at the decrease in productivity, look at the way people get used and move on to other drugs when they use marijuana as a gateway drug, it is not them that are the only victims. Their families are the victims too, their children are the victims too, and their employers are the victims also. That's why I'll enforce the federal law, while you can still put an emphasis on rehabilitation, which we've done in New Jersey. +p2390 +aVAnd Senator Paul knows that that's simply not the truth. In New Jersey, we have medical marijuana laws, which I supported and implemented. This is not medical marijuana. There's goes as much \u2014 a further step beyond. This is recreational use of marijuana. This is much different. And so, while he would like to use a sympathetic story to back up his point, it doesn't work. I'm not against medical marijuana. We do it in New Jersey. But I'm against the recreational use against marijuana. If he wants to change the federal law, get Congress to pass the law to change it, and get a president to sign it. +p2391 +aVNo, it's not. But with Donald, it's a good start. That's really good. No, listen. This is an issue that \u2014 that we've gotta talk about, and we haven't talked about yet. 71 percent of all federal spending is on entitlements and debt service. When John Kennedy was elected president in 1960, it was 26 percent. Harvard and Dartmouth says that Social Security's going to go insolvent in seven to eight years. So what I say is very simple. We need to save this program for the good people out there who have paid into the system and need it. And if that means making sure that folks like Donald and many of us on the stage don't get it, that's the right thing to do because here's what Hillary Clinton is going to want to do. She's going to want to put more money into a system that has already lied to us and stolen from us. This government doesn't need more money to make Social Security solvent. We need to be not paying out benefits to people who don't really need it. We need to protect the people who Social Security means the difference between picking between heat and rent and food. That's why I put out the proposal and that's the people I'm trying to... +p2392 +aVI don't think Senator Rubio is a skeptic of climate change. I think what Senator Rubio said I agree with. That in fact we don't need this massive government intervention to deal with the problem. Look at what we have done in New Jersey. We have already reached our clean air goals for 2020. And when I was governor, I pulled out of the regional cap and trade deal, the only state in the Northeast that did that. And we still reached our goals. Why? Because 53 percent of our electricity comes from nuclear. We use natural gas. We use solar power. We're the third-highest- using solar power state. You know why? Because we made all of those things economically feasible. I agree with Marco. We shouldn't be destroying our economy in order to chase some wild left-wing idea that somehow us by ourselves is going to fix the climate. We can contribute to that and be economically sound. We have proven we can do that in New Jersey. Nuclear needs to be back on the table in a significant way in this country if we want to go after this problem. +p2393 +aVI understand. No, no, listen, everybody makes a mistake every once in a while, Jake, even George Shultz. And if that's truly a representation of what he believes we should be doing, then with all due respect to the former secretary of state, I disagree with him. +p2394 +aVI think the Adams family has been shorted in the currency business. Our country wouldn't be here without John Adams, and he would not have been able to do it without Abigal Adams, so, I'd put Abigail Adams on the bill. +p2395 +aVYou know, I've been called a lot of names by a lot of different people, and now I got to get called by names by the Secret Service? I would just say True Heart. +p2396 +aVI turned 18 in 1980, and my first vote was for Ronald Reagan. Boy, am I glad I did it. And I think the country is, too. A Christie presidency won't be about me. It will be about you. Tonight, you sit at home in your living room, frustrated that you play by the rules, you pay the taxes, you do the hard things to raise your family, yet you feel like America's generosity is being taken advantage of. That you've been \u2014 system is being gamed, and that you're turning out to fall further and further behind. Our presidency \u2014 our presidency \u2014 will be about ending that, about enforcing the law, level the playing field for everybody, and once again reward those folks who play by the rules, and think that justice means more than just the word. But it means a way of life. And I will tell you this, around the world, I will not shake hands with, I will not meet with, and I will not agree to anything with a country that says death to us and death to Israel and holds our hostages while we sign agreements with them. It will be an America that be strong and resolute, and will once again be able to stick out its chest and say, "we truly are the greatest nation in the world, because we live our lives that way, each and every day." +p2397 +aVIf you think it's bad now, you should've seen it when I got there. The fact is -- the fact is, in the eight years before I became governor, taxes and fees were raised at the state level 115 times. In the eight years before I became governor, spending was increased 56 percent. And in the eight years before I become governor, taxes and fees were raised at the state level 115 times. In the eight years before I became Governor, spending was increased 56 percent, and in the eight years before I became governor, there was zero net private sector job growth in New Jersey. Zero. For eight years. So, what did we do? We came in, we balanced an $11 billion deficit on a $29 billion budget by cutting over 800 programs in the state budget. We brought the budget into balance with no tax increases. In fact, we vetoed five income tax increases during my time as governor. We cut business taxes $2.3 billion, and we cut regulation by one-third of what my predecessor put in place. And, what's happened since? A hundred ninety-two thousand private sector jobs in the five and a half years I've been governor. We have a lot of work to do in New Jersey, but I am darn proud we've brought our state back. +p2398 +aVYes, I do. And I'll tell you why: because I'm the only person on this stage who's actually filed applications under the Patriot Act, who has gone before the federal -- the Foreign Intelligence Service court, who has prosecuted and investigated and jailed terrorists in this country after September 11th. I was appointed U.S. attorney by President Bush on September 10th, 2001, and the world changed enormously the next day, and that happened in my state. This is not theoretical to me. I went to the funerals. We lost friends of ours in the Trade Center that day. My own wife was two blocks from the Trade Center that day, at her office, having gone through it that morning. When you actually have to be responsible for doing this, you can do it, and we did it, for seven years in my office, respecting civil liberties and protecting the homeland. And I will make no apologies, ever, for protecting the lives and the safety of the American people. We have to give more tools to our folks to be able to do that, not fewer, and then trust those people and oversee them to do it the right way. As president, that is exactly what I'll do. +p2399 +aVAnd -- and, Megyn? Megyn, that's a -- that, you know, that's a completely ridiculous answer. "I want to collect more records from terrorists, but less records from other people." How are you supposed to know, Megyn? +p2400 +aVWhat are you supposed to... +p2401 +aV...how are you supposed to -- no, I'll tell you how you, look... +p2402 +aVLet me tell you something, you go... +p2403 +aVWhen you -- you know, senator... +p2404 +aVListen, senator, you know, when you're sitting in a subcommittee, just blowing hot air about this, you can say things like that. When you're responsible for protecting the lives of the American people, then what you need to do is to make sure... +p2405 +aV...is to make sure that you use the system the way it's supposed to work. +p2406 +aVThere is no... +p2407 +aVAnd you know -- you know, Senator Paul? Senator Paul, you know, the hugs that I remember are the hugs that I gave to the families who lost their people on September 11th. Those are the hugs I remember, and those had nothing to do -- and those had nothing to do with politics, unlike what you're doing by cutting speeches on the floor of the Senate, then putting them on the Internet within half an hour to raise money for your campaign... +p2408 +aV...and while still putting our country at risk. +p2409 +aVYou know what, Megyn, can I... +p2410 +aVNo, he's not lying, he's just wrong. I mean, so, there's a difference -- I'm the only guy on this stage who's put out a detailed, 12 point plan on entitlement reform and here's why -- because 71% of federal spending right now is on entitlements, and debt service, 71%. And we have spent the last hour and five minutes talking about the other 29%, and no time on the 71%, and that makes no sense. Now, let me tell you exactly what we would do on Social Security. Yes, we'd raise the retirement age two years, and phase it in over 25 years, that means we'd raise it one month a year for 25 years when we're all living longer, and living better lives. Secondly, we would means test Social Security for those who are making over $200,000 dollars a year in retirement income, and have $4 to $5 million dollars in liquid assets saved. They don't need that Social Security check. Social Security is meant to be -- to make sure that no one who's worked hard, and played by the rules, and paid into the system grows old in poverty in America. If we don't deal with this problem, it will bankrupt our country, or lead to massive tax increases, neither one that we want in this country. +p2411 +aVChris... +p2412 +aVYeah, sure. And, I don't disagree with ending Congress' retirement program. I'm a governor, I don't have a retirement program in my state, and I don't disagree with that. But, here's the news to the American people, he's complaining about the lying and stealing. The lying and stealing has already occurred. The trust fund is filled with IOU's. We can't fix the problem just by ending Congress's retirement, that's worth about, "this" much. We need to go at the fundamental problem, and the fundamental problem is that this system is broken. It has been stolen from. We have been lied to, and we need a strong leader to tell the truth and fix... +p2413 +aVWell, listen. You know, if we want to deal with these issues, we have to deal with them in a way that makes sense. I agree with what Dr. Carson said earlier. The first thing we need to do to make America stronger is to strengthen our military, and I put out a really specific plan: no less than 500,000 active duty soldiers in the Army. No less than 185,000 active duty marines in the Marine Corps. Bring us to a 350 ship Navy again, and modernize the Ohio class of submarines, and bring our Air Force back to 2,600 aircraft that are ready to go. Those are the kind of things that are going to send a clear message around the world. Those are the things that we need to start working on immediately to make our country stronger and make it better. Those are the things that we need to be able to be doing. And as we move towards dealing with foreign aid, I don't disagree with Senator Paul's position that we shouldn't be funding our enemies. But I absolutely believe that Israel is a priority to be able to fund and keep them strong and safe after eight years of this administration. +p2414 +aVWell, thank you, Megyn. Listen, I was born into a middle class family in New Jersey. My dad came home from serving in the Army after having lost his father, worked in the Breyers ice cream plant in Newark, New Jersey. Was the first person to graduate from college. He put himself through college at night. My mom was a secretary. I was appointed United States attorney on September 10, 2001. And I spent the next seven years of my career fighting terrorism and putting terrorists in jail. I'm a conservative, pro-life governor in a state where it is really tough to be both. A state like New Jersey, with lots of Democrats, but still we cut taxes, we balanced budgets. We fought the teacher's union. This president has had weak leadership, which has led to bad choices. We have got to stop worrying about being loved and start worrying about being respected. And that's exactly how I'll lead our country. +p2415 +asVCARSON +p2416 +(lp2417 +VThank you, Wolf. Please join me for a moment of silence and remembrance of the San Bernardino victims. Thank you. You know, our country since its inception has been at war, every 15 or 20 years. But the war that we are fighting now against radical Islamist jihadists is one that we must win. Our very existence is dependent upon that. You know, as a pediatric neurosurgeon, I frequently faced life and death situations, and had to come up with the right diagnosis, the right plan, and execute that plan frequently with other colleagues. Right now, the United States of America is the patient. And the patient is in critical condition and will not be cured by political correctness and will not be cured by timidity. And I am asking the Congress, which represents the people, to declare a war on +p2418 +aVFirst of all, let me just complain a little bit. This is the first time I've spoken and several people have had multiple questions so please try to pay attention to that. Now, as far as monitoring is concerned, what my point is, we need to make sure that any place \u2013 I don't care whether it's a mosque, a school, a supermarket, a theater, you know it doesn't matter. If there are a lot of people getting there and engaging in radicalizing activities then we need to be suspicious of it. We have to get rid of all this PC stuff. And people are worried about if somebody's going to say that I'm Islamophobic or what have you. This is craziness because we are at war. That's why I asked congress, go ahead and declare the war . We need to be on a war footing. We need to understand that our nation is in grave danger. You know, what the Muslim Brotherhood said in the explanatory memorandum that was discovered during the Holy Land Foundation Trial was that, "they will take advantage of our PC attitude to get us. :" We have to be better than this. We have to be smarter than they are. +p2419 +aVI think you have to ask them about that. I don't want to get in between them. Let them fight. +p2420 +aVNeurosurgeon. +p2421 +aVWell, interestingly enough, you should see the eyes of some of those children when I say to them we're going to have to open your head up and take out this tumor. They're not happy about it, believe me. And they don't like me very much at that point. But later on, they love me. Sometimes you \u2014 I sound like him. You know, later on, you know, they really realize what's going on. And by the same token, you have to be able to look at the big picture and understand that it's actually merciful if you go ahead and finish the job, rather than death by 1,000 pricks. +p2422 +aVYou got it. You got it. +p2423 +aVRuthless is not necessarily the word I would use, but tough, resolute, understanding what the problems are, and understanding that the job of the president of the United States is to protect the people of this country and to do what is necessary in order to get it done. +p2424 +aVFirst of all, I've been talking about this for over a year. We have to destroy their caliphate because that gives them legitimacy to go ahead with the global Jihad. We have to take their energy because they are \u2014 +p2425 +aVNo one is ever better off with dictators but there comes a time you know, when you're on an airplane, they always say, "in case of an emergency oxygen masks will drop down. Put yours on first and then administer help to your neighbor." We need oxygen right now. And we need to start thinking about the needs of the American people before we go and solve everybody else's problems. The fact of the matter is, is that the Middle East has been in turmoil for thousands of years. For us to think that we're going to in there and fix that with a couple of little bombs and a few little decorations is relatively foolish. +p2426 +aVWell, you know, there's a false narrative that only the political class has the wisdom and the ability to be commander-in- chief. But if you go back and you study the design of our country, it was really designed for the citizen statesman. And we need to be talking about where does your experience come from? You know, and I've had a lot of experience building things, organizing things, you know, a national scholarship program. One of the things that you'll notice if you look through my life is that I don't do a lot of talking. I do a lot of doing. And really, it says more about a person than how much they talk. And then some people say you're weak because, you know, you're not loud and you're not boisterous and you're not rude. But the fact of the matter is, look and see what I've done. And that speaks volumes about strength. +p2427 +aVWell, it was very interesting having an opportunity to talk to the Syrians themselves. And I asked them: What do you want? What is your supreme desire? Their supreme desire was to be settled back in their own country. I said, "What can Americans and other countries do?" They said, "Support the efforts of those who are trying to provide safety for us, including the Jordanians." Of course, they had a brand new hospital, for instance, that was unstaffed because there wasn't enough money to do it. But here's what's really neat. If you go into Hasakah province in northeast Syria, that's an area that's as big as Lebanon. It's controlled by the Kurds, the Christians and the moderate Sunnis. And there are airstrips and hotels. You could settle a lot of people there. All we would have to do is be willing to provide them with some weaponry, some defensive weaponry. And we seem to be afraid to give the Kurds weaponry. We like to send it for some strange reason through Baghdad, and then they only get a tenth of it. And if we would support them, we'd have a perfect ideal there. We don't need to set this up as we either take a bunch of refugees who will be infiltrated with terrorists, I guarantee you. For them not to be would be terrorist malpractice. And we need to \u2014 to choose the right choice, not these false choices. +p2428 +aVWell, I definitely believe that he is unstable, and I do, in fact, believe that China has a lot more influence with him than we do. But we also recognize that North Korea is in severe financial straits, and they have decided to use their resources to build their military, rather than to feed their people and to take care of the various humanitarian responsibilities that they have. We can capitalize upon that. You know, we should use our economic power in lots of different ways. I think we can use that in order to keep Putin contained, because he is a one-horse show. Energy. And we have an abundance of energy, but we have archaic energy exportation rules. We need to get rid of those, allow ourselves to really make Europe dependent on us and other parts of the world dependent on us for energy. Put him back in his little box where he belongs. And, you know, we need to be doing lots of other things with the resources that we have. So economic power works just as well as military power, perhaps even better. And speaking of that, our Military needs to be upgraded. You know, you look at things like our Ohio Class submarines, they're 25 years old. Our minuteman 3 missiles \u2014 they are 34 years old. Our B-52 bombers \u2014 50 years old. You know, if we don't get the military right nothing else matters. +p2429 +aVWell, you know, the statement that I made last week, that I would leave the party was contingent upon whether in fact the party acts like they have in the past with a lot of subterfuge and dishonesty, or like they're going act now because I spike to Reince Priebus, and he assured me that the Washington Post writer had it all wrong, and that they're not be engaging in anything to thwart the will of the people. That's why I got into this race, as a member of we the people, to try bring some honesty and integrity back to the process. +p2430 +aVI've been fortunate enough to travel to 58 different countries and I thank God everyday that I was born in this country. The most exceptional country that the world has ever known. And I want to make sure that we preserve that exceptionalism for the next generation. My mother told me if I work hard and I really believed in American principles and I believed in God, anything is possible. I believe that is true, and that's why I'm not anxious to give away American values and principles for the sake of political correctness. +p2431 +aVWell, first of all, delighted to be here. My family's here, and my little granddaughter, who's three years old, said she wanted to come to the debate. So this is very cool. As far as the minimum wage is concerned, people need to be educated on the minimum wage. Every time we raise the minimum wage, the number of jobless people increases. It's particularly a problem in the black community. Only 19.8 percent of black teenagers have a job, who are looking for one. You know, that \u2014 and that's because of those high wages. If you lower those wages, that comes down. You know, I can remember, as a youngster \u2014 you know, my first job working in a laboratory as a lab assistant, and multiple other jobs. But I would not have gotten those jobs if someone had to pay me a large amount of money. But what I did gain from those jobs is a tremendous amount of experience, and how to operate in the world and how to relate to different people, and how to become a responsible individual. And that's what gave me what I needed to ascend the ladder of opportunity in this country. That's what we need to be thinking about. How do we allow people to ascend the ladder of opportunity, rather than how do we give them everything and keep them dependent? +p2432 +aVI would not raise it. I would not raise it, specifically because I'm interested in making sure that people are able to enter the job market and take advantage of opportunities. +p2433 +aVWell, first of all, thank you not asking me what I said in the 10th grade. I appreciate that. +p2434 +aVThe fact of the matter is, you know, what \u2014 we should vet all candidates. I have no problem with being vetted. What I do have a problem with is being lied about and then putting that out there as truth. And I don't even mind that so much, if they do it about \u2014 with everybody, like people on the other side. But, you know, when I look at somebody like Hillary Clinton, who sits there and tells her daughter and a government official that no, this was a terrorist attack, and then tells everybody else that it was a video. Where I came from, they call that a lie. And... I think that's very different from, you know, somebody misinterpreting, when I said that I was offered a scholarship to West Point, that is the words that they used. But, I've had many people come and say the same thing to me. That is what people do in those situations. We have to start treating people the same, and finding out what people really think and what they're made of. People who know me know that I'm an honest person. +p2435 +aVWell, you know, when I say tithing, I'm talking about the concept of proportionality. +p2436 +aVEverybody should pay the same proportion of what they make. You make $10 billion, you pay a billion. You make $10, you pay one. You get same rights and privileges. I don't see how anything gets a whole lot fairer than that. But you also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes because that is the thing that tilts it in one direction or another. And you have to set the rate at an appropriate level. Now I will say that, there are a lot of people who say, if you get rid of the deductions, you ruin the American dream because, you know, home mortgage deduction. But the fact of the matter is, people had homes before 1913 when we introduced the federal income tax, and later after that started deductions. And they say there will be no more charitable giving. We had churches before that and charitable organizations before that. The fact of the matter is, I believe if you put more money in people's pockets that they will actually be more generous rather than less generous. And it's... ... the money that they earned. And, the other thing is, I do care about the poor people. And in the system that we're putting together, there will be a rebate for people at the poverty level. But I also want to emphasize the fact that as we get the economy moving, and I hope I get a question about how do we get the economy moving, there will be a lot more opportunities for poor people not to be poor people because this is America. This is the land of dreams. And our policies should be aimed at allowing people to realize that dream. +p2437 +aVWell, putting the special ops people in there is better than not having them there, because they \u2014 that's why they're called special ops, they're actually able to guide some of the other things that we're doing there. And what we have to recognize is that Putin is trying to really spread his influence throughout the Middle East. This is going to be his base. And we have to oppose him there in an effective way. We also must recognize that it's a very complex place. You know, the Chinese are there, as well as the Russians, and you have all kinds of factions there. What we've been doing so far is very ineffective, but we can't give up ground right there. But we have to look at this on a much more global scale. We're talking about global jihadists. And their desire is to destroy us and to destroy our way of life. So we have to be saying, how do we make them look like losers? Because that's the way that they're able to gather a lot of influence. And I think in order to make them look like losers, we have to destroy their caliphate. And you look for the easiest place to do that? It would be in Iraq. And if \u2014 outside of Anbar in Iraq, there's a big energy field. Take that from them. Take all of that land from them. We could do that, I believe, fairly easily, I've learned from talking to several generals, and then you move on from there. But you have to continue to face them, because our goal is not to contain them, but to destroy them before they destroy us. +p2438 +aVWell, I think we should have policies that don't allow them to just enlarge themselves at the expense of smaller entities. And certainly some of the policies, some of the monetary and Fed policies that we're using makes it very easy for them, makes it very easy for the big corporations, quite frankly, at these very low interest rates to buy back their stock and to drive the price of that up artificially. Those are the kinds of things that led to the problem in the first place. And I think this all really gets back to this whole regulation issue which is creating a very abnormal situation. This country was \u2014 declared its independence in 1776. In less than 100 years, it was the number-one economic power in the world. And the reason was because we had an atmosphere that encouraged entrepreneurial risk- taking and capital investment. Those are the fuels that drive it. And what we've done now is let the creep of regulation turn into a stampede of regulations, which is involved in every aspect of our lives. If we can get that out, it makes a big difference. And even for the average person, every single regulation costs money. And it's shifted to the individual. So \u2014 and it hurts the poor and the middle class much more than it does the rich. They go into the store and they buy a bar of soap, it costs 10 cents more, they notice it. And the middle class, when they come to the cash register, have a whole cart full of things that cost 5, 10 or 15 cents more, they notice it. It is hurting the poor. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton won't tell you that that's the thing that's really hurting middle class in the core. They'll say it's the rich, take their money, but that won't help. You can take all of the rich's money and it won't make a dent in the problem that we're having. We have to come back to the fundamental principles that made America great. +p2439 +aVI would have policies that wouldn't allow that to occur. I don't want to go in and tear anybody down. I mean, that doesn't help us. But what does help us is stop tinkering around the edges and fix the actual problems that exist that are creating the problem in the first place. +p2440 +aVIn the two hours of this \u2014 of this debate, five people have died from drug-related deaths, $100 million has been added to our national debt, 200 babies have been killed by abortionists, and two veterans have taken their lives out of despair. This is a narrative that we can change, not we the Democrats, not we the Republicans, but we the people of America, because there is something special about this nation, and we must embrace it and be proud of it and never give it away for the sake of political correctness. +p2441 +aVProbably in terms of the applying for the job of president, a weakness would be not really seeing myself in that position until hundreds of thousands of people began to tell me that I needed to do it. I do, however, believe in Reagan's 11th commandment, and will not be engaging in awful things about my compatriots here. And recognizing that it's so important, this election, because we're talking about America for the people versus America for the government. +p2442 +aVWell, first of all, I didn't say that the rate would be 10 percent. I used the tithing analogy. +p2443 +aVThe rate \u2014 the rate \u2014 the rate is gonna be much closer to 15 percent. +p2444 +aVYou also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes. You also have to some strategically cutting in several places. Remember, we have 645 federal agencies and sub-agencies. Anybody who tells me that we need every penny and every one of those is in a fantasy world. So, also, we can stimulate the economy. That's gonna be the real growth engine. Stimulating the economy \u2014 because it's tethered down right now with so many regulations... +p2445 +aVThat's not true. +p2446 +aVWhen \u2014 when we put all the facts down, you'll be able to see that it's not true, it works out very well. +p2447 +aVSince I was attacked too. +p2448 +aVLet me just say, if you're talking about an $18 trillion economy, you're talking about a 15 percent tax on your gross domestic product. You're talking about $2.7 trillion. We have a budget closer to $3.5 trillion. But if you also apply that same 15 percent to several other things, including corporate taxes, and including the capital gains taxes, you make that amount up pretty quickly. So that is not by any stretch a pie in the sky. +p2449 +aVWell, there is no question that some people go overboard when it comes to trying to make profits, and they don't take into consideration the American people. What we have to start thinking about, as leaders, particularly in government, is what can we do for the average American? And you think about the reasons that we're having such difficulty right now with our job market. Well, the average small manufacturer, whatever they're manufacturing, drugs or anything, if they have less than 50 employees, the average cost in terms of regulations is $34,000 per employee. Makes it a whole lot easier for them to want to go somewhere else. So what we're going to have to start doing instead of, you know, picking on this group or this group, is we're going to have to have a major reduction in the regulatory influence that is going on. The government is not supposed to be in every part of our lives, and that is what is causing the problem. +p2450 +aVWell, obviously, you don't understand my views on homosexuality. I believe that our Constitution protects everybody, regardless of their sexual orientation or any other aspect. I also believe that marriage is between one man and one woman. And there is no reason that you can't be perfectly fair to the gay community. They shouldn't automatically assume that because you believe that marriage is between one man and one woman that you are a homophobe. And this is one of the myths that the left perpetrates on our society, and this is how they frighten people and get people to shut up. You know, that's what the PC culture is all about, and it's destroying this nation. The fact of the matter is we the American people are not each other's enemies, it's those people who are trying to divide us who are the enemies. And we need to make that very clear to everybody. +p2451 +aVWell, that's easy to answer. I didn't have an involvement with them. That is total propaganda, and this is what happens in our society. Total propaganda. I did a couple of speeches for them, I do speeches for other people. They were paid speeches. It is absolutely absurd to say that I had any kind of a relationship with them. Do I take the product? Yes. I think it's a good product. +p2452 +aVIf somebody put me on their homepage, they did it without my permission. +p2453 +aVNo, it speaks to the fact that I don't know those \u2014 See? They know. +p2454 +aVWell, first of all, I was wrong about taking the oil subsidy. I have studied that issue in great detail. And what I have concluded is that the best policy is to get rid of all government subsidies, and get the government out of our lives, and let people rise and fall based on how good they are. And \u2014 you know, all of this too big to fail stuff and picking and choosing winners and losers \u2014 this is a bunch of crap, and it is really causing a great deal of \u2014 great deal of problems for our society right now. And \u2014 and \u2014 you know, it goes back to the whole concept of regulations, which are in everything. The reason that I \u2014 I hate them so much is because every single regulation costs in terms of goods and services. That cost gets passed on to the people. Now, who are the people who are hurt by that? It's poor people and middle class. Doesn't hurt rich people if their bar of soap goes up ten cents, but it hurts the poor and the middle class. And Bernie Sanders will tell them that it's because of the rich. Well, I'll tell you something: you can take everything from the top 1 percent, and you apply it to our fiscal gap, and you won't even make a dent in it. +p2455 +aVAbout Medicare? +p2456 +aVWell, first of all the \u2014 the plan gives people the option of \u2014 of opting out. But I think they will see a very good option here. You know, the annual Medicare budget is over $600 billion. And there are 48 million people involved \u2014 40 million, 65 and over, and 8 million other. Divide that out. That comes out to $12,500 for each one. Now, I can tell you there are a lot of private-sector things that you could do with $12,500, which will get you a lot more than you get from this government program. And that's really a theme of a lot of the things that I'm talking about. How do we utilize our intellect rather than allowing the government to use its, quote, "intellect," in order to help us to be able to live healthier and better lives? It was never intended that the government should be in every aspect of our lives. This is a country that is of, for and by the people. +p2457 +aVI just want to thank all my colleagues here for being civil, and not falling for the traps. And, I also just want to thank the audience for being attentive, and noticing the questions, and the noticing the answers. And, this is what I am finding throughout America. People are waking up because it is going to be us who will determine the direction of our country. And, it was made for we the people, we are the ones who decide who we are, and we should never give away the values and principles that made America into a great nation for the sake of political correctness. +p2458 +aVHi, I'm Ben Carson, and I'm a retired pediatric neurosurgeon. I'm here with my wife, Candy, of 40 years, and two of my sons, and their wives. I stress the pediatric part of my career because the reason that I've gotten involved in this race is because I'm very concerned about the future of our children, and the direction of our country is one that does not portend well, unless we, the people, intervene and retake our rightful place at the pinnacle. +p2459 +aVTypically, politicians do things that are politically expedient. And they are looking for whatever their particular goal is. That is not the reason that I have gotten into this thing. I'm extraordinary concerned about the direction of this country, the divisiveness that is going on, fiscal irresponsibility, the failure to take a leadership position in the world. All of those things will lead to a situation where the next generation will not have a chance that we've had now. So I don't \u2014 I don't want to really get into describing who's a politician and who's not a politician, but I think the people have kind of made that decision for themselves already, and will continue to do so as time goes on. +p2460 +aVJake, can I say something about that? +p2461 +aVYou know, when I entered this race, all the political pundits said it's impossible; you can't do it because you're not connected with the money. And there's no way that you can raise what you need in order to compete successfully. I in no way am willing to get in the bed with special interest group or lick the boots of billionaires. I have said to the people if they want me to do this, please get involved. And we now have over 500,000 donations, and the money is coming in. But the pundits forgot about one thing, and that is the people. And they are really in charge. +p2462 +aVWell, first of all, I recognize that we have an incredible illegal immigration problem. I was down in Arizona a few weeks ago at the border. I mean, the fences that were there were not manned, and those are the kind of fences when I was a kid that would barely slow us down. So, I don't see any purpose in having that. Now, what we need to do is look at something that actually works. Yuma County, Arizona. They stop 97 percent of the illegal immigrants through there. They put in a double fence with a road so that there was quick access by the enforcement people. If we don't seal the border, the rest of this stuff clearly doesn't matter. It's kind of ridiculous all the other things we talk about. We have the ability to do it, we don't have the will to do it. There was one area where they had cut a hole in the fence, and to repair it, they put a few strands of barb wire across. Well, the photographers who were there with us, they wanted to photograph us from the side of the Mexicans, and they went through there, and they were not physically fit people, and they took their cameras and things with them, and shot us from the other side. That's how easy it is to get across. And, the drugs, I mean, it goes on, and on, and on. ICE tells them to release these people, 67,000 criminals released... +p2463 +aV...on to our property, it's ridiculous. +p2464 +aVWell, I have also said, if anybody knows how to do that, that I would be willing to listen. And, if they can, you know, specify exactly how that's going to be done, and what the cost, and it sounds reasonable, then I think it's worth discussing... +p2465 +aVNot exactly what I said. +p2466 +aVWell, what I said, after we seal the borders, after we turn off the spigot that dispenses all the goodies so we don't have people coming in here, including employment, that people who had a pristine record, we should consider allowing them to become guest workers, primarily in the agricultural sphere, because that's the place where Americans don't seem to want to work. That's what I said. And they have a six-month period to do that. If they don't do it within that time period, then they become illegal, and as illegals, they will be treated as such. +p2467 +aVCan I \u2014 can I \u2014 can I just... +p2468 +aVCan I correct... +p2469 +aVOK. +p2470 +aVMy plan is not amnesty for a number of reasons. Number one, you know, I've talked to farmers, and they said they cannot hire Americans to do the kind of job that I'm talking about. And the second reason is because the individuals who register as guest workers, they don't get to vote, they are not American citizens, and they don't get the rights and privileges of American citizens. So that's key. But the other thing that I want to bring up is, I mentioned something earlier. I think it was just sort of glossed over. I talked about the success in Yuma County, I mean, incredible success, and the Department of Justice said, "No, we don't want to do that. That's too successful." We don't have to keep reinventing the wheel. All we have to do is look at things that work. All we have to do is use a little common sense. +p2471 +aVIt's all about America. You know, the people who say the guy who paid a billion dollars because he had 10, he has still got $9 billion left, that's not fair, we need to take more of his money. That's called socialism. That doesn't work so well. What made America into a great nation was the fact that we said, that guy just put in $1 billion, let's create an environment that's even more conducive to his success so that next year he can put in $2 billion. And that's the kind of thing that helps us to grow. We can't grow by continuing to take a piece of pie, and dividing it, and redistributing it. But, I'm also looking at what doctor \u2014 at what Governor Huckabee talked about... +p2472 +aVThe Fair Tax. Looking at both of them, and evaluating them both, and I'm talking to the American people because one of the things we must recognize is that this country is of, for, and by the people. And, it's really time that the government get out of the way, and let the people be the ones who decide how they want to run their country. +p2473 +aVWell, first of all, let me say what I actually said about raising the minimum wage. I was asked should it be raised, I said, probably, or possibly. But, what I added, which I think is the most important thing, so, I said we need to get both sides of this issue to sit down, and talk about it. Negotiate a reasonable minimum wage, and index that so that we never have to have this conversation again in the history of America. I think we also have to have two minimum wages, a starter, and a sustaining because how are young people ever going to get a job if you have such a high minimum wage that it makes it impractical to hire them... +p2474 +aVJake, Jake... +p2475 +aVI haven't had an opportunity to weigh in on foreign policy, and I just want to mention that when the war, when the issue occurred in 2003, I suggested to President Bush that he not go to war? OK. So I just want that on the record. And, you know, a lot of people are very much against us getting involved right now with global jihadism. And they refer back to our invasion of Iraq. And they seem to think that that was what caused it. What caused it was withdrawing from there and creating a vacuum which allowed this terrible situation to occur. But it is very different from what is going on today. We're talking about global jihadists who actually want to destroy us. They are an existential threat to our nation. And we have to be mature enough to recognize that our children will have no future if we put our heads in the sand. We have to recognize we have two choices. We either allow them the continue to progress and appear to be the winners, or we use every resource available to us to destroy... +p2476 +aV... them first. +p2477 +aVWell, recognize that, you know, President George W. Bush is a great friend of ours, and we spent many wonderful days at the White House. I haven't been there in the last seven years. I probably have to have a food-tester. But at any rate, I didn't suggest that nothing be done. What I suggested to President Bush is to be Kennedy-esque, in the sense that when the Russians got ahead of us in the space race, what we did is use the bully pulpit to galvanize everybody, business, industry, academia behind a national goal to put a man on the moon and bring him back safely. I said, you can do the same kind of thing. Declare that within five to 10 years we will become petroleum independent. The moderate Arab states would have been so concerned about that, they would have turned over Osama bin Laden and anybody else you wanted on a silver platter within two weeks. There are smart ways to do things and there are muscular ways to do things. And sometimes you have to look at both of those to come up with the right solution. +p2478 +aVI have no argument with having a strong leader, and to be aggressive where aggression is needed. But it is not needed in every circumstance. There is a time when you can use your intellect to come up with other ways to do things. And I think that's what we have to start thinking about. There is no question that a lot of these problems that we have been talking about in terms of the international situation is because we are weak. It is because our Navy is so small. It is because our Air Force is incapable of doing the same things that it did a few years ago. It's because our Marines Corps is not ready to be deployed. +p2479 +aVThere are a lot of problems that are going on, and we need to solve those problems, we need to build up our military... +p2480 +aVWell, let me put it this way, there has \u2014 there have been numerous studies, and they have not demonstrated that there is any correlation between vaccinations and autism. This was something that was spread widely 15 or 20 years ago, and it has not been adequately, you know, revealed to the public what's actually going on. Vaccines are very important. Certain ones. The ones that would prevent death or crippling. There are others, there are a multitude of vaccines which probably don't fit in that category, and there should be some discretion in those cases. But, you know, a lot of this is \u2014 is \u2014 is pushed by big government. And I think that's one of the things that people so vehemently want to get rid of, big government. You know, we have 4.1 million federal employees. Six hundred and fifty federal agencies and department (sic). That's why they have to take so much of our taxes. +p2481 +aVWell, you know, I've just explained it to him. He can read about it if he wants to. I think he's an intelligent man and will make the correct decision after getting the real facts. +p2482 +aVHe's an OK doctor. But, you know, the fact of the matter is, we have extremely well-documented proof that there's no autism associated with vaccinations. But it is true that we are probably giving way too many in too short a period of time. And a lot of pediatricians now recognize that, and, I think, are cutting down on the number and the proximity in which those are done, and I think that's appropriate. +p2483 +aVI'd put my mother on there. You know, she was one of 24 children, got married at age 13, had only a third grade education, had to raise two sons by herself, refused to be a victim. Wouldn't let us be victims, and has been an inspiration to many people. +p2484 +aVOne Nation. +p2485 +aVWell, you know, I was a radical Democrat before I started listening to Ronald Reagan. And he didn't sound like what they said Republicans were. He sounded logical. And I hope that I sound logical also. Because when I look at what is going on with the United States of America, I see a lot of things that are not logical. I see us allowing people to divide us, when in fact our strength is in our unity. I see people exercising the most irresponsible fiscal habits that anyone could possibly do. And hiding it from the American people, so that the majority of people have no idea what our financial situation is. So, when someone comes along and says, free college, free phones, free this and that, and the other, they say, "wow, that's nice," having no idea that they're destabilizing our position. And I think also that Ronald Reagan was a master at understanding that a pinnacle nation has to be a nation that leads. If we learn to lead in the Middle East right now, a coalition will form behind us, but never they do it if we just sit there and talk about it. Real leadership is what I would hopefully bring to America. +p2486 +aVWell, I could take issue with -- with all of those things, but we don't have time. But I will say, we have a debate here tonight, and we will have an opportunity to explore those areas, and I'm looking very much forward to demonstrating that, in fact, the thing that is probably most important is having a brain, and to be able to figure things out and learn things very rapidly. So, you know, experience comes from a large number of different arenas, and America became a great nation early on not because it was flooded with politicians, but because it was flooded with people who understood the value of personal responsibility, hard work, creativity, innovation, and that's what will get us on the right track now, as well. +p2487 +aVWell, thank you, Megyn, I wasn't sure I was going to get to talk again. +p2488 +aVAlright. You know, what we do in order to get the information that we need is our business, and I wouldn't necessarily be broadcasting what we're going to do. We. . .uh. . .we've gotten into this -- this mindset of fighting politically correct wars. There is no such thing as a politically correct war. And, the left, of course, will say Carson doesn't believe in the Geneva Convention. Carson doesn't believe in fighting stupid wars. And -- and what we have to remember is we want to utilize the tremendous intellect that we have in the military to win wars. And I've talked to a lot of the generals, a lot of our advanced people. And believe me, if we gave them the mission, which is what the commander-in-chief does, they would be able to carry it out. And if we don't tie their hands behind their back, they will do it......extremely effectively. +p2489 +aVWhat I agree with is that we need a significantly changed taxation system. And the one that I've advocated is based on tithing, because I think God is a pretty fair guy. And he said, you know, if you give me a tithe, it doesn't matter how much you made. If you've had a bumper crop, you don't owe me triple tithes. And if you've had no crops at all, you don't owe me no tithes. So there must be something inherently fair about that. And that's why I've advocated a proportional tax system. You make $10 billion, you pay a billion. You make $10, you pay one. And everybody gets treated the same way. And you get rid of the deductions, you get rid of all the loopholes, and... +p2490 +aVAnd I have a lot more to say about it. +p2491 +aVIf Hillary is the candidate, which I doubt, that would be a dream come true. But you know, the fact of the matter is, she is the epitome of the progressive -- the secular progressive movement. And she counts on the fact that people are uninformed, the Alinsky Model, taking advantage of useful idiots. Well, I just happen to believe that people are not stupid. And the way I will come at it is to educate people, help people to actually understand that it is that progressive movement that is causing them the problems. You know, you look at the -- the national debt and how it's being driven up. If I was trying to destroy this country, what I would do is find a way to drive wedges between all the people, drive the debt to an unsustainable level, and then step off the stage as a world leader and let our enemies increase while we decreased our capacity as a military person. And that's what she's doing. +p2492 +aVWell, what we have to stop and think about is that we have weakened ourselves militarily to such an extent that if affects all of our military policies. Our Navy is at its smallest size since 1917; our Air Force, since 1940. In recent testimony, the commandant of the Marine Corps said half of the non-deployed units were not ready and you know, the sequester is cutting the heart out of our personnel. Our generals are retiring because they don't want to be part of this, and at the same time, our enemies are increasing. Our -- our friends can't trust us anymore. You know, Ukraine was a nuclear-armed state. They gave away their nuclear arms with the understanding that we would protect them. We won't even give them offensive weapons. You know, we turned our back on Israel, our ally. You know, in a situation like that, of course Obama's not going to be able to do anything. I would shore up our military first, because if you don't get the military right, nothing else is going to work. +p2493 +aVWell, I think the bully pulpit is a wonderful place to start healing that divide. You know, we have the purveyors of hatred who take every single incident between people of two races and try to make a race war out of it, and drive wedges into people. And this does not need to be done. What we need to think about instead -- you know, I was asked by an NPR reporter once, why don't I talk about race that often. I said it's because I'm a neurosurgeon. And she thought that was a strange response. And you say -- I said, you see, when I take someone to the operating room, I'm actually operating on the thing that makes them who they are. The skin doesn't make them who they are. The hair doesn't make them who they are. And it's time for us to move beyond that. Because......our strength as a nation comes in our unity. We are the United States of America, not the divided states. And those who want to destroy us are trying to divide us, and we shouldn't let them do it. +p2494 +aVWell, I haven't said anything about me being the only one to do anything, so let me try that. I'm the only one to separate Siamese twins... The -- the only one to operate on babies while they were still in mother's womb, the only one to take out half of a brain, although you would think, if you go to Washington, that someone had beat me to it. But I -- but I'm very hopeful that I'm not the only one who's willing to pick up the baton of freedom, because freedom is not free, and we must fight for it every day. Every one of us must fight for it, because we're fighting for our children and the next generation. +p2495 +asVQUINTANILLA +p2496 +(lp2497 +VGood evening, I'm Carl Quintanilla, with my colleagues Becky Quick and John Harwood. We'll be joined tonight by some of +p2498 +aVGovernor? +p2499 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p2500 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Bush. +p2501 +aVSenator Rubio. +p2502 +aVMr. Trump? +p2503 +aVDr. Carson? +p2504 +aVMrs. Fiorina? +p2505 +aVFixed it. +p2506 +aVSenator Cruz? +p2507 +aVGovernor Christie? +p2508 +aVSenator Paul? +p2509 +aVThanks to all the candidates. John? +p2510 +aVHold it. We'll cut it back to you in just a minute. Becky's moving on. +p2511 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor. thank you, Governor. +p2512 +aVMr. Trump, 30 seconds. +p2513 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2514 +aVWe're going to try to move on. +p2515 +aVYou want to bring 70,000 pages to three? +p2516 +aVIs that using really small type? +p2517 +aVIs that using really small type? +p2518 +aVMrs. Fiorina \u2014 +p2519 +aVWe're going to \u2014 +p2520 +aVWe will come around the bend, i promise. This one is for Senator Rubio. You've been a young man in a hurry ever since you won your first election in your 20s. You've had a big accomplishment in the Senate, an immigration bill providing a path to citizenship the conservatives in your party hate, and even you don't support anymore. Now, you're skipping more votes than any senator to run for president. Why not slow down, get a few more things done first or least finish what you start? +p2521 +aVSo when the Sun-Sentinel says Rubio should resign, not rip us off, when they say Floridians sent you to Washington to do a job, when they say you act like you hate your job, do you? +p2522 +aVWell, do you hate your job? +p2523 +aVIs that the standard? +p2524 +aVSenator, thank you. John. +p2525 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2526 +aVSenator Cruz. Congressional Republicans, Democrats and the White House are about to strike a compromise that would raise the debt limit, prevent a government shutdown and calm financial markets that fear of \u2014 another Washington-created crisis is on the way. Does your opposition to it show that you're not the kind of problem-solver American voters want? +p2527 +aV do we get credit ? +p2528 +aVSo, this is a question about , which you have 30 seconds left to answer, should you choose to do so. +p2529 +aVOK. I asked you about the debt limit and I got no answer. +p2530 +aVWe promised we would get to everyone this block. Governor Huckabee, I'm going to give you 60 seconds on this. +p2531 +aV...Governor... +p2532 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p2533 +aV...Senator Cruz... +p2534 +aVOK, alright. +p2535 +aVSenator Cruz... +p2536 +aV...Before we go to break, we're clearly not having that beer you mentioned, but I'll give you 30 more seconds... +p2537 +aVOK. +p2538 +aVI'll give you 30 seconds to respond... +p2539 +aVRespond on the debt limit, or an answer to the governor, which ever you choose. +p2540 +aV30 seconds, Governor Huckabee. +p2541 +aVGovernor, thank you. We will take a break. The Republican Presidential debate, live from Boulder, Colorado, coming back after a break on +p2542 +aVMrs. Fiorina, in 2010, while running for Senate in Tech Ridge (ph), California, you called an Internet sales tax a bad idea. Traditional brick and mortar stores obviously disagree. Now that the Internet shopping playing field has matured, what would be a fair plan to even that playing field? +p2543 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p2544 +aVOK. +p2545 +aVThank you very much. +p2546 +aVDr. Carson, we know you as a physician, but we wanted to ask you about your involvement on some corporate boards, including Costco's. Last year, a marketing study called the warehouse retailer the number one gay-friendly brand in America, partly because of its domestic partner benefits. Why would you serve on a company whose policies seem to run counter to your views on homosexuality? +p2547 +aVOne more question. This is a company called Mannatech, a maker of nutritional supplements, with which you had a 10-year relationship. They offered claims that they could cure autism, cancer, they paid $7 million to settle a deceptive marketing lawsuit in Texas, and yet you're involvement continued. Why? +p2548 +aVTo be fair, you were on the homepage of their website with the logo over your shoulder \u2014 +p2549 +aVDoes that not speak to your vetting process or judgment in any way. +p2550 +aVApparently. We will take a break. We'll be back in Boulder in just a minute. +p2551 +aV...We'll come back around. I want to get to governor Kasich. +p2552 +aVGovernor Kasich, let's talk ... +p2553 +aV...about Marijuana, Governor Kasich... +p2554 +aVAlright, but 30 seconds, you made a case. Sure, 30 seconds. +p2555 +aVSenator, thank you. +p2556 +aVOh, no, no, no... +p2557 +aV...Ok... +p2558 +aV...We're going to go to... +p2559 +aVOK. Thank you, Senator. Governor Kasich, let's talk about marijuana. We're broadcasting from Colorado which has seen $150 million in new revenue for the state since legalizing last year. Governor Hickenlooper is not a big fan of legalization, but he's said the people who used to be smoking it are still smoking it, they're just now paying taxes. Given the budget pressures in Ohio, and other states, is this a revenue stream you'd like to have? +p2560 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2561 +aVThank you. We'll be back from Boulder, Colorado in just a moment. +p2562 +aVMr. Trump, you've said you have a special permit to carry a gun in New York. +p2563 +aVAfter the Oregon mass shooting on October 1st, you said, "By the way, it was a gun-free zone. If you had a couple of teachers with guns, you would have been a hell of a lot better off." +p2564 +aVWould you feel more comfortable if your employees brought guns to work? +p2565 +aVAre you carrying one now? +p2566 +aVWe called a few Trump resorts, a few Trump properties that \u2014 that do not allow guns with or without a permit. Would you change those policies? +p2567 +aVOK. All right. Thank you. John? +p2568 +aVGovernor Bush, daily fantasy sports has become a phenomenon in this country, will award billions of dollars in prize money this year. But to play you have to assess your odds, put money at risk, wait for an outcome that's out of your control. Isn't that the definition of gambling, and should the Federal Government treat it as such? +p2569 +aVI had a feeling you were going to brag about that. +p2570 +aVThis is the\u2014 well, we're going to take a break. We want to save time for closing statements after the break. So this is the Republican presidential debate in Boulder, and we'll be right back. +p2571 +aVSenator Rubio... +p2572 +aV...yeah, I just wanted . +p2573 +aVI want to give you 30 seconds here. +p2574 +aVThat concludes tonight's debate. On behalf of my colleagues Becky Quick, John Harwood, Sharon Epperson, Rick Santelli and Jim Cramer, we'd like to our host, the University of Colorado at Boulder, the Republican National Committee, the candidates and, of course, tonight's audience. +p2575 +asVSANTELLI +p2576 +(lp2577 +VSenator Cruz, let's focus on our central bank, the Federal Reserve. You've been a fierce critic of the Fed, arguing for more transparency. Where do you want to take that? Do you want to get Congress involved in monetary policy, or is it time to slap the Fed back and downsize them completely? What are your thoughts? What do you believe? +p2578 +aVSenator Paul, the same question to you. +p2579 +aVThank you, Senator. Dr. Carson, you told The Des Moines Register that you don't like government subsidies, it interferes with the free market. But you've also said that you're in favor of taking oil subsidies and putting them towards ethanol processing. Isn't that just swapping one subsidy for another, Doctor? +p2580 +aVThank you, Doctor. Becky? +p2581 +as. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/downloads/data/script7.pickle b/downloads/data/script7.pickle new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3cc1a8c --- /dev/null +++ b/downloads/data/script7.pickle @@ -0,0 +1,5340 @@ +(dp0 +VCRAMER +p1 +(lp2 +VDr. Carson, in recent weeks, a number of pharmaceutical companies has been accused of profiteering, for dramatically raising the prices of life-saving drugs. You have spent a lifetime in medicine. Have these companies gone too far? Should the government be involved in controlling some of these price increases? +p3 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Governor Christie, there has been a lot of political rhetoric that some bank executives should have gone to jail for the 2008 financial crisis. But General Motors paid more than $1 billion in fines and settlements for its ignition switch defect. One hundred and twenty- four people died as a result of these faulty switches. No one went to jail. As a former prosecutor, do you believe the people responsible for the switch and the cover-up belong behind bars? +p4 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. +p5 +asVPERRY +p6 +(lp7 +VI will tell you one thing: I would whole lot rather had Carly Fiorina over there doing our negotiation than John Kerry. Maybe we would've gotten a deal where we didn't give everything away. But the issue for us is to have a Congress that stands up and says not only no, but hell no, to this money going to a regime that is going to use it for terror... +p8 +asVUNKNOWN +p9 +(lp10 +VIf you're not going to have my back, I'm going to have my back. +p11 +aVA couple things here. First of all... +p12 +aVWe have grown \u2014 we have grown... +p13 +aVTrue. It's true. +p14 +aV...let me follow up that... +p15 +aV +p16 +aVOh, great. +p17 +aV...In 2011, you told Forbes Magazine this: "I've used the laws of the country to my advantage." But at the same time, financial experts involved in those bankruptcies say that lenders to your companies lost billions of dollars. Question sir, with that record, why should we trust you to run the nation's business? +p18 +aVI do. +p19 +aVThank you. +p20 +asVIFILL +p21 +(lp22 +VWe want to also extend our warm thanks to Milwaukee Public Radio and Milwaukee Public Television, as well as all of our friends at the PBS member stations across the country tuning in tonight. This is the sixth time the Democrats have met face to face. Each time, we learn more about them and the presidents they say they want to be. You know you're watching \u2014 whether you're a Democrat, a Republican, or neither \u2014 because you believe the outcome of the election is important to you. And we believe that, too. With that, let's welcome the candidates to the stage. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. +p23 +aVWelcome to you both. +p24 +aVWith Iowa and New Hampshire behind us, we are now broadening the conversation to America's heartland and beyond, including here in Wisconsin. Now let's turn to the candidates for their opening statements. The order was decided by coin toss. And, Senator Sanders, you go first. +p25 +aVThank you, Senator Sanders. Thank you, Senator Sanders. Secretary Clinton. +p26 +aVFinal thought, Senator. +p27 +aVI'd like to move along. I'd like to move along. Secretary Clinton, you might \u2014 you also have proposed fairly expansive ideas about government. You may remember this pledge from a State of the Union Address at which I believe you were present, in which these words were said: "The era of big government is over." You may remember that. When asked your feelings about the federal government this week, 61 percent of New Hampshire Democrats told exit pollsters that they are angry or at least dissatisfied. Given what you and Senator Sanders are proposing, an expanding government in almost every area of our lives, is it fair for Americans who fear government to fear you? +p28 +aVBut I haven't heard either of you put a price tag on your \u2014 you say... +p29 +aVSenator? +p30 +aVSenator, do you worry at all that you will be the instrument of thwarting history, as Senator Clinton keeps claiming, that she might be the first woman president? +p31 +aVThank you both. We turn now to the first of several questions from our partners at Facebook. They were selected from a curated group of people we've been following of undecided voters. The first comes from Claudia Looze, a 54-year-old woman who works as a program manager at a public affairs cable network in Madison, Wisconsin. And she writes: "Wisconsin is number one in African-American male incarceration, according to a University of Wisconsin study. They found that Wisconsin's incarceration rate for black men, which is at 13 percent, was nearly double the country's rate. What can we do across the nation to address this?" Senator Sanders. +p32 +aVLet me turn this on its head, because when we talk about race in this country, we always talk about African-Americans, people of color. I want to talk about white people, OK? +p33 +aVI know. So many people will be surprised to find out that we are sitting in one of the most racially polarized metropolitan areas in the country. By the middle of this century, the nation is going to be majority nonwhite. Our public schools are already there. If working-class, white Americans are about to be outnumbered, are already underemployed in many cases, and one study found they are dying sooner, don't they have a reason to be resentful, Senator \u2014 Secretary Clinton? +p34 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, I want you to respond to that, but I also want you to \u2014 am I wrong? Is it even right to be describing this as a matter of race? +p35 +aVIf you would allow me now to move on, we've been talking about children. I want to talk about seniors. That takes us to our second Facebook question from Farheen Hakeem, who writes, "My father" \u2014 she's a 40-year-old woman who works for a nonprofit here in Milwaukee. And she writes, "My father gets just $16 in food assistance per month as part of Medicaid's family community program in Milwaukee County for low-income seniors. How will you as president work to ensure low-income seniors get their basic needs met?" Start with you, Senator Sanders. +p36 +aVSenator Sanders, are you saying... +p37 +aVThere's a lot more to come in just a few minutes. Stay with us for more of the PBS NewsHour Democratic Debate. +p38 +aVHow about you, Senator Clinton \u2014 Secretary Clinton? +p39 +aVWe spent the first part of this debate talking about domestic insecurity. The second part, we want to talk about our foreign policy insecurities. And we want to start with a question for you, Secretary Clinton, about America's role in the world. Americans are becoming increasingly worried that attacks abroad are coming home, that they already are, in fact, here. According to exit polls from last week, from earlier this week, more than two-thirds of Democrats in New Hampshire are concerned about sending their children to fight in wars they can't win. They fret that the next attack is just around the corner and we are not ready. Are we? +p40 +aVSenator Sanders... +p41 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p42 +aVLet me move on. You have both mentioned the humanitarian tragedies which have been an outgrowth in part of what has happened in Syria and in Libya. More than a million refugees entered Europe in 2015. Another 76,000 just last month, that is about 2,000 arrivals every day. Nearly 400 people have been lost at sea so far this year, crossing the Mediterranean. And there are reports that 10,000 children are missing. If we are leaders in this world, where should the U.S. be on this? What should the United States be doing, Secretary Clinton? +p43 +aVSenator, if you would like respond to \u2014 you may respond to that but it is time for closing statements and you can use your time for closing statements to do that. +p44 +aVThank you. Thank you Senator Clinton. Thank you, Senator Sanders. We also want to thank our partners at Facebook and our hosts here at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. +p45 +aVI'm going to remain here in Milwaukee tomorrow evening for a special edition of Washington Week here on PBS. +p46 +asVWOODRUFF +p47 +(lp48 +VGood evening, and thank you. We are happy to welcome you to Milwaukee for this Democratic debate. We are especially pleased to thank our partners at Facebook, who have helped us set up a vibrant conversation among voters who are undecided. And tonight you're going to hear some of their questions for the candidates. And you can follow along at home on the PBS NewsHour page on Facebook. We also want to thank our hosts, the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, on whose campus we meet, here in the beautiful Helen Bader Concert Hall. +p49 +aVWelcome, Senator, great to see you. And former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Very good to be here with you. +p50 +aVNow, a word about format. There will be two short breaks, and the rules are simple: 90 seconds for each answer and 30 seconds for the other candidate to respond. +p51 +aVThank you both. Thank you both. And we'll be right back after a short break to begin questions. +p52 +aVAnd, welcome back to this PBS Newshour debate, Democratic debate, here in Milwaukee. Let's get right to the questions. Senator Sanders, to you first. Coming off the results in Iowa and New Hampshire, there are many voters who are taking a closer look at you, and your ideas, and they're asking how big a role do you foresee for the federal government? It's already spending 21% of the entire U.S. economy. How much larger would government be in the lives of Americans under a Sanders presidency? +p53 +aVBut, my question is how big would government be? Would there be any limit on the size of the role of government... +p54 +aVNext, we're going to... +p55 +aVVery brief, thank you. +p56 +aVSecretary Clinton, your campaign \u2014 you and your campaign have made a clear appeal to women voters. You have talked repeatedly about the fact, we know you would be, if elected, the first woman president. But in New Hampshire 55 percent of the women voters supported and voted for Senator Sanders. What are women missing about you? +p57 +aVAs you know, just quickly, as you know, your strong supporter, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, said the other day that there's a special place in Hell for women who don't support other women. Do you agree with what she said? +p58 +aVSenator Sanders, you're in the minority, but we still want to hear from you. +p59 +aVFinal comment. +p60 +aVSecretary Clinton, I was talking recently with a 23 year old black woman who voted for President Obama because she said she thought relations between the races would get better under his leadership, and his example. Hardly anyone believes that they have. Why do you think race relations would be better under a Clinton presidency? What would you do that the nation's first African American has not been able to? +p61 +aVSenator Sanders? +p62 +aVSo race relation was be better under a Sanders presidency than they've been? +p63 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders, one of the causes of anxiety for working class Americans is connected to immigrants. President Obama, as you know, has issued executive actions to permit some 5 million undocumented immigrants who are living now in the United States to come out of the shadows without fear of deportation to get work permits. Would you go further than that? And if so, how specifically would you do it? Should an undocumented family watching this debate tonight, say, in Nevada, rest easy, not fear of further deportations under a Sanders presidency? +p64 +aVI'd like... +p65 +aVWe're going to move on. Secretary Clinton, your campaign has recently ramped up criticism of Senator Sanders for attending Democratic Party fundraisers from which you say he benefited. But nearly half of your financial sector donations appear to come from just two wealthy financiers, George Soros and Donald Sussman, for a total of about $10 million. You have said that there's no quid pro quo involved. Is that also true of the donations that wealthy Republicans give to Republican candidates, contributors including the Koch Brothers? +p66 +aVI'm asking if Democratic donors are different than Republican donors. +p67 +aVWe have to go to a break. We... +p68 +aVAll right. Thank you both. It is time for a break. And when we come back, we're going to turn to some new topics, including how these candidates will keep America safe. +p69 +aVWelcome back to the Democratic presidential debate. Before we return to our questions, we have a follow-up question from our Facebook group. And it is to Senator Sanders. Senator, it comes from Bill Corfield. He is a 55-year-old musician from Troy, Ohio. And he asks: "Are there any areas of government you would like to reduce?" +p70 +aVJust a final word. +p71 +aVSenator, let me \u2014 let me move on to another country with which the U.S. has a complicated relationship, Senator Sanders, and that's Russia. On the one hand, we're aware that Russia is a country that the United States needs to cooperate with. Just tonight, Secretary of State John Kerry has announced what appears to be an agreement with the Russians to lead \u2014 that could lead toward a ceasefire in Syria, would be the first cessation of conflict in that country, in that civil war in five years, but it comes at a very high price, because not only have all \u2014 have we seen the deaths, the removal of so many people, millions of people, we now see the Russians in the last few weeks have bombed in a way that benefits President Assad, has not gone after +p72 +aVAnd we have a final question from our Facebook family. And it goes to Senator Sanders. It comes from Robert Andrews. He's a 40-year-old stay-at-home dad in Dover, Massachusetts. He says, "The world has seen many great leaders in the course of human history. Can you name two leaders \u2014 one American and one foreign \u2014 who would influence your foreign policy decisions? And why do you see them as \u2014 why are they influential?" +p73 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p74 +aVAnd we want to thank our audience, our quiet audience here in Helen Bader Concert Hall, and to all of you watching at home. Thank you all. Stay tuned for analysis of the debate and the overall race for the Democratic nomination. That's coming up next here on PBS stations and online atPBS.org/NewsHour. +p75 +aVAnd I'm going to be returning to Washington. I hope you'll join us for the PBS NewsHour tomorrow and every night. That's it from all of us here in Milwaukee. We thank you. +p76 +asVKELLY +p77 +(lp78 +VWelcome to the first debate night of the 2016 presidential campaign, live from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. I'm Megyn Kelly... ... along with my co-moderators, Brett Baier and Chris Wallace. Tonight... Nice. Tonight, thousands of people here in the Q, along with millions of voters at home will get their very first chance to see the candidates face off in a debate, answering the questions you want answered. +p79 +aVAs for the candidates who will be answering those questions? Here they are. Positioned on the stage by how they stand in the polls, in the center of the stage tonight, businessman Donald Trump. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. +p80 +aVGentlemen, our first round of questions is on the subject of electability in the general election, and we start tonight with you, Dr. Carson. You are a successful neurosurgeon, but you admit that you have had to study up on foreign policy, saying there's a lot to learn. Your critics say that your inexperience shows. You've suggested that the Baltic States are not a part of +p81 +aVMr. Trump, one of the things people love about you is you speak your mind and you don't use a politician's filter. However, that is not without its downsides, in particular, when it comes to women. You've called women you don't like "fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals." Your Twitter account... +p82 +aVNo, it wasn't. Your Twitter account... +p83 +aVFor the record, it was well beyond Rosie O'Donnell. +p84 +aVYour Twitter account has several disparaging comments about women's looks. You once told a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice it would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees. Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president, and how will you answer the charge from Hillary Clinton, who was likely to be the Democratic nominee, that you are part of the war on women? +p85 +aVGovernor Walker, you've consistently said that you want to make abortion illegal even in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother. You recently signed an abortion law in Wisconsin that does have an exception for the mother's life, but you're on the record as having objected to it. Would you really let a mother die rather than have an abortion, and with 83 percent of the American public in favor of a life exception, are you too out of the mainstream on this issue to win the general election? +p86 +aVGovernor Kasich, You chose to expand Medicaid in your state, unlike several other governors on this stage tonight, and it is already over budget by some estimates costing taxpayers an additional $1.4 billion in just the first 18 months. You defended your Medicaid expansion by invoking God, saying to skeptics that when they arrive in heaven, Saint Peter isn't going to ask them how small they've kept government, but what they have done for the poor. Why should Republican voters, who generally want to shrink government, believe that you won't use your Saint Peter rationale to expand every government program? +p87 +aVAlright, gentlemen, we're gonna switch topics now and talk a bit about terror and national security. Governor Christie. You've said that Senator Paul's opposition to the NSA's collection of phone records has made the United States weaker and more vulnerable, even going so far as to say that he should be called before Congress to answer for it if we should be hit by another terrorist attack. Do you really believe you can assign blame to Senator Paul just for opposing the bulk collection of people's phone records in the event of a terrorist attack? +p88 +aVGo ahead, sir. +p89 +aVGovernor Christie, make your point. +p90 +aVGo ahead, governor. +p91 +aVAlright. +p92 +aVAlright, we've gotta cut it off there. We have plenty more we want to get to. That was an interesting exchange, thank you for that. +p93 +aVWell, I want to move on, because I have -- we're gonna get to you, governor, but I -- I really wanna get to a Facebook questioner. His name is Alex Chalgren, and he has the following question: +p94 +aVSenator Cruz, I wanna talk to you about this, because many of the Facebook users and -- and -- the -- the folks on Facebook wanted the candidates to speak to +p95 +aVYou don't see it as... ...an ideological problem -- an ideological problem in addition to a military one? +p96 +aVGovernor Bush, for days on end in this campaign, you struggled to answer a question about whether knowing what we know now... +p97 +aV...we would've invaded Iraq... +p98 +aVI remember it too, and +p99 +aVGovernor Walker, in February you said that we needed to gain partners in the Arab world. Which Arab country not already in the U.S. led coalition has potential to be our greatest partner? +p100 +aVDr. Carson, in one of his first acts as commander in chief, President Obama signed an executive order banning enhanced interrogation techniques in fighting terror. As president, would you bring back water boarding? +p101 +aVWe have a lot for you, don't worry. Fear not, you may rue that request. +p102 +aVIt's just before 10:00 p.m. on the East Coast. Welcome back to Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, and the very first Republican primary debate of the 2016 presidential campaign. Ten candidates on the stage, selected based on their standing in five national polls. And tonight they are facing off, answering the questions you want asked. We hope. +p103 +aV Sounds like somebody's a little R-rated. +p104 +aVWell, the first debate night of the 2016 presidential campaign continues from Cleveland after a short time-out. Stick around. Social issues, next. +p105 +aVSenator Rubio, you favor a rape and incest exception to abortion bans. Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York just said yesterday those exceptions are preposterous. He said they discriminate against an entire class of human beings. If you believe that life begins at conception, as you say you do, how do you justify ending a life just because it begins violently, through no fault of the baby? +p106 +aVYou don't favor a rape and incest exception? +p107 +aVMr. Trump, in 1999, you said you were, quote, "very pro- choice." Even supporting partial-birth abortion. You favored an assault weapons ban as well. In 2004, you said in most cases you identified as a Democrat. Even in this campaign, your critics say you often sound more like a Democrat than a Republican, calling several of your opponents on the stage things like clowns and puppets. When did you actually become a Republican? +p108 +aVGovernor Bush, I want to ask you, on the subject of name calling of your fellow candidates, a story appeared today quoting an anonymous GOP donor who said you called Mr. Trump a clown, a buffoon, something else that cannot be repeated on television. +p109 +aVIs it true? +p110 +aVMr. Trump, 30 seconds. +p111 +aVThe subject of gay marriage and religious liberty. Governor Kasich, if you had a son or daughter who was gay or lesbian, how would you explain to them your opposition to same-sex marriage? +p112 +aVHow would you -- how would you explain it to a child? +p113 +aVSenator Paul, in the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling on same sex marriage, Carol Fox on Facebook want to know the following. Quote: what will you do to ensure Christians are not prosecuted for speaking out against gay marriage and will Christians be forced to conduct business that conflicts with their religious beliefs? +p114 +aVGovernor Walker, many in the Black Lives Matter movement, and beyond, believe that overly-aggressive police officers targeting young African Americans is the civil rights issue of our time. Do you agree? And if so, how do you plan to address it? And if not, why not? +p115 +aVThank you. +p116 +aVWe have to stand you by, because after the break, we're going to let the candidates make their closing statements, their final thoughts, and . . . God. Stay tuned for that. +p117 +aVWelcome back. In our final moments here together, we're going to allow the candidates to offer their final thoughts. But first, we want to ask them an interesting closing question from Chase Norton on Facebook, who wants to know this of the candidates: "I want to know if any of them have received a word from God on what they should do and take care of first." Senator Cruz, start from you. Any word from God? +p118 +aVGovernor Kasich, same question. +p119 +aVGovernor Walker, same question. +p120 +aVSenator Rubio, I want to ask you the same question. But I do want to mention, a woman just came here to the stage and asked, what about the veterans? I want to hear more about what these candidates are going to do for our nation's veterans. So I put the question to you about God and the veterans, which you may find to be related. +p121 +aVDr. Carson, a question to you about God and his role, but also, one of the issues that the public was very interested in, and we touched on it earlier, is race relations in this country, and how divided we seem right now. And what, if anything, you can do -- you would do as the next president to help heal that divide. +p122 +aVGovernor Christie? +p123 +aVSenator Ted Cruz. +p124 +aVGovernor Scott Walker. +p125 +aVIt's over! +p126 +aVAre you relieved? You were nervous before, they -- they don't look relieved. They look "get me outta here." Thank you all very much, and that will do it for the first Republican primary debate night of the 2016 presidential race. Our thanks to the candidates, who will now be joined by their families on stage. +p127 +asVRUBIO +p128 +(lp129 +VThank you Wolf. It's really amazing to be back in Las Vegas. I spent six years as a child growing not far from where we stand tonight. I use to sit on the porch of our home and listen to my grandfather tell stories as he smoked one of three daily cigars. One of the things my grandfather instilled in me, was that I was really blessed because I was a citizen of the greatest country in the history of our mankind. But there have always been people in American politics that wanted America to be more like the rest of the world. And In 2008, one of them was elected president of this country and the result has been a disaster. Today you have millions of Americans that feel left out and out of place in their own country, struggling to live paycheck to paycheck, called bigots because they hold on to traditional values. And around the world, America's influence has declined while this president has destroyed our military, our allies no longer trust us, and our adversaries no longer respect us. And that is why this election is so important. That is why I'm running for president. And that's why I'm going to ask you for your vote tonight. If you elect me president, we will have a president that believes America is the greatest country in the world and we will have a president that acts like it. +p130 +aVWell, I understand why they feel that way, because this president hasn't kept us safe. The problem is we had an attack in San Bernardino. And we were paying attention to the most important issue we have faced in a decade since 9/11, and then all the talk was about this proposal, which isn't going to happen. But this is what's important to do is we must deal frontally with this threat of radical Islamists, especially from +p131 +aVHe is and so are those that voted for it. There were some that voted for it because they wanted to keep it alive and they were afraid the whole program would expire. Here's the world we live in. This is a radical jihadist group that is increasingly sophisticated in its ability, for example, to radicalize American citizens, in its inability to exploit loopholes in our legal immigration system, in its ability to capture and hold territory in the Middle East, as I outlined earlier, in multiple countries. This is not just the most capable, it is the most sophisticated terror threat we have ever faced. We are now at a time when we need more tools, not less tools. And that took we lost, the metadata program, was a valuable tool that we no longer have at our disposal. +p132 +aVDana, may I interject here? +p133 +aVLet me be very careful when answering this, because I don't think national television in front of 15 million people is the place to discuss classified information. So let me just be very clear. There is nothing that we are allowed to do under this bill that we could not do before. This bill did, however, take away a valuable tool that allowed the National Security Agency and other law \u2014 and other intelligence agencies to quickly and rapidly access phone records and match them up with other phone records to see who terrorists have been calling. Because I promise you, the next time there is attack on \u2014 an attack on this country, the first thing people are going to want to know is, why didn't we know about it and why didn't we stop it? And the answer better not be because we didn't have access to records or information that would have allowed us to identify these killers before they attacked. +p134 +aVI want to thank Rand for another 30 seconds, because, number one, what he's pointing to is a bill last week that \u2014 amendment that he voted for that only 10 people voted for. You know why? Because it's not focused on terrorists. It would have banned anyone from coming here. Someone from Taiwan would not have been able to come here as a tourist. Number two, this program, this metadata program is actually more strict than what a regular law enforcement agency has now. If a regular law enforcement agency wants your phone records, all they have to do is issue a subpoena. But now the intelligence agency is not able to quickly gather records and look at them to see who these terrorists are calling. And the terrorists that attacked us in San Bernardino was an American citizen, born and raised in this country. And I bet you we wish we would have had access to five years of his records so we could see who he was working with... +p135 +aVDo I get another 30 seconds? He mentioned me. +p136 +aVWell, let me begin by saying that we have to understand who +p137 +aVThat is accurate. Three times he voted against the Defense Authorization Act, which is a bill that funds the troops. It also, by the way, funds the Iron Dome and other important programs. And I have to assume that if you vote against it in the Senate, you would also veto it as president. He has also supported, by the way, a budget that is called the containment budget. And it is a budget that would radically reduce the amount of money we spend on our military. You can't carpet bomb +p138 +aVYes, let me \u2014 three points of distinction. The first is, if you're an American citizen and you decide to join up with +p139 +aVWell, they most certainly will have to be worked on to provide more than what they are doing now. There's no doubt about it. And there's one \u2014 one major reason why they have not been willing to be a broader part of the coalition, and that is they have lost complete trust and confidence in this president. This president cut a deal with their moral enemy, the Shia, in Iran. And this is the reason why they no longer trust this president and are willing to work alongside them. But they have as much invested in this as we do. In fact, more so, for it is the king of Saudi Arabia they want to behead first. It's the king of Jordan that they want to dethrone. It's the \u2014 they want to go into Egypt the way they've already gone into Libya. And on another point that we need to talk about, Assad is one of the main reasons why +p140 +aVTo begin with, Moammar Gadhafi and the revolt against Gadhafi was not started by the United States. It was started by the Libyan people. And the reason why I argued we needed to get involved is because he was going to go one way or the other. And my argument then was proven true, and that is, the longer that civil war took, the more militias would be formed and the more unstable the country would be after the fact. As far as Moammar Gadhafi is concerned, by the way, Moammar Gadhafi is the man that killed those Americans over Lockerbie, Scotland. Moammar Gadhafi is also the man that bombed that cafe in Berlin and killed those Marines. And you want to know why Moammar Gadhafi started cooperating on his nuclear program? Because we got rid of Saddam Hussein. And so he got scared that he would be next, and that's why he started cooperating. Look, we will have to work around the world with less than ideal governments. The government in Saudi Arabia is not a democracy, but we will have to work with them. The government in Jordan is not perfect, but we will have to work with them. But anti-American dictators like Assad, who help Hezbollah, who helped get those IEDs into Iraq, if they go, I will not shed a tear. +p141 +aVYeah. Immigration is not an issue that I read about in the newspaper or watch a documentary on PBS or CNN. It's an issues I've lived around my whole life. My family are immigrants. My wife's family are immigrants. All of my neighbors are immigrants. I see every aspect of this problem. The good, the bad, and the ugly. And here's what we learned in 2013. The American people don't trust the Federal Government to enforce our immigration laws, and we will not be able to do anything on immigration until we first prove to the American people that illegal immigration is under control. And we can do that. We know what it takes to do that. It takes at least 20,000 more additional border agents. It takes completing those 700 miles of fencing. It takes a mandatory e-verify system and a mandatory entry/exit tracking system to prevent overstays. After we have done that, the second thing we have to do is reform and modernize the legal immigration system. And after we have done those two things, I think the American people are gonna be reasonable with what do you do with someone who has been in this country for 10 or 12 years who hasn't otherwise violated our laws \u2014 because if they're a criminal they can't stay. They'll have to undergo a background check, pay a fine, start paying taxes. And ultimately, they'll given a work permit and that's all they're gonna be allowed to have for at least 10 years. But you can't get to that third step until you have done the other two things, and that was the lesson we learned in 2013. There is no trust that the Federal Government will enforce the law. They will not support you until you see it done first. +p142 +aVBut I've answered that question repeatedly. I am personally open \u2014 after all that has happened and after ten years in that probationary status where all they have is a permit, I personally am open to allowing people to apply for a green card. That may not be a majority position in my party, but that's down the road. You can't even begin that process until you prove to people \u2014 not just pass a law that says you're gonna bring illegal immigration under control. You're gonna have to do it and prove to people that it's working. And that was the lesson of 2013. And it's more true today, than it was then. After a migratory crisis on the border with minors coming over that you're seeing start up again now, after all these executive orders the President has issued. More than ever we need to... +p143 +aV... prove to people that illegal immigration is under control. +p144 +aVYeah, a couple points. In 2013 we had never faced a crisis like the Syrian refugee crisis now. Up until that point, a refugee meant someone fleeing oppression, fleeing Communism like it is in my community. As far as Ted's record, I'm always puzzled by his attack on this issue. Ted, you support legalizing people who are in this country illegally. Ted Cruz supported a 500-percent increase in the number of H-1 visas, the guest workers that are allowed into this country, and Ted supports doubling the number of green cards. So I think what's important for us to understand and there is a way forward on this issue that we an bring our country together on. And while I'm president I will do it. And it will begin by bringing illegal immigration under control and proving to the American people. +p145 +aVNo, no, give him time. +p146 +aVTed, do you... +p147 +aVDid Ted Cruz fight to support legalizing people that are in this country illegally? +p148 +aVDoes Ted Cruz rule out ever legalizing people that are in this country now? +p149 +aVWould you rule it out? +p150 +aVWell, he's just admitted \u2014 as he's just admitted, the reason why those refugees were allowed in was because they messed up in how they used the actual database. They should have know. They didn't because they didn't run the actual law as it exists now. It didn't work well. As far as the refugees are concerned, it's not that America doesn't want to accept refugees, Wolf. It's that we may not be able to, because this is an issue we have to be 100 percent right on. If we allow 9,999 Syrian refugees into the United States, and all of them are good people, but we allow one person in who's an +p151 +aVI do. First, let's explain to people at home who the triad \u2014 what the triad is. Maybe a lot of people haven't heard that terminology before. The triad is our ability of the United States to conduct nuclear attacks using airplanes, using missiles launched from silos or from the ground, and also from our nuclear subs' ability to attack. And it's important \u2014 all three of them are critical. It gives us the ability at deterrence. Now, some have become more critical than others; for example, the submarines. And that's the Ohio Class submarine that needs to be modernized. The air component also needs to be modernized. The B-52, as someone earlier pointed out, is an outdated model that was flown by the grandparents of people that are flying it now. And we need a serious modernization program as well on our silo-launched missiles. All three are critical for the defense of the country. +p152 +aVThank you. As we near the end of this year, we enter one of the most important elections in a generation. For what's at stake in this election is not simply what party's going to be in charge. But our very identity as a people and as a nation. For over 200 years this has been a special country. A unique place where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything. But now millions of Americans feel like they're being left behind. Insecure in their future and unsafe in the face of terrorism. This election is about electing a president that will restore our economic vibrancy so that the American dream can expand to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And rebuild our Military and our intelligence programs so that we can remain the strongest nation on earth. Tonight I ask you for your vote. If you do this, we will rebuild this country, and together we will usher in a new American century \u2014 the greatest era in the history of this great land. +p153 +aVWell, let me begin by answering both the first question and this one, because they're related. As I've said many times before, my parents were never rich people. My father was a bartender. My mother was a maid. They worked for a living. But they were successful people, because, despite the fact that they weren't well educated and had those jobs, they made enough money to buy a home in a safe and stable neighborhood, retire with dignity, leave all four of their children better off than themselves. We call that the American dream, but in fact, it's a universal dream of a better life that people have all over the world. It is a reminder that every country in the world has rich people. What makes America special is that we have millions and millions of people that are not rich, that through hard work and perseverance are able to be successful. The problem is that today people are not successful working as hard as ever because the economy is not providing jobs that pay enough. If I thought that raising the minimum wage was the best way to help people increase their pay, I would be all for it, but it isn't. In the 20th century, it's a disaster. If you raise the minimum wage, you're going to make people more expensive than a machine. And that means all this automation that's replacing jobs and people right now is only going to be accelerated. Here's the best way to raise wages. Make America the best place in the world to start a business or expand an existing business, tax reform and regulatory reform, bring our debt under control, fully utilize our energy resources so we can reinvigorate manufacturing, repeal and replace Obamacare, and make higher education faster and easier to access, especially vocational training. For the life of me, I don't know why we have stigmatized vocational education. Welders make more money than philosophers. We need more welders and less philosophers. If we do that \u2014 and if we do this \u2014 if we do this, we will be able to increase wages for millions of Americans and we will be able to leave everyone better off without making anyone worse off. +p154 +aVWell, you know, that's an excellent question, because what we are going through in this country is not simply an economic downturn. We are living through a massive economic transformation. I mean, this economy is nothing like what it was like five years ago, not to mention 15 or 20 years ago. And it isn't just a different economy. It's changing faster than ever. You know, it took the telephone 75 years to reach 100 million users. It took Candy Crush one year to reach some 100 million users. So the world is changing faster than ever, and it is disruptive. Number one, we are in a global competition now, and several of the candidates have said that. There are now dozens of developed economies on this planet that we have to compete with. And we lose that competition because we have the highest business tax rate in the industrialized world, because we have regulations that continue to grow by the billions every single week, because we have a crazy health care law that discourages companies from hiring people, but because we're not fully utilizing our energy resources, that if we did, it would bring back all kinds of growth, especially in manufacturing, and because we have an outdated higher education system. Our higher education system is completely outdated. It is too expensive, too hard to access, and it doesn't teach 21st century skills. If we do what needs to be done \u2014 tax reform, regulatory reform, fully utilize our energy resources, repeal and replace Obamacare, and modernize higher education, then we can grasp the potential and the promise of this new economy. And we won't just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And then truly this new century can be a new American century. +p155 +aVThe most important job I'm ever going to have, the most important job anyone in this room will ever have, is the job of being a parent. Not the job of being president, or the job of being a senator, or the job of being a congressman. The most important job any of us will ever do is the job of being a president (sic), because the most important institution in society is the family. If the family breaks down, society breaks down. You can't have a strong nation without strong values, and no one is born with strong values. They have to be taught to you in strong families and reinforced in you in strong communities. And so when we set out to do tax reform, we endeavor to have a pro-family tax code, and we endeavor to do it because we know how difficult it is for families in the 21st century to afford the cost of living. It is expensive to raise children in the 21st century, and families that are raising children are raising the future taxpayers of the United States, and everything costs more. In 35 out of 50 states, child care costs more than college. There are millions of people watching this broadcast tonight that understand exactly what I'm talking about. They don't know how they're going to make that payment every month, and if they can't make it, they can't work, because someone needs to watch their kids during the day. They don't know how they're going to save for their kids' future, to go to college. And so, yes, I have a child tax credit increase, and I'm proud of it. I am proud that I have a pro-family tax code, because the pro- family tax plan I have will strengthen the most important institution in the \u2014 in the country, the family. +p156 +aVNow I get my 60 seconds to respond. He's talking about my tax plan. +p157 +aVSo let me begin with this. I actually believe \u2014 first of all, this is their money. They do pay. It is refundable, not just against the taxes they pay to the government, but also the \u2014 on their federal income tax, it's refundable against the payroll tax. Everyone pays payroll tax. This is their money. This is not our money. And here's what I don't understand \u2014 if you invest that money in a piece of equipment, if you invest that money in a business, you get to write it off your taxes. But if you invest it in your children, in the future of America and strengthening your family, we're not going to recognize that in our tax code? The family is the most important institution in society. And, yes... +p158 +aV... I do want to rebuild the American military. +p159 +aVI know that Rand is a committed isolationist. I'm not. I believe the world is a stronger and a better place, when the United States is the strongest military power in the world. +p160 +aVBecause... +p161 +aV...are you talking about the military, Rand? +p162 +aVWe can't even have an economy if we're not safe. There are radical jihadist in the Middle East beheading people and crucifying Christians. A radical Shia cleric in Iran trying to get a nuclear weapon, the Chinese taking over the South China Sea... ...Yes, I believe the world is a safer \u2014 no, no, I don't believe, I know that the world is a safer place when America is the strongest military power in the world. +p163 +aVYou know, if I may respond... +p164 +aVI need to add a couple of points to this. The first is, I've never met Vladimir Putin, but I know enough about him to know he is a gangster. He is basically an organized crime figure that runs a country, controls a $2 trillion economy. And is using to build up his military in a rapid way despite the fact his economy is a disaster. He understands only geopolitical strength. And every time he has acted anywhere in the world, whether it's in Ukraine or Georgia before that, or now in the Middle East, it's because he is trusting in weakness. His calculation in the Middle East is that he has seen what this president has done, which is nothing, the president has no strategy, our allies in the region do not trust us. For goodness sake, there is only one pro-American free enterprise democracy in the Middle East, it is the state of Israel. And we have a president that treats the prime minister of Israel with less respect than what he gives the ayatollah in Iran. And so our allies in the region don't trust us. Vladimir Putin is exploiting that weakness, for purposes of edging the Americans out as the most important geopolitical power broker in the region. And we do have a vested interest. And here's why. Because all those radical terrorist groups that, by the way, are not just in Syria and in Iraq, +p165 +aVCan I just add what \u2014 he's right on point there. Do you know why these banks are so big? The government made them big. The government made them big by adding thousands and thousands of pages of regulations. So the big banks, they have an army of lawyers, they have an army of compliance officers. They can deal with all these things. The small banks, like Governor Bush was saying, they can't deal with all these regulations. They can't deal with all \u2014 they cannot hire the fanciest law firm in Washington or the best lobbying firm to deal with all these regulations. And so the result is, the big banks get bigger, the small banks struggle to lend or even exist, and the result is what you have today. And in Dodd-Frank, you have actually codified too big to fail. We have actually created a category of systemically important institutions, and these banks go around bragging about it. You know what they say to people with a wink and a nod? We are so big, we are so important that if we get in trouble, the government has to bail us out. This is an outrage. We need to repeal Dodd-Frank as soon as possible. +p166 +aVWell, that's a great question, and let me begin by answering it. This election is about the future, about what kind of country this nation is gonna be in the 21st century. This next (ph) election is actually a generational choice. A choice about what kind of nation we will be in the 21st century. For over 2.5 centuries, America's been a special country, the one place on earth where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything, a nation that's been a force for good on this planet. But now, a growing number of Americans feel out of place in their own country. We have a society that stigmatizes those that hold cultural values that are traditional. We have a society where people \u2014 millions of people \u2014 are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, but they're living paycheck to paycheck because the economy has changed underneath their feet. We have young Americans who owe thousands of dollars in student loans for a degree that doesn't lead to a job. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses dying than starting, and around the world, every day brings news of a new humiliation for America \u2014 many the direct response \u2014 direct consequence of decisions made when Hillary Clinton was the secretary of the \u2014 of state. And so here's the truth: this election is about the future, and the Democratic Party, and the political left has no ideas about the future. All their ideas are the same, tired ideas of the past. More government, more spending. For every issue for America, their answer is a new tax on someone, and a new government program. This nation is going to turn the page, and that's what this election should be about, and, as I said at the first debate... ...If I am our nominee, they will be the party of the past, we will be the party of the 21st century. +p167 +aVOurs \u2014 the story of America is an extraordinary story. It is the story of a nation that for over two centuries each generation has left the next better off than themselves. But now, because Washington is out of touch, for the fault of both political parties, for the first time in our history, that is in doubt. And that is what this election must be about, because if the next four years are anything like the last eight years, our children will be the first Americans ever left worse off by their parents. This election is about making a different choice, about applying our principles of limited government and free enterprise to the unique issues of our time. And if we do, we will not just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And the 21st century can be a new American century. So tonight, I ask you for your vote and I ask you to join us at my website, marcorubio.com. +p168 +aVThank you for that question. I would begin by saying that I'm not sure it's a weakness, but I do believe that I share a sense of optimism for America's future that, today, is eroding from too many of our people. I think there's a sense in this country today that somehow our best days are behind us. And that doesn't have to be true. Our greatest days lie ahead if we are willing to do what it takes now. If we're willing to do what it takes now, the 21st century is going to be the new American century, greater than any other era we've had in the history of this great nation. +p169 +aVThat's an interesting question. That's exactly what the Republican establishment says too. Why don't you wait in line? Wait for what? This country is running out of time. We can't afford to have another four years like the last eight years. Watching this broadcast tonight are millions of people that are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, everything costs more, and they haven't had a raise in decades. You have small businesses in America that are struggling. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses closing than starting. We have a world that's out of control and has grown dangerous and a president that is weakening our military and making our foreign policy unstable and unreliable in the eyes of our allies. And our adversaries continue to grow stronger. We have a \u2014 they say there's no bipartisanship in Washington? We have a $19 trillion bipartisan debt and it continues to grow as we borrow money from countries that do not like us to pay for government we cannot afford. The time to act is now. The time to turn the page is now. If we \u2014 if we don't act now, we are going to be the first generation in American history that leaves our children worse off than ourselves. +p170 +aVLet me say, I read that editorial today with a great amusement. It's actually evidence of the bias that exists in the American media today. +p171 +aVLet me \u2014 let me answer your question on the Sun-Sentinel editorial today. Back in 2004, one of my predecessors to the Senate by the name of Bob Graham, a Democrat, ran for president missing over 30 percent of his votes. I don't recall them calling for his resignation \u2014 +p172 +aVLater that year, in 2004, John Kerry ran for president missing close to 60 to 70 percent of his votes. I don't recall the Sun \u2014 in fact, the Sun-Sentinel endorsed him. In 2008, Barack Obama missed 60 or 70 percent of his votes, and the same newspaper endorsed him again. So this is another example of the double standard that exists in this country between the mainstream media and the conservative movement. +p173 +aVI get to respond, right? +p174 +aVWell, it's interesting. Over the last few weeks, I've listened to Jeb as he walked around the country and said that you're modeling your campaign after John McCain, that you're going to launch a furious comeback the way he did, by fighting hard in New Hampshire and places like that, carrying your own bag at the airport. You know how many votes John McCain missed when he was carrying out that furious comeback that you're now modeling after? +p175 +aVNo Jeb, I don't remember \u2014 well, let me tell you. I don't remember you ever complaining about John McCain's vote record. The only reason why you're doing it now is because we're running for the same position, and someone has convinced you that attacking me is going to help you. +p176 +aVHere's the bottom line. I'm not \u2014 my campaign is going to be about the future of America, it's not going to be about attacking anyone else on this stage. I will continue to have tremendous admiration and respect for Governor Bush. I'm not running against Governor Bush, I'm not running against anyone on this stage. I'm running for president because there is no way we can elect Hillary Clinton to continue the policies of Barack Obama. +p177 +aVWell, you just \u2014 you just listed a litany of discredited attacks from Democrats and my political opponents, and I'm not gonna waste 60 seconds detailing them all. But I'm going to tell you the truth. Here's the truth. I didn't inherit any money. My dad was a bartender, my mother was a maid. They worked hard to provide us the chance at a better life. They didn't save enough money for us to go to school. I had to work my way through school. I had to borrow money to go to school. I tried (ph), early in my marriage, explaining to my wife why someone named Sallie Mae was taking $1,000 out of our bank account every month. I know what it's like to owe that money, and we've worked hard. We've worked hard our whole life to provide a better family \u2014 a better life for our family. We own a home four blocks away from the place that I grew up in. My four children have been able to receive a good Christian education, and I've been able to save for them to go to college so they never have to have the loans that I did. But I'm not worried about my finances, I'm worried about the finances of everyday Americans who today are struggling in an economy that is not producing good paying jobs while everything else costs more. And that's what this economy needs to \u2014 that's what this debate needs to be about. This debate needs to be about the men and women across this country that are struggling on a daily basis to provide for their families the better future that we've always said this country is all about. +p178 +aVAnd I used it to pay off my loans. And it's available on paperback, if you're interested in buying my book. +p179 +aVYeah, again, as I said, we're raising a family in the 21st century and it's one of the reasons why my tax plan is a pro- family tax plan. It increases the per child tax credit, because I didn't read about this in a book. I know for a fact how difficult it is to raise children, how expensive it's become for working families. And I make a lot more than the average American. Imagine how hard it is for these people out there that are making 40, 50, $60,000 a year, and they're trying to provide for their families at a time when this economy is not growing. We can't afford another four years of that. Which is what we're gonna get if we elect a big government liberal like Hillary Clinton to the White House. Thank you, senator. +p180 +aVWell, first of all, if a company gets caught doing that, they should never be able to use the program again. If you get caught abusing this program, you should never be able to use it again. The second thing I said is we need to add reforms, not just increase the numbers, but add reforms. For example, before you hire anyone from abroad, you should have to advertise that job for 180 days. You also have to prove that you're going to pay these people more than you would pay someone else, so that you're not undercutting it by bringing in cheap labor. But here's the best solution of all. We need to get back to training people in this country to do the jobs of the 21st century. Why, for the life of me, I do not understand why did we stop doing vocational education in America, people that can work with their hands; people you can train to do this work while they're still in high school so they can graduate ready to go work. But the best way to close this gap is to modernize higher education so Americans have the skills for those jobs. But in the interim, in the absence of that, what's happening is some of these tech companies are taking those \u2014 those centers (ph) to Canada because they can get people to go over there instead of here. But the ideal scenario is to train Americans to do the work so we don't have to rely on people from abroad. +p181 +aVWell, I believe that there are abuses, those companies should be permanently barred from ever using the program again and we should put strict standards in place to ensure that they're not being abused, like the prevailing wage requirement and like the advertising requirement. +p182 +aVSince I've been mentioned, can I respond? +p183 +aVOK. I know the Democrats have the ultimate SuperPac. It's called the mainstream media who every single day... ... and I'll tell you why. Last week, Hillary Clinton went before a committee. She admitted she had sent e-mails to her family saying, "Hey, this attack at Benghazi was caused by Al Qaida-like elements." She spent over a week telling the families of those victims and the American people that it was because of a video. And yet the mainstream media is going around saying it was the greatest week in Hillary Clinton's campaign. It was the week she got exposed as a liar. It was the week that she got exposed as a liar... But she has her super PAC helping her out, the American mainstream media. +p184 +aVNo, that's \u2014 you're wrong. In fact, the largest after- tax gains is for the people at the lower end of the tax spectrum under my plan. And there's a bunch of things my tax plan does to help them. Number one, you have people in this country that... +p185 +aV...you wrote a story on it, and you had to go back and correct it. +p186 +aVYou did. No, you did. +p187 +aVWell, you're talking about \u2014 yeah. +p188 +aVYeah, but that \u2014 because the math is, if you \u2014 5 percent of a million is a lot more than 5 percent of a thousand. So yeah, someone who makes more money... +p189 +aV...numerically, it's gonna be higher. But the greatest gains, percentage-wise, for people, are gonna be at the lower end of our plan, and here's why: because in addition to a general personal exemption, we are increasing the per-child tax credit for working families. We are lowering taxes on small business. You know, a lot of business activity in America is conducted like the guy that does my dry cleaning. He's an S corporation. He pays on his personal rate, and he is paying higher than the big dry-cleaning chain down the street, because he's paying at his personal rate. Under my plan, no business, big or small, will pay more than 25 percent flat rate on their business income. That is a dramatic tax decrease for hard-working people who run their own businesses. +p190 +aV...The other thing I'd like to make about our plan, one more point, it is the most pro growth tax plan that I can imagine because it doesn't tax investments at all. You know why? Because the more you tax something, the less of it you get. I want to be in \u2014 I want America to be the best... +p191 +aV...in the world for people... +p192 +aVI was mentioned in the question. +p193 +aVThank you. Well, I've learned the rules on this. Look, in addition to what Donald was saying is we also need to talk about the legal immigration system for permanent residents. Today, we have a legal immigration system for permanent residency that is largely based on whether or not you have a relative living here. And that's the way my parents came legally in 1956. But in 2015, we have a very different economy. Our legal immigration system from now on has to be merit-based. It has to be based on what skills you have, what you can contribute economically, and most important of all, on whether or not you're coming here to become an American, not just live in America, but be an American. +p194 +aVNo. No. What I said was that I think that Dr. Carson's ideas are good ideas. They're not my ideas, and I don't necessarily agree with all of them. But this is what you're seeing in the Republican debate that you didn't see in that Democrat debate. You didn't see it for a minute. You didn't see these kind of ideas being batted around, and being batted around in a way that's civil and smart and that's trying to help to inform the voter out there. What you saw was a parade of, "I'll give you this for free; I'll give you that for free." Let me tell you, everybody, when they say they want to give it to you for free, keep your hands on your wallets because they're coming to you to pay for it. And that's why I think these ideas up here are great, and that's what we should have is have more discussions like this and less gotcha. +p195 +aVI want to take off from that point and argue the same thing. And that is that one of the things you're watching tonight are 11 quality candidates debating an important issue. The Republican Party is blessed to have 11 good candidates, 10 good candidates. The Democrats can't even come up with one. And on this issue of the Medicare in particular, it's important because they're going to demagogue what we're saying here tonight. Everyone up here tonight that's talking about reforms, I think and I know for myself I speak to this, we're all talking about reforms for future generations. Nothing has to change for current beneficiaries. My mother is on Medicare and Social Security. I'm against anything that's bad for my mother. So, we're talking about \u2014 we're talking about reform for people like me and people like Senator Cruz, as he talked about earlier, who are years away from retirement that have a way to plan for these changes, and way that's very reasonable. And it's not too much to ask of our generation after everything our parents and our grandparents did for us. +p196 +aVYou know, America doesn't owe me anything. I have a debt to America I'll never repay. This isn't just the country I was born in, this is the nation that literally changed the history of my family. My parents in this country were able to give me the chance to do all the things they never did. We call that the American Dream, although, it's built on the universal dream of a better life. The fact that it's happened for so many people here throughout our history, that's what makes us special. But, now for millions of Americans, it's slipping away. And, we have a government and leaders in government that are completely out of touch, and that's why I'm running for president. Because we can't just save the American Dream, we can expand it to reach more people, and change more lives than ever before. And, that's why tonight I'm asking you for your vote. +p197 +aVThank you. My name is Marco Rubio. I'm from Florida. My wife Jeanette and I are the proud \u2014 we've been married 17 years, and we're the proud parents of four children, two of whom were able to join us here this evening. I'm honored to be here at the Reagan Library, at a place that honors the legacy of a man who inspired not just my interest in public service, but also our love for country. And I'm also aware that California has a drought, and so that's why I made sure I brought my own water. +p198 +aVWell, first of all, I have an understanding of exactly what it is Russia and Putin are doing, and it's pretty straightforward. He wants to reposition Russia, once again, as a geopolitical force. He himself said that the destruction of the Soviet Union \u2014 the fall of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century, and now he's trying to reverse that. He's trying to destroy +p199 +aVLet me tell you \u2014 I will tell you we have zero responsibility, because let's remember what the president said. He said the attack he would conduct would be a pinprick. Well, the United States military was not build to conduct pinprick attacks. If the United States military is going to be engaged by a commander-in-chief, it should only be engaged in an endeavor to win. And we're not going to authorize use of force if you're not put in a position where they can win. And quite frankly, people don't trust this president as commander-in-chief because of that. +p200 +aVHold on, a second, Jake, he asked me, as well. I'd like to actually... +p201 +aV... respond. I think I'm the first senator. The No. 1 test for use of military force should be the vital national security interest of the United States. The reason why I opposed President Obama bombing Syria, is because he couldn't answer the question what do you do if chemical weapons end up in the hands of radical Islamic terrorists like al-Nusra, like Al Qaida, like +p202 +aVIn the middle of negotiating this treaty, Khamenei led the assembled masses in chanting, death to America. I'm reminded of a great editorial cartoon. It shows the Ayatollah Khamenei saying, "Death to all Americans," and then it shows John Kerry coming back, saying, "Can we meet ya half way?" We need a commander-in-chief who will stand up and protect this country. And I'll tell you, I can't wait to stand on that debate stage with Hillary Clinton and to make abundantly clear if you vote for Hillary, you are voting for the Ayatollah Khomeini to possess a nuclear weapon and if you elect me as president, under no circumstances will a theocratic ayatollah who chants death to America ever be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon. +p203 +aVMs. Dana, I agree that English is the unifying language of our country, and everyone should learn to speak it. It's important. I want to tell you a story about someone that didn't speak English that well. It was my grandfather; he came to this country in the 1960s, as a \u2014 escaping Cuba. And he lived with us, growing up. And my grandfather loved America. He understood what was so special about this country. He loved Ronald Reagan; he would be very proud of the fact that we're here this evening. My grandfather instilled in me the belief that I was blessed to live in the one society in all of human history where even I, the son of a bartender and a maid, could aspire to have anything, and be anything that I was willing to work hard to achieve. But he taught me that in Spanish, because it was the language he was most comfortable in. And he became a conservative, even though he got his news in Spanish. And so, I do give interviews in Spanish, and here's why \u2014 because I believe that free enterprise and limited government is the best way to help people who are trying to achieve upward mobility. And if they get their news in Spanish, I want them to hear that directly from me. Not from a translator at Univision. +p204 +aVWell, let me say that legal immigration is not an issue I read about in the newspaper. Immigration, illegal immigration, all the good aspects of immigration and all the negative ones as well, I live with. My family's immigrants. My neighbors are all immigrants. My in-laws are all immigrants. So I've seen every aspect of it, and I can tell you America doesn't have one immigration problem, it has three. First, despite the fact that we are the most generous country in the history of the world in allowing people to come here legally, we have people still coming illegally. Second, we have a legal immigration system that no longer works. It primary is built on the basis of whether you have a relative living here instead of merit. And third, we have 11 million or 12 million people, many of whom have been here for longer than a decade who are already here illegally. And we must deal with all three of these problems. We cannot deal with all three of these problems in one massive piece of legislation. I learned that. We tried it that way. Here's the way forward: First, we must \u2014 we must secure our border, the physical border, with \u2014 with a wall, absolutely. But we also need to have an entry/exit tracking system. 40 percent of the people who come here illegally come legally, and then they overstay the visa. We also need a mandatory e-verify system. After we've done that, step two would be to modernize our legal immigration system so you come to America on the basis of what you can contribute economically, not whether or not simply you have a relative living here. And after we've done those two things, I believe the American people... +p205 +aV... will be very reasonable and responsible about what you do with someone who's been here and isn't a criminal. If you're a criminal, obviously, you will not be able to stay. +p206 +aVYes, well, it does. But it's in the following way, this is an important question. I think if you're running for president, these are important issues, because look at around the world today. There is a lunatic in North Korea with dozens of nuclear weapons and long-range rocket that can already hit the very place in which we stand tonight. The Chinese are rapidly expanding their military. They hack into our computers. They're building artificial islands in the South China Sea, the most important shipping lane in the world. A gangster in Moscow is not just threatening Europe, he's threatening to destroy and divide +p207 +aVWell, that's why we have a debate. I think that we should have a deeper debate about these issues, because there is no more important decision that a president will make. +p208 +aVWell, you should ask him questions in detail about the foreign policy issues our president will confront, because you had better be able to lead our country on the first day. Not six months from now, not a year from now, on the first day in office, our president could very well confront a national security crisis. You can't predict it. Sometimes you cannot control it. And it is the most \u2014 the federal government does all kinds of things it's not supposed to be doing. It regulates bathrooms. It regulates schools that belong to local communities. But the one thing that the federal government must do, the one thing that only the federal government can do is keep us safe. And a president better be up-to-date on those issues on his first day in office, on her first day in office. +p209 +aVTrust (ph) me, I get that. OK. +p210 +aVI never get to addressed, and... +p211 +aV...and when I do, I'm gonna jump in. +p212 +aVYeah. He did. Let me \u2014 I'm proud to serve in the United States Senate. You know, when I ran five years ago, the entire leadership of my party in Washington lined up against me. But I'm glad I won. And I'm glad that I ran, because this country's headed in the wrong direction. And if we keep electing the same people, nothing is going to change. And you're right, I have missed some votes, and I'll tell you why, Mr. Trump. Because in my years in the Senate, I've figured out very quickly that the political establishment in Washington, D.C. in both political parties is completely out of touch with the lives of our people. You have millions of people in this country living paycheck to paycheck, and nothing is being done about it. We are about to leave our children with $18 trillion in \u2014 in \u2014 in debt, and they're about to raise the debt limit again. We have a world that grows increasingly dangerous, and we are eviscerating our military spending and signing deals with Iran. And these \u2014 if this thing continues, we are going to be the first Americans to leave our children worse off than ourselves. That's why I'm missing votes. Because I am leaving the Senate, I'm not running for re-election, and I'm running for president because I know this: unless we have the right president, we cannot make America fulfill its potential, but with the right person in office, the 21st century can be the greatest era that our nation has ever known. +p213 +aVI want to go even deeper \u2014 and I want to go even deeper in that direction, because I think the belief that somehow by retreating, America makes the world safer has been disproven every single time it's ever been tried. Syria's a perfect example of it. The uprising in Syria was not started by the United States; it was started by the Syrian people. And I warned at the time \u2014 this was three and a half years ago \u2014 I openly and repeatedly warned that if we did not find moderate elements on the ground that we could equip and arm, that void would be filled by radical jihadists. Well, the president didn't listen, the administration didn't follow through, and that's exactly what happened. That is why +p214 +aV... as you asked earlier today. +p215 +aVBut radical terrorism cannot be solved by intellect. It cannot \u2014 they require \u2014 what they need, is they need an operating space. That's what Afghanistan was for Al Qaida. It was a vacuum that they filled, and they created an operating space. That's why they had to be drawn out of there. That's why they had to be destroyed. It is the reason why +p216 +aVThere's a broader issue here, Hugh. And there's a broader issue here as well. First of all, the only people that follow the law are law-abiding people. Criminals by definition ignore the law, so you can pass all the gun laws in the world, like the left wants. The criminals are going to ignore it because they are criminals. Here's the real issue. The real issue \u2014 the real issue is not what are people using to commit violence, but why are they committing the violence? And here's the truth: Because you cannot separate the social, moral wellbeing of your people from their economic and other wellbeing. You cannot separate it. You can't have a strong country without strong people, you cannot have strong people without strong values, and you cannot have strong values without strong families and the institutions in this country that defend and support those families. +p217 +aVWell, and today, we have a left-wing government under this president that is undermining all of the institutions and society that support the family and teach those values. +p218 +aVBecause we're not going to destroy our economy the way the left-wing government that we are under now wants to do. We're not going to... +p219 +aVWell, and I don't \u2014 he may have lined up with their positions on this issue. But here is the bottom line. Every proposal they put forward are going to be proposals that will make it harder to do business in America, that will make it harder to create jobs in America. Single parents are already struggling across this country to provide for their families. Maybe a billionaire here in California can afford an increase in their utility rates, but a working family in Tampa, Florida, or anywhere across this country cannot afford it. So we are not going to destroy our economy. We are not going to make America a harder place to create jobs in order to pursue policies that will do absolutely nothing, nothing to change our climate, to change our weather, because America is a lot of things, the greatest country in the world, absolutely. But America is not a planet. And we are not even the largest carbon producer anymore, China is. And they're drilling a hole and digging anywhere in the world that they can get a hold of. So the bottom line is, I am not in favor of any policies that make America a harder place for people to live, or to work, or to raise their families. +p220 +aVJake, you mentioned me and called me a denier. Let me say, climate change... +p221 +aVOK. A skeptic. You can measure the climate. You can measure it. That's not the issue we're discussing. Here is what I'm skeptical of. I'm skeptical of the decisions that the left wants us to make, because I know the impact those are going to have and they're all going to be on our economy. They will not do a thing to lower the rise of the sea. They will not do a thing to cure the drought here in California. But what they will do is they will make America a more expensive place to create jobs. And today with millions of people watching this broadcast that are struggling paycheck to paycheck that do not know how they're going to pay their bills at the end of this month, I'm not in favor of anything that is going to make it harder for them to raise their family. +p222 +aVSenator Rubio, you mean? +p223 +aVI know we all look alike. +p224 +aVThe \u2014 Rosa Parks, an everyday American that changed the course of history. +p225 +aVWell, there are some people in Florida upset at me over a joke I made about Florida State, but, what the heck, I want my codename to be Gator. +p226 +aVOne of the things that made Ronald Reagan a great president, is that he understood that America was a unique nation, like any other that had existed throughout human history. He knew it was founded on universal principles that were powerful, the dignity of all people, human rights, the rights of all to live in freedom and liberty, and choose their own path in life. He didn't just believe it, he acted on it. That's why bringing down communism was so important to him. If I'm honored with the opportunity to be president, I hope that our Air Force One will fly, first and foremost, to our allies; in Israel, in South Korea, and Japan. They know we stand with them. That America can be counted on. It would also fly to China, not just to meet with our enemies, not just to meet with those adversaries of ours that are there, but also to meet with those that aspire to freedom and liberty within China. I would even invite them to my inauguration. We would also fly into Moscow and into Russia. And not just meet with the leaders of Russia, but also meet with those who aspire to freedom and liberty in Russia. And ultimately, I hope that my Air Force One, if I become president, will one day land in a free Cuba, where its people can choose its leaders and its own destiny. +p227 +aVWell, thank you for the question, Chris, and it's great to be here tonight. Let me begin by saying this: I'm not new to the political process; I was making a contribution as the speaker of the third largest and most diverse state in the country well before I even got into the Senate. I would add to that that this election cannot be a resume competition. It's important to be qualified, but if this election is a resume competition, then Hillary Clinton's gonna be the next president, because she's been in office and in government longer than anybody else running here tonight. Here's what this election better be about: This election better be about the future, not the past. It better be about the issues our nation and the world is facing today, not simply the issues we once faced. This country is facing an economy that has been radically transformed. You know, the largest retailer in the country and the world today, Amazon, doesn't even own a single store? And these changes have been disruptive. They have changed people's lives. The jobs that once sustained our middle class, they either don't pay enough or they are gone, and we need someone that understands that as our nominee. If I'm our nominee, how is Hillary Clinton gonna lecture me about living paycheck to paycheck? I was raised paycheck to paycheck. How is she -- how is she gonna lecture me -- how is she gonna lecture me about student loans? I owed over $100,000 just four years ago. If I'm our nominee, we will be the party of the future. +p228 +aVLet me set the record straight on a couple of things. The first is, the evidence is now clear that the majority of people coming across the border are not from Mexico. They're coming from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras. Those countries are the source of the people that are now coming in its majority. I also believe we need a fence. The problem is if El Chapo builds a tunnel under the fence, we have to be able to deal with that too. And that's why you need an e-verify system and you need an entry-exit tracking system and all sorts of other things to prevent illegal immigration. But I agree with what Governor Kasich just said. People are frustrated. This is the most generous country in the world when it comes to immigration. There are a million people a year who legally immigrate to the United States, and people feel like we're being taken advantage of. We feel like despite our generosity, we're being taken advantage of. And let me tell you who never gets talked about in these debates. The people that call my office, who have been waiting for 15 years to come to the United States. And they've paid their fees, and they hired a lawyer, and they can't get in. And they're wondering, maybe they should come illegally. And so these are important issues, and we should address it. It's a serious problem that needs to be addressed, and otherwise we're going to keep talking about this for the next 30 years, like we have for the last 30 years. +p229 +aVNot me. +p230 +aVActually, to be clear......he supported Charlie Crist. +p231 +aVHey, Charlie... +p232 +aVWell, first off, I too believe in curriculum reform. It is critically important in the 21st Century. We do need curriculum reform. And it should happen at the state and local level. That's. . . that's. . . that is where educational policy belongs, because if a parent is unhappy with what their child is being taught in school, they can go to that local school board or their state legislature, or their governor and get it changed. Here's the problem with Common Core. The Department of Education, like every federal agency, will never be satisfied. They will not stop with it being a suggestion. They will turn it into a mandate. In fact, what they will begin to say to local communities is, you will not get federal money unless do you things the way we want you to do it. And they will use Common Core or any other requirements that exists nationally to force it down the throats of our people in our states. +p233 +aVThat's a great question. +p234 +aVThat's a great question. First of all, it begins by having leaders that recognize that the economy we live in today is dramatically different from the one we had five years ago. It's an economy that now has placed us in global competition with dozens of other countries around the world. Now, the big companies that have connections with Washington, they can affect policies to help them, but the small companies like the one Tania is talking about, they're the ones that are struggling. The first thing we need to do is we need to even out the tax code for small businesses so that we lower their tax rate to 25 percent, just as we need to lower it for all businesses. We need to have a regulatory budget in America that limits the amount of regulations on our economy. We need to repeal and replace Obamacare and we need to improve higher education so that people can have access to the skills they need for 21st century jobs. And last but not least, we need to repeal Dodd-Frank. It is eviscerating small businesses and small banks. 20 \u2014 over 40 percent of small and mid-size banks that loan money to small businesses have been wiped out over the \u2014 since Dodd-Frank has passed. We need to repeal and replace Dodd-Frank. We need to make America fair again for all businesses, but especially those being run by small business owners. +p235 +aVWell, Megyn, first of all, I'm not sure that that's a correct assessment of my record. I would go on to add that I believe all-- +p236 +aVI have never said that. And I have never advocated that. What I have advocated is that we pass law in this country that says all human life at every stage of its development is worthy of protection. In fact, I think that law already exists. It is called the Constitution of the United States. And let me go further. I believe that every single human being is entitled to the protection of our laws, whether they can vote or not. Whether they can speak or not. Whether they can hire a lawyer or not. Whether they have a birth certificate or not. And I think future generations will look back at this history of our country and call us barbarians for murdering millions of babies who we never gave them a chance to live. +p237 +aVWell, first, let me say I think God has blessed us. He has blessed the Republican Party with some very good candidates. The Democrats can't even find one. And I believe God has blessed our country. This country has been extraordinarily blessed. And we have honored that blessing. And that's why God has continued to bless us. And he has blessed us with young men and women willing to risk their lives and sometimes die in uniform for the safety and security of our people. Unfortunately today we have a VA that does not do enough for them. I am proud that last year we helped change the law. We changed the law to give the power to the VA secretary the ability to fire any executive that isn't doing their job. And it is outrageous they've only fired one person to date. When I'm president of the United States, we're going to have a VA that cares more about our veterans than about the bureaucrats who work at the VA. +p238 +aVThank you. You know, both of my parents were born into poor families on the island of Cuba. They came to America because it was the only place where people like them could have a chance. Here in this country, they never made it big, but the very purpose of their life was to give us the chance to do all the things they never could. My father was a bartender. And the journey from the back of that bar to this stage tonight, to me, that is the essence of the American dream. It is what makes our nation different. And I'm running for president because I want that to still be possible for the people trying to do that now. I run for president because I believe that we can't just save the American dream; we can expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And that's why I'm asking for your vote. So we can make America greater than it has ever been. And make of this century a new American century. +p239 +asVKASICH +p240 +(lp241 +VThank you, Wolf. Just last weekend, just last week, a friend asked one of my daughters, "Do you like politics?" And my daughter said, "No, I don't. And the reason I don't like it is because there's too much fighting, too much yelling. It's so loud, I don't like it." You know, I turned to my friend and I said, "You know, she's really on to something." And when we think about our country and the big issues that we face in this country; creating jobs, making sure people can keep their jobs, the need for rising wages, whether our children when they graduate from college can find a job, protecting the homeland, destroying +p242 +aVWell, first of all, Wolf, I said last February that we needed to have people on the ground, troops on the ground in a coalition similar to what we had in the first Gulf War. I remember when the Egyptian ambassador to the United States stood in the Rose Garden and pledged Arab commitment to removing Saddam Hussein from Kuwait. Before we came out here tonight, I am told that the Saudis have organized 34 countries who want to join in the battle against terrorism. First and foremost, we need to go and destroy +p243 +aVNo, I don't think it is. And I want to go back to two other issues. One is the metadata. We know we have to hold this data for a longer period of time. And, you know, in a lot of ways, Chris is right. Look, what a president has to do is take a position. We don't want to err on the side of having less. We want to err on the side of having more. That's good for our families. In addition to that, Wolf, there is a big problem. It's called encryption. And the people in San Bernardino were communicating with people who the FBI had been watching. But because their phone was encrypted, because the intelligence officials could not see who they were talking to, it was lost. We have to solve the encryption problem. It is not easy. A president of the United States, again, has to bring people together, have a position. We need to be able to penetrate these people when they are involved in these plots and these plans. And we have to give the local authorities the ability to penetrate to disrupt. That's what we need to do. Encryption is a major problem, and Congress has got to deal with this and so does the president to keep us safe. +p244 +aVYeah, let me \u2014 let me just suggest to everybody, and I hear \u2014 last February, I said we needed to have people on the ground in a coalition with Europe and our allies. This is not going to get done just by working with the Sunnis. And it is not going to get done if we just embed a few people. We have to go massively, like we did in the first Gulf War where we destroyed Saddam's ability to take Kuwait. We need to have a coalition that will stand for nothing less than the total destruction of +p245 +aVI don't understand this thing about Assad. He has to go. Assad is aligned with Iran and Russia. The one thing we want to prevent is we want to prevent Iran being able to extend a Shia crescent all across the Middle East. Assad has got to go. And there are moderates there. There are moderates in Syria who we should be supporting. I do not support a civil war. I don't want to be policeman of the world. But we can't back off of this. And let me tell you, at the end, the Saudis have agreed to put together a coalition inside of Syria to stabilize that country. +p246 +aVHe must go. It will be a blow to Iran and Russia. +p247 +aVThe foreign policy, you have to know how to pick and choose. There's no way, if Saddam had not had weapons of mass destruction, I would have gone, because I don't believe that the U.S. should be involved directly in civil wars. I opposed the U.S. involvement in Lebanon. We ended up having to withdraw our marines after our barracks were blown up. There is a difference between Iraq, where you have Sunni, Shia, and Kurds put together after the First World War by the Western powers. It doesn't work. It needs to break up into three parts. And for the Russians, frankly, it's time that we punched the Russians in the nose. They've gotten away with too much in this world and we need to stand up against them, not just there, but also in Eastern Europe where they threaten some of our most precious allies. +p248 +aVIt sounds more and more what my daughter said that I said in the beginning, all the fighting and arguing is not advancing us. +p249 +aVIt is not the way we're going to strengthen our country. We will strengthen our country when we come together. And, look, you've got Rand Paul, you've got Ted Cruz, you've got Marco, you've got a lot of people on this stage that have studied these issues. You know what a leader does? A leader has a sound program, has a good policy, and then brings people together to solve problems. Guess what? Both in Congress in balancing the budget and in Ohio fixing the economy \u2014 and, by the way, we talk about the fence. The first thing we better get going is strengthening our economy, because if we don't have a strong economy, we can't pay for all of this. And the world wants us to be able to function from strength, believe it or not. Get our economy going, get these people together in a room. We can fix this, ladies and gentlemen. We don't have to fight all the time. It can be done, and we will be great... +p250 +aV... when we join together. Thank you, Hugh. +p251 +aVYou know, obviously, as president of the United States, we've got to keep the people safe. That's first and foremost. But as governor of Ohio, I have an obligation to keep the 11.5 million people in Ohio safe. And we have been very effective with our Joint Terrorism Task Force, being able to make busts. In fact, we just made one three-four weeks ago against a person who was favorable to +p252 +aVNo Republican has ever been elected president of the United States without winning Ohio. Let me give you a little tip on how you win Ohio, it's reform, it's hope, it's growth, it's opportunity, and it's security. The people of Ohio are the people of America. The people of America are reflected in Ohio. Our message has to be big, and bold, and positive, and connect, not just with people's heads but also connect with their hearts. If we do it, we will beat Hillary Clinton, and we will run the White House, and we will strengthen and fix America, I promise you. +p253 +aVFirst of all, let me just say that, in the state of Ohio \u2014 and I'm the only acting executive on \u2014 on this stage today \u2014 we do have a moderate increase in the minimum wage. And I got to tell you, my father carried mail on his back. His father was a coal miner. He died of black lung. He was losing his eyesight. My mother's mother lived with us. She could barely speak English. I come from a town where if the wind blew the wrong way, people found themselves out of work. An economic theory is fine, but you know what? People need help. Now, I have a plan that, in fact, would cut taxes, but not $11 trillion or $12 trillion that would put my children further in debt. I have a plan that would not only cut taxes, lower the income tax rate for individuals, lower the tax for businesses so businesses will compete here and not move operations overseas, and also a plan \u2014 the only plan of anybody standing on this stage to get us to a balanced budget by the end of a second term. And, you know, the simple fact of the matter is, we hear a lot of promises in this debate, a lot of promises about these tax cuts or tax schemes sometimes that I call them. Hillary and the Democrats promise everything on the spending side. We've got to be responsible about what we propose on the tax side. Yes, lower taxes, lower spending. My website, JohnKasich.com, will show you exactly how we balance the budget. I balanced the budget in Washington as a chief architect, and I have balanced it in Ohio for one reason. When you balance the budget and you cut taxes, people get work. And our most important moral purpose as leaders in the political system is to make sure we create an environment for job creation so people can live their dreams and realize their God-given potential. That's why it's so important. And for those at the bottom, we've got to do what we can to train them so they can move up. But to just look the other way is not acceptable, because, you know what, as the governor of Ohio I have to deal with real challenges, and we've gotten it done in our state, and I will do it for America. +p254 +aVSure. We would move the Medicare system from a 7 percent growth down to about a 5 percent growth. And I have a whole series of ways to do that. In Ohio, we reduced Medicaid funding for the poor from 10 percent to 2.5 percent, didn't cut one benefit or didn't take anybody off the rolls. Why? Because we're innovators. I've been an innovator my entire career. And I really don't care what special interests or lobbyists have to say. I have a job to do when I take over a public office. Now, we freeze non-defense discretionary for eight years. We also put an increase in defense spending. Our tax cuts balance out. And at the end of the day, we will get to a balanced budget. And I want everybody here to know, when I was Budget Committee chairman in Washington, I stepped on every toe in that town, and we got to a balanced budget, and we had enormous job growth. And as governor of Ohio, we went from 350,000 lost jobs to a gain of 347,000 jobs. +p255 +aVI'll do it in Washington. I've done it twice; I'll do it thrice for the United States of America. +p256 +aVExcuse me. +p257 +aVYeah, I would like to make a comment. +p258 +aVI appreciate it, Jeb. I'm all of you. But I want at some point to talk about a value-added tax and $11 trillion, $12 trillion tax cuts that will put our kids way deeper in the hole than they have been at this point. So I would like to talk about it at some point, because that's what leadership is. +p259 +aVMaria, can we comment on that? +p260 +aVCan we comment on that? +p261 +aVWell, look, in 1986 Ronald Reagan basically said the people who were here, if they were law-abiding, could stay. But, what didn't happen is we didn't build the walls effectively and we didn't control the border. We need to. We need to control our border just like people have to control who goes in and out of their house. But if people think that we are going to ship 11 million people who are law-abiding, who are in this country, and somehow pick them up at their house and ship them out of Mexico \u2014 to Mexico, think about the families. Think about the children. So, you know what the answer really is? If they have been law- abiding, they pay a penalty. They get to stay. We protect the wall. Anybody else comes over, they go back. But for the 11 million people, come on, folks. We all know you can't pick them up and ship them across, back across the border. It's a silly argument. It is not an adult argument. It makes no sense. +p262 +aVJerry, Gerald, it was an attack. +p263 +aVIn the state of Ohio, the state of Ohio, we have grown 347,000 jobs. Our unemployment is half of what it was. Our fracking industry, energy industry may have contributed 20,000, but if Mr. Trump understood that the real jobs come in the downstream, not in the upstream, but in the downstream. And that's where we're going to get our jobs. But Ohio is diversified. And little false little things, sir, they don't really work when it comes to the truth. So the fact is, all I'm suggesting, we can't ship 11 million people out of this country. Children would be terrified, and it will not work. +p264 +aV...Mr. Baker, everybody got to talk about taxes... +p265 +aV...I think you were coming to me and then... +p266 +aV...Look, I hate to crash the party to you, Mr. Baker, but, you know, what's fair... +p267 +aV...Yes, sir... +p268 +aVLet me tell you this, Mr. Baker, in terms of the cyber attacks, we have the capability to not only have a defensive posture, but it also to make it clear to people that if you attack us with cyber attacks, we will destroy the mechanisms that you are using to attack us. I want to give you a little trip around the world. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years. In the Ukraine, arm the people there so they can fight for themselves. In the eastern part of Europe, make sure that Finland and the Baltics know that if the Russians move, we move. In Syria, yes, a no-fly zone in the north on the Turkish border, a no-fly zone on the south on the Jordanian border. Anybody flies in the first time, maybe they can fly out. They fly in there a second time, they will not fly out. And it also becomes a sanctuary for the people to be. And it also sends many messages in the Middle East that we're still involved. Saudi Arabia, cut off the funding for the radical clerics, the ones that preach against us. But they're fundamentally our friends. Jordan, we want the king to reign for 1,000 years. Egypt, they have been our ally and a moderating force in the Middle East throughout their history. In the groups \u2014 in the countries of the Gulf states of Bahrain, the Cleveland Clinic is opening an operation. Clearly we see the same with them. And in Israel, we have no better ally in the world, and no more criticizing them in public, we should support them. And finally China, China doesn't own the South China Sea, and I give the president some credit for being able to move a naval force in there to let the Chinese know that we're not going to put up with it any more. And in the trade agreement, the TPP, it's critical to us, not only for economic reasons and for jobs, because there are so many people who are connected to getting jobs because of trade, but it allows us to create not only economy alliances, but also potentially strategic alliances against the Chinese. They are not our enemy, but they are certainly not our friend. And finally, I will say to everyone in this room, we have been talking about taxes and economics. When the fall comes, and we run against Hillary, which will be a disaster if she got elected. I have two 16-year-old girls, and I want this country to be strong. We make promises we can't keep under the bright light of the fall, we will have trouble. We must make sure that economic programs and our military programs are solid. I served in Washington as the chairman of the Budget Committee, and we got the budget balanced. And in Ohio, as the CEO, and guess what, we have got to have a CEO mentality and a way to beat Hillary Clinton and the Democracies in the fall. And our ideas have to add up. They have to be solid. And people have to know we have the confidence to lead America. And as president, I will lead this country, as I have before in Washington and in Ohio, and will return both on domestic and international affairs. And I appreciate the opportunity to speak this time, Gerry. +p269 +aVLet me \u2014 let me also say, Gary \u2014 Gary, let me also say, Jeb is \u2014 what Jeb is talking about with the big banks is to force them to reserve their capital, people who invest it and they hold their capital, so that if the bank goes down, the people who are invested in the bank are the ones that pay. That's what he's trying to say. Secondly, I'll tell you about Wall Street: There's too much greed. And the fact is, a free enterprise system is a system that's produced the greatest wealth for the world. But you know Michael Novak, the great Catholic theologian, says that a free enterprise system that is not underlaid with values \u2014 and we should all think about the way we conduct our lives \u2014 yes, free enterprise is great, profits are great, but there have to be some values that underlay it, and they need a good ethics lesson on Wall Street on a regular basis to keep them in check so we, the people, do not lose. +p270 +aVNeil, that's the difference of being an executive. And let me just explain: when a bank is ready to go under and depositors are getting ready to lose their life savings, you just don't say we believe in philosophical concerns. You know what an executive has to decide? When there's a water crisis, how do we get water to the city? When there's a school shooting, how do you get there and help heal a community? When there are financial crisis, or a crisis with ebola, you got to go there and try to fix it. Philosophy doesn't work when you run something. And I gotta tell you, on-the-job training for president of the United States doesn't work. We've done it for 8 years, \u2014 and almost 8 years now. It does not work. We need an executive who's been tried, has been tested, and judge the decisions that that executive makes. I don't like what the Fed is doing, but I'll tell you what worries me more than anything else: turning the Fed over to the Congress of the United States... +p271 +aV...so they can print the money. That would be a very bad approach. +p272 +aVI wouldn't. I wouldn't. +p273 +aVNo. No, I didn't say that. +p274 +aVThey were \u2014 they were talking about what you would do with depositors. Would you let these banks shut down? My argument is, going forward, the banks have to reserve the capital, so that the \u2014 so that the people who own the capital start pressuring the banks to not take these risky approaches, Ted. But at the end of the day... +p275 +aV... I'm gonna tell you this. Let me tell you this. If during \u2014 if during... +p276 +aV...because if during \u2014 well, I'll tell you what (ph). +p277 +aVAs an executive \u2014 no. As an executive, I would figure out how to separate those people who can afford it versus those people, or the hard-working folks who put those money in those institutions...... let me \u2014 no, no. Let me say another thing. Here's what I mean by that. Here's what I mean by that. +p278 +aVWhen you are faced \u2014 when you are faced, in the last financial crisis, with banks going under \u2014 with banks going under, and people, people who put their \u2014 their life savings in there, you got to deal with it. You can't turn a blind eye to it. Now, going forward, that's one thing. If you had another financial crisis, perhaps there would be an effort to make sure that we do (ph). +p279 +aVWell, ladies and gentlemen, if Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders were to win this election, my 16-year-olds, I \u2014 I worry about what their life is going to be like. You know, the conservative movement is all about opportunity. It is about lower taxes. It's about balanced budgets. It's about less regulation. And it's about sending power, money and influence back to where we live so we can run America from the bottom up. In addition to that, once we have the power and the money and the influence with programs we shift out, that each of us have a responsibility to reach out and to rebuild our families, make them stronger, and connect our neighborhoods. All that together \u2014 wealth, connection, family \u2014 America's greatest days are ahead. We must win this election. +p280 +aVGood question, but I want to tell you, my great concern is that we are on the verge, perhaps, of picking someone who cannot do this job. I've watched to see people say that we should dismantle Medicare and Medicaid and leave the senior citizens out \u2014 out in the \u2014 in the cold. I've heard them talk about deporting 10 or 11 \u2014 people here from this country out of this country, splitting families. I've heard about tax schemes that don't add up, that put our kids in \u2014 in a deeper hole than they are today. We need somebody who can lead. We need somebody who can balance budgets, cut taxes... +p281 +aVYou know, frankly, I did it in Washington, in Ohio, and I will do it again in Washington, if I'm president, to get this country moving again. +p282 +aVcountry moving again. +p283 +aVListen, I want to just comment. +p284 +aVWell I want to comment on this. This is the fantasy... +p285 +aVThis is the fantasy that I talked about in the beginning. +p286 +aVI'm the only person on this stage that actually was involved in the chief architect of balancing the Federal Budget. You can't do it with empty promised. You know, these plans would put us trillions and trillions of dollars in debt. I actually have a plan. I'm the only one on this stage that has a plan that would create jobs, cut taxes, balance the budget and can get it done because I'm realistic. You just don't make promises like this. Why don't we just give a chicken in every pot, while we're, you know, coming up \u2014 coming up with these fantasy tax schemes. We'll just clean it up. Where are you gonna clean it up? You have to deal with entitlements, you have to be in a position to control discretionary spending. You gotta be creative and imaginative. Now, let me just be clear, John. I went into Ohio where we had an $8 billion hole and now we have a $2 billion surplus. We're up 347,000 jobs. When I was in Washington, I fought to get the budget balanced. I was the architect. It was the first time we did it since man walked on the moon. We cut taxes and we had a $5 trillion projected surplus when I left. That's was hard work. Fiscal discipline, know what you're doing. Creativity. This stuff is fantasy. Just like getting rid of Medicare and Medicaid. Come on, that's just not \u2014 you scare senior citizens with that. It's not responsible. +p287 +aVWell, I mean right here. To talk about we're just gonna have a 10 percent tithe and that's how we're gonna fund the government? And we're going to just fix everything with waste, fraud, and abuse? Or that we're just going to be great? Or we're going to ship 10 million Americans \u2014 or 10 million people out of this country, leaving their children here in this country and dividing families? Folks, we've got to wake up. We cannot elect somebody that doesn't know how to do the job. You have got to pick somebody who has experience, somebody that has the know-how, the discipline. And I spent my entire lifetime balancing federal budgets, growing jobs, the same in Ohio. And I will go back to Washington with my plan. +p288 +aVAnd I will have done it within 100 days, and it will pass. And we will be strong again. Thank you. +p289 +aVLet me just \u2014 let me respond. First of all, Ohio does have an energy industry, but we're diversified. We're one of the fastest growing states in the country. We came back from the dead. And you know what? It works very, very well. And secondly, when you talk about me being on the board of Lehman Brothers, I wasn't on the board of Lehman Brothers. I was a banker and I was proud of it. And I traveled the country and learned how people made jobs. We ought to have politicians who not only have government experience but know how the CEOs and the job creators work. My state is doing great across the board. And guess what, in 2011, I got a deal... +p290 +aV... an agreement with the... +p291 +aV... that he tried to take credit for four years later. It's a joke. +p292 +aVJohn Harwood, there's a bigger issue here. +p293 +aVWell, first of all, when we talk about the Import Export Bank, it's time to clean up corporate welfare. If we're gonna reform welfare for poor people, we ought to reform it for rich people, as well. Secondly, in our state, we went from a loss of 350,000 jobs to, now, a gain of 347,000 jobs to the positive. Our wages are growing faster than the national average, and I've cut taxes more than any sitting governor in this state \u2014 $5 billion, including no taxes on small business and killing the death tax. I want to go back to what we were talking about earlier, this budget deal in Washington. This is the same old stuff since I left. You spend the money today and then you hope you're going to save money tomorrow. I don't know if people understand, but I spent a lifetime with my colleagues getting us to a federal balanced budget. We actually did it. And I have a road map and a plan right now to get us to balance. Reforming entitlements, cutting taxes. You see, because if you really want to get to a balanced budget, you need to reduce your expenses and you need to grow your economy. So what I will tell you about our incentives \u2014 our incentives are tight, and at the end of the day we make sure that we gain more from the creation of jobs than what we lose. And you know what? Ohio, one of the best growing places in the country \u2014 I not only did it in Washington, I did it in Ohio, and I'll go back to Washington, and there will be no more silly deals... +p294 +aV... If I become President because we'll have a Constitutional Amendment to require a federally balanced budget so they will do their job. +p295 +aVWell, first of all, we're running a $2 billion dollar surplus, we're not having a revenue problem right now. And, sending mixed signals to kids about drugs is a disaster. Drugs is one of the greatest scourge in this country, and I spent five years of my administration working with my team to do a whole sort of things to try to reign in the problem of overdoses, and it goes on and on. We could do a whole show on that. I want to go back for a second thought on this issue of income inequality. My program would move the 104 programs of the federal Department of Education into four block grants, and send them back to the states because income inequality is driven by a lack of skills when kids don't get what they need to be able to compete and win in this country. The fact is, in order to get this economy moving again, I call for freezing regulations for a year except for the problem of public safety. I believe that we need to cut these taxes down, we need to be on a roadmap to balancing the budget, and we need to send power, money, and influence, the welfare department, the education department, job training, infrastructure, Medicaid, all of that out of Washington back to the states so we can run these programs from where we live to the top, not a one size fits all mentality that they have in Washington. And, that will get to the nub of opportunity for our children, and an ability to see wages rise. Again... +p296 +aV...One more time, in Ohio, our wages are growing faster than the national average. We've cut taxes, balanced budgets, changed the regulatory environment. Folks, you want to \u2014 +p297 +aV\u2014 fix America, this is the formula. It worked for Reagan and it works for our team in Ohio. Thank you. +p298 +aVJohn. +p299 +aVI wanna tell you, in my state, we took Medicaid, the hardest program to control, and we took it from a 10 percent growth rate to 2.5 percent without taking one person off the rolls or cutting one single benefit. And so much of what we did \u2014 to force competition, to use technology, to stand down the special interest groups \u2014 can you imagine taking Medicaid from 10 to 2.5 percent? We can take many of those same procedures, we can apply it to Medicare. We can make a stronger program. But I agree with Jeb, you can't just do this by growing the economy. You can't grow your way out of demographics. But we can give people better health care. And finally, on health care, why don't we start treating \u2014 keep giving... +p300 +aV...incentives for people to keep people healthy, rather than giving the incentives to treat them when they're sick? +p301 +aVI was on morning Joe at a town hall and a young student stood up and said, "Can I still be idealistic?" I said, absolutely, you can still change the world. And, you know the old inscription, if you save one life, you've changed the world. Folks, we have a problem here with the leadership in Washington, but I'll tell you another problem. We need to rebuild our families. We need to have stronger families. We need to know who our neighbors are. We need to come together as a country because we have to realize that America is great, not from the top-down. Oh yeah, we want to elect a good president, but America is great from the bottom-up, and the bottom-up is us in our families, in our communities, in our neighborhoods. We will renew America if we work together, and I am totally confident that we will. And God bless America. +p302 +aVHello, I'm John Kasich, the Governor of Ohio. Emma, and Reese, my children, and Karen, love 'ya girls. Thanks for watching tonight. By the way, I think I actually flew on this plane with Ronald Reagan when I was a congressman, and his goals, and mine, really much \u2014 are pretty much the same. Lift Americans, unify, give hope, grow America, and restore it is to that great, shining city on a hill. Yes, he was a great one, and I learned much from watching him. The most important thing, hope to Americans, unify, lift everyone in America. +p303 +aVJake, Jake. +p304 +aVListen, you know, I \u2014 if I were sitting at home and watch thing back and forth, I would be inclined to turn it off. I mean, people at home want to know across this country, they want to know what we're going to do to fix this place, how we'll balance a budget, how we're going to create more economic growth, how we'll pay down the debt. What we're going to do to strengthen the military. So, we just spent 10 minutes here... +p305 +aVBut \u2014 but wait a minute. It's a lot of ad hogshead. Now, I know that it may be buzzing out there, but I think it's important we get to the issues, because that's what people want, and they don't want all this fighting. +p306 +aV...Yeah, well... +p307 +aVWell, let me just say this. First of all, I think it's a bad agreement, I would never have done it. But, you know, a lot of our problems in the world today is that we don't have the relationship with our allies. If we want to go everywhere alone, we will not have the strength as (ph) if we could rebuild with our allies. Now, this agreement, we don't know what's going to happen in 18 months. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years. I've seen lots of issues in foreign affairs, and foreign \u2014 in terms of global politics, you have to be steady. Now, here's the \u2014 if they cheat, we slap the sanctions back on. If they help Hamas, and Hezbollah, we slap the sanctions back on. And, if we find out that they may be developing a nuclear weapon, than the military option is on the table. We are stronger when we work with the Western civilization, our friends in Europe, and just doing it on our own I don't think is the right policy. +p308 +aVNo, no, no. I want to \u2014 I want to \u2014 I want to say something about what the senator just said. +p309 +aVNo one is \u2014 no \u2014 let me \u2014 let me suggest to you we believe that we operate better in the world when our allies work with us. President Bush did it in the Gulf War. We work better when we are unified. Secondly, nobody's trusting Iran. They violate the deal, we put on the sanctions, and we have the high moral ground to talk to our allies in Europe to get them to go with us. If they don't go with us, we slap the sanctions on anyway. If they fund these radical groups that threaten Israel and all of the West, then we should rip up the deal and put the sanctions back on. And let me make it clear \u2014 let me make it clear... +p310 +aV... if we think \u2014 if we think they're getting close to a \u2014 to developing a nuclear weapon and we get that information, you better believe that I would do everything in my power as the commander-in-chief to stop them having a nuclear weapon. +p311 +aVWe can have it, and we can have our allies, and we can be strong as a country, and we can project across this globe with unity, not just doing it alone. That is not what gets us where we want to get as a nation. +p312 +aVWell, I agree that we should defund Planned Parenthood. I don't know many people in America who don't think that we should, and in my state, we're trying to figure out how to get it done, because we are threatened with the federal government taking all of our Medicaid money away. I think there is a way to get this done by giving governors the ability to be able to act to defund Planned Parenthood. But when (ph) it comes to closing down the federal government, you gotta be very careful about that. When we shut the government down \u2014 if we have a chance at success and it's a great principle, yes. The president of the United States is not going to sign this, and all we're gonna do is shut the government down, and then we're gonna open up \u2014 open it up, and the American people are gonna shake their heads and say, "what's the story with these Republicans?" So I think there is a way to get to cutting off the funding for Planned Parenthood. I was in the Congress for 18 years, balanced the budget, cut taxes, got it done. Changed welfare, went around the president to get welfare reform done. There are ways to do it without having to shut the government down, but I'm sympathetic to the fact that we don't want this organization to get funding, and the money ought to be reprogrammed for family planning in other organizations that don't support this tactic. But I would not be for shutting the government down... +p313 +aV...because I don't think it's going to work out. +p314 +aVWe're not \u2014 what I can tell you is this. We didn't surrender in New Jersey, six years ago, as the brand new first ever pro-life governor of New Jersey since Roe versus Wade, I defended Planned Parenthood. And I've vetoed Planned Parenthood funding, now, eight times in New Jersey. Since the day I walked in as governor, Planned Parenthood has not been funded in New Jersey. We stood up and every one of those vetoes has been sustained. But here's the problem, we're \u2014 we're fighting with each other up here. We agree. Let's ask Hillary Clinton. She believes in the systematic murder of children in the womb to preserve their body parts... +p315 +aV...Dana, in a way that maximizes their value for sale for profit. It is disgusting, and the American people need to hear it... +p316 +aV...we shouldn't be fighting with each other. She's the real opponent, she's the real problem. +p317 +aVI'll tell you what \u2014 I'll tell you what I'd be willing to fight for. I'll tell you what I'd be willing to fight for. Why will (ph) we put tax reform on the president's desk, so we can simplify this tax system? +p318 +aVNo, no, it's really important, Dana. We got to talk about what we would be willing to shut down for. Why don't we put tax reform on this president's desk, and make him veto it if that's what he wants to do? Why haven't we repealed and replaced Obamacare? Make him veto if that's what he wants to do. +p319 +aVThere's a \u2014 +p320 +aVJake \u2014 +p321 +aVOK, Jake. +p322 +aVI don't at this point in terms of changing the incentives for investment and risk-taking. But let's just stop for a second. There's one person on this stage that does have a record. I'm the only person on the stage and one of the few people in this country that led the effort as the chief architect of the last time we balanced the federal budget. We also cut taxes. And when I left Washington in 2000, we had a $5 trillion surplus, and the economy was booming. I had spent 10 years of my life to get us to that point, went out in the private sector, was a great experience, and went into Ohio and took an $8 billion hole and turned it into a $2 billion surplus. We've had the largest amount of tax cuts of any sitting governor. We've grown well over 300,000 jobs. You see, I've done it in both places. I'm the only one here that has done it in both places. It took a lot to get us to a balanced budget. It was legitimate. It was real. And we negotiated it. A lot of what we're talking about here tonight as we take this position and that position, you know what? At the end of the day, America has got to work. We've got to figure out how we come together to deal with this \u2014 with our fiscal problems because when we deal with that, we create a stronger economy for everybody. People have a chance to rise. So, you know, when we think about how we make a choice, it's the person that lands that plane. It's not somebody that talks about it. It's about the person who has done it. And I've done it in... +p323 +aV... both places. And I did it including people in the other party. And that's how we were successful. +p324 +aVAnd that's how I will be president, using that experience to drive this country forward. Thank you. +p325 +aVWell, look, people still have to get to know me, so I want to spend my time talking about my experience reforming welfare, balancing budgets, cutting taxes, providing economic growth when I was in Washington, turning Ohio around. Eight billion in the hole, $2 billion surplus, up over 300,000 jobs, big tax cuts, strengthening our credit. All those things matter but, you know, as a young man in my first election in 1978, I defeated an incumbent Democrat. I defeated an incumbent Democrat in 1982; running on the Reagan program, I was the only Republican in America to defeat an incumbent Democrat that year. And then, when I won for election of governor, I was the first Republican to defeat an incumbent in 36 years, and the first person to have never run statewide out of politics for 10 years to beat an incumbent. That hadn't happened for 96 years. So, we'll get to the point where we'll talk about Hillary Clinton, or whoever the nominee is, record. But right now, I want to give people sense of hope, sense of purpose, a sense of unity, sense that we can do it. So... +p326 +aVYou know, at the end of the day, I'm going to continue to talk about my record, because there is, did you ever notice when people run for office, they run for president, they make a lot of promises, they don't keep them. +p327 +aVI don't intend to do that, and I going to be out there pushing it out \u2014 don't worry about me and Hillary. That will all work out, and I'm from Ohio. She will not beat me there, I can promise you that. +p328 +aVCan I just \u2014 can I \u2014 Jake, can I just make one point on this whole military discussion? +p329 +aVI called for boots on the ground many months ago in a coalition with our friends who share our interest. You know, you win a battle with the military, and when we go somewhere, we need to be mobile, and lethal. We need to take care of business, and we need to come home. But, we face, also, a bigger war \u2014 and you win the bigger war with the battle of ideas. You wonder why young people, and educated people, rich people, schooled people, have tried to join +p330 +aV...to make (ph) centers (ph) of justice so that we can battle the radicals, call them out for what they are, and make sure that all of our people feel fulfilled in living in Western civilization... +p331 +aV...This is a giant battle in the world today... +p332 +aVWell, it's probably not, maybe, legal, but, I would pick Mother Theresa, the lady that I had a chance to meet, a woman who lived a life so much bigger than her own. An inspiration to everyone when we think about our responsibility to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. +p333 +aVWell, I have one now \u2014 they (ph) call me, "Unit One". My wife says, "You'll never be Unite One, I'm Unite One. You're Unit Two." +p334 +aVWell, as president, I will make this a nation that will solve problems. And how? By having the elected officials and the leaders realize they're Americans before they're Republicans or Democrats. I did it in Washington. And I've done it in Ohio by having the elected officials realize that they're Ohioans before anything else. Secondly, I will rebuild the relationships and show the respect to our allies around the world. We have no choice but to do that. We will be stronger when we are unified. And we'll fight for freedom and for human rights. And finally, a little bit of what Carly said. The people that are out there listening, America was never great because we ran America from the top down. America is great because we have run America from the bottom up, where we all live in the neighborhoods. One more time in America, we need to revive the concept of citizenship, where everybody's actions make a huge difference in changing the world. We have a Holocaust memorial on our state house grounds. And there is one line on there that stands out all the time. "If you've saved one life, you've changed the world." We need to adopt that as citizens and rebuild and reinspire our country. Thank you. +p335 +aVWell, first of all... ...first of all, Megyn, you should know that -- that President Reagan expanded Medicaid three or four times. Secondly, I had an opportunity to bring resources back to Ohio to do what? To treat the mentally ill. Ten thousand of them sit in our prisons. It costs $22,500 a year... ...to keep them in prison. I'd rather get them their medication so they could lead a decent life. Secondly, we are rehabbing the drug-addicted. Eighty percent of the people in our prisons have addictions or problems. We now treat them in the prisons, release them in the community and the recidivism rate is 10 percent and everybody across this country knows that the tsunami of drugs is -- is threatening their very families. So we're treating them and getting them on their feet. And, finally, the working poor, instead of them having come into the emergency rooms where it costs more, where they're sicker and we end up paying, we brought a program in here to make sure that people could get on their feet. And do you know what? Everybody has a right to their God-given purpose. And finally, our Medicaid is growing at one of the lowest rates in the country. And, finally, we went from $8 billion in the hole to $2 billion in the black. We've cut $5 billion in taxes... ...and we've grown 350,000 jobs. +p336 +aVChris, first of all, I was just saying to Chris Christie, they say we're outspoken, we need to take lessons from Donald Trump if we're really going to learn it. Here is the thing about Donald Trump. Donald Trump is hitting a nerve in this country. He is. He's hitting a nerve. People are frustrated. They're fed up. They don't think the government is working for them. And for people who want to just tune him out, they're making a mistake. Now, he's got his solutions. Some of us have other solutions. You know, look, I balanced the federal budget as one of the chief architects when I was in Washington. Hasn't been done since. I was a military reformer. I took the state of Ohio from an $8 billion hole and a 350,000 job loss to a $2 billion surplus and a gain of 350,000 jobs. +p337 +aVBut the point is that we all have solutions. Mr. Trump is touching a nerve because people want the wall to be built. They want to see an end to illegal immigration. They want to see it, and we all do. But we all have different ways of getting there. And you're going to hear from all of us tonight about what our ideas are. +p338 +aVDonald, if you... +p339 +aV-- this campaign, I hope you will give to me. +p340 +aVOK. +p341 +aVLet's start off with my father being a mailman. So I understand the concerns of all the folks across this country, some of whom have trouble, you know, making ends meet. But I think she will come in a narrow way. The nominee of this party, if they're going to win, has got to come at it in a big way, which is pro-growth. Which is balancing budgets. You know, we were talking about it. People were saying, could we do it? I was the chairman of the Budget Committee and the lead architect the last time it happened in Washington, and when we did it we had great economic growth, we cut taxes, and we had a big surplus. Economic growth is the key. Economic growth is the key to everything. But once you have economic growth, it is important that we reach out to people who live in the shadows, the people who don't seem to ever think that they get a fair deal. And that includes people in our minority community; that includes people who feel as though they don't have a chance to move up. You know, America is a miracle country. And we have to restore the sense that the "Amiracle" will apply to you. Each and every one of the people in this country who's watching tonight, lift everybody, unite everybody and build a stronger United States of America again. It will be and can be done. +p342 +aVWell, look, I'm an old-fashioned person here, and I happen to believe in traditional marriage. But I've also said the court has ruled -- +p343 +aVWait, Megyn, the court has ruled, and I said we'll accept it. And guess what, I just went to a wedding of a friend of mine who happens to be gay. Because somebody doesn't think the way I do, doesn't mean that I can't care about them or can't love them. So if one of my daughters happened to be that, of course I would love them and I would accept them. Because you know what? That's what we're taught when we have strong faith. So the issues like that, issues like that are planted to divide us. I think the simple fact of the matter is, and this is where I would agree with Jeb, and I've been saying it all along, we need to give everybody a chance, treat everybody with respect, and let them share in this great American dream that we have, Megan. So, look, I'm going to love my daughters, I'm going to love them no matter what they do. Because, you know what, God gives me unconditional love. I'm going to give it to my family and my friends and the people around me. +p344 +aVWell, Megyn, my father was a mailman. His father was a coal miner. My mother's mother could barely speak English. And their son today stands on this podium in the great state of Ohio not only as the governor, but a candidate for president of the United States. I do believe in miracles. You know, I've had a lot of elections. But my elections are really not about campaigns. I tell my people that these are about a movement. And a movement to do what? To restore common sense. A movement to do things like provide economic growth. And a movement not to let anybody be behind. You know, today the country is divided. You asked a question about the police and the difficulty in communities. We've got to unite our country again, because we're stronger when we are united and we are weaker when we are divided. And we've got to listen to other people's voices, respect them, but keep in mind, and I believe in terms of the things that I've read in my lifetime, the Lord'is not picking us. But because of how we respect human rights, because that we are a good force in the world, he wants America to be strong. He wants America to succeed. And he wants America to lead. And nothing is more important to me than my family, my faith, and my friends. +p345 +aVYou know, tonight we hear about what people want to do. I want to tell you what I've done. I was a member of the Armed Services Committee for 18 years. I spent a big chunk of my life studying national security issues and our role in the world. No. 2. I was the chairman of the House Budget Committee and one of the chief architects the last time we balanced a budget, and it was the first time we had done it since man walked on the moon. We had a $5 trillion surplus and we cut taxes. I spent ten years in the private sector, actually learning how business works. And now I'm the governor of Ohio, and I inherited a state that was on the brink of dying. And we turned it all around with jobs and balanced budgets and rising credit and tax cuts, and the state is unified, and people have hope again in Ohio. +p346 +asVQUICK +p347 +(lp348 +VGentlemen \u2014 we'll \u2014 we'll get back to this \u2014 just a minute \u2014 just a minute we're gonna continue this. I wanna talk taxes... +p349 +aVDr. Carson, let's talk about taxes. You have a flat tax plan of 10 percent flat taxes, and \u2014 I've looked at it \u2014 and this is something that is very appealing to a lot of voters, but I've had a really tough time trying to make the math work on this. If you were to took a 10 percent tax, with the numbers right now in total personal income, you're gonna come in with bring in $1.5 trillion. That is less than half of what we bring in right now. And by the way, it's gonna leave us in a $2 trillion hole. So what analysis got you to the point where you think this will work? +p350 +aVI \u2014 I understand that, but if you \u2014 if you look at the numbers you probably have to get to 28. +p351 +aV15 percent still leaves you with a $1.1 trillion hole. +p352 +aVYou'd have to cut \u2014 you'd have to cut government about 40 percent to make it work with a $1.1 trillion hole. +p353 +aVThat is true, I looked at the numbers. +p354 +aVDr. Carson, thank you. +p355 +aVGovernor... +p356 +aVDr. Carson, let me get 30 seconds with Dr. Carson... +p357 +aVThank you. +p358 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, thank you. +p359 +aVGentlemen, I'm sorry, we need to... +p360 +aVWe're going to move on. +p361 +aVThirty seconds. +p362 +aVWe'll get to everyone. Ms. Fiorina, I \u2014 I'd like to ask you a question. You are running for president of the United States because of your record running Hewlett-Packard. But the stock market is usually a fair indicator of the performance of a CEO, and the market was not kind to you. Someone who invested a dollar in your company the day you took office had lost half of the dollar by the day you left. Obviously, you've talked in the past about what a difficult time it was for technology companies, but anybody who was following the market knows that your stock was a much worse performer, if you looked at your competitors, if you looked at the overall market. I just wonder, in terms of all of that \u2014 you know, we look back, your board fired you. I just wondered why you think we should hire you now. +p363 +aVMrs. Fiorina, it's interesting that you bring up Mr. Perkins, because... ...he said a lot of very questionable things. Last year, in an interview, he said that he thinks wealthy people should get more votes than poor people. I think his quote was that, "if you pay zero dollars in taxes, you should get zero votes. If you pay a million dollars, you should get a million votes." Is this the type of person you want defending you? +p364 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p365 +aVThank you, we're out of time. Thank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Carl. +p366 +aVGovernor Christie, I'd like to a question next. Actually, I have a question for you . In your tell it like it is campaign, you've said a lot of tough things. You've said that we need to raise the retirement age for Social Security. You think that we need to cut benefits for people who make over $80,000 and eliminate them entirely for seniors who are making over $200,000. Governor Huckabee, who is here on the stage, has said that you and others who think this way are trying to rob seniors of the benefits that they've earned. It raises the question: When it is acceptable to break a social compact? +p367 +aV...Governor... +p368 +aV...Thank you. +p369 +aVWelcome back to the presidential debate for the Republicans. We are live in Boulder, Colorado, right here on +p370 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. +p371 +aVSenator Rubio, you yourself have said that you've had issues. You have a lack of bookkeeping skills. You accidentally inter-mingled campaign money with your personal money. You faced (ph) foreclosure on a second home that you bought. And just last year, you liquidated a $68,000 retirement fund. That's something that cost you thousands of dollars in taxes and penalties. In terms of all of that, it raises the question whether you have the maturity and wisdom to lead this $17 trillion economy. What do you say? +p372 +aVSenator, I understand all of that. I had a lot of student loans when I got out, too. But you've had a windfall that a lot of Americans haven't. You made over a million dollars on a book deal, and some of these problems came after that. +p373 +aVBut you \u2014 but you liquidated that retirement account after the fact, and that cost you about $24,000 out of that in taxes and feed. That \u2014 that was after you'd already come into that windfall. That's why I raised the question. +p374 +aVYes, thank you John. Senator Cruz, working women in this country still earn just 77 percent of what men earn. And I know that you've said you've been very sympathetic to our cause. But you've also you said that the Democrats' moves to try and change this are the political show votes. I just wonder what you would do as President to try and help in this cause? +p375 +aVMrs. Fiorina \u2014 +p376 +aVMrs. Fiorina, we will come back to you. +p377 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Carl? +p378 +aVMr. Trump, let's stay on this issue of immigration. You have been very critical of Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook who has wanted to increase the number of these H1Bs. +p379 +aVSo you're in favor of... +p380 +aVWhere did I read this and come up with this that you were... +p381 +aVYou know, Mr. \u2014 you know, Mr. Trump, if I may . You've been \u2014 you have been \u2014 you had talked a little bit about Marco Rubio. I think you called him Mark Zuckerberg's personal senator because he was in favor of the H1B. +p382 +aVSo this was an erroneous article the whole way around? +p383 +aVMy apologies. I'm sorry. +p384 +aVYes, you can. +p385 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you very much. I would like to introduce my colleague, Rick Santelli, he has some comments as well, sir. +p386 +aVRick, thank you very much. Governor Huckabee, you have railed against income inequality. You've said that some Wall Street executives should have gone to jail over the roles that they played during the financial crisis. Apart from your tax plan, are there specific steps you would require from corporate America to try and reduce the income inequality. +p387 +aVGovernor? +p388 +aVGovernor? +p389 +aVThank you. +p390 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee. +p391 +aVHow about 15 more seconds? +p392 +aVGovernor? +p393 +aVGovernor, I'm sorry... +p394 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p395 +aVGovernor, thank you. Appreciate it. John? +p396 +aVIt's at the moderator discretion. +p397 +aVWelcome back to the University of Colorado and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p398 +aVThank you, sir. +p399 +aVYou were. You get 30 seconds. +p400 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Carl? +p401 +aVHigher education is the example... +p402 +aVI want to go back, if I can, to the issue of... +p403 +aVI want to go back, if I may, to the... +p404 +aVSenator Paul, among the leading conservative opponents to the creation of Medicare back in the 1960s was Ronald Reagan. He warned that it would lead to socialism. Considering the mounting cost of Medicare, was he right to oppose it? +p405 +aVSenator, thank you. [ +p406 +aVWelcome back to Boulder, Colorado and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p407 +aVThank you, Governor. +p408 +aVGovernor. +p409 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Paul, let's go back to you. Do these solutions sound like they work? +p410 +aVDo these solutions sound like they would work? +p411 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Governor? +p412 +asVHEMMER +p413 +(lp414 +VSo, here we go. Ninety-seven hours before Iowa chooses, in fact the last two winners in this state are on this stage tonight. Governor Huckabee, in 2008, you won by nine points here, but this time your support seems to be going to Senator Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. Why, Governor, is your message not working this time? +p415 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Santorum, four short years ago you won Iowa. You beat Mitt Romney, pretty much shocked the country. But, just the other day you talked about what is in the greater good for your campaign. Is Monday night your last stand? +p416 +aVOK. +p417 +aV... Senator, do you want to name... ... Senator, do you want to name that entertainer your refering to? +p418 +aVBut senator, since you mentioned... +p419 +aVSenator, quickly then, after this debate, you mentioned Donald trump's name. Immediately, you're going to event across town here in Des Moines as a guest of Donald Trump. +p420 +aVSo are you laying the groundwork for maybe your future? Perhaps an endorsement of Mr. Trump? +p421 +aVThank you, senator. One moment. We'll get to you in a moment, Governor. We have a few coming up. +p422 +aVThank you. Governor Gilmore. As of one week ago, you have not held a single campaign event here in the state of Iowa. As of one week ago, in fact, you were the only one in the Republican field who had not made a campaign visit to this state. You know how it works here. You know how it's worked over time. Why should anyone caucus for you on Monday night? +p423 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p424 +aVMs. Fiorina, same topic. The president says that many are exaggerating the threat from +p425 +aVThank you. +p426 +aVGovernor Gilmore, some time this spring 34 more detainees are cleared from release from Gitmo. If you were president, as you say, this president wants to close it. As president, if Gitmo were closed and an enemy combatant were found or captured in the field of battle, perhaps Syria or Iraq or Libya, and you don't have Gitmo, where would you put them? +p427 +aVGovernor, thank you for that. +p428 +aVWelcome back to Des Moines on what will be a long night here. Let's get back to the questions. Let's get back to the questions with Martha. +p429 +aVLet me stay with you, Ms. Fiorina. You've said you will shrink the federal government by 30 percent over the next two years, and those jobs will not be filled, and you'll do it through retirement. Your critics would argue that's exactly what you did at Hewlett Packard when 30,000 people lost their jobs. If it did not work at H.P., why would it work at the federal government? +p430 +aVThank you. +p431 +aVGovernor Huckabee, Nikki Haley, Republican governor from South Carolina, recently said... +p432 +aVI did not, but we... +p433 +aVWe have plenty for you -- you bet, Governor. We have a couple more in the hopper for you in a moment here. +p434 +aVFirst, Governor -- Governor Huckabee, Nikki Haley warned about listening to "the siren call of the angriest voices," to which Donald Trump said he is "very, very angry." Who is right, Governor? +p435 +aVThank you, Governor. +p436 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you've mentioned the economy several times tonight. Let's go back to that for a moment because in America today 50% of the American workers are making less than $30,000 dollars a year. Let's talk about what you could do for them. The Conservative Club for Growth has had an issue with your policy on taxes for years. In fact, it called you, "Tax Hike Mike". And, the record shows state spending in Arkansas increased 54% when you were in charge, 94% if you include federal dollars during that same period. When it comes to helping people at the margins, $30,000, $32,000 dollars a year, what's better? A tax and spend approach, or shrinking government? +p437 +aVGovernor Huckabee, thank you. Same issue, Senator Santorum. The President says criticism of his economic policy is political hot air. You consistently talk about manufacturing jobs leaving America. You support a flat tax of 20%. How would a flat tax bring back two million jobs to America? +p438 +aVSenator, thank you. +p439 +aVThank you Ms. Fiorina. Governor Gilmore. Who are the moderate Muslims do you seek advice and counsel from on how to deal with the threat from radical Islamic terrorism? +p440 +aVThank you governor. Governor Huckabee. Here in Iowa 43 percent of Democratic caucus goers describe themselves as socialist. That's a higher number than those who say they are capitalist. I guess you could say, they're feeling the burn. This is a country rooted in capitalism, the United States of America. How did we get here? +p441 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum, the president says politics in America have become meaner over the past several years with him in the White House. Two weeks ago at the State of the Union he said the following. "A president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide." Lincoln and Roosevelt, that's pretty good company. If he is right, do Republicans share some of the blame? +p442 +aVThank you, Senator. +p443 +aVIn the closing few moments, the candidates have an opportunity to make a closing statement, 30 seconds for each. And, we want to start tonight with the former Virginia Governor, Jim Gilmore. +p444 +aV... Thank you, Governor. +p445 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p446 +aVThank you, Governor. +p447 +aVThat concludes our debate tonight, but the night has just begun. +p448 +asVBAIER +p449 +(lp450 +VLess than a year from now, in this very arena, one of these 10 candidates or one of the seven on the previous debate tonight will accept the Republican party's nomination. Tonight's candidates were selected based on an average of five national polls. Just a few hours ago, you heard from the candidates ranked 11th through 17. And now, the prime-time event, the top 10. +p451 +aVNeurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Florida Senator Marco Rubio. +p452 +aVIt might be. It might be. We'll see. [ +p453 +aVIt might be. The rules for tonight are simple. One minute for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups. And if a candidate runs over, you'll hear this. Pleasant, no? We also have a big crowd here with us tonight in the home of the Cavaliers, as I mentioned. And while we expect them... ... we expect them to be enthusiastic, as you heard, we don't want to take anything away from the valuable time for the candidate. So, we're looking for somewhere between a reaction to a LeBron James dunk and the Cleveland Public Library across the street. Somewhere there, we'll find a balance tonight. Without further ado, let's begin. +p454 +aVGentlemen, we know how much you love hand-raising questions. So we promise, this is the only one tonight: the only one. Is there anyone on stage, and can I see hands, who is unwilling tonight to pledge your support to the eventual nominee of the Republican party and pledge to not run an independent campaign against that person. Again, we're looking for you to raise your hand now -- raise your hand now if you won't make that pledge tonight. Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump to be clear, you're standing on a Republican primary debate stage. +p455 +aVThe place where the RNC will give the nominee the nod. +p456 +aVAnd that experts say an independent run would almost certainly hand the race over to Democrats and likely another Clinton. You can't say tonight that you can make that pledge? +p457 +aVSo tonight, you can't say if another one of these... +p458 +aVOK. +p459 +aVDr. Paul. +p460 +aVOK. +p461 +aVJust to be clear, you can't make a -- we're gonna -- we're going to move on. You're not gonna make the pledge tonight? +p462 +aVOK. Alright. +p463 +aVGovernor Bush, you have insisted that you're your own man. You say you have a life experience uniquely your own. Not your father's, not your brother's. But there are several opponents on this stage who get big- applause lines in early voting states with this line: quote, "the last thing the country needs is another Bush in the Oval Office." So do you understand the real concern in this country about dynastic politics? +p464 +aVGovernor Christie, you're not exactly the darling of conservatives. You tout your record as a Republican governor in a blue state. On Facebook, the most people talking about you, not surprisingly, come from your state of New Jersey, and one of the top issues they are talking about is the economy. This -- this may be why. Under your watch, New Jersey has undergone nine credit rating downgrades. The state's 44th in private sector growth. You face an employee pension crisis and the Garden State has the third highest foreclosure rate in the country. So why should voters believe that your management of the country's finances would be any different? +p465 +aVSenator Paul, you recently blamed the rise of +p466 +aVGentlemen, the next series of questions deals with ObamaCare and the role of the federal government. Mr. Trump, ObamaCare is one of the things you call a disaster. +p467 +aVSaying it needs to be repealed and replaced. +p468 +aVNow, 15 years ago, you called yourself a liberal on health care. You were for a single-payer system, a Canadian-style system. Why were you for that then and why aren't you for it now? +p469 +aVBut on ObamaCare... +p470 +aVMr. Trump, hold up one second. +p471 +aVAll right, now, hold on, Senator Paul... +p472 +aVOK. +p473 +aVAll right, let me... Mr. Trump, it's not just your past support for single- payer health care. You've also supported a host of other liberal policies. Use -- you've also donated to several Democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton included, Nancy Pelosi. You explained away those donations saying you did that to get business-related favors. And you said recently, quote, "When you give, they do whatever the hell you want them to do." +p474 +aVSo what specifically did... +p475 +aV-- they do? +p476 +aVHold on. We're going to -- we're going to move on. We'll come back to you, Governor Walker. +p477 +aVWe have many questions to come. +p478 +aVMany questions to come. Governor Huckabee, on Facebook, John Pietricone asked this, "Will you abolish or take away the powers and cut the size of the EPA, the IRS, the Department of Education?" Now, broadly... ...broadly, the size of government is a big concern for Facebook users, Facebook persons, as well as, obviously, conservatives. But year after year, decade after decade, there are promises from Republicans to shrink government. But year after year, decade after decade, it doesn't happen. In fact, it gets bigger, even under Republican politicians. So the question is, at this point, is the government simply too big for any one person, even a Republican, to shrink? +p479 +aVDr. Carson... +p480 +aVDr. Carson, do you agree with that? +p481 +aVGovernor Bush? +p482 +aVWe're going to come back to you, Dr. Carson. Governor Bush, you are one of the few people on the stage who advocates for Common Core education standards, reading and math. A lot of people on this stage vigorously oppose a federal involvement in education. They say it should all be handled locally. President Obama's secretary of education, Arnie Duncan, has said that most of the criticism of Common Core is due to a, quote, "fringe group of critics." Do you think that's accurate? +p483 +aVSenator Rubio, why is Governor Bush wrong on Common Core? +p484 +aVAnd do you agree with your old friend? +p485 +aVWe have many more questions coming on a host of topics, here from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Stay with us. +p486 +aVWe have many more questions coming on a host of topics. Here from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Stay with us. +p487 +aVGentlemen, another question for a few of you. Yesterday, just yesterday, President Obama criticized Republican lawmakers trying to block the Iran deal, calling them knee-jerk partisans, adding that hardliners in Iran who chant "death to America" were, quote, "making common cause with the Republican caucus." Here's what two of your opponents on the 5 p.m. debate stage said about Iran. +p488 +aVNow, I wanna ask a few of you this. First, Governor Walker. You've said that you would tear up the Iran deal on day one. If this deal is undone, what then? +p489 +aVSenator Paul, would you tear up the deal on day one? +p490 +aVGovernor Huckabee, what do you think about what Senator Paul just said? +p491 +aVThank you, gentlemen. +p492 +aVWelcome back to Cleveland. Our next topic is foreign policy. Candidates, you may not have seen the late developing news today our Fox Pentagon team broke earlier this evening about a top Iranian general traveling to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. His name is General Qassem Soleimani, he's blamed for hundreds of U.S. troop's deaths in Iraq, and Afghanistan. His trip to Russia appears to directly violate U.N. Security Council resolutions to confine him to Iran. So, Mr. Trump, if you were president, how would you respond to this? +p493 +aVAnother new development today, Senior Defense officials tell Fox they strongly suspect Russia was behind the cyber attack on the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs office... +p494 +aV...email. This comes in the wake of the Director of National Intelligence blaming the Chinese for the largest ever cyber attack, stealing personal data of tens of millions of Americans. Senator Cruz, in your view, have Russia and China committed acts of cyber war, and if you were president, what would you do about it? +p495 +aVDr. Carson, in August of 2012 President Obama famously declared Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons, quote, "that's a redline for us," and that there would be enormous consequences. One year later, with overwhelming evidence the Assad had, in fact, used chemical weapons and crossed that red line, President Obama declined to use military force against the Assad regime. As president, would you have used military force there? +p496 +aVGovernor Walker, as president, what would you do if Russian President Vladimir Putin started a campaign to destabilize +p497 +aVGovernor -- Governor Huckabee, the culture of the American military is definitely changing. Women are moving into combat roles. Don't Ask, Don't Tell has obviously been dropped. And now Defense Secretary Ashton Carter recently directed the military to prepare for a moment when it is welcoming transgender persons to serve openly. As commander in chief, how would you handle that? +p498 +aVSenator Paul, the first budget you proposed as senator cut all financial aid to Israel. You have since changed your view on that issue. What made you change your mind. +p499 +aVOK. But you still say that Israel could be one of the countries that is cut from financial aid? +p500 +aVGovernor Christie, what do you think of that answer? +p501 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p502 +aVSenator, we're going to finish up with some more questions, thank you. +p503 +aVNow each candidate will make a closing statement. You'll all have 30 seconds to make a closing statement for this debate. We'll start with Ohio Governor John Kasich. +p504 +aVSenator Marco Rubio. +p505 +aVThank you, Senator. +p506 +aVGovernor Mike Huckabee, closing statement. +p507 +aVMr. Trump, closing statement, sir. +p508 +aVGentlemen, thank you. +p509 +aVThat's it. +p510 +asVMADDOW +p511 +(lp512 +VWe are super excited to be here at the University of New Hampshire. Tonight, this is the first time that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have squared off exactly like this. Face-to-face, just one-on-one, just the two of them. +p513 +aVAnd we do hope that the candidates will take this opportunity to show us the distinctions\u2014show us the differences between them. That's the whole reason that we're here tonight. We're not here for talking points. We're to learn about the difference between the candidates. And with that, let's get going. Please join us in welcoming Secretary Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders. +p514 +aVAnd with that, that's it. We're going to begin with 60- second opening statements from each of the candidates. And as agreed to in advance by the two campaigns, we're going to begin tonight with Senator Sanders. +p515 +aVSecretary Clinton, Senator Sanders is campaigning against you now, at this point in the campaign, basically arguing that you are not progressive enough to be the Democratic nominee. He has said that if you voted for the Iraq war, if you are in favor of the death penalty, if you wobbled on things like the Keystone Pipeline or TPP, if you said single payer health care could never happen, then you're too far to the right of the Democratic Party to be the party's standard bearer. Given those policy positions, why should liberal Democrats support you and not Senator Sanders? +p516 +aVSenator Sanders, have you established a list of what it means to be a progressive that is unrealistic? +p517 +aVThank you Senator. +p518 +aVSenator Sanders, as a Vermonter, you have almost a home state advantage here in New Hampshire. But back home across the border, you also have a long history of running against Democrats as a third-party candidate, for governor, Senate, for Congress. In 1988 your candidacy as a third-party candidate arguably cost the Democrats a congressional seat and sent a Republican instead. How can you lead the Democratic Party nationally when you have not been a member of the Democratic Party until very recently? +p519 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p520 +aVSo, Senator, to that point, Secretary Clinton is raising the issue of endorsements by your home state Democrats. She's implying that that says something about the people who know you best. +p521 +aVHow do you see it? +p522 +aVSecretary. +p523 +aVSenator Sanders, you'll have 30 seconds to respond to that. +p524 +aVSenator Sanders, Secretary Clinton, obviously we've touched a nerve. We're going to be back with more on this subject, and much more, right after this. Stay with us. +p525 +aVSecretary Clinton, on the issue of Wall Street... +p526 +aV... on the issue of Wall Street, when our reporters go out and talk to people on the ground in the early states, what they tell us over and over again when they find voters who are leaning toward Senator Sanders rather than yourself is that the most frequent area of concern that they hear from those voters is the issue of Wall Street and whether or not you are too close to Wall Street. Last night, when you were asked about speaking fees and the amount of speaking fees you got from Goldman Sachs speeches, you said that's what they offered. Have you been too dismissive of voters' concerns about this issue in your own campaign and your own career? +p527 +aVSenator Sanders, you have been a critic of Secretary Clinton taking those speaking fees and having donations from Wall Street. What about her defense of her record? +p528 +aVSenator Sanders, let me turn to, I think, where this direction is heading anyway, which is the broader issue of big business and power in our political system. You on the campaign trail have railed against big name American corporations like Boeing, and General Electric, and Wal Mart. But, some big businesses in this country have also been part of advancing progressive goals like that nationwide initiative to expand employment opportunities for veterans. That was all about cooperation between the Obama administration and some very big business. The Affordable Care Act, some of the thorniest problems in that bill were worked out in cooperation with big business in order to accomplish progressive goals. Could you work with them, or have you made enemies of big business in this country with the way you've approached them in this campaign? +p529 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. And with that, we're going to take a break. +p530 +aVWelcome back\u2014welcome back to the Democratic candidates' debate. We're going to be talking about America in the world, both in terms of some trade issues, but also national security. And Secretary Clinton, we're going to start with you. There are more than 4,000 American troops back in Iraq right now as part of the fight against +p531 +aVTo be clear, to the specific question, if that strategic goal that you're describing requires considerably more of Americans\u2014an ever-increasing number of Americans in Iraq and maybe in Syria, are you OK with the numbers increasing? +p532 +aVThank you, Madam Secretary. +p533 +aVSecretary Clinton, at the\u2014at the last Democratic debate in Charleston\u2014I want to get specific here\u2014Senator Sanders called for moving as aggressively as we can to normalize relations with Iran. Your campaign has criticized him for saying that. Now that he's standing next to you here on this stage, can you explain why the U.S. shouldn't try to normalize relations in Iran in your view? +p534 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to ask you about a national security issue that is closer to home. There are thousands of veterans, over 100,000 veterans living in the state of New Hampshire. If either one of you is nominated as the Democratic Party's nominee, you will likely face a Republican opponent in the general election who wants to privatize or even abolish big parts of the V.A. It's a newly popular idea in conservative politics. How will you win the argument on that issue given the problems that have been exposed at the V.A. in the last few years? What's your argument that the V.A. should still exist and should not be privatized? +p535 +aVSenator Sanders, you, as a congressional leader on veterans issues and the Veterans Committee, you've worked in a very bipartisan way with Senator John McCain and others on veterans issues. Is the right contour of the fight, the way she's talking about this issue? +p536 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Sanders, Secretary Clinton, we're going to take another break. We'll be talking about Social Security and some of those other issues when we come back. +p537 +aVSenator\u2014Senator Sanders, in 1964... +p538 +aVIn 1964, I heard that the Republicans nominated Barry Goldwater, who was the hero of the conservative movement. He was, however, far to the right of most of that party. In 1972, the Democrats nominated George McGovern, who was a hero of liberals in the antiwar movement, but he was to the left of his party's mainstream. Both of those nominees made activists very excited, and they both got destroyed in the general election. Even Democrats who love you worry about your fate in a general election. And I know you have good head-to-head polling numbers against Republican frontrunners right now. We know that. But do you have a general election strategy that is different than the way you're running right now to try to get the nomination? +p539 +aVSecretary Clinton, your campaign surrogates, and people who have endorsed you, have suggested that or even said that if Senator Sanders is the nominee, that Democrats will suffer nationwide and the chances will go down of Democrats holding onto the White House. With him here standing next to you, can you tell us whether or not you believe he would win the general election if he were nominated? +p540 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. Senator, in December, one of your campaign staffers was fired from your campaign for taking voter data essentially from the Clinton campaign. You apologized for that when the incident was made public. Your campaign has now been criticized for its operatives essentially impersonating culinary union members wearing union pins in Nevada, and the Nashua Telegraph has complained recently that you falsely implied in an advertisement that they had endorsed you when they did not. None of these issues obviously is the end of the world, but they all are of a piece. Are you in some sense losing control of your campaign? +p541 +aVJust to follow up on that, the title of the ad in question was Endorsement. +p542 +aVSecretary Clinton, do you want 30 seconds on that issue? +p543 +aVAnd with that, we will . +p544 +aVWelcome back to the University of New Hampshire, and the Democratic candidates' debate. Secretary Clinton, on the issue of the death penalty, here in New Hampshire, the one person who is on death row is there for killing a police officer. It's a crime that has caused anguish in this state, both among death penalty opponents and death penalty supporters. The last time I had the chance to talk with you on this issue, on the death penalty, you said that capital punishment has a place in a very few federal cases, but you also said you would breathe a sigh of relief if the Supreme Court abolished the death penalty nationwide. Tonight, do you still support capital punishment, even if you do so reluctantly? +p545 +aVSenator Sanders, you have singled out the death penalty, and Senator Clinton's support for the death penalty, as an issue that makes it hard to consider as progressive in your mind... +p546 +aVAnother issue related to the proper role of government, and in this case, specifically the role of government between the federal government and the states. I want to talk for a moment about the issue of Flint, Michigan. On the Flint lead poisoning disaster, you have both been highly critical of Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan, and how the state in Michigan both caused the lead poisoning problem, and has not acted fast enough to fix it. You have both been outspoken on that. The fact is that Michigan though has not fixed it. There is no door to door delivery of clean water in Flint even today. Not a single lead pipe has been replaced in Flint, even today. If the state is failing, would you, Secretary Clinton, would you as President order a federal response to get it right over and above the wishes of the state? +p547 +aVSenator Sanders are there things the President could be doing? President Obama could be ordering, done, right now, in Flint, Michigan that are not being done that you as President would do? +p548 +aVSenator, thank you. +p549 +aVThe home stretch. +p550 +aVSecretary Clinton, Republicans, particularly in campaign years, often talk about which departments of government\u2014which agencies of government they would get rid of if they were elected president. The EPA, the Department of Education, the Commerce Department, oops\u2014is\u2014is there a department of government that you would get rid of? Or is there a whole new one that you would create? +p551 +aVThank you, Secretary Clinton. +p552 +aVThank you very much. Thank you. +p553 +aVWe also want to thank our host, the University of New Hampshire, and the people of New Hampshire. You guys get to vote in just five days. I can't wait to see how it turns out. Don't screw up. +p554 +asVTAPPER +p555 +(lp556 +VI'm Jake Tapper. We're live at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California for the main event. Round 2 of CNN's presidential debate starts now. The eleven leading Republican candidates for president are at their podiums. They are ready to face off, and if you've been watching this race, you know anything could happen over the next few hours. To viewers who are just joining us, welcome to the Air Force One Pavilion of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Our thanks to the staff here and especially to former first lady Nancy Reagan for this impressive setting with Ronald Reagan's presidential plane as our backdrop. This debate is airing on CNN networks in the United States and around the world. It's also being broadcast on the Salem Radio Network. I know everyone is very eager to get started. But first, I want to explain the ground rules tonight. My name is Jake Tapper. I'll be the moderator. I will be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt. He worked in the Reagan administration for six years. And by CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. I will ask follow-up questions, I will attempt to guide the discussion. Candidates, I will try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have one minute to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you've been singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. These 11 Republicans are positioned on the stage based on their ranking in recent national polls. Our goal for this evening is a debate. A true debate, with candidates addressing each other in areas where they differ. Where they disagree \u2014 on policy, on politics, on leadership. Now, let's begin. I'd like to invite each candidate to take 30 seconds to introduce him or herself to our audience. First to you, Senator Paul. +p557 +aVSenator Cruz? +p558 +aVThank you one and all for being here. There are many important policy issues facing our nation. We're going to get to many of them tonight, but I do want to start off with some current events in the news, and also some of the comments the candidates have recently made on the campaign trail. Mrs. Fiorina, I want to start with you. Fellow Republican candidate, and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, has suggested that your party's frontrunner, Mr. Donald Trump, would be dangerous as President. He said he wouldn't want, quote, "such a hot head with his finger on the nuclear codes." You, as well, have raised concerns about Mr. Trump's temperament. You've dismissed him as an entertainer. Would you feel comfortable with Donald trump's finger on the nuclear codes? +p559 +aVYou didn't answer my question. Would you feel comfortable with Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear codes? It's an issue that one of your fellow candidates has raised. +p560 +aVMr. Trump? +p561 +aVMr. \u2014 Senator Paul, your name has been invoked. +p562 +aVMr. Trump? +p563 +aVI want to \u2014 I want to give Mr. Trump... +p564 +aV... Mr. Trump, I want to give you another chance \u2014 Mr. Trump, I want to give you a chance to respond to something that your rival to your left, Governor Bush, said. Governor Bush told me last week when I read him the quote from Governor Jindal that he agrees you're not a serious candidate. Tell Governor Bush why you are a serious candidate and what your qualifications are to be commander-in-chief. +p565 +aVGovernor Bush, would you feel comfortable with Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear codes? +p566 +aVGovernor Walker? +p567 +aVLet's move on. +p568 +aVA phenomenon going on in the race right now is the political... OK, Governor Kasich, go ahead. +p569 +aVWe have a lot of issues coming up, sir. +p570 +aVWe are getting to the issues, sir. Phenomenon going on in the race is the political outsiders in the race, Dr. Carson, Donald Trump, Carly Fiorina, all together, have majority support in the polls. Governor Christie, I want to ask you about something that Dr. Carson said the other day. Dr. Carson said campaigning is easier for him, because he's not a politician. He can just tell the truth, therefore, while politicians, quote, "Have their finger in the air to see and do what is politically expedient." Governor Christie, tell Dr. Carson, is that a fair description of you? +p571 +aVWell, let's find out. Thank you. +p572 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. Dr. Carson, who were you thinking about on this stage when you said that? +p573 +aVAnd more broadly, is experience in government not important for a president to have? +p574 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p575 +aVThank you. +p576 +aVThank you. Thank you Ms. Fiorina. Governor Bush, in addition to the fact that he's an outsider, one of the reasons Mr. Trump is a frontrunner, Republican voters say, is because they like the fact that he is not bought and paid for by wealthy donors. Mr. Trump has repeatedly said that the $100 million you've raised for your campaign makes you a puppet for your donors. Are you? +p577 +aVIs there anything else you want to say about this? +p578 +aVGovernor \u2014 +p579 +aVSure Dr. Carson. +p580 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Let's move to Russia if we could. Russia is sending troops and tanks into Syria right now to prop up a U.S. enemy, Bashar al-Assad. President Obama's incoming top general says, quote, "Russia presents the greatest threat to our national security." Mr. Trump, you say you can do business with President Vladimir Putin, you say you will get along, quote, "very well." What would you do right now if you were president, to get the Russians out of Syria? +p581 +aVSo, you \u2014 just to clarify, the only answer I heard to the question I asked is that you would \u2014 you would reach out to Vladimir Putin, and you would do what? You would... +p582 +aVSenator Rubio, you've taken a very different approach to the \u2014 the question of Russia. You've called Vladimir Putin a, quote, "gangster." Why would President Rubio's approach be more effective than President Trump's? +p583 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. +p584 +aVI want to bring in Carly Fiorina. +p585 +aVMs. Fiorina, you have met... +p586 +aV...yeah, you've met Vladimir Putin. Yes. +p587 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p588 +aVThank you. +p589 +aVThank you. Thank you, Ms. Fiorina. While you're \u2014 while you brought up the subject of General Suleimani of the Quds forces from Iran, the next president, no matter who he or she may be, will inherit President Obama's Iran deal. Senator Cruz, Governor Kasich says that anyone who is promising to rip up the Iran deal on day one, as you have promised to do, is, quote, "inexperienced," and, quote, "playing to a crowd." Respond to Governor Kasich, please. +p590 +aVWhy is that not, as Governor Kasich says, playing to the crowd and an example of you being inexperienced? +p591 +aVGovernor Kasich... +p592 +aV...Did Senator Cruz just play to the crowd? +p593 +aV...Thank you, Governor. I want to go to Senator Paul. +p594 +aVI want to go to Senator Paul. Senator Paul, the White House is rolling out the red carpet next week for the President of China, President Xi. Governor Walker says that President Obama should cancel the state dinner because of China's currency manipulation, and because of China's alleged cyber attacks against the United States. Is Governor Walker right? +p595 +aVGovernor Walker, Senator Paul seemed to suggest... +p596 +aV...that canceling the state dinner would be rash, and reckless. +p597 +aV...Governor Bush... +p598 +aVGovernor Bush, your father was the chief diplomatic envoy to China back when Nixon opened relations to China. Is Scott Walker's approach the right one, canceling the state dinner? +p599 +aVI want to turn... +p600 +aV...I want to turn to Governor Huckabee who has been very patient. Somebody had to be 11th, and he is, but, I do want to change the subject to the event that you had... +p601 +aV... however you want, but I want to ask this question. +p602 +aVAll right, sir, go ahead. +p603 +aVOK. ( +p604 +aVWe're going to turn now to Hugh Hewitt, from Salem Radio Network. +p605 +aVThank you, Senator Paul. I want to turn now to my colleague Dana Bash. +p606 +aVThat would be fair, you're right. You're the third senator. +p607 +aVWe're going to go to Dana Bash... +p608 +aVSenator Cruz? +p609 +aVThank you, Senator. +p610 +aVThank you, Senator. +p611 +aVThank you, Senator. I want to... +p612 +aV... turn back to Governor Huckabee... +p613 +aVI want to turn back to Governor Huckabee. Governor Huckabee, last week, you held a rally for a county clerk in Kentucky who was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, as I don't need to tell you. You've called what happened to Kim Davis, that clerk, "an example of the criminalization of Christianity." There are several people on the stage who disagree with you. Governor Bush, for example, says that that clerk is sworn to uphold the law. Is Governor Bush on the wrong side of the criminalization of Christianity? +p614 +aVThank you, Governor. +p615 +aVWell, I'm not telling you that, Governor. But Governor Bush is, because he \u2014 because he disagrees. He thinks that Kim Davis swore to uphold the law. You disagree? You're not \u2014 you don't... +p616 +aVOK. Please do. +p617 +aVYou did... +p618 +aVGovernor, you said, quote, "she is sworn to uphold the law." +p619 +aVLet me go to my colleague Dana Bash, who has a question. +p620 +aVDana, I want to continue on the subject. Governor Bush, you recently said while discussing Planned Parenthood, quote, you're "not sure we need a half billion for women's health issues." Now you've since said that you misspoke, you didn't mean to say "women's health issues." But Donald Trump said that quote, that comment, which Hillary Clinton did seize upon immediately, will haunt you the same way Mitt Romney's 47 percent video haunted him. Tell Donald Trump why he's wrong. +p621 +aVThank you, Governor Bush. Donald Trump, let me just... +p622 +aVThe quote was, "I'm not sure we need half a billion dollars for women's health issues." He said he misspoke. You said that that's going to haunt him. Why do you think that? +p623 +aVGovernor Bush? +p624 +aVI want to \u2014 we're going to get to \u2014 +p625 +aVThank you, Governor. +p626 +aVThank you, Governor. +p627 +aVWe're going to \u2014 we're going to get to many of these issues. This \u2014 we're still in the first block, believe it or not. We're going to get to many of these issues, but before we end this block, Ms. Fiorina, I do want to ask you about this. In an interview last week in Rolling Stone magazine, Donald Trump said the following about you. Quote, "Look at that face. Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?" Mr. Trump later said he was talking about your persona, not your appearance. Please feel free to respond what you think about his persona. +p628 +aVAll right. On that note, in less than two minutes \u2014 we're going to take a very quick break. In less than two minutes, the most contentious issue on the campaign trail. And the candidates on the stage are split over how to handle it. That's coming up next. Please give some applause to the candidates. +p629 +aVWelcome to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate. No topic perhaps has been more combustible in this campaign than the issue of immigration. Mr. Trump, you have called for deporting every undocumented immigrant, Governor Christie has said, quote, "There are not enough law enforcement officers \u2014 local, county, state and federal combined \u2014 to forcibly deport 11 to 12 million people." Tell Governor Christie how much your plan will cost, and how you will get it done. +p630 +aVGovernor Christie, you and I have talked about this in an interview. You say that his big wall, his plan to deport 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants, it sounds great, but it's never going to happen. Tell him why you're skeptical of his plans? +p631 +aVThank you, Governor Christie... +p632 +aVI want to bring in Dr. Carson because he too has been skeptical of your plan to immediately deport 11 to 12 million illegal immigrants. He said, quote, "People who say that have no idea what this entails." Why do you say that, Dr. Carson? +p633 +aV...Dr. Carson... +p634 +aVWith all due respect, you said about Donald Trump's plan to deport 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants, "People who say that have no idea what this entails." Why not? +p635 +aV...let's continue the conversation about illegal immigration with Dana Bash. +p636 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Senator Cruz \u2014 Senator Cruz, this week, we learned more about Dr. Carson's plan for the 11 million to 12 million undocumented immigrants in this country. Dr. Carson proposed giving these undocumented immigrants a six- month grace period to pay back taxes then to let them become guest workers and only to deport people who failed to do that. +p637 +aVWell, how would you say it, sir? I was just reading the Wall Street Journal quote, but please tell us. +p638 +aVOK, from the horse's mouth, Senator Cruz, does that fit your definition of amnesty? +p639 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Rubio... +p640 +aV... I'm not sure... +p641 +aVWe'll come back to you \u2014 we'll come back to you in one second, sir. But Senator Rubio, I'm not sure exactly whose plan he's \u2014 he's saying is \u2014 constitutes amnesty, but I know he has said it about your plan in the past, so I want to give you a chance to respond, then, Dr. Carson, we'll come to you. +p642 +aVThank you, Senator. +p643 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator \u2014 Dr. Carson... ... I want to give you 30 seconds. I'd like you to answer the question. Senator Cruz describes plans such as yours as amnesty. Why is your plan not amnesty? +p644 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. I want to talk about the issue of birthright citizenship, which \u2014 which has emerged since the first debate as \u2014 as an a \u2014 a major issue in this campaign. Mr. Trump, you say that babies born in the United States to undocumented immigrants should not any longer get automatic American citizenship. Ms. Fiorina says that you are pandering on this issue and acting like the politicians that you rail against. What's your message to Ms. Fiorina on birthright citizenship? +p645 +aVMs. Fiorina, the vast majority of countries do not have birthright citizenship... ...Donald Trump is right about that. Why is it pandering when he's \u2014 he says this? +p646 +aVMs. Fiorina... +p647 +aVPlease. +p648 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p649 +aVThank you. +p650 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Mr. Trump, I want to give you the chance to respond... +p651 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. Senator Paul... +p652 +aVSenator Paul, I want to bring you in. Where \u2014 where do you stand on the issue of birthright citizenship? +p653 +aVAll right. Senator Paul, thank you so much. Let's turn to a new topic. We've received a lot of questions on social media about the economy and about jobs. We have two CEOs on stage right now. Ms. Fiorina, you were CEO of Hewlett Packard. Donald Trump says you, quote, "ran HP into the ground," you laid off tens of thousands of people, you got viciously fired. For voters looking to somebody with private-sector experience to create American jobs, why should they pick you and not Donald Trump? +p654 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p655 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p656 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 Mr. Trump, why would you be better at creating jobs than Carly Fiorina? +p657 +aVMs. Fiorina, I want to give you a chance to respond. +p658 +aVMr. Trump. +p659 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. +p660 +aVGovernor Christie's name has been invoked. I'd like to give him a 30 second opportunity. +p661 +aVMs. Fiorina, I want to give you +p662 +aVGovernor Kasich, I'm coming to you next, but Ms. Fiorina's name was mentioned, and I have to give her the opportunity to respond if she wants it. +p663 +aVThank you. +p664 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Kasich, I want to come \u2014 I'm coming to you. I'm coming to you. Let me ask the question. You can use the time however you want. +p665 +aVDonald Trump says that the hedge fund guys are getting away with murder by paying a lower tax rate. He wants to raise the taxes of hedge fund managers, as does Governor Bush. Do you agree? +p666 +aVThank you, Governor. +p667 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. +p668 +aVGovernor Huckabee, I want to bring you in on the question of hedge fund managers and taxing them. You have said that you are bothered by the fact that hedge fund managers pay such a low tax rate and make 2,500 times what people who work for them make. Do you agree with what Donald Trump and Governor Bush have proposed, raising their tax rates? +p669 +aVThank you, Governor. Dr. Carson, you support scrapping the entire tax code and replacing it with a flat tax based on the principal on tithing from the Bible. If you make $10 billion, you pay $1 billion in taxes, if you make $10, you pay $1 in taxes. Donald Trump believes in progressive taxation. He says it's not right that rich people pay the same as the poor. Tell Donald Trump why his ideas on taxes are wrong. +p670 +aVMr. Trump... +p671 +aV...What do you think of the flat tax? Do you think it's fair? +p672 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. Senator Paul? +p673 +aVGovernor Walker, I want to go to you. Dr. Carson wants to raise the Federal Minimum Wage, you have called it a lame idea. Why is raising the Federal Minimum Wage lame? +p674 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p675 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p676 +aVDr. Carson, Governor Walker didn't really answer the question, but I'll let you respond. He called raising the Federal Minimum Wage lame, what do you think of that? +p677 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson... +p678 +aVLet me bring in our partner from Salem Radio Network, Hugh Hewitt. +p679 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate. Let's turn to some issues now in foreign policy. Mr. Trump, Senator Rubio said it was, quote, "very concerning to him" that in a recent interview you didn't seem to know the details about some of the enemies the U.S. faces. Rubio said, if you don't know the answers to those questions, you will not be able to serve as commander-in-chief. Please respond to Senator Rubio. +p680 +aVSenator Rubio? +p681 +aVMr. Trump? Senator Rubio seemed to be suggesting that you don't know information that... +p682 +aVAll right. Senator Rubio. +p683 +aVBut are you saying that you have the knowledge to be the president that Mr. Trump does not have? +p684 +aVMr. Trump? +p685 +aVSenator Rubio, he did invoke your absentee record in the Senate. +p686 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. I want to turn now to Hugh Hewitt. +p687 +aVThank you, Governor. +p688 +aVSenator... +p689 +aVSenator Paul? +p690 +aVSenator Paul... +p691 +aVThank you, Senator Paul... +p692 +aVThank you, Senator Paul... +p693 +aVI understand that Governor Bush's name has been invoked, and then we can go to you, Senator Rubio. +p694 +aVThank you, Governor. +p695 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Rubio? +p696 +aVThank you, Senator. +p697 +aVDr. Carson? +p698 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p699 +aVI mean, it is interesting that you say that, because I want to ask Governor Christie about something else that you have said. Governor Christie, we just marked the 14th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Now Dr. Carson has said that if he had been president at the time, the United States would not have gone to war in Afghanistan. What does that say to you about how Dr. Carson would respond as president if America were attacked again? +p700 +aVDr. Carson? +p701 +aV... Governor Christie. +p702 +aVDr. Carson? +p703 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p704 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p705 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee. +p706 +aVThank you, Governor. +p707 +aVThank you, governor, I want to turn to +p708 +aVGovernor Walker, there is a big debate now, we have been talking about +p709 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Paul, I want to go to you, because you have said that the boots on the ground to fight +p710 +aVThank you, Senator. We're going to turn to some domestic issues now. I want to bring in my colleague, Dana Bash. +p711 +aVSure.... +p712 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p713 +aV...Thank you, Governor. Dana Bash... +p714 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina... +p715 +aV...Thank you, we're going to turn now to domestic issues with Dana Bash. +p716 +aV...Dana Bash... +p717 +aVThank you. Dana Bash? +p718 +aVThank you, Senator. +p719 +aV...Governor Bush... +p720 +aV...I want to let you respond. +p721 +aVThank you, Governor... ...And, that's what we should do, and I hope I'll be working members of the United States Senate to fight hard for the passage of people that have that kind of qualification. +p722 +aVSenator Cruz, 30 seconds. +p723 +aVThank you, Senator. +p724 +aVThank you, Semator. +p725 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee, I want to bring you in very quickly if you could. Will you have a litmus test when it comes to appointing Supreme Court nominees? +p726 +aVThank you, Governor. +p727 +aVThank you, Governor. +p728 +aVThank you, Governor. We're going to take a quick break. Coming up, one of the hottest questions that you have been asking us via social media. We will pose it to the candidates. That's coming up right after this. +p729 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican presidential debate at the Reagan Library here in Simi Valley \u2014 Simi Valley, California. Many people on social media wanted us to ask about marijuana legalization. Senator Paul, Governor Christie recently said, quote, "if you're getting high in Colorado today," where marijuana has been legalized, "enjoy it until January 2017, because I will enforce the federal laws against marijuana." Will you? +p730 +aVI want to give that \u2014 I want to give the person that you called a hypocrite an opportunity to respond. Do you want to identify that person? +p731 +aVIs there somebody you were specifically thinking of? +p732 +aVThat's what I though, but I wanted to say it. +p733 +aVOK. +p734 +aVGovernor Bush, please. +p735 +aVI want to go right now \u2014 I want to go right now... +p736 +aVThat's true. Go ahead, Christie, please. +p737 +aVYou may respond, and then I'll bring in you, Ms. Fiorina. +p738 +aVYes, Senator Paul. +p739 +aVI want to bring in Ms. Fiorina \u2014 I want to bring in Ms. Fiorina on this issue. +p740 +aVHugh \u2014 Hugh, I'd like to... +p741 +aVI'd like to turn it over \u2014 I'd like to turn to Dana Bush. +p742 +aVThank you, Governor. +p743 +aVI'm coming to you right now on a separate issue, sir. We received... ( +p744 +aVWe received a lot of questions from social media about climate change. Senator Rubio, Ronald Reagan's secretary of state, George Shultz, reminds us that when Reagan was president he faced a similar situation to the one that we're facing now. There were dire warnings from the mass consensus of the scientific community about the ozone layer shrinking. Shultz says Ronald Reagan urged skeptics in industry to come up with a plan. He said, do it as an insurance policy in case the scientists are right. The scientists were right. Reagan and his approach worked. Secretary Shultz asks, why not take out an insurance policy and approach climate change the Reagan way? +p745 +aVI'm citing George Shultz. +p746 +aVGovernor Christie, you have said that climate change is real, and that humans help contribute to it. Without getting into the issue of China versus the United States, which I understand you've talked about before, what do you make of skeptics of climate change such as Senator Rubio? +p747 +aVJust for the record, I was citing Secretary of State George Shultz, Ronald Reagan's secretary of state who I don't think anybody would call him left-wing. +p748 +aVI called you a skeptic. +p749 +aVI want to go another question right now. +p750 +aVThank you, Governor. +p751 +aVI'm turning to... +p752 +aV...I'm turning to another \u2014 I'm turning to another issue right now. Senator Cruz. Well, I think we've heard from several this evening. A backlash against vaccines was blamed for a measles outbreak here in California. Dr. Carson, Donald Trump has publicly and repeatedly linked vaccines, childhood vaccines, to autism, which, as you know, the medical community adamantly disputes. You're a pediatric neurosurgeon. Should Mr. Trump stop saying this? +p753 +aVShould he stop saying it? Should he stop saying that vaccines cause autism? +p754 +aVMr. Trump, as president, you would... +p755 +aVI'm going right to you. +p756 +aVMr. Trump, as president, you would be in charge of the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health, both of which say you are wrong. How would you handle this as president? +p757 +aVThank you. +p758 +aVDr. \u2014 Dr. Carson? +p759 +aVDr. Carson, you just heard his medical take. +p760 +aVDr. Paul? Dr. Paul, I'd like to bring you in. +p761 +aVAlright, thank you so much... +p762 +aVComing up \u2014 I'm sorry, Governor Huckabee, please. +p763 +aVThank you, Governor. +p764 +aVWe have to take another quick break. Coming up, Ronald Reagan looming large over this debate. So how Reaganesque exactly are these Republicans? We will find out next. +p765 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California. We have a few last questions for you. Two of them a little lighthearted, the other one more serious. We'll start with one of the more light questions. Senator Paul, I'm going to start with you and we're just going to go down the line. Earlier this year, the Treasury Department announced that a woman will appear on the $10 bill. What woman would you like to see on the $10 bill? +p766 +aVGovernor Huckabee? +p767 +aVSenator Paul (sic). +p768 +aVI'm sorry. Senator Rubio? +p769 +aVJust the senators. +p770 +aVSenator Cruz? +p771 +aVDr. Carson? +p772 +aVMr. Trump. +p773 +aVGovernor Bush. +p774 +aVGovernor Walker. +p775 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p776 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p777 +aVGovernor Christie. +p778 +aVAlright. Some good entries if anybody at the mint was listening. Here's the next lighthearted question, you all know that the United States Secret Service uses codenames for the president, and his family. Ronald Reagan's codename, for example, was, "Rawhide", an homage to his performances in Westerns. Nancy Reagan's was, "Rainbow". You don't have to come up the one for your spouse, but, what would you want, Governor Christie, I'll start with you, your Secret Service codename to be. +p779 +aVGovernor Walker? +p780 +aVMr. Trump? +p781 +aVDr. Carson? +p782 +aVSenator Cruz? +p783 +aVSenator Rubio? +p784 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p785 +aVSenator Paul. +p786 +aVThat's a mouthful, but OK. OK, here's the more serious question, Ronald Reagan, the 40th President, used the plane behind you to accomplish a great many things. Perhaps, most notably, to challenge Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the wall, and ultimately, to make peace with the +p787 +aVThat concludes this Republican presidential debate. On behalf of everyone here at CNN, we want to thank the candidates, the Reagan Library, and the Republican National Committee. Thank you, also, to Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash. The next presidential debate will also be right here on CNN, among the Democratic candidates, who will face off for the first time on October the 13th. That debate, a partnership with Facebook, will be moderated by my colleague, Anderson Cooper. And Anderson picks up our coverage of tonight's debate right now. Before I throw to Anderson, let's have one final round of applause for the candidates. +p788 +asVSANTORUM +p789 +(lp790 +VYou know, listening to what your network was talking about prior to this race, this debate, reminded me of the coverage that many on this floor are getting. This race, this debate, was called the, "Undercard Debate". The undercard debate. It wasn't advertised significantly. In fact, the entire hour lead up to this there was no conversation about any of the four people on this debate stage, and that is the chronic situation. In fact, they listed -- they put a poll up from Wall Street Journal/NBC News, they listed the candidates, and they failed to mention I wasn't listed. I got zero, why? Because they -- NBC, Wall Street Journal poll never includes my name on the list. This is what the media has been doing over the past year, and trying to segregate, and take Iowans out of the process. What Iowans deserve... ... is to hear from every candidate on equal footing. Had they applied the same rules four years ago, I would have been in the undercard debate. The guy who won the Iowa Caucuses would have been in the undercard debate, not talked about. We would have been talking about, maybe, an entertainer that may have been trying to run. Ladies and gentlemen, you have a chance on Monday to put the record straight about who you want, not who will entertain you. +p791 +aVBut, who will fight for what you believe in, and I hope you do... +p792 +aVWell, look. The entire lead up to this debate was talking about whether Donald Trump is going to show up for the next debate. The people of Iowa, who I know pretty darn well, care a lot about the issues. They care about who is going to be the leader of the free world. Who is going to be able to take on +p793 +aVAnd we are not hearing any of those things. We are hearing about whether someone is going to show up for the next debate or not. +p794 +aVYes, I am. +p795 +aVYou know, this, again, more of the politics of trying to get people to throw stuff at each other. I'm not going to throw mud at anybody on this stage tonight. I'm not going to throw mud at anybody on the stage later. I'm not going to attack Donald Trump. What I'm -- Mike Huckabee and I were asked to come to an event where money was going to be raise to do help our veterans. You know, I thought about it. And I thought about. I said well, wait a minute, now, if there were no political considerations and I had some time because I'm not doing anything at 9:00 tonight. And so if I had some time, would I go... ... if I could help raise money for veterans? And the answer was yes, I would. And so I'm going. +p796 +aVThank you for the question, Martha. We have to have an honest discussion with the American people about the nature of the threat that we confront. This president says that +p797 +aVWhat I would say is that we have to create jobs that give people wages and benefits that can help them provide for themselves and their families. And that's why I announced from a factory floor in western Pennsylvania, I pledge to make America the number one manufacturing nation, again, in the world. And we can do it. China is starting to reorient itself away from a manufacturing economy that's dumping products on the -- overseas to providing more services to their people. This is an opportunity for America. It's an opportunity for us to get those jobs back. And by the way, do you want to solve global climate change? Take 2 million jobs from China in manufacturing and moving them back here to the United States, where we produce one-fifth the CO2 when we make things. We can help -- we can do every -- we can do it all. We can take care of the environment. We can create more jobs here. Seventy-four percent of Americans don't have a college degree. And unfortunately most folks who, in the Republican Party, don't talk about what we're going to do to create jobs for people who feel like neither political party cares about them. When you elect me, we'll create opportunities for working men and women in this country -- all over this country. +p798 +aVWell, in fact, the plan that I put forward is scored by the Tax Foundation as bringing three and a half million jobs into this country, and we have provisions in the flat tax for the corporate side that actually has a phase in of manufacturing. Manufacturers initially don't pay any income tax. Ten percent the next year, and 20. We're going to also have a repatriation provision which says that if you have money overseas, and you're Apple, and you got a couple hundred billion dollars there, bring it back. The most you'll be taxed 10%, invest it here in America. Create jobs here in America with all that money that's sitting overseas. We also -- it's not just taxes. It's regulation. I've pledged to cut every single Obamacare -- I mean, excuse me, Obama regulation, including Obamacare, and remove those regulations that cost more than a hundred million dollars in the economy. That will liberate -- and that includes waters of the U.S., and the ozone regulations, they -- the mercury regulations. All of these just crush our manufactures and don't create an opportunity for us to survive. And, remember, China produces five times as much CO2 and other pollutants per dollar of GDP as we do. You want to help the environment? Bring jobs back to America. +p799 +aVWell, I've been to the March for Life for about 25 years and I thought -- I think that's a pretty good record. Spoken at it a few times and I have shepherded every single piece of pro-life piece of legislation that's passed over the last 20 years. I've either authored it or shepherded it through the United States Congress and I'm pretty proud of that record too. But we have an election going on and there was some snow coming. So I decided that maybe it would be better for me to get out and do some campaigning and not be stuck as my wife and kids were for a week, piling out of two and a half feet of snow. So, here's what I would say. If you want someone that is going to talk a good game, there are a lot of folks on this stage that have talked a good game on the issue of life. Not only have I talked a good game on life and I've done some things. But I've also lived it. You know, one of the things Saint Francis said was, you know, if you preach the gospel, then if you have to, speak. The bottom line is, that twice in my life, we were counseled to have an abortion, one with our son Gabriel and one with our little girl Bella. And neither time did Karen and I for a moment think about it because we know that life begins at conception. We know the dignity of every human life and we know the potential of every child, no matter how long that life lives. And that is a message that can come across to all Americans and without having to say a word and defend the institution of life and the dignity of life in this country. +p800 +aVThe president of the United States has been the most divisive president in -- certainly in my lifetime. This is a man who constantly... He is not trustworthy. You can't sit down and negotiate with him. He won't keep a deal. We have heard that over and over again. And here is what he does that really, really creates the friction in Washington. He personally attacks people. He ascribes motives to them that aren't true and then he tears them down. How are you going to work with someone if you don't treat them decently, honestly, and respectfully? I was a tough fighter when I was in Washington. I had very sharp elbows. I fought. I went there and joined a game named Jim Nussle here from Iowa with the "gang of seven." And we, in four years' time, took a Congress that had been controlled by Democrats for 40 years, and brought in the first Republican majority because we fought and we fought tough. But you know what? I was able to then work with those same people that we fought with and able to pass welfare reform. Unborn Victims of Violence Act. Pro-life bills. Health savings accounts. A whole laundry list of things not because I was mean, but because I was able to be respectful in the disagreements. And that's what we need in Washington, someone who can be respectful and still unite this country. +p801 +aVI just want to thank the people of Iowa. Over the last five years I've done 700 speeches and town hall meetings all throughout the state of Iowa, and it has been an incredible right. Thank you. I want to thank all the wonderful folks like Pastor Carey Gordon who gave me a smooth stone and said you go slay Goliaths. Someone like Jim and Janet Cook who over this past Christmas gave up Christmas presents for their kids, and they have more than I do, just they can help me and my campaign. That's the kind of people... ... in Iowa. And, here's what I'm asking you to do. You're good people. You know good leaders. Lead. Pick the right person, not what the polls say. Not who the money give people to. Pick the leader you know is best for this country. Thank you. +p802 +asVQUESTION +p803 +(lp804 +VMy name is Ashley Tofil. Ms. Fiorina, in November, you said that you would not talk to Vladimir Putin after you were elected because you would be communicating from a position of weakness. Do you believe that it is feasible to not communicate with another world leader? And do you think that that also is a sign of weakness? +p805 +aVMy name is Carla Hernandez. I'm from the University of Texas at Austin. And my question is directed to all the candidates. If the Bible clearly states that we need to embrace those in need and not fear, how can we justify not accepting refugees? +p806 +aVPlease describe one action you would do to make the economic environment more favorable for small businesses and entrepreneurs and anyone dreaming of opening their own business. +p807 +asVCAVUTO +p808 +(lp809 +VIt is 9:00 p.m. on the East Coast, 8:00 p.m. here inside the Milwaukee theater. Welcome to the Republican presidential debate here on the Fox Business Network. I'm Neil Cavuto, alongside my co-moderators, Maria Bartiromo, and the editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal, Gerard Baker. +p810 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. +p811 +aVIt sounds like a game show but it's not. Now I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the elephant in the room, and I'm not talking about your party's fine symbol. I'm talking about the purpose of tonight's debate. The economy and what each of you would do to improve it. No more, no less. We are focused on those issues, and what you have said on those issues in your words and what your opponents have said in their words about your words. That is the agenda tonight. How each of you plans to make America better tomorrow. And so we begin. Candidates, as we gather tonight in this very august theater, just outside and across the country, picketers are gathering as well. They're demanding an immediate hike in the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Just a few hours ago, near Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed doing the same for all state workers, the first governor to do so. Mr. Trump, as the leading presidential candidate on this stage and one whose tax plan exempts couples making up to $50,000 a year from paying any federal income taxes at all, are you sympathetic to the protesters cause since a $15 wage works out to about $31,000 a year? +p812 +aVSo do not raise the minimum wage? +p813 +aVDr. Carson, you have long bemoaned this lackluster recovery. And this Facebook map show Americans share your concern. The green represents how the jobs issue is resonating all across the nation, especially here in the state of Wisconsin. You suggested one minimum wage does not fit all, and that perhaps we should offer a lower or starter wage for young people. Those protesters outside are looking for $15 and nothing less. Where are you? +p814 +aVSo, sir, just to be clear, you would not raise it? +p815 +aVSenator Rubio, you called the recent Democratic debate in Las Vegas a night of giveaways, including free health care, free college and a host of other government-paid benefits. Since you aren't a fan of all they're giving away, tell us tonight what you would take back. +p816 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. +p817 +aVAll right. We're only just getting started. Coming up, your taxes. Stick around. You're watching FOX Business +p818 +aVWelcome back to the Milwaukee Theater and the Republican presidential debate. Let's get right back to our questions. Dr. Carson, to you. You recently railed against the double- standard in the media, sir, that seems obsessed with inconsistencies and potential exaggerations in your life story, but looked the other way when it came to then-Senator Barack Obama's. Still, as a candidate whose brand has always been trust, are you worried your campaign \u2014 which you've always said, sir, is bigger than you \u2014 is now being hurt by you? +p819 +aVI'll just forget that follow-up there. +p820 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p821 +aVAlright, thank you. We're going to take a break here. Coming up, a big issue many Americans are facing, taxes. The Republican Presidential Debate continues now, live, from Milwaukee. +p822 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from Milwaukee. Let's get back to the questions. And we want to touch on obviously one of the biggest of this issue in this year, taxes. And this will go to several of you. One of the biggest economic concerns of course in the country are taxes. Facebook data certainly backs that up. Once again the green on this map that we're going to see here shows how the conversation around taxes is resonating across the nation, especially here in Wisconsin. First off, Dr. Carson, to you. You say you are in favor of a tax system, I guess akin to tithing, sir, with a flat tax rate of up to 15 percent because you said, if everybody pays this, I think God is a pretty fair guy, so tithing is a pretty fair process. But Donald Trump says that is not fair. That wealthier taxpayers should pay a higher rate because it's a fair thing to do. So whose plan would God endorse then, Doctor? Yours or Mr. Trump's? +p823 +aVRight. +p824 +aVThank you very much. Senator Paul, you said you want to blow up the tax code and start over with an across-the-board 14.5 percent fair and flat tax. You happily offered that it is not revenue neutral and that's the idea. You want to choke off the amount of money coming into Washington. But don't you risk, sir, creating a near-term budget crisis just as your presidency would be beginning? +p825 +aVThere are no deductions on your \u2014 under your plan? +p826 +aVThank you, Senator. +p827 +aVSenator Paul... Senator Paul, you have already said, sir, that that would be a mistake in not talking to Vladimir Putin, or to rule it out. You've argued that it's never a good idea to close down communication. With that in mind, do you think the same applies to administration efforts right now to include the Iranians in talks on Syria? +p828 +aV...Well, then how would you respond? +p829 +aVBut if you're not going to respond in a no-fly zone strategy, what would yours be? +p830 +aVAll right. And look at the time, look at the time. You are watching FOX Business, we'll take a break. Stick around. +p831 +aVSenator Cruz \u2014 and I will get to you \u2014 but, Senator Cruz, on that theme, Facebook data shows that over the last month alone, nearly 1 million people \u2014 nearly 1 million \u2014 have been concerned about reining in Wall Street, apparently believing that some have not been punished enough. So, as an accomplished litigator yourself and a former solicitor general, would you go after the very people who believe and fear that Wall Street has ignored, in other words, the crooks that Bernie Sanders say have gotten away with a financial murder? +p832 +aVSenator......Senator, I really want to be clear here. Are you saying, sir, that if Bank of America were on the brink, you would let it fail? +p833 +aVSir, I understand that. I just want to be clear, if you don't mind, that millions of depositors would be on the line with that decision. And I just want to be clear. If it were to happen again, for whatever the reason, you would let it go, you would let a Bank of America go? +p834 +aVOK, I think it's fair to say you're not fans of Hillary Clinton's resume. Alright, Mr. Trump.... +p835 +aVI had a feeling. Perhaps the most successful capitalist on this stage tonight, you've acknowledged that some give capitalism a bad name. You've been particularly critical of businesses that find all sorts of ways of paying their taxes by keeping money abroad, but your own plan includes an incentive to bring \u2014 that more the $2 trillion dollars home. Isn't that, like, a one-time bounty... +p836 +aV...Some of the guys you all but call pirates, so they still keep the loot, and pay only a price to bring it back. +p837 +aV...Alright, gentlemen, I know you want to \u2014 and I want to, be we also promised to get people home tonight, and we are going to take a quick break here. I think it is fair to say at this juncture that you can discuss these issues, and only business issues, but still keep it interesting. Stick around for these candidates closing statements. +p838 +aVSenator Marco Rubio? +p839 +aVDr. Ben Carson? +p840 +aVDonald Trump? +p841 +aVCandidates, we want to thank you all. We also appreciate your helping save time by talking over one another at times. That was welcomed. But by all means, it was a very riveting debate. Business issues can be \u2014 can be riveting, because it wasn't about us, it's about them. +p842 +aVThat'll do it. Thank you for joining us. +p843 +asVBLITZER +p844 +(lp845 +VWelcome to the CNN-Facebook Republican presidential debate here at the Venetian Las Vegas. We have a very enthusiastic audience. Everyone is here. They're looking forward to a serious and spirited discussion about the security of this nation. I'm Wolf Blitzer, your moderator tonight. This debate is airing on CNN networks here in the United States and around the world, and on the Salem Radio Network. The nine leading candidates, they are here. Let's welcome them right now. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Businessman and real estate developer Donald Trump. Retired neurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. And Ohio Governor John Kasich. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome these Republican candidates for president of the United States. This is the final Republican debate before the election year begins, and we're taking a moment for the photographs of the candidates together on the stage. Now, everyone, please rise for the national anthem sung by Ayla Brown. +p846 +aVI know everyone is eager to get started. So, candidates, please take your places while I explain the ground rules for tonight. As moderator, I'll guide the discussion, and I'll be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt and CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. We also asked Republicans and independents nationwide to share their questions for the candidates. We teamed up with Facebook to send a campaign camper across the country over the past several weeks. Thousands of people stepped inside and recorded their questions on video. Millions more have weighed in on Facebook. Candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have a minute and 15 seconds to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you're singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know that we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. And as the candidates requested, a bell will sound like this. We know you are all eager to jump in and debate these important issues, so, please, wait until you're called on. These nine Republicans are positioned on stage based on their ranking in the recent polls, so let's begin right now. I'd like to invite each candidate to introduce himself or herself to our audience. You'll have one minute. First to you, Senator Paul. +p847 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p848 +aVGovernor Christie? +p849 +aVMs. Fiorina? +p850 +aVGovernor Bush? +p851 +aVSenator Rubio? +p852 +aVSenator Cruz. +p853 +aVDr. Carson. +p854 +aVMr. Trump. +p855 +aVThank you. Since you last debated, Americans have witnessed terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino. The FBI director says the country now faces the greatest terror threat since 9/11. You all have different approaches to keeping the country safe. And that will be the focus of tonight's debate. Mr. Trump, as you mentioned in your opening statement, part of your strategy is to focus in on America's borders. To keep the country safe, you say you want to temporarily ban non-American Muslims from coming to the United States; ban refugees fleeing +p856 +aVGovernor Bush, you called Mr. Trump "unhinged" when he proposed banning non-American Muslims from the United States. Why is that unhinged? +p857 +aVMr. Trump? +p858 +aVSenator Rubio \u2014 I'm going to go to Senator Rubio and get his thoughts. You have said banning Muslims is unconstitutional. But according to a recent ABC News-Washington Post poll, a majority of Republicans support Mr. Trump's idea. Why are they wrong? +p859 +aVHugh Hewitt, you have a question. +p860 +aVGovernor Christie, Americans are clearly more afraid today than at any time since 9/11. As you mentioned in your opening statement, today in Los Angeles, 650 schoolchildren didn't go to \u2014 650,000 schoolchildren didn't go to school because of an e-mail threat, this two weeks after an attack killed 14 people in San Bernardino. Is this the new normal? And if so, what steps would you take as president of the United States to ensure that fear does not paralyze America? +p861 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, one of the killers in San Bernardino was an American who was not on anyone's watch list. How are you going to find that radicalized person and stop another such attack? +p862 +aVThank you. Dana Bash, you have the next question. +p863 +aVThank you. Dr. Carson, you're in favor of monitoring mosques and schools where there is anti-America sentiment, what do you consider anti- America? +p864 +aVDr. Carson, who was right in that little debate that we just heard between Senator Rubio and Senator Paul? +p865 +aVHold on a sec, we have a lot more to come and everybody's going to have their full opportunity. Governor Bush, six days after 9/11 your brother visited a mosque and said quote, "Islam is peace." The conversation tonight is about banning Muslims and surveillance of mosques, are President Bush's words still relevant in today's Republican party? +p866 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you pointed out you were a CEO in Silicon Valley on 9/11. Companies there, they say they won't help the FBI now crack encrypted communication from +p867 +aVBut my question was: Should these Silicon Valley companies be forced to cooperate with the FBI? +p868 +aVMr. Trump, you recently suggested closing that Internet up, those were your words, as a way to stop +p869 +aVLet me follow up, Mr. Trump. So, are you open to closing parts of the Internet? +p870 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, is shutting down any part of the Internet a good idea? +p871 +aVThank you, Governor. The fight against radical Islamic terrorists and +p872 +aVThank you. To be clear, Senator Cruz, would you carpet bomb Raqqa, the +p873 +aVThank you. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you've been critical of Senator Cruz's strategy. You say his voting record doesn't match his rhetoric. Why? +p874 +aVBecause I asked the question, Senator, because you said this. You said he, referring to Senator Cruz, voted against the Defense Authorization Act every year that it came up, and I assume that if he voted against it, he would veto it as president. That's the bill that funds our troops. +p875 +aVSenator Cruz? +p876 +aVSenator Rubio. +p877 +aVWe are going to have much more on this... +p878 +aVWe're going to have much more on this. But I want to move now back to Mr. Trump. +p879 +aVHold on. Hold on. Hold on. +p880 +aVWe have a lot... +p881 +aVWe have a lot to discuss. I want to move to Mr. Trump right now. We have a question on this war against +p882 +aVMr. Trump. +p883 +aVGovernor Bush. Governor Bush. +p884 +aVMr. Trump. +p885 +aVJust one at a time, go ahead... +p886 +aVGo ahead, Mr. Trump. +p887 +aVGovernor Bush, please. +p888 +aVOne at a time. +p889 +aVGovernor Bush. +p890 +aVThank you. +p891 +aVAll right. Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash, Hugh, go ahead with the next question. +p892 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Rubio? Let's continue this conversation. This is a critically important issue. +p893 +aVWe will get to \u2014 we have a lot of time, Ms. Fiorina. I want to get to Senator Rubio right now. Let's talk about, one of the aspects of your strategy, you say the only way to defeat +p894 +aVThank you, Senator. Stand by. Ms. Fiorina, the former defense secretary, Bob Gates, says the chances of getting Sunni-Arab forces on the ground to get the job done, his words, "chances very remote." What's your strategy? +p895 +aVThank you. Governor Christie, what's your strategy? +p896 +aVDr. Carson, what is your strategy? +p897 +aVThank you. Everyone stand by. We're only just beginning. Coming up, which candidates on this stage tonight want to move foreign policy in a dramatically new direction? We'll be right back. +p898 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate here at the Venetian, Las Vegas. The war against +p899 +aVThank you. +p900 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you supported the removal of Moammar Gadhafi in Libya. Now that country is in turmoil, as +p901 +aVSenator Cruz? +p902 +aVStandby. Everybody standby for a moment. Governor Kasich, go ahead. +p903 +aVThank you. +p904 +aVWe're going to talk about Assad in a moment. Mr. Trump, are Americans safer with dictators running the world in the Middle East? +p905 +aVThank you. Mr. Trump? +p906 +aVAll right. +p907 +aVThank you. +p908 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East... +p909 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East better off with dictators? +p910 +aVGovernor Bush. +p911 +aVHold on Governor Bush., here's the question. You said, "getting rid of Saddam Hussein in your words was a pretty good deal." In light of what has happened in Iraq, do you still feel that way? +p912 +aVSenator Paul, was getting rid of Saddam Hussein a pretty good deal? +p913 +aVThank you. Hugh Hewitt, go ahead. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hugh. +p914 +aVSenator, Senator, we're going to get to you. Wait your turn. We have two hours of debate. We'll have plenty of time. Let Hugh ask his question. +p915 +aVSenator, please. +p916 +aVSenator... +p917 +aVYou'll have plenty of opportunity. Hugh, go ahead. +p918 +aVThese are the rules all of you agreed to. Hugh, go ahead with your question. +p919 +aVLet's continue with Russia right now. We have another question from Facebook. Listen and watch. +p920 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you know, U.S. and Russian warplanes are flying all over Syria right now. With so many lives on the line, is this a good time for the United States not to talk to Putin? +p921 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Christie, if the U.S. imposed a no-fly zone over Syria and a Russian plane encroached, invaded that no-fly zone, would you be prepared to shoot down that Russian plane and risk war with Russia? +p922 +aVSenator Paul \u2014 Senator Paul, I want you to respond to what we just heard from Governor Christie. If there was a no-fly zone, you say that potentially could lead to World War III. Why? +p923 +aVGovernor Christie? +p924 +aVAll right, let's go back \u2014 Hugh and Dana? +p925 +aVOne at a time. Hugh, go ahead. +p926 +aVGovernor, thank you very much. So, Dr. Carson, you recently visited a refugee camp in Jordan and you deemed it your words, "really quite nice." Saying the people there didn't want to come to the United States. Do you think these camps are a long-term solution of the problem of Syrian refugees? +p927 +aVSenator Paul, you oppose letting in Syrian refugees at this time into the United States. The U.S. has already accepted 2,000 Syrian refugees, including 13 living here in Las Vegas right now. Would you send them back? What would you do with these people? +p928 +aVSenator Rubio? +p929 +aVSenator Paul, you didn't answer the question about the 2,000 Syrian refugees who are already here in the United States. Will you send them back or let them stay? +p930 +aVWe have another \u2014 we have another question. We have another question from Facebook. Let's listen. +p931 +aVGovernor Christie, you say there should be a pause in allowing new refugees to come into the United States, including orphans under the age of five. What do you say to Carla? +p932 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p933 +aVThank you, Governor. There is much more coming up. We are only just beginning. Coming up, what other global hot spots await the next president of the United States. +p934 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate. We're here at the Venetian Las Vegas. Tonight we have been focusing on the Middle East, but let's turn to some other world threats that you will potentially face as Commander in Chief. Ms. Fiorina, candidates here have called the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un a maniac who is mentally unstable. Last week he said he now has a hydrogen bomb. If you were elected president, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p935 +aVDr. Carson, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p936 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Dana and Hugh you have questions as well. +p937 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Some of you on this stage have questioned whether your opponents have temperament, the right temperament, to be in control of the nuclear codes. Dana, you have a question on this? +p938 +aVThank you, senator. Thank you. +p939 +aVThank you, Senator. +p940 +aVThank you, Senator. We're a month and a half away now from the first real test who will be the Republican presidential nominee. Hugh, you have a question? +p941 +aVAll right. Candidates, we have more coming up. When we come back, everyone will have an opportunity to explain why this particular candidate, each of you on the stage, believes he or she should be the Republican presidential nominee. +p942 +aVNow it's time for the closing statements from the candidates. Each one has 30 seconds. Senator Paul. +p943 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p944 +aVGovernor Christie. +p945 +aVMs. Fiorina. +p946 +aVGovernor Bush. +p947 +aVSenator Rubio. +p948 +aVSenator Cruz. +p949 +aVDr. Carson. +p950 +aVThanks to all the Republican presidential candidates. That does it for this Republican presidential debate. +p951 +asVMODERATOR +p952 +(lp953 +VComing up more of our debate, including questions about President Obama's foreign policy and these guys and their better ideas. Coming up. +p954 +asVFIORINA +p955 +(lp956 +VLike all of you I'm angry. I'm angry at what's happening to our nation. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. Bombastic insults wont take it back. Political rhetoric that promises a lot and delivers little, won't take it back. All of our problems can be solved. All of our wounds can be healed by a tested leader who is willing to fight for the character of our nation. I have been tested. I have beaten breast cancer. I have buried a child. I started as a secretary. I fought my way to the top of corporate America while being called every B word in the book. I fought my way into this election and on to this debate stage while all the political insiders and the pundits told, "it couldn't be done." I've been told, "no,: all my life. And all my life, I've refused to accept no as an answer. Citizens, it is time to take our country back from the political class, from the media, from the liberal elite. It can be done, it must be done, join me and we will get it done. +p957 +aVWhat I think we need to stand for are solutions. I offer myself as a leader to the people of this country because I think they're looking for solutions, not lawyers arguing over laws or entertainers throwing out sound bites that draw media attention. We need to solve the problem. To solve the problem, we need to do something here at home and something over there in their caliphate. We need to deny them territory. But here at home, we need to do two fundamental things. Number one, we need to recognize that technology has moved on. The Patriot Act was signed in 2001, roughly. The iPhone was invented in 2007. The iPad was invented in 2011. Snapchat and Twitter, all the rest of it, have been around just for several years. Technology has moved on, and the terrorists have moved on with it. Let me tell you a story. Soon after 9/11, I got a phone call from the NSA. They needed help. I gave them help. I stopped a truckload of equipment. I had it turned around. It was escorted by the NSA into headquarters. We need the private sector's help, because government is not innovating. Technology is running ahead by leaps and bound. The private sector will help, just as I helped after 9/11. But they must be engaged, and they must be asked. I will ask them. I know them. +p958 +aVYou know, listening to this conversation, let me just say, we have a lot of argument about laws but none of it solves the problem. Let's examine what happened, why did we miss the Tsarnaev brothers, why did we miss the San Bernardino couple? It wasn't because we had stopped collected metadata it was because, I think, as someone who comes from the technology world, we were using the wrong algorithms. This is a place where the private sector could be helpful because the government is woefully behind the technology curve. But secondly, the bureaucratic processes that have been in place since 9/11 are woefully inadequate as well. What do we now know? That DHS vets people by going into databases of known or suspected terrorists. And yet, we also know that +p959 +aVThey do not need to be forced. They need to be asked to bring the best and brightest, the most recent technology to the table. I was asked as a CEO. I complied happily. And they will as well. But they have not been asked. That's why it cost billions of dollars to build an Obama website that failed because the private sector wasn't asked. +p960 +aVI hope at some point you're going to ask me my strategy. +p961 +aVWell, first I'll just point out that talking tough is not the same as being strong. And to wage war, we need a commander in chief who has made tough calls in tough times and stood up to be held accountable over and over, not first-term senators who've never made an executive decision in their life. One of the things I would immediately do, in addition to defeating them here at home, is bring back the warrior class \u2014 Petraeus, McChrystal, Mattis, Keane, Flynn. Every single one of these generals I know. Every one was retired early because they told President Obama things that he didn't want to hear. We must have Sunni-Arabs involved in this coalition. We must commit leadership, strength, support and resolve. I'll just add that Margaret Thatcher once said, "If you want something talked about, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman." +p962 +aVThat is exactly what President Obama said. I'm amazed to hear that from a republican presidential candidate. But let's just start with, who got it wrong? Who really got it wrong? Hillary Clinton has gotten every foreign policy challenge wrong. Hitting the reset button with Vladimir Putin \u2013 recall that she called Bashar Al-Assad a positive reformer and then she opened an embassy and then later she said, over, and over, and over again, "Bashar Al-Assad must go." Although she wasn't prepared to do anything about it. Recall that Hillary Clinton was all for toppling Gadhafi then didn't listen to her own people on the ground. And then of course, when she lied about the terrorist attack in Benghazi, she invited more terrorist attacks. +p963 +aVWe've mismanaged going into Iraq. +p964 +aVWe've mismanaged going out of Iraq. +p965 +aVWe actually... +p966 +aVI didn't say I would cut off all communication with Putin. What I said was as president of the United States, now is not the time to talk with him. Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. There is a time and a place for everything. There is a time and a place for talk. And there is a time and a place for action. I know Vladimir Putin. He respects strength. He lied to our president's face; didn't both to tell him about warplanes and troops going into Syria. We need to speak to him from a position of strength. So as commander in chief, I will not speak to him until we've set up that no-fly zone; until we've gathered our Sunni-Arab allies and begun to deny +p967 +aVThis doesn't do a thing to solve the problems...It doesn't do a thing to solve the problems. +p968 +aVIt will not solve the problem. +p969 +aVLadies and gentleman, this is why the American people are standing up. +p970 +aVThis is why the nation is fed up... +p971 +aVWe have been talking about this... +p972 +aVSorry, but you haven't gotten to me. This is why... +p973 +aVthe people are fed up with the political class. +p974 +aVWell, first, Kim Jong-Un is a dangerous leader, without a doubt. And both Republican and Democrat administrations have been completely ineffective in dealing with him. So we must continue to isolate him. We will need China as part of that strategy. China is a rising adversary. So one of the things we have to do if we want China's support is to push back on China. They, too, recognize one thing \u2014 strength and their own economic interest. I have done business in China for 25 years, so I know that in order to get China to cooperate with us, we must first actually retaliate against their cyber-attacks so they know we're serious. We have to push back on their desire to control the trade route through the South China Sea through which flows $5 trillion worth of goods and services every year. We cannot let them control the disputed islands, and we must work with the Australians, the South Koreans, the Japanese and the Filipinos to contain China. And then we must ask for their support and their help with North Korea. Because believe it or not, China is as concerned about Kim Jong-Un as we are. +p975 +aVI too remember September 11th. I remember immediately putting into place security procedures all throughout our company that did business in 170 countries where we thought corporate interests would be attacked next. To take our country back, to keep our nation safe, we have to begin by beating Hillary Clinton. We need to unify our party. We need to better than our government, which 75 percent of the American people now think is corrupt and incompetent. They're right. We need to better than our politics. 80 percent think we have a professional/political class of both parties that cares more about its power, position and privilege than actually on getting anything done. We need to unify our party, we need a real Conservative in the White House, and we need to beat Hillary Clinton to take our country back and keep our nation safe. I can. I am. And together, if you join me, we will take our country back. +p976 +aVWell, first of all, I must say as I think about that question, I think about a woman I met the other day. I would guess she was 40 years old. She had several children. And she said to me, you know, Carly, I go to bed every night afraid for my children's future. And that really struck me. This is America. A mother is going to bed afraid for her children's future. And the reason she's afraid for her children's future is because we've had problems for a long time. Yes, problems have gotten much worse under Democrats. But the truth is, this government has been growing bigger and bigger, more corrupt, less effective, crushing the engine of economic growth for a very long time. This isn't about just replacing a Democrat with a Republican now. It's about actually challenging the status quo of big government. Big government has created a big business called politics. And there are lots of people invested in the status quo of that big business called politics. Specifically, we need actually to do five things to really get this economy going again. We need to go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dollar is being spent, we can challenge any dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. We need to actually reform the tax code. Go to a three-page tax code. Yes, there are plans that would reform our tax code to three pages. In addition to rolling back what President Obama has done, we need to do a top-to-bottom review of every single regulation on the books. That hasn't been done in 50 years. We need to pass the +p977 +aVWell, first Obamacare has to be repealed because it's failing... ...it's failing the very people it was intended to help, but, also, it is croney-capitalism at its worst. Who helped write this bill? Drug companies, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, every single one of those kinds of companies are bulking up to deal with big government. See, that's what happens. As government gets bigger, and bigger \u2014 and it has been for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike \u2014 and business have to bulk up to deal with big government. So, we have to repeal it. It's tens of thousands of pages long, no one can possible understand it except the big companies, the lawyers, the accountants, the lobbyists that they hire to protect their interests. Then, we have to give back to states the responsibility to manage a high risk pool. We need to try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried. Health insurance has always been a cozy, little game between regulators and health insurance companies. We need to try the free market. The free market. Where people actually have to compete. And, we 'ought to have the government ensure that you must \u2014 and I don't use that term often, that government 'ought to do something, but every healthcare provider 'ought to publish its costs, its prices, its outcomes, because as patients we don't know what we're buying. Now, let me just say \u2014 let me just say, I know more about innovation and entrepreneurship than anyone on this panel because I have led innovative businesses in the most highly competitive industry in the world for decades. The truth is the secret sauce of America is innovation, and entrepreneurship, it is why we must cut our government down to size, and hold it accountable. It's why we have to take our government back, because innovation and entrepreneurship is crushed by the crushing load of a 73,000 page tax code. It is crushed... ...by regulatory thicket that is so vast we don't even know what's in it anymore. It is crushed as well by government bureaucrats who don't do their jobs very well, and who are not held accountable, which is why I've said we got to take our government back, and to do that, we have to know where every dollar being spent, and be able to move any dollar. We have to hack through this regulatory thicket, repeal so much, but, also, know what's in that regulatory thicket \u2014 we don't even know what regulations have been passed. Third, we need to build a meritocracy \u2014 Scott Walker, by the way, is trying now to do in Wisconsin... ...Finally, we need to get to a three page tax code, and, yes, that plan exists. +p978 +aVSorry, I can't hear you. +p979 +aV...Absolutely... +p980 +aV...You need to give... +p981 +aVThe alternative is to allow states to manage high risk pools for those who really need help. Look, I'm a cancer survivor, OK? I understand that you cannot have someone who's battled cancer just become known as a pre-existing condition. I understand that you cannot allow families to go bankrupt if they truly need help. But, I also understand that Obamacare isn't helping anyone. We're throwing more, and more people into Medicaid, and fewer, and fewer doctors are taking those payments. The point is Obamacare is crushing small businesses, it is not helping the families it was intended to help. So, let us allow states to manage high risk pools. Let us try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried, the free market. Let us ensure that as patients, and customers... +p982 +aV...that we have information to shop wisely for our health care. +p983 +aV...Yes, the middle ground is this... +p984 +aV...This is why \u2014 this is why we must combine, actually, zero-based budgeting with tax reform because unless we can examine, and cut, and move, every single dollar of discretionary spending in the federal government, we cannot reform taxes and reduce spending at the same time. Ask yourself this question, how is it possible that the federal government gets more money each and every year, which the federal government has been doing, receiving more money every year for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike, and yet, never has enough money to do the important things? The answer? All the money's always spoken for. All the money's spoken for. So, we have to go to zero-based budgeting, which is a simple idea \u2014 by the way, there's been a bill for zeros-based (ph) budgeting... ...It exists, it can be voted on. Every dollar must be examined. Any dollar can be cut. Any dollar can be cut, any dollar can be moved. We have to go to a three page tax code. You lower every rate, you close every loophole, why? Because the government uses the tax code to decide winners, and losers. You have to strip the corruption out of the tax code to pay for it. You have to know where every single dollar is being spent... +p985 +aV...Cut where you need to, and invest where you need to... +p986 +aV...The two go hand in hand... +p987 +aVYou know, Mr. Trump fancies himself a very good negotiator. And, I accept that he's done a lot of good deals, so, Mr. Trump 'ought to know that we should not speak to people from a position of weakness. Senator Paul should know that as well. One of the reasons I've said that I would not be talking to Vladimir Putin right now, although I have met him as well, not in a green room for a show, but in a private meeting. One of the reasons I've said I wouldn't be talking to Vladimir Putin right now is because we are speaking to him from a position of weakness brought on by this administration, so, I wouldn't talk to him for awhile, but, I would do this. I would start rebuilding the Sixth Fleet right under his nose, rebuilding the military \u2014 the missile defense program in Poland right under his nose. I would conduct very aggressive military exercises in the Baltic States so that he understood we would protect our +p988 +aV...we have the strongest military on the face of the planet, and everyone has to know it. +p989 +aV...Ronald Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. +p990 +aV...he walked away, he quit talks... +p991 +aV...when it was time to quit talking... +p992 +aVCan I just \u2014 could I just say, as a chief executive who's had to make tough calls to save jobs and to grow jobs, I think what's interesting about Dodd-Frank is it's a great example of how socialism starts. Socialism starts when government creates a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. Government created the problem. Government created the problem of a real estate boom. How did we create it? Under Republican and Democrats alike, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, everybody gathered together, Republicans and Democrats, and said, "home ownership is part of the American dream. Let's create a bubble," and then government stepped in \u2014 by the way, under president George W. Bush, banks were told \u2014 encouraged \u2014 told, really \u2014 to buy other banks, to take money. And now what do we have with Dodd-Frank? The classic of crony capitalism. The big have gotten bigger, 1,590 community banks have gone out of business, and on top of all that, we've created something called the Consumer Financial Production Bureau, a vast bureaucracy with no congressional oversight that's digging through hundreds of millions of your credit records to detect fraud. This is how socialism starts, ladies and gentlemen. We must take our government back. +p993 +aVImagine a Clinton presidency. Our military will continue to deteriorate. Our veterans will not be cared for. And, no, Mrs. Clinton, that situation is not exaggerated. The rich will get richer. The poor will get poorer. The middle class will continue to get crushed. And as bad as that picture is, what's even worse is that a Clinton presidency will corrode the character of this nation. Why? Because of the Clinton way: Say whatever you have to, lie as long as you can get away with it. We must beat Hillary Clinton. Carly Fiorina can beat Hillary Clinton. I will beat Hillary Clinton. And under a President Fiorina, we will restore the character of this nation, the security of this nation, the prosperity of this nation, because as citizens, we will take our government back. +p994 +aVWell, gee, after the last debate, I was told that I didn't smile enough. +p995 +aVBut I also think that these are very serious times; 75 percent of the American people think the federal government is corrupt. I agree with them. And this big powerful, corrupt bureaucracy works now only for the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected. Meantime, wages have stagnated for 40 years. We have more Americans out of work or just Americans who quit looking for work for 40 years. Ours was intended to be a citizen government. This is about more than replacing a D with an R. We need a leader who will help us take our government back. +p996 +aVLet me just say on taxes, how long have we been talking about tax reform in Washington, D.C.? We have been talking about it for decades. We now have a 73,000-page tax code. There have been more than 4,000 changes to the tax plan since 2001 alone. There are loads of great ideas, great conservative ideas from wonderful think tanks about how to reform the tax code. The problem is we never get it done. We have talked about tax reform in every single election for decades. It never happens. And the politicians always say it is so complicated, nobody but a politician can figure it out. The truth is this, the big problem, we need a leader in Washington who understands how to get something done, not to talk about it, not to propose it, to get it done. +p997 +aVThat's right, three pages. +p998 +aVYou know why three? +p999 +aVNo. You know why three? Because only if it's about three pages are you leveling the playing field between the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected who can hire the armies of lawyers and accountants and, yes, lobbyists to help them navigate their way through 73,000 pages. Three pages is about the maximum that a single business owner or a farmer or just a couple can understand without hiring somebody. Almost 60 percent of American people now need to hire an expert to understand their taxes. So yes, you're going to hear a lot of talk about tax reform \u2014 +p1000 +aV\u2014 the issue is who is going to get it done. +p1001 +aVYou know, the +p1002 +aVWell, this is one of the reasons why Tom Perkins and I had disagreements in the boardroom, Becky. Nevertheless, one of the things that I think people don't always understand is how accountable a CEO actually is. So you know, I had to report results every 90 days in excruciating detail. I had to answer every single question about every single result and every single projection in public until there were no more questions. And if I misrepresented those results or those projections in any way, I was held criminally liable. Imagine \u2014 imagine \u2014 if a politician were held to that standard of account. I will run on my record all day long. And I believe people need a leader who is prepared to make tough calls in tough times and stand up... +p1003 +aV...and be held accountable. +p1004 +aVYou know, I want to go back for a moment to what we were just talking about. Crony capitalism is alive and well, and has been so in Washington, D.C. for decades. What's crony capitalism? Crony capitalism is what happens when government gets so big and so powerful that only the big and the powerful can handle it. So why are the pharmaceutical companies consolidating? Why are there five even bigger Wall Street banks now, instead of the ten we used to have on Wall Street? Because when government gets big and powerful, the big feel like they need to get even bigger to deal with all that power, and meanwhile, the small and the powerless \u2014 in this case, 1,590 community banks \u2014 go out of business. You see, folks, this is how socialism starts. Government causes a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. This is why, fundamentally, we have to take our government back. The student loan problem has been created by government. Government trying to level the playing field between Internet and brick-and-mortar creates a problem. The FCC jumping in now and saying, "we're going to put 400 pages of regulation over the Internet," is going to create massive problems. But guess who pushed for that regulation? The big Internet companies. This is what's going on. Big and powerful use big and powerful government to their advantage. It's why you see Walgreens buying Rite Aid. It's why you see the pharmaceuticals getting together. It's you see the health insurance companies getting together. It's why you see the banks consolidating. And meanwhile, small businesses are getting crushed. Community- based businesses and farms are getting crushed. Community banks are going out of business. Big government favors the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected, and crushes the small and the powerless. +p1005 +aVIt is why we have to simplify. It is why we have to reduce the size and power of government. +p1006 +aVIt's the only way to level the playing field between big and powerful and small and powerless. +p1007 +aVBecky, it is the height of hypocrisy for Mrs. Clinton to talk about being the first woman President, when every single policy she espouses, and every single policy of President Obama has been demonstrably bad for women. 92 percent \u2014 92 percent of the jobs lost during Barack Obama's first term belonged to women. Senator Cruz is precisely right. Three million women have fallen into poverty under this administration. The number of women \u2014 +p1008 +aV\u2014 living in extreme poverty is the highest level on record. I am a conservative because I know our values, our principles and our policies \u2014 +p1009 +aV\u2014 work better to lift everyone up, men and women. +p1010 +aVNo, the Federal Government should not play a larger role. Look, every time the Federal Government gets engaged in something it gets worse. And then the Government steps in to try and solve the problem and we get a little further down to that progressive vision that Hillary Clinton is talking about. Companies should, if they want to attract the best workers, provide a good set of benefits. But honestly, if you're a small business owner today you are being crushed. We have 400,000 small businesses forming every year in this country. How great is that? They are employing themselves, they are potentially employing others. The bad news is, we have 470,000 going out of business every year. And why? They cite Obamacare. They are refusing to... +p1011 +aVI think it's a wonderful that that businesses start a 401(k). The point I'm making is this, the Federal Government should not be in a lot of things. There is no Constitutional role for the Federal Government in setting up \u2014 retirement plans. There is no Constitutional role for the Federal Government to be setting minimum wages... +p1012 +aV... The more the Government gets engaged in the economy, the slower the economy becomes. The more the Government gets engaged in the economy, it is demonstrably true... +p1013 +aV... The more the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected are advantaged. +p1014 +aVJohn, I \u2014 if I \u2014 a lot of people have jumped in here. I'd like to jump in. A lot of people have jumped in here. +p1015 +aVI understand. +p1016 +aVI would just say that... ... I would just say this, we've heard a lot of great ideas up here, and I agree with what Senator Rubio said. Every election we talk about this. Every election we talk about Medicare and Social Security reform. It never happens. I would like to start with a basic. Let us actually go to zero- based budgeting so we know where the money is being spent. It's kind of basic. There is a bill sitting in the House that would actually pass and have us go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dime of your money is being spent instead of only talking about how much more we're going to spend year after year after year. My point is this. While there are lots of good ideas for reform, we have never tackled the basics. And we finally need to tackle the basics to cut this government down to size and hold it accountable. So let's start by knowing where your money is being spent by the federal government. +p1017 +aVYou know, every election we hear a lot of talk. We hear a lot of good plans. We hear actually a lot of good intentions. But somehow for decades, nothing really has changed. What we need now is a proven leader who has produced results. That's how you go from secretary to CEO. You lead and you produce results. I will cut this government down to size and hold it accountable, simplify the tax code, roll back the regulations that have been spewing out of Washington, D.C. for 50 years. I may not be your dream candidate just yet, but I can assure you I am Hillary Clinton's worst nightmare. And in your heart of hearts, you cannot wait to see a debate between Hillary Clinton and Carly Fiorina. I will tell you this, I will beat Hillary Clinton. And with your vote and your support and your prayers, I will lead with the citizens of this great nation the resurgence of this great nation. +p1018 +aVGood evening. My story, from secretary to CEO, is only possible in this nation, and proves that everyone of us has potential. My husband, Frank, of 30 years, started out driving a tow truck for a family owned auto body shop. We have come to a pivotal point in our nation's history where this nation's possibilities and potential are being crushed by a government grown so big, so powerful, so inept, so corrupt, and a political class that refuses to do anything about it. I am prepared to lead the resurgence of this great nation. +p1019 +aVYou know, I think Mr. Trump is a wonderful entertainer. He's been terrific at that business. I also think that one of the benefits of a presidential campaign is the character and capability, judgment and temperament of every single one of us is revealed over time and under pressure. All of us will be revealed over time and under pressure. I look forward to a long race. +p1020 +aVThat's not for me to answer; it is for the voters of this country to answer, and I have a lot of faith in the common sense and good judgment of the voters of the United States of America. +p1021 +aVJake, I'll tell you \u2014 I'll tell you why people are supporting outsiders. It's because you know what happens if someone's been in the system their whole life, they don't know how broken the system is. A fish swims in water, it doesn't know it's water. It's not that politicians are bad people, it's that they've been in that system forever. The truth is 75 percent of the American people think the government is corrupt; 82 percent of the American people think these problems that have festered for 50 years in some cases, 25 years in other cases. The border's been insecure for 25 years; 307,000 veterans have died waiting for health care. These things have gone on for so long because no one will challenge the status quo. You know what a leader does? They challenge the status quo, they solve problems that have festered for a long time and they produce results. That is what my whole life has been about. People know this is about far more than replacing a D with an R \u2014 +p1022 +aV\u2014 this is about changing the system. +p1023 +aVHaving... +p1024 +aVHaving met Vladimir Putin, if I may... +p1025 +aVHaving met Vladimir Putin, I wouldn't talk to him at all. We've talked way too much to him. What I would do, immediately, is begin rebuilding the Sixth Fleet, I would begin rebuilding the missile defense program in Poland, I would conduct regular, aggressive military exercises in the Baltic states. I'd probably send a few thousand more troops into Germany. Vladimir Putin would get the message. By the way, the reason it is so critically important that every one of us know General Suleimani's name is because Russia is in Syria right now, because the head of the Quds force traveled to Russia and talked Vladimir Putin into aligning themselves with Iran and Syria to prop up Bashar al- Assad. Russia is a bad actor, but Vladimir Putin is someone we should not talk to, because the only way he will stop is to sense strength and resolve on the other side, and we have all of that within our control. We could rebuild the Sixth Fleet. I will. We haven't. We could rebuild the missile defense program. We haven't. I will. We could also, to Senator Rubio's point, give the Egyptians what they've asked for, which is intelligence. We could give the Jordanians what they've asked for... +p1026 +aV...bombs and materiel. We have not supplied it... +p1027 +aV...I will. We could arm the Kurds. They've been asking us for three years. All of this is within our control. +p1028 +aV...Jake... +p1029 +aV...Jake, ... +p1030 +aVAnd then it'll be my turn. +p1031 +aVJake? +p1032 +aVJake? +p1033 +aVDana, I'd like to... +p1034 +aVDana, I would like to link these two issues, both of which are incredibly important, Iran and Planned Parenthood. One has something to do with the defense of the security of this nation. The other has something to do with the defense of the character of this nation. You have not heard a plan about Iran from any politician up here, here is my plan. On day one in the Oval Office, I will make two phone calls, the first to my good friend to Bibi Netanyahu to reassure him we will stand with the state of Israel. The second, to the supreme leader, to tell him that unless and until he opens every military and every nuclear facility to real anytime, anywhere inspections by our people, not his, we, the United States of America, will make it as difficult as possible and move money around the global financial system. We can do that, we don't need anyone's cooperation to do it. And every ally and every adversary we have in this world will know that the United States in America is back in the leadership business, which is how we must stand with our allies. As regards Planned Parenthood, anyone who has watched this videotape, I dare Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama to watch these tapes. Watch a fully formed fetus on the table, it's heart beating, it's legs kicking while someone says we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain. This is about the character of our nation, and if we will not stand up in and force President Obama to veto this bill, shame on us. +p1035 +aVYou know, it's interesting to me, Mr. Trump said that he heard Mr. Bush very clearly and what Mr. Bush said. I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said. +p1036 +aVDana, with all being said to Mr. Trump... +p1037 +aVImmigration did not come up in 2016 because Mr. Trump brought it up. We talked about it in 2012, we talked about it in 2008. We talked about it in 2004. +p1038 +aVWe have been talking about it for 25 years. This is why people are tired of politicians. +p1039 +aVFirst let me say, We have just spent a good bit of time discussing, as Republicans, how to solve this problem. I would ask your audience at home to ask a very basic question. Why have Democrats not solved this problem? President Obama campaigned in 2007 and 2008 on solving the immigration problem. He entered Washington with majorities in the House and the Senate. He could have chosen to do anything to solve this pro \u2014 this problem. Instead, he chose to do nothing. Why? because the Democrats don't want this issue solved. +p1040 +aVThey want it to be an issue that they can use. As to birthright citizenship... +p1041 +aV...the truth is, you can't just wave your hands and say "the 14th Amendment is gonna go away." It will take an extremely arduous vote in Congress, followed by two-thirds of the states, and if that doesn't work to amend the Constitution, then it is a long, arduous process in court. And meanwhile, what will continue to go on is what has gone on for 25 years. With all due respect, Mr. Trump, we've been talking about illegal immigration for 25 years. San Francisco has been a sanctuary city since 1989. There are 300 of them. And meanwhile, what has happened? Nothing. The border remains insecure. The legal immigration system remains broken. Look, we know what it takes to secure a border. We've heard a lot of great ideas here. Money, manpower, technology... +p1042 +aV...mostly, apparently, leadership... +p1043 +aV...the kind of leadership that understands how to get results. +p1044 +aVBut you \u2014 you would stipulate, Mr. Trump, but not everyone agrees with you. +p1045 +aVOK. +p1046 +aVI led Hewlett Packard through a very difficult time, the worst technology recession in 25 years. The +p1047 +aV\u2014 out a full-page ad in the New York Times to say he was wrong, I was right. I was a terrific CEO, the board was dysfunctional. And he thinks I will make a magnificent president of the United States. +p1048 +aVYou know, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld is a well-known Clintonite and honestly had it out for me from the moment that I arrived at Hewlett Packard. But honestly, Mr. Trump, I find it quite rich that you would talk about this. You know, there are a lot of us Americans who believe that we are going to have trouble someday paying back the interest on our debt because politicians have run up mountains of debt using other people's money. That is in fact precisely the way you ran your casinos. You ran up mountains of debt, as well as losses, using other people's money, and you were forced to file for bankruptcy not once \u2014 +p1049 +aV\u2014 not twice, four times, a record four times. Why should we trust you to manage the finances \u2014 +p1050 +aV\u2014 of this nation any differently than you managed the finances \u2014 +p1051 +aV\u2014 of your casinos? +p1052 +aVWell \u2014 +p1053 +aVWell, Mr. Trump \u2014 +p1054 +aVA track record of leadership is not a game. It is the issue in this election. +p1055 +aVWell, I thought we had been hearing quite a bit about Govenor Christie's record as governor, actually. I think track records are very important. I completely agree that what's at stake here is the future of this nation, and the future of every American. But I do think that a track record of leadership is vital because in the end this election is about leadership. And let's talk about what leadership is. It's not about braggadocio, it is about challenging the status quo, solving problems, producing results. And the highest calling of leadership is to unlock potential in others. +p1056 +aVProblems have festered in Washington for too long. And the potential of this nation is being crushed. +p1057 +aVYou see, Governor Christie, people spend time talking about their track records, and Mr. Trump and I have every right to do the same. And Mrs. Clinton has to defend her track record. Her track record of lying about Benghazi, of lying about her e- mails, about lying about her servers. She does not have a track record of accomplishment. Like Mrs. Clinton, I, too, have travels hundreds of thousands of miles around the globe. But unlike Mrs. Clinton, I know flying is an activity, not an accomplishment. Mrs. Clinton \u2014 if you want to stump a Democrat, ask them to name a accomplishment of Mrs. Clinton's. +p1058 +aVWe just spent \u2014 we just spent the last 10 minutes... +p1059 +aV...Jake, since everyone has gotten to weigh in on this military issue, I'd like to be able to do the same. We have spent probably 12 minutes talking about the past. Let's talk about the future. We need the strongest military on the face of the planet, and everyone has to know it. And, specifically, what that means is we need about 50 Army brigades, we need about 36 Marine battalions, we need somewhere between 300, and 350 naval ships, we need to upgrade every leg of the nuclear triad... +p1060 +aV...we need to reform the Department of Defense, we need as well... +p1061 +aV...to invest in our military technology, and we need to care for our veterans so 307,000... +p1062 +aV...aren't dying waiting for health care. +p1063 +aVJake, may I just say... +p1064 +aVJake \u2014 Jake... +p1065 +aVI very much hope I am the only person on this stage who can say this, but I know there are millions of Americans out there who will say the same thing. My husband Frank and I buried a child to drug addiction. So, we must invest more in the treatment of drugs. +p1066 +aVI agree with Senator Paul. I agree with states' rights. But we are misleading young people when we tell them that marijuana is just like having a beer. It's not. And the marijuana that kids are smoking today is not the same as the marijuana that Jeb Bush smoked 40 years ago. We do \u2014 sorry, Barbara. We do need \u2014 we do need criminal justice reform. We have the highest incarceration rates in the world. Two-thirds of the people in our prisons are there for non-violent offenses, mostly drug related. It's clearly not working. But we need to tell young people the truth. Drug addiction is an epidemic, and it is taking too many of our young people. I know this sadly from personal experience. +p1067 +aVI wouldn't change the $10 bill, or the $20 bill. I think, honestly, it's a gesture. I don't think it helps to change our history. What I would think is that we ought to recognize that women are not a special interest group. Women are the majority of this nation. We are half the potential of this nation, and this nation will be better off when every woman has the opportunity to live the life she chooses. +p1068 +aVSecretariat. +p1069 +aVI think what this nation can be and must be is symbolized by Lady Liberty and Lady Justice. Lady Liberty stands tall and strong. She is clear-eyed and resolute. She doesn't shield her eyes from the realities of the world, but she faces outward into the world nevertheless, as we always must. And she holds her torch high, because she knows she is a beacon of hope in a very troubled world. And Lady Justice, Lady Justice holds a sword by her side, because she is a fighter, a warrior for the values and the principles that have made this nation great. She holds a scale in her other hand. And with that scale she says all of us are equal in the eyes of God. And so all of us must be equal in the eyes of the law and the government, powerful and powerless alike. And she wears a blindfold. And with that blindfold she is saying to us that it must be true, it can be true that in this country, in this century, it doesn't matter who you are, it doesn't matter what you look like, it doesn't matter how you start, it doesn't matter your circumstances, here in this nation, every American's life must be filled with the possibilities that come from their God-given gifts. One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. +p1070 +aVWhen America does not lead, the world is a dangerous and a tragic place. This is a bad deal. Obama broke every rule of negotiation. Yes, our allies are not perfect, but Iran is at the heart of most of the evil that is going on in the Middle East through their proxy. +p1071 +aVYou know, when I started my campaign on May 4th of last year, I was 17 out of 16 candidates. Nobody polled my name. Nobody had ever heard of me. Less than 4 percent of you had ever heard of me. The people in Iowa showed up and they are still showing up. Hundreds and hundreds of them at every event. I have done over 150 events in the state of Iowa and I have 15 more coming up. Now, by the way, I start there because someone asked me about midway through my campaign, what's the biggest surprise to you on the campaign trail? And I will tell you what the biggest surprise is: the chasm, the yawning chasm, between what the national media talks about and what the people of Iowa and the people of this great nation talk about. That's the biggest surprise. So guess what, Martha? Guess what, sorry. The people of Iowa never ask me about a crisis in the GOP, they never ask me about the polls. They never ask me about the other candidates. What they ask me about is Carly, tell us why zero based budgeting is so important. Tell us why you are a leader who is going to produce results. Tell us how you are going to defeat +p1072 +aVWell let me tell you this: news flash, President Obama, news flash, Mrs. Clinton -- climate change is not our most pressing national security threat. Actually -- actually, it is +p1073 +aVYou know, we have a professional, political class of both parties. We have been talking about the same issues for election cycle after election cycle. Yeah, government is big and out of control, and the only way to get it under control is to control the money. And the only way to control the money is to ask the federal government to budget the way you do, to examine every dollar, to cut any dollar to spend -- to move any dollar. The fancy word for that is zero-base budgeting. I call it common sense. That three-page tax code I talk about all the time here in Iowa? It's been around for 20 years. But politicians don't want to talk about it, and you bet the lobbyists don't want to talk about it. In fact, nobody wants to vote on a three-page tax code or zero- base budgeting, although they've both been around for a long time. You know why? Because if you get those two things done, you are goring everybody's ox. You are taking the political establishment apart. You are actually challenging the status quo, which is what we need in the Oval Office. So you know who I'm going to count on? The citizens of this great nation, because you have extraordinary power. But when you do not use it... ... you are losing it. So take out your smartphones, folks. The people of Iowa know what I'm talking about. You take out your smartphones. if you agree with me that three-page tax code needs to be passed, lobbyists aren't going to be in my office. If you agree we gotta finally pass zero-base budgeting, take out your smartphones. Press one for yes, ladies and gentlemen. Press two for no. Citizens, we must take our country back. +p1074 +aVWell, first of all, I haven't said that. What I have said is that in the process of examining every dollar, cutting any dollar and moving any dollar, we happen to know that in this vast federal bureaucracy we have about 260,000 federal government employees who are going to retire, and we shouldn't replace them. Secondly, at Hewlett Packard, as you know -- the people of Iowa know this -- we went through a tough time. The worst technology recession in 25 years -- a great company called Gateway used to do be right here in Iowa. But they didn't make the tough calls necessary to save all those jobs, and so they lost every one of those jobs. Yes, I've had to make some tough calls. We saved 80,000 jobs. We went on to grow to 160,000 jobs. And, frankly, I think the American people know we need a president who's going to make some tough calls. So let me tell you where I'm going to start. The American people got a bill passed through Congress that said we could fire the top 400 senior executives at the V.A. for dereliction of duty. When we know that 307,000 veterans have died waiting for health care and the V.A. handed out $142 million worth of bonuses for superb performance, I'm going to start by firing 400... ... senior executives at the V.A. +p1075 +aVHe is right there. He is right there. +p1076 +aVIt wasn't a personal attack. I was pointing out the fact that Hillary Clinton will do anything to gain and hang on to power, anything. Listen, if my husband did what Bill Clinton did, I would have left him long ago. So, here's the deal. Hillary Clinton has been climbing the ladder to try and get power and here now she is trying for the White House. She is probably more qualified for the big house, honestly. She has escaped prosecution more times than El Chapo, perhaps Sean Penn should interview her. The woman should be prosecuted. And while Mrs. Clinton has flown hundreds of thousands of world around the global, I have too. And I know flying is an activity not an accomplishment. While I know that she has held many positions and many titles she has not accomplished much of anything in her life. She has gotten every single foreign policy challenge wrong. She continues to lie to the American people. It's called the Clinton way. Both Bill and Hillary practice it, the Clinton way. Say whatever you have to say, do whatever you have to say. Lie as long as you can get away with it. Hillary Clinton cannot be the president of these United States. +p1077 +aVWell, you know, Hillary Clinton hasn't been indicted either. So that tells us a lot about our justice system in this country. But, look, the facts of Planned Parenthood have not changed, folks, and I will not be rendered silent on this issue or any other issue. And it doesn't matter what stage I'm on. Here are the facts. Planned Parenthood engages in partial birth abortion, in late-term abortion. They alter those abortion techniques to harvest and sell body parts. They have admitted that they are not going to accept compensation for this anymore. The reality is, most Americans find this practice horrific. Most Americans find horrific that Hillary Clinton's position on this is it's not a life until it's born. Most Americans find horrific Hillary Clinton's position or the Democrat party's position, that a young woman does not need her mother's permission to get an abortion. But if you are 13 years old, you can get an abortion, but you can't go to a tanning salon without your mother's permission. A president Fiorina -- in a president Fiorina budget, there will not be one dime for Planned Parenthood, although there would be a lot of money for women's health and we will finally pass the pain capable unborn child protection act. I will always stand for life and religious liberty... ... because this is about the character of our nation. +p1078 +aVMartha, can I just say we've been talking tonight about a lot of issues and we've also been talking about the fact that the game is rigged and frankly, the media has a lot to do with that. It is outrageous frankly, that Fox News, and you, would question the pro-life credentials of Rick Santorum. That is outrageous. +p1079 +aVIn over 150 events I have come to know and love the people of Iowa. And the people of Iowa know what the rest of Americans have figured out, this ain't working anymore. The government no longer works for those who pay for it. The professional political class says and does whatever they need to do to win, and then does whatever they please. We need to return to a citizen government. That is why I am running for President. The media, the establishment, they all want to tell you this elections over, they know who's going to win it, except that you haven't... ... cast a single vote yet. So, the people of Iowa, stand with me, fight with me. Caucus for me. It is time to take our country back. +p1080 +asVBUSH +p1081 +(lp1082 +VOur freedom is under attack. Our economy is under water. The leading democrat is under investigation. And America is under the gun to lead the free world to protect our civilized way of life. Serious times require strong leadership, that's what at stake right now. Regarding national security, we need to restore the defense cuts of Barack Obama to rebuild our military, to destroy +p1083 +aVWell, first of all, we need to destroy +p1084 +aVLook, he mentioned me. I can bring \u2014 I can talk. This is \u2014 this is the problem. Banning all Muslims will make it harder for us to do exactly what we need to do, which is to destroy +p1085 +aVThey are relevant if we want to destroy +p1086 +aVDonald, this has got... +p1087 +aVThis is another example of the lack of seriousness. Look, this is \u2014 this is troubling because we're at war. They've declared war on us and we need to have a serious strategy to destroy +p1088 +aVYou said on September 30th that +p1089 +aVI'm talking right now. I'm talking. +p1090 +aVSeptember 30th you said... +p1091 +aVA little of your own medicine there, Donald. +p1092 +aVDonald, you're not going to be able to insult your way to the presidency. That's not going to happen. And I do have the strength. Leadership, leadership is not about attacking people and disparaging people. Leadership is about creating a serious strategy to deal with the threat of our time. And I laid out that strategy before the attacks in Paris and before the attacks in San Bernardino. And it is the way forward. We need to increase our military spending. We need to deal with a no- fly zone in Syria, a safe zone. We need to focus on building a military that is second-to-none... +p1093 +aV... so that we can destroy Islamic terrorism. +p1094 +aVI think we're focusing a whole... +p1095 +aVI do. I think the lesson's learned are that we have to have to have a strategy to get and a strategy to get out. Which means, that you create a stable situation. This president and this is what the focus ought to be, it's not the differences between us, it's Barack Obama does not believe America's leadership in the world is a force for good. He does not believe that our strength is a place where security can take place. He leads from behind. He creates an environment that now we're creating the most unstable situation we've had since the World War II era. The focus ought to be on the single fact that Hillary Clinton wants to double down on a failed foreign policy and we need to be united to defeat that because we're going to be in a place that is far less secure than it is today. Don't you all agree? +p1096 +aVBecause I \u2014 first of all, I know what I don't know. I know what I don't know. I would seek out, as I have, the best advice that exists. I won't get my information from the shows. I don't know if that's Saturday morning or Sunday morning. I don't know which one. I will seek out the best advice, and I will create a strategy and I will persuade the American people what the role of America should be. I've laid out a policy of rebuilding our military. All of the talk that we're seeing here \u2014 most of which I agree on, frankly \u2014 requires a much stronger military. We now have a lack of readiness that is quite scary. We have planes that were \u2014 that Harry Truman inaugurated, the B-52. We have \u2014 the Navy has been gutted and decimated. The readiness of the Marines is way down. If we're serious about America's leadership in the world, then we need to make sure that we have the back of the armed forces. The Armed Forces Radio is here listening to this today. I hope they know that if I'm president, I'll be a commander-in-chief, not an agitator- in-chief or a divider-in-chief, that I will lead this country in a way that will create greater security and greater safety. +p1097 +aVSo I was \u2014 I was \u2014 I was mentioned, so I can bring up something, I think, right? Look, the simple fact is, if you think this is tough you're not being treated fairly... +p1098 +aV... imagine what it's going to be like dealing with Putin or dealing with President Xi. +p1099 +aVOr dealing with the Islamic terrorism that exists. +p1100 +aVThis is a tough business to run for president. +p1101 +aVAnd it's \u2014 and we need...... to have a leader that is... +p1102 +aVYou're never going to be president of the United States by insulting your way to the presidency. +p1103 +aVDoesn't matter. Doesn't matter. +p1104 +aVYes. +p1105 +aVNo it isn't but it is an important subject to talk about for sure. And I think people have good ideas on this. Clearly, we need to secure the border. Coming here legally needs to be a lot easier than coming here illegally. If you don't have that, you don't have the rule of law. We now have a national security consideration, public health issues, we have an epidemic of heroine overdoses in all places in this country because of the ease of bringing heroine in. We have to secure the border. It is a serious undertaking and yes, we do need more fencing and we do need to use technology, and we do need more border control. And we need to have better cooperation by the way with local law enforcement. There are 800,000 cops on the beat, they ought to be trained to be the eyes and ears for law enforcement for the threat against terror as well as for immigration. This is a serious challenge and if we can get it right, yes, we'll start winning votes again. The real problem isn't anybody on this stage, the real problem is Barack Obama has had six years to advocate a position to fix this and he's done nothing. The congress has funded these programs of building more fencing and doing all this and he hasn't done it. He wants to maintain it as a wedge issue and so does Hillary Clinton. Republicans need to fix it and when we do, we'll be better off. +p1106 +aVI completely agree with Chris. And this administration has been so lax. Think about it. Hillary Clinton is using a private server for \u2014 where classified information go by. This is a \u2014 this is a serious administration? The president receives an inspector general's report that the Office of Personnel Management could be hacked into; they had antiquated firewalls; 23 million files have been \u2014 are in the hands of the Chinese allegedly, including, by the way, members of the press, it turns out, last week. Maybe that's the only part that's good news, so that you guys can get a feel for what it's like now to see this type of attack. This is something \u2014 we have to have the best defensive capabilities. We need to coordinate all of our efforts with the private sector. We need to give them liability relief so that we can do that. And offensively, we need to have capabilities second to none. We need to create a situation where they know that there will be adverse impacts if they continue to do what they're doing. They'll respect that. They'll respect a United States that is serious about protecting our \u2014 our infrastructure. If we don't do it, we'll continue to see what's \u2014 exactly what's happening, not just from the Chinese, by the way. The Russians and rogue actors, including +p1107 +aVAsk yourself, which candidate will keep you and our country safer, stronger and freer? Hillary Clinton has aligned herself with Barack Obama on +p1108 +aVYou've already made two comments, John. It's my turn. +p1109 +aVI got about four minutes in the last debate. I'm going to get my question right now. +p1110 +aVYes. +p1111 +aVFirst of all, we could get to 4 percent growth. The new normal of 2 percent puts huge demands on government. The reason why we have structural deficits is that more and more people are relying on government and the growth that we don't have makes \u2014 makes the deficit grow. A 4 percent growth strategy starts with tax reform. And the proposal that I've laid out is the one the Wall Street Journal editorial board has said is the most pro-growth of all the proposals out there. We cut the \u2014 we eliminate a lot of deductions and cut the rates down. A corporate rate of 20 percent, which puts us 5 percent above \u2014 below that of China, and allows us full expensing of investing. It would create an explosion of investment back into this country, creating higher-wage jobs, and so that's part of it. On the regulatory side I think we need to repeal every rule that Barack Obama has in terms of work in progress, every one of them. And start over. For those that are already in existence, the regulation of the Internet, we have to start over, but we ought to do that. The clean power act, we ought to repeal that and \u2014 and start over on that. The waters of the United States act, which is going to be devastating for agriculture and many industries, we should repeal that. We should repeal the rules because the economic costs of this far exceed the social benefit. And if we're serious about being serious about high growth, then we have to recognize that small businesses right now, more of them are closing than \u2014 than are \u2014 than are being set up. Hillary Clinton has said that Barack Obama's policies get an A. Really? One in 10 people right now aren't working or have given up altogether, as you said. That's not an A. One in seven people are living in poverty. That's not an A. One in five children are on food stamps. That is not an A. It may be the best that Hillary Clinton can do, but it's not the best America can do. +p1112 +aVThank you, Donald, for allowing me to speak at the debate. That's really nice of you. Really appreciate that. What a generous man you are. Twelve million illegal immigrants, to send them back, 500,000 a month, is just not \u2014 not possible. And it's not embracing American values. And it would tear communities apart. And it would send a signal that we're not the kind of country that I know America is. And even having this conversation sends a powerful signal \u2014 they're doing high-fives in the Clinton campaign right now when they hear this. That's the problem with this. We have to win the presidency. And the way you win the presidency is to have practical plans. Lay them out there. What we need to do is allow people to earn legal status where they pay a fine, where they work, where they don't commit crimes, where they learn English, and over an extended period of time, they earn legal status. That's the path \u2014 a proper path... +p1113 +aVI'm gonna fight as hard as I can to make sure that we shift power away from Washington, simplify the tax code, to spur economic activity in this country. Of course it's the highest priority. If we don't do that, we're stuck with the "new normal" of 2 percent growth. Hillary Clinton says, basically, we just gotta get used to it. Two percent growth means declining income for the middle class. It means more than 6 million people are stuck in poverty than the day that Barack Obama was inaugurated. It means \u2014 it means more demands on government \u2014 growing the economy is the first job, if we're going to be serious about dealing with the deficit and debt. And more importantly, people are really struggling right now. In this economy, the disposable income of the great middle is down 2,300 bucks. So yeah, we've created jobs, your \u2014 argue (ph) \u2014 brought that up early, and it was a good question. Jobs are being created, but they're lower-income jobs than the jobs that were lost. And the net effect of this is we need to jump-start the economy. I think of Jonathan (ph) and Reagan Love (ph), who are supporters of mine. Jonathan has been deployed by the National Guard, he is \u2014 he's in Oklahoma. Reagan Love \u2014 by the way, pretty great name, I think \u2014 is a teacher. When \u2014 if they had this tax cut, what they told me was that that $2,300 of money in their pocket \u2014 they would go back to South Carolina and start a business. Imagine what it would be like, instead of having more businesses closed than started, we had it the exact opposite. We would grow our economy, and the government would get the revenue necessary to make things \u2014 make things better. Hillary Clinton's approach to this is more top-down, more regulation, more taxes, more government, and it will destroy our economy. +p1114 +aVIt is \u2014 I'd say it is Islamic terrorism, and, back to the question of what we are dealing with in Iraq, when we pull back voids are filled. That's the lesson of history, and, sadly, this president does not believe in American leadership. He does not believe it, and the net result is that we have a caliphate the size of Indiana that gains energy each and everyday to recruit Americans in our own country, and the threat to the homeland relates to the fact that we have not dealt with this threat of terror in the Middle East. We should have a no fly zone in Syria. We should have a support for the remnants of the Syrian Free Army, and create safe zones. If you want to deal with the four million refugees that are leaving Syria because of the devastation there, then we 'ought to create safe zones for them to stay in the region rather than go to Europe. And, that requires American leadership. Without American leadership every other country in the neighborhood beings to change their priorities. It is tragic that you see Iraq, and other countries now talking to Russia. It wasn't that long ago that Russia had no influence in the region at all. And, so, the United States needs to lead across the board. This president, and Hillary Clinton both do not believe the United States has a leadership role to play, and we're now paying a price, and it will have a huge impact on the economy of this country if we don't deal with this. +p1115 +aV...They're not doing that... +p1116 +aV +p1117 +aVDonald \u2014 Donald's wrong on this. He is absolutely wrong on this. We're not going to be the world's policeman, but we sure as heck better be the world's leader. That's \u2014 there's a huge difference where, without us leading... ...voids are filled, and the idea that it's a good idea for Putin to be in Syria, let +p1118 +aVWe're not \u2014 we shouldn't have another financial crisis. What we ought to do is raise the capital requirements so banks aren't too big to fail. Dodd-Frank has actually done the opposite, totally the opposite, where banks now have higher concentration of risk in assets and the capital requirements aren't high enough. If we were serious about it, we would raise the capital requirements and lessen the load on the community banks and other financial institutions. This vast overreach has created a huge problem for our country, and Hillary Clinton wants to double down on that. I was in Washington, Iowa, about three months ago talking about how bad Washington, D.C., is. It was \u2014 get the \u2014 kind of the \u2014 anyway. We had... It \u2014 and I talked to a banker there. This is a bank that had $125 million of assets, four branches. Their compliance costs because of Dodd-Frank went from $100,000 to $600,000 in a two-year period. The net effect of that is \u2014 and they had \u2014 they had not one loan that went bad during the financial crisis. They knew \u2014 they knew their borrowers. They gave back to the community. They were engaged in the community. And imagine America without its community banks. Well, that's what's happening because of Dodd-Frank. That's \u2014 that's my worry. My worry is that the real economy has been hurt by the vast overreach of the Obama administration. And Hillary Clinton, she wants to double down on that. She wants to create even more so. She is a captive of the left of her party to the point now where she is \u2014 she was for the trade agreement in \u2014 the Pacific agreement. Now she's against it. She was \u2014 hinted she was for the XL pipeline. Now she's opposed to it. All the things that would create sustained economic growth she's now doubling down against it. +p1119 +aVYou could, if you were serious about... +p1120 +aVNo, I can't say that. But I can say, if you created higher capital requirements, that's the solution to this, not having concentration of assets. The bigger banks now have more and more control over \u2014 over the financial assets of this country. And that is the wrong approach to take. +p1121 +aVMaria? +p1122 +aV...We've had a 10% reduction in carbon emissions, and it isn't because of Solyndra. It isn't because of the central planners in Washington D.C. It's because we've had a great American success story, the explosion of natural gas. Taking two existing technologies, and applying it through innovation has created lower carbon emissions, lower energy costs \u2014 40% of all the economic activity in the age of Obama has come from the energy sector, and Hillary Clinton wants to suppress that. We \u2014 I think we ought to be expanding this. High growth is the path to lower carbon, and more jobs. I know for a fact, as Governor of the State of Florida, we created the largest land purchasing programs, and environment clean-up programs because we had a growing economy. Our revenues were growing at 4.4%. It allowed for resources to be able to protect the natural system. We got to get to a conservation... ...in environmental policy that goes beyond just carbon... +p1123 +aVJane Horton is sitting with my wife here today. Her husband, Chris, was killed in action in Afghanistan. And Jane spends her time now defending and fighting for military families. They're both heroes. I don't think we need an agitator-in-chief or a divider-in-chief. We need a commander-in-chief that will rebuild our military and restore respect to our veterans by revamping and fixing a broken Veterans Administration, That's my pledge to you. I ask for your support. Thank you. +p1124 +aVYou know, I am by my nature impatient. And this is not an endeavor that rewards that. You gotta be patient. You gotta be \u2014 stick with it, and all that. But also, I can't fake anger. I believe this is still the most extraordinary country on the face of the Earth. And it troubles me that people are rewarded for tearing down our country. It's never been that way in American politics before. I can't do it. I just don't believe that this country's days are going to be deeply \u2014 you know, going down. I think we're on the verge of the greatest time, and I want to fix the things to let people rise up. +p1125 +aVCould I \u2014 could I bring something up here, because I'm a constituent of the senator and I helped him and I expected that he would do constituent service, which means that he shows up to work. He got endorsed by the Sun-Sentinel because he was the most talented guy in the field. He's a gifted politician. But Marco, when you signed up for this, this was a six-year term, and you should be showing up to work. I mean, literally, the Senate \u2014 what is it, like a French work week? You get, like, three days where you have to show up? You can campaign, or just resign and let someone else take the job. There are a lot of people living paycheck to paycheck in Florida as well, they're looking for a senator that will fight for them each and every day. +p1126 +aVHe wasn't my senator. +p1127 +aVWell, I've been \u2014 +p1128 +aVNo, no. What I said was I don't believe that I would be president of the United States and have the same dysfunction that exists in Washington, D.C. now. +p1129 +aVDon't vote for me if you want to keep the gridlock in Washington, D.C. +p1130 +aVBut if you want someone who has a proven, effective leadership, that was a governor of a state, that transformed the culture there, elect me so I can fight for the American people and change the culture in Washington, D.C. +p1131 +aV, the great majority of Republicans and Americans believe in a hopeful future. They don't believe in building walls and a pessimistic view of the future. They're concerned that Washington is so dysfunctional it is holding them back. There are lids on people's aspirations. Think about it: six and a half million people working part-time. Workforce participation rates lower than they were in 1977. Six million more people living in poverty than the day that Barack Obama got elected president, and the left just wants more of the same. We have to offer a compelling alternative that is based on hope and optimism and grounded in serious policy, which I've laid out. And you can go get it at jeb2016.com. +p1132 +aVWell, the deal was done. Barack Obama got his massive tax increase, and there was no spending cuts. You just see the recent deal announced today or yesterday, more spending, more tax increasing, more regulation. And now we have to accept 2 percent, the new normal for economic growth. And the net result is the middle class has $2,300 less in their pockets than the day that Barack Obama got elected president. And now they see Hillary Clinton proposing a third term of economic policy for our country. We need to reverse that. And my record was one of cutting taxes each and every year. You don't have to guess about it, because I actually have a record. $19 billion of tax cuts, 1.3 million jobs created. We were one of two states to go to AAA bond rating, and our government spending was far less than the spending in people's income. +p1133 +aVYou find me... +p1134 +aVYou find me a Democrat \u2014 you find me a Democrat that will cut spending ten dollars? Heck, find me a Republican in Congress that would cut spending ten dollars. I'll talk to them. +p1135 +aVLook, the \u2014 the deal is already done. The biggest tax increase happened under the watch of Barack Obama, and spending's gone up. You find a Democrat that's for cutting taxes \u2014 cutting spending ten dollars, I'll give them a warm kiss. +p1136 +aVLook, the \u2014 the simple fact is that my plan actually gives the middle class the greatest break: $2,000 per family. And if you make $40,000 a year, a family of four, you don't pay any income tax at all. Simplifying the code and lowering rates, both for corporations and \u2014 and personal rates, is exactly what we need to do. You think about the regulatory cost and the tax cost \u2014 that's why small businesses are closing, rather than being formed in our country right now. The big corporations have the scale to deal with all of this. And what I think all of us are saying is, our monetary policy, our tax policy, regulatory policy needs to be radically changed so we can create high sustained growth for income to rise. The government has tried it their way. Under \u2014 under Barack Obama and the proposals of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and others, they've tried it their way, and it has failed miserably. We need to take a new approach of taxing \u2014 reforming how we tax, and reforming the regulations in our \u2014 in our country before it's too late. +p1137 +aVWe don't need the federal government to be involved in this at all. +p1138 +aVWe don't need the Federal Government to be involved in this, because when they do we create a $1.2 trillion debt. In Florida, we have the lowest in-state tuition of any state, because there's accountability, just as John said. Let the states do this. You'll create a much better graduation rate at a lower cost, and you won't in debt the next generation with recourse debt on their backs. It's always a solution of the left to create more Government from the Federal Government. It is broke, it is not working. +p1139 +aVWell, first of all, I'm 7 and 0 in my fantasy league. +p1140 +aVGronkowski is still going strong. I have Ryan Tannehill, Marco, as my quarterback, he was 18 for 19 last week. So I'm doing great. But we're not gambling. And I think this has become something that needs to be looked at in terms of regulation. Effectively it is day trading without any regulation at all. And when you have insider information, which apparently has been the case, where people use that information and use big data to try to take advantage of it, there has to be some regulation. If they can't regulate themselves, then the NFL needs to look at just, you know, moving away from them a little bit. And there should be some regulation. I have no clue whether the federal government is the proper place, my instinct is to say, hell no, just about everything about the federal government. +p1141 +aVBecky \u2014 +p1142 +aV\u2014 the governor's absolutely right. But we also need to reform Medicare and Social Security. We can't just allow it to continue on its current path the way that Hillary Clinton wants to do because there'll be major reductions in benefits in the next decade if we do nothing. I have a concrete plan to do just that, which allows people to keep HSAs to encourage savings, it allows for people that are retiring with Social Security to be able to get a minimum of 125 percent of the poverty level so that there is a baseline that in this generous country of ours no one goes below. +p1143 +aVYou have to reform Social Security, and the simple way to do it is to make sure that the wealthiest don't receive the same benefits as people that are lower-income. And make sure you enhance savings in the private market. The idea of 401(k)s. I have a small business that I set up. It took \u2014 it took an arm and a leg to be able to set up a 401(k). Because of all the federal mandates and federal laws, it was too expensive. We need to incent private savings and make sure that Social Security is protected for those that have it. +p1144 +aVBut the idea that you can't \u2014 that you're just gonna grow your way out of this \u2014 I have a plan to grow the economy at 4 percent, but you're gonna have to make adjustments for both Medicare and Social Security. [ +p1145 +aVAmerica's at a crossroads. The D.C. politicians continue to make things worse. I have a proven record of success, 32 years in business, and 8 years as Governor of the state of Florida. I will change the culture in Washington, just as I changed the culture in Tallahassee. I will do so in a way that will bring people together. We need a unifier, not a cynical divider in chief, and that's exactly what I will do. Imagine a country where people are lifted out of poverty again. Imagine a country where the middle class can get rising income again. I know we can do this because we're still the most extraordinary country on the face of the Earth. +p1146 +aVI'm Jeb Bush, and I believe America's on the verge of its greatest century, and I'm ready to lead. I'm a committed, conservative reformer that cut taxes, that balanced budgets, that took on the special interest in Florida, and we won. I look forward to talking tonight about how we can fix a broken Washington D.C., and create an environment where people can rise up again in this great country. Thank you. +p1147 +aVI think the voters will make that determination. But what I know to be true is that the next president of the United States is going to have to fix an extraordinary difficult situation. This administration, with President Obama and Hillary Clinton, has created insecurity the likes of which we never would've imagined. There's not a place in the world where we're better off today than six and a half years ago. And that requires a steadiness. That requires an understanding of how the world works. That requires an understanding and appreciation of American leadership in the world. You can't just, you know, talk about this stuff and insult leaders around the world and expect a good result. You have to do this with a steady hand, and I believe I have those skills. +p1148 +aVNo. Absolutely not. People are supporting me because I have a proven record of conservative leadership where I cut taxes $19 billion over eight years. We shrunk the state government workforce, we created a climate that led the nation in job growth seven out of eight years. We were one of two states to go to AAA bond rating. People know that we need principle-centered leadership, a disrupter to go to Washington, D.C. The one guy that had some special interests that I know of that tried to get me to change my views on something \u2014 that was generous and gave me money \u2014 was Donald Trump. He wanted casino gambling in Florida \u2014 +p1149 +aVYes you did. +p1150 +aVYou wanted it and you didn't get it because I was opposed to \u2014 +p1151 +aV\u2014 casino gambling before \u2014 +p1152 +aVduring and after. And that's not \u2014 I'm not going to be bought by anybody. +p1153 +aVNo way. Believe me. +p1154 +aVNot even possible. +p1155 +aVYou've got, according to your \u2014 to what you said on one of the talk shows, you got Hillary Clinton to go to your wedding \u2014 +p1156 +aV\u2014 because you gave her money. Maybe it works for Hillary Clinton \u2014 +p1157 +aV\u2014 it doesn't work for anybody on this \u2014 on stage. +p1158 +aVBut the simple fact is \u2014 +p1159 +aVNo. The simple fact is, Donald, you could not take \u2014 +p1160 +aVI was asked the question. +p1161 +aVSo he supports Pelosi, he supports Schumer, he supports Clinton \u2014 +p1162 +aVWhen he \u2014 and he \u2014 when he asked \u2014 when he asked Florida to have casino gambling, we said no. +p1163 +aVWe said no. And that's the simple fact. The simple fact is \u2014 +p1164 +aVDon't cut me off. +p1165 +aVNo, I don't think so, but we need to be strong against China. We should use offensive tactics as it relates to cyber security, send a deterrent signal to China. There should be super sanctions in what President Obama has proposed. There's many other tools that we have without canceling a dinner. That's not going to change anything, but we can be much stronger as it relates to that. As it relates to Iran, it's not a strategy to tear up an agreement. A strategy would be how do we confront Iran? And, the first thing that we need to do is to establish our commitment to Israel which has been altered by this administration. And, make sure that they have the most sophisticated weapons to send a signal to Iran that we have Israel's back. If we do that, it's going to create a healthier deterrent effect than anything else I can think of. +p1166 +aVI don't think \u2014 you're not stating my views right. +p1167 +aVI think there needs to be accommodation for someone acting on faith. Religious conscience is \u2014 is \u2014 is a first freedom. It's \u2014 it's a powerful part of our \u2014 of our Bill of Rights. And, in a big, tolerant country, we should respect the rule of law, allow people in \u2014 in \u2014 in this country \u2014 I'm a \u2014 I was opposed to the decision, but we \u2014 you can't just say, "well, they \u2014 gays can't get married now." But this woman, there should be some accommodation for her conscience, just as there should be for people that are florists that don't want to participate in weddings, or bakers. A great country like us should find a way to have accommodations for people so that we can solve the problem in the right way. This should be solved at the local level... +p1168 +aVAnd so we do agree, Mike. +p1169 +aVWell, he's wrong on a lot of things, but on this he's wrong because I'm the most pro-life governor on this stage. I got to act on my core beliefs. It's part of who I am. Life is a gift from God. And from beginning end we need to respect it and err on the side of life. And so I defunded Planned Parenthood. We created a climate where parental notification took place. We were the only state to fund crisis pregnancy centers with state moneys. We were totally focused on this. And I would bring that kind of philosophy to Washington, D.C. So here is a solution to this. Title X of the HHS funding, there is something that was the "Reagan Rule." It was passed in 1988. And in that rule it was defined, and the courts approved this, that a Planned Parenthood, you couldn't separate the money between the actual abortion procedures, and there are 330,000 abortions that take place in this clinic, and their promotion of it. He interpreted it the right way, the courts ruled in his favor, and Planned Parenthood did not get funding during that time until President Clinton came in. When I'm elected president, we will restore that interpretation of Title X. And this deal will be finished. +p1170 +aVThere are 13,000 community-based organizations that provide health services to women, 13,000 in this country. I don't believe that Planned Parenthood should get a penny from the federal government. Those organizations should get funding, just as I increased funding when I was governor of the state. That's the way you do this is you improve the condition for people. And, Donald, when I was governor, we also increased the opportunities for women. Women's income grew three times faster than the national average when I was governor. +p1171 +aVWe improved \u2014 we improved \u2014 +p1172 +aV\u2014 we increased child support \u2014 we increased child support with a broken system by 90 percent. +p1173 +aVI have a proven record. I have a proven record. +p1174 +aVHe did, he did. You're proud of your family, just as I am. +p1175 +aVTo subject my wife into the middle of a raucous political conversation was completely inappropriate, and I hope you apologize for that, Donald. +p1176 +aVShe is. She's fantastic. +p1177 +aVShe is absolutely the love of my life, and she's right here... +p1178 +aVAnd why don't you apologize to her right now. +p1179 +aVYeah. +p1180 +aVSo, here's the deal. My wife is a Mexican-American. She's an American by choice. She loves this country as much as anybody in this room, and she wants a secure border. But she wants to embrace the traditional American values that make us special and make us unique. We're at a crossroads right now. Are we going to take the Reagan approach, the hopeful optimistic approach, the approach that says that, you come to our country legally, you pursue your dreams with a vengeance, you create opportunities for all of us? Or the Donald Trump approach? The approach that says that everything is bad, that everything is coming to an end. I... +p1181 +aVI'm on the Reagan side of this. +p1182 +aVLook, first of all, I wrote a book about this, three \u2014 four years ago, now. And I laid out a comprehensive, conservative approach for immigration reform. And it does require securing the border. No one disagrees with that. But to build a wall, and to deport people \u2014 half a million a month \u2014 would cost hundreds of billions of dollars, Donald. Hundreds of billions of dollars. It would destroy community life, it would tear families apart. And it would send a signal to the rest of the world that the United States values that are so important for our long-term success no longer matter in this country. +p1183 +aVWell, I've been speaking English here tonight, and I'll keep speaking English. But the simple fact is, if a high school kid asks me a question in Spanish, a school \u2014 by the way, a voucher program that was created under my watch, the largest voucher program in the country, where kids can go to a Christian school, and they ask me a question in Spanish, I'm going to show respect and answer that question in Spanish. Even though they do speak English, and even though they embrace American values. +p1184 +aVYeah. +p1185 +aVWell, first of all, Hugh, if you're looking at Republican advisers, you have to go to the last two administrations. That happened to be 41 and 43. So just by definition, if you're \u2014 and many of the people here that are seeking advice from the foreign policy experts in the Republican side, they \u2014 they served in my dad's administration, my brother's administration. Of course that's the case. But I'm my own man. I'm going to create a strategy that is based on the simple fact that the United States needs to lead the world. The first thing that we need to do is to stop the craziness of the sequester. Rebuild our military so that our \u2014 so that we don't deploy people over and over again without the necessary equipment to keep them safe, to send a signal to the world that we're serious. If we're going to lead the world, then we need to have the strongest military possible. We need to rebuild our counterintelligence and intelligence capabilities. We need to focus on the fact that the next president is going to start in 2017, not in 1990 \u2014 you know, 30 years ago, or when my brother started. The world is dramatically different. And I believe that we need to restore America's presence and leadership in the world. Name a country where our relationship is better today than it was the \u2014 the day that Barack Obama got elected president. Under Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama, we have seen a weakness that now creates huge problems for the next president of the United States. So I'll have a team that will be \u2014 that will be following the doctrine I set up, and it will be peace through strength. We're sitting here in this library, which is a wonderful place to talk about this, because that's exactly what happened in the 1980s, and the world was a lot safer because of... +p1186 +aVThe leadership of Ronald Reagan and my... +p1187 +aVSo you \u2014 the \u2014 the first chance... +p1188 +aVRight after me, and then I'll \u2014 I'll yield \u2014 yield the floor. What do you guys say in the Senate when you're talking and debating? +p1189 +aVHere's the facts: When Donald Trump talks about judgment, what was his position on who would've been the best negotiator to deal with Iran? It wasn't a Republican; it was Hillary Clinton. That's what you believe. I mean, the lack of judgment and the lack of understanding about how the world works is really dangerous in this kind of time that we're saying. So is that the judgment that you bring to the table, that Hillary Clinton... +p1190 +aV... is a great negotiator, that she could bring about a better deal on Iran? +p1191 +aVYou know what? As it relates to my brother, there's one thing I know for sure. He kept us safe. I don't know if you remember... ... Donald... ... you remember the \u2014 the rumble? You remember the fire fighter with his arms around it? He sent a clear signal that the United States would be strong and fight Islamic terrorism, and he did keep us safe. +p1192 +aVThat's \u2014 that's my brother. +p1193 +aVHere's the lessons of history: When we \u2014 we pull back, voids are created. We left Iraq. We should've had a \u2014 a forces agreement to stay there with a small force, and instead of that, we politically and militarily pulled back, and now we have the creation of +p1194 +aV... because of what President Obama's done by pulling back. +p1195 +aVWell, I'm surprised Senator Cruz would say that since he was as strong supporter of John Roberts at the time. I will talk about what I will do as it relates to appointing Supreme Court Justices. We need to make sure that we have justices that, with a proven experienced record of respect for upholding the constitution. That is what we need. We can't have \u2014 the history in recent past is appoint people that have no experience so that you can't get attacked. And, that makes it harder for people to have confidence that they won't veer off... +p1196 +aVJohn Roberts has made some really good decisions, for sure, but he did not have a proven, extensive record that would have made the clarity the important thing, and that's what we need to do. And, I'm willing to fight for those nominees to make sure that they get passed. You can't do it the politically expedient way anymore. This is the culture in Washington. You have to fight hard for these appointments. This is perhaps the most important thing that the next president will do. +p1197 +aVWell, first of all, he, as I said, supported John Roberts. He supported him, publicly. So, you can rewrite history, I guess, Ted, but the simple fact is that you supported him because he had all the criteria that you would have thought would have made a great justice. And, I think he is doing a good job. But, the simple fact is that going forward, what we need to do is to have someone that has a long standing set of rulings that consistently makes it clear that he is a focused, exclusively on upholding the Constitution of the United States so they won't try to use the bench as a means to which legislate. +p1198 +aVHe was talking about me. +p1199 +aVWell, I \u2014 I wanted to \u2014 be \u2014 make it easier for him. +p1200 +aVAnd I just did. +p1201 +aVSo, 40 years ago, I smoked marijuana, and I admit it. I'm sure that other people might have done it and may not want to say it in front of 25 million people. My mom's not happy that I just did. That's true. And here's the deal. Here's the deal. We have \u2014 we have a serious epidemic of drugs that goes way beyond marijuana. What goes on in Colorado, as far as I'm concerned, that should be a state decision. But if you look at the problem of drugs in this \u2014 in this society today, it's a serious problem. Rand, you know this because you're campaigning in New Hampshire like all of us, and you see the epidemic of heroin, the overdoses of heroin that's taking place. People's families are \u2014 are being torn apart. It is appropriate for the government to play a consistent role to be able to provide more treatment, more prevention \u2014 we're the state that has the most drug courts across every circuit in \u2014 in \u2014 in Florida, there are drug courts to give people a second chance. That's the best way to do this. +p1202 +aVNo, you're wrong \u2014 you're wrong about this. +p1203 +aVI don't want to put poor people in jail, Randy. +p1204 +aVHere's the deal. No, I did not oppose when the legislature passed the bill to deal with that very issue. That's the way to solve this problem. Medical marijuana on the ballot was opened up, there was a huge loophole, it was the first step to getting to a place. And as a citizen of Florida, I voted no. +p1205 +aVNot very far. I think we need to do this state by state. There are places that get this right, and we need to make sure that we protect the privacy laws. This is a complicated place. But I do think the natural impulse on the left \u2014 Hillary Clinton, immediately after one of these horrific violent acts took place, immediately said we need to have federal gun laws. President Obama almost reflexively always says the same thing. And the net result is, you're going to take away rights of \u2014 of law-abiding citizens, the 99.999 percent of the people that are law- abiding citizens. That's not the right approach to do it. In Florida, we have a background check. We have concealed-weapon permit holders, and in fact, there's 1,200,000 of them. We have a reduction in violent crime because we put people behind bars when they use a gun in the commission of the crime. That's the better approach. But we're living in a society today where despair kind of grows in isolation. +p1206 +aVI \u2014 I think there needs to be a hearing, but the fact is, we need to encourage that kind of involvement. That's \u2014 that's exactly what we need to do. +p1207 +aVI would go with Ronald Reagan's partner, Margaret Thatcher. Probably illegal, but what the heck? Since it's not going to happen. A strong leader is what we need in the White House, and she certainly was a strong leader that restored the United Kingdom into greatness. +p1208 +aVEver Ready, it's very high energy, Donald. +p1209 +aVSix million more people are living in poverty than the day that Barack Obama got elected president. Six million more people. The middle class has had declining income, workforce participation rates are lower than they were in 1977. For the first time in modern history, more businesses are failing than are being created. That is what the next president will have to deal with. And I believe we can reverse course by creating a strategy of high sustained economic growth, not the new normal of 2 percent that all the left says we just have to get used to, but a 4 percent growth strategy where we reform how we tax, fix the broken regulatory system, embrace the energy revolution in our midst, fix the immigration system so we can turn it into an economic driver, deal with the structural fiscal problems that exist because of our entitlement problems that will overwhelm and create way too much debt. If we grow at 4 percent, people are going to be lifted out of poverty. The great middle that defines our country will have a chance to be able to pursue their dreams as they see fit. That should be the great challenge and the great opportunity for the next president of the United States, to forge consensus to go back to a high-growth strategy. And then we'll be able to lead the world. Without a high-growth strategy, our country will never have the resources or the optimism to be able to lead the world, which the world desperately needs our leadership. +p1210 +aVAbsolutely, I do, and I'm gonna run hard, run with heart, and run to win. I'm gonna have to earn this. Maybe the barrier -- the bar's even higher for me. That's fine. I've got a record in Florida. I'm proud of my dad, and I'm certainly proud of my brother. In Florida, they called me Jeb, because I earned it. I cut taxes every year, totaling $19 billion. We were -- we had -- we balanced every budget. We went from $1 billion of reserves to $9 billion of reserves. We were one of two states that went to AAA bond rating. They keep -- they called me Veto Corleone. Because I vetoed 2,500 separate line-items in the budget. I am my own man. I governed as a conservative, and I govern effectively. And the net effect was, during my eight years, 1.3 million jobs were created. We left the state better off because I applied conservative principles in a purple state the right way, and people rose up. +p1211 +aVI do. I believe that the great majority of people coming here illegally have no other option. They want to provide for their family. But we need to control our border. It's not -- it's our responsibility to pick and choose who comes in. So I -- I've written a book about this and yet this week, I did come up with a comprehensive strategy that -- that really mirrored what we said in the book, which is that we need to deal with E-Verify, we need to deal with people that come with a legal visa and overstay. We need to be much more strategic on how we deal with border enforcement, border security. We need to eliminate the sanctuary cities in this country. It is ridiculous and tragic......that people are dying because of the fact that -- that local governments are not following the federal law. There's much to do. And I think rather than talking about this as a wedge issue, which Barack Obama has done now for six long years, the next president -- and I hope to be that president -- will fix this once and for all so that we can turn this into a driver for high sustained economic growth. And there should be a path to earned legal status... ...for those that are here. Not -- not amnesty, earned legal status, which means you pay a fine and do many things over an extended period of time. +p1212 +aV...I remember... +p1213 +aV...I remember, Megyn. +p1214 +aVKnowing what we know now, with faulty intelligence, and not having security be the first priority when -- when we invaded, it was a mistake. I wouldn't have gone in, however, for the people that did lose their lives, and the families that suffer because of it -- I know this full well because as governor of the state of Florida, I called every one of them. Every one of them that I could find to tell them that I was praying for them, that I cared about them, and it was really hard to do. And, every one of them said that their child did not die in vain, or their wife, of their husband did not die in vain. So, why it was difficult for me to do it was based on that. Here's the lesson that we should take from this, which relates to this whole subject. Barack Obama became president, and he abandoned Iraq. He left, and when he left Al Qaida was done for. +p1215 +aVNo, I don't. And I don't believe the federal government should be involved in the creation of standards directly or indirectly, the creation of curriculum or content. It is clearly a state responsibility. I'm for higher standards... ...measured in an intellectually honest way, with abundant school choice, ending social promotion. And I know how to do this because as governor of the state of Florida I created the first statewide voucher program in the country, the second statewide voucher program, in the country and the third statewide voucher program in the country. And we had rising student achievement across the board, because high standards, robust accountability, ending social promotion in third grade, real school choice across the board, challenging the teachers union and beating them is the way to go. And Florida's low income kids had the greatest gains inside the country. Our graduation rate improved by 50 percent. That's what I'm for. +p1216 +aVHe is definitely my friend. And I think the states ought to create these standards. And if states want to opt out of Common Core, fine. Just make sure your standards are high. Because today in America, a third of our kids, after we spend more per student than any country in the world other than a couple rounding errors, to be honest with you, 30 percent are college- and/or career-ready. If we are going to compete in this world we're in today, there is no possible way we can do it with lowering expectations and dumbing down everything. Children are going to suffer and families' hearts are going to be broken that their kids won't be able to get a job in the 21st Century. +p1217 +aVWe've done it 27 times since World War II. I think we need to lift our spirits and have high, lofty expectations for this great country of ours. The new normal of two percent that the left is saying you can't do anything about is so dangerous for our country. There's 6 million people living in poverty today, more than when Barack Obama got elected. 6.5 million people are working part-time, most of whom want to work full-time. We've created rules and taxes on top of every aspiration of people, and the net result is we're not growing fast, income's not growing. A four percent growth strategy means you fix a convoluted tax code. You get in and you change every aspect of regulations that are job killers. You get rid of Obamacare and replace it with something that doesn't suppress wages and kill jobs. You embrace the energy revolution in our country. This president and Hillary Clinton, who can't even say she's for the XL pipeline even after she's left? Give me a break. Of course we're for it. We should be for these things to create high sustained economic growth. And frankly, fixing our immigration system and turning it into an economic driver is part of this as well. We can do this. +p1218 +aVNone of which is true. +p1219 +aVNo. It's not true. But I have said that Mr. Trump's language is divisive. I want to win. I want one of these people here or the ones at 5:00, to be the next president of the United States. We're not going on win by doing what Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton do each and every day. Dividing the country. Saying, creating a grievance kind of environment. We're going to win when we unite people with a hopeful, optimistic message. I have that message because I was a governor of a state that saw people lifted up, because we had high sustained economic growth. Our economy grew at double the rate of the nation. We created 1.3 million jobs. We led the nation seven out of those eight years. We were only one of two states that went to AAA bond rating. I cut taxes, $19 billion. If you do that and apply conservative principles the right way, you create an environment where everybody rises up. That's how we're going to win. Campaigning in places to give people hope that their life is better because too many people are suffering today in America. +p1220 +aVHere's what I believe. I believe we're at the verge of the greatest time to be alive in this world. But Washington is holding us back. How we tax, how we regulate. We're not embracing the energy revolution in our midst, a broken immigration system that has been politicized rather than turning it into an economic driver. We're not protecting and preserving our entitlement system or reforming for the next generation. All these things languish while we have politicians in Washington using these as wedge issues. Here's my commitment to you, because I did it as Florida. We can fix these things. We can grow economically and restore America's leadership in the world, so that everybody has a chance to rise up. I humbly ask for your vote, whenever you're gonna get to vote, whenever the primary is. Thank you all very much. +p1221 +asVWALKER +p1222 +(lp1223 +VGood evening, I'm Scott Walker, and tonight, I want to thank and Mrs. Reagan, and the Reagan Library for hosting us. You see, in my lifetime, the greatest president was a governor from California. Ronald Reagan knew how to go big, and go bold. He understood the essence of moving this country forward, and that's what I did when I took on the status quo in my state, and the Washington based special interest. Now, more than ever, America needs a leader who will go big and bold again. Someone who's been tested. I'm ready to be that leader. Thank you. +p1224 +aVBut Jake, Jake, Jake, Jake... +p1225 +aVBut Jake, this \u2014 this is \u2014 this... +p1226 +aVJake, this is \u2014 this is \u2014 this is... +p1227 +aVThis is actually what's wrong \u2014 this is what's wrong with this debate. We're not talking about real issues. And Mr. Trump, we don't need an apprentice in the White House. We don't need an apprentice in the White House. We have one right now. He told us all the things we wanted to hear back in 2008. We don't know who you are or where you're going. We need someone who can actually get the job done. And you talked about business. +p1228 +aVYou \u2014 you \u2014 let me finish... +p1229 +aVNo, no... +p1230 +aVYou're using the talking... +p1231 +aVMr. Trump, you're using the talking points of the Democrats... +p1232 +aV... and as we all know... +p1233 +aV... that failed three times in four and a half years when I got elected, because it is working. We balanced a budget. You want to talk about balanced budgets? You took four major projects into bankruptcy over and over and over again. You can't take America into bankruptcy. That's what's wrong with the politicians in Washington right now. They think we can take a country into bankruptcy. +p1234 +aVJake, yeah, absolutely, I'll take this on, because this is an issue that's important in this race. Just because he says it doesn't make it true. The facts are the facts. We balanced a $3.6 billion budget deficit, we did it by cutting taxes \u2014 $4.7 billion to help working families, family farmers, small business owners and senior citizens. And it's about time people in America stand up and take note of this. If you want someone that can actually take on the special interest of Washington, which you yourself said you were part of, using the system, we need somebody that will stand up and fight for average Americans to put them back in charge of their government. I'm the one who is taking that on. I'll do that as your next president. +p1235 +aVTwo parts to that, one on China, one back for a second on Iran. When it comes to China, why would we be giving an official state visit to a country that's been involved in a massive cyber attack against the United States? That's not just a visit, that's a 21 gun salute on the South Lawn of the White House. It just doesn't make any sense. If we're ever going to send a message to them, wouldn't this be the time, when they've issued this, sort of, massive attack against us? And, Jake, for the question, I was one of the first ones to call for terminating the bad deal with Iran on day one. The President came after me and said I need to bone up. You know, the President who called +p1236 +aVJake, just one more moment. This is \u2014 there's something bigger to this. Now, I \u2014 like so many other governors here, I defunded Planned Parenthood four-and-a-half years ago, in a Blue State. But it's bigger than that. We did that in a Blue State, we took the money and put it into women's health, so we did exactly what we're talking about here. But I think the bigger issue here is we should be able to do this nationally, and this is precisely why so many Republicans are upset with Washington. They see the House and they see the Senate and they say why can't we pass this. Why can't we defund Planned \u2014 put it in a spending bill. Forget about the 60-vote rule, there's no reason \u2014 and the Constitution doesn't call for 60 votes. Pass it with 51 votes, put it on the desk of the president \u2014 +p1237 +aV\u2014 and go forward and actually make a point. This is why \u2014 +p1238 +aV\u2014 people are upset with Washington. +p1239 +aVSo, the best way to help people see their wages go up is to get them the education, the skill they need, to take on careers that pay more than minimum wage. And, it's why we talk about it, it's all about jobs. You want to help actually get jobs, it's why on that last question we were trying to jump in on taxes. To me, it's not just about taxes, cutting taxes. I've done it as much as anyone has. I've cut income taxes, I've cut property taxes. In fact, property taxes are lower today in my state than they were before we took office. The real issues about jobs. Ronald Reagan, our plan is based on the Ronald Reagan tax cuts of 1986. That brought about one of the longest sustained periods of economic growth in American history. All the things we should be talking about tonight are about how do we create jobs, helping people get the skills and the education qualifications they need to succeed. That's the way you help people create jobs. It's part of our large plan to reform the tax code, to cut taxes, to put in place an education system that gives people the skills and education that they need. To put in place all the above energy policy, but you start on day one with repealing Obamacare. I'm the only one on this stage that's actually got a plan, introduced an actual plan to repeal Obamacare on day one. I'll send a bill up to Congress, and to make sure enact it... +p1240 +aV...I'm going to sign an order that makes the Congress live by the same rules as everybody else. +p1241 +aV...That will ensure they repeal Obamacare... +p1242 +aV...Jake, Jake, Jake, I just want to address that issue because you said I didn't answer, and I did. I said, to me, I think the real focus shouldn't be \u2014 you know, Hillary Clinton talks about the minimum wage. That's her answer to grow the economy. The answer is to give people the skills and the education so they make far more than minimum wage. I don't want to argue about how low things are going to be, I want to talk about how do we lift everyone up in America. That's what Reagan talked about. It wasn't how bad things were, it was how to make it better for everyone. That's what we've done in Wisconsin, that's exactly what we'd do as... +p1243 +aV... the key issue here is talking about leadership. Now, there's a lot of greater people up here, and you've heard a lot of great ideas out there. But I would ask the American people, look at who's been tested. When there were 100,000 protesters in my capital, I didn't back down, when they issued death threats against me and threats against my family, I didn't back down, when they tried to recall me, I didn't back down, and when they made me the \u2014 one of their number-one targets last year, I didn't back down. Give me the chance to be your president. +p1244 +aVI won't back down... +p1245 +aV... on any of these issues. +p1246 +aVTo be clear, what I said the other day was that we need to lift the political restrictions that are already in play. Barack Obama's administration has put political restrictions on the military personnel already in Iraq. We need to lift those and then we need to listen to our military experts, not the political forces in the White House, but our military experts about how many more we sent in. And we certainly shouldn't have a commander-in-chief who sends a message to our adversaries as to how far we're going to go, and how far we're willing to fight, so I'm not putting a troop number. What I'm saying is lift the political restrictions. When you do that, you empower our military personnel already there to work with the Kurd and the Sunni allies, to reclaim the territory taken by +p1247 +aV... a lot of those people, though, and I'm going to echo what Senator Rubio just said. This is an issue where, we're talking about my state, it's thousands of manufacturing jobs. Thousands of manufacturing jobs for a rule the Obama administration, own EPA has said will have a marginal impact on climate change. So we're going to put thousands and thousands of jobs in my state, I think it's something like 30,000 in Ohio, other states across this country, we're going to put people \u2014 manufacturing jobs, the kind of jobs that are far greater than minimum wage, this administration is willing to put at risk for something its own EPA says is marginal (ph)... +p1248 +aVFirst of all, I got to say to Carson, Huckabee, thanks a lot for making the rest of us look like chumps up here, but, I'd pick Clara Barton. I once worked for the American Red Cross, she was a great founder of the Red Cross. +p1249 +aVHarley. I love riding Harley's. +p1250 +aVWell, I turned 13 years old two days before Ronald Reagan was first elected. A lot of people forget this, but just a few days before that election 1980, he was behind in the polls. And I think what changed things was people in America realized they didn't want to hear what was bad about America, they wanted to know how it was going to be better. Ronald Reagan wasn't just a conservative Republican, he was an eternal optimist in the American people. And I am too. So here's what I think will make America better. We need to live in a world where our children are free, are free from the threats of radical Islamic terrorism. We need to live in an America where we have an economy, where everyone can live their piece of the American dream, no matter what that dream is. And we need to live in an America where we have a federal government that is not too big to fail, but ultimately small enough to succeed, where we send powers back to the states and back to the people. That's what I did in Wisconsin. We took on the big government union bosses, the big government special interests, many of whom came in from Washington, to spend millions of dollars to try and take me out because we stood up to them, we didn't back down in any of those instances. If you give me the chance as your next president, I won't back down any day, anyway, anyhow. I'll fight and win for you and your families every single day I'm in office. +p1251 +aVWell, I'm pro-life, I've always been pro-life, and I've got a position that I think is consistent with many Americans out there in that... ...in that I believe that that is an unborn child that's in need of protection out there, and I've said many a time that that unborn child can be protected, and there are many other alternatives that can also protect the life of that mother. That's been consistently proven. Unlike Hillary Clinton, who has a radical position in terms of support for Planned Parenthood, I defunded Planned Parenthood more than four years ago, long before any of these videos came out... ...I've got a position that's in line with everyday America. +p1252 +aVChris, I actually said that on your show earlier this year. I acknowledged that. I said I actually listened to the American people. And I think people across America want a leader who's actually going to listen to them. I talked to border state governors and other elected officials. I look at how this president, particularly through last November, messed up the immigration system in this country. Most importantly, I listened to the people of America. I believe we need to secure the border. I've been to the border with Governor Abbott in Texas and others, seeing the problems that they have there. There is international criminal organizations penetrating our southern based borders, and we need to do something about it. Secure the border, enforce the law, no amnesty, and go forward with the legal immigration system that gives priority to American working families and wages. +p1253 +aVI don't know about additional ones. We need to focus on the ones we have. You look at Egypt, probably the best relationship we've had in Israel, at least in my lifetime, incredibly important. You look at the Saudis -- in fact, earlier this year, I met with Saudi leaders, and leaders from the United Arab Emirates, and I asked them what's the greatest challenge in the world today? Set aside the Iran deal. They said it's the disengagement of America. We are leading from behind under the Obama-Clinton doctrine -- America's a great country. We need to stand up and start leading again, and we need to have allies, not just in Israel, but throughout the Persian Gulf. +p1254 +aVJust one second on this, though. We -- we spent a lot of time talking about Hillary Clinton and ---and pitting us back and forth. Let's be clear, we should be talking about Hillary Clinton on that last subject, because everywhere in the world that Hillary Clinton touched is more messed up today than before she and the president . +p1255 +aVIt's true. +p1256 +aVWell, the voters in Wisconsin elected me last year for the third time because they wanted someone who aimed high, not aimed low. Before I came in, the unemployment rate was over eight percent. It's now down to 4.6 percent. We've more than made up for the jobs that were lost during the recession. And the rate in which people are working is almost five points higher than it is nationally. You know, people like Hillary Clinton think you grow the economy by growing Washington. One report last year showed that six of the top 10 wealthiest counties in America were in or around Washington, D.C.. I think most of us in America understand that people, not the government creates jobs. And one of the best things we can do is get the government out of the way, repeal Obamacare, put in -- reign in all the out of control regulations, put in place an all of the above energy policy, give people the education, the skills that the need to succeed, and lower the tax rate and reform the tax code. That's what I'll do as president, just like I did in Wisconsin. +p1257 +aVWell, first off, let's remember. I still remember, as a kid, tying a yellow ribbon around a tree in front of my house during the 444 days that Iran held 52 Americans hostage. Iran is not a place we should be doing business with. To me, you terminate the deal on day one, you reinstate the sanctions authorized by Congress, you go to Congress and put in place even more crippling sanctions in place, and then you convince our allies to do the same. This is not just bad with Iran, this is bad with +p1258 +aVWell, I think the most important thing we can do when it comes to policing -- it's something you've had a guest on who's a friend of mine Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clark, who's talked to me about this many times in the past -- it's about training. It's about making sure that law enforcement professionals, not only in the way in to their positions but all the way through their time, have the proper training, particularly when it comes to the use of force. And that we protect and stand up and support those men and women who are doing their jobs in law enforcement. And for the very few that don't, that there are consequences to show that we treat everyone the same here in America. +p1259 +aVWell first off, for the cyber attack with Russia the other day, it's sad to think right now, but probably the Russian and Chinese government know more about Hillary Clinton's e-mail server than do the members of the United States Congress. And -- and that has put our national security at risk. If I am president, he won't think about that. You know, Putin believes in the old Lenin adage: you probe with bayonets. When you find mush, you push. When you find steel, you stop. Under Obama and Clinton, we found a lot of mush over the last two years. We need to have a national security that puts steel in front of our enemies. I would send weapons to Ukraine. I would work with +p1260 +aVWell, thanks, Megyn. I'm certainly an imperfect man. And it's only by the blood of Jesus Christ that I've been redeemed from my sins. So I know that God doesn't call me to do a specific thing, God hasn't given me a list, a Ten Commandments, if you will, of things to act on the first day. What God calls us to do is follow his will. And ultimately that's what I'm going to try to do. And I hope people've seen it in my state, even in the big challenges I took on when I had over 100,000 protesters in and around our capital, trying to do what I thought was the right thing. It wasn't just how I took on those political battles. It was ultimately how I acted. Not responding in kind. Not lashing out. But just being decent going forward and living my life in a way that would be a testimony to him and our faith. +p1261 +aVThanks. I'm guy with a wife and two kids, and Harley. One article called me "aggressively normal." I ran for governor because I was worried about my kids' future. Then, I took on the big government union bosses, and we won. They tried to recall me, and we won. They target us again, and we won. We balanced the budget, cut taxes, and turned our state around with big, bold reforms. It wasn't too late for Wisconsin, and it's not too late for America. That's why I ask for your vote. +p1262 +asVMALE +p1263 +(lp1264 +VThat's a good one. +p1265 +asVHEWITT +p1266 +(lp1267 +VSenator Cruz, you've said you disagree with Mr. Trump's policy. I don't want a cage match; you've tweeted you don't want a cage match. But Republican primary voters deserve to know, with the kind of specificity and responsiveness you delivered in your nine Supreme Court arguments, how you disagree with Mr. Trump. Would you spell that out with us? +p1268 +aVSo you're saying you disagree because he's too broad and you have a narrower focus? Why do you disagree with him? +p1269 +aVCarly Fiorina... ... this is the Christmas dinner debate. This will be the debate that Americans talk about at Christmas. And thus far, in the first 10 minutes, we haven't heard a lot about Ronald Reagan's city on a hill. We've heard a lot about keeping Americans out or keeping Americans safe and everyone else out. Is this what you want the party to stand for? +p1270 +aVDr. Carson...... you mentioned in your opening remarks that you're a pediatric neurologist surgeon... +p1271 +aVNeurosurgeon. And people admire and respect and are inspired by your life story, your kindness, your evangelical core support. We're talking about ruthless things tonight \u2014 carpet bombing, toughness, war. And people wonder, could you do that? Could you order air strikes that would kill innocent children by not the scores, but the hundreds and the thousands? Could you wage war as a commander-in-chief? +p1272 +aVSo you are OK with the deaths of thousands of innocent children and civilian? It's like... +p1273 +aVThat is what war \u2014 can you be as ruthless as Churchill was in prosecuting the war against the Nazis? +p1274 +aVMr. Trump, we are talking about the most important thing, that's why it's heated. And it's, you are OK with Mr. Assad staying in power, but you are also in favor of winning. If he stays in power, Iran is winning, Hezbollah is winning. Iran is winning in Yemen. They are winning everywhere. If they are winning how can we be winning? +p1275 +aVGovernor Christie, is he right? Because if we step back, Iran goes nuclear. Is Donald Trump right? +p1276 +aVSenator Paul, let me ask you, you heard Governor Kasich say Assad must go. Do you agree? +p1277 +aVGovernor Bush, a commander-in-chief question. You've said that Mr. Trump is not qualified to be president because he's not qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin. Why are you better qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin than Mr. Trump? +p1278 +aVMr. Trump? +p1279 +aVBut, Mr. Trump, it's not CNN \u2014 I was on CNN last night... +p1280 +aV... watching... +p1281 +aVBut it wasn't \u2014 it wasn't CNN. It was me. I watched you last night for 16 minutes. It's not CNN. +p1282 +aVIt's not CNN. It's America's watching you. +p1283 +aVIt's America's watching. +p1284 +aVGovernor \u2014 thank you, Governor. +p1285 +aVDr. Carson, commander-in-chief question again. You've been the head of neurosurgery for a big hospital. You're on a lot of boards of a lot of companies. You've traveled the world. You're going traveling again next week. But does that prepare you to command troops from Djibouti to Japan, troops from Afghanistan to Iraq to be in charge of the men and women watching on Armed Services Network tonight? +p1286 +aVMr. Trump...... Dr. Carson just referenced the single most important job of the president, the command, the control and the care of our nuclear forces. And he mentioned the triad. The B-52s are older than I am. The missiles are old. The submarines are aging out. It's an executive order. It's a commander-in-chief decision. What's your priority among our nuclear triad? +p1287 +aVOf the three legs of the triad, though, do you have a priority? I want to go to Senator Rubio after that and ask him. +p1288 +aVSenator Rubio, do you have a response? +p1289 +aVMy listeners tell me again and again they are worried that Hillary Clinton will win the White House because you'll run as an independent. Are you ready to assure Republicans tonight that you will run as a Republican and abide by the decision of the Republicans? +p1290 +aVDr. Carson, last week... +p1291 +aVPlease. +p1292 +aVDr. Carson, Mr. Trump just committed to stay the distance regardless of the result. How about you? +p1293 +aVThank you, Jake. Mr. Trump, two years ago, President Obama drew a red line that the Syrian dictator Bashar Assad crossed, President Obama threatened to strike. He did not, his knees buckled. We now have 4 million refugees, Syria is a living hell, and he turned to the Congress for the authority to back him up. You have three senators to your right that said, no. Do they bear responsibility for this refugee crisis, and what would you have done when Bashar Assad crossed the line? +p1294 +aVHow much responsibility, Mr. Trump, do the senators hold? +p1295 +aVSenator Rubio... +p1296 +aVSenator Paul? +p1297 +aVI'd like to talk about winning because I think all of you are more qualified than former Secretary of State Clinton, and as were the people in the first debate, but there are different styles, and Carly Fiorina, Governor Kasich, you're conveniently located next to each other, and you have different styles. Governor Kasich, you've been on my show a lot. You refused to attack Hillary Clinton, you just don't want to go there, you want to do the up with people. Go, Ohio, OK, and I like that. Carly Fiorina, I don't have to bring up the Secretary of State \u2014 you bring her up, so . Which one of you is wrong? Governor Kasich? +p1298 +aVGovernor. +p1299 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1300 +aVCarly Fiorina, your style? +p1301 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Christie, your name was mentioned. I want to give you a chance to respond. +p1302 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1303 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. There is a lot more coming up. Ahead, a world of trouble. The challenges that one of these candidates may face in the Oval Office, and how he or she will handle it. Stay with us. +p1304 +aVOh, you're the best interview in America. +p1305 +aV... makes an interesting case (ph) here (ph). +p1306 +aVThank you, Jake. I've done a lot of great interviews with all of you, but, Governor Bush, I talked to you in February about the biggest elephant in a room full of elephants, which is your last name. And you said you would not be burdened either by your brother or your father's legacy in the Middle East. And then, a week later, you rolled out your list of foreign policy advisers, and it was a lot of the band getting back together again. So on behalf of the military that is watching... +p1307 +aV...OK, the active duty military that are at the end of the sphere (ph), what kind of a commander in chief is Jeb Bush going to be, and who are the advisers that are new to your team? +p1308 +aVMr. \u2014 Mr. Trump. +p1309 +aVI want to ask you a question, though, you promised us great leaders. And I believe that. But Jeb Bush has laid out 20 different people that have experience around the world. There are 190 countries, you can't run the world by yourself. When are we going to get some names on your military and your foreign policy advisers? +p1310 +aVThank you, Jake. Tomorrow is \u2014 Republicans know this \u2014 tomorrow is Constitution Day. We've been talking about the 10th Amendment. Let's talk about the Second Amendment. Governor Bush, one of the things the Supreme Court has gotten right is that it's an individual right and it's protected for individuals to hold it. Last week, you said the next step in gun issues is to make sure they're not in the hands of mentally ill. In this state, there's a controversial law that allows guns to be taken away from people without a hearing. Where does it go \u2014 and the problem of violence is endemic, but where does it go from what you said last week, how far into people's lives to take guns away from them? +p1311 +aVIf a family member calls and says, "My child, my brother, my sister is disturbed," ought the state be able to go and get their weapon without a hearing? +p1312 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1313 +aVSenator Cruz, I want to go to you. Your constitutional litigant (ph), are you afraid of the next- step theory of what happens to Second Amendment rights? +p1314 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1315 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1316 +aVThank you, senator. +p1317 +asVWALLACE +p1318 +(lp1319 +VAlso of note, Fox News is partnering for tonight's debate with Facebook. For the past several weeks, we've been asking you for questions for the candidates on Facebook. Nearly 6 million of you, 6 million, viewed the debate videos on our site, and more than 40,000 of you submitted questions: some of which you will hear us asking the candidates tonight. +p1320 +aVKentucky Senator Rand Paul. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. And your very own governor of Ohio... ... John Kasich. +p1321 +aVBrett -- Brett, I think you would call that a home field advantage. +p1322 +aVSenator Rubio, when Jeb Bush announced his candidacy for presidency, he said this: "There's no passing off responsibility when you're a governor, no blending into the legislative crowd." Could you please address Governor Bush across the stage here, and explain to him why you, someone who has never held executive office, are better prepared to be president than he is, a man who you say did a great job running your state of Florida for eight years. +p1323 +aVSenator Cruz, your colleague, Senator Paul, right there next to you, said a few months ago he agrees with you on a number of issues, but he says you do nothing to grow the party. He says you feed red meat to the base, but you don't reach out to minorities. You have a toxic relationship with GOP leaders in Congress. You even called the Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell a liar recently. How can you win in 2016 when you're such a divisive figure? +p1324 +aVGovernor Huckabee, like Governor Walker, you have staked out strong positions on social issues. You favor a constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage. You favor a constitutional amendment banning abortions, except for the life of the mother. Millions of people in this country agree with you, but according to the polls, and again this an electability question, according to the polls, more people don't, so how do you persuade enough Independents and Democrats to get elected in 2016? +p1325 +aVGentlemen, we're turning to a new subject that all of you have been talking about and some of you have been disagreeing about, and that is the issue of immigration. Governor Bush, you released a new plan this week on illegal immigration focusing on enforcement, which some suggest is your effort to show that you're not soft on that issue. I want to ask you about a statement that you made last year about illegal immigrants. And here's what you said. "They broke the law, but it's not a felony, it's an act of love. It's an act of commitment to your family." Do you stand by that statement and do you stand by your support for earned legal status? +p1326 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, it has not escaped anybody's notice that you say that the Mexican government, the Mexican government is sending criminals -- rapists, drug dealers, across the border. Governor Bush has called those remarks, quote, "extraordinarily ugly." I'd like you -- you're right next to him -- tell us -- talk to him directly and say how you respond to that and -- and you have repeatedly said that you have evidence that the Mexican government is doing this, but you have evidence you have refused or declined to share. Why not use this first Republican presidential debate to share your proof with the American people? +p1327 +aVMr. Trump, I'll give you 30 seconds -- I'll give you 30 seconds to answer my question, which was, what evidence do you have, specific evidence that the Mexican government is sending criminals across the border? Thirty seconds. +p1328 +aVAll right. Obviously there's a lot more to talk about this. We're going to have more questions for the candidates on illegal immigration, plus other key topics including your questions on Facebook. +p1329 +aVWelcome back to FOX News/Facebook Republican Debate Night. We're going to continue the questions now on illegal immigration. We kind of ended with a cliffhanger there. So let's continue the conversation. Governor Kasich, I know you don't like to talk about Donald Trump. But I do want to ask you about the merit of what he just said. When you say that the American government is stupid, that the Mexican government is sending criminals, that we're being bamboozled, is that an adequate response to the question of illegal immigration? +p1330 +aVRespectfully, can we talk about illegal immigration? +p1331 +aVAll right, well, Senator Rubio, let me see if I can do better with you. Is it as simple as our leaders are stupid, their leaders are smart, and all of these illegals coming over are criminals? +p1332 +aVGovernor Walker. Governor Walker, from 2002 until as recently as 2013, just two years ago, you supported comprehensive immigration reform, including a path to citizenship. Now you say that was a quick reaction to something you hadn't really thought about, and that you've changed your mind. Other than politics, could you explain why in the last two years you've changed your position on a path to citizenship, and are there other past positions that we shouldn't hold you to? +p1333 +aVSenator Cruz, some 1,400 people submitted questions on this very hot topic of illegal immigration on Facebook, and a number of them were about the murder of Kate Steinle in San Francisco, allegedly shot down by an illegal. Doug Bettencourt sent this question, "will you support Kate Steinle's Law," which would impose a mandatory five-year prison term for an illegal who is deported and then returns to this country? "And will you defund sanctuary cities for violating federal law?" +p1334 +aVGentlemen, we're obviously digging into some subjects in depth, but we're also going to change it up every once in a while throughout the next hour and have many rounds where we ask, you are not going to like it, only a couple of candidates questions on those subjects. This is the first of the many rounds, and it's about somebody whose name probably hasn't been mentioned enough so far tonight. Governor Kasich, let me start with you. Whoever the Republican nominee -- Whoever the Republican nominee is, it looks at least for now like whoever that nominee is, he or she, will be facing off against Hillary Clinton. You know how she will come after whoever the Republican nominee is. She will say that you, whoever it is, support the rich while she supports the middle class. That you want to suppress the rights of women and minorities. She wants to move the country forward while you, the Republicans, want to take the country back to the past. How will you, if you're the nominee, how will you answer that and take Hillary Clinton on? +p1335 +aVI know that all of you would like to answer this question, but we're only going to ask one other candidate before we move on to a different subject, Dr. Carson. Basically, same question to you. If Hillary Clinton is the nominee and she comes at you with that kind of line of attack, how will you take Iraq? +p1336 +aVGentlemen, we're going to turn now to the subject of the economy, jobs and money and the government. And Governor Bush, I'm going to start with you. You have made a bold promise in your announcement. You have promised four percent economic growth and 19 million new jobs if you are fortunate enough to serve two terms as president. That many jobs, 19 million, would be triple what your father and your brother accomplished together. And four percent growth, the last president to average that was Lyndon Johnson during the height of the Vietnam War. So question, how on Earth specifically would you pull that off? +p1337 +aVGovernor Walker. Governor Walker, when you ran for governor of Wisconsin back in 2010, you promised that you would create 250,000 jobs in your first term, first four years. In fact, Wisconsin added barely half that and ranked 35th in the country in job growth. Now you're running for president, and you're promising an economic plan in which everyone will earn a piece of the American dream. Given your record in Wisconsin, why should voters believe you? +p1338 +aVGovernor Christie, I want to engage you and Governor Huckabee in a subject that is a big issue in both of your campaigns, and that is entitlement reform. You say that you -- to save the system that you want to raise the retirement age -- have to raise the retirement age, and to cut benefits for Social Security and Medicare, and you say that some of the candidates here on the stage are lying. Governor Huckabee says he can save Social Security and Medicare without doing any of that. Is he lying? +p1339 +aVGovernor Huckabee? You say that changing entitlements, the kind of thing that Governor Christie is talking about, would be breaking a promise to the American people, and you say that you can keep those programs, save Social Security, save Medicare, without those kinds of reforms through a FairTax, which is a broad tax on consumption. Please explain to Governor Christie how that would work, and how you could save these programs without the kind of painful reforms he says we need? +p1340 +aV...Thirty seconds. +p1341 +aV...Alright, this is it. Thirty Seconds, finally. +p1342 +aVAll right. Enough. Mr. Trump. +p1343 +aVMr. Trump, you talk a lot about how you are the person on this stage to grow the economy, I want to ask you about your business records. From corporations, Trump corporations, casinos and hotels, have declared bankruptcy four times over the last quarter-century. +p1344 +aVNo, but the concept sir... +p1345 +aV... that's your line, but your companies have gone bankrupt. +p1346 +aVWell sir, let's just talk about the latest example......which is Trump Entertainment Resorts, which went bankrupt in 2009. In that case alone, lenders to your company lost over $1 billion and more than 1,100 people were laid off. +p1347 +aVIs that the way that you'd run the country? +p1348 +aVSo... +p1349 +aVSenator Rubio. Senator Rubio, more than 3,000 people sent us questions about the economy and jobs on Facebook. And here is a video question from Tania Cioloko from Philadelphia. Here she is. +p1350 +aVSenator, how do you answer Tania? +p1351 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. +p1352 +aVSenator Paul, closing statement. +p1353 +aVDr. Carson, closing statement. +p1354 +aVGovernor Bush, closing statement, sir. +p1355 +asVBAKER +p1356 +(lp1357 +VThe candidates on stage tonight were selected based on their standing in an average of four national polls. Those standings determining their position on the stage. And here they are. At center stage, businessman Donald Trump. Neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson. +p1358 +aVTonight's rules are simple. Up to 90 second for each answer. One minute for each follow-up response. And if a candidate goes over their allotted time, you'll here this. +p1359 +aVMs. Fiorina, while you've all pointed out how weak the current recovery has been and how disappointing by any historical standards, in the general election, the Democrats will inevitably ask you and voters to compare the recent president's jobs performance. Now, in seven years under President Obama, the U.S. has added an average of 107,000 jobs a month. Under President Clinton, the economy added about 240,000 jobs a month. Under George W. Bush, it was only 13,000 a month. If you win the nomination, you'll probably be facing a Democrat named Clinton. How are you going to respond to the claim that Democratic presidents are better at creating jobs than Republicans? +p1360 +aVThank you. Thank you. Senator Paul, income inequality has been rising in the United States. Fifty years ago, for example, the average CEO of a big corporation in this country earned 20 times the average salary of one of his or her workers. Today, that CEO earns about 300 times the average salary of a worker. Does it matter at all that the gap between the rich and everyone else is widening? +p1361 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1362 +aVSenator Rubio... +p1363 +aVYes, one quick comment, yes. +p1364 +aVGovernor Bush... +p1365 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor, you...You should let Jeb speak. +p1366 +aVMr. Trump, Mr. Trump, you yourself \u2014 you yourself said let Governor Bush speak. Governor Bush? +p1367 +aVSenator Rubio? Senator... +p1368 +aVSenator Rubio, Senator Rubio, let me \u2014 let me take you to a question that I think gets to the root of a lot of the anxiety that people have in this country. The economy is undergoing a transformation through information technology. Americans are anxious that the new economy isn't producing higher-paying jobs. Many are concerned that the new wealth seems to be going mainly to innovators and investors. Meanwhile, with factories run by robots and shopping done increasingly on smartphones, many traditional jobs are just going away. How do you reassure American workers that their jobs are not being steadily replaced by machines? +p1369 +aVThank you. Senator Cruz \u2014 Senator Cruz, entitlements. You've argued for raising the retirement age and reducing benefits for future retirees, but reducing any sort of benefits for the elderly has always been notoriously hard to do politically. When Speaker Paul Ryan proposed replacing traditional Medicare with federally funded private plans a few years ago, a liberal group responded with a commercial that featured a granny being pushed off a cliff. What's going to be different this time? +p1370 +aV...I said for future retirees was your statement... +p1371 +aVSenator Rubio. Can I just come to Senator Rubio? We're coming to you, Mr. Trump, in one second. I \u2014 I promise. +p1372 +aVSenator Rubio, your tax plan includes a large expansion of child tax credits to raise off (ph) the tax incomes for low-income parents. A similar tax credit that you previously proposed in the Senate was estimated to cost as much as $170 billion a year, according to the Tax Foundation. Isn't \u2014 isn't there a risk you're just adding another expensive entitle program to an already overburdened federal budget? +p1373 +aVGovernor Kasich? Let me come to Governor Kasich. +p1374 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1375 +aVVery quickly, Senator. +p1376 +aVPlease. +p1377 +aV...Gentleman, we need to move on... +p1378 +aV...We need to move... +p1379 +aV...We need too... +p1380 +aV...We do need to move on. Mr. Trump... +p1381 +aV...Very quick. +p1382 +aVLet's talk about \u2014 No, no, Governor, I really must move on. I really want to move on. Mr. Trump, let's talk about the international economy... +p1383 +aV...We really need to move on... +p1384 +aV...No, governor, I promise I will come to you... +p1385 +aV...Listen... +p1386 +aV...Mr. Trump, can I ask you about... +p1387 +aV...the U.S. just concluded an international trade agreement with 11 countries in the Pacific. You've said that you'd rather have no deal... +p1388 +aV...than sign the one that's on the table... +p1389 +aV...Most economists \u2014 most economists say that trade is boosted growth, and every single post war president has supported the expansion of international trade, including the last three republican presidents. Why would you reverse more than 50 years of U.S. trade policy? +p1390 +aVThe \u2014 the deal, as you say, the terms of the deal were published \u2014 were published just last week, the details, 5,000 pages of it, and 80 percent of U.S. trade with countries in the Pacific, these countries, these 11 countries, is actually tariff-free, and these \u2014 the trade deal only affects the other 20 percent. Which \u2014 are there particular parts of the deal that you think were badly negotiated? +p1391 +aVThere was a separate \u2014 separate... +p1392 +aVBut isn't that \u2014 isn't that part of the problem? When I say, Senator, that if \u2014 if this deal is not ratified by \u2014 by the U.S. \u2014 by the Senate, then it would actually give China an opportunity to grow its economic leadership, which it's been seeking to do? And if the U.S. is unable to take part in this trade deal with these countries in Asia, China will take the lead? +p1393 +aVThank you. Thanks, Senator. +p1394 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich, I want to ask you about China, in particular hundreds of American companies have been subjected to cyber attacks from the Chinese military, yet state-backed Chinese companies, growing their presence in the United States, Chinese investments in U.S., which were nearly nonexistent a few years ago, are now over $50 billion. And as my newspaper recently reported, Chinese companies are planning to bid for one of the largest hotel chains in the United States, what would be the largest ever Chinese takeover of a U.S. company. Would you stop them? +p1395 +aVThank you, Governor. Plenty of opportunities. Thank you. Neil? +p1396 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate, live from Milwaukee. Now let's get straight back to the questions, and Governor Bush. Governor, Hillary Clinton recently said that if we had another financial crisis like the one in 2008, she wouldn't bail out the banks. Would you? +p1397 +aVBut, Governor, but can I just quickly \u2014 did \u2014 you can't seriously guarantee that there won't be another financial crisis, can you? +p1398 +aVEver? There will never be another financial crisis? +p1399 +aVDr. Carson, if I may, just on that point, despite measures taken, as the governor says, since the crisis to make the financial system safer, the major banks in the U.S., many of them are actually bigger than ever. Asset held by JPMorgan Chase, for example, the very largest bank, have increased by nearly 40 percent to over $2.6 trillion. Do you think JPMorgan and the other big banks should be broken up? +p1400 +aVBut just to be clear, just \u2014 just to be clear, then, you wouldn't \u2014 you wouldn't favor breaking up the big banks? You think they're big enough \u2014 they're OK as they are, as big as they are? +p1401 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1402 +aVThank you. +p1403 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate. And now, candidates, it's time for your closing statements. You get 30 seconds each, and, Senator Paul, we will begin with you. +p1404 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p1405 +asVHUCKABEE +p1406 +(lp1407 +VWell, John, I don't really have any weaknesses that I can think of. But my wife is down here in the front, and I'm sure, if you'd like to talk to her later, she can give you more than you'll ever be able to take care of. If I have a weakness, it's that I try to live by the rules. I try to live by the rules, no matter what they are, and I was brought up that way as a kid. Play by the rules. And I'll tell you what a weakness is of this country: there are a lot of people who are sick and tired because Washington does not play by the same rules that the American people have to play by. +p1408 +aVWell, I would really appreciate that. First of all, yes, we've stolen. Yes, we've lied to the American people about Social Security, and Medicare. But, you know what we're not telling them? It's their money. This isn't the governments money. This is not entitlement, it's not welfare. This is money that people have confiscated out of their paychecks. Everytime they got a paycheck, the government reached in and took something out of it before they ever saw it. Now, we're going to blame the people. Today congress decided to take another $150 billion dollars away from Social Security so they can borrow more money. That makes no sense to everybody. And, they're always going to say, "Well, we're going to fix this one day." No their not. It's like a 400 pound man saying, "I'm going to go on a diet, but I'm eating a sack of Krispy Kremes before I do." And, people are sick of believing that the government is never going to really address this. But, let me tell you who not to blame. Let's quit blaming the people on Social Security. Let's quit making it a problem for them. It's like them getting mugged, and then us saying, well, we're going to mug you some more. You ought to just be able to get over it, get used to it... +p1409 +aV...No, sir... +p1410 +aV...we need to honor our promises... +p1411 +aV...before I go. This is the only time I've had a chance, let me finish. +p1412 +aV...This is a matter not of math, this is a matter of morality. If this country that does not keep its promise to seniors then what promise can this country hope to be trusted to keep? And, the fact is, none of them. [ +p1413 +aVAnd, the only way \u2014 no... +p1414 +aV...Chris... +p1415 +aV...Chris... +p1416 +aVSince he brought me up, do I not get to respond? +p1417 +aVJohn, listen, let's keep in mind that for one-third of the 60 million Americans on Social Security it represents 90 percent of their income. And, when I hear people talking about means testing, let's just remember what that means. If we means test Social Security, it means that the government decides whether or not I deserve it. If a person lives in a seven room house, does the government get to say you don't need seven rooms, we're going to take two of them away? Folks, the government has no business stealing even more from the people who have paid this in. I just want to remind you, people paid their money. They expect to have it. And, if this government doesn't pay it, than tell me what's different between the government and Bernie Madolf, who sits in prison today for doing less than what the government has done to the people on social security and Medicare in this country. +p1418 +aVI don't think it's so much about when the government orders a corporation to do something. In fact, that's part of the problem. If you saw that blimp that got cut loose from Maryland today, it's a perfect example of government. I mean, what we had was something the government made \u2014 basically a bag of gas \u2014 that cut loose, destroyed everything in its path, left thousands of people powerless, but they couldn't get rid of it because we had too much money invested in it, so we had to keep it. That is our government today. We saw it in the blimp. That's exactly what we saw. So look, corporations ought to exercise some responsibility. When CEO income has risen 90 percent above the average worker, when the bottom 90 percent of this country's economy has had stagnant wages for the past 40 years, somebody is taking it in the teeth. And it's not the folks on Wall Street. I'm not anti-Wall Street, but I don't believe the government ought to wear a team jersey, pick winners and losers. +p1419 +aVThe government ought to wear a striped shirt and just make sure the game... +p1420 +aV...is paid \u2014 played fairly. +p1421 +aVNow, everybody else has fudged their time and gone over, so please, don't cut me off too quick, Becky. +p1422 +aVLet me just close it out this way. +p1423 +aVWe need to be focusing on what fixes this country. And I'll tell you one thing that we never talk about \u2014 we haven't talked about it tonight. Why aren't we talking about \u2014 instead of cutting benefits for old people, cutting benefits for sick people \u2014 why don't we say, "let's cure the four big cost-driving diseases... +p1424 +aV..."diabetes, heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer's?" +p1425 +aVIf you do that, you don't just change the economy, you transform the lives of millions of hurting Americans. +p1426 +aVGosh, I'd love for us to talk about something like that. Thank you. +p1427 +aVYou know, of the few questions I've got, the last one I need is to give him some more time. I love Donald Trump. He is a good man. I'm wearing a Trump tie tonight. Get over that one, OK? [ +p1428 +aVI don't know. [ +p1429 +aVI have no idea. +p1430 +aVYou're welcome. Let me tell you, Donald Trump would be a president every day of the week and twice on Sunday, rather than Hillary. I've spent a lifetime in politics fighting the Clinton machine. You want to talk about what we're going to be up against next year? I'm the only guy on this stage \u2014 you know, everybody has an "only guy" \u2014 "I'm the only guy this; I'm the only guy that." Well, let me tell you one thing that I am the only guy: The only guy that has consistently fought the Clinton machine every election I was ever in over the past 26 years. And not only did I fight them, but I beat them. Somebody says "I'm a fighter." Well, I want to know, did you win? Well, I did. And not only did I fight them and win, I lived to tell about it and I'm standing on this stage tonight as evidence of that. And I think that ought to be worth something. +p1431 +aVWell, and specifically to Medicare, Becky, because 85 percent of the cost of Medicare is chronic disease. The fact is if we don't address what's costing so much, we can't throw enough money at this. And it's why I've continued to focus on the fact that we need to declare war on the four big cost drivers because 80 percent of all medical costs in this country are chronic disease. We don't have a health care crisis in America, we have a health crisis. And until we deal with the health of Americans and do what we did with polio \u2014 when I was a little kid, we eradicated it. You know how much money we spent on polio last year in America? We didn't spend any. We've saved billions of dollars. You want to fix Medicare? Focus on the diseases that are costing us the trillions of dollars. Alzheimers, diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Eradicate those and you fix Medicare and you've fixed America, its economy and you've made people's lives a heck of a lot better. +p1432 +aVYou know, I know to a lot of people in the media, this is just a great big game, and we're the players. And, we come out here, and we do our thing. And, sometimes we're held up in contempt by people who write columns, but, I guarantee you to every person on this stage there's something deep inside of us that would cause us to give up our livelihoods and step out on this stage and fight for the people of America. I've got five grandkids. I do not want to walk my five grandkids through the charred remains of a once great country called America, and say, "Here you go, $20 trillion dollars of debt. Good luck making something out of this mess." And, for those of us who are serious enough to run for president, think long and hard why we're here, and hopefully you'll know we're not here for ourselves. We honest to god are here to get this country back on track. I know this, I certainly am. +p1433 +aV...Thank you. +p1434 +aVI'm Mike Huckabee. I'm delighted to be on this stage with some remarkable fellow Republicans. None of us are a self-professed socialist. None of us on this state are under investigation by the FBI because we destroyed government records, or because we leaked secrets. I know that there are some in the Wall-Street-to-Washington axis of power who speak of all of us contemptuously. But I'm here to say that I think we are, in fact, the A team. We have some remarkable people, and, in fact, not only are we the A team; we even have our own Mr. T, who doesn't mind saying about others, "you're a fool." And I'm delighted to be here with all of these guys, and would put any of them in an administration that I led. Thank you very much. +p1435 +aVI would certainly love to get in on this, because I think the single... +p1436 +aVI've been patiently waiting, and I'm going to just say this about Iran. +p1437 +aVBecause I think it is incredibly important. This is really about the survival of Western civilization. This is not just a little conflict with a Middle Eastern country that we've just now given over $100 billion to, the equivalent in U.S. terms is $5 trillion. This threatens Israel immediately, this threatens the entire Middle East, but it threatens the United States of America. And we can't treat a nuclear Iranian government as if it is just some government that would like to have power. This is a government for 36 years has killed Americans, they kidnapped Americans, they have maimed Americans. They have sponsored terrorist groups, Hamas and Hezbollah, and they threaten the very essence of Western civilization. To give them this agreement, that the president treats like the Magna Carta, but Iranians treat it like it's toilet paper, and we must, simply, make it very clear that the next president, one of us on this stage, will absolutely not honor that agreement, and will destroy it and will be tough with Iran, because otherwise, we put every person in this world in a very dangerous place. +p1438 +aVNo, I don't think he's on the wrong side of such an issue. Jeb is a friend. I'm not up here to fight with Jeb or to fight with anybody else. But I am here to fight for somebody who is a county clerk elected under the Kentucky constitution that 75 percent of the people of that state had voted for that said that marriage was between a man and a woman. The Supreme Court in a very, very divided decision decided out of thin air that they were just going to redefine marriage. It's a decision that the other justices in dissent said they didn't have and there wasn't a constitutional shred of capacity for them to do it. I thought that everybody here passed ninth-grade civics. The courts cannot legislate. That's what Roberts said. But heck, it's what we learned in civics. The courts can't make a law. They can interpret one. They can review one. They can't implement it. They can't force it. But here's what happened: Because the courts just decided that something was going to be and people relinquished it and the other two branches of government sat by silently \u2014 I thought we had three branches of government, they were all equal to each other, we have separation of powers, and we have checks and balances. If the court can just make a decision and we just all surrender to it, we have what Jefferson said was judicial tyranny. The reason that this is a real issue that we need to think about... +p1439 +aVNo, no. Let me finish this one thought, Jake. I haven't gotten that much time, so I'm going to take just what little I can here. We made accommodation to the Fort Hood shooter to let him grow a beard. We made accommodations to the detainees at Gitmo \u2014 I've been to Gitmo, and I've seen the accommodations that we made to the Muslim detainees who killed Americans. You're telling me that you cannot make an accommodation for an elected Democrat county clerk from Rowan County, Kentucky? What else is it other than the criminalization of her faith and the exaltation of the faith of everyone else who might be a Fort Hood shooter or a detainee at Gitmo? +p1440 +aVI have a different idea. I think we ought to get rid of all the taxes on people who produce. Why should we penalize productivity? And it's why I'm an unabashed supporter of the "fair tax," which would be a tax on our consumption, rather than a tax on our productivity. In other words, you're not going to tax anybody for what they earn, whether it's worker whose working by the hour or whether it's a hedge fund manager. If they can produce something and bring capital and labor to create jobs, we need some jobs. And I think the "fair tax" makes more sense. Now, Jake, I've been listening to everybody on the stage and there is a lot of back and forth about I'm the only one who has done this, the only one who has done that, I've done great things. We've all done great things or we wouldn't be on this stage. But it occurs to me as we're sitting here in the Reagan Library that most of us would like to pay tribute to a guy who, when he got elected, didn't get elected telling everybody how great he was. He got elected telling everybody how great the American people were. And he empowered them to live their dreams, which is what I'd love to see us do by no longer penalizing the people who are out there working because they are taking a gut punch right now. +p1441 +aV...You don't want me operating on you, I assure you. +p1442 +aVJust today \u2014 just today, there was a new report that 50 different intelligence analysts have said that what they sent up the ladder was doctored by senior officials, so that they could give some happy talk to the situation that we face. I love the idea of a good intellectual capacity to deal with our enemies, but the fact is, if you don't have good intelligence that is reliable and honest, you won't have good intelligence and you cannot make good decisions. The next president is primarily elected not just to know things, but to know what to do with the things that he knows. And the most dangerous person in any room is the person who doesn't know what he doesn't know. +p1443 +aVAnd the reason Barack Obama has been dangerous to this country and we better elect someone who had some executive experience, is because we cannot afford another eight years having a person in the office who doesn't know what he does not know. +p1444 +aVYou better believe I will, because I'm tired of liberals always having a litmus test and conservatives are supposed to pretend we don't. Well let me tell you what mine would be. Number one, I'd ask do you think that the unborn child is a human being or is it just a blob of tissue? I'd want to know the answer to that. I'd want to know do you believe in the First Amendment, do you believe that religious liberty is the fundamental liberty around which all the other freedoms of this country are based? And I'd want to know do you really believe in the Second Amendment, do you believe that we have an individual right to bear arms to protect ourselves and our family and to protect our country? And do you believe in the Fifth and the 14th Amendment? Do you believe that a person, before they're deprived of life and liberty, should in fact have due process and equal protection under the law? Because if you do, you're going to do more than defund Planned Parenthood. +p1445 +aVOne final thing. I'd make darn sure that we absolutely believe the 10th Amendment. Every governor on this stage would share this much with you. Every one of us \u2014 our biggest fight wasn't always with the legislature or even with the Democrats. My gosh, half the time, it was with the federal government who apparently never understood \u2014 +p1446 +aV\u2014 that if it's not reserved in the Constitution, then the 10th Amendment says it's left to the states. But somebody forgot to send a memo to Washington. +p1447 +aVJake? Jake? +p1448 +aVI think we need to remember that there are maybe some controversies about autism, but there is no controversy about the things that are really driving the medical costs in this country. And I would really believe that the next president ought to declare a war on cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer's, because those are the four things that are causing the greatest level of cost. John Kennedy said, "we'll go to the moon in a decade and bring a man back," and we did it. I grew up in the '50s. I remember the polio vaccine. We saved billions of dollars since that time, because we haven't had to treat for polio. Why doesn't this country focus on cures rather than treatment? Why don't we put a definitive focus scientifically on finding the cure for cancer, for heart disease, for diabetes and for Alzheimer's, a disease alone that will cost us \u2014 +p1449 +aV$1.1 trillion by the year 2050. We change the economy and the country. +p1450 +aVThat's an easy one. I'd put my wife on there. I've been married to her 41 years. She's fought cancer and lived through it. She's raised three kids, five great grandkids, and she's put up with me. I mean, who else could possibly be on that money other than my wife. And that way, she could spend her own money with her face. +p1451 +aVI'd go with Duck Hunter. +p1452 +aVAt the end of my presidency I would like to believe that the world would be a safe place, and there wouldn't be the threats. not only to the U.S., but to Israel and our allies, because we would have the most incredible well-trained, well-equipped, well- prepared military in the history of mankind. And they would know that the commander-in-chief would never send them to a mission without all the resources necessary, but people wouldn't bully us anymore. Because they would know that that would be an invitation to their destruction. Domestically, we would be operating under a tax system that eliminated the IRS. People wouldn't be punished for their work, and for what they produced. And life would be really deemed precious. Abortion would be no more. It would be as much of a scourge in our past as slavery is. And we would have a peaceful country, where people respected each other and people respected law enforcement. And we would focus on cures. And we would make this country not only safe from our enemies without, but safe from the enemies within. And it would be a good place to raise our kids and our grandkids. +p1453 +aVChris, I disagree with the idea that the real issue is a constitutional amendment. That's a long and difficult process. I've actually taken the position that's bolder than that. A lot of people are talking about defunding planned parenthood, as if that's a huge game changer. I think it's time to do something even more bold. I think the next president ought to invoke the Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the constitution now that we clearly know that that baby inside the mother's womb is a person at the moment of conception. The reason we know that it is is because of the DNA schedule that we now have clear scientific evidence on. And, this notion that we just continue to ignore the personhood of the individual is a violation of that unborn child's Fifth and 14th Amendment rights for due process and equal protection under the law. It's time that we recognize the Supreme Court is not the Supreme Being, and we change the policy to be pro-life and protect children instead of rip up their body parts and sell them like they're parts to a Buick. +p1454 +aVNot me. But you're welcome to give me a check, Donald if you'd like. +p1455 +aVIt's not too big to shrink. But the problem is we have a Wall Street-to-Washington axis of power that has controlled the political climate. The donor class feeds the political class who does the dance that the donor class wants. And the result is federal government keeps getting bigger. Every person on this stage who has been a governor will tell that you the biggest fight they had was not the other party. Wasn't even the legislature. It was the federal government, who continually put mandates on the states that we had to suck up and pay for. And the fact is there are a lot of things happening at the federal level that are absolutely beyond the jurisdiction of the Constitution. This is power that should be shifted back to the states, whether it's the EPA, there is no role at the federal level for the Department of Education. And I'm still one who says that we can get rid of the Internal Revenue Service if we would pass the FairTax, which is a tax on consumption rather than a tax on people's income, and move power back where the founders believed it should have been all along. +p1456 +aVWell, let's all be reminded, 60 million Americans are on Social Security, 60 million. A third of those people depend on 90% of their income from Social Security. Nobody in this country is on Social Security because they made the decision when they were starting work at 14 that they wanted to trust some of their money with the government. The government took it out of their check whether they wanted them to or not. And, if person goes to 65, they're going to spend 51 years with the government reaching into their pocket at every paycheck. Now, here's the point, whose fault is it that the system is screwed up? Is it the recipients, or is it the government? And, if Congress wants to mess with the retirement program, why don't we let them start by changing their retirement program, and not have one, instead of talking about getting rid of Social Security and Medicare that was robbed $700 billion dollars to pay for Obamacare. It's always that the government figures that they can do this off the backs of people, many of whom are poor, and depend on that money, and I just think it's fundamentally lying to the people and stealing from them, and we shouldn't be doing it. +p1457 +aVWell, you ask about how we fund it. One of the reasons that Social Security is in so much trouble is that the only funding stream comes from people who get a wage. The people who get wages is declining dramatically. Most of the income in this country is made by people at the top who get dividends and -- and capital gains. The FairTax transforms the process by which we fund Social Security and Medicare because the money paid in consumption is paid by everybody, including illegals, prostitutes, pimps, drug dealers, all the people that are freeloading off the system now. That's why it ought to be a transformed system. +p1458 +aVRonald Reagan said "trust, but verify." President Obama is "trust, but vilify." He trusts our enemies and vilifies everyone who disagrees with him. And the reason we disagree with him has nothing to do with party. +p1459 +aVIt has to do with the incredibly dangerous place that this world is gonna be as a result of a deal in which we got nothing. We didn't even get four hostages out. We got nothing, and Iran gets everything they want. We said we would have anywhere, anytime negotiations and inspections, we gave that up. We said that we would make sure that they didn't have any nuclear capacity, we gave that up. The president can't tell us what we got. I'll tell you what the world got. The world has a burgeoning nuclear power that didn't, as the Soviets, say "we might defend ourselves in a war." What the Iranians have said is, "we will wipe Israel off the face of the map, and we will bring death to America." When someone points a gun at your head and loads it, by God, you ought to take them seriously, and we need to take that seriously. +p1460 +aVThe military is not a social experiment. The purpose of the military is kill people and break things. It's not to transform the culture by trying out some ideas that some people think would make us a different country and more diverse. The purpose is to protect America. I'm not sure how paying for transgender surgery for soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines makes our country safer. We've reduced the military by 25 percent... ... under President Obama. The disaster is that we've forgotten why we have a military. The purpose of it is to make sure that we protect every American, wherever that American is, and if an American is calling out for help, whether it's in Benghazi or at the border, then we ought to be able to answer it. We've not done that because we've decimated our military. We're flying B-52s. The most recent one that was put in service was November of 1962. A lot of the B-52s we're flying, we've only got 44 that are in service combat ready, and the fact is, most of them are older than me. And that's pretty scary. +p1461 +aVIt seems like this election has been a whole lot about a person who's very high in the polls, that doesn't have a clue about how to govern. A person who has been filled with scandals, and who could not lead, and, of course, I'm talking about Hillary Clinton. I think America... +p1462 +aV...is in trouble, but it's not beyond repair. But it's going to take leadership who sees the greatness of this country, and who believes that once again we can be one nation, under God. I'll be my best to do that, and thank you for your support. +p1463 +aVI don't think it's that the message isn't working, I think it's the message isn't getting out because the message that I have this time, Bill, it's exactly what I said eight years ago. I talked about people who are standing on their feet on factory floors, people who lift heavy things, who sweat through their clothes, they're getting gut punched. They are not having a fair shake in this economy. I talked about that eight years ago, and I'm talking about it now. I talked about the importance of preserving life, of not just saying we're going to defund Planned Parenthood, but let's do something bolder. Let's get rid of abortion once and for all by applying the Fifth, and Fourteenth amendment to every person from conception because that means that we recognize that no person can be deprived of life or liberty unless they have due process. And, that's not happening in our country. And, I believe, and continue to practice that we need the Fair Tax to revive our economy. To make it so that people are able to be rewarded for their work rather than punished for it. +p1464 +aVYou know, I -- I would leave that to other people. I'm not going to get into an argument with all the New Yorkers, because there's a lot of them. This much I will tell you. I wish that some of those New Yorkers had funded as much of my campaign as they did the corporately funded candidates, but they didn't. And to be honest with you, when I say I'm -- wish they had, I'm glad they didn't. I'm not a New York-funded campaign. I'm not bankrolled by the corporatists, I'm not bankrolled by Goldman Sachs and Citibank and AIG and all the big brokers -- brokerage houses and the billionaires. I'm sponsored by people like Thomas, a part-time Uber driver in Pennsylvania who sent me $25 this week. He's between jobs. He's driving an Uber car. But he believed in what I'm talking about enough that, even on a limited, part-time income, he sent me $25 to help in my campaign. I'll stand with the Thomases of the world any day. I'll leave all the discussion of the big financiers to other candidates. But there's only a few of us in the entire Republican process who are not corporately funded by the same group. And let me just finish by saying, you want to know why things never change depending on whether Democrats or Republicans are in power, and why Republicans in Iowa and the rest of the country are so frustrated? The reason is, is because if you follow the money, the same folks who finance the Democrats finance the Republicans, and no matter what the speeches and the ads, they get the same results. If you want a different result, I'm available. +p1465 +aVWell, I don't trust him. I've never said I trusted him. But if somebody is willing to take a shot at the people we are taking shots at, I'm more than willing to let them use their own bullets to do it. But let's be very clear about how we take out +p1466 +aVNo, I don't think that it's impossible, but we're not going to do it by doing the same things we've been doing for all these many years. And, we've lost five million manufacturing jobs just since the year 2000. The other day I was in Newton, Iowa. It used to be a vibrant place where Maytag washers and dryers were built. Went out of business in 2007, all those shops went to Mexico. All those people lost their jobs. There was a guy in my forum that day, he lost his job. He still has never found an employment that got anywhere near the job that he had. Let me ask you, how many people do you think living around the Beltway know a guy like that? Care about a guy like that? Not many. And, that's because they're six of the ten richest counties in America that surround Washington D.C. People who live in the bubbles of the high finance world of New York, the government world of Washington, the entertainment world of Hollywood, don't have a clue about how hard people out here in Iowa are working every single day. And, I believe one of the values of campaigning in Iowa, you can't win unless you go out and talk to farmers and housewives -- and welders, and unemployed truck drivers, and I hate... ... That a president could become president who never met people who have to struggle to make a living and put food on the table. +p1467 +aVA lot of Americans are angry. And I think it's important to understand why they are mad. They are mad because they see a government that continues to do fine. They see people at the top. They are doing fine. But that person you asked Rick about a moment ago, that lady that's making 10,000 bucks a year, do you know what our poverty programs do to people? They keep them in poverty. They keep them in poverty because we have these arbitrary thresholds... ... that mean that if you go to work, you lose all the benefits for your kids, Medicaid, WIC, Section 8 housing, food stamps, and then your kids go hungry. I know a little about poverty. My sister is here tonight. Now both of us could tell you we did not grow up rich. My mother grew up in a house, oldest of seven kids. She had lived in a house that didn't have floors. Just dirt. No electricity. No running water. I resent it when people say, oh, people are poor because they want to be. No, they are not. Nobody wants to be poor. And that's a stupid, foolish thing, mean thing to say. People are poor because they don't know how to get out of the hole. And government shouldn't push them back in the hole which is what our policies do when they punish people who want to go to work and don't let them out. We can fix that, but it takes some leadership to get it done. +p1468 +aVWell, I didn't have a tax and spend approach. You got to understand where the Club for Growth comes from, a bunch of rich guys sitting around writing checks to go after people they don't like. And, they don't like me sometimes because I was fighting for the guys at the bottom, not just the guys at the top. I cut 94 taxes in a state that had never had a general major tax decrease in its history. I also was able to see per capita income growth in my state go up by 50%. I think that's a pretty darn good record. Look at the overall record and it was fine. But, it's not about stats from when I was governor. Look, one of the reasons I support the Fairtax is because it's the one thing, Bill, that would truly empower people at the bottom of the economy by no longer punishing them for their work. If a guy works an hourly job, and he works eight hours, gets paid for it, terrific. But, if he works 16 hours, he doesn't get a double paycheck because he's going to be bumped up into a new tax bracket, and the government will get more of his second shift than he will. So, we've actually punished him for being industrious, hardworking, and that is a foolish economic policy... ... that's hurting Americans about as much as anything. +p1469 +aVI honestly don't understand how anybody with IQ above plant life would honestly think... ... that we would be better off if we let the government have all of the private property and that the government would dole out what they thought we should have. I'm not "feeling the Bern," Bill. I'm not feeling it. And when Bernie Sanders promises these kids free college, I'm telling them, because I get asked, what about free college? I said, look, if we give you free college when you are 20, pal, you are going to be paying for it when you are 30, when you are 40, and when you are 50. There is no such thing as the government giving you anything. They will definitely make a mess of it. And I just think there are a lot of people who have never understood the basic understanding of economics, that you do not make people rich by tearing down those who are you providing jobs, and you don't help poor people by taking away. You give them jobs. Let them work. Let them earn. And then you let them keep the money that they earned. That's how we build a great economy. +p1470 +aVWell, this week there was a little dust up about a video we put together with the music of Adele, so I thought it'd be appropriate for me to begin tonight by saying, "Hello, Iowa. It's me." +p1471 +aVAnd, you know me. You gave me the largest number of votes in the history of the Iowa caucus eight years ago, and I think you did it because you trusted me, you believed that I had your best interest at heart. When I was governor I had a little plaque in my office in the Governor's office, and it simply said this. Come, let us reason together. I believe the next President needs to put that plaque in the oval office, and needs to lead this country by saying, "Come, let us reason together." God bless you, and thank you for your support. +p1472 +asVCRUZ +p1473 +(lp1474 +VThank you, Wolf. America is at war. Our enemy is not violent extremism. It is not some unnamed malevolent force. It is radical Islamic terrorist. We have a president who is unwilling to utter its name. The men and women on this stage, every one of us, is better prepared to keep this nation safe than is Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. We need a president who understands the first obligation of the commander-in-chief is to keep America safe. If I am elected president, we will hunt down and kill the terrorists. We will utterly destroy +p1475 +aVWell, listen, Hugh, everyone understands why Donald has suggested what he has. We're looking at a president who's engaged in this double-speak where he doesn't call radical Islamic terrorism by its name. Indeed, he gives a speech after the San Bernardino attack where his approach is to try to go after the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens rather than to keep us safe. And even worse, President Obama and Hillary Clinton are proposing bringing tens of thousands of Syrian refugees to this country when the head of the FBI has told Congress they cannot vet those refugees. I understand why Donald made that proposal. I introduced legislation in the Senate that I believe is more narrowly focused at the actual threat, which is radical Islamic terrorism, and what my legislation would do is suspend all refugees for three years from countries where +p1476 +aVWell, you know, I'm reminded of what FDR's grandfather said. He said, "All horse-thieves are Democrats, but not all Democrats are horse-thieves." In this instance, there are millions of peaceful Muslims across the world, in countries like India, where there is not the problems we are seeing in nations that are controlled \u2014 have territory controlled by Al Qaida or +p1477 +aVWell, Dana, the premise of your question is not accurate. I'm very proud to have joined with conservatives in both the Senate and the House to reform how we target bad guys. And what the USA Freedom Act did is it did two things. Number one, it ended the federal government's bulk collection of phone metadata of millions of law-abiding citizens. But number two in the second half of it that is critical. It strengthened the tools of national security and law enforcement to go after terrorists. It gave us greater tools and we are seeing those tools work right now in San Bernardino. And in particular, what it did is the prior program only covered a relatively narrow slice of phone calls. When you had a terrorist, you could only search a relatively narrow slice of numbers, primarily land lines. The USA Freedom Act expands that so now we have cell phones, now we have Internet phones, now we have the phones that terrorists are likely to use and the focus of law enforcement is on targeting the bad guys. You know what the Obama administration keeps getting wrong is whenever anything bad happens they focus on law-abiding citizens instead of focusing on the bad guys. We need to focus on radical Islamic terrorists and we need to stop them before they carry out acts of terror. +p1478 +aVWell, you know, I would note that Marco knows what he's saying isn't true. You know, Mark Levin wrote a column last week that says that the attack ads his Super PAC is running that are saying the same thing, that they are knowingly false and they are, in fact, Alinsky-like attacks like Barack Obama. And the reason is simple. What he knows is that the old program covered 20 percent to 30 percent of phone numbers to search for terrorists. The new program covers nearly 100 percent. That gives us greater ability to stop acts of terrorism, and he knows that that's the case. +p1479 +aVWhat it means is using overwhelming air power to utterly and completely destroy +p1480 +aVYou would carpet bomb where +p1481 +aVWell, you know, Marco has continued these attacks, and he knows they're not true. Yes, it is true that I voted against the National Defense Authorization Act, because when I campaigned in Texas I told voters in Texas that I would oppose the federal government having the authority to detain U.S. citizens permanently with no due process. I have repeatedly supported an effort to take that out of that bill, and I honored that campaign commitment. +p1482 +aVBut more broadly, you know, the notion Marco is suggesting, that somehow \u2014 he also has tossed more than a few insults this direction \u2014 let's be absolutely clear. +p1483 +aVWolf, I believe in a America first foreign policy, that far too often President Obama and Hillary Clinton \u2014 and, unfortunately, more than a few Republicans \u2014 have gotten distracted from the central focus of keeping this country safe. So let's go back to the beginning of the Obama administration, when Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama led +p1484 +aV... we ought to hunt down our enemies and kill +p1485 +aVWell, it's more than not shedding a tear. It's actively getting involved to topple a government. And we keep hearing from President Obama and Hillary Clinton and Washington Republicans that they're searching for these mythical moderate rebels. It's like a purple unicorn. They never exist. These moderate rebels end up being jihadists. And I'll tell you whose view on Assad is the same as mine. It's Prime Minister Netanyahu. Prime Minister Netanyahu has said Israel doesn't have a dog in that fight because Assad is a puppet of Iran, a Shia radical Islamic terrorist, but at the same time, Prime Minister Netanyahu doesn't want to see Syria governed by +p1486 +aVThe question of whether we should toppling dictatorships is asking the wrong question. We should be defeating our enemies. So the problem with defeating... +p1487 +aVWell, but let me explain, the focus should be... +p1488 +aV... on defeating our enemies. So, for example... +p1489 +aV... a regime we should change is Iran... +p1490 +aV... because Iran has declared war on us. But we shouldn't be toppling regimes...... that are fighting radical Islamic terrorists that are helping... +p1491 +aVWell, he \u2014 he has attempted to muddy the waters, but I think that anyone who watched the battle that we had. You know, there was a time for choosing as Reagan put it. Where there was a battle over amnesty and some chose, like Senator Rubio to stand with Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer and support a massive amnesty plan. Others chose to stand with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and the American people and secure the border. And let me mention, this issue is actually directly connected to what we've been talking about. Because the front line with +p1492 +aVLook, I understand Marco wants to raise confusion, it is not accurate what he just said that I supported legalization. Indeed, I led the fight against his legalization and amnesty. And you know, there was one commentator that put it this way that, for Marco to suggest our record's the same is like suggesting "the fireman and the arsonist because they are both at the scene of the fire." He was fighting to grant amnesty and not to secure the border, I was fighting to secure the border. And this also goes to trust, listening on to campaign trails. Candidates all the time make promises. You know, Marco said," he learned that the American people didn't trust the federal government." +p1493 +aVIn Florida promising to... +p1494 +aVgo in the fight against amnesty... +p1495 +aVHe campaigned promising to lead the fight against amnesty. +p1496 +aVI have never supported a legalization... +p1497 +aVI have never supported legalization, and I do not intend to support legalization. Let me tell you how you do this, what you do is you enforce the law... +p1498 +aVWatt you do is enforcement the law... +p1499 +aVWhat you do... +p1500 +aVWhat you do is you enforce the law. I've laid out a very, very detailed immigration plan on my website, tedcruz.org. It's 11 pages of existing federal law and in particular the question of what to do with people who are here now? You enforce the law. That means you stop the Obama administration's policy of releasing criminal illegal aliens. Do you know how many aliens Bill Clinton deported? 12 million. Do you know how many illegal aliens, George W. Bush deported? 10 million. We can enforce the laws and if we secure the border, that solves the problem. And as president I will solve this problem and secure the border. +p1501 +aVDana, what I said in private is exactly what I'll say here, which is that the judgment that every voter is making of every one of us up here is who has the experience, who has the vision, who has the judgment to be commander in chief. That is the most important decision for the voters to make. That's a standard I'm held to. And it's a standard everyone else is held to. And I will note, you know, in the whole course of this discussion about our foreign policy threats, it actually illustrates the need for clarity of focus. You know, my daughters, Caroline and Catherine, came tonight. They're 7 and 5. And you think about the Los Angeles schools canceling their schools today. And every parent is wondering, how do we keep our kids safe? We need a commander in chief who does what Ronald Reagan did with communism, which is he set out a global strategy to defeat Soviet communism. And he directed all of his... I'm answering the question, Dana. He directed all of his forces to defeating communism. One of the things we've seen here is how easy it is for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to get distracted from dealing with radical Islamic terrorism. They won't even call it by its name. We need a president who stands up, number one, and says, we will defeat +p1502 +aVAnd we need to be focused on defeating... +p1503 +aV... defeating radical Islamic terrorists. +p1504 +aVWhat I'm saying, Dana, is that is a judgment for every voter to make. What I can tell you is all nine of the people here would make an infinitely better commander in chief than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. +p1505 +aVAnd there is a real danger, Dana, when people get distracted. I'm answering the question, Wolf. There's a real danger when people get distracted by peripheral issues. They get distracted by democracy building. They get distracted about military conflicts. We need to focus on defeating jihadism. +p1506 +aVAnd I will do everything necessary to keep our children safe. +p1507 +aVJudgment, strength, clarity and trust. Barack Obama has said he doesn't believe in American leadership or America winning \u2014 he is wrong. America can win again and we will win again. Ronald Reagan reignited the American economy, rebuilt the Military, bankrupted the Soviet Union and defeated Soviet Communism. I will do the same thing. Cutting taxes, cutting regulation, unleashing small businesses and rebuilding the Military to defeat radical Islamic terrorism \u2014 our strategy is simple. We win, they lose. We've done it before and we can do it again. +p1508 +aVWell, Maria, it's great to be with you. It's great to be here in Milwaukee. You know, the question you asked really I think is the most important question any of us can have \u2014 face, which is, how do we get the economy growing? How do we bring back economic growth? Because economic growth, it's foundational to every other challenge we have. As you rightly noted, from 2008 to today, our economy has grown 1.2 percent a year on average. The Obama economy is a disaster, and the IMF is telling us this is a new normal. It doesn't have to be. If you look at the history of America, there are three levers that government has had to facilitate economic growth. The first is tax reform. And as you noted, I have rolled out a bold and simple flat tax: 10 percent for every American that would produce booming growth and 4.9 million new jobs within a decade. The second element is regulatory reform, pulling back the armies of regulators that have descended like locusts on small businesses. And the third element is sound money. Every time we've pursued all three of those \u2014 whether in the 1920s with Calvin Coolidge or the 1960s with JFK or the 1980s with Ronald Reagan \u2014 the result has been incredible economic growth. We have done it before, and with leadership, we can do it again. +p1509 +aVWell, my Mom is here, so I don't think we should be pushing any grannies off cliffs. And, you miss-stated what I've said on entitlement reform. What I've said is for seniors we should make no changes whatsoever, for younger workers we should gradually raise the retirement age, we should have benefits grow more slowly, and we should allow them to keep a portion of their taxes in a personal account that they control, and can pass on to their kids... +p1510 +aVI want to go back to the discussion we had a minute ago because, you know, what was said was right. The democrats are laughing \u2014 because if republicans join democrats as the party of amnesty, we will lose. And, you know, I understand that when the mainstream media covers immigration, it doesn't often see it as an economic issue. But, I can tell you for millions \u2014 of Americans at home watching this, it is a very personal economic issue. And, I will say the politics of it will be very, very different if a bunch of lawyers or bankers were crossing the Rio Grande. Or if a bunch of people with journalism degrees were coming over and driving down the wages in the press. Then, we would see stories about the economic calamity that is befalling our nation. And, I will say for those of us who believe people 'ought to come to this country legally, and we should enforce the law, we're tired of being told it's anti-immigrant. It's offensive. I am the son of an immigrant who came legally from Cuba... ...to seek the American dream. And, we can embrace legal immigration while believing in the rule of law \u2014 and I would note, try going illegally to another country. Try going to China, or Japan. Try going to Mexico. See what they do. Every sovereign nation secures its borders, and it is not compassionate to say we're not going to enforce the laws... ...And we're going to drive down the wages for millions of hardworking men and women. That is abandoning the working... +p1511 +aVWell, sure, you put your finger on what the problem is. The current system isn't fair. Washington is fundamentally corrupt. There are more words in the IRS code than there are in the Bible \u2014 and \u2014 and not a one of them is as good. Every one of them reflects a carve-out or a subsidy, and it's all about empowering the Washington cartel. My simple Flat Tax says that, for a family of four, for the first $36,000 you earn, you pay no taxes whatsoever. No income taxes, no payroll taxes, no nothing. Above that, every American pays 10 percent across the board \u2014 a flat, fair tax. Which means that no longer do you have hedge-fund billionaires paying a lower tax rate than their secretaries. On the business side, I've got a business flat tax of 16 percent \u2014 again, that applies across the board. Right now, with our corporate income tax, giant corporations with armies of accountants regularly are paying little to no taxes while small businesses are getting hammered. This is fair and across-the-board. Now, you ask, how do the numbers add up? I would encourage folks, if you go to our website, tedcruz.org, we have the specific numbers on the website. This plan eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax, eliminates the corporate income tax, and it abolishes the IRS. And the effect of that is incredible economic growth. It means every income group will see double-digit increases, from the very poorest to the very weakest, of at least 14 percent. So if you're a single mom, if you're making $40,000 a year, what that means is an extra about $5,000 in your pocket to provide for your kids, to make ends meet. It has a powerful, powerful effect. And there's one other really powerful feature of my plan, which is that it's border-adjustable. Which means, if you're an exporter \u2014 if you're a farmer, if you're a rancher, if you're a manufacturer, you don't pay the businesses flat tax. Exports are free of that tax, but all imports pay that 16 percent business flat tax, which means this tax plan would cause jobs to boom, and it would let America compete with China and the world on a level playing field. +p1512 +aVWell, the numbers the Tax Foundation had put out is that the static cost of the plan is $3.6 trillion over 10 years, but the dynamic cost of the plan, which \u2014 which is the cost that factors in growth, is about $768 billion. It is less than a trillion. It costs less than virtually every other plan people have put up here, and yet it produces more growth and it's one of the very few plans that abolishes the IRS. But on top of that, today, we rolled out a spending plan. $500 billion in specific cuts \u2014 five major agencies that I would eliminate. The IRS, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Energy, the Department of Commerce, and HUD \u2014 and then 25 specific programs. Again, that's on our website at tedcruz.org. You want to look at specificity? It's easy for everyone to say, "cut spending". It's much harder and riskier to put out, chapter and verse, specifically the programs you would cut to stop bankrupting our kids and grandkids. +p1513 +aV...Middle ground that brings both of these together... +p1514 +aV...Exactly right, that we have to defend this nation. You think defending this nation is expensive, try not defending it. That's a lot more expensive. But, you can do that, and pay for it. You can do that, and also be fiscally responsible. You know, I mention that the 25 programs that I put today, that I would eliminate them. Among them are corporate welfare, like sugar subsidies. Let's take that as an example. Sugar subsidies. Sugar farmers farm under... ...under roughly 0.2% of the farmland in America, and yet they give 40% of the lobbying money. That sort of corporate welfare is why we're bankrupting our kids, and grandkids. I would end those subsidies to pay for defending this nation... +p1515 +aVAbsolutely yes. You know, I have spent much of my adult life enforcing the law and defending the Constitution. And the problem that underlies all of this is the cronyism and corruption of Washington. You know, the opening question Jerry asked, would you bail out the big banks again? Nobody gave you an answer to that. I'll give you an answer. Absolutely not. And what we have right now is we have Washington \u2014 as government gets bigger and bigger, you know, the biggest lie in all of Washington and in all of politics is that Republicans are the party of the rich. The truth is, the rich do great with big government. They get in bed with big government. The big banks get bigger and bigger and bigger under Dodd-Frank and community banks are going out of business. And, by the way, the consequence of that is small businesses can't get business loans, and it is that fundamental corruption that is why six of the 10 wealthiest counties in America are in and around Washington, D.C. And let me give you a contrast to Washington cronyism. Some weeks ago, a woman named Sabina Loving testified at a hearing that I chaired in the Senate. Sabina Loving is an African-American single mom who started a tax preparation business in the south side of Chicago. She found a store front, she wanted to have her own business. She started a business. But then the IRS promulgated new regulations targeting tax preparers. They did it under a more than 100-year-old statute called the Dead Horse Act. Now, this statute and the IRS in classic Washington crony fashion had exemptions for lawyers and big fancy accountants, but Sabina had to pay $1,000 an employee. It would have driven her out of business, and Ms. Loving sued the IRS. She took the Obama IRS to court, and she won, and they struck down the rule for picking the big guys over the little guys. +p1516 +aVYes. Now, let's be clear, there is a role for the Federal Reserve \u2014 what the Fed is doing now is it is a series of philosopher- kings trying to guess what's happening with the economy. You look at the Fed, one of the reasons we had the financial crash is throughout the 2000s, we had loose money, we had an asset bubble, it drove up the price of real estate, drove up the price of commodities, and then in the third quarter of 2008, the Fed tightened the money and crashed those asset prices, which caused a cascading collapse. That's why I am supporting getting back to rules-based monetary system not with a bunch of philosopher-kings deciding, but tied... +p1517 +aVSo let me be clear. I would not bail them out, but instead of adjusting monetary policy according to whims and getting it wrong over and over again and causing booms and busts, what the Fed should be doing is, number one, keeping our money tied to a stable level of gold, and, number two, serving as a lender of last resort. That's what central banks do. So if you have a run on the bank, the Fed can serve as a lender of last resort, but it's not a bailout. It is a loan at higher interest rates. That's how central banks have worked. And I'll point out \u2014 look, we had a gold standard under Bretton Woods, we had it for about 170 years of our nation's history, and enjoyed booming economic growth and lower inflation than we have had with the Fed now. We need to get back to sound money, which helps, in particular, working men and women. What Washington does \u2014 the people who are doing well in the Obama economy are those with power and influence in the Obama government. The people who working men and women... +p1518 +aVSo, Governor Kasich... +p1519 +aV...why would you then bail out rich Wall Street banks, but not Main street, not Mom and Pop, not Sabina Loving? +p1520 +aVBut you just said an executive... +p1521 +aV...knows to step in and bail out a bank. +p1522 +aVSo you said you'd abandon philosophy and abandon principle... +p1523 +aV...but what would you do if the bank was failing? +p1524 +aVSo you \u2014 you would bail them out. +p1525 +aVAnd, Maria, I will note, she's got a lot of experience, but her policies have proven disastrous. If you look at foreign policy, every region in the world has gotten worse. Under her leadership, we abandon the nation of Israel. Under her leadership, radical Islamic terrorism has been on to the rise. Under her leadership, and Obama's leadership, Iran is getting $100 billion dollars, and on the verge of getting a nuclear weapon. Everything she's put her hand to, or has touched \u2014 and when we talk about the cronyism of Washington, Hillary Clinton embodies the cronyism... ...of Washington. And, I'll give you an example of that, which is the Congressional exemption from Obamacare, which is fundamentally wrong, and I'll tell you this, if I'm elected president, I will veto any statute that exempts members of congress. The law should apply evenly to every American. +p1526 +aVMaria, critically, when it comes to climate change... +p1527 +aV...Our \u2014 our... +p1528 +aVFifty-eight years ago, my father fled Cuba. As he stood on the deck of that ferryboat with the wind and salt air blowing, he looked back at the oppression and torture he was escaping. And yet he looked forward to the promise of America. His story is our story. What ties Americans together is we are all the children of those who risked everything for freedom. America is in crisis now. I believe in America. And if we get back to the free market principles and constitutional liberties that built this country, we can turn this country around. I believe that 2016 will be an election like 1980, that we will win by following Reagan's admonition to paint in bold colors, not pale pastels. We're building a grassroots army. I ask you to join us at tedcruz.org. And we, the people, can turn this nation around. +p1529 +aVI'm too agreeable, easy going. You know, I think my biggest weakness is exactly the opposite. I'm a fighter. I am passionate about what I believe. I've been passionate my whole life about the Constitution. And, you know, for six-and-a-half years, we've had a gigantic party. If you want someone to grab a beer with, I may not be that guy. But if you want someone to drive you home, I will get the job done and I will get you home. +p1530 +aVBecky, if you want a 10 percent flat tax where the numbers add up, I rolled out my tax plan today, you can find it on line at tedcruz.org. It is a simple flat tax where for individuals, a family of four pays nothing on the first $36,000. After that you pay 10 percent as a flat tax going up. The billionaire and the working man, no hedge fund manager pays less than his secretary. On top of that, there is a business flat tax of 16 percent. Now that applies universally to giant corporations that with lobbyists right now are not paying taxes, and as small business. And you wanted to know the numbers, the Tax Foundation, which has scored every one of our plans, shows that this plan will allow the economy to generate 4.9 million jobs, to raise wages over 12 percent, and to generate 14 percent growth. And it costs, with dynamic scoring, less than a trillion dollars. Those are the hard numbers. And every single income decile sees a double-digit increase in after-tax income. +p1531 +aVGrowth is the answer. And as Reagan demonstrated, if we cut taxes, we can bring back growth. +p1532 +aVYou know, let me say something at the outset. The questions that have been asked so far in this debate illustrate why the American people don't trust the media. This is not a cage match. And, you look at the questions \u2014 "Donald Trump, are you a comic-book villain?" "Ben Carson, can you do math?" "John Kasich, will you insult two people over here?" "Marco Rubio, why don't you resign?" "Jeb Bush, why have your numbers fallen?" How about talking about the substantive issues the people care about? +p1533 +aVAnd Carl \u2014 Carl, I'm not finished yet. The contrast with the Democratic debate, where every fawning question from the media was, "Which of you is more handsome and why?" And let me be clear. +p1534 +aVLet me be clear. The men and women on this stage have more ideas, more experience, more common sense than every participant in the Democratic debate. That debate reflected a debate between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. And nobody watching at home believed that any of the moderators had any intention of voting in a Republican primary. The questions that are being asked shouldn't be trying to get people to tear into each other. It should be what are your substantive positions... +p1535 +aVYou want me to answer that question? I'm happy to answer the question... +p1536 +aVLet me tell you how that question... +p1537 +aVLet me tell you how that question... +p1538 +aV... so you don't actually want to hear the answer, John? +p1539 +aVYou don't want to hear the answer. You just want to... +p1540 +aVYou're not interested in an answer. +p1541 +aV...Then I'll buy you a tequila... +p1542 +aV...Or, even some famous Colorado brownies. +p1543 +aVWell, sure. This deal in Washington is an example of why Washington's broken. Republican leadership joined with every single Democrat, add $80 trillion to our debt to do nothing to fix the problems. And, let me now on Social Security because we were getting into a good substantive exchange, and I want to say I think both Chris, and Mike are right. Governor Huckabee's exactly right, we need to honor the promises made to our seniors, but for younger workers \u2014 look. I'm 44 years old. It is hard to find someone in my generation that thinks Social Security will be there for us. We can save and preserve and strengthen Social Security by making no changes for seniors, but for younger workers gradually increasing the retirement age, changing the rate of growth so that it matches inflation, and critically allowing younger workers to keep a portion of our tax payments in a personal account that we own, we control them, we can pass on to our kids. +p1544 +aVWell, we've gotta turn the economy around for people who are struggling. The Democrats' answer to everything is more government control over wages, and more empowering trial lawyers to file lawsuits. You know, you look at women working. I'll tell you, in my family there are a lot of single moms in my family. My sister was a single mom, both of my aunts who were a single moms. My mom who's here today, was a single mom when my father left us when I was 3 years old. Now, thank God, my father was invited to a Bible study and became born again and he came back to my mom and me and we were raised together. But I \u2014 the struggle of single moms is extraordinary. And you know, when you see Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and all the Democrats talking about wanting to address the plight of working women, not a one of them mentioned the fact that under Barack Obama, 3.7 million women have entered poverty. Not a one of them mentioned the fact that under Barack Obama and the big government economy, the median wage for women has dropped $733. The the truth of the matter is, big government benefits the wealthy, it benefits the lobbyists, it benefits the giant corporations. And the people who are getting hammered are small businesses, it's single moms, it's Hispanics. That is who I'm fighting for. The people that Washington leaves behind. +p1545 +aVWell, Rick, it's a very important question. I have got deep concerns about the Fed. The first thing I think we need to do is audit the Fed. And I am an original co-sponsor of Rand Paul's audit the Fed legislation. The second thing we need to do is I think we need to bring together a bipartisan commission to look at getting back to rules- based monetary policy, end this star chamber that has been engaging in this incredible experiment of quantitative easing, QE1, QE2, QE3, QE- infinity. And the people who are being impacted, you know, a question that was asked earlier, Becky asked, was about working women. You know, it's interesting, you look at on Wall Street, the Fed is doing great. It's driving up stock prices. Wall Street is doing great. You know, today, the top 1 percent earn a higher share of our income than any year since 1928. But if you look at working men and women. If you look at a single mom buying groceries, she sees hamburger prices have gone up nearly 40 percent. She sees her cost of electricity going up. She sees her health insurance going up. And loose money is one of the major problems. We need sound money. And I think the Fed should get out of the business of trying to juice our economy and simply be focused on sound money and monetary stability, ideally tied to gold. +p1546 +aVLet me say on that... +p1547 +aV...Rand is exactly right. His plan is a good plan, and I will note that my 10% plan also eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax, +p1548 +aV...eliminates the business... [ +p1549 +aV...income tax... [ +p1550 +aV...10% flat rate... +p1551 +aV...is the lowest personal rate any candidate up here has, and what it would also enable us to do is for every citizen to fill out their taxes on a postcard so we can eliminate the IRS. +p1552 +aVYou know, everyone here talks about the need to take on Washington. The natural next question is who actually has done so. Who actually has stood up not just to Democrats, but to leaders in our own party? When millions of Americans rose up against Obamacare, I was proud to lead that fight. When millions of Americans rose up against amnesty, I was proud to lead that fight. When millions of Americans rose up against Planned Parenthood, I was proud to lead that fight. If people are promising they're going to take on Washington and cronyism, you need to look to who has been doing it. In my family, my dad fled oppression in Cuba to come to America. Freedom is personal for me, and I will always keep my word and fight for freedom. +p1553 +aVI'm Ted Cruz. I am the son of an Irish-Italian mom and a Cuban immigrant dad who fled oppression and came to America seeking freedom. I'm a husband to my best friend, Heidi, who's here tonight. I'm a dad to two little girls who are the loves of my life, Caroline and Catherine. If you're fed up with Washington, if you're looking for someone to stand up to career politicians in both parties, I'm the only one on this stage who has done that over and over again, and if we stand together, we can bring America back. +p1554 +aVWell, let me tell you, Jake, the single biggest national security threat facing America right now is the threat of a nuclear Iran. We've seen six and a half years of President Obama leading from behind. Weakness is provocative, and this Iranian nuclear deal is nothing short of catastrophic. This deal, on its face, will send over $100 billion to the Ayatollah Khamenei, making the Obama administration the world's leading financier of radical Islamic terrorism. +p1555 +aVThis deal abandons four American hostages in Iran, and this deal will only accelerate Iran's acquiring nuclear weapons. You'd better believe it. If I am elected president, on the very first day in office, I will rip to shreds this catastrophic Iranian nuclear deal. +p1556 +aVWell, let's be clear when it comes to experience. What President Obama wants to do is he's run to the United Nations, and he wants to use the United Nations to bind the United States, and take away our sovereignty. Well, I spent five and a half years as a Solicitor General of Texas, the lead lawyer for the state, in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, and I went in front of the Supreme Court, and took on the world court of the United Nations in a case called Medellin v. Texas, and we won a historic victory saying the World Court, and the U.N., has no power to bind the United States, and no President of the United States, Republican or Democrat, has the authority to give away our sovereignty. And, so, if there's anyone up here who would be bound by this catastrophic deal with Iran, they're giving up the core responsibility of commander in chief, and as president, I would never do that. +p1557 +aVJake, Jake... +p1558 +aVJake, there is no more important topic in 2016 than this topic right here, and I've listened to several folks saying, "Well, gosh, if they cheat, we'll act." We won't know under this agreement \u2014 there are several facilities in Iran they designate as military facilities that are off limit all together. Beyond that, the other facilities, we give them 24 days notice before inspecting them. That is designed to allow them to hide the evidence. And most astonishingly, this agreement trusts the Iranians to inspect themselves. That makes no sense whatsoever. And let me know \u2014 President Obama is violating federal law... +p1559 +aV... by not handing over the side deals, and we ought to see the United States Congress... +p1560 +aV... stand up together and say, "Hand over this treaty, and protect this country." +p1561 +aVWell, let me tell you, Dana, number one, I'm proud to stand for life. These Planned Parenthood videos are horrifying. I would encourage every American to watch the videos. See \u2014 seeing your Planned Parenthood officials callously, heartlessly bartering and selling the body parts of human beings, and then ask yourself, "are these my values?" These are horrifying. On these videos, Planned Parenthood also essentially confesses to multiple felonies. It is a felony with ten years' jail term to sell the body parts of unborn children for profit. That's what these videos show Planned Parenthood doing. Absolutely we shouldn't be sending $500 million of taxpayer money to funding an ongoing criminal enterprise, and I'll tell you, the fact that Republican leadership in both houses has begun this discussion by preemptively surrendering to Barack Obama and saying, "we'll give in because Obama threatens a veto." You know, Obama's committed to his principles. His liberal principles, he will fight for them. He says... +p1562 +aVI will veto any budget that doesn't fund Planned Parenthood, and Republicans surrender. We need to stop surrendering and start standing... +p1563 +aV...for our principles. +p1564 +aVWell, Jake, you know, I'm \u2014 I'm very glad that Donald Trump's being in this race has forced the mainstream media finally to talk about illegal immigration. I think that's very important. I like and respect Ben Carson. I'll let him talk about his own plans. But I will say this: The natural next question that primary voters are asking, after we focus on illegal immigration is, okay, what are the records of the various candidates? And this is an issue on which there are stark differences. A majority of the men and women on this stage have previously and publicly embraced amnesty. I am the only candidate on this stage who has never supported amnesty and, in fact, who helped lead the fight to stop a massive amnesty plan. In 2013, when Barack Obama and Harry Reid joined the Washington Republicans in a massive, I stood shoulder to shoulder with Jeff Sessions helping lead the fight. You know, folks here have talked about, how do you secure the borders? Well, I've been leading the fight in the Senate to triple the Border Patrol, to put in place fencings and walls, to put in place a strong biometric exit/entry system... +p1565 +aVWell, Dana, I've known John Roberts for 20 years, he's amazingly talented lawyer, but, yes, it was a mistake when he was appointed to the Supreme Court. He's a good enough lawyer that he knows in these Obamacare cases he changed the statute, he changed the law in order to force that failed law on millions of Americans for a political outcome. And, you know, we're frustrated as conservatives. We keep winning elections, and then we don't get the outcome we want. And, let me focus on two moments in time. Number one, in 1990, in one room was David Souter, and in another room was Edith Jones, the rock ribbed (ph) conservative on the fifth circuit court of appeals. George Herbert Walker Bush appointed David Souter. And then in 2005, in one room was John Roberts, in another room was my former boss, Mike Luttig, the rock ribbed (ph) conservative on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals... +p1566 +aV...George W. Bush appointed John Roberts, and let me give you the consequences of that. If, instead, the President Bush had appointed Edith Jones, and Mike Luttig, which is who I would have appointed, Obamacare would have been struck down three years ago, and the marriage laws of all 50 states would be on the books. These matter, and I fought to defend the constitution my whole life... +p1567 +aV...and I will as president as well. +p1568 +aVIt is true that after George W. Bush nominated John Roberts, I supported his confirmation. That was a mistake and I regret that. I wouldn't have nominated John Roberts, and indeed, Governor Bush pointed out why. It wasn't that the President Bushes wanted to appoint a liberal to the court, it's that it was the easier choice. Both David Souter and John Roberts, they didn't have a long paper trail. If you had nominated Edith Jones or Mike Ludig (ph) you would have had a bloody fight and they weren't willing to spend political capital to put a strong judicial conservative on the court. I have spent my entire life, starting from clerking for Chief Justice William Rehnquist on the United States Supreme Court, one of the most principled jurists. We have an out-of-control Court, and I give you my word, if I'm elected president, every single Supreme Court justice will faithfully follow the law and will not act like philosopher kings \u2014 +p1569 +aV\u2014 imposing their liberal policies on millions of Americans \u2014 +p1570 +aV\u2014 who need to be trusted to govern ourselves. +p1571 +aVI \u2014 I am not, and \u2014 and you mentioned that the U.S. Supreme Court had rightly upheld the individual right to keep and bear arms. I was proud to lead 31 states before the U.S. Supreme Court defending the Second Amendment, and we won that landmark victory. And indeed, just a couple of years ago, when Harry Reid and Barack Obama came after the right to keep and bear arms of millions of Americans, I was proud to lead the fight in the United States Senate to protect our right to keep and bear arms, and for that reason... +p1572 +aV... I was honored to be endorsed by Gun Owners of America... +p1573 +aV... as the strongest supporter of the Second Amendment on this stage today, and I will... +p1574 +aV... fight every day to defend the Bill of Rights. +p1575 +aVWell, I wouldn't change the $10 bill, I'd change the $20. I'd take Jackson off and I'd leave Alexander Hamilton right where he is as one of our Founding Fathers. And I very much agree with Marco that it should be Rosa Parks. She was a principled pioneer that helped change this country, helped remedy racial injustice, and that would be an honor that would be entirely appropriate. +p1576 +aVYou know, as a Cuban, I might go with Cohiba (ph), and I'll tell you, I'd go with, for Heidi, Angel, because she is my angel. +p1577 +aVRonald Reagan believed in America. If I'm elected president our friends and allies across the globe will know that we stand with them. the bust of Winston Churchill will be back in the Oval Office, and the American embassy in Israel will be in Jerusalem. Enemies across this world will know the United States is not to be trifled with. +p1578 +aVChris, I believe the American people are looking for someone to speak the truth. If you're looking for someone to go to Washington, to go along to get along, to get -- to agree with the career politicians in both parties who get in bed with the lobbyists and special interests, then I ain't your guy. There is a reason... .... that we have $18 trillion in debt. Because as conservatives, as Republicans, we keep winning elections. We got a Republican House, we've got a Republican Senate, and we don't have leaders who honor their commitments. I will always tell the truth and do what I said I would do. +p1579 +aVChris, absolutely yes. And not only will I support it......I have authored Kate's law in the United States Senate and filed that legislation. I tried to get the Senate to vote to pass Kate's law on the floor of the Senate just one week ago, and the leader of our own party blocked a vote on Kate's law. You know, there was reference made to our leaders being stupid. It's not a question of stupidity. It's that they don't want to enforce the immigration laws. That there are far too many in the Washington cartel that support amnesty. President Obama has talked about fundamentally transforming this country. There's 7 billion people across the face of the globe, many of whom want to come to this country. If they come legally, great. But if they come illegally and they get amnesty, that is how we fundamentally change this country, and it really is striking. A majority of the candidates on this stage have supported amnesty. I have never supported amnesty, and I led the fight against Chuck Schumer's gang of eight amnesty legislation in the Senate. +p1580 +aVMegyn, we need a commander in chief that speaks the truth. We will not defeat radical Islamic terrorism so long as we have a president unwilling to utter the words, "radical Islamic terrorism". When I asked General Dempsey, the chairman of the joint chiefs, what would be required militarily to destroy +p1581 +aVMegyn, of course it's an ideological problem, that's one of the reasons I introduce the Expatriate Terrorist Act in the Senate that said if any American travels to the Middle East and joining +p1582 +aVWell, Bret, of course they have, and over the last six and a half years we've seen the consequences of the Obama-Clinton foreign policy. Leading from behind is a disaster. We have abandoned and alienated our friends and allies, and our enemies are stronger. Radical Islam is on the rise, Iran's on the verge of acquiring a nuclear weapon, China is waging cyber warfare against America, Russia -- General Soleimani, you just mentioned, the Iranian general is the head of the al Quds forces. He's directly responsible for the murder of over 500 American servicemen in Iraq, and part of this Iranian deal was lifting the international sanctions on General Soleimani. The day General Soleimani flew back from Moscow to Iran was the day we believed that Russia used cyber warfare against the Joint Chiefs. We need a new commander in chief that will stand up to our enemies, and that will have credibility... It is worth emphasizing that Iran released our hostages in 1981 the day Ronald Reagan was sworn into office. +p1583 +aVBrett, can I -- Brett, can I jump in on this one? +p1584 +aVWell, I am blessed to receive a word from God every day in receiving the scriptures and reading the scriptures. And God speaks through the Bible. I'm the son of a pastor and evangelist and I've described many times how my father, when I was a child, was an alcoholic. He wasn't a Christian. And my father left my mother and left me when I was just three years old. And someone invited him to Clay Road Baptist Church. And he gave his heart to Jesus and it turned him around. And he got on a plane and he flew back to my mother and me. I would also note that the scripture tells us, "you shall know them by their fruit." We see lots of "campaign conservatives." But if we're going to win in 2016, we need a consistent conservative, someone who has been a fiscal conservative, a social conservative, a national security conservative. There are real differences among the candidates on issues like amnesty, like Obamacare, like religious liberty, like life and marriage. And I have been proud to fight and stand for religious liberty, to stand against Planned Parenthood, to defend life for my entire career. And I will be proud to continue to do so as president of the United States. +p1585 +aVIf I'm elected president, let me tell you about my first day in office. The first thing I intend to do is to rescind every illegal and unconstitutional executive action taken by Barack Obama. The next thing I intend to do is instruct the Department of Justice to open an investigation into these videos and to prosecute Planned Parenthood for any criminal violations. The next thing I intend to do is instruct the Department of Justice and the IRS to start (sic) persecuting religious liberty, and then intend to cancel the Iran deal, and finally move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. I will keep my word. My father fled Cuba, and I will fight to defend liberty because my family knows what it's like to lose it. +p1586 +asVTODD +p1587 +(lp1588 +VGood evening, and welcome to the +p1589 +aVAnd neither party has seen this yet. These candidates are both running for the Democratic nomination, but they are very different from each other when it comes to what matters most and how they would go about the job of being president. Our job tonight is to draw out those differences so you, the voters, can understand them and be fully informed. +p1590 +aVFirst, I want to say a special thanks to the New Hampshire Union Leader for helping make this debate possible, and the readers, who helped provide some of the questions and topics that we'll be addressing tonight. The rules tonight, by the way, are simple: 90 seconds for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. +p1591 +aVThank you, Senator. Secretary Clinton. +p1592 +aVAll right. Let's get started. Secretary Clinton, last night you cited the Concord Monitor when you said of Senator Sanders that, quote, "It's very hard to see how any of his proposals could ever be achievable." So please tell us why you think if he's elected president on a platform of promising things like free public college and universal healthcare, that he cannot achieve those things. +p1593 +aVThank you, Secretary. Senator Sanders, so just explain how you spent nearly two decades in Congress and haven't gotten any of these things passed. Why do you think as president you'll be able to achieve big, big new programs like this? +p1594 +aVGo. +p1595 +aVYes, go ahead. +p1596 +aVAll right, thank you both. Rachel. +p1597 +aVI'd like to follow up on a comment that Secretary Clinton said, Senator. President Obama has not called for abolishing the death penalty. President Obama is for the big Asian trade deal known as TPP, and just yesterday you said you can't be both a moderate or a progressive, but you can't be both. Is President Obama, in your judgment, based on these policies positions, a progressive? +p1598 +aV...Secretary Clinton, go ahead... +p1599 +aV 30 seconds, and then we'll move. +p1600 +aVThank you. +p1601 +aV... Secretary, we're gonna... +p1602 +aVThirty seconds. +p1603 +aVThank you both. +p1604 +aVAll right, welcome back. Let's get right to it. Senator Sanders, you were talking about all of your campaign contributions and campaign finance reform. You rail against big money in politics. But do you realize there is one public financing system that we do have in place, and it is\u2014it is in place to run for president. Why aren't you walking the walk on that? Why aren't you participating in the presidential public financing system which is designed to essentially keep big money out of presidential politics? +p1605 +aVWell, going on that then, why criticize her on Super PACs, and you got\u2014and all this when it is\u2014you know, that's the system? I mean, you could be participating in a publicly-financing\u2014public financing system... +p1606 +aV... and being able to set\u2014being able to set an example. +p1607 +aV... she has had more people praise her plan than yours. +p1608 +aVThank you both. Let me move on to our next question here, and in fact it comes to us through New England Cable News. Secretary Clinton, it's addressed to you, and it's about this issue of the speeches, particularly to Goldman Sachs. This is what the questioner wrote verbatim. "I am concerned with the abuses of Wall Street has taken with the American taxpayers money," and then she asks whether you would release the transcripts of your Goldman Sachs speeches, and then added, "Don't you think the voting public has a right to know what was said?" But, let's make that bigger. Are you willing to release the transcripts of all your paid speeches? We do know through reporting that there were transcription services for all of those paid speeches. In full disclosure, would you release all of them? +p1609 +aVSenator, you sound like you want to respond. Go ahead. +p1610 +aVWe'll be right back. And we're going to get to trade and a lot of other issues. +p1611 +aVGo ahead, Senator Sanders\u201430 seconds, your response. +p1612 +aVAll right. Senator, I want to stay, though... +p1613 +aVGo ahead. 30 seconds. +p1614 +aVLet me\u2014let\u2014we're gonna\u2014we're staying\u2014we're staying basically on this topic. Obviously you've been emphasizing this difference on the Iraq war, but one place where you do agree, and one place where you voted to authorize the use of force, was in favor of the war in Afghanistan. Right now, it is possible President Obama is going to be leaving the next president, perhaps President Sanders, at least 10,000 troops in Afghanistan. How long will those troops be in Afghanistan under President Sanders? +p1615 +aVCan you address a question on Afghanistan? How long are these troops going to be there? If President Obama leaves you 10,000 troops, how long do you think they're going to be there? +p1616 +aVSecretary Clinton, 30 seconds: How long are these troops going to be in Afghanistan? We have more American troops in Afghanistan than what we were talking about with Iraq. +p1617 +aVYou know, Senator Sanders, nobody knows who your foreign policy advisers are. You haven't given a major foreign policy speech. And it doesn't sound like all the time that foreign policy is a priority, other than when you're asked about it, and you say you're going to crush +p1618 +aVAll right, Senator, 30 seconds. +p1619 +aV30 seconds, madam secretary. +p1620 +aVAlright, as Commander in Chief, Senator Sanders, you've got to prioritize potential threats to the United States. Three countries, North Korea, Iran, Russia. How would you rank them in order of their threat to America's security right now... +p1621 +aV... Starting with the biggest threat. +p1622 +aV... I didn't say that... +p1623 +aV... No... +p1624 +aV... We already had that. I'm talking about these three countries. How would you orient our national security, our national defense posture. +p1625 +aVSecretary of Defense Ash Carter this week picked one of those three, and he has said Russia is, basically, the most important national security threat. Sort of reorienting the defense and the challenges to that. Do you agree with his decisions... +p1626 +aVSecretary Clinton, what do you think of Secretary of Defense Ash Carter. He's basically putting Russia above Iran, above North Korea, as sort of the chief national security challenge right now. +p1627 +aVThank you both, Rachel? +p1628 +aVAnd we are back. We're gonna get into a little bit of election politics, electability, in a little bit. Senator Sanders, The Iowa Democratic Party has declared Hillary Clinton the winner of Monday's Iowa caucuses\u2014narrowest of margins. Today, the Des Moines Register has an editorial that calls for the audit of the results, saying, quote, "what happened Monday night at the Democratic caucuses was a debacle, period. The results were too close not to do a complete audit." Senator Sanders, do you accept the idea that Hillary Clinton won Iowa? And do you\u2014or do you believe the caucuses are still an open question? +p1629 +aVSecretary Clinton, will you participate in some sort of audit, if that's what the party wants to do? You good with that? +p1630 +aVThat's fair enough. OK. +p1631 +aVGood, we move on. We're happy with that. We have more questions. +p1632 +aVWe'll stay on this issue. We'll stay on this topic. Secretary Clinton, just like there are some Democrats that question Senator Sanders' ability in the general election, many Democratic voters that our reporters have been running into in Iowa and New Hampshire, they tell our reporters over and over again they're worried about the emails issue, not because they don't believe your explanation, but because it's a drip-drip, because the cloud is hanging over your head and that it will impact the general election. They see your numbers right now and they think it's the email issue as to why you're not polling very well. So can you reassure these Democrats that somehow the email issue isn't going to blow up your candidacy if you're the nominee? +p1633 +aVAll right, Madam Secretary, there is an open\u2014there is an open FBI investigation into this matter about how you may have handled classified material. Are you 100 percent confident that nothing is going to come of this FBI investigation? +p1634 +aVWell, Senator sanders, you famously at the first debate said you didn't give a darn about her emails; I think you used another . +p1635 +aVYou're right. I'm trying to\u2014it's a\u2014it's a family hour still right now. After 11:00, I'll say it the other way. And you mostly have refrained from commenting on it, but recently you called it a very serious issue, and then the other day you said well she's getting slapped with the email controversy. Are you\u2014how are you feeling about these darn emails now? +p1636 +aVOK. Senator Sanders, thank you. +p1637 +aVSecretary Clinton, let me turn to the issue of trade. In the '90s you supported +p1638 +aVWell, Senator Sanders, I know you want to respond on this, you have never supported a trade deal since you've been in Congress. +p1639 +aVBut if you do that as president... If you do that as president, how are you not essentially letting China, who will do all of these deals around the world, how are you going to prevent China from essentially setting the rules of trade for the world? +p1640 +aVAll right. Thank you both. We're going to sneak in one more break here, and when we come back we'll squeeze as many questions as we can before we end this thing. We'll be right back. +p1641 +aVAll right. Welcome back here in the final minutes. +p1642 +aVThe home stretch of this only Democratic debate in the final week before the primary. Let me start with you, Secretary Clinton, on this question. Obviously, President Obama got a lot of ambitious stuff done in his first year and a half. You're going to have to make choices. And there's a lot of heavy lifts. And he made choices. He did healthcare and it came at the expense, arguably, of immigration reform. Had he put immigration reform first, perhaps that gets done and healthcare doesn't. So there are three big lifts that you've talked about: immigration, gun reform, climate change. What do you do first? Because you know the first one is the one you have the best shot at getting done. +p1643 +aVAll right, but Senator Sanders......you've still got to do something first. As you know, history said\u2014shows what you pick first is your best shot at getting, and how you prioritize things. +p1644 +aVImmigration reform, for instance, fell by the wayside in the first term because of this. +p1645 +aVOK. Thank you. +p1646 +aVAll right, before we go, I want to ask each one of these. Secretary Clinton, you've made it clear when you look at Senator Sanders, you do not see a president, but do you see\u2014 +p1647 +aVBut do you see\u2014do you see a vice president? +p1648 +aVWould you unite the party by trying to pick Senator Sanders as your running mate? +p1649 +aVSenator, would you consider the secretary? +p1650 +aVSecretary Clinton, closing statements. You are first. +p1651 +aVThank you, Madam Secretary. Senator Sanders. +p1652 +aVWell, there you have it. I promise you, Rachel and I have a lot more questions, but we just don't have any more time, unless we could a third hour, but I don't think so. Our debate coverage\u2014 debate coverage will continue in just a moment with our colleague . And we want to thank all of you for being here, and we want to thank the two candidates for taking part in this important event. +p1653 +aVWe'll see you in a few minutes. Thank you. +p1654 +asVHARWOOD +p1655 +(lp1656 +VMr. Trump, you've done very well in this campaign so far by promising to build a wall and make another country pay for it. +p1657 +aVSend 11 million people out of the country. Cut taxes $10 trillion without increasing the deficit. +p1658 +aVAnd make Americans better off because your greatness would replace the stupidity and incompetence of others. +p1659 +aVLet's be honest. Is this a comic book version of a presidential campaign? +p1660 +aVWe're at the 60 seconds. +p1661 +aVWe're at 60 seconds, but I gotta ask you, you talked about your tax plan. You say that it would not increase the deficit because you cut taxes $10 trillion in the economy would take off like... +p1662 +aVHold on, hold on. The economy would take off like a rocket ship. +p1663 +aVI talked to economic advisers who have served presidents of both parties. They said that you have as chance of cutting taxes that much without increasing the deficit as you would of flying away from that podium by flapping your arms. +p1664 +aVThe Tax Foundation says \u2014 has looked at all of our plans and \u2014 and his creates, even with the dynamic effect, $8 trillion dollar deficit... +p1665 +aVGovernor Kasich, hold it, I'm coming to you right now. The... +p1666 +aVWell, I'm asking you about this. +p1667 +aVI'm about to ask you about this. That is, you had some very strong words to say yesterday about what's happening in your party and what you're hearing from the two gentlemen we've just heard from. Would you repeat it? +p1668 +aVWell, let's just get more pointed about it. You said yesterday that you were hearing proposals that were just crazy from your colleagues. Who were you talking about? +p1669 +aVHold on. I think there's a \u2014 I've got question for \u2014 +p1670 +aVHold on, Governor. I've got a question for Governor Bush. +p1671 +aVNo, we're moving to Governor Bush. Governor, the fact that you're at the fifth lectern tonight shows how far your stock has fallen in this race, despite the big investment your donors have made. You noted recently, after slashing your payroll, that you had better things to do than sit around and be demonized by other people. I wanted to ask you \u2014 +p1672 +aVOK. +p1673 +aVGot it. +p1674 +aVBut it's a \u2014 OK. It's a \u2014 it's a question about why you're having difficulty. I want to ask you in this context. Ben Bernanke, who was appointed Fed chairman by your brother, recently wrote a book in which he said he no longer considers himself a Republican because the Republican Party has given in to know- nothingism. Is that why you're having a difficult time in this race? +p1675 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1676 +aVWe're gonna get down the line. Becky's got a question. +p1677 +aVSenator Paul, I've got a question for you on the same subject. +p1678 +aVSenator Paul? +p1679 +aVYou used your time on something else. Senator Paul? +p1680 +aVSenator Paul, the budget deal crafted by Speaker Boehner and passed by the House today makes cuts in entitlement programs, Medicare and Social Security disability, which are the very programs conservatives say need cutting to shrink government and solve our country's long-term budget deficit. Do you oppose that budget deal because it doesn't cut those programs enough? +p1681 +aVSenator, if what you just said is true, why did Speaker Boehner craft this deal and why did Paul Ryan, who has a strong reputation for fiscal discipline, vote for it? +p1682 +aVThank you, Senator . +p1683 +aVJim, thanks. Governor Bush, in a debate like this four years ago, every Republican running for president pledged to oppose a budget deal containing any tax increase even if it had spending cuts ten times as large. A few months later, you told Congress, put me in, coach, you said you would take that deal. Still feel that way? +p1684 +aVBut to \u2014 to the point that you made to Congress, if you were president and you were offered a bipartisan deal that had one dollar... +p1685 +aV...one dollar of tax increases per ten dollars of spending cuts, would you take it? +p1686 +aVSo you don't want the coach to put you in any more? +p1687 +aVThank you, governor. Carl? +p1688 +aVGovernor John Kasich, you've called for abolishing the Export Import Bank, which provides subsidies to help American companies compete with overseas competitors. You call that corporate welfare. One of the largest newspapers in your state wrote an editorial, said they found that strange, writing, that if that's corporate welfare, what does Kasich call the millions of dollars in financial incentives doled out to attract or retain jobs by his development effort \u2014 jobs Ohio. If subsidies are good enough for Ohio companies, why aren't they good enough for companies trying to compete overseas? +p1689 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1690 +aVThank you, Governor. Thank you. +p1691 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate on +p1692 +aVIt sounds like you think Senator Sessions is wrong to believe there is enough abuse in that program that we shouldn't... +p1693 +aVThank you, Senator. Becky? +p1694 +aVGovernor Bush, the tax reform bill that Ronald Reagan signed in 1986 cut the top personal income tax rate to 28 percent \u2014 just like your plan does. But President Reagan taxed capital gains at the same rate, while you would tax them at just 20 percent. Given the problems we've been discussing, growing gap between rich and poor, why would you tax labor at a higher rate than income from investments? +p1695 +aVSenator Rubio, 30 seconds to you. The Tax Foundation, which was alluded to earlier, scored your tax plan and concluded that you give nearly twice as much of a gain in after-tax income to the top 1 percent as to people in the middle of the income scale. Since you're the champion of Americans living paycheck-to- paycheck, don't you have that backward? +p1696 +aVThe Tax Foundation \u2014 just to be clear, they said the... +p1697 +aVNo, I did not. +p1698 +aVSenator, the Tax Foundation said after-tax income for the top 1 percent under your plan would go up 27.9 percent. +p1699 +aVAnd people in the middle of the income spectrum, about 15 percent. +p1700 +aV +p1701 +aVSenator, thank you. +p1702 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you've written about the huge divide in values between middle America and the big coastal cities like New York and Los Angeles. As a preacher as well as a politician, you know that presidents need the moral authority to bring the entire country together. The leading Republican candidate, when you look at the average of national polls right now, is Donald Trump. When you look at him, do you see someone with the moral authority to unite the country? +p1703 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1704 +aVThank you, Governor. Don't forget my colleague, Sharon Epperson. +p1705 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said something that many in your party do not believe, which is that climate change is undeniable, that human activity contributes to it, and you said, quote: "The question is, what do we do to deal with it?". So what do we do? +p1706 +aVWhat should we do? +p1707 +aVYou mean government? +p1708 +aVThank you, Governor. Becky. +p1709 +aVGovernor Bush, Mr. Trump says that he is capable of growing the economy so much that Social Security and Medicare don't have to be touched. Do you want to explain how that is going to happen, Mr. Trump? +p1710 +aVHold on, Governor. I've got a question for \u2014 for Dr. Carson. +p1711 +aVYes. You've said that you would like to replace Medicare with a system of individual family savings accounts, so that families could cover their own expenses. Obviously, that would be a very controversial idea. Explain how that would work, exactly. +p1712 +aVGovernor, do you also think that... +p1713 +aV...that Dr. Carson's right, that we can replace Medicare with individual savings accounts? +p1714 +aVMrs. Fiorina, we're right at the end of our time. +p1715 +aVYou all wanted us to limit . All right. Go ahead. +p1716 +aVWe have now reached the point in the program where candidates are going to give their closing statements, 30 seconds apiece. We're going to go right to left and start with you, Senator Paul. +p1717 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1718 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Cruz? +p1719 +aVThank you, Senator. Mrs. Fiorina? +p1720 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Dr. Carson? +p1721 +aVMr. Trump? +p1722 +aVJust for the record, the debate was always going to be two hours. Senator Rubio? +p1723 +aVSenator Rubio. +p1724 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Bush? +p1725 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Huckabee. +p1726 +aVThank you... +p1727 +aVGovernor Kasich? +p1728 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1729 +asVPAUL +p1730 +(lp1731 +VThe question is, how do we keep America safe from terrorism? Trump says we ought to close that Internet thing. The question really is, what does he mean by that? Like they do in North Korea? Like they do in China? Rubio says we should collect all Americans' records all of the time. The Constitution says otherwise. I think they're both wrong. I think we defeat terrorism by showing them that we do not fear them. I think if we ban certain religions, if we censor the Internet, I think that at that point the terrorists will have won. Regime change hasn't won. Toppling secular dictators in the Middle East has only led to chaos and the rise of radical Islam. I think if we want to defeat terrorism, I think if we truly are sincere about defeating terrorism, we need to quit arming the allies of +p1732 +aVYou know, I think Marco gets it completely wrong. We are not any safer through the bulk collection of all Americans' records. In fact, I think we're less safe. We get so distracted by all of the information, we're not spending enough time getting specific immigration \u2014 specific information on terrorists. The other thing is, is the one thing that might have stopped San Bernardino, that might have stopped 9/11 would have been stricter controls on those who came here. And Marco has opposed at every point increased security \u2014 border security for those who come to our country. On his Gang of Eight bill, he would have liberalized immigration, but he did not \u2014 and he steadfastly opposed any new border security requirements for refugees or students. Last week, I introduced another bill saying we need more security, we need more scrutiny. Once again, Marco opposed this. So Marco can't have it both ways. He thinks he wants to be this, "Oh, I'm great and strong on national defense." But he's the weakest of all the candidates on immigration. He is the one for an open border that is leaving us defenseless. If we want to defend the country, we have to defend against who's coming in, and Marco is \u2014 has more of an allegiance to Chuck Schumer and to the liberals than he does to conservative policy. +p1733 +aVIf I was mentioned in the question, can I respond? +p1734 +aVMarco still misunderstands the immigration issue. What I put forward was an amendment that would have temporarily halted immigration from high-risk terrorist countries, but would have started it up, but I wanted them to go through Global Entry, which is a program where we do background checks. The thing is, is that every terrorist attack we've had since 9/11 has been legal immigration. Marco wants to expand that. I want more rules, more scrutiny, and to defend the country, you have to defend the border. +p1735 +aVWolf... +p1736 +aVWolf, this legislation... +p1737 +aVThis legislation on indefinite detention... +p1738 +aV... I think deserves a little more attention. +p1739 +aVI think that by arming the allies of +p1740 +aVI think that if you believe in regime change, you're mistaken. In 2013, we put 600 tons of weapons \u2014 us, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar \u2014 into the war against Assad. By pushing Assad back, we did create a safe space. We had people coming to our Foreign Relations Committee and saying, "Oh, we need to arm the allies of Al Qaida." They are still saying this. It is a crazy notion. This is the biggest debate we should be having tonight is is regime change a good idea; has it been a good idea. There are still people \u2014 the majority on the stage, they want to topple Assad. And then there will be chaos, and I think +p1741 +aVThese are the fundamental questions of our time, these foreign policy questions, whether or not regime change is a good idea or a bad idea. I don't think because I think the regime change was a bad idea it means that Hussein was necessarily a good idea. There is often variations of evil on both sides of the war. What we have to decide is whether or not regime change is a good idea. It's what the neoconservatives have wanted. It's what the vast majority of those on the stage want. They still want regime change. They want it in Syria. They wanted it in Iraq. They want it in Libya. It has not worked. Out of regime change you get chaos. From the chaos you have seen repeatedly the rise of radical Islam. So we get this profession of, oh, my goodness, they want to do something about terrorism and yet they're the problem because they allow terrorism to arise out of that chaos. +p1742 +aVNo, I think it's a huge mistake. I think regime change in Syria, and this is what \u2014 I've been saying this for several years now. In 2013 when we first went in, I said, you are going to give arms to the allies of al Qaida, to radical jihadists? That's crazy. But the other thing I said is the great irony is you will be back fighting against your own weapons. Had Assad been bombed when he used chemical weapons two years ago, +p1743 +aVWell, I think if you're in favor of World War III, you have your candidate. You know, here's...... the thing. My goodness, what we want in a leader is someone with judgment, not someone who is so reckless as to stand on the stage and say, "Yes, I'm jumping up and down; I'm going to shoot down Russian planes." Russia already flies in that airspace. It may not be something we're in love with the fact that they're there, but they were invited by Iraq and by Syria to fly in that airspace. And so if we announce we're going to have a no-fly zone, and others have said this. Hillary Clinton is also for it. It is a recipe for disaster. It's a recipe for World War III. We need to confront Russia from a position of strength, but we don't need to confront Russia from a point of recklessness that would lead to war. This is something \u2014 this type of judgment, you know, it's having that kind of judgment; who you would appoint and how you're going to conduct affairs, that is incredibly important. I mean, I think when we think about the judgment of someone who might want World War III, we might think about someone who might shut down a bridge because they don't like their friends; they don't want to \u2014 you know, they want to a Democrat. So I think we need to be very careful. +p1744 +aVYou know, I think we need to set the record straight on this, because I think Marco misspoke about the bill. On the Gang of Eight bill, there was no provisions really for extra scrutiny or safety for refugees. At the time the bill came up, two Iraqi refugees came to my home town, Bowling Green, Kentucky. Their fingerprints were on a bomb from Iraq. They were in the database, but we didn't pick them up. We relocated them here, put them in government housing, got them on food stamps. And we began providing for them, but we didn't have adequate security. On the Gang of Eight bill, on Marco's bill, we had an opportunity. There was a conservative consensus for an amendment I put forward called Trust, But Verify that would have strengthened border security on both refugees, students and those coming here. And Marco sided and I guess was more sympathetic to Chuck Schumer and to the president than he was to conservative principles. But this goes directly to national defense. And if he wants to run as a national \u2014 national defense conservative, he's got to explain why he hasn't stepped up to support border security. +p1745 +aVWhat my bill would do would be only for refugees going forward. So I haven't taken a position on sending anyone home. But I have taken the position that we have a lot of problems here in our country. And that one of the things that we do \u2014 charity is about giving your own money. Charity isn't giving someone else's money. To put everyone in government housing and food stamps and bring them in from around the world I think is a mistake. To give of your own money, I've given to my church. My church has helped people that came from Bosnia. That's a good thing. But we shouldn't have a program where we just say that we're going to take care of the world's refugees. Nobody in the Middle East is doing anything. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait \u2014 all the Gulf nations are doing nothing. They need to step up and take... +p1746 +aVThe greatest threat to our national security is our debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. And whose fault is it? Well, frankly, it's both parties' fault. You have those on the right who clamor and say, oh, we will spend anything on the military, and those on the left who say the same for domestic welfare. But what most Americans don't realize is there is an unholy alliance. They come together. There's a secret handshake. We spend more money on everything. And we are not stronger nation if we go further into debt. We are not projecting power from bankruptcy court. To me, there is no greater threat than our debt. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage because I'm willing to hold the line on all spending. I hope you will consider me in the election. Thank you very much. +p1747 +aVAbsolutely. And I think that we ought to look where income inequality seems to be the worst. It seems to be worst in cities run by Democrats, governors of... States run by Democrats and countries currently run by Democrats. So the thing is, let's look for root causes. But I would also say \u2014 lay some blame at the \u2014 the feet of the Federal Reserve. I think the Federal Reserve has made this problem worse. By artificially keeping interest rates below the market rate, average ordinary citizens have a tough time earning interest, have a tough time making money. They're actually talking now about negative interest. The money as it's created through quantitative easing or other means tends to start out in the big banks in New York. And because we're now paying interest for them to keep the money there, much of that money has not filtered out into the economy. So what we're finding is there is increasing income disparity and income inequality. We also find that as the Federal Reserve destroys the value of the currency, what you're finding is that, if you're poor, if you make $20,000 a year and you have three or four kids, and you're trying to get by, as your prices rise or as the value of the dollar shrinks, these are the people that are hurt the worst. So really we need to reexamine whether we not \u2014 we want a Federal Reserve that's involved so much in determining interest rates. We also need to look at root causes as to what caused the housing boom and the housing collapse. But the bottom line is, if you want less income inequality, move to a city with a Republican mayor or a state with a Republican governor. +p1748 +aVWell, it's a great question, Neil, and thanks for including me in the tax debate. I think what's important about the tax debate is, is that we have to ask the question, where is money best spent, in the private sector or in the government sector? I want a government really, really small, so small you can barely see it. So I want lower taxes and much more money in the private sector. My tax plan, however, is the only tax plan among any of the candidates on the stage that is part of a balanced budget plan. I put forward three plans that actually balance the budget over a five-year period. Each of these plans have details on exactly where we would cut. The question came up earlier, where would you cut? Nobody likes to say where they would cut. I've put pencil to paper and done three budgets that actually balance. I'm also in favor of a plan called the penny plan where we'd just cut 1 percent across the board and the budget actually balances in less than five years. So I think what is extraordinary about my tax plan is it is in the context of balancing the budget. What is also extraordinary about my tax plan is it gets rid of the payroll tax. Democrats demagogue this issue to death, and when they do they say, oh, a millionaire would get a bigger tax cut than someone making $10,000. That's proportionality, as Ben is trying to explain to folks. But the thing is, is if we get rid of the payroll tax, everybody is going to get a tax cut. And this is something that I think the public at large will support and could win an election. +p1749 +aVOurs is 14.5 percent for corporations, 14.5 percent for individuals. No payroll tax for the employee. The business tax pays for social security, and there would be two remaining deductions \u2014 home mortgage and charity. +p1750 +aVThank you. +p1751 +aVNeil, there's a point I'd like to make here... ....Neil, a point that I'd like to make about the tax credits. We have to decide what is conservative and what isn't conservative. Is it fiscally conservative to have a trillion-dollar expenditure? We're not talking about giving people back their tax money. He's talking about giving people money they didn't pay. It's a welfare transfer payment. So here's what we have. Is it conservative to have $1 trillion in transfer payments \u2014 a new welfare program that's a refundable tax credit? Add that to Marco's plan for $1 trillion in new military spending, and you get something that looks, to me, not very conservative. Thank you. +p1752 +aVNevertheless, it's not very conservative, Marco. +p1753 +aVHow is it conservative? +p1754 +aVYeah, but, Marco! Marco! How is it conservative, how is it conservative to add a trillion-dollar expenditure for the federal government that you're not paying for? +p1755 +aVHow is it conservative? +p1756 +aVHow is it conservative to add a trillion dollars in military expenditures? You can not be a conservative if you're going to keep promoting new programs that you're not going to pay for. +p1757 +aVNo. I don't think we're any safer \u2014 I do not think we are any safer from bankruptcy court. As we go further, and further into debt, we become less, and less safe. This is the most important thing we're going to talk about tonight. Can you be a conservative, and be liberal on military spending? Can you be for unlimited military spending, and say, Oh, I'm going to make the country safe? No, we need a safe country, but, you know, we spend more on our military than the next ten countries combined? I want a strong national defense, but I don't want us to be bankrupt. +p1758 +aVHey, Gerard, you know, we might want to point out China is not part of this deal. +p1759 +aVBefore we get a little bit off-kilter here... +p1760 +aVThere is an argument that China doesn't like the deal, because in us doing the deal, we'll be trading with their competitors. You're exactly right. But I think we've sort of missed the point a little bit here. There is an important point, though, about how we discuss these trade treaties that I do agree with Mr. Trump on. We should negotiate from a position of strength. And we also should negotiate using the full force and the constitutional power that was given to us. I think it's a mistake that we give up power to the presidency on these trade deals. We give up the power to filibuster, and I'm kind of fond of that power. We give up the power to amend. And I think, really, one of the big problems we have in our country is, over the last century, really, so much power has gravitated to the executive branch. Really, Congress is kind of a bystander. We don't write the rules. We don't make the laws. The executive branch does. So even in trade \u2014 and I am for trade \u2014 I think we should be careful about giving so much power to the presidency. +p1761 +aVI'd like first to respond to the acquisition, we should \u2014 I think it's particularly naive, particularly foolish to think that we're not going to talk to Russia. The idea of a no fly zone, realize that this is also something that Hillary Clinton agrees with several on our side with, you're asking for a no fly zone in an area in which Russia already flies. Russia flies in that zone at the invitation of Iraq. I'm not saying it's a good thing, but you better know at least what we're getting into. So, when you think it's going to be a good idea to have a no fly zone over Iraq, realize that means you are saying we are going to shoot down Russian planes. If you're ready for that, be ready to send your sons and daughters to another war in Iraq. I don't want to see that happen. I think the first war in Iraq was a mistake... You can be strong without being involved in every civil war around the war... +p1762 +aVRonald Reagan was strong, but Ronald Reagan didn't... +p1763 +aV...send troops into the Middle East... +p1764 +aV...Can I finish... +p1765 +aV...Can I finish my time? Could I finish with my time? +p1766 +aVYes, I would like to finish my response, basically. +p1767 +aVThis is an important question. This is an incredibly important question. And the question goes to be, who do we want to be our commander-in-chief? Do you want a commander-in-chief who says something that we never did throughout the entire Cold War, to discontinue having conversations with the Russians? I am not happy about them flying over there. But I'm not naive enough to say, well, Iraq has them flying over their airspace, we're just going to announce that we're shooting them down? That is naive to the point of being something you might hear in junior high. But it's scary... +p1768 +aVThe first thing I would do is I wouldn't arm our enemies. I wouldn't arm +p1769 +aVGerard, can I comment... +p1770 +aVThe first thing I would do as president is repeal the regulations that are hampering our energy that the President has put in place. Including the Clean Power Act. While I do think that man may have a role in our climate, I think nature also has a role. The planet's 4.5 billion years old, we've been through geologic age after geologic age. We've had times when the temperatures been warmer, we've had times when the temperatures been colder. We've had times when the carbon in the atmosphere's been higher. So, I think before we \u2014 we need to look before we leap. President's often fond of saying he wants a balance solution, but, really we do need to balance both keeping the environment clean, and we will have some rules for that. We got to balance that with the economy. He's devastated my state. I say the President's not only destroying Kentucky, he's destroying the democrat party down there because nobody wants to associate with him. So, what we really need is somebody that understands that we do need energy of all forms, and that means we will have solar, and wind, and hydro, but we will still have coal, and we still will have natural gas. And, we've got to have an all of the above policy. But, it would be a mistake to shut down all of our industries in the coal fields, and shut down the coal power plants. If we did so we're going to have a day where we wake up and some of our big cities are either very cold, or very hot. So, I think it's a big danger, and we shouldn't do it. And, what we should do is say we want all of the above... ...We want to free up the energy sector, and let people produce, let them drill, let them explore. +p1771 +aVWe're the richest, freest, most humanitarian nation in the history of mankind. But we also borrow a million dollars a minute. And the question I have for all Americans is, think about it, can you be a fiscal conservative if you don't conserve all of the money? If you're a profligate spender, you spend money in an unlimited fashion for the military, is that a conservative notion? We have to be conservative with all spending, domestic spending and welfare spending. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage. +p1772 +aVYou know, I left my medical practice and ran for office because I was concerned about an $18 trillion debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. Now, on the floor of the Congress, the Washington establishment from both parties puts forward a bill that will explode the deficit. It allows President Obama to borrow unlimited amounts of money. I will stand firm. I will spend every ounce of energy to stop it. I will begin tomorrow to filibuster it. And I ask everyone in America to call Congress tomorrow and say enough is enough; no more debt. +p1773 +aVNo, I oppose it because you're taking money from the entitlement and then spending it immediately on other items. That's what they're doing. They're taking money from Social Security and they're going to spend it on the military and they're going to spend it on domestic spending. Here's the thing. When you look at raising the debt limit, it should be leverage to try to reform government. In 2011, the sequester was passed as a reform to slow down the rate of government. Instead, the Washington establishment raised both. We raised the military spending, took from entitlements, and raised domestic spending and the deficit will explode under this. This is the unholy alliance that people need to know about between right and left. Right and left are spending us into oblivion. We should use the debt ceiling, as precisely to Don, to force upon them budgetary reforms. +p1774 +aVWell, that's a real question. Is there going to be any change in the House with new leadership? I frankly don't think there will be much change because I think what's going to happen is you're going to get more of the same. People in Washington think they were sent there to be adults and govern and do all this. Well, you know what I'm worried about? Not keeping the government open. I'm worried about bankrupting the American people. We're borrowing a million dollars a minute. That is important. And that's what we have to contrast. Keeping the government open and continuing to borrow a million dollars a minute. +p1775 +aVWell, thank you very much. I would like to thank Ted for co-sponsoring my bill, audit the Fed. And I think it's precisely because of the arrogance of someone like Ben Bernanke, who now calls us all know-nothings, that is precisely why we need audit the Fed. I think it is really very much a huge problem that an organization as powerful as the Fed comes in, lobbies against them being audited on the Hill. I would prevent them lobbying Congress. I don't think the Fed should be involved with lobbying us. I think we should examine how the Fed has really been part of the problem. You want to study income inequality, let's bring the Fed forward and talk about Fed policy and how it causes income inequality. Let's also bring the Fed forward and have them explain how they caused the housing boom and the crisis, and what they've done to make us better or worse. I think the Fed has been a great problem in our society. What you need to do is free up interest rates. Interest rates are the price of money, and we shouldn't have price controls on the price of money. +p1776 +aV...John... +p1777 +aVJohn, I'd like to address this? John, could I follow up on this? +p1778 +aVWhat are the rules on who gets to follow up. How do we decide on who gets to follow up? I've seen plenty of other people follow up? +p1779 +aVI'd like to just mention something about my tax plan, and how it relates to the discussion... +p1780 +aVAlright. Much of the discussion is centered over whether or not the different tax plans help, or affect the middle class. In fact, it's the chief argument by democrats against many of the different flat tax proposals. Mine is unique in the sense that my tax plan actually gets rid of the payroll tax as well. It shifts it to the business, and it would allow middle class people to get a tax cut. If you just cut their income tax, there isn't much income tax to cut. Mine actually cuts the payroll tax, and I think it would spread the tax cut across all socioeconomic levels, and would allow then it to be something that would be broadly supported by the public in an election. +p1781 +aVThe question always is, what works better, the private marketplace or government? And what distributes goods better? It always seems to be the private marketplace does a better job. Is there an area for a safety net? Can you have Medicare or Social Security? Yes. But you ought to acknowledge the government doesn't do a very good job at it. The main problem with Medicare right now is that the average person pays in taxes over their whole lifetime about $100,000. But the average person takes out about $350,000. We have this enormous mismatch because we have smaller and smaller families. When people ask me, whose fault is it? Whose fault is it that Medicare is broken, out of money, that Social Security is broken, out of money? And I say, look, it's not Republicans' fault, it's not Democrats' fault, it's your grandparents' fault for having too many damn kids. After the war we had all of these kids, Baby Boomers. Now we're having smaller families. We used to have 16 workers for one retiree, now you have three workers for one retiree. It's not working. I have a bill to fix Medicare. I've a bill to fix Social Security. For both of them you have to gradually raise the age. If you're not willing to do that, nobody wants to do it, but if you're not willing to gradually raise the age, you're not serious about fixing either one of them. +p1782 +aVSay again? +p1783 +aVYou can't do nothing. And that's what I hear from some people, "we'll do nothing and it will just be fixed." That's absurd, and I think people who don't want to fix it, really, or unwilling to take the chance to say, "something has to change," are missing the boat here. The age will have to gradually rise, there is no question. It's the only way you fix Medicare, the only way you fix Social Security. You will also have to means-test the benefits and declare there's not enough money. It isn't "I put money in, I'm getting it back." There is no money, it's a stack of paper. There is no money in the Social Security account. There is no money in the Medicare account. There's only a promise to pay by the next generation, and the next generation's not big enough to pay it. [ +p1784 +aVLiberty thrives when government is small. I want a government so small I can barely see it. I want a government so small that the individual has a chance to thrive and prosper. I think, though, government is too big now. And what you're going to see in Washington this week is establishment Republicans have made an agreement with the president to raise the debt ceiling in an unlimited fashion; no limit to the debt ceiling raise. This is extraordinary. It's extraordinarily wrong. You'll see me on the floor of the Senate tomorrow filibustering this and saying enough is enough, no more debt. +p1785 +aVGood evening, everyone. I'm an eye surgeon from Bowling Green, Kentucky. My wife, Kelly, and I have been married for nearly 25 years, and I spend my days defending the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I think there's nothing more important than understanding that the Constitution restrains government, not the people. Thank you. +p1786 +aVI kind of have to laugh when I think of, "Mmm, sounds like a non sequitur." He was asked whether or not he would be capable and it would be in good hands to be in charge of the nuclear weapons, and all of a sudden, there's a sideways attack at me. I think that really goes to really the judgment. Do we want someone with that kind of character, that kind of careless language to be negotiating with Putin? Do we want someone like that to be negotiating with Iran? I think really there's a sophomoric quality that is entertaining about Mr. Trump, but I am worried. I'm very concerned about him \u2014 having him in charge of the nuclear weapons, because I think his response, his \u2014 his visceral response to attack people on their appearance \u2014 short, tall, fat, ugly \u2014 my goodness, that happened in junior high. Are we not way above that? Would we not all be worried to have someone like that in charge of the nuclear arsenal? +p1787 +aVI think this goes back to essentially what we've been saying for the last two or three questions. Carly Fiorina also said we're not going to talk with Putin. Well, think if Reagan had said that during the Cold War? We continued to talk with the Russians throughout the Cold War which is much more significant that where we are now. Should we continue to talk with Iran? Yes. Should we cut up the agreement immediately? That's absurd. Wouldn't you want to know if they complied? Now, I'm going to vote against the agreement because I don't think there's significant leverage, but it doesn't mean that I would immediately not look at the agreement, and cut it up without looking to see if whether or not Iran has complied. The same goes with China. I don't think we need to be rash, I don't think we need to be reckless, and I think need to leave lines of communication open. Often we talk about whether we should be engaged in the world, or disengaged in the world, and I think this is an example of some who want to isolate us, actually, and not be engaged. We do need to be engaged with Russia. It doesn't mean we give them a free pass, or China a free pass, but, to be engaged, to continue to talk. We did throughout the Cold War, and it would be a big mistake not to do it here. +p1788 +aVI think this gets to the point of wisdom on when to intervene and when we shouldn't. Had we bombed Assad at the time, like President Obama wanted, and like Hillary Clinton wanted and many Republicans wanted, I think +p1789 +aVWell, I hate to say it, but Donald Trump has a bit of a point here. The case that was decided around 1900 was, people had a green card, were here legally, and they said that their children were citizens. There's never been a direct Supreme Court case on people who were here illegally, whether or not their kids are citizens. So it hasn't really been completely adjudicated. The 14th Amendment says that "those who are here and under the jurisdiction." The original author of the \u2014 of the 14th Amendment said on the Senate floor that this was applying to slaves, and did not specifically apply to others. +p1790 +aVWell, I'm glad we're having a discussion about taxes because everybody laments that we lose jobs overseas, we have. Our companies, and our jobs are being chased overseas by a 70,000 page tax code, so, that's why I've chosen to get rid of the whole thing, and have one single rate, 14 and a-half percent for everybody, business, and for corporate income, and personal income. But, we also get rid of the payroll tax, so the working class would get a tax break as well. So, I think a flat tax, eliminating the tax code, getting rid of all the loopholes, is the way to go, and it's the way we get America going again. +p1791 +aVHugh, can I \u2014 can I make a response to that? +p1792 +aVCan I make a response to that? +p1793 +aVMay I make a response to that? +p1794 +aVHe's referred to me. +p1795 +aVHe's referred to me... +p1796 +aV... in his remarks. May I make a response? +p1797 +aVAbsolutely. Go ahead. +p1798 +aVMay I respond? +p1799 +aVThe remark was made that there hadn't been anyone else on the podium opposed to the Iraq War. I've made my career as being an opponent of the Iraq War. I was opposed to the Syria war. I was opposed to arming people who are our enemies. Iran is now stronger because Hussein is gone. Hussein was the great bulwark and counterbalance to the Iranians. So when we complain about the Iranians, you need to remember that the Iraq War made it worse. Originally, Governor Bush was asked, was the Iraq War a mistake, and he said, "No. We'd do it again." We have to learn sometimes the interventions backfire. The Iraq War backfired and did not help us. We're still paying the repercussions of a bad decision. +p1800 +aVWe have make the decision now in Syria, should we topple Assad? Many up here wanted to topple Assad, and it's like \u2014 I said no, because if you do... +p1801 +aV... +p1802 +aVIf you want boots on the ground, and you want them to be our sons and daughters, you got 14 other choices. There will always be a Bush or Clinton for you, if you want to go back to war in Iraq. But the thing is, the first war was a mistake. And I'm not sending our sons and our daughters back to Iraq. The war didn't work. We can amplify those who live there. The Kurds deserve to be armed and I'll arm them. We can use our Air Force to amplify the forces there. But the boots on the ground need to be the people who live there. My goodness, I'm still upset with the Saudi Arabians for everything they do over there. They've funded the arms that went to the jihadists. They're not accepting any of the people, any of the migrants that have been \u2014 the refugees that are being pushed out of Syria. Saudi Arabia is not accepting one. Why are we always the world's patsies that we have to go over there and fight their wars for them? They need to fight their wars, we need to defend American interests, but it is not in America's national security interests to have another war in Iraq. +p1803 +aVI think one of the great problems, and what American people don't like about politics, is hypocrisy. People have one standard for others and not for them \u2014 for themselves. There is at least one prominent example on the stage of someone who says they smoked pot in high school, and yet the people going to \u2014 to jail for this are poor people, often African-Americans and often Hispanics, and yet the rich kids who use drugs aren't. I personally think that this is a crime for which the only victim is the individual, and I think that America has to take a different attitude. I would like to see more rehabilitation and less incarceration. I'm a fan of the drug courts which try to direct you back towards work and less time in jail. But the bottom line is the states. We say we like the 10th Amendment, until we start talking about this. And I think the federal government has gone too far, I think that the war on drugs has had a racial outcome, and really has been something that has really damaged our inner cities. Not only do the drugs damage them, we damage them again by incarcerating them and then preventing them from getting employment over time. So I don't think that the federal government should override the states. I believe in the 10th Amendment and I really will say that the states are left to themselves. +p1804 +aVWell, I think if we left it open, we could see how many people smoked pot in high school. +p1805 +aVWell, you know, the thing is that... +p1806 +aVYeah, I was talking about \u2014 well, let me... +p1807 +aVBut let me respond. The thing is, is that in Florida, Governor Bush campaigned against medical marijuana. That means that a small child like Morgan Hintz (ph) that has seizures is day, is failing on non-traditional medications, is not allowed to use cannabis oil. And if they do that in Florida, they will take the child away, they will put the parents in jail. And that's what that means if you're against allowing people use medical marijuana, you'll actually put them in jail. +p1808 +aVAnd actually, under the current circumstances, kids who had privilege like you do, don't go to jail, but the poor kids in our inner cities go to jail. I don't think that's fair. And I think we need to acknowledge it, and it is hypocritical to still want to put poor people in jail... +p1809 +aVWell, you vote \u2014 you oppose medical marijuana... +p1810 +aVBut that means you'll put people in jail. +p1811 +aVMay I respond? +p1812 +aVUnderstand what they're saying. if they're going to say we are going to enforce the federal law against what the state law is, they aren't really believing in the Tenth Amendment. Governor Christie would go into Colorado, and if you're breaking any federal law on marijuana, even though the state law allows it, he would put you in jail. If a young mother is trying to give her child cannabis oil for medical marijuana for seizure treatment, he would put her in jail, if it violates federal law. I would let Colorado do what the Tenth Amendment says. This power \u2014 we were never intended to have crime dealing at the federal level. Crime was supposed to be left to the states. Colorado has made their decision. And I don't want the federal government interfering and putting moms in jail, who are trying to get medicine for their kid... +p1813 +aVMay I respond? May I respond? +p1814 +aVHere is the thing, he doesn't want to make it about medical marijuana, but what if New Jersey's medical marijuana contradicts the federal law? He's saying he'll send the federal government in, and he will enforce the federal law. That's not consistent with the Tenth Amendment. It is not consistent with states' rights. And it is not consistent with the conservative vision for the country. I don't think we should be sending the federal police in to arrest a mother and separate them from their child for giving a medicine to their child for seizures. +p1815 +aVIf you want a skeptic \u2014 if you want a skeptic, Jake, I will happily jump into that briar patch. If you want a real... +p1816 +aVA second opinion? One of the greatest \u2014 one of the greatest medical discoveries of all times was \u2014 were the vaccines, particularly for smallpox. And if you want to read a story, it's called The Speckled Monster, it's an amazing story, it was all done voluntary. But people came in by the droves. George Washington wouldn't let his wife visit until she got vaccinated. So I'm all for vaccines. But I'm also for freedom. I'm also a little concerned about how they're bunched up. My kids had all of their vaccines, and even if the science doesn't say bunching them up is a problem, I ought to have the right to spread out my vaccines out a little bit at the very least. +p1817 +aVOoh, that's a tough one. You know, I'm big on \u2014 that we were \u2014 and I love what Carly said about women's suffrage. I think Susan B. Anthony might be a good choice. +p1818 +aVJustice Never Sleeps. +p1819 +aVI met Ronald Reagan as a teenager, and my family, we're big supporters of him when he ran against Gerald Ford. It was a big deal because he was the grassroots, running against the establishment, and I'll never forget that. And, how he stood up and said, you know what, this is something new that our country needs, and our party needs. If I were president, I would try to be one who says, you know what, I'm a Reagan Conservative. I'm someone who believes in peace through strength, and I would try to lead the country in that way knowing that our goal is peace, and that war is the last resort, not the first resort. And, that when we go to war, we go to war in a constitutional way, which means that we have to vote on it, that war is initiated by congress, not by the president, that we go to war electively (ph). That when we go to war, we don't fight with one arm tied behind our back, we fight all out to win, but then we come home. +p1820 +aVThis is what's wrong! +p1821 +aVI mean, this is what's wrong. He buys and sells politicians of all stripes, he's already... +p1822 +aVHey, look, look! He's already hedging his bet on the Clintons, OK? So if he doesn't run as a Republican, maybe he supports Clinton, or maybe he runs as an independent... +p1823 +aV...but I'd say that he's already hedging his bets because he's used to buying politicians. +p1824 +aVFirst of all, only +p1825 +aVMegyn, may I respond? May I respond? +p1826 +aVI want to collect more records from terrorists, but less records from innocent Americans. The Fourth Amendment was what we fought the Revolution over! John Adams said it was the spark that led to our war for independence, and I'm proud of standing for the Bill of Rights, and I will continue to stand for the Bill of Rights. +p1827 +aVUse the Fourth Amendment! +p1828 +aVUse the Fourth Amendment! +p1829 +aVGet a warrant! +p1830 +aVGet a judge to sign the warrant! +p1831 +aVSee, here's the problem. +p1832 +aVHere's the problem, governor. Here's the problem, governor. You fundamentally misunderstand the Bill of Rights. Every time you did a case, you got a warrant from a judge. I'm talking about searches without warrants... +p1833 +aV...indiscriminately, of all Americans' records, and that's what I fought to end. I don't trust President Obama with our records. I know you gave him a big hug, and if you want to give him a big hug again, go right ahead. +p1834 +aVI've got a news flash... +p1835 +aVNews flash, the Republican Party's been fighting against a single-payer system... +p1836 +aV-- for a decade. So I think you're on the wrong side of this if you're still arguing for a single-payer system. +p1837 +aVI oppose the Iranian deal, and will vote against it. I don't think that the president negotiated from a position of strength, but I don't immediately discount negotiations. I'm a Reagan conservative. Reagan did negotiate with the Soviets. But you have to negotiate from a position of strength, and I think President Obama gave away too much, too early. If there's going to be a negotiation, you're going to have to believe somehow that the Iranians are going to comply. And I asked this question to John Kerry, I said "do you believe they're trustworthy?" and he said "No." And I said, "well, how are we gonna get them to comply?" I would have never released the sanctions before there was consistent evidence of compliance. +p1838 +aVLook, I don't want my marriage or my guns registered in Washington. And if people have an opinion, it's a religious opinion that is heartly felt, obviously they should be allowed to practice that and no government should interfere with them. One of the things, one of the things that really got to me was the thing in Houston where you had the government, the mayor actually, trying to get the sermons of ministers. When the government tries to invade the church to enforce its own opinion on marriage, that's when it's time to resist. +p1839 +aVWell, let's be clear, I'm the only one on the stage who actually has a five-year budget that balances. I've put pencil to paper... +p1840 +aV... and I've said -- and I've said I would cut spending, and I've said exactly where. Each one of my budgets has taken a meat axe to foreign aid, because I think we ought to quit sending it to countries that hate us. I think we ought to quit sending it to countries that burn our flag. Israel is not one of those. But even Benjamin Netanyahu said that ultimately, they will be stronger when they're independent. My position is exactly the same. We shouldn't borrow money from China to send it anywhere, but why don't we start with eliminating aid to our enemies. +p1841 +aVI still say exactly what my original opinion is. Do you borrow money from China to send it to anyone? Out of your surplus, you can help your allies, and Israel is a great ally. And this is no particular animus of Israel, but what I will say, and I will say over and over again, we cannot give away money we don't have. We do not project power from bankruptcy court. We're borrowing a million dollars a minute. It's got to stop somewhere. +p1842 +aVI'm a different kind of Republican. I've introduced a five-year balanced budget. I've introduced the largest tax cut in our history. I stood for ten and a half hours on the Senate floor to defend your right to be left alone. But I've also gone to Chicago. I've gone to Detroit. I've been to Ferguson, I've been to Baltimore, because I want our party to be bigger, better and bolder, and I'm the only one that leads Hillary Clinton in five states that were won by President Obama. I'm a different kind of Republican. +p1843 +asVBASH +p1844 +(lp1845 +VA crucial question is how to balance surveillance with privacy and keeping Americans safe. Senator Cruz, you voted for a bill that President Obama signed into law just this past June that made it harder for the government to access Americans' phone records. In light of the San Bernardino attack, was your vote a mistake? +p1846 +aVThank you. Senator Rubio, Senator Cruz is right there was bipartisan support for that. But you voted against it. So, is Senator Cruz wrong? +p1847 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1848 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator \u2014 Senator Rubio, please respond. +p1849 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I know this is \u2014 this has been a very big issue for you. You hear many of your colleagues are calling for increased surveillance by law enforcement. You call that hogwash. Why is that hogwash? +p1850 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1851 +aVGovernor Christie, Governor Christie... ...Governor Christie, I'll come to you in a minute. Go ahead, Senator Paul. +p1852 +aVGo ahead, please. +p1853 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about immigration in a while. But, Governor Christie, just listening to this... +p1854 +aVListening to this, you talked \u2014 you heard Senator Paul, Senator Cruz talk about how important it is to protect Americans' privacy, even in a time of grave danger. Why \u2014 what's wrong with that? +p1855 +aVSenator Paul, you said +p1856 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I want to go back to my initial question, which is you saying that +p1857 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about regime change in a bit. But Governor Kasich, would you like to respond to Senator Paul? +p1858 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. We've been talking tonight about programs and policy proposals that you all have to keep Americans safe and it's a big discussion on the campaign trail. Also about border security and immigration. So let's talk about immigration. Senator Rubio. You co-authored a bill with Democrats two years ago that allowed a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Do you still support that path to citizenship, which means giving those immigrants rights, like the right to vote? +p1859 +aVSenator, you haven't answered the question. You described a very long path but does that path end at citizenship? +p1860 +aVThank you, senator. +p1861 +aVThank you, senator. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, on the campaign trail, Senator Rubio has said that his immigration plan is not that different from yours. Is that true? +p1862 +aVSenator Rubio, please. +p1863 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1864 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1865 +aVSenator Cruz, can you answer that question please? +p1866 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1867 +aVOne at a time please. +p1868 +aVMs. Fiorina, please wait your turn, we're going to get to you. +p1869 +aVSenator Cruz go ahead. +p1870 +aVMr. Trump, you like to say that you restarted this conversation in the campaign. +p1871 +aVSo who do you side with? Who do you side with in this, Senator Rubio or Senator Cruz? +p1872 +aVThank you. Governor Bush? +p1873 +aVListening to this, do you think this is the tone \u2014 this immigration debate that republicans need to take to win back Hispanics into our party especially states like where we are in Nevada that has a pretty Hispanic community? +p1874 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said if China launches a cyber- attack against the U.S. on your watch, "they're going to see cyber- warfare like they have never seen before." What exactly would that response look like? +p1875 +aVGovernor Bush, what you just heard from Governor Christie, are you concerned that that could really escalate with China, that they would retaliate? And, for example, as the NSA has said, attack the U.S. and maybe it's power grid, which the Chinese have the capability to do? +p1876 +aVMr. Trump, just this weekend you said Senator Cruz is not qualified to be president because he doesn't have the right temperament and acted like a maniac when he arrived in the Senate. But last month you said you were open to naming Senator Cruz as your running mate. +p1877 +aVSo why would you be willing to put somebody who's a maniac one heartbeat away from the presidency? +p1878 +aVOkay. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, you have not been willing to attack Mr. Trump in public. +p1879 +aVBut you did question his judgment in having control of American's nuclear arsenal during a private meeting with supporters. Why are you willing to say things about him in private and not in public? +p1880 +aVSenator, senator, I just... +p1881 +aVSenator, a lot of people have seen... +p1882 +aV... a lot of people have seen these comments you made in private. I just want to clarify what you're saying right now is you do believe Mr. Trump has the judgment to be commander in chief? +p1883 +aVGovernor Kasich, Senator Cruz is so committed to stripping federal funds from Planned Parenthood that it could result in shutting down the federal government in just about two weeks. Do you agree with Senator Cruz's tactic? +p1884 +aVThank you. +p1885 +aVThank you. Senator Cruz, I would just add that, on this stage not that long ago, Senator Graham said that this tactic that you're pushing would tank the Republicans' ability to win in 2016. +p1886 +aVThank you, senator. +p1887 +aVThank you... +p1888 +aVGovernor \u2014 governor, I want to go to you. Is it what Senator Cruz says, a surrender by Republicans? +p1889 +aVBut... +p1890 +aVBut is it... +p1891 +aVBut, governor, the \u2014 but, governor, the reality is, in just two weeks' time... ...we are going to be facing a question about whether or not it's enough to shut down the government to make that statement, because there is still a Democrat in the White House. Do you oppose it or support it? +p1892 +aVYes or no, do you support this shutdown? +p1893 +aVWe're talking about Planned Parenthood right now. +p1894 +aVCan you answer yes or no? +p1895 +aVOne more time. I'm sorry, I just want to get the answer. +p1896 +aVSo you would support a shutdown. +p1897 +aVGovernor Bush, Mr. Trump has suggested that your views on immigration are influenced by your Mexican born wife. He said that, quote, "If my wife were from Mexico, I think I would have a soft spot for people from Mexico." Did Mr. Trump go to far in invoking your wife? +p1898 +aVMr. Trump? +p1899 +aVMr. Trump... +p1900 +aVGo ahead. +p1901 +aVMs. Fiorina \u2014 Ms. Fiorina, we're going to come to you, we're going to come to you. I just want to give Governor Bush a chance to respond to what Mr. Trump said. +p1902 +aVOK, on that note, you have criticized Governor Bush for speaking Spanish on the campaign trail. You said, quote, "He should really set an example by speaking English in the United States." What's wrong with speaking Spanish? +p1903 +aVThank you. +p1904 +aV...Thank you.... +p1905 +aVGovernor Bush, let's talk about the issue that's very important to Republican voters, and that's the Supreme Court. After Chief Justice John Roberts voted to uphold Obamacare twice, Senator Cruz criticized your brother for appointing John Roberts to the Supreme Court. Looking back on it, did your brother make a mistake? +p1906 +aV...Is John Roberts one of those people? +p1907 +aVDo you like what you just heard, Senator Cruz? +p1908 +aVMr. Trump, you have said once or twice that you are really rich, and you are by far the richest person on this stage. Chris Christie says billionaires like you and even people who make and earn far less should no longer get Social Security, or at least there should be limits based on \u2014 on their income. You think he's wrong, and if so, why? +p1909 +aVWhat about the country as a \u2014 as a policy? +p1910 +aVSo is a voluntary program the way to get the Social Security system solvent again like that. +p1911 +asVEPPERSON +p1912 +(lp1913 +VThank you, John. Mrs. Fiorina, you were the CEO of a large corporation that offers a 401(k) to its employees. But more than half of American have no access to an employer sponsored retirement plan. That includes the workers at small businesses, and the growing ranks of Uber drivers and other part-timers in the freelance economy. Should the Federal Government play a larger role in helping to set up retirement plans for these workers? +p1914 +aVSo you wouldn't agree \u2014 you wouldn't agree with a start for 401(k) for businesses or anything like that? +p1915 +aVThank you very much. +p1916 +aVThank you, the rules say one minute. +p1917 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. We appreciate it. Thank you, thank you. I want to turn my attention now, to you now, Governor Kasich. Most people can't get a college degree without going into debt. Over 40 million Americans have student loans and many of them cannot pay them back. This country has over $100 billion in student loan defaults. That's billion with a b. What will you do to make sure that students, their families, taxpayers, won't feel the economic impact of this burden for generations? Well, first of all, in Ohio we're changing the whole system. Universities will not get paid one dime unless the student graduates or \u2014 graduates or completes a course. Secondly, you can be in high school and complete almost an entire first year before you go to college and get credit to do that. And, of course, in addition to that, we are working now to go after the cost drivers in our universities. And let me give you an example. Universities today have so many non-academic assets. At Ohio State they sold the parking garage and the parking lot, and they got $500 million because they shouldn't be in the parking lot business. They shouldn't be in the ding business, they shouldn't be in the dorm business. And, of course, we need to take advantage of on-line education to reduce these costs and begin to dis-intermediate the cost of four years. Now, for those who that have these big high costs, I think we can seriously look at an idea of where you can do public service. I mean legitimate, public service and begin to pay off some of that debt through the public service that you do. And in the meantime, it may inspire us to care more about our country, more about ourselves. This is a big moral issue in America. Living a life bigger than yourself, and being a center of healing and justice. And people can learn it through public service. +p1918 +aVThank you, thank you. +p1919 +asVSANDERS +p1920 +(lp1921 +VWell, Gwen and Judy, thank you very much for hosting this event. And, PBS, thank you. Nine months ago, our campaign began. And when it began, we had no political organization, no money, and not much name recognition outside of the state of Vermont. A lot has happened in nine months. And what has happened is, I think, the American people have responded to a series of basic truths, and that is that we have today a campaign finance system which is corrupt, which is undermining American democracy, which allows Wall Street and billionaires to pour huge sums of money into the political process to elect the candidates of their choice. And aligned with a corrupt campaign finance system is a rigged economy. And that's an economy where ordinary Americans are working longer hours for low wagers. They are worried to death about the future of their kids. And yet they are seeing almost all new income and all new wealth going to the top 1 percent. And then in addition to that, the American people are looking around and they see a broken criminal justice system. They see more people in jail in the United States of America than any other country on earth, 2.2 million. We're spending $80 billion a year locking up fellow Americans. They see kids getting arrested for marijuana, getting in prison, getting a criminal record, while they see executives on Wall Street who pay billions of dollars in settlements and get no prosecution at all. No criminal records for them. I think what our campaign is indicating is that the American people are tired of establishment politics, tired of establishment economics. They want a political revolution in which millions of Americans stand up, come together, not let the Trumps of the world divide us, and say, you know what, in this great country, we need a government that represents all of us, not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors. Thank you. +p1922 +aVWell, to put that in a context, Judy, I think we have to understand that in the last 30 years in this country there has been a massive transfer of wealth going from the hands of working families into the top one-tenth of 1% whose percentage of wealth has doubled. In other words, the very rich are getting richer, almost everybody is going \u2014 getting poorer. What I believe is the United States, in fact, should join the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee healthcare to all people. Our Medicare for all single-payer proposal will save the average middle class family $5,000 a year. I do believe that in the year 2016 we have to look in terms of public education as colleges as part of public education making public colleges and universities tuition free. I believe that when real unemployment is close to 10%, and when our infrastructure, our roads, our bridges, our water systems, Flint, Michigan comes to mind. Our waste water plants, our rail, our airports, in many places are disintegrating. Yeah, we can create 13 million jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure at a cost of a trillion dollars. +p1923 +aV... Of course there will be a limit, but when today you have massive levels of income and wealth inequality, when the middle class is disappearing, you have the highest rate of child poverty of almost any major country on Earth. Yes, in my view, the government of a democratic society has a moral responsibility to play a vital role in making sure all of our people have a decent standard of living. +p1924 +aVWell, let us level with the American people. Secretary Clinton has been going around the country saying Bernie Sanders wants to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, people are going to lose their MedicAid, they're going to lose their +p1925 +aVThat is absolutely inaccurate. Look, here is the reality, folks. There is one major country on Earth that does not guarantee health care to all people. There is one major country \u2014 the United States \u2014 which ends up spending almost three times per capita what they do in the U.K. guaranteeing health care to all people, 50 percent more than they do in France guaranteeing health care to all people, far more than our Canadian neighbors, who guarantee health care to all people. Please do not tell me that in this country, if \u2014 and here's the if \u2014 we have the courage to take on the drug companies, and have the courage to take on the insurance companies, and the medical equipment suppliers, if we do that, yes, we can guarantee health care to all people in a much more cost effective way. +p1926 +aVWell, Secretary Clinton, you're not in the White House yet. And let us be clear that every proposal that I have introduced has been paid for. For example, all right, who in America denies that we have an infrastructure that is crumbling? Roads, bridges, water systems, wastewater plants, who denies that? Who denies that real unemployment today, including those who have given up looking for work and are working part-time is close to 10 percent? Who denies that African-American youth unemployment, real, is over 50 percent. We need to create jobs. So yes, I will do away with the outrageous loopholes that allow profitable multinational corporations to stash billions of dollars in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda and in a given year pay zero, zero in federal income tax. Yes, I'm going to do away with that. We will use those proceeds, a hundred billion a year, to invest in rebuilding our infrastructure. Yes, I believe that as a result of the illegal behavior on Wall Street, that they are a Wall Street that drove this country into the worst economic downturn since the Great Recession \u2014 Great Depression. Yes, I do believe that now after the American people bailed Wall Street out, yes, they should pay a Wall Street speculation tax so that we can make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We bailed them out. Now it is their time to help the middle class. +p1927 +aVA brief response. +p1928 +aVHere is where we are with public education. A 100, 150 years ago incredibly brave Americans said, you know what, working class kids, low income kids should not have to work in factories or on the farms. Like rich kids, they deserve to get a free education. And that free education of extraordinary accomplishment was from first grade to 12th grade. The world has changed. This is 2016. In many ways, a college degree today is equivalent to what a high school degree was 50, 60 years ago. So, yes, I do believe that when we talk about public education in America, today, in a rapidly changing world, we should have free tuition at public colleges and universities. That should be a right of all Americans regardless of the income of their families. +p1929 +aVLook, we are fighting for every vote that we can get from women, from men, straight, gay, African-Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans. We are trying to bring America together around an agenda that works for working families and the middle class. I am very proud, if my memory is not correct \u2014 I think I am \u2014 that I have a lifetime \u2014 and I've been in Congress a few years \u2014 a lifetime 100 percent pro-choice voting record. I am very proud that over the years we have had the support in my state of Vermont from very significant majorities of women. I'm very proud that I support legislation that is currently in the Congress, got support of almost all progressive Democrats in the House and Senate, which says we will end the absurdity of women today making 79 cents on the dollar compared to men. And we will join the rest of the other \u2014 the industrialized world in saying that paid family and medical leave should be a right of all working families. +p1930 +aVWell, you know, I think, from a historical point of view, somebody with my background, somebody with my views, somebody who has spent his entire life taking on the big money interests, I think a Sanders victory would be of some historical accomplishment, as well. +p1931 +aVLet me concur with the secretary, no question women's rights are under fierce attack all over this country. And I will tell you something that really galls me. I will not shock anybody to suggest that in politics there is occasionally a little bit of hypocrisy. Just a little bit. All over this country we have Republican candidates for president saying we hate the government. Government is the enemy. We're going to cut Social Security to help you. We're going to cut Medicare and Medicaid, federal aid to education to help you, because the government is so terrible. But, by the way, when it comes to a woman having to make a very personal choice, ah, in that case, my Republican colleagues love the government and want the government to make that choice for every woman in America. If that's not hypocrisy, I don't know what hypocrisy is. +p1932 +aVThis is one of the great tragedies in our country today. And we can no longer continue to sweep it under the rug. It has to be dealt with. Today a male African-American baby born today stands a one-in-four chance of ending up in jail. That is beyond unspeakable. So what we have to do is the radical reform of a broken criminal justice system. What we have to do is end over-policing in African-American neighborhoods. The reality is that both the African-American community and the white community do marijuana at about equal rates. The reality is four times as many blacks get arrested for marijuana. Truth is that far more blacks get stopped for traffic violations. The truth is that sentencing for blacks is higher than for whites. We need fundamental police reform, clearly, clearly, when we talk about a criminal justice system. I would hope that we could all agree that we are sick and tired of seeing videos on television of unarmed people, often African-Americans, shot by police officers. What we have got to do is make it clear that any police officer who breaks the law will, in fact, be held accountable. +p1933 +aVNothing that Secretary Clinton said do I disagree with. This mandatory sentencing, a very bad idea. It takes away discretion from judges. We have got to demilitarize local police departments so they do not look like occupying armies. We have got to make sure that local police departments look like the communities they serve in their diversity. And, where we are failing abysmally is in the very high rate of recidivism we see. People are being released from jail without the education, without the job training, without the resources that they need to get their lives together, then they end up \u2014 we're shocked that they end up back in jail again. So, we have a lot of work to do. But, here is a pledge I've made throughout this campaign, and it's really not a very radical pledge. When we have more people in jail, disproportionately African American and Latino, than China does, a communist authoritarian society four times our size. Here's my promise, at the end of my first term as president we will not have more people in jail than any other country. We will invest in education, and jobs for our kids, not incarceration and more jails. +p1934 +aVWell, I think, Judy, what has to be appreciated is that, as a result of the disastrous and illegal behavior on Wall Street, millions of lives were hurt. People lost their jobs, their homes, their life savings. Turns out that the African-American community and the Latino community were hit especially hard. As I understand it, the African-American community lost half of their wealth as a result of the Wall Street collapse. So when you have childhood African-American poverty rates of 35 percent, when you have youth unemployment at 51 percent, when you have unbelievable rates of incarceration \u2014 which, by the way, leaves the children back home without a dad or even a mother \u2014 clearly, we are looking at institutional racism. We are looking at an economy in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. And sadly, in America today, in our economy, a whole lot of those poor people are African-American. +p1935 +aVAbsolutely, because what we will do is say, instead of giving tax breaks to billionaires, we are going to create millions of jobs for low-income kids so they're not hanging out on street corners. We're going to make sure that those kids stay in school or are able to get a college education. And I think when you give low-income kids \u2014 African-American, white, Latino kids \u2014 the opportunities to get their lives together, they are not going to end up in jail. They're going to end up in the productive economy, which is where we want them. +p1936 +aVWhite people? +p1937 +aVYeah, you can, because African-Americans and Latinos not only face the general economic crises of low wages, and high unemployment, and poor educational opportunities, but they face other problems, as well. So, yes, we can talk about it as a racial issue. But it is a general economic issue. And here's what the economic issue is. The wages that high school graduates receive today are significantly less, whether you are white or black, than they used to be. Why is that? Because of a series of disastrous trade policies which have allowed corporate America through +p1938 +aVThe answer is yes. We've got 11 million undocumented people in this country. I have talked to some of the young kids with tears rolling down their cheeks, are scared to death that today they may or their parents may be deported. I believe that we have got to pass comprehensive immigration reform, something that I strongly supported. I believe that we have got to move toward a path toward citizenship. I agree with President Obama who used executive orders to protect families because the Congress, the House was unable or refused to act. And in fact I would go further. What would motivate me and what would be the guiding light for me in terms of immigration reform, Judy, is to bring families together, not divide them up. And let me say this also. Somebody who is very fond of the president, agrees with him most of the time, I disagree with his recent deportation policies. And I would not support those. Bottom line is a path towards citizenship for 11 million undocumented people, if Congress doesn't do the right thing, we use the executive orders of the president. +p1939 +aVSecretary Clinton, I do have a disagreement here. If my memory is correct, I think when we saw children coming from these horrendous, horrendously violent areas of Honduras and neighboring countries, people who are fleeing drug violence and cartel violence, I thought it was a good idea to allow those children to stay in this country. That was not, as I understand it, the secretary's position. In terms of 2007 immigration reform, yeah, I did vote against it. I voted against it because the Southern Poverty Law Center, among other groups, said that the guest-worker programs that were embedded in this agreement were akin to slavery. Akin to slavery, where people came into this country to do guest work were abused, were exploited, and if they stood up for their rights, they'd be thrown out of this country. So it wasn't just me who opposed it. It was +p1940 +aVWell, let me just respond. I worked with Ted Kennedy. He was the chairman of my committee. And I loved Ted Kennedy. But on this issue, when you have one of the large Latino organizations in America saying vote no, and you have the AFL-CIO saying vote no, and you have leading progressive Democrats, in fact, voting no, I don't apologize for that vote. But in terms of the children, I don't know to whom you're sending a message. Who are you sending a message to? These are children who are leaving countries and neighborhoods where their lives are at stake. That was the fact. I don't think we use them to send a message. I think we welcome them into this country and do the best we can to help them get their lives together. +p1941 +aVOK. You know, you judge a nation not by the number of millionaires and billionaires it has, but by how you treat, we treat, the most vulnerable and fragile people in our nation. And by those standards, we're not doing particularly well. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty among almost any major country on Earth. And in terms of seniors, there are millions of seniors \u2014 and I've talked to them in my state of Vermont and all over this country \u2014 who are trying to get by on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year Social Security. And you know what? You do the arithmetic. You can't get by on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year. And here's an area where Secretary Clinton and I believe we have a difference. I have long supported the proposition that we should lift the cap on taxable income coming into the Social Security Trust Fund, starting at $250,000. And when we \u2014 and when we do that, we don't do what the Republicans want, which is to cut Social Security. We do what the American people want, to expand Social Security by $1,300 a year for people under $16,000, and we extend the life of Social Security for 58 years. Yes, the wealthiest people, the top 1.5 percent, will pay more in taxes. But a great nation like ours should not be in a position where elderly people are cutting their pills in half, where they don't have decent nutrition, where they can't heat their homes in the wintertime. That is not what America should be about. If elected president, I will do everything I can to expand Social Security benefits, not just for seniors, but for disabled veterans, as well. +p1942 +aVIn all due respect......In all due respect, Secretary Clinton, a lot of the progressive groups, the online groups have really asked you a simple question. Are you coming onboard a proposal? And what is that proposal? Now, the proposal that I have outlined, you know, should be familiar to you, because it is what essentially Barack Obama campaigned on in 2008. You opposed him then. I would hope that you would come onboard and say that this is the simple and straightforward thing to do. We're asking the top 1.5 percent, including passive income, to start paying a little bit more so that the elderly and disabled vets in this country can live with security and dignity. I hope you will make a decision soon on this. +p1943 +aVThat's my bill. Check it out. +p1944 +aVWhat we are talking about in reality is a corrupt campaign finance system, that's what we're talking about. We have to be honest about it. It is undermining American democracy. When extraordinarily wealthy people make very large contributions to Super PACs, and in many cases in this campaign, Super PACs have raised more money than individual candidates have, OK? We had a decision to make early on, do we do a Super PAC? And, we said no. We don't represent Wall Street, we don't represent the billionaire class, so it ends up I'm the only candidate up here of the many candidates who has no Super PAC. But, what we did is we said to the working families of this country, look, we know things are tough, but if you want to help us go beyond establishment politics, and establishment economics, send us something. And, it turns out that up until \u2014 and this has blown me away, never in a million years would I have believed that I would be standing here tonight telling you that we have received three and a half million individual contributions from well over a million people. Now, Secretary Clinton's Super PAC, as I understand it, received $25 million dollars last reporting period, $15 million dollars from Wall Street. Our average contribution is $27 dollars, I'm very proud of that. +p1945 +aVThe people aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street... But let's not \u2014 but let's not \u2014 let's not insult \u2014 let's not insult the intelligence of the American people. People aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street make huge campaign contributions? I guess just for the fun of it; they want to throw money around. Why does the pharmaceutical industry make huge campaign contributions? Any connection maybe to the fact that our people pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs? Why does the fossil fuel industry pay \u2014 spend huge amounts of money on campaign contributions? Any connection to the fact that not one Republican candidate for president thinks and agrees with the scientific community that climate change is real and that we have got to transform our energy system? And when we talk about Wall Street, let's talk about Wall Street. I voted for Dodd-Frank, got an important amendment in it. In my view, it doesn't go anywhere near far enough. But when we talk about Wall Street, you have Wall Street and major banks have paid $200 billion in fines since the great crash. No Wall Street executive has been prosecuted. +p1946 +aVLet me, you know, again, respectfully disagree with Secretary Clinton here. When you have three out of the four largest financial institutions in this country bigger today than they were when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, when you have six financial institutions having assets equivalent to 58 percent of the GDP of America, while issuing two-thirds of the credit cards and a third of the mortgages, look, I think if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, that great trust-buster would have said break them up. I think he would have been right. I think he would have said bring back a 21st-century Glass-Steagall legislation. I think that would have been right, as well. That's my view. +p1947 +aVHey, I'm in the United States Senate, and anyone who doesn't think that there is an enormous amount of waste and inefficiency and bureaucracy throughout government would be very, very mistaken. I believe in government, but I believe in efficient government, not wasteful government. +p1948 +aVIf I could just answer that, we have also got to take a look at the waste and inefficiencies in the Department of Defense, which is the one major agency of government that has not been able to be audited. And I have the feeling you're going to find a lot of cost overruns there and a lot of waste and duplicative activities. +p1949 +aVLet me \u2014 let me just say this. What a President of the United States has got to do and what is his or her major, I think, responsibility is to, a, make certain that we keep our people safe, that we work with allies around the world to protect democratic values, that we do all that we can to create a world of peace and prosperity. I voted against the war in Iraq because I listened very carefully to what President Bush and Vice President Cheney had to say and I didn't believe them. And if you go to my Web site,berniesanders.com, what you find is not only going to help lead the opposition to that war, but much of what I feared would happen when I spoke on the floor of the House, in fact, did happen in terms of the instability that occurred. Now I think an area in kind of a vague way, or not so vague, where Secretary Clinton and I disagree is the area of regime change. Look, the truth is that a powerful nation like the United States, certainly working with our allies, we can overthrow dictators all over the world. And God only knows Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator. We could overthrow Assad tomorrow if we wanted to. We got rid of Gadhafi. But the point about foreign policy is not just to know that you can overthrow a terrible dictator, it's to understand what happens the day after. And in Libya, for example, the United States, Secretary Clinton, as secretary of state, working with some other countries, did get rid of a terrible dictator named Gadhafi. But what happened is a political vacuum developed. +p1950 +aVJudy, if I can, there is no question, Secretary Clinton and I are friends, and I have a lot of respect for her, that she has enormous experience in foreign affairs. Secretary of state for four years. You've got a bit of experience, I would imagine. But judgment matters as well. Judgment matters as well. And she and I looked at the same evidence coming from the Bush administration regarding Iraq. I lead the opposition against it. She voted for it. But more importantly, in terms of this Libya resolution that you have noted before, this was a virtually unanimous consent. Everybody voted for it wanting to see Libya move toward democracy, of course we all wanted to do that. That is very different than talking about specific action for regime change, which I did not support. +p1951 +aVJudy, one area very briefly... +p1952 +aVWhere the secretary and I have a very profound difference, in the last debate \u2014 and I believe in her book \u2014 very good book, by the way \u2014 in her book and in this last debate, she talked about getting the approval or the support or the mentoring of Henry Kissinger. Now, I find it rather amazing, because I happen to believe that Henry Kissinger was one of the most destructive secretaries of state in the modern history of this country. I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend. I will not take advice from Henry Kissinger. And in fact, Kissinger's actions in Cambodia, when the United States bombed that country, overthrew Prince Sihanouk, created the instability for Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge to come in, who then butchered some 3 million innocent people, one of the worst genocides in the history of the world. So count me in as somebody who will not be listening to Henry Kissinger. +p1953 +aVWell, it ain't Henry Kissinger. That's for sure. +p1954 +aVIt is. +p1955 +aVI find \u2014 I mean, it's just a very different, you know, historical perspective here. Kissinger was one of those people during the Vietnam era who talked about the domino theory. Not everybody remembers that. You do. I do. The domino theory, you know, if Vietnam goes, China, da, da, da, da, da, da, da. That's what he talked about, the great threat of China. And then, after the war, this is the guy who, in fact, yes, you're right, he opened up relations with China, and now pushed various type of trade agreements, resulting in American workers losing their jobs as corporations moved to China. The terrible, authoritarian, Communist dictatorship he warned us about, now he's urging companies to shut down and move to China. Not my kind of guy. +p1956 +aVWell, this is what I would say. It is a complicated relationship. I congratulate Secretary of State John Kerry and the president for working on this agreement. As you've indicated, what is happening in Syria, the number of people, the hundreds of thousands of people who have been killed \u2014 men, women, 20,000 children, the people who are forced to flee their own country \u2014 their own country \u2014 it is unspeakable. It is a real horror. Now, what I think is that right now we have got to do our best in developing positive relations with Russia. But let's be clear: Russia's aggressive actions in the Crimea and in Ukraine have brought about a situation where President Obama and +p1957 +aVLet me just \u2014 just say this. For a start, the secretary and I disagree \u2014 and I think the president does not agree with her \u2014 in terms of the concept of a no-fly zone in Syria. I think you do have a humanitarian tragedy there, as I mentioned a moment ago. I applaud Secretary Kerry and the president for trying to put together this agreement. Let's hope that it holds. But furthermore, what we have got to do, I'm sorry, yes, I do believe that we have got to do everything that we can, and it will not happen tomorrow. But I do hope that in years to come, just as occurred with Cuba, 10, 20 years ago, people would say, reach normalized relations with Cuba. And by the way, I hope we can end the trade embargo with Cuba as well. But the idea that we some day maybe have decent relations with Iran, maybe put pressure on them so they end their support for terrorism around the world, yes, that is something I want to achieve. And I believe that the best way to do that is to be aggressive, to be principled, but to have the goal of trying to improve relations. That's how you make peace in the world. You sit down and you work with people, you make demands of people, in this case demanding Iran stop the support of international terrorism. +p1958 +aVWe have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of work to do. But I recall when Secretary Clinton ran against then-Senator Obama, she was critical of him for suggesting that maybe you want to talk to Iran, that you want to talk to our enemies. I have no illusion. Of course you are right. Iran is sponsoring terrorism in many parts of the world, destabilizing areas. Everybody knows that. But our goal is, in fact, to try over a period of time to, in fact, deal with our enemies, not just ignore that reality. +p1959 +aVNo, I think the idea was that president \u2014 then-Senator Obama was wrong for suggesting that it is a good idea to talk to your opponents. It's easier to talk to your friends. It's harder to talk to your enemies. I think we should do both. +p1960 +aVA couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to go on a congressional delegation. And I went to one of these Turkish refugee camps right on the border of Syria. And what a sad sight that was: Men, women, children forced out of their homes. And Turkey, by the way, did a very decent thing, providing what was reasonable housing and conditions for those people. It seems to me that given our history as a nation that has been a beacon of hope for the oppressed, for the downtrodden, that I very strongly disagree with those Republican candidates who say, you know what, we've got to turn our backs on women and children who left their home with nothing, nothing at all. That is not what America is supposed to be about. So I believe that working with Europe \u2014 and, by the way, you know, we've got some very wealthy countries there in that part of the world. You got Kuwait and you got Qatar and you got Saudi Arabia. They have a responsibility, as well. But I think this is a worldwide \u2014 that the entire world needs to come together to deal with this horrific refugee crisis we're seeing from Syria and Afghanistan, as well. +p1961 +aVYou know, Franklin Delano Roosevelt took the oath of office in 1933 at a time when 25 percent of the American people were unemployed, country was in incredible despair. And he stood before the American people and he said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself," a profound statement that gave the American people the courage to believe that, yes, we could get out of that terrible depression. And then what he did is redefine the role of government. You know, you had Herbert Hoover before that saying, no, we got to only worry about the deficit. So what if mass unemployment exists? So what if children are going hungry? That's not the role of the government. And when FDR said, "Yeah, it is," that we're going to use all of the resources that we have to create jobs, to build homes, to feed people, to protect the farmers, we are a nation which if we come together there is nothing that we could not accomplish. And kind of \u2014 that's what I see our campaign is about right now. In this particular moment of serious crises, saying to the American people don't give up on the political process. don't listen to the Trumps of the world and allowing them to divide us. If we reengage and get involved, yeah, we can have health care for all people, we can make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We do not have to have massive levels of income and wealth inequality. In the same light, as the foreign leader, Winston Churchill's politics were not my politics. He was kind of a conservative guy in many respects. But nobody can deny that as a wartime leader, he rallied the British people when they stood virtually alone against the Nazi juggernaut and rallied them and eventually won an extraordinary victory. Those are two leaders that I admire very much. +p1962 +aVThat is......Madam Secretary, that is a low blow. I have worked with President Obama for the last seven years. When President Obama came into office we were losing 800,000 jobs a month, 800,000 jobs a month. We had a $1.4 trillion deficit. And the world's financial system is on the verge of collapse. As a result of his efforts and the efforts of Joe Biden against unprecedented, I was there in the Senate, unprecedented Republican obstructionism, we have made enormous progress. But you know what? Last I heard we lived in a democratic society. Last I heard, a United States senator had the right to disagree with the president, including a president who has done such an extraordinary job. So I have voiced criticisms. You're right. Maybe you haven't. I have. But I think to suggest that I have voiced criticism, this blurb that you talk about, you know what the blurb said? The blurb said that the next president of the United States has got to be aggressive in bringing people into the political process. That's what I said. That is what I believe. President Obama and I are friends. As you know, he came to Vermont to campaign for me when he was a senator. I have worked for his re-election. His first election and his re-election. But I think it is really unfair to suggest that I have not been supportive of the president. I have been a strong ally with him on virtually every issue. Do senators have the right to disagree with the president? Have you ever disagreed with a president? I suspect you may have. +p1963 +aVWell, one of us ran against Barack Obama. I was not that candidate. All right, look, this has been a great debate. A lot of interesting issues have come together. Let me conclude by just saying this. There is no president, in my view, not Hillary Clinton, not Bernie Sanders, who has the capability or the power to take on Wall Street, large campaign donors, the corporate media, the big money interests in this country alone. This campaign is not just about electing a president. What this campaign is about is creating a process for a political revolution in which millions of Americans, working people who have given up on the political process, they don't think anybody hears their pains or their concerns. Young people for whom getting involved in politics is as, you know, it's like going to the moon. It ain't going to happen. Low income people who are not involved in the political process. What this campaign is not only about electing someone who has the most progressive agenda, it is about bringing tens of millions of people together to demand that we have a government that represents all of us and not just the 1 percent, who today have so much economic and political power. Thank you all very much. +p1964 +aVRachel, thank you very much. Millions of Americans are giving up on the political process. And they're giving up on the political process because they understand the economy is rigged. They are working longer hours for low wages. They're worried about the future of their kids, and yet almost all new income and wealth is going to the top 1 percent. Not what America is supposed to be about. Not the fairness that we grew up believing that America was about. And then sustaining that rigged economy is a corrupt campaign finance system undermining American democracy, where billionaire, Wall Street, corporate America can contribute unlimited sums of money into super PACs and into candidates. Our job, together, is to end a rigged economy, create an economy that works for all, and absolutely overturn Citizens United. One person, one vote. That's what American democracy is about. +p1965 +aVWell, I haven't quite run for president before. Let's deal with some of the comments that Secretary Clinton made. And by the way, you know, sometimes there's a lot of drama here. I have known Secretary Clinton for 25 years and respect her very much. Here is the issue. Every major country on earth, whether it's the U.K., whether it's France, whether it's Canada, has managed to provide healthcare to all people as a right and they are spending significantly less per capita on health care than we are. So I do not accept the belief that the United States of America can't do that. I do not accept the belief that the United States of America and our government can't stand up to the ripoffs of the pharmaceutical industry which charge us by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. Number two, in the economy today, everybody understands that we need a well educated workforce. This is 2016. When we talk about public education, it can no longer be K through 12th grade. I do believe that public colleges and universities should be tuition free. Well, how do we pay for that? It's an expensive proposition. I do believe that we should substantially lower student debt in this country, which is crushing millions of people. We pay for it, in my view, by a tax on Wall Street speculation. The middle class bailed out Wall Street in their time of need. Now, it is Wall Street's time to help the middle class. +p1966 +aVLet me... +p1967 +aV... this is a good discussion here. +p1968 +aVAnd let me just say this. As Secretary Clinton may know, I am on the Health Education Labor Committee. That committee wrote the Affordable Care Act. The idea I would dismantle health care in America while we're waiting to pass a Medicare for all is just not accurate. The Affordable Care Act has clearly, as Secretary Clinton made the point, done a lot of good things, but, what it has not done is dealt with the fact we have 29 million people today who have zero health insurance, we have even more who are underinsured with large deductibles and copayments and prescription drug prices are off the wall. So I do believe that in the future, not by dismantling what we have here\u2014I helped write that bill\u2014but by moving forward, rallying the American people, I do believe we should have health care for all. +p1969 +aVNo, not at all. Here's the reality of American economic life today. The reality is that we have one of lowest voter turnouts of any major country on earth because so many people have given up on the political process. The reality is that there has been trillions of dollars of wealth going from the middle class in the last 30 years to the top 1/10th of 1 percent. The reality is we that have a corrupt campaign finance system which separates the American people's needs and desires from what Congress is doing. So to my mind, what we have got to do is wage a political revolution where millions of people have given up on the political process, stand up and fight back, demand the government that represents us and not just a handful of campaign contribution\u2014contributors. Now all of the ideas that I'm talking about, they are not radical ideas. Making public colleges and universities tuition free, that exists in countries all over the world, used to exist in the United States. Rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, and creating 13 million jobs by doing away with tax loopholes that large corporations now enjoy by putting their money into the Cayman Islands and other tax havens. That is not a radical idea. What we need to do is to stand up to the big money interests, and the campaign contributors. When we do that, we can, in fact, transform America. +p1970 +aVLet me just pick up on this point. This whole discussion began because I commented, not making overall evaluation about the Secretary. She was in Ohio, I think, in September or November and she got up and said something like, I have been\u2014I'm paraphrasing, I have been criticized because people think I'm a moderate. Well, I am a moderate. That's where this came from. It wasn't me paraphrasing her. It is what she said, and all that I said was there's nothing wrong with being a moderate. But, you can't be a moderate, you can't a progressive. In terms of President Obama, I think if we remember where this country was seven years ago, 800,000 jobs being lost every month, $1.4 trillion dollar deficit. The world's financial system on the verge of collapse. I think that President Obama, Vice President Biden, and the Democratic leadership in the House and the Senate have done a fantastic job. We are in much better shape than we were seven years ago, although my Republican colleagues seem to have forgotten where we were seven years ago. That's the fact, but, we still have a very long way to go. Do I think President Obama is a progressive? Yes, I do. I disagree with him on a number of issues including the trade agreement. But, yes, I think he has done an excellent job. +p1971 +aVThat's right, I mean, instead of arguing about definitions, let's talk about... +p1972 +aV... What we should do, and one of the things we should do is not only talk the talk, but walk the walk. I am very proud to be the only candidate up here who does not have a Super PAC, who's not raising huge sums of money from Wall Street...... And special interests. I am enormously proud. Never believed it would happen that we have raised 3.5 million individual contributions, averaging $27 dollars a piece. That is what the political revolution means. +p1973 +aVWell, Rachel, actually, that wasn't accurate. In 1988 the Republican did win, I believe, by 3 points. I came in second. It was 34-31, I think, 19 for the Democrat. In that race the Democrat was the spoiler, not me. And it is true......it is true, it's not to be denied, I am the longest- serving independent in the history of the United States Congress. People of Vermont sent me to Washington as an independent. That is true. But on the other hand, I have\u2014when I was in the House for 16 years, I caucused with the Democrats. In the Senate for nine years caucused with the Democrats, of course. And I was elected by the Democrats to be chair of the Veterans Committee three years ago, which I'm very proud of. And now am the rankings member on the Budget Committee, leader of the Democrats in opposition to the majority Republicans. I am running for president as a Democrat. And if elected, not only do I hope to bring forth a major change in national priorities, but let me be frank, I do want to see major changes in the Democratic Party. I want to see working people and young people come into the party in a way that doesn't exist now. And you know what, I want a 50-state strategy so the Democratic Party is not just the party of 25 states. +p1974 +aVWell, I don't see it quite like that. +p1975 +aVI am\u2014will absolutely admit that Secretary Clinton has the support of far more governors, mayors, members of the House. She has the entire establishment or almost the entire establishment behind her. That's a fact. I don't deny it. But I am pretty proud that we have over a million people who have contributed to our campaign averaging 27 bucks apiece. That we have had meetings where 25,000-30,000 people have come out. That our campaign is a campaign of the people, by the people, and for the people. So, Rachel, yes, Secretary Clinton does represent the establishment. I represent, I hope, ordinary Americans, and by the way, who are not all that enamored with the establishment, but I am very proud to have people like Keith Ellison and Raul Grijalva in the House, the co-chairmen of the House Progressive Caucus. +p1976 +aVWhat being part of the establishment is, is, in the last quarter, having a super PAC that raised $15 million from Wall Street, that throughout one's life raised a whole lot of money from the drug companies and other special interests. To my mind, if we do not get a handle on money in politics and the degree to which big money controls the political process in this country, nobody is going to bring about the changes that is needed in this country for the middle class and working families. +p1977 +aVWhat... +p1978 +aV... you know... +p1979 +aV. +p1980 +aVLet's talk about\u2014OK, let's talk... +p1981 +aV... let us talk about issues. +p1982 +aVLet's talk about issues. +p1983 +aVLet's... +p1984 +aV... let's\u2014let's\u2014let's talk about issues. +p1985 +aVLet's talk\u2014let's talk about issues, all right? Let's talk about why, in the 1990s, Wall Street got deregulated. Did it have anything to do with the fact that Wall Street provided\u2014spent billions of dollars on lobbying and campaign contributions? Well, some people might think, yeah, that had some influence. Let's ask why it is that we pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, and your medicine can be doubled tomorrow, and there's nothing that the government can do to stop it. You think it has anything to do with the huge amounts of campaign contributions and lobbying from the fossil fuel industry? Let's talk about climate change. Do you think there's a reason why not one Republican has the guts to recognize that climate change is real, and that we need to transform our energy system? Do you think it has anything to do with the Koch brothers and ExxonMobil pouring huge amounts of money into the political system? That is what goes on in America. I am not\u2014I like......there is a reason. You know, there is a reason why these people are putting huge amounts of money into our political system. And in my view, it is undermining American democracy and it is allowing Congress to represent wealthy campaign contributors and not the working families of this country. +p1986 +aVI think as Secretary Clinton knows, there is nobody who fought harder. I was on the House Financial Committee at that time. I heard the arguments coming from Democrats and Republicans\u2014Robert Rubin, Alan Greenspan\u2014about great an idea it would be if we did away with Glass-Steagall and if we allowed investor banks and commercial banks and big insurance companies to merge. Go to YouTube today. Look up Greenspan-Sanders. Listen to what I told them then. I helped lead the effort against deregulation. Unfortunately, we lost that. The result is\u2014was the worst financial disaster since the Great Depression. +p1987 +aVChuck, actually we looked at it, but it turns out to be a disaster. The way it is structured right now, if you make it all the way to California, you could do pretty well. But in terms of the early states\u2014Iowa, New Hampshire, the other states\u2014it just doesn't work. Your point is well taken. I believe in public funding of elections, absolutely. But this system is\u2014I don't know if the secretary would agree\u2014is currently very antiquated and no longer applies to modern day politics. +p1988 +aVBut if the... +p1989 +aVLet me just say this. Wall Street is perhaps the most powerful economic and political force in this country. You have companies like Goldman Sachs, who just recently paid a settlement fine with the federal government for $5 billion for defrauding investors. Goldman Sachs was one of those companies whose illegal activity helped destroy our economy and ruin the lives of millions of Americans. But this is what a rigged economy and a corrupt campaign finance system and a broken criminal justice is about. These guys are so powerful that not one of the executives on Wall Street has been charged with anything after paying, in this case of Goldman Sachs, a $5 billion fine. Kid gets caught with marijuana, that kid has a police record. A Wall Street executive destroys the economy, $5 billion settlement with the government, no criminal record. That is what power is about. That is what corruption is about. And that is what has to change in the United States of America. +p1990 +aVI would say that\u2014that folks who have looked at this issue for a long time, whether it's Elizabeth Warren or many other economists, will tell you that right now, yes, we do need a 21st century Glass-Steagall legislation. And I would tell you also that when you have three out of the four largest banks in America today, bigger than they were\u2014significantly bigger than when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, I think if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, a good Republican by the way, what he would say is: Break them up; they are too powerful economically; they are too powerful politically. And that is what I believe and many economists believe. Time to break them up. +p1991 +aVWell, we've had a number of economists supporting our legislation. And here's where we are. The American people can judge. Six largest financial institutions in America today have assets of roughly $10 trillion; equivalent to 58 percent of the GDP of the United States of America. That is a lot of money. They issue two thirds of the credit cards, and by the way they're ripping off a whole lot of people with high interest rates on the credit cards, and they write about one third of the mortgages. That is a lot of power for six financial institutions. That's it. I think it is too much power. Too much economic power, too much political power, and the economists that I talk to say we should break them up. +p1992 +aVYeah, I do. I agree with much of what the Secretary said, but, madam Secretary, it is not one streak. Wall Street is an entity of unbelievable economic and political power. That's a fact. And, I want to say something, and it may sound harsh, not to you, but to the American people. In a sense, in my view, the business model of Wall Street is fraud. It's fraud. I believe that corruption is rampant, and the fact that major bank after major bank has reached multi billion dollar settlements with the United States government when we have a weak regulator system tells me that not only did we have to bail them out once, if we don't start breaking them up, we're going to have to bail them out again, and I do not want to see that happen... +p1993 +aVOf course I can work with them, but let's be clear. When I talked about Boeing and I talked about General Electric, what I was referring to is an outrage. I suspect the secretary agrees request me. Right now you have a loophole such that these guys are putting their profits, multi-billion dollar profitable corporations putting billions of dollars into the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, and other tax havens. And in a given year, Rachel, after making billions of dollars in profit, do you know how much they're paying in taxes to the United States government in a given year? Zero. Now explain to me how that makes any sense at all. So what I have said with regard to Boeing and GE and other multinationals that pay zero taxes, you know what we're going to do? We're going to end that loophole. They are going to pay their fair share of taxes. We're going to use that money to rebuild our infrastructure and create up to 13 million jobs. Can I work with corporations? Are there good corporations doing incredible cutting edge research and development? Absolutely they are. And we should be proud of them. But on the other hand, there are many corporations who have turned their backs on the American worker, who have said, if I can make another nickel in profit by going to China and shutting down in the United States of America, that's what I will do. I will do my best to transform our trade policy and take on these corporations who want to invest in low-income countries around the world rather than in the United States of America. +p1994 +aVOK. Let me agree with much of what the secretary said, but where we have a different background on this issue is we differ on the war in Iraq, which created barbaric organizations like +p1995 +aVWell, I think our great task is to make certain that our young men and women in the military do not get sucked into never- ending, perpetual warfare within the quagmire of Syria and Iraq. And I will do my very best to make sure that that doesn't happen. I agree with the secretary that I think what has to happen\u2014and let me just mention what King Abdullah of Jordan said. I think he hit the nail on the head. And what he said is essentially the war against +p1996 +aVWell, you can't simply withdraw tomorrow. Wish we could, and allow, you know, the Taliban or anybody else to reclaim that country. But what we must do, and what we have seen in recent months, is some progress in Iraq, where finally the Iraqi army, which has not been a particularly effective fighting force, retook Ramadi. +p1997 +aVWell, that's not quite accurate. I did give a speech at Georgetown where I talked about democratic socialism and foreign policy. Maybe I shouldn't have combined the two in the same speech, because the foreign policy part of it didn't get much attention. So, let me take this opportunity to give you a very short speech here on the issue. I think, while it is true that the secretary and I voted differently on the war in Iraq, what is important is that we learn the lesson of the war in Iraq. And that lesson is intrinsic to my foreign policy if elected president, is the United States cannot do it alone. We cannot be the policeman of the world. We are now spending more I believe than the next eight countries on defense. We have got to work in strong coalition with the major powers of the world and with those Muslim countries that are prepared to stand up and take on terrorism. So I would say that the key doctrine of the Sanders administration would be no, we cannot continue to do it alone; we need to work in coalition. +p1998 +aV I fully, fully concede that Secretary Clinton, who was secretary of State for four years, has more experience\u2014hat is not arguable\u2014in foreign affairs. But experience is not the only point, judgment is. And once again, back in 2002, when we both looked at the same evidence about the wisdom of the war in Iraq, one of us voted the right way and one of us didn't. In terms of Iran and in terms of Saudi Arabia, of course they hate each other. That's no great secret. But John Kerry, who is I think doing a very good job, has tried to at least get these people in the room together because both of them are being threatened by +p1999 +aVWell... +p2000 +aVWho said That think we should normalize relations with Iran tomorrow? I never said that. I think we should move forward as quickly as we can. And you're right. They are a sponsor of terrorism around the world and we have to address that. But you know, a number of years ago, people were saying normal relationship with Cuba, what a bad and silly idea. They're Communists, they are our enemy. Well guess what? Change has come. So please don't suggest that I think we normalize relations with Tehran tomorrow. We don't. But I would like to see us move forward, and hopefully some day that will happen. And I would say if I might, Madam Secretary\u2014and you can correct me if I'm wrong. When you ran against Senator Obama you thought him naive because he thought it was a good idea to talk to our enemies. I think those are exactly the people you have to talk to and you have to negotiate with. +p2001 +aVOK. +p2002 +aVI think President Obama had the right idea, and the bottom line is that of course there have to be conditions. But, of course it doesn't do us any good to not talk with our adversaries... +p2003 +aVJust to set the record straight, I very strongly supported the agreement which makes certain that Iran does not get a nuclear weapon. +p2004 +aV... +p2005 +aV +p2006 +aV... No, no... +p2007 +aV... +p2008 +aVClearly North Korea is a very strange situation because it is such an isolated country run by a handful of dictators, or maybe just one, who seems to be somewhat paranoid. And, who had nuclear weapons. And, our goal there, in my view, is to work and lean strongly on China to put as much pressure. China is one of the few major countries in the world that has significant support for North Korea, and I think we got to do everything we can to put pressure on China. I worry very much about an isolated, paranoid country with atomic bombs. I think, clearly, we got to work closely with China to resolve the serious problems we have, and I worry about Putin and his military adventurism in the Crimea and the Ukraine. +p2009 +aV... No, I don't. I worry very, very much about an isolated country. That's what makes me nervous. Russia lives in the world. China lives in the world. North Korea is a very, very strange country because it is so isolated, and I do feel that a nation with nuclear weapons, they have got to be dealt with. Dealt with effectively. +p2010 +aVLet me agree. You know, as the secretary knows, I chaired\u2014I had the privilege and the honor of chairing the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs. And it is interesting to me, you know, Republicans give a lot of speeches about how much they love veterans. I work with the American Legion, the VFW, the DAV, the Vietnam Vets, and virtually every veterans organization to put together the most comprehensive piece of the veterans legislation in the modern history of America. That's what I did. And I brought it to the floor of the Senate. Every Democrat voted for it, I got two Republicans. We ended up with 56 votes and I couldn't get the 60 votes that I needed. That is pathetic. This was legislation supported by all of the veterans organizations, addressing many of the serious problems that veterans face in health care and in how we deliver benefits to them. So Republicans talk a good game about veterans, but when it came to put money on the line to protect our veterans, frankly, they were not there. What I did next, Rachel, is I had to retreat a little bit, I had to compromise. I did work with John McCain. I did work with Jeff Miller over in the House. And we put together not the bill that I wanted, but probably the most comprehensive V.A. health care bill in the modern history of this country. Secretary Clinton is absolutely right, there are people, Koch brothers among others, who have a group called Concerned Veterans of America, funded by the Koch brothers. The Koch brothers, by the way, want to destroy Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, every governmental program passed since the 1930s. Yes, there are people out there who want to privatize it. The last point that I'd make. I had a hearing. I had all of the veterans groups in front of me. And I said to them, tell me when a veteran gets in to the V.A., understanding there are waiting lines and real problems, when a veteran gets into the system, is the quality of care good? Without exception, what they said, good, excellent, very good. We've got to strengthen the V.A. We do not privatize the V.A. +p2011 +aVWell, I agree with the Des Moines Register, but let's not blow this out of proportion. This is not a\u2014this is not, like, a winner-take-all thing. I think where we now stand\u2014correct me if I'm wrong\u2014you have 22 delegates, I have 20 delegates. We need 2,500 delegates to win the nomination. You know, so this is not\u2014this is not the biggest deal in the world. We think, by the way, based on talking to our precinct captains, we may have at least two more delegates. What the Des Moines Register said\u2014you know, there were coin\u2014I think there were half a dozen coin flips\u2014a fairly chaotic type situation. At the end of the day, no matter how it's recounted, it will break roughly even. And by the way, I love and respect the caucus process in Iowa. See, and I don't have to say it, because they voted already. And I love New Hampshire, too, because you haven't voted, but......but, look, I think people are blowing this up out of proportion. But I think we need improvements in the process by which results are determined. +p2012 +aVOh . See, when you are old, then they go back all these years. All right. What have you got? +p2013 +aVWell, you know, a general election is different than a primary and caucus process. But let me just say this. In terms of where we are right now, as you mention, Rachel, in a number of national and state, including New Hampshire. For example, the last poll I saw\u2014there may have been a new one\u2014last one I saw here in New Hampshire, a battleground state, had me defeating Trump by 19; the secretary defeating him by one. There were also pretty large margins in Iowa and Wisconsin. These are polls. Polls go up. Polls go down. But here's why I think I will be, if nominated, the strongest candidate. Democrats win when there is a large voter turnout; when people are excited; when working people, middle class people and young people are prepared to engage in the political process. Republicans win when people are demoralized and you have a small voter turnout, which by the way is why they love voter suppression. I believe that our campaign up to now has shown that we can create an enormous amount of enthusiasm from working people, from young people, who will get involved in the political process and which will drive us to a very large voter turnout. If there is a large voter turnout, not only do we retain the White House, but I think we regain the Senate. We win governors' chairs up and down the line. So I believe if you want to retain the White House, if you want to see Democrats do well across the board, I think our campaign is the one that creates the large voter turnout and helps us win. +p2014 +aV +p2015 +aVI am feeling exactly the way I felt at the first debate. There's a process under way. I will not politicize it. +p2016 +aVAnd by the way\u2014and by the way, if I may, the secretary probably doesn't know that there's not a day that goes by when I am not asked to attack her on that issue, and I have refrained from doing that and I will continue to refrain from doing that. +p2017 +aVNot losing control of our campaign. You know, we have hired a whole lot of people in a rapid way and I am familiar with the first two instances and they are unacceptable, and we have apologized and dealt with that. In terms of the last one, as I understand it, we did not suggest that we had the endorsement of a newspaper. Newspapers who make endorsements also say positive things about other candidates, and to the best of my knowledge, that is what we did. So we never said, never said that somebody, a newspaper endorsed us that did not. What we did say is blah blah blah blah was said by the newspaper. +p2018 +aVBut that was only for\u2014that was not to be on television. That's an important point. That was just something\u2014as the secretary knows, you put titles on ads and you send them out, but there was no word in that ad, none, that said that those newspapers had endorsed us. +p2019 +aV... Look, I hear what the Secretary said, and I understand, but look, there are\u2014all of us know that we have seen in recent years horrible, horrible crimes. It's hard to imagine how people can do, bomb, and kill 168 people in Oklahoma City, or do the Boston Marathon bombing, but this is what I believe, and for a couple of reasons. Number one, too many innocent people, including minorities, African Americans, have been executed when they were not guilty. That's number one. We have to be very careful about making sure about that. But, second of all, and maybe, in a deeper reason, of course there are barbaric acts out there. But, in a world of so much violence and killing, I just don't believe that government itself should be part of the killing. So, when somebody commits......somebody commits any of these terrible crimes that we have seen, you lock them up, and you toss away the key. They're never going to get out. But, I just don't' want to see government be part of killing. That's all. +p2020 +aVAbsolutely. I think the Secretary described the situation appropriately. You know, I don't go around asking for governor's resignations every day. In fact, I think I never have in my life. But I did ask for the resignation of Governor Snyder because his irresponsibility......was so outrageous. What we are talking about are children being poisoned. That's what we're talking about. We don't know, no one knows for sure because they haven't done the appropriate studies, but there's no question that kids' intellectual development may have been impacted. We don't know how many thousands. The idea that there has not been a dramatic response is beyond comprehension. And when you have one of the, I think, significant public health crises of recent years, of course the federal government comes in. And of course the federal government says, you're not going to be poisoning little kids and impacting their entire lives. Last point on this. And I suspect the secretary agrees. One wonders if this were a white suburban community what kind of response there would have been. Flint, Michigan, is a poor community. It is disproportionately African-American and minority. And what has happened there is absolutely unacceptable. +p2021 +aVAbsolutely right. +p2022 +aVChuck, I believe in trade, but I do not believe in unfettered free trade. I believe in fair trade which works for the middle class and working families of this country and not just large multinational corporations. I was not only in opposition to +p2023 +aVNo, let... +p2024 +aV... I am absolutely supportive of comprehensive immigration reform and a path towards citizenship for 11 million people today who are living in the shadows. All right? We got to do that. But you miss\u2014when you looked at the issues, you missed two of the most important. And that is you're not going to accomplish what has to be done for working families and the middle class unless there is campaign finance reform. So long as big money interests control the United States Congress, it is gonna be very hard to do what has to be done for working families. So let me be very clear. No nominee of mine, if I'm elected president, to the United States Supreme Court will get that nomination unless he or she is loud and clear, and says they will vote to overturn Citizens United. Second point\u2014second point is that the only way we make change in terms of health care, in terms of dealing with a broken criminal justice system which, today, allows us to have more people in jail than any other country\u2014largely African-American and Latino\u2014the only way we create millions of jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure or have a tax system that says to the wealthy that they are going to pay their fair share, is when millions of people become involved in the political process. No, you just can't negotiate with Mitch McConnell. Mitch is gonna have to look out the window and see a whole lot of people saying, "Mitch, stop representing the billionaire class. Start listening to working families." And as president, that's what I will work hard on. +p2025 +aVI agree with what the secretary said. We shouldn't be getting ahead of ourselves. And as I have said many times, you know, sometimes in these campaigns, things get a little bit out of hand. I happen to respect the secretary very much, I hope it's mutual. And on our worst days, I think it is fair to say we are 100 times better than any Republican candidate. +p2026 +aVI\u2014my dad came to this country at the age of 17 from Poland. Didn't have any money, couldn't speak English, he died pretty young, and I think it would have been beyond his wildest dreams to see his son up here on this stage today running for president. I love this country and my dad loved this country, and he was the most proud American because of what it gave him in terms of raising his family, even though we never had much money. But today in America, we are the only major country on earth that doesn't guarantee health care to all people, that doesn't guarantee paid family and medical leave. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth. We are seeing millions of families unable to send their kids to college in the United States of America. I'm running for president because I believe it is just too late for establishment politics and establishment economics. I do believe we need a political revolution where millions of people stand up and say loudly and clearly that our government belongs to all of us and not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors. Thank you all. +p2027 +asVBARTIROMO +p2028 +(lp2029 +VTonight we're partnering with the Wall Street Journal to ask questions on the economy that voters want answered. We're also working with Facebook, who tells us that since the first Republican debate, more than 58 million people have joined the political conversation online. More than 9 million are talking specifically about the economy. +p2030 +aVBusinesswoman Carly Fiorina. Ohio Governor John Kasich. And Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. +p2031 +aVWe've asked people on Facebook to submit their questions for the candidates. Seth Bell wrote, "We are approaching $20 trillion in national debt. Specifically, what plans do you have to cut federal spending?" Governor Kasich, you have spoken much about your success in balancing the budget under President Clinton. Today the national debt is at record highs and growing unsustainably. Interest will be the fastest-growing part of the federal budget, tripling over the next 10 years. Social Security, the lifeline of millions of American seniors, is rushing toward insolvency. With all of the tax plans presented tonight, estimated to cost anywhere between $2 trillion and $12 trillion over a decade, what specific steps will you take to balance the budget? +p2032 +aVDid you want to name any specific steps, sir? +p2033 +aVThank you, sir. +p2034 +aVSenator Cruz, the International Monetary Fund recently cut its expectations for economic growth. Many economists expect a recession to hit the U.S. within the next year due to the weakening of manufacturing. The next president will have to deal with it. You say tax reform is a powerful lever to spur economic expansion. You're calling for a 10 percent income tax and a 16 percent business tax. What other elements do you need in this plan to actually create jobs? +p2035 +aVThank you, sir. +p2036 +aVGovernor Bush... +p2037 +aVWe have more questions for you, Governor Kasich, coming up. We have more questions for you, Governor Kasich. +p2038 +aVWe will \u2014 we will certainly get to that. Governor Bush? +p2039 +aVAlmost 40 percent of Americans are without a job and are not looking. Many have given up. That's what the participation rate tells us. You've said your policies will drive the economy back to 4 percent growth, which we haven't seen since the year 2000. What specific regulations would you change? And how will that lead to jobs and growth? +p2040 +aVThank you, sir. +p2041 +aVMr. Trump, a federal appeals court just dealt a blow to the Obama administration's plan to prevent the deportation of 5 million people living in this country illegally. The White House is appealing to the Supreme Court. At the heart of this issue is the effect that illegal immigrants are having on our economy, what will you do about it? +p2042 +aVCan we just send 5 million people back with no effect on economy? +p2043 +aVSo what will you do? +p2044 +aVThank you, sir. +p2045 +aVWe go back to Facebook. Dewayne Wesley Cato asks on Facebook, how do we get rid of regulations choking our businesses? Ms. Fiorina? Specifically, under the president's Affordable Care Act, employers with 50 or more employees are required to offer health insurance, or be fined. Many are opting to pay the fine. Others are cutting back employee hours to duck the law altogether. What specific ways will you alleviate the pressure on small business? +p2046 +aVJust to be clear, you want to repeal Obamacare... ..but, what's the alternative? +p2047 +aVJust to be clear, you say you would repeal Obamacare... +p2048 +aV...But, what is the alternative... +p2049 +aV...and how does that help small business... +p2050 +aV...Thank you... +p2051 +aVSenator Cruz, there isn't anyone in this audience or watching at home tonight who would not like to pay less in taxes. Most people just want a fair shake, and they don't want their money to be wasted. But explain how your plan works. How can you cut taxes as much as you propose without running up debt and deficits? +p2052 +aVBut you haven't told us how to pay for it. +p2053 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Bush, Republican primary voters say tax reform should be a priority for Congress and the administration. But, Governor Bush, how important is tax reform in your domestic policy agenda? Will you guarantee it in the first year of your presidency? +p2054 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2055 +aVThat's right. That's right. +p2056 +aVComing up, the biggest threats facing the next commander-in-chief. You're watching the Republican presidential debate, live tonight from Milwaukee. We'll be right back. +p2057 +aVWelcome back. Welcome back to the Republican presidential debate. The candidates taking the questions you want answered. Also tonight, you can see what America is saying about the debate. Go to Facebook and type #gopdebate into the search box. Now, back to the questions. Americans face security threats at home and abroad. Last year, terrorist attacks rose 61 percent, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace, with the most deaths occurring in just five countries, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Syria. Dr. Carson, you were against putting troops on the ground in Iraq and against a large military force in Afghanistan. Do you support the president's decision to now put 50 special ops forces in Syria and leave 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan? +p2058 +aVWe asked Facebook to take a look at some of the major issues we're talking about, and tackling in this debate tonight. This word cloud shows what people are focusing on the most. The bigger the word, the more the talk. One of the most discussed issues in the last month, homeland security. Governor Bush, what is the biggest threat facing America today? +p2059 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, in 2012 debate, President Obama mocked Mitt Romney's assertion that Russia was the top geopolitical challenge facing the United States, saying he was a Cold War dinosaur. Now, Russia has invaded Ukraine, and has put troops in Syria. You have said you will have a good relationship with Mr. Putin. So, what does President Trump do in response to Russia's aggression? +p2060 +aVThank you, sir. +p2061 +aVThank you, governor. +p2062 +aVSenator Rubio. +p2063 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. +p2064 +aVMore questions \u2014 more questions coming up, when the Republican presidential debate comes right back, live from Milwaukee. Stay with us. +p2065 +aVWelcome back to the fourth Republican presidential debate. Senator Rubio, Hillary Clinton is the clear front runner for the Democratic nomination. If she is indeed the nominee, you will be facing a candidate with an impressive resume. She was the first lady of the United States, a U.S. senator from New York, and secretary of state under Barack Obama. She has arguably more experience, certainly more time in government than almost all of you on stage tonight. Why should the American people trust you to lead this country, even though she has been so much closer to the office? +p2066 +aVSenator Paul, you were one of 15 republicans to vote for an amendment which states that human activity contributed to climate change. President Obama has announced an aggressive plan to cut carbon emissions. At the same time, energy production in America has boomed. Is it possible to continue this boom, and move toward energy self-sufficiency, while at the same time pursuing a meaningful climate change program? +p2067 +aVCarly Fiorina? +p2068 +aVFormer Governor Jeb Bush? +p2069 +aVSenator Ted Cruz? +p2070 +aVHe's funny. +p2071 +aVThank you. +p2072 +asVCLINTON +p2073 +(lp2074 +VThank you. +p2075 +aVI'm running for president to knock down all the barriers that are holding Americans back, and to rebuild the ladders of opportunity that will give every American a chance to advance, especially those who have been left out and left behind. I know a lot of Americans are angry about the economy. And for good cause. Americans haven't had a raise in 15 years. There aren't enough good-paying jobs, especially for young people. And yes, the economy is rigged in favor of those at the top. We both agree that we have to get unaccountable money out of our political system and that we have to do much more to ensure that Wall Street never wrecks main street again. But I want to go further. I want to tackle those barriers that stand in the way of too many Americans right now. African-Americans who face discrimination in the job market, education, housing, and the criminal justice system. Hardworking immigrant families living in fear, who should be brought out of the shadows so they and their children can have a better future. Guaranteeing that women's work finally gets the pay, the equal pay that we deserve. I think America can only live up to its potential when we make sure that every American has a chance to live up to his or her potential. That will be my mission as president. And I think together we will make progress. +p2076 +aVJudy, I think that the best analysis that I've seen based on Senator Sanders plans is that it would probably increase the size of the federal government by about 40%, but what is most concerning to me is that in looking at the plans \u2014 let's take healthcare for example. Last week in a CNN town hall, the Senator told a questioner that the questioner would spend about $500 dollars in taxes to get about $5,000 dollars in healthcare. Every progressive economist who has analyzed that says that the numbers don't add up, and that's a promise that cannot be kept, and it's really important now that we are getting into the rest of the country that both of us are held to account for explaining what we are proposing because, especially with healthcare, this is not about math. This is about people's lives, and we should level with the American people about what we can do to make sure they get quality affordable healthcare. +p2077 +aVI can only say that we both share the goal of universal health care coverage. You know, before it was called Obamacare, it was called Hillarycare. And I took on the drug companies and I took on the insurance companies to try to get us universal health care coverage. And why I am a staunch supporter of President Obama's principal accomplishment \u2014 namely the Affordable Care Act \u2014 is because I know how hard it was to get that done. We are at 90 percent coverage. We have to get the remaining 10. I've set forth very specific plans about how to get costs down, especially prescription drug costs. And it is difficult to in any way argue with the goal that we both share. But I think the American people deserve to know specifically how this would work. If it's Medicare for all, then you no longer have the Affordable Care Act, because the Affordable Care Act, as you know very well, is based on the insurance system, based on exchanges, based on a subsidy system. The Children's Health Insurance Program, which I helped to create, which covers 8 million kids, is also a different kind of program. So if you're having Medicare for all, single-payer, you need to level with people about what they will have at the end of the process you are proposing. And based on every analysis that I can find by people who are sympathetic to the goal, the numbers don't add up, and many people will actually be worse off than they are right now. +p2078 +aVWell, let me just \u2014 let me just say, once again......that, having been in the trenches fighting for this, I believe strongly we have to guarantee health care. I believe we are on the path to doing that. The last thing we need is to throw our country into a contentious debate about health care again. And we are not England. We are not France. We inherited a system that was set up during World War II; 170 million Americans get health insurance right now through their employers. So what we have tried to do and what President Obama succeeded in doing was to build on the health care system we have, get us to 90 percent coverage. We have to get the other 10 percent of the way to 100. I far prefer that and the chances we have to be successful there than trying to start all over again, gridlocking our system, and trying to get from zero to 100 percent. +p2079 +aVNo. But it is absolutely fair and necessary for Americans to vet both of our proposals, to ask the really hard questions about, what is it we think we can accomplish, why do we believe that, and what would be the results for the average American family? In my case, whether it's health care, or getting us to debt-free tuition, or moving us toward paid family leave, I have been very specific about where I would raise the money, how much it would cost, and how I would move this agenda forward. I've tried to be as specific to answer questions so that my proposals can be vetted, because I feel like we have to level with people for the very reason, Gwen, that you are mentioning. There is a great deal of skepticism about the federal government. I'm aware of that. It comes from the right, from the left, from people on all sides of the political spectrum. So we have a special obligation to make clear what we stand for, which is why I think we should not make promises we can't keep, because that will further, I think, alienate Americans from understanding and believing we can together make some real changes in people's lives. +p2080 +aVI will put a price tag. My price tag is about $100 billion a year. And again, paid for. And what I have said is I will not throw us further into debt. I believe I can get the money that I need by taxing the wealthy, by closing loopholes, the things that we are way overdue for doing. And I think once I'm in the White House we will have enough political capital to be able to do that. But I am conscious of the fact that we have to also be very clear, especially with young people, about what kind of government is going to do what for them and what it will cost. +p2081 +aVYou know, I think, again, both of us share the goal of trying to make college affordable for all young Americans. And I have set forth a compact that would do just that for debt-free tuition. We differ, however, on a couple of key points. One of them being that if you don't have some agreement within the system from states and from families and from students, it's hard to get to where we need to go. And Senator Sanders's plan really rests on making sure that governors like Scott Walker contribute $23 billion on the first day to make college free. I am a little skeptical about your governor actually caring enough about higher education to make any kind of commitment like that. +p2082 +aVWell, first, Judy, I have spent my entire adult life working toward making sure that women are empowered to make their own choices, even if that choice is not to vote for me. I believe that it's most important that we unleash the full potential of women and girls in our society. And I feel very strongly that I have an agenda, I have a record that really does respond to a lot of the specific needs that the women in our country face. So I'm going to keep making that case. I'm going to keep making sure that everything I've done, everything that I stand for is going to be well known. But I have no argument with anyone making up her mind about who to support. I just hope that by the end of this campaign there will be a lot more supporting me. That's what I'm working towards. +p2083 +aVWell, look, I think that she's been saying that for as long as I've known her, which is about 25 years. But it doesn't change my view that we need to empower everyone, women and men, to make the best decisions in their minds that they can make. That's what I've always stood for. And when it comes to the issues that are really on the front lines as to whether we're going to have equal pay, paid family leave, some opportunity for, you know, women to go as far as their hard work and talent take them, I think that we still have some barriers to knock down, which is why that's at the core of my campaign. I would note, just for a historic aside, somebody told me earlier today we've had like 200 presidential primary debates, and this is the first time there have been a majority of women on the stage. So, you know, we'll take our progress wherever we can find it. +p2084 +aVYou know, I have said \u2014 I have said many times, you know, I'm not asking people to support me because I'm a woman. I'm asking people to support me because I think I'm the most qualified, experienced, and ready person to be the president and the commander-in-chief. And I appreciate greatly Senator Sanders' voting record. And I was very proud to get the endorsement of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, because I've been a leader on these issues. I have gone time and time again to take on the vested interests who would keep women's health care decisions the province of the government instead of women ourselves. I'm very proud that +p2085 +aVYou know, I completely agree with Senator Sanders. The first speech I gave in this campaign back in April was about criminal justice reform and ending the era of mass incarceration. The statistics from Wisconsin are particularly troubling, because it is the highest rate of incarceration for African-Americans in our nation, twice the national average. And we know of the tragic, terrible event that lead to the death of Dontre Hamilton right here in Milwaukee, a young man unarmed, who should still be with us. His family certainly believes that. And so do I. So we have work to do. There have been some good recommendations about what needs to happen. President Obama's policing commission came out with some. I have fully endorsed those. But we have to restore policing that will actually protect the communities that police officers are sworn to protect. And, then we have to go after sentencing, and that's one of the problems here in Wisconsin because so much of what happened in the criminal justice system doesn't happen at the federal level, it happens at the state and local level. But, I would also add this. There are other racial discrepancies. Really systemic racism in this state, as in others, education, in employment, in the kinds of factors that too often lead from a position where young people, particularly young men, are pushed out of school early, are denied employment opportunities. So, when we talk about criminal justice reform, and ending the era of mass incarceration, we also have to talk about jobs, education, housing, and other ways of helping communities. +p2086 +aVWell, I'm just not sure I agree completely with that assessment. I think under President Obama we have seen a lot of advances, the Affordable Care Act has helped more African Americans than any other group to get insurance, to be taken care of, but we also know a lot more than we did. We have a lot more social media, we have everybody with a cellphone. So, we are seeing the dark side of the remaining systemic racism that we have to root out in our society. I think President Obama has set a great example. I think he has addressed a lot of these issues that have been quite difficult, but he has gone forward. Now, what we have to do is to build on an honest conversation about where we go next. We now have much more information about what must be done to fix our criminal justice system. We now have some good models about how better to provide employment, housing and education. I think what President Obama did was to exemplify the importance of this issue as our first African American president, and to address it both from the President's office, and through his advocacy, such as working with young men, and Mrs. Obama's work with young women. But, we can't rest. We have work to do, and we now know a lot more than we ever did before. So, it's going to be my responsibility to make sure we move forward to solve these problems that are now out in the open. Nobody can deny them. To use the Justice Department, as we just saw, they have said they are going to sue Ferguson, that entered into a consent agreement, and then tried to back out. So, we're going to enforce the law, we're going to change policing practices, we're going to change incarceration practices, but we're also going to emphasize education, jobs, and housing. +p2087 +aVLook, I am deeply concerned about what's happening in every community in America, and that includes white communities, where we are seeing an increase in alcoholism, addiction, earlier deaths. People with a high school education or less are not even living as long as their parents lived. This is a remarkable and horrifying fact. And that's why I've come forward with, for example, a plan to revitalize coal country, the coalfield communities that have been so hard hit by the changing economy, by the reduction in the use of coal. You know, coal miners and their families who helped turn on the lights and power our factories for generations are now wondering, has our country forgotten us? Do people not care about all of our sacrifice? And I'm going to do everything I can to address distressed communities, whether they are communities of color, whether they are white communities, whether they are in any part of our country. I particularly appreciate the proposal that Congressman Jim Clyburn has \u2014 the 10-20-30 proposal \u2014 to try to spend more federal dollars in communities with persistent generational poverty. And you know what? If you look at the numbers, there are actually as many, if not more white communities that are truly being left behind and left out. So, yes, I do think it would be a terrible oversight not to try to address the very real problems that white Americans \u2014 particularly those without a lot of education whose jobs have \u2014 you know, no longer provided them or even no longer present in their communities, because we have to focus where the real hurt is. And that's why, as president, I will look at communities that need special help and try to deliver that. +p2088 +aVI strongly support the president's executive actions. I hope the Supreme Court upholds them. I think there is constitutional and legal authority for the president to have done what he did. I am against the raids. I'm against the kind of inhumane treatment that is now being visited upon families, waking them up in the middle of the night, rounding them up. We should be deporting criminals, not hardworking immigrant families who do the very best they can and often are keeping economies going in many places in our country. I'm a strong supporter of comprehensive immigration reform. Have been ever since I was in the Senate. I was one of the original sponsors of the +p2089 +aVTwo quick responses. One, with respect to the Central American children, I made it very clear that those children needed to be processed appropriately, but we also had to send a message to families and communities in Central America not to send their children on this dangerous journey in the hands of smugglers. I've also called for the end of family detention, for the end of privately-run detention centers, along with private prisons, which I think are really against the common good and the rule of law. And with respect to the 2007 bill, this was Ted Kennedy's bill. And I think Ted Kennedy had a very clear idea about what needed to be done. And I was proud to stand with him and support it. +p2090 +aVWell, that just wasn't \u2014 that just wasn't the fact, Senator. The fact is that there was a great effort made by the Obama administration and others to really send a clear message, because we knew that so many of these children were being abused, being treated terribly while they tried to get to our border. So we have a disagreement on this. I think now what I've called for is counsel for every child so that no child has to face any kind of process without someone who speaks and advocates for that child so that the right decision hopefully can be made. +p2091 +aVI think \u2014 I think it's fair to say we don't have a disagreement. We both believe there has to be more money going into the Social Security system. I've said I'm looking at a couple of different ways, one which you mentioned, Senator, but also trying to expand the existing tax to passive income that wealthy people have so that we do get more revenue into the Social Security Trust Fund. I have a slightly different approach, though, about what we should do with that initially. First, rather than expand benefits for everyone, I do want to take care of low-income seniors who worked at low-wage jobs. I want to take care of women. When the Social Security program was started in the 1930s, not very many women worked. And women have been disadvantaged ever since. They do not get any credit for their care-taking responsibilities. And the people who are often the most hard-hit are widows, because when their spouse dies, they can lose up to one-half of their Social Security monthly payment. So we have no disagreement about the need to buttress Social Security, get more revenue into the program. But I want to start by helping those people who are most at risk, the ones who, yes, are cutting their pills in half, who don't believe they can make the rent, who are worried about what comes next for them. +p2092 +aVWell, Senator, look, I think we're in vigorous agreement here. We both want to get more revenue in. I have yet to see a proposal that you're describing that the \u2014 raising the cap would apply to passive income. That has not been... +p2093 +aVWell, that has not been a part of most of the proposals that I've seen. I'm interested in making sure we get the maximum amount of revenue from those who can well afford to provide it. So I'm going to come up with the best way forward. We're going to end up in the same place. We're going to get more revenue. I'm going to prioritize those recipients who need the most help first. +p2094 +aVI can't speak for the Koch Brothers, you're referring to a Super PAC that we don't coordinate with, that was set up to support President Obama, that has now decided that they want to support me. They are the ones who should respond to any questions. Let's talk about our campaigns. I'm very proud of the fact that we have more than 750 thousand donors, and the vast majority of them are giving small contributions. So, I'm proud of Senator Sanders, and his supporters. I think it's great that Senator Sanders, President Obama and I have more donors than any three people who have every run, certainly on the Democratic side. That's the way it should be, and I'm going to continue to reach out to thank all my online contributors for everything they are doing for me, to encourage them and help me do more just as Senator Sanders is. I think that is the real key here. We both have a lot of small donors. I think that sets us apart from a lot of what's happening right now on the Republican side. The Koch Brothers have a very clear political agenda. It is an agenda, in my view, that would do great harm to our country. We're going to fight it as hard as we can, and we're going to fight whoever the Republicans nominate who will depend on the Koch Brothers, and others. +p2095 +aVWe are mixing apples and oranges. My 750,000 donors have contributed more than a million and a half donations. I'm very proud. That, I think, between the two of us demonstrates the strength of the support we have among people who want to see change in our country. But, the real issue, I think, that the Senator is injecting into this is that if you had a Super PAC, like President Obama has, which now says it wants to support me. It's not my PAC. If you take donations from Wall Street, you can't be independent. I would just say, I debated then Senator Obama numerous times on stages like this, and he was the recipient of the largest number of Wall Street donations of anybody running on the Democratic side ever. Now, when it mattered, he stood up and took on Wall Street. He pushed through, and he passed the Dodd-Frank regulation, the toughest regulations since the 1930's. So, let's not in anyway imply here that either President Obama or myself, would in anyway not take on any vested interested, whether it's Wall Street, or drug companies, or insurance companies, or frankly, the gun lobby to stand up to do what's best for the American people. +p2096 +aVWell, let's just \u2014 let's just follow up on this, because, you know, I've made it very clear that no bank is too big to fail, no executive too powerful to jail, and because of Dodd-Frank, we now have in law a process that the president, the Federal Reserve, and others can use if any bank poses a systemic risk. I think that's a major accomplishment. I agree, however, it doesn't go far enough, because what it focuses on are the big banks, which Senator Sanders has talked about a lot, for good reason. I go further in the plan that I've proposed, which has been called the toughest, most effective, comprehensive plan for reining in the other risks that the financial system could face. It was an investment bank, Lehman Brothers, that contributed to our collapse. It was a big insurance company, AIG. It was Countrywide Mortgage. My plan would sweep all of them into a regulatory framework so we can try to get ahead of what the next problems might be. And I believe that not only Barney Frank, Paul Krugman, and others, have said that what I have proposed is the most effective. It goes in the right direction. We have Dodd-Frank. We can use it to break up the banks, if that's appropriate. But let's not kid ourselves. As we speak, there are new problems on the horizon. I want to get ahead of those, and that's why I've proposed a much more comprehensive approach to deal with all of these... +p2097 +aVAbsolutely. And, you know, there are a number of programs that I think are duplicative and redundant and not producing the results that people deserve. There are a lot of training programs and education programs that I think can be streamlined and put into a much better format so that if we do continue them they can be more useful, in public schools, community colleges, and colleges and universities. I would like to take a hard look at every part of the federal government and really do the kind of analysis that would rebuild some confidence in people that we're taking a hard look about what we have, you know, and what we don't need anymore. And that's what I intend to do. +p2098 +aVLook, I think we are readier than we used to be, but it's a constant effort that has to be undertaken to make sure we are as ready as we need to be. We have made a lot of improvements in our domestic security since 9/11, and we have been able to foil and prevent attacks, yet we see the terrible attack in San Bernardino and know that we haven't done enough. So we have to go after this both abroad and at home. We have to go after terrorist networks, predominantly +p2099 +aVIf I could just respond. Two points. One, Senator Sanders voted in 1998 on what I think is fair to call a regime change resolution with respect to Iraq, calling for the end of Saddam Hussein's regime. He voted in favor of regime change with Libya, voted in favor of the Security Council being an active participate in setting the parameters for what we would do, which of course we followed through on. I do not believe a vote in 2002 is a plan to defeat +p2100 +aVYou did support a U.N. Security Council approach, which we did follow up on. And, look, I think it's important to look at what the most important counterterrorism judgment of the first four years of the Obama administration was, and that was the very difficult decision as to whether or not to advise the president to go after bin Laden. I looked at the evidence. I looked at the intelligence. I got the briefings. I recommended that the president go forward. It was a hard choice. Not all of his top national security advisors agreed with that. And at the end of the day, it was the president's decision. So he had to leave the Situation Room after hearing from the small group advising him and he had to make that decision. I'm proud that I gave him that advice. And I'm very grateful to the brave Navy +p2101 +aVWell, I know journalists have asked who you do listen to on foreign policy, and we have yet to know who that is. +p2102 +aVThat's fine. That's fine. You know, I listen to a wide variety of voices that have expertise in various areas. I think it is fair to say, whatever the complaints that you want to make about him are, that with respect to China, one of the most challenging relationships we have, his opening up China and his ongoing relationships with the leaders of China is an incredibly useful relationship for the United States of America. So if we want to pick and choose \u2014 and I certainly do \u2014 people I listen to, people I don't listen to, people I listen to for certain areas, then I think we have to be fair and look at the entire world, because it's a big, complicated world out there. +p2103 +aVAnd, yes, people we may disagree with on a number of things may have some insight, may have some relationships that are important for the president to understand in order to best protect the United States. +p2104 +aVWell, with respect to Syria, I really do appreciate the efforts that Secretary Kerry has made. The agreement on humanitarian relief now needs to be implemented, because there are enclaves that are literally filled with starving people throughout Syria. The agreement on a cease-fire, though, is something that has to be implemented more quickly than the schedule that the Russians agreed to. You know, the Russians wanted to buy time. Are they buying time to continue their bombardment on behalf of the Assad regime to further decimate what's left of the opposition, which would be a grave disservice to any kind of eventual cease-fire? So I know Secretary Kerry is working extremely hard to try to move that cease-fire up as quickly as possible. But I would add this. You know, the Security Council finally got around to adopting a resolution. At the core of that resolution is an agreement I negotiated in June of 2012 in Geneva, which set forth a cease-fire and moving toward a political resolution, trying to bring the parties at stake in Syria together. This is incredibly complicated, because we've got Iran as a big player, in addition to Russia. We have Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and others who have very important interests in their view. This is one of the areas I've disagreed with Senator Sanders on, who has called for Iranian troops trying to end civil war in Syria, which I think would be a grave mistake. Putting Iranian troops right on the border of the Golan right next to Israel would be a nonstarter for me. Trying to get Iran and Saudi Arabia to work together, as he has suggested in the past, is equally a nonstarter. So let's support what Secretary Kerry and the president are doing, but let's hope that we can accelerate the cease-fire, because I fear that the Russians will continue their bombing, try to do everything they can to destroy what's left of the opposition. And remember, the Russians have not gone after +p2105 +aVWell, I respectfully disagree. I think we have achieved a great deal with the Iranian nuclear agreement to put a lid on the Iranian nuclear weapons program. That has to be enforced absolutely with consequences for Iran at the slightest deviation from their requirements under the agreement. I do not think we should promise or even look toward normalizing relations because we have a lot of other business to get done with Iran. Yes, they have to stop being the main state sponsor of terrorism. Yes, they have to stop trying to destabilize the Middle East, causing even more chaos. Yes, they've got to get out of Syria. They've got to quit sponsoring Hezbollah and Hamas. They have got to quit trying to ship rockets into Gaza that can be used against Israel. We have a lot of work to do with Iran before we ever say that they could move toward normalized relations with us. +p2106 +aV... Senator Sanders, from a debate in 2008, quote what I said. The question was, would you meet with an adversary without conditions? I said no. And in fact, in Obama administration, we did not meet with anybody without conditions. That is the appropriate approach in order to get the results that you are seeking. +p2107 +aVWell, I was pleased that +p2108 +aVI certainly agree with FDR for all the reasons Senator Sanders said. And I agree about the role that he played both in war and in peace on the economy and defeating fascism around the world. I would choose Nelson Mandela for his generosity of heart, his understanding of the need for reconciliation. But I want to \u2014 I want to follow up on something having to do with leadership, because, you know, today Senator Sanders said that President Obama failed the presidential leadership test. And this is not the first time that he has criticized President Obama. In the past he has called him weak. He has called him a disappointment. He wrote a forward for a book that basically argued voters should have buyers' remorse when it comes to President Obama's leadership and legacy. And I just couldn't agree \u2014 disagree more with those kinds of comments. You know, from my perspective, maybe because I understand what President Obama inherited, not only the worst financial crisis but the antipathy of the Republicans in Congress, I don't think he gets the credit he deserves for being a president......who got us out of that......put us on firm ground, and has sent us into the future. And it is a \u2014 the kind of criticism that we've heard from Senator Sanders about our president I expect from Republicans. I do not expect from someone running for the Democratic nomination to succeed President Obama. +p2109 +aVYou know, Senator, what I am concerned about, is not disagreement on issues, saying that this is what I would rather do, I don't agree with the president on that, calling the president weak, calling him a disappointment, calling several times that he should have a primary opponent when he ran for re-election in 2012, you know, I think that goes further than saying we have our disagreements. As a senator, yes, I was a senator. I understand we can disagree on the path forward. But those kinds of personal assessments and charges are ones that I find particularly troubling. +p2110 +aVYou know, we \u2014 we agree that we've got to get unaccountable money out of politics. We agree that Wall Street should never be allowed to wreck Main Street again. But here's the point I want to make tonight. I am not a single-issue candidate, and I do not believe we live in a single-issue country. I think that a lot of what we have to overcome to break down the barriers that are holding people back, whether it's poison in the water of the children of Flint, or whether it's the poor miners who are being left out and left behind in coal country, or whether it is any other American today who feels somehow put down and oppressed by racism, by sexism, by discrimination against the +p2111 +aVWell, I'm happy to be here in New Hampshire for this debate, as we move toward the primary on Tuesday. I believe that America has the opportunity to once again live by our values, live up to our values in the 21st century, but I think that America can only do that if Americans can succeed. And there are lots of reasons why Americans today are feeling left out and left behind. Yes, of course, the economy has not been working for most Americans. Yes, of course, we have special interests that are unfortunately doing too much to rig the game. But there's also the continuing challenges of racism, of sexism, of discrimination against the +p2112 +aVWell, let me start by saying that Senator Sanders and I share some very big progressive goals. I've been fighting for universal healthcare for many years, and we're now on the path to achieving it. I don't want us to start over again. I think that would be a great mistake, to once again plunge our country into a contentious debate about whether we should have and what kind of system we should have for healthcare. I want to build on the progress we've made; got from 90 percent coverage to 100 percent coverage. And I don't want to rip away the security that people finally have; 18 million people now have healthcare; preexisting conditions are no longer a bar. So we have a difference. I also believe in affordable college, but I don't believe in free college, because every expert that I have talked to says, look, how will you ever control the costs. What I want to do is make sure middle class kids, not Donald Trump's kids, get to be able to afford college. I want to get the economy going again. It's not just enough about what we're against, as important as that is. I have a plan to create new jobs, manufacturing, infrastructure, clean energy jobs that will make us the 21st century clean energy super power. I also want to make sure small businesses can start and grow again. And of course, I believe in raising the minimum wage and equal pay for work. But the numbers just don't add up, from what Senator Sanders has been proposing. That's why all of the independent experts, all of the editorial boards that have vetted both of us have concluded that it is just not achievable. Let's go down a path where we can actually tell people what we will do. A progressive is someone who makes progress. That's what I intend to do. +p2113 +aVIf I could just follow up on that. There is no disagreement between us on universal coverage for health care, the disagreement is where do we start from and where do we end up. The Republicans want to repeal the Affordable Care Act, I want to improve it. I want to build on it, get the costs down, get prescription drug costs down. Senator Sanders wants us to start all over again. This was a major achievement of President Obama, of our country. It is helping people right now. I am not going to wait and have us plunge back into a contentious national debate that has very little chance of succeeding. Let's make the Affordable Care Act work for everybody. +p2114 +aVWell because I am a progressive who gets things done. And the root of that word, progressive, is progress. But I've heard Senator Sanders comments, and it's really caused me to wonder who's left in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Under his definition, President Obama is not progressive because he took donations from Wall Street; Vice President Biden is not progressive because she supported Keystone; Senator Shaheen is not progressive because she supports the trade pact. Even the late, great Senator Paul Wellstone would not fit this definition because he voted for +p2115 +aVWell, Chuck... +p2116 +aV... If I could, you know, in the very first debate I was asked am I a moderate or a progressive and I said I'm a progressive who likes to get things done. Cherry picking a quote here or there doesn't change my record of having fought for racial justice, having fought for kids rights, having fought the kind of inequities that fueled my interest in service in the first place going back to my days in the Children's Defense Fund. It certainly didn't stop me from taking on the drug companies and the insurance companies. Before it was called Hillarycare\u2014I mean, before it was called ObamaCare it was called Hillarycare because we took them on, and we weren't successful, but we kept fighting and we got the children's health insurance program. Every step along the way I have stood up, and fought, and have the scars to prove it. So, again......I think it's important that, look, I understand Senator Sanders really trying to distinguish himself. I understand that, that's what you do in campaigns, but at the same time let's not be\u2014in, I think an unfair way, making an accusation, or making an attack about where I stand and about where I've always stood. It is fair to say, Senator, that in your definition, as you being the self-proclaimed gatekeeper for progressivism, I don't know anyone else who fits that definition, but I know a lot of really hard fighting progressives in the Democratic party who have stood up time, and time again against special interests, against the powerful on behalf of those who are left behind and left out. And, that's what we ought to be celebrating. Let's talk about what we would do as President, and Commander in Chief to make sure the progress continues into the future. +p2117 +aV... Well, you began it yesterday with your comments... +p2118 +aVYou know, the person who first put out the idea of a 50-state party strategy is former Governor Howard Dean, who is with us tonight. And I'm very proud and grateful to have the support of so many elected Vermonters and former officials. Two former governors, the current governor, the current other senator. I really appreciate that. And I think it's because they've worked with me, they've seen what I do. They know what kind of a colleague I am. They want me as their partner in the White House. And that's exactly what I will do. We'll get things done together. Democrats, Republicans, independents, we're going to make progress together when I'm president. +p2119 +aVWell, look, I've got to just jump in here because, honestly, Senator Sanders is the only person who I think would characterize me, a woman running to be the first woman president, as exemplifying the establishment. And I've got to tell you that it is......it is really quite amusing to me. People support me because they know me. They know my life's work. They have worked with me and many have also worked with Senator Sanders. And at the end of the day they endorse me because they know I can get things done. I am not going to make promises I can't keep. I am not going to talk about big ideas like single-payer and then not level with people about how much it will cost. A respected health economist said that these plans would cost a trillion dollars more a year. I'm not going to tell people that I will raise your incomes and not your taxes, and not mean it, because I don't want to see the kind of struggle that the middle class is going through exemplified by these promises that would raise taxes and make it much more difficult for many, many Americans to get ahead and stay ahead. That is not my agenda. +p2120 +aVYeah, but I\u2014I think it's fair to really ask what's behind that comment. You know, Senator Sanders has said he wants to run a positive campaign. I've tried to keep my disagreements over issues, as it should be. But time and time again, by innuendo, by insinuation, there is this attack that he is putting forth, which really comes down to\u2014you know, anybody who ever took donations or speaking fees from any interest group has to be bought. And I just absolutely reject that, Senator. And I really don't think these kinds of attacks by insinuation are worthy of you. And enough is enough. If you've got something to say, say it directly. But you will not find that I ever changed a view or a vote because of any donation that I ever received. +p2121 +aVAnd I have stood up and I have represented my constituents to the best of my abilities, and I'm very proud of that. +p2122 +aVSo I think it's time to end the very artful smear that you and your campaign have been carrying out... +p2123 +aV... in recent weeks, and let's talk......let's talk about about the issues. Let's talk about the issues that divide us. +p2124 +aVAnd let's\u2014let's... +p2125 +aV... we both agree with campaign finance reform. +p2126 +aVI\u2014I worked hard for McCain-Feingold. +p2127 +aVI want to reverse Citizens United. +p2128 +aVAnd so\u2014let's talk about issues. +p2129 +aVWell, you know, Senator, I don't think\u2014I don't... +p2130 +aV... I don't think you could find any person in political life today who has been subjected to more attacks and had more money spent against her by special interests, among whom you have named a few, than I. And I'm proud of that. You know, when I took on the drug companies and the insurance companies for universal health care coverage, they went after me with a vengeance. Today, you've got hedge fund billionaires aligned with Karl Rove, running ads against me to try to get Democrats to vote for you. I know this game. I'm going to stop this game. But while we're talking about votes, you're the one who voted to deregulate swaps and derivatives in 2000, which contributed to the over-leveraging of Lehman Brothers, which was one of the culprits that brought down the economy. So I don't know\u2014I'm not impugning your motive because you voted to deregulate swaps and derivatives. People make mistakes and I'm certainly not saying you did it for any kind of financial advantage. What we've got to do as Democrats\u2014what we've got to do as Democrats is to be united to actually solve these problems. And what I believe is that I have a better track record and a better opportunity to actually get that job done. That's what this election should be about. +p2131 +aVOn the issue of Wall Street. +p2132 +aVWell you know, Rachel, I think I may not have done the job I should in explaining my record. You know, I did\u2014when I left the secretary of State's office, like so many former officials, military leaders, journalists, others, I did go on the speaking circuit. I spoke to heart doctors, I spoke to the American Camping Association, I spoke to auto dealers, and yes, I spoke to firms on Wall Street. They wanted me to talk about the world, what my experience had been as secretary of State. But what I want people to know is I went to Wall Street before the crash. I was the one saying you're going to wreck the economy because of these shenanigans with mortgages. I called to end the carried interest loophole that hedge fund managers enjoy. I proposed changes in CEO compensation. I called for a consumer protection financial bureau before it was created. And I think the best evidence that the Wall Street people at least know where I stand and where I have always stood is because they are trying to beat me in this primary. They have collected and spent as much as $6 million on these ads. Hedge fund billionaires, Karl Rove, another billionaire, jumped in. And why are they doing that? These are guys who try to make smart investments. They know my record, they know me, they know that I say what I believe and I will do it. And I also have a pretty good understanding about how to stop them. So I do want people to know that, and I think it's important for everybody to understand I have a record, I have stood firm and I will be the person who prevents them from ever wrecking the economy again. +p2133 +aVIf I could, let me just say that of course it has to change. It has to change. And that's why I have put forward a plan to do just that. And it's been judged to be the toughest, most effective and comprehensive one. I have great respect for Senator Sanders's commitment to try to restore Glass-Steagall. But I do not believe that that is enough. And in fact, I don't believe it really addresses a lot of the biggest issues we have. You know, we now have power under the Dodd-Frank legislation to break up banks. And I've said I will use that power if they pose a systemic risk. But I want to go further, because it was investment banks, it was insurance companies, it was mortgage companies, all of which contributed. So let's not just be narrowly focused on one part of the problem. We have a lot of issues with corporate power that have to be addressed. My plan takes us further and it would do the job. +p2134 +aVLook we have a law\u2014look, you know, I\u2014I appreciate the senator's advocacy. We have a law. It was passed. It was signed by President Obama. It lays out a process that you go through to determine whether a systemic risk is posed. And by the way, President Obama signed that, pushed it through, even though he took donations from Wall Street, because he's a responsible president. So we have a law in place. If the circumstances warrant it, I will certainly use it. And from what you say, I know you will as well. But that is not enough. And I keep going back to this because part of the reason the Wall Street guys are trying so hard to stop me\u2014the hedge fund guys, the shadow banking guys\u2014is because I've got their number on all of that. And my plan goes so much further to try to prevent the problems of the future. You know, we can't just fight the last war. We've got to be prepared to stop these guys if they ever try to use their economic power once again, to hurt the economy, and to hurt so many Americans. And my plan, Paul Krugman, Barney Frank, a lot of experts who understand what the new challenges might be, have said I am exactly on point, and the Wall Street guys actually know that. +p2135 +aVI will look into it. I don't know the status, but I will certainly look into it. But, I can only repeat what is the fact that I spoke to a lot of different groups with a lot of different constituents, a lot of different kinds of members about issues that had to do with world affairs. I probably described more times than I can remember how stressful it was advising the President about going after Bin Laden. My view on this is look at my record. Look at what I am proposing, and\u2014we have a vigorous agreement here. We both want to reign in the excesses of Wall Street. I also want to reign in the excesses of Johnson Controls that we bailed out when they were an autoparts company, and we saved the auto industry, and now they want to avoid paying taxes. I want to go after the pharmaceutical companies like Valeant, and Turns that are increasing prices without any regard to the impact on people's health. Now, if all we're going to talk about is one part of our economy, and indeed one streak in our economy, we're missing the big oil companies. We're missing other big energy companies. We're missing the big picture, and I have a record of trying to go at the problems that actually exist, and I will continue to do that. +p2136 +aV... Well, Senator, no one wants to see that happen. I mean, look, I care deeply about this because just like you I have met so many people who had their life savings wiped out, who lost their homes, who are barely back with their heads above water. This was a disaster for our country, and we can never let that happen again. We have no disagreement about this. But, I think it's a broader target list than just Wall Street, and I believe that we have to be very focused on how we try to take back the power and increase the empowerment of the American people. And, I think I have that kind of experience, maybe because they've beat me up for so many years, and I know exactly how to handle them because I've been in the arena with them time and time again. +p2137 +aVWell, I think what the president understands, and what he's trying to do, is that we have to support the Arab and Kurdish fighters on the ground who are actually doing the fighting. I agree with the president. I've said myself, we will not send American combat troops back to either Syria or Iraq\u2014that is off the table. But we do have special forces, we do have trainers, we do have the military personnel who are helping with the airstrikes that the United States is leading so that we can try to take out +p2138 +aVNo. I mean, of course that's a theoretical question, and we don't know what it would be for, and we don't know how many numbers there are. I am against American combat troops being in Syria and Iraq. I support special forces. I support trainers. I support the air campaign. And I think we're making some progress. I want to continue to intensify that, and that's exactly what the president is doing. +p2139 +aVIf I could\u2014if I could... +p2140 +aV... respectfully add\u2014look, we did differ. A vote in 2002 is not a plan to defeat +p2141 +aVOh, absolutely. The president decided to leave more troops than he had originally planned in Afghanistan. We have a very cooperative government there, with Ashraf Ghani and his top\u2014his top partner, Abdullah. And they are doing their very best. And the Afghan army is actually fighting. The Afghan army is taking heavy losses defending Afghan territory. And I would have to make an evaluation based on the circumstances at the time I took office as to how much help they continue to need. Because it's not just the Taliban. We now are seeing outposts of, you know, fighters claiming to be affiliated with +p2142 +aVA group of national security experts, military intelligence experts, issued a very concerning statement about Senator Sanders's views on foreign policy and national security, pointing out some of the comments he has made on these issues, such as inviting Iranian troops into Syria to try to resolve the conflict there; putting them right at the doorstep of Israel. Asking Saudi Arabia and Iran to work together, when they can't stand each other and are engaged in a proxy battle right at this moment. So I do think questions have been raised and questions have to be answered because when New Hampshire voters go on Tuesday to cast your vote, you are voting both for a president and a commander in chief. And there is no way to predict what comes in the door of that White House from day to day that can pose a threat to the United States or one of our friends and allies, and I think this is a big part of the job interview that we are all conducting with the voters here. +p2143 +aVWell, let me just add that, you know, I've said this before and I'm very proud of it, that when it comes to judgment, having run a hard race against Senator Obama at the time, he turned to me to be secretary of State. And when it comes to the biggest counterterrorism issues that we faced in this administration, namely whether or not to go after bin Laden, I was at that table, I was exercising my judgment to advise the president on what to do, on that, on Iran, on Russia on China, on a whole raft of issues. Because I know from my own experience that you've got to be ready on day one. There is just too much unpredictable threat and danger in the world today, you know, to try to just say wait, I'll get to that when I can. That is just not an acceptable approach. +p2144 +aVAbsolutely. You know, I did put together the coalition to impose sanctions. I actually started the negotiations that led to the nuclear agreement, sending some much my closest aides to begin the conversations with the Iranians. I'm very pleased we got that nuclear agreement. It puts a lid on the nuclear weapons program. We have to enforce it, there have to be consequences attached to it. But that is not our only problem with Iran. We have to figure out how to deal with Iran as the principal state sponsor of terrorism in the world. They are destabilizing governments in the region. They continue to support Hezbollah and Hamas in Lebanon against Israel. A lot of work that we have do is going to be incredibly hard. I'm prepared to do that work, but I believe, just as I did with imposing the sanctions, you have to get action for action. If we were to normalize relations right now, we would remove one of the biggest pieces of leverage we have to try to influence and change Iranian behavior. The president doesn't think we should. I certainly don't think we should. I believe we have to take this step by step to try to reign in Iranian aggression, their support for terrorism and the other bad behavior that can come back and haunt us. +p2145 +aVWell Senator, let me just correct the record if I can. You know\u2014let me correct the record. +p2146 +aVAs I\u2014as I certainly recall, the question was to meet with without conditions. And you're right, I was against that. I was against it then I would be against it now. +p2147 +aVPart of diplomacy, the hard work of diplomacy is trying to extract whatever concessions you can get, and giving something the other side wants. Of course you've got to try to make peace with, and work with those who are your adversaries, but you don't just rush in, open the door, and say, "Here I am. Let's talk and make a deal." That's not the way it works. +p2148 +aV... Well, we set conditions on Iran. We worked hard to get them established, and to be enforced, and then we talked. That's exactly the right......and, that's what I did with the President, so he and I are on the very same page. +p2149 +aVI haven't talked to Secretary Carter, but here's what I would think he's planning. We do have the nuclear weapons agreement with Iran, that's an enforcement consequence, action for action, follow on. We have a plan, we will watch them, we will be vigilant. We do have to worry about North Korea. They continue to develop their nuclear weapons capability, and they're working very hard on their ballistic missile capability. And, I know that some of those plans could very well lead to a missile that might reach Hawaii, if not the West Coast. We do have to try to get the countries in the region to work with us to do everything we can to confine, and constrain them. But, what Secretary Carter is looking at is the constant pressure that Russia's putting on our European allies. The way that Russia is trying to move the boundaries of the post-World War II Europe. The way that he is trying to set European countries against one another, seizing territory, holding it in Crimea. Beginning to explore whether they could make some inroads in the Baltics. We know that they are deeply engaged in supporting Assad because they want to have a place in the Middle East. They have a naval base, they have an air base in Syria. They want to hang on to that. I think what Secretary Carter is seeing, and I'm glad he is, is that we got to get +p2150 +aVWell, first of all, I'm absolutely against privatizing the V.A. And I am going do everything I can to build on the reforms that Senator Sanders and others in Congress have passed to try to fix what's wrong with the V.A. There are a lot of issues about wait times and services that have to be fixed because our veterans deserve nothing but the best. But you're absolutely right, you know, Rachel, this is another part of the Koch brothers agenda. They've actually formed an organization to try to begin to convince Americans we should no longer have guaranteed health care, specialized care for our veterans. I will fight that as hard as I can. I think there's where we can enlist the veterans service organizations, the veterans of America, because, yes, let's fix the V.A., but we will never let it be privatized, and that is a promise. +p2151 +aVWhatever they decide to do, that's fine. +p2152 +aVAll right. +p2153 +aVI can only tell you what I believe, and that is that I am the strongest candidate to take it to the Republicans and win in November. And I say that with great\u2014with great respect for the campaign that Senator Sanders has been running. I personally am thrilled at the numbers of people, and particularly young people who are coming to support your campaign. I hope that I will be able to earn their support. They may not support me now, but I support them and we'll work together. But what I'm concerned about is the views of many Democrats who know their states, who know how hard it is to win a general election. And it also will push whoever the nominee is into the spotlight. I've been vetted. There's hardly anything you don't know about me. And I think it's fair to say that whoever is in that position, Senator Sanders or anyone else who might have run, will face the most withering onslaught. So, I think that I am the person who can do all aspects of the job. I think I'm the person best prepared to take the case to the Republicans. And I think that at the end of the day, it's not so much electability. It is who the American people can believe can keep them safe, can get the economy moving again, can get incomes rising, can build on the progressive accomplishments of President Obama. And I think that the coalition that President Obama put together to win twice is a coalition that I can put together and add to. And that's what I'm prepared to... +p2154 +aVAbsolutely I can. You know, before it was emails, it was Benghazi, and the Republicans were stirring up so much controversy about that. And I testified for 11 hours, answered their questions. They basically said yeah, didn't get her. We tried. That was all a political ploy. Now, we had a development in the email matter today when it came out that Secretary Powell and close aides to Former Secretary Rice used private e-mail accounts. and now you have these people in the government who are doing the same thing to Secretary Powell and Secretary Rice's aide they've been doing to me, which is that I never sent or received any classified material. They are retroactively classifying it. I agree completely with Secretary Powell, who said today this is an absurdity. And so I think the American people will know it's an absurdity. I have absolutely no concerns about it whatsoever. +p2155 +aVI am 100 percent confident. This is a security review that was requested. It is being carried out. It will be resolved. But I have to add if there's going to be a security review about me, there's going to have to be security reviews about a lot of other people, including Republican office holders, because we've got this absurd situation of retroactive classifications. Honest to goodness, this is\u2014this just beggars the imagination. So I have absolutely no concerns about it, but we've got to get to the bottom of what's really going on here, and I hope that will happen. +p2156 +aVNo. +p2157 +aVYes, I do. And\u2014you know, what I hope the Supreme Court will do is make it absolutely clear that any state that continues capital punishment either must meet the highest standards of evidentiary proof of effective assistance of counsel or they cannot continue it because that, to me, is the real dividing line. I have much more confidence in the federal system, and I do reserve it for particularly heinous crimes in the federal system, like terrorism. I have strong feelings about that. I thought it was appropriate after a very thorough trial that Timothy McVeigh received the death penalty for blowing up the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people, including 19 children in a daycare center. I do for very limited, particularly heinous crimes believe it is an appropriate punishment, but I deeply disagree with the way that too many states are still implementing it. If it were possible to separate the federal from the state system by the Supreme Court, that would, I think, be an appropriate outcome. +p2158 +aVAbsolutely. Absolutely. You know, Rachel, you and I have talked about this before. I thank you for going to Flint to hold that town hall. I will be in Flint at the Mayor's invitation on Sunday to get an in depth briefing about what is, and is not happening. This is an emergency. Everyday that goes by that these people, particularly the children, are not tested so we can know what steps must be taken to try to remediate the effects of the poisoning that they have been living with is a day lost in a child's life. I know from the work that I've done over so many years, lead, the toxic nature of lead can affect you brain development, your body development, your behavior. I absolutely believe that what is being done is not sufficient. We need to be absolutely clear about everything that should be done from today to tomorrow, into the future to try to remedy the terrible burden that the people of Flint are barring. That includes fixing their pipes, it includes guaranteeing whatever healthcare and educational embellishments they may need going forward, and I think the federal government has way where it can bill the state of Michigan. If Michigan won't do it, there have to be ways that we can begin to move, and then make them pay for it, and hold them accountable. +p2159 +aVYou know, Chuck, I've only had responsibility for voting for trade agreements as a senator. And I voted a multinational trade agreement when I was senator, the +p2160 +aVWell, I\u2014I don't accept that premise, Chuck. I think that we've got so much business we have to do. We've talked a lot tonight about what we're against\u2014we're against income inequality. We're against the abuses of powerful interests. We're against a lot of things. I'm for a lot of things. I don't want to just stop bad things from happening, I want to start good things from happening. And I believe, if I'm so fortunate to get the nomination, I will begin to work immediately on putting together an agenda, beginning to talk with members of Congress and others about how we can push forward. I want to have half a billion more solar panels deployed, the first four years. I want to have enough clean energy to power every home the next four years. I want us to keep working on the Affordable Care Act, to get not only to 100 percent coverage, but bring down the costs of prescription drugs and out-of-pocket costs. I want to move forward on paid family leave, on early childhood education, I want us to do more for small businesses. Small businesses have to create most of the jobs, and we're not creating and growing small businesses. I think, if you have a smart agenda, you pick the committees that you know have to begin to work on these various pieces\u2014because that's the way Congress is set up. You go through different committees, and you really make a big push in the beginning. Immigration reform, economic revitalization with manufacturing, with infrastructure\u2014we put it out there, and we begin to work on an ambitious, big, bold agenda that will actually produce the results that I want to see for our country. +p2161 +aVThe answer to both of those is no. I'm interested in making what we have work better. I want to streamline programs that are duplicative and redundant. I want to have a top-to-bottom review about what works and what doesn't work, and be absolutely clear we're getting rid of what doesn't work. I have had the opportunity to run a big agency. I was very flattered when Henry Kissinger said I ran the State Department better\u2014better than anybody had run it in a long time. So I have an idea of what it's going to take to make our government work more efficiently. And when you put together a budget, you have to make a lot of hard decisions, but I think it's not appropriate to say "I'm going to get rid of this, get rid of that" until you have a very good process that gives you the information about what to do. But I want to add something else, you know, because look, we have so much work to do in our country, and I think it's the greatest work that Americans will be called to do. And of course, we have to have people in every community involved in it. We have to have the political voice, the political grassroots speaking up and speaking out about what we have to try to accomplish in Washington. But we also need to have a very clear set of goals that we are going to achieve, and we need to level with the American people about what they are, what they will cost, what will be expected of our citizenry. So I see as president having a constant dialogue with Americans here's what we're trying to get done, here's why I need your help, here's why you may think comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship isn't something you care about, but I'm telling you it will help fix the labor market, it will bring people out of the shadows\u2014 +p2162 +aVI never said that. +p2163 +aVLook... +p2164 +aVWell, I'm certainly going to unite the party, but I'm not\u2014I'm not getting ahead of myself. I think that would be a little bit presumptuous. If I'm so fortunate as to be the nominee, the first person I will call to talk to about where we go and how we get it done will be Senator Sanders. +p2165 +aVThat's true. That's true. +p2166 +aVWell first, thanks to +p2167 +asVTRUMP +p2168 +(lp2169 +VThank you. I began this journey six months ago. My total focus was on building up our military, building up our strength, building up our borders, making sure that China, Japan, Mexico, both at the border and in trade, no longer takes advantage of our country. Certainly would never have made that horrible, disgusting, absolutely incompetent deal with Iran where they get $150 billion. They're a terrorist nation. But I began it talking about other things. And those things are things that I'm very good at and maybe that's why I'm center stage. People saw it. People liked it. People respected it. A month ago things changed. Radical Islamic terrorism came into effect even more so than it has been in the past. People like what I say. People respect what I say. And we've opened up a very big discussion that needed to be opened up. Thank you very much. +p2170 +aVWe are not talking about isolation. We're talking about security. We're not talking about religion. We're talking about security. Our country is out of control. People are pouring across the southern border. I will build a wall. It will be a great wall. People will not come in unless they come in legally. Drugs will not pour through that wall. As far as other people like in the migration, where they're going, tens of thousands of people having cell phones with +p2171 +aVJeb doesn't really believe I'm unhinged. He said that very simply because he has failed in this campaign. It's been a total disaster. Nobody cares. And frankly, I'm the most solid person up here. I built a tremendous company and all I want to do is make America great again. I don't want our country to be taken away from us, and that's what's happening. The policies that we've suffered under other presidents have been a disaster for our country. We want to make America great again. And Jeb, in all fairness, he doesn't believe that. +p2172 +aVWell, look, this is so easy to answer. +p2173 +aVI would certainly be open to closing areas where we are at war with somebody. I sure as hell don't want to let people that want to kill us and kill our nation use our Internet. Yes, sir, I am. +p2174 +aVWe have to be much tougher. We have to be much stronger than we've been. We have people that know what is going on. You take a look at just the attack in California the other day. There were numerous people, including the mother, that knew what was going on. They saw a pipe bomb sitting all over the floor. They saw ammunition all over the place. They knew exactly what was going on. When you had the World Trade Center go, people were put into planes that were friends, family, girlfriends, and they were put into planes and they were sent back, for the most part, to Saudi Arabia. They knew what was going on. They went home and they wanted to watch their boyfriends on television. I would be very, very firm with families. Frankly, that will make people think because they may not care much about their lives, but they do care, believe it or not, about their families' lives. +p2175 +aVLook, the problem is we need toughness. Honestly, I think Jeb is a very nice person. He's a very nice person. But we need tough people. We need toughness. We need intelligence and we need tough. Jeb said when they come across the southern border they come as an act of love. +p2176 +aVAm I talking or are you talking, Jeb? +p2177 +aVYou can go back. You're not talking. You interrupted me. +p2178 +aVAre you going to apologize, Jeb? No. Am I allowed to finish? +p2179 +aVExcuse me, am I allowed to finish? +p2180 +aVSo... +p2181 +aV... again... +p2182 +aVI know you're trying to build up your energy, Jeb, but it's not working very well. +p2183 +aVLook, look, look. We need a toughness. We need strength. We're not respected, you know, as a nation anymore. We don't have that level of respect that we need. And if we don't get it back fast, we're just going to go weaker, weaker and just disintegrate. We can't allow that to happen. We need strength. We don't have it. When Jeb comes out and he talks about the border, and I saw it and I was witness to it, and so was everyone else, and I was standing there, "they come across as an act of love," he's saying the same thing right now with radical Islam. And we can't have that in our country. It just won't work. We need strength. +p2184 +aVWith Jeb's attitude, we will never be great again, that I can tell you. We will never be great again. +p2185 +aVSo, they can kill us, but we can't kill them? That's what you're saying. And as far as the Internet is concerned, we're not talking about closing the Internet. I'm talking about parts of Syria, parts of Iraq, where +p2186 +aVIn my opinion, we've spent $4 trillion trying to topple various people that frankly, if they were there and if we could've spent that $4 trillion in the United States to fix our roads, our bridges, and all of the other problems; our airports and all of the other problems we've had, we would've been a lot better off. I can tell you that right now. We have done a tremendous disservice, not only to Middle East, we've done a tremendous disservice to humanity. The people that have been killed, the people that have wiped away, and for what? It's not like we had victory. It's a mess. The Middle East is totally destabilized. A total and complete mess. I wish we had the $4 trillion or $5 trillion. I wish it were spent right here in the United States, on our schools, hospitals, roads, airports, and everything else that are all falling apart. +p2187 +aVWell, there's nothing to respond to. Well, people feel differently. I mean, the fact is Benghazi was a disaster because of Libya, everything just fell into place. It could not have been worse. What do we have now? We have nothing. We've spent $3 trillion and probably much more \u2013 I have no idea what we've spent. Thousands and thousands of lives, we have nothing. Wounded warriors all over the place who I love, we have nothing for it. And by the way \u2013 and Ben said incorrectly \u2013 and I'm not saying this as a knock \u2013 he's one of finest men. You're not going to find a finer men. But I've been talking about oil for three years. I've been saying,, "take the oil, take the oil." I didn't say, "just bomb it," I said," take it and use it and distribute it so that the wounded warriors -" People, I've been saying this now for many years. +p2188 +aVNow, all of a sudden everybody's saying, "take the oil." It wasn't so fashionable to take the oil six months ago. I've been saying it for years. +p2189 +aVI think Assad is a bad guy, a very bad guy, all right? Lots of people killed. I think we are backing people we have no idea who they are. The rebels, we call them the rebels, the patriotic rebels. We have no idea. A lot of people think, Hugh, that they are +p2190 +aVI think it's very sad that CNN leads Jeb Bush, Governor Bush, down a road by starting off virtually all the questions, "Mr. Trump this, Mister" \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched the first debate, and the first long number of questions were, "Mr. Trump said this, Mr. Trump said that. Mr. Trump" \u2014 these poor guys \u2014 although, I must tell you, Santorum, good guy. Governor Huckabee, good guy. They were very nice, and I respect them greatly. But I thought it was very unfair that virtually the entire early portion of the debate was Trump this, Trump that, in order to get ratings, I guess. In order to get ratings, I guess. +p2191 +aVI just think it's very \u2014 excuse me. +p2192 +aVExcuse me. I think it's very unprofessional. +p2193 +aVWell, I think it's very unprofessional. +p2194 +aVOK, fine. +p2195 +aVThis isn't tough and easy. I wish it... +p2196 +aVI wish it was always this easy as you, Jeb. +p2197 +aVOh, yeah. +p2198 +aVOh, I know. You're a tough guy, Jeb. I know. +p2199 +aVYou're tough. +p2200 +aVWell, let's see. I'm at 42, and you're at 3. So, so far, I'm doing better. +p2201 +aVSo far, I'm doing better. You know, you started off over here, Jeb. You're moving over further and further. Pretty soon you're going to be off the end... +p2202 +aVI believe I did. +p2203 +aVI have a very hardline position, we have a country or we don't have a country. People that have come into our country illegally, they have to go. They have to come back into through a legal process. I want a strong border. I do want a wall. Walls do work, you just have to speak to the folks in Israel. Walls work if they're properly constructed. I know how to build, believe me, I know how to build. I feel a very, very strong bind, and really I'm bound to this country, we either have a border or we don't. People can come into the country, we welcome people to come but they have to come in legally. +p2204 +aVWell, first of all, I think we need somebody absolutely that we can trust, who is totally responsible; who really knows what he or she is doing. That is so powerful and so important. And one of the things that I'm frankly most proud of is that in 2003, 2004, I was totally against going into Iraq because you're going to destabilize the Middle East. I called it. I called it very strongly. And it was very important. But we have to be extremely vigilant and extremely careful when it comes to nuclear. Nuclear changes the whole ball game. Frankly, I would have said get out of Syria; get out \u2014 if we didn't have the power of weaponry today. The power is so massive that we can't just leave areas that 50 years ago or 75 years ago we wouldn't care. It was hand-to-hand combat. The biggest problem this world has today is not President Obama with global warming, which is inconceivable, this is what he's saying. The biggest problem we have is nuclear \u2014 nuclear proliferation and having some maniac, having some madman go out and get a nuclear weapon. That's in my opinion, that is the single biggest problem that our country faces right now. +p2205 +aVI think \u2014 I think, for me, nuclear is just the power, the devastation is very important to me. +p2206 +aVI did. +p2207 +aVLet me just say that I have gotten to know him over the last three or four days. He has a wonderful temperament. He's just fine. Don't worry about it. +p2208 +aVYou better not attack... +p2209 +aVI really am. I'll be honest, I really am. I mean, the people have been putting me... I really am. +p2210 +aVLet me just. Can I just finish my... +p2211 +aVI've gained great respect for the Republican leadership. I've gained great respect for many \u2014 and I'm going to even say \u2014 I mean, in different forms for the people on the dais, in different forms. In different forms. But I have great respect for the people I have met through this process. I've never done this process before. I've never been a politician. I mean, for the last six months I've been a politician. But I will tell you, I am totally committed to the Republican Party. I feel very honored to be the front runner. And I think I'll do very well if I'm chosen. If I'm so fortunate to be chosen, I think I'll do very well. Polls have come out recently saying I would beat Hillary. I will do everything in my power to beat Hillary Clinton, I promise you. +p2212 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We don't win on trade. We don't win on the military. We can't defeat +p2213 +aVI can't be Neil. And the and the reason I can't be is that we are a country that is being beaten on every front economically, militarily. There is nothing that we do now to win. We don't win anymore. Our taxes are too high. I've come up with a tax plan that many, many people like very much. It's going to be a tremendous plan. I think it'll make our country and our economy very dynamic. But, taxes too high, wages too high, we're not going to be able to compete against the world. I hate to say it, but we have to leave it the way it is. People have to go out, they have to work really hard and have to get into that upper stratum. But we can not do this if we are going to compete with the rest of the world. We just can't do it. +p2214 +aVI would not do it. +p2215 +aVI was so happy yesterday when I saw that decision come down. That was an unbelievable decision. And we don't have enough of those decisions coming down. He of the executive order, because nobody wants to listen to him, including the Democrats, so he just goes around signing executive orders. That was a great day. And, frankly, we have to stop illegal immigration. It's hurting us economically. It's hurting us from every standpoint. It's causing tremendous difficulty with respect to drugs and what that does to many of our inner cities in particular. And it really is \u2014 was such an unbelievable moment because the courts have not been ruling in our favor. And it was a 2-1 decision. And it was a terrific thing that happened. And I will tell you, we are a country of laws. We need borders. We will have a wall. The wall will be built. The wall will be successful. And if you think walls don't work, all you have to do is ask Israel. The wall works, believe me. Properly done. Believe me. +p2216 +aVYou are going to have to bring people \u2014 you are going to have to send people out. Look, we're a country... +p2217 +aVMaria, we're a country of laws. We either have a country or we don't have a country. We are a country of laws. Going to have to go out and they will come back but they are going to have to go out and hopefully they get back. But we have no choice if we're going to run our country properly and if we're going to be a country. +p2218 +aVAll I can say is, you're lucky in Ohio that you struck oil. That is for one thing. Let me just tell you that Dwight Eisenhower, good president, great president, people liked him. "I like Ike," right? The expression. "I like Ike." Moved a 1.5 million illegal immigrants out of this country, moved them just beyond the border. They came back. Moved them again beyond the border, they came back. Didn't like it. Moved them way south. They never came back. Dwight Eisenhower. You don't get nicer. You don't get friendlier. They moved a 1.5 million out. We have no choice. We have no choice. +p2219 +aVNo, it's unfair. +p2220 +aV... built an unbelievable company worth billions and billions of dollars. I don't have to hear from this man, believe me. I don't have to hear from him. +p2221 +aVWe have millions of people right now on line trying to come into this country. Very, very unfair to the people that want to come into our country legally. They've gone through the process. They're on line. They're waiting. Very, very unfair to them. That I can tell you. +p2222 +aVYes. +p2223 +aVNo, I'm sorry. No, excuse me. I was there. +p2224 +aVPlease, if I could just... +p2225 +aVWe have to make our military bigger, better, stronger than ever before so that nobody messes with us, and a long run, it's going to save us. I agree with Marco, I agree with Ted, we have no choice. And, I can tell you this with certainty. We all have a different tax plan. Some I don't totally agree with. One thing we understand, each one of those tax plans is better than the mess that we have right now. +p2226 +aV...Yes... +p2227 +aV...Yeah... +p2228 +aV...It's a horrible deal... +p2229 +aVThe TPP is horrible deal. It is a deal that is going to lead to nothing but trouble. It's a deal that was designed for China to come in, as they always do, through the back door and totally take advantage of everyone. It's 5,600 pages long. So complex that nobodies read it. It's like Obamacare; nobody ever read it. They passed it; nobody read it. And look at mess we have right now. And it will be repealed. But this is one of the worst trade deals. And I would, yes, rather not have it. With all of these countries, and all of the bad ones getting advantage and taking advantage of what the good ones would normally get, I'd rather make individual deals with individual countries. We will do much better. We lose a fortune on trade. The United States loses with everybody. We're losing now over $500 billion in terms of imbalance with China, $75 billion a year imbalance with Japan. By the way, Mexico, $50 billion a year imbalance. So I must say, Gerard, I just think it's a terrible deal. I love trade. I'm a free trader, 100 percent. But we need smart people making the deals, and we don't have smart people making the deals. +p2230 +aVYes. Well, the currency manipulation they don't discuss in the agreement, which is a disaster. If you look at the way China and India and almost everybody takes advantage of the United States \u2014 China in particular, because they're so good. It's the number-one abuser of this country. And if you look at the way they take advantage, it's through currency manipulation. It's not even discussed in the almost 6,000-page agreement. It's not even discussed. +p2231 +aVAnd as you understand, I mean, you understand very well from the Wall Street Journal, currency manipulation is the single great weapon people have. They don't even discuss it in this agreement. So I say, it's a very bad deal, should not be approved. If it is approved, it will just be more bad trade deals, more loss of jobs for our country. We are losing jobs like nobody's ever lost jobs before. I want to bring jobs back into this country. +p2232 +aVWell, first of all, it's not only Russia. We have problems with North Korea where they actually have nuclear weapons. You know, nobody talks about it, we talk about Iran, and that's one of the worst deals ever made. One of the worst contracts ever signed, ever, in anything, and it's a disgrace. But, we have somebody over there, a madman, who already has nuclear weapons we don't talk about that. That's a problem. China is a problem, both economically in what they're doing in the South China Sea, I mean, they are becoming a very, very major force. So, we have more than just Russia. But, as far as the Ukraine is concerned, and you could Syria \u2014 as far as Syria, I like \u2014 if Putin wants to go in, and I got to know him very well because we were both on 60 Minutes, we were stablemates, and we did very well that night. But, you know that. But, if Putin wants to go and knocked the hell out of +p2233 +aV...They blew up \u2014 hold it.... +p2234 +aV...They blew up, wait a minute... ...They blew up a Russian airplane. He cannot be in love with these people. He's going in, and we can go in, and everybody should go in. As far as the Ukraine is concerned, we have a group of people, and a group of countries, including Germany \u2014 tremendous economic behemoth \u2014 why are we always doing the work? We are \u2014 I'm all for protecting Ukraine and working \u2014 but, we have countries that are surrounding the Ukraine that aren't doing anything. They say, "Keep going, keep going, you dummies, keep going. Protect us..." ...And we have to get smart. We can't continue to be the policeman of the world. We are $19 trillion dollars, we have a country that's going to hell, we have an infrastructure that's falling apart. Our roads, our bridges, our schools, our airports, and we have to start investing money in our country. +p2235 +aVAssad is a bad guy, but we have no idea who the so-called rebels \u2014 I read about the rebels, nobody even knows who they are. I spoke to a general two weeks ago, he said \u2014 he was very up on exactly what we're talking about. He said, "You know, Mr. Trump? We're giving hundreds of millions of dollars of equipment to these people, we have no idea who they are." So, I don't like Assad. Who's going to like Assad? But, we have no idea who these people, and what they're going to be, and what they're going to represent. They may be far worse than Assad. Look at Libya. Look at Iraq. Look at the mess we have after spending $2 trillion dollars, thousands of lives, wounded warriors all over the place \u2014 who I love, OK? All over. We have nothing. And, I said, keep the oil. And we should have kept the oil, believe me. We should have kept the oil. And, you know what? We should have given the oil... ..We should've given big chunks to the people that lost their arms, their legs, and their families, and their sons, and daughters, because right now, you know who has a lot of that oil? Iran, and +p2236 +aVWhy does she keep interrupting everybody? Terrible. +p2237 +aVWe are not. +p2238 +aV...No, no, no... +p2239 +aVWell, what's happening right now, Neil, is something that not been a subject of conversation by politicians. As primarily the only politician, I guess other than Carly on the stage, they haven't talked about a corporate inversion. A corporate inversion \u2014 companies are leaving. You know, we used to leave New York to go to Florida. We got better taxes, we got, maybe, something else. Now, they're the United States to go to other countries. They have trillions of dollars in those other countries. They're going for two reasons, they can't get their money back in. It's something where the democrats and the republicans both agree, it's the only thing I can think of. They both agree, let the money come back in. Three and a half years, they still can't make a deal. They can't get the money in. It's probably two and a half trillion, but, I think it's much more than that. All of that money could become \u2014 could come right in and be used to rebuild our country, and investments in our country. They can't do it. What we have to do, and what I've done, is made the tax rate \u2014 and one of the reasons they don't the taxes so obnoxious, they can't do it. Where, I made it a 10% number, as you know. I've been very highly praised for it. A lot of money's going to come back in, we're going to get rid of the bureaucratic problems, and roadblocks, because that's also a problem. And, we're going to have all of this money pour back into the United States. It's going to be used to build businesses, for jobs, and everything else. And, as I say, my expression is, let's make America great again. +p2240 +aVThank you. Over the years, I've created tens of thousands of jobs and a great company. It's a company I'm very proud of. Some of the most iconic assets anywhere in the world. And I will tell you, I don't have to give you a website because I'm self-funding my campaign. I'm putting up my own money. I want to do something really special. I want to make our country greater than it's ever been. I think we have that potential. We cannot lose this election. We cannot let Hillary Clinton, who is the worst secretary of state in the history of our country, win this election. We will fight. We will win. And we truly will make this even more special. We have to make it better than ever before. And I will tell you, the United States can actually be better than ever before. Thank you. +p2241 +aVI think maybe my greatest weakness is that I trust people too much. I'm too trusting. And when they let me down, if they let me down, I never forgive. I find it very, very hard to forgive people that deceived me. So I don't know if you would call that a weakness, but my wife said "let up." +p2242 +aVRight. +p2243 +aVRight. +p2244 +aVThat's right. +p2245 +aVNo, not a comic book, and it's not a very nicely asked question the way you say that. Larry Kudlow is an example, who I have a lot of respect for, who loves my tax plan. We're reducing taxes to 15 percent. We're bringing corporate taxes down, bringing money back in, corporate inversions. We have $2.5 trillion outside of the United States which we want to bring back in. As far as the wall is concerned, we're going to build a wall. We're going to create a border. We're going to let people in, but they're going to come in legally. They're going to come in legally. And it's something that can be done, and I get questioned about that. They built the great wall of China. That's 13,000 miles. Here, we actually need 1,000 because we have natural barriers. So we need 1,000. We can do a wall. We're going to have a big, fat beautiful door right in the middle of the wall. We're going to have people come in, but they're coming in legally. And Mexico's going to pay for the wall because Mexico \u2014 I love the Mexican people; I respect the Mexican leaders \u2014 but the leaders are much sharper, smarter and more cunning than our leaders. And just to finish, people say, how will you get Mexico to pay? A politician other than the people in the states \u2014 I don't want to \u2014 a politician cannot get them to pay. I can. We lose, we have a trade imbalance... Excuse me, John. ... of $50 billion... +p2246 +aV... believe me the world is peanuts by comparison. +p2247 +aVRight. Dynamically. +p2248 +aVThen you have to get rid of Larry Kudlow, who sits on your panel, who's a great guy, who came out the other day and said, I love Trump's tax plan. +p2249 +aVFirst of all, John got lucky with a thing called fracking, OK? He hit oil. He got lucky with fracking. Believe me, that is why Ohio is doing well. Number \u2014 and that is important for you to know. Number two, this was the man that was a managing general partner at Lehman Brothers when it went down the tubes and almost took every one of us with it, including Ben and myself, because I was there and I watched what happened. And Lehman Brothers started it all. He was on the board. And he was a managing general partner. And just thirdly, he was so nice. He was such a nice guy. And he said, oh, I'm never going to attack. But then his poll numbers tanked. He has got \u2014 that is why he is on the end. And he got nasty. And he got nasty. So you know what? You can have him. +p2250 +aVI think you're \u2014 +p2251 +aVWell, first of all, like many other very big businessmen, I could name them here, but I'm not going to do that for a lot of obvious reasons, but the biggest, and almost all of them, they've all used the chapter laws, the bankruptcy laws to their own benefit. Before this, I was a very successful person as a developer and as a businessman. Atlantic City has gone bad. I mean, Chris will know about that. I'm not blaming Chris, by the way, but he will know about that. Caesar's \u2014 excuse me \u2014 Caesar's, the Rolls-Royce, as you know, is in bankruptcy. Almost every hotel in Atlantic City has either been in bankruptcy or will be in bankruptcy \u2014 the biggest. But also the biggest people (ph) \u2014 now I've used that to my advantage as a business man, for my family, for myself. I never filed for bankruptcy. But many, many people did. What happened with Atlantic City is very, very disgraceful. Now hundreds of companies I've opened. I've used it three times, maybe four times. Came out great. But I guess I'm supposed to come out great. That is what I could do for the country. We owe $19 trillion, boy am I good at solving debt problems. Nobody can solve it like me. But I will tell you this, Atlantic City, you're using that, hundreds of companies that I have opened have thrived. I built a net worth of way over $10 billion, and I have done it four times out of hundreds. And I'm glad I did it. I used the laws of the country to my benefit, I'm sorry. +p2252 +aVThank you. +p2253 +aVI was not at all critical of him. I was not at all. In fact, frankly, he's complaining about the fact that we're losing some of the most talented people. They go to Harvard. They go to Yale. They go to Princeton. They come from another country and they're immediately sent out. I am all in favor of keeping these talented people here so they can go to work in Silicon Valley. +p2254 +aVSo I have nothing at all critical of him. +p2255 +aVProbably, I don't know \u2014 you people write the stuff. I don't know where you... And if I could say just one thing. I am the only person in either campaign that's self-funding. I'm putting up 100 percent of my own money. And right now, I will be putting up a tremendous \u2014 so far, I've put up less than anybody and I have the best results. Wouldn't that be nice if the country could do that? But I will be putting \u2014 I will be putting up, you know, tremendous amounts of money. SuperPacs are a disaster. They're a scam. They cause dishonesty. And you better get rid of them because they are causing a lot of bad decisions to be made by some very good people. And I'm not blaming these folks \u2014 well, I guess I could. Very good people are making very bad decisions right now. And if anything comes out of this whole thing with some of these nasty and ridiculous questions, I will tell you, you better get rid of the SuperPacs because they causing a big problem with this country, not only in dishonesty and what's going on, but also in a lot of bad decisions that have been made for the benefit of lobbyists and special interests. +p2256 +aVI never said that. I never said that. +p2257 +aVYou've got another gentleman in Florida, who happens to be a very nice guy, but not... +p2258 +aV... he's really doing some bad... +p2259 +aVI'm in favor of people coming into this country legally. And you know what? They can have it anyway you want. You can call it visas, you can call it work permits, you can call it anything you want. I've created tens of thousands of jobs, and in all due respect \u2014 and actually some of these folks I really like a lot \u2014 but I'm the only one that can say that. I have created tens of thousands of jobs, and I'll be creating many millions of jobs if I'm given \u2014 if I'm given the opportunity to be president. As far as Mark is concerned, as far as the visas are concerned, if we need people, they have \u2014 it's fine. They have to come into this country legally. We have a country of borders. We have a country of laws. We have to obey the laws. It's fine if they come in, but they have to come in legally. +p2260 +aVYes. +p2261 +aVOr somebody else. Right. +p2262 +aVYes, I might feel more comfortable. I would say that I would and I have a permit, which is very unusual in New York \u2014 a permit to carry. And I do carry on occasion, sometimes a lot. But I like to be unpredictable so that people don't know exactly... +p2263 +aVBy the way, unlike our country where we're totally predictable and the enemy, whether it's +p2264 +aVI would change them. I would change them. +p2265 +aVSuch a nasty \u2014 such a nasty question, but thank you, Governor. +p2266 +aVYes, it's very simple. We're going to make a really dynamic economy from what we have right now, which is not at all dynamic. We're going to bring jobs back from Japan, we're going to bring jobs back from China, we're going to bring, frankly, jobs back from Mexico where, as you probably saw, Nabisco is leaving Chicago with one of their biggest plants, and they're moving it to Mexico. We're going to bring jobs and manufacturing back. We're going to cut costs. We're going to save Social Security, and we're going to save Medicare. [ +p2267 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We used to win, we don't win anymore. We lose on trade. We lose with +p2268 +aVAnd, I'll do that with the country. We will make America great again. And, thank you everybody. Just for the record. +p2269 +aVThat's not right. That is absolutely not right. You know that. That is not right. [ +p2270 +aVI'm Donald Trump. I wrote "The Art of the Deal". I say not in a braggadocious way, I've made billions and billions of dollars dealing with people all over the world, and I want to put whatever that talent is to work for this country so we have great trade deals, we make our country rich again, we make it great again. We build our military, we take care of our vets, we get rid of Obamacare, and we have a great life altogether. Thank you. Thank you. +p2271 +aVWell, first of all, Rand Paul shouldn't even be on this stage. He's number 11, he's got 1 percent in the polls, and how he got up here, there's far too many people anyway. As far as temperament \u2014 and we all know that \u2014 as far as temperament, I think I have a great temperament. I built a phenomenal business with incredible, iconic assets, one of the really truly great real-estate businesses. And I may be an entertainer, because I've had tremendous success with number-one bestsellers all over the place, with "The Apprentice" and everything else I've done. But I will tell you this: What I am far and away greater than an entertainer is a businessman, and that's the kind of mindset this country needs to bring it back, because we owe $19 trillion right now, $19 trillion, and you need this kind of thinking to bring our country back. And believe me, my temperament is very good, very calm. But we will be respected outside of this country. We are not respected now. +p2272 +aVI never attacked him on his look, and believe me, there's plenty of subject matter right there. That I can tell you. +p2273 +aVI've actually been in politics all my life, although I've been on that side as opposed to this side. I'm now a politician for about three months. Obviously, I'm doing pretty well. I'm number one in every poll by a lot. But the qualification is that I've dealt with people all over the world, been successful all over the world. Everything I've done virtually has been a tremendous success. When markets changed, when things turned, I heard Governor Pataki, who, by the way, was a failed governor in New York, a very seriously failed \u2014 he wouldn't be elected dog catcher right now. I heard what he had to say. And I will tell you this: Atlantic City, I've made a tremendous amount of money in Atlantic City. I left seven years ago, I've gotten great credit for my timing, and that's what I'm all about. I'm a businessman, did really well, really well, and Jeb, what I want to do is put that ability into this country to make our country rich again. And I can do that, and I'm not sure that anybody else in the group will be able to do that. +p2274 +aVBut I have to say... +p2275 +aVWell, in Wisconsin... +p2276 +aVExcuse me. +p2277 +aVIn Wisconsin, you're losing $2.2 billion right now. +p2278 +aVI would do so much better than that. +p2279 +aVNo. +p2280 +aVI'm using facts. +p2281 +aVEvery major business leader has used the \u2014 I never went bankrupt, by the way, as you know, everybody knows. But we \u2014 hundreds of companies, hundreds of deals, I've used ???: ... into bankruptcy. That's what's wrong with politicians in Washington right now. They think we can take a country into bankruptcy. +p2282 +aVEvery major business leader, has used the \u2014 I never went bank bankrupt, by the way, as you know, everybody knows. But \u2014 hundreds of companies, hundreds of deals, I used the law four times and made a tremendous thing. I'm in business. I did a very good job. But I will say this, and people are very, very impressed with what I've done, the business people. But when the folks of Iowa found out the true facts of the job that you've done in Wisconsin, all of a sudden you, tubed (ph), he was No. 1 and now he's No. 6 or seven in the polls. So, look, we brought it out, you were supposed to make a billion dollars in the state. You lost 2.2 \u2014 you have right now, a huge budget deficit. That's not a Democratic point. That's a point. That's a fact. And when the people of Iowa found that out, I went to No. 1 and you went down the tubes. +p2283 +aVI didn't \u2014 +p2284 +aVTotally false. +p2285 +aVI would have gotten it. +p2286 +aVI promise I would have gotten it. +p2287 +aVI promise if I wanted it, I would have gotten it. +p2288 +aVI know my people. +p2289 +aVI know my people. +p2290 +aVNo. I just will tell you that, you know, Jeb made the statement. I'm not only referring to him. I \u2014 a lot of money was raised by a lot of different people that are standing up here. And the donors, the special interests, the lobbyists have very strong power over these people. I'm spending all of my money, I'm not spending \u2014 I'm not getting any \u2014 I turned down \u2014 I turn down so much, I could have right now from special interests and donors, I could have double and triple what he's got. I've turned it down. I turned down last week $5 million from somebody. So I will tell you I understand the game, I've been on the other side all of my life. And they have a lot of control over our politicians. And I don't say that favorably, and I'm not sure if there's another system, but I say this. I am not accepting any money from anybody. Nobody has control of me other than the people of this country. I'm going to do the right thing. +p2291 +aVThat's true. That's true. +p2292 +aVI was \u2014 excuse me, Jeb. +p2293 +aVI was a businessman, I got along with Clinton, I got along with everybody. That was my job, to get along with people. +p2294 +aVI didn't want to \u2014 excuse me. One second. +p2295 +aVOK, more energy tonight. I like that. Look \u2014 +p2296 +aVI didn't want \u2014 it was my obligation as a businessman to my family, to my company, to my employees, to get along with all politicians. I get along with all of them, and I did a damn good job in doing it. Go ahead. +p2297 +aVGot along with everybody. +p2298 +aVWrong. +p2299 +aVDon't make things up. Jeb, don't make things up. Come on. +p2300 +aVDon't make things up. +p2301 +aVSo, number one, they have to respect you. He has absolutely no respect for President Obama. Zero. Syria's a mess. You look at what's going on with +p2302 +aVI believe that I will get along \u2014 we will do \u2014 between that, Ukraine, all of the other problems, we won't have the kind of problems that our country has right now with Russia and many other nations. +p2303 +aVI wouldn't have drawn the line, but once he drew it, he had no choice but to go across. They do bear some responsibility, but I think he probably didn't do it, not for that reason. Somehow, he just doesn't have courage. There is something missing from our president. Had he crossed the line and really gone in with force, done something to Assad \u2014 if he had gone in with tremendous force, you wouldn't have millions of people displaced all over the world. +p2304 +aVThey had a responsibility, absolutely. I think we have three of them here... +p2305 +aVI think they had a responsibility, yes. +p2306 +aVJeb, just... +p2307 +aVI think it will haunt him. I think it's a terrible. I think it's going to haunt him absolutely. He came back later and he said he misspoke. There was no question because I heard when he said the statement. I was watching and he said the statement. And I said, wow, I can't believe it. I will take care of women. I respect women. I will take care of women. One thing we will say and I would like to get back to the Iran situation. We're talking about Iran. The agreement was terrible. It was incompetent. I've never seen anything like it. One of the worst contracts of any kind I've ever seen. And nobody ever mentions North Korea where you have this maniac sitting there and he actually has nuclear weapons and somebody better start thinking about North Korea and perhaps a couple of other places. But certainly North Korea. And Ted and I have spoken. We've \u2014 a lot of us have spoken. We're talking about Iran. They are bad actors, bad things are going to happen. But in the meantime, you have somebody right now in North Korea who has got nuclear weapons and who is saying almost every other week, I'm ready to use them. And we don't even mention it. +p2308 +aVSo why didn't you say it? Why didn't you say it? +p2309 +aVI know, but why did you say it? I heard it myself. Why did you say it? +p2310 +aVYou said you're going to cut funding for women's health. You said it. +p2311 +aVYou said it. +p2312 +aVI think she's got a beautiful face, and I think she's a beautiful woman. +p2313 +aVCorrect. First of all, I want to build a wall, a wall that works. So important, and it's a big part of it. Second of all, we have a lot of really bad dudes in this country from outside, and I think Chris knows that, maybe as well as anybody. They go, if I get elected, first day they're gone. Gangs all over the place. Chicago, Baltimore, no matter where you look. We have a country based on laws. I will make sure that those laws are adhered to. These are illegal immigrants. I don't think you'd even be asking this question if I didn't run because when I ran, and I brought this up, my opening remarks at Trump Tower, I took heat like nobody has taken heat in a long time. And, then they found out with the killing of Katie, from San Francisco, and so many other crimes, they found out that I was right. And, most people, many people, apologized to me. I don't think you'd even be talking about illegal immigration if it weren't for me. So, we have a country of laws, they're going to go out, and they'll come back if they deserve to come back. If they've had a bad record, if they've been arrested, if they've been in jail, they're never coming back. We're going to have a country again. Right now, we don't have a country, we don't have a border, and we're going to do something about it, and it can be done with proper management, and it can be done with heart. +p2314 +aV...By the way, I agree with \u2014 with what Chris is saying, but, I will say this. Illegal immigration is costing us more than $200 billion dollars a year just to maintain what we have. +p2315 +aVCorrect. +p2316 +aVWell, I have to tell you, I hear phenomenal things. I hear your wife is a lovely woman... +p2317 +aVI don't know her, and this is a total mischaracterization... +p2318 +aVGood. +p2319 +aVNo, I won't do that, because I've said nothing wrong. +p2320 +aVBut I do hear she's a lovely woman. +p2321 +aVJeb said... +p2322 +aV... that they come into our country as an act of love. With all of the problems we that we have, in so many instances \u2014 we have wonderful people coming in. But with all of the problems \u2014 this is not an act of love. He's weak on immigration \u2014 by the way, in favor of Common Core, which is also a disaster, but weak on immigration. He doesn't get my vote. +p2323 +aVNot with this intensity. +p2324 +aVAs I said, we are spending $200 billion \u2014 we are spending $200 billion a year on maintaining what we have. We will move them out. The great ones will come back, the good ones will come back. They'll be expedited, they'll be back, they'll come back legally. We'll have a country \u2014 they'll come back, legally. +p2325 +aVWell, I think it's wonderful and all, but I did it a little bit half-heartedly, but I do mean it to a large extent. We have a country, where, to assimilate, you have to speak English. And I think that where he was, and the way it came out didn't sound right to me. We have to have assimilation \u2014 to have a country, we have to have assimilation. I'm not the first one to say this, Dana. We've had many people over the years, for many, many years, saying the same thing. This is a country where we speak English, not Spanish. +p2326 +aVThis is a reporter, not a high school kid. +p2327 +aVWell, first of all, the \u2014 the 14th Amendment says very, very clearly to a lot of great legal scholars \u2014 not television scholars, but legal scholars \u2014 that it is wrong. It can be corrected with an act of Congress, probably doesn't even need that. A woman gets pregnant. She's nine months, she walks across the border, she has the baby in the United States, and we take care of the baby for 85 years. I don't think so. And by the way, Mexico and almost every other country anywhere in the world doesn't have that. We're the only ones dumb enough, stupid enough to have it. And people \u2014 and by the way, this is not just with respect to Mexico. They are coming from Asia to have babies here, and all of a sudden, we have to take care of the babies for the life of the baby. The 14th Amendment, it reads properly, you can go and \u2014 it's probably going to be have to be check \u2014 go through a process of court, probably ends up at the Supreme Court, but there are a lot of great legal scholars that say that is not correct. And in my opinion, it makes absolutely no \u2014 we're the only \u2014 one of the only countries, we're going to take care of those babies for 70, 75, 80, 90 years? I don't think so. +p2328 +aVI agree 100 percent, by the way, with Carly on the fact that the Democrats do not want to solve this problem, for the obvious reasons, but they do not. But I believe that a reading of the 14th Amendment allows you to have an interpretation where this is not legal and where it can't be done. I've seen both sides, but some of the greatest scholars agree with me, without having to go through Congress. If you do go through Congress, you can absolutely solve the problem. +p2329 +aVThat's true, sure. +p2330 +aVWell \u2014 +p2331 +aV\u2014 let me \u2014 well, let me just explain. The head of the Yale Business School, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, wrote a paper recently, one of the worst tenures for a CEO that he has ever seen, ranked one of the top 20 in the history of business. The company is a disaster and continues to be a disaster. They still haven't recovered. In fact, today, on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, they fired another 25 or 30,000 people saying we still haven't recovered from the catastrophe. When Carly says the revenues went up, that's because she bought Compaq, it was a terrible deal, and it really led to the destruction of the company. Now one other company before that was Lucent. Carly was at Lucent before that. And Lucent turned out to be a catastrophe also. So I only say this. She can't run any of my companies. That I can tell you. +p2332 +aVI never filed for bankruptcy. +p2333 +aVI'll tell you why; it's very simple. +p2334 +aVI'll tell you. I was running \u2014 +p2335 +aV\u2014 Carly, Carly \u2014 +p2336 +aV\u2014 I've made over $10 billion. I had a casino company \u2014 Caesars just filed for bankruptcy. Chris will tell you \u2014 it's not Chris' fault either \u2014 but almost everybody in Atlantic City is either in trouble or filed for \u2014 maybe I'll blame Chris. +p2337 +aVBut Atlantic City is a disaster \u2014 +p2338 +aVWait a minute, Carly. Wait. I let you speak. Atlantic City is a disaster, and I did great in Atlantic City. I knew when to get out. My timing was great. And I got a lot of credit for it. Many of the great business people that you know \u2014 and Carl Icon (ph) is going to work with me on making great deals for this country. But whether it's Carl or so many others that we read about all the time \u2014 +p2339 +aV\u2014 they have used the laws of the land, which is the \u2014 +p2340 +aV...Well, I'd like to respond, I'd like to respond... +p2341 +aVWell, I think the thing about the flat tax, I know it very well. What I don't like is that if you make $200 million a year, you pay ten percent, you're paying very little relatively to somebody that's making $50,000 a year, and has to hire H&R Block to do the \u2014 because it's so complicated. One thing I'll say to Ben is that we've had a graduated tax system for many years, so it's not a socialistic thing. What I'd like to do, and I'll be putting in the plan in about two weeks, and I think people are going to like it, it's a major reduction in taxes. It's a major reduction for the middle class. The hedge fund guys won't like me as much as they like me right now. I know them all, but they'll pay more. I know people that are making a tremendous amount of money and paying virtually no tax, and I think it's unfair. +p2342 +aVWell, I heard Hugh Hewitt, a nice man, he apologized because he actually said that we had a misunderstanding. And he said today that Donald Trump is maybe the best interview there is anywhere that he has ever done. Now unless he was just saying that on CNN to be nice, but he did say that... +p2343 +aVAnd we had a legitimate misunderstanding in terms of his pronunciation of a word. But I would say just... +p2344 +aVWell, I think it was. And he actually said that. Did you say that? +p2345 +aVOK. So I will say this, though, Hugh was giving me name after name, Arab name, Arab name, and there are few people anywhere, anywhere that would have known those names. I think he was reading them off a sheet. And frankly I will have \u2014 and I told him, I will have the finest team that anybody has put together and we will solve a lot of problems. You know, right now they know a lot and look at what is happening. The world is blowing up around us. We will have great teams and great people. +p2346 +aVI hope that answers your question. I mean, you are in the Senate, but I hope that answers your question. +p2347 +aVNo, I don't think he's suggesting that at all. I mean... +p2348 +aVI don't think he's suggesting that at all. +p2349 +aVWell, you have to understand, I am not sitting in the United States Senate with, by the way, the worst voting record there is today. Number one. I am not sitting in the United States Senate. I'm a businessman doing business transactions. +p2350 +aVI am doing business transactions. I will know more about this \u2014 and, as you said, that was very acceptable, and when you listen to that whole interview, it's a great interview, you said it, I didn't. Well, now I did. But... +p2351 +aVListen, just one second. Just one second. +p2352 +aVI will know... +p2353 +aV...I will know more about the problems of this world by the time I sit, and you look at what's going in this world right now by people that supposedly know, this world is a mess. +p2354 +aV +p2355 +aV I'm \u2014 and I'm meeting with people that are terrific people, but I have to say something because it's about judgment. I am the only person on this dais \u2014 the only person \u2014 that fought very, very hard against us (ph), and I wasn't a sitting politician going into Iraq, because I said going into Iraq \u2014 that was in 2003, you can check it out, check out \u2014 I'll give you 25 different stories. In fact, a delegation was sent to my office to see me because I was so vocal about it. I'm a very militaristic person, but you have to know when to use the military. I'm the only person up here that fought against going into Iraq. +p2356 +aVJust excuse me, one second, Rand... +p2357 +aVIf you don't mind, Rand \u2014 you know, you are on last \u2014 you do have your 1 percent. I would like \u2014 and I think it's very important. I think it's important, because it's about judgment. It's about judgment. I didn't want to go into Iraq, and I fought it, because what I said \u2014 what I said... +p2358 +aV... was you're going to \u2014 you're going to destabilize... +p2359 +aV... the Middle East, and that's what happened. +p2360 +aVIf you think about it... +p2361 +aVYour brother \u2014 and your brother's administration gave us Barack Obama, because it was such a disaster, those last three months, that Abraham Lincoln couldn't have been elected. +p2362 +aVI don't know. You feel safe right now? I don't feel so safe. +p2363 +aVOr the collapse of the economy. +p2364 +aVSpeaking for myself, I'm OK with it. I think there's a certain truth to it. I know people that, frankly, it has no impact on their life whatsoever. There are many people. I would almost say leave it up to them, but I would be willing to check it off, and say I will not get Social Security. I do not... +p2365 +aVAs a policy, I would almost leave it up to the people. Don't forget they pay in and they pay in, and maybe they do well, and maybe some people want it. But the fact is that there are people that truly don't need it, and there are many people that do need it very, very badly. And I would be willing to write mine off 100 percent, Dana. +p2366 +aVWell, I \u2014 I \u2014 I'd like to respond. +p2367 +aVI'd like to respond. +p2368 +aVAutism has become an epidemic. Twenty-five years ago, 35 years ago, you look at the statistics, not even close. It has gotten totally out of control. I am totally in favor of vaccines. But I want smaller doses over a longer period of time. Because you take a baby in \u2014 and I've seen it \u2014 and I've seen it, and I had my children taken care of over a long period of time, over a two or three year period of time. Same exact amount, but you take this little beautiful baby, and you pump \u2014 I mean, it looks just like it's meant for a horse, not for a child, and we've had so many instances, people that work for me. Just the other day, two years old, two and a half years old, a child, a beautiful child went to have the vaccine, and came back, and a week later got a tremendous fever, got very, very sick, now is autistic. I only say it's not \u2014 I'm in favor of vaccines, do them over a longer period of time, same amount. +p2369 +aVBut just in \u2014 in little sections. +p2370 +aVI think \u2014 and I think you're going to have \u2014 I think you're going to see a big impact on autism. +p2371 +aVAnd that's all I'm saying, Jake. That's all I'm saying. +p2372 +aVWell, because she's been sitting for three hours, I think my daughter, Ivanka, who's right here. +p2373 +aVOther than that we'll go with Rosa Parks. I like that. +p2374 +aVHumble. +p2375 +aVIf I become president, we will do something really special. We will make this country greater than ever before. We'll have more jobs. We'll have more of everything. We were discussing disease, we were discussing all sorts of things tonight, many of which will just be words, it will just pass on. I don't want to say politicians, all talk, no action. But a lot of what we talked about is words and it will be forgotten very quickly. If I'm president, many of the things that we discussed tonight will not be forgotten. We'll find solutions. And the world will respect us. They will respect us like never before. And it will be actually a friendlier world. And I have to say, it is a great honor to be here tonight. +p2376 +aVI fully understand. +p2377 +aVI fully understand. +p2378 +aVI cannot say. I have to respect the person that, if it's not me, the person that wins, if I do win, and I'm leading by quite a bit, that's what I want to do. I can totally make that pledge. If I'm the nominee, I will pledge I will not run as an independent. But -- and I am discussing it with everybody, but I'm, you know, talking about a lot of leverage. We want to win, and we will win. But I want to win as the Republican. I want to run as the Republican nominee. +p2379 +aVWell, I've given him plenty of money. +p2380 +aVI will not make the pledge at this time. +p2381 +aVOnly Rosie O'Donnell. +p2382 +aVThank you. +p2383 +aVYes, I'm sure it was. +p2384 +aVI think the big problem this country has is being politically correct. I've been challenged by so many people, and I don't frankly have time for total political correctness. And to be honest with you, this country doesn't have time either. This country is in big trouble. We don't win anymore. We lose to China. We lose to Mexico both in trade and at the border. We lose to everybody. And frankly, what I say, and oftentimes it's fun, it's kidding. We have a good time. What I say is what I say. And honestly Megyn, if you don't like it, I'm sorry. I've been very nice to you, although I could probably maybe not be, based on the way you have treated me. But I wouldn't do that. But you know what, we -- we need strength, we need energy, we need quickness and we need brain in this country to turn it around. That, I can tell you right now. +p2385 +aVSo, if it weren't for me, you wouldn't even be talking about illegal immigration, Chris. You wouldn't even be talking about it. This was not a subject that was on anybody's mind until I brought it up at my announcement. And I said, Mexico is sending. Except the reporters, because they're a very dishonest lot, generally speaking, in the world of politics, they didn't cover my statement the way I said it. The fact is, since then, many killings ,murders, crime, drugs pouring across the border, are money going out and the drugs coming in. And I said we need to build a wall, and it has to be built quickly. And I don't mind having a big beautiful door in that wall so that people can come into this country legally. But we need, Jeb, to build a wall, we need to keep illegals out. +p2386 +aVBorder Patrol, I was at the border last week. Border Patrol, people that I deal with, that I talk to, they say this is what's happening. Because our leaders are stupid. Our politicians are stupid. And the Mexican government is much smarter, much sharper, much more cunning. And they send the bad ones over because they don't want to pay for them. They don't want to take care of them. Why should they when the stupid leaders of the United States will do it for them? And that's what is happening whether you like it or not. +p2387 +aVA complete disaster, yes. +p2388 +aVCorrect. +p2389 +aVFirst of all, I'd like to just go back to one. In July of 2004, I came out strongly against the war with Iraq, because it was going to destabilize the Middle East. And I'm the only one on this stage that knew that and had the vision to say it. And that's exactly what happened. +p2390 +aVAnd the Middle East became totally destabilized. So I just want to say. As far as single payer, it works in Canada. It works incredibly well in Scotland. It could have worked in a different age, which is the age you're talking about here. What I'd like to see is a private system without the artificial lines around every state. I have a big company with thousands and thousands of employees. And if I'm negotiating in New York or in New Jersey or in California, I have like one bidder. Nobody can bid. You know why? Because the insurance companies are making a fortune because they have control of the politicians, of course, with the exception of the politicians on this stage. But they have total control of the politicians. They're making a fortune. Get rid of the artificial lines and you will have......yourself great plans. And then we have to take care of the people that can't take care of themselves. And I will do that through a different system. +p2391 +aVI'm not -- I'm not are -- I don't think you heard me. You're having a hard time tonight. +p2392 +aVYou'd better believe it. +p2393 +aVIf I ask them, if I need them, you know, most of the people on this stage I've given to, just so you understand, a lot of money. +p2394 +aVMany of them. +p2395 +aVNot much. +p2396 +aVBut I... +p2397 +aVI have good... +p2398 +aVGood. +p2399 +aVSounds good. Sounds good to me, Governor. I will tell you that our system is broken. I gave to many people, before this, before two months ago, I was a businessman. I give to everybody. When they call, I give. And do you know what? When I need something from them two years later, three years later, I call them, they are there for me. +p2400 +aVAnd that's a broken system. +p2401 +aVWell, I'll tell you what, with Hillary Clinton, I said be at my wedding and she came to my wedding. You know why? She didn't have a choice because I gave. I gave to a foundation that, frankly, that foundation is supposed to do good. I didn't know her money would be used on private jets going all over the world. It was. But... +p2402 +aVBecause I have used the laws of this country just like the greatest people that you read about every day in business have used the laws of this country, the chapter laws, to do a great job for my company, for myself, for my employees, for my family, et cetera. I have never gone bankrupt, by the way. I have never. But out of hundreds of deals... +p2403 +aVExcuse me. Excuse me. +p2404 +aVExcuse me, what am I saying? Out of hundreds of deals that I've done, hundreds, on four occasions I've taken advantage of the laws of this country, like other people. I'm not going to name their names because I'm not going to embarrass, but virtually every person that you read about on the front page of the business sections, they've used the law. The difference is, when somebody else uses those laws, nobody writes about it. When I use it, they say, "Trump, Trump, Trump." The fact is, I built a net worth of more than $10 billion. I have a great, great company. I employ thousands of people. And I'm very proud of the job I did. Again Chris, hundreds and hundreds of deals. Four times, I've taken advantage of the laws. And frankly, so has everybody else in my position. +p2405 +aVWell, I... +p2406 +aVLet me just tell you about the lenders. First of all, these lenders aren't babies. These are total killers. These are not the nice, sweet little people that you think, OK? You know, I mean you're living in a world of the make-believe, Chris, you want to know the truth. And I had the good sense to leave Atlantic City, which by the way, Caesars just went bankrupt. Every company, Chris can tell you, every company virtually in Atlantic City went bankrupt. Every company. And let me just tell you. I had the good sense, and I've gotten a lot of credit in the financial pages, seven years ago I left Atlantic City before it totally cratered, and I made a lot of money in Atlantic City, and I'm very proud of it. I want to tell you that. Very, very proud of it. +p2407 +aVAnd by the way, this country right now owes $19 trillion. And they need somebody like me to straighten out that mess. +p2408 +aVI don't think they like me very much. I'll tell you what. I've evolved on many issues over the years. And you know who else has? Is Ronald Reagan evolved on many issues. And I am pro-life. And if you look at the question, I was in business. They asked me a question as to pro-life or choice. And I said if you let it run, that I hate the concept of abortion. I hate the concept of abortion. And then since then, I've very much evolved. And what happened is friends of mine years ago were going to have a child, and it was going to be aborted. And it wasn't aborted. And that child today is a total superstar, a great, great child. And I saw that. And I saw other instances. And I am very, very proud to say that I am pro-life. As far as being a Republican is concerned, I come from a place, New York City, which is virtually, I mean, it is almost exclusively Democrat. And I have really started to see some of the negatives -- as an example, and I have a lot of liking for this man, but the last number of months of his brother's administration were a catastrophe. And unfortunately, those few months gave us President Obama. And you can't be happy about that. +p2409 +aVFirst of all, Jeb, I am very happy that you denied that, and I appreciate that very much. He is a true gentleman. He really is. One thing he did say, and I mean that. The one thing he did say about me, however, was my tone. And I also understand that. But when you have people that are cutting Christians' heads off, when you have a world that the border and at so many places, that it is medieval times, we've never -- it almost has to be as bad as it ever was in terms of the violence and the horror, we don't have time for tone. We have to go out and get the job done. +p2410 +aVI would be so different from what you have right now. Like, the polar opposite. We have a president who doesn't have a clue. I would say he's incompetent, but I don't want to do that because that's not nice. But if you look at the deals we make, whether it's the nuclear deal with 24 hour periods -- and by the way, before you get to the 24 hours, you have to go through a system. You look at Sgt. Bergdahl, we get Bergdahl, a traitor, and they get five of the big, great killers leaders that they want. We have people in Washington that don't know what they're doing. Now... I agree. Now, with Iran, we're making a deal, you would say, we want him. We want out our prisoners. We want all these things, and we don't get anything. We're giving them $150 billion dollars plus, they are going to be -- I'll tell you what, if Iran was a stock, you folks should go out and buy it right now because you'll quadruple -- this, what's happening in Iran, is a disgrace, and it's going to lead to destruction in large portions of the world. +p2411 +aVOur country is in serious trouble. We don't win anymore. We don't beat China in trade. We don't beat Japan, with their millions and millions of cars coming into this country, in trade. We can't beat Mexico, at the border or in trade. We can't do anything right. Our military has to be strengthened. Our vets have to be taken care of. We have to end Obamacare, and we have to make our country great again, and I will do that. Thank you. +p2412 +asVCHRISTIE +p2413 +(lp2414 +VThank you Wolf. America has been betrayed. We've been betrayed by the leadership that Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton have provided to this country over the last number of years. Think about just what's happened today. The second largest school district in America in Los Angeles closed based on a threat. Think about the effect that, that's going to have on those children when they go back to school tomorrow wondering filled with anxiety to whether they're really going to be safe. Think about the mothers who will take those children tomorrow morning to the bus stop wondering whether their children will arrive back on that bus safe and sound. Think about the fathers of Los Angeles, who tomorrow will head off to work and wonder about the safety of their wives and their children. What is Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton done to this country? That the most basic responsibility of an administration is to protect the safety and security of the American people. I will tell you this, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I've fought terrorists and won and when we get back in the White House we will fight terrorists and win again and America will be safe. +p2415 +aVWolf, unfortunately, it's the new normal under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The fact is that if you listen to Hillary Clinton the other day, what she said to the American people was, as regards to +p2416 +aVListen, I want to talk to the audience at home for a second. If your eyes are glazing over like mine, this is what it's like to be on the floor of the United States Senate. I mean, endless debates about how many angels on the head of a pin from people who've never had to make a consequential decision in an executive position. The fact is, for seven years, I had to make these decisions after 9/11, make a decision about how to proceed forward with an investigation or how to pull back, whether you use certain actionable intelligence or whether not to. And yet they continue to debate about this bill and in the subcommittee and what \u2014 nobody in America cares about that. What they care about is, are we going to have a president who actually knows what they're doing to make these decisions? And for the seven years afterwards, New Jersey was threatened like no other region in this country and what we did was we took action within the constitution to make sure that law enforcement had all the information they needed. We prosecuted two of the biggest terrorism cases in the world and stopped Fort Dix from being attacked by six American radicalized Muslims from a Mosque in New Jersey because we worked with the Muslim American community to get intelligence and we used the Patriot Act to get other intelligence to make sure we did those cases. This is the difference between actually been a federal prosecutor, actually doing something, and not just spending your life as one of hundred debating it. Let's talk about how we do this, not about which bill, which one these guys like more. The American people don't care about that. +p2417 +aVWolf, you sit up here and you listen to this stuff, and you think that so many of these people have had so much to do in this national debate, they talk like they were bystanders. You know, we talk about our military being degraded over time, and yet we've had folks on this stage who've been a part of Congress who have participated in sequester; who participated in the degrading of this military over time. And that's why I think people get so frustrated with Washington, D.C. now. That's why they're so angry with the \u2014 the electorate is so angry with everybody who is involved in government in Washington, D.C. Because if you listen to the folks up here, you think that they weren't even there; they had nothing to do with this. This is a difference between being a governor and being in a legislature. See, because when something doesn't work in New Jersey, they look at me, say: "Why didn't it get done? Why didn't you do it?" You have to be responsible and accountable. And so on +p2418 +aVWell, I think we have to focus, Hugh, on exactly what the priorities are. And to me, what I've always said is that the president has set up an awful situation through his deal with Iran, because what his deal with Iran has done is empower them and enrich them. And that's the way +p2419 +aVNot only would I be prepared to do it, I would do it. A no-fly zone means a no-fly zone, Wolf. That's what it means. See, maybe \u2014 maybe because I'm from New Jersey, I just have this kind of plain language hangup. But I would make very clear \u2014 I would not talk to Vladimir Putin. In fact, I would talk to Vladimir Putin a lot. But I'd say to him, "Listen, Mr. President, there's a no-fly zone in Syria; you fly in, it applies to you." And yes, we would shoot down the planes of Russian pilots if in fact they were stupid enough to think that this president was the same feckless weakling that the president we have in the Oval Office is right now. +p2420 +aVWell, Wolf, I'll tell you what reckless is. What reckless is is calling Assad a reformer. What reckless is allowing Russia to come into Crimea and Ukraine. What reckless is is inviting Russia into Syria to team with Iran. That is reckless. And the reckless people are the folks in the White House right now. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are the reckless people. And if you think that a no-fly zone is a reckless policy, you're welcome to your opinion. But how is it working so far? As we have 250,000 Syrians murdered, slaughtered; millions running around the world, running for their lives. It's not working. We need to try something else. And that is not reckless. +p2421 +aVWhat I say to Carla is that the first job of the president of the United States is to protect your safety and your security and the security and safety of your family. And this debate stops with me in the discussions with the FBI director. Now, listen, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I know Jim Comey. We've worked together. He was the U.S. attorney in Manhattan when I was a U.S. attorney in New Jersey. And when Jim Comey gets up before Congress and says, we cannot effectively vet these people, for me as president, that's the end of the conversation. We have to put America's security first. The American people \u2014 we on this stage need to open our ears. We need to open our ears. The American people are not whispering to us. They are screaming to us. And they're screaming to us that it's our job to actually make this government work. It's so dysfunctional under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. It's so ineffective. It's so ineffectual that the American people say, we don't trust them to do anything anymore. So I'm not going to let Syrian refugees, any Syrian refugees in this country. And it was widows and orphans, by the way, and we now know from watching the San Bernardino attack that women can commit heinous, heinous acts against humanity just the same as men can do it. And so I don't back away from that position for a minute. When the FBI director tells me that he can vet those people, then we'll consider it and not a moment before because your safety and security is what's most important to me. +p2422 +aVWell, what it would like is, we have one of the great advantages of America being the open society that we are. It is, we are not hiding things from the American people, but China everyday is conducting business in a way that hides things from their people. So if they want to come in and attack all the personnel records in the federal government, which they've done, and which \u2014 they now have my Social Security number and my fingerprints, as well as maybe some other folks' who are on this stage. The fact is, they need to be fought back on. And what we need to do is go at the things that they are most sensitive and most embarrassing to them; that they're hiding; get that information and put it out in public. Let the Chinese people start to digest how corrupt the Chinese government is; how they steal from the Chinese people; and how they're enriching oligarchs all throughout China. They need to understand that. And we need to take those type of steps. This president has seen personnel records of people who have sacrificed for the American people and for the federal government stolen by the Chinese and he's done nothing in return. This is why \u2014 this is what I said at the beginning that this administration, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton through their foreign policy, have betrayed the American people, because the weakness they've displayed has led to Putin's incursions in the Middle East and in eastern Europe, and has led \u2014 has led to significant problems in the Middle East as well, and the death and murder of lots of folks. +p2423 +aVOn September 10th, 2001, I was named chief federal prosecutor in New Jersey and on September 11th, 2001, my wife and my brother who are in the audience tonight went through the World Trade Center and to their offices just blocks away from the Trade Center. I lost touch with them for six hours that day and prayed that they were alive. Luckily, they were sent home. But many of our friends and others in our neighborhood lost their lives that day. Terrorism \u2014 radical jihadist terrorism is not theoretical to me. It's real. And for seven years, I spent my life protecting our country against another one of those attacks. You won't have to worry when I'm President of the Untied States whether that can be done because I've already done it. I want the chance to do it again to protect you, your children and your families. If you give me the chance and give me your vote I will protect America from the wars that are being brought to our door step. +p2424 +aVI don't see a lot of weakness on this stage, quite frankly. Where I see the weakness is in those three people that are left on the Democratic stage. You know, I see a socialist, an isolationist and a pessimist. And for the sake of me, I can't figure out which one is which. But I will \u2014 but I will tell you this, the socialist says they're going to pay for everything and give you everything for free, except they don't say they're going to raise it through taxes to 90 percent to do it. The isolationist is the one who wants to continue to follow a foreign policy that has fewer democracies today than when Barack Obama came into office around the world. But I know who the pessimist is. It's Hillary Clinton. And you put me on that stage against her next September, she won't get within 10 miles of the White House. Take it to the bank. +p2425 +aVWell, I wish you would have asked that question years ago when they broke it. I mean, let me be honest with the people who are watching at home. The government has lied to you and they have stolen from you. They told you that your Social Security money is in a trust fund. All that's in that trust fund is a pile of IOUs for money they spent on something else a long time ago. And they've stolen from you because now they know they cannot pay these benefits and Social Security is going to be insolvent in seven to eight years. We're sitting up here talking about all these other things; 71 percent of federal spending today is on entitlements, and debt service. And, that's with zero percent interest rates. Now, I'm the only person that's put out a detailed plan on how to deal with entitlements. And we'll save a trillion dollars over the next 10 years. And, here's the difference between me and Hillary Clinton. What Hillary Clinton's going to say, and has said before is, she wants to raise Social Security taxes. Now, let me ask you a question everybody, and, this is for the guy, you know, who owns a landscaping business out there. If somebody's already stolen money from you, are you going to give them more? Or, are you going to deal with the problem by saying, I'm going to give people who've done well in this country less benefit on the backend. We need to get realistic about this. We're not \u2014 the American people \u2014 forget about anything else, they've already been lied to and stolen from. And... +p2426 +aV...I'm going to go to Washington to stop it... +p2427 +aV...The only way we're going to be morale, the only way we're going to keep our promise to seniors is start by following the first rule we should all follow, which is to look at them, treat them like adults, and tell them the truth. It isn't there anymore, Mike. They stole it. It got stolen from them. It's not theirs anymore. The government stole it, and spent it a long time ago... +p2428 +aVSo, let's stop fooling around about this, let's tell people the truth. For once, let's do that, and stop trying to give them some kind of fantasy that's never going to come true. +p2429 +aVYou bet they do. And if I were the prosecutor, that is exactly where they would be. The fact is that this Justice Department under this president has been a political Justice Department. It has been a Justice Department that decided that they want to pick who the winners and losers are. They like General Motors, so they give them a pass. They don't like somebody else like David Petraeus, they prosecute them and send a decorated general on to disgrace. It's a political Justice Department. And, Jim, you know full well that in the seven years I was U.S. attorney we went after pharmaceutical companies. We went after companies that were ripping off shareholders. We went after companies that were doing things that were against the law. And to expand on Mr. Carson's \u2014 or Dr. Carson's question, let's face it, we have laws already. We don't need newer (ph) laws. We don't need Hillary Clinton's price controls for \u2014 again, does anybody out there think that giving Washington, D.C., the opportunity to run the pharmaceutical industry is a good idea, given how well they have done running the government? So what we do, though, is, if there is somebody who is price- gouging, we have laws for prosecutors to take that on. Let's let a Justice Department \u2014 and I will make an attorney general who will enforce the law and make justice more than just a word. It will be a way of life. +p2430 +aVJohn, I'll tell you something. You want to talk about moral authority. Let's talk about something that happened this week in the news. You know, the FBI director, the president's appointed FBI director has said this week that because of a lack of support from politicians like the president of the United States, that police officers are afraid to get out of their cars; that they're afraid to enforce the law. And he says, the president's appointee, that crime is going up because of this. And when the president of the United States gets out to speak about it, does he support police officers? Does he stand up for law enforcement? No, he doesn't. I'll tell you this, the number one job of the president of the United States is to protect the safety and security of the American people. This president has failed, and when I'm in the Oval Office, police officers will know that they will have the support of the president of the Untied States. That's real moral authority that we need in the Oval Office. +p2431 +aVCarl, are we really talking about getting government involved in fantasy football? We have \u2014 wait a second, we have $19 trillion in debt. We have people out of work. We have +p2432 +aVWell, first off, what we don't do is do what Hillary Clinton and John Kerry and Barack Obama want us to do, which is their solution for everything, put more taxes on it, give more money to Washington, D.C., and then they will fix it. Well, there is no evidence that they can fix anything in Washington, D.C. +p2433 +aVWhat we should do is to be investing in all types of energy, John, all types of energy. I've laid out... +p2434 +aVNo, John. John, do you want me to answer or do you want to answer? How are we going to do this? Because, I've got to tell you the truth, even in New Jersey what you're doing is called rude. So... We've laid out a national energy plan that says that we should invest in all types of energy. I will tell you, you could win a bet at a bar tonight, since we're talking about fantasy football, if you ask who the top three states in America are that produce solar energy: California and Arizona are easy, but number three is New Jersey. Why? Because we work with the private sector to make solar energy affordable and available to businesses and individuals in our state. We need to make sure that we do everything across all kinds of energy: natural gas, oil, absolutely. But also where it's affordable, solar, wind in Iowa has become very affordable and it makes sense. That is the way we deal with global warming, climate change, or any of those problems, not through government intervention, not through government taxes, and for God's sake, don't send Washington another dime until they stop wasting the money they're already sending there. +p2435 +aVAnd \u2014 and \u2014 and I \u2014 you know, Ben is absolutely right in saying that what we don't need to do is to send more money to Washington, D.C. to fix this problem. And that's what you'll hear from Hillary Clinton \u2014 and I've already heard from her \u2014 is that, send more money in Social Security, send more money in Medicare taxes, send more money for Medicaid, and that's gonna solve the problem. What we know is we're living longer. That's a blessing. It's a blessing that we're living longer, so we have to increase the retirement age to reflect that blessing. We need to make sure that people understand, as Jeb said before, that if you've done extraordinarily well in this country, do you want them to take more out of your taxes now and think they're gonna give it back to you later? Or would you rather take less later on? +p2436 +aVI want to talk to the folks at home. I want to ask you: Are you fed up with how Washington taxes you? Are you fed up with how Washington wastes your money? Are you concerned like I am that the debt and deficits of Washington, D.C. are endangering America's future? I've got one more question for you then. Are you serious about this election? Because if you are, you need to elect someone who's deadly serious about changing this culture. I am deadly serious about changing this culture. I changed it in New Jersey. I'm deadly serious about doing this job the right way. I'm prepared. I'm tested. I'm ready. And I want to make this our government. For the people who say we can't do it, I say hell no, we can do it together. +p2437 +aVHi, my name is Chris Christie, and I'd like to you take the camera off me and put it on the audience because I'd like to ask all of you, how many of you, raise your hand, believe that in today's Barak Obama America your children will have a better life than you've had? You see? That's why I'm running for President. because leadership is not about me, it's about our country. And, what we talk about tonight, it's not about us, it's about the people in the audience tonight, because in seven short years this president has stripped away their trust, and their faith, and their belief that the next generation will have a better life. He's stolen that from us, and when I'm president, I'm going to take it back. +p2438 +aVWell, I know Ben wasn't talking about me, I'm sure he was talking about one of the other guys, not me. As far as being an outsider is concerned \u2014 as far as being an outsider is concerned, let me tell you this, Jake, I'm a Republican in New Jersey. I wake up every morning as an outsider. I wake up every morning with a Democratic legislature who trying to beat my head in and fight me because I'm trying to bring conservative change to a state that needed it desperately. And so, everyone can talk us here about their credentials. But the bottom line is, every morning I get up, I veto 400 bills from a crazy liberal Democratic legislature, not one of them has been overridden. I've vetoed more tax increases than any governor in American history, according to Americans for Tax Reform. What folks want in this country is somebody to go down there and get the job done. And that's exactly what I'll do. So, I know this much, that what the American people want to hire right now is somebody who believes in them. And believes that they are the ones who can fix our country. I will be the vessel through which they can fix this country, but it's not about me. It's about all of you. And getting this government off your back and out of your way, and letting you succeed. I know Ben wasn't talking about me. +p2439 +aVLook at him smiling at me right now. I know Ben didn't mean it about me. One of these other guys, I'm sure. +p2440 +aVBe honest, Ben, be honest. +p2441 +aVSee, Jake, it wasn't me. +p2442 +aVI was \u2014 +p2443 +aVShe is, and so if she, based on conscience, can't sign that \u2014 that marriage license, then there should be someone in her office to be able to do it, and if the law needs to be changed in the state of Kentucky, which is what she's advocating, it should be changed. +p2444 +aVAnd why don't we do the same thing with Planned Parenthood? +p2445 +aVWe elected a Republican Congress to do this. And they should be doing it, and they're not. And they're giving the president a pass. +p2446 +aVI put it in the list, Dana. We should be doing these things and forcing the president to take action. +p2447 +aVLet's force him to do what he says he's going to do. Now I don't know whether he'll do it or not, but let's force him to do it. +p2448 +aVFirst of, Jake, I don't yield to anybody on how to enforce the law. I'm the only person on this stage who spent seven years as a United States Attorney after September 11th, and I know how to do this. The fact is though that for 15,000 people a day to be deported every day for two years is an undertaking that almost none of us could accomplish given the current levels of funding, and the current number of law enforcement officers. Here's what we need to do, and I think this is where Donald is absolutely right. What we need to do is to secure our border, and we need to do it with more than just a wall. We need to use electronics, we need to use drones, we need to use FBI, DEA, and ATF, and yes, we need to take the fingerprint of every person who comes into this country on a visa, and when they overstay their visa, we need to tap them on the shoulder, and say, "You have overstayed your welcome, you're taking advantage of the American people. It's time for you to go." If we had that kind of system in place, we wouldn't have the 11 million people we have now. +p2449 +aVJake listen. While I'm as entertained as anyone by this personal back-and-forth about the history of Donald and Carly's career, for the 55-year-old construction worker out in that audience tonight who doesn't have a job, who can't fund his child's education, I've got to tell you the truth. They could care less about your careers, they care about theirs. Let's start talking about that on this stage and stop playing \u2014 and stop playing the games. Stop playing \u2014 +p2450 +aVJohn \u2014 I'm not done yet, John. +p2451 +aVStop \u2014 and stop playing \u2014 and Carly \u2014 Carly, listen. You can interrupt everybody else on this stage, you're not going to interrupt me, OK? The fact is that we don't want to hear about your careers, back and forth and volleying back and forth about who did well and who did poorly. You're both successful people. Congratulations. You know who's not successful? The middle class in this country who's getting plowed over by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Let's start talking about those issues tonight and stop this childish back-and-forth between the two of you. +p2452 +aVListen, you know, Hugh, it's an important point. And the question is, who is going to prosecute Hillary Clinton? The Obama White House seems to have in interest, the Justice Department seems to have no interest. I think it's time to put a former federal prosecutor on the same stage as Hillary Clinton. And I will prosecute her during those debates on that stage for the record we're talking about here. The fact she had a private email server in her basement, using national security secrets running through it, could have been hacked by the Russians, the Chinese, or two 18-year-olds on a toot (ph) wanting to have some fun. No one is answering that question from the Hillary Clinton campaign... +p2453 +aVYou know why? Because she knows she's wrong, and she cannot look in the mirror at herself, and she cannot tell the American people the truth. +p2454 +aVWell, Jake, I was named U.S. attorney by President Bush on September 10th, 2001. And that next day my wife Mary Pat did what she did every day, she traveled through the World Trade Center and went to her office two blocks from the World Trade Center. And after those planes hit, for five-and-a-half-hours after that, I couldn't reach her, didn't know whether she was dead or alive, and we had three children at the time, 8, 5 and 1. And I had to confront what so many thousands of others in my region had to confront, the idea I might become a single parent, the idea that my life and my children's life might be changed forever. We lost friends that day. We went to the funerals. And I will tell you that what those people wanted and what they deserved was for America to answer back against what had been done to them. And I support what President Bush did at that time, going into Afghanistan, hunting al Qaeda and its leaders, getting its sanctuary out of place, and making it as difficult around the world for them to move people and money. And then he went to prosecutors like us, and he said, never again. Don't prosecute these people after the crime is committed. Intervene before the crime happens. I absolutely believe that what the president did at the time was right. And I am proud to have been one of the people on the stage who was part of making sure that what Governor Bush said before was the truth. America was safe for those seven years and Barack Obama has taken that safety away from us. +p2455 +aVLet me say this, Jake, is that while that may have been a fine idea that Dr. Carson had, these people were out to kill us. I stood in that region with my family, and every time a plane went overhead in the weeks after that, people's heads jerked to the sky because they thought it was happening again. You do not need to go through subtle diplomacy at that point. That could be handled later on. What you need is a strong American leader who will take the steps that are necessary to protect our nation. That's what I would do as commander-in-chief in this circumstance. And that's what President George W. Bush did in 2001. +p2456 +aVJake, you brought my issue up. +p2457 +aVYou know, I enjoy the interplay. Thank you, gentlemen. I'll just say this, first off, New Jersey is the first state in the nation that now says if you are non-violent, non-dealing drug user, that you don't go to jail for your first offense. You go to mandatory treatment. You see, Jake, I'm pro-life. And I think you need to be pro-life for more than just the time in the womb. It gets tougher when they get out of the womb. And when they're the 16-year-old drug addict in the Florida county lockup, that life is just as precious as the life in the womb. And so, that's why I'm for rehabilitation, why I think the war on drugs has been a failure. But I'll end with this. That doesn't mean we should be legalizing gate way drugs. And if Senator Paul thinks that the only victim is the person, look at the decrease in productivity, look at the way people get used and move on to other drugs when they use marijuana as a gateway drug, it is not them that are the only victims. Their families are the victims too, their children are the victims too, and their employers are the victims also. That's why I'll enforce the federal law, while you can still put an emphasis on rehabilitation, which we've done in New Jersey. +p2458 +aVAnd Senator Paul knows that that's simply not the truth. In New Jersey, we have medical marijuana laws, which I supported and implemented. This is not medical marijuana. There's goes as much \u2014 a further step beyond. This is recreational use of marijuana. This is much different. And so, while he would like to use a sympathetic story to back up his point, it doesn't work. I'm not against medical marijuana. We do it in New Jersey. But I'm against the recreational use against marijuana. If he wants to change the federal law, get Congress to pass the law to change it, and get a president to sign it. +p2459 +aVNo, it's not. But with Donald, it's a good start. That's really good. No, listen. This is an issue that \u2014 that we've gotta talk about, and we haven't talked about yet. 71 percent of all federal spending is on entitlements and debt service. When John Kennedy was elected president in 1960, it was 26 percent. Harvard and Dartmouth says that Social Security's going to go insolvent in seven to eight years. So what I say is very simple. We need to save this program for the good people out there who have paid into the system and need it. And if that means making sure that folks like Donald and many of us on the stage don't get it, that's the right thing to do because here's what Hillary Clinton is going to want to do. She's going to want to put more money into a system that has already lied to us and stolen from us. This government doesn't need more money to make Social Security solvent. We need to be not paying out benefits to people who don't really need it. We need to protect the people who Social Security means the difference between picking between heat and rent and food. That's why I put out the proposal and that's the people I'm trying to... +p2460 +aVI don't think Senator Rubio is a skeptic of climate change. I think what Senator Rubio said I agree with. That in fact we don't need this massive government intervention to deal with the problem. Look at what we have done in New Jersey. We have already reached our clean air goals for 2020. And when I was governor, I pulled out of the regional cap and trade deal, the only state in the Northeast that did that. And we still reached our goals. Why? Because 53 percent of our electricity comes from nuclear. We use natural gas. We use solar power. We're the third-highest- using solar power state. You know why? Because we made all of those things economically feasible. I agree with Marco. We shouldn't be destroying our economy in order to chase some wild left-wing idea that somehow us by ourselves is going to fix the climate. We can contribute to that and be economically sound. We have proven we can do that in New Jersey. Nuclear needs to be back on the table in a significant way in this country if we want to go after this problem. +p2461 +aVI understand. No, no, listen, everybody makes a mistake every once in a while, Jake, even George Shultz. And if that's truly a representation of what he believes we should be doing, then with all due respect to the former secretary of state, I disagree with him. +p2462 +aVI think the Adams family has been shorted in the currency business. Our country wouldn't be here without John Adams, and he would not have been able to do it without Abigal Adams, so, I'd put Abigail Adams on the bill. +p2463 +aVYou know, I've been called a lot of names by a lot of different people, and now I got to get called by names by the Secret Service? I would just say True Heart. +p2464 +aVI turned 18 in 1980, and my first vote was for Ronald Reagan. Boy, am I glad I did it. And I think the country is, too. A Christie presidency won't be about me. It will be about you. Tonight, you sit at home in your living room, frustrated that you play by the rules, you pay the taxes, you do the hard things to raise your family, yet you feel like America's generosity is being taken advantage of. That you've been \u2014 system is being gamed, and that you're turning out to fall further and further behind. Our presidency \u2014 our presidency \u2014 will be about ending that, about enforcing the law, level the playing field for everybody, and once again reward those folks who play by the rules, and think that justice means more than just the word. But it means a way of life. And I will tell you this, around the world, I will not shake hands with, I will not meet with, and I will not agree to anything with a country that says death to us and death to Israel and holds our hostages while we sign agreements with them. It will be an America that be strong and resolute, and will once again be able to stick out its chest and say, "we truly are the greatest nation in the world, because we live our lives that way, each and every day." +p2465 +aVIf you think it's bad now, you should've seen it when I got there. The fact is -- the fact is, in the eight years before I became governor, taxes and fees were raised at the state level 115 times. In the eight years before I became governor, spending was increased 56 percent. And in the eight years before I become governor, taxes and fees were raised at the state level 115 times. In the eight years before I became Governor, spending was increased 56 percent, and in the eight years before I became governor, there was zero net private sector job growth in New Jersey. Zero. For eight years. So, what did we do? We came in, we balanced an $11 billion deficit on a $29 billion budget by cutting over 800 programs in the state budget. We brought the budget into balance with no tax increases. In fact, we vetoed five income tax increases during my time as governor. We cut business taxes $2.3 billion, and we cut regulation by one-third of what my predecessor put in place. And, what's happened since? A hundred ninety-two thousand private sector jobs in the five and a half years I've been governor. We have a lot of work to do in New Jersey, but I am darn proud we've brought our state back. +p2466 +aVYes, I do. And I'll tell you why: because I'm the only person on this stage who's actually filed applications under the Patriot Act, who has gone before the federal -- the Foreign Intelligence Service court, who has prosecuted and investigated and jailed terrorists in this country after September 11th. I was appointed U.S. attorney by President Bush on September 10th, 2001, and the world changed enormously the next day, and that happened in my state. This is not theoretical to me. I went to the funerals. We lost friends of ours in the Trade Center that day. My own wife was two blocks from the Trade Center that day, at her office, having gone through it that morning. When you actually have to be responsible for doing this, you can do it, and we did it, for seven years in my office, respecting civil liberties and protecting the homeland. And I will make no apologies, ever, for protecting the lives and the safety of the American people. We have to give more tools to our folks to be able to do that, not fewer, and then trust those people and oversee them to do it the right way. As president, that is exactly what I'll do. +p2467 +aVAnd -- and, Megyn? Megyn, that's a -- that, you know, that's a completely ridiculous answer. "I want to collect more records from terrorists, but less records from other people." How are you supposed to know, Megyn? +p2468 +aVWhat are you supposed to... +p2469 +aV...how are you supposed to -- no, I'll tell you how you, look... +p2470 +aVLet me tell you something, you go... +p2471 +aVWhen you -- you know, senator... +p2472 +aVListen, senator, you know, when you're sitting in a subcommittee, just blowing hot air about this, you can say things like that. When you're responsible for protecting the lives of the American people, then what you need to do is to make sure... +p2473 +aV...is to make sure that you use the system the way it's supposed to work. +p2474 +aVThere is no... +p2475 +aVAnd you know -- you know, Senator Paul? Senator Paul, you know, the hugs that I remember are the hugs that I gave to the families who lost their people on September 11th. Those are the hugs I remember, and those had nothing to do -- and those had nothing to do with politics, unlike what you're doing by cutting speeches on the floor of the Senate, then putting them on the Internet within half an hour to raise money for your campaign... +p2476 +aV...and while still putting our country at risk. +p2477 +aVYou know what, Megyn, can I... +p2478 +aVNo, he's not lying, he's just wrong. I mean, so, there's a difference -- I'm the only guy on this stage who's put out a detailed, 12 point plan on entitlement reform and here's why -- because 71% of federal spending right now is on entitlements, and debt service, 71%. And we have spent the last hour and five minutes talking about the other 29%, and no time on the 71%, and that makes no sense. Now, let me tell you exactly what we would do on Social Security. Yes, we'd raise the retirement age two years, and phase it in over 25 years, that means we'd raise it one month a year for 25 years when we're all living longer, and living better lives. Secondly, we would means test Social Security for those who are making over $200,000 dollars a year in retirement income, and have $4 to $5 million dollars in liquid assets saved. They don't need that Social Security check. Social Security is meant to be -- to make sure that no one who's worked hard, and played by the rules, and paid into the system grows old in poverty in America. If we don't deal with this problem, it will bankrupt our country, or lead to massive tax increases, neither one that we want in this country. +p2479 +aVChris... +p2480 +aVYeah, sure. And, I don't disagree with ending Congress' retirement program. I'm a governor, I don't have a retirement program in my state, and I don't disagree with that. But, here's the news to the American people, he's complaining about the lying and stealing. The lying and stealing has already occurred. The trust fund is filled with IOU's. We can't fix the problem just by ending Congress's retirement, that's worth about, "this" much. We need to go at the fundamental problem, and the fundamental problem is that this system is broken. It has been stolen from. We have been lied to, and we need a strong leader to tell the truth and fix... +p2481 +aVWell, listen. You know, if we want to deal with these issues, we have to deal with them in a way that makes sense. I agree with what Dr. Carson said earlier. The first thing we need to do to make America stronger is to strengthen our military, and I put out a really specific plan: no less than 500,000 active duty soldiers in the Army. No less than 185,000 active duty marines in the Marine Corps. Bring us to a 350 ship Navy again, and modernize the Ohio class of submarines, and bring our Air Force back to 2,600 aircraft that are ready to go. Those are the kind of things that are going to send a clear message around the world. Those are the things that we need to start working on immediately to make our country stronger and make it better. Those are the things that we need to be able to be doing. And as we move towards dealing with foreign aid, I don't disagree with Senator Paul's position that we shouldn't be funding our enemies. But I absolutely believe that Israel is a priority to be able to fund and keep them strong and safe after eight years of this administration. +p2482 +aVWell, thank you, Megyn. Listen, I was born into a middle class family in New Jersey. My dad came home from serving in the Army after having lost his father, worked in the Breyers ice cream plant in Newark, New Jersey. Was the first person to graduate from college. He put himself through college at night. My mom was a secretary. I was appointed United States attorney on September 10, 2001. And I spent the next seven years of my career fighting terrorism and putting terrorists in jail. I'm a conservative, pro-life governor in a state where it is really tough to be both. A state like New Jersey, with lots of Democrats, but still we cut taxes, we balanced budgets. We fought the teacher's union. This president has had weak leadership, which has led to bad choices. We have got to stop worrying about being loved and start worrying about being respected. And that's exactly how I'll lead our country. +p2483 +asVCARSON +p2484 +(lp2485 +VThank you, Wolf. Please join me for a moment of silence and remembrance of the San Bernardino victims. Thank you. You know, our country since its inception has been at war, every 15 or 20 years. But the war that we are fighting now against radical Islamist jihadists is one that we must win. Our very existence is dependent upon that. You know, as a pediatric neurosurgeon, I frequently faced life and death situations, and had to come up with the right diagnosis, the right plan, and execute that plan frequently with other colleagues. Right now, the United States of America is the patient. And the patient is in critical condition and will not be cured by political correctness and will not be cured by timidity. And I am asking the Congress, which represents the people, to declare a war on +p2486 +aVFirst of all, let me just complain a little bit. This is the first time I've spoken and several people have had multiple questions so please try to pay attention to that. Now, as far as monitoring is concerned, what my point is, we need to make sure that any place \u2013 I don't care whether it's a mosque, a school, a supermarket, a theater, you know it doesn't matter. If there are a lot of people getting there and engaging in radicalizing activities then we need to be suspicious of it. We have to get rid of all this PC stuff. And people are worried about if somebody's going to say that I'm Islamophobic or what have you. This is craziness because we are at war. That's why I asked congress, go ahead and declare the war . We need to be on a war footing. We need to understand that our nation is in grave danger. You know, what the Muslim Brotherhood said in the explanatory memorandum that was discovered during the Holy Land Foundation Trial was that, "they will take advantage of our PC attitude to get us. :" We have to be better than this. We have to be smarter than they are. +p2487 +aVI think you have to ask them about that. I don't want to get in between them. Let them fight. +p2488 +aVNeurosurgeon. +p2489 +aVWell, interestingly enough, you should see the eyes of some of those children when I say to them we're going to have to open your head up and take out this tumor. They're not happy about it, believe me. And they don't like me very much at that point. But later on, they love me. Sometimes you \u2014 I sound like him. You know, later on, you know, they really realize what's going on. And by the same token, you have to be able to look at the big picture and understand that it's actually merciful if you go ahead and finish the job, rather than death by 1,000 pricks. +p2490 +aVYou got it. You got it. +p2491 +aVRuthless is not necessarily the word I would use, but tough, resolute, understanding what the problems are, and understanding that the job of the president of the United States is to protect the people of this country and to do what is necessary in order to get it done. +p2492 +aVFirst of all, I've been talking about this for over a year. We have to destroy their caliphate because that gives them legitimacy to go ahead with the global Jihad. We have to take their energy because they are \u2014 +p2493 +aVNo one is ever better off with dictators but there comes a time you know, when you're on an airplane, they always say, "in case of an emergency oxygen masks will drop down. Put yours on first and then administer help to your neighbor." We need oxygen right now. And we need to start thinking about the needs of the American people before we go and solve everybody else's problems. The fact of the matter is, is that the Middle East has been in turmoil for thousands of years. For us to think that we're going to in there and fix that with a couple of little bombs and a few little decorations is relatively foolish. +p2494 +aVWell, you know, there's a false narrative that only the political class has the wisdom and the ability to be commander-in- chief. But if you go back and you study the design of our country, it was really designed for the citizen statesman. And we need to be talking about where does your experience come from? You know, and I've had a lot of experience building things, organizing things, you know, a national scholarship program. One of the things that you'll notice if you look through my life is that I don't do a lot of talking. I do a lot of doing. And really, it says more about a person than how much they talk. And then some people say you're weak because, you know, you're not loud and you're not boisterous and you're not rude. But the fact of the matter is, look and see what I've done. And that speaks volumes about strength. +p2495 +aVWell, it was very interesting having an opportunity to talk to the Syrians themselves. And I asked them: What do you want? What is your supreme desire? Their supreme desire was to be settled back in their own country. I said, "What can Americans and other countries do?" They said, "Support the efforts of those who are trying to provide safety for us, including the Jordanians." Of course, they had a brand new hospital, for instance, that was unstaffed because there wasn't enough money to do it. But here's what's really neat. If you go into Hasakah province in northeast Syria, that's an area that's as big as Lebanon. It's controlled by the Kurds, the Christians and the moderate Sunnis. And there are airstrips and hotels. You could settle a lot of people there. All we would have to do is be willing to provide them with some weaponry, some defensive weaponry. And we seem to be afraid to give the Kurds weaponry. We like to send it for some strange reason through Baghdad, and then they only get a tenth of it. And if we would support them, we'd have a perfect ideal there. We don't need to set this up as we either take a bunch of refugees who will be infiltrated with terrorists, I guarantee you. For them not to be would be terrorist malpractice. And we need to \u2014 to choose the right choice, not these false choices. +p2496 +aVWell, I definitely believe that he is unstable, and I do, in fact, believe that China has a lot more influence with him than we do. But we also recognize that North Korea is in severe financial straits, and they have decided to use their resources to build their military, rather than to feed their people and to take care of the various humanitarian responsibilities that they have. We can capitalize upon that. You know, we should use our economic power in lots of different ways. I think we can use that in order to keep Putin contained, because he is a one-horse show. Energy. And we have an abundance of energy, but we have archaic energy exportation rules. We need to get rid of those, allow ourselves to really make Europe dependent on us and other parts of the world dependent on us for energy. Put him back in his little box where he belongs. And, you know, we need to be doing lots of other things with the resources that we have. So economic power works just as well as military power, perhaps even better. And speaking of that, our Military needs to be upgraded. You know, you look at things like our Ohio Class submarines, they're 25 years old. Our minuteman 3 missiles \u2014 they are 34 years old. Our B-52 bombers \u2014 50 years old. You know, if we don't get the military right nothing else matters. +p2497 +aVWell, you know, the statement that I made last week, that I would leave the party was contingent upon whether in fact the party acts like they have in the past with a lot of subterfuge and dishonesty, or like they're going act now because I spike to Reince Priebus, and he assured me that the Washington Post writer had it all wrong, and that they're not be engaging in anything to thwart the will of the people. That's why I got into this race, as a member of we the people, to try bring some honesty and integrity back to the process. +p2498 +aVI've been fortunate enough to travel to 58 different countries and I thank God everyday that I was born in this country. The most exceptional country that the world has ever known. And I want to make sure that we preserve that exceptionalism for the next generation. My mother told me if I work hard and I really believed in American principles and I believed in God, anything is possible. I believe that is true, and that's why I'm not anxious to give away American values and principles for the sake of political correctness. +p2499 +aVWell, first of all, delighted to be here. My family's here, and my little granddaughter, who's three years old, said she wanted to come to the debate. So this is very cool. As far as the minimum wage is concerned, people need to be educated on the minimum wage. Every time we raise the minimum wage, the number of jobless people increases. It's particularly a problem in the black community. Only 19.8 percent of black teenagers have a job, who are looking for one. You know, that \u2014 and that's because of those high wages. If you lower those wages, that comes down. You know, I can remember, as a youngster \u2014 you know, my first job working in a laboratory as a lab assistant, and multiple other jobs. But I would not have gotten those jobs if someone had to pay me a large amount of money. But what I did gain from those jobs is a tremendous amount of experience, and how to operate in the world and how to relate to different people, and how to become a responsible individual. And that's what gave me what I needed to ascend the ladder of opportunity in this country. That's what we need to be thinking about. How do we allow people to ascend the ladder of opportunity, rather than how do we give them everything and keep them dependent? +p2500 +aVI would not raise it. I would not raise it, specifically because I'm interested in making sure that people are able to enter the job market and take advantage of opportunities. +p2501 +aVWell, first of all, thank you not asking me what I said in the 10th grade. I appreciate that. +p2502 +aVThe fact of the matter is, you know, what \u2014 we should vet all candidates. I have no problem with being vetted. What I do have a problem with is being lied about and then putting that out there as truth. And I don't even mind that so much, if they do it about \u2014 with everybody, like people on the other side. But, you know, when I look at somebody like Hillary Clinton, who sits there and tells her daughter and a government official that no, this was a terrorist attack, and then tells everybody else that it was a video. Where I came from, they call that a lie. And... I think that's very different from, you know, somebody misinterpreting, when I said that I was offered a scholarship to West Point, that is the words that they used. But, I've had many people come and say the same thing to me. That is what people do in those situations. We have to start treating people the same, and finding out what people really think and what they're made of. People who know me know that I'm an honest person. +p2503 +aVWell, you know, when I say tithing, I'm talking about the concept of proportionality. +p2504 +aVEverybody should pay the same proportion of what they make. You make $10 billion, you pay a billion. You make $10, you pay one. You get same rights and privileges. I don't see how anything gets a whole lot fairer than that. But you also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes because that is the thing that tilts it in one direction or another. And you have to set the rate at an appropriate level. Now I will say that, there are a lot of people who say, if you get rid of the deductions, you ruin the American dream because, you know, home mortgage deduction. But the fact of the matter is, people had homes before 1913 when we introduced the federal income tax, and later after that started deductions. And they say there will be no more charitable giving. We had churches before that and charitable organizations before that. The fact of the matter is, I believe if you put more money in people's pockets that they will actually be more generous rather than less generous. And it's... ... the money that they earned. And, the other thing is, I do care about the poor people. And in the system that we're putting together, there will be a rebate for people at the poverty level. But I also want to emphasize the fact that as we get the economy moving, and I hope I get a question about how do we get the economy moving, there will be a lot more opportunities for poor people not to be poor people because this is America. This is the land of dreams. And our policies should be aimed at allowing people to realize that dream. +p2505 +aVWell, putting the special ops people in there is better than not having them there, because they \u2014 that's why they're called special ops, they're actually able to guide some of the other things that we're doing there. And what we have to recognize is that Putin is trying to really spread his influence throughout the Middle East. This is going to be his base. And we have to oppose him there in an effective way. We also must recognize that it's a very complex place. You know, the Chinese are there, as well as the Russians, and you have all kinds of factions there. What we've been doing so far is very ineffective, but we can't give up ground right there. But we have to look at this on a much more global scale. We're talking about global jihadists. And their desire is to destroy us and to destroy our way of life. So we have to be saying, how do we make them look like losers? Because that's the way that they're able to gather a lot of influence. And I think in order to make them look like losers, we have to destroy their caliphate. And you look for the easiest place to do that? It would be in Iraq. And if \u2014 outside of Anbar in Iraq, there's a big energy field. Take that from them. Take all of that land from them. We could do that, I believe, fairly easily, I've learned from talking to several generals, and then you move on from there. But you have to continue to face them, because our goal is not to contain them, but to destroy them before they destroy us. +p2506 +aVWell, I think we should have policies that don't allow them to just enlarge themselves at the expense of smaller entities. And certainly some of the policies, some of the monetary and Fed policies that we're using makes it very easy for them, makes it very easy for the big corporations, quite frankly, at these very low interest rates to buy back their stock and to drive the price of that up artificially. Those are the kinds of things that led to the problem in the first place. And I think this all really gets back to this whole regulation issue which is creating a very abnormal situation. This country was \u2014 declared its independence in 1776. In less than 100 years, it was the number-one economic power in the world. And the reason was because we had an atmosphere that encouraged entrepreneurial risk- taking and capital investment. Those are the fuels that drive it. And what we've done now is let the creep of regulation turn into a stampede of regulations, which is involved in every aspect of our lives. If we can get that out, it makes a big difference. And even for the average person, every single regulation costs money. And it's shifted to the individual. So \u2014 and it hurts the poor and the middle class much more than it does the rich. They go into the store and they buy a bar of soap, it costs 10 cents more, they notice it. And the middle class, when they come to the cash register, have a whole cart full of things that cost 5, 10 or 15 cents more, they notice it. It is hurting the poor. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton won't tell you that that's the thing that's really hurting middle class in the core. They'll say it's the rich, take their money, but that won't help. You can take all of the rich's money and it won't make a dent in the problem that we're having. We have to come back to the fundamental principles that made America great. +p2507 +aVI would have policies that wouldn't allow that to occur. I don't want to go in and tear anybody down. I mean, that doesn't help us. But what does help us is stop tinkering around the edges and fix the actual problems that exist that are creating the problem in the first place. +p2508 +aVIn the two hours of this \u2014 of this debate, five people have died from drug-related deaths, $100 million has been added to our national debt, 200 babies have been killed by abortionists, and two veterans have taken their lives out of despair. This is a narrative that we can change, not we the Democrats, not we the Republicans, but we the people of America, because there is something special about this nation, and we must embrace it and be proud of it and never give it away for the sake of political correctness. +p2509 +aVProbably in terms of the applying for the job of president, a weakness would be not really seeing myself in that position until hundreds of thousands of people began to tell me that I needed to do it. I do, however, believe in Reagan's 11th commandment, and will not be engaging in awful things about my compatriots here. And recognizing that it's so important, this election, because we're talking about America for the people versus America for the government. +p2510 +aVWell, first of all, I didn't say that the rate would be 10 percent. I used the tithing analogy. +p2511 +aVThe rate \u2014 the rate \u2014 the rate is gonna be much closer to 15 percent. +p2512 +aVYou also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes. You also have to some strategically cutting in several places. Remember, we have 645 federal agencies and sub-agencies. Anybody who tells me that we need every penny and every one of those is in a fantasy world. So, also, we can stimulate the economy. That's gonna be the real growth engine. Stimulating the economy \u2014 because it's tethered down right now with so many regulations... +p2513 +aVThat's not true. +p2514 +aVWhen \u2014 when we put all the facts down, you'll be able to see that it's not true, it works out very well. +p2515 +aVSince I was attacked too. +p2516 +aVLet me just say, if you're talking about an $18 trillion economy, you're talking about a 15 percent tax on your gross domestic product. You're talking about $2.7 trillion. We have a budget closer to $3.5 trillion. But if you also apply that same 15 percent to several other things, including corporate taxes, and including the capital gains taxes, you make that amount up pretty quickly. So that is not by any stretch a pie in the sky. +p2517 +aVWell, there is no question that some people go overboard when it comes to trying to make profits, and they don't take into consideration the American people. What we have to start thinking about, as leaders, particularly in government, is what can we do for the average American? And you think about the reasons that we're having such difficulty right now with our job market. Well, the average small manufacturer, whatever they're manufacturing, drugs or anything, if they have less than 50 employees, the average cost in terms of regulations is $34,000 per employee. Makes it a whole lot easier for them to want to go somewhere else. So what we're going to have to start doing instead of, you know, picking on this group or this group, is we're going to have to have a major reduction in the regulatory influence that is going on. The government is not supposed to be in every part of our lives, and that is what is causing the problem. +p2518 +aVWell, obviously, you don't understand my views on homosexuality. I believe that our Constitution protects everybody, regardless of their sexual orientation or any other aspect. I also believe that marriage is between one man and one woman. And there is no reason that you can't be perfectly fair to the gay community. They shouldn't automatically assume that because you believe that marriage is between one man and one woman that you are a homophobe. And this is one of the myths that the left perpetrates on our society, and this is how they frighten people and get people to shut up. You know, that's what the PC culture is all about, and it's destroying this nation. The fact of the matter is we the American people are not each other's enemies, it's those people who are trying to divide us who are the enemies. And we need to make that very clear to everybody. +p2519 +aVWell, that's easy to answer. I didn't have an involvement with them. That is total propaganda, and this is what happens in our society. Total propaganda. I did a couple of speeches for them, I do speeches for other people. They were paid speeches. It is absolutely absurd to say that I had any kind of a relationship with them. Do I take the product? Yes. I think it's a good product. +p2520 +aVIf somebody put me on their homepage, they did it without my permission. +p2521 +aVNo, it speaks to the fact that I don't know those \u2014 See? They know. +p2522 +aVWell, first of all, I was wrong about taking the oil subsidy. I have studied that issue in great detail. And what I have concluded is that the best policy is to get rid of all government subsidies, and get the government out of our lives, and let people rise and fall based on how good they are. And \u2014 you know, all of this too big to fail stuff and picking and choosing winners and losers \u2014 this is a bunch of crap, and it is really causing a great deal of \u2014 great deal of problems for our society right now. And \u2014 and \u2014 you know, it goes back to the whole concept of regulations, which are in everything. The reason that I \u2014 I hate them so much is because every single regulation costs in terms of goods and services. That cost gets passed on to the people. Now, who are the people who are hurt by that? It's poor people and middle class. Doesn't hurt rich people if their bar of soap goes up ten cents, but it hurts the poor and the middle class. And Bernie Sanders will tell them that it's because of the rich. Well, I'll tell you something: you can take everything from the top 1 percent, and you apply it to our fiscal gap, and you won't even make a dent in it. +p2523 +aVAbout Medicare? +p2524 +aVWell, first of all the \u2014 the plan gives people the option of \u2014 of opting out. But I think they will see a very good option here. You know, the annual Medicare budget is over $600 billion. And there are 48 million people involved \u2014 40 million, 65 and over, and 8 million other. Divide that out. That comes out to $12,500 for each one. Now, I can tell you there are a lot of private-sector things that you could do with $12,500, which will get you a lot more than you get from this government program. And that's really a theme of a lot of the things that I'm talking about. How do we utilize our intellect rather than allowing the government to use its, quote, "intellect," in order to help us to be able to live healthier and better lives? It was never intended that the government should be in every aspect of our lives. This is a country that is of, for and by the people. +p2525 +aVI just want to thank all my colleagues here for being civil, and not falling for the traps. And, I also just want to thank the audience for being attentive, and noticing the questions, and the noticing the answers. And, this is what I am finding throughout America. People are waking up because it is going to be us who will determine the direction of our country. And, it was made for we the people, we are the ones who decide who we are, and we should never give away the values and principles that made America into a great nation for the sake of political correctness. +p2526 +aVHi, I'm Ben Carson, and I'm a retired pediatric neurosurgeon. I'm here with my wife, Candy, of 40 years, and two of my sons, and their wives. I stress the pediatric part of my career because the reason that I've gotten involved in this race is because I'm very concerned about the future of our children, and the direction of our country is one that does not portend well, unless we, the people, intervene and retake our rightful place at the pinnacle. +p2527 +aVTypically, politicians do things that are politically expedient. And they are looking for whatever their particular goal is. That is not the reason that I have gotten into this thing. I'm extraordinary concerned about the direction of this country, the divisiveness that is going on, fiscal irresponsibility, the failure to take a leadership position in the world. All of those things will lead to a situation where the next generation will not have a chance that we've had now. So I don't \u2014 I don't want to really get into describing who's a politician and who's not a politician, but I think the people have kind of made that decision for themselves already, and will continue to do so as time goes on. +p2528 +aVJake, can I say something about that? +p2529 +aVYou know, when I entered this race, all the political pundits said it's impossible; you can't do it because you're not connected with the money. And there's no way that you can raise what you need in order to compete successfully. I in no way am willing to get in the bed with special interest group or lick the boots of billionaires. I have said to the people if they want me to do this, please get involved. And we now have over 500,000 donations, and the money is coming in. But the pundits forgot about one thing, and that is the people. And they are really in charge. +p2530 +aVWell, first of all, I recognize that we have an incredible illegal immigration problem. I was down in Arizona a few weeks ago at the border. I mean, the fences that were there were not manned, and those are the kind of fences when I was a kid that would barely slow us down. So, I don't see any purpose in having that. Now, what we need to do is look at something that actually works. Yuma County, Arizona. They stop 97 percent of the illegal immigrants through there. They put in a double fence with a road so that there was quick access by the enforcement people. If we don't seal the border, the rest of this stuff clearly doesn't matter. It's kind of ridiculous all the other things we talk about. We have the ability to do it, we don't have the will to do it. There was one area where they had cut a hole in the fence, and to repair it, they put a few strands of barb wire across. Well, the photographers who were there with us, they wanted to photograph us from the side of the Mexicans, and they went through there, and they were not physically fit people, and they took their cameras and things with them, and shot us from the other side. That's how easy it is to get across. And, the drugs, I mean, it goes on, and on, and on. ICE tells them to release these people, 67,000 criminals released... +p2531 +aV...on to our property, it's ridiculous. +p2532 +aVWell, I have also said, if anybody knows how to do that, that I would be willing to listen. And, if they can, you know, specify exactly how that's going to be done, and what the cost, and it sounds reasonable, then I think it's worth discussing... +p2533 +aVNot exactly what I said. +p2534 +aVWell, what I said, after we seal the borders, after we turn off the spigot that dispenses all the goodies so we don't have people coming in here, including employment, that people who had a pristine record, we should consider allowing them to become guest workers, primarily in the agricultural sphere, because that's the place where Americans don't seem to want to work. That's what I said. And they have a six-month period to do that. If they don't do it within that time period, then they become illegal, and as illegals, they will be treated as such. +p2535 +aVCan I \u2014 can I \u2014 can I just... +p2536 +aVCan I correct... +p2537 +aVOK. +p2538 +aVMy plan is not amnesty for a number of reasons. Number one, you know, I've talked to farmers, and they said they cannot hire Americans to do the kind of job that I'm talking about. And the second reason is because the individuals who register as guest workers, they don't get to vote, they are not American citizens, and they don't get the rights and privileges of American citizens. So that's key. But the other thing that I want to bring up is, I mentioned something earlier. I think it was just sort of glossed over. I talked about the success in Yuma County, I mean, incredible success, and the Department of Justice said, "No, we don't want to do that. That's too successful." We don't have to keep reinventing the wheel. All we have to do is look at things that work. All we have to do is use a little common sense. +p2539 +aVIt's all about America. You know, the people who say the guy who paid a billion dollars because he had 10, he has still got $9 billion left, that's not fair, we need to take more of his money. That's called socialism. That doesn't work so well. What made America into a great nation was the fact that we said, that guy just put in $1 billion, let's create an environment that's even more conducive to his success so that next year he can put in $2 billion. And that's the kind of thing that helps us to grow. We can't grow by continuing to take a piece of pie, and dividing it, and redistributing it. But, I'm also looking at what doctor \u2014 at what Governor Huckabee talked about... +p2540 +aVThe Fair Tax. Looking at both of them, and evaluating them both, and I'm talking to the American people because one of the things we must recognize is that this country is of, for, and by the people. And, it's really time that the government get out of the way, and let the people be the ones who decide how they want to run their country. +p2541 +aVWell, first of all, let me say what I actually said about raising the minimum wage. I was asked should it be raised, I said, probably, or possibly. But, what I added, which I think is the most important thing, so, I said we need to get both sides of this issue to sit down, and talk about it. Negotiate a reasonable minimum wage, and index that so that we never have to have this conversation again in the history of America. I think we also have to have two minimum wages, a starter, and a sustaining because how are young people ever going to get a job if you have such a high minimum wage that it makes it impractical to hire them... +p2542 +aVJake, Jake... +p2543 +aVI haven't had an opportunity to weigh in on foreign policy, and I just want to mention that when the war, when the issue occurred in 2003, I suggested to President Bush that he not go to war? OK. So I just want that on the record. And, you know, a lot of people are very much against us getting involved right now with global jihadism. And they refer back to our invasion of Iraq. And they seem to think that that was what caused it. What caused it was withdrawing from there and creating a vacuum which allowed this terrible situation to occur. But it is very different from what is going on today. We're talking about global jihadists who actually want to destroy us. They are an existential threat to our nation. And we have to be mature enough to recognize that our children will have no future if we put our heads in the sand. We have to recognize we have two choices. We either allow them the continue to progress and appear to be the winners, or we use every resource available to us to destroy... +p2544 +aV... them first. +p2545 +aVWell, recognize that, you know, President George W. Bush is a great friend of ours, and we spent many wonderful days at the White House. I haven't been there in the last seven years. I probably have to have a food-tester. But at any rate, I didn't suggest that nothing be done. What I suggested to President Bush is to be Kennedy-esque, in the sense that when the Russians got ahead of us in the space race, what we did is use the bully pulpit to galvanize everybody, business, industry, academia behind a national goal to put a man on the moon and bring him back safely. I said, you can do the same kind of thing. Declare that within five to 10 years we will become petroleum independent. The moderate Arab states would have been so concerned about that, they would have turned over Osama bin Laden and anybody else you wanted on a silver platter within two weeks. There are smart ways to do things and there are muscular ways to do things. And sometimes you have to look at both of those to come up with the right solution. +p2546 +aVI have no argument with having a strong leader, and to be aggressive where aggression is needed. But it is not needed in every circumstance. There is a time when you can use your intellect to come up with other ways to do things. And I think that's what we have to start thinking about. There is no question that a lot of these problems that we have been talking about in terms of the international situation is because we are weak. It is because our Navy is so small. It is because our Air Force is incapable of doing the same things that it did a few years ago. It's because our Marines Corps is not ready to be deployed. +p2547 +aVThere are a lot of problems that are going on, and we need to solve those problems, we need to build up our military... +p2548 +aVWell, let me put it this way, there has \u2014 there have been numerous studies, and they have not demonstrated that there is any correlation between vaccinations and autism. This was something that was spread widely 15 or 20 years ago, and it has not been adequately, you know, revealed to the public what's actually going on. Vaccines are very important. Certain ones. The ones that would prevent death or crippling. There are others, there are a multitude of vaccines which probably don't fit in that category, and there should be some discretion in those cases. But, you know, a lot of this is \u2014 is \u2014 is pushed by big government. And I think that's one of the things that people so vehemently want to get rid of, big government. You know, we have 4.1 million federal employees. Six hundred and fifty federal agencies and department (sic). That's why they have to take so much of our taxes. +p2549 +aVWell, you know, I've just explained it to him. He can read about it if he wants to. I think he's an intelligent man and will make the correct decision after getting the real facts. +p2550 +aVHe's an OK doctor. But, you know, the fact of the matter is, we have extremely well-documented proof that there's no autism associated with vaccinations. But it is true that we are probably giving way too many in too short a period of time. And a lot of pediatricians now recognize that, and, I think, are cutting down on the number and the proximity in which those are done, and I think that's appropriate. +p2551 +aVI'd put my mother on there. You know, she was one of 24 children, got married at age 13, had only a third grade education, had to raise two sons by herself, refused to be a victim. Wouldn't let us be victims, and has been an inspiration to many people. +p2552 +aVOne Nation. +p2553 +aVWell, you know, I was a radical Democrat before I started listening to Ronald Reagan. And he didn't sound like what they said Republicans were. He sounded logical. And I hope that I sound logical also. Because when I look at what is going on with the United States of America, I see a lot of things that are not logical. I see us allowing people to divide us, when in fact our strength is in our unity. I see people exercising the most irresponsible fiscal habits that anyone could possibly do. And hiding it from the American people, so that the majority of people have no idea what our financial situation is. So, when someone comes along and says, free college, free phones, free this and that, and the other, they say, "wow, that's nice," having no idea that they're destabilizing our position. And I think also that Ronald Reagan was a master at understanding that a pinnacle nation has to be a nation that leads. If we learn to lead in the Middle East right now, a coalition will form behind us, but never they do it if we just sit there and talk about it. Real leadership is what I would hopefully bring to America. +p2554 +aVWell, I could take issue with -- with all of those things, but we don't have time. But I will say, we have a debate here tonight, and we will have an opportunity to explore those areas, and I'm looking very much forward to demonstrating that, in fact, the thing that is probably most important is having a brain, and to be able to figure things out and learn things very rapidly. So, you know, experience comes from a large number of different arenas, and America became a great nation early on not because it was flooded with politicians, but because it was flooded with people who understood the value of personal responsibility, hard work, creativity, innovation, and that's what will get us on the right track now, as well. +p2555 +aVWell, thank you, Megyn, I wasn't sure I was going to get to talk again. +p2556 +aVAlright. You know, what we do in order to get the information that we need is our business, and I wouldn't necessarily be broadcasting what we're going to do. We. . .uh. . .we've gotten into this -- this mindset of fighting politically correct wars. There is no such thing as a politically correct war. And, the left, of course, will say Carson doesn't believe in the Geneva Convention. Carson doesn't believe in fighting stupid wars. And -- and what we have to remember is we want to utilize the tremendous intellect that we have in the military to win wars. And I've talked to a lot of the generals, a lot of our advanced people. And believe me, if we gave them the mission, which is what the commander-in-chief does, they would be able to carry it out. And if we don't tie their hands behind their back, they will do it......extremely effectively. +p2557 +aVWhat I agree with is that we need a significantly changed taxation system. And the one that I've advocated is based on tithing, because I think God is a pretty fair guy. And he said, you know, if you give me a tithe, it doesn't matter how much you made. If you've had a bumper crop, you don't owe me triple tithes. And if you've had no crops at all, you don't owe me no tithes. So there must be something inherently fair about that. And that's why I've advocated a proportional tax system. You make $10 billion, you pay a billion. You make $10, you pay one. And everybody gets treated the same way. And you get rid of the deductions, you get rid of all the loopholes, and... +p2558 +aVAnd I have a lot more to say about it. +p2559 +aVIf Hillary is the candidate, which I doubt, that would be a dream come true. But you know, the fact of the matter is, she is the epitome of the progressive -- the secular progressive movement. And she counts on the fact that people are uninformed, the Alinsky Model, taking advantage of useful idiots. Well, I just happen to believe that people are not stupid. And the way I will come at it is to educate people, help people to actually understand that it is that progressive movement that is causing them the problems. You know, you look at the -- the national debt and how it's being driven up. If I was trying to destroy this country, what I would do is find a way to drive wedges between all the people, drive the debt to an unsustainable level, and then step off the stage as a world leader and let our enemies increase while we decreased our capacity as a military person. And that's what she's doing. +p2560 +aVWell, what we have to stop and think about is that we have weakened ourselves militarily to such an extent that if affects all of our military policies. Our Navy is at its smallest size since 1917; our Air Force, since 1940. In recent testimony, the commandant of the Marine Corps said half of the non-deployed units were not ready and you know, the sequester is cutting the heart out of our personnel. Our generals are retiring because they don't want to be part of this, and at the same time, our enemies are increasing. Our -- our friends can't trust us anymore. You know, Ukraine was a nuclear-armed state. They gave away their nuclear arms with the understanding that we would protect them. We won't even give them offensive weapons. You know, we turned our back on Israel, our ally. You know, in a situation like that, of course Obama's not going to be able to do anything. I would shore up our military first, because if you don't get the military right, nothing else is going to work. +p2561 +aVWell, I think the bully pulpit is a wonderful place to start healing that divide. You know, we have the purveyors of hatred who take every single incident between people of two races and try to make a race war out of it, and drive wedges into people. And this does not need to be done. What we need to think about instead -- you know, I was asked by an NPR reporter once, why don't I talk about race that often. I said it's because I'm a neurosurgeon. And she thought that was a strange response. And you say -- I said, you see, when I take someone to the operating room, I'm actually operating on the thing that makes them who they are. The skin doesn't make them who they are. The hair doesn't make them who they are. And it's time for us to move beyond that. Because......our strength as a nation comes in our unity. We are the United States of America, not the divided states. And those who want to destroy us are trying to divide us, and we shouldn't let them do it. +p2562 +aVWell, I haven't said anything about me being the only one to do anything, so let me try that. I'm the only one to separate Siamese twins... The -- the only one to operate on babies while they were still in mother's womb, the only one to take out half of a brain, although you would think, if you go to Washington, that someone had beat me to it. But I -- but I'm very hopeful that I'm not the only one who's willing to pick up the baton of freedom, because freedom is not free, and we must fight for it every day. Every one of us must fight for it, because we're fighting for our children and the next generation. +p2563 +asVQUINTANILLA +p2564 +(lp2565 +VGood evening, I'm Carl Quintanilla, with my colleagues Becky Quick and John Harwood. We'll be joined tonight by some of +p2566 +aVGovernor? +p2567 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p2568 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Bush. +p2569 +aVSenator Rubio. +p2570 +aVMr. Trump? +p2571 +aVDr. Carson? +p2572 +aVMrs. Fiorina? +p2573 +aVFixed it. +p2574 +aVSenator Cruz? +p2575 +aVGovernor Christie? +p2576 +aVSenator Paul? +p2577 +aVThanks to all the candidates. John? +p2578 +aVHold it. We'll cut it back to you in just a minute. Becky's moving on. +p2579 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor. thank you, Governor. +p2580 +aVMr. Trump, 30 seconds. +p2581 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2582 +aVWe're going to try to move on. +p2583 +aVYou want to bring 70,000 pages to three? +p2584 +aVIs that using really small type? +p2585 +aVIs that using really small type? +p2586 +aVMrs. Fiorina \u2014 +p2587 +aVWe're going to \u2014 +p2588 +aVWe will come around the bend, i promise. This one is for Senator Rubio. You've been a young man in a hurry ever since you won your first election in your 20s. You've had a big accomplishment in the Senate, an immigration bill providing a path to citizenship the conservatives in your party hate, and even you don't support anymore. Now, you're skipping more votes than any senator to run for president. Why not slow down, get a few more things done first or least finish what you start? +p2589 +aVSo when the Sun-Sentinel says Rubio should resign, not rip us off, when they say Floridians sent you to Washington to do a job, when they say you act like you hate your job, do you? +p2590 +aVWell, do you hate your job? +p2591 +aVIs that the standard? +p2592 +aVSenator, thank you. John. +p2593 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2594 +aVSenator Cruz. Congressional Republicans, Democrats and the White House are about to strike a compromise that would raise the debt limit, prevent a government shutdown and calm financial markets that fear of \u2014 another Washington-created crisis is on the way. Does your opposition to it show that you're not the kind of problem-solver American voters want? +p2595 +aV do we get credit ? +p2596 +aVSo, this is a question about , which you have 30 seconds left to answer, should you choose to do so. +p2597 +aVOK. I asked you about the debt limit and I got no answer. +p2598 +aVWe promised we would get to everyone this block. Governor Huckabee, I'm going to give you 60 seconds on this. +p2599 +aV...Governor... +p2600 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p2601 +aV...Senator Cruz... +p2602 +aVOK, alright. +p2603 +aVSenator Cruz... +p2604 +aV...Before we go to break, we're clearly not having that beer you mentioned, but I'll give you 30 more seconds... +p2605 +aVOK. +p2606 +aVI'll give you 30 seconds to respond... +p2607 +aVRespond on the debt limit, or an answer to the governor, which ever you choose. +p2608 +aV30 seconds, Governor Huckabee. +p2609 +aVGovernor, thank you. We will take a break. The Republican Presidential debate, live from Boulder, Colorado, coming back after a break on +p2610 +aVMrs. Fiorina, in 2010, while running for Senate in Tech Ridge (ph), California, you called an Internet sales tax a bad idea. Traditional brick and mortar stores obviously disagree. Now that the Internet shopping playing field has matured, what would be a fair plan to even that playing field? +p2611 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p2612 +aVOK. +p2613 +aVThank you very much. +p2614 +aVDr. Carson, we know you as a physician, but we wanted to ask you about your involvement on some corporate boards, including Costco's. Last year, a marketing study called the warehouse retailer the number one gay-friendly brand in America, partly because of its domestic partner benefits. Why would you serve on a company whose policies seem to run counter to your views on homosexuality? +p2615 +aVOne more question. This is a company called Mannatech, a maker of nutritional supplements, with which you had a 10-year relationship. They offered claims that they could cure autism, cancer, they paid $7 million to settle a deceptive marketing lawsuit in Texas, and yet you're involvement continued. Why? +p2616 +aVTo be fair, you were on the homepage of their website with the logo over your shoulder \u2014 +p2617 +aVDoes that not speak to your vetting process or judgment in any way. +p2618 +aVApparently. We will take a break. We'll be back in Boulder in just a minute. +p2619 +aV...We'll come back around. I want to get to governor Kasich. +p2620 +aVGovernor Kasich, let's talk ... +p2621 +aV...about Marijuana, Governor Kasich... +p2622 +aVAlright, but 30 seconds, you made a case. Sure, 30 seconds. +p2623 +aVSenator, thank you. +p2624 +aVOh, no, no, no... +p2625 +aV...Ok... +p2626 +aV...We're going to go to... +p2627 +aVOK. Thank you, Senator. Governor Kasich, let's talk about marijuana. We're broadcasting from Colorado which has seen $150 million in new revenue for the state since legalizing last year. Governor Hickenlooper is not a big fan of legalization, but he's said the people who used to be smoking it are still smoking it, they're just now paying taxes. Given the budget pressures in Ohio, and other states, is this a revenue stream you'd like to have? +p2628 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2629 +aVThank you. We'll be back from Boulder, Colorado in just a moment. +p2630 +aVMr. Trump, you've said you have a special permit to carry a gun in New York. +p2631 +aVAfter the Oregon mass shooting on October 1st, you said, "By the way, it was a gun-free zone. If you had a couple of teachers with guns, you would have been a hell of a lot better off." +p2632 +aVWould you feel more comfortable if your employees brought guns to work? +p2633 +aVAre you carrying one now? +p2634 +aVWe called a few Trump resorts, a few Trump properties that \u2014 that do not allow guns with or without a permit. Would you change those policies? +p2635 +aVOK. All right. Thank you. John? +p2636 +aVGovernor Bush, daily fantasy sports has become a phenomenon in this country, will award billions of dollars in prize money this year. But to play you have to assess your odds, put money at risk, wait for an outcome that's out of your control. Isn't that the definition of gambling, and should the Federal Government treat it as such? +p2637 +aVI had a feeling you were going to brag about that. +p2638 +aVThis is the\u2014 well, we're going to take a break. We want to save time for closing statements after the break. So this is the Republican presidential debate in Boulder, and we'll be right back. +p2639 +aVSenator Rubio... +p2640 +aV...yeah, I just wanted . +p2641 +aVI want to give you 30 seconds here. +p2642 +aVThat concludes tonight's debate. On behalf of my colleagues Becky Quick, John Harwood, Sharon Epperson, Rick Santelli and Jim Cramer, we'd like to our host, the University of Colorado at Boulder, the Republican National Committee, the candidates and, of course, tonight's audience. +p2643 +asVGILMORE +p2644 +(lp2645 +VWell, Bill, can I first... +p2646 +aVWell, first of all, Bill, let me say one thing, I have been in Iowa. But this is not the place where I'm choosing to begin my campaign. I am beginning my campaign in New Hampshire and I decided to do that based upon the process that is in place in Iowa and the primary that's in place in New Hampshire. But never mind that, I want to return to something. I'm the only veteran, Bill and Martha in this race. And I'm not going to any Donald Trump event over across town on some sort of faux veteran sort of issue. I'm going to speak to you tonight about the issue that really confronts veterans. I'm going to talk to you about the concerns that they have got with the veterans administration. The lousy appeals process that they have got. The fact that sometimes they get good service at the V.A. and sometimes they don't and the fact that post traumatic stress syndrome is not properly recognized. That psychology positions are unavailable in the Veterans Administration. And I will say this to you -- as the only veteran in -- in this race, when I become president of the United States, the veterans are going to be treated with respect and competently in success in the Veterans' Administration in this country. +p2647 +aVFirst of all, Bill, I think that Gitmo ought to remain open. But I also want to point out to you that what you are saying is the exact right topic to all of these other candidates. And that's this international challenge that we are facing, the international war that America is in, even to this day. And I'm the candidate who is best qualified to deal with this issue. A degree in foreign policy in Russian area studies. I'm the only United States Army veteran having gone to Europe during the Cold War as United States Army Intelligence agent, the governor during the 9/11 attack, the chairman of the National Commission on Homeland Security for the United States for five years. And this is what I will do. If I become the president, I'm going to rebuild the United States military. We're going to take the sequester off the defense budget. Give the Navy the ships it needs. Refit the United States Army. Refit the United States Marine Corps. And on this international guerrilla war, we need to recognize our Special Forces, our intelligence community, and the people that we need in order to really protect us. And finally, this war of ideas, we must win this. We must say to the world that radical Islamism is the threat. It isn't just confined to +p2648 +aVHey, did you miss me? Did you skip me? +p2649 +aVI'm going to have something to say about this, but you just keep going. +p2650 +aVYes, I'll be there. +p2651 +aVYou know, Martha, it may be out of the barn in that the Iranians may be moving towards a nuclear program, because this nuclear deal actually gives them a time frame up the road when they are going to be able to do that kind of program. And that's very dangerous because it means people in the Middle East have to begin to react to that right now. The United States, I think, has to continue to exercise its influence in the Middle East, stay active, and not do this pull-back type of program that we are seeing all over the place with President Obama, which is creating this kind of danger. The world is a more dangerous place now than when I was an intelligence agent. We have not only this international guerrilla war but also these challenges from these other countries as well. But, Martha, I want to say one more thing to you and Bill. I disagree with Carly Fiorina when she says that it's just a political class in Washington. The truth is that the country has changed. And there are powerful forces at this point that are really controlling our lives. And that's why people are so angry. One of those is government, which is regulating everything through the Environmental Protection Agency, through other places. But the biggest one is the organized establishment media. And I just noticed just now you gave Carly Fiorina two one-minute answers in a row. This media across the country is manipulating and shaping and framing this campaign and has been for at least a year now in order to get the kind of choices that people are going to have an opportunity to see. This is wrong. It has to change. And when I'm president, it's going to change. +p2652 +aVI'll take it. +p2653 +aVMartha, I just visited a community mental health clinic in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, just three days ago, as a matter of fact. And when I was governor of Virginia, I tried to move more of those resources into the community, which will give us the facilities and the abilities to begin to identify people who actually might be dangerous and who abuse Second Amendment rights. But I do believe this is one of the really principle issues in this campaign. The president and Hillary Clinton are working very hard to change the culture of this country in order to put us in a position where we can't exercise Second Amendment rights. That's wrong. I am a board member of the National Rifle Association. The reason I'm a board member is because I believe that individuals in this country can be trusted to exercise their rights under the Second Amendment and under the Bill of Rights. To take away people's Second Amendment rights is to redefine the individual in the society, and I'm not going to put up with it. As President of the United States, when Jim Gilmore's President of the United States, I can tell you this. Gun control is not going to be an issue. If gun control... ... comes to the President's desk when I'm president, I'll veto it as fast as it takes Hillary Clinton to eliminate her emails. +p2654 +aVYou know Bill, that raises, I think, the question of the future of the Republican party. The question is -- first of all, I stand second to no one in standing up to radical Islamism. I understand that +p2655 +aVWell, thank you very much, Bill. And, thank you, and Fox and Google for including me in this debate tonight. I think it's been a wonderful opportunity. I'm the son of a meat cutter. My father worked for Safeway stores for 45 years. My mother was a secretary, she ended her career as the Secretary for the Methodist Bishop. I didn't have a father that could give me a million dollar loan to start my business. But, my father did talk character, and he provided for his family, and he was a wonderful example. And, I'm not about to go across town tonight to carry the coat for some billionaire. Instead, I intend to run for President of the United States, speak to the issue of this international war, and challenge that we're in. This issue of veterans rights, and the issue of Second Amendment rights, and I ask for your support... +p2656 +asVSANTELLI +p2657 +(lp2658 +VSenator Cruz, let's focus on our central bank, the Federal Reserve. You've been a fierce critic of the Fed, arguing for more transparency. Where do you want to take that? Do you want to get Congress involved in monetary policy, or is it time to slap the Fed back and downsize them completely? What are your thoughts? What do you believe? +p2659 +aVSenator Paul, the same question to you. +p2660 +aVThank you, Senator. Dr. Carson, you told The Des Moines Register that you don't like government subsidies, it interferes with the free market. But you've also said that you're in favor of taking oil subsidies and putting them towards ethanol processing. Isn't that just swapping one subsidy for another, Doctor? +p2661 +aVThank you, Doctor. Becky? +p2662 +asVMACCALLUM +p2663 +(lp2664 +VSo it will come as no surprise that there is an idea out there that there is a civil war brewing within the GOP over the meaning of conservative and the question of who is electable. There are some in the GOP who are so outraged by Trump and Cruz that they say they would actually rather have Hillary Clinton in the White House. So, Carly Fiorina, I ask you this. Is your party in crisis? +p2665 +aVGovernor Huckabee, word is that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is considering getting into this race. If he does, that would make four New Yorkers, including Sanders, Clinton, and Trump. One candidate in this race has criticized so-called "New York values". So tell me, in your opinion, are New York values different than Iowa values? +p2666 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum, according to Google, the Paris terror attacks were the largest story that was searched in 2015, with nearly 1 billion searches of that story worldwide. There have been at 18 terror attacks so far this year -- in just January alone, in 2016, and it will likely, as we all know, get worse. But what can an American president do to stop these terrifying killings? +p2667 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2668 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you have said when it comes to +p2669 +aVThank you. +p2670 +aVComing up, we're going to have more on the top issues in this campaign, and you can engage in tonight's conversation right from home. Go to google.com, search "FOX News debate." You can vote on which candidate you think is winning so far in tonight's debate. And you can check results after the debate is over. We are back in a moment live from the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. +p2671 +aVAlright, Governor Huckabee, government grows and grows. In fact, neighborhoods in and around the Beltway get richer and richer all the time while our manufacturing towns are disappearing. Still Republicans from Reagan to Bush have bowed to shrink the size of government, but it never works. Is this Presidency, and presidency, simply too small a David to slay the Goliath of government? +p2672 +aVAlright, Carly Fiorina, you've said that you can get the tax code down to three short simple pages. But, when lobbyists who have twisted the arms of members of Congress come sit with you in the Oval Office and say, "Madam President, sorry, I cannot be with you on this one," you may understand what previous presidents have gone through. No? +p2673 +aVSenator Santorum, Bernie Sanders asked a woman in Iowa what it's like to live in poverty. She broke down in tears, saying that she lives on less than $10,000 a year and that she is ashamed every day. She leans on her parents for help. She says she can't buy presents for her children. We are all sympathetic to this woman's plight. On the other hand, the G.O.P. is supposed to be the party of smaller government. So what would you look her in the eye and say? +p2674 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2675 +aVGovernor Gilmore, thanks to the Iranian nuclear deal, President Rouhani is currently on a tour of Europe meeting with our closest allies in France and Italy. In fact, he has already landed some 50 to 85 billion are the estimates in deals with those countries, with our allies. More on the way. You and others say that you would rip up that deal. But, really, by the time the next president is in office, won't that horse be well out of the barn? +p2676 +aVWe have another question for you, Governor Gilmore, back to back, here we go. According to Google... +p2677 +aVYou got it. According to Google, gun control is the most searched issue last month, making up nearly 80 percent of all the U.S. searches. People are looking for information on guns. When it comes to the tragic mass killings that we have seen in this country, Donald Trump says that what we need to do is build quote "more institutions for people who are sickos." Charles Krauthammer also says that in some cases involuntary commitment would help. And you have agreed with that. Given that institutions would be extraordinarily expensive to begin building, how much is too much to ask on this from the American taxpayer? +p2678 +aVThank you, Governor Gilmore. +p2679 +aVStill more to come from the Republican Presidential debate tonight. And, see how the campaigns are responding to the debate in realtime, go to Google.com and open your google search app. Type in, "Fox News Debate". We'll see you, just a moment -- back. +p2680 +aVWe are back live at the Iowa events center and this question goes to Carly Fiorina. In the last debate you said as part of your introduction, quote, " And unlike the other woman candidate in this case I actually love spending time with my husband." +p2681 +aVBut back in September in an interview you said that you would stick only to the record, your record versus Hillary Clinton's record. And never resort to personal attacks. So what changed? +p2682 +aVAll right. Carly, I want to stay with you on this next question as well. You waded into the Planned Parenthood early on. You took some heat for it. Now the people who shot that undercover video are the ones who got indicted and Planned Parenthood is untouched. Hillary Clinton has been crowing about this. Any regrets about this? +p2683 +aVThank you Carly Fiorina. Let me just ask a quick question here to Senator Santorum. Carly Fiorina was the only one of the GOP candidates to attend the March for Life in Washington last week. Where were you. +p2684 +aVAll right. Coming up, we will have the closing statements from our candidates tonight as we continue live from the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. We'll be right back. +p2685 +aVAlright, let's go now to Senator Rick Santorum. +p2686 +aV +p2687 +aVCarly Fiorina. +p2688 +aVThank you, Carly. +p2689 +aVIn one hour, seven more candidates take the stage for a debate hosted by Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly, and Chris Wallace. But, up next, the O'Reilly Factor. Good night everybody. +p2690 +as. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/downloads/data/script8.pickle b/downloads/data/script8.pickle new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8c98d6a --- /dev/null +++ b/downloads/data/script8.pickle @@ -0,0 +1,5502 @@ +(dp0 +VCRAMER +p1 +(lp2 +VDr. Carson, in recent weeks, a number of pharmaceutical companies has been accused of profiteering, for dramatically raising the prices of life-saving drugs. You have spent a lifetime in medicine. Have these companies gone too far? Should the government be involved in controlling some of these price increases? +p3 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Governor Christie, there has been a lot of political rhetoric that some bank executives should have gone to jail for the 2008 financial crisis. But General Motors paid more than $1 billion in fines and settlements for its ignition switch defect. One hundred and twenty- four people died as a result of these faulty switches. No one went to jail. As a former prosecutor, do you believe the people responsible for the switch and the cover-up belong behind bars? +p4 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. +p5 +asVPERRY +p6 +(lp7 +VI will tell you one thing: I would whole lot rather had Carly Fiorina over there doing our negotiation than John Kerry. Maybe we would've gotten a deal where we didn't give everything away. But the issue for us is to have a Congress that stands up and says not only no, but hell no, to this money going to a regime that is going to use it for terror... +p8 +asVUNKNOWN +p9 +(lp10 +VIf you're not going to have my back, I'm going to have my back. +p11 +aVA couple things here. First of all... +p12 +aVWe have grown \u2014 we have grown... +p13 +aVTrue. It's true. +p14 +aV...let me follow up that... +p15 +aV +p16 +aVOh, great. +p17 +aV...In 2011, you told Forbes Magazine this: "I've used the laws of the country to my advantage." But at the same time, financial experts involved in those bankruptcies say that lenders to your companies lost billions of dollars. Question sir, with that record, why should we trust you to run the nation's business? +p18 +aVI do. +p19 +aVThank you. +p20 +asVIFILL +p21 +(lp22 +VWe want to also extend our warm thanks to Milwaukee Public Radio and Milwaukee Public Television, as well as all of our friends at the PBS member stations across the country tuning in tonight. This is the sixth time the Democrats have met face to face. Each time, we learn more about them and the presidents they say they want to be. You know you're watching \u2014 whether you're a Democrat, a Republican, or neither \u2014 because you believe the outcome of the election is important to you. And we believe that, too. With that, let's welcome the candidates to the stage. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. +p23 +aVWelcome to you both. +p24 +aVWith Iowa and New Hampshire behind us, we are now broadening the conversation to America's heartland and beyond, including here in Wisconsin. Now let's turn to the candidates for their opening statements. The order was decided by coin toss. And, Senator Sanders, you go first. +p25 +aVThank you, Senator Sanders. Thank you, Senator Sanders. Secretary Clinton. +p26 +aVFinal thought, Senator. +p27 +aVI'd like to move along. I'd like to move along. Secretary Clinton, you might \u2014 you also have proposed fairly expansive ideas about government. You may remember this pledge from a State of the Union Address at which I believe you were present, in which these words were said: "The era of big government is over." You may remember that. When asked your feelings about the federal government this week, 61 percent of New Hampshire Democrats told exit pollsters that they are angry or at least dissatisfied. Given what you and Senator Sanders are proposing, an expanding government in almost every area of our lives, is it fair for Americans who fear government to fear you? +p28 +aVBut I haven't heard either of you put a price tag on your \u2014 you say... +p29 +aVSenator? +p30 +aVSenator, do you worry at all that you will be the instrument of thwarting history, as Senator Clinton keeps claiming, that she might be the first woman president? +p31 +aVThank you both. We turn now to the first of several questions from our partners at Facebook. They were selected from a curated group of people we've been following of undecided voters. The first comes from Claudia Looze, a 54-year-old woman who works as a program manager at a public affairs cable network in Madison, Wisconsin. And she writes: "Wisconsin is number one in African-American male incarceration, according to a University of Wisconsin study. They found that Wisconsin's incarceration rate for black men, which is at 13 percent, was nearly double the country's rate. What can we do across the nation to address this?" Senator Sanders. +p32 +aVLet me turn this on its head, because when we talk about race in this country, we always talk about African-Americans, people of color. I want to talk about white people, OK? +p33 +aVI know. So many people will be surprised to find out that we are sitting in one of the most racially polarized metropolitan areas in the country. By the middle of this century, the nation is going to be majority nonwhite. Our public schools are already there. If working-class, white Americans are about to be outnumbered, are already underemployed in many cases, and one study found they are dying sooner, don't they have a reason to be resentful, Senator \u2014 Secretary Clinton? +p34 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, I want you to respond to that, but I also want you to \u2014 am I wrong? Is it even right to be describing this as a matter of race? +p35 +aVIf you would allow me now to move on, we've been talking about children. I want to talk about seniors. That takes us to our second Facebook question from Farheen Hakeem, who writes, "My father" \u2014 she's a 40-year-old woman who works for a nonprofit here in Milwaukee. And she writes, "My father gets just $16 in food assistance per month as part of Medicaid's family community program in Milwaukee County for low-income seniors. How will you as president work to ensure low-income seniors get their basic needs met?" Start with you, Senator Sanders. +p36 +aVSenator Sanders, are you saying... +p37 +aVThere's a lot more to come in just a few minutes. Stay with us for more of the PBS NewsHour Democratic Debate. +p38 +aVHow about you, Senator Clinton \u2014 Secretary Clinton? +p39 +aVWe spent the first part of this debate talking about domestic insecurity. The second part, we want to talk about our foreign policy insecurities. And we want to start with a question for you, Secretary Clinton, about America's role in the world. Americans are becoming increasingly worried that attacks abroad are coming home, that they already are, in fact, here. According to exit polls from last week, from earlier this week, more than two-thirds of Democrats in New Hampshire are concerned about sending their children to fight in wars they can't win. They fret that the next attack is just around the corner and we are not ready. Are we? +p40 +aVSenator Sanders... +p41 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p42 +aVLet me move on. You have both mentioned the humanitarian tragedies which have been an outgrowth in part of what has happened in Syria and in Libya. More than a million refugees entered Europe in 2015. Another 76,000 just last month, that is about 2,000 arrivals every day. Nearly 400 people have been lost at sea so far this year, crossing the Mediterranean. And there are reports that 10,000 children are missing. If we are leaders in this world, where should the U.S. be on this? What should the United States be doing, Secretary Clinton? +p43 +aVSenator, if you would like respond to \u2014 you may respond to that but it is time for closing statements and you can use your time for closing statements to do that. +p44 +aVThank you. Thank you Senator Clinton. Thank you, Senator Sanders. We also want to thank our partners at Facebook and our hosts here at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. +p45 +aVI'm going to remain here in Milwaukee tomorrow evening for a special edition of Washington Week here on PBS. +p46 +asVWOODRUFF +p47 +(lp48 +VGood evening, and thank you. We are happy to welcome you to Milwaukee for this Democratic debate. We are especially pleased to thank our partners at Facebook, who have helped us set up a vibrant conversation among voters who are undecided. And tonight you're going to hear some of their questions for the candidates. And you can follow along at home on the PBS NewsHour page on Facebook. We also want to thank our hosts, the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, on whose campus we meet, here in the beautiful Helen Bader Concert Hall. +p49 +aVWelcome, Senator, great to see you. And former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Very good to be here with you. +p50 +aVNow, a word about format. There will be two short breaks, and the rules are simple: 90 seconds for each answer and 30 seconds for the other candidate to respond. +p51 +aVThank you both. Thank you both. And we'll be right back after a short break to begin questions. +p52 +aVAnd, welcome back to this PBS Newshour debate, Democratic debate, here in Milwaukee. Let's get right to the questions. Senator Sanders, to you first. Coming off the results in Iowa and New Hampshire, there are many voters who are taking a closer look at you, and your ideas, and they're asking how big a role do you foresee for the federal government? It's already spending 21% of the entire U.S. economy. How much larger would government be in the lives of Americans under a Sanders presidency? +p53 +aVBut, my question is how big would government be? Would there be any limit on the size of the role of government... +p54 +aVNext, we're going to... +p55 +aVVery brief, thank you. +p56 +aVSecretary Clinton, your campaign \u2014 you and your campaign have made a clear appeal to women voters. You have talked repeatedly about the fact, we know you would be, if elected, the first woman president. But in New Hampshire 55 percent of the women voters supported and voted for Senator Sanders. What are women missing about you? +p57 +aVAs you know, just quickly, as you know, your strong supporter, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, said the other day that there's a special place in Hell for women who don't support other women. Do you agree with what she said? +p58 +aVSenator Sanders, you're in the minority, but we still want to hear from you. +p59 +aVFinal comment. +p60 +aVSecretary Clinton, I was talking recently with a 23 year old black woman who voted for President Obama because she said she thought relations between the races would get better under his leadership, and his example. Hardly anyone believes that they have. Why do you think race relations would be better under a Clinton presidency? What would you do that the nation's first African American has not been able to? +p61 +aVSenator Sanders? +p62 +aVSo race relation was be better under a Sanders presidency than they've been? +p63 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders, one of the causes of anxiety for working class Americans is connected to immigrants. President Obama, as you know, has issued executive actions to permit some 5 million undocumented immigrants who are living now in the United States to come out of the shadows without fear of deportation to get work permits. Would you go further than that? And if so, how specifically would you do it? Should an undocumented family watching this debate tonight, say, in Nevada, rest easy, not fear of further deportations under a Sanders presidency? +p64 +aVI'd like... +p65 +aVWe're going to move on. Secretary Clinton, your campaign has recently ramped up criticism of Senator Sanders for attending Democratic Party fundraisers from which you say he benefited. But nearly half of your financial sector donations appear to come from just two wealthy financiers, George Soros and Donald Sussman, for a total of about $10 million. You have said that there's no quid pro quo involved. Is that also true of the donations that wealthy Republicans give to Republican candidates, contributors including the Koch Brothers? +p66 +aVI'm asking if Democratic donors are different than Republican donors. +p67 +aVWe have to go to a break. We... +p68 +aVAll right. Thank you both. It is time for a break. And when we come back, we're going to turn to some new topics, including how these candidates will keep America safe. +p69 +aVWelcome back to the Democratic presidential debate. Before we return to our questions, we have a follow-up question from our Facebook group. And it is to Senator Sanders. Senator, it comes from Bill Corfield. He is a 55-year-old musician from Troy, Ohio. And he asks: "Are there any areas of government you would like to reduce?" +p70 +aVJust a final word. +p71 +aVSenator, let me \u2014 let me move on to another country with which the U.S. has a complicated relationship, Senator Sanders, and that's Russia. On the one hand, we're aware that Russia is a country that the United States needs to cooperate with. Just tonight, Secretary of State John Kerry has announced what appears to be an agreement with the Russians to lead \u2014 that could lead toward a ceasefire in Syria, would be the first cessation of conflict in that country, in that civil war in five years, but it comes at a very high price, because not only have all \u2014 have we seen the deaths, the removal of so many people, millions of people, we now see the Russians in the last few weeks have bombed in a way that benefits President Assad, has not gone after +p72 +aVAnd we have a final question from our Facebook family. And it goes to Senator Sanders. It comes from Robert Andrews. He's a 40-year-old stay-at-home dad in Dover, Massachusetts. He says, "The world has seen many great leaders in the course of human history. Can you name two leaders \u2014 one American and one foreign \u2014 who would influence your foreign policy decisions? And why do you see them as \u2014 why are they influential?" +p73 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p74 +aVAnd we want to thank our audience, our quiet audience here in Helen Bader Concert Hall, and to all of you watching at home. Thank you all. Stay tuned for analysis of the debate and the overall race for the Democratic nomination. That's coming up next here on PBS stations and online atPBS.org/NewsHour. +p75 +aVAnd I'm going to be returning to Washington. I hope you'll join us for the PBS NewsHour tomorrow and every night. That's it from all of us here in Milwaukee. We thank you. +p76 +asVKELLY +p77 +(lp78 +VWelcome to the first debate night of the 2016 presidential campaign, live from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. I'm Megyn Kelly... ... along with my co-moderators, Brett Baier and Chris Wallace. Tonight... Nice. Tonight, thousands of people here in the Q, along with millions of voters at home will get their very first chance to see the candidates face off in a debate, answering the questions you want answered. +p79 +aVAs for the candidates who will be answering those questions? Here they are. Positioned on the stage by how they stand in the polls, in the center of the stage tonight, businessman Donald Trump. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. +p80 +aVGentlemen, our first round of questions is on the subject of electability in the general election, and we start tonight with you, Dr. Carson. You are a successful neurosurgeon, but you admit that you have had to study up on foreign policy, saying there's a lot to learn. Your critics say that your inexperience shows. You've suggested that the Baltic States are not a part of +p81 +aVMr. Trump, one of the things people love about you is you speak your mind and you don't use a politician's filter. However, that is not without its downsides, in particular, when it comes to women. You've called women you don't like "fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals." Your Twitter account... +p82 +aVNo, it wasn't. Your Twitter account... +p83 +aVFor the record, it was well beyond Rosie O'Donnell. +p84 +aVYour Twitter account has several disparaging comments about women's looks. You once told a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice it would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees. Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president, and how will you answer the charge from Hillary Clinton, who was likely to be the Democratic nominee, that you are part of the war on women? +p85 +aVGovernor Walker, you've consistently said that you want to make abortion illegal even in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother. You recently signed an abortion law in Wisconsin that does have an exception for the mother's life, but you're on the record as having objected to it. Would you really let a mother die rather than have an abortion, and with 83 percent of the American public in favor of a life exception, are you too out of the mainstream on this issue to win the general election? +p86 +aVGovernor Kasich, You chose to expand Medicaid in your state, unlike several other governors on this stage tonight, and it is already over budget by some estimates costing taxpayers an additional $1.4 billion in just the first 18 months. You defended your Medicaid expansion by invoking God, saying to skeptics that when they arrive in heaven, Saint Peter isn't going to ask them how small they've kept government, but what they have done for the poor. Why should Republican voters, who generally want to shrink government, believe that you won't use your Saint Peter rationale to expand every government program? +p87 +aVAlright, gentlemen, we're gonna switch topics now and talk a bit about terror and national security. Governor Christie. You've said that Senator Paul's opposition to the NSA's collection of phone records has made the United States weaker and more vulnerable, even going so far as to say that he should be called before Congress to answer for it if we should be hit by another terrorist attack. Do you really believe you can assign blame to Senator Paul just for opposing the bulk collection of people's phone records in the event of a terrorist attack? +p88 +aVGo ahead, sir. +p89 +aVGovernor Christie, make your point. +p90 +aVGo ahead, governor. +p91 +aVAlright. +p92 +aVAlright, we've gotta cut it off there. We have plenty more we want to get to. That was an interesting exchange, thank you for that. +p93 +aVWell, I want to move on, because I have -- we're gonna get to you, governor, but I -- I really wanna get to a Facebook questioner. His name is Alex Chalgren, and he has the following question: +p94 +aVSenator Cruz, I wanna talk to you about this, because many of the Facebook users and -- and -- the -- the folks on Facebook wanted the candidates to speak to +p95 +aVYou don't see it as... ...an ideological problem -- an ideological problem in addition to a military one? +p96 +aVGovernor Bush, for days on end in this campaign, you struggled to answer a question about whether knowing what we know now... +p97 +aV...we would've invaded Iraq... +p98 +aVI remember it too, and +p99 +aVGovernor Walker, in February you said that we needed to gain partners in the Arab world. Which Arab country not already in the U.S. led coalition has potential to be our greatest partner? +p100 +aVDr. Carson, in one of his first acts as commander in chief, President Obama signed an executive order banning enhanced interrogation techniques in fighting terror. As president, would you bring back water boarding? +p101 +aVWe have a lot for you, don't worry. Fear not, you may rue that request. +p102 +aVIt's just before 10:00 p.m. on the East Coast. Welcome back to Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, and the very first Republican primary debate of the 2016 presidential campaign. Ten candidates on the stage, selected based on their standing in five national polls. And tonight they are facing off, answering the questions you want asked. We hope. +p103 +aV Sounds like somebody's a little R-rated. +p104 +aVWell, the first debate night of the 2016 presidential campaign continues from Cleveland after a short time-out. Stick around. Social issues, next. +p105 +aVSenator Rubio, you favor a rape and incest exception to abortion bans. Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York just said yesterday those exceptions are preposterous. He said they discriminate against an entire class of human beings. If you believe that life begins at conception, as you say you do, how do you justify ending a life just because it begins violently, through no fault of the baby? +p106 +aVYou don't favor a rape and incest exception? +p107 +aVMr. Trump, in 1999, you said you were, quote, "very pro- choice." Even supporting partial-birth abortion. You favored an assault weapons ban as well. In 2004, you said in most cases you identified as a Democrat. Even in this campaign, your critics say you often sound more like a Democrat than a Republican, calling several of your opponents on the stage things like clowns and puppets. When did you actually become a Republican? +p108 +aVGovernor Bush, I want to ask you, on the subject of name calling of your fellow candidates, a story appeared today quoting an anonymous GOP donor who said you called Mr. Trump a clown, a buffoon, something else that cannot be repeated on television. +p109 +aVIs it true? +p110 +aVMr. Trump, 30 seconds. +p111 +aVThe subject of gay marriage and religious liberty. Governor Kasich, if you had a son or daughter who was gay or lesbian, how would you explain to them your opposition to same-sex marriage? +p112 +aVHow would you -- how would you explain it to a child? +p113 +aVSenator Paul, in the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling on same sex marriage, Carol Fox on Facebook want to know the following. Quote: what will you do to ensure Christians are not prosecuted for speaking out against gay marriage and will Christians be forced to conduct business that conflicts with their religious beliefs? +p114 +aVGovernor Walker, many in the Black Lives Matter movement, and beyond, believe that overly-aggressive police officers targeting young African Americans is the civil rights issue of our time. Do you agree? And if so, how do you plan to address it? And if not, why not? +p115 +aVThank you. +p116 +aVWe have to stand you by, because after the break, we're going to let the candidates make their closing statements, their final thoughts, and . . . God. Stay tuned for that. +p117 +aVWelcome back. In our final moments here together, we're going to allow the candidates to offer their final thoughts. But first, we want to ask them an interesting closing question from Chase Norton on Facebook, who wants to know this of the candidates: "I want to know if any of them have received a word from God on what they should do and take care of first." Senator Cruz, start from you. Any word from God? +p118 +aVGovernor Kasich, same question. +p119 +aVGovernor Walker, same question. +p120 +aVSenator Rubio, I want to ask you the same question. But I do want to mention, a woman just came here to the stage and asked, what about the veterans? I want to hear more about what these candidates are going to do for our nation's veterans. So I put the question to you about God and the veterans, which you may find to be related. +p121 +aVDr. Carson, a question to you about God and his role, but also, one of the issues that the public was very interested in, and we touched on it earlier, is race relations in this country, and how divided we seem right now. And what, if anything, you can do -- you would do as the next president to help heal that divide. +p122 +aVGovernor Christie? +p123 +aVSenator Ted Cruz. +p124 +aVGovernor Scott Walker. +p125 +aVIt's over! +p126 +aVAre you relieved? You were nervous before, they -- they don't look relieved. They look "get me outta here." Thank you all very much, and that will do it for the first Republican primary debate night of the 2016 presidential race. Our thanks to the candidates, who will now be joined by their families on stage. +p127 +asVRUBIO +p128 +(lp129 +VThank you Wolf. It's really amazing to be back in Las Vegas. I spent six years as a child growing not far from where we stand tonight. I use to sit on the porch of our home and listen to my grandfather tell stories as he smoked one of three daily cigars. One of the things my grandfather instilled in me, was that I was really blessed because I was a citizen of the greatest country in the history of our mankind. But there have always been people in American politics that wanted America to be more like the rest of the world. And In 2008, one of them was elected president of this country and the result has been a disaster. Today you have millions of Americans that feel left out and out of place in their own country, struggling to live paycheck to paycheck, called bigots because they hold on to traditional values. And around the world, America's influence has declined while this president has destroyed our military, our allies no longer trust us, and our adversaries no longer respect us. And that is why this election is so important. That is why I'm running for president. And that's why I'm going to ask you for your vote tonight. If you elect me president, we will have a president that believes America is the greatest country in the world and we will have a president that acts like it. +p130 +aVWell, I understand why they feel that way, because this president hasn't kept us safe. The problem is we had an attack in San Bernardino. And we were paying attention to the most important issue we have faced in a decade since 9/11, and then all the talk was about this proposal, which isn't going to happen. But this is what's important to do is we must deal frontally with this threat of radical Islamists, especially from +p131 +aVHe is and so are those that voted for it. There were some that voted for it because they wanted to keep it alive and they were afraid the whole program would expire. Here's the world we live in. This is a radical jihadist group that is increasingly sophisticated in its ability, for example, to radicalize American citizens, in its inability to exploit loopholes in our legal immigration system, in its ability to capture and hold territory in the Middle East, as I outlined earlier, in multiple countries. This is not just the most capable, it is the most sophisticated terror threat we have ever faced. We are now at a time when we need more tools, not less tools. And that took we lost, the metadata program, was a valuable tool that we no longer have at our disposal. +p132 +aVDana, may I interject here? +p133 +aVLet me be very careful when answering this, because I don't think national television in front of 15 million people is the place to discuss classified information. So let me just be very clear. There is nothing that we are allowed to do under this bill that we could not do before. This bill did, however, take away a valuable tool that allowed the National Security Agency and other law \u2014 and other intelligence agencies to quickly and rapidly access phone records and match them up with other phone records to see who terrorists have been calling. Because I promise you, the next time there is attack on \u2014 an attack on this country, the first thing people are going to want to know is, why didn't we know about it and why didn't we stop it? And the answer better not be because we didn't have access to records or information that would have allowed us to identify these killers before they attacked. +p134 +aVI want to thank Rand for another 30 seconds, because, number one, what he's pointing to is a bill last week that \u2014 amendment that he voted for that only 10 people voted for. You know why? Because it's not focused on terrorists. It would have banned anyone from coming here. Someone from Taiwan would not have been able to come here as a tourist. Number two, this program, this metadata program is actually more strict than what a regular law enforcement agency has now. If a regular law enforcement agency wants your phone records, all they have to do is issue a subpoena. But now the intelligence agency is not able to quickly gather records and look at them to see who these terrorists are calling. And the terrorists that attacked us in San Bernardino was an American citizen, born and raised in this country. And I bet you we wish we would have had access to five years of his records so we could see who he was working with... +p135 +aVDo I get another 30 seconds? He mentioned me. +p136 +aVWell, let me begin by saying that we have to understand who +p137 +aVThat is accurate. Three times he voted against the Defense Authorization Act, which is a bill that funds the troops. It also, by the way, funds the Iron Dome and other important programs. And I have to assume that if you vote against it in the Senate, you would also veto it as president. He has also supported, by the way, a budget that is called the containment budget. And it is a budget that would radically reduce the amount of money we spend on our military. You can't carpet bomb +p138 +aVYes, let me \u2014 three points of distinction. The first is, if you're an American citizen and you decide to join up with +p139 +aVWell, they most certainly will have to be worked on to provide more than what they are doing now. There's no doubt about it. And there's one \u2014 one major reason why they have not been willing to be a broader part of the coalition, and that is they have lost complete trust and confidence in this president. This president cut a deal with their moral enemy, the Shia, in Iran. And this is the reason why they no longer trust this president and are willing to work alongside them. But they have as much invested in this as we do. In fact, more so, for it is the king of Saudi Arabia they want to behead first. It's the king of Jordan that they want to dethrone. It's the \u2014 they want to go into Egypt the way they've already gone into Libya. And on another point that we need to talk about, Assad is one of the main reasons why +p140 +aVTo begin with, Moammar Gadhafi and the revolt against Gadhafi was not started by the United States. It was started by the Libyan people. And the reason why I argued we needed to get involved is because he was going to go one way or the other. And my argument then was proven true, and that is, the longer that civil war took, the more militias would be formed and the more unstable the country would be after the fact. As far as Moammar Gadhafi is concerned, by the way, Moammar Gadhafi is the man that killed those Americans over Lockerbie, Scotland. Moammar Gadhafi is also the man that bombed that cafe in Berlin and killed those Marines. And you want to know why Moammar Gadhafi started cooperating on his nuclear program? Because we got rid of Saddam Hussein. And so he got scared that he would be next, and that's why he started cooperating. Look, we will have to work around the world with less than ideal governments. The government in Saudi Arabia is not a democracy, but we will have to work with them. The government in Jordan is not perfect, but we will have to work with them. But anti-American dictators like Assad, who help Hezbollah, who helped get those IEDs into Iraq, if they go, I will not shed a tear. +p141 +aVYeah. Immigration is not an issue that I read about in the newspaper or watch a documentary on PBS or CNN. It's an issues I've lived around my whole life. My family are immigrants. My wife's family are immigrants. All of my neighbors are immigrants. I see every aspect of this problem. The good, the bad, and the ugly. And here's what we learned in 2013. The American people don't trust the Federal Government to enforce our immigration laws, and we will not be able to do anything on immigration until we first prove to the American people that illegal immigration is under control. And we can do that. We know what it takes to do that. It takes at least 20,000 more additional border agents. It takes completing those 700 miles of fencing. It takes a mandatory e-verify system and a mandatory entry/exit tracking system to prevent overstays. After we have done that, the second thing we have to do is reform and modernize the legal immigration system. And after we have done those two things, I think the American people are gonna be reasonable with what do you do with someone who has been in this country for 10 or 12 years who hasn't otherwise violated our laws \u2014 because if they're a criminal they can't stay. They'll have to undergo a background check, pay a fine, start paying taxes. And ultimately, they'll given a work permit and that's all they're gonna be allowed to have for at least 10 years. But you can't get to that third step until you have done the other two things, and that was the lesson we learned in 2013. There is no trust that the Federal Government will enforce the law. They will not support you until you see it done first. +p142 +aVBut I've answered that question repeatedly. I am personally open \u2014 after all that has happened and after ten years in that probationary status where all they have is a permit, I personally am open to allowing people to apply for a green card. That may not be a majority position in my party, but that's down the road. You can't even begin that process until you prove to people \u2014 not just pass a law that says you're gonna bring illegal immigration under control. You're gonna have to do it and prove to people that it's working. And that was the lesson of 2013. And it's more true today, than it was then. After a migratory crisis on the border with minors coming over that you're seeing start up again now, after all these executive orders the President has issued. More than ever we need to... +p143 +aV... prove to people that illegal immigration is under control. +p144 +aVYeah, a couple points. In 2013 we had never faced a crisis like the Syrian refugee crisis now. Up until that point, a refugee meant someone fleeing oppression, fleeing Communism like it is in my community. As far as Ted's record, I'm always puzzled by his attack on this issue. Ted, you support legalizing people who are in this country illegally. Ted Cruz supported a 500-percent increase in the number of H-1 visas, the guest workers that are allowed into this country, and Ted supports doubling the number of green cards. So I think what's important for us to understand and there is a way forward on this issue that we an bring our country together on. And while I'm president I will do it. And it will begin by bringing illegal immigration under control and proving to the American people. +p145 +aVNo, no, give him time. +p146 +aVTed, do you... +p147 +aVDid Ted Cruz fight to support legalizing people that are in this country illegally? +p148 +aVDoes Ted Cruz rule out ever legalizing people that are in this country now? +p149 +aVWould you rule it out? +p150 +aVWell, he's just admitted \u2014 as he's just admitted, the reason why those refugees were allowed in was because they messed up in how they used the actual database. They should have know. They didn't because they didn't run the actual law as it exists now. It didn't work well. As far as the refugees are concerned, it's not that America doesn't want to accept refugees, Wolf. It's that we may not be able to, because this is an issue we have to be 100 percent right on. If we allow 9,999 Syrian refugees into the United States, and all of them are good people, but we allow one person in who's an +p151 +aVI do. First, let's explain to people at home who the triad \u2014 what the triad is. Maybe a lot of people haven't heard that terminology before. The triad is our ability of the United States to conduct nuclear attacks using airplanes, using missiles launched from silos or from the ground, and also from our nuclear subs' ability to attack. And it's important \u2014 all three of them are critical. It gives us the ability at deterrence. Now, some have become more critical than others; for example, the submarines. And that's the Ohio Class submarine that needs to be modernized. The air component also needs to be modernized. The B-52, as someone earlier pointed out, is an outdated model that was flown by the grandparents of people that are flying it now. And we need a serious modernization program as well on our silo-launched missiles. All three are critical for the defense of the country. +p152 +aVThank you. As we near the end of this year, we enter one of the most important elections in a generation. For what's at stake in this election is not simply what party's going to be in charge. But our very identity as a people and as a nation. For over 200 years this has been a special country. A unique place where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything. But now millions of Americans feel like they're being left behind. Insecure in their future and unsafe in the face of terrorism. This election is about electing a president that will restore our economic vibrancy so that the American dream can expand to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And rebuild our Military and our intelligence programs so that we can remain the strongest nation on earth. Tonight I ask you for your vote. If you do this, we will rebuild this country, and together we will usher in a new American century \u2014 the greatest era in the history of this great land. +p153 +aVWell, let me begin by answering both the first question and this one, because they're related. As I've said many times before, my parents were never rich people. My father was a bartender. My mother was a maid. They worked for a living. But they were successful people, because, despite the fact that they weren't well educated and had those jobs, they made enough money to buy a home in a safe and stable neighborhood, retire with dignity, leave all four of their children better off than themselves. We call that the American dream, but in fact, it's a universal dream of a better life that people have all over the world. It is a reminder that every country in the world has rich people. What makes America special is that we have millions and millions of people that are not rich, that through hard work and perseverance are able to be successful. The problem is that today people are not successful working as hard as ever because the economy is not providing jobs that pay enough. If I thought that raising the minimum wage was the best way to help people increase their pay, I would be all for it, but it isn't. In the 20th century, it's a disaster. If you raise the minimum wage, you're going to make people more expensive than a machine. And that means all this automation that's replacing jobs and people right now is only going to be accelerated. Here's the best way to raise wages. Make America the best place in the world to start a business or expand an existing business, tax reform and regulatory reform, bring our debt under control, fully utilize our energy resources so we can reinvigorate manufacturing, repeal and replace Obamacare, and make higher education faster and easier to access, especially vocational training. For the life of me, I don't know why we have stigmatized vocational education. Welders make more money than philosophers. We need more welders and less philosophers. If we do that \u2014 and if we do this \u2014 if we do this, we will be able to increase wages for millions of Americans and we will be able to leave everyone better off without making anyone worse off. +p154 +aVWell, you know, that's an excellent question, because what we are going through in this country is not simply an economic downturn. We are living through a massive economic transformation. I mean, this economy is nothing like what it was like five years ago, not to mention 15 or 20 years ago. And it isn't just a different economy. It's changing faster than ever. You know, it took the telephone 75 years to reach 100 million users. It took Candy Crush one year to reach some 100 million users. So the world is changing faster than ever, and it is disruptive. Number one, we are in a global competition now, and several of the candidates have said that. There are now dozens of developed economies on this planet that we have to compete with. And we lose that competition because we have the highest business tax rate in the industrialized world, because we have regulations that continue to grow by the billions every single week, because we have a crazy health care law that discourages companies from hiring people, but because we're not fully utilizing our energy resources, that if we did, it would bring back all kinds of growth, especially in manufacturing, and because we have an outdated higher education system. Our higher education system is completely outdated. It is too expensive, too hard to access, and it doesn't teach 21st century skills. If we do what needs to be done \u2014 tax reform, regulatory reform, fully utilize our energy resources, repeal and replace Obamacare, and modernize higher education, then we can grasp the potential and the promise of this new economy. And we won't just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And then truly this new century can be a new American century. +p155 +aVThe most important job I'm ever going to have, the most important job anyone in this room will ever have, is the job of being a parent. Not the job of being president, or the job of being a senator, or the job of being a congressman. The most important job any of us will ever do is the job of being a president (sic), because the most important institution in society is the family. If the family breaks down, society breaks down. You can't have a strong nation without strong values, and no one is born with strong values. They have to be taught to you in strong families and reinforced in you in strong communities. And so when we set out to do tax reform, we endeavor to have a pro-family tax code, and we endeavor to do it because we know how difficult it is for families in the 21st century to afford the cost of living. It is expensive to raise children in the 21st century, and families that are raising children are raising the future taxpayers of the United States, and everything costs more. In 35 out of 50 states, child care costs more than college. There are millions of people watching this broadcast tonight that understand exactly what I'm talking about. They don't know how they're going to make that payment every month, and if they can't make it, they can't work, because someone needs to watch their kids during the day. They don't know how they're going to save for their kids' future, to go to college. And so, yes, I have a child tax credit increase, and I'm proud of it. I am proud that I have a pro-family tax code, because the pro- family tax plan I have will strengthen the most important institution in the \u2014 in the country, the family. +p156 +aVNow I get my 60 seconds to respond. He's talking about my tax plan. +p157 +aVSo let me begin with this. I actually believe \u2014 first of all, this is their money. They do pay. It is refundable, not just against the taxes they pay to the government, but also the \u2014 on their federal income tax, it's refundable against the payroll tax. Everyone pays payroll tax. This is their money. This is not our money. And here's what I don't understand \u2014 if you invest that money in a piece of equipment, if you invest that money in a business, you get to write it off your taxes. But if you invest it in your children, in the future of America and strengthening your family, we're not going to recognize that in our tax code? The family is the most important institution in society. And, yes... +p158 +aV... I do want to rebuild the American military. +p159 +aVI know that Rand is a committed isolationist. I'm not. I believe the world is a stronger and a better place, when the United States is the strongest military power in the world. +p160 +aVBecause... +p161 +aV...are you talking about the military, Rand? +p162 +aVWe can't even have an economy if we're not safe. There are radical jihadist in the Middle East beheading people and crucifying Christians. A radical Shia cleric in Iran trying to get a nuclear weapon, the Chinese taking over the South China Sea... ...Yes, I believe the world is a safer \u2014 no, no, I don't believe, I know that the world is a safer place when America is the strongest military power in the world. +p163 +aVYou know, if I may respond... +p164 +aVI need to add a couple of points to this. The first is, I've never met Vladimir Putin, but I know enough about him to know he is a gangster. He is basically an organized crime figure that runs a country, controls a $2 trillion economy. And is using to build up his military in a rapid way despite the fact his economy is a disaster. He understands only geopolitical strength. And every time he has acted anywhere in the world, whether it's in Ukraine or Georgia before that, or now in the Middle East, it's because he is trusting in weakness. His calculation in the Middle East is that he has seen what this president has done, which is nothing, the president has no strategy, our allies in the region do not trust us. For goodness sake, there is only one pro-American free enterprise democracy in the Middle East, it is the state of Israel. And we have a president that treats the prime minister of Israel with less respect than what he gives the ayatollah in Iran. And so our allies in the region don't trust us. Vladimir Putin is exploiting that weakness, for purposes of edging the Americans out as the most important geopolitical power broker in the region. And we do have a vested interest. And here's why. Because all those radical terrorist groups that, by the way, are not just in Syria and in Iraq, +p165 +aVCan I just add what \u2014 he's right on point there. Do you know why these banks are so big? The government made them big. The government made them big by adding thousands and thousands of pages of regulations. So the big banks, they have an army of lawyers, they have an army of compliance officers. They can deal with all these things. The small banks, like Governor Bush was saying, they can't deal with all these regulations. They can't deal with all \u2014 they cannot hire the fanciest law firm in Washington or the best lobbying firm to deal with all these regulations. And so the result is, the big banks get bigger, the small banks struggle to lend or even exist, and the result is what you have today. And in Dodd-Frank, you have actually codified too big to fail. We have actually created a category of systemically important institutions, and these banks go around bragging about it. You know what they say to people with a wink and a nod? We are so big, we are so important that if we get in trouble, the government has to bail us out. This is an outrage. We need to repeal Dodd-Frank as soon as possible. +p166 +aVWell, that's a great question, and let me begin by answering it. This election is about the future, about what kind of country this nation is gonna be in the 21st century. This next (ph) election is actually a generational choice. A choice about what kind of nation we will be in the 21st century. For over 2.5 centuries, America's been a special country, the one place on earth where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything, a nation that's been a force for good on this planet. But now, a growing number of Americans feel out of place in their own country. We have a society that stigmatizes those that hold cultural values that are traditional. We have a society where people \u2014 millions of people \u2014 are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, but they're living paycheck to paycheck because the economy has changed underneath their feet. We have young Americans who owe thousands of dollars in student loans for a degree that doesn't lead to a job. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses dying than starting, and around the world, every day brings news of a new humiliation for America \u2014 many the direct response \u2014 direct consequence of decisions made when Hillary Clinton was the secretary of the \u2014 of state. And so here's the truth: this election is about the future, and the Democratic Party, and the political left has no ideas about the future. All their ideas are the same, tired ideas of the past. More government, more spending. For every issue for America, their answer is a new tax on someone, and a new government program. This nation is going to turn the page, and that's what this election should be about, and, as I said at the first debate... ...If I am our nominee, they will be the party of the past, we will be the party of the 21st century. +p167 +aVOurs \u2014 the story of America is an extraordinary story. It is the story of a nation that for over two centuries each generation has left the next better off than themselves. But now, because Washington is out of touch, for the fault of both political parties, for the first time in our history, that is in doubt. And that is what this election must be about, because if the next four years are anything like the last eight years, our children will be the first Americans ever left worse off by their parents. This election is about making a different choice, about applying our principles of limited government and free enterprise to the unique issues of our time. And if we do, we will not just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And the 21st century can be a new American century. So tonight, I ask you for your vote and I ask you to join us at my website, marcorubio.com. +p168 +aVThank you for that question. I would begin by saying that I'm not sure it's a weakness, but I do believe that I share a sense of optimism for America's future that, today, is eroding from too many of our people. I think there's a sense in this country today that somehow our best days are behind us. And that doesn't have to be true. Our greatest days lie ahead if we are willing to do what it takes now. If we're willing to do what it takes now, the 21st century is going to be the new American century, greater than any other era we've had in the history of this great nation. +p169 +aVThat's an interesting question. That's exactly what the Republican establishment says too. Why don't you wait in line? Wait for what? This country is running out of time. We can't afford to have another four years like the last eight years. Watching this broadcast tonight are millions of people that are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, everything costs more, and they haven't had a raise in decades. You have small businesses in America that are struggling. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses closing than starting. We have a world that's out of control and has grown dangerous and a president that is weakening our military and making our foreign policy unstable and unreliable in the eyes of our allies. And our adversaries continue to grow stronger. We have a \u2014 they say there's no bipartisanship in Washington? We have a $19 trillion bipartisan debt and it continues to grow as we borrow money from countries that do not like us to pay for government we cannot afford. The time to act is now. The time to turn the page is now. If we \u2014 if we don't act now, we are going to be the first generation in American history that leaves our children worse off than ourselves. +p170 +aVLet me say, I read that editorial today with a great amusement. It's actually evidence of the bias that exists in the American media today. +p171 +aVLet me \u2014 let me answer your question on the Sun-Sentinel editorial today. Back in 2004, one of my predecessors to the Senate by the name of Bob Graham, a Democrat, ran for president missing over 30 percent of his votes. I don't recall them calling for his resignation \u2014 +p172 +aVLater that year, in 2004, John Kerry ran for president missing close to 60 to 70 percent of his votes. I don't recall the Sun \u2014 in fact, the Sun-Sentinel endorsed him. In 2008, Barack Obama missed 60 or 70 percent of his votes, and the same newspaper endorsed him again. So this is another example of the double standard that exists in this country between the mainstream media and the conservative movement. +p173 +aVI get to respond, right? +p174 +aVWell, it's interesting. Over the last few weeks, I've listened to Jeb as he walked around the country and said that you're modeling your campaign after John McCain, that you're going to launch a furious comeback the way he did, by fighting hard in New Hampshire and places like that, carrying your own bag at the airport. You know how many votes John McCain missed when he was carrying out that furious comeback that you're now modeling after? +p175 +aVNo Jeb, I don't remember \u2014 well, let me tell you. I don't remember you ever complaining about John McCain's vote record. The only reason why you're doing it now is because we're running for the same position, and someone has convinced you that attacking me is going to help you. +p176 +aVHere's the bottom line. I'm not \u2014 my campaign is going to be about the future of America, it's not going to be about attacking anyone else on this stage. I will continue to have tremendous admiration and respect for Governor Bush. I'm not running against Governor Bush, I'm not running against anyone on this stage. I'm running for president because there is no way we can elect Hillary Clinton to continue the policies of Barack Obama. +p177 +aVWell, you just \u2014 you just listed a litany of discredited attacks from Democrats and my political opponents, and I'm not gonna waste 60 seconds detailing them all. But I'm going to tell you the truth. Here's the truth. I didn't inherit any money. My dad was a bartender, my mother was a maid. They worked hard to provide us the chance at a better life. They didn't save enough money for us to go to school. I had to work my way through school. I had to borrow money to go to school. I tried (ph), early in my marriage, explaining to my wife why someone named Sallie Mae was taking $1,000 out of our bank account every month. I know what it's like to owe that money, and we've worked hard. We've worked hard our whole life to provide a better family \u2014 a better life for our family. We own a home four blocks away from the place that I grew up in. My four children have been able to receive a good Christian education, and I've been able to save for them to go to college so they never have to have the loans that I did. But I'm not worried about my finances, I'm worried about the finances of everyday Americans who today are struggling in an economy that is not producing good paying jobs while everything else costs more. And that's what this economy needs to \u2014 that's what this debate needs to be about. This debate needs to be about the men and women across this country that are struggling on a daily basis to provide for their families the better future that we've always said this country is all about. +p178 +aVAnd I used it to pay off my loans. And it's available on paperback, if you're interested in buying my book. +p179 +aVYeah, again, as I said, we're raising a family in the 21st century and it's one of the reasons why my tax plan is a pro- family tax plan. It increases the per child tax credit, because I didn't read about this in a book. I know for a fact how difficult it is to raise children, how expensive it's become for working families. And I make a lot more than the average American. Imagine how hard it is for these people out there that are making 40, 50, $60,000 a year, and they're trying to provide for their families at a time when this economy is not growing. We can't afford another four years of that. Which is what we're gonna get if we elect a big government liberal like Hillary Clinton to the White House. Thank you, senator. +p180 +aVWell, first of all, if a company gets caught doing that, they should never be able to use the program again. If you get caught abusing this program, you should never be able to use it again. The second thing I said is we need to add reforms, not just increase the numbers, but add reforms. For example, before you hire anyone from abroad, you should have to advertise that job for 180 days. You also have to prove that you're going to pay these people more than you would pay someone else, so that you're not undercutting it by bringing in cheap labor. But here's the best solution of all. We need to get back to training people in this country to do the jobs of the 21st century. Why, for the life of me, I do not understand why did we stop doing vocational education in America, people that can work with their hands; people you can train to do this work while they're still in high school so they can graduate ready to go work. But the best way to close this gap is to modernize higher education so Americans have the skills for those jobs. But in the interim, in the absence of that, what's happening is some of these tech companies are taking those \u2014 those centers (ph) to Canada because they can get people to go over there instead of here. But the ideal scenario is to train Americans to do the work so we don't have to rely on people from abroad. +p181 +aVWell, I believe that there are abuses, those companies should be permanently barred from ever using the program again and we should put strict standards in place to ensure that they're not being abused, like the prevailing wage requirement and like the advertising requirement. +p182 +aVSince I've been mentioned, can I respond? +p183 +aVOK. I know the Democrats have the ultimate SuperPac. It's called the mainstream media who every single day... ... and I'll tell you why. Last week, Hillary Clinton went before a committee. She admitted she had sent e-mails to her family saying, "Hey, this attack at Benghazi was caused by Al Qaida-like elements." She spent over a week telling the families of those victims and the American people that it was because of a video. And yet the mainstream media is going around saying it was the greatest week in Hillary Clinton's campaign. It was the week she got exposed as a liar. It was the week that she got exposed as a liar... But she has her super PAC helping her out, the American mainstream media. +p184 +aVNo, that's \u2014 you're wrong. In fact, the largest after- tax gains is for the people at the lower end of the tax spectrum under my plan. And there's a bunch of things my tax plan does to help them. Number one, you have people in this country that... +p185 +aV...you wrote a story on it, and you had to go back and correct it. +p186 +aVYou did. No, you did. +p187 +aVWell, you're talking about \u2014 yeah. +p188 +aVYeah, but that \u2014 because the math is, if you \u2014 5 percent of a million is a lot more than 5 percent of a thousand. So yeah, someone who makes more money... +p189 +aV...numerically, it's gonna be higher. But the greatest gains, percentage-wise, for people, are gonna be at the lower end of our plan, and here's why: because in addition to a general personal exemption, we are increasing the per-child tax credit for working families. We are lowering taxes on small business. You know, a lot of business activity in America is conducted like the guy that does my dry cleaning. He's an S corporation. He pays on his personal rate, and he is paying higher than the big dry-cleaning chain down the street, because he's paying at his personal rate. Under my plan, no business, big or small, will pay more than 25 percent flat rate on their business income. That is a dramatic tax decrease for hard-working people who run their own businesses. +p190 +aV...The other thing I'd like to make about our plan, one more point, it is the most pro growth tax plan that I can imagine because it doesn't tax investments at all. You know why? Because the more you tax something, the less of it you get. I want to be in \u2014 I want America to be the best... +p191 +aV...in the world for people... +p192 +aVI was mentioned in the question. +p193 +aVThank you. Well, I've learned the rules on this. Look, in addition to what Donald was saying is we also need to talk about the legal immigration system for permanent residents. Today, we have a legal immigration system for permanent residency that is largely based on whether or not you have a relative living here. And that's the way my parents came legally in 1956. But in 2015, we have a very different economy. Our legal immigration system from now on has to be merit-based. It has to be based on what skills you have, what you can contribute economically, and most important of all, on whether or not you're coming here to become an American, not just live in America, but be an American. +p194 +aVNo. No. What I said was that I think that Dr. Carson's ideas are good ideas. They're not my ideas, and I don't necessarily agree with all of them. But this is what you're seeing in the Republican debate that you didn't see in that Democrat debate. You didn't see it for a minute. You didn't see these kind of ideas being batted around, and being batted around in a way that's civil and smart and that's trying to help to inform the voter out there. What you saw was a parade of, "I'll give you this for free; I'll give you that for free." Let me tell you, everybody, when they say they want to give it to you for free, keep your hands on your wallets because they're coming to you to pay for it. And that's why I think these ideas up here are great, and that's what we should have is have more discussions like this and less gotcha. +p195 +aVI want to take off from that point and argue the same thing. And that is that one of the things you're watching tonight are 11 quality candidates debating an important issue. The Republican Party is blessed to have 11 good candidates, 10 good candidates. The Democrats can't even come up with one. And on this issue of the Medicare in particular, it's important because they're going to demagogue what we're saying here tonight. Everyone up here tonight that's talking about reforms, I think and I know for myself I speak to this, we're all talking about reforms for future generations. Nothing has to change for current beneficiaries. My mother is on Medicare and Social Security. I'm against anything that's bad for my mother. So, we're talking about \u2014 we're talking about reform for people like me and people like Senator Cruz, as he talked about earlier, who are years away from retirement that have a way to plan for these changes, and way that's very reasonable. And it's not too much to ask of our generation after everything our parents and our grandparents did for us. +p196 +aVYou know, America doesn't owe me anything. I have a debt to America I'll never repay. This isn't just the country I was born in, this is the nation that literally changed the history of my family. My parents in this country were able to give me the chance to do all the things they never did. We call that the American Dream, although, it's built on the universal dream of a better life. The fact that it's happened for so many people here throughout our history, that's what makes us special. But, now for millions of Americans, it's slipping away. And, we have a government and leaders in government that are completely out of touch, and that's why I'm running for president. Because we can't just save the American Dream, we can expand it to reach more people, and change more lives than ever before. And, that's why tonight I'm asking you for your vote. +p197 +aVThank you. My name is Marco Rubio. I'm from Florida. My wife Jeanette and I are the proud \u2014 we've been married 17 years, and we're the proud parents of four children, two of whom were able to join us here this evening. I'm honored to be here at the Reagan Library, at a place that honors the legacy of a man who inspired not just my interest in public service, but also our love for country. And I'm also aware that California has a drought, and so that's why I made sure I brought my own water. +p198 +aVWell, first of all, I have an understanding of exactly what it is Russia and Putin are doing, and it's pretty straightforward. He wants to reposition Russia, once again, as a geopolitical force. He himself said that the destruction of the Soviet Union \u2014 the fall of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century, and now he's trying to reverse that. He's trying to destroy +p199 +aVLet me tell you \u2014 I will tell you we have zero responsibility, because let's remember what the president said. He said the attack he would conduct would be a pinprick. Well, the United States military was not build to conduct pinprick attacks. If the United States military is going to be engaged by a commander-in-chief, it should only be engaged in an endeavor to win. And we're not going to authorize use of force if you're not put in a position where they can win. And quite frankly, people don't trust this president as commander-in-chief because of that. +p200 +aVHold on, a second, Jake, he asked me, as well. I'd like to actually... +p201 +aV... respond. I think I'm the first senator. The No. 1 test for use of military force should be the vital national security interest of the United States. The reason why I opposed President Obama bombing Syria, is because he couldn't answer the question what do you do if chemical weapons end up in the hands of radical Islamic terrorists like al-Nusra, like Al Qaida, like +p202 +aVIn the middle of negotiating this treaty, Khamenei led the assembled masses in chanting, death to America. I'm reminded of a great editorial cartoon. It shows the Ayatollah Khamenei saying, "Death to all Americans," and then it shows John Kerry coming back, saying, "Can we meet ya half way?" We need a commander-in-chief who will stand up and protect this country. And I'll tell you, I can't wait to stand on that debate stage with Hillary Clinton and to make abundantly clear if you vote for Hillary, you are voting for the Ayatollah Khomeini to possess a nuclear weapon and if you elect me as president, under no circumstances will a theocratic ayatollah who chants death to America ever be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon. +p203 +aVMs. Dana, I agree that English is the unifying language of our country, and everyone should learn to speak it. It's important. I want to tell you a story about someone that didn't speak English that well. It was my grandfather; he came to this country in the 1960s, as a \u2014 escaping Cuba. And he lived with us, growing up. And my grandfather loved America. He understood what was so special about this country. He loved Ronald Reagan; he would be very proud of the fact that we're here this evening. My grandfather instilled in me the belief that I was blessed to live in the one society in all of human history where even I, the son of a bartender and a maid, could aspire to have anything, and be anything that I was willing to work hard to achieve. But he taught me that in Spanish, because it was the language he was most comfortable in. And he became a conservative, even though he got his news in Spanish. And so, I do give interviews in Spanish, and here's why \u2014 because I believe that free enterprise and limited government is the best way to help people who are trying to achieve upward mobility. And if they get their news in Spanish, I want them to hear that directly from me. Not from a translator at Univision. +p204 +aVWell, let me say that legal immigration is not an issue I read about in the newspaper. Immigration, illegal immigration, all the good aspects of immigration and all the negative ones as well, I live with. My family's immigrants. My neighbors are all immigrants. My in-laws are all immigrants. So I've seen every aspect of it, and I can tell you America doesn't have one immigration problem, it has three. First, despite the fact that we are the most generous country in the history of the world in allowing people to come here legally, we have people still coming illegally. Second, we have a legal immigration system that no longer works. It primary is built on the basis of whether you have a relative living here instead of merit. And third, we have 11 million or 12 million people, many of whom have been here for longer than a decade who are already here illegally. And we must deal with all three of these problems. We cannot deal with all three of these problems in one massive piece of legislation. I learned that. We tried it that way. Here's the way forward: First, we must \u2014 we must secure our border, the physical border, with \u2014 with a wall, absolutely. But we also need to have an entry/exit tracking system. 40 percent of the people who come here illegally come legally, and then they overstay the visa. We also need a mandatory e-verify system. After we've done that, step two would be to modernize our legal immigration system so you come to America on the basis of what you can contribute economically, not whether or not simply you have a relative living here. And after we've done those two things, I believe the American people... +p205 +aV... will be very reasonable and responsible about what you do with someone who's been here and isn't a criminal. If you're a criminal, obviously, you will not be able to stay. +p206 +aVYes, well, it does. But it's in the following way, this is an important question. I think if you're running for president, these are important issues, because look at around the world today. There is a lunatic in North Korea with dozens of nuclear weapons and long-range rocket that can already hit the very place in which we stand tonight. The Chinese are rapidly expanding their military. They hack into our computers. They're building artificial islands in the South China Sea, the most important shipping lane in the world. A gangster in Moscow is not just threatening Europe, he's threatening to destroy and divide +p207 +aVWell, that's why we have a debate. I think that we should have a deeper debate about these issues, because there is no more important decision that a president will make. +p208 +aVWell, you should ask him questions in detail about the foreign policy issues our president will confront, because you had better be able to lead our country on the first day. Not six months from now, not a year from now, on the first day in office, our president could very well confront a national security crisis. You can't predict it. Sometimes you cannot control it. And it is the most \u2014 the federal government does all kinds of things it's not supposed to be doing. It regulates bathrooms. It regulates schools that belong to local communities. But the one thing that the federal government must do, the one thing that only the federal government can do is keep us safe. And a president better be up-to-date on those issues on his first day in office, on her first day in office. +p209 +aVTrust (ph) me, I get that. OK. +p210 +aVI never get to addressed, and... +p211 +aV...and when I do, I'm gonna jump in. +p212 +aVYeah. He did. Let me \u2014 I'm proud to serve in the United States Senate. You know, when I ran five years ago, the entire leadership of my party in Washington lined up against me. But I'm glad I won. And I'm glad that I ran, because this country's headed in the wrong direction. And if we keep electing the same people, nothing is going to change. And you're right, I have missed some votes, and I'll tell you why, Mr. Trump. Because in my years in the Senate, I've figured out very quickly that the political establishment in Washington, D.C. in both political parties is completely out of touch with the lives of our people. You have millions of people in this country living paycheck to paycheck, and nothing is being done about it. We are about to leave our children with $18 trillion in \u2014 in \u2014 in debt, and they're about to raise the debt limit again. We have a world that grows increasingly dangerous, and we are eviscerating our military spending and signing deals with Iran. And these \u2014 if this thing continues, we are going to be the first Americans to leave our children worse off than ourselves. That's why I'm missing votes. Because I am leaving the Senate, I'm not running for re-election, and I'm running for president because I know this: unless we have the right president, we cannot make America fulfill its potential, but with the right person in office, the 21st century can be the greatest era that our nation has ever known. +p213 +aVI want to go even deeper \u2014 and I want to go even deeper in that direction, because I think the belief that somehow by retreating, America makes the world safer has been disproven every single time it's ever been tried. Syria's a perfect example of it. The uprising in Syria was not started by the United States; it was started by the Syrian people. And I warned at the time \u2014 this was three and a half years ago \u2014 I openly and repeatedly warned that if we did not find moderate elements on the ground that we could equip and arm, that void would be filled by radical jihadists. Well, the president didn't listen, the administration didn't follow through, and that's exactly what happened. That is why +p214 +aV... as you asked earlier today. +p215 +aVBut radical terrorism cannot be solved by intellect. It cannot \u2014 they require \u2014 what they need, is they need an operating space. That's what Afghanistan was for Al Qaida. It was a vacuum that they filled, and they created an operating space. That's why they had to be drawn out of there. That's why they had to be destroyed. It is the reason why +p216 +aVThere's a broader issue here, Hugh. And there's a broader issue here as well. First of all, the only people that follow the law are law-abiding people. Criminals by definition ignore the law, so you can pass all the gun laws in the world, like the left wants. The criminals are going to ignore it because they are criminals. Here's the real issue. The real issue \u2014 the real issue is not what are people using to commit violence, but why are they committing the violence? And here's the truth: Because you cannot separate the social, moral wellbeing of your people from their economic and other wellbeing. You cannot separate it. You can't have a strong country without strong people, you cannot have strong people without strong values, and you cannot have strong values without strong families and the institutions in this country that defend and support those families. +p217 +aVWell, and today, we have a left-wing government under this president that is undermining all of the institutions and society that support the family and teach those values. +p218 +aVBecause we're not going to destroy our economy the way the left-wing government that we are under now wants to do. We're not going to... +p219 +aVWell, and I don't \u2014 he may have lined up with their positions on this issue. But here is the bottom line. Every proposal they put forward are going to be proposals that will make it harder to do business in America, that will make it harder to create jobs in America. Single parents are already struggling across this country to provide for their families. Maybe a billionaire here in California can afford an increase in their utility rates, but a working family in Tampa, Florida, or anywhere across this country cannot afford it. So we are not going to destroy our economy. We are not going to make America a harder place to create jobs in order to pursue policies that will do absolutely nothing, nothing to change our climate, to change our weather, because America is a lot of things, the greatest country in the world, absolutely. But America is not a planet. And we are not even the largest carbon producer anymore, China is. And they're drilling a hole and digging anywhere in the world that they can get a hold of. So the bottom line is, I am not in favor of any policies that make America a harder place for people to live, or to work, or to raise their families. +p220 +aVJake, you mentioned me and called me a denier. Let me say, climate change... +p221 +aVOK. A skeptic. You can measure the climate. You can measure it. That's not the issue we're discussing. Here is what I'm skeptical of. I'm skeptical of the decisions that the left wants us to make, because I know the impact those are going to have and they're all going to be on our economy. They will not do a thing to lower the rise of the sea. They will not do a thing to cure the drought here in California. But what they will do is they will make America a more expensive place to create jobs. And today with millions of people watching this broadcast that are struggling paycheck to paycheck that do not know how they're going to pay their bills at the end of this month, I'm not in favor of anything that is going to make it harder for them to raise their family. +p222 +aVSenator Rubio, you mean? +p223 +aVI know we all look alike. +p224 +aVThe \u2014 Rosa Parks, an everyday American that changed the course of history. +p225 +aVWell, there are some people in Florida upset at me over a joke I made about Florida State, but, what the heck, I want my codename to be Gator. +p226 +aVOne of the things that made Ronald Reagan a great president, is that he understood that America was a unique nation, like any other that had existed throughout human history. He knew it was founded on universal principles that were powerful, the dignity of all people, human rights, the rights of all to live in freedom and liberty, and choose their own path in life. He didn't just believe it, he acted on it. That's why bringing down communism was so important to him. If I'm honored with the opportunity to be president, I hope that our Air Force One will fly, first and foremost, to our allies; in Israel, in South Korea, and Japan. They know we stand with them. That America can be counted on. It would also fly to China, not just to meet with our enemies, not just to meet with those adversaries of ours that are there, but also to meet with those that aspire to freedom and liberty within China. I would even invite them to my inauguration. We would also fly into Moscow and into Russia. And not just meet with the leaders of Russia, but also meet with those who aspire to freedom and liberty in Russia. And ultimately, I hope that my Air Force One, if I become president, will one day land in a free Cuba, where its people can choose its leaders and its own destiny. +p227 +aVWell, thank you for the question, Chris, and it's great to be here tonight. Let me begin by saying this: I'm not new to the political process; I was making a contribution as the speaker of the third largest and most diverse state in the country well before I even got into the Senate. I would add to that that this election cannot be a resume competition. It's important to be qualified, but if this election is a resume competition, then Hillary Clinton's gonna be the next president, because she's been in office and in government longer than anybody else running here tonight. Here's what this election better be about: This election better be about the future, not the past. It better be about the issues our nation and the world is facing today, not simply the issues we once faced. This country is facing an economy that has been radically transformed. You know, the largest retailer in the country and the world today, Amazon, doesn't even own a single store? And these changes have been disruptive. They have changed people's lives. The jobs that once sustained our middle class, they either don't pay enough or they are gone, and we need someone that understands that as our nominee. If I'm our nominee, how is Hillary Clinton gonna lecture me about living paycheck to paycheck? I was raised paycheck to paycheck. How is she -- how is she gonna lecture me -- how is she gonna lecture me about student loans? I owed over $100,000 just four years ago. If I'm our nominee, we will be the party of the future. +p228 +aVLet me set the record straight on a couple of things. The first is, the evidence is now clear that the majority of people coming across the border are not from Mexico. They're coming from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras. Those countries are the source of the people that are now coming in its majority. I also believe we need a fence. The problem is if El Chapo builds a tunnel under the fence, we have to be able to deal with that too. And that's why you need an e-verify system and you need an entry-exit tracking system and all sorts of other things to prevent illegal immigration. But I agree with what Governor Kasich just said. People are frustrated. This is the most generous country in the world when it comes to immigration. There are a million people a year who legally immigrate to the United States, and people feel like we're being taken advantage of. We feel like despite our generosity, we're being taken advantage of. And let me tell you who never gets talked about in these debates. The people that call my office, who have been waiting for 15 years to come to the United States. And they've paid their fees, and they hired a lawyer, and they can't get in. And they're wondering, maybe they should come illegally. And so these are important issues, and we should address it. It's a serious problem that needs to be addressed, and otherwise we're going to keep talking about this for the next 30 years, like we have for the last 30 years. +p229 +aVNot me. +p230 +aVActually, to be clear......he supported Charlie Crist. +p231 +aVHey, Charlie... +p232 +aVWell, first off, I too believe in curriculum reform. It is critically important in the 21st Century. We do need curriculum reform. And it should happen at the state and local level. That's. . . that's. . . that is where educational policy belongs, because if a parent is unhappy with what their child is being taught in school, they can go to that local school board or their state legislature, or their governor and get it changed. Here's the problem with Common Core. The Department of Education, like every federal agency, will never be satisfied. They will not stop with it being a suggestion. They will turn it into a mandate. In fact, what they will begin to say to local communities is, you will not get federal money unless do you things the way we want you to do it. And they will use Common Core or any other requirements that exists nationally to force it down the throats of our people in our states. +p233 +aVThat's a great question. +p234 +aVThat's a great question. First of all, it begins by having leaders that recognize that the economy we live in today is dramatically different from the one we had five years ago. It's an economy that now has placed us in global competition with dozens of other countries around the world. Now, the big companies that have connections with Washington, they can affect policies to help them, but the small companies like the one Tania is talking about, they're the ones that are struggling. The first thing we need to do is we need to even out the tax code for small businesses so that we lower their tax rate to 25 percent, just as we need to lower it for all businesses. We need to have a regulatory budget in America that limits the amount of regulations on our economy. We need to repeal and replace Obamacare and we need to improve higher education so that people can have access to the skills they need for 21st century jobs. And last but not least, we need to repeal Dodd-Frank. It is eviscerating small businesses and small banks. 20 \u2014 over 40 percent of small and mid-size banks that loan money to small businesses have been wiped out over the \u2014 since Dodd-Frank has passed. We need to repeal and replace Dodd-Frank. We need to make America fair again for all businesses, but especially those being run by small business owners. +p235 +aVWell, Megyn, first of all, I'm not sure that that's a correct assessment of my record. I would go on to add that I believe all-- +p236 +aVI have never said that. And I have never advocated that. What I have advocated is that we pass law in this country that says all human life at every stage of its development is worthy of protection. In fact, I think that law already exists. It is called the Constitution of the United States. And let me go further. I believe that every single human being is entitled to the protection of our laws, whether they can vote or not. Whether they can speak or not. Whether they can hire a lawyer or not. Whether they have a birth certificate or not. And I think future generations will look back at this history of our country and call us barbarians for murdering millions of babies who we never gave them a chance to live. +p237 +aVWell, first, let me say I think God has blessed us. He has blessed the Republican Party with some very good candidates. The Democrats can't even find one. And I believe God has blessed our country. This country has been extraordinarily blessed. And we have honored that blessing. And that's why God has continued to bless us. And he has blessed us with young men and women willing to risk their lives and sometimes die in uniform for the safety and security of our people. Unfortunately today we have a VA that does not do enough for them. I am proud that last year we helped change the law. We changed the law to give the power to the VA secretary the ability to fire any executive that isn't doing their job. And it is outrageous they've only fired one person to date. When I'm president of the United States, we're going to have a VA that cares more about our veterans than about the bureaucrats who work at the VA. +p238 +aVThank you. You know, both of my parents were born into poor families on the island of Cuba. They came to America because it was the only place where people like them could have a chance. Here in this country, they never made it big, but the very purpose of their life was to give us the chance to do all the things they never could. My father was a bartender. And the journey from the back of that bar to this stage tonight, to me, that is the essence of the American dream. It is what makes our nation different. And I'm running for president because I want that to still be possible for the people trying to do that now. I run for president because I believe that we can't just save the American dream; we can expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And that's why I'm asking for your vote. So we can make America greater than it has ever been. And make of this century a new American century. +p239 +asVKASICH +p240 +(lp241 +VThank you, Wolf. Just last weekend, just last week, a friend asked one of my daughters, "Do you like politics?" And my daughter said, "No, I don't. And the reason I don't like it is because there's too much fighting, too much yelling. It's so loud, I don't like it." You know, I turned to my friend and I said, "You know, she's really on to something." And when we think about our country and the big issues that we face in this country; creating jobs, making sure people can keep their jobs, the need for rising wages, whether our children when they graduate from college can find a job, protecting the homeland, destroying +p242 +aVWell, first of all, Wolf, I said last February that we needed to have people on the ground, troops on the ground in a coalition similar to what we had in the first Gulf War. I remember when the Egyptian ambassador to the United States stood in the Rose Garden and pledged Arab commitment to removing Saddam Hussein from Kuwait. Before we came out here tonight, I am told that the Saudis have organized 34 countries who want to join in the battle against terrorism. First and foremost, we need to go and destroy +p243 +aVNo, I don't think it is. And I want to go back to two other issues. One is the metadata. We know we have to hold this data for a longer period of time. And, you know, in a lot of ways, Chris is right. Look, what a president has to do is take a position. We don't want to err on the side of having less. We want to err on the side of having more. That's good for our families. In addition to that, Wolf, there is a big problem. It's called encryption. And the people in San Bernardino were communicating with people who the FBI had been watching. But because their phone was encrypted, because the intelligence officials could not see who they were talking to, it was lost. We have to solve the encryption problem. It is not easy. A president of the United States, again, has to bring people together, have a position. We need to be able to penetrate these people when they are involved in these plots and these plans. And we have to give the local authorities the ability to penetrate to disrupt. That's what we need to do. Encryption is a major problem, and Congress has got to deal with this and so does the president to keep us safe. +p244 +aVYeah, let me \u2014 let me just suggest to everybody, and I hear \u2014 last February, I said we needed to have people on the ground in a coalition with Europe and our allies. This is not going to get done just by working with the Sunnis. And it is not going to get done if we just embed a few people. We have to go massively, like we did in the first Gulf War where we destroyed Saddam's ability to take Kuwait. We need to have a coalition that will stand for nothing less than the total destruction of +p245 +aVI don't understand this thing about Assad. He has to go. Assad is aligned with Iran and Russia. The one thing we want to prevent is we want to prevent Iran being able to extend a Shia crescent all across the Middle East. Assad has got to go. And there are moderates there. There are moderates in Syria who we should be supporting. I do not support a civil war. I don't want to be policeman of the world. But we can't back off of this. And let me tell you, at the end, the Saudis have agreed to put together a coalition inside of Syria to stabilize that country. +p246 +aVHe must go. It will be a blow to Iran and Russia. +p247 +aVThe foreign policy, you have to know how to pick and choose. There's no way, if Saddam had not had weapons of mass destruction, I would have gone, because I don't believe that the U.S. should be involved directly in civil wars. I opposed the U.S. involvement in Lebanon. We ended up having to withdraw our marines after our barracks were blown up. There is a difference between Iraq, where you have Sunni, Shia, and Kurds put together after the First World War by the Western powers. It doesn't work. It needs to break up into three parts. And for the Russians, frankly, it's time that we punched the Russians in the nose. They've gotten away with too much in this world and we need to stand up against them, not just there, but also in Eastern Europe where they threaten some of our most precious allies. +p248 +aVIt sounds more and more what my daughter said that I said in the beginning, all the fighting and arguing is not advancing us. +p249 +aVIt is not the way we're going to strengthen our country. We will strengthen our country when we come together. And, look, you've got Rand Paul, you've got Ted Cruz, you've got Marco, you've got a lot of people on this stage that have studied these issues. You know what a leader does? A leader has a sound program, has a good policy, and then brings people together to solve problems. Guess what? Both in Congress in balancing the budget and in Ohio fixing the economy \u2014 and, by the way, we talk about the fence. The first thing we better get going is strengthening our economy, because if we don't have a strong economy, we can't pay for all of this. And the world wants us to be able to function from strength, believe it or not. Get our economy going, get these people together in a room. We can fix this, ladies and gentlemen. We don't have to fight all the time. It can be done, and we will be great... +p250 +aV... when we join together. Thank you, Hugh. +p251 +aVYou know, obviously, as president of the United States, we've got to keep the people safe. That's first and foremost. But as governor of Ohio, I have an obligation to keep the 11.5 million people in Ohio safe. And we have been very effective with our Joint Terrorism Task Force, being able to make busts. In fact, we just made one three-four weeks ago against a person who was favorable to +p252 +aVNo Republican has ever been elected president of the United States without winning Ohio. Let me give you a little tip on how you win Ohio, it's reform, it's hope, it's growth, it's opportunity, and it's security. The people of Ohio are the people of America. The people of America are reflected in Ohio. Our message has to be big, and bold, and positive, and connect, not just with people's heads but also connect with their hearts. If we do it, we will beat Hillary Clinton, and we will run the White House, and we will strengthen and fix America, I promise you. +p253 +aVFirst of all, let me just say that, in the state of Ohio \u2014 and I'm the only acting executive on \u2014 on this stage today \u2014 we do have a moderate increase in the minimum wage. And I got to tell you, my father carried mail on his back. His father was a coal miner. He died of black lung. He was losing his eyesight. My mother's mother lived with us. She could barely speak English. I come from a town where if the wind blew the wrong way, people found themselves out of work. An economic theory is fine, but you know what? People need help. Now, I have a plan that, in fact, would cut taxes, but not $11 trillion or $12 trillion that would put my children further in debt. I have a plan that would not only cut taxes, lower the income tax rate for individuals, lower the tax for businesses so businesses will compete here and not move operations overseas, and also a plan \u2014 the only plan of anybody standing on this stage to get us to a balanced budget by the end of a second term. And, you know, the simple fact of the matter is, we hear a lot of promises in this debate, a lot of promises about these tax cuts or tax schemes sometimes that I call them. Hillary and the Democrats promise everything on the spending side. We've got to be responsible about what we propose on the tax side. Yes, lower taxes, lower spending. My website, JohnKasich.com, will show you exactly how we balance the budget. I balanced the budget in Washington as a chief architect, and I have balanced it in Ohio for one reason. When you balance the budget and you cut taxes, people get work. And our most important moral purpose as leaders in the political system is to make sure we create an environment for job creation so people can live their dreams and realize their God-given potential. That's why it's so important. And for those at the bottom, we've got to do what we can to train them so they can move up. But to just look the other way is not acceptable, because, you know what, as the governor of Ohio I have to deal with real challenges, and we've gotten it done in our state, and I will do it for America. +p254 +aVSure. We would move the Medicare system from a 7 percent growth down to about a 5 percent growth. And I have a whole series of ways to do that. In Ohio, we reduced Medicaid funding for the poor from 10 percent to 2.5 percent, didn't cut one benefit or didn't take anybody off the rolls. Why? Because we're innovators. I've been an innovator my entire career. And I really don't care what special interests or lobbyists have to say. I have a job to do when I take over a public office. Now, we freeze non-defense discretionary for eight years. We also put an increase in defense spending. Our tax cuts balance out. And at the end of the day, we will get to a balanced budget. And I want everybody here to know, when I was Budget Committee chairman in Washington, I stepped on every toe in that town, and we got to a balanced budget, and we had enormous job growth. And as governor of Ohio, we went from 350,000 lost jobs to a gain of 347,000 jobs. +p255 +aVI'll do it in Washington. I've done it twice; I'll do it thrice for the United States of America. +p256 +aVExcuse me. +p257 +aVYeah, I would like to make a comment. +p258 +aVI appreciate it, Jeb. I'm all of you. But I want at some point to talk about a value-added tax and $11 trillion, $12 trillion tax cuts that will put our kids way deeper in the hole than they have been at this point. So I would like to talk about it at some point, because that's what leadership is. +p259 +aVMaria, can we comment on that? +p260 +aVCan we comment on that? +p261 +aVWell, look, in 1986 Ronald Reagan basically said the people who were here, if they were law-abiding, could stay. But, what didn't happen is we didn't build the walls effectively and we didn't control the border. We need to. We need to control our border just like people have to control who goes in and out of their house. But if people think that we are going to ship 11 million people who are law-abiding, who are in this country, and somehow pick them up at their house and ship them out of Mexico \u2014 to Mexico, think about the families. Think about the children. So, you know what the answer really is? If they have been law- abiding, they pay a penalty. They get to stay. We protect the wall. Anybody else comes over, they go back. But for the 11 million people, come on, folks. We all know you can't pick them up and ship them across, back across the border. It's a silly argument. It is not an adult argument. It makes no sense. +p262 +aVJerry, Gerald, it was an attack. +p263 +aVIn the state of Ohio, the state of Ohio, we have grown 347,000 jobs. Our unemployment is half of what it was. Our fracking industry, energy industry may have contributed 20,000, but if Mr. Trump understood that the real jobs come in the downstream, not in the upstream, but in the downstream. And that's where we're going to get our jobs. But Ohio is diversified. And little false little things, sir, they don't really work when it comes to the truth. So the fact is, all I'm suggesting, we can't ship 11 million people out of this country. Children would be terrified, and it will not work. +p264 +aV...Mr. Baker, everybody got to talk about taxes... +p265 +aV...I think you were coming to me and then... +p266 +aV...Look, I hate to crash the party to you, Mr. Baker, but, you know, what's fair... +p267 +aV...Yes, sir... +p268 +aVLet me tell you this, Mr. Baker, in terms of the cyber attacks, we have the capability to not only have a defensive posture, but it also to make it clear to people that if you attack us with cyber attacks, we will destroy the mechanisms that you are using to attack us. I want to give you a little trip around the world. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years. In the Ukraine, arm the people there so they can fight for themselves. In the eastern part of Europe, make sure that Finland and the Baltics know that if the Russians move, we move. In Syria, yes, a no-fly zone in the north on the Turkish border, a no-fly zone on the south on the Jordanian border. Anybody flies in the first time, maybe they can fly out. They fly in there a second time, they will not fly out. And it also becomes a sanctuary for the people to be. And it also sends many messages in the Middle East that we're still involved. Saudi Arabia, cut off the funding for the radical clerics, the ones that preach against us. But they're fundamentally our friends. Jordan, we want the king to reign for 1,000 years. Egypt, they have been our ally and a moderating force in the Middle East throughout their history. In the groups \u2014 in the countries of the Gulf states of Bahrain, the Cleveland Clinic is opening an operation. Clearly we see the same with them. And in Israel, we have no better ally in the world, and no more criticizing them in public, we should support them. And finally China, China doesn't own the South China Sea, and I give the president some credit for being able to move a naval force in there to let the Chinese know that we're not going to put up with it any more. And in the trade agreement, the TPP, it's critical to us, not only for economic reasons and for jobs, because there are so many people who are connected to getting jobs because of trade, but it allows us to create not only economy alliances, but also potentially strategic alliances against the Chinese. They are not our enemy, but they are certainly not our friend. And finally, I will say to everyone in this room, we have been talking about taxes and economics. When the fall comes, and we run against Hillary, which will be a disaster if she got elected. I have two 16-year-old girls, and I want this country to be strong. We make promises we can't keep under the bright light of the fall, we will have trouble. We must make sure that economic programs and our military programs are solid. I served in Washington as the chairman of the Budget Committee, and we got the budget balanced. And in Ohio, as the CEO, and guess what, we have got to have a CEO mentality and a way to beat Hillary Clinton and the Democracies in the fall. And our ideas have to add up. They have to be solid. And people have to know we have the confidence to lead America. And as president, I will lead this country, as I have before in Washington and in Ohio, and will return both on domestic and international affairs. And I appreciate the opportunity to speak this time, Gerry. +p269 +aVLet me \u2014 let me also say, Gary \u2014 Gary, let me also say, Jeb is \u2014 what Jeb is talking about with the big banks is to force them to reserve their capital, people who invest it and they hold their capital, so that if the bank goes down, the people who are invested in the bank are the ones that pay. That's what he's trying to say. Secondly, I'll tell you about Wall Street: There's too much greed. And the fact is, a free enterprise system is a system that's produced the greatest wealth for the world. But you know Michael Novak, the great Catholic theologian, says that a free enterprise system that is not underlaid with values \u2014 and we should all think about the way we conduct our lives \u2014 yes, free enterprise is great, profits are great, but there have to be some values that underlay it, and they need a good ethics lesson on Wall Street on a regular basis to keep them in check so we, the people, do not lose. +p270 +aVNeil, that's the difference of being an executive. And let me just explain: when a bank is ready to go under and depositors are getting ready to lose their life savings, you just don't say we believe in philosophical concerns. You know what an executive has to decide? When there's a water crisis, how do we get water to the city? When there's a school shooting, how do you get there and help heal a community? When there are financial crisis, or a crisis with ebola, you got to go there and try to fix it. Philosophy doesn't work when you run something. And I gotta tell you, on-the-job training for president of the United States doesn't work. We've done it for 8 years, \u2014 and almost 8 years now. It does not work. We need an executive who's been tried, has been tested, and judge the decisions that that executive makes. I don't like what the Fed is doing, but I'll tell you what worries me more than anything else: turning the Fed over to the Congress of the United States... +p271 +aV...so they can print the money. That would be a very bad approach. +p272 +aVI wouldn't. I wouldn't. +p273 +aVNo. No, I didn't say that. +p274 +aVThey were \u2014 they were talking about what you would do with depositors. Would you let these banks shut down? My argument is, going forward, the banks have to reserve the capital, so that the \u2014 so that the people who own the capital start pressuring the banks to not take these risky approaches, Ted. But at the end of the day... +p275 +aV... I'm gonna tell you this. Let me tell you this. If during \u2014 if during... +p276 +aV...because if during \u2014 well, I'll tell you what (ph). +p277 +aVAs an executive \u2014 no. As an executive, I would figure out how to separate those people who can afford it versus those people, or the hard-working folks who put those money in those institutions...... let me \u2014 no, no. Let me say another thing. Here's what I mean by that. Here's what I mean by that. +p278 +aVWhen you are faced \u2014 when you are faced, in the last financial crisis, with banks going under \u2014 with banks going under, and people, people who put their \u2014 their life savings in there, you got to deal with it. You can't turn a blind eye to it. Now, going forward, that's one thing. If you had another financial crisis, perhaps there would be an effort to make sure that we do (ph). +p279 +aVWell, ladies and gentlemen, if Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders were to win this election, my 16-year-olds, I \u2014 I worry about what their life is going to be like. You know, the conservative movement is all about opportunity. It is about lower taxes. It's about balanced budgets. It's about less regulation. And it's about sending power, money and influence back to where we live so we can run America from the bottom up. In addition to that, once we have the power and the money and the influence with programs we shift out, that each of us have a responsibility to reach out and to rebuild our families, make them stronger, and connect our neighborhoods. All that together \u2014 wealth, connection, family \u2014 America's greatest days are ahead. We must win this election. +p280 +aVGood question, but I want to tell you, my great concern is that we are on the verge, perhaps, of picking someone who cannot do this job. I've watched to see people say that we should dismantle Medicare and Medicaid and leave the senior citizens out \u2014 out in the \u2014 in the cold. I've heard them talk about deporting 10 or 11 \u2014 people here from this country out of this country, splitting families. I've heard about tax schemes that don't add up, that put our kids in \u2014 in a deeper hole than they are today. We need somebody who can lead. We need somebody who can balance budgets, cut taxes... +p281 +aVYou know, frankly, I did it in Washington, in Ohio, and I will do it again in Washington, if I'm president, to get this country moving again. +p282 +aVcountry moving again. +p283 +aVListen, I want to just comment. +p284 +aVWell I want to comment on this. This is the fantasy... +p285 +aVThis is the fantasy that I talked about in the beginning. +p286 +aVI'm the only person on this stage that actually was involved in the chief architect of balancing the Federal Budget. You can't do it with empty promised. You know, these plans would put us trillions and trillions of dollars in debt. I actually have a plan. I'm the only one on this stage that has a plan that would create jobs, cut taxes, balance the budget and can get it done because I'm realistic. You just don't make promises like this. Why don't we just give a chicken in every pot, while we're, you know, coming up \u2014 coming up with these fantasy tax schemes. We'll just clean it up. Where are you gonna clean it up? You have to deal with entitlements, you have to be in a position to control discretionary spending. You gotta be creative and imaginative. Now, let me just be clear, John. I went into Ohio where we had an $8 billion hole and now we have a $2 billion surplus. We're up 347,000 jobs. When I was in Washington, I fought to get the budget balanced. I was the architect. It was the first time we did it since man walked on the moon. We cut taxes and we had a $5 trillion projected surplus when I left. That's was hard work. Fiscal discipline, know what you're doing. Creativity. This stuff is fantasy. Just like getting rid of Medicare and Medicaid. Come on, that's just not \u2014 you scare senior citizens with that. It's not responsible. +p287 +aVWell, I mean right here. To talk about we're just gonna have a 10 percent tithe and that's how we're gonna fund the government? And we're going to just fix everything with waste, fraud, and abuse? Or that we're just going to be great? Or we're going to ship 10 million Americans \u2014 or 10 million people out of this country, leaving their children here in this country and dividing families? Folks, we've got to wake up. We cannot elect somebody that doesn't know how to do the job. You have got to pick somebody who has experience, somebody that has the know-how, the discipline. And I spent my entire lifetime balancing federal budgets, growing jobs, the same in Ohio. And I will go back to Washington with my plan. +p288 +aVAnd I will have done it within 100 days, and it will pass. And we will be strong again. Thank you. +p289 +aVLet me just \u2014 let me respond. First of all, Ohio does have an energy industry, but we're diversified. We're one of the fastest growing states in the country. We came back from the dead. And you know what? It works very, very well. And secondly, when you talk about me being on the board of Lehman Brothers, I wasn't on the board of Lehman Brothers. I was a banker and I was proud of it. And I traveled the country and learned how people made jobs. We ought to have politicians who not only have government experience but know how the CEOs and the job creators work. My state is doing great across the board. And guess what, in 2011, I got a deal... +p290 +aV... an agreement with the... +p291 +aV... that he tried to take credit for four years later. It's a joke. +p292 +aVJohn Harwood, there's a bigger issue here. +p293 +aVWell, first of all, when we talk about the Import Export Bank, it's time to clean up corporate welfare. If we're gonna reform welfare for poor people, we ought to reform it for rich people, as well. Secondly, in our state, we went from a loss of 350,000 jobs to, now, a gain of 347,000 jobs to the positive. Our wages are growing faster than the national average, and I've cut taxes more than any sitting governor in this state \u2014 $5 billion, including no taxes on small business and killing the death tax. I want to go back to what we were talking about earlier, this budget deal in Washington. This is the same old stuff since I left. You spend the money today and then you hope you're going to save money tomorrow. I don't know if people understand, but I spent a lifetime with my colleagues getting us to a federal balanced budget. We actually did it. And I have a road map and a plan right now to get us to balance. Reforming entitlements, cutting taxes. You see, because if you really want to get to a balanced budget, you need to reduce your expenses and you need to grow your economy. So what I will tell you about our incentives \u2014 our incentives are tight, and at the end of the day we make sure that we gain more from the creation of jobs than what we lose. And you know what? Ohio, one of the best growing places in the country \u2014 I not only did it in Washington, I did it in Ohio, and I'll go back to Washington, and there will be no more silly deals... +p294 +aV... If I become President because we'll have a Constitutional Amendment to require a federally balanced budget so they will do their job. +p295 +aVWell, first of all, we're running a $2 billion dollar surplus, we're not having a revenue problem right now. And, sending mixed signals to kids about drugs is a disaster. Drugs is one of the greatest scourge in this country, and I spent five years of my administration working with my team to do a whole sort of things to try to reign in the problem of overdoses, and it goes on and on. We could do a whole show on that. I want to go back for a second thought on this issue of income inequality. My program would move the 104 programs of the federal Department of Education into four block grants, and send them back to the states because income inequality is driven by a lack of skills when kids don't get what they need to be able to compete and win in this country. The fact is, in order to get this economy moving again, I call for freezing regulations for a year except for the problem of public safety. I believe that we need to cut these taxes down, we need to be on a roadmap to balancing the budget, and we need to send power, money, and influence, the welfare department, the education department, job training, infrastructure, Medicaid, all of that out of Washington back to the states so we can run these programs from where we live to the top, not a one size fits all mentality that they have in Washington. And, that will get to the nub of opportunity for our children, and an ability to see wages rise. Again... +p296 +aV...One more time, in Ohio, our wages are growing faster than the national average. We've cut taxes, balanced budgets, changed the regulatory environment. Folks, you want to \u2014 +p297 +aV\u2014 fix America, this is the formula. It worked for Reagan and it works for our team in Ohio. Thank you. +p298 +aVJohn. +p299 +aVI wanna tell you, in my state, we took Medicaid, the hardest program to control, and we took it from a 10 percent growth rate to 2.5 percent without taking one person off the rolls or cutting one single benefit. And so much of what we did \u2014 to force competition, to use technology, to stand down the special interest groups \u2014 can you imagine taking Medicaid from 10 to 2.5 percent? We can take many of those same procedures, we can apply it to Medicare. We can make a stronger program. But I agree with Jeb, you can't just do this by growing the economy. You can't grow your way out of demographics. But we can give people better health care. And finally, on health care, why don't we start treating \u2014 keep giving... +p300 +aV...incentives for people to keep people healthy, rather than giving the incentives to treat them when they're sick? +p301 +aVI was on morning Joe at a town hall and a young student stood up and said, "Can I still be idealistic?" I said, absolutely, you can still change the world. And, you know the old inscription, if you save one life, you've changed the world. Folks, we have a problem here with the leadership in Washington, but I'll tell you another problem. We need to rebuild our families. We need to have stronger families. We need to know who our neighbors are. We need to come together as a country because we have to realize that America is great, not from the top-down. Oh yeah, we want to elect a good president, but America is great from the bottom-up, and the bottom-up is us in our families, in our communities, in our neighborhoods. We will renew America if we work together, and I am totally confident that we will. And God bless America. +p302 +aVHello, I'm John Kasich, the Governor of Ohio. Emma, and Reese, my children, and Karen, love 'ya girls. Thanks for watching tonight. By the way, I think I actually flew on this plane with Ronald Reagan when I was a congressman, and his goals, and mine, really much \u2014 are pretty much the same. Lift Americans, unify, give hope, grow America, and restore it is to that great, shining city on a hill. Yes, he was a great one, and I learned much from watching him. The most important thing, hope to Americans, unify, lift everyone in America. +p303 +aVJake, Jake. +p304 +aVListen, you know, I \u2014 if I were sitting at home and watch thing back and forth, I would be inclined to turn it off. I mean, people at home want to know across this country, they want to know what we're going to do to fix this place, how we'll balance a budget, how we're going to create more economic growth, how we'll pay down the debt. What we're going to do to strengthen the military. So, we just spent 10 minutes here... +p305 +aVBut \u2014 but wait a minute. It's a lot of ad hogshead. Now, I know that it may be buzzing out there, but I think it's important we get to the issues, because that's what people want, and they don't want all this fighting. +p306 +aV...Yeah, well... +p307 +aVWell, let me just say this. First of all, I think it's a bad agreement, I would never have done it. But, you know, a lot of our problems in the world today is that we don't have the relationship with our allies. If we want to go everywhere alone, we will not have the strength as (ph) if we could rebuild with our allies. Now, this agreement, we don't know what's going to happen in 18 months. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years. I've seen lots of issues in foreign affairs, and foreign \u2014 in terms of global politics, you have to be steady. Now, here's the \u2014 if they cheat, we slap the sanctions back on. If they help Hamas, and Hezbollah, we slap the sanctions back on. And, if we find out that they may be developing a nuclear weapon, than the military option is on the table. We are stronger when we work with the Western civilization, our friends in Europe, and just doing it on our own I don't think is the right policy. +p308 +aVNo, no, no. I want to \u2014 I want to \u2014 I want to say something about what the senator just said. +p309 +aVNo one is \u2014 no \u2014 let me \u2014 let me suggest to you we believe that we operate better in the world when our allies work with us. President Bush did it in the Gulf War. We work better when we are unified. Secondly, nobody's trusting Iran. They violate the deal, we put on the sanctions, and we have the high moral ground to talk to our allies in Europe to get them to go with us. If they don't go with us, we slap the sanctions on anyway. If they fund these radical groups that threaten Israel and all of the West, then we should rip up the deal and put the sanctions back on. And let me make it clear \u2014 let me make it clear... +p310 +aV... if we think \u2014 if we think they're getting close to a \u2014 to developing a nuclear weapon and we get that information, you better believe that I would do everything in my power as the commander-in-chief to stop them having a nuclear weapon. +p311 +aVWe can have it, and we can have our allies, and we can be strong as a country, and we can project across this globe with unity, not just doing it alone. That is not what gets us where we want to get as a nation. +p312 +aVWell, I agree that we should defund Planned Parenthood. I don't know many people in America who don't think that we should, and in my state, we're trying to figure out how to get it done, because we are threatened with the federal government taking all of our Medicaid money away. I think there is a way to get this done by giving governors the ability to be able to act to defund Planned Parenthood. But when (ph) it comes to closing down the federal government, you gotta be very careful about that. When we shut the government down \u2014 if we have a chance at success and it's a great principle, yes. The president of the United States is not going to sign this, and all we're gonna do is shut the government down, and then we're gonna open up \u2014 open it up, and the American people are gonna shake their heads and say, "what's the story with these Republicans?" So I think there is a way to get to cutting off the funding for Planned Parenthood. I was in the Congress for 18 years, balanced the budget, cut taxes, got it done. Changed welfare, went around the president to get welfare reform done. There are ways to do it without having to shut the government down, but I'm sympathetic to the fact that we don't want this organization to get funding, and the money ought to be reprogrammed for family planning in other organizations that don't support this tactic. But I would not be for shutting the government down... +p313 +aV...because I don't think it's going to work out. +p314 +aVWe're not \u2014 what I can tell you is this. We didn't surrender in New Jersey, six years ago, as the brand new first ever pro-life governor of New Jersey since Roe versus Wade, I defended Planned Parenthood. And I've vetoed Planned Parenthood funding, now, eight times in New Jersey. Since the day I walked in as governor, Planned Parenthood has not been funded in New Jersey. We stood up and every one of those vetoes has been sustained. But here's the problem, we're \u2014 we're fighting with each other up here. We agree. Let's ask Hillary Clinton. She believes in the systematic murder of children in the womb to preserve their body parts... +p315 +aV...Dana, in a way that maximizes their value for sale for profit. It is disgusting, and the American people need to hear it... +p316 +aV...we shouldn't be fighting with each other. She's the real opponent, she's the real problem. +p317 +aVI'll tell you what \u2014 I'll tell you what I'd be willing to fight for. I'll tell you what I'd be willing to fight for. Why will (ph) we put tax reform on the president's desk, so we can simplify this tax system? +p318 +aVNo, no, it's really important, Dana. We got to talk about what we would be willing to shut down for. Why don't we put tax reform on this president's desk, and make him veto it if that's what he wants to do? Why haven't we repealed and replaced Obamacare? Make him veto if that's what he wants to do. +p319 +aVThere's a \u2014 +p320 +aVJake \u2014 +p321 +aVOK, Jake. +p322 +aVI don't at this point in terms of changing the incentives for investment and risk-taking. But let's just stop for a second. There's one person on this stage that does have a record. I'm the only person on the stage and one of the few people in this country that led the effort as the chief architect of the last time we balanced the federal budget. We also cut taxes. And when I left Washington in 2000, we had a $5 trillion surplus, and the economy was booming. I had spent 10 years of my life to get us to that point, went out in the private sector, was a great experience, and went into Ohio and took an $8 billion hole and turned it into a $2 billion surplus. We've had the largest amount of tax cuts of any sitting governor. We've grown well over 300,000 jobs. You see, I've done it in both places. I'm the only one here that has done it in both places. It took a lot to get us to a balanced budget. It was legitimate. It was real. And we negotiated it. A lot of what we're talking about here tonight as we take this position and that position, you know what? At the end of the day, America has got to work. We've got to figure out how we come together to deal with this \u2014 with our fiscal problems because when we deal with that, we create a stronger economy for everybody. People have a chance to rise. So, you know, when we think about how we make a choice, it's the person that lands that plane. It's not somebody that talks about it. It's about the person who has done it. And I've done it in... +p323 +aV... both places. And I did it including people in the other party. And that's how we were successful. +p324 +aVAnd that's how I will be president, using that experience to drive this country forward. Thank you. +p325 +aVWell, look, people still have to get to know me, so I want to spend my time talking about my experience reforming welfare, balancing budgets, cutting taxes, providing economic growth when I was in Washington, turning Ohio around. Eight billion in the hole, $2 billion surplus, up over 300,000 jobs, big tax cuts, strengthening our credit. All those things matter but, you know, as a young man in my first election in 1978, I defeated an incumbent Democrat. I defeated an incumbent Democrat in 1982; running on the Reagan program, I was the only Republican in America to defeat an incumbent Democrat that year. And then, when I won for election of governor, I was the first Republican to defeat an incumbent in 36 years, and the first person to have never run statewide out of politics for 10 years to beat an incumbent. That hadn't happened for 96 years. So, we'll get to the point where we'll talk about Hillary Clinton, or whoever the nominee is, record. But right now, I want to give people sense of hope, sense of purpose, a sense of unity, sense that we can do it. So... +p326 +aVYou know, at the end of the day, I'm going to continue to talk about my record, because there is, did you ever notice when people run for office, they run for president, they make a lot of promises, they don't keep them. +p327 +aVI don't intend to do that, and I going to be out there pushing it out \u2014 don't worry about me and Hillary. That will all work out, and I'm from Ohio. She will not beat me there, I can promise you that. +p328 +aVCan I just \u2014 can I \u2014 Jake, can I just make one point on this whole military discussion? +p329 +aVI called for boots on the ground many months ago in a coalition with our friends who share our interest. You know, you win a battle with the military, and when we go somewhere, we need to be mobile, and lethal. We need to take care of business, and we need to come home. But, we face, also, a bigger war \u2014 and you win the bigger war with the battle of ideas. You wonder why young people, and educated people, rich people, schooled people, have tried to join +p330 +aV...to make (ph) centers (ph) of justice so that we can battle the radicals, call them out for what they are, and make sure that all of our people feel fulfilled in living in Western civilization... +p331 +aV...This is a giant battle in the world today... +p332 +aVWell, it's probably not, maybe, legal, but, I would pick Mother Theresa, the lady that I had a chance to meet, a woman who lived a life so much bigger than her own. An inspiration to everyone when we think about our responsibility to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. +p333 +aVWell, I have one now \u2014 they (ph) call me, "Unit One". My wife says, "You'll never be Unite One, I'm Unite One. You're Unit Two." +p334 +aVWell, as president, I will make this a nation that will solve problems. And how? By having the elected officials and the leaders realize they're Americans before they're Republicans or Democrats. I did it in Washington. And I've done it in Ohio by having the elected officials realize that they're Ohioans before anything else. Secondly, I will rebuild the relationships and show the respect to our allies around the world. We have no choice but to do that. We will be stronger when we are unified. And we'll fight for freedom and for human rights. And finally, a little bit of what Carly said. The people that are out there listening, America was never great because we ran America from the top down. America is great because we have run America from the bottom up, where we all live in the neighborhoods. One more time in America, we need to revive the concept of citizenship, where everybody's actions make a huge difference in changing the world. We have a Holocaust memorial on our state house grounds. And there is one line on there that stands out all the time. "If you've saved one life, you've changed the world." We need to adopt that as citizens and rebuild and reinspire our country. Thank you. +p335 +aVWell, first of all... ...first of all, Megyn, you should know that -- that President Reagan expanded Medicaid three or four times. Secondly, I had an opportunity to bring resources back to Ohio to do what? To treat the mentally ill. Ten thousand of them sit in our prisons. It costs $22,500 a year... ...to keep them in prison. I'd rather get them their medication so they could lead a decent life. Secondly, we are rehabbing the drug-addicted. Eighty percent of the people in our prisons have addictions or problems. We now treat them in the prisons, release them in the community and the recidivism rate is 10 percent and everybody across this country knows that the tsunami of drugs is -- is threatening their very families. So we're treating them and getting them on their feet. And, finally, the working poor, instead of them having come into the emergency rooms where it costs more, where they're sicker and we end up paying, we brought a program in here to make sure that people could get on their feet. And do you know what? Everybody has a right to their God-given purpose. And finally, our Medicaid is growing at one of the lowest rates in the country. And, finally, we went from $8 billion in the hole to $2 billion in the black. We've cut $5 billion in taxes... ...and we've grown 350,000 jobs. +p336 +aVChris, first of all, I was just saying to Chris Christie, they say we're outspoken, we need to take lessons from Donald Trump if we're really going to learn it. Here is the thing about Donald Trump. Donald Trump is hitting a nerve in this country. He is. He's hitting a nerve. People are frustrated. They're fed up. They don't think the government is working for them. And for people who want to just tune him out, they're making a mistake. Now, he's got his solutions. Some of us have other solutions. You know, look, I balanced the federal budget as one of the chief architects when I was in Washington. Hasn't been done since. I was a military reformer. I took the state of Ohio from an $8 billion hole and a 350,000 job loss to a $2 billion surplus and a gain of 350,000 jobs. +p337 +aVBut the point is that we all have solutions. Mr. Trump is touching a nerve because people want the wall to be built. They want to see an end to illegal immigration. They want to see it, and we all do. But we all have different ways of getting there. And you're going to hear from all of us tonight about what our ideas are. +p338 +aVDonald, if you... +p339 +aV-- this campaign, I hope you will give to me. +p340 +aVOK. +p341 +aVLet's start off with my father being a mailman. So I understand the concerns of all the folks across this country, some of whom have trouble, you know, making ends meet. But I think she will come in a narrow way. The nominee of this party, if they're going to win, has got to come at it in a big way, which is pro-growth. Which is balancing budgets. You know, we were talking about it. People were saying, could we do it? I was the chairman of the Budget Committee and the lead architect the last time it happened in Washington, and when we did it we had great economic growth, we cut taxes, and we had a big surplus. Economic growth is the key. Economic growth is the key to everything. But once you have economic growth, it is important that we reach out to people who live in the shadows, the people who don't seem to ever think that they get a fair deal. And that includes people in our minority community; that includes people who feel as though they don't have a chance to move up. You know, America is a miracle country. And we have to restore the sense that the "Amiracle" will apply to you. Each and every one of the people in this country who's watching tonight, lift everybody, unite everybody and build a stronger United States of America again. It will be and can be done. +p342 +aVWell, look, I'm an old-fashioned person here, and I happen to believe in traditional marriage. But I've also said the court has ruled -- +p343 +aVWait, Megyn, the court has ruled, and I said we'll accept it. And guess what, I just went to a wedding of a friend of mine who happens to be gay. Because somebody doesn't think the way I do, doesn't mean that I can't care about them or can't love them. So if one of my daughters happened to be that, of course I would love them and I would accept them. Because you know what? That's what we're taught when we have strong faith. So the issues like that, issues like that are planted to divide us. I think the simple fact of the matter is, and this is where I would agree with Jeb, and I've been saying it all along, we need to give everybody a chance, treat everybody with respect, and let them share in this great American dream that we have, Megan. So, look, I'm going to love my daughters, I'm going to love them no matter what they do. Because, you know what, God gives me unconditional love. I'm going to give it to my family and my friends and the people around me. +p344 +aVWell, Megyn, my father was a mailman. His father was a coal miner. My mother's mother could barely speak English. And their son today stands on this podium in the great state of Ohio not only as the governor, but a candidate for president of the United States. I do believe in miracles. You know, I've had a lot of elections. But my elections are really not about campaigns. I tell my people that these are about a movement. And a movement to do what? To restore common sense. A movement to do things like provide economic growth. And a movement not to let anybody be behind. You know, today the country is divided. You asked a question about the police and the difficulty in communities. We've got to unite our country again, because we're stronger when we are united and we are weaker when we are divided. And we've got to listen to other people's voices, respect them, but keep in mind, and I believe in terms of the things that I've read in my lifetime, the Lord'is not picking us. But because of how we respect human rights, because that we are a good force in the world, he wants America to be strong. He wants America to succeed. And he wants America to lead. And nothing is more important to me than my family, my faith, and my friends. +p345 +aVYou know, tonight we hear about what people want to do. I want to tell you what I've done. I was a member of the Armed Services Committee for 18 years. I spent a big chunk of my life studying national security issues and our role in the world. No. 2. I was the chairman of the House Budget Committee and one of the chief architects the last time we balanced a budget, and it was the first time we had done it since man walked on the moon. We had a $5 trillion surplus and we cut taxes. I spent ten years in the private sector, actually learning how business works. And now I'm the governor of Ohio, and I inherited a state that was on the brink of dying. And we turned it all around with jobs and balanced budgets and rising credit and tax cuts, and the state is unified, and people have hope again in Ohio. +p346 +asVQUICK +p347 +(lp348 +VGentlemen \u2014 we'll \u2014 we'll get back to this \u2014 just a minute \u2014 just a minute we're gonna continue this. I wanna talk taxes... +p349 +aVDr. Carson, let's talk about taxes. You have a flat tax plan of 10 percent flat taxes, and \u2014 I've looked at it \u2014 and this is something that is very appealing to a lot of voters, but I've had a really tough time trying to make the math work on this. If you were to took a 10 percent tax, with the numbers right now in total personal income, you're gonna come in with bring in $1.5 trillion. That is less than half of what we bring in right now. And by the way, it's gonna leave us in a $2 trillion hole. So what analysis got you to the point where you think this will work? +p350 +aVI \u2014 I understand that, but if you \u2014 if you look at the numbers you probably have to get to 28. +p351 +aV15 percent still leaves you with a $1.1 trillion hole. +p352 +aVYou'd have to cut \u2014 you'd have to cut government about 40 percent to make it work with a $1.1 trillion hole. +p353 +aVThat is true, I looked at the numbers. +p354 +aVDr. Carson, thank you. +p355 +aVGovernor... +p356 +aVDr. Carson, let me get 30 seconds with Dr. Carson... +p357 +aVThank you. +p358 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, thank you. +p359 +aVGentlemen, I'm sorry, we need to... +p360 +aVWe're going to move on. +p361 +aVThirty seconds. +p362 +aVWe'll get to everyone. Ms. Fiorina, I \u2014 I'd like to ask you a question. You are running for president of the United States because of your record running Hewlett-Packard. But the stock market is usually a fair indicator of the performance of a CEO, and the market was not kind to you. Someone who invested a dollar in your company the day you took office had lost half of the dollar by the day you left. Obviously, you've talked in the past about what a difficult time it was for technology companies, but anybody who was following the market knows that your stock was a much worse performer, if you looked at your competitors, if you looked at the overall market. I just wonder, in terms of all of that \u2014 you know, we look back, your board fired you. I just wondered why you think we should hire you now. +p363 +aVMrs. Fiorina, it's interesting that you bring up Mr. Perkins, because... ...he said a lot of very questionable things. Last year, in an interview, he said that he thinks wealthy people should get more votes than poor people. I think his quote was that, "if you pay zero dollars in taxes, you should get zero votes. If you pay a million dollars, you should get a million votes." Is this the type of person you want defending you? +p364 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p365 +aVThank you, we're out of time. Thank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Carl. +p366 +aVGovernor Christie, I'd like to a question next. Actually, I have a question for you . In your tell it like it is campaign, you've said a lot of tough things. You've said that we need to raise the retirement age for Social Security. You think that we need to cut benefits for people who make over $80,000 and eliminate them entirely for seniors who are making over $200,000. Governor Huckabee, who is here on the stage, has said that you and others who think this way are trying to rob seniors of the benefits that they've earned. It raises the question: When it is acceptable to break a social compact? +p367 +aV...Governor... +p368 +aV...Thank you. +p369 +aVWelcome back to the presidential debate for the Republicans. We are live in Boulder, Colorado, right here on +p370 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. +p371 +aVSenator Rubio, you yourself have said that you've had issues. You have a lack of bookkeeping skills. You accidentally inter-mingled campaign money with your personal money. You faced (ph) foreclosure on a second home that you bought. And just last year, you liquidated a $68,000 retirement fund. That's something that cost you thousands of dollars in taxes and penalties. In terms of all of that, it raises the question whether you have the maturity and wisdom to lead this $17 trillion economy. What do you say? +p372 +aVSenator, I understand all of that. I had a lot of student loans when I got out, too. But you've had a windfall that a lot of Americans haven't. You made over a million dollars on a book deal, and some of these problems came after that. +p373 +aVBut you \u2014 but you liquidated that retirement account after the fact, and that cost you about $24,000 out of that in taxes and feed. That \u2014 that was after you'd already come into that windfall. That's why I raised the question. +p374 +aVYes, thank you John. Senator Cruz, working women in this country still earn just 77 percent of what men earn. And I know that you've said you've been very sympathetic to our cause. But you've also you said that the Democrats' moves to try and change this are the political show votes. I just wonder what you would do as President to try and help in this cause? +p375 +aVMrs. Fiorina \u2014 +p376 +aVMrs. Fiorina, we will come back to you. +p377 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Carl? +p378 +aVMr. Trump, let's stay on this issue of immigration. You have been very critical of Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook who has wanted to increase the number of these H1Bs. +p379 +aVSo you're in favor of... +p380 +aVWhere did I read this and come up with this that you were... +p381 +aVYou know, Mr. \u2014 you know, Mr. Trump, if I may . You've been \u2014 you have been \u2014 you had talked a little bit about Marco Rubio. I think you called him Mark Zuckerberg's personal senator because he was in favor of the H1B. +p382 +aVSo this was an erroneous article the whole way around? +p383 +aVMy apologies. I'm sorry. +p384 +aVYes, you can. +p385 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you very much. I would like to introduce my colleague, Rick Santelli, he has some comments as well, sir. +p386 +aVRick, thank you very much. Governor Huckabee, you have railed against income inequality. You've said that some Wall Street executives should have gone to jail over the roles that they played during the financial crisis. Apart from your tax plan, are there specific steps you would require from corporate America to try and reduce the income inequality. +p387 +aVGovernor? +p388 +aVGovernor? +p389 +aVThank you. +p390 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee. +p391 +aVHow about 15 more seconds? +p392 +aVGovernor? +p393 +aVGovernor, I'm sorry... +p394 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p395 +aVGovernor, thank you. Appreciate it. John? +p396 +aVIt's at the moderator discretion. +p397 +aVWelcome back to the University of Colorado and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p398 +aVThank you, sir. +p399 +aVYou were. You get 30 seconds. +p400 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Carl? +p401 +aVHigher education is the example... +p402 +aVI want to go back, if I can, to the issue of... +p403 +aVI want to go back, if I may, to the... +p404 +aVSenator Paul, among the leading conservative opponents to the creation of Medicare back in the 1960s was Ronald Reagan. He warned that it would lead to socialism. Considering the mounting cost of Medicare, was he right to oppose it? +p405 +aVSenator, thank you. [ +p406 +aVWelcome back to Boulder, Colorado and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p407 +aVThank you, Governor. +p408 +aVGovernor. +p409 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Paul, let's go back to you. Do these solutions sound like they work? +p410 +aVDo these solutions sound like they would work? +p411 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Governor? +p412 +asVREGAN +p413 +(lp414 +VIn Tuesday's State of the Union Address, the president said that our economy is strong. He cited the significant decline we've seen in unemployment rate and the millions of jobs that have been created. What is your assessment of the economy right now? And I would like to hear from all of you on this one, beginning with Ms. Fiorina. +p415 +aVThank you Governor Huckabee. Senator Santorum? +p416 +aVThank you. Well, since we've been talking about the Middle East, Senator Santorum, conflicts between Saudi Arabia and Iran have certainly escalated, amid accusations that Saudi Arabia bombed the Iranian Embassy in Yemen after the Saudi Embassy in Tehran was attacked. As we confront an increasingly unstable Middle East, how will you, as president, navigate this administration's promises to Iran while standing by our historic allies in the region? +p417 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p418 +aVGovernor Huckabee, if I could just follow-up with that. Do we need to be in Afghanistan? +p419 +aVThank you Governor Huckabee. Ms. Fiorina, nearly 600 women say they were attacked in a German city on New Year's Eve by men of Arab or North African descent and 45 percent of those alleged attacks were sexual assaults. Twenty-two of those 32 men arrested so far are asylum-seekers. Are you worried about similar problems in the United States? +p420 +aVI want to stay with you on this. The world shares a common enemy right now in the way of +p421 +aVMs. Fiorina, thank you. +p422 +aVWelcome back, everyone, to the Republican presidential debate. On to the next round of questions \u2014 Sandra. +p423 +aVMs. Fiorina, the president has just issued an executive order to expand the gun laws and background checks. And none of you on stage agree with this. But recent polls show the majority of Americans are in favor of universal background checks. +p424 +aVIt's the poll data. +p425 +aVSo tell me......why, in your view, is the president's proposal a problem? +p426 +aVMs. Fiorina, you've said that was when you were CEO of HP, you actually worked with the government. +p427 +aV\u2014 to try and combat some of these terrorist threats. +p428 +aVWhat did you do? +p429 +aVMs. Fiorina, thank you. +p430 +aVGovernor Huckabee, an American in San Bernardino murdered 14 people while terrorists with Belgian and French passports murdered 130 people. Were facing a threat within our borders, and from outside the United States. Those European terrorists, they could have come here at any time given that we have a visa waiver program that enables people to travel back and forth. It exists within those countries, and 36 others. In countries around the world, including many in Europe, cannot ensure that their citizens are not jihadists, why are we waiving the visa requirement at all? +p431 +aVIf you get the visa waiver program, does that shut down international commerce? +p432 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p433 +aVSenator Santorum, thank you. +p434 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p435 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from North Charleston. We want to jump right back in. Sandra is kicking it off. +p436 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you know it used to be you could graduate from high school and get a pretty good job at the local factory, enough to take care of your family and yourself. Those days seem to be gone. It's pretty hard to do that nowadays. Businesses are increasingly turning to automation to increase their productivity levels. It's happening right here, in fact, at the Boeing factory in North Charleston. The president says automation threatens workers' ability to get higher wages. Do you agree with that? And if so, do you have a solution? +p437 +aVThank you very much, Governor Huckabee. Senator Santorum, 40% of babies born today are born to single moms. That's twice as high as reported back in 1980, and it's 11 times as high as in 1940. Studies show that children are always better off economically, most often \u2014 and emotionally, with two parents in a household. From a policy perspective, should the government be doing anything to encourage family formation? +p438 +aVThank you. +p439 +aVCarly Fiorina? +p440 +aVThank you to all the candidates. That does it, everyone for the first debate right here in North Charleston. +p441 +asVHEMMER +p442 +(lp443 +VSo, here we go. Ninety-seven hours before Iowa chooses, in fact the last two winners in this state are on this stage tonight. Governor Huckabee, in 2008, you won by nine points here, but this time your support seems to be going to Senator Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. Why, Governor, is your message not working this time? +p444 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Santorum, four short years ago you won Iowa. You beat Mitt Romney, pretty much shocked the country. But, just the other day you talked about what is in the greater good for your campaign. Is Monday night your last stand? +p445 +aVOK. +p446 +aV... Senator, do you want to name... ... Senator, do you want to name that entertainer your refering to? +p447 +aVBut senator, since you mentioned... +p448 +aVSenator, quickly then, after this debate, you mentioned Donald trump's name. Immediately, you're going to event across town here in Des Moines as a guest of Donald Trump. +p449 +aVSo are you laying the groundwork for maybe your future? Perhaps an endorsement of Mr. Trump? +p450 +aVThank you, senator. One moment. We'll get to you in a moment, Governor. We have a few coming up. +p451 +aVThank you. Governor Gilmore. As of one week ago, you have not held a single campaign event here in the state of Iowa. As of one week ago, in fact, you were the only one in the Republican field who had not made a campaign visit to this state. You know how it works here. You know how it's worked over time. Why should anyone caucus for you on Monday night? +p452 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p453 +aVMs. Fiorina, same topic. The president says that many are exaggerating the threat from +p454 +aVThank you. +p455 +aVGovernor Gilmore, some time this spring 34 more detainees are cleared from release from Gitmo. If you were president, as you say, this president wants to close it. As president, if Gitmo were closed and an enemy combatant were found or captured in the field of battle, perhaps Syria or Iraq or Libya, and you don't have Gitmo, where would you put them? +p456 +aVGovernor, thank you for that. +p457 +aVWelcome back to Des Moines on what will be a long night here. Let's get back to the questions. Let's get back to the questions with Martha. +p458 +aVLet me stay with you, Ms. Fiorina. You've said you will shrink the federal government by 30 percent over the next two years, and those jobs will not be filled, and you'll do it through retirement. Your critics would argue that's exactly what you did at Hewlett Packard when 30,000 people lost their jobs. If it did not work at H.P., why would it work at the federal government? +p459 +aVThank you. +p460 +aVGovernor Huckabee, Nikki Haley, Republican governor from South Carolina, recently said... +p461 +aVI did not, but we... +p462 +aVWe have plenty for you -- you bet, Governor. We have a couple more in the hopper for you in a moment here. +p463 +aVFirst, Governor -- Governor Huckabee, Nikki Haley warned about listening to "the siren call of the angriest voices," to which Donald Trump said he is "very, very angry." Who is right, Governor? +p464 +aVThank you, Governor. +p465 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you've mentioned the economy several times tonight. Let's go back to that for a moment because in America today 50% of the American workers are making less than $30,000 dollars a year. Let's talk about what you could do for them. The Conservative Club for Growth has had an issue with your policy on taxes for years. In fact, it called you, "Tax Hike Mike". And, the record shows state spending in Arkansas increased 54% when you were in charge, 94% if you include federal dollars during that same period. When it comes to helping people at the margins, $30,000, $32,000 dollars a year, what's better? A tax and spend approach, or shrinking government? +p466 +aVGovernor Huckabee, thank you. Same issue, Senator Santorum. The President says criticism of his economic policy is political hot air. You consistently talk about manufacturing jobs leaving America. You support a flat tax of 20%. How would a flat tax bring back two million jobs to America? +p467 +aVSenator, thank you. +p468 +aVThank you Ms. Fiorina. Governor Gilmore. Who are the moderate Muslims do you seek advice and counsel from on how to deal with the threat from radical Islamic terrorism? +p469 +aVThank you governor. Governor Huckabee. Here in Iowa 43 percent of Democratic caucus goers describe themselves as socialist. That's a higher number than those who say they are capitalist. I guess you could say, they're feeling the burn. This is a country rooted in capitalism, the United States of America. How did we get here? +p470 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum, the president says politics in America have become meaner over the past several years with him in the White House. Two weeks ago at the State of the Union he said the following. "A president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide." Lincoln and Roosevelt, that's pretty good company. If he is right, do Republicans share some of the blame? +p471 +aVThank you, Senator. +p472 +aVIn the closing few moments, the candidates have an opportunity to make a closing statement, 30 seconds for each. And, we want to start tonight with the former Virginia Governor, Jim Gilmore. +p473 +aV... Thank you, Governor. +p474 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p475 +aVThank you, Governor. +p476 +aVThat concludes our debate tonight, but the night has just begun. +p477 +asVBAIER +p478 +(lp479 +VLess than a year from now, in this very arena, one of these 10 candidates or one of the seven on the previous debate tonight will accept the Republican party's nomination. Tonight's candidates were selected based on an average of five national polls. Just a few hours ago, you heard from the candidates ranked 11th through 17. And now, the prime-time event, the top 10. +p480 +aVNeurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Florida Senator Marco Rubio. +p481 +aVIt might be. It might be. We'll see. [ +p482 +aVIt might be. The rules for tonight are simple. One minute for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups. And if a candidate runs over, you'll hear this. Pleasant, no? We also have a big crowd here with us tonight in the home of the Cavaliers, as I mentioned. And while we expect them... ... we expect them to be enthusiastic, as you heard, we don't want to take anything away from the valuable time for the candidate. So, we're looking for somewhere between a reaction to a LeBron James dunk and the Cleveland Public Library across the street. Somewhere there, we'll find a balance tonight. Without further ado, let's begin. +p483 +aVGentlemen, we know how much you love hand-raising questions. So we promise, this is the only one tonight: the only one. Is there anyone on stage, and can I see hands, who is unwilling tonight to pledge your support to the eventual nominee of the Republican party and pledge to not run an independent campaign against that person. Again, we're looking for you to raise your hand now -- raise your hand now if you won't make that pledge tonight. Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump to be clear, you're standing on a Republican primary debate stage. +p484 +aVThe place where the RNC will give the nominee the nod. +p485 +aVAnd that experts say an independent run would almost certainly hand the race over to Democrats and likely another Clinton. You can't say tonight that you can make that pledge? +p486 +aVSo tonight, you can't say if another one of these... +p487 +aVOK. +p488 +aVDr. Paul. +p489 +aVOK. +p490 +aVJust to be clear, you can't make a -- we're gonna -- we're going to move on. You're not gonna make the pledge tonight? +p491 +aVOK. Alright. +p492 +aVGovernor Bush, you have insisted that you're your own man. You say you have a life experience uniquely your own. Not your father's, not your brother's. But there are several opponents on this stage who get big- applause lines in early voting states with this line: quote, "the last thing the country needs is another Bush in the Oval Office." So do you understand the real concern in this country about dynastic politics? +p493 +aVGovernor Christie, you're not exactly the darling of conservatives. You tout your record as a Republican governor in a blue state. On Facebook, the most people talking about you, not surprisingly, come from your state of New Jersey, and one of the top issues they are talking about is the economy. This -- this may be why. Under your watch, New Jersey has undergone nine credit rating downgrades. The state's 44th in private sector growth. You face an employee pension crisis and the Garden State has the third highest foreclosure rate in the country. So why should voters believe that your management of the country's finances would be any different? +p494 +aVSenator Paul, you recently blamed the rise of +p495 +aVGentlemen, the next series of questions deals with ObamaCare and the role of the federal government. Mr. Trump, ObamaCare is one of the things you call a disaster. +p496 +aVSaying it needs to be repealed and replaced. +p497 +aVNow, 15 years ago, you called yourself a liberal on health care. You were for a single-payer system, a Canadian-style system. Why were you for that then and why aren't you for it now? +p498 +aVBut on ObamaCare... +p499 +aVMr. Trump, hold up one second. +p500 +aVAll right, now, hold on, Senator Paul... +p501 +aVOK. +p502 +aVAll right, let me... Mr. Trump, it's not just your past support for single- payer health care. You've also supported a host of other liberal policies. Use -- you've also donated to several Democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton included, Nancy Pelosi. You explained away those donations saying you did that to get business-related favors. And you said recently, quote, "When you give, they do whatever the hell you want them to do." +p503 +aVSo what specifically did... +p504 +aV-- they do? +p505 +aVHold on. We're going to -- we're going to move on. We'll come back to you, Governor Walker. +p506 +aVWe have many questions to come. +p507 +aVMany questions to come. Governor Huckabee, on Facebook, John Pietricone asked this, "Will you abolish or take away the powers and cut the size of the EPA, the IRS, the Department of Education?" Now, broadly... ...broadly, the size of government is a big concern for Facebook users, Facebook persons, as well as, obviously, conservatives. But year after year, decade after decade, there are promises from Republicans to shrink government. But year after year, decade after decade, it doesn't happen. In fact, it gets bigger, even under Republican politicians. So the question is, at this point, is the government simply too big for any one person, even a Republican, to shrink? +p508 +aVDr. Carson... +p509 +aVDr. Carson, do you agree with that? +p510 +aVGovernor Bush? +p511 +aVWe're going to come back to you, Dr. Carson. Governor Bush, you are one of the few people on the stage who advocates for Common Core education standards, reading and math. A lot of people on this stage vigorously oppose a federal involvement in education. They say it should all be handled locally. President Obama's secretary of education, Arnie Duncan, has said that most of the criticism of Common Core is due to a, quote, "fringe group of critics." Do you think that's accurate? +p512 +aVSenator Rubio, why is Governor Bush wrong on Common Core? +p513 +aVAnd do you agree with your old friend? +p514 +aVWe have many more questions coming on a host of topics, here from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Stay with us. +p515 +aVWe have many more questions coming on a host of topics. Here from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Stay with us. +p516 +aVGentlemen, another question for a few of you. Yesterday, just yesterday, President Obama criticized Republican lawmakers trying to block the Iran deal, calling them knee-jerk partisans, adding that hardliners in Iran who chant "death to America" were, quote, "making common cause with the Republican caucus." Here's what two of your opponents on the 5 p.m. debate stage said about Iran. +p517 +aVNow, I wanna ask a few of you this. First, Governor Walker. You've said that you would tear up the Iran deal on day one. If this deal is undone, what then? +p518 +aVSenator Paul, would you tear up the deal on day one? +p519 +aVGovernor Huckabee, what do you think about what Senator Paul just said? +p520 +aVThank you, gentlemen. +p521 +aVWelcome back to Cleveland. Our next topic is foreign policy. Candidates, you may not have seen the late developing news today our Fox Pentagon team broke earlier this evening about a top Iranian general traveling to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. His name is General Qassem Soleimani, he's blamed for hundreds of U.S. troop's deaths in Iraq, and Afghanistan. His trip to Russia appears to directly violate U.N. Security Council resolutions to confine him to Iran. So, Mr. Trump, if you were president, how would you respond to this? +p522 +aVAnother new development today, Senior Defense officials tell Fox they strongly suspect Russia was behind the cyber attack on the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs office... +p523 +aV...email. This comes in the wake of the Director of National Intelligence blaming the Chinese for the largest ever cyber attack, stealing personal data of tens of millions of Americans. Senator Cruz, in your view, have Russia and China committed acts of cyber war, and if you were president, what would you do about it? +p524 +aVDr. Carson, in August of 2012 President Obama famously declared Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons, quote, "that's a redline for us," and that there would be enormous consequences. One year later, with overwhelming evidence the Assad had, in fact, used chemical weapons and crossed that red line, President Obama declined to use military force against the Assad regime. As president, would you have used military force there? +p525 +aVGovernor Walker, as president, what would you do if Russian President Vladimir Putin started a campaign to destabilize +p526 +aVGovernor -- Governor Huckabee, the culture of the American military is definitely changing. Women are moving into combat roles. Don't Ask, Don't Tell has obviously been dropped. And now Defense Secretary Ashton Carter recently directed the military to prepare for a moment when it is welcoming transgender persons to serve openly. As commander in chief, how would you handle that? +p527 +aVSenator Paul, the first budget you proposed as senator cut all financial aid to Israel. You have since changed your view on that issue. What made you change your mind. +p528 +aVOK. But you still say that Israel could be one of the countries that is cut from financial aid? +p529 +aVGovernor Christie, what do you think of that answer? +p530 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p531 +aVSenator, we're going to finish up with some more questions, thank you. +p532 +aVNow each candidate will make a closing statement. You'll all have 30 seconds to make a closing statement for this debate. We'll start with Ohio Governor John Kasich. +p533 +aVSenator Marco Rubio. +p534 +aVThank you, Senator. +p535 +aVGovernor Mike Huckabee, closing statement. +p536 +aVMr. Trump, closing statement, sir. +p537 +aVGentlemen, thank you. +p538 +aVThat's it. +p539 +asVMADDOW +p540 +(lp541 +VWe are super excited to be here at the University of New Hampshire. Tonight, this is the first time that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have squared off exactly like this. Face-to-face, just one-on-one, just the two of them. +p542 +aVAnd we do hope that the candidates will take this opportunity to show us the distinctions\u2014show us the differences between them. That's the whole reason that we're here tonight. We're not here for talking points. We're to learn about the difference between the candidates. And with that, let's get going. Please join us in welcoming Secretary Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders. +p543 +aVAnd with that, that's it. We're going to begin with 60- second opening statements from each of the candidates. And as agreed to in advance by the two campaigns, we're going to begin tonight with Senator Sanders. +p544 +aVSecretary Clinton, Senator Sanders is campaigning against you now, at this point in the campaign, basically arguing that you are not progressive enough to be the Democratic nominee. He has said that if you voted for the Iraq war, if you are in favor of the death penalty, if you wobbled on things like the Keystone Pipeline or TPP, if you said single payer health care could never happen, then you're too far to the right of the Democratic Party to be the party's standard bearer. Given those policy positions, why should liberal Democrats support you and not Senator Sanders? +p545 +aVSenator Sanders, have you established a list of what it means to be a progressive that is unrealistic? +p546 +aVThank you Senator. +p547 +aVSenator Sanders, as a Vermonter, you have almost a home state advantage here in New Hampshire. But back home across the border, you also have a long history of running against Democrats as a third-party candidate, for governor, Senate, for Congress. In 1988 your candidacy as a third-party candidate arguably cost the Democrats a congressional seat and sent a Republican instead. How can you lead the Democratic Party nationally when you have not been a member of the Democratic Party until very recently? +p548 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p549 +aVSo, Senator, to that point, Secretary Clinton is raising the issue of endorsements by your home state Democrats. She's implying that that says something about the people who know you best. +p550 +aVHow do you see it? +p551 +aVSecretary. +p552 +aVSenator Sanders, you'll have 30 seconds to respond to that. +p553 +aVSenator Sanders, Secretary Clinton, obviously we've touched a nerve. We're going to be back with more on this subject, and much more, right after this. Stay with us. +p554 +aVSecretary Clinton, on the issue of Wall Street... +p555 +aV... on the issue of Wall Street, when our reporters go out and talk to people on the ground in the early states, what they tell us over and over again when they find voters who are leaning toward Senator Sanders rather than yourself is that the most frequent area of concern that they hear from those voters is the issue of Wall Street and whether or not you are too close to Wall Street. Last night, when you were asked about speaking fees and the amount of speaking fees you got from Goldman Sachs speeches, you said that's what they offered. Have you been too dismissive of voters' concerns about this issue in your own campaign and your own career? +p556 +aVSenator Sanders, you have been a critic of Secretary Clinton taking those speaking fees and having donations from Wall Street. What about her defense of her record? +p557 +aVSenator Sanders, let me turn to, I think, where this direction is heading anyway, which is the broader issue of big business and power in our political system. You on the campaign trail have railed against big name American corporations like Boeing, and General Electric, and Wal Mart. But, some big businesses in this country have also been part of advancing progressive goals like that nationwide initiative to expand employment opportunities for veterans. That was all about cooperation between the Obama administration and some very big business. The Affordable Care Act, some of the thorniest problems in that bill were worked out in cooperation with big business in order to accomplish progressive goals. Could you work with them, or have you made enemies of big business in this country with the way you've approached them in this campaign? +p558 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. And with that, we're going to take a break. +p559 +aVWelcome back\u2014welcome back to the Democratic candidates' debate. We're going to be talking about America in the world, both in terms of some trade issues, but also national security. And Secretary Clinton, we're going to start with you. There are more than 4,000 American troops back in Iraq right now as part of the fight against +p560 +aVTo be clear, to the specific question, if that strategic goal that you're describing requires considerably more of Americans\u2014an ever-increasing number of Americans in Iraq and maybe in Syria, are you OK with the numbers increasing? +p561 +aVThank you, Madam Secretary. +p562 +aVSecretary Clinton, at the\u2014at the last Democratic debate in Charleston\u2014I want to get specific here\u2014Senator Sanders called for moving as aggressively as we can to normalize relations with Iran. Your campaign has criticized him for saying that. Now that he's standing next to you here on this stage, can you explain why the U.S. shouldn't try to normalize relations in Iran in your view? +p563 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to ask you about a national security issue that is closer to home. There are thousands of veterans, over 100,000 veterans living in the state of New Hampshire. If either one of you is nominated as the Democratic Party's nominee, you will likely face a Republican opponent in the general election who wants to privatize or even abolish big parts of the V.A. It's a newly popular idea in conservative politics. How will you win the argument on that issue given the problems that have been exposed at the V.A. in the last few years? What's your argument that the V.A. should still exist and should not be privatized? +p564 +aVSenator Sanders, you, as a congressional leader on veterans issues and the Veterans Committee, you've worked in a very bipartisan way with Senator John McCain and others on veterans issues. Is the right contour of the fight, the way she's talking about this issue? +p565 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Sanders, Secretary Clinton, we're going to take another break. We'll be talking about Social Security and some of those other issues when we come back. +p566 +aVSenator\u2014Senator Sanders, in 1964... +p567 +aVIn 1964, I heard that the Republicans nominated Barry Goldwater, who was the hero of the conservative movement. He was, however, far to the right of most of that party. In 1972, the Democrats nominated George McGovern, who was a hero of liberals in the antiwar movement, but he was to the left of his party's mainstream. Both of those nominees made activists very excited, and they both got destroyed in the general election. Even Democrats who love you worry about your fate in a general election. And I know you have good head-to-head polling numbers against Republican frontrunners right now. We know that. But do you have a general election strategy that is different than the way you're running right now to try to get the nomination? +p568 +aVSecretary Clinton, your campaign surrogates, and people who have endorsed you, have suggested that or even said that if Senator Sanders is the nominee, that Democrats will suffer nationwide and the chances will go down of Democrats holding onto the White House. With him here standing next to you, can you tell us whether or not you believe he would win the general election if he were nominated? +p569 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. Senator, in December, one of your campaign staffers was fired from your campaign for taking voter data essentially from the Clinton campaign. You apologized for that when the incident was made public. Your campaign has now been criticized for its operatives essentially impersonating culinary union members wearing union pins in Nevada, and the Nashua Telegraph has complained recently that you falsely implied in an advertisement that they had endorsed you when they did not. None of these issues obviously is the end of the world, but they all are of a piece. Are you in some sense losing control of your campaign? +p570 +aVJust to follow up on that, the title of the ad in question was Endorsement. +p571 +aVSecretary Clinton, do you want 30 seconds on that issue? +p572 +aVAnd with that, we will . +p573 +aVWelcome back to the University of New Hampshire, and the Democratic candidates' debate. Secretary Clinton, on the issue of the death penalty, here in New Hampshire, the one person who is on death row is there for killing a police officer. It's a crime that has caused anguish in this state, both among death penalty opponents and death penalty supporters. The last time I had the chance to talk with you on this issue, on the death penalty, you said that capital punishment has a place in a very few federal cases, but you also said you would breathe a sigh of relief if the Supreme Court abolished the death penalty nationwide. Tonight, do you still support capital punishment, even if you do so reluctantly? +p574 +aVSenator Sanders, you have singled out the death penalty, and Senator Clinton's support for the death penalty, as an issue that makes it hard to consider as progressive in your mind... +p575 +aVAnother issue related to the proper role of government, and in this case, specifically the role of government between the federal government and the states. I want to talk for a moment about the issue of Flint, Michigan. On the Flint lead poisoning disaster, you have both been highly critical of Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan, and how the state in Michigan both caused the lead poisoning problem, and has not acted fast enough to fix it. You have both been outspoken on that. The fact is that Michigan though has not fixed it. There is no door to door delivery of clean water in Flint even today. Not a single lead pipe has been replaced in Flint, even today. If the state is failing, would you, Secretary Clinton, would you as President order a federal response to get it right over and above the wishes of the state? +p576 +aVSenator Sanders are there things the President could be doing? President Obama could be ordering, done, right now, in Flint, Michigan that are not being done that you as President would do? +p577 +aVSenator, thank you. +p578 +aVThe home stretch. +p579 +aVSecretary Clinton, Republicans, particularly in campaign years, often talk about which departments of government\u2014which agencies of government they would get rid of if they were elected president. The EPA, the Department of Education, the Commerce Department, oops\u2014is\u2014is there a department of government that you would get rid of? Or is there a whole new one that you would create? +p580 +aVThank you, Secretary Clinton. +p581 +aVThank you very much. Thank you. +p582 +aVWe also want to thank our host, the University of New Hampshire, and the people of New Hampshire. You guys get to vote in just five days. I can't wait to see how it turns out. Don't screw up. +p583 +asVTAPPER +p584 +(lp585 +VI'm Jake Tapper. We're live at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California for the main event. Round 2 of CNN's presidential debate starts now. The eleven leading Republican candidates for president are at their podiums. They are ready to face off, and if you've been watching this race, you know anything could happen over the next few hours. To viewers who are just joining us, welcome to the Air Force One Pavilion of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Our thanks to the staff here and especially to former first lady Nancy Reagan for this impressive setting with Ronald Reagan's presidential plane as our backdrop. This debate is airing on CNN networks in the United States and around the world. It's also being broadcast on the Salem Radio Network. I know everyone is very eager to get started. But first, I want to explain the ground rules tonight. My name is Jake Tapper. I'll be the moderator. I will be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt. He worked in the Reagan administration for six years. And by CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. I will ask follow-up questions, I will attempt to guide the discussion. Candidates, I will try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have one minute to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you've been singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. These 11 Republicans are positioned on the stage based on their ranking in recent national polls. Our goal for this evening is a debate. A true debate, with candidates addressing each other in areas where they differ. Where they disagree \u2014 on policy, on politics, on leadership. Now, let's begin. I'd like to invite each candidate to take 30 seconds to introduce him or herself to our audience. First to you, Senator Paul. +p586 +aVSenator Cruz? +p587 +aVThank you one and all for being here. There are many important policy issues facing our nation. We're going to get to many of them tonight, but I do want to start off with some current events in the news, and also some of the comments the candidates have recently made on the campaign trail. Mrs. Fiorina, I want to start with you. Fellow Republican candidate, and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, has suggested that your party's frontrunner, Mr. Donald Trump, would be dangerous as President. He said he wouldn't want, quote, "such a hot head with his finger on the nuclear codes." You, as well, have raised concerns about Mr. Trump's temperament. You've dismissed him as an entertainer. Would you feel comfortable with Donald trump's finger on the nuclear codes? +p588 +aVYou didn't answer my question. Would you feel comfortable with Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear codes? It's an issue that one of your fellow candidates has raised. +p589 +aVMr. Trump? +p590 +aVMr. \u2014 Senator Paul, your name has been invoked. +p591 +aVMr. Trump? +p592 +aVI want to \u2014 I want to give Mr. Trump... +p593 +aV... Mr. Trump, I want to give you another chance \u2014 Mr. Trump, I want to give you a chance to respond to something that your rival to your left, Governor Bush, said. Governor Bush told me last week when I read him the quote from Governor Jindal that he agrees you're not a serious candidate. Tell Governor Bush why you are a serious candidate and what your qualifications are to be commander-in-chief. +p594 +aVGovernor Bush, would you feel comfortable with Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear codes? +p595 +aVGovernor Walker? +p596 +aVLet's move on. +p597 +aVA phenomenon going on in the race right now is the political... OK, Governor Kasich, go ahead. +p598 +aVWe have a lot of issues coming up, sir. +p599 +aVWe are getting to the issues, sir. Phenomenon going on in the race is the political outsiders in the race, Dr. Carson, Donald Trump, Carly Fiorina, all together, have majority support in the polls. Governor Christie, I want to ask you about something that Dr. Carson said the other day. Dr. Carson said campaigning is easier for him, because he's not a politician. He can just tell the truth, therefore, while politicians, quote, "Have their finger in the air to see and do what is politically expedient." Governor Christie, tell Dr. Carson, is that a fair description of you? +p600 +aVWell, let's find out. Thank you. +p601 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. Dr. Carson, who were you thinking about on this stage when you said that? +p602 +aVAnd more broadly, is experience in government not important for a president to have? +p603 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p604 +aVThank you. +p605 +aVThank you. Thank you Ms. Fiorina. Governor Bush, in addition to the fact that he's an outsider, one of the reasons Mr. Trump is a frontrunner, Republican voters say, is because they like the fact that he is not bought and paid for by wealthy donors. Mr. Trump has repeatedly said that the $100 million you've raised for your campaign makes you a puppet for your donors. Are you? +p606 +aVIs there anything else you want to say about this? +p607 +aVGovernor \u2014 +p608 +aVSure Dr. Carson. +p609 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Let's move to Russia if we could. Russia is sending troops and tanks into Syria right now to prop up a U.S. enemy, Bashar al-Assad. President Obama's incoming top general says, quote, "Russia presents the greatest threat to our national security." Mr. Trump, you say you can do business with President Vladimir Putin, you say you will get along, quote, "very well." What would you do right now if you were president, to get the Russians out of Syria? +p610 +aVSo, you \u2014 just to clarify, the only answer I heard to the question I asked is that you would \u2014 you would reach out to Vladimir Putin, and you would do what? You would... +p611 +aVSenator Rubio, you've taken a very different approach to the \u2014 the question of Russia. You've called Vladimir Putin a, quote, "gangster." Why would President Rubio's approach be more effective than President Trump's? +p612 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. +p613 +aVI want to bring in Carly Fiorina. +p614 +aVMs. Fiorina, you have met... +p615 +aV...yeah, you've met Vladimir Putin. Yes. +p616 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p617 +aVThank you. +p618 +aVThank you. Thank you, Ms. Fiorina. While you're \u2014 while you brought up the subject of General Suleimani of the Quds forces from Iran, the next president, no matter who he or she may be, will inherit President Obama's Iran deal. Senator Cruz, Governor Kasich says that anyone who is promising to rip up the Iran deal on day one, as you have promised to do, is, quote, "inexperienced," and, quote, "playing to a crowd." Respond to Governor Kasich, please. +p619 +aVWhy is that not, as Governor Kasich says, playing to the crowd and an example of you being inexperienced? +p620 +aVGovernor Kasich... +p621 +aV...Did Senator Cruz just play to the crowd? +p622 +aV...Thank you, Governor. I want to go to Senator Paul. +p623 +aVI want to go to Senator Paul. Senator Paul, the White House is rolling out the red carpet next week for the President of China, President Xi. Governor Walker says that President Obama should cancel the state dinner because of China's currency manipulation, and because of China's alleged cyber attacks against the United States. Is Governor Walker right? +p624 +aVGovernor Walker, Senator Paul seemed to suggest... +p625 +aV...that canceling the state dinner would be rash, and reckless. +p626 +aV...Governor Bush... +p627 +aVGovernor Bush, your father was the chief diplomatic envoy to China back when Nixon opened relations to China. Is Scott Walker's approach the right one, canceling the state dinner? +p628 +aVI want to turn... +p629 +aV...I want to turn to Governor Huckabee who has been very patient. Somebody had to be 11th, and he is, but, I do want to change the subject to the event that you had... +p630 +aV... however you want, but I want to ask this question. +p631 +aVAll right, sir, go ahead. +p632 +aVOK. ( +p633 +aVWe're going to turn now to Hugh Hewitt, from Salem Radio Network. +p634 +aVThank you, Senator Paul. I want to turn now to my colleague Dana Bash. +p635 +aVThat would be fair, you're right. You're the third senator. +p636 +aVWe're going to go to Dana Bash... +p637 +aVSenator Cruz? +p638 +aVThank you, Senator. +p639 +aVThank you, Senator. +p640 +aVThank you, Senator. I want to... +p641 +aV... turn back to Governor Huckabee... +p642 +aVI want to turn back to Governor Huckabee. Governor Huckabee, last week, you held a rally for a county clerk in Kentucky who was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, as I don't need to tell you. You've called what happened to Kim Davis, that clerk, "an example of the criminalization of Christianity." There are several people on the stage who disagree with you. Governor Bush, for example, says that that clerk is sworn to uphold the law. Is Governor Bush on the wrong side of the criminalization of Christianity? +p643 +aVThank you, Governor. +p644 +aVWell, I'm not telling you that, Governor. But Governor Bush is, because he \u2014 because he disagrees. He thinks that Kim Davis swore to uphold the law. You disagree? You're not \u2014 you don't... +p645 +aVOK. Please do. +p646 +aVYou did... +p647 +aVGovernor, you said, quote, "she is sworn to uphold the law." +p648 +aVLet me go to my colleague Dana Bash, who has a question. +p649 +aVDana, I want to continue on the subject. Governor Bush, you recently said while discussing Planned Parenthood, quote, you're "not sure we need a half billion for women's health issues." Now you've since said that you misspoke, you didn't mean to say "women's health issues." But Donald Trump said that quote, that comment, which Hillary Clinton did seize upon immediately, will haunt you the same way Mitt Romney's 47 percent video haunted him. Tell Donald Trump why he's wrong. +p650 +aVThank you, Governor Bush. Donald Trump, let me just... +p651 +aVThe quote was, "I'm not sure we need half a billion dollars for women's health issues." He said he misspoke. You said that that's going to haunt him. Why do you think that? +p652 +aVGovernor Bush? +p653 +aVI want to \u2014 we're going to get to \u2014 +p654 +aVThank you, Governor. +p655 +aVThank you, Governor. +p656 +aVWe're going to \u2014 we're going to get to many of these issues. This \u2014 we're still in the first block, believe it or not. We're going to get to many of these issues, but before we end this block, Ms. Fiorina, I do want to ask you about this. In an interview last week in Rolling Stone magazine, Donald Trump said the following about you. Quote, "Look at that face. Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?" Mr. Trump later said he was talking about your persona, not your appearance. Please feel free to respond what you think about his persona. +p657 +aVAll right. On that note, in less than two minutes \u2014 we're going to take a very quick break. In less than two minutes, the most contentious issue on the campaign trail. And the candidates on the stage are split over how to handle it. That's coming up next. Please give some applause to the candidates. +p658 +aVWelcome to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate. No topic perhaps has been more combustible in this campaign than the issue of immigration. Mr. Trump, you have called for deporting every undocumented immigrant, Governor Christie has said, quote, "There are not enough law enforcement officers \u2014 local, county, state and federal combined \u2014 to forcibly deport 11 to 12 million people." Tell Governor Christie how much your plan will cost, and how you will get it done. +p659 +aVGovernor Christie, you and I have talked about this in an interview. You say that his big wall, his plan to deport 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants, it sounds great, but it's never going to happen. Tell him why you're skeptical of his plans? +p660 +aVThank you, Governor Christie... +p661 +aVI want to bring in Dr. Carson because he too has been skeptical of your plan to immediately deport 11 to 12 million illegal immigrants. He said, quote, "People who say that have no idea what this entails." Why do you say that, Dr. Carson? +p662 +aV...Dr. Carson... +p663 +aVWith all due respect, you said about Donald Trump's plan to deport 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants, "People who say that have no idea what this entails." Why not? +p664 +aV...let's continue the conversation about illegal immigration with Dana Bash. +p665 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Senator Cruz \u2014 Senator Cruz, this week, we learned more about Dr. Carson's plan for the 11 million to 12 million undocumented immigrants in this country. Dr. Carson proposed giving these undocumented immigrants a six- month grace period to pay back taxes then to let them become guest workers and only to deport people who failed to do that. +p666 +aVWell, how would you say it, sir? I was just reading the Wall Street Journal quote, but please tell us. +p667 +aVOK, from the horse's mouth, Senator Cruz, does that fit your definition of amnesty? +p668 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Rubio... +p669 +aV... I'm not sure... +p670 +aVWe'll come back to you \u2014 we'll come back to you in one second, sir. But Senator Rubio, I'm not sure exactly whose plan he's \u2014 he's saying is \u2014 constitutes amnesty, but I know he has said it about your plan in the past, so I want to give you a chance to respond, then, Dr. Carson, we'll come to you. +p671 +aVThank you, Senator. +p672 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator \u2014 Dr. Carson... ... I want to give you 30 seconds. I'd like you to answer the question. Senator Cruz describes plans such as yours as amnesty. Why is your plan not amnesty? +p673 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. I want to talk about the issue of birthright citizenship, which \u2014 which has emerged since the first debate as \u2014 as an a \u2014 a major issue in this campaign. Mr. Trump, you say that babies born in the United States to undocumented immigrants should not any longer get automatic American citizenship. Ms. Fiorina says that you are pandering on this issue and acting like the politicians that you rail against. What's your message to Ms. Fiorina on birthright citizenship? +p674 +aVMs. Fiorina, the vast majority of countries do not have birthright citizenship... ...Donald Trump is right about that. Why is it pandering when he's \u2014 he says this? +p675 +aVMs. Fiorina... +p676 +aVPlease. +p677 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p678 +aVThank you. +p679 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Mr. Trump, I want to give you the chance to respond... +p680 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. Senator Paul... +p681 +aVSenator Paul, I want to bring you in. Where \u2014 where do you stand on the issue of birthright citizenship? +p682 +aVAll right. Senator Paul, thank you so much. Let's turn to a new topic. We've received a lot of questions on social media about the economy and about jobs. We have two CEOs on stage right now. Ms. Fiorina, you were CEO of Hewlett Packard. Donald Trump says you, quote, "ran HP into the ground," you laid off tens of thousands of people, you got viciously fired. For voters looking to somebody with private-sector experience to create American jobs, why should they pick you and not Donald Trump? +p683 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p684 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p685 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 Mr. Trump, why would you be better at creating jobs than Carly Fiorina? +p686 +aVMs. Fiorina, I want to give you a chance to respond. +p687 +aVMr. Trump. +p688 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. +p689 +aVGovernor Christie's name has been invoked. I'd like to give him a 30 second opportunity. +p690 +aVMs. Fiorina, I want to give you +p691 +aVGovernor Kasich, I'm coming to you next, but Ms. Fiorina's name was mentioned, and I have to give her the opportunity to respond if she wants it. +p692 +aVThank you. +p693 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Kasich, I want to come \u2014 I'm coming to you. I'm coming to you. Let me ask the question. You can use the time however you want. +p694 +aVDonald Trump says that the hedge fund guys are getting away with murder by paying a lower tax rate. He wants to raise the taxes of hedge fund managers, as does Governor Bush. Do you agree? +p695 +aVThank you, Governor. +p696 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. +p697 +aVGovernor Huckabee, I want to bring you in on the question of hedge fund managers and taxing them. You have said that you are bothered by the fact that hedge fund managers pay such a low tax rate and make 2,500 times what people who work for them make. Do you agree with what Donald Trump and Governor Bush have proposed, raising their tax rates? +p698 +aVThank you, Governor. Dr. Carson, you support scrapping the entire tax code and replacing it with a flat tax based on the principal on tithing from the Bible. If you make $10 billion, you pay $1 billion in taxes, if you make $10, you pay $1 in taxes. Donald Trump believes in progressive taxation. He says it's not right that rich people pay the same as the poor. Tell Donald Trump why his ideas on taxes are wrong. +p699 +aVMr. Trump... +p700 +aV...What do you think of the flat tax? Do you think it's fair? +p701 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. Senator Paul? +p702 +aVGovernor Walker, I want to go to you. Dr. Carson wants to raise the Federal Minimum Wage, you have called it a lame idea. Why is raising the Federal Minimum Wage lame? +p703 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p704 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p705 +aVDr. Carson, Governor Walker didn't really answer the question, but I'll let you respond. He called raising the Federal Minimum Wage lame, what do you think of that? +p706 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson... +p707 +aVLet me bring in our partner from Salem Radio Network, Hugh Hewitt. +p708 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate. Let's turn to some issues now in foreign policy. Mr. Trump, Senator Rubio said it was, quote, "very concerning to him" that in a recent interview you didn't seem to know the details about some of the enemies the U.S. faces. Rubio said, if you don't know the answers to those questions, you will not be able to serve as commander-in-chief. Please respond to Senator Rubio. +p709 +aVSenator Rubio? +p710 +aVMr. Trump? Senator Rubio seemed to be suggesting that you don't know information that... +p711 +aVAll right. Senator Rubio. +p712 +aVBut are you saying that you have the knowledge to be the president that Mr. Trump does not have? +p713 +aVMr. Trump? +p714 +aVSenator Rubio, he did invoke your absentee record in the Senate. +p715 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. I want to turn now to Hugh Hewitt. +p716 +aVThank you, Governor. +p717 +aVSenator... +p718 +aVSenator Paul? +p719 +aVSenator Paul... +p720 +aVThank you, Senator Paul... +p721 +aVThank you, Senator Paul... +p722 +aVI understand that Governor Bush's name has been invoked, and then we can go to you, Senator Rubio. +p723 +aVThank you, Governor. +p724 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Rubio? +p725 +aVThank you, Senator. +p726 +aVDr. Carson? +p727 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p728 +aVI mean, it is interesting that you say that, because I want to ask Governor Christie about something else that you have said. Governor Christie, we just marked the 14th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Now Dr. Carson has said that if he had been president at the time, the United States would not have gone to war in Afghanistan. What does that say to you about how Dr. Carson would respond as president if America were attacked again? +p729 +aVDr. Carson? +p730 +aV... Governor Christie. +p731 +aVDr. Carson? +p732 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p733 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p734 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee. +p735 +aVThank you, Governor. +p736 +aVThank you, governor, I want to turn to +p737 +aVGovernor Walker, there is a big debate now, we have been talking about +p738 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Paul, I want to go to you, because you have said that the boots on the ground to fight +p739 +aVThank you, Senator. We're going to turn to some domestic issues now. I want to bring in my colleague, Dana Bash. +p740 +aVSure.... +p741 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p742 +aV...Thank you, Governor. Dana Bash... +p743 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina... +p744 +aV...Thank you, we're going to turn now to domestic issues with Dana Bash. +p745 +aV...Dana Bash... +p746 +aVThank you. Dana Bash? +p747 +aVThank you, Senator. +p748 +aV...Governor Bush... +p749 +aV...I want to let you respond. +p750 +aVThank you, Governor... ...And, that's what we should do, and I hope I'll be working members of the United States Senate to fight hard for the passage of people that have that kind of qualification. +p751 +aVSenator Cruz, 30 seconds. +p752 +aVThank you, Senator. +p753 +aVThank you, Semator. +p754 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee, I want to bring you in very quickly if you could. Will you have a litmus test when it comes to appointing Supreme Court nominees? +p755 +aVThank you, Governor. +p756 +aVThank you, Governor. +p757 +aVThank you, Governor. We're going to take a quick break. Coming up, one of the hottest questions that you have been asking us via social media. We will pose it to the candidates. That's coming up right after this. +p758 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican presidential debate at the Reagan Library here in Simi Valley \u2014 Simi Valley, California. Many people on social media wanted us to ask about marijuana legalization. Senator Paul, Governor Christie recently said, quote, "if you're getting high in Colorado today," where marijuana has been legalized, "enjoy it until January 2017, because I will enforce the federal laws against marijuana." Will you? +p759 +aVI want to give that \u2014 I want to give the person that you called a hypocrite an opportunity to respond. Do you want to identify that person? +p760 +aVIs there somebody you were specifically thinking of? +p761 +aVThat's what I though, but I wanted to say it. +p762 +aVOK. +p763 +aVGovernor Bush, please. +p764 +aVI want to go right now \u2014 I want to go right now... +p765 +aVThat's true. Go ahead, Christie, please. +p766 +aVYou may respond, and then I'll bring in you, Ms. Fiorina. +p767 +aVYes, Senator Paul. +p768 +aVI want to bring in Ms. Fiorina \u2014 I want to bring in Ms. Fiorina on this issue. +p769 +aVHugh \u2014 Hugh, I'd like to... +p770 +aVI'd like to turn it over \u2014 I'd like to turn to Dana Bush. +p771 +aVThank you, Governor. +p772 +aVI'm coming to you right now on a separate issue, sir. We received... ( +p773 +aVWe received a lot of questions from social media about climate change. Senator Rubio, Ronald Reagan's secretary of state, George Shultz, reminds us that when Reagan was president he faced a similar situation to the one that we're facing now. There were dire warnings from the mass consensus of the scientific community about the ozone layer shrinking. Shultz says Ronald Reagan urged skeptics in industry to come up with a plan. He said, do it as an insurance policy in case the scientists are right. The scientists were right. Reagan and his approach worked. Secretary Shultz asks, why not take out an insurance policy and approach climate change the Reagan way? +p774 +aVI'm citing George Shultz. +p775 +aVGovernor Christie, you have said that climate change is real, and that humans help contribute to it. Without getting into the issue of China versus the United States, which I understand you've talked about before, what do you make of skeptics of climate change such as Senator Rubio? +p776 +aVJust for the record, I was citing Secretary of State George Shultz, Ronald Reagan's secretary of state who I don't think anybody would call him left-wing. +p777 +aVI called you a skeptic. +p778 +aVI want to go another question right now. +p779 +aVThank you, Governor. +p780 +aVI'm turning to... +p781 +aV...I'm turning to another \u2014 I'm turning to another issue right now. Senator Cruz. Well, I think we've heard from several this evening. A backlash against vaccines was blamed for a measles outbreak here in California. Dr. Carson, Donald Trump has publicly and repeatedly linked vaccines, childhood vaccines, to autism, which, as you know, the medical community adamantly disputes. You're a pediatric neurosurgeon. Should Mr. Trump stop saying this? +p782 +aVShould he stop saying it? Should he stop saying that vaccines cause autism? +p783 +aVMr. Trump, as president, you would... +p784 +aVI'm going right to you. +p785 +aVMr. Trump, as president, you would be in charge of the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health, both of which say you are wrong. How would you handle this as president? +p786 +aVThank you. +p787 +aVDr. \u2014 Dr. Carson? +p788 +aVDr. Carson, you just heard his medical take. +p789 +aVDr. Paul? Dr. Paul, I'd like to bring you in. +p790 +aVAlright, thank you so much... +p791 +aVComing up \u2014 I'm sorry, Governor Huckabee, please. +p792 +aVThank you, Governor. +p793 +aVWe have to take another quick break. Coming up, Ronald Reagan looming large over this debate. So how Reaganesque exactly are these Republicans? We will find out next. +p794 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California. We have a few last questions for you. Two of them a little lighthearted, the other one more serious. We'll start with one of the more light questions. Senator Paul, I'm going to start with you and we're just going to go down the line. Earlier this year, the Treasury Department announced that a woman will appear on the $10 bill. What woman would you like to see on the $10 bill? +p795 +aVGovernor Huckabee? +p796 +aVSenator Paul (sic). +p797 +aVI'm sorry. Senator Rubio? +p798 +aVJust the senators. +p799 +aVSenator Cruz? +p800 +aVDr. Carson? +p801 +aVMr. Trump. +p802 +aVGovernor Bush. +p803 +aVGovernor Walker. +p804 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p805 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p806 +aVGovernor Christie. +p807 +aVAlright. Some good entries if anybody at the mint was listening. Here's the next lighthearted question, you all know that the United States Secret Service uses codenames for the president, and his family. Ronald Reagan's codename, for example, was, "Rawhide", an homage to his performances in Westerns. Nancy Reagan's was, "Rainbow". You don't have to come up the one for your spouse, but, what would you want, Governor Christie, I'll start with you, your Secret Service codename to be. +p808 +aVGovernor Walker? +p809 +aVMr. Trump? +p810 +aVDr. Carson? +p811 +aVSenator Cruz? +p812 +aVSenator Rubio? +p813 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p814 +aVSenator Paul. +p815 +aVThat's a mouthful, but OK. OK, here's the more serious question, Ronald Reagan, the 40th President, used the plane behind you to accomplish a great many things. Perhaps, most notably, to challenge Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the wall, and ultimately, to make peace with the +p816 +aVThat concludes this Republican presidential debate. On behalf of everyone here at CNN, we want to thank the candidates, the Reagan Library, and the Republican National Committee. Thank you, also, to Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash. The next presidential debate will also be right here on CNN, among the Democratic candidates, who will face off for the first time on October the 13th. That debate, a partnership with Facebook, will be moderated by my colleague, Anderson Cooper. And Anderson picks up our coverage of tonight's debate right now. Before I throw to Anderson, let's have one final round of applause for the candidates. +p817 +asVSANTORUM +p818 +(lp819 +VYou know, listening to what your network was talking about prior to this race, this debate, reminded me of the coverage that many on this floor are getting. This race, this debate, was called the, "Undercard Debate". The undercard debate. It wasn't advertised significantly. In fact, the entire hour lead up to this there was no conversation about any of the four people on this debate stage, and that is the chronic situation. In fact, they listed -- they put a poll up from Wall Street Journal/NBC News, they listed the candidates, and they failed to mention I wasn't listed. I got zero, why? Because they -- NBC, Wall Street Journal poll never includes my name on the list. This is what the media has been doing over the past year, and trying to segregate, and take Iowans out of the process. What Iowans deserve... ... is to hear from every candidate on equal footing. Had they applied the same rules four years ago, I would have been in the undercard debate. The guy who won the Iowa Caucuses would have been in the undercard debate, not talked about. We would have been talking about, maybe, an entertainer that may have been trying to run. Ladies and gentlemen, you have a chance on Monday to put the record straight about who you want, not who will entertain you. +p820 +aVBut, who will fight for what you believe in, and I hope you do... +p821 +aVWell, look. The entire lead up to this debate was talking about whether Donald Trump is going to show up for the next debate. The people of Iowa, who I know pretty darn well, care a lot about the issues. They care about who is going to be the leader of the free world. Who is going to be able to take on +p822 +aVAnd we are not hearing any of those things. We are hearing about whether someone is going to show up for the next debate or not. +p823 +aVYes, I am. +p824 +aVYou know, this, again, more of the politics of trying to get people to throw stuff at each other. I'm not going to throw mud at anybody on this stage tonight. I'm not going to throw mud at anybody on the stage later. I'm not going to attack Donald Trump. What I'm -- Mike Huckabee and I were asked to come to an event where money was going to be raise to do help our veterans. You know, I thought about it. And I thought about. I said well, wait a minute, now, if there were no political considerations and I had some time because I'm not doing anything at 9:00 tonight. And so if I had some time, would I go... ... if I could help raise money for veterans? And the answer was yes, I would. And so I'm going. +p825 +aVThank you for the question, Martha. We have to have an honest discussion with the American people about the nature of the threat that we confront. This president says that +p826 +aVWhat I would say is that we have to create jobs that give people wages and benefits that can help them provide for themselves and their families. And that's why I announced from a factory floor in western Pennsylvania, I pledge to make America the number one manufacturing nation, again, in the world. And we can do it. China is starting to reorient itself away from a manufacturing economy that's dumping products on the -- overseas to providing more services to their people. This is an opportunity for America. It's an opportunity for us to get those jobs back. And by the way, do you want to solve global climate change? Take 2 million jobs from China in manufacturing and moving them back here to the United States, where we produce one-fifth the CO2 when we make things. We can help -- we can do every -- we can do it all. We can take care of the environment. We can create more jobs here. Seventy-four percent of Americans don't have a college degree. And unfortunately most folks who, in the Republican Party, don't talk about what we're going to do to create jobs for people who feel like neither political party cares about them. When you elect me, we'll create opportunities for working men and women in this country -- all over this country. +p827 +aVWell, in fact, the plan that I put forward is scored by the Tax Foundation as bringing three and a half million jobs into this country, and we have provisions in the flat tax for the corporate side that actually has a phase in of manufacturing. Manufacturers initially don't pay any income tax. Ten percent the next year, and 20. We're going to also have a repatriation provision which says that if you have money overseas, and you're Apple, and you got a couple hundred billion dollars there, bring it back. The most you'll be taxed 10%, invest it here in America. Create jobs here in America with all that money that's sitting overseas. We also -- it's not just taxes. It's regulation. I've pledged to cut every single Obamacare -- I mean, excuse me, Obama regulation, including Obamacare, and remove those regulations that cost more than a hundred million dollars in the economy. That will liberate -- and that includes waters of the U.S., and the ozone regulations, they -- the mercury regulations. All of these just crush our manufactures and don't create an opportunity for us to survive. And, remember, China produces five times as much CO2 and other pollutants per dollar of GDP as we do. You want to help the environment? Bring jobs back to America. +p828 +aVWell, I've been to the March for Life for about 25 years and I thought -- I think that's a pretty good record. Spoken at it a few times and I have shepherded every single piece of pro-life piece of legislation that's passed over the last 20 years. I've either authored it or shepherded it through the United States Congress and I'm pretty proud of that record too. But we have an election going on and there was some snow coming. So I decided that maybe it would be better for me to get out and do some campaigning and not be stuck as my wife and kids were for a week, piling out of two and a half feet of snow. So, here's what I would say. If you want someone that is going to talk a good game, there are a lot of folks on this stage that have talked a good game on the issue of life. Not only have I talked a good game on life and I've done some things. But I've also lived it. You know, one of the things Saint Francis said was, you know, if you preach the gospel, then if you have to, speak. The bottom line is, that twice in my life, we were counseled to have an abortion, one with our son Gabriel and one with our little girl Bella. And neither time did Karen and I for a moment think about it because we know that life begins at conception. We know the dignity of every human life and we know the potential of every child, no matter how long that life lives. And that is a message that can come across to all Americans and without having to say a word and defend the institution of life and the dignity of life in this country. +p829 +aVThe president of the United States has been the most divisive president in -- certainly in my lifetime. This is a man who constantly... He is not trustworthy. You can't sit down and negotiate with him. He won't keep a deal. We have heard that over and over again. And here is what he does that really, really creates the friction in Washington. He personally attacks people. He ascribes motives to them that aren't true and then he tears them down. How are you going to work with someone if you don't treat them decently, honestly, and respectfully? I was a tough fighter when I was in Washington. I had very sharp elbows. I fought. I went there and joined a game named Jim Nussle here from Iowa with the "gang of seven." And we, in four years' time, took a Congress that had been controlled by Democrats for 40 years, and brought in the first Republican majority because we fought and we fought tough. But you know what? I was able to then work with those same people that we fought with and able to pass welfare reform. Unborn Victims of Violence Act. Pro-life bills. Health savings accounts. A whole laundry list of things not because I was mean, but because I was able to be respectful in the disagreements. And that's what we need in Washington, someone who can be respectful and still unite this country. +p830 +aVI just want to thank the people of Iowa. Over the last five years I've done 700 speeches and town hall meetings all throughout the state of Iowa, and it has been an incredible right. Thank you. I want to thank all the wonderful folks like Pastor Carey Gordon who gave me a smooth stone and said you go slay Goliaths. Someone like Jim and Janet Cook who over this past Christmas gave up Christmas presents for their kids, and they have more than I do, just they can help me and my campaign. That's the kind of people... ... in Iowa. And, here's what I'm asking you to do. You're good people. You know good leaders. Lead. Pick the right person, not what the polls say. Not who the money give people to. Pick the leader you know is best for this country. Thank you. +p831 +aVWell, all he has to do is listen to the Democratic debate and find out how bad the economy is. All they do is complain about the hollowing out of the middle of America, and how America is struggling so badly, and have to make these radical changes in Washington. But they've been in control for the last seven years, and what have we seen? The most important jobs, I believe, in this country are the ones that fill the middle. For the 74% of Americans who don't have a college degree between the age of 25 and 65 are manufacturing jobs. Your governor, and your legislature, and your team here have done an amazing job of bringing manufacturing jobs back to South Carolina. Right here. Right here in Charleston, right down in the street in Boeing. You've done a great job, and what's happened? You've grown this economy, you've strengthened the center of your state, the middle. That's because you know that if you're really going to create wealth and opportunity, you got to get jobs, and good paying jobs for everybody. And, so what's happened? Two million jobs, manufacturing jobs, have left this country because of Barack Obama. Regulations, EPA, workplace regulations, things driving people off-shore all because of his number one priority, global climate change. Well, let me tell you this, Mr. President. For every dollar of GDP, China creates five times as much pollution as we do here. You want to \u2014 lower global climate change, bring those jobs back to America and let American workers do that job with less pollution. +p832 +aVWell, the historic promises that we have made to \u2014 to Iran in this agreement need to be torn up on the first day in office of the next president. And let me tell you why, because Iran has already torn it up. Iran has not approved the agreement that President Obama has said that they have approved. They have approved a different agreement in their parliament. The fact of the matter is they have violated this agreement. Carly just mentioned some of those violations. They have launched ballistic missiles, tested them, in clear violation. And here's the pathetic part. The president announced that they were going to impose sanctions. And then President Rouhani went on Twitter and said there would be retaliation. And what did we do? We backed down. Ladies and gentlemen, there are 50 some Citadel cadets in this audience tonight. I would ask them to stand up if they will. And here's what I want to tell each and every one of them, as you stand. Here's what I want to tell them. Whether it's you're watching that movie this weekend that just came out when we abandoned our men and women in Benghazi, or whether it's we treat Iran, that gave courtesies to our sailors, as they made them record a hostage video, let me tell you this, if you choose to serve this country, I will have your back. I will not let America be trampled upon anymore by these radical jihadists. +p833 +aVI would just say that if we were doing a better job within the government, we wouldn't need the private sector to do the things that we're asking them to do. I've had a little experience in this in the private sector myself. And what I found was a government with layers and layers of bureaucracy, of people who had some technical expertise but they had no authority, number one. And one of the things I found out about in the bureaucracy is if a lot of people have authority, nobody has authority, number one. And number two, that if you don't do anything, you don't get fired. It's only when you do something and something goes wrong, you get fired. So they do nothing. And that's what is happening in our Defense Department right now. We have a capability that they're trying to develop to play defense. We have a lot of technologists that are very skilled. And they're trying to figure out how to play defense. But what we don't have is we don't have folks who are thinking about offense. We don't have war-fighters. We have technologists. Technologists are not war-fighters. Technologists are thinking, how do I protect cyber-security, how do I secure, how do I protect? And we need to have a much more dynamic, how do we \u2014 how do we go after them? How do we respond? And we need leadership that's willing to make sure that when someone attacks us \u2014 and ladies and gentlemen, they're attacking us as we speak. They're attacking us all day every day, not just the government, but they're attacking private sector companies all day every day. They have to learn that we're going to pay \u2014 they're going to pay a price when they do so. And then right now, just like in every other aspect of our national security, people who attack us are not paying a price. We need a leader who will make sure that they know when they mess with America, they're going to pay a price. +p834 +aVLook, Facebook and Twitter can teach us things. We can cooperate with them. We can share ideas and information. But this is a \u2014 and this is a very dicey area for the government to go in and require the industry to do its job. It needs to develop that capability. We need to be \u2014 have responsible dialogue, but I don't think requirements are the order of the day. +p835 +aVWell, the most devastating attack that could occur is an electromagnetic pulse attack, and that would be an attack that would be triggered by a nuclear explosion in the upper atmosphere of our country. The best way to stop that from happening is to make sure that those who contemplating and actually war-gaming and talking about using it, Iran, doesn't get a nuclear weapon so they can't explode that device. And the president of the United States has put Iran on a path to a nuclear weapon. And we have done nothing to do anything to harden our grid. There is actually a bill in Congress that would put money forward to try to put redundancy and harden our electric grid so it could actually survive an EMP. An EMP is a devastating explosion that sends a pulse that knocks out all electric, everything, everything that is connected to any kind \u2014 that is wired, that has a circuit board gets fried out. Everything is gone. Cars stop. Planes fall out of the sky. This is a devastating attack. And this president has done nothing, number one, to take the most probable person to \u2014 probable country to launch an attack and stop them, and has done nothing to try to defend us, particularly our electric grid. The bottom line is, I put the original sanctions on the Iranian nuclear program when I was in the United States Senate. I've been fighting for 12 years with one thing in mind, that we must stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. And......because they're different than every other country. They do not want a nuclear weapon to defend themselves. They want a nuclear weapon to have theological ends to bring about their mahdi so they can control the world. And that is the most serious threat facing this country right now. +p836 +aVWell, the numbers just don't add up. I mean, they have not added manufacturing jobs. Manufacturing jobs have been lost in this country, 2 million of them. The bottom line is that this president has done more to take jobs away from the hard-working people who are struggling the most. And that's folks who are, as I said, the 74 percent of Americans who don't have a college degree. And they're out there talking about, well, we're going to provide free college for everybody. Well, who is going to pay for it? The 74 percent that don't have a college degree. They're not \u2014 nobody is focused. Let's just be honest, nobody is focused on the people who are struggling the most in America today. We talk about immigration. Talk about the president's immigration plan. He wants to bring in more and more people into this country. Let people who are here illegally stay in this country. Almost all of the people who are here illegally, and most of the people who came here legally over the last 20 years, they're working in wage-earning jobs. That is why wages have flat-lined. And we have unfortunately two political parties with most of the candidates in this field for some form of amnesty, some form of allowing people to stay here even though they're here illegally and for increasing levels of legal immigration. I'm someone who believes that we need to be the party that stands for the American worker. And when we say we need to send people back, I mean we send people back. And let me just make one point. I was in Storm Lake, Iowa, the other day, near a Tyson's plant, 91 percent of the kids that go to the elementary school there are minority kids. And they said, well, what are you going to do with all of these people, their families, they've lived here for a long time? I said, I'm going to give them a gift. I'm going to give them a gift of being able to help the country they were born in. And I'm going to export America, the education they were able to see. They learned English language. They learned about capitalism. They learned about democracy. You want to stop flow of immigrants? Let's send six million Mexicans, Hondurans, Guatemalans, El Savadorians......back into their country, so they can start a renaissance in their country so they won't be coming over here anymore. +p837 +aVYou know, we've had this debate about the economy, and we haven't talked the one issue now increasingly even the right, and even the are coming to agreement. I've run around doing 300 town hall meetings talking about a book written by a liberal Harvard sociologist, not a normal thing for me to be talking about, but I now name Robert Putnam who wrote a book called, "Our Kids". And, he wrote this book, I think, ostensibly to support the Democratic argument that the middle of America's hollowing out, and income gap is widening, and rich are getting richer. When he studied all the information as to what was going on, he realized that the biggest reason that we're seeing the hollowing out of the middle of America is the breakdown of the American family. The reality is that if you're a single parent \u2014 a child of a single parent, and you grew up in a single parent family neighborhood, you went to that single parent family school, the chance of you ever, ever reaching the top 20% of income earners is 3% in America. At least \u2014 I don't know about you, but that's not good enough. And, we have been too politically correct in this country because we don't want to offend anybody to fight for the lives of our children. You want \u2014 You want to be shocked? You read the first few chapters of Mr. \u2014 Dr. Putnam' book. He talks about Port Clinton, Ohio and growing up there in the 1950's, and how poor kids actually survived and did well, even though they were poor and disadvantaged. But, then he goes to the towns today and these kids are failing, and failing miserably. They don't even have a shot, and we won't even have the courage to have leadership at the federal level \u2014 not with legislation, but the most powerful tool a president have, the bully pulpit to encourage each and everyone of you, churches and businesses, and educators, and community leaders to let's have a national campaign to rebuild the American family, and give every child its birthright which is a Mom and a Dad who loves them. That will change this economy. +p838 +aVLadies and gentlemen, America is frustrated and angry and looking for someone who's a fighter, but I also think they're looking for someone who's a winner. Somebody who can go out there and take on the establishment and make a difference. And take on someone who's going to be the person who's going to be between a Republican holding the presidency and that's Hillary Clinton. And there's one person on this stage, one person in the race who's done it and done it repeatedly. I've taken on Hillary Clinton on the issues you care about. Partial-birth abortion. Go and google Rick Santorum and Hillary Clinton and there you'll see a five-minute debate. I'll let you decide who won the debate. I'll tell you who won, because we passed the bill and I know I'm out of time but I'm going to take some of Rand Paul's time here for a second. If you're looking for someone who fought Hillary Clinton on Iran's sanctions, she was one of four who voted \u2014 who's deciding vote who voted against Iran's sanctions, so we didn't get it in place as earlier as we should have. I've fought battles against her. In 1994, I ran against the Clinton machine. James Carville and Paul Begala, ran the race against me when I took on the author of Hillary care. And each one of those battles, I won. You want a fighter, you want a winner, I'd appreciate your vote. Thank you. +p839 +asVQUESTION +p840 +(lp841 +VMy name is Ashley Tofil. Ms. Fiorina, in November, you said that you would not talk to Vladimir Putin after you were elected because you would be communicating from a position of weakness. Do you believe that it is feasible to not communicate with another world leader? And do you think that that also is a sign of weakness? +p842 +aVMy name is Carla Hernandez. I'm from the University of Texas at Austin. And my question is directed to all the candidates. If the Bible clearly states that we need to embrace those in need and not fear, how can we justify not accepting refugees? +p843 +aVPlease describe one action you would do to make the economic environment more favorable for small businesses and entrepreneurs and anyone dreaming of opening their own business. +p844 +asVCAVUTO +p845 +(lp846 +VIt is 9:00 p.m. on the East Coast, 8:00 p.m. here inside the Milwaukee theater. Welcome to the Republican presidential debate here on the Fox Business Network. I'm Neil Cavuto, alongside my co-moderators, Maria Bartiromo, and the editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal, Gerard Baker. +p847 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. +p848 +aVIt sounds like a game show but it's not. Now I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the elephant in the room, and I'm not talking about your party's fine symbol. I'm talking about the purpose of tonight's debate. The economy and what each of you would do to improve it. No more, no less. We are focused on those issues, and what you have said on those issues in your words and what your opponents have said in their words about your words. That is the agenda tonight. How each of you plans to make America better tomorrow. And so we begin. Candidates, as we gather tonight in this very august theater, just outside and across the country, picketers are gathering as well. They're demanding an immediate hike in the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Just a few hours ago, near Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed doing the same for all state workers, the first governor to do so. Mr. Trump, as the leading presidential candidate on this stage and one whose tax plan exempts couples making up to $50,000 a year from paying any federal income taxes at all, are you sympathetic to the protesters cause since a $15 wage works out to about $31,000 a year? +p849 +aVSo do not raise the minimum wage? +p850 +aVDr. Carson, you have long bemoaned this lackluster recovery. And this Facebook map show Americans share your concern. The green represents how the jobs issue is resonating all across the nation, especially here in the state of Wisconsin. You suggested one minimum wage does not fit all, and that perhaps we should offer a lower or starter wage for young people. Those protesters outside are looking for $15 and nothing less. Where are you? +p851 +aVSo, sir, just to be clear, you would not raise it? +p852 +aVSenator Rubio, you called the recent Democratic debate in Las Vegas a night of giveaways, including free health care, free college and a host of other government-paid benefits. Since you aren't a fan of all they're giving away, tell us tonight what you would take back. +p853 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. +p854 +aVAll right. We're only just getting started. Coming up, your taxes. Stick around. You're watching FOX Business +p855 +aVWelcome back to the Milwaukee Theater and the Republican presidential debate. Let's get right back to our questions. Dr. Carson, to you. You recently railed against the double- standard in the media, sir, that seems obsessed with inconsistencies and potential exaggerations in your life story, but looked the other way when it came to then-Senator Barack Obama's. Still, as a candidate whose brand has always been trust, are you worried your campaign \u2014 which you've always said, sir, is bigger than you \u2014 is now being hurt by you? +p856 +aVI'll just forget that follow-up there. +p857 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p858 +aVAlright, thank you. We're going to take a break here. Coming up, a big issue many Americans are facing, taxes. The Republican Presidential Debate continues now, live, from Milwaukee. +p859 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from Milwaukee. Let's get back to the questions. And we want to touch on obviously one of the biggest of this issue in this year, taxes. And this will go to several of you. One of the biggest economic concerns of course in the country are taxes. Facebook data certainly backs that up. Once again the green on this map that we're going to see here shows how the conversation around taxes is resonating across the nation, especially here in Wisconsin. First off, Dr. Carson, to you. You say you are in favor of a tax system, I guess akin to tithing, sir, with a flat tax rate of up to 15 percent because you said, if everybody pays this, I think God is a pretty fair guy, so tithing is a pretty fair process. But Donald Trump says that is not fair. That wealthier taxpayers should pay a higher rate because it's a fair thing to do. So whose plan would God endorse then, Doctor? Yours or Mr. Trump's? +p860 +aVRight. +p861 +aVThank you very much. Senator Paul, you said you want to blow up the tax code and start over with an across-the-board 14.5 percent fair and flat tax. You happily offered that it is not revenue neutral and that's the idea. You want to choke off the amount of money coming into Washington. But don't you risk, sir, creating a near-term budget crisis just as your presidency would be beginning? +p862 +aVThere are no deductions on your \u2014 under your plan? +p863 +aVThank you, Senator. +p864 +aVSenator Paul... Senator Paul, you have already said, sir, that that would be a mistake in not talking to Vladimir Putin, or to rule it out. You've argued that it's never a good idea to close down communication. With that in mind, do you think the same applies to administration efforts right now to include the Iranians in talks on Syria? +p865 +aV...Well, then how would you respond? +p866 +aVBut if you're not going to respond in a no-fly zone strategy, what would yours be? +p867 +aVAll right. And look at the time, look at the time. You are watching FOX Business, we'll take a break. Stick around. +p868 +aVSenator Cruz \u2014 and I will get to you \u2014 but, Senator Cruz, on that theme, Facebook data shows that over the last month alone, nearly 1 million people \u2014 nearly 1 million \u2014 have been concerned about reining in Wall Street, apparently believing that some have not been punished enough. So, as an accomplished litigator yourself and a former solicitor general, would you go after the very people who believe and fear that Wall Street has ignored, in other words, the crooks that Bernie Sanders say have gotten away with a financial murder? +p869 +aVSenator......Senator, I really want to be clear here. Are you saying, sir, that if Bank of America were on the brink, you would let it fail? +p870 +aVSir, I understand that. I just want to be clear, if you don't mind, that millions of depositors would be on the line with that decision. And I just want to be clear. If it were to happen again, for whatever the reason, you would let it go, you would let a Bank of America go? +p871 +aVOK, I think it's fair to say you're not fans of Hillary Clinton's resume. Alright, Mr. Trump.... +p872 +aVI had a feeling. Perhaps the most successful capitalist on this stage tonight, you've acknowledged that some give capitalism a bad name. You've been particularly critical of businesses that find all sorts of ways of paying their taxes by keeping money abroad, but your own plan includes an incentive to bring \u2014 that more the $2 trillion dollars home. Isn't that, like, a one-time bounty... +p873 +aV...Some of the guys you all but call pirates, so they still keep the loot, and pay only a price to bring it back. +p874 +aV...Alright, gentlemen, I know you want to \u2014 and I want to, be we also promised to get people home tonight, and we are going to take a quick break here. I think it is fair to say at this juncture that you can discuss these issues, and only business issues, but still keep it interesting. Stick around for these candidates closing statements. +p875 +aVSenator Marco Rubio? +p876 +aVDr. Ben Carson? +p877 +aVDonald Trump? +p878 +aVCandidates, we want to thank you all. We also appreciate your helping save time by talking over one another at times. That was welcomed. But by all means, it was a very riveting debate. Business issues can be \u2014 can be riveting, because it wasn't about us, it's about them. +p879 +aVThat'll do it. Thank you for joining us. +p880 +asVBLITZER +p881 +(lp882 +VWelcome to the CNN-Facebook Republican presidential debate here at the Venetian Las Vegas. We have a very enthusiastic audience. Everyone is here. They're looking forward to a serious and spirited discussion about the security of this nation. I'm Wolf Blitzer, your moderator tonight. This debate is airing on CNN networks here in the United States and around the world, and on the Salem Radio Network. The nine leading candidates, they are here. Let's welcome them right now. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Businessman and real estate developer Donald Trump. Retired neurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. And Ohio Governor John Kasich. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome these Republican candidates for president of the United States. This is the final Republican debate before the election year begins, and we're taking a moment for the photographs of the candidates together on the stage. Now, everyone, please rise for the national anthem sung by Ayla Brown. +p883 +aVI know everyone is eager to get started. So, candidates, please take your places while I explain the ground rules for tonight. As moderator, I'll guide the discussion, and I'll be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt and CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. We also asked Republicans and independents nationwide to share their questions for the candidates. We teamed up with Facebook to send a campaign camper across the country over the past several weeks. Thousands of people stepped inside and recorded their questions on video. Millions more have weighed in on Facebook. Candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have a minute and 15 seconds to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you're singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know that we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. And as the candidates requested, a bell will sound like this. We know you are all eager to jump in and debate these important issues, so, please, wait until you're called on. These nine Republicans are positioned on stage based on their ranking in the recent polls, so let's begin right now. I'd like to invite each candidate to introduce himself or herself to our audience. You'll have one minute. First to you, Senator Paul. +p884 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p885 +aVGovernor Christie? +p886 +aVMs. Fiorina? +p887 +aVGovernor Bush? +p888 +aVSenator Rubio? +p889 +aVSenator Cruz. +p890 +aVDr. Carson. +p891 +aVMr. Trump. +p892 +aVThank you. Since you last debated, Americans have witnessed terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino. The FBI director says the country now faces the greatest terror threat since 9/11. You all have different approaches to keeping the country safe. And that will be the focus of tonight's debate. Mr. Trump, as you mentioned in your opening statement, part of your strategy is to focus in on America's borders. To keep the country safe, you say you want to temporarily ban non-American Muslims from coming to the United States; ban refugees fleeing +p893 +aVGovernor Bush, you called Mr. Trump "unhinged" when he proposed banning non-American Muslims from the United States. Why is that unhinged? +p894 +aVMr. Trump? +p895 +aVSenator Rubio \u2014 I'm going to go to Senator Rubio and get his thoughts. You have said banning Muslims is unconstitutional. But according to a recent ABC News-Washington Post poll, a majority of Republicans support Mr. Trump's idea. Why are they wrong? +p896 +aVHugh Hewitt, you have a question. +p897 +aVGovernor Christie, Americans are clearly more afraid today than at any time since 9/11. As you mentioned in your opening statement, today in Los Angeles, 650 schoolchildren didn't go to \u2014 650,000 schoolchildren didn't go to school because of an e-mail threat, this two weeks after an attack killed 14 people in San Bernardino. Is this the new normal? And if so, what steps would you take as president of the United States to ensure that fear does not paralyze America? +p898 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, one of the killers in San Bernardino was an American who was not on anyone's watch list. How are you going to find that radicalized person and stop another such attack? +p899 +aVThank you. Dana Bash, you have the next question. +p900 +aVThank you. Dr. Carson, you're in favor of monitoring mosques and schools where there is anti-America sentiment, what do you consider anti- America? +p901 +aVDr. Carson, who was right in that little debate that we just heard between Senator Rubio and Senator Paul? +p902 +aVHold on a sec, we have a lot more to come and everybody's going to have their full opportunity. Governor Bush, six days after 9/11 your brother visited a mosque and said quote, "Islam is peace." The conversation tonight is about banning Muslims and surveillance of mosques, are President Bush's words still relevant in today's Republican party? +p903 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you pointed out you were a CEO in Silicon Valley on 9/11. Companies there, they say they won't help the FBI now crack encrypted communication from +p904 +aVBut my question was: Should these Silicon Valley companies be forced to cooperate with the FBI? +p905 +aVMr. Trump, you recently suggested closing that Internet up, those were your words, as a way to stop +p906 +aVLet me follow up, Mr. Trump. So, are you open to closing parts of the Internet? +p907 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, is shutting down any part of the Internet a good idea? +p908 +aVThank you, Governor. The fight against radical Islamic terrorists and +p909 +aVThank you. To be clear, Senator Cruz, would you carpet bomb Raqqa, the +p910 +aVThank you. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you've been critical of Senator Cruz's strategy. You say his voting record doesn't match his rhetoric. Why? +p911 +aVBecause I asked the question, Senator, because you said this. You said he, referring to Senator Cruz, voted against the Defense Authorization Act every year that it came up, and I assume that if he voted against it, he would veto it as president. That's the bill that funds our troops. +p912 +aVSenator Cruz? +p913 +aVSenator Rubio. +p914 +aVWe are going to have much more on this... +p915 +aVWe're going to have much more on this. But I want to move now back to Mr. Trump. +p916 +aVHold on. Hold on. Hold on. +p917 +aVWe have a lot... +p918 +aVWe have a lot to discuss. I want to move to Mr. Trump right now. We have a question on this war against +p919 +aVMr. Trump. +p920 +aVGovernor Bush. Governor Bush. +p921 +aVMr. Trump. +p922 +aVJust one at a time, go ahead... +p923 +aVGo ahead, Mr. Trump. +p924 +aVGovernor Bush, please. +p925 +aVOne at a time. +p926 +aVGovernor Bush. +p927 +aVThank you. +p928 +aVAll right. Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash, Hugh, go ahead with the next question. +p929 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Rubio? Let's continue this conversation. This is a critically important issue. +p930 +aVWe will get to \u2014 we have a lot of time, Ms. Fiorina. I want to get to Senator Rubio right now. Let's talk about, one of the aspects of your strategy, you say the only way to defeat +p931 +aVThank you, Senator. Stand by. Ms. Fiorina, the former defense secretary, Bob Gates, says the chances of getting Sunni-Arab forces on the ground to get the job done, his words, "chances very remote." What's your strategy? +p932 +aVThank you. Governor Christie, what's your strategy? +p933 +aVDr. Carson, what is your strategy? +p934 +aVThank you. Everyone stand by. We're only just beginning. Coming up, which candidates on this stage tonight want to move foreign policy in a dramatically new direction? We'll be right back. +p935 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate here at the Venetian, Las Vegas. The war against +p936 +aVThank you. +p937 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you supported the removal of Moammar Gadhafi in Libya. Now that country is in turmoil, as +p938 +aVSenator Cruz? +p939 +aVStandby. Everybody standby for a moment. Governor Kasich, go ahead. +p940 +aVThank you. +p941 +aVWe're going to talk about Assad in a moment. Mr. Trump, are Americans safer with dictators running the world in the Middle East? +p942 +aVThank you. Mr. Trump? +p943 +aVAll right. +p944 +aVThank you. +p945 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East... +p946 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East better off with dictators? +p947 +aVGovernor Bush. +p948 +aVHold on Governor Bush., here's the question. You said, "getting rid of Saddam Hussein in your words was a pretty good deal." In light of what has happened in Iraq, do you still feel that way? +p949 +aVSenator Paul, was getting rid of Saddam Hussein a pretty good deal? +p950 +aVThank you. Hugh Hewitt, go ahead. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hugh. +p951 +aVSenator, Senator, we're going to get to you. Wait your turn. We have two hours of debate. We'll have plenty of time. Let Hugh ask his question. +p952 +aVSenator, please. +p953 +aVSenator... +p954 +aVYou'll have plenty of opportunity. Hugh, go ahead. +p955 +aVThese are the rules all of you agreed to. Hugh, go ahead with your question. +p956 +aVLet's continue with Russia right now. We have another question from Facebook. Listen and watch. +p957 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you know, U.S. and Russian warplanes are flying all over Syria right now. With so many lives on the line, is this a good time for the United States not to talk to Putin? +p958 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Christie, if the U.S. imposed a no-fly zone over Syria and a Russian plane encroached, invaded that no-fly zone, would you be prepared to shoot down that Russian plane and risk war with Russia? +p959 +aVSenator Paul \u2014 Senator Paul, I want you to respond to what we just heard from Governor Christie. If there was a no-fly zone, you say that potentially could lead to World War III. Why? +p960 +aVGovernor Christie? +p961 +aVAll right, let's go back \u2014 Hugh and Dana? +p962 +aVOne at a time. Hugh, go ahead. +p963 +aVGovernor, thank you very much. So, Dr. Carson, you recently visited a refugee camp in Jordan and you deemed it your words, "really quite nice." Saying the people there didn't want to come to the United States. Do you think these camps are a long-term solution of the problem of Syrian refugees? +p964 +aVSenator Paul, you oppose letting in Syrian refugees at this time into the United States. The U.S. has already accepted 2,000 Syrian refugees, including 13 living here in Las Vegas right now. Would you send them back? What would you do with these people? +p965 +aVSenator Rubio? +p966 +aVSenator Paul, you didn't answer the question about the 2,000 Syrian refugees who are already here in the United States. Will you send them back or let them stay? +p967 +aVWe have another \u2014 we have another question. We have another question from Facebook. Let's listen. +p968 +aVGovernor Christie, you say there should be a pause in allowing new refugees to come into the United States, including orphans under the age of five. What do you say to Carla? +p969 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p970 +aVThank you, Governor. There is much more coming up. We are only just beginning. Coming up, what other global hot spots await the next president of the United States. +p971 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate. We're here at the Venetian Las Vegas. Tonight we have been focusing on the Middle East, but let's turn to some other world threats that you will potentially face as Commander in Chief. Ms. Fiorina, candidates here have called the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un a maniac who is mentally unstable. Last week he said he now has a hydrogen bomb. If you were elected president, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p972 +aVDr. Carson, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p973 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Dana and Hugh you have questions as well. +p974 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Some of you on this stage have questioned whether your opponents have temperament, the right temperament, to be in control of the nuclear codes. Dana, you have a question on this? +p975 +aVThank you, senator. Thank you. +p976 +aVThank you, Senator. +p977 +aVThank you, Senator. We're a month and a half away now from the first real test who will be the Republican presidential nominee. Hugh, you have a question? +p978 +aVAll right. Candidates, we have more coming up. When we come back, everyone will have an opportunity to explain why this particular candidate, each of you on the stage, believes he or she should be the Republican presidential nominee. +p979 +aVNow it's time for the closing statements from the candidates. Each one has 30 seconds. Senator Paul. +p980 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p981 +aVGovernor Christie. +p982 +aVMs. Fiorina. +p983 +aVGovernor Bush. +p984 +aVSenator Rubio. +p985 +aVSenator Cruz. +p986 +aVDr. Carson. +p987 +aVThanks to all the Republican presidential candidates. That does it for this Republican presidential debate. +p988 +asVMODERATOR +p989 +(lp990 +VComing up more of our debate, including questions about President Obama's foreign policy and these guys and their better ideas. Coming up. +p991 +asVFIORINA +p992 +(lp993 +VLike all of you I'm angry. I'm angry at what's happening to our nation. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. Bombastic insults wont take it back. Political rhetoric that promises a lot and delivers little, won't take it back. All of our problems can be solved. All of our wounds can be healed by a tested leader who is willing to fight for the character of our nation. I have been tested. I have beaten breast cancer. I have buried a child. I started as a secretary. I fought my way to the top of corporate America while being called every B word in the book. I fought my way into this election and on to this debate stage while all the political insiders and the pundits told, "it couldn't be done." I've been told, "no,: all my life. And all my life, I've refused to accept no as an answer. Citizens, it is time to take our country back from the political class, from the media, from the liberal elite. It can be done, it must be done, join me and we will get it done. +p994 +aVWhat I think we need to stand for are solutions. I offer myself as a leader to the people of this country because I think they're looking for solutions, not lawyers arguing over laws or entertainers throwing out sound bites that draw media attention. We need to solve the problem. To solve the problem, we need to do something here at home and something over there in their caliphate. We need to deny them territory. But here at home, we need to do two fundamental things. Number one, we need to recognize that technology has moved on. The Patriot Act was signed in 2001, roughly. The iPhone was invented in 2007. The iPad was invented in 2011. Snapchat and Twitter, all the rest of it, have been around just for several years. Technology has moved on, and the terrorists have moved on with it. Let me tell you a story. Soon after 9/11, I got a phone call from the NSA. They needed help. I gave them help. I stopped a truckload of equipment. I had it turned around. It was escorted by the NSA into headquarters. We need the private sector's help, because government is not innovating. Technology is running ahead by leaps and bound. The private sector will help, just as I helped after 9/11. But they must be engaged, and they must be asked. I will ask them. I know them. +p995 +aVYou know, listening to this conversation, let me just say, we have a lot of argument about laws but none of it solves the problem. Let's examine what happened, why did we miss the Tsarnaev brothers, why did we miss the San Bernardino couple? It wasn't because we had stopped collected metadata it was because, I think, as someone who comes from the technology world, we were using the wrong algorithms. This is a place where the private sector could be helpful because the government is woefully behind the technology curve. But secondly, the bureaucratic processes that have been in place since 9/11 are woefully inadequate as well. What do we now know? That DHS vets people by going into databases of known or suspected terrorists. And yet, we also know that +p996 +aVThey do not need to be forced. They need to be asked to bring the best and brightest, the most recent technology to the table. I was asked as a CEO. I complied happily. And they will as well. But they have not been asked. That's why it cost billions of dollars to build an Obama website that failed because the private sector wasn't asked. +p997 +aVI hope at some point you're going to ask me my strategy. +p998 +aVWell, first I'll just point out that talking tough is not the same as being strong. And to wage war, we need a commander in chief who has made tough calls in tough times and stood up to be held accountable over and over, not first-term senators who've never made an executive decision in their life. One of the things I would immediately do, in addition to defeating them here at home, is bring back the warrior class \u2014 Petraeus, McChrystal, Mattis, Keane, Flynn. Every single one of these generals I know. Every one was retired early because they told President Obama things that he didn't want to hear. We must have Sunni-Arabs involved in this coalition. We must commit leadership, strength, support and resolve. I'll just add that Margaret Thatcher once said, "If you want something talked about, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman." +p999 +aVThat is exactly what President Obama said. I'm amazed to hear that from a republican presidential candidate. But let's just start with, who got it wrong? Who really got it wrong? Hillary Clinton has gotten every foreign policy challenge wrong. Hitting the reset button with Vladimir Putin \u2013 recall that she called Bashar Al-Assad a positive reformer and then she opened an embassy and then later she said, over, and over, and over again, "Bashar Al-Assad must go." Although she wasn't prepared to do anything about it. Recall that Hillary Clinton was all for toppling Gadhafi then didn't listen to her own people on the ground. And then of course, when she lied about the terrorist attack in Benghazi, she invited more terrorist attacks. +p1000 +aVWe've mismanaged going into Iraq. +p1001 +aVWe've mismanaged going out of Iraq. +p1002 +aVWe actually... +p1003 +aVI didn't say I would cut off all communication with Putin. What I said was as president of the United States, now is not the time to talk with him. Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. There is a time and a place for everything. There is a time and a place for talk. And there is a time and a place for action. I know Vladimir Putin. He respects strength. He lied to our president's face; didn't both to tell him about warplanes and troops going into Syria. We need to speak to him from a position of strength. So as commander in chief, I will not speak to him until we've set up that no-fly zone; until we've gathered our Sunni-Arab allies and begun to deny +p1004 +aVThis doesn't do a thing to solve the problems...It doesn't do a thing to solve the problems. +p1005 +aVIt will not solve the problem. +p1006 +aVLadies and gentleman, this is why the American people are standing up. +p1007 +aVThis is why the nation is fed up... +p1008 +aVWe have been talking about this... +p1009 +aVSorry, but you haven't gotten to me. This is why... +p1010 +aVthe people are fed up with the political class. +p1011 +aVWell, first, Kim Jong-Un is a dangerous leader, without a doubt. And both Republican and Democrat administrations have been completely ineffective in dealing with him. So we must continue to isolate him. We will need China as part of that strategy. China is a rising adversary. So one of the things we have to do if we want China's support is to push back on China. They, too, recognize one thing \u2014 strength and their own economic interest. I have done business in China for 25 years, so I know that in order to get China to cooperate with us, we must first actually retaliate against their cyber-attacks so they know we're serious. We have to push back on their desire to control the trade route through the South China Sea through which flows $5 trillion worth of goods and services every year. We cannot let them control the disputed islands, and we must work with the Australians, the South Koreans, the Japanese and the Filipinos to contain China. And then we must ask for their support and their help with North Korea. Because believe it or not, China is as concerned about Kim Jong-Un as we are. +p1012 +aVI too remember September 11th. I remember immediately putting into place security procedures all throughout our company that did business in 170 countries where we thought corporate interests would be attacked next. To take our country back, to keep our nation safe, we have to begin by beating Hillary Clinton. We need to unify our party. We need to better than our government, which 75 percent of the American people now think is corrupt and incompetent. They're right. We need to better than our politics. 80 percent think we have a professional/political class of both parties that cares more about its power, position and privilege than actually on getting anything done. We need to unify our party, we need a real Conservative in the White House, and we need to beat Hillary Clinton to take our country back and keep our nation safe. I can. I am. And together, if you join me, we will take our country back. +p1013 +aVWell, first of all, I must say as I think about that question, I think about a woman I met the other day. I would guess she was 40 years old. She had several children. And she said to me, you know, Carly, I go to bed every night afraid for my children's future. And that really struck me. This is America. A mother is going to bed afraid for her children's future. And the reason she's afraid for her children's future is because we've had problems for a long time. Yes, problems have gotten much worse under Democrats. But the truth is, this government has been growing bigger and bigger, more corrupt, less effective, crushing the engine of economic growth for a very long time. This isn't about just replacing a Democrat with a Republican now. It's about actually challenging the status quo of big government. Big government has created a big business called politics. And there are lots of people invested in the status quo of that big business called politics. Specifically, we need actually to do five things to really get this economy going again. We need to go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dollar is being spent, we can challenge any dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. We need to actually reform the tax code. Go to a three-page tax code. Yes, there are plans that would reform our tax code to three pages. In addition to rolling back what President Obama has done, we need to do a top-to-bottom review of every single regulation on the books. That hasn't been done in 50 years. We need to pass the +p1014 +aVWell, first Obamacare has to be repealed because it's failing... ...it's failing the very people it was intended to help, but, also, it is croney-capitalism at its worst. Who helped write this bill? Drug companies, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, every single one of those kinds of companies are bulking up to deal with big government. See, that's what happens. As government gets bigger, and bigger \u2014 and it has been for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike \u2014 and business have to bulk up to deal with big government. So, we have to repeal it. It's tens of thousands of pages long, no one can possible understand it except the big companies, the lawyers, the accountants, the lobbyists that they hire to protect their interests. Then, we have to give back to states the responsibility to manage a high risk pool. We need to try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried. Health insurance has always been a cozy, little game between regulators and health insurance companies. We need to try the free market. The free market. Where people actually have to compete. And, we 'ought to have the government ensure that you must \u2014 and I don't use that term often, that government 'ought to do something, but every healthcare provider 'ought to publish its costs, its prices, its outcomes, because as patients we don't know what we're buying. Now, let me just say \u2014 let me just say, I know more about innovation and entrepreneurship than anyone on this panel because I have led innovative businesses in the most highly competitive industry in the world for decades. The truth is the secret sauce of America is innovation, and entrepreneurship, it is why we must cut our government down to size, and hold it accountable. It's why we have to take our government back, because innovation and entrepreneurship is crushed by the crushing load of a 73,000 page tax code. It is crushed... ...by regulatory thicket that is so vast we don't even know what's in it anymore. It is crushed as well by government bureaucrats who don't do their jobs very well, and who are not held accountable, which is why I've said we got to take our government back, and to do that, we have to know where every dollar being spent, and be able to move any dollar. We have to hack through this regulatory thicket, repeal so much, but, also, know what's in that regulatory thicket \u2014 we don't even know what regulations have been passed. Third, we need to build a meritocracy \u2014 Scott Walker, by the way, is trying now to do in Wisconsin... ...Finally, we need to get to a three page tax code, and, yes, that plan exists. +p1015 +aVSorry, I can't hear you. +p1016 +aV...Absolutely... +p1017 +aV...You need to give... +p1018 +aVThe alternative is to allow states to manage high risk pools for those who really need help. Look, I'm a cancer survivor, OK? I understand that you cannot have someone who's battled cancer just become known as a pre-existing condition. I understand that you cannot allow families to go bankrupt if they truly need help. But, I also understand that Obamacare isn't helping anyone. We're throwing more, and more people into Medicaid, and fewer, and fewer doctors are taking those payments. The point is Obamacare is crushing small businesses, it is not helping the families it was intended to help. So, let us allow states to manage high risk pools. Let us try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried, the free market. Let us ensure that as patients, and customers... +p1019 +aV...that we have information to shop wisely for our health care. +p1020 +aV...Yes, the middle ground is this... +p1021 +aV...This is why \u2014 this is why we must combine, actually, zero-based budgeting with tax reform because unless we can examine, and cut, and move, every single dollar of discretionary spending in the federal government, we cannot reform taxes and reduce spending at the same time. Ask yourself this question, how is it possible that the federal government gets more money each and every year, which the federal government has been doing, receiving more money every year for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike, and yet, never has enough money to do the important things? The answer? All the money's always spoken for. All the money's spoken for. So, we have to go to zero-based budgeting, which is a simple idea \u2014 by the way, there's been a bill for zeros-based (ph) budgeting... ...It exists, it can be voted on. Every dollar must be examined. Any dollar can be cut. Any dollar can be cut, any dollar can be moved. We have to go to a three page tax code. You lower every rate, you close every loophole, why? Because the government uses the tax code to decide winners, and losers. You have to strip the corruption out of the tax code to pay for it. You have to know where every single dollar is being spent... +p1022 +aV...Cut where you need to, and invest where you need to... +p1023 +aV...The two go hand in hand... +p1024 +aVYou know, Mr. Trump fancies himself a very good negotiator. And, I accept that he's done a lot of good deals, so, Mr. Trump 'ought to know that we should not speak to people from a position of weakness. Senator Paul should know that as well. One of the reasons I've said that I would not be talking to Vladimir Putin right now, although I have met him as well, not in a green room for a show, but in a private meeting. One of the reasons I've said I wouldn't be talking to Vladimir Putin right now is because we are speaking to him from a position of weakness brought on by this administration, so, I wouldn't talk to him for awhile, but, I would do this. I would start rebuilding the Sixth Fleet right under his nose, rebuilding the military \u2014 the missile defense program in Poland right under his nose. I would conduct very aggressive military exercises in the Baltic States so that he understood we would protect our +p1025 +aV...we have the strongest military on the face of the planet, and everyone has to know it. +p1026 +aV...Ronald Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. +p1027 +aV...he walked away, he quit talks... +p1028 +aV...when it was time to quit talking... +p1029 +aVCan I just \u2014 could I just say, as a chief executive who's had to make tough calls to save jobs and to grow jobs, I think what's interesting about Dodd-Frank is it's a great example of how socialism starts. Socialism starts when government creates a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. Government created the problem. Government created the problem of a real estate boom. How did we create it? Under Republican and Democrats alike, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, everybody gathered together, Republicans and Democrats, and said, "home ownership is part of the American dream. Let's create a bubble," and then government stepped in \u2014 by the way, under president George W. Bush, banks were told \u2014 encouraged \u2014 told, really \u2014 to buy other banks, to take money. And now what do we have with Dodd-Frank? The classic of crony capitalism. The big have gotten bigger, 1,590 community banks have gone out of business, and on top of all that, we've created something called the Consumer Financial Production Bureau, a vast bureaucracy with no congressional oversight that's digging through hundreds of millions of your credit records to detect fraud. This is how socialism starts, ladies and gentlemen. We must take our government back. +p1030 +aVImagine a Clinton presidency. Our military will continue to deteriorate. Our veterans will not be cared for. And, no, Mrs. Clinton, that situation is not exaggerated. The rich will get richer. The poor will get poorer. The middle class will continue to get crushed. And as bad as that picture is, what's even worse is that a Clinton presidency will corrode the character of this nation. Why? Because of the Clinton way: Say whatever you have to, lie as long as you can get away with it. We must beat Hillary Clinton. Carly Fiorina can beat Hillary Clinton. I will beat Hillary Clinton. And under a President Fiorina, we will restore the character of this nation, the security of this nation, the prosperity of this nation, because as citizens, we will take our government back. +p1031 +aVWell, gee, after the last debate, I was told that I didn't smile enough. +p1032 +aVBut I also think that these are very serious times; 75 percent of the American people think the federal government is corrupt. I agree with them. And this big powerful, corrupt bureaucracy works now only for the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected. Meantime, wages have stagnated for 40 years. We have more Americans out of work or just Americans who quit looking for work for 40 years. Ours was intended to be a citizen government. This is about more than replacing a D with an R. We need a leader who will help us take our government back. +p1033 +aVLet me just say on taxes, how long have we been talking about tax reform in Washington, D.C.? We have been talking about it for decades. We now have a 73,000-page tax code. There have been more than 4,000 changes to the tax plan since 2001 alone. There are loads of great ideas, great conservative ideas from wonderful think tanks about how to reform the tax code. The problem is we never get it done. We have talked about tax reform in every single election for decades. It never happens. And the politicians always say it is so complicated, nobody but a politician can figure it out. The truth is this, the big problem, we need a leader in Washington who understands how to get something done, not to talk about it, not to propose it, to get it done. +p1034 +aVThat's right, three pages. +p1035 +aVYou know why three? +p1036 +aVNo. You know why three? Because only if it's about three pages are you leveling the playing field between the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected who can hire the armies of lawyers and accountants and, yes, lobbyists to help them navigate their way through 73,000 pages. Three pages is about the maximum that a single business owner or a farmer or just a couple can understand without hiring somebody. Almost 60 percent of American people now need to hire an expert to understand their taxes. So yes, you're going to hear a lot of talk about tax reform \u2014 +p1037 +aV\u2014 the issue is who is going to get it done. +p1038 +aVYou know, the +p1039 +aVWell, this is one of the reasons why Tom Perkins and I had disagreements in the boardroom, Becky. Nevertheless, one of the things that I think people don't always understand is how accountable a CEO actually is. So you know, I had to report results every 90 days in excruciating detail. I had to answer every single question about every single result and every single projection in public until there were no more questions. And if I misrepresented those results or those projections in any way, I was held criminally liable. Imagine \u2014 imagine \u2014 if a politician were held to that standard of account. I will run on my record all day long. And I believe people need a leader who is prepared to make tough calls in tough times and stand up... +p1040 +aV...and be held accountable. +p1041 +aVYou know, I want to go back for a moment to what we were just talking about. Crony capitalism is alive and well, and has been so in Washington, D.C. for decades. What's crony capitalism? Crony capitalism is what happens when government gets so big and so powerful that only the big and the powerful can handle it. So why are the pharmaceutical companies consolidating? Why are there five even bigger Wall Street banks now, instead of the ten we used to have on Wall Street? Because when government gets big and powerful, the big feel like they need to get even bigger to deal with all that power, and meanwhile, the small and the powerless \u2014 in this case, 1,590 community banks \u2014 go out of business. You see, folks, this is how socialism starts. Government causes a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. This is why, fundamentally, we have to take our government back. The student loan problem has been created by government. Government trying to level the playing field between Internet and brick-and-mortar creates a problem. The FCC jumping in now and saying, "we're going to put 400 pages of regulation over the Internet," is going to create massive problems. But guess who pushed for that regulation? The big Internet companies. This is what's going on. Big and powerful use big and powerful government to their advantage. It's why you see Walgreens buying Rite Aid. It's why you see the pharmaceuticals getting together. It's you see the health insurance companies getting together. It's why you see the banks consolidating. And meanwhile, small businesses are getting crushed. Community- based businesses and farms are getting crushed. Community banks are going out of business. Big government favors the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected, and crushes the small and the powerless. +p1042 +aVIt is why we have to simplify. It is why we have to reduce the size and power of government. +p1043 +aVIt's the only way to level the playing field between big and powerful and small and powerless. +p1044 +aVBecky, it is the height of hypocrisy for Mrs. Clinton to talk about being the first woman President, when every single policy she espouses, and every single policy of President Obama has been demonstrably bad for women. 92 percent \u2014 92 percent of the jobs lost during Barack Obama's first term belonged to women. Senator Cruz is precisely right. Three million women have fallen into poverty under this administration. The number of women \u2014 +p1045 +aV\u2014 living in extreme poverty is the highest level on record. I am a conservative because I know our values, our principles and our policies \u2014 +p1046 +aV\u2014 work better to lift everyone up, men and women. +p1047 +aVNo, the Federal Government should not play a larger role. Look, every time the Federal Government gets engaged in something it gets worse. And then the Government steps in to try and solve the problem and we get a little further down to that progressive vision that Hillary Clinton is talking about. Companies should, if they want to attract the best workers, provide a good set of benefits. But honestly, if you're a small business owner today you are being crushed. We have 400,000 small businesses forming every year in this country. How great is that? They are employing themselves, they are potentially employing others. The bad news is, we have 470,000 going out of business every year. And why? They cite Obamacare. They are refusing to... +p1048 +aVI think it's a wonderful that that businesses start a 401(k). The point I'm making is this, the Federal Government should not be in a lot of things. There is no Constitutional role for the Federal Government in setting up \u2014 retirement plans. There is no Constitutional role for the Federal Government to be setting minimum wages... +p1049 +aV... The more the Government gets engaged in the economy, the slower the economy becomes. The more the Government gets engaged in the economy, it is demonstrably true... +p1050 +aV... The more the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected are advantaged. +p1051 +aVJohn, I \u2014 if I \u2014 a lot of people have jumped in here. I'd like to jump in. A lot of people have jumped in here. +p1052 +aVI understand. +p1053 +aVI would just say that... ... I would just say this, we've heard a lot of great ideas up here, and I agree with what Senator Rubio said. Every election we talk about this. Every election we talk about Medicare and Social Security reform. It never happens. I would like to start with a basic. Let us actually go to zero- based budgeting so we know where the money is being spent. It's kind of basic. There is a bill sitting in the House that would actually pass and have us go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dime of your money is being spent instead of only talking about how much more we're going to spend year after year after year. My point is this. While there are lots of good ideas for reform, we have never tackled the basics. And we finally need to tackle the basics to cut this government down to size and hold it accountable. So let's start by knowing where your money is being spent by the federal government. +p1054 +aVYou know, every election we hear a lot of talk. We hear a lot of good plans. We hear actually a lot of good intentions. But somehow for decades, nothing really has changed. What we need now is a proven leader who has produced results. That's how you go from secretary to CEO. You lead and you produce results. I will cut this government down to size and hold it accountable, simplify the tax code, roll back the regulations that have been spewing out of Washington, D.C. for 50 years. I may not be your dream candidate just yet, but I can assure you I am Hillary Clinton's worst nightmare. And in your heart of hearts, you cannot wait to see a debate between Hillary Clinton and Carly Fiorina. I will tell you this, I will beat Hillary Clinton. And with your vote and your support and your prayers, I will lead with the citizens of this great nation the resurgence of this great nation. +p1055 +aVGood evening. My story, from secretary to CEO, is only possible in this nation, and proves that everyone of us has potential. My husband, Frank, of 30 years, started out driving a tow truck for a family owned auto body shop. We have come to a pivotal point in our nation's history where this nation's possibilities and potential are being crushed by a government grown so big, so powerful, so inept, so corrupt, and a political class that refuses to do anything about it. I am prepared to lead the resurgence of this great nation. +p1056 +aVYou know, I think Mr. Trump is a wonderful entertainer. He's been terrific at that business. I also think that one of the benefits of a presidential campaign is the character and capability, judgment and temperament of every single one of us is revealed over time and under pressure. All of us will be revealed over time and under pressure. I look forward to a long race. +p1057 +aVThat's not for me to answer; it is for the voters of this country to answer, and I have a lot of faith in the common sense and good judgment of the voters of the United States of America. +p1058 +aVJake, I'll tell you \u2014 I'll tell you why people are supporting outsiders. It's because you know what happens if someone's been in the system their whole life, they don't know how broken the system is. A fish swims in water, it doesn't know it's water. It's not that politicians are bad people, it's that they've been in that system forever. The truth is 75 percent of the American people think the government is corrupt; 82 percent of the American people think these problems that have festered for 50 years in some cases, 25 years in other cases. The border's been insecure for 25 years; 307,000 veterans have died waiting for health care. These things have gone on for so long because no one will challenge the status quo. You know what a leader does? They challenge the status quo, they solve problems that have festered for a long time and they produce results. That is what my whole life has been about. People know this is about far more than replacing a D with an R \u2014 +p1059 +aV\u2014 this is about changing the system. +p1060 +aVHaving... +p1061 +aVHaving met Vladimir Putin, if I may... +p1062 +aVHaving met Vladimir Putin, I wouldn't talk to him at all. We've talked way too much to him. What I would do, immediately, is begin rebuilding the Sixth Fleet, I would begin rebuilding the missile defense program in Poland, I would conduct regular, aggressive military exercises in the Baltic states. I'd probably send a few thousand more troops into Germany. Vladimir Putin would get the message. By the way, the reason it is so critically important that every one of us know General Suleimani's name is because Russia is in Syria right now, because the head of the Quds force traveled to Russia and talked Vladimir Putin into aligning themselves with Iran and Syria to prop up Bashar al- Assad. Russia is a bad actor, but Vladimir Putin is someone we should not talk to, because the only way he will stop is to sense strength and resolve on the other side, and we have all of that within our control. We could rebuild the Sixth Fleet. I will. We haven't. We could rebuild the missile defense program. We haven't. I will. We could also, to Senator Rubio's point, give the Egyptians what they've asked for, which is intelligence. We could give the Jordanians what they've asked for... +p1063 +aV...bombs and materiel. We have not supplied it... +p1064 +aV...I will. We could arm the Kurds. They've been asking us for three years. All of this is within our control. +p1065 +aV...Jake... +p1066 +aV...Jake, ... +p1067 +aVAnd then it'll be my turn. +p1068 +aVJake? +p1069 +aVJake? +p1070 +aVDana, I'd like to... +p1071 +aVDana, I would like to link these two issues, both of which are incredibly important, Iran and Planned Parenthood. One has something to do with the defense of the security of this nation. The other has something to do with the defense of the character of this nation. You have not heard a plan about Iran from any politician up here, here is my plan. On day one in the Oval Office, I will make two phone calls, the first to my good friend to Bibi Netanyahu to reassure him we will stand with the state of Israel. The second, to the supreme leader, to tell him that unless and until he opens every military and every nuclear facility to real anytime, anywhere inspections by our people, not his, we, the United States of America, will make it as difficult as possible and move money around the global financial system. We can do that, we don't need anyone's cooperation to do it. And every ally and every adversary we have in this world will know that the United States in America is back in the leadership business, which is how we must stand with our allies. As regards Planned Parenthood, anyone who has watched this videotape, I dare Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama to watch these tapes. Watch a fully formed fetus on the table, it's heart beating, it's legs kicking while someone says we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain. This is about the character of our nation, and if we will not stand up in and force President Obama to veto this bill, shame on us. +p1072 +aVYou know, it's interesting to me, Mr. Trump said that he heard Mr. Bush very clearly and what Mr. Bush said. I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said. +p1073 +aVDana, with all being said to Mr. Trump... +p1074 +aVImmigration did not come up in 2016 because Mr. Trump brought it up. We talked about it in 2012, we talked about it in 2008. We talked about it in 2004. +p1075 +aVWe have been talking about it for 25 years. This is why people are tired of politicians. +p1076 +aVFirst let me say, We have just spent a good bit of time discussing, as Republicans, how to solve this problem. I would ask your audience at home to ask a very basic question. Why have Democrats not solved this problem? President Obama campaigned in 2007 and 2008 on solving the immigration problem. He entered Washington with majorities in the House and the Senate. He could have chosen to do anything to solve this pro \u2014 this problem. Instead, he chose to do nothing. Why? because the Democrats don't want this issue solved. +p1077 +aVThey want it to be an issue that they can use. As to birthright citizenship... +p1078 +aV...the truth is, you can't just wave your hands and say "the 14th Amendment is gonna go away." It will take an extremely arduous vote in Congress, followed by two-thirds of the states, and if that doesn't work to amend the Constitution, then it is a long, arduous process in court. And meanwhile, what will continue to go on is what has gone on for 25 years. With all due respect, Mr. Trump, we've been talking about illegal immigration for 25 years. San Francisco has been a sanctuary city since 1989. There are 300 of them. And meanwhile, what has happened? Nothing. The border remains insecure. The legal immigration system remains broken. Look, we know what it takes to secure a border. We've heard a lot of great ideas here. Money, manpower, technology... +p1079 +aV...mostly, apparently, leadership... +p1080 +aV...the kind of leadership that understands how to get results. +p1081 +aVBut you \u2014 you would stipulate, Mr. Trump, but not everyone agrees with you. +p1082 +aVOK. +p1083 +aVI led Hewlett Packard through a very difficult time, the worst technology recession in 25 years. The +p1084 +aV\u2014 out a full-page ad in the New York Times to say he was wrong, I was right. I was a terrific CEO, the board was dysfunctional. And he thinks I will make a magnificent president of the United States. +p1085 +aVYou know, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld is a well-known Clintonite and honestly had it out for me from the moment that I arrived at Hewlett Packard. But honestly, Mr. Trump, I find it quite rich that you would talk about this. You know, there are a lot of us Americans who believe that we are going to have trouble someday paying back the interest on our debt because politicians have run up mountains of debt using other people's money. That is in fact precisely the way you ran your casinos. You ran up mountains of debt, as well as losses, using other people's money, and you were forced to file for bankruptcy not once \u2014 +p1086 +aV\u2014 not twice, four times, a record four times. Why should we trust you to manage the finances \u2014 +p1087 +aV\u2014 of this nation any differently than you managed the finances \u2014 +p1088 +aV\u2014 of your casinos? +p1089 +aVWell \u2014 +p1090 +aVWell, Mr. Trump \u2014 +p1091 +aVA track record of leadership is not a game. It is the issue in this election. +p1092 +aVWell, I thought we had been hearing quite a bit about Govenor Christie's record as governor, actually. I think track records are very important. I completely agree that what's at stake here is the future of this nation, and the future of every American. But I do think that a track record of leadership is vital because in the end this election is about leadership. And let's talk about what leadership is. It's not about braggadocio, it is about challenging the status quo, solving problems, producing results. And the highest calling of leadership is to unlock potential in others. +p1093 +aVProblems have festered in Washington for too long. And the potential of this nation is being crushed. +p1094 +aVYou see, Governor Christie, people spend time talking about their track records, and Mr. Trump and I have every right to do the same. And Mrs. Clinton has to defend her track record. Her track record of lying about Benghazi, of lying about her e- mails, about lying about her servers. She does not have a track record of accomplishment. Like Mrs. Clinton, I, too, have travels hundreds of thousands of miles around the globe. But unlike Mrs. Clinton, I know flying is an activity, not an accomplishment. Mrs. Clinton \u2014 if you want to stump a Democrat, ask them to name a accomplishment of Mrs. Clinton's. +p1095 +aVWe just spent \u2014 we just spent the last 10 minutes... +p1096 +aV...Jake, since everyone has gotten to weigh in on this military issue, I'd like to be able to do the same. We have spent probably 12 minutes talking about the past. Let's talk about the future. We need the strongest military on the face of the planet, and everyone has to know it. And, specifically, what that means is we need about 50 Army brigades, we need about 36 Marine battalions, we need somewhere between 300, and 350 naval ships, we need to upgrade every leg of the nuclear triad... +p1097 +aV...we need to reform the Department of Defense, we need as well... +p1098 +aV...to invest in our military technology, and we need to care for our veterans so 307,000... +p1099 +aV...aren't dying waiting for health care. +p1100 +aVJake, may I just say... +p1101 +aVJake \u2014 Jake... +p1102 +aVI very much hope I am the only person on this stage who can say this, but I know there are millions of Americans out there who will say the same thing. My husband Frank and I buried a child to drug addiction. So, we must invest more in the treatment of drugs. +p1103 +aVI agree with Senator Paul. I agree with states' rights. But we are misleading young people when we tell them that marijuana is just like having a beer. It's not. And the marijuana that kids are smoking today is not the same as the marijuana that Jeb Bush smoked 40 years ago. We do \u2014 sorry, Barbara. We do need \u2014 we do need criminal justice reform. We have the highest incarceration rates in the world. Two-thirds of the people in our prisons are there for non-violent offenses, mostly drug related. It's clearly not working. But we need to tell young people the truth. Drug addiction is an epidemic, and it is taking too many of our young people. I know this sadly from personal experience. +p1104 +aVI wouldn't change the $10 bill, or the $20 bill. I think, honestly, it's a gesture. I don't think it helps to change our history. What I would think is that we ought to recognize that women are not a special interest group. Women are the majority of this nation. We are half the potential of this nation, and this nation will be better off when every woman has the opportunity to live the life she chooses. +p1105 +aVSecretariat. +p1106 +aVI think what this nation can be and must be is symbolized by Lady Liberty and Lady Justice. Lady Liberty stands tall and strong. She is clear-eyed and resolute. She doesn't shield her eyes from the realities of the world, but she faces outward into the world nevertheless, as we always must. And she holds her torch high, because she knows she is a beacon of hope in a very troubled world. And Lady Justice, Lady Justice holds a sword by her side, because she is a fighter, a warrior for the values and the principles that have made this nation great. She holds a scale in her other hand. And with that scale she says all of us are equal in the eyes of God. And so all of us must be equal in the eyes of the law and the government, powerful and powerless alike. And she wears a blindfold. And with that blindfold she is saying to us that it must be true, it can be true that in this country, in this century, it doesn't matter who you are, it doesn't matter what you look like, it doesn't matter how you start, it doesn't matter your circumstances, here in this nation, every American's life must be filled with the possibilities that come from their God-given gifts. One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. +p1107 +aVWhen America does not lead, the world is a dangerous and a tragic place. This is a bad deal. Obama broke every rule of negotiation. Yes, our allies are not perfect, but Iran is at the heart of most of the evil that is going on in the Middle East through their proxy. +p1108 +aVYou know, when I started my campaign on May 4th of last year, I was 17 out of 16 candidates. Nobody polled my name. Nobody had ever heard of me. Less than 4 percent of you had ever heard of me. The people in Iowa showed up and they are still showing up. Hundreds and hundreds of them at every event. I have done over 150 events in the state of Iowa and I have 15 more coming up. Now, by the way, I start there because someone asked me about midway through my campaign, what's the biggest surprise to you on the campaign trail? And I will tell you what the biggest surprise is: the chasm, the yawning chasm, between what the national media talks about and what the people of Iowa and the people of this great nation talk about. That's the biggest surprise. So guess what, Martha? Guess what, sorry. The people of Iowa never ask me about a crisis in the GOP, they never ask me about the polls. They never ask me about the other candidates. What they ask me about is Carly, tell us why zero based budgeting is so important. Tell us why you are a leader who is going to produce results. Tell us how you are going to defeat +p1109 +aVWell let me tell you this: news flash, President Obama, news flash, Mrs. Clinton -- climate change is not our most pressing national security threat. Actually -- actually, it is +p1110 +aVYou know, we have a professional, political class of both parties. We have been talking about the same issues for election cycle after election cycle. Yeah, government is big and out of control, and the only way to get it under control is to control the money. And the only way to control the money is to ask the federal government to budget the way you do, to examine every dollar, to cut any dollar to spend -- to move any dollar. The fancy word for that is zero-base budgeting. I call it common sense. That three-page tax code I talk about all the time here in Iowa? It's been around for 20 years. But politicians don't want to talk about it, and you bet the lobbyists don't want to talk about it. In fact, nobody wants to vote on a three-page tax code or zero- base budgeting, although they've both been around for a long time. You know why? Because if you get those two things done, you are goring everybody's ox. You are taking the political establishment apart. You are actually challenging the status quo, which is what we need in the Oval Office. So you know who I'm going to count on? The citizens of this great nation, because you have extraordinary power. But when you do not use it... ... you are losing it. So take out your smartphones, folks. The people of Iowa know what I'm talking about. You take out your smartphones. if you agree with me that three-page tax code needs to be passed, lobbyists aren't going to be in my office. If you agree we gotta finally pass zero-base budgeting, take out your smartphones. Press one for yes, ladies and gentlemen. Press two for no. Citizens, we must take our country back. +p1111 +aVWell, first of all, I haven't said that. What I have said is that in the process of examining every dollar, cutting any dollar and moving any dollar, we happen to know that in this vast federal bureaucracy we have about 260,000 federal government employees who are going to retire, and we shouldn't replace them. Secondly, at Hewlett Packard, as you know -- the people of Iowa know this -- we went through a tough time. The worst technology recession in 25 years -- a great company called Gateway used to do be right here in Iowa. But they didn't make the tough calls necessary to save all those jobs, and so they lost every one of those jobs. Yes, I've had to make some tough calls. We saved 80,000 jobs. We went on to grow to 160,000 jobs. And, frankly, I think the American people know we need a president who's going to make some tough calls. So let me tell you where I'm going to start. The American people got a bill passed through Congress that said we could fire the top 400 senior executives at the V.A. for dereliction of duty. When we know that 307,000 veterans have died waiting for health care and the V.A. handed out $142 million worth of bonuses for superb performance, I'm going to start by firing 400... ... senior executives at the V.A. +p1112 +aVHe is right there. He is right there. +p1113 +aVIt wasn't a personal attack. I was pointing out the fact that Hillary Clinton will do anything to gain and hang on to power, anything. Listen, if my husband did what Bill Clinton did, I would have left him long ago. So, here's the deal. Hillary Clinton has been climbing the ladder to try and get power and here now she is trying for the White House. She is probably more qualified for the big house, honestly. She has escaped prosecution more times than El Chapo, perhaps Sean Penn should interview her. The woman should be prosecuted. And while Mrs. Clinton has flown hundreds of thousands of world around the global, I have too. And I know flying is an activity not an accomplishment. While I know that she has held many positions and many titles she has not accomplished much of anything in her life. She has gotten every single foreign policy challenge wrong. She continues to lie to the American people. It's called the Clinton way. Both Bill and Hillary practice it, the Clinton way. Say whatever you have to say, do whatever you have to say. Lie as long as you can get away with it. Hillary Clinton cannot be the president of these United States. +p1114 +aVWell, you know, Hillary Clinton hasn't been indicted either. So that tells us a lot about our justice system in this country. But, look, the facts of Planned Parenthood have not changed, folks, and I will not be rendered silent on this issue or any other issue. And it doesn't matter what stage I'm on. Here are the facts. Planned Parenthood engages in partial birth abortion, in late-term abortion. They alter those abortion techniques to harvest and sell body parts. They have admitted that they are not going to accept compensation for this anymore. The reality is, most Americans find this practice horrific. Most Americans find horrific that Hillary Clinton's position on this is it's not a life until it's born. Most Americans find horrific Hillary Clinton's position or the Democrat party's position, that a young woman does not need her mother's permission to get an abortion. But if you are 13 years old, you can get an abortion, but you can't go to a tanning salon without your mother's permission. A president Fiorina -- in a president Fiorina budget, there will not be one dime for Planned Parenthood, although there would be a lot of money for women's health and we will finally pass the pain capable unborn child protection act. I will always stand for life and religious liberty... ... because this is about the character of our nation. +p1115 +aVMartha, can I just say we've been talking tonight about a lot of issues and we've also been talking about the fact that the game is rigged and frankly, the media has a lot to do with that. It is outrageous frankly, that Fox News, and you, would question the pro-life credentials of Rick Santorum. That is outrageous. +p1116 +aVIn over 150 events I have come to know and love the people of Iowa. And the people of Iowa know what the rest of Americans have figured out, this ain't working anymore. The government no longer works for those who pay for it. The professional political class says and does whatever they need to do to win, and then does whatever they please. We need to return to a citizen government. That is why I am running for President. The media, the establishment, they all want to tell you this elections over, they know who's going to win it, except that you haven't... ... cast a single vote yet. So, the people of Iowa, stand with me, fight with me. Caucus for me. It is time to take our country back. +p1117 +aVWell, thank you. Good evening. If I may begin by saying how honored I am to be standing here with two former Iowa Caucus winners. Governor, Senator. And how honored I am to be talking with all of you. You know, I'm not a political insider. I haven't spent my lifetime running for office. The truth is I have had and been blessed by a lot of opportunities to do a lot of things in my life. And unlike another woman in this race, I actually love spending time with my husband. I'm standing here because I think we have to restore a citizen government in this country. I think we have to end crony capitalism. The crony capitalism that starts with both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. You know, Hillary Clinton sits inside government and rakes in millions, handing out access and favors. And Donald Trump sits outside government and rakes in billions buying people like Hillary Clinton. The state of our economy is not strong. We have record numbers of men out of work. We have record numbers of women living in poverty. We have young people who no longer believe that the American dream applies to them. We have working families whose wages have stagnated for decades, all while the rich get richer, the powerful get more powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected get more connected. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. +p1118 +aVAmerica must lead because when we do not lead, when this exceptional nation does not lead, the world is more dangerous and a more tragic place. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, they all refuse to lead. Worse, they refuse to respond when this nation is provoked. Hillary Clinton famously asked what difference does it make how four Americans died in Benghazi? Mrs. Clinton, here's what difference it makes. When you do not stand up and say the truth, that this was a purposeful terrorist attack, when you do not say the United States of America will retaliate for that attack, terrorists assume it's open season. We have refused to respond to every provocation. The President wouldn't even mention the fact that Iran had taken two Navy boats and our sailors \u2014 hostage. He didn't mention the fact that they violated the Geneva convention. He didn't respond to the fact that Iran launched two ballistic missile just a short time ago, in direct violation of a deal they had just signed. We didn't respond to the fact that North Korea attacked Sony Pictures. When we refuse to respond over, and over to provocation and bad behavior, we will get more provocation and bad behavior. I know most of our allies personally. I have met many of our adversaries. I know our military and our intelligence capability, and I know this. When we will not stand with our allies, when we will not respond to our adversaries, when we do not lead in the world the world is a dangerous and tragic place. I will be a Commander in Chief who will lead. +p1119 +aVOf course I'm worried about similar problems in the United States. We can not allow refugees to enter this country unless we can adequately vet them and we know we can't. Therefore we should stop allowing refugees into this country. And by the way, we do not need to be lectured about why we're angry and frustrated and fearful because we've had an illegal immigration problem in this country for 25 years. And we have every right to be frustrated about the fact that politicians stand up in election after election after election and promise us to fix the problem and yet, it has never been fixed. I offer leadership that understands that actions speak louder than words, that results count. We must secure our border. We must fix our broken immigration system. We must enforce a pro-American immigration system that serves our interests, not the rest of the world. I understand what it takes to translate goals into results and that is what I will do as president of the United States. Of course, we should be worried, for heavens sakes. This administration has now told us they don't know who has overstayed a visa. This administration has told us they don't even bother to check Facebook or Twitter to find out who's pledging allegiance to jihadis. We can do better than this, citizens. We need to take our country back. +p1120 +aVWe need to be very clear-eyed now about who are our allies and who are our adversaries. In the fight against +p1121 +aVAnd we all believe the polling data all the time, don't we? +p1122 +aVOh, it's a problem for so many reasons. First of all, it is yet another lawless executive order. You see, he doesn't like the fact that Congress has rejected his ideas twice on a bipartisan basis, so he's decided he just gets to override them. Sorry, Mr. President, not the way "The Constitution" works. Secondly......secondly, he basically admitted in that speech that he hasn't been paying much attention to enforcing the laws we have. He said, gee, we need a few more FBI agents. That would have helped, perhaps, stop a tragedy here in South Carolina with Dylann Roof, a guy who clearly never should have been sold a gun. In other words, Mr. President, you're right, we need to enforce the laws we have. Let's enforce the laws we have. There are criminals running around with guns who shouldn't have them. We don't prosecute any of them. Less than 1 percent. But I want to go back to the technology issue for a moment, if I may, as well, because in this regard, I disagree with Senator Santorum. Look, I come from the technology industry and I can tell you there is one thing that bureaucracies don't know how to do. They do not know how to innovate. We have come seven generations of technology since 2011. We have bureaucracies that are incapable of bringing in that innovation. So, yes, there are some very specific things that we should ask the private sector to help us with, including making sure we have the latest and greatest in algorithms to search through all these databases so that we find terrorists before they attack us, not after it's too late. And, finally, when a president who understands technology in the Oval Office. Mrs. Clinton, actually, you cannot wipe a server with a towel. +p1123 +aVYes, and see... +p1124 +aVAs CEO of Hewlett Packard... +p1125 +aVAs CEO of Hewlett Packard, I was asked very specifically for some very real help. The help I was asked to provide, this is now public information. So I am not revealing what \u2014 something that was \u2014 was classified. We had a very large shipment of equipment, software and hardware, headed to a retail outlet. And I was called by the head of the NSA, who had an urgent need for that capability, to begin laying out a program to track terrorists. We turned that truck around on a highway and it was escorted to the headquarters in San Jose. In World War II, our government went to the private sector and said, help us do things that we cannot do. The private sector has capabilities that the government does not have. There are some legal authorities that are required. The Sony attack could have been detected and repelled, had legal authorities been passed in Congress allowing private networks and public networks to work together. Those legal authorities have not yet been passed. Yes, I was asked to help. I know the technology industry. They will help again. But they must be asked by a president who understands what they have. +p1126 +aVFor decades, the professional political class in both parties has been talking about the middle class. For decades, Republicans in particular have been talking about reducing the size and scope of government, spending less money, reducing the complexity. And yet, for 40 years, the government has gotten bigger and more expensive. We now have a 75,000 plus page tax code, although politicians have run for office for decades promising reform. And all the while, middle class incomes have stagnated. You see, when government gets bigger and bigger, more powerful, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer and the middle class gets squeezed. We need to understand who the job creators are in this country, because we need more jobs to grow the middle class and to grow the wages of the middle class. Who creates jobs? Small businesses, new businesses, family-owned businesses. They create two thirds of the new jobs in this country and they employ half the people. I started out typing for a nine person real estate firm. My husband Frank started out driving a tow truck for a family-owned auto body shop. And we are crushing small businesses and destroying the middle class. So here's my blueprint to take back America. Let us first actually reform the tax code from 73,000 pages down to three. There's a 20-year-old plan to do exactly that. And then let us begin piece by piece to focus on every single dollar the government spends, so that we will spend less overall and still have enough for our priorities. And that requires the government to budget the way you do at home \u2014 examine every dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. The fancy term for that is zero- based budgeting, but I call it common sense. Citizens, we've got to take our country back. +p1127 +aVMy husband Frank, that I mentioned, I love spending time with. He's down there. He was real excited the other day because in New Hampshire, he was introduced as my eye candy. You know, everybody out there watching knows this. You cannot wait to see the debate between me and Hillary Clinton. You would pay to see that fight. And that's because you know I will win. And that's important. We've got to start by beating Hillary Clinton. All of my life, I have been told to sit down and be quiet. Settle. Settle. Don't challenge the system. That's what the American people are being told now and we have been told that for way too long \u2014 sit down and be quiet about our God, about our guns, about the abortion industry, settle for illegal immigration that's been a problem for decades, as so many of our problems have festered for decades. Accept a system of government and politics that no longer works for us. I will not sit down and be quiet. And neither will you. So I ask you to stand with me, fight with me, vote for me, citizens. It is time to take our future back, time to take our politics back. It is time to take our government back. Citizens, it is time. We must take our country back. +p1128 +asVBUSH +p1129 +(lp1130 +VOur freedom is under attack. Our economy is under water. The leading democrat is under investigation. And America is under the gun to lead the free world to protect our civilized way of life. Serious times require strong leadership, that's what at stake right now. Regarding national security, we need to restore the defense cuts of Barack Obama to rebuild our military, to destroy +p1131 +aVWell, first of all, we need to destroy +p1132 +aVLook, he mentioned me. I can bring \u2014 I can talk. This is \u2014 this is the problem. Banning all Muslims will make it harder for us to do exactly what we need to do, which is to destroy +p1133 +aVThey are relevant if we want to destroy +p1134 +aVDonald, this has got... +p1135 +aVThis is another example of the lack of seriousness. Look, this is \u2014 this is troubling because we're at war. They've declared war on us and we need to have a serious strategy to destroy +p1136 +aVYou said on September 30th that +p1137 +aVI'm talking right now. I'm talking. +p1138 +aVSeptember 30th you said... +p1139 +aVA little of your own medicine there, Donald. +p1140 +aVDonald, you're not going to be able to insult your way to the presidency. That's not going to happen. And I do have the strength. Leadership, leadership is not about attacking people and disparaging people. Leadership is about creating a serious strategy to deal with the threat of our time. And I laid out that strategy before the attacks in Paris and before the attacks in San Bernardino. And it is the way forward. We need to increase our military spending. We need to deal with a no- fly zone in Syria, a safe zone. We need to focus on building a military that is second-to-none... +p1141 +aV... so that we can destroy Islamic terrorism. +p1142 +aVI think we're focusing a whole... +p1143 +aVI do. I think the lesson's learned are that we have to have to have a strategy to get and a strategy to get out. Which means, that you create a stable situation. This president and this is what the focus ought to be, it's not the differences between us, it's Barack Obama does not believe America's leadership in the world is a force for good. He does not believe that our strength is a place where security can take place. He leads from behind. He creates an environment that now we're creating the most unstable situation we've had since the World War II era. The focus ought to be on the single fact that Hillary Clinton wants to double down on a failed foreign policy and we need to be united to defeat that because we're going to be in a place that is far less secure than it is today. Don't you all agree? +p1144 +aVBecause I \u2014 first of all, I know what I don't know. I know what I don't know. I would seek out, as I have, the best advice that exists. I won't get my information from the shows. I don't know if that's Saturday morning or Sunday morning. I don't know which one. I will seek out the best advice, and I will create a strategy and I will persuade the American people what the role of America should be. I've laid out a policy of rebuilding our military. All of the talk that we're seeing here \u2014 most of which I agree on, frankly \u2014 requires a much stronger military. We now have a lack of readiness that is quite scary. We have planes that were \u2014 that Harry Truman inaugurated, the B-52. We have \u2014 the Navy has been gutted and decimated. The readiness of the Marines is way down. If we're serious about America's leadership in the world, then we need to make sure that we have the back of the armed forces. The Armed Forces Radio is here listening to this today. I hope they know that if I'm president, I'll be a commander-in-chief, not an agitator- in-chief or a divider-in-chief, that I will lead this country in a way that will create greater security and greater safety. +p1145 +aVSo I was \u2014 I was \u2014 I was mentioned, so I can bring up something, I think, right? Look, the simple fact is, if you think this is tough you're not being treated fairly... +p1146 +aV... imagine what it's going to be like dealing with Putin or dealing with President Xi. +p1147 +aVOr dealing with the Islamic terrorism that exists. +p1148 +aVThis is a tough business to run for president. +p1149 +aVAnd it's \u2014 and we need...... to have a leader that is... +p1150 +aVYou're never going to be president of the United States by insulting your way to the presidency. +p1151 +aVDoesn't matter. Doesn't matter. +p1152 +aVYes. +p1153 +aVNo it isn't but it is an important subject to talk about for sure. And I think people have good ideas on this. Clearly, we need to secure the border. Coming here legally needs to be a lot easier than coming here illegally. If you don't have that, you don't have the rule of law. We now have a national security consideration, public health issues, we have an epidemic of heroine overdoses in all places in this country because of the ease of bringing heroine in. We have to secure the border. It is a serious undertaking and yes, we do need more fencing and we do need to use technology, and we do need more border control. And we need to have better cooperation by the way with local law enforcement. There are 800,000 cops on the beat, they ought to be trained to be the eyes and ears for law enforcement for the threat against terror as well as for immigration. This is a serious challenge and if we can get it right, yes, we'll start winning votes again. The real problem isn't anybody on this stage, the real problem is Barack Obama has had six years to advocate a position to fix this and he's done nothing. The congress has funded these programs of building more fencing and doing all this and he hasn't done it. He wants to maintain it as a wedge issue and so does Hillary Clinton. Republicans need to fix it and when we do, we'll be better off. +p1154 +aVI completely agree with Chris. And this administration has been so lax. Think about it. Hillary Clinton is using a private server for \u2014 where classified information go by. This is a \u2014 this is a serious administration? The president receives an inspector general's report that the Office of Personnel Management could be hacked into; they had antiquated firewalls; 23 million files have been \u2014 are in the hands of the Chinese allegedly, including, by the way, members of the press, it turns out, last week. Maybe that's the only part that's good news, so that you guys can get a feel for what it's like now to see this type of attack. This is something \u2014 we have to have the best defensive capabilities. We need to coordinate all of our efforts with the private sector. We need to give them liability relief so that we can do that. And offensively, we need to have capabilities second to none. We need to create a situation where they know that there will be adverse impacts if they continue to do what they're doing. They'll respect that. They'll respect a United States that is serious about protecting our \u2014 our infrastructure. If we don't do it, we'll continue to see what's \u2014 exactly what's happening, not just from the Chinese, by the way. The Russians and rogue actors, including +p1155 +aVAsk yourself, which candidate will keep you and our country safer, stronger and freer? Hillary Clinton has aligned herself with Barack Obama on +p1156 +aVYou've already made two comments, John. It's my turn. +p1157 +aVI got about four minutes in the last debate. I'm going to get my question right now. +p1158 +aVYes. +p1159 +aVFirst of all, we could get to 4 percent growth. The new normal of 2 percent puts huge demands on government. The reason why we have structural deficits is that more and more people are relying on government and the growth that we don't have makes \u2014 makes the deficit grow. A 4 percent growth strategy starts with tax reform. And the proposal that I've laid out is the one the Wall Street Journal editorial board has said is the most pro-growth of all the proposals out there. We cut the \u2014 we eliminate a lot of deductions and cut the rates down. A corporate rate of 20 percent, which puts us 5 percent above \u2014 below that of China, and allows us full expensing of investing. It would create an explosion of investment back into this country, creating higher-wage jobs, and so that's part of it. On the regulatory side I think we need to repeal every rule that Barack Obama has in terms of work in progress, every one of them. And start over. For those that are already in existence, the regulation of the Internet, we have to start over, but we ought to do that. The clean power act, we ought to repeal that and \u2014 and start over on that. The waters of the United States act, which is going to be devastating for agriculture and many industries, we should repeal that. We should repeal the rules because the economic costs of this far exceed the social benefit. And if we're serious about being serious about high growth, then we have to recognize that small businesses right now, more of them are closing than \u2014 than are \u2014 than are being set up. Hillary Clinton has said that Barack Obama's policies get an A. Really? One in 10 people right now aren't working or have given up altogether, as you said. That's not an A. One in seven people are living in poverty. That's not an A. One in five children are on food stamps. That is not an A. It may be the best that Hillary Clinton can do, but it's not the best America can do. +p1160 +aVThank you, Donald, for allowing me to speak at the debate. That's really nice of you. Really appreciate that. What a generous man you are. Twelve million illegal immigrants, to send them back, 500,000 a month, is just not \u2014 not possible. And it's not embracing American values. And it would tear communities apart. And it would send a signal that we're not the kind of country that I know America is. And even having this conversation sends a powerful signal \u2014 they're doing high-fives in the Clinton campaign right now when they hear this. That's the problem with this. We have to win the presidency. And the way you win the presidency is to have practical plans. Lay them out there. What we need to do is allow people to earn legal status where they pay a fine, where they work, where they don't commit crimes, where they learn English, and over an extended period of time, they earn legal status. That's the path \u2014 a proper path... +p1161 +aVI'm gonna fight as hard as I can to make sure that we shift power away from Washington, simplify the tax code, to spur economic activity in this country. Of course it's the highest priority. If we don't do that, we're stuck with the "new normal" of 2 percent growth. Hillary Clinton says, basically, we just gotta get used to it. Two percent growth means declining income for the middle class. It means more than 6 million people are stuck in poverty than the day that Barack Obama was inaugurated. It means \u2014 it means more demands on government \u2014 growing the economy is the first job, if we're going to be serious about dealing with the deficit and debt. And more importantly, people are really struggling right now. In this economy, the disposable income of the great middle is down 2,300 bucks. So yeah, we've created jobs, your \u2014 argue (ph) \u2014 brought that up early, and it was a good question. Jobs are being created, but they're lower-income jobs than the jobs that were lost. And the net effect of this is we need to jump-start the economy. I think of Jonathan (ph) and Reagan Love (ph), who are supporters of mine. Jonathan has been deployed by the National Guard, he is \u2014 he's in Oklahoma. Reagan Love \u2014 by the way, pretty great name, I think \u2014 is a teacher. When \u2014 if they had this tax cut, what they told me was that that $2,300 of money in their pocket \u2014 they would go back to South Carolina and start a business. Imagine what it would be like, instead of having more businesses closed than started, we had it the exact opposite. We would grow our economy, and the government would get the revenue necessary to make things \u2014 make things better. Hillary Clinton's approach to this is more top-down, more regulation, more taxes, more government, and it will destroy our economy. +p1162 +aVIt is \u2014 I'd say it is Islamic terrorism, and, back to the question of what we are dealing with in Iraq, when we pull back voids are filled. That's the lesson of history, and, sadly, this president does not believe in American leadership. He does not believe it, and the net result is that we have a caliphate the size of Indiana that gains energy each and everyday to recruit Americans in our own country, and the threat to the homeland relates to the fact that we have not dealt with this threat of terror in the Middle East. We should have a no fly zone in Syria. We should have a support for the remnants of the Syrian Free Army, and create safe zones. If you want to deal with the four million refugees that are leaving Syria because of the devastation there, then we 'ought to create safe zones for them to stay in the region rather than go to Europe. And, that requires American leadership. Without American leadership every other country in the neighborhood beings to change their priorities. It is tragic that you see Iraq, and other countries now talking to Russia. It wasn't that long ago that Russia had no influence in the region at all. And, so, the United States needs to lead across the board. This president, and Hillary Clinton both do not believe the United States has a leadership role to play, and we're now paying a price, and it will have a huge impact on the economy of this country if we don't deal with this. +p1163 +aV...They're not doing that... +p1164 +aV +p1165 +aVDonald \u2014 Donald's wrong on this. He is absolutely wrong on this. We're not going to be the world's policeman, but we sure as heck better be the world's leader. That's \u2014 there's a huge difference where, without us leading... ...voids are filled, and the idea that it's a good idea for Putin to be in Syria, let +p1166 +aVWe're not \u2014 we shouldn't have another financial crisis. What we ought to do is raise the capital requirements so banks aren't too big to fail. Dodd-Frank has actually done the opposite, totally the opposite, where banks now have higher concentration of risk in assets and the capital requirements aren't high enough. If we were serious about it, we would raise the capital requirements and lessen the load on the community banks and other financial institutions. This vast overreach has created a huge problem for our country, and Hillary Clinton wants to double down on that. I was in Washington, Iowa, about three months ago talking about how bad Washington, D.C., is. It was \u2014 get the \u2014 kind of the \u2014 anyway. We had... It \u2014 and I talked to a banker there. This is a bank that had $125 million of assets, four branches. Their compliance costs because of Dodd-Frank went from $100,000 to $600,000 in a two-year period. The net effect of that is \u2014 and they had \u2014 they had not one loan that went bad during the financial crisis. They knew \u2014 they knew their borrowers. They gave back to the community. They were engaged in the community. And imagine America without its community banks. Well, that's what's happening because of Dodd-Frank. That's \u2014 that's my worry. My worry is that the real economy has been hurt by the vast overreach of the Obama administration. And Hillary Clinton, she wants to double down on that. She wants to create even more so. She is a captive of the left of her party to the point now where she is \u2014 she was for the trade agreement in \u2014 the Pacific agreement. Now she's against it. She was \u2014 hinted she was for the XL pipeline. Now she's opposed to it. All the things that would create sustained economic growth she's now doubling down against it. +p1167 +aVYou could, if you were serious about... +p1168 +aVNo, I can't say that. But I can say, if you created higher capital requirements, that's the solution to this, not having concentration of assets. The bigger banks now have more and more control over \u2014 over the financial assets of this country. And that is the wrong approach to take. +p1169 +aVMaria? +p1170 +aV...We've had a 10% reduction in carbon emissions, and it isn't because of Solyndra. It isn't because of the central planners in Washington D.C. It's because we've had a great American success story, the explosion of natural gas. Taking two existing technologies, and applying it through innovation has created lower carbon emissions, lower energy costs \u2014 40% of all the economic activity in the age of Obama has come from the energy sector, and Hillary Clinton wants to suppress that. We \u2014 I think we ought to be expanding this. High growth is the path to lower carbon, and more jobs. I know for a fact, as Governor of the State of Florida, we created the largest land purchasing programs, and environment clean-up programs because we had a growing economy. Our revenues were growing at 4.4%. It allowed for resources to be able to protect the natural system. We got to get to a conservation... ...in environmental policy that goes beyond just carbon... +p1171 +aVJane Horton is sitting with my wife here today. Her husband, Chris, was killed in action in Afghanistan. And Jane spends her time now defending and fighting for military families. They're both heroes. I don't think we need an agitator-in-chief or a divider-in-chief. We need a commander-in-chief that will rebuild our military and restore respect to our veterans by revamping and fixing a broken Veterans Administration, That's my pledge to you. I ask for your support. Thank you. +p1172 +aVYou know, I am by my nature impatient. And this is not an endeavor that rewards that. You gotta be patient. You gotta be \u2014 stick with it, and all that. But also, I can't fake anger. I believe this is still the most extraordinary country on the face of the Earth. And it troubles me that people are rewarded for tearing down our country. It's never been that way in American politics before. I can't do it. I just don't believe that this country's days are going to be deeply \u2014 you know, going down. I think we're on the verge of the greatest time, and I want to fix the things to let people rise up. +p1173 +aVCould I \u2014 could I bring something up here, because I'm a constituent of the senator and I helped him and I expected that he would do constituent service, which means that he shows up to work. He got endorsed by the Sun-Sentinel because he was the most talented guy in the field. He's a gifted politician. But Marco, when you signed up for this, this was a six-year term, and you should be showing up to work. I mean, literally, the Senate \u2014 what is it, like a French work week? You get, like, three days where you have to show up? You can campaign, or just resign and let someone else take the job. There are a lot of people living paycheck to paycheck in Florida as well, they're looking for a senator that will fight for them each and every day. +p1174 +aVHe wasn't my senator. +p1175 +aVWell, I've been \u2014 +p1176 +aVNo, no. What I said was I don't believe that I would be president of the United States and have the same dysfunction that exists in Washington, D.C. now. +p1177 +aVDon't vote for me if you want to keep the gridlock in Washington, D.C. +p1178 +aVBut if you want someone who has a proven, effective leadership, that was a governor of a state, that transformed the culture there, elect me so I can fight for the American people and change the culture in Washington, D.C. +p1179 +aV, the great majority of Republicans and Americans believe in a hopeful future. They don't believe in building walls and a pessimistic view of the future. They're concerned that Washington is so dysfunctional it is holding them back. There are lids on people's aspirations. Think about it: six and a half million people working part-time. Workforce participation rates lower than they were in 1977. Six million more people living in poverty than the day that Barack Obama got elected president, and the left just wants more of the same. We have to offer a compelling alternative that is based on hope and optimism and grounded in serious policy, which I've laid out. And you can go get it at jeb2016.com. +p1180 +aVWell, the deal was done. Barack Obama got his massive tax increase, and there was no spending cuts. You just see the recent deal announced today or yesterday, more spending, more tax increasing, more regulation. And now we have to accept 2 percent, the new normal for economic growth. And the net result is the middle class has $2,300 less in their pockets than the day that Barack Obama got elected president. And now they see Hillary Clinton proposing a third term of economic policy for our country. We need to reverse that. And my record was one of cutting taxes each and every year. You don't have to guess about it, because I actually have a record. $19 billion of tax cuts, 1.3 million jobs created. We were one of two states to go to AAA bond rating, and our government spending was far less than the spending in people's income. +p1181 +aVYou find me... +p1182 +aVYou find me a Democrat \u2014 you find me a Democrat that will cut spending ten dollars? Heck, find me a Republican in Congress that would cut spending ten dollars. I'll talk to them. +p1183 +aVLook, the \u2014 the deal is already done. The biggest tax increase happened under the watch of Barack Obama, and spending's gone up. You find a Democrat that's for cutting taxes \u2014 cutting spending ten dollars, I'll give them a warm kiss. +p1184 +aVLook, the \u2014 the simple fact is that my plan actually gives the middle class the greatest break: $2,000 per family. And if you make $40,000 a year, a family of four, you don't pay any income tax at all. Simplifying the code and lowering rates, both for corporations and \u2014 and personal rates, is exactly what we need to do. You think about the regulatory cost and the tax cost \u2014 that's why small businesses are closing, rather than being formed in our country right now. The big corporations have the scale to deal with all of this. And what I think all of us are saying is, our monetary policy, our tax policy, regulatory policy needs to be radically changed so we can create high sustained growth for income to rise. The government has tried it their way. Under \u2014 under Barack Obama and the proposals of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and others, they've tried it their way, and it has failed miserably. We need to take a new approach of taxing \u2014 reforming how we tax, and reforming the regulations in our \u2014 in our country before it's too late. +p1185 +aVWe don't need the federal government to be involved in this at all. +p1186 +aVWe don't need the Federal Government to be involved in this, because when they do we create a $1.2 trillion debt. In Florida, we have the lowest in-state tuition of any state, because there's accountability, just as John said. Let the states do this. You'll create a much better graduation rate at a lower cost, and you won't in debt the next generation with recourse debt on their backs. It's always a solution of the left to create more Government from the Federal Government. It is broke, it is not working. +p1187 +aVWell, first of all, I'm 7 and 0 in my fantasy league. +p1188 +aVGronkowski is still going strong. I have Ryan Tannehill, Marco, as my quarterback, he was 18 for 19 last week. So I'm doing great. But we're not gambling. And I think this has become something that needs to be looked at in terms of regulation. Effectively it is day trading without any regulation at all. And when you have insider information, which apparently has been the case, where people use that information and use big data to try to take advantage of it, there has to be some regulation. If they can't regulate themselves, then the NFL needs to look at just, you know, moving away from them a little bit. And there should be some regulation. I have no clue whether the federal government is the proper place, my instinct is to say, hell no, just about everything about the federal government. +p1189 +aVBecky \u2014 +p1190 +aV\u2014 the governor's absolutely right. But we also need to reform Medicare and Social Security. We can't just allow it to continue on its current path the way that Hillary Clinton wants to do because there'll be major reductions in benefits in the next decade if we do nothing. I have a concrete plan to do just that, which allows people to keep HSAs to encourage savings, it allows for people that are retiring with Social Security to be able to get a minimum of 125 percent of the poverty level so that there is a baseline that in this generous country of ours no one goes below. +p1191 +aVYou have to reform Social Security, and the simple way to do it is to make sure that the wealthiest don't receive the same benefits as people that are lower-income. And make sure you enhance savings in the private market. The idea of 401(k)s. I have a small business that I set up. It took \u2014 it took an arm and a leg to be able to set up a 401(k). Because of all the federal mandates and federal laws, it was too expensive. We need to incent private savings and make sure that Social Security is protected for those that have it. +p1192 +aVBut the idea that you can't \u2014 that you're just gonna grow your way out of this \u2014 I have a plan to grow the economy at 4 percent, but you're gonna have to make adjustments for both Medicare and Social Security. [ +p1193 +aVAmerica's at a crossroads. The D.C. politicians continue to make things worse. I have a proven record of success, 32 years in business, and 8 years as Governor of the state of Florida. I will change the culture in Washington, just as I changed the culture in Tallahassee. I will do so in a way that will bring people together. We need a unifier, not a cynical divider in chief, and that's exactly what I will do. Imagine a country where people are lifted out of poverty again. Imagine a country where the middle class can get rising income again. I know we can do this because we're still the most extraordinary country on the face of the Earth. +p1194 +aVI'm Jeb Bush, and I believe America's on the verge of its greatest century, and I'm ready to lead. I'm a committed, conservative reformer that cut taxes, that balanced budgets, that took on the special interest in Florida, and we won. I look forward to talking tonight about how we can fix a broken Washington D.C., and create an environment where people can rise up again in this great country. Thank you. +p1195 +aVI think the voters will make that determination. But what I know to be true is that the next president of the United States is going to have to fix an extraordinary difficult situation. This administration, with President Obama and Hillary Clinton, has created insecurity the likes of which we never would've imagined. There's not a place in the world where we're better off today than six and a half years ago. And that requires a steadiness. That requires an understanding of how the world works. That requires an understanding and appreciation of American leadership in the world. You can't just, you know, talk about this stuff and insult leaders around the world and expect a good result. You have to do this with a steady hand, and I believe I have those skills. +p1196 +aVNo. Absolutely not. People are supporting me because I have a proven record of conservative leadership where I cut taxes $19 billion over eight years. We shrunk the state government workforce, we created a climate that led the nation in job growth seven out of eight years. We were one of two states to go to AAA bond rating. People know that we need principle-centered leadership, a disrupter to go to Washington, D.C. The one guy that had some special interests that I know of that tried to get me to change my views on something \u2014 that was generous and gave me money \u2014 was Donald Trump. He wanted casino gambling in Florida \u2014 +p1197 +aVYes you did. +p1198 +aVYou wanted it and you didn't get it because I was opposed to \u2014 +p1199 +aV\u2014 casino gambling before \u2014 +p1200 +aVduring and after. And that's not \u2014 I'm not going to be bought by anybody. +p1201 +aVNo way. Believe me. +p1202 +aVNot even possible. +p1203 +aVYou've got, according to your \u2014 to what you said on one of the talk shows, you got Hillary Clinton to go to your wedding \u2014 +p1204 +aV\u2014 because you gave her money. Maybe it works for Hillary Clinton \u2014 +p1205 +aV\u2014 it doesn't work for anybody on this \u2014 on stage. +p1206 +aVBut the simple fact is \u2014 +p1207 +aVNo. The simple fact is, Donald, you could not take \u2014 +p1208 +aVI was asked the question. +p1209 +aVSo he supports Pelosi, he supports Schumer, he supports Clinton \u2014 +p1210 +aVWhen he \u2014 and he \u2014 when he asked \u2014 when he asked Florida to have casino gambling, we said no. +p1211 +aVWe said no. And that's the simple fact. The simple fact is \u2014 +p1212 +aVDon't cut me off. +p1213 +aVNo, I don't think so, but we need to be strong against China. We should use offensive tactics as it relates to cyber security, send a deterrent signal to China. There should be super sanctions in what President Obama has proposed. There's many other tools that we have without canceling a dinner. That's not going to change anything, but we can be much stronger as it relates to that. As it relates to Iran, it's not a strategy to tear up an agreement. A strategy would be how do we confront Iran? And, the first thing that we need to do is to establish our commitment to Israel which has been altered by this administration. And, make sure that they have the most sophisticated weapons to send a signal to Iran that we have Israel's back. If we do that, it's going to create a healthier deterrent effect than anything else I can think of. +p1214 +aVI don't think \u2014 you're not stating my views right. +p1215 +aVI think there needs to be accommodation for someone acting on faith. Religious conscience is \u2014 is \u2014 is a first freedom. It's \u2014 it's a powerful part of our \u2014 of our Bill of Rights. And, in a big, tolerant country, we should respect the rule of law, allow people in \u2014 in \u2014 in this country \u2014 I'm a \u2014 I was opposed to the decision, but we \u2014 you can't just say, "well, they \u2014 gays can't get married now." But this woman, there should be some accommodation for her conscience, just as there should be for people that are florists that don't want to participate in weddings, or bakers. A great country like us should find a way to have accommodations for people so that we can solve the problem in the right way. This should be solved at the local level... +p1216 +aVAnd so we do agree, Mike. +p1217 +aVWell, he's wrong on a lot of things, but on this he's wrong because I'm the most pro-life governor on this stage. I got to act on my core beliefs. It's part of who I am. Life is a gift from God. And from beginning end we need to respect it and err on the side of life. And so I defunded Planned Parenthood. We created a climate where parental notification took place. We were the only state to fund crisis pregnancy centers with state moneys. We were totally focused on this. And I would bring that kind of philosophy to Washington, D.C. So here is a solution to this. Title X of the HHS funding, there is something that was the "Reagan Rule." It was passed in 1988. And in that rule it was defined, and the courts approved this, that a Planned Parenthood, you couldn't separate the money between the actual abortion procedures, and there are 330,000 abortions that take place in this clinic, and their promotion of it. He interpreted it the right way, the courts ruled in his favor, and Planned Parenthood did not get funding during that time until President Clinton came in. When I'm elected president, we will restore that interpretation of Title X. And this deal will be finished. +p1218 +aVThere are 13,000 community-based organizations that provide health services to women, 13,000 in this country. I don't believe that Planned Parenthood should get a penny from the federal government. Those organizations should get funding, just as I increased funding when I was governor of the state. That's the way you do this is you improve the condition for people. And, Donald, when I was governor, we also increased the opportunities for women. Women's income grew three times faster than the national average when I was governor. +p1219 +aVWe improved \u2014 we improved \u2014 +p1220 +aV\u2014 we increased child support \u2014 we increased child support with a broken system by 90 percent. +p1221 +aVI have a proven record. I have a proven record. +p1222 +aVHe did, he did. You're proud of your family, just as I am. +p1223 +aVTo subject my wife into the middle of a raucous political conversation was completely inappropriate, and I hope you apologize for that, Donald. +p1224 +aVShe is. She's fantastic. +p1225 +aVShe is absolutely the love of my life, and she's right here... +p1226 +aVAnd why don't you apologize to her right now. +p1227 +aVYeah. +p1228 +aVSo, here's the deal. My wife is a Mexican-American. She's an American by choice. She loves this country as much as anybody in this room, and she wants a secure border. But she wants to embrace the traditional American values that make us special and make us unique. We're at a crossroads right now. Are we going to take the Reagan approach, the hopeful optimistic approach, the approach that says that, you come to our country legally, you pursue your dreams with a vengeance, you create opportunities for all of us? Or the Donald Trump approach? The approach that says that everything is bad, that everything is coming to an end. I... +p1229 +aVI'm on the Reagan side of this. +p1230 +aVLook, first of all, I wrote a book about this, three \u2014 four years ago, now. And I laid out a comprehensive, conservative approach for immigration reform. And it does require securing the border. No one disagrees with that. But to build a wall, and to deport people \u2014 half a million a month \u2014 would cost hundreds of billions of dollars, Donald. Hundreds of billions of dollars. It would destroy community life, it would tear families apart. And it would send a signal to the rest of the world that the United States values that are so important for our long-term success no longer matter in this country. +p1231 +aVWell, I've been speaking English here tonight, and I'll keep speaking English. But the simple fact is, if a high school kid asks me a question in Spanish, a school \u2014 by the way, a voucher program that was created under my watch, the largest voucher program in the country, where kids can go to a Christian school, and they ask me a question in Spanish, I'm going to show respect and answer that question in Spanish. Even though they do speak English, and even though they embrace American values. +p1232 +aVYeah. +p1233 +aVWell, first of all, Hugh, if you're looking at Republican advisers, you have to go to the last two administrations. That happened to be 41 and 43. So just by definition, if you're \u2014 and many of the people here that are seeking advice from the foreign policy experts in the Republican side, they \u2014 they served in my dad's administration, my brother's administration. Of course that's the case. But I'm my own man. I'm going to create a strategy that is based on the simple fact that the United States needs to lead the world. The first thing that we need to do is to stop the craziness of the sequester. Rebuild our military so that our \u2014 so that we don't deploy people over and over again without the necessary equipment to keep them safe, to send a signal to the world that we're serious. If we're going to lead the world, then we need to have the strongest military possible. We need to rebuild our counterintelligence and intelligence capabilities. We need to focus on the fact that the next president is going to start in 2017, not in 1990 \u2014 you know, 30 years ago, or when my brother started. The world is dramatically different. And I believe that we need to restore America's presence and leadership in the world. Name a country where our relationship is better today than it was the \u2014 the day that Barack Obama got elected president. Under Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama, we have seen a weakness that now creates huge problems for the next president of the United States. So I'll have a team that will be \u2014 that will be following the doctrine I set up, and it will be peace through strength. We're sitting here in this library, which is a wonderful place to talk about this, because that's exactly what happened in the 1980s, and the world was a lot safer because of... +p1234 +aVThe leadership of Ronald Reagan and my... +p1235 +aVSo you \u2014 the \u2014 the first chance... +p1236 +aVRight after me, and then I'll \u2014 I'll yield \u2014 yield the floor. What do you guys say in the Senate when you're talking and debating? +p1237 +aVHere's the facts: When Donald Trump talks about judgment, what was his position on who would've been the best negotiator to deal with Iran? It wasn't a Republican; it was Hillary Clinton. That's what you believe. I mean, the lack of judgment and the lack of understanding about how the world works is really dangerous in this kind of time that we're saying. So is that the judgment that you bring to the table, that Hillary Clinton... +p1238 +aV... is a great negotiator, that she could bring about a better deal on Iran? +p1239 +aVYou know what? As it relates to my brother, there's one thing I know for sure. He kept us safe. I don't know if you remember... ... Donald... ... you remember the \u2014 the rumble? You remember the fire fighter with his arms around it? He sent a clear signal that the United States would be strong and fight Islamic terrorism, and he did keep us safe. +p1240 +aVThat's \u2014 that's my brother. +p1241 +aVHere's the lessons of history: When we \u2014 we pull back, voids are created. We left Iraq. We should've had a \u2014 a forces agreement to stay there with a small force, and instead of that, we politically and militarily pulled back, and now we have the creation of +p1242 +aV... because of what President Obama's done by pulling back. +p1243 +aVWell, I'm surprised Senator Cruz would say that since he was as strong supporter of John Roberts at the time. I will talk about what I will do as it relates to appointing Supreme Court Justices. We need to make sure that we have justices that, with a proven experienced record of respect for upholding the constitution. That is what we need. We can't have \u2014 the history in recent past is appoint people that have no experience so that you can't get attacked. And, that makes it harder for people to have confidence that they won't veer off... +p1244 +aVJohn Roberts has made some really good decisions, for sure, but he did not have a proven, extensive record that would have made the clarity the important thing, and that's what we need to do. And, I'm willing to fight for those nominees to make sure that they get passed. You can't do it the politically expedient way anymore. This is the culture in Washington. You have to fight hard for these appointments. This is perhaps the most important thing that the next president will do. +p1245 +aVWell, first of all, he, as I said, supported John Roberts. He supported him, publicly. So, you can rewrite history, I guess, Ted, but the simple fact is that you supported him because he had all the criteria that you would have thought would have made a great justice. And, I think he is doing a good job. But, the simple fact is that going forward, what we need to do is to have someone that has a long standing set of rulings that consistently makes it clear that he is a focused, exclusively on upholding the Constitution of the United States so they won't try to use the bench as a means to which legislate. +p1246 +aVHe was talking about me. +p1247 +aVWell, I \u2014 I wanted to \u2014 be \u2014 make it easier for him. +p1248 +aVAnd I just did. +p1249 +aVSo, 40 years ago, I smoked marijuana, and I admit it. I'm sure that other people might have done it and may not want to say it in front of 25 million people. My mom's not happy that I just did. That's true. And here's the deal. Here's the deal. We have \u2014 we have a serious epidemic of drugs that goes way beyond marijuana. What goes on in Colorado, as far as I'm concerned, that should be a state decision. But if you look at the problem of drugs in this \u2014 in this society today, it's a serious problem. Rand, you know this because you're campaigning in New Hampshire like all of us, and you see the epidemic of heroin, the overdoses of heroin that's taking place. People's families are \u2014 are being torn apart. It is appropriate for the government to play a consistent role to be able to provide more treatment, more prevention \u2014 we're the state that has the most drug courts across every circuit in \u2014 in \u2014 in Florida, there are drug courts to give people a second chance. That's the best way to do this. +p1250 +aVNo, you're wrong \u2014 you're wrong about this. +p1251 +aVI don't want to put poor people in jail, Randy. +p1252 +aVHere's the deal. No, I did not oppose when the legislature passed the bill to deal with that very issue. That's the way to solve this problem. Medical marijuana on the ballot was opened up, there was a huge loophole, it was the first step to getting to a place. And as a citizen of Florida, I voted no. +p1253 +aVNot very far. I think we need to do this state by state. There are places that get this right, and we need to make sure that we protect the privacy laws. This is a complicated place. But I do think the natural impulse on the left \u2014 Hillary Clinton, immediately after one of these horrific violent acts took place, immediately said we need to have federal gun laws. President Obama almost reflexively always says the same thing. And the net result is, you're going to take away rights of \u2014 of law-abiding citizens, the 99.999 percent of the people that are law- abiding citizens. That's not the right approach to do it. In Florida, we have a background check. We have concealed-weapon permit holders, and in fact, there's 1,200,000 of them. We have a reduction in violent crime because we put people behind bars when they use a gun in the commission of the crime. That's the better approach. But we're living in a society today where despair kind of grows in isolation. +p1254 +aVI \u2014 I think there needs to be a hearing, but the fact is, we need to encourage that kind of involvement. That's \u2014 that's exactly what we need to do. +p1255 +aVI would go with Ronald Reagan's partner, Margaret Thatcher. Probably illegal, but what the heck? Since it's not going to happen. A strong leader is what we need in the White House, and she certainly was a strong leader that restored the United Kingdom into greatness. +p1256 +aVEver Ready, it's very high energy, Donald. +p1257 +aVSix million more people are living in poverty than the day that Barack Obama got elected president. Six million more people. The middle class has had declining income, workforce participation rates are lower than they were in 1977. For the first time in modern history, more businesses are failing than are being created. That is what the next president will have to deal with. And I believe we can reverse course by creating a strategy of high sustained economic growth, not the new normal of 2 percent that all the left says we just have to get used to, but a 4 percent growth strategy where we reform how we tax, fix the broken regulatory system, embrace the energy revolution in our midst, fix the immigration system so we can turn it into an economic driver, deal with the structural fiscal problems that exist because of our entitlement problems that will overwhelm and create way too much debt. If we grow at 4 percent, people are going to be lifted out of poverty. The great middle that defines our country will have a chance to be able to pursue their dreams as they see fit. That should be the great challenge and the great opportunity for the next president of the United States, to forge consensus to go back to a high-growth strategy. And then we'll be able to lead the world. Without a high-growth strategy, our country will never have the resources or the optimism to be able to lead the world, which the world desperately needs our leadership. +p1258 +aVAbsolutely, I do, and I'm gonna run hard, run with heart, and run to win. I'm gonna have to earn this. Maybe the barrier -- the bar's even higher for me. That's fine. I've got a record in Florida. I'm proud of my dad, and I'm certainly proud of my brother. In Florida, they called me Jeb, because I earned it. I cut taxes every year, totaling $19 billion. We were -- we had -- we balanced every budget. We went from $1 billion of reserves to $9 billion of reserves. We were one of two states that went to AAA bond rating. They keep -- they called me Veto Corleone. Because I vetoed 2,500 separate line-items in the budget. I am my own man. I governed as a conservative, and I govern effectively. And the net effect was, during my eight years, 1.3 million jobs were created. We left the state better off because I applied conservative principles in a purple state the right way, and people rose up. +p1259 +aVI do. I believe that the great majority of people coming here illegally have no other option. They want to provide for their family. But we need to control our border. It's not -- it's our responsibility to pick and choose who comes in. So I -- I've written a book about this and yet this week, I did come up with a comprehensive strategy that -- that really mirrored what we said in the book, which is that we need to deal with E-Verify, we need to deal with people that come with a legal visa and overstay. We need to be much more strategic on how we deal with border enforcement, border security. We need to eliminate the sanctuary cities in this country. It is ridiculous and tragic......that people are dying because of the fact that -- that local governments are not following the federal law. There's much to do. And I think rather than talking about this as a wedge issue, which Barack Obama has done now for six long years, the next president -- and I hope to be that president -- will fix this once and for all so that we can turn this into a driver for high sustained economic growth. And there should be a path to earned legal status... ...for those that are here. Not -- not amnesty, earned legal status, which means you pay a fine and do many things over an extended period of time. +p1260 +aV...I remember... +p1261 +aV...I remember, Megyn. +p1262 +aVKnowing what we know now, with faulty intelligence, and not having security be the first priority when -- when we invaded, it was a mistake. I wouldn't have gone in, however, for the people that did lose their lives, and the families that suffer because of it -- I know this full well because as governor of the state of Florida, I called every one of them. Every one of them that I could find to tell them that I was praying for them, that I cared about them, and it was really hard to do. And, every one of them said that their child did not die in vain, or their wife, of their husband did not die in vain. So, why it was difficult for me to do it was based on that. Here's the lesson that we should take from this, which relates to this whole subject. Barack Obama became president, and he abandoned Iraq. He left, and when he left Al Qaida was done for. +p1263 +aVNo, I don't. And I don't believe the federal government should be involved in the creation of standards directly or indirectly, the creation of curriculum or content. It is clearly a state responsibility. I'm for higher standards... ...measured in an intellectually honest way, with abundant school choice, ending social promotion. And I know how to do this because as governor of the state of Florida I created the first statewide voucher program in the country, the second statewide voucher program, in the country and the third statewide voucher program in the country. And we had rising student achievement across the board, because high standards, robust accountability, ending social promotion in third grade, real school choice across the board, challenging the teachers union and beating them is the way to go. And Florida's low income kids had the greatest gains inside the country. Our graduation rate improved by 50 percent. That's what I'm for. +p1264 +aVHe is definitely my friend. And I think the states ought to create these standards. And if states want to opt out of Common Core, fine. Just make sure your standards are high. Because today in America, a third of our kids, after we spend more per student than any country in the world other than a couple rounding errors, to be honest with you, 30 percent are college- and/or career-ready. If we are going to compete in this world we're in today, there is no possible way we can do it with lowering expectations and dumbing down everything. Children are going to suffer and families' hearts are going to be broken that their kids won't be able to get a job in the 21st Century. +p1265 +aVWe've done it 27 times since World War II. I think we need to lift our spirits and have high, lofty expectations for this great country of ours. The new normal of two percent that the left is saying you can't do anything about is so dangerous for our country. There's 6 million people living in poverty today, more than when Barack Obama got elected. 6.5 million people are working part-time, most of whom want to work full-time. We've created rules and taxes on top of every aspiration of people, and the net result is we're not growing fast, income's not growing. A four percent growth strategy means you fix a convoluted tax code. You get in and you change every aspect of regulations that are job killers. You get rid of Obamacare and replace it with something that doesn't suppress wages and kill jobs. You embrace the energy revolution in our country. This president and Hillary Clinton, who can't even say she's for the XL pipeline even after she's left? Give me a break. Of course we're for it. We should be for these things to create high sustained economic growth. And frankly, fixing our immigration system and turning it into an economic driver is part of this as well. We can do this. +p1266 +aVNone of which is true. +p1267 +aVNo. It's not true. But I have said that Mr. Trump's language is divisive. I want to win. I want one of these people here or the ones at 5:00, to be the next president of the United States. We're not going on win by doing what Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton do each and every day. Dividing the country. Saying, creating a grievance kind of environment. We're going to win when we unite people with a hopeful, optimistic message. I have that message because I was a governor of a state that saw people lifted up, because we had high sustained economic growth. Our economy grew at double the rate of the nation. We created 1.3 million jobs. We led the nation seven out of those eight years. We were only one of two states that went to AAA bond rating. I cut taxes, $19 billion. If you do that and apply conservative principles the right way, you create an environment where everybody rises up. That's how we're going to win. Campaigning in places to give people hope that their life is better because too many people are suffering today in America. +p1268 +aVHere's what I believe. I believe we're at the verge of the greatest time to be alive in this world. But Washington is holding us back. How we tax, how we regulate. We're not embracing the energy revolution in our midst, a broken immigration system that has been politicized rather than turning it into an economic driver. We're not protecting and preserving our entitlement system or reforming for the next generation. All these things languish while we have politicians in Washington using these as wedge issues. Here's my commitment to you, because I did it as Florida. We can fix these things. We can grow economically and restore America's leadership in the world, so that everybody has a chance to rise up. I humbly ask for your vote, whenever you're gonna get to vote, whenever the primary is. Thank you all very much. +p1269 +asVWALKER +p1270 +(lp1271 +VGood evening, I'm Scott Walker, and tonight, I want to thank and Mrs. Reagan, and the Reagan Library for hosting us. You see, in my lifetime, the greatest president was a governor from California. Ronald Reagan knew how to go big, and go bold. He understood the essence of moving this country forward, and that's what I did when I took on the status quo in my state, and the Washington based special interest. Now, more than ever, America needs a leader who will go big and bold again. Someone who's been tested. I'm ready to be that leader. Thank you. +p1272 +aVBut Jake, Jake, Jake, Jake... +p1273 +aVBut Jake, this \u2014 this is \u2014 this... +p1274 +aVJake, this is \u2014 this is \u2014 this is... +p1275 +aVThis is actually what's wrong \u2014 this is what's wrong with this debate. We're not talking about real issues. And Mr. Trump, we don't need an apprentice in the White House. We don't need an apprentice in the White House. We have one right now. He told us all the things we wanted to hear back in 2008. We don't know who you are or where you're going. We need someone who can actually get the job done. And you talked about business. +p1276 +aVYou \u2014 you \u2014 let me finish... +p1277 +aVNo, no... +p1278 +aVYou're using the talking... +p1279 +aVMr. Trump, you're using the talking points of the Democrats... +p1280 +aV... and as we all know... +p1281 +aV... that failed three times in four and a half years when I got elected, because it is working. We balanced a budget. You want to talk about balanced budgets? You took four major projects into bankruptcy over and over and over again. You can't take America into bankruptcy. That's what's wrong with the politicians in Washington right now. They think we can take a country into bankruptcy. +p1282 +aVJake, yeah, absolutely, I'll take this on, because this is an issue that's important in this race. Just because he says it doesn't make it true. The facts are the facts. We balanced a $3.6 billion budget deficit, we did it by cutting taxes \u2014 $4.7 billion to help working families, family farmers, small business owners and senior citizens. And it's about time people in America stand up and take note of this. If you want someone that can actually take on the special interest of Washington, which you yourself said you were part of, using the system, we need somebody that will stand up and fight for average Americans to put them back in charge of their government. I'm the one who is taking that on. I'll do that as your next president. +p1283 +aVTwo parts to that, one on China, one back for a second on Iran. When it comes to China, why would we be giving an official state visit to a country that's been involved in a massive cyber attack against the United States? That's not just a visit, that's a 21 gun salute on the South Lawn of the White House. It just doesn't make any sense. If we're ever going to send a message to them, wouldn't this be the time, when they've issued this, sort of, massive attack against us? And, Jake, for the question, I was one of the first ones to call for terminating the bad deal with Iran on day one. The President came after me and said I need to bone up. You know, the President who called +p1284 +aVJake, just one more moment. This is \u2014 there's something bigger to this. Now, I \u2014 like so many other governors here, I defunded Planned Parenthood four-and-a-half years ago, in a Blue State. But it's bigger than that. We did that in a Blue State, we took the money and put it into women's health, so we did exactly what we're talking about here. But I think the bigger issue here is we should be able to do this nationally, and this is precisely why so many Republicans are upset with Washington. They see the House and they see the Senate and they say why can't we pass this. Why can't we defund Planned \u2014 put it in a spending bill. Forget about the 60-vote rule, there's no reason \u2014 and the Constitution doesn't call for 60 votes. Pass it with 51 votes, put it on the desk of the president \u2014 +p1285 +aV\u2014 and go forward and actually make a point. This is why \u2014 +p1286 +aV\u2014 people are upset with Washington. +p1287 +aVSo, the best way to help people see their wages go up is to get them the education, the skill they need, to take on careers that pay more than minimum wage. And, it's why we talk about it, it's all about jobs. You want to help actually get jobs, it's why on that last question we were trying to jump in on taxes. To me, it's not just about taxes, cutting taxes. I've done it as much as anyone has. I've cut income taxes, I've cut property taxes. In fact, property taxes are lower today in my state than they were before we took office. The real issues about jobs. Ronald Reagan, our plan is based on the Ronald Reagan tax cuts of 1986. That brought about one of the longest sustained periods of economic growth in American history. All the things we should be talking about tonight are about how do we create jobs, helping people get the skills and the education qualifications they need to succeed. That's the way you help people create jobs. It's part of our large plan to reform the tax code, to cut taxes, to put in place an education system that gives people the skills and education that they need. To put in place all the above energy policy, but you start on day one with repealing Obamacare. I'm the only one on this stage that's actually got a plan, introduced an actual plan to repeal Obamacare on day one. I'll send a bill up to Congress, and to make sure enact it... +p1288 +aV...I'm going to sign an order that makes the Congress live by the same rules as everybody else. +p1289 +aV...That will ensure they repeal Obamacare... +p1290 +aV...Jake, Jake, Jake, I just want to address that issue because you said I didn't answer, and I did. I said, to me, I think the real focus shouldn't be \u2014 you know, Hillary Clinton talks about the minimum wage. That's her answer to grow the economy. The answer is to give people the skills and the education so they make far more than minimum wage. I don't want to argue about how low things are going to be, I want to talk about how do we lift everyone up in America. That's what Reagan talked about. It wasn't how bad things were, it was how to make it better for everyone. That's what we've done in Wisconsin, that's exactly what we'd do as... +p1291 +aV... the key issue here is talking about leadership. Now, there's a lot of greater people up here, and you've heard a lot of great ideas out there. But I would ask the American people, look at who's been tested. When there were 100,000 protesters in my capital, I didn't back down, when they issued death threats against me and threats against my family, I didn't back down, when they tried to recall me, I didn't back down, and when they made me the \u2014 one of their number-one targets last year, I didn't back down. Give me the chance to be your president. +p1292 +aVI won't back down... +p1293 +aV... on any of these issues. +p1294 +aVTo be clear, what I said the other day was that we need to lift the political restrictions that are already in play. Barack Obama's administration has put political restrictions on the military personnel already in Iraq. We need to lift those and then we need to listen to our military experts, not the political forces in the White House, but our military experts about how many more we sent in. And we certainly shouldn't have a commander-in-chief who sends a message to our adversaries as to how far we're going to go, and how far we're willing to fight, so I'm not putting a troop number. What I'm saying is lift the political restrictions. When you do that, you empower our military personnel already there to work with the Kurd and the Sunni allies, to reclaim the territory taken by +p1295 +aV... a lot of those people, though, and I'm going to echo what Senator Rubio just said. This is an issue where, we're talking about my state, it's thousands of manufacturing jobs. Thousands of manufacturing jobs for a rule the Obama administration, own EPA has said will have a marginal impact on climate change. So we're going to put thousands and thousands of jobs in my state, I think it's something like 30,000 in Ohio, other states across this country, we're going to put people \u2014 manufacturing jobs, the kind of jobs that are far greater than minimum wage, this administration is willing to put at risk for something its own EPA says is marginal (ph)... +p1296 +aVFirst of all, I got to say to Carson, Huckabee, thanks a lot for making the rest of us look like chumps up here, but, I'd pick Clara Barton. I once worked for the American Red Cross, she was a great founder of the Red Cross. +p1297 +aVHarley. I love riding Harley's. +p1298 +aVWell, I turned 13 years old two days before Ronald Reagan was first elected. A lot of people forget this, but just a few days before that election 1980, he was behind in the polls. And I think what changed things was people in America realized they didn't want to hear what was bad about America, they wanted to know how it was going to be better. Ronald Reagan wasn't just a conservative Republican, he was an eternal optimist in the American people. And I am too. So here's what I think will make America better. We need to live in a world where our children are free, are free from the threats of radical Islamic terrorism. We need to live in an America where we have an economy, where everyone can live their piece of the American dream, no matter what that dream is. And we need to live in an America where we have a federal government that is not too big to fail, but ultimately small enough to succeed, where we send powers back to the states and back to the people. That's what I did in Wisconsin. We took on the big government union bosses, the big government special interests, many of whom came in from Washington, to spend millions of dollars to try and take me out because we stood up to them, we didn't back down in any of those instances. If you give me the chance as your next president, I won't back down any day, anyway, anyhow. I'll fight and win for you and your families every single day I'm in office. +p1299 +aVWell, I'm pro-life, I've always been pro-life, and I've got a position that I think is consistent with many Americans out there in that... ...in that I believe that that is an unborn child that's in need of protection out there, and I've said many a time that that unborn child can be protected, and there are many other alternatives that can also protect the life of that mother. That's been consistently proven. Unlike Hillary Clinton, who has a radical position in terms of support for Planned Parenthood, I defunded Planned Parenthood more than four years ago, long before any of these videos came out... ...I've got a position that's in line with everyday America. +p1300 +aVChris, I actually said that on your show earlier this year. I acknowledged that. I said I actually listened to the American people. And I think people across America want a leader who's actually going to listen to them. I talked to border state governors and other elected officials. I look at how this president, particularly through last November, messed up the immigration system in this country. Most importantly, I listened to the people of America. I believe we need to secure the border. I've been to the border with Governor Abbott in Texas and others, seeing the problems that they have there. There is international criminal organizations penetrating our southern based borders, and we need to do something about it. Secure the border, enforce the law, no amnesty, and go forward with the legal immigration system that gives priority to American working families and wages. +p1301 +aVI don't know about additional ones. We need to focus on the ones we have. You look at Egypt, probably the best relationship we've had in Israel, at least in my lifetime, incredibly important. You look at the Saudis -- in fact, earlier this year, I met with Saudi leaders, and leaders from the United Arab Emirates, and I asked them what's the greatest challenge in the world today? Set aside the Iran deal. They said it's the disengagement of America. We are leading from behind under the Obama-Clinton doctrine -- America's a great country. We need to stand up and start leading again, and we need to have allies, not just in Israel, but throughout the Persian Gulf. +p1302 +aVJust one second on this, though. We -- we spent a lot of time talking about Hillary Clinton and ---and pitting us back and forth. Let's be clear, we should be talking about Hillary Clinton on that last subject, because everywhere in the world that Hillary Clinton touched is more messed up today than before she and the president . +p1303 +aVIt's true. +p1304 +aVWell, the voters in Wisconsin elected me last year for the third time because they wanted someone who aimed high, not aimed low. Before I came in, the unemployment rate was over eight percent. It's now down to 4.6 percent. We've more than made up for the jobs that were lost during the recession. And the rate in which people are working is almost five points higher than it is nationally. You know, people like Hillary Clinton think you grow the economy by growing Washington. One report last year showed that six of the top 10 wealthiest counties in America were in or around Washington, D.C.. I think most of us in America understand that people, not the government creates jobs. And one of the best things we can do is get the government out of the way, repeal Obamacare, put in -- reign in all the out of control regulations, put in place an all of the above energy policy, give people the education, the skills that the need to succeed, and lower the tax rate and reform the tax code. That's what I'll do as president, just like I did in Wisconsin. +p1305 +aVWell, first off, let's remember. I still remember, as a kid, tying a yellow ribbon around a tree in front of my house during the 444 days that Iran held 52 Americans hostage. Iran is not a place we should be doing business with. To me, you terminate the deal on day one, you reinstate the sanctions authorized by Congress, you go to Congress and put in place even more crippling sanctions in place, and then you convince our allies to do the same. This is not just bad with Iran, this is bad with +p1306 +aVWell, I think the most important thing we can do when it comes to policing -- it's something you've had a guest on who's a friend of mine Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clark, who's talked to me about this many times in the past -- it's about training. It's about making sure that law enforcement professionals, not only in the way in to their positions but all the way through their time, have the proper training, particularly when it comes to the use of force. And that we protect and stand up and support those men and women who are doing their jobs in law enforcement. And for the very few that don't, that there are consequences to show that we treat everyone the same here in America. +p1307 +aVWell first off, for the cyber attack with Russia the other day, it's sad to think right now, but probably the Russian and Chinese government know more about Hillary Clinton's e-mail server than do the members of the United States Congress. And -- and that has put our national security at risk. If I am president, he won't think about that. You know, Putin believes in the old Lenin adage: you probe with bayonets. When you find mush, you push. When you find steel, you stop. Under Obama and Clinton, we found a lot of mush over the last two years. We need to have a national security that puts steel in front of our enemies. I would send weapons to Ukraine. I would work with +p1308 +aVWell, thanks, Megyn. I'm certainly an imperfect man. And it's only by the blood of Jesus Christ that I've been redeemed from my sins. So I know that God doesn't call me to do a specific thing, God hasn't given me a list, a Ten Commandments, if you will, of things to act on the first day. What God calls us to do is follow his will. And ultimately that's what I'm going to try to do. And I hope people've seen it in my state, even in the big challenges I took on when I had over 100,000 protesters in and around our capital, trying to do what I thought was the right thing. It wasn't just how I took on those political battles. It was ultimately how I acted. Not responding in kind. Not lashing out. But just being decent going forward and living my life in a way that would be a testimony to him and our faith. +p1309 +aVThanks. I'm guy with a wife and two kids, and Harley. One article called me "aggressively normal." I ran for governor because I was worried about my kids' future. Then, I took on the big government union bosses, and we won. They tried to recall me, and we won. They target us again, and we won. We balanced the budget, cut taxes, and turned our state around with big, bold reforms. It wasn't too late for Wisconsin, and it's not too late for America. That's why I ask for your vote. +p1310 +asVMALE +p1311 +(lp1312 +VThat's a good one. +p1313 +asVHEWITT +p1314 +(lp1315 +VSenator Cruz, you've said you disagree with Mr. Trump's policy. I don't want a cage match; you've tweeted you don't want a cage match. But Republican primary voters deserve to know, with the kind of specificity and responsiveness you delivered in your nine Supreme Court arguments, how you disagree with Mr. Trump. Would you spell that out with us? +p1316 +aVSo you're saying you disagree because he's too broad and you have a narrower focus? Why do you disagree with him? +p1317 +aVCarly Fiorina... ... this is the Christmas dinner debate. This will be the debate that Americans talk about at Christmas. And thus far, in the first 10 minutes, we haven't heard a lot about Ronald Reagan's city on a hill. We've heard a lot about keeping Americans out or keeping Americans safe and everyone else out. Is this what you want the party to stand for? +p1318 +aVDr. Carson...... you mentioned in your opening remarks that you're a pediatric neurologist surgeon... +p1319 +aVNeurosurgeon. And people admire and respect and are inspired by your life story, your kindness, your evangelical core support. We're talking about ruthless things tonight \u2014 carpet bombing, toughness, war. And people wonder, could you do that? Could you order air strikes that would kill innocent children by not the scores, but the hundreds and the thousands? Could you wage war as a commander-in-chief? +p1320 +aVSo you are OK with the deaths of thousands of innocent children and civilian? It's like... +p1321 +aVThat is what war \u2014 can you be as ruthless as Churchill was in prosecuting the war against the Nazis? +p1322 +aVMr. Trump, we are talking about the most important thing, that's why it's heated. And it's, you are OK with Mr. Assad staying in power, but you are also in favor of winning. If he stays in power, Iran is winning, Hezbollah is winning. Iran is winning in Yemen. They are winning everywhere. If they are winning how can we be winning? +p1323 +aVGovernor Christie, is he right? Because if we step back, Iran goes nuclear. Is Donald Trump right? +p1324 +aVSenator Paul, let me ask you, you heard Governor Kasich say Assad must go. Do you agree? +p1325 +aVGovernor Bush, a commander-in-chief question. You've said that Mr. Trump is not qualified to be president because he's not qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin. Why are you better qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin than Mr. Trump? +p1326 +aVMr. Trump? +p1327 +aVBut, Mr. Trump, it's not CNN \u2014 I was on CNN last night... +p1328 +aV... watching... +p1329 +aVBut it wasn't \u2014 it wasn't CNN. It was me. I watched you last night for 16 minutes. It's not CNN. +p1330 +aVIt's not CNN. It's America's watching you. +p1331 +aVIt's America's watching. +p1332 +aVGovernor \u2014 thank you, Governor. +p1333 +aVDr. Carson, commander-in-chief question again. You've been the head of neurosurgery for a big hospital. You're on a lot of boards of a lot of companies. You've traveled the world. You're going traveling again next week. But does that prepare you to command troops from Djibouti to Japan, troops from Afghanistan to Iraq to be in charge of the men and women watching on Armed Services Network tonight? +p1334 +aVMr. Trump...... Dr. Carson just referenced the single most important job of the president, the command, the control and the care of our nuclear forces. And he mentioned the triad. The B-52s are older than I am. The missiles are old. The submarines are aging out. It's an executive order. It's a commander-in-chief decision. What's your priority among our nuclear triad? +p1335 +aVOf the three legs of the triad, though, do you have a priority? I want to go to Senator Rubio after that and ask him. +p1336 +aVSenator Rubio, do you have a response? +p1337 +aVMy listeners tell me again and again they are worried that Hillary Clinton will win the White House because you'll run as an independent. Are you ready to assure Republicans tonight that you will run as a Republican and abide by the decision of the Republicans? +p1338 +aVDr. Carson, last week... +p1339 +aVPlease. +p1340 +aVDr. Carson, Mr. Trump just committed to stay the distance regardless of the result. How about you? +p1341 +aVThank you, Jake. Mr. Trump, two years ago, President Obama drew a red line that the Syrian dictator Bashar Assad crossed, President Obama threatened to strike. He did not, his knees buckled. We now have 4 million refugees, Syria is a living hell, and he turned to the Congress for the authority to back him up. You have three senators to your right that said, no. Do they bear responsibility for this refugee crisis, and what would you have done when Bashar Assad crossed the line? +p1342 +aVHow much responsibility, Mr. Trump, do the senators hold? +p1343 +aVSenator Rubio... +p1344 +aVSenator Paul? +p1345 +aVI'd like to talk about winning because I think all of you are more qualified than former Secretary of State Clinton, and as were the people in the first debate, but there are different styles, and Carly Fiorina, Governor Kasich, you're conveniently located next to each other, and you have different styles. Governor Kasich, you've been on my show a lot. You refused to attack Hillary Clinton, you just don't want to go there, you want to do the up with people. Go, Ohio, OK, and I like that. Carly Fiorina, I don't have to bring up the Secretary of State \u2014 you bring her up, so . Which one of you is wrong? Governor Kasich? +p1346 +aVGovernor. +p1347 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1348 +aVCarly Fiorina, your style? +p1349 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Christie, your name was mentioned. I want to give you a chance to respond. +p1350 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1351 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. There is a lot more coming up. Ahead, a world of trouble. The challenges that one of these candidates may face in the Oval Office, and how he or she will handle it. Stay with us. +p1352 +aVOh, you're the best interview in America. +p1353 +aV... makes an interesting case (ph) here (ph). +p1354 +aVThank you, Jake. I've done a lot of great interviews with all of you, but, Governor Bush, I talked to you in February about the biggest elephant in a room full of elephants, which is your last name. And you said you would not be burdened either by your brother or your father's legacy in the Middle East. And then, a week later, you rolled out your list of foreign policy advisers, and it was a lot of the band getting back together again. So on behalf of the military that is watching... +p1355 +aV...OK, the active duty military that are at the end of the sphere (ph), what kind of a commander in chief is Jeb Bush going to be, and who are the advisers that are new to your team? +p1356 +aVMr. \u2014 Mr. Trump. +p1357 +aVI want to ask you a question, though, you promised us great leaders. And I believe that. But Jeb Bush has laid out 20 different people that have experience around the world. There are 190 countries, you can't run the world by yourself. When are we going to get some names on your military and your foreign policy advisers? +p1358 +aVThank you, Jake. Tomorrow is \u2014 Republicans know this \u2014 tomorrow is Constitution Day. We've been talking about the 10th Amendment. Let's talk about the Second Amendment. Governor Bush, one of the things the Supreme Court has gotten right is that it's an individual right and it's protected for individuals to hold it. Last week, you said the next step in gun issues is to make sure they're not in the hands of mentally ill. In this state, there's a controversial law that allows guns to be taken away from people without a hearing. Where does it go \u2014 and the problem of violence is endemic, but where does it go from what you said last week, how far into people's lives to take guns away from them? +p1359 +aVIf a family member calls and says, "My child, my brother, my sister is disturbed," ought the state be able to go and get their weapon without a hearing? +p1360 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1361 +aVSenator Cruz, I want to go to you. Your constitutional litigant (ph), are you afraid of the next- step theory of what happens to Second Amendment rights? +p1362 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1363 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1364 +aVThank you, senator. +p1365 +asVWALLACE +p1366 +(lp1367 +VAlso of note, Fox News is partnering for tonight's debate with Facebook. For the past several weeks, we've been asking you for questions for the candidates on Facebook. Nearly 6 million of you, 6 million, viewed the debate videos on our site, and more than 40,000 of you submitted questions: some of which you will hear us asking the candidates tonight. +p1368 +aVKentucky Senator Rand Paul. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. And your very own governor of Ohio... ... John Kasich. +p1369 +aVBrett -- Brett, I think you would call that a home field advantage. +p1370 +aVSenator Rubio, when Jeb Bush announced his candidacy for presidency, he said this: "There's no passing off responsibility when you're a governor, no blending into the legislative crowd." Could you please address Governor Bush across the stage here, and explain to him why you, someone who has never held executive office, are better prepared to be president than he is, a man who you say did a great job running your state of Florida for eight years. +p1371 +aVSenator Cruz, your colleague, Senator Paul, right there next to you, said a few months ago he agrees with you on a number of issues, but he says you do nothing to grow the party. He says you feed red meat to the base, but you don't reach out to minorities. You have a toxic relationship with GOP leaders in Congress. You even called the Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell a liar recently. How can you win in 2016 when you're such a divisive figure? +p1372 +aVGovernor Huckabee, like Governor Walker, you have staked out strong positions on social issues. You favor a constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage. You favor a constitutional amendment banning abortions, except for the life of the mother. Millions of people in this country agree with you, but according to the polls, and again this an electability question, according to the polls, more people don't, so how do you persuade enough Independents and Democrats to get elected in 2016? +p1373 +aVGentlemen, we're turning to a new subject that all of you have been talking about and some of you have been disagreeing about, and that is the issue of immigration. Governor Bush, you released a new plan this week on illegal immigration focusing on enforcement, which some suggest is your effort to show that you're not soft on that issue. I want to ask you about a statement that you made last year about illegal immigrants. And here's what you said. "They broke the law, but it's not a felony, it's an act of love. It's an act of commitment to your family." Do you stand by that statement and do you stand by your support for earned legal status? +p1374 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, it has not escaped anybody's notice that you say that the Mexican government, the Mexican government is sending criminals -- rapists, drug dealers, across the border. Governor Bush has called those remarks, quote, "extraordinarily ugly." I'd like you -- you're right next to him -- tell us -- talk to him directly and say how you respond to that and -- and you have repeatedly said that you have evidence that the Mexican government is doing this, but you have evidence you have refused or declined to share. Why not use this first Republican presidential debate to share your proof with the American people? +p1375 +aVMr. Trump, I'll give you 30 seconds -- I'll give you 30 seconds to answer my question, which was, what evidence do you have, specific evidence that the Mexican government is sending criminals across the border? Thirty seconds. +p1376 +aVAll right. Obviously there's a lot more to talk about this. We're going to have more questions for the candidates on illegal immigration, plus other key topics including your questions on Facebook. +p1377 +aVWelcome back to FOX News/Facebook Republican Debate Night. We're going to continue the questions now on illegal immigration. We kind of ended with a cliffhanger there. So let's continue the conversation. Governor Kasich, I know you don't like to talk about Donald Trump. But I do want to ask you about the merit of what he just said. When you say that the American government is stupid, that the Mexican government is sending criminals, that we're being bamboozled, is that an adequate response to the question of illegal immigration? +p1378 +aVRespectfully, can we talk about illegal immigration? +p1379 +aVAll right, well, Senator Rubio, let me see if I can do better with you. Is it as simple as our leaders are stupid, their leaders are smart, and all of these illegals coming over are criminals? +p1380 +aVGovernor Walker. Governor Walker, from 2002 until as recently as 2013, just two years ago, you supported comprehensive immigration reform, including a path to citizenship. Now you say that was a quick reaction to something you hadn't really thought about, and that you've changed your mind. Other than politics, could you explain why in the last two years you've changed your position on a path to citizenship, and are there other past positions that we shouldn't hold you to? +p1381 +aVSenator Cruz, some 1,400 people submitted questions on this very hot topic of illegal immigration on Facebook, and a number of them were about the murder of Kate Steinle in San Francisco, allegedly shot down by an illegal. Doug Bettencourt sent this question, "will you support Kate Steinle's Law," which would impose a mandatory five-year prison term for an illegal who is deported and then returns to this country? "And will you defund sanctuary cities for violating federal law?" +p1382 +aVGentlemen, we're obviously digging into some subjects in depth, but we're also going to change it up every once in a while throughout the next hour and have many rounds where we ask, you are not going to like it, only a couple of candidates questions on those subjects. This is the first of the many rounds, and it's about somebody whose name probably hasn't been mentioned enough so far tonight. Governor Kasich, let me start with you. Whoever the Republican nominee -- Whoever the Republican nominee is, it looks at least for now like whoever that nominee is, he or she, will be facing off against Hillary Clinton. You know how she will come after whoever the Republican nominee is. She will say that you, whoever it is, support the rich while she supports the middle class. That you want to suppress the rights of women and minorities. She wants to move the country forward while you, the Republicans, want to take the country back to the past. How will you, if you're the nominee, how will you answer that and take Hillary Clinton on? +p1383 +aVI know that all of you would like to answer this question, but we're only going to ask one other candidate before we move on to a different subject, Dr. Carson. Basically, same question to you. If Hillary Clinton is the nominee and she comes at you with that kind of line of attack, how will you take Iraq? +p1384 +aVGentlemen, we're going to turn now to the subject of the economy, jobs and money and the government. And Governor Bush, I'm going to start with you. You have made a bold promise in your announcement. You have promised four percent economic growth and 19 million new jobs if you are fortunate enough to serve two terms as president. That many jobs, 19 million, would be triple what your father and your brother accomplished together. And four percent growth, the last president to average that was Lyndon Johnson during the height of the Vietnam War. So question, how on Earth specifically would you pull that off? +p1385 +aVGovernor Walker. Governor Walker, when you ran for governor of Wisconsin back in 2010, you promised that you would create 250,000 jobs in your first term, first four years. In fact, Wisconsin added barely half that and ranked 35th in the country in job growth. Now you're running for president, and you're promising an economic plan in which everyone will earn a piece of the American dream. Given your record in Wisconsin, why should voters believe you? +p1386 +aVGovernor Christie, I want to engage you and Governor Huckabee in a subject that is a big issue in both of your campaigns, and that is entitlement reform. You say that you -- to save the system that you want to raise the retirement age -- have to raise the retirement age, and to cut benefits for Social Security and Medicare, and you say that some of the candidates here on the stage are lying. Governor Huckabee says he can save Social Security and Medicare without doing any of that. Is he lying? +p1387 +aVGovernor Huckabee? You say that changing entitlements, the kind of thing that Governor Christie is talking about, would be breaking a promise to the American people, and you say that you can keep those programs, save Social Security, save Medicare, without those kinds of reforms through a FairTax, which is a broad tax on consumption. Please explain to Governor Christie how that would work, and how you could save these programs without the kind of painful reforms he says we need? +p1388 +aV...Thirty seconds. +p1389 +aV...Alright, this is it. Thirty Seconds, finally. +p1390 +aVAll right. Enough. Mr. Trump. +p1391 +aVMr. Trump, you talk a lot about how you are the person on this stage to grow the economy, I want to ask you about your business records. From corporations, Trump corporations, casinos and hotels, have declared bankruptcy four times over the last quarter-century. +p1392 +aVNo, but the concept sir... +p1393 +aV... that's your line, but your companies have gone bankrupt. +p1394 +aVWell sir, let's just talk about the latest example......which is Trump Entertainment Resorts, which went bankrupt in 2009. In that case alone, lenders to your company lost over $1 billion and more than 1,100 people were laid off. +p1395 +aVIs that the way that you'd run the country? +p1396 +aVSo... +p1397 +aVSenator Rubio. Senator Rubio, more than 3,000 people sent us questions about the economy and jobs on Facebook. And here is a video question from Tania Cioloko from Philadelphia. Here she is. +p1398 +aVSenator, how do you answer Tania? +p1399 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. +p1400 +aVSenator Paul, closing statement. +p1401 +aVDr. Carson, closing statement. +p1402 +aVGovernor Bush, closing statement, sir. +p1403 +asVSMITH +p1404 +(lp1405 +VGovernor Huckabee, same question to you. Where do you see the country right now? +p1406 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Thank you, candidates. Moving to the world stage. The middle east is on the brink of chaos. Iran continues to provoke the United States, North Korea claims it's tested a hydrogen bomb, and Afghanistan is in danger of falling back into Taliban hands. Critics of the administration say it's all due to lack of U.S. leadership. To you, Mrs. Fiorina, how do you see America's role in the world today? +p1407 +aVGovernor Huckabee, in Afghanistan, the Taliban is strengthening. Attacks are on the rise and thousands more civilians have been wounded or killed. Much of the Taliban surge can be attributed to the withdrawal of U.S. forces there. You have expressed skepticism with the war there, saying you see no end game in sight. What, then, is your solution to the growing conflict there? +p1408 +aVAll right, thank you, candidates. We're just getting started. Jobs, Homeland Security, gun rights, all those issues are coming up straight ahead. We're live from North Charleston and the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back. +p1409 +aVAll right, let's get started. Senator Santorum, to you first. President Obama has urged technology leaders to make it hard for terrorists to use technology to escape from justice. Hillary Clinton says social media companies can help by swiftly shutting down terrorist accounts. The companies say that they're already working with law enforcement and any proposed legislation would do more harm than good. Should companies like Facebook and Twitter be required by law to more actively \u2014 be more actively engaged in fighting terror? +p1410 +aVSenator, would you \u2014 would you require anything of those companies like Facebook and Twitter if you were president? +p1411 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1412 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee, you called President Obama's executive orders on gun control unconstitutional and completely insane. +p1413 +aVYou even told gun store owners to ignore the President's orders. Yet, innocent people are dying from gun violence in cities like Detroit, Chicago, and Charleston everyday. Is there anything that can be done at the federal level to prevent guns from falling into the hands of criminals? +p1414 +aV +p1415 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p1416 +aVSenator Santorum, many of our military leaders believe America's critical infrastructure is vulnerable to a terrorist attack. This is the power in our homes, the water we drink, the Internet and phone systems by which we stay connected. If attacked, these essential services that underpin American society could come to a grinding halt. Do you have a specific plan to protect us from this type of attack? +p1417 +aVSenator Santorum, I want to stay with you on this, moving to jobs and the economy. In his State of the Union Address the other night, President Obama touted his record on jobs, citing more than 14 million new jobs and boasted of nearly 900,000 manufacturing jobs added in the past six years. Do you dispute his track record of creating jobs? +p1418 +aVGovernor Huckabee, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mike Mullen, has said the greatest threat to our security is our national debt. Our national debt is now on pace to top $19 trillion. Yet, you as well as Ms. Fiorina have laid forward no plan to reform entitlements. How can you say you're going to pay down our country's debt without cutting Social Security or Medicare? +p1419 +aVOK. We're going to continue this conversation. We're taking a quick break and then coming up, the candidates' plans for strengthening the middle class. We're live in North Charleston with the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back. +p1420 +aVAll right, thanks, Trish. Well, let's get started with Ms. Fiorina. Today, the middle class represents about 50 percent of the U.S. population, down from about 61 percent back in 1971. That's according to Pew Research. The same research revealed a widening income gap in America. The rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. What will you do to strengthen a middle class that is no longer the majority? +p1421 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p1422 +aVThank you, Senator. We're not finished yet. More Republican Presidential Debate in North Charleston after this. +p1423 +aVWelcome back, it's time for the closing statements. Candidates will each get one minute, starting with Senator Santorum. Thank you very much, I want to thank the people of Charleston, which has become a little bit of a second home to me, because I am very privileged to have two young men who go to the Citadel here and they're here tonight, my son John and my son Daniel. +p1424 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Governor Mike Huckabee. +p1425 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1426 +asVBAKER +p1427 +(lp1428 +VThe candidates on stage tonight were selected based on their standing in an average of four national polls. Those standings determining their position on the stage. And here they are. At center stage, businessman Donald Trump. Neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson. +p1429 +aVTonight's rules are simple. Up to 90 second for each answer. One minute for each follow-up response. And if a candidate goes over their allotted time, you'll here this. +p1430 +aVMs. Fiorina, while you've all pointed out how weak the current recovery has been and how disappointing by any historical standards, in the general election, the Democrats will inevitably ask you and voters to compare the recent president's jobs performance. Now, in seven years under President Obama, the U.S. has added an average of 107,000 jobs a month. Under President Clinton, the economy added about 240,000 jobs a month. Under George W. Bush, it was only 13,000 a month. If you win the nomination, you'll probably be facing a Democrat named Clinton. How are you going to respond to the claim that Democratic presidents are better at creating jobs than Republicans? +p1431 +aVThank you. Thank you. Senator Paul, income inequality has been rising in the United States. Fifty years ago, for example, the average CEO of a big corporation in this country earned 20 times the average salary of one of his or her workers. Today, that CEO earns about 300 times the average salary of a worker. Does it matter at all that the gap between the rich and everyone else is widening? +p1432 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1433 +aVSenator Rubio... +p1434 +aVYes, one quick comment, yes. +p1435 +aVGovernor Bush... +p1436 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor, you...You should let Jeb speak. +p1437 +aVMr. Trump, Mr. Trump, you yourself \u2014 you yourself said let Governor Bush speak. Governor Bush? +p1438 +aVSenator Rubio? Senator... +p1439 +aVSenator Rubio, Senator Rubio, let me \u2014 let me take you to a question that I think gets to the root of a lot of the anxiety that people have in this country. The economy is undergoing a transformation through information technology. Americans are anxious that the new economy isn't producing higher-paying jobs. Many are concerned that the new wealth seems to be going mainly to innovators and investors. Meanwhile, with factories run by robots and shopping done increasingly on smartphones, many traditional jobs are just going away. How do you reassure American workers that their jobs are not being steadily replaced by machines? +p1440 +aVThank you. Senator Cruz \u2014 Senator Cruz, entitlements. You've argued for raising the retirement age and reducing benefits for future retirees, but reducing any sort of benefits for the elderly has always been notoriously hard to do politically. When Speaker Paul Ryan proposed replacing traditional Medicare with federally funded private plans a few years ago, a liberal group responded with a commercial that featured a granny being pushed off a cliff. What's going to be different this time? +p1441 +aV...I said for future retirees was your statement... +p1442 +aVSenator Rubio. Can I just come to Senator Rubio? We're coming to you, Mr. Trump, in one second. I \u2014 I promise. +p1443 +aVSenator Rubio, your tax plan includes a large expansion of child tax credits to raise off (ph) the tax incomes for low-income parents. A similar tax credit that you previously proposed in the Senate was estimated to cost as much as $170 billion a year, according to the Tax Foundation. Isn't \u2014 isn't there a risk you're just adding another expensive entitle program to an already overburdened federal budget? +p1444 +aVGovernor Kasich? Let me come to Governor Kasich. +p1445 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1446 +aVVery quickly, Senator. +p1447 +aVPlease. +p1448 +aV...Gentleman, we need to move on... +p1449 +aV...We need to move... +p1450 +aV...We need too... +p1451 +aV...We do need to move on. Mr. Trump... +p1452 +aV...Very quick. +p1453 +aVLet's talk about \u2014 No, no, Governor, I really must move on. I really want to move on. Mr. Trump, let's talk about the international economy... +p1454 +aV...We really need to move on... +p1455 +aV...No, governor, I promise I will come to you... +p1456 +aV...Listen... +p1457 +aV...Mr. Trump, can I ask you about... +p1458 +aV...the U.S. just concluded an international trade agreement with 11 countries in the Pacific. You've said that you'd rather have no deal... +p1459 +aV...than sign the one that's on the table... +p1460 +aV...Most economists \u2014 most economists say that trade is boosted growth, and every single post war president has supported the expansion of international trade, including the last three republican presidents. Why would you reverse more than 50 years of U.S. trade policy? +p1461 +aVThe \u2014 the deal, as you say, the terms of the deal were published \u2014 were published just last week, the details, 5,000 pages of it, and 80 percent of U.S. trade with countries in the Pacific, these countries, these 11 countries, is actually tariff-free, and these \u2014 the trade deal only affects the other 20 percent. Which \u2014 are there particular parts of the deal that you think were badly negotiated? +p1462 +aVThere was a separate \u2014 separate... +p1463 +aVBut isn't that \u2014 isn't that part of the problem? When I say, Senator, that if \u2014 if this deal is not ratified by \u2014 by the U.S. \u2014 by the Senate, then it would actually give China an opportunity to grow its economic leadership, which it's been seeking to do? And if the U.S. is unable to take part in this trade deal with these countries in Asia, China will take the lead? +p1464 +aVThank you. Thanks, Senator. +p1465 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich, I want to ask you about China, in particular hundreds of American companies have been subjected to cyber attacks from the Chinese military, yet state-backed Chinese companies, growing their presence in the United States, Chinese investments in U.S., which were nearly nonexistent a few years ago, are now over $50 billion. And as my newspaper recently reported, Chinese companies are planning to bid for one of the largest hotel chains in the United States, what would be the largest ever Chinese takeover of a U.S. company. Would you stop them? +p1466 +aVThank you, Governor. Plenty of opportunities. Thank you. Neil? +p1467 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate, live from Milwaukee. Now let's get straight back to the questions, and Governor Bush. Governor, Hillary Clinton recently said that if we had another financial crisis like the one in 2008, she wouldn't bail out the banks. Would you? +p1468 +aVBut, Governor, but can I just quickly \u2014 did \u2014 you can't seriously guarantee that there won't be another financial crisis, can you? +p1469 +aVEver? There will never be another financial crisis? +p1470 +aVDr. Carson, if I may, just on that point, despite measures taken, as the governor says, since the crisis to make the financial system safer, the major banks in the U.S., many of them are actually bigger than ever. Asset held by JPMorgan Chase, for example, the very largest bank, have increased by nearly 40 percent to over $2.6 trillion. Do you think JPMorgan and the other big banks should be broken up? +p1471 +aVBut just to be clear, just \u2014 just to be clear, then, you wouldn't \u2014 you wouldn't favor breaking up the big banks? You think they're big enough \u2014 they're OK as they are, as big as they are? +p1472 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1473 +aVThank you. +p1474 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate. And now, candidates, it's time for your closing statements. You get 30 seconds each, and, Senator Paul, we will begin with you. +p1475 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p1476 +asVHUCKABEE +p1477 +(lp1478 +VWell, John, I don't really have any weaknesses that I can think of. But my wife is down here in the front, and I'm sure, if you'd like to talk to her later, she can give you more than you'll ever be able to take care of. If I have a weakness, it's that I try to live by the rules. I try to live by the rules, no matter what they are, and I was brought up that way as a kid. Play by the rules. And I'll tell you what a weakness is of this country: there are a lot of people who are sick and tired because Washington does not play by the same rules that the American people have to play by. +p1479 +aVWell, I would really appreciate that. First of all, yes, we've stolen. Yes, we've lied to the American people about Social Security, and Medicare. But, you know what we're not telling them? It's their money. This isn't the governments money. This is not entitlement, it's not welfare. This is money that people have confiscated out of their paychecks. Everytime they got a paycheck, the government reached in and took something out of it before they ever saw it. Now, we're going to blame the people. Today congress decided to take another $150 billion dollars away from Social Security so they can borrow more money. That makes no sense to everybody. And, they're always going to say, "Well, we're going to fix this one day." No their not. It's like a 400 pound man saying, "I'm going to go on a diet, but I'm eating a sack of Krispy Kremes before I do." And, people are sick of believing that the government is never going to really address this. But, let me tell you who not to blame. Let's quit blaming the people on Social Security. Let's quit making it a problem for them. It's like them getting mugged, and then us saying, well, we're going to mug you some more. You ought to just be able to get over it, get used to it... +p1480 +aV...No, sir... +p1481 +aV...we need to honor our promises... +p1482 +aV...before I go. This is the only time I've had a chance, let me finish. +p1483 +aV...This is a matter not of math, this is a matter of morality. If this country that does not keep its promise to seniors then what promise can this country hope to be trusted to keep? And, the fact is, none of them. [ +p1484 +aVAnd, the only way \u2014 no... +p1485 +aV...Chris... +p1486 +aV...Chris... +p1487 +aVSince he brought me up, do I not get to respond? +p1488 +aVJohn, listen, let's keep in mind that for one-third of the 60 million Americans on Social Security it represents 90 percent of their income. And, when I hear people talking about means testing, let's just remember what that means. If we means test Social Security, it means that the government decides whether or not I deserve it. If a person lives in a seven room house, does the government get to say you don't need seven rooms, we're going to take two of them away? Folks, the government has no business stealing even more from the people who have paid this in. I just want to remind you, people paid their money. They expect to have it. And, if this government doesn't pay it, than tell me what's different between the government and Bernie Madolf, who sits in prison today for doing less than what the government has done to the people on social security and Medicare in this country. +p1489 +aVI don't think it's so much about when the government orders a corporation to do something. In fact, that's part of the problem. If you saw that blimp that got cut loose from Maryland today, it's a perfect example of government. I mean, what we had was something the government made \u2014 basically a bag of gas \u2014 that cut loose, destroyed everything in its path, left thousands of people powerless, but they couldn't get rid of it because we had too much money invested in it, so we had to keep it. That is our government today. We saw it in the blimp. That's exactly what we saw. So look, corporations ought to exercise some responsibility. When CEO income has risen 90 percent above the average worker, when the bottom 90 percent of this country's economy has had stagnant wages for the past 40 years, somebody is taking it in the teeth. And it's not the folks on Wall Street. I'm not anti-Wall Street, but I don't believe the government ought to wear a team jersey, pick winners and losers. +p1490 +aVThe government ought to wear a striped shirt and just make sure the game... +p1491 +aV...is paid \u2014 played fairly. +p1492 +aVNow, everybody else has fudged their time and gone over, so please, don't cut me off too quick, Becky. +p1493 +aVLet me just close it out this way. +p1494 +aVWe need to be focusing on what fixes this country. And I'll tell you one thing that we never talk about \u2014 we haven't talked about it tonight. Why aren't we talking about \u2014 instead of cutting benefits for old people, cutting benefits for sick people \u2014 why don't we say, "let's cure the four big cost-driving diseases... +p1495 +aV..."diabetes, heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer's?" +p1496 +aVIf you do that, you don't just change the economy, you transform the lives of millions of hurting Americans. +p1497 +aVGosh, I'd love for us to talk about something like that. Thank you. +p1498 +aVYou know, of the few questions I've got, the last one I need is to give him some more time. I love Donald Trump. He is a good man. I'm wearing a Trump tie tonight. Get over that one, OK? [ +p1499 +aVI don't know. [ +p1500 +aVI have no idea. +p1501 +aVYou're welcome. Let me tell you, Donald Trump would be a president every day of the week and twice on Sunday, rather than Hillary. I've spent a lifetime in politics fighting the Clinton machine. You want to talk about what we're going to be up against next year? I'm the only guy on this stage \u2014 you know, everybody has an "only guy" \u2014 "I'm the only guy this; I'm the only guy that." Well, let me tell you one thing that I am the only guy: The only guy that has consistently fought the Clinton machine every election I was ever in over the past 26 years. And not only did I fight them, but I beat them. Somebody says "I'm a fighter." Well, I want to know, did you win? Well, I did. And not only did I fight them and win, I lived to tell about it and I'm standing on this stage tonight as evidence of that. And I think that ought to be worth something. +p1502 +aVWell, and specifically to Medicare, Becky, because 85 percent of the cost of Medicare is chronic disease. The fact is if we don't address what's costing so much, we can't throw enough money at this. And it's why I've continued to focus on the fact that we need to declare war on the four big cost drivers because 80 percent of all medical costs in this country are chronic disease. We don't have a health care crisis in America, we have a health crisis. And until we deal with the health of Americans and do what we did with polio \u2014 when I was a little kid, we eradicated it. You know how much money we spent on polio last year in America? We didn't spend any. We've saved billions of dollars. You want to fix Medicare? Focus on the diseases that are costing us the trillions of dollars. Alzheimers, diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Eradicate those and you fix Medicare and you've fixed America, its economy and you've made people's lives a heck of a lot better. +p1503 +aVYou know, I know to a lot of people in the media, this is just a great big game, and we're the players. And, we come out here, and we do our thing. And, sometimes we're held up in contempt by people who write columns, but, I guarantee you to every person on this stage there's something deep inside of us that would cause us to give up our livelihoods and step out on this stage and fight for the people of America. I've got five grandkids. I do not want to walk my five grandkids through the charred remains of a once great country called America, and say, "Here you go, $20 trillion dollars of debt. Good luck making something out of this mess." And, for those of us who are serious enough to run for president, think long and hard why we're here, and hopefully you'll know we're not here for ourselves. We honest to god are here to get this country back on track. I know this, I certainly am. +p1504 +aV...Thank you. +p1505 +aVI'm Mike Huckabee. I'm delighted to be on this stage with some remarkable fellow Republicans. None of us are a self-professed socialist. None of us on this state are under investigation by the FBI because we destroyed government records, or because we leaked secrets. I know that there are some in the Wall-Street-to-Washington axis of power who speak of all of us contemptuously. But I'm here to say that I think we are, in fact, the A team. We have some remarkable people, and, in fact, not only are we the A team; we even have our own Mr. T, who doesn't mind saying about others, "you're a fool." And I'm delighted to be here with all of these guys, and would put any of them in an administration that I led. Thank you very much. +p1506 +aVI would certainly love to get in on this, because I think the single... +p1507 +aVI've been patiently waiting, and I'm going to just say this about Iran. +p1508 +aVBecause I think it is incredibly important. This is really about the survival of Western civilization. This is not just a little conflict with a Middle Eastern country that we've just now given over $100 billion to, the equivalent in U.S. terms is $5 trillion. This threatens Israel immediately, this threatens the entire Middle East, but it threatens the United States of America. And we can't treat a nuclear Iranian government as if it is just some government that would like to have power. This is a government for 36 years has killed Americans, they kidnapped Americans, they have maimed Americans. They have sponsored terrorist groups, Hamas and Hezbollah, and they threaten the very essence of Western civilization. To give them this agreement, that the president treats like the Magna Carta, but Iranians treat it like it's toilet paper, and we must, simply, make it very clear that the next president, one of us on this stage, will absolutely not honor that agreement, and will destroy it and will be tough with Iran, because otherwise, we put every person in this world in a very dangerous place. +p1509 +aVNo, I don't think he's on the wrong side of such an issue. Jeb is a friend. I'm not up here to fight with Jeb or to fight with anybody else. But I am here to fight for somebody who is a county clerk elected under the Kentucky constitution that 75 percent of the people of that state had voted for that said that marriage was between a man and a woman. The Supreme Court in a very, very divided decision decided out of thin air that they were just going to redefine marriage. It's a decision that the other justices in dissent said they didn't have and there wasn't a constitutional shred of capacity for them to do it. I thought that everybody here passed ninth-grade civics. The courts cannot legislate. That's what Roberts said. But heck, it's what we learned in civics. The courts can't make a law. They can interpret one. They can review one. They can't implement it. They can't force it. But here's what happened: Because the courts just decided that something was going to be and people relinquished it and the other two branches of government sat by silently \u2014 I thought we had three branches of government, they were all equal to each other, we have separation of powers, and we have checks and balances. If the court can just make a decision and we just all surrender to it, we have what Jefferson said was judicial tyranny. The reason that this is a real issue that we need to think about... +p1510 +aVNo, no. Let me finish this one thought, Jake. I haven't gotten that much time, so I'm going to take just what little I can here. We made accommodation to the Fort Hood shooter to let him grow a beard. We made accommodations to the detainees at Gitmo \u2014 I've been to Gitmo, and I've seen the accommodations that we made to the Muslim detainees who killed Americans. You're telling me that you cannot make an accommodation for an elected Democrat county clerk from Rowan County, Kentucky? What else is it other than the criminalization of her faith and the exaltation of the faith of everyone else who might be a Fort Hood shooter or a detainee at Gitmo? +p1511 +aVI have a different idea. I think we ought to get rid of all the taxes on people who produce. Why should we penalize productivity? And it's why I'm an unabashed supporter of the "fair tax," which would be a tax on our consumption, rather than a tax on our productivity. In other words, you're not going to tax anybody for what they earn, whether it's worker whose working by the hour or whether it's a hedge fund manager. If they can produce something and bring capital and labor to create jobs, we need some jobs. And I think the "fair tax" makes more sense. Now, Jake, I've been listening to everybody on the stage and there is a lot of back and forth about I'm the only one who has done this, the only one who has done that, I've done great things. We've all done great things or we wouldn't be on this stage. But it occurs to me as we're sitting here in the Reagan Library that most of us would like to pay tribute to a guy who, when he got elected, didn't get elected telling everybody how great he was. He got elected telling everybody how great the American people were. And he empowered them to live their dreams, which is what I'd love to see us do by no longer penalizing the people who are out there working because they are taking a gut punch right now. +p1512 +aV...You don't want me operating on you, I assure you. +p1513 +aVJust today \u2014 just today, there was a new report that 50 different intelligence analysts have said that what they sent up the ladder was doctored by senior officials, so that they could give some happy talk to the situation that we face. I love the idea of a good intellectual capacity to deal with our enemies, but the fact is, if you don't have good intelligence that is reliable and honest, you won't have good intelligence and you cannot make good decisions. The next president is primarily elected not just to know things, but to know what to do with the things that he knows. And the most dangerous person in any room is the person who doesn't know what he doesn't know. +p1514 +aVAnd the reason Barack Obama has been dangerous to this country and we better elect someone who had some executive experience, is because we cannot afford another eight years having a person in the office who doesn't know what he does not know. +p1515 +aVYou better believe I will, because I'm tired of liberals always having a litmus test and conservatives are supposed to pretend we don't. Well let me tell you what mine would be. Number one, I'd ask do you think that the unborn child is a human being or is it just a blob of tissue? I'd want to know the answer to that. I'd want to know do you believe in the First Amendment, do you believe that religious liberty is the fundamental liberty around which all the other freedoms of this country are based? And I'd want to know do you really believe in the Second Amendment, do you believe that we have an individual right to bear arms to protect ourselves and our family and to protect our country? And do you believe in the Fifth and the 14th Amendment? Do you believe that a person, before they're deprived of life and liberty, should in fact have due process and equal protection under the law? Because if you do, you're going to do more than defund Planned Parenthood. +p1516 +aVOne final thing. I'd make darn sure that we absolutely believe the 10th Amendment. Every governor on this stage would share this much with you. Every one of us \u2014 our biggest fight wasn't always with the legislature or even with the Democrats. My gosh, half the time, it was with the federal government who apparently never understood \u2014 +p1517 +aV\u2014 that if it's not reserved in the Constitution, then the 10th Amendment says it's left to the states. But somebody forgot to send a memo to Washington. +p1518 +aVJake? Jake? +p1519 +aVI think we need to remember that there are maybe some controversies about autism, but there is no controversy about the things that are really driving the medical costs in this country. And I would really believe that the next president ought to declare a war on cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer's, because those are the four things that are causing the greatest level of cost. John Kennedy said, "we'll go to the moon in a decade and bring a man back," and we did it. I grew up in the '50s. I remember the polio vaccine. We saved billions of dollars since that time, because we haven't had to treat for polio. Why doesn't this country focus on cures rather than treatment? Why don't we put a definitive focus scientifically on finding the cure for cancer, for heart disease, for diabetes and for Alzheimer's, a disease alone that will cost us \u2014 +p1520 +aV$1.1 trillion by the year 2050. We change the economy and the country. +p1521 +aVThat's an easy one. I'd put my wife on there. I've been married to her 41 years. She's fought cancer and lived through it. She's raised three kids, five great grandkids, and she's put up with me. I mean, who else could possibly be on that money other than my wife. And that way, she could spend her own money with her face. +p1522 +aVI'd go with Duck Hunter. +p1523 +aVAt the end of my presidency I would like to believe that the world would be a safe place, and there wouldn't be the threats. not only to the U.S., but to Israel and our allies, because we would have the most incredible well-trained, well-equipped, well- prepared military in the history of mankind. And they would know that the commander-in-chief would never send them to a mission without all the resources necessary, but people wouldn't bully us anymore. Because they would know that that would be an invitation to their destruction. Domestically, we would be operating under a tax system that eliminated the IRS. People wouldn't be punished for their work, and for what they produced. And life would be really deemed precious. Abortion would be no more. It would be as much of a scourge in our past as slavery is. And we would have a peaceful country, where people respected each other and people respected law enforcement. And we would focus on cures. And we would make this country not only safe from our enemies without, but safe from the enemies within. And it would be a good place to raise our kids and our grandkids. +p1524 +aVChris, I disagree with the idea that the real issue is a constitutional amendment. That's a long and difficult process. I've actually taken the position that's bolder than that. A lot of people are talking about defunding planned parenthood, as if that's a huge game changer. I think it's time to do something even more bold. I think the next president ought to invoke the Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the constitution now that we clearly know that that baby inside the mother's womb is a person at the moment of conception. The reason we know that it is is because of the DNA schedule that we now have clear scientific evidence on. And, this notion that we just continue to ignore the personhood of the individual is a violation of that unborn child's Fifth and 14th Amendment rights for due process and equal protection under the law. It's time that we recognize the Supreme Court is not the Supreme Being, and we change the policy to be pro-life and protect children instead of rip up their body parts and sell them like they're parts to a Buick. +p1525 +aVNot me. But you're welcome to give me a check, Donald if you'd like. +p1526 +aVIt's not too big to shrink. But the problem is we have a Wall Street-to-Washington axis of power that has controlled the political climate. The donor class feeds the political class who does the dance that the donor class wants. And the result is federal government keeps getting bigger. Every person on this stage who has been a governor will tell that you the biggest fight they had was not the other party. Wasn't even the legislature. It was the federal government, who continually put mandates on the states that we had to suck up and pay for. And the fact is there are a lot of things happening at the federal level that are absolutely beyond the jurisdiction of the Constitution. This is power that should be shifted back to the states, whether it's the EPA, there is no role at the federal level for the Department of Education. And I'm still one who says that we can get rid of the Internal Revenue Service if we would pass the FairTax, which is a tax on consumption rather than a tax on people's income, and move power back where the founders believed it should have been all along. +p1527 +aVWell, let's all be reminded, 60 million Americans are on Social Security, 60 million. A third of those people depend on 90% of their income from Social Security. Nobody in this country is on Social Security because they made the decision when they were starting work at 14 that they wanted to trust some of their money with the government. The government took it out of their check whether they wanted them to or not. And, if person goes to 65, they're going to spend 51 years with the government reaching into their pocket at every paycheck. Now, here's the point, whose fault is it that the system is screwed up? Is it the recipients, or is it the government? And, if Congress wants to mess with the retirement program, why don't we let them start by changing their retirement program, and not have one, instead of talking about getting rid of Social Security and Medicare that was robbed $700 billion dollars to pay for Obamacare. It's always that the government figures that they can do this off the backs of people, many of whom are poor, and depend on that money, and I just think it's fundamentally lying to the people and stealing from them, and we shouldn't be doing it. +p1528 +aVWell, you ask about how we fund it. One of the reasons that Social Security is in so much trouble is that the only funding stream comes from people who get a wage. The people who get wages is declining dramatically. Most of the income in this country is made by people at the top who get dividends and -- and capital gains. The FairTax transforms the process by which we fund Social Security and Medicare because the money paid in consumption is paid by everybody, including illegals, prostitutes, pimps, drug dealers, all the people that are freeloading off the system now. That's why it ought to be a transformed system. +p1529 +aVRonald Reagan said "trust, but verify." President Obama is "trust, but vilify." He trusts our enemies and vilifies everyone who disagrees with him. And the reason we disagree with him has nothing to do with party. +p1530 +aVIt has to do with the incredibly dangerous place that this world is gonna be as a result of a deal in which we got nothing. We didn't even get four hostages out. We got nothing, and Iran gets everything they want. We said we would have anywhere, anytime negotiations and inspections, we gave that up. We said that we would make sure that they didn't have any nuclear capacity, we gave that up. The president can't tell us what we got. I'll tell you what the world got. The world has a burgeoning nuclear power that didn't, as the Soviets, say "we might defend ourselves in a war." What the Iranians have said is, "we will wipe Israel off the face of the map, and we will bring death to America." When someone points a gun at your head and loads it, by God, you ought to take them seriously, and we need to take that seriously. +p1531 +aVThe military is not a social experiment. The purpose of the military is kill people and break things. It's not to transform the culture by trying out some ideas that some people think would make us a different country and more diverse. The purpose is to protect America. I'm not sure how paying for transgender surgery for soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines makes our country safer. We've reduced the military by 25 percent... ... under President Obama. The disaster is that we've forgotten why we have a military. The purpose of it is to make sure that we protect every American, wherever that American is, and if an American is calling out for help, whether it's in Benghazi or at the border, then we ought to be able to answer it. We've not done that because we've decimated our military. We're flying B-52s. The most recent one that was put in service was November of 1962. A lot of the B-52s we're flying, we've only got 44 that are in service combat ready, and the fact is, most of them are older than me. And that's pretty scary. +p1532 +aVIt seems like this election has been a whole lot about a person who's very high in the polls, that doesn't have a clue about how to govern. A person who has been filled with scandals, and who could not lead, and, of course, I'm talking about Hillary Clinton. I think America... +p1533 +aV...is in trouble, but it's not beyond repair. But it's going to take leadership who sees the greatness of this country, and who believes that once again we can be one nation, under God. I'll be my best to do that, and thank you for your support. +p1534 +aVI don't think it's that the message isn't working, I think it's the message isn't getting out because the message that I have this time, Bill, it's exactly what I said eight years ago. I talked about people who are standing on their feet on factory floors, people who lift heavy things, who sweat through their clothes, they're getting gut punched. They are not having a fair shake in this economy. I talked about that eight years ago, and I'm talking about it now. I talked about the importance of preserving life, of not just saying we're going to defund Planned Parenthood, but let's do something bolder. Let's get rid of abortion once and for all by applying the Fifth, and Fourteenth amendment to every person from conception because that means that we recognize that no person can be deprived of life or liberty unless they have due process. And, that's not happening in our country. And, I believe, and continue to practice that we need the Fair Tax to revive our economy. To make it so that people are able to be rewarded for their work rather than punished for it. +p1535 +aVYou know, I -- I would leave that to other people. I'm not going to get into an argument with all the New Yorkers, because there's a lot of them. This much I will tell you. I wish that some of those New Yorkers had funded as much of my campaign as they did the corporately funded candidates, but they didn't. And to be honest with you, when I say I'm -- wish they had, I'm glad they didn't. I'm not a New York-funded campaign. I'm not bankrolled by the corporatists, I'm not bankrolled by Goldman Sachs and Citibank and AIG and all the big brokers -- brokerage houses and the billionaires. I'm sponsored by people like Thomas, a part-time Uber driver in Pennsylvania who sent me $25 this week. He's between jobs. He's driving an Uber car. But he believed in what I'm talking about enough that, even on a limited, part-time income, he sent me $25 to help in my campaign. I'll stand with the Thomases of the world any day. I'll leave all the discussion of the big financiers to other candidates. But there's only a few of us in the entire Republican process who are not corporately funded by the same group. And let me just finish by saying, you want to know why things never change depending on whether Democrats or Republicans are in power, and why Republicans in Iowa and the rest of the country are so frustrated? The reason is, is because if you follow the money, the same folks who finance the Democrats finance the Republicans, and no matter what the speeches and the ads, they get the same results. If you want a different result, I'm available. +p1536 +aVWell, I don't trust him. I've never said I trusted him. But if somebody is willing to take a shot at the people we are taking shots at, I'm more than willing to let them use their own bullets to do it. But let's be very clear about how we take out +p1537 +aVNo, I don't think that it's impossible, but we're not going to do it by doing the same things we've been doing for all these many years. And, we've lost five million manufacturing jobs just since the year 2000. The other day I was in Newton, Iowa. It used to be a vibrant place where Maytag washers and dryers were built. Went out of business in 2007, all those shops went to Mexico. All those people lost their jobs. There was a guy in my forum that day, he lost his job. He still has never found an employment that got anywhere near the job that he had. Let me ask you, how many people do you think living around the Beltway know a guy like that? Care about a guy like that? Not many. And, that's because they're six of the ten richest counties in America that surround Washington D.C. People who live in the bubbles of the high finance world of New York, the government world of Washington, the entertainment world of Hollywood, don't have a clue about how hard people out here in Iowa are working every single day. And, I believe one of the values of campaigning in Iowa, you can't win unless you go out and talk to farmers and housewives -- and welders, and unemployed truck drivers, and I hate... ... That a president could become president who never met people who have to struggle to make a living and put food on the table. +p1538 +aVA lot of Americans are angry. And I think it's important to understand why they are mad. They are mad because they see a government that continues to do fine. They see people at the top. They are doing fine. But that person you asked Rick about a moment ago, that lady that's making 10,000 bucks a year, do you know what our poverty programs do to people? They keep them in poverty. They keep them in poverty because we have these arbitrary thresholds... ... that mean that if you go to work, you lose all the benefits for your kids, Medicaid, WIC, Section 8 housing, food stamps, and then your kids go hungry. I know a little about poverty. My sister is here tonight. Now both of us could tell you we did not grow up rich. My mother grew up in a house, oldest of seven kids. She had lived in a house that didn't have floors. Just dirt. No electricity. No running water. I resent it when people say, oh, people are poor because they want to be. No, they are not. Nobody wants to be poor. And that's a stupid, foolish thing, mean thing to say. People are poor because they don't know how to get out of the hole. And government shouldn't push them back in the hole which is what our policies do when they punish people who want to go to work and don't let them out. We can fix that, but it takes some leadership to get it done. +p1539 +aVWell, I didn't have a tax and spend approach. You got to understand where the Club for Growth comes from, a bunch of rich guys sitting around writing checks to go after people they don't like. And, they don't like me sometimes because I was fighting for the guys at the bottom, not just the guys at the top. I cut 94 taxes in a state that had never had a general major tax decrease in its history. I also was able to see per capita income growth in my state go up by 50%. I think that's a pretty darn good record. Look at the overall record and it was fine. But, it's not about stats from when I was governor. Look, one of the reasons I support the Fairtax is because it's the one thing, Bill, that would truly empower people at the bottom of the economy by no longer punishing them for their work. If a guy works an hourly job, and he works eight hours, gets paid for it, terrific. But, if he works 16 hours, he doesn't get a double paycheck because he's going to be bumped up into a new tax bracket, and the government will get more of his second shift than he will. So, we've actually punished him for being industrious, hardworking, and that is a foolish economic policy... ... that's hurting Americans about as much as anything. +p1540 +aVI honestly don't understand how anybody with IQ above plant life would honestly think... ... that we would be better off if we let the government have all of the private property and that the government would dole out what they thought we should have. I'm not "feeling the Bern," Bill. I'm not feeling it. And when Bernie Sanders promises these kids free college, I'm telling them, because I get asked, what about free college? I said, look, if we give you free college when you are 20, pal, you are going to be paying for it when you are 30, when you are 40, and when you are 50. There is no such thing as the government giving you anything. They will definitely make a mess of it. And I just think there are a lot of people who have never understood the basic understanding of economics, that you do not make people rich by tearing down those who are you providing jobs, and you don't help poor people by taking away. You give them jobs. Let them work. Let them earn. And then you let them keep the money that they earned. That's how we build a great economy. +p1541 +aVWell, this week there was a little dust up about a video we put together with the music of Adele, so I thought it'd be appropriate for me to begin tonight by saying, "Hello, Iowa. It's me." +p1542 +aVAnd, you know me. You gave me the largest number of votes in the history of the Iowa caucus eight years ago, and I think you did it because you trusted me, you believed that I had your best interest at heart. When I was governor I had a little plaque in my office in the Governor's office, and it simply said this. Come, let us reason together. I believe the next President needs to put that plaque in the oval office, and needs to lead this country by saying, "Come, let us reason together." God bless you, and thank you for your support. +p1543 +aVI wish I saw the country in the same place that the president presented it to be the other night in the State of the Union. He talked about how great the economy was doing. And I guess for the people he hangs out with, it's probably doing great. But the president should've stood in the line at the layaway counter at Walmart just before Christmas. He would have heard a very different story about the economy of America. I wish I could introduce him the lady who cleans the building where our campaign headquarters is located in Little Rock. Her name is Kathleen. She works all day at a local hospital cleaning, and then she goes to the building where a bank, and our headquarters, and other offices are she spends another seven hours. She works 15 hours a day. I guarantee you she's not working 15 hours a day because she loves scrubbing toilets, and sweeping floors. She's working that many hours because that's what it takes for her to make it work. And, she's not alone. There are people all over this country who are working like that. Many of them working two jobs \u2014 and they used to have one job, and that would take care of them. But, because of wage stagnation, which we've had for 40 years, because the fact that they're punished for working harder if they work that many hours. The government gets more of their second shift than they do. And, as a result there are a lot of people who are hurting today. I wish the President knew more of them. He might make a change in the economy and the way he's managing it. +p1544 +aVLet me put that in context. When I went to Afghanistan, I saw a land that looked like the land of the Flintstones. It was desolate. It was barren. It was primitive. And it's been that way for thousands of years. They want to take the world back to be just like that. We don't. We need to make a clear goal as to why we want to be anywhere in the Middle East, and I'll tell you why we want to be and need to be, is to destroy radical Islam and everything that threatens civilization. It's not just a threat......to Israel or to America, it's a threat to every civilized person on this Earth. And we need to be equipping not only the Kurds in Iraq, we need to be making sure that those who are willing to fight radical Muslims will do it, but we need to never ever spend a drop of American blood unless there is a clearly defined goal and we can't make sure we win unless we have a military that's the strongest in the history of mankind. We've got to rebuild our navy. It's the smallest navy we've had since 1915, when my grandfather got on a destroyer in World War I when he was in the U.S. Navy. We've got young men in Air Force B-52s, one in particular, he's flying a B-52 that his father flew in the '80s and his grandfather flew in the '50s. Those planes are older than me. We've got to have a military that the world is afraid of, use it sparingly, but when we do, the whole world will know that America is on their tail and they will be on their tail on the ground, never ever to rise up again. +p1545 +aVOnly if there is a concerted effort to destroy the advance of radical Islamists who are against us. As far as what are we going to make it look like. Frankly, I don't know what we can make it look like. You can't create for other people a desire for freedom and democracy. And frankly, that is not the role of the United States. The role of the United States military is not to build schools, it is not to build bridges, it is not to go around and pass out food packets. It is to kill and destroy our enemy and make America safe and that is the purpose we should be there if we're going to be there. +p1546 +aV Yes, I did. +p1547 +aVWell, why don't we start by making sure the Justice Department never does an idiotic program like Fast and Furious where the U.S. Government put guns......in the hands of Mexican drug lords......and end up killing one of our border agents. You know, they want to talk about law abiding citizens, I just find it amazing the President keeps saying the gun show loophole. There is no gun show loophole. I promise you I've been to more gun shows than President Obama. +p1548 +aVAnd, I've bought more weapons at them, and you fill out forms. The President also says things that it's easier to get a gun now than it is to grow trees. Again, I purchase guns, and I can assure you that it is much more difficult to purchase a firearm than it is to get the ingredients of a salad at the supermarket. What the President keeps pushing are ideas that have never worked. Ideas that would not have stopped San Bernadino, Sandy Hook, Aurora, and at some point you wonder if you keep retrying things that don't work, maybe we should just see if we could resell all those used lottery tickets that didn't work real well because that's the logic of just keep doing the same thing, but something that has failed. Of course, we want to stop gun violence, but the one common thing that has happened in most mass shootings is that they happened in gun- free zones where people who would have been law abiding citizens, who could have stood up and at least tried to stop it and we're not allowed to under the law. +p1549 +aVWell, we shouldn't be and that's one of the reasons that I think there a lot of voices in our country who are saying it's time to relook at the visa program. The European Union is a failure, it's not allowed for even the economic goals that they were trying to achieve. But, what we're not seeing is that it's making Europe less safe, and it's proven not to be exactly what they all thought it was going to be. Our first and foremost responsibility in this country, and the first responsibility of the President of the United States is protect America, and protect Americans. We have a President who seems to be more interested in protecting the reputation and image of Islam than he is protecting us. And, I want to be very clear......that this President. Makes comments like he did the other night, that we have to be so careful because we don't want to offend Muslims. He needs to read his own FBI crime stats from last year which would show him that of the hate crimes in the country, over 5,500, about 1,100 were religious hate crimes. And, of those, 58% were directed toward Jews. Only 16% directed toward Muslims. Maybe what the President should have talked about the other night is how we ought to be more careful in the anti-semitic comments that are going toward American Jews than toward Muslims because by three times as many......they're being targeted for religious hate crime. +p1550 +aVIt does not shut down international commerce, but it may slow it down. And, you don't want to slowdown commerce that is making us safer. It's worth it. This lady who came and joined with the San Bernardino killer had passed three background checks, and that's why a lot of Americans didn't buy it when the President said we'll bring in Syrian refugees, but don't worry we'll check them out. We have a lot of confidence in a president who told us that we could keep our doctor, we could keep our health insurance, and cost us less, and now the latest is if you like your gun you can keep it too, and frankly, we don't buy it. We don't believe it. He's lost his credibility, and his inept... ...inability to work with Congress and pass legislation has led him to do what I never even imagined doing as a governor, and that's just going and doing it my own way. That's why we elect a president, is to lead, is to be able to shepherd things through. And if I can do it with a 90 percent Democrat legislature in Arkansas, there is no excuse for any president not being able to lead in Washington if he knows what the heck he is doing when he gets there. +p1551 +aVWell, first of all, let's just remember that Social Security is not the government's money, it belongs to the people who had it taken out of their checks involuntarily their entire working lives. For the government to say, well it is fault of working people that we have a Social Security problem, no. It is the fault of a government that used those people's money for something other than protecting those people's accounts. So let's not blame them and punish them. But here is a fact, and I sometimes hear Republicans say well, we're going to have to cut this and extend the age. You know what I think a lot of times when I hear people say, well, let's make people work to their 70. That sounds great for white-collar people who sat at a desk most of their lives. You ever talk to somebody that stood on concrete floor for the first 40 years of their working life? Do you think they can stand another five years or 10 years, many of them will retired virtually crippled because they worked hard. And we're going to punish them some more? I don't think so. Here's the fact. Four percent economic growth, we fully fund Social Security and Medicare. Our problem is not that Social Security is just too generous to seniors. It isn't. Our problem is that our politicians have not created the kind of policies that would bring economic growth. And I still support strongly that we get rid of the 77,000 pages of the monstrous tax code......pass the fair tax, supercharge this economy with the rocket fuel that happens with the consumption tax and we don't have to cut Social Security to any senior who has worked their lifetime for it. +p1552 +aVLet me go back to the reason so many people are having a hard time getting ahead. The tax system punishes them. Think about this. If you work really hard and you start moving up the economic ladder, you get bumped into a different tax bracket. So the government thinks it deserves more of your hard work than you do. And it's one of the reasons that no matter how many different reforms you have to a tax on people's productivity, you're still taxing their work, their savings. You're taxing their capital gains, inheritance, dividends, you're taxing everything that produces something. And it's way I really believe it's time to do something bold, not something minute. This is no time for a tap of the hammer, a twist of the screwdriver. It's time for something big. That's why the fair tax transforms our economy. And we don't punish workers. It's the only way we're going to get middle class people moving ahead again, because the harder they work, the more they keep. No payroll tax deducted from their checks. They get their entire paycheck. And, one of the most important parts, it's built on the common sense with which we raised our kids, and trained dogs. You reward behavior you want more of. And, you punish behavior you want less of. That's how I raise kids, it's how I trained our dogs, and folks, it's not that difficult. We now punish the behavior we say we want more of by taxing it, and we reward the behavior that we say we want less of, so if you make a good investment, we punish you with a tax. If you make a bad investment you can write that off and the rest of the taxpayers will help subsidize you, and bail you out. +p1553 +aVWell, Rick, I'm pretty sure I did also fight the Clinton machine because every election I was ever in in Arkansas, I assure you, they were behind it, helping finance and campaign for every opponent. And I share with you the understanding that it's going to be a tough battle. But I spent the first half of my adult life in the private and nonprofit sector, raising a family, understanding how tough it is for people to make it. And that first half of my life is what led me to believe that America needs a different kind of leadership, not people who spent their whole life running from one office to the next, and living off the government dime. And I got involved because I got sick of what I saw. I also believe that there's got to be some leadership that not only addresses the monetary and military issues of this country, but the moral issues of this country. At the end of every political speech, most of us say, God bless America. But how can he do that when we continue to slaughter 4,000 babies a day? And I want to be the president that treats every person, including the unborn, as a person. And protect them under the 5th and 14th amendments of the constitution. I close with this word from a gentleman in East Texas named Butel Lucre. He's 100 years old and I met him down in East Texas. And he said this to me. "I sure wish, Mike, we had the days when The Ten Commandments were in all of our capitals and in every school, and we prayed again. You know, he may be 100 years old, but I believe some of those old ideas to get this country back where we unapologetically get on our knees before we get on our feet might be the best solutions we've ever sought as a country. And I ask for your support and your vote. Thank you. +p1554 +asVCRUZ +p1555 +(lp1556 +VThank you, Wolf. America is at war. Our enemy is not violent extremism. It is not some unnamed malevolent force. It is radical Islamic terrorist. We have a president who is unwilling to utter its name. The men and women on this stage, every one of us, is better prepared to keep this nation safe than is Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. We need a president who understands the first obligation of the commander-in-chief is to keep America safe. If I am elected president, we will hunt down and kill the terrorists. We will utterly destroy +p1557 +aVWell, listen, Hugh, everyone understands why Donald has suggested what he has. We're looking at a president who's engaged in this double-speak where he doesn't call radical Islamic terrorism by its name. Indeed, he gives a speech after the San Bernardino attack where his approach is to try to go after the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens rather than to keep us safe. And even worse, President Obama and Hillary Clinton are proposing bringing tens of thousands of Syrian refugees to this country when the head of the FBI has told Congress they cannot vet those refugees. I understand why Donald made that proposal. I introduced legislation in the Senate that I believe is more narrowly focused at the actual threat, which is radical Islamic terrorism, and what my legislation would do is suspend all refugees for three years from countries where +p1558 +aVWell, you know, I'm reminded of what FDR's grandfather said. He said, "All horse-thieves are Democrats, but not all Democrats are horse-thieves." In this instance, there are millions of peaceful Muslims across the world, in countries like India, where there is not the problems we are seeing in nations that are controlled \u2014 have territory controlled by Al Qaida or +p1559 +aVWell, Dana, the premise of your question is not accurate. I'm very proud to have joined with conservatives in both the Senate and the House to reform how we target bad guys. And what the USA Freedom Act did is it did two things. Number one, it ended the federal government's bulk collection of phone metadata of millions of law-abiding citizens. But number two in the second half of it that is critical. It strengthened the tools of national security and law enforcement to go after terrorists. It gave us greater tools and we are seeing those tools work right now in San Bernardino. And in particular, what it did is the prior program only covered a relatively narrow slice of phone calls. When you had a terrorist, you could only search a relatively narrow slice of numbers, primarily land lines. The USA Freedom Act expands that so now we have cell phones, now we have Internet phones, now we have the phones that terrorists are likely to use and the focus of law enforcement is on targeting the bad guys. You know what the Obama administration keeps getting wrong is whenever anything bad happens they focus on law-abiding citizens instead of focusing on the bad guys. We need to focus on radical Islamic terrorists and we need to stop them before they carry out acts of terror. +p1560 +aVWell, you know, I would note that Marco knows what he's saying isn't true. You know, Mark Levin wrote a column last week that says that the attack ads his Super PAC is running that are saying the same thing, that they are knowingly false and they are, in fact, Alinsky-like attacks like Barack Obama. And the reason is simple. What he knows is that the old program covered 20 percent to 30 percent of phone numbers to search for terrorists. The new program covers nearly 100 percent. That gives us greater ability to stop acts of terrorism, and he knows that that's the case. +p1561 +aVWhat it means is using overwhelming air power to utterly and completely destroy +p1562 +aVYou would carpet bomb where +p1563 +aVWell, you know, Marco has continued these attacks, and he knows they're not true. Yes, it is true that I voted against the National Defense Authorization Act, because when I campaigned in Texas I told voters in Texas that I would oppose the federal government having the authority to detain U.S. citizens permanently with no due process. I have repeatedly supported an effort to take that out of that bill, and I honored that campaign commitment. +p1564 +aVBut more broadly, you know, the notion Marco is suggesting, that somehow \u2014 he also has tossed more than a few insults this direction \u2014 let's be absolutely clear. +p1565 +aVWolf, I believe in a America first foreign policy, that far too often President Obama and Hillary Clinton \u2014 and, unfortunately, more than a few Republicans \u2014 have gotten distracted from the central focus of keeping this country safe. So let's go back to the beginning of the Obama administration, when Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama led +p1566 +aV... we ought to hunt down our enemies and kill +p1567 +aVWell, it's more than not shedding a tear. It's actively getting involved to topple a government. And we keep hearing from President Obama and Hillary Clinton and Washington Republicans that they're searching for these mythical moderate rebels. It's like a purple unicorn. They never exist. These moderate rebels end up being jihadists. And I'll tell you whose view on Assad is the same as mine. It's Prime Minister Netanyahu. Prime Minister Netanyahu has said Israel doesn't have a dog in that fight because Assad is a puppet of Iran, a Shia radical Islamic terrorist, but at the same time, Prime Minister Netanyahu doesn't want to see Syria governed by +p1568 +aVThe question of whether we should toppling dictatorships is asking the wrong question. We should be defeating our enemies. So the problem with defeating... +p1569 +aVWell, but let me explain, the focus should be... +p1570 +aV... on defeating our enemies. So, for example... +p1571 +aV... a regime we should change is Iran... +p1572 +aV... because Iran has declared war on us. But we shouldn't be toppling regimes...... that are fighting radical Islamic terrorists that are helping... +p1573 +aVWell, he \u2014 he has attempted to muddy the waters, but I think that anyone who watched the battle that we had. You know, there was a time for choosing as Reagan put it. Where there was a battle over amnesty and some chose, like Senator Rubio to stand with Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer and support a massive amnesty plan. Others chose to stand with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and the American people and secure the border. And let me mention, this issue is actually directly connected to what we've been talking about. Because the front line with +p1574 +aVLook, I understand Marco wants to raise confusion, it is not accurate what he just said that I supported legalization. Indeed, I led the fight against his legalization and amnesty. And you know, there was one commentator that put it this way that, for Marco to suggest our record's the same is like suggesting "the fireman and the arsonist because they are both at the scene of the fire." He was fighting to grant amnesty and not to secure the border, I was fighting to secure the border. And this also goes to trust, listening on to campaign trails. Candidates all the time make promises. You know, Marco said," he learned that the American people didn't trust the federal government." +p1575 +aVIn Florida promising to... +p1576 +aVgo in the fight against amnesty... +p1577 +aVHe campaigned promising to lead the fight against amnesty. +p1578 +aVI have never supported a legalization... +p1579 +aVI have never supported legalization, and I do not intend to support legalization. Let me tell you how you do this, what you do is you enforce the law... +p1580 +aVWatt you do is enforcement the law... +p1581 +aVWhat you do... +p1582 +aVWhat you do is you enforce the law. I've laid out a very, very detailed immigration plan on my website, tedcruz.org. It's 11 pages of existing federal law and in particular the question of what to do with people who are here now? You enforce the law. That means you stop the Obama administration's policy of releasing criminal illegal aliens. Do you know how many aliens Bill Clinton deported? 12 million. Do you know how many illegal aliens, George W. Bush deported? 10 million. We can enforce the laws and if we secure the border, that solves the problem. And as president I will solve this problem and secure the border. +p1583 +aVDana, what I said in private is exactly what I'll say here, which is that the judgment that every voter is making of every one of us up here is who has the experience, who has the vision, who has the judgment to be commander in chief. That is the most important decision for the voters to make. That's a standard I'm held to. And it's a standard everyone else is held to. And I will note, you know, in the whole course of this discussion about our foreign policy threats, it actually illustrates the need for clarity of focus. You know, my daughters, Caroline and Catherine, came tonight. They're 7 and 5. And you think about the Los Angeles schools canceling their schools today. And every parent is wondering, how do we keep our kids safe? We need a commander in chief who does what Ronald Reagan did with communism, which is he set out a global strategy to defeat Soviet communism. And he directed all of his... I'm answering the question, Dana. He directed all of his forces to defeating communism. One of the things we've seen here is how easy it is for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to get distracted from dealing with radical Islamic terrorism. They won't even call it by its name. We need a president who stands up, number one, and says, we will defeat +p1584 +aVAnd we need to be focused on defeating... +p1585 +aV... defeating radical Islamic terrorists. +p1586 +aVWhat I'm saying, Dana, is that is a judgment for every voter to make. What I can tell you is all nine of the people here would make an infinitely better commander in chief than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. +p1587 +aVAnd there is a real danger, Dana, when people get distracted. I'm answering the question, Wolf. There's a real danger when people get distracted by peripheral issues. They get distracted by democracy building. They get distracted about military conflicts. We need to focus on defeating jihadism. +p1588 +aVAnd I will do everything necessary to keep our children safe. +p1589 +aVJudgment, strength, clarity and trust. Barack Obama has said he doesn't believe in American leadership or America winning \u2014 he is wrong. America can win again and we will win again. Ronald Reagan reignited the American economy, rebuilt the Military, bankrupted the Soviet Union and defeated Soviet Communism. I will do the same thing. Cutting taxes, cutting regulation, unleashing small businesses and rebuilding the Military to defeat radical Islamic terrorism \u2014 our strategy is simple. We win, they lose. We've done it before and we can do it again. +p1590 +aVWell, Maria, it's great to be with you. It's great to be here in Milwaukee. You know, the question you asked really I think is the most important question any of us can have \u2014 face, which is, how do we get the economy growing? How do we bring back economic growth? Because economic growth, it's foundational to every other challenge we have. As you rightly noted, from 2008 to today, our economy has grown 1.2 percent a year on average. The Obama economy is a disaster, and the IMF is telling us this is a new normal. It doesn't have to be. If you look at the history of America, there are three levers that government has had to facilitate economic growth. The first is tax reform. And as you noted, I have rolled out a bold and simple flat tax: 10 percent for every American that would produce booming growth and 4.9 million new jobs within a decade. The second element is regulatory reform, pulling back the armies of regulators that have descended like locusts on small businesses. And the third element is sound money. Every time we've pursued all three of those \u2014 whether in the 1920s with Calvin Coolidge or the 1960s with JFK or the 1980s with Ronald Reagan \u2014 the result has been incredible economic growth. We have done it before, and with leadership, we can do it again. +p1591 +aVWell, my Mom is here, so I don't think we should be pushing any grannies off cliffs. And, you miss-stated what I've said on entitlement reform. What I've said is for seniors we should make no changes whatsoever, for younger workers we should gradually raise the retirement age, we should have benefits grow more slowly, and we should allow them to keep a portion of their taxes in a personal account that they control, and can pass on to their kids... +p1592 +aVI want to go back to the discussion we had a minute ago because, you know, what was said was right. The democrats are laughing \u2014 because if republicans join democrats as the party of amnesty, we will lose. And, you know, I understand that when the mainstream media covers immigration, it doesn't often see it as an economic issue. But, I can tell you for millions \u2014 of Americans at home watching this, it is a very personal economic issue. And, I will say the politics of it will be very, very different if a bunch of lawyers or bankers were crossing the Rio Grande. Or if a bunch of people with journalism degrees were coming over and driving down the wages in the press. Then, we would see stories about the economic calamity that is befalling our nation. And, I will say for those of us who believe people 'ought to come to this country legally, and we should enforce the law, we're tired of being told it's anti-immigrant. It's offensive. I am the son of an immigrant who came legally from Cuba... ...to seek the American dream. And, we can embrace legal immigration while believing in the rule of law \u2014 and I would note, try going illegally to another country. Try going to China, or Japan. Try going to Mexico. See what they do. Every sovereign nation secures its borders, and it is not compassionate to say we're not going to enforce the laws... ...And we're going to drive down the wages for millions of hardworking men and women. That is abandoning the working... +p1593 +aVWell, sure, you put your finger on what the problem is. The current system isn't fair. Washington is fundamentally corrupt. There are more words in the IRS code than there are in the Bible \u2014 and \u2014 and not a one of them is as good. Every one of them reflects a carve-out or a subsidy, and it's all about empowering the Washington cartel. My simple Flat Tax says that, for a family of four, for the first $36,000 you earn, you pay no taxes whatsoever. No income taxes, no payroll taxes, no nothing. Above that, every American pays 10 percent across the board \u2014 a flat, fair tax. Which means that no longer do you have hedge-fund billionaires paying a lower tax rate than their secretaries. On the business side, I've got a business flat tax of 16 percent \u2014 again, that applies across the board. Right now, with our corporate income tax, giant corporations with armies of accountants regularly are paying little to no taxes while small businesses are getting hammered. This is fair and across-the-board. Now, you ask, how do the numbers add up? I would encourage folks, if you go to our website, tedcruz.org, we have the specific numbers on the website. This plan eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax, eliminates the corporate income tax, and it abolishes the IRS. And the effect of that is incredible economic growth. It means every income group will see double-digit increases, from the very poorest to the very weakest, of at least 14 percent. So if you're a single mom, if you're making $40,000 a year, what that means is an extra about $5,000 in your pocket to provide for your kids, to make ends meet. It has a powerful, powerful effect. And there's one other really powerful feature of my plan, which is that it's border-adjustable. Which means, if you're an exporter \u2014 if you're a farmer, if you're a rancher, if you're a manufacturer, you don't pay the businesses flat tax. Exports are free of that tax, but all imports pay that 16 percent business flat tax, which means this tax plan would cause jobs to boom, and it would let America compete with China and the world on a level playing field. +p1594 +aVWell, the numbers the Tax Foundation had put out is that the static cost of the plan is $3.6 trillion over 10 years, but the dynamic cost of the plan, which \u2014 which is the cost that factors in growth, is about $768 billion. It is less than a trillion. It costs less than virtually every other plan people have put up here, and yet it produces more growth and it's one of the very few plans that abolishes the IRS. But on top of that, today, we rolled out a spending plan. $500 billion in specific cuts \u2014 five major agencies that I would eliminate. The IRS, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Energy, the Department of Commerce, and HUD \u2014 and then 25 specific programs. Again, that's on our website at tedcruz.org. You want to look at specificity? It's easy for everyone to say, "cut spending". It's much harder and riskier to put out, chapter and verse, specifically the programs you would cut to stop bankrupting our kids and grandkids. +p1595 +aV...Middle ground that brings both of these together... +p1596 +aV...Exactly right, that we have to defend this nation. You think defending this nation is expensive, try not defending it. That's a lot more expensive. But, you can do that, and pay for it. You can do that, and also be fiscally responsible. You know, I mention that the 25 programs that I put today, that I would eliminate them. Among them are corporate welfare, like sugar subsidies. Let's take that as an example. Sugar subsidies. Sugar farmers farm under... ...under roughly 0.2% of the farmland in America, and yet they give 40% of the lobbying money. That sort of corporate welfare is why we're bankrupting our kids, and grandkids. I would end those subsidies to pay for defending this nation... +p1597 +aVAbsolutely yes. You know, I have spent much of my adult life enforcing the law and defending the Constitution. And the problem that underlies all of this is the cronyism and corruption of Washington. You know, the opening question Jerry asked, would you bail out the big banks again? Nobody gave you an answer to that. I'll give you an answer. Absolutely not. And what we have right now is we have Washington \u2014 as government gets bigger and bigger, you know, the biggest lie in all of Washington and in all of politics is that Republicans are the party of the rich. The truth is, the rich do great with big government. They get in bed with big government. The big banks get bigger and bigger and bigger under Dodd-Frank and community banks are going out of business. And, by the way, the consequence of that is small businesses can't get business loans, and it is that fundamental corruption that is why six of the 10 wealthiest counties in America are in and around Washington, D.C. And let me give you a contrast to Washington cronyism. Some weeks ago, a woman named Sabina Loving testified at a hearing that I chaired in the Senate. Sabina Loving is an African-American single mom who started a tax preparation business in the south side of Chicago. She found a store front, she wanted to have her own business. She started a business. But then the IRS promulgated new regulations targeting tax preparers. They did it under a more than 100-year-old statute called the Dead Horse Act. Now, this statute and the IRS in classic Washington crony fashion had exemptions for lawyers and big fancy accountants, but Sabina had to pay $1,000 an employee. It would have driven her out of business, and Ms. Loving sued the IRS. She took the Obama IRS to court, and she won, and they struck down the rule for picking the big guys over the little guys. +p1598 +aVYes. Now, let's be clear, there is a role for the Federal Reserve \u2014 what the Fed is doing now is it is a series of philosopher- kings trying to guess what's happening with the economy. You look at the Fed, one of the reasons we had the financial crash is throughout the 2000s, we had loose money, we had an asset bubble, it drove up the price of real estate, drove up the price of commodities, and then in the third quarter of 2008, the Fed tightened the money and crashed those asset prices, which caused a cascading collapse. That's why I am supporting getting back to rules-based monetary system not with a bunch of philosopher-kings deciding, but tied... +p1599 +aVSo let me be clear. I would not bail them out, but instead of adjusting monetary policy according to whims and getting it wrong over and over again and causing booms and busts, what the Fed should be doing is, number one, keeping our money tied to a stable level of gold, and, number two, serving as a lender of last resort. That's what central banks do. So if you have a run on the bank, the Fed can serve as a lender of last resort, but it's not a bailout. It is a loan at higher interest rates. That's how central banks have worked. And I'll point out \u2014 look, we had a gold standard under Bretton Woods, we had it for about 170 years of our nation's history, and enjoyed booming economic growth and lower inflation than we have had with the Fed now. We need to get back to sound money, which helps, in particular, working men and women. What Washington does \u2014 the people who are doing well in the Obama economy are those with power and influence in the Obama government. The people who working men and women... +p1600 +aVSo, Governor Kasich... +p1601 +aV...why would you then bail out rich Wall Street banks, but not Main street, not Mom and Pop, not Sabina Loving? +p1602 +aVBut you just said an executive... +p1603 +aV...knows to step in and bail out a bank. +p1604 +aVSo you said you'd abandon philosophy and abandon principle... +p1605 +aV...but what would you do if the bank was failing? +p1606 +aVSo you \u2014 you would bail them out. +p1607 +aVAnd, Maria, I will note, she's got a lot of experience, but her policies have proven disastrous. If you look at foreign policy, every region in the world has gotten worse. Under her leadership, we abandon the nation of Israel. Under her leadership, radical Islamic terrorism has been on to the rise. Under her leadership, and Obama's leadership, Iran is getting $100 billion dollars, and on the verge of getting a nuclear weapon. Everything she's put her hand to, or has touched \u2014 and when we talk about the cronyism of Washington, Hillary Clinton embodies the cronyism... ...of Washington. And, I'll give you an example of that, which is the Congressional exemption from Obamacare, which is fundamentally wrong, and I'll tell you this, if I'm elected president, I will veto any statute that exempts members of congress. The law should apply evenly to every American. +p1608 +aVMaria, critically, when it comes to climate change... +p1609 +aV...Our \u2014 our... +p1610 +aVFifty-eight years ago, my father fled Cuba. As he stood on the deck of that ferryboat with the wind and salt air blowing, he looked back at the oppression and torture he was escaping. And yet he looked forward to the promise of America. His story is our story. What ties Americans together is we are all the children of those who risked everything for freedom. America is in crisis now. I believe in America. And if we get back to the free market principles and constitutional liberties that built this country, we can turn this country around. I believe that 2016 will be an election like 1980, that we will win by following Reagan's admonition to paint in bold colors, not pale pastels. We're building a grassroots army. I ask you to join us at tedcruz.org. And we, the people, can turn this nation around. +p1611 +aVI'm too agreeable, easy going. You know, I think my biggest weakness is exactly the opposite. I'm a fighter. I am passionate about what I believe. I've been passionate my whole life about the Constitution. And, you know, for six-and-a-half years, we've had a gigantic party. If you want someone to grab a beer with, I may not be that guy. But if you want someone to drive you home, I will get the job done and I will get you home. +p1612 +aVBecky, if you want a 10 percent flat tax where the numbers add up, I rolled out my tax plan today, you can find it on line at tedcruz.org. It is a simple flat tax where for individuals, a family of four pays nothing on the first $36,000. After that you pay 10 percent as a flat tax going up. The billionaire and the working man, no hedge fund manager pays less than his secretary. On top of that, there is a business flat tax of 16 percent. Now that applies universally to giant corporations that with lobbyists right now are not paying taxes, and as small business. And you wanted to know the numbers, the Tax Foundation, which has scored every one of our plans, shows that this plan will allow the economy to generate 4.9 million jobs, to raise wages over 12 percent, and to generate 14 percent growth. And it costs, with dynamic scoring, less than a trillion dollars. Those are the hard numbers. And every single income decile sees a double-digit increase in after-tax income. +p1613 +aVGrowth is the answer. And as Reagan demonstrated, if we cut taxes, we can bring back growth. +p1614 +aVYou know, let me say something at the outset. The questions that have been asked so far in this debate illustrate why the American people don't trust the media. This is not a cage match. And, you look at the questions \u2014 "Donald Trump, are you a comic-book villain?" "Ben Carson, can you do math?" "John Kasich, will you insult two people over here?" "Marco Rubio, why don't you resign?" "Jeb Bush, why have your numbers fallen?" How about talking about the substantive issues the people care about? +p1615 +aVAnd Carl \u2014 Carl, I'm not finished yet. The contrast with the Democratic debate, where every fawning question from the media was, "Which of you is more handsome and why?" And let me be clear. +p1616 +aVLet me be clear. The men and women on this stage have more ideas, more experience, more common sense than every participant in the Democratic debate. That debate reflected a debate between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. And nobody watching at home believed that any of the moderators had any intention of voting in a Republican primary. The questions that are being asked shouldn't be trying to get people to tear into each other. It should be what are your substantive positions... +p1617 +aVYou want me to answer that question? I'm happy to answer the question... +p1618 +aVLet me tell you how that question... +p1619 +aVLet me tell you how that question... +p1620 +aV... so you don't actually want to hear the answer, John? +p1621 +aVYou don't want to hear the answer. You just want to... +p1622 +aVYou're not interested in an answer. +p1623 +aV...Then I'll buy you a tequila... +p1624 +aV...Or, even some famous Colorado brownies. +p1625 +aVWell, sure. This deal in Washington is an example of why Washington's broken. Republican leadership joined with every single Democrat, add $80 trillion to our debt to do nothing to fix the problems. And, let me now on Social Security because we were getting into a good substantive exchange, and I want to say I think both Chris, and Mike are right. Governor Huckabee's exactly right, we need to honor the promises made to our seniors, but for younger workers \u2014 look. I'm 44 years old. It is hard to find someone in my generation that thinks Social Security will be there for us. We can save and preserve and strengthen Social Security by making no changes for seniors, but for younger workers gradually increasing the retirement age, changing the rate of growth so that it matches inflation, and critically allowing younger workers to keep a portion of our tax payments in a personal account that we own, we control them, we can pass on to our kids. +p1626 +aVWell, we've gotta turn the economy around for people who are struggling. The Democrats' answer to everything is more government control over wages, and more empowering trial lawyers to file lawsuits. You know, you look at women working. I'll tell you, in my family there are a lot of single moms in my family. My sister was a single mom, both of my aunts who were a single moms. My mom who's here today, was a single mom when my father left us when I was 3 years old. Now, thank God, my father was invited to a Bible study and became born again and he came back to my mom and me and we were raised together. But I \u2014 the struggle of single moms is extraordinary. And you know, when you see Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and all the Democrats talking about wanting to address the plight of working women, not a one of them mentioned the fact that under Barack Obama, 3.7 million women have entered poverty. Not a one of them mentioned the fact that under Barack Obama and the big government economy, the median wage for women has dropped $733. The the truth of the matter is, big government benefits the wealthy, it benefits the lobbyists, it benefits the giant corporations. And the people who are getting hammered are small businesses, it's single moms, it's Hispanics. That is who I'm fighting for. The people that Washington leaves behind. +p1627 +aVWell, Rick, it's a very important question. I have got deep concerns about the Fed. The first thing I think we need to do is audit the Fed. And I am an original co-sponsor of Rand Paul's audit the Fed legislation. The second thing we need to do is I think we need to bring together a bipartisan commission to look at getting back to rules- based monetary policy, end this star chamber that has been engaging in this incredible experiment of quantitative easing, QE1, QE2, QE3, QE- infinity. And the people who are being impacted, you know, a question that was asked earlier, Becky asked, was about working women. You know, it's interesting, you look at on Wall Street, the Fed is doing great. It's driving up stock prices. Wall Street is doing great. You know, today, the top 1 percent earn a higher share of our income than any year since 1928. But if you look at working men and women. If you look at a single mom buying groceries, she sees hamburger prices have gone up nearly 40 percent. She sees her cost of electricity going up. She sees her health insurance going up. And loose money is one of the major problems. We need sound money. And I think the Fed should get out of the business of trying to juice our economy and simply be focused on sound money and monetary stability, ideally tied to gold. +p1628 +aVLet me say on that... +p1629 +aV...Rand is exactly right. His plan is a good plan, and I will note that my 10% plan also eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax, +p1630 +aV...eliminates the business... [ +p1631 +aV...income tax... [ +p1632 +aV...10% flat rate... +p1633 +aV...is the lowest personal rate any candidate up here has, and what it would also enable us to do is for every citizen to fill out their taxes on a postcard so we can eliminate the IRS. +p1634 +aVYou know, everyone here talks about the need to take on Washington. The natural next question is who actually has done so. Who actually has stood up not just to Democrats, but to leaders in our own party? When millions of Americans rose up against Obamacare, I was proud to lead that fight. When millions of Americans rose up against amnesty, I was proud to lead that fight. When millions of Americans rose up against Planned Parenthood, I was proud to lead that fight. If people are promising they're going to take on Washington and cronyism, you need to look to who has been doing it. In my family, my dad fled oppression in Cuba to come to America. Freedom is personal for me, and I will always keep my word and fight for freedom. +p1635 +aVI'm Ted Cruz. I am the son of an Irish-Italian mom and a Cuban immigrant dad who fled oppression and came to America seeking freedom. I'm a husband to my best friend, Heidi, who's here tonight. I'm a dad to two little girls who are the loves of my life, Caroline and Catherine. If you're fed up with Washington, if you're looking for someone to stand up to career politicians in both parties, I'm the only one on this stage who has done that over and over again, and if we stand together, we can bring America back. +p1636 +aVWell, let me tell you, Jake, the single biggest national security threat facing America right now is the threat of a nuclear Iran. We've seen six and a half years of President Obama leading from behind. Weakness is provocative, and this Iranian nuclear deal is nothing short of catastrophic. This deal, on its face, will send over $100 billion to the Ayatollah Khamenei, making the Obama administration the world's leading financier of radical Islamic terrorism. +p1637 +aVThis deal abandons four American hostages in Iran, and this deal will only accelerate Iran's acquiring nuclear weapons. You'd better believe it. If I am elected president, on the very first day in office, I will rip to shreds this catastrophic Iranian nuclear deal. +p1638 +aVWell, let's be clear when it comes to experience. What President Obama wants to do is he's run to the United Nations, and he wants to use the United Nations to bind the United States, and take away our sovereignty. Well, I spent five and a half years as a Solicitor General of Texas, the lead lawyer for the state, in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, and I went in front of the Supreme Court, and took on the world court of the United Nations in a case called Medellin v. Texas, and we won a historic victory saying the World Court, and the U.N., has no power to bind the United States, and no President of the United States, Republican or Democrat, has the authority to give away our sovereignty. And, so, if there's anyone up here who would be bound by this catastrophic deal with Iran, they're giving up the core responsibility of commander in chief, and as president, I would never do that. +p1639 +aVJake, Jake... +p1640 +aVJake, there is no more important topic in 2016 than this topic right here, and I've listened to several folks saying, "Well, gosh, if they cheat, we'll act." We won't know under this agreement \u2014 there are several facilities in Iran they designate as military facilities that are off limit all together. Beyond that, the other facilities, we give them 24 days notice before inspecting them. That is designed to allow them to hide the evidence. And most astonishingly, this agreement trusts the Iranians to inspect themselves. That makes no sense whatsoever. And let me know \u2014 President Obama is violating federal law... +p1641 +aV... by not handing over the side deals, and we ought to see the United States Congress... +p1642 +aV... stand up together and say, "Hand over this treaty, and protect this country." +p1643 +aVWell, let me tell you, Dana, number one, I'm proud to stand for life. These Planned Parenthood videos are horrifying. I would encourage every American to watch the videos. See \u2014 seeing your Planned Parenthood officials callously, heartlessly bartering and selling the body parts of human beings, and then ask yourself, "are these my values?" These are horrifying. On these videos, Planned Parenthood also essentially confesses to multiple felonies. It is a felony with ten years' jail term to sell the body parts of unborn children for profit. That's what these videos show Planned Parenthood doing. Absolutely we shouldn't be sending $500 million of taxpayer money to funding an ongoing criminal enterprise, and I'll tell you, the fact that Republican leadership in both houses has begun this discussion by preemptively surrendering to Barack Obama and saying, "we'll give in because Obama threatens a veto." You know, Obama's committed to his principles. His liberal principles, he will fight for them. He says... +p1644 +aVI will veto any budget that doesn't fund Planned Parenthood, and Republicans surrender. We need to stop surrendering and start standing... +p1645 +aV...for our principles. +p1646 +aVWell, Jake, you know, I'm \u2014 I'm very glad that Donald Trump's being in this race has forced the mainstream media finally to talk about illegal immigration. I think that's very important. I like and respect Ben Carson. I'll let him talk about his own plans. But I will say this: The natural next question that primary voters are asking, after we focus on illegal immigration is, okay, what are the records of the various candidates? And this is an issue on which there are stark differences. A majority of the men and women on this stage have previously and publicly embraced amnesty. I am the only candidate on this stage who has never supported amnesty and, in fact, who helped lead the fight to stop a massive amnesty plan. In 2013, when Barack Obama and Harry Reid joined the Washington Republicans in a massive, I stood shoulder to shoulder with Jeff Sessions helping lead the fight. You know, folks here have talked about, how do you secure the borders? Well, I've been leading the fight in the Senate to triple the Border Patrol, to put in place fencings and walls, to put in place a strong biometric exit/entry system... +p1647 +aVWell, Dana, I've known John Roberts for 20 years, he's amazingly talented lawyer, but, yes, it was a mistake when he was appointed to the Supreme Court. He's a good enough lawyer that he knows in these Obamacare cases he changed the statute, he changed the law in order to force that failed law on millions of Americans for a political outcome. And, you know, we're frustrated as conservatives. We keep winning elections, and then we don't get the outcome we want. And, let me focus on two moments in time. Number one, in 1990, in one room was David Souter, and in another room was Edith Jones, the rock ribbed (ph) conservative on the fifth circuit court of appeals. George Herbert Walker Bush appointed David Souter. And then in 2005, in one room was John Roberts, in another room was my former boss, Mike Luttig, the rock ribbed (ph) conservative on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals... +p1648 +aV...George W. Bush appointed John Roberts, and let me give you the consequences of that. If, instead, the President Bush had appointed Edith Jones, and Mike Luttig, which is who I would have appointed, Obamacare would have been struck down three years ago, and the marriage laws of all 50 states would be on the books. These matter, and I fought to defend the constitution my whole life... +p1649 +aV...and I will as president as well. +p1650 +aVIt is true that after George W. Bush nominated John Roberts, I supported his confirmation. That was a mistake and I regret that. I wouldn't have nominated John Roberts, and indeed, Governor Bush pointed out why. It wasn't that the President Bushes wanted to appoint a liberal to the court, it's that it was the easier choice. Both David Souter and John Roberts, they didn't have a long paper trail. If you had nominated Edith Jones or Mike Ludig (ph) you would have had a bloody fight and they weren't willing to spend political capital to put a strong judicial conservative on the court. I have spent my entire life, starting from clerking for Chief Justice William Rehnquist on the United States Supreme Court, one of the most principled jurists. We have an out-of-control Court, and I give you my word, if I'm elected president, every single Supreme Court justice will faithfully follow the law and will not act like philosopher kings \u2014 +p1651 +aV\u2014 imposing their liberal policies on millions of Americans \u2014 +p1652 +aV\u2014 who need to be trusted to govern ourselves. +p1653 +aVI \u2014 I am not, and \u2014 and you mentioned that the U.S. Supreme Court had rightly upheld the individual right to keep and bear arms. I was proud to lead 31 states before the U.S. Supreme Court defending the Second Amendment, and we won that landmark victory. And indeed, just a couple of years ago, when Harry Reid and Barack Obama came after the right to keep and bear arms of millions of Americans, I was proud to lead the fight in the United States Senate to protect our right to keep and bear arms, and for that reason... +p1654 +aV... I was honored to be endorsed by Gun Owners of America... +p1655 +aV... as the strongest supporter of the Second Amendment on this stage today, and I will... +p1656 +aV... fight every day to defend the Bill of Rights. +p1657 +aVWell, I wouldn't change the $10 bill, I'd change the $20. I'd take Jackson off and I'd leave Alexander Hamilton right where he is as one of our Founding Fathers. And I very much agree with Marco that it should be Rosa Parks. She was a principled pioneer that helped change this country, helped remedy racial injustice, and that would be an honor that would be entirely appropriate. +p1658 +aVYou know, as a Cuban, I might go with Cohiba (ph), and I'll tell you, I'd go with, for Heidi, Angel, because she is my angel. +p1659 +aVRonald Reagan believed in America. If I'm elected president our friends and allies across the globe will know that we stand with them. the bust of Winston Churchill will be back in the Oval Office, and the American embassy in Israel will be in Jerusalem. Enemies across this world will know the United States is not to be trifled with. +p1660 +aVChris, I believe the American people are looking for someone to speak the truth. If you're looking for someone to go to Washington, to go along to get along, to get -- to agree with the career politicians in both parties who get in bed with the lobbyists and special interests, then I ain't your guy. There is a reason... .... that we have $18 trillion in debt. Because as conservatives, as Republicans, we keep winning elections. We got a Republican House, we've got a Republican Senate, and we don't have leaders who honor their commitments. I will always tell the truth and do what I said I would do. +p1661 +aVChris, absolutely yes. And not only will I support it......I have authored Kate's law in the United States Senate and filed that legislation. I tried to get the Senate to vote to pass Kate's law on the floor of the Senate just one week ago, and the leader of our own party blocked a vote on Kate's law. You know, there was reference made to our leaders being stupid. It's not a question of stupidity. It's that they don't want to enforce the immigration laws. That there are far too many in the Washington cartel that support amnesty. President Obama has talked about fundamentally transforming this country. There's 7 billion people across the face of the globe, many of whom want to come to this country. If they come legally, great. But if they come illegally and they get amnesty, that is how we fundamentally change this country, and it really is striking. A majority of the candidates on this stage have supported amnesty. I have never supported amnesty, and I led the fight against Chuck Schumer's gang of eight amnesty legislation in the Senate. +p1662 +aVMegyn, we need a commander in chief that speaks the truth. We will not defeat radical Islamic terrorism so long as we have a president unwilling to utter the words, "radical Islamic terrorism". When I asked General Dempsey, the chairman of the joint chiefs, what would be required militarily to destroy +p1663 +aVMegyn, of course it's an ideological problem, that's one of the reasons I introduce the Expatriate Terrorist Act in the Senate that said if any American travels to the Middle East and joining +p1664 +aVWell, Bret, of course they have, and over the last six and a half years we've seen the consequences of the Obama-Clinton foreign policy. Leading from behind is a disaster. We have abandoned and alienated our friends and allies, and our enemies are stronger. Radical Islam is on the rise, Iran's on the verge of acquiring a nuclear weapon, China is waging cyber warfare against America, Russia -- General Soleimani, you just mentioned, the Iranian general is the head of the al Quds forces. He's directly responsible for the murder of over 500 American servicemen in Iraq, and part of this Iranian deal was lifting the international sanctions on General Soleimani. The day General Soleimani flew back from Moscow to Iran was the day we believed that Russia used cyber warfare against the Joint Chiefs. We need a new commander in chief that will stand up to our enemies, and that will have credibility... It is worth emphasizing that Iran released our hostages in 1981 the day Ronald Reagan was sworn into office. +p1665 +aVBrett, can I -- Brett, can I jump in on this one? +p1666 +aVWell, I am blessed to receive a word from God every day in receiving the scriptures and reading the scriptures. And God speaks through the Bible. I'm the son of a pastor and evangelist and I've described many times how my father, when I was a child, was an alcoholic. He wasn't a Christian. And my father left my mother and left me when I was just three years old. And someone invited him to Clay Road Baptist Church. And he gave his heart to Jesus and it turned him around. And he got on a plane and he flew back to my mother and me. I would also note that the scripture tells us, "you shall know them by their fruit." We see lots of "campaign conservatives." But if we're going to win in 2016, we need a consistent conservative, someone who has been a fiscal conservative, a social conservative, a national security conservative. There are real differences among the candidates on issues like amnesty, like Obamacare, like religious liberty, like life and marriage. And I have been proud to fight and stand for religious liberty, to stand against Planned Parenthood, to defend life for my entire career. And I will be proud to continue to do so as president of the United States. +p1667 +aVIf I'm elected president, let me tell you about my first day in office. The first thing I intend to do is to rescind every illegal and unconstitutional executive action taken by Barack Obama. The next thing I intend to do is instruct the Department of Justice to open an investigation into these videos and to prosecute Planned Parenthood for any criminal violations. The next thing I intend to do is instruct the Department of Justice and the IRS to start (sic) persecuting religious liberty, and then intend to cancel the Iran deal, and finally move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. I will keep my word. My father fled Cuba, and I will fight to defend liberty because my family knows what it's like to lose it. +p1668 +asVTODD +p1669 +(lp1670 +VGood evening, and welcome to the +p1671 +aVAnd neither party has seen this yet. These candidates are both running for the Democratic nomination, but they are very different from each other when it comes to what matters most and how they would go about the job of being president. Our job tonight is to draw out those differences so you, the voters, can understand them and be fully informed. +p1672 +aVFirst, I want to say a special thanks to the New Hampshire Union Leader for helping make this debate possible, and the readers, who helped provide some of the questions and topics that we'll be addressing tonight. The rules tonight, by the way, are simple: 90 seconds for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. +p1673 +aVThank you, Senator. Secretary Clinton. +p1674 +aVAll right. Let's get started. Secretary Clinton, last night you cited the Concord Monitor when you said of Senator Sanders that, quote, "It's very hard to see how any of his proposals could ever be achievable." So please tell us why you think if he's elected president on a platform of promising things like free public college and universal healthcare, that he cannot achieve those things. +p1675 +aVThank you, Secretary. Senator Sanders, so just explain how you spent nearly two decades in Congress and haven't gotten any of these things passed. Why do you think as president you'll be able to achieve big, big new programs like this? +p1676 +aVGo. +p1677 +aVYes, go ahead. +p1678 +aVAll right, thank you both. Rachel. +p1679 +aVI'd like to follow up on a comment that Secretary Clinton said, Senator. President Obama has not called for abolishing the death penalty. President Obama is for the big Asian trade deal known as TPP, and just yesterday you said you can't be both a moderate or a progressive, but you can't be both. Is President Obama, in your judgment, based on these policies positions, a progressive? +p1680 +aV...Secretary Clinton, go ahead... +p1681 +aV 30 seconds, and then we'll move. +p1682 +aVThank you. +p1683 +aV... Secretary, we're gonna... +p1684 +aVThirty seconds. +p1685 +aVThank you both. +p1686 +aVAll right, welcome back. Let's get right to it. Senator Sanders, you were talking about all of your campaign contributions and campaign finance reform. You rail against big money in politics. But do you realize there is one public financing system that we do have in place, and it is\u2014it is in place to run for president. Why aren't you walking the walk on that? Why aren't you participating in the presidential public financing system which is designed to essentially keep big money out of presidential politics? +p1687 +aVWell, going on that then, why criticize her on Super PACs, and you got\u2014and all this when it is\u2014you know, that's the system? I mean, you could be participating in a publicly-financing\u2014public financing system... +p1688 +aV... and being able to set\u2014being able to set an example. +p1689 +aV... she has had more people praise her plan than yours. +p1690 +aVThank you both. Let me move on to our next question here, and in fact it comes to us through New England Cable News. Secretary Clinton, it's addressed to you, and it's about this issue of the speeches, particularly to Goldman Sachs. This is what the questioner wrote verbatim. "I am concerned with the abuses of Wall Street has taken with the American taxpayers money," and then she asks whether you would release the transcripts of your Goldman Sachs speeches, and then added, "Don't you think the voting public has a right to know what was said?" But, let's make that bigger. Are you willing to release the transcripts of all your paid speeches? We do know through reporting that there were transcription services for all of those paid speeches. In full disclosure, would you release all of them? +p1691 +aVSenator, you sound like you want to respond. Go ahead. +p1692 +aVWe'll be right back. And we're going to get to trade and a lot of other issues. +p1693 +aVGo ahead, Senator Sanders\u201430 seconds, your response. +p1694 +aVAll right. Senator, I want to stay, though... +p1695 +aVGo ahead. 30 seconds. +p1696 +aVLet me\u2014let\u2014we're gonna\u2014we're staying\u2014we're staying basically on this topic. Obviously you've been emphasizing this difference on the Iraq war, but one place where you do agree, and one place where you voted to authorize the use of force, was in favor of the war in Afghanistan. Right now, it is possible President Obama is going to be leaving the next president, perhaps President Sanders, at least 10,000 troops in Afghanistan. How long will those troops be in Afghanistan under President Sanders? +p1697 +aVCan you address a question on Afghanistan? How long are these troops going to be there? If President Obama leaves you 10,000 troops, how long do you think they're going to be there? +p1698 +aVSecretary Clinton, 30 seconds: How long are these troops going to be in Afghanistan? We have more American troops in Afghanistan than what we were talking about with Iraq. +p1699 +aVYou know, Senator Sanders, nobody knows who your foreign policy advisers are. You haven't given a major foreign policy speech. And it doesn't sound like all the time that foreign policy is a priority, other than when you're asked about it, and you say you're going to crush +p1700 +aVAll right, Senator, 30 seconds. +p1701 +aV30 seconds, madam secretary. +p1702 +aVAlright, as Commander in Chief, Senator Sanders, you've got to prioritize potential threats to the United States. Three countries, North Korea, Iran, Russia. How would you rank them in order of their threat to America's security right now... +p1703 +aV... Starting with the biggest threat. +p1704 +aV... I didn't say that... +p1705 +aV... No... +p1706 +aV... We already had that. I'm talking about these three countries. How would you orient our national security, our national defense posture. +p1707 +aVSecretary of Defense Ash Carter this week picked one of those three, and he has said Russia is, basically, the most important national security threat. Sort of reorienting the defense and the challenges to that. Do you agree with his decisions... +p1708 +aVSecretary Clinton, what do you think of Secretary of Defense Ash Carter. He's basically putting Russia above Iran, above North Korea, as sort of the chief national security challenge right now. +p1709 +aVThank you both, Rachel? +p1710 +aVAnd we are back. We're gonna get into a little bit of election politics, electability, in a little bit. Senator Sanders, The Iowa Democratic Party has declared Hillary Clinton the winner of Monday's Iowa caucuses\u2014narrowest of margins. Today, the Des Moines Register has an editorial that calls for the audit of the results, saying, quote, "what happened Monday night at the Democratic caucuses was a debacle, period. The results were too close not to do a complete audit." Senator Sanders, do you accept the idea that Hillary Clinton won Iowa? And do you\u2014or do you believe the caucuses are still an open question? +p1711 +aVSecretary Clinton, will you participate in some sort of audit, if that's what the party wants to do? You good with that? +p1712 +aVThat's fair enough. OK. +p1713 +aVGood, we move on. We're happy with that. We have more questions. +p1714 +aVWe'll stay on this issue. We'll stay on this topic. Secretary Clinton, just like there are some Democrats that question Senator Sanders' ability in the general election, many Democratic voters that our reporters have been running into in Iowa and New Hampshire, they tell our reporters over and over again they're worried about the emails issue, not because they don't believe your explanation, but because it's a drip-drip, because the cloud is hanging over your head and that it will impact the general election. They see your numbers right now and they think it's the email issue as to why you're not polling very well. So can you reassure these Democrats that somehow the email issue isn't going to blow up your candidacy if you're the nominee? +p1715 +aVAll right, Madam Secretary, there is an open\u2014there is an open FBI investigation into this matter about how you may have handled classified material. Are you 100 percent confident that nothing is going to come of this FBI investigation? +p1716 +aVWell, Senator sanders, you famously at the first debate said you didn't give a darn about her emails; I think you used another . +p1717 +aVYou're right. I'm trying to\u2014it's a\u2014it's a family hour still right now. After 11:00, I'll say it the other way. And you mostly have refrained from commenting on it, but recently you called it a very serious issue, and then the other day you said well she's getting slapped with the email controversy. Are you\u2014how are you feeling about these darn emails now? +p1718 +aVOK. Senator Sanders, thank you. +p1719 +aVSecretary Clinton, let me turn to the issue of trade. In the '90s you supported +p1720 +aVWell, Senator Sanders, I know you want to respond on this, you have never supported a trade deal since you've been in Congress. +p1721 +aVBut if you do that as president... If you do that as president, how are you not essentially letting China, who will do all of these deals around the world, how are you going to prevent China from essentially setting the rules of trade for the world? +p1722 +aVAll right. Thank you both. We're going to sneak in one more break here, and when we come back we'll squeeze as many questions as we can before we end this thing. We'll be right back. +p1723 +aVAll right. Welcome back here in the final minutes. +p1724 +aVThe home stretch of this only Democratic debate in the final week before the primary. Let me start with you, Secretary Clinton, on this question. Obviously, President Obama got a lot of ambitious stuff done in his first year and a half. You're going to have to make choices. And there's a lot of heavy lifts. And he made choices. He did healthcare and it came at the expense, arguably, of immigration reform. Had he put immigration reform first, perhaps that gets done and healthcare doesn't. So there are three big lifts that you've talked about: immigration, gun reform, climate change. What do you do first? Because you know the first one is the one you have the best shot at getting done. +p1725 +aVAll right, but Senator Sanders......you've still got to do something first. As you know, history said\u2014shows what you pick first is your best shot at getting, and how you prioritize things. +p1726 +aVImmigration reform, for instance, fell by the wayside in the first term because of this. +p1727 +aVOK. Thank you. +p1728 +aVAll right, before we go, I want to ask each one of these. Secretary Clinton, you've made it clear when you look at Senator Sanders, you do not see a president, but do you see\u2014 +p1729 +aVBut do you see\u2014do you see a vice president? +p1730 +aVWould you unite the party by trying to pick Senator Sanders as your running mate? +p1731 +aVSenator, would you consider the secretary? +p1732 +aVSecretary Clinton, closing statements. You are first. +p1733 +aVThank you, Madam Secretary. Senator Sanders. +p1734 +aVWell, there you have it. I promise you, Rachel and I have a lot more questions, but we just don't have any more time, unless we could a third hour, but I don't think so. Our debate coverage\u2014 debate coverage will continue in just a moment with our colleague . And we want to thank all of you for being here, and we want to thank the two candidates for taking part in this important event. +p1735 +aVWe'll see you in a few minutes. Thank you. +p1736 +asVHARWOOD +p1737 +(lp1738 +VMr. Trump, you've done very well in this campaign so far by promising to build a wall and make another country pay for it. +p1739 +aVSend 11 million people out of the country. Cut taxes $10 trillion without increasing the deficit. +p1740 +aVAnd make Americans better off because your greatness would replace the stupidity and incompetence of others. +p1741 +aVLet's be honest. Is this a comic book version of a presidential campaign? +p1742 +aVWe're at the 60 seconds. +p1743 +aVWe're at 60 seconds, but I gotta ask you, you talked about your tax plan. You say that it would not increase the deficit because you cut taxes $10 trillion in the economy would take off like... +p1744 +aVHold on, hold on. The economy would take off like a rocket ship. +p1745 +aVI talked to economic advisers who have served presidents of both parties. They said that you have as chance of cutting taxes that much without increasing the deficit as you would of flying away from that podium by flapping your arms. +p1746 +aVThe Tax Foundation says \u2014 has looked at all of our plans and \u2014 and his creates, even with the dynamic effect, $8 trillion dollar deficit... +p1747 +aVGovernor Kasich, hold it, I'm coming to you right now. The... +p1748 +aVWell, I'm asking you about this. +p1749 +aVI'm about to ask you about this. That is, you had some very strong words to say yesterday about what's happening in your party and what you're hearing from the two gentlemen we've just heard from. Would you repeat it? +p1750 +aVWell, let's just get more pointed about it. You said yesterday that you were hearing proposals that were just crazy from your colleagues. Who were you talking about? +p1751 +aVHold on. I think there's a \u2014 I've got question for \u2014 +p1752 +aVHold on, Governor. I've got a question for Governor Bush. +p1753 +aVNo, we're moving to Governor Bush. Governor, the fact that you're at the fifth lectern tonight shows how far your stock has fallen in this race, despite the big investment your donors have made. You noted recently, after slashing your payroll, that you had better things to do than sit around and be demonized by other people. I wanted to ask you \u2014 +p1754 +aVOK. +p1755 +aVGot it. +p1756 +aVBut it's a \u2014 OK. It's a \u2014 it's a question about why you're having difficulty. I want to ask you in this context. Ben Bernanke, who was appointed Fed chairman by your brother, recently wrote a book in which he said he no longer considers himself a Republican because the Republican Party has given in to know- nothingism. Is that why you're having a difficult time in this race? +p1757 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1758 +aVWe're gonna get down the line. Becky's got a question. +p1759 +aVSenator Paul, I've got a question for you on the same subject. +p1760 +aVSenator Paul? +p1761 +aVYou used your time on something else. Senator Paul? +p1762 +aVSenator Paul, the budget deal crafted by Speaker Boehner and passed by the House today makes cuts in entitlement programs, Medicare and Social Security disability, which are the very programs conservatives say need cutting to shrink government and solve our country's long-term budget deficit. Do you oppose that budget deal because it doesn't cut those programs enough? +p1763 +aVSenator, if what you just said is true, why did Speaker Boehner craft this deal and why did Paul Ryan, who has a strong reputation for fiscal discipline, vote for it? +p1764 +aVThank you, Senator . +p1765 +aVJim, thanks. Governor Bush, in a debate like this four years ago, every Republican running for president pledged to oppose a budget deal containing any tax increase even if it had spending cuts ten times as large. A few months later, you told Congress, put me in, coach, you said you would take that deal. Still feel that way? +p1766 +aVBut to \u2014 to the point that you made to Congress, if you were president and you were offered a bipartisan deal that had one dollar... +p1767 +aV...one dollar of tax increases per ten dollars of spending cuts, would you take it? +p1768 +aVSo you don't want the coach to put you in any more? +p1769 +aVThank you, governor. Carl? +p1770 +aVGovernor John Kasich, you've called for abolishing the Export Import Bank, which provides subsidies to help American companies compete with overseas competitors. You call that corporate welfare. One of the largest newspapers in your state wrote an editorial, said they found that strange, writing, that if that's corporate welfare, what does Kasich call the millions of dollars in financial incentives doled out to attract or retain jobs by his development effort \u2014 jobs Ohio. If subsidies are good enough for Ohio companies, why aren't they good enough for companies trying to compete overseas? +p1771 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1772 +aVThank you, Governor. Thank you. +p1773 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate on +p1774 +aVIt sounds like you think Senator Sessions is wrong to believe there is enough abuse in that program that we shouldn't... +p1775 +aVThank you, Senator. Becky? +p1776 +aVGovernor Bush, the tax reform bill that Ronald Reagan signed in 1986 cut the top personal income tax rate to 28 percent \u2014 just like your plan does. But President Reagan taxed capital gains at the same rate, while you would tax them at just 20 percent. Given the problems we've been discussing, growing gap between rich and poor, why would you tax labor at a higher rate than income from investments? +p1777 +aVSenator Rubio, 30 seconds to you. The Tax Foundation, which was alluded to earlier, scored your tax plan and concluded that you give nearly twice as much of a gain in after-tax income to the top 1 percent as to people in the middle of the income scale. Since you're the champion of Americans living paycheck-to- paycheck, don't you have that backward? +p1778 +aVThe Tax Foundation \u2014 just to be clear, they said the... +p1779 +aVNo, I did not. +p1780 +aVSenator, the Tax Foundation said after-tax income for the top 1 percent under your plan would go up 27.9 percent. +p1781 +aVAnd people in the middle of the income spectrum, about 15 percent. +p1782 +aV +p1783 +aVSenator, thank you. +p1784 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you've written about the huge divide in values between middle America and the big coastal cities like New York and Los Angeles. As a preacher as well as a politician, you know that presidents need the moral authority to bring the entire country together. The leading Republican candidate, when you look at the average of national polls right now, is Donald Trump. When you look at him, do you see someone with the moral authority to unite the country? +p1785 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1786 +aVThank you, Governor. Don't forget my colleague, Sharon Epperson. +p1787 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said something that many in your party do not believe, which is that climate change is undeniable, that human activity contributes to it, and you said, quote: "The question is, what do we do to deal with it?". So what do we do? +p1788 +aVWhat should we do? +p1789 +aVYou mean government? +p1790 +aVThank you, Governor. Becky. +p1791 +aVGovernor Bush, Mr. Trump says that he is capable of growing the economy so much that Social Security and Medicare don't have to be touched. Do you want to explain how that is going to happen, Mr. Trump? +p1792 +aVHold on, Governor. I've got a question for \u2014 for Dr. Carson. +p1793 +aVYes. You've said that you would like to replace Medicare with a system of individual family savings accounts, so that families could cover their own expenses. Obviously, that would be a very controversial idea. Explain how that would work, exactly. +p1794 +aVGovernor, do you also think that... +p1795 +aV...that Dr. Carson's right, that we can replace Medicare with individual savings accounts? +p1796 +aVMrs. Fiorina, we're right at the end of our time. +p1797 +aVYou all wanted us to limit . All right. Go ahead. +p1798 +aVWe have now reached the point in the program where candidates are going to give their closing statements, 30 seconds apiece. We're going to go right to left and start with you, Senator Paul. +p1799 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1800 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Cruz? +p1801 +aVThank you, Senator. Mrs. Fiorina? +p1802 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Dr. Carson? +p1803 +aVMr. Trump? +p1804 +aVJust for the record, the debate was always going to be two hours. Senator Rubio? +p1805 +aVSenator Rubio. +p1806 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Bush? +p1807 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Huckabee. +p1808 +aVThank you... +p1809 +aVGovernor Kasich? +p1810 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1811 +asVPAUL +p1812 +(lp1813 +VThe question is, how do we keep America safe from terrorism? Trump says we ought to close that Internet thing. The question really is, what does he mean by that? Like they do in North Korea? Like they do in China? Rubio says we should collect all Americans' records all of the time. The Constitution says otherwise. I think they're both wrong. I think we defeat terrorism by showing them that we do not fear them. I think if we ban certain religions, if we censor the Internet, I think that at that point the terrorists will have won. Regime change hasn't won. Toppling secular dictators in the Middle East has only led to chaos and the rise of radical Islam. I think if we want to defeat terrorism, I think if we truly are sincere about defeating terrorism, we need to quit arming the allies of +p1814 +aVYou know, I think Marco gets it completely wrong. We are not any safer through the bulk collection of all Americans' records. In fact, I think we're less safe. We get so distracted by all of the information, we're not spending enough time getting specific immigration \u2014 specific information on terrorists. The other thing is, is the one thing that might have stopped San Bernardino, that might have stopped 9/11 would have been stricter controls on those who came here. And Marco has opposed at every point increased security \u2014 border security for those who come to our country. On his Gang of Eight bill, he would have liberalized immigration, but he did not \u2014 and he steadfastly opposed any new border security requirements for refugees or students. Last week, I introduced another bill saying we need more security, we need more scrutiny. Once again, Marco opposed this. So Marco can't have it both ways. He thinks he wants to be this, "Oh, I'm great and strong on national defense." But he's the weakest of all the candidates on immigration. He is the one for an open border that is leaving us defenseless. If we want to defend the country, we have to defend against who's coming in, and Marco is \u2014 has more of an allegiance to Chuck Schumer and to the liberals than he does to conservative policy. +p1815 +aVIf I was mentioned in the question, can I respond? +p1816 +aVMarco still misunderstands the immigration issue. What I put forward was an amendment that would have temporarily halted immigration from high-risk terrorist countries, but would have started it up, but I wanted them to go through Global Entry, which is a program where we do background checks. The thing is, is that every terrorist attack we've had since 9/11 has been legal immigration. Marco wants to expand that. I want more rules, more scrutiny, and to defend the country, you have to defend the border. +p1817 +aVWolf... +p1818 +aVWolf, this legislation... +p1819 +aVThis legislation on indefinite detention... +p1820 +aV... I think deserves a little more attention. +p1821 +aVI think that by arming the allies of +p1822 +aVI think that if you believe in regime change, you're mistaken. In 2013, we put 600 tons of weapons \u2014 us, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar \u2014 into the war against Assad. By pushing Assad back, we did create a safe space. We had people coming to our Foreign Relations Committee and saying, "Oh, we need to arm the allies of Al Qaida." They are still saying this. It is a crazy notion. This is the biggest debate we should be having tonight is is regime change a good idea; has it been a good idea. There are still people \u2014 the majority on the stage, they want to topple Assad. And then there will be chaos, and I think +p1823 +aVThese are the fundamental questions of our time, these foreign policy questions, whether or not regime change is a good idea or a bad idea. I don't think because I think the regime change was a bad idea it means that Hussein was necessarily a good idea. There is often variations of evil on both sides of the war. What we have to decide is whether or not regime change is a good idea. It's what the neoconservatives have wanted. It's what the vast majority of those on the stage want. They still want regime change. They want it in Syria. They wanted it in Iraq. They want it in Libya. It has not worked. Out of regime change you get chaos. From the chaos you have seen repeatedly the rise of radical Islam. So we get this profession of, oh, my goodness, they want to do something about terrorism and yet they're the problem because they allow terrorism to arise out of that chaos. +p1824 +aVNo, I think it's a huge mistake. I think regime change in Syria, and this is what \u2014 I've been saying this for several years now. In 2013 when we first went in, I said, you are going to give arms to the allies of al Qaida, to radical jihadists? That's crazy. But the other thing I said is the great irony is you will be back fighting against your own weapons. Had Assad been bombed when he used chemical weapons two years ago, +p1825 +aVWell, I think if you're in favor of World War III, you have your candidate. You know, here's...... the thing. My goodness, what we want in a leader is someone with judgment, not someone who is so reckless as to stand on the stage and say, "Yes, I'm jumping up and down; I'm going to shoot down Russian planes." Russia already flies in that airspace. It may not be something we're in love with the fact that they're there, but they were invited by Iraq and by Syria to fly in that airspace. And so if we announce we're going to have a no-fly zone, and others have said this. Hillary Clinton is also for it. It is a recipe for disaster. It's a recipe for World War III. We need to confront Russia from a position of strength, but we don't need to confront Russia from a point of recklessness that would lead to war. This is something \u2014 this type of judgment, you know, it's having that kind of judgment; who you would appoint and how you're going to conduct affairs, that is incredibly important. I mean, I think when we think about the judgment of someone who might want World War III, we might think about someone who might shut down a bridge because they don't like their friends; they don't want to \u2014 you know, they want to a Democrat. So I think we need to be very careful. +p1826 +aVYou know, I think we need to set the record straight on this, because I think Marco misspoke about the bill. On the Gang of Eight bill, there was no provisions really for extra scrutiny or safety for refugees. At the time the bill came up, two Iraqi refugees came to my home town, Bowling Green, Kentucky. Their fingerprints were on a bomb from Iraq. They were in the database, but we didn't pick them up. We relocated them here, put them in government housing, got them on food stamps. And we began providing for them, but we didn't have adequate security. On the Gang of Eight bill, on Marco's bill, we had an opportunity. There was a conservative consensus for an amendment I put forward called Trust, But Verify that would have strengthened border security on both refugees, students and those coming here. And Marco sided and I guess was more sympathetic to Chuck Schumer and to the president than he was to conservative principles. But this goes directly to national defense. And if he wants to run as a national \u2014 national defense conservative, he's got to explain why he hasn't stepped up to support border security. +p1827 +aVWhat my bill would do would be only for refugees going forward. So I haven't taken a position on sending anyone home. But I have taken the position that we have a lot of problems here in our country. And that one of the things that we do \u2014 charity is about giving your own money. Charity isn't giving someone else's money. To put everyone in government housing and food stamps and bring them in from around the world I think is a mistake. To give of your own money, I've given to my church. My church has helped people that came from Bosnia. That's a good thing. But we shouldn't have a program where we just say that we're going to take care of the world's refugees. Nobody in the Middle East is doing anything. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait \u2014 all the Gulf nations are doing nothing. They need to step up and take... +p1828 +aVThe greatest threat to our national security is our debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. And whose fault is it? Well, frankly, it's both parties' fault. You have those on the right who clamor and say, oh, we will spend anything on the military, and those on the left who say the same for domestic welfare. But what most Americans don't realize is there is an unholy alliance. They come together. There's a secret handshake. We spend more money on everything. And we are not stronger nation if we go further into debt. We are not projecting power from bankruptcy court. To me, there is no greater threat than our debt. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage because I'm willing to hold the line on all spending. I hope you will consider me in the election. Thank you very much. +p1829 +aVAbsolutely. And I think that we ought to look where income inequality seems to be the worst. It seems to be worst in cities run by Democrats, governors of... States run by Democrats and countries currently run by Democrats. So the thing is, let's look for root causes. But I would also say \u2014 lay some blame at the \u2014 the feet of the Federal Reserve. I think the Federal Reserve has made this problem worse. By artificially keeping interest rates below the market rate, average ordinary citizens have a tough time earning interest, have a tough time making money. They're actually talking now about negative interest. The money as it's created through quantitative easing or other means tends to start out in the big banks in New York. And because we're now paying interest for them to keep the money there, much of that money has not filtered out into the economy. So what we're finding is there is increasing income disparity and income inequality. We also find that as the Federal Reserve destroys the value of the currency, what you're finding is that, if you're poor, if you make $20,000 a year and you have three or four kids, and you're trying to get by, as your prices rise or as the value of the dollar shrinks, these are the people that are hurt the worst. So really we need to reexamine whether we not \u2014 we want a Federal Reserve that's involved so much in determining interest rates. We also need to look at root causes as to what caused the housing boom and the housing collapse. But the bottom line is, if you want less income inequality, move to a city with a Republican mayor or a state with a Republican governor. +p1830 +aVWell, it's a great question, Neil, and thanks for including me in the tax debate. I think what's important about the tax debate is, is that we have to ask the question, where is money best spent, in the private sector or in the government sector? I want a government really, really small, so small you can barely see it. So I want lower taxes and much more money in the private sector. My tax plan, however, is the only tax plan among any of the candidates on the stage that is part of a balanced budget plan. I put forward three plans that actually balance the budget over a five-year period. Each of these plans have details on exactly where we would cut. The question came up earlier, where would you cut? Nobody likes to say where they would cut. I've put pencil to paper and done three budgets that actually balance. I'm also in favor of a plan called the penny plan where we'd just cut 1 percent across the board and the budget actually balances in less than five years. So I think what is extraordinary about my tax plan is it is in the context of balancing the budget. What is also extraordinary about my tax plan is it gets rid of the payroll tax. Democrats demagogue this issue to death, and when they do they say, oh, a millionaire would get a bigger tax cut than someone making $10,000. That's proportionality, as Ben is trying to explain to folks. But the thing is, is if we get rid of the payroll tax, everybody is going to get a tax cut. And this is something that I think the public at large will support and could win an election. +p1831 +aVOurs is 14.5 percent for corporations, 14.5 percent for individuals. No payroll tax for the employee. The business tax pays for social security, and there would be two remaining deductions \u2014 home mortgage and charity. +p1832 +aVThank you. +p1833 +aVNeil, there's a point I'd like to make here... ....Neil, a point that I'd like to make about the tax credits. We have to decide what is conservative and what isn't conservative. Is it fiscally conservative to have a trillion-dollar expenditure? We're not talking about giving people back their tax money. He's talking about giving people money they didn't pay. It's a welfare transfer payment. So here's what we have. Is it conservative to have $1 trillion in transfer payments \u2014 a new welfare program that's a refundable tax credit? Add that to Marco's plan for $1 trillion in new military spending, and you get something that looks, to me, not very conservative. Thank you. +p1834 +aVNevertheless, it's not very conservative, Marco. +p1835 +aVHow is it conservative? +p1836 +aVYeah, but, Marco! Marco! How is it conservative, how is it conservative to add a trillion-dollar expenditure for the federal government that you're not paying for? +p1837 +aVHow is it conservative? +p1838 +aVHow is it conservative to add a trillion dollars in military expenditures? You can not be a conservative if you're going to keep promoting new programs that you're not going to pay for. +p1839 +aVNo. I don't think we're any safer \u2014 I do not think we are any safer from bankruptcy court. As we go further, and further into debt, we become less, and less safe. This is the most important thing we're going to talk about tonight. Can you be a conservative, and be liberal on military spending? Can you be for unlimited military spending, and say, Oh, I'm going to make the country safe? No, we need a safe country, but, you know, we spend more on our military than the next ten countries combined? I want a strong national defense, but I don't want us to be bankrupt. +p1840 +aVHey, Gerard, you know, we might want to point out China is not part of this deal. +p1841 +aVBefore we get a little bit off-kilter here... +p1842 +aVThere is an argument that China doesn't like the deal, because in us doing the deal, we'll be trading with their competitors. You're exactly right. But I think we've sort of missed the point a little bit here. There is an important point, though, about how we discuss these trade treaties that I do agree with Mr. Trump on. We should negotiate from a position of strength. And we also should negotiate using the full force and the constitutional power that was given to us. I think it's a mistake that we give up power to the presidency on these trade deals. We give up the power to filibuster, and I'm kind of fond of that power. We give up the power to amend. And I think, really, one of the big problems we have in our country is, over the last century, really, so much power has gravitated to the executive branch. Really, Congress is kind of a bystander. We don't write the rules. We don't make the laws. The executive branch does. So even in trade \u2014 and I am for trade \u2014 I think we should be careful about giving so much power to the presidency. +p1843 +aVI'd like first to respond to the acquisition, we should \u2014 I think it's particularly naive, particularly foolish to think that we're not going to talk to Russia. The idea of a no fly zone, realize that this is also something that Hillary Clinton agrees with several on our side with, you're asking for a no fly zone in an area in which Russia already flies. Russia flies in that zone at the invitation of Iraq. I'm not saying it's a good thing, but you better know at least what we're getting into. So, when you think it's going to be a good idea to have a no fly zone over Iraq, realize that means you are saying we are going to shoot down Russian planes. If you're ready for that, be ready to send your sons and daughters to another war in Iraq. I don't want to see that happen. I think the first war in Iraq was a mistake... You can be strong without being involved in every civil war around the war... +p1844 +aVRonald Reagan was strong, but Ronald Reagan didn't... +p1845 +aV...send troops into the Middle East... +p1846 +aV...Can I finish... +p1847 +aV...Can I finish my time? Could I finish with my time? +p1848 +aVYes, I would like to finish my response, basically. +p1849 +aVThis is an important question. This is an incredibly important question. And the question goes to be, who do we want to be our commander-in-chief? Do you want a commander-in-chief who says something that we never did throughout the entire Cold War, to discontinue having conversations with the Russians? I am not happy about them flying over there. But I'm not naive enough to say, well, Iraq has them flying over their airspace, we're just going to announce that we're shooting them down? That is naive to the point of being something you might hear in junior high. But it's scary... +p1850 +aVThe first thing I would do is I wouldn't arm our enemies. I wouldn't arm +p1851 +aVGerard, can I comment... +p1852 +aVThe first thing I would do as president is repeal the regulations that are hampering our energy that the President has put in place. Including the Clean Power Act. While I do think that man may have a role in our climate, I think nature also has a role. The planet's 4.5 billion years old, we've been through geologic age after geologic age. We've had times when the temperatures been warmer, we've had times when the temperatures been colder. We've had times when the carbon in the atmosphere's been higher. So, I think before we \u2014 we need to look before we leap. President's often fond of saying he wants a balance solution, but, really we do need to balance both keeping the environment clean, and we will have some rules for that. We got to balance that with the economy. He's devastated my state. I say the President's not only destroying Kentucky, he's destroying the democrat party down there because nobody wants to associate with him. So, what we really need is somebody that understands that we do need energy of all forms, and that means we will have solar, and wind, and hydro, but we will still have coal, and we still will have natural gas. And, we've got to have an all of the above policy. But, it would be a mistake to shut down all of our industries in the coal fields, and shut down the coal power plants. If we did so we're going to have a day where we wake up and some of our big cities are either very cold, or very hot. So, I think it's a big danger, and we shouldn't do it. And, what we should do is say we want all of the above... ...We want to free up the energy sector, and let people produce, let them drill, let them explore. +p1853 +aVWe're the richest, freest, most humanitarian nation in the history of mankind. But we also borrow a million dollars a minute. And the question I have for all Americans is, think about it, can you be a fiscal conservative if you don't conserve all of the money? If you're a profligate spender, you spend money in an unlimited fashion for the military, is that a conservative notion? We have to be conservative with all spending, domestic spending and welfare spending. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage. +p1854 +aVYou know, I left my medical practice and ran for office because I was concerned about an $18 trillion debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. Now, on the floor of the Congress, the Washington establishment from both parties puts forward a bill that will explode the deficit. It allows President Obama to borrow unlimited amounts of money. I will stand firm. I will spend every ounce of energy to stop it. I will begin tomorrow to filibuster it. And I ask everyone in America to call Congress tomorrow and say enough is enough; no more debt. +p1855 +aVNo, I oppose it because you're taking money from the entitlement and then spending it immediately on other items. That's what they're doing. They're taking money from Social Security and they're going to spend it on the military and they're going to spend it on domestic spending. Here's the thing. When you look at raising the debt limit, it should be leverage to try to reform government. In 2011, the sequester was passed as a reform to slow down the rate of government. Instead, the Washington establishment raised both. We raised the military spending, took from entitlements, and raised domestic spending and the deficit will explode under this. This is the unholy alliance that people need to know about between right and left. Right and left are spending us into oblivion. We should use the debt ceiling, as precisely to Don, to force upon them budgetary reforms. +p1856 +aVWell, that's a real question. Is there going to be any change in the House with new leadership? I frankly don't think there will be much change because I think what's going to happen is you're going to get more of the same. People in Washington think they were sent there to be adults and govern and do all this. Well, you know what I'm worried about? Not keeping the government open. I'm worried about bankrupting the American people. We're borrowing a million dollars a minute. That is important. And that's what we have to contrast. Keeping the government open and continuing to borrow a million dollars a minute. +p1857 +aVWell, thank you very much. I would like to thank Ted for co-sponsoring my bill, audit the Fed. And I think it's precisely because of the arrogance of someone like Ben Bernanke, who now calls us all know-nothings, that is precisely why we need audit the Fed. I think it is really very much a huge problem that an organization as powerful as the Fed comes in, lobbies against them being audited on the Hill. I would prevent them lobbying Congress. I don't think the Fed should be involved with lobbying us. I think we should examine how the Fed has really been part of the problem. You want to study income inequality, let's bring the Fed forward and talk about Fed policy and how it causes income inequality. Let's also bring the Fed forward and have them explain how they caused the housing boom and the crisis, and what they've done to make us better or worse. I think the Fed has been a great problem in our society. What you need to do is free up interest rates. Interest rates are the price of money, and we shouldn't have price controls on the price of money. +p1858 +aV...John... +p1859 +aVJohn, I'd like to address this? John, could I follow up on this? +p1860 +aVWhat are the rules on who gets to follow up. How do we decide on who gets to follow up? I've seen plenty of other people follow up? +p1861 +aVI'd like to just mention something about my tax plan, and how it relates to the discussion... +p1862 +aVAlright. Much of the discussion is centered over whether or not the different tax plans help, or affect the middle class. In fact, it's the chief argument by democrats against many of the different flat tax proposals. Mine is unique in the sense that my tax plan actually gets rid of the payroll tax as well. It shifts it to the business, and it would allow middle class people to get a tax cut. If you just cut their income tax, there isn't much income tax to cut. Mine actually cuts the payroll tax, and I think it would spread the tax cut across all socioeconomic levels, and would allow then it to be something that would be broadly supported by the public in an election. +p1863 +aVThe question always is, what works better, the private marketplace or government? And what distributes goods better? It always seems to be the private marketplace does a better job. Is there an area for a safety net? Can you have Medicare or Social Security? Yes. But you ought to acknowledge the government doesn't do a very good job at it. The main problem with Medicare right now is that the average person pays in taxes over their whole lifetime about $100,000. But the average person takes out about $350,000. We have this enormous mismatch because we have smaller and smaller families. When people ask me, whose fault is it? Whose fault is it that Medicare is broken, out of money, that Social Security is broken, out of money? And I say, look, it's not Republicans' fault, it's not Democrats' fault, it's your grandparents' fault for having too many damn kids. After the war we had all of these kids, Baby Boomers. Now we're having smaller families. We used to have 16 workers for one retiree, now you have three workers for one retiree. It's not working. I have a bill to fix Medicare. I've a bill to fix Social Security. For both of them you have to gradually raise the age. If you're not willing to do that, nobody wants to do it, but if you're not willing to gradually raise the age, you're not serious about fixing either one of them. +p1864 +aVSay again? +p1865 +aVYou can't do nothing. And that's what I hear from some people, "we'll do nothing and it will just be fixed." That's absurd, and I think people who don't want to fix it, really, or unwilling to take the chance to say, "something has to change," are missing the boat here. The age will have to gradually rise, there is no question. It's the only way you fix Medicare, the only way you fix Social Security. You will also have to means-test the benefits and declare there's not enough money. It isn't "I put money in, I'm getting it back." There is no money, it's a stack of paper. There is no money in the Social Security account. There is no money in the Medicare account. There's only a promise to pay by the next generation, and the next generation's not big enough to pay it. [ +p1866 +aVLiberty thrives when government is small. I want a government so small I can barely see it. I want a government so small that the individual has a chance to thrive and prosper. I think, though, government is too big now. And what you're going to see in Washington this week is establishment Republicans have made an agreement with the president to raise the debt ceiling in an unlimited fashion; no limit to the debt ceiling raise. This is extraordinary. It's extraordinarily wrong. You'll see me on the floor of the Senate tomorrow filibustering this and saying enough is enough, no more debt. +p1867 +aVGood evening, everyone. I'm an eye surgeon from Bowling Green, Kentucky. My wife, Kelly, and I have been married for nearly 25 years, and I spend my days defending the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I think there's nothing more important than understanding that the Constitution restrains government, not the people. Thank you. +p1868 +aVI kind of have to laugh when I think of, "Mmm, sounds like a non sequitur." He was asked whether or not he would be capable and it would be in good hands to be in charge of the nuclear weapons, and all of a sudden, there's a sideways attack at me. I think that really goes to really the judgment. Do we want someone with that kind of character, that kind of careless language to be negotiating with Putin? Do we want someone like that to be negotiating with Iran? I think really there's a sophomoric quality that is entertaining about Mr. Trump, but I am worried. I'm very concerned about him \u2014 having him in charge of the nuclear weapons, because I think his response, his \u2014 his visceral response to attack people on their appearance \u2014 short, tall, fat, ugly \u2014 my goodness, that happened in junior high. Are we not way above that? Would we not all be worried to have someone like that in charge of the nuclear arsenal? +p1869 +aVI think this goes back to essentially what we've been saying for the last two or three questions. Carly Fiorina also said we're not going to talk with Putin. Well, think if Reagan had said that during the Cold War? We continued to talk with the Russians throughout the Cold War which is much more significant that where we are now. Should we continue to talk with Iran? Yes. Should we cut up the agreement immediately? That's absurd. Wouldn't you want to know if they complied? Now, I'm going to vote against the agreement because I don't think there's significant leverage, but it doesn't mean that I would immediately not look at the agreement, and cut it up without looking to see if whether or not Iran has complied. The same goes with China. I don't think we need to be rash, I don't think we need to be reckless, and I think need to leave lines of communication open. Often we talk about whether we should be engaged in the world, or disengaged in the world, and I think this is an example of some who want to isolate us, actually, and not be engaged. We do need to be engaged with Russia. It doesn't mean we give them a free pass, or China a free pass, but, to be engaged, to continue to talk. We did throughout the Cold War, and it would be a big mistake not to do it here. +p1870 +aVI think this gets to the point of wisdom on when to intervene and when we shouldn't. Had we bombed Assad at the time, like President Obama wanted, and like Hillary Clinton wanted and many Republicans wanted, I think +p1871 +aVWell, I hate to say it, but Donald Trump has a bit of a point here. The case that was decided around 1900 was, people had a green card, were here legally, and they said that their children were citizens. There's never been a direct Supreme Court case on people who were here illegally, whether or not their kids are citizens. So it hasn't really been completely adjudicated. The 14th Amendment says that "those who are here and under the jurisdiction." The original author of the \u2014 of the 14th Amendment said on the Senate floor that this was applying to slaves, and did not specifically apply to others. +p1872 +aVWell, I'm glad we're having a discussion about taxes because everybody laments that we lose jobs overseas, we have. Our companies, and our jobs are being chased overseas by a 70,000 page tax code, so, that's why I've chosen to get rid of the whole thing, and have one single rate, 14 and a-half percent for everybody, business, and for corporate income, and personal income. But, we also get rid of the payroll tax, so the working class would get a tax break as well. So, I think a flat tax, eliminating the tax code, getting rid of all the loopholes, is the way to go, and it's the way we get America going again. +p1873 +aVHugh, can I \u2014 can I make a response to that? +p1874 +aVCan I make a response to that? +p1875 +aVMay I make a response to that? +p1876 +aVHe's referred to me. +p1877 +aVHe's referred to me... +p1878 +aV... in his remarks. May I make a response? +p1879 +aVAbsolutely. Go ahead. +p1880 +aVMay I respond? +p1881 +aVThe remark was made that there hadn't been anyone else on the podium opposed to the Iraq War. I've made my career as being an opponent of the Iraq War. I was opposed to the Syria war. I was opposed to arming people who are our enemies. Iran is now stronger because Hussein is gone. Hussein was the great bulwark and counterbalance to the Iranians. So when we complain about the Iranians, you need to remember that the Iraq War made it worse. Originally, Governor Bush was asked, was the Iraq War a mistake, and he said, "No. We'd do it again." We have to learn sometimes the interventions backfire. The Iraq War backfired and did not help us. We're still paying the repercussions of a bad decision. +p1882 +aVWe have make the decision now in Syria, should we topple Assad? Many up here wanted to topple Assad, and it's like \u2014 I said no, because if you do... +p1883 +aV... +p1884 +aVIf you want boots on the ground, and you want them to be our sons and daughters, you got 14 other choices. There will always be a Bush or Clinton for you, if you want to go back to war in Iraq. But the thing is, the first war was a mistake. And I'm not sending our sons and our daughters back to Iraq. The war didn't work. We can amplify those who live there. The Kurds deserve to be armed and I'll arm them. We can use our Air Force to amplify the forces there. But the boots on the ground need to be the people who live there. My goodness, I'm still upset with the Saudi Arabians for everything they do over there. They've funded the arms that went to the jihadists. They're not accepting any of the people, any of the migrants that have been \u2014 the refugees that are being pushed out of Syria. Saudi Arabia is not accepting one. Why are we always the world's patsies that we have to go over there and fight their wars for them? They need to fight their wars, we need to defend American interests, but it is not in America's national security interests to have another war in Iraq. +p1885 +aVI think one of the great problems, and what American people don't like about politics, is hypocrisy. People have one standard for others and not for them \u2014 for themselves. There is at least one prominent example on the stage of someone who says they smoked pot in high school, and yet the people going to \u2014 to jail for this are poor people, often African-Americans and often Hispanics, and yet the rich kids who use drugs aren't. I personally think that this is a crime for which the only victim is the individual, and I think that America has to take a different attitude. I would like to see more rehabilitation and less incarceration. I'm a fan of the drug courts which try to direct you back towards work and less time in jail. But the bottom line is the states. We say we like the 10th Amendment, until we start talking about this. And I think the federal government has gone too far, I think that the war on drugs has had a racial outcome, and really has been something that has really damaged our inner cities. Not only do the drugs damage them, we damage them again by incarcerating them and then preventing them from getting employment over time. So I don't think that the federal government should override the states. I believe in the 10th Amendment and I really will say that the states are left to themselves. +p1886 +aVWell, I think if we left it open, we could see how many people smoked pot in high school. +p1887 +aVWell, you know, the thing is that... +p1888 +aVYeah, I was talking about \u2014 well, let me... +p1889 +aVBut let me respond. The thing is, is that in Florida, Governor Bush campaigned against medical marijuana. That means that a small child like Morgan Hintz (ph) that has seizures is day, is failing on non-traditional medications, is not allowed to use cannabis oil. And if they do that in Florida, they will take the child away, they will put the parents in jail. And that's what that means if you're against allowing people use medical marijuana, you'll actually put them in jail. +p1890 +aVAnd actually, under the current circumstances, kids who had privilege like you do, don't go to jail, but the poor kids in our inner cities go to jail. I don't think that's fair. And I think we need to acknowledge it, and it is hypocritical to still want to put poor people in jail... +p1891 +aVWell, you vote \u2014 you oppose medical marijuana... +p1892 +aVBut that means you'll put people in jail. +p1893 +aVMay I respond? +p1894 +aVUnderstand what they're saying. if they're going to say we are going to enforce the federal law against what the state law is, they aren't really believing in the Tenth Amendment. Governor Christie would go into Colorado, and if you're breaking any federal law on marijuana, even though the state law allows it, he would put you in jail. If a young mother is trying to give her child cannabis oil for medical marijuana for seizure treatment, he would put her in jail, if it violates federal law. I would let Colorado do what the Tenth Amendment says. This power \u2014 we were never intended to have crime dealing at the federal level. Crime was supposed to be left to the states. Colorado has made their decision. And I don't want the federal government interfering and putting moms in jail, who are trying to get medicine for their kid... +p1895 +aVMay I respond? May I respond? +p1896 +aVHere is the thing, he doesn't want to make it about medical marijuana, but what if New Jersey's medical marijuana contradicts the federal law? He's saying he'll send the federal government in, and he will enforce the federal law. That's not consistent with the Tenth Amendment. It is not consistent with states' rights. And it is not consistent with the conservative vision for the country. I don't think we should be sending the federal police in to arrest a mother and separate them from their child for giving a medicine to their child for seizures. +p1897 +aVIf you want a skeptic \u2014 if you want a skeptic, Jake, I will happily jump into that briar patch. If you want a real... +p1898 +aVA second opinion? One of the greatest \u2014 one of the greatest medical discoveries of all times was \u2014 were the vaccines, particularly for smallpox. And if you want to read a story, it's called The Speckled Monster, it's an amazing story, it was all done voluntary. But people came in by the droves. George Washington wouldn't let his wife visit until she got vaccinated. So I'm all for vaccines. But I'm also for freedom. I'm also a little concerned about how they're bunched up. My kids had all of their vaccines, and even if the science doesn't say bunching them up is a problem, I ought to have the right to spread out my vaccines out a little bit at the very least. +p1899 +aVOoh, that's a tough one. You know, I'm big on \u2014 that we were \u2014 and I love what Carly said about women's suffrage. I think Susan B. Anthony might be a good choice. +p1900 +aVJustice Never Sleeps. +p1901 +aVI met Ronald Reagan as a teenager, and my family, we're big supporters of him when he ran against Gerald Ford. It was a big deal because he was the grassroots, running against the establishment, and I'll never forget that. And, how he stood up and said, you know what, this is something new that our country needs, and our party needs. If I were president, I would try to be one who says, you know what, I'm a Reagan Conservative. I'm someone who believes in peace through strength, and I would try to lead the country in that way knowing that our goal is peace, and that war is the last resort, not the first resort. And, that when we go to war, we go to war in a constitutional way, which means that we have to vote on it, that war is initiated by congress, not by the president, that we go to war electively (ph). That when we go to war, we don't fight with one arm tied behind our back, we fight all out to win, but then we come home. +p1902 +aVThis is what's wrong! +p1903 +aVI mean, this is what's wrong. He buys and sells politicians of all stripes, he's already... +p1904 +aVHey, look, look! He's already hedging his bet on the Clintons, OK? So if he doesn't run as a Republican, maybe he supports Clinton, or maybe he runs as an independent... +p1905 +aV...but I'd say that he's already hedging his bets because he's used to buying politicians. +p1906 +aVFirst of all, only +p1907 +aVMegyn, may I respond? May I respond? +p1908 +aVI want to collect more records from terrorists, but less records from innocent Americans. The Fourth Amendment was what we fought the Revolution over! John Adams said it was the spark that led to our war for independence, and I'm proud of standing for the Bill of Rights, and I will continue to stand for the Bill of Rights. +p1909 +aVUse the Fourth Amendment! +p1910 +aVUse the Fourth Amendment! +p1911 +aVGet a warrant! +p1912 +aVGet a judge to sign the warrant! +p1913 +aVSee, here's the problem. +p1914 +aVHere's the problem, governor. Here's the problem, governor. You fundamentally misunderstand the Bill of Rights. Every time you did a case, you got a warrant from a judge. I'm talking about searches without warrants... +p1915 +aV...indiscriminately, of all Americans' records, and that's what I fought to end. I don't trust President Obama with our records. I know you gave him a big hug, and if you want to give him a big hug again, go right ahead. +p1916 +aVI've got a news flash... +p1917 +aVNews flash, the Republican Party's been fighting against a single-payer system... +p1918 +aV-- for a decade. So I think you're on the wrong side of this if you're still arguing for a single-payer system. +p1919 +aVI oppose the Iranian deal, and will vote against it. I don't think that the president negotiated from a position of strength, but I don't immediately discount negotiations. I'm a Reagan conservative. Reagan did negotiate with the Soviets. But you have to negotiate from a position of strength, and I think President Obama gave away too much, too early. If there's going to be a negotiation, you're going to have to believe somehow that the Iranians are going to comply. And I asked this question to John Kerry, I said "do you believe they're trustworthy?" and he said "No." And I said, "well, how are we gonna get them to comply?" I would have never released the sanctions before there was consistent evidence of compliance. +p1920 +aVLook, I don't want my marriage or my guns registered in Washington. And if people have an opinion, it's a religious opinion that is heartly felt, obviously they should be allowed to practice that and no government should interfere with them. One of the things, one of the things that really got to me was the thing in Houston where you had the government, the mayor actually, trying to get the sermons of ministers. When the government tries to invade the church to enforce its own opinion on marriage, that's when it's time to resist. +p1921 +aVWell, let's be clear, I'm the only one on the stage who actually has a five-year budget that balances. I've put pencil to paper... +p1922 +aV... and I've said -- and I've said I would cut spending, and I've said exactly where. Each one of my budgets has taken a meat axe to foreign aid, because I think we ought to quit sending it to countries that hate us. I think we ought to quit sending it to countries that burn our flag. Israel is not one of those. But even Benjamin Netanyahu said that ultimately, they will be stronger when they're independent. My position is exactly the same. We shouldn't borrow money from China to send it anywhere, but why don't we start with eliminating aid to our enemies. +p1923 +aVI still say exactly what my original opinion is. Do you borrow money from China to send it to anyone? Out of your surplus, you can help your allies, and Israel is a great ally. And this is no particular animus of Israel, but what I will say, and I will say over and over again, we cannot give away money we don't have. We do not project power from bankruptcy court. We're borrowing a million dollars a minute. It's got to stop somewhere. +p1924 +aVI'm a different kind of Republican. I've introduced a five-year balanced budget. I've introduced the largest tax cut in our history. I stood for ten and a half hours on the Senate floor to defend your right to be left alone. But I've also gone to Chicago. I've gone to Detroit. I've been to Ferguson, I've been to Baltimore, because I want our party to be bigger, better and bolder, and I'm the only one that leads Hillary Clinton in five states that were won by President Obama. I'm a different kind of Republican. +p1925 +asVBASH +p1926 +(lp1927 +VA crucial question is how to balance surveillance with privacy and keeping Americans safe. Senator Cruz, you voted for a bill that President Obama signed into law just this past June that made it harder for the government to access Americans' phone records. In light of the San Bernardino attack, was your vote a mistake? +p1928 +aVThank you. Senator Rubio, Senator Cruz is right there was bipartisan support for that. But you voted against it. So, is Senator Cruz wrong? +p1929 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1930 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator \u2014 Senator Rubio, please respond. +p1931 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I know this is \u2014 this has been a very big issue for you. You hear many of your colleagues are calling for increased surveillance by law enforcement. You call that hogwash. Why is that hogwash? +p1932 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1933 +aVGovernor Christie, Governor Christie... ...Governor Christie, I'll come to you in a minute. Go ahead, Senator Paul. +p1934 +aVGo ahead, please. +p1935 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about immigration in a while. But, Governor Christie, just listening to this... +p1936 +aVListening to this, you talked \u2014 you heard Senator Paul, Senator Cruz talk about how important it is to protect Americans' privacy, even in a time of grave danger. Why \u2014 what's wrong with that? +p1937 +aVSenator Paul, you said +p1938 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I want to go back to my initial question, which is you saying that +p1939 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about regime change in a bit. But Governor Kasich, would you like to respond to Senator Paul? +p1940 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. We've been talking tonight about programs and policy proposals that you all have to keep Americans safe and it's a big discussion on the campaign trail. Also about border security and immigration. So let's talk about immigration. Senator Rubio. You co-authored a bill with Democrats two years ago that allowed a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Do you still support that path to citizenship, which means giving those immigrants rights, like the right to vote? +p1941 +aVSenator, you haven't answered the question. You described a very long path but does that path end at citizenship? +p1942 +aVThank you, senator. +p1943 +aVThank you, senator. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, on the campaign trail, Senator Rubio has said that his immigration plan is not that different from yours. Is that true? +p1944 +aVSenator Rubio, please. +p1945 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1946 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1947 +aVSenator Cruz, can you answer that question please? +p1948 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1949 +aVOne at a time please. +p1950 +aVMs. Fiorina, please wait your turn, we're going to get to you. +p1951 +aVSenator Cruz go ahead. +p1952 +aVMr. Trump, you like to say that you restarted this conversation in the campaign. +p1953 +aVSo who do you side with? Who do you side with in this, Senator Rubio or Senator Cruz? +p1954 +aVThank you. Governor Bush? +p1955 +aVListening to this, do you think this is the tone \u2014 this immigration debate that republicans need to take to win back Hispanics into our party especially states like where we are in Nevada that has a pretty Hispanic community? +p1956 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said if China launches a cyber- attack against the U.S. on your watch, "they're going to see cyber- warfare like they have never seen before." What exactly would that response look like? +p1957 +aVGovernor Bush, what you just heard from Governor Christie, are you concerned that that could really escalate with China, that they would retaliate? And, for example, as the NSA has said, attack the U.S. and maybe it's power grid, which the Chinese have the capability to do? +p1958 +aVMr. Trump, just this weekend you said Senator Cruz is not qualified to be president because he doesn't have the right temperament and acted like a maniac when he arrived in the Senate. But last month you said you were open to naming Senator Cruz as your running mate. +p1959 +aVSo why would you be willing to put somebody who's a maniac one heartbeat away from the presidency? +p1960 +aVOkay. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, you have not been willing to attack Mr. Trump in public. +p1961 +aVBut you did question his judgment in having control of American's nuclear arsenal during a private meeting with supporters. Why are you willing to say things about him in private and not in public? +p1962 +aVSenator, senator, I just... +p1963 +aVSenator, a lot of people have seen... +p1964 +aV... a lot of people have seen these comments you made in private. I just want to clarify what you're saying right now is you do believe Mr. Trump has the judgment to be commander in chief? +p1965 +aVGovernor Kasich, Senator Cruz is so committed to stripping federal funds from Planned Parenthood that it could result in shutting down the federal government in just about two weeks. Do you agree with Senator Cruz's tactic? +p1966 +aVThank you. +p1967 +aVThank you. Senator Cruz, I would just add that, on this stage not that long ago, Senator Graham said that this tactic that you're pushing would tank the Republicans' ability to win in 2016. +p1968 +aVThank you, senator. +p1969 +aVThank you... +p1970 +aVGovernor \u2014 governor, I want to go to you. Is it what Senator Cruz says, a surrender by Republicans? +p1971 +aVBut... +p1972 +aVBut is it... +p1973 +aVBut, governor, the \u2014 but, governor, the reality is, in just two weeks' time... ...we are going to be facing a question about whether or not it's enough to shut down the government to make that statement, because there is still a Democrat in the White House. Do you oppose it or support it? +p1974 +aVYes or no, do you support this shutdown? +p1975 +aVWe're talking about Planned Parenthood right now. +p1976 +aVCan you answer yes or no? +p1977 +aVOne more time. I'm sorry, I just want to get the answer. +p1978 +aVSo you would support a shutdown. +p1979 +aVGovernor Bush, Mr. Trump has suggested that your views on immigration are influenced by your Mexican born wife. He said that, quote, "If my wife were from Mexico, I think I would have a soft spot for people from Mexico." Did Mr. Trump go to far in invoking your wife? +p1980 +aVMr. Trump? +p1981 +aVMr. Trump... +p1982 +aVGo ahead. +p1983 +aVMs. Fiorina \u2014 Ms. Fiorina, we're going to come to you, we're going to come to you. I just want to give Governor Bush a chance to respond to what Mr. Trump said. +p1984 +aVOK, on that note, you have criticized Governor Bush for speaking Spanish on the campaign trail. You said, quote, "He should really set an example by speaking English in the United States." What's wrong with speaking Spanish? +p1985 +aVThank you. +p1986 +aV...Thank you.... +p1987 +aVGovernor Bush, let's talk about the issue that's very important to Republican voters, and that's the Supreme Court. After Chief Justice John Roberts voted to uphold Obamacare twice, Senator Cruz criticized your brother for appointing John Roberts to the Supreme Court. Looking back on it, did your brother make a mistake? +p1988 +aV...Is John Roberts one of those people? +p1989 +aVDo you like what you just heard, Senator Cruz? +p1990 +aVMr. Trump, you have said once or twice that you are really rich, and you are by far the richest person on this stage. Chris Christie says billionaires like you and even people who make and earn far less should no longer get Social Security, or at least there should be limits based on \u2014 on their income. You think he's wrong, and if so, why? +p1991 +aVWhat about the country as a \u2014 as a policy? +p1992 +aVSo is a voluntary program the way to get the Social Security system solvent again like that. +p1993 +asVEPPERSON +p1994 +(lp1995 +VThank you, John. Mrs. Fiorina, you were the CEO of a large corporation that offers a 401(k) to its employees. But more than half of American have no access to an employer sponsored retirement plan. That includes the workers at small businesses, and the growing ranks of Uber drivers and other part-timers in the freelance economy. Should the Federal Government play a larger role in helping to set up retirement plans for these workers? +p1996 +aVSo you wouldn't agree \u2014 you wouldn't agree with a start for 401(k) for businesses or anything like that? +p1997 +aVThank you very much. +p1998 +aVThank you, the rules say one minute. +p1999 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. We appreciate it. Thank you, thank you. I want to turn my attention now, to you now, Governor Kasich. Most people can't get a college degree without going into debt. Over 40 million Americans have student loans and many of them cannot pay them back. This country has over $100 billion in student loan defaults. That's billion with a b. What will you do to make sure that students, their families, taxpayers, won't feel the economic impact of this burden for generations? Well, first of all, in Ohio we're changing the whole system. Universities will not get paid one dime unless the student graduates or \u2014 graduates or completes a course. Secondly, you can be in high school and complete almost an entire first year before you go to college and get credit to do that. And, of course, in addition to that, we are working now to go after the cost drivers in our universities. And let me give you an example. Universities today have so many non-academic assets. At Ohio State they sold the parking garage and the parking lot, and they got $500 million because they shouldn't be in the parking lot business. They shouldn't be in the ding business, they shouldn't be in the dorm business. And, of course, we need to take advantage of on-line education to reduce these costs and begin to dis-intermediate the cost of four years. Now, for those who that have these big high costs, I think we can seriously look at an idea of where you can do public service. I mean legitimate, public service and begin to pay off some of that debt through the public service that you do. And in the meantime, it may inspire us to care more about our country, more about ourselves. This is a big moral issue in America. Living a life bigger than yourself, and being a center of healing and justice. And people can learn it through public service. +p2000 +aVThank you, thank you. +p2001 +asVSANDERS +p2002 +(lp2003 +VWell, Gwen and Judy, thank you very much for hosting this event. And, PBS, thank you. Nine months ago, our campaign began. And when it began, we had no political organization, no money, and not much name recognition outside of the state of Vermont. A lot has happened in nine months. And what has happened is, I think, the American people have responded to a series of basic truths, and that is that we have today a campaign finance system which is corrupt, which is undermining American democracy, which allows Wall Street and billionaires to pour huge sums of money into the political process to elect the candidates of their choice. And aligned with a corrupt campaign finance system is a rigged economy. And that's an economy where ordinary Americans are working longer hours for low wagers. They are worried to death about the future of their kids. And yet they are seeing almost all new income and all new wealth going to the top 1 percent. And then in addition to that, the American people are looking around and they see a broken criminal justice system. They see more people in jail in the United States of America than any other country on earth, 2.2 million. We're spending $80 billion a year locking up fellow Americans. They see kids getting arrested for marijuana, getting in prison, getting a criminal record, while they see executives on Wall Street who pay billions of dollars in settlements and get no prosecution at all. No criminal records for them. I think what our campaign is indicating is that the American people are tired of establishment politics, tired of establishment economics. They want a political revolution in which millions of Americans stand up, come together, not let the Trumps of the world divide us, and say, you know what, in this great country, we need a government that represents all of us, not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors. Thank you. +p2004 +aVWell, to put that in a context, Judy, I think we have to understand that in the last 30 years in this country there has been a massive transfer of wealth going from the hands of working families into the top one-tenth of 1% whose percentage of wealth has doubled. In other words, the very rich are getting richer, almost everybody is going \u2014 getting poorer. What I believe is the United States, in fact, should join the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee healthcare to all people. Our Medicare for all single-payer proposal will save the average middle class family $5,000 a year. I do believe that in the year 2016 we have to look in terms of public education as colleges as part of public education making public colleges and universities tuition free. I believe that when real unemployment is close to 10%, and when our infrastructure, our roads, our bridges, our water systems, Flint, Michigan comes to mind. Our waste water plants, our rail, our airports, in many places are disintegrating. Yeah, we can create 13 million jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure at a cost of a trillion dollars. +p2005 +aV... Of course there will be a limit, but when today you have massive levels of income and wealth inequality, when the middle class is disappearing, you have the highest rate of child poverty of almost any major country on Earth. Yes, in my view, the government of a democratic society has a moral responsibility to play a vital role in making sure all of our people have a decent standard of living. +p2006 +aVWell, let us level with the American people. Secretary Clinton has been going around the country saying Bernie Sanders wants to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, people are going to lose their MedicAid, they're going to lose their +p2007 +aVThat is absolutely inaccurate. Look, here is the reality, folks. There is one major country on Earth that does not guarantee health care to all people. There is one major country \u2014 the United States \u2014 which ends up spending almost three times per capita what they do in the U.K. guaranteeing health care to all people, 50 percent more than they do in France guaranteeing health care to all people, far more than our Canadian neighbors, who guarantee health care to all people. Please do not tell me that in this country, if \u2014 and here's the if \u2014 we have the courage to take on the drug companies, and have the courage to take on the insurance companies, and the medical equipment suppliers, if we do that, yes, we can guarantee health care to all people in a much more cost effective way. +p2008 +aVWell, Secretary Clinton, you're not in the White House yet. And let us be clear that every proposal that I have introduced has been paid for. For example, all right, who in America denies that we have an infrastructure that is crumbling? Roads, bridges, water systems, wastewater plants, who denies that? Who denies that real unemployment today, including those who have given up looking for work and are working part-time is close to 10 percent? Who denies that African-American youth unemployment, real, is over 50 percent. We need to create jobs. So yes, I will do away with the outrageous loopholes that allow profitable multinational corporations to stash billions of dollars in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda and in a given year pay zero, zero in federal income tax. Yes, I'm going to do away with that. We will use those proceeds, a hundred billion a year, to invest in rebuilding our infrastructure. Yes, I believe that as a result of the illegal behavior on Wall Street, that they are a Wall Street that drove this country into the worst economic downturn since the Great Recession \u2014 Great Depression. Yes, I do believe that now after the American people bailed Wall Street out, yes, they should pay a Wall Street speculation tax so that we can make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We bailed them out. Now it is their time to help the middle class. +p2009 +aVA brief response. +p2010 +aVHere is where we are with public education. A 100, 150 years ago incredibly brave Americans said, you know what, working class kids, low income kids should not have to work in factories or on the farms. Like rich kids, they deserve to get a free education. And that free education of extraordinary accomplishment was from first grade to 12th grade. The world has changed. This is 2016. In many ways, a college degree today is equivalent to what a high school degree was 50, 60 years ago. So, yes, I do believe that when we talk about public education in America, today, in a rapidly changing world, we should have free tuition at public colleges and universities. That should be a right of all Americans regardless of the income of their families. +p2011 +aVLook, we are fighting for every vote that we can get from women, from men, straight, gay, African-Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans. We are trying to bring America together around an agenda that works for working families and the middle class. I am very proud, if my memory is not correct \u2014 I think I am \u2014 that I have a lifetime \u2014 and I've been in Congress a few years \u2014 a lifetime 100 percent pro-choice voting record. I am very proud that over the years we have had the support in my state of Vermont from very significant majorities of women. I'm very proud that I support legislation that is currently in the Congress, got support of almost all progressive Democrats in the House and Senate, which says we will end the absurdity of women today making 79 cents on the dollar compared to men. And we will join the rest of the other \u2014 the industrialized world in saying that paid family and medical leave should be a right of all working families. +p2012 +aVWell, you know, I think, from a historical point of view, somebody with my background, somebody with my views, somebody who has spent his entire life taking on the big money interests, I think a Sanders victory would be of some historical accomplishment, as well. +p2013 +aVLet me concur with the secretary, no question women's rights are under fierce attack all over this country. And I will tell you something that really galls me. I will not shock anybody to suggest that in politics there is occasionally a little bit of hypocrisy. Just a little bit. All over this country we have Republican candidates for president saying we hate the government. Government is the enemy. We're going to cut Social Security to help you. We're going to cut Medicare and Medicaid, federal aid to education to help you, because the government is so terrible. But, by the way, when it comes to a woman having to make a very personal choice, ah, in that case, my Republican colleagues love the government and want the government to make that choice for every woman in America. If that's not hypocrisy, I don't know what hypocrisy is. +p2014 +aVThis is one of the great tragedies in our country today. And we can no longer continue to sweep it under the rug. It has to be dealt with. Today a male African-American baby born today stands a one-in-four chance of ending up in jail. That is beyond unspeakable. So what we have to do is the radical reform of a broken criminal justice system. What we have to do is end over-policing in African-American neighborhoods. The reality is that both the African-American community and the white community do marijuana at about equal rates. The reality is four times as many blacks get arrested for marijuana. Truth is that far more blacks get stopped for traffic violations. The truth is that sentencing for blacks is higher than for whites. We need fundamental police reform, clearly, clearly, when we talk about a criminal justice system. I would hope that we could all agree that we are sick and tired of seeing videos on television of unarmed people, often African-Americans, shot by police officers. What we have got to do is make it clear that any police officer who breaks the law will, in fact, be held accountable. +p2015 +aVNothing that Secretary Clinton said do I disagree with. This mandatory sentencing, a very bad idea. It takes away discretion from judges. We have got to demilitarize local police departments so they do not look like occupying armies. We have got to make sure that local police departments look like the communities they serve in their diversity. And, where we are failing abysmally is in the very high rate of recidivism we see. People are being released from jail without the education, without the job training, without the resources that they need to get their lives together, then they end up \u2014 we're shocked that they end up back in jail again. So, we have a lot of work to do. But, here is a pledge I've made throughout this campaign, and it's really not a very radical pledge. When we have more people in jail, disproportionately African American and Latino, than China does, a communist authoritarian society four times our size. Here's my promise, at the end of my first term as president we will not have more people in jail than any other country. We will invest in education, and jobs for our kids, not incarceration and more jails. +p2016 +aVWell, I think, Judy, what has to be appreciated is that, as a result of the disastrous and illegal behavior on Wall Street, millions of lives were hurt. People lost their jobs, their homes, their life savings. Turns out that the African-American community and the Latino community were hit especially hard. As I understand it, the African-American community lost half of their wealth as a result of the Wall Street collapse. So when you have childhood African-American poverty rates of 35 percent, when you have youth unemployment at 51 percent, when you have unbelievable rates of incarceration \u2014 which, by the way, leaves the children back home without a dad or even a mother \u2014 clearly, we are looking at institutional racism. We are looking at an economy in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. And sadly, in America today, in our economy, a whole lot of those poor people are African-American. +p2017 +aVAbsolutely, because what we will do is say, instead of giving tax breaks to billionaires, we are going to create millions of jobs for low-income kids so they're not hanging out on street corners. We're going to make sure that those kids stay in school or are able to get a college education. And I think when you give low-income kids \u2014 African-American, white, Latino kids \u2014 the opportunities to get their lives together, they are not going to end up in jail. They're going to end up in the productive economy, which is where we want them. +p2018 +aVWhite people? +p2019 +aVYeah, you can, because African-Americans and Latinos not only face the general economic crises of low wages, and high unemployment, and poor educational opportunities, but they face other problems, as well. So, yes, we can talk about it as a racial issue. But it is a general economic issue. And here's what the economic issue is. The wages that high school graduates receive today are significantly less, whether you are white or black, than they used to be. Why is that? Because of a series of disastrous trade policies which have allowed corporate America through +p2020 +aVThe answer is yes. We've got 11 million undocumented people in this country. I have talked to some of the young kids with tears rolling down their cheeks, are scared to death that today they may or their parents may be deported. I believe that we have got to pass comprehensive immigration reform, something that I strongly supported. I believe that we have got to move toward a path toward citizenship. I agree with President Obama who used executive orders to protect families because the Congress, the House was unable or refused to act. And in fact I would go further. What would motivate me and what would be the guiding light for me in terms of immigration reform, Judy, is to bring families together, not divide them up. And let me say this also. Somebody who is very fond of the president, agrees with him most of the time, I disagree with his recent deportation policies. And I would not support those. Bottom line is a path towards citizenship for 11 million undocumented people, if Congress doesn't do the right thing, we use the executive orders of the president. +p2021 +aVSecretary Clinton, I do have a disagreement here. If my memory is correct, I think when we saw children coming from these horrendous, horrendously violent areas of Honduras and neighboring countries, people who are fleeing drug violence and cartel violence, I thought it was a good idea to allow those children to stay in this country. That was not, as I understand it, the secretary's position. In terms of 2007 immigration reform, yeah, I did vote against it. I voted against it because the Southern Poverty Law Center, among other groups, said that the guest-worker programs that were embedded in this agreement were akin to slavery. Akin to slavery, where people came into this country to do guest work were abused, were exploited, and if they stood up for their rights, they'd be thrown out of this country. So it wasn't just me who opposed it. It was +p2022 +aVWell, let me just respond. I worked with Ted Kennedy. He was the chairman of my committee. And I loved Ted Kennedy. But on this issue, when you have one of the large Latino organizations in America saying vote no, and you have the AFL-CIO saying vote no, and you have leading progressive Democrats, in fact, voting no, I don't apologize for that vote. But in terms of the children, I don't know to whom you're sending a message. Who are you sending a message to? These are children who are leaving countries and neighborhoods where their lives are at stake. That was the fact. I don't think we use them to send a message. I think we welcome them into this country and do the best we can to help them get their lives together. +p2023 +aVOK. You know, you judge a nation not by the number of millionaires and billionaires it has, but by how you treat, we treat, the most vulnerable and fragile people in our nation. And by those standards, we're not doing particularly well. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty among almost any major country on Earth. And in terms of seniors, there are millions of seniors \u2014 and I've talked to them in my state of Vermont and all over this country \u2014 who are trying to get by on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year Social Security. And you know what? You do the arithmetic. You can't get by on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year. And here's an area where Secretary Clinton and I believe we have a difference. I have long supported the proposition that we should lift the cap on taxable income coming into the Social Security Trust Fund, starting at $250,000. And when we \u2014 and when we do that, we don't do what the Republicans want, which is to cut Social Security. We do what the American people want, to expand Social Security by $1,300 a year for people under $16,000, and we extend the life of Social Security for 58 years. Yes, the wealthiest people, the top 1.5 percent, will pay more in taxes. But a great nation like ours should not be in a position where elderly people are cutting their pills in half, where they don't have decent nutrition, where they can't heat their homes in the wintertime. That is not what America should be about. If elected president, I will do everything I can to expand Social Security benefits, not just for seniors, but for disabled veterans, as well. +p2024 +aVIn all due respect......In all due respect, Secretary Clinton, a lot of the progressive groups, the online groups have really asked you a simple question. Are you coming onboard a proposal? And what is that proposal? Now, the proposal that I have outlined, you know, should be familiar to you, because it is what essentially Barack Obama campaigned on in 2008. You opposed him then. I would hope that you would come onboard and say that this is the simple and straightforward thing to do. We're asking the top 1.5 percent, including passive income, to start paying a little bit more so that the elderly and disabled vets in this country can live with security and dignity. I hope you will make a decision soon on this. +p2025 +aVThat's my bill. Check it out. +p2026 +aVWhat we are talking about in reality is a corrupt campaign finance system, that's what we're talking about. We have to be honest about it. It is undermining American democracy. When extraordinarily wealthy people make very large contributions to Super PACs, and in many cases in this campaign, Super PACs have raised more money than individual candidates have, OK? We had a decision to make early on, do we do a Super PAC? And, we said no. We don't represent Wall Street, we don't represent the billionaire class, so it ends up I'm the only candidate up here of the many candidates who has no Super PAC. But, what we did is we said to the working families of this country, look, we know things are tough, but if you want to help us go beyond establishment politics, and establishment economics, send us something. And, it turns out that up until \u2014 and this has blown me away, never in a million years would I have believed that I would be standing here tonight telling you that we have received three and a half million individual contributions from well over a million people. Now, Secretary Clinton's Super PAC, as I understand it, received $25 million dollars last reporting period, $15 million dollars from Wall Street. Our average contribution is $27 dollars, I'm very proud of that. +p2027 +aVThe people aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street... But let's not \u2014 but let's not \u2014 let's not insult \u2014 let's not insult the intelligence of the American people. People aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street make huge campaign contributions? I guess just for the fun of it; they want to throw money around. Why does the pharmaceutical industry make huge campaign contributions? Any connection maybe to the fact that our people pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs? Why does the fossil fuel industry pay \u2014 spend huge amounts of money on campaign contributions? Any connection to the fact that not one Republican candidate for president thinks and agrees with the scientific community that climate change is real and that we have got to transform our energy system? And when we talk about Wall Street, let's talk about Wall Street. I voted for Dodd-Frank, got an important amendment in it. In my view, it doesn't go anywhere near far enough. But when we talk about Wall Street, you have Wall Street and major banks have paid $200 billion in fines since the great crash. No Wall Street executive has been prosecuted. +p2028 +aVLet me, you know, again, respectfully disagree with Secretary Clinton here. When you have three out of the four largest financial institutions in this country bigger today than they were when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, when you have six financial institutions having assets equivalent to 58 percent of the GDP of America, while issuing two-thirds of the credit cards and a third of the mortgages, look, I think if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, that great trust-buster would have said break them up. I think he would have been right. I think he would have said bring back a 21st-century Glass-Steagall legislation. I think that would have been right, as well. That's my view. +p2029 +aVHey, I'm in the United States Senate, and anyone who doesn't think that there is an enormous amount of waste and inefficiency and bureaucracy throughout government would be very, very mistaken. I believe in government, but I believe in efficient government, not wasteful government. +p2030 +aVIf I could just answer that, we have also got to take a look at the waste and inefficiencies in the Department of Defense, which is the one major agency of government that has not been able to be audited. And I have the feeling you're going to find a lot of cost overruns there and a lot of waste and duplicative activities. +p2031 +aVLet me \u2014 let me just say this. What a President of the United States has got to do and what is his or her major, I think, responsibility is to, a, make certain that we keep our people safe, that we work with allies around the world to protect democratic values, that we do all that we can to create a world of peace and prosperity. I voted against the war in Iraq because I listened very carefully to what President Bush and Vice President Cheney had to say and I didn't believe them. And if you go to my Web site,berniesanders.com, what you find is not only going to help lead the opposition to that war, but much of what I feared would happen when I spoke on the floor of the House, in fact, did happen in terms of the instability that occurred. Now I think an area in kind of a vague way, or not so vague, where Secretary Clinton and I disagree is the area of regime change. Look, the truth is that a powerful nation like the United States, certainly working with our allies, we can overthrow dictators all over the world. And God only knows Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator. We could overthrow Assad tomorrow if we wanted to. We got rid of Gadhafi. But the point about foreign policy is not just to know that you can overthrow a terrible dictator, it's to understand what happens the day after. And in Libya, for example, the United States, Secretary Clinton, as secretary of state, working with some other countries, did get rid of a terrible dictator named Gadhafi. But what happened is a political vacuum developed. +p2032 +aVJudy, if I can, there is no question, Secretary Clinton and I are friends, and I have a lot of respect for her, that she has enormous experience in foreign affairs. Secretary of state for four years. You've got a bit of experience, I would imagine. But judgment matters as well. Judgment matters as well. And she and I looked at the same evidence coming from the Bush administration regarding Iraq. I lead the opposition against it. She voted for it. But more importantly, in terms of this Libya resolution that you have noted before, this was a virtually unanimous consent. Everybody voted for it wanting to see Libya move toward democracy, of course we all wanted to do that. That is very different than talking about specific action for regime change, which I did not support. +p2033 +aVJudy, one area very briefly... +p2034 +aVWhere the secretary and I have a very profound difference, in the last debate \u2014 and I believe in her book \u2014 very good book, by the way \u2014 in her book and in this last debate, she talked about getting the approval or the support or the mentoring of Henry Kissinger. Now, I find it rather amazing, because I happen to believe that Henry Kissinger was one of the most destructive secretaries of state in the modern history of this country. I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend. I will not take advice from Henry Kissinger. And in fact, Kissinger's actions in Cambodia, when the United States bombed that country, overthrew Prince Sihanouk, created the instability for Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge to come in, who then butchered some 3 million innocent people, one of the worst genocides in the history of the world. So count me in as somebody who will not be listening to Henry Kissinger. +p2035 +aVWell, it ain't Henry Kissinger. That's for sure. +p2036 +aVIt is. +p2037 +aVI find \u2014 I mean, it's just a very different, you know, historical perspective here. Kissinger was one of those people during the Vietnam era who talked about the domino theory. Not everybody remembers that. You do. I do. The domino theory, you know, if Vietnam goes, China, da, da, da, da, da, da, da. That's what he talked about, the great threat of China. And then, after the war, this is the guy who, in fact, yes, you're right, he opened up relations with China, and now pushed various type of trade agreements, resulting in American workers losing their jobs as corporations moved to China. The terrible, authoritarian, Communist dictatorship he warned us about, now he's urging companies to shut down and move to China. Not my kind of guy. +p2038 +aVWell, this is what I would say. It is a complicated relationship. I congratulate Secretary of State John Kerry and the president for working on this agreement. As you've indicated, what is happening in Syria, the number of people, the hundreds of thousands of people who have been killed \u2014 men, women, 20,000 children, the people who are forced to flee their own country \u2014 their own country \u2014 it is unspeakable. It is a real horror. Now, what I think is that right now we have got to do our best in developing positive relations with Russia. But let's be clear: Russia's aggressive actions in the Crimea and in Ukraine have brought about a situation where President Obama and +p2039 +aVLet me just \u2014 just say this. For a start, the secretary and I disagree \u2014 and I think the president does not agree with her \u2014 in terms of the concept of a no-fly zone in Syria. I think you do have a humanitarian tragedy there, as I mentioned a moment ago. I applaud Secretary Kerry and the president for trying to put together this agreement. Let's hope that it holds. But furthermore, what we have got to do, I'm sorry, yes, I do believe that we have got to do everything that we can, and it will not happen tomorrow. But I do hope that in years to come, just as occurred with Cuba, 10, 20 years ago, people would say, reach normalized relations with Cuba. And by the way, I hope we can end the trade embargo with Cuba as well. But the idea that we some day maybe have decent relations with Iran, maybe put pressure on them so they end their support for terrorism around the world, yes, that is something I want to achieve. And I believe that the best way to do that is to be aggressive, to be principled, but to have the goal of trying to improve relations. That's how you make peace in the world. You sit down and you work with people, you make demands of people, in this case demanding Iran stop the support of international terrorism. +p2040 +aVWe have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of work to do. But I recall when Secretary Clinton ran against then-Senator Obama, she was critical of him for suggesting that maybe you want to talk to Iran, that you want to talk to our enemies. I have no illusion. Of course you are right. Iran is sponsoring terrorism in many parts of the world, destabilizing areas. Everybody knows that. But our goal is, in fact, to try over a period of time to, in fact, deal with our enemies, not just ignore that reality. +p2041 +aVNo, I think the idea was that president \u2014 then-Senator Obama was wrong for suggesting that it is a good idea to talk to your opponents. It's easier to talk to your friends. It's harder to talk to your enemies. I think we should do both. +p2042 +aVA couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to go on a congressional delegation. And I went to one of these Turkish refugee camps right on the border of Syria. And what a sad sight that was: Men, women, children forced out of their homes. And Turkey, by the way, did a very decent thing, providing what was reasonable housing and conditions for those people. It seems to me that given our history as a nation that has been a beacon of hope for the oppressed, for the downtrodden, that I very strongly disagree with those Republican candidates who say, you know what, we've got to turn our backs on women and children who left their home with nothing, nothing at all. That is not what America is supposed to be about. So I believe that working with Europe \u2014 and, by the way, you know, we've got some very wealthy countries there in that part of the world. You got Kuwait and you got Qatar and you got Saudi Arabia. They have a responsibility, as well. But I think this is a worldwide \u2014 that the entire world needs to come together to deal with this horrific refugee crisis we're seeing from Syria and Afghanistan, as well. +p2043 +aVYou know, Franklin Delano Roosevelt took the oath of office in 1933 at a time when 25 percent of the American people were unemployed, country was in incredible despair. And he stood before the American people and he said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself," a profound statement that gave the American people the courage to believe that, yes, we could get out of that terrible depression. And then what he did is redefine the role of government. You know, you had Herbert Hoover before that saying, no, we got to only worry about the deficit. So what if mass unemployment exists? So what if children are going hungry? That's not the role of the government. And when FDR said, "Yeah, it is," that we're going to use all of the resources that we have to create jobs, to build homes, to feed people, to protect the farmers, we are a nation which if we come together there is nothing that we could not accomplish. And kind of \u2014 that's what I see our campaign is about right now. In this particular moment of serious crises, saying to the American people don't give up on the political process. don't listen to the Trumps of the world and allowing them to divide us. If we reengage and get involved, yeah, we can have health care for all people, we can make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We do not have to have massive levels of income and wealth inequality. In the same light, as the foreign leader, Winston Churchill's politics were not my politics. He was kind of a conservative guy in many respects. But nobody can deny that as a wartime leader, he rallied the British people when they stood virtually alone against the Nazi juggernaut and rallied them and eventually won an extraordinary victory. Those are two leaders that I admire very much. +p2044 +aVThat is......Madam Secretary, that is a low blow. I have worked with President Obama for the last seven years. When President Obama came into office we were losing 800,000 jobs a month, 800,000 jobs a month. We had a $1.4 trillion deficit. And the world's financial system is on the verge of collapse. As a result of his efforts and the efforts of Joe Biden against unprecedented, I was there in the Senate, unprecedented Republican obstructionism, we have made enormous progress. But you know what? Last I heard we lived in a democratic society. Last I heard, a United States senator had the right to disagree with the president, including a president who has done such an extraordinary job. So I have voiced criticisms. You're right. Maybe you haven't. I have. But I think to suggest that I have voiced criticism, this blurb that you talk about, you know what the blurb said? The blurb said that the next president of the United States has got to be aggressive in bringing people into the political process. That's what I said. That is what I believe. President Obama and I are friends. As you know, he came to Vermont to campaign for me when he was a senator. I have worked for his re-election. His first election and his re-election. But I think it is really unfair to suggest that I have not been supportive of the president. I have been a strong ally with him on virtually every issue. Do senators have the right to disagree with the president? Have you ever disagreed with a president? I suspect you may have. +p2045 +aVWell, one of us ran against Barack Obama. I was not that candidate. All right, look, this has been a great debate. A lot of interesting issues have come together. Let me conclude by just saying this. There is no president, in my view, not Hillary Clinton, not Bernie Sanders, who has the capability or the power to take on Wall Street, large campaign donors, the corporate media, the big money interests in this country alone. This campaign is not just about electing a president. What this campaign is about is creating a process for a political revolution in which millions of Americans, working people who have given up on the political process, they don't think anybody hears their pains or their concerns. Young people for whom getting involved in politics is as, you know, it's like going to the moon. It ain't going to happen. Low income people who are not involved in the political process. What this campaign is not only about electing someone who has the most progressive agenda, it is about bringing tens of millions of people together to demand that we have a government that represents all of us and not just the 1 percent, who today have so much economic and political power. Thank you all very much. +p2046 +aVRachel, thank you very much. Millions of Americans are giving up on the political process. And they're giving up on the political process because they understand the economy is rigged. They are working longer hours for low wages. They're worried about the future of their kids, and yet almost all new income and wealth is going to the top 1 percent. Not what America is supposed to be about. Not the fairness that we grew up believing that America was about. And then sustaining that rigged economy is a corrupt campaign finance system undermining American democracy, where billionaire, Wall Street, corporate America can contribute unlimited sums of money into super PACs and into candidates. Our job, together, is to end a rigged economy, create an economy that works for all, and absolutely overturn Citizens United. One person, one vote. That's what American democracy is about. +p2047 +aVWell, I haven't quite run for president before. Let's deal with some of the comments that Secretary Clinton made. And by the way, you know, sometimes there's a lot of drama here. I have known Secretary Clinton for 25 years and respect her very much. Here is the issue. Every major country on earth, whether it's the U.K., whether it's France, whether it's Canada, has managed to provide healthcare to all people as a right and they are spending significantly less per capita on health care than we are. So I do not accept the belief that the United States of America can't do that. I do not accept the belief that the United States of America and our government can't stand up to the ripoffs of the pharmaceutical industry which charge us by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. Number two, in the economy today, everybody understands that we need a well educated workforce. This is 2016. When we talk about public education, it can no longer be K through 12th grade. I do believe that public colleges and universities should be tuition free. Well, how do we pay for that? It's an expensive proposition. I do believe that we should substantially lower student debt in this country, which is crushing millions of people. We pay for it, in my view, by a tax on Wall Street speculation. The middle class bailed out Wall Street in their time of need. Now, it is Wall Street's time to help the middle class. +p2048 +aVLet me... +p2049 +aV... this is a good discussion here. +p2050 +aVAnd let me just say this. As Secretary Clinton may know, I am on the Health Education Labor Committee. That committee wrote the Affordable Care Act. The idea I would dismantle health care in America while we're waiting to pass a Medicare for all is just not accurate. The Affordable Care Act has clearly, as Secretary Clinton made the point, done a lot of good things, but, what it has not done is dealt with the fact we have 29 million people today who have zero health insurance, we have even more who are underinsured with large deductibles and copayments and prescription drug prices are off the wall. So I do believe that in the future, not by dismantling what we have here\u2014I helped write that bill\u2014but by moving forward, rallying the American people, I do believe we should have health care for all. +p2051 +aVNo, not at all. Here's the reality of American economic life today. The reality is that we have one of lowest voter turnouts of any major country on earth because so many people have given up on the political process. The reality is that there has been trillions of dollars of wealth going from the middle class in the last 30 years to the top 1/10th of 1 percent. The reality is we that have a corrupt campaign finance system which separates the American people's needs and desires from what Congress is doing. So to my mind, what we have got to do is wage a political revolution where millions of people have given up on the political process, stand up and fight back, demand the government that represents us and not just a handful of campaign contribution\u2014contributors. Now all of the ideas that I'm talking about, they are not radical ideas. Making public colleges and universities tuition free, that exists in countries all over the world, used to exist in the United States. Rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, and creating 13 million jobs by doing away with tax loopholes that large corporations now enjoy by putting their money into the Cayman Islands and other tax havens. That is not a radical idea. What we need to do is to stand up to the big money interests, and the campaign contributors. When we do that, we can, in fact, transform America. +p2052 +aVLet me just pick up on this point. This whole discussion began because I commented, not making overall evaluation about the Secretary. She was in Ohio, I think, in September or November and she got up and said something like, I have been\u2014I'm paraphrasing, I have been criticized because people think I'm a moderate. Well, I am a moderate. That's where this came from. It wasn't me paraphrasing her. It is what she said, and all that I said was there's nothing wrong with being a moderate. But, you can't be a moderate, you can't a progressive. In terms of President Obama, I think if we remember where this country was seven years ago, 800,000 jobs being lost every month, $1.4 trillion dollar deficit. The world's financial system on the verge of collapse. I think that President Obama, Vice President Biden, and the Democratic leadership in the House and the Senate have done a fantastic job. We are in much better shape than we were seven years ago, although my Republican colleagues seem to have forgotten where we were seven years ago. That's the fact, but, we still have a very long way to go. Do I think President Obama is a progressive? Yes, I do. I disagree with him on a number of issues including the trade agreement. But, yes, I think he has done an excellent job. +p2053 +aVThat's right, I mean, instead of arguing about definitions, let's talk about... +p2054 +aV... What we should do, and one of the things we should do is not only talk the talk, but walk the walk. I am very proud to be the only candidate up here who does not have a Super PAC, who's not raising huge sums of money from Wall Street...... And special interests. I am enormously proud. Never believed it would happen that we have raised 3.5 million individual contributions, averaging $27 dollars a piece. That is what the political revolution means. +p2055 +aVWell, Rachel, actually, that wasn't accurate. In 1988 the Republican did win, I believe, by 3 points. I came in second. It was 34-31, I think, 19 for the Democrat. In that race the Democrat was the spoiler, not me. And it is true......it is true, it's not to be denied, I am the longest- serving independent in the history of the United States Congress. People of Vermont sent me to Washington as an independent. That is true. But on the other hand, I have\u2014when I was in the House for 16 years, I caucused with the Democrats. In the Senate for nine years caucused with the Democrats, of course. And I was elected by the Democrats to be chair of the Veterans Committee three years ago, which I'm very proud of. And now am the rankings member on the Budget Committee, leader of the Democrats in opposition to the majority Republicans. I am running for president as a Democrat. And if elected, not only do I hope to bring forth a major change in national priorities, but let me be frank, I do want to see major changes in the Democratic Party. I want to see working people and young people come into the party in a way that doesn't exist now. And you know what, I want a 50-state strategy so the Democratic Party is not just the party of 25 states. +p2056 +aVWell, I don't see it quite like that. +p2057 +aVI am\u2014will absolutely admit that Secretary Clinton has the support of far more governors, mayors, members of the House. She has the entire establishment or almost the entire establishment behind her. That's a fact. I don't deny it. But I am pretty proud that we have over a million people who have contributed to our campaign averaging 27 bucks apiece. That we have had meetings where 25,000-30,000 people have come out. That our campaign is a campaign of the people, by the people, and for the people. So, Rachel, yes, Secretary Clinton does represent the establishment. I represent, I hope, ordinary Americans, and by the way, who are not all that enamored with the establishment, but I am very proud to have people like Keith Ellison and Raul Grijalva in the House, the co-chairmen of the House Progressive Caucus. +p2058 +aVWhat being part of the establishment is, is, in the last quarter, having a super PAC that raised $15 million from Wall Street, that throughout one's life raised a whole lot of money from the drug companies and other special interests. To my mind, if we do not get a handle on money in politics and the degree to which big money controls the political process in this country, nobody is going to bring about the changes that is needed in this country for the middle class and working families. +p2059 +aVWhat... +p2060 +aV... you know... +p2061 +aV. +p2062 +aVLet's talk about\u2014OK, let's talk... +p2063 +aV... let us talk about issues. +p2064 +aVLet's talk about issues. +p2065 +aVLet's... +p2066 +aV... let's\u2014let's\u2014let's talk about issues. +p2067 +aVLet's talk\u2014let's talk about issues, all right? Let's talk about why, in the 1990s, Wall Street got deregulated. Did it have anything to do with the fact that Wall Street provided\u2014spent billions of dollars on lobbying and campaign contributions? Well, some people might think, yeah, that had some influence. Let's ask why it is that we pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, and your medicine can be doubled tomorrow, and there's nothing that the government can do to stop it. You think it has anything to do with the huge amounts of campaign contributions and lobbying from the fossil fuel industry? Let's talk about climate change. Do you think there's a reason why not one Republican has the guts to recognize that climate change is real, and that we need to transform our energy system? Do you think it has anything to do with the Koch brothers and ExxonMobil pouring huge amounts of money into the political system? That is what goes on in America. I am not\u2014I like......there is a reason. You know, there is a reason why these people are putting huge amounts of money into our political system. And in my view, it is undermining American democracy and it is allowing Congress to represent wealthy campaign contributors and not the working families of this country. +p2068 +aVI think as Secretary Clinton knows, there is nobody who fought harder. I was on the House Financial Committee at that time. I heard the arguments coming from Democrats and Republicans\u2014Robert Rubin, Alan Greenspan\u2014about great an idea it would be if we did away with Glass-Steagall and if we allowed investor banks and commercial banks and big insurance companies to merge. Go to YouTube today. Look up Greenspan-Sanders. Listen to what I told them then. I helped lead the effort against deregulation. Unfortunately, we lost that. The result is\u2014was the worst financial disaster since the Great Depression. +p2069 +aVChuck, actually we looked at it, but it turns out to be a disaster. The way it is structured right now, if you make it all the way to California, you could do pretty well. But in terms of the early states\u2014Iowa, New Hampshire, the other states\u2014it just doesn't work. Your point is well taken. I believe in public funding of elections, absolutely. But this system is\u2014I don't know if the secretary would agree\u2014is currently very antiquated and no longer applies to modern day politics. +p2070 +aVBut if the... +p2071 +aVLet me just say this. Wall Street is perhaps the most powerful economic and political force in this country. You have companies like Goldman Sachs, who just recently paid a settlement fine with the federal government for $5 billion for defrauding investors. Goldman Sachs was one of those companies whose illegal activity helped destroy our economy and ruin the lives of millions of Americans. But this is what a rigged economy and a corrupt campaign finance system and a broken criminal justice is about. These guys are so powerful that not one of the executives on Wall Street has been charged with anything after paying, in this case of Goldman Sachs, a $5 billion fine. Kid gets caught with marijuana, that kid has a police record. A Wall Street executive destroys the economy, $5 billion settlement with the government, no criminal record. That is what power is about. That is what corruption is about. And that is what has to change in the United States of America. +p2072 +aVI would say that\u2014that folks who have looked at this issue for a long time, whether it's Elizabeth Warren or many other economists, will tell you that right now, yes, we do need a 21st century Glass-Steagall legislation. And I would tell you also that when you have three out of the four largest banks in America today, bigger than they were\u2014significantly bigger than when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, I think if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, a good Republican by the way, what he would say is: Break them up; they are too powerful economically; they are too powerful politically. And that is what I believe and many economists believe. Time to break them up. +p2073 +aVWell, we've had a number of economists supporting our legislation. And here's where we are. The American people can judge. Six largest financial institutions in America today have assets of roughly $10 trillion; equivalent to 58 percent of the GDP of the United States of America. That is a lot of money. They issue two thirds of the credit cards, and by the way they're ripping off a whole lot of people with high interest rates on the credit cards, and they write about one third of the mortgages. That is a lot of power for six financial institutions. That's it. I think it is too much power. Too much economic power, too much political power, and the economists that I talk to say we should break them up. +p2074 +aVYeah, I do. I agree with much of what the Secretary said, but, madam Secretary, it is not one streak. Wall Street is an entity of unbelievable economic and political power. That's a fact. And, I want to say something, and it may sound harsh, not to you, but to the American people. In a sense, in my view, the business model of Wall Street is fraud. It's fraud. I believe that corruption is rampant, and the fact that major bank after major bank has reached multi billion dollar settlements with the United States government when we have a weak regulator system tells me that not only did we have to bail them out once, if we don't start breaking them up, we're going to have to bail them out again, and I do not want to see that happen... +p2075 +aVOf course I can work with them, but let's be clear. When I talked about Boeing and I talked about General Electric, what I was referring to is an outrage. I suspect the secretary agrees request me. Right now you have a loophole such that these guys are putting their profits, multi-billion dollar profitable corporations putting billions of dollars into the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, and other tax havens. And in a given year, Rachel, after making billions of dollars in profit, do you know how much they're paying in taxes to the United States government in a given year? Zero. Now explain to me how that makes any sense at all. So what I have said with regard to Boeing and GE and other multinationals that pay zero taxes, you know what we're going to do? We're going to end that loophole. They are going to pay their fair share of taxes. We're going to use that money to rebuild our infrastructure and create up to 13 million jobs. Can I work with corporations? Are there good corporations doing incredible cutting edge research and development? Absolutely they are. And we should be proud of them. But on the other hand, there are many corporations who have turned their backs on the American worker, who have said, if I can make another nickel in profit by going to China and shutting down in the United States of America, that's what I will do. I will do my best to transform our trade policy and take on these corporations who want to invest in low-income countries around the world rather than in the United States of America. +p2076 +aVOK. Let me agree with much of what the secretary said, but where we have a different background on this issue is we differ on the war in Iraq, which created barbaric organizations like +p2077 +aVWell, I think our great task is to make certain that our young men and women in the military do not get sucked into never- ending, perpetual warfare within the quagmire of Syria and Iraq. And I will do my very best to make sure that that doesn't happen. I agree with the secretary that I think what has to happen\u2014and let me just mention what King Abdullah of Jordan said. I think he hit the nail on the head. And what he said is essentially the war against +p2078 +aVWell, you can't simply withdraw tomorrow. Wish we could, and allow, you know, the Taliban or anybody else to reclaim that country. But what we must do, and what we have seen in recent months, is some progress in Iraq, where finally the Iraqi army, which has not been a particularly effective fighting force, retook Ramadi. +p2079 +aVWell, that's not quite accurate. I did give a speech at Georgetown where I talked about democratic socialism and foreign policy. Maybe I shouldn't have combined the two in the same speech, because the foreign policy part of it didn't get much attention. So, let me take this opportunity to give you a very short speech here on the issue. I think, while it is true that the secretary and I voted differently on the war in Iraq, what is important is that we learn the lesson of the war in Iraq. And that lesson is intrinsic to my foreign policy if elected president, is the United States cannot do it alone. We cannot be the policeman of the world. We are now spending more I believe than the next eight countries on defense. We have got to work in strong coalition with the major powers of the world and with those Muslim countries that are prepared to stand up and take on terrorism. So I would say that the key doctrine of the Sanders administration would be no, we cannot continue to do it alone; we need to work in coalition. +p2080 +aV I fully, fully concede that Secretary Clinton, who was secretary of State for four years, has more experience\u2014hat is not arguable\u2014in foreign affairs. But experience is not the only point, judgment is. And once again, back in 2002, when we both looked at the same evidence about the wisdom of the war in Iraq, one of us voted the right way and one of us didn't. In terms of Iran and in terms of Saudi Arabia, of course they hate each other. That's no great secret. But John Kerry, who is I think doing a very good job, has tried to at least get these people in the room together because both of them are being threatened by +p2081 +aVWell... +p2082 +aVWho said That think we should normalize relations with Iran tomorrow? I never said that. I think we should move forward as quickly as we can. And you're right. They are a sponsor of terrorism around the world and we have to address that. But you know, a number of years ago, people were saying normal relationship with Cuba, what a bad and silly idea. They're Communists, they are our enemy. Well guess what? Change has come. So please don't suggest that I think we normalize relations with Tehran tomorrow. We don't. But I would like to see us move forward, and hopefully some day that will happen. And I would say if I might, Madam Secretary\u2014and you can correct me if I'm wrong. When you ran against Senator Obama you thought him naive because he thought it was a good idea to talk to our enemies. I think those are exactly the people you have to talk to and you have to negotiate with. +p2083 +aVOK. +p2084 +aVI think President Obama had the right idea, and the bottom line is that of course there have to be conditions. But, of course it doesn't do us any good to not talk with our adversaries... +p2085 +aVJust to set the record straight, I very strongly supported the agreement which makes certain that Iran does not get a nuclear weapon. +p2086 +aV... +p2087 +aV +p2088 +aV... No, no... +p2089 +aV... +p2090 +aVClearly North Korea is a very strange situation because it is such an isolated country run by a handful of dictators, or maybe just one, who seems to be somewhat paranoid. And, who had nuclear weapons. And, our goal there, in my view, is to work and lean strongly on China to put as much pressure. China is one of the few major countries in the world that has significant support for North Korea, and I think we got to do everything we can to put pressure on China. I worry very much about an isolated, paranoid country with atomic bombs. I think, clearly, we got to work closely with China to resolve the serious problems we have, and I worry about Putin and his military adventurism in the Crimea and the Ukraine. +p2091 +aV... No, I don't. I worry very, very much about an isolated country. That's what makes me nervous. Russia lives in the world. China lives in the world. North Korea is a very, very strange country because it is so isolated, and I do feel that a nation with nuclear weapons, they have got to be dealt with. Dealt with effectively. +p2092 +aVLet me agree. You know, as the secretary knows, I chaired\u2014I had the privilege and the honor of chairing the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs. And it is interesting to me, you know, Republicans give a lot of speeches about how much they love veterans. I work with the American Legion, the VFW, the DAV, the Vietnam Vets, and virtually every veterans organization to put together the most comprehensive piece of the veterans legislation in the modern history of America. That's what I did. And I brought it to the floor of the Senate. Every Democrat voted for it, I got two Republicans. We ended up with 56 votes and I couldn't get the 60 votes that I needed. That is pathetic. This was legislation supported by all of the veterans organizations, addressing many of the serious problems that veterans face in health care and in how we deliver benefits to them. So Republicans talk a good game about veterans, but when it came to put money on the line to protect our veterans, frankly, they were not there. What I did next, Rachel, is I had to retreat a little bit, I had to compromise. I did work with John McCain. I did work with Jeff Miller over in the House. And we put together not the bill that I wanted, but probably the most comprehensive V.A. health care bill in the modern history of this country. Secretary Clinton is absolutely right, there are people, Koch brothers among others, who have a group called Concerned Veterans of America, funded by the Koch brothers. The Koch brothers, by the way, want to destroy Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, every governmental program passed since the 1930s. Yes, there are people out there who want to privatize it. The last point that I'd make. I had a hearing. I had all of the veterans groups in front of me. And I said to them, tell me when a veteran gets in to the V.A., understanding there are waiting lines and real problems, when a veteran gets into the system, is the quality of care good? Without exception, what they said, good, excellent, very good. We've got to strengthen the V.A. We do not privatize the V.A. +p2093 +aVWell, I agree with the Des Moines Register, but let's not blow this out of proportion. This is not a\u2014this is not, like, a winner-take-all thing. I think where we now stand\u2014correct me if I'm wrong\u2014you have 22 delegates, I have 20 delegates. We need 2,500 delegates to win the nomination. You know, so this is not\u2014this is not the biggest deal in the world. We think, by the way, based on talking to our precinct captains, we may have at least two more delegates. What the Des Moines Register said\u2014you know, there were coin\u2014I think there were half a dozen coin flips\u2014a fairly chaotic type situation. At the end of the day, no matter how it's recounted, it will break roughly even. And by the way, I love and respect the caucus process in Iowa. See, and I don't have to say it, because they voted already. And I love New Hampshire, too, because you haven't voted, but......but, look, I think people are blowing this up out of proportion. But I think we need improvements in the process by which results are determined. +p2094 +aVOh . See, when you are old, then they go back all these years. All right. What have you got? +p2095 +aVWell, you know, a general election is different than a primary and caucus process. But let me just say this. In terms of where we are right now, as you mention, Rachel, in a number of national and state, including New Hampshire. For example, the last poll I saw\u2014there may have been a new one\u2014last one I saw here in New Hampshire, a battleground state, had me defeating Trump by 19; the secretary defeating him by one. There were also pretty large margins in Iowa and Wisconsin. These are polls. Polls go up. Polls go down. But here's why I think I will be, if nominated, the strongest candidate. Democrats win when there is a large voter turnout; when people are excited; when working people, middle class people and young people are prepared to engage in the political process. Republicans win when people are demoralized and you have a small voter turnout, which by the way is why they love voter suppression. I believe that our campaign up to now has shown that we can create an enormous amount of enthusiasm from working people, from young people, who will get involved in the political process and which will drive us to a very large voter turnout. If there is a large voter turnout, not only do we retain the White House, but I think we regain the Senate. We win governors' chairs up and down the line. So I believe if you want to retain the White House, if you want to see Democrats do well across the board, I think our campaign is the one that creates the large voter turnout and helps us win. +p2096 +aV +p2097 +aVI am feeling exactly the way I felt at the first debate. There's a process under way. I will not politicize it. +p2098 +aVAnd by the way\u2014and by the way, if I may, the secretary probably doesn't know that there's not a day that goes by when I am not asked to attack her on that issue, and I have refrained from doing that and I will continue to refrain from doing that. +p2099 +aVNot losing control of our campaign. You know, we have hired a whole lot of people in a rapid way and I am familiar with the first two instances and they are unacceptable, and we have apologized and dealt with that. In terms of the last one, as I understand it, we did not suggest that we had the endorsement of a newspaper. Newspapers who make endorsements also say positive things about other candidates, and to the best of my knowledge, that is what we did. So we never said, never said that somebody, a newspaper endorsed us that did not. What we did say is blah blah blah blah was said by the newspaper. +p2100 +aVBut that was only for\u2014that was not to be on television. That's an important point. That was just something\u2014as the secretary knows, you put titles on ads and you send them out, but there was no word in that ad, none, that said that those newspapers had endorsed us. +p2101 +aV... Look, I hear what the Secretary said, and I understand, but look, there are\u2014all of us know that we have seen in recent years horrible, horrible crimes. It's hard to imagine how people can do, bomb, and kill 168 people in Oklahoma City, or do the Boston Marathon bombing, but this is what I believe, and for a couple of reasons. Number one, too many innocent people, including minorities, African Americans, have been executed when they were not guilty. That's number one. We have to be very careful about making sure about that. But, second of all, and maybe, in a deeper reason, of course there are barbaric acts out there. But, in a world of so much violence and killing, I just don't believe that government itself should be part of the killing. So, when somebody commits......somebody commits any of these terrible crimes that we have seen, you lock them up, and you toss away the key. They're never going to get out. But, I just don't' want to see government be part of killing. That's all. +p2102 +aVAbsolutely. I think the Secretary described the situation appropriately. You know, I don't go around asking for governor's resignations every day. In fact, I think I never have in my life. But I did ask for the resignation of Governor Snyder because his irresponsibility......was so outrageous. What we are talking about are children being poisoned. That's what we're talking about. We don't know, no one knows for sure because they haven't done the appropriate studies, but there's no question that kids' intellectual development may have been impacted. We don't know how many thousands. The idea that there has not been a dramatic response is beyond comprehension. And when you have one of the, I think, significant public health crises of recent years, of course the federal government comes in. And of course the federal government says, you're not going to be poisoning little kids and impacting their entire lives. Last point on this. And I suspect the secretary agrees. One wonders if this were a white suburban community what kind of response there would have been. Flint, Michigan, is a poor community. It is disproportionately African-American and minority. And what has happened there is absolutely unacceptable. +p2103 +aVAbsolutely right. +p2104 +aVChuck, I believe in trade, but I do not believe in unfettered free trade. I believe in fair trade which works for the middle class and working families of this country and not just large multinational corporations. I was not only in opposition to +p2105 +aVNo, let... +p2106 +aV... I am absolutely supportive of comprehensive immigration reform and a path towards citizenship for 11 million people today who are living in the shadows. All right? We got to do that. But you miss\u2014when you looked at the issues, you missed two of the most important. And that is you're not going to accomplish what has to be done for working families and the middle class unless there is campaign finance reform. So long as big money interests control the United States Congress, it is gonna be very hard to do what has to be done for working families. So let me be very clear. No nominee of mine, if I'm elected president, to the United States Supreme Court will get that nomination unless he or she is loud and clear, and says they will vote to overturn Citizens United. Second point\u2014second point is that the only way we make change in terms of health care, in terms of dealing with a broken criminal justice system which, today, allows us to have more people in jail than any other country\u2014largely African-American and Latino\u2014the only way we create millions of jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure or have a tax system that says to the wealthy that they are going to pay their fair share, is when millions of people become involved in the political process. No, you just can't negotiate with Mitch McConnell. Mitch is gonna have to look out the window and see a whole lot of people saying, "Mitch, stop representing the billionaire class. Start listening to working families." And as president, that's what I will work hard on. +p2107 +aVI agree with what the secretary said. We shouldn't be getting ahead of ourselves. And as I have said many times, you know, sometimes in these campaigns, things get a little bit out of hand. I happen to respect the secretary very much, I hope it's mutual. And on our worst days, I think it is fair to say we are 100 times better than any Republican candidate. +p2108 +aVI\u2014my dad came to this country at the age of 17 from Poland. Didn't have any money, couldn't speak English, he died pretty young, and I think it would have been beyond his wildest dreams to see his son up here on this stage today running for president. I love this country and my dad loved this country, and he was the most proud American because of what it gave him in terms of raising his family, even though we never had much money. But today in America, we are the only major country on earth that doesn't guarantee health care to all people, that doesn't guarantee paid family and medical leave. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth. We are seeing millions of families unable to send their kids to college in the United States of America. I'm running for president because I believe it is just too late for establishment politics and establishment economics. I do believe we need a political revolution where millions of people stand up and say loudly and clearly that our government belongs to all of us and not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors. Thank you all. +p2109 +asVBARTIROMO +p2110 +(lp2111 +VTonight we're partnering with the Wall Street Journal to ask questions on the economy that voters want answered. We're also working with Facebook, who tells us that since the first Republican debate, more than 58 million people have joined the political conversation online. More than 9 million are talking specifically about the economy. +p2112 +aVBusinesswoman Carly Fiorina. Ohio Governor John Kasich. And Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. +p2113 +aVWe've asked people on Facebook to submit their questions for the candidates. Seth Bell wrote, "We are approaching $20 trillion in national debt. Specifically, what plans do you have to cut federal spending?" Governor Kasich, you have spoken much about your success in balancing the budget under President Clinton. Today the national debt is at record highs and growing unsustainably. Interest will be the fastest-growing part of the federal budget, tripling over the next 10 years. Social Security, the lifeline of millions of American seniors, is rushing toward insolvency. With all of the tax plans presented tonight, estimated to cost anywhere between $2 trillion and $12 trillion over a decade, what specific steps will you take to balance the budget? +p2114 +aVDid you want to name any specific steps, sir? +p2115 +aVThank you, sir. +p2116 +aVSenator Cruz, the International Monetary Fund recently cut its expectations for economic growth. Many economists expect a recession to hit the U.S. within the next year due to the weakening of manufacturing. The next president will have to deal with it. You say tax reform is a powerful lever to spur economic expansion. You're calling for a 10 percent income tax and a 16 percent business tax. What other elements do you need in this plan to actually create jobs? +p2117 +aVThank you, sir. +p2118 +aVGovernor Bush... +p2119 +aVWe have more questions for you, Governor Kasich, coming up. We have more questions for you, Governor Kasich. +p2120 +aVWe will \u2014 we will certainly get to that. Governor Bush? +p2121 +aVAlmost 40 percent of Americans are without a job and are not looking. Many have given up. That's what the participation rate tells us. You've said your policies will drive the economy back to 4 percent growth, which we haven't seen since the year 2000. What specific regulations would you change? And how will that lead to jobs and growth? +p2122 +aVThank you, sir. +p2123 +aVMr. Trump, a federal appeals court just dealt a blow to the Obama administration's plan to prevent the deportation of 5 million people living in this country illegally. The White House is appealing to the Supreme Court. At the heart of this issue is the effect that illegal immigrants are having on our economy, what will you do about it? +p2124 +aVCan we just send 5 million people back with no effect on economy? +p2125 +aVSo what will you do? +p2126 +aVThank you, sir. +p2127 +aVWe go back to Facebook. Dewayne Wesley Cato asks on Facebook, how do we get rid of regulations choking our businesses? Ms. Fiorina? Specifically, under the president's Affordable Care Act, employers with 50 or more employees are required to offer health insurance, or be fined. Many are opting to pay the fine. Others are cutting back employee hours to duck the law altogether. What specific ways will you alleviate the pressure on small business? +p2128 +aVJust to be clear, you want to repeal Obamacare... ..but, what's the alternative? +p2129 +aVJust to be clear, you say you would repeal Obamacare... +p2130 +aV...But, what is the alternative... +p2131 +aV...and how does that help small business... +p2132 +aV...Thank you... +p2133 +aVSenator Cruz, there isn't anyone in this audience or watching at home tonight who would not like to pay less in taxes. Most people just want a fair shake, and they don't want their money to be wasted. But explain how your plan works. How can you cut taxes as much as you propose without running up debt and deficits? +p2134 +aVBut you haven't told us how to pay for it. +p2135 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Bush, Republican primary voters say tax reform should be a priority for Congress and the administration. But, Governor Bush, how important is tax reform in your domestic policy agenda? Will you guarantee it in the first year of your presidency? +p2136 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2137 +aVThat's right. That's right. +p2138 +aVComing up, the biggest threats facing the next commander-in-chief. You're watching the Republican presidential debate, live tonight from Milwaukee. We'll be right back. +p2139 +aVWelcome back. Welcome back to the Republican presidential debate. The candidates taking the questions you want answered. Also tonight, you can see what America is saying about the debate. Go to Facebook and type #gopdebate into the search box. Now, back to the questions. Americans face security threats at home and abroad. Last year, terrorist attacks rose 61 percent, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace, with the most deaths occurring in just five countries, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Syria. Dr. Carson, you were against putting troops on the ground in Iraq and against a large military force in Afghanistan. Do you support the president's decision to now put 50 special ops forces in Syria and leave 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan? +p2140 +aVWe asked Facebook to take a look at some of the major issues we're talking about, and tackling in this debate tonight. This word cloud shows what people are focusing on the most. The bigger the word, the more the talk. One of the most discussed issues in the last month, homeland security. Governor Bush, what is the biggest threat facing America today? +p2141 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, in 2012 debate, President Obama mocked Mitt Romney's assertion that Russia was the top geopolitical challenge facing the United States, saying he was a Cold War dinosaur. Now, Russia has invaded Ukraine, and has put troops in Syria. You have said you will have a good relationship with Mr. Putin. So, what does President Trump do in response to Russia's aggression? +p2142 +aVThank you, sir. +p2143 +aVThank you, governor. +p2144 +aVSenator Rubio. +p2145 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. +p2146 +aVMore questions \u2014 more questions coming up, when the Republican presidential debate comes right back, live from Milwaukee. Stay with us. +p2147 +aVWelcome back to the fourth Republican presidential debate. Senator Rubio, Hillary Clinton is the clear front runner for the Democratic nomination. If she is indeed the nominee, you will be facing a candidate with an impressive resume. She was the first lady of the United States, a U.S. senator from New York, and secretary of state under Barack Obama. She has arguably more experience, certainly more time in government than almost all of you on stage tonight. Why should the American people trust you to lead this country, even though she has been so much closer to the office? +p2148 +aVSenator Paul, you were one of 15 republicans to vote for an amendment which states that human activity contributed to climate change. President Obama has announced an aggressive plan to cut carbon emissions. At the same time, energy production in America has boomed. Is it possible to continue this boom, and move toward energy self-sufficiency, while at the same time pursuing a meaningful climate change program? +p2149 +aVCarly Fiorina? +p2150 +aVFormer Governor Jeb Bush? +p2151 +aVSenator Ted Cruz? +p2152 +aVHe's funny. +p2153 +aVThank you. +p2154 +asVCLINTON +p2155 +(lp2156 +VThank you. +p2157 +aVI'm running for president to knock down all the barriers that are holding Americans back, and to rebuild the ladders of opportunity that will give every American a chance to advance, especially those who have been left out and left behind. I know a lot of Americans are angry about the economy. And for good cause. Americans haven't had a raise in 15 years. There aren't enough good-paying jobs, especially for young people. And yes, the economy is rigged in favor of those at the top. We both agree that we have to get unaccountable money out of our political system and that we have to do much more to ensure that Wall Street never wrecks main street again. But I want to go further. I want to tackle those barriers that stand in the way of too many Americans right now. African-Americans who face discrimination in the job market, education, housing, and the criminal justice system. Hardworking immigrant families living in fear, who should be brought out of the shadows so they and their children can have a better future. Guaranteeing that women's work finally gets the pay, the equal pay that we deserve. I think America can only live up to its potential when we make sure that every American has a chance to live up to his or her potential. That will be my mission as president. And I think together we will make progress. +p2158 +aVJudy, I think that the best analysis that I've seen based on Senator Sanders plans is that it would probably increase the size of the federal government by about 40%, but what is most concerning to me is that in looking at the plans \u2014 let's take healthcare for example. Last week in a CNN town hall, the Senator told a questioner that the questioner would spend about $500 dollars in taxes to get about $5,000 dollars in healthcare. Every progressive economist who has analyzed that says that the numbers don't add up, and that's a promise that cannot be kept, and it's really important now that we are getting into the rest of the country that both of us are held to account for explaining what we are proposing because, especially with healthcare, this is not about math. This is about people's lives, and we should level with the American people about what we can do to make sure they get quality affordable healthcare. +p2159 +aVI can only say that we both share the goal of universal health care coverage. You know, before it was called Obamacare, it was called Hillarycare. And I took on the drug companies and I took on the insurance companies to try to get us universal health care coverage. And why I am a staunch supporter of President Obama's principal accomplishment \u2014 namely the Affordable Care Act \u2014 is because I know how hard it was to get that done. We are at 90 percent coverage. We have to get the remaining 10. I've set forth very specific plans about how to get costs down, especially prescription drug costs. And it is difficult to in any way argue with the goal that we both share. But I think the American people deserve to know specifically how this would work. If it's Medicare for all, then you no longer have the Affordable Care Act, because the Affordable Care Act, as you know very well, is based on the insurance system, based on exchanges, based on a subsidy system. The Children's Health Insurance Program, which I helped to create, which covers 8 million kids, is also a different kind of program. So if you're having Medicare for all, single-payer, you need to level with people about what they will have at the end of the process you are proposing. And based on every analysis that I can find by people who are sympathetic to the goal, the numbers don't add up, and many people will actually be worse off than they are right now. +p2160 +aVWell, let me just \u2014 let me just say, once again......that, having been in the trenches fighting for this, I believe strongly we have to guarantee health care. I believe we are on the path to doing that. The last thing we need is to throw our country into a contentious debate about health care again. And we are not England. We are not France. We inherited a system that was set up during World War II; 170 million Americans get health insurance right now through their employers. So what we have tried to do and what President Obama succeeded in doing was to build on the health care system we have, get us to 90 percent coverage. We have to get the other 10 percent of the way to 100. I far prefer that and the chances we have to be successful there than trying to start all over again, gridlocking our system, and trying to get from zero to 100 percent. +p2161 +aVNo. But it is absolutely fair and necessary for Americans to vet both of our proposals, to ask the really hard questions about, what is it we think we can accomplish, why do we believe that, and what would be the results for the average American family? In my case, whether it's health care, or getting us to debt-free tuition, or moving us toward paid family leave, I have been very specific about where I would raise the money, how much it would cost, and how I would move this agenda forward. I've tried to be as specific to answer questions so that my proposals can be vetted, because I feel like we have to level with people for the very reason, Gwen, that you are mentioning. There is a great deal of skepticism about the federal government. I'm aware of that. It comes from the right, from the left, from people on all sides of the political spectrum. So we have a special obligation to make clear what we stand for, which is why I think we should not make promises we can't keep, because that will further, I think, alienate Americans from understanding and believing we can together make some real changes in people's lives. +p2162 +aVI will put a price tag. My price tag is about $100 billion a year. And again, paid for. And what I have said is I will not throw us further into debt. I believe I can get the money that I need by taxing the wealthy, by closing loopholes, the things that we are way overdue for doing. And I think once I'm in the White House we will have enough political capital to be able to do that. But I am conscious of the fact that we have to also be very clear, especially with young people, about what kind of government is going to do what for them and what it will cost. +p2163 +aVYou know, I think, again, both of us share the goal of trying to make college affordable for all young Americans. And I have set forth a compact that would do just that for debt-free tuition. We differ, however, on a couple of key points. One of them being that if you don't have some agreement within the system from states and from families and from students, it's hard to get to where we need to go. And Senator Sanders's plan really rests on making sure that governors like Scott Walker contribute $23 billion on the first day to make college free. I am a little skeptical about your governor actually caring enough about higher education to make any kind of commitment like that. +p2164 +aVWell, first, Judy, I have spent my entire adult life working toward making sure that women are empowered to make their own choices, even if that choice is not to vote for me. I believe that it's most important that we unleash the full potential of women and girls in our society. And I feel very strongly that I have an agenda, I have a record that really does respond to a lot of the specific needs that the women in our country face. So I'm going to keep making that case. I'm going to keep making sure that everything I've done, everything that I stand for is going to be well known. But I have no argument with anyone making up her mind about who to support. I just hope that by the end of this campaign there will be a lot more supporting me. That's what I'm working towards. +p2165 +aVWell, look, I think that she's been saying that for as long as I've known her, which is about 25 years. But it doesn't change my view that we need to empower everyone, women and men, to make the best decisions in their minds that they can make. That's what I've always stood for. And when it comes to the issues that are really on the front lines as to whether we're going to have equal pay, paid family leave, some opportunity for, you know, women to go as far as their hard work and talent take them, I think that we still have some barriers to knock down, which is why that's at the core of my campaign. I would note, just for a historic aside, somebody told me earlier today we've had like 200 presidential primary debates, and this is the first time there have been a majority of women on the stage. So, you know, we'll take our progress wherever we can find it. +p2166 +aVYou know, I have said \u2014 I have said many times, you know, I'm not asking people to support me because I'm a woman. I'm asking people to support me because I think I'm the most qualified, experienced, and ready person to be the president and the commander-in-chief. And I appreciate greatly Senator Sanders' voting record. And I was very proud to get the endorsement of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, because I've been a leader on these issues. I have gone time and time again to take on the vested interests who would keep women's health care decisions the province of the government instead of women ourselves. I'm very proud that +p2167 +aVYou know, I completely agree with Senator Sanders. The first speech I gave in this campaign back in April was about criminal justice reform and ending the era of mass incarceration. The statistics from Wisconsin are particularly troubling, because it is the highest rate of incarceration for African-Americans in our nation, twice the national average. And we know of the tragic, terrible event that lead to the death of Dontre Hamilton right here in Milwaukee, a young man unarmed, who should still be with us. His family certainly believes that. And so do I. So we have work to do. There have been some good recommendations about what needs to happen. President Obama's policing commission came out with some. I have fully endorsed those. But we have to restore policing that will actually protect the communities that police officers are sworn to protect. And, then we have to go after sentencing, and that's one of the problems here in Wisconsin because so much of what happened in the criminal justice system doesn't happen at the federal level, it happens at the state and local level. But, I would also add this. There are other racial discrepancies. Really systemic racism in this state, as in others, education, in employment, in the kinds of factors that too often lead from a position where young people, particularly young men, are pushed out of school early, are denied employment opportunities. So, when we talk about criminal justice reform, and ending the era of mass incarceration, we also have to talk about jobs, education, housing, and other ways of helping communities. +p2168 +aVWell, I'm just not sure I agree completely with that assessment. I think under President Obama we have seen a lot of advances, the Affordable Care Act has helped more African Americans than any other group to get insurance, to be taken care of, but we also know a lot more than we did. We have a lot more social media, we have everybody with a cellphone. So, we are seeing the dark side of the remaining systemic racism that we have to root out in our society. I think President Obama has set a great example. I think he has addressed a lot of these issues that have been quite difficult, but he has gone forward. Now, what we have to do is to build on an honest conversation about where we go next. We now have much more information about what must be done to fix our criminal justice system. We now have some good models about how better to provide employment, housing and education. I think what President Obama did was to exemplify the importance of this issue as our first African American president, and to address it both from the President's office, and through his advocacy, such as working with young men, and Mrs. Obama's work with young women. But, we can't rest. We have work to do, and we now know a lot more than we ever did before. So, it's going to be my responsibility to make sure we move forward to solve these problems that are now out in the open. Nobody can deny them. To use the Justice Department, as we just saw, they have said they are going to sue Ferguson, that entered into a consent agreement, and then tried to back out. So, we're going to enforce the law, we're going to change policing practices, we're going to change incarceration practices, but we're also going to emphasize education, jobs, and housing. +p2169 +aVLook, I am deeply concerned about what's happening in every community in America, and that includes white communities, where we are seeing an increase in alcoholism, addiction, earlier deaths. People with a high school education or less are not even living as long as their parents lived. This is a remarkable and horrifying fact. And that's why I've come forward with, for example, a plan to revitalize coal country, the coalfield communities that have been so hard hit by the changing economy, by the reduction in the use of coal. You know, coal miners and their families who helped turn on the lights and power our factories for generations are now wondering, has our country forgotten us? Do people not care about all of our sacrifice? And I'm going to do everything I can to address distressed communities, whether they are communities of color, whether they are white communities, whether they are in any part of our country. I particularly appreciate the proposal that Congressman Jim Clyburn has \u2014 the 10-20-30 proposal \u2014 to try to spend more federal dollars in communities with persistent generational poverty. And you know what? If you look at the numbers, there are actually as many, if not more white communities that are truly being left behind and left out. So, yes, I do think it would be a terrible oversight not to try to address the very real problems that white Americans \u2014 particularly those without a lot of education whose jobs have \u2014 you know, no longer provided them or even no longer present in their communities, because we have to focus where the real hurt is. And that's why, as president, I will look at communities that need special help and try to deliver that. +p2170 +aVI strongly support the president's executive actions. I hope the Supreme Court upholds them. I think there is constitutional and legal authority for the president to have done what he did. I am against the raids. I'm against the kind of inhumane treatment that is now being visited upon families, waking them up in the middle of the night, rounding them up. We should be deporting criminals, not hardworking immigrant families who do the very best they can and often are keeping economies going in many places in our country. I'm a strong supporter of comprehensive immigration reform. Have been ever since I was in the Senate. I was one of the original sponsors of the +p2171 +aVTwo quick responses. One, with respect to the Central American children, I made it very clear that those children needed to be processed appropriately, but we also had to send a message to families and communities in Central America not to send their children on this dangerous journey in the hands of smugglers. I've also called for the end of family detention, for the end of privately-run detention centers, along with private prisons, which I think are really against the common good and the rule of law. And with respect to the 2007 bill, this was Ted Kennedy's bill. And I think Ted Kennedy had a very clear idea about what needed to be done. And I was proud to stand with him and support it. +p2172 +aVWell, that just wasn't \u2014 that just wasn't the fact, Senator. The fact is that there was a great effort made by the Obama administration and others to really send a clear message, because we knew that so many of these children were being abused, being treated terribly while they tried to get to our border. So we have a disagreement on this. I think now what I've called for is counsel for every child so that no child has to face any kind of process without someone who speaks and advocates for that child so that the right decision hopefully can be made. +p2173 +aVI think \u2014 I think it's fair to say we don't have a disagreement. We both believe there has to be more money going into the Social Security system. I've said I'm looking at a couple of different ways, one which you mentioned, Senator, but also trying to expand the existing tax to passive income that wealthy people have so that we do get more revenue into the Social Security Trust Fund. I have a slightly different approach, though, about what we should do with that initially. First, rather than expand benefits for everyone, I do want to take care of low-income seniors who worked at low-wage jobs. I want to take care of women. When the Social Security program was started in the 1930s, not very many women worked. And women have been disadvantaged ever since. They do not get any credit for their care-taking responsibilities. And the people who are often the most hard-hit are widows, because when their spouse dies, they can lose up to one-half of their Social Security monthly payment. So we have no disagreement about the need to buttress Social Security, get more revenue into the program. But I want to start by helping those people who are most at risk, the ones who, yes, are cutting their pills in half, who don't believe they can make the rent, who are worried about what comes next for them. +p2174 +aVWell, Senator, look, I think we're in vigorous agreement here. We both want to get more revenue in. I have yet to see a proposal that you're describing that the \u2014 raising the cap would apply to passive income. That has not been... +p2175 +aVWell, that has not been a part of most of the proposals that I've seen. I'm interested in making sure we get the maximum amount of revenue from those who can well afford to provide it. So I'm going to come up with the best way forward. We're going to end up in the same place. We're going to get more revenue. I'm going to prioritize those recipients who need the most help first. +p2176 +aVI can't speak for the Koch Brothers, you're referring to a Super PAC that we don't coordinate with, that was set up to support President Obama, that has now decided that they want to support me. They are the ones who should respond to any questions. Let's talk about our campaigns. I'm very proud of the fact that we have more than 750 thousand donors, and the vast majority of them are giving small contributions. So, I'm proud of Senator Sanders, and his supporters. I think it's great that Senator Sanders, President Obama and I have more donors than any three people who have every run, certainly on the Democratic side. That's the way it should be, and I'm going to continue to reach out to thank all my online contributors for everything they are doing for me, to encourage them and help me do more just as Senator Sanders is. I think that is the real key here. We both have a lot of small donors. I think that sets us apart from a lot of what's happening right now on the Republican side. The Koch Brothers have a very clear political agenda. It is an agenda, in my view, that would do great harm to our country. We're going to fight it as hard as we can, and we're going to fight whoever the Republicans nominate who will depend on the Koch Brothers, and others. +p2177 +aVWe are mixing apples and oranges. My 750,000 donors have contributed more than a million and a half donations. I'm very proud. That, I think, between the two of us demonstrates the strength of the support we have among people who want to see change in our country. But, the real issue, I think, that the Senator is injecting into this is that if you had a Super PAC, like President Obama has, which now says it wants to support me. It's not my PAC. If you take donations from Wall Street, you can't be independent. I would just say, I debated then Senator Obama numerous times on stages like this, and he was the recipient of the largest number of Wall Street donations of anybody running on the Democratic side ever. Now, when it mattered, he stood up and took on Wall Street. He pushed through, and he passed the Dodd-Frank regulation, the toughest regulations since the 1930's. So, let's not in anyway imply here that either President Obama or myself, would in anyway not take on any vested interested, whether it's Wall Street, or drug companies, or insurance companies, or frankly, the gun lobby to stand up to do what's best for the American people. +p2178 +aVWell, let's just \u2014 let's just follow up on this, because, you know, I've made it very clear that no bank is too big to fail, no executive too powerful to jail, and because of Dodd-Frank, we now have in law a process that the president, the Federal Reserve, and others can use if any bank poses a systemic risk. I think that's a major accomplishment. I agree, however, it doesn't go far enough, because what it focuses on are the big banks, which Senator Sanders has talked about a lot, for good reason. I go further in the plan that I've proposed, which has been called the toughest, most effective, comprehensive plan for reining in the other risks that the financial system could face. It was an investment bank, Lehman Brothers, that contributed to our collapse. It was a big insurance company, AIG. It was Countrywide Mortgage. My plan would sweep all of them into a regulatory framework so we can try to get ahead of what the next problems might be. And I believe that not only Barney Frank, Paul Krugman, and others, have said that what I have proposed is the most effective. It goes in the right direction. We have Dodd-Frank. We can use it to break up the banks, if that's appropriate. But let's not kid ourselves. As we speak, there are new problems on the horizon. I want to get ahead of those, and that's why I've proposed a much more comprehensive approach to deal with all of these... +p2179 +aVAbsolutely. And, you know, there are a number of programs that I think are duplicative and redundant and not producing the results that people deserve. There are a lot of training programs and education programs that I think can be streamlined and put into a much better format so that if we do continue them they can be more useful, in public schools, community colleges, and colleges and universities. I would like to take a hard look at every part of the federal government and really do the kind of analysis that would rebuild some confidence in people that we're taking a hard look about what we have, you know, and what we don't need anymore. And that's what I intend to do. +p2180 +aVLook, I think we are readier than we used to be, but it's a constant effort that has to be undertaken to make sure we are as ready as we need to be. We have made a lot of improvements in our domestic security since 9/11, and we have been able to foil and prevent attacks, yet we see the terrible attack in San Bernardino and know that we haven't done enough. So we have to go after this both abroad and at home. We have to go after terrorist networks, predominantly +p2181 +aVIf I could just respond. Two points. One, Senator Sanders voted in 1998 on what I think is fair to call a regime change resolution with respect to Iraq, calling for the end of Saddam Hussein's regime. He voted in favor of regime change with Libya, voted in favor of the Security Council being an active participate in setting the parameters for what we would do, which of course we followed through on. I do not believe a vote in 2002 is a plan to defeat +p2182 +aVYou did support a U.N. Security Council approach, which we did follow up on. And, look, I think it's important to look at what the most important counterterrorism judgment of the first four years of the Obama administration was, and that was the very difficult decision as to whether or not to advise the president to go after bin Laden. I looked at the evidence. I looked at the intelligence. I got the briefings. I recommended that the president go forward. It was a hard choice. Not all of his top national security advisors agreed with that. And at the end of the day, it was the president's decision. So he had to leave the Situation Room after hearing from the small group advising him and he had to make that decision. I'm proud that I gave him that advice. And I'm very grateful to the brave Navy +p2183 +aVWell, I know journalists have asked who you do listen to on foreign policy, and we have yet to know who that is. +p2184 +aVThat's fine. That's fine. You know, I listen to a wide variety of voices that have expertise in various areas. I think it is fair to say, whatever the complaints that you want to make about him are, that with respect to China, one of the most challenging relationships we have, his opening up China and his ongoing relationships with the leaders of China is an incredibly useful relationship for the United States of America. So if we want to pick and choose \u2014 and I certainly do \u2014 people I listen to, people I don't listen to, people I listen to for certain areas, then I think we have to be fair and look at the entire world, because it's a big, complicated world out there. +p2185 +aVAnd, yes, people we may disagree with on a number of things may have some insight, may have some relationships that are important for the president to understand in order to best protect the United States. +p2186 +aVWell, with respect to Syria, I really do appreciate the efforts that Secretary Kerry has made. The agreement on humanitarian relief now needs to be implemented, because there are enclaves that are literally filled with starving people throughout Syria. The agreement on a cease-fire, though, is something that has to be implemented more quickly than the schedule that the Russians agreed to. You know, the Russians wanted to buy time. Are they buying time to continue their bombardment on behalf of the Assad regime to further decimate what's left of the opposition, which would be a grave disservice to any kind of eventual cease-fire? So I know Secretary Kerry is working extremely hard to try to move that cease-fire up as quickly as possible. But I would add this. You know, the Security Council finally got around to adopting a resolution. At the core of that resolution is an agreement I negotiated in June of 2012 in Geneva, which set forth a cease-fire and moving toward a political resolution, trying to bring the parties at stake in Syria together. This is incredibly complicated, because we've got Iran as a big player, in addition to Russia. We have Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and others who have very important interests in their view. This is one of the areas I've disagreed with Senator Sanders on, who has called for Iranian troops trying to end civil war in Syria, which I think would be a grave mistake. Putting Iranian troops right on the border of the Golan right next to Israel would be a nonstarter for me. Trying to get Iran and Saudi Arabia to work together, as he has suggested in the past, is equally a nonstarter. So let's support what Secretary Kerry and the president are doing, but let's hope that we can accelerate the cease-fire, because I fear that the Russians will continue their bombing, try to do everything they can to destroy what's left of the opposition. And remember, the Russians have not gone after +p2187 +aVWell, I respectfully disagree. I think we have achieved a great deal with the Iranian nuclear agreement to put a lid on the Iranian nuclear weapons program. That has to be enforced absolutely with consequences for Iran at the slightest deviation from their requirements under the agreement. I do not think we should promise or even look toward normalizing relations because we have a lot of other business to get done with Iran. Yes, they have to stop being the main state sponsor of terrorism. Yes, they have to stop trying to destabilize the Middle East, causing even more chaos. Yes, they've got to get out of Syria. They've got to quit sponsoring Hezbollah and Hamas. They have got to quit trying to ship rockets into Gaza that can be used against Israel. We have a lot of work to do with Iran before we ever say that they could move toward normalized relations with us. +p2188 +aV... Senator Sanders, from a debate in 2008, quote what I said. The question was, would you meet with an adversary without conditions? I said no. And in fact, in Obama administration, we did not meet with anybody without conditions. That is the appropriate approach in order to get the results that you are seeking. +p2189 +aVWell, I was pleased that +p2190 +aVI certainly agree with FDR for all the reasons Senator Sanders said. And I agree about the role that he played both in war and in peace on the economy and defeating fascism around the world. I would choose Nelson Mandela for his generosity of heart, his understanding of the need for reconciliation. But I want to \u2014 I want to follow up on something having to do with leadership, because, you know, today Senator Sanders said that President Obama failed the presidential leadership test. And this is not the first time that he has criticized President Obama. In the past he has called him weak. He has called him a disappointment. He wrote a forward for a book that basically argued voters should have buyers' remorse when it comes to President Obama's leadership and legacy. And I just couldn't agree \u2014 disagree more with those kinds of comments. You know, from my perspective, maybe because I understand what President Obama inherited, not only the worst financial crisis but the antipathy of the Republicans in Congress, I don't think he gets the credit he deserves for being a president......who got us out of that......put us on firm ground, and has sent us into the future. And it is a \u2014 the kind of criticism that we've heard from Senator Sanders about our president I expect from Republicans. I do not expect from someone running for the Democratic nomination to succeed President Obama. +p2191 +aVYou know, Senator, what I am concerned about, is not disagreement on issues, saying that this is what I would rather do, I don't agree with the president on that, calling the president weak, calling him a disappointment, calling several times that he should have a primary opponent when he ran for re-election in 2012, you know, I think that goes further than saying we have our disagreements. As a senator, yes, I was a senator. I understand we can disagree on the path forward. But those kinds of personal assessments and charges are ones that I find particularly troubling. +p2192 +aVYou know, we \u2014 we agree that we've got to get unaccountable money out of politics. We agree that Wall Street should never be allowed to wreck Main Street again. But here's the point I want to make tonight. I am not a single-issue candidate, and I do not believe we live in a single-issue country. I think that a lot of what we have to overcome to break down the barriers that are holding people back, whether it's poison in the water of the children of Flint, or whether it's the poor miners who are being left out and left behind in coal country, or whether it is any other American today who feels somehow put down and oppressed by racism, by sexism, by discrimination against the +p2193 +aVWell, I'm happy to be here in New Hampshire for this debate, as we move toward the primary on Tuesday. I believe that America has the opportunity to once again live by our values, live up to our values in the 21st century, but I think that America can only do that if Americans can succeed. And there are lots of reasons why Americans today are feeling left out and left behind. Yes, of course, the economy has not been working for most Americans. Yes, of course, we have special interests that are unfortunately doing too much to rig the game. But there's also the continuing challenges of racism, of sexism, of discrimination against the +p2194 +aVWell, let me start by saying that Senator Sanders and I share some very big progressive goals. I've been fighting for universal healthcare for many years, and we're now on the path to achieving it. I don't want us to start over again. I think that would be a great mistake, to once again plunge our country into a contentious debate about whether we should have and what kind of system we should have for healthcare. I want to build on the progress we've made; got from 90 percent coverage to 100 percent coverage. And I don't want to rip away the security that people finally have; 18 million people now have healthcare; preexisting conditions are no longer a bar. So we have a difference. I also believe in affordable college, but I don't believe in free college, because every expert that I have talked to says, look, how will you ever control the costs. What I want to do is make sure middle class kids, not Donald Trump's kids, get to be able to afford college. I want to get the economy going again. It's not just enough about what we're against, as important as that is. I have a plan to create new jobs, manufacturing, infrastructure, clean energy jobs that will make us the 21st century clean energy super power. I also want to make sure small businesses can start and grow again. And of course, I believe in raising the minimum wage and equal pay for work. But the numbers just don't add up, from what Senator Sanders has been proposing. That's why all of the independent experts, all of the editorial boards that have vetted both of us have concluded that it is just not achievable. Let's go down a path where we can actually tell people what we will do. A progressive is someone who makes progress. That's what I intend to do. +p2195 +aVIf I could just follow up on that. There is no disagreement between us on universal coverage for health care, the disagreement is where do we start from and where do we end up. The Republicans want to repeal the Affordable Care Act, I want to improve it. I want to build on it, get the costs down, get prescription drug costs down. Senator Sanders wants us to start all over again. This was a major achievement of President Obama, of our country. It is helping people right now. I am not going to wait and have us plunge back into a contentious national debate that has very little chance of succeeding. Let's make the Affordable Care Act work for everybody. +p2196 +aVWell because I am a progressive who gets things done. And the root of that word, progressive, is progress. But I've heard Senator Sanders comments, and it's really caused me to wonder who's left in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Under his definition, President Obama is not progressive because he took donations from Wall Street; Vice President Biden is not progressive because she supported Keystone; Senator Shaheen is not progressive because she supports the trade pact. Even the late, great Senator Paul Wellstone would not fit this definition because he voted for +p2197 +aVWell, Chuck... +p2198 +aV... If I could, you know, in the very first debate I was asked am I a moderate or a progressive and I said I'm a progressive who likes to get things done. Cherry picking a quote here or there doesn't change my record of having fought for racial justice, having fought for kids rights, having fought the kind of inequities that fueled my interest in service in the first place going back to my days in the Children's Defense Fund. It certainly didn't stop me from taking on the drug companies and the insurance companies. Before it was called Hillarycare\u2014I mean, before it was called ObamaCare it was called Hillarycare because we took them on, and we weren't successful, but we kept fighting and we got the children's health insurance program. Every step along the way I have stood up, and fought, and have the scars to prove it. So, again......I think it's important that, look, I understand Senator Sanders really trying to distinguish himself. I understand that, that's what you do in campaigns, but at the same time let's not be\u2014in, I think an unfair way, making an accusation, or making an attack about where I stand and about where I've always stood. It is fair to say, Senator, that in your definition, as you being the self-proclaimed gatekeeper for progressivism, I don't know anyone else who fits that definition, but I know a lot of really hard fighting progressives in the Democratic party who have stood up time, and time again against special interests, against the powerful on behalf of those who are left behind and left out. And, that's what we ought to be celebrating. Let's talk about what we would do as President, and Commander in Chief to make sure the progress continues into the future. +p2199 +aV... Well, you began it yesterday with your comments... +p2200 +aVYou know, the person who first put out the idea of a 50-state party strategy is former Governor Howard Dean, who is with us tonight. And I'm very proud and grateful to have the support of so many elected Vermonters and former officials. Two former governors, the current governor, the current other senator. I really appreciate that. And I think it's because they've worked with me, they've seen what I do. They know what kind of a colleague I am. They want me as their partner in the White House. And that's exactly what I will do. We'll get things done together. Democrats, Republicans, independents, we're going to make progress together when I'm president. +p2201 +aVWell, look, I've got to just jump in here because, honestly, Senator Sanders is the only person who I think would characterize me, a woman running to be the first woman president, as exemplifying the establishment. And I've got to tell you that it is......it is really quite amusing to me. People support me because they know me. They know my life's work. They have worked with me and many have also worked with Senator Sanders. And at the end of the day they endorse me because they know I can get things done. I am not going to make promises I can't keep. I am not going to talk about big ideas like single-payer and then not level with people about how much it will cost. A respected health economist said that these plans would cost a trillion dollars more a year. I'm not going to tell people that I will raise your incomes and not your taxes, and not mean it, because I don't want to see the kind of struggle that the middle class is going through exemplified by these promises that would raise taxes and make it much more difficult for many, many Americans to get ahead and stay ahead. That is not my agenda. +p2202 +aVYeah, but I\u2014I think it's fair to really ask what's behind that comment. You know, Senator Sanders has said he wants to run a positive campaign. I've tried to keep my disagreements over issues, as it should be. But time and time again, by innuendo, by insinuation, there is this attack that he is putting forth, which really comes down to\u2014you know, anybody who ever took donations or speaking fees from any interest group has to be bought. And I just absolutely reject that, Senator. And I really don't think these kinds of attacks by insinuation are worthy of you. And enough is enough. If you've got something to say, say it directly. But you will not find that I ever changed a view or a vote because of any donation that I ever received. +p2203 +aVAnd I have stood up and I have represented my constituents to the best of my abilities, and I'm very proud of that. +p2204 +aVSo I think it's time to end the very artful smear that you and your campaign have been carrying out... +p2205 +aV... in recent weeks, and let's talk......let's talk about about the issues. Let's talk about the issues that divide us. +p2206 +aVAnd let's\u2014let's... +p2207 +aV... we both agree with campaign finance reform. +p2208 +aVI\u2014I worked hard for McCain-Feingold. +p2209 +aVI want to reverse Citizens United. +p2210 +aVAnd so\u2014let's talk about issues. +p2211 +aVWell, you know, Senator, I don't think\u2014I don't... +p2212 +aV... I don't think you could find any person in political life today who has been subjected to more attacks and had more money spent against her by special interests, among whom you have named a few, than I. And I'm proud of that. You know, when I took on the drug companies and the insurance companies for universal health care coverage, they went after me with a vengeance. Today, you've got hedge fund billionaires aligned with Karl Rove, running ads against me to try to get Democrats to vote for you. I know this game. I'm going to stop this game. But while we're talking about votes, you're the one who voted to deregulate swaps and derivatives in 2000, which contributed to the over-leveraging of Lehman Brothers, which was one of the culprits that brought down the economy. So I don't know\u2014I'm not impugning your motive because you voted to deregulate swaps and derivatives. People make mistakes and I'm certainly not saying you did it for any kind of financial advantage. What we've got to do as Democrats\u2014what we've got to do as Democrats is to be united to actually solve these problems. And what I believe is that I have a better track record and a better opportunity to actually get that job done. That's what this election should be about. +p2213 +aVOn the issue of Wall Street. +p2214 +aVWell you know, Rachel, I think I may not have done the job I should in explaining my record. You know, I did\u2014when I left the secretary of State's office, like so many former officials, military leaders, journalists, others, I did go on the speaking circuit. I spoke to heart doctors, I spoke to the American Camping Association, I spoke to auto dealers, and yes, I spoke to firms on Wall Street. They wanted me to talk about the world, what my experience had been as secretary of State. But what I want people to know is I went to Wall Street before the crash. I was the one saying you're going to wreck the economy because of these shenanigans with mortgages. I called to end the carried interest loophole that hedge fund managers enjoy. I proposed changes in CEO compensation. I called for a consumer protection financial bureau before it was created. And I think the best evidence that the Wall Street people at least know where I stand and where I have always stood is because they are trying to beat me in this primary. They have collected and spent as much as $6 million on these ads. Hedge fund billionaires, Karl Rove, another billionaire, jumped in. And why are they doing that? These are guys who try to make smart investments. They know my record, they know me, they know that I say what I believe and I will do it. And I also have a pretty good understanding about how to stop them. So I do want people to know that, and I think it's important for everybody to understand I have a record, I have stood firm and I will be the person who prevents them from ever wrecking the economy again. +p2215 +aVIf I could, let me just say that of course it has to change. It has to change. And that's why I have put forward a plan to do just that. And it's been judged to be the toughest, most effective and comprehensive one. I have great respect for Senator Sanders's commitment to try to restore Glass-Steagall. But I do not believe that that is enough. And in fact, I don't believe it really addresses a lot of the biggest issues we have. You know, we now have power under the Dodd-Frank legislation to break up banks. And I've said I will use that power if they pose a systemic risk. But I want to go further, because it was investment banks, it was insurance companies, it was mortgage companies, all of which contributed. So let's not just be narrowly focused on one part of the problem. We have a lot of issues with corporate power that have to be addressed. My plan takes us further and it would do the job. +p2216 +aVLook we have a law\u2014look, you know, I\u2014I appreciate the senator's advocacy. We have a law. It was passed. It was signed by President Obama. It lays out a process that you go through to determine whether a systemic risk is posed. And by the way, President Obama signed that, pushed it through, even though he took donations from Wall Street, because he's a responsible president. So we have a law in place. If the circumstances warrant it, I will certainly use it. And from what you say, I know you will as well. But that is not enough. And I keep going back to this because part of the reason the Wall Street guys are trying so hard to stop me\u2014the hedge fund guys, the shadow banking guys\u2014is because I've got their number on all of that. And my plan goes so much further to try to prevent the problems of the future. You know, we can't just fight the last war. We've got to be prepared to stop these guys if they ever try to use their economic power once again, to hurt the economy, and to hurt so many Americans. And my plan, Paul Krugman, Barney Frank, a lot of experts who understand what the new challenges might be, have said I am exactly on point, and the Wall Street guys actually know that. +p2217 +aVI will look into it. I don't know the status, but I will certainly look into it. But, I can only repeat what is the fact that I spoke to a lot of different groups with a lot of different constituents, a lot of different kinds of members about issues that had to do with world affairs. I probably described more times than I can remember how stressful it was advising the President about going after Bin Laden. My view on this is look at my record. Look at what I am proposing, and\u2014we have a vigorous agreement here. We both want to reign in the excesses of Wall Street. I also want to reign in the excesses of Johnson Controls that we bailed out when they were an autoparts company, and we saved the auto industry, and now they want to avoid paying taxes. I want to go after the pharmaceutical companies like Valeant, and Turns that are increasing prices without any regard to the impact on people's health. Now, if all we're going to talk about is one part of our economy, and indeed one streak in our economy, we're missing the big oil companies. We're missing other big energy companies. We're missing the big picture, and I have a record of trying to go at the problems that actually exist, and I will continue to do that. +p2218 +aV... Well, Senator, no one wants to see that happen. I mean, look, I care deeply about this because just like you I have met so many people who had their life savings wiped out, who lost their homes, who are barely back with their heads above water. This was a disaster for our country, and we can never let that happen again. We have no disagreement about this. But, I think it's a broader target list than just Wall Street, and I believe that we have to be very focused on how we try to take back the power and increase the empowerment of the American people. And, I think I have that kind of experience, maybe because they've beat me up for so many years, and I know exactly how to handle them because I've been in the arena with them time and time again. +p2219 +aVWell, I think what the president understands, and what he's trying to do, is that we have to support the Arab and Kurdish fighters on the ground who are actually doing the fighting. I agree with the president. I've said myself, we will not send American combat troops back to either Syria or Iraq\u2014that is off the table. But we do have special forces, we do have trainers, we do have the military personnel who are helping with the airstrikes that the United States is leading so that we can try to take out +p2220 +aVNo. I mean, of course that's a theoretical question, and we don't know what it would be for, and we don't know how many numbers there are. I am against American combat troops being in Syria and Iraq. I support special forces. I support trainers. I support the air campaign. And I think we're making some progress. I want to continue to intensify that, and that's exactly what the president is doing. +p2221 +aVIf I could\u2014if I could... +p2222 +aV... respectfully add\u2014look, we did differ. A vote in 2002 is not a plan to defeat +p2223 +aVOh, absolutely. The president decided to leave more troops than he had originally planned in Afghanistan. We have a very cooperative government there, with Ashraf Ghani and his top\u2014his top partner, Abdullah. And they are doing their very best. And the Afghan army is actually fighting. The Afghan army is taking heavy losses defending Afghan territory. And I would have to make an evaluation based on the circumstances at the time I took office as to how much help they continue to need. Because it's not just the Taliban. We now are seeing outposts of, you know, fighters claiming to be affiliated with +p2224 +aVA group of national security experts, military intelligence experts, issued a very concerning statement about Senator Sanders's views on foreign policy and national security, pointing out some of the comments he has made on these issues, such as inviting Iranian troops into Syria to try to resolve the conflict there; putting them right at the doorstep of Israel. Asking Saudi Arabia and Iran to work together, when they can't stand each other and are engaged in a proxy battle right at this moment. So I do think questions have been raised and questions have to be answered because when New Hampshire voters go on Tuesday to cast your vote, you are voting both for a president and a commander in chief. And there is no way to predict what comes in the door of that White House from day to day that can pose a threat to the United States or one of our friends and allies, and I think this is a big part of the job interview that we are all conducting with the voters here. +p2225 +aVWell, let me just add that, you know, I've said this before and I'm very proud of it, that when it comes to judgment, having run a hard race against Senator Obama at the time, he turned to me to be secretary of State. And when it comes to the biggest counterterrorism issues that we faced in this administration, namely whether or not to go after bin Laden, I was at that table, I was exercising my judgment to advise the president on what to do, on that, on Iran, on Russia on China, on a whole raft of issues. Because I know from my own experience that you've got to be ready on day one. There is just too much unpredictable threat and danger in the world today, you know, to try to just say wait, I'll get to that when I can. That is just not an acceptable approach. +p2226 +aVAbsolutely. You know, I did put together the coalition to impose sanctions. I actually started the negotiations that led to the nuclear agreement, sending some much my closest aides to begin the conversations with the Iranians. I'm very pleased we got that nuclear agreement. It puts a lid on the nuclear weapons program. We have to enforce it, there have to be consequences attached to it. But that is not our only problem with Iran. We have to figure out how to deal with Iran as the principal state sponsor of terrorism in the world. They are destabilizing governments in the region. They continue to support Hezbollah and Hamas in Lebanon against Israel. A lot of work that we have do is going to be incredibly hard. I'm prepared to do that work, but I believe, just as I did with imposing the sanctions, you have to get action for action. If we were to normalize relations right now, we would remove one of the biggest pieces of leverage we have to try to influence and change Iranian behavior. The president doesn't think we should. I certainly don't think we should. I believe we have to take this step by step to try to reign in Iranian aggression, their support for terrorism and the other bad behavior that can come back and haunt us. +p2227 +aVWell Senator, let me just correct the record if I can. You know\u2014let me correct the record. +p2228 +aVAs I\u2014as I certainly recall, the question was to meet with without conditions. And you're right, I was against that. I was against it then I would be against it now. +p2229 +aVPart of diplomacy, the hard work of diplomacy is trying to extract whatever concessions you can get, and giving something the other side wants. Of course you've got to try to make peace with, and work with those who are your adversaries, but you don't just rush in, open the door, and say, "Here I am. Let's talk and make a deal." That's not the way it works. +p2230 +aV... Well, we set conditions on Iran. We worked hard to get them established, and to be enforced, and then we talked. That's exactly the right......and, that's what I did with the President, so he and I are on the very same page. +p2231 +aVI haven't talked to Secretary Carter, but here's what I would think he's planning. We do have the nuclear weapons agreement with Iran, that's an enforcement consequence, action for action, follow on. We have a plan, we will watch them, we will be vigilant. We do have to worry about North Korea. They continue to develop their nuclear weapons capability, and they're working very hard on their ballistic missile capability. And, I know that some of those plans could very well lead to a missile that might reach Hawaii, if not the West Coast. We do have to try to get the countries in the region to work with us to do everything we can to confine, and constrain them. But, what Secretary Carter is looking at is the constant pressure that Russia's putting on our European allies. The way that Russia is trying to move the boundaries of the post-World War II Europe. The way that he is trying to set European countries against one another, seizing territory, holding it in Crimea. Beginning to explore whether they could make some inroads in the Baltics. We know that they are deeply engaged in supporting Assad because they want to have a place in the Middle East. They have a naval base, they have an air base in Syria. They want to hang on to that. I think what Secretary Carter is seeing, and I'm glad he is, is that we got to get +p2232 +aVWell, first of all, I'm absolutely against privatizing the V.A. And I am going do everything I can to build on the reforms that Senator Sanders and others in Congress have passed to try to fix what's wrong with the V.A. There are a lot of issues about wait times and services that have to be fixed because our veterans deserve nothing but the best. But you're absolutely right, you know, Rachel, this is another part of the Koch brothers agenda. They've actually formed an organization to try to begin to convince Americans we should no longer have guaranteed health care, specialized care for our veterans. I will fight that as hard as I can. I think there's where we can enlist the veterans service organizations, the veterans of America, because, yes, let's fix the V.A., but we will never let it be privatized, and that is a promise. +p2233 +aVWhatever they decide to do, that's fine. +p2234 +aVAll right. +p2235 +aVI can only tell you what I believe, and that is that I am the strongest candidate to take it to the Republicans and win in November. And I say that with great\u2014with great respect for the campaign that Senator Sanders has been running. I personally am thrilled at the numbers of people, and particularly young people who are coming to support your campaign. I hope that I will be able to earn their support. They may not support me now, but I support them and we'll work together. But what I'm concerned about is the views of many Democrats who know their states, who know how hard it is to win a general election. And it also will push whoever the nominee is into the spotlight. I've been vetted. There's hardly anything you don't know about me. And I think it's fair to say that whoever is in that position, Senator Sanders or anyone else who might have run, will face the most withering onslaught. So, I think that I am the person who can do all aspects of the job. I think I'm the person best prepared to take the case to the Republicans. And I think that at the end of the day, it's not so much electability. It is who the American people can believe can keep them safe, can get the economy moving again, can get incomes rising, can build on the progressive accomplishments of President Obama. And I think that the coalition that President Obama put together to win twice is a coalition that I can put together and add to. And that's what I'm prepared to... +p2236 +aVAbsolutely I can. You know, before it was emails, it was Benghazi, and the Republicans were stirring up so much controversy about that. And I testified for 11 hours, answered their questions. They basically said yeah, didn't get her. We tried. That was all a political ploy. Now, we had a development in the email matter today when it came out that Secretary Powell and close aides to Former Secretary Rice used private e-mail accounts. and now you have these people in the government who are doing the same thing to Secretary Powell and Secretary Rice's aide they've been doing to me, which is that I never sent or received any classified material. They are retroactively classifying it. I agree completely with Secretary Powell, who said today this is an absurdity. And so I think the American people will know it's an absurdity. I have absolutely no concerns about it whatsoever. +p2237 +aVI am 100 percent confident. This is a security review that was requested. It is being carried out. It will be resolved. But I have to add if there's going to be a security review about me, there's going to have to be security reviews about a lot of other people, including Republican office holders, because we've got this absurd situation of retroactive classifications. Honest to goodness, this is\u2014this just beggars the imagination. So I have absolutely no concerns about it, but we've got to get to the bottom of what's really going on here, and I hope that will happen. +p2238 +aVNo. +p2239 +aVYes, I do. And\u2014you know, what I hope the Supreme Court will do is make it absolutely clear that any state that continues capital punishment either must meet the highest standards of evidentiary proof of effective assistance of counsel or they cannot continue it because that, to me, is the real dividing line. I have much more confidence in the federal system, and I do reserve it for particularly heinous crimes in the federal system, like terrorism. I have strong feelings about that. I thought it was appropriate after a very thorough trial that Timothy McVeigh received the death penalty for blowing up the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people, including 19 children in a daycare center. I do for very limited, particularly heinous crimes believe it is an appropriate punishment, but I deeply disagree with the way that too many states are still implementing it. If it were possible to separate the federal from the state system by the Supreme Court, that would, I think, be an appropriate outcome. +p2240 +aVAbsolutely. Absolutely. You know, Rachel, you and I have talked about this before. I thank you for going to Flint to hold that town hall. I will be in Flint at the Mayor's invitation on Sunday to get an in depth briefing about what is, and is not happening. This is an emergency. Everyday that goes by that these people, particularly the children, are not tested so we can know what steps must be taken to try to remediate the effects of the poisoning that they have been living with is a day lost in a child's life. I know from the work that I've done over so many years, lead, the toxic nature of lead can affect you brain development, your body development, your behavior. I absolutely believe that what is being done is not sufficient. We need to be absolutely clear about everything that should be done from today to tomorrow, into the future to try to remedy the terrible burden that the people of Flint are barring. That includes fixing their pipes, it includes guaranteeing whatever healthcare and educational embellishments they may need going forward, and I think the federal government has way where it can bill the state of Michigan. If Michigan won't do it, there have to be ways that we can begin to move, and then make them pay for it, and hold them accountable. +p2241 +aVYou know, Chuck, I've only had responsibility for voting for trade agreements as a senator. And I voted a multinational trade agreement when I was senator, the +p2242 +aVWell, I\u2014I don't accept that premise, Chuck. I think that we've got so much business we have to do. We've talked a lot tonight about what we're against\u2014we're against income inequality. We're against the abuses of powerful interests. We're against a lot of things. I'm for a lot of things. I don't want to just stop bad things from happening, I want to start good things from happening. And I believe, if I'm so fortunate to get the nomination, I will begin to work immediately on putting together an agenda, beginning to talk with members of Congress and others about how we can push forward. I want to have half a billion more solar panels deployed, the first four years. I want to have enough clean energy to power every home the next four years. I want us to keep working on the Affordable Care Act, to get not only to 100 percent coverage, but bring down the costs of prescription drugs and out-of-pocket costs. I want to move forward on paid family leave, on early childhood education, I want us to do more for small businesses. Small businesses have to create most of the jobs, and we're not creating and growing small businesses. I think, if you have a smart agenda, you pick the committees that you know have to begin to work on these various pieces\u2014because that's the way Congress is set up. You go through different committees, and you really make a big push in the beginning. Immigration reform, economic revitalization with manufacturing, with infrastructure\u2014we put it out there, and we begin to work on an ambitious, big, bold agenda that will actually produce the results that I want to see for our country. +p2243 +aVThe answer to both of those is no. I'm interested in making what we have work better. I want to streamline programs that are duplicative and redundant. I want to have a top-to-bottom review about what works and what doesn't work, and be absolutely clear we're getting rid of what doesn't work. I have had the opportunity to run a big agency. I was very flattered when Henry Kissinger said I ran the State Department better\u2014better than anybody had run it in a long time. So I have an idea of what it's going to take to make our government work more efficiently. And when you put together a budget, you have to make a lot of hard decisions, but I think it's not appropriate to say "I'm going to get rid of this, get rid of that" until you have a very good process that gives you the information about what to do. But I want to add something else, you know, because look, we have so much work to do in our country, and I think it's the greatest work that Americans will be called to do. And of course, we have to have people in every community involved in it. We have to have the political voice, the political grassroots speaking up and speaking out about what we have to try to accomplish in Washington. But we also need to have a very clear set of goals that we are going to achieve, and we need to level with the American people about what they are, what they will cost, what will be expected of our citizenry. So I see as president having a constant dialogue with Americans here's what we're trying to get done, here's why I need your help, here's why you may think comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship isn't something you care about, but I'm telling you it will help fix the labor market, it will bring people out of the shadows\u2014 +p2244 +aVI never said that. +p2245 +aVLook... +p2246 +aVWell, I'm certainly going to unite the party, but I'm not\u2014I'm not getting ahead of myself. I think that would be a little bit presumptuous. If I'm so fortunate as to be the nominee, the first person I will call to talk to about where we go and how we get it done will be Senator Sanders. +p2247 +aVThat's true. That's true. +p2248 +aVWell first, thanks to +p2249 +asVTRUMP +p2250 +(lp2251 +VThank you. I began this journey six months ago. My total focus was on building up our military, building up our strength, building up our borders, making sure that China, Japan, Mexico, both at the border and in trade, no longer takes advantage of our country. Certainly would never have made that horrible, disgusting, absolutely incompetent deal with Iran where they get $150 billion. They're a terrorist nation. But I began it talking about other things. And those things are things that I'm very good at and maybe that's why I'm center stage. People saw it. People liked it. People respected it. A month ago things changed. Radical Islamic terrorism came into effect even more so than it has been in the past. People like what I say. People respect what I say. And we've opened up a very big discussion that needed to be opened up. Thank you very much. +p2252 +aVWe are not talking about isolation. We're talking about security. We're not talking about religion. We're talking about security. Our country is out of control. People are pouring across the southern border. I will build a wall. It will be a great wall. People will not come in unless they come in legally. Drugs will not pour through that wall. As far as other people like in the migration, where they're going, tens of thousands of people having cell phones with +p2253 +aVJeb doesn't really believe I'm unhinged. He said that very simply because he has failed in this campaign. It's been a total disaster. Nobody cares. And frankly, I'm the most solid person up here. I built a tremendous company and all I want to do is make America great again. I don't want our country to be taken away from us, and that's what's happening. The policies that we've suffered under other presidents have been a disaster for our country. We want to make America great again. And Jeb, in all fairness, he doesn't believe that. +p2254 +aVWell, look, this is so easy to answer. +p2255 +aVI would certainly be open to closing areas where we are at war with somebody. I sure as hell don't want to let people that want to kill us and kill our nation use our Internet. Yes, sir, I am. +p2256 +aVWe have to be much tougher. We have to be much stronger than we've been. We have people that know what is going on. You take a look at just the attack in California the other day. There were numerous people, including the mother, that knew what was going on. They saw a pipe bomb sitting all over the floor. They saw ammunition all over the place. They knew exactly what was going on. When you had the World Trade Center go, people were put into planes that were friends, family, girlfriends, and they were put into planes and they were sent back, for the most part, to Saudi Arabia. They knew what was going on. They went home and they wanted to watch their boyfriends on television. I would be very, very firm with families. Frankly, that will make people think because they may not care much about their lives, but they do care, believe it or not, about their families' lives. +p2257 +aVLook, the problem is we need toughness. Honestly, I think Jeb is a very nice person. He's a very nice person. But we need tough people. We need toughness. We need intelligence and we need tough. Jeb said when they come across the southern border they come as an act of love. +p2258 +aVAm I talking or are you talking, Jeb? +p2259 +aVYou can go back. You're not talking. You interrupted me. +p2260 +aVAre you going to apologize, Jeb? No. Am I allowed to finish? +p2261 +aVExcuse me, am I allowed to finish? +p2262 +aVSo... +p2263 +aV... again... +p2264 +aVI know you're trying to build up your energy, Jeb, but it's not working very well. +p2265 +aVLook, look, look. We need a toughness. We need strength. We're not respected, you know, as a nation anymore. We don't have that level of respect that we need. And if we don't get it back fast, we're just going to go weaker, weaker and just disintegrate. We can't allow that to happen. We need strength. We don't have it. When Jeb comes out and he talks about the border, and I saw it and I was witness to it, and so was everyone else, and I was standing there, "they come across as an act of love," he's saying the same thing right now with radical Islam. And we can't have that in our country. It just won't work. We need strength. +p2266 +aVWith Jeb's attitude, we will never be great again, that I can tell you. We will never be great again. +p2267 +aVSo, they can kill us, but we can't kill them? That's what you're saying. And as far as the Internet is concerned, we're not talking about closing the Internet. I'm talking about parts of Syria, parts of Iraq, where +p2268 +aVIn my opinion, we've spent $4 trillion trying to topple various people that frankly, if they were there and if we could've spent that $4 trillion in the United States to fix our roads, our bridges, and all of the other problems; our airports and all of the other problems we've had, we would've been a lot better off. I can tell you that right now. We have done a tremendous disservice, not only to Middle East, we've done a tremendous disservice to humanity. The people that have been killed, the people that have wiped away, and for what? It's not like we had victory. It's a mess. The Middle East is totally destabilized. A total and complete mess. I wish we had the $4 trillion or $5 trillion. I wish it were spent right here in the United States, on our schools, hospitals, roads, airports, and everything else that are all falling apart. +p2269 +aVWell, there's nothing to respond to. Well, people feel differently. I mean, the fact is Benghazi was a disaster because of Libya, everything just fell into place. It could not have been worse. What do we have now? We have nothing. We've spent $3 trillion and probably much more \u2013 I have no idea what we've spent. Thousands and thousands of lives, we have nothing. Wounded warriors all over the place who I love, we have nothing for it. And by the way \u2013 and Ben said incorrectly \u2013 and I'm not saying this as a knock \u2013 he's one of finest men. You're not going to find a finer men. But I've been talking about oil for three years. I've been saying,, "take the oil, take the oil." I didn't say, "just bomb it," I said," take it and use it and distribute it so that the wounded warriors -" People, I've been saying this now for many years. +p2270 +aVNow, all of a sudden everybody's saying, "take the oil." It wasn't so fashionable to take the oil six months ago. I've been saying it for years. +p2271 +aVI think Assad is a bad guy, a very bad guy, all right? Lots of people killed. I think we are backing people we have no idea who they are. The rebels, we call them the rebels, the patriotic rebels. We have no idea. A lot of people think, Hugh, that they are +p2272 +aVI think it's very sad that CNN leads Jeb Bush, Governor Bush, down a road by starting off virtually all the questions, "Mr. Trump this, Mister" \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched the first debate, and the first long number of questions were, "Mr. Trump said this, Mr. Trump said that. Mr. Trump" \u2014 these poor guys \u2014 although, I must tell you, Santorum, good guy. Governor Huckabee, good guy. They were very nice, and I respect them greatly. But I thought it was very unfair that virtually the entire early portion of the debate was Trump this, Trump that, in order to get ratings, I guess. In order to get ratings, I guess. +p2273 +aVI just think it's very \u2014 excuse me. +p2274 +aVExcuse me. I think it's very unprofessional. +p2275 +aVWell, I think it's very unprofessional. +p2276 +aVOK, fine. +p2277 +aVThis isn't tough and easy. I wish it... +p2278 +aVI wish it was always this easy as you, Jeb. +p2279 +aVOh, yeah. +p2280 +aVOh, I know. You're a tough guy, Jeb. I know. +p2281 +aVYou're tough. +p2282 +aVWell, let's see. I'm at 42, and you're at 3. So, so far, I'm doing better. +p2283 +aVSo far, I'm doing better. You know, you started off over here, Jeb. You're moving over further and further. Pretty soon you're going to be off the end... +p2284 +aVI believe I did. +p2285 +aVI have a very hardline position, we have a country or we don't have a country. People that have come into our country illegally, they have to go. They have to come back into through a legal process. I want a strong border. I do want a wall. Walls do work, you just have to speak to the folks in Israel. Walls work if they're properly constructed. I know how to build, believe me, I know how to build. I feel a very, very strong bind, and really I'm bound to this country, we either have a border or we don't. People can come into the country, we welcome people to come but they have to come in legally. +p2286 +aVWell, first of all, I think we need somebody absolutely that we can trust, who is totally responsible; who really knows what he or she is doing. That is so powerful and so important. And one of the things that I'm frankly most proud of is that in 2003, 2004, I was totally against going into Iraq because you're going to destabilize the Middle East. I called it. I called it very strongly. And it was very important. But we have to be extremely vigilant and extremely careful when it comes to nuclear. Nuclear changes the whole ball game. Frankly, I would have said get out of Syria; get out \u2014 if we didn't have the power of weaponry today. The power is so massive that we can't just leave areas that 50 years ago or 75 years ago we wouldn't care. It was hand-to-hand combat. The biggest problem this world has today is not President Obama with global warming, which is inconceivable, this is what he's saying. The biggest problem we have is nuclear \u2014 nuclear proliferation and having some maniac, having some madman go out and get a nuclear weapon. That's in my opinion, that is the single biggest problem that our country faces right now. +p2287 +aVI think \u2014 I think, for me, nuclear is just the power, the devastation is very important to me. +p2288 +aVI did. +p2289 +aVLet me just say that I have gotten to know him over the last three or four days. He has a wonderful temperament. He's just fine. Don't worry about it. +p2290 +aVYou better not attack... +p2291 +aVI really am. I'll be honest, I really am. I mean, the people have been putting me... I really am. +p2292 +aVLet me just. Can I just finish my... +p2293 +aVI've gained great respect for the Republican leadership. I've gained great respect for many \u2014 and I'm going to even say \u2014 I mean, in different forms for the people on the dais, in different forms. In different forms. But I have great respect for the people I have met through this process. I've never done this process before. I've never been a politician. I mean, for the last six months I've been a politician. But I will tell you, I am totally committed to the Republican Party. I feel very honored to be the front runner. And I think I'll do very well if I'm chosen. If I'm so fortunate to be chosen, I think I'll do very well. Polls have come out recently saying I would beat Hillary. I will do everything in my power to beat Hillary Clinton, I promise you. +p2294 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We don't win on trade. We don't win on the military. We can't defeat +p2295 +aVI can't be Neil. And the and the reason I can't be is that we are a country that is being beaten on every front economically, militarily. There is nothing that we do now to win. We don't win anymore. Our taxes are too high. I've come up with a tax plan that many, many people like very much. It's going to be a tremendous plan. I think it'll make our country and our economy very dynamic. But, taxes too high, wages too high, we're not going to be able to compete against the world. I hate to say it, but we have to leave it the way it is. People have to go out, they have to work really hard and have to get into that upper stratum. But we can not do this if we are going to compete with the rest of the world. We just can't do it. +p2296 +aVI would not do it. +p2297 +aVI was so happy yesterday when I saw that decision come down. That was an unbelievable decision. And we don't have enough of those decisions coming down. He of the executive order, because nobody wants to listen to him, including the Democrats, so he just goes around signing executive orders. That was a great day. And, frankly, we have to stop illegal immigration. It's hurting us economically. It's hurting us from every standpoint. It's causing tremendous difficulty with respect to drugs and what that does to many of our inner cities in particular. And it really is \u2014 was such an unbelievable moment because the courts have not been ruling in our favor. And it was a 2-1 decision. And it was a terrific thing that happened. And I will tell you, we are a country of laws. We need borders. We will have a wall. The wall will be built. The wall will be successful. And if you think walls don't work, all you have to do is ask Israel. The wall works, believe me. Properly done. Believe me. +p2298 +aVYou are going to have to bring people \u2014 you are going to have to send people out. Look, we're a country... +p2299 +aVMaria, we're a country of laws. We either have a country or we don't have a country. We are a country of laws. Going to have to go out and they will come back but they are going to have to go out and hopefully they get back. But we have no choice if we're going to run our country properly and if we're going to be a country. +p2300 +aVAll I can say is, you're lucky in Ohio that you struck oil. That is for one thing. Let me just tell you that Dwight Eisenhower, good president, great president, people liked him. "I like Ike," right? The expression. "I like Ike." Moved a 1.5 million illegal immigrants out of this country, moved them just beyond the border. They came back. Moved them again beyond the border, they came back. Didn't like it. Moved them way south. They never came back. Dwight Eisenhower. You don't get nicer. You don't get friendlier. They moved a 1.5 million out. We have no choice. We have no choice. +p2301 +aVNo, it's unfair. +p2302 +aV... built an unbelievable company worth billions and billions of dollars. I don't have to hear from this man, believe me. I don't have to hear from him. +p2303 +aVWe have millions of people right now on line trying to come into this country. Very, very unfair to the people that want to come into our country legally. They've gone through the process. They're on line. They're waiting. Very, very unfair to them. That I can tell you. +p2304 +aVYes. +p2305 +aVNo, I'm sorry. No, excuse me. I was there. +p2306 +aVPlease, if I could just... +p2307 +aVWe have to make our military bigger, better, stronger than ever before so that nobody messes with us, and a long run, it's going to save us. I agree with Marco, I agree with Ted, we have no choice. And, I can tell you this with certainty. We all have a different tax plan. Some I don't totally agree with. One thing we understand, each one of those tax plans is better than the mess that we have right now. +p2308 +aV...Yes... +p2309 +aV...Yeah... +p2310 +aV...It's a horrible deal... +p2311 +aVThe TPP is horrible deal. It is a deal that is going to lead to nothing but trouble. It's a deal that was designed for China to come in, as they always do, through the back door and totally take advantage of everyone. It's 5,600 pages long. So complex that nobodies read it. It's like Obamacare; nobody ever read it. They passed it; nobody read it. And look at mess we have right now. And it will be repealed. But this is one of the worst trade deals. And I would, yes, rather not have it. With all of these countries, and all of the bad ones getting advantage and taking advantage of what the good ones would normally get, I'd rather make individual deals with individual countries. We will do much better. We lose a fortune on trade. The United States loses with everybody. We're losing now over $500 billion in terms of imbalance with China, $75 billion a year imbalance with Japan. By the way, Mexico, $50 billion a year imbalance. So I must say, Gerard, I just think it's a terrible deal. I love trade. I'm a free trader, 100 percent. But we need smart people making the deals, and we don't have smart people making the deals. +p2312 +aVYes. Well, the currency manipulation they don't discuss in the agreement, which is a disaster. If you look at the way China and India and almost everybody takes advantage of the United States \u2014 China in particular, because they're so good. It's the number-one abuser of this country. And if you look at the way they take advantage, it's through currency manipulation. It's not even discussed in the almost 6,000-page agreement. It's not even discussed. +p2313 +aVAnd as you understand, I mean, you understand very well from the Wall Street Journal, currency manipulation is the single great weapon people have. They don't even discuss it in this agreement. So I say, it's a very bad deal, should not be approved. If it is approved, it will just be more bad trade deals, more loss of jobs for our country. We are losing jobs like nobody's ever lost jobs before. I want to bring jobs back into this country. +p2314 +aVWell, first of all, it's not only Russia. We have problems with North Korea where they actually have nuclear weapons. You know, nobody talks about it, we talk about Iran, and that's one of the worst deals ever made. One of the worst contracts ever signed, ever, in anything, and it's a disgrace. But, we have somebody over there, a madman, who already has nuclear weapons we don't talk about that. That's a problem. China is a problem, both economically in what they're doing in the South China Sea, I mean, they are becoming a very, very major force. So, we have more than just Russia. But, as far as the Ukraine is concerned, and you could Syria \u2014 as far as Syria, I like \u2014 if Putin wants to go in, and I got to know him very well because we were both on 60 Minutes, we were stablemates, and we did very well that night. But, you know that. But, if Putin wants to go and knocked the hell out of +p2315 +aV...They blew up \u2014 hold it.... +p2316 +aV...They blew up, wait a minute... ...They blew up a Russian airplane. He cannot be in love with these people. He's going in, and we can go in, and everybody should go in. As far as the Ukraine is concerned, we have a group of people, and a group of countries, including Germany \u2014 tremendous economic behemoth \u2014 why are we always doing the work? We are \u2014 I'm all for protecting Ukraine and working \u2014 but, we have countries that are surrounding the Ukraine that aren't doing anything. They say, "Keep going, keep going, you dummies, keep going. Protect us..." ...And we have to get smart. We can't continue to be the policeman of the world. We are $19 trillion dollars, we have a country that's going to hell, we have an infrastructure that's falling apart. Our roads, our bridges, our schools, our airports, and we have to start investing money in our country. +p2317 +aVAssad is a bad guy, but we have no idea who the so-called rebels \u2014 I read about the rebels, nobody even knows who they are. I spoke to a general two weeks ago, he said \u2014 he was very up on exactly what we're talking about. He said, "You know, Mr. Trump? We're giving hundreds of millions of dollars of equipment to these people, we have no idea who they are." So, I don't like Assad. Who's going to like Assad? But, we have no idea who these people, and what they're going to be, and what they're going to represent. They may be far worse than Assad. Look at Libya. Look at Iraq. Look at the mess we have after spending $2 trillion dollars, thousands of lives, wounded warriors all over the place \u2014 who I love, OK? All over. We have nothing. And, I said, keep the oil. And we should have kept the oil, believe me. We should have kept the oil. And, you know what? We should have given the oil... ..We should've given big chunks to the people that lost their arms, their legs, and their families, and their sons, and daughters, because right now, you know who has a lot of that oil? Iran, and +p2318 +aVWhy does she keep interrupting everybody? Terrible. +p2319 +aVWe are not. +p2320 +aV...No, no, no... +p2321 +aVWell, what's happening right now, Neil, is something that not been a subject of conversation by politicians. As primarily the only politician, I guess other than Carly on the stage, they haven't talked about a corporate inversion. A corporate inversion \u2014 companies are leaving. You know, we used to leave New York to go to Florida. We got better taxes, we got, maybe, something else. Now, they're the United States to go to other countries. They have trillions of dollars in those other countries. They're going for two reasons, they can't get their money back in. It's something where the democrats and the republicans both agree, it's the only thing I can think of. They both agree, let the money come back in. Three and a half years, they still can't make a deal. They can't get the money in. It's probably two and a half trillion, but, I think it's much more than that. All of that money could become \u2014 could come right in and be used to rebuild our country, and investments in our country. They can't do it. What we have to do, and what I've done, is made the tax rate \u2014 and one of the reasons they don't the taxes so obnoxious, they can't do it. Where, I made it a 10% number, as you know. I've been very highly praised for it. A lot of money's going to come back in, we're going to get rid of the bureaucratic problems, and roadblocks, because that's also a problem. And, we're going to have all of this money pour back into the United States. It's going to be used to build businesses, for jobs, and everything else. And, as I say, my expression is, let's make America great again. +p2322 +aVThank you. Over the years, I've created tens of thousands of jobs and a great company. It's a company I'm very proud of. Some of the most iconic assets anywhere in the world. And I will tell you, I don't have to give you a website because I'm self-funding my campaign. I'm putting up my own money. I want to do something really special. I want to make our country greater than it's ever been. I think we have that potential. We cannot lose this election. We cannot let Hillary Clinton, who is the worst secretary of state in the history of our country, win this election. We will fight. We will win. And we truly will make this even more special. We have to make it better than ever before. And I will tell you, the United States can actually be better than ever before. Thank you. +p2323 +aVI think maybe my greatest weakness is that I trust people too much. I'm too trusting. And when they let me down, if they let me down, I never forgive. I find it very, very hard to forgive people that deceived me. So I don't know if you would call that a weakness, but my wife said "let up." +p2324 +aVRight. +p2325 +aVRight. +p2326 +aVThat's right. +p2327 +aVNo, not a comic book, and it's not a very nicely asked question the way you say that. Larry Kudlow is an example, who I have a lot of respect for, who loves my tax plan. We're reducing taxes to 15 percent. We're bringing corporate taxes down, bringing money back in, corporate inversions. We have $2.5 trillion outside of the United States which we want to bring back in. As far as the wall is concerned, we're going to build a wall. We're going to create a border. We're going to let people in, but they're going to come in legally. They're going to come in legally. And it's something that can be done, and I get questioned about that. They built the great wall of China. That's 13,000 miles. Here, we actually need 1,000 because we have natural barriers. So we need 1,000. We can do a wall. We're going to have a big, fat beautiful door right in the middle of the wall. We're going to have people come in, but they're coming in legally. And Mexico's going to pay for the wall because Mexico \u2014 I love the Mexican people; I respect the Mexican leaders \u2014 but the leaders are much sharper, smarter and more cunning than our leaders. And just to finish, people say, how will you get Mexico to pay? A politician other than the people in the states \u2014 I don't want to \u2014 a politician cannot get them to pay. I can. We lose, we have a trade imbalance... Excuse me, John. ... of $50 billion... +p2328 +aV... believe me the world is peanuts by comparison. +p2329 +aVRight. Dynamically. +p2330 +aVThen you have to get rid of Larry Kudlow, who sits on your panel, who's a great guy, who came out the other day and said, I love Trump's tax plan. +p2331 +aVFirst of all, John got lucky with a thing called fracking, OK? He hit oil. He got lucky with fracking. Believe me, that is why Ohio is doing well. Number \u2014 and that is important for you to know. Number two, this was the man that was a managing general partner at Lehman Brothers when it went down the tubes and almost took every one of us with it, including Ben and myself, because I was there and I watched what happened. And Lehman Brothers started it all. He was on the board. And he was a managing general partner. And just thirdly, he was so nice. He was such a nice guy. And he said, oh, I'm never going to attack. But then his poll numbers tanked. He has got \u2014 that is why he is on the end. And he got nasty. And he got nasty. So you know what? You can have him. +p2332 +aVI think you're \u2014 +p2333 +aVWell, first of all, like many other very big businessmen, I could name them here, but I'm not going to do that for a lot of obvious reasons, but the biggest, and almost all of them, they've all used the chapter laws, the bankruptcy laws to their own benefit. Before this, I was a very successful person as a developer and as a businessman. Atlantic City has gone bad. I mean, Chris will know about that. I'm not blaming Chris, by the way, but he will know about that. Caesar's \u2014 excuse me \u2014 Caesar's, the Rolls-Royce, as you know, is in bankruptcy. Almost every hotel in Atlantic City has either been in bankruptcy or will be in bankruptcy \u2014 the biggest. But also the biggest people (ph) \u2014 now I've used that to my advantage as a business man, for my family, for myself. I never filed for bankruptcy. But many, many people did. What happened with Atlantic City is very, very disgraceful. Now hundreds of companies I've opened. I've used it three times, maybe four times. Came out great. But I guess I'm supposed to come out great. That is what I could do for the country. We owe $19 trillion, boy am I good at solving debt problems. Nobody can solve it like me. But I will tell you this, Atlantic City, you're using that, hundreds of companies that I have opened have thrived. I built a net worth of way over $10 billion, and I have done it four times out of hundreds. And I'm glad I did it. I used the laws of the country to my benefit, I'm sorry. +p2334 +aVThank you. +p2335 +aVI was not at all critical of him. I was not at all. In fact, frankly, he's complaining about the fact that we're losing some of the most talented people. They go to Harvard. They go to Yale. They go to Princeton. They come from another country and they're immediately sent out. I am all in favor of keeping these talented people here so they can go to work in Silicon Valley. +p2336 +aVSo I have nothing at all critical of him. +p2337 +aVProbably, I don't know \u2014 you people write the stuff. I don't know where you... And if I could say just one thing. I am the only person in either campaign that's self-funding. I'm putting up 100 percent of my own money. And right now, I will be putting up a tremendous \u2014 so far, I've put up less than anybody and I have the best results. Wouldn't that be nice if the country could do that? But I will be putting \u2014 I will be putting up, you know, tremendous amounts of money. SuperPacs are a disaster. They're a scam. They cause dishonesty. And you better get rid of them because they are causing a lot of bad decisions to be made by some very good people. And I'm not blaming these folks \u2014 well, I guess I could. Very good people are making very bad decisions right now. And if anything comes out of this whole thing with some of these nasty and ridiculous questions, I will tell you, you better get rid of the SuperPacs because they causing a big problem with this country, not only in dishonesty and what's going on, but also in a lot of bad decisions that have been made for the benefit of lobbyists and special interests. +p2338 +aVI never said that. I never said that. +p2339 +aVYou've got another gentleman in Florida, who happens to be a very nice guy, but not... +p2340 +aV... he's really doing some bad... +p2341 +aVI'm in favor of people coming into this country legally. And you know what? They can have it anyway you want. You can call it visas, you can call it work permits, you can call it anything you want. I've created tens of thousands of jobs, and in all due respect \u2014 and actually some of these folks I really like a lot \u2014 but I'm the only one that can say that. I have created tens of thousands of jobs, and I'll be creating many millions of jobs if I'm given \u2014 if I'm given the opportunity to be president. As far as Mark is concerned, as far as the visas are concerned, if we need people, they have \u2014 it's fine. They have to come into this country legally. We have a country of borders. We have a country of laws. We have to obey the laws. It's fine if they come in, but they have to come in legally. +p2342 +aVYes. +p2343 +aVOr somebody else. Right. +p2344 +aVYes, I might feel more comfortable. I would say that I would and I have a permit, which is very unusual in New York \u2014 a permit to carry. And I do carry on occasion, sometimes a lot. But I like to be unpredictable so that people don't know exactly... +p2345 +aVBy the way, unlike our country where we're totally predictable and the enemy, whether it's +p2346 +aVI would change them. I would change them. +p2347 +aVSuch a nasty \u2014 such a nasty question, but thank you, Governor. +p2348 +aVYes, it's very simple. We're going to make a really dynamic economy from what we have right now, which is not at all dynamic. We're going to bring jobs back from Japan, we're going to bring jobs back from China, we're going to bring, frankly, jobs back from Mexico where, as you probably saw, Nabisco is leaving Chicago with one of their biggest plants, and they're moving it to Mexico. We're going to bring jobs and manufacturing back. We're going to cut costs. We're going to save Social Security, and we're going to save Medicare. [ +p2349 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We used to win, we don't win anymore. We lose on trade. We lose with +p2350 +aVAnd, I'll do that with the country. We will make America great again. And, thank you everybody. Just for the record. +p2351 +aVThat's not right. That is absolutely not right. You know that. That is not right. [ +p2352 +aVI'm Donald Trump. I wrote "The Art of the Deal". I say not in a braggadocious way, I've made billions and billions of dollars dealing with people all over the world, and I want to put whatever that talent is to work for this country so we have great trade deals, we make our country rich again, we make it great again. We build our military, we take care of our vets, we get rid of Obamacare, and we have a great life altogether. Thank you. Thank you. +p2353 +aVWell, first of all, Rand Paul shouldn't even be on this stage. He's number 11, he's got 1 percent in the polls, and how he got up here, there's far too many people anyway. As far as temperament \u2014 and we all know that \u2014 as far as temperament, I think I have a great temperament. I built a phenomenal business with incredible, iconic assets, one of the really truly great real-estate businesses. And I may be an entertainer, because I've had tremendous success with number-one bestsellers all over the place, with "The Apprentice" and everything else I've done. But I will tell you this: What I am far and away greater than an entertainer is a businessman, and that's the kind of mindset this country needs to bring it back, because we owe $19 trillion right now, $19 trillion, and you need this kind of thinking to bring our country back. And believe me, my temperament is very good, very calm. But we will be respected outside of this country. We are not respected now. +p2354 +aVI never attacked him on his look, and believe me, there's plenty of subject matter right there. That I can tell you. +p2355 +aVI've actually been in politics all my life, although I've been on that side as opposed to this side. I'm now a politician for about three months. Obviously, I'm doing pretty well. I'm number one in every poll by a lot. But the qualification is that I've dealt with people all over the world, been successful all over the world. Everything I've done virtually has been a tremendous success. When markets changed, when things turned, I heard Governor Pataki, who, by the way, was a failed governor in New York, a very seriously failed \u2014 he wouldn't be elected dog catcher right now. I heard what he had to say. And I will tell you this: Atlantic City, I've made a tremendous amount of money in Atlantic City. I left seven years ago, I've gotten great credit for my timing, and that's what I'm all about. I'm a businessman, did really well, really well, and Jeb, what I want to do is put that ability into this country to make our country rich again. And I can do that, and I'm not sure that anybody else in the group will be able to do that. +p2356 +aVBut I have to say... +p2357 +aVWell, in Wisconsin... +p2358 +aVExcuse me. +p2359 +aVIn Wisconsin, you're losing $2.2 billion right now. +p2360 +aVI would do so much better than that. +p2361 +aVNo. +p2362 +aVI'm using facts. +p2363 +aVEvery major business leader has used the \u2014 I never went bankrupt, by the way, as you know, everybody knows. But we \u2014 hundreds of companies, hundreds of deals, I've used ???: ... into bankruptcy. That's what's wrong with politicians in Washington right now. They think we can take a country into bankruptcy. +p2364 +aVEvery major business leader, has used the \u2014 I never went bank bankrupt, by the way, as you know, everybody knows. But \u2014 hundreds of companies, hundreds of deals, I used the law four times and made a tremendous thing. I'm in business. I did a very good job. But I will say this, and people are very, very impressed with what I've done, the business people. But when the folks of Iowa found out the true facts of the job that you've done in Wisconsin, all of a sudden you, tubed (ph), he was No. 1 and now he's No. 6 or seven in the polls. So, look, we brought it out, you were supposed to make a billion dollars in the state. You lost 2.2 \u2014 you have right now, a huge budget deficit. That's not a Democratic point. That's a point. That's a fact. And when the people of Iowa found that out, I went to No. 1 and you went down the tubes. +p2365 +aVI didn't \u2014 +p2366 +aVTotally false. +p2367 +aVI would have gotten it. +p2368 +aVI promise I would have gotten it. +p2369 +aVI promise if I wanted it, I would have gotten it. +p2370 +aVI know my people. +p2371 +aVI know my people. +p2372 +aVNo. I just will tell you that, you know, Jeb made the statement. I'm not only referring to him. I \u2014 a lot of money was raised by a lot of different people that are standing up here. And the donors, the special interests, the lobbyists have very strong power over these people. I'm spending all of my money, I'm not spending \u2014 I'm not getting any \u2014 I turned down \u2014 I turn down so much, I could have right now from special interests and donors, I could have double and triple what he's got. I've turned it down. I turned down last week $5 million from somebody. So I will tell you I understand the game, I've been on the other side all of my life. And they have a lot of control over our politicians. And I don't say that favorably, and I'm not sure if there's another system, but I say this. I am not accepting any money from anybody. Nobody has control of me other than the people of this country. I'm going to do the right thing. +p2373 +aVThat's true. That's true. +p2374 +aVI was \u2014 excuse me, Jeb. +p2375 +aVI was a businessman, I got along with Clinton, I got along with everybody. That was my job, to get along with people. +p2376 +aVI didn't want to \u2014 excuse me. One second. +p2377 +aVOK, more energy tonight. I like that. Look \u2014 +p2378 +aVI didn't want \u2014 it was my obligation as a businessman to my family, to my company, to my employees, to get along with all politicians. I get along with all of them, and I did a damn good job in doing it. Go ahead. +p2379 +aVGot along with everybody. +p2380 +aVWrong. +p2381 +aVDon't make things up. Jeb, don't make things up. Come on. +p2382 +aVDon't make things up. +p2383 +aVSo, number one, they have to respect you. He has absolutely no respect for President Obama. Zero. Syria's a mess. You look at what's going on with +p2384 +aVI believe that I will get along \u2014 we will do \u2014 between that, Ukraine, all of the other problems, we won't have the kind of problems that our country has right now with Russia and many other nations. +p2385 +aVI wouldn't have drawn the line, but once he drew it, he had no choice but to go across. They do bear some responsibility, but I think he probably didn't do it, not for that reason. Somehow, he just doesn't have courage. There is something missing from our president. Had he crossed the line and really gone in with force, done something to Assad \u2014 if he had gone in with tremendous force, you wouldn't have millions of people displaced all over the world. +p2386 +aVThey had a responsibility, absolutely. I think we have three of them here... +p2387 +aVI think they had a responsibility, yes. +p2388 +aVJeb, just... +p2389 +aVI think it will haunt him. I think it's a terrible. I think it's going to haunt him absolutely. He came back later and he said he misspoke. There was no question because I heard when he said the statement. I was watching and he said the statement. And I said, wow, I can't believe it. I will take care of women. I respect women. I will take care of women. One thing we will say and I would like to get back to the Iran situation. We're talking about Iran. The agreement was terrible. It was incompetent. I've never seen anything like it. One of the worst contracts of any kind I've ever seen. And nobody ever mentions North Korea where you have this maniac sitting there and he actually has nuclear weapons and somebody better start thinking about North Korea and perhaps a couple of other places. But certainly North Korea. And Ted and I have spoken. We've \u2014 a lot of us have spoken. We're talking about Iran. They are bad actors, bad things are going to happen. But in the meantime, you have somebody right now in North Korea who has got nuclear weapons and who is saying almost every other week, I'm ready to use them. And we don't even mention it. +p2390 +aVSo why didn't you say it? Why didn't you say it? +p2391 +aVI know, but why did you say it? I heard it myself. Why did you say it? +p2392 +aVYou said you're going to cut funding for women's health. You said it. +p2393 +aVYou said it. +p2394 +aVI think she's got a beautiful face, and I think she's a beautiful woman. +p2395 +aVCorrect. First of all, I want to build a wall, a wall that works. So important, and it's a big part of it. Second of all, we have a lot of really bad dudes in this country from outside, and I think Chris knows that, maybe as well as anybody. They go, if I get elected, first day they're gone. Gangs all over the place. Chicago, Baltimore, no matter where you look. We have a country based on laws. I will make sure that those laws are adhered to. These are illegal immigrants. I don't think you'd even be asking this question if I didn't run because when I ran, and I brought this up, my opening remarks at Trump Tower, I took heat like nobody has taken heat in a long time. And, then they found out with the killing of Katie, from San Francisco, and so many other crimes, they found out that I was right. And, most people, many people, apologized to me. I don't think you'd even be talking about illegal immigration if it weren't for me. So, we have a country of laws, they're going to go out, and they'll come back if they deserve to come back. If they've had a bad record, if they've been arrested, if they've been in jail, they're never coming back. We're going to have a country again. Right now, we don't have a country, we don't have a border, and we're going to do something about it, and it can be done with proper management, and it can be done with heart. +p2396 +aV...By the way, I agree with \u2014 with what Chris is saying, but, I will say this. Illegal immigration is costing us more than $200 billion dollars a year just to maintain what we have. +p2397 +aVCorrect. +p2398 +aVWell, I have to tell you, I hear phenomenal things. I hear your wife is a lovely woman... +p2399 +aVI don't know her, and this is a total mischaracterization... +p2400 +aVGood. +p2401 +aVNo, I won't do that, because I've said nothing wrong. +p2402 +aVBut I do hear she's a lovely woman. +p2403 +aVJeb said... +p2404 +aV... that they come into our country as an act of love. With all of the problems we that we have, in so many instances \u2014 we have wonderful people coming in. But with all of the problems \u2014 this is not an act of love. He's weak on immigration \u2014 by the way, in favor of Common Core, which is also a disaster, but weak on immigration. He doesn't get my vote. +p2405 +aVNot with this intensity. +p2406 +aVAs I said, we are spending $200 billion \u2014 we are spending $200 billion a year on maintaining what we have. We will move them out. The great ones will come back, the good ones will come back. They'll be expedited, they'll be back, they'll come back legally. We'll have a country \u2014 they'll come back, legally. +p2407 +aVWell, I think it's wonderful and all, but I did it a little bit half-heartedly, but I do mean it to a large extent. We have a country, where, to assimilate, you have to speak English. And I think that where he was, and the way it came out didn't sound right to me. We have to have assimilation \u2014 to have a country, we have to have assimilation. I'm not the first one to say this, Dana. We've had many people over the years, for many, many years, saying the same thing. This is a country where we speak English, not Spanish. +p2408 +aVThis is a reporter, not a high school kid. +p2409 +aVWell, first of all, the \u2014 the 14th Amendment says very, very clearly to a lot of great legal scholars \u2014 not television scholars, but legal scholars \u2014 that it is wrong. It can be corrected with an act of Congress, probably doesn't even need that. A woman gets pregnant. She's nine months, she walks across the border, she has the baby in the United States, and we take care of the baby for 85 years. I don't think so. And by the way, Mexico and almost every other country anywhere in the world doesn't have that. We're the only ones dumb enough, stupid enough to have it. And people \u2014 and by the way, this is not just with respect to Mexico. They are coming from Asia to have babies here, and all of a sudden, we have to take care of the babies for the life of the baby. The 14th Amendment, it reads properly, you can go and \u2014 it's probably going to be have to be check \u2014 go through a process of court, probably ends up at the Supreme Court, but there are a lot of great legal scholars that say that is not correct. And in my opinion, it makes absolutely no \u2014 we're the only \u2014 one of the only countries, we're going to take care of those babies for 70, 75, 80, 90 years? I don't think so. +p2410 +aVI agree 100 percent, by the way, with Carly on the fact that the Democrats do not want to solve this problem, for the obvious reasons, but they do not. But I believe that a reading of the 14th Amendment allows you to have an interpretation where this is not legal and where it can't be done. I've seen both sides, but some of the greatest scholars agree with me, without having to go through Congress. If you do go through Congress, you can absolutely solve the problem. +p2411 +aVThat's true, sure. +p2412 +aVWell \u2014 +p2413 +aV\u2014 let me \u2014 well, let me just explain. The head of the Yale Business School, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, wrote a paper recently, one of the worst tenures for a CEO that he has ever seen, ranked one of the top 20 in the history of business. The company is a disaster and continues to be a disaster. They still haven't recovered. In fact, today, on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, they fired another 25 or 30,000 people saying we still haven't recovered from the catastrophe. When Carly says the revenues went up, that's because she bought Compaq, it was a terrible deal, and it really led to the destruction of the company. Now one other company before that was Lucent. Carly was at Lucent before that. And Lucent turned out to be a catastrophe also. So I only say this. She can't run any of my companies. That I can tell you. +p2414 +aVI never filed for bankruptcy. +p2415 +aVI'll tell you why; it's very simple. +p2416 +aVI'll tell you. I was running \u2014 +p2417 +aV\u2014 Carly, Carly \u2014 +p2418 +aV\u2014 I've made over $10 billion. I had a casino company \u2014 Caesars just filed for bankruptcy. Chris will tell you \u2014 it's not Chris' fault either \u2014 but almost everybody in Atlantic City is either in trouble or filed for \u2014 maybe I'll blame Chris. +p2419 +aVBut Atlantic City is a disaster \u2014 +p2420 +aVWait a minute, Carly. Wait. I let you speak. Atlantic City is a disaster, and I did great in Atlantic City. I knew when to get out. My timing was great. And I got a lot of credit for it. Many of the great business people that you know \u2014 and Carl Icon (ph) is going to work with me on making great deals for this country. But whether it's Carl or so many others that we read about all the time \u2014 +p2421 +aV\u2014 they have used the laws of the land, which is the \u2014 +p2422 +aV...Well, I'd like to respond, I'd like to respond... +p2423 +aVWell, I think the thing about the flat tax, I know it very well. What I don't like is that if you make $200 million a year, you pay ten percent, you're paying very little relatively to somebody that's making $50,000 a year, and has to hire H&R Block to do the \u2014 because it's so complicated. One thing I'll say to Ben is that we've had a graduated tax system for many years, so it's not a socialistic thing. What I'd like to do, and I'll be putting in the plan in about two weeks, and I think people are going to like it, it's a major reduction in taxes. It's a major reduction for the middle class. The hedge fund guys won't like me as much as they like me right now. I know them all, but they'll pay more. I know people that are making a tremendous amount of money and paying virtually no tax, and I think it's unfair. +p2424 +aVWell, I heard Hugh Hewitt, a nice man, he apologized because he actually said that we had a misunderstanding. And he said today that Donald Trump is maybe the best interview there is anywhere that he has ever done. Now unless he was just saying that on CNN to be nice, but he did say that... +p2425 +aVAnd we had a legitimate misunderstanding in terms of his pronunciation of a word. But I would say just... +p2426 +aVWell, I think it was. And he actually said that. Did you say that? +p2427 +aVOK. So I will say this, though, Hugh was giving me name after name, Arab name, Arab name, and there are few people anywhere, anywhere that would have known those names. I think he was reading them off a sheet. And frankly I will have \u2014 and I told him, I will have the finest team that anybody has put together and we will solve a lot of problems. You know, right now they know a lot and look at what is happening. The world is blowing up around us. We will have great teams and great people. +p2428 +aVI hope that answers your question. I mean, you are in the Senate, but I hope that answers your question. +p2429 +aVNo, I don't think he's suggesting that at all. I mean... +p2430 +aVI don't think he's suggesting that at all. +p2431 +aVWell, you have to understand, I am not sitting in the United States Senate with, by the way, the worst voting record there is today. Number one. I am not sitting in the United States Senate. I'm a businessman doing business transactions. +p2432 +aVI am doing business transactions. I will know more about this \u2014 and, as you said, that was very acceptable, and when you listen to that whole interview, it's a great interview, you said it, I didn't. Well, now I did. But... +p2433 +aVListen, just one second. Just one second. +p2434 +aVI will know... +p2435 +aV...I will know more about the problems of this world by the time I sit, and you look at what's going in this world right now by people that supposedly know, this world is a mess. +p2436 +aV +p2437 +aV I'm \u2014 and I'm meeting with people that are terrific people, but I have to say something because it's about judgment. I am the only person on this dais \u2014 the only person \u2014 that fought very, very hard against us (ph), and I wasn't a sitting politician going into Iraq, because I said going into Iraq \u2014 that was in 2003, you can check it out, check out \u2014 I'll give you 25 different stories. In fact, a delegation was sent to my office to see me because I was so vocal about it. I'm a very militaristic person, but you have to know when to use the military. I'm the only person up here that fought against going into Iraq. +p2438 +aVJust excuse me, one second, Rand... +p2439 +aVIf you don't mind, Rand \u2014 you know, you are on last \u2014 you do have your 1 percent. I would like \u2014 and I think it's very important. I think it's important, because it's about judgment. It's about judgment. I didn't want to go into Iraq, and I fought it, because what I said \u2014 what I said... +p2440 +aV... was you're going to \u2014 you're going to destabilize... +p2441 +aV... the Middle East, and that's what happened. +p2442 +aVIf you think about it... +p2443 +aVYour brother \u2014 and your brother's administration gave us Barack Obama, because it was such a disaster, those last three months, that Abraham Lincoln couldn't have been elected. +p2444 +aVI don't know. You feel safe right now? I don't feel so safe. +p2445 +aVOr the collapse of the economy. +p2446 +aVSpeaking for myself, I'm OK with it. I think there's a certain truth to it. I know people that, frankly, it has no impact on their life whatsoever. There are many people. I would almost say leave it up to them, but I would be willing to check it off, and say I will not get Social Security. I do not... +p2447 +aVAs a policy, I would almost leave it up to the people. Don't forget they pay in and they pay in, and maybe they do well, and maybe some people want it. But the fact is that there are people that truly don't need it, and there are many people that do need it very, very badly. And I would be willing to write mine off 100 percent, Dana. +p2448 +aVWell, I \u2014 I \u2014 I'd like to respond. +p2449 +aVI'd like to respond. +p2450 +aVAutism has become an epidemic. Twenty-five years ago, 35 years ago, you look at the statistics, not even close. It has gotten totally out of control. I am totally in favor of vaccines. But I want smaller doses over a longer period of time. Because you take a baby in \u2014 and I've seen it \u2014 and I've seen it, and I had my children taken care of over a long period of time, over a two or three year period of time. Same exact amount, but you take this little beautiful baby, and you pump \u2014 I mean, it looks just like it's meant for a horse, not for a child, and we've had so many instances, people that work for me. Just the other day, two years old, two and a half years old, a child, a beautiful child went to have the vaccine, and came back, and a week later got a tremendous fever, got very, very sick, now is autistic. I only say it's not \u2014 I'm in favor of vaccines, do them over a longer period of time, same amount. +p2451 +aVBut just in \u2014 in little sections. +p2452 +aVI think \u2014 and I think you're going to have \u2014 I think you're going to see a big impact on autism. +p2453 +aVAnd that's all I'm saying, Jake. That's all I'm saying. +p2454 +aVWell, because she's been sitting for three hours, I think my daughter, Ivanka, who's right here. +p2455 +aVOther than that we'll go with Rosa Parks. I like that. +p2456 +aVHumble. +p2457 +aVIf I become president, we will do something really special. We will make this country greater than ever before. We'll have more jobs. We'll have more of everything. We were discussing disease, we were discussing all sorts of things tonight, many of which will just be words, it will just pass on. I don't want to say politicians, all talk, no action. But a lot of what we talked about is words and it will be forgotten very quickly. If I'm president, many of the things that we discussed tonight will not be forgotten. We'll find solutions. And the world will respect us. They will respect us like never before. And it will be actually a friendlier world. And I have to say, it is a great honor to be here tonight. +p2458 +aVI fully understand. +p2459 +aVI fully understand. +p2460 +aVI cannot say. I have to respect the person that, if it's not me, the person that wins, if I do win, and I'm leading by quite a bit, that's what I want to do. I can totally make that pledge. If I'm the nominee, I will pledge I will not run as an independent. But -- and I am discussing it with everybody, but I'm, you know, talking about a lot of leverage. We want to win, and we will win. But I want to win as the Republican. I want to run as the Republican nominee. +p2461 +aVWell, I've given him plenty of money. +p2462 +aVI will not make the pledge at this time. +p2463 +aVOnly Rosie O'Donnell. +p2464 +aVThank you. +p2465 +aVYes, I'm sure it was. +p2466 +aVI think the big problem this country has is being politically correct. I've been challenged by so many people, and I don't frankly have time for total political correctness. And to be honest with you, this country doesn't have time either. This country is in big trouble. We don't win anymore. We lose to China. We lose to Mexico both in trade and at the border. We lose to everybody. And frankly, what I say, and oftentimes it's fun, it's kidding. We have a good time. What I say is what I say. And honestly Megyn, if you don't like it, I'm sorry. I've been very nice to you, although I could probably maybe not be, based on the way you have treated me. But I wouldn't do that. But you know what, we -- we need strength, we need energy, we need quickness and we need brain in this country to turn it around. That, I can tell you right now. +p2467 +aVSo, if it weren't for me, you wouldn't even be talking about illegal immigration, Chris. You wouldn't even be talking about it. This was not a subject that was on anybody's mind until I brought it up at my announcement. And I said, Mexico is sending. Except the reporters, because they're a very dishonest lot, generally speaking, in the world of politics, they didn't cover my statement the way I said it. The fact is, since then, many killings ,murders, crime, drugs pouring across the border, are money going out and the drugs coming in. And I said we need to build a wall, and it has to be built quickly. And I don't mind having a big beautiful door in that wall so that people can come into this country legally. But we need, Jeb, to build a wall, we need to keep illegals out. +p2468 +aVBorder Patrol, I was at the border last week. Border Patrol, people that I deal with, that I talk to, they say this is what's happening. Because our leaders are stupid. Our politicians are stupid. And the Mexican government is much smarter, much sharper, much more cunning. And they send the bad ones over because they don't want to pay for them. They don't want to take care of them. Why should they when the stupid leaders of the United States will do it for them? And that's what is happening whether you like it or not. +p2469 +aVA complete disaster, yes. +p2470 +aVCorrect. +p2471 +aVFirst of all, I'd like to just go back to one. In July of 2004, I came out strongly against the war with Iraq, because it was going to destabilize the Middle East. And I'm the only one on this stage that knew that and had the vision to say it. And that's exactly what happened. +p2472 +aVAnd the Middle East became totally destabilized. So I just want to say. As far as single payer, it works in Canada. It works incredibly well in Scotland. It could have worked in a different age, which is the age you're talking about here. What I'd like to see is a private system without the artificial lines around every state. I have a big company with thousands and thousands of employees. And if I'm negotiating in New York or in New Jersey or in California, I have like one bidder. Nobody can bid. You know why? Because the insurance companies are making a fortune because they have control of the politicians, of course, with the exception of the politicians on this stage. But they have total control of the politicians. They're making a fortune. Get rid of the artificial lines and you will have......yourself great plans. And then we have to take care of the people that can't take care of themselves. And I will do that through a different system. +p2473 +aVI'm not -- I'm not are -- I don't think you heard me. You're having a hard time tonight. +p2474 +aVYou'd better believe it. +p2475 +aVIf I ask them, if I need them, you know, most of the people on this stage I've given to, just so you understand, a lot of money. +p2476 +aVMany of them. +p2477 +aVNot much. +p2478 +aVBut I... +p2479 +aVI have good... +p2480 +aVGood. +p2481 +aVSounds good. Sounds good to me, Governor. I will tell you that our system is broken. I gave to many people, before this, before two months ago, I was a businessman. I give to everybody. When they call, I give. And do you know what? When I need something from them two years later, three years later, I call them, they are there for me. +p2482 +aVAnd that's a broken system. +p2483 +aVWell, I'll tell you what, with Hillary Clinton, I said be at my wedding and she came to my wedding. You know why? She didn't have a choice because I gave. I gave to a foundation that, frankly, that foundation is supposed to do good. I didn't know her money would be used on private jets going all over the world. It was. But... +p2484 +aVBecause I have used the laws of this country just like the greatest people that you read about every day in business have used the laws of this country, the chapter laws, to do a great job for my company, for myself, for my employees, for my family, et cetera. I have never gone bankrupt, by the way. I have never. But out of hundreds of deals... +p2485 +aVExcuse me. Excuse me. +p2486 +aVExcuse me, what am I saying? Out of hundreds of deals that I've done, hundreds, on four occasions I've taken advantage of the laws of this country, like other people. I'm not going to name their names because I'm not going to embarrass, but virtually every person that you read about on the front page of the business sections, they've used the law. The difference is, when somebody else uses those laws, nobody writes about it. When I use it, they say, "Trump, Trump, Trump." The fact is, I built a net worth of more than $10 billion. I have a great, great company. I employ thousands of people. And I'm very proud of the job I did. Again Chris, hundreds and hundreds of deals. Four times, I've taken advantage of the laws. And frankly, so has everybody else in my position. +p2487 +aVWell, I... +p2488 +aVLet me just tell you about the lenders. First of all, these lenders aren't babies. These are total killers. These are not the nice, sweet little people that you think, OK? You know, I mean you're living in a world of the make-believe, Chris, you want to know the truth. And I had the good sense to leave Atlantic City, which by the way, Caesars just went bankrupt. Every company, Chris can tell you, every company virtually in Atlantic City went bankrupt. Every company. And let me just tell you. I had the good sense, and I've gotten a lot of credit in the financial pages, seven years ago I left Atlantic City before it totally cratered, and I made a lot of money in Atlantic City, and I'm very proud of it. I want to tell you that. Very, very proud of it. +p2489 +aVAnd by the way, this country right now owes $19 trillion. And they need somebody like me to straighten out that mess. +p2490 +aVI don't think they like me very much. I'll tell you what. I've evolved on many issues over the years. And you know who else has? Is Ronald Reagan evolved on many issues. And I am pro-life. And if you look at the question, I was in business. They asked me a question as to pro-life or choice. And I said if you let it run, that I hate the concept of abortion. I hate the concept of abortion. And then since then, I've very much evolved. And what happened is friends of mine years ago were going to have a child, and it was going to be aborted. And it wasn't aborted. And that child today is a total superstar, a great, great child. And I saw that. And I saw other instances. And I am very, very proud to say that I am pro-life. As far as being a Republican is concerned, I come from a place, New York City, which is virtually, I mean, it is almost exclusively Democrat. And I have really started to see some of the negatives -- as an example, and I have a lot of liking for this man, but the last number of months of his brother's administration were a catastrophe. And unfortunately, those few months gave us President Obama. And you can't be happy about that. +p2491 +aVFirst of all, Jeb, I am very happy that you denied that, and I appreciate that very much. He is a true gentleman. He really is. One thing he did say, and I mean that. The one thing he did say about me, however, was my tone. And I also understand that. But when you have people that are cutting Christians' heads off, when you have a world that the border and at so many places, that it is medieval times, we've never -- it almost has to be as bad as it ever was in terms of the violence and the horror, we don't have time for tone. We have to go out and get the job done. +p2492 +aVI would be so different from what you have right now. Like, the polar opposite. We have a president who doesn't have a clue. I would say he's incompetent, but I don't want to do that because that's not nice. But if you look at the deals we make, whether it's the nuclear deal with 24 hour periods -- and by the way, before you get to the 24 hours, you have to go through a system. You look at Sgt. Bergdahl, we get Bergdahl, a traitor, and they get five of the big, great killers leaders that they want. We have people in Washington that don't know what they're doing. Now... I agree. Now, with Iran, we're making a deal, you would say, we want him. We want out our prisoners. We want all these things, and we don't get anything. We're giving them $150 billion dollars plus, they are going to be -- I'll tell you what, if Iran was a stock, you folks should go out and buy it right now because you'll quadruple -- this, what's happening in Iran, is a disgrace, and it's going to lead to destruction in large portions of the world. +p2493 +aVOur country is in serious trouble. We don't win anymore. We don't beat China in trade. We don't beat Japan, with their millions and millions of cars coming into this country, in trade. We can't beat Mexico, at the border or in trade. We can't do anything right. Our military has to be strengthened. Our vets have to be taken care of. We have to end Obamacare, and we have to make our country great again, and I will do that. Thank you. +p2494 +asVCHRISTIE +p2495 +(lp2496 +VThank you Wolf. America has been betrayed. We've been betrayed by the leadership that Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton have provided to this country over the last number of years. Think about just what's happened today. The second largest school district in America in Los Angeles closed based on a threat. Think about the effect that, that's going to have on those children when they go back to school tomorrow wondering filled with anxiety to whether they're really going to be safe. Think about the mothers who will take those children tomorrow morning to the bus stop wondering whether their children will arrive back on that bus safe and sound. Think about the fathers of Los Angeles, who tomorrow will head off to work and wonder about the safety of their wives and their children. What is Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton done to this country? That the most basic responsibility of an administration is to protect the safety and security of the American people. I will tell you this, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I've fought terrorists and won and when we get back in the White House we will fight terrorists and win again and America will be safe. +p2497 +aVWolf, unfortunately, it's the new normal under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The fact is that if you listen to Hillary Clinton the other day, what she said to the American people was, as regards to +p2498 +aVListen, I want to talk to the audience at home for a second. If your eyes are glazing over like mine, this is what it's like to be on the floor of the United States Senate. I mean, endless debates about how many angels on the head of a pin from people who've never had to make a consequential decision in an executive position. The fact is, for seven years, I had to make these decisions after 9/11, make a decision about how to proceed forward with an investigation or how to pull back, whether you use certain actionable intelligence or whether not to. And yet they continue to debate about this bill and in the subcommittee and what \u2014 nobody in America cares about that. What they care about is, are we going to have a president who actually knows what they're doing to make these decisions? And for the seven years afterwards, New Jersey was threatened like no other region in this country and what we did was we took action within the constitution to make sure that law enforcement had all the information they needed. We prosecuted two of the biggest terrorism cases in the world and stopped Fort Dix from being attacked by six American radicalized Muslims from a Mosque in New Jersey because we worked with the Muslim American community to get intelligence and we used the Patriot Act to get other intelligence to make sure we did those cases. This is the difference between actually been a federal prosecutor, actually doing something, and not just spending your life as one of hundred debating it. Let's talk about how we do this, not about which bill, which one these guys like more. The American people don't care about that. +p2499 +aVWolf, you sit up here and you listen to this stuff, and you think that so many of these people have had so much to do in this national debate, they talk like they were bystanders. You know, we talk about our military being degraded over time, and yet we've had folks on this stage who've been a part of Congress who have participated in sequester; who participated in the degrading of this military over time. And that's why I think people get so frustrated with Washington, D.C. now. That's why they're so angry with the \u2014 the electorate is so angry with everybody who is involved in government in Washington, D.C. Because if you listen to the folks up here, you think that they weren't even there; they had nothing to do with this. This is a difference between being a governor and being in a legislature. See, because when something doesn't work in New Jersey, they look at me, say: "Why didn't it get done? Why didn't you do it?" You have to be responsible and accountable. And so on +p2500 +aVWell, I think we have to focus, Hugh, on exactly what the priorities are. And to me, what I've always said is that the president has set up an awful situation through his deal with Iran, because what his deal with Iran has done is empower them and enrich them. And that's the way +p2501 +aVNot only would I be prepared to do it, I would do it. A no-fly zone means a no-fly zone, Wolf. That's what it means. See, maybe \u2014 maybe because I'm from New Jersey, I just have this kind of plain language hangup. But I would make very clear \u2014 I would not talk to Vladimir Putin. In fact, I would talk to Vladimir Putin a lot. But I'd say to him, "Listen, Mr. President, there's a no-fly zone in Syria; you fly in, it applies to you." And yes, we would shoot down the planes of Russian pilots if in fact they were stupid enough to think that this president was the same feckless weakling that the president we have in the Oval Office is right now. +p2502 +aVWell, Wolf, I'll tell you what reckless is. What reckless is is calling Assad a reformer. What reckless is allowing Russia to come into Crimea and Ukraine. What reckless is is inviting Russia into Syria to team with Iran. That is reckless. And the reckless people are the folks in the White House right now. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are the reckless people. And if you think that a no-fly zone is a reckless policy, you're welcome to your opinion. But how is it working so far? As we have 250,000 Syrians murdered, slaughtered; millions running around the world, running for their lives. It's not working. We need to try something else. And that is not reckless. +p2503 +aVWhat I say to Carla is that the first job of the president of the United States is to protect your safety and your security and the security and safety of your family. And this debate stops with me in the discussions with the FBI director. Now, listen, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I know Jim Comey. We've worked together. He was the U.S. attorney in Manhattan when I was a U.S. attorney in New Jersey. And when Jim Comey gets up before Congress and says, we cannot effectively vet these people, for me as president, that's the end of the conversation. We have to put America's security first. The American people \u2014 we on this stage need to open our ears. We need to open our ears. The American people are not whispering to us. They are screaming to us. And they're screaming to us that it's our job to actually make this government work. It's so dysfunctional under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. It's so ineffective. It's so ineffectual that the American people say, we don't trust them to do anything anymore. So I'm not going to let Syrian refugees, any Syrian refugees in this country. And it was widows and orphans, by the way, and we now know from watching the San Bernardino attack that women can commit heinous, heinous acts against humanity just the same as men can do it. And so I don't back away from that position for a minute. When the FBI director tells me that he can vet those people, then we'll consider it and not a moment before because your safety and security is what's most important to me. +p2504 +aVWell, what it would like is, we have one of the great advantages of America being the open society that we are. It is, we are not hiding things from the American people, but China everyday is conducting business in a way that hides things from their people. So if they want to come in and attack all the personnel records in the federal government, which they've done, and which \u2014 they now have my Social Security number and my fingerprints, as well as maybe some other folks' who are on this stage. The fact is, they need to be fought back on. And what we need to do is go at the things that they are most sensitive and most embarrassing to them; that they're hiding; get that information and put it out in public. Let the Chinese people start to digest how corrupt the Chinese government is; how they steal from the Chinese people; and how they're enriching oligarchs all throughout China. They need to understand that. And we need to take those type of steps. This president has seen personnel records of people who have sacrificed for the American people and for the federal government stolen by the Chinese and he's done nothing in return. This is why \u2014 this is what I said at the beginning that this administration, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton through their foreign policy, have betrayed the American people, because the weakness they've displayed has led to Putin's incursions in the Middle East and in eastern Europe, and has led \u2014 has led to significant problems in the Middle East as well, and the death and murder of lots of folks. +p2505 +aVOn September 10th, 2001, I was named chief federal prosecutor in New Jersey and on September 11th, 2001, my wife and my brother who are in the audience tonight went through the World Trade Center and to their offices just blocks away from the Trade Center. I lost touch with them for six hours that day and prayed that they were alive. Luckily, they were sent home. But many of our friends and others in our neighborhood lost their lives that day. Terrorism \u2014 radical jihadist terrorism is not theoretical to me. It's real. And for seven years, I spent my life protecting our country against another one of those attacks. You won't have to worry when I'm President of the Untied States whether that can be done because I've already done it. I want the chance to do it again to protect you, your children and your families. If you give me the chance and give me your vote I will protect America from the wars that are being brought to our door step. +p2506 +aVI don't see a lot of weakness on this stage, quite frankly. Where I see the weakness is in those three people that are left on the Democratic stage. You know, I see a socialist, an isolationist and a pessimist. And for the sake of me, I can't figure out which one is which. But I will \u2014 but I will tell you this, the socialist says they're going to pay for everything and give you everything for free, except they don't say they're going to raise it through taxes to 90 percent to do it. The isolationist is the one who wants to continue to follow a foreign policy that has fewer democracies today than when Barack Obama came into office around the world. But I know who the pessimist is. It's Hillary Clinton. And you put me on that stage against her next September, she won't get within 10 miles of the White House. Take it to the bank. +p2507 +aVWell, I wish you would have asked that question years ago when they broke it. I mean, let me be honest with the people who are watching at home. The government has lied to you and they have stolen from you. They told you that your Social Security money is in a trust fund. All that's in that trust fund is a pile of IOUs for money they spent on something else a long time ago. And they've stolen from you because now they know they cannot pay these benefits and Social Security is going to be insolvent in seven to eight years. We're sitting up here talking about all these other things; 71 percent of federal spending today is on entitlements, and debt service. And, that's with zero percent interest rates. Now, I'm the only person that's put out a detailed plan on how to deal with entitlements. And we'll save a trillion dollars over the next 10 years. And, here's the difference between me and Hillary Clinton. What Hillary Clinton's going to say, and has said before is, she wants to raise Social Security taxes. Now, let me ask you a question everybody, and, this is for the guy, you know, who owns a landscaping business out there. If somebody's already stolen money from you, are you going to give them more? Or, are you going to deal with the problem by saying, I'm going to give people who've done well in this country less benefit on the backend. We need to get realistic about this. We're not \u2014 the American people \u2014 forget about anything else, they've already been lied to and stolen from. And... +p2508 +aV...I'm going to go to Washington to stop it... +p2509 +aV...The only way we're going to be morale, the only way we're going to keep our promise to seniors is start by following the first rule we should all follow, which is to look at them, treat them like adults, and tell them the truth. It isn't there anymore, Mike. They stole it. It got stolen from them. It's not theirs anymore. The government stole it, and spent it a long time ago... +p2510 +aVSo, let's stop fooling around about this, let's tell people the truth. For once, let's do that, and stop trying to give them some kind of fantasy that's never going to come true. +p2511 +aVYou bet they do. And if I were the prosecutor, that is exactly where they would be. The fact is that this Justice Department under this president has been a political Justice Department. It has been a Justice Department that decided that they want to pick who the winners and losers are. They like General Motors, so they give them a pass. They don't like somebody else like David Petraeus, they prosecute them and send a decorated general on to disgrace. It's a political Justice Department. And, Jim, you know full well that in the seven years I was U.S. attorney we went after pharmaceutical companies. We went after companies that were ripping off shareholders. We went after companies that were doing things that were against the law. And to expand on Mr. Carson's \u2014 or Dr. Carson's question, let's face it, we have laws already. We don't need newer (ph) laws. We don't need Hillary Clinton's price controls for \u2014 again, does anybody out there think that giving Washington, D.C., the opportunity to run the pharmaceutical industry is a good idea, given how well they have done running the government? So what we do, though, is, if there is somebody who is price- gouging, we have laws for prosecutors to take that on. Let's let a Justice Department \u2014 and I will make an attorney general who will enforce the law and make justice more than just a word. It will be a way of life. +p2512 +aVJohn, I'll tell you something. You want to talk about moral authority. Let's talk about something that happened this week in the news. You know, the FBI director, the president's appointed FBI director has said this week that because of a lack of support from politicians like the president of the United States, that police officers are afraid to get out of their cars; that they're afraid to enforce the law. And he says, the president's appointee, that crime is going up because of this. And when the president of the United States gets out to speak about it, does he support police officers? Does he stand up for law enforcement? No, he doesn't. I'll tell you this, the number one job of the president of the United States is to protect the safety and security of the American people. This president has failed, and when I'm in the Oval Office, police officers will know that they will have the support of the president of the Untied States. That's real moral authority that we need in the Oval Office. +p2513 +aVCarl, are we really talking about getting government involved in fantasy football? We have \u2014 wait a second, we have $19 trillion in debt. We have people out of work. We have +p2514 +aVWell, first off, what we don't do is do what Hillary Clinton and John Kerry and Barack Obama want us to do, which is their solution for everything, put more taxes on it, give more money to Washington, D.C., and then they will fix it. Well, there is no evidence that they can fix anything in Washington, D.C. +p2515 +aVWhat we should do is to be investing in all types of energy, John, all types of energy. I've laid out... +p2516 +aVNo, John. John, do you want me to answer or do you want to answer? How are we going to do this? Because, I've got to tell you the truth, even in New Jersey what you're doing is called rude. So... We've laid out a national energy plan that says that we should invest in all types of energy. I will tell you, you could win a bet at a bar tonight, since we're talking about fantasy football, if you ask who the top three states in America are that produce solar energy: California and Arizona are easy, but number three is New Jersey. Why? Because we work with the private sector to make solar energy affordable and available to businesses and individuals in our state. We need to make sure that we do everything across all kinds of energy: natural gas, oil, absolutely. But also where it's affordable, solar, wind in Iowa has become very affordable and it makes sense. That is the way we deal with global warming, climate change, or any of those problems, not through government intervention, not through government taxes, and for God's sake, don't send Washington another dime until they stop wasting the money they're already sending there. +p2517 +aVAnd \u2014 and \u2014 and I \u2014 you know, Ben is absolutely right in saying that what we don't need to do is to send more money to Washington, D.C. to fix this problem. And that's what you'll hear from Hillary Clinton \u2014 and I've already heard from her \u2014 is that, send more money in Social Security, send more money in Medicare taxes, send more money for Medicaid, and that's gonna solve the problem. What we know is we're living longer. That's a blessing. It's a blessing that we're living longer, so we have to increase the retirement age to reflect that blessing. We need to make sure that people understand, as Jeb said before, that if you've done extraordinarily well in this country, do you want them to take more out of your taxes now and think they're gonna give it back to you later? Or would you rather take less later on? +p2518 +aVI want to talk to the folks at home. I want to ask you: Are you fed up with how Washington taxes you? Are you fed up with how Washington wastes your money? Are you concerned like I am that the debt and deficits of Washington, D.C. are endangering America's future? I've got one more question for you then. Are you serious about this election? Because if you are, you need to elect someone who's deadly serious about changing this culture. I am deadly serious about changing this culture. I changed it in New Jersey. I'm deadly serious about doing this job the right way. I'm prepared. I'm tested. I'm ready. And I want to make this our government. For the people who say we can't do it, I say hell no, we can do it together. +p2519 +aVHi, my name is Chris Christie, and I'd like to you take the camera off me and put it on the audience because I'd like to ask all of you, how many of you, raise your hand, believe that in today's Barak Obama America your children will have a better life than you've had? You see? That's why I'm running for President. because leadership is not about me, it's about our country. And, what we talk about tonight, it's not about us, it's about the people in the audience tonight, because in seven short years this president has stripped away their trust, and their faith, and their belief that the next generation will have a better life. He's stolen that from us, and when I'm president, I'm going to take it back. +p2520 +aVWell, I know Ben wasn't talking about me, I'm sure he was talking about one of the other guys, not me. As far as being an outsider is concerned \u2014 as far as being an outsider is concerned, let me tell you this, Jake, I'm a Republican in New Jersey. I wake up every morning as an outsider. I wake up every morning with a Democratic legislature who trying to beat my head in and fight me because I'm trying to bring conservative change to a state that needed it desperately. And so, everyone can talk us here about their credentials. But the bottom line is, every morning I get up, I veto 400 bills from a crazy liberal Democratic legislature, not one of them has been overridden. I've vetoed more tax increases than any governor in American history, according to Americans for Tax Reform. What folks want in this country is somebody to go down there and get the job done. And that's exactly what I'll do. So, I know this much, that what the American people want to hire right now is somebody who believes in them. And believes that they are the ones who can fix our country. I will be the vessel through which they can fix this country, but it's not about me. It's about all of you. And getting this government off your back and out of your way, and letting you succeed. I know Ben wasn't talking about me. +p2521 +aVLook at him smiling at me right now. I know Ben didn't mean it about me. One of these other guys, I'm sure. +p2522 +aVBe honest, Ben, be honest. +p2523 +aVSee, Jake, it wasn't me. +p2524 +aVI was \u2014 +p2525 +aVShe is, and so if she, based on conscience, can't sign that \u2014 that marriage license, then there should be someone in her office to be able to do it, and if the law needs to be changed in the state of Kentucky, which is what she's advocating, it should be changed. +p2526 +aVAnd why don't we do the same thing with Planned Parenthood? +p2527 +aVWe elected a Republican Congress to do this. And they should be doing it, and they're not. And they're giving the president a pass. +p2528 +aVI put it in the list, Dana. We should be doing these things and forcing the president to take action. +p2529 +aVLet's force him to do what he says he's going to do. Now I don't know whether he'll do it or not, but let's force him to do it. +p2530 +aVFirst of, Jake, I don't yield to anybody on how to enforce the law. I'm the only person on this stage who spent seven years as a United States Attorney after September 11th, and I know how to do this. The fact is though that for 15,000 people a day to be deported every day for two years is an undertaking that almost none of us could accomplish given the current levels of funding, and the current number of law enforcement officers. Here's what we need to do, and I think this is where Donald is absolutely right. What we need to do is to secure our border, and we need to do it with more than just a wall. We need to use electronics, we need to use drones, we need to use FBI, DEA, and ATF, and yes, we need to take the fingerprint of every person who comes into this country on a visa, and when they overstay their visa, we need to tap them on the shoulder, and say, "You have overstayed your welcome, you're taking advantage of the American people. It's time for you to go." If we had that kind of system in place, we wouldn't have the 11 million people we have now. +p2531 +aVJake listen. While I'm as entertained as anyone by this personal back-and-forth about the history of Donald and Carly's career, for the 55-year-old construction worker out in that audience tonight who doesn't have a job, who can't fund his child's education, I've got to tell you the truth. They could care less about your careers, they care about theirs. Let's start talking about that on this stage and stop playing \u2014 and stop playing the games. Stop playing \u2014 +p2532 +aVJohn \u2014 I'm not done yet, John. +p2533 +aVStop \u2014 and stop playing \u2014 and Carly \u2014 Carly, listen. You can interrupt everybody else on this stage, you're not going to interrupt me, OK? The fact is that we don't want to hear about your careers, back and forth and volleying back and forth about who did well and who did poorly. You're both successful people. Congratulations. You know who's not successful? The middle class in this country who's getting plowed over by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Let's start talking about those issues tonight and stop this childish back-and-forth between the two of you. +p2534 +aVListen, you know, Hugh, it's an important point. And the question is, who is going to prosecute Hillary Clinton? The Obama White House seems to have in interest, the Justice Department seems to have no interest. I think it's time to put a former federal prosecutor on the same stage as Hillary Clinton. And I will prosecute her during those debates on that stage for the record we're talking about here. The fact she had a private email server in her basement, using national security secrets running through it, could have been hacked by the Russians, the Chinese, or two 18-year-olds on a toot (ph) wanting to have some fun. No one is answering that question from the Hillary Clinton campaign... +p2535 +aVYou know why? Because she knows she's wrong, and she cannot look in the mirror at herself, and she cannot tell the American people the truth. +p2536 +aVWell, Jake, I was named U.S. attorney by President Bush on September 10th, 2001. And that next day my wife Mary Pat did what she did every day, she traveled through the World Trade Center and went to her office two blocks from the World Trade Center. And after those planes hit, for five-and-a-half-hours after that, I couldn't reach her, didn't know whether she was dead or alive, and we had three children at the time, 8, 5 and 1. And I had to confront what so many thousands of others in my region had to confront, the idea I might become a single parent, the idea that my life and my children's life might be changed forever. We lost friends that day. We went to the funerals. And I will tell you that what those people wanted and what they deserved was for America to answer back against what had been done to them. And I support what President Bush did at that time, going into Afghanistan, hunting al Qaeda and its leaders, getting its sanctuary out of place, and making it as difficult around the world for them to move people and money. And then he went to prosecutors like us, and he said, never again. Don't prosecute these people after the crime is committed. Intervene before the crime happens. I absolutely believe that what the president did at the time was right. And I am proud to have been one of the people on the stage who was part of making sure that what Governor Bush said before was the truth. America was safe for those seven years and Barack Obama has taken that safety away from us. +p2537 +aVLet me say this, Jake, is that while that may have been a fine idea that Dr. Carson had, these people were out to kill us. I stood in that region with my family, and every time a plane went overhead in the weeks after that, people's heads jerked to the sky because they thought it was happening again. You do not need to go through subtle diplomacy at that point. That could be handled later on. What you need is a strong American leader who will take the steps that are necessary to protect our nation. That's what I would do as commander-in-chief in this circumstance. And that's what President George W. Bush did in 2001. +p2538 +aVJake, you brought my issue up. +p2539 +aVYou know, I enjoy the interplay. Thank you, gentlemen. I'll just say this, first off, New Jersey is the first state in the nation that now says if you are non-violent, non-dealing drug user, that you don't go to jail for your first offense. You go to mandatory treatment. You see, Jake, I'm pro-life. And I think you need to be pro-life for more than just the time in the womb. It gets tougher when they get out of the womb. And when they're the 16-year-old drug addict in the Florida county lockup, that life is just as precious as the life in the womb. And so, that's why I'm for rehabilitation, why I think the war on drugs has been a failure. But I'll end with this. That doesn't mean we should be legalizing gate way drugs. And if Senator Paul thinks that the only victim is the person, look at the decrease in productivity, look at the way people get used and move on to other drugs when they use marijuana as a gateway drug, it is not them that are the only victims. Their families are the victims too, their children are the victims too, and their employers are the victims also. That's why I'll enforce the federal law, while you can still put an emphasis on rehabilitation, which we've done in New Jersey. +p2540 +aVAnd Senator Paul knows that that's simply not the truth. In New Jersey, we have medical marijuana laws, which I supported and implemented. This is not medical marijuana. There's goes as much \u2014 a further step beyond. This is recreational use of marijuana. This is much different. And so, while he would like to use a sympathetic story to back up his point, it doesn't work. I'm not against medical marijuana. We do it in New Jersey. But I'm against the recreational use against marijuana. If he wants to change the federal law, get Congress to pass the law to change it, and get a president to sign it. +p2541 +aVNo, it's not. But with Donald, it's a good start. That's really good. No, listen. This is an issue that \u2014 that we've gotta talk about, and we haven't talked about yet. 71 percent of all federal spending is on entitlements and debt service. When John Kennedy was elected president in 1960, it was 26 percent. Harvard and Dartmouth says that Social Security's going to go insolvent in seven to eight years. So what I say is very simple. We need to save this program for the good people out there who have paid into the system and need it. And if that means making sure that folks like Donald and many of us on the stage don't get it, that's the right thing to do because here's what Hillary Clinton is going to want to do. She's going to want to put more money into a system that has already lied to us and stolen from us. This government doesn't need more money to make Social Security solvent. We need to be not paying out benefits to people who don't really need it. We need to protect the people who Social Security means the difference between picking between heat and rent and food. That's why I put out the proposal and that's the people I'm trying to... +p2542 +aVI don't think Senator Rubio is a skeptic of climate change. I think what Senator Rubio said I agree with. That in fact we don't need this massive government intervention to deal with the problem. Look at what we have done in New Jersey. We have already reached our clean air goals for 2020. And when I was governor, I pulled out of the regional cap and trade deal, the only state in the Northeast that did that. And we still reached our goals. Why? Because 53 percent of our electricity comes from nuclear. We use natural gas. We use solar power. We're the third-highest- using solar power state. You know why? Because we made all of those things economically feasible. I agree with Marco. We shouldn't be destroying our economy in order to chase some wild left-wing idea that somehow us by ourselves is going to fix the climate. We can contribute to that and be economically sound. We have proven we can do that in New Jersey. Nuclear needs to be back on the table in a significant way in this country if we want to go after this problem. +p2543 +aVI understand. No, no, listen, everybody makes a mistake every once in a while, Jake, even George Shultz. And if that's truly a representation of what he believes we should be doing, then with all due respect to the former secretary of state, I disagree with him. +p2544 +aVI think the Adams family has been shorted in the currency business. Our country wouldn't be here without John Adams, and he would not have been able to do it without Abigal Adams, so, I'd put Abigail Adams on the bill. +p2545 +aVYou know, I've been called a lot of names by a lot of different people, and now I got to get called by names by the Secret Service? I would just say True Heart. +p2546 +aVI turned 18 in 1980, and my first vote was for Ronald Reagan. Boy, am I glad I did it. And I think the country is, too. A Christie presidency won't be about me. It will be about you. Tonight, you sit at home in your living room, frustrated that you play by the rules, you pay the taxes, you do the hard things to raise your family, yet you feel like America's generosity is being taken advantage of. That you've been \u2014 system is being gamed, and that you're turning out to fall further and further behind. Our presidency \u2014 our presidency \u2014 will be about ending that, about enforcing the law, level the playing field for everybody, and once again reward those folks who play by the rules, and think that justice means more than just the word. But it means a way of life. And I will tell you this, around the world, I will not shake hands with, I will not meet with, and I will not agree to anything with a country that says death to us and death to Israel and holds our hostages while we sign agreements with them. It will be an America that be strong and resolute, and will once again be able to stick out its chest and say, "we truly are the greatest nation in the world, because we live our lives that way, each and every day." +p2547 +aVIf you think it's bad now, you should've seen it when I got there. The fact is -- the fact is, in the eight years before I became governor, taxes and fees were raised at the state level 115 times. In the eight years before I became governor, spending was increased 56 percent. And in the eight years before I become governor, taxes and fees were raised at the state level 115 times. In the eight years before I became Governor, spending was increased 56 percent, and in the eight years before I became governor, there was zero net private sector job growth in New Jersey. Zero. For eight years. So, what did we do? We came in, we balanced an $11 billion deficit on a $29 billion budget by cutting over 800 programs in the state budget. We brought the budget into balance with no tax increases. In fact, we vetoed five income tax increases during my time as governor. We cut business taxes $2.3 billion, and we cut regulation by one-third of what my predecessor put in place. And, what's happened since? A hundred ninety-two thousand private sector jobs in the five and a half years I've been governor. We have a lot of work to do in New Jersey, but I am darn proud we've brought our state back. +p2548 +aVYes, I do. And I'll tell you why: because I'm the only person on this stage who's actually filed applications under the Patriot Act, who has gone before the federal -- the Foreign Intelligence Service court, who has prosecuted and investigated and jailed terrorists in this country after September 11th. I was appointed U.S. attorney by President Bush on September 10th, 2001, and the world changed enormously the next day, and that happened in my state. This is not theoretical to me. I went to the funerals. We lost friends of ours in the Trade Center that day. My own wife was two blocks from the Trade Center that day, at her office, having gone through it that morning. When you actually have to be responsible for doing this, you can do it, and we did it, for seven years in my office, respecting civil liberties and protecting the homeland. And I will make no apologies, ever, for protecting the lives and the safety of the American people. We have to give more tools to our folks to be able to do that, not fewer, and then trust those people and oversee them to do it the right way. As president, that is exactly what I'll do. +p2549 +aVAnd -- and, Megyn? Megyn, that's a -- that, you know, that's a completely ridiculous answer. "I want to collect more records from terrorists, but less records from other people." How are you supposed to know, Megyn? +p2550 +aVWhat are you supposed to... +p2551 +aV...how are you supposed to -- no, I'll tell you how you, look... +p2552 +aVLet me tell you something, you go... +p2553 +aVWhen you -- you know, senator... +p2554 +aVListen, senator, you know, when you're sitting in a subcommittee, just blowing hot air about this, you can say things like that. When you're responsible for protecting the lives of the American people, then what you need to do is to make sure... +p2555 +aV...is to make sure that you use the system the way it's supposed to work. +p2556 +aVThere is no... +p2557 +aVAnd you know -- you know, Senator Paul? Senator Paul, you know, the hugs that I remember are the hugs that I gave to the families who lost their people on September 11th. Those are the hugs I remember, and those had nothing to do -- and those had nothing to do with politics, unlike what you're doing by cutting speeches on the floor of the Senate, then putting them on the Internet within half an hour to raise money for your campaign... +p2558 +aV...and while still putting our country at risk. +p2559 +aVYou know what, Megyn, can I... +p2560 +aVNo, he's not lying, he's just wrong. I mean, so, there's a difference -- I'm the only guy on this stage who's put out a detailed, 12 point plan on entitlement reform and here's why -- because 71% of federal spending right now is on entitlements, and debt service, 71%. And we have spent the last hour and five minutes talking about the other 29%, and no time on the 71%, and that makes no sense. Now, let me tell you exactly what we would do on Social Security. Yes, we'd raise the retirement age two years, and phase it in over 25 years, that means we'd raise it one month a year for 25 years when we're all living longer, and living better lives. Secondly, we would means test Social Security for those who are making over $200,000 dollars a year in retirement income, and have $4 to $5 million dollars in liquid assets saved. They don't need that Social Security check. Social Security is meant to be -- to make sure that no one who's worked hard, and played by the rules, and paid into the system grows old in poverty in America. If we don't deal with this problem, it will bankrupt our country, or lead to massive tax increases, neither one that we want in this country. +p2561 +aVChris... +p2562 +aVYeah, sure. And, I don't disagree with ending Congress' retirement program. I'm a governor, I don't have a retirement program in my state, and I don't disagree with that. But, here's the news to the American people, he's complaining about the lying and stealing. The lying and stealing has already occurred. The trust fund is filled with IOU's. We can't fix the problem just by ending Congress's retirement, that's worth about, "this" much. We need to go at the fundamental problem, and the fundamental problem is that this system is broken. It has been stolen from. We have been lied to, and we need a strong leader to tell the truth and fix... +p2563 +aVWell, listen. You know, if we want to deal with these issues, we have to deal with them in a way that makes sense. I agree with what Dr. Carson said earlier. The first thing we need to do to make America stronger is to strengthen our military, and I put out a really specific plan: no less than 500,000 active duty soldiers in the Army. No less than 185,000 active duty marines in the Marine Corps. Bring us to a 350 ship Navy again, and modernize the Ohio class of submarines, and bring our Air Force back to 2,600 aircraft that are ready to go. Those are the kind of things that are going to send a clear message around the world. Those are the things that we need to start working on immediately to make our country stronger and make it better. Those are the things that we need to be able to be doing. And as we move towards dealing with foreign aid, I don't disagree with Senator Paul's position that we shouldn't be funding our enemies. But I absolutely believe that Israel is a priority to be able to fund and keep them strong and safe after eight years of this administration. +p2564 +aVWell, thank you, Megyn. Listen, I was born into a middle class family in New Jersey. My dad came home from serving in the Army after having lost his father, worked in the Breyers ice cream plant in Newark, New Jersey. Was the first person to graduate from college. He put himself through college at night. My mom was a secretary. I was appointed United States attorney on September 10, 2001. And I spent the next seven years of my career fighting terrorism and putting terrorists in jail. I'm a conservative, pro-life governor in a state where it is really tough to be both. A state like New Jersey, with lots of Democrats, but still we cut taxes, we balanced budgets. We fought the teacher's union. This president has had weak leadership, which has led to bad choices. We have got to stop worrying about being loved and start worrying about being respected. And that's exactly how I'll lead our country. +p2565 +asVCARSON +p2566 +(lp2567 +VThank you, Wolf. Please join me for a moment of silence and remembrance of the San Bernardino victims. Thank you. You know, our country since its inception has been at war, every 15 or 20 years. But the war that we are fighting now against radical Islamist jihadists is one that we must win. Our very existence is dependent upon that. You know, as a pediatric neurosurgeon, I frequently faced life and death situations, and had to come up with the right diagnosis, the right plan, and execute that plan frequently with other colleagues. Right now, the United States of America is the patient. And the patient is in critical condition and will not be cured by political correctness and will not be cured by timidity. And I am asking the Congress, which represents the people, to declare a war on +p2568 +aVFirst of all, let me just complain a little bit. This is the first time I've spoken and several people have had multiple questions so please try to pay attention to that. Now, as far as monitoring is concerned, what my point is, we need to make sure that any place \u2013 I don't care whether it's a mosque, a school, a supermarket, a theater, you know it doesn't matter. If there are a lot of people getting there and engaging in radicalizing activities then we need to be suspicious of it. We have to get rid of all this PC stuff. And people are worried about if somebody's going to say that I'm Islamophobic or what have you. This is craziness because we are at war. That's why I asked congress, go ahead and declare the war . We need to be on a war footing. We need to understand that our nation is in grave danger. You know, what the Muslim Brotherhood said in the explanatory memorandum that was discovered during the Holy Land Foundation Trial was that, "they will take advantage of our PC attitude to get us. :" We have to be better than this. We have to be smarter than they are. +p2569 +aVI think you have to ask them about that. I don't want to get in between them. Let them fight. +p2570 +aVNeurosurgeon. +p2571 +aVWell, interestingly enough, you should see the eyes of some of those children when I say to them we're going to have to open your head up and take out this tumor. They're not happy about it, believe me. And they don't like me very much at that point. But later on, they love me. Sometimes you \u2014 I sound like him. You know, later on, you know, they really realize what's going on. And by the same token, you have to be able to look at the big picture and understand that it's actually merciful if you go ahead and finish the job, rather than death by 1,000 pricks. +p2572 +aVYou got it. You got it. +p2573 +aVRuthless is not necessarily the word I would use, but tough, resolute, understanding what the problems are, and understanding that the job of the president of the United States is to protect the people of this country and to do what is necessary in order to get it done. +p2574 +aVFirst of all, I've been talking about this for over a year. We have to destroy their caliphate because that gives them legitimacy to go ahead with the global Jihad. We have to take their energy because they are \u2014 +p2575 +aVNo one is ever better off with dictators but there comes a time you know, when you're on an airplane, they always say, "in case of an emergency oxygen masks will drop down. Put yours on first and then administer help to your neighbor." We need oxygen right now. And we need to start thinking about the needs of the American people before we go and solve everybody else's problems. The fact of the matter is, is that the Middle East has been in turmoil for thousands of years. For us to think that we're going to in there and fix that with a couple of little bombs and a few little decorations is relatively foolish. +p2576 +aVWell, you know, there's a false narrative that only the political class has the wisdom and the ability to be commander-in- chief. But if you go back and you study the design of our country, it was really designed for the citizen statesman. And we need to be talking about where does your experience come from? You know, and I've had a lot of experience building things, organizing things, you know, a national scholarship program. One of the things that you'll notice if you look through my life is that I don't do a lot of talking. I do a lot of doing. And really, it says more about a person than how much they talk. And then some people say you're weak because, you know, you're not loud and you're not boisterous and you're not rude. But the fact of the matter is, look and see what I've done. And that speaks volumes about strength. +p2577 +aVWell, it was very interesting having an opportunity to talk to the Syrians themselves. And I asked them: What do you want? What is your supreme desire? Their supreme desire was to be settled back in their own country. I said, "What can Americans and other countries do?" They said, "Support the efforts of those who are trying to provide safety for us, including the Jordanians." Of course, they had a brand new hospital, for instance, that was unstaffed because there wasn't enough money to do it. But here's what's really neat. If you go into Hasakah province in northeast Syria, that's an area that's as big as Lebanon. It's controlled by the Kurds, the Christians and the moderate Sunnis. And there are airstrips and hotels. You could settle a lot of people there. All we would have to do is be willing to provide them with some weaponry, some defensive weaponry. And we seem to be afraid to give the Kurds weaponry. We like to send it for some strange reason through Baghdad, and then they only get a tenth of it. And if we would support them, we'd have a perfect ideal there. We don't need to set this up as we either take a bunch of refugees who will be infiltrated with terrorists, I guarantee you. For them not to be would be terrorist malpractice. And we need to \u2014 to choose the right choice, not these false choices. +p2578 +aVWell, I definitely believe that he is unstable, and I do, in fact, believe that China has a lot more influence with him than we do. But we also recognize that North Korea is in severe financial straits, and they have decided to use their resources to build their military, rather than to feed their people and to take care of the various humanitarian responsibilities that they have. We can capitalize upon that. You know, we should use our economic power in lots of different ways. I think we can use that in order to keep Putin contained, because he is a one-horse show. Energy. And we have an abundance of energy, but we have archaic energy exportation rules. We need to get rid of those, allow ourselves to really make Europe dependent on us and other parts of the world dependent on us for energy. Put him back in his little box where he belongs. And, you know, we need to be doing lots of other things with the resources that we have. So economic power works just as well as military power, perhaps even better. And speaking of that, our Military needs to be upgraded. You know, you look at things like our Ohio Class submarines, they're 25 years old. Our minuteman 3 missiles \u2014 they are 34 years old. Our B-52 bombers \u2014 50 years old. You know, if we don't get the military right nothing else matters. +p2579 +aVWell, you know, the statement that I made last week, that I would leave the party was contingent upon whether in fact the party acts like they have in the past with a lot of subterfuge and dishonesty, or like they're going act now because I spike to Reince Priebus, and he assured me that the Washington Post writer had it all wrong, and that they're not be engaging in anything to thwart the will of the people. That's why I got into this race, as a member of we the people, to try bring some honesty and integrity back to the process. +p2580 +aVI've been fortunate enough to travel to 58 different countries and I thank God everyday that I was born in this country. The most exceptional country that the world has ever known. And I want to make sure that we preserve that exceptionalism for the next generation. My mother told me if I work hard and I really believed in American principles and I believed in God, anything is possible. I believe that is true, and that's why I'm not anxious to give away American values and principles for the sake of political correctness. +p2581 +aVWell, first of all, delighted to be here. My family's here, and my little granddaughter, who's three years old, said she wanted to come to the debate. So this is very cool. As far as the minimum wage is concerned, people need to be educated on the minimum wage. Every time we raise the minimum wage, the number of jobless people increases. It's particularly a problem in the black community. Only 19.8 percent of black teenagers have a job, who are looking for one. You know, that \u2014 and that's because of those high wages. If you lower those wages, that comes down. You know, I can remember, as a youngster \u2014 you know, my first job working in a laboratory as a lab assistant, and multiple other jobs. But I would not have gotten those jobs if someone had to pay me a large amount of money. But what I did gain from those jobs is a tremendous amount of experience, and how to operate in the world and how to relate to different people, and how to become a responsible individual. And that's what gave me what I needed to ascend the ladder of opportunity in this country. That's what we need to be thinking about. How do we allow people to ascend the ladder of opportunity, rather than how do we give them everything and keep them dependent? +p2582 +aVI would not raise it. I would not raise it, specifically because I'm interested in making sure that people are able to enter the job market and take advantage of opportunities. +p2583 +aVWell, first of all, thank you not asking me what I said in the 10th grade. I appreciate that. +p2584 +aVThe fact of the matter is, you know, what \u2014 we should vet all candidates. I have no problem with being vetted. What I do have a problem with is being lied about and then putting that out there as truth. And I don't even mind that so much, if they do it about \u2014 with everybody, like people on the other side. But, you know, when I look at somebody like Hillary Clinton, who sits there and tells her daughter and a government official that no, this was a terrorist attack, and then tells everybody else that it was a video. Where I came from, they call that a lie. And... I think that's very different from, you know, somebody misinterpreting, when I said that I was offered a scholarship to West Point, that is the words that they used. But, I've had many people come and say the same thing to me. That is what people do in those situations. We have to start treating people the same, and finding out what people really think and what they're made of. People who know me know that I'm an honest person. +p2585 +aVWell, you know, when I say tithing, I'm talking about the concept of proportionality. +p2586 +aVEverybody should pay the same proportion of what they make. You make $10 billion, you pay a billion. You make $10, you pay one. You get same rights and privileges. I don't see how anything gets a whole lot fairer than that. But you also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes because that is the thing that tilts it in one direction or another. And you have to set the rate at an appropriate level. Now I will say that, there are a lot of people who say, if you get rid of the deductions, you ruin the American dream because, you know, home mortgage deduction. But the fact of the matter is, people had homes before 1913 when we introduced the federal income tax, and later after that started deductions. And they say there will be no more charitable giving. We had churches before that and charitable organizations before that. The fact of the matter is, I believe if you put more money in people's pockets that they will actually be more generous rather than less generous. And it's... ... the money that they earned. And, the other thing is, I do care about the poor people. And in the system that we're putting together, there will be a rebate for people at the poverty level. But I also want to emphasize the fact that as we get the economy moving, and I hope I get a question about how do we get the economy moving, there will be a lot more opportunities for poor people not to be poor people because this is America. This is the land of dreams. And our policies should be aimed at allowing people to realize that dream. +p2587 +aVWell, putting the special ops people in there is better than not having them there, because they \u2014 that's why they're called special ops, they're actually able to guide some of the other things that we're doing there. And what we have to recognize is that Putin is trying to really spread his influence throughout the Middle East. This is going to be his base. And we have to oppose him there in an effective way. We also must recognize that it's a very complex place. You know, the Chinese are there, as well as the Russians, and you have all kinds of factions there. What we've been doing so far is very ineffective, but we can't give up ground right there. But we have to look at this on a much more global scale. We're talking about global jihadists. And their desire is to destroy us and to destroy our way of life. So we have to be saying, how do we make them look like losers? Because that's the way that they're able to gather a lot of influence. And I think in order to make them look like losers, we have to destroy their caliphate. And you look for the easiest place to do that? It would be in Iraq. And if \u2014 outside of Anbar in Iraq, there's a big energy field. Take that from them. Take all of that land from them. We could do that, I believe, fairly easily, I've learned from talking to several generals, and then you move on from there. But you have to continue to face them, because our goal is not to contain them, but to destroy them before they destroy us. +p2588 +aVWell, I think we should have policies that don't allow them to just enlarge themselves at the expense of smaller entities. And certainly some of the policies, some of the monetary and Fed policies that we're using makes it very easy for them, makes it very easy for the big corporations, quite frankly, at these very low interest rates to buy back their stock and to drive the price of that up artificially. Those are the kinds of things that led to the problem in the first place. And I think this all really gets back to this whole regulation issue which is creating a very abnormal situation. This country was \u2014 declared its independence in 1776. In less than 100 years, it was the number-one economic power in the world. And the reason was because we had an atmosphere that encouraged entrepreneurial risk- taking and capital investment. Those are the fuels that drive it. And what we've done now is let the creep of regulation turn into a stampede of regulations, which is involved in every aspect of our lives. If we can get that out, it makes a big difference. And even for the average person, every single regulation costs money. And it's shifted to the individual. So \u2014 and it hurts the poor and the middle class much more than it does the rich. They go into the store and they buy a bar of soap, it costs 10 cents more, they notice it. And the middle class, when they come to the cash register, have a whole cart full of things that cost 5, 10 or 15 cents more, they notice it. It is hurting the poor. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton won't tell you that that's the thing that's really hurting middle class in the core. They'll say it's the rich, take their money, but that won't help. You can take all of the rich's money and it won't make a dent in the problem that we're having. We have to come back to the fundamental principles that made America great. +p2589 +aVI would have policies that wouldn't allow that to occur. I don't want to go in and tear anybody down. I mean, that doesn't help us. But what does help us is stop tinkering around the edges and fix the actual problems that exist that are creating the problem in the first place. +p2590 +aVIn the two hours of this \u2014 of this debate, five people have died from drug-related deaths, $100 million has been added to our national debt, 200 babies have been killed by abortionists, and two veterans have taken their lives out of despair. This is a narrative that we can change, not we the Democrats, not we the Republicans, but we the people of America, because there is something special about this nation, and we must embrace it and be proud of it and never give it away for the sake of political correctness. +p2591 +aVProbably in terms of the applying for the job of president, a weakness would be not really seeing myself in that position until hundreds of thousands of people began to tell me that I needed to do it. I do, however, believe in Reagan's 11th commandment, and will not be engaging in awful things about my compatriots here. And recognizing that it's so important, this election, because we're talking about America for the people versus America for the government. +p2592 +aVWell, first of all, I didn't say that the rate would be 10 percent. I used the tithing analogy. +p2593 +aVThe rate \u2014 the rate \u2014 the rate is gonna be much closer to 15 percent. +p2594 +aVYou also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes. You also have to some strategically cutting in several places. Remember, we have 645 federal agencies and sub-agencies. Anybody who tells me that we need every penny and every one of those is in a fantasy world. So, also, we can stimulate the economy. That's gonna be the real growth engine. Stimulating the economy \u2014 because it's tethered down right now with so many regulations... +p2595 +aVThat's not true. +p2596 +aVWhen \u2014 when we put all the facts down, you'll be able to see that it's not true, it works out very well. +p2597 +aVSince I was attacked too. +p2598 +aVLet me just say, if you're talking about an $18 trillion economy, you're talking about a 15 percent tax on your gross domestic product. You're talking about $2.7 trillion. We have a budget closer to $3.5 trillion. But if you also apply that same 15 percent to several other things, including corporate taxes, and including the capital gains taxes, you make that amount up pretty quickly. So that is not by any stretch a pie in the sky. +p2599 +aVWell, there is no question that some people go overboard when it comes to trying to make profits, and they don't take into consideration the American people. What we have to start thinking about, as leaders, particularly in government, is what can we do for the average American? And you think about the reasons that we're having such difficulty right now with our job market. Well, the average small manufacturer, whatever they're manufacturing, drugs or anything, if they have less than 50 employees, the average cost in terms of regulations is $34,000 per employee. Makes it a whole lot easier for them to want to go somewhere else. So what we're going to have to start doing instead of, you know, picking on this group or this group, is we're going to have to have a major reduction in the regulatory influence that is going on. The government is not supposed to be in every part of our lives, and that is what is causing the problem. +p2600 +aVWell, obviously, you don't understand my views on homosexuality. I believe that our Constitution protects everybody, regardless of their sexual orientation or any other aspect. I also believe that marriage is between one man and one woman. And there is no reason that you can't be perfectly fair to the gay community. They shouldn't automatically assume that because you believe that marriage is between one man and one woman that you are a homophobe. And this is one of the myths that the left perpetrates on our society, and this is how they frighten people and get people to shut up. You know, that's what the PC culture is all about, and it's destroying this nation. The fact of the matter is we the American people are not each other's enemies, it's those people who are trying to divide us who are the enemies. And we need to make that very clear to everybody. +p2601 +aVWell, that's easy to answer. I didn't have an involvement with them. That is total propaganda, and this is what happens in our society. Total propaganda. I did a couple of speeches for them, I do speeches for other people. They were paid speeches. It is absolutely absurd to say that I had any kind of a relationship with them. Do I take the product? Yes. I think it's a good product. +p2602 +aVIf somebody put me on their homepage, they did it without my permission. +p2603 +aVNo, it speaks to the fact that I don't know those \u2014 See? They know. +p2604 +aVWell, first of all, I was wrong about taking the oil subsidy. I have studied that issue in great detail. And what I have concluded is that the best policy is to get rid of all government subsidies, and get the government out of our lives, and let people rise and fall based on how good they are. And \u2014 you know, all of this too big to fail stuff and picking and choosing winners and losers \u2014 this is a bunch of crap, and it is really causing a great deal of \u2014 great deal of problems for our society right now. And \u2014 and \u2014 you know, it goes back to the whole concept of regulations, which are in everything. The reason that I \u2014 I hate them so much is because every single regulation costs in terms of goods and services. That cost gets passed on to the people. Now, who are the people who are hurt by that? It's poor people and middle class. Doesn't hurt rich people if their bar of soap goes up ten cents, but it hurts the poor and the middle class. And Bernie Sanders will tell them that it's because of the rich. Well, I'll tell you something: you can take everything from the top 1 percent, and you apply it to our fiscal gap, and you won't even make a dent in it. +p2605 +aVAbout Medicare? +p2606 +aVWell, first of all the \u2014 the plan gives people the option of \u2014 of opting out. But I think they will see a very good option here. You know, the annual Medicare budget is over $600 billion. And there are 48 million people involved \u2014 40 million, 65 and over, and 8 million other. Divide that out. That comes out to $12,500 for each one. Now, I can tell you there are a lot of private-sector things that you could do with $12,500, which will get you a lot more than you get from this government program. And that's really a theme of a lot of the things that I'm talking about. How do we utilize our intellect rather than allowing the government to use its, quote, "intellect," in order to help us to be able to live healthier and better lives? It was never intended that the government should be in every aspect of our lives. This is a country that is of, for and by the people. +p2607 +aVI just want to thank all my colleagues here for being civil, and not falling for the traps. And, I also just want to thank the audience for being attentive, and noticing the questions, and the noticing the answers. And, this is what I am finding throughout America. People are waking up because it is going to be us who will determine the direction of our country. And, it was made for we the people, we are the ones who decide who we are, and we should never give away the values and principles that made America into a great nation for the sake of political correctness. +p2608 +aVHi, I'm Ben Carson, and I'm a retired pediatric neurosurgeon. I'm here with my wife, Candy, of 40 years, and two of my sons, and their wives. I stress the pediatric part of my career because the reason that I've gotten involved in this race is because I'm very concerned about the future of our children, and the direction of our country is one that does not portend well, unless we, the people, intervene and retake our rightful place at the pinnacle. +p2609 +aVTypically, politicians do things that are politically expedient. And they are looking for whatever their particular goal is. That is not the reason that I have gotten into this thing. I'm extraordinary concerned about the direction of this country, the divisiveness that is going on, fiscal irresponsibility, the failure to take a leadership position in the world. All of those things will lead to a situation where the next generation will not have a chance that we've had now. So I don't \u2014 I don't want to really get into describing who's a politician and who's not a politician, but I think the people have kind of made that decision for themselves already, and will continue to do so as time goes on. +p2610 +aVJake, can I say something about that? +p2611 +aVYou know, when I entered this race, all the political pundits said it's impossible; you can't do it because you're not connected with the money. And there's no way that you can raise what you need in order to compete successfully. I in no way am willing to get in the bed with special interest group or lick the boots of billionaires. I have said to the people if they want me to do this, please get involved. And we now have over 500,000 donations, and the money is coming in. But the pundits forgot about one thing, and that is the people. And they are really in charge. +p2612 +aVWell, first of all, I recognize that we have an incredible illegal immigration problem. I was down in Arizona a few weeks ago at the border. I mean, the fences that were there were not manned, and those are the kind of fences when I was a kid that would barely slow us down. So, I don't see any purpose in having that. Now, what we need to do is look at something that actually works. Yuma County, Arizona. They stop 97 percent of the illegal immigrants through there. They put in a double fence with a road so that there was quick access by the enforcement people. If we don't seal the border, the rest of this stuff clearly doesn't matter. It's kind of ridiculous all the other things we talk about. We have the ability to do it, we don't have the will to do it. There was one area where they had cut a hole in the fence, and to repair it, they put a few strands of barb wire across. Well, the photographers who were there with us, they wanted to photograph us from the side of the Mexicans, and they went through there, and they were not physically fit people, and they took their cameras and things with them, and shot us from the other side. That's how easy it is to get across. And, the drugs, I mean, it goes on, and on, and on. ICE tells them to release these people, 67,000 criminals released... +p2613 +aV...on to our property, it's ridiculous. +p2614 +aVWell, I have also said, if anybody knows how to do that, that I would be willing to listen. And, if they can, you know, specify exactly how that's going to be done, and what the cost, and it sounds reasonable, then I think it's worth discussing... +p2615 +aVNot exactly what I said. +p2616 +aVWell, what I said, after we seal the borders, after we turn off the spigot that dispenses all the goodies so we don't have people coming in here, including employment, that people who had a pristine record, we should consider allowing them to become guest workers, primarily in the agricultural sphere, because that's the place where Americans don't seem to want to work. That's what I said. And they have a six-month period to do that. If they don't do it within that time period, then they become illegal, and as illegals, they will be treated as such. +p2617 +aVCan I \u2014 can I \u2014 can I just... +p2618 +aVCan I correct... +p2619 +aVOK. +p2620 +aVMy plan is not amnesty for a number of reasons. Number one, you know, I've talked to farmers, and they said they cannot hire Americans to do the kind of job that I'm talking about. And the second reason is because the individuals who register as guest workers, they don't get to vote, they are not American citizens, and they don't get the rights and privileges of American citizens. So that's key. But the other thing that I want to bring up is, I mentioned something earlier. I think it was just sort of glossed over. I talked about the success in Yuma County, I mean, incredible success, and the Department of Justice said, "No, we don't want to do that. That's too successful." We don't have to keep reinventing the wheel. All we have to do is look at things that work. All we have to do is use a little common sense. +p2621 +aVIt's all about America. You know, the people who say the guy who paid a billion dollars because he had 10, he has still got $9 billion left, that's not fair, we need to take more of his money. That's called socialism. That doesn't work so well. What made America into a great nation was the fact that we said, that guy just put in $1 billion, let's create an environment that's even more conducive to his success so that next year he can put in $2 billion. And that's the kind of thing that helps us to grow. We can't grow by continuing to take a piece of pie, and dividing it, and redistributing it. But, I'm also looking at what doctor \u2014 at what Governor Huckabee talked about... +p2622 +aVThe Fair Tax. Looking at both of them, and evaluating them both, and I'm talking to the American people because one of the things we must recognize is that this country is of, for, and by the people. And, it's really time that the government get out of the way, and let the people be the ones who decide how they want to run their country. +p2623 +aVWell, first of all, let me say what I actually said about raising the minimum wage. I was asked should it be raised, I said, probably, or possibly. But, what I added, which I think is the most important thing, so, I said we need to get both sides of this issue to sit down, and talk about it. Negotiate a reasonable minimum wage, and index that so that we never have to have this conversation again in the history of America. I think we also have to have two minimum wages, a starter, and a sustaining because how are young people ever going to get a job if you have such a high minimum wage that it makes it impractical to hire them... +p2624 +aVJake, Jake... +p2625 +aVI haven't had an opportunity to weigh in on foreign policy, and I just want to mention that when the war, when the issue occurred in 2003, I suggested to President Bush that he not go to war? OK. So I just want that on the record. And, you know, a lot of people are very much against us getting involved right now with global jihadism. And they refer back to our invasion of Iraq. And they seem to think that that was what caused it. What caused it was withdrawing from there and creating a vacuum which allowed this terrible situation to occur. But it is very different from what is going on today. We're talking about global jihadists who actually want to destroy us. They are an existential threat to our nation. And we have to be mature enough to recognize that our children will have no future if we put our heads in the sand. We have to recognize we have two choices. We either allow them the continue to progress and appear to be the winners, or we use every resource available to us to destroy... +p2626 +aV... them first. +p2627 +aVWell, recognize that, you know, President George W. Bush is a great friend of ours, and we spent many wonderful days at the White House. I haven't been there in the last seven years. I probably have to have a food-tester. But at any rate, I didn't suggest that nothing be done. What I suggested to President Bush is to be Kennedy-esque, in the sense that when the Russians got ahead of us in the space race, what we did is use the bully pulpit to galvanize everybody, business, industry, academia behind a national goal to put a man on the moon and bring him back safely. I said, you can do the same kind of thing. Declare that within five to 10 years we will become petroleum independent. The moderate Arab states would have been so concerned about that, they would have turned over Osama bin Laden and anybody else you wanted on a silver platter within two weeks. There are smart ways to do things and there are muscular ways to do things. And sometimes you have to look at both of those to come up with the right solution. +p2628 +aVI have no argument with having a strong leader, and to be aggressive where aggression is needed. But it is not needed in every circumstance. There is a time when you can use your intellect to come up with other ways to do things. And I think that's what we have to start thinking about. There is no question that a lot of these problems that we have been talking about in terms of the international situation is because we are weak. It is because our Navy is so small. It is because our Air Force is incapable of doing the same things that it did a few years ago. It's because our Marines Corps is not ready to be deployed. +p2629 +aVThere are a lot of problems that are going on, and we need to solve those problems, we need to build up our military... +p2630 +aVWell, let me put it this way, there has \u2014 there have been numerous studies, and they have not demonstrated that there is any correlation between vaccinations and autism. This was something that was spread widely 15 or 20 years ago, and it has not been adequately, you know, revealed to the public what's actually going on. Vaccines are very important. Certain ones. The ones that would prevent death or crippling. There are others, there are a multitude of vaccines which probably don't fit in that category, and there should be some discretion in those cases. But, you know, a lot of this is \u2014 is \u2014 is pushed by big government. And I think that's one of the things that people so vehemently want to get rid of, big government. You know, we have 4.1 million federal employees. Six hundred and fifty federal agencies and department (sic). That's why they have to take so much of our taxes. +p2631 +aVWell, you know, I've just explained it to him. He can read about it if he wants to. I think he's an intelligent man and will make the correct decision after getting the real facts. +p2632 +aVHe's an OK doctor. But, you know, the fact of the matter is, we have extremely well-documented proof that there's no autism associated with vaccinations. But it is true that we are probably giving way too many in too short a period of time. And a lot of pediatricians now recognize that, and, I think, are cutting down on the number and the proximity in which those are done, and I think that's appropriate. +p2633 +aVI'd put my mother on there. You know, she was one of 24 children, got married at age 13, had only a third grade education, had to raise two sons by herself, refused to be a victim. Wouldn't let us be victims, and has been an inspiration to many people. +p2634 +aVOne Nation. +p2635 +aVWell, you know, I was a radical Democrat before I started listening to Ronald Reagan. And he didn't sound like what they said Republicans were. He sounded logical. And I hope that I sound logical also. Because when I look at what is going on with the United States of America, I see a lot of things that are not logical. I see us allowing people to divide us, when in fact our strength is in our unity. I see people exercising the most irresponsible fiscal habits that anyone could possibly do. And hiding it from the American people, so that the majority of people have no idea what our financial situation is. So, when someone comes along and says, free college, free phones, free this and that, and the other, they say, "wow, that's nice," having no idea that they're destabilizing our position. And I think also that Ronald Reagan was a master at understanding that a pinnacle nation has to be a nation that leads. If we learn to lead in the Middle East right now, a coalition will form behind us, but never they do it if we just sit there and talk about it. Real leadership is what I would hopefully bring to America. +p2636 +aVWell, I could take issue with -- with all of those things, but we don't have time. But I will say, we have a debate here tonight, and we will have an opportunity to explore those areas, and I'm looking very much forward to demonstrating that, in fact, the thing that is probably most important is having a brain, and to be able to figure things out and learn things very rapidly. So, you know, experience comes from a large number of different arenas, and America became a great nation early on not because it was flooded with politicians, but because it was flooded with people who understood the value of personal responsibility, hard work, creativity, innovation, and that's what will get us on the right track now, as well. +p2637 +aVWell, thank you, Megyn, I wasn't sure I was going to get to talk again. +p2638 +aVAlright. You know, what we do in order to get the information that we need is our business, and I wouldn't necessarily be broadcasting what we're going to do. We. . .uh. . .we've gotten into this -- this mindset of fighting politically correct wars. There is no such thing as a politically correct war. And, the left, of course, will say Carson doesn't believe in the Geneva Convention. Carson doesn't believe in fighting stupid wars. And -- and what we have to remember is we want to utilize the tremendous intellect that we have in the military to win wars. And I've talked to a lot of the generals, a lot of our advanced people. And believe me, if we gave them the mission, which is what the commander-in-chief does, they would be able to carry it out. And if we don't tie their hands behind their back, they will do it......extremely effectively. +p2639 +aVWhat I agree with is that we need a significantly changed taxation system. And the one that I've advocated is based on tithing, because I think God is a pretty fair guy. And he said, you know, if you give me a tithe, it doesn't matter how much you made. If you've had a bumper crop, you don't owe me triple tithes. And if you've had no crops at all, you don't owe me no tithes. So there must be something inherently fair about that. And that's why I've advocated a proportional tax system. You make $10 billion, you pay a billion. You make $10, you pay one. And everybody gets treated the same way. And you get rid of the deductions, you get rid of all the loopholes, and... +p2640 +aVAnd I have a lot more to say about it. +p2641 +aVIf Hillary is the candidate, which I doubt, that would be a dream come true. But you know, the fact of the matter is, she is the epitome of the progressive -- the secular progressive movement. And she counts on the fact that people are uninformed, the Alinsky Model, taking advantage of useful idiots. Well, I just happen to believe that people are not stupid. And the way I will come at it is to educate people, help people to actually understand that it is that progressive movement that is causing them the problems. You know, you look at the -- the national debt and how it's being driven up. If I was trying to destroy this country, what I would do is find a way to drive wedges between all the people, drive the debt to an unsustainable level, and then step off the stage as a world leader and let our enemies increase while we decreased our capacity as a military person. And that's what she's doing. +p2642 +aVWell, what we have to stop and think about is that we have weakened ourselves militarily to such an extent that if affects all of our military policies. Our Navy is at its smallest size since 1917; our Air Force, since 1940. In recent testimony, the commandant of the Marine Corps said half of the non-deployed units were not ready and you know, the sequester is cutting the heart out of our personnel. Our generals are retiring because they don't want to be part of this, and at the same time, our enemies are increasing. Our -- our friends can't trust us anymore. You know, Ukraine was a nuclear-armed state. They gave away their nuclear arms with the understanding that we would protect them. We won't even give them offensive weapons. You know, we turned our back on Israel, our ally. You know, in a situation like that, of course Obama's not going to be able to do anything. I would shore up our military first, because if you don't get the military right, nothing else is going to work. +p2643 +aVWell, I think the bully pulpit is a wonderful place to start healing that divide. You know, we have the purveyors of hatred who take every single incident between people of two races and try to make a race war out of it, and drive wedges into people. And this does not need to be done. What we need to think about instead -- you know, I was asked by an NPR reporter once, why don't I talk about race that often. I said it's because I'm a neurosurgeon. And she thought that was a strange response. And you say -- I said, you see, when I take someone to the operating room, I'm actually operating on the thing that makes them who they are. The skin doesn't make them who they are. The hair doesn't make them who they are. And it's time for us to move beyond that. Because......our strength as a nation comes in our unity. We are the United States of America, not the divided states. And those who want to destroy us are trying to divide us, and we shouldn't let them do it. +p2644 +aVWell, I haven't said anything about me being the only one to do anything, so let me try that. I'm the only one to separate Siamese twins... The -- the only one to operate on babies while they were still in mother's womb, the only one to take out half of a brain, although you would think, if you go to Washington, that someone had beat me to it. But I -- but I'm very hopeful that I'm not the only one who's willing to pick up the baton of freedom, because freedom is not free, and we must fight for it every day. Every one of us must fight for it, because we're fighting for our children and the next generation. +p2645 +asVQUINTANILLA +p2646 +(lp2647 +VGood evening, I'm Carl Quintanilla, with my colleagues Becky Quick and John Harwood. We'll be joined tonight by some of +p2648 +aVGovernor? +p2649 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p2650 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Bush. +p2651 +aVSenator Rubio. +p2652 +aVMr. Trump? +p2653 +aVDr. Carson? +p2654 +aVMrs. Fiorina? +p2655 +aVFixed it. +p2656 +aVSenator Cruz? +p2657 +aVGovernor Christie? +p2658 +aVSenator Paul? +p2659 +aVThanks to all the candidates. John? +p2660 +aVHold it. We'll cut it back to you in just a minute. Becky's moving on. +p2661 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor. thank you, Governor. +p2662 +aVMr. Trump, 30 seconds. +p2663 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2664 +aVWe're going to try to move on. +p2665 +aVYou want to bring 70,000 pages to three? +p2666 +aVIs that using really small type? +p2667 +aVIs that using really small type? +p2668 +aVMrs. Fiorina \u2014 +p2669 +aVWe're going to \u2014 +p2670 +aVWe will come around the bend, i promise. This one is for Senator Rubio. You've been a young man in a hurry ever since you won your first election in your 20s. You've had a big accomplishment in the Senate, an immigration bill providing a path to citizenship the conservatives in your party hate, and even you don't support anymore. Now, you're skipping more votes than any senator to run for president. Why not slow down, get a few more things done first or least finish what you start? +p2671 +aVSo when the Sun-Sentinel says Rubio should resign, not rip us off, when they say Floridians sent you to Washington to do a job, when they say you act like you hate your job, do you? +p2672 +aVWell, do you hate your job? +p2673 +aVIs that the standard? +p2674 +aVSenator, thank you. John. +p2675 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2676 +aVSenator Cruz. Congressional Republicans, Democrats and the White House are about to strike a compromise that would raise the debt limit, prevent a government shutdown and calm financial markets that fear of \u2014 another Washington-created crisis is on the way. Does your opposition to it show that you're not the kind of problem-solver American voters want? +p2677 +aV do we get credit ? +p2678 +aVSo, this is a question about , which you have 30 seconds left to answer, should you choose to do so. +p2679 +aVOK. I asked you about the debt limit and I got no answer. +p2680 +aVWe promised we would get to everyone this block. Governor Huckabee, I'm going to give you 60 seconds on this. +p2681 +aV...Governor... +p2682 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p2683 +aV...Senator Cruz... +p2684 +aVOK, alright. +p2685 +aVSenator Cruz... +p2686 +aV...Before we go to break, we're clearly not having that beer you mentioned, but I'll give you 30 more seconds... +p2687 +aVOK. +p2688 +aVI'll give you 30 seconds to respond... +p2689 +aVRespond on the debt limit, or an answer to the governor, which ever you choose. +p2690 +aV30 seconds, Governor Huckabee. +p2691 +aVGovernor, thank you. We will take a break. The Republican Presidential debate, live from Boulder, Colorado, coming back after a break on +p2692 +aVMrs. Fiorina, in 2010, while running for Senate in Tech Ridge (ph), California, you called an Internet sales tax a bad idea. Traditional brick and mortar stores obviously disagree. Now that the Internet shopping playing field has matured, what would be a fair plan to even that playing field? +p2693 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p2694 +aVOK. +p2695 +aVThank you very much. +p2696 +aVDr. Carson, we know you as a physician, but we wanted to ask you about your involvement on some corporate boards, including Costco's. Last year, a marketing study called the warehouse retailer the number one gay-friendly brand in America, partly because of its domestic partner benefits. Why would you serve on a company whose policies seem to run counter to your views on homosexuality? +p2697 +aVOne more question. This is a company called Mannatech, a maker of nutritional supplements, with which you had a 10-year relationship. They offered claims that they could cure autism, cancer, they paid $7 million to settle a deceptive marketing lawsuit in Texas, and yet you're involvement continued. Why? +p2698 +aVTo be fair, you were on the homepage of their website with the logo over your shoulder \u2014 +p2699 +aVDoes that not speak to your vetting process or judgment in any way. +p2700 +aVApparently. We will take a break. We'll be back in Boulder in just a minute. +p2701 +aV...We'll come back around. I want to get to governor Kasich. +p2702 +aVGovernor Kasich, let's talk ... +p2703 +aV...about Marijuana, Governor Kasich... +p2704 +aVAlright, but 30 seconds, you made a case. Sure, 30 seconds. +p2705 +aVSenator, thank you. +p2706 +aVOh, no, no, no... +p2707 +aV...Ok... +p2708 +aV...We're going to go to... +p2709 +aVOK. Thank you, Senator. Governor Kasich, let's talk about marijuana. We're broadcasting from Colorado which has seen $150 million in new revenue for the state since legalizing last year. Governor Hickenlooper is not a big fan of legalization, but he's said the people who used to be smoking it are still smoking it, they're just now paying taxes. Given the budget pressures in Ohio, and other states, is this a revenue stream you'd like to have? +p2710 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2711 +aVThank you. We'll be back from Boulder, Colorado in just a moment. +p2712 +aVMr. Trump, you've said you have a special permit to carry a gun in New York. +p2713 +aVAfter the Oregon mass shooting on October 1st, you said, "By the way, it was a gun-free zone. If you had a couple of teachers with guns, you would have been a hell of a lot better off." +p2714 +aVWould you feel more comfortable if your employees brought guns to work? +p2715 +aVAre you carrying one now? +p2716 +aVWe called a few Trump resorts, a few Trump properties that \u2014 that do not allow guns with or without a permit. Would you change those policies? +p2717 +aVOK. All right. Thank you. John? +p2718 +aVGovernor Bush, daily fantasy sports has become a phenomenon in this country, will award billions of dollars in prize money this year. But to play you have to assess your odds, put money at risk, wait for an outcome that's out of your control. Isn't that the definition of gambling, and should the Federal Government treat it as such? +p2719 +aVI had a feeling you were going to brag about that. +p2720 +aVThis is the\u2014 well, we're going to take a break. We want to save time for closing statements after the break. So this is the Republican presidential debate in Boulder, and we'll be right back. +p2721 +aVSenator Rubio... +p2722 +aV...yeah, I just wanted . +p2723 +aVI want to give you 30 seconds here. +p2724 +aVThat concludes tonight's debate. On behalf of my colleagues Becky Quick, John Harwood, Sharon Epperson, Rick Santelli and Jim Cramer, we'd like to our host, the University of Colorado at Boulder, the Republican National Committee, the candidates and, of course, tonight's audience. +p2725 +asVGILMORE +p2726 +(lp2727 +VWell, Bill, can I first... +p2728 +aVWell, first of all, Bill, let me say one thing, I have been in Iowa. But this is not the place where I'm choosing to begin my campaign. I am beginning my campaign in New Hampshire and I decided to do that based upon the process that is in place in Iowa and the primary that's in place in New Hampshire. But never mind that, I want to return to something. I'm the only veteran, Bill and Martha in this race. And I'm not going to any Donald Trump event over across town on some sort of faux veteran sort of issue. I'm going to speak to you tonight about the issue that really confronts veterans. I'm going to talk to you about the concerns that they have got with the veterans administration. The lousy appeals process that they have got. The fact that sometimes they get good service at the V.A. and sometimes they don't and the fact that post traumatic stress syndrome is not properly recognized. That psychology positions are unavailable in the Veterans Administration. And I will say this to you -- as the only veteran in -- in this race, when I become president of the United States, the veterans are going to be treated with respect and competently in success in the Veterans' Administration in this country. +p2729 +aVFirst of all, Bill, I think that Gitmo ought to remain open. But I also want to point out to you that what you are saying is the exact right topic to all of these other candidates. And that's this international challenge that we are facing, the international war that America is in, even to this day. And I'm the candidate who is best qualified to deal with this issue. A degree in foreign policy in Russian area studies. I'm the only United States Army veteran having gone to Europe during the Cold War as United States Army Intelligence agent, the governor during the 9/11 attack, the chairman of the National Commission on Homeland Security for the United States for five years. And this is what I will do. If I become the president, I'm going to rebuild the United States military. We're going to take the sequester off the defense budget. Give the Navy the ships it needs. Refit the United States Army. Refit the United States Marine Corps. And on this international guerrilla war, we need to recognize our Special Forces, our intelligence community, and the people that we need in order to really protect us. And finally, this war of ideas, we must win this. We must say to the world that radical Islamism is the threat. It isn't just confined to +p2730 +aVHey, did you miss me? Did you skip me? +p2731 +aVI'm going to have something to say about this, but you just keep going. +p2732 +aVYes, I'll be there. +p2733 +aVYou know, Martha, it may be out of the barn in that the Iranians may be moving towards a nuclear program, because this nuclear deal actually gives them a time frame up the road when they are going to be able to do that kind of program. And that's very dangerous because it means people in the Middle East have to begin to react to that right now. The United States, I think, has to continue to exercise its influence in the Middle East, stay active, and not do this pull-back type of program that we are seeing all over the place with President Obama, which is creating this kind of danger. The world is a more dangerous place now than when I was an intelligence agent. We have not only this international guerrilla war but also these challenges from these other countries as well. But, Martha, I want to say one more thing to you and Bill. I disagree with Carly Fiorina when she says that it's just a political class in Washington. The truth is that the country has changed. And there are powerful forces at this point that are really controlling our lives. And that's why people are so angry. One of those is government, which is regulating everything through the Environmental Protection Agency, through other places. But the biggest one is the organized establishment media. And I just noticed just now you gave Carly Fiorina two one-minute answers in a row. This media across the country is manipulating and shaping and framing this campaign and has been for at least a year now in order to get the kind of choices that people are going to have an opportunity to see. This is wrong. It has to change. And when I'm president, it's going to change. +p2734 +aVI'll take it. +p2735 +aVMartha, I just visited a community mental health clinic in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, just three days ago, as a matter of fact. And when I was governor of Virginia, I tried to move more of those resources into the community, which will give us the facilities and the abilities to begin to identify people who actually might be dangerous and who abuse Second Amendment rights. But I do believe this is one of the really principle issues in this campaign. The president and Hillary Clinton are working very hard to change the culture of this country in order to put us in a position where we can't exercise Second Amendment rights. That's wrong. I am a board member of the National Rifle Association. The reason I'm a board member is because I believe that individuals in this country can be trusted to exercise their rights under the Second Amendment and under the Bill of Rights. To take away people's Second Amendment rights is to redefine the individual in the society, and I'm not going to put up with it. As President of the United States, when Jim Gilmore's President of the United States, I can tell you this. Gun control is not going to be an issue. If gun control... ... comes to the President's desk when I'm president, I'll veto it as fast as it takes Hillary Clinton to eliminate her emails. +p2736 +aVYou know Bill, that raises, I think, the question of the future of the Republican party. The question is -- first of all, I stand second to no one in standing up to radical Islamism. I understand that +p2737 +aVWell, thank you very much, Bill. And, thank you, and Fox and Google for including me in this debate tonight. I think it's been a wonderful opportunity. I'm the son of a meat cutter. My father worked for Safeway stores for 45 years. My mother was a secretary, she ended her career as the Secretary for the Methodist Bishop. I didn't have a father that could give me a million dollar loan to start my business. But, my father did talk character, and he provided for his family, and he was a wonderful example. And, I'm not about to go across town tonight to carry the coat for some billionaire. Instead, I intend to run for President of the United States, speak to the issue of this international war, and challenge that we're in. This issue of veterans rights, and the issue of Second Amendment rights, and I ask for your support... +p2738 +asVSANTELLI +p2739 +(lp2740 +VSenator Cruz, let's focus on our central bank, the Federal Reserve. You've been a fierce critic of the Fed, arguing for more transparency. Where do you want to take that? Do you want to get Congress involved in monetary policy, or is it time to slap the Fed back and downsize them completely? What are your thoughts? What do you believe? +p2741 +aVSenator Paul, the same question to you. +p2742 +aVThank you, Senator. Dr. Carson, you told The Des Moines Register that you don't like government subsidies, it interferes with the free market. But you've also said that you're in favor of taking oil subsidies and putting them towards ethanol processing. Isn't that just swapping one subsidy for another, Doctor? +p2743 +aVThank you, Doctor. Becky? +p2744 +asVMACCALLUM +p2745 +(lp2746 +VSo it will come as no surprise that there is an idea out there that there is a civil war brewing within the GOP over the meaning of conservative and the question of who is electable. There are some in the GOP who are so outraged by Trump and Cruz that they say they would actually rather have Hillary Clinton in the White House. So, Carly Fiorina, I ask you this. Is your party in crisis? +p2747 +aVGovernor Huckabee, word is that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is considering getting into this race. If he does, that would make four New Yorkers, including Sanders, Clinton, and Trump. One candidate in this race has criticized so-called "New York values". So tell me, in your opinion, are New York values different than Iowa values? +p2748 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum, according to Google, the Paris terror attacks were the largest story that was searched in 2015, with nearly 1 billion searches of that story worldwide. There have been at 18 terror attacks so far this year -- in just January alone, in 2016, and it will likely, as we all know, get worse. But what can an American president do to stop these terrifying killings? +p2749 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2750 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you have said when it comes to +p2751 +aVThank you. +p2752 +aVComing up, we're going to have more on the top issues in this campaign, and you can engage in tonight's conversation right from home. Go to google.com, search "FOX News debate." You can vote on which candidate you think is winning so far in tonight's debate. And you can check results after the debate is over. We are back in a moment live from the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. +p2753 +aVAlright, Governor Huckabee, government grows and grows. In fact, neighborhoods in and around the Beltway get richer and richer all the time while our manufacturing towns are disappearing. Still Republicans from Reagan to Bush have bowed to shrink the size of government, but it never works. Is this Presidency, and presidency, simply too small a David to slay the Goliath of government? +p2754 +aVAlright, Carly Fiorina, you've said that you can get the tax code down to three short simple pages. But, when lobbyists who have twisted the arms of members of Congress come sit with you in the Oval Office and say, "Madam President, sorry, I cannot be with you on this one," you may understand what previous presidents have gone through. No? +p2755 +aVSenator Santorum, Bernie Sanders asked a woman in Iowa what it's like to live in poverty. She broke down in tears, saying that she lives on less than $10,000 a year and that she is ashamed every day. She leans on her parents for help. She says she can't buy presents for her children. We are all sympathetic to this woman's plight. On the other hand, the G.O.P. is supposed to be the party of smaller government. So what would you look her in the eye and say? +p2756 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2757 +aVGovernor Gilmore, thanks to the Iranian nuclear deal, President Rouhani is currently on a tour of Europe meeting with our closest allies in France and Italy. In fact, he has already landed some 50 to 85 billion are the estimates in deals with those countries, with our allies. More on the way. You and others say that you would rip up that deal. But, really, by the time the next president is in office, won't that horse be well out of the barn? +p2758 +aVWe have another question for you, Governor Gilmore, back to back, here we go. According to Google... +p2759 +aVYou got it. According to Google, gun control is the most searched issue last month, making up nearly 80 percent of all the U.S. searches. People are looking for information on guns. When it comes to the tragic mass killings that we have seen in this country, Donald Trump says that what we need to do is build quote "more institutions for people who are sickos." Charles Krauthammer also says that in some cases involuntary commitment would help. And you have agreed with that. Given that institutions would be extraordinarily expensive to begin building, how much is too much to ask on this from the American taxpayer? +p2760 +aVThank you, Governor Gilmore. +p2761 +aVStill more to come from the Republican Presidential debate tonight. And, see how the campaigns are responding to the debate in realtime, go to Google.com and open your google search app. Type in, "Fox News Debate". We'll see you, just a moment -- back. +p2762 +aVWe are back live at the Iowa events center and this question goes to Carly Fiorina. In the last debate you said as part of your introduction, quote, " And unlike the other woman candidate in this case I actually love spending time with my husband." +p2763 +aVBut back in September in an interview you said that you would stick only to the record, your record versus Hillary Clinton's record. And never resort to personal attacks. So what changed? +p2764 +aVAll right. Carly, I want to stay with you on this next question as well. You waded into the Planned Parenthood early on. You took some heat for it. Now the people who shot that undercover video are the ones who got indicted and Planned Parenthood is untouched. Hillary Clinton has been crowing about this. Any regrets about this? +p2765 +aVThank you Carly Fiorina. Let me just ask a quick question here to Senator Santorum. Carly Fiorina was the only one of the GOP candidates to attend the March for Life in Washington last week. Where were you. +p2766 +aVAll right. Coming up, we will have the closing statements from our candidates tonight as we continue live from the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. We'll be right back. +p2767 +aVAlright, let's go now to Senator Rick Santorum. +p2768 +aV +p2769 +aVCarly Fiorina. +p2770 +aVThank you, Carly. +p2771 +aVIn one hour, seven more candidates take the stage for a debate hosted by Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly, and Chris Wallace. But, up next, the O'Reilly Factor. Good night everybody. +p2772 +as. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/downloads/data/script9.pickle b/downloads/data/script9.pickle new file mode 100644 index 0000000..30c4c92 --- /dev/null +++ b/downloads/data/script9.pickle @@ -0,0 +1,5980 @@ +(dp0 +VCRAMER +p1 +(lp2 +VDr. Carson, in recent weeks, a number of pharmaceutical companies has been accused of profiteering, for dramatically raising the prices of life-saving drugs. You have spent a lifetime in medicine. Have these companies gone too far? Should the government be involved in controlling some of these price increases? +p3 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Governor Christie, there has been a lot of political rhetoric that some bank executives should have gone to jail for the 2008 financial crisis. But General Motors paid more than $1 billion in fines and settlements for its ignition switch defect. One hundred and twenty- four people died as a result of these faulty switches. No one went to jail. As a former prosecutor, do you believe the people responsible for the switch and the cover-up belong behind bars? +p4 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. +p5 +asVPERRY +p6 +(lp7 +VI will tell you one thing: I would whole lot rather had Carly Fiorina over there doing our negotiation than John Kerry. Maybe we would've gotten a deal where we didn't give everything away. But the issue for us is to have a Congress that stands up and says not only no, but hell no, to this money going to a regime that is going to use it for terror... +p8 +asVUNKNOWN +p9 +(lp10 +VIf you're not going to have my back, I'm going to have my back. +p11 +aVA couple things here. First of all... +p12 +aVWe have grown \u2014 we have grown... +p13 +aVTrue. It's true. +p14 +aV...let me follow up that... +p15 +aV +p16 +aVOh, great. +p17 +aV...In 2011, you told Forbes Magazine this: "I've used the laws of the country to my advantage." But at the same time, financial experts involved in those bankruptcies say that lenders to your companies lost billions of dollars. Question sir, with that record, why should we trust you to run the nation's business? +p18 +aVI do. +p19 +aVThank you. +p20 +asVIFILL +p21 +(lp22 +VWe want to also extend our warm thanks to Milwaukee Public Radio and Milwaukee Public Television, as well as all of our friends at the PBS member stations across the country tuning in tonight. This is the sixth time the Democrats have met face to face. Each time, we learn more about them and the presidents they say they want to be. You know you're watching \u2014 whether you're a Democrat, a Republican, or neither \u2014 because you believe the outcome of the election is important to you. And we believe that, too. With that, let's welcome the candidates to the stage. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. +p23 +aVWelcome to you both. +p24 +aVWith Iowa and New Hampshire behind us, we are now broadening the conversation to America's heartland and beyond, including here in Wisconsin. Now let's turn to the candidates for their opening statements. The order was decided by coin toss. And, Senator Sanders, you go first. +p25 +aVThank you, Senator Sanders. Thank you, Senator Sanders. Secretary Clinton. +p26 +aVFinal thought, Senator. +p27 +aVI'd like to move along. I'd like to move along. Secretary Clinton, you might \u2014 you also have proposed fairly expansive ideas about government. You may remember this pledge from a State of the Union Address at which I believe you were present, in which these words were said: "The era of big government is over." You may remember that. When asked your feelings about the federal government this week, 61 percent of New Hampshire Democrats told exit pollsters that they are angry or at least dissatisfied. Given what you and Senator Sanders are proposing, an expanding government in almost every area of our lives, is it fair for Americans who fear government to fear you? +p28 +aVBut I haven't heard either of you put a price tag on your \u2014 you say... +p29 +aVSenator? +p30 +aVSenator, do you worry at all that you will be the instrument of thwarting history, as Senator Clinton keeps claiming, that she might be the first woman president? +p31 +aVThank you both. We turn now to the first of several questions from our partners at Facebook. They were selected from a curated group of people we've been following of undecided voters. The first comes from Claudia Looze, a 54-year-old woman who works as a program manager at a public affairs cable network in Madison, Wisconsin. And she writes: "Wisconsin is number one in African-American male incarceration, according to a University of Wisconsin study. They found that Wisconsin's incarceration rate for black men, which is at 13 percent, was nearly double the country's rate. What can we do across the nation to address this?" Senator Sanders. +p32 +aVLet me turn this on its head, because when we talk about race in this country, we always talk about African-Americans, people of color. I want to talk about white people, OK? +p33 +aVI know. So many people will be surprised to find out that we are sitting in one of the most racially polarized metropolitan areas in the country. By the middle of this century, the nation is going to be majority nonwhite. Our public schools are already there. If working-class, white Americans are about to be outnumbered, are already underemployed in many cases, and one study found they are dying sooner, don't they have a reason to be resentful, Senator \u2014 Secretary Clinton? +p34 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, I want you to respond to that, but I also want you to \u2014 am I wrong? Is it even right to be describing this as a matter of race? +p35 +aVIf you would allow me now to move on, we've been talking about children. I want to talk about seniors. That takes us to our second Facebook question from Farheen Hakeem, who writes, "My father" \u2014 she's a 40-year-old woman who works for a nonprofit here in Milwaukee. And she writes, "My father gets just $16 in food assistance per month as part of Medicaid's family community program in Milwaukee County for low-income seniors. How will you as president work to ensure low-income seniors get their basic needs met?" Start with you, Senator Sanders. +p36 +aVSenator Sanders, are you saying... +p37 +aVThere's a lot more to come in just a few minutes. Stay with us for more of the PBS NewsHour Democratic Debate. +p38 +aVHow about you, Senator Clinton \u2014 Secretary Clinton? +p39 +aVWe spent the first part of this debate talking about domestic insecurity. The second part, we want to talk about our foreign policy insecurities. And we want to start with a question for you, Secretary Clinton, about America's role in the world. Americans are becoming increasingly worried that attacks abroad are coming home, that they already are, in fact, here. According to exit polls from last week, from earlier this week, more than two-thirds of Democrats in New Hampshire are concerned about sending their children to fight in wars they can't win. They fret that the next attack is just around the corner and we are not ready. Are we? +p40 +aVSenator Sanders... +p41 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p42 +aVLet me move on. You have both mentioned the humanitarian tragedies which have been an outgrowth in part of what has happened in Syria and in Libya. More than a million refugees entered Europe in 2015. Another 76,000 just last month, that is about 2,000 arrivals every day. Nearly 400 people have been lost at sea so far this year, crossing the Mediterranean. And there are reports that 10,000 children are missing. If we are leaders in this world, where should the U.S. be on this? What should the United States be doing, Secretary Clinton? +p43 +aVSenator, if you would like respond to \u2014 you may respond to that but it is time for closing statements and you can use your time for closing statements to do that. +p44 +aVThank you. Thank you Senator Clinton. Thank you, Senator Sanders. We also want to thank our partners at Facebook and our hosts here at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. +p45 +aVI'm going to remain here in Milwaukee tomorrow evening for a special edition of Washington Week here on PBS. +p46 +asVWOODRUFF +p47 +(lp48 +VGood evening, and thank you. We are happy to welcome you to Milwaukee for this Democratic debate. We are especially pleased to thank our partners at Facebook, who have helped us set up a vibrant conversation among voters who are undecided. And tonight you're going to hear some of their questions for the candidates. And you can follow along at home on the PBS NewsHour page on Facebook. We also want to thank our hosts, the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, on whose campus we meet, here in the beautiful Helen Bader Concert Hall. +p49 +aVWelcome, Senator, great to see you. And former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Very good to be here with you. +p50 +aVNow, a word about format. There will be two short breaks, and the rules are simple: 90 seconds for each answer and 30 seconds for the other candidate to respond. +p51 +aVThank you both. Thank you both. And we'll be right back after a short break to begin questions. +p52 +aVAnd, welcome back to this PBS Newshour debate, Democratic debate, here in Milwaukee. Let's get right to the questions. Senator Sanders, to you first. Coming off the results in Iowa and New Hampshire, there are many voters who are taking a closer look at you, and your ideas, and they're asking how big a role do you foresee for the federal government? It's already spending 21% of the entire U.S. economy. How much larger would government be in the lives of Americans under a Sanders presidency? +p53 +aVBut, my question is how big would government be? Would there be any limit on the size of the role of government... +p54 +aVNext, we're going to... +p55 +aVVery brief, thank you. +p56 +aVSecretary Clinton, your campaign \u2014 you and your campaign have made a clear appeal to women voters. You have talked repeatedly about the fact, we know you would be, if elected, the first woman president. But in New Hampshire 55 percent of the women voters supported and voted for Senator Sanders. What are women missing about you? +p57 +aVAs you know, just quickly, as you know, your strong supporter, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, said the other day that there's a special place in Hell for women who don't support other women. Do you agree with what she said? +p58 +aVSenator Sanders, you're in the minority, but we still want to hear from you. +p59 +aVFinal comment. +p60 +aVSecretary Clinton, I was talking recently with a 23 year old black woman who voted for President Obama because she said she thought relations between the races would get better under his leadership, and his example. Hardly anyone believes that they have. Why do you think race relations would be better under a Clinton presidency? What would you do that the nation's first African American has not been able to? +p61 +aVSenator Sanders? +p62 +aVSo race relation was be better under a Sanders presidency than they've been? +p63 +aVThank you. Senator Sanders, one of the causes of anxiety for working class Americans is connected to immigrants. President Obama, as you know, has issued executive actions to permit some 5 million undocumented immigrants who are living now in the United States to come out of the shadows without fear of deportation to get work permits. Would you go further than that? And if so, how specifically would you do it? Should an undocumented family watching this debate tonight, say, in Nevada, rest easy, not fear of further deportations under a Sanders presidency? +p64 +aVI'd like... +p65 +aVWe're going to move on. Secretary Clinton, your campaign has recently ramped up criticism of Senator Sanders for attending Democratic Party fundraisers from which you say he benefited. But nearly half of your financial sector donations appear to come from just two wealthy financiers, George Soros and Donald Sussman, for a total of about $10 million. You have said that there's no quid pro quo involved. Is that also true of the donations that wealthy Republicans give to Republican candidates, contributors including the Koch Brothers? +p66 +aVI'm asking if Democratic donors are different than Republican donors. +p67 +aVWe have to go to a break. We... +p68 +aVAll right. Thank you both. It is time for a break. And when we come back, we're going to turn to some new topics, including how these candidates will keep America safe. +p69 +aVWelcome back to the Democratic presidential debate. Before we return to our questions, we have a follow-up question from our Facebook group. And it is to Senator Sanders. Senator, it comes from Bill Corfield. He is a 55-year-old musician from Troy, Ohio. And he asks: "Are there any areas of government you would like to reduce?" +p70 +aVJust a final word. +p71 +aVSenator, let me \u2014 let me move on to another country with which the U.S. has a complicated relationship, Senator Sanders, and that's Russia. On the one hand, we're aware that Russia is a country that the United States needs to cooperate with. Just tonight, Secretary of State John Kerry has announced what appears to be an agreement with the Russians to lead \u2014 that could lead toward a ceasefire in Syria, would be the first cessation of conflict in that country, in that civil war in five years, but it comes at a very high price, because not only have all \u2014 have we seen the deaths, the removal of so many people, millions of people, we now see the Russians in the last few weeks have bombed in a way that benefits President Assad, has not gone after +p72 +aVAnd we have a final question from our Facebook family. And it goes to Senator Sanders. It comes from Robert Andrews. He's a 40-year-old stay-at-home dad in Dover, Massachusetts. He says, "The world has seen many great leaders in the course of human history. Can you name two leaders \u2014 one American and one foreign \u2014 who would influence your foreign policy decisions? And why do you see them as \u2014 why are they influential?" +p73 +aVSecretary Clinton? +p74 +aVAnd we want to thank our audience, our quiet audience here in Helen Bader Concert Hall, and to all of you watching at home. Thank you all. Stay tuned for analysis of the debate and the overall race for the Democratic nomination. That's coming up next here on PBS stations and online atPBS.org/NewsHour. +p75 +aVAnd I'm going to be returning to Washington. I hope you'll join us for the PBS NewsHour tomorrow and every night. That's it from all of us here in Milwaukee. We thank you. +p76 +asVKELLY +p77 +(lp78 +VWelcome to the first debate night of the 2016 presidential campaign, live from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. I'm Megyn Kelly... ... along with my co-moderators, Brett Baier and Chris Wallace. Tonight... Nice. Tonight, thousands of people here in the Q, along with millions of voters at home will get their very first chance to see the candidates face off in a debate, answering the questions you want answered. +p79 +aVAs for the candidates who will be answering those questions? Here they are. Positioned on the stage by how they stand in the polls, in the center of the stage tonight, businessman Donald Trump. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. +p80 +aVGentlemen, our first round of questions is on the subject of electability in the general election, and we start tonight with you, Dr. Carson. You are a successful neurosurgeon, but you admit that you have had to study up on foreign policy, saying there's a lot to learn. Your critics say that your inexperience shows. You've suggested that the Baltic States are not a part of +p81 +aVMr. Trump, one of the things people love about you is you speak your mind and you don't use a politician's filter. However, that is not without its downsides, in particular, when it comes to women. You've called women you don't like "fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals." Your Twitter account... +p82 +aVNo, it wasn't. Your Twitter account... +p83 +aVFor the record, it was well beyond Rosie O'Donnell. +p84 +aVYour Twitter account has several disparaging comments about women's looks. You once told a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice it would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees. Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president, and how will you answer the charge from Hillary Clinton, who was likely to be the Democratic nominee, that you are part of the war on women? +p85 +aVGovernor Walker, you've consistently said that you want to make abortion illegal even in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother. You recently signed an abortion law in Wisconsin that does have an exception for the mother's life, but you're on the record as having objected to it. Would you really let a mother die rather than have an abortion, and with 83 percent of the American public in favor of a life exception, are you too out of the mainstream on this issue to win the general election? +p86 +aVGovernor Kasich, You chose to expand Medicaid in your state, unlike several other governors on this stage tonight, and it is already over budget by some estimates costing taxpayers an additional $1.4 billion in just the first 18 months. You defended your Medicaid expansion by invoking God, saying to skeptics that when they arrive in heaven, Saint Peter isn't going to ask them how small they've kept government, but what they have done for the poor. Why should Republican voters, who generally want to shrink government, believe that you won't use your Saint Peter rationale to expand every government program? +p87 +aVAlright, gentlemen, we're gonna switch topics now and talk a bit about terror and national security. Governor Christie. You've said that Senator Paul's opposition to the NSA's collection of phone records has made the United States weaker and more vulnerable, even going so far as to say that he should be called before Congress to answer for it if we should be hit by another terrorist attack. Do you really believe you can assign blame to Senator Paul just for opposing the bulk collection of people's phone records in the event of a terrorist attack? +p88 +aVGo ahead, sir. +p89 +aVGovernor Christie, make your point. +p90 +aVGo ahead, governor. +p91 +aVAlright. +p92 +aVAlright, we've gotta cut it off there. We have plenty more we want to get to. That was an interesting exchange, thank you for that. +p93 +aVWell, I want to move on, because I have -- we're gonna get to you, governor, but I -- I really wanna get to a Facebook questioner. His name is Alex Chalgren, and he has the following question: +p94 +aVSenator Cruz, I wanna talk to you about this, because many of the Facebook users and -- and -- the -- the folks on Facebook wanted the candidates to speak to +p95 +aVYou don't see it as... ...an ideological problem -- an ideological problem in addition to a military one? +p96 +aVGovernor Bush, for days on end in this campaign, you struggled to answer a question about whether knowing what we know now... +p97 +aV...we would've invaded Iraq... +p98 +aVI remember it too, and +p99 +aVGovernor Walker, in February you said that we needed to gain partners in the Arab world. Which Arab country not already in the U.S. led coalition has potential to be our greatest partner? +p100 +aVDr. Carson, in one of his first acts as commander in chief, President Obama signed an executive order banning enhanced interrogation techniques in fighting terror. As president, would you bring back water boarding? +p101 +aVWe have a lot for you, don't worry. Fear not, you may rue that request. +p102 +aVIt's just before 10:00 p.m. on the East Coast. Welcome back to Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, and the very first Republican primary debate of the 2016 presidential campaign. Ten candidates on the stage, selected based on their standing in five national polls. And tonight they are facing off, answering the questions you want asked. We hope. +p103 +aV Sounds like somebody's a little R-rated. +p104 +aVWell, the first debate night of the 2016 presidential campaign continues from Cleveland after a short time-out. Stick around. Social issues, next. +p105 +aVSenator Rubio, you favor a rape and incest exception to abortion bans. Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York just said yesterday those exceptions are preposterous. He said they discriminate against an entire class of human beings. If you believe that life begins at conception, as you say you do, how do you justify ending a life just because it begins violently, through no fault of the baby? +p106 +aVYou don't favor a rape and incest exception? +p107 +aVMr. Trump, in 1999, you said you were, quote, "very pro- choice." Even supporting partial-birth abortion. You favored an assault weapons ban as well. In 2004, you said in most cases you identified as a Democrat. Even in this campaign, your critics say you often sound more like a Democrat than a Republican, calling several of your opponents on the stage things like clowns and puppets. When did you actually become a Republican? +p108 +aVGovernor Bush, I want to ask you, on the subject of name calling of your fellow candidates, a story appeared today quoting an anonymous GOP donor who said you called Mr. Trump a clown, a buffoon, something else that cannot be repeated on television. +p109 +aVIs it true? +p110 +aVMr. Trump, 30 seconds. +p111 +aVThe subject of gay marriage and religious liberty. Governor Kasich, if you had a son or daughter who was gay or lesbian, how would you explain to them your opposition to same-sex marriage? +p112 +aVHow would you -- how would you explain it to a child? +p113 +aVSenator Paul, in the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling on same sex marriage, Carol Fox on Facebook want to know the following. Quote: what will you do to ensure Christians are not prosecuted for speaking out against gay marriage and will Christians be forced to conduct business that conflicts with their religious beliefs? +p114 +aVGovernor Walker, many in the Black Lives Matter movement, and beyond, believe that overly-aggressive police officers targeting young African Americans is the civil rights issue of our time. Do you agree? And if so, how do you plan to address it? And if not, why not? +p115 +aVThank you. +p116 +aVWe have to stand you by, because after the break, we're going to let the candidates make their closing statements, their final thoughts, and . . . God. Stay tuned for that. +p117 +aVWelcome back. In our final moments here together, we're going to allow the candidates to offer their final thoughts. But first, we want to ask them an interesting closing question from Chase Norton on Facebook, who wants to know this of the candidates: "I want to know if any of them have received a word from God on what they should do and take care of first." Senator Cruz, start from you. Any word from God? +p118 +aVGovernor Kasich, same question. +p119 +aVGovernor Walker, same question. +p120 +aVSenator Rubio, I want to ask you the same question. But I do want to mention, a woman just came here to the stage and asked, what about the veterans? I want to hear more about what these candidates are going to do for our nation's veterans. So I put the question to you about God and the veterans, which you may find to be related. +p121 +aVDr. Carson, a question to you about God and his role, but also, one of the issues that the public was very interested in, and we touched on it earlier, is race relations in this country, and how divided we seem right now. And what, if anything, you can do -- you would do as the next president to help heal that divide. +p122 +aVGovernor Christie? +p123 +aVSenator Ted Cruz. +p124 +aVGovernor Scott Walker. +p125 +aVIt's over! +p126 +aVAre you relieved? You were nervous before, they -- they don't look relieved. They look "get me outta here." Thank you all very much, and that will do it for the first Republican primary debate night of the 2016 presidential race. Our thanks to the candidates, who will now be joined by their families on stage. +p127 +asVRUBIO +p128 +(lp129 +VThank you Wolf. It's really amazing to be back in Las Vegas. I spent six years as a child growing not far from where we stand tonight. I use to sit on the porch of our home and listen to my grandfather tell stories as he smoked one of three daily cigars. One of the things my grandfather instilled in me, was that I was really blessed because I was a citizen of the greatest country in the history of our mankind. But there have always been people in American politics that wanted America to be more like the rest of the world. And In 2008, one of them was elected president of this country and the result has been a disaster. Today you have millions of Americans that feel left out and out of place in their own country, struggling to live paycheck to paycheck, called bigots because they hold on to traditional values. And around the world, America's influence has declined while this president has destroyed our military, our allies no longer trust us, and our adversaries no longer respect us. And that is why this election is so important. That is why I'm running for president. And that's why I'm going to ask you for your vote tonight. If you elect me president, we will have a president that believes America is the greatest country in the world and we will have a president that acts like it. +p130 +aVWell, I understand why they feel that way, because this president hasn't kept us safe. The problem is we had an attack in San Bernardino. And we were paying attention to the most important issue we have faced in a decade since 9/11, and then all the talk was about this proposal, which isn't going to happen. But this is what's important to do is we must deal frontally with this threat of radical Islamists, especially from +p131 +aVHe is and so are those that voted for it. There were some that voted for it because they wanted to keep it alive and they were afraid the whole program would expire. Here's the world we live in. This is a radical jihadist group that is increasingly sophisticated in its ability, for example, to radicalize American citizens, in its inability to exploit loopholes in our legal immigration system, in its ability to capture and hold territory in the Middle East, as I outlined earlier, in multiple countries. This is not just the most capable, it is the most sophisticated terror threat we have ever faced. We are now at a time when we need more tools, not less tools. And that took we lost, the metadata program, was a valuable tool that we no longer have at our disposal. +p132 +aVDana, may I interject here? +p133 +aVLet me be very careful when answering this, because I don't think national television in front of 15 million people is the place to discuss classified information. So let me just be very clear. There is nothing that we are allowed to do under this bill that we could not do before. This bill did, however, take away a valuable tool that allowed the National Security Agency and other law \u2014 and other intelligence agencies to quickly and rapidly access phone records and match them up with other phone records to see who terrorists have been calling. Because I promise you, the next time there is attack on \u2014 an attack on this country, the first thing people are going to want to know is, why didn't we know about it and why didn't we stop it? And the answer better not be because we didn't have access to records or information that would have allowed us to identify these killers before they attacked. +p134 +aVI want to thank Rand for another 30 seconds, because, number one, what he's pointing to is a bill last week that \u2014 amendment that he voted for that only 10 people voted for. You know why? Because it's not focused on terrorists. It would have banned anyone from coming here. Someone from Taiwan would not have been able to come here as a tourist. Number two, this program, this metadata program is actually more strict than what a regular law enforcement agency has now. If a regular law enforcement agency wants your phone records, all they have to do is issue a subpoena. But now the intelligence agency is not able to quickly gather records and look at them to see who these terrorists are calling. And the terrorists that attacked us in San Bernardino was an American citizen, born and raised in this country. And I bet you we wish we would have had access to five years of his records so we could see who he was working with... +p135 +aVDo I get another 30 seconds? He mentioned me. +p136 +aVWell, let me begin by saying that we have to understand who +p137 +aVThat is accurate. Three times he voted against the Defense Authorization Act, which is a bill that funds the troops. It also, by the way, funds the Iron Dome and other important programs. And I have to assume that if you vote against it in the Senate, you would also veto it as president. He has also supported, by the way, a budget that is called the containment budget. And it is a budget that would radically reduce the amount of money we spend on our military. You can't carpet bomb +p138 +aVYes, let me \u2014 three points of distinction. The first is, if you're an American citizen and you decide to join up with +p139 +aVWell, they most certainly will have to be worked on to provide more than what they are doing now. There's no doubt about it. And there's one \u2014 one major reason why they have not been willing to be a broader part of the coalition, and that is they have lost complete trust and confidence in this president. This president cut a deal with their moral enemy, the Shia, in Iran. And this is the reason why they no longer trust this president and are willing to work alongside them. But they have as much invested in this as we do. In fact, more so, for it is the king of Saudi Arabia they want to behead first. It's the king of Jordan that they want to dethrone. It's the \u2014 they want to go into Egypt the way they've already gone into Libya. And on another point that we need to talk about, Assad is one of the main reasons why +p140 +aVTo begin with, Moammar Gadhafi and the revolt against Gadhafi was not started by the United States. It was started by the Libyan people. And the reason why I argued we needed to get involved is because he was going to go one way or the other. And my argument then was proven true, and that is, the longer that civil war took, the more militias would be formed and the more unstable the country would be after the fact. As far as Moammar Gadhafi is concerned, by the way, Moammar Gadhafi is the man that killed those Americans over Lockerbie, Scotland. Moammar Gadhafi is also the man that bombed that cafe in Berlin and killed those Marines. And you want to know why Moammar Gadhafi started cooperating on his nuclear program? Because we got rid of Saddam Hussein. And so he got scared that he would be next, and that's why he started cooperating. Look, we will have to work around the world with less than ideal governments. The government in Saudi Arabia is not a democracy, but we will have to work with them. The government in Jordan is not perfect, but we will have to work with them. But anti-American dictators like Assad, who help Hezbollah, who helped get those IEDs into Iraq, if they go, I will not shed a tear. +p141 +aVYeah. Immigration is not an issue that I read about in the newspaper or watch a documentary on PBS or CNN. It's an issues I've lived around my whole life. My family are immigrants. My wife's family are immigrants. All of my neighbors are immigrants. I see every aspect of this problem. The good, the bad, and the ugly. And here's what we learned in 2013. The American people don't trust the Federal Government to enforce our immigration laws, and we will not be able to do anything on immigration until we first prove to the American people that illegal immigration is under control. And we can do that. We know what it takes to do that. It takes at least 20,000 more additional border agents. It takes completing those 700 miles of fencing. It takes a mandatory e-verify system and a mandatory entry/exit tracking system to prevent overstays. After we have done that, the second thing we have to do is reform and modernize the legal immigration system. And after we have done those two things, I think the American people are gonna be reasonable with what do you do with someone who has been in this country for 10 or 12 years who hasn't otherwise violated our laws \u2014 because if they're a criminal they can't stay. They'll have to undergo a background check, pay a fine, start paying taxes. And ultimately, they'll given a work permit and that's all they're gonna be allowed to have for at least 10 years. But you can't get to that third step until you have done the other two things, and that was the lesson we learned in 2013. There is no trust that the Federal Government will enforce the law. They will not support you until you see it done first. +p142 +aVBut I've answered that question repeatedly. I am personally open \u2014 after all that has happened and after ten years in that probationary status where all they have is a permit, I personally am open to allowing people to apply for a green card. That may not be a majority position in my party, but that's down the road. You can't even begin that process until you prove to people \u2014 not just pass a law that says you're gonna bring illegal immigration under control. You're gonna have to do it and prove to people that it's working. And that was the lesson of 2013. And it's more true today, than it was then. After a migratory crisis on the border with minors coming over that you're seeing start up again now, after all these executive orders the President has issued. More than ever we need to... +p143 +aV... prove to people that illegal immigration is under control. +p144 +aVYeah, a couple points. In 2013 we had never faced a crisis like the Syrian refugee crisis now. Up until that point, a refugee meant someone fleeing oppression, fleeing Communism like it is in my community. As far as Ted's record, I'm always puzzled by his attack on this issue. Ted, you support legalizing people who are in this country illegally. Ted Cruz supported a 500-percent increase in the number of H-1 visas, the guest workers that are allowed into this country, and Ted supports doubling the number of green cards. So I think what's important for us to understand and there is a way forward on this issue that we an bring our country together on. And while I'm president I will do it. And it will begin by bringing illegal immigration under control and proving to the American people. +p145 +aVNo, no, give him time. +p146 +aVTed, do you... +p147 +aVDid Ted Cruz fight to support legalizing people that are in this country illegally? +p148 +aVDoes Ted Cruz rule out ever legalizing people that are in this country now? +p149 +aVWould you rule it out? +p150 +aVWell, he's just admitted \u2014 as he's just admitted, the reason why those refugees were allowed in was because they messed up in how they used the actual database. They should have know. They didn't because they didn't run the actual law as it exists now. It didn't work well. As far as the refugees are concerned, it's not that America doesn't want to accept refugees, Wolf. It's that we may not be able to, because this is an issue we have to be 100 percent right on. If we allow 9,999 Syrian refugees into the United States, and all of them are good people, but we allow one person in who's an +p151 +aVI do. First, let's explain to people at home who the triad \u2014 what the triad is. Maybe a lot of people haven't heard that terminology before. The triad is our ability of the United States to conduct nuclear attacks using airplanes, using missiles launched from silos or from the ground, and also from our nuclear subs' ability to attack. And it's important \u2014 all three of them are critical. It gives us the ability at deterrence. Now, some have become more critical than others; for example, the submarines. And that's the Ohio Class submarine that needs to be modernized. The air component also needs to be modernized. The B-52, as someone earlier pointed out, is an outdated model that was flown by the grandparents of people that are flying it now. And we need a serious modernization program as well on our silo-launched missiles. All three are critical for the defense of the country. +p152 +aVThank you. As we near the end of this year, we enter one of the most important elections in a generation. For what's at stake in this election is not simply what party's going to be in charge. But our very identity as a people and as a nation. For over 200 years this has been a special country. A unique place where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything. But now millions of Americans feel like they're being left behind. Insecure in their future and unsafe in the face of terrorism. This election is about electing a president that will restore our economic vibrancy so that the American dream can expand to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And rebuild our Military and our intelligence programs so that we can remain the strongest nation on earth. Tonight I ask you for your vote. If you do this, we will rebuild this country, and together we will usher in a new American century \u2014 the greatest era in the history of this great land. +p153 +aVWell, let me begin by answering both the first question and this one, because they're related. As I've said many times before, my parents were never rich people. My father was a bartender. My mother was a maid. They worked for a living. But they were successful people, because, despite the fact that they weren't well educated and had those jobs, they made enough money to buy a home in a safe and stable neighborhood, retire with dignity, leave all four of their children better off than themselves. We call that the American dream, but in fact, it's a universal dream of a better life that people have all over the world. It is a reminder that every country in the world has rich people. What makes America special is that we have millions and millions of people that are not rich, that through hard work and perseverance are able to be successful. The problem is that today people are not successful working as hard as ever because the economy is not providing jobs that pay enough. If I thought that raising the minimum wage was the best way to help people increase their pay, I would be all for it, but it isn't. In the 20th century, it's a disaster. If you raise the minimum wage, you're going to make people more expensive than a machine. And that means all this automation that's replacing jobs and people right now is only going to be accelerated. Here's the best way to raise wages. Make America the best place in the world to start a business or expand an existing business, tax reform and regulatory reform, bring our debt under control, fully utilize our energy resources so we can reinvigorate manufacturing, repeal and replace Obamacare, and make higher education faster and easier to access, especially vocational training. For the life of me, I don't know why we have stigmatized vocational education. Welders make more money than philosophers. We need more welders and less philosophers. If we do that \u2014 and if we do this \u2014 if we do this, we will be able to increase wages for millions of Americans and we will be able to leave everyone better off without making anyone worse off. +p154 +aVWell, you know, that's an excellent question, because what we are going through in this country is not simply an economic downturn. We are living through a massive economic transformation. I mean, this economy is nothing like what it was like five years ago, not to mention 15 or 20 years ago. And it isn't just a different economy. It's changing faster than ever. You know, it took the telephone 75 years to reach 100 million users. It took Candy Crush one year to reach some 100 million users. So the world is changing faster than ever, and it is disruptive. Number one, we are in a global competition now, and several of the candidates have said that. There are now dozens of developed economies on this planet that we have to compete with. And we lose that competition because we have the highest business tax rate in the industrialized world, because we have regulations that continue to grow by the billions every single week, because we have a crazy health care law that discourages companies from hiring people, but because we're not fully utilizing our energy resources, that if we did, it would bring back all kinds of growth, especially in manufacturing, and because we have an outdated higher education system. Our higher education system is completely outdated. It is too expensive, too hard to access, and it doesn't teach 21st century skills. If we do what needs to be done \u2014 tax reform, regulatory reform, fully utilize our energy resources, repeal and replace Obamacare, and modernize higher education, then we can grasp the potential and the promise of this new economy. And we won't just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And then truly this new century can be a new American century. +p155 +aVThe most important job I'm ever going to have, the most important job anyone in this room will ever have, is the job of being a parent. Not the job of being president, or the job of being a senator, or the job of being a congressman. The most important job any of us will ever do is the job of being a president (sic), because the most important institution in society is the family. If the family breaks down, society breaks down. You can't have a strong nation without strong values, and no one is born with strong values. They have to be taught to you in strong families and reinforced in you in strong communities. And so when we set out to do tax reform, we endeavor to have a pro-family tax code, and we endeavor to do it because we know how difficult it is for families in the 21st century to afford the cost of living. It is expensive to raise children in the 21st century, and families that are raising children are raising the future taxpayers of the United States, and everything costs more. In 35 out of 50 states, child care costs more than college. There are millions of people watching this broadcast tonight that understand exactly what I'm talking about. They don't know how they're going to make that payment every month, and if they can't make it, they can't work, because someone needs to watch their kids during the day. They don't know how they're going to save for their kids' future, to go to college. And so, yes, I have a child tax credit increase, and I'm proud of it. I am proud that I have a pro-family tax code, because the pro- family tax plan I have will strengthen the most important institution in the \u2014 in the country, the family. +p156 +aVNow I get my 60 seconds to respond. He's talking about my tax plan. +p157 +aVSo let me begin with this. I actually believe \u2014 first of all, this is their money. They do pay. It is refundable, not just against the taxes they pay to the government, but also the \u2014 on their federal income tax, it's refundable against the payroll tax. Everyone pays payroll tax. This is their money. This is not our money. And here's what I don't understand \u2014 if you invest that money in a piece of equipment, if you invest that money in a business, you get to write it off your taxes. But if you invest it in your children, in the future of America and strengthening your family, we're not going to recognize that in our tax code? The family is the most important institution in society. And, yes... +p158 +aV... I do want to rebuild the American military. +p159 +aVI know that Rand is a committed isolationist. I'm not. I believe the world is a stronger and a better place, when the United States is the strongest military power in the world. +p160 +aVBecause... +p161 +aV...are you talking about the military, Rand? +p162 +aVWe can't even have an economy if we're not safe. There are radical jihadist in the Middle East beheading people and crucifying Christians. A radical Shia cleric in Iran trying to get a nuclear weapon, the Chinese taking over the South China Sea... ...Yes, I believe the world is a safer \u2014 no, no, I don't believe, I know that the world is a safer place when America is the strongest military power in the world. +p163 +aVYou know, if I may respond... +p164 +aVI need to add a couple of points to this. The first is, I've never met Vladimir Putin, but I know enough about him to know he is a gangster. He is basically an organized crime figure that runs a country, controls a $2 trillion economy. And is using to build up his military in a rapid way despite the fact his economy is a disaster. He understands only geopolitical strength. And every time he has acted anywhere in the world, whether it's in Ukraine or Georgia before that, or now in the Middle East, it's because he is trusting in weakness. His calculation in the Middle East is that he has seen what this president has done, which is nothing, the president has no strategy, our allies in the region do not trust us. For goodness sake, there is only one pro-American free enterprise democracy in the Middle East, it is the state of Israel. And we have a president that treats the prime minister of Israel with less respect than what he gives the ayatollah in Iran. And so our allies in the region don't trust us. Vladimir Putin is exploiting that weakness, for purposes of edging the Americans out as the most important geopolitical power broker in the region. And we do have a vested interest. And here's why. Because all those radical terrorist groups that, by the way, are not just in Syria and in Iraq, +p165 +aVCan I just add what \u2014 he's right on point there. Do you know why these banks are so big? The government made them big. The government made them big by adding thousands and thousands of pages of regulations. So the big banks, they have an army of lawyers, they have an army of compliance officers. They can deal with all these things. The small banks, like Governor Bush was saying, they can't deal with all these regulations. They can't deal with all \u2014 they cannot hire the fanciest law firm in Washington or the best lobbying firm to deal with all these regulations. And so the result is, the big banks get bigger, the small banks struggle to lend or even exist, and the result is what you have today. And in Dodd-Frank, you have actually codified too big to fail. We have actually created a category of systemically important institutions, and these banks go around bragging about it. You know what they say to people with a wink and a nod? We are so big, we are so important that if we get in trouble, the government has to bail us out. This is an outrage. We need to repeal Dodd-Frank as soon as possible. +p166 +aVWell, that's a great question, and let me begin by answering it. This election is about the future, about what kind of country this nation is gonna be in the 21st century. This next (ph) election is actually a generational choice. A choice about what kind of nation we will be in the 21st century. For over 2.5 centuries, America's been a special country, the one place on earth where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything, a nation that's been a force for good on this planet. But now, a growing number of Americans feel out of place in their own country. We have a society that stigmatizes those that hold cultural values that are traditional. We have a society where people \u2014 millions of people \u2014 are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, but they're living paycheck to paycheck because the economy has changed underneath their feet. We have young Americans who owe thousands of dollars in student loans for a degree that doesn't lead to a job. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses dying than starting, and around the world, every day brings news of a new humiliation for America \u2014 many the direct response \u2014 direct consequence of decisions made when Hillary Clinton was the secretary of the \u2014 of state. And so here's the truth: this election is about the future, and the Democratic Party, and the political left has no ideas about the future. All their ideas are the same, tired ideas of the past. More government, more spending. For every issue for America, their answer is a new tax on someone, and a new government program. This nation is going to turn the page, and that's what this election should be about, and, as I said at the first debate... ...If I am our nominee, they will be the party of the past, we will be the party of the 21st century. +p167 +aVOurs \u2014 the story of America is an extraordinary story. It is the story of a nation that for over two centuries each generation has left the next better off than themselves. But now, because Washington is out of touch, for the fault of both political parties, for the first time in our history, that is in doubt. And that is what this election must be about, because if the next four years are anything like the last eight years, our children will be the first Americans ever left worse off by their parents. This election is about making a different choice, about applying our principles of limited government and free enterprise to the unique issues of our time. And if we do, we will not just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And the 21st century can be a new American century. So tonight, I ask you for your vote and I ask you to join us at my website, marcorubio.com. +p168 +aVThank you for that question. I would begin by saying that I'm not sure it's a weakness, but I do believe that I share a sense of optimism for America's future that, today, is eroding from too many of our people. I think there's a sense in this country today that somehow our best days are behind us. And that doesn't have to be true. Our greatest days lie ahead if we are willing to do what it takes now. If we're willing to do what it takes now, the 21st century is going to be the new American century, greater than any other era we've had in the history of this great nation. +p169 +aVThat's an interesting question. That's exactly what the Republican establishment says too. Why don't you wait in line? Wait for what? This country is running out of time. We can't afford to have another four years like the last eight years. Watching this broadcast tonight are millions of people that are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, everything costs more, and they haven't had a raise in decades. You have small businesses in America that are struggling. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses closing than starting. We have a world that's out of control and has grown dangerous and a president that is weakening our military and making our foreign policy unstable and unreliable in the eyes of our allies. And our adversaries continue to grow stronger. We have a \u2014 they say there's no bipartisanship in Washington? We have a $19 trillion bipartisan debt and it continues to grow as we borrow money from countries that do not like us to pay for government we cannot afford. The time to act is now. The time to turn the page is now. If we \u2014 if we don't act now, we are going to be the first generation in American history that leaves our children worse off than ourselves. +p170 +aVLet me say, I read that editorial today with a great amusement. It's actually evidence of the bias that exists in the American media today. +p171 +aVLet me \u2014 let me answer your question on the Sun-Sentinel editorial today. Back in 2004, one of my predecessors to the Senate by the name of Bob Graham, a Democrat, ran for president missing over 30 percent of his votes. I don't recall them calling for his resignation \u2014 +p172 +aVLater that year, in 2004, John Kerry ran for president missing close to 60 to 70 percent of his votes. I don't recall the Sun \u2014 in fact, the Sun-Sentinel endorsed him. In 2008, Barack Obama missed 60 or 70 percent of his votes, and the same newspaper endorsed him again. So this is another example of the double standard that exists in this country between the mainstream media and the conservative movement. +p173 +aVI get to respond, right? +p174 +aVWell, it's interesting. Over the last few weeks, I've listened to Jeb as he walked around the country and said that you're modeling your campaign after John McCain, that you're going to launch a furious comeback the way he did, by fighting hard in New Hampshire and places like that, carrying your own bag at the airport. You know how many votes John McCain missed when he was carrying out that furious comeback that you're now modeling after? +p175 +aVNo Jeb, I don't remember \u2014 well, let me tell you. I don't remember you ever complaining about John McCain's vote record. The only reason why you're doing it now is because we're running for the same position, and someone has convinced you that attacking me is going to help you. +p176 +aVHere's the bottom line. I'm not \u2014 my campaign is going to be about the future of America, it's not going to be about attacking anyone else on this stage. I will continue to have tremendous admiration and respect for Governor Bush. I'm not running against Governor Bush, I'm not running against anyone on this stage. I'm running for president because there is no way we can elect Hillary Clinton to continue the policies of Barack Obama. +p177 +aVWell, you just \u2014 you just listed a litany of discredited attacks from Democrats and my political opponents, and I'm not gonna waste 60 seconds detailing them all. But I'm going to tell you the truth. Here's the truth. I didn't inherit any money. My dad was a bartender, my mother was a maid. They worked hard to provide us the chance at a better life. They didn't save enough money for us to go to school. I had to work my way through school. I had to borrow money to go to school. I tried (ph), early in my marriage, explaining to my wife why someone named Sallie Mae was taking $1,000 out of our bank account every month. I know what it's like to owe that money, and we've worked hard. We've worked hard our whole life to provide a better family \u2014 a better life for our family. We own a home four blocks away from the place that I grew up in. My four children have been able to receive a good Christian education, and I've been able to save for them to go to college so they never have to have the loans that I did. But I'm not worried about my finances, I'm worried about the finances of everyday Americans who today are struggling in an economy that is not producing good paying jobs while everything else costs more. And that's what this economy needs to \u2014 that's what this debate needs to be about. This debate needs to be about the men and women across this country that are struggling on a daily basis to provide for their families the better future that we've always said this country is all about. +p178 +aVAnd I used it to pay off my loans. And it's available on paperback, if you're interested in buying my book. +p179 +aVYeah, again, as I said, we're raising a family in the 21st century and it's one of the reasons why my tax plan is a pro- family tax plan. It increases the per child tax credit, because I didn't read about this in a book. I know for a fact how difficult it is to raise children, how expensive it's become for working families. And I make a lot more than the average American. Imagine how hard it is for these people out there that are making 40, 50, $60,000 a year, and they're trying to provide for their families at a time when this economy is not growing. We can't afford another four years of that. Which is what we're gonna get if we elect a big government liberal like Hillary Clinton to the White House. Thank you, senator. +p180 +aVWell, first of all, if a company gets caught doing that, they should never be able to use the program again. If you get caught abusing this program, you should never be able to use it again. The second thing I said is we need to add reforms, not just increase the numbers, but add reforms. For example, before you hire anyone from abroad, you should have to advertise that job for 180 days. You also have to prove that you're going to pay these people more than you would pay someone else, so that you're not undercutting it by bringing in cheap labor. But here's the best solution of all. We need to get back to training people in this country to do the jobs of the 21st century. Why, for the life of me, I do not understand why did we stop doing vocational education in America, people that can work with their hands; people you can train to do this work while they're still in high school so they can graduate ready to go work. But the best way to close this gap is to modernize higher education so Americans have the skills for those jobs. But in the interim, in the absence of that, what's happening is some of these tech companies are taking those \u2014 those centers (ph) to Canada because they can get people to go over there instead of here. But the ideal scenario is to train Americans to do the work so we don't have to rely on people from abroad. +p181 +aVWell, I believe that there are abuses, those companies should be permanently barred from ever using the program again and we should put strict standards in place to ensure that they're not being abused, like the prevailing wage requirement and like the advertising requirement. +p182 +aVSince I've been mentioned, can I respond? +p183 +aVOK. I know the Democrats have the ultimate SuperPac. It's called the mainstream media who every single day... ... and I'll tell you why. Last week, Hillary Clinton went before a committee. She admitted she had sent e-mails to her family saying, "Hey, this attack at Benghazi was caused by Al Qaida-like elements." She spent over a week telling the families of those victims and the American people that it was because of a video. And yet the mainstream media is going around saying it was the greatest week in Hillary Clinton's campaign. It was the week she got exposed as a liar. It was the week that she got exposed as a liar... But she has her super PAC helping her out, the American mainstream media. +p184 +aVNo, that's \u2014 you're wrong. In fact, the largest after- tax gains is for the people at the lower end of the tax spectrum under my plan. And there's a bunch of things my tax plan does to help them. Number one, you have people in this country that... +p185 +aV...you wrote a story on it, and you had to go back and correct it. +p186 +aVYou did. No, you did. +p187 +aVWell, you're talking about \u2014 yeah. +p188 +aVYeah, but that \u2014 because the math is, if you \u2014 5 percent of a million is a lot more than 5 percent of a thousand. So yeah, someone who makes more money... +p189 +aV...numerically, it's gonna be higher. But the greatest gains, percentage-wise, for people, are gonna be at the lower end of our plan, and here's why: because in addition to a general personal exemption, we are increasing the per-child tax credit for working families. We are lowering taxes on small business. You know, a lot of business activity in America is conducted like the guy that does my dry cleaning. He's an S corporation. He pays on his personal rate, and he is paying higher than the big dry-cleaning chain down the street, because he's paying at his personal rate. Under my plan, no business, big or small, will pay more than 25 percent flat rate on their business income. That is a dramatic tax decrease for hard-working people who run their own businesses. +p190 +aV...The other thing I'd like to make about our plan, one more point, it is the most pro growth tax plan that I can imagine because it doesn't tax investments at all. You know why? Because the more you tax something, the less of it you get. I want to be in \u2014 I want America to be the best... +p191 +aV...in the world for people... +p192 +aVI was mentioned in the question. +p193 +aVThank you. Well, I've learned the rules on this. Look, in addition to what Donald was saying is we also need to talk about the legal immigration system for permanent residents. Today, we have a legal immigration system for permanent residency that is largely based on whether or not you have a relative living here. And that's the way my parents came legally in 1956. But in 2015, we have a very different economy. Our legal immigration system from now on has to be merit-based. It has to be based on what skills you have, what you can contribute economically, and most important of all, on whether or not you're coming here to become an American, not just live in America, but be an American. +p194 +aVNo. No. What I said was that I think that Dr. Carson's ideas are good ideas. They're not my ideas, and I don't necessarily agree with all of them. But this is what you're seeing in the Republican debate that you didn't see in that Democrat debate. You didn't see it for a minute. You didn't see these kind of ideas being batted around, and being batted around in a way that's civil and smart and that's trying to help to inform the voter out there. What you saw was a parade of, "I'll give you this for free; I'll give you that for free." Let me tell you, everybody, when they say they want to give it to you for free, keep your hands on your wallets because they're coming to you to pay for it. And that's why I think these ideas up here are great, and that's what we should have is have more discussions like this and less gotcha. +p195 +aVI want to take off from that point and argue the same thing. And that is that one of the things you're watching tonight are 11 quality candidates debating an important issue. The Republican Party is blessed to have 11 good candidates, 10 good candidates. The Democrats can't even come up with one. And on this issue of the Medicare in particular, it's important because they're going to demagogue what we're saying here tonight. Everyone up here tonight that's talking about reforms, I think and I know for myself I speak to this, we're all talking about reforms for future generations. Nothing has to change for current beneficiaries. My mother is on Medicare and Social Security. I'm against anything that's bad for my mother. So, we're talking about \u2014 we're talking about reform for people like me and people like Senator Cruz, as he talked about earlier, who are years away from retirement that have a way to plan for these changes, and way that's very reasonable. And it's not too much to ask of our generation after everything our parents and our grandparents did for us. +p196 +aVYou know, America doesn't owe me anything. I have a debt to America I'll never repay. This isn't just the country I was born in, this is the nation that literally changed the history of my family. My parents in this country were able to give me the chance to do all the things they never did. We call that the American Dream, although, it's built on the universal dream of a better life. The fact that it's happened for so many people here throughout our history, that's what makes us special. But, now for millions of Americans, it's slipping away. And, we have a government and leaders in government that are completely out of touch, and that's why I'm running for president. Because we can't just save the American Dream, we can expand it to reach more people, and change more lives than ever before. And, that's why tonight I'm asking you for your vote. +p197 +aVThank you. My name is Marco Rubio. I'm from Florida. My wife Jeanette and I are the proud \u2014 we've been married 17 years, and we're the proud parents of four children, two of whom were able to join us here this evening. I'm honored to be here at the Reagan Library, at a place that honors the legacy of a man who inspired not just my interest in public service, but also our love for country. And I'm also aware that California has a drought, and so that's why I made sure I brought my own water. +p198 +aVWell, first of all, I have an understanding of exactly what it is Russia and Putin are doing, and it's pretty straightforward. He wants to reposition Russia, once again, as a geopolitical force. He himself said that the destruction of the Soviet Union \u2014 the fall of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century, and now he's trying to reverse that. He's trying to destroy +p199 +aVLet me tell you \u2014 I will tell you we have zero responsibility, because let's remember what the president said. He said the attack he would conduct would be a pinprick. Well, the United States military was not build to conduct pinprick attacks. If the United States military is going to be engaged by a commander-in-chief, it should only be engaged in an endeavor to win. And we're not going to authorize use of force if you're not put in a position where they can win. And quite frankly, people don't trust this president as commander-in-chief because of that. +p200 +aVHold on, a second, Jake, he asked me, as well. I'd like to actually... +p201 +aV... respond. I think I'm the first senator. The No. 1 test for use of military force should be the vital national security interest of the United States. The reason why I opposed President Obama bombing Syria, is because he couldn't answer the question what do you do if chemical weapons end up in the hands of radical Islamic terrorists like al-Nusra, like Al Qaida, like +p202 +aVIn the middle of negotiating this treaty, Khamenei led the assembled masses in chanting, death to America. I'm reminded of a great editorial cartoon. It shows the Ayatollah Khamenei saying, "Death to all Americans," and then it shows John Kerry coming back, saying, "Can we meet ya half way?" We need a commander-in-chief who will stand up and protect this country. And I'll tell you, I can't wait to stand on that debate stage with Hillary Clinton and to make abundantly clear if you vote for Hillary, you are voting for the Ayatollah Khomeini to possess a nuclear weapon and if you elect me as president, under no circumstances will a theocratic ayatollah who chants death to America ever be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon. +p203 +aVMs. Dana, I agree that English is the unifying language of our country, and everyone should learn to speak it. It's important. I want to tell you a story about someone that didn't speak English that well. It was my grandfather; he came to this country in the 1960s, as a \u2014 escaping Cuba. And he lived with us, growing up. And my grandfather loved America. He understood what was so special about this country. He loved Ronald Reagan; he would be very proud of the fact that we're here this evening. My grandfather instilled in me the belief that I was blessed to live in the one society in all of human history where even I, the son of a bartender and a maid, could aspire to have anything, and be anything that I was willing to work hard to achieve. But he taught me that in Spanish, because it was the language he was most comfortable in. And he became a conservative, even though he got his news in Spanish. And so, I do give interviews in Spanish, and here's why \u2014 because I believe that free enterprise and limited government is the best way to help people who are trying to achieve upward mobility. And if they get their news in Spanish, I want them to hear that directly from me. Not from a translator at Univision. +p204 +aVWell, let me say that legal immigration is not an issue I read about in the newspaper. Immigration, illegal immigration, all the good aspects of immigration and all the negative ones as well, I live with. My family's immigrants. My neighbors are all immigrants. My in-laws are all immigrants. So I've seen every aspect of it, and I can tell you America doesn't have one immigration problem, it has three. First, despite the fact that we are the most generous country in the history of the world in allowing people to come here legally, we have people still coming illegally. Second, we have a legal immigration system that no longer works. It primary is built on the basis of whether you have a relative living here instead of merit. And third, we have 11 million or 12 million people, many of whom have been here for longer than a decade who are already here illegally. And we must deal with all three of these problems. We cannot deal with all three of these problems in one massive piece of legislation. I learned that. We tried it that way. Here's the way forward: First, we must \u2014 we must secure our border, the physical border, with \u2014 with a wall, absolutely. But we also need to have an entry/exit tracking system. 40 percent of the people who come here illegally come legally, and then they overstay the visa. We also need a mandatory e-verify system. After we've done that, step two would be to modernize our legal immigration system so you come to America on the basis of what you can contribute economically, not whether or not simply you have a relative living here. And after we've done those two things, I believe the American people... +p205 +aV... will be very reasonable and responsible about what you do with someone who's been here and isn't a criminal. If you're a criminal, obviously, you will not be able to stay. +p206 +aVYes, well, it does. But it's in the following way, this is an important question. I think if you're running for president, these are important issues, because look at around the world today. There is a lunatic in North Korea with dozens of nuclear weapons and long-range rocket that can already hit the very place in which we stand tonight. The Chinese are rapidly expanding their military. They hack into our computers. They're building artificial islands in the South China Sea, the most important shipping lane in the world. A gangster in Moscow is not just threatening Europe, he's threatening to destroy and divide +p207 +aVWell, that's why we have a debate. I think that we should have a deeper debate about these issues, because there is no more important decision that a president will make. +p208 +aVWell, you should ask him questions in detail about the foreign policy issues our president will confront, because you had better be able to lead our country on the first day. Not six months from now, not a year from now, on the first day in office, our president could very well confront a national security crisis. You can't predict it. Sometimes you cannot control it. And it is the most \u2014 the federal government does all kinds of things it's not supposed to be doing. It regulates bathrooms. It regulates schools that belong to local communities. But the one thing that the federal government must do, the one thing that only the federal government can do is keep us safe. And a president better be up-to-date on those issues on his first day in office, on her first day in office. +p209 +aVTrust (ph) me, I get that. OK. +p210 +aVI never get to addressed, and... +p211 +aV...and when I do, I'm gonna jump in. +p212 +aVYeah. He did. Let me \u2014 I'm proud to serve in the United States Senate. You know, when I ran five years ago, the entire leadership of my party in Washington lined up against me. But I'm glad I won. And I'm glad that I ran, because this country's headed in the wrong direction. And if we keep electing the same people, nothing is going to change. And you're right, I have missed some votes, and I'll tell you why, Mr. Trump. Because in my years in the Senate, I've figured out very quickly that the political establishment in Washington, D.C. in both political parties is completely out of touch with the lives of our people. You have millions of people in this country living paycheck to paycheck, and nothing is being done about it. We are about to leave our children with $18 trillion in \u2014 in \u2014 in debt, and they're about to raise the debt limit again. We have a world that grows increasingly dangerous, and we are eviscerating our military spending and signing deals with Iran. And these \u2014 if this thing continues, we are going to be the first Americans to leave our children worse off than ourselves. That's why I'm missing votes. Because I am leaving the Senate, I'm not running for re-election, and I'm running for president because I know this: unless we have the right president, we cannot make America fulfill its potential, but with the right person in office, the 21st century can be the greatest era that our nation has ever known. +p213 +aVI want to go even deeper \u2014 and I want to go even deeper in that direction, because I think the belief that somehow by retreating, America makes the world safer has been disproven every single time it's ever been tried. Syria's a perfect example of it. The uprising in Syria was not started by the United States; it was started by the Syrian people. And I warned at the time \u2014 this was three and a half years ago \u2014 I openly and repeatedly warned that if we did not find moderate elements on the ground that we could equip and arm, that void would be filled by radical jihadists. Well, the president didn't listen, the administration didn't follow through, and that's exactly what happened. That is why +p214 +aV... as you asked earlier today. +p215 +aVBut radical terrorism cannot be solved by intellect. It cannot \u2014 they require \u2014 what they need, is they need an operating space. That's what Afghanistan was for Al Qaida. It was a vacuum that they filled, and they created an operating space. That's why they had to be drawn out of there. That's why they had to be destroyed. It is the reason why +p216 +aVThere's a broader issue here, Hugh. And there's a broader issue here as well. First of all, the only people that follow the law are law-abiding people. Criminals by definition ignore the law, so you can pass all the gun laws in the world, like the left wants. The criminals are going to ignore it because they are criminals. Here's the real issue. The real issue \u2014 the real issue is not what are people using to commit violence, but why are they committing the violence? And here's the truth: Because you cannot separate the social, moral wellbeing of your people from their economic and other wellbeing. You cannot separate it. You can't have a strong country without strong people, you cannot have strong people without strong values, and you cannot have strong values without strong families and the institutions in this country that defend and support those families. +p217 +aVWell, and today, we have a left-wing government under this president that is undermining all of the institutions and society that support the family and teach those values. +p218 +aVBecause we're not going to destroy our economy the way the left-wing government that we are under now wants to do. We're not going to... +p219 +aVWell, and I don't \u2014 he may have lined up with their positions on this issue. But here is the bottom line. Every proposal they put forward are going to be proposals that will make it harder to do business in America, that will make it harder to create jobs in America. Single parents are already struggling across this country to provide for their families. Maybe a billionaire here in California can afford an increase in their utility rates, but a working family in Tampa, Florida, or anywhere across this country cannot afford it. So we are not going to destroy our economy. We are not going to make America a harder place to create jobs in order to pursue policies that will do absolutely nothing, nothing to change our climate, to change our weather, because America is a lot of things, the greatest country in the world, absolutely. But America is not a planet. And we are not even the largest carbon producer anymore, China is. And they're drilling a hole and digging anywhere in the world that they can get a hold of. So the bottom line is, I am not in favor of any policies that make America a harder place for people to live, or to work, or to raise their families. +p220 +aVJake, you mentioned me and called me a denier. Let me say, climate change... +p221 +aVOK. A skeptic. You can measure the climate. You can measure it. That's not the issue we're discussing. Here is what I'm skeptical of. I'm skeptical of the decisions that the left wants us to make, because I know the impact those are going to have and they're all going to be on our economy. They will not do a thing to lower the rise of the sea. They will not do a thing to cure the drought here in California. But what they will do is they will make America a more expensive place to create jobs. And today with millions of people watching this broadcast that are struggling paycheck to paycheck that do not know how they're going to pay their bills at the end of this month, I'm not in favor of anything that is going to make it harder for them to raise their family. +p222 +aVSenator Rubio, you mean? +p223 +aVI know we all look alike. +p224 +aVThe \u2014 Rosa Parks, an everyday American that changed the course of history. +p225 +aVWell, there are some people in Florida upset at me over a joke I made about Florida State, but, what the heck, I want my codename to be Gator. +p226 +aVOne of the things that made Ronald Reagan a great president, is that he understood that America was a unique nation, like any other that had existed throughout human history. He knew it was founded on universal principles that were powerful, the dignity of all people, human rights, the rights of all to live in freedom and liberty, and choose their own path in life. He didn't just believe it, he acted on it. That's why bringing down communism was so important to him. If I'm honored with the opportunity to be president, I hope that our Air Force One will fly, first and foremost, to our allies; in Israel, in South Korea, and Japan. They know we stand with them. That America can be counted on. It would also fly to China, not just to meet with our enemies, not just to meet with those adversaries of ours that are there, but also to meet with those that aspire to freedom and liberty within China. I would even invite them to my inauguration. We would also fly into Moscow and into Russia. And not just meet with the leaders of Russia, but also meet with those who aspire to freedom and liberty in Russia. And ultimately, I hope that my Air Force One, if I become president, will one day land in a free Cuba, where its people can choose its leaders and its own destiny. +p227 +aVWell, thank you for the question, Chris, and it's great to be here tonight. Let me begin by saying this: I'm not new to the political process; I was making a contribution as the speaker of the third largest and most diverse state in the country well before I even got into the Senate. I would add to that that this election cannot be a resume competition. It's important to be qualified, but if this election is a resume competition, then Hillary Clinton's gonna be the next president, because she's been in office and in government longer than anybody else running here tonight. Here's what this election better be about: This election better be about the future, not the past. It better be about the issues our nation and the world is facing today, not simply the issues we once faced. This country is facing an economy that has been radically transformed. You know, the largest retailer in the country and the world today, Amazon, doesn't even own a single store? And these changes have been disruptive. They have changed people's lives. The jobs that once sustained our middle class, they either don't pay enough or they are gone, and we need someone that understands that as our nominee. If I'm our nominee, how is Hillary Clinton gonna lecture me about living paycheck to paycheck? I was raised paycheck to paycheck. How is she -- how is she gonna lecture me -- how is she gonna lecture me about student loans? I owed over $100,000 just four years ago. If I'm our nominee, we will be the party of the future. +p228 +aVLet me set the record straight on a couple of things. The first is, the evidence is now clear that the majority of people coming across the border are not from Mexico. They're coming from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras. Those countries are the source of the people that are now coming in its majority. I also believe we need a fence. The problem is if El Chapo builds a tunnel under the fence, we have to be able to deal with that too. And that's why you need an e-verify system and you need an entry-exit tracking system and all sorts of other things to prevent illegal immigration. But I agree with what Governor Kasich just said. People are frustrated. This is the most generous country in the world when it comes to immigration. There are a million people a year who legally immigrate to the United States, and people feel like we're being taken advantage of. We feel like despite our generosity, we're being taken advantage of. And let me tell you who never gets talked about in these debates. The people that call my office, who have been waiting for 15 years to come to the United States. And they've paid their fees, and they hired a lawyer, and they can't get in. And they're wondering, maybe they should come illegally. And so these are important issues, and we should address it. It's a serious problem that needs to be addressed, and otherwise we're going to keep talking about this for the next 30 years, like we have for the last 30 years. +p229 +aVNot me. +p230 +aVActually, to be clear......he supported Charlie Crist. +p231 +aVHey, Charlie... +p232 +aVWell, first off, I too believe in curriculum reform. It is critically important in the 21st Century. We do need curriculum reform. And it should happen at the state and local level. That's. . . that's. . . that is where educational policy belongs, because if a parent is unhappy with what their child is being taught in school, they can go to that local school board or their state legislature, or their governor and get it changed. Here's the problem with Common Core. The Department of Education, like every federal agency, will never be satisfied. They will not stop with it being a suggestion. They will turn it into a mandate. In fact, what they will begin to say to local communities is, you will not get federal money unless do you things the way we want you to do it. And they will use Common Core or any other requirements that exists nationally to force it down the throats of our people in our states. +p233 +aVThat's a great question. +p234 +aVThat's a great question. First of all, it begins by having leaders that recognize that the economy we live in today is dramatically different from the one we had five years ago. It's an economy that now has placed us in global competition with dozens of other countries around the world. Now, the big companies that have connections with Washington, they can affect policies to help them, but the small companies like the one Tania is talking about, they're the ones that are struggling. The first thing we need to do is we need to even out the tax code for small businesses so that we lower their tax rate to 25 percent, just as we need to lower it for all businesses. We need to have a regulatory budget in America that limits the amount of regulations on our economy. We need to repeal and replace Obamacare and we need to improve higher education so that people can have access to the skills they need for 21st century jobs. And last but not least, we need to repeal Dodd-Frank. It is eviscerating small businesses and small banks. 20 \u2014 over 40 percent of small and mid-size banks that loan money to small businesses have been wiped out over the \u2014 since Dodd-Frank has passed. We need to repeal and replace Dodd-Frank. We need to make America fair again for all businesses, but especially those being run by small business owners. +p235 +aVWell, Megyn, first of all, I'm not sure that that's a correct assessment of my record. I would go on to add that I believe all-- +p236 +aVI have never said that. And I have never advocated that. What I have advocated is that we pass law in this country that says all human life at every stage of its development is worthy of protection. In fact, I think that law already exists. It is called the Constitution of the United States. And let me go further. I believe that every single human being is entitled to the protection of our laws, whether they can vote or not. Whether they can speak or not. Whether they can hire a lawyer or not. Whether they have a birth certificate or not. And I think future generations will look back at this history of our country and call us barbarians for murdering millions of babies who we never gave them a chance to live. +p237 +aVWell, first, let me say I think God has blessed us. He has blessed the Republican Party with some very good candidates. The Democrats can't even find one. And I believe God has blessed our country. This country has been extraordinarily blessed. And we have honored that blessing. And that's why God has continued to bless us. And he has blessed us with young men and women willing to risk their lives and sometimes die in uniform for the safety and security of our people. Unfortunately today we have a VA that does not do enough for them. I am proud that last year we helped change the law. We changed the law to give the power to the VA secretary the ability to fire any executive that isn't doing their job. And it is outrageous they've only fired one person to date. When I'm president of the United States, we're going to have a VA that cares more about our veterans than about the bureaucrats who work at the VA. +p238 +aVThank you. You know, both of my parents were born into poor families on the island of Cuba. They came to America because it was the only place where people like them could have a chance. Here in this country, they never made it big, but the very purpose of their life was to give us the chance to do all the things they never could. My father was a bartender. And the journey from the back of that bar to this stage tonight, to me, that is the essence of the American dream. It is what makes our nation different. And I'm running for president because I want that to still be possible for the people trying to do that now. I run for president because I believe that we can't just save the American dream; we can expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And that's why I'm asking for your vote. So we can make America greater than it has ever been. And make of this century a new American century. +p239 +asVKASICH +p240 +(lp241 +VThank you, Wolf. Just last weekend, just last week, a friend asked one of my daughters, "Do you like politics?" And my daughter said, "No, I don't. And the reason I don't like it is because there's too much fighting, too much yelling. It's so loud, I don't like it." You know, I turned to my friend and I said, "You know, she's really on to something." And when we think about our country and the big issues that we face in this country; creating jobs, making sure people can keep their jobs, the need for rising wages, whether our children when they graduate from college can find a job, protecting the homeland, destroying +p242 +aVWell, first of all, Wolf, I said last February that we needed to have people on the ground, troops on the ground in a coalition similar to what we had in the first Gulf War. I remember when the Egyptian ambassador to the United States stood in the Rose Garden and pledged Arab commitment to removing Saddam Hussein from Kuwait. Before we came out here tonight, I am told that the Saudis have organized 34 countries who want to join in the battle against terrorism. First and foremost, we need to go and destroy +p243 +aVNo, I don't think it is. And I want to go back to two other issues. One is the metadata. We know we have to hold this data for a longer period of time. And, you know, in a lot of ways, Chris is right. Look, what a president has to do is take a position. We don't want to err on the side of having less. We want to err on the side of having more. That's good for our families. In addition to that, Wolf, there is a big problem. It's called encryption. And the people in San Bernardino were communicating with people who the FBI had been watching. But because their phone was encrypted, because the intelligence officials could not see who they were talking to, it was lost. We have to solve the encryption problem. It is not easy. A president of the United States, again, has to bring people together, have a position. We need to be able to penetrate these people when they are involved in these plots and these plans. And we have to give the local authorities the ability to penetrate to disrupt. That's what we need to do. Encryption is a major problem, and Congress has got to deal with this and so does the president to keep us safe. +p244 +aVYeah, let me \u2014 let me just suggest to everybody, and I hear \u2014 last February, I said we needed to have people on the ground in a coalition with Europe and our allies. This is not going to get done just by working with the Sunnis. And it is not going to get done if we just embed a few people. We have to go massively, like we did in the first Gulf War where we destroyed Saddam's ability to take Kuwait. We need to have a coalition that will stand for nothing less than the total destruction of +p245 +aVI don't understand this thing about Assad. He has to go. Assad is aligned with Iran and Russia. The one thing we want to prevent is we want to prevent Iran being able to extend a Shia crescent all across the Middle East. Assad has got to go. And there are moderates there. There are moderates in Syria who we should be supporting. I do not support a civil war. I don't want to be policeman of the world. But we can't back off of this. And let me tell you, at the end, the Saudis have agreed to put together a coalition inside of Syria to stabilize that country. +p246 +aVHe must go. It will be a blow to Iran and Russia. +p247 +aVThe foreign policy, you have to know how to pick and choose. There's no way, if Saddam had not had weapons of mass destruction, I would have gone, because I don't believe that the U.S. should be involved directly in civil wars. I opposed the U.S. involvement in Lebanon. We ended up having to withdraw our marines after our barracks were blown up. There is a difference between Iraq, where you have Sunni, Shia, and Kurds put together after the First World War by the Western powers. It doesn't work. It needs to break up into three parts. And for the Russians, frankly, it's time that we punched the Russians in the nose. They've gotten away with too much in this world and we need to stand up against them, not just there, but also in Eastern Europe where they threaten some of our most precious allies. +p248 +aVIt sounds more and more what my daughter said that I said in the beginning, all the fighting and arguing is not advancing us. +p249 +aVIt is not the way we're going to strengthen our country. We will strengthen our country when we come together. And, look, you've got Rand Paul, you've got Ted Cruz, you've got Marco, you've got a lot of people on this stage that have studied these issues. You know what a leader does? A leader has a sound program, has a good policy, and then brings people together to solve problems. Guess what? Both in Congress in balancing the budget and in Ohio fixing the economy \u2014 and, by the way, we talk about the fence. The first thing we better get going is strengthening our economy, because if we don't have a strong economy, we can't pay for all of this. And the world wants us to be able to function from strength, believe it or not. Get our economy going, get these people together in a room. We can fix this, ladies and gentlemen. We don't have to fight all the time. It can be done, and we will be great... +p250 +aV... when we join together. Thank you, Hugh. +p251 +aVYou know, obviously, as president of the United States, we've got to keep the people safe. That's first and foremost. But as governor of Ohio, I have an obligation to keep the 11.5 million people in Ohio safe. And we have been very effective with our Joint Terrorism Task Force, being able to make busts. In fact, we just made one three-four weeks ago against a person who was favorable to +p252 +aVNo Republican has ever been elected president of the United States without winning Ohio. Let me give you a little tip on how you win Ohio, it's reform, it's hope, it's growth, it's opportunity, and it's security. The people of Ohio are the people of America. The people of America are reflected in Ohio. Our message has to be big, and bold, and positive, and connect, not just with people's heads but also connect with their hearts. If we do it, we will beat Hillary Clinton, and we will run the White House, and we will strengthen and fix America, I promise you. +p253 +aVFirst of all, let me just say that, in the state of Ohio \u2014 and I'm the only acting executive on \u2014 on this stage today \u2014 we do have a moderate increase in the minimum wage. And I got to tell you, my father carried mail on his back. His father was a coal miner. He died of black lung. He was losing his eyesight. My mother's mother lived with us. She could barely speak English. I come from a town where if the wind blew the wrong way, people found themselves out of work. An economic theory is fine, but you know what? People need help. Now, I have a plan that, in fact, would cut taxes, but not $11 trillion or $12 trillion that would put my children further in debt. I have a plan that would not only cut taxes, lower the income tax rate for individuals, lower the tax for businesses so businesses will compete here and not move operations overseas, and also a plan \u2014 the only plan of anybody standing on this stage to get us to a balanced budget by the end of a second term. And, you know, the simple fact of the matter is, we hear a lot of promises in this debate, a lot of promises about these tax cuts or tax schemes sometimes that I call them. Hillary and the Democrats promise everything on the spending side. We've got to be responsible about what we propose on the tax side. Yes, lower taxes, lower spending. My website, JohnKasich.com, will show you exactly how we balance the budget. I balanced the budget in Washington as a chief architect, and I have balanced it in Ohio for one reason. When you balance the budget and you cut taxes, people get work. And our most important moral purpose as leaders in the political system is to make sure we create an environment for job creation so people can live their dreams and realize their God-given potential. That's why it's so important. And for those at the bottom, we've got to do what we can to train them so they can move up. But to just look the other way is not acceptable, because, you know what, as the governor of Ohio I have to deal with real challenges, and we've gotten it done in our state, and I will do it for America. +p254 +aVSure. We would move the Medicare system from a 7 percent growth down to about a 5 percent growth. And I have a whole series of ways to do that. In Ohio, we reduced Medicaid funding for the poor from 10 percent to 2.5 percent, didn't cut one benefit or didn't take anybody off the rolls. Why? Because we're innovators. I've been an innovator my entire career. And I really don't care what special interests or lobbyists have to say. I have a job to do when I take over a public office. Now, we freeze non-defense discretionary for eight years. We also put an increase in defense spending. Our tax cuts balance out. And at the end of the day, we will get to a balanced budget. And I want everybody here to know, when I was Budget Committee chairman in Washington, I stepped on every toe in that town, and we got to a balanced budget, and we had enormous job growth. And as governor of Ohio, we went from 350,000 lost jobs to a gain of 347,000 jobs. +p255 +aVI'll do it in Washington. I've done it twice; I'll do it thrice for the United States of America. +p256 +aVExcuse me. +p257 +aVYeah, I would like to make a comment. +p258 +aVI appreciate it, Jeb. I'm all of you. But I want at some point to talk about a value-added tax and $11 trillion, $12 trillion tax cuts that will put our kids way deeper in the hole than they have been at this point. So I would like to talk about it at some point, because that's what leadership is. +p259 +aVMaria, can we comment on that? +p260 +aVCan we comment on that? +p261 +aVWell, look, in 1986 Ronald Reagan basically said the people who were here, if they were law-abiding, could stay. But, what didn't happen is we didn't build the walls effectively and we didn't control the border. We need to. We need to control our border just like people have to control who goes in and out of their house. But if people think that we are going to ship 11 million people who are law-abiding, who are in this country, and somehow pick them up at their house and ship them out of Mexico \u2014 to Mexico, think about the families. Think about the children. So, you know what the answer really is? If they have been law- abiding, they pay a penalty. They get to stay. We protect the wall. Anybody else comes over, they go back. But for the 11 million people, come on, folks. We all know you can't pick them up and ship them across, back across the border. It's a silly argument. It is not an adult argument. It makes no sense. +p262 +aVJerry, Gerald, it was an attack. +p263 +aVIn the state of Ohio, the state of Ohio, we have grown 347,000 jobs. Our unemployment is half of what it was. Our fracking industry, energy industry may have contributed 20,000, but if Mr. Trump understood that the real jobs come in the downstream, not in the upstream, but in the downstream. And that's where we're going to get our jobs. But Ohio is diversified. And little false little things, sir, they don't really work when it comes to the truth. So the fact is, all I'm suggesting, we can't ship 11 million people out of this country. Children would be terrified, and it will not work. +p264 +aV...Mr. Baker, everybody got to talk about taxes... +p265 +aV...I think you were coming to me and then... +p266 +aV...Look, I hate to crash the party to you, Mr. Baker, but, you know, what's fair... +p267 +aV...Yes, sir... +p268 +aVLet me tell you this, Mr. Baker, in terms of the cyber attacks, we have the capability to not only have a defensive posture, but it also to make it clear to people that if you attack us with cyber attacks, we will destroy the mechanisms that you are using to attack us. I want to give you a little trip around the world. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years. In the Ukraine, arm the people there so they can fight for themselves. In the eastern part of Europe, make sure that Finland and the Baltics know that if the Russians move, we move. In Syria, yes, a no-fly zone in the north on the Turkish border, a no-fly zone on the south on the Jordanian border. Anybody flies in the first time, maybe they can fly out. They fly in there a second time, they will not fly out. And it also becomes a sanctuary for the people to be. And it also sends many messages in the Middle East that we're still involved. Saudi Arabia, cut off the funding for the radical clerics, the ones that preach against us. But they're fundamentally our friends. Jordan, we want the king to reign for 1,000 years. Egypt, they have been our ally and a moderating force in the Middle East throughout their history. In the groups \u2014 in the countries of the Gulf states of Bahrain, the Cleveland Clinic is opening an operation. Clearly we see the same with them. And in Israel, we have no better ally in the world, and no more criticizing them in public, we should support them. And finally China, China doesn't own the South China Sea, and I give the president some credit for being able to move a naval force in there to let the Chinese know that we're not going to put up with it any more. And in the trade agreement, the TPP, it's critical to us, not only for economic reasons and for jobs, because there are so many people who are connected to getting jobs because of trade, but it allows us to create not only economy alliances, but also potentially strategic alliances against the Chinese. They are not our enemy, but they are certainly not our friend. And finally, I will say to everyone in this room, we have been talking about taxes and economics. When the fall comes, and we run against Hillary, which will be a disaster if she got elected. I have two 16-year-old girls, and I want this country to be strong. We make promises we can't keep under the bright light of the fall, we will have trouble. We must make sure that economic programs and our military programs are solid. I served in Washington as the chairman of the Budget Committee, and we got the budget balanced. And in Ohio, as the CEO, and guess what, we have got to have a CEO mentality and a way to beat Hillary Clinton and the Democracies in the fall. And our ideas have to add up. They have to be solid. And people have to know we have the confidence to lead America. And as president, I will lead this country, as I have before in Washington and in Ohio, and will return both on domestic and international affairs. And I appreciate the opportunity to speak this time, Gerry. +p269 +aVLet me \u2014 let me also say, Gary \u2014 Gary, let me also say, Jeb is \u2014 what Jeb is talking about with the big banks is to force them to reserve their capital, people who invest it and they hold their capital, so that if the bank goes down, the people who are invested in the bank are the ones that pay. That's what he's trying to say. Secondly, I'll tell you about Wall Street: There's too much greed. And the fact is, a free enterprise system is a system that's produced the greatest wealth for the world. But you know Michael Novak, the great Catholic theologian, says that a free enterprise system that is not underlaid with values \u2014 and we should all think about the way we conduct our lives \u2014 yes, free enterprise is great, profits are great, but there have to be some values that underlay it, and they need a good ethics lesson on Wall Street on a regular basis to keep them in check so we, the people, do not lose. +p270 +aVNeil, that's the difference of being an executive. And let me just explain: when a bank is ready to go under and depositors are getting ready to lose their life savings, you just don't say we believe in philosophical concerns. You know what an executive has to decide? When there's a water crisis, how do we get water to the city? When there's a school shooting, how do you get there and help heal a community? When there are financial crisis, or a crisis with ebola, you got to go there and try to fix it. Philosophy doesn't work when you run something. And I gotta tell you, on-the-job training for president of the United States doesn't work. We've done it for 8 years, \u2014 and almost 8 years now. It does not work. We need an executive who's been tried, has been tested, and judge the decisions that that executive makes. I don't like what the Fed is doing, but I'll tell you what worries me more than anything else: turning the Fed over to the Congress of the United States... +p271 +aV...so they can print the money. That would be a very bad approach. +p272 +aVI wouldn't. I wouldn't. +p273 +aVNo. No, I didn't say that. +p274 +aVThey were \u2014 they were talking about what you would do with depositors. Would you let these banks shut down? My argument is, going forward, the banks have to reserve the capital, so that the \u2014 so that the people who own the capital start pressuring the banks to not take these risky approaches, Ted. But at the end of the day... +p275 +aV... I'm gonna tell you this. Let me tell you this. If during \u2014 if during... +p276 +aV...because if during \u2014 well, I'll tell you what (ph). +p277 +aVAs an executive \u2014 no. As an executive, I would figure out how to separate those people who can afford it versus those people, or the hard-working folks who put those money in those institutions...... let me \u2014 no, no. Let me say another thing. Here's what I mean by that. Here's what I mean by that. +p278 +aVWhen you are faced \u2014 when you are faced, in the last financial crisis, with banks going under \u2014 with banks going under, and people, people who put their \u2014 their life savings in there, you got to deal with it. You can't turn a blind eye to it. Now, going forward, that's one thing. If you had another financial crisis, perhaps there would be an effort to make sure that we do (ph). +p279 +aVWell, ladies and gentlemen, if Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders were to win this election, my 16-year-olds, I \u2014 I worry about what their life is going to be like. You know, the conservative movement is all about opportunity. It is about lower taxes. It's about balanced budgets. It's about less regulation. And it's about sending power, money and influence back to where we live so we can run America from the bottom up. In addition to that, once we have the power and the money and the influence with programs we shift out, that each of us have a responsibility to reach out and to rebuild our families, make them stronger, and connect our neighborhoods. All that together \u2014 wealth, connection, family \u2014 America's greatest days are ahead. We must win this election. +p280 +aVGood question, but I want to tell you, my great concern is that we are on the verge, perhaps, of picking someone who cannot do this job. I've watched to see people say that we should dismantle Medicare and Medicaid and leave the senior citizens out \u2014 out in the \u2014 in the cold. I've heard them talk about deporting 10 or 11 \u2014 people here from this country out of this country, splitting families. I've heard about tax schemes that don't add up, that put our kids in \u2014 in a deeper hole than they are today. We need somebody who can lead. We need somebody who can balance budgets, cut taxes... +p281 +aVYou know, frankly, I did it in Washington, in Ohio, and I will do it again in Washington, if I'm president, to get this country moving again. +p282 +aVcountry moving again. +p283 +aVListen, I want to just comment. +p284 +aVWell I want to comment on this. This is the fantasy... +p285 +aVThis is the fantasy that I talked about in the beginning. +p286 +aVI'm the only person on this stage that actually was involved in the chief architect of balancing the Federal Budget. You can't do it with empty promised. You know, these plans would put us trillions and trillions of dollars in debt. I actually have a plan. I'm the only one on this stage that has a plan that would create jobs, cut taxes, balance the budget and can get it done because I'm realistic. You just don't make promises like this. Why don't we just give a chicken in every pot, while we're, you know, coming up \u2014 coming up with these fantasy tax schemes. We'll just clean it up. Where are you gonna clean it up? You have to deal with entitlements, you have to be in a position to control discretionary spending. You gotta be creative and imaginative. Now, let me just be clear, John. I went into Ohio where we had an $8 billion hole and now we have a $2 billion surplus. We're up 347,000 jobs. When I was in Washington, I fought to get the budget balanced. I was the architect. It was the first time we did it since man walked on the moon. We cut taxes and we had a $5 trillion projected surplus when I left. That's was hard work. Fiscal discipline, know what you're doing. Creativity. This stuff is fantasy. Just like getting rid of Medicare and Medicaid. Come on, that's just not \u2014 you scare senior citizens with that. It's not responsible. +p287 +aVWell, I mean right here. To talk about we're just gonna have a 10 percent tithe and that's how we're gonna fund the government? And we're going to just fix everything with waste, fraud, and abuse? Or that we're just going to be great? Or we're going to ship 10 million Americans \u2014 or 10 million people out of this country, leaving their children here in this country and dividing families? Folks, we've got to wake up. We cannot elect somebody that doesn't know how to do the job. You have got to pick somebody who has experience, somebody that has the know-how, the discipline. And I spent my entire lifetime balancing federal budgets, growing jobs, the same in Ohio. And I will go back to Washington with my plan. +p288 +aVAnd I will have done it within 100 days, and it will pass. And we will be strong again. Thank you. +p289 +aVLet me just \u2014 let me respond. First of all, Ohio does have an energy industry, but we're diversified. We're one of the fastest growing states in the country. We came back from the dead. And you know what? It works very, very well. And secondly, when you talk about me being on the board of Lehman Brothers, I wasn't on the board of Lehman Brothers. I was a banker and I was proud of it. And I traveled the country and learned how people made jobs. We ought to have politicians who not only have government experience but know how the CEOs and the job creators work. My state is doing great across the board. And guess what, in 2011, I got a deal... +p290 +aV... an agreement with the... +p291 +aV... that he tried to take credit for four years later. It's a joke. +p292 +aVJohn Harwood, there's a bigger issue here. +p293 +aVWell, first of all, when we talk about the Import Export Bank, it's time to clean up corporate welfare. If we're gonna reform welfare for poor people, we ought to reform it for rich people, as well. Secondly, in our state, we went from a loss of 350,000 jobs to, now, a gain of 347,000 jobs to the positive. Our wages are growing faster than the national average, and I've cut taxes more than any sitting governor in this state \u2014 $5 billion, including no taxes on small business and killing the death tax. I want to go back to what we were talking about earlier, this budget deal in Washington. This is the same old stuff since I left. You spend the money today and then you hope you're going to save money tomorrow. I don't know if people understand, but I spent a lifetime with my colleagues getting us to a federal balanced budget. We actually did it. And I have a road map and a plan right now to get us to balance. Reforming entitlements, cutting taxes. You see, because if you really want to get to a balanced budget, you need to reduce your expenses and you need to grow your economy. So what I will tell you about our incentives \u2014 our incentives are tight, and at the end of the day we make sure that we gain more from the creation of jobs than what we lose. And you know what? Ohio, one of the best growing places in the country \u2014 I not only did it in Washington, I did it in Ohio, and I'll go back to Washington, and there will be no more silly deals... +p294 +aV... If I become President because we'll have a Constitutional Amendment to require a federally balanced budget so they will do their job. +p295 +aVWell, first of all, we're running a $2 billion dollar surplus, we're not having a revenue problem right now. And, sending mixed signals to kids about drugs is a disaster. Drugs is one of the greatest scourge in this country, and I spent five years of my administration working with my team to do a whole sort of things to try to reign in the problem of overdoses, and it goes on and on. We could do a whole show on that. I want to go back for a second thought on this issue of income inequality. My program would move the 104 programs of the federal Department of Education into four block grants, and send them back to the states because income inequality is driven by a lack of skills when kids don't get what they need to be able to compete and win in this country. The fact is, in order to get this economy moving again, I call for freezing regulations for a year except for the problem of public safety. I believe that we need to cut these taxes down, we need to be on a roadmap to balancing the budget, and we need to send power, money, and influence, the welfare department, the education department, job training, infrastructure, Medicaid, all of that out of Washington back to the states so we can run these programs from where we live to the top, not a one size fits all mentality that they have in Washington. And, that will get to the nub of opportunity for our children, and an ability to see wages rise. Again... +p296 +aV...One more time, in Ohio, our wages are growing faster than the national average. We've cut taxes, balanced budgets, changed the regulatory environment. Folks, you want to \u2014 +p297 +aV\u2014 fix America, this is the formula. It worked for Reagan and it works for our team in Ohio. Thank you. +p298 +aVJohn. +p299 +aVI wanna tell you, in my state, we took Medicaid, the hardest program to control, and we took it from a 10 percent growth rate to 2.5 percent without taking one person off the rolls or cutting one single benefit. And so much of what we did \u2014 to force competition, to use technology, to stand down the special interest groups \u2014 can you imagine taking Medicaid from 10 to 2.5 percent? We can take many of those same procedures, we can apply it to Medicare. We can make a stronger program. But I agree with Jeb, you can't just do this by growing the economy. You can't grow your way out of demographics. But we can give people better health care. And finally, on health care, why don't we start treating \u2014 keep giving... +p300 +aV...incentives for people to keep people healthy, rather than giving the incentives to treat them when they're sick? +p301 +aVI was on morning Joe at a town hall and a young student stood up and said, "Can I still be idealistic?" I said, absolutely, you can still change the world. And, you know the old inscription, if you save one life, you've changed the world. Folks, we have a problem here with the leadership in Washington, but I'll tell you another problem. We need to rebuild our families. We need to have stronger families. We need to know who our neighbors are. We need to come together as a country because we have to realize that America is great, not from the top-down. Oh yeah, we want to elect a good president, but America is great from the bottom-up, and the bottom-up is us in our families, in our communities, in our neighborhoods. We will renew America if we work together, and I am totally confident that we will. And God bless America. +p302 +aVHello, I'm John Kasich, the Governor of Ohio. Emma, and Reese, my children, and Karen, love 'ya girls. Thanks for watching tonight. By the way, I think I actually flew on this plane with Ronald Reagan when I was a congressman, and his goals, and mine, really much \u2014 are pretty much the same. Lift Americans, unify, give hope, grow America, and restore it is to that great, shining city on a hill. Yes, he was a great one, and I learned much from watching him. The most important thing, hope to Americans, unify, lift everyone in America. +p303 +aVJake, Jake. +p304 +aVListen, you know, I \u2014 if I were sitting at home and watch thing back and forth, I would be inclined to turn it off. I mean, people at home want to know across this country, they want to know what we're going to do to fix this place, how we'll balance a budget, how we're going to create more economic growth, how we'll pay down the debt. What we're going to do to strengthen the military. So, we just spent 10 minutes here... +p305 +aVBut \u2014 but wait a minute. It's a lot of ad hogshead. Now, I know that it may be buzzing out there, but I think it's important we get to the issues, because that's what people want, and they don't want all this fighting. +p306 +aV...Yeah, well... +p307 +aVWell, let me just say this. First of all, I think it's a bad agreement, I would never have done it. But, you know, a lot of our problems in the world today is that we don't have the relationship with our allies. If we want to go everywhere alone, we will not have the strength as (ph) if we could rebuild with our allies. Now, this agreement, we don't know what's going to happen in 18 months. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years. I've seen lots of issues in foreign affairs, and foreign \u2014 in terms of global politics, you have to be steady. Now, here's the \u2014 if they cheat, we slap the sanctions back on. If they help Hamas, and Hezbollah, we slap the sanctions back on. And, if we find out that they may be developing a nuclear weapon, than the military option is on the table. We are stronger when we work with the Western civilization, our friends in Europe, and just doing it on our own I don't think is the right policy. +p308 +aVNo, no, no. I want to \u2014 I want to \u2014 I want to say something about what the senator just said. +p309 +aVNo one is \u2014 no \u2014 let me \u2014 let me suggest to you we believe that we operate better in the world when our allies work with us. President Bush did it in the Gulf War. We work better when we are unified. Secondly, nobody's trusting Iran. They violate the deal, we put on the sanctions, and we have the high moral ground to talk to our allies in Europe to get them to go with us. If they don't go with us, we slap the sanctions on anyway. If they fund these radical groups that threaten Israel and all of the West, then we should rip up the deal and put the sanctions back on. And let me make it clear \u2014 let me make it clear... +p310 +aV... if we think \u2014 if we think they're getting close to a \u2014 to developing a nuclear weapon and we get that information, you better believe that I would do everything in my power as the commander-in-chief to stop them having a nuclear weapon. +p311 +aVWe can have it, and we can have our allies, and we can be strong as a country, and we can project across this globe with unity, not just doing it alone. That is not what gets us where we want to get as a nation. +p312 +aVWell, I agree that we should defund Planned Parenthood. I don't know many people in America who don't think that we should, and in my state, we're trying to figure out how to get it done, because we are threatened with the federal government taking all of our Medicaid money away. I think there is a way to get this done by giving governors the ability to be able to act to defund Planned Parenthood. But when (ph) it comes to closing down the federal government, you gotta be very careful about that. When we shut the government down \u2014 if we have a chance at success and it's a great principle, yes. The president of the United States is not going to sign this, and all we're gonna do is shut the government down, and then we're gonna open up \u2014 open it up, and the American people are gonna shake their heads and say, "what's the story with these Republicans?" So I think there is a way to get to cutting off the funding for Planned Parenthood. I was in the Congress for 18 years, balanced the budget, cut taxes, got it done. Changed welfare, went around the president to get welfare reform done. There are ways to do it without having to shut the government down, but I'm sympathetic to the fact that we don't want this organization to get funding, and the money ought to be reprogrammed for family planning in other organizations that don't support this tactic. But I would not be for shutting the government down... +p313 +aV...because I don't think it's going to work out. +p314 +aVWe're not \u2014 what I can tell you is this. We didn't surrender in New Jersey, six years ago, as the brand new first ever pro-life governor of New Jersey since Roe versus Wade, I defended Planned Parenthood. And I've vetoed Planned Parenthood funding, now, eight times in New Jersey. Since the day I walked in as governor, Planned Parenthood has not been funded in New Jersey. We stood up and every one of those vetoes has been sustained. But here's the problem, we're \u2014 we're fighting with each other up here. We agree. Let's ask Hillary Clinton. She believes in the systematic murder of children in the womb to preserve their body parts... +p315 +aV...Dana, in a way that maximizes their value for sale for profit. It is disgusting, and the American people need to hear it... +p316 +aV...we shouldn't be fighting with each other. She's the real opponent, she's the real problem. +p317 +aVI'll tell you what \u2014 I'll tell you what I'd be willing to fight for. I'll tell you what I'd be willing to fight for. Why will (ph) we put tax reform on the president's desk, so we can simplify this tax system? +p318 +aVNo, no, it's really important, Dana. We got to talk about what we would be willing to shut down for. Why don't we put tax reform on this president's desk, and make him veto it if that's what he wants to do? Why haven't we repealed and replaced Obamacare? Make him veto if that's what he wants to do. +p319 +aVThere's a \u2014 +p320 +aVJake \u2014 +p321 +aVOK, Jake. +p322 +aVI don't at this point in terms of changing the incentives for investment and risk-taking. But let's just stop for a second. There's one person on this stage that does have a record. I'm the only person on the stage and one of the few people in this country that led the effort as the chief architect of the last time we balanced the federal budget. We also cut taxes. And when I left Washington in 2000, we had a $5 trillion surplus, and the economy was booming. I had spent 10 years of my life to get us to that point, went out in the private sector, was a great experience, and went into Ohio and took an $8 billion hole and turned it into a $2 billion surplus. We've had the largest amount of tax cuts of any sitting governor. We've grown well over 300,000 jobs. You see, I've done it in both places. I'm the only one here that has done it in both places. It took a lot to get us to a balanced budget. It was legitimate. It was real. And we negotiated it. A lot of what we're talking about here tonight as we take this position and that position, you know what? At the end of the day, America has got to work. We've got to figure out how we come together to deal with this \u2014 with our fiscal problems because when we deal with that, we create a stronger economy for everybody. People have a chance to rise. So, you know, when we think about how we make a choice, it's the person that lands that plane. It's not somebody that talks about it. It's about the person who has done it. And I've done it in... +p323 +aV... both places. And I did it including people in the other party. And that's how we were successful. +p324 +aVAnd that's how I will be president, using that experience to drive this country forward. Thank you. +p325 +aVWell, look, people still have to get to know me, so I want to spend my time talking about my experience reforming welfare, balancing budgets, cutting taxes, providing economic growth when I was in Washington, turning Ohio around. Eight billion in the hole, $2 billion surplus, up over 300,000 jobs, big tax cuts, strengthening our credit. All those things matter but, you know, as a young man in my first election in 1978, I defeated an incumbent Democrat. I defeated an incumbent Democrat in 1982; running on the Reagan program, I was the only Republican in America to defeat an incumbent Democrat that year. And then, when I won for election of governor, I was the first Republican to defeat an incumbent in 36 years, and the first person to have never run statewide out of politics for 10 years to beat an incumbent. That hadn't happened for 96 years. So, we'll get to the point where we'll talk about Hillary Clinton, or whoever the nominee is, record. But right now, I want to give people sense of hope, sense of purpose, a sense of unity, sense that we can do it. So... +p326 +aVYou know, at the end of the day, I'm going to continue to talk about my record, because there is, did you ever notice when people run for office, they run for president, they make a lot of promises, they don't keep them. +p327 +aVI don't intend to do that, and I going to be out there pushing it out \u2014 don't worry about me and Hillary. That will all work out, and I'm from Ohio. She will not beat me there, I can promise you that. +p328 +aVCan I just \u2014 can I \u2014 Jake, can I just make one point on this whole military discussion? +p329 +aVI called for boots on the ground many months ago in a coalition with our friends who share our interest. You know, you win a battle with the military, and when we go somewhere, we need to be mobile, and lethal. We need to take care of business, and we need to come home. But, we face, also, a bigger war \u2014 and you win the bigger war with the battle of ideas. You wonder why young people, and educated people, rich people, schooled people, have tried to join +p330 +aV...to make (ph) centers (ph) of justice so that we can battle the radicals, call them out for what they are, and make sure that all of our people feel fulfilled in living in Western civilization... +p331 +aV...This is a giant battle in the world today... +p332 +aVWell, it's probably not, maybe, legal, but, I would pick Mother Theresa, the lady that I had a chance to meet, a woman who lived a life so much bigger than her own. An inspiration to everyone when we think about our responsibility to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. +p333 +aVWell, I have one now \u2014 they (ph) call me, "Unit One". My wife says, "You'll never be Unite One, I'm Unite One. You're Unit Two." +p334 +aVWell, as president, I will make this a nation that will solve problems. And how? By having the elected officials and the leaders realize they're Americans before they're Republicans or Democrats. I did it in Washington. And I've done it in Ohio by having the elected officials realize that they're Ohioans before anything else. Secondly, I will rebuild the relationships and show the respect to our allies around the world. We have no choice but to do that. We will be stronger when we are unified. And we'll fight for freedom and for human rights. And finally, a little bit of what Carly said. The people that are out there listening, America was never great because we ran America from the top down. America is great because we have run America from the bottom up, where we all live in the neighborhoods. One more time in America, we need to revive the concept of citizenship, where everybody's actions make a huge difference in changing the world. We have a Holocaust memorial on our state house grounds. And there is one line on there that stands out all the time. "If you've saved one life, you've changed the world." We need to adopt that as citizens and rebuild and reinspire our country. Thank you. +p335 +aVWell, first of all... ...first of all, Megyn, you should know that -- that President Reagan expanded Medicaid three or four times. Secondly, I had an opportunity to bring resources back to Ohio to do what? To treat the mentally ill. Ten thousand of them sit in our prisons. It costs $22,500 a year... ...to keep them in prison. I'd rather get them their medication so they could lead a decent life. Secondly, we are rehabbing the drug-addicted. Eighty percent of the people in our prisons have addictions or problems. We now treat them in the prisons, release them in the community and the recidivism rate is 10 percent and everybody across this country knows that the tsunami of drugs is -- is threatening their very families. So we're treating them and getting them on their feet. And, finally, the working poor, instead of them having come into the emergency rooms where it costs more, where they're sicker and we end up paying, we brought a program in here to make sure that people could get on their feet. And do you know what? Everybody has a right to their God-given purpose. And finally, our Medicaid is growing at one of the lowest rates in the country. And, finally, we went from $8 billion in the hole to $2 billion in the black. We've cut $5 billion in taxes... ...and we've grown 350,000 jobs. +p336 +aVChris, first of all, I was just saying to Chris Christie, they say we're outspoken, we need to take lessons from Donald Trump if we're really going to learn it. Here is the thing about Donald Trump. Donald Trump is hitting a nerve in this country. He is. He's hitting a nerve. People are frustrated. They're fed up. They don't think the government is working for them. And for people who want to just tune him out, they're making a mistake. Now, he's got his solutions. Some of us have other solutions. You know, look, I balanced the federal budget as one of the chief architects when I was in Washington. Hasn't been done since. I was a military reformer. I took the state of Ohio from an $8 billion hole and a 350,000 job loss to a $2 billion surplus and a gain of 350,000 jobs. +p337 +aVBut the point is that we all have solutions. Mr. Trump is touching a nerve because people want the wall to be built. They want to see an end to illegal immigration. They want to see it, and we all do. But we all have different ways of getting there. And you're going to hear from all of us tonight about what our ideas are. +p338 +aVDonald, if you... +p339 +aV-- this campaign, I hope you will give to me. +p340 +aVOK. +p341 +aVLet's start off with my father being a mailman. So I understand the concerns of all the folks across this country, some of whom have trouble, you know, making ends meet. But I think she will come in a narrow way. The nominee of this party, if they're going to win, has got to come at it in a big way, which is pro-growth. Which is balancing budgets. You know, we were talking about it. People were saying, could we do it? I was the chairman of the Budget Committee and the lead architect the last time it happened in Washington, and when we did it we had great economic growth, we cut taxes, and we had a big surplus. Economic growth is the key. Economic growth is the key to everything. But once you have economic growth, it is important that we reach out to people who live in the shadows, the people who don't seem to ever think that they get a fair deal. And that includes people in our minority community; that includes people who feel as though they don't have a chance to move up. You know, America is a miracle country. And we have to restore the sense that the "Amiracle" will apply to you. Each and every one of the people in this country who's watching tonight, lift everybody, unite everybody and build a stronger United States of America again. It will be and can be done. +p342 +aVWell, look, I'm an old-fashioned person here, and I happen to believe in traditional marriage. But I've also said the court has ruled -- +p343 +aVWait, Megyn, the court has ruled, and I said we'll accept it. And guess what, I just went to a wedding of a friend of mine who happens to be gay. Because somebody doesn't think the way I do, doesn't mean that I can't care about them or can't love them. So if one of my daughters happened to be that, of course I would love them and I would accept them. Because you know what? That's what we're taught when we have strong faith. So the issues like that, issues like that are planted to divide us. I think the simple fact of the matter is, and this is where I would agree with Jeb, and I've been saying it all along, we need to give everybody a chance, treat everybody with respect, and let them share in this great American dream that we have, Megan. So, look, I'm going to love my daughters, I'm going to love them no matter what they do. Because, you know what, God gives me unconditional love. I'm going to give it to my family and my friends and the people around me. +p344 +aVWell, Megyn, my father was a mailman. His father was a coal miner. My mother's mother could barely speak English. And their son today stands on this podium in the great state of Ohio not only as the governor, but a candidate for president of the United States. I do believe in miracles. You know, I've had a lot of elections. But my elections are really not about campaigns. I tell my people that these are about a movement. And a movement to do what? To restore common sense. A movement to do things like provide economic growth. And a movement not to let anybody be behind. You know, today the country is divided. You asked a question about the police and the difficulty in communities. We've got to unite our country again, because we're stronger when we are united and we are weaker when we are divided. And we've got to listen to other people's voices, respect them, but keep in mind, and I believe in terms of the things that I've read in my lifetime, the Lord'is not picking us. But because of how we respect human rights, because that we are a good force in the world, he wants America to be strong. He wants America to succeed. And he wants America to lead. And nothing is more important to me than my family, my faith, and my friends. +p345 +aVYou know, tonight we hear about what people want to do. I want to tell you what I've done. I was a member of the Armed Services Committee for 18 years. I spent a big chunk of my life studying national security issues and our role in the world. No. 2. I was the chairman of the House Budget Committee and one of the chief architects the last time we balanced a budget, and it was the first time we had done it since man walked on the moon. We had a $5 trillion surplus and we cut taxes. I spent ten years in the private sector, actually learning how business works. And now I'm the governor of Ohio, and I inherited a state that was on the brink of dying. And we turned it all around with jobs and balanced budgets and rising credit and tax cuts, and the state is unified, and people have hope again in Ohio. +p346 +asVQUICK +p347 +(lp348 +VGentlemen \u2014 we'll \u2014 we'll get back to this \u2014 just a minute \u2014 just a minute we're gonna continue this. I wanna talk taxes... +p349 +aVDr. Carson, let's talk about taxes. You have a flat tax plan of 10 percent flat taxes, and \u2014 I've looked at it \u2014 and this is something that is very appealing to a lot of voters, but I've had a really tough time trying to make the math work on this. If you were to took a 10 percent tax, with the numbers right now in total personal income, you're gonna come in with bring in $1.5 trillion. That is less than half of what we bring in right now. And by the way, it's gonna leave us in a $2 trillion hole. So what analysis got you to the point where you think this will work? +p350 +aVI \u2014 I understand that, but if you \u2014 if you look at the numbers you probably have to get to 28. +p351 +aV15 percent still leaves you with a $1.1 trillion hole. +p352 +aVYou'd have to cut \u2014 you'd have to cut government about 40 percent to make it work with a $1.1 trillion hole. +p353 +aVThat is true, I looked at the numbers. +p354 +aVDr. Carson, thank you. +p355 +aVGovernor... +p356 +aVDr. Carson, let me get 30 seconds with Dr. Carson... +p357 +aVThank you. +p358 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, thank you. +p359 +aVGentlemen, I'm sorry, we need to... +p360 +aVWe're going to move on. +p361 +aVThirty seconds. +p362 +aVWe'll get to everyone. Ms. Fiorina, I \u2014 I'd like to ask you a question. You are running for president of the United States because of your record running Hewlett-Packard. But the stock market is usually a fair indicator of the performance of a CEO, and the market was not kind to you. Someone who invested a dollar in your company the day you took office had lost half of the dollar by the day you left. Obviously, you've talked in the past about what a difficult time it was for technology companies, but anybody who was following the market knows that your stock was a much worse performer, if you looked at your competitors, if you looked at the overall market. I just wonder, in terms of all of that \u2014 you know, we look back, your board fired you. I just wondered why you think we should hire you now. +p363 +aVMrs. Fiorina, it's interesting that you bring up Mr. Perkins, because... ...he said a lot of very questionable things. Last year, in an interview, he said that he thinks wealthy people should get more votes than poor people. I think his quote was that, "if you pay zero dollars in taxes, you should get zero votes. If you pay a million dollars, you should get a million votes." Is this the type of person you want defending you? +p364 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p365 +aVThank you, we're out of time. Thank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Carl. +p366 +aVGovernor Christie, I'd like to a question next. Actually, I have a question for you . In your tell it like it is campaign, you've said a lot of tough things. You've said that we need to raise the retirement age for Social Security. You think that we need to cut benefits for people who make over $80,000 and eliminate them entirely for seniors who are making over $200,000. Governor Huckabee, who is here on the stage, has said that you and others who think this way are trying to rob seniors of the benefits that they've earned. It raises the question: When it is acceptable to break a social compact? +p367 +aV...Governor... +p368 +aV...Thank you. +p369 +aVWelcome back to the presidential debate for the Republicans. We are live in Boulder, Colorado, right here on +p370 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. +p371 +aVSenator Rubio, you yourself have said that you've had issues. You have a lack of bookkeeping skills. You accidentally inter-mingled campaign money with your personal money. You faced (ph) foreclosure on a second home that you bought. And just last year, you liquidated a $68,000 retirement fund. That's something that cost you thousands of dollars in taxes and penalties. In terms of all of that, it raises the question whether you have the maturity and wisdom to lead this $17 trillion economy. What do you say? +p372 +aVSenator, I understand all of that. I had a lot of student loans when I got out, too. But you've had a windfall that a lot of Americans haven't. You made over a million dollars on a book deal, and some of these problems came after that. +p373 +aVBut you \u2014 but you liquidated that retirement account after the fact, and that cost you about $24,000 out of that in taxes and feed. That \u2014 that was after you'd already come into that windfall. That's why I raised the question. +p374 +aVYes, thank you John. Senator Cruz, working women in this country still earn just 77 percent of what men earn. And I know that you've said you've been very sympathetic to our cause. But you've also you said that the Democrats' moves to try and change this are the political show votes. I just wonder what you would do as President to try and help in this cause? +p375 +aVMrs. Fiorina \u2014 +p376 +aVMrs. Fiorina, we will come back to you. +p377 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Carl? +p378 +aVMr. Trump, let's stay on this issue of immigration. You have been very critical of Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook who has wanted to increase the number of these H1Bs. +p379 +aVSo you're in favor of... +p380 +aVWhere did I read this and come up with this that you were... +p381 +aVYou know, Mr. \u2014 you know, Mr. Trump, if I may . You've been \u2014 you have been \u2014 you had talked a little bit about Marco Rubio. I think you called him Mark Zuckerberg's personal senator because he was in favor of the H1B. +p382 +aVSo this was an erroneous article the whole way around? +p383 +aVMy apologies. I'm sorry. +p384 +aVYes, you can. +p385 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you very much. I would like to introduce my colleague, Rick Santelli, he has some comments as well, sir. +p386 +aVRick, thank you very much. Governor Huckabee, you have railed against income inequality. You've said that some Wall Street executives should have gone to jail over the roles that they played during the financial crisis. Apart from your tax plan, are there specific steps you would require from corporate America to try and reduce the income inequality. +p387 +aVGovernor? +p388 +aVGovernor? +p389 +aVThank you. +p390 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee. +p391 +aVHow about 15 more seconds? +p392 +aVGovernor? +p393 +aVGovernor, I'm sorry... +p394 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p395 +aVGovernor, thank you. Appreciate it. John? +p396 +aVIt's at the moderator discretion. +p397 +aVWelcome back to the University of Colorado and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p398 +aVThank you, sir. +p399 +aVYou were. You get 30 seconds. +p400 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Carl? +p401 +aVHigher education is the example... +p402 +aVI want to go back, if I can, to the issue of... +p403 +aVI want to go back, if I may, to the... +p404 +aVSenator Paul, among the leading conservative opponents to the creation of Medicare back in the 1960s was Ronald Reagan. He warned that it would lead to socialism. Considering the mounting cost of Medicare, was he right to oppose it? +p405 +aVSenator, thank you. [ +p406 +aVWelcome back to Boulder, Colorado and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p407 +aVThank you, Governor. +p408 +aVGovernor. +p409 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Paul, let's go back to you. Do these solutions sound like they work? +p410 +aVDo these solutions sound like they would work? +p411 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Governor? +p412 +asVGRAHAM +p413 +(lp414 +VThank you very much. I just returned from Iraq two weeks ago. It was my 36th trip to Iraq and Afghanistan in the last decade. Toward the end, I met a very impressive Special Forces sergeant. It was his job to train Iraqi Kurdish commandos. He was so proud of what he was doing and so proud of the people he was training. He was the replacement for Master Sergeant Wheeler, a Delta Force member who was killed two months ago in a raid against an +p415 +aVYou may think this makes us safe, but it doesn't. The good news for everybody in this room is, after 36 trips to Iraq and Afghanistan, most people over there, Wolf, are not buying what +p416 +aVI will support the Republican nominee, whoever he or she may be. Like Bob Dole, I may sleep late that day if it's Trump. But the bottom line, if it's Trump, so be it. That's who I'll support. Please understand we're in a war that we can't afford to lose, and what he said about banning Muslims coming here to America has made us all less safe, and it's the worst possible thing he could do in this war. He clearly doesn't understand this war and how to win it. For God's sakes, pick somebody who is worthy of the sacrifice of those who are fighting this war and who actually knows how to win, and I don't believe that's Mr. Trump, and I know it's not Hillary Clinton. +p417 +aVRick, please understand the only way we're gonna win the war against radical Islam is for the world to unite. Very few fathers and mothers want to turn their daughters and sons over to +p418 +aVWell, here's what I'm here to tell you, when I first started this process of running for president., I said, " if you didn't realize we need more America boots on the ground in Iraq and eventually in Syria as a part of the regional army - not ready to be commander in chief." Like nobody said a word, now everybody's on board except Senator Paul. Senator Paul and Senator Cruz, are isolationists. They both want to restrict the ability of the NSA to do the following; find out if somebody overseas is calling into America and if somebody is on the other end of the phone, don't you want to know who their talking to? IF a terrorist is calling into America and we can match up phone numbers we get a get a court order to find out what the content is. We're at war folks, they're not trying to steal your car, they're trying to kills us all. So yes, I would re-institute this program. There's four things you need to understand about this war, it's a religious war, them against the world, if you don't fight them over there, they're coming here. If you don't hit them first, they're going to hit us. If you're not determined to fight it as a ware, you're going to lose it. So if you're worried about somebody having your phone in the government, don't be. The only thing you need to worry about is if you're talking to terrorist and a judge gives an order to listen to what you're saying. That's all you need to worry about. +p419 +aVCan I say something? +p420 +aVYeah. There are at least 3,500 American muslims serving in the armed forces. Thank you for your service. You are not the enemy. Your religion is not the enemy. Let me make this real to you. I was at the second presidential election in Afghanistan. The guy guarding me was an American Muslim sergeant in the Army who grew up in Kabul, left when he was \u2014 graduated high school, joined the U.S. Army, went back to his high school where they were doing polling, people voting, he took me there and cried like a baby. I cried like a baby. He is the solution to this problem, folks. He is not the problem. Leave the faith alone. Go after the radicals that kill us all. +p421 +aVThank you. This is why I own a flip phone. You don't have to worry about all of this stuff. The bottom line is, we're at war. They're trying to come here to kill us all and it's up to the government to protect you within constitutional means. Any system that would allow a terrorist to communicate with somebody in our country and we can't find out what they're saying is stupid. If I'm president of the United States, and you join +p422 +aVWell, what you want to do is you want to knock them off line. How about this idea? If you pledge allegiance to al-Baghdadi, you can't get married in America? The bottom line is you have to go after them everywhere. The key to winning this war is to provide the capacity to those in the faith who reject the ideology. The key to fighting this war is to fight it in their backyard, not ours. Two years ago I came up with a plan that requires more American boots on the ground in Iraq. The first thing out of my mouth running for President was, if you don't understand we need 10,000 troops in Iraq, rather than 3,500, you're not ready. What would I do in Syria? I'd form a regional army of Arabs and Turkey. Ninety percent them, 10 percent us. Up to 10,000 U.S. forces to go in on the ground and destroy the caliphate and its roots. Take Raqqah away from +p423 +aVYeh, it's just you're not going to win that way, Rick. There's nobody left in Syria to train. Between the Russians and Assad, they have killed all the people we trained, and our President sat on the sidelines and watched people get killed that we enticed into the fight. There is nobody left to train. I would get the Arabs who are threatened by +p424 +aVWell, number one, dead men don't preach anything. If you don't understand we need a ground force to go into Syria, then you're not ready to destroy +p425 +aVYeah. I just don't make this up, Wolf. I talk to people who are combat trained who have won in Iraq who I trust. Here's what I want to tell the Arab world and Turkey. We're not going to send 100,000 troops. You're going to do the fighting this time and we're gonna help you. We paid for the last two wars, you're gonna pay for this one. And, by the way, they get it because +p426 +aVTwo years ago. +p427 +aVYes. +p428 +aVI think we need to have a military strategy regarding Libya. They've just take over Gaddafi's hometown called Sur. There's about 2000 of them. Here's what I've learned in my 36 visits, you can't deter these guys, they're ready to die, bring on the virgins. Dying is first place in their world. What we have to do is work with others over time to destroy to ideology. We have to offer a hopeful life to compete with the glory of this. Most young people folks want the same thing you do. They don't want to live in the 11th century. So yes, you have to destroy the caliphate. I want to work with Arabs and Turkey to do it, but here's the key is to not leave. If we left Germany and Japan only god knows what would've happened. If we have 10000 troops left in Iraq, there would be no +p429 +aVI want to talk to General Keane first. I want to find out, what do we need militarily to keep them contained and eventually destroy them in Libya. They're in nine countries. You want to deal with Libya, go to Iraq and Syria. You want to prevent another 9/11, take the caliphate headquarters away from +p430 +aVNo. What I would do is I would try to make friends throughout the world to destroy a common threat to the world. These people are religious Nazis. Most people in Islam don't buy what they're selling. I've told you a thousand times that I would partner with the Arabs in Turkey. But, the reason they don't partner with Obama is they just don't trust him. Do you think they would trust me? I know them all. I've been working for a decade to figure out how to win this war. To my good friend Ted Cruz, please ask him the following question, you say you would keep Assad in power, I will tell you that is the worst possible thing that could come out of an American leaders mouth. It would be disastrous. His favorite movie is, apparently, Princess Bride. Ted, getting in bed with Iran and Russia to save Assad is inconceivable. +p431 +aVPrincess Buttercup would not like this. +p432 +aV...I didn't get to say yes. Yes. +p433 +aVYeah, this is an important discussion. The American president is the strongest voice in the world \u2014 until Obama came along. Now, we're just one of many. When you ask people to help you, when you entice Syrians to join your cause, to take down the dictator they hate to destroy +p434 +aV...we'd better do something about it, and I have a plan. +p435 +aVI don't think it's necessary. If you don't want to be there, I don't want you to be there. I just retired after 33 years in the Air Force, 140 days on the ground as an Air Force Reservist. To those who are watching, thank you for your service. I've had a small walk in your shoes. We have the best military in the world. Obama has put it in a box. Let's take it out of the box and use it before we get attacked here. We don't need a draft, we need a commander in chief who knows what the hell they're doing. +p436 +aVAnd, I am that guy. +p437 +aVBut, the reason they don't partner with Obama is they just don't trust him. Do you think they would trust me? I know them all. I've been working for a decade to figure out how to win this war. To my good friend Ted Cruz, please ask him the following question, you say you would keep Assad in power, I will tell you that is the worst possible thing that could come out of an American leaders mouth. It would be disastrous. His favorite movie is, apparently, Princess Bride. Ted, getting in bed with Iran and Russia to save Assad is inconceivable. +p438 +aVPrincess Buttercup would not like this. +p439 +aV...I didn't get to say yes. Yes. +p440 +aVYeah, this is an important discussion. The American president is the strongest voice in the world \u2014 until Obama came along. Now, we're just one of many. When you ask people to help you, when you entice Syrians to join your cause, to take down the dictator they hate to destroy +p441 +aV...we'd better do something about it, and I have a plan. +p442 +aVI don't think it's necessary. If you don't want to be there, I don't want you to be there. I just retired after 33 years in the Air Force, 140 days on the ground as an Air Force Reservist. To those who are watching, thank you for your service. I've had a small walk in your shoes. We have the best military in the world. Obama has put it in a box. Let's take it out of the box and use it before we get attacked here. We don't need a draft, we need a commander in chief who knows what the hell they're doing. +p443 +aVAnd, I am that guy. +p444 +aVCan, can I... +p445 +aVThis is important. We're not fighting all the wars with our kids. If you've been to Iraq and Afghanistan and you made any friends, you've lots of bunch. Thousands have died in Iraq and Afghanistan fighting. +p446 +aVDon't belittle their sacrifice. +p447 +aVNo. +p448 +aVTo, to those the (well) times in the Army were a bigger problem than they are today. If you want to fix this, you get the Army to 500,000, not 420,000. You want to win this war, grow the Navy to 350 ships, not 275. Sequestration is Latin for doing really dumb things. We're going to have the smallest Navy since 1915, the smallest Army since 1940. I was yelling and screaming don't do sequestration. I was right. If I am President of the United States, Commander in Chief, we're going to rebuild our military without a draft... +p449 +aV...and we're going to go on the offense and they're ready to go. +p450 +aVThey are ready to go. They just need to be led. +p451 +aVWell I stand unique, having been a military lawyer for 33 years. I've been a defense attorney, a prosecutor, and a military judge. Mr. Trump, you don't have to speak about everything, that's not required. I would make sure that everybody had a fair trial. Does that make sense to you? We're at war folks and this stuff has to stop. It's bad for morale to hear somebody wanting to be Commander in Chief that would deny due process to somebody who's been charged in the military. For God's sakes Mr. Trump, you're asking to be the Commander in Chief , the leader of the free world, up your game. As to women, if you want to kill terrorists, I'm your guy. +p452 +aVWell, the first thing I would do is make adjustments to reality. I want to look and see if this was a terrorist arranged marriage between the couple in California. The fact that they met online accidentally is almost zero. So, no, I would have a time-out on Syrian refugees because you'd be crazy if you didn't after Paris. But, I've been to the refugee camps in Turkey, and Jordan. Trust me with your Christian \u2014 and I'm a lousy Christian saved by grace, but \u2014 this is important. We've got to stop this war. Do you realize that there are more Syrian refugees in Lebanon going to school than Lebanese children? Do you realize if this war goes for another year the King of Jordan could fall? Let's have a no-fly zone. +p453 +aVI would \u2014 make changes to that bill in light of what I know today. +p454 +aVThe next president is going to be a war-time president, whether they like it or not. I'm ready for that job. Two years ago isolationism led by Senator Paul and Cruz was white hot in our party. Now it is in retreat because events have proven me more right than wrong and has proven them to be wrong. In the first debate I called for American troops on the ground to protect our homeland. Nobody came forward. Now, most have. We've spent a lot of carnage to get them to where I have always been. Make me president, I will keep you and your family safe. +p455 +asVREGAN +p456 +(lp457 +VIn Tuesday's State of the Union Address, the president said that our economy is strong. He cited the significant decline we've seen in unemployment rate and the millions of jobs that have been created. What is your assessment of the economy right now? And I would like to hear from all of you on this one, beginning with Ms. Fiorina. +p458 +aVThank you Governor Huckabee. Senator Santorum? +p459 +aVThank you. Well, since we've been talking about the Middle East, Senator Santorum, conflicts between Saudi Arabia and Iran have certainly escalated, amid accusations that Saudi Arabia bombed the Iranian Embassy in Yemen after the Saudi Embassy in Tehran was attacked. As we confront an increasingly unstable Middle East, how will you, as president, navigate this administration's promises to Iran while standing by our historic allies in the region? +p460 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p461 +aVGovernor Huckabee, if I could just follow-up with that. Do we need to be in Afghanistan? +p462 +aVThank you Governor Huckabee. Ms. Fiorina, nearly 600 women say they were attacked in a German city on New Year's Eve by men of Arab or North African descent and 45 percent of those alleged attacks were sexual assaults. Twenty-two of those 32 men arrested so far are asylum-seekers. Are you worried about similar problems in the United States? +p463 +aVI want to stay with you on this. The world shares a common enemy right now in the way of +p464 +aVMs. Fiorina, thank you. +p465 +aVWelcome back, everyone, to the Republican presidential debate. On to the next round of questions \u2014 Sandra. +p466 +aVMs. Fiorina, the president has just issued an executive order to expand the gun laws and background checks. And none of you on stage agree with this. But recent polls show the majority of Americans are in favor of universal background checks. +p467 +aVIt's the poll data. +p468 +aVSo tell me......why, in your view, is the president's proposal a problem? +p469 +aVMs. Fiorina, you've said that was when you were CEO of HP, you actually worked with the government. +p470 +aV\u2014 to try and combat some of these terrorist threats. +p471 +aVWhat did you do? +p472 +aVMs. Fiorina, thank you. +p473 +aVGovernor Huckabee, an American in San Bernardino murdered 14 people while terrorists with Belgian and French passports murdered 130 people. Were facing a threat within our borders, and from outside the United States. Those European terrorists, they could have come here at any time given that we have a visa waiver program that enables people to travel back and forth. It exists within those countries, and 36 others. In countries around the world, including many in Europe, cannot ensure that their citizens are not jihadists, why are we waiving the visa requirement at all? +p474 +aVIf you get the visa waiver program, does that shut down international commerce? +p475 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p476 +aVSenator Santorum, thank you. +p477 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p478 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from North Charleston. We want to jump right back in. Sandra is kicking it off. +p479 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you know it used to be you could graduate from high school and get a pretty good job at the local factory, enough to take care of your family and yourself. Those days seem to be gone. It's pretty hard to do that nowadays. Businesses are increasingly turning to automation to increase their productivity levels. It's happening right here, in fact, at the Boeing factory in North Charleston. The president says automation threatens workers' ability to get higher wages. Do you agree with that? And if so, do you have a solution? +p480 +aVThank you very much, Governor Huckabee. Senator Santorum, 40% of babies born today are born to single moms. That's twice as high as reported back in 1980, and it's 11 times as high as in 1940. Studies show that children are always better off economically, most often \u2014 and emotionally, with two parents in a household. From a policy perspective, should the government be doing anything to encourage family formation? +p481 +aVThank you. +p482 +aVCarly Fiorina? +p483 +aVThank you to all the candidates. That does it, everyone for the first debate right here in North Charleston. +p484 +asVHEMMER +p485 +(lp486 +VSo, here we go. Ninety-seven hours before Iowa chooses, in fact the last two winners in this state are on this stage tonight. Governor Huckabee, in 2008, you won by nine points here, but this time your support seems to be going to Senator Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. Why, Governor, is your message not working this time? +p487 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Santorum, four short years ago you won Iowa. You beat Mitt Romney, pretty much shocked the country. But, just the other day you talked about what is in the greater good for your campaign. Is Monday night your last stand? +p488 +aVOK. +p489 +aV... Senator, do you want to name... ... Senator, do you want to name that entertainer your refering to? +p490 +aVBut senator, since you mentioned... +p491 +aVSenator, quickly then, after this debate, you mentioned Donald trump's name. Immediately, you're going to event across town here in Des Moines as a guest of Donald Trump. +p492 +aVSo are you laying the groundwork for maybe your future? Perhaps an endorsement of Mr. Trump? +p493 +aVThank you, senator. One moment. We'll get to you in a moment, Governor. We have a few coming up. +p494 +aVThank you. Governor Gilmore. As of one week ago, you have not held a single campaign event here in the state of Iowa. As of one week ago, in fact, you were the only one in the Republican field who had not made a campaign visit to this state. You know how it works here. You know how it's worked over time. Why should anyone caucus for you on Monday night? +p495 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p496 +aVMs. Fiorina, same topic. The president says that many are exaggerating the threat from +p497 +aVThank you. +p498 +aVGovernor Gilmore, some time this spring 34 more detainees are cleared from release from Gitmo. If you were president, as you say, this president wants to close it. As president, if Gitmo were closed and an enemy combatant were found or captured in the field of battle, perhaps Syria or Iraq or Libya, and you don't have Gitmo, where would you put them? +p499 +aVGovernor, thank you for that. +p500 +aVWelcome back to Des Moines on what will be a long night here. Let's get back to the questions. Let's get back to the questions with Martha. +p501 +aVLet me stay with you, Ms. Fiorina. You've said you will shrink the federal government by 30 percent over the next two years, and those jobs will not be filled, and you'll do it through retirement. Your critics would argue that's exactly what you did at Hewlett Packard when 30,000 people lost their jobs. If it did not work at H.P., why would it work at the federal government? +p502 +aVThank you. +p503 +aVGovernor Huckabee, Nikki Haley, Republican governor from South Carolina, recently said... +p504 +aVI did not, but we... +p505 +aVWe have plenty for you -- you bet, Governor. We have a couple more in the hopper for you in a moment here. +p506 +aVFirst, Governor -- Governor Huckabee, Nikki Haley warned about listening to "the siren call of the angriest voices," to which Donald Trump said he is "very, very angry." Who is right, Governor? +p507 +aVThank you, Governor. +p508 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you've mentioned the economy several times tonight. Let's go back to that for a moment because in America today 50% of the American workers are making less than $30,000 dollars a year. Let's talk about what you could do for them. The Conservative Club for Growth has had an issue with your policy on taxes for years. In fact, it called you, "Tax Hike Mike". And, the record shows state spending in Arkansas increased 54% when you were in charge, 94% if you include federal dollars during that same period. When it comes to helping people at the margins, $30,000, $32,000 dollars a year, what's better? A tax and spend approach, or shrinking government? +p509 +aVGovernor Huckabee, thank you. Same issue, Senator Santorum. The President says criticism of his economic policy is political hot air. You consistently talk about manufacturing jobs leaving America. You support a flat tax of 20%. How would a flat tax bring back two million jobs to America? +p510 +aVSenator, thank you. +p511 +aVThank you Ms. Fiorina. Governor Gilmore. Who are the moderate Muslims do you seek advice and counsel from on how to deal with the threat from radical Islamic terrorism? +p512 +aVThank you governor. Governor Huckabee. Here in Iowa 43 percent of Democratic caucus goers describe themselves as socialist. That's a higher number than those who say they are capitalist. I guess you could say, they're feeling the burn. This is a country rooted in capitalism, the United States of America. How did we get here? +p513 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum, the president says politics in America have become meaner over the past several years with him in the White House. Two weeks ago at the State of the Union he said the following. "A president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide." Lincoln and Roosevelt, that's pretty good company. If he is right, do Republicans share some of the blame? +p514 +aVThank you, Senator. +p515 +aVIn the closing few moments, the candidates have an opportunity to make a closing statement, 30 seconds for each. And, we want to start tonight with the former Virginia Governor, Jim Gilmore. +p516 +aV... Thank you, Governor. +p517 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p518 +aVThank you, Governor. +p519 +aVThat concludes our debate tonight, but the night has just begun. +p520 +asVBAIER +p521 +(lp522 +VLess than a year from now, in this very arena, one of these 10 candidates or one of the seven on the previous debate tonight will accept the Republican party's nomination. Tonight's candidates were selected based on an average of five national polls. Just a few hours ago, you heard from the candidates ranked 11th through 17. And now, the prime-time event, the top 10. +p523 +aVNeurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Florida Senator Marco Rubio. +p524 +aVIt might be. It might be. We'll see. [ +p525 +aVIt might be. The rules for tonight are simple. One minute for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups. And if a candidate runs over, you'll hear this. Pleasant, no? We also have a big crowd here with us tonight in the home of the Cavaliers, as I mentioned. And while we expect them... ... we expect them to be enthusiastic, as you heard, we don't want to take anything away from the valuable time for the candidate. So, we're looking for somewhere between a reaction to a LeBron James dunk and the Cleveland Public Library across the street. Somewhere there, we'll find a balance tonight. Without further ado, let's begin. +p526 +aVGentlemen, we know how much you love hand-raising questions. So we promise, this is the only one tonight: the only one. Is there anyone on stage, and can I see hands, who is unwilling tonight to pledge your support to the eventual nominee of the Republican party and pledge to not run an independent campaign against that person. Again, we're looking for you to raise your hand now -- raise your hand now if you won't make that pledge tonight. Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump to be clear, you're standing on a Republican primary debate stage. +p527 +aVThe place where the RNC will give the nominee the nod. +p528 +aVAnd that experts say an independent run would almost certainly hand the race over to Democrats and likely another Clinton. You can't say tonight that you can make that pledge? +p529 +aVSo tonight, you can't say if another one of these... +p530 +aVOK. +p531 +aVDr. Paul. +p532 +aVOK. +p533 +aVJust to be clear, you can't make a -- we're gonna -- we're going to move on. You're not gonna make the pledge tonight? +p534 +aVOK. Alright. +p535 +aVGovernor Bush, you have insisted that you're your own man. You say you have a life experience uniquely your own. Not your father's, not your brother's. But there are several opponents on this stage who get big- applause lines in early voting states with this line: quote, "the last thing the country needs is another Bush in the Oval Office." So do you understand the real concern in this country about dynastic politics? +p536 +aVGovernor Christie, you're not exactly the darling of conservatives. You tout your record as a Republican governor in a blue state. On Facebook, the most people talking about you, not surprisingly, come from your state of New Jersey, and one of the top issues they are talking about is the economy. This -- this may be why. Under your watch, New Jersey has undergone nine credit rating downgrades. The state's 44th in private sector growth. You face an employee pension crisis and the Garden State has the third highest foreclosure rate in the country. So why should voters believe that your management of the country's finances would be any different? +p537 +aVSenator Paul, you recently blamed the rise of +p538 +aVGentlemen, the next series of questions deals with ObamaCare and the role of the federal government. Mr. Trump, ObamaCare is one of the things you call a disaster. +p539 +aVSaying it needs to be repealed and replaced. +p540 +aVNow, 15 years ago, you called yourself a liberal on health care. You were for a single-payer system, a Canadian-style system. Why were you for that then and why aren't you for it now? +p541 +aVBut on ObamaCare... +p542 +aVMr. Trump, hold up one second. +p543 +aVAll right, now, hold on, Senator Paul... +p544 +aVOK. +p545 +aVAll right, let me... Mr. Trump, it's not just your past support for single- payer health care. You've also supported a host of other liberal policies. Use -- you've also donated to several Democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton included, Nancy Pelosi. You explained away those donations saying you did that to get business-related favors. And you said recently, quote, "When you give, they do whatever the hell you want them to do." +p546 +aVSo what specifically did... +p547 +aV-- they do? +p548 +aVHold on. We're going to -- we're going to move on. We'll come back to you, Governor Walker. +p549 +aVWe have many questions to come. +p550 +aVMany questions to come. Governor Huckabee, on Facebook, John Pietricone asked this, "Will you abolish or take away the powers and cut the size of the EPA, the IRS, the Department of Education?" Now, broadly... ...broadly, the size of government is a big concern for Facebook users, Facebook persons, as well as, obviously, conservatives. But year after year, decade after decade, there are promises from Republicans to shrink government. But year after year, decade after decade, it doesn't happen. In fact, it gets bigger, even under Republican politicians. So the question is, at this point, is the government simply too big for any one person, even a Republican, to shrink? +p551 +aVDr. Carson... +p552 +aVDr. Carson, do you agree with that? +p553 +aVGovernor Bush? +p554 +aVWe're going to come back to you, Dr. Carson. Governor Bush, you are one of the few people on the stage who advocates for Common Core education standards, reading and math. A lot of people on this stage vigorously oppose a federal involvement in education. They say it should all be handled locally. President Obama's secretary of education, Arnie Duncan, has said that most of the criticism of Common Core is due to a, quote, "fringe group of critics." Do you think that's accurate? +p555 +aVSenator Rubio, why is Governor Bush wrong on Common Core? +p556 +aVAnd do you agree with your old friend? +p557 +aVWe have many more questions coming on a host of topics, here from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Stay with us. +p558 +aVWe have many more questions coming on a host of topics. Here from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Stay with us. +p559 +aVGentlemen, another question for a few of you. Yesterday, just yesterday, President Obama criticized Republican lawmakers trying to block the Iran deal, calling them knee-jerk partisans, adding that hardliners in Iran who chant "death to America" were, quote, "making common cause with the Republican caucus." Here's what two of your opponents on the 5 p.m. debate stage said about Iran. +p560 +aVNow, I wanna ask a few of you this. First, Governor Walker. You've said that you would tear up the Iran deal on day one. If this deal is undone, what then? +p561 +aVSenator Paul, would you tear up the deal on day one? +p562 +aVGovernor Huckabee, what do you think about what Senator Paul just said? +p563 +aVThank you, gentlemen. +p564 +aVWelcome back to Cleveland. Our next topic is foreign policy. Candidates, you may not have seen the late developing news today our Fox Pentagon team broke earlier this evening about a top Iranian general traveling to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. His name is General Qassem Soleimani, he's blamed for hundreds of U.S. troop's deaths in Iraq, and Afghanistan. His trip to Russia appears to directly violate U.N. Security Council resolutions to confine him to Iran. So, Mr. Trump, if you were president, how would you respond to this? +p565 +aVAnother new development today, Senior Defense officials tell Fox they strongly suspect Russia was behind the cyber attack on the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs office... +p566 +aV...email. This comes in the wake of the Director of National Intelligence blaming the Chinese for the largest ever cyber attack, stealing personal data of tens of millions of Americans. Senator Cruz, in your view, have Russia and China committed acts of cyber war, and if you were president, what would you do about it? +p567 +aVDr. Carson, in August of 2012 President Obama famously declared Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons, quote, "that's a redline for us," and that there would be enormous consequences. One year later, with overwhelming evidence the Assad had, in fact, used chemical weapons and crossed that red line, President Obama declined to use military force against the Assad regime. As president, would you have used military force there? +p568 +aVGovernor Walker, as president, what would you do if Russian President Vladimir Putin started a campaign to destabilize +p569 +aVGovernor -- Governor Huckabee, the culture of the American military is definitely changing. Women are moving into combat roles. Don't Ask, Don't Tell has obviously been dropped. And now Defense Secretary Ashton Carter recently directed the military to prepare for a moment when it is welcoming transgender persons to serve openly. As commander in chief, how would you handle that? +p570 +aVSenator Paul, the first budget you proposed as senator cut all financial aid to Israel. You have since changed your view on that issue. What made you change your mind. +p571 +aVOK. But you still say that Israel could be one of the countries that is cut from financial aid? +p572 +aVGovernor Christie, what do you think of that answer? +p573 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p574 +aVSenator, we're going to finish up with some more questions, thank you. +p575 +aVNow each candidate will make a closing statement. You'll all have 30 seconds to make a closing statement for this debate. We'll start with Ohio Governor John Kasich. +p576 +aVSenator Marco Rubio. +p577 +aVThank you, Senator. +p578 +aVGovernor Mike Huckabee, closing statement. +p579 +aVMr. Trump, closing statement, sir. +p580 +aVGentlemen, thank you. +p581 +aVThat's it. +p582 +asVMADDOW +p583 +(lp584 +VWe are super excited to be here at the University of New Hampshire. Tonight, this is the first time that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have squared off exactly like this. Face-to-face, just one-on-one, just the two of them. +p585 +aVAnd we do hope that the candidates will take this opportunity to show us the distinctions\u2014show us the differences between them. That's the whole reason that we're here tonight. We're not here for talking points. We're to learn about the difference between the candidates. And with that, let's get going. Please join us in welcoming Secretary Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders. +p586 +aVAnd with that, that's it. We're going to begin with 60- second opening statements from each of the candidates. And as agreed to in advance by the two campaigns, we're going to begin tonight with Senator Sanders. +p587 +aVSecretary Clinton, Senator Sanders is campaigning against you now, at this point in the campaign, basically arguing that you are not progressive enough to be the Democratic nominee. He has said that if you voted for the Iraq war, if you are in favor of the death penalty, if you wobbled on things like the Keystone Pipeline or TPP, if you said single payer health care could never happen, then you're too far to the right of the Democratic Party to be the party's standard bearer. Given those policy positions, why should liberal Democrats support you and not Senator Sanders? +p588 +aVSenator Sanders, have you established a list of what it means to be a progressive that is unrealistic? +p589 +aVThank you Senator. +p590 +aVSenator Sanders, as a Vermonter, you have almost a home state advantage here in New Hampshire. But back home across the border, you also have a long history of running against Democrats as a third-party candidate, for governor, Senate, for Congress. In 1988 your candidacy as a third-party candidate arguably cost the Democrats a congressional seat and sent a Republican instead. How can you lead the Democratic Party nationally when you have not been a member of the Democratic Party until very recently? +p591 +aVSecretary Clinton. +p592 +aVSo, Senator, to that point, Secretary Clinton is raising the issue of endorsements by your home state Democrats. She's implying that that says something about the people who know you best. +p593 +aVHow do you see it? +p594 +aVSecretary. +p595 +aVSenator Sanders, you'll have 30 seconds to respond to that. +p596 +aVSenator Sanders, Secretary Clinton, obviously we've touched a nerve. We're going to be back with more on this subject, and much more, right after this. Stay with us. +p597 +aVSecretary Clinton, on the issue of Wall Street... +p598 +aV... on the issue of Wall Street, when our reporters go out and talk to people on the ground in the early states, what they tell us over and over again when they find voters who are leaning toward Senator Sanders rather than yourself is that the most frequent area of concern that they hear from those voters is the issue of Wall Street and whether or not you are too close to Wall Street. Last night, when you were asked about speaking fees and the amount of speaking fees you got from Goldman Sachs speeches, you said that's what they offered. Have you been too dismissive of voters' concerns about this issue in your own campaign and your own career? +p599 +aVSenator Sanders, you have been a critic of Secretary Clinton taking those speaking fees and having donations from Wall Street. What about her defense of her record? +p600 +aVSenator Sanders, let me turn to, I think, where this direction is heading anyway, which is the broader issue of big business and power in our political system. You on the campaign trail have railed against big name American corporations like Boeing, and General Electric, and Wal Mart. But, some big businesses in this country have also been part of advancing progressive goals like that nationwide initiative to expand employment opportunities for veterans. That was all about cooperation between the Obama administration and some very big business. The Affordable Care Act, some of the thorniest problems in that bill were worked out in cooperation with big business in order to accomplish progressive goals. Could you work with them, or have you made enemies of big business in this country with the way you've approached them in this campaign? +p601 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. And with that, we're going to take a break. +p602 +aVWelcome back\u2014welcome back to the Democratic candidates' debate. We're going to be talking about America in the world, both in terms of some trade issues, but also national security. And Secretary Clinton, we're going to start with you. There are more than 4,000 American troops back in Iraq right now as part of the fight against +p603 +aVTo be clear, to the specific question, if that strategic goal that you're describing requires considerably more of Americans\u2014an ever-increasing number of Americans in Iraq and maybe in Syria, are you OK with the numbers increasing? +p604 +aVThank you, Madam Secretary. +p605 +aVSecretary Clinton, at the\u2014at the last Democratic debate in Charleston\u2014I want to get specific here\u2014Senator Sanders called for moving as aggressively as we can to normalize relations with Iran. Your campaign has criticized him for saying that. Now that he's standing next to you here on this stage, can you explain why the U.S. shouldn't try to normalize relations in Iran in your view? +p606 +aVSecretary Clinton, I want to ask you about a national security issue that is closer to home. There are thousands of veterans, over 100,000 veterans living in the state of New Hampshire. If either one of you is nominated as the Democratic Party's nominee, you will likely face a Republican opponent in the general election who wants to privatize or even abolish big parts of the V.A. It's a newly popular idea in conservative politics. How will you win the argument on that issue given the problems that have been exposed at the V.A. in the last few years? What's your argument that the V.A. should still exist and should not be privatized? +p607 +aVSenator Sanders, you, as a congressional leader on veterans issues and the Veterans Committee, you've worked in a very bipartisan way with Senator John McCain and others on veterans issues. Is the right contour of the fight, the way she's talking about this issue? +p608 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Sanders, Secretary Clinton, we're going to take another break. We'll be talking about Social Security and some of those other issues when we come back. +p609 +aVSenator\u2014Senator Sanders, in 1964... +p610 +aVIn 1964, I heard that the Republicans nominated Barry Goldwater, who was the hero of the conservative movement. He was, however, far to the right of most of that party. In 1972, the Democrats nominated George McGovern, who was a hero of liberals in the antiwar movement, but he was to the left of his party's mainstream. Both of those nominees made activists very excited, and they both got destroyed in the general election. Even Democrats who love you worry about your fate in a general election. And I know you have good head-to-head polling numbers against Republican frontrunners right now. We know that. But do you have a general election strategy that is different than the way you're running right now to try to get the nomination? +p611 +aVSecretary Clinton, your campaign surrogates, and people who have endorsed you, have suggested that or even said that if Senator Sanders is the nominee, that Democrats will suffer nationwide and the chances will go down of Democrats holding onto the White House. With him here standing next to you, can you tell us whether or not you believe he would win the general election if he were nominated? +p612 +aVSenator Sanders, thank you. Senator, in December, one of your campaign staffers was fired from your campaign for taking voter data essentially from the Clinton campaign. You apologized for that when the incident was made public. Your campaign has now been criticized for its operatives essentially impersonating culinary union members wearing union pins in Nevada, and the Nashua Telegraph has complained recently that you falsely implied in an advertisement that they had endorsed you when they did not. None of these issues obviously is the end of the world, but they all are of a piece. Are you in some sense losing control of your campaign? +p613 +aVJust to follow up on that, the title of the ad in question was Endorsement. +p614 +aVSecretary Clinton, do you want 30 seconds on that issue? +p615 +aVAnd with that, we will . +p616 +aVWelcome back to the University of New Hampshire, and the Democratic candidates' debate. Secretary Clinton, on the issue of the death penalty, here in New Hampshire, the one person who is on death row is there for killing a police officer. It's a crime that has caused anguish in this state, both among death penalty opponents and death penalty supporters. The last time I had the chance to talk with you on this issue, on the death penalty, you said that capital punishment has a place in a very few federal cases, but you also said you would breathe a sigh of relief if the Supreme Court abolished the death penalty nationwide. Tonight, do you still support capital punishment, even if you do so reluctantly? +p617 +aVSenator Sanders, you have singled out the death penalty, and Senator Clinton's support for the death penalty, as an issue that makes it hard to consider as progressive in your mind... +p618 +aVAnother issue related to the proper role of government, and in this case, specifically the role of government between the federal government and the states. I want to talk for a moment about the issue of Flint, Michigan. On the Flint lead poisoning disaster, you have both been highly critical of Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan, and how the state in Michigan both caused the lead poisoning problem, and has not acted fast enough to fix it. You have both been outspoken on that. The fact is that Michigan though has not fixed it. There is no door to door delivery of clean water in Flint even today. Not a single lead pipe has been replaced in Flint, even today. If the state is failing, would you, Secretary Clinton, would you as President order a federal response to get it right over and above the wishes of the state? +p619 +aVSenator Sanders are there things the President could be doing? President Obama could be ordering, done, right now, in Flint, Michigan that are not being done that you as President would do? +p620 +aVSenator, thank you. +p621 +aVThe home stretch. +p622 +aVSecretary Clinton, Republicans, particularly in campaign years, often talk about which departments of government\u2014which agencies of government they would get rid of if they were elected president. The EPA, the Department of Education, the Commerce Department, oops\u2014is\u2014is there a department of government that you would get rid of? Or is there a whole new one that you would create? +p623 +aVThank you, Secretary Clinton. +p624 +aVThank you very much. Thank you. +p625 +aVWe also want to thank our host, the University of New Hampshire, and the people of New Hampshire. You guys get to vote in just five days. I can't wait to see how it turns out. Don't screw up. +p626 +asVTAPPER +p627 +(lp628 +VI'm Jake Tapper. We're live at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California for the main event. Round 2 of CNN's presidential debate starts now. The eleven leading Republican candidates for president are at their podiums. They are ready to face off, and if you've been watching this race, you know anything could happen over the next few hours. To viewers who are just joining us, welcome to the Air Force One Pavilion of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Our thanks to the staff here and especially to former first lady Nancy Reagan for this impressive setting with Ronald Reagan's presidential plane as our backdrop. This debate is airing on CNN networks in the United States and around the world. It's also being broadcast on the Salem Radio Network. I know everyone is very eager to get started. But first, I want to explain the ground rules tonight. My name is Jake Tapper. I'll be the moderator. I will be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt. He worked in the Reagan administration for six years. And by CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. I will ask follow-up questions, I will attempt to guide the discussion. Candidates, I will try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have one minute to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you've been singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. These 11 Republicans are positioned on the stage based on their ranking in recent national polls. Our goal for this evening is a debate. A true debate, with candidates addressing each other in areas where they differ. Where they disagree \u2014 on policy, on politics, on leadership. Now, let's begin. I'd like to invite each candidate to take 30 seconds to introduce him or herself to our audience. First to you, Senator Paul. +p629 +aVSenator Cruz? +p630 +aVThank you one and all for being here. There are many important policy issues facing our nation. We're going to get to many of them tonight, but I do want to start off with some current events in the news, and also some of the comments the candidates have recently made on the campaign trail. Mrs. Fiorina, I want to start with you. Fellow Republican candidate, and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, has suggested that your party's frontrunner, Mr. Donald Trump, would be dangerous as President. He said he wouldn't want, quote, "such a hot head with his finger on the nuclear codes." You, as well, have raised concerns about Mr. Trump's temperament. You've dismissed him as an entertainer. Would you feel comfortable with Donald trump's finger on the nuclear codes? +p631 +aVYou didn't answer my question. Would you feel comfortable with Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear codes? It's an issue that one of your fellow candidates has raised. +p632 +aVMr. Trump? +p633 +aVMr. \u2014 Senator Paul, your name has been invoked. +p634 +aVMr. Trump? +p635 +aVI want to \u2014 I want to give Mr. Trump... +p636 +aV... Mr. Trump, I want to give you another chance \u2014 Mr. Trump, I want to give you a chance to respond to something that your rival to your left, Governor Bush, said. Governor Bush told me last week when I read him the quote from Governor Jindal that he agrees you're not a serious candidate. Tell Governor Bush why you are a serious candidate and what your qualifications are to be commander-in-chief. +p637 +aVGovernor Bush, would you feel comfortable with Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear codes? +p638 +aVGovernor Walker? +p639 +aVLet's move on. +p640 +aVA phenomenon going on in the race right now is the political... OK, Governor Kasich, go ahead. +p641 +aVWe have a lot of issues coming up, sir. +p642 +aVWe are getting to the issues, sir. Phenomenon going on in the race is the political outsiders in the race, Dr. Carson, Donald Trump, Carly Fiorina, all together, have majority support in the polls. Governor Christie, I want to ask you about something that Dr. Carson said the other day. Dr. Carson said campaigning is easier for him, because he's not a politician. He can just tell the truth, therefore, while politicians, quote, "Have their finger in the air to see and do what is politically expedient." Governor Christie, tell Dr. Carson, is that a fair description of you? +p643 +aVWell, let's find out. Thank you. +p644 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. Dr. Carson, who were you thinking about on this stage when you said that? +p645 +aVAnd more broadly, is experience in government not important for a president to have? +p646 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p647 +aVThank you. +p648 +aVThank you. Thank you Ms. Fiorina. Governor Bush, in addition to the fact that he's an outsider, one of the reasons Mr. Trump is a frontrunner, Republican voters say, is because they like the fact that he is not bought and paid for by wealthy donors. Mr. Trump has repeatedly said that the $100 million you've raised for your campaign makes you a puppet for your donors. Are you? +p649 +aVIs there anything else you want to say about this? +p650 +aVGovernor \u2014 +p651 +aVSure Dr. Carson. +p652 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Let's move to Russia if we could. Russia is sending troops and tanks into Syria right now to prop up a U.S. enemy, Bashar al-Assad. President Obama's incoming top general says, quote, "Russia presents the greatest threat to our national security." Mr. Trump, you say you can do business with President Vladimir Putin, you say you will get along, quote, "very well." What would you do right now if you were president, to get the Russians out of Syria? +p653 +aVSo, you \u2014 just to clarify, the only answer I heard to the question I asked is that you would \u2014 you would reach out to Vladimir Putin, and you would do what? You would... +p654 +aVSenator Rubio, you've taken a very different approach to the \u2014 the question of Russia. You've called Vladimir Putin a, quote, "gangster." Why would President Rubio's approach be more effective than President Trump's? +p655 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. +p656 +aVI want to bring in Carly Fiorina. +p657 +aVMs. Fiorina, you have met... +p658 +aV...yeah, you've met Vladimir Putin. Yes. +p659 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p660 +aVThank you. +p661 +aVThank you. Thank you, Ms. Fiorina. While you're \u2014 while you brought up the subject of General Suleimani of the Quds forces from Iran, the next president, no matter who he or she may be, will inherit President Obama's Iran deal. Senator Cruz, Governor Kasich says that anyone who is promising to rip up the Iran deal on day one, as you have promised to do, is, quote, "inexperienced," and, quote, "playing to a crowd." Respond to Governor Kasich, please. +p662 +aVWhy is that not, as Governor Kasich says, playing to the crowd and an example of you being inexperienced? +p663 +aVGovernor Kasich... +p664 +aV...Did Senator Cruz just play to the crowd? +p665 +aV...Thank you, Governor. I want to go to Senator Paul. +p666 +aVI want to go to Senator Paul. Senator Paul, the White House is rolling out the red carpet next week for the President of China, President Xi. Governor Walker says that President Obama should cancel the state dinner because of China's currency manipulation, and because of China's alleged cyber attacks against the United States. Is Governor Walker right? +p667 +aVGovernor Walker, Senator Paul seemed to suggest... +p668 +aV...that canceling the state dinner would be rash, and reckless. +p669 +aV...Governor Bush... +p670 +aVGovernor Bush, your father was the chief diplomatic envoy to China back when Nixon opened relations to China. Is Scott Walker's approach the right one, canceling the state dinner? +p671 +aVI want to turn... +p672 +aV...I want to turn to Governor Huckabee who has been very patient. Somebody had to be 11th, and he is, but, I do want to change the subject to the event that you had... +p673 +aV... however you want, but I want to ask this question. +p674 +aVAll right, sir, go ahead. +p675 +aVOK. ( +p676 +aVWe're going to turn now to Hugh Hewitt, from Salem Radio Network. +p677 +aVThank you, Senator Paul. I want to turn now to my colleague Dana Bash. +p678 +aVThat would be fair, you're right. You're the third senator. +p679 +aVWe're going to go to Dana Bash... +p680 +aVSenator Cruz? +p681 +aVThank you, Senator. +p682 +aVThank you, Senator. +p683 +aVThank you, Senator. I want to... +p684 +aV... turn back to Governor Huckabee... +p685 +aVI want to turn back to Governor Huckabee. Governor Huckabee, last week, you held a rally for a county clerk in Kentucky who was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, as I don't need to tell you. You've called what happened to Kim Davis, that clerk, "an example of the criminalization of Christianity." There are several people on the stage who disagree with you. Governor Bush, for example, says that that clerk is sworn to uphold the law. Is Governor Bush on the wrong side of the criminalization of Christianity? +p686 +aVThank you, Governor. +p687 +aVWell, I'm not telling you that, Governor. But Governor Bush is, because he \u2014 because he disagrees. He thinks that Kim Davis swore to uphold the law. You disagree? You're not \u2014 you don't... +p688 +aVOK. Please do. +p689 +aVYou did... +p690 +aVGovernor, you said, quote, "she is sworn to uphold the law." +p691 +aVLet me go to my colleague Dana Bash, who has a question. +p692 +aVDana, I want to continue on the subject. Governor Bush, you recently said while discussing Planned Parenthood, quote, you're "not sure we need a half billion for women's health issues." Now you've since said that you misspoke, you didn't mean to say "women's health issues." But Donald Trump said that quote, that comment, which Hillary Clinton did seize upon immediately, will haunt you the same way Mitt Romney's 47 percent video haunted him. Tell Donald Trump why he's wrong. +p693 +aVThank you, Governor Bush. Donald Trump, let me just... +p694 +aVThe quote was, "I'm not sure we need half a billion dollars for women's health issues." He said he misspoke. You said that that's going to haunt him. Why do you think that? +p695 +aVGovernor Bush? +p696 +aVI want to \u2014 we're going to get to \u2014 +p697 +aVThank you, Governor. +p698 +aVThank you, Governor. +p699 +aVWe're going to \u2014 we're going to get to many of these issues. This \u2014 we're still in the first block, believe it or not. We're going to get to many of these issues, but before we end this block, Ms. Fiorina, I do want to ask you about this. In an interview last week in Rolling Stone magazine, Donald Trump said the following about you. Quote, "Look at that face. Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?" Mr. Trump later said he was talking about your persona, not your appearance. Please feel free to respond what you think about his persona. +p700 +aVAll right. On that note, in less than two minutes \u2014 we're going to take a very quick break. In less than two minutes, the most contentious issue on the campaign trail. And the candidates on the stage are split over how to handle it. That's coming up next. Please give some applause to the candidates. +p701 +aVWelcome to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate. No topic perhaps has been more combustible in this campaign than the issue of immigration. Mr. Trump, you have called for deporting every undocumented immigrant, Governor Christie has said, quote, "There are not enough law enforcement officers \u2014 local, county, state and federal combined \u2014 to forcibly deport 11 to 12 million people." Tell Governor Christie how much your plan will cost, and how you will get it done. +p702 +aVGovernor Christie, you and I have talked about this in an interview. You say that his big wall, his plan to deport 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants, it sounds great, but it's never going to happen. Tell him why you're skeptical of his plans? +p703 +aVThank you, Governor Christie... +p704 +aVI want to bring in Dr. Carson because he too has been skeptical of your plan to immediately deport 11 to 12 million illegal immigrants. He said, quote, "People who say that have no idea what this entails." Why do you say that, Dr. Carson? +p705 +aV...Dr. Carson... +p706 +aVWith all due respect, you said about Donald Trump's plan to deport 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants, "People who say that have no idea what this entails." Why not? +p707 +aV...let's continue the conversation about illegal immigration with Dana Bash. +p708 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Senator Cruz \u2014 Senator Cruz, this week, we learned more about Dr. Carson's plan for the 11 million to 12 million undocumented immigrants in this country. Dr. Carson proposed giving these undocumented immigrants a six- month grace period to pay back taxes then to let them become guest workers and only to deport people who failed to do that. +p709 +aVWell, how would you say it, sir? I was just reading the Wall Street Journal quote, but please tell us. +p710 +aVOK, from the horse's mouth, Senator Cruz, does that fit your definition of amnesty? +p711 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Rubio... +p712 +aV... I'm not sure... +p713 +aVWe'll come back to you \u2014 we'll come back to you in one second, sir. But Senator Rubio, I'm not sure exactly whose plan he's \u2014 he's saying is \u2014 constitutes amnesty, but I know he has said it about your plan in the past, so I want to give you a chance to respond, then, Dr. Carson, we'll come to you. +p714 +aVThank you, Senator. +p715 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator \u2014 Dr. Carson... ... I want to give you 30 seconds. I'd like you to answer the question. Senator Cruz describes plans such as yours as amnesty. Why is your plan not amnesty? +p716 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. I want to talk about the issue of birthright citizenship, which \u2014 which has emerged since the first debate as \u2014 as an a \u2014 a major issue in this campaign. Mr. Trump, you say that babies born in the United States to undocumented immigrants should not any longer get automatic American citizenship. Ms. Fiorina says that you are pandering on this issue and acting like the politicians that you rail against. What's your message to Ms. Fiorina on birthright citizenship? +p717 +aVMs. Fiorina, the vast majority of countries do not have birthright citizenship... ...Donald Trump is right about that. Why is it pandering when he's \u2014 he says this? +p718 +aVMs. Fiorina... +p719 +aVPlease. +p720 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p721 +aVThank you. +p722 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Mr. Trump, I want to give you the chance to respond... +p723 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. Senator Paul... +p724 +aVSenator Paul, I want to bring you in. Where \u2014 where do you stand on the issue of birthright citizenship? +p725 +aVAll right. Senator Paul, thank you so much. Let's turn to a new topic. We've received a lot of questions on social media about the economy and about jobs. We have two CEOs on stage right now. Ms. Fiorina, you were CEO of Hewlett Packard. Donald Trump says you, quote, "ran HP into the ground," you laid off tens of thousands of people, you got viciously fired. For voters looking to somebody with private-sector experience to create American jobs, why should they pick you and not Donald Trump? +p726 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p727 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p728 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 Mr. Trump, why would you be better at creating jobs than Carly Fiorina? +p729 +aVMs. Fiorina, I want to give you a chance to respond. +p730 +aVMr. Trump. +p731 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. +p732 +aVGovernor Christie's name has been invoked. I'd like to give him a 30 second opportunity. +p733 +aVMs. Fiorina, I want to give you +p734 +aVGovernor Kasich, I'm coming to you next, but Ms. Fiorina's name was mentioned, and I have to give her the opportunity to respond if she wants it. +p735 +aVThank you. +p736 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Kasich, I want to come \u2014 I'm coming to you. I'm coming to you. Let me ask the question. You can use the time however you want. +p737 +aVDonald Trump says that the hedge fund guys are getting away with murder by paying a lower tax rate. He wants to raise the taxes of hedge fund managers, as does Governor Bush. Do you agree? +p738 +aVThank you, Governor. +p739 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. +p740 +aVGovernor Huckabee, I want to bring you in on the question of hedge fund managers and taxing them. You have said that you are bothered by the fact that hedge fund managers pay such a low tax rate and make 2,500 times what people who work for them make. Do you agree with what Donald Trump and Governor Bush have proposed, raising their tax rates? +p741 +aVThank you, Governor. Dr. Carson, you support scrapping the entire tax code and replacing it with a flat tax based on the principal on tithing from the Bible. If you make $10 billion, you pay $1 billion in taxes, if you make $10, you pay $1 in taxes. Donald Trump believes in progressive taxation. He says it's not right that rich people pay the same as the poor. Tell Donald Trump why his ideas on taxes are wrong. +p742 +aVMr. Trump... +p743 +aV...What do you think of the flat tax? Do you think it's fair? +p744 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. Senator Paul? +p745 +aVGovernor Walker, I want to go to you. Dr. Carson wants to raise the Federal Minimum Wage, you have called it a lame idea. Why is raising the Federal Minimum Wage lame? +p746 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p747 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p748 +aVDr. Carson, Governor Walker didn't really answer the question, but I'll let you respond. He called raising the Federal Minimum Wage lame, what do you think of that? +p749 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson... +p750 +aVLet me bring in our partner from Salem Radio Network, Hugh Hewitt. +p751 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate. Let's turn to some issues now in foreign policy. Mr. Trump, Senator Rubio said it was, quote, "very concerning to him" that in a recent interview you didn't seem to know the details about some of the enemies the U.S. faces. Rubio said, if you don't know the answers to those questions, you will not be able to serve as commander-in-chief. Please respond to Senator Rubio. +p752 +aVSenator Rubio? +p753 +aVMr. Trump? Senator Rubio seemed to be suggesting that you don't know information that... +p754 +aVAll right. Senator Rubio. +p755 +aVBut are you saying that you have the knowledge to be the president that Mr. Trump does not have? +p756 +aVMr. Trump? +p757 +aVSenator Rubio, he did invoke your absentee record in the Senate. +p758 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. I want to turn now to Hugh Hewitt. +p759 +aVThank you, Governor. +p760 +aVSenator... +p761 +aVSenator Paul? +p762 +aVSenator Paul... +p763 +aVThank you, Senator Paul... +p764 +aVThank you, Senator Paul... +p765 +aVI understand that Governor Bush's name has been invoked, and then we can go to you, Senator Rubio. +p766 +aVThank you, Governor. +p767 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Rubio? +p768 +aVThank you, Senator. +p769 +aVDr. Carson? +p770 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p771 +aVI mean, it is interesting that you say that, because I want to ask Governor Christie about something else that you have said. Governor Christie, we just marked the 14th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Now Dr. Carson has said that if he had been president at the time, the United States would not have gone to war in Afghanistan. What does that say to you about how Dr. Carson would respond as president if America were attacked again? +p772 +aVDr. Carson? +p773 +aV... Governor Christie. +p774 +aVDr. Carson? +p775 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p776 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p777 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee. +p778 +aVThank you, Governor. +p779 +aVThank you, governor, I want to turn to +p780 +aVGovernor Walker, there is a big debate now, we have been talking about +p781 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Paul, I want to go to you, because you have said that the boots on the ground to fight +p782 +aVThank you, Senator. We're going to turn to some domestic issues now. I want to bring in my colleague, Dana Bash. +p783 +aVSure.... +p784 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p785 +aV...Thank you, Governor. Dana Bash... +p786 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina... +p787 +aV...Thank you, we're going to turn now to domestic issues with Dana Bash. +p788 +aV...Dana Bash... +p789 +aVThank you. Dana Bash? +p790 +aVThank you, Senator. +p791 +aV...Governor Bush... +p792 +aV...I want to let you respond. +p793 +aVThank you, Governor... ...And, that's what we should do, and I hope I'll be working members of the United States Senate to fight hard for the passage of people that have that kind of qualification. +p794 +aVSenator Cruz, 30 seconds. +p795 +aVThank you, Senator. +p796 +aVThank you, Semator. +p797 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee, I want to bring you in very quickly if you could. Will you have a litmus test when it comes to appointing Supreme Court nominees? +p798 +aVThank you, Governor. +p799 +aVThank you, Governor. +p800 +aVThank you, Governor. We're going to take a quick break. Coming up, one of the hottest questions that you have been asking us via social media. We will pose it to the candidates. That's coming up right after this. +p801 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican presidential debate at the Reagan Library here in Simi Valley \u2014 Simi Valley, California. Many people on social media wanted us to ask about marijuana legalization. Senator Paul, Governor Christie recently said, quote, "if you're getting high in Colorado today," where marijuana has been legalized, "enjoy it until January 2017, because I will enforce the federal laws against marijuana." Will you? +p802 +aVI want to give that \u2014 I want to give the person that you called a hypocrite an opportunity to respond. Do you want to identify that person? +p803 +aVIs there somebody you were specifically thinking of? +p804 +aVThat's what I though, but I wanted to say it. +p805 +aVOK. +p806 +aVGovernor Bush, please. +p807 +aVI want to go right now \u2014 I want to go right now... +p808 +aVThat's true. Go ahead, Christie, please. +p809 +aVYou may respond, and then I'll bring in you, Ms. Fiorina. +p810 +aVYes, Senator Paul. +p811 +aVI want to bring in Ms. Fiorina \u2014 I want to bring in Ms. Fiorina on this issue. +p812 +aVHugh \u2014 Hugh, I'd like to... +p813 +aVI'd like to turn it over \u2014 I'd like to turn to Dana Bush. +p814 +aVThank you, Governor. +p815 +aVI'm coming to you right now on a separate issue, sir. We received... ( +p816 +aVWe received a lot of questions from social media about climate change. Senator Rubio, Ronald Reagan's secretary of state, George Shultz, reminds us that when Reagan was president he faced a similar situation to the one that we're facing now. There were dire warnings from the mass consensus of the scientific community about the ozone layer shrinking. Shultz says Ronald Reagan urged skeptics in industry to come up with a plan. He said, do it as an insurance policy in case the scientists are right. The scientists were right. Reagan and his approach worked. Secretary Shultz asks, why not take out an insurance policy and approach climate change the Reagan way? +p817 +aVI'm citing George Shultz. +p818 +aVGovernor Christie, you have said that climate change is real, and that humans help contribute to it. Without getting into the issue of China versus the United States, which I understand you've talked about before, what do you make of skeptics of climate change such as Senator Rubio? +p819 +aVJust for the record, I was citing Secretary of State George Shultz, Ronald Reagan's secretary of state who I don't think anybody would call him left-wing. +p820 +aVI called you a skeptic. +p821 +aVI want to go another question right now. +p822 +aVThank you, Governor. +p823 +aVI'm turning to... +p824 +aV...I'm turning to another \u2014 I'm turning to another issue right now. Senator Cruz. Well, I think we've heard from several this evening. A backlash against vaccines was blamed for a measles outbreak here in California. Dr. Carson, Donald Trump has publicly and repeatedly linked vaccines, childhood vaccines, to autism, which, as you know, the medical community adamantly disputes. You're a pediatric neurosurgeon. Should Mr. Trump stop saying this? +p825 +aVShould he stop saying it? Should he stop saying that vaccines cause autism? +p826 +aVMr. Trump, as president, you would... +p827 +aVI'm going right to you. +p828 +aVMr. Trump, as president, you would be in charge of the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health, both of which say you are wrong. How would you handle this as president? +p829 +aVThank you. +p830 +aVDr. \u2014 Dr. Carson? +p831 +aVDr. Carson, you just heard his medical take. +p832 +aVDr. Paul? Dr. Paul, I'd like to bring you in. +p833 +aVAlright, thank you so much... +p834 +aVComing up \u2014 I'm sorry, Governor Huckabee, please. +p835 +aVThank you, Governor. +p836 +aVWe have to take another quick break. Coming up, Ronald Reagan looming large over this debate. So how Reaganesque exactly are these Republicans? We will find out next. +p837 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California. We have a few last questions for you. Two of them a little lighthearted, the other one more serious. We'll start with one of the more light questions. Senator Paul, I'm going to start with you and we're just going to go down the line. Earlier this year, the Treasury Department announced that a woman will appear on the $10 bill. What woman would you like to see on the $10 bill? +p838 +aVGovernor Huckabee? +p839 +aVSenator Paul (sic). +p840 +aVI'm sorry. Senator Rubio? +p841 +aVJust the senators. +p842 +aVSenator Cruz? +p843 +aVDr. Carson? +p844 +aVMr. Trump. +p845 +aVGovernor Bush. +p846 +aVGovernor Walker. +p847 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p848 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p849 +aVGovernor Christie. +p850 +aVAlright. Some good entries if anybody at the mint was listening. Here's the next lighthearted question, you all know that the United States Secret Service uses codenames for the president, and his family. Ronald Reagan's codename, for example, was, "Rawhide", an homage to his performances in Westerns. Nancy Reagan's was, "Rainbow". You don't have to come up the one for your spouse, but, what would you want, Governor Christie, I'll start with you, your Secret Service codename to be. +p851 +aVGovernor Walker? +p852 +aVMr. Trump? +p853 +aVDr. Carson? +p854 +aVSenator Cruz? +p855 +aVSenator Rubio? +p856 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p857 +aVSenator Paul. +p858 +aVThat's a mouthful, but OK. OK, here's the more serious question, Ronald Reagan, the 40th President, used the plane behind you to accomplish a great many things. Perhaps, most notably, to challenge Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the wall, and ultimately, to make peace with the +p859 +aVThat concludes this Republican presidential debate. On behalf of everyone here at CNN, we want to thank the candidates, the Reagan Library, and the Republican National Committee. Thank you, also, to Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash. The next presidential debate will also be right here on CNN, among the Democratic candidates, who will face off for the first time on October the 13th. That debate, a partnership with Facebook, will be moderated by my colleague, Anderson Cooper. And Anderson picks up our coverage of tonight's debate right now. Before I throw to Anderson, let's have one final round of applause for the candidates. +p860 +asVSANTORUM +p861 +(lp862 +VYou know, listening to what your network was talking about prior to this race, this debate, reminded me of the coverage that many on this floor are getting. This race, this debate, was called the, "Undercard Debate". The undercard debate. It wasn't advertised significantly. In fact, the entire hour lead up to this there was no conversation about any of the four people on this debate stage, and that is the chronic situation. In fact, they listed -- they put a poll up from Wall Street Journal/NBC News, they listed the candidates, and they failed to mention I wasn't listed. I got zero, why? Because they -- NBC, Wall Street Journal poll never includes my name on the list. This is what the media has been doing over the past year, and trying to segregate, and take Iowans out of the process. What Iowans deserve... ... is to hear from every candidate on equal footing. Had they applied the same rules four years ago, I would have been in the undercard debate. The guy who won the Iowa Caucuses would have been in the undercard debate, not talked about. We would have been talking about, maybe, an entertainer that may have been trying to run. Ladies and gentlemen, you have a chance on Monday to put the record straight about who you want, not who will entertain you. +p863 +aVBut, who will fight for what you believe in, and I hope you do... +p864 +aVWell, look. The entire lead up to this debate was talking about whether Donald Trump is going to show up for the next debate. The people of Iowa, who I know pretty darn well, care a lot about the issues. They care about who is going to be the leader of the free world. Who is going to be able to take on +p865 +aVAnd we are not hearing any of those things. We are hearing about whether someone is going to show up for the next debate or not. +p866 +aVYes, I am. +p867 +aVYou know, this, again, more of the politics of trying to get people to throw stuff at each other. I'm not going to throw mud at anybody on this stage tonight. I'm not going to throw mud at anybody on the stage later. I'm not going to attack Donald Trump. What I'm -- Mike Huckabee and I were asked to come to an event where money was going to be raise to do help our veterans. You know, I thought about it. And I thought about. I said well, wait a minute, now, if there were no political considerations and I had some time because I'm not doing anything at 9:00 tonight. And so if I had some time, would I go... ... if I could help raise money for veterans? And the answer was yes, I would. And so I'm going. +p868 +aVThank you for the question, Martha. We have to have an honest discussion with the American people about the nature of the threat that we confront. This president says that +p869 +aVWhat I would say is that we have to create jobs that give people wages and benefits that can help them provide for themselves and their families. And that's why I announced from a factory floor in western Pennsylvania, I pledge to make America the number one manufacturing nation, again, in the world. And we can do it. China is starting to reorient itself away from a manufacturing economy that's dumping products on the -- overseas to providing more services to their people. This is an opportunity for America. It's an opportunity for us to get those jobs back. And by the way, do you want to solve global climate change? Take 2 million jobs from China in manufacturing and moving them back here to the United States, where we produce one-fifth the CO2 when we make things. We can help -- we can do every -- we can do it all. We can take care of the environment. We can create more jobs here. Seventy-four percent of Americans don't have a college degree. And unfortunately most folks who, in the Republican Party, don't talk about what we're going to do to create jobs for people who feel like neither political party cares about them. When you elect me, we'll create opportunities for working men and women in this country -- all over this country. +p870 +aVWell, in fact, the plan that I put forward is scored by the Tax Foundation as bringing three and a half million jobs into this country, and we have provisions in the flat tax for the corporate side that actually has a phase in of manufacturing. Manufacturers initially don't pay any income tax. Ten percent the next year, and 20. We're going to also have a repatriation provision which says that if you have money overseas, and you're Apple, and you got a couple hundred billion dollars there, bring it back. The most you'll be taxed 10%, invest it here in America. Create jobs here in America with all that money that's sitting overseas. We also -- it's not just taxes. It's regulation. I've pledged to cut every single Obamacare -- I mean, excuse me, Obama regulation, including Obamacare, and remove those regulations that cost more than a hundred million dollars in the economy. That will liberate -- and that includes waters of the U.S., and the ozone regulations, they -- the mercury regulations. All of these just crush our manufactures and don't create an opportunity for us to survive. And, remember, China produces five times as much CO2 and other pollutants per dollar of GDP as we do. You want to help the environment? Bring jobs back to America. +p871 +aVWell, I've been to the March for Life for about 25 years and I thought -- I think that's a pretty good record. Spoken at it a few times and I have shepherded every single piece of pro-life piece of legislation that's passed over the last 20 years. I've either authored it or shepherded it through the United States Congress and I'm pretty proud of that record too. But we have an election going on and there was some snow coming. So I decided that maybe it would be better for me to get out and do some campaigning and not be stuck as my wife and kids were for a week, piling out of two and a half feet of snow. So, here's what I would say. If you want someone that is going to talk a good game, there are a lot of folks on this stage that have talked a good game on the issue of life. Not only have I talked a good game on life and I've done some things. But I've also lived it. You know, one of the things Saint Francis said was, you know, if you preach the gospel, then if you have to, speak. The bottom line is, that twice in my life, we were counseled to have an abortion, one with our son Gabriel and one with our little girl Bella. And neither time did Karen and I for a moment think about it because we know that life begins at conception. We know the dignity of every human life and we know the potential of every child, no matter how long that life lives. And that is a message that can come across to all Americans and without having to say a word and defend the institution of life and the dignity of life in this country. +p872 +aVThe president of the United States has been the most divisive president in -- certainly in my lifetime. This is a man who constantly... He is not trustworthy. You can't sit down and negotiate with him. He won't keep a deal. We have heard that over and over again. And here is what he does that really, really creates the friction in Washington. He personally attacks people. He ascribes motives to them that aren't true and then he tears them down. How are you going to work with someone if you don't treat them decently, honestly, and respectfully? I was a tough fighter when I was in Washington. I had very sharp elbows. I fought. I went there and joined a game named Jim Nussle here from Iowa with the "gang of seven." And we, in four years' time, took a Congress that had been controlled by Democrats for 40 years, and brought in the first Republican majority because we fought and we fought tough. But you know what? I was able to then work with those same people that we fought with and able to pass welfare reform. Unborn Victims of Violence Act. Pro-life bills. Health savings accounts. A whole laundry list of things not because I was mean, but because I was able to be respectful in the disagreements. And that's what we need in Washington, someone who can be respectful and still unite this country. +p873 +aVI just want to thank the people of Iowa. Over the last five years I've done 700 speeches and town hall meetings all throughout the state of Iowa, and it has been an incredible right. Thank you. I want to thank all the wonderful folks like Pastor Carey Gordon who gave me a smooth stone and said you go slay Goliaths. Someone like Jim and Janet Cook who over this past Christmas gave up Christmas presents for their kids, and they have more than I do, just they can help me and my campaign. That's the kind of people... ... in Iowa. And, here's what I'm asking you to do. You're good people. You know good leaders. Lead. Pick the right person, not what the polls say. Not who the money give people to. Pick the leader you know is best for this country. Thank you. +p874 +aVWell, all he has to do is listen to the Democratic debate and find out how bad the economy is. All they do is complain about the hollowing out of the middle of America, and how America is struggling so badly, and have to make these radical changes in Washington. But they've been in control for the last seven years, and what have we seen? The most important jobs, I believe, in this country are the ones that fill the middle. For the 74% of Americans who don't have a college degree between the age of 25 and 65 are manufacturing jobs. Your governor, and your legislature, and your team here have done an amazing job of bringing manufacturing jobs back to South Carolina. Right here. Right here in Charleston, right down in the street in Boeing. You've done a great job, and what's happened? You've grown this economy, you've strengthened the center of your state, the middle. That's because you know that if you're really going to create wealth and opportunity, you got to get jobs, and good paying jobs for everybody. And, so what's happened? Two million jobs, manufacturing jobs, have left this country because of Barack Obama. Regulations, EPA, workplace regulations, things driving people off-shore all because of his number one priority, global climate change. Well, let me tell you this, Mr. President. For every dollar of GDP, China creates five times as much pollution as we do here. You want to \u2014 lower global climate change, bring those jobs back to America and let American workers do that job with less pollution. +p875 +aVWell, the historic promises that we have made to \u2014 to Iran in this agreement need to be torn up on the first day in office of the next president. And let me tell you why, because Iran has already torn it up. Iran has not approved the agreement that President Obama has said that they have approved. They have approved a different agreement in their parliament. The fact of the matter is they have violated this agreement. Carly just mentioned some of those violations. They have launched ballistic missiles, tested them, in clear violation. And here's the pathetic part. The president announced that they were going to impose sanctions. And then President Rouhani went on Twitter and said there would be retaliation. And what did we do? We backed down. Ladies and gentlemen, there are 50 some Citadel cadets in this audience tonight. I would ask them to stand up if they will. And here's what I want to tell each and every one of them, as you stand. Here's what I want to tell them. Whether it's you're watching that movie this weekend that just came out when we abandoned our men and women in Benghazi, or whether it's we treat Iran, that gave courtesies to our sailors, as they made them record a hostage video, let me tell you this, if you choose to serve this country, I will have your back. I will not let America be trampled upon anymore by these radical jihadists. +p876 +aVI would just say that if we were doing a better job within the government, we wouldn't need the private sector to do the things that we're asking them to do. I've had a little experience in this in the private sector myself. And what I found was a government with layers and layers of bureaucracy, of people who had some technical expertise but they had no authority, number one. And one of the things I found out about in the bureaucracy is if a lot of people have authority, nobody has authority, number one. And number two, that if you don't do anything, you don't get fired. It's only when you do something and something goes wrong, you get fired. So they do nothing. And that's what is happening in our Defense Department right now. We have a capability that they're trying to develop to play defense. We have a lot of technologists that are very skilled. And they're trying to figure out how to play defense. But what we don't have is we don't have folks who are thinking about offense. We don't have war-fighters. We have technologists. Technologists are not war-fighters. Technologists are thinking, how do I protect cyber-security, how do I secure, how do I protect? And we need to have a much more dynamic, how do we \u2014 how do we go after them? How do we respond? And we need leadership that's willing to make sure that when someone attacks us \u2014 and ladies and gentlemen, they're attacking us as we speak. They're attacking us all day every day, not just the government, but they're attacking private sector companies all day every day. They have to learn that we're going to pay \u2014 they're going to pay a price when they do so. And then right now, just like in every other aspect of our national security, people who attack us are not paying a price. We need a leader who will make sure that they know when they mess with America, they're going to pay a price. +p877 +aVLook, Facebook and Twitter can teach us things. We can cooperate with them. We can share ideas and information. But this is a \u2014 and this is a very dicey area for the government to go in and require the industry to do its job. It needs to develop that capability. We need to be \u2014 have responsible dialogue, but I don't think requirements are the order of the day. +p878 +aVWell, the most devastating attack that could occur is an electromagnetic pulse attack, and that would be an attack that would be triggered by a nuclear explosion in the upper atmosphere of our country. The best way to stop that from happening is to make sure that those who contemplating and actually war-gaming and talking about using it, Iran, doesn't get a nuclear weapon so they can't explode that device. And the president of the United States has put Iran on a path to a nuclear weapon. And we have done nothing to do anything to harden our grid. There is actually a bill in Congress that would put money forward to try to put redundancy and harden our electric grid so it could actually survive an EMP. An EMP is a devastating explosion that sends a pulse that knocks out all electric, everything, everything that is connected to any kind \u2014 that is wired, that has a circuit board gets fried out. Everything is gone. Cars stop. Planes fall out of the sky. This is a devastating attack. And this president has done nothing, number one, to take the most probable person to \u2014 probable country to launch an attack and stop them, and has done nothing to try to defend us, particularly our electric grid. The bottom line is, I put the original sanctions on the Iranian nuclear program when I was in the United States Senate. I've been fighting for 12 years with one thing in mind, that we must stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. And......because they're different than every other country. They do not want a nuclear weapon to defend themselves. They want a nuclear weapon to have theological ends to bring about their mahdi so they can control the world. And that is the most serious threat facing this country right now. +p879 +aVWell, the numbers just don't add up. I mean, they have not added manufacturing jobs. Manufacturing jobs have been lost in this country, 2 million of them. The bottom line is that this president has done more to take jobs away from the hard-working people who are struggling the most. And that's folks who are, as I said, the 74 percent of Americans who don't have a college degree. And they're out there talking about, well, we're going to provide free college for everybody. Well, who is going to pay for it? The 74 percent that don't have a college degree. They're not \u2014 nobody is focused. Let's just be honest, nobody is focused on the people who are struggling the most in America today. We talk about immigration. Talk about the president's immigration plan. He wants to bring in more and more people into this country. Let people who are here illegally stay in this country. Almost all of the people who are here illegally, and most of the people who came here legally over the last 20 years, they're working in wage-earning jobs. That is why wages have flat-lined. And we have unfortunately two political parties with most of the candidates in this field for some form of amnesty, some form of allowing people to stay here even though they're here illegally and for increasing levels of legal immigration. I'm someone who believes that we need to be the party that stands for the American worker. And when we say we need to send people back, I mean we send people back. And let me just make one point. I was in Storm Lake, Iowa, the other day, near a Tyson's plant, 91 percent of the kids that go to the elementary school there are minority kids. And they said, well, what are you going to do with all of these people, their families, they've lived here for a long time? I said, I'm going to give them a gift. I'm going to give them a gift of being able to help the country they were born in. And I'm going to export America, the education they were able to see. They learned English language. They learned about capitalism. They learned about democracy. You want to stop flow of immigrants? Let's send six million Mexicans, Hondurans, Guatemalans, El Savadorians......back into their country, so they can start a renaissance in their country so they won't be coming over here anymore. +p880 +aVYou know, we've had this debate about the economy, and we haven't talked the one issue now increasingly even the right, and even the are coming to agreement. I've run around doing 300 town hall meetings talking about a book written by a liberal Harvard sociologist, not a normal thing for me to be talking about, but I now name Robert Putnam who wrote a book called, "Our Kids". And, he wrote this book, I think, ostensibly to support the Democratic argument that the middle of America's hollowing out, and income gap is widening, and rich are getting richer. When he studied all the information as to what was going on, he realized that the biggest reason that we're seeing the hollowing out of the middle of America is the breakdown of the American family. The reality is that if you're a single parent \u2014 a child of a single parent, and you grew up in a single parent family neighborhood, you went to that single parent family school, the chance of you ever, ever reaching the top 20% of income earners is 3% in America. At least \u2014 I don't know about you, but that's not good enough. And, we have been too politically correct in this country because we don't want to offend anybody to fight for the lives of our children. You want \u2014 You want to be shocked? You read the first few chapters of Mr. \u2014 Dr. Putnam' book. He talks about Port Clinton, Ohio and growing up there in the 1950's, and how poor kids actually survived and did well, even though they were poor and disadvantaged. But, then he goes to the towns today and these kids are failing, and failing miserably. They don't even have a shot, and we won't even have the courage to have leadership at the federal level \u2014 not with legislation, but the most powerful tool a president have, the bully pulpit to encourage each and everyone of you, churches and businesses, and educators, and community leaders to let's have a national campaign to rebuild the American family, and give every child its birthright which is a Mom and a Dad who loves them. That will change this economy. +p881 +aVLadies and gentlemen, America is frustrated and angry and looking for someone who's a fighter, but I also think they're looking for someone who's a winner. Somebody who can go out there and take on the establishment and make a difference. And take on someone who's going to be the person who's going to be between a Republican holding the presidency and that's Hillary Clinton. And there's one person on this stage, one person in the race who's done it and done it repeatedly. I've taken on Hillary Clinton on the issues you care about. Partial-birth abortion. Go and google Rick Santorum and Hillary Clinton and there you'll see a five-minute debate. I'll let you decide who won the debate. I'll tell you who won, because we passed the bill and I know I'm out of time but I'm going to take some of Rand Paul's time here for a second. If you're looking for someone who fought Hillary Clinton on Iran's sanctions, she was one of four who voted \u2014 who's deciding vote who voted against Iran's sanctions, so we didn't get it in place as earlier as we should have. I've fought battles against her. In 1994, I ran against the Clinton machine. James Carville and Paul Begala, ran the race against me when I took on the author of Hillary care. And each one of those battles, I won. You want a fighter, you want a winner, I'd appreciate your vote. Thank you. +p882 +aVThank you, Wolf. It's great to be here in Las Vegas. And I just want to thank everybody for the opportunity to be here. This is an important time in our country's history. We have entered World War III. World War III has begun and we have a leader who refuses to identify it and be truthful to the American people to the stakes that are involved, in part, because his policies have led us here. His policy toward Iran lit the fuse of a nuclear Iran. Just a few weeks ago the International Atomic Agency reported that Iran has had a nuclear program, but they don't know if it's continuing because they refuse to share any information about the current status. And this President marches on, forgiving them hundreds of billions of dollars to allow them to not just reconstitute their robust nuclear program, pursue their missile program, but also to foment terror around the world. And then his policies in the Middle East with Iraq create +p883 +aVOf course I do. But what Donald Trump was saying was nothing against Muslims. His comment was against this administration who doesn't have a policy to properly vet people coming into this country. Let's just be honest about what's \u2014 what's being talked about here. And I know people will pile on because it makes sense to pile on, maybe from the polls. But he brings up a legitimate issue. The fact of the matter is not all Muslims are Jihadists and no one, including I suspect, Donald Trump would say that. But the reality is, all Jihadists are Muslims. That's a reality. And we have \u2014 we have to stop worrying about offending some people and start defending all Americans. Because we're not right now. +p884 +aVI would agree \u2014 I would agree that Donald Trump's proposal was not the right proposal. But he brings up a very important issue that I think we've been ignoring for far too long in this country. The reality is that, yes, we need to get reformist Muslims to join us. We need to get those who are being persecuted and killed within the Middle East to join us. But we also have to protect this country from those who want to harm us and we have to defeat those who are radicalized in the Middle East and wherever we find them around the world. +p885 +aVJust because it couldn't have prevented San Bernardino doesn't mean that we shouldn't have all tools available to us that doesn't impinge upon people's privacy. This sort of data collection is not collecting people's phones calls, their voices; they're not collecting information that's personal. There's no names attached to these numbers. They're simply numbers and times and relationships that throughout algorithms that computer technology can be able to sort through relationship about what numbers are calling what numbers and be able to track those down to see if there's any leakage's between someone who's potentially a terrorist. That is to me just fundamental that we have to have this type of data to be able to not impinge upon people's privacy. In fact, I would make the argument that the more data we can collect that's anonymous that we can through, through using algorithms, the less we need to involve people in and imposing themselves in people's privacy. +p886 +aVLook, I agree with Governor Huckabee, that we should in fact be looking at people's social media posts. That's just common sense. But we've defunded and tied the hands behind the backs of our intelligence agencies because of political correctness. We're not allowed to ask any questions or really pursue, whether there's any mosque that they're attending that could be spreading Jihadism, and we know that in this country there are Imams that are doing that. But we're not allowed to ask those questions, we're not allowed to pursue to those things because we have a president who denies the reality of the enemy we confront. +p887 +aVI don't. I don't think we should be able to deny someone's constitutional rights based on a list kept by the government that nobody knows how they get on it, or how they get off of it. If you're going to make that list public, if you're going to put criteria out there as to how you're going to get on it, if you're going to deny someone's constitutional right, than I think there has to be more transparency. Let's just be honest, when someone applies for a gun, you do a background check. And, if you're on the terrorist watch list, guess what very well may happen? You may get denied that. That's a discretion of the people \u2014 of the ATF in making that kind of decision. I want to leave that discretion \u2014 as long as this list is not well known, as long as it's not transparent, we have to leave that discretion. I want to make a comment about what Mike said, and George said, about mus \u2014 Islam. The fact of the matter is, Islam is different. I know this is going to come as a shock to a lot of people, and I mean the sincerely. Islam is not just a religion. It is also a political governing structure. The fact of the matter is, Islam is a religion, but it is also Sharia law, it is also a civil government, it is also a form of government. And, so, the idea that that is protected under the First Amendment is wrong. And, in fact, that political structure is what is the big problem. The imposition of Sharia law adherence to fundamental Islam as it was practiced in the Seventh Century... +p888 +aV...There has to be a line drawn. +p889 +aVWell, there's all sorts of theological reasons why we may not want to go into Syria right now to take +p890 +aVI would have no problem with Sy \u2014 with boots on the ground in Syria in a training capacity. I do not want American troops on the front line in Syria because I don't believe that that would serve to the interest. Again, understanding what +p891 +aVNo look, I'm committed to whatever is necessary understanding the nature of the enemy. The enemy is a theocracy and their allure is their theocracy. It's their doctrine and so we have to understand that doctrine. That's why, I love the fact that people are angry and outraged in Washington and want someone new and fresh. But we need someone who understands and has knowledge and experience in these areas. And I can see that you know, Senator Graham has that experience and we have a little difference of opinion. But frankly, it's not that big of difference in our opinion, we both want to defeat +p892 +aVAnd the fact that we have a nuclear treaty with the Shiites in Iran, that we have now partnered with the Russians and appearing to allow Assad to stay, which is a satellite Alawites, very interrelated to the Shiites, this looks to +p893 +aVWell, I would establish a no-fly zone. And, I think we just... +p894 +aVWell \u2014 the first thing you have to do is establish a no-fly zone, and you don't do that by just sort of declaring it. You work through the process of making sure you work with people who, hopefully, have the same objective that you do. And, if they don't, then you establish the no-fly zone, and you take the consequences of whatever \u2014 who violates that law. +p895 +aV...I don't think it's a war with Russia anymore than Turkey went to war with Russia when Turkey shot down a plane... +p896 +aVThese are \u2014 these are incidents not something that we're threatening the motherland. This is a tactical decision within an area that we have an obligation for the refugees, for providing stability to the rebels, and an opportunity for the rebels to reconstitute. And, making sure that we stop the flow of refugees into Europe, and into the United States to establish a no-fly zone. And, Russia either is going to comply with it or not, and if they don't, I think it can be contained to that region. +p897 +aVWell, I would establish a no-fly zone. And, I think we just... +p898 +aVWell \u2014 the first thing you have to do is establish a no-fly zone, and you don't do that by just sort of declaring it. You work through the process of making sure you work with people who, hopefully, have the same objective that you do. And, if they don't, then you establish the no-fly zone, and you take the consequences of whatever \u2014 who violates that law. +p899 +aV...I don't think it's a war with Russia anymore than Turkey went to war with Russia when Turkey shot down a plane... +p900 +aVThese are \u2014 these are incidents not something that we're threatening the motherland. This is a tactical decision within an area that we have an obligation for the refugees, for providing stability to the rebels, and an opportunity for the rebels to reconstitute. And, making sure that we stop the flow of refugees into Europe, and into the United States to establish a no-fly zone. And, Russia either is going to comply with it or not, and if they don't, I think it can be contained to that region. +p901 +aVI would use the studies that were done that were ignored by this military that there were certain positions that frankly were not suitable. And they pushed a political agenda above what is in the best interest of the safety, security, and effective of our, of our fighting units. So I would go back to using what we should be doing. Which is putting forth people on those front line positions who are best prepared to do the job, survive the job, and come back home safely. +p902 +aVI would change the policy to reflect what is the best interest of the people that we're asking. I've got a son who's going, who's going into the Air Force right now, and I, as a father, I want to make sure that, if he's out there on the front line \u2014 and he may be a pilot flying an airplane \u2014 I want to make sure that the person who's responsible for, for his wing has the ability to do the job they're doing. And if they don't have that ability to do the job, if we're doing a social promotion as opposed to what's best for the efficacy of our fighting force and for the survivability of our men and women, I'll change that policy. +p903 +aVSo what you just said is you agree with me. Because that's exactly what I said. +p904 +aVI said if you can't do the job, you shouldn't be able to...you shouldn't have the position. +p905 +aVNo, I did not say that, George. I mean, you may, you may have heard that, but I didn't say that. What I said was, if they can in fact do the job that any, any other person can do, I will allow them to do so. +p906 +aVBut if they cannot, I would reverse the policy. And what happened here is there were many studies done, particularly in the Marine Corps, which begged this President not to move forward with this because people are going to get killed as a result of it. The President went forward anyway. +p907 +aVOf course there is a proper way to vet refugees coming into the United States. But not from the +p908 +aVLindsay says this is a real war, until it comes to immigration. And, then, all of a sudden it's not such a real war. The reality is that we've seen since the events of 9/11, the president talks about how he's worried about discrimination and acts against Muslims. There's four times as many acts of violence against Jews than there are against Muslims. I never hear the president talk about that. The reality is that under this president, since 9/11, this anti-Muslim United States of America has doubled the rate of Muslim immigration. Since 9/11. That's what we've done. So, the idea that we have an immigration system that is working... +p909 +aVIs not \u2014 and, I'm out of time. +p910 +aVHere's the problem. I was with, in fact, one my guests here today is the Sheriff in Cochise County, down on the border in Arizona. And, he talked with me last night when I was with him about all of the children coming across. All of the children, why? Because we've created a magnet. These children are not coming over, and in great shape, not coming over \u2014 and not in harms way, and \u2014 going through difficult times. We're attracting people. He's also the Sheriff that caught Syrian's at the border. We have through the policies supported by almost everybody in this field......A policy that says amnesty. The world hears this, and knows that if they can come across this border, by and large, they're going to be able to stay. That has to change. +p911 +aVBarack Obama has not kept this country safe. Hillary Clinton will not keep this country safe. We need to nominate someone who America knows will keep this country safe. Ten years ago I put the sanctions on Iran's nuclear program. Before that, I gave speech after speech, including to President Bush, to identify the enemy and call these radical Islamists who they are. Ladies and gentlemen, this week +p912 +asVQUESTION +p913 +(lp914 +VMy name is Ashley Tofil. Ms. Fiorina, in November, you said that you would not talk to Vladimir Putin after you were elected because you would be communicating from a position of weakness. Do you believe that it is feasible to not communicate with another world leader? And do you think that that also is a sign of weakness? +p915 +aVMy name is Carla Hernandez. I'm from the University of Texas at Austin. And my question is directed to all the candidates. If the Bible clearly states that we need to embrace those in need and not fear, how can we justify not accepting refugees? +p916 +aVPlease describe one action you would do to make the economic environment more favorable for small businesses and entrepreneurs and anyone dreaming of opening their own business. +p917 +aVHi, I'm Adithya Sivakumar. I'm from Vanderbilt University. And I was wondering with U.S. designated state sponsors of terrorism such as Iran and other traditional U.S. enemies fighting +p918 +asVCAVUTO +p919 +(lp920 +VIt is 9:00 p.m. on the East Coast, 8:00 p.m. here inside the Milwaukee theater. Welcome to the Republican presidential debate here on the Fox Business Network. I'm Neil Cavuto, alongside my co-moderators, Maria Bartiromo, and the editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal, Gerard Baker. +p921 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. +p922 +aVIt sounds like a game show but it's not. Now I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the elephant in the room, and I'm not talking about your party's fine symbol. I'm talking about the purpose of tonight's debate. The economy and what each of you would do to improve it. No more, no less. We are focused on those issues, and what you have said on those issues in your words and what your opponents have said in their words about your words. That is the agenda tonight. How each of you plans to make America better tomorrow. And so we begin. Candidates, as we gather tonight in this very august theater, just outside and across the country, picketers are gathering as well. They're demanding an immediate hike in the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Just a few hours ago, near Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed doing the same for all state workers, the first governor to do so. Mr. Trump, as the leading presidential candidate on this stage and one whose tax plan exempts couples making up to $50,000 a year from paying any federal income taxes at all, are you sympathetic to the protesters cause since a $15 wage works out to about $31,000 a year? +p923 +aVSo do not raise the minimum wage? +p924 +aVDr. Carson, you have long bemoaned this lackluster recovery. And this Facebook map show Americans share your concern. The green represents how the jobs issue is resonating all across the nation, especially here in the state of Wisconsin. You suggested one minimum wage does not fit all, and that perhaps we should offer a lower or starter wage for young people. Those protesters outside are looking for $15 and nothing less. Where are you? +p925 +aVSo, sir, just to be clear, you would not raise it? +p926 +aVSenator Rubio, you called the recent Democratic debate in Las Vegas a night of giveaways, including free health care, free college and a host of other government-paid benefits. Since you aren't a fan of all they're giving away, tell us tonight what you would take back. +p927 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. +p928 +aVAll right. We're only just getting started. Coming up, your taxes. Stick around. You're watching FOX Business +p929 +aVWelcome back to the Milwaukee Theater and the Republican presidential debate. Let's get right back to our questions. Dr. Carson, to you. You recently railed against the double- standard in the media, sir, that seems obsessed with inconsistencies and potential exaggerations in your life story, but looked the other way when it came to then-Senator Barack Obama's. Still, as a candidate whose brand has always been trust, are you worried your campaign \u2014 which you've always said, sir, is bigger than you \u2014 is now being hurt by you? +p930 +aVI'll just forget that follow-up there. +p931 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p932 +aVAlright, thank you. We're going to take a break here. Coming up, a big issue many Americans are facing, taxes. The Republican Presidential Debate continues now, live, from Milwaukee. +p933 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from Milwaukee. Let's get back to the questions. And we want to touch on obviously one of the biggest of this issue in this year, taxes. And this will go to several of you. One of the biggest economic concerns of course in the country are taxes. Facebook data certainly backs that up. Once again the green on this map that we're going to see here shows how the conversation around taxes is resonating across the nation, especially here in Wisconsin. First off, Dr. Carson, to you. You say you are in favor of a tax system, I guess akin to tithing, sir, with a flat tax rate of up to 15 percent because you said, if everybody pays this, I think God is a pretty fair guy, so tithing is a pretty fair process. But Donald Trump says that is not fair. That wealthier taxpayers should pay a higher rate because it's a fair thing to do. So whose plan would God endorse then, Doctor? Yours or Mr. Trump's? +p934 +aVRight. +p935 +aVThank you very much. Senator Paul, you said you want to blow up the tax code and start over with an across-the-board 14.5 percent fair and flat tax. You happily offered that it is not revenue neutral and that's the idea. You want to choke off the amount of money coming into Washington. But don't you risk, sir, creating a near-term budget crisis just as your presidency would be beginning? +p936 +aVThere are no deductions on your \u2014 under your plan? +p937 +aVThank you, Senator. +p938 +aVSenator Paul... Senator Paul, you have already said, sir, that that would be a mistake in not talking to Vladimir Putin, or to rule it out. You've argued that it's never a good idea to close down communication. With that in mind, do you think the same applies to administration efforts right now to include the Iranians in talks on Syria? +p939 +aV...Well, then how would you respond? +p940 +aVBut if you're not going to respond in a no-fly zone strategy, what would yours be? +p941 +aVAll right. And look at the time, look at the time. You are watching FOX Business, we'll take a break. Stick around. +p942 +aVSenator Cruz \u2014 and I will get to you \u2014 but, Senator Cruz, on that theme, Facebook data shows that over the last month alone, nearly 1 million people \u2014 nearly 1 million \u2014 have been concerned about reining in Wall Street, apparently believing that some have not been punished enough. So, as an accomplished litigator yourself and a former solicitor general, would you go after the very people who believe and fear that Wall Street has ignored, in other words, the crooks that Bernie Sanders say have gotten away with a financial murder? +p943 +aVSenator......Senator, I really want to be clear here. Are you saying, sir, that if Bank of America were on the brink, you would let it fail? +p944 +aVSir, I understand that. I just want to be clear, if you don't mind, that millions of depositors would be on the line with that decision. And I just want to be clear. If it were to happen again, for whatever the reason, you would let it go, you would let a Bank of America go? +p945 +aVOK, I think it's fair to say you're not fans of Hillary Clinton's resume. Alright, Mr. Trump.... +p946 +aVI had a feeling. Perhaps the most successful capitalist on this stage tonight, you've acknowledged that some give capitalism a bad name. You've been particularly critical of businesses that find all sorts of ways of paying their taxes by keeping money abroad, but your own plan includes an incentive to bring \u2014 that more the $2 trillion dollars home. Isn't that, like, a one-time bounty... +p947 +aV...Some of the guys you all but call pirates, so they still keep the loot, and pay only a price to bring it back. +p948 +aV...Alright, gentlemen, I know you want to \u2014 and I want to, be we also promised to get people home tonight, and we are going to take a quick break here. I think it is fair to say at this juncture that you can discuss these issues, and only business issues, but still keep it interesting. Stick around for these candidates closing statements. +p949 +aVSenator Marco Rubio? +p950 +aVDr. Ben Carson? +p951 +aVDonald Trump? +p952 +aVCandidates, we want to thank you all. We also appreciate your helping save time by talking over one another at times. That was welcomed. But by all means, it was a very riveting debate. Business issues can be \u2014 can be riveting, because it wasn't about us, it's about them. +p953 +aVThat'll do it. Thank you for joining us. +p954 +asVBLITZER +p955 +(lp956 +VWelcome to the CNN-Facebook Republican presidential debate here at the Venetian Las Vegas. We have a very enthusiastic audience. Everyone is here. They're looking forward to a serious and spirited discussion about the security of this nation. I'm Wolf Blitzer, your moderator tonight. This debate is airing on CNN networks here in the United States and around the world, and on the Salem Radio Network. The nine leading candidates, they are here. Let's welcome them right now. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Businessman and real estate developer Donald Trump. Retired neurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. And Ohio Governor John Kasich. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome these Republican candidates for president of the United States. This is the final Republican debate before the election year begins, and we're taking a moment for the photographs of the candidates together on the stage. Now, everyone, please rise for the national anthem sung by Ayla Brown. +p957 +aVI know everyone is eager to get started. So, candidates, please take your places while I explain the ground rules for tonight. As moderator, I'll guide the discussion, and I'll be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt and CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. We also asked Republicans and independents nationwide to share their questions for the candidates. We teamed up with Facebook to send a campaign camper across the country over the past several weeks. Thousands of people stepped inside and recorded their questions on video. Millions more have weighed in on Facebook. Candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have a minute and 15 seconds to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you're singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know that we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. And as the candidates requested, a bell will sound like this. We know you are all eager to jump in and debate these important issues, so, please, wait until you're called on. These nine Republicans are positioned on stage based on their ranking in the recent polls, so let's begin right now. I'd like to invite each candidate to introduce himself or herself to our audience. You'll have one minute. First to you, Senator Paul. +p958 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p959 +aVGovernor Christie? +p960 +aVMs. Fiorina? +p961 +aVGovernor Bush? +p962 +aVSenator Rubio? +p963 +aVSenator Cruz. +p964 +aVDr. Carson. +p965 +aVMr. Trump. +p966 +aVThank you. Since you last debated, Americans have witnessed terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino. The FBI director says the country now faces the greatest terror threat since 9/11. You all have different approaches to keeping the country safe. And that will be the focus of tonight's debate. Mr. Trump, as you mentioned in your opening statement, part of your strategy is to focus in on America's borders. To keep the country safe, you say you want to temporarily ban non-American Muslims from coming to the United States; ban refugees fleeing +p967 +aVGovernor Bush, you called Mr. Trump "unhinged" when he proposed banning non-American Muslims from the United States. Why is that unhinged? +p968 +aVMr. Trump? +p969 +aVSenator Rubio \u2014 I'm going to go to Senator Rubio and get his thoughts. You have said banning Muslims is unconstitutional. But according to a recent ABC News-Washington Post poll, a majority of Republicans support Mr. Trump's idea. Why are they wrong? +p970 +aVHugh Hewitt, you have a question. +p971 +aVGovernor Christie, Americans are clearly more afraid today than at any time since 9/11. As you mentioned in your opening statement, today in Los Angeles, 650 schoolchildren didn't go to \u2014 650,000 schoolchildren didn't go to school because of an e-mail threat, this two weeks after an attack killed 14 people in San Bernardino. Is this the new normal? And if so, what steps would you take as president of the United States to ensure that fear does not paralyze America? +p972 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, one of the killers in San Bernardino was an American who was not on anyone's watch list. How are you going to find that radicalized person and stop another such attack? +p973 +aVThank you. Dana Bash, you have the next question. +p974 +aVThank you. Dr. Carson, you're in favor of monitoring mosques and schools where there is anti-America sentiment, what do you consider anti- America? +p975 +aVDr. Carson, who was right in that little debate that we just heard between Senator Rubio and Senator Paul? +p976 +aVHold on a sec, we have a lot more to come and everybody's going to have their full opportunity. Governor Bush, six days after 9/11 your brother visited a mosque and said quote, "Islam is peace." The conversation tonight is about banning Muslims and surveillance of mosques, are President Bush's words still relevant in today's Republican party? +p977 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you pointed out you were a CEO in Silicon Valley on 9/11. Companies there, they say they won't help the FBI now crack encrypted communication from +p978 +aVBut my question was: Should these Silicon Valley companies be forced to cooperate with the FBI? +p979 +aVMr. Trump, you recently suggested closing that Internet up, those were your words, as a way to stop +p980 +aVLet me follow up, Mr. Trump. So, are you open to closing parts of the Internet? +p981 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, is shutting down any part of the Internet a good idea? +p982 +aVThank you, Governor. The fight against radical Islamic terrorists and +p983 +aVThank you. To be clear, Senator Cruz, would you carpet bomb Raqqa, the +p984 +aVThank you. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you've been critical of Senator Cruz's strategy. You say his voting record doesn't match his rhetoric. Why? +p985 +aVBecause I asked the question, Senator, because you said this. You said he, referring to Senator Cruz, voted against the Defense Authorization Act every year that it came up, and I assume that if he voted against it, he would veto it as president. That's the bill that funds our troops. +p986 +aVSenator Cruz? +p987 +aVSenator Rubio. +p988 +aVWe are going to have much more on this... +p989 +aVWe're going to have much more on this. But I want to move now back to Mr. Trump. +p990 +aVHold on. Hold on. Hold on. +p991 +aVWe have a lot... +p992 +aVWe have a lot to discuss. I want to move to Mr. Trump right now. We have a question on this war against +p993 +aVMr. Trump. +p994 +aVGovernor Bush. Governor Bush. +p995 +aVMr. Trump. +p996 +aVJust one at a time, go ahead... +p997 +aVGo ahead, Mr. Trump. +p998 +aVGovernor Bush, please. +p999 +aVOne at a time. +p1000 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1001 +aVThank you. +p1002 +aVAll right. Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash, Hugh, go ahead with the next question. +p1003 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Rubio? Let's continue this conversation. This is a critically important issue. +p1004 +aVWe will get to \u2014 we have a lot of time, Ms. Fiorina. I want to get to Senator Rubio right now. Let's talk about, one of the aspects of your strategy, you say the only way to defeat +p1005 +aVThank you, Senator. Stand by. Ms. Fiorina, the former defense secretary, Bob Gates, says the chances of getting Sunni-Arab forces on the ground to get the job done, his words, "chances very remote." What's your strategy? +p1006 +aVThank you. Governor Christie, what's your strategy? +p1007 +aVDr. Carson, what is your strategy? +p1008 +aVThank you. Everyone stand by. We're only just beginning. Coming up, which candidates on this stage tonight want to move foreign policy in a dramatically new direction? We'll be right back. +p1009 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate here at the Venetian, Las Vegas. The war against +p1010 +aVThank you. +p1011 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you supported the removal of Moammar Gadhafi in Libya. Now that country is in turmoil, as +p1012 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1013 +aVStandby. Everybody standby for a moment. Governor Kasich, go ahead. +p1014 +aVThank you. +p1015 +aVWe're going to talk about Assad in a moment. Mr. Trump, are Americans safer with dictators running the world in the Middle East? +p1016 +aVThank you. Mr. Trump? +p1017 +aVAll right. +p1018 +aVThank you. +p1019 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East... +p1020 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East better off with dictators? +p1021 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1022 +aVHold on Governor Bush., here's the question. You said, "getting rid of Saddam Hussein in your words was a pretty good deal." In light of what has happened in Iraq, do you still feel that way? +p1023 +aVSenator Paul, was getting rid of Saddam Hussein a pretty good deal? +p1024 +aVThank you. Hugh Hewitt, go ahead. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hugh. +p1025 +aVSenator, Senator, we're going to get to you. Wait your turn. We have two hours of debate. We'll have plenty of time. Let Hugh ask his question. +p1026 +aVSenator, please. +p1027 +aVSenator... +p1028 +aVYou'll have plenty of opportunity. Hugh, go ahead. +p1029 +aVThese are the rules all of you agreed to. Hugh, go ahead with your question. +p1030 +aVLet's continue with Russia right now. We have another question from Facebook. Listen and watch. +p1031 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you know, U.S. and Russian warplanes are flying all over Syria right now. With so many lives on the line, is this a good time for the United States not to talk to Putin? +p1032 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Christie, if the U.S. imposed a no-fly zone over Syria and a Russian plane encroached, invaded that no-fly zone, would you be prepared to shoot down that Russian plane and risk war with Russia? +p1033 +aVSenator Paul \u2014 Senator Paul, I want you to respond to what we just heard from Governor Christie. If there was a no-fly zone, you say that potentially could lead to World War III. Why? +p1034 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1035 +aVAll right, let's go back \u2014 Hugh and Dana? +p1036 +aVOne at a time. Hugh, go ahead. +p1037 +aVGovernor, thank you very much. So, Dr. Carson, you recently visited a refugee camp in Jordan and you deemed it your words, "really quite nice." Saying the people there didn't want to come to the United States. Do you think these camps are a long-term solution of the problem of Syrian refugees? +p1038 +aVSenator Paul, you oppose letting in Syrian refugees at this time into the United States. The U.S. has already accepted 2,000 Syrian refugees, including 13 living here in Las Vegas right now. Would you send them back? What would you do with these people? +p1039 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1040 +aVSenator Paul, you didn't answer the question about the 2,000 Syrian refugees who are already here in the United States. Will you send them back or let them stay? +p1041 +aVWe have another \u2014 we have another question. We have another question from Facebook. Let's listen. +p1042 +aVGovernor Christie, you say there should be a pause in allowing new refugees to come into the United States, including orphans under the age of five. What do you say to Carla? +p1043 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1044 +aVThank you, Governor. There is much more coming up. We are only just beginning. Coming up, what other global hot spots await the next president of the United States. +p1045 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate. We're here at the Venetian Las Vegas. Tonight we have been focusing on the Middle East, but let's turn to some other world threats that you will potentially face as Commander in Chief. Ms. Fiorina, candidates here have called the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un a maniac who is mentally unstable. Last week he said he now has a hydrogen bomb. If you were elected president, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p1046 +aVDr. Carson, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p1047 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Dana and Hugh you have questions as well. +p1048 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Some of you on this stage have questioned whether your opponents have temperament, the right temperament, to be in control of the nuclear codes. Dana, you have a question on this? +p1049 +aVThank you, senator. Thank you. +p1050 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1051 +aVThank you, Senator. We're a month and a half away now from the first real test who will be the Republican presidential nominee. Hugh, you have a question? +p1052 +aVAll right. Candidates, we have more coming up. When we come back, everyone will have an opportunity to explain why this particular candidate, each of you on the stage, believes he or she should be the Republican presidential nominee. +p1053 +aVNow it's time for the closing statements from the candidates. Each one has 30 seconds. Senator Paul. +p1054 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1055 +aVGovernor Christie. +p1056 +aVMs. Fiorina. +p1057 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1058 +aVSenator Rubio. +p1059 +aVSenator Cruz. +p1060 +aVDr. Carson. +p1061 +aVThanks to all the Republican presidential candidates. That does it for this Republican presidential debate. +p1062 +aVI'd now like to ask the candidates to please take your places while I tell you a little bit more about how tonight's debate will work. As the moderator, I'll guide the discussion asking questions and follow-ups, as will Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt. Candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have a minutes and 15 seconds to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you're singled out for criticism. We have timing lights that are visible to the candidates, those lights will warn you when your time is up. And as the candidates requested, a bell will sound like this. We know you're all eager to jump in and debate these important issues, but please wait until you're called on. Now that everyone is this place, it's time for the candidates to introduce themselves to our audience. You'll each have one minute. Senator Graham, you're first. +p1063 +aVGovernor Pataki. +p1064 +aVSenator Santorum. +p1065 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p1066 +aVLet's begin. The United States just suffered the worst terrorist attack since 9-11, the murder of 14 people by two terrorists, one of whom was an American citizen. In response, Republican frontrunner Donald Trump proposed a temporary ban on all Muslims coming into the United States until the government can figure out what is going on. Senator Graham, the polls show most Republicans do support Mr. Trump. What do you say to them? +p1067 +aVSenator Graham, you say you'd rather lose the election without Trump than try to win with him. Does that mean you'll be voting for the Democratic nominee if Donald Trump wins the presidential nomination? +p1068 +aVGovernor Pataki, you mentioned Donald Trump in your opening statement. You've also suggested Mr. Trump's plan is un-American and absurd. Why? +p1069 +aVSenator Santorum, you object to Mr. Trump's proposals on the grounds that it's unworkable. You've made religious liberty a hallmark of your career. Do you believe in religious liberty for Muslims as well as Christians? +p1070 +aVSenator Graham. +p1071 +aVSenator Santorum. +p1072 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you called Mr. Trump's plan to ban Muslims impossible and unconstitutional. But what is your specific plan to prevent would-be Jihadists from carrying out attacks against Americans? +p1073 +aVThe terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino have sparked a debate here in the United States about the balance between privacy and security. I want to bring in CNN's Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt for more on this. +p1074 +aVGovernor Pataki. +p1075 +aVThere are a lot of people who have been frustrated, especially Senator Graham, that law enforcement can't tap into information on terrorist cell phones. Senator Graham has called on companies in Silicon Valley to change their business models. As president of the United States, would you force these companies to change their models so the government can better monitor the traffic on these cell phones? +p1076 +aVSenator Graham? +p1077 +aVSenator Graham. +p1078 +aVHere is a question we have on the fight against +p1079 +aVGovernor Huckabee, how would you defeat +p1080 +aVSenator Graham, you have an aggressive military plan to try to defeat +p1081 +aVSenator Santorum, following up on what we just heard from Senator Graham, at least one U.S. intelligence report from the White House has concluded that, in order to defeat +p1082 +aVSenator Graham, you're shaking your head. +p1083 +aVI'm going to bring Governor Pataki in a minute, but go ahead and respond, Senator Graham. +p1084 +aVGovernor Pataki, should the U.S. send ground troops into Syria? +p1085 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you have not put a number of how many U.S. ground troops would be needed to combat +p1086 +aVSenator Graham, and I just want to remind our viewers, you want 10,000 U.S. ground troops in Iraq, and 10,000 in Syria? +p1087 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you have said as president you would tell +p1088 +aVSenator Samtorum? +p1089 +aVGovernor Pataki, you support ground troops - deploying grounds troops. +p1090 +aVThe U.S. Army's Former Cheif of Staff, General Raymond Odierno said that, and I'm quoting, "now +p1091 +aVBut how long would you be willing to commit U.S. troops to fight +p1092 +aVSenator Graham, you called for U.S. ground troops as we know in Iraq and Syria. +p1093 +aVAs you know, there's a growing +p1094 +aVAre you ready to deploy U.S. troops to Libya to try to defeat +p1095 +aVSenator? Senator, are you ready to commit U.S. ground troops to Libya? +p1096 +aVAlright, gentleman, standby. The fight against +p1097 +aVWe're live here at the Venetian in Las Vegas. Welcome back. As the U.S. fight against +p1098 +aVWe have a video question from Facebook. Let's watch. +p1099 +aVGovernor Pataki. +p1100 +aVHe says he was wondering with U.S. designated state sponsors of terrorism like Iran and other traditional U.S. enemies fighting +p1101 +aVHugh Hewitt and Dana Bash have questions. Hugh go ahead. +p1102 +aVGovernor Pataki, let me stick with you. Governor Pataki, a U.S. Army Sargent Bowe Bergdahl now facing a court marshall after leaving his base in Afghanistan, getting captured by the Taliban - Donald Trump, has called for his execution. The former house speak John Boehner says "he's innocent until proven guilty." Where do you stand? +p1103 +aVSenator Graham, where do you stand? +p1104 +aVGovernor Huckabee? Governor Huckbee, +p1105 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Pataki, speaking of those four Americans being held in Iran right now. Iran has suggested they might be willing to have a prisoner swap, release Iranian prisoners held in the United States, in exchange for those four Americans. Would you support that? +p1106 +aVWe have to take a quick break, but, Governor, Israel has exchanged a lot of the prisoners it was holding for Israeli soldiers who were being held by Hamas, for example. +p1107 +aVThank you. Let's take another quick break. The scramble, the scramble to protect Americans after +p1108 +aVWelcome back to the Republican Presidential Debate here at the Venetian in Las Vegas. Gentlemen, in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks, the Obama Administration policy of allowing Syrian refugees to come into the United States has come under fire. Senator Santorum, you say accepting Syrian refugees is dangerous. You say it just takes one Jihadist to destroy the world. Do you think there is any way to properly vet refugees coming into the United States? +p1109 +aVGovernor Pataki, you have said you wouldn't accept a single Syrian refugee. What should become of them? +p1110 +aVLet's go back to Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt for more questions. Dana? +p1111 +aVThank you, Senator. Gentlemen, standby, we are going to take another very quick break. Coming up, with America on edge, who has what it takes to be the next Commander in Chief? These candidates, they will make their case. +p1112 +aVWelcome back. We're live here at the Venetian Las Vegas. Gentlemen, it's time for your closing statements. Each candidate will have 30 seconds. Senator graham, you're first. +p1113 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Pataki. +p1114 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum. +p1115 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee. +p1116 +aVThank you. Thanks to all of the candidates for a very important discussion on critically important issues. This debate night is just getting started here at the Venetian Las Vegas. The top nine candidates, they are standing by for their turn on this stage in just a little while. I'll be back as the moderator. +p1117 +asVMODERATOR +p1118 +(lp1119 +VComing up more of our debate, including questions about President Obama's foreign policy and these guys and their better ideas. Coming up. +p1120 +asVFIORINA +p1121 +(lp1122 +VLike all of you I'm angry. I'm angry at what's happening to our nation. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. Bombastic insults wont take it back. Political rhetoric that promises a lot and delivers little, won't take it back. All of our problems can be solved. All of our wounds can be healed by a tested leader who is willing to fight for the character of our nation. I have been tested. I have beaten breast cancer. I have buried a child. I started as a secretary. I fought my way to the top of corporate America while being called every B word in the book. I fought my way into this election and on to this debate stage while all the political insiders and the pundits told, "it couldn't be done." I've been told, "no,: all my life. And all my life, I've refused to accept no as an answer. Citizens, it is time to take our country back from the political class, from the media, from the liberal elite. It can be done, it must be done, join me and we will get it done. +p1123 +aVWhat I think we need to stand for are solutions. I offer myself as a leader to the people of this country because I think they're looking for solutions, not lawyers arguing over laws or entertainers throwing out sound bites that draw media attention. We need to solve the problem. To solve the problem, we need to do something here at home and something over there in their caliphate. We need to deny them territory. But here at home, we need to do two fundamental things. Number one, we need to recognize that technology has moved on. The Patriot Act was signed in 2001, roughly. The iPhone was invented in 2007. The iPad was invented in 2011. Snapchat and Twitter, all the rest of it, have been around just for several years. Technology has moved on, and the terrorists have moved on with it. Let me tell you a story. Soon after 9/11, I got a phone call from the NSA. They needed help. I gave them help. I stopped a truckload of equipment. I had it turned around. It was escorted by the NSA into headquarters. We need the private sector's help, because government is not innovating. Technology is running ahead by leaps and bound. The private sector will help, just as I helped after 9/11. But they must be engaged, and they must be asked. I will ask them. I know them. +p1124 +aVYou know, listening to this conversation, let me just say, we have a lot of argument about laws but none of it solves the problem. Let's examine what happened, why did we miss the Tsarnaev brothers, why did we miss the San Bernardino couple? It wasn't because we had stopped collected metadata it was because, I think, as someone who comes from the technology world, we were using the wrong algorithms. This is a place where the private sector could be helpful because the government is woefully behind the technology curve. But secondly, the bureaucratic processes that have been in place since 9/11 are woefully inadequate as well. What do we now know? That DHS vets people by going into databases of known or suspected terrorists. And yet, we also know that +p1125 +aVThey do not need to be forced. They need to be asked to bring the best and brightest, the most recent technology to the table. I was asked as a CEO. I complied happily. And they will as well. But they have not been asked. That's why it cost billions of dollars to build an Obama website that failed because the private sector wasn't asked. +p1126 +aVI hope at some point you're going to ask me my strategy. +p1127 +aVWell, first I'll just point out that talking tough is not the same as being strong. And to wage war, we need a commander in chief who has made tough calls in tough times and stood up to be held accountable over and over, not first-term senators who've never made an executive decision in their life. One of the things I would immediately do, in addition to defeating them here at home, is bring back the warrior class \u2014 Petraeus, McChrystal, Mattis, Keane, Flynn. Every single one of these generals I know. Every one was retired early because they told President Obama things that he didn't want to hear. We must have Sunni-Arabs involved in this coalition. We must commit leadership, strength, support and resolve. I'll just add that Margaret Thatcher once said, "If you want something talked about, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman." +p1128 +aVThat is exactly what President Obama said. I'm amazed to hear that from a republican presidential candidate. But let's just start with, who got it wrong? Who really got it wrong? Hillary Clinton has gotten every foreign policy challenge wrong. Hitting the reset button with Vladimir Putin \u2013 recall that she called Bashar Al-Assad a positive reformer and then she opened an embassy and then later she said, over, and over, and over again, "Bashar Al-Assad must go." Although she wasn't prepared to do anything about it. Recall that Hillary Clinton was all for toppling Gadhafi then didn't listen to her own people on the ground. And then of course, when she lied about the terrorist attack in Benghazi, she invited more terrorist attacks. +p1129 +aVWe've mismanaged going into Iraq. +p1130 +aVWe've mismanaged going out of Iraq. +p1131 +aVWe actually... +p1132 +aVI didn't say I would cut off all communication with Putin. What I said was as president of the United States, now is not the time to talk with him. Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. There is a time and a place for everything. There is a time and a place for talk. And there is a time and a place for action. I know Vladimir Putin. He respects strength. He lied to our president's face; didn't both to tell him about warplanes and troops going into Syria. We need to speak to him from a position of strength. So as commander in chief, I will not speak to him until we've set up that no-fly zone; until we've gathered our Sunni-Arab allies and begun to deny +p1133 +aVThis doesn't do a thing to solve the problems...It doesn't do a thing to solve the problems. +p1134 +aVIt will not solve the problem. +p1135 +aVLadies and gentleman, this is why the American people are standing up. +p1136 +aVThis is why the nation is fed up... +p1137 +aVWe have been talking about this... +p1138 +aVSorry, but you haven't gotten to me. This is why... +p1139 +aVthe people are fed up with the political class. +p1140 +aVWell, first, Kim Jong-Un is a dangerous leader, without a doubt. And both Republican and Democrat administrations have been completely ineffective in dealing with him. So we must continue to isolate him. We will need China as part of that strategy. China is a rising adversary. So one of the things we have to do if we want China's support is to push back on China. They, too, recognize one thing \u2014 strength and their own economic interest. I have done business in China for 25 years, so I know that in order to get China to cooperate with us, we must first actually retaliate against their cyber-attacks so they know we're serious. We have to push back on their desire to control the trade route through the South China Sea through which flows $5 trillion worth of goods and services every year. We cannot let them control the disputed islands, and we must work with the Australians, the South Koreans, the Japanese and the Filipinos to contain China. And then we must ask for their support and their help with North Korea. Because believe it or not, China is as concerned about Kim Jong-Un as we are. +p1141 +aVI too remember September 11th. I remember immediately putting into place security procedures all throughout our company that did business in 170 countries where we thought corporate interests would be attacked next. To take our country back, to keep our nation safe, we have to begin by beating Hillary Clinton. We need to unify our party. We need to better than our government, which 75 percent of the American people now think is corrupt and incompetent. They're right. We need to better than our politics. 80 percent think we have a professional/political class of both parties that cares more about its power, position and privilege than actually on getting anything done. We need to unify our party, we need a real Conservative in the White House, and we need to beat Hillary Clinton to take our country back and keep our nation safe. I can. I am. And together, if you join me, we will take our country back. +p1142 +aVWell, first of all, I must say as I think about that question, I think about a woman I met the other day. I would guess she was 40 years old. She had several children. And she said to me, you know, Carly, I go to bed every night afraid for my children's future. And that really struck me. This is America. A mother is going to bed afraid for her children's future. And the reason she's afraid for her children's future is because we've had problems for a long time. Yes, problems have gotten much worse under Democrats. But the truth is, this government has been growing bigger and bigger, more corrupt, less effective, crushing the engine of economic growth for a very long time. This isn't about just replacing a Democrat with a Republican now. It's about actually challenging the status quo of big government. Big government has created a big business called politics. And there are lots of people invested in the status quo of that big business called politics. Specifically, we need actually to do five things to really get this economy going again. We need to go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dollar is being spent, we can challenge any dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. We need to actually reform the tax code. Go to a three-page tax code. Yes, there are plans that would reform our tax code to three pages. In addition to rolling back what President Obama has done, we need to do a top-to-bottom review of every single regulation on the books. That hasn't been done in 50 years. We need to pass the +p1143 +aVWell, first Obamacare has to be repealed because it's failing... ...it's failing the very people it was intended to help, but, also, it is croney-capitalism at its worst. Who helped write this bill? Drug companies, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, every single one of those kinds of companies are bulking up to deal with big government. See, that's what happens. As government gets bigger, and bigger \u2014 and it has been for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike \u2014 and business have to bulk up to deal with big government. So, we have to repeal it. It's tens of thousands of pages long, no one can possible understand it except the big companies, the lawyers, the accountants, the lobbyists that they hire to protect their interests. Then, we have to give back to states the responsibility to manage a high risk pool. We need to try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried. Health insurance has always been a cozy, little game between regulators and health insurance companies. We need to try the free market. The free market. Where people actually have to compete. And, we 'ought to have the government ensure that you must \u2014 and I don't use that term often, that government 'ought to do something, but every healthcare provider 'ought to publish its costs, its prices, its outcomes, because as patients we don't know what we're buying. Now, let me just say \u2014 let me just say, I know more about innovation and entrepreneurship than anyone on this panel because I have led innovative businesses in the most highly competitive industry in the world for decades. The truth is the secret sauce of America is innovation, and entrepreneurship, it is why we must cut our government down to size, and hold it accountable. It's why we have to take our government back, because innovation and entrepreneurship is crushed by the crushing load of a 73,000 page tax code. It is crushed... ...by regulatory thicket that is so vast we don't even know what's in it anymore. It is crushed as well by government bureaucrats who don't do their jobs very well, and who are not held accountable, which is why I've said we got to take our government back, and to do that, we have to know where every dollar being spent, and be able to move any dollar. We have to hack through this regulatory thicket, repeal so much, but, also, know what's in that regulatory thicket \u2014 we don't even know what regulations have been passed. Third, we need to build a meritocracy \u2014 Scott Walker, by the way, is trying now to do in Wisconsin... ...Finally, we need to get to a three page tax code, and, yes, that plan exists. +p1144 +aVSorry, I can't hear you. +p1145 +aV...Absolutely... +p1146 +aV...You need to give... +p1147 +aVThe alternative is to allow states to manage high risk pools for those who really need help. Look, I'm a cancer survivor, OK? I understand that you cannot have someone who's battled cancer just become known as a pre-existing condition. I understand that you cannot allow families to go bankrupt if they truly need help. But, I also understand that Obamacare isn't helping anyone. We're throwing more, and more people into Medicaid, and fewer, and fewer doctors are taking those payments. The point is Obamacare is crushing small businesses, it is not helping the families it was intended to help. So, let us allow states to manage high risk pools. Let us try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried, the free market. Let us ensure that as patients, and customers... +p1148 +aV...that we have information to shop wisely for our health care. +p1149 +aV...Yes, the middle ground is this... +p1150 +aV...This is why \u2014 this is why we must combine, actually, zero-based budgeting with tax reform because unless we can examine, and cut, and move, every single dollar of discretionary spending in the federal government, we cannot reform taxes and reduce spending at the same time. Ask yourself this question, how is it possible that the federal government gets more money each and every year, which the federal government has been doing, receiving more money every year for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike, and yet, never has enough money to do the important things? The answer? All the money's always spoken for. All the money's spoken for. So, we have to go to zero-based budgeting, which is a simple idea \u2014 by the way, there's been a bill for zeros-based (ph) budgeting... ...It exists, it can be voted on. Every dollar must be examined. Any dollar can be cut. Any dollar can be cut, any dollar can be moved. We have to go to a three page tax code. You lower every rate, you close every loophole, why? Because the government uses the tax code to decide winners, and losers. You have to strip the corruption out of the tax code to pay for it. You have to know where every single dollar is being spent... +p1151 +aV...Cut where you need to, and invest where you need to... +p1152 +aV...The two go hand in hand... +p1153 +aVYou know, Mr. Trump fancies himself a very good negotiator. And, I accept that he's done a lot of good deals, so, Mr. Trump 'ought to know that we should not speak to people from a position of weakness. Senator Paul should know that as well. One of the reasons I've said that I would not be talking to Vladimir Putin right now, although I have met him as well, not in a green room for a show, but in a private meeting. One of the reasons I've said I wouldn't be talking to Vladimir Putin right now is because we are speaking to him from a position of weakness brought on by this administration, so, I wouldn't talk to him for awhile, but, I would do this. I would start rebuilding the Sixth Fleet right under his nose, rebuilding the military \u2014 the missile defense program in Poland right under his nose. I would conduct very aggressive military exercises in the Baltic States so that he understood we would protect our +p1154 +aV...we have the strongest military on the face of the planet, and everyone has to know it. +p1155 +aV...Ronald Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. +p1156 +aV...he walked away, he quit talks... +p1157 +aV...when it was time to quit talking... +p1158 +aVCan I just \u2014 could I just say, as a chief executive who's had to make tough calls to save jobs and to grow jobs, I think what's interesting about Dodd-Frank is it's a great example of how socialism starts. Socialism starts when government creates a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. Government created the problem. Government created the problem of a real estate boom. How did we create it? Under Republican and Democrats alike, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, everybody gathered together, Republicans and Democrats, and said, "home ownership is part of the American dream. Let's create a bubble," and then government stepped in \u2014 by the way, under president George W. Bush, banks were told \u2014 encouraged \u2014 told, really \u2014 to buy other banks, to take money. And now what do we have with Dodd-Frank? The classic of crony capitalism. The big have gotten bigger, 1,590 community banks have gone out of business, and on top of all that, we've created something called the Consumer Financial Production Bureau, a vast bureaucracy with no congressional oversight that's digging through hundreds of millions of your credit records to detect fraud. This is how socialism starts, ladies and gentlemen. We must take our government back. +p1159 +aVImagine a Clinton presidency. Our military will continue to deteriorate. Our veterans will not be cared for. And, no, Mrs. Clinton, that situation is not exaggerated. The rich will get richer. The poor will get poorer. The middle class will continue to get crushed. And as bad as that picture is, what's even worse is that a Clinton presidency will corrode the character of this nation. Why? Because of the Clinton way: Say whatever you have to, lie as long as you can get away with it. We must beat Hillary Clinton. Carly Fiorina can beat Hillary Clinton. I will beat Hillary Clinton. And under a President Fiorina, we will restore the character of this nation, the security of this nation, the prosperity of this nation, because as citizens, we will take our government back. +p1160 +aVWell, gee, after the last debate, I was told that I didn't smile enough. +p1161 +aVBut I also think that these are very serious times; 75 percent of the American people think the federal government is corrupt. I agree with them. And this big powerful, corrupt bureaucracy works now only for the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected. Meantime, wages have stagnated for 40 years. We have more Americans out of work or just Americans who quit looking for work for 40 years. Ours was intended to be a citizen government. This is about more than replacing a D with an R. We need a leader who will help us take our government back. +p1162 +aVLet me just say on taxes, how long have we been talking about tax reform in Washington, D.C.? We have been talking about it for decades. We now have a 73,000-page tax code. There have been more than 4,000 changes to the tax plan since 2001 alone. There are loads of great ideas, great conservative ideas from wonderful think tanks about how to reform the tax code. The problem is we never get it done. We have talked about tax reform in every single election for decades. It never happens. And the politicians always say it is so complicated, nobody but a politician can figure it out. The truth is this, the big problem, we need a leader in Washington who understands how to get something done, not to talk about it, not to propose it, to get it done. +p1163 +aVThat's right, three pages. +p1164 +aVYou know why three? +p1165 +aVNo. You know why three? Because only if it's about three pages are you leveling the playing field between the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected who can hire the armies of lawyers and accountants and, yes, lobbyists to help them navigate their way through 73,000 pages. Three pages is about the maximum that a single business owner or a farmer or just a couple can understand without hiring somebody. Almost 60 percent of American people now need to hire an expert to understand their taxes. So yes, you're going to hear a lot of talk about tax reform \u2014 +p1166 +aV\u2014 the issue is who is going to get it done. +p1167 +aVYou know, the +p1168 +aVWell, this is one of the reasons why Tom Perkins and I had disagreements in the boardroom, Becky. Nevertheless, one of the things that I think people don't always understand is how accountable a CEO actually is. So you know, I had to report results every 90 days in excruciating detail. I had to answer every single question about every single result and every single projection in public until there were no more questions. And if I misrepresented those results or those projections in any way, I was held criminally liable. Imagine \u2014 imagine \u2014 if a politician were held to that standard of account. I will run on my record all day long. And I believe people need a leader who is prepared to make tough calls in tough times and stand up... +p1169 +aV...and be held accountable. +p1170 +aVYou know, I want to go back for a moment to what we were just talking about. Crony capitalism is alive and well, and has been so in Washington, D.C. for decades. What's crony capitalism? Crony capitalism is what happens when government gets so big and so powerful that only the big and the powerful can handle it. So why are the pharmaceutical companies consolidating? Why are there five even bigger Wall Street banks now, instead of the ten we used to have on Wall Street? Because when government gets big and powerful, the big feel like they need to get even bigger to deal with all that power, and meanwhile, the small and the powerless \u2014 in this case, 1,590 community banks \u2014 go out of business. You see, folks, this is how socialism starts. Government causes a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. This is why, fundamentally, we have to take our government back. The student loan problem has been created by government. Government trying to level the playing field between Internet and brick-and-mortar creates a problem. The FCC jumping in now and saying, "we're going to put 400 pages of regulation over the Internet," is going to create massive problems. But guess who pushed for that regulation? The big Internet companies. This is what's going on. Big and powerful use big and powerful government to their advantage. It's why you see Walgreens buying Rite Aid. It's why you see the pharmaceuticals getting together. It's you see the health insurance companies getting together. It's why you see the banks consolidating. And meanwhile, small businesses are getting crushed. Community- based businesses and farms are getting crushed. Community banks are going out of business. Big government favors the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected, and crushes the small and the powerless. +p1171 +aVIt is why we have to simplify. It is why we have to reduce the size and power of government. +p1172 +aVIt's the only way to level the playing field between big and powerful and small and powerless. +p1173 +aVBecky, it is the height of hypocrisy for Mrs. Clinton to talk about being the first woman President, when every single policy she espouses, and every single policy of President Obama has been demonstrably bad for women. 92 percent \u2014 92 percent of the jobs lost during Barack Obama's first term belonged to women. Senator Cruz is precisely right. Three million women have fallen into poverty under this administration. The number of women \u2014 +p1174 +aV\u2014 living in extreme poverty is the highest level on record. I am a conservative because I know our values, our principles and our policies \u2014 +p1175 +aV\u2014 work better to lift everyone up, men and women. +p1176 +aVNo, the Federal Government should not play a larger role. Look, every time the Federal Government gets engaged in something it gets worse. And then the Government steps in to try and solve the problem and we get a little further down to that progressive vision that Hillary Clinton is talking about. Companies should, if they want to attract the best workers, provide a good set of benefits. But honestly, if you're a small business owner today you are being crushed. We have 400,000 small businesses forming every year in this country. How great is that? They are employing themselves, they are potentially employing others. The bad news is, we have 470,000 going out of business every year. And why? They cite Obamacare. They are refusing to... +p1177 +aVI think it's a wonderful that that businesses start a 401(k). The point I'm making is this, the Federal Government should not be in a lot of things. There is no Constitutional role for the Federal Government in setting up \u2014 retirement plans. There is no Constitutional role for the Federal Government to be setting minimum wages... +p1178 +aV... The more the Government gets engaged in the economy, the slower the economy becomes. The more the Government gets engaged in the economy, it is demonstrably true... +p1179 +aV... The more the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected are advantaged. +p1180 +aVJohn, I \u2014 if I \u2014 a lot of people have jumped in here. I'd like to jump in. A lot of people have jumped in here. +p1181 +aVI understand. +p1182 +aVI would just say that... ... I would just say this, we've heard a lot of great ideas up here, and I agree with what Senator Rubio said. Every election we talk about this. Every election we talk about Medicare and Social Security reform. It never happens. I would like to start with a basic. Let us actually go to zero- based budgeting so we know where the money is being spent. It's kind of basic. There is a bill sitting in the House that would actually pass and have us go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dime of your money is being spent instead of only talking about how much more we're going to spend year after year after year. My point is this. While there are lots of good ideas for reform, we have never tackled the basics. And we finally need to tackle the basics to cut this government down to size and hold it accountable. So let's start by knowing where your money is being spent by the federal government. +p1183 +aVYou know, every election we hear a lot of talk. We hear a lot of good plans. We hear actually a lot of good intentions. But somehow for decades, nothing really has changed. What we need now is a proven leader who has produced results. That's how you go from secretary to CEO. You lead and you produce results. I will cut this government down to size and hold it accountable, simplify the tax code, roll back the regulations that have been spewing out of Washington, D.C. for 50 years. I may not be your dream candidate just yet, but I can assure you I am Hillary Clinton's worst nightmare. And in your heart of hearts, you cannot wait to see a debate between Hillary Clinton and Carly Fiorina. I will tell you this, I will beat Hillary Clinton. And with your vote and your support and your prayers, I will lead with the citizens of this great nation the resurgence of this great nation. +p1184 +aVGood evening. My story, from secretary to CEO, is only possible in this nation, and proves that everyone of us has potential. My husband, Frank, of 30 years, started out driving a tow truck for a family owned auto body shop. We have come to a pivotal point in our nation's history where this nation's possibilities and potential are being crushed by a government grown so big, so powerful, so inept, so corrupt, and a political class that refuses to do anything about it. I am prepared to lead the resurgence of this great nation. +p1185 +aVYou know, I think Mr. Trump is a wonderful entertainer. He's been terrific at that business. I also think that one of the benefits of a presidential campaign is the character and capability, judgment and temperament of every single one of us is revealed over time and under pressure. All of us will be revealed over time and under pressure. I look forward to a long race. +p1186 +aVThat's not for me to answer; it is for the voters of this country to answer, and I have a lot of faith in the common sense and good judgment of the voters of the United States of America. +p1187 +aVJake, I'll tell you \u2014 I'll tell you why people are supporting outsiders. It's because you know what happens if someone's been in the system their whole life, they don't know how broken the system is. A fish swims in water, it doesn't know it's water. It's not that politicians are bad people, it's that they've been in that system forever. The truth is 75 percent of the American people think the government is corrupt; 82 percent of the American people think these problems that have festered for 50 years in some cases, 25 years in other cases. The border's been insecure for 25 years; 307,000 veterans have died waiting for health care. These things have gone on for so long because no one will challenge the status quo. You know what a leader does? They challenge the status quo, they solve problems that have festered for a long time and they produce results. That is what my whole life has been about. People know this is about far more than replacing a D with an R \u2014 +p1188 +aV\u2014 this is about changing the system. +p1189 +aVHaving... +p1190 +aVHaving met Vladimir Putin, if I may... +p1191 +aVHaving met Vladimir Putin, I wouldn't talk to him at all. We've talked way too much to him. What I would do, immediately, is begin rebuilding the Sixth Fleet, I would begin rebuilding the missile defense program in Poland, I would conduct regular, aggressive military exercises in the Baltic states. I'd probably send a few thousand more troops into Germany. Vladimir Putin would get the message. By the way, the reason it is so critically important that every one of us know General Suleimani's name is because Russia is in Syria right now, because the head of the Quds force traveled to Russia and talked Vladimir Putin into aligning themselves with Iran and Syria to prop up Bashar al- Assad. Russia is a bad actor, but Vladimir Putin is someone we should not talk to, because the only way he will stop is to sense strength and resolve on the other side, and we have all of that within our control. We could rebuild the Sixth Fleet. I will. We haven't. We could rebuild the missile defense program. We haven't. I will. We could also, to Senator Rubio's point, give the Egyptians what they've asked for, which is intelligence. We could give the Jordanians what they've asked for... +p1192 +aV...bombs and materiel. We have not supplied it... +p1193 +aV...I will. We could arm the Kurds. They've been asking us for three years. All of this is within our control. +p1194 +aV...Jake... +p1195 +aV...Jake, ... +p1196 +aVAnd then it'll be my turn. +p1197 +aVJake? +p1198 +aVJake? +p1199 +aVDana, I'd like to... +p1200 +aVDana, I would like to link these two issues, both of which are incredibly important, Iran and Planned Parenthood. One has something to do with the defense of the security of this nation. The other has something to do with the defense of the character of this nation. You have not heard a plan about Iran from any politician up here, here is my plan. On day one in the Oval Office, I will make two phone calls, the first to my good friend to Bibi Netanyahu to reassure him we will stand with the state of Israel. The second, to the supreme leader, to tell him that unless and until he opens every military and every nuclear facility to real anytime, anywhere inspections by our people, not his, we, the United States of America, will make it as difficult as possible and move money around the global financial system. We can do that, we don't need anyone's cooperation to do it. And every ally and every adversary we have in this world will know that the United States in America is back in the leadership business, which is how we must stand with our allies. As regards Planned Parenthood, anyone who has watched this videotape, I dare Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama to watch these tapes. Watch a fully formed fetus on the table, it's heart beating, it's legs kicking while someone says we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain. This is about the character of our nation, and if we will not stand up in and force President Obama to veto this bill, shame on us. +p1201 +aVYou know, it's interesting to me, Mr. Trump said that he heard Mr. Bush very clearly and what Mr. Bush said. I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said. +p1202 +aVDana, with all being said to Mr. Trump... +p1203 +aVImmigration did not come up in 2016 because Mr. Trump brought it up. We talked about it in 2012, we talked about it in 2008. We talked about it in 2004. +p1204 +aVWe have been talking about it for 25 years. This is why people are tired of politicians. +p1205 +aVFirst let me say, We have just spent a good bit of time discussing, as Republicans, how to solve this problem. I would ask your audience at home to ask a very basic question. Why have Democrats not solved this problem? President Obama campaigned in 2007 and 2008 on solving the immigration problem. He entered Washington with majorities in the House and the Senate. He could have chosen to do anything to solve this pro \u2014 this problem. Instead, he chose to do nothing. Why? because the Democrats don't want this issue solved. +p1206 +aVThey want it to be an issue that they can use. As to birthright citizenship... +p1207 +aV...the truth is, you can't just wave your hands and say "the 14th Amendment is gonna go away." It will take an extremely arduous vote in Congress, followed by two-thirds of the states, and if that doesn't work to amend the Constitution, then it is a long, arduous process in court. And meanwhile, what will continue to go on is what has gone on for 25 years. With all due respect, Mr. Trump, we've been talking about illegal immigration for 25 years. San Francisco has been a sanctuary city since 1989. There are 300 of them. And meanwhile, what has happened? Nothing. The border remains insecure. The legal immigration system remains broken. Look, we know what it takes to secure a border. We've heard a lot of great ideas here. Money, manpower, technology... +p1208 +aV...mostly, apparently, leadership... +p1209 +aV...the kind of leadership that understands how to get results. +p1210 +aVBut you \u2014 you would stipulate, Mr. Trump, but not everyone agrees with you. +p1211 +aVOK. +p1212 +aVI led Hewlett Packard through a very difficult time, the worst technology recession in 25 years. The +p1213 +aV\u2014 out a full-page ad in the New York Times to say he was wrong, I was right. I was a terrific CEO, the board was dysfunctional. And he thinks I will make a magnificent president of the United States. +p1214 +aVYou know, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld is a well-known Clintonite and honestly had it out for me from the moment that I arrived at Hewlett Packard. But honestly, Mr. Trump, I find it quite rich that you would talk about this. You know, there are a lot of us Americans who believe that we are going to have trouble someday paying back the interest on our debt because politicians have run up mountains of debt using other people's money. That is in fact precisely the way you ran your casinos. You ran up mountains of debt, as well as losses, using other people's money, and you were forced to file for bankruptcy not once \u2014 +p1215 +aV\u2014 not twice, four times, a record four times. Why should we trust you to manage the finances \u2014 +p1216 +aV\u2014 of this nation any differently than you managed the finances \u2014 +p1217 +aV\u2014 of your casinos? +p1218 +aVWell \u2014 +p1219 +aVWell, Mr. Trump \u2014 +p1220 +aVA track record of leadership is not a game. It is the issue in this election. +p1221 +aVWell, I thought we had been hearing quite a bit about Govenor Christie's record as governor, actually. I think track records are very important. I completely agree that what's at stake here is the future of this nation, and the future of every American. But I do think that a track record of leadership is vital because in the end this election is about leadership. And let's talk about what leadership is. It's not about braggadocio, it is about challenging the status quo, solving problems, producing results. And the highest calling of leadership is to unlock potential in others. +p1222 +aVProblems have festered in Washington for too long. And the potential of this nation is being crushed. +p1223 +aVYou see, Governor Christie, people spend time talking about their track records, and Mr. Trump and I have every right to do the same. And Mrs. Clinton has to defend her track record. Her track record of lying about Benghazi, of lying about her e- mails, about lying about her servers. She does not have a track record of accomplishment. Like Mrs. Clinton, I, too, have travels hundreds of thousands of miles around the globe. But unlike Mrs. Clinton, I know flying is an activity, not an accomplishment. Mrs. Clinton \u2014 if you want to stump a Democrat, ask them to name a accomplishment of Mrs. Clinton's. +p1224 +aVWe just spent \u2014 we just spent the last 10 minutes... +p1225 +aV...Jake, since everyone has gotten to weigh in on this military issue, I'd like to be able to do the same. We have spent probably 12 minutes talking about the past. Let's talk about the future. We need the strongest military on the face of the planet, and everyone has to know it. And, specifically, what that means is we need about 50 Army brigades, we need about 36 Marine battalions, we need somewhere between 300, and 350 naval ships, we need to upgrade every leg of the nuclear triad... +p1226 +aV...we need to reform the Department of Defense, we need as well... +p1227 +aV...to invest in our military technology, and we need to care for our veterans so 307,000... +p1228 +aV...aren't dying waiting for health care. +p1229 +aVJake, may I just say... +p1230 +aVJake \u2014 Jake... +p1231 +aVI very much hope I am the only person on this stage who can say this, but I know there are millions of Americans out there who will say the same thing. My husband Frank and I buried a child to drug addiction. So, we must invest more in the treatment of drugs. +p1232 +aVI agree with Senator Paul. I agree with states' rights. But we are misleading young people when we tell them that marijuana is just like having a beer. It's not. And the marijuana that kids are smoking today is not the same as the marijuana that Jeb Bush smoked 40 years ago. We do \u2014 sorry, Barbara. We do need \u2014 we do need criminal justice reform. We have the highest incarceration rates in the world. Two-thirds of the people in our prisons are there for non-violent offenses, mostly drug related. It's clearly not working. But we need to tell young people the truth. Drug addiction is an epidemic, and it is taking too many of our young people. I know this sadly from personal experience. +p1233 +aVI wouldn't change the $10 bill, or the $20 bill. I think, honestly, it's a gesture. I don't think it helps to change our history. What I would think is that we ought to recognize that women are not a special interest group. Women are the majority of this nation. We are half the potential of this nation, and this nation will be better off when every woman has the opportunity to live the life she chooses. +p1234 +aVSecretariat. +p1235 +aVI think what this nation can be and must be is symbolized by Lady Liberty and Lady Justice. Lady Liberty stands tall and strong. She is clear-eyed and resolute. She doesn't shield her eyes from the realities of the world, but she faces outward into the world nevertheless, as we always must. And she holds her torch high, because she knows she is a beacon of hope in a very troubled world. And Lady Justice, Lady Justice holds a sword by her side, because she is a fighter, a warrior for the values and the principles that have made this nation great. She holds a scale in her other hand. And with that scale she says all of us are equal in the eyes of God. And so all of us must be equal in the eyes of the law and the government, powerful and powerless alike. And she wears a blindfold. And with that blindfold she is saying to us that it must be true, it can be true that in this country, in this century, it doesn't matter who you are, it doesn't matter what you look like, it doesn't matter how you start, it doesn't matter your circumstances, here in this nation, every American's life must be filled with the possibilities that come from their God-given gifts. One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. +p1236 +aVWhen America does not lead, the world is a dangerous and a tragic place. This is a bad deal. Obama broke every rule of negotiation. Yes, our allies are not perfect, but Iran is at the heart of most of the evil that is going on in the Middle East through their proxy. +p1237 +aVYou know, when I started my campaign on May 4th of last year, I was 17 out of 16 candidates. Nobody polled my name. Nobody had ever heard of me. Less than 4 percent of you had ever heard of me. The people in Iowa showed up and they are still showing up. Hundreds and hundreds of them at every event. I have done over 150 events in the state of Iowa and I have 15 more coming up. Now, by the way, I start there because someone asked me about midway through my campaign, what's the biggest surprise to you on the campaign trail? And I will tell you what the biggest surprise is: the chasm, the yawning chasm, between what the national media talks about and what the people of Iowa and the people of this great nation talk about. That's the biggest surprise. So guess what, Martha? Guess what, sorry. The people of Iowa never ask me about a crisis in the GOP, they never ask me about the polls. They never ask me about the other candidates. What they ask me about is Carly, tell us why zero based budgeting is so important. Tell us why you are a leader who is going to produce results. Tell us how you are going to defeat +p1238 +aVWell let me tell you this: news flash, President Obama, news flash, Mrs. Clinton -- climate change is not our most pressing national security threat. Actually -- actually, it is +p1239 +aVYou know, we have a professional, political class of both parties. We have been talking about the same issues for election cycle after election cycle. Yeah, government is big and out of control, and the only way to get it under control is to control the money. And the only way to control the money is to ask the federal government to budget the way you do, to examine every dollar, to cut any dollar to spend -- to move any dollar. The fancy word for that is zero-base budgeting. I call it common sense. That three-page tax code I talk about all the time here in Iowa? It's been around for 20 years. But politicians don't want to talk about it, and you bet the lobbyists don't want to talk about it. In fact, nobody wants to vote on a three-page tax code or zero- base budgeting, although they've both been around for a long time. You know why? Because if you get those two things done, you are goring everybody's ox. You are taking the political establishment apart. You are actually challenging the status quo, which is what we need in the Oval Office. So you know who I'm going to count on? The citizens of this great nation, because you have extraordinary power. But when you do not use it... ... you are losing it. So take out your smartphones, folks. The people of Iowa know what I'm talking about. You take out your smartphones. if you agree with me that three-page tax code needs to be passed, lobbyists aren't going to be in my office. If you agree we gotta finally pass zero-base budgeting, take out your smartphones. Press one for yes, ladies and gentlemen. Press two for no. Citizens, we must take our country back. +p1240 +aVWell, first of all, I haven't said that. What I have said is that in the process of examining every dollar, cutting any dollar and moving any dollar, we happen to know that in this vast federal bureaucracy we have about 260,000 federal government employees who are going to retire, and we shouldn't replace them. Secondly, at Hewlett Packard, as you know -- the people of Iowa know this -- we went through a tough time. The worst technology recession in 25 years -- a great company called Gateway used to do be right here in Iowa. But they didn't make the tough calls necessary to save all those jobs, and so they lost every one of those jobs. Yes, I've had to make some tough calls. We saved 80,000 jobs. We went on to grow to 160,000 jobs. And, frankly, I think the American people know we need a president who's going to make some tough calls. So let me tell you where I'm going to start. The American people got a bill passed through Congress that said we could fire the top 400 senior executives at the V.A. for dereliction of duty. When we know that 307,000 veterans have died waiting for health care and the V.A. handed out $142 million worth of bonuses for superb performance, I'm going to start by firing 400... ... senior executives at the V.A. +p1241 +aVHe is right there. He is right there. +p1242 +aVIt wasn't a personal attack. I was pointing out the fact that Hillary Clinton will do anything to gain and hang on to power, anything. Listen, if my husband did what Bill Clinton did, I would have left him long ago. So, here's the deal. Hillary Clinton has been climbing the ladder to try and get power and here now she is trying for the White House. She is probably more qualified for the big house, honestly. She has escaped prosecution more times than El Chapo, perhaps Sean Penn should interview her. The woman should be prosecuted. And while Mrs. Clinton has flown hundreds of thousands of world around the global, I have too. And I know flying is an activity not an accomplishment. While I know that she has held many positions and many titles she has not accomplished much of anything in her life. She has gotten every single foreign policy challenge wrong. She continues to lie to the American people. It's called the Clinton way. Both Bill and Hillary practice it, the Clinton way. Say whatever you have to say, do whatever you have to say. Lie as long as you can get away with it. Hillary Clinton cannot be the president of these United States. +p1243 +aVWell, you know, Hillary Clinton hasn't been indicted either. So that tells us a lot about our justice system in this country. But, look, the facts of Planned Parenthood have not changed, folks, and I will not be rendered silent on this issue or any other issue. And it doesn't matter what stage I'm on. Here are the facts. Planned Parenthood engages in partial birth abortion, in late-term abortion. They alter those abortion techniques to harvest and sell body parts. They have admitted that they are not going to accept compensation for this anymore. The reality is, most Americans find this practice horrific. Most Americans find horrific that Hillary Clinton's position on this is it's not a life until it's born. Most Americans find horrific Hillary Clinton's position or the Democrat party's position, that a young woman does not need her mother's permission to get an abortion. But if you are 13 years old, you can get an abortion, but you can't go to a tanning salon without your mother's permission. A president Fiorina -- in a president Fiorina budget, there will not be one dime for Planned Parenthood, although there would be a lot of money for women's health and we will finally pass the pain capable unborn child protection act. I will always stand for life and religious liberty... ... because this is about the character of our nation. +p1244 +aVMartha, can I just say we've been talking tonight about a lot of issues and we've also been talking about the fact that the game is rigged and frankly, the media has a lot to do with that. It is outrageous frankly, that Fox News, and you, would question the pro-life credentials of Rick Santorum. That is outrageous. +p1245 +aVIn over 150 events I have come to know and love the people of Iowa. And the people of Iowa know what the rest of Americans have figured out, this ain't working anymore. The government no longer works for those who pay for it. The professional political class says and does whatever they need to do to win, and then does whatever they please. We need to return to a citizen government. That is why I am running for President. The media, the establishment, they all want to tell you this elections over, they know who's going to win it, except that you haven't... ... cast a single vote yet. So, the people of Iowa, stand with me, fight with me. Caucus for me. It is time to take our country back. +p1246 +aVWell, thank you. Good evening. If I may begin by saying how honored I am to be standing here with two former Iowa Caucus winners. Governor, Senator. And how honored I am to be talking with all of you. You know, I'm not a political insider. I haven't spent my lifetime running for office. The truth is I have had and been blessed by a lot of opportunities to do a lot of things in my life. And unlike another woman in this race, I actually love spending time with my husband. I'm standing here because I think we have to restore a citizen government in this country. I think we have to end crony capitalism. The crony capitalism that starts with both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. You know, Hillary Clinton sits inside government and rakes in millions, handing out access and favors. And Donald Trump sits outside government and rakes in billions buying people like Hillary Clinton. The state of our economy is not strong. We have record numbers of men out of work. We have record numbers of women living in poverty. We have young people who no longer believe that the American dream applies to them. We have working families whose wages have stagnated for decades, all while the rich get richer, the powerful get more powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected get more connected. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. +p1247 +aVAmerica must lead because when we do not lead, when this exceptional nation does not lead, the world is more dangerous and a more tragic place. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, they all refuse to lead. Worse, they refuse to respond when this nation is provoked. Hillary Clinton famously asked what difference does it make how four Americans died in Benghazi? Mrs. Clinton, here's what difference it makes. When you do not stand up and say the truth, that this was a purposeful terrorist attack, when you do not say the United States of America will retaliate for that attack, terrorists assume it's open season. We have refused to respond to every provocation. The President wouldn't even mention the fact that Iran had taken two Navy boats and our sailors \u2014 hostage. He didn't mention the fact that they violated the Geneva convention. He didn't respond to the fact that Iran launched two ballistic missile just a short time ago, in direct violation of a deal they had just signed. We didn't respond to the fact that North Korea attacked Sony Pictures. When we refuse to respond over, and over to provocation and bad behavior, we will get more provocation and bad behavior. I know most of our allies personally. I have met many of our adversaries. I know our military and our intelligence capability, and I know this. When we will not stand with our allies, when we will not respond to our adversaries, when we do not lead in the world the world is a dangerous and tragic place. I will be a Commander in Chief who will lead. +p1248 +aVOf course I'm worried about similar problems in the United States. We can not allow refugees to enter this country unless we can adequately vet them and we know we can't. Therefore we should stop allowing refugees into this country. And by the way, we do not need to be lectured about why we're angry and frustrated and fearful because we've had an illegal immigration problem in this country for 25 years. And we have every right to be frustrated about the fact that politicians stand up in election after election after election and promise us to fix the problem and yet, it has never been fixed. I offer leadership that understands that actions speak louder than words, that results count. We must secure our border. We must fix our broken immigration system. We must enforce a pro-American immigration system that serves our interests, not the rest of the world. I understand what it takes to translate goals into results and that is what I will do as president of the United States. Of course, we should be worried, for heavens sakes. This administration has now told us they don't know who has overstayed a visa. This administration has told us they don't even bother to check Facebook or Twitter to find out who's pledging allegiance to jihadis. We can do better than this, citizens. We need to take our country back. +p1249 +aVWe need to be very clear-eyed now about who are our allies and who are our adversaries. In the fight against +p1250 +aVAnd we all believe the polling data all the time, don't we? +p1251 +aVOh, it's a problem for so many reasons. First of all, it is yet another lawless executive order. You see, he doesn't like the fact that Congress has rejected his ideas twice on a bipartisan basis, so he's decided he just gets to override them. Sorry, Mr. President, not the way "The Constitution" works. Secondly......secondly, he basically admitted in that speech that he hasn't been paying much attention to enforcing the laws we have. He said, gee, we need a few more FBI agents. That would have helped, perhaps, stop a tragedy here in South Carolina with Dylann Roof, a guy who clearly never should have been sold a gun. In other words, Mr. President, you're right, we need to enforce the laws we have. Let's enforce the laws we have. There are criminals running around with guns who shouldn't have them. We don't prosecute any of them. Less than 1 percent. But I want to go back to the technology issue for a moment, if I may, as well, because in this regard, I disagree with Senator Santorum. Look, I come from the technology industry and I can tell you there is one thing that bureaucracies don't know how to do. They do not know how to innovate. We have come seven generations of technology since 2011. We have bureaucracies that are incapable of bringing in that innovation. So, yes, there are some very specific things that we should ask the private sector to help us with, including making sure we have the latest and greatest in algorithms to search through all these databases so that we find terrorists before they attack us, not after it's too late. And, finally, when a president who understands technology in the Oval Office. Mrs. Clinton, actually, you cannot wipe a server with a towel. +p1252 +aVYes, and see... +p1253 +aVAs CEO of Hewlett Packard... +p1254 +aVAs CEO of Hewlett Packard, I was asked very specifically for some very real help. The help I was asked to provide, this is now public information. So I am not revealing what \u2014 something that was \u2014 was classified. We had a very large shipment of equipment, software and hardware, headed to a retail outlet. And I was called by the head of the NSA, who had an urgent need for that capability, to begin laying out a program to track terrorists. We turned that truck around on a highway and it was escorted to the headquarters in San Jose. In World War II, our government went to the private sector and said, help us do things that we cannot do. The private sector has capabilities that the government does not have. There are some legal authorities that are required. The Sony attack could have been detected and repelled, had legal authorities been passed in Congress allowing private networks and public networks to work together. Those legal authorities have not yet been passed. Yes, I was asked to help. I know the technology industry. They will help again. But they must be asked by a president who understands what they have. +p1255 +aVFor decades, the professional political class in both parties has been talking about the middle class. For decades, Republicans in particular have been talking about reducing the size and scope of government, spending less money, reducing the complexity. And yet, for 40 years, the government has gotten bigger and more expensive. We now have a 75,000 plus page tax code, although politicians have run for office for decades promising reform. And all the while, middle class incomes have stagnated. You see, when government gets bigger and bigger, more powerful, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer and the middle class gets squeezed. We need to understand who the job creators are in this country, because we need more jobs to grow the middle class and to grow the wages of the middle class. Who creates jobs? Small businesses, new businesses, family-owned businesses. They create two thirds of the new jobs in this country and they employ half the people. I started out typing for a nine person real estate firm. My husband Frank started out driving a tow truck for a family-owned auto body shop. And we are crushing small businesses and destroying the middle class. So here's my blueprint to take back America. Let us first actually reform the tax code from 73,000 pages down to three. There's a 20-year-old plan to do exactly that. And then let us begin piece by piece to focus on every single dollar the government spends, so that we will spend less overall and still have enough for our priorities. And that requires the government to budget the way you do at home \u2014 examine every dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. The fancy term for that is zero- based budgeting, but I call it common sense. Citizens, we've got to take our country back. +p1256 +aVMy husband Frank, that I mentioned, I love spending time with. He's down there. He was real excited the other day because in New Hampshire, he was introduced as my eye candy. You know, everybody out there watching knows this. You cannot wait to see the debate between me and Hillary Clinton. You would pay to see that fight. And that's because you know I will win. And that's important. We've got to start by beating Hillary Clinton. All of my life, I have been told to sit down and be quiet. Settle. Settle. Don't challenge the system. That's what the American people are being told now and we have been told that for way too long \u2014 sit down and be quiet about our God, about our guns, about the abortion industry, settle for illegal immigration that's been a problem for decades, as so many of our problems have festered for decades. Accept a system of government and politics that no longer works for us. I will not sit down and be quiet. And neither will you. So I ask you to stand with me, fight with me, vote for me, citizens. It is time to take our future back, time to take our politics back. It is time to take our government back. Citizens, it is time. We must take our country back. +p1257 +asVBUSH +p1258 +(lp1259 +VOur freedom is under attack. Our economy is under water. The leading democrat is under investigation. And America is under the gun to lead the free world to protect our civilized way of life. Serious times require strong leadership, that's what at stake right now. Regarding national security, we need to restore the defense cuts of Barack Obama to rebuild our military, to destroy +p1260 +aVWell, first of all, we need to destroy +p1261 +aVLook, he mentioned me. I can bring \u2014 I can talk. This is \u2014 this is the problem. Banning all Muslims will make it harder for us to do exactly what we need to do, which is to destroy +p1262 +aVThey are relevant if we want to destroy +p1263 +aVDonald, this has got... +p1264 +aVThis is another example of the lack of seriousness. Look, this is \u2014 this is troubling because we're at war. They've declared war on us and we need to have a serious strategy to destroy +p1265 +aVYou said on September 30th that +p1266 +aVI'm talking right now. I'm talking. +p1267 +aVSeptember 30th you said... +p1268 +aVA little of your own medicine there, Donald. +p1269 +aVDonald, you're not going to be able to insult your way to the presidency. That's not going to happen. And I do have the strength. Leadership, leadership is not about attacking people and disparaging people. Leadership is about creating a serious strategy to deal with the threat of our time. And I laid out that strategy before the attacks in Paris and before the attacks in San Bernardino. And it is the way forward. We need to increase our military spending. We need to deal with a no- fly zone in Syria, a safe zone. We need to focus on building a military that is second-to-none... +p1270 +aV... so that we can destroy Islamic terrorism. +p1271 +aVI think we're focusing a whole... +p1272 +aVI do. I think the lesson's learned are that we have to have to have a strategy to get and a strategy to get out. Which means, that you create a stable situation. This president and this is what the focus ought to be, it's not the differences between us, it's Barack Obama does not believe America's leadership in the world is a force for good. He does not believe that our strength is a place where security can take place. He leads from behind. He creates an environment that now we're creating the most unstable situation we've had since the World War II era. The focus ought to be on the single fact that Hillary Clinton wants to double down on a failed foreign policy and we need to be united to defeat that because we're going to be in a place that is far less secure than it is today. Don't you all agree? +p1273 +aVBecause I \u2014 first of all, I know what I don't know. I know what I don't know. I would seek out, as I have, the best advice that exists. I won't get my information from the shows. I don't know if that's Saturday morning or Sunday morning. I don't know which one. I will seek out the best advice, and I will create a strategy and I will persuade the American people what the role of America should be. I've laid out a policy of rebuilding our military. All of the talk that we're seeing here \u2014 most of which I agree on, frankly \u2014 requires a much stronger military. We now have a lack of readiness that is quite scary. We have planes that were \u2014 that Harry Truman inaugurated, the B-52. We have \u2014 the Navy has been gutted and decimated. The readiness of the Marines is way down. If we're serious about America's leadership in the world, then we need to make sure that we have the back of the armed forces. The Armed Forces Radio is here listening to this today. I hope they know that if I'm president, I'll be a commander-in-chief, not an agitator- in-chief or a divider-in-chief, that I will lead this country in a way that will create greater security and greater safety. +p1274 +aVSo I was \u2014 I was \u2014 I was mentioned, so I can bring up something, I think, right? Look, the simple fact is, if you think this is tough you're not being treated fairly... +p1275 +aV... imagine what it's going to be like dealing with Putin or dealing with President Xi. +p1276 +aVOr dealing with the Islamic terrorism that exists. +p1277 +aVThis is a tough business to run for president. +p1278 +aVAnd it's \u2014 and we need...... to have a leader that is... +p1279 +aVYou're never going to be president of the United States by insulting your way to the presidency. +p1280 +aVDoesn't matter. Doesn't matter. +p1281 +aVYes. +p1282 +aVNo it isn't but it is an important subject to talk about for sure. And I think people have good ideas on this. Clearly, we need to secure the border. Coming here legally needs to be a lot easier than coming here illegally. If you don't have that, you don't have the rule of law. We now have a national security consideration, public health issues, we have an epidemic of heroine overdoses in all places in this country because of the ease of bringing heroine in. We have to secure the border. It is a serious undertaking and yes, we do need more fencing and we do need to use technology, and we do need more border control. And we need to have better cooperation by the way with local law enforcement. There are 800,000 cops on the beat, they ought to be trained to be the eyes and ears for law enforcement for the threat against terror as well as for immigration. This is a serious challenge and if we can get it right, yes, we'll start winning votes again. The real problem isn't anybody on this stage, the real problem is Barack Obama has had six years to advocate a position to fix this and he's done nothing. The congress has funded these programs of building more fencing and doing all this and he hasn't done it. He wants to maintain it as a wedge issue and so does Hillary Clinton. Republicans need to fix it and when we do, we'll be better off. +p1283 +aVI completely agree with Chris. And this administration has been so lax. Think about it. Hillary Clinton is using a private server for \u2014 where classified information go by. This is a \u2014 this is a serious administration? The president receives an inspector general's report that the Office of Personnel Management could be hacked into; they had antiquated firewalls; 23 million files have been \u2014 are in the hands of the Chinese allegedly, including, by the way, members of the press, it turns out, last week. Maybe that's the only part that's good news, so that you guys can get a feel for what it's like now to see this type of attack. This is something \u2014 we have to have the best defensive capabilities. We need to coordinate all of our efforts with the private sector. We need to give them liability relief so that we can do that. And offensively, we need to have capabilities second to none. We need to create a situation where they know that there will be adverse impacts if they continue to do what they're doing. They'll respect that. They'll respect a United States that is serious about protecting our \u2014 our infrastructure. If we don't do it, we'll continue to see what's \u2014 exactly what's happening, not just from the Chinese, by the way. The Russians and rogue actors, including +p1284 +aVAsk yourself, which candidate will keep you and our country safer, stronger and freer? Hillary Clinton has aligned herself with Barack Obama on +p1285 +aVYou've already made two comments, John. It's my turn. +p1286 +aVI got about four minutes in the last debate. I'm going to get my question right now. +p1287 +aVYes. +p1288 +aVFirst of all, we could get to 4 percent growth. The new normal of 2 percent puts huge demands on government. The reason why we have structural deficits is that more and more people are relying on government and the growth that we don't have makes \u2014 makes the deficit grow. A 4 percent growth strategy starts with tax reform. And the proposal that I've laid out is the one the Wall Street Journal editorial board has said is the most pro-growth of all the proposals out there. We cut the \u2014 we eliminate a lot of deductions and cut the rates down. A corporate rate of 20 percent, which puts us 5 percent above \u2014 below that of China, and allows us full expensing of investing. It would create an explosion of investment back into this country, creating higher-wage jobs, and so that's part of it. On the regulatory side I think we need to repeal every rule that Barack Obama has in terms of work in progress, every one of them. And start over. For those that are already in existence, the regulation of the Internet, we have to start over, but we ought to do that. The clean power act, we ought to repeal that and \u2014 and start over on that. The waters of the United States act, which is going to be devastating for agriculture and many industries, we should repeal that. We should repeal the rules because the economic costs of this far exceed the social benefit. And if we're serious about being serious about high growth, then we have to recognize that small businesses right now, more of them are closing than \u2014 than are \u2014 than are being set up. Hillary Clinton has said that Barack Obama's policies get an A. Really? One in 10 people right now aren't working or have given up altogether, as you said. That's not an A. One in seven people are living in poverty. That's not an A. One in five children are on food stamps. That is not an A. It may be the best that Hillary Clinton can do, but it's not the best America can do. +p1289 +aVThank you, Donald, for allowing me to speak at the debate. That's really nice of you. Really appreciate that. What a generous man you are. Twelve million illegal immigrants, to send them back, 500,000 a month, is just not \u2014 not possible. And it's not embracing American values. And it would tear communities apart. And it would send a signal that we're not the kind of country that I know America is. And even having this conversation sends a powerful signal \u2014 they're doing high-fives in the Clinton campaign right now when they hear this. That's the problem with this. We have to win the presidency. And the way you win the presidency is to have practical plans. Lay them out there. What we need to do is allow people to earn legal status where they pay a fine, where they work, where they don't commit crimes, where they learn English, and over an extended period of time, they earn legal status. That's the path \u2014 a proper path... +p1290 +aVI'm gonna fight as hard as I can to make sure that we shift power away from Washington, simplify the tax code, to spur economic activity in this country. Of course it's the highest priority. If we don't do that, we're stuck with the "new normal" of 2 percent growth. Hillary Clinton says, basically, we just gotta get used to it. Two percent growth means declining income for the middle class. It means more than 6 million people are stuck in poverty than the day that Barack Obama was inaugurated. It means \u2014 it means more demands on government \u2014 growing the economy is the first job, if we're going to be serious about dealing with the deficit and debt. And more importantly, people are really struggling right now. In this economy, the disposable income of the great middle is down 2,300 bucks. So yeah, we've created jobs, your \u2014 argue (ph) \u2014 brought that up early, and it was a good question. Jobs are being created, but they're lower-income jobs than the jobs that were lost. And the net effect of this is we need to jump-start the economy. I think of Jonathan (ph) and Reagan Love (ph), who are supporters of mine. Jonathan has been deployed by the National Guard, he is \u2014 he's in Oklahoma. Reagan Love \u2014 by the way, pretty great name, I think \u2014 is a teacher. When \u2014 if they had this tax cut, what they told me was that that $2,300 of money in their pocket \u2014 they would go back to South Carolina and start a business. Imagine what it would be like, instead of having more businesses closed than started, we had it the exact opposite. We would grow our economy, and the government would get the revenue necessary to make things \u2014 make things better. Hillary Clinton's approach to this is more top-down, more regulation, more taxes, more government, and it will destroy our economy. +p1291 +aVIt is \u2014 I'd say it is Islamic terrorism, and, back to the question of what we are dealing with in Iraq, when we pull back voids are filled. That's the lesson of history, and, sadly, this president does not believe in American leadership. He does not believe it, and the net result is that we have a caliphate the size of Indiana that gains energy each and everyday to recruit Americans in our own country, and the threat to the homeland relates to the fact that we have not dealt with this threat of terror in the Middle East. We should have a no fly zone in Syria. We should have a support for the remnants of the Syrian Free Army, and create safe zones. If you want to deal with the four million refugees that are leaving Syria because of the devastation there, then we 'ought to create safe zones for them to stay in the region rather than go to Europe. And, that requires American leadership. Without American leadership every other country in the neighborhood beings to change their priorities. It is tragic that you see Iraq, and other countries now talking to Russia. It wasn't that long ago that Russia had no influence in the region at all. And, so, the United States needs to lead across the board. This president, and Hillary Clinton both do not believe the United States has a leadership role to play, and we're now paying a price, and it will have a huge impact on the economy of this country if we don't deal with this. +p1292 +aV...They're not doing that... +p1293 +aV +p1294 +aVDonald \u2014 Donald's wrong on this. He is absolutely wrong on this. We're not going to be the world's policeman, but we sure as heck better be the world's leader. That's \u2014 there's a huge difference where, without us leading... ...voids are filled, and the idea that it's a good idea for Putin to be in Syria, let +p1295 +aVWe're not \u2014 we shouldn't have another financial crisis. What we ought to do is raise the capital requirements so banks aren't too big to fail. Dodd-Frank has actually done the opposite, totally the opposite, where banks now have higher concentration of risk in assets and the capital requirements aren't high enough. If we were serious about it, we would raise the capital requirements and lessen the load on the community banks and other financial institutions. This vast overreach has created a huge problem for our country, and Hillary Clinton wants to double down on that. I was in Washington, Iowa, about three months ago talking about how bad Washington, D.C., is. It was \u2014 get the \u2014 kind of the \u2014 anyway. We had... It \u2014 and I talked to a banker there. This is a bank that had $125 million of assets, four branches. Their compliance costs because of Dodd-Frank went from $100,000 to $600,000 in a two-year period. The net effect of that is \u2014 and they had \u2014 they had not one loan that went bad during the financial crisis. They knew \u2014 they knew their borrowers. They gave back to the community. They were engaged in the community. And imagine America without its community banks. Well, that's what's happening because of Dodd-Frank. That's \u2014 that's my worry. My worry is that the real economy has been hurt by the vast overreach of the Obama administration. And Hillary Clinton, she wants to double down on that. She wants to create even more so. She is a captive of the left of her party to the point now where she is \u2014 she was for the trade agreement in \u2014 the Pacific agreement. Now she's against it. She was \u2014 hinted she was for the XL pipeline. Now she's opposed to it. All the things that would create sustained economic growth she's now doubling down against it. +p1296 +aVYou could, if you were serious about... +p1297 +aVNo, I can't say that. But I can say, if you created higher capital requirements, that's the solution to this, not having concentration of assets. The bigger banks now have more and more control over \u2014 over the financial assets of this country. And that is the wrong approach to take. +p1298 +aVMaria? +p1299 +aV...We've had a 10% reduction in carbon emissions, and it isn't because of Solyndra. It isn't because of the central planners in Washington D.C. It's because we've had a great American success story, the explosion of natural gas. Taking two existing technologies, and applying it through innovation has created lower carbon emissions, lower energy costs \u2014 40% of all the economic activity in the age of Obama has come from the energy sector, and Hillary Clinton wants to suppress that. We \u2014 I think we ought to be expanding this. High growth is the path to lower carbon, and more jobs. I know for a fact, as Governor of the State of Florida, we created the largest land purchasing programs, and environment clean-up programs because we had a growing economy. Our revenues were growing at 4.4%. It allowed for resources to be able to protect the natural system. We got to get to a conservation... ...in environmental policy that goes beyond just carbon... +p1300 +aVJane Horton is sitting with my wife here today. Her husband, Chris, was killed in action in Afghanistan. And Jane spends her time now defending and fighting for military families. They're both heroes. I don't think we need an agitator-in-chief or a divider-in-chief. We need a commander-in-chief that will rebuild our military and restore respect to our veterans by revamping and fixing a broken Veterans Administration, That's my pledge to you. I ask for your support. Thank you. +p1301 +aVYou know, I am by my nature impatient. And this is not an endeavor that rewards that. You gotta be patient. You gotta be \u2014 stick with it, and all that. But also, I can't fake anger. I believe this is still the most extraordinary country on the face of the Earth. And it troubles me that people are rewarded for tearing down our country. It's never been that way in American politics before. I can't do it. I just don't believe that this country's days are going to be deeply \u2014 you know, going down. I think we're on the verge of the greatest time, and I want to fix the things to let people rise up. +p1302 +aVCould I \u2014 could I bring something up here, because I'm a constituent of the senator and I helped him and I expected that he would do constituent service, which means that he shows up to work. He got endorsed by the Sun-Sentinel because he was the most talented guy in the field. He's a gifted politician. But Marco, when you signed up for this, this was a six-year term, and you should be showing up to work. I mean, literally, the Senate \u2014 what is it, like a French work week? You get, like, three days where you have to show up? You can campaign, or just resign and let someone else take the job. There are a lot of people living paycheck to paycheck in Florida as well, they're looking for a senator that will fight for them each and every day. +p1303 +aVHe wasn't my senator. +p1304 +aVWell, I've been \u2014 +p1305 +aVNo, no. What I said was I don't believe that I would be president of the United States and have the same dysfunction that exists in Washington, D.C. now. +p1306 +aVDon't vote for me if you want to keep the gridlock in Washington, D.C. +p1307 +aVBut if you want someone who has a proven, effective leadership, that was a governor of a state, that transformed the culture there, elect me so I can fight for the American people and change the culture in Washington, D.C. +p1308 +aV, the great majority of Republicans and Americans believe in a hopeful future. They don't believe in building walls and a pessimistic view of the future. They're concerned that Washington is so dysfunctional it is holding them back. There are lids on people's aspirations. Think about it: six and a half million people working part-time. Workforce participation rates lower than they were in 1977. Six million more people living in poverty than the day that Barack Obama got elected president, and the left just wants more of the same. We have to offer a compelling alternative that is based on hope and optimism and grounded in serious policy, which I've laid out. And you can go get it at jeb2016.com. +p1309 +aVWell, the deal was done. Barack Obama got his massive tax increase, and there was no spending cuts. You just see the recent deal announced today or yesterday, more spending, more tax increasing, more regulation. And now we have to accept 2 percent, the new normal for economic growth. And the net result is the middle class has $2,300 less in their pockets than the day that Barack Obama got elected president. And now they see Hillary Clinton proposing a third term of economic policy for our country. We need to reverse that. And my record was one of cutting taxes each and every year. You don't have to guess about it, because I actually have a record. $19 billion of tax cuts, 1.3 million jobs created. We were one of two states to go to AAA bond rating, and our government spending was far less than the spending in people's income. +p1310 +aVYou find me... +p1311 +aVYou find me a Democrat \u2014 you find me a Democrat that will cut spending ten dollars? Heck, find me a Republican in Congress that would cut spending ten dollars. I'll talk to them. +p1312 +aVLook, the \u2014 the deal is already done. The biggest tax increase happened under the watch of Barack Obama, and spending's gone up. You find a Democrat that's for cutting taxes \u2014 cutting spending ten dollars, I'll give them a warm kiss. +p1313 +aVLook, the \u2014 the simple fact is that my plan actually gives the middle class the greatest break: $2,000 per family. And if you make $40,000 a year, a family of four, you don't pay any income tax at all. Simplifying the code and lowering rates, both for corporations and \u2014 and personal rates, is exactly what we need to do. You think about the regulatory cost and the tax cost \u2014 that's why small businesses are closing, rather than being formed in our country right now. The big corporations have the scale to deal with all of this. And what I think all of us are saying is, our monetary policy, our tax policy, regulatory policy needs to be radically changed so we can create high sustained growth for income to rise. The government has tried it their way. Under \u2014 under Barack Obama and the proposals of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and others, they've tried it their way, and it has failed miserably. We need to take a new approach of taxing \u2014 reforming how we tax, and reforming the regulations in our \u2014 in our country before it's too late. +p1314 +aVWe don't need the federal government to be involved in this at all. +p1315 +aVWe don't need the Federal Government to be involved in this, because when they do we create a $1.2 trillion debt. In Florida, we have the lowest in-state tuition of any state, because there's accountability, just as John said. Let the states do this. You'll create a much better graduation rate at a lower cost, and you won't in debt the next generation with recourse debt on their backs. It's always a solution of the left to create more Government from the Federal Government. It is broke, it is not working. +p1316 +aVWell, first of all, I'm 7 and 0 in my fantasy league. +p1317 +aVGronkowski is still going strong. I have Ryan Tannehill, Marco, as my quarterback, he was 18 for 19 last week. So I'm doing great. But we're not gambling. And I think this has become something that needs to be looked at in terms of regulation. Effectively it is day trading without any regulation at all. And when you have insider information, which apparently has been the case, where people use that information and use big data to try to take advantage of it, there has to be some regulation. If they can't regulate themselves, then the NFL needs to look at just, you know, moving away from them a little bit. And there should be some regulation. I have no clue whether the federal government is the proper place, my instinct is to say, hell no, just about everything about the federal government. +p1318 +aVBecky \u2014 +p1319 +aV\u2014 the governor's absolutely right. But we also need to reform Medicare and Social Security. We can't just allow it to continue on its current path the way that Hillary Clinton wants to do because there'll be major reductions in benefits in the next decade if we do nothing. I have a concrete plan to do just that, which allows people to keep HSAs to encourage savings, it allows for people that are retiring with Social Security to be able to get a minimum of 125 percent of the poverty level so that there is a baseline that in this generous country of ours no one goes below. +p1320 +aVYou have to reform Social Security, and the simple way to do it is to make sure that the wealthiest don't receive the same benefits as people that are lower-income. And make sure you enhance savings in the private market. The idea of 401(k)s. I have a small business that I set up. It took \u2014 it took an arm and a leg to be able to set up a 401(k). Because of all the federal mandates and federal laws, it was too expensive. We need to incent private savings and make sure that Social Security is protected for those that have it. +p1321 +aVBut the idea that you can't \u2014 that you're just gonna grow your way out of this \u2014 I have a plan to grow the economy at 4 percent, but you're gonna have to make adjustments for both Medicare and Social Security. [ +p1322 +aVAmerica's at a crossroads. The D.C. politicians continue to make things worse. I have a proven record of success, 32 years in business, and 8 years as Governor of the state of Florida. I will change the culture in Washington, just as I changed the culture in Tallahassee. I will do so in a way that will bring people together. We need a unifier, not a cynical divider in chief, and that's exactly what I will do. Imagine a country where people are lifted out of poverty again. Imagine a country where the middle class can get rising income again. I know we can do this because we're still the most extraordinary country on the face of the Earth. +p1323 +aVI'm Jeb Bush, and I believe America's on the verge of its greatest century, and I'm ready to lead. I'm a committed, conservative reformer that cut taxes, that balanced budgets, that took on the special interest in Florida, and we won. I look forward to talking tonight about how we can fix a broken Washington D.C., and create an environment where people can rise up again in this great country. Thank you. +p1324 +aVI think the voters will make that determination. But what I know to be true is that the next president of the United States is going to have to fix an extraordinary difficult situation. This administration, with President Obama and Hillary Clinton, has created insecurity the likes of which we never would've imagined. There's not a place in the world where we're better off today than six and a half years ago. And that requires a steadiness. That requires an understanding of how the world works. That requires an understanding and appreciation of American leadership in the world. You can't just, you know, talk about this stuff and insult leaders around the world and expect a good result. You have to do this with a steady hand, and I believe I have those skills. +p1325 +aVNo. Absolutely not. People are supporting me because I have a proven record of conservative leadership where I cut taxes $19 billion over eight years. We shrunk the state government workforce, we created a climate that led the nation in job growth seven out of eight years. We were one of two states to go to AAA bond rating. People know that we need principle-centered leadership, a disrupter to go to Washington, D.C. The one guy that had some special interests that I know of that tried to get me to change my views on something \u2014 that was generous and gave me money \u2014 was Donald Trump. He wanted casino gambling in Florida \u2014 +p1326 +aVYes you did. +p1327 +aVYou wanted it and you didn't get it because I was opposed to \u2014 +p1328 +aV\u2014 casino gambling before \u2014 +p1329 +aVduring and after. And that's not \u2014 I'm not going to be bought by anybody. +p1330 +aVNo way. Believe me. +p1331 +aVNot even possible. +p1332 +aVYou've got, according to your \u2014 to what you said on one of the talk shows, you got Hillary Clinton to go to your wedding \u2014 +p1333 +aV\u2014 because you gave her money. Maybe it works for Hillary Clinton \u2014 +p1334 +aV\u2014 it doesn't work for anybody on this \u2014 on stage. +p1335 +aVBut the simple fact is \u2014 +p1336 +aVNo. The simple fact is, Donald, you could not take \u2014 +p1337 +aVI was asked the question. +p1338 +aVSo he supports Pelosi, he supports Schumer, he supports Clinton \u2014 +p1339 +aVWhen he \u2014 and he \u2014 when he asked \u2014 when he asked Florida to have casino gambling, we said no. +p1340 +aVWe said no. And that's the simple fact. The simple fact is \u2014 +p1341 +aVDon't cut me off. +p1342 +aVNo, I don't think so, but we need to be strong against China. We should use offensive tactics as it relates to cyber security, send a deterrent signal to China. There should be super sanctions in what President Obama has proposed. There's many other tools that we have without canceling a dinner. That's not going to change anything, but we can be much stronger as it relates to that. As it relates to Iran, it's not a strategy to tear up an agreement. A strategy would be how do we confront Iran? And, the first thing that we need to do is to establish our commitment to Israel which has been altered by this administration. And, make sure that they have the most sophisticated weapons to send a signal to Iran that we have Israel's back. If we do that, it's going to create a healthier deterrent effect than anything else I can think of. +p1343 +aVI don't think \u2014 you're not stating my views right. +p1344 +aVI think there needs to be accommodation for someone acting on faith. Religious conscience is \u2014 is \u2014 is a first freedom. It's \u2014 it's a powerful part of our \u2014 of our Bill of Rights. And, in a big, tolerant country, we should respect the rule of law, allow people in \u2014 in \u2014 in this country \u2014 I'm a \u2014 I was opposed to the decision, but we \u2014 you can't just say, "well, they \u2014 gays can't get married now." But this woman, there should be some accommodation for her conscience, just as there should be for people that are florists that don't want to participate in weddings, or bakers. A great country like us should find a way to have accommodations for people so that we can solve the problem in the right way. This should be solved at the local level... +p1345 +aVAnd so we do agree, Mike. +p1346 +aVWell, he's wrong on a lot of things, but on this he's wrong because I'm the most pro-life governor on this stage. I got to act on my core beliefs. It's part of who I am. Life is a gift from God. And from beginning end we need to respect it and err on the side of life. And so I defunded Planned Parenthood. We created a climate where parental notification took place. We were the only state to fund crisis pregnancy centers with state moneys. We were totally focused on this. And I would bring that kind of philosophy to Washington, D.C. So here is a solution to this. Title X of the HHS funding, there is something that was the "Reagan Rule." It was passed in 1988. And in that rule it was defined, and the courts approved this, that a Planned Parenthood, you couldn't separate the money between the actual abortion procedures, and there are 330,000 abortions that take place in this clinic, and their promotion of it. He interpreted it the right way, the courts ruled in his favor, and Planned Parenthood did not get funding during that time until President Clinton came in. When I'm elected president, we will restore that interpretation of Title X. And this deal will be finished. +p1347 +aVThere are 13,000 community-based organizations that provide health services to women, 13,000 in this country. I don't believe that Planned Parenthood should get a penny from the federal government. Those organizations should get funding, just as I increased funding when I was governor of the state. That's the way you do this is you improve the condition for people. And, Donald, when I was governor, we also increased the opportunities for women. Women's income grew three times faster than the national average when I was governor. +p1348 +aVWe improved \u2014 we improved \u2014 +p1349 +aV\u2014 we increased child support \u2014 we increased child support with a broken system by 90 percent. +p1350 +aVI have a proven record. I have a proven record. +p1351 +aVHe did, he did. You're proud of your family, just as I am. +p1352 +aVTo subject my wife into the middle of a raucous political conversation was completely inappropriate, and I hope you apologize for that, Donald. +p1353 +aVShe is. She's fantastic. +p1354 +aVShe is absolutely the love of my life, and she's right here... +p1355 +aVAnd why don't you apologize to her right now. +p1356 +aVYeah. +p1357 +aVSo, here's the deal. My wife is a Mexican-American. She's an American by choice. She loves this country as much as anybody in this room, and she wants a secure border. But she wants to embrace the traditional American values that make us special and make us unique. We're at a crossroads right now. Are we going to take the Reagan approach, the hopeful optimistic approach, the approach that says that, you come to our country legally, you pursue your dreams with a vengeance, you create opportunities for all of us? Or the Donald Trump approach? The approach that says that everything is bad, that everything is coming to an end. I... +p1358 +aVI'm on the Reagan side of this. +p1359 +aVLook, first of all, I wrote a book about this, three \u2014 four years ago, now. And I laid out a comprehensive, conservative approach for immigration reform. And it does require securing the border. No one disagrees with that. But to build a wall, and to deport people \u2014 half a million a month \u2014 would cost hundreds of billions of dollars, Donald. Hundreds of billions of dollars. It would destroy community life, it would tear families apart. And it would send a signal to the rest of the world that the United States values that are so important for our long-term success no longer matter in this country. +p1360 +aVWell, I've been speaking English here tonight, and I'll keep speaking English. But the simple fact is, if a high school kid asks me a question in Spanish, a school \u2014 by the way, a voucher program that was created under my watch, the largest voucher program in the country, where kids can go to a Christian school, and they ask me a question in Spanish, I'm going to show respect and answer that question in Spanish. Even though they do speak English, and even though they embrace American values. +p1361 +aVYeah. +p1362 +aVWell, first of all, Hugh, if you're looking at Republican advisers, you have to go to the last two administrations. That happened to be 41 and 43. So just by definition, if you're \u2014 and many of the people here that are seeking advice from the foreign policy experts in the Republican side, they \u2014 they served in my dad's administration, my brother's administration. Of course that's the case. But I'm my own man. I'm going to create a strategy that is based on the simple fact that the United States needs to lead the world. The first thing that we need to do is to stop the craziness of the sequester. Rebuild our military so that our \u2014 so that we don't deploy people over and over again without the necessary equipment to keep them safe, to send a signal to the world that we're serious. If we're going to lead the world, then we need to have the strongest military possible. We need to rebuild our counterintelligence and intelligence capabilities. We need to focus on the fact that the next president is going to start in 2017, not in 1990 \u2014 you know, 30 years ago, or when my brother started. The world is dramatically different. And I believe that we need to restore America's presence and leadership in the world. Name a country where our relationship is better today than it was the \u2014 the day that Barack Obama got elected president. Under Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama, we have seen a weakness that now creates huge problems for the next president of the United States. So I'll have a team that will be \u2014 that will be following the doctrine I set up, and it will be peace through strength. We're sitting here in this library, which is a wonderful place to talk about this, because that's exactly what happened in the 1980s, and the world was a lot safer because of... +p1363 +aVThe leadership of Ronald Reagan and my... +p1364 +aVSo you \u2014 the \u2014 the first chance... +p1365 +aVRight after me, and then I'll \u2014 I'll yield \u2014 yield the floor. What do you guys say in the Senate when you're talking and debating? +p1366 +aVHere's the facts: When Donald Trump talks about judgment, what was his position on who would've been the best negotiator to deal with Iran? It wasn't a Republican; it was Hillary Clinton. That's what you believe. I mean, the lack of judgment and the lack of understanding about how the world works is really dangerous in this kind of time that we're saying. So is that the judgment that you bring to the table, that Hillary Clinton... +p1367 +aV... is a great negotiator, that she could bring about a better deal on Iran? +p1368 +aVYou know what? As it relates to my brother, there's one thing I know for sure. He kept us safe. I don't know if you remember... ... Donald... ... you remember the \u2014 the rumble? You remember the fire fighter with his arms around it? He sent a clear signal that the United States would be strong and fight Islamic terrorism, and he did keep us safe. +p1369 +aVThat's \u2014 that's my brother. +p1370 +aVHere's the lessons of history: When we \u2014 we pull back, voids are created. We left Iraq. We should've had a \u2014 a forces agreement to stay there with a small force, and instead of that, we politically and militarily pulled back, and now we have the creation of +p1371 +aV... because of what President Obama's done by pulling back. +p1372 +aVWell, I'm surprised Senator Cruz would say that since he was as strong supporter of John Roberts at the time. I will talk about what I will do as it relates to appointing Supreme Court Justices. We need to make sure that we have justices that, with a proven experienced record of respect for upholding the constitution. That is what we need. We can't have \u2014 the history in recent past is appoint people that have no experience so that you can't get attacked. And, that makes it harder for people to have confidence that they won't veer off... +p1373 +aVJohn Roberts has made some really good decisions, for sure, but he did not have a proven, extensive record that would have made the clarity the important thing, and that's what we need to do. And, I'm willing to fight for those nominees to make sure that they get passed. You can't do it the politically expedient way anymore. This is the culture in Washington. You have to fight hard for these appointments. This is perhaps the most important thing that the next president will do. +p1374 +aVWell, first of all, he, as I said, supported John Roberts. He supported him, publicly. So, you can rewrite history, I guess, Ted, but the simple fact is that you supported him because he had all the criteria that you would have thought would have made a great justice. And, I think he is doing a good job. But, the simple fact is that going forward, what we need to do is to have someone that has a long standing set of rulings that consistently makes it clear that he is a focused, exclusively on upholding the Constitution of the United States so they won't try to use the bench as a means to which legislate. +p1375 +aVHe was talking about me. +p1376 +aVWell, I \u2014 I wanted to \u2014 be \u2014 make it easier for him. +p1377 +aVAnd I just did. +p1378 +aVSo, 40 years ago, I smoked marijuana, and I admit it. I'm sure that other people might have done it and may not want to say it in front of 25 million people. My mom's not happy that I just did. That's true. And here's the deal. Here's the deal. We have \u2014 we have a serious epidemic of drugs that goes way beyond marijuana. What goes on in Colorado, as far as I'm concerned, that should be a state decision. But if you look at the problem of drugs in this \u2014 in this society today, it's a serious problem. Rand, you know this because you're campaigning in New Hampshire like all of us, and you see the epidemic of heroin, the overdoses of heroin that's taking place. People's families are \u2014 are being torn apart. It is appropriate for the government to play a consistent role to be able to provide more treatment, more prevention \u2014 we're the state that has the most drug courts across every circuit in \u2014 in \u2014 in Florida, there are drug courts to give people a second chance. That's the best way to do this. +p1379 +aVNo, you're wrong \u2014 you're wrong about this. +p1380 +aVI don't want to put poor people in jail, Randy. +p1381 +aVHere's the deal. No, I did not oppose when the legislature passed the bill to deal with that very issue. That's the way to solve this problem. Medical marijuana on the ballot was opened up, there was a huge loophole, it was the first step to getting to a place. And as a citizen of Florida, I voted no. +p1382 +aVNot very far. I think we need to do this state by state. There are places that get this right, and we need to make sure that we protect the privacy laws. This is a complicated place. But I do think the natural impulse on the left \u2014 Hillary Clinton, immediately after one of these horrific violent acts took place, immediately said we need to have federal gun laws. President Obama almost reflexively always says the same thing. And the net result is, you're going to take away rights of \u2014 of law-abiding citizens, the 99.999 percent of the people that are law- abiding citizens. That's not the right approach to do it. In Florida, we have a background check. We have concealed-weapon permit holders, and in fact, there's 1,200,000 of them. We have a reduction in violent crime because we put people behind bars when they use a gun in the commission of the crime. That's the better approach. But we're living in a society today where despair kind of grows in isolation. +p1383 +aVI \u2014 I think there needs to be a hearing, but the fact is, we need to encourage that kind of involvement. That's \u2014 that's exactly what we need to do. +p1384 +aVI would go with Ronald Reagan's partner, Margaret Thatcher. Probably illegal, but what the heck? Since it's not going to happen. A strong leader is what we need in the White House, and she certainly was a strong leader that restored the United Kingdom into greatness. +p1385 +aVEver Ready, it's very high energy, Donald. +p1386 +aVSix million more people are living in poverty than the day that Barack Obama got elected president. Six million more people. The middle class has had declining income, workforce participation rates are lower than they were in 1977. For the first time in modern history, more businesses are failing than are being created. That is what the next president will have to deal with. And I believe we can reverse course by creating a strategy of high sustained economic growth, not the new normal of 2 percent that all the left says we just have to get used to, but a 4 percent growth strategy where we reform how we tax, fix the broken regulatory system, embrace the energy revolution in our midst, fix the immigration system so we can turn it into an economic driver, deal with the structural fiscal problems that exist because of our entitlement problems that will overwhelm and create way too much debt. If we grow at 4 percent, people are going to be lifted out of poverty. The great middle that defines our country will have a chance to be able to pursue their dreams as they see fit. That should be the great challenge and the great opportunity for the next president of the United States, to forge consensus to go back to a high-growth strategy. And then we'll be able to lead the world. Without a high-growth strategy, our country will never have the resources or the optimism to be able to lead the world, which the world desperately needs our leadership. +p1387 +aVAbsolutely, I do, and I'm gonna run hard, run with heart, and run to win. I'm gonna have to earn this. Maybe the barrier -- the bar's even higher for me. That's fine. I've got a record in Florida. I'm proud of my dad, and I'm certainly proud of my brother. In Florida, they called me Jeb, because I earned it. I cut taxes every year, totaling $19 billion. We were -- we had -- we balanced every budget. We went from $1 billion of reserves to $9 billion of reserves. We were one of two states that went to AAA bond rating. They keep -- they called me Veto Corleone. Because I vetoed 2,500 separate line-items in the budget. I am my own man. I governed as a conservative, and I govern effectively. And the net effect was, during my eight years, 1.3 million jobs were created. We left the state better off because I applied conservative principles in a purple state the right way, and people rose up. +p1388 +aVI do. I believe that the great majority of people coming here illegally have no other option. They want to provide for their family. But we need to control our border. It's not -- it's our responsibility to pick and choose who comes in. So I -- I've written a book about this and yet this week, I did come up with a comprehensive strategy that -- that really mirrored what we said in the book, which is that we need to deal with E-Verify, we need to deal with people that come with a legal visa and overstay. We need to be much more strategic on how we deal with border enforcement, border security. We need to eliminate the sanctuary cities in this country. It is ridiculous and tragic......that people are dying because of the fact that -- that local governments are not following the federal law. There's much to do. And I think rather than talking about this as a wedge issue, which Barack Obama has done now for six long years, the next president -- and I hope to be that president -- will fix this once and for all so that we can turn this into a driver for high sustained economic growth. And there should be a path to earned legal status... ...for those that are here. Not -- not amnesty, earned legal status, which means you pay a fine and do many things over an extended period of time. +p1389 +aV...I remember... +p1390 +aV...I remember, Megyn. +p1391 +aVKnowing what we know now, with faulty intelligence, and not having security be the first priority when -- when we invaded, it was a mistake. I wouldn't have gone in, however, for the people that did lose their lives, and the families that suffer because of it -- I know this full well because as governor of the state of Florida, I called every one of them. Every one of them that I could find to tell them that I was praying for them, that I cared about them, and it was really hard to do. And, every one of them said that their child did not die in vain, or their wife, of their husband did not die in vain. So, why it was difficult for me to do it was based on that. Here's the lesson that we should take from this, which relates to this whole subject. Barack Obama became president, and he abandoned Iraq. He left, and when he left Al Qaida was done for. +p1392 +aVNo, I don't. And I don't believe the federal government should be involved in the creation of standards directly or indirectly, the creation of curriculum or content. It is clearly a state responsibility. I'm for higher standards... ...measured in an intellectually honest way, with abundant school choice, ending social promotion. And I know how to do this because as governor of the state of Florida I created the first statewide voucher program in the country, the second statewide voucher program, in the country and the third statewide voucher program in the country. And we had rising student achievement across the board, because high standards, robust accountability, ending social promotion in third grade, real school choice across the board, challenging the teachers union and beating them is the way to go. And Florida's low income kids had the greatest gains inside the country. Our graduation rate improved by 50 percent. That's what I'm for. +p1393 +aVHe is definitely my friend. And I think the states ought to create these standards. And if states want to opt out of Common Core, fine. Just make sure your standards are high. Because today in America, a third of our kids, after we spend more per student than any country in the world other than a couple rounding errors, to be honest with you, 30 percent are college- and/or career-ready. If we are going to compete in this world we're in today, there is no possible way we can do it with lowering expectations and dumbing down everything. Children are going to suffer and families' hearts are going to be broken that their kids won't be able to get a job in the 21st Century. +p1394 +aVWe've done it 27 times since World War II. I think we need to lift our spirits and have high, lofty expectations for this great country of ours. The new normal of two percent that the left is saying you can't do anything about is so dangerous for our country. There's 6 million people living in poverty today, more than when Barack Obama got elected. 6.5 million people are working part-time, most of whom want to work full-time. We've created rules and taxes on top of every aspiration of people, and the net result is we're not growing fast, income's not growing. A four percent growth strategy means you fix a convoluted tax code. You get in and you change every aspect of regulations that are job killers. You get rid of Obamacare and replace it with something that doesn't suppress wages and kill jobs. You embrace the energy revolution in our country. This president and Hillary Clinton, who can't even say she's for the XL pipeline even after she's left? Give me a break. Of course we're for it. We should be for these things to create high sustained economic growth. And frankly, fixing our immigration system and turning it into an economic driver is part of this as well. We can do this. +p1395 +aVNone of which is true. +p1396 +aVNo. It's not true. But I have said that Mr. Trump's language is divisive. I want to win. I want one of these people here or the ones at 5:00, to be the next president of the United States. We're not going on win by doing what Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton do each and every day. Dividing the country. Saying, creating a grievance kind of environment. We're going to win when we unite people with a hopeful, optimistic message. I have that message because I was a governor of a state that saw people lifted up, because we had high sustained economic growth. Our economy grew at double the rate of the nation. We created 1.3 million jobs. We led the nation seven out of those eight years. We were only one of two states that went to AAA bond rating. I cut taxes, $19 billion. If you do that and apply conservative principles the right way, you create an environment where everybody rises up. That's how we're going to win. Campaigning in places to give people hope that their life is better because too many people are suffering today in America. +p1397 +aVHere's what I believe. I believe we're at the verge of the greatest time to be alive in this world. But Washington is holding us back. How we tax, how we regulate. We're not embracing the energy revolution in our midst, a broken immigration system that has been politicized rather than turning it into an economic driver. We're not protecting and preserving our entitlement system or reforming for the next generation. All these things languish while we have politicians in Washington using these as wedge issues. Here's my commitment to you, because I did it as Florida. We can fix these things. We can grow economically and restore America's leadership in the world, so that everybody has a chance to rise up. I humbly ask for your vote, whenever you're gonna get to vote, whenever the primary is. Thank you all very much. +p1398 +asVWALKER +p1399 +(lp1400 +VGood evening, I'm Scott Walker, and tonight, I want to thank and Mrs. Reagan, and the Reagan Library for hosting us. You see, in my lifetime, the greatest president was a governor from California. Ronald Reagan knew how to go big, and go bold. He understood the essence of moving this country forward, and that's what I did when I took on the status quo in my state, and the Washington based special interest. Now, more than ever, America needs a leader who will go big and bold again. Someone who's been tested. I'm ready to be that leader. Thank you. +p1401 +aVBut Jake, Jake, Jake, Jake... +p1402 +aVBut Jake, this \u2014 this is \u2014 this... +p1403 +aVJake, this is \u2014 this is \u2014 this is... +p1404 +aVThis is actually what's wrong \u2014 this is what's wrong with this debate. We're not talking about real issues. And Mr. Trump, we don't need an apprentice in the White House. We don't need an apprentice in the White House. We have one right now. He told us all the things we wanted to hear back in 2008. We don't know who you are or where you're going. We need someone who can actually get the job done. And you talked about business. +p1405 +aVYou \u2014 you \u2014 let me finish... +p1406 +aVNo, no... +p1407 +aVYou're using the talking... +p1408 +aVMr. Trump, you're using the talking points of the Democrats... +p1409 +aV... and as we all know... +p1410 +aV... that failed three times in four and a half years when I got elected, because it is working. We balanced a budget. You want to talk about balanced budgets? You took four major projects into bankruptcy over and over and over again. You can't take America into bankruptcy. That's what's wrong with the politicians in Washington right now. They think we can take a country into bankruptcy. +p1411 +aVJake, yeah, absolutely, I'll take this on, because this is an issue that's important in this race. Just because he says it doesn't make it true. The facts are the facts. We balanced a $3.6 billion budget deficit, we did it by cutting taxes \u2014 $4.7 billion to help working families, family farmers, small business owners and senior citizens. And it's about time people in America stand up and take note of this. If you want someone that can actually take on the special interest of Washington, which you yourself said you were part of, using the system, we need somebody that will stand up and fight for average Americans to put them back in charge of their government. I'm the one who is taking that on. I'll do that as your next president. +p1412 +aVTwo parts to that, one on China, one back for a second on Iran. When it comes to China, why would we be giving an official state visit to a country that's been involved in a massive cyber attack against the United States? That's not just a visit, that's a 21 gun salute on the South Lawn of the White House. It just doesn't make any sense. If we're ever going to send a message to them, wouldn't this be the time, when they've issued this, sort of, massive attack against us? And, Jake, for the question, I was one of the first ones to call for terminating the bad deal with Iran on day one. The President came after me and said I need to bone up. You know, the President who called +p1413 +aVJake, just one more moment. This is \u2014 there's something bigger to this. Now, I \u2014 like so many other governors here, I defunded Planned Parenthood four-and-a-half years ago, in a Blue State. But it's bigger than that. We did that in a Blue State, we took the money and put it into women's health, so we did exactly what we're talking about here. But I think the bigger issue here is we should be able to do this nationally, and this is precisely why so many Republicans are upset with Washington. They see the House and they see the Senate and they say why can't we pass this. Why can't we defund Planned \u2014 put it in a spending bill. Forget about the 60-vote rule, there's no reason \u2014 and the Constitution doesn't call for 60 votes. Pass it with 51 votes, put it on the desk of the president \u2014 +p1414 +aV\u2014 and go forward and actually make a point. This is why \u2014 +p1415 +aV\u2014 people are upset with Washington. +p1416 +aVSo, the best way to help people see their wages go up is to get them the education, the skill they need, to take on careers that pay more than minimum wage. And, it's why we talk about it, it's all about jobs. You want to help actually get jobs, it's why on that last question we were trying to jump in on taxes. To me, it's not just about taxes, cutting taxes. I've done it as much as anyone has. I've cut income taxes, I've cut property taxes. In fact, property taxes are lower today in my state than they were before we took office. The real issues about jobs. Ronald Reagan, our plan is based on the Ronald Reagan tax cuts of 1986. That brought about one of the longest sustained periods of economic growth in American history. All the things we should be talking about tonight are about how do we create jobs, helping people get the skills and the education qualifications they need to succeed. That's the way you help people create jobs. It's part of our large plan to reform the tax code, to cut taxes, to put in place an education system that gives people the skills and education that they need. To put in place all the above energy policy, but you start on day one with repealing Obamacare. I'm the only one on this stage that's actually got a plan, introduced an actual plan to repeal Obamacare on day one. I'll send a bill up to Congress, and to make sure enact it... +p1417 +aV...I'm going to sign an order that makes the Congress live by the same rules as everybody else. +p1418 +aV...That will ensure they repeal Obamacare... +p1419 +aV...Jake, Jake, Jake, I just want to address that issue because you said I didn't answer, and I did. I said, to me, I think the real focus shouldn't be \u2014 you know, Hillary Clinton talks about the minimum wage. That's her answer to grow the economy. The answer is to give people the skills and the education so they make far more than minimum wage. I don't want to argue about how low things are going to be, I want to talk about how do we lift everyone up in America. That's what Reagan talked about. It wasn't how bad things were, it was how to make it better for everyone. That's what we've done in Wisconsin, that's exactly what we'd do as... +p1420 +aV... the key issue here is talking about leadership. Now, there's a lot of greater people up here, and you've heard a lot of great ideas out there. But I would ask the American people, look at who's been tested. When there were 100,000 protesters in my capital, I didn't back down, when they issued death threats against me and threats against my family, I didn't back down, when they tried to recall me, I didn't back down, and when they made me the \u2014 one of their number-one targets last year, I didn't back down. Give me the chance to be your president. +p1421 +aVI won't back down... +p1422 +aV... on any of these issues. +p1423 +aVTo be clear, what I said the other day was that we need to lift the political restrictions that are already in play. Barack Obama's administration has put political restrictions on the military personnel already in Iraq. We need to lift those and then we need to listen to our military experts, not the political forces in the White House, but our military experts about how many more we sent in. And we certainly shouldn't have a commander-in-chief who sends a message to our adversaries as to how far we're going to go, and how far we're willing to fight, so I'm not putting a troop number. What I'm saying is lift the political restrictions. When you do that, you empower our military personnel already there to work with the Kurd and the Sunni allies, to reclaim the territory taken by +p1424 +aV... a lot of those people, though, and I'm going to echo what Senator Rubio just said. This is an issue where, we're talking about my state, it's thousands of manufacturing jobs. Thousands of manufacturing jobs for a rule the Obama administration, own EPA has said will have a marginal impact on climate change. So we're going to put thousands and thousands of jobs in my state, I think it's something like 30,000 in Ohio, other states across this country, we're going to put people \u2014 manufacturing jobs, the kind of jobs that are far greater than minimum wage, this administration is willing to put at risk for something its own EPA says is marginal (ph)... +p1425 +aVFirst of all, I got to say to Carson, Huckabee, thanks a lot for making the rest of us look like chumps up here, but, I'd pick Clara Barton. I once worked for the American Red Cross, she was a great founder of the Red Cross. +p1426 +aVHarley. I love riding Harley's. +p1427 +aVWell, I turned 13 years old two days before Ronald Reagan was first elected. A lot of people forget this, but just a few days before that election 1980, he was behind in the polls. And I think what changed things was people in America realized they didn't want to hear what was bad about America, they wanted to know how it was going to be better. Ronald Reagan wasn't just a conservative Republican, he was an eternal optimist in the American people. And I am too. So here's what I think will make America better. We need to live in a world where our children are free, are free from the threats of radical Islamic terrorism. We need to live in an America where we have an economy, where everyone can live their piece of the American dream, no matter what that dream is. And we need to live in an America where we have a federal government that is not too big to fail, but ultimately small enough to succeed, where we send powers back to the states and back to the people. That's what I did in Wisconsin. We took on the big government union bosses, the big government special interests, many of whom came in from Washington, to spend millions of dollars to try and take me out because we stood up to them, we didn't back down in any of those instances. If you give me the chance as your next president, I won't back down any day, anyway, anyhow. I'll fight and win for you and your families every single day I'm in office. +p1428 +aVWell, I'm pro-life, I've always been pro-life, and I've got a position that I think is consistent with many Americans out there in that... ...in that I believe that that is an unborn child that's in need of protection out there, and I've said many a time that that unborn child can be protected, and there are many other alternatives that can also protect the life of that mother. That's been consistently proven. Unlike Hillary Clinton, who has a radical position in terms of support for Planned Parenthood, I defunded Planned Parenthood more than four years ago, long before any of these videos came out... ...I've got a position that's in line with everyday America. +p1429 +aVChris, I actually said that on your show earlier this year. I acknowledged that. I said I actually listened to the American people. And I think people across America want a leader who's actually going to listen to them. I talked to border state governors and other elected officials. I look at how this president, particularly through last November, messed up the immigration system in this country. Most importantly, I listened to the people of America. I believe we need to secure the border. I've been to the border with Governor Abbott in Texas and others, seeing the problems that they have there. There is international criminal organizations penetrating our southern based borders, and we need to do something about it. Secure the border, enforce the law, no amnesty, and go forward with the legal immigration system that gives priority to American working families and wages. +p1430 +aVI don't know about additional ones. We need to focus on the ones we have. You look at Egypt, probably the best relationship we've had in Israel, at least in my lifetime, incredibly important. You look at the Saudis -- in fact, earlier this year, I met with Saudi leaders, and leaders from the United Arab Emirates, and I asked them what's the greatest challenge in the world today? Set aside the Iran deal. They said it's the disengagement of America. We are leading from behind under the Obama-Clinton doctrine -- America's a great country. We need to stand up and start leading again, and we need to have allies, not just in Israel, but throughout the Persian Gulf. +p1431 +aVJust one second on this, though. We -- we spent a lot of time talking about Hillary Clinton and ---and pitting us back and forth. Let's be clear, we should be talking about Hillary Clinton on that last subject, because everywhere in the world that Hillary Clinton touched is more messed up today than before she and the president . +p1432 +aVIt's true. +p1433 +aVWell, the voters in Wisconsin elected me last year for the third time because they wanted someone who aimed high, not aimed low. Before I came in, the unemployment rate was over eight percent. It's now down to 4.6 percent. We've more than made up for the jobs that were lost during the recession. And the rate in which people are working is almost five points higher than it is nationally. You know, people like Hillary Clinton think you grow the economy by growing Washington. One report last year showed that six of the top 10 wealthiest counties in America were in or around Washington, D.C.. I think most of us in America understand that people, not the government creates jobs. And one of the best things we can do is get the government out of the way, repeal Obamacare, put in -- reign in all the out of control regulations, put in place an all of the above energy policy, give people the education, the skills that the need to succeed, and lower the tax rate and reform the tax code. That's what I'll do as president, just like I did in Wisconsin. +p1434 +aVWell, first off, let's remember. I still remember, as a kid, tying a yellow ribbon around a tree in front of my house during the 444 days that Iran held 52 Americans hostage. Iran is not a place we should be doing business with. To me, you terminate the deal on day one, you reinstate the sanctions authorized by Congress, you go to Congress and put in place even more crippling sanctions in place, and then you convince our allies to do the same. This is not just bad with Iran, this is bad with +p1435 +aVWell, I think the most important thing we can do when it comes to policing -- it's something you've had a guest on who's a friend of mine Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clark, who's talked to me about this many times in the past -- it's about training. It's about making sure that law enforcement professionals, not only in the way in to their positions but all the way through their time, have the proper training, particularly when it comes to the use of force. And that we protect and stand up and support those men and women who are doing their jobs in law enforcement. And for the very few that don't, that there are consequences to show that we treat everyone the same here in America. +p1436 +aVWell first off, for the cyber attack with Russia the other day, it's sad to think right now, but probably the Russian and Chinese government know more about Hillary Clinton's e-mail server than do the members of the United States Congress. And -- and that has put our national security at risk. If I am president, he won't think about that. You know, Putin believes in the old Lenin adage: you probe with bayonets. When you find mush, you push. When you find steel, you stop. Under Obama and Clinton, we found a lot of mush over the last two years. We need to have a national security that puts steel in front of our enemies. I would send weapons to Ukraine. I would work with +p1437 +aVWell, thanks, Megyn. I'm certainly an imperfect man. And it's only by the blood of Jesus Christ that I've been redeemed from my sins. So I know that God doesn't call me to do a specific thing, God hasn't given me a list, a Ten Commandments, if you will, of things to act on the first day. What God calls us to do is follow his will. And ultimately that's what I'm going to try to do. And I hope people've seen it in my state, even in the big challenges I took on when I had over 100,000 protesters in and around our capital, trying to do what I thought was the right thing. It wasn't just how I took on those political battles. It was ultimately how I acted. Not responding in kind. Not lashing out. But just being decent going forward and living my life in a way that would be a testimony to him and our faith. +p1438 +aVThanks. I'm guy with a wife and two kids, and Harley. One article called me "aggressively normal." I ran for governor because I was worried about my kids' future. Then, I took on the big government union bosses, and we won. They tried to recall me, and we won. They target us again, and we won. We balanced the budget, cut taxes, and turned our state around with big, bold reforms. It wasn't too late for Wisconsin, and it's not too late for America. That's why I ask for your vote. +p1439 +asVMALE +p1440 +(lp1441 +VThat's a good one. +p1442 +asVHEWITT +p1443 +(lp1444 +VSenator Cruz, you've said you disagree with Mr. Trump's policy. I don't want a cage match; you've tweeted you don't want a cage match. But Republican primary voters deserve to know, with the kind of specificity and responsiveness you delivered in your nine Supreme Court arguments, how you disagree with Mr. Trump. Would you spell that out with us? +p1445 +aVSo you're saying you disagree because he's too broad and you have a narrower focus? Why do you disagree with him? +p1446 +aVCarly Fiorina... ... this is the Christmas dinner debate. This will be the debate that Americans talk about at Christmas. And thus far, in the first 10 minutes, we haven't heard a lot about Ronald Reagan's city on a hill. We've heard a lot about keeping Americans out or keeping Americans safe and everyone else out. Is this what you want the party to stand for? +p1447 +aVDr. Carson...... you mentioned in your opening remarks that you're a pediatric neurologist surgeon... +p1448 +aVNeurosurgeon. And people admire and respect and are inspired by your life story, your kindness, your evangelical core support. We're talking about ruthless things tonight \u2014 carpet bombing, toughness, war. And people wonder, could you do that? Could you order air strikes that would kill innocent children by not the scores, but the hundreds and the thousands? Could you wage war as a commander-in-chief? +p1449 +aVSo you are OK with the deaths of thousands of innocent children and civilian? It's like... +p1450 +aVThat is what war \u2014 can you be as ruthless as Churchill was in prosecuting the war against the Nazis? +p1451 +aVMr. Trump, we are talking about the most important thing, that's why it's heated. And it's, you are OK with Mr. Assad staying in power, but you are also in favor of winning. If he stays in power, Iran is winning, Hezbollah is winning. Iran is winning in Yemen. They are winning everywhere. If they are winning how can we be winning? +p1452 +aVGovernor Christie, is he right? Because if we step back, Iran goes nuclear. Is Donald Trump right? +p1453 +aVSenator Paul, let me ask you, you heard Governor Kasich say Assad must go. Do you agree? +p1454 +aVGovernor Bush, a commander-in-chief question. You've said that Mr. Trump is not qualified to be president because he's not qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin. Why are you better qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin than Mr. Trump? +p1455 +aVMr. Trump? +p1456 +aVBut, Mr. Trump, it's not CNN \u2014 I was on CNN last night... +p1457 +aV... watching... +p1458 +aVBut it wasn't \u2014 it wasn't CNN. It was me. I watched you last night for 16 minutes. It's not CNN. +p1459 +aVIt's not CNN. It's America's watching you. +p1460 +aVIt's America's watching. +p1461 +aVGovernor \u2014 thank you, Governor. +p1462 +aVDr. Carson, commander-in-chief question again. You've been the head of neurosurgery for a big hospital. You're on a lot of boards of a lot of companies. You've traveled the world. You're going traveling again next week. But does that prepare you to command troops from Djibouti to Japan, troops from Afghanistan to Iraq to be in charge of the men and women watching on Armed Services Network tonight? +p1463 +aVMr. Trump...... Dr. Carson just referenced the single most important job of the president, the command, the control and the care of our nuclear forces. And he mentioned the triad. The B-52s are older than I am. The missiles are old. The submarines are aging out. It's an executive order. It's a commander-in-chief decision. What's your priority among our nuclear triad? +p1464 +aVOf the three legs of the triad, though, do you have a priority? I want to go to Senator Rubio after that and ask him. +p1465 +aVSenator Rubio, do you have a response? +p1466 +aVMy listeners tell me again and again they are worried that Hillary Clinton will win the White House because you'll run as an independent. Are you ready to assure Republicans tonight that you will run as a Republican and abide by the decision of the Republicans? +p1467 +aVDr. Carson, last week... +p1468 +aVPlease. +p1469 +aVDr. Carson, Mr. Trump just committed to stay the distance regardless of the result. How about you? +p1470 +aVThank you, Jake. Mr. Trump, two years ago, President Obama drew a red line that the Syrian dictator Bashar Assad crossed, President Obama threatened to strike. He did not, his knees buckled. We now have 4 million refugees, Syria is a living hell, and he turned to the Congress for the authority to back him up. You have three senators to your right that said, no. Do they bear responsibility for this refugee crisis, and what would you have done when Bashar Assad crossed the line? +p1471 +aVHow much responsibility, Mr. Trump, do the senators hold? +p1472 +aVSenator Rubio... +p1473 +aVSenator Paul? +p1474 +aVI'd like to talk about winning because I think all of you are more qualified than former Secretary of State Clinton, and as were the people in the first debate, but there are different styles, and Carly Fiorina, Governor Kasich, you're conveniently located next to each other, and you have different styles. Governor Kasich, you've been on my show a lot. You refused to attack Hillary Clinton, you just don't want to go there, you want to do the up with people. Go, Ohio, OK, and I like that. Carly Fiorina, I don't have to bring up the Secretary of State \u2014 you bring her up, so . Which one of you is wrong? Governor Kasich? +p1475 +aVGovernor. +p1476 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1477 +aVCarly Fiorina, your style? +p1478 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Christie, your name was mentioned. I want to give you a chance to respond. +p1479 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1480 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. There is a lot more coming up. Ahead, a world of trouble. The challenges that one of these candidates may face in the Oval Office, and how he or she will handle it. Stay with us. +p1481 +aVOh, you're the best interview in America. +p1482 +aV... makes an interesting case (ph) here (ph). +p1483 +aVThank you, Jake. I've done a lot of great interviews with all of you, but, Governor Bush, I talked to you in February about the biggest elephant in a room full of elephants, which is your last name. And you said you would not be burdened either by your brother or your father's legacy in the Middle East. And then, a week later, you rolled out your list of foreign policy advisers, and it was a lot of the band getting back together again. So on behalf of the military that is watching... +p1484 +aV...OK, the active duty military that are at the end of the sphere (ph), what kind of a commander in chief is Jeb Bush going to be, and who are the advisers that are new to your team? +p1485 +aVMr. \u2014 Mr. Trump. +p1486 +aVI want to ask you a question, though, you promised us great leaders. And I believe that. But Jeb Bush has laid out 20 different people that have experience around the world. There are 190 countries, you can't run the world by yourself. When are we going to get some names on your military and your foreign policy advisers? +p1487 +aVThank you, Jake. Tomorrow is \u2014 Republicans know this \u2014 tomorrow is Constitution Day. We've been talking about the 10th Amendment. Let's talk about the Second Amendment. Governor Bush, one of the things the Supreme Court has gotten right is that it's an individual right and it's protected for individuals to hold it. Last week, you said the next step in gun issues is to make sure they're not in the hands of mentally ill. In this state, there's a controversial law that allows guns to be taken away from people without a hearing. Where does it go \u2014 and the problem of violence is endemic, but where does it go from what you said last week, how far into people's lives to take guns away from them? +p1488 +aVIf a family member calls and says, "My child, my brother, my sister is disturbed," ought the state be able to go and get their weapon without a hearing? +p1489 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1490 +aVSenator Cruz, I want to go to you. Your constitutional litigant (ph), are you afraid of the next- step theory of what happens to Second Amendment rights? +p1491 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1492 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1493 +aVThank you, senator. +p1494 +aVWait, let's pursue that in fact Governor Pataki? +p1495 +aVYou called for following and finding those Imams who are preaching violence in mosques. How exactly would you do that and what Mosques would you shut down? How extensive of a surveillance program are you proposing? +p1496 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1497 +aVGovernor Huckabee... ...As Governor Pataki noted earlier, we have a history of religious intoleration in this country. About the American Muslims who would be subject to this kind of surveillance, does it violate their First Amendment rights? +p1498 +aVSenator Santorum... ...I want to start then, not on the First Amendment, but on the Second Amendment. There is a terror watchlist. You can legally purchase a gun in the United States if you're on that watchlist. Your old colleague, Peter King in the House, wants to change that law. Do you agree with him? +p1499 +aVGovernor... +p1500 +aVGovernor, back to you. Your response? +p1501 +aVSenator Graham, are you trying to get in? +p1502 +aVThank you, Wolf. Governor Huckabee, ten minutes ago you blasted President Obama for destabilizing Iraq. You hit former Secretary of State Clinton for supporting the Muslim brotherhood in Egypt. But you have said recently you would sanction countries that don't join the fight aggressively against +p1503 +aVWhich country? +p1504 +aVWhich countries are those, governor, that you would sanction? +p1505 +aVThat's an easy, give. Are you going to sanction any of our allies who say, no this isn't our fight we're gonna let you do this. Are you going to leave our allies alone? For example, Indonesia and Malaysia \u2014 other Muslim countries \u2014 will you leave them alone? +p1506 +aVSenator Graham, I just named two Islamic countries... ...Senator Graham, I just named two Islamic countries that are allies that he suggested we sanction. Is that the appropriate approach to this war? +p1507 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you... +p1508 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you, the opposite of getting into bed is shooting down the prince's plane. Senator Santorum has \u2014 Senator Graham has said he would shoot down Russian planes bombing Syrian fighters on our side. Would you shoot down a Russian plane bombing American allied fighters in Syria? +p1509 +aVWhat \u2014 if they fly into it, would you shoot it down? +p1510 +aVThe consequences would be war with Russia. Would you risk... +p1511 +aVSenator Graham, do you agree? +p1512 +aVOK, we know you agree, Senator Graham. How about you, Governor Pataki, would you shoot down Russian planes? +p1513 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you... +p1514 +aVSenator Santorum, let me ask you, the opposite of getting into bed is shooting down the prince's plane. Senator Santorum has \u2014 Senator Graham has said he would shoot down Russian planes bombing Syrian fighters on our side. Would you shoot down a Russian plane bombing American allied fighters in Syria? +p1515 +aVWhat \u2014 if they fly into it, would you shoot it down? +p1516 +aVThe consequences would be war with Russia. Would you risk... +p1517 +aVSenator Graham, do you agree? +p1518 +aVOK, we know you agree, Senator Graham. How about you, Governor Pataki, would you shoot down Russian planes? +p1519 +aVSenator Graham, in 2013 you were part of the leadership that pushed through immigration reform, comprehensive immigration reform in the Senate of the United States. It died in the House. Many accused you of amnesty, and may have undermined your ability to get your message out on the war. Would you sign that bill again today? Would you \u2014 sponsor that bill again today? +p1520 +aVBut, Senator, I misunderstand, did you... +p1521 +aVSenator Santorum, is that sufficient for you? +p1522 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1523 +aVYep. Governor Huckabee, you have said that children of immigrants who came here illegally should not be punished by their parents actions. As president, would you continue President Obama's policy, vis-a-vis, the Dreamers? +p1524 +aVSenator... +p1525 +aVSenator Santorum, you... ...Your position on that policy, assuming that it was passed constitutionally, would you allow this, would you support such an act? +p1526 +asVWALLACE +p1527 +(lp1528 +VAlso of note, Fox News is partnering for tonight's debate with Facebook. For the past several weeks, we've been asking you for questions for the candidates on Facebook. Nearly 6 million of you, 6 million, viewed the debate videos on our site, and more than 40,000 of you submitted questions: some of which you will hear us asking the candidates tonight. +p1529 +aVKentucky Senator Rand Paul. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. And your very own governor of Ohio... ... John Kasich. +p1530 +aVBrett -- Brett, I think you would call that a home field advantage. +p1531 +aVSenator Rubio, when Jeb Bush announced his candidacy for presidency, he said this: "There's no passing off responsibility when you're a governor, no blending into the legislative crowd." Could you please address Governor Bush across the stage here, and explain to him why you, someone who has never held executive office, are better prepared to be president than he is, a man who you say did a great job running your state of Florida for eight years. +p1532 +aVSenator Cruz, your colleague, Senator Paul, right there next to you, said a few months ago he agrees with you on a number of issues, but he says you do nothing to grow the party. He says you feed red meat to the base, but you don't reach out to minorities. You have a toxic relationship with GOP leaders in Congress. You even called the Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell a liar recently. How can you win in 2016 when you're such a divisive figure? +p1533 +aVGovernor Huckabee, like Governor Walker, you have staked out strong positions on social issues. You favor a constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage. You favor a constitutional amendment banning abortions, except for the life of the mother. Millions of people in this country agree with you, but according to the polls, and again this an electability question, according to the polls, more people don't, so how do you persuade enough Independents and Democrats to get elected in 2016? +p1534 +aVGentlemen, we're turning to a new subject that all of you have been talking about and some of you have been disagreeing about, and that is the issue of immigration. Governor Bush, you released a new plan this week on illegal immigration focusing on enforcement, which some suggest is your effort to show that you're not soft on that issue. I want to ask you about a statement that you made last year about illegal immigrants. And here's what you said. "They broke the law, but it's not a felony, it's an act of love. It's an act of commitment to your family." Do you stand by that statement and do you stand by your support for earned legal status? +p1535 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, it has not escaped anybody's notice that you say that the Mexican government, the Mexican government is sending criminals -- rapists, drug dealers, across the border. Governor Bush has called those remarks, quote, "extraordinarily ugly." I'd like you -- you're right next to him -- tell us -- talk to him directly and say how you respond to that and -- and you have repeatedly said that you have evidence that the Mexican government is doing this, but you have evidence you have refused or declined to share. Why not use this first Republican presidential debate to share your proof with the American people? +p1536 +aVMr. Trump, I'll give you 30 seconds -- I'll give you 30 seconds to answer my question, which was, what evidence do you have, specific evidence that the Mexican government is sending criminals across the border? Thirty seconds. +p1537 +aVAll right. Obviously there's a lot more to talk about this. We're going to have more questions for the candidates on illegal immigration, plus other key topics including your questions on Facebook. +p1538 +aVWelcome back to FOX News/Facebook Republican Debate Night. We're going to continue the questions now on illegal immigration. We kind of ended with a cliffhanger there. So let's continue the conversation. Governor Kasich, I know you don't like to talk about Donald Trump. But I do want to ask you about the merit of what he just said. When you say that the American government is stupid, that the Mexican government is sending criminals, that we're being bamboozled, is that an adequate response to the question of illegal immigration? +p1539 +aVRespectfully, can we talk about illegal immigration? +p1540 +aVAll right, well, Senator Rubio, let me see if I can do better with you. Is it as simple as our leaders are stupid, their leaders are smart, and all of these illegals coming over are criminals? +p1541 +aVGovernor Walker. Governor Walker, from 2002 until as recently as 2013, just two years ago, you supported comprehensive immigration reform, including a path to citizenship. Now you say that was a quick reaction to something you hadn't really thought about, and that you've changed your mind. Other than politics, could you explain why in the last two years you've changed your position on a path to citizenship, and are there other past positions that we shouldn't hold you to? +p1542 +aVSenator Cruz, some 1,400 people submitted questions on this very hot topic of illegal immigration on Facebook, and a number of them were about the murder of Kate Steinle in San Francisco, allegedly shot down by an illegal. Doug Bettencourt sent this question, "will you support Kate Steinle's Law," which would impose a mandatory five-year prison term for an illegal who is deported and then returns to this country? "And will you defund sanctuary cities for violating federal law?" +p1543 +aVGentlemen, we're obviously digging into some subjects in depth, but we're also going to change it up every once in a while throughout the next hour and have many rounds where we ask, you are not going to like it, only a couple of candidates questions on those subjects. This is the first of the many rounds, and it's about somebody whose name probably hasn't been mentioned enough so far tonight. Governor Kasich, let me start with you. Whoever the Republican nominee -- Whoever the Republican nominee is, it looks at least for now like whoever that nominee is, he or she, will be facing off against Hillary Clinton. You know how she will come after whoever the Republican nominee is. She will say that you, whoever it is, support the rich while she supports the middle class. That you want to suppress the rights of women and minorities. She wants to move the country forward while you, the Republicans, want to take the country back to the past. How will you, if you're the nominee, how will you answer that and take Hillary Clinton on? +p1544 +aVI know that all of you would like to answer this question, but we're only going to ask one other candidate before we move on to a different subject, Dr. Carson. Basically, same question to you. If Hillary Clinton is the nominee and she comes at you with that kind of line of attack, how will you take Iraq? +p1545 +aVGentlemen, we're going to turn now to the subject of the economy, jobs and money and the government. And Governor Bush, I'm going to start with you. You have made a bold promise in your announcement. You have promised four percent economic growth and 19 million new jobs if you are fortunate enough to serve two terms as president. That many jobs, 19 million, would be triple what your father and your brother accomplished together. And four percent growth, the last president to average that was Lyndon Johnson during the height of the Vietnam War. So question, how on Earth specifically would you pull that off? +p1546 +aVGovernor Walker. Governor Walker, when you ran for governor of Wisconsin back in 2010, you promised that you would create 250,000 jobs in your first term, first four years. In fact, Wisconsin added barely half that and ranked 35th in the country in job growth. Now you're running for president, and you're promising an economic plan in which everyone will earn a piece of the American dream. Given your record in Wisconsin, why should voters believe you? +p1547 +aVGovernor Christie, I want to engage you and Governor Huckabee in a subject that is a big issue in both of your campaigns, and that is entitlement reform. You say that you -- to save the system that you want to raise the retirement age -- have to raise the retirement age, and to cut benefits for Social Security and Medicare, and you say that some of the candidates here on the stage are lying. Governor Huckabee says he can save Social Security and Medicare without doing any of that. Is he lying? +p1548 +aVGovernor Huckabee? You say that changing entitlements, the kind of thing that Governor Christie is talking about, would be breaking a promise to the American people, and you say that you can keep those programs, save Social Security, save Medicare, without those kinds of reforms through a FairTax, which is a broad tax on consumption. Please explain to Governor Christie how that would work, and how you could save these programs without the kind of painful reforms he says we need? +p1549 +aV...Thirty seconds. +p1550 +aV...Alright, this is it. Thirty Seconds, finally. +p1551 +aVAll right. Enough. Mr. Trump. +p1552 +aVMr. Trump, you talk a lot about how you are the person on this stage to grow the economy, I want to ask you about your business records. From corporations, Trump corporations, casinos and hotels, have declared bankruptcy four times over the last quarter-century. +p1553 +aVNo, but the concept sir... +p1554 +aV... that's your line, but your companies have gone bankrupt. +p1555 +aVWell sir, let's just talk about the latest example......which is Trump Entertainment Resorts, which went bankrupt in 2009. In that case alone, lenders to your company lost over $1 billion and more than 1,100 people were laid off. +p1556 +aVIs that the way that you'd run the country? +p1557 +aVSo... +p1558 +aVSenator Rubio. Senator Rubio, more than 3,000 people sent us questions about the economy and jobs on Facebook. And here is a video question from Tania Cioloko from Philadelphia. Here she is. +p1559 +aVSenator, how do you answer Tania? +p1560 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. +p1561 +aVSenator Paul, closing statement. +p1562 +aVDr. Carson, closing statement. +p1563 +aVGovernor Bush, closing statement, sir. +p1564 +asVSMITH +p1565 +(lp1566 +VGovernor Huckabee, same question to you. Where do you see the country right now? +p1567 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Thank you, candidates. Moving to the world stage. The middle east is on the brink of chaos. Iran continues to provoke the United States, North Korea claims it's tested a hydrogen bomb, and Afghanistan is in danger of falling back into Taliban hands. Critics of the administration say it's all due to lack of U.S. leadership. To you, Mrs. Fiorina, how do you see America's role in the world today? +p1568 +aVGovernor Huckabee, in Afghanistan, the Taliban is strengthening. Attacks are on the rise and thousands more civilians have been wounded or killed. Much of the Taliban surge can be attributed to the withdrawal of U.S. forces there. You have expressed skepticism with the war there, saying you see no end game in sight. What, then, is your solution to the growing conflict there? +p1569 +aVAll right, thank you, candidates. We're just getting started. Jobs, Homeland Security, gun rights, all those issues are coming up straight ahead. We're live from North Charleston and the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back. +p1570 +aVAll right, let's get started. Senator Santorum, to you first. President Obama has urged technology leaders to make it hard for terrorists to use technology to escape from justice. Hillary Clinton says social media companies can help by swiftly shutting down terrorist accounts. The companies say that they're already working with law enforcement and any proposed legislation would do more harm than good. Should companies like Facebook and Twitter be required by law to more actively \u2014 be more actively engaged in fighting terror? +p1571 +aVSenator, would you \u2014 would you require anything of those companies like Facebook and Twitter if you were president? +p1572 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1573 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee, you called President Obama's executive orders on gun control unconstitutional and completely insane. +p1574 +aVYou even told gun store owners to ignore the President's orders. Yet, innocent people are dying from gun violence in cities like Detroit, Chicago, and Charleston everyday. Is there anything that can be done at the federal level to prevent guns from falling into the hands of criminals? +p1575 +aV +p1576 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p1577 +aVSenator Santorum, many of our military leaders believe America's critical infrastructure is vulnerable to a terrorist attack. This is the power in our homes, the water we drink, the Internet and phone systems by which we stay connected. If attacked, these essential services that underpin American society could come to a grinding halt. Do you have a specific plan to protect us from this type of attack? +p1578 +aVSenator Santorum, I want to stay with you on this, moving to jobs and the economy. In his State of the Union Address the other night, President Obama touted his record on jobs, citing more than 14 million new jobs and boasted of nearly 900,000 manufacturing jobs added in the past six years. Do you dispute his track record of creating jobs? +p1579 +aVGovernor Huckabee, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mike Mullen, has said the greatest threat to our security is our national debt. Our national debt is now on pace to top $19 trillion. Yet, you as well as Ms. Fiorina have laid forward no plan to reform entitlements. How can you say you're going to pay down our country's debt without cutting Social Security or Medicare? +p1580 +aVOK. We're going to continue this conversation. We're taking a quick break and then coming up, the candidates' plans for strengthening the middle class. We're live in North Charleston with the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back. +p1581 +aVAll right, thanks, Trish. Well, let's get started with Ms. Fiorina. Today, the middle class represents about 50 percent of the U.S. population, down from about 61 percent back in 1971. That's according to Pew Research. The same research revealed a widening income gap in America. The rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. What will you do to strengthen a middle class that is no longer the majority? +p1582 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p1583 +aVThank you, Senator. We're not finished yet. More Republican Presidential Debate in North Charleston after this. +p1584 +aVWelcome back, it's time for the closing statements. Candidates will each get one minute, starting with Senator Santorum. Thank you very much, I want to thank the people of Charleston, which has become a little bit of a second home to me, because I am very privileged to have two young men who go to the Citadel here and they're here tonight, my son John and my son Daniel. +p1585 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Governor Mike Huckabee. +p1586 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1587 +asVBAKER +p1588 +(lp1589 +VThe candidates on stage tonight were selected based on their standing in an average of four national polls. Those standings determining their position on the stage. And here they are. At center stage, businessman Donald Trump. Neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson. +p1590 +aVTonight's rules are simple. Up to 90 second for each answer. One minute for each follow-up response. And if a candidate goes over their allotted time, you'll here this. +p1591 +aVMs. Fiorina, while you've all pointed out how weak the current recovery has been and how disappointing by any historical standards, in the general election, the Democrats will inevitably ask you and voters to compare the recent president's jobs performance. Now, in seven years under President Obama, the U.S. has added an average of 107,000 jobs a month. Under President Clinton, the economy added about 240,000 jobs a month. Under George W. Bush, it was only 13,000 a month. If you win the nomination, you'll probably be facing a Democrat named Clinton. How are you going to respond to the claim that Democratic presidents are better at creating jobs than Republicans? +p1592 +aVThank you. Thank you. Senator Paul, income inequality has been rising in the United States. Fifty years ago, for example, the average CEO of a big corporation in this country earned 20 times the average salary of one of his or her workers. Today, that CEO earns about 300 times the average salary of a worker. Does it matter at all that the gap between the rich and everyone else is widening? +p1593 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1594 +aVSenator Rubio... +p1595 +aVYes, one quick comment, yes. +p1596 +aVGovernor Bush... +p1597 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor, you...You should let Jeb speak. +p1598 +aVMr. Trump, Mr. Trump, you yourself \u2014 you yourself said let Governor Bush speak. Governor Bush? +p1599 +aVSenator Rubio? Senator... +p1600 +aVSenator Rubio, Senator Rubio, let me \u2014 let me take you to a question that I think gets to the root of a lot of the anxiety that people have in this country. The economy is undergoing a transformation through information technology. Americans are anxious that the new economy isn't producing higher-paying jobs. Many are concerned that the new wealth seems to be going mainly to innovators and investors. Meanwhile, with factories run by robots and shopping done increasingly on smartphones, many traditional jobs are just going away. How do you reassure American workers that their jobs are not being steadily replaced by machines? +p1601 +aVThank you. Senator Cruz \u2014 Senator Cruz, entitlements. You've argued for raising the retirement age and reducing benefits for future retirees, but reducing any sort of benefits for the elderly has always been notoriously hard to do politically. When Speaker Paul Ryan proposed replacing traditional Medicare with federally funded private plans a few years ago, a liberal group responded with a commercial that featured a granny being pushed off a cliff. What's going to be different this time? +p1602 +aV...I said for future retirees was your statement... +p1603 +aVSenator Rubio. Can I just come to Senator Rubio? We're coming to you, Mr. Trump, in one second. I \u2014 I promise. +p1604 +aVSenator Rubio, your tax plan includes a large expansion of child tax credits to raise off (ph) the tax incomes for low-income parents. A similar tax credit that you previously proposed in the Senate was estimated to cost as much as $170 billion a year, according to the Tax Foundation. Isn't \u2014 isn't there a risk you're just adding another expensive entitle program to an already overburdened federal budget? +p1605 +aVGovernor Kasich? Let me come to Governor Kasich. +p1606 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1607 +aVVery quickly, Senator. +p1608 +aVPlease. +p1609 +aV...Gentleman, we need to move on... +p1610 +aV...We need to move... +p1611 +aV...We need too... +p1612 +aV...We do need to move on. Mr. Trump... +p1613 +aV...Very quick. +p1614 +aVLet's talk about \u2014 No, no, Governor, I really must move on. I really want to move on. Mr. Trump, let's talk about the international economy... +p1615 +aV...We really need to move on... +p1616 +aV...No, governor, I promise I will come to you... +p1617 +aV...Listen... +p1618 +aV...Mr. Trump, can I ask you about... +p1619 +aV...the U.S. just concluded an international trade agreement with 11 countries in the Pacific. You've said that you'd rather have no deal... +p1620 +aV...than sign the one that's on the table... +p1621 +aV...Most economists \u2014 most economists say that trade is boosted growth, and every single post war president has supported the expansion of international trade, including the last three republican presidents. Why would you reverse more than 50 years of U.S. trade policy? +p1622 +aVThe \u2014 the deal, as you say, the terms of the deal were published \u2014 were published just last week, the details, 5,000 pages of it, and 80 percent of U.S. trade with countries in the Pacific, these countries, these 11 countries, is actually tariff-free, and these \u2014 the trade deal only affects the other 20 percent. Which \u2014 are there particular parts of the deal that you think were badly negotiated? +p1623 +aVThere was a separate \u2014 separate... +p1624 +aVBut isn't that \u2014 isn't that part of the problem? When I say, Senator, that if \u2014 if this deal is not ratified by \u2014 by the U.S. \u2014 by the Senate, then it would actually give China an opportunity to grow its economic leadership, which it's been seeking to do? And if the U.S. is unable to take part in this trade deal with these countries in Asia, China will take the lead? +p1625 +aVThank you. Thanks, Senator. +p1626 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich, I want to ask you about China, in particular hundreds of American companies have been subjected to cyber attacks from the Chinese military, yet state-backed Chinese companies, growing their presence in the United States, Chinese investments in U.S., which were nearly nonexistent a few years ago, are now over $50 billion. And as my newspaper recently reported, Chinese companies are planning to bid for one of the largest hotel chains in the United States, what would be the largest ever Chinese takeover of a U.S. company. Would you stop them? +p1627 +aVThank you, Governor. Plenty of opportunities. Thank you. Neil? +p1628 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate, live from Milwaukee. Now let's get straight back to the questions, and Governor Bush. Governor, Hillary Clinton recently said that if we had another financial crisis like the one in 2008, she wouldn't bail out the banks. Would you? +p1629 +aVBut, Governor, but can I just quickly \u2014 did \u2014 you can't seriously guarantee that there won't be another financial crisis, can you? +p1630 +aVEver? There will never be another financial crisis? +p1631 +aVDr. Carson, if I may, just on that point, despite measures taken, as the governor says, since the crisis to make the financial system safer, the major banks in the U.S., many of them are actually bigger than ever. Asset held by JPMorgan Chase, for example, the very largest bank, have increased by nearly 40 percent to over $2.6 trillion. Do you think JPMorgan and the other big banks should be broken up? +p1632 +aVBut just to be clear, just \u2014 just to be clear, then, you wouldn't \u2014 you wouldn't favor breaking up the big banks? You think they're big enough \u2014 they're OK as they are, as big as they are? +p1633 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1634 +aVThank you. +p1635 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate. And now, candidates, it's time for your closing statements. You get 30 seconds each, and, Senator Paul, we will begin with you. +p1636 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p1637 +asVHUCKABEE +p1638 +(lp1639 +VWell, John, I don't really have any weaknesses that I can think of. But my wife is down here in the front, and I'm sure, if you'd like to talk to her later, she can give you more than you'll ever be able to take care of. If I have a weakness, it's that I try to live by the rules. I try to live by the rules, no matter what they are, and I was brought up that way as a kid. Play by the rules. And I'll tell you what a weakness is of this country: there are a lot of people who are sick and tired because Washington does not play by the same rules that the American people have to play by. +p1640 +aVWell, I would really appreciate that. First of all, yes, we've stolen. Yes, we've lied to the American people about Social Security, and Medicare. But, you know what we're not telling them? It's their money. This isn't the governments money. This is not entitlement, it's not welfare. This is money that people have confiscated out of their paychecks. Everytime they got a paycheck, the government reached in and took something out of it before they ever saw it. Now, we're going to blame the people. Today congress decided to take another $150 billion dollars away from Social Security so they can borrow more money. That makes no sense to everybody. And, they're always going to say, "Well, we're going to fix this one day." No their not. It's like a 400 pound man saying, "I'm going to go on a diet, but I'm eating a sack of Krispy Kremes before I do." And, people are sick of believing that the government is never going to really address this. But, let me tell you who not to blame. Let's quit blaming the people on Social Security. Let's quit making it a problem for them. It's like them getting mugged, and then us saying, well, we're going to mug you some more. You ought to just be able to get over it, get used to it... +p1641 +aV...No, sir... +p1642 +aV...we need to honor our promises... +p1643 +aV...before I go. This is the only time I've had a chance, let me finish. +p1644 +aV...This is a matter not of math, this is a matter of morality. If this country that does not keep its promise to seniors then what promise can this country hope to be trusted to keep? And, the fact is, none of them. [ +p1645 +aVAnd, the only way \u2014 no... +p1646 +aV...Chris... +p1647 +aV...Chris... +p1648 +aVSince he brought me up, do I not get to respond? +p1649 +aVJohn, listen, let's keep in mind that for one-third of the 60 million Americans on Social Security it represents 90 percent of their income. And, when I hear people talking about means testing, let's just remember what that means. If we means test Social Security, it means that the government decides whether or not I deserve it. If a person lives in a seven room house, does the government get to say you don't need seven rooms, we're going to take two of them away? Folks, the government has no business stealing even more from the people who have paid this in. I just want to remind you, people paid their money. They expect to have it. And, if this government doesn't pay it, than tell me what's different between the government and Bernie Madolf, who sits in prison today for doing less than what the government has done to the people on social security and Medicare in this country. +p1650 +aVI don't think it's so much about when the government orders a corporation to do something. In fact, that's part of the problem. If you saw that blimp that got cut loose from Maryland today, it's a perfect example of government. I mean, what we had was something the government made \u2014 basically a bag of gas \u2014 that cut loose, destroyed everything in its path, left thousands of people powerless, but they couldn't get rid of it because we had too much money invested in it, so we had to keep it. That is our government today. We saw it in the blimp. That's exactly what we saw. So look, corporations ought to exercise some responsibility. When CEO income has risen 90 percent above the average worker, when the bottom 90 percent of this country's economy has had stagnant wages for the past 40 years, somebody is taking it in the teeth. And it's not the folks on Wall Street. I'm not anti-Wall Street, but I don't believe the government ought to wear a team jersey, pick winners and losers. +p1651 +aVThe government ought to wear a striped shirt and just make sure the game... +p1652 +aV...is paid \u2014 played fairly. +p1653 +aVNow, everybody else has fudged their time and gone over, so please, don't cut me off too quick, Becky. +p1654 +aVLet me just close it out this way. +p1655 +aVWe need to be focusing on what fixes this country. And I'll tell you one thing that we never talk about \u2014 we haven't talked about it tonight. Why aren't we talking about \u2014 instead of cutting benefits for old people, cutting benefits for sick people \u2014 why don't we say, "let's cure the four big cost-driving diseases... +p1656 +aV..."diabetes, heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer's?" +p1657 +aVIf you do that, you don't just change the economy, you transform the lives of millions of hurting Americans. +p1658 +aVGosh, I'd love for us to talk about something like that. Thank you. +p1659 +aVYou know, of the few questions I've got, the last one I need is to give him some more time. I love Donald Trump. He is a good man. I'm wearing a Trump tie tonight. Get over that one, OK? [ +p1660 +aVI don't know. [ +p1661 +aVI have no idea. +p1662 +aVYou're welcome. Let me tell you, Donald Trump would be a president every day of the week and twice on Sunday, rather than Hillary. I've spent a lifetime in politics fighting the Clinton machine. You want to talk about what we're going to be up against next year? I'm the only guy on this stage \u2014 you know, everybody has an "only guy" \u2014 "I'm the only guy this; I'm the only guy that." Well, let me tell you one thing that I am the only guy: The only guy that has consistently fought the Clinton machine every election I was ever in over the past 26 years. And not only did I fight them, but I beat them. Somebody says "I'm a fighter." Well, I want to know, did you win? Well, I did. And not only did I fight them and win, I lived to tell about it and I'm standing on this stage tonight as evidence of that. And I think that ought to be worth something. +p1663 +aVWell, and specifically to Medicare, Becky, because 85 percent of the cost of Medicare is chronic disease. The fact is if we don't address what's costing so much, we can't throw enough money at this. And it's why I've continued to focus on the fact that we need to declare war on the four big cost drivers because 80 percent of all medical costs in this country are chronic disease. We don't have a health care crisis in America, we have a health crisis. And until we deal with the health of Americans and do what we did with polio \u2014 when I was a little kid, we eradicated it. You know how much money we spent on polio last year in America? We didn't spend any. We've saved billions of dollars. You want to fix Medicare? Focus on the diseases that are costing us the trillions of dollars. Alzheimers, diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Eradicate those and you fix Medicare and you've fixed America, its economy and you've made people's lives a heck of a lot better. +p1664 +aVYou know, I know to a lot of people in the media, this is just a great big game, and we're the players. And, we come out here, and we do our thing. And, sometimes we're held up in contempt by people who write columns, but, I guarantee you to every person on this stage there's something deep inside of us that would cause us to give up our livelihoods and step out on this stage and fight for the people of America. I've got five grandkids. I do not want to walk my five grandkids through the charred remains of a once great country called America, and say, "Here you go, $20 trillion dollars of debt. Good luck making something out of this mess." And, for those of us who are serious enough to run for president, think long and hard why we're here, and hopefully you'll know we're not here for ourselves. We honest to god are here to get this country back on track. I know this, I certainly am. +p1665 +aV...Thank you. +p1666 +aVI'm Mike Huckabee. I'm delighted to be on this stage with some remarkable fellow Republicans. None of us are a self-professed socialist. None of us on this state are under investigation by the FBI because we destroyed government records, or because we leaked secrets. I know that there are some in the Wall-Street-to-Washington axis of power who speak of all of us contemptuously. But I'm here to say that I think we are, in fact, the A team. We have some remarkable people, and, in fact, not only are we the A team; we even have our own Mr. T, who doesn't mind saying about others, "you're a fool." And I'm delighted to be here with all of these guys, and would put any of them in an administration that I led. Thank you very much. +p1667 +aVI would certainly love to get in on this, because I think the single... +p1668 +aVI've been patiently waiting, and I'm going to just say this about Iran. +p1669 +aVBecause I think it is incredibly important. This is really about the survival of Western civilization. This is not just a little conflict with a Middle Eastern country that we've just now given over $100 billion to, the equivalent in U.S. terms is $5 trillion. This threatens Israel immediately, this threatens the entire Middle East, but it threatens the United States of America. And we can't treat a nuclear Iranian government as if it is just some government that would like to have power. This is a government for 36 years has killed Americans, they kidnapped Americans, they have maimed Americans. They have sponsored terrorist groups, Hamas and Hezbollah, and they threaten the very essence of Western civilization. To give them this agreement, that the president treats like the Magna Carta, but Iranians treat it like it's toilet paper, and we must, simply, make it very clear that the next president, one of us on this stage, will absolutely not honor that agreement, and will destroy it and will be tough with Iran, because otherwise, we put every person in this world in a very dangerous place. +p1670 +aVNo, I don't think he's on the wrong side of such an issue. Jeb is a friend. I'm not up here to fight with Jeb or to fight with anybody else. But I am here to fight for somebody who is a county clerk elected under the Kentucky constitution that 75 percent of the people of that state had voted for that said that marriage was between a man and a woman. The Supreme Court in a very, very divided decision decided out of thin air that they were just going to redefine marriage. It's a decision that the other justices in dissent said they didn't have and there wasn't a constitutional shred of capacity for them to do it. I thought that everybody here passed ninth-grade civics. The courts cannot legislate. That's what Roberts said. But heck, it's what we learned in civics. The courts can't make a law. They can interpret one. They can review one. They can't implement it. They can't force it. But here's what happened: Because the courts just decided that something was going to be and people relinquished it and the other two branches of government sat by silently \u2014 I thought we had three branches of government, they were all equal to each other, we have separation of powers, and we have checks and balances. If the court can just make a decision and we just all surrender to it, we have what Jefferson said was judicial tyranny. The reason that this is a real issue that we need to think about... +p1671 +aVNo, no. Let me finish this one thought, Jake. I haven't gotten that much time, so I'm going to take just what little I can here. We made accommodation to the Fort Hood shooter to let him grow a beard. We made accommodations to the detainees at Gitmo \u2014 I've been to Gitmo, and I've seen the accommodations that we made to the Muslim detainees who killed Americans. You're telling me that you cannot make an accommodation for an elected Democrat county clerk from Rowan County, Kentucky? What else is it other than the criminalization of her faith and the exaltation of the faith of everyone else who might be a Fort Hood shooter or a detainee at Gitmo? +p1672 +aVI have a different idea. I think we ought to get rid of all the taxes on people who produce. Why should we penalize productivity? And it's why I'm an unabashed supporter of the "fair tax," which would be a tax on our consumption, rather than a tax on our productivity. In other words, you're not going to tax anybody for what they earn, whether it's worker whose working by the hour or whether it's a hedge fund manager. If they can produce something and bring capital and labor to create jobs, we need some jobs. And I think the "fair tax" makes more sense. Now, Jake, I've been listening to everybody on the stage and there is a lot of back and forth about I'm the only one who has done this, the only one who has done that, I've done great things. We've all done great things or we wouldn't be on this stage. But it occurs to me as we're sitting here in the Reagan Library that most of us would like to pay tribute to a guy who, when he got elected, didn't get elected telling everybody how great he was. He got elected telling everybody how great the American people were. And he empowered them to live their dreams, which is what I'd love to see us do by no longer penalizing the people who are out there working because they are taking a gut punch right now. +p1673 +aV...You don't want me operating on you, I assure you. +p1674 +aVJust today \u2014 just today, there was a new report that 50 different intelligence analysts have said that what they sent up the ladder was doctored by senior officials, so that they could give some happy talk to the situation that we face. I love the idea of a good intellectual capacity to deal with our enemies, but the fact is, if you don't have good intelligence that is reliable and honest, you won't have good intelligence and you cannot make good decisions. The next president is primarily elected not just to know things, but to know what to do with the things that he knows. And the most dangerous person in any room is the person who doesn't know what he doesn't know. +p1675 +aVAnd the reason Barack Obama has been dangerous to this country and we better elect someone who had some executive experience, is because we cannot afford another eight years having a person in the office who doesn't know what he does not know. +p1676 +aVYou better believe I will, because I'm tired of liberals always having a litmus test and conservatives are supposed to pretend we don't. Well let me tell you what mine would be. Number one, I'd ask do you think that the unborn child is a human being or is it just a blob of tissue? I'd want to know the answer to that. I'd want to know do you believe in the First Amendment, do you believe that religious liberty is the fundamental liberty around which all the other freedoms of this country are based? And I'd want to know do you really believe in the Second Amendment, do you believe that we have an individual right to bear arms to protect ourselves and our family and to protect our country? And do you believe in the Fifth and the 14th Amendment? Do you believe that a person, before they're deprived of life and liberty, should in fact have due process and equal protection under the law? Because if you do, you're going to do more than defund Planned Parenthood. +p1677 +aVOne final thing. I'd make darn sure that we absolutely believe the 10th Amendment. Every governor on this stage would share this much with you. Every one of us \u2014 our biggest fight wasn't always with the legislature or even with the Democrats. My gosh, half the time, it was with the federal government who apparently never understood \u2014 +p1678 +aV\u2014 that if it's not reserved in the Constitution, then the 10th Amendment says it's left to the states. But somebody forgot to send a memo to Washington. +p1679 +aVJake? Jake? +p1680 +aVI think we need to remember that there are maybe some controversies about autism, but there is no controversy about the things that are really driving the medical costs in this country. And I would really believe that the next president ought to declare a war on cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer's, because those are the four things that are causing the greatest level of cost. John Kennedy said, "we'll go to the moon in a decade and bring a man back," and we did it. I grew up in the '50s. I remember the polio vaccine. We saved billions of dollars since that time, because we haven't had to treat for polio. Why doesn't this country focus on cures rather than treatment? Why don't we put a definitive focus scientifically on finding the cure for cancer, for heart disease, for diabetes and for Alzheimer's, a disease alone that will cost us \u2014 +p1681 +aV$1.1 trillion by the year 2050. We change the economy and the country. +p1682 +aVThat's an easy one. I'd put my wife on there. I've been married to her 41 years. She's fought cancer and lived through it. She's raised three kids, five great grandkids, and she's put up with me. I mean, who else could possibly be on that money other than my wife. And that way, she could spend her own money with her face. +p1683 +aVI'd go with Duck Hunter. +p1684 +aVAt the end of my presidency I would like to believe that the world would be a safe place, and there wouldn't be the threats. not only to the U.S., but to Israel and our allies, because we would have the most incredible well-trained, well-equipped, well- prepared military in the history of mankind. And they would know that the commander-in-chief would never send them to a mission without all the resources necessary, but people wouldn't bully us anymore. Because they would know that that would be an invitation to their destruction. Domestically, we would be operating under a tax system that eliminated the IRS. People wouldn't be punished for their work, and for what they produced. And life would be really deemed precious. Abortion would be no more. It would be as much of a scourge in our past as slavery is. And we would have a peaceful country, where people respected each other and people respected law enforcement. And we would focus on cures. And we would make this country not only safe from our enemies without, but safe from the enemies within. And it would be a good place to raise our kids and our grandkids. +p1685 +aVChris, I disagree with the idea that the real issue is a constitutional amendment. That's a long and difficult process. I've actually taken the position that's bolder than that. A lot of people are talking about defunding planned parenthood, as if that's a huge game changer. I think it's time to do something even more bold. I think the next president ought to invoke the Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the constitution now that we clearly know that that baby inside the mother's womb is a person at the moment of conception. The reason we know that it is is because of the DNA schedule that we now have clear scientific evidence on. And, this notion that we just continue to ignore the personhood of the individual is a violation of that unborn child's Fifth and 14th Amendment rights for due process and equal protection under the law. It's time that we recognize the Supreme Court is not the Supreme Being, and we change the policy to be pro-life and protect children instead of rip up their body parts and sell them like they're parts to a Buick. +p1686 +aVNot me. But you're welcome to give me a check, Donald if you'd like. +p1687 +aVIt's not too big to shrink. But the problem is we have a Wall Street-to-Washington axis of power that has controlled the political climate. The donor class feeds the political class who does the dance that the donor class wants. And the result is federal government keeps getting bigger. Every person on this stage who has been a governor will tell that you the biggest fight they had was not the other party. Wasn't even the legislature. It was the federal government, who continually put mandates on the states that we had to suck up and pay for. And the fact is there are a lot of things happening at the federal level that are absolutely beyond the jurisdiction of the Constitution. This is power that should be shifted back to the states, whether it's the EPA, there is no role at the federal level for the Department of Education. And I'm still one who says that we can get rid of the Internal Revenue Service if we would pass the FairTax, which is a tax on consumption rather than a tax on people's income, and move power back where the founders believed it should have been all along. +p1688 +aVWell, let's all be reminded, 60 million Americans are on Social Security, 60 million. A third of those people depend on 90% of their income from Social Security. Nobody in this country is on Social Security because they made the decision when they were starting work at 14 that they wanted to trust some of their money with the government. The government took it out of their check whether they wanted them to or not. And, if person goes to 65, they're going to spend 51 years with the government reaching into their pocket at every paycheck. Now, here's the point, whose fault is it that the system is screwed up? Is it the recipients, or is it the government? And, if Congress wants to mess with the retirement program, why don't we let them start by changing their retirement program, and not have one, instead of talking about getting rid of Social Security and Medicare that was robbed $700 billion dollars to pay for Obamacare. It's always that the government figures that they can do this off the backs of people, many of whom are poor, and depend on that money, and I just think it's fundamentally lying to the people and stealing from them, and we shouldn't be doing it. +p1689 +aVWell, you ask about how we fund it. One of the reasons that Social Security is in so much trouble is that the only funding stream comes from people who get a wage. The people who get wages is declining dramatically. Most of the income in this country is made by people at the top who get dividends and -- and capital gains. The FairTax transforms the process by which we fund Social Security and Medicare because the money paid in consumption is paid by everybody, including illegals, prostitutes, pimps, drug dealers, all the people that are freeloading off the system now. That's why it ought to be a transformed system. +p1690 +aVRonald Reagan said "trust, but verify." President Obama is "trust, but vilify." He trusts our enemies and vilifies everyone who disagrees with him. And the reason we disagree with him has nothing to do with party. +p1691 +aVIt has to do with the incredibly dangerous place that this world is gonna be as a result of a deal in which we got nothing. We didn't even get four hostages out. We got nothing, and Iran gets everything they want. We said we would have anywhere, anytime negotiations and inspections, we gave that up. We said that we would make sure that they didn't have any nuclear capacity, we gave that up. The president can't tell us what we got. I'll tell you what the world got. The world has a burgeoning nuclear power that didn't, as the Soviets, say "we might defend ourselves in a war." What the Iranians have said is, "we will wipe Israel off the face of the map, and we will bring death to America." When someone points a gun at your head and loads it, by God, you ought to take them seriously, and we need to take that seriously. +p1692 +aVThe military is not a social experiment. The purpose of the military is kill people and break things. It's not to transform the culture by trying out some ideas that some people think would make us a different country and more diverse. The purpose is to protect America. I'm not sure how paying for transgender surgery for soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines makes our country safer. We've reduced the military by 25 percent... ... under President Obama. The disaster is that we've forgotten why we have a military. The purpose of it is to make sure that we protect every American, wherever that American is, and if an American is calling out for help, whether it's in Benghazi or at the border, then we ought to be able to answer it. We've not done that because we've decimated our military. We're flying B-52s. The most recent one that was put in service was November of 1962. A lot of the B-52s we're flying, we've only got 44 that are in service combat ready, and the fact is, most of them are older than me. And that's pretty scary. +p1693 +aVIt seems like this election has been a whole lot about a person who's very high in the polls, that doesn't have a clue about how to govern. A person who has been filled with scandals, and who could not lead, and, of course, I'm talking about Hillary Clinton. I think America... +p1694 +aV...is in trouble, but it's not beyond repair. But it's going to take leadership who sees the greatness of this country, and who believes that once again we can be one nation, under God. I'll be my best to do that, and thank you for your support. +p1695 +aVI don't think it's that the message isn't working, I think it's the message isn't getting out because the message that I have this time, Bill, it's exactly what I said eight years ago. I talked about people who are standing on their feet on factory floors, people who lift heavy things, who sweat through their clothes, they're getting gut punched. They are not having a fair shake in this economy. I talked about that eight years ago, and I'm talking about it now. I talked about the importance of preserving life, of not just saying we're going to defund Planned Parenthood, but let's do something bolder. Let's get rid of abortion once and for all by applying the Fifth, and Fourteenth amendment to every person from conception because that means that we recognize that no person can be deprived of life or liberty unless they have due process. And, that's not happening in our country. And, I believe, and continue to practice that we need the Fair Tax to revive our economy. To make it so that people are able to be rewarded for their work rather than punished for it. +p1696 +aVYou know, I -- I would leave that to other people. I'm not going to get into an argument with all the New Yorkers, because there's a lot of them. This much I will tell you. I wish that some of those New Yorkers had funded as much of my campaign as they did the corporately funded candidates, but they didn't. And to be honest with you, when I say I'm -- wish they had, I'm glad they didn't. I'm not a New York-funded campaign. I'm not bankrolled by the corporatists, I'm not bankrolled by Goldman Sachs and Citibank and AIG and all the big brokers -- brokerage houses and the billionaires. I'm sponsored by people like Thomas, a part-time Uber driver in Pennsylvania who sent me $25 this week. He's between jobs. He's driving an Uber car. But he believed in what I'm talking about enough that, even on a limited, part-time income, he sent me $25 to help in my campaign. I'll stand with the Thomases of the world any day. I'll leave all the discussion of the big financiers to other candidates. But there's only a few of us in the entire Republican process who are not corporately funded by the same group. And let me just finish by saying, you want to know why things never change depending on whether Democrats or Republicans are in power, and why Republicans in Iowa and the rest of the country are so frustrated? The reason is, is because if you follow the money, the same folks who finance the Democrats finance the Republicans, and no matter what the speeches and the ads, they get the same results. If you want a different result, I'm available. +p1697 +aVWell, I don't trust him. I've never said I trusted him. But if somebody is willing to take a shot at the people we are taking shots at, I'm more than willing to let them use their own bullets to do it. But let's be very clear about how we take out +p1698 +aVNo, I don't think that it's impossible, but we're not going to do it by doing the same things we've been doing for all these many years. And, we've lost five million manufacturing jobs just since the year 2000. The other day I was in Newton, Iowa. It used to be a vibrant place where Maytag washers and dryers were built. Went out of business in 2007, all those shops went to Mexico. All those people lost their jobs. There was a guy in my forum that day, he lost his job. He still has never found an employment that got anywhere near the job that he had. Let me ask you, how many people do you think living around the Beltway know a guy like that? Care about a guy like that? Not many. And, that's because they're six of the ten richest counties in America that surround Washington D.C. People who live in the bubbles of the high finance world of New York, the government world of Washington, the entertainment world of Hollywood, don't have a clue about how hard people out here in Iowa are working every single day. And, I believe one of the values of campaigning in Iowa, you can't win unless you go out and talk to farmers and housewives -- and welders, and unemployed truck drivers, and I hate... ... That a president could become president who never met people who have to struggle to make a living and put food on the table. +p1699 +aVA lot of Americans are angry. And I think it's important to understand why they are mad. They are mad because they see a government that continues to do fine. They see people at the top. They are doing fine. But that person you asked Rick about a moment ago, that lady that's making 10,000 bucks a year, do you know what our poverty programs do to people? They keep them in poverty. They keep them in poverty because we have these arbitrary thresholds... ... that mean that if you go to work, you lose all the benefits for your kids, Medicaid, WIC, Section 8 housing, food stamps, and then your kids go hungry. I know a little about poverty. My sister is here tonight. Now both of us could tell you we did not grow up rich. My mother grew up in a house, oldest of seven kids. She had lived in a house that didn't have floors. Just dirt. No electricity. No running water. I resent it when people say, oh, people are poor because they want to be. No, they are not. Nobody wants to be poor. And that's a stupid, foolish thing, mean thing to say. People are poor because they don't know how to get out of the hole. And government shouldn't push them back in the hole which is what our policies do when they punish people who want to go to work and don't let them out. We can fix that, but it takes some leadership to get it done. +p1700 +aVWell, I didn't have a tax and spend approach. You got to understand where the Club for Growth comes from, a bunch of rich guys sitting around writing checks to go after people they don't like. And, they don't like me sometimes because I was fighting for the guys at the bottom, not just the guys at the top. I cut 94 taxes in a state that had never had a general major tax decrease in its history. I also was able to see per capita income growth in my state go up by 50%. I think that's a pretty darn good record. Look at the overall record and it was fine. But, it's not about stats from when I was governor. Look, one of the reasons I support the Fairtax is because it's the one thing, Bill, that would truly empower people at the bottom of the economy by no longer punishing them for their work. If a guy works an hourly job, and he works eight hours, gets paid for it, terrific. But, if he works 16 hours, he doesn't get a double paycheck because he's going to be bumped up into a new tax bracket, and the government will get more of his second shift than he will. So, we've actually punished him for being industrious, hardworking, and that is a foolish economic policy... ... that's hurting Americans about as much as anything. +p1701 +aVI honestly don't understand how anybody with IQ above plant life would honestly think... ... that we would be better off if we let the government have all of the private property and that the government would dole out what they thought we should have. I'm not "feeling the Bern," Bill. I'm not feeling it. And when Bernie Sanders promises these kids free college, I'm telling them, because I get asked, what about free college? I said, look, if we give you free college when you are 20, pal, you are going to be paying for it when you are 30, when you are 40, and when you are 50. There is no such thing as the government giving you anything. They will definitely make a mess of it. And I just think there are a lot of people who have never understood the basic understanding of economics, that you do not make people rich by tearing down those who are you providing jobs, and you don't help poor people by taking away. You give them jobs. Let them work. Let them earn. And then you let them keep the money that they earned. That's how we build a great economy. +p1702 +aVWell, this week there was a little dust up about a video we put together with the music of Adele, so I thought it'd be appropriate for me to begin tonight by saying, "Hello, Iowa. It's me." +p1703 +aVAnd, you know me. You gave me the largest number of votes in the history of the Iowa caucus eight years ago, and I think you did it because you trusted me, you believed that I had your best interest at heart. When I was governor I had a little plaque in my office in the Governor's office, and it simply said this. Come, let us reason together. I believe the next President needs to put that plaque in the oval office, and needs to lead this country by saying, "Come, let us reason together." God bless you, and thank you for your support. +p1704 +aVI wish I saw the country in the same place that the president presented it to be the other night in the State of the Union. He talked about how great the economy was doing. And I guess for the people he hangs out with, it's probably doing great. But the president should've stood in the line at the layaway counter at Walmart just before Christmas. He would have heard a very different story about the economy of America. I wish I could introduce him the lady who cleans the building where our campaign headquarters is located in Little Rock. Her name is Kathleen. She works all day at a local hospital cleaning, and then she goes to the building where a bank, and our headquarters, and other offices are she spends another seven hours. She works 15 hours a day. I guarantee you she's not working 15 hours a day because she loves scrubbing toilets, and sweeping floors. She's working that many hours because that's what it takes for her to make it work. And, she's not alone. There are people all over this country who are working like that. Many of them working two jobs \u2014 and they used to have one job, and that would take care of them. But, because of wage stagnation, which we've had for 40 years, because the fact that they're punished for working harder if they work that many hours. The government gets more of their second shift than they do. And, as a result there are a lot of people who are hurting today. I wish the President knew more of them. He might make a change in the economy and the way he's managing it. +p1705 +aVLet me put that in context. When I went to Afghanistan, I saw a land that looked like the land of the Flintstones. It was desolate. It was barren. It was primitive. And it's been that way for thousands of years. They want to take the world back to be just like that. We don't. We need to make a clear goal as to why we want to be anywhere in the Middle East, and I'll tell you why we want to be and need to be, is to destroy radical Islam and everything that threatens civilization. It's not just a threat......to Israel or to America, it's a threat to every civilized person on this Earth. And we need to be equipping not only the Kurds in Iraq, we need to be making sure that those who are willing to fight radical Muslims will do it, but we need to never ever spend a drop of American blood unless there is a clearly defined goal and we can't make sure we win unless we have a military that's the strongest in the history of mankind. We've got to rebuild our navy. It's the smallest navy we've had since 1915, when my grandfather got on a destroyer in World War I when he was in the U.S. Navy. We've got young men in Air Force B-52s, one in particular, he's flying a B-52 that his father flew in the '80s and his grandfather flew in the '50s. Those planes are older than me. We've got to have a military that the world is afraid of, use it sparingly, but when we do, the whole world will know that America is on their tail and they will be on their tail on the ground, never ever to rise up again. +p1706 +aVOnly if there is a concerted effort to destroy the advance of radical Islamists who are against us. As far as what are we going to make it look like. Frankly, I don't know what we can make it look like. You can't create for other people a desire for freedom and democracy. And frankly, that is not the role of the United States. The role of the United States military is not to build schools, it is not to build bridges, it is not to go around and pass out food packets. It is to kill and destroy our enemy and make America safe and that is the purpose we should be there if we're going to be there. +p1707 +aV Yes, I did. +p1708 +aVWell, why don't we start by making sure the Justice Department never does an idiotic program like Fast and Furious where the U.S. Government put guns......in the hands of Mexican drug lords......and end up killing one of our border agents. You know, they want to talk about law abiding citizens, I just find it amazing the President keeps saying the gun show loophole. There is no gun show loophole. I promise you I've been to more gun shows than President Obama. +p1709 +aVAnd, I've bought more weapons at them, and you fill out forms. The President also says things that it's easier to get a gun now than it is to grow trees. Again, I purchase guns, and I can assure you that it is much more difficult to purchase a firearm than it is to get the ingredients of a salad at the supermarket. What the President keeps pushing are ideas that have never worked. Ideas that would not have stopped San Bernadino, Sandy Hook, Aurora, and at some point you wonder if you keep retrying things that don't work, maybe we should just see if we could resell all those used lottery tickets that didn't work real well because that's the logic of just keep doing the same thing, but something that has failed. Of course, we want to stop gun violence, but the one common thing that has happened in most mass shootings is that they happened in gun- free zones where people who would have been law abiding citizens, who could have stood up and at least tried to stop it and we're not allowed to under the law. +p1710 +aVWell, we shouldn't be and that's one of the reasons that I think there a lot of voices in our country who are saying it's time to relook at the visa program. The European Union is a failure, it's not allowed for even the economic goals that they were trying to achieve. But, what we're not seeing is that it's making Europe less safe, and it's proven not to be exactly what they all thought it was going to be. Our first and foremost responsibility in this country, and the first responsibility of the President of the United States is protect America, and protect Americans. We have a President who seems to be more interested in protecting the reputation and image of Islam than he is protecting us. And, I want to be very clear......that this President. Makes comments like he did the other night, that we have to be so careful because we don't want to offend Muslims. He needs to read his own FBI crime stats from last year which would show him that of the hate crimes in the country, over 5,500, about 1,100 were religious hate crimes. And, of those, 58% were directed toward Jews. Only 16% directed toward Muslims. Maybe what the President should have talked about the other night is how we ought to be more careful in the anti-semitic comments that are going toward American Jews than toward Muslims because by three times as many......they're being targeted for religious hate crime. +p1711 +aVIt does not shut down international commerce, but it may slow it down. And, you don't want to slowdown commerce that is making us safer. It's worth it. This lady who came and joined with the San Bernardino killer had passed three background checks, and that's why a lot of Americans didn't buy it when the President said we'll bring in Syrian refugees, but don't worry we'll check them out. We have a lot of confidence in a president who told us that we could keep our doctor, we could keep our health insurance, and cost us less, and now the latest is if you like your gun you can keep it too, and frankly, we don't buy it. We don't believe it. He's lost his credibility, and his inept... ...inability to work with Congress and pass legislation has led him to do what I never even imagined doing as a governor, and that's just going and doing it my own way. That's why we elect a president, is to lead, is to be able to shepherd things through. And if I can do it with a 90 percent Democrat legislature in Arkansas, there is no excuse for any president not being able to lead in Washington if he knows what the heck he is doing when he gets there. +p1712 +aVWell, first of all, let's just remember that Social Security is not the government's money, it belongs to the people who had it taken out of their checks involuntarily their entire working lives. For the government to say, well it is fault of working people that we have a Social Security problem, no. It is the fault of a government that used those people's money for something other than protecting those people's accounts. So let's not blame them and punish them. But here is a fact, and I sometimes hear Republicans say well, we're going to have to cut this and extend the age. You know what I think a lot of times when I hear people say, well, let's make people work to their 70. That sounds great for white-collar people who sat at a desk most of their lives. You ever talk to somebody that stood on concrete floor for the first 40 years of their working life? Do you think they can stand another five years or 10 years, many of them will retired virtually crippled because they worked hard. And we're going to punish them some more? I don't think so. Here's the fact. Four percent economic growth, we fully fund Social Security and Medicare. Our problem is not that Social Security is just too generous to seniors. It isn't. Our problem is that our politicians have not created the kind of policies that would bring economic growth. And I still support strongly that we get rid of the 77,000 pages of the monstrous tax code......pass the fair tax, supercharge this economy with the rocket fuel that happens with the consumption tax and we don't have to cut Social Security to any senior who has worked their lifetime for it. +p1713 +aVLet me go back to the reason so many people are having a hard time getting ahead. The tax system punishes them. Think about this. If you work really hard and you start moving up the economic ladder, you get bumped into a different tax bracket. So the government thinks it deserves more of your hard work than you do. And it's one of the reasons that no matter how many different reforms you have to a tax on people's productivity, you're still taxing their work, their savings. You're taxing their capital gains, inheritance, dividends, you're taxing everything that produces something. And it's way I really believe it's time to do something bold, not something minute. This is no time for a tap of the hammer, a twist of the screwdriver. It's time for something big. That's why the fair tax transforms our economy. And we don't punish workers. It's the only way we're going to get middle class people moving ahead again, because the harder they work, the more they keep. No payroll tax deducted from their checks. They get their entire paycheck. And, one of the most important parts, it's built on the common sense with which we raised our kids, and trained dogs. You reward behavior you want more of. And, you punish behavior you want less of. That's how I raise kids, it's how I trained our dogs, and folks, it's not that difficult. We now punish the behavior we say we want more of by taxing it, and we reward the behavior that we say we want less of, so if you make a good investment, we punish you with a tax. If you make a bad investment you can write that off and the rest of the taxpayers will help subsidize you, and bail you out. +p1714 +aVWell, Rick, I'm pretty sure I did also fight the Clinton machine because every election I was ever in in Arkansas, I assure you, they were behind it, helping finance and campaign for every opponent. And I share with you the understanding that it's going to be a tough battle. But I spent the first half of my adult life in the private and nonprofit sector, raising a family, understanding how tough it is for people to make it. And that first half of my life is what led me to believe that America needs a different kind of leadership, not people who spent their whole life running from one office to the next, and living off the government dime. And I got involved because I got sick of what I saw. I also believe that there's got to be some leadership that not only addresses the monetary and military issues of this country, but the moral issues of this country. At the end of every political speech, most of us say, God bless America. But how can he do that when we continue to slaughter 4,000 babies a day? And I want to be the president that treats every person, including the unborn, as a person. And protect them under the 5th and 14th amendments of the constitution. I close with this word from a gentleman in East Texas named Butel Lucre. He's 100 years old and I met him down in East Texas. And he said this to me. "I sure wish, Mike, we had the days when The Ten Commandments were in all of our capitals and in every school, and we prayed again. You know, he may be 100 years old, but I believe some of those old ideas to get this country back where we unapologetically get on our knees before we get on our feet might be the best solutions we've ever sought as a country. And I ask for your support and your vote. Thank you. +p1715 +aVWolf, I want to say thanks to you and CNN for giving us the opportunity especially to focus on national security issues at a time when Americans are not only angry \u2014 angry at their government that they feel like has failed them, been indifferent to them, cost them their livelihoods \u2014 but they're in addition to angry, they're just plain scared. They're scared when they thing that they go to a Christmas party and get shot at by somebody who sat and had lunch with them an hour earlier. They're scared when they realize that our government, who promises that it can vet people and is begging us to approve bringing 10,000 Syrian refugees into this country, can't even catch somebody after a third background check, who had posted things on social media clearly indicating she wanted to kill Americans. And we couldn't catch that. We've lost confidence in our government. And when Americans lose confidence in their government, we're in a dangerous place. We're in danger because we have an enemy that is out to kill us, and we have a government that we don't trust any more. This election is about going back to having a government we can trust with leaders who have the courage and conviction to actually lead and not follow. +p1716 +aVWell, let me begin by saying I'm not that afraid of Donald Trump. And, in the sense that I'd rather him be President than I had Hillary be president any day. And so if he becomes president, I think he will do a whole lot more to protect us than Hillary will. And a whole lot more than Barack Obama has done in his eight years. So I want to make it very clear that when I was making that comment, I was simply speaking that I'm not sure that you can have a religious test per se. And it's very impractical because if somebody comes to our borders and says I'd like to come in. They say are you a Muslim? Well, they're \u2014 if they're going to come in here to kill us, they're not gonna say yeah, and I'm coming to kill you. They're going to lie about it. Anybody that will kill you, for God's sake, will lie to you. So that's why I say it's impractical. But what he has done, and I don't think a lot of people understand, he has touched a nerve because people are angry and afraid that we are facing an enemy that this administration refuses to acknowledge, refuses to want to go fight. And our only answer is to go after +p1717 +aVNo. I'm not taking it away, I just want to make sure that everything we use is going to be effective. We're spending billions of dollars, let's make sure it's effective. Let's use every tool, but let's also check out the Facebook posts, let's look at Twitter accounts. My gosh, we were told we couldn't do it because it might invade somebody's privacy. This lady who came over here and shot up San Bernardino was posting things on Facebook, yet, we were restricted from looking. Every college kid who goes to a frat party gets drunk and puts his picture on Facebook is going to have a potential employer looking at that photo before he gets hired. Why should we have more attention? I mean, for heaven's sake, towards some college kid who wants to one day ten years from to get a job, then we're going after who wants to come in with a semi automatic weapon or a pipe bomb and blow up a bunch of Americans. This is what I think a lot of Americans are frustrated with, it's the duplicity of our policy that is illogical and irrational. Our goal ought to be, "protect Americans and put Americans first not last," which is what I think this administration has done. +p1718 +aVNo, it does not violate their First Amendment rights to have someone go and listen to the sermons. You can go to any church in America, it's a public place, you can listen, and \u2014 you know, if you go to my church, you'll probably get a real blessing. Heck, it'll be a wonderful experience. You go to some people's church, you may go to sleep, I don't know what happens in every church, but, the point is that these are public places, and folks are invited to come. So, if it's a public place, and people are invited to come, how does it violate anybody's First Amendment rights that somebody shows up because they might want to just listen in and see is there something that is a little nefarious? And, if there is, then you take the second step of getting a search warrant, you do whatever you have to do. That's all protected under the constitution. So, Huge, I hear people act like there's something that is terrible about going and sitting in and listening to the sermons of a mosque. If Islam is as wonderful, and peaceful as its adherents say, shouldn't they be begging us to all come in and listen to these peaceful sermons? Shouldn't they be begging us all to come, and listen, and bring the FBI so we'd all want to convert to Islam? +p1719 +aVI don't disagree. I don't disagree with anything that the Senator just said because that's exactly right. But, I just want to go back to the point that when people say we can't go into the mosque, we can't listen. That's utter nonsense. Of course we can. And, if we can't, if there's something so secretive going on in there that somebody isn't allowed to go and hear it, maybe we do need for sure to send somebody in there and gather the intelligence. And, that's all to the world I'm saying, I think it stands to be true. +p1720 +aVThe way we defeat them ideologically is that we remind people that what their intent is is to kill us, and that it is our intent to use every means possible to get to them before they get to us. We are pretending that this is a war that is not that significant. We have a president who called it the JV team, said we had contained it. Nine hours after he said we contained it, there was a massacre in Paris. We've got to make it so untenable for somebody to join +p1721 +aVWolf, it may be sufficient, but rather than put a number \u2014 and I'm comfortable that we say 10,000, 20,000 \u2014 look, I think we make a mistake when we start telling the enemy what our limitations are. I think we make a huge mistake when we say we're gonna do up to this. I think what we say is, we're gonna do whatever it takes. If it's 10,000, if it's 100,000, if it's 3,000 sorties a day, if it's 5,000 sorties a day. We never tell our enemy what our limitations are, what we are willing and what we're unwilling to do. And that's one of the mistakes I believe that we're making militarily. But the biggest mistake we've made militarily is letting Barack Obama cut our defense forces by 25 percent and leaving us at the least prepared position we've been in since before World War II. We have to get our Military rebuilt from the ground up. And all over America I hear young people say, would you tell me what you're going to do? Would you give me free college? Will you make sure that I can have medical marijuana? You know what we ought to tell young people? We aren't going to give you anything. We're give you the opportunity to get off your butt and go serve your country and secure your freedom. Because if you don't, nobody else is. +p1722 +aVI'd sure want them to think we would. And I'd want to make sure that we did everything we could. But we can't do it with our current Military strength. We've got to build up and have the most robust, well trained, well equipped, well prepared and ample Military force in the history of the world because we're not fighting just a known enemy in one place. We're fighting people all over the world who can go anywhere. And the reason I say that is because if we tried to win this war on the cheap or we try to do it with the, "light footprint," we're making a huge mistake. When all of us were in grade school, one thing we all knew, the bully never picked on the kid except for the weak one. When all of us were in grade school, one thing we all knew, the bully never picked on the kid, except for the weak one. He never picked on the kid he knew, he'd whip him. We need to make to sure that we have the kind of military that +p1723 +aVWell, I want to be real clear, I don't trust Putin, I don't trust Assad. I'm not saying that I would endorse him for his reelection bid. The man is a tyrant, he's killed lots of people, but he wasn't killing Americans. And, the thing that I'm concerned about is that we have seen a complete destabilization, not only of Syria, but we've seen it in Yemen, that the President pronouncing great shape just before it collapsed. +p1724 +aVWell what we have done, and we created an impossible atmosphere. This administration has put more pressure on Israel to stop building bedrooms in Judea and Samaria than they've put on Iranians to stop building a nuclear bomb. And I'm just simply pointing out the obvious, that we need to recognize who our friends are, who our enemies are... +p1725 +aV... but I'm convinced... +p1726 +aVWell, first of all, it would be the Iranians. I would have never entered into this deal. I don't know why on God's earth that the senators gave it so that it was easier for Obama to have the agreement than it would be to make it a treaty. +p1727 +aVI would make sure that there was economic pressure put on them. Why not? Why should we fund every single battle against radical Islam? Why should we stand back and watch Israel get targeted, the United States get targeted and we watch with people with their hands in their pocket, and their hands in our pocket because we're getting them a lot of money. And let's say your hands can be in your pocket, you can stand still, but your hands aren't going to be in our pockets anymore. We're not going to give you another dime unless you engage the battle with us. We are not sending our sons and daughters, and grandsons and granddaughters to war to fight for your interest. You either get in with us or be on your own. But we're not gonna fight the battle for you. +p1728 +aVI wouldn't reinstate a draft, but, I think it's noteworthy that we are fighting all the battles we have with less than one percent of the American population. +p1729 +aVI wouldn't reinstate a draft, but, I think it's noteworthy that we are fighting all the battles we have with less than one percent of the American population. We have the lowest level of percentage of population participating in the military than ever. And they're over-deployed, they're over used, especially among our reserves and Guard troops. Any governor will tell you. +p1730 +aVWell, I would say that, if you want a college education, let's go back and reinstate the full-blown G.I. bill. You give something to your country; your country gives something back to you. We need to ask young people to step up and buy their own freedom because there's not going to be enough people left at less than one percent. And as my good friend Ken Howard, former Dean of the War College, has often said, we're fighting all the wars with other people's kids. And that's one of the things that's making us much less safe, is because we don't have enough Americans truly invested in the process of defeating our enemies. Therefore, I do think without a draft we do need to ask people to recognize we are at war. +p1731 +aVI'm not belittling their sacrifice, Lindsey, but I'm just making note that on the part of Americans we have sent National Guard troops over for an 18-month em \u2014 18-month deployment. They come back for five, they go back for another 18. We're wearing these guys out. They agreed to be citizen soldiers. We turned them into full time soldiers because we've not kept up the pace by recruiting enough people in the military to fully fill these forces, and that's what we need to be doing. +p1732 +aVThe horrors that those families have to go through, if that were my son, my daughter, I'd give my last drop of blood to get them back. You bet I would. Is it a good policy? No. It's a terrible policy because once we do it, we're only going to invite more and more hostages, more and more ransoms, and the diasters gets even worse. But I don't blame any of these families. You know who I blame? I blame a policy in our government that has made it so that families are so desperate that they're willing to pay ransom to terrorists organizations because they don't believe our government will fight the fight for them and they think they're out there on their own. My goodness people, this is America. When did we have to start telling people that you've got to bake your own bread in order to fight the battles? That's what we have a government for, it's what we pay taxes for. And I believe, those families ought to have a better expectation of what this government will do. We should never has sat at the table with the Iranians as long Sayed Abadnini is sitting in an Iranian prison. As long as the Washington Post report is over there. Until the four hostages of America were on an airplane safely out of Tehran. We should've told them, " we won't even walk into the room with you much less sit down and negotiate with you." That's what we ought to be doing. +p1733 +aVWe just need to take a real pause and all the people that coming here and we don't know who they are or what their affiliations are. What George just said is right. We can't take the risk. And why should we take the risk? And if it's such a doggone good idea to bring people here that we really don't know who they are and Obama thinks that we're being un-Christian to not do it, I've got a suggestion. Let's send the first wave of them to Chappaqua, Martha's Vineyard and the upper east side of Manhattan and to the south lawn of the White House where we'll set up a camp. Let's see how that works out. And if they behave wonderfully, that's fine. I want to say, I don't want someone lecturing me about what it means to be a Christian that I should invite a potential terrorist into my backyard. On one hand, the left says separation of church and state. Let's not have any discussion of religion, and then the left wants to tell me what it means to be a Christian. They need to figure out if they know more about being a Christian than I do, then tell me... On one hand, the left says separation of church and state. Let's not have any discussion of religion, and then the left wants to tell me what it means to be a Christian. They need to figure out if they know more about being a Christian than I do \u2014 then tell me. They are no longer going to say separation of church and state, but, we have the most fundamental right above everything else \u2014 is not to protect the reputation of Islam. It is to protect Americans first and foremost. That is our job. +p1734 +aVNo, because he did it unconstitutionally. Twenty-three times he's said he couldn't do it, and then one day he woke up and he found he had a pen in one hand, and a phone in another, and wow. That Constitution didn't mean much anymore. Look, President's can't just do what they want to do. That's the purpose of getting elected and working with other people who got elected, is that our system was designed to function with the power of persuasion, it's really what you elect a president to do. +p1735 +aV...Let me finish, Hugh. You elect him to lead which means that if you think it's a good idea to not punish the children for something their parents did, then you go to the members of Congress and you persuade them. And, you persuade the American people. You don't just jump up and shove it up the nostrils of Congress, and the American people because you think you have a superior intellect, and a superior will, and a superior theology than everybody else. Our system is not a system of tyranny. We don't elect kings, we elect servants. If I'm elected president, I don't consider myself to be elected to be the king of the country, but the servant of the country to work with other people who are elected to get things done that need to be done. +p1736 +aVThe terrorists don't win just because they kill us. The terrorists win when they make us change everything we do in our daily lives and alter our routines. And they're doing that, from getting on a plane to going in a building. And it is high time that we recognize that we have to take them out, not a little bit, but totally, because I want my grandkids to grow up not in fear, but in faith and in freedom. And if you give me the opportunity to be president of the United States, I will fight for your grandkids as much as I will for mine. Thank you and God bless you. +p1737 +asVCRUZ +p1738 +(lp1739 +VThank you, Wolf. America is at war. Our enemy is not violent extremism. It is not some unnamed malevolent force. It is radical Islamic terrorist. We have a president who is unwilling to utter its name. The men and women on this stage, every one of us, is better prepared to keep this nation safe than is Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. We need a president who understands the first obligation of the commander-in-chief is to keep America safe. If I am elected president, we will hunt down and kill the terrorists. We will utterly destroy +p1740 +aVWell, listen, Hugh, everyone understands why Donald has suggested what he has. We're looking at a president who's engaged in this double-speak where he doesn't call radical Islamic terrorism by its name. Indeed, he gives a speech after the San Bernardino attack where his approach is to try to go after the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens rather than to keep us safe. And even worse, President Obama and Hillary Clinton are proposing bringing tens of thousands of Syrian refugees to this country when the head of the FBI has told Congress they cannot vet those refugees. I understand why Donald made that proposal. I introduced legislation in the Senate that I believe is more narrowly focused at the actual threat, which is radical Islamic terrorism, and what my legislation would do is suspend all refugees for three years from countries where +p1741 +aVWell, you know, I'm reminded of what FDR's grandfather said. He said, "All horse-thieves are Democrats, but not all Democrats are horse-thieves." In this instance, there are millions of peaceful Muslims across the world, in countries like India, where there is not the problems we are seeing in nations that are controlled \u2014 have territory controlled by Al Qaida or +p1742 +aVWell, Dana, the premise of your question is not accurate. I'm very proud to have joined with conservatives in both the Senate and the House to reform how we target bad guys. And what the USA Freedom Act did is it did two things. Number one, it ended the federal government's bulk collection of phone metadata of millions of law-abiding citizens. But number two in the second half of it that is critical. It strengthened the tools of national security and law enforcement to go after terrorists. It gave us greater tools and we are seeing those tools work right now in San Bernardino. And in particular, what it did is the prior program only covered a relatively narrow slice of phone calls. When you had a terrorist, you could only search a relatively narrow slice of numbers, primarily land lines. The USA Freedom Act expands that so now we have cell phones, now we have Internet phones, now we have the phones that terrorists are likely to use and the focus of law enforcement is on targeting the bad guys. You know what the Obama administration keeps getting wrong is whenever anything bad happens they focus on law-abiding citizens instead of focusing on the bad guys. We need to focus on radical Islamic terrorists and we need to stop them before they carry out acts of terror. +p1743 +aVWell, you know, I would note that Marco knows what he's saying isn't true. You know, Mark Levin wrote a column last week that says that the attack ads his Super PAC is running that are saying the same thing, that they are knowingly false and they are, in fact, Alinsky-like attacks like Barack Obama. And the reason is simple. What he knows is that the old program covered 20 percent to 30 percent of phone numbers to search for terrorists. The new program covers nearly 100 percent. That gives us greater ability to stop acts of terrorism, and he knows that that's the case. +p1744 +aVWhat it means is using overwhelming air power to utterly and completely destroy +p1745 +aVYou would carpet bomb where +p1746 +aVWell, you know, Marco has continued these attacks, and he knows they're not true. Yes, it is true that I voted against the National Defense Authorization Act, because when I campaigned in Texas I told voters in Texas that I would oppose the federal government having the authority to detain U.S. citizens permanently with no due process. I have repeatedly supported an effort to take that out of that bill, and I honored that campaign commitment. +p1747 +aVBut more broadly, you know, the notion Marco is suggesting, that somehow \u2014 he also has tossed more than a few insults this direction \u2014 let's be absolutely clear. +p1748 +aVWolf, I believe in a America first foreign policy, that far too often President Obama and Hillary Clinton \u2014 and, unfortunately, more than a few Republicans \u2014 have gotten distracted from the central focus of keeping this country safe. So let's go back to the beginning of the Obama administration, when Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama led +p1749 +aV... we ought to hunt down our enemies and kill +p1750 +aVWell, it's more than not shedding a tear. It's actively getting involved to topple a government. And we keep hearing from President Obama and Hillary Clinton and Washington Republicans that they're searching for these mythical moderate rebels. It's like a purple unicorn. They never exist. These moderate rebels end up being jihadists. And I'll tell you whose view on Assad is the same as mine. It's Prime Minister Netanyahu. Prime Minister Netanyahu has said Israel doesn't have a dog in that fight because Assad is a puppet of Iran, a Shia radical Islamic terrorist, but at the same time, Prime Minister Netanyahu doesn't want to see Syria governed by +p1751 +aVThe question of whether we should toppling dictatorships is asking the wrong question. We should be defeating our enemies. So the problem with defeating... +p1752 +aVWell, but let me explain, the focus should be... +p1753 +aV... on defeating our enemies. So, for example... +p1754 +aV... a regime we should change is Iran... +p1755 +aV... because Iran has declared war on us. But we shouldn't be toppling regimes...... that are fighting radical Islamic terrorists that are helping... +p1756 +aVWell, he \u2014 he has attempted to muddy the waters, but I think that anyone who watched the battle that we had. You know, there was a time for choosing as Reagan put it. Where there was a battle over amnesty and some chose, like Senator Rubio to stand with Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer and support a massive amnesty plan. Others chose to stand with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and the American people and secure the border. And let me mention, this issue is actually directly connected to what we've been talking about. Because the front line with +p1757 +aVLook, I understand Marco wants to raise confusion, it is not accurate what he just said that I supported legalization. Indeed, I led the fight against his legalization and amnesty. And you know, there was one commentator that put it this way that, for Marco to suggest our record's the same is like suggesting "the fireman and the arsonist because they are both at the scene of the fire." He was fighting to grant amnesty and not to secure the border, I was fighting to secure the border. And this also goes to trust, listening on to campaign trails. Candidates all the time make promises. You know, Marco said," he learned that the American people didn't trust the federal government." +p1758 +aVIn Florida promising to... +p1759 +aVgo in the fight against amnesty... +p1760 +aVHe campaigned promising to lead the fight against amnesty. +p1761 +aVI have never supported a legalization... +p1762 +aVI have never supported legalization, and I do not intend to support legalization. Let me tell you how you do this, what you do is you enforce the law... +p1763 +aVWatt you do is enforcement the law... +p1764 +aVWhat you do... +p1765 +aVWhat you do is you enforce the law. I've laid out a very, very detailed immigration plan on my website, tedcruz.org. It's 11 pages of existing federal law and in particular the question of what to do with people who are here now? You enforce the law. That means you stop the Obama administration's policy of releasing criminal illegal aliens. Do you know how many aliens Bill Clinton deported? 12 million. Do you know how many illegal aliens, George W. Bush deported? 10 million. We can enforce the laws and if we secure the border, that solves the problem. And as president I will solve this problem and secure the border. +p1766 +aVDana, what I said in private is exactly what I'll say here, which is that the judgment that every voter is making of every one of us up here is who has the experience, who has the vision, who has the judgment to be commander in chief. That is the most important decision for the voters to make. That's a standard I'm held to. And it's a standard everyone else is held to. And I will note, you know, in the whole course of this discussion about our foreign policy threats, it actually illustrates the need for clarity of focus. You know, my daughters, Caroline and Catherine, came tonight. They're 7 and 5. And you think about the Los Angeles schools canceling their schools today. And every parent is wondering, how do we keep our kids safe? We need a commander in chief who does what Ronald Reagan did with communism, which is he set out a global strategy to defeat Soviet communism. And he directed all of his... I'm answering the question, Dana. He directed all of his forces to defeating communism. One of the things we've seen here is how easy it is for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to get distracted from dealing with radical Islamic terrorism. They won't even call it by its name. We need a president who stands up, number one, and says, we will defeat +p1767 +aVAnd we need to be focused on defeating... +p1768 +aV... defeating radical Islamic terrorists. +p1769 +aVWhat I'm saying, Dana, is that is a judgment for every voter to make. What I can tell you is all nine of the people here would make an infinitely better commander in chief than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. +p1770 +aVAnd there is a real danger, Dana, when people get distracted. I'm answering the question, Wolf. There's a real danger when people get distracted by peripheral issues. They get distracted by democracy building. They get distracted about military conflicts. We need to focus on defeating jihadism. +p1771 +aVAnd I will do everything necessary to keep our children safe. +p1772 +aVJudgment, strength, clarity and trust. Barack Obama has said he doesn't believe in American leadership or America winning \u2014 he is wrong. America can win again and we will win again. Ronald Reagan reignited the American economy, rebuilt the Military, bankrupted the Soviet Union and defeated Soviet Communism. I will do the same thing. Cutting taxes, cutting regulation, unleashing small businesses and rebuilding the Military to defeat radical Islamic terrorism \u2014 our strategy is simple. We win, they lose. We've done it before and we can do it again. +p1773 +aVWell, Maria, it's great to be with you. It's great to be here in Milwaukee. You know, the question you asked really I think is the most important question any of us can have \u2014 face, which is, how do we get the economy growing? How do we bring back economic growth? Because economic growth, it's foundational to every other challenge we have. As you rightly noted, from 2008 to today, our economy has grown 1.2 percent a year on average. The Obama economy is a disaster, and the IMF is telling us this is a new normal. It doesn't have to be. If you look at the history of America, there are three levers that government has had to facilitate economic growth. The first is tax reform. And as you noted, I have rolled out a bold and simple flat tax: 10 percent for every American that would produce booming growth and 4.9 million new jobs within a decade. The second element is regulatory reform, pulling back the armies of regulators that have descended like locusts on small businesses. And the third element is sound money. Every time we've pursued all three of those \u2014 whether in the 1920s with Calvin Coolidge or the 1960s with JFK or the 1980s with Ronald Reagan \u2014 the result has been incredible economic growth. We have done it before, and with leadership, we can do it again. +p1774 +aVWell, my Mom is here, so I don't think we should be pushing any grannies off cliffs. And, you miss-stated what I've said on entitlement reform. What I've said is for seniors we should make no changes whatsoever, for younger workers we should gradually raise the retirement age, we should have benefits grow more slowly, and we should allow them to keep a portion of their taxes in a personal account that they control, and can pass on to their kids... +p1775 +aVI want to go back to the discussion we had a minute ago because, you know, what was said was right. The democrats are laughing \u2014 because if republicans join democrats as the party of amnesty, we will lose. And, you know, I understand that when the mainstream media covers immigration, it doesn't often see it as an economic issue. But, I can tell you for millions \u2014 of Americans at home watching this, it is a very personal economic issue. And, I will say the politics of it will be very, very different if a bunch of lawyers or bankers were crossing the Rio Grande. Or if a bunch of people with journalism degrees were coming over and driving down the wages in the press. Then, we would see stories about the economic calamity that is befalling our nation. And, I will say for those of us who believe people 'ought to come to this country legally, and we should enforce the law, we're tired of being told it's anti-immigrant. It's offensive. I am the son of an immigrant who came legally from Cuba... ...to seek the American dream. And, we can embrace legal immigration while believing in the rule of law \u2014 and I would note, try going illegally to another country. Try going to China, or Japan. Try going to Mexico. See what they do. Every sovereign nation secures its borders, and it is not compassionate to say we're not going to enforce the laws... ...And we're going to drive down the wages for millions of hardworking men and women. That is abandoning the working... +p1776 +aVWell, sure, you put your finger on what the problem is. The current system isn't fair. Washington is fundamentally corrupt. There are more words in the IRS code than there are in the Bible \u2014 and \u2014 and not a one of them is as good. Every one of them reflects a carve-out or a subsidy, and it's all about empowering the Washington cartel. My simple Flat Tax says that, for a family of four, for the first $36,000 you earn, you pay no taxes whatsoever. No income taxes, no payroll taxes, no nothing. Above that, every American pays 10 percent across the board \u2014 a flat, fair tax. Which means that no longer do you have hedge-fund billionaires paying a lower tax rate than their secretaries. On the business side, I've got a business flat tax of 16 percent \u2014 again, that applies across the board. Right now, with our corporate income tax, giant corporations with armies of accountants regularly are paying little to no taxes while small businesses are getting hammered. This is fair and across-the-board. Now, you ask, how do the numbers add up? I would encourage folks, if you go to our website, tedcruz.org, we have the specific numbers on the website. This plan eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax, eliminates the corporate income tax, and it abolishes the IRS. And the effect of that is incredible economic growth. It means every income group will see double-digit increases, from the very poorest to the very weakest, of at least 14 percent. So if you're a single mom, if you're making $40,000 a year, what that means is an extra about $5,000 in your pocket to provide for your kids, to make ends meet. It has a powerful, powerful effect. And there's one other really powerful feature of my plan, which is that it's border-adjustable. Which means, if you're an exporter \u2014 if you're a farmer, if you're a rancher, if you're a manufacturer, you don't pay the businesses flat tax. Exports are free of that tax, but all imports pay that 16 percent business flat tax, which means this tax plan would cause jobs to boom, and it would let America compete with China and the world on a level playing field. +p1777 +aVWell, the numbers the Tax Foundation had put out is that the static cost of the plan is $3.6 trillion over 10 years, but the dynamic cost of the plan, which \u2014 which is the cost that factors in growth, is about $768 billion. It is less than a trillion. It costs less than virtually every other plan people have put up here, and yet it produces more growth and it's one of the very few plans that abolishes the IRS. But on top of that, today, we rolled out a spending plan. $500 billion in specific cuts \u2014 five major agencies that I would eliminate. The IRS, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Energy, the Department of Commerce, and HUD \u2014 and then 25 specific programs. Again, that's on our website at tedcruz.org. You want to look at specificity? It's easy for everyone to say, "cut spending". It's much harder and riskier to put out, chapter and verse, specifically the programs you would cut to stop bankrupting our kids and grandkids. +p1778 +aV...Middle ground that brings both of these together... +p1779 +aV...Exactly right, that we have to defend this nation. You think defending this nation is expensive, try not defending it. That's a lot more expensive. But, you can do that, and pay for it. You can do that, and also be fiscally responsible. You know, I mention that the 25 programs that I put today, that I would eliminate them. Among them are corporate welfare, like sugar subsidies. Let's take that as an example. Sugar subsidies. Sugar farmers farm under... ...under roughly 0.2% of the farmland in America, and yet they give 40% of the lobbying money. That sort of corporate welfare is why we're bankrupting our kids, and grandkids. I would end those subsidies to pay for defending this nation... +p1780 +aVAbsolutely yes. You know, I have spent much of my adult life enforcing the law and defending the Constitution. And the problem that underlies all of this is the cronyism and corruption of Washington. You know, the opening question Jerry asked, would you bail out the big banks again? Nobody gave you an answer to that. I'll give you an answer. Absolutely not. And what we have right now is we have Washington \u2014 as government gets bigger and bigger, you know, the biggest lie in all of Washington and in all of politics is that Republicans are the party of the rich. The truth is, the rich do great with big government. They get in bed with big government. The big banks get bigger and bigger and bigger under Dodd-Frank and community banks are going out of business. And, by the way, the consequence of that is small businesses can't get business loans, and it is that fundamental corruption that is why six of the 10 wealthiest counties in America are in and around Washington, D.C. And let me give you a contrast to Washington cronyism. Some weeks ago, a woman named Sabina Loving testified at a hearing that I chaired in the Senate. Sabina Loving is an African-American single mom who started a tax preparation business in the south side of Chicago. She found a store front, she wanted to have her own business. She started a business. But then the IRS promulgated new regulations targeting tax preparers. They did it under a more than 100-year-old statute called the Dead Horse Act. Now, this statute and the IRS in classic Washington crony fashion had exemptions for lawyers and big fancy accountants, but Sabina had to pay $1,000 an employee. It would have driven her out of business, and Ms. Loving sued the IRS. She took the Obama IRS to court, and she won, and they struck down the rule for picking the big guys over the little guys. +p1781 +aVYes. Now, let's be clear, there is a role for the Federal Reserve \u2014 what the Fed is doing now is it is a series of philosopher- kings trying to guess what's happening with the economy. You look at the Fed, one of the reasons we had the financial crash is throughout the 2000s, we had loose money, we had an asset bubble, it drove up the price of real estate, drove up the price of commodities, and then in the third quarter of 2008, the Fed tightened the money and crashed those asset prices, which caused a cascading collapse. That's why I am supporting getting back to rules-based monetary system not with a bunch of philosopher-kings deciding, but tied... +p1782 +aVSo let me be clear. I would not bail them out, but instead of adjusting monetary policy according to whims and getting it wrong over and over again and causing booms and busts, what the Fed should be doing is, number one, keeping our money tied to a stable level of gold, and, number two, serving as a lender of last resort. That's what central banks do. So if you have a run on the bank, the Fed can serve as a lender of last resort, but it's not a bailout. It is a loan at higher interest rates. That's how central banks have worked. And I'll point out \u2014 look, we had a gold standard under Bretton Woods, we had it for about 170 years of our nation's history, and enjoyed booming economic growth and lower inflation than we have had with the Fed now. We need to get back to sound money, which helps, in particular, working men and women. What Washington does \u2014 the people who are doing well in the Obama economy are those with power and influence in the Obama government. The people who working men and women... +p1783 +aVSo, Governor Kasich... +p1784 +aV...why would you then bail out rich Wall Street banks, but not Main street, not Mom and Pop, not Sabina Loving? +p1785 +aVBut you just said an executive... +p1786 +aV...knows to step in and bail out a bank. +p1787 +aVSo you said you'd abandon philosophy and abandon principle... +p1788 +aV...but what would you do if the bank was failing? +p1789 +aVSo you \u2014 you would bail them out. +p1790 +aVAnd, Maria, I will note, she's got a lot of experience, but her policies have proven disastrous. If you look at foreign policy, every region in the world has gotten worse. Under her leadership, we abandon the nation of Israel. Under her leadership, radical Islamic terrorism has been on to the rise. Under her leadership, and Obama's leadership, Iran is getting $100 billion dollars, and on the verge of getting a nuclear weapon. Everything she's put her hand to, or has touched \u2014 and when we talk about the cronyism of Washington, Hillary Clinton embodies the cronyism... ...of Washington. And, I'll give you an example of that, which is the Congressional exemption from Obamacare, which is fundamentally wrong, and I'll tell you this, if I'm elected president, I will veto any statute that exempts members of congress. The law should apply evenly to every American. +p1791 +aVMaria, critically, when it comes to climate change... +p1792 +aV...Our \u2014 our... +p1793 +aVFifty-eight years ago, my father fled Cuba. As he stood on the deck of that ferryboat with the wind and salt air blowing, he looked back at the oppression and torture he was escaping. And yet he looked forward to the promise of America. His story is our story. What ties Americans together is we are all the children of those who risked everything for freedom. America is in crisis now. I believe in America. And if we get back to the free market principles and constitutional liberties that built this country, we can turn this country around. I believe that 2016 will be an election like 1980, that we will win by following Reagan's admonition to paint in bold colors, not pale pastels. We're building a grassroots army. I ask you to join us at tedcruz.org. And we, the people, can turn this nation around. +p1794 +aVI'm too agreeable, easy going. You know, I think my biggest weakness is exactly the opposite. I'm a fighter. I am passionate about what I believe. I've been passionate my whole life about the Constitution. And, you know, for six-and-a-half years, we've had a gigantic party. If you want someone to grab a beer with, I may not be that guy. But if you want someone to drive you home, I will get the job done and I will get you home. +p1795 +aVBecky, if you want a 10 percent flat tax where the numbers add up, I rolled out my tax plan today, you can find it on line at tedcruz.org. It is a simple flat tax where for individuals, a family of four pays nothing on the first $36,000. After that you pay 10 percent as a flat tax going up. The billionaire and the working man, no hedge fund manager pays less than his secretary. On top of that, there is a business flat tax of 16 percent. Now that applies universally to giant corporations that with lobbyists right now are not paying taxes, and as small business. And you wanted to know the numbers, the Tax Foundation, which has scored every one of our plans, shows that this plan will allow the economy to generate 4.9 million jobs, to raise wages over 12 percent, and to generate 14 percent growth. And it costs, with dynamic scoring, less than a trillion dollars. Those are the hard numbers. And every single income decile sees a double-digit increase in after-tax income. +p1796 +aVGrowth is the answer. And as Reagan demonstrated, if we cut taxes, we can bring back growth. +p1797 +aVYou know, let me say something at the outset. The questions that have been asked so far in this debate illustrate why the American people don't trust the media. This is not a cage match. And, you look at the questions \u2014 "Donald Trump, are you a comic-book villain?" "Ben Carson, can you do math?" "John Kasich, will you insult two people over here?" "Marco Rubio, why don't you resign?" "Jeb Bush, why have your numbers fallen?" How about talking about the substantive issues the people care about? +p1798 +aVAnd Carl \u2014 Carl, I'm not finished yet. The contrast with the Democratic debate, where every fawning question from the media was, "Which of you is more handsome and why?" And let me be clear. +p1799 +aVLet me be clear. The men and women on this stage have more ideas, more experience, more common sense than every participant in the Democratic debate. That debate reflected a debate between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. And nobody watching at home believed that any of the moderators had any intention of voting in a Republican primary. The questions that are being asked shouldn't be trying to get people to tear into each other. It should be what are your substantive positions... +p1800 +aVYou want me to answer that question? I'm happy to answer the question... +p1801 +aVLet me tell you how that question... +p1802 +aVLet me tell you how that question... +p1803 +aV... so you don't actually want to hear the answer, John? +p1804 +aVYou don't want to hear the answer. You just want to... +p1805 +aVYou're not interested in an answer. +p1806 +aV...Then I'll buy you a tequila... +p1807 +aV...Or, even some famous Colorado brownies. +p1808 +aVWell, sure. This deal in Washington is an example of why Washington's broken. Republican leadership joined with every single Democrat, add $80 trillion to our debt to do nothing to fix the problems. And, let me now on Social Security because we were getting into a good substantive exchange, and I want to say I think both Chris, and Mike are right. Governor Huckabee's exactly right, we need to honor the promises made to our seniors, but for younger workers \u2014 look. I'm 44 years old. It is hard to find someone in my generation that thinks Social Security will be there for us. We can save and preserve and strengthen Social Security by making no changes for seniors, but for younger workers gradually increasing the retirement age, changing the rate of growth so that it matches inflation, and critically allowing younger workers to keep a portion of our tax payments in a personal account that we own, we control them, we can pass on to our kids. +p1809 +aVWell, we've gotta turn the economy around for people who are struggling. The Democrats' answer to everything is more government control over wages, and more empowering trial lawyers to file lawsuits. You know, you look at women working. I'll tell you, in my family there are a lot of single moms in my family. My sister was a single mom, both of my aunts who were a single moms. My mom who's here today, was a single mom when my father left us when I was 3 years old. Now, thank God, my father was invited to a Bible study and became born again and he came back to my mom and me and we were raised together. But I \u2014 the struggle of single moms is extraordinary. And you know, when you see Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and all the Democrats talking about wanting to address the plight of working women, not a one of them mentioned the fact that under Barack Obama, 3.7 million women have entered poverty. Not a one of them mentioned the fact that under Barack Obama and the big government economy, the median wage for women has dropped $733. The the truth of the matter is, big government benefits the wealthy, it benefits the lobbyists, it benefits the giant corporations. And the people who are getting hammered are small businesses, it's single moms, it's Hispanics. That is who I'm fighting for. The people that Washington leaves behind. +p1810 +aVWell, Rick, it's a very important question. I have got deep concerns about the Fed. The first thing I think we need to do is audit the Fed. And I am an original co-sponsor of Rand Paul's audit the Fed legislation. The second thing we need to do is I think we need to bring together a bipartisan commission to look at getting back to rules- based monetary policy, end this star chamber that has been engaging in this incredible experiment of quantitative easing, QE1, QE2, QE3, QE- infinity. And the people who are being impacted, you know, a question that was asked earlier, Becky asked, was about working women. You know, it's interesting, you look at on Wall Street, the Fed is doing great. It's driving up stock prices. Wall Street is doing great. You know, today, the top 1 percent earn a higher share of our income than any year since 1928. But if you look at working men and women. If you look at a single mom buying groceries, she sees hamburger prices have gone up nearly 40 percent. She sees her cost of electricity going up. She sees her health insurance going up. And loose money is one of the major problems. We need sound money. And I think the Fed should get out of the business of trying to juice our economy and simply be focused on sound money and monetary stability, ideally tied to gold. +p1811 +aVLet me say on that... +p1812 +aV...Rand is exactly right. His plan is a good plan, and I will note that my 10% plan also eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax, +p1813 +aV...eliminates the business... [ +p1814 +aV...income tax... [ +p1815 +aV...10% flat rate... +p1816 +aV...is the lowest personal rate any candidate up here has, and what it would also enable us to do is for every citizen to fill out their taxes on a postcard so we can eliminate the IRS. +p1817 +aVYou know, everyone here talks about the need to take on Washington. The natural next question is who actually has done so. Who actually has stood up not just to Democrats, but to leaders in our own party? When millions of Americans rose up against Obamacare, I was proud to lead that fight. When millions of Americans rose up against amnesty, I was proud to lead that fight. When millions of Americans rose up against Planned Parenthood, I was proud to lead that fight. If people are promising they're going to take on Washington and cronyism, you need to look to who has been doing it. In my family, my dad fled oppression in Cuba to come to America. Freedom is personal for me, and I will always keep my word and fight for freedom. +p1818 +aVI'm Ted Cruz. I am the son of an Irish-Italian mom and a Cuban immigrant dad who fled oppression and came to America seeking freedom. I'm a husband to my best friend, Heidi, who's here tonight. I'm a dad to two little girls who are the loves of my life, Caroline and Catherine. If you're fed up with Washington, if you're looking for someone to stand up to career politicians in both parties, I'm the only one on this stage who has done that over and over again, and if we stand together, we can bring America back. +p1819 +aVWell, let me tell you, Jake, the single biggest national security threat facing America right now is the threat of a nuclear Iran. We've seen six and a half years of President Obama leading from behind. Weakness is provocative, and this Iranian nuclear deal is nothing short of catastrophic. This deal, on its face, will send over $100 billion to the Ayatollah Khamenei, making the Obama administration the world's leading financier of radical Islamic terrorism. +p1820 +aVThis deal abandons four American hostages in Iran, and this deal will only accelerate Iran's acquiring nuclear weapons. You'd better believe it. If I am elected president, on the very first day in office, I will rip to shreds this catastrophic Iranian nuclear deal. +p1821 +aVWell, let's be clear when it comes to experience. What President Obama wants to do is he's run to the United Nations, and he wants to use the United Nations to bind the United States, and take away our sovereignty. Well, I spent five and a half years as a Solicitor General of Texas, the lead lawyer for the state, in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, and I went in front of the Supreme Court, and took on the world court of the United Nations in a case called Medellin v. Texas, and we won a historic victory saying the World Court, and the U.N., has no power to bind the United States, and no President of the United States, Republican or Democrat, has the authority to give away our sovereignty. And, so, if there's anyone up here who would be bound by this catastrophic deal with Iran, they're giving up the core responsibility of commander in chief, and as president, I would never do that. +p1822 +aVJake, Jake... +p1823 +aVJake, there is no more important topic in 2016 than this topic right here, and I've listened to several folks saying, "Well, gosh, if they cheat, we'll act." We won't know under this agreement \u2014 there are several facilities in Iran they designate as military facilities that are off limit all together. Beyond that, the other facilities, we give them 24 days notice before inspecting them. That is designed to allow them to hide the evidence. And most astonishingly, this agreement trusts the Iranians to inspect themselves. That makes no sense whatsoever. And let me know \u2014 President Obama is violating federal law... +p1824 +aV... by not handing over the side deals, and we ought to see the United States Congress... +p1825 +aV... stand up together and say, "Hand over this treaty, and protect this country." +p1826 +aVWell, let me tell you, Dana, number one, I'm proud to stand for life. These Planned Parenthood videos are horrifying. I would encourage every American to watch the videos. See \u2014 seeing your Planned Parenthood officials callously, heartlessly bartering and selling the body parts of human beings, and then ask yourself, "are these my values?" These are horrifying. On these videos, Planned Parenthood also essentially confesses to multiple felonies. It is a felony with ten years' jail term to sell the body parts of unborn children for profit. That's what these videos show Planned Parenthood doing. Absolutely we shouldn't be sending $500 million of taxpayer money to funding an ongoing criminal enterprise, and I'll tell you, the fact that Republican leadership in both houses has begun this discussion by preemptively surrendering to Barack Obama and saying, "we'll give in because Obama threatens a veto." You know, Obama's committed to his principles. His liberal principles, he will fight for them. He says... +p1827 +aVI will veto any budget that doesn't fund Planned Parenthood, and Republicans surrender. We need to stop surrendering and start standing... +p1828 +aV...for our principles. +p1829 +aVWell, Jake, you know, I'm \u2014 I'm very glad that Donald Trump's being in this race has forced the mainstream media finally to talk about illegal immigration. I think that's very important. I like and respect Ben Carson. I'll let him talk about his own plans. But I will say this: The natural next question that primary voters are asking, after we focus on illegal immigration is, okay, what are the records of the various candidates? And this is an issue on which there are stark differences. A majority of the men and women on this stage have previously and publicly embraced amnesty. I am the only candidate on this stage who has never supported amnesty and, in fact, who helped lead the fight to stop a massive amnesty plan. In 2013, when Barack Obama and Harry Reid joined the Washington Republicans in a massive, I stood shoulder to shoulder with Jeff Sessions helping lead the fight. You know, folks here have talked about, how do you secure the borders? Well, I've been leading the fight in the Senate to triple the Border Patrol, to put in place fencings and walls, to put in place a strong biometric exit/entry system... +p1830 +aVWell, Dana, I've known John Roberts for 20 years, he's amazingly talented lawyer, but, yes, it was a mistake when he was appointed to the Supreme Court. He's a good enough lawyer that he knows in these Obamacare cases he changed the statute, he changed the law in order to force that failed law on millions of Americans for a political outcome. And, you know, we're frustrated as conservatives. We keep winning elections, and then we don't get the outcome we want. And, let me focus on two moments in time. Number one, in 1990, in one room was David Souter, and in another room was Edith Jones, the rock ribbed (ph) conservative on the fifth circuit court of appeals. George Herbert Walker Bush appointed David Souter. And then in 2005, in one room was John Roberts, in another room was my former boss, Mike Luttig, the rock ribbed (ph) conservative on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals... +p1831 +aV...George W. Bush appointed John Roberts, and let me give you the consequences of that. If, instead, the President Bush had appointed Edith Jones, and Mike Luttig, which is who I would have appointed, Obamacare would have been struck down three years ago, and the marriage laws of all 50 states would be on the books. These matter, and I fought to defend the constitution my whole life... +p1832 +aV...and I will as president as well. +p1833 +aVIt is true that after George W. Bush nominated John Roberts, I supported his confirmation. That was a mistake and I regret that. I wouldn't have nominated John Roberts, and indeed, Governor Bush pointed out why. It wasn't that the President Bushes wanted to appoint a liberal to the court, it's that it was the easier choice. Both David Souter and John Roberts, they didn't have a long paper trail. If you had nominated Edith Jones or Mike Ludig (ph) you would have had a bloody fight and they weren't willing to spend political capital to put a strong judicial conservative on the court. I have spent my entire life, starting from clerking for Chief Justice William Rehnquist on the United States Supreme Court, one of the most principled jurists. We have an out-of-control Court, and I give you my word, if I'm elected president, every single Supreme Court justice will faithfully follow the law and will not act like philosopher kings \u2014 +p1834 +aV\u2014 imposing their liberal policies on millions of Americans \u2014 +p1835 +aV\u2014 who need to be trusted to govern ourselves. +p1836 +aVI \u2014 I am not, and \u2014 and you mentioned that the U.S. Supreme Court had rightly upheld the individual right to keep and bear arms. I was proud to lead 31 states before the U.S. Supreme Court defending the Second Amendment, and we won that landmark victory. And indeed, just a couple of years ago, when Harry Reid and Barack Obama came after the right to keep and bear arms of millions of Americans, I was proud to lead the fight in the United States Senate to protect our right to keep and bear arms, and for that reason... +p1837 +aV... I was honored to be endorsed by Gun Owners of America... +p1838 +aV... as the strongest supporter of the Second Amendment on this stage today, and I will... +p1839 +aV... fight every day to defend the Bill of Rights. +p1840 +aVWell, I wouldn't change the $10 bill, I'd change the $20. I'd take Jackson off and I'd leave Alexander Hamilton right where he is as one of our Founding Fathers. And I very much agree with Marco that it should be Rosa Parks. She was a principled pioneer that helped change this country, helped remedy racial injustice, and that would be an honor that would be entirely appropriate. +p1841 +aVYou know, as a Cuban, I might go with Cohiba (ph), and I'll tell you, I'd go with, for Heidi, Angel, because she is my angel. +p1842 +aVRonald Reagan believed in America. If I'm elected president our friends and allies across the globe will know that we stand with them. the bust of Winston Churchill will be back in the Oval Office, and the American embassy in Israel will be in Jerusalem. Enemies across this world will know the United States is not to be trifled with. +p1843 +aVChris, I believe the American people are looking for someone to speak the truth. If you're looking for someone to go to Washington, to go along to get along, to get -- to agree with the career politicians in both parties who get in bed with the lobbyists and special interests, then I ain't your guy. There is a reason... .... that we have $18 trillion in debt. Because as conservatives, as Republicans, we keep winning elections. We got a Republican House, we've got a Republican Senate, and we don't have leaders who honor their commitments. I will always tell the truth and do what I said I would do. +p1844 +aVChris, absolutely yes. And not only will I support it......I have authored Kate's law in the United States Senate and filed that legislation. I tried to get the Senate to vote to pass Kate's law on the floor of the Senate just one week ago, and the leader of our own party blocked a vote on Kate's law. You know, there was reference made to our leaders being stupid. It's not a question of stupidity. It's that they don't want to enforce the immigration laws. That there are far too many in the Washington cartel that support amnesty. President Obama has talked about fundamentally transforming this country. There's 7 billion people across the face of the globe, many of whom want to come to this country. If they come legally, great. But if they come illegally and they get amnesty, that is how we fundamentally change this country, and it really is striking. A majority of the candidates on this stage have supported amnesty. I have never supported amnesty, and I led the fight against Chuck Schumer's gang of eight amnesty legislation in the Senate. +p1845 +aVMegyn, we need a commander in chief that speaks the truth. We will not defeat radical Islamic terrorism so long as we have a president unwilling to utter the words, "radical Islamic terrorism". When I asked General Dempsey, the chairman of the joint chiefs, what would be required militarily to destroy +p1846 +aVMegyn, of course it's an ideological problem, that's one of the reasons I introduce the Expatriate Terrorist Act in the Senate that said if any American travels to the Middle East and joining +p1847 +aVWell, Bret, of course they have, and over the last six and a half years we've seen the consequences of the Obama-Clinton foreign policy. Leading from behind is a disaster. We have abandoned and alienated our friends and allies, and our enemies are stronger. Radical Islam is on the rise, Iran's on the verge of acquiring a nuclear weapon, China is waging cyber warfare against America, Russia -- General Soleimani, you just mentioned, the Iranian general is the head of the al Quds forces. He's directly responsible for the murder of over 500 American servicemen in Iraq, and part of this Iranian deal was lifting the international sanctions on General Soleimani. The day General Soleimani flew back from Moscow to Iran was the day we believed that Russia used cyber warfare against the Joint Chiefs. We need a new commander in chief that will stand up to our enemies, and that will have credibility... It is worth emphasizing that Iran released our hostages in 1981 the day Ronald Reagan was sworn into office. +p1848 +aVBrett, can I -- Brett, can I jump in on this one? +p1849 +aVWell, I am blessed to receive a word from God every day in receiving the scriptures and reading the scriptures. And God speaks through the Bible. I'm the son of a pastor and evangelist and I've described many times how my father, when I was a child, was an alcoholic. He wasn't a Christian. And my father left my mother and left me when I was just three years old. And someone invited him to Clay Road Baptist Church. And he gave his heart to Jesus and it turned him around. And he got on a plane and he flew back to my mother and me. I would also note that the scripture tells us, "you shall know them by their fruit." We see lots of "campaign conservatives." But if we're going to win in 2016, we need a consistent conservative, someone who has been a fiscal conservative, a social conservative, a national security conservative. There are real differences among the candidates on issues like amnesty, like Obamacare, like religious liberty, like life and marriage. And I have been proud to fight and stand for religious liberty, to stand against Planned Parenthood, to defend life for my entire career. And I will be proud to continue to do so as president of the United States. +p1850 +aVIf I'm elected president, let me tell you about my first day in office. The first thing I intend to do is to rescind every illegal and unconstitutional executive action taken by Barack Obama. The next thing I intend to do is instruct the Department of Justice to open an investigation into these videos and to prosecute Planned Parenthood for any criminal violations. The next thing I intend to do is instruct the Department of Justice and the IRS to start (sic) persecuting religious liberty, and then intend to cancel the Iran deal, and finally move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. I will keep my word. My father fled Cuba, and I will fight to defend liberty because my family knows what it's like to lose it. +p1851 +asVTODD +p1852 +(lp1853 +VGood evening, and welcome to the +p1854 +aVAnd neither party has seen this yet. These candidates are both running for the Democratic nomination, but they are very different from each other when it comes to what matters most and how they would go about the job of being president. Our job tonight is to draw out those differences so you, the voters, can understand them and be fully informed. +p1855 +aVFirst, I want to say a special thanks to the New Hampshire Union Leader for helping make this debate possible, and the readers, who helped provide some of the questions and topics that we'll be addressing tonight. The rules tonight, by the way, are simple: 90 seconds for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. +p1856 +aVThank you, Senator. Secretary Clinton. +p1857 +aVAll right. Let's get started. Secretary Clinton, last night you cited the Concord Monitor when you said of Senator Sanders that, quote, "It's very hard to see how any of his proposals could ever be achievable." So please tell us why you think if he's elected president on a platform of promising things like free public college and universal healthcare, that he cannot achieve those things. +p1858 +aVThank you, Secretary. Senator Sanders, so just explain how you spent nearly two decades in Congress and haven't gotten any of these things passed. Why do you think as president you'll be able to achieve big, big new programs like this? +p1859 +aVGo. +p1860 +aVYes, go ahead. +p1861 +aVAll right, thank you both. Rachel. +p1862 +aVI'd like to follow up on a comment that Secretary Clinton said, Senator. President Obama has not called for abolishing the death penalty. President Obama is for the big Asian trade deal known as TPP, and just yesterday you said you can't be both a moderate or a progressive, but you can't be both. Is President Obama, in your judgment, based on these policies positions, a progressive? +p1863 +aV...Secretary Clinton, go ahead... +p1864 +aV 30 seconds, and then we'll move. +p1865 +aVThank you. +p1866 +aV... Secretary, we're gonna... +p1867 +aVThirty seconds. +p1868 +aVThank you both. +p1869 +aVAll right, welcome back. Let's get right to it. Senator Sanders, you were talking about all of your campaign contributions and campaign finance reform. You rail against big money in politics. But do you realize there is one public financing system that we do have in place, and it is\u2014it is in place to run for president. Why aren't you walking the walk on that? Why aren't you participating in the presidential public financing system which is designed to essentially keep big money out of presidential politics? +p1870 +aVWell, going on that then, why criticize her on Super PACs, and you got\u2014and all this when it is\u2014you know, that's the system? I mean, you could be participating in a publicly-financing\u2014public financing system... +p1871 +aV... and being able to set\u2014being able to set an example. +p1872 +aV... she has had more people praise her plan than yours. +p1873 +aVThank you both. Let me move on to our next question here, and in fact it comes to us through New England Cable News. Secretary Clinton, it's addressed to you, and it's about this issue of the speeches, particularly to Goldman Sachs. This is what the questioner wrote verbatim. "I am concerned with the abuses of Wall Street has taken with the American taxpayers money," and then she asks whether you would release the transcripts of your Goldman Sachs speeches, and then added, "Don't you think the voting public has a right to know what was said?" But, let's make that bigger. Are you willing to release the transcripts of all your paid speeches? We do know through reporting that there were transcription services for all of those paid speeches. In full disclosure, would you release all of them? +p1874 +aVSenator, you sound like you want to respond. Go ahead. +p1875 +aVWe'll be right back. And we're going to get to trade and a lot of other issues. +p1876 +aVGo ahead, Senator Sanders\u201430 seconds, your response. +p1877 +aVAll right. Senator, I want to stay, though... +p1878 +aVGo ahead. 30 seconds. +p1879 +aVLet me\u2014let\u2014we're gonna\u2014we're staying\u2014we're staying basically on this topic. Obviously you've been emphasizing this difference on the Iraq war, but one place where you do agree, and one place where you voted to authorize the use of force, was in favor of the war in Afghanistan. Right now, it is possible President Obama is going to be leaving the next president, perhaps President Sanders, at least 10,000 troops in Afghanistan. How long will those troops be in Afghanistan under President Sanders? +p1880 +aVCan you address a question on Afghanistan? How long are these troops going to be there? If President Obama leaves you 10,000 troops, how long do you think they're going to be there? +p1881 +aVSecretary Clinton, 30 seconds: How long are these troops going to be in Afghanistan? We have more American troops in Afghanistan than what we were talking about with Iraq. +p1882 +aVYou know, Senator Sanders, nobody knows who your foreign policy advisers are. You haven't given a major foreign policy speech. And it doesn't sound like all the time that foreign policy is a priority, other than when you're asked about it, and you say you're going to crush +p1883 +aVAll right, Senator, 30 seconds. +p1884 +aV30 seconds, madam secretary. +p1885 +aVAlright, as Commander in Chief, Senator Sanders, you've got to prioritize potential threats to the United States. Three countries, North Korea, Iran, Russia. How would you rank them in order of their threat to America's security right now... +p1886 +aV... Starting with the biggest threat. +p1887 +aV... I didn't say that... +p1888 +aV... No... +p1889 +aV... We already had that. I'm talking about these three countries. How would you orient our national security, our national defense posture. +p1890 +aVSecretary of Defense Ash Carter this week picked one of those three, and he has said Russia is, basically, the most important national security threat. Sort of reorienting the defense and the challenges to that. Do you agree with his decisions... +p1891 +aVSecretary Clinton, what do you think of Secretary of Defense Ash Carter. He's basically putting Russia above Iran, above North Korea, as sort of the chief national security challenge right now. +p1892 +aVThank you both, Rachel? +p1893 +aVAnd we are back. We're gonna get into a little bit of election politics, electability, in a little bit. Senator Sanders, The Iowa Democratic Party has declared Hillary Clinton the winner of Monday's Iowa caucuses\u2014narrowest of margins. Today, the Des Moines Register has an editorial that calls for the audit of the results, saying, quote, "what happened Monday night at the Democratic caucuses was a debacle, period. The results were too close not to do a complete audit." Senator Sanders, do you accept the idea that Hillary Clinton won Iowa? And do you\u2014or do you believe the caucuses are still an open question? +p1894 +aVSecretary Clinton, will you participate in some sort of audit, if that's what the party wants to do? You good with that? +p1895 +aVThat's fair enough. OK. +p1896 +aVGood, we move on. We're happy with that. We have more questions. +p1897 +aVWe'll stay on this issue. We'll stay on this topic. Secretary Clinton, just like there are some Democrats that question Senator Sanders' ability in the general election, many Democratic voters that our reporters have been running into in Iowa and New Hampshire, they tell our reporters over and over again they're worried about the emails issue, not because they don't believe your explanation, but because it's a drip-drip, because the cloud is hanging over your head and that it will impact the general election. They see your numbers right now and they think it's the email issue as to why you're not polling very well. So can you reassure these Democrats that somehow the email issue isn't going to blow up your candidacy if you're the nominee? +p1898 +aVAll right, Madam Secretary, there is an open\u2014there is an open FBI investigation into this matter about how you may have handled classified material. Are you 100 percent confident that nothing is going to come of this FBI investigation? +p1899 +aVWell, Senator sanders, you famously at the first debate said you didn't give a darn about her emails; I think you used another . +p1900 +aVYou're right. I'm trying to\u2014it's a\u2014it's a family hour still right now. After 11:00, I'll say it the other way. And you mostly have refrained from commenting on it, but recently you called it a very serious issue, and then the other day you said well she's getting slapped with the email controversy. Are you\u2014how are you feeling about these darn emails now? +p1901 +aVOK. Senator Sanders, thank you. +p1902 +aVSecretary Clinton, let me turn to the issue of trade. In the '90s you supported +p1903 +aVWell, Senator Sanders, I know you want to respond on this, you have never supported a trade deal since you've been in Congress. +p1904 +aVBut if you do that as president... If you do that as president, how are you not essentially letting China, who will do all of these deals around the world, how are you going to prevent China from essentially setting the rules of trade for the world? +p1905 +aVAll right. Thank you both. We're going to sneak in one more break here, and when we come back we'll squeeze as many questions as we can before we end this thing. We'll be right back. +p1906 +aVAll right. Welcome back here in the final minutes. +p1907 +aVThe home stretch of this only Democratic debate in the final week before the primary. Let me start with you, Secretary Clinton, on this question. Obviously, President Obama got a lot of ambitious stuff done in his first year and a half. You're going to have to make choices. And there's a lot of heavy lifts. And he made choices. He did healthcare and it came at the expense, arguably, of immigration reform. Had he put immigration reform first, perhaps that gets done and healthcare doesn't. So there are three big lifts that you've talked about: immigration, gun reform, climate change. What do you do first? Because you know the first one is the one you have the best shot at getting done. +p1908 +aVAll right, but Senator Sanders......you've still got to do something first. As you know, history said\u2014shows what you pick first is your best shot at getting, and how you prioritize things. +p1909 +aVImmigration reform, for instance, fell by the wayside in the first term because of this. +p1910 +aVOK. Thank you. +p1911 +aVAll right, before we go, I want to ask each one of these. Secretary Clinton, you've made it clear when you look at Senator Sanders, you do not see a president, but do you see\u2014 +p1912 +aVBut do you see\u2014do you see a vice president? +p1913 +aVWould you unite the party by trying to pick Senator Sanders as your running mate? +p1914 +aVSenator, would you consider the secretary? +p1915 +aVSecretary Clinton, closing statements. You are first. +p1916 +aVThank you, Madam Secretary. Senator Sanders. +p1917 +aVWell, there you have it. I promise you, Rachel and I have a lot more questions, but we just don't have any more time, unless we could a third hour, but I don't think so. Our debate coverage\u2014 debate coverage will continue in just a moment with our colleague . And we want to thank all of you for being here, and we want to thank the two candidates for taking part in this important event. +p1918 +aVWe'll see you in a few minutes. Thank you. +p1919 +asVHARWOOD +p1920 +(lp1921 +VMr. Trump, you've done very well in this campaign so far by promising to build a wall and make another country pay for it. +p1922 +aVSend 11 million people out of the country. Cut taxes $10 trillion without increasing the deficit. +p1923 +aVAnd make Americans better off because your greatness would replace the stupidity and incompetence of others. +p1924 +aVLet's be honest. Is this a comic book version of a presidential campaign? +p1925 +aVWe're at the 60 seconds. +p1926 +aVWe're at 60 seconds, but I gotta ask you, you talked about your tax plan. You say that it would not increase the deficit because you cut taxes $10 trillion in the economy would take off like... +p1927 +aVHold on, hold on. The economy would take off like a rocket ship. +p1928 +aVI talked to economic advisers who have served presidents of both parties. They said that you have as chance of cutting taxes that much without increasing the deficit as you would of flying away from that podium by flapping your arms. +p1929 +aVThe Tax Foundation says \u2014 has looked at all of our plans and \u2014 and his creates, even with the dynamic effect, $8 trillion dollar deficit... +p1930 +aVGovernor Kasich, hold it, I'm coming to you right now. The... +p1931 +aVWell, I'm asking you about this. +p1932 +aVI'm about to ask you about this. That is, you had some very strong words to say yesterday about what's happening in your party and what you're hearing from the two gentlemen we've just heard from. Would you repeat it? +p1933 +aVWell, let's just get more pointed about it. You said yesterday that you were hearing proposals that were just crazy from your colleagues. Who were you talking about? +p1934 +aVHold on. I think there's a \u2014 I've got question for \u2014 +p1935 +aVHold on, Governor. I've got a question for Governor Bush. +p1936 +aVNo, we're moving to Governor Bush. Governor, the fact that you're at the fifth lectern tonight shows how far your stock has fallen in this race, despite the big investment your donors have made. You noted recently, after slashing your payroll, that you had better things to do than sit around and be demonized by other people. I wanted to ask you \u2014 +p1937 +aVOK. +p1938 +aVGot it. +p1939 +aVBut it's a \u2014 OK. It's a \u2014 it's a question about why you're having difficulty. I want to ask you in this context. Ben Bernanke, who was appointed Fed chairman by your brother, recently wrote a book in which he said he no longer considers himself a Republican because the Republican Party has given in to know- nothingism. Is that why you're having a difficult time in this race? +p1940 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1941 +aVWe're gonna get down the line. Becky's got a question. +p1942 +aVSenator Paul, I've got a question for you on the same subject. +p1943 +aVSenator Paul? +p1944 +aVYou used your time on something else. Senator Paul? +p1945 +aVSenator Paul, the budget deal crafted by Speaker Boehner and passed by the House today makes cuts in entitlement programs, Medicare and Social Security disability, which are the very programs conservatives say need cutting to shrink government and solve our country's long-term budget deficit. Do you oppose that budget deal because it doesn't cut those programs enough? +p1946 +aVSenator, if what you just said is true, why did Speaker Boehner craft this deal and why did Paul Ryan, who has a strong reputation for fiscal discipline, vote for it? +p1947 +aVThank you, Senator . +p1948 +aVJim, thanks. Governor Bush, in a debate like this four years ago, every Republican running for president pledged to oppose a budget deal containing any tax increase even if it had spending cuts ten times as large. A few months later, you told Congress, put me in, coach, you said you would take that deal. Still feel that way? +p1949 +aVBut to \u2014 to the point that you made to Congress, if you were president and you were offered a bipartisan deal that had one dollar... +p1950 +aV...one dollar of tax increases per ten dollars of spending cuts, would you take it? +p1951 +aVSo you don't want the coach to put you in any more? +p1952 +aVThank you, governor. Carl? +p1953 +aVGovernor John Kasich, you've called for abolishing the Export Import Bank, which provides subsidies to help American companies compete with overseas competitors. You call that corporate welfare. One of the largest newspapers in your state wrote an editorial, said they found that strange, writing, that if that's corporate welfare, what does Kasich call the millions of dollars in financial incentives doled out to attract or retain jobs by his development effort \u2014 jobs Ohio. If subsidies are good enough for Ohio companies, why aren't they good enough for companies trying to compete overseas? +p1954 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1955 +aVThank you, Governor. Thank you. +p1956 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate on +p1957 +aVIt sounds like you think Senator Sessions is wrong to believe there is enough abuse in that program that we shouldn't... +p1958 +aVThank you, Senator. Becky? +p1959 +aVGovernor Bush, the tax reform bill that Ronald Reagan signed in 1986 cut the top personal income tax rate to 28 percent \u2014 just like your plan does. But President Reagan taxed capital gains at the same rate, while you would tax them at just 20 percent. Given the problems we've been discussing, growing gap between rich and poor, why would you tax labor at a higher rate than income from investments? +p1960 +aVSenator Rubio, 30 seconds to you. The Tax Foundation, which was alluded to earlier, scored your tax plan and concluded that you give nearly twice as much of a gain in after-tax income to the top 1 percent as to people in the middle of the income scale. Since you're the champion of Americans living paycheck-to- paycheck, don't you have that backward? +p1961 +aVThe Tax Foundation \u2014 just to be clear, they said the... +p1962 +aVNo, I did not. +p1963 +aVSenator, the Tax Foundation said after-tax income for the top 1 percent under your plan would go up 27.9 percent. +p1964 +aVAnd people in the middle of the income spectrum, about 15 percent. +p1965 +aV +p1966 +aVSenator, thank you. +p1967 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you've written about the huge divide in values between middle America and the big coastal cities like New York and Los Angeles. As a preacher as well as a politician, you know that presidents need the moral authority to bring the entire country together. The leading Republican candidate, when you look at the average of national polls right now, is Donald Trump. When you look at him, do you see someone with the moral authority to unite the country? +p1968 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1969 +aVThank you, Governor. Don't forget my colleague, Sharon Epperson. +p1970 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said something that many in your party do not believe, which is that climate change is undeniable, that human activity contributes to it, and you said, quote: "The question is, what do we do to deal with it?". So what do we do? +p1971 +aVWhat should we do? +p1972 +aVYou mean government? +p1973 +aVThank you, Governor. Becky. +p1974 +aVGovernor Bush, Mr. Trump says that he is capable of growing the economy so much that Social Security and Medicare don't have to be touched. Do you want to explain how that is going to happen, Mr. Trump? +p1975 +aVHold on, Governor. I've got a question for \u2014 for Dr. Carson. +p1976 +aVYes. You've said that you would like to replace Medicare with a system of individual family savings accounts, so that families could cover their own expenses. Obviously, that would be a very controversial idea. Explain how that would work, exactly. +p1977 +aVGovernor, do you also think that... +p1978 +aV...that Dr. Carson's right, that we can replace Medicare with individual savings accounts? +p1979 +aVMrs. Fiorina, we're right at the end of our time. +p1980 +aVYou all wanted us to limit . All right. Go ahead. +p1981 +aVWe have now reached the point in the program where candidates are going to give their closing statements, 30 seconds apiece. We're going to go right to left and start with you, Senator Paul. +p1982 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1983 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Cruz? +p1984 +aVThank you, Senator. Mrs. Fiorina? +p1985 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Dr. Carson? +p1986 +aVMr. Trump? +p1987 +aVJust for the record, the debate was always going to be two hours. Senator Rubio? +p1988 +aVSenator Rubio. +p1989 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Bush? +p1990 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Huckabee. +p1991 +aVThank you... +p1992 +aVGovernor Kasich? +p1993 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1994 +asVPAUL +p1995 +(lp1996 +VThe question is, how do we keep America safe from terrorism? Trump says we ought to close that Internet thing. The question really is, what does he mean by that? Like they do in North Korea? Like they do in China? Rubio says we should collect all Americans' records all of the time. The Constitution says otherwise. I think they're both wrong. I think we defeat terrorism by showing them that we do not fear them. I think if we ban certain religions, if we censor the Internet, I think that at that point the terrorists will have won. Regime change hasn't won. Toppling secular dictators in the Middle East has only led to chaos and the rise of radical Islam. I think if we want to defeat terrorism, I think if we truly are sincere about defeating terrorism, we need to quit arming the allies of +p1997 +aVYou know, I think Marco gets it completely wrong. We are not any safer through the bulk collection of all Americans' records. In fact, I think we're less safe. We get so distracted by all of the information, we're not spending enough time getting specific immigration \u2014 specific information on terrorists. The other thing is, is the one thing that might have stopped San Bernardino, that might have stopped 9/11 would have been stricter controls on those who came here. And Marco has opposed at every point increased security \u2014 border security for those who come to our country. On his Gang of Eight bill, he would have liberalized immigration, but he did not \u2014 and he steadfastly opposed any new border security requirements for refugees or students. Last week, I introduced another bill saying we need more security, we need more scrutiny. Once again, Marco opposed this. So Marco can't have it both ways. He thinks he wants to be this, "Oh, I'm great and strong on national defense." But he's the weakest of all the candidates on immigration. He is the one for an open border that is leaving us defenseless. If we want to defend the country, we have to defend against who's coming in, and Marco is \u2014 has more of an allegiance to Chuck Schumer and to the liberals than he does to conservative policy. +p1998 +aVIf I was mentioned in the question, can I respond? +p1999 +aVMarco still misunderstands the immigration issue. What I put forward was an amendment that would have temporarily halted immigration from high-risk terrorist countries, but would have started it up, but I wanted them to go through Global Entry, which is a program where we do background checks. The thing is, is that every terrorist attack we've had since 9/11 has been legal immigration. Marco wants to expand that. I want more rules, more scrutiny, and to defend the country, you have to defend the border. +p2000 +aVWolf... +p2001 +aVWolf, this legislation... +p2002 +aVThis legislation on indefinite detention... +p2003 +aV... I think deserves a little more attention. +p2004 +aVI think that by arming the allies of +p2005 +aVI think that if you believe in regime change, you're mistaken. In 2013, we put 600 tons of weapons \u2014 us, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar \u2014 into the war against Assad. By pushing Assad back, we did create a safe space. We had people coming to our Foreign Relations Committee and saying, "Oh, we need to arm the allies of Al Qaida." They are still saying this. It is a crazy notion. This is the biggest debate we should be having tonight is is regime change a good idea; has it been a good idea. There are still people \u2014 the majority on the stage, they want to topple Assad. And then there will be chaos, and I think +p2006 +aVThese are the fundamental questions of our time, these foreign policy questions, whether or not regime change is a good idea or a bad idea. I don't think because I think the regime change was a bad idea it means that Hussein was necessarily a good idea. There is often variations of evil on both sides of the war. What we have to decide is whether or not regime change is a good idea. It's what the neoconservatives have wanted. It's what the vast majority of those on the stage want. They still want regime change. They want it in Syria. They wanted it in Iraq. They want it in Libya. It has not worked. Out of regime change you get chaos. From the chaos you have seen repeatedly the rise of radical Islam. So we get this profession of, oh, my goodness, they want to do something about terrorism and yet they're the problem because they allow terrorism to arise out of that chaos. +p2007 +aVNo, I think it's a huge mistake. I think regime change in Syria, and this is what \u2014 I've been saying this for several years now. In 2013 when we first went in, I said, you are going to give arms to the allies of al Qaida, to radical jihadists? That's crazy. But the other thing I said is the great irony is you will be back fighting against your own weapons. Had Assad been bombed when he used chemical weapons two years ago, +p2008 +aVWell, I think if you're in favor of World War III, you have your candidate. You know, here's...... the thing. My goodness, what we want in a leader is someone with judgment, not someone who is so reckless as to stand on the stage and say, "Yes, I'm jumping up and down; I'm going to shoot down Russian planes." Russia already flies in that airspace. It may not be something we're in love with the fact that they're there, but they were invited by Iraq and by Syria to fly in that airspace. And so if we announce we're going to have a no-fly zone, and others have said this. Hillary Clinton is also for it. It is a recipe for disaster. It's a recipe for World War III. We need to confront Russia from a position of strength, but we don't need to confront Russia from a point of recklessness that would lead to war. This is something \u2014 this type of judgment, you know, it's having that kind of judgment; who you would appoint and how you're going to conduct affairs, that is incredibly important. I mean, I think when we think about the judgment of someone who might want World War III, we might think about someone who might shut down a bridge because they don't like their friends; they don't want to \u2014 you know, they want to a Democrat. So I think we need to be very careful. +p2009 +aVYou know, I think we need to set the record straight on this, because I think Marco misspoke about the bill. On the Gang of Eight bill, there was no provisions really for extra scrutiny or safety for refugees. At the time the bill came up, two Iraqi refugees came to my home town, Bowling Green, Kentucky. Their fingerprints were on a bomb from Iraq. They were in the database, but we didn't pick them up. We relocated them here, put them in government housing, got them on food stamps. And we began providing for them, but we didn't have adequate security. On the Gang of Eight bill, on Marco's bill, we had an opportunity. There was a conservative consensus for an amendment I put forward called Trust, But Verify that would have strengthened border security on both refugees, students and those coming here. And Marco sided and I guess was more sympathetic to Chuck Schumer and to the president than he was to conservative principles. But this goes directly to national defense. And if he wants to run as a national \u2014 national defense conservative, he's got to explain why he hasn't stepped up to support border security. +p2010 +aVWhat my bill would do would be only for refugees going forward. So I haven't taken a position on sending anyone home. But I have taken the position that we have a lot of problems here in our country. And that one of the things that we do \u2014 charity is about giving your own money. Charity isn't giving someone else's money. To put everyone in government housing and food stamps and bring them in from around the world I think is a mistake. To give of your own money, I've given to my church. My church has helped people that came from Bosnia. That's a good thing. But we shouldn't have a program where we just say that we're going to take care of the world's refugees. Nobody in the Middle East is doing anything. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait \u2014 all the Gulf nations are doing nothing. They need to step up and take... +p2011 +aVThe greatest threat to our national security is our debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. And whose fault is it? Well, frankly, it's both parties' fault. You have those on the right who clamor and say, oh, we will spend anything on the military, and those on the left who say the same for domestic welfare. But what most Americans don't realize is there is an unholy alliance. They come together. There's a secret handshake. We spend more money on everything. And we are not stronger nation if we go further into debt. We are not projecting power from bankruptcy court. To me, there is no greater threat than our debt. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage because I'm willing to hold the line on all spending. I hope you will consider me in the election. Thank you very much. +p2012 +aVAbsolutely. And I think that we ought to look where income inequality seems to be the worst. It seems to be worst in cities run by Democrats, governors of... States run by Democrats and countries currently run by Democrats. So the thing is, let's look for root causes. But I would also say \u2014 lay some blame at the \u2014 the feet of the Federal Reserve. I think the Federal Reserve has made this problem worse. By artificially keeping interest rates below the market rate, average ordinary citizens have a tough time earning interest, have a tough time making money. They're actually talking now about negative interest. The money as it's created through quantitative easing or other means tends to start out in the big banks in New York. And because we're now paying interest for them to keep the money there, much of that money has not filtered out into the economy. So what we're finding is there is increasing income disparity and income inequality. We also find that as the Federal Reserve destroys the value of the currency, what you're finding is that, if you're poor, if you make $20,000 a year and you have three or four kids, and you're trying to get by, as your prices rise or as the value of the dollar shrinks, these are the people that are hurt the worst. So really we need to reexamine whether we not \u2014 we want a Federal Reserve that's involved so much in determining interest rates. We also need to look at root causes as to what caused the housing boom and the housing collapse. But the bottom line is, if you want less income inequality, move to a city with a Republican mayor or a state with a Republican governor. +p2013 +aVWell, it's a great question, Neil, and thanks for including me in the tax debate. I think what's important about the tax debate is, is that we have to ask the question, where is money best spent, in the private sector or in the government sector? I want a government really, really small, so small you can barely see it. So I want lower taxes and much more money in the private sector. My tax plan, however, is the only tax plan among any of the candidates on the stage that is part of a balanced budget plan. I put forward three plans that actually balance the budget over a five-year period. Each of these plans have details on exactly where we would cut. The question came up earlier, where would you cut? Nobody likes to say where they would cut. I've put pencil to paper and done three budgets that actually balance. I'm also in favor of a plan called the penny plan where we'd just cut 1 percent across the board and the budget actually balances in less than five years. So I think what is extraordinary about my tax plan is it is in the context of balancing the budget. What is also extraordinary about my tax plan is it gets rid of the payroll tax. Democrats demagogue this issue to death, and when they do they say, oh, a millionaire would get a bigger tax cut than someone making $10,000. That's proportionality, as Ben is trying to explain to folks. But the thing is, is if we get rid of the payroll tax, everybody is going to get a tax cut. And this is something that I think the public at large will support and could win an election. +p2014 +aVOurs is 14.5 percent for corporations, 14.5 percent for individuals. No payroll tax for the employee. The business tax pays for social security, and there would be two remaining deductions \u2014 home mortgage and charity. +p2015 +aVThank you. +p2016 +aVNeil, there's a point I'd like to make here... ....Neil, a point that I'd like to make about the tax credits. We have to decide what is conservative and what isn't conservative. Is it fiscally conservative to have a trillion-dollar expenditure? We're not talking about giving people back their tax money. He's talking about giving people money they didn't pay. It's a welfare transfer payment. So here's what we have. Is it conservative to have $1 trillion in transfer payments \u2014 a new welfare program that's a refundable tax credit? Add that to Marco's plan for $1 trillion in new military spending, and you get something that looks, to me, not very conservative. Thank you. +p2017 +aVNevertheless, it's not very conservative, Marco. +p2018 +aVHow is it conservative? +p2019 +aVYeah, but, Marco! Marco! How is it conservative, how is it conservative to add a trillion-dollar expenditure for the federal government that you're not paying for? +p2020 +aVHow is it conservative? +p2021 +aVHow is it conservative to add a trillion dollars in military expenditures? You can not be a conservative if you're going to keep promoting new programs that you're not going to pay for. +p2022 +aVNo. I don't think we're any safer \u2014 I do not think we are any safer from bankruptcy court. As we go further, and further into debt, we become less, and less safe. This is the most important thing we're going to talk about tonight. Can you be a conservative, and be liberal on military spending? Can you be for unlimited military spending, and say, Oh, I'm going to make the country safe? No, we need a safe country, but, you know, we spend more on our military than the next ten countries combined? I want a strong national defense, but I don't want us to be bankrupt. +p2023 +aVHey, Gerard, you know, we might want to point out China is not part of this deal. +p2024 +aVBefore we get a little bit off-kilter here... +p2025 +aVThere is an argument that China doesn't like the deal, because in us doing the deal, we'll be trading with their competitors. You're exactly right. But I think we've sort of missed the point a little bit here. There is an important point, though, about how we discuss these trade treaties that I do agree with Mr. Trump on. We should negotiate from a position of strength. And we also should negotiate using the full force and the constitutional power that was given to us. I think it's a mistake that we give up power to the presidency on these trade deals. We give up the power to filibuster, and I'm kind of fond of that power. We give up the power to amend. And I think, really, one of the big problems we have in our country is, over the last century, really, so much power has gravitated to the executive branch. Really, Congress is kind of a bystander. We don't write the rules. We don't make the laws. The executive branch does. So even in trade \u2014 and I am for trade \u2014 I think we should be careful about giving so much power to the presidency. +p2026 +aVI'd like first to respond to the acquisition, we should \u2014 I think it's particularly naive, particularly foolish to think that we're not going to talk to Russia. The idea of a no fly zone, realize that this is also something that Hillary Clinton agrees with several on our side with, you're asking for a no fly zone in an area in which Russia already flies. Russia flies in that zone at the invitation of Iraq. I'm not saying it's a good thing, but you better know at least what we're getting into. So, when you think it's going to be a good idea to have a no fly zone over Iraq, realize that means you are saying we are going to shoot down Russian planes. If you're ready for that, be ready to send your sons and daughters to another war in Iraq. I don't want to see that happen. I think the first war in Iraq was a mistake... You can be strong without being involved in every civil war around the war... +p2027 +aVRonald Reagan was strong, but Ronald Reagan didn't... +p2028 +aV...send troops into the Middle East... +p2029 +aV...Can I finish... +p2030 +aV...Can I finish my time? Could I finish with my time? +p2031 +aVYes, I would like to finish my response, basically. +p2032 +aVThis is an important question. This is an incredibly important question. And the question goes to be, who do we want to be our commander-in-chief? Do you want a commander-in-chief who says something that we never did throughout the entire Cold War, to discontinue having conversations with the Russians? I am not happy about them flying over there. But I'm not naive enough to say, well, Iraq has them flying over their airspace, we're just going to announce that we're shooting them down? That is naive to the point of being something you might hear in junior high. But it's scary... +p2033 +aVThe first thing I would do is I wouldn't arm our enemies. I wouldn't arm +p2034 +aVGerard, can I comment... +p2035 +aVThe first thing I would do as president is repeal the regulations that are hampering our energy that the President has put in place. Including the Clean Power Act. While I do think that man may have a role in our climate, I think nature also has a role. The planet's 4.5 billion years old, we've been through geologic age after geologic age. We've had times when the temperatures been warmer, we've had times when the temperatures been colder. We've had times when the carbon in the atmosphere's been higher. So, I think before we \u2014 we need to look before we leap. President's often fond of saying he wants a balance solution, but, really we do need to balance both keeping the environment clean, and we will have some rules for that. We got to balance that with the economy. He's devastated my state. I say the President's not only destroying Kentucky, he's destroying the democrat party down there because nobody wants to associate with him. So, what we really need is somebody that understands that we do need energy of all forms, and that means we will have solar, and wind, and hydro, but we will still have coal, and we still will have natural gas. And, we've got to have an all of the above policy. But, it would be a mistake to shut down all of our industries in the coal fields, and shut down the coal power plants. If we did so we're going to have a day where we wake up and some of our big cities are either very cold, or very hot. So, I think it's a big danger, and we shouldn't do it. And, what we should do is say we want all of the above... ...We want to free up the energy sector, and let people produce, let them drill, let them explore. +p2036 +aVWe're the richest, freest, most humanitarian nation in the history of mankind. But we also borrow a million dollars a minute. And the question I have for all Americans is, think about it, can you be a fiscal conservative if you don't conserve all of the money? If you're a profligate spender, you spend money in an unlimited fashion for the military, is that a conservative notion? We have to be conservative with all spending, domestic spending and welfare spending. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage. +p2037 +aVYou know, I left my medical practice and ran for office because I was concerned about an $18 trillion debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. Now, on the floor of the Congress, the Washington establishment from both parties puts forward a bill that will explode the deficit. It allows President Obama to borrow unlimited amounts of money. I will stand firm. I will spend every ounce of energy to stop it. I will begin tomorrow to filibuster it. And I ask everyone in America to call Congress tomorrow and say enough is enough; no more debt. +p2038 +aVNo, I oppose it because you're taking money from the entitlement and then spending it immediately on other items. That's what they're doing. They're taking money from Social Security and they're going to spend it on the military and they're going to spend it on domestic spending. Here's the thing. When you look at raising the debt limit, it should be leverage to try to reform government. In 2011, the sequester was passed as a reform to slow down the rate of government. Instead, the Washington establishment raised both. We raised the military spending, took from entitlements, and raised domestic spending and the deficit will explode under this. This is the unholy alliance that people need to know about between right and left. Right and left are spending us into oblivion. We should use the debt ceiling, as precisely to Don, to force upon them budgetary reforms. +p2039 +aVWell, that's a real question. Is there going to be any change in the House with new leadership? I frankly don't think there will be much change because I think what's going to happen is you're going to get more of the same. People in Washington think they were sent there to be adults and govern and do all this. Well, you know what I'm worried about? Not keeping the government open. I'm worried about bankrupting the American people. We're borrowing a million dollars a minute. That is important. And that's what we have to contrast. Keeping the government open and continuing to borrow a million dollars a minute. +p2040 +aVWell, thank you very much. I would like to thank Ted for co-sponsoring my bill, audit the Fed. And I think it's precisely because of the arrogance of someone like Ben Bernanke, who now calls us all know-nothings, that is precisely why we need audit the Fed. I think it is really very much a huge problem that an organization as powerful as the Fed comes in, lobbies against them being audited on the Hill. I would prevent them lobbying Congress. I don't think the Fed should be involved with lobbying us. I think we should examine how the Fed has really been part of the problem. You want to study income inequality, let's bring the Fed forward and talk about Fed policy and how it causes income inequality. Let's also bring the Fed forward and have them explain how they caused the housing boom and the crisis, and what they've done to make us better or worse. I think the Fed has been a great problem in our society. What you need to do is free up interest rates. Interest rates are the price of money, and we shouldn't have price controls on the price of money. +p2041 +aV...John... +p2042 +aVJohn, I'd like to address this? John, could I follow up on this? +p2043 +aVWhat are the rules on who gets to follow up. How do we decide on who gets to follow up? I've seen plenty of other people follow up? +p2044 +aVI'd like to just mention something about my tax plan, and how it relates to the discussion... +p2045 +aVAlright. Much of the discussion is centered over whether or not the different tax plans help, or affect the middle class. In fact, it's the chief argument by democrats against many of the different flat tax proposals. Mine is unique in the sense that my tax plan actually gets rid of the payroll tax as well. It shifts it to the business, and it would allow middle class people to get a tax cut. If you just cut their income tax, there isn't much income tax to cut. Mine actually cuts the payroll tax, and I think it would spread the tax cut across all socioeconomic levels, and would allow then it to be something that would be broadly supported by the public in an election. +p2046 +aVThe question always is, what works better, the private marketplace or government? And what distributes goods better? It always seems to be the private marketplace does a better job. Is there an area for a safety net? Can you have Medicare or Social Security? Yes. But you ought to acknowledge the government doesn't do a very good job at it. The main problem with Medicare right now is that the average person pays in taxes over their whole lifetime about $100,000. But the average person takes out about $350,000. We have this enormous mismatch because we have smaller and smaller families. When people ask me, whose fault is it? Whose fault is it that Medicare is broken, out of money, that Social Security is broken, out of money? And I say, look, it's not Republicans' fault, it's not Democrats' fault, it's your grandparents' fault for having too many damn kids. After the war we had all of these kids, Baby Boomers. Now we're having smaller families. We used to have 16 workers for one retiree, now you have three workers for one retiree. It's not working. I have a bill to fix Medicare. I've a bill to fix Social Security. For both of them you have to gradually raise the age. If you're not willing to do that, nobody wants to do it, but if you're not willing to gradually raise the age, you're not serious about fixing either one of them. +p2047 +aVSay again? +p2048 +aVYou can't do nothing. And that's what I hear from some people, "we'll do nothing and it will just be fixed." That's absurd, and I think people who don't want to fix it, really, or unwilling to take the chance to say, "something has to change," are missing the boat here. The age will have to gradually rise, there is no question. It's the only way you fix Medicare, the only way you fix Social Security. You will also have to means-test the benefits and declare there's not enough money. It isn't "I put money in, I'm getting it back." There is no money, it's a stack of paper. There is no money in the Social Security account. There is no money in the Medicare account. There's only a promise to pay by the next generation, and the next generation's not big enough to pay it. [ +p2049 +aVLiberty thrives when government is small. I want a government so small I can barely see it. I want a government so small that the individual has a chance to thrive and prosper. I think, though, government is too big now. And what you're going to see in Washington this week is establishment Republicans have made an agreement with the president to raise the debt ceiling in an unlimited fashion; no limit to the debt ceiling raise. This is extraordinary. It's extraordinarily wrong. You'll see me on the floor of the Senate tomorrow filibustering this and saying enough is enough, no more debt. +p2050 +aVGood evening, everyone. I'm an eye surgeon from Bowling Green, Kentucky. My wife, Kelly, and I have been married for nearly 25 years, and I spend my days defending the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I think there's nothing more important than understanding that the Constitution restrains government, not the people. Thank you. +p2051 +aVI kind of have to laugh when I think of, "Mmm, sounds like a non sequitur." He was asked whether or not he would be capable and it would be in good hands to be in charge of the nuclear weapons, and all of a sudden, there's a sideways attack at me. I think that really goes to really the judgment. Do we want someone with that kind of character, that kind of careless language to be negotiating with Putin? Do we want someone like that to be negotiating with Iran? I think really there's a sophomoric quality that is entertaining about Mr. Trump, but I am worried. I'm very concerned about him \u2014 having him in charge of the nuclear weapons, because I think his response, his \u2014 his visceral response to attack people on their appearance \u2014 short, tall, fat, ugly \u2014 my goodness, that happened in junior high. Are we not way above that? Would we not all be worried to have someone like that in charge of the nuclear arsenal? +p2052 +aVI think this goes back to essentially what we've been saying for the last two or three questions. Carly Fiorina also said we're not going to talk with Putin. Well, think if Reagan had said that during the Cold War? We continued to talk with the Russians throughout the Cold War which is much more significant that where we are now. Should we continue to talk with Iran? Yes. Should we cut up the agreement immediately? That's absurd. Wouldn't you want to know if they complied? Now, I'm going to vote against the agreement because I don't think there's significant leverage, but it doesn't mean that I would immediately not look at the agreement, and cut it up without looking to see if whether or not Iran has complied. The same goes with China. I don't think we need to be rash, I don't think we need to be reckless, and I think need to leave lines of communication open. Often we talk about whether we should be engaged in the world, or disengaged in the world, and I think this is an example of some who want to isolate us, actually, and not be engaged. We do need to be engaged with Russia. It doesn't mean we give them a free pass, or China a free pass, but, to be engaged, to continue to talk. We did throughout the Cold War, and it would be a big mistake not to do it here. +p2053 +aVI think this gets to the point of wisdom on when to intervene and when we shouldn't. Had we bombed Assad at the time, like President Obama wanted, and like Hillary Clinton wanted and many Republicans wanted, I think +p2054 +aVWell, I hate to say it, but Donald Trump has a bit of a point here. The case that was decided around 1900 was, people had a green card, were here legally, and they said that their children were citizens. There's never been a direct Supreme Court case on people who were here illegally, whether or not their kids are citizens. So it hasn't really been completely adjudicated. The 14th Amendment says that "those who are here and under the jurisdiction." The original author of the \u2014 of the 14th Amendment said on the Senate floor that this was applying to slaves, and did not specifically apply to others. +p2055 +aVWell, I'm glad we're having a discussion about taxes because everybody laments that we lose jobs overseas, we have. Our companies, and our jobs are being chased overseas by a 70,000 page tax code, so, that's why I've chosen to get rid of the whole thing, and have one single rate, 14 and a-half percent for everybody, business, and for corporate income, and personal income. But, we also get rid of the payroll tax, so the working class would get a tax break as well. So, I think a flat tax, eliminating the tax code, getting rid of all the loopholes, is the way to go, and it's the way we get America going again. +p2056 +aVHugh, can I \u2014 can I make a response to that? +p2057 +aVCan I make a response to that? +p2058 +aVMay I make a response to that? +p2059 +aVHe's referred to me. +p2060 +aVHe's referred to me... +p2061 +aV... in his remarks. May I make a response? +p2062 +aVAbsolutely. Go ahead. +p2063 +aVMay I respond? +p2064 +aVThe remark was made that there hadn't been anyone else on the podium opposed to the Iraq War. I've made my career as being an opponent of the Iraq War. I was opposed to the Syria war. I was opposed to arming people who are our enemies. Iran is now stronger because Hussein is gone. Hussein was the great bulwark and counterbalance to the Iranians. So when we complain about the Iranians, you need to remember that the Iraq War made it worse. Originally, Governor Bush was asked, was the Iraq War a mistake, and he said, "No. We'd do it again." We have to learn sometimes the interventions backfire. The Iraq War backfired and did not help us. We're still paying the repercussions of a bad decision. +p2065 +aVWe have make the decision now in Syria, should we topple Assad? Many up here wanted to topple Assad, and it's like \u2014 I said no, because if you do... +p2066 +aV... +p2067 +aVIf you want boots on the ground, and you want them to be our sons and daughters, you got 14 other choices. There will always be a Bush or Clinton for you, if you want to go back to war in Iraq. But the thing is, the first war was a mistake. And I'm not sending our sons and our daughters back to Iraq. The war didn't work. We can amplify those who live there. The Kurds deserve to be armed and I'll arm them. We can use our Air Force to amplify the forces there. But the boots on the ground need to be the people who live there. My goodness, I'm still upset with the Saudi Arabians for everything they do over there. They've funded the arms that went to the jihadists. They're not accepting any of the people, any of the migrants that have been \u2014 the refugees that are being pushed out of Syria. Saudi Arabia is not accepting one. Why are we always the world's patsies that we have to go over there and fight their wars for them? They need to fight their wars, we need to defend American interests, but it is not in America's national security interests to have another war in Iraq. +p2068 +aVI think one of the great problems, and what American people don't like about politics, is hypocrisy. People have one standard for others and not for them \u2014 for themselves. There is at least one prominent example on the stage of someone who says they smoked pot in high school, and yet the people going to \u2014 to jail for this are poor people, often African-Americans and often Hispanics, and yet the rich kids who use drugs aren't. I personally think that this is a crime for which the only victim is the individual, and I think that America has to take a different attitude. I would like to see more rehabilitation and less incarceration. I'm a fan of the drug courts which try to direct you back towards work and less time in jail. But the bottom line is the states. We say we like the 10th Amendment, until we start talking about this. And I think the federal government has gone too far, I think that the war on drugs has had a racial outcome, and really has been something that has really damaged our inner cities. Not only do the drugs damage them, we damage them again by incarcerating them and then preventing them from getting employment over time. So I don't think that the federal government should override the states. I believe in the 10th Amendment and I really will say that the states are left to themselves. +p2069 +aVWell, I think if we left it open, we could see how many people smoked pot in high school. +p2070 +aVWell, you know, the thing is that... +p2071 +aVYeah, I was talking about \u2014 well, let me... +p2072 +aVBut let me respond. The thing is, is that in Florida, Governor Bush campaigned against medical marijuana. That means that a small child like Morgan Hintz (ph) that has seizures is day, is failing on non-traditional medications, is not allowed to use cannabis oil. And if they do that in Florida, they will take the child away, they will put the parents in jail. And that's what that means if you're against allowing people use medical marijuana, you'll actually put them in jail. +p2073 +aVAnd actually, under the current circumstances, kids who had privilege like you do, don't go to jail, but the poor kids in our inner cities go to jail. I don't think that's fair. And I think we need to acknowledge it, and it is hypocritical to still want to put poor people in jail... +p2074 +aVWell, you vote \u2014 you oppose medical marijuana... +p2075 +aVBut that means you'll put people in jail. +p2076 +aVMay I respond? +p2077 +aVUnderstand what they're saying. if they're going to say we are going to enforce the federal law against what the state law is, they aren't really believing in the Tenth Amendment. Governor Christie would go into Colorado, and if you're breaking any federal law on marijuana, even though the state law allows it, he would put you in jail. If a young mother is trying to give her child cannabis oil for medical marijuana for seizure treatment, he would put her in jail, if it violates federal law. I would let Colorado do what the Tenth Amendment says. This power \u2014 we were never intended to have crime dealing at the federal level. Crime was supposed to be left to the states. Colorado has made their decision. And I don't want the federal government interfering and putting moms in jail, who are trying to get medicine for their kid... +p2078 +aVMay I respond? May I respond? +p2079 +aVHere is the thing, he doesn't want to make it about medical marijuana, but what if New Jersey's medical marijuana contradicts the federal law? He's saying he'll send the federal government in, and he will enforce the federal law. That's not consistent with the Tenth Amendment. It is not consistent with states' rights. And it is not consistent with the conservative vision for the country. I don't think we should be sending the federal police in to arrest a mother and separate them from their child for giving a medicine to their child for seizures. +p2080 +aVIf you want a skeptic \u2014 if you want a skeptic, Jake, I will happily jump into that briar patch. If you want a real... +p2081 +aVA second opinion? One of the greatest \u2014 one of the greatest medical discoveries of all times was \u2014 were the vaccines, particularly for smallpox. And if you want to read a story, it's called The Speckled Monster, it's an amazing story, it was all done voluntary. But people came in by the droves. George Washington wouldn't let his wife visit until she got vaccinated. So I'm all for vaccines. But I'm also for freedom. I'm also a little concerned about how they're bunched up. My kids had all of their vaccines, and even if the science doesn't say bunching them up is a problem, I ought to have the right to spread out my vaccines out a little bit at the very least. +p2082 +aVOoh, that's a tough one. You know, I'm big on \u2014 that we were \u2014 and I love what Carly said about women's suffrage. I think Susan B. Anthony might be a good choice. +p2083 +aVJustice Never Sleeps. +p2084 +aVI met Ronald Reagan as a teenager, and my family, we're big supporters of him when he ran against Gerald Ford. It was a big deal because he was the grassroots, running against the establishment, and I'll never forget that. And, how he stood up and said, you know what, this is something new that our country needs, and our party needs. If I were president, I would try to be one who says, you know what, I'm a Reagan Conservative. I'm someone who believes in peace through strength, and I would try to lead the country in that way knowing that our goal is peace, and that war is the last resort, not the first resort. And, that when we go to war, we go to war in a constitutional way, which means that we have to vote on it, that war is initiated by congress, not by the president, that we go to war electively (ph). That when we go to war, we don't fight with one arm tied behind our back, we fight all out to win, but then we come home. +p2085 +aVThis is what's wrong! +p2086 +aVI mean, this is what's wrong. He buys and sells politicians of all stripes, he's already... +p2087 +aVHey, look, look! He's already hedging his bet on the Clintons, OK? So if he doesn't run as a Republican, maybe he supports Clinton, or maybe he runs as an independent... +p2088 +aV...but I'd say that he's already hedging his bets because he's used to buying politicians. +p2089 +aVFirst of all, only +p2090 +aVMegyn, may I respond? May I respond? +p2091 +aVI want to collect more records from terrorists, but less records from innocent Americans. The Fourth Amendment was what we fought the Revolution over! John Adams said it was the spark that led to our war for independence, and I'm proud of standing for the Bill of Rights, and I will continue to stand for the Bill of Rights. +p2092 +aVUse the Fourth Amendment! +p2093 +aVUse the Fourth Amendment! +p2094 +aVGet a warrant! +p2095 +aVGet a judge to sign the warrant! +p2096 +aVSee, here's the problem. +p2097 +aVHere's the problem, governor. Here's the problem, governor. You fundamentally misunderstand the Bill of Rights. Every time you did a case, you got a warrant from a judge. I'm talking about searches without warrants... +p2098 +aV...indiscriminately, of all Americans' records, and that's what I fought to end. I don't trust President Obama with our records. I know you gave him a big hug, and if you want to give him a big hug again, go right ahead. +p2099 +aVI've got a news flash... +p2100 +aVNews flash, the Republican Party's been fighting against a single-payer system... +p2101 +aV-- for a decade. So I think you're on the wrong side of this if you're still arguing for a single-payer system. +p2102 +aVI oppose the Iranian deal, and will vote against it. I don't think that the president negotiated from a position of strength, but I don't immediately discount negotiations. I'm a Reagan conservative. Reagan did negotiate with the Soviets. But you have to negotiate from a position of strength, and I think President Obama gave away too much, too early. If there's going to be a negotiation, you're going to have to believe somehow that the Iranians are going to comply. And I asked this question to John Kerry, I said "do you believe they're trustworthy?" and he said "No." And I said, "well, how are we gonna get them to comply?" I would have never released the sanctions before there was consistent evidence of compliance. +p2103 +aVLook, I don't want my marriage or my guns registered in Washington. And if people have an opinion, it's a religious opinion that is heartly felt, obviously they should be allowed to practice that and no government should interfere with them. One of the things, one of the things that really got to me was the thing in Houston where you had the government, the mayor actually, trying to get the sermons of ministers. When the government tries to invade the church to enforce its own opinion on marriage, that's when it's time to resist. +p2104 +aVWell, let's be clear, I'm the only one on the stage who actually has a five-year budget that balances. I've put pencil to paper... +p2105 +aV... and I've said -- and I've said I would cut spending, and I've said exactly where. Each one of my budgets has taken a meat axe to foreign aid, because I think we ought to quit sending it to countries that hate us. I think we ought to quit sending it to countries that burn our flag. Israel is not one of those. But even Benjamin Netanyahu said that ultimately, they will be stronger when they're independent. My position is exactly the same. We shouldn't borrow money from China to send it anywhere, but why don't we start with eliminating aid to our enemies. +p2106 +aVI still say exactly what my original opinion is. Do you borrow money from China to send it to anyone? Out of your surplus, you can help your allies, and Israel is a great ally. And this is no particular animus of Israel, but what I will say, and I will say over and over again, we cannot give away money we don't have. We do not project power from bankruptcy court. We're borrowing a million dollars a minute. It's got to stop somewhere. +p2107 +aVI'm a different kind of Republican. I've introduced a five-year balanced budget. I've introduced the largest tax cut in our history. I stood for ten and a half hours on the Senate floor to defend your right to be left alone. But I've also gone to Chicago. I've gone to Detroit. I've been to Ferguson, I've been to Baltimore, because I want our party to be bigger, better and bolder, and I'm the only one that leads Hillary Clinton in five states that were won by President Obama. I'm a different kind of Republican. +p2108 +asVBASH +p2109 +(lp2110 +VA crucial question is how to balance surveillance with privacy and keeping Americans safe. Senator Cruz, you voted for a bill that President Obama signed into law just this past June that made it harder for the government to access Americans' phone records. In light of the San Bernardino attack, was your vote a mistake? +p2111 +aVThank you. Senator Rubio, Senator Cruz is right there was bipartisan support for that. But you voted against it. So, is Senator Cruz wrong? +p2112 +aVSenator Cruz? +p2113 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator \u2014 Senator Rubio, please respond. +p2114 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I know this is \u2014 this has been a very big issue for you. You hear many of your colleagues are calling for increased surveillance by law enforcement. You call that hogwash. Why is that hogwash? +p2115 +aVSenator Rubio? +p2116 +aVGovernor Christie, Governor Christie... ...Governor Christie, I'll come to you in a minute. Go ahead, Senator Paul. +p2117 +aVGo ahead, please. +p2118 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about immigration in a while. But, Governor Christie, just listening to this... +p2119 +aVListening to this, you talked \u2014 you heard Senator Paul, Senator Cruz talk about how important it is to protect Americans' privacy, even in a time of grave danger. Why \u2014 what's wrong with that? +p2120 +aVSenator Paul, you said +p2121 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I want to go back to my initial question, which is you saying that +p2122 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about regime change in a bit. But Governor Kasich, would you like to respond to Senator Paul? +p2123 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. We've been talking tonight about programs and policy proposals that you all have to keep Americans safe and it's a big discussion on the campaign trail. Also about border security and immigration. So let's talk about immigration. Senator Rubio. You co-authored a bill with Democrats two years ago that allowed a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Do you still support that path to citizenship, which means giving those immigrants rights, like the right to vote? +p2124 +aVSenator, you haven't answered the question. You described a very long path but does that path end at citizenship? +p2125 +aVThank you, senator. +p2126 +aVThank you, senator. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, on the campaign trail, Senator Rubio has said that his immigration plan is not that different from yours. Is that true? +p2127 +aVSenator Rubio, please. +p2128 +aVSenator Cruz? +p2129 +aVSenator Cruz? +p2130 +aVSenator Cruz, can you answer that question please? +p2131 +aVSenator Cruz? +p2132 +aVOne at a time please. +p2133 +aVMs. Fiorina, please wait your turn, we're going to get to you. +p2134 +aVSenator Cruz go ahead. +p2135 +aVMr. Trump, you like to say that you restarted this conversation in the campaign. +p2136 +aVSo who do you side with? Who do you side with in this, Senator Rubio or Senator Cruz? +p2137 +aVThank you. Governor Bush? +p2138 +aVListening to this, do you think this is the tone \u2014 this immigration debate that republicans need to take to win back Hispanics into our party especially states like where we are in Nevada that has a pretty Hispanic community? +p2139 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said if China launches a cyber- attack against the U.S. on your watch, "they're going to see cyber- warfare like they have never seen before." What exactly would that response look like? +p2140 +aVGovernor Bush, what you just heard from Governor Christie, are you concerned that that could really escalate with China, that they would retaliate? And, for example, as the NSA has said, attack the U.S. and maybe it's power grid, which the Chinese have the capability to do? +p2141 +aVMr. Trump, just this weekend you said Senator Cruz is not qualified to be president because he doesn't have the right temperament and acted like a maniac when he arrived in the Senate. But last month you said you were open to naming Senator Cruz as your running mate. +p2142 +aVSo why would you be willing to put somebody who's a maniac one heartbeat away from the presidency? +p2143 +aVOkay. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, you have not been willing to attack Mr. Trump in public. +p2144 +aVBut you did question his judgment in having control of American's nuclear arsenal during a private meeting with supporters. Why are you willing to say things about him in private and not in public? +p2145 +aVSenator, senator, I just... +p2146 +aVSenator, a lot of people have seen... +p2147 +aV... a lot of people have seen these comments you made in private. I just want to clarify what you're saying right now is you do believe Mr. Trump has the judgment to be commander in chief? +p2148 +aVGovernor Kasich, Senator Cruz is so committed to stripping federal funds from Planned Parenthood that it could result in shutting down the federal government in just about two weeks. Do you agree with Senator Cruz's tactic? +p2149 +aVThank you. +p2150 +aVThank you. Senator Cruz, I would just add that, on this stage not that long ago, Senator Graham said that this tactic that you're pushing would tank the Republicans' ability to win in 2016. +p2151 +aVThank you, senator. +p2152 +aVThank you... +p2153 +aVGovernor \u2014 governor, I want to go to you. Is it what Senator Cruz says, a surrender by Republicans? +p2154 +aVBut... +p2155 +aVBut is it... +p2156 +aVBut, governor, the \u2014 but, governor, the reality is, in just two weeks' time... ...we are going to be facing a question about whether or not it's enough to shut down the government to make that statement, because there is still a Democrat in the White House. Do you oppose it or support it? +p2157 +aVYes or no, do you support this shutdown? +p2158 +aVWe're talking about Planned Parenthood right now. +p2159 +aVCan you answer yes or no? +p2160 +aVOne more time. I'm sorry, I just want to get the answer. +p2161 +aVSo you would support a shutdown. +p2162 +aVGovernor Bush, Mr. Trump has suggested that your views on immigration are influenced by your Mexican born wife. He said that, quote, "If my wife were from Mexico, I think I would have a soft spot for people from Mexico." Did Mr. Trump go to far in invoking your wife? +p2163 +aVMr. Trump? +p2164 +aVMr. Trump... +p2165 +aVGo ahead. +p2166 +aVMs. Fiorina \u2014 Ms. Fiorina, we're going to come to you, we're going to come to you. I just want to give Governor Bush a chance to respond to what Mr. Trump said. +p2167 +aVOK, on that note, you have criticized Governor Bush for speaking Spanish on the campaign trail. You said, quote, "He should really set an example by speaking English in the United States." What's wrong with speaking Spanish? +p2168 +aVThank you. +p2169 +aV...Thank you.... +p2170 +aVGovernor Bush, let's talk about the issue that's very important to Republican voters, and that's the Supreme Court. After Chief Justice John Roberts voted to uphold Obamacare twice, Senator Cruz criticized your brother for appointing John Roberts to the Supreme Court. Looking back on it, did your brother make a mistake? +p2171 +aV...Is John Roberts one of those people? +p2172 +aVDo you like what you just heard, Senator Cruz? +p2173 +aVMr. Trump, you have said once or twice that you are really rich, and you are by far the richest person on this stage. Chris Christie says billionaires like you and even people who make and earn far less should no longer get Social Security, or at least there should be limits based on \u2014 on their income. You think he's wrong, and if so, why? +p2174 +aVWhat about the country as a \u2014 as a policy? +p2175 +aVSo is a voluntary program the way to get the Social Security system solvent again like that. +p2176 +aVSenator Santorum, you want to give the intelligence community more power to collect American's phone data. But the government had this ability until just days before the San Bernardino attack. If it couldn't prevent San Bernardino, why will it protect America? +p2177 +aVSenator Graham, when this program was exposed, you said, " you have nothing to worry about if you're not talking to terrorist." Do you understand why though some Americans are concerned that the government is keeping tabs on them in any way? +p2178 +aVThank you. Governor Huckabee, you said, "not one terrorist plot has been foiled by the NSA's collection of American's phone records. The director of the CIA says,. "not having these programs makes it ability to find terrorists, quote, "much more challenging."" Are you taking a potential tool to fight terrorists? +p2179 +aVSenator Santorum? +p2180 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator Graham... +p2181 +aVSenator Graham... +p2182 +aVSenator Graham, we've heard here tonight a lot about the fact that you want to send U.S. troops, ground troops, into Iraq, and Syria to defeat +p2183 +aVGovernor Huckabee... +p2184 +aVGovernor Huckabee, would you reinstate the draft? +p2185 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator Graham... +p2186 +aVSenator Graham... +p2187 +aVSenator Graham, we've heard here tonight a lot about the fact that you want to send U.S. troops, ground troops, into Iraq, and Syria to defeat +p2188 +aVGovernor Huckabee... +p2189 +aVGovernor Huckabee, would you reinstate the draft? +p2190 +aVSo what would you do about it? +p2191 +aVSenator... +p2192 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. +p2193 +aVSenator Graham. +p2194 +aVSenator Graham, quick response. +p2195 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. +p2196 +aVThank you, Senator Graham. +p2197 +aVSenator Santorum, earlier this month the Pentagon opened all U.S. military combat positions to women. You previously opposed allowing women in combat roles. As President, would you change the Pentagon's new policy? +p2198 +aVSo, just to be clear, you're saying, yes, you would change the policy back? +p2199 +aVGovernor Pataki, as you mentioned earlier, you have two sons who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Would you maintain this new policy as President, or do you agree with Senator Santorum. +p2200 +aVSenator Santorum. +p2201 +aVNow Governor Pataki, do you a final response? +p2202 +aVGovernor Huckabee, the U.S. has a program that allows visitors from America's closest allies to travel to the U.S. without obtaining a visa. But new legislation in Congress says that privilege should not apply to those who have visited is hot spots like Iraq and Syria in the last five years. You say that legislation doesn't go far enough. Why? +p2203 +asVEPPERSON +p2204 +(lp2205 +VThank you, John. Mrs. Fiorina, you were the CEO of a large corporation that offers a 401(k) to its employees. But more than half of American have no access to an employer sponsored retirement plan. That includes the workers at small businesses, and the growing ranks of Uber drivers and other part-timers in the freelance economy. Should the Federal Government play a larger role in helping to set up retirement plans for these workers? +p2206 +aVSo you wouldn't agree \u2014 you wouldn't agree with a start for 401(k) for businesses or anything like that? +p2207 +aVThank you very much. +p2208 +aVThank you, the rules say one minute. +p2209 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. We appreciate it. Thank you, thank you. I want to turn my attention now, to you now, Governor Kasich. Most people can't get a college degree without going into debt. Over 40 million Americans have student loans and many of them cannot pay them back. This country has over $100 billion in student loan defaults. That's billion with a b. What will you do to make sure that students, their families, taxpayers, won't feel the economic impact of this burden for generations? Well, first of all, in Ohio we're changing the whole system. Universities will not get paid one dime unless the student graduates or \u2014 graduates or completes a course. Secondly, you can be in high school and complete almost an entire first year before you go to college and get credit to do that. And, of course, in addition to that, we are working now to go after the cost drivers in our universities. And let me give you an example. Universities today have so many non-academic assets. At Ohio State they sold the parking garage and the parking lot, and they got $500 million because they shouldn't be in the parking lot business. They shouldn't be in the ding business, they shouldn't be in the dorm business. And, of course, we need to take advantage of on-line education to reduce these costs and begin to dis-intermediate the cost of four years. Now, for those who that have these big high costs, I think we can seriously look at an idea of where you can do public service. I mean legitimate, public service and begin to pay off some of that debt through the public service that you do. And in the meantime, it may inspire us to care more about our country, more about ourselves. This is a big moral issue in America. Living a life bigger than yourself, and being a center of healing and justice. And people can learn it through public service. +p2210 +aVThank you, thank you. +p2211 +asVSANDERS +p2212 +(lp2213 +VWell, Gwen and Judy, thank you very much for hosting this event. And, PBS, thank you. Nine months ago, our campaign began. And when it began, we had no political organization, no money, and not much name recognition outside of the state of Vermont. A lot has happened in nine months. And what has happened is, I think, the American people have responded to a series of basic truths, and that is that we have today a campaign finance system which is corrupt, which is undermining American democracy, which allows Wall Street and billionaires to pour huge sums of money into the political process to elect the candidates of their choice. And aligned with a corrupt campaign finance system is a rigged economy. And that's an economy where ordinary Americans are working longer hours for low wagers. They are worried to death about the future of their kids. And yet they are seeing almost all new income and all new wealth going to the top 1 percent. And then in addition to that, the American people are looking around and they see a broken criminal justice system. They see more people in jail in the United States of America than any other country on earth, 2.2 million. We're spending $80 billion a year locking up fellow Americans. They see kids getting arrested for marijuana, getting in prison, getting a criminal record, while they see executives on Wall Street who pay billions of dollars in settlements and get no prosecution at all. No criminal records for them. I think what our campaign is indicating is that the American people are tired of establishment politics, tired of establishment economics. They want a political revolution in which millions of Americans stand up, come together, not let the Trumps of the world divide us, and say, you know what, in this great country, we need a government that represents all of us, not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors. Thank you. +p2214 +aVWell, to put that in a context, Judy, I think we have to understand that in the last 30 years in this country there has been a massive transfer of wealth going from the hands of working families into the top one-tenth of 1% whose percentage of wealth has doubled. In other words, the very rich are getting richer, almost everybody is going \u2014 getting poorer. What I believe is the United States, in fact, should join the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee healthcare to all people. Our Medicare for all single-payer proposal will save the average middle class family $5,000 a year. I do believe that in the year 2016 we have to look in terms of public education as colleges as part of public education making public colleges and universities tuition free. I believe that when real unemployment is close to 10%, and when our infrastructure, our roads, our bridges, our water systems, Flint, Michigan comes to mind. Our waste water plants, our rail, our airports, in many places are disintegrating. Yeah, we can create 13 million jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure at a cost of a trillion dollars. +p2215 +aV... Of course there will be a limit, but when today you have massive levels of income and wealth inequality, when the middle class is disappearing, you have the highest rate of child poverty of almost any major country on Earth. Yes, in my view, the government of a democratic society has a moral responsibility to play a vital role in making sure all of our people have a decent standard of living. +p2216 +aVWell, let us level with the American people. Secretary Clinton has been going around the country saying Bernie Sanders wants to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, people are going to lose their MedicAid, they're going to lose their +p2217 +aVThat is absolutely inaccurate. Look, here is the reality, folks. There is one major country on Earth that does not guarantee health care to all people. There is one major country \u2014 the United States \u2014 which ends up spending almost three times per capita what they do in the U.K. guaranteeing health care to all people, 50 percent more than they do in France guaranteeing health care to all people, far more than our Canadian neighbors, who guarantee health care to all people. Please do not tell me that in this country, if \u2014 and here's the if \u2014 we have the courage to take on the drug companies, and have the courage to take on the insurance companies, and the medical equipment suppliers, if we do that, yes, we can guarantee health care to all people in a much more cost effective way. +p2218 +aVWell, Secretary Clinton, you're not in the White House yet. And let us be clear that every proposal that I have introduced has been paid for. For example, all right, who in America denies that we have an infrastructure that is crumbling? Roads, bridges, water systems, wastewater plants, who denies that? Who denies that real unemployment today, including those who have given up looking for work and are working part-time is close to 10 percent? Who denies that African-American youth unemployment, real, is over 50 percent. We need to create jobs. So yes, I will do away with the outrageous loopholes that allow profitable multinational corporations to stash billions of dollars in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda and in a given year pay zero, zero in federal income tax. Yes, I'm going to do away with that. We will use those proceeds, a hundred billion a year, to invest in rebuilding our infrastructure. Yes, I believe that as a result of the illegal behavior on Wall Street, that they are a Wall Street that drove this country into the worst economic downturn since the Great Recession \u2014 Great Depression. Yes, I do believe that now after the American people bailed Wall Street out, yes, they should pay a Wall Street speculation tax so that we can make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We bailed them out. Now it is their time to help the middle class. +p2219 +aVA brief response. +p2220 +aVHere is where we are with public education. A 100, 150 years ago incredibly brave Americans said, you know what, working class kids, low income kids should not have to work in factories or on the farms. Like rich kids, they deserve to get a free education. And that free education of extraordinary accomplishment was from first grade to 12th grade. The world has changed. This is 2016. In many ways, a college degree today is equivalent to what a high school degree was 50, 60 years ago. So, yes, I do believe that when we talk about public education in America, today, in a rapidly changing world, we should have free tuition at public colleges and universities. That should be a right of all Americans regardless of the income of their families. +p2221 +aVLook, we are fighting for every vote that we can get from women, from men, straight, gay, African-Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans. We are trying to bring America together around an agenda that works for working families and the middle class. I am very proud, if my memory is not correct \u2014 I think I am \u2014 that I have a lifetime \u2014 and I've been in Congress a few years \u2014 a lifetime 100 percent pro-choice voting record. I am very proud that over the years we have had the support in my state of Vermont from very significant majorities of women. I'm very proud that I support legislation that is currently in the Congress, got support of almost all progressive Democrats in the House and Senate, which says we will end the absurdity of women today making 79 cents on the dollar compared to men. And we will join the rest of the other \u2014 the industrialized world in saying that paid family and medical leave should be a right of all working families. +p2222 +aVWell, you know, I think, from a historical point of view, somebody with my background, somebody with my views, somebody who has spent his entire life taking on the big money interests, I think a Sanders victory would be of some historical accomplishment, as well. +p2223 +aVLet me concur with the secretary, no question women's rights are under fierce attack all over this country. And I will tell you something that really galls me. I will not shock anybody to suggest that in politics there is occasionally a little bit of hypocrisy. Just a little bit. All over this country we have Republican candidates for president saying we hate the government. Government is the enemy. We're going to cut Social Security to help you. We're going to cut Medicare and Medicaid, federal aid to education to help you, because the government is so terrible. But, by the way, when it comes to a woman having to make a very personal choice, ah, in that case, my Republican colleagues love the government and want the government to make that choice for every woman in America. If that's not hypocrisy, I don't know what hypocrisy is. +p2224 +aVThis is one of the great tragedies in our country today. And we can no longer continue to sweep it under the rug. It has to be dealt with. Today a male African-American baby born today stands a one-in-four chance of ending up in jail. That is beyond unspeakable. So what we have to do is the radical reform of a broken criminal justice system. What we have to do is end over-policing in African-American neighborhoods. The reality is that both the African-American community and the white community do marijuana at about equal rates. The reality is four times as many blacks get arrested for marijuana. Truth is that far more blacks get stopped for traffic violations. The truth is that sentencing for blacks is higher than for whites. We need fundamental police reform, clearly, clearly, when we talk about a criminal justice system. I would hope that we could all agree that we are sick and tired of seeing videos on television of unarmed people, often African-Americans, shot by police officers. What we have got to do is make it clear that any police officer who breaks the law will, in fact, be held accountable. +p2225 +aVNothing that Secretary Clinton said do I disagree with. This mandatory sentencing, a very bad idea. It takes away discretion from judges. We have got to demilitarize local police departments so they do not look like occupying armies. We have got to make sure that local police departments look like the communities they serve in their diversity. And, where we are failing abysmally is in the very high rate of recidivism we see. People are being released from jail without the education, without the job training, without the resources that they need to get their lives together, then they end up \u2014 we're shocked that they end up back in jail again. So, we have a lot of work to do. But, here is a pledge I've made throughout this campaign, and it's really not a very radical pledge. When we have more people in jail, disproportionately African American and Latino, than China does, a communist authoritarian society four times our size. Here's my promise, at the end of my first term as president we will not have more people in jail than any other country. We will invest in education, and jobs for our kids, not incarceration and more jails. +p2226 +aVWell, I think, Judy, what has to be appreciated is that, as a result of the disastrous and illegal behavior on Wall Street, millions of lives were hurt. People lost their jobs, their homes, their life savings. Turns out that the African-American community and the Latino community were hit especially hard. As I understand it, the African-American community lost half of their wealth as a result of the Wall Street collapse. So when you have childhood African-American poverty rates of 35 percent, when you have youth unemployment at 51 percent, when you have unbelievable rates of incarceration \u2014 which, by the way, leaves the children back home without a dad or even a mother \u2014 clearly, we are looking at institutional racism. We are looking at an economy in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. And sadly, in America today, in our economy, a whole lot of those poor people are African-American. +p2227 +aVAbsolutely, because what we will do is say, instead of giving tax breaks to billionaires, we are going to create millions of jobs for low-income kids so they're not hanging out on street corners. We're going to make sure that those kids stay in school or are able to get a college education. And I think when you give low-income kids \u2014 African-American, white, Latino kids \u2014 the opportunities to get their lives together, they are not going to end up in jail. They're going to end up in the productive economy, which is where we want them. +p2228 +aVWhite people? +p2229 +aVYeah, you can, because African-Americans and Latinos not only face the general economic crises of low wages, and high unemployment, and poor educational opportunities, but they face other problems, as well. So, yes, we can talk about it as a racial issue. But it is a general economic issue. And here's what the economic issue is. The wages that high school graduates receive today are significantly less, whether you are white or black, than they used to be. Why is that? Because of a series of disastrous trade policies which have allowed corporate America through +p2230 +aVThe answer is yes. We've got 11 million undocumented people in this country. I have talked to some of the young kids with tears rolling down their cheeks, are scared to death that today they may or their parents may be deported. I believe that we have got to pass comprehensive immigration reform, something that I strongly supported. I believe that we have got to move toward a path toward citizenship. I agree with President Obama who used executive orders to protect families because the Congress, the House was unable or refused to act. And in fact I would go further. What would motivate me and what would be the guiding light for me in terms of immigration reform, Judy, is to bring families together, not divide them up. And let me say this also. Somebody who is very fond of the president, agrees with him most of the time, I disagree with his recent deportation policies. And I would not support those. Bottom line is a path towards citizenship for 11 million undocumented people, if Congress doesn't do the right thing, we use the executive orders of the president. +p2231 +aVSecretary Clinton, I do have a disagreement here. If my memory is correct, I think when we saw children coming from these horrendous, horrendously violent areas of Honduras and neighboring countries, people who are fleeing drug violence and cartel violence, I thought it was a good idea to allow those children to stay in this country. That was not, as I understand it, the secretary's position. In terms of 2007 immigration reform, yeah, I did vote against it. I voted against it because the Southern Poverty Law Center, among other groups, said that the guest-worker programs that were embedded in this agreement were akin to slavery. Akin to slavery, where people came into this country to do guest work were abused, were exploited, and if they stood up for their rights, they'd be thrown out of this country. So it wasn't just me who opposed it. It was +p2232 +aVWell, let me just respond. I worked with Ted Kennedy. He was the chairman of my committee. And I loved Ted Kennedy. But on this issue, when you have one of the large Latino organizations in America saying vote no, and you have the AFL-CIO saying vote no, and you have leading progressive Democrats, in fact, voting no, I don't apologize for that vote. But in terms of the children, I don't know to whom you're sending a message. Who are you sending a message to? These are children who are leaving countries and neighborhoods where their lives are at stake. That was the fact. I don't think we use them to send a message. I think we welcome them into this country and do the best we can to help them get their lives together. +p2233 +aVOK. You know, you judge a nation not by the number of millionaires and billionaires it has, but by how you treat, we treat, the most vulnerable and fragile people in our nation. And by those standards, we're not doing particularly well. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty among almost any major country on Earth. And in terms of seniors, there are millions of seniors \u2014 and I've talked to them in my state of Vermont and all over this country \u2014 who are trying to get by on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year Social Security. And you know what? You do the arithmetic. You can't get by on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year. And here's an area where Secretary Clinton and I believe we have a difference. I have long supported the proposition that we should lift the cap on taxable income coming into the Social Security Trust Fund, starting at $250,000. And when we \u2014 and when we do that, we don't do what the Republicans want, which is to cut Social Security. We do what the American people want, to expand Social Security by $1,300 a year for people under $16,000, and we extend the life of Social Security for 58 years. Yes, the wealthiest people, the top 1.5 percent, will pay more in taxes. But a great nation like ours should not be in a position where elderly people are cutting their pills in half, where they don't have decent nutrition, where they can't heat their homes in the wintertime. That is not what America should be about. If elected president, I will do everything I can to expand Social Security benefits, not just for seniors, but for disabled veterans, as well. +p2234 +aVIn all due respect......In all due respect, Secretary Clinton, a lot of the progressive groups, the online groups have really asked you a simple question. Are you coming onboard a proposal? And what is that proposal? Now, the proposal that I have outlined, you know, should be familiar to you, because it is what essentially Barack Obama campaigned on in 2008. You opposed him then. I would hope that you would come onboard and say that this is the simple and straightforward thing to do. We're asking the top 1.5 percent, including passive income, to start paying a little bit more so that the elderly and disabled vets in this country can live with security and dignity. I hope you will make a decision soon on this. +p2235 +aVThat's my bill. Check it out. +p2236 +aVWhat we are talking about in reality is a corrupt campaign finance system, that's what we're talking about. We have to be honest about it. It is undermining American democracy. When extraordinarily wealthy people make very large contributions to Super PACs, and in many cases in this campaign, Super PACs have raised more money than individual candidates have, OK? We had a decision to make early on, do we do a Super PAC? And, we said no. We don't represent Wall Street, we don't represent the billionaire class, so it ends up I'm the only candidate up here of the many candidates who has no Super PAC. But, what we did is we said to the working families of this country, look, we know things are tough, but if you want to help us go beyond establishment politics, and establishment economics, send us something. And, it turns out that up until \u2014 and this has blown me away, never in a million years would I have believed that I would be standing here tonight telling you that we have received three and a half million individual contributions from well over a million people. Now, Secretary Clinton's Super PAC, as I understand it, received $25 million dollars last reporting period, $15 million dollars from Wall Street. Our average contribution is $27 dollars, I'm very proud of that. +p2237 +aVThe people aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street... But let's not \u2014 but let's not \u2014 let's not insult \u2014 let's not insult the intelligence of the American people. People aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street make huge campaign contributions? I guess just for the fun of it; they want to throw money around. Why does the pharmaceutical industry make huge campaign contributions? Any connection maybe to the fact that our people pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs? Why does the fossil fuel industry pay \u2014 spend huge amounts of money on campaign contributions? Any connection to the fact that not one Republican candidate for president thinks and agrees with the scientific community that climate change is real and that we have got to transform our energy system? And when we talk about Wall Street, let's talk about Wall Street. I voted for Dodd-Frank, got an important amendment in it. In my view, it doesn't go anywhere near far enough. But when we talk about Wall Street, you have Wall Street and major banks have paid $200 billion in fines since the great crash. No Wall Street executive has been prosecuted. +p2238 +aVLet me, you know, again, respectfully disagree with Secretary Clinton here. When you have three out of the four largest financial institutions in this country bigger today than they were when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, when you have six financial institutions having assets equivalent to 58 percent of the GDP of America, while issuing two-thirds of the credit cards and a third of the mortgages, look, I think if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, that great trust-buster would have said break them up. I think he would have been right. I think he would have said bring back a 21st-century Glass-Steagall legislation. I think that would have been right, as well. That's my view. +p2239 +aVHey, I'm in the United States Senate, and anyone who doesn't think that there is an enormous amount of waste and inefficiency and bureaucracy throughout government would be very, very mistaken. I believe in government, but I believe in efficient government, not wasteful government. +p2240 +aVIf I could just answer that, we have also got to take a look at the waste and inefficiencies in the Department of Defense, which is the one major agency of government that has not been able to be audited. And I have the feeling you're going to find a lot of cost overruns there and a lot of waste and duplicative activities. +p2241 +aVLet me \u2014 let me just say this. What a President of the United States has got to do and what is his or her major, I think, responsibility is to, a, make certain that we keep our people safe, that we work with allies around the world to protect democratic values, that we do all that we can to create a world of peace and prosperity. I voted against the war in Iraq because I listened very carefully to what President Bush and Vice President Cheney had to say and I didn't believe them. And if you go to my Web site,berniesanders.com, what you find is not only going to help lead the opposition to that war, but much of what I feared would happen when I spoke on the floor of the House, in fact, did happen in terms of the instability that occurred. Now I think an area in kind of a vague way, or not so vague, where Secretary Clinton and I disagree is the area of regime change. Look, the truth is that a powerful nation like the United States, certainly working with our allies, we can overthrow dictators all over the world. And God only knows Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator. We could overthrow Assad tomorrow if we wanted to. We got rid of Gadhafi. But the point about foreign policy is not just to know that you can overthrow a terrible dictator, it's to understand what happens the day after. And in Libya, for example, the United States, Secretary Clinton, as secretary of state, working with some other countries, did get rid of a terrible dictator named Gadhafi. But what happened is a political vacuum developed. +p2242 +aVJudy, if I can, there is no question, Secretary Clinton and I are friends, and I have a lot of respect for her, that she has enormous experience in foreign affairs. Secretary of state for four years. You've got a bit of experience, I would imagine. But judgment matters as well. Judgment matters as well. And she and I looked at the same evidence coming from the Bush administration regarding Iraq. I lead the opposition against it. She voted for it. But more importantly, in terms of this Libya resolution that you have noted before, this was a virtually unanimous consent. Everybody voted for it wanting to see Libya move toward democracy, of course we all wanted to do that. That is very different than talking about specific action for regime change, which I did not support. +p2243 +aVJudy, one area very briefly... +p2244 +aVWhere the secretary and I have a very profound difference, in the last debate \u2014 and I believe in her book \u2014 very good book, by the way \u2014 in her book and in this last debate, she talked about getting the approval or the support or the mentoring of Henry Kissinger. Now, I find it rather amazing, because I happen to believe that Henry Kissinger was one of the most destructive secretaries of state in the modern history of this country. I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend. I will not take advice from Henry Kissinger. And in fact, Kissinger's actions in Cambodia, when the United States bombed that country, overthrew Prince Sihanouk, created the instability for Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge to come in, who then butchered some 3 million innocent people, one of the worst genocides in the history of the world. So count me in as somebody who will not be listening to Henry Kissinger. +p2245 +aVWell, it ain't Henry Kissinger. That's for sure. +p2246 +aVIt is. +p2247 +aVI find \u2014 I mean, it's just a very different, you know, historical perspective here. Kissinger was one of those people during the Vietnam era who talked about the domino theory. Not everybody remembers that. You do. I do. The domino theory, you know, if Vietnam goes, China, da, da, da, da, da, da, da. That's what he talked about, the great threat of China. And then, after the war, this is the guy who, in fact, yes, you're right, he opened up relations with China, and now pushed various type of trade agreements, resulting in American workers losing their jobs as corporations moved to China. The terrible, authoritarian, Communist dictatorship he warned us about, now he's urging companies to shut down and move to China. Not my kind of guy. +p2248 +aVWell, this is what I would say. It is a complicated relationship. I congratulate Secretary of State John Kerry and the president for working on this agreement. As you've indicated, what is happening in Syria, the number of people, the hundreds of thousands of people who have been killed \u2014 men, women, 20,000 children, the people who are forced to flee their own country \u2014 their own country \u2014 it is unspeakable. It is a real horror. Now, what I think is that right now we have got to do our best in developing positive relations with Russia. But let's be clear: Russia's aggressive actions in the Crimea and in Ukraine have brought about a situation where President Obama and +p2249 +aVLet me just \u2014 just say this. For a start, the secretary and I disagree \u2014 and I think the president does not agree with her \u2014 in terms of the concept of a no-fly zone in Syria. I think you do have a humanitarian tragedy there, as I mentioned a moment ago. I applaud Secretary Kerry and the president for trying to put together this agreement. Let's hope that it holds. But furthermore, what we have got to do, I'm sorry, yes, I do believe that we have got to do everything that we can, and it will not happen tomorrow. But I do hope that in years to come, just as occurred with Cuba, 10, 20 years ago, people would say, reach normalized relations with Cuba. And by the way, I hope we can end the trade embargo with Cuba as well. But the idea that we some day maybe have decent relations with Iran, maybe put pressure on them so they end their support for terrorism around the world, yes, that is something I want to achieve. And I believe that the best way to do that is to be aggressive, to be principled, but to have the goal of trying to improve relations. That's how you make peace in the world. You sit down and you work with people, you make demands of people, in this case demanding Iran stop the support of international terrorism. +p2250 +aVWe have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of work to do. But I recall when Secretary Clinton ran against then-Senator Obama, she was critical of him for suggesting that maybe you want to talk to Iran, that you want to talk to our enemies. I have no illusion. Of course you are right. Iran is sponsoring terrorism in many parts of the world, destabilizing areas. Everybody knows that. But our goal is, in fact, to try over a period of time to, in fact, deal with our enemies, not just ignore that reality. +p2251 +aVNo, I think the idea was that president \u2014 then-Senator Obama was wrong for suggesting that it is a good idea to talk to your opponents. It's easier to talk to your friends. It's harder to talk to your enemies. I think we should do both. +p2252 +aVA couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to go on a congressional delegation. And I went to one of these Turkish refugee camps right on the border of Syria. And what a sad sight that was: Men, women, children forced out of their homes. And Turkey, by the way, did a very decent thing, providing what was reasonable housing and conditions for those people. It seems to me that given our history as a nation that has been a beacon of hope for the oppressed, for the downtrodden, that I very strongly disagree with those Republican candidates who say, you know what, we've got to turn our backs on women and children who left their home with nothing, nothing at all. That is not what America is supposed to be about. So I believe that working with Europe \u2014 and, by the way, you know, we've got some very wealthy countries there in that part of the world. You got Kuwait and you got Qatar and you got Saudi Arabia. They have a responsibility, as well. But I think this is a worldwide \u2014 that the entire world needs to come together to deal with this horrific refugee crisis we're seeing from Syria and Afghanistan, as well. +p2253 +aVYou know, Franklin Delano Roosevelt took the oath of office in 1933 at a time when 25 percent of the American people were unemployed, country was in incredible despair. And he stood before the American people and he said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself," a profound statement that gave the American people the courage to believe that, yes, we could get out of that terrible depression. And then what he did is redefine the role of government. You know, you had Herbert Hoover before that saying, no, we got to only worry about the deficit. So what if mass unemployment exists? So what if children are going hungry? That's not the role of the government. And when FDR said, "Yeah, it is," that we're going to use all of the resources that we have to create jobs, to build homes, to feed people, to protect the farmers, we are a nation which if we come together there is nothing that we could not accomplish. And kind of \u2014 that's what I see our campaign is about right now. In this particular moment of serious crises, saying to the American people don't give up on the political process. don't listen to the Trumps of the world and allowing them to divide us. If we reengage and get involved, yeah, we can have health care for all people, we can make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We do not have to have massive levels of income and wealth inequality. In the same light, as the foreign leader, Winston Churchill's politics were not my politics. He was kind of a conservative guy in many respects. But nobody can deny that as a wartime leader, he rallied the British people when they stood virtually alone against the Nazi juggernaut and rallied them and eventually won an extraordinary victory. Those are two leaders that I admire very much. +p2254 +aVThat is......Madam Secretary, that is a low blow. I have worked with President Obama for the last seven years. When President Obama came into office we were losing 800,000 jobs a month, 800,000 jobs a month. We had a $1.4 trillion deficit. And the world's financial system is on the verge of collapse. As a result of his efforts and the efforts of Joe Biden against unprecedented, I was there in the Senate, unprecedented Republican obstructionism, we have made enormous progress. But you know what? Last I heard we lived in a democratic society. Last I heard, a United States senator had the right to disagree with the president, including a president who has done such an extraordinary job. So I have voiced criticisms. You're right. Maybe you haven't. I have. But I think to suggest that I have voiced criticism, this blurb that you talk about, you know what the blurb said? The blurb said that the next president of the United States has got to be aggressive in bringing people into the political process. That's what I said. That is what I believe. President Obama and I are friends. As you know, he came to Vermont to campaign for me when he was a senator. I have worked for his re-election. His first election and his re-election. But I think it is really unfair to suggest that I have not been supportive of the president. I have been a strong ally with him on virtually every issue. Do senators have the right to disagree with the president? Have you ever disagreed with a president? I suspect you may have. +p2255 +aVWell, one of us ran against Barack Obama. I was not that candidate. All right, look, this has been a great debate. A lot of interesting issues have come together. Let me conclude by just saying this. There is no president, in my view, not Hillary Clinton, not Bernie Sanders, who has the capability or the power to take on Wall Street, large campaign donors, the corporate media, the big money interests in this country alone. This campaign is not just about electing a president. What this campaign is about is creating a process for a political revolution in which millions of Americans, working people who have given up on the political process, they don't think anybody hears their pains or their concerns. Young people for whom getting involved in politics is as, you know, it's like going to the moon. It ain't going to happen. Low income people who are not involved in the political process. What this campaign is not only about electing someone who has the most progressive agenda, it is about bringing tens of millions of people together to demand that we have a government that represents all of us and not just the 1 percent, who today have so much economic and political power. Thank you all very much. +p2256 +aVRachel, thank you very much. Millions of Americans are giving up on the political process. And they're giving up on the political process because they understand the economy is rigged. They are working longer hours for low wages. They're worried about the future of their kids, and yet almost all new income and wealth is going to the top 1 percent. Not what America is supposed to be about. Not the fairness that we grew up believing that America was about. And then sustaining that rigged economy is a corrupt campaign finance system undermining American democracy, where billionaire, Wall Street, corporate America can contribute unlimited sums of money into super PACs and into candidates. Our job, together, is to end a rigged economy, create an economy that works for all, and absolutely overturn Citizens United. One person, one vote. That's what American democracy is about. +p2257 +aVWell, I haven't quite run for president before. Let's deal with some of the comments that Secretary Clinton made. And by the way, you know, sometimes there's a lot of drama here. I have known Secretary Clinton for 25 years and respect her very much. Here is the issue. Every major country on earth, whether it's the U.K., whether it's France, whether it's Canada, has managed to provide healthcare to all people as a right and they are spending significantly less per capita on health care than we are. So I do not accept the belief that the United States of America can't do that. I do not accept the belief that the United States of America and our government can't stand up to the ripoffs of the pharmaceutical industry which charge us by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. Number two, in the economy today, everybody understands that we need a well educated workforce. This is 2016. When we talk about public education, it can no longer be K through 12th grade. I do believe that public colleges and universities should be tuition free. Well, how do we pay for that? It's an expensive proposition. I do believe that we should substantially lower student debt in this country, which is crushing millions of people. We pay for it, in my view, by a tax on Wall Street speculation. The middle class bailed out Wall Street in their time of need. Now, it is Wall Street's time to help the middle class. +p2258 +aVLet me... +p2259 +aV... this is a good discussion here. +p2260 +aVAnd let me just say this. As Secretary Clinton may know, I am on the Health Education Labor Committee. That committee wrote the Affordable Care Act. The idea I would dismantle health care in America while we're waiting to pass a Medicare for all is just not accurate. The Affordable Care Act has clearly, as Secretary Clinton made the point, done a lot of good things, but, what it has not done is dealt with the fact we have 29 million people today who have zero health insurance, we have even more who are underinsured with large deductibles and copayments and prescription drug prices are off the wall. So I do believe that in the future, not by dismantling what we have here\u2014I helped write that bill\u2014but by moving forward, rallying the American people, I do believe we should have health care for all. +p2261 +aVNo, not at all. Here's the reality of American economic life today. The reality is that we have one of lowest voter turnouts of any major country on earth because so many people have given up on the political process. The reality is that there has been trillions of dollars of wealth going from the middle class in the last 30 years to the top 1/10th of 1 percent. The reality is we that have a corrupt campaign finance system which separates the American people's needs and desires from what Congress is doing. So to my mind, what we have got to do is wage a political revolution where millions of people have given up on the political process, stand up and fight back, demand the government that represents us and not just a handful of campaign contribution\u2014contributors. Now all of the ideas that I'm talking about, they are not radical ideas. Making public colleges and universities tuition free, that exists in countries all over the world, used to exist in the United States. Rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, and creating 13 million jobs by doing away with tax loopholes that large corporations now enjoy by putting their money into the Cayman Islands and other tax havens. That is not a radical idea. What we need to do is to stand up to the big money interests, and the campaign contributors. When we do that, we can, in fact, transform America. +p2262 +aVLet me just pick up on this point. This whole discussion began because I commented, not making overall evaluation about the Secretary. She was in Ohio, I think, in September or November and she got up and said something like, I have been\u2014I'm paraphrasing, I have been criticized because people think I'm a moderate. Well, I am a moderate. That's where this came from. It wasn't me paraphrasing her. It is what she said, and all that I said was there's nothing wrong with being a moderate. But, you can't be a moderate, you can't a progressive. In terms of President Obama, I think if we remember where this country was seven years ago, 800,000 jobs being lost every month, $1.4 trillion dollar deficit. The world's financial system on the verge of collapse. I think that President Obama, Vice President Biden, and the Democratic leadership in the House and the Senate have done a fantastic job. We are in much better shape than we were seven years ago, although my Republican colleagues seem to have forgotten where we were seven years ago. That's the fact, but, we still have a very long way to go. Do I think President Obama is a progressive? Yes, I do. I disagree with him on a number of issues including the trade agreement. But, yes, I think he has done an excellent job. +p2263 +aVThat's right, I mean, instead of arguing about definitions, let's talk about... +p2264 +aV... What we should do, and one of the things we should do is not only talk the talk, but walk the walk. I am very proud to be the only candidate up here who does not have a Super PAC, who's not raising huge sums of money from Wall Street...... And special interests. I am enormously proud. Never believed it would happen that we have raised 3.5 million individual contributions, averaging $27 dollars a piece. That is what the political revolution means. +p2265 +aVWell, Rachel, actually, that wasn't accurate. In 1988 the Republican did win, I believe, by 3 points. I came in second. It was 34-31, I think, 19 for the Democrat. In that race the Democrat was the spoiler, not me. And it is true......it is true, it's not to be denied, I am the longest- serving independent in the history of the United States Congress. People of Vermont sent me to Washington as an independent. That is true. But on the other hand, I have\u2014when I was in the House for 16 years, I caucused with the Democrats. In the Senate for nine years caucused with the Democrats, of course. And I was elected by the Democrats to be chair of the Veterans Committee three years ago, which I'm very proud of. And now am the rankings member on the Budget Committee, leader of the Democrats in opposition to the majority Republicans. I am running for president as a Democrat. And if elected, not only do I hope to bring forth a major change in national priorities, but let me be frank, I do want to see major changes in the Democratic Party. I want to see working people and young people come into the party in a way that doesn't exist now. And you know what, I want a 50-state strategy so the Democratic Party is not just the party of 25 states. +p2266 +aVWell, I don't see it quite like that. +p2267 +aVI am\u2014will absolutely admit that Secretary Clinton has the support of far more governors, mayors, members of the House. She has the entire establishment or almost the entire establishment behind her. That's a fact. I don't deny it. But I am pretty proud that we have over a million people who have contributed to our campaign averaging 27 bucks apiece. That we have had meetings where 25,000-30,000 people have come out. That our campaign is a campaign of the people, by the people, and for the people. So, Rachel, yes, Secretary Clinton does represent the establishment. I represent, I hope, ordinary Americans, and by the way, who are not all that enamored with the establishment, but I am very proud to have people like Keith Ellison and Raul Grijalva in the House, the co-chairmen of the House Progressive Caucus. +p2268 +aVWhat being part of the establishment is, is, in the last quarter, having a super PAC that raised $15 million from Wall Street, that throughout one's life raised a whole lot of money from the drug companies and other special interests. To my mind, if we do not get a handle on money in politics and the degree to which big money controls the political process in this country, nobody is going to bring about the changes that is needed in this country for the middle class and working families. +p2269 +aVWhat... +p2270 +aV... you know... +p2271 +aV. +p2272 +aVLet's talk about\u2014OK, let's talk... +p2273 +aV... let us talk about issues. +p2274 +aVLet's talk about issues. +p2275 +aVLet's... +p2276 +aV... let's\u2014let's\u2014let's talk about issues. +p2277 +aVLet's talk\u2014let's talk about issues, all right? Let's talk about why, in the 1990s, Wall Street got deregulated. Did it have anything to do with the fact that Wall Street provided\u2014spent billions of dollars on lobbying and campaign contributions? Well, some people might think, yeah, that had some influence. Let's ask why it is that we pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, and your medicine can be doubled tomorrow, and there's nothing that the government can do to stop it. You think it has anything to do with the huge amounts of campaign contributions and lobbying from the fossil fuel industry? Let's talk about climate change. Do you think there's a reason why not one Republican has the guts to recognize that climate change is real, and that we need to transform our energy system? Do you think it has anything to do with the Koch brothers and ExxonMobil pouring huge amounts of money into the political system? That is what goes on in America. I am not\u2014I like......there is a reason. You know, there is a reason why these people are putting huge amounts of money into our political system. And in my view, it is undermining American democracy and it is allowing Congress to represent wealthy campaign contributors and not the working families of this country. +p2278 +aVI think as Secretary Clinton knows, there is nobody who fought harder. I was on the House Financial Committee at that time. I heard the arguments coming from Democrats and Republicans\u2014Robert Rubin, Alan Greenspan\u2014about great an idea it would be if we did away with Glass-Steagall and if we allowed investor banks and commercial banks and big insurance companies to merge. Go to YouTube today. Look up Greenspan-Sanders. Listen to what I told them then. I helped lead the effort against deregulation. Unfortunately, we lost that. The result is\u2014was the worst financial disaster since the Great Depression. +p2279 +aVChuck, actually we looked at it, but it turns out to be a disaster. The way it is structured right now, if you make it all the way to California, you could do pretty well. But in terms of the early states\u2014Iowa, New Hampshire, the other states\u2014it just doesn't work. Your point is well taken. I believe in public funding of elections, absolutely. But this system is\u2014I don't know if the secretary would agree\u2014is currently very antiquated and no longer applies to modern day politics. +p2280 +aVBut if the... +p2281 +aVLet me just say this. Wall Street is perhaps the most powerful economic and political force in this country. You have companies like Goldman Sachs, who just recently paid a settlement fine with the federal government for $5 billion for defrauding investors. Goldman Sachs was one of those companies whose illegal activity helped destroy our economy and ruin the lives of millions of Americans. But this is what a rigged economy and a corrupt campaign finance system and a broken criminal justice is about. These guys are so powerful that not one of the executives on Wall Street has been charged with anything after paying, in this case of Goldman Sachs, a $5 billion fine. Kid gets caught with marijuana, that kid has a police record. A Wall Street executive destroys the economy, $5 billion settlement with the government, no criminal record. That is what power is about. That is what corruption is about. And that is what has to change in the United States of America. +p2282 +aVI would say that\u2014that folks who have looked at this issue for a long time, whether it's Elizabeth Warren or many other economists, will tell you that right now, yes, we do need a 21st century Glass-Steagall legislation. And I would tell you also that when you have three out of the four largest banks in America today, bigger than they were\u2014significantly bigger than when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, I think if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, a good Republican by the way, what he would say is: Break them up; they are too powerful economically; they are too powerful politically. And that is what I believe and many economists believe. Time to break them up. +p2283 +aVWell, we've had a number of economists supporting our legislation. And here's where we are. The American people can judge. Six largest financial institutions in America today have assets of roughly $10 trillion; equivalent to 58 percent of the GDP of the United States of America. That is a lot of money. They issue two thirds of the credit cards, and by the way they're ripping off a whole lot of people with high interest rates on the credit cards, and they write about one third of the mortgages. That is a lot of power for six financial institutions. That's it. I think it is too much power. Too much economic power, too much political power, and the economists that I talk to say we should break them up. +p2284 +aVYeah, I do. I agree with much of what the Secretary said, but, madam Secretary, it is not one streak. Wall Street is an entity of unbelievable economic and political power. That's a fact. And, I want to say something, and it may sound harsh, not to you, but to the American people. In a sense, in my view, the business model of Wall Street is fraud. It's fraud. I believe that corruption is rampant, and the fact that major bank after major bank has reached multi billion dollar settlements with the United States government when we have a weak regulator system tells me that not only did we have to bail them out once, if we don't start breaking them up, we're going to have to bail them out again, and I do not want to see that happen... +p2285 +aVOf course I can work with them, but let's be clear. When I talked about Boeing and I talked about General Electric, what I was referring to is an outrage. I suspect the secretary agrees request me. Right now you have a loophole such that these guys are putting their profits, multi-billion dollar profitable corporations putting billions of dollars into the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, and other tax havens. And in a given year, Rachel, after making billions of dollars in profit, do you know how much they're paying in taxes to the United States government in a given year? Zero. Now explain to me how that makes any sense at all. So what I have said with regard to Boeing and GE and other multinationals that pay zero taxes, you know what we're going to do? We're going to end that loophole. They are going to pay their fair share of taxes. We're going to use that money to rebuild our infrastructure and create up to 13 million jobs. Can I work with corporations? Are there good corporations doing incredible cutting edge research and development? Absolutely they are. And we should be proud of them. But on the other hand, there are many corporations who have turned their backs on the American worker, who have said, if I can make another nickel in profit by going to China and shutting down in the United States of America, that's what I will do. I will do my best to transform our trade policy and take on these corporations who want to invest in low-income countries around the world rather than in the United States of America. +p2286 +aVOK. Let me agree with much of what the secretary said, but where we have a different background on this issue is we differ on the war in Iraq, which created barbaric organizations like +p2287 +aVWell, I think our great task is to make certain that our young men and women in the military do not get sucked into never- ending, perpetual warfare within the quagmire of Syria and Iraq. And I will do my very best to make sure that that doesn't happen. I agree with the secretary that I think what has to happen\u2014and let me just mention what King Abdullah of Jordan said. I think he hit the nail on the head. And what he said is essentially the war against +p2288 +aVWell, you can't simply withdraw tomorrow. Wish we could, and allow, you know, the Taliban or anybody else to reclaim that country. But what we must do, and what we have seen in recent months, is some progress in Iraq, where finally the Iraqi army, which has not been a particularly effective fighting force, retook Ramadi. +p2289 +aVWell, that's not quite accurate. I did give a speech at Georgetown where I talked about democratic socialism and foreign policy. Maybe I shouldn't have combined the two in the same speech, because the foreign policy part of it didn't get much attention. So, let me take this opportunity to give you a very short speech here on the issue. I think, while it is true that the secretary and I voted differently on the war in Iraq, what is important is that we learn the lesson of the war in Iraq. And that lesson is intrinsic to my foreign policy if elected president, is the United States cannot do it alone. We cannot be the policeman of the world. We are now spending more I believe than the next eight countries on defense. We have got to work in strong coalition with the major powers of the world and with those Muslim countries that are prepared to stand up and take on terrorism. So I would say that the key doctrine of the Sanders administration would be no, we cannot continue to do it alone; we need to work in coalition. +p2290 +aV I fully, fully concede that Secretary Clinton, who was secretary of State for four years, has more experience\u2014hat is not arguable\u2014in foreign affairs. But experience is not the only point, judgment is. And once again, back in 2002, when we both looked at the same evidence about the wisdom of the war in Iraq, one of us voted the right way and one of us didn't. In terms of Iran and in terms of Saudi Arabia, of course they hate each other. That's no great secret. But John Kerry, who is I think doing a very good job, has tried to at least get these people in the room together because both of them are being threatened by +p2291 +aVWell... +p2292 +aVWho said That think we should normalize relations with Iran tomorrow? I never said that. I think we should move forward as quickly as we can. And you're right. They are a sponsor of terrorism around the world and we have to address that. But you know, a number of years ago, people were saying normal relationship with Cuba, what a bad and silly idea. They're Communists, they are our enemy. Well guess what? Change has come. So please don't suggest that I think we normalize relations with Tehran tomorrow. We don't. But I would like to see us move forward, and hopefully some day that will happen. And I would say if I might, Madam Secretary\u2014and you can correct me if I'm wrong. When you ran against Senator Obama you thought him naive because he thought it was a good idea to talk to our enemies. I think those are exactly the people you have to talk to and you have to negotiate with. +p2293 +aVOK. +p2294 +aVI think President Obama had the right idea, and the bottom line is that of course there have to be conditions. But, of course it doesn't do us any good to not talk with our adversaries... +p2295 +aVJust to set the record straight, I very strongly supported the agreement which makes certain that Iran does not get a nuclear weapon. +p2296 +aV... +p2297 +aV +p2298 +aV... No, no... +p2299 +aV... +p2300 +aVClearly North Korea is a very strange situation because it is such an isolated country run by a handful of dictators, or maybe just one, who seems to be somewhat paranoid. And, who had nuclear weapons. And, our goal there, in my view, is to work and lean strongly on China to put as much pressure. China is one of the few major countries in the world that has significant support for North Korea, and I think we got to do everything we can to put pressure on China. I worry very much about an isolated, paranoid country with atomic bombs. I think, clearly, we got to work closely with China to resolve the serious problems we have, and I worry about Putin and his military adventurism in the Crimea and the Ukraine. +p2301 +aV... No, I don't. I worry very, very much about an isolated country. That's what makes me nervous. Russia lives in the world. China lives in the world. North Korea is a very, very strange country because it is so isolated, and I do feel that a nation with nuclear weapons, they have got to be dealt with. Dealt with effectively. +p2302 +aVLet me agree. You know, as the secretary knows, I chaired\u2014I had the privilege and the honor of chairing the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs. And it is interesting to me, you know, Republicans give a lot of speeches about how much they love veterans. I work with the American Legion, the VFW, the DAV, the Vietnam Vets, and virtually every veterans organization to put together the most comprehensive piece of the veterans legislation in the modern history of America. That's what I did. And I brought it to the floor of the Senate. Every Democrat voted for it, I got two Republicans. We ended up with 56 votes and I couldn't get the 60 votes that I needed. That is pathetic. This was legislation supported by all of the veterans organizations, addressing many of the serious problems that veterans face in health care and in how we deliver benefits to them. So Republicans talk a good game about veterans, but when it came to put money on the line to protect our veterans, frankly, they were not there. What I did next, Rachel, is I had to retreat a little bit, I had to compromise. I did work with John McCain. I did work with Jeff Miller over in the House. And we put together not the bill that I wanted, but probably the most comprehensive V.A. health care bill in the modern history of this country. Secretary Clinton is absolutely right, there are people, Koch brothers among others, who have a group called Concerned Veterans of America, funded by the Koch brothers. The Koch brothers, by the way, want to destroy Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, every governmental program passed since the 1930s. Yes, there are people out there who want to privatize it. The last point that I'd make. I had a hearing. I had all of the veterans groups in front of me. And I said to them, tell me when a veteran gets in to the V.A., understanding there are waiting lines and real problems, when a veteran gets into the system, is the quality of care good? Without exception, what they said, good, excellent, very good. We've got to strengthen the V.A. We do not privatize the V.A. +p2303 +aVWell, I agree with the Des Moines Register, but let's not blow this out of proportion. This is not a\u2014this is not, like, a winner-take-all thing. I think where we now stand\u2014correct me if I'm wrong\u2014you have 22 delegates, I have 20 delegates. We need 2,500 delegates to win the nomination. You know, so this is not\u2014this is not the biggest deal in the world. We think, by the way, based on talking to our precinct captains, we may have at least two more delegates. What the Des Moines Register said\u2014you know, there were coin\u2014I think there were half a dozen coin flips\u2014a fairly chaotic type situation. At the end of the day, no matter how it's recounted, it will break roughly even. And by the way, I love and respect the caucus process in Iowa. See, and I don't have to say it, because they voted already. And I love New Hampshire, too, because you haven't voted, but......but, look, I think people are blowing this up out of proportion. But I think we need improvements in the process by which results are determined. +p2304 +aVOh . See, when you are old, then they go back all these years. All right. What have you got? +p2305 +aVWell, you know, a general election is different than a primary and caucus process. But let me just say this. In terms of where we are right now, as you mention, Rachel, in a number of national and state, including New Hampshire. For example, the last poll I saw\u2014there may have been a new one\u2014last one I saw here in New Hampshire, a battleground state, had me defeating Trump by 19; the secretary defeating him by one. There were also pretty large margins in Iowa and Wisconsin. These are polls. Polls go up. Polls go down. But here's why I think I will be, if nominated, the strongest candidate. Democrats win when there is a large voter turnout; when people are excited; when working people, middle class people and young people are prepared to engage in the political process. Republicans win when people are demoralized and you have a small voter turnout, which by the way is why they love voter suppression. I believe that our campaign up to now has shown that we can create an enormous amount of enthusiasm from working people, from young people, who will get involved in the political process and which will drive us to a very large voter turnout. If there is a large voter turnout, not only do we retain the White House, but I think we regain the Senate. We win governors' chairs up and down the line. So I believe if you want to retain the White House, if you want to see Democrats do well across the board, I think our campaign is the one that creates the large voter turnout and helps us win. +p2306 +aV +p2307 +aVI am feeling exactly the way I felt at the first debate. There's a process under way. I will not politicize it. +p2308 +aVAnd by the way\u2014and by the way, if I may, the secretary probably doesn't know that there's not a day that goes by when I am not asked to attack her on that issue, and I have refrained from doing that and I will continue to refrain from doing that. +p2309 +aVNot losing control of our campaign. You know, we have hired a whole lot of people in a rapid way and I am familiar with the first two instances and they are unacceptable, and we have apologized and dealt with that. In terms of the last one, as I understand it, we did not suggest that we had the endorsement of a newspaper. Newspapers who make endorsements also say positive things about other candidates, and to the best of my knowledge, that is what we did. So we never said, never said that somebody, a newspaper endorsed us that did not. What we did say is blah blah blah blah was said by the newspaper. +p2310 +aVBut that was only for\u2014that was not to be on television. That's an important point. That was just something\u2014as the secretary knows, you put titles on ads and you send them out, but there was no word in that ad, none, that said that those newspapers had endorsed us. +p2311 +aV... Look, I hear what the Secretary said, and I understand, but look, there are\u2014all of us know that we have seen in recent years horrible, horrible crimes. It's hard to imagine how people can do, bomb, and kill 168 people in Oklahoma City, or do the Boston Marathon bombing, but this is what I believe, and for a couple of reasons. Number one, too many innocent people, including minorities, African Americans, have been executed when they were not guilty. That's number one. We have to be very careful about making sure about that. But, second of all, and maybe, in a deeper reason, of course there are barbaric acts out there. But, in a world of so much violence and killing, I just don't believe that government itself should be part of the killing. So, when somebody commits......somebody commits any of these terrible crimes that we have seen, you lock them up, and you toss away the key. They're never going to get out. But, I just don't' want to see government be part of killing. That's all. +p2312 +aVAbsolutely. I think the Secretary described the situation appropriately. You know, I don't go around asking for governor's resignations every day. In fact, I think I never have in my life. But I did ask for the resignation of Governor Snyder because his irresponsibility......was so outrageous. What we are talking about are children being poisoned. That's what we're talking about. We don't know, no one knows for sure because they haven't done the appropriate studies, but there's no question that kids' intellectual development may have been impacted. We don't know how many thousands. The idea that there has not been a dramatic response is beyond comprehension. And when you have one of the, I think, significant public health crises of recent years, of course the federal government comes in. And of course the federal government says, you're not going to be poisoning little kids and impacting their entire lives. Last point on this. And I suspect the secretary agrees. One wonders if this were a white suburban community what kind of response there would have been. Flint, Michigan, is a poor community. It is disproportionately African-American and minority. And what has happened there is absolutely unacceptable. +p2313 +aVAbsolutely right. +p2314 +aVChuck, I believe in trade, but I do not believe in unfettered free trade. I believe in fair trade which works for the middle class and working families of this country and not just large multinational corporations. I was not only in opposition to +p2315 +aVNo, let... +p2316 +aV... I am absolutely supportive of comprehensive immigration reform and a path towards citizenship for 11 million people today who are living in the shadows. All right? We got to do that. But you miss\u2014when you looked at the issues, you missed two of the most important. And that is you're not going to accomplish what has to be done for working families and the middle class unless there is campaign finance reform. So long as big money interests control the United States Congress, it is gonna be very hard to do what has to be done for working families. So let me be very clear. No nominee of mine, if I'm elected president, to the United States Supreme Court will get that nomination unless he or she is loud and clear, and says they will vote to overturn Citizens United. Second point\u2014second point is that the only way we make change in terms of health care, in terms of dealing with a broken criminal justice system which, today, allows us to have more people in jail than any other country\u2014largely African-American and Latino\u2014the only way we create millions of jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure or have a tax system that says to the wealthy that they are going to pay their fair share, is when millions of people become involved in the political process. No, you just can't negotiate with Mitch McConnell. Mitch is gonna have to look out the window and see a whole lot of people saying, "Mitch, stop representing the billionaire class. Start listening to working families." And as president, that's what I will work hard on. +p2317 +aVI agree with what the secretary said. We shouldn't be getting ahead of ourselves. And as I have said many times, you know, sometimes in these campaigns, things get a little bit out of hand. I happen to respect the secretary very much, I hope it's mutual. And on our worst days, I think it is fair to say we are 100 times better than any Republican candidate. +p2318 +aVI\u2014my dad came to this country at the age of 17 from Poland. Didn't have any money, couldn't speak English, he died pretty young, and I think it would have been beyond his wildest dreams to see his son up here on this stage today running for president. I love this country and my dad loved this country, and he was the most proud American because of what it gave him in terms of raising his family, even though we never had much money. But today in America, we are the only major country on earth that doesn't guarantee health care to all people, that doesn't guarantee paid family and medical leave. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth. We are seeing millions of families unable to send their kids to college in the United States of America. I'm running for president because I believe it is just too late for establishment politics and establishment economics. I do believe we need a political revolution where millions of people stand up and say loudly and clearly that our government belongs to all of us and not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors. Thank you all. +p2319 +asVBARTIROMO +p2320 +(lp2321 +VTonight we're partnering with the Wall Street Journal to ask questions on the economy that voters want answered. We're also working with Facebook, who tells us that since the first Republican debate, more than 58 million people have joined the political conversation online. More than 9 million are talking specifically about the economy. +p2322 +aVBusinesswoman Carly Fiorina. Ohio Governor John Kasich. And Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. +p2323 +aVWe've asked people on Facebook to submit their questions for the candidates. Seth Bell wrote, "We are approaching $20 trillion in national debt. Specifically, what plans do you have to cut federal spending?" Governor Kasich, you have spoken much about your success in balancing the budget under President Clinton. Today the national debt is at record highs and growing unsustainably. Interest will be the fastest-growing part of the federal budget, tripling over the next 10 years. Social Security, the lifeline of millions of American seniors, is rushing toward insolvency. With all of the tax plans presented tonight, estimated to cost anywhere between $2 trillion and $12 trillion over a decade, what specific steps will you take to balance the budget? +p2324 +aVDid you want to name any specific steps, sir? +p2325 +aVThank you, sir. +p2326 +aVSenator Cruz, the International Monetary Fund recently cut its expectations for economic growth. Many economists expect a recession to hit the U.S. within the next year due to the weakening of manufacturing. The next president will have to deal with it. You say tax reform is a powerful lever to spur economic expansion. You're calling for a 10 percent income tax and a 16 percent business tax. What other elements do you need in this plan to actually create jobs? +p2327 +aVThank you, sir. +p2328 +aVGovernor Bush... +p2329 +aVWe have more questions for you, Governor Kasich, coming up. We have more questions for you, Governor Kasich. +p2330 +aVWe will \u2014 we will certainly get to that. Governor Bush? +p2331 +aVAlmost 40 percent of Americans are without a job and are not looking. Many have given up. That's what the participation rate tells us. You've said your policies will drive the economy back to 4 percent growth, which we haven't seen since the year 2000. What specific regulations would you change? And how will that lead to jobs and growth? +p2332 +aVThank you, sir. +p2333 +aVMr. Trump, a federal appeals court just dealt a blow to the Obama administration's plan to prevent the deportation of 5 million people living in this country illegally. The White House is appealing to the Supreme Court. At the heart of this issue is the effect that illegal immigrants are having on our economy, what will you do about it? +p2334 +aVCan we just send 5 million people back with no effect on economy? +p2335 +aVSo what will you do? +p2336 +aVThank you, sir. +p2337 +aVWe go back to Facebook. Dewayne Wesley Cato asks on Facebook, how do we get rid of regulations choking our businesses? Ms. Fiorina? Specifically, under the president's Affordable Care Act, employers with 50 or more employees are required to offer health insurance, or be fined. Many are opting to pay the fine. Others are cutting back employee hours to duck the law altogether. What specific ways will you alleviate the pressure on small business? +p2338 +aVJust to be clear, you want to repeal Obamacare... ..but, what's the alternative? +p2339 +aVJust to be clear, you say you would repeal Obamacare... +p2340 +aV...But, what is the alternative... +p2341 +aV...and how does that help small business... +p2342 +aV...Thank you... +p2343 +aVSenator Cruz, there isn't anyone in this audience or watching at home tonight who would not like to pay less in taxes. Most people just want a fair shake, and they don't want their money to be wasted. But explain how your plan works. How can you cut taxes as much as you propose without running up debt and deficits? +p2344 +aVBut you haven't told us how to pay for it. +p2345 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Bush, Republican primary voters say tax reform should be a priority for Congress and the administration. But, Governor Bush, how important is tax reform in your domestic policy agenda? Will you guarantee it in the first year of your presidency? +p2346 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2347 +aVThat's right. That's right. +p2348 +aVComing up, the biggest threats facing the next commander-in-chief. You're watching the Republican presidential debate, live tonight from Milwaukee. We'll be right back. +p2349 +aVWelcome back. Welcome back to the Republican presidential debate. The candidates taking the questions you want answered. Also tonight, you can see what America is saying about the debate. Go to Facebook and type #gopdebate into the search box. Now, back to the questions. Americans face security threats at home and abroad. Last year, terrorist attacks rose 61 percent, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace, with the most deaths occurring in just five countries, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Syria. Dr. Carson, you were against putting troops on the ground in Iraq and against a large military force in Afghanistan. Do you support the president's decision to now put 50 special ops forces in Syria and leave 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan? +p2350 +aVWe asked Facebook to take a look at some of the major issues we're talking about, and tackling in this debate tonight. This word cloud shows what people are focusing on the most. The bigger the word, the more the talk. One of the most discussed issues in the last month, homeland security. Governor Bush, what is the biggest threat facing America today? +p2351 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, in 2012 debate, President Obama mocked Mitt Romney's assertion that Russia was the top geopolitical challenge facing the United States, saying he was a Cold War dinosaur. Now, Russia has invaded Ukraine, and has put troops in Syria. You have said you will have a good relationship with Mr. Putin. So, what does President Trump do in response to Russia's aggression? +p2352 +aVThank you, sir. +p2353 +aVThank you, governor. +p2354 +aVSenator Rubio. +p2355 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. +p2356 +aVMore questions \u2014 more questions coming up, when the Republican presidential debate comes right back, live from Milwaukee. Stay with us. +p2357 +aVWelcome back to the fourth Republican presidential debate. Senator Rubio, Hillary Clinton is the clear front runner for the Democratic nomination. If she is indeed the nominee, you will be facing a candidate with an impressive resume. She was the first lady of the United States, a U.S. senator from New York, and secretary of state under Barack Obama. She has arguably more experience, certainly more time in government than almost all of you on stage tonight. Why should the American people trust you to lead this country, even though she has been so much closer to the office? +p2358 +aVSenator Paul, you were one of 15 republicans to vote for an amendment which states that human activity contributed to climate change. President Obama has announced an aggressive plan to cut carbon emissions. At the same time, energy production in America has boomed. Is it possible to continue this boom, and move toward energy self-sufficiency, while at the same time pursuing a meaningful climate change program? +p2359 +aVCarly Fiorina? +p2360 +aVFormer Governor Jeb Bush? +p2361 +aVSenator Ted Cruz? +p2362 +aVHe's funny. +p2363 +aVThank you. +p2364 +asVCLINTON +p2365 +(lp2366 +VThank you. +p2367 +aVI'm running for president to knock down all the barriers that are holding Americans back, and to rebuild the ladders of opportunity that will give every American a chance to advance, especially those who have been left out and left behind. I know a lot of Americans are angry about the economy. And for good cause. Americans haven't had a raise in 15 years. There aren't enough good-paying jobs, especially for young people. And yes, the economy is rigged in favor of those at the top. We both agree that we have to get unaccountable money out of our political system and that we have to do much more to ensure that Wall Street never wrecks main street again. But I want to go further. I want to tackle those barriers that stand in the way of too many Americans right now. African-Americans who face discrimination in the job market, education, housing, and the criminal justice system. Hardworking immigrant families living in fear, who should be brought out of the shadows so they and their children can have a better future. Guaranteeing that women's work finally gets the pay, the equal pay that we deserve. I think America can only live up to its potential when we make sure that every American has a chance to live up to his or her potential. That will be my mission as president. And I think together we will make progress. +p2368 +aVJudy, I think that the best analysis that I've seen based on Senator Sanders plans is that it would probably increase the size of the federal government by about 40%, but what is most concerning to me is that in looking at the plans \u2014 let's take healthcare for example. Last week in a CNN town hall, the Senator told a questioner that the questioner would spend about $500 dollars in taxes to get about $5,000 dollars in healthcare. Every progressive economist who has analyzed that says that the numbers don't add up, and that's a promise that cannot be kept, and it's really important now that we are getting into the rest of the country that both of us are held to account for explaining what we are proposing because, especially with healthcare, this is not about math. This is about people's lives, and we should level with the American people about what we can do to make sure they get quality affordable healthcare. +p2369 +aVI can only say that we both share the goal of universal health care coverage. You know, before it was called Obamacare, it was called Hillarycare. And I took on the drug companies and I took on the insurance companies to try to get us universal health care coverage. And why I am a staunch supporter of President Obama's principal accomplishment \u2014 namely the Affordable Care Act \u2014 is because I know how hard it was to get that done. We are at 90 percent coverage. We have to get the remaining 10. I've set forth very specific plans about how to get costs down, especially prescription drug costs. And it is difficult to in any way argue with the goal that we both share. But I think the American people deserve to know specifically how this would work. If it's Medicare for all, then you no longer have the Affordable Care Act, because the Affordable Care Act, as you know very well, is based on the insurance system, based on exchanges, based on a subsidy system. The Children's Health Insurance Program, which I helped to create, which covers 8 million kids, is also a different kind of program. So if you're having Medicare for all, single-payer, you need to level with people about what they will have at the end of the process you are proposing. And based on every analysis that I can find by people who are sympathetic to the goal, the numbers don't add up, and many people will actually be worse off than they are right now. +p2370 +aVWell, let me just \u2014 let me just say, once again......that, having been in the trenches fighting for this, I believe strongly we have to guarantee health care. I believe we are on the path to doing that. The last thing we need is to throw our country into a contentious debate about health care again. And we are not England. We are not France. We inherited a system that was set up during World War II; 170 million Americans get health insurance right now through their employers. So what we have tried to do and what President Obama succeeded in doing was to build on the health care system we have, get us to 90 percent coverage. We have to get the other 10 percent of the way to 100. I far prefer that and the chances we have to be successful there than trying to start all over again, gridlocking our system, and trying to get from zero to 100 percent. +p2371 +aVNo. But it is absolutely fair and necessary for Americans to vet both of our proposals, to ask the really hard questions about, what is it we think we can accomplish, why do we believe that, and what would be the results for the average American family? In my case, whether it's health care, or getting us to debt-free tuition, or moving us toward paid family leave, I have been very specific about where I would raise the money, how much it would cost, and how I would move this agenda forward. I've tried to be as specific to answer questions so that my proposals can be vetted, because I feel like we have to level with people for the very reason, Gwen, that you are mentioning. There is a great deal of skepticism about the federal government. I'm aware of that. It comes from the right, from the left, from people on all sides of the political spectrum. So we have a special obligation to make clear what we stand for, which is why I think we should not make promises we can't keep, because that will further, I think, alienate Americans from understanding and believing we can together make some real changes in people's lives. +p2372 +aVI will put a price tag. My price tag is about $100 billion a year. And again, paid for. And what I have said is I will not throw us further into debt. I believe I can get the money that I need by taxing the wealthy, by closing loopholes, the things that we are way overdue for doing. And I think once I'm in the White House we will have enough political capital to be able to do that. But I am conscious of the fact that we have to also be very clear, especially with young people, about what kind of government is going to do what for them and what it will cost. +p2373 +aVYou know, I think, again, both of us share the goal of trying to make college affordable for all young Americans. And I have set forth a compact that would do just that for debt-free tuition. We differ, however, on a couple of key points. One of them being that if you don't have some agreement within the system from states and from families and from students, it's hard to get to where we need to go. And Senator Sanders's plan really rests on making sure that governors like Scott Walker contribute $23 billion on the first day to make college free. I am a little skeptical about your governor actually caring enough about higher education to make any kind of commitment like that. +p2374 +aVWell, first, Judy, I have spent my entire adult life working toward making sure that women are empowered to make their own choices, even if that choice is not to vote for me. I believe that it's most important that we unleash the full potential of women and girls in our society. And I feel very strongly that I have an agenda, I have a record that really does respond to a lot of the specific needs that the women in our country face. So I'm going to keep making that case. I'm going to keep making sure that everything I've done, everything that I stand for is going to be well known. But I have no argument with anyone making up her mind about who to support. I just hope that by the end of this campaign there will be a lot more supporting me. That's what I'm working towards. +p2375 +aVWell, look, I think that she's been saying that for as long as I've known her, which is about 25 years. But it doesn't change my view that we need to empower everyone, women and men, to make the best decisions in their minds that they can make. That's what I've always stood for. And when it comes to the issues that are really on the front lines as to whether we're going to have equal pay, paid family leave, some opportunity for, you know, women to go as far as their hard work and talent take them, I think that we still have some barriers to knock down, which is why that's at the core of my campaign. I would note, just for a historic aside, somebody told me earlier today we've had like 200 presidential primary debates, and this is the first time there have been a majority of women on the stage. So, you know, we'll take our progress wherever we can find it. +p2376 +aVYou know, I have said \u2014 I have said many times, you know, I'm not asking people to support me because I'm a woman. I'm asking people to support me because I think I'm the most qualified, experienced, and ready person to be the president and the commander-in-chief. And I appreciate greatly Senator Sanders' voting record. And I was very proud to get the endorsement of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, because I've been a leader on these issues. I have gone time and time again to take on the vested interests who would keep women's health care decisions the province of the government instead of women ourselves. I'm very proud that +p2377 +aVYou know, I completely agree with Senator Sanders. The first speech I gave in this campaign back in April was about criminal justice reform and ending the era of mass incarceration. The statistics from Wisconsin are particularly troubling, because it is the highest rate of incarceration for African-Americans in our nation, twice the national average. And we know of the tragic, terrible event that lead to the death of Dontre Hamilton right here in Milwaukee, a young man unarmed, who should still be with us. His family certainly believes that. And so do I. So we have work to do. There have been some good recommendations about what needs to happen. President Obama's policing commission came out with some. I have fully endorsed those. But we have to restore policing that will actually protect the communities that police officers are sworn to protect. And, then we have to go after sentencing, and that's one of the problems here in Wisconsin because so much of what happened in the criminal justice system doesn't happen at the federal level, it happens at the state and local level. But, I would also add this. There are other racial discrepancies. Really systemic racism in this state, as in others, education, in employment, in the kinds of factors that too often lead from a position where young people, particularly young men, are pushed out of school early, are denied employment opportunities. So, when we talk about criminal justice reform, and ending the era of mass incarceration, we also have to talk about jobs, education, housing, and other ways of helping communities. +p2378 +aVWell, I'm just not sure I agree completely with that assessment. I think under President Obama we have seen a lot of advances, the Affordable Care Act has helped more African Americans than any other group to get insurance, to be taken care of, but we also know a lot more than we did. We have a lot more social media, we have everybody with a cellphone. So, we are seeing the dark side of the remaining systemic racism that we have to root out in our society. I think President Obama has set a great example. I think he has addressed a lot of these issues that have been quite difficult, but he has gone forward. Now, what we have to do is to build on an honest conversation about where we go next. We now have much more information about what must be done to fix our criminal justice system. We now have some good models about how better to provide employment, housing and education. I think what President Obama did was to exemplify the importance of this issue as our first African American president, and to address it both from the President's office, and through his advocacy, such as working with young men, and Mrs. Obama's work with young women. But, we can't rest. We have work to do, and we now know a lot more than we ever did before. So, it's going to be my responsibility to make sure we move forward to solve these problems that are now out in the open. Nobody can deny them. To use the Justice Department, as we just saw, they have said they are going to sue Ferguson, that entered into a consent agreement, and then tried to back out. So, we're going to enforce the law, we're going to change policing practices, we're going to change incarceration practices, but we're also going to emphasize education, jobs, and housing. +p2379 +aVLook, I am deeply concerned about what's happening in every community in America, and that includes white communities, where we are seeing an increase in alcoholism, addiction, earlier deaths. People with a high school education or less are not even living as long as their parents lived. This is a remarkable and horrifying fact. And that's why I've come forward with, for example, a plan to revitalize coal country, the coalfield communities that have been so hard hit by the changing economy, by the reduction in the use of coal. You know, coal miners and their families who helped turn on the lights and power our factories for generations are now wondering, has our country forgotten us? Do people not care about all of our sacrifice? And I'm going to do everything I can to address distressed communities, whether they are communities of color, whether they are white communities, whether they are in any part of our country. I particularly appreciate the proposal that Congressman Jim Clyburn has \u2014 the 10-20-30 proposal \u2014 to try to spend more federal dollars in communities with persistent generational poverty. And you know what? If you look at the numbers, there are actually as many, if not more white communities that are truly being left behind and left out. So, yes, I do think it would be a terrible oversight not to try to address the very real problems that white Americans \u2014 particularly those without a lot of education whose jobs have \u2014 you know, no longer provided them or even no longer present in their communities, because we have to focus where the real hurt is. And that's why, as president, I will look at communities that need special help and try to deliver that. +p2380 +aVI strongly support the president's executive actions. I hope the Supreme Court upholds them. I think there is constitutional and legal authority for the president to have done what he did. I am against the raids. I'm against the kind of inhumane treatment that is now being visited upon families, waking them up in the middle of the night, rounding them up. We should be deporting criminals, not hardworking immigrant families who do the very best they can and often are keeping economies going in many places in our country. I'm a strong supporter of comprehensive immigration reform. Have been ever since I was in the Senate. I was one of the original sponsors of the +p2381 +aVTwo quick responses. One, with respect to the Central American children, I made it very clear that those children needed to be processed appropriately, but we also had to send a message to families and communities in Central America not to send their children on this dangerous journey in the hands of smugglers. I've also called for the end of family detention, for the end of privately-run detention centers, along with private prisons, which I think are really against the common good and the rule of law. And with respect to the 2007 bill, this was Ted Kennedy's bill. And I think Ted Kennedy had a very clear idea about what needed to be done. And I was proud to stand with him and support it. +p2382 +aVWell, that just wasn't \u2014 that just wasn't the fact, Senator. The fact is that there was a great effort made by the Obama administration and others to really send a clear message, because we knew that so many of these children were being abused, being treated terribly while they tried to get to our border. So we have a disagreement on this. I think now what I've called for is counsel for every child so that no child has to face any kind of process without someone who speaks and advocates for that child so that the right decision hopefully can be made. +p2383 +aVI think \u2014 I think it's fair to say we don't have a disagreement. We both believe there has to be more money going into the Social Security system. I've said I'm looking at a couple of different ways, one which you mentioned, Senator, but also trying to expand the existing tax to passive income that wealthy people have so that we do get more revenue into the Social Security Trust Fund. I have a slightly different approach, though, about what we should do with that initially. First, rather than expand benefits for everyone, I do want to take care of low-income seniors who worked at low-wage jobs. I want to take care of women. When the Social Security program was started in the 1930s, not very many women worked. And women have been disadvantaged ever since. They do not get any credit for their care-taking responsibilities. And the people who are often the most hard-hit are widows, because when their spouse dies, they can lose up to one-half of their Social Security monthly payment. So we have no disagreement about the need to buttress Social Security, get more revenue into the program. But I want to start by helping those people who are most at risk, the ones who, yes, are cutting their pills in half, who don't believe they can make the rent, who are worried about what comes next for them. +p2384 +aVWell, Senator, look, I think we're in vigorous agreement here. We both want to get more revenue in. I have yet to see a proposal that you're describing that the \u2014 raising the cap would apply to passive income. That has not been... +p2385 +aVWell, that has not been a part of most of the proposals that I've seen. I'm interested in making sure we get the maximum amount of revenue from those who can well afford to provide it. So I'm going to come up with the best way forward. We're going to end up in the same place. We're going to get more revenue. I'm going to prioritize those recipients who need the most help first. +p2386 +aVI can't speak for the Koch Brothers, you're referring to a Super PAC that we don't coordinate with, that was set up to support President Obama, that has now decided that they want to support me. They are the ones who should respond to any questions. Let's talk about our campaigns. I'm very proud of the fact that we have more than 750 thousand donors, and the vast majority of them are giving small contributions. So, I'm proud of Senator Sanders, and his supporters. I think it's great that Senator Sanders, President Obama and I have more donors than any three people who have every run, certainly on the Democratic side. That's the way it should be, and I'm going to continue to reach out to thank all my online contributors for everything they are doing for me, to encourage them and help me do more just as Senator Sanders is. I think that is the real key here. We both have a lot of small donors. I think that sets us apart from a lot of what's happening right now on the Republican side. The Koch Brothers have a very clear political agenda. It is an agenda, in my view, that would do great harm to our country. We're going to fight it as hard as we can, and we're going to fight whoever the Republicans nominate who will depend on the Koch Brothers, and others. +p2387 +aVWe are mixing apples and oranges. My 750,000 donors have contributed more than a million and a half donations. I'm very proud. That, I think, between the two of us demonstrates the strength of the support we have among people who want to see change in our country. But, the real issue, I think, that the Senator is injecting into this is that if you had a Super PAC, like President Obama has, which now says it wants to support me. It's not my PAC. If you take donations from Wall Street, you can't be independent. I would just say, I debated then Senator Obama numerous times on stages like this, and he was the recipient of the largest number of Wall Street donations of anybody running on the Democratic side ever. Now, when it mattered, he stood up and took on Wall Street. He pushed through, and he passed the Dodd-Frank regulation, the toughest regulations since the 1930's. So, let's not in anyway imply here that either President Obama or myself, would in anyway not take on any vested interested, whether it's Wall Street, or drug companies, or insurance companies, or frankly, the gun lobby to stand up to do what's best for the American people. +p2388 +aVWell, let's just \u2014 let's just follow up on this, because, you know, I've made it very clear that no bank is too big to fail, no executive too powerful to jail, and because of Dodd-Frank, we now have in law a process that the president, the Federal Reserve, and others can use if any bank poses a systemic risk. I think that's a major accomplishment. I agree, however, it doesn't go far enough, because what it focuses on are the big banks, which Senator Sanders has talked about a lot, for good reason. I go further in the plan that I've proposed, which has been called the toughest, most effective, comprehensive plan for reining in the other risks that the financial system could face. It was an investment bank, Lehman Brothers, that contributed to our collapse. It was a big insurance company, AIG. It was Countrywide Mortgage. My plan would sweep all of them into a regulatory framework so we can try to get ahead of what the next problems might be. And I believe that not only Barney Frank, Paul Krugman, and others, have said that what I have proposed is the most effective. It goes in the right direction. We have Dodd-Frank. We can use it to break up the banks, if that's appropriate. But let's not kid ourselves. As we speak, there are new problems on the horizon. I want to get ahead of those, and that's why I've proposed a much more comprehensive approach to deal with all of these... +p2389 +aVAbsolutely. And, you know, there are a number of programs that I think are duplicative and redundant and not producing the results that people deserve. There are a lot of training programs and education programs that I think can be streamlined and put into a much better format so that if we do continue them they can be more useful, in public schools, community colleges, and colleges and universities. I would like to take a hard look at every part of the federal government and really do the kind of analysis that would rebuild some confidence in people that we're taking a hard look about what we have, you know, and what we don't need anymore. And that's what I intend to do. +p2390 +aVLook, I think we are readier than we used to be, but it's a constant effort that has to be undertaken to make sure we are as ready as we need to be. We have made a lot of improvements in our domestic security since 9/11, and we have been able to foil and prevent attacks, yet we see the terrible attack in San Bernardino and know that we haven't done enough. So we have to go after this both abroad and at home. We have to go after terrorist networks, predominantly +p2391 +aVIf I could just respond. Two points. One, Senator Sanders voted in 1998 on what I think is fair to call a regime change resolution with respect to Iraq, calling for the end of Saddam Hussein's regime. He voted in favor of regime change with Libya, voted in favor of the Security Council being an active participate in setting the parameters for what we would do, which of course we followed through on. I do not believe a vote in 2002 is a plan to defeat +p2392 +aVYou did support a U.N. Security Council approach, which we did follow up on. And, look, I think it's important to look at what the most important counterterrorism judgment of the first four years of the Obama administration was, and that was the very difficult decision as to whether or not to advise the president to go after bin Laden. I looked at the evidence. I looked at the intelligence. I got the briefings. I recommended that the president go forward. It was a hard choice. Not all of his top national security advisors agreed with that. And at the end of the day, it was the president's decision. So he had to leave the Situation Room after hearing from the small group advising him and he had to make that decision. I'm proud that I gave him that advice. And I'm very grateful to the brave Navy +p2393 +aVWell, I know journalists have asked who you do listen to on foreign policy, and we have yet to know who that is. +p2394 +aVThat's fine. That's fine. You know, I listen to a wide variety of voices that have expertise in various areas. I think it is fair to say, whatever the complaints that you want to make about him are, that with respect to China, one of the most challenging relationships we have, his opening up China and his ongoing relationships with the leaders of China is an incredibly useful relationship for the United States of America. So if we want to pick and choose \u2014 and I certainly do \u2014 people I listen to, people I don't listen to, people I listen to for certain areas, then I think we have to be fair and look at the entire world, because it's a big, complicated world out there. +p2395 +aVAnd, yes, people we may disagree with on a number of things may have some insight, may have some relationships that are important for the president to understand in order to best protect the United States. +p2396 +aVWell, with respect to Syria, I really do appreciate the efforts that Secretary Kerry has made. The agreement on humanitarian relief now needs to be implemented, because there are enclaves that are literally filled with starving people throughout Syria. The agreement on a cease-fire, though, is something that has to be implemented more quickly than the schedule that the Russians agreed to. You know, the Russians wanted to buy time. Are they buying time to continue their bombardment on behalf of the Assad regime to further decimate what's left of the opposition, which would be a grave disservice to any kind of eventual cease-fire? So I know Secretary Kerry is working extremely hard to try to move that cease-fire up as quickly as possible. But I would add this. You know, the Security Council finally got around to adopting a resolution. At the core of that resolution is an agreement I negotiated in June of 2012 in Geneva, which set forth a cease-fire and moving toward a political resolution, trying to bring the parties at stake in Syria together. This is incredibly complicated, because we've got Iran as a big player, in addition to Russia. We have Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and others who have very important interests in their view. This is one of the areas I've disagreed with Senator Sanders on, who has called for Iranian troops trying to end civil war in Syria, which I think would be a grave mistake. Putting Iranian troops right on the border of the Golan right next to Israel would be a nonstarter for me. Trying to get Iran and Saudi Arabia to work together, as he has suggested in the past, is equally a nonstarter. So let's support what Secretary Kerry and the president are doing, but let's hope that we can accelerate the cease-fire, because I fear that the Russians will continue their bombing, try to do everything they can to destroy what's left of the opposition. And remember, the Russians have not gone after +p2397 +aVWell, I respectfully disagree. I think we have achieved a great deal with the Iranian nuclear agreement to put a lid on the Iranian nuclear weapons program. That has to be enforced absolutely with consequences for Iran at the slightest deviation from their requirements under the agreement. I do not think we should promise or even look toward normalizing relations because we have a lot of other business to get done with Iran. Yes, they have to stop being the main state sponsor of terrorism. Yes, they have to stop trying to destabilize the Middle East, causing even more chaos. Yes, they've got to get out of Syria. They've got to quit sponsoring Hezbollah and Hamas. They have got to quit trying to ship rockets into Gaza that can be used against Israel. We have a lot of work to do with Iran before we ever say that they could move toward normalized relations with us. +p2398 +aV... Senator Sanders, from a debate in 2008, quote what I said. The question was, would you meet with an adversary without conditions? I said no. And in fact, in Obama administration, we did not meet with anybody without conditions. That is the appropriate approach in order to get the results that you are seeking. +p2399 +aVWell, I was pleased that +p2400 +aVI certainly agree with FDR for all the reasons Senator Sanders said. And I agree about the role that he played both in war and in peace on the economy and defeating fascism around the world. I would choose Nelson Mandela for his generosity of heart, his understanding of the need for reconciliation. But I want to \u2014 I want to follow up on something having to do with leadership, because, you know, today Senator Sanders said that President Obama failed the presidential leadership test. And this is not the first time that he has criticized President Obama. In the past he has called him weak. He has called him a disappointment. He wrote a forward for a book that basically argued voters should have buyers' remorse when it comes to President Obama's leadership and legacy. And I just couldn't agree \u2014 disagree more with those kinds of comments. You know, from my perspective, maybe because I understand what President Obama inherited, not only the worst financial crisis but the antipathy of the Republicans in Congress, I don't think he gets the credit he deserves for being a president......who got us out of that......put us on firm ground, and has sent us into the future. And it is a \u2014 the kind of criticism that we've heard from Senator Sanders about our president I expect from Republicans. I do not expect from someone running for the Democratic nomination to succeed President Obama. +p2401 +aVYou know, Senator, what I am concerned about, is not disagreement on issues, saying that this is what I would rather do, I don't agree with the president on that, calling the president weak, calling him a disappointment, calling several times that he should have a primary opponent when he ran for re-election in 2012, you know, I think that goes further than saying we have our disagreements. As a senator, yes, I was a senator. I understand we can disagree on the path forward. But those kinds of personal assessments and charges are ones that I find particularly troubling. +p2402 +aVYou know, we \u2014 we agree that we've got to get unaccountable money out of politics. We agree that Wall Street should never be allowed to wreck Main Street again. But here's the point I want to make tonight. I am not a single-issue candidate, and I do not believe we live in a single-issue country. I think that a lot of what we have to overcome to break down the barriers that are holding people back, whether it's poison in the water of the children of Flint, or whether it's the poor miners who are being left out and left behind in coal country, or whether it is any other American today who feels somehow put down and oppressed by racism, by sexism, by discrimination against the +p2403 +aVWell, I'm happy to be here in New Hampshire for this debate, as we move toward the primary on Tuesday. I believe that America has the opportunity to once again live by our values, live up to our values in the 21st century, but I think that America can only do that if Americans can succeed. And there are lots of reasons why Americans today are feeling left out and left behind. Yes, of course, the economy has not been working for most Americans. Yes, of course, we have special interests that are unfortunately doing too much to rig the game. But there's also the continuing challenges of racism, of sexism, of discrimination against the +p2404 +aVWell, let me start by saying that Senator Sanders and I share some very big progressive goals. I've been fighting for universal healthcare for many years, and we're now on the path to achieving it. I don't want us to start over again. I think that would be a great mistake, to once again plunge our country into a contentious debate about whether we should have and what kind of system we should have for healthcare. I want to build on the progress we've made; got from 90 percent coverage to 100 percent coverage. And I don't want to rip away the security that people finally have; 18 million people now have healthcare; preexisting conditions are no longer a bar. So we have a difference. I also believe in affordable college, but I don't believe in free college, because every expert that I have talked to says, look, how will you ever control the costs. What I want to do is make sure middle class kids, not Donald Trump's kids, get to be able to afford college. I want to get the economy going again. It's not just enough about what we're against, as important as that is. I have a plan to create new jobs, manufacturing, infrastructure, clean energy jobs that will make us the 21st century clean energy super power. I also want to make sure small businesses can start and grow again. And of course, I believe in raising the minimum wage and equal pay for work. But the numbers just don't add up, from what Senator Sanders has been proposing. That's why all of the independent experts, all of the editorial boards that have vetted both of us have concluded that it is just not achievable. Let's go down a path where we can actually tell people what we will do. A progressive is someone who makes progress. That's what I intend to do. +p2405 +aVIf I could just follow up on that. There is no disagreement between us on universal coverage for health care, the disagreement is where do we start from and where do we end up. The Republicans want to repeal the Affordable Care Act, I want to improve it. I want to build on it, get the costs down, get prescription drug costs down. Senator Sanders wants us to start all over again. This was a major achievement of President Obama, of our country. It is helping people right now. I am not going to wait and have us plunge back into a contentious national debate that has very little chance of succeeding. Let's make the Affordable Care Act work for everybody. +p2406 +aVWell because I am a progressive who gets things done. And the root of that word, progressive, is progress. But I've heard Senator Sanders comments, and it's really caused me to wonder who's left in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Under his definition, President Obama is not progressive because he took donations from Wall Street; Vice President Biden is not progressive because she supported Keystone; Senator Shaheen is not progressive because she supports the trade pact. Even the late, great Senator Paul Wellstone would not fit this definition because he voted for +p2407 +aVWell, Chuck... +p2408 +aV... If I could, you know, in the very first debate I was asked am I a moderate or a progressive and I said I'm a progressive who likes to get things done. Cherry picking a quote here or there doesn't change my record of having fought for racial justice, having fought for kids rights, having fought the kind of inequities that fueled my interest in service in the first place going back to my days in the Children's Defense Fund. It certainly didn't stop me from taking on the drug companies and the insurance companies. Before it was called Hillarycare\u2014I mean, before it was called ObamaCare it was called Hillarycare because we took them on, and we weren't successful, but we kept fighting and we got the children's health insurance program. Every step along the way I have stood up, and fought, and have the scars to prove it. So, again......I think it's important that, look, I understand Senator Sanders really trying to distinguish himself. I understand that, that's what you do in campaigns, but at the same time let's not be\u2014in, I think an unfair way, making an accusation, or making an attack about where I stand and about where I've always stood. It is fair to say, Senator, that in your definition, as you being the self-proclaimed gatekeeper for progressivism, I don't know anyone else who fits that definition, but I know a lot of really hard fighting progressives in the Democratic party who have stood up time, and time again against special interests, against the powerful on behalf of those who are left behind and left out. And, that's what we ought to be celebrating. Let's talk about what we would do as President, and Commander in Chief to make sure the progress continues into the future. +p2409 +aV... Well, you began it yesterday with your comments... +p2410 +aVYou know, the person who first put out the idea of a 50-state party strategy is former Governor Howard Dean, who is with us tonight. And I'm very proud and grateful to have the support of so many elected Vermonters and former officials. Two former governors, the current governor, the current other senator. I really appreciate that. And I think it's because they've worked with me, they've seen what I do. They know what kind of a colleague I am. They want me as their partner in the White House. And that's exactly what I will do. We'll get things done together. Democrats, Republicans, independents, we're going to make progress together when I'm president. +p2411 +aVWell, look, I've got to just jump in here because, honestly, Senator Sanders is the only person who I think would characterize me, a woman running to be the first woman president, as exemplifying the establishment. And I've got to tell you that it is......it is really quite amusing to me. People support me because they know me. They know my life's work. They have worked with me and many have also worked with Senator Sanders. And at the end of the day they endorse me because they know I can get things done. I am not going to make promises I can't keep. I am not going to talk about big ideas like single-payer and then not level with people about how much it will cost. A respected health economist said that these plans would cost a trillion dollars more a year. I'm not going to tell people that I will raise your incomes and not your taxes, and not mean it, because I don't want to see the kind of struggle that the middle class is going through exemplified by these promises that would raise taxes and make it much more difficult for many, many Americans to get ahead and stay ahead. That is not my agenda. +p2412 +aVYeah, but I\u2014I think it's fair to really ask what's behind that comment. You know, Senator Sanders has said he wants to run a positive campaign. I've tried to keep my disagreements over issues, as it should be. But time and time again, by innuendo, by insinuation, there is this attack that he is putting forth, which really comes down to\u2014you know, anybody who ever took donations or speaking fees from any interest group has to be bought. And I just absolutely reject that, Senator. And I really don't think these kinds of attacks by insinuation are worthy of you. And enough is enough. If you've got something to say, say it directly. But you will not find that I ever changed a view or a vote because of any donation that I ever received. +p2413 +aVAnd I have stood up and I have represented my constituents to the best of my abilities, and I'm very proud of that. +p2414 +aVSo I think it's time to end the very artful smear that you and your campaign have been carrying out... +p2415 +aV... in recent weeks, and let's talk......let's talk about about the issues. Let's talk about the issues that divide us. +p2416 +aVAnd let's\u2014let's... +p2417 +aV... we both agree with campaign finance reform. +p2418 +aVI\u2014I worked hard for McCain-Feingold. +p2419 +aVI want to reverse Citizens United. +p2420 +aVAnd so\u2014let's talk about issues. +p2421 +aVWell, you know, Senator, I don't think\u2014I don't... +p2422 +aV... I don't think you could find any person in political life today who has been subjected to more attacks and had more money spent against her by special interests, among whom you have named a few, than I. And I'm proud of that. You know, when I took on the drug companies and the insurance companies for universal health care coverage, they went after me with a vengeance. Today, you've got hedge fund billionaires aligned with Karl Rove, running ads against me to try to get Democrats to vote for you. I know this game. I'm going to stop this game. But while we're talking about votes, you're the one who voted to deregulate swaps and derivatives in 2000, which contributed to the over-leveraging of Lehman Brothers, which was one of the culprits that brought down the economy. So I don't know\u2014I'm not impugning your motive because you voted to deregulate swaps and derivatives. People make mistakes and I'm certainly not saying you did it for any kind of financial advantage. What we've got to do as Democrats\u2014what we've got to do as Democrats is to be united to actually solve these problems. And what I believe is that I have a better track record and a better opportunity to actually get that job done. That's what this election should be about. +p2423 +aVOn the issue of Wall Street. +p2424 +aVWell you know, Rachel, I think I may not have done the job I should in explaining my record. You know, I did\u2014when I left the secretary of State's office, like so many former officials, military leaders, journalists, others, I did go on the speaking circuit. I spoke to heart doctors, I spoke to the American Camping Association, I spoke to auto dealers, and yes, I spoke to firms on Wall Street. They wanted me to talk about the world, what my experience had been as secretary of State. But what I want people to know is I went to Wall Street before the crash. I was the one saying you're going to wreck the economy because of these shenanigans with mortgages. I called to end the carried interest loophole that hedge fund managers enjoy. I proposed changes in CEO compensation. I called for a consumer protection financial bureau before it was created. And I think the best evidence that the Wall Street people at least know where I stand and where I have always stood is because they are trying to beat me in this primary. They have collected and spent as much as $6 million on these ads. Hedge fund billionaires, Karl Rove, another billionaire, jumped in. And why are they doing that? These are guys who try to make smart investments. They know my record, they know me, they know that I say what I believe and I will do it. And I also have a pretty good understanding about how to stop them. So I do want people to know that, and I think it's important for everybody to understand I have a record, I have stood firm and I will be the person who prevents them from ever wrecking the economy again. +p2425 +aVIf I could, let me just say that of course it has to change. It has to change. And that's why I have put forward a plan to do just that. And it's been judged to be the toughest, most effective and comprehensive one. I have great respect for Senator Sanders's commitment to try to restore Glass-Steagall. But I do not believe that that is enough. And in fact, I don't believe it really addresses a lot of the biggest issues we have. You know, we now have power under the Dodd-Frank legislation to break up banks. And I've said I will use that power if they pose a systemic risk. But I want to go further, because it was investment banks, it was insurance companies, it was mortgage companies, all of which contributed. So let's not just be narrowly focused on one part of the problem. We have a lot of issues with corporate power that have to be addressed. My plan takes us further and it would do the job. +p2426 +aVLook we have a law\u2014look, you know, I\u2014I appreciate the senator's advocacy. We have a law. It was passed. It was signed by President Obama. It lays out a process that you go through to determine whether a systemic risk is posed. And by the way, President Obama signed that, pushed it through, even though he took donations from Wall Street, because he's a responsible president. So we have a law in place. If the circumstances warrant it, I will certainly use it. And from what you say, I know you will as well. But that is not enough. And I keep going back to this because part of the reason the Wall Street guys are trying so hard to stop me\u2014the hedge fund guys, the shadow banking guys\u2014is because I've got their number on all of that. And my plan goes so much further to try to prevent the problems of the future. You know, we can't just fight the last war. We've got to be prepared to stop these guys if they ever try to use their economic power once again, to hurt the economy, and to hurt so many Americans. And my plan, Paul Krugman, Barney Frank, a lot of experts who understand what the new challenges might be, have said I am exactly on point, and the Wall Street guys actually know that. +p2427 +aVI will look into it. I don't know the status, but I will certainly look into it. But, I can only repeat what is the fact that I spoke to a lot of different groups with a lot of different constituents, a lot of different kinds of members about issues that had to do with world affairs. I probably described more times than I can remember how stressful it was advising the President about going after Bin Laden. My view on this is look at my record. Look at what I am proposing, and\u2014we have a vigorous agreement here. We both want to reign in the excesses of Wall Street. I also want to reign in the excesses of Johnson Controls that we bailed out when they were an autoparts company, and we saved the auto industry, and now they want to avoid paying taxes. I want to go after the pharmaceutical companies like Valeant, and Turns that are increasing prices without any regard to the impact on people's health. Now, if all we're going to talk about is one part of our economy, and indeed one streak in our economy, we're missing the big oil companies. We're missing other big energy companies. We're missing the big picture, and I have a record of trying to go at the problems that actually exist, and I will continue to do that. +p2428 +aV... Well, Senator, no one wants to see that happen. I mean, look, I care deeply about this because just like you I have met so many people who had their life savings wiped out, who lost their homes, who are barely back with their heads above water. This was a disaster for our country, and we can never let that happen again. We have no disagreement about this. But, I think it's a broader target list than just Wall Street, and I believe that we have to be very focused on how we try to take back the power and increase the empowerment of the American people. And, I think I have that kind of experience, maybe because they've beat me up for so many years, and I know exactly how to handle them because I've been in the arena with them time and time again. +p2429 +aVWell, I think what the president understands, and what he's trying to do, is that we have to support the Arab and Kurdish fighters on the ground who are actually doing the fighting. I agree with the president. I've said myself, we will not send American combat troops back to either Syria or Iraq\u2014that is off the table. But we do have special forces, we do have trainers, we do have the military personnel who are helping with the airstrikes that the United States is leading so that we can try to take out +p2430 +aVNo. I mean, of course that's a theoretical question, and we don't know what it would be for, and we don't know how many numbers there are. I am against American combat troops being in Syria and Iraq. I support special forces. I support trainers. I support the air campaign. And I think we're making some progress. I want to continue to intensify that, and that's exactly what the president is doing. +p2431 +aVIf I could\u2014if I could... +p2432 +aV... respectfully add\u2014look, we did differ. A vote in 2002 is not a plan to defeat +p2433 +aVOh, absolutely. The president decided to leave more troops than he had originally planned in Afghanistan. We have a very cooperative government there, with Ashraf Ghani and his top\u2014his top partner, Abdullah. And they are doing their very best. And the Afghan army is actually fighting. The Afghan army is taking heavy losses defending Afghan territory. And I would have to make an evaluation based on the circumstances at the time I took office as to how much help they continue to need. Because it's not just the Taliban. We now are seeing outposts of, you know, fighters claiming to be affiliated with +p2434 +aVA group of national security experts, military intelligence experts, issued a very concerning statement about Senator Sanders's views on foreign policy and national security, pointing out some of the comments he has made on these issues, such as inviting Iranian troops into Syria to try to resolve the conflict there; putting them right at the doorstep of Israel. Asking Saudi Arabia and Iran to work together, when they can't stand each other and are engaged in a proxy battle right at this moment. So I do think questions have been raised and questions have to be answered because when New Hampshire voters go on Tuesday to cast your vote, you are voting both for a president and a commander in chief. And there is no way to predict what comes in the door of that White House from day to day that can pose a threat to the United States or one of our friends and allies, and I think this is a big part of the job interview that we are all conducting with the voters here. +p2435 +aVWell, let me just add that, you know, I've said this before and I'm very proud of it, that when it comes to judgment, having run a hard race against Senator Obama at the time, he turned to me to be secretary of State. And when it comes to the biggest counterterrorism issues that we faced in this administration, namely whether or not to go after bin Laden, I was at that table, I was exercising my judgment to advise the president on what to do, on that, on Iran, on Russia on China, on a whole raft of issues. Because I know from my own experience that you've got to be ready on day one. There is just too much unpredictable threat and danger in the world today, you know, to try to just say wait, I'll get to that when I can. That is just not an acceptable approach. +p2436 +aVAbsolutely. You know, I did put together the coalition to impose sanctions. I actually started the negotiations that led to the nuclear agreement, sending some much my closest aides to begin the conversations with the Iranians. I'm very pleased we got that nuclear agreement. It puts a lid on the nuclear weapons program. We have to enforce it, there have to be consequences attached to it. But that is not our only problem with Iran. We have to figure out how to deal with Iran as the principal state sponsor of terrorism in the world. They are destabilizing governments in the region. They continue to support Hezbollah and Hamas in Lebanon against Israel. A lot of work that we have do is going to be incredibly hard. I'm prepared to do that work, but I believe, just as I did with imposing the sanctions, you have to get action for action. If we were to normalize relations right now, we would remove one of the biggest pieces of leverage we have to try to influence and change Iranian behavior. The president doesn't think we should. I certainly don't think we should. I believe we have to take this step by step to try to reign in Iranian aggression, their support for terrorism and the other bad behavior that can come back and haunt us. +p2437 +aVWell Senator, let me just correct the record if I can. You know\u2014let me correct the record. +p2438 +aVAs I\u2014as I certainly recall, the question was to meet with without conditions. And you're right, I was against that. I was against it then I would be against it now. +p2439 +aVPart of diplomacy, the hard work of diplomacy is trying to extract whatever concessions you can get, and giving something the other side wants. Of course you've got to try to make peace with, and work with those who are your adversaries, but you don't just rush in, open the door, and say, "Here I am. Let's talk and make a deal." That's not the way it works. +p2440 +aV... Well, we set conditions on Iran. We worked hard to get them established, and to be enforced, and then we talked. That's exactly the right......and, that's what I did with the President, so he and I are on the very same page. +p2441 +aVI haven't talked to Secretary Carter, but here's what I would think he's planning. We do have the nuclear weapons agreement with Iran, that's an enforcement consequence, action for action, follow on. We have a plan, we will watch them, we will be vigilant. We do have to worry about North Korea. They continue to develop their nuclear weapons capability, and they're working very hard on their ballistic missile capability. And, I know that some of those plans could very well lead to a missile that might reach Hawaii, if not the West Coast. We do have to try to get the countries in the region to work with us to do everything we can to confine, and constrain them. But, what Secretary Carter is looking at is the constant pressure that Russia's putting on our European allies. The way that Russia is trying to move the boundaries of the post-World War II Europe. The way that he is trying to set European countries against one another, seizing territory, holding it in Crimea. Beginning to explore whether they could make some inroads in the Baltics. We know that they are deeply engaged in supporting Assad because they want to have a place in the Middle East. They have a naval base, they have an air base in Syria. They want to hang on to that. I think what Secretary Carter is seeing, and I'm glad he is, is that we got to get +p2442 +aVWell, first of all, I'm absolutely against privatizing the V.A. And I am going do everything I can to build on the reforms that Senator Sanders and others in Congress have passed to try to fix what's wrong with the V.A. There are a lot of issues about wait times and services that have to be fixed because our veterans deserve nothing but the best. But you're absolutely right, you know, Rachel, this is another part of the Koch brothers agenda. They've actually formed an organization to try to begin to convince Americans we should no longer have guaranteed health care, specialized care for our veterans. I will fight that as hard as I can. I think there's where we can enlist the veterans service organizations, the veterans of America, because, yes, let's fix the V.A., but we will never let it be privatized, and that is a promise. +p2443 +aVWhatever they decide to do, that's fine. +p2444 +aVAll right. +p2445 +aVI can only tell you what I believe, and that is that I am the strongest candidate to take it to the Republicans and win in November. And I say that with great\u2014with great respect for the campaign that Senator Sanders has been running. I personally am thrilled at the numbers of people, and particularly young people who are coming to support your campaign. I hope that I will be able to earn their support. They may not support me now, but I support them and we'll work together. But what I'm concerned about is the views of many Democrats who know their states, who know how hard it is to win a general election. And it also will push whoever the nominee is into the spotlight. I've been vetted. There's hardly anything you don't know about me. And I think it's fair to say that whoever is in that position, Senator Sanders or anyone else who might have run, will face the most withering onslaught. So, I think that I am the person who can do all aspects of the job. I think I'm the person best prepared to take the case to the Republicans. And I think that at the end of the day, it's not so much electability. It is who the American people can believe can keep them safe, can get the economy moving again, can get incomes rising, can build on the progressive accomplishments of President Obama. And I think that the coalition that President Obama put together to win twice is a coalition that I can put together and add to. And that's what I'm prepared to... +p2446 +aVAbsolutely I can. You know, before it was emails, it was Benghazi, and the Republicans were stirring up so much controversy about that. And I testified for 11 hours, answered their questions. They basically said yeah, didn't get her. We tried. That was all a political ploy. Now, we had a development in the email matter today when it came out that Secretary Powell and close aides to Former Secretary Rice used private e-mail accounts. and now you have these people in the government who are doing the same thing to Secretary Powell and Secretary Rice's aide they've been doing to me, which is that I never sent or received any classified material. They are retroactively classifying it. I agree completely with Secretary Powell, who said today this is an absurdity. And so I think the American people will know it's an absurdity. I have absolutely no concerns about it whatsoever. +p2447 +aVI am 100 percent confident. This is a security review that was requested. It is being carried out. It will be resolved. But I have to add if there's going to be a security review about me, there's going to have to be security reviews about a lot of other people, including Republican office holders, because we've got this absurd situation of retroactive classifications. Honest to goodness, this is\u2014this just beggars the imagination. So I have absolutely no concerns about it, but we've got to get to the bottom of what's really going on here, and I hope that will happen. +p2448 +aVNo. +p2449 +aVYes, I do. And\u2014you know, what I hope the Supreme Court will do is make it absolutely clear that any state that continues capital punishment either must meet the highest standards of evidentiary proof of effective assistance of counsel or they cannot continue it because that, to me, is the real dividing line. I have much more confidence in the federal system, and I do reserve it for particularly heinous crimes in the federal system, like terrorism. I have strong feelings about that. I thought it was appropriate after a very thorough trial that Timothy McVeigh received the death penalty for blowing up the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people, including 19 children in a daycare center. I do for very limited, particularly heinous crimes believe it is an appropriate punishment, but I deeply disagree with the way that too many states are still implementing it. If it were possible to separate the federal from the state system by the Supreme Court, that would, I think, be an appropriate outcome. +p2450 +aVAbsolutely. Absolutely. You know, Rachel, you and I have talked about this before. I thank you for going to Flint to hold that town hall. I will be in Flint at the Mayor's invitation on Sunday to get an in depth briefing about what is, and is not happening. This is an emergency. Everyday that goes by that these people, particularly the children, are not tested so we can know what steps must be taken to try to remediate the effects of the poisoning that they have been living with is a day lost in a child's life. I know from the work that I've done over so many years, lead, the toxic nature of lead can affect you brain development, your body development, your behavior. I absolutely believe that what is being done is not sufficient. We need to be absolutely clear about everything that should be done from today to tomorrow, into the future to try to remedy the terrible burden that the people of Flint are barring. That includes fixing their pipes, it includes guaranteeing whatever healthcare and educational embellishments they may need going forward, and I think the federal government has way where it can bill the state of Michigan. If Michigan won't do it, there have to be ways that we can begin to move, and then make them pay for it, and hold them accountable. +p2451 +aVYou know, Chuck, I've only had responsibility for voting for trade agreements as a senator. And I voted a multinational trade agreement when I was senator, the +p2452 +aVWell, I\u2014I don't accept that premise, Chuck. I think that we've got so much business we have to do. We've talked a lot tonight about what we're against\u2014we're against income inequality. We're against the abuses of powerful interests. We're against a lot of things. I'm for a lot of things. I don't want to just stop bad things from happening, I want to start good things from happening. And I believe, if I'm so fortunate to get the nomination, I will begin to work immediately on putting together an agenda, beginning to talk with members of Congress and others about how we can push forward. I want to have half a billion more solar panels deployed, the first four years. I want to have enough clean energy to power every home the next four years. I want us to keep working on the Affordable Care Act, to get not only to 100 percent coverage, but bring down the costs of prescription drugs and out-of-pocket costs. I want to move forward on paid family leave, on early childhood education, I want us to do more for small businesses. Small businesses have to create most of the jobs, and we're not creating and growing small businesses. I think, if you have a smart agenda, you pick the committees that you know have to begin to work on these various pieces\u2014because that's the way Congress is set up. You go through different committees, and you really make a big push in the beginning. Immigration reform, economic revitalization with manufacturing, with infrastructure\u2014we put it out there, and we begin to work on an ambitious, big, bold agenda that will actually produce the results that I want to see for our country. +p2453 +aVThe answer to both of those is no. I'm interested in making what we have work better. I want to streamline programs that are duplicative and redundant. I want to have a top-to-bottom review about what works and what doesn't work, and be absolutely clear we're getting rid of what doesn't work. I have had the opportunity to run a big agency. I was very flattered when Henry Kissinger said I ran the State Department better\u2014better than anybody had run it in a long time. So I have an idea of what it's going to take to make our government work more efficiently. And when you put together a budget, you have to make a lot of hard decisions, but I think it's not appropriate to say "I'm going to get rid of this, get rid of that" until you have a very good process that gives you the information about what to do. But I want to add something else, you know, because look, we have so much work to do in our country, and I think it's the greatest work that Americans will be called to do. And of course, we have to have people in every community involved in it. We have to have the political voice, the political grassroots speaking up and speaking out about what we have to try to accomplish in Washington. But we also need to have a very clear set of goals that we are going to achieve, and we need to level with the American people about what they are, what they will cost, what will be expected of our citizenry. So I see as president having a constant dialogue with Americans here's what we're trying to get done, here's why I need your help, here's why you may think comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship isn't something you care about, but I'm telling you it will help fix the labor market, it will bring people out of the shadows\u2014 +p2454 +aVI never said that. +p2455 +aVLook... +p2456 +aVWell, I'm certainly going to unite the party, but I'm not\u2014I'm not getting ahead of myself. I think that would be a little bit presumptuous. If I'm so fortunate as to be the nominee, the first person I will call to talk to about where we go and how we get it done will be Senator Sanders. +p2457 +aVThat's true. That's true. +p2458 +aVWell first, thanks to +p2459 +asVTRUMP +p2460 +(lp2461 +VThank you. I began this journey six months ago. My total focus was on building up our military, building up our strength, building up our borders, making sure that China, Japan, Mexico, both at the border and in trade, no longer takes advantage of our country. Certainly would never have made that horrible, disgusting, absolutely incompetent deal with Iran where they get $150 billion. They're a terrorist nation. But I began it talking about other things. And those things are things that I'm very good at and maybe that's why I'm center stage. People saw it. People liked it. People respected it. A month ago things changed. Radical Islamic terrorism came into effect even more so than it has been in the past. People like what I say. People respect what I say. And we've opened up a very big discussion that needed to be opened up. Thank you very much. +p2462 +aVWe are not talking about isolation. We're talking about security. We're not talking about religion. We're talking about security. Our country is out of control. People are pouring across the southern border. I will build a wall. It will be a great wall. People will not come in unless they come in legally. Drugs will not pour through that wall. As far as other people like in the migration, where they're going, tens of thousands of people having cell phones with +p2463 +aVJeb doesn't really believe I'm unhinged. He said that very simply because he has failed in this campaign. It's been a total disaster. Nobody cares. And frankly, I'm the most solid person up here. I built a tremendous company and all I want to do is make America great again. I don't want our country to be taken away from us, and that's what's happening. The policies that we've suffered under other presidents have been a disaster for our country. We want to make America great again. And Jeb, in all fairness, he doesn't believe that. +p2464 +aVWell, look, this is so easy to answer. +p2465 +aVI would certainly be open to closing areas where we are at war with somebody. I sure as hell don't want to let people that want to kill us and kill our nation use our Internet. Yes, sir, I am. +p2466 +aVWe have to be much tougher. We have to be much stronger than we've been. We have people that know what is going on. You take a look at just the attack in California the other day. There were numerous people, including the mother, that knew what was going on. They saw a pipe bomb sitting all over the floor. They saw ammunition all over the place. They knew exactly what was going on. When you had the World Trade Center go, people were put into planes that were friends, family, girlfriends, and they were put into planes and they were sent back, for the most part, to Saudi Arabia. They knew what was going on. They went home and they wanted to watch their boyfriends on television. I would be very, very firm with families. Frankly, that will make people think because they may not care much about their lives, but they do care, believe it or not, about their families' lives. +p2467 +aVLook, the problem is we need toughness. Honestly, I think Jeb is a very nice person. He's a very nice person. But we need tough people. We need toughness. We need intelligence and we need tough. Jeb said when they come across the southern border they come as an act of love. +p2468 +aVAm I talking or are you talking, Jeb? +p2469 +aVYou can go back. You're not talking. You interrupted me. +p2470 +aVAre you going to apologize, Jeb? No. Am I allowed to finish? +p2471 +aVExcuse me, am I allowed to finish? +p2472 +aVSo... +p2473 +aV... again... +p2474 +aVI know you're trying to build up your energy, Jeb, but it's not working very well. +p2475 +aVLook, look, look. We need a toughness. We need strength. We're not respected, you know, as a nation anymore. We don't have that level of respect that we need. And if we don't get it back fast, we're just going to go weaker, weaker and just disintegrate. We can't allow that to happen. We need strength. We don't have it. When Jeb comes out and he talks about the border, and I saw it and I was witness to it, and so was everyone else, and I was standing there, "they come across as an act of love," he's saying the same thing right now with radical Islam. And we can't have that in our country. It just won't work. We need strength. +p2476 +aVWith Jeb's attitude, we will never be great again, that I can tell you. We will never be great again. +p2477 +aVSo, they can kill us, but we can't kill them? That's what you're saying. And as far as the Internet is concerned, we're not talking about closing the Internet. I'm talking about parts of Syria, parts of Iraq, where +p2478 +aVIn my opinion, we've spent $4 trillion trying to topple various people that frankly, if they were there and if we could've spent that $4 trillion in the United States to fix our roads, our bridges, and all of the other problems; our airports and all of the other problems we've had, we would've been a lot better off. I can tell you that right now. We have done a tremendous disservice, not only to Middle East, we've done a tremendous disservice to humanity. The people that have been killed, the people that have wiped away, and for what? It's not like we had victory. It's a mess. The Middle East is totally destabilized. A total and complete mess. I wish we had the $4 trillion or $5 trillion. I wish it were spent right here in the United States, on our schools, hospitals, roads, airports, and everything else that are all falling apart. +p2479 +aVWell, there's nothing to respond to. Well, people feel differently. I mean, the fact is Benghazi was a disaster because of Libya, everything just fell into place. It could not have been worse. What do we have now? We have nothing. We've spent $3 trillion and probably much more \u2013 I have no idea what we've spent. Thousands and thousands of lives, we have nothing. Wounded warriors all over the place who I love, we have nothing for it. And by the way \u2013 and Ben said incorrectly \u2013 and I'm not saying this as a knock \u2013 he's one of finest men. You're not going to find a finer men. But I've been talking about oil for three years. I've been saying,, "take the oil, take the oil." I didn't say, "just bomb it," I said," take it and use it and distribute it so that the wounded warriors -" People, I've been saying this now for many years. +p2480 +aVNow, all of a sudden everybody's saying, "take the oil." It wasn't so fashionable to take the oil six months ago. I've been saying it for years. +p2481 +aVI think Assad is a bad guy, a very bad guy, all right? Lots of people killed. I think we are backing people we have no idea who they are. The rebels, we call them the rebels, the patriotic rebels. We have no idea. A lot of people think, Hugh, that they are +p2482 +aVI think it's very sad that CNN leads Jeb Bush, Governor Bush, down a road by starting off virtually all the questions, "Mr. Trump this, Mister" \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched the first debate, and the first long number of questions were, "Mr. Trump said this, Mr. Trump said that. Mr. Trump" \u2014 these poor guys \u2014 although, I must tell you, Santorum, good guy. Governor Huckabee, good guy. They were very nice, and I respect them greatly. But I thought it was very unfair that virtually the entire early portion of the debate was Trump this, Trump that, in order to get ratings, I guess. In order to get ratings, I guess. +p2483 +aVI just think it's very \u2014 excuse me. +p2484 +aVExcuse me. I think it's very unprofessional. +p2485 +aVWell, I think it's very unprofessional. +p2486 +aVOK, fine. +p2487 +aVThis isn't tough and easy. I wish it... +p2488 +aVI wish it was always this easy as you, Jeb. +p2489 +aVOh, yeah. +p2490 +aVOh, I know. You're a tough guy, Jeb. I know. +p2491 +aVYou're tough. +p2492 +aVWell, let's see. I'm at 42, and you're at 3. So, so far, I'm doing better. +p2493 +aVSo far, I'm doing better. You know, you started off over here, Jeb. You're moving over further and further. Pretty soon you're going to be off the end... +p2494 +aVI believe I did. +p2495 +aVI have a very hardline position, we have a country or we don't have a country. People that have come into our country illegally, they have to go. They have to come back into through a legal process. I want a strong border. I do want a wall. Walls do work, you just have to speak to the folks in Israel. Walls work if they're properly constructed. I know how to build, believe me, I know how to build. I feel a very, very strong bind, and really I'm bound to this country, we either have a border or we don't. People can come into the country, we welcome people to come but they have to come in legally. +p2496 +aVWell, first of all, I think we need somebody absolutely that we can trust, who is totally responsible; who really knows what he or she is doing. That is so powerful and so important. And one of the things that I'm frankly most proud of is that in 2003, 2004, I was totally against going into Iraq because you're going to destabilize the Middle East. I called it. I called it very strongly. And it was very important. But we have to be extremely vigilant and extremely careful when it comes to nuclear. Nuclear changes the whole ball game. Frankly, I would have said get out of Syria; get out \u2014 if we didn't have the power of weaponry today. The power is so massive that we can't just leave areas that 50 years ago or 75 years ago we wouldn't care. It was hand-to-hand combat. The biggest problem this world has today is not President Obama with global warming, which is inconceivable, this is what he's saying. The biggest problem we have is nuclear \u2014 nuclear proliferation and having some maniac, having some madman go out and get a nuclear weapon. That's in my opinion, that is the single biggest problem that our country faces right now. +p2497 +aVI think \u2014 I think, for me, nuclear is just the power, the devastation is very important to me. +p2498 +aVI did. +p2499 +aVLet me just say that I have gotten to know him over the last three or four days. He has a wonderful temperament. He's just fine. Don't worry about it. +p2500 +aVYou better not attack... +p2501 +aVI really am. I'll be honest, I really am. I mean, the people have been putting me... I really am. +p2502 +aVLet me just. Can I just finish my... +p2503 +aVI've gained great respect for the Republican leadership. I've gained great respect for many \u2014 and I'm going to even say \u2014 I mean, in different forms for the people on the dais, in different forms. In different forms. But I have great respect for the people I have met through this process. I've never done this process before. I've never been a politician. I mean, for the last six months I've been a politician. But I will tell you, I am totally committed to the Republican Party. I feel very honored to be the front runner. And I think I'll do very well if I'm chosen. If I'm so fortunate to be chosen, I think I'll do very well. Polls have come out recently saying I would beat Hillary. I will do everything in my power to beat Hillary Clinton, I promise you. +p2504 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We don't win on trade. We don't win on the military. We can't defeat +p2505 +aVI can't be Neil. And the and the reason I can't be is that we are a country that is being beaten on every front economically, militarily. There is nothing that we do now to win. We don't win anymore. Our taxes are too high. I've come up with a tax plan that many, many people like very much. It's going to be a tremendous plan. I think it'll make our country and our economy very dynamic. But, taxes too high, wages too high, we're not going to be able to compete against the world. I hate to say it, but we have to leave it the way it is. People have to go out, they have to work really hard and have to get into that upper stratum. But we can not do this if we are going to compete with the rest of the world. We just can't do it. +p2506 +aVI would not do it. +p2507 +aVI was so happy yesterday when I saw that decision come down. That was an unbelievable decision. And we don't have enough of those decisions coming down. He of the executive order, because nobody wants to listen to him, including the Democrats, so he just goes around signing executive orders. That was a great day. And, frankly, we have to stop illegal immigration. It's hurting us economically. It's hurting us from every standpoint. It's causing tremendous difficulty with respect to drugs and what that does to many of our inner cities in particular. And it really is \u2014 was such an unbelievable moment because the courts have not been ruling in our favor. And it was a 2-1 decision. And it was a terrific thing that happened. And I will tell you, we are a country of laws. We need borders. We will have a wall. The wall will be built. The wall will be successful. And if you think walls don't work, all you have to do is ask Israel. The wall works, believe me. Properly done. Believe me. +p2508 +aVYou are going to have to bring people \u2014 you are going to have to send people out. Look, we're a country... +p2509 +aVMaria, we're a country of laws. We either have a country or we don't have a country. We are a country of laws. Going to have to go out and they will come back but they are going to have to go out and hopefully they get back. But we have no choice if we're going to run our country properly and if we're going to be a country. +p2510 +aVAll I can say is, you're lucky in Ohio that you struck oil. That is for one thing. Let me just tell you that Dwight Eisenhower, good president, great president, people liked him. "I like Ike," right? The expression. "I like Ike." Moved a 1.5 million illegal immigrants out of this country, moved them just beyond the border. They came back. Moved them again beyond the border, they came back. Didn't like it. Moved them way south. They never came back. Dwight Eisenhower. You don't get nicer. You don't get friendlier. They moved a 1.5 million out. We have no choice. We have no choice. +p2511 +aVNo, it's unfair. +p2512 +aV... built an unbelievable company worth billions and billions of dollars. I don't have to hear from this man, believe me. I don't have to hear from him. +p2513 +aVWe have millions of people right now on line trying to come into this country. Very, very unfair to the people that want to come into our country legally. They've gone through the process. They're on line. They're waiting. Very, very unfair to them. That I can tell you. +p2514 +aVYes. +p2515 +aVNo, I'm sorry. No, excuse me. I was there. +p2516 +aVPlease, if I could just... +p2517 +aVWe have to make our military bigger, better, stronger than ever before so that nobody messes with us, and a long run, it's going to save us. I agree with Marco, I agree with Ted, we have no choice. And, I can tell you this with certainty. We all have a different tax plan. Some I don't totally agree with. One thing we understand, each one of those tax plans is better than the mess that we have right now. +p2518 +aV...Yes... +p2519 +aV...Yeah... +p2520 +aV...It's a horrible deal... +p2521 +aVThe TPP is horrible deal. It is a deal that is going to lead to nothing but trouble. It's a deal that was designed for China to come in, as they always do, through the back door and totally take advantage of everyone. It's 5,600 pages long. So complex that nobodies read it. It's like Obamacare; nobody ever read it. They passed it; nobody read it. And look at mess we have right now. And it will be repealed. But this is one of the worst trade deals. And I would, yes, rather not have it. With all of these countries, and all of the bad ones getting advantage and taking advantage of what the good ones would normally get, I'd rather make individual deals with individual countries. We will do much better. We lose a fortune on trade. The United States loses with everybody. We're losing now over $500 billion in terms of imbalance with China, $75 billion a year imbalance with Japan. By the way, Mexico, $50 billion a year imbalance. So I must say, Gerard, I just think it's a terrible deal. I love trade. I'm a free trader, 100 percent. But we need smart people making the deals, and we don't have smart people making the deals. +p2522 +aVYes. Well, the currency manipulation they don't discuss in the agreement, which is a disaster. If you look at the way China and India and almost everybody takes advantage of the United States \u2014 China in particular, because they're so good. It's the number-one abuser of this country. And if you look at the way they take advantage, it's through currency manipulation. It's not even discussed in the almost 6,000-page agreement. It's not even discussed. +p2523 +aVAnd as you understand, I mean, you understand very well from the Wall Street Journal, currency manipulation is the single great weapon people have. They don't even discuss it in this agreement. So I say, it's a very bad deal, should not be approved. If it is approved, it will just be more bad trade deals, more loss of jobs for our country. We are losing jobs like nobody's ever lost jobs before. I want to bring jobs back into this country. +p2524 +aVWell, first of all, it's not only Russia. We have problems with North Korea where they actually have nuclear weapons. You know, nobody talks about it, we talk about Iran, and that's one of the worst deals ever made. One of the worst contracts ever signed, ever, in anything, and it's a disgrace. But, we have somebody over there, a madman, who already has nuclear weapons we don't talk about that. That's a problem. China is a problem, both economically in what they're doing in the South China Sea, I mean, they are becoming a very, very major force. So, we have more than just Russia. But, as far as the Ukraine is concerned, and you could Syria \u2014 as far as Syria, I like \u2014 if Putin wants to go in, and I got to know him very well because we were both on 60 Minutes, we were stablemates, and we did very well that night. But, you know that. But, if Putin wants to go and knocked the hell out of +p2525 +aV...They blew up \u2014 hold it.... +p2526 +aV...They blew up, wait a minute... ...They blew up a Russian airplane. He cannot be in love with these people. He's going in, and we can go in, and everybody should go in. As far as the Ukraine is concerned, we have a group of people, and a group of countries, including Germany \u2014 tremendous economic behemoth \u2014 why are we always doing the work? We are \u2014 I'm all for protecting Ukraine and working \u2014 but, we have countries that are surrounding the Ukraine that aren't doing anything. They say, "Keep going, keep going, you dummies, keep going. Protect us..." ...And we have to get smart. We can't continue to be the policeman of the world. We are $19 trillion dollars, we have a country that's going to hell, we have an infrastructure that's falling apart. Our roads, our bridges, our schools, our airports, and we have to start investing money in our country. +p2527 +aVAssad is a bad guy, but we have no idea who the so-called rebels \u2014 I read about the rebels, nobody even knows who they are. I spoke to a general two weeks ago, he said \u2014 he was very up on exactly what we're talking about. He said, "You know, Mr. Trump? We're giving hundreds of millions of dollars of equipment to these people, we have no idea who they are." So, I don't like Assad. Who's going to like Assad? But, we have no idea who these people, and what they're going to be, and what they're going to represent. They may be far worse than Assad. Look at Libya. Look at Iraq. Look at the mess we have after spending $2 trillion dollars, thousands of lives, wounded warriors all over the place \u2014 who I love, OK? All over. We have nothing. And, I said, keep the oil. And we should have kept the oil, believe me. We should have kept the oil. And, you know what? We should have given the oil... ..We should've given big chunks to the people that lost their arms, their legs, and their families, and their sons, and daughters, because right now, you know who has a lot of that oil? Iran, and +p2528 +aVWhy does she keep interrupting everybody? Terrible. +p2529 +aVWe are not. +p2530 +aV...No, no, no... +p2531 +aVWell, what's happening right now, Neil, is something that not been a subject of conversation by politicians. As primarily the only politician, I guess other than Carly on the stage, they haven't talked about a corporate inversion. A corporate inversion \u2014 companies are leaving. You know, we used to leave New York to go to Florida. We got better taxes, we got, maybe, something else. Now, they're the United States to go to other countries. They have trillions of dollars in those other countries. They're going for two reasons, they can't get their money back in. It's something where the democrats and the republicans both agree, it's the only thing I can think of. They both agree, let the money come back in. Three and a half years, they still can't make a deal. They can't get the money in. It's probably two and a half trillion, but, I think it's much more than that. All of that money could become \u2014 could come right in and be used to rebuild our country, and investments in our country. They can't do it. What we have to do, and what I've done, is made the tax rate \u2014 and one of the reasons they don't the taxes so obnoxious, they can't do it. Where, I made it a 10% number, as you know. I've been very highly praised for it. A lot of money's going to come back in, we're going to get rid of the bureaucratic problems, and roadblocks, because that's also a problem. And, we're going to have all of this money pour back into the United States. It's going to be used to build businesses, for jobs, and everything else. And, as I say, my expression is, let's make America great again. +p2532 +aVThank you. Over the years, I've created tens of thousands of jobs and a great company. It's a company I'm very proud of. Some of the most iconic assets anywhere in the world. And I will tell you, I don't have to give you a website because I'm self-funding my campaign. I'm putting up my own money. I want to do something really special. I want to make our country greater than it's ever been. I think we have that potential. We cannot lose this election. We cannot let Hillary Clinton, who is the worst secretary of state in the history of our country, win this election. We will fight. We will win. And we truly will make this even more special. We have to make it better than ever before. And I will tell you, the United States can actually be better than ever before. Thank you. +p2533 +aVI think maybe my greatest weakness is that I trust people too much. I'm too trusting. And when they let me down, if they let me down, I never forgive. I find it very, very hard to forgive people that deceived me. So I don't know if you would call that a weakness, but my wife said "let up." +p2534 +aVRight. +p2535 +aVRight. +p2536 +aVThat's right. +p2537 +aVNo, not a comic book, and it's not a very nicely asked question the way you say that. Larry Kudlow is an example, who I have a lot of respect for, who loves my tax plan. We're reducing taxes to 15 percent. We're bringing corporate taxes down, bringing money back in, corporate inversions. We have $2.5 trillion outside of the United States which we want to bring back in. As far as the wall is concerned, we're going to build a wall. We're going to create a border. We're going to let people in, but they're going to come in legally. They're going to come in legally. And it's something that can be done, and I get questioned about that. They built the great wall of China. That's 13,000 miles. Here, we actually need 1,000 because we have natural barriers. So we need 1,000. We can do a wall. We're going to have a big, fat beautiful door right in the middle of the wall. We're going to have people come in, but they're coming in legally. And Mexico's going to pay for the wall because Mexico \u2014 I love the Mexican people; I respect the Mexican leaders \u2014 but the leaders are much sharper, smarter and more cunning than our leaders. And just to finish, people say, how will you get Mexico to pay? A politician other than the people in the states \u2014 I don't want to \u2014 a politician cannot get them to pay. I can. We lose, we have a trade imbalance... Excuse me, John. ... of $50 billion... +p2538 +aV... believe me the world is peanuts by comparison. +p2539 +aVRight. Dynamically. +p2540 +aVThen you have to get rid of Larry Kudlow, who sits on your panel, who's a great guy, who came out the other day and said, I love Trump's tax plan. +p2541 +aVFirst of all, John got lucky with a thing called fracking, OK? He hit oil. He got lucky with fracking. Believe me, that is why Ohio is doing well. Number \u2014 and that is important for you to know. Number two, this was the man that was a managing general partner at Lehman Brothers when it went down the tubes and almost took every one of us with it, including Ben and myself, because I was there and I watched what happened. And Lehman Brothers started it all. He was on the board. And he was a managing general partner. And just thirdly, he was so nice. He was such a nice guy. And he said, oh, I'm never going to attack. But then his poll numbers tanked. He has got \u2014 that is why he is on the end. And he got nasty. And he got nasty. So you know what? You can have him. +p2542 +aVI think you're \u2014 +p2543 +aVWell, first of all, like many other very big businessmen, I could name them here, but I'm not going to do that for a lot of obvious reasons, but the biggest, and almost all of them, they've all used the chapter laws, the bankruptcy laws to their own benefit. Before this, I was a very successful person as a developer and as a businessman. Atlantic City has gone bad. I mean, Chris will know about that. I'm not blaming Chris, by the way, but he will know about that. Caesar's \u2014 excuse me \u2014 Caesar's, the Rolls-Royce, as you know, is in bankruptcy. Almost every hotel in Atlantic City has either been in bankruptcy or will be in bankruptcy \u2014 the biggest. But also the biggest people (ph) \u2014 now I've used that to my advantage as a business man, for my family, for myself. I never filed for bankruptcy. But many, many people did. What happened with Atlantic City is very, very disgraceful. Now hundreds of companies I've opened. I've used it three times, maybe four times. Came out great. But I guess I'm supposed to come out great. That is what I could do for the country. We owe $19 trillion, boy am I good at solving debt problems. Nobody can solve it like me. But I will tell you this, Atlantic City, you're using that, hundreds of companies that I have opened have thrived. I built a net worth of way over $10 billion, and I have done it four times out of hundreds. And I'm glad I did it. I used the laws of the country to my benefit, I'm sorry. +p2544 +aVThank you. +p2545 +aVI was not at all critical of him. I was not at all. In fact, frankly, he's complaining about the fact that we're losing some of the most talented people. They go to Harvard. They go to Yale. They go to Princeton. They come from another country and they're immediately sent out. I am all in favor of keeping these talented people here so they can go to work in Silicon Valley. +p2546 +aVSo I have nothing at all critical of him. +p2547 +aVProbably, I don't know \u2014 you people write the stuff. I don't know where you... And if I could say just one thing. I am the only person in either campaign that's self-funding. I'm putting up 100 percent of my own money. And right now, I will be putting up a tremendous \u2014 so far, I've put up less than anybody and I have the best results. Wouldn't that be nice if the country could do that? But I will be putting \u2014 I will be putting up, you know, tremendous amounts of money. SuperPacs are a disaster. They're a scam. They cause dishonesty. And you better get rid of them because they are causing a lot of bad decisions to be made by some very good people. And I'm not blaming these folks \u2014 well, I guess I could. Very good people are making very bad decisions right now. And if anything comes out of this whole thing with some of these nasty and ridiculous questions, I will tell you, you better get rid of the SuperPacs because they causing a big problem with this country, not only in dishonesty and what's going on, but also in a lot of bad decisions that have been made for the benefit of lobbyists and special interests. +p2548 +aVI never said that. I never said that. +p2549 +aVYou've got another gentleman in Florida, who happens to be a very nice guy, but not... +p2550 +aV... he's really doing some bad... +p2551 +aVI'm in favor of people coming into this country legally. And you know what? They can have it anyway you want. You can call it visas, you can call it work permits, you can call it anything you want. I've created tens of thousands of jobs, and in all due respect \u2014 and actually some of these folks I really like a lot \u2014 but I'm the only one that can say that. I have created tens of thousands of jobs, and I'll be creating many millions of jobs if I'm given \u2014 if I'm given the opportunity to be president. As far as Mark is concerned, as far as the visas are concerned, if we need people, they have \u2014 it's fine. They have to come into this country legally. We have a country of borders. We have a country of laws. We have to obey the laws. It's fine if they come in, but they have to come in legally. +p2552 +aVYes. +p2553 +aVOr somebody else. Right. +p2554 +aVYes, I might feel more comfortable. I would say that I would and I have a permit, which is very unusual in New York \u2014 a permit to carry. And I do carry on occasion, sometimes a lot. But I like to be unpredictable so that people don't know exactly... +p2555 +aVBy the way, unlike our country where we're totally predictable and the enemy, whether it's +p2556 +aVI would change them. I would change them. +p2557 +aVSuch a nasty \u2014 such a nasty question, but thank you, Governor. +p2558 +aVYes, it's very simple. We're going to make a really dynamic economy from what we have right now, which is not at all dynamic. We're going to bring jobs back from Japan, we're going to bring jobs back from China, we're going to bring, frankly, jobs back from Mexico where, as you probably saw, Nabisco is leaving Chicago with one of their biggest plants, and they're moving it to Mexico. We're going to bring jobs and manufacturing back. We're going to cut costs. We're going to save Social Security, and we're going to save Medicare. [ +p2559 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We used to win, we don't win anymore. We lose on trade. We lose with +p2560 +aVAnd, I'll do that with the country. We will make America great again. And, thank you everybody. Just for the record. +p2561 +aVThat's not right. That is absolutely not right. You know that. That is not right. [ +p2562 +aVI'm Donald Trump. I wrote "The Art of the Deal". I say not in a braggadocious way, I've made billions and billions of dollars dealing with people all over the world, and I want to put whatever that talent is to work for this country so we have great trade deals, we make our country rich again, we make it great again. We build our military, we take care of our vets, we get rid of Obamacare, and we have a great life altogether. Thank you. Thank you. +p2563 +aVWell, first of all, Rand Paul shouldn't even be on this stage. He's number 11, he's got 1 percent in the polls, and how he got up here, there's far too many people anyway. As far as temperament \u2014 and we all know that \u2014 as far as temperament, I think I have a great temperament. I built a phenomenal business with incredible, iconic assets, one of the really truly great real-estate businesses. And I may be an entertainer, because I've had tremendous success with number-one bestsellers all over the place, with "The Apprentice" and everything else I've done. But I will tell you this: What I am far and away greater than an entertainer is a businessman, and that's the kind of mindset this country needs to bring it back, because we owe $19 trillion right now, $19 trillion, and you need this kind of thinking to bring our country back. And believe me, my temperament is very good, very calm. But we will be respected outside of this country. We are not respected now. +p2564 +aVI never attacked him on his look, and believe me, there's plenty of subject matter right there. That I can tell you. +p2565 +aVI've actually been in politics all my life, although I've been on that side as opposed to this side. I'm now a politician for about three months. Obviously, I'm doing pretty well. I'm number one in every poll by a lot. But the qualification is that I've dealt with people all over the world, been successful all over the world. Everything I've done virtually has been a tremendous success. When markets changed, when things turned, I heard Governor Pataki, who, by the way, was a failed governor in New York, a very seriously failed \u2014 he wouldn't be elected dog catcher right now. I heard what he had to say. And I will tell you this: Atlantic City, I've made a tremendous amount of money in Atlantic City. I left seven years ago, I've gotten great credit for my timing, and that's what I'm all about. I'm a businessman, did really well, really well, and Jeb, what I want to do is put that ability into this country to make our country rich again. And I can do that, and I'm not sure that anybody else in the group will be able to do that. +p2566 +aVBut I have to say... +p2567 +aVWell, in Wisconsin... +p2568 +aVExcuse me. +p2569 +aVIn Wisconsin, you're losing $2.2 billion right now. +p2570 +aVI would do so much better than that. +p2571 +aVNo. +p2572 +aVI'm using facts. +p2573 +aVEvery major business leader has used the \u2014 I never went bankrupt, by the way, as you know, everybody knows. But we \u2014 hundreds of companies, hundreds of deals, I've used ???: ... into bankruptcy. That's what's wrong with politicians in Washington right now. They think we can take a country into bankruptcy. +p2574 +aVEvery major business leader, has used the \u2014 I never went bank bankrupt, by the way, as you know, everybody knows. But \u2014 hundreds of companies, hundreds of deals, I used the law four times and made a tremendous thing. I'm in business. I did a very good job. But I will say this, and people are very, very impressed with what I've done, the business people. But when the folks of Iowa found out the true facts of the job that you've done in Wisconsin, all of a sudden you, tubed (ph), he was No. 1 and now he's No. 6 or seven in the polls. So, look, we brought it out, you were supposed to make a billion dollars in the state. You lost 2.2 \u2014 you have right now, a huge budget deficit. That's not a Democratic point. That's a point. That's a fact. And when the people of Iowa found that out, I went to No. 1 and you went down the tubes. +p2575 +aVI didn't \u2014 +p2576 +aVTotally false. +p2577 +aVI would have gotten it. +p2578 +aVI promise I would have gotten it. +p2579 +aVI promise if I wanted it, I would have gotten it. +p2580 +aVI know my people. +p2581 +aVI know my people. +p2582 +aVNo. I just will tell you that, you know, Jeb made the statement. I'm not only referring to him. I \u2014 a lot of money was raised by a lot of different people that are standing up here. And the donors, the special interests, the lobbyists have very strong power over these people. I'm spending all of my money, I'm not spending \u2014 I'm not getting any \u2014 I turned down \u2014 I turn down so much, I could have right now from special interests and donors, I could have double and triple what he's got. I've turned it down. I turned down last week $5 million from somebody. So I will tell you I understand the game, I've been on the other side all of my life. And they have a lot of control over our politicians. And I don't say that favorably, and I'm not sure if there's another system, but I say this. I am not accepting any money from anybody. Nobody has control of me other than the people of this country. I'm going to do the right thing. +p2583 +aVThat's true. That's true. +p2584 +aVI was \u2014 excuse me, Jeb. +p2585 +aVI was a businessman, I got along with Clinton, I got along with everybody. That was my job, to get along with people. +p2586 +aVI didn't want to \u2014 excuse me. One second. +p2587 +aVOK, more energy tonight. I like that. Look \u2014 +p2588 +aVI didn't want \u2014 it was my obligation as a businessman to my family, to my company, to my employees, to get along with all politicians. I get along with all of them, and I did a damn good job in doing it. Go ahead. +p2589 +aVGot along with everybody. +p2590 +aVWrong. +p2591 +aVDon't make things up. Jeb, don't make things up. Come on. +p2592 +aVDon't make things up. +p2593 +aVSo, number one, they have to respect you. He has absolutely no respect for President Obama. Zero. Syria's a mess. You look at what's going on with +p2594 +aVI believe that I will get along \u2014 we will do \u2014 between that, Ukraine, all of the other problems, we won't have the kind of problems that our country has right now with Russia and many other nations. +p2595 +aVI wouldn't have drawn the line, but once he drew it, he had no choice but to go across. They do bear some responsibility, but I think he probably didn't do it, not for that reason. Somehow, he just doesn't have courage. There is something missing from our president. Had he crossed the line and really gone in with force, done something to Assad \u2014 if he had gone in with tremendous force, you wouldn't have millions of people displaced all over the world. +p2596 +aVThey had a responsibility, absolutely. I think we have three of them here... +p2597 +aVI think they had a responsibility, yes. +p2598 +aVJeb, just... +p2599 +aVI think it will haunt him. I think it's a terrible. I think it's going to haunt him absolutely. He came back later and he said he misspoke. There was no question because I heard when he said the statement. I was watching and he said the statement. And I said, wow, I can't believe it. I will take care of women. I respect women. I will take care of women. One thing we will say and I would like to get back to the Iran situation. We're talking about Iran. The agreement was terrible. It was incompetent. I've never seen anything like it. One of the worst contracts of any kind I've ever seen. And nobody ever mentions North Korea where you have this maniac sitting there and he actually has nuclear weapons and somebody better start thinking about North Korea and perhaps a couple of other places. But certainly North Korea. And Ted and I have spoken. We've \u2014 a lot of us have spoken. We're talking about Iran. They are bad actors, bad things are going to happen. But in the meantime, you have somebody right now in North Korea who has got nuclear weapons and who is saying almost every other week, I'm ready to use them. And we don't even mention it. +p2600 +aVSo why didn't you say it? Why didn't you say it? +p2601 +aVI know, but why did you say it? I heard it myself. Why did you say it? +p2602 +aVYou said you're going to cut funding for women's health. You said it. +p2603 +aVYou said it. +p2604 +aVI think she's got a beautiful face, and I think she's a beautiful woman. +p2605 +aVCorrect. First of all, I want to build a wall, a wall that works. So important, and it's a big part of it. Second of all, we have a lot of really bad dudes in this country from outside, and I think Chris knows that, maybe as well as anybody. They go, if I get elected, first day they're gone. Gangs all over the place. Chicago, Baltimore, no matter where you look. We have a country based on laws. I will make sure that those laws are adhered to. These are illegal immigrants. I don't think you'd even be asking this question if I didn't run because when I ran, and I brought this up, my opening remarks at Trump Tower, I took heat like nobody has taken heat in a long time. And, then they found out with the killing of Katie, from San Francisco, and so many other crimes, they found out that I was right. And, most people, many people, apologized to me. I don't think you'd even be talking about illegal immigration if it weren't for me. So, we have a country of laws, they're going to go out, and they'll come back if they deserve to come back. If they've had a bad record, if they've been arrested, if they've been in jail, they're never coming back. We're going to have a country again. Right now, we don't have a country, we don't have a border, and we're going to do something about it, and it can be done with proper management, and it can be done with heart. +p2606 +aV...By the way, I agree with \u2014 with what Chris is saying, but, I will say this. Illegal immigration is costing us more than $200 billion dollars a year just to maintain what we have. +p2607 +aVCorrect. +p2608 +aVWell, I have to tell you, I hear phenomenal things. I hear your wife is a lovely woman... +p2609 +aVI don't know her, and this is a total mischaracterization... +p2610 +aVGood. +p2611 +aVNo, I won't do that, because I've said nothing wrong. +p2612 +aVBut I do hear she's a lovely woman. +p2613 +aVJeb said... +p2614 +aV... that they come into our country as an act of love. With all of the problems we that we have, in so many instances \u2014 we have wonderful people coming in. But with all of the problems \u2014 this is not an act of love. He's weak on immigration \u2014 by the way, in favor of Common Core, which is also a disaster, but weak on immigration. He doesn't get my vote. +p2615 +aVNot with this intensity. +p2616 +aVAs I said, we are spending $200 billion \u2014 we are spending $200 billion a year on maintaining what we have. We will move them out. The great ones will come back, the good ones will come back. They'll be expedited, they'll be back, they'll come back legally. We'll have a country \u2014 they'll come back, legally. +p2617 +aVWell, I think it's wonderful and all, but I did it a little bit half-heartedly, but I do mean it to a large extent. We have a country, where, to assimilate, you have to speak English. And I think that where he was, and the way it came out didn't sound right to me. We have to have assimilation \u2014 to have a country, we have to have assimilation. I'm not the first one to say this, Dana. We've had many people over the years, for many, many years, saying the same thing. This is a country where we speak English, not Spanish. +p2618 +aVThis is a reporter, not a high school kid. +p2619 +aVWell, first of all, the \u2014 the 14th Amendment says very, very clearly to a lot of great legal scholars \u2014 not television scholars, but legal scholars \u2014 that it is wrong. It can be corrected with an act of Congress, probably doesn't even need that. A woman gets pregnant. She's nine months, she walks across the border, she has the baby in the United States, and we take care of the baby for 85 years. I don't think so. And by the way, Mexico and almost every other country anywhere in the world doesn't have that. We're the only ones dumb enough, stupid enough to have it. And people \u2014 and by the way, this is not just with respect to Mexico. They are coming from Asia to have babies here, and all of a sudden, we have to take care of the babies for the life of the baby. The 14th Amendment, it reads properly, you can go and \u2014 it's probably going to be have to be check \u2014 go through a process of court, probably ends up at the Supreme Court, but there are a lot of great legal scholars that say that is not correct. And in my opinion, it makes absolutely no \u2014 we're the only \u2014 one of the only countries, we're going to take care of those babies for 70, 75, 80, 90 years? I don't think so. +p2620 +aVI agree 100 percent, by the way, with Carly on the fact that the Democrats do not want to solve this problem, for the obvious reasons, but they do not. But I believe that a reading of the 14th Amendment allows you to have an interpretation where this is not legal and where it can't be done. I've seen both sides, but some of the greatest scholars agree with me, without having to go through Congress. If you do go through Congress, you can absolutely solve the problem. +p2621 +aVThat's true, sure. +p2622 +aVWell \u2014 +p2623 +aV\u2014 let me \u2014 well, let me just explain. The head of the Yale Business School, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, wrote a paper recently, one of the worst tenures for a CEO that he has ever seen, ranked one of the top 20 in the history of business. The company is a disaster and continues to be a disaster. They still haven't recovered. In fact, today, on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, they fired another 25 or 30,000 people saying we still haven't recovered from the catastrophe. When Carly says the revenues went up, that's because she bought Compaq, it was a terrible deal, and it really led to the destruction of the company. Now one other company before that was Lucent. Carly was at Lucent before that. And Lucent turned out to be a catastrophe also. So I only say this. She can't run any of my companies. That I can tell you. +p2624 +aVI never filed for bankruptcy. +p2625 +aVI'll tell you why; it's very simple. +p2626 +aVI'll tell you. I was running \u2014 +p2627 +aV\u2014 Carly, Carly \u2014 +p2628 +aV\u2014 I've made over $10 billion. I had a casino company \u2014 Caesars just filed for bankruptcy. Chris will tell you \u2014 it's not Chris' fault either \u2014 but almost everybody in Atlantic City is either in trouble or filed for \u2014 maybe I'll blame Chris. +p2629 +aVBut Atlantic City is a disaster \u2014 +p2630 +aVWait a minute, Carly. Wait. I let you speak. Atlantic City is a disaster, and I did great in Atlantic City. I knew when to get out. My timing was great. And I got a lot of credit for it. Many of the great business people that you know \u2014 and Carl Icon (ph) is going to work with me on making great deals for this country. But whether it's Carl or so many others that we read about all the time \u2014 +p2631 +aV\u2014 they have used the laws of the land, which is the \u2014 +p2632 +aV...Well, I'd like to respond, I'd like to respond... +p2633 +aVWell, I think the thing about the flat tax, I know it very well. What I don't like is that if you make $200 million a year, you pay ten percent, you're paying very little relatively to somebody that's making $50,000 a year, and has to hire H&R Block to do the \u2014 because it's so complicated. One thing I'll say to Ben is that we've had a graduated tax system for many years, so it's not a socialistic thing. What I'd like to do, and I'll be putting in the plan in about two weeks, and I think people are going to like it, it's a major reduction in taxes. It's a major reduction for the middle class. The hedge fund guys won't like me as much as they like me right now. I know them all, but they'll pay more. I know people that are making a tremendous amount of money and paying virtually no tax, and I think it's unfair. +p2634 +aVWell, I heard Hugh Hewitt, a nice man, he apologized because he actually said that we had a misunderstanding. And he said today that Donald Trump is maybe the best interview there is anywhere that he has ever done. Now unless he was just saying that on CNN to be nice, but he did say that... +p2635 +aVAnd we had a legitimate misunderstanding in terms of his pronunciation of a word. But I would say just... +p2636 +aVWell, I think it was. And he actually said that. Did you say that? +p2637 +aVOK. So I will say this, though, Hugh was giving me name after name, Arab name, Arab name, and there are few people anywhere, anywhere that would have known those names. I think he was reading them off a sheet. And frankly I will have \u2014 and I told him, I will have the finest team that anybody has put together and we will solve a lot of problems. You know, right now they know a lot and look at what is happening. The world is blowing up around us. We will have great teams and great people. +p2638 +aVI hope that answers your question. I mean, you are in the Senate, but I hope that answers your question. +p2639 +aVNo, I don't think he's suggesting that at all. I mean... +p2640 +aVI don't think he's suggesting that at all. +p2641 +aVWell, you have to understand, I am not sitting in the United States Senate with, by the way, the worst voting record there is today. Number one. I am not sitting in the United States Senate. I'm a businessman doing business transactions. +p2642 +aVI am doing business transactions. I will know more about this \u2014 and, as you said, that was very acceptable, and when you listen to that whole interview, it's a great interview, you said it, I didn't. Well, now I did. But... +p2643 +aVListen, just one second. Just one second. +p2644 +aVI will know... +p2645 +aV...I will know more about the problems of this world by the time I sit, and you look at what's going in this world right now by people that supposedly know, this world is a mess. +p2646 +aV +p2647 +aV I'm \u2014 and I'm meeting with people that are terrific people, but I have to say something because it's about judgment. I am the only person on this dais \u2014 the only person \u2014 that fought very, very hard against us (ph), and I wasn't a sitting politician going into Iraq, because I said going into Iraq \u2014 that was in 2003, you can check it out, check out \u2014 I'll give you 25 different stories. In fact, a delegation was sent to my office to see me because I was so vocal about it. I'm a very militaristic person, but you have to know when to use the military. I'm the only person up here that fought against going into Iraq. +p2648 +aVJust excuse me, one second, Rand... +p2649 +aVIf you don't mind, Rand \u2014 you know, you are on last \u2014 you do have your 1 percent. I would like \u2014 and I think it's very important. I think it's important, because it's about judgment. It's about judgment. I didn't want to go into Iraq, and I fought it, because what I said \u2014 what I said... +p2650 +aV... was you're going to \u2014 you're going to destabilize... +p2651 +aV... the Middle East, and that's what happened. +p2652 +aVIf you think about it... +p2653 +aVYour brother \u2014 and your brother's administration gave us Barack Obama, because it was such a disaster, those last three months, that Abraham Lincoln couldn't have been elected. +p2654 +aVI don't know. You feel safe right now? I don't feel so safe. +p2655 +aVOr the collapse of the economy. +p2656 +aVSpeaking for myself, I'm OK with it. I think there's a certain truth to it. I know people that, frankly, it has no impact on their life whatsoever. There are many people. I would almost say leave it up to them, but I would be willing to check it off, and say I will not get Social Security. I do not... +p2657 +aVAs a policy, I would almost leave it up to the people. Don't forget they pay in and they pay in, and maybe they do well, and maybe some people want it. But the fact is that there are people that truly don't need it, and there are many people that do need it very, very badly. And I would be willing to write mine off 100 percent, Dana. +p2658 +aVWell, I \u2014 I \u2014 I'd like to respond. +p2659 +aVI'd like to respond. +p2660 +aVAutism has become an epidemic. Twenty-five years ago, 35 years ago, you look at the statistics, not even close. It has gotten totally out of control. I am totally in favor of vaccines. But I want smaller doses over a longer period of time. Because you take a baby in \u2014 and I've seen it \u2014 and I've seen it, and I had my children taken care of over a long period of time, over a two or three year period of time. Same exact amount, but you take this little beautiful baby, and you pump \u2014 I mean, it looks just like it's meant for a horse, not for a child, and we've had so many instances, people that work for me. Just the other day, two years old, two and a half years old, a child, a beautiful child went to have the vaccine, and came back, and a week later got a tremendous fever, got very, very sick, now is autistic. I only say it's not \u2014 I'm in favor of vaccines, do them over a longer period of time, same amount. +p2661 +aVBut just in \u2014 in little sections. +p2662 +aVI think \u2014 and I think you're going to have \u2014 I think you're going to see a big impact on autism. +p2663 +aVAnd that's all I'm saying, Jake. That's all I'm saying. +p2664 +aVWell, because she's been sitting for three hours, I think my daughter, Ivanka, who's right here. +p2665 +aVOther than that we'll go with Rosa Parks. I like that. +p2666 +aVHumble. +p2667 +aVIf I become president, we will do something really special. We will make this country greater than ever before. We'll have more jobs. We'll have more of everything. We were discussing disease, we were discussing all sorts of things tonight, many of which will just be words, it will just pass on. I don't want to say politicians, all talk, no action. But a lot of what we talked about is words and it will be forgotten very quickly. If I'm president, many of the things that we discussed tonight will not be forgotten. We'll find solutions. And the world will respect us. They will respect us like never before. And it will be actually a friendlier world. And I have to say, it is a great honor to be here tonight. +p2668 +aVI fully understand. +p2669 +aVI fully understand. +p2670 +aVI cannot say. I have to respect the person that, if it's not me, the person that wins, if I do win, and I'm leading by quite a bit, that's what I want to do. I can totally make that pledge. If I'm the nominee, I will pledge I will not run as an independent. But -- and I am discussing it with everybody, but I'm, you know, talking about a lot of leverage. We want to win, and we will win. But I want to win as the Republican. I want to run as the Republican nominee. +p2671 +aVWell, I've given him plenty of money. +p2672 +aVI will not make the pledge at this time. +p2673 +aVOnly Rosie O'Donnell. +p2674 +aVThank you. +p2675 +aVYes, I'm sure it was. +p2676 +aVI think the big problem this country has is being politically correct. I've been challenged by so many people, and I don't frankly have time for total political correctness. And to be honest with you, this country doesn't have time either. This country is in big trouble. We don't win anymore. We lose to China. We lose to Mexico both in trade and at the border. We lose to everybody. And frankly, what I say, and oftentimes it's fun, it's kidding. We have a good time. What I say is what I say. And honestly Megyn, if you don't like it, I'm sorry. I've been very nice to you, although I could probably maybe not be, based on the way you have treated me. But I wouldn't do that. But you know what, we -- we need strength, we need energy, we need quickness and we need brain in this country to turn it around. That, I can tell you right now. +p2677 +aVSo, if it weren't for me, you wouldn't even be talking about illegal immigration, Chris. You wouldn't even be talking about it. This was not a subject that was on anybody's mind until I brought it up at my announcement. And I said, Mexico is sending. Except the reporters, because they're a very dishonest lot, generally speaking, in the world of politics, they didn't cover my statement the way I said it. The fact is, since then, many killings ,murders, crime, drugs pouring across the border, are money going out and the drugs coming in. And I said we need to build a wall, and it has to be built quickly. And I don't mind having a big beautiful door in that wall so that people can come into this country legally. But we need, Jeb, to build a wall, we need to keep illegals out. +p2678 +aVBorder Patrol, I was at the border last week. Border Patrol, people that I deal with, that I talk to, they say this is what's happening. Because our leaders are stupid. Our politicians are stupid. And the Mexican government is much smarter, much sharper, much more cunning. And they send the bad ones over because they don't want to pay for them. They don't want to take care of them. Why should they when the stupid leaders of the United States will do it for them? And that's what is happening whether you like it or not. +p2679 +aVA complete disaster, yes. +p2680 +aVCorrect. +p2681 +aVFirst of all, I'd like to just go back to one. In July of 2004, I came out strongly against the war with Iraq, because it was going to destabilize the Middle East. And I'm the only one on this stage that knew that and had the vision to say it. And that's exactly what happened. +p2682 +aVAnd the Middle East became totally destabilized. So I just want to say. As far as single payer, it works in Canada. It works incredibly well in Scotland. It could have worked in a different age, which is the age you're talking about here. What I'd like to see is a private system without the artificial lines around every state. I have a big company with thousands and thousands of employees. And if I'm negotiating in New York or in New Jersey or in California, I have like one bidder. Nobody can bid. You know why? Because the insurance companies are making a fortune because they have control of the politicians, of course, with the exception of the politicians on this stage. But they have total control of the politicians. They're making a fortune. Get rid of the artificial lines and you will have......yourself great plans. And then we have to take care of the people that can't take care of themselves. And I will do that through a different system. +p2683 +aVI'm not -- I'm not are -- I don't think you heard me. You're having a hard time tonight. +p2684 +aVYou'd better believe it. +p2685 +aVIf I ask them, if I need them, you know, most of the people on this stage I've given to, just so you understand, a lot of money. +p2686 +aVMany of them. +p2687 +aVNot much. +p2688 +aVBut I... +p2689 +aVI have good... +p2690 +aVGood. +p2691 +aVSounds good. Sounds good to me, Governor. I will tell you that our system is broken. I gave to many people, before this, before two months ago, I was a businessman. I give to everybody. When they call, I give. And do you know what? When I need something from them two years later, three years later, I call them, they are there for me. +p2692 +aVAnd that's a broken system. +p2693 +aVWell, I'll tell you what, with Hillary Clinton, I said be at my wedding and she came to my wedding. You know why? She didn't have a choice because I gave. I gave to a foundation that, frankly, that foundation is supposed to do good. I didn't know her money would be used on private jets going all over the world. It was. But... +p2694 +aVBecause I have used the laws of this country just like the greatest people that you read about every day in business have used the laws of this country, the chapter laws, to do a great job for my company, for myself, for my employees, for my family, et cetera. I have never gone bankrupt, by the way. I have never. But out of hundreds of deals... +p2695 +aVExcuse me. Excuse me. +p2696 +aVExcuse me, what am I saying? Out of hundreds of deals that I've done, hundreds, on four occasions I've taken advantage of the laws of this country, like other people. I'm not going to name their names because I'm not going to embarrass, but virtually every person that you read about on the front page of the business sections, they've used the law. The difference is, when somebody else uses those laws, nobody writes about it. When I use it, they say, "Trump, Trump, Trump." The fact is, I built a net worth of more than $10 billion. I have a great, great company. I employ thousands of people. And I'm very proud of the job I did. Again Chris, hundreds and hundreds of deals. Four times, I've taken advantage of the laws. And frankly, so has everybody else in my position. +p2697 +aVWell, I... +p2698 +aVLet me just tell you about the lenders. First of all, these lenders aren't babies. These are total killers. These are not the nice, sweet little people that you think, OK? You know, I mean you're living in a world of the make-believe, Chris, you want to know the truth. And I had the good sense to leave Atlantic City, which by the way, Caesars just went bankrupt. Every company, Chris can tell you, every company virtually in Atlantic City went bankrupt. Every company. And let me just tell you. I had the good sense, and I've gotten a lot of credit in the financial pages, seven years ago I left Atlantic City before it totally cratered, and I made a lot of money in Atlantic City, and I'm very proud of it. I want to tell you that. Very, very proud of it. +p2699 +aVAnd by the way, this country right now owes $19 trillion. And they need somebody like me to straighten out that mess. +p2700 +aVI don't think they like me very much. I'll tell you what. I've evolved on many issues over the years. And you know who else has? Is Ronald Reagan evolved on many issues. And I am pro-life. And if you look at the question, I was in business. They asked me a question as to pro-life or choice. And I said if you let it run, that I hate the concept of abortion. I hate the concept of abortion. And then since then, I've very much evolved. And what happened is friends of mine years ago were going to have a child, and it was going to be aborted. And it wasn't aborted. And that child today is a total superstar, a great, great child. And I saw that. And I saw other instances. And I am very, very proud to say that I am pro-life. As far as being a Republican is concerned, I come from a place, New York City, which is virtually, I mean, it is almost exclusively Democrat. And I have really started to see some of the negatives -- as an example, and I have a lot of liking for this man, but the last number of months of his brother's administration were a catastrophe. And unfortunately, those few months gave us President Obama. And you can't be happy about that. +p2701 +aVFirst of all, Jeb, I am very happy that you denied that, and I appreciate that very much. He is a true gentleman. He really is. One thing he did say, and I mean that. The one thing he did say about me, however, was my tone. And I also understand that. But when you have people that are cutting Christians' heads off, when you have a world that the border and at so many places, that it is medieval times, we've never -- it almost has to be as bad as it ever was in terms of the violence and the horror, we don't have time for tone. We have to go out and get the job done. +p2702 +aVI would be so different from what you have right now. Like, the polar opposite. We have a president who doesn't have a clue. I would say he's incompetent, but I don't want to do that because that's not nice. But if you look at the deals we make, whether it's the nuclear deal with 24 hour periods -- and by the way, before you get to the 24 hours, you have to go through a system. You look at Sgt. Bergdahl, we get Bergdahl, a traitor, and they get five of the big, great killers leaders that they want. We have people in Washington that don't know what they're doing. Now... I agree. Now, with Iran, we're making a deal, you would say, we want him. We want out our prisoners. We want all these things, and we don't get anything. We're giving them $150 billion dollars plus, they are going to be -- I'll tell you what, if Iran was a stock, you folks should go out and buy it right now because you'll quadruple -- this, what's happening in Iran, is a disgrace, and it's going to lead to destruction in large portions of the world. +p2703 +aVOur country is in serious trouble. We don't win anymore. We don't beat China in trade. We don't beat Japan, with their millions and millions of cars coming into this country, in trade. We can't beat Mexico, at the border or in trade. We can't do anything right. Our military has to be strengthened. Our vets have to be taken care of. We have to end Obamacare, and we have to make our country great again, and I will do that. Thank you. +p2704 +asVPATAKI +p2705 +(lp2706 +VThank you, Wolf. I want to speak to you this evening not as a Republican or a presidential candidate, but as an American. As we saw today in L.A., we are at a crisis in our country. Radical Islam poses a threat to our safety not just overseas, but literally in every community in America. And yet at a time when we should be united, we have a president who has divided us, who refuses to call radical Islam what it is, let alone have a coherent strategy to defeat it. The leading Democrat, Hillary Clinton, won't call +p2707 +aVAbsolutely. It's one of many absurd things this President has said. To target a religion and say that regardless of whether you're an American soldier who has fought on our side or allies we have overseas, simply because of your religion we're going to ban you is un-American, it is unconstitutional and it is wrong. And by the way, Wolf, now there was a group that tried to do that 150 to 160 years ago, they were called the Know-Nothing Party. They wanted to ban Catholics. They thought they were going to destroy America. Well, Donald Trump is the Know-Nothing candidate of the 21st century and cannot be our nominee. By the way, though. I fault Hillary and Obama as well because by not distinguishing between Muslims and radicalized Jihadists, by refusing to acknowledge that it's radical Muslim, radical Islamists who are carrying out these attacks against America \u2014 they let Americans who are confused and angry lump everyone together. We have to embrace the Muslims who embrace our freedom and living and safety. We have to destroy those who embrace Jihad and want to engage in violence against us here or abroad. +p2708 +aVYes. +p2709 +aVYou know, I think it's very important that we do everything in our power to prevent radicalization of Americans right here. And it is happening, not just overseas, but it's happening here from Mosques on social media. And truth \u2014 interaction and community meetings. New York police department had a very active group, aggressively monitoring and using intelligence to \u2014 in certain Muslim communities, consistent with our constitution, consistent of our civil rights, so they could have the intelligence as to where these sermons are being given, and who is being radicalized. And, they stopped and prevented dozens, and dozens of attacks in New York. You know, I'm a great believer in the First Amendment, of Freedom of Speech. I wish we had more of it on our college campuses, but you can't shout fire in a crowded theater. Calling on Americans to engage in violence against their fellow Americans in the name of jihad is crying fire in a crowded theater. It is not constitutionally protected speech, it should be shut down. And, by the way, the two murders who went to Garland, Texas to massacre many Americans before the Texas police officer courageously killed them, had been radicalized here. Getting to that metadata question, one of those terrorists, the day before the attacks, had sent......109 message to a known terrorist overseas. We could not read those messages, we can not read those today... +p2710 +aV...We have got to do far better. +p2711 +aVYes, Wolf. +p2712 +aVI would pass a law requiring them to do that. Let me just give you one example. I mentioned in Garland, Texas, where that murderer, that terrorist, the day before sent 109 messages overseas to a known terrorist. But they were encrypted. So to this date we don't know what that said. Companies are entitled to encrypt and protect their knowledge and their intelligence. But what we need is a back door for law enforcement to be able, when they can establish that that communication poses a risk to our safety and engages in terrorism, to get a court order and go in and access those communications. Allow the companies to continue encryption, provide an entry way for law enforcement when they can prove to a court that there is a sufficient risk of an attack upon us that they have the right to look at those messages. +p2713 +aVAnd just one more thing, Wolf. When that murderer came from Pakistan to San Bernardino and committed those atrocious crimes just a few weeks ago, she applied for a visa. She had posted on social media jihadist messages. Because this administration is so politically correct, they have a rule that they cannot look at social media postings of people applying to come to the United States. That is utterly absurd. One of the things we must do, the next president must do is get rid of that law and make sure we do everything in our power to find out if someone poses a threat to our existence here. +p2714 +aVWolf, I think the answer is we have to send troops with allies and supporters. Wherever it is necessary to destroy the training centers, recruitment centers, planning hubs of +p2715 +aVYes. +p2716 +aVYou know, I don't think it's a function of years of going after +p2717 +aVYou know, I don't want to see us occupy a country. I've been to Iraq a couple of times and Afghanistan. The first time I went, I had an uneasy feeling that when we went there we were liberators. But as we stayed ,we became occupiers. I saw American troops move into some of Saddam's old hideous marble palaces. And I thought that was exactly the wrong message. We do not have to occupy. We do not have to nation build and try to create a democracy where one hasn't existed. WE have to destroy +p2718 +aVI'm not sure \u2014 ally with which groups? I didn't quite catch that. +p2719 +aVNot at all. Iran is our enemy. They are the number one sponsor of state terror. The Iranian Deal is a disaster. And by the way, I don't think the next president has to aggregate it. It was never ratified by the Iranians. They have tested long-range ballistic missiles in violation of U.N. resolutions. They have broken the agreement. It is void. They can never have a nuclear weapon and should not get relief. With respect to the other groups, like Hezbollah, of course we should not work with them. I'll tell you who we should work with in Syria. There are two groups. One are the PYD, the \u2014 the Kurds in Syria who led the defense of Kobani, and are in northern and eastern Syria and anti- +p2720 +aVI could create... +p2721 +aVI would create the no-fly zone, and let me tell you, something very simply. Putin is a bully, and the most important and effective thing you can do to a bully is punch him in the face. Create a no-fly zone. If Russian planes violate that space, either us, or the Turks, should shoot them down to keep our word. And, I guarantee you that Putin would back off. Bullies, when you stand up to them, back down. We have had, under Obama, and under Hillary as Secretary of State, nothing but weakness in the face of Russia, whether it was in the Crimea, whether it was in Ukraine, or now in the Middle East. I would give the Ukrainians lethal weapons so they could defend themselves. I would create the no-fly zone, and if Russian planes flew into it in violation of what we have declared, yes. +p2722 +aVI could create... +p2723 +aVI would create the no-fly zone, and let me tell you, something very simply. Putin is a bully, and the most important and effective thing you can do to a bully is punch him in the face. Create a no-fly zone. If Russian planes violate that space, either us, or the Turks, should shoot them down to keep our word. And, I guarantee you that Putin would back off. Bullies, when you stand up to them, back down. We have had, under Obama, and under Hillary as Secretary of State, nothing but weakness in the face of Russia, whether it was in the Crimea, whether it was in Ukraine, or now in the Middle East. I would give the Ukrainians lethal weapons so they could defend themselves. I would create the no-fly zone, and if Russian planes flew into it in violation of what we have declared, yes. +p2724 +aVNo, I completely disagree with Rick. This is America. And we've made enormous progress. And I don't care if you're a man or a woman. I care if you're good and capable of doing the job. If you can do the job \u2014 don't lower standards, don't lower the criteria \u2014 but if a woman is capable of doing these jobs, there is no reason why we should deny a patriot who wants to serve and help defend our country that right. +p2725 +aVIt's not. +p2726 +aVNo, you said you would reverse the policy which excluded women from those jobs whether or not they were able to do that. That is wrong. +p2727 +aVAh. +p2728 +aVYes, I think what Rick said is very different from what he said initially which was that, "he would reverse the policy that gave woman not the right but the opportunity to serve in combat." They can only do it if they're fit and capable and meet the same standards as men. And so, to reverse that policy and deny a woman who is prepared to risk her life to defend our freedom and is capable of doing everything a man could do is not the right thing for America in the 21st century. By the way, you see in Iraq, the Peshmerga, the Kurds ,many of their top fighters are women. This is the 21st century. We're not radical Islam. We want to give women the opportunity to do whatever they are capable of achieving in this country. +p2729 +aVOf course he's innocent until proven guilty. I happen to believe he's guilty. The military did a very clear and long study as to whether or not he deserted in the face of enemy and they are not court marshalling him. I don't think he should executed. I do think he will have a fair military trial, not a civilian trial, at which time, assuming he's found guilty as I think he would, he will be sentenced appropriately. But there's a bigger issue here, this administration has failed to protect us because they have treated radical Islamists as Americans who should be tried in civil court. That is ridiculous. They are enemy aliens engaged in terror against Americans. And by the way, the fact that this president is now threatening to close Guantanamo Bay when we know that time after time, terrorists he released are involved in a high level capacity helping +p2730 +aVYou know, again, it comes down to something that, as Mike said, breaks your heart. We clearly want to get them back. But the idea that by taking a journalist, for example, and holding him hostage in Iran, they're going to be able to get some of their terrorist leaders back, is simply bad policy. Israel has shown the way on this in rejecting hostage exchanges such as this and then not paying ransom. But, by the way, Mike is absolutely right. We have to do more to protect our people overseas, but then we also have to do more to help our veterans when they come back here today. We haven't talked about that. But more talking about defeating terrorism, one of the things we have to do is give our veterans the support and help that they require. What has happened at the VA is a disgrace. Give our veterans a medical card that they can use to get the best quality care anywhere, including outside of the VA system. +p2731 +aVAnd that \u2014 but that was involved in combat, where they were actually involved in a war against each other and exchanged prisoners. We have not been in a war with Iran. They have taken civilians as hostages. It's a totally different situation. And we cannot encourage them to do any more of that. +p2732 +aVYou know, I think what I said earlier is that I would create a no-fly zone in Syria. Turkey just agreed to take 3 million more Syrian refugees. The EU just came up with a funding program to provide camps for Syrian refugees, but I would also create that no-fly zone where refugees can be there. I have to say I agree with Rick, because this President is talking about taking 10,000 people from Syria, who we cannot vet. This administration, allegedly, vetted the woman who carried out the attacks in San Bernardino and never found out that she had a false address and was on social media talking about radical Jihad. Coming from Syria, it's impossible to do that check. And we know, by the way, that +p2733 +aVThank you. This debate has been about terrorism and appropriately so. I'm proud to have been governor of New York on September 11th and have led our state through and during the aftermath of that horrible attack. I vowed then that if I ever had the chance to lead this country, I would do everything in my power to make sure that Americans were safe. But I also saw a positive from that. New Yorkers and the American people came together and vowed that we weren't just going to defend ourselves. We were not going to live in fear. We were going to rise to new heights and celebrate our freedom. Come to Lower Manhattan today. You will see a magnificent tribute to those who died, the memorial and the museum. You will also see a new tower soaring 1,776 feet tall, the Freedom Tower, a symbol of our freedom, a symbol of our belief that as a free people we can soar to new heights. Give us the chance to unite Americans, not just Republicans. And this country's future is unlimited. +p2734 +asVCHRISTIE +p2735 +(lp2736 +VThank you Wolf. America has been betrayed. We've been betrayed by the leadership that Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton have provided to this country over the last number of years. Think about just what's happened today. The second largest school district in America in Los Angeles closed based on a threat. Think about the effect that, that's going to have on those children when they go back to school tomorrow wondering filled with anxiety to whether they're really going to be safe. Think about the mothers who will take those children tomorrow morning to the bus stop wondering whether their children will arrive back on that bus safe and sound. Think about the fathers of Los Angeles, who tomorrow will head off to work and wonder about the safety of their wives and their children. What is Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton done to this country? That the most basic responsibility of an administration is to protect the safety and security of the American people. I will tell you this, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I've fought terrorists and won and when we get back in the White House we will fight terrorists and win again and America will be safe. +p2737 +aVWolf, unfortunately, it's the new normal under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The fact is that if you listen to Hillary Clinton the other day, what she said to the American people was, as regards to +p2738 +aVListen, I want to talk to the audience at home for a second. If your eyes are glazing over like mine, this is what it's like to be on the floor of the United States Senate. I mean, endless debates about how many angels on the head of a pin from people who've never had to make a consequential decision in an executive position. The fact is, for seven years, I had to make these decisions after 9/11, make a decision about how to proceed forward with an investigation or how to pull back, whether you use certain actionable intelligence or whether not to. And yet they continue to debate about this bill and in the subcommittee and what \u2014 nobody in America cares about that. What they care about is, are we going to have a president who actually knows what they're doing to make these decisions? And for the seven years afterwards, New Jersey was threatened like no other region in this country and what we did was we took action within the constitution to make sure that law enforcement had all the information they needed. We prosecuted two of the biggest terrorism cases in the world and stopped Fort Dix from being attacked by six American radicalized Muslims from a Mosque in New Jersey because we worked with the Muslim American community to get intelligence and we used the Patriot Act to get other intelligence to make sure we did those cases. This is the difference between actually been a federal prosecutor, actually doing something, and not just spending your life as one of hundred debating it. Let's talk about how we do this, not about which bill, which one these guys like more. The American people don't care about that. +p2739 +aVWolf, you sit up here and you listen to this stuff, and you think that so many of these people have had so much to do in this national debate, they talk like they were bystanders. You know, we talk about our military being degraded over time, and yet we've had folks on this stage who've been a part of Congress who have participated in sequester; who participated in the degrading of this military over time. And that's why I think people get so frustrated with Washington, D.C. now. That's why they're so angry with the \u2014 the electorate is so angry with everybody who is involved in government in Washington, D.C. Because if you listen to the folks up here, you think that they weren't even there; they had nothing to do with this. This is a difference between being a governor and being in a legislature. See, because when something doesn't work in New Jersey, they look at me, say: "Why didn't it get done? Why didn't you do it?" You have to be responsible and accountable. And so on +p2740 +aVWell, I think we have to focus, Hugh, on exactly what the priorities are. And to me, what I've always said is that the president has set up an awful situation through his deal with Iran, because what his deal with Iran has done is empower them and enrich them. And that's the way +p2741 +aVNot only would I be prepared to do it, I would do it. A no-fly zone means a no-fly zone, Wolf. That's what it means. See, maybe \u2014 maybe because I'm from New Jersey, I just have this kind of plain language hangup. But I would make very clear \u2014 I would not talk to Vladimir Putin. In fact, I would talk to Vladimir Putin a lot. But I'd say to him, "Listen, Mr. President, there's a no-fly zone in Syria; you fly in, it applies to you." And yes, we would shoot down the planes of Russian pilots if in fact they were stupid enough to think that this president was the same feckless weakling that the president we have in the Oval Office is right now. +p2742 +aVWell, Wolf, I'll tell you what reckless is. What reckless is is calling Assad a reformer. What reckless is allowing Russia to come into Crimea and Ukraine. What reckless is is inviting Russia into Syria to team with Iran. That is reckless. And the reckless people are the folks in the White House right now. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are the reckless people. And if you think that a no-fly zone is a reckless policy, you're welcome to your opinion. But how is it working so far? As we have 250,000 Syrians murdered, slaughtered; millions running around the world, running for their lives. It's not working. We need to try something else. And that is not reckless. +p2743 +aVWhat I say to Carla is that the first job of the president of the United States is to protect your safety and your security and the security and safety of your family. And this debate stops with me in the discussions with the FBI director. Now, listen, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I know Jim Comey. We've worked together. He was the U.S. attorney in Manhattan when I was a U.S. attorney in New Jersey. And when Jim Comey gets up before Congress and says, we cannot effectively vet these people, for me as president, that's the end of the conversation. We have to put America's security first. The American people \u2014 we on this stage need to open our ears. We need to open our ears. The American people are not whispering to us. They are screaming to us. And they're screaming to us that it's our job to actually make this government work. It's so dysfunctional under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. It's so ineffective. It's so ineffectual that the American people say, we don't trust them to do anything anymore. So I'm not going to let Syrian refugees, any Syrian refugees in this country. And it was widows and orphans, by the way, and we now know from watching the San Bernardino attack that women can commit heinous, heinous acts against humanity just the same as men can do it. And so I don't back away from that position for a minute. When the FBI director tells me that he can vet those people, then we'll consider it and not a moment before because your safety and security is what's most important to me. +p2744 +aVWell, what it would like is, we have one of the great advantages of America being the open society that we are. It is, we are not hiding things from the American people, but China everyday is conducting business in a way that hides things from their people. So if they want to come in and attack all the personnel records in the federal government, which they've done, and which \u2014 they now have my Social Security number and my fingerprints, as well as maybe some other folks' who are on this stage. The fact is, they need to be fought back on. And what we need to do is go at the things that they are most sensitive and most embarrassing to them; that they're hiding; get that information and put it out in public. Let the Chinese people start to digest how corrupt the Chinese government is; how they steal from the Chinese people; and how they're enriching oligarchs all throughout China. They need to understand that. And we need to take those type of steps. This president has seen personnel records of people who have sacrificed for the American people and for the federal government stolen by the Chinese and he's done nothing in return. This is why \u2014 this is what I said at the beginning that this administration, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton through their foreign policy, have betrayed the American people, because the weakness they've displayed has led to Putin's incursions in the Middle East and in eastern Europe, and has led \u2014 has led to significant problems in the Middle East as well, and the death and murder of lots of folks. +p2745 +aVOn September 10th, 2001, I was named chief federal prosecutor in New Jersey and on September 11th, 2001, my wife and my brother who are in the audience tonight went through the World Trade Center and to their offices just blocks away from the Trade Center. I lost touch with them for six hours that day and prayed that they were alive. Luckily, they were sent home. But many of our friends and others in our neighborhood lost their lives that day. Terrorism \u2014 radical jihadist terrorism is not theoretical to me. It's real. And for seven years, I spent my life protecting our country against another one of those attacks. You won't have to worry when I'm President of the Untied States whether that can be done because I've already done it. I want the chance to do it again to protect you, your children and your families. If you give me the chance and give me your vote I will protect America from the wars that are being brought to our door step. +p2746 +aVI don't see a lot of weakness on this stage, quite frankly. Where I see the weakness is in those three people that are left on the Democratic stage. You know, I see a socialist, an isolationist and a pessimist. And for the sake of me, I can't figure out which one is which. But I will \u2014 but I will tell you this, the socialist says they're going to pay for everything and give you everything for free, except they don't say they're going to raise it through taxes to 90 percent to do it. The isolationist is the one who wants to continue to follow a foreign policy that has fewer democracies today than when Barack Obama came into office around the world. But I know who the pessimist is. It's Hillary Clinton. And you put me on that stage against her next September, she won't get within 10 miles of the White House. Take it to the bank. +p2747 +aVWell, I wish you would have asked that question years ago when they broke it. I mean, let me be honest with the people who are watching at home. The government has lied to you and they have stolen from you. They told you that your Social Security money is in a trust fund. All that's in that trust fund is a pile of IOUs for money they spent on something else a long time ago. And they've stolen from you because now they know they cannot pay these benefits and Social Security is going to be insolvent in seven to eight years. We're sitting up here talking about all these other things; 71 percent of federal spending today is on entitlements, and debt service. And, that's with zero percent interest rates. Now, I'm the only person that's put out a detailed plan on how to deal with entitlements. And we'll save a trillion dollars over the next 10 years. And, here's the difference between me and Hillary Clinton. What Hillary Clinton's going to say, and has said before is, she wants to raise Social Security taxes. Now, let me ask you a question everybody, and, this is for the guy, you know, who owns a landscaping business out there. If somebody's already stolen money from you, are you going to give them more? Or, are you going to deal with the problem by saying, I'm going to give people who've done well in this country less benefit on the backend. We need to get realistic about this. We're not \u2014 the American people \u2014 forget about anything else, they've already been lied to and stolen from. And... +p2748 +aV...I'm going to go to Washington to stop it... +p2749 +aV...The only way we're going to be morale, the only way we're going to keep our promise to seniors is start by following the first rule we should all follow, which is to look at them, treat them like adults, and tell them the truth. It isn't there anymore, Mike. They stole it. It got stolen from them. It's not theirs anymore. The government stole it, and spent it a long time ago... +p2750 +aVSo, let's stop fooling around about this, let's tell people the truth. For once, let's do that, and stop trying to give them some kind of fantasy that's never going to come true. +p2751 +aVYou bet they do. And if I were the prosecutor, that is exactly where they would be. The fact is that this Justice Department under this president has been a political Justice Department. It has been a Justice Department that decided that they want to pick who the winners and losers are. They like General Motors, so they give them a pass. They don't like somebody else like David Petraeus, they prosecute them and send a decorated general on to disgrace. It's a political Justice Department. And, Jim, you know full well that in the seven years I was U.S. attorney we went after pharmaceutical companies. We went after companies that were ripping off shareholders. We went after companies that were doing things that were against the law. And to expand on Mr. Carson's \u2014 or Dr. Carson's question, let's face it, we have laws already. We don't need newer (ph) laws. We don't need Hillary Clinton's price controls for \u2014 again, does anybody out there think that giving Washington, D.C., the opportunity to run the pharmaceutical industry is a good idea, given how well they have done running the government? So what we do, though, is, if there is somebody who is price- gouging, we have laws for prosecutors to take that on. Let's let a Justice Department \u2014 and I will make an attorney general who will enforce the law and make justice more than just a word. It will be a way of life. +p2752 +aVJohn, I'll tell you something. You want to talk about moral authority. Let's talk about something that happened this week in the news. You know, the FBI director, the president's appointed FBI director has said this week that because of a lack of support from politicians like the president of the United States, that police officers are afraid to get out of their cars; that they're afraid to enforce the law. And he says, the president's appointee, that crime is going up because of this. And when the president of the United States gets out to speak about it, does he support police officers? Does he stand up for law enforcement? No, he doesn't. I'll tell you this, the number one job of the president of the United States is to protect the safety and security of the American people. This president has failed, and when I'm in the Oval Office, police officers will know that they will have the support of the president of the Untied States. That's real moral authority that we need in the Oval Office. +p2753 +aVCarl, are we really talking about getting government involved in fantasy football? We have \u2014 wait a second, we have $19 trillion in debt. We have people out of work. We have +p2754 +aVWell, first off, what we don't do is do what Hillary Clinton and John Kerry and Barack Obama want us to do, which is their solution for everything, put more taxes on it, give more money to Washington, D.C., and then they will fix it. Well, there is no evidence that they can fix anything in Washington, D.C. +p2755 +aVWhat we should do is to be investing in all types of energy, John, all types of energy. I've laid out... +p2756 +aVNo, John. John, do you want me to answer or do you want to answer? How are we going to do this? Because, I've got to tell you the truth, even in New Jersey what you're doing is called rude. So... We've laid out a national energy plan that says that we should invest in all types of energy. I will tell you, you could win a bet at a bar tonight, since we're talking about fantasy football, if you ask who the top three states in America are that produce solar energy: California and Arizona are easy, but number three is New Jersey. Why? Because we work with the private sector to make solar energy affordable and available to businesses and individuals in our state. We need to make sure that we do everything across all kinds of energy: natural gas, oil, absolutely. But also where it's affordable, solar, wind in Iowa has become very affordable and it makes sense. That is the way we deal with global warming, climate change, or any of those problems, not through government intervention, not through government taxes, and for God's sake, don't send Washington another dime until they stop wasting the money they're already sending there. +p2757 +aVAnd \u2014 and \u2014 and I \u2014 you know, Ben is absolutely right in saying that what we don't need to do is to send more money to Washington, D.C. to fix this problem. And that's what you'll hear from Hillary Clinton \u2014 and I've already heard from her \u2014 is that, send more money in Social Security, send more money in Medicare taxes, send more money for Medicaid, and that's gonna solve the problem. What we know is we're living longer. That's a blessing. It's a blessing that we're living longer, so we have to increase the retirement age to reflect that blessing. We need to make sure that people understand, as Jeb said before, that if you've done extraordinarily well in this country, do you want them to take more out of your taxes now and think they're gonna give it back to you later? Or would you rather take less later on? +p2758 +aVI want to talk to the folks at home. I want to ask you: Are you fed up with how Washington taxes you? Are you fed up with how Washington wastes your money? Are you concerned like I am that the debt and deficits of Washington, D.C. are endangering America's future? I've got one more question for you then. Are you serious about this election? Because if you are, you need to elect someone who's deadly serious about changing this culture. I am deadly serious about changing this culture. I changed it in New Jersey. I'm deadly serious about doing this job the right way. I'm prepared. I'm tested. I'm ready. And I want to make this our government. For the people who say we can't do it, I say hell no, we can do it together. +p2759 +aVHi, my name is Chris Christie, and I'd like to you take the camera off me and put it on the audience because I'd like to ask all of you, how many of you, raise your hand, believe that in today's Barak Obama America your children will have a better life than you've had? You see? That's why I'm running for President. because leadership is not about me, it's about our country. And, what we talk about tonight, it's not about us, it's about the people in the audience tonight, because in seven short years this president has stripped away their trust, and their faith, and their belief that the next generation will have a better life. He's stolen that from us, and when I'm president, I'm going to take it back. +p2760 +aVWell, I know Ben wasn't talking about me, I'm sure he was talking about one of the other guys, not me. As far as being an outsider is concerned \u2014 as far as being an outsider is concerned, let me tell you this, Jake, I'm a Republican in New Jersey. I wake up every morning as an outsider. I wake up every morning with a Democratic legislature who trying to beat my head in and fight me because I'm trying to bring conservative change to a state that needed it desperately. And so, everyone can talk us here about their credentials. But the bottom line is, every morning I get up, I veto 400 bills from a crazy liberal Democratic legislature, not one of them has been overridden. I've vetoed more tax increases than any governor in American history, according to Americans for Tax Reform. What folks want in this country is somebody to go down there and get the job done. And that's exactly what I'll do. So, I know this much, that what the American people want to hire right now is somebody who believes in them. And believes that they are the ones who can fix our country. I will be the vessel through which they can fix this country, but it's not about me. It's about all of you. And getting this government off your back and out of your way, and letting you succeed. I know Ben wasn't talking about me. +p2761 +aVLook at him smiling at me right now. I know Ben didn't mean it about me. One of these other guys, I'm sure. +p2762 +aVBe honest, Ben, be honest. +p2763 +aVSee, Jake, it wasn't me. +p2764 +aVI was \u2014 +p2765 +aVShe is, and so if she, based on conscience, can't sign that \u2014 that marriage license, then there should be someone in her office to be able to do it, and if the law needs to be changed in the state of Kentucky, which is what she's advocating, it should be changed. +p2766 +aVAnd why don't we do the same thing with Planned Parenthood? +p2767 +aVWe elected a Republican Congress to do this. And they should be doing it, and they're not. And they're giving the president a pass. +p2768 +aVI put it in the list, Dana. We should be doing these things and forcing the president to take action. +p2769 +aVLet's force him to do what he says he's going to do. Now I don't know whether he'll do it or not, but let's force him to do it. +p2770 +aVFirst of, Jake, I don't yield to anybody on how to enforce the law. I'm the only person on this stage who spent seven years as a United States Attorney after September 11th, and I know how to do this. The fact is though that for 15,000 people a day to be deported every day for two years is an undertaking that almost none of us could accomplish given the current levels of funding, and the current number of law enforcement officers. Here's what we need to do, and I think this is where Donald is absolutely right. What we need to do is to secure our border, and we need to do it with more than just a wall. We need to use electronics, we need to use drones, we need to use FBI, DEA, and ATF, and yes, we need to take the fingerprint of every person who comes into this country on a visa, and when they overstay their visa, we need to tap them on the shoulder, and say, "You have overstayed your welcome, you're taking advantage of the American people. It's time for you to go." If we had that kind of system in place, we wouldn't have the 11 million people we have now. +p2771 +aVJake listen. While I'm as entertained as anyone by this personal back-and-forth about the history of Donald and Carly's career, for the 55-year-old construction worker out in that audience tonight who doesn't have a job, who can't fund his child's education, I've got to tell you the truth. They could care less about your careers, they care about theirs. Let's start talking about that on this stage and stop playing \u2014 and stop playing the games. Stop playing \u2014 +p2772 +aVJohn \u2014 I'm not done yet, John. +p2773 +aVStop \u2014 and stop playing \u2014 and Carly \u2014 Carly, listen. You can interrupt everybody else on this stage, you're not going to interrupt me, OK? The fact is that we don't want to hear about your careers, back and forth and volleying back and forth about who did well and who did poorly. You're both successful people. Congratulations. You know who's not successful? The middle class in this country who's getting plowed over by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Let's start talking about those issues tonight and stop this childish back-and-forth between the two of you. +p2774 +aVListen, you know, Hugh, it's an important point. And the question is, who is going to prosecute Hillary Clinton? The Obama White House seems to have in interest, the Justice Department seems to have no interest. I think it's time to put a former federal prosecutor on the same stage as Hillary Clinton. And I will prosecute her during those debates on that stage for the record we're talking about here. The fact she had a private email server in her basement, using national security secrets running through it, could have been hacked by the Russians, the Chinese, or two 18-year-olds on a toot (ph) wanting to have some fun. No one is answering that question from the Hillary Clinton campaign... +p2775 +aVYou know why? Because she knows she's wrong, and she cannot look in the mirror at herself, and she cannot tell the American people the truth. +p2776 +aVWell, Jake, I was named U.S. attorney by President Bush on September 10th, 2001. And that next day my wife Mary Pat did what she did every day, she traveled through the World Trade Center and went to her office two blocks from the World Trade Center. And after those planes hit, for five-and-a-half-hours after that, I couldn't reach her, didn't know whether she was dead or alive, and we had three children at the time, 8, 5 and 1. And I had to confront what so many thousands of others in my region had to confront, the idea I might become a single parent, the idea that my life and my children's life might be changed forever. We lost friends that day. We went to the funerals. And I will tell you that what those people wanted and what they deserved was for America to answer back against what had been done to them. And I support what President Bush did at that time, going into Afghanistan, hunting al Qaeda and its leaders, getting its sanctuary out of place, and making it as difficult around the world for them to move people and money. And then he went to prosecutors like us, and he said, never again. Don't prosecute these people after the crime is committed. Intervene before the crime happens. I absolutely believe that what the president did at the time was right. And I am proud to have been one of the people on the stage who was part of making sure that what Governor Bush said before was the truth. America was safe for those seven years and Barack Obama has taken that safety away from us. +p2777 +aVLet me say this, Jake, is that while that may have been a fine idea that Dr. Carson had, these people were out to kill us. I stood in that region with my family, and every time a plane went overhead in the weeks after that, people's heads jerked to the sky because they thought it was happening again. You do not need to go through subtle diplomacy at that point. That could be handled later on. What you need is a strong American leader who will take the steps that are necessary to protect our nation. That's what I would do as commander-in-chief in this circumstance. And that's what President George W. Bush did in 2001. +p2778 +aVJake, you brought my issue up. +p2779 +aVYou know, I enjoy the interplay. Thank you, gentlemen. I'll just say this, first off, New Jersey is the first state in the nation that now says if you are non-violent, non-dealing drug user, that you don't go to jail for your first offense. You go to mandatory treatment. You see, Jake, I'm pro-life. And I think you need to be pro-life for more than just the time in the womb. It gets tougher when they get out of the womb. And when they're the 16-year-old drug addict in the Florida county lockup, that life is just as precious as the life in the womb. And so, that's why I'm for rehabilitation, why I think the war on drugs has been a failure. But I'll end with this. That doesn't mean we should be legalizing gate way drugs. And if Senator Paul thinks that the only victim is the person, look at the decrease in productivity, look at the way people get used and move on to other drugs when they use marijuana as a gateway drug, it is not them that are the only victims. Their families are the victims too, their children are the victims too, and their employers are the victims also. That's why I'll enforce the federal law, while you can still put an emphasis on rehabilitation, which we've done in New Jersey. +p2780 +aVAnd Senator Paul knows that that's simply not the truth. In New Jersey, we have medical marijuana laws, which I supported and implemented. This is not medical marijuana. There's goes as much \u2014 a further step beyond. This is recreational use of marijuana. This is much different. And so, while he would like to use a sympathetic story to back up his point, it doesn't work. I'm not against medical marijuana. We do it in New Jersey. But I'm against the recreational use against marijuana. If he wants to change the federal law, get Congress to pass the law to change it, and get a president to sign it. +p2781 +aVNo, it's not. But with Donald, it's a good start. That's really good. No, listen. This is an issue that \u2014 that we've gotta talk about, and we haven't talked about yet. 71 percent of all federal spending is on entitlements and debt service. When John Kennedy was elected president in 1960, it was 26 percent. Harvard and Dartmouth says that Social Security's going to go insolvent in seven to eight years. So what I say is very simple. We need to save this program for the good people out there who have paid into the system and need it. And if that means making sure that folks like Donald and many of us on the stage don't get it, that's the right thing to do because here's what Hillary Clinton is going to want to do. She's going to want to put more money into a system that has already lied to us and stolen from us. This government doesn't need more money to make Social Security solvent. We need to be not paying out benefits to people who don't really need it. We need to protect the people who Social Security means the difference between picking between heat and rent and food. That's why I put out the proposal and that's the people I'm trying to... +p2782 +aVI don't think Senator Rubio is a skeptic of climate change. I think what Senator Rubio said I agree with. That in fact we don't need this massive government intervention to deal with the problem. Look at what we have done in New Jersey. We have already reached our clean air goals for 2020. And when I was governor, I pulled out of the regional cap and trade deal, the only state in the Northeast that did that. And we still reached our goals. Why? Because 53 percent of our electricity comes from nuclear. We use natural gas. We use solar power. We're the third-highest- using solar power state. You know why? Because we made all of those things economically feasible. I agree with Marco. We shouldn't be destroying our economy in order to chase some wild left-wing idea that somehow us by ourselves is going to fix the climate. We can contribute to that and be economically sound. We have proven we can do that in New Jersey. Nuclear needs to be back on the table in a significant way in this country if we want to go after this problem. +p2783 +aVI understand. No, no, listen, everybody makes a mistake every once in a while, Jake, even George Shultz. And if that's truly a representation of what he believes we should be doing, then with all due respect to the former secretary of state, I disagree with him. +p2784 +aVI think the Adams family has been shorted in the currency business. Our country wouldn't be here without John Adams, and he would not have been able to do it without Abigal Adams, so, I'd put Abigail Adams on the bill. +p2785 +aVYou know, I've been called a lot of names by a lot of different people, and now I got to get called by names by the Secret Service? I would just say True Heart. +p2786 +aVI turned 18 in 1980, and my first vote was for Ronald Reagan. Boy, am I glad I did it. And I think the country is, too. A Christie presidency won't be about me. It will be about you. Tonight, you sit at home in your living room, frustrated that you play by the rules, you pay the taxes, you do the hard things to raise your family, yet you feel like America's generosity is being taken advantage of. That you've been \u2014 system is being gamed, and that you're turning out to fall further and further behind. Our presidency \u2014 our presidency \u2014 will be about ending that, about enforcing the law, level the playing field for everybody, and once again reward those folks who play by the rules, and think that justice means more than just the word. But it means a way of life. And I will tell you this, around the world, I will not shake hands with, I will not meet with, and I will not agree to anything with a country that says death to us and death to Israel and holds our hostages while we sign agreements with them. It will be an America that be strong and resolute, and will once again be able to stick out its chest and say, "we truly are the greatest nation in the world, because we live our lives that way, each and every day." +p2787 +aVIf you think it's bad now, you should've seen it when I got there. The fact is -- the fact is, in the eight years before I became governor, taxes and fees were raised at the state level 115 times. In the eight years before I became governor, spending was increased 56 percent. And in the eight years before I become governor, taxes and fees were raised at the state level 115 times. In the eight years before I became Governor, spending was increased 56 percent, and in the eight years before I became governor, there was zero net private sector job growth in New Jersey. Zero. For eight years. So, what did we do? We came in, we balanced an $11 billion deficit on a $29 billion budget by cutting over 800 programs in the state budget. We brought the budget into balance with no tax increases. In fact, we vetoed five income tax increases during my time as governor. We cut business taxes $2.3 billion, and we cut regulation by one-third of what my predecessor put in place. And, what's happened since? A hundred ninety-two thousand private sector jobs in the five and a half years I've been governor. We have a lot of work to do in New Jersey, but I am darn proud we've brought our state back. +p2788 +aVYes, I do. And I'll tell you why: because I'm the only person on this stage who's actually filed applications under the Patriot Act, who has gone before the federal -- the Foreign Intelligence Service court, who has prosecuted and investigated and jailed terrorists in this country after September 11th. I was appointed U.S. attorney by President Bush on September 10th, 2001, and the world changed enormously the next day, and that happened in my state. This is not theoretical to me. I went to the funerals. We lost friends of ours in the Trade Center that day. My own wife was two blocks from the Trade Center that day, at her office, having gone through it that morning. When you actually have to be responsible for doing this, you can do it, and we did it, for seven years in my office, respecting civil liberties and protecting the homeland. And I will make no apologies, ever, for protecting the lives and the safety of the American people. We have to give more tools to our folks to be able to do that, not fewer, and then trust those people and oversee them to do it the right way. As president, that is exactly what I'll do. +p2789 +aVAnd -- and, Megyn? Megyn, that's a -- that, you know, that's a completely ridiculous answer. "I want to collect more records from terrorists, but less records from other people." How are you supposed to know, Megyn? +p2790 +aVWhat are you supposed to... +p2791 +aV...how are you supposed to -- no, I'll tell you how you, look... +p2792 +aVLet me tell you something, you go... +p2793 +aVWhen you -- you know, senator... +p2794 +aVListen, senator, you know, when you're sitting in a subcommittee, just blowing hot air about this, you can say things like that. When you're responsible for protecting the lives of the American people, then what you need to do is to make sure... +p2795 +aV...is to make sure that you use the system the way it's supposed to work. +p2796 +aVThere is no... +p2797 +aVAnd you know -- you know, Senator Paul? Senator Paul, you know, the hugs that I remember are the hugs that I gave to the families who lost their people on September 11th. Those are the hugs I remember, and those had nothing to do -- and those had nothing to do with politics, unlike what you're doing by cutting speeches on the floor of the Senate, then putting them on the Internet within half an hour to raise money for your campaign... +p2798 +aV...and while still putting our country at risk. +p2799 +aVYou know what, Megyn, can I... +p2800 +aVNo, he's not lying, he's just wrong. I mean, so, there's a difference -- I'm the only guy on this stage who's put out a detailed, 12 point plan on entitlement reform and here's why -- because 71% of federal spending right now is on entitlements, and debt service, 71%. And we have spent the last hour and five minutes talking about the other 29%, and no time on the 71%, and that makes no sense. Now, let me tell you exactly what we would do on Social Security. Yes, we'd raise the retirement age two years, and phase it in over 25 years, that means we'd raise it one month a year for 25 years when we're all living longer, and living better lives. Secondly, we would means test Social Security for those who are making over $200,000 dollars a year in retirement income, and have $4 to $5 million dollars in liquid assets saved. They don't need that Social Security check. Social Security is meant to be -- to make sure that no one who's worked hard, and played by the rules, and paid into the system grows old in poverty in America. If we don't deal with this problem, it will bankrupt our country, or lead to massive tax increases, neither one that we want in this country. +p2801 +aVChris... +p2802 +aVYeah, sure. And, I don't disagree with ending Congress' retirement program. I'm a governor, I don't have a retirement program in my state, and I don't disagree with that. But, here's the news to the American people, he's complaining about the lying and stealing. The lying and stealing has already occurred. The trust fund is filled with IOU's. We can't fix the problem just by ending Congress's retirement, that's worth about, "this" much. We need to go at the fundamental problem, and the fundamental problem is that this system is broken. It has been stolen from. We have been lied to, and we need a strong leader to tell the truth and fix... +p2803 +aVWell, listen. You know, if we want to deal with these issues, we have to deal with them in a way that makes sense. I agree with what Dr. Carson said earlier. The first thing we need to do to make America stronger is to strengthen our military, and I put out a really specific plan: no less than 500,000 active duty soldiers in the Army. No less than 185,000 active duty marines in the Marine Corps. Bring us to a 350 ship Navy again, and modernize the Ohio class of submarines, and bring our Air Force back to 2,600 aircraft that are ready to go. Those are the kind of things that are going to send a clear message around the world. Those are the things that we need to start working on immediately to make our country stronger and make it better. Those are the things that we need to be able to be doing. And as we move towards dealing with foreign aid, I don't disagree with Senator Paul's position that we shouldn't be funding our enemies. But I absolutely believe that Israel is a priority to be able to fund and keep them strong and safe after eight years of this administration. +p2804 +aVWell, thank you, Megyn. Listen, I was born into a middle class family in New Jersey. My dad came home from serving in the Army after having lost his father, worked in the Breyers ice cream plant in Newark, New Jersey. Was the first person to graduate from college. He put himself through college at night. My mom was a secretary. I was appointed United States attorney on September 10, 2001. And I spent the next seven years of my career fighting terrorism and putting terrorists in jail. I'm a conservative, pro-life governor in a state where it is really tough to be both. A state like New Jersey, with lots of Democrats, but still we cut taxes, we balanced budgets. We fought the teacher's union. This president has had weak leadership, which has led to bad choices. We have got to stop worrying about being loved and start worrying about being respected. And that's exactly how I'll lead our country. +p2805 +asVCARSON +p2806 +(lp2807 +VThank you, Wolf. Please join me for a moment of silence and remembrance of the San Bernardino victims. Thank you. You know, our country since its inception has been at war, every 15 or 20 years. But the war that we are fighting now against radical Islamist jihadists is one that we must win. Our very existence is dependent upon that. You know, as a pediatric neurosurgeon, I frequently faced life and death situations, and had to come up with the right diagnosis, the right plan, and execute that plan frequently with other colleagues. Right now, the United States of America is the patient. And the patient is in critical condition and will not be cured by political correctness and will not be cured by timidity. And I am asking the Congress, which represents the people, to declare a war on +p2808 +aVFirst of all, let me just complain a little bit. This is the first time I've spoken and several people have had multiple questions so please try to pay attention to that. Now, as far as monitoring is concerned, what my point is, we need to make sure that any place \u2013 I don't care whether it's a mosque, a school, a supermarket, a theater, you know it doesn't matter. If there are a lot of people getting there and engaging in radicalizing activities then we need to be suspicious of it. We have to get rid of all this PC stuff. And people are worried about if somebody's going to say that I'm Islamophobic or what have you. This is craziness because we are at war. That's why I asked congress, go ahead and declare the war . We need to be on a war footing. We need to understand that our nation is in grave danger. You know, what the Muslim Brotherhood said in the explanatory memorandum that was discovered during the Holy Land Foundation Trial was that, "they will take advantage of our PC attitude to get us. :" We have to be better than this. We have to be smarter than they are. +p2809 +aVI think you have to ask them about that. I don't want to get in between them. Let them fight. +p2810 +aVNeurosurgeon. +p2811 +aVWell, interestingly enough, you should see the eyes of some of those children when I say to them we're going to have to open your head up and take out this tumor. They're not happy about it, believe me. And they don't like me very much at that point. But later on, they love me. Sometimes you \u2014 I sound like him. You know, later on, you know, they really realize what's going on. And by the same token, you have to be able to look at the big picture and understand that it's actually merciful if you go ahead and finish the job, rather than death by 1,000 pricks. +p2812 +aVYou got it. You got it. +p2813 +aVRuthless is not necessarily the word I would use, but tough, resolute, understanding what the problems are, and understanding that the job of the president of the United States is to protect the people of this country and to do what is necessary in order to get it done. +p2814 +aVFirst of all, I've been talking about this for over a year. We have to destroy their caliphate because that gives them legitimacy to go ahead with the global Jihad. We have to take their energy because they are \u2014 +p2815 +aVNo one is ever better off with dictators but there comes a time you know, when you're on an airplane, they always say, "in case of an emergency oxygen masks will drop down. Put yours on first and then administer help to your neighbor." We need oxygen right now. And we need to start thinking about the needs of the American people before we go and solve everybody else's problems. The fact of the matter is, is that the Middle East has been in turmoil for thousands of years. For us to think that we're going to in there and fix that with a couple of little bombs and a few little decorations is relatively foolish. +p2816 +aVWell, you know, there's a false narrative that only the political class has the wisdom and the ability to be commander-in- chief. But if you go back and you study the design of our country, it was really designed for the citizen statesman. And we need to be talking about where does your experience come from? You know, and I've had a lot of experience building things, organizing things, you know, a national scholarship program. One of the things that you'll notice if you look through my life is that I don't do a lot of talking. I do a lot of doing. And really, it says more about a person than how much they talk. And then some people say you're weak because, you know, you're not loud and you're not boisterous and you're not rude. But the fact of the matter is, look and see what I've done. And that speaks volumes about strength. +p2817 +aVWell, it was very interesting having an opportunity to talk to the Syrians themselves. And I asked them: What do you want? What is your supreme desire? Their supreme desire was to be settled back in their own country. I said, "What can Americans and other countries do?" They said, "Support the efforts of those who are trying to provide safety for us, including the Jordanians." Of course, they had a brand new hospital, for instance, that was unstaffed because there wasn't enough money to do it. But here's what's really neat. If you go into Hasakah province in northeast Syria, that's an area that's as big as Lebanon. It's controlled by the Kurds, the Christians and the moderate Sunnis. And there are airstrips and hotels. You could settle a lot of people there. All we would have to do is be willing to provide them with some weaponry, some defensive weaponry. And we seem to be afraid to give the Kurds weaponry. We like to send it for some strange reason through Baghdad, and then they only get a tenth of it. And if we would support them, we'd have a perfect ideal there. We don't need to set this up as we either take a bunch of refugees who will be infiltrated with terrorists, I guarantee you. For them not to be would be terrorist malpractice. And we need to \u2014 to choose the right choice, not these false choices. +p2818 +aVWell, I definitely believe that he is unstable, and I do, in fact, believe that China has a lot more influence with him than we do. But we also recognize that North Korea is in severe financial straits, and they have decided to use their resources to build their military, rather than to feed their people and to take care of the various humanitarian responsibilities that they have. We can capitalize upon that. You know, we should use our economic power in lots of different ways. I think we can use that in order to keep Putin contained, because he is a one-horse show. Energy. And we have an abundance of energy, but we have archaic energy exportation rules. We need to get rid of those, allow ourselves to really make Europe dependent on us and other parts of the world dependent on us for energy. Put him back in his little box where he belongs. And, you know, we need to be doing lots of other things with the resources that we have. So economic power works just as well as military power, perhaps even better. And speaking of that, our Military needs to be upgraded. You know, you look at things like our Ohio Class submarines, they're 25 years old. Our minuteman 3 missiles \u2014 they are 34 years old. Our B-52 bombers \u2014 50 years old. You know, if we don't get the military right nothing else matters. +p2819 +aVWell, you know, the statement that I made last week, that I would leave the party was contingent upon whether in fact the party acts like they have in the past with a lot of subterfuge and dishonesty, or like they're going act now because I spike to Reince Priebus, and he assured me that the Washington Post writer had it all wrong, and that they're not be engaging in anything to thwart the will of the people. That's why I got into this race, as a member of we the people, to try bring some honesty and integrity back to the process. +p2820 +aVI've been fortunate enough to travel to 58 different countries and I thank God everyday that I was born in this country. The most exceptional country that the world has ever known. And I want to make sure that we preserve that exceptionalism for the next generation. My mother told me if I work hard and I really believed in American principles and I believed in God, anything is possible. I believe that is true, and that's why I'm not anxious to give away American values and principles for the sake of political correctness. +p2821 +aVWell, first of all, delighted to be here. My family's here, and my little granddaughter, who's three years old, said she wanted to come to the debate. So this is very cool. As far as the minimum wage is concerned, people need to be educated on the minimum wage. Every time we raise the minimum wage, the number of jobless people increases. It's particularly a problem in the black community. Only 19.8 percent of black teenagers have a job, who are looking for one. You know, that \u2014 and that's because of those high wages. If you lower those wages, that comes down. You know, I can remember, as a youngster \u2014 you know, my first job working in a laboratory as a lab assistant, and multiple other jobs. But I would not have gotten those jobs if someone had to pay me a large amount of money. But what I did gain from those jobs is a tremendous amount of experience, and how to operate in the world and how to relate to different people, and how to become a responsible individual. And that's what gave me what I needed to ascend the ladder of opportunity in this country. That's what we need to be thinking about. How do we allow people to ascend the ladder of opportunity, rather than how do we give them everything and keep them dependent? +p2822 +aVI would not raise it. I would not raise it, specifically because I'm interested in making sure that people are able to enter the job market and take advantage of opportunities. +p2823 +aVWell, first of all, thank you not asking me what I said in the 10th grade. I appreciate that. +p2824 +aVThe fact of the matter is, you know, what \u2014 we should vet all candidates. I have no problem with being vetted. What I do have a problem with is being lied about and then putting that out there as truth. And I don't even mind that so much, if they do it about \u2014 with everybody, like people on the other side. But, you know, when I look at somebody like Hillary Clinton, who sits there and tells her daughter and a government official that no, this was a terrorist attack, and then tells everybody else that it was a video. Where I came from, they call that a lie. And... I think that's very different from, you know, somebody misinterpreting, when I said that I was offered a scholarship to West Point, that is the words that they used. But, I've had many people come and say the same thing to me. That is what people do in those situations. We have to start treating people the same, and finding out what people really think and what they're made of. People who know me know that I'm an honest person. +p2825 +aVWell, you know, when I say tithing, I'm talking about the concept of proportionality. +p2826 +aVEverybody should pay the same proportion of what they make. You make $10 billion, you pay a billion. You make $10, you pay one. You get same rights and privileges. I don't see how anything gets a whole lot fairer than that. But you also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes because that is the thing that tilts it in one direction or another. And you have to set the rate at an appropriate level. Now I will say that, there are a lot of people who say, if you get rid of the deductions, you ruin the American dream because, you know, home mortgage deduction. But the fact of the matter is, people had homes before 1913 when we introduced the federal income tax, and later after that started deductions. And they say there will be no more charitable giving. We had churches before that and charitable organizations before that. The fact of the matter is, I believe if you put more money in people's pockets that they will actually be more generous rather than less generous. And it's... ... the money that they earned. And, the other thing is, I do care about the poor people. And in the system that we're putting together, there will be a rebate for people at the poverty level. But I also want to emphasize the fact that as we get the economy moving, and I hope I get a question about how do we get the economy moving, there will be a lot more opportunities for poor people not to be poor people because this is America. This is the land of dreams. And our policies should be aimed at allowing people to realize that dream. +p2827 +aVWell, putting the special ops people in there is better than not having them there, because they \u2014 that's why they're called special ops, they're actually able to guide some of the other things that we're doing there. And what we have to recognize is that Putin is trying to really spread his influence throughout the Middle East. This is going to be his base. And we have to oppose him there in an effective way. We also must recognize that it's a very complex place. You know, the Chinese are there, as well as the Russians, and you have all kinds of factions there. What we've been doing so far is very ineffective, but we can't give up ground right there. But we have to look at this on a much more global scale. We're talking about global jihadists. And their desire is to destroy us and to destroy our way of life. So we have to be saying, how do we make them look like losers? Because that's the way that they're able to gather a lot of influence. And I think in order to make them look like losers, we have to destroy their caliphate. And you look for the easiest place to do that? It would be in Iraq. And if \u2014 outside of Anbar in Iraq, there's a big energy field. Take that from them. Take all of that land from them. We could do that, I believe, fairly easily, I've learned from talking to several generals, and then you move on from there. But you have to continue to face them, because our goal is not to contain them, but to destroy them before they destroy us. +p2828 +aVWell, I think we should have policies that don't allow them to just enlarge themselves at the expense of smaller entities. And certainly some of the policies, some of the monetary and Fed policies that we're using makes it very easy for them, makes it very easy for the big corporations, quite frankly, at these very low interest rates to buy back their stock and to drive the price of that up artificially. Those are the kinds of things that led to the problem in the first place. And I think this all really gets back to this whole regulation issue which is creating a very abnormal situation. This country was \u2014 declared its independence in 1776. In less than 100 years, it was the number-one economic power in the world. And the reason was because we had an atmosphere that encouraged entrepreneurial risk- taking and capital investment. Those are the fuels that drive it. And what we've done now is let the creep of regulation turn into a stampede of regulations, which is involved in every aspect of our lives. If we can get that out, it makes a big difference. And even for the average person, every single regulation costs money. And it's shifted to the individual. So \u2014 and it hurts the poor and the middle class much more than it does the rich. They go into the store and they buy a bar of soap, it costs 10 cents more, they notice it. And the middle class, when they come to the cash register, have a whole cart full of things that cost 5, 10 or 15 cents more, they notice it. It is hurting the poor. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton won't tell you that that's the thing that's really hurting middle class in the core. They'll say it's the rich, take their money, but that won't help. You can take all of the rich's money and it won't make a dent in the problem that we're having. We have to come back to the fundamental principles that made America great. +p2829 +aVI would have policies that wouldn't allow that to occur. I don't want to go in and tear anybody down. I mean, that doesn't help us. But what does help us is stop tinkering around the edges and fix the actual problems that exist that are creating the problem in the first place. +p2830 +aVIn the two hours of this \u2014 of this debate, five people have died from drug-related deaths, $100 million has been added to our national debt, 200 babies have been killed by abortionists, and two veterans have taken their lives out of despair. This is a narrative that we can change, not we the Democrats, not we the Republicans, but we the people of America, because there is something special about this nation, and we must embrace it and be proud of it and never give it away for the sake of political correctness. +p2831 +aVProbably in terms of the applying for the job of president, a weakness would be not really seeing myself in that position until hundreds of thousands of people began to tell me that I needed to do it. I do, however, believe in Reagan's 11th commandment, and will not be engaging in awful things about my compatriots here. And recognizing that it's so important, this election, because we're talking about America for the people versus America for the government. +p2832 +aVWell, first of all, I didn't say that the rate would be 10 percent. I used the tithing analogy. +p2833 +aVThe rate \u2014 the rate \u2014 the rate is gonna be much closer to 15 percent. +p2834 +aVYou also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes. You also have to some strategically cutting in several places. Remember, we have 645 federal agencies and sub-agencies. Anybody who tells me that we need every penny and every one of those is in a fantasy world. So, also, we can stimulate the economy. That's gonna be the real growth engine. Stimulating the economy \u2014 because it's tethered down right now with so many regulations... +p2835 +aVThat's not true. +p2836 +aVWhen \u2014 when we put all the facts down, you'll be able to see that it's not true, it works out very well. +p2837 +aVSince I was attacked too. +p2838 +aVLet me just say, if you're talking about an $18 trillion economy, you're talking about a 15 percent tax on your gross domestic product. You're talking about $2.7 trillion. We have a budget closer to $3.5 trillion. But if you also apply that same 15 percent to several other things, including corporate taxes, and including the capital gains taxes, you make that amount up pretty quickly. So that is not by any stretch a pie in the sky. +p2839 +aVWell, there is no question that some people go overboard when it comes to trying to make profits, and they don't take into consideration the American people. What we have to start thinking about, as leaders, particularly in government, is what can we do for the average American? And you think about the reasons that we're having such difficulty right now with our job market. Well, the average small manufacturer, whatever they're manufacturing, drugs or anything, if they have less than 50 employees, the average cost in terms of regulations is $34,000 per employee. Makes it a whole lot easier for them to want to go somewhere else. So what we're going to have to start doing instead of, you know, picking on this group or this group, is we're going to have to have a major reduction in the regulatory influence that is going on. The government is not supposed to be in every part of our lives, and that is what is causing the problem. +p2840 +aVWell, obviously, you don't understand my views on homosexuality. I believe that our Constitution protects everybody, regardless of their sexual orientation or any other aspect. I also believe that marriage is between one man and one woman. And there is no reason that you can't be perfectly fair to the gay community. They shouldn't automatically assume that because you believe that marriage is between one man and one woman that you are a homophobe. And this is one of the myths that the left perpetrates on our society, and this is how they frighten people and get people to shut up. You know, that's what the PC culture is all about, and it's destroying this nation. The fact of the matter is we the American people are not each other's enemies, it's those people who are trying to divide us who are the enemies. And we need to make that very clear to everybody. +p2841 +aVWell, that's easy to answer. I didn't have an involvement with them. That is total propaganda, and this is what happens in our society. Total propaganda. I did a couple of speeches for them, I do speeches for other people. They were paid speeches. It is absolutely absurd to say that I had any kind of a relationship with them. Do I take the product? Yes. I think it's a good product. +p2842 +aVIf somebody put me on their homepage, they did it without my permission. +p2843 +aVNo, it speaks to the fact that I don't know those \u2014 See? They know. +p2844 +aVWell, first of all, I was wrong about taking the oil subsidy. I have studied that issue in great detail. And what I have concluded is that the best policy is to get rid of all government subsidies, and get the government out of our lives, and let people rise and fall based on how good they are. And \u2014 you know, all of this too big to fail stuff and picking and choosing winners and losers \u2014 this is a bunch of crap, and it is really causing a great deal of \u2014 great deal of problems for our society right now. And \u2014 and \u2014 you know, it goes back to the whole concept of regulations, which are in everything. The reason that I \u2014 I hate them so much is because every single regulation costs in terms of goods and services. That cost gets passed on to the people. Now, who are the people who are hurt by that? It's poor people and middle class. Doesn't hurt rich people if their bar of soap goes up ten cents, but it hurts the poor and the middle class. And Bernie Sanders will tell them that it's because of the rich. Well, I'll tell you something: you can take everything from the top 1 percent, and you apply it to our fiscal gap, and you won't even make a dent in it. +p2845 +aVAbout Medicare? +p2846 +aVWell, first of all the \u2014 the plan gives people the option of \u2014 of opting out. But I think they will see a very good option here. You know, the annual Medicare budget is over $600 billion. And there are 48 million people involved \u2014 40 million, 65 and over, and 8 million other. Divide that out. That comes out to $12,500 for each one. Now, I can tell you there are a lot of private-sector things that you could do with $12,500, which will get you a lot more than you get from this government program. And that's really a theme of a lot of the things that I'm talking about. How do we utilize our intellect rather than allowing the government to use its, quote, "intellect," in order to help us to be able to live healthier and better lives? It was never intended that the government should be in every aspect of our lives. This is a country that is of, for and by the people. +p2847 +aVI just want to thank all my colleagues here for being civil, and not falling for the traps. And, I also just want to thank the audience for being attentive, and noticing the questions, and the noticing the answers. And, this is what I am finding throughout America. People are waking up because it is going to be us who will determine the direction of our country. And, it was made for we the people, we are the ones who decide who we are, and we should never give away the values and principles that made America into a great nation for the sake of political correctness. +p2848 +aVHi, I'm Ben Carson, and I'm a retired pediatric neurosurgeon. I'm here with my wife, Candy, of 40 years, and two of my sons, and their wives. I stress the pediatric part of my career because the reason that I've gotten involved in this race is because I'm very concerned about the future of our children, and the direction of our country is one that does not portend well, unless we, the people, intervene and retake our rightful place at the pinnacle. +p2849 +aVTypically, politicians do things that are politically expedient. And they are looking for whatever their particular goal is. That is not the reason that I have gotten into this thing. I'm extraordinary concerned about the direction of this country, the divisiveness that is going on, fiscal irresponsibility, the failure to take a leadership position in the world. All of those things will lead to a situation where the next generation will not have a chance that we've had now. So I don't \u2014 I don't want to really get into describing who's a politician and who's not a politician, but I think the people have kind of made that decision for themselves already, and will continue to do so as time goes on. +p2850 +aVJake, can I say something about that? +p2851 +aVYou know, when I entered this race, all the political pundits said it's impossible; you can't do it because you're not connected with the money. And there's no way that you can raise what you need in order to compete successfully. I in no way am willing to get in the bed with special interest group or lick the boots of billionaires. I have said to the people if they want me to do this, please get involved. And we now have over 500,000 donations, and the money is coming in. But the pundits forgot about one thing, and that is the people. And they are really in charge. +p2852 +aVWell, first of all, I recognize that we have an incredible illegal immigration problem. I was down in Arizona a few weeks ago at the border. I mean, the fences that were there were not manned, and those are the kind of fences when I was a kid that would barely slow us down. So, I don't see any purpose in having that. Now, what we need to do is look at something that actually works. Yuma County, Arizona. They stop 97 percent of the illegal immigrants through there. They put in a double fence with a road so that there was quick access by the enforcement people. If we don't seal the border, the rest of this stuff clearly doesn't matter. It's kind of ridiculous all the other things we talk about. We have the ability to do it, we don't have the will to do it. There was one area where they had cut a hole in the fence, and to repair it, they put a few strands of barb wire across. Well, the photographers who were there with us, they wanted to photograph us from the side of the Mexicans, and they went through there, and they were not physically fit people, and they took their cameras and things with them, and shot us from the other side. That's how easy it is to get across. And, the drugs, I mean, it goes on, and on, and on. ICE tells them to release these people, 67,000 criminals released... +p2853 +aV...on to our property, it's ridiculous. +p2854 +aVWell, I have also said, if anybody knows how to do that, that I would be willing to listen. And, if they can, you know, specify exactly how that's going to be done, and what the cost, and it sounds reasonable, then I think it's worth discussing... +p2855 +aVNot exactly what I said. +p2856 +aVWell, what I said, after we seal the borders, after we turn off the spigot that dispenses all the goodies so we don't have people coming in here, including employment, that people who had a pristine record, we should consider allowing them to become guest workers, primarily in the agricultural sphere, because that's the place where Americans don't seem to want to work. That's what I said. And they have a six-month period to do that. If they don't do it within that time period, then they become illegal, and as illegals, they will be treated as such. +p2857 +aVCan I \u2014 can I \u2014 can I just... +p2858 +aVCan I correct... +p2859 +aVOK. +p2860 +aVMy plan is not amnesty for a number of reasons. Number one, you know, I've talked to farmers, and they said they cannot hire Americans to do the kind of job that I'm talking about. And the second reason is because the individuals who register as guest workers, they don't get to vote, they are not American citizens, and they don't get the rights and privileges of American citizens. So that's key. But the other thing that I want to bring up is, I mentioned something earlier. I think it was just sort of glossed over. I talked about the success in Yuma County, I mean, incredible success, and the Department of Justice said, "No, we don't want to do that. That's too successful." We don't have to keep reinventing the wheel. All we have to do is look at things that work. All we have to do is use a little common sense. +p2861 +aVIt's all about America. You know, the people who say the guy who paid a billion dollars because he had 10, he has still got $9 billion left, that's not fair, we need to take more of his money. That's called socialism. That doesn't work so well. What made America into a great nation was the fact that we said, that guy just put in $1 billion, let's create an environment that's even more conducive to his success so that next year he can put in $2 billion. And that's the kind of thing that helps us to grow. We can't grow by continuing to take a piece of pie, and dividing it, and redistributing it. But, I'm also looking at what doctor \u2014 at what Governor Huckabee talked about... +p2862 +aVThe Fair Tax. Looking at both of them, and evaluating them both, and I'm talking to the American people because one of the things we must recognize is that this country is of, for, and by the people. And, it's really time that the government get out of the way, and let the people be the ones who decide how they want to run their country. +p2863 +aVWell, first of all, let me say what I actually said about raising the minimum wage. I was asked should it be raised, I said, probably, or possibly. But, what I added, which I think is the most important thing, so, I said we need to get both sides of this issue to sit down, and talk about it. Negotiate a reasonable minimum wage, and index that so that we never have to have this conversation again in the history of America. I think we also have to have two minimum wages, a starter, and a sustaining because how are young people ever going to get a job if you have such a high minimum wage that it makes it impractical to hire them... +p2864 +aVJake, Jake... +p2865 +aVI haven't had an opportunity to weigh in on foreign policy, and I just want to mention that when the war, when the issue occurred in 2003, I suggested to President Bush that he not go to war? OK. So I just want that on the record. And, you know, a lot of people are very much against us getting involved right now with global jihadism. And they refer back to our invasion of Iraq. And they seem to think that that was what caused it. What caused it was withdrawing from there and creating a vacuum which allowed this terrible situation to occur. But it is very different from what is going on today. We're talking about global jihadists who actually want to destroy us. They are an existential threat to our nation. And we have to be mature enough to recognize that our children will have no future if we put our heads in the sand. We have to recognize we have two choices. We either allow them the continue to progress and appear to be the winners, or we use every resource available to us to destroy... +p2866 +aV... them first. +p2867 +aVWell, recognize that, you know, President George W. Bush is a great friend of ours, and we spent many wonderful days at the White House. I haven't been there in the last seven years. I probably have to have a food-tester. But at any rate, I didn't suggest that nothing be done. What I suggested to President Bush is to be Kennedy-esque, in the sense that when the Russians got ahead of us in the space race, what we did is use the bully pulpit to galvanize everybody, business, industry, academia behind a national goal to put a man on the moon and bring him back safely. I said, you can do the same kind of thing. Declare that within five to 10 years we will become petroleum independent. The moderate Arab states would have been so concerned about that, they would have turned over Osama bin Laden and anybody else you wanted on a silver platter within two weeks. There are smart ways to do things and there are muscular ways to do things. And sometimes you have to look at both of those to come up with the right solution. +p2868 +aVI have no argument with having a strong leader, and to be aggressive where aggression is needed. But it is not needed in every circumstance. There is a time when you can use your intellect to come up with other ways to do things. And I think that's what we have to start thinking about. There is no question that a lot of these problems that we have been talking about in terms of the international situation is because we are weak. It is because our Navy is so small. It is because our Air Force is incapable of doing the same things that it did a few years ago. It's because our Marines Corps is not ready to be deployed. +p2869 +aVThere are a lot of problems that are going on, and we need to solve those problems, we need to build up our military... +p2870 +aVWell, let me put it this way, there has \u2014 there have been numerous studies, and they have not demonstrated that there is any correlation between vaccinations and autism. This was something that was spread widely 15 or 20 years ago, and it has not been adequately, you know, revealed to the public what's actually going on. Vaccines are very important. Certain ones. The ones that would prevent death or crippling. There are others, there are a multitude of vaccines which probably don't fit in that category, and there should be some discretion in those cases. But, you know, a lot of this is \u2014 is \u2014 is pushed by big government. And I think that's one of the things that people so vehemently want to get rid of, big government. You know, we have 4.1 million federal employees. Six hundred and fifty federal agencies and department (sic). That's why they have to take so much of our taxes. +p2871 +aVWell, you know, I've just explained it to him. He can read about it if he wants to. I think he's an intelligent man and will make the correct decision after getting the real facts. +p2872 +aVHe's an OK doctor. But, you know, the fact of the matter is, we have extremely well-documented proof that there's no autism associated with vaccinations. But it is true that we are probably giving way too many in too short a period of time. And a lot of pediatricians now recognize that, and, I think, are cutting down on the number and the proximity in which those are done, and I think that's appropriate. +p2873 +aVI'd put my mother on there. You know, she was one of 24 children, got married at age 13, had only a third grade education, had to raise two sons by herself, refused to be a victim. Wouldn't let us be victims, and has been an inspiration to many people. +p2874 +aVOne Nation. +p2875 +aVWell, you know, I was a radical Democrat before I started listening to Ronald Reagan. And he didn't sound like what they said Republicans were. He sounded logical. And I hope that I sound logical also. Because when I look at what is going on with the United States of America, I see a lot of things that are not logical. I see us allowing people to divide us, when in fact our strength is in our unity. I see people exercising the most irresponsible fiscal habits that anyone could possibly do. And hiding it from the American people, so that the majority of people have no idea what our financial situation is. So, when someone comes along and says, free college, free phones, free this and that, and the other, they say, "wow, that's nice," having no idea that they're destabilizing our position. And I think also that Ronald Reagan was a master at understanding that a pinnacle nation has to be a nation that leads. If we learn to lead in the Middle East right now, a coalition will form behind us, but never they do it if we just sit there and talk about it. Real leadership is what I would hopefully bring to America. +p2876 +aVWell, I could take issue with -- with all of those things, but we don't have time. But I will say, we have a debate here tonight, and we will have an opportunity to explore those areas, and I'm looking very much forward to demonstrating that, in fact, the thing that is probably most important is having a brain, and to be able to figure things out and learn things very rapidly. So, you know, experience comes from a large number of different arenas, and America became a great nation early on not because it was flooded with politicians, but because it was flooded with people who understood the value of personal responsibility, hard work, creativity, innovation, and that's what will get us on the right track now, as well. +p2877 +aVWell, thank you, Megyn, I wasn't sure I was going to get to talk again. +p2878 +aVAlright. You know, what we do in order to get the information that we need is our business, and I wouldn't necessarily be broadcasting what we're going to do. We. . .uh. . .we've gotten into this -- this mindset of fighting politically correct wars. There is no such thing as a politically correct war. And, the left, of course, will say Carson doesn't believe in the Geneva Convention. Carson doesn't believe in fighting stupid wars. And -- and what we have to remember is we want to utilize the tremendous intellect that we have in the military to win wars. And I've talked to a lot of the generals, a lot of our advanced people. And believe me, if we gave them the mission, which is what the commander-in-chief does, they would be able to carry it out. And if we don't tie their hands behind their back, they will do it......extremely effectively. +p2879 +aVWhat I agree with is that we need a significantly changed taxation system. And the one that I've advocated is based on tithing, because I think God is a pretty fair guy. And he said, you know, if you give me a tithe, it doesn't matter how much you made. If you've had a bumper crop, you don't owe me triple tithes. And if you've had no crops at all, you don't owe me no tithes. So there must be something inherently fair about that. And that's why I've advocated a proportional tax system. You make $10 billion, you pay a billion. You make $10, you pay one. And everybody gets treated the same way. And you get rid of the deductions, you get rid of all the loopholes, and... +p2880 +aVAnd I have a lot more to say about it. +p2881 +aVIf Hillary is the candidate, which I doubt, that would be a dream come true. But you know, the fact of the matter is, she is the epitome of the progressive -- the secular progressive movement. And she counts on the fact that people are uninformed, the Alinsky Model, taking advantage of useful idiots. Well, I just happen to believe that people are not stupid. And the way I will come at it is to educate people, help people to actually understand that it is that progressive movement that is causing them the problems. You know, you look at the -- the national debt and how it's being driven up. If I was trying to destroy this country, what I would do is find a way to drive wedges between all the people, drive the debt to an unsustainable level, and then step off the stage as a world leader and let our enemies increase while we decreased our capacity as a military person. And that's what she's doing. +p2882 +aVWell, what we have to stop and think about is that we have weakened ourselves militarily to such an extent that if affects all of our military policies. Our Navy is at its smallest size since 1917; our Air Force, since 1940. In recent testimony, the commandant of the Marine Corps said half of the non-deployed units were not ready and you know, the sequester is cutting the heart out of our personnel. Our generals are retiring because they don't want to be part of this, and at the same time, our enemies are increasing. Our -- our friends can't trust us anymore. You know, Ukraine was a nuclear-armed state. They gave away their nuclear arms with the understanding that we would protect them. We won't even give them offensive weapons. You know, we turned our back on Israel, our ally. You know, in a situation like that, of course Obama's not going to be able to do anything. I would shore up our military first, because if you don't get the military right, nothing else is going to work. +p2883 +aVWell, I think the bully pulpit is a wonderful place to start healing that divide. You know, we have the purveyors of hatred who take every single incident between people of two races and try to make a race war out of it, and drive wedges into people. And this does not need to be done. What we need to think about instead -- you know, I was asked by an NPR reporter once, why don't I talk about race that often. I said it's because I'm a neurosurgeon. And she thought that was a strange response. And you say -- I said, you see, when I take someone to the operating room, I'm actually operating on the thing that makes them who they are. The skin doesn't make them who they are. The hair doesn't make them who they are. And it's time for us to move beyond that. Because......our strength as a nation comes in our unity. We are the United States of America, not the divided states. And those who want to destroy us are trying to divide us, and we shouldn't let them do it. +p2884 +aVWell, I haven't said anything about me being the only one to do anything, so let me try that. I'm the only one to separate Siamese twins... The -- the only one to operate on babies while they were still in mother's womb, the only one to take out half of a brain, although you would think, if you go to Washington, that someone had beat me to it. But I -- but I'm very hopeful that I'm not the only one who's willing to pick up the baton of freedom, because freedom is not free, and we must fight for it every day. Every one of us must fight for it, because we're fighting for our children and the next generation. +p2885 +asVQUINTANILLA +p2886 +(lp2887 +VGood evening, I'm Carl Quintanilla, with my colleagues Becky Quick and John Harwood. We'll be joined tonight by some of +p2888 +aVGovernor? +p2889 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p2890 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Bush. +p2891 +aVSenator Rubio. +p2892 +aVMr. Trump? +p2893 +aVDr. Carson? +p2894 +aVMrs. Fiorina? +p2895 +aVFixed it. +p2896 +aVSenator Cruz? +p2897 +aVGovernor Christie? +p2898 +aVSenator Paul? +p2899 +aVThanks to all the candidates. John? +p2900 +aVHold it. We'll cut it back to you in just a minute. Becky's moving on. +p2901 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor. thank you, Governor. +p2902 +aVMr. Trump, 30 seconds. +p2903 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2904 +aVWe're going to try to move on. +p2905 +aVYou want to bring 70,000 pages to three? +p2906 +aVIs that using really small type? +p2907 +aVIs that using really small type? +p2908 +aVMrs. Fiorina \u2014 +p2909 +aVWe're going to \u2014 +p2910 +aVWe will come around the bend, i promise. This one is for Senator Rubio. You've been a young man in a hurry ever since you won your first election in your 20s. You've had a big accomplishment in the Senate, an immigration bill providing a path to citizenship the conservatives in your party hate, and even you don't support anymore. Now, you're skipping more votes than any senator to run for president. Why not slow down, get a few more things done first or least finish what you start? +p2911 +aVSo when the Sun-Sentinel says Rubio should resign, not rip us off, when they say Floridians sent you to Washington to do a job, when they say you act like you hate your job, do you? +p2912 +aVWell, do you hate your job? +p2913 +aVIs that the standard? +p2914 +aVSenator, thank you. John. +p2915 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2916 +aVSenator Cruz. Congressional Republicans, Democrats and the White House are about to strike a compromise that would raise the debt limit, prevent a government shutdown and calm financial markets that fear of \u2014 another Washington-created crisis is on the way. Does your opposition to it show that you're not the kind of problem-solver American voters want? +p2917 +aV do we get credit ? +p2918 +aVSo, this is a question about , which you have 30 seconds left to answer, should you choose to do so. +p2919 +aVOK. I asked you about the debt limit and I got no answer. +p2920 +aVWe promised we would get to everyone this block. Governor Huckabee, I'm going to give you 60 seconds on this. +p2921 +aV...Governor... +p2922 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p2923 +aV...Senator Cruz... +p2924 +aVOK, alright. +p2925 +aVSenator Cruz... +p2926 +aV...Before we go to break, we're clearly not having that beer you mentioned, but I'll give you 30 more seconds... +p2927 +aVOK. +p2928 +aVI'll give you 30 seconds to respond... +p2929 +aVRespond on the debt limit, or an answer to the governor, which ever you choose. +p2930 +aV30 seconds, Governor Huckabee. +p2931 +aVGovernor, thank you. We will take a break. The Republican Presidential debate, live from Boulder, Colorado, coming back after a break on +p2932 +aVMrs. Fiorina, in 2010, while running for Senate in Tech Ridge (ph), California, you called an Internet sales tax a bad idea. Traditional brick and mortar stores obviously disagree. Now that the Internet shopping playing field has matured, what would be a fair plan to even that playing field? +p2933 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p2934 +aVOK. +p2935 +aVThank you very much. +p2936 +aVDr. Carson, we know you as a physician, but we wanted to ask you about your involvement on some corporate boards, including Costco's. Last year, a marketing study called the warehouse retailer the number one gay-friendly brand in America, partly because of its domestic partner benefits. Why would you serve on a company whose policies seem to run counter to your views on homosexuality? +p2937 +aVOne more question. This is a company called Mannatech, a maker of nutritional supplements, with which you had a 10-year relationship. They offered claims that they could cure autism, cancer, they paid $7 million to settle a deceptive marketing lawsuit in Texas, and yet you're involvement continued. Why? +p2938 +aVTo be fair, you were on the homepage of their website with the logo over your shoulder \u2014 +p2939 +aVDoes that not speak to your vetting process or judgment in any way. +p2940 +aVApparently. We will take a break. We'll be back in Boulder in just a minute. +p2941 +aV...We'll come back around. I want to get to governor Kasich. +p2942 +aVGovernor Kasich, let's talk ... +p2943 +aV...about Marijuana, Governor Kasich... +p2944 +aVAlright, but 30 seconds, you made a case. Sure, 30 seconds. +p2945 +aVSenator, thank you. +p2946 +aVOh, no, no, no... +p2947 +aV...Ok... +p2948 +aV...We're going to go to... +p2949 +aVOK. Thank you, Senator. Governor Kasich, let's talk about marijuana. We're broadcasting from Colorado which has seen $150 million in new revenue for the state since legalizing last year. Governor Hickenlooper is not a big fan of legalization, but he's said the people who used to be smoking it are still smoking it, they're just now paying taxes. Given the budget pressures in Ohio, and other states, is this a revenue stream you'd like to have? +p2950 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2951 +aVThank you. We'll be back from Boulder, Colorado in just a moment. +p2952 +aVMr. Trump, you've said you have a special permit to carry a gun in New York. +p2953 +aVAfter the Oregon mass shooting on October 1st, you said, "By the way, it was a gun-free zone. If you had a couple of teachers with guns, you would have been a hell of a lot better off." +p2954 +aVWould you feel more comfortable if your employees brought guns to work? +p2955 +aVAre you carrying one now? +p2956 +aVWe called a few Trump resorts, a few Trump properties that \u2014 that do not allow guns with or without a permit. Would you change those policies? +p2957 +aVOK. All right. Thank you. John? +p2958 +aVGovernor Bush, daily fantasy sports has become a phenomenon in this country, will award billions of dollars in prize money this year. But to play you have to assess your odds, put money at risk, wait for an outcome that's out of your control. Isn't that the definition of gambling, and should the Federal Government treat it as such? +p2959 +aVI had a feeling you were going to brag about that. +p2960 +aVThis is the\u2014 well, we're going to take a break. We want to save time for closing statements after the break. So this is the Republican presidential debate in Boulder, and we'll be right back. +p2961 +aVSenator Rubio... +p2962 +aV...yeah, I just wanted . +p2963 +aVI want to give you 30 seconds here. +p2964 +aVThat concludes tonight's debate. On behalf of my colleagues Becky Quick, John Harwood, Sharon Epperson, Rick Santelli and Jim Cramer, we'd like to our host, the University of Colorado at Boulder, the Republican National Committee, the candidates and, of course, tonight's audience. +p2965 +asVGILMORE +p2966 +(lp2967 +VWell, Bill, can I first... +p2968 +aVWell, first of all, Bill, let me say one thing, I have been in Iowa. But this is not the place where I'm choosing to begin my campaign. I am beginning my campaign in New Hampshire and I decided to do that based upon the process that is in place in Iowa and the primary that's in place in New Hampshire. But never mind that, I want to return to something. I'm the only veteran, Bill and Martha in this race. And I'm not going to any Donald Trump event over across town on some sort of faux veteran sort of issue. I'm going to speak to you tonight about the issue that really confronts veterans. I'm going to talk to you about the concerns that they have got with the veterans administration. The lousy appeals process that they have got. The fact that sometimes they get good service at the V.A. and sometimes they don't and the fact that post traumatic stress syndrome is not properly recognized. That psychology positions are unavailable in the Veterans Administration. And I will say this to you -- as the only veteran in -- in this race, when I become president of the United States, the veterans are going to be treated with respect and competently in success in the Veterans' Administration in this country. +p2969 +aVFirst of all, Bill, I think that Gitmo ought to remain open. But I also want to point out to you that what you are saying is the exact right topic to all of these other candidates. And that's this international challenge that we are facing, the international war that America is in, even to this day. And I'm the candidate who is best qualified to deal with this issue. A degree in foreign policy in Russian area studies. I'm the only United States Army veteran having gone to Europe during the Cold War as United States Army Intelligence agent, the governor during the 9/11 attack, the chairman of the National Commission on Homeland Security for the United States for five years. And this is what I will do. If I become the president, I'm going to rebuild the United States military. We're going to take the sequester off the defense budget. Give the Navy the ships it needs. Refit the United States Army. Refit the United States Marine Corps. And on this international guerrilla war, we need to recognize our Special Forces, our intelligence community, and the people that we need in order to really protect us. And finally, this war of ideas, we must win this. We must say to the world that radical Islamism is the threat. It isn't just confined to +p2970 +aVHey, did you miss me? Did you skip me? +p2971 +aVI'm going to have something to say about this, but you just keep going. +p2972 +aVYes, I'll be there. +p2973 +aVYou know, Martha, it may be out of the barn in that the Iranians may be moving towards a nuclear program, because this nuclear deal actually gives them a time frame up the road when they are going to be able to do that kind of program. And that's very dangerous because it means people in the Middle East have to begin to react to that right now. The United States, I think, has to continue to exercise its influence in the Middle East, stay active, and not do this pull-back type of program that we are seeing all over the place with President Obama, which is creating this kind of danger. The world is a more dangerous place now than when I was an intelligence agent. We have not only this international guerrilla war but also these challenges from these other countries as well. But, Martha, I want to say one more thing to you and Bill. I disagree with Carly Fiorina when she says that it's just a political class in Washington. The truth is that the country has changed. And there are powerful forces at this point that are really controlling our lives. And that's why people are so angry. One of those is government, which is regulating everything through the Environmental Protection Agency, through other places. But the biggest one is the organized establishment media. And I just noticed just now you gave Carly Fiorina two one-minute answers in a row. This media across the country is manipulating and shaping and framing this campaign and has been for at least a year now in order to get the kind of choices that people are going to have an opportunity to see. This is wrong. It has to change. And when I'm president, it's going to change. +p2974 +aVI'll take it. +p2975 +aVMartha, I just visited a community mental health clinic in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, just three days ago, as a matter of fact. And when I was governor of Virginia, I tried to move more of those resources into the community, which will give us the facilities and the abilities to begin to identify people who actually might be dangerous and who abuse Second Amendment rights. But I do believe this is one of the really principle issues in this campaign. The president and Hillary Clinton are working very hard to change the culture of this country in order to put us in a position where we can't exercise Second Amendment rights. That's wrong. I am a board member of the National Rifle Association. The reason I'm a board member is because I believe that individuals in this country can be trusted to exercise their rights under the Second Amendment and under the Bill of Rights. To take away people's Second Amendment rights is to redefine the individual in the society, and I'm not going to put up with it. As President of the United States, when Jim Gilmore's President of the United States, I can tell you this. Gun control is not going to be an issue. If gun control... ... comes to the President's desk when I'm president, I'll veto it as fast as it takes Hillary Clinton to eliminate her emails. +p2976 +aVYou know Bill, that raises, I think, the question of the future of the Republican party. The question is -- first of all, I stand second to no one in standing up to radical Islamism. I understand that +p2977 +aVWell, thank you very much, Bill. And, thank you, and Fox and Google for including me in this debate tonight. I think it's been a wonderful opportunity. I'm the son of a meat cutter. My father worked for Safeway stores for 45 years. My mother was a secretary, she ended her career as the Secretary for the Methodist Bishop. I didn't have a father that could give me a million dollar loan to start my business. But, my father did talk character, and he provided for his family, and he was a wonderful example. And, I'm not about to go across town tonight to carry the coat for some billionaire. Instead, I intend to run for President of the United States, speak to the issue of this international war, and challenge that we're in. This issue of veterans rights, and the issue of Second Amendment rights, and I ask for your support... +p2978 +asVSANTELLI +p2979 +(lp2980 +VSenator Cruz, let's focus on our central bank, the Federal Reserve. You've been a fierce critic of the Fed, arguing for more transparency. Where do you want to take that? Do you want to get Congress involved in monetary policy, or is it time to slap the Fed back and downsize them completely? What are your thoughts? What do you believe? +p2981 +aVSenator Paul, the same question to you. +p2982 +aVThank you, Senator. Dr. Carson, you told The Des Moines Register that you don't like government subsidies, it interferes with the free market. But you've also said that you're in favor of taking oil subsidies and putting them towards ethanol processing. Isn't that just swapping one subsidy for another, Doctor? +p2983 +aVThank you, Doctor. Becky? +p2984 +asVMACCALLUM +p2985 +(lp2986 +VSo it will come as no surprise that there is an idea out there that there is a civil war brewing within the GOP over the meaning of conservative and the question of who is electable. There are some in the GOP who are so outraged by Trump and Cruz that they say they would actually rather have Hillary Clinton in the White House. So, Carly Fiorina, I ask you this. Is your party in crisis? +p2987 +aVGovernor Huckabee, word is that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is considering getting into this race. If he does, that would make four New Yorkers, including Sanders, Clinton, and Trump. One candidate in this race has criticized so-called "New York values". So tell me, in your opinion, are New York values different than Iowa values? +p2988 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum, according to Google, the Paris terror attacks were the largest story that was searched in 2015, with nearly 1 billion searches of that story worldwide. There have been at 18 terror attacks so far this year -- in just January alone, in 2016, and it will likely, as we all know, get worse. But what can an American president do to stop these terrifying killings? +p2989 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2990 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you have said when it comes to +p2991 +aVThank you. +p2992 +aVComing up, we're going to have more on the top issues in this campaign, and you can engage in tonight's conversation right from home. Go to google.com, search "FOX News debate." You can vote on which candidate you think is winning so far in tonight's debate. And you can check results after the debate is over. We are back in a moment live from the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. +p2993 +aVAlright, Governor Huckabee, government grows and grows. In fact, neighborhoods in and around the Beltway get richer and richer all the time while our manufacturing towns are disappearing. Still Republicans from Reagan to Bush have bowed to shrink the size of government, but it never works. Is this Presidency, and presidency, simply too small a David to slay the Goliath of government? +p2994 +aVAlright, Carly Fiorina, you've said that you can get the tax code down to three short simple pages. But, when lobbyists who have twisted the arms of members of Congress come sit with you in the Oval Office and say, "Madam President, sorry, I cannot be with you on this one," you may understand what previous presidents have gone through. No? +p2995 +aVSenator Santorum, Bernie Sanders asked a woman in Iowa what it's like to live in poverty. She broke down in tears, saying that she lives on less than $10,000 a year and that she is ashamed every day. She leans on her parents for help. She says she can't buy presents for her children. We are all sympathetic to this woman's plight. On the other hand, the G.O.P. is supposed to be the party of smaller government. So what would you look her in the eye and say? +p2996 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2997 +aVGovernor Gilmore, thanks to the Iranian nuclear deal, President Rouhani is currently on a tour of Europe meeting with our closest allies in France and Italy. In fact, he has already landed some 50 to 85 billion are the estimates in deals with those countries, with our allies. More on the way. You and others say that you would rip up that deal. But, really, by the time the next president is in office, won't that horse be well out of the barn? +p2998 +aVWe have another question for you, Governor Gilmore, back to back, here we go. According to Google... +p2999 +aVYou got it. According to Google, gun control is the most searched issue last month, making up nearly 80 percent of all the U.S. searches. People are looking for information on guns. When it comes to the tragic mass killings that we have seen in this country, Donald Trump says that what we need to do is build quote "more institutions for people who are sickos." Charles Krauthammer also says that in some cases involuntary commitment would help. And you have agreed with that. Given that institutions would be extraordinarily expensive to begin building, how much is too much to ask on this from the American taxpayer? +p3000 +aVThank you, Governor Gilmore. +p3001 +aVStill more to come from the Republican Presidential debate tonight. And, see how the campaigns are responding to the debate in realtime, go to Google.com and open your google search app. Type in, "Fox News Debate". We'll see you, just a moment -- back. +p3002 +aVWe are back live at the Iowa events center and this question goes to Carly Fiorina. In the last debate you said as part of your introduction, quote, " And unlike the other woman candidate in this case I actually love spending time with my husband." +p3003 +aVBut back in September in an interview you said that you would stick only to the record, your record versus Hillary Clinton's record. And never resort to personal attacks. So what changed? +p3004 +aVAll right. Carly, I want to stay with you on this next question as well. You waded into the Planned Parenthood early on. You took some heat for it. Now the people who shot that undercover video are the ones who got indicted and Planned Parenthood is untouched. Hillary Clinton has been crowing about this. Any regrets about this? +p3005 +aVThank you Carly Fiorina. Let me just ask a quick question here to Senator Santorum. Carly Fiorina was the only one of the GOP candidates to attend the March for Life in Washington last week. Where were you. +p3006 +aVAll right. Coming up, we will have the closing statements from our candidates tonight as we continue live from the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. We'll be right back. +p3007 +aVAlright, let's go now to Senator Rick Santorum. +p3008 +aV +p3009 +aVCarly Fiorina. +p3010 +aVThank you, Carly. +p3011 +aVIn one hour, seven more candidates take the stage for a debate hosted by Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly, and Chris Wallace. But, up next, the O'Reilly Factor. Good night everybody. +p3012 +as. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/downloads/data2/script0.pickle b/downloads/data2/script0.pickle new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f006efa --- /dev/null +++ b/downloads/data2/script0.pickle @@ -0,0 +1,745 @@ +(dp0 +VTRUMP +p1 +(lp2 +VWell, I can say this. If the president, and if I were president now, I would certainly want to try and nominate a justice. I'm sure that, frankly, I'm absolutely sure that President Obama will try and do it. I hope that our Senate is going to be able \u2014 Mitch, and the entire group, is going to be able to do something about it. In times of delay, we could have a Diane Sykes, or you could have a Bill Pryor \u2014 we have some fantastic people. But this is a tremendous blow to conservatism. It's a tremendous blow, frankly, to our country. +p3 +aV... I think he's going to do it whether or I'm O.K. with it or not. I think it's up to Mitch McConnell and everybody else to stop it. It's called delay, delay, delay. +p4 +aVWhat we want to do, when we want to do it, and how hard do we want to hit? Because we are going to have to hit very, very hard to knock out +p5 +aV... called me a genius, I like him so far, I have to tell you. Let me just tell you this. Jeb is so wrong. Jeb is absolutely self \u2014 just so you understand, you know what that is? That's Jeb's special interest and lobbyist talking. Look, let me just tell you something, Jeb \u2014 Jeb is so wrong. You got to fight +p6 +aV... You'll end up with World War III... +p7 +aV... We're supporting troops... +p8 +aV... that we don't even know who they are. +p9 +aV... We're supporting troops that we don't even know who they are... +p10 +aVWe have no idea who they are. +p11 +aV... Oh, yeah, yeah... +p12 +aV... Let 44 million in New Hampshire, it was practically ... +p13 +aV... 44 million \u2014 give me a break. +p14 +aVFirst of all, I have to say, as a businessman, I get along with everybody. I have business all over the world. I know so many of the people in the audience. And by the way, I'm a self-funder. I don't have \u2014 I have my wife and I have my son. That's all I have. I don't have this. So let me just tell you, I get along with everybody, which is my obligation to my company, to myself, et cetera. Obviously, the war in Iraq was a big, fat mistake. All right? Now, you can take it any way you want, and it took \u2014 it took Jeb Bush, if you remember at the beginning of his announcement, when he announced for president, it took him five days. He went back, it was a mistake, it wasn't a mistake. It took him five days before his people told him what to say, and he ultimately said, "It was a mistake." The war in Iraq, we spent $2 trillion, thousands of lives, we don't even have it. Iran has taken over Iraq, with the second-largest oil reserves in the world. Obviously, it was a mistake. +p15 +aVGeorge Bush made a mistake. We can make mistakes. But that one was a beauty. We should have never been in Iraq. We have destabilized the Middle East. +p16 +aVYou do whatever you want. You call it whatever you want. I want to tell you. They lied. They said there were weapons of mass destruction, there were none. And they knew there were none. There were no weapons of mass destruction. +p17 +aVI'm being nice. +p18 +aVHe spent $22 million in... +p19 +aVThe World Trade Center came down during your brother's reign, remember that. +p20 +aVThat's not keeping us safe. +p21 +aVShe should be running. +p22 +aVHow did he keep us safe when the World Trade Center \u2014 the World \u2014 excuse me. I lost hundreds of friends. The World Trade Center came down during the reign of George Bush. He kept us safe? That is not safe. That is not safe, Marco. That is not safe. +p23 +aVAnd George Bush \u2014 by the way, George Bush had the chance, also, and he didn't listen to the advice of his C.I.A. +p24 +aVI don't want to go. +p25 +aVYes. +p26 +aVFirst of all, the \u2014 when you say I'm the only candidate, if you listen to the Democrats, they want to do many things to Social Security, and I want to do them on its own merit. You listen to them, what they want to do to Social Security, none of these folks are getting elected, O.K., whether they can do it or not. I'm going to save Social Security. I'm going to bring jobs back from China. I'm going to bring jobs back from Mexico and from Japan, where they're all \u2014 every country throughout the world \u2014 now Vietnam, that's the new one. They are taking our jobs. They are taking our wealth. They are taking our base. And you and I have had this discussion. We're going to make our economy strong again. I'm lowering taxes. We have $2.5 trillion offshore. We have 2.5 trillion that I think is actually five trillion because the government has no idea when they say 2.5, they have no idea what they're doing or saying, as they've proven very well. We're going to bring that money back. You take a look at what happened just this week. China bought the Chicago Stock Exchange, China, a Chinese company. Carrier is moving to Mexico, air conditioning company. Not only the ones I talk about all the time, Nabisco and Ford and \u2014 they're all moving out. We have an economy that last quarter, G.D.P. didn't grow. It was flat. We have to make our economy grow again. We're dying. This country is dying. And our workers are losing their jobs, and you're going... +p27 +aVI'm the only one who is going to save Social Security, believe me. +p28 +aVBecause you have tremendous waste. I'll tell you... +p29 +aVYou have tremendous waste, fraud and abuse. That we're taking care of. That we're taking care of. It's tremendous. We have in Social Security right now thousands and thousands of people that are over 106 years old. Now, you know they don't exist. They don't exist. There's tremendous waste, fraud and abuse, and we're going to get it. But we're not going to hurt the people who have been paying into Social Security their whole life and then all of a sudden they're supposed to get less. We're bringing our jobs back. We're going to make our economy great again. +p30 +aVI want everybody taken care of, but we have to take care of our people in this country. We're not taking care of our people. We have no border. We have no control. People are flooding across. We can't have it. We either have a border, and I'm very strongly \u2014 I'm not proposing. I will build a wall. I will build a wall. Remember this, the wall will be paid for by Mexico. We are not being treated right. We are not being treated properly. If we don't have borders, if we don't have strength, we don't have a country. People are flowing across. We have to take care of our people. Believe me. +p31 +aVLook......When I announced that I was running for president on June 16th, illegal immigration wasn't even a subject. If I didn't bring it up, we wouldn't even be talking. Now, I don't often agree with Marco, and I don't often agree with Ted, but I can in this case. The weakest person on this stage by far on illegal immigration is Jeb Bush. They come out of an act of love, whether you like it or not. He is so weak on illegal immigration it's laughable, and everybody knows it. +p32 +aV... Spend a little more money on the commercials... +p33 +aV. I don't know what you're talking about. +p34 +aV... I never called him \u2014 I don't call him.. +p35 +aVHe also said about language... +p36 +aV... Language. Two days ago he said he would take his pants off and moon everybody, and that's fine. Nobody reports that. He gets up and says that, and then he tells me, oh, my language was a little bit rough... +p37 +aV... My language. Give me a break... +p38 +aV... You did say it, you did say it. Been reported in 10 different news... +p39 +aVOr a tax. +p40 +aVI would build consensus with Congress, and Congress would agree with me. I'll give you an example, because I don't like the idea of using executive orders like our president. It is a disaster what he's doing. I would build consensus, but consensus means you have to work hard. You have to cajole. You have to get them into the Oval Office and get them all together, and you have to make deals. Let me just tell you, I mentioned before, China \u2014 big Chinese company bought the Chicago Exchange. Kerry is moving \u2014 and if you saw the people, because they have a video of the announcement that Carrier is moving to Mexico, O.K.? Well, I'll tell you what. I would go right now to Carrier and I would say I am going to work awfully hard. You're going to make air conditioners now in Mexico. You're going to get all of these 1,400 people that are being laid off \u2014 they're laid off. They were crying. They were \u2014 it was a very sad situation. You're going to go to Mexico. You're going to make air conditioners in Mexico, you're going to put them across our border with no tax. I'm going to tell them right now, I am going to get consensus from Congress and we're going to tax you when those air conditioners come. So stay where you are or build in the United States, because we are killing ourselves with trade pacts that are no good for us and no good for our workers. +p41 +aVJohn, in life you have flexibility. You do have flexibility. When you're fighting wars, you're going one way, you have a plan. It's a beautiful plan. It can't lose. The enemy makes a change, and all of a sudden you have to change. You have to have flexibility. In Ronald Reagan, though, in terms of what we're talking about, was the great example. He was a somewhat liberal Democrat who became a somewhat, pretty strong conservative. He became \u2014 most importantly, he became a great president. He made many of the changes that I've made \u2014 I mean, I've seen as I grew up, I've seen, and as I get older and wiser, and I feel that I am a conservative. Now, I also feel I'm a common-sense conservative, because some of the views I don't agree with. And I think a lot of people agree with me, obviously, based on what's happening. +p42 +aVWell, I think these people always hit me with eminent domain, and frankly, I'm not in love with eminent domain. But eminent domain is something you need very strongly. When Jeb had said, "You used eminent domain privately for a parking lot." It wasn't for a parking lot. The state of New Jersey \u2014 too bad Chris Christie is not here, he could tell you \u2014 the state of New Jersey went to build a very large tower that was going to employ thousands of people. I mean, it was going to really do a big job in terms of economic development. Now, just so you understand, I got hit very hard. It's private, it's private eminent domain. You understand that they took over a stadium in Texas, and they used private eminent domain, but he just found that out after he made the charge. +p43 +aVYeah. Well, Jeb wouldn't have known about it. +p44 +aVYou shouldn't have used it then, Jeb. +p45 +aVThank you very much, I appreciate it. +p46 +aVYou probably are worse than Jeb Bush. You are single biggest liar. This guy's lied \u2014 let me just tell you, this guy lied about Ben Carson when he took votes away from Ben Carson in Iowa, and he just continues. Today, we had robo-calls saying, "Donald Trump is not going to run in South Carolina," where I'm leading by a lot. I'm not going to vote for Ted Cruz. This is the same thing he did to Ben Carson. This guy will say anything, nasty guy. Now I know why he doesn't have one endorsement from any of his colleagues. +p47 +aVHe's a nasty guy. +p48 +aVWhere did I support it? Where did I... +p49 +aVAgain, where did I support it? +p50 +aVHey Ted, where I support it? +p51 +aVWhere did I support? +p52 +aVThat's a lot of lies. +p53 +aVIt does do wonderful things, but not as it relates to abortion. +p54 +aVExcuse me. Excuse me, there are wonderful things having to do with women's health. +p55 +aVBut not when it comes to abortion. +p56 +aVHold on... +p57 +aVTed Cruz told your brother that he wanted John Roberts to be on the United States Supreme Court. They both pushed him, he twice approved Obamacare. +p58 +aVO.K., governor. +p59 +aVYou pushed him. You pushed him. +p60 +aVYou worked with him and you pushed him. Why do you lie? +p61 +aVWhy do you lie? +p62 +aVYou pushed him. +p63 +aVYeah, yeah, I know, you're an adult. +p64 +aVWell, I would say my wife tells me I'm wrong all the time. And I listen. +p65 +aVOh, let me just say \u2014 look, I am very open \u2014 I hired top people. I've had great success. I built a great, great company. I don't need to do this. I'm self-funding. I'm spending a lot of money. I've spent \u2014 like in New Hampshire, I spent $3 million. Jeb bush spent $44 million. He came in five, and I came in No. 1. That's what the country needs, folks. I spent 3, he spends 42 of their money, of special interest money. And it's just \u2014 this is not going to make \u2014 excuse me. This is not going to make our country great again. This is not what we need in our country. We need people that know what the hell they're doing. And politicians, they're all talk, they're no action. And that's why people are supporting me. I do listen to people. I hire experts. I hire top, top people. And I do listen. And you know what? Sometimes they're wrong. You have to know what to do, when to do it. But sometimes they're wrong. +p66 +aVWell, I'll tell you \u2014 over the years, I've made many speeches. People have asked me, big companies have asked me to make speeches, and friends of mine that run big companies on success. And occasion, in order to sort of really highlight something, I'll use a profanity. One of the profanities that I got credited with using, that I didn't use, was a very bad word, two weeks ago, that I never used. I said, "You." And everybody said "Oh, he didn't say anything wrong." But you bleeped it, so everyone thinks I said the \u2014 I didn't say anything. I never said the word. It is very unfair, that criticism. Now, I will say this, with all of that being said, I have said I will not do it at all, because if I say a word that's a little bit off color, a little bit, it ends up being a headline. I will not do it again. I was a very good student at a great school not using \u2014 by the way \u2014 not using profanity is very easy. +p67 +aVThat's not \u2014 let me respond. That's another lie. I never went bankrupt! +p68 +aVNo, but it's another lie. +p69 +aVNo, but it's another lie. This guy doesn't know what he's talking about. Just a lie. +p70 +aVLet me just tell you. Jeb goes around saying, just like the biggest business leaders in this country, I've used the laws of the land to chapter \u2014 I bought a company, I threw it immediately into a chapter, I made a great deal. I uses the laws to my benefit, because I run a company. +p71 +aVExcuse me, Jeb! +p72 +aVI never went bankrupt, never. Now \u2014 but you don't want to say that. Now, let me just say, I've used it, just like the biggest leaders in the country. Let me tell you something \u2014 Florida. Florida, he put so much debt on Florida. You know, we keep saying he's a wonderful governor, wonderful governor. He put so much debt on Florida, and he increased spending so much that as soon as he got out of office, Florida crashed. I happened to be there. It's my second home. Florida crashed. He didn't do a good job as governor. +p73 +aVAnd you haven't \u2014 excuse me, you haven't heard that. You listen to the good record in Florida. You take a look at what happened, as soon as that year ended he got out, Florida crashed. Too much debt. He loaded it up with debt, and his spending went through the roof. +p74 +aVBy the way... +p75 +aV... he was not a good governor. +p76 +aVTake a look at your numbers. +p77 +aVFlorida went down the tubes right after he got out of office. +p78 +aVWent right down because of what he did to it. +p79 +aVThank you. Politicians are all talk, no action. You've seen where they've take you to. We are 19 trillion dollars right now. It's going to be increased with that horrible budget from a month ago that was just approved by politicians. We need a change. We need a very big change. We're going to make our country great again. I say this every night, every day, every afternoon, and it's so true \u2014 we don't win anymore. We don't win with health care, we don't win with +p80 +asVGARRETT +p81 +(lp82 +VSenator Cruz. John mentioned this is about dollars and incentives. We also want to talk about economic growth engagements. You have proposed a consumption tax, you called it the "back tax." Some analysts compare it more to an attributed "value-added tax." From the perspective from economic growth in building wages, how does that work, and how would you address those longstanding conservative concerns that something approaching the "value-added tax" would be used to constantly increase those rates to pay for future government spending and become an escalator of taxation, not of growth? +p83 +aVNow, the question \u2014 conservatives have sort of this idea conceptually for a long time, but especially on this consumption value-added tax system. In Europe, where it exists, it has become an escalator of taxation to feed government spending, and that's why conservatives have long resisted it. Why and what would you do as president to make sure that doesn't happen? +p84 +aVGovernor Bush, a question for you \u2014 but if you want to jump in, please. +p85 +aVJump in, and then I've got a question for you. +p86 +aVReal quickly, jump in, because I have got a question for Governor Bush, but jump in. +p87 +aVUnderstood, Governor Kasich. +p88 +aVYeah, Governor Bush, fine. +p89 +aVLet me get in a question from... +p90 +aVI understand, I understand. +p91 +aVI have a question on economic growth, Governor Bush. +p92 +aVA , Governor. +p93 +aVI know, understood. Governor Bush. +p94 +aVGovernor Bush, from the perspective, economic growth \u2014 viewed from this perspective of economic growth, you have proposed a tax on hedge fund managers. The Americans for Tax Reform, a conservative tax group you're probably aware of, has said no Republican should be for higher taxes on capital gains. And many conservatives wonder if this proposal of yours would undermine not only that philosophy, but undercut your projection of 4 percent economic growth annually under your presidency? +p95 +aV... Dr. Carson... +p96 +aVSenator Rubio... For the purposes of the lines \u2014 lines you would draw legislatively as a president on immigration reform, define amnesty. +p97 +aVVery quickly, Senator Cruz. +p98 +aVGovernor Bush, I want to bring this out to a little wider philosophical aspect, if you will. +p99 +aVYou have said illegal immigrants, quote, "broke the law, but it's not a felony," still quoting you, "it's an act of love, it's an act of commitment to your family." Mr. Trump has, as you are well aware, denounced that statement over and over. Do you still believe it? What does that mean to you? And how does that inform your approach to immigration reform? +p100 +aVFundamentally, do you believe this rhetoric is insufficiently compassionate to this issue? +p101 +aVMr. Trump... +p102 +aV... Governor Kasich, here in South Carolina earlier this week, you said the idea, the concept of deporting 11 million undocumented workers... +p103 +aV... We will leave the moon metaphors to be adjudicated later, I assure you. Governor Kasich, you said earlier this week in South Carolina, the concept, the idea of deporting 11 million undocumented workers in this country is nuts. Why is it you are so opposed to that idea? Senator Cruz has said it's a simple application of existing law. The application of that is not inhumane, it is just. Why do you disagree? +p104 +aV... What are you for on immigration? +p105 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 Mr. Trump. I was with you in Pendleton, South Carolina, earlier this week at the Rodeo Arena. It was a bit chilly there. You promised the crowd, and they rose to their feet, that if Ford or a company like were to move a factory to Mexico, you would try to stop it or threaten them with a 35 percent tax or tariff on every car sold. +p106 +aVRight. So my question is, based on your understanding of the presidency, where do you derive that power? Would you need the consent of Congress to go along? And do you see the presidency as a perch from which you can cajole and/or threaten private industry to do something you think is better for the U.S. economy? +p107 +aVThank you, governor. +p108 +asVRUBIO +p109 +(lp110 +VWell, let me first talk about Justice Scalia. His loss is tremendous, and obviously our hearts and prayers go out to his family. He will go down as one of the great justices in the history of this republic. You talk about someone who defended consistently the original meaning of the Constitution, who understood that the Constitution was not there to be interpreted based on the fads of the moment, but it was there to be interpreted according to its original meaning. Justice Scalia understood that better than anyone in the history of this republic. His dissent, for example, on the independent counsel case is a brilliant piece of jurist work. And, of course, his dissent on Obergefell as well. No. 2, I do not believe the president should appoint someone. And it's not unprecedented. In fact, it has been over 80 years since a lame duck president has appointed a Supreme Court justice. And it remind us of this, how important this election is. Someone on this stage will get to choose the balance of the Supreme Court, and it will begin by filling this vacancy that's there now. And we need to put people on the bench that understand that the Constitution is not a living and breathing document. It is to be interpreted as originally meant. +p111 +aVThat's not accurate. +p112 +aVNo, I've never \u2014 there has been, for example, today, according to the changes Harry Reid made, appellate judges can now be appointed by a simple majority, but not Supreme Court justices. And I think today you see the wisdom of why we don't want that to change. Because if that were the case and we were not in charge of the Senate, Harry Reid and Barack Obama would ram down our throat a liberal justice, like the ones Barack Obama has imposed on us already. +p113 +aVNo. I think there are three major threats that you want to immediately get on top of. No. 1 is, what are we doing in the Asia-Pacific region, where both North Korea and China pose threats to the national security of the United States. No. 2 is, what are we doing in the Middle East with the combination of the Sunni-Shia conflict driven by the Shia arc that Iran is now trying to establish in the Middle East, also the growing threat of +p114 +aVWell, let me tell you what has happened a couple of years ago. One of the hardest decisions you'll ever make in Congress is when you are asked by the president to authorize the use of force in a conflict, because you are now putting your name, on behalf of the people of your state, behind a military action, where Americans in uniform could lose their life. So, in 2014, Barack Obama said he would not take military action against Assad unless it was authorized by the Senate, beginning on the Committee of Foreign Relations, where I am one of its members. And it was hard because you looked at the pictures. I saw the same images people saw. I'm the father of children. I saw the images of these little children \u2014 been gassed and poisoned by their own leaders, and we were angry. Something had to happen, and there was the sense that we needed to seek retribution. And then I looked at Barack Obama's plan. Barack Obama's plan, which John Kerry later described as unbelievably small, and I concluded that that attack would not only not help the situation, it would make it actually worse. It would allow Assad to stand up to the United States of America, survive a strike, stay in power and actually strengthen his grip. So it was a difficult decision to make, and when we only had a few days to look at and make a decision on it, and I voted against Barack Obama's plan to use force, and it was the right decision. +p115 +aVI just want to say, at least on behalf of me and my family, I thank God all the time it was George W. Bush in the White House on 9/11 and not Al Gore. And you can \u2014 I think you can look back in hindsight and say a couple of things, but he kept us safe. And not only did he keep us safe, but no matter what you want to say about weapons of mass destruction, Saddam Hussein was in violation of U.N. resolutions, in open violation, and the world wouldn't do anything about it, and George W. Bush enforced what the international community refused to do. And again, he kept us safe, and I am forever grateful to what he did for this country. +p116 +aVThe World Trade Center came down because Bill Clinton didn't kill Osama bin Laden when he had the chance to kill him. +p117 +aVWell, because I'm influencing social policy \u2014 this is their money. This is the money of parents. You don't earn the tax credit unless you're working. That's your money, it doesn't belong to government. Here's what I don't understand. If a business takes their money and they invest in the piece of the equipment, they get to write off their taxes. But if a parent takes money that they have earned to work and invests in their children, they don't? This makes no sense. Parenting is the most important job any of us will ever have. Family formation is the most important thing in society. So what my tax plan does, is it does create, especially for working families, an additional Child Tax Credit. So that parents who are working get to keep more of their own money, not the government's money, to invest in their children to go to school, to go to a private school, to buy a new backpack. Let me tell you, if you're a parent that's struggling, then you know that $50 a month is the difference between a new pair of shoes this month or not getting a new pair of shoes for your kids. I'm going to have a tax plan that is pro-family, because the family is the most important institution in society. You cannot have a strong country without strong families. +p118 +aVWell, first of all, I think amnesty is the forgiveness of a wrongdoing without consequence and that \u2014 I've never supported that. I do not support that. I think there has to be consequences for violating our immigration laws. What I think is clear about this issue to begin with is we're not going to be able to make progress on illegal immigration until first, illegal immigration is brought under control. You go back to 1986, when they legalized three million people and they promised to secure the border. It didn't happen, and as a result, people have lost trust in the federal government. It is now clear that the only way to make progress on immigration is not just to pass a law that enforces the law, but actually prove to people that it's working. They want to see the wall built. They want to see the additional border agents. They want to see E-Verify. They want to see an entry-exit tracking system. Forty percent of the people in this country illegally are entering legally and overstaying visas. And only after all of that is in place, then we'll see what the American people are willing to support on this issue. I think the American people will be very reasonable, but responsible, about how you handle someone who has been here a long time, who can pass a background check, who pays a fine and starts paying taxes and all they want is a work permit. But you can't do any of that until you prove to people that illegal immigration is under control once and for all. +p119 +aVWe're going to have to do this again, O.K.? When that issue was being debated, Ted Cruz, at a committee hearing, very passionately said, I want immigration reform to pass, I want people to be able to come out of the shadows. And he proposed an amendment that would legalized people here. Not only that, he proposed doubling the number of green cards. He proposed a 500 percent increase on guest workers. Now his position is different. Now he is a passionate opponent of all those things. So he either wasn't telling the truth then or he isn't telling the truth now, but to argue he is a purist on immigration is just not true. +p120 +aVWell, first of all, I don't know how he knows what I said on Univision, because he doesn't speak Spanish. And second of all, the other point that I would make... +p121 +aVLook, this is a disturbing pattern now, because for a number of weeks now, Ted Cruz has just been telling lies. He lied about Ben Carson in Iowa. He lies about Planned Parenthood. He lies about marriage. He's lying about all sorts of things. And now he makes things up. The bottom line is this is a campaign and people are watching it. And they see the truth behind all these issues. And here is the truth, Ted Cruz supported legalizing people that were in this country... +p122 +aV... and only now does he say... +p123 +aVWell, we'll put on our website, marcorubio.com. We're going to... +p124 +aVOn anything I want? +p125 +aVWell, let me talk about poverty. +p126 +aVI do. +p127 +aVI had something important. +p128 +aVThe issue of poverty is critical, because for me, poverty is the \u2014 is \u2014 is free enterprise not reaching people. Today, we have antipoverty programs that don't cure poverty. We don't cure poverty in America. Our antipoverty programs have become, in some instances, a way of life, a lifestyle. Now, we do need antipoverty programs, you can't have free enterprise programs without them, but not as a way of life. And so I have a very specific proposal on this and I don't \u2014 in 60 seconds, I can't describe it all, but it basically turns the program over to states. It allows states to design innovative programs that cure poverty, because I think Nikki Haley will do a better job curing poverty than Barack Obama. +p129 +aVWell, no. It's not the case. It didn't pass, and we haven't solved immigration in this country. It's still a problem. It is worse today than it was three years ago, which is worse than it was five years ago. And it has to be confronted and solved. But the only way forward on this issue \u2014 you asked a question about flexibility. Let me tell you about that. One of the things that you need in leadership is the ability to understand that to get things done, you must figure out the way to get it done. You will not pass comprehensive immigration reform. People do not trust the federal government. They want to see the law being enforced. They want to see illegal immigration come under control. They want to see that wall. They want to see E-Verify. They want to see all of these things working, and then they will have a conversation with you about what do you do with people that have been here a long time that are otherwise, you know, not criminals. But they're not going to do it until you first enforce the law. +p130 +aVThirty seconds. +p131 +aVI speak fast. +p132 +aVWell, I think one of the presidents \u2014 well, the president I grew up under was Ronald Reagan. And Reagan had a vision for America's future. And if you think about what Ronald Reagan inherited, it's not unlike what the next president is going to inherit. This is the worst president we've had in 35 years, 35 years back would have made it Jimmy Carter. That's what Ronald Reagan inherited. And I think the question you would ask is, how did you inspire again the American people to believe in the future? How did you \u2014 what did it take to ensure that the American people, despite all of the difficulties of the time \u2014 you know, you look back at that time, the American military was in decline. Our standing in the world was in decline. We had hostages being held in Iran. Our economy was in bad shape. The American people were scared about the future. They were scared about what kind of country their children were going to live in and inherit. And yet somehow Ronald Reagan was able to instill in our nation and in our people a sense of optimism. And he turned America around because of that vision and ultimately because of that leadership. I wish Ronald Reagan was still around. This country needs someone just like that. And if our next president is even half the president Ronald Reagan was, America is going to be greater than it has ever been. +p133 +aVThank you, and thank you for watching tonight. This is a difficult time in our country. Our economy's flat, it's not creating the jobs it once did, and people struggle living paycheck to paycheck. Our culture's in trouble. Wrong is considered right and right is considered wrong. All the things that once held our families together are now under constant assault. And around the world, America's reputation is in decline. Our allies don't trust us, our adversaries don't fear us, Iran captures our sailors and parades them before the world on video. These are difficult times, but 2016 can be a turning point. That's why I'm running for president, and that's why I'm here today to ask you for your vote. If you elect me president, we are going to re-embrace free enterprise so that everyone can go as far as their talent and their work will take them. We are going to be a country that says that "life begins at conception and life is worthy of the protection of our laws." We're going to be a country that says "that marriage is between one man and one woman." We are going to be a country that says, "The constitution and the rights that it talks about do not come from our president, they come from our creator." We are going to be loyal to our allies like Israel, not enemies like Iran. And we will rebuild the U.S. military so no one will there test it. Vote for me. I will unify this party. I will grow it. We will win this election, and we will make the 21st century a new American century. +p134 +asVCARSON +p135 +(lp136 +VWell, the current Constitution actually doesn't address that particular situation, but the fact of the matter is the Supreme Court, obviously, is a very important part of our governmental system. And when our Constitution was put in place, the average age of death was under 50, and therefore the whole concept of lifetime appointments for Supreme Court judges and federal judges was not considered to be a big deal. Obviously, that has changed, and it's something that probably needs to be looked at pretty carefully at some point. But, we need to start thinking about the divisiveness that is going on in our country. I looked at some of the remarks that people made after finding out that Justice Scalia had died, and they were truly nasty remarks. And that we have managed to get to that position in our country is truly a shame. And we should be thinking about how we could create some healing in this land. But, right now, we're not going to get healing with President Obama. That's very United Nations clear. So, I...... fully agree that we should not allow a judge to be appointed during his time. +p137 +aVNo, it isn't. First of all, let me go back to your first question for me. It wasn't phrased as who gets to nominate Supreme Court appointees. Of course that's the president. So I know that there are some left-wing media who would try to make hay on that. Secondly, thank you for including me in the debate. Two questions already. This is great. Now, as far......as far as those 2 a.m. phone calls are concerned, judgment is what is required. And the kinds of things that you come up with are sometimes very, very difficult and very unique. One of the things that I was known for is doing things that have not been done before. So no amount of experience really prepares you to do something that has never been done before. That's where judgment comes in. And that, I think, is a situation that we're in right now, a situation that we have never been in before with the kinds of threats that pose real danger to our nation, and it comes in very handy in those situations. +p138 +aVWell, first of all, let me just address the Iraq question. You know, I was not particularly in favor of us going to war in Iraq, primarily because I have studied, you know, the Middle East, recognizing that those are nations that are ruled by dictators and have been for thousands of years. And when you go in and you remove one of those dictators, unless you have an appropriate plan for replacing them, you're going to have chaos. Now, fortunately, we were able to stabilize the situation, and it was the current administration that turned tail and ran and destabilized the situation. Now, having said that, in terms of the rules of engagement, I was talking about, you know, Obama has said, you know, we shouldn't bomb tankers, you know, coming out of refineries because there may be people in there, or because the environment may be hurt. You know, that's just asinine thinking. And the fact of the matter is... You know, we \u2014 obviously, you're not going to accomplish all of your goals without some collateral damage. You have to be able to assess what is acceptable and what is not. +p139 +aVWell, first of all, let me just mention on the tax issue. Bencarson.com, go read about it, because my tax plan has been praised by Cato, by Wall Street Journal. Forbes said it is the best, the most pro-growth tax plan, and it's based on real fairness for everybody. Starts at the 150 percent poverty level, but even the people below that have to pay something, because everybody has to have skin in the game, and the millions of people can't, you know, talk about what other people have to pay and have no skin in the game. And it deals with corporate tax rate, and makes it the same as everybody else......everybody pays exactly the same. +p140 +aV... And, as far as Medicare and Medicaid, my main goal is to get rid of Obamacare and put the care back in the hands of ... +p141 +aVWell, first of all, please go to my website, bencarson.com, and read my immigration policy, O.K.? Because it actually makes sense. Now, the \u2014 as far as these fines are concerned, you know? Here's the big problem. We've got all these government regulators, and all they're doing is running around looking for people to fine. And we've got 645 different federal agencies and sub-agencies. Way, way too many, and they don't have anything else to do. I think what we really need to do is start trimming the regulatory agencies rather than going after the people who are trying to increase the viability, economic viability of our society. Now, that doesn't mean there aren't some people out there who are doing bad things. But I'm not sure that the way to solve that problem is by increasing all the regulatory burden. You know, when you consider how much regulations cost us each year, you know? $2 trillion dollars per family, $24,000 per family, that happens to be the same level as the poverty level...... for a family of four. If you want to get rid of poverty, get rid of all the regulations. +p142 +aVBefore you ask the question, can I respond to the \u2014 you know, they mentioned my name a couple of times. +p143 +aVAll right. Well, first of all, you know, so many people have said to me, "You need to scream and jump and down \u2014 jump up and down like everybody else." Is that really what you want? What we just saw? I don't think so. And you know, I \u2014 when I got into this race, I decided to look under the hood of the engine of what runs Washington, D.C., and my first inclination was to run away, but I didn't do it because I'm thinking about our children and the fact that we are the United States of America. And anybody up here is going to be much better than what's going to come on the other side. And what happened tonight with \u2014 with Justice Scalia tells you that we cannot afford to lose this election, and we cannot be tearing each other down. +p144 +aVWell, first of all, I'm not a politician, so I'm never going to become a politician. But here's what \u2014 here's what people need to know. People need to know that free college is not \u2014 it's a non-starter. You know, you have to look at our economic situation. We're on the verge of economic collapse and, you know, we're \u2014 it's not just the $19 trillion, but it's also the $200 trillion in unfunded liabilities. What we need to think about is, what does that do to the average person? When we have a debt of that nature, it causes the Fed to change their policy, it causes the central bank to keep the \u2014 the rates low, and who does does that affect? Mr. Average, who used to go to the bank every Friday and put part of his check in the bank and watch it grow over three decades and be able to retire with a nice nest egg, that's gone. That part of the American dream is gone. All of these things are disappearing, and Bernie Sanders and people like Hillary Clinton blame it on the rich. They say those evil rich people, if we take their money we can solve the problem. It's not the evil rich people. It's the irresponsible, evil government. +p145 +aVThis is the first generation not expected to do better than their parents. Some people say it's the new normal, but there's nothing normal about it in an exceptional American. I, like you, am a member of we, the people, and we know that our country is heading off the cliff. Joseph Stalin said if you want to bring America down you, have to undermine three things: our spiritual life, our patriotism and our morality. We, the people, can stop that decline, starting right here in South Carolina. If all the people who say, "I love Ben Carson and his policies, but he can't win," vote for me, not only can we win, but we can turn this thing around. You know, we have this manipulation by the political class and by the media telling us who we're supposed to pick and how we're supposed to live. We, the people, are the only people who will determine that. And if you elect me as your next president, I promise you that you will get somebody who is accountable to everybody and beholden to no one. Thank you. +p146 +asVBUSH +p147 +(lp148 +VRight. +p149 +aVNot on specific issues, not at all. I think the next president \u2014 if I'm president, I will appoint people \u2014 I'll nominate people that have a proven record in the judiciary. The problem in the past has been we have appointed people thinking you can get it through the Senate because they didn't have a record. And the problem is that sometimes we're surprised. The simple fact is the next president needs to appoint someone with a proven conservative record, similar to Justice Scalia, that is a lover of liberty, that believes in limited government, that consistently applied that kind of philosophy, that didn't try to legislator from the bench, that was respectful of the Constitution. And then fight and fight, and fight for that nomination to make sure that that nomination passes. Of course, the president, by the way, has every right to nominate Supreme Court justices. I'm an Article II guy in the Constitution. We're running for the president of the United States. We want a strong executive for sure. But in return for that, there should be a consensus orientation on that nomination, and there's no doubt in my mind that Barack Obama will not have a consensus pick when he submits that person to the Senate. +p150 +aVYes. +p151 +aVNo, it doesn't, and that's the problem. The lack of leadership in this country by Barack Obama, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, thinking that this is a policy that works, this policy of containment with +p152 +aVThe very basic fact is that Vladimir Putin is not going to be an ally of the United States. The whole world knows this. It's a simple, basic fact. They're not taking out \u2014 they're not even attempting to take out +p153 +aV... Let me finish... +p154 +aV... This is ridiculous... +p155 +aV... This is coming from a guy who gets his foreign policy from the shows. +p156 +aV... This is a guy who thinks that Hillary Clinton is a great negotiator in Iran... +p157 +aV... This is a man who insults his way to the nomination... +p158 +aVI think it's my turn, isn't it? +p159 +aVI've got about five or six... +p160 +aVDo I get to do it five or six times or just once, responding to that? +p161 +aVSo here's the deal. I'm sick and tired of Barack Obama blaming my brother for all of the problems that he has had. And, frankly, I could care less about the insults that Donald Trump gives to me. It's blood sport for him. He enjoys it. And I'm glad he's happy about it. But I am sick and tired... +p162 +aVI am sick and tired of him going after my family. My dad is the greatest man alive in my mind. And while Donald Trump was building a reality TV show, my brother was building a security apparatus to keep us safe. And I'm proud of what he did. And he has had the gall to go after my brother. +p163 +aVHe has had the gall to go after my mother. Hold on. Let me finish. He has had the gall to go after my mother. +p164 +aVLook, I won the lottery when I was born 63 years ago, looked up, and I saw my mom. My mom is the strongest woman I know. +p165 +aVThis is not about my family or his family. This is about the South Carolina families that need someone to be a commander in chief that can lead. I'm that person. +p166 +aVCan I just... +p167 +aVI'm not going to invite Donald Trump to the rally in Charleston on Monday afternoon when my brother is coming to speak. +p168 +aVI'm rescinding the invitation. I thought you might want to come, but I guess not. +p169 +aVI'd like \u2014 can I \u2014 can I... +p170 +aVLook, I admire the fact that Governor Kasich is supporting spending more money on drug treatment and mental health. I think that's a high priority all across this country, but expanding Obamacare is what we're talking about, and Obamacare's expansion, even though the federal government is paying for the great majority of it, is creating further debt on the backs of our children and grandchildren. We should be fighting Obamacare, repealing Obamacare, replacing it with something totally different. When I was \u2014 as a private citizen, Florida was confronted with the choice. The governor was supportive of doing what John did. So was the Florida Senate. A committed speaker of the House asked me to go as a private citizen to make the case against the expansion. I did, and it wasn't expanded there, just as it wasn't expanded in South Carolina under Governor Haley. +p171 +aVSouth Carolina \u2014 South Carolinians need to know this, because the Cato Institute, which grades governors based on their spending, rank him right at the bottom. +p172 +aVAnd Governor Haley is ranked at the top. +p173 +aVNo. He mentioned my name. +p174 +aVLet me finish, though. No, no, no \u2014 hey, wait, wait, wait. Just hold, Major, hold, Major. Hold on, Major. +p175 +aVSouth Carolinians want to make that, they elect the most conservative governor or candidate that can win. +p176 +aVOf course not. It won't have an impact on hedge funds managers paying ordinary income. In fact, it's not just hedge fund people, but people that are doing \u2014 they're in the business of investing other people's money, getting capital gains treatment is not appropriate. They should be paying ordinary income. That's their business. They're grateful to be able to make a lot of money, I'm sure. And what we do is lower the rates. It's not the end of the world that private equity people and hedge fund folks that are, right now, getting capital gains treatment for the income they earn, pay ordinary income like everybody else in this room. That's not a problem at all. What we need to do is reform the tax code to simplify the rates, to shift power away from Washington, D.C. That's what I did as governor of the state of Florida, $19 billion dollars of tax cuts, and it stimulated seven out of the eight years. Florida led the nation in job growth. +p177 +aVThank you. +p178 +aVGreat question. I feel like I have to get into my inner Chris Christie, and point out that the reason why I should be president is listening to two senators talk about arcane amendments to bills that didn't pass. This is \u2014 this is the problem. We need a leader to fix this problem. And I have a detailed plan to do just that, including controlling the border, dealing with the visa over-stayers, making sure that we have a path to legal status, not to citizenship, for those that come out from the shadows and pay a fine, learn English, don't commit crimes, work and pay taxes. That is the better approach. +p179 +aVThe great majority of people that come to this country come because they have no other choice. They want to come to provide for their families. That doesn't mean it's right. That doesn't mean it's right. We should pick who comes to our country. We should control our border. Coming here legally should be a lot easier than coming here illegally. But the motivation, they're not all rapists, as you-know-who said. They're not that. These are people that are coming to provide for their families. And we should show a little more respect for the fact that they're struggling. It doesn't mean we shouldn't be controlling the border. That's exactly what we should be doing. +p180 +aV... So, you know......This is the standard operating procedure, to disparage me. That's fine... +p181 +aV... But, if you want to talk about weakness, you want to talk about weakness? It's weak to disparage women. +p182 +aVIt's weak to denigrate the disabled. And,it's really weak to call John McCain a loser because he was a... +p183 +aV... That is outrageous. The guy's an American hero. +p184 +aV... The simple fact is I've also laid out my plans on immigration... +p185 +aV Just, for the record make sure my mother's listening, if she's watching the debate. I didn't say that I was going to moon somebody... +p186 +aVSo, there \u2014 so, there is all sorts of intrigue about where I disagree with my brother, there would be one right there. You should not use eminent domain for private purposes. A baseball stadium or a parking lot for a limo... +p187 +aVIt's very different. Transmission lines, pipe lines, bridges and highways. All of that is proper use of imminent domain. Not to take an elderly woman's home to build a parking lot so that high-rollers can come from New York City to build casinos in Atlantic City. +p188 +aVMy name was mentioned twice. +p189 +aVHe called me a liar. +p190 +aVAlso, he talked about one of my heroes, Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan was a liberal maybe in the 1950s. He was a conservative reformed governor for eight years before he became president, and no one should suggest he made an evolution for political purposes. He was a conservative, and he didn't tear down people like Donald Trump is. He tore down the Berlin Wall. +p191 +aVHe was a great guy. +p192 +aVThat was me. +p193 +aVYeah, well, I have got to respond to this. +p194 +aVSounds like a good plan. +p195 +aVOr you could ask me two questions, so I could get two minutes instead of one. +p196 +aVI think the dysfunction in Washington is really dangerous, that's what I think. And we need a proven leader that has a record of solving problems, someone who doesn't cut and run; someone who could be a commander in chief to unite our country around common purposes; someone who doesn't disparage people. Someone that doesn't brag, for example, that he has been bankrupt four times and it was great, because he could use the legal system. Someone... +p197 +aVWe need someone with a proven record to be able to forge consensus to solve problems. And right now, both Republicans and Democrats in Washington don't get it. People are struggling \u2014 63 percent of Americans can't make a $500 car payment. Most Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. And we need someone has a proven record of growing the economy, reforming the things that are broken. And I'm that person. +p198 +aVYeah... +p199 +aVYeah. +p200 +aVHere we go. +p201 +aVHere's the record. Here's the record. We led the nation in job growth seven out of eight years. When I left there was $9 billion of reserves, 35 percent of general revenue. No state came close to that. +p202 +aVWhen I \u2014 during my time, we were one of the two states to go to AAA bond rating. We didn't go bankrupt like Trump did and call it success when people are laid off, when vendors don't get paid. That's not success. What we did was create an environment where people had a chance to have income. Personal income during my time went up by 4.4 percent. +p203 +aVThe government grew by... +p204 +aV... half of that. +p205 +aVThank you all very much. The next president is going to be confronted with an unforeseen challenge. That's almost certain. It could be a pandemic, a major natural disaster or an attack on our country. The question for South Carolinians and Americans is who do you want to have sitting behind the big desk in the Oval Office? Because that's the question. It's not the things we're talking about today. It's the great challenge that may happen. I believe I will have a steady hand as commander in chief and president of the United States. I will unite this country around common purposes because I did it as governor of the state of Florida. When I was governor, we had eight hurricanes and four tropical storms in 16 months. Our state was on its back. We recovered far faster than what people thought because we led. We want to challenge rather than cutting and running. That's what we need in Washington, D.C. We need someone with a servant's heart that has a backbone, that isn't going to focus on polls and focus groups. The focus will be on the American people to keep them safe and secure. I ask for your vote next Saturday. +p206 +asVSTRASSEL +p207 +(lp208 +VMr. Trump. +p209 +aVYou have made a lot of promises and you have also \u2014 you're the only candidate who has said he would not touch entitlements. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has estimated that your ideas would cost an additional $12 trillion to $15 trillion over the next 10 years and that we would have to have annual economic growth of anywhere from 7.7 percent to 9 percent annually to pay for them. Are you proposing more than you can actually deliver, at least not without big deficits? +p210 +aVBut in terms of... +p211 +aVO.K. But how would you actually do that? Can I ask you? Because right now, Social Security and Medicare... +p212 +aVThey take up two-thirds of the federal budget, and they're growing. +p213 +aVO.K., I have a question, a related tax question. Senator Rubio, you have the highest tax rate of anyone up on the stage in terms of the top tax rates, 35 percent. Some economists say, "It would limit its potential to boost economic growth." You do that so that you will have more revenue to pay for a tripling of the Child Tax Credit. Normally, it's liberals who like to use the tax code to insert social policy. Why should conservatives who want to tax adopt the other side's approach? +p214 +aVGovernor Kasich, this on is on size of government. In 2013, you pushed through a Medicaid reform in your state over the rejections of many of the Republicans in your state. Total enrollment and overall cost of program have gone well beyond what anyone had expected, including yourself. How can you argue that this overall growth fits in with conservative ambition to significantly cut back on the size of federal welfare programs? +p215 +aVSenator Cruz. Senator Cruz, you have promised to deport illegal aliens. You have also promised to reverse President Obama's executive action that gives temporary amnesty to illegals brought here by their parent as children. As president, you would have the names and addresses of the some 800,000 of those that have registered under that action. Now, you have said that in this country, we shouldn't go door to door, look for illegals, but in this case you would have a list. Would you use it? +p216 +aVSo would you \u2014 would you use the addresses? +p217 +aVWould you pick them up? +p218 +aVSenator Rubio, your reply. +p219 +aVAll right. Senator Cruz. Your response, Senator Cruz. +p220 +aV... O.K.... +p221 +aVMoving subjects. Dr. Carson, this week Morgan Stanley agreed to pay a $3.2 billion fine to state and federal authorities for contributing to the mortgage crisis. You have a lot of Democrats out saying that we should be jailing more executives, so two questions. Should financial executives be held legally responsible for financial crisis, and do you think fines like these are an effective way to deter companies from future behavior like that? +p222 +aVSenator Cruz, you were mentioned in the mix here, your response? +p223 +aVAnd now, Marco Rubio. +p224 +aVWe'll be back with a few final thoughts in a moment. +p225 +asVKASICH +p226 +(lp227 +VWell, John, first of all, if I were president, we wouldn't have the divisions in the country we have today. I do want to take a second as we reflected on Judge Scalia, it's amazing \u2014 it's not even two minutes after the death of Judge Scalia, nine children here today, their father didn't wake up. His wife, sad, but I just wish we hadn't run so fast into politics. Here's my concern about this. The country is so divided right now, and now we're going to see another partisan fight take place. I really wish the president would think about not nominating somebody. If you were to nominate somebody, let's have him pick somebody that's going to have unanimous approval, and such widespread approval across the country that this could happen without a lot of recrimination. I don't think that's going to happen, and I would like the president just to, for once here, put the country first. We're going to have an election for president very soon, and the people will understand what is at stake in that election. And so I believe the president should not move forward, and I think that we ought to let the next president of the United States decide who is going to run that Supreme Court with a vote by the people of the United......States of America. +p228 +aVFirst of all \u2014 yes. First of all, look, we have to make it clear to Russia what we expect. We don't have to declare an enemy, rattle a sword or threaten, but we need to make it clear what we expect. No. 1 is we will arm the folks in Ukraine who are fighting for their freedom. They deserve it. There will be no ifs, ands or buts about it. Secondly, an attack on +p229 +aVI've got to tell you, this is just crazy, huh? This is just nuts, O.K.? Jeez, oh, man. I'm sorry, John. +p230 +aVOh, well, listen, I think being in Iraq, look, we thought there were weapons of mass destruction. Colin Powell, who is one of the most distinguished generals in modern time, said there were weapons there. But, but, the fact is we got ourselves in the middle of a civil war. The Sunni, the Shia and the Kurds, never gotten along. In fact, that country was drawn \u2014 the borders of that country were drawn after World War I by Westerners that didn't understand what was happening there. The tragedy of it is that we're still embroiled. And, frankly, if there weren't weapons of mass destruction, we should never have gone. I don't believe the United States should involve itself in civil wars. Civil wars are not in our direct interest, and if you \u2014 and look, I served on a defense committee for 18 years and was called into the Pentagon after 9/11 by Secretary Rumsfeld to deal with some of the most serious problems that we faced. The fact is, is that we should go to war when it is our direct interest. We should not be policemen of the world, but when we go, we mean business. We'll do our job. We'll tell our soldiers, our people in the service, take care of your job and then come home once we've accomplished our goals. That's what we need to do. +p231 +aVYeah. Well, first of all, those numbers, incorrect. We are \u2014 our Medicaid programs are coming in below cost estimates, and our Medicaid program in the second year grew at 2.5 percent. And Kimberley, let me tell you, when we expand Medicaid and we treat the mentally ill, then they don't live under a bridge or live in a prison, where they cost $22,500 a year. When we take the drug addicted and we treat them in the prisons, we stop the revolving door of people in and out of prisons, and we save $22,500 a year. Guess what else? They get their lives back. And the working poor, they're now getting health care. And you know that about a third of the people who are now getting that health care are people who are suffering very serious illnesses, particularly cancer. So, what I would tell you is, we've gone from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. We've cut taxes by more than any governor in America by $5 billion. We have grown the number of jobs by 400,000 private-sector jobs since I've been governor. Our credit is strong. Our pensions are strong. And frankly, we leave no one behind. Economic growth is not an end unto itself. We want everyone to rise, and we will make them personally responsible for the help that they get. And that is exactly the program we're driving in Ohio. And, boy, people ought to look at Ohio, because it has got a good formula. +p232 +aVYeah, let me say a couple of things. First of all, when Jeb was governor, his first four years as governor, he expand \u2014 his Medicaid program grew twice as fast as mine. O.K.? It's just a fact. Now, with Obamacare, I've not only sued the administration, I did not set up an exchange. And he knows that I'm not for Obamacare, never have been. But here's what's interesting about Medicaid. You know who expanded Medicaid five times to try to help the folks and give them opportunity so that you could rise and get a job? President Ronald Reagan. Now, the fact of the matter is, we expanded to get people on their feet, and once they're on their feet, we are giving them the training and the efforts that they need to be able to get work and pull out of that situation. +p233 +aVThat's what we're doing in our state. +p234 +aVLet me \u2014 let's tell you... +p235 +aVMajor \u2014 Major, we can't \u2014 we've got to \u2014 look, I have got to correct the record. And the fact of the matter is, we went from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. We're up 400,000 jobs. Our credit is rock solid. And I don't know... +p236 +aVLook, the bottom line is the people of this \u2014 of this country and this state want to see everybody rise, and they want to see unity, and I don't want to get into all this fighting tonight, because people are frankly sick of the negative campaigning. +p237 +aVAnd I'm going to stay positive about what I want to do from the... +p238 +aVBefore I get to that, this is the ninth or 10th debate. What I've been watching here, this back and forth, and these attacks, some of them are personal. I think we're fixing to lose the election to Hillary Clinton if we don't stop this. I mean, the fact is \u2014 you know what? I would suggest, why don't we take off all the negative ads and all the negative comments down from television and let us just talk about what we're for, and let's sell that, and the Republican Party will be stronger as a result... +p239 +aV... First of all, I'm for sealing the border, O.K.? And then I'm for a guest worker program. People can come in, work and go back home. We haven't closed the border because special interests, I believe, blocked it. Then, we have 11 and a half million people here. If they have not committed a crime since they've been here, make them pay a fine and some back taxes, and give them a path to legalization, never to citizenship. It is not going to happen that we're going to run around and try to drag 11 and a half million people out of their homes. I'll tell you this. Within the first hundred days, I will send a plan like this to the Congress of the United States, and if I'm president, I'll bet you dollar to doughnuts right now, it will pass. That is a reasonable proposal that the people of this country, in my judgment, will support, and so will the bulk of the Congress of the United States. +p240 +aVYou know, John, I think all people are the same. Look, I did 106 town halls, and I've been doing them left and right here in South Carolina. The first thing we have to do is grow the economy, and I know the formula because I was chairman in Washington when we balanced the budget and created so many jobs, and the same that we've been able to do in Ohio. You need common-sense regulations so small business can flourish, you need lower taxes both on business and individuals, and you need a fiscal plan to be able to get ourselves in a situation where people can predict a little bit about the future when it comes to the fiscal issues. And when you have that formula, combined with work force that's trained, you can explode the economy and create many jobs. I have done it twice, and I want to go back to Washington and do it again. John, the thing is, is I think that there are people now, these blue-collar Democrats \u2014 my dad was a blue-collar Democrat \u2014 the Democratic Party has left them. When they're arguing about being socialists, they've left \u2014 they have lost those blue-collar Democrats. And you know what I think they get out of me \u2014 is my sense of what they get out of me, and it's embarrassment about campaigns, you brag about yourself. But I think I'm a uniter, I think people sense it. I think they know I have the experience, and that I'm a man that can give people hope and a sense that they have the opportunity rise. And I'll tell you, I love these blue-collar Democrats, because they're going to vote for us come next fall, promise you that. +p241 +aVWell, I want to thank the people of South Carolina. You've been fantastic. And look, what I want you to know is I'm going to send a lot of power, money and influence back to where we all live. But as I've traveled around South Carolina, I've noticed something. You know, it's that people have a sense that you're not going to wait on a president. You know, when I was a kid, we didn't wait on presidents to come to that little blue-collar town and fix things. You know, the Lord made all of us special. The Lord wants us to be connected. I believe we're part of a very big mosaic. And I'll send the power back. And whoever gets elected president here, hopefully will take care of the issue of jobs and wages and Social Security and the border. But the spirit of the America rests in all of us. It's in our guts. It's taking care of our children. It's taking care of the lady next door who just lost her husband. It's fixing the schools where we live and telling kids to stay off drugs. You see, I think what the Lord wants is for to us engage, and in America, the spirit of America doesn't come from the top down. The spirit of America rests in us. And I want to call on everyone in America to double down and realize that you were made special to heal this country and lift it for everyone. Thank you all very much. And I hope I can have your vote in South Carolina. +p242 +asVCRUZ +p243 +(lp244 +VWell, we have 80 years of precedent of not confirming Supreme Court justices in an election year. And let me say, Justice Scalia... +p245 +aVEighty years of not confirming. For example, L.B.J. nominated Abe Fortas. Fortas did not get confirmed. He was defeated. +p246 +aVNo, Kennedy was confirmed in '87... +p247 +aVHe was appointed in... +p248 +aVIn this case it's both. But if I could answer the question... +p249 +aVJustice Scalia was a legal giant. He was somebody that I knew for 20 years. He was a brilliant man. He was faithful to the Constitution. He changed the arc of American legal history. And I'll tell you, his passing tonight, our prayers are with his family, with his wife, Maureen, who he adored, his nine children, his 36 grandkids. But it underscores the stakes of this election. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that will strike down every restriction on abortion adopted by the states. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that will reverse the Heller decision, one of Justice Scalia's seminal decisions, that upheld the Second Amendment right to keep and to bear arms. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that would undermine the religious liberty of millions of Americans \u2014 and the stakes of this election, for this year, for the Senate, the Senate needs to stand strong and say, "We're not going to give up the U.S. Supreme Court for a generation by allowing Barack Obama to make one more liberal appointee." And then for the state of South Carolina, one of the most important judgments for the men and women of South Carolina to make is who on this stage has the background, the principle, the character, the judgment and the strength of resolve to nominate and confirm principled constitutionalists to the court? That will be what I will do if I'm elected president. +p250 +aVWell, we need to focus on what the objective is, you know? Your question about the first three questions you would ask in this Situation Room. I think it is a problem if the president, commander in chief, we've elected does not have the experience and background to understand the threats facing this country coming in on Day 1. If you look at the threats facing this country, the single gravest threat, national security threat, is the threat of a nuclear Iran. That's why I've pledged on Day 1 to rip to shreds this Iranian nuclear deal, and anyone that thinks you can negotiate Khamenei does not understand the nature of Khamenei. When it comes to +p251 +aVWe have Kurds in both Iraq and Syria. They are fighting +p252 +aVWell, let me say it at the outset that everyone here understands \u2014 everyone understands that how \u2014 that the middle class has been left behind in the last seven years of the Obama economy, and we've got to bring jobs back. We've got to get people back to work. We've got to get wages going up again. We've got to get people moving from part-time work to full-time work. We all agree on that, but it's not going to be solved with magic pixie dust. It's just going to be solved by declaring into the air, "Let there be jobs." We actually have to understand the principles that made America great in the first place. Now, where do you get economic growth? If you look at cause and effect over our nation's history, every time we lessen the burden of Washington on small-business owners, on job creators, we see incredible economic growth. You do that through tax reform and regulatory reform. My tax plan \u2014 typical family of four, first $36,000 you earn, you pay nothing in taxes \u2014 no income taxes, no payroll taxes, no nothing. Above 10 percent, everyone pays the same simple, flat 10 percent income rate. It's flat and fair. You can fill out your taxes on a postcard, and we abolish the I.R.S. If you want to see the postcard, I've got it on my website. +p253 +aVNow, Major, the business flat tax that is in my tax plan is not a VAT. A VAT in Europe is a sales tax. The business flat tax is not a sales tax, it is a tax of 16 percent opposed fairly and evenly across the board on all business. One of the things that's critical is we're doing that in conjunction with abolishing the corporate income tax, with abolishing the Obamacare taxes, with abolishing the payroll taxes, which are the biggest taxes paid by most working Americans, and with abolishing the death tax, which is cruel and unfair. And you asked about economic growth \u2014 the nonpartisan Tax Foundation estimated a simple flat tax that would produce 4.9 million new jobs, it would increase capital investment by 44 percent and would lift everyone's income by double digits. That's how you turn the country around, not just hoping and praying for it, but implementing policies that work. +p254 +aVWell, you know, your question highlights a sharp difference on immigration on this stage. You know, in a Republican primary, everyone talks tough on immigration. Everyone is against illegal immigration in a Republican primary. But as voters, we've been burned over and over again by people that give us a great campaign speech and they don't walk the walk. There are sharp differences on amnesty. If you look at the folks on this stage, when Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer and establishment Republicans were leading the fight to pass a massive amnesty plan, I stood with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and the American people and led the fight to defeat that amnesty plan. +p255 +aVNow, that moment... +p256 +aVThat moment was what Reagan would call "a time for choosing." When it comes to deciding which side of the line you're on, the Rubio-Schumer amnesty plan......apparently supported by the donor class, which is why Washington supported it. The Rubio-Schumer amnesty plan passed the Senate, and it was on the verge of passing the House. House leadership intended to take it up and pass it with the Democrats overruling most of the Republicans. And the question for anyone on illegal immigration is, where were you in that fight? Where did you stand? You are right. There is a difference between Senator Rubio and me on this question. +p257 +aVMajor, I get a response to that. +p258 +aVYou know, the lines are very, very clear. Marco right now supports citizenship for 12 million people here illegally. I oppose citizenship. Marco stood on the debate stage and said that. But I would note not only that \u2014 Marco has a long record when it comes to amnesty. In the state of Florida, as speaker of the house, he supported in-state tuition for illegal immigrants. In addition to that, Marco went on Univision in Spanish and said he would not rescind President Obama's illegal executive amnesty on his first day in office. I have promised to rescind every single illegal executive action, including that one. And on the question... +p259 +aV. +p260 +aVThat is simply... +p261 +aVThat is absolutely false. What he said is knowingly false. And I would note, if you want to assess \u2014 if you want to assess... +p262 +aV... who is telling the truth... If you want to assess who is telling the truth......then you should look to Jeff Sessions, who said, without Ted Cruz the Rubio-Schumer amnesty bill would have passed, and Ted was responsible. You should look to Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin, that said... +p263 +aVI think it is a very important question because the people who have been hurt the most in the Obama economy had been the most vulnerable. It's been young people. It's been Hispanics. It's been African-Americans. It's been single moms. We have the lowest percentage of Americans working today in any year since 1977. And the sad reality is big government, massive taxes, massive regulation, doesn't work. What we need to do instead is bring back booming economic growth, let \u2014 small businesses are the heart of the economy. Two-thirds of all new jobs come from small businesses. If we want to lift people out of poverty \u2014 you know, I think of these issues from the perspective of my dad. My dad fled Cuba in 1957. He was just 18. He couldn't speak English. He had nothing. He had $100 in his underwear. And he washed dishes making 50 cents an hour and paid his way through school. Today, my dad is a pastor. He travels the country preaching the gospel. Now, I think about all of these issues. How would it impact my dad when he was washing dishes? If we had Obamacare in place right now, the odds are very high my father would have been laid off, because it's teenaged kids like my dad who have gotten laid off. If he didn't get laid off, the odds are high he would have had his hours forcibly reduced to 28, 29 hours a week. We need to lift the burdens on small businesses so you have jobs, and we need welfare reform that gets people off of welfare and back to work. +p264 +aVYou know, flexibility is a good thing, but it shouldn't \u2014 you shouldn't be flexible on core principles. I like Donald, he is an amazing entertainer, but his policies for most of his life... +p265 +aVFor most of his life, his policies have been very, very liberal. For most of his life, he has described himself as very pro- choice and as a supporter of partial birth abortion. Right now, today, as a candidate, he supports federal taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood. I disagree with him on that. That's a matter of principle, and I'll tell you... +p266 +aVDon, I need to go on... +p267 +aVI will say, it is fairly remarkable to see Donald defending Ben after he called, "pathological," and compared him to a child molester. Both of which were offensive and wrong. But let me say this \u2014 you notice Donald didn't disagree with the substance that he supports taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood. And Donald has this weird pattern, when you point to his own record, he screams, "Liar, liar, liar." You want to go... +p268 +aVYou want to go... +p269 +aVIf you want to watch the video, go to our website at Tedcruz.org. +p270 +aVYou can see it out of Donald's own mouth. +p271 +aVYou supported it when we were battling over defunding Planned Parenthood. You went on... +p272 +aVYou said, "Planned Parenthood does wonderful things and we should not defund it." +p273 +aVSo I'll tell you what... +p274 +aVYou see, you and I... +p275 +aVDon, the reasoned principle matters. The reasoned principle matters, sadly was illustrated by the first questions today. The next president is going to appoint one, two, three, four Supreme Court justices. If Donald Trump is president, he will appoint liberals. If Donald Trump is president, your Second Amendment will gone... +p276 +aVYou know how I know that? +p277 +aVI did not nominate John Roberts. I would not have nominated John Roberts. +p278 +aVI supported... +p279 +aVYou need to learn to not interrupt people. +p280 +aVDonald, adults learn... +p281 +aVAdults learn not to interrupt people. +p282 +aVI did not nominate him. I would not have nominated him. I would've nominated my former boss Liberman, who was Justice Scalia's first law clerk. And you know how I know that Donald's Supreme Court justices will be liberals? Because his entire life, he support liberals from Jimmy Carter, to Hillary Clinton, to John Kerry. In 2004, he contributed to John Kerry. Nobody who cares about judges would contribute to John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid. +p283 +aVThat's what Donald Trump does. +p284 +aVSouth Carolina, you have a critical choice to make. Our country literally hangs in the balance. Do you want another Washington deal maker who will do business as usual, cut deals with the Democrats, grow government, grow debt and give up our fundamental liberties? Or do you want a conservative, a proven conservative that will stand and fight with you each and every day? Listen, repealing Obamacare is not going to be easy. Passing a simple flat tax that abolishes the I.R.S. is not going to be easy, but if we stand with the American people, we can do it. And today, we saw just how great the stakes are. Two branches of government hang in the balance. Not just the presidency but the Supreme Court. If we get this wrong, if we nominate the wrong candidates, the Second Amendment, life, marriage, religious liberty \u2014 every one of those hangs in the balance. My little girls are here. I don't want to look my daughters in the eyes and say, "We lost their liberties." Who do you know will defend the Constitution and Bill of Rights? And as a commander in chief, who do you know will stand up to our enemies as the clam, steady, deliberate, strength to defeat our enemies, to secure our borders and to keep America safe. +p285 +asVDICKERSON +p286 +(lp287 +VGood evening. I'm John Dickerson. This holiday weekend, as America honors our first president, we're about to hear from six men who hope to be the 45th. The candidates for the Republican nomination are here in South Carolina for their ninth debate, one week before this state holds the first-in-the-South primary. George Washington wrote that the truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains taken to bring it to light. We hope to shed some light on the candidates' positions tonight to help voters make up their minds. So gentlemen, please join us on stage. With us tonight \u2014 with us tonight are retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson of Florida, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Businessman Donald Trump of New York. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Former Governor Jeb Bush of Florida. And Governor John Kasich of Ohio. Now, as most of you have heard by now, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died today at the age of 79. He was the longest-serving member of the court, appointed by President Reagan in 1986. Justice Scalia was the court's leading conservative, and even those who disagreed with his opinions regarded him as a brilliant legal scholar. Please join us and the candidates on our stage in a moment of silence for Justice Antonin Scalia. Thank you. We will talk to the candidates about Justice Scalia and the road ahead when the debate begins in a moment. +p288 +aVBefore we get started, candidates, here are the rules. When we ask you a question, you will have one minute to answer, and 30 seconds more if we ask a follow-up. If you're attacked by another candidate, you get 30 seconds to respond. And here's how we keep time. After we ask a question, you'll get a green light. The yellow light means you have 30 seconds left to finish your answer, and when time is up, the light turns red. That means please stop talking. If you keep talking, you'll hear this. You don't want to hear that. Joining me in the questioning tonight, my CBS News colleague, chief White House correspondent Major Garrett, and Kimberley Strassel, who is on the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal. And you can participate in the debate through our partnership with Twitter. Tweet us your questions and comments using the hashtag "# +p289 +aVSo, just to be clear on this, Mr. Trump, you're O.K. with the president nominating somebody ... +p290 +aVGovernor Kasich, I want to get your thoughts on this. Justice Scalia was a real believer, obviously, in the strict word of the Constitution. Now, Harry Reid says that a failure to fill his vacancy would be, quote, "shameful abdication of one of the Senate's most essential constitutional responsibilities." Where do you come down on this? +p291 +aVDr. Carson. Dr. Carson, you, like others, put out a statement after the death was announced, and you said the president should delay. You've written a book on the Constitution recently. What does the Constitution say about whose duty it is here to act in this kind of a situation? +p292 +aVSenator Rubio, you're a... Senator Rubio, you're a lawyer. Quickly, can you address the issue of whether the Constitution tells us who has the power to appoint Supreme Court justices? And then, also, the Senate Republicans last year floated an idea of removing the filibuster for Senate \u2014 excuse me, for Supreme Court nominations. You seemed open to that. What's your feeling on that now? +p293 +aVQuickly, though, on this question... Very quickly, Senator, on this specific question, though. You were once in favor of dropping the threshold... +p294 +aV... majority \u2014 you were never in favor of that? +p295 +aVO.K. Thank you, Senator. Governor Bush, I would like to ask you, conservatives for a long time have felt like that their Republican presidents have picked justices that didn't turn out to be real conservatives. +p296 +aVBernie Sanders has said he would have a litmus test. He would make sure that he appointed a justice who was going to overturn Citizens United. If they can have a litmus test for a nominee, what about you? Would you have a litmus test for a nominee? And what would it be? +p297 +aVRight, so, Senator Cruz, the Constitution... So, Senator Cruz, the Constitution says the president "shall appoint with advice and consent from the Senate," just to clear that up. So he has the constitutional power. But you don't think he should. Where do you set that date if you're president? Does it begin in election year, in December, November, September? And once you set the date, when you're president, will you abide by that date? +p298 +aVJust can I \u2014 I'm sorry to interrupt, were any appointed in an election year, or is that just there were 80 years... +p299 +aVBut Kennedy was confirmed in '88. +p300 +aVHe was appointed in '87. +p301 +aV... confirmed in '88. That's the question, is it appointing or confirming, what's the difference? +p302 +aVSorry, I just want to get the facts straight for the audience. But I apologize. +p303 +aVAll right. Thank you, Senator Cruz. All right, we're going to move on to national security here, and we are going to \u2014 I want to read a quote from Secretary Robert Gates, former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who served for eight year \u2014 under eight presidents. And this is what he said about Republican candidates, quote, "Part of the concern that I have with the campaign is that the solutions being offered are so simplistic and so at odds with the way the world really works." So, in that spirit, we're going to work tonight to be more specific. Mr. Trump, I want to start with you. You have said as president, you'll get up to speed very quickly. You'll know more quickly as president than any of the experts. So, you've been elected president. It's your first day in the Situation Room. What three questions do you ask your national security experts about the world? +p304 +aVSenator Rubio \u2014 just 30 seconds on this question, Senator Rubio. Are those the questions you would ask? +p305 +aVLet me ask you a follow-up, a full, proper question, then. Violent extremists are operating or active in 40 countries. Some 80 countries are in different degrees of instability. And so, that's just the crises overseas. Barack Obama walked into an economic collapse when he came into office. We face international health crises, from Ebola to Zika. So, there is a lot of opportunity for crisis, as you have talked about. What would you point to in your past to show voters that you've been in a crisis and that you've been tested when that inevitable crisis comes when you're president? +p306 +aVDr. Carson, I want to ask you a question... Dr. Carson, you said you've had more 2 a.m. \u2014 2 a.m. phone calls than anybody up on this stage. But when those 2 a.m. phone calls came, you operated on a foundation of all of that amazing medical work that you did, all of that learning. So if you were to be president, though, you wouldn't have the political foundation that hones those instincts when the 2 a.m. phone call comes. So isn't that a liability? +p307 +aVGovernor Kasich, Russia is being credited......Russia is being credited with bombing U.S.-backed rebels on behalf of Assad in Aleppo and Syria. They've also moved into the Crimea, eastern Ukraine. You've said you want to punch them in the nose. What does that mean? What are you going to do? +p308 +aVGovernor......Governor Bush. +p309 +aVYou said defeating +p310 +aVMr. Trump, you're......Mr. Trump, you were mentioned here. You did say that you could get along very well with Vladimir Putin. You did at one point say let Russia take care of +p311 +aV... All right... +p312 +aV... All right, Governor Bush, please respond. +p313 +aV... O.K., settle... +p314 +aV... All right, Mr. Trump, all right... +p315 +aVGentleman, I think we're going to leave that there. I've got a question for Senator... +p316 +aV... All right, all right, gentlemen, gentlemen, let's leave it there so I can ask a question of Senator Cruz, who's also running for president. Senator Cruz, you talked about the first Gulf War as being a kind of model for your focused and determined effort to go after +p317 +aVVery quickly, 30-second follow-up. You've said that, essentially, the Kurds would be the American ground forces in there. The criticism that experts have on that is that the Kurds only can work within their territory. If they take larger amounts of territory, you have an ethnic war with the Arabs. So the Kurds can't really do as much as you seem to be putting on their backs. +p318 +aVAll right. Mr. Trump......On Monday, George W. Bush will campaign in South Carolina for his brother. As you've said tonight, and you've often said, the Iraq war and your opposition to it was a sign of your good judgment. In 2008, in an interview with Wolf Blitzer, talking about President George W. Bush's conduct of the war, you said you were surprised that Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi didn't try to impeach him. You said, quote: "Which, personally, I think would have been a wonderful thing." When you were asked what you meant by that and you said: "For the war, for the war, he lied, he got us into the war with lies." Do you still believe President Bush should have been impeached? +p319 +aVSo... +p320 +aVBut so I'm going to \u2014 so you still think he should be impeached? +p321 +aVAll right. O.K. All right. Governor Bush \u2014 when a member on the stage's brother gets attacked... +p322 +aV... the brother gets to respond. +p323 +aVGovernor Kasich, would you weigh in on......Governor Kasich, please weigh in. +p324 +aVWhy is it nuts? Talk about it. Give us your sense of... +p325 +aVThirty seconds, Senator Rubio. +p326 +aVAll right, Dr. Carson, we have a cleansing... +p327 +aVWe have a cleansing... +p328 +aVAll right. Well, Dr. Carson, I have got a question now for you. A moment of pause here. You have said, Dr. Carson, that \u2014 referring to yourself, that people bought into the idea that, quote, "A nice person can't be tough on terrorists." You have called for loosening the rules of engagement for the military, which could lead to more civilian casualties. So, explain why those casualties would be acceptable in the fight against +p329 +aVAll right, thank you, Dr. Carson. We're going to have to take a commercial break here. Thank you to all the candidates. We'll be right back with CBS News's 2016 debate in Greenville, South Carolina. +p330 +aVWe're back with the Republicans who could be president. The topic now is money and how the candidates would spend it. We'll turn the questioning over to Kimberley Strassel of The Wall Street Journal and Major Garrett of CBS News. Kim? +p331 +aVDr. Carson, before we go to break, could you give us your sense of this conversation about either Medicaid or economic growth through taxation? +p332 +aVDoctor... +p333 +aV... Dr. Carson, I'm sorry, we have to go to a commercial. The free market wants what it wants. Back soon with the 2016 Republican debate in Greenville, South Carolina. +p334 +aVWelcome back. We'll begin the second half of the debate with one of the hottest issues in the Republican campaign, immigration. But before I turn it back to Major Garrett and Kim Strassel, I have one question for Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump, in the Republican National Committee's Spanish-language response to the State of the Union, Congressman Diaz-Balart said, quote, "It's essential that we find a legislative solution," talking about immigration, "to offer a permanent and humane solution to those who live in the shadows. What does that mean to you, "a humane solution to those who live in the shadows"? +p335 +aVSenator Cruz, I have a question for you. Speaker Paul Ryan has made a big commitment to trying to lift the 50 million poor out of poverty. Arthur Brooks, who is the president of the American Enterprise Institute, says, quote, "If we are not warriors for the poor every day, free enterprise has no matter." How you have been, in your campaign, a warrior for the poor? +p336 +aVAll right. Mr. Trump, thank you so much. We're going to take a break for a moment. We'll be back in a moment with the CBS News Republican debate. +p337 +aVWe're back now from Greenville, South Carolina, with the candidates for the Republican presidential nomination. Mr. Trump, I have a question for you. Presidents have to, on the one hand, be firm, but also be flexible. You have been flexible and changed your opinion on a number of things, from abortion to Hillary Clinton. But you have said, rightly, that it's just like Ronald Reagan, who changed his mind on things. But at the same time, you're criticizing Senator Cruz for what you say is a change on immigration. He disputes that, of course. So, why is your change of opinion make you like Reagan, and when he changes his opinion, it's a huge character flaw? +p338 +aVWhich conservative idea don't you agree with? +p339 +aVAll right. Governor Bush, I think by "they," he is referring to your brother, these on the hook for your brother. +p340 +aVBut that was his brother. +p341 +aVHold on, gentleman, I'm going to turn this car around. +p342 +aVAll right, gentlemen. +p343 +aVWell, hold on. We're going to \u2014 gentlemen, we're in danger of driving this into the dirt. Senator Rubio, I'd like you to jump in here... +p344 +aVI understand, you're on deck, governor. +p345 +aVSenator Cruz, 30 seconds on this one. +p346 +aVWe're going to switch... +p347 +aVWe're going to switch here to Senator Marco Rubio. Senator Marco Rubio, please weigh in. +p348 +aVI thought you had a point? +p349 +aVI thought you had a point you wanted to make. +p350 +aVYou're on deck, sir. +p351 +aVSenator, I wanted to ask you, just going back to immigration, in the last debate, you listed your series of accomplishments in the Senate. One thing you left off was \u2014 was immigration reform. Is it the case that in your list of accomplishments you can't mention that? +p352 +aVDr. Carson, I have......Dr. Carson, I have a question for you. Candidates are... +p353 +aVAll right. You have 30 seconds, Doctor. +p354 +aVDr. Carson, I \u2014 let me ask you a different question. When you were \u2014 you were the first one, really, to talk about political correctness. Everybody now talks about it, but that was really what sparked your \u2014 your rise. Politicians are often accused of glossing over any hard choices people have to make, just always selling happy, nice things. So in the \u2014 in the spirit of saying something that might be politically incorrect, tell the voters something that they need to hear but that might be politically incorrect? +p355 +aVGovernor Kasich. Governor Kasich, you've been described as the Democrats' favorite Republican. You talked about in New Hampshire, Democrats would come up to you and say, "I hope you win." Why will that help you win a Republican nomination? +p356 +aVMr. Trump, let me ask you a question. Presidents in both parties say that the one thing you need in your administration is somebody who can tell you you're wrong. You don't necessarily seem like somebody who has somebody who tells you you're wrong a lot. Can you tell us of an instance where somebody has said, "Donald Trump, you're wrong," and you listened to them? +p357 +aVAbout what? +p358 +aVLet me \u2014 something, in talking to voters that they wish somebody would tell you to cut it out is the profanity. What's your reaction to that? +p359 +aVAll right. O.K. Governor Bush, I'd like to ask you... +p360 +aVWell, can I \u2014 how about you respond, and then you can answer the question I'm about to ask you. +p361 +aVIt'll be... +p362 +aVIf we adjudicate this, the night will be over. Governor, in 2012, you said that your father and Ronald Reagan would have a hard time in today's Republican Party, based on their records of trying to find accommodation and finding some degree of common ground. Do you still feel that way? +p363 +aVHold on, Mr. Trump. +p364 +aVHold on, Mr. Trump. +p365 +aVO.K., Mr. Trump, your response. +p366 +aVThe bells are ringing, sir. +p367 +aVAll right. Thank you. Senator Rubio, I want to ask you a 30-second question, no president can... +p368 +aVNo \u2014 well, I'll ask the question, you do what you want. +p369 +aVNo president can know everything, right? So a smart leader knows how to ask questions. So if you could talk to any previous president, what's the smart question you would ask about that job that you would want to know? +p370 +aVAll right. That's going to have to be it there, Senator Rubio. We have got to go to a break. We will be right back with the CBS News Republican debate in Greenville, South Carolina. +p371 +aVTime now for closing statements. You will each have one minute, and we'll begin with Governor Kasich. +p372 +aVDr. Carson \u2014 Dr. Carson, you're next. +p373 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor Bush. +p374 +aVSenator Cruz? Senator Cruz, your closing statement? +p375 +aVMr. Trump, your closing statements? +p376 +as. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/downloads/data2/script1.pickle b/downloads/data2/script1.pickle new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fc4dbd3 --- /dev/null +++ b/downloads/data2/script1.pickle @@ -0,0 +1,1461 @@ +(dp0 +VRADDATZ +p1 +(lp2 +VQuestions of leadership and character have dominated the news ever since the Iowa caucuses a few days ago. Here with us to question the candidates this evening are Josh McElveen from +p3 +aVDr. Ben Carson. +p4 +aVBusinessman Donald Trump. +p5 +aVFormer Florida Governor, Jeb Bush. +p6 +aVLadies and gentlemen, the Republican candidates. +p7 +aVAnd Donald Trump. +p8 +aVThe applause so loud you couldn't hear. We couldn't hear, either. That's a good sign for the excitement this evening. Gentlemen, thank you for being here tonight, just days before voters here in New Hampshire make their decisions. The rules are simple and have been agreed to by all the campaigns. There will be 60 seconds to answer and if another candidate is mentioned in that answer, that candidate will have 30 seconds to respond. There are green, yellow and red lights that each candidate will see to signal when time is up and they will also hear this sound. +p9 +aVSenator Cruz, you are a first term Senator as well. Your opponents say you, like Senator Rubio, are not prepared to be Commander in Chief. You have talked tough about threats we face in the Mid-East. It was reported just moments ago that the North Koreans test launched an intercontinental ballistic missile. North Korea has nuclear weapons, and conducted another nuclear test just last month. The missile that was launched is the kind the North Koreans hope could someday carry a nuclear weapon capable of reaching the United States. How would you respond if Commander in Chief to that launch? +p10 +aVWell, let me ask you this, if you were Commander in Chief tonight would you have order the U.S. military to destroy that missile preemptively on the launchpad to prevent North Korea from becoming an even graver threat? +p11 +aV... Senator Cruz, let me tell you this, you have talked tough about the Mid-East, you haven't gotten those intelligence briefings about that. Why not tell us whether you would preemptively strike a missile on a launchpad that threatens the U.S... +p12 +aVOkay. Senator Cruz, I will say that missile has been sitting there for quite some time, and they have had eyes on it. +p13 +aVSenator Rubio, I'm talking about a preemptive strike on the launch pad. +p14 +aVOK. Thank you, Senator Rubio. Governor Kasich, how would you respond to tonight's launch? +p15 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. Thank you \u2014 thank you... +p16 +aV... Governor Bush, I'll get to you in a moment. +p17 +aVThank you, Governor Bush. Mr. Trump, do you have a red line with North Korea? Would you consider military action? And how far would you let them go? +p18 +aVAnd I'd like him to finish the question, please. +p19 +aVSpecific \u2014 as to North Korea. +p20 +aVSenator Rubio, you were mentioned. +p21 +aVThank you very much, Senator Rubio. Governor Bush, another problem facing the commander-in-chief right now is that North Korea is currently detaining an American college student. What would you do to get that college student back home? +p22 +aVGovernor Christie, I want to go to you on the same question. +p23 +aVWould you negotiate with North Korea to... +p24 +aVThank you very much, Governor Christie. David? +p25 +aVSenator Cruz, to that point, Mr. Trump has said that your position on health care means that maybe you've got, quote, "no heart". There is a question here, though, about uncovered folks. You suggested repealing and replacing Obamacare. As we learned with President Obama's broken promise that everyone could keep their plan, any major plan \u2014 change in health care policy carries with it the risk that some people will lose their insurance coverage or have to change it. How do you reassure that those people that repealing and replacing Obamacare is still in their best interest? +p26 +aVSenator Cruz, you advocate what you call carpet bombing, or saturation bombing, to defeat +p27 +aVSenator Cruz, would you like to expand or loosen the rules of engagement? I was just over in a command center in Erbil and they said they thought the rules of engagement worked. Because you have so many civilians in those populated areas, they don't want to hit civilians. +p28 +aVSo, loosen the rules of engagement? +p29 +aVSenator Rubio, you said in the last debate that +p30 +aVAgain, Senator Rubio, you've already said +p31 +aVWell, what would you do \u2014 what would you do differently to try to get those Sunni forces? They have not been coming forward. +p32 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 thank you very much, Senator Rubio. Mr. Trump. You have said you will vigorously bomb +p33 +aVAnd \u2014 and what would you do in those cities, where there are people who we are trying to help, who +p34 +aVThank you very much, Mr. Trump. Let's turn to Libya. Governor Bush, it is a country in chaos. There is no government. This week, defense officials said there are now 5,000 +p35 +aVThank you very much, Governor Bush. Dr. Carson? +p36 +aVAnd would you support renewed airstrikes? +p37 +aVWe're going to move on. +p38 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. Thank you, Josh. Our partner in this debate, the Independent Journal Review, has collected questions from some prominent conservatives around the country. Here's a videotaped question from radio host Larry O'Connor. O' +p39 +aVMr. Trump, I'm going to give that question to you. You took it \u2014 you took it away anyway. +p40 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. I'm going to go to Senator Rubio on this. How would you change that narrative? +p41 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Dr. Carson, I want to go to you on Larry O' Connor's question. Would you change the narrative? +p42 +aVYes. +p43 +aVThank you very much Dr. Carson. I'm going to go back to David. +p44 +aVGovernor Christie, earlier this week, the World Health Organization declared the Zika virus a global emergency. The same kind of mosquitoes that carry the Zika virus in Latin America are found here in the United States, and the virus has been linked to severe birth defects. Governor Christie, at the peak of the Ebola outbreak in west Africa, you ordered an American nurse who landed at Newark Airport be detained and quarantined. As fear spreads now of the Zika virus and with the Rio Olympics just months away, is there a scenario where you would quarantine people traveling back from Brazil to prevent the spread in the United States? +p45 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you. I'm going to move to Dr. Carson, and go back to the Zika virus, is that going too far, quarantining? You're a doctor, what would you do? +p46 +aVThanks very much, Dr. Carson. I want to move on to the military. Senator Rubio, all restrictions on women in combat as long as they qualify. Positions including special operations forces, like Navy Seals. Just this week military leaders of the Army and Marine Corps said that they believed young women, just as young men are required to do, should sign up for Selective Service in case the Draft is reinstated. Many of you have young daughters. Senator Rubio, should young women be required to sign up for Selective Service in case of a national emergency? +p47 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Governor Bush, do you believe that young women... +p48 +aVDo you believe young women should sign up for Selective Service, be required to sign up... +p49 +aVTell me what you'd say to American people out there......who are sitting at home, who have daughters, who might worry about those answers, and might worry... +p50 +aV... if the Draft is reinstituted? +p51 +aV... Are you saying you'd do away with it? +p52 +aVYou register for the draft. +p53 +aVIf it's reinstituted. +p54 +aVThank you very much. +p55 +aVThank you very much, Governor Christie. +p56 +aVWe just covered \u2014 wait one second, Dr. Carson. +p57 +aVVery quickly. +p58 +aVThank you very much for bringing up that subject, Dr. Carson, of our veterans. And for another question about our veterans, we go back to Josh McElveen from +p59 +aVGovernor Christie. +p60 +aVDr. Carson. +p61 +aVSenator Cruz. +p62 +asVTRUMP +p63 +(lp64 +VWell, I can say this. If the president, and if I were president now, I would certainly want to try and nominate a justice. I'm sure that, frankly, I'm absolutely sure that President Obama will try and do it. I hope that our Senate is going to be able \u2014 Mitch, and the entire group, is going to be able to do something about it. In times of delay, we could have a Diane Sykes, or you could have a Bill Pryor \u2014 we have some fantastic people. But this is a tremendous blow to conservatism. It's a tremendous blow, frankly, to our country. +p65 +aV... I think he's going to do it whether or I'm O.K. with it or not. I think it's up to Mitch McConnell and everybody else to stop it. It's called delay, delay, delay. +p66 +aVWhat we want to do, when we want to do it, and how hard do we want to hit? Because we are going to have to hit very, very hard to knock out +p67 +aV... called me a genius, I like him so far, I have to tell you. Let me just tell you this. Jeb is so wrong. Jeb is absolutely self \u2014 just so you understand, you know what that is? That's Jeb's special interest and lobbyist talking. Look, let me just tell you something, Jeb \u2014 Jeb is so wrong. You got to fight +p68 +aV... You'll end up with World War III... +p69 +aV... We're supporting troops... +p70 +aV... that we don't even know who they are. +p71 +aV... We're supporting troops that we don't even know who they are... +p72 +aVWe have no idea who they are. +p73 +aV... Oh, yeah, yeah... +p74 +aV... Let 44 million in New Hampshire, it was practically ... +p75 +aV... 44 million \u2014 give me a break. +p76 +aVFirst of all, I have to say, as a businessman, I get along with everybody. I have business all over the world. I know so many of the people in the audience. And by the way, I'm a self-funder. I don't have \u2014 I have my wife and I have my son. That's all I have. I don't have this. So let me just tell you, I get along with everybody, which is my obligation to my company, to myself, et cetera. Obviously, the war in Iraq was a big, fat mistake. All right? Now, you can take it any way you want, and it took \u2014 it took Jeb Bush, if you remember at the beginning of his announcement, when he announced for president, it took him five days. He went back, it was a mistake, it wasn't a mistake. It took him five days before his people told him what to say, and he ultimately said, "It was a mistake." The war in Iraq, we spent $2 trillion, thousands of lives, we don't even have it. Iran has taken over Iraq, with the second-largest oil reserves in the world. Obviously, it was a mistake. +p77 +aVGeorge Bush made a mistake. We can make mistakes. But that one was a beauty. We should have never been in Iraq. We have destabilized the Middle East. +p78 +aVYou do whatever you want. You call it whatever you want. I want to tell you. They lied. They said there were weapons of mass destruction, there were none. And they knew there were none. There were no weapons of mass destruction. +p79 +aVI'm being nice. +p80 +aVHe spent $22 million in... +p81 +aVThe World Trade Center came down during your brother's reign, remember that. +p82 +aVThat's not keeping us safe. +p83 +aVShe should be running. +p84 +aVHow did he keep us safe when the World Trade Center \u2014 the World \u2014 excuse me. I lost hundreds of friends. The World Trade Center came down during the reign of George Bush. He kept us safe? That is not safe. That is not safe, Marco. That is not safe. +p85 +aVAnd George Bush \u2014 by the way, George Bush had the chance, also, and he didn't listen to the advice of his C.I.A. +p86 +aVI don't want to go. +p87 +aVYes. +p88 +aVFirst of all, the \u2014 when you say I'm the only candidate, if you listen to the Democrats, they want to do many things to Social Security, and I want to do them on its own merit. You listen to them, what they want to do to Social Security, none of these folks are getting elected, O.K., whether they can do it or not. I'm going to save Social Security. I'm going to bring jobs back from China. I'm going to bring jobs back from Mexico and from Japan, where they're all \u2014 every country throughout the world \u2014 now Vietnam, that's the new one. They are taking our jobs. They are taking our wealth. They are taking our base. And you and I have had this discussion. We're going to make our economy strong again. I'm lowering taxes. We have $2.5 trillion offshore. We have 2.5 trillion that I think is actually five trillion because the government has no idea when they say 2.5, they have no idea what they're doing or saying, as they've proven very well. We're going to bring that money back. You take a look at what happened just this week. China bought the Chicago Stock Exchange, China, a Chinese company. Carrier is moving to Mexico, air conditioning company. Not only the ones I talk about all the time, Nabisco and Ford and \u2014 they're all moving out. We have an economy that last quarter, G.D.P. didn't grow. It was flat. We have to make our economy grow again. We're dying. This country is dying. And our workers are losing their jobs, and you're going... +p89 +aVI'm the only one who is going to save Social Security, believe me. +p90 +aVBecause you have tremendous waste. I'll tell you... +p91 +aVYou have tremendous waste, fraud and abuse. That we're taking care of. That we're taking care of. It's tremendous. We have in Social Security right now thousands and thousands of people that are over 106 years old. Now, you know they don't exist. They don't exist. There's tremendous waste, fraud and abuse, and we're going to get it. But we're not going to hurt the people who have been paying into Social Security their whole life and then all of a sudden they're supposed to get less. We're bringing our jobs back. We're going to make our economy great again. +p92 +aVI want everybody taken care of, but we have to take care of our people in this country. We're not taking care of our people. We have no border. We have no control. People are flooding across. We can't have it. We either have a border, and I'm very strongly \u2014 I'm not proposing. I will build a wall. I will build a wall. Remember this, the wall will be paid for by Mexico. We are not being treated right. We are not being treated properly. If we don't have borders, if we don't have strength, we don't have a country. People are flowing across. We have to take care of our people. Believe me. +p93 +aVLook......When I announced that I was running for president on June 16th, illegal immigration wasn't even a subject. If I didn't bring it up, we wouldn't even be talking. Now, I don't often agree with Marco, and I don't often agree with Ted, but I can in this case. The weakest person on this stage by far on illegal immigration is Jeb Bush. They come out of an act of love, whether you like it or not. He is so weak on illegal immigration it's laughable, and everybody knows it. +p94 +aV... Spend a little more money on the commercials... +p95 +aV. I don't know what you're talking about. +p96 +aV... I never called him \u2014 I don't call him.. +p97 +aVHe also said about language... +p98 +aV... Language. Two days ago he said he would take his pants off and moon everybody, and that's fine. Nobody reports that. He gets up and says that, and then he tells me, oh, my language was a little bit rough... +p99 +aV... My language. Give me a break... +p100 +aV... You did say it, you did say it. Been reported in 10 different news... +p101 +aVOr a tax. +p102 +aVI would build consensus with Congress, and Congress would agree with me. I'll give you an example, because I don't like the idea of using executive orders like our president. It is a disaster what he's doing. I would build consensus, but consensus means you have to work hard. You have to cajole. You have to get them into the Oval Office and get them all together, and you have to make deals. Let me just tell you, I mentioned before, China \u2014 big Chinese company bought the Chicago Exchange. Kerry is moving \u2014 and if you saw the people, because they have a video of the announcement that Carrier is moving to Mexico, O.K.? Well, I'll tell you what. I would go right now to Carrier and I would say I am going to work awfully hard. You're going to make air conditioners now in Mexico. You're going to get all of these 1,400 people that are being laid off \u2014 they're laid off. They were crying. They were \u2014 it was a very sad situation. You're going to go to Mexico. You're going to make air conditioners in Mexico, you're going to put them across our border with no tax. I'm going to tell them right now, I am going to get consensus from Congress and we're going to tax you when those air conditioners come. So stay where you are or build in the United States, because we are killing ourselves with trade pacts that are no good for us and no good for our workers. +p103 +aVJohn, in life you have flexibility. You do have flexibility. When you're fighting wars, you're going one way, you have a plan. It's a beautiful plan. It can't lose. The enemy makes a change, and all of a sudden you have to change. You have to have flexibility. In Ronald Reagan, though, in terms of what we're talking about, was the great example. He was a somewhat liberal Democrat who became a somewhat, pretty strong conservative. He became \u2014 most importantly, he became a great president. He made many of the changes that I've made \u2014 I mean, I've seen as I grew up, I've seen, and as I get older and wiser, and I feel that I am a conservative. Now, I also feel I'm a common-sense conservative, because some of the views I don't agree with. And I think a lot of people agree with me, obviously, based on what's happening. +p104 +aVWell, I think these people always hit me with eminent domain, and frankly, I'm not in love with eminent domain. But eminent domain is something you need very strongly. When Jeb had said, "You used eminent domain privately for a parking lot." It wasn't for a parking lot. The state of New Jersey \u2014 too bad Chris Christie is not here, he could tell you \u2014 the state of New Jersey went to build a very large tower that was going to employ thousands of people. I mean, it was going to really do a big job in terms of economic development. Now, just so you understand, I got hit very hard. It's private, it's private eminent domain. You understand that they took over a stadium in Texas, and they used private eminent domain, but he just found that out after he made the charge. +p105 +aVYeah. Well, Jeb wouldn't have known about it. +p106 +aVYou shouldn't have used it then, Jeb. +p107 +aVThank you very much, I appreciate it. +p108 +aVYou probably are worse than Jeb Bush. You are single biggest liar. This guy's lied \u2014 let me just tell you, this guy lied about Ben Carson when he took votes away from Ben Carson in Iowa, and he just continues. Today, we had robo-calls saying, "Donald Trump is not going to run in South Carolina," where I'm leading by a lot. I'm not going to vote for Ted Cruz. This is the same thing he did to Ben Carson. This guy will say anything, nasty guy. Now I know why he doesn't have one endorsement from any of his colleagues. +p109 +aVHe's a nasty guy. +p110 +aVWhere did I support it? Where did I... +p111 +aVAgain, where did I support it? +p112 +aVHey Ted, where I support it? +p113 +aVWhere did I support? +p114 +aVThat's a lot of lies. +p115 +aVIt does do wonderful things, but not as it relates to abortion. +p116 +aVExcuse me. Excuse me, there are wonderful things having to do with women's health. +p117 +aVBut not when it comes to abortion. +p118 +aVHold on... +p119 +aVTed Cruz told your brother that he wanted John Roberts to be on the United States Supreme Court. They both pushed him, he twice approved Obamacare. +p120 +aVO.K., governor. +p121 +aVYou pushed him. You pushed him. +p122 +aVYou worked with him and you pushed him. Why do you lie? +p123 +aVWhy do you lie? +p124 +aVYou pushed him. +p125 +aVYeah, yeah, I know, you're an adult. +p126 +aVWell, I would say my wife tells me I'm wrong all the time. And I listen. +p127 +aVOh, let me just say \u2014 look, I am very open \u2014 I hired top people. I've had great success. I built a great, great company. I don't need to do this. I'm self-funding. I'm spending a lot of money. I've spent \u2014 like in New Hampshire, I spent $3 million. Jeb bush spent $44 million. He came in five, and I came in No. 1. That's what the country needs, folks. I spent 3, he spends 42 of their money, of special interest money. And it's just \u2014 this is not going to make \u2014 excuse me. This is not going to make our country great again. This is not what we need in our country. We need people that know what the hell they're doing. And politicians, they're all talk, they're no action. And that's why people are supporting me. I do listen to people. I hire experts. I hire top, top people. And I do listen. And you know what? Sometimes they're wrong. You have to know what to do, when to do it. But sometimes they're wrong. +p128 +aVWell, I'll tell you \u2014 over the years, I've made many speeches. People have asked me, big companies have asked me to make speeches, and friends of mine that run big companies on success. And occasion, in order to sort of really highlight something, I'll use a profanity. One of the profanities that I got credited with using, that I didn't use, was a very bad word, two weeks ago, that I never used. I said, "You." And everybody said "Oh, he didn't say anything wrong." But you bleeped it, so everyone thinks I said the \u2014 I didn't say anything. I never said the word. It is very unfair, that criticism. Now, I will say this, with all of that being said, I have said I will not do it at all, because if I say a word that's a little bit off color, a little bit, it ends up being a headline. I will not do it again. I was a very good student at a great school not using \u2014 by the way \u2014 not using profanity is very easy. +p129 +aVThat's not \u2014 let me respond. That's another lie. I never went bankrupt! +p130 +aVNo, but it's another lie. +p131 +aVNo, but it's another lie. This guy doesn't know what he's talking about. Just a lie. +p132 +aVLet me just tell you. Jeb goes around saying, just like the biggest business leaders in this country, I've used the laws of the land to chapter \u2014 I bought a company, I threw it immediately into a chapter, I made a great deal. I uses the laws to my benefit, because I run a company. +p133 +aVExcuse me, Jeb! +p134 +aVI never went bankrupt, never. Now \u2014 but you don't want to say that. Now, let me just say, I've used it, just like the biggest leaders in the country. Let me tell you something \u2014 Florida. Florida, he put so much debt on Florida. You know, we keep saying he's a wonderful governor, wonderful governor. He put so much debt on Florida, and he increased spending so much that as soon as he got out of office, Florida crashed. I happened to be there. It's my second home. Florida crashed. He didn't do a good job as governor. +p135 +aVAnd you haven't \u2014 excuse me, you haven't heard that. You listen to the good record in Florida. You take a look at what happened, as soon as that year ended he got out, Florida crashed. Too much debt. He loaded it up with debt, and his spending went through the roof. +p136 +aVBy the way... +p137 +aV... he was not a good governor. +p138 +aVTake a look at your numbers. +p139 +aVFlorida went down the tubes right after he got out of office. +p140 +aVWent right down because of what he did to it. +p141 +aVThank you. Politicians are all talk, no action. You've seen where they've take you to. We are 19 trillion dollars right now. It's going to be increased with that horrible budget from a month ago that was just approved by politicians. We need a change. We need a very big change. We're going to make our country great again. I say this every night, every day, every afternoon, and it's so true \u2014 we don't win anymore. We don't win with health care, we don't win with +p142 +aVI actually think I have the best temperament. I built a massive corporation. I employ thousands and thousands of people. I've gotten along with people for years and years, have tremendous relationships with many people, including politicians on both sides. And no matter how you cut it, when I \u2014 when I came out, I hit immigration, I hit it very hard. Everybody said, "Oh, the temperament," because I talked about illegal immigration. Now, everybody's coming to me, they're all trying to say, well, he's right, we have to come to him. I hit other things. I talked about Muslims. We have a problem. Nobody else wanted to mention the problem, I brought it up. I took a lot of heat. We have to have a temporary something, because there's something going on that's not good. And remember this, I'm the only one up here, when the war of Iraq \u2014 in Iraq, I was the one that said, "Don't go, don't do it, you're going to destabilize the Middle East." So, I'm not one with a trigger. I'm not one with a trigger. Other people up here, believe me, would be a lot faster. But I'll build the mill arbitrary stronger, bigger, better than anybody up here, and nobody is going to mess with us. That, I can tell you. +p143 +aVAm I allowed to respond? I have to respond. +p144 +aVFirst of all, I respect what Ted just said, but if you noticed, he didn't answer your question. And that's what's going to happen \u2014 OK. That's what's going to happen with our enemies and the people we compete against. We're going to win with Trump. We're going to win. We don't win anymore. Our country doesn't win anymore. We're going to win with Trump. And people back down with Trump. And that's what I like and that's what the country is going to like. +p145 +aVWell, let me say a couple of things. First of all, Marco said earlier on that President Obama knows exactly what he's doing, like we have this president that really knows. I disagree, respectfully, with Marco. I think we have a president who, as a president, is totally incompetent, and he doesn't know what he's doing. I think he has no idea what he's doing. And our country is going to hell. So, I just want to say, we disagree on that. Is that okay? +p146 +aVGood. +p147 +aVAs to North Korea? +p148 +aVWe have \u2014 tremendous \u2014 has been just sucked out of our country by China. China says they don't have that good of control over North Korea. They have tremendous control. I deal with the Chinese all of the time. I do tremendous \u2014 the largest bank in the world is in one of my buildings in Manhattan. I deal with them. They tell me. They have total, absolute control, practically, of North Korea. They are sucking trillions of dollars out of our country \u2014 they're rebuilding China with the money they take out of our country. I would get on with China, let China solve that problem. They can do it quickly and surgically. That's what we should do with North Korea. +p149 +aVGood evening. +p150 +aVYes. HAM: In the Democratic primary, Hillary Clinton has criticized Bernie Sanders' plan for single payer government health care, noting it would require big, across the board tax increases for Americans. In doing so, she's doubling down on Obamacare, despite its persistent unpopularity. Mr. Trump, you have said you want to appeal Obamacare. You have also said, quote, "Everybody's got to be covered," adding, quote, "The government's going to pay for it." Are you closer to Bernie Sanders' vision for health care than Hillary Clinton's? +p151 +aVI don't think I am. I think I'm closer to common sense. We are going to repeal Obamacare. We're going to repeal Obamacare. We are going to replace Obamacare with something so much better. And there are so many examples of it. And I will tell you, part of the reason we have some people laughing, because you have insurance people that take care of everybody up here. I am self-funded. The only one they're not taking care of is me. We have our lines around each state. The insurance companies are getting rich on Obamacare. The insurance companies are getting rich on health care and health services and everything having to do with health. We are going to end that. We're going to take out the artificial boundaries, the artificial lines. We're going to get a plan where people compete, free enterprise. They compete. So much better. In addition to that, you have the health care savings plans, which are excellent. What I do say is, there will be a certain number of people that will be on the street dying and as a Republican, I don't want that to happen. We're going to take care of people that are dying on the street because there will be a group of people that are not going to be able to even think in terms of private or anything else and we're going to take care of those people. And I think everybody on this stage would have to agree......you're not going to let people die, sitting in the middle of a street in any city in this country. +p152 +aVWell, let me just tell you about eminent domain because almost all of these people actually criticize it, but so many people have hit me with commercials and other things about eminent domain. Eminent domain is an absolute necessity for a country, for our country. Without it, you wouldn't have roads, you wouldn't have hospitals, you wouldn't have anything. You wouldn't have schools, you wouldn't have bridges. You need eminent domain. And a lot of the big conservatives that tell me how conservative they are \u2014 I think I'm more than they are \u2014 they tell me, oh \u2014 well, they all want the Keystone Pipeline. The Keystone Pipeline, without eminent domain, it wouldn't go 10 feet, OK? You need eminent domain. And eminent domain is a good thing, not a bad thing. And what a lot of people don't know because they were all saying, oh, you're going to take their property. When somebody \u2014 when eminent domain is used on somebody's property, that person gets a fortune. They get at least fair market value, and if they are smart, they'll get two or three times the value of their property. But without eminent domain, you don't have roads, highways, schools, bridges or anything. So eminent domain \u2014 it's not that I love it, but eminent domain is absolutely \u2014 it's a necessity for a country. And certainly it's a necessity for our country. +p153 +aVYes. +p154 +aVJeb wants to be \u2014 he wants to be a tough guy tonight. I didn't take the property. +p155 +aVI didn't take the property. +p156 +aVThe woman ultimately didn't want to do that. I walked away. +p157 +aVWell, let me just \u2014 you know, he wants to be a tough guy. A lot of times, you'll have \u2014 you'll have \u2014 and it didn't work very well. +p158 +aVA lot of time \u2014 let me talk. Quiet. A lot of times \u2014 a lot of times... +p159 +aV... you \u2014 let me talk. Let me talk. Quiet. A lot of times......that's all of his donors and special interests out there. So \u2014 it's what it is. That's what \u2014 and by the way, let me just tell you, we needed tickets. You can't get them. You know who has the tickets for the \u2014 I'm talking about, to the television audience? Donors, special interests, the people that are putting up the money. That's who it is. The RNC told us. We have all donors in the audience. And the reason they're not loving me......the reason they're not \u2014 excuse me. The reason they're not loving me is, I don't want their money. I'm going to do the right thing for the American public. I don't want their money. I don't need their money. And I'm the only one up here that can say that. Eminent domain, the Keystone pipeline \u2014 do you consider that a private job? Do you \u2014 do you consider that... +p160 +aVNo \u2014 no, let me ask you, Jeb. Do you consider the Keystone pipeline private? +p161 +aVIs it public or private? +p162 +aVReal \u2014 a public use? +p163 +aVNo, it's a private job. +p164 +aVIt's a private job. +p165 +aVYou wouldn't have the Keystone pipeline that you want so badly without eminent domain. +p166 +aVYou wouldn't have massive \u2014 excuse me, Josh \u2014 you wouldn't have massive factories without eminent domain. +p167 +aVWell, I think I am, and to me, I view the word conservative as a derivative I \u2014 of \u2014 of the word conserve. We want to converse our money. We want to conserve our wealth. We want to conserve. We want to be smart. We want to be smart where we go, where we spend, how we spend. We want to conserve our country. We want to save our country. And we have people that have no idea how to do that and they are not doing it, and it's a very important word and it's something I believe in very, very strongly. +p168 +aVWell, before I go there, I will tell you, I will bring jobs back from China. I will bring jobs back from Japan. I will bring jobs back from Mexico, where New Hampshire, by the way, has been virtually wiped out. They've lost so many businesses going to Mexico because of horrible trade deals. And now we're about to sign another trade deal, TPP, which is going to be a disaster for this country because they don't talk about monetary manipulation. It is going to be a disaster. I'm going to bring jobs back and I'll start bringing them back very fast. Under my tax plan \u2014 right now, we're the highest taxed country in the world. Under my plan, we cut not only taxes for the middle class, but we cut taxes for corporations. We will bring back trillions of dollars that's offshore. Right now, they have $2.5 trillion, and in my opinion, it's much more than that. That's what the government says. All of that money is going to come back. And we're not going to lose Pfizer, which is now leaving, and other great companies, which is now leaving. And they're all leaving. We have many, many companies that are leaving this country. We're not going to lose them anymore because we're going to have a tax structure that is going to keep them in our country. +p169 +aVWell, four years ago, I said, bomb the oil and take the oil. And if we did that, they wouldn't have the wealth they have right now. Now, I still say the same thing, because we're doing little pinpricks. We're not even bombing \u2014 if somebody's driving a truck, they give notice to the person driving the truck, "we're going to bomb." If they don't get out of the truck, the truck sails away with the oil. We actually have a case where we don't want to bomb the oil, because we don't want to hurt \u2014 pollute the atmosphere. Can you imagine General Douglas MacArthur or General Patton saying we can't bomb because we're gonna hurt the atmosphere? You have to knock the hell out of the oil. You have to take the oil. And you have also back channels of banking. You have people that you think are our great allies, our friends, in the Middle East, that are paying tremendous numbers of \u2014 tremendous amounts of money to +p170 +aVYou have to go in \u2014 first of all, when you take away their money, when you take away their wealth, that'll very much weaken \u2014 and it will happen fairly fast. They'll last for about a year, based on all of the wealth they've accumulated. But when you stop the banking channels and when you stop the oil and take the oil \u2014 not just bomb it, take it \u2014 when you do that, it's going to dry up very quickly. They're going to become a very weakened power, quickly. Thank you. +p171 +aVWell, I'll tell you what. In the Middle East, we have people chopping the heads off Christians, we have people chopping the heads off many other people. We have things that we have never seen before \u2014 as a group, we have never seen before, what's happening right now. The medieval times \u2014 I mean, we studied medieval times \u2014 not since medieval times have people seen what's going on. I would bring back waterboarding and I'd bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding. +p172 +aV... No, a good deal maker will make great deals, but we'll do it the way our founders thought it should be done. People get together, they make deals. Ronald Reagan did it with Tip O'Neil very successfully, you didn't hear so much about executive orders, if you heard about it at all. You have to be able to get a consensus. Now, the real person like it was mentioned about the deal with Iran, how bad a deal is that? It doesn't get any more amateurish than that. A good deal maker would never make a deal like that. With Congress, you have to get everybody in a room, and you have to get them to agree. But, you have to get them to agree what you want, and that's part of being a deal maker. You can't leave the White House, go to Hawaii and play golf for three weeks and be a real deal maker. It doesn't work that way. You have to get people in, grab them, hug them, kiss them, and get the deal done. But, it's got to be the deal that you want. HAM: Governor Kasich, is the problem with Washington that there are too many deals, or too few? +p173 +aVSome? +p174 +aVWell... +p175 +aVYes. OK, good. It looked like he was looking right at me, right there. I think that \u2014 I look at what's going on, I look at all of the polls, I do very, very well against Hillary Clinton. I can tell you, I'm the last person that she wants to run against. And I think you can see what we've done in terms of galvanizing. I've been all over the country. We're \u2014 last night, I was in South Carolina, we had 12,000 people. It set up in about four days. We have galvanized and we've created a movement. A lot of it has to do with \u2014 as an example, Josh's question on drugs. I'm the first person that said, "Build a wall." But I mean, a real wall, not a toy wall like they have right now. A real wall. And you'll solve lots of problems. But we will galvanize the people of this country, and we will beat Hillary Clinton. Because \u2014 assuming that she runs, by the way, how she gets away with the e-mail stuff is hard to believe. So, I don't know that she's going to be running. But on the assumption she runs... I mean, look. And speaking of that, if she runs, she's running for one reason. She's going to be able to run for one reason, and that's because the Democrats are protecting her. Because so many people have done so much less than her, and they were absolutely \u2014 their lives have been destroyed. But on the assumption they do protect her, I will win the election and we will win it by a lot. We will win it handily. We cannot have another four years of essentially Barack Obama. +p176 +aVWell, there is a divide, but I have to say that the police are absolutely mistreated and misunderstood, and if there is an incident, whether it's an incident done purposely \u2014 which is a horror, and you should really take very strong action \u2014 or if it is a mistake, it's on your news casts all night, all week, all month, and it never ends. The police in this country have done an unbelievable job of keeping law and order, and they're afraid for their jobs, they're afraid of the mistreatment they get, and I'm telling you that not only, me speaking, minorities all over the country, they respect the police of this country and we have to give them more respect. They can't act. They can't act. They're afraid for losing their pension, their job. They don't know what to do. And I deal with them all the time. We have to give great respect, far greater than we are right now, to our really fantastic police. +p177 +aVWell, they do. And, you know, they sue. Everybody sues, right? They see excessive \u2014 I mean, they go out, they sue. We have so much litigation \u2014 I see the courts, I see what they're doing. They sue, and you know what? We don't want excessive force. But at what point \u2014 you know, either you're going to have a police force that can do its job... I was just up in Manchester, I met with the police officers yesterday. Tremendous people. They love the area, they love the people, they love all the people. They want to do their job. And you're going to have abuse and you're going to have problems, and you've got to solve the problems and you have to weed out the problems. But the police in this country are absolutely amazing people. +p178 +aVWell, I \u2014 I know Diane Foley very well. Her husband and \u2014 these are tremendous people. I spoke for them, I raised a lot of money for the foundation. I fully understand, James, one of \u2014 that was really the first that we saw, really visually saw \u2014 it was so horrible. And I will tell you, though, with all of that being said, you can not negotiate this way with terrorists. If you do, you are going to have many, many more James Foleys. James Foley was a great young man. His parents are incredible people. They've done such a good job, since his \u2014 since his death. But you just cannot negotiate that way with terrorists, or you're gonna have so many other James Foleys. And one thing on the vets \u2014 during the last debate, I raised $6 million for the vets, and I will tell you something......I will tell you that I think nobody here, nobody on this stage, gets along with the veterans groups in New Hampshire better than I do without ball (ph) to sarel (ph) and all of the people that I deal with and these are great people. The one thing that we're not mentioning, there's tremendous fraud, waste and abuse in the Veterans Administration and if I'm running things, that's going to disappear......and it's going to disappear quickly. +p179 +aVCarolina. +p180 +aVThat's because he got Ben Carson's votes, by the way, but we won't . Our country that we love so much doesn't win anymore. We don't win with the military, we don't' win on the border. You look at New Hampshire with the tremendous problem we have with heroin. Number one thing I hear from the people of New Hampshire, who I love, and developed such relationships, we don't win with healthcare. We don't win with trade. You look at what other countries are doing to us. China. Everyone, they're killing us on trade. If I'm elected president, we will win, and we will win, and we will win. Thank you, thank you very much. +p181 +asVGARRETT +p182 +(lp183 +VSenator Cruz. John mentioned this is about dollars and incentives. We also want to talk about economic growth engagements. You have proposed a consumption tax, you called it the "back tax." Some analysts compare it more to an attributed "value-added tax." From the perspective from economic growth in building wages, how does that work, and how would you address those longstanding conservative concerns that something approaching the "value-added tax" would be used to constantly increase those rates to pay for future government spending and become an escalator of taxation, not of growth? +p184 +aVNow, the question \u2014 conservatives have sort of this idea conceptually for a long time, but especially on this consumption value-added tax system. In Europe, where it exists, it has become an escalator of taxation to feed government spending, and that's why conservatives have long resisted it. Why and what would you do as president to make sure that doesn't happen? +p185 +aVGovernor Bush, a question for you \u2014 but if you want to jump in, please. +p186 +aVJump in, and then I've got a question for you. +p187 +aVReal quickly, jump in, because I have got a question for Governor Bush, but jump in. +p188 +aVUnderstood, Governor Kasich. +p189 +aVYeah, Governor Bush, fine. +p190 +aVLet me get in a question from... +p191 +aVI understand, I understand. +p192 +aVI have a question on economic growth, Governor Bush. +p193 +aVA , Governor. +p194 +aVI know, understood. Governor Bush. +p195 +aVGovernor Bush, from the perspective, economic growth \u2014 viewed from this perspective of economic growth, you have proposed a tax on hedge fund managers. The Americans for Tax Reform, a conservative tax group you're probably aware of, has said no Republican should be for higher taxes on capital gains. And many conservatives wonder if this proposal of yours would undermine not only that philosophy, but undercut your projection of 4 percent economic growth annually under your presidency? +p196 +aV... Dr. Carson... +p197 +aVSenator Rubio... For the purposes of the lines \u2014 lines you would draw legislatively as a president on immigration reform, define amnesty. +p198 +aVVery quickly, Senator Cruz. +p199 +aVGovernor Bush, I want to bring this out to a little wider philosophical aspect, if you will. +p200 +aVYou have said illegal immigrants, quote, "broke the law, but it's not a felony," still quoting you, "it's an act of love, it's an act of commitment to your family." Mr. Trump has, as you are well aware, denounced that statement over and over. Do you still believe it? What does that mean to you? And how does that inform your approach to immigration reform? +p201 +aVFundamentally, do you believe this rhetoric is insufficiently compassionate to this issue? +p202 +aVMr. Trump... +p203 +aV... Governor Kasich, here in South Carolina earlier this week, you said the idea, the concept of deporting 11 million undocumented workers... +p204 +aV... We will leave the moon metaphors to be adjudicated later, I assure you. Governor Kasich, you said earlier this week in South Carolina, the concept, the idea of deporting 11 million undocumented workers in this country is nuts. Why is it you are so opposed to that idea? Senator Cruz has said it's a simple application of existing law. The application of that is not inhumane, it is just. Why do you disagree? +p205 +aV... What are you for on immigration? +p206 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 Mr. Trump. I was with you in Pendleton, South Carolina, earlier this week at the Rodeo Arena. It was a bit chilly there. You promised the crowd, and they rose to their feet, that if Ford or a company like were to move a factory to Mexico, you would try to stop it or threaten them with a 35 percent tax or tariff on every car sold. +p207 +aVRight. So my question is, based on your understanding of the presidency, where do you derive that power? Would you need the consent of Congress to go along? And do you see the presidency as a perch from which you can cajole and/or threaten private industry to do something you think is better for the U.S. economy? +p208 +aVThank you, governor. +p209 +asVMUIR +p210 +(lp211 +VGood evening, again, everyone. This is the first time since Iowa and the only time before the New Hampshire primary that the Republican candidates will have the opportunity to face each other. The people of Iowa have been heard. Now it's New Hampshire's turn. In just three days, voters here will decide who they think should be the Republican nominee for president. +p212 +aVSo let's welcome the candidates for the Republican nomination for president. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. +p213 +aVTexas Senator Ted Cruz. +p214 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. +p215 +aVAnd Ohio Governor John Kasich. +p216 +aVAnd Dr. Ben Carson, please come out on the stage. He's standing there, as well. Dr. Carson. +p217 +aVAnd lastly, we welcome back to the debate stage, Donald Trump. +p218 +aVIt was so noisy in here. Yes. Yes. We're going to introduce Ohio Governor John kasich. The applause so loud here in the hall. +p219 +aVSo let's get started. We welcome you all to the debate stage here tonight. We're going to tackle the issues Americans are most concerned about, the economy, +p220 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. I want to bring this to Senator Cruz, then. Because Senator, you did said of Trump's behavior this week, that's not the temperament of a leader to keep this country safe. Why not? +p221 +aVSenator Cruz, I did ask about Mr. Trump. You said he doesn't have the temperament to be commander-in-chief. Do you stand by those words? +p222 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. We're going to continue on this notion of readiness and experience. I'm going to come back. +p223 +aVIf you would like to respond, Mr. Trump. +p224 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. And we're going to continue on this notion of readiness and on experience, but I want to ask about a headline that was back in the papers again this morning. Dr. Carson, on the day of the Iowa caucuses, the Cruz campaign sent out messages and voicemails saying, quote, "Breaking news. Dr. Ben Carson will be planning to suspend his campaign following tonight's caucuses. Please inform any Carson caucus-goers of this news." But as we can all see, you are still standing here tonight. Late this week, your campaign sent this e-mail, quote, "This kind of deceitful behavior is why the American people don't trust politicians. If Senator Cruz does not act, then he clearly represents D.C. values." What kind of action do you think Senator Cruz should take? +p225 +aVSenator Cruz. Dr. Carson, thank you. Senator Cruz, you have said that Dr. Carson and his wife have become friends of yours. I'm curious as why you didn't call ahead of time to either the doctor or his wife or have your campaign check in with the other campaign before sending out those messages. +p226 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. We're going to move on here. Back to the issues... +p227 +aVDr. Carson, please. +p228 +aVDr. Carson, thank you. Thank you, doctor. Senator Rubio. I want to stay on the issue of readiness to be president and experience and questions about you being a first-term senator. Governor Christie warning voters here in New Hampshire against voting for another first-term senator as America did with Barack Obama in 2008. Arguing that you are, quote, " not ready to be president of the United States." And Senator Santorum, who we all know, dropped out of the race and endorsed you, had a hard time when asked on national television, listing your accomplishments as senator. Tonight, what are your accomplishments in the Senate that demonstrate you are ready to be president of the United States? +p229 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I do want to ask Governor Christie, Governor Christie, you said fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me when it comes to electing a first-term senator. You heard Senator Rubio make the case that he does have the experience. Your response? +p230 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Rubio? +p231 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I want to bring in governor bush on this, because you... +p232 +aV... have made this... +p233 +aVIf you'd like to respond to economic... +p234 +aVSenator Rubio? +p235 +aVGovernor Christie, we will \u2014 we will... +p236 +aVGovernor Christie \u2014 thank you, Governor. I will mention \u2014 listen... +p237 +aV... Listen, people... Governor Bush, I'll mention your name so that you can come in on this... +p238 +aVI want to bring you in on this because you've made this central to your campaign right here in New Hampshire in the last couple of days. Four Years ago you said of Senator Rubio, he was ready to be Vice President. You spoke of his experience as well. You said he has the fortitude to be a good President, but just this week you said Senator Rubio accomplished, quote, "nothing" in the Senate. How do you square the two? +p239 +aV... We're going to continue with leadership now. Martha? +p240 +aVMartha, we're going to turn to immigration now. And I want to bring in Governor Kasich because you told us in an ABC interview, Governor, quote, "It is completely ridiculous to think we are going to go into neighborhoods, grab people out of their homes and ship people back to Mexico." Adding, quote, "That's not where the party is. The party is not for departing 11.5 million people." But Mr. Trump and Senator Cruz, who have made deportation central to their campaigns, top the national polls. So, my question for you, are you not where the voters are? +p241 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. I want to bring this next to Senator Cruz. You heard what the governor said. He said, "We need practical solutions." And you've said, "I don't intend to send jack boots to knock on doors. That's not how we enforce the law for any crime." So, what is your plan? How will you deport 11.5 million undocumented people? And be specific. How would you do it? +p242 +aVLet me just ask you this, though, because Governor Kasich was talking about the families and what you do with the families that you would have to send home. Can you tell the American people tonight how you would do that? +p243 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. I want to bring in Senator Rubio. This question is about immigration, it is also about leadership. You're aware of the criticism from many candidates on this stage tonight that you co-authored the so-called Gang of Eight bill that would have created a path to citizenship for people here illegally. Governor Christie has said of you, as soon as you felt the heat, you turned tail and run. Governor Bush has said, "I don't think we need people cutting and running anymore." Did you fight for your own legislation, Senator, or did you run from it? +p244 +aVBut I'm asking, did you fight for the legislation at the time or did you run from it as you're... +p245 +aVGovernor Christie? +p246 +aVGovernor thank you. Senator Rubio? +p247 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. We want to turn to health care in this country, and for that, author and commentator, Mary Katherine Ham tonight. HAM: Thanks, David. Good evening, guys. +p248 +aVMary Katherine, thank you. We want to turn now to the issue of eminent domain, which is being debated right here in New Hampshire. And Josh McElveen is the political director and the anchor of +p249 +aVJosh, thank you. When we come back here tonight, jobs, +p250 +aVAnd, we welcome you back to the Republican debate from New Hampshire tonight here on ABC. We're going to turn now to what it means to be a conservative, and I want to turn to Governor Kasich. Governor, while campaigning here in New Hampshire, you were already asked about groans from some conservatives after your endorsements from the New York Times, and the Boston Globe. You said, quote, "What conservatives have to know is they have to say, look isn't it nice to have a conservative like me liked? And, maybe the ought to think about it because if I get elected president, the Republican party and the definition of conservatism is going to change." How would you change conservatism? +p251 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. Mr. Trump, you've heard the argument from many of the candidates on this stage that you're not a true conservative. Tell the voters watching tonight why you are. +p252 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. Senator Rubio, you have said yourself that you don't think Donald Trump is running as a conservative. Did he convince you? +p253 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I want to turn this discussion to the economy now. And Mr. Trump, Governor Christie has said, "I tell everybody who goes to a Donald Trump event, if you get to ask a question, just ask him how." Christie said, "I don't care which of the things he talks about, just ask him how." You have said that you'd be the greatest jobs president God ever created. Tell Americans watching tonight how many jobs you would create in the first term and how. +p254 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. There are a lot of governors on this stage tonight and Governor Christie, Governor Kasich said of you, quote, "In Ohio, we balanced a budget. They don't have one over in New Jersey. Our credit has been strengthened. Their credit has been downgraded. We've got more jobs." How important are those metrics in choosing the next president? And is his job \u2014 is his record on jobs, I should say, actually stronger than yours? +p255 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Kasich? +p256 +aVHe didn't say your record was better than his. +p257 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. +p258 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. I do want to turn from jobs to taxes. +p259 +aVIf you would like to respond to the governor, you can. +p260 +aVI'm coming to you next with a question, anyway. You can respond to that question. +p261 +aVWe're going from jobs to taxes, and here's the... +p262 +aVTo the Gang of Eight bill first? +p263 +aVThe governor wasn't talking about the president, he was talking about the Gang of Eight bill. +p264 +aVSo, let me ask you about taxes, Senator Rubio. +p265 +aVA recent poll, 68 percent of Americans favor raising taxes on people making more than $1 million a year. Are they wrong? +p266 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I want to bring in Governor Bush. And Governor, I just want to repeat that number for you \u2014 68 percent of Americans favor raising taxes on people making more than a million. What do you say to the people who believe that tonight? +p267 +aVKnew that was coming. Governor, thank you. +p268 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you. Martha? +p269 +aVMartha, thank you. We're just going to \u2014 we're going to stay on +p270 +aVIf elected president, would you bring it back? +p271 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. Mr. Trump, you said not only does it work, but that you'd bring it back. +p272 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. Governor Bush, you have said that you won't rule waterboarding out. Congress has passed laws banning the use of waterboarding by the military and the CIA, as you know. Would you want Congress to change that if you're elected president? +p273 +aVGovernor Bush, thank you. Senator Rubio, I do want to ask you, you have said that you do not want to telegraph to the enemy what you would do as commander in chief. But for the American people watching tonight who want to know where the next president will stand, do you believe waterboarding is torture? +p274 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. We want to turn now to the topic of executive orders, and for that, we're going to turn back to Mary Katharine Ham. Mary Katharine? HAM: Thanks, David. Senator Cruz, on the campaign trail you've promised voters a lot, in fact if you're elected president you'd say you end Common Core immediately, abolish the IRS, and do away with sanctuary cities. You've also been a persistent critic of President Obama's executive overreach, going it alone, not working with Congress. How do you intend to implement this aggressive agenda within your Constitutional authority, especially given that it would require working with Congress and Washington players with whom you're happy to say you have a strained relationship? +p275 +aVMary Katherine, thank you. We want to turn to something the governor of New Hampshire said... +p276 +aVA connection here on the stage. We're going to move on to what the governor of New Hampshire said just this week, and that is that heroin overdose is not the second-leading cause of death in this state. You don't need me to tell you that. But there's another number, 48 percent of the people here in this state knows someone who has abused heroin. Josh, who covers this for +p277 +aVMartha? +p278 +aVGovernor, well come to you in the next segment. When we come back, questions about race, about our veterans and social issues what younger conservative voters are now saying as we continue with New Hampshire with the Republican debate, right here on ABC. +p279 +aVWelcome back to New Hampshire, ABC News coverage of the Republican debate, and it's great to have you back at the podiums, and we want to turn to race in America. And Mr. Trump, there are many who argue cell phones and smartphones are just now exposing what's been happening in this country for years. Cases of excessive force against minorities. As you know, Mr. Trump, on the other side, the FBI director recently said there's a chill wind blowing through law enforcement because of increased scrutiny. You have said police are the most mistreated people in America. As president, how do you bridge the divide? +p280 +aVGreat. Mr. Trump, I did ask about bridging the divide though as president. So what would you say to the American families who say we have lived through this, we have seen excessive force? What would you say to those people? +p281 +aVI do want to ask \u2014 Governor Kasich? +p282 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Rubio, I want to ask you next, President Obama visited a mosque this week in America for the first time in his presidency. President George W. Bush visited a mosque after September 11th. You said of President Obama, quote, "he's always pitting people against each other." So I'm curious, how are the two visits different, and would you visit a mosque as president? +p283 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. Martha? +p284 +aVJosh, thank you. I want to turn to a family that New Hampshire voters know quite well, and Senator Cruz, the issue of hostages has been a very real and painful one here in this state. As we all know, James Foley was killed. His mother, Diane, said our government should be willing to negotiate, arguing that families should also be allowed to raise money for ransom. What would you say to Diane Foley tonight? Should families be allowed to raise money for ransom for their loved ones? +p285 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. Mr. Trump, what would you say to Diane Foley? Should families be allowed to raise money for ransom? +p286 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. We want to turn now to social issues and young voters and for the question, from Mary Katherine. HAM: Thank you David. Senator Rubio. One of the lazier pieces of political conventional wisdom is that so-called social issues are hurting Republicans with young people. But on the two most prominent social issues, polling with millennials actually moves in different directions. On one hand, it is clear, young people across the political spectrum increasingly favor same sex marriage. However young voters have not moved to the left on abortion. In fact, large numbers of them favor at least some modest restrictions that conservatives have supported. How do you speak to millennials on both these issues, while Democrats will inevitable charge intolerance and extremism? +p287 +aVMary Katherine, thank you. We're going to have closing statements here in just a moment, but before we go, quick lightning round. Come November, two battle-ground states, but they face off tomorrow in the Super Bowl. Governor Kasich, who wins? +p288 +aVGovernor Bush? +p289 +aVSenator Rubio? +p290 +aV Mr. Trump? +p291 +aVAll right, Dr. Carson? +p292 +aVYeah. Governor Christie, the last word? +p293 +aVDenver. Thank you so much, gentlemen. Closing statements in just a moment, right here, as the ABC News Republican debate continues from New Hampshire, right after this. +p294 +aVWe welcome you back. The New Hampshire primary, of course, is Tuesday, but time now for closing statements. And we begin tonight with Governor Kasich. +p295 +aVGovernor Bush. +p296 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Senator Rubio. +p297 +aVThank you. Mr. Trump. +p298 +asVRUBIO +p299 +(lp300 +VWell, let me first talk about Justice Scalia. His loss is tremendous, and obviously our hearts and prayers go out to his family. He will go down as one of the great justices in the history of this republic. You talk about someone who defended consistently the original meaning of the Constitution, who understood that the Constitution was not there to be interpreted based on the fads of the moment, but it was there to be interpreted according to its original meaning. Justice Scalia understood that better than anyone in the history of this republic. His dissent, for example, on the independent counsel case is a brilliant piece of jurist work. And, of course, his dissent on Obergefell as well. No. 2, I do not believe the president should appoint someone. And it's not unprecedented. In fact, it has been over 80 years since a lame duck president has appointed a Supreme Court justice. And it remind us of this, how important this election is. Someone on this stage will get to choose the balance of the Supreme Court, and it will begin by filling this vacancy that's there now. And we need to put people on the bench that understand that the Constitution is not a living and breathing document. It is to be interpreted as originally meant. +p301 +aVThat's not accurate. +p302 +aVNo, I've never \u2014 there has been, for example, today, according to the changes Harry Reid made, appellate judges can now be appointed by a simple majority, but not Supreme Court justices. And I think today you see the wisdom of why we don't want that to change. Because if that were the case and we were not in charge of the Senate, Harry Reid and Barack Obama would ram down our throat a liberal justice, like the ones Barack Obama has imposed on us already. +p303 +aVNo. I think there are three major threats that you want to immediately get on top of. No. 1 is, what are we doing in the Asia-Pacific region, where both North Korea and China pose threats to the national security of the United States. No. 2 is, what are we doing in the Middle East with the combination of the Sunni-Shia conflict driven by the Shia arc that Iran is now trying to establish in the Middle East, also the growing threat of +p304 +aVWell, let me tell you what has happened a couple of years ago. One of the hardest decisions you'll ever make in Congress is when you are asked by the president to authorize the use of force in a conflict, because you are now putting your name, on behalf of the people of your state, behind a military action, where Americans in uniform could lose their life. So, in 2014, Barack Obama said he would not take military action against Assad unless it was authorized by the Senate, beginning on the Committee of Foreign Relations, where I am one of its members. And it was hard because you looked at the pictures. I saw the same images people saw. I'm the father of children. I saw the images of these little children \u2014 been gassed and poisoned by their own leaders, and we were angry. Something had to happen, and there was the sense that we needed to seek retribution. And then I looked at Barack Obama's plan. Barack Obama's plan, which John Kerry later described as unbelievably small, and I concluded that that attack would not only not help the situation, it would make it actually worse. It would allow Assad to stand up to the United States of America, survive a strike, stay in power and actually strengthen his grip. So it was a difficult decision to make, and when we only had a few days to look at and make a decision on it, and I voted against Barack Obama's plan to use force, and it was the right decision. +p305 +aVI just want to say, at least on behalf of me and my family, I thank God all the time it was George W. Bush in the White House on 9/11 and not Al Gore. And you can \u2014 I think you can look back in hindsight and say a couple of things, but he kept us safe. And not only did he keep us safe, but no matter what you want to say about weapons of mass destruction, Saddam Hussein was in violation of U.N. resolutions, in open violation, and the world wouldn't do anything about it, and George W. Bush enforced what the international community refused to do. And again, he kept us safe, and I am forever grateful to what he did for this country. +p306 +aVThe World Trade Center came down because Bill Clinton didn't kill Osama bin Laden when he had the chance to kill him. +p307 +aVWell, because I'm influencing social policy \u2014 this is their money. This is the money of parents. You don't earn the tax credit unless you're working. That's your money, it doesn't belong to government. Here's what I don't understand. If a business takes their money and they invest in the piece of the equipment, they get to write off their taxes. But if a parent takes money that they have earned to work and invests in their children, they don't? This makes no sense. Parenting is the most important job any of us will ever have. Family formation is the most important thing in society. So what my tax plan does, is it does create, especially for working families, an additional Child Tax Credit. So that parents who are working get to keep more of their own money, not the government's money, to invest in their children to go to school, to go to a private school, to buy a new backpack. Let me tell you, if you're a parent that's struggling, then you know that $50 a month is the difference between a new pair of shoes this month or not getting a new pair of shoes for your kids. I'm going to have a tax plan that is pro-family, because the family is the most important institution in society. You cannot have a strong country without strong families. +p308 +aVWell, first of all, I think amnesty is the forgiveness of a wrongdoing without consequence and that \u2014 I've never supported that. I do not support that. I think there has to be consequences for violating our immigration laws. What I think is clear about this issue to begin with is we're not going to be able to make progress on illegal immigration until first, illegal immigration is brought under control. You go back to 1986, when they legalized three million people and they promised to secure the border. It didn't happen, and as a result, people have lost trust in the federal government. It is now clear that the only way to make progress on immigration is not just to pass a law that enforces the law, but actually prove to people that it's working. They want to see the wall built. They want to see the additional border agents. They want to see E-Verify. They want to see an entry-exit tracking system. Forty percent of the people in this country illegally are entering legally and overstaying visas. And only after all of that is in place, then we'll see what the American people are willing to support on this issue. I think the American people will be very reasonable, but responsible, about how you handle someone who has been here a long time, who can pass a background check, who pays a fine and starts paying taxes and all they want is a work permit. But you can't do any of that until you prove to people that illegal immigration is under control once and for all. +p309 +aVWe're going to have to do this again, O.K.? When that issue was being debated, Ted Cruz, at a committee hearing, very passionately said, I want immigration reform to pass, I want people to be able to come out of the shadows. And he proposed an amendment that would legalized people here. Not only that, he proposed doubling the number of green cards. He proposed a 500 percent increase on guest workers. Now his position is different. Now he is a passionate opponent of all those things. So he either wasn't telling the truth then or he isn't telling the truth now, but to argue he is a purist on immigration is just not true. +p310 +aVWell, first of all, I don't know how he knows what I said on Univision, because he doesn't speak Spanish. And second of all, the other point that I would make... +p311 +aVLook, this is a disturbing pattern now, because for a number of weeks now, Ted Cruz has just been telling lies. He lied about Ben Carson in Iowa. He lies about Planned Parenthood. He lies about marriage. He's lying about all sorts of things. And now he makes things up. The bottom line is this is a campaign and people are watching it. And they see the truth behind all these issues. And here is the truth, Ted Cruz supported legalizing people that were in this country... +p312 +aV... and only now does he say... +p313 +aVWell, we'll put on our website, marcorubio.com. We're going to... +p314 +aVOn anything I want? +p315 +aVWell, let me talk about poverty. +p316 +aVI do. +p317 +aVI had something important. +p318 +aVThe issue of poverty is critical, because for me, poverty is the \u2014 is \u2014 is free enterprise not reaching people. Today, we have antipoverty programs that don't cure poverty. We don't cure poverty in America. Our antipoverty programs have become, in some instances, a way of life, a lifestyle. Now, we do need antipoverty programs, you can't have free enterprise programs without them, but not as a way of life. And so I have a very specific proposal on this and I don't \u2014 in 60 seconds, I can't describe it all, but it basically turns the program over to states. It allows states to design innovative programs that cure poverty, because I think Nikki Haley will do a better job curing poverty than Barack Obama. +p319 +aVWell, no. It's not the case. It didn't pass, and we haven't solved immigration in this country. It's still a problem. It is worse today than it was three years ago, which is worse than it was five years ago. And it has to be confronted and solved. But the only way forward on this issue \u2014 you asked a question about flexibility. Let me tell you about that. One of the things that you need in leadership is the ability to understand that to get things done, you must figure out the way to get it done. You will not pass comprehensive immigration reform. People do not trust the federal government. They want to see the law being enforced. They want to see illegal immigration come under control. They want to see that wall. They want to see E-Verify. They want to see all of these things working, and then they will have a conversation with you about what do you do with people that have been here a long time that are otherwise, you know, not criminals. But they're not going to do it until you first enforce the law. +p320 +aVThirty seconds. +p321 +aVI speak fast. +p322 +aVWell, I think one of the presidents \u2014 well, the president I grew up under was Ronald Reagan. And Reagan had a vision for America's future. And if you think about what Ronald Reagan inherited, it's not unlike what the next president is going to inherit. This is the worst president we've had in 35 years, 35 years back would have made it Jimmy Carter. That's what Ronald Reagan inherited. And I think the question you would ask is, how did you inspire again the American people to believe in the future? How did you \u2014 what did it take to ensure that the American people, despite all of the difficulties of the time \u2014 you know, you look back at that time, the American military was in decline. Our standing in the world was in decline. We had hostages being held in Iran. Our economy was in bad shape. The American people were scared about the future. They were scared about what kind of country their children were going to live in and inherit. And yet somehow Ronald Reagan was able to instill in our nation and in our people a sense of optimism. And he turned America around because of that vision and ultimately because of that leadership. I wish Ronald Reagan was still around. This country needs someone just like that. And if our next president is even half the president Ronald Reagan was, America is going to be greater than it has ever been. +p323 +aVThank you, and thank you for watching tonight. This is a difficult time in our country. Our economy's flat, it's not creating the jobs it once did, and people struggle living paycheck to paycheck. Our culture's in trouble. Wrong is considered right and right is considered wrong. All the things that once held our families together are now under constant assault. And around the world, America's reputation is in decline. Our allies don't trust us, our adversaries don't fear us, Iran captures our sailors and parades them before the world on video. These are difficult times, but 2016 can be a turning point. That's why I'm running for president, and that's why I'm here today to ask you for your vote. If you elect me president, we are going to re-embrace free enterprise so that everyone can go as far as their talent and their work will take them. We are going to be a country that says that "life begins at conception and life is worthy of the protection of our laws." We're going to be a country that says "that marriage is between one man and one woman." We are going to be a country that says, "The constitution and the rights that it talks about do not come from our president, they come from our creator." We are going to be loyal to our allies like Israel, not enemies like Iran. And we will rebuild the U.S. military so no one will there test it. Vote for me. I will unify this party. I will grow it. We will win this election, and we will make the 21st century a new American century. +p324 +aVWell, let me say, from protecting the people of Florida from imminent domain abuse, to bringing accountability to the V.A., to the Girls Count Act, to sanctioning groups, I'm proud of my service in the United States Senate and before that, in the Florida legislature. I will say, if politics becomes and the presidency becomes about electing people who have been Congress or in the Senate the longest, we should all rally around Joe Biden. He's been around 1,000 years. He's passed hundreds of bills and I don't think any of us believe Joe Biden should be president of the United States. And let's dispel once and for all with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing. Barack Obama is undertaking a systematic effort to change this country, to make America more like the rest of the world. That's why he passed Obamacare and the stimulus and Dodd-Frank and the deal with Iran. It is a systematic effort to change America. When I'm president of the United States, we are going to re-embrace all the things that made America the greatest nation in the world and we are going to leave our children with what they deserve: the single greatest nation in the history of the world. +p325 +aVIf I may respond to that. +p326 +aVWell, I think the experience is not just what you did, but how it worked out. Under Chris Christie's governorship of New Jersey, they've been downgraded nine times in their credit rating. This country already has a debt problem, we don't need to add to it by electing someone who has experience at running up and destroying the credit rating of his state. But I would add this. Let's dispel with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing. He is trying to change this country. He wants America to become more like the rest of the world. We don't want to be like the rest of the world, we want to be the United States of America. And when I'm elected president, this will become once again, the single greatest nation in the history of the world, not the disaster Barack Obama has imposed upon us. +p327 +aVChris \u2014 Chris, your state got hit by a massive snowstorm two weeks ago. You didn't even want to go back. They had to shame you into going back. And then you stayed there for 36 hours and then he left and came back to campaign. Those are the facts. Here's the bottom line. This notion that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing is just not true. He knows exactly what he's doing. +p328 +aVWell, that's the \u2014 that's the reason why this campaign is so important. Because I think this notion \u2014 I think this is an important point. We have to understand what we're going through here. We are not facing a president that doesn't know what he's doing. He knows what he is doing. That's why he's done the things he's done. That's why we have a president that passed Obamacare and the stimulus. All this damage that he's done to America is deliberate. This is a president that's trying to redefine this country. That's why this election is truly a referendum on our identity as a nation, as a people. Our future is at stake. This election is not about the past. It is about what kind of country this is going to be in the 21st century, and if we elect someone like Barack Obama, a Hillary Clinton, a Bernie Sanders or anyone like that, our children are going to be the first Americans to inherit a diminishes country. That will not happen if I'm elected. +p329 +aVChris, you didn't want to go back. You didn't want to go back. +p330 +aVYou didn't want to go back, Chris. +p331 +aVChris, everybody \u2014 you said you weren't going to go back. He told everyone he wasn't going to go back. They had to shame him into going back. And when he decided to go back, he criticized the young lady, saying, what am I supposed to do, go back with a mop and clean up the flooding? +p332 +aV... It's your record, it's not a talking point... +p333 +aVBut Martha, just \u2014 Martha, just to clarify on that point, because he's right, and one more thing to point \u2014 it is standard procedure of the United States to shoot down those missiles once launched if they pose a threat to civilians, land and ships. +p334 +aVWell \u2014 no, I understand. And not \u2014 but \u2014 but I think it's important to note that it is \u2014 and Senator Cruz, I think, was alluding to this, as well \u2014 it is the standard procedure of the United States, if those missiles pose a threat to land, civilians, our allies or any of our assets, to shoot down that missile in mid-flight. I understand your question was about a preemptive strike, but my point is that there is in place now contingencies to avoid any sort of that strike from going errant and destroying any \u2014 any assets of the United States, or implicating or hurting any of our allies or any of our assets in the region. +p335 +aVYeah. I have a \u2014 I got mentioned, can I respond? +p336 +aVHere's the broader point, as well, and then I think it touches on what Donald just mentioned. Barack Obama views America as this arrogant global power that needed to be cut down to size. OK? This is a president that views this country as a country that's been too powerful in the world and we create problems around the world. For example, it's one of the reasons why he had betrayed Israel, because he believes that if we create separation from Israel, it will help our relations in the Islamic world. The same is happening in the Asia-Pacific region with accommodations to North Korea. North Korean should be back on that list of terrorist nations, as an example. And Donald's absolutely right. China does have a lot of influence over North Korea and he should be leveraging our relationship with the Chinese to ensure that North Korea no longer has access to the resources that have allowed them \u2014 a country that has no economy to develop long range missiles already capable of reaching the west coast of the United States potentially. +p337 +aVHere's the bottom line. We can't get that legislation passed. The American people will not support doing anything about people that are in this country illegally until the law is enforced first, and you prove it to them. This has been abundantly clear. Every effort over the last ten years to do those comprehensively has failed. And it has failed because the American people have zero trust that the federal government will enforce our laws. And that's why since then, I have said repeatedly, if you are serious about immigration reform, then the key that unlocks the door to being able to do that is not just to pass a law that says it is going to enforce the law, but to actually do it. To hire the 20,000 new border agents, to finish the fencing and walls, to put in place mandatory e-verify, to put in place an entry-exit tracking system to prevent visa overstays. And once that is in place and that's working, I believe the American people will support a very reasonable, but responsible approach to people that have been here a long time, who are not dangerous criminals, who pay taxes and pay fines for what they did. But until then, none of that is going to be possible. +p338 +aVWell, the legislation passed, but it has no support. In essence, it couldn't pass in the House, it will never pass in the United States until we secure the border, and it is not the way we're going to do when I'm president. When I'm president, we are going to enforce the law first, prove to people that illegal immigration is under control. And then we'll see what the American people are willing to support when it comes to people that are not criminals, who have been in the this country for a long time and who otherwise would like to stay. +p339 +aVLeadership is ultimately about solving the problem. And the approach that was tried and has been tried now repeatedly over ten years to do this comprehensively, all at once in a massive piece of legislation has no chance of passage. It is not leadership to continue to try something that has no chance of happening. I want to make progress on this issue. It has been discussed now for 30 years and nothing ever happens. And I am telling you that the only way forward on this issue that has any chance of happening, meaning gaining the support of the American people, you cannot do this without the support of the American people, is an approach that begins by proving that once and for all, illegal immigration is under control. +p340 +aVGood evening. +p341 +aVWell, I think conservatism is about three things and Donald touched on one of them, but it's about three things. The first is conservatism is about limited government, especially at the federal level. The federal government is a limited government, limited by the Constitution, which delineates its powers. If it's not in the Constitution, it does not belong to the federal government. It belongs to states, local communities and the private sector. It's about free enterprise, which is an economic model that allows everyone to rise without pulling anyone down. The reason why free enterprise is the greatest economic model in the history of the world is because it's the only economic model where you can make poor people richer without making rich people poor. And it's about a strong national defense. It's about believing, unlike Barack Obama, that the world is a safer and a better place when America is the strongest military and the strongest nation on this planet. That's conservatism. +p342 +aVNow, see, I was mentioned by Governor... +p343 +aVYeah. +p344 +aVOK, good, then I'll get to it . Here's the... +p345 +aVWell, no, sorry. Let me respond to that question. +p346 +aVWell, here's the response. I think anyone who believes that Barack Obama isn't doing what he's doing on purpose doesn't understand what we're dealing with here, OK? This is a president \u2014 this is a president who is trying to change this country. When he talked about change, he wasn't talking about dealing with our problems. Obamacare was not an accident. The undermining of the Second Amendment is not an accident. The gutting of our military is not an accident. The undermining of America on the global stage is not an accident. Barack Obama is, indeed, trying to redefine this country. We better understand what we're dealing with here, because that's what Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders want to double down on if they are elected. +p347 +aVNo. He talked about Barack Obama. +p348 +aVYeah. +p349 +aVI don't know of any problem in America that's going to be fixed with a tax increase. We have an economy today, an economy today that is not creating jobs that pay enough. And one of the reasons why is because we have one of the most expensive business tax rates on the planet. Our combined business rate puts us among the highest in the industrialized world. And then on top of that, we are the only one that has a worldwide system of taxation, where an American company who makes money abroad has to pay taxes where they made the money and then taxes a second time when they bring it back. The combination of these two things has stranded over $2 trillion, the equivalent of the size of the Russian economy, $2 trillion of American corporate money stranded overseas, combined with all of these inversions of companies leaving us. The solution to the problems we have today are not a tax increase. It is to lower our taxes on both people and on companies, so we can make America globally competitive again. +p350 +aVWell, first, we need to understand who they are. +p351 +aVBecause they currently occupy Sunni cities and villages. Sunni cities and villages can only truly be liberated and held by Sunnis themselves. If they are held by Shias it will trigger sectarian violence. The Kurds are incredible fighters and they will liberate the Kurdish areas, but Kurds can not and do not want to liberate and hold Sunni villages and towns. It will take Sunni fighters themselves in that region to take those villages and cities, and then to hold them and avoid the sort of sectarian violence that follows in the past. And why that is important is because if Sunnis are not able to govern themselves in these areas, you are going to have a successor group to +p352 +aVWell, the problem with the Sunni forces in the region is they don't trust this administration. This administration cut a deal with their mortal enemies, the Shia, in Iran. It poisoned the well with these countries. It makes it very difficult to cooperate with them as a result. They also, by the way, understand what real U.S. air power looks like. They saw the Iraq war. They saw, up close, also Afghanistan. They know what air power looks like when the United States is committed to the cause. And they see the airstrikes that are being conducted now, and they say to themselves, that's not real commitment. We know what real commitment looks like. The \u2014 the Jordanian king was in Washington three weeks ago. He told everyone who would listen that they have begged for permission from the coalition to target caravans. And the coalition \u2014 meaning U.S. leadership on the ground......would not allow them to proceed with those airstrikes. +p353 +aVWell, when people talk about interrogating terrorists, they're acting like this is some sort of law enforcement function. Law enforcement is about gathering evidence to take someone to trial, and convict them. Anti-terrorism is about finding out information to prevent a future attack so the same tactics do not apply. And, it is true, we should not be discussing in a wide spread way the exact tactics that we're going to use because that allows terrorist to know to practice how to evade us. But, here's the bigger problem with all this, we're not interrogating anybody right now. Guantanamo's being emptied by this president. We should be putting people into Guantanamo, not emptying it out, and we shouldn't be releasing these killers who are rejoining the battlefield against the United States. +p354 +aVI think it's already happening. Look at the turnout in Iowa. A historic number of people came out and voted in those caucuses. There are saying the same thing is going to happen here in New Hampshire. Look at the rallies that every single person on this stage is having. Much higher numbers than you used to see in the past and here is why. Because people are starting to understand, very clearly, that this election is going to be a turning point. That 2016 is not just a choice between Republican or Democrat. It is a referendum on our identity as a nation and as a people. So here is what Hillary Clinton needs to understand. We're going to have our primary, we're going to have our debates \u2014 which by the way, are twice as many as the Democrats have been willing to have themselves. But we're going to bring this party together and we are going to defeat Hillary Clinton, because she is unqualified to be the president of the United States of America. She put classified information on her computer because she thinks she's above the law and anyone who lies to the families of people who have lost their loved ones in the service of our country like she did in Benghazi, can never be the commander-in-chief of the United States of America. +p355 +aVI would. But that's not \u2014 the issue \u2014 my problem with what he did is he continues to put out this fiction that there's widespread systematic discrimination against Muslim Americans. First of all, let's recognize this. If you go to a national cemetery in this country, you will see stars of Davids and crosses, but you see crescent moons. There are brave men and women who happen to be Muslim Americans who are serving this country in uniform and who have died in the service of this country. And we recognize that and we honor that. But by the same token, we face a very significant threat of home grown violent extremism. We need to have strong, positive relationships in the Islamic communities in this country so they will identify and report this activity, especially mosques, for example, that are participating not just in hate speech, but inciting violence and taking acts against us. And I do believe it is important also to recognize, you want to talk about religious discrimination in America. Well, I don't think Barack Obama is being sued by any Islamic groups, but he is being sued by the Little Sisters of the Poor. We are facing in this country Christian groups and groups that hold traditional values who feel and in fact are being discriminated against by the laws of this country that try to force them to vie to violate their conscience. +p356 +aVFirst, let me say there are already women today serving in roles that are like combat. That, in fact, whose lives are in very serious danger, and so I have no problem whatsoever with people of either gender serving in combat so long as the minimum requirements necessary to do the job are not compromised. But, I support that, and obviously now that that is the case I do believe that Selective Service should be opened up for both men and women in case a Draft is ever instituted. I think the more fundamental challenge we're now facing is what's happening to the U.S. military \u2014 I've said this many times, and I think it's important to start paying attention to this. Our Air Force is about to be the smallest it's been in 100 years. I'm sorry, in our history. Our Army is set to be smaller than it's been since the second World War, and our Navy is about to be the smallest than it's been in 100 years. I think we need to begin to refocus on rebuilding our military because every time we have cut our military in the history of this country we have had to come back later and rebuild it, and it costs more, and it's a lot more chaotic and dangerous. When I'm president, we are rebuilding the U.S. military. +p357 +aVWell, my brother's a veteran. We're very proud of him in our family. He served as a green beret in the 7th Special Forces from 1968 through 1971. And as part of his training, he jumped out of an airplane and he lost his two front teeth. And for years, he's had to go to get these dental claims. And every times he goes to get one of these dental claims filled, the V.A. asks him, "well, how do we know you lost your teeth in the Army?" And he says, "well, it's the only time I ever jumped out of a plane." But he's had to fight through this process, and I've watched it firsthand. That's why I'm proud that I worked in a bipartisan way. We passed the V.A. Accountability bill that, for the first time, allows us to fire \u2014 allows the V.A. secretary to fire someone who's not doing a good job, who's a senior executive. And the governor's right. They've only fired three people up to now. More people will be fired if I'm president. But the portability part of it is incredibly important. Veterans should be able to take their V.A. benefits to any hospital or any doctor they want to go to. When I am president of the United States, veterans will be able to take their benefits to any hospital or doctor that they choose. +p358 +aVWell, first of all, I don't believe that believing in traditional marriage the way I do makes you a bigot or a hater. It means that you believe that this institution that's been around for millenial is an important cornerstone of society. I respect people that believe differently. But I believe deeply, that marriage should be between one man and one woman. On the issue of life, to me, the issue of life is not a political issue. It's a human rights issue and it's a difficult issue, because it puts in conflict two competing rights. On the one hand is the right of a woman to choose what to do with her body which is a real right. And on the other hand is the right of an unborn human child to live. And they're in conflict. And as a policy maker, I must choose which one of these two sides takes precedence. And I have chosen to err on the side of life. Here's what I find outrageous. There has been five Democratic debates. The media has not asked them a single question on abortion and on abortion, the Democrats are extremists. Why doesn't the media ask Hillary Clinton why she believes that all abortion should be legal, even on the due date of that unborn child. Why don't they ask Hillary Clinton why she believe that partial- birth abortion, which is a gruesome procedure that has been outlawed in this country, she thinks that's a fundamental right. They are the extremists......when it comes to the issue of abortion and I can't wait to expose them in a general election. HAM: Governor Bush? I want to come to you. Your allies have recently attacked Senator Rubio for being too pro-life to be elected in November. You made a similar charge stating it in an interview. This is a pro-life party. Do you stand behind that criticism? +p359 +aVI do support protection for the life of the mother because I'm pro-life. I just believe deeply that all human life is worthy of protection of our laws. If I'm president and there's a bill that's passed that saves lives but it has exceptions, I'll sign it. But I do believe deeply that all human life is worthy of the protection of laws. I've already said, for me, the issue of life is not a political issue and I want to be frank. I would rather lose an election than be wrong on the issue of life. HAM: Governor Christie. You too, have talked about Senator Rubio's position on the life issue. Some conservative activists have called this line of attack harmful to the pro-life cause. +p360 +aVWell, I was going for Peyton Manning, but now I'm rooting for Carolina. +p361 +aVThank you. You know, this week I had the great pleasure of having my kids join me on the campaign trail. I hadn't' seen them in a while, and it was great to have them alongside me, but the most important part of it is that it once again reminded me of what's at stake. Here in New Hampshire in less than 72 hours, we are literally deciding what kind of country we will be like when they are my age. What kind of country they will be able to raise their families in. And, that's why I'm asking you for your vote. You vote for me, and we will unite this party, we will grow the conservative movement, we will defeat Hillary Clinton, and we will leave our children what our parents left us. The single greatest nation in the history of all mankind. Thank you. +p362 +asVCHRISTIE +p363 +(lp364 +VWhat about Kasich? Can I introduce Kasich? +p365 +aVSure. First, let's remember something. Every morning when a United States senator wakes up, they think about what kind of speech can I give or what kind of bill can I drop? Every morning, when I wake up, I think about what kind of problem do I need to solve for the people who actually elected me? It's a different experience, it's a much different experience. And the fact is, Marco, you shouldn't compare yourself to Joe Biden and you shouldn't say that that's what we're doing. Here is exactly what we're doing. You have not be involved in a consequential decision where you had to be held accountable. You just simply haven't. And the fact is \u2014 the fact when you talk about the Hezbollah Sanctions Act that you list as one of your accomplishments you just did, you weren't even there to vote for it. That's not leadership, that's truancy. And the fact is that what we need to do \u2014 what we need to have in this country is not to make the same mistake we made eight years ago. The fact is it does matter when you have to make decisions and be held accountable for them. It does matter when the challenges don't come on a list of a piece of paper of what to vote yes or no every day, but when the problems come in from the people that you serve. I like Marco Rubio, and he's a smart person and a good guy, but he simply does not have the experience to be president of the United States and make these decisions. We've watched it happen, everybody. For the last seven years, the people of New Hampshire are smart. Do not make the same mistake again. +p366 +aVHold on one second. +p367 +aVExcuse me... +p368 +aVI think he mentioned me and my record in there, so I think I get a chance to respond. You see, everybody, I want the people at home to think about this. That's what Washington, D.C. Does. The drive-by shot at the beginning with incorrect and incomplete information and then the memorized 25-second speech that is exactly what his advisers gave him. See Marco \u2014 Marco, the thing is this. When you're president of the United States, when you're a governor of a state, the memorized 30-second speech where you talk about how great America is at the end of it doesn't solve one problem for one person. They expect you to plow the snow. They expect you to get the schools open. And when the worst natural disaster in your state's history hits you, they expect you to rebuild their state, which is what I've done. None of that stuff happens on the floor of the United States Senate. It's a fine job, I'm glad you ran for it, but it does not prepare you for president of the United States. +p369 +aVThere it is. There it is. The memorized 25-second speech. There it is, everybody. +p370 +aVYou know what the shame is \u2014 you know what the shame is, Marco? The shame is that you would actually criticize somebody for showing up to work, plowing the streets, getting the trains running back on time when you've never been responsible for that in your entire life. +p371 +aVAnd the fact is, I went back, it got done and here's... +p372 +aVOh, so \u2014 wait a second. Is that one of the skills you get as a United States senator ESP also? Because I don't think it is. +p373 +aVIt gets very unruly when he gets off his talking points. +p374 +aVLet's get something... +p375 +aVNo. Let's make something very clear. I learned seven years as a federal prosecutor in dealing with types of situations like we're talking about in North Korea, where criminals take people hostage. You never pay ransom to the criminals. Ever. You never pay ransom to the criminals. Everyone out at home watching tonight understands that principle. And so, what you need to do is to engage in a much different way with these folks. They do not understand anything but toughness and strength, and we need to engage the Chinese to deal with the North Koreans, but we also need to make sure that they understand there's a commander-in-chief who will not pay ransom for any hostage. This president and his former secretary of State are for paying ransom for hostages. When do that, you endanger even more Americans around the world to be the subject of this type of hostage taking and illegal detention. You need a strong commander-in-chief who will look these folks in the eye and say, we will not put up with this and we will take whatever actions we need to take, not only to get our people home safely, but to swiftly and surely punish those who believe they can violate the law and violate American's sovereign rights to travel the world freely and safely. This is unacceptable. And this is why this president is so weak and why the secretary of State, who is embracing a third Barack Obama term, would be even weaker. +p376 +aVYeah, David, I would just like you to listen, again, everybody. This is the difference between being a governor who actually has to be responsible for problems and not answering a question. The question was, "Did he fight for his legislation?" It's abundantly clear that he didn't. It's abundantly clear that he didn't fight for the legislation. When the teachers unions attacked me with $20 million of ads because I wanted to reform teacher tenure, I fought them and fought them and fought them and I won. When they didn't want \u2014 when people wanted to raise taxes in my state at Democratic legislature and threatened to close down the government, I told them, fine. Close down the government. I'll get in my cars, head to the governor's mansion, order a pizza, open a beer and watch the Mets. You can call me when the government reopens. And guess what they didn't do? They didn't pass a tax increase, because I vetoed it and they never closed the government because they knew I would fight for what I believed in. The fact of the matter is, a leader must fight for what they believe in. Not handicap it and say, well maybe since I can't win this one, I'll run. That's not what leadership is. That's what Congress is. +p377 +aVGood evening. +p378 +aVWell, he deserves credit for his record on jobs. He's done a very good job as governor of Ohio. Never said that John hasn't. He's done a very good job. But \u2014 but unfortunately, John's been so busy doing over stuff, he's using old statistics. That's OK. New Jersey had its best year of job growth in the last 15 years under five different governors this year in New Jersey. New Jersey cut spending over $2.3 billion and we have 10,000 fewer employees than we had when I walked in the door. John has a bigger government now and more employees than he had when he walked in the door. But all that doesn't matter. What really matters is this, that executive experience really matters. You heard this on the stage tonight. We've heard it said on the stage that President Obama knows exactly what he's doing. I'd like to ask all the veterans listening out there tonight, who are waiting in line for healthcare, who are literally dying because the Veterans Administration doesn't work, do you think Barack Obama knows what he's doing? I don't. And I'll tell you something. Anybody who evaluates him is knowing what he's doing and managing the government doesn't know how to manage a government themselves. And one last thing, David, which I think is really important. I listened to Senator Rubio's answer on his bill. He said his bill couldn't pass on the gang of eight. He acted as if he was somehow disembodied from the bill. It was his bill. He said this idea doesn't work. It was his idea. See, when you're a governor, you have to take responsibility for these things. You can't just act as if it happened out of nowhere. We have to take responsibility as executives. I take responsibility for my record in New Jersey. We've rebuilt the economy and rebuilt after the second-worst natural disaster in American history. I'm proud of my record. And by the way, I like Kasich's record, too. He's a good governor. +p379 +aVDavid? Hey, David? David? Hey, David? I actually have experience with raising taxes on millionaires in my state. It was done. It was done by my predecessor. And I want everybody in the public who is in that 68 percent, I want to tell you the truth. You're wrong. And here is why you're wrong. After New Jersey raised taxes on millionaires, we lost, in the next four years, $70 billion in wealth left our state. It left our state to go where it would be treated more kindly. If the United States raised taxes any further, that money will leave the United States, as well. We won't have better jobs. Let New Jersey be the canary in the coal mine. It is a failed idea and a failed policy, it's class warfare. It happened in my state. I've stopped it from happening again. But we cannot do it. The 68 percent of the people are wrong about that, it will hurt the American economy. We tried it in New Jersey. Come take a look \u2014 it did not work. +p380 +aVOf course I would. As a former United States attorney who spent seven years of my life fighting this on the streets of my state, I would do that. But we need to do more. And let me tell you what we've done in New Jersey, Josh. We are working with the folks in New Hampshire in their legislature right now to show them how we're helping to solve this problem in New Jersey. Not just for this campaign \u2014 three years ago, I proposed a law that we signed into effect, which said that anyone who was a non- violent, non-dealing, first-time drug offender no longer goes to prison in New Jersey. They go to mandatory, in-patient drug treatment. What has happened is, crime has gone down 20 percent in those years. The prison population has gone down 10 percent. We've now closed the state prison \u2014 closed a state prison, and we're turning it into a drug rehabilitation facility, so people can get the tools they need. Listen, everyone out there knows this in New Hampshire. This is a disease. It's not a moral failing, it's a disease. And we need to get people the treatment they need. And let me tell you why. Because I'm pro-life. And I'm pro life not just for the nine months in the womb, I'm pro-life for when they get out and it's a lot more complicated. Sixteen-year-old, heroin-addicted drug girl on the floor of the county lockup, I'm pro-life for her life. The 42-year-old lawyer who is taking Oxycontin and can't get out of bed and support his family \u2014 I'm pro-life for his life. Everyone of those lives is an individual gift from God. And the last thing is this. These efforts we've taken over the last three years, 2015 in New Jersey, for the first time in four years, drug overdose deaths have gone down, not up. I'll bring the same solutions to the country. +p381 +aVYou bet I would. And the fact is that because I took strong action to make sure that anyone who was showing symptoms \u2014 remember what happened with that nurse. She was showing symptoms and coming back from a place that had the ebola virus active and she had been treating patients. This was not just some \u2014 like, we picked up her just for the heck of it, alright? We did it because she was showing symptoms, and the fact is that's the way we should make these decision. You make these decisions based upon the symptoms, the medicine, and the law. We quarantined her, she turned out to test negative ultimately after 48 hours, and we released her back to the State of Maine. But, I want to add something on the issue of mosques. Now, I'm the only one up here who's had a law enforcement background as a U.S. Attorney after September 11th. I went to mosques throughout my state to build bridges. To build bridges between our community in law enforcement so we can get intelligence and information from these folks. I've had the experience of working with them as Governor of New Jersey as well. We cannot mix the radical Islamic jihadist with everyday Muslim-Americans. New Jersey is the second largest Muslim- American population in America, of any state. These are good, law abiding, hard working people. What they need is our cooperation, and our understanding. They do not just need broadsides against them because of the religious faith they practice. +p382 +aVMartha? +p383 +aVCan I \u2014 can I be really \u2014 can I be really clear on this, because I am the father of two daughters. One of them is here tonight. What my wife and I have taught our daughters right from the beginning, that their sense of self-worth, their sense of value, their sense of what they want to do with their life comes not from the outside, but comes from within. And if a young woman in this country wants to go and fight to defend their country, she should be permitted to do so. Part of that also needs to be part of a greater effort in this country, and so there's no reason why one \u2014 young women should be discriminated against from registering for the selective service. The fact is, we need to be a party and a people that makes sure that our women in this country understand anything they can dream, anything that they want to aspire to, they can do. That's the way we raised our daughters and that's what we should aspire to as president for all of the women in our country. +p384 +aVWell, I've been pretty helpful to the pro-life cause in one of the most pro-choice states in the union. I've stood up for the first time and now for the last six years we've de-funded Planned Parenthood, not talked about it like they do in Washington D.C. But for six years as governor, Planned Parenthood does not receive that funding from the state budget anymore; over $50 million worth of money that's been saved now, that is not going to do exactly what Hillary Clinton wants to have done and has advocated for. She believes that organization, which engages in the systematic murder of children in the womb, in order to maximize the value of their body parts for sale on the open market, is an acceptable position. Let me tell you something, I don't care if you are a millennial or whether you are in your 90s, no one is for that type of activity, unless you are the most radical type of extremist on this issue, like Senator Clinton and her party is on this issue. I'll say one other thing. The fact is, that I believe that if a woman has been raped, that is a birth and a pregnancy that she should be able to terminate. If she is the victim of incest \u2014 this is not a woman's choice. This is a woman being violated. And the fact is that we have always has believed, as has Ronald Reagan, that we have self-defense for women who have been raped and impregnated because of it, or the subject of incest and been impregnated for it. That woman should not have to deliver that child if they believe that violation is now an act of self-defense by terminating that pregnancy. HAM: Thank you, all. Back to you, David and Martha. +p385 +aVDenver. +p386 +aVThank you. I've spent the last 13 years of my life focused on one thing: serving the people who have given me the opportunity to serve them. Not about politics, not about partisanship, but putting the people of my state and our country first. I'm proud to have rebuild my state after Hurricane Sandy, and I'm incredibly proud to be on this stage tonight with these men asking for your vote. New Hampshire, I spent 70 days here with you. You've gotten to know my heart. My heart is to help you solve the problems of your state......and the problems of our nation. If you give me your vote on Tuesday I will do just that. +p387 +asVCARSON +p388 +(lp389 +VWell, the current Constitution actually doesn't address that particular situation, but the fact of the matter is the Supreme Court, obviously, is a very important part of our governmental system. And when our Constitution was put in place, the average age of death was under 50, and therefore the whole concept of lifetime appointments for Supreme Court judges and federal judges was not considered to be a big deal. Obviously, that has changed, and it's something that probably needs to be looked at pretty carefully at some point. But, we need to start thinking about the divisiveness that is going on in our country. I looked at some of the remarks that people made after finding out that Justice Scalia had died, and they were truly nasty remarks. And that we have managed to get to that position in our country is truly a shame. And we should be thinking about how we could create some healing in this land. But, right now, we're not going to get healing with President Obama. That's very United Nations clear. So, I...... fully agree that we should not allow a judge to be appointed during his time. +p390 +aVNo, it isn't. First of all, let me go back to your first question for me. It wasn't phrased as who gets to nominate Supreme Court appointees. Of course that's the president. So I know that there are some left-wing media who would try to make hay on that. Secondly, thank you for including me in the debate. Two questions already. This is great. Now, as far......as far as those 2 a.m. phone calls are concerned, judgment is what is required. And the kinds of things that you come up with are sometimes very, very difficult and very unique. One of the things that I was known for is doing things that have not been done before. So no amount of experience really prepares you to do something that has never been done before. That's where judgment comes in. And that, I think, is a situation that we're in right now, a situation that we have never been in before with the kinds of threats that pose real danger to our nation, and it comes in very handy in those situations. +p391 +aVWell, first of all, let me just address the Iraq question. You know, I was not particularly in favor of us going to war in Iraq, primarily because I have studied, you know, the Middle East, recognizing that those are nations that are ruled by dictators and have been for thousands of years. And when you go in and you remove one of those dictators, unless you have an appropriate plan for replacing them, you're going to have chaos. Now, fortunately, we were able to stabilize the situation, and it was the current administration that turned tail and ran and destabilized the situation. Now, having said that, in terms of the rules of engagement, I was talking about, you know, Obama has said, you know, we shouldn't bomb tankers, you know, coming out of refineries because there may be people in there, or because the environment may be hurt. You know, that's just asinine thinking. And the fact of the matter is... You know, we \u2014 obviously, you're not going to accomplish all of your goals without some collateral damage. You have to be able to assess what is acceptable and what is not. +p392 +aVWell, first of all, let me just mention on the tax issue. Bencarson.com, go read about it, because my tax plan has been praised by Cato, by Wall Street Journal. Forbes said it is the best, the most pro-growth tax plan, and it's based on real fairness for everybody. Starts at the 150 percent poverty level, but even the people below that have to pay something, because everybody has to have skin in the game, and the millions of people can't, you know, talk about what other people have to pay and have no skin in the game. And it deals with corporate tax rate, and makes it the same as everybody else......everybody pays exactly the same. +p393 +aV... And, as far as Medicare and Medicaid, my main goal is to get rid of Obamacare and put the care back in the hands of ... +p394 +aVWell, first of all, please go to my website, bencarson.com, and read my immigration policy, O.K.? Because it actually makes sense. Now, the \u2014 as far as these fines are concerned, you know? Here's the big problem. We've got all these government regulators, and all they're doing is running around looking for people to fine. And we've got 645 different federal agencies and sub-agencies. Way, way too many, and they don't have anything else to do. I think what we really need to do is start trimming the regulatory agencies rather than going after the people who are trying to increase the viability, economic viability of our society. Now, that doesn't mean there aren't some people out there who are doing bad things. But I'm not sure that the way to solve that problem is by increasing all the regulatory burden. You know, when you consider how much regulations cost us each year, you know? $2 trillion dollars per family, $24,000 per family, that happens to be the same level as the poverty level...... for a family of four. If you want to get rid of poverty, get rid of all the regulations. +p395 +aVBefore you ask the question, can I respond to the \u2014 you know, they mentioned my name a couple of times. +p396 +aVAll right. Well, first of all, you know, so many people have said to me, "You need to scream and jump and down \u2014 jump up and down like everybody else." Is that really what you want? What we just saw? I don't think so. And you know, I \u2014 when I got into this race, I decided to look under the hood of the engine of what runs Washington, D.C., and my first inclination was to run away, but I didn't do it because I'm thinking about our children and the fact that we are the United States of America. And anybody up here is going to be much better than what's going to come on the other side. And what happened tonight with \u2014 with Justice Scalia tells you that we cannot afford to lose this election, and we cannot be tearing each other down. +p397 +aVWell, first of all, I'm not a politician, so I'm never going to become a politician. But here's what \u2014 here's what people need to know. People need to know that free college is not \u2014 it's a non-starter. You know, you have to look at our economic situation. We're on the verge of economic collapse and, you know, we're \u2014 it's not just the $19 trillion, but it's also the $200 trillion in unfunded liabilities. What we need to think about is, what does that do to the average person? When we have a debt of that nature, it causes the Fed to change their policy, it causes the central bank to keep the \u2014 the rates low, and who does does that affect? Mr. Average, who used to go to the bank every Friday and put part of his check in the bank and watch it grow over three decades and be able to retire with a nice nest egg, that's gone. That part of the American dream is gone. All of these things are disappearing, and Bernie Sanders and people like Hillary Clinton blame it on the rich. They say those evil rich people, if we take their money we can solve the problem. It's not the evil rich people. It's the irresponsible, evil government. +p398 +aVThis is the first generation not expected to do better than their parents. Some people say it's the new normal, but there's nothing normal about it in an exceptional American. I, like you, am a member of we, the people, and we know that our country is heading off the cliff. Joseph Stalin said if you want to bring America down you, have to undermine three things: our spiritual life, our patriotism and our morality. We, the people, can stop that decline, starting right here in South Carolina. If all the people who say, "I love Ben Carson and his policies, but he can't win," vote for me, not only can we win, but we can turn this thing around. You know, we have this manipulation by the political class and by the media telling us who we're supposed to pick and how we're supposed to live. We, the people, are the only people who will determine that. And if you elect me as your next president, I promise you that you will get somebody who is accountable to everybody and beholden to no one. Thank you. +p399 +aVWell, you know, when I wasn't introduced No. 2, as was the plan, I thought maybe he thought I already had dropped out. But... But you know, today is the 105th anniversary, or \u2014 105th birthday of Ronald Reagan. His 11 Commandment was not to speak ill of another Republican. So, I'm not going to use this opportunity to savage the reputation of Senator Cruz. But I will say \u2014 I will say \u2014 I will say that I was very disappointed that members of his team thought so little of me that they thought that after having hundreds, if not thousands of volunteers and college students who sacrificed their time and were dedicated to the cause \u2014 one even died \u2014 to think that I would just walk away ten minutes before the caucus and say, "Forget about you guys." I mean, who would do something like that? Now, I don't think anyone on this stage would do something like that. And to assume that someone would, what does that tell you? So, unfortunately, it did happen. It gives us a very good example of certain types of Washington ethics. Washington ethics. Washington ethics basically says, if it's legal, you do what you need to do in order to win. That's not my ethics. My ethics is, you do what's right. +p400 +aVSince I was mentioned... +p401 +aVThis is great you guys. I want you all to mention me when you say something. In fact, the time line indicates that initial tweet from CNN was followed by another one within one minute that clarified that I was not dropping out. So, what happened to that one, it is unclear. But the bottom line is, we can see what happened, everybody can see what happened and you can make your own judgment. +p402 +aVGood evening. +p403 +aVWell, thank you. You know, I was hoping to get a chance to talk about North Korea. I was the only one who didn't get to do that, and I've got stuff to say about it, let me tell you. But at any rate, you have to replace it with something that makes sense. It doesn't make sense. And the reason that I dislike Obamacare is because the government comes in and tells the people \u2014 which the nation is supposed to be centered on \u2014 that we don't care what you think, this is what we're doing. And if you don't like it, too bad. That's a problem. And we can't afford to do that because that will fundamentally change America. I have proposed a health empowerment account system. Everybody gets a health empowerment account the day they are born, they keep it until they die. They can pass it on. We pay for it with the same dollars that we pay for traditional health care with, recognizing that we spend twice as much as many countries per capita and health care and don't have as such access. We give people the ability to shift money within their health empowerment account so that each family basically becomes its own insurance company without a middleman; that saves you a awful lot of money. And that will lower the cost of your catastrophic insurance tremendously, because the only thing coming out of that is catastrophic health care. And then in terms of taking care of the indigent, we have another whole system, and I can go ahead and explain it, but I don't have the time, but I'd be happy to if you give me some more time. But go to my website bencarson.com, read about it. You can read about everything that's been discussed here in great detail. HAM: Thank you, Dr. Carson. David, Martha, back to you. +p404 +aVI want to say something about this, because I'm not here just to add beauty to the stage. You know, I've been talking about Libya for quite a long time. I think I was the first one to start talking about it because I say we have to have a proactive foreign policy strategy. And of course, the next place that +p405 +aVI would support the possibility of renewed airstrikes if in conjunction with our Joint Chiefs and our military people they felt that was an appropriate strategy. The fact of the matter is none of us up here is a military expert, and we sometimes act like we are, but we're not. And if we actually sit down and talk with them and get them to understand our plan and their impression of what needs to be done, I think we're going to make a lot more progress. +p406 +aVIt's the same question? +p407 +aVYes. Well, first of all, I think it would be a pretty easy contrast, quite frankly, between myself and Hillary Clinton. In one case, you have someone who is known as a deceitful individual. An individual who at Benghazi, which I will never let go, quite frankly, because I think of those two men who went up there on the top of that compound with machine guns, firing away, allowing their colleagues to escape. And I'm sure, in the back of their mind, they were just saying, if we can just hold on, help is on the way. But help was not on the way. When did we in the United States not send people to help our own people? You know, this is not who we are. And \u2014 I would simply make it a referendum on honesty and integrity versus deceit and the Washington way. +p408 +aVWell, you know, it's not a simple issue, and now, you know, we've gotten evidence that there can been active viruses in other bodily fluids like saliva and urine. So, this is going to be, obviously, a big deal. Do we quarantine people? If we have evidence that they are infected, and that there is evidence that that infection can spread by something that they're doing, yes. But, just willy-nilly going out and quarantining a bunch of people because they've been to Brazil, I don't believe that that's going to work. What we really need to be thinking about is how do we get this disease under control? And this is where we need rapid response. We need a rapid response for ebola, we need rapid response for Zika, there will be other things that will come up. These are the kinds of things that the NIH, the CDC, can be very effective in. We need to give the the appropriate support for those kind of things. +p409 +aVCan I say something... +p410 +aVSomething about the draft. Very quickly. +p411 +aVYou know, 14 percent decrease in the number of people applying for voluntary military service, and I think part of it is because of the way that we treat our veterans. You know, we wouldn't be a free country if it wasn't for them, and we have 22 veterans per day committing suicide. So, I think what we should do is have an external support system for people once they volunteer and it should follow them throughout their career, should follow them for three years, five years afterwards, a year before they get out, should be working on integrating them back into society, so that they quit on Friday and they start their new job. They should have health empowerment accounts that are subsidized so they can go to any medical facility and be taken care of. They can go to a V.A. if they want to. But if we start taking care of our veterans the right way, we won't have to ever worry about a draft again. +p412 +aVWith 100 percent certainly, I will predict the winner \u2014 it will either be Denver or Carolina. +p413 +aVFor many months, the political class, pundits, the media, have tried to ignore or bury me. They say that politics is too complex, and too sleazy. You can't survive. Well, guess what? I'm still here, and I'm not going any place either. And, I believe there is still a place in our country for faith, integrity, and common sense. Hundreds of thousands of you drafted me to run for president...... And, I am going to with the help of God, and you, once again place the American people at the pinnacle with the government there to serve it. +p414 +asVBUSH +p415 +(lp416 +VRight. +p417 +aVNot on specific issues, not at all. I think the next president \u2014 if I'm president, I will appoint people \u2014 I'll nominate people that have a proven record in the judiciary. The problem in the past has been we have appointed people thinking you can get it through the Senate because they didn't have a record. And the problem is that sometimes we're surprised. The simple fact is the next president needs to appoint someone with a proven conservative record, similar to Justice Scalia, that is a lover of liberty, that believes in limited government, that consistently applied that kind of philosophy, that didn't try to legislator from the bench, that was respectful of the Constitution. And then fight and fight, and fight for that nomination to make sure that that nomination passes. Of course, the president, by the way, has every right to nominate Supreme Court justices. I'm an Article II guy in the Constitution. We're running for the president of the United States. We want a strong executive for sure. But in return for that, there should be a consensus orientation on that nomination, and there's no doubt in my mind that Barack Obama will not have a consensus pick when he submits that person to the Senate. +p418 +aVYes. +p419 +aVNo, it doesn't, and that's the problem. The lack of leadership in this country by Barack Obama, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, thinking that this is a policy that works, this policy of containment with +p420 +aVThe very basic fact is that Vladimir Putin is not going to be an ally of the United States. The whole world knows this. It's a simple, basic fact. They're not taking out \u2014 they're not even attempting to take out +p421 +aV... Let me finish... +p422 +aV... This is ridiculous... +p423 +aV... This is coming from a guy who gets his foreign policy from the shows. +p424 +aV... This is a guy who thinks that Hillary Clinton is a great negotiator in Iran... +p425 +aV... This is a man who insults his way to the nomination... +p426 +aVI think it's my turn, isn't it? +p427 +aVI've got about five or six... +p428 +aVDo I get to do it five or six times or just once, responding to that? +p429 +aVSo here's the deal. I'm sick and tired of Barack Obama blaming my brother for all of the problems that he has had. And, frankly, I could care less about the insults that Donald Trump gives to me. It's blood sport for him. He enjoys it. And I'm glad he's happy about it. But I am sick and tired... +p430 +aVI am sick and tired of him going after my family. My dad is the greatest man alive in my mind. And while Donald Trump was building a reality TV show, my brother was building a security apparatus to keep us safe. And I'm proud of what he did. And he has had the gall to go after my brother. +p431 +aVHe has had the gall to go after my mother. Hold on. Let me finish. He has had the gall to go after my mother. +p432 +aVLook, I won the lottery when I was born 63 years ago, looked up, and I saw my mom. My mom is the strongest woman I know. +p433 +aVThis is not about my family or his family. This is about the South Carolina families that need someone to be a commander in chief that can lead. I'm that person. +p434 +aVCan I just... +p435 +aVI'm not going to invite Donald Trump to the rally in Charleston on Monday afternoon when my brother is coming to speak. +p436 +aVI'm rescinding the invitation. I thought you might want to come, but I guess not. +p437 +aVI'd like \u2014 can I \u2014 can I... +p438 +aVLook, I admire the fact that Governor Kasich is supporting spending more money on drug treatment and mental health. I think that's a high priority all across this country, but expanding Obamacare is what we're talking about, and Obamacare's expansion, even though the federal government is paying for the great majority of it, is creating further debt on the backs of our children and grandchildren. We should be fighting Obamacare, repealing Obamacare, replacing it with something totally different. When I was \u2014 as a private citizen, Florida was confronted with the choice. The governor was supportive of doing what John did. So was the Florida Senate. A committed speaker of the House asked me to go as a private citizen to make the case against the expansion. I did, and it wasn't expanded there, just as it wasn't expanded in South Carolina under Governor Haley. +p439 +aVSouth Carolina \u2014 South Carolinians need to know this, because the Cato Institute, which grades governors based on their spending, rank him right at the bottom. +p440 +aVAnd Governor Haley is ranked at the top. +p441 +aVNo. He mentioned my name. +p442 +aVLet me finish, though. No, no, no \u2014 hey, wait, wait, wait. Just hold, Major, hold, Major. Hold on, Major. +p443 +aVSouth Carolinians want to make that, they elect the most conservative governor or candidate that can win. +p444 +aVOf course not. It won't have an impact on hedge funds managers paying ordinary income. In fact, it's not just hedge fund people, but people that are doing \u2014 they're in the business of investing other people's money, getting capital gains treatment is not appropriate. They should be paying ordinary income. That's their business. They're grateful to be able to make a lot of money, I'm sure. And what we do is lower the rates. It's not the end of the world that private equity people and hedge fund folks that are, right now, getting capital gains treatment for the income they earn, pay ordinary income like everybody else in this room. That's not a problem at all. What we need to do is reform the tax code to simplify the rates, to shift power away from Washington, D.C. That's what I did as governor of the state of Florida, $19 billion dollars of tax cuts, and it stimulated seven out of the eight years. Florida led the nation in job growth. +p445 +aVThank you. +p446 +aVGreat question. I feel like I have to get into my inner Chris Christie, and point out that the reason why I should be president is listening to two senators talk about arcane amendments to bills that didn't pass. This is \u2014 this is the problem. We need a leader to fix this problem. And I have a detailed plan to do just that, including controlling the border, dealing with the visa over-stayers, making sure that we have a path to legal status, not to citizenship, for those that come out from the shadows and pay a fine, learn English, don't commit crimes, work and pay taxes. That is the better approach. +p447 +aVThe great majority of people that come to this country come because they have no other choice. They want to come to provide for their families. That doesn't mean it's right. That doesn't mean it's right. We should pick who comes to our country. We should control our border. Coming here legally should be a lot easier than coming here illegally. But the motivation, they're not all rapists, as you-know-who said. They're not that. These are people that are coming to provide for their families. And we should show a little more respect for the fact that they're struggling. It doesn't mean we shouldn't be controlling the border. That's exactly what we should be doing. +p448 +aV... So, you know......This is the standard operating procedure, to disparage me. That's fine... +p449 +aV... But, if you want to talk about weakness, you want to talk about weakness? It's weak to disparage women. +p450 +aVIt's weak to denigrate the disabled. And,it's really weak to call John McCain a loser because he was a... +p451 +aV... That is outrageous. The guy's an American hero. +p452 +aV... The simple fact is I've also laid out my plans on immigration... +p453 +aV Just, for the record make sure my mother's listening, if she's watching the debate. I didn't say that I was going to moon somebody... +p454 +aVSo, there \u2014 so, there is all sorts of intrigue about where I disagree with my brother, there would be one right there. You should not use eminent domain for private purposes. A baseball stadium or a parking lot for a limo... +p455 +aVIt's very different. Transmission lines, pipe lines, bridges and highways. All of that is proper use of imminent domain. Not to take an elderly woman's home to build a parking lot so that high-rollers can come from New York City to build casinos in Atlantic City. +p456 +aVMy name was mentioned twice. +p457 +aVHe called me a liar. +p458 +aVAlso, he talked about one of my heroes, Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan was a liberal maybe in the 1950s. He was a conservative reformed governor for eight years before he became president, and no one should suggest he made an evolution for political purposes. He was a conservative, and he didn't tear down people like Donald Trump is. He tore down the Berlin Wall. +p459 +aVHe was a great guy. +p460 +aVThat was me. +p461 +aVYeah, well, I have got to respond to this. +p462 +aVSounds like a good plan. +p463 +aVOr you could ask me two questions, so I could get two minutes instead of one. +p464 +aVI think the dysfunction in Washington is really dangerous, that's what I think. And we need a proven leader that has a record of solving problems, someone who doesn't cut and run; someone who could be a commander in chief to unite our country around common purposes; someone who doesn't disparage people. Someone that doesn't brag, for example, that he has been bankrupt four times and it was great, because he could use the legal system. Someone... +p465 +aVWe need someone with a proven record to be able to forge consensus to solve problems. And right now, both Republicans and Democrats in Washington don't get it. People are struggling \u2014 63 percent of Americans can't make a $500 car payment. Most Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. And we need someone has a proven record of growing the economy, reforming the things that are broken. And I'm that person. +p466 +aVYeah... +p467 +aVYeah. +p468 +aVHere we go. +p469 +aVHere's the record. Here's the record. We led the nation in job growth seven out of eight years. When I left there was $9 billion of reserves, 35 percent of general revenue. No state came close to that. +p470 +aVWhen I \u2014 during my time, we were one of the two states to go to AAA bond rating. We didn't go bankrupt like Trump did and call it success when people are laid off, when vendors don't get paid. That's not success. What we did was create an environment where people had a chance to have income. Personal income during my time went up by 4.4 percent. +p471 +aVThe government grew by... +p472 +aV... half of that. +p473 +aVThank you all very much. The next president is going to be confronted with an unforeseen challenge. That's almost certain. It could be a pandemic, a major natural disaster or an attack on our country. The question for South Carolinians and Americans is who do you want to have sitting behind the big desk in the Oval Office? Because that's the question. It's not the things we're talking about today. It's the great challenge that may happen. I believe I will have a steady hand as commander in chief and president of the United States. I will unite this country around common purposes because I did it as governor of the state of Florida. When I was governor, we had eight hurricanes and four tropical storms in 16 months. Our state was on its back. We recovered far faster than what people thought because we led. We want to challenge rather than cutting and running. That's what we need in Washington, D.C. We need someone with a servant's heart that has a backbone, that isn't going to focus on polls and focus groups. The focus will be on the American people to keep them safe and secure. I ask for your vote next Saturday. +p474 +aVChris, why don't you mention my name so I can get into this. +p475 +aV... I appreciate that, I really do, thank you. +p476 +aVWell, first of all he said the exact same thing about me, that I would make a great Vice Presidential nominee when Mitt Romney was considering. I said the same thing about Marco. I think we were both right at the time, and Mitt picked somebody else. So, let's move on to the 2016 race. Who has the leadership skills... ...who has the leadership skills to lead? And, I'm proud of the fact that I have 12 Medal of Honor recipients, over 30 admirals and generals that believe that I would be a steady hand as Commander in Chief. That I serve as Governor of the state of Florida where we cut taxes and reduced government. I took on very powerful interests, forged consensus, fought for my beliefs, implemented them and the state was better off. We had eight hurricanes and four tropical storms in 16 months. The whole state was turned upside down. It required a steady hand. Leadership. You learn this, you learn it by doing it. It's not something that you just go up, and on the job do it. It's not the same. Look, let's be clear. Marco Rubio is a gifted, gifted politician, and he may have the skills to be a President of the United States, but we've tried it the old way with Barack Obama, with soaring eloquence and we got \u2014 we didn't get a leader we got someone who wants to divide the country up. The next President......going to have to forge consensus to bring about a set of common purposes so that we can move forward again in this country... +p477 +aV... this relates to strategic patience. +p478 +aVThis relates to the strategic patience of the Obama administration. They come up with these great marketing terms, and what they do is they pull back, and voids are filled, and they're now filled by asymmetric threats of terror, as well as nation-states on the run. The next president of the United States is gonna have to get the United States back in the game, and if a preemptive strike is necessary to keep us safe, then we should do it. +p479 +aVWell, first of all, it's interesting that that happened literally days when this hostage release took place in Iran. A day or two days afterwards, North Korea took a \u2014 held an American student hostage. I think it's when we send a signal of weakness, when we are negotiating to release people that committed crimes in our country for people that didn't commit crimes that are held hostage in Iran. We saw the shameful treatment of our sailors, that this creates weakness \u2014 sends a signal of weakness around the world. The next president of the United States is going to have to get back in the game. Where the United States' word matters. Where we back up our allies, where we don't send signals of weakness. We need to use every \u2014 every influence possible to get this student back. And I think John is right about this, there are crippling sanctions that are available, as it relates to the two or three banks that North Korea uses to \u2014 to \u2014 use it \u2014 illicit trade. We ought to re-establish sanctions, not just because of the student, but because of their actions that they're taking right now, as it relates to building this missile capability. +p480 +aVGood evening. HAM: Mr. Trump. +p481 +aVThe difference \u2014 the difference between eminent domain for public purpose \u2014 as Donald said, roads and infrastructure, pipelines and all that \u2014 that's for public purpose. But what Donald Trump did was use eminent domain to try to take the property of an elderly woman on the strip in Atlantic City. That is not public purpose, that is down right wrong. And here's the problem with that. The problem was, it was to tear down \u2014 it was to tear down \u2014 it was to tear down the house... +p482 +aVAnd the net result was \u2014 you tried. +p483 +aVAnd you lost in the court. +p484 +aVThat is not true. And the simple fact is to turn this into a limousine parking lot for his casinos is a not public use. And in Florida, based on what we did, we made that impossible. It is part of our Constitution. That's the better approach. That is the conservative approach. +p485 +aVHow tough it is to take away property from an elderly woman? +p486 +aVHow tough it is to take away a property from an elderly woman? +p487 +aVI consider it a public use. +p488 +aVIt's a public use. It's a public use. +p489 +aVIt's a public use. +p490 +aVYeah. +p491 +aVIt's a public use. +p492 +aVEstablished by the courts \u2014 federal, state courts. +p493 +aVI would like to see more millionaires. I think we need to grow more millionaires, we need create a prosperity society where people can rise up. This notion that somehow we're undertaxed as a nation is just fool hearty, when we have entitlements growing far faster than our ability to pay for it. A conservative, because that's the point of this, believes in limited government, believes in a entrepreneurial capitalism and a strong national defense. But it also has to be, we need to reform things. In my town hall meetings, I went to a place where a woman described her neighbor, who has a better economic deal by not working than her struggling to make ends meet. We need to be on the side of working people. And you know, the problem with the left is, another tax, another regulation, another mandate makes it harder for them to rise up. Everything that we should do should be focused on high, sustained economic growth, where the middle class gets a raise for the first time, and where people are rewarded for work, rather than non-work. And I know how to do this. And if people are interested in the specifics of this, they ought to go to jeb2016.com. +p494 +aVMartha \u2014 Martha, if I... +p495 +aVI would. And I would do it in concert, again, with our Arab allies and with Europe, most particularly in this case. This is the lesson learned: in history, if you bomb something and not do anything as it relates to deal with the aftermath of this, if you don't have a stable government, you get what we have in Libya. And this is not \u2014 leading from behind is not an effective policy. We have to lead. Without the United States, nothing seems to work. Europe doesn't have the ability to \u2014 to \u2014 to lead \u2014 forward lead in this regard. And so dealing with the caliphate is important, because it now has spawned other areas. There have been 70-plus attacks in 17 countries, either inspired by +p496 +aVMartha and David, I just... +p497 +aVMartha and David... +p498 +aVNo, no, I wouldn't. No, I wouldn't. And it was used sparingly, Congress has changed the laws and I \u2014 and I think where we stand is the appropriate place. But what we need to do is to make sure that we expand our intelligence capabilities. The idea that we're going to solve this fight with predator drones, killing people somehow is a \u2014 is more acceptable than capturing them, securing the information. This is why closing Guantanamo is a complete disaster. What we need to do is make sure that we are kept safe......by having intelligence capabilities, both human and technological intelligence capabilities far superior than what we have today. That's how you get a more safe place is by making sure that we're fully engaged. And right now, this administration doesn't do that. +p499 +aVThis is a \u2014 this is an important subject. I agree with everything that's been said here about repealing unconstitutional rules and rules that are creating real burdens for investing that creating jobs. But we also ought to get back to being a Tenth Amendment country, as well, a country that respects the states to be able to make more decisions. And in the Bush administration, we would shift transportation dollars back to the states. I trust Kasich and Christie to build the roads and the infrastructure of their states than Washington, D.C. EPA delegated authority, back to the states. Education dollars, back to the states. I would like to see reform take place all across the country, where there's more vouchers, more freedom. If we did that, we would shrink government's power in Washington, D.C. and we would have a much more effective government, where people would begin to trust our government again, because now, no one believes it works. +p500 +aVYou mentioned me. He mentioned me. One other thing that I think we ought to do, along with repealing Obamacare, we need to shift all of this power of healthcare, which is the most egregious form of federal power that is suppressing wages and incomes, and allow governors to have the Medicaid plans so that they can create 21st century Medicaid insurance for people that are stuck in poverty. There's so much that can be done, but I don't trust Washington to do it. I trust the state capitals to be the place \u2014 to be the source of innovation and reform in this country. HAM: Thank you, governors. Martha and David, back to you. +p501 +aVI didn't mention him the second time. +p502 +aV... Say it again? +p503 +aV... I do, and I do think that we should not impose any kind of political agenda on the military. There should be \u2014 if women can meet the requirements, the minimum requirements for combat service they ought to have the right to do it. For sure. It ought to be focused on the morale as well. We got to make sure that we have readiness much higher than we do today. We need to eliminate the sequester which is devastating our military. We can't be focusing on the political side of this, we need to realize that our military force is how we project our word in the world. When we're weak militarily it doesn't matter what we say. We can talk about red lines, and +p504 +aV... Why would they worry about it... +p505 +aV... Well, the Draft's not going to be reinstituted, but why \u2014 if women are accessing... +p506 +aVNo. I didn't say that. You \u2014 you asked a question not about the draft, you asked about registering. And if women are going to be... +p507 +aVIf \u2014 but... +p508 +aV... we don't have a draft. I'm not suggesting we have a draft. What I'm suggesting is that we ought to have readiness being the first priority of our military, and secondly, that we make sure that the morale is high. And right now, neither one of those are acceptable because we've been gutting the military budget. We also need to reform our procurement process. We need to make sure there are more men and women in uniform than people \u2014 than civilians in our Defense Department. There's a lot of things that we need to reform to bring our defense capabilities into the 21st century and I'm the guy that could do that. That's why I have the support of generals, of admirals, of 12 Medal of Honor recipients and many other people that know that I would be a steady commander-in-chief and rebuild our military. +p509 +aVI totally agree that we need to give veterans more choices. A veterans card to be able to go to a private provider will enhance the quality of the service inside the Department of Veterans Affairs. We need career civil service reform. Only three people were fired after waiting lists were dropped where veterans didn't get care and people died. It is outrageous. And Hillary Clinton says that that's acceptable? Because she is captive of the public service uniforms. Career civil service reform would allow the next president to fire people that are \u2014 that are showing sheer incompetence. At a town hall meeting today, someone came \u2014 told a story of their father who looked like he was 85. He had \u2014 he got a bill eight years later from an operation he had, eight years it took. They couldn't resolve the dispute and then he was told that he died. Literally, the Veterans Administration sent a death certificate to this guy and it took nine months to clarify the guy \u2014 I met him. He's voting for me. And he is \u2014 likely to be alive. This is \u2014 this is outrageous. It is completely outrageous. So, giving veterans more choices, creating centers of excellence, focusing on the true problems that exist. Dr. Carson is completely right. We need to start focusing on this earlier, before they become veterans so that there's a customized plan so people don't fall through the cracks. We can do this, but it's going to require someone who has proven leadership skills to make it happen. +p510 +aVLook, I'm pro-life. In fact, on this stage, I'm the most pro-life person because I've acted on it for eight years as governor of the state of Florida. Where we abolished partial-birth abortion, where parents have the right to be notified when their teenage child is having an abortion. We were the first state to do a choose life license plate to raise money for adoption. We were the first state to have state monies go to crisis pregnancy centers, which recently was just increased to $4 million a year. We created greater regulation on abortion clinics, where there were horrific procedures. So I'm pro life, but I believe there should be exceptions: rape, incest and when the life of the mother is in danger. And so, that belief, and my consistency on this, makes me, I think, poised to be in the right place, the sweet spot for a Republican nominee. And others may have a different view and I respect it. +p511 +aVPeyton Manning is supporting me. And I'm for Denver. +p512 +aVI want to thank the people of New Hampshire, and I want to celebrate the birthday of a great president, Ronald Reagan would have been 105 today. President Reagan believed in the future of our country, believed in its greatness, had a hopeful, optimistic message. Drew people towards our cause. We need someone who has a proven record to take our case to the American people because our philosophy is by far the best one. Limited government, entrepreneurial capitalism, of peace through strength. I believe I have the skills to take our party to victory in November. I ask for your support on Tuesday to keep America, and make America a safer, stronger, and freer. Thank you all very much. +p513 +asVSTRASSEL +p514 +(lp515 +VMr. Trump. +p516 +aVYou have made a lot of promises and you have also \u2014 you're the only candidate who has said he would not touch entitlements. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has estimated that your ideas would cost an additional $12 trillion to $15 trillion over the next 10 years and that we would have to have annual economic growth of anywhere from 7.7 percent to 9 percent annually to pay for them. Are you proposing more than you can actually deliver, at least not without big deficits? +p517 +aVBut in terms of... +p518 +aVO.K. But how would you actually do that? Can I ask you? Because right now, Social Security and Medicare... +p519 +aVThey take up two-thirds of the federal budget, and they're growing. +p520 +aVO.K., I have a question, a related tax question. Senator Rubio, you have the highest tax rate of anyone up on the stage in terms of the top tax rates, 35 percent. Some economists say, "It would limit its potential to boost economic growth." You do that so that you will have more revenue to pay for a tripling of the Child Tax Credit. Normally, it's liberals who like to use the tax code to insert social policy. Why should conservatives who want to tax adopt the other side's approach? +p521 +aVGovernor Kasich, this on is on size of government. In 2013, you pushed through a Medicaid reform in your state over the rejections of many of the Republicans in your state. Total enrollment and overall cost of program have gone well beyond what anyone had expected, including yourself. How can you argue that this overall growth fits in with conservative ambition to significantly cut back on the size of federal welfare programs? +p522 +aVSenator Cruz. Senator Cruz, you have promised to deport illegal aliens. You have also promised to reverse President Obama's executive action that gives temporary amnesty to illegals brought here by their parent as children. As president, you would have the names and addresses of the some 800,000 of those that have registered under that action. Now, you have said that in this country, we shouldn't go door to door, look for illegals, but in this case you would have a list. Would you use it? +p523 +aVSo would you \u2014 would you use the addresses? +p524 +aVWould you pick them up? +p525 +aVSenator Rubio, your reply. +p526 +aVAll right. Senator Cruz. Your response, Senator Cruz. +p527 +aV... O.K.... +p528 +aVMoving subjects. Dr. Carson, this week Morgan Stanley agreed to pay a $3.2 billion fine to state and federal authorities for contributing to the mortgage crisis. You have a lot of Democrats out saying that we should be jailing more executives, so two questions. Should financial executives be held legally responsible for financial crisis, and do you think fines like these are an effective way to deter companies from future behavior like that? +p529 +aVSenator Cruz, you were mentioned in the mix here, your response? +p530 +aVAnd now, Marco Rubio. +p531 +aVWe'll be back with a few final thoughts in a moment. +p532 +asVMCELVEEN +p533 +(lp534 +VThank you, David. And good evening, candidates. Mr. Trump, you have said, quote, "I love eminent domain" which is the seizure of private property for the sake of the greater good theoretically. You tried to use the measure in business endeavors, you've said you'd support its use for the Keystone Pipeline project. Here in New Hampshire, a project, though, known as the Northern pass would bring hydro-electric power from Canada into the Northeastern grid. Do you see eminent domain as an appropriate tool to get that done? +p535 +aVSo would that be yes on the Northern Pass project? +p536 +aVMr. Trump, take 30 seconds. +p537 +aVAll right, gentlemen... +p538 +aVGentlemen, we do have to move forward. Dave, Martha, back to you. +p539 +aVYou're all aware, candidates, this is a major problem here in New Hampshire. It's a very deadly problem as well. Last month, New Hampshire senators Kelly Ayotte, Republican, and Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat, they went down to Washington, along with the police chief of the state's largest city to testify before the Judiciary Committee in D.C. Senator Cruz, you're a member of that committee. Your campaign schedule didn't allow you to attend this. Even so, the police chief called your absence outrageous, given the severity of the problem. Last week, though, you told a personal story of a close family member's struggle with addiction. What can you say to law enforcement right now to convince them that you understand the severity of this problem and you're not just saying what people want to hear days before the primary? +p540 +aVAnd Governor Christie, you have talked a lot about this issue here in New Hampshire. State reforms, criminal justice reforms, access to treatment. To Senator Cruz's point, let's take it a step further. Would you be willing to engage in cross-border enforcement into Mexico, a place where law enforcement in New Hampshire has traced at lot of this supply back to. Would you engage in cross-border enforcement without the cooperation without the Mexican government? +p541 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you very much. David, Martha, back to you. +p542 +aVThank you, Martha. None of you on stage tonight have ever worn a uniform as a member of the armed services. That's the reality of it. But as commander-in-chief, you'll also be charged with the care of 23 million active duty service members and veterans in this country. Some have suggested privatizing the V.A. as a way to enhance care and increase the quality of the care and access. Others say that veterans should carry I.D. cards that allow them access to any hospital or health care provider. Governor Bush, what specifically would you do to ensure that those who have sacrificed for us are cared for? +p543 +aVGovernor Kasich, do you have a favored approach? +p544 +aVSenator Rubio, go ahead? +p545 +aVSenator Rubio, thanks very much. Going to move forward now. David, Martha, back to you. +p546 +asVKASICH +p547 +(lp548 +VWell, John, first of all, if I were president, we wouldn't have the divisions in the country we have today. I do want to take a second as we reflected on Judge Scalia, it's amazing \u2014 it's not even two minutes after the death of Judge Scalia, nine children here today, their father didn't wake up. His wife, sad, but I just wish we hadn't run so fast into politics. Here's my concern about this. The country is so divided right now, and now we're going to see another partisan fight take place. I really wish the president would think about not nominating somebody. If you were to nominate somebody, let's have him pick somebody that's going to have unanimous approval, and such widespread approval across the country that this could happen without a lot of recrimination. I don't think that's going to happen, and I would like the president just to, for once here, put the country first. We're going to have an election for president very soon, and the people will understand what is at stake in that election. And so I believe the president should not move forward, and I think that we ought to let the next president of the United States decide who is going to run that Supreme Court with a vote by the people of the United......States of America. +p549 +aVFirst of all \u2014 yes. First of all, look, we have to make it clear to Russia what we expect. We don't have to declare an enemy, rattle a sword or threaten, but we need to make it clear what we expect. No. 1 is we will arm the folks in Ukraine who are fighting for their freedom. They deserve it. There will be no ifs, ands or buts about it. Secondly, an attack on +p550 +aVI've got to tell you, this is just crazy, huh? This is just nuts, O.K.? Jeez, oh, man. I'm sorry, John. +p551 +aVOh, well, listen, I think being in Iraq, look, we thought there were weapons of mass destruction. Colin Powell, who is one of the most distinguished generals in modern time, said there were weapons there. But, but, the fact is we got ourselves in the middle of a civil war. The Sunni, the Shia and the Kurds, never gotten along. In fact, that country was drawn \u2014 the borders of that country were drawn after World War I by Westerners that didn't understand what was happening there. The tragedy of it is that we're still embroiled. And, frankly, if there weren't weapons of mass destruction, we should never have gone. I don't believe the United States should involve itself in civil wars. Civil wars are not in our direct interest, and if you \u2014 and look, I served on a defense committee for 18 years and was called into the Pentagon after 9/11 by Secretary Rumsfeld to deal with some of the most serious problems that we faced. The fact is, is that we should go to war when it is our direct interest. We should not be policemen of the world, but when we go, we mean business. We'll do our job. We'll tell our soldiers, our people in the service, take care of your job and then come home once we've accomplished our goals. That's what we need to do. +p552 +aVYeah. Well, first of all, those numbers, incorrect. We are \u2014 our Medicaid programs are coming in below cost estimates, and our Medicaid program in the second year grew at 2.5 percent. And Kimberley, let me tell you, when we expand Medicaid and we treat the mentally ill, then they don't live under a bridge or live in a prison, where they cost $22,500 a year. When we take the drug addicted and we treat them in the prisons, we stop the revolving door of people in and out of prisons, and we save $22,500 a year. Guess what else? They get their lives back. And the working poor, they're now getting health care. And you know that about a third of the people who are now getting that health care are people who are suffering very serious illnesses, particularly cancer. So, what I would tell you is, we've gone from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. We've cut taxes by more than any governor in America by $5 billion. We have grown the number of jobs by 400,000 private-sector jobs since I've been governor. Our credit is strong. Our pensions are strong. And frankly, we leave no one behind. Economic growth is not an end unto itself. We want everyone to rise, and we will make them personally responsible for the help that they get. And that is exactly the program we're driving in Ohio. And, boy, people ought to look at Ohio, because it has got a good formula. +p553 +aVYeah, let me say a couple of things. First of all, when Jeb was governor, his first four years as governor, he expand \u2014 his Medicaid program grew twice as fast as mine. O.K.? It's just a fact. Now, with Obamacare, I've not only sued the administration, I did not set up an exchange. And he knows that I'm not for Obamacare, never have been. But here's what's interesting about Medicaid. You know who expanded Medicaid five times to try to help the folks and give them opportunity so that you could rise and get a job? President Ronald Reagan. Now, the fact of the matter is, we expanded to get people on their feet, and once they're on their feet, we are giving them the training and the efforts that they need to be able to get work and pull out of that situation. +p554 +aVThat's what we're doing in our state. +p555 +aVLet me \u2014 let's tell you... +p556 +aVMajor \u2014 Major, we can't \u2014 we've got to \u2014 look, I have got to correct the record. And the fact of the matter is, we went from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. We're up 400,000 jobs. Our credit is rock solid. And I don't know... +p557 +aVLook, the bottom line is the people of this \u2014 of this country and this state want to see everybody rise, and they want to see unity, and I don't want to get into all this fighting tonight, because people are frankly sick of the negative campaigning. +p558 +aVAnd I'm going to stay positive about what I want to do from the... +p559 +aVBefore I get to that, this is the ninth or 10th debate. What I've been watching here, this back and forth, and these attacks, some of them are personal. I think we're fixing to lose the election to Hillary Clinton if we don't stop this. I mean, the fact is \u2014 you know what? I would suggest, why don't we take off all the negative ads and all the negative comments down from television and let us just talk about what we're for, and let's sell that, and the Republican Party will be stronger as a result... +p560 +aV... First of all, I'm for sealing the border, O.K.? And then I'm for a guest worker program. People can come in, work and go back home. We haven't closed the border because special interests, I believe, blocked it. Then, we have 11 and a half million people here. If they have not committed a crime since they've been here, make them pay a fine and some back taxes, and give them a path to legalization, never to citizenship. It is not going to happen that we're going to run around and try to drag 11 and a half million people out of their homes. I'll tell you this. Within the first hundred days, I will send a plan like this to the Congress of the United States, and if I'm president, I'll bet you dollar to doughnuts right now, it will pass. That is a reasonable proposal that the people of this country, in my judgment, will support, and so will the bulk of the Congress of the United States. +p561 +aVYou know, John, I think all people are the same. Look, I did 106 town halls, and I've been doing them left and right here in South Carolina. The first thing we have to do is grow the economy, and I know the formula because I was chairman in Washington when we balanced the budget and created so many jobs, and the same that we've been able to do in Ohio. You need common-sense regulations so small business can flourish, you need lower taxes both on business and individuals, and you need a fiscal plan to be able to get ourselves in a situation where people can predict a little bit about the future when it comes to the fiscal issues. And when you have that formula, combined with work force that's trained, you can explode the economy and create many jobs. I have done it twice, and I want to go back to Washington and do it again. John, the thing is, is I think that there are people now, these blue-collar Democrats \u2014 my dad was a blue-collar Democrat \u2014 the Democratic Party has left them. When they're arguing about being socialists, they've left \u2014 they have lost those blue-collar Democrats. And you know what I think they get out of me \u2014 is my sense of what they get out of me, and it's embarrassment about campaigns, you brag about yourself. But I think I'm a uniter, I think people sense it. I think they know I have the experience, and that I'm a man that can give people hope and a sense that they have the opportunity rise. And I'll tell you, I love these blue-collar Democrats, because they're going to vote for us come next fall, promise you that. +p562 +aVWell, I want to thank the people of South Carolina. You've been fantastic. And look, what I want you to know is I'm going to send a lot of power, money and influence back to where we all live. But as I've traveled around South Carolina, I've noticed something. You know, it's that people have a sense that you're not going to wait on a president. You know, when I was a kid, we didn't wait on presidents to come to that little blue-collar town and fix things. You know, the Lord made all of us special. The Lord wants us to be connected. I believe we're part of a very big mosaic. And I'll send the power back. And whoever gets elected president here, hopefully will take care of the issue of jobs and wages and Social Security and the border. But the spirit of the America rests in all of us. It's in our guts. It's taking care of our children. It's taking care of the lady next door who just lost her husband. It's fixing the schools where we live and telling kids to stay off drugs. You see, I think what the Lord wants is for to us engage, and in America, the spirit of America doesn't come from the top down. The spirit of America rests in us. And I want to call on everyone in America to double down and realize that you were made special to heal this country and lift it for everyone. Thank you all very much. And I hope I can have your vote in South Carolina. +p563 +aVWell, we've got to to step up the pressure. And by the way, I've gotta say, after being here, every one of my 100 town hall meetings in New Hampshire were a lot more fun than what I saw here today, were so much more positive. Look, in terms of North Korea, Martha, we have to make sure that we intercept both the ships and their aircraft, because what they're trying to do is to proliferate this very dangerous material, along with the \u2014 with the technology, the instruments that can be used for mass destruction. That's what I worry about the most, frankly, is non-state actors, people who don't have a uniform, people don't have a country, who can spread this, who are not subject to the \u2014 to the mutual assured defense. In other words, you strike us, we strike you. Some of these radicals, they don't care about that. That's what I worry about, for my children, and for their children, going forward. So, we have to be very tough. And we should tell the Chinese, look, if you're not going to do this ballistic missile defense to the Koreans, ballistic missile defense to Japan \u2014 and by the way, we should impose the same kind of sanctions on North Korea that we imposed on Iran, because they're able to shift money. They're able to send money and receive money. We've gotta to be very tough on this. And frankly, I think we could have \u2014 I think we could have let the Japanese know that if you want to take action on that \u2014 on that missile that's rising, you want to take action \u2014 you will have our support, if that's what you think is the best thing to do. We cannot continue to be weak in the face of the North Koreans, or, frankly, in the entire rest of the world. Martha, this is \u2014 this is the \u2014 relates... +p564 +aVWell, you know, David, I \u2014 I've just spent a lot of time here in this state, as I mentioned earlier, and we have to have practical solutions, just like we were just talking about a few minutes ago on North Korea. Look, the situation is, we need to finish the border. It has to be completed. Just like we lock our doors at night, the country has to be able to lock its doors. And we can have a guest worker program, where people can come in and out in an orderly way. And then for the 11.5 million that are here, if they have not committed a crime since they've been here, I believe they ought to pay some back taxes, pay a fine, never get on the path to citizenship, but get legalization. It is not \u2014 I couldn't even imagine how we would even begin to think about taking a mom or a dad out of a house when they have not committed a crime since they've been here, leaving their children in the house. I mean, that is not, in my opinion, the kind of values that we believe in. And secondly, I think at the end of the day, that Americans would support a plan like this. I think Congress would pass a plan to finish the border, guest worker, pay a fine, a path to legalization, and not citizenship. And we've got to get this done. And I will tell you this, within the first 100 days that I am president, I will put that proposal to the Congress. And I will tell you, as a former Congressman, and an executive, in Ohio, I can promise you that I believe you'll get the votes to pass that, and we can move on with that issue and protect our border. That's what I think. +p565 +aVGood evening. +p566 +aVWell, first of all, look. As the New York Times said, he's certainly not a moderate, but he can bring people together to solve problems. The fact of the matter is I've cut taxes more than anybody in the country this year. I have balanced budgets, the federal budget, the state of Ohio budget, we're running a $2 billion dollar surplus, we're up 400,000 jobs, and in Washington we were able to have significant job growth whenever we balanced the budget of which I was the architect. But, here's the beauty of it, it's not just balancing a budget, it's about jobs. You know, when I was kid growing up in a neighborhood where Dad went home at night and said, "I lost my job today", it just killed the family. It just was a devastating effect. We have to have economic growth, but once we have economic growth I believe we have to reach out to people who live in the shadows. I believe we need to help the mentally ill, the drug addicted, the working poor. We need to help the developmentally disabled to rise, and we need to help our friends in the minority community develop entrepreneurship. In other words, in American, conservatism should mean not only that some rise with conservative principles, but everybody has a chance to rise regardless of who they are so they can live their God given purpose. That's what conservatism should be. +p567 +aVDavid? +p568 +aVLook, I'm \u2014 I'm not here \u2014 I like Chris. +p569 +aVLet \u2014 but let me \u2014 let me just tell you. First of all, we have the lowest number of state employees in 30 years. Secondly, we have grown government at the rate of inflation. And I went from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. And we've grown jobs by 400,000 \u2014 that's one of the fastest growing states in the country. Our pensions are secure and our credit is rock solid. Now, I've learned that, what makes things work, what gets the economy going, not just in Ohio, but in Washington \u2014 and it's three things. Common sense regulations, which we have, lower taxes, which we have, the lowest taxes, tax cuts in the country. And thirdly, a fiscal plan to balance the budget. When you go from $8 billion in the hole to $2 billion in the black, when you cut taxes by $5 billion and you grow over 400,000 jobs, that is a record that I can take to Washington, using the same formula that I used in Washington when I was part of the effort to balance the budget to give us a surplus and to create jobs. +p570 +aVThat's what I did and I'll do it again in the first 100 days. +p571 +aVWell, right now the deals \u2014 there's no leadership. I mean, a lot of the things that we're talking about here tonight, on the border, and so many of the things. What we should be doing on foreign policy, you know what the problem is, Mary Katharine? There's not a leader that gets somebody to rise up. You have to have a leader that can inspire, and actually some of what Donald was saying is true. Look, do you know how hard it was... +p572 +aV... to get the balance the federal budget balanced? You have to plead with people. To do what we've done in Ohio, you have to plead with people, then you go back down to Washington and do the same thing. You see, we have to remind people we're Americans before we're Republicans and Democrats, and when we wait, and when we delay what we end up doing, Mary Katharine, is we make the United States weaker. In fact, it's a foreign policy issue because people look at America not solving problems and they say what are they doing over there? So the point is you have to work with people. The problem with executive authority for the president, it's really bad news for this reason. Since he's given up on working with Congress, he thinks he can impose anything he wants. He's not a king. He's a president. An executive order should be used frankly in consolidation and with consulting with the leadership in the \u2014 in the Congress. I've done it in Ohio. I consult. I could use executive orders, but I don't trump the legislature, because if you do, you aggravate them, you anger them and then the long-term prospects get bleak. We have to solve problems in America by coming together, Republicans and Democrats, Americans first, party and ideology second \u2014 in the second back seat of this country. That's what we need to do. And we can do it. And we can do it. +p573 +aVMary Katherine, let me just say this to you. You must have an agenda that you are ready to move on in the first 100 days. Jeb is right. If you delay and you wait, the Washington operators will take you down. I can tell you this, in the first 100 days, I will have legislation to freeze federal regulations, have them reviewed by the vice president, reduce state taxes on individuals, reduce taxes on corporations, have a fiscal plan to balance the budget, get the border protected and begin to fix Social Security in the first 100 days. So, anybody who is here tonight, if I get elected president, head out tomorrow and buy a seat belt, because there's going to be so much happening in the first 100 days, it's going to make your head spin. We're going to move America forward. I promise you. We're going to move us forward. +p574 +aVJeb mentioned me. Time for me to go again. +p575 +aVHe says he didn't mention me the second time. I thought I heard it, Jeb. No. I'm just kidding. Thank you all very much for listening and being patient with all of us tonight. Thank you. +p576 +aVDavid, David... +p577 +aVI wanted \u2014 I wanted to say, look, this \u2014 there can be a win-win here. I have formed a collaborative between police and community leaders because people have to respect law enforcement. A family doesn't want dad or mom going home in a box. And for our community leaders, many of them think the system not only works \u2014 not only doesn't work for them, but it works against them. And I created a big collaborative in Ohio made up of law enforcement, community leaders, the head of my public safety and a former Democrat, liberal Senate senator Nina Turner, run it. They got together, they made recommendations on recruiting, on hiring, on the use of deadly force and what we're about to do is to bring community and police together so we can have a win-win. We need more win-wins in America and we don't have to pick one over another divide. We love the police, but we've got to be responsible to the people in the community. We have to do all of that. +p578 +aVJosh? +p579 +aVJosh, I mean, clearly, when a veteran comes home, they should get health care anywhere they want to go. In our state, which is what we should do in the country, you know, if they drive a truck from Kabul to Kandahar in Afghanistan, we say, you can drive a truck from Columbus to Cleveland, and you don't have to go get a license. We're going to hand you one. And if you've got expertise in the military, we're going to give you college credit or community college credit for the things that you did for our country. And in addition to that, I'll tell you, one of the biggest things I think has to be done \u2014 and I would do it as president \u2014 the Pentagon has got to work with the returning soldier, sailor, along with the family, and we \u2014 they're the most valuable employees in the country. I call them golden employees. Everybody wants to hire a veteran. But there is a disconnect between the job openings and the veteran when the veteran comes back. The veteran is a leader. The veteran is strong. The veteran is drug free. There should be no unemployment among veterans. And if the Pentagon will work with the veterans' services agencies all across this country, Josh, we can get people jobs and we can get them jobs quickly, get them their health care......get them their college education. Let's lift them. They're the greatest people defending the United States of America and we need to take care of them, and we will. We will. +p580 +aVCarolina's going to win that one. I hate to say it. But they're going to win that one. +p581 +aVWell, folks, I've done now over 100 town hall meetings and I've loved every second of it. It has been the greatest thing in the world. And I want you to know that you've changed me, because I've listened to your stories and I've had your hugs and I've seen your tears, and I've seen you walk away and say, I now have hope. You know, I've had a conservative message, but a positive message \u2014 not just a conservative message, but a positive message about how we can bring people together, how we can restore America's strength, lift everyone. New Hampshire, please give me a chance to carry this message forward to the United States of America. And then, I will come back. Thank you, loved it. And God bless you. +p582 +asVCRUZ +p583 +(lp584 +VWell, we have 80 years of precedent of not confirming Supreme Court justices in an election year. And let me say, Justice Scalia... +p585 +aVEighty years of not confirming. For example, L.B.J. nominated Abe Fortas. Fortas did not get confirmed. He was defeated. +p586 +aVNo, Kennedy was confirmed in '87... +p587 +aVHe was appointed in... +p588 +aVIn this case it's both. But if I could answer the question... +p589 +aVJustice Scalia was a legal giant. He was somebody that I knew for 20 years. He was a brilliant man. He was faithful to the Constitution. He changed the arc of American legal history. And I'll tell you, his passing tonight, our prayers are with his family, with his wife, Maureen, who he adored, his nine children, his 36 grandkids. But it underscores the stakes of this election. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that will strike down every restriction on abortion adopted by the states. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that will reverse the Heller decision, one of Justice Scalia's seminal decisions, that upheld the Second Amendment right to keep and to bear arms. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that would undermine the religious liberty of millions of Americans \u2014 and the stakes of this election, for this year, for the Senate, the Senate needs to stand strong and say, "We're not going to give up the U.S. Supreme Court for a generation by allowing Barack Obama to make one more liberal appointee." And then for the state of South Carolina, one of the most important judgments for the men and women of South Carolina to make is who on this stage has the background, the principle, the character, the judgment and the strength of resolve to nominate and confirm principled constitutionalists to the court? That will be what I will do if I'm elected president. +p590 +aVWell, we need to focus on what the objective is, you know? Your question about the first three questions you would ask in this Situation Room. I think it is a problem if the president, commander in chief, we've elected does not have the experience and background to understand the threats facing this country coming in on Day 1. If you look at the threats facing this country, the single gravest threat, national security threat, is the threat of a nuclear Iran. That's why I've pledged on Day 1 to rip to shreds this Iranian nuclear deal, and anyone that thinks you can negotiate Khamenei does not understand the nature of Khamenei. When it comes to +p591 +aVWe have Kurds in both Iraq and Syria. They are fighting +p592 +aVWell, let me say it at the outset that everyone here understands \u2014 everyone understands that how \u2014 that the middle class has been left behind in the last seven years of the Obama economy, and we've got to bring jobs back. We've got to get people back to work. We've got to get wages going up again. We've got to get people moving from part-time work to full-time work. We all agree on that, but it's not going to be solved with magic pixie dust. It's just going to be solved by declaring into the air, "Let there be jobs." We actually have to understand the principles that made America great in the first place. Now, where do you get economic growth? If you look at cause and effect over our nation's history, every time we lessen the burden of Washington on small-business owners, on job creators, we see incredible economic growth. You do that through tax reform and regulatory reform. My tax plan \u2014 typical family of four, first $36,000 you earn, you pay nothing in taxes \u2014 no income taxes, no payroll taxes, no nothing. Above 10 percent, everyone pays the same simple, flat 10 percent income rate. It's flat and fair. You can fill out your taxes on a postcard, and we abolish the I.R.S. If you want to see the postcard, I've got it on my website. +p593 +aVNow, Major, the business flat tax that is in my tax plan is not a VAT. A VAT in Europe is a sales tax. The business flat tax is not a sales tax, it is a tax of 16 percent opposed fairly and evenly across the board on all business. One of the things that's critical is we're doing that in conjunction with abolishing the corporate income tax, with abolishing the Obamacare taxes, with abolishing the payroll taxes, which are the biggest taxes paid by most working Americans, and with abolishing the death tax, which is cruel and unfair. And you asked about economic growth \u2014 the nonpartisan Tax Foundation estimated a simple flat tax that would produce 4.9 million new jobs, it would increase capital investment by 44 percent and would lift everyone's income by double digits. That's how you turn the country around, not just hoping and praying for it, but implementing policies that work. +p594 +aVWell, you know, your question highlights a sharp difference on immigration on this stage. You know, in a Republican primary, everyone talks tough on immigration. Everyone is against illegal immigration in a Republican primary. But as voters, we've been burned over and over again by people that give us a great campaign speech and they don't walk the walk. There are sharp differences on amnesty. If you look at the folks on this stage, when Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer and establishment Republicans were leading the fight to pass a massive amnesty plan, I stood with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and the American people and led the fight to defeat that amnesty plan. +p595 +aVNow, that moment... +p596 +aVThat moment was what Reagan would call "a time for choosing." When it comes to deciding which side of the line you're on, the Rubio-Schumer amnesty plan......apparently supported by the donor class, which is why Washington supported it. The Rubio-Schumer amnesty plan passed the Senate, and it was on the verge of passing the House. House leadership intended to take it up and pass it with the Democrats overruling most of the Republicans. And the question for anyone on illegal immigration is, where were you in that fight? Where did you stand? You are right. There is a difference between Senator Rubio and me on this question. +p597 +aVMajor, I get a response to that. +p598 +aVYou know, the lines are very, very clear. Marco right now supports citizenship for 12 million people here illegally. I oppose citizenship. Marco stood on the debate stage and said that. But I would note not only that \u2014 Marco has a long record when it comes to amnesty. In the state of Florida, as speaker of the house, he supported in-state tuition for illegal immigrants. In addition to that, Marco went on Univision in Spanish and said he would not rescind President Obama's illegal executive amnesty on his first day in office. I have promised to rescind every single illegal executive action, including that one. And on the question... +p599 +aV. +p600 +aVThat is simply... +p601 +aVThat is absolutely false. What he said is knowingly false. And I would note, if you want to assess \u2014 if you want to assess... +p602 +aV... who is telling the truth... If you want to assess who is telling the truth......then you should look to Jeff Sessions, who said, without Ted Cruz the Rubio-Schumer amnesty bill would have passed, and Ted was responsible. You should look to Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin, that said... +p603 +aVI think it is a very important question because the people who have been hurt the most in the Obama economy had been the most vulnerable. It's been young people. It's been Hispanics. It's been African-Americans. It's been single moms. We have the lowest percentage of Americans working today in any year since 1977. And the sad reality is big government, massive taxes, massive regulation, doesn't work. What we need to do instead is bring back booming economic growth, let \u2014 small businesses are the heart of the economy. Two-thirds of all new jobs come from small businesses. If we want to lift people out of poverty \u2014 you know, I think of these issues from the perspective of my dad. My dad fled Cuba in 1957. He was just 18. He couldn't speak English. He had nothing. He had $100 in his underwear. And he washed dishes making 50 cents an hour and paid his way through school. Today, my dad is a pastor. He travels the country preaching the gospel. Now, I think about all of these issues. How would it impact my dad when he was washing dishes? If we had Obamacare in place right now, the odds are very high my father would have been laid off, because it's teenaged kids like my dad who have gotten laid off. If he didn't get laid off, the odds are high he would have had his hours forcibly reduced to 28, 29 hours a week. We need to lift the burdens on small businesses so you have jobs, and we need welfare reform that gets people off of welfare and back to work. +p604 +aVYou know, flexibility is a good thing, but it shouldn't \u2014 you shouldn't be flexible on core principles. I like Donald, he is an amazing entertainer, but his policies for most of his life... +p605 +aVFor most of his life, his policies have been very, very liberal. For most of his life, he has described himself as very pro- choice and as a supporter of partial birth abortion. Right now, today, as a candidate, he supports federal taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood. I disagree with him on that. That's a matter of principle, and I'll tell you... +p606 +aVDon, I need to go on... +p607 +aVI will say, it is fairly remarkable to see Donald defending Ben after he called, "pathological," and compared him to a child molester. Both of which were offensive and wrong. But let me say this \u2014 you notice Donald didn't disagree with the substance that he supports taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood. And Donald has this weird pattern, when you point to his own record, he screams, "Liar, liar, liar." You want to go... +p608 +aVYou want to go... +p609 +aVIf you want to watch the video, go to our website at Tedcruz.org. +p610 +aVYou can see it out of Donald's own mouth. +p611 +aVYou supported it when we were battling over defunding Planned Parenthood. You went on... +p612 +aVYou said, "Planned Parenthood does wonderful things and we should not defund it." +p613 +aVSo I'll tell you what... +p614 +aVYou see, you and I... +p615 +aVDon, the reasoned principle matters. The reasoned principle matters, sadly was illustrated by the first questions today. The next president is going to appoint one, two, three, four Supreme Court justices. If Donald Trump is president, he will appoint liberals. If Donald Trump is president, your Second Amendment will gone... +p616 +aVYou know how I know that? +p617 +aVI did not nominate John Roberts. I would not have nominated John Roberts. +p618 +aVI supported... +p619 +aVYou need to learn to not interrupt people. +p620 +aVDonald, adults learn... +p621 +aVAdults learn not to interrupt people. +p622 +aVI did not nominate him. I would not have nominated him. I would've nominated my former boss Liberman, who was Justice Scalia's first law clerk. And you know how I know that Donald's Supreme Court justices will be liberals? Because his entire life, he support liberals from Jimmy Carter, to Hillary Clinton, to John Kerry. In 2004, he contributed to John Kerry. Nobody who cares about judges would contribute to John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid. +p623 +aVThat's what Donald Trump does. +p624 +aVSouth Carolina, you have a critical choice to make. Our country literally hangs in the balance. Do you want another Washington deal maker who will do business as usual, cut deals with the Democrats, grow government, grow debt and give up our fundamental liberties? Or do you want a conservative, a proven conservative that will stand and fight with you each and every day? Listen, repealing Obamacare is not going to be easy. Passing a simple flat tax that abolishes the I.R.S. is not going to be easy, but if we stand with the American people, we can do it. And today, we saw just how great the stakes are. Two branches of government hang in the balance. Not just the presidency but the Supreme Court. If we get this wrong, if we nominate the wrong candidates, the Second Amendment, life, marriage, religious liberty \u2014 every one of those hangs in the balance. My little girls are here. I don't want to look my daughters in the eyes and say, "We lost their liberties." Who do you know will defend the Constitution and Bill of Rights? And as a commander in chief, who do you know will stand up to our enemies as the clam, steady, deliberate, strength to defeat our enemies, to secure our borders and to keep America safe. +p625 +aVWell, you know, David, the assessment the voters are making here in New Hampshire and across the country is they are evaluating each and every one of us. They are looking to our experience. They are looking to our knowledge. They are looking to our temperament and judgment. They are looking to our clarity of vision and our strength of resolve. The world is getting much more dangerous. We've had seven years with Barack Obama in the oval office, a commander-in-chief that is unwilling even to acknowledge the enemy we're facing. This is a president who, in the wake of Paris, in the wake of San Bernardino, will not even use the words radical Islamic terrorism, much less focus on defeating the enemy. I am convinced every individual standing on this stage, would make a much better commander-in-chief than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders. And the primary voters are making the assessment for each of us, who is best prepared to keep this country safe, to rebuild the military, to rebuild our Navy, our Air Force, our Army, our Marines, and to ensure that we keep America safe. +p626 +aVI think that is an assessment the voters are going to make. And they are going to make it of each and everyone of us. They are going to assess who is level-headed, who has clear vision, who has judgment, who can confront our enemies, who can confront the threats we face in this country, and who can have the judgment when to engage and when not to engage \u2014 both are incredibly important for a commander-in-chief, knowing how to go after our enemies. In the case of Iran, for example, who has the clarity of vision to understand that the Ayatollah Khamenei, when he chants, "Death to America," he means it. We need a president with the judgment and resolve to keep this country safe from radical Islamic terrorists. +p627 +aVBen is a good and honorable man and Ben and Candy have become friends. He has an amazing life story that has inspired millions, including me. When this transpired, I apologized to him then and I do so now. Ben, I'm sorry. Let me tell you the facts of what occurred for those who are interested in knowing. On Monday night, about 6:30 p.m., CNN reported that Ben was not going from Iowa to New Hampshire or South Carolina. Rather, he was, quote, "Taking a break from campaigning." They reported that on television, CNN's political anchors, Jake Tapper and Dana Bash and Wolf Blitzer, said it was highly unusual and highly significant. My political team saw CNN's report breaking news and they forwarded that news to our volunteers, it was being covered on live television. Now, at the time, I was at the caucuses, I was getting ready to speak at the caucuses just like Ben was, just like everyone else was. I knew nothing about this. A couple hours later, I found out about it. I was told that Ben was unhappy. I called him that evening because I respect him very, very highly. I didn't reach him that evening. I reached him the next day and apologized. He asked me then, he said, Ted, would you make this apologize in public? I said, yes, I will. And I did so. I regret that subsequently, CNN reported on that \u2014 they didn't correct that story until 9:15 that night. So from 6:30 p.m. to 9:15, that's what CNN was reporting. Subsequent to that initial report, Ben's campaign put out a statement saying that he was not suspending his campaign. I wish that our campaign staff had forwarded that statement. They were unaware of it, I wish that they had, that's why I apologized. +p628 +aVWell, I would note, initially the fact that we're seeing the launch, and we're seeing the launch from a nuclear North Korea is the direct result of the failures of the first Clinton administration. The Clinton administration led the world in relaxing sanctions against North Korea. Billions of dollars flowed into North Korea in exchange for promises not to build nuclear weapons. They took those billions and built nuclear weapons. And, I would note also the lead negotiator in that failed North Korea sanctions deal was a woman named Wendy Sherman who Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton promptly recruited to come back to be the lead negotiator with Iran. So, what we are seeing with North Korea is foreshadowing of where we will be with Iran. With respect to North Korea and what we should do now, one of the first things we should do is expand our missile defense capacity. We ought to put missile defense interceptors in South Korea. South Korea wants them. One of the real risks of this launch, North Korea wants to launch a satellite, and one of the greatest risks of the satellite is they would place a nuclear device in the satellite. As it would orbit around the Earth, and as it got over the United States they would detonate that nuclear weapon and set of what's called an EMP, and electromagnetic pulse which could take down the entire electrical grid on the Eastern seaboard, potentially killing millions. We need to harden the grid to defend ourselves, and we need missile defense to protect ourselves against North Korea. +p629 +aVYou know, at this point I'm not going to speculate on that without the intelligence briefing that any Commander in Chief would have, knowing what exactly is there. One of the real problems... +p630 +aV... Actually, with respect, I have gotten the intelligence briefings on the Mid-East. Those have been going on for many years. I haven't gotten the intelligence briefing tonight on what North Korea's doing because I'm here in new Hampshire. When you're responding to an immediate incident, you need to know the intelligence of what's occurring. But what I was saying \u2014 look, it is qualitatively different dealing with a country once they have nuclear weapons. It's why you prevent them from getting nuclear weapons in the first place \u2014 because your hands are somewhat tied once they have nukes. It's why this Iranian nuclear deal is so catastrophic, and it's why I've pledged, on the very first day in office, to rip to shreds this Iranian nuclear deal so we're not sitting here in five years, wondering what to do about an Iranian missile launch when they have nuclear weapons. The stakes are too high for that. +p631 +aVSo, in terms of a practical solution, I've laid out the most detailed plan for solving illegal immigration. It's 11 pages, single-spaced, chapter and verse. It's on our website, tedcruz.org. In short, we're going to do, we're going to build a wall. We're going to triple the border patrol. We're going to increase \u2014 and actually, since Donald enjoyed that, I will simply say, I've got somebody in mind to build it. We're going to increase four-fold, the fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft, so that you have technology monitoring an attempted incursion to direct the boots on the ground where they're occurring. We're going to put in place a strong e-verify system in the workplace, so you can't get a job without proving you are here legally. We'll put in place a biometric exit-entry system on visas, because 40 percent of illegal immigration comes not over the border illegally, but people coming on visas and overstaying. We will end sanctuary cities by cutting off taxpayer dollars to any jurisdiction that defies federal immigration law. And we will end welfare benefits for those here illegally. +p632 +aVWhat you do is, you enforce the law. You know, under the Constitution, the president has an obligation to, quote, "Take care that the laws be faithfully executed." Federal immigration law provides, if someone is here illegally and is apprehended, they are to be deported. We saw just this past week the head of the border patrol union testify before Congress that President Obama had given the order to the border patrol to stand down, not to enforce the law. That is wrong. I will enforce the law, and for everyone who says, you can't possibly do that, I would note that in eight years, Bill Clinton deported 12 million people. In eight years, George W. Bush deported 10 million people. Enforcing the law \u2014 we can do it. What is missing is the political will. And when they were deporting the people, the border wasn't secure, so they'd come right back. Once you secure the border, enforcing the law will solve this problem and that will benefit American workers. +p633 +aVGood evening. +p634 +aVWell, let me take two different parts of that. Let me start with socialized medicine. Socialized medicine is a disaster. It does not work. If you look at the countries that have imposed socialized medicine, that have put the government in charge of providing medicine, what inevitably happens is rationing. You have a scarcity of doctors. You have rationing. And that means the elderly are told, we're going to ration a hip replacement, we're going to ration a knee replacement. We're going to ration end- of-life care. We're right now heading into a medical system with about a 90,000-doctor shortage in America and socialized medicine; whether proposed by the Democrats or proposed by a Republican would hurt the people of this country. What should we do on health care? If I'm elected president, we will repeal every word of Obamacare. And once we do that, we will adopt common sense reforms, number one, we'll allow people to purchase health insurance across state lines that will drive down prices and expand the availability of low cost catastrophic insurance. We'll expand health savings accounts; and we will de-link health insurance from employment so that you don't lose your health insurance when you lose your job, and that way health insurance can be personal, portable and affordable and we keep government from getting in between us and our doctors. HAM: Dr. Carson, you have some experience with this matter. In the past, you have said that Obamacare should be replaced before it's repealed. How and why? +p635 +aVWell, sure. It starts with a commander-in-chief that sets the objective. And the objective has to be utterly and completely destroying +p636 +aVMartha, I will tell you, I have visited with active duty military, with veterans over and over and over again in town halls all over the state of New Hampshire. What we are doing to our sons and daughters, it is immoral. We are sending them into fight with their arms tied behind their back. They cannot defend themselves. And it is wrong. And I will tell you this. Look. America has always been reluctant to use military force. It's the last step we take. But if and when we use it when it comes to defeating +p637 +aVAbsolutely, yes. +p638 +aVWell, under the definition of torture, no, it's not. Under the law, torture is excruciating pain that is equivalent to losing organs and systems, so under the definition of torture, it is not. It is enhanced interrogation, it is vigorous interrogation, but it does not meet the generally recognized definition of torture. +p639 +aVI would not bring it back in any sort of widespread use. And indeed, I joined with Senator McCain in legislation that would prohibit line officers from employing it because I think bad things happen when enhanced interrogation is employed at lower levels. But when it comes to keeping this country safe, the commander in chief has inherent constitutional authority to keep this country safe. And so, if it were necessary to, say, prevent a city from facing an imminent terrorist attack, you can rest assured that as commander in chief, I would use whatever enhanced interrogation methods we could to keep this country safe. +p640 +aVWell, thank you for that question. You know, there are three avenues of presidential authority to change the direction of this country. The first is executive power, the second is foreign policy, and the third is legislation. Executive power, as we all know, has been the preferred vehicle of President Obama, abusing his authority, abusing his constitutional authority. Now, the silver lining of that is everything done with executive power can be undone with executive power, so I have pledged on day one I will rescind every single illegal and unconstitutional executive action Barack Obama has done. That means on day one his efforts to restrict the Second Amendment go away with the strike of a pen. That means on day one his illegal executive amnesty goes away with the strike of a pen. The reason I can end Common Core at the federal level is because Obama is abusing executive power using Race to the Top funds in the Department of Education to force it on the states. That's one avenue. The second avenue of change is foreign policy, and foreign policy can change the fastest. It's worth remembering that Iran released our hostages the day Reagan......was sworn in. And, the third is legislation, and that can only be done with the people behind you, which is why the two big legislative initiatives I'm campaigning on are repealing Obamacare, and adopting a simple flat tax to abolish the IRS. HAM: Mr. Trump, Senator Cruz is known for opposing deals, you literally wrote the book on making them. Senator Cruz has mentioned that on the trail. What would you say to those conservatives that are concerned that a deal maker will just perpetuate the same deals in Washington and the way that things run now ... +p641 +aVWell, Josh, as you noted, this is a problem that, for me, I understand first-hand. My older sister, Myriam, who was my half- sister, struggled her whole life with drug and alcohol addiction. My father and her mom divorced when she was a little girl and she was angry her whole life, and she ended up marrying a man who had been in and out of jail. She then became a single mom and she herself went to jail several times and she ended up spending some time in a crack house. I still remember my father and me driving up to get Myriam out of that crack house to try to convince her she needed to be a mom to \u2014 to my nephew Joey. She wasn't willing to listen. She was not willing to change the path she was on. She was angry. I was \u2014 had just gotten my first job coming out of law school. I took a $20,000 loan on a credit card to put my nephew, Joey, in Valley Forge Military Academy \u2014 he was in sixth grade at the time, to pay his way through that. And about five, six years ago, Miriam died of an overdose. It was \u2014 the coroner ruled it accidental. We don't know. She went to one night, had taken too many pills, and Joey walked in and found her dead. This is an absolute epidemic. We need leadership to solve it. Solving it has to occur at the state and local level with programs like A.A., and counseling, and churches and charities. But it also has to be securing the borders, because you have got Mexican cartels that are smuggling vast amounts of heroin into this country. We know how to secure the borders. What is missing is the political will to do it. And as president, I will secure the border, we will end this deluge of drugs that is flowing over our southern border and that is killing Americans across this country. +p642 +aVWell, look, I recognize it is an agonizing experience when anyone is facing a loved \u2014 loved member who's been kidnapped. But at the same time, putting in place legal regimes that encourage the payment of ransom has the effect of putting a bounty on other Americans. There is a reason it has been longstanding U.S. policy that we don't negotiate with terrorists, we don't pay ransoms. If you look at what President Obama has done over and over again, whether it was the James Bergdahl deal, which was absolutely shameful, releasing five senior Taliban terrorists to bring Bergdahl back, or whether it was this recent deal with Iran, where, again, up to 21 terrorists or potential terrorists were \u2014 were released or not prosecuted in order to bring back four Americans, what that does \u2014 does is it effectively puts a bounty on American servicemen and women serving abroad, on American tourists traveling abroad. And the proper approach......is a president and commander in chief that defends this country and that goes after \u2014 goes after the terrorists, rather than showing them weakness and encouraging them to target more Americans. +p643 +aVWith an eye to February 20th, Carolina. +p644 +aVYou know, every candidate running for president says they will stand up to Washington. The natural follow up question is when have you ever stood up to Washington. Last week we saw a powerful illustration of that. I campaigned in the state of Iowa four-square against the ethanol mandate, something everyone said was political suicide. My two leading competitors both attacked me for it. The governor of the state said vote for anyone but Cruz, and lobbyists spent millions of dollars in attack ads, but I stood and said we should have no mandates, a level playing field, and the people of Iowa put country and our children above the cronyism and corporate welfare...... We can turn this country around if we get back to the Constitution. And, I will always stand with the American people against the bipartisan corruption of Washington. +p645 +asVDICKERSON +p646 +(lp647 +VGood evening. I'm John Dickerson. This holiday weekend, as America honors our first president, we're about to hear from six men who hope to be the 45th. The candidates for the Republican nomination are here in South Carolina for their ninth debate, one week before this state holds the first-in-the-South primary. George Washington wrote that the truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains taken to bring it to light. We hope to shed some light on the candidates' positions tonight to help voters make up their minds. So gentlemen, please join us on stage. With us tonight \u2014 with us tonight are retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson of Florida, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Businessman Donald Trump of New York. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Former Governor Jeb Bush of Florida. And Governor John Kasich of Ohio. Now, as most of you have heard by now, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died today at the age of 79. He was the longest-serving member of the court, appointed by President Reagan in 1986. Justice Scalia was the court's leading conservative, and even those who disagreed with his opinions regarded him as a brilliant legal scholar. Please join us and the candidates on our stage in a moment of silence for Justice Antonin Scalia. Thank you. We will talk to the candidates about Justice Scalia and the road ahead when the debate begins in a moment. +p648 +aVBefore we get started, candidates, here are the rules. When we ask you a question, you will have one minute to answer, and 30 seconds more if we ask a follow-up. If you're attacked by another candidate, you get 30 seconds to respond. And here's how we keep time. After we ask a question, you'll get a green light. The yellow light means you have 30 seconds left to finish your answer, and when time is up, the light turns red. That means please stop talking. If you keep talking, you'll hear this. You don't want to hear that. Joining me in the questioning tonight, my CBS News colleague, chief White House correspondent Major Garrett, and Kimberley Strassel, who is on the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal. And you can participate in the debate through our partnership with Twitter. Tweet us your questions and comments using the hashtag "# +p649 +aVSo, just to be clear on this, Mr. Trump, you're O.K. with the president nominating somebody ... +p650 +aVGovernor Kasich, I want to get your thoughts on this. Justice Scalia was a real believer, obviously, in the strict word of the Constitution. Now, Harry Reid says that a failure to fill his vacancy would be, quote, "shameful abdication of one of the Senate's most essential constitutional responsibilities." Where do you come down on this? +p651 +aVDr. Carson. Dr. Carson, you, like others, put out a statement after the death was announced, and you said the president should delay. You've written a book on the Constitution recently. What does the Constitution say about whose duty it is here to act in this kind of a situation? +p652 +aVSenator Rubio, you're a... Senator Rubio, you're a lawyer. Quickly, can you address the issue of whether the Constitution tells us who has the power to appoint Supreme Court justices? And then, also, the Senate Republicans last year floated an idea of removing the filibuster for Senate \u2014 excuse me, for Supreme Court nominations. You seemed open to that. What's your feeling on that now? +p653 +aVQuickly, though, on this question... Very quickly, Senator, on this specific question, though. You were once in favor of dropping the threshold... +p654 +aV... majority \u2014 you were never in favor of that? +p655 +aVO.K. Thank you, Senator. Governor Bush, I would like to ask you, conservatives for a long time have felt like that their Republican presidents have picked justices that didn't turn out to be real conservatives. +p656 +aVBernie Sanders has said he would have a litmus test. He would make sure that he appointed a justice who was going to overturn Citizens United. If they can have a litmus test for a nominee, what about you? Would you have a litmus test for a nominee? And what would it be? +p657 +aVRight, so, Senator Cruz, the Constitution... So, Senator Cruz, the Constitution says the president "shall appoint with advice and consent from the Senate," just to clear that up. So he has the constitutional power. But you don't think he should. Where do you set that date if you're president? Does it begin in election year, in December, November, September? And once you set the date, when you're president, will you abide by that date? +p658 +aVJust can I \u2014 I'm sorry to interrupt, were any appointed in an election year, or is that just there were 80 years... +p659 +aVBut Kennedy was confirmed in '88. +p660 +aVHe was appointed in '87. +p661 +aV... confirmed in '88. That's the question, is it appointing or confirming, what's the difference? +p662 +aVSorry, I just want to get the facts straight for the audience. But I apologize. +p663 +aVAll right. Thank you, Senator Cruz. All right, we're going to move on to national security here, and we are going to \u2014 I want to read a quote from Secretary Robert Gates, former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who served for eight year \u2014 under eight presidents. And this is what he said about Republican candidates, quote, "Part of the concern that I have with the campaign is that the solutions being offered are so simplistic and so at odds with the way the world really works." So, in that spirit, we're going to work tonight to be more specific. Mr. Trump, I want to start with you. You have said as president, you'll get up to speed very quickly. You'll know more quickly as president than any of the experts. So, you've been elected president. It's your first day in the Situation Room. What three questions do you ask your national security experts about the world? +p664 +aVSenator Rubio \u2014 just 30 seconds on this question, Senator Rubio. Are those the questions you would ask? +p665 +aVLet me ask you a follow-up, a full, proper question, then. Violent extremists are operating or active in 40 countries. Some 80 countries are in different degrees of instability. And so, that's just the crises overseas. Barack Obama walked into an economic collapse when he came into office. We face international health crises, from Ebola to Zika. So, there is a lot of opportunity for crisis, as you have talked about. What would you point to in your past to show voters that you've been in a crisis and that you've been tested when that inevitable crisis comes when you're president? +p666 +aVDr. Carson, I want to ask you a question... Dr. Carson, you said you've had more 2 a.m. \u2014 2 a.m. phone calls than anybody up on this stage. But when those 2 a.m. phone calls came, you operated on a foundation of all of that amazing medical work that you did, all of that learning. So if you were to be president, though, you wouldn't have the political foundation that hones those instincts when the 2 a.m. phone call comes. So isn't that a liability? +p667 +aVGovernor Kasich, Russia is being credited......Russia is being credited with bombing U.S.-backed rebels on behalf of Assad in Aleppo and Syria. They've also moved into the Crimea, eastern Ukraine. You've said you want to punch them in the nose. What does that mean? What are you going to do? +p668 +aVGovernor......Governor Bush. +p669 +aVYou said defeating +p670 +aVMr. Trump, you're......Mr. Trump, you were mentioned here. You did say that you could get along very well with Vladimir Putin. You did at one point say let Russia take care of +p671 +aV... All right... +p672 +aV... All right, Governor Bush, please respond. +p673 +aV... O.K., settle... +p674 +aV... All right, Mr. Trump, all right... +p675 +aVGentleman, I think we're going to leave that there. I've got a question for Senator... +p676 +aV... All right, all right, gentlemen, gentlemen, let's leave it there so I can ask a question of Senator Cruz, who's also running for president. Senator Cruz, you talked about the first Gulf War as being a kind of model for your focused and determined effort to go after +p677 +aVVery quickly, 30-second follow-up. You've said that, essentially, the Kurds would be the American ground forces in there. The criticism that experts have on that is that the Kurds only can work within their territory. If they take larger amounts of territory, you have an ethnic war with the Arabs. So the Kurds can't really do as much as you seem to be putting on their backs. +p678 +aVAll right. Mr. Trump......On Monday, George W. Bush will campaign in South Carolina for his brother. As you've said tonight, and you've often said, the Iraq war and your opposition to it was a sign of your good judgment. In 2008, in an interview with Wolf Blitzer, talking about President George W. Bush's conduct of the war, you said you were surprised that Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi didn't try to impeach him. You said, quote: "Which, personally, I think would have been a wonderful thing." When you were asked what you meant by that and you said: "For the war, for the war, he lied, he got us into the war with lies." Do you still believe President Bush should have been impeached? +p679 +aVSo... +p680 +aVBut so I'm going to \u2014 so you still think he should be impeached? +p681 +aVAll right. O.K. All right. Governor Bush \u2014 when a member on the stage's brother gets attacked... +p682 +aV... the brother gets to respond. +p683 +aVGovernor Kasich, would you weigh in on......Governor Kasich, please weigh in. +p684 +aVWhy is it nuts? Talk about it. Give us your sense of... +p685 +aVThirty seconds, Senator Rubio. +p686 +aVAll right, Dr. Carson, we have a cleansing... +p687 +aVWe have a cleansing... +p688 +aVAll right. Well, Dr. Carson, I have got a question now for you. A moment of pause here. You have said, Dr. Carson, that \u2014 referring to yourself, that people bought into the idea that, quote, "A nice person can't be tough on terrorists." You have called for loosening the rules of engagement for the military, which could lead to more civilian casualties. So, explain why those casualties would be acceptable in the fight against +p689 +aVAll right, thank you, Dr. Carson. We're going to have to take a commercial break here. Thank you to all the candidates. We'll be right back with CBS News's 2016 debate in Greenville, South Carolina. +p690 +aVWe're back with the Republicans who could be president. The topic now is money and how the candidates would spend it. We'll turn the questioning over to Kimberley Strassel of The Wall Street Journal and Major Garrett of CBS News. Kim? +p691 +aVDr. Carson, before we go to break, could you give us your sense of this conversation about either Medicaid or economic growth through taxation? +p692 +aVDoctor... +p693 +aV... Dr. Carson, I'm sorry, we have to go to a commercial. The free market wants what it wants. Back soon with the 2016 Republican debate in Greenville, South Carolina. +p694 +aVWelcome back. We'll begin the second half of the debate with one of the hottest issues in the Republican campaign, immigration. But before I turn it back to Major Garrett and Kim Strassel, I have one question for Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump, in the Republican National Committee's Spanish-language response to the State of the Union, Congressman Diaz-Balart said, quote, "It's essential that we find a legislative solution," talking about immigration, "to offer a permanent and humane solution to those who live in the shadows. What does that mean to you, "a humane solution to those who live in the shadows"? +p695 +aVSenator Cruz, I have a question for you. Speaker Paul Ryan has made a big commitment to trying to lift the 50 million poor out of poverty. Arthur Brooks, who is the president of the American Enterprise Institute, says, quote, "If we are not warriors for the poor every day, free enterprise has no matter." How you have been, in your campaign, a warrior for the poor? +p696 +aVAll right. Mr. Trump, thank you so much. We're going to take a break for a moment. We'll be back in a moment with the CBS News Republican debate. +p697 +aVWe're back now from Greenville, South Carolina, with the candidates for the Republican presidential nomination. Mr. Trump, I have a question for you. Presidents have to, on the one hand, be firm, but also be flexible. You have been flexible and changed your opinion on a number of things, from abortion to Hillary Clinton. But you have said, rightly, that it's just like Ronald Reagan, who changed his mind on things. But at the same time, you're criticizing Senator Cruz for what you say is a change on immigration. He disputes that, of course. So, why is your change of opinion make you like Reagan, and when he changes his opinion, it's a huge character flaw? +p698 +aVWhich conservative idea don't you agree with? +p699 +aVAll right. Governor Bush, I think by "they," he is referring to your brother, these on the hook for your brother. +p700 +aVBut that was his brother. +p701 +aVHold on, gentleman, I'm going to turn this car around. +p702 +aVAll right, gentlemen. +p703 +aVWell, hold on. We're going to \u2014 gentlemen, we're in danger of driving this into the dirt. Senator Rubio, I'd like you to jump in here... +p704 +aVI understand, you're on deck, governor. +p705 +aVSenator Cruz, 30 seconds on this one. +p706 +aVWe're going to switch... +p707 +aVWe're going to switch here to Senator Marco Rubio. Senator Marco Rubio, please weigh in. +p708 +aVI thought you had a point? +p709 +aVI thought you had a point you wanted to make. +p710 +aVYou're on deck, sir. +p711 +aVSenator, I wanted to ask you, just going back to immigration, in the last debate, you listed your series of accomplishments in the Senate. One thing you left off was \u2014 was immigration reform. Is it the case that in your list of accomplishments you can't mention that? +p712 +aVDr. Carson, I have......Dr. Carson, I have a question for you. Candidates are... +p713 +aVAll right. You have 30 seconds, Doctor. +p714 +aVDr. Carson, I \u2014 let me ask you a different question. When you were \u2014 you were the first one, really, to talk about political correctness. Everybody now talks about it, but that was really what sparked your \u2014 your rise. Politicians are often accused of glossing over any hard choices people have to make, just always selling happy, nice things. So in the \u2014 in the spirit of saying something that might be politically incorrect, tell the voters something that they need to hear but that might be politically incorrect? +p715 +aVGovernor Kasich. Governor Kasich, you've been described as the Democrats' favorite Republican. You talked about in New Hampshire, Democrats would come up to you and say, "I hope you win." Why will that help you win a Republican nomination? +p716 +aVMr. Trump, let me ask you a question. Presidents in both parties say that the one thing you need in your administration is somebody who can tell you you're wrong. You don't necessarily seem like somebody who has somebody who tells you you're wrong a lot. Can you tell us of an instance where somebody has said, "Donald Trump, you're wrong," and you listened to them? +p717 +aVAbout what? +p718 +aVLet me \u2014 something, in talking to voters that they wish somebody would tell you to cut it out is the profanity. What's your reaction to that? +p719 +aVAll right. O.K. Governor Bush, I'd like to ask you... +p720 +aVWell, can I \u2014 how about you respond, and then you can answer the question I'm about to ask you. +p721 +aVIt'll be... +p722 +aVIf we adjudicate this, the night will be over. Governor, in 2012, you said that your father and Ronald Reagan would have a hard time in today's Republican Party, based on their records of trying to find accommodation and finding some degree of common ground. Do you still feel that way? +p723 +aVHold on, Mr. Trump. +p724 +aVHold on, Mr. Trump. +p725 +aVO.K., Mr. Trump, your response. +p726 +aVThe bells are ringing, sir. +p727 +aVAll right. Thank you. Senator Rubio, I want to ask you a 30-second question, no president can... +p728 +aVNo \u2014 well, I'll ask the question, you do what you want. +p729 +aVNo president can know everything, right? So a smart leader knows how to ask questions. So if you could talk to any previous president, what's the smart question you would ask about that job that you would want to know? +p730 +aVAll right. That's going to have to be it there, Senator Rubio. We have got to go to a break. We will be right back with the CBS News Republican debate in Greenville, South Carolina. +p731 +aVTime now for closing statements. You will each have one minute, and we'll begin with Governor Kasich. +p732 +aVDr. Carson \u2014 Dr. Carson, you're next. +p733 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor Bush. +p734 +aVSenator Cruz? Senator Cruz, your closing statement? +p735 +aVMr. Trump, your closing statements? +p736 +as. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/downloads/data2/script10.pickle b/downloads/data2/script10.pickle new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1a73c34 --- /dev/null +++ b/downloads/data2/script10.pickle @@ -0,0 +1,7329 @@ +(dp0 +VCRAMER +p1 +(lp2 +VDr. Carson, in recent weeks, a number of pharmaceutical companies has been accused of profiteering, for dramatically raising the prices of life-saving drugs. You have spent a lifetime in medicine. Have these companies gone too far? Should the government be involved in controlling some of these price increases? +p3 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Governor Christie, there has been a lot of political rhetoric that some bank executives should have gone to jail for the 2008 financial crisis. But General Motors paid more than $1 billion in fines and settlements for its ignition switch defect. One hundred and twenty- four people died as a result of these faulty switches. No one went to jail. As a former prosecutor, do you believe the people responsible for the switch and the cover-up belong behind bars? +p4 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. +p5 +asVPERRY +p6 +(lp7 +VI will tell you one thing: I would whole lot rather had Carly Fiorina over there doing our negotiation than John Kerry. Maybe we would've gotten a deal where we didn't give everything away. But the issue for us is to have a Congress that stands up and says not only no, but hell no, to this money going to a regime that is going to use it for terror... +p8 +asVRADDATZ +p9 +(lp10 +VQuestions of leadership and character have dominated the news ever since the Iowa caucuses a few days ago. Here with us to question the candidates this evening are Josh McElveen from +p11 +aVDr. Ben Carson. +p12 +aVBusinessman Donald Trump. +p13 +aVFormer Florida Governor, Jeb Bush. +p14 +aVLadies and gentlemen, the Republican candidates. +p15 +aVAnd Donald Trump. +p16 +aVThe applause so loud you couldn't hear. We couldn't hear, either. That's a good sign for the excitement this evening. Gentlemen, thank you for being here tonight, just days before voters here in New Hampshire make their decisions. The rules are simple and have been agreed to by all the campaigns. There will be 60 seconds to answer and if another candidate is mentioned in that answer, that candidate will have 30 seconds to respond. There are green, yellow and red lights that each candidate will see to signal when time is up and they will also hear this sound. +p17 +aVSenator Cruz, you are a first term Senator as well. Your opponents say you, like Senator Rubio, are not prepared to be Commander in Chief. You have talked tough about threats we face in the Mid-East. It was reported just moments ago that the North Koreans test launched an intercontinental ballistic missile. North Korea has nuclear weapons, and conducted another nuclear test just last month. The missile that was launched is the kind the North Koreans hope could someday carry a nuclear weapon capable of reaching the United States. How would you respond if Commander in Chief to that launch? +p18 +aVWell, let me ask you this, if you were Commander in Chief tonight would you have order the U.S. military to destroy that missile preemptively on the launchpad to prevent North Korea from becoming an even graver threat? +p19 +aV... Senator Cruz, let me tell you this, you have talked tough about the Mid-East, you haven't gotten those intelligence briefings about that. Why not tell us whether you would preemptively strike a missile on a launchpad that threatens the U.S... +p20 +aVOkay. Senator Cruz, I will say that missile has been sitting there for quite some time, and they have had eyes on it. +p21 +aVSenator Rubio, I'm talking about a preemptive strike on the launch pad. +p22 +aVOK. Thank you, Senator Rubio. Governor Kasich, how would you respond to tonight's launch? +p23 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. Thank you \u2014 thank you... +p24 +aV... Governor Bush, I'll get to you in a moment. +p25 +aVThank you, Governor Bush. Mr. Trump, do you have a red line with North Korea? Would you consider military action? And how far would you let them go? +p26 +aVAnd I'd like him to finish the question, please. +p27 +aVSpecific \u2014 as to North Korea. +p28 +aVSenator Rubio, you were mentioned. +p29 +aVThank you very much, Senator Rubio. Governor Bush, another problem facing the commander-in-chief right now is that North Korea is currently detaining an American college student. What would you do to get that college student back home? +p30 +aVGovernor Christie, I want to go to you on the same question. +p31 +aVWould you negotiate with North Korea to... +p32 +aVThank you very much, Governor Christie. David? +p33 +aVSenator Cruz, to that point, Mr. Trump has said that your position on health care means that maybe you've got, quote, "no heart". There is a question here, though, about uncovered folks. You suggested repealing and replacing Obamacare. As we learned with President Obama's broken promise that everyone could keep their plan, any major plan \u2014 change in health care policy carries with it the risk that some people will lose their insurance coverage or have to change it. How do you reassure that those people that repealing and replacing Obamacare is still in their best interest? +p34 +aVSenator Cruz, you advocate what you call carpet bombing, or saturation bombing, to defeat +p35 +aVSenator Cruz, would you like to expand or loosen the rules of engagement? I was just over in a command center in Erbil and they said they thought the rules of engagement worked. Because you have so many civilians in those populated areas, they don't want to hit civilians. +p36 +aVSo, loosen the rules of engagement? +p37 +aVSenator Rubio, you said in the last debate that +p38 +aVAgain, Senator Rubio, you've already said +p39 +aVWell, what would you do \u2014 what would you do differently to try to get those Sunni forces? They have not been coming forward. +p40 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 thank you very much, Senator Rubio. Mr. Trump. You have said you will vigorously bomb +p41 +aVAnd \u2014 and what would you do in those cities, where there are people who we are trying to help, who +p42 +aVThank you very much, Mr. Trump. Let's turn to Libya. Governor Bush, it is a country in chaos. There is no government. This week, defense officials said there are now 5,000 +p43 +aVThank you very much, Governor Bush. Dr. Carson? +p44 +aVAnd would you support renewed airstrikes? +p45 +aVWe're going to move on. +p46 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. Thank you, Josh. Our partner in this debate, the Independent Journal Review, has collected questions from some prominent conservatives around the country. Here's a videotaped question from radio host Larry O'Connor. O' +p47 +aVMr. Trump, I'm going to give that question to you. You took it \u2014 you took it away anyway. +p48 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. I'm going to go to Senator Rubio on this. How would you change that narrative? +p49 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Dr. Carson, I want to go to you on Larry O' Connor's question. Would you change the narrative? +p50 +aVYes. +p51 +aVThank you very much Dr. Carson. I'm going to go back to David. +p52 +aVGovernor Christie, earlier this week, the World Health Organization declared the Zika virus a global emergency. The same kind of mosquitoes that carry the Zika virus in Latin America are found here in the United States, and the virus has been linked to severe birth defects. Governor Christie, at the peak of the Ebola outbreak in west Africa, you ordered an American nurse who landed at Newark Airport be detained and quarantined. As fear spreads now of the Zika virus and with the Rio Olympics just months away, is there a scenario where you would quarantine people traveling back from Brazil to prevent the spread in the United States? +p53 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you. I'm going to move to Dr. Carson, and go back to the Zika virus, is that going too far, quarantining? You're a doctor, what would you do? +p54 +aVThanks very much, Dr. Carson. I want to move on to the military. Senator Rubio, all restrictions on women in combat as long as they qualify. Positions including special operations forces, like Navy Seals. Just this week military leaders of the Army and Marine Corps said that they believed young women, just as young men are required to do, should sign up for Selective Service in case the Draft is reinstated. Many of you have young daughters. Senator Rubio, should young women be required to sign up for Selective Service in case of a national emergency? +p55 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Governor Bush, do you believe that young women... +p56 +aVDo you believe young women should sign up for Selective Service, be required to sign up... +p57 +aVTell me what you'd say to American people out there......who are sitting at home, who have daughters, who might worry about those answers, and might worry... +p58 +aV... if the Draft is reinstituted? +p59 +aV... Are you saying you'd do away with it? +p60 +aVYou register for the draft. +p61 +aVIf it's reinstituted. +p62 +aVThank you very much. +p63 +aVThank you very much, Governor Christie. +p64 +aVWe just covered \u2014 wait one second, Dr. Carson. +p65 +aVVery quickly. +p66 +aVThank you very much for bringing up that subject, Dr. Carson, of our veterans. And for another question about our veterans, we go back to Josh McElveen from +p67 +aVGovernor Christie. +p68 +aVDr. Carson. +p69 +aVSenator Cruz. +p70 +asVUNKNOWN +p71 +(lp72 +VNot me. +p73 +aVMaria... +p74 +aVYeah, but I want to talk about taxes. +p75 +aVIf you're not going to have my back, I'm going to have my back. +p76 +aVA couple things here. First of all... +p77 +aVWe have grown \u2014 we have grown... +p78 +aVTrue. It's true. +p79 +aV...let me follow up that... +p80 +aV +p81 +aVOh, great. +p82 +aV...In 2011, you told Forbes Magazine this: "I've used the laws of the country to my advantage." But at the same time, financial experts involved in those bankruptcies say that lenders to your companies lost billions of dollars. Question sir, with that record, why should we trust you to run the nation's business? +p83 +aVI do. +p84 +aVThank you. +p85 +asVSMITH +p86 +(lp87 +VGovernor Huckabee, same question to you. Where do you see the country right now? +p88 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Thank you, candidates. Moving to the world stage. The middle east is on the brink of chaos. Iran continues to provoke the United States, North Korea claims it's tested a hydrogen bomb, and Afghanistan is in danger of falling back into Taliban hands. Critics of the administration say it's all due to lack of U.S. leadership. To you, Mrs. Fiorina, how do you see America's role in the world today? +p89 +aVGovernor Huckabee, in Afghanistan, the Taliban is strengthening. Attacks are on the rise and thousands more civilians have been wounded or killed. Much of the Taliban surge can be attributed to the withdrawal of U.S. forces there. You have expressed skepticism with the war there, saying you see no end game in sight. What, then, is your solution to the growing conflict there? +p90 +aVAll right, thank you, candidates. We're just getting started. Jobs, Homeland Security, gun rights, all those issues are coming up straight ahead. We're live from North Charleston and the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back. +p91 +aVAll right, let's get started. Senator Santorum, to you first. President Obama has urged technology leaders to make it hard for terrorists to use technology to escape from justice. Hillary Clinton says social media companies can help by swiftly shutting down terrorist accounts. The companies say that they're already working with law enforcement and any proposed legislation would do more harm than good. Should companies like Facebook and Twitter be required by law to more actively \u2014 be more actively engaged in fighting terror? +p92 +aVSenator, would you \u2014 would you require anything of those companies like Facebook and Twitter if you were president? +p93 +aVThank you, Senator. +p94 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee, you called President Obama's executive orders on gun control unconstitutional and completely insane. +p95 +aVYou even told gun store owners to ignore the President's orders. Yet, innocent people are dying from gun violence in cities like Detroit, Chicago, and Charleston everyday. Is there anything that can be done at the federal level to prevent guns from falling into the hands of criminals? +p96 +aV +p97 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p98 +aVSenator Santorum, many of our military leaders believe America's critical infrastructure is vulnerable to a terrorist attack. This is the power in our homes, the water we drink, the Internet and phone systems by which we stay connected. If attacked, these essential services that underpin American society could come to a grinding halt. Do you have a specific plan to protect us from this type of attack? +p99 +aVSenator Santorum, I want to stay with you on this, moving to jobs and the economy. In his State of the Union Address the other night, President Obama touted his record on jobs, citing more than 14 million new jobs and boasted of nearly 900,000 manufacturing jobs added in the past six years. Do you dispute his track record of creating jobs? +p100 +aVGovernor Huckabee, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mike Mullen, has said the greatest threat to our security is our national debt. Our national debt is now on pace to top $19 trillion. Yet, you as well as Ms. Fiorina have laid forward no plan to reform entitlements. How can you say you're going to pay down our country's debt without cutting Social Security or Medicare? +p101 +aVOK. We're going to continue this conversation. We're taking a quick break and then coming up, the candidates' plans for strengthening the middle class. We're live in North Charleston with the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back. +p102 +aVAll right, thanks, Trish. Well, let's get started with Ms. Fiorina. Today, the middle class represents about 50 percent of the U.S. population, down from about 61 percent back in 1971. That's according to Pew Research. The same research revealed a widening income gap in America. The rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. What will you do to strengthen a middle class that is no longer the majority? +p103 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p104 +aVThank you, Senator. We're not finished yet. More Republican Presidential Debate in North Charleston after this. +p105 +aVWelcome back, it's time for the closing statements. Candidates will each get one minute, starting with Senator Santorum. Thank you very much, I want to thank the people of Charleston, which has become a little bit of a second home to me, because I am very privileged to have two young men who go to the Citadel here and they're here tonight, my son John and my son Daniel. +p106 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Governor Mike Huckabee. +p107 +aVThank you, Governor. +p108 +asVQUICK +p109 +(lp110 +VGentlemen \u2014 we'll \u2014 we'll get back to this \u2014 just a minute \u2014 just a minute we're gonna continue this. I wanna talk taxes... +p111 +aVDr. Carson, let's talk about taxes. You have a flat tax plan of 10 percent flat taxes, and \u2014 I've looked at it \u2014 and this is something that is very appealing to a lot of voters, but I've had a really tough time trying to make the math work on this. If you were to took a 10 percent tax, with the numbers right now in total personal income, you're gonna come in with bring in $1.5 trillion. That is less than half of what we bring in right now. And by the way, it's gonna leave us in a $2 trillion hole. So what analysis got you to the point where you think this will work? +p112 +aVI \u2014 I understand that, but if you \u2014 if you look at the numbers you probably have to get to 28. +p113 +aV15 percent still leaves you with a $1.1 trillion hole. +p114 +aVYou'd have to cut \u2014 you'd have to cut government about 40 percent to make it work with a $1.1 trillion hole. +p115 +aVThat is true, I looked at the numbers. +p116 +aVDr. Carson, thank you. +p117 +aVGovernor... +p118 +aVDr. Carson, let me get 30 seconds with Dr. Carson... +p119 +aVThank you. +p120 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, thank you. +p121 +aVGentlemen, I'm sorry, we need to... +p122 +aVWe're going to move on. +p123 +aVThirty seconds. +p124 +aVWe'll get to everyone. Ms. Fiorina, I \u2014 I'd like to ask you a question. You are running for president of the United States because of your record running Hewlett-Packard. But the stock market is usually a fair indicator of the performance of a CEO, and the market was not kind to you. Someone who invested a dollar in your company the day you took office had lost half of the dollar by the day you left. Obviously, you've talked in the past about what a difficult time it was for technology companies, but anybody who was following the market knows that your stock was a much worse performer, if you looked at your competitors, if you looked at the overall market. I just wonder, in terms of all of that \u2014 you know, we look back, your board fired you. I just wondered why you think we should hire you now. +p125 +aVMrs. Fiorina, it's interesting that you bring up Mr. Perkins, because... ...he said a lot of very questionable things. Last year, in an interview, he said that he thinks wealthy people should get more votes than poor people. I think his quote was that, "if you pay zero dollars in taxes, you should get zero votes. If you pay a million dollars, you should get a million votes." Is this the type of person you want defending you? +p126 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p127 +aVThank you, we're out of time. Thank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Carl. +p128 +aVGovernor Christie, I'd like to a question next. Actually, I have a question for you . In your tell it like it is campaign, you've said a lot of tough things. You've said that we need to raise the retirement age for Social Security. You think that we need to cut benefits for people who make over $80,000 and eliminate them entirely for seniors who are making over $200,000. Governor Huckabee, who is here on the stage, has said that you and others who think this way are trying to rob seniors of the benefits that they've earned. It raises the question: When it is acceptable to break a social compact? +p129 +aV...Governor... +p130 +aV...Thank you. +p131 +aVWelcome back to the presidential debate for the Republicans. We are live in Boulder, Colorado, right here on +p132 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. +p133 +aVSenator Rubio, you yourself have said that you've had issues. You have a lack of bookkeeping skills. You accidentally inter-mingled campaign money with your personal money. You faced (ph) foreclosure on a second home that you bought. And just last year, you liquidated a $68,000 retirement fund. That's something that cost you thousands of dollars in taxes and penalties. In terms of all of that, it raises the question whether you have the maturity and wisdom to lead this $17 trillion economy. What do you say? +p134 +aVSenator, I understand all of that. I had a lot of student loans when I got out, too. But you've had a windfall that a lot of Americans haven't. You made over a million dollars on a book deal, and some of these problems came after that. +p135 +aVBut you \u2014 but you liquidated that retirement account after the fact, and that cost you about $24,000 out of that in taxes and feed. That \u2014 that was after you'd already come into that windfall. That's why I raised the question. +p136 +aVYes, thank you John. Senator Cruz, working women in this country still earn just 77 percent of what men earn. And I know that you've said you've been very sympathetic to our cause. But you've also you said that the Democrats' moves to try and change this are the political show votes. I just wonder what you would do as President to try and help in this cause? +p137 +aVMrs. Fiorina \u2014 +p138 +aVMrs. Fiorina, we will come back to you. +p139 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Carl? +p140 +aVMr. Trump, let's stay on this issue of immigration. You have been very critical of Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook who has wanted to increase the number of these H1Bs. +p141 +aVSo you're in favor of... +p142 +aVWhere did I read this and come up with this that you were... +p143 +aVYou know, Mr. \u2014 you know, Mr. Trump, if I may . You've been \u2014 you have been \u2014 you had talked a little bit about Marco Rubio. I think you called him Mark Zuckerberg's personal senator because he was in favor of the H1B. +p144 +aVSo this was an erroneous article the whole way around? +p145 +aVMy apologies. I'm sorry. +p146 +aVYes, you can. +p147 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you very much. I would like to introduce my colleague, Rick Santelli, he has some comments as well, sir. +p148 +aVRick, thank you very much. Governor Huckabee, you have railed against income inequality. You've said that some Wall Street executives should have gone to jail over the roles that they played during the financial crisis. Apart from your tax plan, are there specific steps you would require from corporate America to try and reduce the income inequality. +p149 +aVGovernor? +p150 +aVGovernor? +p151 +aVThank you. +p152 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee. +p153 +aVHow about 15 more seconds? +p154 +aVGovernor? +p155 +aVGovernor, I'm sorry... +p156 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p157 +aVGovernor, thank you. Appreciate it. John? +p158 +aVIt's at the moderator discretion. +p159 +aVWelcome back to the University of Colorado and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p160 +aVThank you, sir. +p161 +aVYou were. You get 30 seconds. +p162 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Carl? +p163 +aVHigher education is the example... +p164 +aVI want to go back, if I can, to the issue of... +p165 +aVI want to go back, if I may, to the... +p166 +aVSenator Paul, among the leading conservative opponents to the creation of Medicare back in the 1960s was Ronald Reagan. He warned that it would lead to socialism. Considering the mounting cost of Medicare, was he right to oppose it? +p167 +aVSenator, thank you. [ +p168 +aVWelcome back to Boulder, Colorado and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p169 +aVThank you, Governor. +p170 +aVGovernor. +p171 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Paul, let's go back to you. Do these solutions sound like they work? +p172 +aVDo these solutions sound like they would work? +p173 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Governor? +p174 +asVRUBIO +p175 +(lp176 +VWell, let me first talk about Justice Scalia. His loss is tremendous, and obviously our hearts and prayers go out to his family. He will go down as one of the great justices in the history of this republic. You talk about someone who defended consistently the original meaning of the Constitution, who understood that the Constitution was not there to be interpreted based on the fads of the moment, but it was there to be interpreted according to its original meaning. Justice Scalia understood that better than anyone in the history of this republic. His dissent, for example, on the independent counsel case is a brilliant piece of jurist work. And, of course, his dissent on Obergefell as well. No. 2, I do not believe the president should appoint someone. And it's not unprecedented. In fact, it has been over 80 years since a lame duck president has appointed a Supreme Court justice. And it remind us of this, how important this election is. Someone on this stage will get to choose the balance of the Supreme Court, and it will begin by filling this vacancy that's there now. And we need to put people on the bench that understand that the Constitution is not a living and breathing document. It is to be interpreted as originally meant. +p177 +aVThat's not accurate. +p178 +aVNo, I've never \u2014 there has been, for example, today, according to the changes Harry Reid made, appellate judges can now be appointed by a simple majority, but not Supreme Court justices. And I think today you see the wisdom of why we don't want that to change. Because if that were the case and we were not in charge of the Senate, Harry Reid and Barack Obama would ram down our throat a liberal justice, like the ones Barack Obama has imposed on us already. +p179 +aVNo. I think there are three major threats that you want to immediately get on top of. No. 1 is, what are we doing in the Asia-Pacific region, where both North Korea and China pose threats to the national security of the United States. No. 2 is, what are we doing in the Middle East with the combination of the Sunni-Shia conflict driven by the Shia arc that Iran is now trying to establish in the Middle East, also the growing threat of +p180 +aVWell, let me tell you what has happened a couple of years ago. One of the hardest decisions you'll ever make in Congress is when you are asked by the president to authorize the use of force in a conflict, because you are now putting your name, on behalf of the people of your state, behind a military action, where Americans in uniform could lose their life. So, in 2014, Barack Obama said he would not take military action against Assad unless it was authorized by the Senate, beginning on the Committee of Foreign Relations, where I am one of its members. And it was hard because you looked at the pictures. I saw the same images people saw. I'm the father of children. I saw the images of these little children \u2014 been gassed and poisoned by their own leaders, and we were angry. Something had to happen, and there was the sense that we needed to seek retribution. And then I looked at Barack Obama's plan. Barack Obama's plan, which John Kerry later described as unbelievably small, and I concluded that that attack would not only not help the situation, it would make it actually worse. It would allow Assad to stand up to the United States of America, survive a strike, stay in power and actually strengthen his grip. So it was a difficult decision to make, and when we only had a few days to look at and make a decision on it, and I voted against Barack Obama's plan to use force, and it was the right decision. +p181 +aVI just want to say, at least on behalf of me and my family, I thank God all the time it was George W. Bush in the White House on 9/11 and not Al Gore. And you can \u2014 I think you can look back in hindsight and say a couple of things, but he kept us safe. And not only did he keep us safe, but no matter what you want to say about weapons of mass destruction, Saddam Hussein was in violation of U.N. resolutions, in open violation, and the world wouldn't do anything about it, and George W. Bush enforced what the international community refused to do. And again, he kept us safe, and I am forever grateful to what he did for this country. +p182 +aVThe World Trade Center came down because Bill Clinton didn't kill Osama bin Laden when he had the chance to kill him. +p183 +aVWell, because I'm influencing social policy \u2014 this is their money. This is the money of parents. You don't earn the tax credit unless you're working. That's your money, it doesn't belong to government. Here's what I don't understand. If a business takes their money and they invest in the piece of the equipment, they get to write off their taxes. But if a parent takes money that they have earned to work and invests in their children, they don't? This makes no sense. Parenting is the most important job any of us will ever have. Family formation is the most important thing in society. So what my tax plan does, is it does create, especially for working families, an additional Child Tax Credit. So that parents who are working get to keep more of their own money, not the government's money, to invest in their children to go to school, to go to a private school, to buy a new backpack. Let me tell you, if you're a parent that's struggling, then you know that $50 a month is the difference between a new pair of shoes this month or not getting a new pair of shoes for your kids. I'm going to have a tax plan that is pro-family, because the family is the most important institution in society. You cannot have a strong country without strong families. +p184 +aVWell, first of all, I think amnesty is the forgiveness of a wrongdoing without consequence and that \u2014 I've never supported that. I do not support that. I think there has to be consequences for violating our immigration laws. What I think is clear about this issue to begin with is we're not going to be able to make progress on illegal immigration until first, illegal immigration is brought under control. You go back to 1986, when they legalized three million people and they promised to secure the border. It didn't happen, and as a result, people have lost trust in the federal government. It is now clear that the only way to make progress on immigration is not just to pass a law that enforces the law, but actually prove to people that it's working. They want to see the wall built. They want to see the additional border agents. They want to see E-Verify. They want to see an entry-exit tracking system. Forty percent of the people in this country illegally are entering legally and overstaying visas. And only after all of that is in place, then we'll see what the American people are willing to support on this issue. I think the American people will be very reasonable, but responsible, about how you handle someone who has been here a long time, who can pass a background check, who pays a fine and starts paying taxes and all they want is a work permit. But you can't do any of that until you prove to people that illegal immigration is under control once and for all. +p185 +aVWe're going to have to do this again, O.K.? When that issue was being debated, Ted Cruz, at a committee hearing, very passionately said, I want immigration reform to pass, I want people to be able to come out of the shadows. And he proposed an amendment that would legalized people here. Not only that, he proposed doubling the number of green cards. He proposed a 500 percent increase on guest workers. Now his position is different. Now he is a passionate opponent of all those things. So he either wasn't telling the truth then or he isn't telling the truth now, but to argue he is a purist on immigration is just not true. +p186 +aVWell, first of all, I don't know how he knows what I said on Univision, because he doesn't speak Spanish. And second of all, the other point that I would make... +p187 +aVLook, this is a disturbing pattern now, because for a number of weeks now, Ted Cruz has just been telling lies. He lied about Ben Carson in Iowa. He lies about Planned Parenthood. He lies about marriage. He's lying about all sorts of things. And now he makes things up. The bottom line is this is a campaign and people are watching it. And they see the truth behind all these issues. And here is the truth, Ted Cruz supported legalizing people that were in this country... +p188 +aV... and only now does he say... +p189 +aVWell, we'll put on our website, marcorubio.com. We're going to... +p190 +aVOn anything I want? +p191 +aVWell, let me talk about poverty. +p192 +aVI do. +p193 +aVI had something important. +p194 +aVThe issue of poverty is critical, because for me, poverty is the \u2014 is \u2014 is free enterprise not reaching people. Today, we have antipoverty programs that don't cure poverty. We don't cure poverty in America. Our antipoverty programs have become, in some instances, a way of life, a lifestyle. Now, we do need antipoverty programs, you can't have free enterprise programs without them, but not as a way of life. And so I have a very specific proposal on this and I don't \u2014 in 60 seconds, I can't describe it all, but it basically turns the program over to states. It allows states to design innovative programs that cure poverty, because I think Nikki Haley will do a better job curing poverty than Barack Obama. +p195 +aVWell, no. It's not the case. It didn't pass, and we haven't solved immigration in this country. It's still a problem. It is worse today than it was three years ago, which is worse than it was five years ago. And it has to be confronted and solved. But the only way forward on this issue \u2014 you asked a question about flexibility. Let me tell you about that. One of the things that you need in leadership is the ability to understand that to get things done, you must figure out the way to get it done. You will not pass comprehensive immigration reform. People do not trust the federal government. They want to see the law being enforced. They want to see illegal immigration come under control. They want to see that wall. They want to see E-Verify. They want to see all of these things working, and then they will have a conversation with you about what do you do with people that have been here a long time that are otherwise, you know, not criminals. But they're not going to do it until you first enforce the law. +p196 +aVThirty seconds. +p197 +aVI speak fast. +p198 +aVWell, I think one of the presidents \u2014 well, the president I grew up under was Ronald Reagan. And Reagan had a vision for America's future. And if you think about what Ronald Reagan inherited, it's not unlike what the next president is going to inherit. This is the worst president we've had in 35 years, 35 years back would have made it Jimmy Carter. That's what Ronald Reagan inherited. And I think the question you would ask is, how did you inspire again the American people to believe in the future? How did you \u2014 what did it take to ensure that the American people, despite all of the difficulties of the time \u2014 you know, you look back at that time, the American military was in decline. Our standing in the world was in decline. We had hostages being held in Iran. Our economy was in bad shape. The American people were scared about the future. They were scared about what kind of country their children were going to live in and inherit. And yet somehow Ronald Reagan was able to instill in our nation and in our people a sense of optimism. And he turned America around because of that vision and ultimately because of that leadership. I wish Ronald Reagan was still around. This country needs someone just like that. And if our next president is even half the president Ronald Reagan was, America is going to be greater than it has ever been. +p199 +aVThank you, and thank you for watching tonight. This is a difficult time in our country. Our economy's flat, it's not creating the jobs it once did, and people struggle living paycheck to paycheck. Our culture's in trouble. Wrong is considered right and right is considered wrong. All the things that once held our families together are now under constant assault. And around the world, America's reputation is in decline. Our allies don't trust us, our adversaries don't fear us, Iran captures our sailors and parades them before the world on video. These are difficult times, but 2016 can be a turning point. That's why I'm running for president, and that's why I'm here today to ask you for your vote. If you elect me president, we are going to re-embrace free enterprise so that everyone can go as far as their talent and their work will take them. We are going to be a country that says that "life begins at conception and life is worthy of the protection of our laws." We're going to be a country that says "that marriage is between one man and one woman." We are going to be a country that says, "The constitution and the rights that it talks about do not come from our president, they come from our creator." We are going to be loyal to our allies like Israel, not enemies like Iran. And we will rebuild the U.S. military so no one will there test it. Vote for me. I will unify this party. I will grow it. We will win this election, and we will make the 21st century a new American century. +p200 +aVWell, let me say, from protecting the people of Florida from imminent domain abuse, to bringing accountability to the V.A., to the Girls Count Act, to sanctioning groups, I'm proud of my service in the United States Senate and before that, in the Florida legislature. I will say, if politics becomes and the presidency becomes about electing people who have been Congress or in the Senate the longest, we should all rally around Joe Biden. He's been around 1,000 years. He's passed hundreds of bills and I don't think any of us believe Joe Biden should be president of the United States. And let's dispel once and for all with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing. Barack Obama is undertaking a systematic effort to change this country, to make America more like the rest of the world. That's why he passed Obamacare and the stimulus and Dodd-Frank and the deal with Iran. It is a systematic effort to change America. When I'm president of the United States, we are going to re-embrace all the things that made America the greatest nation in the world and we are going to leave our children with what they deserve: the single greatest nation in the history of the world. +p201 +aVIf I may respond to that. +p202 +aVWell, I think the experience is not just what you did, but how it worked out. Under Chris Christie's governorship of New Jersey, they've been downgraded nine times in their credit rating. This country already has a debt problem, we don't need to add to it by electing someone who has experience at running up and destroying the credit rating of his state. But I would add this. Let's dispel with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing. He is trying to change this country. He wants America to become more like the rest of the world. We don't want to be like the rest of the world, we want to be the United States of America. And when I'm elected president, this will become once again, the single greatest nation in the history of the world, not the disaster Barack Obama has imposed upon us. +p203 +aVChris \u2014 Chris, your state got hit by a massive snowstorm two weeks ago. You didn't even want to go back. They had to shame you into going back. And then you stayed there for 36 hours and then he left and came back to campaign. Those are the facts. Here's the bottom line. This notion that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing is just not true. He knows exactly what he's doing. +p204 +aVWell, that's the \u2014 that's the reason why this campaign is so important. Because I think this notion \u2014 I think this is an important point. We have to understand what we're going through here. We are not facing a president that doesn't know what he's doing. He knows what he is doing. That's why he's done the things he's done. That's why we have a president that passed Obamacare and the stimulus. All this damage that he's done to America is deliberate. This is a president that's trying to redefine this country. That's why this election is truly a referendum on our identity as a nation, as a people. Our future is at stake. This election is not about the past. It is about what kind of country this is going to be in the 21st century, and if we elect someone like Barack Obama, a Hillary Clinton, a Bernie Sanders or anyone like that, our children are going to be the first Americans to inherit a diminishes country. That will not happen if I'm elected. +p205 +aVChris, you didn't want to go back. You didn't want to go back. +p206 +aVYou didn't want to go back, Chris. +p207 +aVChris, everybody \u2014 you said you weren't going to go back. He told everyone he wasn't going to go back. They had to shame him into going back. And when he decided to go back, he criticized the young lady, saying, what am I supposed to do, go back with a mop and clean up the flooding? +p208 +aV... It's your record, it's not a talking point... +p209 +aVBut Martha, just \u2014 Martha, just to clarify on that point, because he's right, and one more thing to point \u2014 it is standard procedure of the United States to shoot down those missiles once launched if they pose a threat to civilians, land and ships. +p210 +aVWell \u2014 no, I understand. And not \u2014 but \u2014 but I think it's important to note that it is \u2014 and Senator Cruz, I think, was alluding to this, as well \u2014 it is the standard procedure of the United States, if those missiles pose a threat to land, civilians, our allies or any of our assets, to shoot down that missile in mid-flight. I understand your question was about a preemptive strike, but my point is that there is in place now contingencies to avoid any sort of that strike from going errant and destroying any \u2014 any assets of the United States, or implicating or hurting any of our allies or any of our assets in the region. +p211 +aVYeah. I have a \u2014 I got mentioned, can I respond? +p212 +aVHere's the broader point, as well, and then I think it touches on what Donald just mentioned. Barack Obama views America as this arrogant global power that needed to be cut down to size. OK? This is a president that views this country as a country that's been too powerful in the world and we create problems around the world. For example, it's one of the reasons why he had betrayed Israel, because he believes that if we create separation from Israel, it will help our relations in the Islamic world. The same is happening in the Asia-Pacific region with accommodations to North Korea. North Korean should be back on that list of terrorist nations, as an example. And Donald's absolutely right. China does have a lot of influence over North Korea and he should be leveraging our relationship with the Chinese to ensure that North Korea no longer has access to the resources that have allowed them \u2014 a country that has no economy to develop long range missiles already capable of reaching the west coast of the United States potentially. +p213 +aVHere's the bottom line. We can't get that legislation passed. The American people will not support doing anything about people that are in this country illegally until the law is enforced first, and you prove it to them. This has been abundantly clear. Every effort over the last ten years to do those comprehensively has failed. And it has failed because the American people have zero trust that the federal government will enforce our laws. And that's why since then, I have said repeatedly, if you are serious about immigration reform, then the key that unlocks the door to being able to do that is not just to pass a law that says it is going to enforce the law, but to actually do it. To hire the 20,000 new border agents, to finish the fencing and walls, to put in place mandatory e-verify, to put in place an entry-exit tracking system to prevent visa overstays. And once that is in place and that's working, I believe the American people will support a very reasonable, but responsible approach to people that have been here a long time, who are not dangerous criminals, who pay taxes and pay fines for what they did. But until then, none of that is going to be possible. +p214 +aVWell, the legislation passed, but it has no support. In essence, it couldn't pass in the House, it will never pass in the United States until we secure the border, and it is not the way we're going to do when I'm president. When I'm president, we are going to enforce the law first, prove to people that illegal immigration is under control. And then we'll see what the American people are willing to support when it comes to people that are not criminals, who have been in the this country for a long time and who otherwise would like to stay. +p215 +aVLeadership is ultimately about solving the problem. And the approach that was tried and has been tried now repeatedly over ten years to do this comprehensively, all at once in a massive piece of legislation has no chance of passage. It is not leadership to continue to try something that has no chance of happening. I want to make progress on this issue. It has been discussed now for 30 years and nothing ever happens. And I am telling you that the only way forward on this issue that has any chance of happening, meaning gaining the support of the American people, you cannot do this without the support of the American people, is an approach that begins by proving that once and for all, illegal immigration is under control. +p216 +aVGood evening. +p217 +aVWell, I think conservatism is about three things and Donald touched on one of them, but it's about three things. The first is conservatism is about limited government, especially at the federal level. The federal government is a limited government, limited by the Constitution, which delineates its powers. If it's not in the Constitution, it does not belong to the federal government. It belongs to states, local communities and the private sector. It's about free enterprise, which is an economic model that allows everyone to rise without pulling anyone down. The reason why free enterprise is the greatest economic model in the history of the world is because it's the only economic model where you can make poor people richer without making rich people poor. And it's about a strong national defense. It's about believing, unlike Barack Obama, that the world is a safer and a better place when America is the strongest military and the strongest nation on this planet. That's conservatism. +p218 +aVNow, see, I was mentioned by Governor... +p219 +aVYeah. +p220 +aVOK, good, then I'll get to it . Here's the... +p221 +aVWell, no, sorry. Let me respond to that question. +p222 +aVWell, here's the response. I think anyone who believes that Barack Obama isn't doing what he's doing on purpose doesn't understand what we're dealing with here, OK? This is a president \u2014 this is a president who is trying to change this country. When he talked about change, he wasn't talking about dealing with our problems. Obamacare was not an accident. The undermining of the Second Amendment is not an accident. The gutting of our military is not an accident. The undermining of America on the global stage is not an accident. Barack Obama is, indeed, trying to redefine this country. We better understand what we're dealing with here, because that's what Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders want to double down on if they are elected. +p223 +aVNo. He talked about Barack Obama. +p224 +aVYeah. +p225 +aVI don't know of any problem in America that's going to be fixed with a tax increase. We have an economy today, an economy today that is not creating jobs that pay enough. And one of the reasons why is because we have one of the most expensive business tax rates on the planet. Our combined business rate puts us among the highest in the industrialized world. And then on top of that, we are the only one that has a worldwide system of taxation, where an American company who makes money abroad has to pay taxes where they made the money and then taxes a second time when they bring it back. The combination of these two things has stranded over $2 trillion, the equivalent of the size of the Russian economy, $2 trillion of American corporate money stranded overseas, combined with all of these inversions of companies leaving us. The solution to the problems we have today are not a tax increase. It is to lower our taxes on both people and on companies, so we can make America globally competitive again. +p226 +aVWell, first, we need to understand who they are. +p227 +aVBecause they currently occupy Sunni cities and villages. Sunni cities and villages can only truly be liberated and held by Sunnis themselves. If they are held by Shias it will trigger sectarian violence. The Kurds are incredible fighters and they will liberate the Kurdish areas, but Kurds can not and do not want to liberate and hold Sunni villages and towns. It will take Sunni fighters themselves in that region to take those villages and cities, and then to hold them and avoid the sort of sectarian violence that follows in the past. And why that is important is because if Sunnis are not able to govern themselves in these areas, you are going to have a successor group to +p228 +aVWell, the problem with the Sunni forces in the region is they don't trust this administration. This administration cut a deal with their mortal enemies, the Shia, in Iran. It poisoned the well with these countries. It makes it very difficult to cooperate with them as a result. They also, by the way, understand what real U.S. air power looks like. They saw the Iraq war. They saw, up close, also Afghanistan. They know what air power looks like when the United States is committed to the cause. And they see the airstrikes that are being conducted now, and they say to themselves, that's not real commitment. We know what real commitment looks like. The \u2014 the Jordanian king was in Washington three weeks ago. He told everyone who would listen that they have begged for permission from the coalition to target caravans. And the coalition \u2014 meaning U.S. leadership on the ground......would not allow them to proceed with those airstrikes. +p229 +aVWell, when people talk about interrogating terrorists, they're acting like this is some sort of law enforcement function. Law enforcement is about gathering evidence to take someone to trial, and convict them. Anti-terrorism is about finding out information to prevent a future attack so the same tactics do not apply. And, it is true, we should not be discussing in a wide spread way the exact tactics that we're going to use because that allows terrorist to know to practice how to evade us. But, here's the bigger problem with all this, we're not interrogating anybody right now. Guantanamo's being emptied by this president. We should be putting people into Guantanamo, not emptying it out, and we shouldn't be releasing these killers who are rejoining the battlefield against the United States. +p230 +aVI think it's already happening. Look at the turnout in Iowa. A historic number of people came out and voted in those caucuses. There are saying the same thing is going to happen here in New Hampshire. Look at the rallies that every single person on this stage is having. Much higher numbers than you used to see in the past and here is why. Because people are starting to understand, very clearly, that this election is going to be a turning point. That 2016 is not just a choice between Republican or Democrat. It is a referendum on our identity as a nation and as a people. So here is what Hillary Clinton needs to understand. We're going to have our primary, we're going to have our debates \u2014 which by the way, are twice as many as the Democrats have been willing to have themselves. But we're going to bring this party together and we are going to defeat Hillary Clinton, because she is unqualified to be the president of the United States of America. She put classified information on her computer because she thinks she's above the law and anyone who lies to the families of people who have lost their loved ones in the service of our country like she did in Benghazi, can never be the commander-in-chief of the United States of America. +p231 +aVI would. But that's not \u2014 the issue \u2014 my problem with what he did is he continues to put out this fiction that there's widespread systematic discrimination against Muslim Americans. First of all, let's recognize this. If you go to a national cemetery in this country, you will see stars of Davids and crosses, but you see crescent moons. There are brave men and women who happen to be Muslim Americans who are serving this country in uniform and who have died in the service of this country. And we recognize that and we honor that. But by the same token, we face a very significant threat of home grown violent extremism. We need to have strong, positive relationships in the Islamic communities in this country so they will identify and report this activity, especially mosques, for example, that are participating not just in hate speech, but inciting violence and taking acts against us. And I do believe it is important also to recognize, you want to talk about religious discrimination in America. Well, I don't think Barack Obama is being sued by any Islamic groups, but he is being sued by the Little Sisters of the Poor. We are facing in this country Christian groups and groups that hold traditional values who feel and in fact are being discriminated against by the laws of this country that try to force them to vie to violate their conscience. +p232 +aVFirst, let me say there are already women today serving in roles that are like combat. That, in fact, whose lives are in very serious danger, and so I have no problem whatsoever with people of either gender serving in combat so long as the minimum requirements necessary to do the job are not compromised. But, I support that, and obviously now that that is the case I do believe that Selective Service should be opened up for both men and women in case a Draft is ever instituted. I think the more fundamental challenge we're now facing is what's happening to the U.S. military \u2014 I've said this many times, and I think it's important to start paying attention to this. Our Air Force is about to be the smallest it's been in 100 years. I'm sorry, in our history. Our Army is set to be smaller than it's been since the second World War, and our Navy is about to be the smallest than it's been in 100 years. I think we need to begin to refocus on rebuilding our military because every time we have cut our military in the history of this country we have had to come back later and rebuild it, and it costs more, and it's a lot more chaotic and dangerous. When I'm president, we are rebuilding the U.S. military. +p233 +aVWell, my brother's a veteran. We're very proud of him in our family. He served as a green beret in the 7th Special Forces from 1968 through 1971. And as part of his training, he jumped out of an airplane and he lost his two front teeth. And for years, he's had to go to get these dental claims. And every times he goes to get one of these dental claims filled, the V.A. asks him, "well, how do we know you lost your teeth in the Army?" And he says, "well, it's the only time I ever jumped out of a plane." But he's had to fight through this process, and I've watched it firsthand. That's why I'm proud that I worked in a bipartisan way. We passed the V.A. Accountability bill that, for the first time, allows us to fire \u2014 allows the V.A. secretary to fire someone who's not doing a good job, who's a senior executive. And the governor's right. They've only fired three people up to now. More people will be fired if I'm president. But the portability part of it is incredibly important. Veterans should be able to take their V.A. benefits to any hospital or any doctor they want to go to. When I am president of the United States, veterans will be able to take their benefits to any hospital or doctor that they choose. +p234 +aVWell, first of all, I don't believe that believing in traditional marriage the way I do makes you a bigot or a hater. It means that you believe that this institution that's been around for millenial is an important cornerstone of society. I respect people that believe differently. But I believe deeply, that marriage should be between one man and one woman. On the issue of life, to me, the issue of life is not a political issue. It's a human rights issue and it's a difficult issue, because it puts in conflict two competing rights. On the one hand is the right of a woman to choose what to do with her body which is a real right. And on the other hand is the right of an unborn human child to live. And they're in conflict. And as a policy maker, I must choose which one of these two sides takes precedence. And I have chosen to err on the side of life. Here's what I find outrageous. There has been five Democratic debates. The media has not asked them a single question on abortion and on abortion, the Democrats are extremists. Why doesn't the media ask Hillary Clinton why she believes that all abortion should be legal, even on the due date of that unborn child. Why don't they ask Hillary Clinton why she believe that partial- birth abortion, which is a gruesome procedure that has been outlawed in this country, she thinks that's a fundamental right. They are the extremists......when it comes to the issue of abortion and I can't wait to expose them in a general election. HAM: Governor Bush? I want to come to you. Your allies have recently attacked Senator Rubio for being too pro-life to be elected in November. You made a similar charge stating it in an interview. This is a pro-life party. Do you stand behind that criticism? +p235 +aVI do support protection for the life of the mother because I'm pro-life. I just believe deeply that all human life is worthy of protection of our laws. If I'm president and there's a bill that's passed that saves lives but it has exceptions, I'll sign it. But I do believe deeply that all human life is worthy of the protection of laws. I've already said, for me, the issue of life is not a political issue and I want to be frank. I would rather lose an election than be wrong on the issue of life. HAM: Governor Christie. You too, have talked about Senator Rubio's position on the life issue. Some conservative activists have called this line of attack harmful to the pro-life cause. +p236 +aVWell, I was going for Peyton Manning, but now I'm rooting for Carolina. +p237 +aVThank you. You know, this week I had the great pleasure of having my kids join me on the campaign trail. I hadn't' seen them in a while, and it was great to have them alongside me, but the most important part of it is that it once again reminded me of what's at stake. Here in New Hampshire in less than 72 hours, we are literally deciding what kind of country we will be like when they are my age. What kind of country they will be able to raise their families in. And, that's why I'm asking you for your vote. You vote for me, and we will unite this party, we will grow the conservative movement, we will defeat Hillary Clinton, and we will leave our children what our parents left us. The single greatest nation in the history of all mankind. Thank you. +p238 +aVChris, let's begin by being clear what this campaign is about. It's not about Donald Trump. He's an entertaining guy. He's the greatest show on earth. This campaign is about the greatest country in the world and a president who has systematically destroyed many of the things that made America special. You see, we usually elect presidents in America that want to change the things that are wrong in America. Barack Obama wants to change America. Barack Obama wants America to be more like the rest of the world. We don't want to be like the rest of the world. We want to be the United States of America. That is why Hillary Clinton cannot win this election. Hillary Clinton this week said Barack Obama would make a great Supreme Court justice. The guy who systematically and habitually violates the constitution on the Supreme Court? I don't think so. If I'm our nominee, I will unite this party and we'll defeat Hillary Clinton and we will turn this country around once and for all, after seven years of the disaster that is Barack Obama. +p239 +aVI think, you know, Rand and I have some significant issues on policy, but I respect Rand. He believes everything he stands for. I do respect Rand. But I want to be frank about what I stand for. I believe the world is a safer and a better place when America is the strongest power in the world. And I believe only with a strong America will we defeat this radical group, this apocalyptic group called +p240 +aVWell, again, I mean, obviously, as already has been pointed out, the only budget that Ted has ever voted for is a budget that Rand Paul sponsored that brags about cutting defense spending. And I think that's a bad idea for the following reason. +p241 +aV... First of all \u2014 Let me go first, and then you can please recognize Rand after. First of all... +p242 +aV... do I go \u2014 let me go first, and then you can please recognize Rand after. But... ... first of all... +p243 +aV... first of all, I'm \u2014 don't worry, I'm not leaving the stage no matter what you ask me. +p244 +aVAnd second of all... ... and I think \u2014 you know, Governor \u2014 Jeb, you \u2014 the attack that \u2014 the authorization that Barack Obama asked for was not against +p245 +aVMegyn, that's the problem. Radical Muslims and radical Islam is not just hate talk. It's hate action. They blow people up. Look what they did in San Bernardino. Look at the attack they inspired in Philadelphia, that the White House still refuses to link to terror, where a guy basically shot a police officer three times. He told the police, "I did it because I was inspired by +p246 +aVMight I respond? The first thing \u2014 I don't know of anyone who's not in favor of fully vetting people that are trying to come into this country, other than perhaps Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. I think we all support that. Rand's amendment was not the right way to do it. I do believe that people who are trying to come to the United States \u2014 this country has a right to know who they are and why they are coming. And that's why I've been clear, when I am the president of the United States of America, we don't know who you are, and we don't know why you're trying to come to the United States, you are not going to get in, because the radical threat that we now face from +p247 +aVWell, Bret, first that's not entirely the story. At the time, the liberal governor of Florida, who claimed he was a Republican \u2014 his name was Charlie Crist \u2014 he wanted to impose cap-and-trade on Florida. And I opposed it. I was the first person out of the box that opposed him on it. And then we saw that the leading candidates for president at the time, both the Republican and the Democrats, all supported it. And what we said is, if they're going to impose this on us, we better prepare to protect the state from it. But I have never supported cap- and-trade and I never thought it was a good idea. And I was clear about that at the time. And I do not believe it's a good idea now. I do not believe that we have to destroy our economy in order to protect our environment. And especially what these programs are asking us to pass that will do nothing to help the environment, but will be devastating for our economy. When I am president of the United States of America, there will never be any cap-and-trade in the United States. +p248 +aVNever support. Never have and never will support any effort to grant blanket legalization amnesty to folks who have entered, or stayed in this country illegally. +p249 +aVFirst of all, earned path to citizenship is basically code for amnesty. It's what they call it. And, the reality of it is this, it is unfair to the people that have legally entered this country to create an alternative for individuals who entered illegally, and knowingly did so. +p250 +aVYou cannot grant amnesty. If the American people see us granting amnesty they will never again believe in legal immigration. They will never again support it, and that's wrong for our country, bad for our future. +p251 +aVNo, because if you look at the quote, and it's very specific. And, it says blanket amnesty, I do not support blanket amnesty... +p252 +aV... I do not support amnesty... +p253 +aV... No, I said I do not support blanket amnesty... +p254 +aV... It was... +p255 +aV... It absolutely has been, and at the time in the context of that was in 2009, and 2010, where the last effort for legalization was an effort done in the Senate. It was an effort led by several people that provided almost an instant path with very little obstacles moving forward. What I've always said is that this issue does need to be solved. They've been talking about this issue for 30 years, and nothing ever happens. And, I'm going to tell you exactly how we're going to deal with it when I am president. Number one, we're going to keep +p256 +aVMay I respond? +p257 +aVIt's interesting that Jeb mentions the book. That's the book where you changed your position on immigration because you used to support a path to citizenship. +p258 +aVWell, but you changed the \u2014 in the book... +p259 +aVYou wrote a book where you changed your position from a path of citizenship to a path of legalization. And the bottom line is this, we are not going to be able to do anything on this issue until we first bring illegal immigration under control. The American people have been told for 30 years they're going to enforce the border, they're going to build a wall and it never gets built and it never happens. It is very clear there will be no progress on this issue in any way, shape or form, until you prove to the people of this country that illegal immigration is under control. And when I'm president, we are going to bring it under control once and for all after 30 years of talking about it. +p260 +aVBut Megyn... +p261 +aVThere's not going to be consensus on this issue until we enforce our immigration laws. That is abundantly clear. You're not going to be able to ram down the throat of the American people your approach. The only way we're are going to be able to move forward after two migratory crises with minor, after two unconstitutional executive orders, the only way forward on this issue is to first bring illegal immigration under control. And until that happens there's not going to be consensus on this issue. +p262 +aVYeah, but let me respond... +p263 +aV... no, I understand, but let me respond. I was mentioned on this \u2014 in this answer, and so I'm going to respond this way. This is the lie that Ted's campaign is built on, and Rand touched upon it \u2014 that he's the most conservative guy, and everyone else is a \u2014 you know, everyone else is a rhino. The truth is, Ted, throughout this campaign, you've been willing to say or do anything in order to get votes. Ted, you worked for George W. Bush's campaign... You \u2014 you \u2014 you helped design George W. Bush's \u2014 you helped design George W. Bush's immigration policy. And then, when you got to the Senate, you did an interview with CBS News \u2014 I wasn't even part of the video \u2014 where you said, on the issue of people that are here illegally, "we can reach a compromise." And then in the committee, you said, "I want to bring people out of the shadows." Now you want to trump Trump on immigration. But you can't \u2014 we're not gonna beat Hillary Clinton with someone who's willing to say or do anything to win an election. +p264 +aVAnd I think that's the false choice... ... that's the \u2014 that's the false choice in this whole debate about immigration. Of course, we're going to be a nation of immigrants. By the way, no nation on earth is more generous than America is. Every single year close to a million people emigrate to the United States legally. There's no nation on earth that comes close to that number. I think the only argument is are we a sovereign country, are we not allowed to choose who comes in, when they come in and how they come in? And that's not what's happening now. +p265 +aVI think the other problem is we have a legal immigration system that's outdated, it's primarily based on whether you have family members living here. In the 21st century, it has to be more of a merit-based system, and that is why our legal immigration system is in need of modernization. And we will always celebrate legal immigration like Dulce's great story. +p266 +aVWell, I believe, and I know that if Iowa helps make me the Republican nominee, I will defeat Hillary Clinton. Hillary doesn't want to run against me, but I cannot wait to run against her. And I cannot wait to earn the opportunity to do it because she cannot be the president of the United States. She wants to put Barack Obama on the Supreme Court of the United States of America. She said that here in Iowa just two days ago. That would be a disaster for this country. So I hope and pray and cannot wait until this state and others give me an opportunity to serve this party as its nominee because I will defeat Hillary Clinton. +p267 +aVWell, let me be clear about one thing, there's only one savior and it's not me. It's Jesus Christ who came down to earth and died for our sins. And so \u2014 and I've always made that clear about that cover story. As far as the polls are concerned, Iowa, on Monday night you're going to go to a caucus site and you'll be the first Americans that vote in this election. You will be the first Americans that get to answer the fundamental question, what comes next for this country after seven disastrous years of Barack Obama? And let me tell you what the answer better not be. It better not be Bernie Sanders. Bernie Sanders is a socialist. I think Bernie Sanders is good candidate for president of Sweden. We don't want to be Sweden. We want to be the United States of America. And Hillary Clinton, Hillary Clinton is disqualified from being the commander-in-chief of the United States. In fact, one of her first acts as president may very well be to pardon herself because Hillary Clinton... Hillary Clinton stored classified information on her private server. And Hillary Clinton lied to the families of those four brave Americans who lost their life in Benghazi. And anyone who lies to the families of Americans who have died in the service of this country can never be commander-in-chief of the United States. +p268 +aVYeah, I would encourage people to go on my website, marcorubio.com, and we'll put all the facts up there so people can see it for themselves. But you've just asked a very fundamental question about the role of faith in our country. And I think this is an important question. I think if you do not understand that our Judeo-Christian values are one of the reasons why America is such a special country, you don't understand our history. You see, why are we one of the most generous people in the world \u2014 no, the most generous people in the world? Why do Americans contribute millions of dollars to charity? It is not because of the tax writeoff. It is because in this nation, we are influenced by Judeo-Christian values that teach us to care for the less fortunate, to reach out to the needy, to love our neighbor. This is what's made our nation so special. And you should hope that our next president is someone that is influence by their faith. Because if your faith causes you to care for the less fortunate, it is something you want to see in your public figures. And when I'm president, I can tell you this, my faith will not just influence the way I'll govern as president, it will influence the way I live my life. Because in the end, my goal is not simply to live on this earth for 80 years, but to live an eternity with my creator. And I will always allow my faith to influence everything I do. +p269 +aVWell, let me first describe Iran because they're not just a normal nation state. And we have no quarrel with the Iranian people. But the Iranian leader, their supreme leader is a radical Shia cleric who has an apocalyptic vision of the future. He views himself not simply as the leader of Iran, but as the leader of all Muslims \u2014 all Shia Muslims on the planet. And they have a desire not simply to conquer the Middle East and to become the dominant power in that region, but ultimately to be able to hold America hostage. That is why they're building an \u2014 right now, developing long- range missiles capable of reaching the United States, and that is why there's going \u2014 they're going to use those $100 billion to expand their conventional capabilities and to one day buy or build a nuclear weapon. We will \u2014 when I am president of the United States, on my first day in office, we are canceling the deal with Iran, and nations will have to make a choice. They can do business with Iran, or they can do business with America, and I am very confident they're going to choose America before they choose the Iranian economy. +p270 +aVThe bible commands us to let our light shine on the world. For over 200 years, America's light has been shining on the world and the world has never been the same again. But now, that light is dimming a little, after seven years of Barack Obama. And that's why Monday night, what will happen here in Iowa is so important. I'm asking you for your vote. Caucus for me on Monday night because if I am your nominee, I will unite this party and I will defeat Hillary Clinton and when I'm president, America's light will shine again and the 21 century will be a new American century. +p271 +aVYeah, I would go, first of all, one step further in this description of Hillary Clinton. She wouldn't just be a disaster, Hillary Clinton is disqualified from being commander in chief of the United States. Someone who cannot handle intelligence information appropriately cannot be commander in chief and someone who lies to the families of those four victims in Benghazi can never be president of the United States. Ever. On the issue of Barack Obama, Barack Obama does not believe that America is a great global power. Barack Obama believes that America is a arrogant global power that needs to be cut down to size. And that's how you get a foreign policy where we cut deals with our enemies like Iran and we betray our allies like Israel and we gut our military and we go around the world like he has done on 10 separate occasions and apologized for America. He doesn't understand the threat in +p272 +aVLet me . I was invoked in that question, so let me just say \u2014 in that answer \u2014 let me say, the real question here, I hate to interrupt this episode of Court TV. But the real \u2014 but I think we have to get back to what this election has to be about. OK? Listen, we \u2014 this is the greatest country in the history of mankind. But in 2008, we elected a president that didn't want to fix America. He wants to change America. We elected a president that doesn't believe in the Constitution. He undermines it. We elected a president that is weakening America on the global stage. We elected a president that doesn't believe in the free enterprise system. This election has to be about reversing all of that damage. That's why I'm running for office because when I become president of the United States, on my first day in office we are going to repeal every single one of his unconstitutional executive orders. When I'm president of the United States we are getting rid of Obamacare and we are rebuilding our military. And when I'm president, we're not just going to have a president that gives a State of the Union and says America is the greatest country in the world. When I'm president, we're going to have a president that acts like it. +p273 +aVYou know, as I said already twice in this , we have a very serious problem in this country. We have a president of the United States that is undermining this country's security and expanding the role of... +p274 +aVWell, I am going to answer your question, Neil. He is \u2014 this president is undermining the constitutional basis of this government. This president is undermining our military. He is undermining our standing in the world. I like Chris Christie, but we can not afford to have a president of the United States that supports Common Core. We can not afford to have a president of the United States that supports gun control. This president, this president is more interested in funding \u2014 less interested in funding the military, than he is in funding planned \u2014 he's more interested in funding Planned Parenthood than he is in funding the military. Chris Christie wrote a check to Planned Parenthood. All I'm saying is our next president has to be someone that undoes the damage Barack Obama has done to this country. It can not be someone that agrees with his agenda. Because the damage he has done to America is extraordinary. Let me tell you, if we don't get this election right, there may be no turning back for America. We're on the verge of being the first generation of Americans that leave our children worse off than ourselves. So I just truly, with all my heart belief, I like everybody on the stage. No one is a socialist. No one here is under FBI investigation. So we have a good group of people. +p275 +aVOur next president... +p276 +aVUnfortunately, Governor Christie has endorsed many of the ideas that Barack Obama supports, whether it is Common Core or gun control or the appointment of Sonia Sotomayor or the donation he made to Planned Parenthood. Our next president, and our Republican nominee can not be someone who supports those positions. +p277 +aVThat sounds like people are afraid the president's going to take their guns away. Look, the Second Amendment is not an option. It is not a suggestion. It is a constitutional right of every American to be able to protect themselves and their families. I am convinced that if this president could confiscate every gun in America, he would. I am convinced that this president, if he could get rid of the Second Amendment, he would. I am convinced because I see how he works with his attorney general, not to defend the Second Amendment, but to figure out ways to undermine it. I have seen him appoint people to our courts not to defend the Second Amendment, but to figure out ways to undermine it. Here's my second problem. None of these instances that the president points to as the reason why he's doing these things would have been preventive. You know why? Because criminals don't buy their guns from a gun show. They don't buy their guns from a collector. And they don't buy their guns from a gun store. They get \u2014 they steal them. They get them on the black market. And let me tell you, +p278 +aVAbout every two weeks, he holds a press conference talking about how he can't wait to restrict people's access to guns. He has never defended......I'll give you a fact. Well, let me tell you this. Do you remember when he ran for president of the United States, and he was a candidate, and he went and said, "These Americans with traditional values, they are bitter people, and they cling to their guns and to their religion." That tells you right away where he was headed on all of this. This president every chance he has ever gotten has tried to undermine the Second Amendment. He doesn't meet \u2014 here's the difference. When he meets with the attorney general in the White House, it's not "how can we protect the Second Amendment rights of Americans." It's "give me options on how I can make it harder for law-abiding people to buy guns." That will never happen when I am president of the United States. +p279 +aVWell, first of all, let's understand why we are even having this and why Donald tapped in to some of that anger that's out there about this whole issue. Because this president has consistently underestimated the threat of +p280 +aVBut on this point, if I may add something on this point. We are all frustrated with what China is doing. I think we need to be very careful with tariffs, and here's why. China doesn't pay the tariff, the buyer pays the tariff. If you send a tie or a shirt made in China into the United States and an American goes to buy it at the store and there's a tariff on it, it gets passed on in the price to price to the consumer. So I think the better approach, the best thing we can do to protect ourselves against China economically is to make our economy stronger, which means reversing course from all the damage Barack Obama is doing to this economy. It begins with tax reform. Let's not have the most expensive business tax rate in the world. Let's allow companies to immediately expense. It continues with regulatory reform. Regulations in this country are out of control, especially the Employment Prevention Agency, the EPA, and all of the rules they continue to impose on our economy and hurting us. How about Obamacare, a certified job killer? It needs to be repealed and replaced. And we need to bring our debt under control, make our economy stronger. That is the way to deal with China at the end of the day. +p281 +aVWell, first let me address the tax issue because it's related to the entitlement issue and I want to thank you for holding a substantive debates where we can have debates about these key issues on taxes. Here is the one thing I'm not going to do. I'm not going to have something that Ted described in his tax plan. It's called the value added tax. And it's a tax you find in many companies in Europe. Where basically, businesses now will have to pay a tax, both on the money they make, but they also have to pay taxes on the money that they pay their employees. And that's why they have it in Europe, because it is a way to blindfolded the people, that's what Ronald Reagan said. Ronald Regan opposed the value tax because he said it was a way to blindfold the people, so the true cost of government was not there there for them. Now, you can support one now that's very low. But what is to prevent a future liberal president or a liberal Congress from coming back and not just raising the income tax, but also raising that VAT tax, and that vat tax is really bad for seniors. Because seniors, if they are retired, are no longer earning an income from a job. And therefore, they don't get the income tax break, but their prices are going to be higher, because the vat tax is embedded in both the prices that business that are charging and in the wages they pay their employees. When I am president of the United States, I'm going to side with Ronald Regan on this and not Nancy Pelosi and we are not having a vat tax. +p282 +aVBut that's not an accurate description of the plan. Because, first of all, you may rename the IRS but you are not going to abolishes the IRS, because there has to be some agency that's going to collect your vat tax. Someone's going to be collecting this tax. In fact, Ronald Reagan's treasury, when Ronald Reagan's treasury looked at the vat tax, you know what they found? That they were going to have to hire 20,000 new IRS agencies to collect it. The second point, it does not eliminate the corporate tax or the payroll tax. Businesses will now have to pay 16 percent on the money they make. They will also have to pay 16 percent on the money they pay their employees. So there are people watching tonight in business. If you are now hit on a 60 percent tax on both your income and on the wages you pay your employees, where are you going to get that money from? You're going to get it by paying your employees less and charging your customers more, that is a tax, the difference is, you don't see it on the bill. And that's why Ronald Reagan said that it was a blindfold. You blindfold the American people so that they cannot see the true cost of government. Now 16 percent is what the rate Ted wants it at. But what happens if, God forbid, the next Barack Obama takes over, and the next Nancy Pelosi, and the next Harry Reid......and they decide, we're going to raise it to 30 percent, plus we're going to raise the income tax to 30 percent. Now, you've got Europe. +p283 +aVIf you'll answer the core question. +p284 +aVWell, first of all, this is an issue that's been debated now for 30 years. And for 30 years, the issue of immigration has been about someone who's in this country, maybe they're here illegally, but they're looking for a job. This issue is not about that anymore. First and foremost, this issue has to be now more than anything else about keeping America safe. And here's why. There is a radical jihadist group that is manipulating our immigration system. And not just green cards. They're looking \u2014 they're recruiting people that enter this country as doctors and engineers and even fiances. They understand the vulnerabilities we have on the southern border. They're looking \u2014 they're looking to manipulate our \u2014 the visa waiver countries to get people into the United States. So our number one priority must now become ensuring that +p285 +aVThe issue is a dramatically different issue than it was 24 months ago. Twenty-four months ago, 36 months ago, you did not have a group of radical crazies named +p286 +aVMaria, let me clear something up here. This is an interesting point when you talk about immigration. Ted Cruz, you used to say you supported doubling the number of green cards, now you say that you're against it. You used to support a 500 percent increase in the number of guest workers, now you say that you're against it. You used to support legalizing people that were here illegally, now you say you're against it. You used to say that you were in favor of birthright citizenship, now you say that you are against it. And by the way, it's not just on immigration, you used to support TPA, now you say you're against it. I saw you on the Senate floor flip your vote on crop insurance because they told you it would help you in Iowa, and last week, we all saw you flip your vote on ethanol in Iowa for the same reason. That is not consistent conservatism, that is political calculation. When I am president, I will work consistently every single day to keep this country safe, not call Edward Snowden, as you did, a great public servant. Edward Snowden is a traitor. And if I am president and we get our hands on him, he is standing trial for treason. And one more point, one more point. Every single time that there has been a Defense bill in the Senate, three people team up to vote against it. Bernie Sanders, Rand Paul and Ted Cruz. In fact, the only budget you have ever voted for, Ted, in your entire time in the Senate is a budget from Rand Paul that brags about how it cuts defense. Here's the bottom line, and I'll close with this. If I'm president of the United States and Congress tries to cut the military, I will veto that in a millisecond. +p287 +aVNo, it's your record. +p288 +aVYou know, 200 years ago, America was founded on this powerful principle that our rights don't come from government. Our rights come from God. That's why we embraced free enterprise, and it made us the most prosperous people in the history of the world. That's why we embraced individual liberty, and we became the freest people ever, and the result was the American miracle. But now as I travel the country, people say what I feel. This country is changing. It feels different. We feel like we're being left behind and left out. And the reason is simple: because in 2008, we elected as president someone who wasn't interested in fixing America. We elected someone as president who wants to change America, who wants to make it more like the rest of the world. And so he undermines the Constitution, and he undermines free enterprise by expanding government, and he betrays our allies and cuts deals with our enemies and guts our military. And that's why 2016 is a turning point in our history. If we elect Hillary Clinton, the next four years will be worse than the last eight, and our children will be the first Americans ever to inherit a diminished country. But if we elect the right person \u2014 if you elect me \u2014 we will turn this country around, we will reclaim the American dream and this nation will be stronger and greater than it has ever been. +p289 +aVThank you Wolf. It's really amazing to be back in Las Vegas. I spent six years as a child growing not far from where we stand tonight. I use to sit on the porch of our home and listen to my grandfather tell stories as he smoked one of three daily cigars. One of the things my grandfather instilled in me, was that I was really blessed because I was a citizen of the greatest country in the history of our mankind. But there have always been people in American politics that wanted America to be more like the rest of the world. And In 2008, one of them was elected president of this country and the result has been a disaster. Today you have millions of Americans that feel left out and out of place in their own country, struggling to live paycheck to paycheck, called bigots because they hold on to traditional values. And around the world, America's influence has declined while this president has destroyed our military, our allies no longer trust us, and our adversaries no longer respect us. And that is why this election is so important. That is why I'm running for president. And that's why I'm going to ask you for your vote tonight. If you elect me president, we will have a president that believes America is the greatest country in the world and we will have a president that acts like it. +p290 +aVWell, I understand why they feel that way, because this president hasn't kept us safe. The problem is we had an attack in San Bernardino. And we were paying attention to the most important issue we have faced in a decade since 9/11, and then all the talk was about this proposal, which isn't going to happen. But this is what's important to do is we must deal frontally with this threat of radical Islamists, especially from +p291 +aVHe is and so are those that voted for it. There were some that voted for it because they wanted to keep it alive and they were afraid the whole program would expire. Here's the world we live in. This is a radical jihadist group that is increasingly sophisticated in its ability, for example, to radicalize American citizens, in its inability to exploit loopholes in our legal immigration system, in its ability to capture and hold territory in the Middle East, as I outlined earlier, in multiple countries. This is not just the most capable, it is the most sophisticated terror threat we have ever faced. We are now at a time when we need more tools, not less tools. And that took we lost, the metadata program, was a valuable tool that we no longer have at our disposal. +p292 +aVDana, may I interject here? +p293 +aVLet me be very careful when answering this, because I don't think national television in front of 15 million people is the place to discuss classified information. So let me just be very clear. There is nothing that we are allowed to do under this bill that we could not do before. This bill did, however, take away a valuable tool that allowed the National Security Agency and other law \u2014 and other intelligence agencies to quickly and rapidly access phone records and match them up with other phone records to see who terrorists have been calling. Because I promise you, the next time there is attack on \u2014 an attack on this country, the first thing people are going to want to know is, why didn't we know about it and why didn't we stop it? And the answer better not be because we didn't have access to records or information that would have allowed us to identify these killers before they attacked. +p294 +aVI want to thank Rand for another 30 seconds, because, number one, what he's pointing to is a bill last week that \u2014 amendment that he voted for that only 10 people voted for. You know why? Because it's not focused on terrorists. It would have banned anyone from coming here. Someone from Taiwan would not have been able to come here as a tourist. Number two, this program, this metadata program is actually more strict than what a regular law enforcement agency has now. If a regular law enforcement agency wants your phone records, all they have to do is issue a subpoena. But now the intelligence agency is not able to quickly gather records and look at them to see who these terrorists are calling. And the terrorists that attacked us in San Bernardino was an American citizen, born and raised in this country. And I bet you we wish we would have had access to five years of his records so we could see who he was working with... +p295 +aVDo I get another 30 seconds? He mentioned me. +p296 +aVWell, let me begin by saying that we have to understand who +p297 +aVThat is accurate. Three times he voted against the Defense Authorization Act, which is a bill that funds the troops. It also, by the way, funds the Iron Dome and other important programs. And I have to assume that if you vote against it in the Senate, you would also veto it as president. He has also supported, by the way, a budget that is called the containment budget. And it is a budget that would radically reduce the amount of money we spend on our military. You can't carpet bomb +p298 +aVYes, let me \u2014 three points of distinction. The first is, if you're an American citizen and you decide to join up with +p299 +aVWell, they most certainly will have to be worked on to provide more than what they are doing now. There's no doubt about it. And there's one \u2014 one major reason why they have not been willing to be a broader part of the coalition, and that is they have lost complete trust and confidence in this president. This president cut a deal with their moral enemy, the Shia, in Iran. And this is the reason why they no longer trust this president and are willing to work alongside them. But they have as much invested in this as we do. In fact, more so, for it is the king of Saudi Arabia they want to behead first. It's the king of Jordan that they want to dethrone. It's the \u2014 they want to go into Egypt the way they've already gone into Libya. And on another point that we need to talk about, Assad is one of the main reasons why +p300 +aVTo begin with, Moammar Gadhafi and the revolt against Gadhafi was not started by the United States. It was started by the Libyan people. And the reason why I argued we needed to get involved is because he was going to go one way or the other. And my argument then was proven true, and that is, the longer that civil war took, the more militias would be formed and the more unstable the country would be after the fact. As far as Moammar Gadhafi is concerned, by the way, Moammar Gadhafi is the man that killed those Americans over Lockerbie, Scotland. Moammar Gadhafi is also the man that bombed that cafe in Berlin and killed those Marines. And you want to know why Moammar Gadhafi started cooperating on his nuclear program? Because we got rid of Saddam Hussein. And so he got scared that he would be next, and that's why he started cooperating. Look, we will have to work around the world with less than ideal governments. The government in Saudi Arabia is not a democracy, but we will have to work with them. The government in Jordan is not perfect, but we will have to work with them. But anti-American dictators like Assad, who help Hezbollah, who helped get those IEDs into Iraq, if they go, I will not shed a tear. +p301 +aVYeah. Immigration is not an issue that I read about in the newspaper or watch a documentary on PBS or CNN. It's an issues I've lived around my whole life. My family are immigrants. My wife's family are immigrants. All of my neighbors are immigrants. I see every aspect of this problem. The good, the bad, and the ugly. And here's what we learned in 2013. The American people don't trust the Federal Government to enforce our immigration laws, and we will not be able to do anything on immigration until we first prove to the American people that illegal immigration is under control. And we can do that. We know what it takes to do that. It takes at least 20,000 more additional border agents. It takes completing those 700 miles of fencing. It takes a mandatory e-verify system and a mandatory entry/exit tracking system to prevent overstays. After we have done that, the second thing we have to do is reform and modernize the legal immigration system. And after we have done those two things, I think the American people are gonna be reasonable with what do you do with someone who has been in this country for 10 or 12 years who hasn't otherwise violated our laws \u2014 because if they're a criminal they can't stay. They'll have to undergo a background check, pay a fine, start paying taxes. And ultimately, they'll given a work permit and that's all they're gonna be allowed to have for at least 10 years. But you can't get to that third step until you have done the other two things, and that was the lesson we learned in 2013. There is no trust that the Federal Government will enforce the law. They will not support you until you see it done first. +p302 +aVBut I've answered that question repeatedly. I am personally open \u2014 after all that has happened and after ten years in that probationary status where all they have is a permit, I personally am open to allowing people to apply for a green card. That may not be a majority position in my party, but that's down the road. You can't even begin that process until you prove to people \u2014 not just pass a law that says you're gonna bring illegal immigration under control. You're gonna have to do it and prove to people that it's working. And that was the lesson of 2013. And it's more true today, than it was then. After a migratory crisis on the border with minors coming over that you're seeing start up again now, after all these executive orders the President has issued. More than ever we need to... +p303 +aV... prove to people that illegal immigration is under control. +p304 +aVYeah, a couple points. In 2013 we had never faced a crisis like the Syrian refugee crisis now. Up until that point, a refugee meant someone fleeing oppression, fleeing Communism like it is in my community. As far as Ted's record, I'm always puzzled by his attack on this issue. Ted, you support legalizing people who are in this country illegally. Ted Cruz supported a 500-percent increase in the number of H-1 visas, the guest workers that are allowed into this country, and Ted supports doubling the number of green cards. So I think what's important for us to understand and there is a way forward on this issue that we an bring our country together on. And while I'm president I will do it. And it will begin by bringing illegal immigration under control and proving to the American people. +p305 +aVNo, no, give him time. +p306 +aVTed, do you... +p307 +aVDid Ted Cruz fight to support legalizing people that are in this country illegally? +p308 +aVDoes Ted Cruz rule out ever legalizing people that are in this country now? +p309 +aVWould you rule it out? +p310 +aVWell, he's just admitted \u2014 as he's just admitted, the reason why those refugees were allowed in was because they messed up in how they used the actual database. They should have know. They didn't because they didn't run the actual law as it exists now. It didn't work well. As far as the refugees are concerned, it's not that America doesn't want to accept refugees, Wolf. It's that we may not be able to, because this is an issue we have to be 100 percent right on. If we allow 9,999 Syrian refugees into the United States, and all of them are good people, but we allow one person in who's an +p311 +aVI do. First, let's explain to people at home who the triad \u2014 what the triad is. Maybe a lot of people haven't heard that terminology before. The triad is our ability of the United States to conduct nuclear attacks using airplanes, using missiles launched from silos or from the ground, and also from our nuclear subs' ability to attack. And it's important \u2014 all three of them are critical. It gives us the ability at deterrence. Now, some have become more critical than others; for example, the submarines. And that's the Ohio Class submarine that needs to be modernized. The air component also needs to be modernized. The B-52, as someone earlier pointed out, is an outdated model that was flown by the grandparents of people that are flying it now. And we need a serious modernization program as well on our silo-launched missiles. All three are critical for the defense of the country. +p312 +aVThank you. As we near the end of this year, we enter one of the most important elections in a generation. For what's at stake in this election is not simply what party's going to be in charge. But our very identity as a people and as a nation. For over 200 years this has been a special country. A unique place where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything. But now millions of Americans feel like they're being left behind. Insecure in their future and unsafe in the face of terrorism. This election is about electing a president that will restore our economic vibrancy so that the American dream can expand to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And rebuild our Military and our intelligence programs so that we can remain the strongest nation on earth. Tonight I ask you for your vote. If you do this, we will rebuild this country, and together we will usher in a new American century \u2014 the greatest era in the history of this great land. +p313 +aVWell, let me begin by answering both the first question and this one, because they're related. As I've said many times before, my parents were never rich people. My father was a bartender. My mother was a maid. They worked for a living. But they were successful people, because, despite the fact that they weren't well educated and had those jobs, they made enough money to buy a home in a safe and stable neighborhood, retire with dignity, leave all four of their children better off than themselves. We call that the American dream, but in fact, it's a universal dream of a better life that people have all over the world. It is a reminder that every country in the world has rich people. What makes America special is that we have millions and millions of people that are not rich, that through hard work and perseverance are able to be successful. The problem is that today people are not successful working as hard as ever because the economy is not providing jobs that pay enough. If I thought that raising the minimum wage was the best way to help people increase their pay, I would be all for it, but it isn't. In the 20th century, it's a disaster. If you raise the minimum wage, you're going to make people more expensive than a machine. And that means all this automation that's replacing jobs and people right now is only going to be accelerated. Here's the best way to raise wages. Make America the best place in the world to start a business or expand an existing business, tax reform and regulatory reform, bring our debt under control, fully utilize our energy resources so we can reinvigorate manufacturing, repeal and replace Obamacare, and make higher education faster and easier to access, especially vocational training. For the life of me, I don't know why we have stigmatized vocational education. Welders make more money than philosophers. We need more welders and less philosophers. If we do that \u2014 and if we do this \u2014 if we do this, we will be able to increase wages for millions of Americans and we will be able to leave everyone better off without making anyone worse off. +p314 +aVWell, you know, that's an excellent question, because what we are going through in this country is not simply an economic downturn. We are living through a massive economic transformation. I mean, this economy is nothing like what it was like five years ago, not to mention 15 or 20 years ago. And it isn't just a different economy. It's changing faster than ever. You know, it took the telephone 75 years to reach 100 million users. It took Candy Crush one year to reach some 100 million users. So the world is changing faster than ever, and it is disruptive. Number one, we are in a global competition now, and several of the candidates have said that. There are now dozens of developed economies on this planet that we have to compete with. And we lose that competition because we have the highest business tax rate in the industrialized world, because we have regulations that continue to grow by the billions every single week, because we have a crazy health care law that discourages companies from hiring people, but because we're not fully utilizing our energy resources, that if we did, it would bring back all kinds of growth, especially in manufacturing, and because we have an outdated higher education system. Our higher education system is completely outdated. It is too expensive, too hard to access, and it doesn't teach 21st century skills. If we do what needs to be done \u2014 tax reform, regulatory reform, fully utilize our energy resources, repeal and replace Obamacare, and modernize higher education, then we can grasp the potential and the promise of this new economy. And we won't just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And then truly this new century can be a new American century. +p315 +aVThe most important job I'm ever going to have, the most important job anyone in this room will ever have, is the job of being a parent. Not the job of being president, or the job of being a senator, or the job of being a congressman. The most important job any of us will ever do is the job of being a president (sic), because the most important institution in society is the family. If the family breaks down, society breaks down. You can't have a strong nation without strong values, and no one is born with strong values. They have to be taught to you in strong families and reinforced in you in strong communities. And so when we set out to do tax reform, we endeavor to have a pro-family tax code, and we endeavor to do it because we know how difficult it is for families in the 21st century to afford the cost of living. It is expensive to raise children in the 21st century, and families that are raising children are raising the future taxpayers of the United States, and everything costs more. In 35 out of 50 states, child care costs more than college. There are millions of people watching this broadcast tonight that understand exactly what I'm talking about. They don't know how they're going to make that payment every month, and if they can't make it, they can't work, because someone needs to watch their kids during the day. They don't know how they're going to save for their kids' future, to go to college. And so, yes, I have a child tax credit increase, and I'm proud of it. I am proud that I have a pro-family tax code, because the pro- family tax plan I have will strengthen the most important institution in the \u2014 in the country, the family. +p316 +aVNow I get my 60 seconds to respond. He's talking about my tax plan. +p317 +aVSo let me begin with this. I actually believe \u2014 first of all, this is their money. They do pay. It is refundable, not just against the taxes they pay to the government, but also the \u2014 on their federal income tax, it's refundable against the payroll tax. Everyone pays payroll tax. This is their money. This is not our money. And here's what I don't understand \u2014 if you invest that money in a piece of equipment, if you invest that money in a business, you get to write it off your taxes. But if you invest it in your children, in the future of America and strengthening your family, we're not going to recognize that in our tax code? The family is the most important institution in society. And, yes... +p318 +aV... I do want to rebuild the American military. +p319 +aVI know that Rand is a committed isolationist. I'm not. I believe the world is a stronger and a better place, when the United States is the strongest military power in the world. +p320 +aVBecause... +p321 +aV...are you talking about the military, Rand? +p322 +aVWe can't even have an economy if we're not safe. There are radical jihadist in the Middle East beheading people and crucifying Christians. A radical Shia cleric in Iran trying to get a nuclear weapon, the Chinese taking over the South China Sea... ...Yes, I believe the world is a safer \u2014 no, no, I don't believe, I know that the world is a safer place when America is the strongest military power in the world. +p323 +aVYou know, if I may respond... +p324 +aVI need to add a couple of points to this. The first is, I've never met Vladimir Putin, but I know enough about him to know he is a gangster. He is basically an organized crime figure that runs a country, controls a $2 trillion economy. And is using to build up his military in a rapid way despite the fact his economy is a disaster. He understands only geopolitical strength. And every time he has acted anywhere in the world, whether it's in Ukraine or Georgia before that, or now in the Middle East, it's because he is trusting in weakness. His calculation in the Middle East is that he has seen what this president has done, which is nothing, the president has no strategy, our allies in the region do not trust us. For goodness sake, there is only one pro-American free enterprise democracy in the Middle East, it is the state of Israel. And we have a president that treats the prime minister of Israel with less respect than what he gives the ayatollah in Iran. And so our allies in the region don't trust us. Vladimir Putin is exploiting that weakness, for purposes of edging the Americans out as the most important geopolitical power broker in the region. And we do have a vested interest. And here's why. Because all those radical terrorist groups that, by the way, are not just in Syria and in Iraq, +p325 +aVCan I just add what \u2014 he's right on point there. Do you know why these banks are so big? The government made them big. The government made them big by adding thousands and thousands of pages of regulations. So the big banks, they have an army of lawyers, they have an army of compliance officers. They can deal with all these things. The small banks, like Governor Bush was saying, they can't deal with all these regulations. They can't deal with all \u2014 they cannot hire the fanciest law firm in Washington or the best lobbying firm to deal with all these regulations. And so the result is, the big banks get bigger, the small banks struggle to lend or even exist, and the result is what you have today. And in Dodd-Frank, you have actually codified too big to fail. We have actually created a category of systemically important institutions, and these banks go around bragging about it. You know what they say to people with a wink and a nod? We are so big, we are so important that if we get in trouble, the government has to bail us out. This is an outrage. We need to repeal Dodd-Frank as soon as possible. +p326 +aVWell, that's a great question, and let me begin by answering it. This election is about the future, about what kind of country this nation is gonna be in the 21st century. This next (ph) election is actually a generational choice. A choice about what kind of nation we will be in the 21st century. For over 2.5 centuries, America's been a special country, the one place on earth where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything, a nation that's been a force for good on this planet. But now, a growing number of Americans feel out of place in their own country. We have a society that stigmatizes those that hold cultural values that are traditional. We have a society where people \u2014 millions of people \u2014 are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, but they're living paycheck to paycheck because the economy has changed underneath their feet. We have young Americans who owe thousands of dollars in student loans for a degree that doesn't lead to a job. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses dying than starting, and around the world, every day brings news of a new humiliation for America \u2014 many the direct response \u2014 direct consequence of decisions made when Hillary Clinton was the secretary of the \u2014 of state. And so here's the truth: this election is about the future, and the Democratic Party, and the political left has no ideas about the future. All their ideas are the same, tired ideas of the past. More government, more spending. For every issue for America, their answer is a new tax on someone, and a new government program. This nation is going to turn the page, and that's what this election should be about, and, as I said at the first debate... ...If I am our nominee, they will be the party of the past, we will be the party of the 21st century. +p327 +aVOurs \u2014 the story of America is an extraordinary story. It is the story of a nation that for over two centuries each generation has left the next better off than themselves. But now, because Washington is out of touch, for the fault of both political parties, for the first time in our history, that is in doubt. And that is what this election must be about, because if the next four years are anything like the last eight years, our children will be the first Americans ever left worse off by their parents. This election is about making a different choice, about applying our principles of limited government and free enterprise to the unique issues of our time. And if we do, we will not just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And the 21st century can be a new American century. So tonight, I ask you for your vote and I ask you to join us at my website, marcorubio.com. +p328 +aVThank you for that question. I would begin by saying that I'm not sure it's a weakness, but I do believe that I share a sense of optimism for America's future that, today, is eroding from too many of our people. I think there's a sense in this country today that somehow our best days are behind us. And that doesn't have to be true. Our greatest days lie ahead if we are willing to do what it takes now. If we're willing to do what it takes now, the 21st century is going to be the new American century, greater than any other era we've had in the history of this great nation. +p329 +aVThat's an interesting question. That's exactly what the Republican establishment says too. Why don't you wait in line? Wait for what? This country is running out of time. We can't afford to have another four years like the last eight years. Watching this broadcast tonight are millions of people that are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, everything costs more, and they haven't had a raise in decades. You have small businesses in America that are struggling. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses closing than starting. We have a world that's out of control and has grown dangerous and a president that is weakening our military and making our foreign policy unstable and unreliable in the eyes of our allies. And our adversaries continue to grow stronger. We have a \u2014 they say there's no bipartisanship in Washington? We have a $19 trillion bipartisan debt and it continues to grow as we borrow money from countries that do not like us to pay for government we cannot afford. The time to act is now. The time to turn the page is now. If we \u2014 if we don't act now, we are going to be the first generation in American history that leaves our children worse off than ourselves. +p330 +aVLet me say, I read that editorial today with a great amusement. It's actually evidence of the bias that exists in the American media today. +p331 +aVLet me \u2014 let me answer your question on the Sun-Sentinel editorial today. Back in 2004, one of my predecessors to the Senate by the name of Bob Graham, a Democrat, ran for president missing over 30 percent of his votes. I don't recall them calling for his resignation \u2014 +p332 +aVLater that year, in 2004, John Kerry ran for president missing close to 60 to 70 percent of his votes. I don't recall the Sun \u2014 in fact, the Sun-Sentinel endorsed him. In 2008, Barack Obama missed 60 or 70 percent of his votes, and the same newspaper endorsed him again. So this is another example of the double standard that exists in this country between the mainstream media and the conservative movement. +p333 +aVI get to respond, right? +p334 +aVWell, it's interesting. Over the last few weeks, I've listened to Jeb as he walked around the country and said that you're modeling your campaign after John McCain, that you're going to launch a furious comeback the way he did, by fighting hard in New Hampshire and places like that, carrying your own bag at the airport. You know how many votes John McCain missed when he was carrying out that furious comeback that you're now modeling after? +p335 +aVNo Jeb, I don't remember \u2014 well, let me tell you. I don't remember you ever complaining about John McCain's vote record. The only reason why you're doing it now is because we're running for the same position, and someone has convinced you that attacking me is going to help you. +p336 +aVHere's the bottom line. I'm not \u2014 my campaign is going to be about the future of America, it's not going to be about attacking anyone else on this stage. I will continue to have tremendous admiration and respect for Governor Bush. I'm not running against Governor Bush, I'm not running against anyone on this stage. I'm running for president because there is no way we can elect Hillary Clinton to continue the policies of Barack Obama. +p337 +aVWell, you just \u2014 you just listed a litany of discredited attacks from Democrats and my political opponents, and I'm not gonna waste 60 seconds detailing them all. But I'm going to tell you the truth. Here's the truth. I didn't inherit any money. My dad was a bartender, my mother was a maid. They worked hard to provide us the chance at a better life. They didn't save enough money for us to go to school. I had to work my way through school. I had to borrow money to go to school. I tried (ph), early in my marriage, explaining to my wife why someone named Sallie Mae was taking $1,000 out of our bank account every month. I know what it's like to owe that money, and we've worked hard. We've worked hard our whole life to provide a better family \u2014 a better life for our family. We own a home four blocks away from the place that I grew up in. My four children have been able to receive a good Christian education, and I've been able to save for them to go to college so they never have to have the loans that I did. But I'm not worried about my finances, I'm worried about the finances of everyday Americans who today are struggling in an economy that is not producing good paying jobs while everything else costs more. And that's what this economy needs to \u2014 that's what this debate needs to be about. This debate needs to be about the men and women across this country that are struggling on a daily basis to provide for their families the better future that we've always said this country is all about. +p338 +aVAnd I used it to pay off my loans. And it's available on paperback, if you're interested in buying my book. +p339 +aVYeah, again, as I said, we're raising a family in the 21st century and it's one of the reasons why my tax plan is a pro- family tax plan. It increases the per child tax credit, because I didn't read about this in a book. I know for a fact how difficult it is to raise children, how expensive it's become for working families. And I make a lot more than the average American. Imagine how hard it is for these people out there that are making 40, 50, $60,000 a year, and they're trying to provide for their families at a time when this economy is not growing. We can't afford another four years of that. Which is what we're gonna get if we elect a big government liberal like Hillary Clinton to the White House. Thank you, senator. +p340 +aVWell, first of all, if a company gets caught doing that, they should never be able to use the program again. If you get caught abusing this program, you should never be able to use it again. The second thing I said is we need to add reforms, not just increase the numbers, but add reforms. For example, before you hire anyone from abroad, you should have to advertise that job for 180 days. You also have to prove that you're going to pay these people more than you would pay someone else, so that you're not undercutting it by bringing in cheap labor. But here's the best solution of all. We need to get back to training people in this country to do the jobs of the 21st century. Why, for the life of me, I do not understand why did we stop doing vocational education in America, people that can work with their hands; people you can train to do this work while they're still in high school so they can graduate ready to go work. But the best way to close this gap is to modernize higher education so Americans have the skills for those jobs. But in the interim, in the absence of that, what's happening is some of these tech companies are taking those \u2014 those centers (ph) to Canada because they can get people to go over there instead of here. But the ideal scenario is to train Americans to do the work so we don't have to rely on people from abroad. +p341 +aVWell, I believe that there are abuses, those companies should be permanently barred from ever using the program again and we should put strict standards in place to ensure that they're not being abused, like the prevailing wage requirement and like the advertising requirement. +p342 +aVSince I've been mentioned, can I respond? +p343 +aVOK. I know the Democrats have the ultimate SuperPac. It's called the mainstream media who every single day... ... and I'll tell you why. Last week, Hillary Clinton went before a committee. She admitted she had sent e-mails to her family saying, "Hey, this attack at Benghazi was caused by Al Qaida-like elements." She spent over a week telling the families of those victims and the American people that it was because of a video. And yet the mainstream media is going around saying it was the greatest week in Hillary Clinton's campaign. It was the week she got exposed as a liar. It was the week that she got exposed as a liar... But she has her super PAC helping her out, the American mainstream media. +p344 +aVNo, that's \u2014 you're wrong. In fact, the largest after- tax gains is for the people at the lower end of the tax spectrum under my plan. And there's a bunch of things my tax plan does to help them. Number one, you have people in this country that... +p345 +aV...you wrote a story on it, and you had to go back and correct it. +p346 +aVYou did. No, you did. +p347 +aVWell, you're talking about \u2014 yeah. +p348 +aVYeah, but that \u2014 because the math is, if you \u2014 5 percent of a million is a lot more than 5 percent of a thousand. So yeah, someone who makes more money... +p349 +aV...numerically, it's gonna be higher. But the greatest gains, percentage-wise, for people, are gonna be at the lower end of our plan, and here's why: because in addition to a general personal exemption, we are increasing the per-child tax credit for working families. We are lowering taxes on small business. You know, a lot of business activity in America is conducted like the guy that does my dry cleaning. He's an S corporation. He pays on his personal rate, and he is paying higher than the big dry-cleaning chain down the street, because he's paying at his personal rate. Under my plan, no business, big or small, will pay more than 25 percent flat rate on their business income. That is a dramatic tax decrease for hard-working people who run their own businesses. +p350 +aV...The other thing I'd like to make about our plan, one more point, it is the most pro growth tax plan that I can imagine because it doesn't tax investments at all. You know why? Because the more you tax something, the less of it you get. I want to be in \u2014 I want America to be the best... +p351 +aV...in the world for people... +p352 +aVI was mentioned in the question. +p353 +aVThank you. Well, I've learned the rules on this. Look, in addition to what Donald was saying is we also need to talk about the legal immigration system for permanent residents. Today, we have a legal immigration system for permanent residency that is largely based on whether or not you have a relative living here. And that's the way my parents came legally in 1956. But in 2015, we have a very different economy. Our legal immigration system from now on has to be merit-based. It has to be based on what skills you have, what you can contribute economically, and most important of all, on whether or not you're coming here to become an American, not just live in America, but be an American. +p354 +aVNo. No. What I said was that I think that Dr. Carson's ideas are good ideas. They're not my ideas, and I don't necessarily agree with all of them. But this is what you're seeing in the Republican debate that you didn't see in that Democrat debate. You didn't see it for a minute. You didn't see these kind of ideas being batted around, and being batted around in a way that's civil and smart and that's trying to help to inform the voter out there. What you saw was a parade of, "I'll give you this for free; I'll give you that for free." Let me tell you, everybody, when they say they want to give it to you for free, keep your hands on your wallets because they're coming to you to pay for it. And that's why I think these ideas up here are great, and that's what we should have is have more discussions like this and less gotcha. +p355 +aVI want to take off from that point and argue the same thing. And that is that one of the things you're watching tonight are 11 quality candidates debating an important issue. The Republican Party is blessed to have 11 good candidates, 10 good candidates. The Democrats can't even come up with one. And on this issue of the Medicare in particular, it's important because they're going to demagogue what we're saying here tonight. Everyone up here tonight that's talking about reforms, I think and I know for myself I speak to this, we're all talking about reforms for future generations. Nothing has to change for current beneficiaries. My mother is on Medicare and Social Security. I'm against anything that's bad for my mother. So, we're talking about \u2014 we're talking about reform for people like me and people like Senator Cruz, as he talked about earlier, who are years away from retirement that have a way to plan for these changes, and way that's very reasonable. And it's not too much to ask of our generation after everything our parents and our grandparents did for us. +p356 +aVYou know, America doesn't owe me anything. I have a debt to America I'll never repay. This isn't just the country I was born in, this is the nation that literally changed the history of my family. My parents in this country were able to give me the chance to do all the things they never did. We call that the American Dream, although, it's built on the universal dream of a better life. The fact that it's happened for so many people here throughout our history, that's what makes us special. But, now for millions of Americans, it's slipping away. And, we have a government and leaders in government that are completely out of touch, and that's why I'm running for president. Because we can't just save the American Dream, we can expand it to reach more people, and change more lives than ever before. And, that's why tonight I'm asking you for your vote. +p357 +aVThank you. My name is Marco Rubio. I'm from Florida. My wife Jeanette and I are the proud \u2014 we've been married 17 years, and we're the proud parents of four children, two of whom were able to join us here this evening. I'm honored to be here at the Reagan Library, at a place that honors the legacy of a man who inspired not just my interest in public service, but also our love for country. And I'm also aware that California has a drought, and so that's why I made sure I brought my own water. +p358 +aVWell, first of all, I have an understanding of exactly what it is Russia and Putin are doing, and it's pretty straightforward. He wants to reposition Russia, once again, as a geopolitical force. He himself said that the destruction of the Soviet Union \u2014 the fall of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century, and now he's trying to reverse that. He's trying to destroy +p359 +aVLet me tell you \u2014 I will tell you we have zero responsibility, because let's remember what the president said. He said the attack he would conduct would be a pinprick. Well, the United States military was not build to conduct pinprick attacks. If the United States military is going to be engaged by a commander-in-chief, it should only be engaged in an endeavor to win. And we're not going to authorize use of force if you're not put in a position where they can win. And quite frankly, people don't trust this president as commander-in-chief because of that. +p360 +aVHold on, a second, Jake, he asked me, as well. I'd like to actually... +p361 +aV... respond. I think I'm the first senator. The No. 1 test for use of military force should be the vital national security interest of the United States. The reason why I opposed President Obama bombing Syria, is because he couldn't answer the question what do you do if chemical weapons end up in the hands of radical Islamic terrorists like al-Nusra, like Al Qaida, like +p362 +aVIn the middle of negotiating this treaty, Khamenei led the assembled masses in chanting, death to America. I'm reminded of a great editorial cartoon. It shows the Ayatollah Khamenei saying, "Death to all Americans," and then it shows John Kerry coming back, saying, "Can we meet ya half way?" We need a commander-in-chief who will stand up and protect this country. And I'll tell you, I can't wait to stand on that debate stage with Hillary Clinton and to make abundantly clear if you vote for Hillary, you are voting for the Ayatollah Khomeini to possess a nuclear weapon and if you elect me as president, under no circumstances will a theocratic ayatollah who chants death to America ever be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon. +p363 +aVMs. Dana, I agree that English is the unifying language of our country, and everyone should learn to speak it. It's important. I want to tell you a story about someone that didn't speak English that well. It was my grandfather; he came to this country in the 1960s, as a \u2014 escaping Cuba. And he lived with us, growing up. And my grandfather loved America. He understood what was so special about this country. He loved Ronald Reagan; he would be very proud of the fact that we're here this evening. My grandfather instilled in me the belief that I was blessed to live in the one society in all of human history where even I, the son of a bartender and a maid, could aspire to have anything, and be anything that I was willing to work hard to achieve. But he taught me that in Spanish, because it was the language he was most comfortable in. And he became a conservative, even though he got his news in Spanish. And so, I do give interviews in Spanish, and here's why \u2014 because I believe that free enterprise and limited government is the best way to help people who are trying to achieve upward mobility. And if they get their news in Spanish, I want them to hear that directly from me. Not from a translator at Univision. +p364 +aVWell, let me say that legal immigration is not an issue I read about in the newspaper. Immigration, illegal immigration, all the good aspects of immigration and all the negative ones as well, I live with. My family's immigrants. My neighbors are all immigrants. My in-laws are all immigrants. So I've seen every aspect of it, and I can tell you America doesn't have one immigration problem, it has three. First, despite the fact that we are the most generous country in the history of the world in allowing people to come here legally, we have people still coming illegally. Second, we have a legal immigration system that no longer works. It primary is built on the basis of whether you have a relative living here instead of merit. And third, we have 11 million or 12 million people, many of whom have been here for longer than a decade who are already here illegally. And we must deal with all three of these problems. We cannot deal with all three of these problems in one massive piece of legislation. I learned that. We tried it that way. Here's the way forward: First, we must \u2014 we must secure our border, the physical border, with \u2014 with a wall, absolutely. But we also need to have an entry/exit tracking system. 40 percent of the people who come here illegally come legally, and then they overstay the visa. We also need a mandatory e-verify system. After we've done that, step two would be to modernize our legal immigration system so you come to America on the basis of what you can contribute economically, not whether or not simply you have a relative living here. And after we've done those two things, I believe the American people... +p365 +aV... will be very reasonable and responsible about what you do with someone who's been here and isn't a criminal. If you're a criminal, obviously, you will not be able to stay. +p366 +aVYes, well, it does. But it's in the following way, this is an important question. I think if you're running for president, these are important issues, because look at around the world today. There is a lunatic in North Korea with dozens of nuclear weapons and long-range rocket that can already hit the very place in which we stand tonight. The Chinese are rapidly expanding their military. They hack into our computers. They're building artificial islands in the South China Sea, the most important shipping lane in the world. A gangster in Moscow is not just threatening Europe, he's threatening to destroy and divide +p367 +aVWell, that's why we have a debate. I think that we should have a deeper debate about these issues, because there is no more important decision that a president will make. +p368 +aVWell, you should ask him questions in detail about the foreign policy issues our president will confront, because you had better be able to lead our country on the first day. Not six months from now, not a year from now, on the first day in office, our president could very well confront a national security crisis. You can't predict it. Sometimes you cannot control it. And it is the most \u2014 the federal government does all kinds of things it's not supposed to be doing. It regulates bathrooms. It regulates schools that belong to local communities. But the one thing that the federal government must do, the one thing that only the federal government can do is keep us safe. And a president better be up-to-date on those issues on his first day in office, on her first day in office. +p369 +aVTrust (ph) me, I get that. OK. +p370 +aVI never get to addressed, and... +p371 +aV...and when I do, I'm gonna jump in. +p372 +aVYeah. He did. Let me \u2014 I'm proud to serve in the United States Senate. You know, when I ran five years ago, the entire leadership of my party in Washington lined up against me. But I'm glad I won. And I'm glad that I ran, because this country's headed in the wrong direction. And if we keep electing the same people, nothing is going to change. And you're right, I have missed some votes, and I'll tell you why, Mr. Trump. Because in my years in the Senate, I've figured out very quickly that the political establishment in Washington, D.C. in both political parties is completely out of touch with the lives of our people. You have millions of people in this country living paycheck to paycheck, and nothing is being done about it. We are about to leave our children with $18 trillion in \u2014 in \u2014 in debt, and they're about to raise the debt limit again. We have a world that grows increasingly dangerous, and we are eviscerating our military spending and signing deals with Iran. And these \u2014 if this thing continues, we are going to be the first Americans to leave our children worse off than ourselves. That's why I'm missing votes. Because I am leaving the Senate, I'm not running for re-election, and I'm running for president because I know this: unless we have the right president, we cannot make America fulfill its potential, but with the right person in office, the 21st century can be the greatest era that our nation has ever known. +p373 +aVI want to go even deeper \u2014 and I want to go even deeper in that direction, because I think the belief that somehow by retreating, America makes the world safer has been disproven every single time it's ever been tried. Syria's a perfect example of it. The uprising in Syria was not started by the United States; it was started by the Syrian people. And I warned at the time \u2014 this was three and a half years ago \u2014 I openly and repeatedly warned that if we did not find moderate elements on the ground that we could equip and arm, that void would be filled by radical jihadists. Well, the president didn't listen, the administration didn't follow through, and that's exactly what happened. That is why +p374 +aV... as you asked earlier today. +p375 +aVBut radical terrorism cannot be solved by intellect. It cannot \u2014 they require \u2014 what they need, is they need an operating space. That's what Afghanistan was for Al Qaida. It was a vacuum that they filled, and they created an operating space. That's why they had to be drawn out of there. That's why they had to be destroyed. It is the reason why +p376 +aVThere's a broader issue here, Hugh. And there's a broader issue here as well. First of all, the only people that follow the law are law-abiding people. Criminals by definition ignore the law, so you can pass all the gun laws in the world, like the left wants. The criminals are going to ignore it because they are criminals. Here's the real issue. The real issue \u2014 the real issue is not what are people using to commit violence, but why are they committing the violence? And here's the truth: Because you cannot separate the social, moral wellbeing of your people from their economic and other wellbeing. You cannot separate it. You can't have a strong country without strong people, you cannot have strong people without strong values, and you cannot have strong values without strong families and the institutions in this country that defend and support those families. +p377 +aVWell, and today, we have a left-wing government under this president that is undermining all of the institutions and society that support the family and teach those values. +p378 +aVBecause we're not going to destroy our economy the way the left-wing government that we are under now wants to do. We're not going to... +p379 +aVWell, and I don't \u2014 he may have lined up with their positions on this issue. But here is the bottom line. Every proposal they put forward are going to be proposals that will make it harder to do business in America, that will make it harder to create jobs in America. Single parents are already struggling across this country to provide for their families. Maybe a billionaire here in California can afford an increase in their utility rates, but a working family in Tampa, Florida, or anywhere across this country cannot afford it. So we are not going to destroy our economy. We are not going to make America a harder place to create jobs in order to pursue policies that will do absolutely nothing, nothing to change our climate, to change our weather, because America is a lot of things, the greatest country in the world, absolutely. But America is not a planet. And we are not even the largest carbon producer anymore, China is. And they're drilling a hole and digging anywhere in the world that they can get a hold of. So the bottom line is, I am not in favor of any policies that make America a harder place for people to live, or to work, or to raise their families. +p380 +aVJake, you mentioned me and called me a denier. Let me say, climate change... +p381 +aVOK. A skeptic. You can measure the climate. You can measure it. That's not the issue we're discussing. Here is what I'm skeptical of. I'm skeptical of the decisions that the left wants us to make, because I know the impact those are going to have and they're all going to be on our economy. They will not do a thing to lower the rise of the sea. They will not do a thing to cure the drought here in California. But what they will do is they will make America a more expensive place to create jobs. And today with millions of people watching this broadcast that are struggling paycheck to paycheck that do not know how they're going to pay their bills at the end of this month, I'm not in favor of anything that is going to make it harder for them to raise their family. +p382 +aVSenator Rubio, you mean? +p383 +aVI know we all look alike. +p384 +aVThe \u2014 Rosa Parks, an everyday American that changed the course of history. +p385 +aVWell, there are some people in Florida upset at me over a joke I made about Florida State, but, what the heck, I want my codename to be Gator. +p386 +aVOne of the things that made Ronald Reagan a great president, is that he understood that America was a unique nation, like any other that had existed throughout human history. He knew it was founded on universal principles that were powerful, the dignity of all people, human rights, the rights of all to live in freedom and liberty, and choose their own path in life. He didn't just believe it, he acted on it. That's why bringing down communism was so important to him. If I'm honored with the opportunity to be president, I hope that our Air Force One will fly, first and foremost, to our allies; in Israel, in South Korea, and Japan. They know we stand with them. That America can be counted on. It would also fly to China, not just to meet with our enemies, not just to meet with those adversaries of ours that are there, but also to meet with those that aspire to freedom and liberty within China. I would even invite them to my inauguration. We would also fly into Moscow and into Russia. And not just meet with the leaders of Russia, but also meet with those who aspire to freedom and liberty in Russia. And ultimately, I hope that my Air Force One, if I become president, will one day land in a free Cuba, where its people can choose its leaders and its own destiny. +p387 +aVWell, thank you for the question, Chris, and it's great to be here tonight. Let me begin by saying this: I'm not new to the political process; I was making a contribution as the speaker of the third largest and most diverse state in the country well before I even got into the Senate. I would add to that that this election cannot be a resume competition. It's important to be qualified, but if this election is a resume competition, then Hillary Clinton's gonna be the next president, because she's been in office and in government longer than anybody else running here tonight. Here's what this election better be about: This election better be about the future, not the past. It better be about the issues our nation and the world is facing today, not simply the issues we once faced. This country is facing an economy that has been radically transformed. You know, the largest retailer in the country and the world today, Amazon, doesn't even own a single store? And these changes have been disruptive. They have changed people's lives. The jobs that once sustained our middle class, they either don't pay enough or they are gone, and we need someone that understands that as our nominee. If I'm our nominee, how is Hillary Clinton gonna lecture me about living paycheck to paycheck? I was raised paycheck to paycheck. How is she -- how is she gonna lecture me -- how is she gonna lecture me about student loans? I owed over $100,000 just four years ago. If I'm our nominee, we will be the party of the future. +p388 +aVLet me set the record straight on a couple of things. The first is, the evidence is now clear that the majority of people coming across the border are not from Mexico. They're coming from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras. Those countries are the source of the people that are now coming in its majority. I also believe we need a fence. The problem is if El Chapo builds a tunnel under the fence, we have to be able to deal with that too. And that's why you need an e-verify system and you need an entry-exit tracking system and all sorts of other things to prevent illegal immigration. But I agree with what Governor Kasich just said. People are frustrated. This is the most generous country in the world when it comes to immigration. There are a million people a year who legally immigrate to the United States, and people feel like we're being taken advantage of. We feel like despite our generosity, we're being taken advantage of. And let me tell you who never gets talked about in these debates. The people that call my office, who have been waiting for 15 years to come to the United States. And they've paid their fees, and they hired a lawyer, and they can't get in. And they're wondering, maybe they should come illegally. And so these are important issues, and we should address it. It's a serious problem that needs to be addressed, and otherwise we're going to keep talking about this for the next 30 years, like we have for the last 30 years. +p389 +aVNot me. +p390 +aVActually, to be clear......he supported Charlie Crist. +p391 +aVHey, Charlie... +p392 +aVWell, first off, I too believe in curriculum reform. It is critically important in the 21st Century. We do need curriculum reform. And it should happen at the state and local level. That's. . . that's. . . that is where educational policy belongs, because if a parent is unhappy with what their child is being taught in school, they can go to that local school board or their state legislature, or their governor and get it changed. Here's the problem with Common Core. The Department of Education, like every federal agency, will never be satisfied. They will not stop with it being a suggestion. They will turn it into a mandate. In fact, what they will begin to say to local communities is, you will not get federal money unless do you things the way we want you to do it. And they will use Common Core or any other requirements that exists nationally to force it down the throats of our people in our states. +p393 +aVThat's a great question. +p394 +aVThat's a great question. First of all, it begins by having leaders that recognize that the economy we live in today is dramatically different from the one we had five years ago. It's an economy that now has placed us in global competition with dozens of other countries around the world. Now, the big companies that have connections with Washington, they can affect policies to help them, but the small companies like the one Tania is talking about, they're the ones that are struggling. The first thing we need to do is we need to even out the tax code for small businesses so that we lower their tax rate to 25 percent, just as we need to lower it for all businesses. We need to have a regulatory budget in America that limits the amount of regulations on our economy. We need to repeal and replace Obamacare and we need to improve higher education so that people can have access to the skills they need for 21st century jobs. And last but not least, we need to repeal Dodd-Frank. It is eviscerating small businesses and small banks. 20 \u2014 over 40 percent of small and mid-size banks that loan money to small businesses have been wiped out over the \u2014 since Dodd-Frank has passed. We need to repeal and replace Dodd-Frank. We need to make America fair again for all businesses, but especially those being run by small business owners. +p395 +aVWell, Megyn, first of all, I'm not sure that that's a correct assessment of my record. I would go on to add that I believe all-- +p396 +aVI have never said that. And I have never advocated that. What I have advocated is that we pass law in this country that says all human life at every stage of its development is worthy of protection. In fact, I think that law already exists. It is called the Constitution of the United States. And let me go further. I believe that every single human being is entitled to the protection of our laws, whether they can vote or not. Whether they can speak or not. Whether they can hire a lawyer or not. Whether they have a birth certificate or not. And I think future generations will look back at this history of our country and call us barbarians for murdering millions of babies who we never gave them a chance to live. +p397 +aVWell, first, let me say I think God has blessed us. He has blessed the Republican Party with some very good candidates. The Democrats can't even find one. And I believe God has blessed our country. This country has been extraordinarily blessed. And we have honored that blessing. And that's why God has continued to bless us. And he has blessed us with young men and women willing to risk their lives and sometimes die in uniform for the safety and security of our people. Unfortunately today we have a VA that does not do enough for them. I am proud that last year we helped change the law. We changed the law to give the power to the VA secretary the ability to fire any executive that isn't doing their job. And it is outrageous they've only fired one person to date. When I'm president of the United States, we're going to have a VA that cares more about our veterans than about the bureaucrats who work at the VA. +p398 +aVThank you. You know, both of my parents were born into poor families on the island of Cuba. They came to America because it was the only place where people like them could have a chance. Here in this country, they never made it big, but the very purpose of their life was to give us the chance to do all the things they never could. My father was a bartender. And the journey from the back of that bar to this stage tonight, to me, that is the essence of the American dream. It is what makes our nation different. And I'm running for president because I want that to still be possible for the people trying to do that now. I run for president because I believe that we can't just save the American dream; we can expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And that's why I'm asking for your vote. So we can make America greater than it has ever been. And make of this century a new American century. +p399 +asVKASICH +p400 +(lp401 +VWell, John, first of all, if I were president, we wouldn't have the divisions in the country we have today. I do want to take a second as we reflected on Judge Scalia, it's amazing \u2014 it's not even two minutes after the death of Judge Scalia, nine children here today, their father didn't wake up. His wife, sad, but I just wish we hadn't run so fast into politics. Here's my concern about this. The country is so divided right now, and now we're going to see another partisan fight take place. I really wish the president would think about not nominating somebody. If you were to nominate somebody, let's have him pick somebody that's going to have unanimous approval, and such widespread approval across the country that this could happen without a lot of recrimination. I don't think that's going to happen, and I would like the president just to, for once here, put the country first. We're going to have an election for president very soon, and the people will understand what is at stake in that election. And so I believe the president should not move forward, and I think that we ought to let the next president of the United States decide who is going to run that Supreme Court with a vote by the people of the United......States of America. +p402 +aVFirst of all \u2014 yes. First of all, look, we have to make it clear to Russia what we expect. We don't have to declare an enemy, rattle a sword or threaten, but we need to make it clear what we expect. No. 1 is we will arm the folks in Ukraine who are fighting for their freedom. They deserve it. There will be no ifs, ands or buts about it. Secondly, an attack on +p403 +aVI've got to tell you, this is just crazy, huh? This is just nuts, O.K.? Jeez, oh, man. I'm sorry, John. +p404 +aVOh, well, listen, I think being in Iraq, look, we thought there were weapons of mass destruction. Colin Powell, who is one of the most distinguished generals in modern time, said there were weapons there. But, but, the fact is we got ourselves in the middle of a civil war. The Sunni, the Shia and the Kurds, never gotten along. In fact, that country was drawn \u2014 the borders of that country were drawn after World War I by Westerners that didn't understand what was happening there. The tragedy of it is that we're still embroiled. And, frankly, if there weren't weapons of mass destruction, we should never have gone. I don't believe the United States should involve itself in civil wars. Civil wars are not in our direct interest, and if you \u2014 and look, I served on a defense committee for 18 years and was called into the Pentagon after 9/11 by Secretary Rumsfeld to deal with some of the most serious problems that we faced. The fact is, is that we should go to war when it is our direct interest. We should not be policemen of the world, but when we go, we mean business. We'll do our job. We'll tell our soldiers, our people in the service, take care of your job and then come home once we've accomplished our goals. That's what we need to do. +p405 +aVYeah. Well, first of all, those numbers, incorrect. We are \u2014 our Medicaid programs are coming in below cost estimates, and our Medicaid program in the second year grew at 2.5 percent. And Kimberley, let me tell you, when we expand Medicaid and we treat the mentally ill, then they don't live under a bridge or live in a prison, where they cost $22,500 a year. When we take the drug addicted and we treat them in the prisons, we stop the revolving door of people in and out of prisons, and we save $22,500 a year. Guess what else? They get their lives back. And the working poor, they're now getting health care. And you know that about a third of the people who are now getting that health care are people who are suffering very serious illnesses, particularly cancer. So, what I would tell you is, we've gone from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. We've cut taxes by more than any governor in America by $5 billion. We have grown the number of jobs by 400,000 private-sector jobs since I've been governor. Our credit is strong. Our pensions are strong. And frankly, we leave no one behind. Economic growth is not an end unto itself. We want everyone to rise, and we will make them personally responsible for the help that they get. And that is exactly the program we're driving in Ohio. And, boy, people ought to look at Ohio, because it has got a good formula. +p406 +aVYeah, let me say a couple of things. First of all, when Jeb was governor, his first four years as governor, he expand \u2014 his Medicaid program grew twice as fast as mine. O.K.? It's just a fact. Now, with Obamacare, I've not only sued the administration, I did not set up an exchange. And he knows that I'm not for Obamacare, never have been. But here's what's interesting about Medicaid. You know who expanded Medicaid five times to try to help the folks and give them opportunity so that you could rise and get a job? President Ronald Reagan. Now, the fact of the matter is, we expanded to get people on their feet, and once they're on their feet, we are giving them the training and the efforts that they need to be able to get work and pull out of that situation. +p407 +aVThat's what we're doing in our state. +p408 +aVLet me \u2014 let's tell you... +p409 +aVMajor \u2014 Major, we can't \u2014 we've got to \u2014 look, I have got to correct the record. And the fact of the matter is, we went from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. We're up 400,000 jobs. Our credit is rock solid. And I don't know... +p410 +aVLook, the bottom line is the people of this \u2014 of this country and this state want to see everybody rise, and they want to see unity, and I don't want to get into all this fighting tonight, because people are frankly sick of the negative campaigning. +p411 +aVAnd I'm going to stay positive about what I want to do from the... +p412 +aVBefore I get to that, this is the ninth or 10th debate. What I've been watching here, this back and forth, and these attacks, some of them are personal. I think we're fixing to lose the election to Hillary Clinton if we don't stop this. I mean, the fact is \u2014 you know what? I would suggest, why don't we take off all the negative ads and all the negative comments down from television and let us just talk about what we're for, and let's sell that, and the Republican Party will be stronger as a result... +p413 +aV... First of all, I'm for sealing the border, O.K.? And then I'm for a guest worker program. People can come in, work and go back home. We haven't closed the border because special interests, I believe, blocked it. Then, we have 11 and a half million people here. If they have not committed a crime since they've been here, make them pay a fine and some back taxes, and give them a path to legalization, never to citizenship. It is not going to happen that we're going to run around and try to drag 11 and a half million people out of their homes. I'll tell you this. Within the first hundred days, I will send a plan like this to the Congress of the United States, and if I'm president, I'll bet you dollar to doughnuts right now, it will pass. That is a reasonable proposal that the people of this country, in my judgment, will support, and so will the bulk of the Congress of the United States. +p414 +aVYou know, John, I think all people are the same. Look, I did 106 town halls, and I've been doing them left and right here in South Carolina. The first thing we have to do is grow the economy, and I know the formula because I was chairman in Washington when we balanced the budget and created so many jobs, and the same that we've been able to do in Ohio. You need common-sense regulations so small business can flourish, you need lower taxes both on business and individuals, and you need a fiscal plan to be able to get ourselves in a situation where people can predict a little bit about the future when it comes to the fiscal issues. And when you have that formula, combined with work force that's trained, you can explode the economy and create many jobs. I have done it twice, and I want to go back to Washington and do it again. John, the thing is, is I think that there are people now, these blue-collar Democrats \u2014 my dad was a blue-collar Democrat \u2014 the Democratic Party has left them. When they're arguing about being socialists, they've left \u2014 they have lost those blue-collar Democrats. And you know what I think they get out of me \u2014 is my sense of what they get out of me, and it's embarrassment about campaigns, you brag about yourself. But I think I'm a uniter, I think people sense it. I think they know I have the experience, and that I'm a man that can give people hope and a sense that they have the opportunity rise. And I'll tell you, I love these blue-collar Democrats, because they're going to vote for us come next fall, promise you that. +p415 +aVWell, I want to thank the people of South Carolina. You've been fantastic. And look, what I want you to know is I'm going to send a lot of power, money and influence back to where we all live. But as I've traveled around South Carolina, I've noticed something. You know, it's that people have a sense that you're not going to wait on a president. You know, when I was a kid, we didn't wait on presidents to come to that little blue-collar town and fix things. You know, the Lord made all of us special. The Lord wants us to be connected. I believe we're part of a very big mosaic. And I'll send the power back. And whoever gets elected president here, hopefully will take care of the issue of jobs and wages and Social Security and the border. But the spirit of the America rests in all of us. It's in our guts. It's taking care of our children. It's taking care of the lady next door who just lost her husband. It's fixing the schools where we live and telling kids to stay off drugs. You see, I think what the Lord wants is for to us engage, and in America, the spirit of America doesn't come from the top down. The spirit of America rests in us. And I want to call on everyone in America to double down and realize that you were made special to heal this country and lift it for everyone. Thank you all very much. And I hope I can have your vote in South Carolina. +p416 +aVWell, we've got to to step up the pressure. And by the way, I've gotta say, after being here, every one of my 100 town hall meetings in New Hampshire were a lot more fun than what I saw here today, were so much more positive. Look, in terms of North Korea, Martha, we have to make sure that we intercept both the ships and their aircraft, because what they're trying to do is to proliferate this very dangerous material, along with the \u2014 with the technology, the instruments that can be used for mass destruction. That's what I worry about the most, frankly, is non-state actors, people who don't have a uniform, people don't have a country, who can spread this, who are not subject to the \u2014 to the mutual assured defense. In other words, you strike us, we strike you. Some of these radicals, they don't care about that. That's what I worry about, for my children, and for their children, going forward. So, we have to be very tough. And we should tell the Chinese, look, if you're not going to do this ballistic missile defense to the Koreans, ballistic missile defense to Japan \u2014 and by the way, we should impose the same kind of sanctions on North Korea that we imposed on Iran, because they're able to shift money. They're able to send money and receive money. We've gotta to be very tough on this. And frankly, I think we could have \u2014 I think we could have let the Japanese know that if you want to take action on that \u2014 on that missile that's rising, you want to take action \u2014 you will have our support, if that's what you think is the best thing to do. We cannot continue to be weak in the face of the North Koreans, or, frankly, in the entire rest of the world. Martha, this is \u2014 this is the \u2014 relates... +p417 +aVWell, you know, David, I \u2014 I've just spent a lot of time here in this state, as I mentioned earlier, and we have to have practical solutions, just like we were just talking about a few minutes ago on North Korea. Look, the situation is, we need to finish the border. It has to be completed. Just like we lock our doors at night, the country has to be able to lock its doors. And we can have a guest worker program, where people can come in and out in an orderly way. And then for the 11.5 million that are here, if they have not committed a crime since they've been here, I believe they ought to pay some back taxes, pay a fine, never get on the path to citizenship, but get legalization. It is not \u2014 I couldn't even imagine how we would even begin to think about taking a mom or a dad out of a house when they have not committed a crime since they've been here, leaving their children in the house. I mean, that is not, in my opinion, the kind of values that we believe in. And secondly, I think at the end of the day, that Americans would support a plan like this. I think Congress would pass a plan to finish the border, guest worker, pay a fine, a path to legalization, and not citizenship. And we've got to get this done. And I will tell you this, within the first 100 days that I am president, I will put that proposal to the Congress. And I will tell you, as a former Congressman, and an executive, in Ohio, I can promise you that I believe you'll get the votes to pass that, and we can move on with that issue and protect our border. That's what I think. +p418 +aVGood evening. +p419 +aVWell, first of all, look. As the New York Times said, he's certainly not a moderate, but he can bring people together to solve problems. The fact of the matter is I've cut taxes more than anybody in the country this year. I have balanced budgets, the federal budget, the state of Ohio budget, we're running a $2 billion dollar surplus, we're up 400,000 jobs, and in Washington we were able to have significant job growth whenever we balanced the budget of which I was the architect. But, here's the beauty of it, it's not just balancing a budget, it's about jobs. You know, when I was kid growing up in a neighborhood where Dad went home at night and said, "I lost my job today", it just killed the family. It just was a devastating effect. We have to have economic growth, but once we have economic growth I believe we have to reach out to people who live in the shadows. I believe we need to help the mentally ill, the drug addicted, the working poor. We need to help the developmentally disabled to rise, and we need to help our friends in the minority community develop entrepreneurship. In other words, in American, conservatism should mean not only that some rise with conservative principles, but everybody has a chance to rise regardless of who they are so they can live their God given purpose. That's what conservatism should be. +p420 +aVDavid? +p421 +aVLook, I'm \u2014 I'm not here \u2014 I like Chris. +p422 +aVLet \u2014 but let me \u2014 let me just tell you. First of all, we have the lowest number of state employees in 30 years. Secondly, we have grown government at the rate of inflation. And I went from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. And we've grown jobs by 400,000 \u2014 that's one of the fastest growing states in the country. Our pensions are secure and our credit is rock solid. Now, I've learned that, what makes things work, what gets the economy going, not just in Ohio, but in Washington \u2014 and it's three things. Common sense regulations, which we have, lower taxes, which we have, the lowest taxes, tax cuts in the country. And thirdly, a fiscal plan to balance the budget. When you go from $8 billion in the hole to $2 billion in the black, when you cut taxes by $5 billion and you grow over 400,000 jobs, that is a record that I can take to Washington, using the same formula that I used in Washington when I was part of the effort to balance the budget to give us a surplus and to create jobs. +p423 +aVThat's what I did and I'll do it again in the first 100 days. +p424 +aVWell, right now the deals \u2014 there's no leadership. I mean, a lot of the things that we're talking about here tonight, on the border, and so many of the things. What we should be doing on foreign policy, you know what the problem is, Mary Katharine? There's not a leader that gets somebody to rise up. You have to have a leader that can inspire, and actually some of what Donald was saying is true. Look, do you know how hard it was... +p425 +aV... to get the balance the federal budget balanced? You have to plead with people. To do what we've done in Ohio, you have to plead with people, then you go back down to Washington and do the same thing. You see, we have to remind people we're Americans before we're Republicans and Democrats, and when we wait, and when we delay what we end up doing, Mary Katharine, is we make the United States weaker. In fact, it's a foreign policy issue because people look at America not solving problems and they say what are they doing over there? So the point is you have to work with people. The problem with executive authority for the president, it's really bad news for this reason. Since he's given up on working with Congress, he thinks he can impose anything he wants. He's not a king. He's a president. An executive order should be used frankly in consolidation and with consulting with the leadership in the \u2014 in the Congress. I've done it in Ohio. I consult. I could use executive orders, but I don't trump the legislature, because if you do, you aggravate them, you anger them and then the long-term prospects get bleak. We have to solve problems in America by coming together, Republicans and Democrats, Americans first, party and ideology second \u2014 in the second back seat of this country. That's what we need to do. And we can do it. And we can do it. +p426 +aVMary Katherine, let me just say this to you. You must have an agenda that you are ready to move on in the first 100 days. Jeb is right. If you delay and you wait, the Washington operators will take you down. I can tell you this, in the first 100 days, I will have legislation to freeze federal regulations, have them reviewed by the vice president, reduce state taxes on individuals, reduce taxes on corporations, have a fiscal plan to balance the budget, get the border protected and begin to fix Social Security in the first 100 days. So, anybody who is here tonight, if I get elected president, head out tomorrow and buy a seat belt, because there's going to be so much happening in the first 100 days, it's going to make your head spin. We're going to move America forward. I promise you. We're going to move us forward. +p427 +aVJeb mentioned me. Time for me to go again. +p428 +aVHe says he didn't mention me the second time. I thought I heard it, Jeb. No. I'm just kidding. Thank you all very much for listening and being patient with all of us tonight. Thank you. +p429 +aVDavid, David... +p430 +aVI wanted \u2014 I wanted to say, look, this \u2014 there can be a win-win here. I have formed a collaborative between police and community leaders because people have to respect law enforcement. A family doesn't want dad or mom going home in a box. And for our community leaders, many of them think the system not only works \u2014 not only doesn't work for them, but it works against them. And I created a big collaborative in Ohio made up of law enforcement, community leaders, the head of my public safety and a former Democrat, liberal Senate senator Nina Turner, run it. They got together, they made recommendations on recruiting, on hiring, on the use of deadly force and what we're about to do is to bring community and police together so we can have a win-win. We need more win-wins in America and we don't have to pick one over another divide. We love the police, but we've got to be responsible to the people in the community. We have to do all of that. +p431 +aVJosh? +p432 +aVJosh, I mean, clearly, when a veteran comes home, they should get health care anywhere they want to go. In our state, which is what we should do in the country, you know, if they drive a truck from Kabul to Kandahar in Afghanistan, we say, you can drive a truck from Columbus to Cleveland, and you don't have to go get a license. We're going to hand you one. And if you've got expertise in the military, we're going to give you college credit or community college credit for the things that you did for our country. And in addition to that, I'll tell you, one of the biggest things I think has to be done \u2014 and I would do it as president \u2014 the Pentagon has got to work with the returning soldier, sailor, along with the family, and we \u2014 they're the most valuable employees in the country. I call them golden employees. Everybody wants to hire a veteran. But there is a disconnect between the job openings and the veteran when the veteran comes back. The veteran is a leader. The veteran is strong. The veteran is drug free. There should be no unemployment among veterans. And if the Pentagon will work with the veterans' services agencies all across this country, Josh, we can get people jobs and we can get them jobs quickly, get them their health care......get them their college education. Let's lift them. They're the greatest people defending the United States of America and we need to take care of them, and we will. We will. +p433 +aVCarolina's going to win that one. I hate to say it. But they're going to win that one. +p434 +aVWell, folks, I've done now over 100 town hall meetings and I've loved every second of it. It has been the greatest thing in the world. And I want you to know that you've changed me, because I've listened to your stories and I've had your hugs and I've seen your tears, and I've seen you walk away and say, I now have hope. You know, I've had a conservative message, but a positive message \u2014 not just a conservative message, but a positive message about how we can bring people together, how we can restore America's strength, lift everyone. New Hampshire, please give me a chance to carry this message forward to the United States of America. And then, I will come back. Thank you, loved it. And God bless you. +p435 +aVWell, first of all, I had a national reporter say, you know, there's three lanes. There's the establishment lane, the anti-establishment lane, and then there's the Kasich lane. And the reason is, is that I've been a reformer all of my career, fighting to reform welfare, fighting to reform the Pentagon, also being in a position to balance the budget, because that is very, very hard to do. And then in Ohio, of course, I had to bring about big reform, again, because we were so far in the hole and now we just found out we are up over 400,000 jobs since I took over as governor. You know, the situation is this. We cannot fix things in this country \u2014 the Social Security, the border, balancing the budget, getting wages to grow faster \u2014 unless we lead as conservatives, but we also invite people in from the other party. We have to come together as a country. And we have to stop all the divisions. And, you know, that's been my message in New Hampshire. And having been in New Hampshire and here in Iowa, but in New Hampshire, I just received the support of seven out of eight of the newspapers in that state because they see positive, they see unity, they see coming together, and they see a record of change and a record of accomplishment. And it isn't because I'm all that great. It's because I've been assembling a team of people who want to be involved in something that's a little bigger than themselves. I'll keep \u2014 I'll keep heading in that direction, believe me. +p436 +aVChris... ... there was a question about foreign policy, by the way, and experience. And I \u2014 I thought, if I didn't jump in, I might not be able to tell everybody this. I think they'd want to hear it. Look, I served on... +p437 +aV... but wait a minute... +p438 +aV...the only reason is \u2014 look... +p439 +aVOK. +p440 +aVI've always listened to you, Megyn. Go ahead. +p441 +aVYes \u2014 thank you. +p442 +aVWell, look the Joint Terrorism Task Force needs resources and tools. And those are made up of the FBI, state and local law enforcement. And Megyn, it's best not to talk anymore about back doors and encryption, it will get solved, but it needs to be solved in the situation of the White House with the technology folks. +p443 +aVBut I just have to tell you that it's best with some of these things not be said. Now I want to go back something. See, I was there when Reagan rebuilt the military. I was there in '89 when the wall came tumbling down because we were strong. And I was there when we went into the Gulf War. We didn't win that war just from the air, we won that war by assembling a group of Arab leaders who stood in the Rose Garden and stood with America. We want to destroy +p444 +aVBut we have a unique time in America to connect with people all around the world that understand that there's an existential threat against all of them, the Arabs, the Jordanians, the Saudis, the Egyptians, our friends in Europe, including the Turks. So we have a unique opportunity to bring everybody together. I saw Reagan do it, I've seen other presidents do it. And frankly, if you want to be commander in chief, you have to have the experience. At the same time we're doing all that, the Pentagon must be reformed so we get what we need for our men and women in uniform. All of that together, we're going to be just fine and America is going to continue to lead the world. +p445 +aVWell, you've got to be on top of it right away. And, you know, I don't know all the details of what Rick Snyder has done. I know there have been people who have been fired; people who are being held accountable. But the fact is, every single engine of government has to move when you see a crisis like that. And I've had many situations in the state of Ohio where we've had to move, whether it's storms, whether it was a horrible school shooting. There are many crises that come \u2014 a water crisis in Toledo. You've got to be on top of it. You've got to go the extra mile. You've got to work with local communities and you've got to work with the federal government. Because you realize that people depending on you. And so, you go the extra mile. But people have to be alert. They have to be alert to problems. And when you see a problem, you must act quickly to get on top of it. And people at home are saying they've got a problem, listen to them. Because most of the time, they're absolutely correct. So the fact is that we work for the people. The people don't work for us. And we have to have an attitude when we're in government of serving-hood. That's what really matters. We serve you. You don't serve us. We listen to you and \u2014 and then we act. +p446 +aVNo. You know, Chris, here's what happened with Medicaid in my state. We took the growth of Medicaid from over 10 percent in my second budget to 2.5 percent, without cutting off one person or cutting one benefit, because we \u2014 we innovated the government. And now mom and dad can stay in their own home, rather than being forced into a nursing home. And then we decided we could bring $14 billion of our money \u2014 I mean, Washington doesn't have any money. It was our money, and we brought them back to tend to the mentally ill. Because I don't think they ought to live in prison or live under a bridge; to treat the drug-addicted so they're not in an in-and-out-of-the-door policy out of the prisons; and to help the working poor so they don't live in emergency rooms. How has it worked? Well, we have treated the drug-addicted in our prisons and we released them in to the community, and our recidivism rate is less than 20 percent. That's basically bordering on a miracle because of our great prison director. The mentally ill? They've been stepped on for too long in this society, and we are beginning to treat them. In terms of my faith, look, all I say is that when I study scripture, I know that people who live in the shadows need to have a chance. But I'm not deciding that anybody's got to make these decisions the way that I do, on the basis of what I do. But what \u2014 I will tell you this. The time has come to stop ignoring the mentally ill in this country and begin to treat them and get them on their feet, along with, of course, with treating the drug-addicted. Because we don't want them in and out \u2014 we don't want them in and out of the prisons. Give people a chance. We talked about criminal justice reform. We've enacted it in our state. Look, the conservative message is economic growth and along with economic growth goes opportunity for everybody in America. Everybody ought to have a chance to be able to rise to their God-given purpose. And that is what we have done in Ohio. We're running surpluses. We're up 400,000 jobs. And guess what? The formula is working. I'd suggest people take a look at it. Thank you. +p447 +aVLook, we don't know what's going to happen in ten months. And if I were president of the United States right now, I'd be lining up our allies to say that, if one crossed T or one dotted I does not occur, they are \u2014 violate the agreement, we slap back on sanctions. We can slap on sanctions alone, on day one, but it's not gonna be anywhere near as effective. But the president needs to be laying the groundwork right now for the ability to slap those sanctions back on worldwide. And I'll tell you what I'm worried about \u2014 I'm worried about money. You read about all the companies now that are doing business \u2014 about to do business in Iran, and if we don't get this settled now, with other countries in the world, about sanctions, then Iran could violate that agreement, and we're the only ones putting the sanctions on. We need to move aggressively now. But I would say this to you, Bret. Number one, if they violate it, we need to move against them. And number two, if we find out they're developing a nuclear weapon and we know how to get to it, we're gonna go take it out. That is what we have to do. We cannot let things get farther down the road, like we did with North Korea. +p448 +aVThat's right. Yes. +p449 +aVI know, Bret. +p450 +aVBut Bret, here's the problem. You take a look at the \u2014 at Belgium. I talked to a diplomat from Belgium. I said, "how's it going?" He said, "we have the military in the streets right now. We never dreamt we'd ever see it." See, I think there is an opportunity to bring the world together. The Turks are being threatened. We know about the French. We know about the Belgians. We know about the Brits. Everybody is under fire and under attack, and we have to stand together as an alliance. So actually, the opportunity is there, because of the threat to all of these countries, to bring all of us together... ... and say there is something more important than money. It is the future of the world and the future of our children and grandchildren. That's the kind of leadership this country needs. It has not been in effect during the administration of Barack Obama. And that's only the beginning of the failures that they have committed, not only in the Middle East, but all over the world, including Russia and China. +p451 +aVYou know, one of our biggest national security issues is the world looks at us some time, and we look at each other and say, why can't we solve problems? Well, I've got news for you, we can. We can in fact create jobs and provide job security. We can create a situation where wages begin to rise. We can create a situation for our children to be able to get a decent job to pay down their college debt. We can re-assume our role in the world. But all of this has to come together when we have a positive attitude, an optimistic approach, an ability for us to set the tune as conservatives, to invite other people in to be part of that orchestra. You see, ladies and gentlemen, at the end of the day, I'm an optimist Because I've seen so many things get accomplished in my lifetime. And we can do it again together, all of us, to strengthen this country, work together. Thank you. +p452 +aVLook, it takes three things basically to grow jobs. And I've done it when I was in Washington when we had a balanced budget; had four years of balanced budgets; paid down a half-trillion of debt. And our economy was growing like crazy. It's the same thing that I did in Ohio. It's a simple formula: common sense regulations, which is why I think we should freeze all federal regulations for one year, except for health and safety. It requires tax cuts, because that sends a message to the job creators that things are headed the right way. And if you tax cuts \u2014 if you cut taxes for corporations, and you cut taxes for individuals, you're going to make things move, particularly the corporate tax, which is the highest, of course, in the \u2014 in the world. But in addition to that, we have to have fiscal discipline. We have to show that we can march to a balanced budget. And when you do that, when you're in a position of managing regulations; when you reduce taxes; and when you have fiscal discipline, you see the job creators begin to get very comfortable with the fact that they can invest. Right now, you don't have the \u2014 you have taxes that are too high. You have regulations \u2014 I mean, come on, they're affecting everybody here, particularly our small businesses. They are \u2014 they're in a position where they're smothering people. And I mean, are you kidding me? We're nowhere close to a balanced budget or fiscal discipline. Those three things put together are going to give confidence to job creators and you will begin to see wages rise. You will begin to see jobs created in a robust economy. And how do I know it? Because I've done it. I did it as the chairman of the Budget Committee, working with Senator Domenici. And I've done it in the state of Ohio as the chief executive. Our wages are growing faster than the national average. We're running surpluses. And we can take that message and that formula to Washington to lift every single American to a better life. +p453 +aVWell, if that's the case, we're going to win every state, if Bernie Sanders is the nominee. That's not even an issue. But look......and I know Bernie, and I can promise you he's not going to be president of the United States. So here's this \u2014 the situation, I think, Maria. And this is what we have to \u2014 I \u2014 I've got to tell you, when wages don't rise \u2014 and they haven't for a lot of families for a number of years \u2014 it's very, very difficult for them. Part of the reason why it hasn't risen because sometimes we're not giving people the skills they need. Sometimes it's because the Federal Reserve kept interest rates so low that the wealthy were able to invest in \u2014 in strong assets like the stock market when everybody else was left behind. People are upset about it. I'll tell you what else they're upset about: you're 50 or 51 years old, and some kid walks in and tells you you're out of work, and you don't know where to go and where to turn. Do we have answer for that? We do. There are ways to retrain the 50 and 51-year-olds, because they've got great value. I'll tell you what else people are concerned about. Their kids come out of college, they have high debt and they can't get a good job. We got to do a lot about the high cost of high \u2014 higher education, but we've got to make sure we're training people for jobs that exist, that are good jobs that can pay. Let me tell you that, in this country \u2014 in this country, people are concerned about their economic future. They're very concerned about it. And they wonder whether somebody is getting something to \u2014 keeping them from getting it. That's not the America that I've ever known. My father used to say, "Johnny, we never \u2014 we don't hate the rich. We just want to be the rich." And we just got to make sure that every American has the tools, in K-through-12 and in vocational education, in higher education. And we got to fight like crazy so people can think the American dream still exists, because it does, with rising wages, with full employment and with everybody in America \u2014 and I mean everybody in America \u2014 having an opportunity to realize the American dream of having a better life than their mother and their father. I'm president \u2014 look, I've done it once. I've done it once in Washington, with great jobs and lower taxes. The economy was really booming. And now in Ohio, with the same formula, wages higher than the \u2014 than the national average. A growth of 385,000 jobs. It's not that hard. Just know where you want to go, stick to your guts. Get it done, because our \u2014 our children and grandchildren are counting on us to get it done. And, folks, we will. You count on it. +p454 +aVWell, let me \u2014 let me first of all talk a little bit about my experience. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years, and by the way, one of the members of that committee was Senator Strom Thurmond from South Carolina. Let em also tell you......that after the 9/11 attacks, Secretary Rumsfeld invited me to the Pentagon with a meeting of the former secretaries of Defense. And in that meeting, I suggested we had a problem with technology, and that I wanted to take people from Silicon Valley into the Pentagon to solve our most significant problems. So I not only had the opportunity to go through the Cold War struggles in Central America, and even after 9/11 to be involved. With Saudi Arabia and oil production, first of all, it's so critical for us to be energy independent, and we're getting there because of fracking and we ought to explore because, see, energy independence gives us leverage and flexibility, and secondly, if you want to bring jobs back to the United States of America in industry, low prices make the difference. We're seeing it in my state and we'll see it in this country. And that's why we must make sure we continue to frack. In terms of Saudi Arabia, look, my biggest problem with them is they're funding radical clerics through their madrasses. That is a bad deal and an evil situation, and presidents have looked the other way. And I was going to tell you, whether I'm president or not, we better make it clear to the Saudis that we're going to support you, we're in relation with you just like we were in the first Gulf War, but you've got to knock off the funding and teaching of radical clerics who are the very people who try to destroy us and will turn around and destroy them. So look, in foreign policy \u2014 in foreign policy, it's strength, but you've got to be cool. You've got to have a clear vision of where you want to go. And I'm going to tell you, that it \u2014 I'm going to suggest to you here tonight, that you can't do on the job training. I've seen so much of it \u2013 a Soviet Union, the coming down of a wall, the issues that we saw around the world in Central America, the potential spread of communism, and 9/11 and Gulf War. You see what the Saudi's \u2014 deliver them a strong message but at the end of the day we have to keep our cool because most of the time they're going right with us. And they must be part of our coalition to destroy +p455 +aVI \u2014 I've been for pausing on admitting the Syrian refugees. And the reasons why I've done is I don't believe we have a good process of being able to vet them. But you know, we don't want to put everybody in the same category. And I'll go back to something that had been mentioned just a few minutes ago. If we're going to have a coalition, we're going to have to have a coalition not just of people in the western part of the world, our European allies, but we need the Saudis, we need the Egyptians, we need the Jordanians, we need the Gulf states. We need Jordan. We need all of them to be part of exactly what the first George Bush put together in the first Gulf War. It was a coalition made up of Arabs and Americans and westerners and we're going to need it again. And if we try to put everybody in the same \u2014 call everybody the same thing, we can't do it. And that's just not acceptable. But I think a pause on Syrian refugees has been exactly right for all the governors that have called for it, and also, of course, for me as the governor of Ohio. +p456 +aVNeil, Neil \u2014 can I say one thing about this. I'm a free trader. I support +p457 +aVFor too long \u2014 no, for too long, what happens is somebody dumps their product in our country and take our people's jobs, and then we go to an international court and it takes them like a year or two to figure out whether they were cheating us. And guess what? The worker's out of a job. So when they \u2014 be found against that country that's selling products in here lower than the cost of what it takes to produce them, then what do we tell the worker? Oh, well, you know, it just didn't work out for you. I think we should be for free trade but I think fair trade. And when countries violate trade agreements or dump product in this country, we need \u2014 we need to stand up against those countries that do that without making them into an enemy. And I want to just suggest to you. How do I know this? Because so many people in my family worked in steel mills, and they didn't work with a white collar, they worked in a blue collar. And the fact is those jobs are critical, they're hard working members of the middle class and they need to be paid attention to because they're Americans and they carry the load. So let's demand open trade but fair trade in this country. That's what I think we need to do. +p458 +aVWell, I created a task force well over a year ago and the purpose was to bring law enforcement, community people, clergy and the person that I named as one of the co-chair was a lady by the name of Nina Turner, a former State Senator, a liberal Democrat. She actually ran against one of my friends and our head of public safety. And they say down as a group trying to make sure that we can begin to heal some of these problems that we see between community and police. And they came back with 23 recommendations. One of them is a statewide use of deadly force. And it is now being put into place everyplace across the state of Ohio. Secondly, a policy on recruiting and hiring, and then more resources for \u2014 for training. But let me also tell you, one of the issues has got to be the integration of both community and police. Community has to understand that that police officer wants to get home at night, and not \u2014 not to lose their life. Their family is waiting for them. At the same time, law enforcement understands there are people in the community who not only think that the system doesn't work for them, but works against them. See, in Ohio, we've had some controversial decisions. But the leaders have come forward to realize that protest is fine, but violence is wrong. And it has been a remarkable situation in our state. And as president of the United States, it's all about communication, folks. It's all about getting people to listen to one another's problems. And when you do that, you will be amazed at how much progress you can make, and how much healing we can have. Because, folks, at the end of the day, the country needs healed. I've heard a lot of hot rhetoric here tonight, but I've got to tell you, as somebody that actually passed a budget; that paid down a half-a-trillion dollars of our national debt, you can't do it alone. You've got to bring people together. You've got to give people hope. And together, we can solve these problems that hurt us and heal America. And that is what's so critical for our neighborhoods, our families, our children, and our grandchildren. +p459 +aVYou know, in our country, there are a lot of people who feel as though they just don't have the power. You know, they feel like if they don't have a lobbyist, if they're not wealthy, that somehow they don't get to play. But all of my career, you know, having been raised in \u2014 by a mailman father whose father was a coal miner, who died of black lung and was losing his eyesight; or a mother whose mother could barely speak English. You see, all of my career, I've fought about giving voice to the people that I grew up with and voice to the people that elected me. Whether it's welfare reform and getting something back for the hard-earned taxpayers; whether it's engaging in Pentagon reform and taking on the big contractors that were charging thousands of dollars for hammers and screw drivers and ripping us off; or whether it's taking on the special interests in the nursing home industry in Ohio, so that mom and dad can have the ability to stay in their own home, rather than being forced into a nursing home. Look, that's who I stand up for. That's who's in my mind......And if you really want to believe that you can get your voice back, I will tell you, as I have all my career, I will continue to fight for you, because you're the ones that built this country, and will carry it into the future. Thank you. +p460 +aVThank you, Wolf. Just last weekend, just last week, a friend asked one of my daughters, "Do you like politics?" And my daughter said, "No, I don't. And the reason I don't like it is because there's too much fighting, too much yelling. It's so loud, I don't like it." You know, I turned to my friend and I said, "You know, she's really on to something." And when we think about our country and the big issues that we face in this country; creating jobs, making sure people can keep their jobs, the need for rising wages, whether our children when they graduate from college can find a job, protecting the homeland, destroying +p461 +aVWell, first of all, Wolf, I said last February that we needed to have people on the ground, troops on the ground in a coalition similar to what we had in the first Gulf War. I remember when the Egyptian ambassador to the United States stood in the Rose Garden and pledged Arab commitment to removing Saddam Hussein from Kuwait. Before we came out here tonight, I am told that the Saudis have organized 34 countries who want to join in the battle against terrorism. First and foremost, we need to go and destroy +p462 +aVNo, I don't think it is. And I want to go back to two other issues. One is the metadata. We know we have to hold this data for a longer period of time. And, you know, in a lot of ways, Chris is right. Look, what a president has to do is take a position. We don't want to err on the side of having less. We want to err on the side of having more. That's good for our families. In addition to that, Wolf, there is a big problem. It's called encryption. And the people in San Bernardino were communicating with people who the FBI had been watching. But because their phone was encrypted, because the intelligence officials could not see who they were talking to, it was lost. We have to solve the encryption problem. It is not easy. A president of the United States, again, has to bring people together, have a position. We need to be able to penetrate these people when they are involved in these plots and these plans. And we have to give the local authorities the ability to penetrate to disrupt. That's what we need to do. Encryption is a major problem, and Congress has got to deal with this and so does the president to keep us safe. +p463 +aVYeah, let me \u2014 let me just suggest to everybody, and I hear \u2014 last February, I said we needed to have people on the ground in a coalition with Europe and our allies. This is not going to get done just by working with the Sunnis. And it is not going to get done if we just embed a few people. We have to go massively, like we did in the first Gulf War where we destroyed Saddam's ability to take Kuwait. We need to have a coalition that will stand for nothing less than the total destruction of +p464 +aVI don't understand this thing about Assad. He has to go. Assad is aligned with Iran and Russia. The one thing we want to prevent is we want to prevent Iran being able to extend a Shia crescent all across the Middle East. Assad has got to go. And there are moderates there. There are moderates in Syria who we should be supporting. I do not support a civil war. I don't want to be policeman of the world. But we can't back off of this. And let me tell you, at the end, the Saudis have agreed to put together a coalition inside of Syria to stabilize that country. +p465 +aVHe must go. It will be a blow to Iran and Russia. +p466 +aVThe foreign policy, you have to know how to pick and choose. There's no way, if Saddam had not had weapons of mass destruction, I would have gone, because I don't believe that the U.S. should be involved directly in civil wars. I opposed the U.S. involvement in Lebanon. We ended up having to withdraw our marines after our barracks were blown up. There is a difference between Iraq, where you have Sunni, Shia, and Kurds put together after the First World War by the Western powers. It doesn't work. It needs to break up into three parts. And for the Russians, frankly, it's time that we punched the Russians in the nose. They've gotten away with too much in this world and we need to stand up against them, not just there, but also in Eastern Europe where they threaten some of our most precious allies. +p467 +aVIt sounds more and more what my daughter said that I said in the beginning, all the fighting and arguing is not advancing us. +p468 +aVIt is not the way we're going to strengthen our country. We will strengthen our country when we come together. And, look, you've got Rand Paul, you've got Ted Cruz, you've got Marco, you've got a lot of people on this stage that have studied these issues. You know what a leader does? A leader has a sound program, has a good policy, and then brings people together to solve problems. Guess what? Both in Congress in balancing the budget and in Ohio fixing the economy \u2014 and, by the way, we talk about the fence. The first thing we better get going is strengthening our economy, because if we don't have a strong economy, we can't pay for all of this. And the world wants us to be able to function from strength, believe it or not. Get our economy going, get these people together in a room. We can fix this, ladies and gentlemen. We don't have to fight all the time. It can be done, and we will be great... +p469 +aV... when we join together. Thank you, Hugh. +p470 +aVYou know, obviously, as president of the United States, we've got to keep the people safe. That's first and foremost. But as governor of Ohio, I have an obligation to keep the 11.5 million people in Ohio safe. And we have been very effective with our Joint Terrorism Task Force, being able to make busts. In fact, we just made one three-four weeks ago against a person who was favorable to +p471 +aVNo Republican has ever been elected president of the United States without winning Ohio. Let me give you a little tip on how you win Ohio, it's reform, it's hope, it's growth, it's opportunity, and it's security. The people of Ohio are the people of America. The people of America are reflected in Ohio. Our message has to be big, and bold, and positive, and connect, not just with people's heads but also connect with their hearts. If we do it, we will beat Hillary Clinton, and we will run the White House, and we will strengthen and fix America, I promise you. +p472 +aVFirst of all, let me just say that, in the state of Ohio \u2014 and I'm the only acting executive on \u2014 on this stage today \u2014 we do have a moderate increase in the minimum wage. And I got to tell you, my father carried mail on his back. His father was a coal miner. He died of black lung. He was losing his eyesight. My mother's mother lived with us. She could barely speak English. I come from a town where if the wind blew the wrong way, people found themselves out of work. An economic theory is fine, but you know what? People need help. Now, I have a plan that, in fact, would cut taxes, but not $11 trillion or $12 trillion that would put my children further in debt. I have a plan that would not only cut taxes, lower the income tax rate for individuals, lower the tax for businesses so businesses will compete here and not move operations overseas, and also a plan \u2014 the only plan of anybody standing on this stage to get us to a balanced budget by the end of a second term. And, you know, the simple fact of the matter is, we hear a lot of promises in this debate, a lot of promises about these tax cuts or tax schemes sometimes that I call them. Hillary and the Democrats promise everything on the spending side. We've got to be responsible about what we propose on the tax side. Yes, lower taxes, lower spending. My website, JohnKasich.com, will show you exactly how we balance the budget. I balanced the budget in Washington as a chief architect, and I have balanced it in Ohio for one reason. When you balance the budget and you cut taxes, people get work. And our most important moral purpose as leaders in the political system is to make sure we create an environment for job creation so people can live their dreams and realize their God-given potential. That's why it's so important. And for those at the bottom, we've got to do what we can to train them so they can move up. But to just look the other way is not acceptable, because, you know what, as the governor of Ohio I have to deal with real challenges, and we've gotten it done in our state, and I will do it for America. +p473 +aVSure. We would move the Medicare system from a 7 percent growth down to about a 5 percent growth. And I have a whole series of ways to do that. In Ohio, we reduced Medicaid funding for the poor from 10 percent to 2.5 percent, didn't cut one benefit or didn't take anybody off the rolls. Why? Because we're innovators. I've been an innovator my entire career. And I really don't care what special interests or lobbyists have to say. I have a job to do when I take over a public office. Now, we freeze non-defense discretionary for eight years. We also put an increase in defense spending. Our tax cuts balance out. And at the end of the day, we will get to a balanced budget. And I want everybody here to know, when I was Budget Committee chairman in Washington, I stepped on every toe in that town, and we got to a balanced budget, and we had enormous job growth. And as governor of Ohio, we went from 350,000 lost jobs to a gain of 347,000 jobs. +p474 +aVI'll do it in Washington. I've done it twice; I'll do it thrice for the United States of America. +p475 +aVExcuse me. +p476 +aVYeah, I would like to make a comment. +p477 +aVI appreciate it, Jeb. I'm all of you. But I want at some point to talk about a value-added tax and $11 trillion, $12 trillion tax cuts that will put our kids way deeper in the hole than they have been at this point. So I would like to talk about it at some point, because that's what leadership is. +p478 +aVMaria, can we comment on that? +p479 +aVCan we comment on that? +p480 +aVWell, look, in 1986 Ronald Reagan basically said the people who were here, if they were law-abiding, could stay. But, what didn't happen is we didn't build the walls effectively and we didn't control the border. We need to. We need to control our border just like people have to control who goes in and out of their house. But if people think that we are going to ship 11 million people who are law-abiding, who are in this country, and somehow pick them up at their house and ship them out of Mexico \u2014 to Mexico, think about the families. Think about the children. So, you know what the answer really is? If they have been law- abiding, they pay a penalty. They get to stay. We protect the wall. Anybody else comes over, they go back. But for the 11 million people, come on, folks. We all know you can't pick them up and ship them across, back across the border. It's a silly argument. It is not an adult argument. It makes no sense. +p481 +aVJerry, Gerald, it was an attack. +p482 +aVIn the state of Ohio, the state of Ohio, we have grown 347,000 jobs. Our unemployment is half of what it was. Our fracking industry, energy industry may have contributed 20,000, but if Mr. Trump understood that the real jobs come in the downstream, not in the upstream, but in the downstream. And that's where we're going to get our jobs. But Ohio is diversified. And little false little things, sir, they don't really work when it comes to the truth. So the fact is, all I'm suggesting, we can't ship 11 million people out of this country. Children would be terrified, and it will not work. +p483 +aV...Mr. Baker, everybody got to talk about taxes... +p484 +aV...I think you were coming to me and then... +p485 +aV...Look, I hate to crash the party to you, Mr. Baker, but, you know, what's fair... +p486 +aV...Yes, sir... +p487 +aVLet me tell you this, Mr. Baker, in terms of the cyber attacks, we have the capability to not only have a defensive posture, but it also to make it clear to people that if you attack us with cyber attacks, we will destroy the mechanisms that you are using to attack us. I want to give you a little trip around the world. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years. In the Ukraine, arm the people there so they can fight for themselves. In the eastern part of Europe, make sure that Finland and the Baltics know that if the Russians move, we move. In Syria, yes, a no-fly zone in the north on the Turkish border, a no-fly zone on the south on the Jordanian border. Anybody flies in the first time, maybe they can fly out. They fly in there a second time, they will not fly out. And it also becomes a sanctuary for the people to be. And it also sends many messages in the Middle East that we're still involved. Saudi Arabia, cut off the funding for the radical clerics, the ones that preach against us. But they're fundamentally our friends. Jordan, we want the king to reign for 1,000 years. Egypt, they have been our ally and a moderating force in the Middle East throughout their history. In the groups \u2014 in the countries of the Gulf states of Bahrain, the Cleveland Clinic is opening an operation. Clearly we see the same with them. And in Israel, we have no better ally in the world, and no more criticizing them in public, we should support them. And finally China, China doesn't own the South China Sea, and I give the president some credit for being able to move a naval force in there to let the Chinese know that we're not going to put up with it any more. And in the trade agreement, the TPP, it's critical to us, not only for economic reasons and for jobs, because there are so many people who are connected to getting jobs because of trade, but it allows us to create not only economy alliances, but also potentially strategic alliances against the Chinese. They are not our enemy, but they are certainly not our friend. And finally, I will say to everyone in this room, we have been talking about taxes and economics. When the fall comes, and we run against Hillary, which will be a disaster if she got elected. I have two 16-year-old girls, and I want this country to be strong. We make promises we can't keep under the bright light of the fall, we will have trouble. We must make sure that economic programs and our military programs are solid. I served in Washington as the chairman of the Budget Committee, and we got the budget balanced. And in Ohio, as the CEO, and guess what, we have got to have a CEO mentality and a way to beat Hillary Clinton and the Democracies in the fall. And our ideas have to add up. They have to be solid. And people have to know we have the confidence to lead America. And as president, I will lead this country, as I have before in Washington and in Ohio, and will return both on domestic and international affairs. And I appreciate the opportunity to speak this time, Gerry. +p488 +aVLet me \u2014 let me also say, Gary \u2014 Gary, let me also say, Jeb is \u2014 what Jeb is talking about with the big banks is to force them to reserve their capital, people who invest it and they hold their capital, so that if the bank goes down, the people who are invested in the bank are the ones that pay. That's what he's trying to say. Secondly, I'll tell you about Wall Street: There's too much greed. And the fact is, a free enterprise system is a system that's produced the greatest wealth for the world. But you know Michael Novak, the great Catholic theologian, says that a free enterprise system that is not underlaid with values \u2014 and we should all think about the way we conduct our lives \u2014 yes, free enterprise is great, profits are great, but there have to be some values that underlay it, and they need a good ethics lesson on Wall Street on a regular basis to keep them in check so we, the people, do not lose. +p489 +aVNeil, that's the difference of being an executive. And let me just explain: when a bank is ready to go under and depositors are getting ready to lose their life savings, you just don't say we believe in philosophical concerns. You know what an executive has to decide? When there's a water crisis, how do we get water to the city? When there's a school shooting, how do you get there and help heal a community? When there are financial crisis, or a crisis with ebola, you got to go there and try to fix it. Philosophy doesn't work when you run something. And I gotta tell you, on-the-job training for president of the United States doesn't work. We've done it for 8 years, \u2014 and almost 8 years now. It does not work. We need an executive who's been tried, has been tested, and judge the decisions that that executive makes. I don't like what the Fed is doing, but I'll tell you what worries me more than anything else: turning the Fed over to the Congress of the United States... +p490 +aV...so they can print the money. That would be a very bad approach. +p491 +aVI wouldn't. I wouldn't. +p492 +aVNo. No, I didn't say that. +p493 +aVThey were \u2014 they were talking about what you would do with depositors. Would you let these banks shut down? My argument is, going forward, the banks have to reserve the capital, so that the \u2014 so that the people who own the capital start pressuring the banks to not take these risky approaches, Ted. But at the end of the day... +p494 +aV... I'm gonna tell you this. Let me tell you this. If during \u2014 if during... +p495 +aV...because if during \u2014 well, I'll tell you what (ph). +p496 +aVAs an executive \u2014 no. As an executive, I would figure out how to separate those people who can afford it versus those people, or the hard-working folks who put those money in those institutions...... let me \u2014 no, no. Let me say another thing. Here's what I mean by that. Here's what I mean by that. +p497 +aVWhen you are faced \u2014 when you are faced, in the last financial crisis, with banks going under \u2014 with banks going under, and people, people who put their \u2014 their life savings in there, you got to deal with it. You can't turn a blind eye to it. Now, going forward, that's one thing. If you had another financial crisis, perhaps there would be an effort to make sure that we do (ph). +p498 +aVWell, ladies and gentlemen, if Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders were to win this election, my 16-year-olds, I \u2014 I worry about what their life is going to be like. You know, the conservative movement is all about opportunity. It is about lower taxes. It's about balanced budgets. It's about less regulation. And it's about sending power, money and influence back to where we live so we can run America from the bottom up. In addition to that, once we have the power and the money and the influence with programs we shift out, that each of us have a responsibility to reach out and to rebuild our families, make them stronger, and connect our neighborhoods. All that together \u2014 wealth, connection, family \u2014 America's greatest days are ahead. We must win this election. +p499 +aVGood question, but I want to tell you, my great concern is that we are on the verge, perhaps, of picking someone who cannot do this job. I've watched to see people say that we should dismantle Medicare and Medicaid and leave the senior citizens out \u2014 out in the \u2014 in the cold. I've heard them talk about deporting 10 or 11 \u2014 people here from this country out of this country, splitting families. I've heard about tax schemes that don't add up, that put our kids in \u2014 in a deeper hole than they are today. We need somebody who can lead. We need somebody who can balance budgets, cut taxes... +p500 +aVYou know, frankly, I did it in Washington, in Ohio, and I will do it again in Washington, if I'm president, to get this country moving again. +p501 +aVcountry moving again. +p502 +aVListen, I want to just comment. +p503 +aVWell I want to comment on this. This is the fantasy... +p504 +aVThis is the fantasy that I talked about in the beginning. +p505 +aVI'm the only person on this stage that actually was involved in the chief architect of balancing the Federal Budget. You can't do it with empty promised. You know, these plans would put us trillions and trillions of dollars in debt. I actually have a plan. I'm the only one on this stage that has a plan that would create jobs, cut taxes, balance the budget and can get it done because I'm realistic. You just don't make promises like this. Why don't we just give a chicken in every pot, while we're, you know, coming up \u2014 coming up with these fantasy tax schemes. We'll just clean it up. Where are you gonna clean it up? You have to deal with entitlements, you have to be in a position to control discretionary spending. You gotta be creative and imaginative. Now, let me just be clear, John. I went into Ohio where we had an $8 billion hole and now we have a $2 billion surplus. We're up 347,000 jobs. When I was in Washington, I fought to get the budget balanced. I was the architect. It was the first time we did it since man walked on the moon. We cut taxes and we had a $5 trillion projected surplus when I left. That's was hard work. Fiscal discipline, know what you're doing. Creativity. This stuff is fantasy. Just like getting rid of Medicare and Medicaid. Come on, that's just not \u2014 you scare senior citizens with that. It's not responsible. +p506 +aVWell, I mean right here. To talk about we're just gonna have a 10 percent tithe and that's how we're gonna fund the government? And we're going to just fix everything with waste, fraud, and abuse? Or that we're just going to be great? Or we're going to ship 10 million Americans \u2014 or 10 million people out of this country, leaving their children here in this country and dividing families? Folks, we've got to wake up. We cannot elect somebody that doesn't know how to do the job. You have got to pick somebody who has experience, somebody that has the know-how, the discipline. And I spent my entire lifetime balancing federal budgets, growing jobs, the same in Ohio. And I will go back to Washington with my plan. +p507 +aVAnd I will have done it within 100 days, and it will pass. And we will be strong again. Thank you. +p508 +aVLet me just \u2014 let me respond. First of all, Ohio does have an energy industry, but we're diversified. We're one of the fastest growing states in the country. We came back from the dead. And you know what? It works very, very well. And secondly, when you talk about me being on the board of Lehman Brothers, I wasn't on the board of Lehman Brothers. I was a banker and I was proud of it. And I traveled the country and learned how people made jobs. We ought to have politicians who not only have government experience but know how the CEOs and the job creators work. My state is doing great across the board. And guess what, in 2011, I got a deal... +p509 +aV... an agreement with the... +p510 +aV... that he tried to take credit for four years later. It's a joke. +p511 +aVJohn Harwood, there's a bigger issue here. +p512 +aVWell, first of all, when we talk about the Import Export Bank, it's time to clean up corporate welfare. If we're gonna reform welfare for poor people, we ought to reform it for rich people, as well. Secondly, in our state, we went from a loss of 350,000 jobs to, now, a gain of 347,000 jobs to the positive. Our wages are growing faster than the national average, and I've cut taxes more than any sitting governor in this state \u2014 $5 billion, including no taxes on small business and killing the death tax. I want to go back to what we were talking about earlier, this budget deal in Washington. This is the same old stuff since I left. You spend the money today and then you hope you're going to save money tomorrow. I don't know if people understand, but I spent a lifetime with my colleagues getting us to a federal balanced budget. We actually did it. And I have a road map and a plan right now to get us to balance. Reforming entitlements, cutting taxes. You see, because if you really want to get to a balanced budget, you need to reduce your expenses and you need to grow your economy. So what I will tell you about our incentives \u2014 our incentives are tight, and at the end of the day we make sure that we gain more from the creation of jobs than what we lose. And you know what? Ohio, one of the best growing places in the country \u2014 I not only did it in Washington, I did it in Ohio, and I'll go back to Washington, and there will be no more silly deals... +p513 +aV... If I become President because we'll have a Constitutional Amendment to require a federally balanced budget so they will do their job. +p514 +aVWell, first of all, we're running a $2 billion dollar surplus, we're not having a revenue problem right now. And, sending mixed signals to kids about drugs is a disaster. Drugs is one of the greatest scourge in this country, and I spent five years of my administration working with my team to do a whole sort of things to try to reign in the problem of overdoses, and it goes on and on. We could do a whole show on that. I want to go back for a second thought on this issue of income inequality. My program would move the 104 programs of the federal Department of Education into four block grants, and send them back to the states because income inequality is driven by a lack of skills when kids don't get what they need to be able to compete and win in this country. The fact is, in order to get this economy moving again, I call for freezing regulations for a year except for the problem of public safety. I believe that we need to cut these taxes down, we need to be on a roadmap to balancing the budget, and we need to send power, money, and influence, the welfare department, the education department, job training, infrastructure, Medicaid, all of that out of Washington back to the states so we can run these programs from where we live to the top, not a one size fits all mentality that they have in Washington. And, that will get to the nub of opportunity for our children, and an ability to see wages rise. Again... +p515 +aV...One more time, in Ohio, our wages are growing faster than the national average. We've cut taxes, balanced budgets, changed the regulatory environment. Folks, you want to \u2014 +p516 +aV\u2014 fix America, this is the formula. It worked for Reagan and it works for our team in Ohio. Thank you. +p517 +aVJohn. +p518 +aVI wanna tell you, in my state, we took Medicaid, the hardest program to control, and we took it from a 10 percent growth rate to 2.5 percent without taking one person off the rolls or cutting one single benefit. And so much of what we did \u2014 to force competition, to use technology, to stand down the special interest groups \u2014 can you imagine taking Medicaid from 10 to 2.5 percent? We can take many of those same procedures, we can apply it to Medicare. We can make a stronger program. But I agree with Jeb, you can't just do this by growing the economy. You can't grow your way out of demographics. But we can give people better health care. And finally, on health care, why don't we start treating \u2014 keep giving... +p519 +aV...incentives for people to keep people healthy, rather than giving the incentives to treat them when they're sick? +p520 +aVI was on morning Joe at a town hall and a young student stood up and said, "Can I still be idealistic?" I said, absolutely, you can still change the world. And, you know the old inscription, if you save one life, you've changed the world. Folks, we have a problem here with the leadership in Washington, but I'll tell you another problem. We need to rebuild our families. We need to have stronger families. We need to know who our neighbors are. We need to come together as a country because we have to realize that America is great, not from the top-down. Oh yeah, we want to elect a good president, but America is great from the bottom-up, and the bottom-up is us in our families, in our communities, in our neighborhoods. We will renew America if we work together, and I am totally confident that we will. And God bless America. +p521 +aVHello, I'm John Kasich, the Governor of Ohio. Emma, and Reese, my children, and Karen, love 'ya girls. Thanks for watching tonight. By the way, I think I actually flew on this plane with Ronald Reagan when I was a congressman, and his goals, and mine, really much \u2014 are pretty much the same. Lift Americans, unify, give hope, grow America, and restore it is to that great, shining city on a hill. Yes, he was a great one, and I learned much from watching him. The most important thing, hope to Americans, unify, lift everyone in America. +p522 +aVJake, Jake. +p523 +aVListen, you know, I \u2014 if I were sitting at home and watch thing back and forth, I would be inclined to turn it off. I mean, people at home want to know across this country, they want to know what we're going to do to fix this place, how we'll balance a budget, how we're going to create more economic growth, how we'll pay down the debt. What we're going to do to strengthen the military. So, we just spent 10 minutes here... +p524 +aVBut \u2014 but wait a minute. It's a lot of ad hogshead. Now, I know that it may be buzzing out there, but I think it's important we get to the issues, because that's what people want, and they don't want all this fighting. +p525 +aV...Yeah, well... +p526 +aVWell, let me just say this. First of all, I think it's a bad agreement, I would never have done it. But, you know, a lot of our problems in the world today is that we don't have the relationship with our allies. If we want to go everywhere alone, we will not have the strength as (ph) if we could rebuild with our allies. Now, this agreement, we don't know what's going to happen in 18 months. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years. I've seen lots of issues in foreign affairs, and foreign \u2014 in terms of global politics, you have to be steady. Now, here's the \u2014 if they cheat, we slap the sanctions back on. If they help Hamas, and Hezbollah, we slap the sanctions back on. And, if we find out that they may be developing a nuclear weapon, than the military option is on the table. We are stronger when we work with the Western civilization, our friends in Europe, and just doing it on our own I don't think is the right policy. +p527 +aVNo, no, no. I want to \u2014 I want to \u2014 I want to say something about what the senator just said. +p528 +aVNo one is \u2014 no \u2014 let me \u2014 let me suggest to you we believe that we operate better in the world when our allies work with us. President Bush did it in the Gulf War. We work better when we are unified. Secondly, nobody's trusting Iran. They violate the deal, we put on the sanctions, and we have the high moral ground to talk to our allies in Europe to get them to go with us. If they don't go with us, we slap the sanctions on anyway. If they fund these radical groups that threaten Israel and all of the West, then we should rip up the deal and put the sanctions back on. And let me make it clear \u2014 let me make it clear... +p529 +aV... if we think \u2014 if we think they're getting close to a \u2014 to developing a nuclear weapon and we get that information, you better believe that I would do everything in my power as the commander-in-chief to stop them having a nuclear weapon. +p530 +aVWe can have it, and we can have our allies, and we can be strong as a country, and we can project across this globe with unity, not just doing it alone. That is not what gets us where we want to get as a nation. +p531 +aVWell, I agree that we should defund Planned Parenthood. I don't know many people in America who don't think that we should, and in my state, we're trying to figure out how to get it done, because we are threatened with the federal government taking all of our Medicaid money away. I think there is a way to get this done by giving governors the ability to be able to act to defund Planned Parenthood. But when (ph) it comes to closing down the federal government, you gotta be very careful about that. When we shut the government down \u2014 if we have a chance at success and it's a great principle, yes. The president of the United States is not going to sign this, and all we're gonna do is shut the government down, and then we're gonna open up \u2014 open it up, and the American people are gonna shake their heads and say, "what's the story with these Republicans?" So I think there is a way to get to cutting off the funding for Planned Parenthood. I was in the Congress for 18 years, balanced the budget, cut taxes, got it done. Changed welfare, went around the president to get welfare reform done. There are ways to do it without having to shut the government down, but I'm sympathetic to the fact that we don't want this organization to get funding, and the money ought to be reprogrammed for family planning in other organizations that don't support this tactic. But I would not be for shutting the government down... +p532 +aV...because I don't think it's going to work out. +p533 +aVWe're not \u2014 what I can tell you is this. We didn't surrender in New Jersey, six years ago, as the brand new first ever pro-life governor of New Jersey since Roe versus Wade, I defended Planned Parenthood. And I've vetoed Planned Parenthood funding, now, eight times in New Jersey. Since the day I walked in as governor, Planned Parenthood has not been funded in New Jersey. We stood up and every one of those vetoes has been sustained. But here's the problem, we're \u2014 we're fighting with each other up here. We agree. Let's ask Hillary Clinton. She believes in the systematic murder of children in the womb to preserve their body parts... +p534 +aV...Dana, in a way that maximizes their value for sale for profit. It is disgusting, and the American people need to hear it... +p535 +aV...we shouldn't be fighting with each other. She's the real opponent, she's the real problem. +p536 +aVI'll tell you what \u2014 I'll tell you what I'd be willing to fight for. I'll tell you what I'd be willing to fight for. Why will (ph) we put tax reform on the president's desk, so we can simplify this tax system? +p537 +aVNo, no, it's really important, Dana. We got to talk about what we would be willing to shut down for. Why don't we put tax reform on this president's desk, and make him veto it if that's what he wants to do? Why haven't we repealed and replaced Obamacare? Make him veto if that's what he wants to do. +p538 +aVThere's a \u2014 +p539 +aVJake \u2014 +p540 +aVOK, Jake. +p541 +aVI don't at this point in terms of changing the incentives for investment and risk-taking. But let's just stop for a second. There's one person on this stage that does have a record. I'm the only person on the stage and one of the few people in this country that led the effort as the chief architect of the last time we balanced the federal budget. We also cut taxes. And when I left Washington in 2000, we had a $5 trillion surplus, and the economy was booming. I had spent 10 years of my life to get us to that point, went out in the private sector, was a great experience, and went into Ohio and took an $8 billion hole and turned it into a $2 billion surplus. We've had the largest amount of tax cuts of any sitting governor. We've grown well over 300,000 jobs. You see, I've done it in both places. I'm the only one here that has done it in both places. It took a lot to get us to a balanced budget. It was legitimate. It was real. And we negotiated it. A lot of what we're talking about here tonight as we take this position and that position, you know what? At the end of the day, America has got to work. We've got to figure out how we come together to deal with this \u2014 with our fiscal problems because when we deal with that, we create a stronger economy for everybody. People have a chance to rise. So, you know, when we think about how we make a choice, it's the person that lands that plane. It's not somebody that talks about it. It's about the person who has done it. And I've done it in... +p542 +aV... both places. And I did it including people in the other party. And that's how we were successful. +p543 +aVAnd that's how I will be president, using that experience to drive this country forward. Thank you. +p544 +aVWell, look, people still have to get to know me, so I want to spend my time talking about my experience reforming welfare, balancing budgets, cutting taxes, providing economic growth when I was in Washington, turning Ohio around. Eight billion in the hole, $2 billion surplus, up over 300,000 jobs, big tax cuts, strengthening our credit. All those things matter but, you know, as a young man in my first election in 1978, I defeated an incumbent Democrat. I defeated an incumbent Democrat in 1982; running on the Reagan program, I was the only Republican in America to defeat an incumbent Democrat that year. And then, when I won for election of governor, I was the first Republican to defeat an incumbent in 36 years, and the first person to have never run statewide out of politics for 10 years to beat an incumbent. That hadn't happened for 96 years. So, we'll get to the point where we'll talk about Hillary Clinton, or whoever the nominee is, record. But right now, I want to give people sense of hope, sense of purpose, a sense of unity, sense that we can do it. So... +p545 +aVYou know, at the end of the day, I'm going to continue to talk about my record, because there is, did you ever notice when people run for office, they run for president, they make a lot of promises, they don't keep them. +p546 +aVI don't intend to do that, and I going to be out there pushing it out \u2014 don't worry about me and Hillary. That will all work out, and I'm from Ohio. She will not beat me there, I can promise you that. +p547 +aVCan I just \u2014 can I \u2014 Jake, can I just make one point on this whole military discussion? +p548 +aVI called for boots on the ground many months ago in a coalition with our friends who share our interest. You know, you win a battle with the military, and when we go somewhere, we need to be mobile, and lethal. We need to take care of business, and we need to come home. But, we face, also, a bigger war \u2014 and you win the bigger war with the battle of ideas. You wonder why young people, and educated people, rich people, schooled people, have tried to join +p549 +aV...to make (ph) centers (ph) of justice so that we can battle the radicals, call them out for what they are, and make sure that all of our people feel fulfilled in living in Western civilization... +p550 +aV...This is a giant battle in the world today... +p551 +aVWell, it's probably not, maybe, legal, but, I would pick Mother Theresa, the lady that I had a chance to meet, a woman who lived a life so much bigger than her own. An inspiration to everyone when we think about our responsibility to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. +p552 +aVWell, I have one now \u2014 they (ph) call me, "Unit One". My wife says, "You'll never be Unite One, I'm Unite One. You're Unit Two." +p553 +aVWell, as president, I will make this a nation that will solve problems. And how? By having the elected officials and the leaders realize they're Americans before they're Republicans or Democrats. I did it in Washington. And I've done it in Ohio by having the elected officials realize that they're Ohioans before anything else. Secondly, I will rebuild the relationships and show the respect to our allies around the world. We have no choice but to do that. We will be stronger when we are unified. And we'll fight for freedom and for human rights. And finally, a little bit of what Carly said. The people that are out there listening, America was never great because we ran America from the top down. America is great because we have run America from the bottom up, where we all live in the neighborhoods. One more time in America, we need to revive the concept of citizenship, where everybody's actions make a huge difference in changing the world. We have a Holocaust memorial on our state house grounds. And there is one line on there that stands out all the time. "If you've saved one life, you've changed the world." We need to adopt that as citizens and rebuild and reinspire our country. Thank you. +p554 +aVWell, first of all... ...first of all, Megyn, you should know that -- that President Reagan expanded Medicaid three or four times. Secondly, I had an opportunity to bring resources back to Ohio to do what? To treat the mentally ill. Ten thousand of them sit in our prisons. It costs $22,500 a year... ...to keep them in prison. I'd rather get them their medication so they could lead a decent life. Secondly, we are rehabbing the drug-addicted. Eighty percent of the people in our prisons have addictions or problems. We now treat them in the prisons, release them in the community and the recidivism rate is 10 percent and everybody across this country knows that the tsunami of drugs is -- is threatening their very families. So we're treating them and getting them on their feet. And, finally, the working poor, instead of them having come into the emergency rooms where it costs more, where they're sicker and we end up paying, we brought a program in here to make sure that people could get on their feet. And do you know what? Everybody has a right to their God-given purpose. And finally, our Medicaid is growing at one of the lowest rates in the country. And, finally, we went from $8 billion in the hole to $2 billion in the black. We've cut $5 billion in taxes... ...and we've grown 350,000 jobs. +p555 +aVChris, first of all, I was just saying to Chris Christie, they say we're outspoken, we need to take lessons from Donald Trump if we're really going to learn it. Here is the thing about Donald Trump. Donald Trump is hitting a nerve in this country. He is. He's hitting a nerve. People are frustrated. They're fed up. They don't think the government is working for them. And for people who want to just tune him out, they're making a mistake. Now, he's got his solutions. Some of us have other solutions. You know, look, I balanced the federal budget as one of the chief architects when I was in Washington. Hasn't been done since. I was a military reformer. I took the state of Ohio from an $8 billion hole and a 350,000 job loss to a $2 billion surplus and a gain of 350,000 jobs. +p556 +aVBut the point is that we all have solutions. Mr. Trump is touching a nerve because people want the wall to be built. They want to see an end to illegal immigration. They want to see it, and we all do. But we all have different ways of getting there. And you're going to hear from all of us tonight about what our ideas are. +p557 +aVDonald, if you... +p558 +aV-- this campaign, I hope you will give to me. +p559 +aVOK. +p560 +aVLet's start off with my father being a mailman. So I understand the concerns of all the folks across this country, some of whom have trouble, you know, making ends meet. But I think she will come in a narrow way. The nominee of this party, if they're going to win, has got to come at it in a big way, which is pro-growth. Which is balancing budgets. You know, we were talking about it. People were saying, could we do it? I was the chairman of the Budget Committee and the lead architect the last time it happened in Washington, and when we did it we had great economic growth, we cut taxes, and we had a big surplus. Economic growth is the key. Economic growth is the key to everything. But once you have economic growth, it is important that we reach out to people who live in the shadows, the people who don't seem to ever think that they get a fair deal. And that includes people in our minority community; that includes people who feel as though they don't have a chance to move up. You know, America is a miracle country. And we have to restore the sense that the "Amiracle" will apply to you. Each and every one of the people in this country who's watching tonight, lift everybody, unite everybody and build a stronger United States of America again. It will be and can be done. +p561 +aVWell, look, I'm an old-fashioned person here, and I happen to believe in traditional marriage. But I've also said the court has ruled -- +p562 +aVWait, Megyn, the court has ruled, and I said we'll accept it. And guess what, I just went to a wedding of a friend of mine who happens to be gay. Because somebody doesn't think the way I do, doesn't mean that I can't care about them or can't love them. So if one of my daughters happened to be that, of course I would love them and I would accept them. Because you know what? That's what we're taught when we have strong faith. So the issues like that, issues like that are planted to divide us. I think the simple fact of the matter is, and this is where I would agree with Jeb, and I've been saying it all along, we need to give everybody a chance, treat everybody with respect, and let them share in this great American dream that we have, Megan. So, look, I'm going to love my daughters, I'm going to love them no matter what they do. Because, you know what, God gives me unconditional love. I'm going to give it to my family and my friends and the people around me. +p563 +aVWell, Megyn, my father was a mailman. His father was a coal miner. My mother's mother could barely speak English. And their son today stands on this podium in the great state of Ohio not only as the governor, but a candidate for president of the United States. I do believe in miracles. You know, I've had a lot of elections. But my elections are really not about campaigns. I tell my people that these are about a movement. And a movement to do what? To restore common sense. A movement to do things like provide economic growth. And a movement not to let anybody be behind. You know, today the country is divided. You asked a question about the police and the difficulty in communities. We've got to unite our country again, because we're stronger when we are united and we are weaker when we are divided. And we've got to listen to other people's voices, respect them, but keep in mind, and I believe in terms of the things that I've read in my lifetime, the Lord'is not picking us. But because of how we respect human rights, because that we are a good force in the world, he wants America to be strong. He wants America to succeed. And he wants America to lead. And nothing is more important to me than my family, my faith, and my friends. +p564 +aVYou know, tonight we hear about what people want to do. I want to tell you what I've done. I was a member of the Armed Services Committee for 18 years. I spent a big chunk of my life studying national security issues and our role in the world. No. 2. I was the chairman of the House Budget Committee and one of the chief architects the last time we balanced a budget, and it was the first time we had done it since man walked on the moon. We had a $5 trillion surplus and we cut taxes. I spent ten years in the private sector, actually learning how business works. And now I'm the governor of Ohio, and I inherited a state that was on the brink of dying. And we turned it all around with jobs and balanced budgets and rising credit and tax cuts, and the state is unified, and people have hope again in Ohio. +p565 +asVKELLY +p566 +(lp567 +VTonight, we are coming to you live from the Iowa Event Center in downtown Des Moines, in the shadow of the Iowa state capitol. In just four days, people here in the Hawkeye State will caucus and cast the first votes of the 2016 election. +p568 +aVSeven candidates are on that stage tonight, their position on the stage determined by their standing in the latest national polls, as well as polls in Iowa and New Hampshire. And here they are. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Florida Senator Marco Rubio. +p569 +aVWow. +p570 +aVSo let's get started. Senator Cruz, before we get to the issues, let's address the elephant not in the room tonight. Donald Trump has chosen not to attend this evening's presidential debate. What message do you think that sends to the voters of Iowa? +p571 +aVThe divide between you and Mr. Trump has turned into one of the biggest stories in the country. And for six months that \u2014 your campaign, during this campaign, you praised Mr. Trump as somebody who you thought was an effective voice against the Washington cartel. You said you were glad that he was running as a Republican. But when he started to criticize you, your message changed, and you suddenly started to portray him as the voice of the Washington cartel, and suggested he would do the Democrats' bidding. Which is it? +p572 +aVSenator Christie, you began this campaign touting your record as a Republican from a blue state who knows how to get things done and reach across the aisle. However, many Republicans feel that reaching across the aisle and getting things done isn't great if you get the wrong things done. And they prefer to stand on principle rather than compromise. Why are they wrong and you're right? +p573 +aVBut first, you can join tonight's conversation right from home. Go to google.com or open your Google search app and search Fox News debate to vote on which candidate you think has the best plan to defeat +p574 +aVWe have a lot \u2014 we have a lot to cover. But we want to \u2014 we want to turn the page to domestic... +p575 +aVNo, no. No. +p576 +aVNo no no, because we want to turn the page to domestic terror, and let me tell you why: we're partnering with Google on this debate, and they're telling us... +p577 +aV... that their search results have gone through the roof on \u2014 on people... +p578 +aV... you're a good man, Governor Kasich. +p579 +aVPeople \u2014 the search results \u2014 the searches for terror issues, for safety issues in America have gone through the roof, increased over 400 percent since 2008. People are worried. They're worried about what's happening in the country and about a domestic terror attack, as all of you know. Now, when combating this threat, Senator Rubio, you've advocated closing down mosques \u2014 we'll get back to you. Well, you have advocated closing down \u2014 closing down mosques, diners, any place where radicalization is occurring. You told me that. But the Supreme Court has made clear that hateful speech is generally protected by the First Amendment. In other words, radical Muslims have the right to be radical Muslims, unless they turn to terror. Doesn't your position run afoul of the First Amendment? +p580 +aVSenator Paul, do you agree with that? We're gonna close down mosques, we're gonna close down diners where we think radical thinking's occurring? +p581 +aVGovernor Christie, let's talk about profiling. In December... +p582 +aV... profiling. Profiling. In December, two radical Muslims killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California. Neighbors of the terrorists said that they did not report the couple to law enforcement prior to the crime, because they were afraid that they would be accused of profiling. Now, you have said that we should not profile. How do you square that with the San Bernardino case? +p583 +aVThey didn't know they were going to attack the country. +p584 +aVThat's not true. The neighbors said they saw men going in and out of the garage. They saw packages being delivered. They saw Muslims, and they did not think that was enough to call the cops. Do you? +p585 +aVDr. Carson, this week a female Muslim who served in the U.S. Air Force asked Hillary Clinton the question, she asked whether the United States is still the best place in which to raise her three Muslim children. Given what she perceives as a rise in Islamaphobia in this country. Do you think the GOP messaging on Muslims has stoked the flames of bias on this as the Democrats suggest, and how would you answer this veteran? +p586 +aVGovernor Kasich, stand back. You appear to back in another debate, a so-called back door to encrypted cell phone technology, which protects most smartphones that we all have from hacking. And it includes our phones and it also protects the cell phones of the terrorist. Now the tech companies and a group of MIT scientists, smart guys, right, warn that if they create a way for the FBI to have a back door into our encrypted communications, then the bad guys will exploit it too. And they say that this is going to cause more security problems than it would solve for everyday Americans. Are they wrong? +p587 +aVBut this is public testimony. +p588 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p589 +aVWelcome back, everybody. We are live in Des Moines, Iowa. And let's get right back to the questions \u2014 Bret. +p590 +aVAll right. We're going to move on. Because coming up, immigration, and something you've never seen before. Stay tuned, right after this break. +p591 +aVWelcome back everyone. Live, in Des Moines, Iowa. Now, we move onto the topic of immigration. Senator Rubio, we'll start with you. When you ran for Senate in 2010, you made clear that you opposed legalization and citizenship for illegal immigrants. You promised repeatedly that you would oppose it as a U.S. Senator as well. Here are just a few examples. Watch. +p592 +aVWithin two years of getting elected you were co-sponsoring legislation to create a path to citizenship, in your words, amnesty. Haven't you already proven that you cannot be trusted on this issue? +p593 +aV... But, you went on from there... +p594 +aV... You said more than that, Senator... +p595 +aV... You said earned path to citizenship is basically code for amnesty. You... +p596 +aV... supported earned path to citizenship... +p597 +aVGovernor Bush, do you agree Senator Rubio has not reversed himself on his immigration promise? +p598 +aVGo ahead, senator. +p599 +aVAll right. +p600 +aVAll right. This will be the last one. +p601 +aVOK. Let's move on. Senator Cruz, when Senator Rubio proposed that bill creating a path to citizenship, you proposed an amendment. It would have allowed for legalization but not citizenship. Yes, it would. Pressed last month on why you supported legalization, you claimed that you didn't. Right? Like you just did. Saw that. You argued that this was just a poison pill amendment, basically it's something designed to kill the bill and not actually get it through. But that is not, however, how it sounded at the time. Watch. +p602 +aVWas that all an act? It was pretty convincing. +p603 +aVBut the bill allowed both. The bill you were amending allowed citizenship and legalization. +p604 +aVOK, sir. +p605 +aVSenator Paul. You know how Washington works. Do you buy that? +p606 +aVGo ahead, sir. +p607 +aVSenator Rubio, even Chuck Schumer, your co-sponsor of that bill... +p608 +aV... agrees with Ted Cruz on this. +p609 +aVGo ahead, Senator Cruz. +p610 +aVAll right. +p611 +aVGo ahead, Governor Christie. +p612 +aVLet's go to a Youtube question. Let's get to a Youtube question. This is a question from a Youtube creator with over 2 million subscribers. Watch. +p613 +aVDr. Carson, that's one \u2014 that one's for you. +p614 +aVGo ahead. +p615 +aVAll right. +p616 +aVAll right. We're moving on. +p617 +aVGovernor bush, poll after poll shows you running among the worst in your party against Hillary Clinton. Even Mitt Romney said that a Bush v. Clinton head-to-head would be too easy for the Democrats. Yet still you and the super PACs supporting you continue to blanket the airwaves with cutting ads, not against Mrs. Clinton, but against your fellow Republicans, especially Senator Rubio. Do these attacks do more harm than good by targeting those candidates who appear to have the best chance of defeating Mrs. Clinton? +p618 +aVWelcome back, everybody. Let's get back to the questions. Chris? +p619 +aVSenator Paul, you have suggested that former President Bill Clinton's history with women is fair game in this campaign. How do you answer those who say you don't hold the sins of the husband against the wife? +p620 +aVOf her husband's? +p621 +aVWelcome back, everybody. And now, it is time for closing statements. The candidates each get 30 seconds. And we begin with Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. +p622 +aVOhio Governor Kasich. +p623 +aVFormer Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Governor. +p624 +aVTexas Senator, Ted Cruz. Senator. +p625 +aVGentlemen, thank you all so much for being here tonight. We appreciate it greatly. And that does it for the seventh Republican primary debate of the 2016 presidential race. But we're not done. The Kelly file starts in a moment and guess who is going to be there? Senator Ted Cruz. +p626 +aVWelcome to the first debate night of the 2016 presidential campaign, live from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. I'm Megyn Kelly... ... along with my co-moderators, Brett Baier and Chris Wallace. Tonight... Nice. Tonight, thousands of people here in the Q, along with millions of voters at home will get their very first chance to see the candidates face off in a debate, answering the questions you want answered. +p627 +aVAs for the candidates who will be answering those questions? Here they are. Positioned on the stage by how they stand in the polls, in the center of the stage tonight, businessman Donald Trump. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. +p628 +aVGentlemen, our first round of questions is on the subject of electability in the general election, and we start tonight with you, Dr. Carson. You are a successful neurosurgeon, but you admit that you have had to study up on foreign policy, saying there's a lot to learn. Your critics say that your inexperience shows. You've suggested that the Baltic States are not a part of +p629 +aVMr. Trump, one of the things people love about you is you speak your mind and you don't use a politician's filter. However, that is not without its downsides, in particular, when it comes to women. You've called women you don't like "fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals." Your Twitter account... +p630 +aVNo, it wasn't. Your Twitter account... +p631 +aVFor the record, it was well beyond Rosie O'Donnell. +p632 +aVYour Twitter account has several disparaging comments about women's looks. You once told a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice it would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees. Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president, and how will you answer the charge from Hillary Clinton, who was likely to be the Democratic nominee, that you are part of the war on women? +p633 +aVGovernor Walker, you've consistently said that you want to make abortion illegal even in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother. You recently signed an abortion law in Wisconsin that does have an exception for the mother's life, but you're on the record as having objected to it. Would you really let a mother die rather than have an abortion, and with 83 percent of the American public in favor of a life exception, are you too out of the mainstream on this issue to win the general election? +p634 +aVGovernor Kasich, You chose to expand Medicaid in your state, unlike several other governors on this stage tonight, and it is already over budget by some estimates costing taxpayers an additional $1.4 billion in just the first 18 months. You defended your Medicaid expansion by invoking God, saying to skeptics that when they arrive in heaven, Saint Peter isn't going to ask them how small they've kept government, but what they have done for the poor. Why should Republican voters, who generally want to shrink government, believe that you won't use your Saint Peter rationale to expand every government program? +p635 +aVAlright, gentlemen, we're gonna switch topics now and talk a bit about terror and national security. Governor Christie. You've said that Senator Paul's opposition to the NSA's collection of phone records has made the United States weaker and more vulnerable, even going so far as to say that he should be called before Congress to answer for it if we should be hit by another terrorist attack. Do you really believe you can assign blame to Senator Paul just for opposing the bulk collection of people's phone records in the event of a terrorist attack? +p636 +aVGo ahead, sir. +p637 +aVGovernor Christie, make your point. +p638 +aVGo ahead, governor. +p639 +aVAlright. +p640 +aVAlright, we've gotta cut it off there. We have plenty more we want to get to. That was an interesting exchange, thank you for that. +p641 +aVWell, I want to move on, because I have -- we're gonna get to you, governor, but I -- I really wanna get to a Facebook questioner. His name is Alex Chalgren, and he has the following question: +p642 +aVSenator Cruz, I wanna talk to you about this, because many of the Facebook users and -- and -- the -- the folks on Facebook wanted the candidates to speak to +p643 +aVYou don't see it as... ...an ideological problem -- an ideological problem in addition to a military one? +p644 +aVGovernor Bush, for days on end in this campaign, you struggled to answer a question about whether knowing what we know now... +p645 +aV...we would've invaded Iraq... +p646 +aVI remember it too, and +p647 +aVGovernor Walker, in February you said that we needed to gain partners in the Arab world. Which Arab country not already in the U.S. led coalition has potential to be our greatest partner? +p648 +aVDr. Carson, in one of his first acts as commander in chief, President Obama signed an executive order banning enhanced interrogation techniques in fighting terror. As president, would you bring back water boarding? +p649 +aVWe have a lot for you, don't worry. Fear not, you may rue that request. +p650 +aVIt's just before 10:00 p.m. on the East Coast. Welcome back to Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, and the very first Republican primary debate of the 2016 presidential campaign. Ten candidates on the stage, selected based on their standing in five national polls. And tonight they are facing off, answering the questions you want asked. We hope. +p651 +aV Sounds like somebody's a little R-rated. +p652 +aVWell, the first debate night of the 2016 presidential campaign continues from Cleveland after a short time-out. Stick around. Social issues, next. +p653 +aVSenator Rubio, you favor a rape and incest exception to abortion bans. Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York just said yesterday those exceptions are preposterous. He said they discriminate against an entire class of human beings. If you believe that life begins at conception, as you say you do, how do you justify ending a life just because it begins violently, through no fault of the baby? +p654 +aVYou don't favor a rape and incest exception? +p655 +aVMr. Trump, in 1999, you said you were, quote, "very pro- choice." Even supporting partial-birth abortion. You favored an assault weapons ban as well. In 2004, you said in most cases you identified as a Democrat. Even in this campaign, your critics say you often sound more like a Democrat than a Republican, calling several of your opponents on the stage things like clowns and puppets. When did you actually become a Republican? +p656 +aVGovernor Bush, I want to ask you, on the subject of name calling of your fellow candidates, a story appeared today quoting an anonymous GOP donor who said you called Mr. Trump a clown, a buffoon, something else that cannot be repeated on television. +p657 +aVIs it true? +p658 +aVMr. Trump, 30 seconds. +p659 +aVThe subject of gay marriage and religious liberty. Governor Kasich, if you had a son or daughter who was gay or lesbian, how would you explain to them your opposition to same-sex marriage? +p660 +aVHow would you -- how would you explain it to a child? +p661 +aVSenator Paul, in the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling on same sex marriage, Carol Fox on Facebook want to know the following. Quote: what will you do to ensure Christians are not prosecuted for speaking out against gay marriage and will Christians be forced to conduct business that conflicts with their religious beliefs? +p662 +aVGovernor Walker, many in the Black Lives Matter movement, and beyond, believe that overly-aggressive police officers targeting young African Americans is the civil rights issue of our time. Do you agree? And if so, how do you plan to address it? And if not, why not? +p663 +aVThank you. +p664 +aVWe have to stand you by, because after the break, we're going to let the candidates make their closing statements, their final thoughts, and . . . God. Stay tuned for that. +p665 +aVWelcome back. In our final moments here together, we're going to allow the candidates to offer their final thoughts. But first, we want to ask them an interesting closing question from Chase Norton on Facebook, who wants to know this of the candidates: "I want to know if any of them have received a word from God on what they should do and take care of first." Senator Cruz, start from you. Any word from God? +p666 +aVGovernor Kasich, same question. +p667 +aVGovernor Walker, same question. +p668 +aVSenator Rubio, I want to ask you the same question. But I do want to mention, a woman just came here to the stage and asked, what about the veterans? I want to hear more about what these candidates are going to do for our nation's veterans. So I put the question to you about God and the veterans, which you may find to be related. +p669 +aVDr. Carson, a question to you about God and his role, but also, one of the issues that the public was very interested in, and we touched on it earlier, is race relations in this country, and how divided we seem right now. And what, if anything, you can do -- you would do as the next president to help heal that divide. +p670 +aVGovernor Christie? +p671 +aVSenator Ted Cruz. +p672 +aVGovernor Scott Walker. +p673 +aVIt's over! +p674 +aVAre you relieved? You were nervous before, they -- they don't look relieved. They look "get me outta here." Thank you all very much, and that will do it for the first Republican primary debate night of the 2016 presidential race. Our thanks to the candidates, who will now be joined by their families on stage. +p675 +asVREGAN +p676 +(lp677 +VIn Tuesday's State of the Union Address, the president said that our economy is strong. He cited the significant decline we've seen in unemployment rate and the millions of jobs that have been created. What is your assessment of the economy right now? And I would like to hear from all of you on this one, beginning with Ms. Fiorina. +p678 +aVThank you Governor Huckabee. Senator Santorum? +p679 +aVThank you. Well, since we've been talking about the Middle East, Senator Santorum, conflicts between Saudi Arabia and Iran have certainly escalated, amid accusations that Saudi Arabia bombed the Iranian Embassy in Yemen after the Saudi Embassy in Tehran was attacked. As we confront an increasingly unstable Middle East, how will you, as president, navigate this administration's promises to Iran while standing by our historic allies in the region? +p680 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p681 +aVGovernor Huckabee, if I could just follow-up with that. Do we need to be in Afghanistan? +p682 +aVThank you Governor Huckabee. Ms. Fiorina, nearly 600 women say they were attacked in a German city on New Year's Eve by men of Arab or North African descent and 45 percent of those alleged attacks were sexual assaults. Twenty-two of those 32 men arrested so far are asylum-seekers. Are you worried about similar problems in the United States? +p683 +aVI want to stay with you on this. The world shares a common enemy right now in the way of +p684 +aVMs. Fiorina, thank you. +p685 +aVWelcome back, everyone, to the Republican presidential debate. On to the next round of questions \u2014 Sandra. +p686 +aVMs. Fiorina, the president has just issued an executive order to expand the gun laws and background checks. And none of you on stage agree with this. But recent polls show the majority of Americans are in favor of universal background checks. +p687 +aVIt's the poll data. +p688 +aVSo tell me......why, in your view, is the president's proposal a problem? +p689 +aVMs. Fiorina, you've said that was when you were CEO of HP, you actually worked with the government. +p690 +aV\u2014 to try and combat some of these terrorist threats. +p691 +aVWhat did you do? +p692 +aVMs. Fiorina, thank you. +p693 +aVGovernor Huckabee, an American in San Bernardino murdered 14 people while terrorists with Belgian and French passports murdered 130 people. Were facing a threat within our borders, and from outside the United States. Those European terrorists, they could have come here at any time given that we have a visa waiver program that enables people to travel back and forth. It exists within those countries, and 36 others. In countries around the world, including many in Europe, cannot ensure that their citizens are not jihadists, why are we waiving the visa requirement at all? +p694 +aVIf you get the visa waiver program, does that shut down international commerce? +p695 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p696 +aVSenator Santorum, thank you. +p697 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p698 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from North Charleston. We want to jump right back in. Sandra is kicking it off. +p699 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you know it used to be you could graduate from high school and get a pretty good job at the local factory, enough to take care of your family and yourself. Those days seem to be gone. It's pretty hard to do that nowadays. Businesses are increasingly turning to automation to increase their productivity levels. It's happening right here, in fact, at the Boeing factory in North Charleston. The president says automation threatens workers' ability to get higher wages. Do you agree with that? And if so, do you have a solution? +p700 +aVThank you very much, Governor Huckabee. Senator Santorum, 40% of babies born today are born to single moms. That's twice as high as reported back in 1980, and it's 11 times as high as in 1940. Studies show that children are always better off economically, most often \u2014 and emotionally, with two parents in a household. From a policy perspective, should the government be doing anything to encourage family formation? +p701 +aVThank you. +p702 +aVCarly Fiorina? +p703 +aVThank you to all the candidates. That does it, everyone for the first debate right here in North Charleston. +p704 +asVHEMMER +p705 +(lp706 +VSo, here we go. Ninety-seven hours before Iowa chooses, in fact the last two winners in this state are on this stage tonight. Governor Huckabee, in 2008, you won by nine points here, but this time your support seems to be going to Senator Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. Why, Governor, is your message not working this time? +p707 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Santorum, four short years ago you won Iowa. You beat Mitt Romney, pretty much shocked the country. But, just the other day you talked about what is in the greater good for your campaign. Is Monday night your last stand? +p708 +aVOK. +p709 +aV... Senator, do you want to name... ... Senator, do you want to name that entertainer your refering to? +p710 +aVBut senator, since you mentioned... +p711 +aVSenator, quickly then, after this debate, you mentioned Donald trump's name. Immediately, you're going to event across town here in Des Moines as a guest of Donald Trump. +p712 +aVSo are you laying the groundwork for maybe your future? Perhaps an endorsement of Mr. Trump? +p713 +aVThank you, senator. One moment. We'll get to you in a moment, Governor. We have a few coming up. +p714 +aVThank you. Governor Gilmore. As of one week ago, you have not held a single campaign event here in the state of Iowa. As of one week ago, in fact, you were the only one in the Republican field who had not made a campaign visit to this state. You know how it works here. You know how it's worked over time. Why should anyone caucus for you on Monday night? +p715 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p716 +aVMs. Fiorina, same topic. The president says that many are exaggerating the threat from +p717 +aVThank you. +p718 +aVGovernor Gilmore, some time this spring 34 more detainees are cleared from release from Gitmo. If you were president, as you say, this president wants to close it. As president, if Gitmo were closed and an enemy combatant were found or captured in the field of battle, perhaps Syria or Iraq or Libya, and you don't have Gitmo, where would you put them? +p719 +aVGovernor, thank you for that. +p720 +aVWelcome back to Des Moines on what will be a long night here. Let's get back to the questions. Let's get back to the questions with Martha. +p721 +aVLet me stay with you, Ms. Fiorina. You've said you will shrink the federal government by 30 percent over the next two years, and those jobs will not be filled, and you'll do it through retirement. Your critics would argue that's exactly what you did at Hewlett Packard when 30,000 people lost their jobs. If it did not work at H.P., why would it work at the federal government? +p722 +aVThank you. +p723 +aVGovernor Huckabee, Nikki Haley, Republican governor from South Carolina, recently said... +p724 +aVI did not, but we... +p725 +aVWe have plenty for you -- you bet, Governor. We have a couple more in the hopper for you in a moment here. +p726 +aVFirst, Governor -- Governor Huckabee, Nikki Haley warned about listening to "the siren call of the angriest voices," to which Donald Trump said he is "very, very angry." Who is right, Governor? +p727 +aVThank you, Governor. +p728 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you've mentioned the economy several times tonight. Let's go back to that for a moment because in America today 50% of the American workers are making less than $30,000 dollars a year. Let's talk about what you could do for them. The Conservative Club for Growth has had an issue with your policy on taxes for years. In fact, it called you, "Tax Hike Mike". And, the record shows state spending in Arkansas increased 54% when you were in charge, 94% if you include federal dollars during that same period. When it comes to helping people at the margins, $30,000, $32,000 dollars a year, what's better? A tax and spend approach, or shrinking government? +p729 +aVGovernor Huckabee, thank you. Same issue, Senator Santorum. The President says criticism of his economic policy is political hot air. You consistently talk about manufacturing jobs leaving America. You support a flat tax of 20%. How would a flat tax bring back two million jobs to America? +p730 +aVSenator, thank you. +p731 +aVThank you Ms. Fiorina. Governor Gilmore. Who are the moderate Muslims do you seek advice and counsel from on how to deal with the threat from radical Islamic terrorism? +p732 +aVThank you governor. Governor Huckabee. Here in Iowa 43 percent of Democratic caucus goers describe themselves as socialist. That's a higher number than those who say they are capitalist. I guess you could say, they're feeling the burn. This is a country rooted in capitalism, the United States of America. How did we get here? +p733 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum, the president says politics in America have become meaner over the past several years with him in the White House. Two weeks ago at the State of the Union he said the following. "A president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide." Lincoln and Roosevelt, that's pretty good company. If he is right, do Republicans share some of the blame? +p734 +aVThank you, Senator. +p735 +aVIn the closing few moments, the candidates have an opportunity to make a closing statement, 30 seconds for each. And, we want to start tonight with the former Virginia Governor, Jim Gilmore. +p736 +aV... Thank you, Governor. +p737 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p738 +aVThank you, Governor. +p739 +aVThat concludes our debate tonight, but the night has just begun. +p740 +asVBAIER +p741 +(lp742 +VNine p.m. on the East Coast. Eight o'clock here in Des Moines, Iowa. Welcome to the seventh Republican presidential debate of the 2016 campaign. I'm Bret Baier, along with my comoderators Megyn Kelly and Chris Wallace. +p743 +aVGoogle sees political searches spike during televised presidential debates \u2014 no surprise there. But they spike by more than 440 percent on average, as voters across America seek to learn more about what's happening on the live debate stage. +p744 +aVOhio Governor John Kasich. And Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. +p745 +aVTonight's rules are simple. Up to 60 seconds for each answer, 30 seconds for each follow-up response. And if a candidate goes over the allotted time, you will hear this. Double. +p746 +aVI think the double is the one we want. Very pleasing. We have a crowd of about 1,600 here, and while they have agreed to respect the candidates and listen intently, we can tell you they are very excited to be here. Am I right? +p747 +aVGovernor Bush, it's hard for anyone of your pedigree to avoid being called establishment. But isn't that part of the problem in this race, that three others on this stage are splitting the main stream Republican vote and there by possibly handing this nomination over to an anti-establishment candidate? +p748 +aVThank you governor. +p749 +aVSenator Paul, you are definitely not in the establishment category. But at the beginning of this campaign, you said you were your own man when asked about your father, former Texas Congressman and three-time presidential candidate Ron Paul. Senator Cruz's campaign is out with a video saying that Cruz is the intellectual and political heir to your father's 2012 campaign and the liberty movement. And your father now says it's realistic that Donald Trump will be your party's nominee. So did you make a mistake by not fully \u2014 more fully embracing your father politically at the beginning of this campaign? +p750 +aVSenator Cruz, your response to that? +p751 +aVSenator Rubio? +p752 +aVThank you, Senator. +p753 +aVWe'll come back to... +p754 +aVOK. Go ahead, go ahead. +p755 +aVWelcome back. Let's get right back to the questions. Chris. +p756 +aVGovernor Bush, just today, a wounded warrior organization designed to help wounded veterans and their families is coming under fire for raising tens of millions of dollars, but spending almost half of that on travel and hotels and dinners and luxury, lavish conferences. So taking care of veterans is obviously a huge issue in the country that has asked so many to serve and sacrifice so much. If you were president. would you police these charity organizations that say they're helping vets? +p757 +aVGovernor Bush, thank you. Speaking of veterans, we have a question from a veteran who is one of the top Youtube creators. Over the course of the evening, gentlemen, we will hear from some of Youtube's most followed stars. And here's one of them. +p758 +aVSenator Paul, that question to you. +p759 +aVSenator Paul, thank you. +p760 +aVThank you, Megyn. Gentlemen, I'll ask you some questions about federal spending and the role of the federal government. Everybody always said they want to cut federal spending and usually they start by saying they'll cut waste, fraud, and abuse, but that really doesn't ever materialize. We all know that. Governor Christie, you talk a lot about entitlement reform and you say that that's where the federal government can get savings needed to balance the budget. But can you name even one thing that the federal government does now that it should not do at all? +p761 +aVI want one. Yes. +p762 +aVAnything bigger than that? +p763 +aVAnd, Governor, I realize everyone on this stage opposes Obamacare and you're not alone. Google Data shows that in the last month when people searched "policy repeals," that there were a lot of them. Obamacare took the top two spots. But today there are millions of people who gained health insurance from Obamacare and they now rely on it. So the question, Senator Cruz, if you repeal Obamacare, as you say you will, will you be fine if millions of those people don't have health insurance? And what is your specific plan for covering the uninsured? +p764 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. Governor Bush, you've advocated for statehood for Puerto Rico. The Puerto Rican economy is collapsing under unsustainable debt burden. Only about 1 million of its 4 million residents are currently employed. So should American citizens who you say are already overtaxed, bail out Puerto Rico as well? +p765 +aVGovernor Kasich, you're one of two remaining sitting governors still in the race. Your colleague, Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan is under fire \u2014 he and his administration \u2014 for the Flint, Michigan water crisis and the botched response to it. How would you have handled that? +p766 +aVSenator Rubio, on the issue of climate change, in 2008, you wanted Florida to get ahead of other states and establish a cap- and-trade system, a program for carbon emissions, which many Republicans thought at the time would hurt the Florida economy. Now, you're a skeptic of climate change science. And in fact, you warn that federal efforts to fight climate change will cost U.S. jobs and hurt the U.S. economy. So why the change? +p767 +aVThanks, Senator. +p768 +aVThank you. +p769 +aVSenator Rubio, first before I ask you a question, any response to Governor Bush? +p770 +aVNow let's talk about electability, Senator. +p771 +aVThank you, Senator. +p772 +aVMuch more to come, including where the candidates stand on foreign policy. And, once again, you can go to Google.com, or open your Google search app and search, "Fox News Debate" to vote on which candidate you think is winning the debate tonight. We'll be right back. +p773 +aVGentlemen. I'd like to ask you a few questions about foreign policy broadly. Dr. Carson, many experts believe Russian leader Vladimir Putin has greater ideas, bigger designs for the region beyond Russia's actions inside Ukraine. Fast forward to February 2017 and it is President Carson, and Russian uniformed commandos cross the Estonian border and they occupy a city in Estonia. Estonia, a member of +p774 +aVGentlemen, you've all said that the Iran nuclear deal is a bad one. Senator Rubio, you were among the candidates who've said you would tear it up on day one. But as you know, Iran has already received tens of millions of dollars \u2014 tens of billions of dollars in this deal and has quickly reestablished ties economically with Europe. The major concessions, in other words, are up front in this deal. So should you win by the time you take office, the remaining parts of the deal would be the constraints on Iran. So why blow up those constraints on day one, letting Iran off the hook? +p775 +aVGovernor Kasich, you've said that Marco Rubio is wrong... ... that Senator Rubio is wrong with tearing it up on day one. +p776 +aVBut Governor Kasich, you know that the most powerful sanctions are the multilateral ones. +p777 +aVAnd these European countries are already reestablishing these ties. +p778 +aVThey don't want... +p779 +aVGovernor, thank you. Governor Christie... ... Libya is the newest base for +p780 +aVThank you, Governor. +p781 +aVWelcome back to Des Moines. Let's resume the debate. Megyn? +p782 +aVComing up, closing statements from the candidates as our debate continues, live, from Des Moines, Iowa. +p783 +aVNew Jersey governor, Chris Christie. +p784 +aVThank you governor. +p785 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. +p786 +aVThank you senator. +p787 +aVAnd we have you covered from Iowa, all the way to the conventions and on to the general election. Thanks again for joining us. For all of us here in Des Moines, have a great evening. +p788 +aVLess than a year from now, in this very arena, one of these 10 candidates or one of the seven on the previous debate tonight will accept the Republican party's nomination. Tonight's candidates were selected based on an average of five national polls. Just a few hours ago, you heard from the candidates ranked 11th through 17. And now, the prime-time event, the top 10. +p789 +aVNeurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Florida Senator Marco Rubio. +p790 +aVIt might be. It might be. We'll see. [ +p791 +aVIt might be. The rules for tonight are simple. One minute for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups. And if a candidate runs over, you'll hear this. Pleasant, no? We also have a big crowd here with us tonight in the home of the Cavaliers, as I mentioned. And while we expect them... ... we expect them to be enthusiastic, as you heard, we don't want to take anything away from the valuable time for the candidate. So, we're looking for somewhere between a reaction to a LeBron James dunk and the Cleveland Public Library across the street. Somewhere there, we'll find a balance tonight. Without further ado, let's begin. +p792 +aVGentlemen, we know how much you love hand-raising questions. So we promise, this is the only one tonight: the only one. Is there anyone on stage, and can I see hands, who is unwilling tonight to pledge your support to the eventual nominee of the Republican party and pledge to not run an independent campaign against that person. Again, we're looking for you to raise your hand now -- raise your hand now if you won't make that pledge tonight. Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump to be clear, you're standing on a Republican primary debate stage. +p793 +aVThe place where the RNC will give the nominee the nod. +p794 +aVAnd that experts say an independent run would almost certainly hand the race over to Democrats and likely another Clinton. You can't say tonight that you can make that pledge? +p795 +aVSo tonight, you can't say if another one of these... +p796 +aVOK. +p797 +aVDr. Paul. +p798 +aVOK. +p799 +aVJust to be clear, you can't make a -- we're gonna -- we're going to move on. You're not gonna make the pledge tonight? +p800 +aVOK. Alright. +p801 +aVGovernor Bush, you have insisted that you're your own man. You say you have a life experience uniquely your own. Not your father's, not your brother's. But there are several opponents on this stage who get big- applause lines in early voting states with this line: quote, "the last thing the country needs is another Bush in the Oval Office." So do you understand the real concern in this country about dynastic politics? +p802 +aVGovernor Christie, you're not exactly the darling of conservatives. You tout your record as a Republican governor in a blue state. On Facebook, the most people talking about you, not surprisingly, come from your state of New Jersey, and one of the top issues they are talking about is the economy. This -- this may be why. Under your watch, New Jersey has undergone nine credit rating downgrades. The state's 44th in private sector growth. You face an employee pension crisis and the Garden State has the third highest foreclosure rate in the country. So why should voters believe that your management of the country's finances would be any different? +p803 +aVSenator Paul, you recently blamed the rise of +p804 +aVGentlemen, the next series of questions deals with ObamaCare and the role of the federal government. Mr. Trump, ObamaCare is one of the things you call a disaster. +p805 +aVSaying it needs to be repealed and replaced. +p806 +aVNow, 15 years ago, you called yourself a liberal on health care. You were for a single-payer system, a Canadian-style system. Why were you for that then and why aren't you for it now? +p807 +aVBut on ObamaCare... +p808 +aVMr. Trump, hold up one second. +p809 +aVAll right, now, hold on, Senator Paul... +p810 +aVOK. +p811 +aVAll right, let me... Mr. Trump, it's not just your past support for single- payer health care. You've also supported a host of other liberal policies. Use -- you've also donated to several Democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton included, Nancy Pelosi. You explained away those donations saying you did that to get business-related favors. And you said recently, quote, "When you give, they do whatever the hell you want them to do." +p812 +aVSo what specifically did... +p813 +aV-- they do? +p814 +aVHold on. We're going to -- we're going to move on. We'll come back to you, Governor Walker. +p815 +aVWe have many questions to come. +p816 +aVMany questions to come. Governor Huckabee, on Facebook, John Pietricone asked this, "Will you abolish or take away the powers and cut the size of the EPA, the IRS, the Department of Education?" Now, broadly... ...broadly, the size of government is a big concern for Facebook users, Facebook persons, as well as, obviously, conservatives. But year after year, decade after decade, there are promises from Republicans to shrink government. But year after year, decade after decade, it doesn't happen. In fact, it gets bigger, even under Republican politicians. So the question is, at this point, is the government simply too big for any one person, even a Republican, to shrink? +p817 +aVDr. Carson... +p818 +aVDr. Carson, do you agree with that? +p819 +aVGovernor Bush? +p820 +aVWe're going to come back to you, Dr. Carson. Governor Bush, you are one of the few people on the stage who advocates for Common Core education standards, reading and math. A lot of people on this stage vigorously oppose a federal involvement in education. They say it should all be handled locally. President Obama's secretary of education, Arnie Duncan, has said that most of the criticism of Common Core is due to a, quote, "fringe group of critics." Do you think that's accurate? +p821 +aVSenator Rubio, why is Governor Bush wrong on Common Core? +p822 +aVAnd do you agree with your old friend? +p823 +aVWe have many more questions coming on a host of topics, here from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Stay with us. +p824 +aVWe have many more questions coming on a host of topics. Here from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Stay with us. +p825 +aVGentlemen, another question for a few of you. Yesterday, just yesterday, President Obama criticized Republican lawmakers trying to block the Iran deal, calling them knee-jerk partisans, adding that hardliners in Iran who chant "death to America" were, quote, "making common cause with the Republican caucus." Here's what two of your opponents on the 5 p.m. debate stage said about Iran. +p826 +aVNow, I wanna ask a few of you this. First, Governor Walker. You've said that you would tear up the Iran deal on day one. If this deal is undone, what then? +p827 +aVSenator Paul, would you tear up the deal on day one? +p828 +aVGovernor Huckabee, what do you think about what Senator Paul just said? +p829 +aVThank you, gentlemen. +p830 +aVWelcome back to Cleveland. Our next topic is foreign policy. Candidates, you may not have seen the late developing news today our Fox Pentagon team broke earlier this evening about a top Iranian general traveling to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. His name is General Qassem Soleimani, he's blamed for hundreds of U.S. troop's deaths in Iraq, and Afghanistan. His trip to Russia appears to directly violate U.N. Security Council resolutions to confine him to Iran. So, Mr. Trump, if you were president, how would you respond to this? +p831 +aVAnother new development today, Senior Defense officials tell Fox they strongly suspect Russia was behind the cyber attack on the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs office... +p832 +aV...email. This comes in the wake of the Director of National Intelligence blaming the Chinese for the largest ever cyber attack, stealing personal data of tens of millions of Americans. Senator Cruz, in your view, have Russia and China committed acts of cyber war, and if you were president, what would you do about it? +p833 +aVDr. Carson, in August of 2012 President Obama famously declared Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons, quote, "that's a redline for us," and that there would be enormous consequences. One year later, with overwhelming evidence the Assad had, in fact, used chemical weapons and crossed that red line, President Obama declined to use military force against the Assad regime. As president, would you have used military force there? +p834 +aVGovernor Walker, as president, what would you do if Russian President Vladimir Putin started a campaign to destabilize +p835 +aVGovernor -- Governor Huckabee, the culture of the American military is definitely changing. Women are moving into combat roles. Don't Ask, Don't Tell has obviously been dropped. And now Defense Secretary Ashton Carter recently directed the military to prepare for a moment when it is welcoming transgender persons to serve openly. As commander in chief, how would you handle that? +p836 +aVSenator Paul, the first budget you proposed as senator cut all financial aid to Israel. You have since changed your view on that issue. What made you change your mind. +p837 +aVOK. But you still say that Israel could be one of the countries that is cut from financial aid? +p838 +aVGovernor Christie, what do you think of that answer? +p839 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p840 +aVSenator, we're going to finish up with some more questions, thank you. +p841 +aVNow each candidate will make a closing statement. You'll all have 30 seconds to make a closing statement for this debate. We'll start with Ohio Governor John Kasich. +p842 +aVSenator Marco Rubio. +p843 +aVThank you, Senator. +p844 +aVGovernor Mike Huckabee, closing statement. +p845 +aVMr. Trump, closing statement, sir. +p846 +aVGentlemen, thank you. +p847 +aVThat's it. +p848 +asVTAPPER +p849 +(lp850 +VI'm Jake Tapper. We're live at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California for the main event. Round 2 of CNN's presidential debate starts now. The eleven leading Republican candidates for president are at their podiums. They are ready to face off, and if you've been watching this race, you know anything could happen over the next few hours. To viewers who are just joining us, welcome to the Air Force One Pavilion of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Our thanks to the staff here and especially to former first lady Nancy Reagan for this impressive setting with Ronald Reagan's presidential plane as our backdrop. This debate is airing on CNN networks in the United States and around the world. It's also being broadcast on the Salem Radio Network. I know everyone is very eager to get started. But first, I want to explain the ground rules tonight. My name is Jake Tapper. I'll be the moderator. I will be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt. He worked in the Reagan administration for six years. And by CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. I will ask follow-up questions, I will attempt to guide the discussion. Candidates, I will try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have one minute to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you've been singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. These 11 Republicans are positioned on the stage based on their ranking in recent national polls. Our goal for this evening is a debate. A true debate, with candidates addressing each other in areas where they differ. Where they disagree \u2014 on policy, on politics, on leadership. Now, let's begin. I'd like to invite each candidate to take 30 seconds to introduce him or herself to our audience. First to you, Senator Paul. +p851 +aVSenator Cruz? +p852 +aVThank you one and all for being here. There are many important policy issues facing our nation. We're going to get to many of them tonight, but I do want to start off with some current events in the news, and also some of the comments the candidates have recently made on the campaign trail. Mrs. Fiorina, I want to start with you. Fellow Republican candidate, and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, has suggested that your party's frontrunner, Mr. Donald Trump, would be dangerous as President. He said he wouldn't want, quote, "such a hot head with his finger on the nuclear codes." You, as well, have raised concerns about Mr. Trump's temperament. You've dismissed him as an entertainer. Would you feel comfortable with Donald trump's finger on the nuclear codes? +p853 +aVYou didn't answer my question. Would you feel comfortable with Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear codes? It's an issue that one of your fellow candidates has raised. +p854 +aVMr. Trump? +p855 +aVMr. \u2014 Senator Paul, your name has been invoked. +p856 +aVMr. Trump? +p857 +aVI want to \u2014 I want to give Mr. Trump... +p858 +aV... Mr. Trump, I want to give you another chance \u2014 Mr. Trump, I want to give you a chance to respond to something that your rival to your left, Governor Bush, said. Governor Bush told me last week when I read him the quote from Governor Jindal that he agrees you're not a serious candidate. Tell Governor Bush why you are a serious candidate and what your qualifications are to be commander-in-chief. +p859 +aVGovernor Bush, would you feel comfortable with Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear codes? +p860 +aVGovernor Walker? +p861 +aVLet's move on. +p862 +aVA phenomenon going on in the race right now is the political... OK, Governor Kasich, go ahead. +p863 +aVWe have a lot of issues coming up, sir. +p864 +aVWe are getting to the issues, sir. Phenomenon going on in the race is the political outsiders in the race, Dr. Carson, Donald Trump, Carly Fiorina, all together, have majority support in the polls. Governor Christie, I want to ask you about something that Dr. Carson said the other day. Dr. Carson said campaigning is easier for him, because he's not a politician. He can just tell the truth, therefore, while politicians, quote, "Have their finger in the air to see and do what is politically expedient." Governor Christie, tell Dr. Carson, is that a fair description of you? +p865 +aVWell, let's find out. Thank you. +p866 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. Dr. Carson, who were you thinking about on this stage when you said that? +p867 +aVAnd more broadly, is experience in government not important for a president to have? +p868 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p869 +aVThank you. +p870 +aVThank you. Thank you Ms. Fiorina. Governor Bush, in addition to the fact that he's an outsider, one of the reasons Mr. Trump is a frontrunner, Republican voters say, is because they like the fact that he is not bought and paid for by wealthy donors. Mr. Trump has repeatedly said that the $100 million you've raised for your campaign makes you a puppet for your donors. Are you? +p871 +aVIs there anything else you want to say about this? +p872 +aVGovernor \u2014 +p873 +aVSure Dr. Carson. +p874 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Let's move to Russia if we could. Russia is sending troops and tanks into Syria right now to prop up a U.S. enemy, Bashar al-Assad. President Obama's incoming top general says, quote, "Russia presents the greatest threat to our national security." Mr. Trump, you say you can do business with President Vladimir Putin, you say you will get along, quote, "very well." What would you do right now if you were president, to get the Russians out of Syria? +p875 +aVSo, you \u2014 just to clarify, the only answer I heard to the question I asked is that you would \u2014 you would reach out to Vladimir Putin, and you would do what? You would... +p876 +aVSenator Rubio, you've taken a very different approach to the \u2014 the question of Russia. You've called Vladimir Putin a, quote, "gangster." Why would President Rubio's approach be more effective than President Trump's? +p877 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. +p878 +aVI want to bring in Carly Fiorina. +p879 +aVMs. Fiorina, you have met... +p880 +aV...yeah, you've met Vladimir Putin. Yes. +p881 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p882 +aVThank you. +p883 +aVThank you. Thank you, Ms. Fiorina. While you're \u2014 while you brought up the subject of General Suleimani of the Quds forces from Iran, the next president, no matter who he or she may be, will inherit President Obama's Iran deal. Senator Cruz, Governor Kasich says that anyone who is promising to rip up the Iran deal on day one, as you have promised to do, is, quote, "inexperienced," and, quote, "playing to a crowd." Respond to Governor Kasich, please. +p884 +aVWhy is that not, as Governor Kasich says, playing to the crowd and an example of you being inexperienced? +p885 +aVGovernor Kasich... +p886 +aV...Did Senator Cruz just play to the crowd? +p887 +aV...Thank you, Governor. I want to go to Senator Paul. +p888 +aVI want to go to Senator Paul. Senator Paul, the White House is rolling out the red carpet next week for the President of China, President Xi. Governor Walker says that President Obama should cancel the state dinner because of China's currency manipulation, and because of China's alleged cyber attacks against the United States. Is Governor Walker right? +p889 +aVGovernor Walker, Senator Paul seemed to suggest... +p890 +aV...that canceling the state dinner would be rash, and reckless. +p891 +aV...Governor Bush... +p892 +aVGovernor Bush, your father was the chief diplomatic envoy to China back when Nixon opened relations to China. Is Scott Walker's approach the right one, canceling the state dinner? +p893 +aVI want to turn... +p894 +aV...I want to turn to Governor Huckabee who has been very patient. Somebody had to be 11th, and he is, but, I do want to change the subject to the event that you had... +p895 +aV... however you want, but I want to ask this question. +p896 +aVAll right, sir, go ahead. +p897 +aVOK. ( +p898 +aVWe're going to turn now to Hugh Hewitt, from Salem Radio Network. +p899 +aVThank you, Senator Paul. I want to turn now to my colleague Dana Bash. +p900 +aVThat would be fair, you're right. You're the third senator. +p901 +aVWe're going to go to Dana Bash... +p902 +aVSenator Cruz? +p903 +aVThank you, Senator. +p904 +aVThank you, Senator. +p905 +aVThank you, Senator. I want to... +p906 +aV... turn back to Governor Huckabee... +p907 +aVI want to turn back to Governor Huckabee. Governor Huckabee, last week, you held a rally for a county clerk in Kentucky who was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, as I don't need to tell you. You've called what happened to Kim Davis, that clerk, "an example of the criminalization of Christianity." There are several people on the stage who disagree with you. Governor Bush, for example, says that that clerk is sworn to uphold the law. Is Governor Bush on the wrong side of the criminalization of Christianity? +p908 +aVThank you, Governor. +p909 +aVWell, I'm not telling you that, Governor. But Governor Bush is, because he \u2014 because he disagrees. He thinks that Kim Davis swore to uphold the law. You disagree? You're not \u2014 you don't... +p910 +aVOK. Please do. +p911 +aVYou did... +p912 +aVGovernor, you said, quote, "she is sworn to uphold the law." +p913 +aVLet me go to my colleague Dana Bash, who has a question. +p914 +aVDana, I want to continue on the subject. Governor Bush, you recently said while discussing Planned Parenthood, quote, you're "not sure we need a half billion for women's health issues." Now you've since said that you misspoke, you didn't mean to say "women's health issues." But Donald Trump said that quote, that comment, which Hillary Clinton did seize upon immediately, will haunt you the same way Mitt Romney's 47 percent video haunted him. Tell Donald Trump why he's wrong. +p915 +aVThank you, Governor Bush. Donald Trump, let me just... +p916 +aVThe quote was, "I'm not sure we need half a billion dollars for women's health issues." He said he misspoke. You said that that's going to haunt him. Why do you think that? +p917 +aVGovernor Bush? +p918 +aVI want to \u2014 we're going to get to \u2014 +p919 +aVThank you, Governor. +p920 +aVThank you, Governor. +p921 +aVWe're going to \u2014 we're going to get to many of these issues. This \u2014 we're still in the first block, believe it or not. We're going to get to many of these issues, but before we end this block, Ms. Fiorina, I do want to ask you about this. In an interview last week in Rolling Stone magazine, Donald Trump said the following about you. Quote, "Look at that face. Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?" Mr. Trump later said he was talking about your persona, not your appearance. Please feel free to respond what you think about his persona. +p922 +aVAll right. On that note, in less than two minutes \u2014 we're going to take a very quick break. In less than two minutes, the most contentious issue on the campaign trail. And the candidates on the stage are split over how to handle it. That's coming up next. Please give some applause to the candidates. +p923 +aVWelcome to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate. No topic perhaps has been more combustible in this campaign than the issue of immigration. Mr. Trump, you have called for deporting every undocumented immigrant, Governor Christie has said, quote, "There are not enough law enforcement officers \u2014 local, county, state and federal combined \u2014 to forcibly deport 11 to 12 million people." Tell Governor Christie how much your plan will cost, and how you will get it done. +p924 +aVGovernor Christie, you and I have talked about this in an interview. You say that his big wall, his plan to deport 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants, it sounds great, but it's never going to happen. Tell him why you're skeptical of his plans? +p925 +aVThank you, Governor Christie... +p926 +aVI want to bring in Dr. Carson because he too has been skeptical of your plan to immediately deport 11 to 12 million illegal immigrants. He said, quote, "People who say that have no idea what this entails." Why do you say that, Dr. Carson? +p927 +aV...Dr. Carson... +p928 +aVWith all due respect, you said about Donald Trump's plan to deport 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants, "People who say that have no idea what this entails." Why not? +p929 +aV...let's continue the conversation about illegal immigration with Dana Bash. +p930 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Senator Cruz \u2014 Senator Cruz, this week, we learned more about Dr. Carson's plan for the 11 million to 12 million undocumented immigrants in this country. Dr. Carson proposed giving these undocumented immigrants a six- month grace period to pay back taxes then to let them become guest workers and only to deport people who failed to do that. +p931 +aVWell, how would you say it, sir? I was just reading the Wall Street Journal quote, but please tell us. +p932 +aVOK, from the horse's mouth, Senator Cruz, does that fit your definition of amnesty? +p933 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Rubio... +p934 +aV... I'm not sure... +p935 +aVWe'll come back to you \u2014 we'll come back to you in one second, sir. But Senator Rubio, I'm not sure exactly whose plan he's \u2014 he's saying is \u2014 constitutes amnesty, but I know he has said it about your plan in the past, so I want to give you a chance to respond, then, Dr. Carson, we'll come to you. +p936 +aVThank you, Senator. +p937 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator \u2014 Dr. Carson... ... I want to give you 30 seconds. I'd like you to answer the question. Senator Cruz describes plans such as yours as amnesty. Why is your plan not amnesty? +p938 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. I want to talk about the issue of birthright citizenship, which \u2014 which has emerged since the first debate as \u2014 as an a \u2014 a major issue in this campaign. Mr. Trump, you say that babies born in the United States to undocumented immigrants should not any longer get automatic American citizenship. Ms. Fiorina says that you are pandering on this issue and acting like the politicians that you rail against. What's your message to Ms. Fiorina on birthright citizenship? +p939 +aVMs. Fiorina, the vast majority of countries do not have birthright citizenship... ...Donald Trump is right about that. Why is it pandering when he's \u2014 he says this? +p940 +aVMs. Fiorina... +p941 +aVPlease. +p942 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p943 +aVThank you. +p944 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Mr. Trump, I want to give you the chance to respond... +p945 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. Senator Paul... +p946 +aVSenator Paul, I want to bring you in. Where \u2014 where do you stand on the issue of birthright citizenship? +p947 +aVAll right. Senator Paul, thank you so much. Let's turn to a new topic. We've received a lot of questions on social media about the economy and about jobs. We have two CEOs on stage right now. Ms. Fiorina, you were CEO of Hewlett Packard. Donald Trump says you, quote, "ran HP into the ground," you laid off tens of thousands of people, you got viciously fired. For voters looking to somebody with private-sector experience to create American jobs, why should they pick you and not Donald Trump? +p948 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p949 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p950 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 Mr. Trump, why would you be better at creating jobs than Carly Fiorina? +p951 +aVMs. Fiorina, I want to give you a chance to respond. +p952 +aVMr. Trump. +p953 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. +p954 +aVGovernor Christie's name has been invoked. I'd like to give him a 30 second opportunity. +p955 +aVMs. Fiorina, I want to give you +p956 +aVGovernor Kasich, I'm coming to you next, but Ms. Fiorina's name was mentioned, and I have to give her the opportunity to respond if she wants it. +p957 +aVThank you. +p958 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Kasich, I want to come \u2014 I'm coming to you. I'm coming to you. Let me ask the question. You can use the time however you want. +p959 +aVDonald Trump says that the hedge fund guys are getting away with murder by paying a lower tax rate. He wants to raise the taxes of hedge fund managers, as does Governor Bush. Do you agree? +p960 +aVThank you, Governor. +p961 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. +p962 +aVGovernor Huckabee, I want to bring you in on the question of hedge fund managers and taxing them. You have said that you are bothered by the fact that hedge fund managers pay such a low tax rate and make 2,500 times what people who work for them make. Do you agree with what Donald Trump and Governor Bush have proposed, raising their tax rates? +p963 +aVThank you, Governor. Dr. Carson, you support scrapping the entire tax code and replacing it with a flat tax based on the principal on tithing from the Bible. If you make $10 billion, you pay $1 billion in taxes, if you make $10, you pay $1 in taxes. Donald Trump believes in progressive taxation. He says it's not right that rich people pay the same as the poor. Tell Donald Trump why his ideas on taxes are wrong. +p964 +aVMr. Trump... +p965 +aV...What do you think of the flat tax? Do you think it's fair? +p966 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. Senator Paul? +p967 +aVGovernor Walker, I want to go to you. Dr. Carson wants to raise the Federal Minimum Wage, you have called it a lame idea. Why is raising the Federal Minimum Wage lame? +p968 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p969 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p970 +aVDr. Carson, Governor Walker didn't really answer the question, but I'll let you respond. He called raising the Federal Minimum Wage lame, what do you think of that? +p971 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson... +p972 +aVLet me bring in our partner from Salem Radio Network, Hugh Hewitt. +p973 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate. Let's turn to some issues now in foreign policy. Mr. Trump, Senator Rubio said it was, quote, "very concerning to him" that in a recent interview you didn't seem to know the details about some of the enemies the U.S. faces. Rubio said, if you don't know the answers to those questions, you will not be able to serve as commander-in-chief. Please respond to Senator Rubio. +p974 +aVSenator Rubio? +p975 +aVMr. Trump? Senator Rubio seemed to be suggesting that you don't know information that... +p976 +aVAll right. Senator Rubio. +p977 +aVBut are you saying that you have the knowledge to be the president that Mr. Trump does not have? +p978 +aVMr. Trump? +p979 +aVSenator Rubio, he did invoke your absentee record in the Senate. +p980 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. I want to turn now to Hugh Hewitt. +p981 +aVThank you, Governor. +p982 +aVSenator... +p983 +aVSenator Paul? +p984 +aVSenator Paul... +p985 +aVThank you, Senator Paul... +p986 +aVThank you, Senator Paul... +p987 +aVI understand that Governor Bush's name has been invoked, and then we can go to you, Senator Rubio. +p988 +aVThank you, Governor. +p989 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Rubio? +p990 +aVThank you, Senator. +p991 +aVDr. Carson? +p992 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p993 +aVI mean, it is interesting that you say that, because I want to ask Governor Christie about something else that you have said. Governor Christie, we just marked the 14th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Now Dr. Carson has said that if he had been president at the time, the United States would not have gone to war in Afghanistan. What does that say to you about how Dr. Carson would respond as president if America were attacked again? +p994 +aVDr. Carson? +p995 +aV... Governor Christie. +p996 +aVDr. Carson? +p997 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p998 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p999 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee. +p1000 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1001 +aVThank you, governor, I want to turn to +p1002 +aVGovernor Walker, there is a big debate now, we have been talking about +p1003 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Paul, I want to go to you, because you have said that the boots on the ground to fight +p1004 +aVThank you, Senator. We're going to turn to some domestic issues now. I want to bring in my colleague, Dana Bash. +p1005 +aVSure.... +p1006 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p1007 +aV...Thank you, Governor. Dana Bash... +p1008 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina... +p1009 +aV...Thank you, we're going to turn now to domestic issues with Dana Bash. +p1010 +aV...Dana Bash... +p1011 +aVThank you. Dana Bash? +p1012 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1013 +aV...Governor Bush... +p1014 +aV...I want to let you respond. +p1015 +aVThank you, Governor... ...And, that's what we should do, and I hope I'll be working members of the United States Senate to fight hard for the passage of people that have that kind of qualification. +p1016 +aVSenator Cruz, 30 seconds. +p1017 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1018 +aVThank you, Semator. +p1019 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee, I want to bring you in very quickly if you could. Will you have a litmus test when it comes to appointing Supreme Court nominees? +p1020 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1021 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1022 +aVThank you, Governor. We're going to take a quick break. Coming up, one of the hottest questions that you have been asking us via social media. We will pose it to the candidates. That's coming up right after this. +p1023 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican presidential debate at the Reagan Library here in Simi Valley \u2014 Simi Valley, California. Many people on social media wanted us to ask about marijuana legalization. Senator Paul, Governor Christie recently said, quote, "if you're getting high in Colorado today," where marijuana has been legalized, "enjoy it until January 2017, because I will enforce the federal laws against marijuana." Will you? +p1024 +aVI want to give that \u2014 I want to give the person that you called a hypocrite an opportunity to respond. Do you want to identify that person? +p1025 +aVIs there somebody you were specifically thinking of? +p1026 +aVThat's what I though, but I wanted to say it. +p1027 +aVOK. +p1028 +aVGovernor Bush, please. +p1029 +aVI want to go right now \u2014 I want to go right now... +p1030 +aVThat's true. Go ahead, Christie, please. +p1031 +aVYou may respond, and then I'll bring in you, Ms. Fiorina. +p1032 +aVYes, Senator Paul. +p1033 +aVI want to bring in Ms. Fiorina \u2014 I want to bring in Ms. Fiorina on this issue. +p1034 +aVHugh \u2014 Hugh, I'd like to... +p1035 +aVI'd like to turn it over \u2014 I'd like to turn to Dana Bush. +p1036 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1037 +aVI'm coming to you right now on a separate issue, sir. We received... ( +p1038 +aVWe received a lot of questions from social media about climate change. Senator Rubio, Ronald Reagan's secretary of state, George Shultz, reminds us that when Reagan was president he faced a similar situation to the one that we're facing now. There were dire warnings from the mass consensus of the scientific community about the ozone layer shrinking. Shultz says Ronald Reagan urged skeptics in industry to come up with a plan. He said, do it as an insurance policy in case the scientists are right. The scientists were right. Reagan and his approach worked. Secretary Shultz asks, why not take out an insurance policy and approach climate change the Reagan way? +p1039 +aVI'm citing George Shultz. +p1040 +aVGovernor Christie, you have said that climate change is real, and that humans help contribute to it. Without getting into the issue of China versus the United States, which I understand you've talked about before, what do you make of skeptics of climate change such as Senator Rubio? +p1041 +aVJust for the record, I was citing Secretary of State George Shultz, Ronald Reagan's secretary of state who I don't think anybody would call him left-wing. +p1042 +aVI called you a skeptic. +p1043 +aVI want to go another question right now. +p1044 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1045 +aVI'm turning to... +p1046 +aV...I'm turning to another \u2014 I'm turning to another issue right now. Senator Cruz. Well, I think we've heard from several this evening. A backlash against vaccines was blamed for a measles outbreak here in California. Dr. Carson, Donald Trump has publicly and repeatedly linked vaccines, childhood vaccines, to autism, which, as you know, the medical community adamantly disputes. You're a pediatric neurosurgeon. Should Mr. Trump stop saying this? +p1047 +aVShould he stop saying it? Should he stop saying that vaccines cause autism? +p1048 +aVMr. Trump, as president, you would... +p1049 +aVI'm going right to you. +p1050 +aVMr. Trump, as president, you would be in charge of the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health, both of which say you are wrong. How would you handle this as president? +p1051 +aVThank you. +p1052 +aVDr. \u2014 Dr. Carson? +p1053 +aVDr. Carson, you just heard his medical take. +p1054 +aVDr. Paul? Dr. Paul, I'd like to bring you in. +p1055 +aVAlright, thank you so much... +p1056 +aVComing up \u2014 I'm sorry, Governor Huckabee, please. +p1057 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1058 +aVWe have to take another quick break. Coming up, Ronald Reagan looming large over this debate. So how Reaganesque exactly are these Republicans? We will find out next. +p1059 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California. We have a few last questions for you. Two of them a little lighthearted, the other one more serious. We'll start with one of the more light questions. Senator Paul, I'm going to start with you and we're just going to go down the line. Earlier this year, the Treasury Department announced that a woman will appear on the $10 bill. What woman would you like to see on the $10 bill? +p1060 +aVGovernor Huckabee? +p1061 +aVSenator Paul (sic). +p1062 +aVI'm sorry. Senator Rubio? +p1063 +aVJust the senators. +p1064 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1065 +aVDr. Carson? +p1066 +aVMr. Trump. +p1067 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1068 +aVGovernor Walker. +p1069 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p1070 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1071 +aVGovernor Christie. +p1072 +aVAlright. Some good entries if anybody at the mint was listening. Here's the next lighthearted question, you all know that the United States Secret Service uses codenames for the president, and his family. Ronald Reagan's codename, for example, was, "Rawhide", an homage to his performances in Westerns. Nancy Reagan's was, "Rainbow". You don't have to come up the one for your spouse, but, what would you want, Governor Christie, I'll start with you, your Secret Service codename to be. +p1073 +aVGovernor Walker? +p1074 +aVMr. Trump? +p1075 +aVDr. Carson? +p1076 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1077 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1078 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p1079 +aVSenator Paul. +p1080 +aVThat's a mouthful, but OK. OK, here's the more serious question, Ronald Reagan, the 40th President, used the plane behind you to accomplish a great many things. Perhaps, most notably, to challenge Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the wall, and ultimately, to make peace with the +p1081 +aVThat concludes this Republican presidential debate. On behalf of everyone here at CNN, we want to thank the candidates, the Reagan Library, and the Republican National Committee. Thank you, also, to Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash. The next presidential debate will also be right here on CNN, among the Democratic candidates, who will face off for the first time on October the 13th. That debate, a partnership with Facebook, will be moderated by my colleague, Anderson Cooper. And Anderson picks up our coverage of tonight's debate right now. Before I throw to Anderson, let's have one final round of applause for the candidates. +p1082 +asVSANTORUM +p1083 +(lp1084 +VWell, all he has to do is listen to the Democratic debate and find out how bad the economy is. All they do is complain about the hollowing out of the middle of America, and how America is struggling so badly, and have to make these radical changes in Washington. But they've been in control for the last seven years, and what have we seen? The most important jobs, I believe, in this country are the ones that fill the middle. For the 74% of Americans who don't have a college degree between the age of 25 and 65 are manufacturing jobs. Your governor, and your legislature, and your team here have done an amazing job of bringing manufacturing jobs back to South Carolina. Right here. Right here in Charleston, right down in the street in Boeing. You've done a great job, and what's happened? You've grown this economy, you've strengthened the center of your state, the middle. That's because you know that if you're really going to create wealth and opportunity, you got to get jobs, and good paying jobs for everybody. And, so what's happened? Two million jobs, manufacturing jobs, have left this country because of Barack Obama. Regulations, EPA, workplace regulations, things driving people off-shore all because of his number one priority, global climate change. Well, let me tell you this, Mr. President. For every dollar of GDP, China creates five times as much pollution as we do here. You want to \u2014 lower global climate change, bring those jobs back to America and let American workers do that job with less pollution. +p1085 +aVWell, the historic promises that we have made to \u2014 to Iran in this agreement need to be torn up on the first day in office of the next president. And let me tell you why, because Iran has already torn it up. Iran has not approved the agreement that President Obama has said that they have approved. They have approved a different agreement in their parliament. The fact of the matter is they have violated this agreement. Carly just mentioned some of those violations. They have launched ballistic missiles, tested them, in clear violation. And here's the pathetic part. The president announced that they were going to impose sanctions. And then President Rouhani went on Twitter and said there would be retaliation. And what did we do? We backed down. Ladies and gentlemen, there are 50 some Citadel cadets in this audience tonight. I would ask them to stand up if they will. And here's what I want to tell each and every one of them, as you stand. Here's what I want to tell them. Whether it's you're watching that movie this weekend that just came out when we abandoned our men and women in Benghazi, or whether it's we treat Iran, that gave courtesies to our sailors, as they made them record a hostage video, let me tell you this, if you choose to serve this country, I will have your back. I will not let America be trampled upon anymore by these radical jihadists. +p1086 +aVI would just say that if we were doing a better job within the government, we wouldn't need the private sector to do the things that we're asking them to do. I've had a little experience in this in the private sector myself. And what I found was a government with layers and layers of bureaucracy, of people who had some technical expertise but they had no authority, number one. And one of the things I found out about in the bureaucracy is if a lot of people have authority, nobody has authority, number one. And number two, that if you don't do anything, you don't get fired. It's only when you do something and something goes wrong, you get fired. So they do nothing. And that's what is happening in our Defense Department right now. We have a capability that they're trying to develop to play defense. We have a lot of technologists that are very skilled. And they're trying to figure out how to play defense. But what we don't have is we don't have folks who are thinking about offense. We don't have war-fighters. We have technologists. Technologists are not war-fighters. Technologists are thinking, how do I protect cyber-security, how do I secure, how do I protect? And we need to have a much more dynamic, how do we \u2014 how do we go after them? How do we respond? And we need leadership that's willing to make sure that when someone attacks us \u2014 and ladies and gentlemen, they're attacking us as we speak. They're attacking us all day every day, not just the government, but they're attacking private sector companies all day every day. They have to learn that we're going to pay \u2014 they're going to pay a price when they do so. And then right now, just like in every other aspect of our national security, people who attack us are not paying a price. We need a leader who will make sure that they know when they mess with America, they're going to pay a price. +p1087 +aVLook, Facebook and Twitter can teach us things. We can cooperate with them. We can share ideas and information. But this is a \u2014 and this is a very dicey area for the government to go in and require the industry to do its job. It needs to develop that capability. We need to be \u2014 have responsible dialogue, but I don't think requirements are the order of the day. +p1088 +aVWell, the most devastating attack that could occur is an electromagnetic pulse attack, and that would be an attack that would be triggered by a nuclear explosion in the upper atmosphere of our country. The best way to stop that from happening is to make sure that those who contemplating and actually war-gaming and talking about using it, Iran, doesn't get a nuclear weapon so they can't explode that device. And the president of the United States has put Iran on a path to a nuclear weapon. And we have done nothing to do anything to harden our grid. There is actually a bill in Congress that would put money forward to try to put redundancy and harden our electric grid so it could actually survive an EMP. An EMP is a devastating explosion that sends a pulse that knocks out all electric, everything, everything that is connected to any kind \u2014 that is wired, that has a circuit board gets fried out. Everything is gone. Cars stop. Planes fall out of the sky. This is a devastating attack. And this president has done nothing, number one, to take the most probable person to \u2014 probable country to launch an attack and stop them, and has done nothing to try to defend us, particularly our electric grid. The bottom line is, I put the original sanctions on the Iranian nuclear program when I was in the United States Senate. I've been fighting for 12 years with one thing in mind, that we must stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. And......because they're different than every other country. They do not want a nuclear weapon to defend themselves. They want a nuclear weapon to have theological ends to bring about their mahdi so they can control the world. And that is the most serious threat facing this country right now. +p1089 +aVWell, the numbers just don't add up. I mean, they have not added manufacturing jobs. Manufacturing jobs have been lost in this country, 2 million of them. The bottom line is that this president has done more to take jobs away from the hard-working people who are struggling the most. And that's folks who are, as I said, the 74 percent of Americans who don't have a college degree. And they're out there talking about, well, we're going to provide free college for everybody. Well, who is going to pay for it? The 74 percent that don't have a college degree. They're not \u2014 nobody is focused. Let's just be honest, nobody is focused on the people who are struggling the most in America today. We talk about immigration. Talk about the president's immigration plan. He wants to bring in more and more people into this country. Let people who are here illegally stay in this country. Almost all of the people who are here illegally, and most of the people who came here legally over the last 20 years, they're working in wage-earning jobs. That is why wages have flat-lined. And we have unfortunately two political parties with most of the candidates in this field for some form of amnesty, some form of allowing people to stay here even though they're here illegally and for increasing levels of legal immigration. I'm someone who believes that we need to be the party that stands for the American worker. And when we say we need to send people back, I mean we send people back. And let me just make one point. I was in Storm Lake, Iowa, the other day, near a Tyson's plant, 91 percent of the kids that go to the elementary school there are minority kids. And they said, well, what are you going to do with all of these people, their families, they've lived here for a long time? I said, I'm going to give them a gift. I'm going to give them a gift of being able to help the country they were born in. And I'm going to export America, the education they were able to see. They learned English language. They learned about capitalism. They learned about democracy. You want to stop flow of immigrants? Let's send six million Mexicans, Hondurans, Guatemalans, El Savadorians......back into their country, so they can start a renaissance in their country so they won't be coming over here anymore. +p1090 +aVYou know, we've had this debate about the economy, and we haven't talked the one issue now increasingly even the right, and even the are coming to agreement. I've run around doing 300 town hall meetings talking about a book written by a liberal Harvard sociologist, not a normal thing for me to be talking about, but I now name Robert Putnam who wrote a book called, "Our Kids". And, he wrote this book, I think, ostensibly to support the Democratic argument that the middle of America's hollowing out, and income gap is widening, and rich are getting richer. When he studied all the information as to what was going on, he realized that the biggest reason that we're seeing the hollowing out of the middle of America is the breakdown of the American family. The reality is that if you're a single parent \u2014 a child of a single parent, and you grew up in a single parent family neighborhood, you went to that single parent family school, the chance of you ever, ever reaching the top 20% of income earners is 3% in America. At least \u2014 I don't know about you, but that's not good enough. And, we have been too politically correct in this country because we don't want to offend anybody to fight for the lives of our children. You want \u2014 You want to be shocked? You read the first few chapters of Mr. \u2014 Dr. Putnam' book. He talks about Port Clinton, Ohio and growing up there in the 1950's, and how poor kids actually survived and did well, even though they were poor and disadvantaged. But, then he goes to the towns today and these kids are failing, and failing miserably. They don't even have a shot, and we won't even have the courage to have leadership at the federal level \u2014 not with legislation, but the most powerful tool a president have, the bully pulpit to encourage each and everyone of you, churches and businesses, and educators, and community leaders to let's have a national campaign to rebuild the American family, and give every child its birthright which is a Mom and a Dad who loves them. That will change this economy. +p1091 +aVLadies and gentlemen, America is frustrated and angry and looking for someone who's a fighter, but I also think they're looking for someone who's a winner. Somebody who can go out there and take on the establishment and make a difference. And take on someone who's going to be the person who's going to be between a Republican holding the presidency and that's Hillary Clinton. And there's one person on this stage, one person in the race who's done it and done it repeatedly. I've taken on Hillary Clinton on the issues you care about. Partial-birth abortion. Go and google Rick Santorum and Hillary Clinton and there you'll see a five-minute debate. I'll let you decide who won the debate. I'll tell you who won, because we passed the bill and I know I'm out of time but I'm going to take some of Rand Paul's time here for a second. If you're looking for someone who fought Hillary Clinton on Iran's sanctions, she was one of four who voted \u2014 who's deciding vote who voted against Iran's sanctions, so we didn't get it in place as earlier as we should have. I've fought battles against her. In 1994, I ran against the Clinton machine. James Carville and Paul Begala, ran the race against me when I took on the author of Hillary care. And each one of those battles, I won. You want a fighter, you want a winner, I'd appreciate your vote. Thank you. +p1092 +aVYou know, listening to what your network was talking about prior to this race, this debate, reminded me of the coverage that many on this floor are getting. This race, this debate, was called the, "Undercard Debate". The undercard debate. It wasn't advertised significantly. In fact, the entire hour lead up to this there was no conversation about any of the four people on this debate stage, and that is the chronic situation. In fact, they listed -- they put a poll up from Wall Street Journal/NBC News, they listed the candidates, and they failed to mention I wasn't listed. I got zero, why? Because they -- NBC, Wall Street Journal poll never includes my name on the list. This is what the media has been doing over the past year, and trying to segregate, and take Iowans out of the process. What Iowans deserve... ... is to hear from every candidate on equal footing. Had they applied the same rules four years ago, I would have been in the undercard debate. The guy who won the Iowa Caucuses would have been in the undercard debate, not talked about. We would have been talking about, maybe, an entertainer that may have been trying to run. Ladies and gentlemen, you have a chance on Monday to put the record straight about who you want, not who will entertain you. +p1093 +aVBut, who will fight for what you believe in, and I hope you do... +p1094 +aVWell, look. The entire lead up to this debate was talking about whether Donald Trump is going to show up for the next debate. The people of Iowa, who I know pretty darn well, care a lot about the issues. They care about who is going to be the leader of the free world. Who is going to be able to take on +p1095 +aVAnd we are not hearing any of those things. We are hearing about whether someone is going to show up for the next debate or not. +p1096 +aVYes, I am. +p1097 +aVYou know, this, again, more of the politics of trying to get people to throw stuff at each other. I'm not going to throw mud at anybody on this stage tonight. I'm not going to throw mud at anybody on the stage later. I'm not going to attack Donald Trump. What I'm -- Mike Huckabee and I were asked to come to an event where money was going to be raise to do help our veterans. You know, I thought about it. And I thought about. I said well, wait a minute, now, if there were no political considerations and I had some time because I'm not doing anything at 9:00 tonight. And so if I had some time, would I go... ... if I could help raise money for veterans? And the answer was yes, I would. And so I'm going. +p1098 +aVThank you for the question, Martha. We have to have an honest discussion with the American people about the nature of the threat that we confront. This president says that +p1099 +aVWhat I would say is that we have to create jobs that give people wages and benefits that can help them provide for themselves and their families. And that's why I announced from a factory floor in western Pennsylvania, I pledge to make America the number one manufacturing nation, again, in the world. And we can do it. China is starting to reorient itself away from a manufacturing economy that's dumping products on the -- overseas to providing more services to their people. This is an opportunity for America. It's an opportunity for us to get those jobs back. And by the way, do you want to solve global climate change? Take 2 million jobs from China in manufacturing and moving them back here to the United States, where we produce one-fifth the CO2 when we make things. We can help -- we can do every -- we can do it all. We can take care of the environment. We can create more jobs here. Seventy-four percent of Americans don't have a college degree. And unfortunately most folks who, in the Republican Party, don't talk about what we're going to do to create jobs for people who feel like neither political party cares about them. When you elect me, we'll create opportunities for working men and women in this country -- all over this country. +p1100 +aVWell, in fact, the plan that I put forward is scored by the Tax Foundation as bringing three and a half million jobs into this country, and we have provisions in the flat tax for the corporate side that actually has a phase in of manufacturing. Manufacturers initially don't pay any income tax. Ten percent the next year, and 20. We're going to also have a repatriation provision which says that if you have money overseas, and you're Apple, and you got a couple hundred billion dollars there, bring it back. The most you'll be taxed 10%, invest it here in America. Create jobs here in America with all that money that's sitting overseas. We also -- it's not just taxes. It's regulation. I've pledged to cut every single Obamacare -- I mean, excuse me, Obama regulation, including Obamacare, and remove those regulations that cost more than a hundred million dollars in the economy. That will liberate -- and that includes waters of the U.S., and the ozone regulations, they -- the mercury regulations. All of these just crush our manufactures and don't create an opportunity for us to survive. And, remember, China produces five times as much CO2 and other pollutants per dollar of GDP as we do. You want to help the environment? Bring jobs back to America. +p1101 +aVWell, I've been to the March for Life for about 25 years and I thought -- I think that's a pretty good record. Spoken at it a few times and I have shepherded every single piece of pro-life piece of legislation that's passed over the last 20 years. I've either authored it or shepherded it through the United States Congress and I'm pretty proud of that record too. But we have an election going on and there was some snow coming. So I decided that maybe it would be better for me to get out and do some campaigning and not be stuck as my wife and kids were for a week, piling out of two and a half feet of snow. So, here's what I would say. If you want someone that is going to talk a good game, there are a lot of folks on this stage that have talked a good game on the issue of life. Not only have I talked a good game on life and I've done some things. But I've also lived it. You know, one of the things Saint Francis said was, you know, if you preach the gospel, then if you have to, speak. The bottom line is, that twice in my life, we were counseled to have an abortion, one with our son Gabriel and one with our little girl Bella. And neither time did Karen and I for a moment think about it because we know that life begins at conception. We know the dignity of every human life and we know the potential of every child, no matter how long that life lives. And that is a message that can come across to all Americans and without having to say a word and defend the institution of life and the dignity of life in this country. +p1102 +aVThe president of the United States has been the most divisive president in -- certainly in my lifetime. This is a man who constantly... He is not trustworthy. You can't sit down and negotiate with him. He won't keep a deal. We have heard that over and over again. And here is what he does that really, really creates the friction in Washington. He personally attacks people. He ascribes motives to them that aren't true and then he tears them down. How are you going to work with someone if you don't treat them decently, honestly, and respectfully? I was a tough fighter when I was in Washington. I had very sharp elbows. I fought. I went there and joined a game named Jim Nussle here from Iowa with the "gang of seven." And we, in four years' time, took a Congress that had been controlled by Democrats for 40 years, and brought in the first Republican majority because we fought and we fought tough. But you know what? I was able to then work with those same people that we fought with and able to pass welfare reform. Unborn Victims of Violence Act. Pro-life bills. Health savings accounts. A whole laundry list of things not because I was mean, but because I was able to be respectful in the disagreements. And that's what we need in Washington, someone who can be respectful and still unite this country. +p1103 +aVI just want to thank the people of Iowa. Over the last five years I've done 700 speeches and town hall meetings all throughout the state of Iowa, and it has been an incredible right. Thank you. I want to thank all the wonderful folks like Pastor Carey Gordon who gave me a smooth stone and said you go slay Goliaths. Someone like Jim and Janet Cook who over this past Christmas gave up Christmas presents for their kids, and they have more than I do, just they can help me and my campaign. That's the kind of people... ... in Iowa. And, here's what I'm asking you to do. You're good people. You know good leaders. Lead. Pick the right person, not what the polls say. Not who the money give people to. Pick the leader you know is best for this country. Thank you. +p1104 +asVQUESTION +p1105 +(lp1106 +VI'm Mark Watson. I'm known for my views on Youtube, but I'm also a veteran who served in the Army for eight years. As an African-American living near Ferguson, I've seen the strain between police officers and the communities they serve firsthand. Now, there are great tools like body cameras that \u2014 to protect both officers and citizens, but we all currently have better cameras in our pockets than in our precincts. Why aren't we using the technology available to better protect our communities? +p1107 +aVI'm Dulce Candy, a Youtube creator who immigrated to the United States from Mexico when I was a little girl. Since then, I am proud to say I served in the armed forces in Iraq, became a citizen and I am now an entrepreneur. There are many immigrants who contribute positively to the American economy, but some of the comments in the campaign make us question our place in this country. If America does not seem like a welcoming place for immigrant entrepreneurs, will the American economy suffer? +p1108 +aVI'm Nabela Noor. I'm a Muslim American born and raised in the U.S. who creates beauty and lifestyle videos on Youtube. In 2015, the number of hate crimes against Muslims in the U.S. has tripled, and on social media, where I spend a lot of time, I've seen many attacks directed towards fellow Muslims. This culture of hatred is only driving +p1109 +aVMy name is Ashley Tofil. Ms. Fiorina, in November, you said that you would not talk to Vladimir Putin after you were elected because you would be communicating from a position of weakness. Do you believe that it is feasible to not communicate with another world leader? And do you think that that also is a sign of weakness? +p1110 +aVMy name is Carla Hernandez. I'm from the University of Texas at Austin. And my question is directed to all the candidates. If the Bible clearly states that we need to embrace those in need and not fear, how can we justify not accepting refugees? +p1111 +aVPlease describe one action you would do to make the economic environment more favorable for small businesses and entrepreneurs and anyone dreaming of opening their own business. +p1112 +asVCAVUTO +p1113 +(lp1114 +VIt is 9:00 p.m. here at the North Charleston Coliseum and Performing Arts Center in South Carolina. Welcome to the sixth Republican presidential of the 2016 campaign, here on the Fox Business Network. I'm Neil Cavuto, alongside my friend and co-moderator Maria Bartiromo. +p1115 +aVNow, the seven candidates on the stage tonight were selected based on their standing in six national polls, as well as polls in the early-voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire, those standings determining the position on the stage of the candidates tonight. And here they are. Businessman Donald Trump. Texas senator Ted Cruz. Florida senator Marco Rubio. Neurosurgeon Ben Carson. New Jersey governor Chris Christie. Former Florida governor Jeb Bush. And Ohio governor John Kasich. +p1116 +aVGovernor Kasich, we are not even two weeks into this stock trading year, but investors already lost $1.6 trillion in market value. That makes it the worst start to a new year ever. Many worry that things will get even worse, and that banks and financial stocks are particularly vulnerable. Now, if this escalates, like it did back when Barack Obama first assumed the presidency, what actions would you take if this same thing happens all over again just as, in this example, you are taking over the presidency? +p1117 +aVGovernor Bush, the president just told the nation two nights ago that America is back and that the idea that our enemies are getting stronger or that this country is getting weaker, well, it's just rhetoric and hot air. Now other Democrats go even further, sir, saying Republicans even suggesting such comments actually embolden our enemies. I guess they would include you. What do you say? +p1118 +aVSo I take it from that you do not agree with the president. +p1119 +aVSenator Rubio, the president says that +p1120 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1121 +aVMr. Trump, at the State of the Union, the president pointed to a guest who was a Syrian refugee you might recall whose wife and daughter and other family members were killed in an air attack. Now he fled that country seeking asylum here, ultimately ended up in Detroit where he's now trying to start a new life. The president says that that doctor is the real face of these refugees and not the one that you and some of your colleagues on this stage are painting; that you prefer the face of fear and terror and that you would refuse to let in anyone into this country seeking legitimate asylum. How do you answer that? +p1122 +aVAll right. Welcome back to the Republican presidential , right here in North Charleston, South Carolina. Let's get right back to the questions. And I'll start with you, Senator Cruz. Now you are, of course, a strict constitutionalist \u2014 no one would doubt that. And as you know, the U.S. Constitution says only natural-born citizens are eligible for the office of president of the United States. Stop me if you've heard this before. Now, you were born...... you were born in Canada to an American mother. So you were and are considered an American citizen. But that fellow next to you, Donald Trump \u2014 and others \u2014 have said that being born in Canada means you are not natural-born, and that has raised questions about your eligibility. Do you want to try to close this topic once and for all tonight? +p1123 +aVMr. Trump......that you raised it because of his rising poll numbers. +p1124 +aVWhy are you saying this now \u2014 right now? Why are you raising this issue now? +p1125 +aVSenator, do you want to respond? +p1126 +aVMarco Rubio. I'm sorry, it's the time constraints. You and Governor Christie have been exchanging some fairly nasty words of late, and I will allow the governor to respond as well. The governor went so far to say, you won't be able to slime your way to the White House. He's referring to a series of ads done by a PAC, speaking on your behalf, that say quote,"One high tax, Common Core, liberal, energy-loving, Obamacare, Medicaid-expanding president is enough. You think you went too far on that and do you want to apologize to the governor? +p1127 +aVThat is not my question. +p1128 +aVIs he a liberal? +p1129 +aVIs he a liberal? +p1130 +aVGovernor? +p1131 +aVYou were? +p1132 +aVWell, we are not done. Coming up, one of the top things people are talking about on Facebook, guns. And you can join us live us on this stage in the conversation during this commercial break right from home. You can go to Facebook.com/. We will be streaming live and talking about how we think the is going so far. We're back in a moment in Charleston, South Carolina. +p1133 +aVSenator Rubio, you said that President Obama wants to take people's guns away. Yet under his presidency, gun sales have more than doubled. That doesn't sound like a White House unfriendly to gun owners. +p1134 +aVBut what fact can you point to, Senator \u2014 what fact can you point to that the president would take away everyone's gun? You don't think that's ? +p1135 +aVGovernor Christie, you, too, have criticized the president's recent executive action on gun control, saying it's unconstitutional, another step to bypass Congress. But hasn't your own position on guns evolved, sir? The New Jersey Star-Ledger reports that you signed several laws to regulate the possession of firearms, and that you argued back in August 2013, and I quote, "These common sense measures will strengthen New Jersey's already tough gun laws." So isn't that kind of what the president wants to do now? +p1136 +aVMaria... +p1137 +aVGovernor bush, for the third time in as many months, the Iranians have provoked us, detaining us, as we've been discussing, with these 10 Navy sailors Tehran had said strayed into their waters. The sailors were released, but only after shown on video apologizing for the incident. This occurring only weeks after Iran fired multiple rockets within 1,500 yards of a U.S. aircraft carrier and then continued to test medium range missiles. Now you've claimed that such actions indicate Tehran has little to fear from a President Obama. I wonder, sir, what would change if they continued doing this sort of thing under a President Jeb Bush? +p1138 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Kasich, while everyone has been focusing on Iran's provocations, I'm wondering what you make of what Saudi Arabia has been doing and its recent moves in the region, including its execution of a well-known Shi'ite cleric and its move to dramatically increase oil production, some say in an effort to drive down oil prices and force a lot of U.S. oil producers out of business. Sure enough, oil prices have tumbled. One brokerage house is predicting a third or more of American oil producers and those heavily invested in fracking will go bankrupt, and soon Saudi Arabia and +p1139 +aVThank you John. +p1140 +aVBut you said \u2014 you said that he made those comments and they represented him being unhinged after he made them. +p1141 +aVWell \u2014 well, after he made them......his poll numbers went up eight points in South Carolina. Now \u2014 now, wait... +p1142 +aVAre you \u2014 are you saying \u2014 are you saying that all those people who agree with Mr. Trump are unhinged? +p1143 +aVMr. Trump, sometimes maybe in the heat of the campaign, you say things and you have to dial them back. Last week, the New York Times editorial board quoted as saying that you would oppose, "up to 45 percent tariff on Chinese goods." +p1144 +aVWell... +p1145 +aVYou never said because they provided that... +p1146 +aVSo they've never said to put a tariff on their... +p1147 +aVI'm sorry, you lost me. +p1148 +aVThen I apologize. Then I want to understand, if you don't want a 45 percent tariff, say that wasn't the figure, would you be open \u2014 are you open to slapping a higher tariff on Chinese goods of any sort to go back at them? +p1149 +aVI know... +p1150 +aVSo you're open to a tariff? +p1151 +aVAll right. +p1152 +aVHe is right. If you put a tariff on a good, it's Americans who pay. +p1153 +aVGovernor Christie, going back to your U.S. Attorney days, you had been praised by both parties as certainly a tough law and order guy. So I wonder what you make of recent statistics that showed violent crimes that have been spiking sometimes by double digit ratings in 30 cities across the country. Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn said, "most local law enforcement officials feel abandoned by Washington." Former NYC Police Chief Ray Kelly, says that, "police are being less proactive because they're being overly scrutinized and second guessed and they're afraid of being sued or thrown in jail." What would you do as president to address this? +p1154 +aVThank you governor. Governor Kasich, as someone has to deal with controversial police shootings in your own state, what do you make of Chicago's move recently to sort of retrain police? Maybe make them not so quick to use their guns? +p1155 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1156 +aVGentlemen, gentlemen \u2014 +p1157 +aVVery quick, very quick. +p1158 +aVDo you think they like each other? +p1159 +aVAll right, gentlemen, we've got to stop. I know you are very passionate about that. Governor Bush, fears have gripped this country obviously, and you touched on it earlier since the San Bernardino attacks. Since our last , the national conversation has changed, according to Facebook data as well. Now this first graphic shows the issues that were most talked about right before those attacks and now after: the issues of Islam, homeland security and +p1160 +aVWould you answer this question? +p1161 +aVFair enough. So Tim Cook \u2014 so Tim Cook says he's going to keep it private. +p1162 +aVBut if Tim cook is telling you no, Mr. President. +p1163 +aVDo you ask or do you order? +p1164 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p1165 +aVGovernor Bush? +p1166 +aVDr. Ben Carson? +p1167 +aVSenator Ted Cruz? +p1168 +aVGentlemen, thank you all. All of you. That wraps up our debate. We went a little bit over here. But we wanted to make sure everyone was able to say their due. He's upset. All right. Thank you for joining us. Much more to come in the Spin Room ahead. +p1169 +aVIt is 9:00 p.m. on the East Coast, 8:00 p.m. here inside the Milwaukee theater. Welcome to the Republican presidential debate here on the Fox Business Network. I'm Neil Cavuto, alongside my co-moderators, Maria Bartiromo, and the editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal, Gerard Baker. +p1170 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. +p1171 +aVIt sounds like a game show but it's not. Now I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the elephant in the room, and I'm not talking about your party's fine symbol. I'm talking about the purpose of tonight's debate. The economy and what each of you would do to improve it. No more, no less. We are focused on those issues, and what you have said on those issues in your words and what your opponents have said in their words about your words. That is the agenda tonight. How each of you plans to make America better tomorrow. And so we begin. Candidates, as we gather tonight in this very august theater, just outside and across the country, picketers are gathering as well. They're demanding an immediate hike in the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Just a few hours ago, near Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed doing the same for all state workers, the first governor to do so. Mr. Trump, as the leading presidential candidate on this stage and one whose tax plan exempts couples making up to $50,000 a year from paying any federal income taxes at all, are you sympathetic to the protesters cause since a $15 wage works out to about $31,000 a year? +p1172 +aVSo do not raise the minimum wage? +p1173 +aVDr. Carson, you have long bemoaned this lackluster recovery. And this Facebook map show Americans share your concern. The green represents how the jobs issue is resonating all across the nation, especially here in the state of Wisconsin. You suggested one minimum wage does not fit all, and that perhaps we should offer a lower or starter wage for young people. Those protesters outside are looking for $15 and nothing less. Where are you? +p1174 +aVSo, sir, just to be clear, you would not raise it? +p1175 +aVSenator Rubio, you called the recent Democratic debate in Las Vegas a night of giveaways, including free health care, free college and a host of other government-paid benefits. Since you aren't a fan of all they're giving away, tell us tonight what you would take back. +p1176 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. +p1177 +aVAll right. We're only just getting started. Coming up, your taxes. Stick around. You're watching FOX Business +p1178 +aVWelcome back to the Milwaukee Theater and the Republican presidential debate. Let's get right back to our questions. Dr. Carson, to you. You recently railed against the double- standard in the media, sir, that seems obsessed with inconsistencies and potential exaggerations in your life story, but looked the other way when it came to then-Senator Barack Obama's. Still, as a candidate whose brand has always been trust, are you worried your campaign \u2014 which you've always said, sir, is bigger than you \u2014 is now being hurt by you? +p1179 +aVI'll just forget that follow-up there. +p1180 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1181 +aVAlright, thank you. We're going to take a break here. Coming up, a big issue many Americans are facing, taxes. The Republican Presidential Debate continues now, live, from Milwaukee. +p1182 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from Milwaukee. Let's get back to the questions. And we want to touch on obviously one of the biggest of this issue in this year, taxes. And this will go to several of you. One of the biggest economic concerns of course in the country are taxes. Facebook data certainly backs that up. Once again the green on this map that we're going to see here shows how the conversation around taxes is resonating across the nation, especially here in Wisconsin. First off, Dr. Carson, to you. You say you are in favor of a tax system, I guess akin to tithing, sir, with a flat tax rate of up to 15 percent because you said, if everybody pays this, I think God is a pretty fair guy, so tithing is a pretty fair process. But Donald Trump says that is not fair. That wealthier taxpayers should pay a higher rate because it's a fair thing to do. So whose plan would God endorse then, Doctor? Yours or Mr. Trump's? +p1183 +aVRight. +p1184 +aVThank you very much. Senator Paul, you said you want to blow up the tax code and start over with an across-the-board 14.5 percent fair and flat tax. You happily offered that it is not revenue neutral and that's the idea. You want to choke off the amount of money coming into Washington. But don't you risk, sir, creating a near-term budget crisis just as your presidency would be beginning? +p1185 +aVThere are no deductions on your \u2014 under your plan? +p1186 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1187 +aVSenator Paul... Senator Paul, you have already said, sir, that that would be a mistake in not talking to Vladimir Putin, or to rule it out. You've argued that it's never a good idea to close down communication. With that in mind, do you think the same applies to administration efforts right now to include the Iranians in talks on Syria? +p1188 +aV...Well, then how would you respond? +p1189 +aVBut if you're not going to respond in a no-fly zone strategy, what would yours be? +p1190 +aVAll right. And look at the time, look at the time. You are watching FOX Business, we'll take a break. Stick around. +p1191 +aVSenator Cruz \u2014 and I will get to you \u2014 but, Senator Cruz, on that theme, Facebook data shows that over the last month alone, nearly 1 million people \u2014 nearly 1 million \u2014 have been concerned about reining in Wall Street, apparently believing that some have not been punished enough. So, as an accomplished litigator yourself and a former solicitor general, would you go after the very people who believe and fear that Wall Street has ignored, in other words, the crooks that Bernie Sanders say have gotten away with a financial murder? +p1192 +aVSenator......Senator, I really want to be clear here. Are you saying, sir, that if Bank of America were on the brink, you would let it fail? +p1193 +aVSir, I understand that. I just want to be clear, if you don't mind, that millions of depositors would be on the line with that decision. And I just want to be clear. If it were to happen again, for whatever the reason, you would let it go, you would let a Bank of America go? +p1194 +aVOK, I think it's fair to say you're not fans of Hillary Clinton's resume. Alright, Mr. Trump.... +p1195 +aVI had a feeling. Perhaps the most successful capitalist on this stage tonight, you've acknowledged that some give capitalism a bad name. You've been particularly critical of businesses that find all sorts of ways of paying their taxes by keeping money abroad, but your own plan includes an incentive to bring \u2014 that more the $2 trillion dollars home. Isn't that, like, a one-time bounty... +p1196 +aV...Some of the guys you all but call pirates, so they still keep the loot, and pay only a price to bring it back. +p1197 +aV...Alright, gentlemen, I know you want to \u2014 and I want to, be we also promised to get people home tonight, and we are going to take a quick break here. I think it is fair to say at this juncture that you can discuss these issues, and only business issues, but still keep it interesting. Stick around for these candidates closing statements. +p1198 +aVSenator Marco Rubio? +p1199 +aVDr. Ben Carson? +p1200 +aVDonald Trump? +p1201 +aVCandidates, we want to thank you all. We also appreciate your helping save time by talking over one another at times. That was welcomed. But by all means, it was a very riveting debate. Business issues can be \u2014 can be riveting, because it wasn't about us, it's about them. +p1202 +aVThat'll do it. Thank you for joining us. +p1203 +asVBLITZER +p1204 +(lp1205 +VWelcome to the CNN-Facebook Republican presidential debate here at the Venetian Las Vegas. We have a very enthusiastic audience. Everyone is here. They're looking forward to a serious and spirited discussion about the security of this nation. I'm Wolf Blitzer, your moderator tonight. This debate is airing on CNN networks here in the United States and around the world, and on the Salem Radio Network. The nine leading candidates, they are here. Let's welcome them right now. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Businessman and real estate developer Donald Trump. Retired neurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. And Ohio Governor John Kasich. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome these Republican candidates for president of the United States. This is the final Republican debate before the election year begins, and we're taking a moment for the photographs of the candidates together on the stage. Now, everyone, please rise for the national anthem sung by Ayla Brown. +p1206 +aVI know everyone is eager to get started. So, candidates, please take your places while I explain the ground rules for tonight. As moderator, I'll guide the discussion, and I'll be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt and CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. We also asked Republicans and independents nationwide to share their questions for the candidates. We teamed up with Facebook to send a campaign camper across the country over the past several weeks. Thousands of people stepped inside and recorded their questions on video. Millions more have weighed in on Facebook. Candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have a minute and 15 seconds to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you're singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know that we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. And as the candidates requested, a bell will sound like this. We know you are all eager to jump in and debate these important issues, so, please, wait until you're called on. These nine Republicans are positioned on stage based on their ranking in the recent polls, so let's begin right now. I'd like to invite each candidate to introduce himself or herself to our audience. You'll have one minute. First to you, Senator Paul. +p1207 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p1208 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1209 +aVMs. Fiorina? +p1210 +aVGovernor Bush? +p1211 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1212 +aVSenator Cruz. +p1213 +aVDr. Carson. +p1214 +aVMr. Trump. +p1215 +aVThank you. Since you last debated, Americans have witnessed terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino. The FBI director says the country now faces the greatest terror threat since 9/11. You all have different approaches to keeping the country safe. And that will be the focus of tonight's debate. Mr. Trump, as you mentioned in your opening statement, part of your strategy is to focus in on America's borders. To keep the country safe, you say you want to temporarily ban non-American Muslims from coming to the United States; ban refugees fleeing +p1216 +aVGovernor Bush, you called Mr. Trump "unhinged" when he proposed banning non-American Muslims from the United States. Why is that unhinged? +p1217 +aVMr. Trump? +p1218 +aVSenator Rubio \u2014 I'm going to go to Senator Rubio and get his thoughts. You have said banning Muslims is unconstitutional. But according to a recent ABC News-Washington Post poll, a majority of Republicans support Mr. Trump's idea. Why are they wrong? +p1219 +aVHugh Hewitt, you have a question. +p1220 +aVGovernor Christie, Americans are clearly more afraid today than at any time since 9/11. As you mentioned in your opening statement, today in Los Angeles, 650 schoolchildren didn't go to \u2014 650,000 schoolchildren didn't go to school because of an e-mail threat, this two weeks after an attack killed 14 people in San Bernardino. Is this the new normal? And if so, what steps would you take as president of the United States to ensure that fear does not paralyze America? +p1221 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, one of the killers in San Bernardino was an American who was not on anyone's watch list. How are you going to find that radicalized person and stop another such attack? +p1222 +aVThank you. Dana Bash, you have the next question. +p1223 +aVThank you. Dr. Carson, you're in favor of monitoring mosques and schools where there is anti-America sentiment, what do you consider anti- America? +p1224 +aVDr. Carson, who was right in that little debate that we just heard between Senator Rubio and Senator Paul? +p1225 +aVHold on a sec, we have a lot more to come and everybody's going to have their full opportunity. Governor Bush, six days after 9/11 your brother visited a mosque and said quote, "Islam is peace." The conversation tonight is about banning Muslims and surveillance of mosques, are President Bush's words still relevant in today's Republican party? +p1226 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you pointed out you were a CEO in Silicon Valley on 9/11. Companies there, they say they won't help the FBI now crack encrypted communication from +p1227 +aVBut my question was: Should these Silicon Valley companies be forced to cooperate with the FBI? +p1228 +aVMr. Trump, you recently suggested closing that Internet up, those were your words, as a way to stop +p1229 +aVLet me follow up, Mr. Trump. So, are you open to closing parts of the Internet? +p1230 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, is shutting down any part of the Internet a good idea? +p1231 +aVThank you, Governor. The fight against radical Islamic terrorists and +p1232 +aVThank you. To be clear, Senator Cruz, would you carpet bomb Raqqa, the +p1233 +aVThank you. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you've been critical of Senator Cruz's strategy. You say his voting record doesn't match his rhetoric. Why? +p1234 +aVBecause I asked the question, Senator, because you said this. You said he, referring to Senator Cruz, voted against the Defense Authorization Act every year that it came up, and I assume that if he voted against it, he would veto it as president. That's the bill that funds our troops. +p1235 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1236 +aVSenator Rubio. +p1237 +aVWe are going to have much more on this... +p1238 +aVWe're going to have much more on this. But I want to move now back to Mr. Trump. +p1239 +aVHold on. Hold on. Hold on. +p1240 +aVWe have a lot... +p1241 +aVWe have a lot to discuss. I want to move to Mr. Trump right now. We have a question on this war against +p1242 +aVMr. Trump. +p1243 +aVGovernor Bush. Governor Bush. +p1244 +aVMr. Trump. +p1245 +aVJust one at a time, go ahead... +p1246 +aVGo ahead, Mr. Trump. +p1247 +aVGovernor Bush, please. +p1248 +aVOne at a time. +p1249 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1250 +aVThank you. +p1251 +aVAll right. Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash, Hugh, go ahead with the next question. +p1252 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Rubio? Let's continue this conversation. This is a critically important issue. +p1253 +aVWe will get to \u2014 we have a lot of time, Ms. Fiorina. I want to get to Senator Rubio right now. Let's talk about, one of the aspects of your strategy, you say the only way to defeat +p1254 +aVThank you, Senator. Stand by. Ms. Fiorina, the former defense secretary, Bob Gates, says the chances of getting Sunni-Arab forces on the ground to get the job done, his words, "chances very remote." What's your strategy? +p1255 +aVThank you. Governor Christie, what's your strategy? +p1256 +aVDr. Carson, what is your strategy? +p1257 +aVThank you. Everyone stand by. We're only just beginning. Coming up, which candidates on this stage tonight want to move foreign policy in a dramatically new direction? We'll be right back. +p1258 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate here at the Venetian, Las Vegas. The war against +p1259 +aVThank you. +p1260 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you supported the removal of Moammar Gadhafi in Libya. Now that country is in turmoil, as +p1261 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1262 +aVStandby. Everybody standby for a moment. Governor Kasich, go ahead. +p1263 +aVThank you. +p1264 +aVWe're going to talk about Assad in a moment. Mr. Trump, are Americans safer with dictators running the world in the Middle East? +p1265 +aVThank you. Mr. Trump? +p1266 +aVAll right. +p1267 +aVThank you. +p1268 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East... +p1269 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East better off with dictators? +p1270 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1271 +aVHold on Governor Bush., here's the question. You said, "getting rid of Saddam Hussein in your words was a pretty good deal." In light of what has happened in Iraq, do you still feel that way? +p1272 +aVSenator Paul, was getting rid of Saddam Hussein a pretty good deal? +p1273 +aVThank you. Hugh Hewitt, go ahead. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hugh. +p1274 +aVSenator, Senator, we're going to get to you. Wait your turn. We have two hours of debate. We'll have plenty of time. Let Hugh ask his question. +p1275 +aVSenator, please. +p1276 +aVSenator... +p1277 +aVYou'll have plenty of opportunity. Hugh, go ahead. +p1278 +aVThese are the rules all of you agreed to. Hugh, go ahead with your question. +p1279 +aVLet's continue with Russia right now. We have another question from Facebook. Listen and watch. +p1280 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you know, U.S. and Russian warplanes are flying all over Syria right now. With so many lives on the line, is this a good time for the United States not to talk to Putin? +p1281 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Christie, if the U.S. imposed a no-fly zone over Syria and a Russian plane encroached, invaded that no-fly zone, would you be prepared to shoot down that Russian plane and risk war with Russia? +p1282 +aVSenator Paul \u2014 Senator Paul, I want you to respond to what we just heard from Governor Christie. If there was a no-fly zone, you say that potentially could lead to World War III. Why? +p1283 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1284 +aVAll right, let's go back \u2014 Hugh and Dana? +p1285 +aVOne at a time. Hugh, go ahead. +p1286 +aVGovernor, thank you very much. So, Dr. Carson, you recently visited a refugee camp in Jordan and you deemed it your words, "really quite nice." Saying the people there didn't want to come to the United States. Do you think these camps are a long-term solution of the problem of Syrian refugees? +p1287 +aVSenator Paul, you oppose letting in Syrian refugees at this time into the United States. The U.S. has already accepted 2,000 Syrian refugees, including 13 living here in Las Vegas right now. Would you send them back? What would you do with these people? +p1288 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1289 +aVSenator Paul, you didn't answer the question about the 2,000 Syrian refugees who are already here in the United States. Will you send them back or let them stay? +p1290 +aVWe have another \u2014 we have another question. We have another question from Facebook. Let's listen. +p1291 +aVGovernor Christie, you say there should be a pause in allowing new refugees to come into the United States, including orphans under the age of five. What do you say to Carla? +p1292 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1293 +aVThank you, Governor. There is much more coming up. We are only just beginning. Coming up, what other global hot spots await the next president of the United States. +p1294 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate. We're here at the Venetian Las Vegas. Tonight we have been focusing on the Middle East, but let's turn to some other world threats that you will potentially face as Commander in Chief. Ms. Fiorina, candidates here have called the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un a maniac who is mentally unstable. Last week he said he now has a hydrogen bomb. If you were elected president, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p1295 +aVDr. Carson, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p1296 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Dana and Hugh you have questions as well. +p1297 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Some of you on this stage have questioned whether your opponents have temperament, the right temperament, to be in control of the nuclear codes. Dana, you have a question on this? +p1298 +aVThank you, senator. Thank you. +p1299 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1300 +aVThank you, Senator. We're a month and a half away now from the first real test who will be the Republican presidential nominee. Hugh, you have a question? +p1301 +aVAll right. Candidates, we have more coming up. When we come back, everyone will have an opportunity to explain why this particular candidate, each of you on the stage, believes he or she should be the Republican presidential nominee. +p1302 +aVNow it's time for the closing statements from the candidates. Each one has 30 seconds. Senator Paul. +p1303 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1304 +aVGovernor Christie. +p1305 +aVMs. Fiorina. +p1306 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1307 +aVSenator Rubio. +p1308 +aVSenator Cruz. +p1309 +aVDr. Carson. +p1310 +aVThanks to all the Republican presidential candidates. That does it for this Republican presidential debate. +p1311 +asVMODERATOR +p1312 +(lp1313 +VComing up more of our debate, including questions about President Obama's foreign policy and these guys and their better ideas. Coming up. +p1314 +asVFIORINA +p1315 +(lp1316 +VWell, thank you. Good evening. If I may begin by saying how honored I am to be standing here with two former Iowa Caucus winners. Governor, Senator. And how honored I am to be talking with all of you. You know, I'm not a political insider. I haven't spent my lifetime running for office. The truth is I have had and been blessed by a lot of opportunities to do a lot of things in my life. And unlike another woman in this race, I actually love spending time with my husband. I'm standing here because I think we have to restore a citizen government in this country. I think we have to end crony capitalism. The crony capitalism that starts with both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. You know, Hillary Clinton sits inside government and rakes in millions, handing out access and favors. And Donald Trump sits outside government and rakes in billions buying people like Hillary Clinton. The state of our economy is not strong. We have record numbers of men out of work. We have record numbers of women living in poverty. We have young people who no longer believe that the American dream applies to them. We have working families whose wages have stagnated for decades, all while the rich get richer, the powerful get more powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected get more connected. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. +p1317 +aVAmerica must lead because when we do not lead, when this exceptional nation does not lead, the world is more dangerous and a more tragic place. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, they all refuse to lead. Worse, they refuse to respond when this nation is provoked. Hillary Clinton famously asked what difference does it make how four Americans died in Benghazi? Mrs. Clinton, here's what difference it makes. When you do not stand up and say the truth, that this was a purposeful terrorist attack, when you do not say the United States of America will retaliate for that attack, terrorists assume it's open season. We have refused to respond to every provocation. The President wouldn't even mention the fact that Iran had taken two Navy boats and our sailors \u2014 hostage. He didn't mention the fact that they violated the Geneva convention. He didn't respond to the fact that Iran launched two ballistic missile just a short time ago, in direct violation of a deal they had just signed. We didn't respond to the fact that North Korea attacked Sony Pictures. When we refuse to respond over, and over to provocation and bad behavior, we will get more provocation and bad behavior. I know most of our allies personally. I have met many of our adversaries. I know our military and our intelligence capability, and I know this. When we will not stand with our allies, when we will not respond to our adversaries, when we do not lead in the world the world is a dangerous and tragic place. I will be a Commander in Chief who will lead. +p1318 +aVOf course I'm worried about similar problems in the United States. We can not allow refugees to enter this country unless we can adequately vet them and we know we can't. Therefore we should stop allowing refugees into this country. And by the way, we do not need to be lectured about why we're angry and frustrated and fearful because we've had an illegal immigration problem in this country for 25 years. And we have every right to be frustrated about the fact that politicians stand up in election after election after election and promise us to fix the problem and yet, it has never been fixed. I offer leadership that understands that actions speak louder than words, that results count. We must secure our border. We must fix our broken immigration system. We must enforce a pro-American immigration system that serves our interests, not the rest of the world. I understand what it takes to translate goals into results and that is what I will do as president of the United States. Of course, we should be worried, for heavens sakes. This administration has now told us they don't know who has overstayed a visa. This administration has told us they don't even bother to check Facebook or Twitter to find out who's pledging allegiance to jihadis. We can do better than this, citizens. We need to take our country back. +p1319 +aVWe need to be very clear-eyed now about who are our allies and who are our adversaries. In the fight against +p1320 +aVAnd we all believe the polling data all the time, don't we? +p1321 +aVOh, it's a problem for so many reasons. First of all, it is yet another lawless executive order. You see, he doesn't like the fact that Congress has rejected his ideas twice on a bipartisan basis, so he's decided he just gets to override them. Sorry, Mr. President, not the way "The Constitution" works. Secondly......secondly, he basically admitted in that speech that he hasn't been paying much attention to enforcing the laws we have. He said, gee, we need a few more FBI agents. That would have helped, perhaps, stop a tragedy here in South Carolina with Dylann Roof, a guy who clearly never should have been sold a gun. In other words, Mr. President, you're right, we need to enforce the laws we have. Let's enforce the laws we have. There are criminals running around with guns who shouldn't have them. We don't prosecute any of them. Less than 1 percent. But I want to go back to the technology issue for a moment, if I may, as well, because in this regard, I disagree with Senator Santorum. Look, I come from the technology industry and I can tell you there is one thing that bureaucracies don't know how to do. They do not know how to innovate. We have come seven generations of technology since 2011. We have bureaucracies that are incapable of bringing in that innovation. So, yes, there are some very specific things that we should ask the private sector to help us with, including making sure we have the latest and greatest in algorithms to search through all these databases so that we find terrorists before they attack us, not after it's too late. And, finally, when a president who understands technology in the Oval Office. Mrs. Clinton, actually, you cannot wipe a server with a towel. +p1322 +aVYes, and see... +p1323 +aVAs CEO of Hewlett Packard... +p1324 +aVAs CEO of Hewlett Packard, I was asked very specifically for some very real help. The help I was asked to provide, this is now public information. So I am not revealing what \u2014 something that was \u2014 was classified. We had a very large shipment of equipment, software and hardware, headed to a retail outlet. And I was called by the head of the NSA, who had an urgent need for that capability, to begin laying out a program to track terrorists. We turned that truck around on a highway and it was escorted to the headquarters in San Jose. In World War II, our government went to the private sector and said, help us do things that we cannot do. The private sector has capabilities that the government does not have. There are some legal authorities that are required. The Sony attack could have been detected and repelled, had legal authorities been passed in Congress allowing private networks and public networks to work together. Those legal authorities have not yet been passed. Yes, I was asked to help. I know the technology industry. They will help again. But they must be asked by a president who understands what they have. +p1325 +aVFor decades, the professional political class in both parties has been talking about the middle class. For decades, Republicans in particular have been talking about reducing the size and scope of government, spending less money, reducing the complexity. And yet, for 40 years, the government has gotten bigger and more expensive. We now have a 75,000 plus page tax code, although politicians have run for office for decades promising reform. And all the while, middle class incomes have stagnated. You see, when government gets bigger and bigger, more powerful, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer and the middle class gets squeezed. We need to understand who the job creators are in this country, because we need more jobs to grow the middle class and to grow the wages of the middle class. Who creates jobs? Small businesses, new businesses, family-owned businesses. They create two thirds of the new jobs in this country and they employ half the people. I started out typing for a nine person real estate firm. My husband Frank started out driving a tow truck for a family-owned auto body shop. And we are crushing small businesses and destroying the middle class. So here's my blueprint to take back America. Let us first actually reform the tax code from 73,000 pages down to three. There's a 20-year-old plan to do exactly that. And then let us begin piece by piece to focus on every single dollar the government spends, so that we will spend less overall and still have enough for our priorities. And that requires the government to budget the way you do at home \u2014 examine every dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. The fancy term for that is zero- based budgeting, but I call it common sense. Citizens, we've got to take our country back. +p1326 +aVMy husband Frank, that I mentioned, I love spending time with. He's down there. He was real excited the other day because in New Hampshire, he was introduced as my eye candy. You know, everybody out there watching knows this. You cannot wait to see the debate between me and Hillary Clinton. You would pay to see that fight. And that's because you know I will win. And that's important. We've got to start by beating Hillary Clinton. All of my life, I have been told to sit down and be quiet. Settle. Settle. Don't challenge the system. That's what the American people are being told now and we have been told that for way too long \u2014 sit down and be quiet about our God, about our guns, about the abortion industry, settle for illegal immigration that's been a problem for decades, as so many of our problems have festered for decades. Accept a system of government and politics that no longer works for us. I will not sit down and be quiet. And neither will you. So I ask you to stand with me, fight with me, vote for me, citizens. It is time to take our future back, time to take our politics back. It is time to take our government back. Citizens, it is time. We must take our country back. +p1327 +aVLike all of you I'm angry. I'm angry at what's happening to our nation. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. Bombastic insults wont take it back. Political rhetoric that promises a lot and delivers little, won't take it back. All of our problems can be solved. All of our wounds can be healed by a tested leader who is willing to fight for the character of our nation. I have been tested. I have beaten breast cancer. I have buried a child. I started as a secretary. I fought my way to the top of corporate America while being called every B word in the book. I fought my way into this election and on to this debate stage while all the political insiders and the pundits told, "it couldn't be done." I've been told, "no,: all my life. And all my life, I've refused to accept no as an answer. Citizens, it is time to take our country back from the political class, from the media, from the liberal elite. It can be done, it must be done, join me and we will get it done. +p1328 +aVWhat I think we need to stand for are solutions. I offer myself as a leader to the people of this country because I think they're looking for solutions, not lawyers arguing over laws or entertainers throwing out sound bites that draw media attention. We need to solve the problem. To solve the problem, we need to do something here at home and something over there in their caliphate. We need to deny them territory. But here at home, we need to do two fundamental things. Number one, we need to recognize that technology has moved on. The Patriot Act was signed in 2001, roughly. The iPhone was invented in 2007. The iPad was invented in 2011. Snapchat and Twitter, all the rest of it, have been around just for several years. Technology has moved on, and the terrorists have moved on with it. Let me tell you a story. Soon after 9/11, I got a phone call from the NSA. They needed help. I gave them help. I stopped a truckload of equipment. I had it turned around. It was escorted by the NSA into headquarters. We need the private sector's help, because government is not innovating. Technology is running ahead by leaps and bound. The private sector will help, just as I helped after 9/11. But they must be engaged, and they must be asked. I will ask them. I know them. +p1329 +aVYou know, listening to this conversation, let me just say, we have a lot of argument about laws but none of it solves the problem. Let's examine what happened, why did we miss the Tsarnaev brothers, why did we miss the San Bernardino couple? It wasn't because we had stopped collected metadata it was because, I think, as someone who comes from the technology world, we were using the wrong algorithms. This is a place where the private sector could be helpful because the government is woefully behind the technology curve. But secondly, the bureaucratic processes that have been in place since 9/11 are woefully inadequate as well. What do we now know? That DHS vets people by going into databases of known or suspected terrorists. And yet, we also know that +p1330 +aVThey do not need to be forced. They need to be asked to bring the best and brightest, the most recent technology to the table. I was asked as a CEO. I complied happily. And they will as well. But they have not been asked. That's why it cost billions of dollars to build an Obama website that failed because the private sector wasn't asked. +p1331 +aVI hope at some point you're going to ask me my strategy. +p1332 +aVWell, first I'll just point out that talking tough is not the same as being strong. And to wage war, we need a commander in chief who has made tough calls in tough times and stood up to be held accountable over and over, not first-term senators who've never made an executive decision in their life. One of the things I would immediately do, in addition to defeating them here at home, is bring back the warrior class \u2014 Petraeus, McChrystal, Mattis, Keane, Flynn. Every single one of these generals I know. Every one was retired early because they told President Obama things that he didn't want to hear. We must have Sunni-Arabs involved in this coalition. We must commit leadership, strength, support and resolve. I'll just add that Margaret Thatcher once said, "If you want something talked about, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman." +p1333 +aVThat is exactly what President Obama said. I'm amazed to hear that from a republican presidential candidate. But let's just start with, who got it wrong? Who really got it wrong? Hillary Clinton has gotten every foreign policy challenge wrong. Hitting the reset button with Vladimir Putin \u2013 recall that she called Bashar Al-Assad a positive reformer and then she opened an embassy and then later she said, over, and over, and over again, "Bashar Al-Assad must go." Although she wasn't prepared to do anything about it. Recall that Hillary Clinton was all for toppling Gadhafi then didn't listen to her own people on the ground. And then of course, when she lied about the terrorist attack in Benghazi, she invited more terrorist attacks. +p1334 +aVWe've mismanaged going into Iraq. +p1335 +aVWe've mismanaged going out of Iraq. +p1336 +aVWe actually... +p1337 +aVI didn't say I would cut off all communication with Putin. What I said was as president of the United States, now is not the time to talk with him. Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. There is a time and a place for everything. There is a time and a place for talk. And there is a time and a place for action. I know Vladimir Putin. He respects strength. He lied to our president's face; didn't both to tell him about warplanes and troops going into Syria. We need to speak to him from a position of strength. So as commander in chief, I will not speak to him until we've set up that no-fly zone; until we've gathered our Sunni-Arab allies and begun to deny +p1338 +aVThis doesn't do a thing to solve the problems...It doesn't do a thing to solve the problems. +p1339 +aVIt will not solve the problem. +p1340 +aVLadies and gentleman, this is why the American people are standing up. +p1341 +aVThis is why the nation is fed up... +p1342 +aVWe have been talking about this... +p1343 +aVSorry, but you haven't gotten to me. This is why... +p1344 +aVthe people are fed up with the political class. +p1345 +aVWell, first, Kim Jong-Un is a dangerous leader, without a doubt. And both Republican and Democrat administrations have been completely ineffective in dealing with him. So we must continue to isolate him. We will need China as part of that strategy. China is a rising adversary. So one of the things we have to do if we want China's support is to push back on China. They, too, recognize one thing \u2014 strength and their own economic interest. I have done business in China for 25 years, so I know that in order to get China to cooperate with us, we must first actually retaliate against their cyber-attacks so they know we're serious. We have to push back on their desire to control the trade route through the South China Sea through which flows $5 trillion worth of goods and services every year. We cannot let them control the disputed islands, and we must work with the Australians, the South Koreans, the Japanese and the Filipinos to contain China. And then we must ask for their support and their help with North Korea. Because believe it or not, China is as concerned about Kim Jong-Un as we are. +p1346 +aVI too remember September 11th. I remember immediately putting into place security procedures all throughout our company that did business in 170 countries where we thought corporate interests would be attacked next. To take our country back, to keep our nation safe, we have to begin by beating Hillary Clinton. We need to unify our party. We need to better than our government, which 75 percent of the American people now think is corrupt and incompetent. They're right. We need to better than our politics. 80 percent think we have a professional/political class of both parties that cares more about its power, position and privilege than actually on getting anything done. We need to unify our party, we need a real Conservative in the White House, and we need to beat Hillary Clinton to take our country back and keep our nation safe. I can. I am. And together, if you join me, we will take our country back. +p1347 +aVWell, first of all, I must say as I think about that question, I think about a woman I met the other day. I would guess she was 40 years old. She had several children. And she said to me, you know, Carly, I go to bed every night afraid for my children's future. And that really struck me. This is America. A mother is going to bed afraid for her children's future. And the reason she's afraid for her children's future is because we've had problems for a long time. Yes, problems have gotten much worse under Democrats. But the truth is, this government has been growing bigger and bigger, more corrupt, less effective, crushing the engine of economic growth for a very long time. This isn't about just replacing a Democrat with a Republican now. It's about actually challenging the status quo of big government. Big government has created a big business called politics. And there are lots of people invested in the status quo of that big business called politics. Specifically, we need actually to do five things to really get this economy going again. We need to go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dollar is being spent, we can challenge any dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. We need to actually reform the tax code. Go to a three-page tax code. Yes, there are plans that would reform our tax code to three pages. In addition to rolling back what President Obama has done, we need to do a top-to-bottom review of every single regulation on the books. That hasn't been done in 50 years. We need to pass the +p1348 +aVWell, first Obamacare has to be repealed because it's failing... ...it's failing the very people it was intended to help, but, also, it is croney-capitalism at its worst. Who helped write this bill? Drug companies, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, every single one of those kinds of companies are bulking up to deal with big government. See, that's what happens. As government gets bigger, and bigger \u2014 and it has been for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike \u2014 and business have to bulk up to deal with big government. So, we have to repeal it. It's tens of thousands of pages long, no one can possible understand it except the big companies, the lawyers, the accountants, the lobbyists that they hire to protect their interests. Then, we have to give back to states the responsibility to manage a high risk pool. We need to try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried. Health insurance has always been a cozy, little game between regulators and health insurance companies. We need to try the free market. The free market. Where people actually have to compete. And, we 'ought to have the government ensure that you must \u2014 and I don't use that term often, that government 'ought to do something, but every healthcare provider 'ought to publish its costs, its prices, its outcomes, because as patients we don't know what we're buying. Now, let me just say \u2014 let me just say, I know more about innovation and entrepreneurship than anyone on this panel because I have led innovative businesses in the most highly competitive industry in the world for decades. The truth is the secret sauce of America is innovation, and entrepreneurship, it is why we must cut our government down to size, and hold it accountable. It's why we have to take our government back, because innovation and entrepreneurship is crushed by the crushing load of a 73,000 page tax code. It is crushed... ...by regulatory thicket that is so vast we don't even know what's in it anymore. It is crushed as well by government bureaucrats who don't do their jobs very well, and who are not held accountable, which is why I've said we got to take our government back, and to do that, we have to know where every dollar being spent, and be able to move any dollar. We have to hack through this regulatory thicket, repeal so much, but, also, know what's in that regulatory thicket \u2014 we don't even know what regulations have been passed. Third, we need to build a meritocracy \u2014 Scott Walker, by the way, is trying now to do in Wisconsin... ...Finally, we need to get to a three page tax code, and, yes, that plan exists. +p1349 +aVSorry, I can't hear you. +p1350 +aV...Absolutely... +p1351 +aV...You need to give... +p1352 +aVThe alternative is to allow states to manage high risk pools for those who really need help. Look, I'm a cancer survivor, OK? I understand that you cannot have someone who's battled cancer just become known as a pre-existing condition. I understand that you cannot allow families to go bankrupt if they truly need help. But, I also understand that Obamacare isn't helping anyone. We're throwing more, and more people into Medicaid, and fewer, and fewer doctors are taking those payments. The point is Obamacare is crushing small businesses, it is not helping the families it was intended to help. So, let us allow states to manage high risk pools. Let us try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried, the free market. Let us ensure that as patients, and customers... +p1353 +aV...that we have information to shop wisely for our health care. +p1354 +aV...Yes, the middle ground is this... +p1355 +aV...This is why \u2014 this is why we must combine, actually, zero-based budgeting with tax reform because unless we can examine, and cut, and move, every single dollar of discretionary spending in the federal government, we cannot reform taxes and reduce spending at the same time. Ask yourself this question, how is it possible that the federal government gets more money each and every year, which the federal government has been doing, receiving more money every year for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike, and yet, never has enough money to do the important things? The answer? All the money's always spoken for. All the money's spoken for. So, we have to go to zero-based budgeting, which is a simple idea \u2014 by the way, there's been a bill for zeros-based (ph) budgeting... ...It exists, it can be voted on. Every dollar must be examined. Any dollar can be cut. Any dollar can be cut, any dollar can be moved. We have to go to a three page tax code. You lower every rate, you close every loophole, why? Because the government uses the tax code to decide winners, and losers. You have to strip the corruption out of the tax code to pay for it. You have to know where every single dollar is being spent... +p1356 +aV...Cut where you need to, and invest where you need to... +p1357 +aV...The two go hand in hand... +p1358 +aVYou know, Mr. Trump fancies himself a very good negotiator. And, I accept that he's done a lot of good deals, so, Mr. Trump 'ought to know that we should not speak to people from a position of weakness. Senator Paul should know that as well. One of the reasons I've said that I would not be talking to Vladimir Putin right now, although I have met him as well, not in a green room for a show, but in a private meeting. One of the reasons I've said I wouldn't be talking to Vladimir Putin right now is because we are speaking to him from a position of weakness brought on by this administration, so, I wouldn't talk to him for awhile, but, I would do this. I would start rebuilding the Sixth Fleet right under his nose, rebuilding the military \u2014 the missile defense program in Poland right under his nose. I would conduct very aggressive military exercises in the Baltic States so that he understood we would protect our +p1359 +aV...we have the strongest military on the face of the planet, and everyone has to know it. +p1360 +aV...Ronald Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. +p1361 +aV...he walked away, he quit talks... +p1362 +aV...when it was time to quit talking... +p1363 +aVCan I just \u2014 could I just say, as a chief executive who's had to make tough calls to save jobs and to grow jobs, I think what's interesting about Dodd-Frank is it's a great example of how socialism starts. Socialism starts when government creates a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. Government created the problem. Government created the problem of a real estate boom. How did we create it? Under Republican and Democrats alike, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, everybody gathered together, Republicans and Democrats, and said, "home ownership is part of the American dream. Let's create a bubble," and then government stepped in \u2014 by the way, under president George W. Bush, banks were told \u2014 encouraged \u2014 told, really \u2014 to buy other banks, to take money. And now what do we have with Dodd-Frank? The classic of crony capitalism. The big have gotten bigger, 1,590 community banks have gone out of business, and on top of all that, we've created something called the Consumer Financial Production Bureau, a vast bureaucracy with no congressional oversight that's digging through hundreds of millions of your credit records to detect fraud. This is how socialism starts, ladies and gentlemen. We must take our government back. +p1364 +aVImagine a Clinton presidency. Our military will continue to deteriorate. Our veterans will not be cared for. And, no, Mrs. Clinton, that situation is not exaggerated. The rich will get richer. The poor will get poorer. The middle class will continue to get crushed. And as bad as that picture is, what's even worse is that a Clinton presidency will corrode the character of this nation. Why? Because of the Clinton way: Say whatever you have to, lie as long as you can get away with it. We must beat Hillary Clinton. Carly Fiorina can beat Hillary Clinton. I will beat Hillary Clinton. And under a President Fiorina, we will restore the character of this nation, the security of this nation, the prosperity of this nation, because as citizens, we will take our government back. +p1365 +aVWell, gee, after the last debate, I was told that I didn't smile enough. +p1366 +aVBut I also think that these are very serious times; 75 percent of the American people think the federal government is corrupt. I agree with them. And this big powerful, corrupt bureaucracy works now only for the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected. Meantime, wages have stagnated for 40 years. We have more Americans out of work or just Americans who quit looking for work for 40 years. Ours was intended to be a citizen government. This is about more than replacing a D with an R. We need a leader who will help us take our government back. +p1367 +aVLet me just say on taxes, how long have we been talking about tax reform in Washington, D.C.? We have been talking about it for decades. We now have a 73,000-page tax code. There have been more than 4,000 changes to the tax plan since 2001 alone. There are loads of great ideas, great conservative ideas from wonderful think tanks about how to reform the tax code. The problem is we never get it done. We have talked about tax reform in every single election for decades. It never happens. And the politicians always say it is so complicated, nobody but a politician can figure it out. The truth is this, the big problem, we need a leader in Washington who understands how to get something done, not to talk about it, not to propose it, to get it done. +p1368 +aVThat's right, three pages. +p1369 +aVYou know why three? +p1370 +aVNo. You know why three? Because only if it's about three pages are you leveling the playing field between the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected who can hire the armies of lawyers and accountants and, yes, lobbyists to help them navigate their way through 73,000 pages. Three pages is about the maximum that a single business owner or a farmer or just a couple can understand without hiring somebody. Almost 60 percent of American people now need to hire an expert to understand their taxes. So yes, you're going to hear a lot of talk about tax reform \u2014 +p1371 +aV\u2014 the issue is who is going to get it done. +p1372 +aVYou know, the +p1373 +aVWell, this is one of the reasons why Tom Perkins and I had disagreements in the boardroom, Becky. Nevertheless, one of the things that I think people don't always understand is how accountable a CEO actually is. So you know, I had to report results every 90 days in excruciating detail. I had to answer every single question about every single result and every single projection in public until there were no more questions. And if I misrepresented those results or those projections in any way, I was held criminally liable. Imagine \u2014 imagine \u2014 if a politician were held to that standard of account. I will run on my record all day long. And I believe people need a leader who is prepared to make tough calls in tough times and stand up... +p1374 +aV...and be held accountable. +p1375 +aVYou know, I want to go back for a moment to what we were just talking about. Crony capitalism is alive and well, and has been so in Washington, D.C. for decades. What's crony capitalism? Crony capitalism is what happens when government gets so big and so powerful that only the big and the powerful can handle it. So why are the pharmaceutical companies consolidating? Why are there five even bigger Wall Street banks now, instead of the ten we used to have on Wall Street? Because when government gets big and powerful, the big feel like they need to get even bigger to deal with all that power, and meanwhile, the small and the powerless \u2014 in this case, 1,590 community banks \u2014 go out of business. You see, folks, this is how socialism starts. Government causes a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. This is why, fundamentally, we have to take our government back. The student loan problem has been created by government. Government trying to level the playing field between Internet and brick-and-mortar creates a problem. The FCC jumping in now and saying, "we're going to put 400 pages of regulation over the Internet," is going to create massive problems. But guess who pushed for that regulation? The big Internet companies. This is what's going on. Big and powerful use big and powerful government to their advantage. It's why you see Walgreens buying Rite Aid. It's why you see the pharmaceuticals getting together. It's you see the health insurance companies getting together. It's why you see the banks consolidating. And meanwhile, small businesses are getting crushed. Community- based businesses and farms are getting crushed. Community banks are going out of business. Big government favors the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected, and crushes the small and the powerless. +p1376 +aVIt is why we have to simplify. It is why we have to reduce the size and power of government. +p1377 +aVIt's the only way to level the playing field between big and powerful and small and powerless. +p1378 +aVBecky, it is the height of hypocrisy for Mrs. Clinton to talk about being the first woman President, when every single policy she espouses, and every single policy of President Obama has been demonstrably bad for women. 92 percent \u2014 92 percent of the jobs lost during Barack Obama's first term belonged to women. Senator Cruz is precisely right. Three million women have fallen into poverty under this administration. The number of women \u2014 +p1379 +aV\u2014 living in extreme poverty is the highest level on record. I am a conservative because I know our values, our principles and our policies \u2014 +p1380 +aV\u2014 work better to lift everyone up, men and women. +p1381 +aVNo, the Federal Government should not play a larger role. Look, every time the Federal Government gets engaged in something it gets worse. And then the Government steps in to try and solve the problem and we get a little further down to that progressive vision that Hillary Clinton is talking about. Companies should, if they want to attract the best workers, provide a good set of benefits. But honestly, if you're a small business owner today you are being crushed. We have 400,000 small businesses forming every year in this country. How great is that? They are employing themselves, they are potentially employing others. The bad news is, we have 470,000 going out of business every year. And why? They cite Obamacare. They are refusing to... +p1382 +aVI think it's a wonderful that that businesses start a 401(k). The point I'm making is this, the Federal Government should not be in a lot of things. There is no Constitutional role for the Federal Government in setting up \u2014 retirement plans. There is no Constitutional role for the Federal Government to be setting minimum wages... +p1383 +aV... The more the Government gets engaged in the economy, the slower the economy becomes. The more the Government gets engaged in the economy, it is demonstrably true... +p1384 +aV... The more the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected are advantaged. +p1385 +aVJohn, I \u2014 if I \u2014 a lot of people have jumped in here. I'd like to jump in. A lot of people have jumped in here. +p1386 +aVI understand. +p1387 +aVI would just say that... ... I would just say this, we've heard a lot of great ideas up here, and I agree with what Senator Rubio said. Every election we talk about this. Every election we talk about Medicare and Social Security reform. It never happens. I would like to start with a basic. Let us actually go to zero- based budgeting so we know where the money is being spent. It's kind of basic. There is a bill sitting in the House that would actually pass and have us go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dime of your money is being spent instead of only talking about how much more we're going to spend year after year after year. My point is this. While there are lots of good ideas for reform, we have never tackled the basics. And we finally need to tackle the basics to cut this government down to size and hold it accountable. So let's start by knowing where your money is being spent by the federal government. +p1388 +aVYou know, every election we hear a lot of talk. We hear a lot of good plans. We hear actually a lot of good intentions. But somehow for decades, nothing really has changed. What we need now is a proven leader who has produced results. That's how you go from secretary to CEO. You lead and you produce results. I will cut this government down to size and hold it accountable, simplify the tax code, roll back the regulations that have been spewing out of Washington, D.C. for 50 years. I may not be your dream candidate just yet, but I can assure you I am Hillary Clinton's worst nightmare. And in your heart of hearts, you cannot wait to see a debate between Hillary Clinton and Carly Fiorina. I will tell you this, I will beat Hillary Clinton. And with your vote and your support and your prayers, I will lead with the citizens of this great nation the resurgence of this great nation. +p1389 +aVGood evening. My story, from secretary to CEO, is only possible in this nation, and proves that everyone of us has potential. My husband, Frank, of 30 years, started out driving a tow truck for a family owned auto body shop. We have come to a pivotal point in our nation's history where this nation's possibilities and potential are being crushed by a government grown so big, so powerful, so inept, so corrupt, and a political class that refuses to do anything about it. I am prepared to lead the resurgence of this great nation. +p1390 +aVYou know, I think Mr. Trump is a wonderful entertainer. He's been terrific at that business. I also think that one of the benefits of a presidential campaign is the character and capability, judgment and temperament of every single one of us is revealed over time and under pressure. All of us will be revealed over time and under pressure. I look forward to a long race. +p1391 +aVThat's not for me to answer; it is for the voters of this country to answer, and I have a lot of faith in the common sense and good judgment of the voters of the United States of America. +p1392 +aVJake, I'll tell you \u2014 I'll tell you why people are supporting outsiders. It's because you know what happens if someone's been in the system their whole life, they don't know how broken the system is. A fish swims in water, it doesn't know it's water. It's not that politicians are bad people, it's that they've been in that system forever. The truth is 75 percent of the American people think the government is corrupt; 82 percent of the American people think these problems that have festered for 50 years in some cases, 25 years in other cases. The border's been insecure for 25 years; 307,000 veterans have died waiting for health care. These things have gone on for so long because no one will challenge the status quo. You know what a leader does? They challenge the status quo, they solve problems that have festered for a long time and they produce results. That is what my whole life has been about. People know this is about far more than replacing a D with an R \u2014 +p1393 +aV\u2014 this is about changing the system. +p1394 +aVHaving... +p1395 +aVHaving met Vladimir Putin, if I may... +p1396 +aVHaving met Vladimir Putin, I wouldn't talk to him at all. We've talked way too much to him. What I would do, immediately, is begin rebuilding the Sixth Fleet, I would begin rebuilding the missile defense program in Poland, I would conduct regular, aggressive military exercises in the Baltic states. I'd probably send a few thousand more troops into Germany. Vladimir Putin would get the message. By the way, the reason it is so critically important that every one of us know General Suleimani's name is because Russia is in Syria right now, because the head of the Quds force traveled to Russia and talked Vladimir Putin into aligning themselves with Iran and Syria to prop up Bashar al- Assad. Russia is a bad actor, but Vladimir Putin is someone we should not talk to, because the only way he will stop is to sense strength and resolve on the other side, and we have all of that within our control. We could rebuild the Sixth Fleet. I will. We haven't. We could rebuild the missile defense program. We haven't. I will. We could also, to Senator Rubio's point, give the Egyptians what they've asked for, which is intelligence. We could give the Jordanians what they've asked for... +p1397 +aV...bombs and materiel. We have not supplied it... +p1398 +aV...I will. We could arm the Kurds. They've been asking us for three years. All of this is within our control. +p1399 +aV...Jake... +p1400 +aV...Jake, ... +p1401 +aVAnd then it'll be my turn. +p1402 +aVJake? +p1403 +aVJake? +p1404 +aVDana, I'd like to... +p1405 +aVDana, I would like to link these two issues, both of which are incredibly important, Iran and Planned Parenthood. One has something to do with the defense of the security of this nation. The other has something to do with the defense of the character of this nation. You have not heard a plan about Iran from any politician up here, here is my plan. On day one in the Oval Office, I will make two phone calls, the first to my good friend to Bibi Netanyahu to reassure him we will stand with the state of Israel. The second, to the supreme leader, to tell him that unless and until he opens every military and every nuclear facility to real anytime, anywhere inspections by our people, not his, we, the United States of America, will make it as difficult as possible and move money around the global financial system. We can do that, we don't need anyone's cooperation to do it. And every ally and every adversary we have in this world will know that the United States in America is back in the leadership business, which is how we must stand with our allies. As regards Planned Parenthood, anyone who has watched this videotape, I dare Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama to watch these tapes. Watch a fully formed fetus on the table, it's heart beating, it's legs kicking while someone says we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain. This is about the character of our nation, and if we will not stand up in and force President Obama to veto this bill, shame on us. +p1406 +aVYou know, it's interesting to me, Mr. Trump said that he heard Mr. Bush very clearly and what Mr. Bush said. I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said. +p1407 +aVDana, with all being said to Mr. Trump... +p1408 +aVImmigration did not come up in 2016 because Mr. Trump brought it up. We talked about it in 2012, we talked about it in 2008. We talked about it in 2004. +p1409 +aVWe have been talking about it for 25 years. This is why people are tired of politicians. +p1410 +aVFirst let me say, We have just spent a good bit of time discussing, as Republicans, how to solve this problem. I would ask your audience at home to ask a very basic question. Why have Democrats not solved this problem? President Obama campaigned in 2007 and 2008 on solving the immigration problem. He entered Washington with majorities in the House and the Senate. He could have chosen to do anything to solve this pro \u2014 this problem. Instead, he chose to do nothing. Why? because the Democrats don't want this issue solved. +p1411 +aVThey want it to be an issue that they can use. As to birthright citizenship... +p1412 +aV...the truth is, you can't just wave your hands and say "the 14th Amendment is gonna go away." It will take an extremely arduous vote in Congress, followed by two-thirds of the states, and if that doesn't work to amend the Constitution, then it is a long, arduous process in court. And meanwhile, what will continue to go on is what has gone on for 25 years. With all due respect, Mr. Trump, we've been talking about illegal immigration for 25 years. San Francisco has been a sanctuary city since 1989. There are 300 of them. And meanwhile, what has happened? Nothing. The border remains insecure. The legal immigration system remains broken. Look, we know what it takes to secure a border. We've heard a lot of great ideas here. Money, manpower, technology... +p1413 +aV...mostly, apparently, leadership... +p1414 +aV...the kind of leadership that understands how to get results. +p1415 +aVBut you \u2014 you would stipulate, Mr. Trump, but not everyone agrees with you. +p1416 +aVOK. +p1417 +aVI led Hewlett Packard through a very difficult time, the worst technology recession in 25 years. The +p1418 +aV\u2014 out a full-page ad in the New York Times to say he was wrong, I was right. I was a terrific CEO, the board was dysfunctional. And he thinks I will make a magnificent president of the United States. +p1419 +aVYou know, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld is a well-known Clintonite and honestly had it out for me from the moment that I arrived at Hewlett Packard. But honestly, Mr. Trump, I find it quite rich that you would talk about this. You know, there are a lot of us Americans who believe that we are going to have trouble someday paying back the interest on our debt because politicians have run up mountains of debt using other people's money. That is in fact precisely the way you ran your casinos. You ran up mountains of debt, as well as losses, using other people's money, and you were forced to file for bankruptcy not once \u2014 +p1420 +aV\u2014 not twice, four times, a record four times. Why should we trust you to manage the finances \u2014 +p1421 +aV\u2014 of this nation any differently than you managed the finances \u2014 +p1422 +aV\u2014 of your casinos? +p1423 +aVWell \u2014 +p1424 +aVWell, Mr. Trump \u2014 +p1425 +aVA track record of leadership is not a game. It is the issue in this election. +p1426 +aVWell, I thought we had been hearing quite a bit about Govenor Christie's record as governor, actually. I think track records are very important. I completely agree that what's at stake here is the future of this nation, and the future of every American. But I do think that a track record of leadership is vital because in the end this election is about leadership. And let's talk about what leadership is. It's not about braggadocio, it is about challenging the status quo, solving problems, producing results. And the highest calling of leadership is to unlock potential in others. +p1427 +aVProblems have festered in Washington for too long. And the potential of this nation is being crushed. +p1428 +aVYou see, Governor Christie, people spend time talking about their track records, and Mr. Trump and I have every right to do the same. And Mrs. Clinton has to defend her track record. Her track record of lying about Benghazi, of lying about her e- mails, about lying about her servers. She does not have a track record of accomplishment. Like Mrs. Clinton, I, too, have travels hundreds of thousands of miles around the globe. But unlike Mrs. Clinton, I know flying is an activity, not an accomplishment. Mrs. Clinton \u2014 if you want to stump a Democrat, ask them to name a accomplishment of Mrs. Clinton's. +p1429 +aVWe just spent \u2014 we just spent the last 10 minutes... +p1430 +aV...Jake, since everyone has gotten to weigh in on this military issue, I'd like to be able to do the same. We have spent probably 12 minutes talking about the past. Let's talk about the future. We need the strongest military on the face of the planet, and everyone has to know it. And, specifically, what that means is we need about 50 Army brigades, we need about 36 Marine battalions, we need somewhere between 300, and 350 naval ships, we need to upgrade every leg of the nuclear triad... +p1431 +aV...we need to reform the Department of Defense, we need as well... +p1432 +aV...to invest in our military technology, and we need to care for our veterans so 307,000... +p1433 +aV...aren't dying waiting for health care. +p1434 +aVJake, may I just say... +p1435 +aVJake \u2014 Jake... +p1436 +aVI very much hope I am the only person on this stage who can say this, but I know there are millions of Americans out there who will say the same thing. My husband Frank and I buried a child to drug addiction. So, we must invest more in the treatment of drugs. +p1437 +aVI agree with Senator Paul. I agree with states' rights. But we are misleading young people when we tell them that marijuana is just like having a beer. It's not. And the marijuana that kids are smoking today is not the same as the marijuana that Jeb Bush smoked 40 years ago. We do \u2014 sorry, Barbara. We do need \u2014 we do need criminal justice reform. We have the highest incarceration rates in the world. Two-thirds of the people in our prisons are there for non-violent offenses, mostly drug related. It's clearly not working. But we need to tell young people the truth. Drug addiction is an epidemic, and it is taking too many of our young people. I know this sadly from personal experience. +p1438 +aVI wouldn't change the $10 bill, or the $20 bill. I think, honestly, it's a gesture. I don't think it helps to change our history. What I would think is that we ought to recognize that women are not a special interest group. Women are the majority of this nation. We are half the potential of this nation, and this nation will be better off when every woman has the opportunity to live the life she chooses. +p1439 +aVSecretariat. +p1440 +aVI think what this nation can be and must be is symbolized by Lady Liberty and Lady Justice. Lady Liberty stands tall and strong. She is clear-eyed and resolute. She doesn't shield her eyes from the realities of the world, but she faces outward into the world nevertheless, as we always must. And she holds her torch high, because she knows she is a beacon of hope in a very troubled world. And Lady Justice, Lady Justice holds a sword by her side, because she is a fighter, a warrior for the values and the principles that have made this nation great. She holds a scale in her other hand. And with that scale she says all of us are equal in the eyes of God. And so all of us must be equal in the eyes of the law and the government, powerful and powerless alike. And she wears a blindfold. And with that blindfold she is saying to us that it must be true, it can be true that in this country, in this century, it doesn't matter who you are, it doesn't matter what you look like, it doesn't matter how you start, it doesn't matter your circumstances, here in this nation, every American's life must be filled with the possibilities that come from their God-given gifts. One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. +p1441 +aVWhen America does not lead, the world is a dangerous and a tragic place. This is a bad deal. Obama broke every rule of negotiation. Yes, our allies are not perfect, but Iran is at the heart of most of the evil that is going on in the Middle East through their proxy. +p1442 +aVYou know, when I started my campaign on May 4th of last year, I was 17 out of 16 candidates. Nobody polled my name. Nobody had ever heard of me. Less than 4 percent of you had ever heard of me. The people in Iowa showed up and they are still showing up. Hundreds and hundreds of them at every event. I have done over 150 events in the state of Iowa and I have 15 more coming up. Now, by the way, I start there because someone asked me about midway through my campaign, what's the biggest surprise to you on the campaign trail? And I will tell you what the biggest surprise is: the chasm, the yawning chasm, between what the national media talks about and what the people of Iowa and the people of this great nation talk about. That's the biggest surprise. So guess what, Martha? Guess what, sorry. The people of Iowa never ask me about a crisis in the GOP, they never ask me about the polls. They never ask me about the other candidates. What they ask me about is Carly, tell us why zero based budgeting is so important. Tell us why you are a leader who is going to produce results. Tell us how you are going to defeat +p1443 +aVWell let me tell you this: news flash, President Obama, news flash, Mrs. Clinton -- climate change is not our most pressing national security threat. Actually -- actually, it is +p1444 +aVYou know, we have a professional, political class of both parties. We have been talking about the same issues for election cycle after election cycle. Yeah, government is big and out of control, and the only way to get it under control is to control the money. And the only way to control the money is to ask the federal government to budget the way you do, to examine every dollar, to cut any dollar to spend -- to move any dollar. The fancy word for that is zero-base budgeting. I call it common sense. That three-page tax code I talk about all the time here in Iowa? It's been around for 20 years. But politicians don't want to talk about it, and you bet the lobbyists don't want to talk about it. In fact, nobody wants to vote on a three-page tax code or zero- base budgeting, although they've both been around for a long time. You know why? Because if you get those two things done, you are goring everybody's ox. You are taking the political establishment apart. You are actually challenging the status quo, which is what we need in the Oval Office. So you know who I'm going to count on? The citizens of this great nation, because you have extraordinary power. But when you do not use it... ... you are losing it. So take out your smartphones, folks. The people of Iowa know what I'm talking about. You take out your smartphones. if you agree with me that three-page tax code needs to be passed, lobbyists aren't going to be in my office. If you agree we gotta finally pass zero-base budgeting, take out your smartphones. Press one for yes, ladies and gentlemen. Press two for no. Citizens, we must take our country back. +p1445 +aVWell, first of all, I haven't said that. What I have said is that in the process of examining every dollar, cutting any dollar and moving any dollar, we happen to know that in this vast federal bureaucracy we have about 260,000 federal government employees who are going to retire, and we shouldn't replace them. Secondly, at Hewlett Packard, as you know -- the people of Iowa know this -- we went through a tough time. The worst technology recession in 25 years -- a great company called Gateway used to do be right here in Iowa. But they didn't make the tough calls necessary to save all those jobs, and so they lost every one of those jobs. Yes, I've had to make some tough calls. We saved 80,000 jobs. We went on to grow to 160,000 jobs. And, frankly, I think the American people know we need a president who's going to make some tough calls. So let me tell you where I'm going to start. The American people got a bill passed through Congress that said we could fire the top 400 senior executives at the V.A. for dereliction of duty. When we know that 307,000 veterans have died waiting for health care and the V.A. handed out $142 million worth of bonuses for superb performance, I'm going to start by firing 400... ... senior executives at the V.A. +p1446 +aVHe is right there. He is right there. +p1447 +aVIt wasn't a personal attack. I was pointing out the fact that Hillary Clinton will do anything to gain and hang on to power, anything. Listen, if my husband did what Bill Clinton did, I would have left him long ago. So, here's the deal. Hillary Clinton has been climbing the ladder to try and get power and here now she is trying for the White House. She is probably more qualified for the big house, honestly. She has escaped prosecution more times than El Chapo, perhaps Sean Penn should interview her. The woman should be prosecuted. And while Mrs. Clinton has flown hundreds of thousands of world around the global, I have too. And I know flying is an activity not an accomplishment. While I know that she has held many positions and many titles she has not accomplished much of anything in her life. She has gotten every single foreign policy challenge wrong. She continues to lie to the American people. It's called the Clinton way. Both Bill and Hillary practice it, the Clinton way. Say whatever you have to say, do whatever you have to say. Lie as long as you can get away with it. Hillary Clinton cannot be the president of these United States. +p1448 +aVWell, you know, Hillary Clinton hasn't been indicted either. So that tells us a lot about our justice system in this country. But, look, the facts of Planned Parenthood have not changed, folks, and I will not be rendered silent on this issue or any other issue. And it doesn't matter what stage I'm on. Here are the facts. Planned Parenthood engages in partial birth abortion, in late-term abortion. They alter those abortion techniques to harvest and sell body parts. They have admitted that they are not going to accept compensation for this anymore. The reality is, most Americans find this practice horrific. Most Americans find horrific that Hillary Clinton's position on this is it's not a life until it's born. Most Americans find horrific Hillary Clinton's position or the Democrat party's position, that a young woman does not need her mother's permission to get an abortion. But if you are 13 years old, you can get an abortion, but you can't go to a tanning salon without your mother's permission. A president Fiorina -- in a president Fiorina budget, there will not be one dime for Planned Parenthood, although there would be a lot of money for women's health and we will finally pass the pain capable unborn child protection act. I will always stand for life and religious liberty... ... because this is about the character of our nation. +p1449 +aVMartha, can I just say we've been talking tonight about a lot of issues and we've also been talking about the fact that the game is rigged and frankly, the media has a lot to do with that. It is outrageous frankly, that Fox News, and you, would question the pro-life credentials of Rick Santorum. That is outrageous. +p1450 +aVIn over 150 events I have come to know and love the people of Iowa. And the people of Iowa know what the rest of Americans have figured out, this ain't working anymore. The government no longer works for those who pay for it. The professional political class says and does whatever they need to do to win, and then does whatever they please. We need to return to a citizen government. That is why I am running for President. The media, the establishment, they all want to tell you this elections over, they know who's going to win it, except that you haven't... ... cast a single vote yet. So, the people of Iowa, stand with me, fight with me. Caucus for me. It is time to take our country back. +p1451 +asVBUSH +p1452 +(lp1453 +VRight. +p1454 +aVNot on specific issues, not at all. I think the next president \u2014 if I'm president, I will appoint people \u2014 I'll nominate people that have a proven record in the judiciary. The problem in the past has been we have appointed people thinking you can get it through the Senate because they didn't have a record. And the problem is that sometimes we're surprised. The simple fact is the next president needs to appoint someone with a proven conservative record, similar to Justice Scalia, that is a lover of liberty, that believes in limited government, that consistently applied that kind of philosophy, that didn't try to legislator from the bench, that was respectful of the Constitution. And then fight and fight, and fight for that nomination to make sure that that nomination passes. Of course, the president, by the way, has every right to nominate Supreme Court justices. I'm an Article II guy in the Constitution. We're running for the president of the United States. We want a strong executive for sure. But in return for that, there should be a consensus orientation on that nomination, and there's no doubt in my mind that Barack Obama will not have a consensus pick when he submits that person to the Senate. +p1455 +aVYes. +p1456 +aVNo, it doesn't, and that's the problem. The lack of leadership in this country by Barack Obama, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, thinking that this is a policy that works, this policy of containment with +p1457 +aVThe very basic fact is that Vladimir Putin is not going to be an ally of the United States. The whole world knows this. It's a simple, basic fact. They're not taking out \u2014 they're not even attempting to take out +p1458 +aV... Let me finish... +p1459 +aV... This is ridiculous... +p1460 +aV... This is coming from a guy who gets his foreign policy from the shows. +p1461 +aV... This is a guy who thinks that Hillary Clinton is a great negotiator in Iran... +p1462 +aV... This is a man who insults his way to the nomination... +p1463 +aVI think it's my turn, isn't it? +p1464 +aVI've got about five or six... +p1465 +aVDo I get to do it five or six times or just once, responding to that? +p1466 +aVSo here's the deal. I'm sick and tired of Barack Obama blaming my brother for all of the problems that he has had. And, frankly, I could care less about the insults that Donald Trump gives to me. It's blood sport for him. He enjoys it. And I'm glad he's happy about it. But I am sick and tired... +p1467 +aVI am sick and tired of him going after my family. My dad is the greatest man alive in my mind. And while Donald Trump was building a reality TV show, my brother was building a security apparatus to keep us safe. And I'm proud of what he did. And he has had the gall to go after my brother. +p1468 +aVHe has had the gall to go after my mother. Hold on. Let me finish. He has had the gall to go after my mother. +p1469 +aVLook, I won the lottery when I was born 63 years ago, looked up, and I saw my mom. My mom is the strongest woman I know. +p1470 +aVThis is not about my family or his family. This is about the South Carolina families that need someone to be a commander in chief that can lead. I'm that person. +p1471 +aVCan I just... +p1472 +aVI'm not going to invite Donald Trump to the rally in Charleston on Monday afternoon when my brother is coming to speak. +p1473 +aVI'm rescinding the invitation. I thought you might want to come, but I guess not. +p1474 +aVI'd like \u2014 can I \u2014 can I... +p1475 +aVLook, I admire the fact that Governor Kasich is supporting spending more money on drug treatment and mental health. I think that's a high priority all across this country, but expanding Obamacare is what we're talking about, and Obamacare's expansion, even though the federal government is paying for the great majority of it, is creating further debt on the backs of our children and grandchildren. We should be fighting Obamacare, repealing Obamacare, replacing it with something totally different. When I was \u2014 as a private citizen, Florida was confronted with the choice. The governor was supportive of doing what John did. So was the Florida Senate. A committed speaker of the House asked me to go as a private citizen to make the case against the expansion. I did, and it wasn't expanded there, just as it wasn't expanded in South Carolina under Governor Haley. +p1476 +aVSouth Carolina \u2014 South Carolinians need to know this, because the Cato Institute, which grades governors based on their spending, rank him right at the bottom. +p1477 +aVAnd Governor Haley is ranked at the top. +p1478 +aVNo. He mentioned my name. +p1479 +aVLet me finish, though. No, no, no \u2014 hey, wait, wait, wait. Just hold, Major, hold, Major. Hold on, Major. +p1480 +aVSouth Carolinians want to make that, they elect the most conservative governor or candidate that can win. +p1481 +aVOf course not. It won't have an impact on hedge funds managers paying ordinary income. In fact, it's not just hedge fund people, but people that are doing \u2014 they're in the business of investing other people's money, getting capital gains treatment is not appropriate. They should be paying ordinary income. That's their business. They're grateful to be able to make a lot of money, I'm sure. And what we do is lower the rates. It's not the end of the world that private equity people and hedge fund folks that are, right now, getting capital gains treatment for the income they earn, pay ordinary income like everybody else in this room. That's not a problem at all. What we need to do is reform the tax code to simplify the rates, to shift power away from Washington, D.C. That's what I did as governor of the state of Florida, $19 billion dollars of tax cuts, and it stimulated seven out of the eight years. Florida led the nation in job growth. +p1482 +aVThank you. +p1483 +aVGreat question. I feel like I have to get into my inner Chris Christie, and point out that the reason why I should be president is listening to two senators talk about arcane amendments to bills that didn't pass. This is \u2014 this is the problem. We need a leader to fix this problem. And I have a detailed plan to do just that, including controlling the border, dealing with the visa over-stayers, making sure that we have a path to legal status, not to citizenship, for those that come out from the shadows and pay a fine, learn English, don't commit crimes, work and pay taxes. That is the better approach. +p1484 +aVThe great majority of people that come to this country come because they have no other choice. They want to come to provide for their families. That doesn't mean it's right. That doesn't mean it's right. We should pick who comes to our country. We should control our border. Coming here legally should be a lot easier than coming here illegally. But the motivation, they're not all rapists, as you-know-who said. They're not that. These are people that are coming to provide for their families. And we should show a little more respect for the fact that they're struggling. It doesn't mean we shouldn't be controlling the border. That's exactly what we should be doing. +p1485 +aV... So, you know......This is the standard operating procedure, to disparage me. That's fine... +p1486 +aV... But, if you want to talk about weakness, you want to talk about weakness? It's weak to disparage women. +p1487 +aVIt's weak to denigrate the disabled. And,it's really weak to call John McCain a loser because he was a... +p1488 +aV... That is outrageous. The guy's an American hero. +p1489 +aV... The simple fact is I've also laid out my plans on immigration... +p1490 +aV Just, for the record make sure my mother's listening, if she's watching the debate. I didn't say that I was going to moon somebody... +p1491 +aVSo, there \u2014 so, there is all sorts of intrigue about where I disagree with my brother, there would be one right there. You should not use eminent domain for private purposes. A baseball stadium or a parking lot for a limo... +p1492 +aVIt's very different. Transmission lines, pipe lines, bridges and highways. All of that is proper use of imminent domain. Not to take an elderly woman's home to build a parking lot so that high-rollers can come from New York City to build casinos in Atlantic City. +p1493 +aVMy name was mentioned twice. +p1494 +aVHe called me a liar. +p1495 +aVAlso, he talked about one of my heroes, Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan was a liberal maybe in the 1950s. He was a conservative reformed governor for eight years before he became president, and no one should suggest he made an evolution for political purposes. He was a conservative, and he didn't tear down people like Donald Trump is. He tore down the Berlin Wall. +p1496 +aVHe was a great guy. +p1497 +aVThat was me. +p1498 +aVYeah, well, I have got to respond to this. +p1499 +aVSounds like a good plan. +p1500 +aVOr you could ask me two questions, so I could get two minutes instead of one. +p1501 +aVI think the dysfunction in Washington is really dangerous, that's what I think. And we need a proven leader that has a record of solving problems, someone who doesn't cut and run; someone who could be a commander in chief to unite our country around common purposes; someone who doesn't disparage people. Someone that doesn't brag, for example, that he has been bankrupt four times and it was great, because he could use the legal system. Someone... +p1502 +aVWe need someone with a proven record to be able to forge consensus to solve problems. And right now, both Republicans and Democrats in Washington don't get it. People are struggling \u2014 63 percent of Americans can't make a $500 car payment. Most Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. And we need someone has a proven record of growing the economy, reforming the things that are broken. And I'm that person. +p1503 +aVYeah... +p1504 +aVYeah. +p1505 +aVHere we go. +p1506 +aVHere's the record. Here's the record. We led the nation in job growth seven out of eight years. When I left there was $9 billion of reserves, 35 percent of general revenue. No state came close to that. +p1507 +aVWhen I \u2014 during my time, we were one of the two states to go to AAA bond rating. We didn't go bankrupt like Trump did and call it success when people are laid off, when vendors don't get paid. That's not success. What we did was create an environment where people had a chance to have income. Personal income during my time went up by 4.4 percent. +p1508 +aVThe government grew by... +p1509 +aV... half of that. +p1510 +aVThank you all very much. The next president is going to be confronted with an unforeseen challenge. That's almost certain. It could be a pandemic, a major natural disaster or an attack on our country. The question for South Carolinians and Americans is who do you want to have sitting behind the big desk in the Oval Office? Because that's the question. It's not the things we're talking about today. It's the great challenge that may happen. I believe I will have a steady hand as commander in chief and president of the United States. I will unite this country around common purposes because I did it as governor of the state of Florida. When I was governor, we had eight hurricanes and four tropical storms in 16 months. Our state was on its back. We recovered far faster than what people thought because we led. We want to challenge rather than cutting and running. That's what we need in Washington, D.C. We need someone with a servant's heart that has a backbone, that isn't going to focus on polls and focus groups. The focus will be on the American people to keep them safe and secure. I ask for your vote next Saturday. +p1511 +aVChris, why don't you mention my name so I can get into this. +p1512 +aV... I appreciate that, I really do, thank you. +p1513 +aVWell, first of all he said the exact same thing about me, that I would make a great Vice Presidential nominee when Mitt Romney was considering. I said the same thing about Marco. I think we were both right at the time, and Mitt picked somebody else. So, let's move on to the 2016 race. Who has the leadership skills... ...who has the leadership skills to lead? And, I'm proud of the fact that I have 12 Medal of Honor recipients, over 30 admirals and generals that believe that I would be a steady hand as Commander in Chief. That I serve as Governor of the state of Florida where we cut taxes and reduced government. I took on very powerful interests, forged consensus, fought for my beliefs, implemented them and the state was better off. We had eight hurricanes and four tropical storms in 16 months. The whole state was turned upside down. It required a steady hand. Leadership. You learn this, you learn it by doing it. It's not something that you just go up, and on the job do it. It's not the same. Look, let's be clear. Marco Rubio is a gifted, gifted politician, and he may have the skills to be a President of the United States, but we've tried it the old way with Barack Obama, with soaring eloquence and we got \u2014 we didn't get a leader we got someone who wants to divide the country up. The next President......going to have to forge consensus to bring about a set of common purposes so that we can move forward again in this country... +p1514 +aV... this relates to strategic patience. +p1515 +aVThis relates to the strategic patience of the Obama administration. They come up with these great marketing terms, and what they do is they pull back, and voids are filled, and they're now filled by asymmetric threats of terror, as well as nation-states on the run. The next president of the United States is gonna have to get the United States back in the game, and if a preemptive strike is necessary to keep us safe, then we should do it. +p1516 +aVWell, first of all, it's interesting that that happened literally days when this hostage release took place in Iran. A day or two days afterwards, North Korea took a \u2014 held an American student hostage. I think it's when we send a signal of weakness, when we are negotiating to release people that committed crimes in our country for people that didn't commit crimes that are held hostage in Iran. We saw the shameful treatment of our sailors, that this creates weakness \u2014 sends a signal of weakness around the world. The next president of the United States is going to have to get back in the game. Where the United States' word matters. Where we back up our allies, where we don't send signals of weakness. We need to use every \u2014 every influence possible to get this student back. And I think John is right about this, there are crippling sanctions that are available, as it relates to the two or three banks that North Korea uses to \u2014 to \u2014 use it \u2014 illicit trade. We ought to re-establish sanctions, not just because of the student, but because of their actions that they're taking right now, as it relates to building this missile capability. +p1517 +aVGood evening. HAM: Mr. Trump. +p1518 +aVThe difference \u2014 the difference between eminent domain for public purpose \u2014 as Donald said, roads and infrastructure, pipelines and all that \u2014 that's for public purpose. But what Donald Trump did was use eminent domain to try to take the property of an elderly woman on the strip in Atlantic City. That is not public purpose, that is down right wrong. And here's the problem with that. The problem was, it was to tear down \u2014 it was to tear down \u2014 it was to tear down the house... +p1519 +aVAnd the net result was \u2014 you tried. +p1520 +aVAnd you lost in the court. +p1521 +aVThat is not true. And the simple fact is to turn this into a limousine parking lot for his casinos is a not public use. And in Florida, based on what we did, we made that impossible. It is part of our Constitution. That's the better approach. That is the conservative approach. +p1522 +aVHow tough it is to take away property from an elderly woman? +p1523 +aVHow tough it is to take away a property from an elderly woman? +p1524 +aVI consider it a public use. +p1525 +aVIt's a public use. It's a public use. +p1526 +aVIt's a public use. +p1527 +aVYeah. +p1528 +aVIt's a public use. +p1529 +aVEstablished by the courts \u2014 federal, state courts. +p1530 +aVI would like to see more millionaires. I think we need to grow more millionaires, we need create a prosperity society where people can rise up. This notion that somehow we're undertaxed as a nation is just fool hearty, when we have entitlements growing far faster than our ability to pay for it. A conservative, because that's the point of this, believes in limited government, believes in a entrepreneurial capitalism and a strong national defense. But it also has to be, we need to reform things. In my town hall meetings, I went to a place where a woman described her neighbor, who has a better economic deal by not working than her struggling to make ends meet. We need to be on the side of working people. And you know, the problem with the left is, another tax, another regulation, another mandate makes it harder for them to rise up. Everything that we should do should be focused on high, sustained economic growth, where the middle class gets a raise for the first time, and where people are rewarded for work, rather than non-work. And I know how to do this. And if people are interested in the specifics of this, they ought to go to jeb2016.com. +p1531 +aVMartha \u2014 Martha, if I... +p1532 +aVI would. And I would do it in concert, again, with our Arab allies and with Europe, most particularly in this case. This is the lesson learned: in history, if you bomb something and not do anything as it relates to deal with the aftermath of this, if you don't have a stable government, you get what we have in Libya. And this is not \u2014 leading from behind is not an effective policy. We have to lead. Without the United States, nothing seems to work. Europe doesn't have the ability to \u2014 to \u2014 to lead \u2014 forward lead in this regard. And so dealing with the caliphate is important, because it now has spawned other areas. There have been 70-plus attacks in 17 countries, either inspired by +p1533 +aVMartha and David, I just... +p1534 +aVMartha and David... +p1535 +aVNo, no, I wouldn't. No, I wouldn't. And it was used sparingly, Congress has changed the laws and I \u2014 and I think where we stand is the appropriate place. But what we need to do is to make sure that we expand our intelligence capabilities. The idea that we're going to solve this fight with predator drones, killing people somehow is a \u2014 is more acceptable than capturing them, securing the information. This is why closing Guantanamo is a complete disaster. What we need to do is make sure that we are kept safe......by having intelligence capabilities, both human and technological intelligence capabilities far superior than what we have today. That's how you get a more safe place is by making sure that we're fully engaged. And right now, this administration doesn't do that. +p1536 +aVThis is a \u2014 this is an important subject. I agree with everything that's been said here about repealing unconstitutional rules and rules that are creating real burdens for investing that creating jobs. But we also ought to get back to being a Tenth Amendment country, as well, a country that respects the states to be able to make more decisions. And in the Bush administration, we would shift transportation dollars back to the states. I trust Kasich and Christie to build the roads and the infrastructure of their states than Washington, D.C. EPA delegated authority, back to the states. Education dollars, back to the states. I would like to see reform take place all across the country, where there's more vouchers, more freedom. If we did that, we would shrink government's power in Washington, D.C. and we would have a much more effective government, where people would begin to trust our government again, because now, no one believes it works. +p1537 +aVYou mentioned me. He mentioned me. One other thing that I think we ought to do, along with repealing Obamacare, we need to shift all of this power of healthcare, which is the most egregious form of federal power that is suppressing wages and incomes, and allow governors to have the Medicaid plans so that they can create 21st century Medicaid insurance for people that are stuck in poverty. There's so much that can be done, but I don't trust Washington to do it. I trust the state capitals to be the place \u2014 to be the source of innovation and reform in this country. HAM: Thank you, governors. Martha and David, back to you. +p1538 +aVI didn't mention him the second time. +p1539 +aV... Say it again? +p1540 +aV... I do, and I do think that we should not impose any kind of political agenda on the military. There should be \u2014 if women can meet the requirements, the minimum requirements for combat service they ought to have the right to do it. For sure. It ought to be focused on the morale as well. We got to make sure that we have readiness much higher than we do today. We need to eliminate the sequester which is devastating our military. We can't be focusing on the political side of this, we need to realize that our military force is how we project our word in the world. When we're weak militarily it doesn't matter what we say. We can talk about red lines, and +p1541 +aV... Why would they worry about it... +p1542 +aV... Well, the Draft's not going to be reinstituted, but why \u2014 if women are accessing... +p1543 +aVNo. I didn't say that. You \u2014 you asked a question not about the draft, you asked about registering. And if women are going to be... +p1544 +aVIf \u2014 but... +p1545 +aV... we don't have a draft. I'm not suggesting we have a draft. What I'm suggesting is that we ought to have readiness being the first priority of our military, and secondly, that we make sure that the morale is high. And right now, neither one of those are acceptable because we've been gutting the military budget. We also need to reform our procurement process. We need to make sure there are more men and women in uniform than people \u2014 than civilians in our Defense Department. There's a lot of things that we need to reform to bring our defense capabilities into the 21st century and I'm the guy that could do that. That's why I have the support of generals, of admirals, of 12 Medal of Honor recipients and many other people that know that I would be a steady commander-in-chief and rebuild our military. +p1546 +aVI totally agree that we need to give veterans more choices. A veterans card to be able to go to a private provider will enhance the quality of the service inside the Department of Veterans Affairs. We need career civil service reform. Only three people were fired after waiting lists were dropped where veterans didn't get care and people died. It is outrageous. And Hillary Clinton says that that's acceptable? Because she is captive of the public service uniforms. Career civil service reform would allow the next president to fire people that are \u2014 that are showing sheer incompetence. At a town hall meeting today, someone came \u2014 told a story of their father who looked like he was 85. He had \u2014 he got a bill eight years later from an operation he had, eight years it took. They couldn't resolve the dispute and then he was told that he died. Literally, the Veterans Administration sent a death certificate to this guy and it took nine months to clarify the guy \u2014 I met him. He's voting for me. And he is \u2014 likely to be alive. This is \u2014 this is outrageous. It is completely outrageous. So, giving veterans more choices, creating centers of excellence, focusing on the true problems that exist. Dr. Carson is completely right. We need to start focusing on this earlier, before they become veterans so that there's a customized plan so people don't fall through the cracks. We can do this, but it's going to require someone who has proven leadership skills to make it happen. +p1547 +aVLook, I'm pro-life. In fact, on this stage, I'm the most pro-life person because I've acted on it for eight years as governor of the state of Florida. Where we abolished partial-birth abortion, where parents have the right to be notified when their teenage child is having an abortion. We were the first state to do a choose life license plate to raise money for adoption. We were the first state to have state monies go to crisis pregnancy centers, which recently was just increased to $4 million a year. We created greater regulation on abortion clinics, where there were horrific procedures. So I'm pro life, but I believe there should be exceptions: rape, incest and when the life of the mother is in danger. And so, that belief, and my consistency on this, makes me, I think, poised to be in the right place, the sweet spot for a Republican nominee. And others may have a different view and I respect it. +p1548 +aVPeyton Manning is supporting me. And I'm for Denver. +p1549 +aVI want to thank the people of New Hampshire, and I want to celebrate the birthday of a great president, Ronald Reagan would have been 105 today. President Reagan believed in the future of our country, believed in its greatness, had a hopeful, optimistic message. Drew people towards our cause. We need someone who has a proven record to take our case to the American people because our philosophy is by far the best one. Limited government, entrepreneurial capitalism, of peace through strength. I believe I have the skills to take our party to victory in November. I ask for your support on Tuesday to keep America, and make America a safer, stronger, and freer. Thank you all very much. +p1550 +aVBret, we're just starting. The first vote hasn't been counted. Why don't we let the process work. I trust Iowans, Granite staters, people in South Carolina, people in Nevada, to start this process out. I kind of miss Donald Trump. He was a little teddy bear to me. We always had such a loving relationship in these debates and in between and the tweets. I kind of miss him. I wish he was here. Everybody else was in the witness protection program when I went after him on behalf of what the Republican cause should be: conservative principles, believing in limited government, believing in accountability. Leading by fixing the things that are broken. Look, I am in the establishment because my dad, the greatest man alive was president of the United States and my brother, who I adore as well as fantastic brother was president. Fine, I'll take it. I guess I'm part of the establishment Barbara Bush is my mom. I'll take that, too. But this election is not about our pedigree, this is an election about people that are really hurting. We need a leader that will fix things and have a proven record to do it. And we need someone who will take on Hillary Clinton in November. Someone who has a proven record, who has been tested, who is totally transparent. I released 34 years of tax returns... ... and 300,000 e-mails in my government record. To get the information from Hillary Clinton, you need to get a subpoena from the FBI. +p1551 +aVNo, you weren't. Your name wasn't mentioned, Ted. +p1552 +aV... Chris, keep it coming... +p1553 +aV... Thank you Chris... +p1554 +aVWell, first, I was critical of the Senators not giving the authorization for the use of military force. They should have made it more open ended for the next president. We shouldn't have the war fighters have their arms tied behind their back as President Obama wanted to do, but they had a chance to show support and it wasn't popular at the time. It became popular after the attack in Paris, and San Bernardino. Now we hear the tough talk. Prior to that, in the Reagan Library, I gave a detailed plan. Exactly what to do as it relates to +p1555 +aVOf course. And there's all sorts of ways that can be done at the state, local and federal level to do that. But the first duty of the next president of the United States is to fix the mess at the Department of Veterans Affairs. That's his first responsibility. Look, we have waiting lists for veterans that are \u2014 that are leaving because of the sequester where we're gutting the military. More and more military personnel are leaving becoming veterans, and the waiting list grows. They've given out $140 million of bonuses to Veterans Department employees, including reducing the waiting lists, without giving veterans care. People died, and only three people have been fired. I will make sure that we fire the sheer incompetence inside the Department of Veterans Affairs and then we'll give veterans a choice card so that they don't have to travel hours and hours to get care if they want to go to their private provider. You want to make the Veterans Administration do a better job, give them \u2014 give veterans choices and you'll get a much better result. And as it relates to all the other organizations, let me give you a good example. In Houston, Texas, there's an organization in place because someone acted on their heart, wanted to make sure that there's no homeless veterans in Houston. And they've come pretty close to that without federal government assistance. We need to mobilize the entire country to treat our veterans and treat them with much more respect than they get today. +p1556 +aVNo, they shouldn't. And I believe that Puerto Rico ought to have the right of self-determination. If I was a Puerto Rican, I'd vote for statehood so that they have full citizenship. They serve in the military. They would have to pay federal taxes. They would \u2014 they would accept the responsibilities of full U.S. citizenship. But they should have the right of determine \u2014 self-determination. Before you get to that, though, Puerto Rico is going to have to deal with the structural problems they face. You know, it's \u2014 it's a fact that if you can pay for a $79 one-way ticket to Orlando, and you can escape the challenges of a declining economy and high crime rates, you move to Orlando. And a lot of people are doing that. And the spiraling out-of- control requires Puerto Rico to make structural reforms. The federal government can play a role in allowing them to do that, but they should not \u2014 the process of statehood or the status of Puerto Rico won't be solved until we get to the bigger issue of how you deal with the structural economic problems they're facing right now. +p1557 +aVWell, I'm kind of confused because he was the sponsor of the Gang of Eight bill that did require a bunch of thresholds but ultimately allowed for citizenship over an extended period of time. I mean, that's a fact. And he asked me to support that. And I \u2014 I supported him because I think people, when you're elected, you need to do things. And he led the charge to finally fix this immigration problem that has existed now for, as Marco says, for 30 years. And then he cut and run because it wasn't popular amongst conservatives, I guess. Here's what I believe. And I wrote a book about this called Immigration Wars. You can get it at $2.99 on Amazon. It's not a bestseller. I can promise you. There won't be any \u2014 you can get it. It's affordable for everybody. We should have a path to legal status for the 12 million people that are here illegally. It means, come out from the shadows, pay a fine, earn legal status by working, by paying taxes, learning English. Not committing crimes and earn legal status where you're not cutting in front of the line for people that are patiently waiting outside. I think that is the \u2014 I think that's the conservative consensus pragmatic approach to how to solve this problem. +p1558 +aVSo did you. +p1559 +aVYeah. So did you, Marco. +p1560 +aVMarco, Marco \u2014 he brought up my name. I have supported a consensus approach to solving this problem wherever it came up. and in 2007 it almost passed when my brother was president of the United States. A bipartisan approach got close. Barack Obama actually had the poison pill to stop it then. And when you led the charge with the Gang of Eight, I supported it because you asked me to. I think it's important for people in elected office to try to forge consensus to solve problems. There's never going do be perfect bill. +p1561 +aVBut when you didn't do that and you ask people to support, you shouldn't cut and run. +p1562 +aVYou should stick with it and that's exactly what happened. He cut and run. And that's a tragedy because now... ... it's harder and harder to actually solve this problem. +p1563 +aVCan I \u2014 can I \u2014 I just... +p1564 +aVThat beautiful young woman who's an entrepreneur who served in the military, first of all, is deserving of our respect for service in the military and the fact that she's an entrepreneur. And we should be a welcoming nation. Our identity is not based on race or ethnicity, it's based on a set of shared values. That's American citizenship. And Dulce Candy \u2014 a pretty cool name, actually \u2014 that is now an entrepreneur over Youtube is part of that American spirit, and we should celebrate it as conservatives. That's what we believe in. You can \u2014 you can deal with the threat of terror and also recognize that this country should be aspirational across the board. +p1565 +aVWell, first of all, I've seen polls where I'm beating Hillary Clinton pretty regularly. And I believe I can, because I have a proven record, a record of accomplishment, a record of cutting taxes, of shrinking the government, of reforming education, of challenging the status quo, eliminating career civil service protections, shrinking the government workforce by 11 percent, but leading the nation in job growth. That's the record of accomplishment that should be taken to Hillary Clinton, who has no record of accomplishment. So I'm confident if I win this nomination, I will aggressively go against her and beat her. As it relates to the super PACs, I have no control over that. And this is beanbag compared to what the Clinton hit machine is going to do to the Republican nominee. The simple fact is, we all have a record. It all will be scrutinized. There's give and take. It's called the politics. And that's the way it is. I'm running hard and I believe I'll be the Republican nominee and I'll be the one best suited to beat Hillary Clinton, who should not be president of the United States. +p1566 +aVWell first of all, I think it's important that when we're running for the highest office in the land that we recognize that we're living in dangerous times and we have to be serious about it, that our words have consequences. Donald Trump, for example \u2014 I'm glad \u2014 I mentioned his name again just if anybody was missing him... ... Mr. Trump believed that in reaction to people's fears that we should ban all Muslims. Well, that creates an environment that's toxic in our own country. Nobela is a rising entrepreneur. She wants to pursue the American dream. She's an American citizen. She should not feel uncomfortable about her citizenship. She's not the threat. The threat is Islamic terrorism. We need to focus our energies there, not these broad, blanket, kind of statements that will make it harder for us to deal with +p1567 +aVWe desperately need a conservative leader as president of the United States. I have a proven record as governor of the state of Florida, as a conservative leader. And I also have detailed plans to fix the mess in Washington, D.C. As president I will restore and rebuild our military, restore the alliances and keep us safe. And as our party's nominee, I will defeat Hillary Clinton in November. I ask for your support on the caucuses come Monday night and I will make you proud as our party's nominee. Thank you very much. +p1568 +aVWell first of all, the idea that somehow we're better off today than the day that Barack Obama was inaugurated president of the United States is totally an alternative universe. The simple fact is that the world has been torn asunder. Think about it. With grandiose language, the president talks about red lines and nothing to follow it up; talks about +p1569 +aVNo. And worse \u2014 worse yet, to be honest with you, Hillary Clinton would be a national security disaster. Think about it. She wants to continue down the path of Iran, Benghazi, the Russian reset, Dodd-Frank, all the things that have \u2014 that have gone wrong in this country, she would be a national security mess. And that is wrong. And you know what? Here's the problem. If she gets elected, she's under investigation with the FBI right now. If she gets elected, her first 100 days, instead of setting an agenda, she might be going back and forth between the White House and the courthouse. We need to stop that. +p1570 +aVNeil, my name was mentioned here. Neil, my name was mentioned as well. Here's the deal, Chris is totally right. He's been a good governor, and he's a heck of a lot better than his predecessor that would have bankrupted New Jersey. Everybody on this stage is better than Hillary Clinton. And I think the focus ought to be on making sure that we leave this nomination process, as wild and woolly as it's going to be \u2014 this is not being bad. These attack ads are going to be part of life. Everybody just needs to get used to it. Everybody's record's going to be scrutinized, and at the end of the day we need to unite behind the winner so we can defeat Hillary Clinton, because she is a disaster. Our country rise up again, but we need to have a compelling conservative agenda that we present to the American people in a way that doesn't disparage people, that unites us around our common purpose. And so everybody needs to discount some of the things you're going to hear in these ads, and discount the \u2014 the back-and-forth here, because every person here is better than Hillary Clinton. +p1571 +aVFirst of all, I'd like to recognize Governor Haley for her incredible leadership in the aftermath of the \u2014 \u2014 the Emanuel AME church killings. And I also want to recognize the people in that church that showed the grace of God and the grace of forgiveness and the mercy that they showed. I don't know if any of us could have done what they did, one after another, within 48 hours of that tragedy taking place. Look, here's the deal, in this particular case, the FBI made a mistake. The law itself requires a background check, but that didn't fulfill their part of the bargain within the time that they were supposed to do. We don't need to add new rules, we need to make sure the FBI does its job. Because that person should not have gotten a gun, should not \u2014 would not have passed a background check. The first impulse of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton is to take rights away from law- abiding citizens. That's what they do, whether it's the San Bernardino attack or if it's these tragedies that take place, I think we need to focus on what the bigger issue is. It isn't law-abiding gun owners. Look, I have an A plus rating in the NRA and we also have a reduction in gun violence because in Florida, if you commit a crime with a gun, you're going away. You're going away for a long, long while. And that's what we should focus on is the violence in our communities. Target the efforts for people that are committing crimes with guns, and if you do that, and get it right, you're going to be much better off than creating a political argument where there's a big divide. The other issue is mental health. That's a serious issue that we could work on. Republicans and Democrats alike believe this. The president's first impulse is do this by executive order, power he doesn't have. Why not go to Congress and in a bipartisan way, begin to deal with the process of mental health issues so that people that are spiraling out of control because of mental health challenges don't have access to guns. +p1572 +aVWell, first of all, under President Jeb Bush, we would restore the strength of the military. Last week, Secretary Carter announced that the Navy's going to be cut again. It's now half the size of what it was prior to Operation Desert Storm. The deployments are too high for the military personnel. We don't have procurement being done for refreshing the equipment. The B-52 is still operational as the long range bomber; it was inaugurated in the age of Harry Truman. The planes are older than the pilots. We're gutting our military, and so the Iranians and the Chinese and the Russians and many other countries look at the United States not as serious as we once were. We have to eliminate the sequester, rebuild our military in a way that makes it clear that we're back in the game. Secondly, as it relates to Iran, we need to confront their ambitions across the board. We should reimpose sanctions, they've already violated sanctions after this agreement was signed by testing medium-range missiles. Thirdly, we need to move our embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem to send a serious signal that we're back in the game with Israel......and sign an agreement that makes sure that the world knows that they will have technological superiority. We need to get back in the game as it relates to our Arab nations. The rest of the world is moving away from us towards other alliances because we are weak. This president and John Kerry and Hillary Clinton all have made it harder for the next president to act, but he must act to confront the ambitions of Iran. We can get back in the game to restore order and security for our own country. +p1573 +aVDonald, Donald \u2014 can I \u2014 I hope you reconsider this, because this policy is a policy that makes it impossible to build the coalition necessary to take out +p1574 +aVYeah, they are unhinged. +p1575 +aVNo, not at all, absolutely not. I can see why people are angry and scared, because this president has created a condition where our national security has weakened dramatically. I totally get that. But we're running for the presidency of the United States here. This isn't \u2014 this isn't, you know, a different kind of job. You have to lead. You cannot make rash statements and expect the rest of the world to respond as though, well, it's just politics. Every time we send signals like this, we send a signal of weakness, not strength. And so it was his statement, which is why I'm asking him to consider changing his views. +p1576 +aVSo, are we going to ban Muslims from India, from Indonesia, from countries that are strong allies \u2014 that we need to build better relationships with? Of course not. What we need to do is destroy +p1577 +aVAbsolutely. +p1578 +aVYeah. +p1579 +aVHere's \u2014 apart from the \u2014 apart from the higher prices on consumers and people are living paycheck to paycheck, apart from that, there will be retaliation. +p1580 +aVSo they soybean sales from Iowa, entire soybean production goes \u2014 the equivalent of it goes to China. Or how about Boeing right here within a mile? Do you think that the Chinese, if they had a 45 percent tariff imposed on all their imports wouldn't retaliate and start buying Airbus? Of course, they would. This would be devastating for the economy. We need someone with a steady hand being president of the United States. +p1581 +aVThey're a mile away from here. +p1582 +aVMy name was mentioned. My name was mentioned here. The simple fact is that the plane that's being build here is being sold to China. You can \u2014 if you \u2014 you flew in with your 767, didn't you? Right there, right next to the plant. +p1583 +aVWhen you head back to airport tonight, go check and see what the... +p1584 +aVCheck it out. +p1585 +aVThere's \u2014 look, there's \u2014 +p1586 +aVI would try to convince him otherwise, but this last back and forth between two senators \u2014 back bench senators, you know, explains why we have the mess in Washington, D.C. We need a president that will fix our immigration laws and stick with it, not bend with the wind. The simple fact is one of the ways, Maria, to solve the problem you described is narrow the number of people coming by family petitioning to what every other country has so that we have the best and the brightest that come to our country. We need to control the border, we need to do all of this in a comprehensive way, not just going back and forth and talking about stuff \u2014 +p1587 +aVOh, I'll talk about that, too. But you haven't asked me a question in a while, Neil, so I thought I'd get that off my chest if you don't mind. +p1588 +aVI got that. And the problem today is there's no confidence in Washington, D.C. There needs to be more than one meeting, there needs to complete dialogue with the large technology companies. They understand that there's a national security risk. We ought to give them a little bit of a liability release so that they share data amongst themselves and share data with the federal government, they're not fearful of a lawsuit. We need to make sure that we keep the country safe. This is the first priority. The cybersecurity challenges that we face, this administration failed us completely, completely. Not just the hacking of OPM, but that is \u2014 that is just shameful. 23 million files in the hands of the Chinese? So it's not just the government \u2014 the private sector companies, it's also our own government that needs to raise the level of our game. We should put the NSA in charge of the civilian side of this as well. That expertise needs to spread all across the government and there needs to be much more cooperation with our private sector. +p1589 +aVYou've got to keep asking. You've got to keep asking because this is a hugely important issue. If you can encrypt messages, +p1590 +aVWell, if the law would change, yeah. But I think there has to be recognition that if we \u2014 if we are too punitive, then you'll go to other \u2014 other technology companies outside the United States. And what we want to do is to control this. We also want to dominate this from a commercial side. So there's a lot of balanced interests. But the president leads in this regard. That's what we need. We need leadership, someone who has a backbone and sticks with things, rather than just talks about them as though anything matters when you're talking about amendments that don't even actually are part of a bill that ever passed. +p1591 +aVWho can you count on to keep us safer, stronger and freer? Results count, and as governor, I pushed Florida up to the top in terms of jobs, income and small business growth. Detailed plans count, and I believe that the plan I've laid out to destroy +p1592 +aVOur freedom is under attack. Our economy is under water. The leading democrat is under investigation. And America is under the gun to lead the free world to protect our civilized way of life. Serious times require strong leadership, that's what at stake right now. Regarding national security, we need to restore the defense cuts of Barack Obama to rebuild our military, to destroy +p1593 +aVWell, first of all, we need to destroy +p1594 +aVLook, he mentioned me. I can bring \u2014 I can talk. This is \u2014 this is the problem. Banning all Muslims will make it harder for us to do exactly what we need to do, which is to destroy +p1595 +aVThey are relevant if we want to destroy +p1596 +aVDonald, this has got... +p1597 +aVThis is another example of the lack of seriousness. Look, this is \u2014 this is troubling because we're at war. They've declared war on us and we need to have a serious strategy to destroy +p1598 +aVYou said on September 30th that +p1599 +aVI'm talking right now. I'm talking. +p1600 +aVSeptember 30th you said... +p1601 +aVA little of your own medicine there, Donald. +p1602 +aVDonald, you're not going to be able to insult your way to the presidency. That's not going to happen. And I do have the strength. Leadership, leadership is not about attacking people and disparaging people. Leadership is about creating a serious strategy to deal with the threat of our time. And I laid out that strategy before the attacks in Paris and before the attacks in San Bernardino. And it is the way forward. We need to increase our military spending. We need to deal with a no- fly zone in Syria, a safe zone. We need to focus on building a military that is second-to-none... +p1603 +aV... so that we can destroy Islamic terrorism. +p1604 +aVI think we're focusing a whole... +p1605 +aVI do. I think the lesson's learned are that we have to have to have a strategy to get and a strategy to get out. Which means, that you create a stable situation. This president and this is what the focus ought to be, it's not the differences between us, it's Barack Obama does not believe America's leadership in the world is a force for good. He does not believe that our strength is a place where security can take place. He leads from behind. He creates an environment that now we're creating the most unstable situation we've had since the World War II era. The focus ought to be on the single fact that Hillary Clinton wants to double down on a failed foreign policy and we need to be united to defeat that because we're going to be in a place that is far less secure than it is today. Don't you all agree? +p1606 +aVBecause I \u2014 first of all, I know what I don't know. I know what I don't know. I would seek out, as I have, the best advice that exists. I won't get my information from the shows. I don't know if that's Saturday morning or Sunday morning. I don't know which one. I will seek out the best advice, and I will create a strategy and I will persuade the American people what the role of America should be. I've laid out a policy of rebuilding our military. All of the talk that we're seeing here \u2014 most of which I agree on, frankly \u2014 requires a much stronger military. We now have a lack of readiness that is quite scary. We have planes that were \u2014 that Harry Truman inaugurated, the B-52. We have \u2014 the Navy has been gutted and decimated. The readiness of the Marines is way down. If we're serious about America's leadership in the world, then we need to make sure that we have the back of the armed forces. The Armed Forces Radio is here listening to this today. I hope they know that if I'm president, I'll be a commander-in-chief, not an agitator- in-chief or a divider-in-chief, that I will lead this country in a way that will create greater security and greater safety. +p1607 +aVSo I was \u2014 I was \u2014 I was mentioned, so I can bring up something, I think, right? Look, the simple fact is, if you think this is tough you're not being treated fairly... +p1608 +aV... imagine what it's going to be like dealing with Putin or dealing with President Xi. +p1609 +aVOr dealing with the Islamic terrorism that exists. +p1610 +aVThis is a tough business to run for president. +p1611 +aVAnd it's \u2014 and we need...... to have a leader that is... +p1612 +aVYou're never going to be president of the United States by insulting your way to the presidency. +p1613 +aVDoesn't matter. Doesn't matter. +p1614 +aVYes. +p1615 +aVNo it isn't but it is an important subject to talk about for sure. And I think people have good ideas on this. Clearly, we need to secure the border. Coming here legally needs to be a lot easier than coming here illegally. If you don't have that, you don't have the rule of law. We now have a national security consideration, public health issues, we have an epidemic of heroine overdoses in all places in this country because of the ease of bringing heroine in. We have to secure the border. It is a serious undertaking and yes, we do need more fencing and we do need to use technology, and we do need more border control. And we need to have better cooperation by the way with local law enforcement. There are 800,000 cops on the beat, they ought to be trained to be the eyes and ears for law enforcement for the threat against terror as well as for immigration. This is a serious challenge and if we can get it right, yes, we'll start winning votes again. The real problem isn't anybody on this stage, the real problem is Barack Obama has had six years to advocate a position to fix this and he's done nothing. The congress has funded these programs of building more fencing and doing all this and he hasn't done it. He wants to maintain it as a wedge issue and so does Hillary Clinton. Republicans need to fix it and when we do, we'll be better off. +p1616 +aVI completely agree with Chris. And this administration has been so lax. Think about it. Hillary Clinton is using a private server for \u2014 where classified information go by. This is a \u2014 this is a serious administration? The president receives an inspector general's report that the Office of Personnel Management could be hacked into; they had antiquated firewalls; 23 million files have been \u2014 are in the hands of the Chinese allegedly, including, by the way, members of the press, it turns out, last week. Maybe that's the only part that's good news, so that you guys can get a feel for what it's like now to see this type of attack. This is something \u2014 we have to have the best defensive capabilities. We need to coordinate all of our efforts with the private sector. We need to give them liability relief so that we can do that. And offensively, we need to have capabilities second to none. We need to create a situation where they know that there will be adverse impacts if they continue to do what they're doing. They'll respect that. They'll respect a United States that is serious about protecting our \u2014 our infrastructure. If we don't do it, we'll continue to see what's \u2014 exactly what's happening, not just from the Chinese, by the way. The Russians and rogue actors, including +p1617 +aVAsk yourself, which candidate will keep you and our country safer, stronger and freer? Hillary Clinton has aligned herself with Barack Obama on +p1618 +aVYou've already made two comments, John. It's my turn. +p1619 +aVI got about four minutes in the last debate. I'm going to get my question right now. +p1620 +aVYes. +p1621 +aVFirst of all, we could get to 4 percent growth. The new normal of 2 percent puts huge demands on government. The reason why we have structural deficits is that more and more people are relying on government and the growth that we don't have makes \u2014 makes the deficit grow. A 4 percent growth strategy starts with tax reform. And the proposal that I've laid out is the one the Wall Street Journal editorial board has said is the most pro-growth of all the proposals out there. We cut the \u2014 we eliminate a lot of deductions and cut the rates down. A corporate rate of 20 percent, which puts us 5 percent above \u2014 below that of China, and allows us full expensing of investing. It would create an explosion of investment back into this country, creating higher-wage jobs, and so that's part of it. On the regulatory side I think we need to repeal every rule that Barack Obama has in terms of work in progress, every one of them. And start over. For those that are already in existence, the regulation of the Internet, we have to start over, but we ought to do that. The clean power act, we ought to repeal that and \u2014 and start over on that. The waters of the United States act, which is going to be devastating for agriculture and many industries, we should repeal that. We should repeal the rules because the economic costs of this far exceed the social benefit. And if we're serious about being serious about high growth, then we have to recognize that small businesses right now, more of them are closing than \u2014 than are \u2014 than are being set up. Hillary Clinton has said that Barack Obama's policies get an A. Really? One in 10 people right now aren't working or have given up altogether, as you said. That's not an A. One in seven people are living in poverty. That's not an A. One in five children are on food stamps. That is not an A. It may be the best that Hillary Clinton can do, but it's not the best America can do. +p1622 +aVThank you, Donald, for allowing me to speak at the debate. That's really nice of you. Really appreciate that. What a generous man you are. Twelve million illegal immigrants, to send them back, 500,000 a month, is just not \u2014 not possible. And it's not embracing American values. And it would tear communities apart. And it would send a signal that we're not the kind of country that I know America is. And even having this conversation sends a powerful signal \u2014 they're doing high-fives in the Clinton campaign right now when they hear this. That's the problem with this. We have to win the presidency. And the way you win the presidency is to have practical plans. Lay them out there. What we need to do is allow people to earn legal status where they pay a fine, where they work, where they don't commit crimes, where they learn English, and over an extended period of time, they earn legal status. That's the path \u2014 a proper path... +p1623 +aVI'm gonna fight as hard as I can to make sure that we shift power away from Washington, simplify the tax code, to spur economic activity in this country. Of course it's the highest priority. If we don't do that, we're stuck with the "new normal" of 2 percent growth. Hillary Clinton says, basically, we just gotta get used to it. Two percent growth means declining income for the middle class. It means more than 6 million people are stuck in poverty than the day that Barack Obama was inaugurated. It means \u2014 it means more demands on government \u2014 growing the economy is the first job, if we're going to be serious about dealing with the deficit and debt. And more importantly, people are really struggling right now. In this economy, the disposable income of the great middle is down 2,300 bucks. So yeah, we've created jobs, your \u2014 argue (ph) \u2014 brought that up early, and it was a good question. Jobs are being created, but they're lower-income jobs than the jobs that were lost. And the net effect of this is we need to jump-start the economy. I think of Jonathan (ph) and Reagan Love (ph), who are supporters of mine. Jonathan has been deployed by the National Guard, he is \u2014 he's in Oklahoma. Reagan Love \u2014 by the way, pretty great name, I think \u2014 is a teacher. When \u2014 if they had this tax cut, what they told me was that that $2,300 of money in their pocket \u2014 they would go back to South Carolina and start a business. Imagine what it would be like, instead of having more businesses closed than started, we had it the exact opposite. We would grow our economy, and the government would get the revenue necessary to make things \u2014 make things better. Hillary Clinton's approach to this is more top-down, more regulation, more taxes, more government, and it will destroy our economy. +p1624 +aVIt is \u2014 I'd say it is Islamic terrorism, and, back to the question of what we are dealing with in Iraq, when we pull back voids are filled. That's the lesson of history, and, sadly, this president does not believe in American leadership. He does not believe it, and the net result is that we have a caliphate the size of Indiana that gains energy each and everyday to recruit Americans in our own country, and the threat to the homeland relates to the fact that we have not dealt with this threat of terror in the Middle East. We should have a no fly zone in Syria. We should have a support for the remnants of the Syrian Free Army, and create safe zones. If you want to deal with the four million refugees that are leaving Syria because of the devastation there, then we 'ought to create safe zones for them to stay in the region rather than go to Europe. And, that requires American leadership. Without American leadership every other country in the neighborhood beings to change their priorities. It is tragic that you see Iraq, and other countries now talking to Russia. It wasn't that long ago that Russia had no influence in the region at all. And, so, the United States needs to lead across the board. This president, and Hillary Clinton both do not believe the United States has a leadership role to play, and we're now paying a price, and it will have a huge impact on the economy of this country if we don't deal with this. +p1625 +aV...They're not doing that... +p1626 +aV +p1627 +aVDonald \u2014 Donald's wrong on this. He is absolutely wrong on this. We're not going to be the world's policeman, but we sure as heck better be the world's leader. That's \u2014 there's a huge difference where, without us leading... ...voids are filled, and the idea that it's a good idea for Putin to be in Syria, let +p1628 +aVWe're not \u2014 we shouldn't have another financial crisis. What we ought to do is raise the capital requirements so banks aren't too big to fail. Dodd-Frank has actually done the opposite, totally the opposite, where banks now have higher concentration of risk in assets and the capital requirements aren't high enough. If we were serious about it, we would raise the capital requirements and lessen the load on the community banks and other financial institutions. This vast overreach has created a huge problem for our country, and Hillary Clinton wants to double down on that. I was in Washington, Iowa, about three months ago talking about how bad Washington, D.C., is. It was \u2014 get the \u2014 kind of the \u2014 anyway. We had... It \u2014 and I talked to a banker there. This is a bank that had $125 million of assets, four branches. Their compliance costs because of Dodd-Frank went from $100,000 to $600,000 in a two-year period. The net effect of that is \u2014 and they had \u2014 they had not one loan that went bad during the financial crisis. They knew \u2014 they knew their borrowers. They gave back to the community. They were engaged in the community. And imagine America without its community banks. Well, that's what's happening because of Dodd-Frank. That's \u2014 that's my worry. My worry is that the real economy has been hurt by the vast overreach of the Obama administration. And Hillary Clinton, she wants to double down on that. She wants to create even more so. She is a captive of the left of her party to the point now where she is \u2014 she was for the trade agreement in \u2014 the Pacific agreement. Now she's against it. She was \u2014 hinted she was for the XL pipeline. Now she's opposed to it. All the things that would create sustained economic growth she's now doubling down against it. +p1629 +aVYou could, if you were serious about... +p1630 +aVNo, I can't say that. But I can say, if you created higher capital requirements, that's the solution to this, not having concentration of assets. The bigger banks now have more and more control over \u2014 over the financial assets of this country. And that is the wrong approach to take. +p1631 +aVMaria? +p1632 +aV...We've had a 10% reduction in carbon emissions, and it isn't because of Solyndra. It isn't because of the central planners in Washington D.C. It's because we've had a great American success story, the explosion of natural gas. Taking two existing technologies, and applying it through innovation has created lower carbon emissions, lower energy costs \u2014 40% of all the economic activity in the age of Obama has come from the energy sector, and Hillary Clinton wants to suppress that. We \u2014 I think we ought to be expanding this. High growth is the path to lower carbon, and more jobs. I know for a fact, as Governor of the State of Florida, we created the largest land purchasing programs, and environment clean-up programs because we had a growing economy. Our revenues were growing at 4.4%. It allowed for resources to be able to protect the natural system. We got to get to a conservation... ...in environmental policy that goes beyond just carbon... +p1633 +aVJane Horton is sitting with my wife here today. Her husband, Chris, was killed in action in Afghanistan. And Jane spends her time now defending and fighting for military families. They're both heroes. I don't think we need an agitator-in-chief or a divider-in-chief. We need a commander-in-chief that will rebuild our military and restore respect to our veterans by revamping and fixing a broken Veterans Administration, That's my pledge to you. I ask for your support. Thank you. +p1634 +aVYou know, I am by my nature impatient. And this is not an endeavor that rewards that. You gotta be patient. You gotta be \u2014 stick with it, and all that. But also, I can't fake anger. I believe this is still the most extraordinary country on the face of the Earth. And it troubles me that people are rewarded for tearing down our country. It's never been that way in American politics before. I can't do it. I just don't believe that this country's days are going to be deeply \u2014 you know, going down. I think we're on the verge of the greatest time, and I want to fix the things to let people rise up. +p1635 +aVCould I \u2014 could I bring something up here, because I'm a constituent of the senator and I helped him and I expected that he would do constituent service, which means that he shows up to work. He got endorsed by the Sun-Sentinel because he was the most talented guy in the field. He's a gifted politician. But Marco, when you signed up for this, this was a six-year term, and you should be showing up to work. I mean, literally, the Senate \u2014 what is it, like a French work week? You get, like, three days where you have to show up? You can campaign, or just resign and let someone else take the job. There are a lot of people living paycheck to paycheck in Florida as well, they're looking for a senator that will fight for them each and every day. +p1636 +aVHe wasn't my senator. +p1637 +aVWell, I've been \u2014 +p1638 +aVNo, no. What I said was I don't believe that I would be president of the United States and have the same dysfunction that exists in Washington, D.C. now. +p1639 +aVDon't vote for me if you want to keep the gridlock in Washington, D.C. +p1640 +aVBut if you want someone who has a proven, effective leadership, that was a governor of a state, that transformed the culture there, elect me so I can fight for the American people and change the culture in Washington, D.C. +p1641 +aV, the great majority of Republicans and Americans believe in a hopeful future. They don't believe in building walls and a pessimistic view of the future. They're concerned that Washington is so dysfunctional it is holding them back. There are lids on people's aspirations. Think about it: six and a half million people working part-time. Workforce participation rates lower than they were in 1977. Six million more people living in poverty than the day that Barack Obama got elected president, and the left just wants more of the same. We have to offer a compelling alternative that is based on hope and optimism and grounded in serious policy, which I've laid out. And you can go get it at jeb2016.com. +p1642 +aVWell, the deal was done. Barack Obama got his massive tax increase, and there was no spending cuts. You just see the recent deal announced today or yesterday, more spending, more tax increasing, more regulation. And now we have to accept 2 percent, the new normal for economic growth. And the net result is the middle class has $2,300 less in their pockets than the day that Barack Obama got elected president. And now they see Hillary Clinton proposing a third term of economic policy for our country. We need to reverse that. And my record was one of cutting taxes each and every year. You don't have to guess about it, because I actually have a record. $19 billion of tax cuts, 1.3 million jobs created. We were one of two states to go to AAA bond rating, and our government spending was far less than the spending in people's income. +p1643 +aVYou find me... +p1644 +aVYou find me a Democrat \u2014 you find me a Democrat that will cut spending ten dollars? Heck, find me a Republican in Congress that would cut spending ten dollars. I'll talk to them. +p1645 +aVLook, the \u2014 the deal is already done. The biggest tax increase happened under the watch of Barack Obama, and spending's gone up. You find a Democrat that's for cutting taxes \u2014 cutting spending ten dollars, I'll give them a warm kiss. +p1646 +aVLook, the \u2014 the simple fact is that my plan actually gives the middle class the greatest break: $2,000 per family. And if you make $40,000 a year, a family of four, you don't pay any income tax at all. Simplifying the code and lowering rates, both for corporations and \u2014 and personal rates, is exactly what we need to do. You think about the regulatory cost and the tax cost \u2014 that's why small businesses are closing, rather than being formed in our country right now. The big corporations have the scale to deal with all of this. And what I think all of us are saying is, our monetary policy, our tax policy, regulatory policy needs to be radically changed so we can create high sustained growth for income to rise. The government has tried it their way. Under \u2014 under Barack Obama and the proposals of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and others, they've tried it their way, and it has failed miserably. We need to take a new approach of taxing \u2014 reforming how we tax, and reforming the regulations in our \u2014 in our country before it's too late. +p1647 +aVWe don't need the federal government to be involved in this at all. +p1648 +aVWe don't need the Federal Government to be involved in this, because when they do we create a $1.2 trillion debt. In Florida, we have the lowest in-state tuition of any state, because there's accountability, just as John said. Let the states do this. You'll create a much better graduation rate at a lower cost, and you won't in debt the next generation with recourse debt on their backs. It's always a solution of the left to create more Government from the Federal Government. It is broke, it is not working. +p1649 +aVWell, first of all, I'm 7 and 0 in my fantasy league. +p1650 +aVGronkowski is still going strong. I have Ryan Tannehill, Marco, as my quarterback, he was 18 for 19 last week. So I'm doing great. But we're not gambling. And I think this has become something that needs to be looked at in terms of regulation. Effectively it is day trading without any regulation at all. And when you have insider information, which apparently has been the case, where people use that information and use big data to try to take advantage of it, there has to be some regulation. If they can't regulate themselves, then the NFL needs to look at just, you know, moving away from them a little bit. And there should be some regulation. I have no clue whether the federal government is the proper place, my instinct is to say, hell no, just about everything about the federal government. +p1651 +aVBecky \u2014 +p1652 +aV\u2014 the governor's absolutely right. But we also need to reform Medicare and Social Security. We can't just allow it to continue on its current path the way that Hillary Clinton wants to do because there'll be major reductions in benefits in the next decade if we do nothing. I have a concrete plan to do just that, which allows people to keep HSAs to encourage savings, it allows for people that are retiring with Social Security to be able to get a minimum of 125 percent of the poverty level so that there is a baseline that in this generous country of ours no one goes below. +p1653 +aVYou have to reform Social Security, and the simple way to do it is to make sure that the wealthiest don't receive the same benefits as people that are lower-income. And make sure you enhance savings in the private market. The idea of 401(k)s. I have a small business that I set up. It took \u2014 it took an arm and a leg to be able to set up a 401(k). Because of all the federal mandates and federal laws, it was too expensive. We need to incent private savings and make sure that Social Security is protected for those that have it. +p1654 +aVBut the idea that you can't \u2014 that you're just gonna grow your way out of this \u2014 I have a plan to grow the economy at 4 percent, but you're gonna have to make adjustments for both Medicare and Social Security. [ +p1655 +aVAmerica's at a crossroads. The D.C. politicians continue to make things worse. I have a proven record of success, 32 years in business, and 8 years as Governor of the state of Florida. I will change the culture in Washington, just as I changed the culture in Tallahassee. I will do so in a way that will bring people together. We need a unifier, not a cynical divider in chief, and that's exactly what I will do. Imagine a country where people are lifted out of poverty again. Imagine a country where the middle class can get rising income again. I know we can do this because we're still the most extraordinary country on the face of the Earth. +p1656 +aVI'm Jeb Bush, and I believe America's on the verge of its greatest century, and I'm ready to lead. I'm a committed, conservative reformer that cut taxes, that balanced budgets, that took on the special interest in Florida, and we won. I look forward to talking tonight about how we can fix a broken Washington D.C., and create an environment where people can rise up again in this great country. Thank you. +p1657 +aVI think the voters will make that determination. But what I know to be true is that the next president of the United States is going to have to fix an extraordinary difficult situation. This administration, with President Obama and Hillary Clinton, has created insecurity the likes of which we never would've imagined. There's not a place in the world where we're better off today than six and a half years ago. And that requires a steadiness. That requires an understanding of how the world works. That requires an understanding and appreciation of American leadership in the world. You can't just, you know, talk about this stuff and insult leaders around the world and expect a good result. You have to do this with a steady hand, and I believe I have those skills. +p1658 +aVNo. Absolutely not. People are supporting me because I have a proven record of conservative leadership where I cut taxes $19 billion over eight years. We shrunk the state government workforce, we created a climate that led the nation in job growth seven out of eight years. We were one of two states to go to AAA bond rating. People know that we need principle-centered leadership, a disrupter to go to Washington, D.C. The one guy that had some special interests that I know of that tried to get me to change my views on something \u2014 that was generous and gave me money \u2014 was Donald Trump. He wanted casino gambling in Florida \u2014 +p1659 +aVYes you did. +p1660 +aVYou wanted it and you didn't get it because I was opposed to \u2014 +p1661 +aV\u2014 casino gambling before \u2014 +p1662 +aVduring and after. And that's not \u2014 I'm not going to be bought by anybody. +p1663 +aVNo way. Believe me. +p1664 +aVNot even possible. +p1665 +aVYou've got, according to your \u2014 to what you said on one of the talk shows, you got Hillary Clinton to go to your wedding \u2014 +p1666 +aV\u2014 because you gave her money. Maybe it works for Hillary Clinton \u2014 +p1667 +aV\u2014 it doesn't work for anybody on this \u2014 on stage. +p1668 +aVBut the simple fact is \u2014 +p1669 +aVNo. The simple fact is, Donald, you could not take \u2014 +p1670 +aVI was asked the question. +p1671 +aVSo he supports Pelosi, he supports Schumer, he supports Clinton \u2014 +p1672 +aVWhen he \u2014 and he \u2014 when he asked \u2014 when he asked Florida to have casino gambling, we said no. +p1673 +aVWe said no. And that's the simple fact. The simple fact is \u2014 +p1674 +aVDon't cut me off. +p1675 +aVNo, I don't think so, but we need to be strong against China. We should use offensive tactics as it relates to cyber security, send a deterrent signal to China. There should be super sanctions in what President Obama has proposed. There's many other tools that we have without canceling a dinner. That's not going to change anything, but we can be much stronger as it relates to that. As it relates to Iran, it's not a strategy to tear up an agreement. A strategy would be how do we confront Iran? And, the first thing that we need to do is to establish our commitment to Israel which has been altered by this administration. And, make sure that they have the most sophisticated weapons to send a signal to Iran that we have Israel's back. If we do that, it's going to create a healthier deterrent effect than anything else I can think of. +p1676 +aVI don't think \u2014 you're not stating my views right. +p1677 +aVI think there needs to be accommodation for someone acting on faith. Religious conscience is \u2014 is \u2014 is a first freedom. It's \u2014 it's a powerful part of our \u2014 of our Bill of Rights. And, in a big, tolerant country, we should respect the rule of law, allow people in \u2014 in \u2014 in this country \u2014 I'm a \u2014 I was opposed to the decision, but we \u2014 you can't just say, "well, they \u2014 gays can't get married now." But this woman, there should be some accommodation for her conscience, just as there should be for people that are florists that don't want to participate in weddings, or bakers. A great country like us should find a way to have accommodations for people so that we can solve the problem in the right way. This should be solved at the local level... +p1678 +aVAnd so we do agree, Mike. +p1679 +aVWell, he's wrong on a lot of things, but on this he's wrong because I'm the most pro-life governor on this stage. I got to act on my core beliefs. It's part of who I am. Life is a gift from God. And from beginning end we need to respect it and err on the side of life. And so I defunded Planned Parenthood. We created a climate where parental notification took place. We were the only state to fund crisis pregnancy centers with state moneys. We were totally focused on this. And I would bring that kind of philosophy to Washington, D.C. So here is a solution to this. Title X of the HHS funding, there is something that was the "Reagan Rule." It was passed in 1988. And in that rule it was defined, and the courts approved this, that a Planned Parenthood, you couldn't separate the money between the actual abortion procedures, and there are 330,000 abortions that take place in this clinic, and their promotion of it. He interpreted it the right way, the courts ruled in his favor, and Planned Parenthood did not get funding during that time until President Clinton came in. When I'm elected president, we will restore that interpretation of Title X. And this deal will be finished. +p1680 +aVThere are 13,000 community-based organizations that provide health services to women, 13,000 in this country. I don't believe that Planned Parenthood should get a penny from the federal government. Those organizations should get funding, just as I increased funding when I was governor of the state. That's the way you do this is you improve the condition for people. And, Donald, when I was governor, we also increased the opportunities for women. Women's income grew three times faster than the national average when I was governor. +p1681 +aVWe improved \u2014 we improved \u2014 +p1682 +aV\u2014 we increased child support \u2014 we increased child support with a broken system by 90 percent. +p1683 +aVI have a proven record. I have a proven record. +p1684 +aVHe did, he did. You're proud of your family, just as I am. +p1685 +aVTo subject my wife into the middle of a raucous political conversation was completely inappropriate, and I hope you apologize for that, Donald. +p1686 +aVShe is. She's fantastic. +p1687 +aVShe is absolutely the love of my life, and she's right here... +p1688 +aVAnd why don't you apologize to her right now. +p1689 +aVYeah. +p1690 +aVSo, here's the deal. My wife is a Mexican-American. She's an American by choice. She loves this country as much as anybody in this room, and she wants a secure border. But she wants to embrace the traditional American values that make us special and make us unique. We're at a crossroads right now. Are we going to take the Reagan approach, the hopeful optimistic approach, the approach that says that, you come to our country legally, you pursue your dreams with a vengeance, you create opportunities for all of us? Or the Donald Trump approach? The approach that says that everything is bad, that everything is coming to an end. I... +p1691 +aVI'm on the Reagan side of this. +p1692 +aVLook, first of all, I wrote a book about this, three \u2014 four years ago, now. And I laid out a comprehensive, conservative approach for immigration reform. And it does require securing the border. No one disagrees with that. But to build a wall, and to deport people \u2014 half a million a month \u2014 would cost hundreds of billions of dollars, Donald. Hundreds of billions of dollars. It would destroy community life, it would tear families apart. And it would send a signal to the rest of the world that the United States values that are so important for our long-term success no longer matter in this country. +p1693 +aVWell, I've been speaking English here tonight, and I'll keep speaking English. But the simple fact is, if a high school kid asks me a question in Spanish, a school \u2014 by the way, a voucher program that was created under my watch, the largest voucher program in the country, where kids can go to a Christian school, and they ask me a question in Spanish, I'm going to show respect and answer that question in Spanish. Even though they do speak English, and even though they embrace American values. +p1694 +aVYeah. +p1695 +aVWell, first of all, Hugh, if you're looking at Republican advisers, you have to go to the last two administrations. That happened to be 41 and 43. So just by definition, if you're \u2014 and many of the people here that are seeking advice from the foreign policy experts in the Republican side, they \u2014 they served in my dad's administration, my brother's administration. Of course that's the case. But I'm my own man. I'm going to create a strategy that is based on the simple fact that the United States needs to lead the world. The first thing that we need to do is to stop the craziness of the sequester. Rebuild our military so that our \u2014 so that we don't deploy people over and over again without the necessary equipment to keep them safe, to send a signal to the world that we're serious. If we're going to lead the world, then we need to have the strongest military possible. We need to rebuild our counterintelligence and intelligence capabilities. We need to focus on the fact that the next president is going to start in 2017, not in 1990 \u2014 you know, 30 years ago, or when my brother started. The world is dramatically different. And I believe that we need to restore America's presence and leadership in the world. Name a country where our relationship is better today than it was the \u2014 the day that Barack Obama got elected president. Under Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama, we have seen a weakness that now creates huge problems for the next president of the United States. So I'll have a team that will be \u2014 that will be following the doctrine I set up, and it will be peace through strength. We're sitting here in this library, which is a wonderful place to talk about this, because that's exactly what happened in the 1980s, and the world was a lot safer because of... +p1696 +aVThe leadership of Ronald Reagan and my... +p1697 +aVSo you \u2014 the \u2014 the first chance... +p1698 +aVRight after me, and then I'll \u2014 I'll yield \u2014 yield the floor. What do you guys say in the Senate when you're talking and debating? +p1699 +aVHere's the facts: When Donald Trump talks about judgment, what was his position on who would've been the best negotiator to deal with Iran? It wasn't a Republican; it was Hillary Clinton. That's what you believe. I mean, the lack of judgment and the lack of understanding about how the world works is really dangerous in this kind of time that we're saying. So is that the judgment that you bring to the table, that Hillary Clinton... +p1700 +aV... is a great negotiator, that she could bring about a better deal on Iran? +p1701 +aVYou know what? As it relates to my brother, there's one thing I know for sure. He kept us safe. I don't know if you remember... ... Donald... ... you remember the \u2014 the rumble? You remember the fire fighter with his arms around it? He sent a clear signal that the United States would be strong and fight Islamic terrorism, and he did keep us safe. +p1702 +aVThat's \u2014 that's my brother. +p1703 +aVHere's the lessons of history: When we \u2014 we pull back, voids are created. We left Iraq. We should've had a \u2014 a forces agreement to stay there with a small force, and instead of that, we politically and militarily pulled back, and now we have the creation of +p1704 +aV... because of what President Obama's done by pulling back. +p1705 +aVWell, I'm surprised Senator Cruz would say that since he was as strong supporter of John Roberts at the time. I will talk about what I will do as it relates to appointing Supreme Court Justices. We need to make sure that we have justices that, with a proven experienced record of respect for upholding the constitution. That is what we need. We can't have \u2014 the history in recent past is appoint people that have no experience so that you can't get attacked. And, that makes it harder for people to have confidence that they won't veer off... +p1706 +aVJohn Roberts has made some really good decisions, for sure, but he did not have a proven, extensive record that would have made the clarity the important thing, and that's what we need to do. And, I'm willing to fight for those nominees to make sure that they get passed. You can't do it the politically expedient way anymore. This is the culture in Washington. You have to fight hard for these appointments. This is perhaps the most important thing that the next president will do. +p1707 +aVWell, first of all, he, as I said, supported John Roberts. He supported him, publicly. So, you can rewrite history, I guess, Ted, but the simple fact is that you supported him because he had all the criteria that you would have thought would have made a great justice. And, I think he is doing a good job. But, the simple fact is that going forward, what we need to do is to have someone that has a long standing set of rulings that consistently makes it clear that he is a focused, exclusively on upholding the Constitution of the United States so they won't try to use the bench as a means to which legislate. +p1708 +aVHe was talking about me. +p1709 +aVWell, I \u2014 I wanted to \u2014 be \u2014 make it easier for him. +p1710 +aVAnd I just did. +p1711 +aVSo, 40 years ago, I smoked marijuana, and I admit it. I'm sure that other people might have done it and may not want to say it in front of 25 million people. My mom's not happy that I just did. That's true. And here's the deal. Here's the deal. We have \u2014 we have a serious epidemic of drugs that goes way beyond marijuana. What goes on in Colorado, as far as I'm concerned, that should be a state decision. But if you look at the problem of drugs in this \u2014 in this society today, it's a serious problem. Rand, you know this because you're campaigning in New Hampshire like all of us, and you see the epidemic of heroin, the overdoses of heroin that's taking place. People's families are \u2014 are being torn apart. It is appropriate for the government to play a consistent role to be able to provide more treatment, more prevention \u2014 we're the state that has the most drug courts across every circuit in \u2014 in \u2014 in Florida, there are drug courts to give people a second chance. That's the best way to do this. +p1712 +aVNo, you're wrong \u2014 you're wrong about this. +p1713 +aVI don't want to put poor people in jail, Randy. +p1714 +aVHere's the deal. No, I did not oppose when the legislature passed the bill to deal with that very issue. That's the way to solve this problem. Medical marijuana on the ballot was opened up, there was a huge loophole, it was the first step to getting to a place. And as a citizen of Florida, I voted no. +p1715 +aVNot very far. I think we need to do this state by state. There are places that get this right, and we need to make sure that we protect the privacy laws. This is a complicated place. But I do think the natural impulse on the left \u2014 Hillary Clinton, immediately after one of these horrific violent acts took place, immediately said we need to have federal gun laws. President Obama almost reflexively always says the same thing. And the net result is, you're going to take away rights of \u2014 of law-abiding citizens, the 99.999 percent of the people that are law- abiding citizens. That's not the right approach to do it. In Florida, we have a background check. We have concealed-weapon permit holders, and in fact, there's 1,200,000 of them. We have a reduction in violent crime because we put people behind bars when they use a gun in the commission of the crime. That's the better approach. But we're living in a society today where despair kind of grows in isolation. +p1716 +aVI \u2014 I think there needs to be a hearing, but the fact is, we need to encourage that kind of involvement. That's \u2014 that's exactly what we need to do. +p1717 +aVI would go with Ronald Reagan's partner, Margaret Thatcher. Probably illegal, but what the heck? Since it's not going to happen. A strong leader is what we need in the White House, and she certainly was a strong leader that restored the United Kingdom into greatness. +p1718 +aVEver Ready, it's very high energy, Donald. +p1719 +aVSix million more people are living in poverty than the day that Barack Obama got elected president. Six million more people. The middle class has had declining income, workforce participation rates are lower than they were in 1977. For the first time in modern history, more businesses are failing than are being created. That is what the next president will have to deal with. And I believe we can reverse course by creating a strategy of high sustained economic growth, not the new normal of 2 percent that all the left says we just have to get used to, but a 4 percent growth strategy where we reform how we tax, fix the broken regulatory system, embrace the energy revolution in our midst, fix the immigration system so we can turn it into an economic driver, deal with the structural fiscal problems that exist because of our entitlement problems that will overwhelm and create way too much debt. If we grow at 4 percent, people are going to be lifted out of poverty. The great middle that defines our country will have a chance to be able to pursue their dreams as they see fit. That should be the great challenge and the great opportunity for the next president of the United States, to forge consensus to go back to a high-growth strategy. And then we'll be able to lead the world. Without a high-growth strategy, our country will never have the resources or the optimism to be able to lead the world, which the world desperately needs our leadership. +p1720 +aVAbsolutely, I do, and I'm gonna run hard, run with heart, and run to win. I'm gonna have to earn this. Maybe the barrier -- the bar's even higher for me. That's fine. I've got a record in Florida. I'm proud of my dad, and I'm certainly proud of my brother. In Florida, they called me Jeb, because I earned it. I cut taxes every year, totaling $19 billion. We were -- we had -- we balanced every budget. We went from $1 billion of reserves to $9 billion of reserves. We were one of two states that went to AAA bond rating. They keep -- they called me Veto Corleone. Because I vetoed 2,500 separate line-items in the budget. I am my own man. I governed as a conservative, and I govern effectively. And the net effect was, during my eight years, 1.3 million jobs were created. We left the state better off because I applied conservative principles in a purple state the right way, and people rose up. +p1721 +aVI do. I believe that the great majority of people coming here illegally have no other option. They want to provide for their family. But we need to control our border. It's not -- it's our responsibility to pick and choose who comes in. So I -- I've written a book about this and yet this week, I did come up with a comprehensive strategy that -- that really mirrored what we said in the book, which is that we need to deal with E-Verify, we need to deal with people that come with a legal visa and overstay. We need to be much more strategic on how we deal with border enforcement, border security. We need to eliminate the sanctuary cities in this country. It is ridiculous and tragic......that people are dying because of the fact that -- that local governments are not following the federal law. There's much to do. And I think rather than talking about this as a wedge issue, which Barack Obama has done now for six long years, the next president -- and I hope to be that president -- will fix this once and for all so that we can turn this into a driver for high sustained economic growth. And there should be a path to earned legal status... ...for those that are here. Not -- not amnesty, earned legal status, which means you pay a fine and do many things over an extended period of time. +p1722 +aV...I remember... +p1723 +aV...I remember, Megyn. +p1724 +aVKnowing what we know now, with faulty intelligence, and not having security be the first priority when -- when we invaded, it was a mistake. I wouldn't have gone in, however, for the people that did lose their lives, and the families that suffer because of it -- I know this full well because as governor of the state of Florida, I called every one of them. Every one of them that I could find to tell them that I was praying for them, that I cared about them, and it was really hard to do. And, every one of them said that their child did not die in vain, or their wife, of their husband did not die in vain. So, why it was difficult for me to do it was based on that. Here's the lesson that we should take from this, which relates to this whole subject. Barack Obama became president, and he abandoned Iraq. He left, and when he left Al Qaida was done for. +p1725 +aVNo, I don't. And I don't believe the federal government should be involved in the creation of standards directly or indirectly, the creation of curriculum or content. It is clearly a state responsibility. I'm for higher standards... ...measured in an intellectually honest way, with abundant school choice, ending social promotion. And I know how to do this because as governor of the state of Florida I created the first statewide voucher program in the country, the second statewide voucher program, in the country and the third statewide voucher program in the country. And we had rising student achievement across the board, because high standards, robust accountability, ending social promotion in third grade, real school choice across the board, challenging the teachers union and beating them is the way to go. And Florida's low income kids had the greatest gains inside the country. Our graduation rate improved by 50 percent. That's what I'm for. +p1726 +aVHe is definitely my friend. And I think the states ought to create these standards. And if states want to opt out of Common Core, fine. Just make sure your standards are high. Because today in America, a third of our kids, after we spend more per student than any country in the world other than a couple rounding errors, to be honest with you, 30 percent are college- and/or career-ready. If we are going to compete in this world we're in today, there is no possible way we can do it with lowering expectations and dumbing down everything. Children are going to suffer and families' hearts are going to be broken that their kids won't be able to get a job in the 21st Century. +p1727 +aVWe've done it 27 times since World War II. I think we need to lift our spirits and have high, lofty expectations for this great country of ours. The new normal of two percent that the left is saying you can't do anything about is so dangerous for our country. There's 6 million people living in poverty today, more than when Barack Obama got elected. 6.5 million people are working part-time, most of whom want to work full-time. We've created rules and taxes on top of every aspiration of people, and the net result is we're not growing fast, income's not growing. A four percent growth strategy means you fix a convoluted tax code. You get in and you change every aspect of regulations that are job killers. You get rid of Obamacare and replace it with something that doesn't suppress wages and kill jobs. You embrace the energy revolution in our country. This president and Hillary Clinton, who can't even say she's for the XL pipeline even after she's left? Give me a break. Of course we're for it. We should be for these things to create high sustained economic growth. And frankly, fixing our immigration system and turning it into an economic driver is part of this as well. We can do this. +p1728 +aVNone of which is true. +p1729 +aVNo. It's not true. But I have said that Mr. Trump's language is divisive. I want to win. I want one of these people here or the ones at 5:00, to be the next president of the United States. We're not going on win by doing what Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton do each and every day. Dividing the country. Saying, creating a grievance kind of environment. We're going to win when we unite people with a hopeful, optimistic message. I have that message because I was a governor of a state that saw people lifted up, because we had high sustained economic growth. Our economy grew at double the rate of the nation. We created 1.3 million jobs. We led the nation seven out of those eight years. We were only one of two states that went to AAA bond rating. I cut taxes, $19 billion. If you do that and apply conservative principles the right way, you create an environment where everybody rises up. That's how we're going to win. Campaigning in places to give people hope that their life is better because too many people are suffering today in America. +p1730 +aVHere's what I believe. I believe we're at the verge of the greatest time to be alive in this world. But Washington is holding us back. How we tax, how we regulate. We're not embracing the energy revolution in our midst, a broken immigration system that has been politicized rather than turning it into an economic driver. We're not protecting and preserving our entitlement system or reforming for the next generation. All these things languish while we have politicians in Washington using these as wedge issues. Here's my commitment to you, because I did it as Florida. We can fix these things. We can grow economically and restore America's leadership in the world, so that everybody has a chance to rise up. I humbly ask for your vote, whenever you're gonna get to vote, whenever the primary is. Thank you all very much. +p1731 +asVMCELVEEN +p1732 +(lp1733 +VThank you, David. And good evening, candidates. Mr. Trump, you have said, quote, "I love eminent domain" which is the seizure of private property for the sake of the greater good theoretically. You tried to use the measure in business endeavors, you've said you'd support its use for the Keystone Pipeline project. Here in New Hampshire, a project, though, known as the Northern pass would bring hydro-electric power from Canada into the Northeastern grid. Do you see eminent domain as an appropriate tool to get that done? +p1734 +aVSo would that be yes on the Northern Pass project? +p1735 +aVMr. Trump, take 30 seconds. +p1736 +aVAll right, gentlemen... +p1737 +aVGentlemen, we do have to move forward. Dave, Martha, back to you. +p1738 +aVYou're all aware, candidates, this is a major problem here in New Hampshire. It's a very deadly problem as well. Last month, New Hampshire senators Kelly Ayotte, Republican, and Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat, they went down to Washington, along with the police chief of the state's largest city to testify before the Judiciary Committee in D.C. Senator Cruz, you're a member of that committee. Your campaign schedule didn't allow you to attend this. Even so, the police chief called your absence outrageous, given the severity of the problem. Last week, though, you told a personal story of a close family member's struggle with addiction. What can you say to law enforcement right now to convince them that you understand the severity of this problem and you're not just saying what people want to hear days before the primary? +p1739 +aVAnd Governor Christie, you have talked a lot about this issue here in New Hampshire. State reforms, criminal justice reforms, access to treatment. To Senator Cruz's point, let's take it a step further. Would you be willing to engage in cross-border enforcement into Mexico, a place where law enforcement in New Hampshire has traced at lot of this supply back to. Would you engage in cross-border enforcement without the cooperation without the Mexican government? +p1740 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you very much. David, Martha, back to you. +p1741 +aVThank you, Martha. None of you on stage tonight have ever worn a uniform as a member of the armed services. That's the reality of it. But as commander-in-chief, you'll also be charged with the care of 23 million active duty service members and veterans in this country. Some have suggested privatizing the V.A. as a way to enhance care and increase the quality of the care and access. Others say that veterans should carry I.D. cards that allow them access to any hospital or health care provider. Governor Bush, what specifically would you do to ensure that those who have sacrificed for us are cared for? +p1742 +aVGovernor Kasich, do you have a favored approach? +p1743 +aVSenator Rubio, go ahead? +p1744 +aVSenator Rubio, thanks very much. Going to move forward now. David, Martha, back to you. +p1745 +asVWALKER +p1746 +(lp1747 +VGood evening, I'm Scott Walker, and tonight, I want to thank and Mrs. Reagan, and the Reagan Library for hosting us. You see, in my lifetime, the greatest president was a governor from California. Ronald Reagan knew how to go big, and go bold. He understood the essence of moving this country forward, and that's what I did when I took on the status quo in my state, and the Washington based special interest. Now, more than ever, America needs a leader who will go big and bold again. Someone who's been tested. I'm ready to be that leader. Thank you. +p1748 +aVBut Jake, Jake, Jake, Jake... +p1749 +aVBut Jake, this \u2014 this is \u2014 this... +p1750 +aVJake, this is \u2014 this is \u2014 this is... +p1751 +aVThis is actually what's wrong \u2014 this is what's wrong with this debate. We're not talking about real issues. And Mr. Trump, we don't need an apprentice in the White House. We don't need an apprentice in the White House. We have one right now. He told us all the things we wanted to hear back in 2008. We don't know who you are or where you're going. We need someone who can actually get the job done. And you talked about business. +p1752 +aVYou \u2014 you \u2014 let me finish... +p1753 +aVNo, no... +p1754 +aVYou're using the talking... +p1755 +aVMr. Trump, you're using the talking points of the Democrats... +p1756 +aV... and as we all know... +p1757 +aV... that failed three times in four and a half years when I got elected, because it is working. We balanced a budget. You want to talk about balanced budgets? You took four major projects into bankruptcy over and over and over again. You can't take America into bankruptcy. That's what's wrong with the politicians in Washington right now. They think we can take a country into bankruptcy. +p1758 +aVJake, yeah, absolutely, I'll take this on, because this is an issue that's important in this race. Just because he says it doesn't make it true. The facts are the facts. We balanced a $3.6 billion budget deficit, we did it by cutting taxes \u2014 $4.7 billion to help working families, family farmers, small business owners and senior citizens. And it's about time people in America stand up and take note of this. If you want someone that can actually take on the special interest of Washington, which you yourself said you were part of, using the system, we need somebody that will stand up and fight for average Americans to put them back in charge of their government. I'm the one who is taking that on. I'll do that as your next president. +p1759 +aVTwo parts to that, one on China, one back for a second on Iran. When it comes to China, why would we be giving an official state visit to a country that's been involved in a massive cyber attack against the United States? That's not just a visit, that's a 21 gun salute on the South Lawn of the White House. It just doesn't make any sense. If we're ever going to send a message to them, wouldn't this be the time, when they've issued this, sort of, massive attack against us? And, Jake, for the question, I was one of the first ones to call for terminating the bad deal with Iran on day one. The President came after me and said I need to bone up. You know, the President who called +p1760 +aVJake, just one more moment. This is \u2014 there's something bigger to this. Now, I \u2014 like so many other governors here, I defunded Planned Parenthood four-and-a-half years ago, in a Blue State. But it's bigger than that. We did that in a Blue State, we took the money and put it into women's health, so we did exactly what we're talking about here. But I think the bigger issue here is we should be able to do this nationally, and this is precisely why so many Republicans are upset with Washington. They see the House and they see the Senate and they say why can't we pass this. Why can't we defund Planned \u2014 put it in a spending bill. Forget about the 60-vote rule, there's no reason \u2014 and the Constitution doesn't call for 60 votes. Pass it with 51 votes, put it on the desk of the president \u2014 +p1761 +aV\u2014 and go forward and actually make a point. This is why \u2014 +p1762 +aV\u2014 people are upset with Washington. +p1763 +aVSo, the best way to help people see their wages go up is to get them the education, the skill they need, to take on careers that pay more than minimum wage. And, it's why we talk about it, it's all about jobs. You want to help actually get jobs, it's why on that last question we were trying to jump in on taxes. To me, it's not just about taxes, cutting taxes. I've done it as much as anyone has. I've cut income taxes, I've cut property taxes. In fact, property taxes are lower today in my state than they were before we took office. The real issues about jobs. Ronald Reagan, our plan is based on the Ronald Reagan tax cuts of 1986. That brought about one of the longest sustained periods of economic growth in American history. All the things we should be talking about tonight are about how do we create jobs, helping people get the skills and the education qualifications they need to succeed. That's the way you help people create jobs. It's part of our large plan to reform the tax code, to cut taxes, to put in place an education system that gives people the skills and education that they need. To put in place all the above energy policy, but you start on day one with repealing Obamacare. I'm the only one on this stage that's actually got a plan, introduced an actual plan to repeal Obamacare on day one. I'll send a bill up to Congress, and to make sure enact it... +p1764 +aV...I'm going to sign an order that makes the Congress live by the same rules as everybody else. +p1765 +aV...That will ensure they repeal Obamacare... +p1766 +aV...Jake, Jake, Jake, I just want to address that issue because you said I didn't answer, and I did. I said, to me, I think the real focus shouldn't be \u2014 you know, Hillary Clinton talks about the minimum wage. That's her answer to grow the economy. The answer is to give people the skills and the education so they make far more than minimum wage. I don't want to argue about how low things are going to be, I want to talk about how do we lift everyone up in America. That's what Reagan talked about. It wasn't how bad things were, it was how to make it better for everyone. That's what we've done in Wisconsin, that's exactly what we'd do as... +p1767 +aV... the key issue here is talking about leadership. Now, there's a lot of greater people up here, and you've heard a lot of great ideas out there. But I would ask the American people, look at who's been tested. When there were 100,000 protesters in my capital, I didn't back down, when they issued death threats against me and threats against my family, I didn't back down, when they tried to recall me, I didn't back down, and when they made me the \u2014 one of their number-one targets last year, I didn't back down. Give me the chance to be your president. +p1768 +aVI won't back down... +p1769 +aV... on any of these issues. +p1770 +aVTo be clear, what I said the other day was that we need to lift the political restrictions that are already in play. Barack Obama's administration has put political restrictions on the military personnel already in Iraq. We need to lift those and then we need to listen to our military experts, not the political forces in the White House, but our military experts about how many more we sent in. And we certainly shouldn't have a commander-in-chief who sends a message to our adversaries as to how far we're going to go, and how far we're willing to fight, so I'm not putting a troop number. What I'm saying is lift the political restrictions. When you do that, you empower our military personnel already there to work with the Kurd and the Sunni allies, to reclaim the territory taken by +p1771 +aV... a lot of those people, though, and I'm going to echo what Senator Rubio just said. This is an issue where, we're talking about my state, it's thousands of manufacturing jobs. Thousands of manufacturing jobs for a rule the Obama administration, own EPA has said will have a marginal impact on climate change. So we're going to put thousands and thousands of jobs in my state, I think it's something like 30,000 in Ohio, other states across this country, we're going to put people \u2014 manufacturing jobs, the kind of jobs that are far greater than minimum wage, this administration is willing to put at risk for something its own EPA says is marginal (ph)... +p1772 +aVFirst of all, I got to say to Carson, Huckabee, thanks a lot for making the rest of us look like chumps up here, but, I'd pick Clara Barton. I once worked for the American Red Cross, she was a great founder of the Red Cross. +p1773 +aVHarley. I love riding Harley's. +p1774 +aVWell, I turned 13 years old two days before Ronald Reagan was first elected. A lot of people forget this, but just a few days before that election 1980, he was behind in the polls. And I think what changed things was people in America realized they didn't want to hear what was bad about America, they wanted to know how it was going to be better. Ronald Reagan wasn't just a conservative Republican, he was an eternal optimist in the American people. And I am too. So here's what I think will make America better. We need to live in a world where our children are free, are free from the threats of radical Islamic terrorism. We need to live in an America where we have an economy, where everyone can live their piece of the American dream, no matter what that dream is. And we need to live in an America where we have a federal government that is not too big to fail, but ultimately small enough to succeed, where we send powers back to the states and back to the people. That's what I did in Wisconsin. We took on the big government union bosses, the big government special interests, many of whom came in from Washington, to spend millions of dollars to try and take me out because we stood up to them, we didn't back down in any of those instances. If you give me the chance as your next president, I won't back down any day, anyway, anyhow. I'll fight and win for you and your families every single day I'm in office. +p1775 +aVWell, I'm pro-life, I've always been pro-life, and I've got a position that I think is consistent with many Americans out there in that... ...in that I believe that that is an unborn child that's in need of protection out there, and I've said many a time that that unborn child can be protected, and there are many other alternatives that can also protect the life of that mother. That's been consistently proven. Unlike Hillary Clinton, who has a radical position in terms of support for Planned Parenthood, I defunded Planned Parenthood more than four years ago, long before any of these videos came out... ...I've got a position that's in line with everyday America. +p1776 +aVChris, I actually said that on your show earlier this year. I acknowledged that. I said I actually listened to the American people. And I think people across America want a leader who's actually going to listen to them. I talked to border state governors and other elected officials. I look at how this president, particularly through last November, messed up the immigration system in this country. Most importantly, I listened to the people of America. I believe we need to secure the border. I've been to the border with Governor Abbott in Texas and others, seeing the problems that they have there. There is international criminal organizations penetrating our southern based borders, and we need to do something about it. Secure the border, enforce the law, no amnesty, and go forward with the legal immigration system that gives priority to American working families and wages. +p1777 +aVI don't know about additional ones. We need to focus on the ones we have. You look at Egypt, probably the best relationship we've had in Israel, at least in my lifetime, incredibly important. You look at the Saudis -- in fact, earlier this year, I met with Saudi leaders, and leaders from the United Arab Emirates, and I asked them what's the greatest challenge in the world today? Set aside the Iran deal. They said it's the disengagement of America. We are leading from behind under the Obama-Clinton doctrine -- America's a great country. We need to stand up and start leading again, and we need to have allies, not just in Israel, but throughout the Persian Gulf. +p1778 +aVJust one second on this, though. We -- we spent a lot of time talking about Hillary Clinton and ---and pitting us back and forth. Let's be clear, we should be talking about Hillary Clinton on that last subject, because everywhere in the world that Hillary Clinton touched is more messed up today than before she and the president . +p1779 +aVIt's true. +p1780 +aVWell, the voters in Wisconsin elected me last year for the third time because they wanted someone who aimed high, not aimed low. Before I came in, the unemployment rate was over eight percent. It's now down to 4.6 percent. We've more than made up for the jobs that were lost during the recession. And the rate in which people are working is almost five points higher than it is nationally. You know, people like Hillary Clinton think you grow the economy by growing Washington. One report last year showed that six of the top 10 wealthiest counties in America were in or around Washington, D.C.. I think most of us in America understand that people, not the government creates jobs. And one of the best things we can do is get the government out of the way, repeal Obamacare, put in -- reign in all the out of control regulations, put in place an all of the above energy policy, give people the education, the skills that the need to succeed, and lower the tax rate and reform the tax code. That's what I'll do as president, just like I did in Wisconsin. +p1781 +aVWell, first off, let's remember. I still remember, as a kid, tying a yellow ribbon around a tree in front of my house during the 444 days that Iran held 52 Americans hostage. Iran is not a place we should be doing business with. To me, you terminate the deal on day one, you reinstate the sanctions authorized by Congress, you go to Congress and put in place even more crippling sanctions in place, and then you convince our allies to do the same. This is not just bad with Iran, this is bad with +p1782 +aVWell, I think the most important thing we can do when it comes to policing -- it's something you've had a guest on who's a friend of mine Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clark, who's talked to me about this many times in the past -- it's about training. It's about making sure that law enforcement professionals, not only in the way in to their positions but all the way through their time, have the proper training, particularly when it comes to the use of force. And that we protect and stand up and support those men and women who are doing their jobs in law enforcement. And for the very few that don't, that there are consequences to show that we treat everyone the same here in America. +p1783 +aVWell first off, for the cyber attack with Russia the other day, it's sad to think right now, but probably the Russian and Chinese government know more about Hillary Clinton's e-mail server than do the members of the United States Congress. And -- and that has put our national security at risk. If I am president, he won't think about that. You know, Putin believes in the old Lenin adage: you probe with bayonets. When you find mush, you push. When you find steel, you stop. Under Obama and Clinton, we found a lot of mush over the last two years. We need to have a national security that puts steel in front of our enemies. I would send weapons to Ukraine. I would work with +p1784 +aVWell, thanks, Megyn. I'm certainly an imperfect man. And it's only by the blood of Jesus Christ that I've been redeemed from my sins. So I know that God doesn't call me to do a specific thing, God hasn't given me a list, a Ten Commandments, if you will, of things to act on the first day. What God calls us to do is follow his will. And ultimately that's what I'm going to try to do. And I hope people've seen it in my state, even in the big challenges I took on when I had over 100,000 protesters in and around our capital, trying to do what I thought was the right thing. It wasn't just how I took on those political battles. It was ultimately how I acted. Not responding in kind. Not lashing out. But just being decent going forward and living my life in a way that would be a testimony to him and our faith. +p1785 +aVThanks. I'm guy with a wife and two kids, and Harley. One article called me "aggressively normal." I ran for governor because I was worried about my kids' future. Then, I took on the big government union bosses, and we won. They tried to recall me, and we won. They target us again, and we won. We balanced the budget, cut taxes, and turned our state around with big, bold reforms. It wasn't too late for Wisconsin, and it's not too late for America. That's why I ask for your vote. +p1786 +asVMALE +p1787 +(lp1788 +VThat's a good one. +p1789 +asVBAKER +p1790 +(lp1791 +VThe candidates on stage tonight were selected based on their standing in an average of four national polls. Those standings determining their position on the stage. And here they are. At center stage, businessman Donald Trump. Neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson. +p1792 +aVTonight's rules are simple. Up to 90 second for each answer. One minute for each follow-up response. And if a candidate goes over their allotted time, you'll here this. +p1793 +aVMs. Fiorina, while you've all pointed out how weak the current recovery has been and how disappointing by any historical standards, in the general election, the Democrats will inevitably ask you and voters to compare the recent president's jobs performance. Now, in seven years under President Obama, the U.S. has added an average of 107,000 jobs a month. Under President Clinton, the economy added about 240,000 jobs a month. Under George W. Bush, it was only 13,000 a month. If you win the nomination, you'll probably be facing a Democrat named Clinton. How are you going to respond to the claim that Democratic presidents are better at creating jobs than Republicans? +p1794 +aVThank you. Thank you. Senator Paul, income inequality has been rising in the United States. Fifty years ago, for example, the average CEO of a big corporation in this country earned 20 times the average salary of one of his or her workers. Today, that CEO earns about 300 times the average salary of a worker. Does it matter at all that the gap between the rich and everyone else is widening? +p1795 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1796 +aVSenator Rubio... +p1797 +aVYes, one quick comment, yes. +p1798 +aVGovernor Bush... +p1799 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor, you...You should let Jeb speak. +p1800 +aVMr. Trump, Mr. Trump, you yourself \u2014 you yourself said let Governor Bush speak. Governor Bush? +p1801 +aVSenator Rubio? Senator... +p1802 +aVSenator Rubio, Senator Rubio, let me \u2014 let me take you to a question that I think gets to the root of a lot of the anxiety that people have in this country. The economy is undergoing a transformation through information technology. Americans are anxious that the new economy isn't producing higher-paying jobs. Many are concerned that the new wealth seems to be going mainly to innovators and investors. Meanwhile, with factories run by robots and shopping done increasingly on smartphones, many traditional jobs are just going away. How do you reassure American workers that their jobs are not being steadily replaced by machines? +p1803 +aVThank you. Senator Cruz \u2014 Senator Cruz, entitlements. You've argued for raising the retirement age and reducing benefits for future retirees, but reducing any sort of benefits for the elderly has always been notoriously hard to do politically. When Speaker Paul Ryan proposed replacing traditional Medicare with federally funded private plans a few years ago, a liberal group responded with a commercial that featured a granny being pushed off a cliff. What's going to be different this time? +p1804 +aV...I said for future retirees was your statement... +p1805 +aVSenator Rubio. Can I just come to Senator Rubio? We're coming to you, Mr. Trump, in one second. I \u2014 I promise. +p1806 +aVSenator Rubio, your tax plan includes a large expansion of child tax credits to raise off (ph) the tax incomes for low-income parents. A similar tax credit that you previously proposed in the Senate was estimated to cost as much as $170 billion a year, according to the Tax Foundation. Isn't \u2014 isn't there a risk you're just adding another expensive entitle program to an already overburdened federal budget? +p1807 +aVGovernor Kasich? Let me come to Governor Kasich. +p1808 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1809 +aVVery quickly, Senator. +p1810 +aVPlease. +p1811 +aV...Gentleman, we need to move on... +p1812 +aV...We need to move... +p1813 +aV...We need too... +p1814 +aV...We do need to move on. Mr. Trump... +p1815 +aV...Very quick. +p1816 +aVLet's talk about \u2014 No, no, Governor, I really must move on. I really want to move on. Mr. Trump, let's talk about the international economy... +p1817 +aV...We really need to move on... +p1818 +aV...No, governor, I promise I will come to you... +p1819 +aV...Listen... +p1820 +aV...Mr. Trump, can I ask you about... +p1821 +aV...the U.S. just concluded an international trade agreement with 11 countries in the Pacific. You've said that you'd rather have no deal... +p1822 +aV...than sign the one that's on the table... +p1823 +aV...Most economists \u2014 most economists say that trade is boosted growth, and every single post war president has supported the expansion of international trade, including the last three republican presidents. Why would you reverse more than 50 years of U.S. trade policy? +p1824 +aVThe \u2014 the deal, as you say, the terms of the deal were published \u2014 were published just last week, the details, 5,000 pages of it, and 80 percent of U.S. trade with countries in the Pacific, these countries, these 11 countries, is actually tariff-free, and these \u2014 the trade deal only affects the other 20 percent. Which \u2014 are there particular parts of the deal that you think were badly negotiated? +p1825 +aVThere was a separate \u2014 separate... +p1826 +aVBut isn't that \u2014 isn't that part of the problem? When I say, Senator, that if \u2014 if this deal is not ratified by \u2014 by the U.S. \u2014 by the Senate, then it would actually give China an opportunity to grow its economic leadership, which it's been seeking to do? And if the U.S. is unable to take part in this trade deal with these countries in Asia, China will take the lead? +p1827 +aVThank you. Thanks, Senator. +p1828 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich, I want to ask you about China, in particular hundreds of American companies have been subjected to cyber attacks from the Chinese military, yet state-backed Chinese companies, growing their presence in the United States, Chinese investments in U.S., which were nearly nonexistent a few years ago, are now over $50 billion. And as my newspaper recently reported, Chinese companies are planning to bid for one of the largest hotel chains in the United States, what would be the largest ever Chinese takeover of a U.S. company. Would you stop them? +p1829 +aVThank you, Governor. Plenty of opportunities. Thank you. Neil? +p1830 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate, live from Milwaukee. Now let's get straight back to the questions, and Governor Bush. Governor, Hillary Clinton recently said that if we had another financial crisis like the one in 2008, she wouldn't bail out the banks. Would you? +p1831 +aVBut, Governor, but can I just quickly \u2014 did \u2014 you can't seriously guarantee that there won't be another financial crisis, can you? +p1832 +aVEver? There will never be another financial crisis? +p1833 +aVDr. Carson, if I may, just on that point, despite measures taken, as the governor says, since the crisis to make the financial system safer, the major banks in the U.S., many of them are actually bigger than ever. Asset held by JPMorgan Chase, for example, the very largest bank, have increased by nearly 40 percent to over $2.6 trillion. Do you think JPMorgan and the other big banks should be broken up? +p1834 +aVBut just to be clear, just \u2014 just to be clear, then, you wouldn't \u2014 you wouldn't favor breaking up the big banks? You think they're big enough \u2014 they're OK as they are, as big as they are? +p1835 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1836 +aVThank you. +p1837 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate. And now, candidates, it's time for your closing statements. You get 30 seconds each, and, Senator Paul, we will begin with you. +p1838 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p1839 +asVHEWITT +p1840 +(lp1841 +VSenator Cruz, you've said you disagree with Mr. Trump's policy. I don't want a cage match; you've tweeted you don't want a cage match. But Republican primary voters deserve to know, with the kind of specificity and responsiveness you delivered in your nine Supreme Court arguments, how you disagree with Mr. Trump. Would you spell that out with us? +p1842 +aVSo you're saying you disagree because he's too broad and you have a narrower focus? Why do you disagree with him? +p1843 +aVCarly Fiorina... ... this is the Christmas dinner debate. This will be the debate that Americans talk about at Christmas. And thus far, in the first 10 minutes, we haven't heard a lot about Ronald Reagan's city on a hill. We've heard a lot about keeping Americans out or keeping Americans safe and everyone else out. Is this what you want the party to stand for? +p1844 +aVDr. Carson...... you mentioned in your opening remarks that you're a pediatric neurologist surgeon... +p1845 +aVNeurosurgeon. And people admire and respect and are inspired by your life story, your kindness, your evangelical core support. We're talking about ruthless things tonight \u2014 carpet bombing, toughness, war. And people wonder, could you do that? Could you order air strikes that would kill innocent children by not the scores, but the hundreds and the thousands? Could you wage war as a commander-in-chief? +p1846 +aVSo you are OK with the deaths of thousands of innocent children and civilian? It's like... +p1847 +aVThat is what war \u2014 can you be as ruthless as Churchill was in prosecuting the war against the Nazis? +p1848 +aVMr. Trump, we are talking about the most important thing, that's why it's heated. And it's, you are OK with Mr. Assad staying in power, but you are also in favor of winning. If he stays in power, Iran is winning, Hezbollah is winning. Iran is winning in Yemen. They are winning everywhere. If they are winning how can we be winning? +p1849 +aVGovernor Christie, is he right? Because if we step back, Iran goes nuclear. Is Donald Trump right? +p1850 +aVSenator Paul, let me ask you, you heard Governor Kasich say Assad must go. Do you agree? +p1851 +aVGovernor Bush, a commander-in-chief question. You've said that Mr. Trump is not qualified to be president because he's not qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin. Why are you better qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin than Mr. Trump? +p1852 +aVMr. Trump? +p1853 +aVBut, Mr. Trump, it's not CNN \u2014 I was on CNN last night... +p1854 +aV... watching... +p1855 +aVBut it wasn't \u2014 it wasn't CNN. It was me. I watched you last night for 16 minutes. It's not CNN. +p1856 +aVIt's not CNN. It's America's watching you. +p1857 +aVIt's America's watching. +p1858 +aVGovernor \u2014 thank you, Governor. +p1859 +aVDr. Carson, commander-in-chief question again. You've been the head of neurosurgery for a big hospital. You're on a lot of boards of a lot of companies. You've traveled the world. You're going traveling again next week. But does that prepare you to command troops from Djibouti to Japan, troops from Afghanistan to Iraq to be in charge of the men and women watching on Armed Services Network tonight? +p1860 +aVMr. Trump...... Dr. Carson just referenced the single most important job of the president, the command, the control and the care of our nuclear forces. And he mentioned the triad. The B-52s are older than I am. The missiles are old. The submarines are aging out. It's an executive order. It's a commander-in-chief decision. What's your priority among our nuclear triad? +p1861 +aVOf the three legs of the triad, though, do you have a priority? I want to go to Senator Rubio after that and ask him. +p1862 +aVSenator Rubio, do you have a response? +p1863 +aVMy listeners tell me again and again they are worried that Hillary Clinton will win the White House because you'll run as an independent. Are you ready to assure Republicans tonight that you will run as a Republican and abide by the decision of the Republicans? +p1864 +aVDr. Carson, last week... +p1865 +aVPlease. +p1866 +aVDr. Carson, Mr. Trump just committed to stay the distance regardless of the result. How about you? +p1867 +aVThank you, Jake. Mr. Trump, two years ago, President Obama drew a red line that the Syrian dictator Bashar Assad crossed, President Obama threatened to strike. He did not, his knees buckled. We now have 4 million refugees, Syria is a living hell, and he turned to the Congress for the authority to back him up. You have three senators to your right that said, no. Do they bear responsibility for this refugee crisis, and what would you have done when Bashar Assad crossed the line? +p1868 +aVHow much responsibility, Mr. Trump, do the senators hold? +p1869 +aVSenator Rubio... +p1870 +aVSenator Paul? +p1871 +aVI'd like to talk about winning because I think all of you are more qualified than former Secretary of State Clinton, and as were the people in the first debate, but there are different styles, and Carly Fiorina, Governor Kasich, you're conveniently located next to each other, and you have different styles. Governor Kasich, you've been on my show a lot. You refused to attack Hillary Clinton, you just don't want to go there, you want to do the up with people. Go, Ohio, OK, and I like that. Carly Fiorina, I don't have to bring up the Secretary of State \u2014 you bring her up, so . Which one of you is wrong? Governor Kasich? +p1872 +aVGovernor. +p1873 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1874 +aVCarly Fiorina, your style? +p1875 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Christie, your name was mentioned. I want to give you a chance to respond. +p1876 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1877 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. There is a lot more coming up. Ahead, a world of trouble. The challenges that one of these candidates may face in the Oval Office, and how he or she will handle it. Stay with us. +p1878 +aVOh, you're the best interview in America. +p1879 +aV... makes an interesting case (ph) here (ph). +p1880 +aVThank you, Jake. I've done a lot of great interviews with all of you, but, Governor Bush, I talked to you in February about the biggest elephant in a room full of elephants, which is your last name. And you said you would not be burdened either by your brother or your father's legacy in the Middle East. And then, a week later, you rolled out your list of foreign policy advisers, and it was a lot of the band getting back together again. So on behalf of the military that is watching... +p1881 +aV...OK, the active duty military that are at the end of the sphere (ph), what kind of a commander in chief is Jeb Bush going to be, and who are the advisers that are new to your team? +p1882 +aVMr. \u2014 Mr. Trump. +p1883 +aVI want to ask you a question, though, you promised us great leaders. And I believe that. But Jeb Bush has laid out 20 different people that have experience around the world. There are 190 countries, you can't run the world by yourself. When are we going to get some names on your military and your foreign policy advisers? +p1884 +aVThank you, Jake. Tomorrow is \u2014 Republicans know this \u2014 tomorrow is Constitution Day. We've been talking about the 10th Amendment. Let's talk about the Second Amendment. Governor Bush, one of the things the Supreme Court has gotten right is that it's an individual right and it's protected for individuals to hold it. Last week, you said the next step in gun issues is to make sure they're not in the hands of mentally ill. In this state, there's a controversial law that allows guns to be taken away from people without a hearing. Where does it go \u2014 and the problem of violence is endemic, but where does it go from what you said last week, how far into people's lives to take guns away from them? +p1885 +aVIf a family member calls and says, "My child, my brother, my sister is disturbed," ought the state be able to go and get their weapon without a hearing? +p1886 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1887 +aVSenator Cruz, I want to go to you. Your constitutional litigant (ph), are you afraid of the next- step theory of what happens to Second Amendment rights? +p1888 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1889 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1890 +aVThank you, senator. +p1891 +asVWALLACE +p1892 +(lp1893 +VTonight, we're partnering with Google for an exclusive second-screen experience. Search Fox News debate on Google any time in the next two hours to access exclusive content. You can see the campaigns respond to the debate in real time, and you can weigh in by voting on the topics being discussed. Just go to google.com or open your Google search app and type in Fox News debate. +p1894 +aVNeurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. +p1895 +aVApparently Iowa's near Kentucky. +p1896 +aVSenator Rubio, I want to explore this sort of larger issue. The campaign has in a sense turned into a battle for the soul of the Republican party: establishment versus grassroots, pragmatic versus principle. You say that you can unite all of the factions inside the GOP. How? +p1897 +aVGovernor Kasich, I want to get back to this question of where conservatives are this year. You call yourself a, quote, "inside-outside guy, a reformer who knows how to get things done," but you reject the establishment label. First question is why do you reject it? And secondly, what do you say to Republican voters this year who view practical government experience as a liability and not an asset? +p1898 +aVDr. Carson, I want to pick up on that with you. Governor Kasich likes to say he knows how to land the plane. You've landed a lot of planes in the O.R. But what about the idea of running for president with no experience in government at all? +p1899 +aVGentlemen, we're now going to start to drill down into specific issues that are on voters' minds. I'm going to start with one of the biggest ones, which is foreign terror. According to Google, +p1900 +aVSenator Rubio, does Senator Cruz's record match his rhetoric? +p1901 +aVSenator Cruz, you've got 30 seconds. You were mentioned. +p1902 +aVGentlemen. +p1903 +aVMay I \u2014 may I just say, we are going to continue the questions about foreign terror, gentlemen, right after this break. +p1904 +aVThank you. Governor Christie, you have compared both Senators Cruz and Rubio to Barack Obama, saying that we cannot afford another inexperienced President. You've also said that Senator Cruz's vote to curtail the NSA surveillance program made America less safe. Is either of them ready to be Commander in Chief? +p1905 +aVGovernor Bush... +p1906 +aV... I don't think that your name was mentioned... +p1907 +aV... Sir, I think \u2014 I think the question was... +p1908 +aV... It's not my question that you get a chance to respond to, it's his answer. You don't get 30 seconds to respond to me... +p1909 +aV... You don't get 30 seconds to respond to me... +p1910 +aV... If I could go on. Sir, I know you like to argue about the rules, but we're going to conduct a debate... +p1911 +aV... Governor Bush... +p1912 +aVGovernor Bush, here's the question \u2014 I'm going to ask Governor Bush the question. You criticized several candidates in this field on this stage for what you call unrealistic ideas about how to fight terrorists, including Rubio, and Cruz on the issue of their refusing to give the President authority to enforce the redline in Syria. But, given the fact that your brother got us into two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that have still not ended. That have still not ended, what lessons have you learned from his mistakes, sir? +p1913 +aVSenator Cruz, now you get a chance to respond. +p1914 +aV... It is a debate, sir. +p1915 +aVI think the questions were about issues. Senator Rubio, what would you like to respond sir... +p1916 +aVThank you. +p1917 +aVGood. +p1918 +aVSenator Paul, go ahead. +p1919 +aVWell... ... we'll be talking about foreign policy a little bit later. We're going to talk... +p1920 +aVThis debate is just getting started. Coming up, the role of the federal government. But first, join tonight's conversation right from your home. Go to google.com or open your Google search app and search Fox News Debate to vote on which issue is most important to you in this election. More from the Iowa Events Center and the Republican presidential debate in a moment. +p1921 +aVGentlemen, we're going to turn now to what we call electability, issues that you're either facing in the primaries or issues that you're certainly going to face in a general election. So you may not be altogether unhappy if you're not included in this round. Senator Cruz, you pride yourself on standing up to the D.C. cartel, but as we've seen to a certain degree tonight, there's a price for standing up to the D.C. cartel. Thirteen Republican senators have endorsed other candidates, none have endorsed you. You \u2014 twice last year, you asked for a colleague to second a motion, a routine courtesy on the Senate floor, and no senator would do it. Top GOP officials worry that if you're at the top of the ticket \u2014 some officials \u2014 that not only will you lose the White House, but it will tank the ticket all the way down the line. The question is does your style sometimes get in the way of your ability to get things done, sir? +p1922 +aVGovernor Christie, two of your former top aides go on trial in May for fraud and conspiracy in the "Bridge-gate" case, the politically motivated closure of lanes to the George Washington Bridge. Another former aide who has already pleaded guilty and will likely testify for the government, as you know, says that you knew about this whole deal. Can the GOP take the chance of nominating you with this scandal still out there, sir? +p1923 +aVGentlemen, almost 60% of Republican caucus-goers identify themselves as Evangelicals, so I'd like to spend a few minutes exploring social issues. Governor Kasich, you talk a good deal about your faith. In fact, you say it played a role in your decision to expand Medicaid, and you say that when you meet Saint Peter at the Pearly Gates, he's going to ask what you did for the poor, not what you did to keep government small. Senator Cruz is on the opposite side of this issue from you, so does that mean that you're getting in and he isn't? +p1924 +aVGentlemen, we had a case study on religious liberty just this last summer. A county clerk in Kentucky named Kim Davis refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples after the Supreme Court ruling, saying that it violated her religious beliefs. Governor Christie, you said that she must follow the law or be moved to another job that would be in keeping with her conscience. But some conservatives say that that violates her religious liberty. +p1925 +aVThank you, sir. Senator Rubio, during the last debate, you said Governor Christie had changed his position and his mind on gun control, on common core, and backing President Obama's nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. He said you're wrong on the facts and you can't, quote, "slime your way to the White House." I assume in the last two weeks, you've done some fact-checking. Do you want to take anything back? +p1926 +aVThank you, senator. Senator Paul, in May on the campaign trail you, said you didn't get into politics to fight about abortion. You said you were more concerned about the national debt. Your answer is to turn abortion back to the states the way it was before Roe v. Wade. Does that mean that if a liberal state, let's say, wants to make abortion legal, that you're okay with that and what do you say to conservative voters who believe deeply that abortion is murder? +p1927 +aVSir, just 30 seconds to answer my specific... Just 30 seconds to answer my specific question. Do you favor the idea that abortion should be a states' rights issue and if a liberal state wants to make it legal, that that's their choice? Yes or no? +p1928 +aVThank you, sir. +p1929 +aVWe're not finished yet. More to come from the presidential debate, live from Des Moines, Iowa, next. And remember, to see how the campaigns are responding to the debate in real time, go togoogle.com or open your Google search app and search Fox News debate, and please stay with us. +p1930 +aVWe have another question from one of Youtube's top creators. Here it is. +p1931 +aVGovernor Bush, how do you answer Nabela? +p1932 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Cruz, change of subject. You called for an end to the renewable fuel standards which mandate that refineries blend biofuels, including ethanol into gasoline. As you well know, ethanol's a big industry in this state, $10 billion dollars a year. Last week, Terry Branstad, the popular Governor of Iowa... ... Who is in the hall tonight, said that you're bankrolled by big oil, and that Iowa voters would be making a mistake supporting you. Why should those voters side with you over the six- term governor of the state, sir? +p1933 +aVDr. Carson, I'd like to ask you about exactly that issue. Where are you on the mandatory ethanol standard, and precisely this question. Should government be in the business of picking winners and losers, or should it be left to the market place? +p1934 +aVDoctor, thank you. +p1935 +aVDr. Ben Carson. +p1936 +aVAnd don't forget, after all the talk, the first voting of the 2016 campaign happens in just four days. The first Americans to vote, the Iowa caucuses are Monday and Fox News will have complete coverage. +p1937 +aVAlso of note, Fox News is partnering for tonight's debate with Facebook. For the past several weeks, we've been asking you for questions for the candidates on Facebook. Nearly 6 million of you, 6 million, viewed the debate videos on our site, and more than 40,000 of you submitted questions: some of which you will hear us asking the candidates tonight. +p1938 +aVKentucky Senator Rand Paul. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. And your very own governor of Ohio... ... John Kasich. +p1939 +aVBrett -- Brett, I think you would call that a home field advantage. +p1940 +aVSenator Rubio, when Jeb Bush announced his candidacy for presidency, he said this: "There's no passing off responsibility when you're a governor, no blending into the legislative crowd." Could you please address Governor Bush across the stage here, and explain to him why you, someone who has never held executive office, are better prepared to be president than he is, a man who you say did a great job running your state of Florida for eight years. +p1941 +aVSenator Cruz, your colleague, Senator Paul, right there next to you, said a few months ago he agrees with you on a number of issues, but he says you do nothing to grow the party. He says you feed red meat to the base, but you don't reach out to minorities. You have a toxic relationship with GOP leaders in Congress. You even called the Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell a liar recently. How can you win in 2016 when you're such a divisive figure? +p1942 +aVGovernor Huckabee, like Governor Walker, you have staked out strong positions on social issues. You favor a constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage. You favor a constitutional amendment banning abortions, except for the life of the mother. Millions of people in this country agree with you, but according to the polls, and again this an electability question, according to the polls, more people don't, so how do you persuade enough Independents and Democrats to get elected in 2016? +p1943 +aVGentlemen, we're turning to a new subject that all of you have been talking about and some of you have been disagreeing about, and that is the issue of immigration. Governor Bush, you released a new plan this week on illegal immigration focusing on enforcement, which some suggest is your effort to show that you're not soft on that issue. I want to ask you about a statement that you made last year about illegal immigrants. And here's what you said. "They broke the law, but it's not a felony, it's an act of love. It's an act of commitment to your family." Do you stand by that statement and do you stand by your support for earned legal status? +p1944 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, it has not escaped anybody's notice that you say that the Mexican government, the Mexican government is sending criminals -- rapists, drug dealers, across the border. Governor Bush has called those remarks, quote, "extraordinarily ugly." I'd like you -- you're right next to him -- tell us -- talk to him directly and say how you respond to that and -- and you have repeatedly said that you have evidence that the Mexican government is doing this, but you have evidence you have refused or declined to share. Why not use this first Republican presidential debate to share your proof with the American people? +p1945 +aVMr. Trump, I'll give you 30 seconds -- I'll give you 30 seconds to answer my question, which was, what evidence do you have, specific evidence that the Mexican government is sending criminals across the border? Thirty seconds. +p1946 +aVAll right. Obviously there's a lot more to talk about this. We're going to have more questions for the candidates on illegal immigration, plus other key topics including your questions on Facebook. +p1947 +aVWelcome back to FOX News/Facebook Republican Debate Night. We're going to continue the questions now on illegal immigration. We kind of ended with a cliffhanger there. So let's continue the conversation. Governor Kasich, I know you don't like to talk about Donald Trump. But I do want to ask you about the merit of what he just said. When you say that the American government is stupid, that the Mexican government is sending criminals, that we're being bamboozled, is that an adequate response to the question of illegal immigration? +p1948 +aVRespectfully, can we talk about illegal immigration? +p1949 +aVAll right, well, Senator Rubio, let me see if I can do better with you. Is it as simple as our leaders are stupid, their leaders are smart, and all of these illegals coming over are criminals? +p1950 +aVGovernor Walker. Governor Walker, from 2002 until as recently as 2013, just two years ago, you supported comprehensive immigration reform, including a path to citizenship. Now you say that was a quick reaction to something you hadn't really thought about, and that you've changed your mind. Other than politics, could you explain why in the last two years you've changed your position on a path to citizenship, and are there other past positions that we shouldn't hold you to? +p1951 +aVSenator Cruz, some 1,400 people submitted questions on this very hot topic of illegal immigration on Facebook, and a number of them were about the murder of Kate Steinle in San Francisco, allegedly shot down by an illegal. Doug Bettencourt sent this question, "will you support Kate Steinle's Law," which would impose a mandatory five-year prison term for an illegal who is deported and then returns to this country? "And will you defund sanctuary cities for violating federal law?" +p1952 +aVGentlemen, we're obviously digging into some subjects in depth, but we're also going to change it up every once in a while throughout the next hour and have many rounds where we ask, you are not going to like it, only a couple of candidates questions on those subjects. This is the first of the many rounds, and it's about somebody whose name probably hasn't been mentioned enough so far tonight. Governor Kasich, let me start with you. Whoever the Republican nominee -- Whoever the Republican nominee is, it looks at least for now like whoever that nominee is, he or she, will be facing off against Hillary Clinton. You know how she will come after whoever the Republican nominee is. She will say that you, whoever it is, support the rich while she supports the middle class. That you want to suppress the rights of women and minorities. She wants to move the country forward while you, the Republicans, want to take the country back to the past. How will you, if you're the nominee, how will you answer that and take Hillary Clinton on? +p1953 +aVI know that all of you would like to answer this question, but we're only going to ask one other candidate before we move on to a different subject, Dr. Carson. Basically, same question to you. If Hillary Clinton is the nominee and she comes at you with that kind of line of attack, how will you take Iraq? +p1954 +aVGentlemen, we're going to turn now to the subject of the economy, jobs and money and the government. And Governor Bush, I'm going to start with you. You have made a bold promise in your announcement. You have promised four percent economic growth and 19 million new jobs if you are fortunate enough to serve two terms as president. That many jobs, 19 million, would be triple what your father and your brother accomplished together. And four percent growth, the last president to average that was Lyndon Johnson during the height of the Vietnam War. So question, how on Earth specifically would you pull that off? +p1955 +aVGovernor Walker. Governor Walker, when you ran for governor of Wisconsin back in 2010, you promised that you would create 250,000 jobs in your first term, first four years. In fact, Wisconsin added barely half that and ranked 35th in the country in job growth. Now you're running for president, and you're promising an economic plan in which everyone will earn a piece of the American dream. Given your record in Wisconsin, why should voters believe you? +p1956 +aVGovernor Christie, I want to engage you and Governor Huckabee in a subject that is a big issue in both of your campaigns, and that is entitlement reform. You say that you -- to save the system that you want to raise the retirement age -- have to raise the retirement age, and to cut benefits for Social Security and Medicare, and you say that some of the candidates here on the stage are lying. Governor Huckabee says he can save Social Security and Medicare without doing any of that. Is he lying? +p1957 +aVGovernor Huckabee? You say that changing entitlements, the kind of thing that Governor Christie is talking about, would be breaking a promise to the American people, and you say that you can keep those programs, save Social Security, save Medicare, without those kinds of reforms through a FairTax, which is a broad tax on consumption. Please explain to Governor Christie how that would work, and how you could save these programs without the kind of painful reforms he says we need? +p1958 +aV...Thirty seconds. +p1959 +aV...Alright, this is it. Thirty Seconds, finally. +p1960 +aVAll right. Enough. Mr. Trump. +p1961 +aVMr. Trump, you talk a lot about how you are the person on this stage to grow the economy, I want to ask you about your business records. From corporations, Trump corporations, casinos and hotels, have declared bankruptcy four times over the last quarter-century. +p1962 +aVNo, but the concept sir... +p1963 +aV... that's your line, but your companies have gone bankrupt. +p1964 +aVWell sir, let's just talk about the latest example......which is Trump Entertainment Resorts, which went bankrupt in 2009. In that case alone, lenders to your company lost over $1 billion and more than 1,100 people were laid off. +p1965 +aVIs that the way that you'd run the country? +p1966 +aVSo... +p1967 +aVSenator Rubio. Senator Rubio, more than 3,000 people sent us questions about the economy and jobs on Facebook. And here is a video question from Tania Cioloko from Philadelphia. Here she is. +p1968 +aVSenator, how do you answer Tania? +p1969 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. +p1970 +aVSenator Paul, closing statement. +p1971 +aVDr. Carson, closing statement. +p1972 +aVGovernor Bush, closing statement, sir. +p1973 +asVGARRETT +p1974 +(lp1975 +VSenator Cruz. John mentioned this is about dollars and incentives. We also want to talk about economic growth engagements. You have proposed a consumption tax, you called it the "back tax." Some analysts compare it more to an attributed "value-added tax." From the perspective from economic growth in building wages, how does that work, and how would you address those longstanding conservative concerns that something approaching the "value-added tax" would be used to constantly increase those rates to pay for future government spending and become an escalator of taxation, not of growth? +p1976 +aVNow, the question \u2014 conservatives have sort of this idea conceptually for a long time, but especially on this consumption value-added tax system. In Europe, where it exists, it has become an escalator of taxation to feed government spending, and that's why conservatives have long resisted it. Why and what would you do as president to make sure that doesn't happen? +p1977 +aVGovernor Bush, a question for you \u2014 but if you want to jump in, please. +p1978 +aVJump in, and then I've got a question for you. +p1979 +aVReal quickly, jump in, because I have got a question for Governor Bush, but jump in. +p1980 +aVUnderstood, Governor Kasich. +p1981 +aVYeah, Governor Bush, fine. +p1982 +aVLet me get in a question from... +p1983 +aVI understand, I understand. +p1984 +aVI have a question on economic growth, Governor Bush. +p1985 +aVA , Governor. +p1986 +aVI know, understood. Governor Bush. +p1987 +aVGovernor Bush, from the perspective, economic growth \u2014 viewed from this perspective of economic growth, you have proposed a tax on hedge fund managers. The Americans for Tax Reform, a conservative tax group you're probably aware of, has said no Republican should be for higher taxes on capital gains. And many conservatives wonder if this proposal of yours would undermine not only that philosophy, but undercut your projection of 4 percent economic growth annually under your presidency? +p1988 +aV... Dr. Carson... +p1989 +aVSenator Rubio... For the purposes of the lines \u2014 lines you would draw legislatively as a president on immigration reform, define amnesty. +p1990 +aVVery quickly, Senator Cruz. +p1991 +aVGovernor Bush, I want to bring this out to a little wider philosophical aspect, if you will. +p1992 +aVYou have said illegal immigrants, quote, "broke the law, but it's not a felony," still quoting you, "it's an act of love, it's an act of commitment to your family." Mr. Trump has, as you are well aware, denounced that statement over and over. Do you still believe it? What does that mean to you? And how does that inform your approach to immigration reform? +p1993 +aVFundamentally, do you believe this rhetoric is insufficiently compassionate to this issue? +p1994 +aVMr. Trump... +p1995 +aV... Governor Kasich, here in South Carolina earlier this week, you said the idea, the concept of deporting 11 million undocumented workers... +p1996 +aV... We will leave the moon metaphors to be adjudicated later, I assure you. Governor Kasich, you said earlier this week in South Carolina, the concept, the idea of deporting 11 million undocumented workers in this country is nuts. Why is it you are so opposed to that idea? Senator Cruz has said it's a simple application of existing law. The application of that is not inhumane, it is just. Why do you disagree? +p1997 +aV... What are you for on immigration? +p1998 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 Mr. Trump. I was with you in Pendleton, South Carolina, earlier this week at the Rodeo Arena. It was a bit chilly there. You promised the crowd, and they rose to their feet, that if Ford or a company like were to move a factory to Mexico, you would try to stop it or threaten them with a 35 percent tax or tariff on every car sold. +p1999 +aVRight. So my question is, based on your understanding of the presidency, where do you derive that power? Would you need the consent of Congress to go along? And do you see the presidency as a perch from which you can cajole and/or threaten private industry to do something you think is better for the U.S. economy? +p2000 +aVThank you, governor. +p2001 +asVMUIR +p2002 +(lp2003 +VGood evening, again, everyone. This is the first time since Iowa and the only time before the New Hampshire primary that the Republican candidates will have the opportunity to face each other. The people of Iowa have been heard. Now it's New Hampshire's turn. In just three days, voters here will decide who they think should be the Republican nominee for president. +p2004 +aVSo let's welcome the candidates for the Republican nomination for president. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. +p2005 +aVTexas Senator Ted Cruz. +p2006 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. +p2007 +aVAnd Ohio Governor John Kasich. +p2008 +aVAnd Dr. Ben Carson, please come out on the stage. He's standing there, as well. Dr. Carson. +p2009 +aVAnd lastly, we welcome back to the debate stage, Donald Trump. +p2010 +aVIt was so noisy in here. Yes. Yes. We're going to introduce Ohio Governor John kasich. The applause so loud here in the hall. +p2011 +aVSo let's get started. We welcome you all to the debate stage here tonight. We're going to tackle the issues Americans are most concerned about, the economy, +p2012 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. I want to bring this to Senator Cruz, then. Because Senator, you did said of Trump's behavior this week, that's not the temperament of a leader to keep this country safe. Why not? +p2013 +aVSenator Cruz, I did ask about Mr. Trump. You said he doesn't have the temperament to be commander-in-chief. Do you stand by those words? +p2014 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. We're going to continue on this notion of readiness and experience. I'm going to come back. +p2015 +aVIf you would like to respond, Mr. Trump. +p2016 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. And we're going to continue on this notion of readiness and on experience, but I want to ask about a headline that was back in the papers again this morning. Dr. Carson, on the day of the Iowa caucuses, the Cruz campaign sent out messages and voicemails saying, quote, "Breaking news. Dr. Ben Carson will be planning to suspend his campaign following tonight's caucuses. Please inform any Carson caucus-goers of this news." But as we can all see, you are still standing here tonight. Late this week, your campaign sent this e-mail, quote, "This kind of deceitful behavior is why the American people don't trust politicians. If Senator Cruz does not act, then he clearly represents D.C. values." What kind of action do you think Senator Cruz should take? +p2017 +aVSenator Cruz. Dr. Carson, thank you. Senator Cruz, you have said that Dr. Carson and his wife have become friends of yours. I'm curious as why you didn't call ahead of time to either the doctor or his wife or have your campaign check in with the other campaign before sending out those messages. +p2018 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. We're going to move on here. Back to the issues... +p2019 +aVDr. Carson, please. +p2020 +aVDr. Carson, thank you. Thank you, doctor. Senator Rubio. I want to stay on the issue of readiness to be president and experience and questions about you being a first-term senator. Governor Christie warning voters here in New Hampshire against voting for another first-term senator as America did with Barack Obama in 2008. Arguing that you are, quote, " not ready to be president of the United States." And Senator Santorum, who we all know, dropped out of the race and endorsed you, had a hard time when asked on national television, listing your accomplishments as senator. Tonight, what are your accomplishments in the Senate that demonstrate you are ready to be president of the United States? +p2021 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I do want to ask Governor Christie, Governor Christie, you said fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me when it comes to electing a first-term senator. You heard Senator Rubio make the case that he does have the experience. Your response? +p2022 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Rubio? +p2023 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I want to bring in governor bush on this, because you... +p2024 +aV... have made this... +p2025 +aVIf you'd like to respond to economic... +p2026 +aVSenator Rubio? +p2027 +aVGovernor Christie, we will \u2014 we will... +p2028 +aVGovernor Christie \u2014 thank you, Governor. I will mention \u2014 listen... +p2029 +aV... Listen, people... Governor Bush, I'll mention your name so that you can come in on this... +p2030 +aVI want to bring you in on this because you've made this central to your campaign right here in New Hampshire in the last couple of days. Four Years ago you said of Senator Rubio, he was ready to be Vice President. You spoke of his experience as well. You said he has the fortitude to be a good President, but just this week you said Senator Rubio accomplished, quote, "nothing" in the Senate. How do you square the two? +p2031 +aV... We're going to continue with leadership now. Martha? +p2032 +aVMartha, we're going to turn to immigration now. And I want to bring in Governor Kasich because you told us in an ABC interview, Governor, quote, "It is completely ridiculous to think we are going to go into neighborhoods, grab people out of their homes and ship people back to Mexico." Adding, quote, "That's not where the party is. The party is not for departing 11.5 million people." But Mr. Trump and Senator Cruz, who have made deportation central to their campaigns, top the national polls. So, my question for you, are you not where the voters are? +p2033 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. I want to bring this next to Senator Cruz. You heard what the governor said. He said, "We need practical solutions." And you've said, "I don't intend to send jack boots to knock on doors. That's not how we enforce the law for any crime." So, what is your plan? How will you deport 11.5 million undocumented people? And be specific. How would you do it? +p2034 +aVLet me just ask you this, though, because Governor Kasich was talking about the families and what you do with the families that you would have to send home. Can you tell the American people tonight how you would do that? +p2035 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. I want to bring in Senator Rubio. This question is about immigration, it is also about leadership. You're aware of the criticism from many candidates on this stage tonight that you co-authored the so-called Gang of Eight bill that would have created a path to citizenship for people here illegally. Governor Christie has said of you, as soon as you felt the heat, you turned tail and run. Governor Bush has said, "I don't think we need people cutting and running anymore." Did you fight for your own legislation, Senator, or did you run from it? +p2036 +aVBut I'm asking, did you fight for the legislation at the time or did you run from it as you're... +p2037 +aVGovernor Christie? +p2038 +aVGovernor thank you. Senator Rubio? +p2039 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. We want to turn to health care in this country, and for that, author and commentator, Mary Katherine Ham tonight. HAM: Thanks, David. Good evening, guys. +p2040 +aVMary Katherine, thank you. We want to turn now to the issue of eminent domain, which is being debated right here in New Hampshire. And Josh McElveen is the political director and the anchor of +p2041 +aVJosh, thank you. When we come back here tonight, jobs, +p2042 +aVAnd, we welcome you back to the Republican debate from New Hampshire tonight here on ABC. We're going to turn now to what it means to be a conservative, and I want to turn to Governor Kasich. Governor, while campaigning here in New Hampshire, you were already asked about groans from some conservatives after your endorsements from the New York Times, and the Boston Globe. You said, quote, "What conservatives have to know is they have to say, look isn't it nice to have a conservative like me liked? And, maybe the ought to think about it because if I get elected president, the Republican party and the definition of conservatism is going to change." How would you change conservatism? +p2043 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. Mr. Trump, you've heard the argument from many of the candidates on this stage that you're not a true conservative. Tell the voters watching tonight why you are. +p2044 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. Senator Rubio, you have said yourself that you don't think Donald Trump is running as a conservative. Did he convince you? +p2045 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I want to turn this discussion to the economy now. And Mr. Trump, Governor Christie has said, "I tell everybody who goes to a Donald Trump event, if you get to ask a question, just ask him how." Christie said, "I don't care which of the things he talks about, just ask him how." You have said that you'd be the greatest jobs president God ever created. Tell Americans watching tonight how many jobs you would create in the first term and how. +p2046 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. There are a lot of governors on this stage tonight and Governor Christie, Governor Kasich said of you, quote, "In Ohio, we balanced a budget. They don't have one over in New Jersey. Our credit has been strengthened. Their credit has been downgraded. We've got more jobs." How important are those metrics in choosing the next president? And is his job \u2014 is his record on jobs, I should say, actually stronger than yours? +p2047 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Kasich? +p2048 +aVHe didn't say your record was better than his. +p2049 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. +p2050 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. I do want to turn from jobs to taxes. +p2051 +aVIf you would like to respond to the governor, you can. +p2052 +aVI'm coming to you next with a question, anyway. You can respond to that question. +p2053 +aVWe're going from jobs to taxes, and here's the... +p2054 +aVTo the Gang of Eight bill first? +p2055 +aVThe governor wasn't talking about the president, he was talking about the Gang of Eight bill. +p2056 +aVSo, let me ask you about taxes, Senator Rubio. +p2057 +aVA recent poll, 68 percent of Americans favor raising taxes on people making more than $1 million a year. Are they wrong? +p2058 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I want to bring in Governor Bush. And Governor, I just want to repeat that number for you \u2014 68 percent of Americans favor raising taxes on people making more than a million. What do you say to the people who believe that tonight? +p2059 +aVKnew that was coming. Governor, thank you. +p2060 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you. Martha? +p2061 +aVMartha, thank you. We're just going to \u2014 we're going to stay on +p2062 +aVIf elected president, would you bring it back? +p2063 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. Mr. Trump, you said not only does it work, but that you'd bring it back. +p2064 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. Governor Bush, you have said that you won't rule waterboarding out. Congress has passed laws banning the use of waterboarding by the military and the CIA, as you know. Would you want Congress to change that if you're elected president? +p2065 +aVGovernor Bush, thank you. Senator Rubio, I do want to ask you, you have said that you do not want to telegraph to the enemy what you would do as commander in chief. But for the American people watching tonight who want to know where the next president will stand, do you believe waterboarding is torture? +p2066 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. We want to turn now to the topic of executive orders, and for that, we're going to turn back to Mary Katharine Ham. Mary Katharine? HAM: Thanks, David. Senator Cruz, on the campaign trail you've promised voters a lot, in fact if you're elected president you'd say you end Common Core immediately, abolish the IRS, and do away with sanctuary cities. You've also been a persistent critic of President Obama's executive overreach, going it alone, not working with Congress. How do you intend to implement this aggressive agenda within your Constitutional authority, especially given that it would require working with Congress and Washington players with whom you're happy to say you have a strained relationship? +p2067 +aVMary Katherine, thank you. We want to turn to something the governor of New Hampshire said... +p2068 +aVA connection here on the stage. We're going to move on to what the governor of New Hampshire said just this week, and that is that heroin overdose is not the second-leading cause of death in this state. You don't need me to tell you that. But there's another number, 48 percent of the people here in this state knows someone who has abused heroin. Josh, who covers this for +p2069 +aVMartha? +p2070 +aVGovernor, well come to you in the next segment. When we come back, questions about race, about our veterans and social issues what younger conservative voters are now saying as we continue with New Hampshire with the Republican debate, right here on ABC. +p2071 +aVWelcome back to New Hampshire, ABC News coverage of the Republican debate, and it's great to have you back at the podiums, and we want to turn to race in America. And Mr. Trump, there are many who argue cell phones and smartphones are just now exposing what's been happening in this country for years. Cases of excessive force against minorities. As you know, Mr. Trump, on the other side, the FBI director recently said there's a chill wind blowing through law enforcement because of increased scrutiny. You have said police are the most mistreated people in America. As president, how do you bridge the divide? +p2072 +aVGreat. Mr. Trump, I did ask about bridging the divide though as president. So what would you say to the American families who say we have lived through this, we have seen excessive force? What would you say to those people? +p2073 +aVI do want to ask \u2014 Governor Kasich? +p2074 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Rubio, I want to ask you next, President Obama visited a mosque this week in America for the first time in his presidency. President George W. Bush visited a mosque after September 11th. You said of President Obama, quote, "he's always pitting people against each other." So I'm curious, how are the two visits different, and would you visit a mosque as president? +p2075 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. Martha? +p2076 +aVJosh, thank you. I want to turn to a family that New Hampshire voters know quite well, and Senator Cruz, the issue of hostages has been a very real and painful one here in this state. As we all know, James Foley was killed. His mother, Diane, said our government should be willing to negotiate, arguing that families should also be allowed to raise money for ransom. What would you say to Diane Foley tonight? Should families be allowed to raise money for ransom for their loved ones? +p2077 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. Mr. Trump, what would you say to Diane Foley? Should families be allowed to raise money for ransom? +p2078 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. We want to turn now to social issues and young voters and for the question, from Mary Katherine. HAM: Thank you David. Senator Rubio. One of the lazier pieces of political conventional wisdom is that so-called social issues are hurting Republicans with young people. But on the two most prominent social issues, polling with millennials actually moves in different directions. On one hand, it is clear, young people across the political spectrum increasingly favor same sex marriage. However young voters have not moved to the left on abortion. In fact, large numbers of them favor at least some modest restrictions that conservatives have supported. How do you speak to millennials on both these issues, while Democrats will inevitable charge intolerance and extremism? +p2079 +aVMary Katherine, thank you. We're going to have closing statements here in just a moment, but before we go, quick lightning round. Come November, two battle-ground states, but they face off tomorrow in the Super Bowl. Governor Kasich, who wins? +p2080 +aVGovernor Bush? +p2081 +aVSenator Rubio? +p2082 +aV Mr. Trump? +p2083 +aVAll right, Dr. Carson? +p2084 +aVYeah. Governor Christie, the last word? +p2085 +aVDenver. Thank you so much, gentlemen. Closing statements in just a moment, right here, as the ABC News Republican debate continues from New Hampshire, right after this. +p2086 +aVWe welcome you back. The New Hampshire primary, of course, is Tuesday, but time now for closing statements. And we begin tonight with Governor Kasich. +p2087 +aVGovernor Bush. +p2088 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Senator Rubio. +p2089 +aVThank you. Mr. Trump. +p2090 +asVHUCKABEE +p2091 +(lp2092 +VI wish I saw the country in the same place that the president presented it to be the other night in the State of the Union. He talked about how great the economy was doing. And I guess for the people he hangs out with, it's probably doing great. But the president should've stood in the line at the layaway counter at Walmart just before Christmas. He would have heard a very different story about the economy of America. I wish I could introduce him the lady who cleans the building where our campaign headquarters is located in Little Rock. Her name is Kathleen. She works all day at a local hospital cleaning, and then she goes to the building where a bank, and our headquarters, and other offices are she spends another seven hours. She works 15 hours a day. I guarantee you she's not working 15 hours a day because she loves scrubbing toilets, and sweeping floors. She's working that many hours because that's what it takes for her to make it work. And, she's not alone. There are people all over this country who are working like that. Many of them working two jobs \u2014 and they used to have one job, and that would take care of them. But, because of wage stagnation, which we've had for 40 years, because the fact that they're punished for working harder if they work that many hours. The government gets more of their second shift than they do. And, as a result there are a lot of people who are hurting today. I wish the President knew more of them. He might make a change in the economy and the way he's managing it. +p2093 +aVLet me put that in context. When I went to Afghanistan, I saw a land that looked like the land of the Flintstones. It was desolate. It was barren. It was primitive. And it's been that way for thousands of years. They want to take the world back to be just like that. We don't. We need to make a clear goal as to why we want to be anywhere in the Middle East, and I'll tell you why we want to be and need to be, is to destroy radical Islam and everything that threatens civilization. It's not just a threat......to Israel or to America, it's a threat to every civilized person on this Earth. And we need to be equipping not only the Kurds in Iraq, we need to be making sure that those who are willing to fight radical Muslims will do it, but we need to never ever spend a drop of American blood unless there is a clearly defined goal and we can't make sure we win unless we have a military that's the strongest in the history of mankind. We've got to rebuild our navy. It's the smallest navy we've had since 1915, when my grandfather got on a destroyer in World War I when he was in the U.S. Navy. We've got young men in Air Force B-52s, one in particular, he's flying a B-52 that his father flew in the '80s and his grandfather flew in the '50s. Those planes are older than me. We've got to have a military that the world is afraid of, use it sparingly, but when we do, the whole world will know that America is on their tail and they will be on their tail on the ground, never ever to rise up again. +p2094 +aVOnly if there is a concerted effort to destroy the advance of radical Islamists who are against us. As far as what are we going to make it look like. Frankly, I don't know what we can make it look like. You can't create for other people a desire for freedom and democracy. And frankly, that is not the role of the United States. The role of the United States military is not to build schools, it is not to build bridges, it is not to go around and pass out food packets. It is to kill and destroy our enemy and make America safe and that is the purpose we should be there if we're going to be there. +p2095 +aV Yes, I did. +p2096 +aVWell, why don't we start by making sure the Justice Department never does an idiotic program like Fast and Furious where the U.S. Government put guns......in the hands of Mexican drug lords......and end up killing one of our border agents. You know, they want to talk about law abiding citizens, I just find it amazing the President keeps saying the gun show loophole. There is no gun show loophole. I promise you I've been to more gun shows than President Obama. +p2097 +aVAnd, I've bought more weapons at them, and you fill out forms. The President also says things that it's easier to get a gun now than it is to grow trees. Again, I purchase guns, and I can assure you that it is much more difficult to purchase a firearm than it is to get the ingredients of a salad at the supermarket. What the President keeps pushing are ideas that have never worked. Ideas that would not have stopped San Bernadino, Sandy Hook, Aurora, and at some point you wonder if you keep retrying things that don't work, maybe we should just see if we could resell all those used lottery tickets that didn't work real well because that's the logic of just keep doing the same thing, but something that has failed. Of course, we want to stop gun violence, but the one common thing that has happened in most mass shootings is that they happened in gun- free zones where people who would have been law abiding citizens, who could have stood up and at least tried to stop it and we're not allowed to under the law. +p2098 +aVWell, we shouldn't be and that's one of the reasons that I think there a lot of voices in our country who are saying it's time to relook at the visa program. The European Union is a failure, it's not allowed for even the economic goals that they were trying to achieve. But, what we're not seeing is that it's making Europe less safe, and it's proven not to be exactly what they all thought it was going to be. Our first and foremost responsibility in this country, and the first responsibility of the President of the United States is protect America, and protect Americans. We have a President who seems to be more interested in protecting the reputation and image of Islam than he is protecting us. And, I want to be very clear......that this President. Makes comments like he did the other night, that we have to be so careful because we don't want to offend Muslims. He needs to read his own FBI crime stats from last year which would show him that of the hate crimes in the country, over 5,500, about 1,100 were religious hate crimes. And, of those, 58% were directed toward Jews. Only 16% directed toward Muslims. Maybe what the President should have talked about the other night is how we ought to be more careful in the anti-semitic comments that are going toward American Jews than toward Muslims because by three times as many......they're being targeted for religious hate crime. +p2099 +aVIt does not shut down international commerce, but it may slow it down. And, you don't want to slowdown commerce that is making us safer. It's worth it. This lady who came and joined with the San Bernardino killer had passed three background checks, and that's why a lot of Americans didn't buy it when the President said we'll bring in Syrian refugees, but don't worry we'll check them out. We have a lot of confidence in a president who told us that we could keep our doctor, we could keep our health insurance, and cost us less, and now the latest is if you like your gun you can keep it too, and frankly, we don't buy it. We don't believe it. He's lost his credibility, and his inept... ...inability to work with Congress and pass legislation has led him to do what I never even imagined doing as a governor, and that's just going and doing it my own way. That's why we elect a president, is to lead, is to be able to shepherd things through. And if I can do it with a 90 percent Democrat legislature in Arkansas, there is no excuse for any president not being able to lead in Washington if he knows what the heck he is doing when he gets there. +p2100 +aVWell, first of all, let's just remember that Social Security is not the government's money, it belongs to the people who had it taken out of their checks involuntarily their entire working lives. For the government to say, well it is fault of working people that we have a Social Security problem, no. It is the fault of a government that used those people's money for something other than protecting those people's accounts. So let's not blame them and punish them. But here is a fact, and I sometimes hear Republicans say well, we're going to have to cut this and extend the age. You know what I think a lot of times when I hear people say, well, let's make people work to their 70. That sounds great for white-collar people who sat at a desk most of their lives. You ever talk to somebody that stood on concrete floor for the first 40 years of their working life? Do you think they can stand another five years or 10 years, many of them will retired virtually crippled because they worked hard. And we're going to punish them some more? I don't think so. Here's the fact. Four percent economic growth, we fully fund Social Security and Medicare. Our problem is not that Social Security is just too generous to seniors. It isn't. Our problem is that our politicians have not created the kind of policies that would bring economic growth. And I still support strongly that we get rid of the 77,000 pages of the monstrous tax code......pass the fair tax, supercharge this economy with the rocket fuel that happens with the consumption tax and we don't have to cut Social Security to any senior who has worked their lifetime for it. +p2101 +aVLet me go back to the reason so many people are having a hard time getting ahead. The tax system punishes them. Think about this. If you work really hard and you start moving up the economic ladder, you get bumped into a different tax bracket. So the government thinks it deserves more of your hard work than you do. And it's one of the reasons that no matter how many different reforms you have to a tax on people's productivity, you're still taxing their work, their savings. You're taxing their capital gains, inheritance, dividends, you're taxing everything that produces something. And it's way I really believe it's time to do something bold, not something minute. This is no time for a tap of the hammer, a twist of the screwdriver. It's time for something big. That's why the fair tax transforms our economy. And we don't punish workers. It's the only way we're going to get middle class people moving ahead again, because the harder they work, the more they keep. No payroll tax deducted from their checks. They get their entire paycheck. And, one of the most important parts, it's built on the common sense with which we raised our kids, and trained dogs. You reward behavior you want more of. And, you punish behavior you want less of. That's how I raise kids, it's how I trained our dogs, and folks, it's not that difficult. We now punish the behavior we say we want more of by taxing it, and we reward the behavior that we say we want less of, so if you make a good investment, we punish you with a tax. If you make a bad investment you can write that off and the rest of the taxpayers will help subsidize you, and bail you out. +p2102 +aVWell, Rick, I'm pretty sure I did also fight the Clinton machine because every election I was ever in in Arkansas, I assure you, they were behind it, helping finance and campaign for every opponent. And I share with you the understanding that it's going to be a tough battle. But I spent the first half of my adult life in the private and nonprofit sector, raising a family, understanding how tough it is for people to make it. And that first half of my life is what led me to believe that America needs a different kind of leadership, not people who spent their whole life running from one office to the next, and living off the government dime. And I got involved because I got sick of what I saw. I also believe that there's got to be some leadership that not only addresses the monetary and military issues of this country, but the moral issues of this country. At the end of every political speech, most of us say, God bless America. But how can he do that when we continue to slaughter 4,000 babies a day? And I want to be the president that treats every person, including the unborn, as a person. And protect them under the 5th and 14th amendments of the constitution. I close with this word from a gentleman in East Texas named Butel Lucre. He's 100 years old and I met him down in East Texas. And he said this to me. "I sure wish, Mike, we had the days when The Ten Commandments were in all of our capitals and in every school, and we prayed again. You know, he may be 100 years old, but I believe some of those old ideas to get this country back where we unapologetically get on our knees before we get on our feet might be the best solutions we've ever sought as a country. And I ask for your support and your vote. Thank you. +p2103 +aVWell, John, I don't really have any weaknesses that I can think of. But my wife is down here in the front, and I'm sure, if you'd like to talk to her later, she can give you more than you'll ever be able to take care of. If I have a weakness, it's that I try to live by the rules. I try to live by the rules, no matter what they are, and I was brought up that way as a kid. Play by the rules. And I'll tell you what a weakness is of this country: there are a lot of people who are sick and tired because Washington does not play by the same rules that the American people have to play by. +p2104 +aVWell, I would really appreciate that. First of all, yes, we've stolen. Yes, we've lied to the American people about Social Security, and Medicare. But, you know what we're not telling them? It's their money. This isn't the governments money. This is not entitlement, it's not welfare. This is money that people have confiscated out of their paychecks. Everytime they got a paycheck, the government reached in and took something out of it before they ever saw it. Now, we're going to blame the people. Today congress decided to take another $150 billion dollars away from Social Security so they can borrow more money. That makes no sense to everybody. And, they're always going to say, "Well, we're going to fix this one day." No their not. It's like a 400 pound man saying, "I'm going to go on a diet, but I'm eating a sack of Krispy Kremes before I do." And, people are sick of believing that the government is never going to really address this. But, let me tell you who not to blame. Let's quit blaming the people on Social Security. Let's quit making it a problem for them. It's like them getting mugged, and then us saying, well, we're going to mug you some more. You ought to just be able to get over it, get used to it... +p2105 +aV...No, sir... +p2106 +aV...we need to honor our promises... +p2107 +aV...before I go. This is the only time I've had a chance, let me finish. +p2108 +aV...This is a matter not of math, this is a matter of morality. If this country that does not keep its promise to seniors then what promise can this country hope to be trusted to keep? And, the fact is, none of them. [ +p2109 +aVAnd, the only way \u2014 no... +p2110 +aV...Chris... +p2111 +aV...Chris... +p2112 +aVSince he brought me up, do I not get to respond? +p2113 +aVJohn, listen, let's keep in mind that for one-third of the 60 million Americans on Social Security it represents 90 percent of their income. And, when I hear people talking about means testing, let's just remember what that means. If we means test Social Security, it means that the government decides whether or not I deserve it. If a person lives in a seven room house, does the government get to say you don't need seven rooms, we're going to take two of them away? Folks, the government has no business stealing even more from the people who have paid this in. I just want to remind you, people paid their money. They expect to have it. And, if this government doesn't pay it, than tell me what's different between the government and Bernie Madolf, who sits in prison today for doing less than what the government has done to the people on social security and Medicare in this country. +p2114 +aVI don't think it's so much about when the government orders a corporation to do something. In fact, that's part of the problem. If you saw that blimp that got cut loose from Maryland today, it's a perfect example of government. I mean, what we had was something the government made \u2014 basically a bag of gas \u2014 that cut loose, destroyed everything in its path, left thousands of people powerless, but they couldn't get rid of it because we had too much money invested in it, so we had to keep it. That is our government today. We saw it in the blimp. That's exactly what we saw. So look, corporations ought to exercise some responsibility. When CEO income has risen 90 percent above the average worker, when the bottom 90 percent of this country's economy has had stagnant wages for the past 40 years, somebody is taking it in the teeth. And it's not the folks on Wall Street. I'm not anti-Wall Street, but I don't believe the government ought to wear a team jersey, pick winners and losers. +p2115 +aVThe government ought to wear a striped shirt and just make sure the game... +p2116 +aV...is paid \u2014 played fairly. +p2117 +aVNow, everybody else has fudged their time and gone over, so please, don't cut me off too quick, Becky. +p2118 +aVLet me just close it out this way. +p2119 +aVWe need to be focusing on what fixes this country. And I'll tell you one thing that we never talk about \u2014 we haven't talked about it tonight. Why aren't we talking about \u2014 instead of cutting benefits for old people, cutting benefits for sick people \u2014 why don't we say, "let's cure the four big cost-driving diseases... +p2120 +aV..."diabetes, heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer's?" +p2121 +aVIf you do that, you don't just change the economy, you transform the lives of millions of hurting Americans. +p2122 +aVGosh, I'd love for us to talk about something like that. Thank you. +p2123 +aVYou know, of the few questions I've got, the last one I need is to give him some more time. I love Donald Trump. He is a good man. I'm wearing a Trump tie tonight. Get over that one, OK? [ +p2124 +aVI don't know. [ +p2125 +aVI have no idea. +p2126 +aVYou're welcome. Let me tell you, Donald Trump would be a president every day of the week and twice on Sunday, rather than Hillary. I've spent a lifetime in politics fighting the Clinton machine. You want to talk about what we're going to be up against next year? I'm the only guy on this stage \u2014 you know, everybody has an "only guy" \u2014 "I'm the only guy this; I'm the only guy that." Well, let me tell you one thing that I am the only guy: The only guy that has consistently fought the Clinton machine every election I was ever in over the past 26 years. And not only did I fight them, but I beat them. Somebody says "I'm a fighter." Well, I want to know, did you win? Well, I did. And not only did I fight them and win, I lived to tell about it and I'm standing on this stage tonight as evidence of that. And I think that ought to be worth something. +p2127 +aVWell, and specifically to Medicare, Becky, because 85 percent of the cost of Medicare is chronic disease. The fact is if we don't address what's costing so much, we can't throw enough money at this. And it's why I've continued to focus on the fact that we need to declare war on the four big cost drivers because 80 percent of all medical costs in this country are chronic disease. We don't have a health care crisis in America, we have a health crisis. And until we deal with the health of Americans and do what we did with polio \u2014 when I was a little kid, we eradicated it. You know how much money we spent on polio last year in America? We didn't spend any. We've saved billions of dollars. You want to fix Medicare? Focus on the diseases that are costing us the trillions of dollars. Alzheimers, diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Eradicate those and you fix Medicare and you've fixed America, its economy and you've made people's lives a heck of a lot better. +p2128 +aVYou know, I know to a lot of people in the media, this is just a great big game, and we're the players. And, we come out here, and we do our thing. And, sometimes we're held up in contempt by people who write columns, but, I guarantee you to every person on this stage there's something deep inside of us that would cause us to give up our livelihoods and step out on this stage and fight for the people of America. I've got five grandkids. I do not want to walk my five grandkids through the charred remains of a once great country called America, and say, "Here you go, $20 trillion dollars of debt. Good luck making something out of this mess." And, for those of us who are serious enough to run for president, think long and hard why we're here, and hopefully you'll know we're not here for ourselves. We honest to god are here to get this country back on track. I know this, I certainly am. +p2129 +aV...Thank you. +p2130 +aVI'm Mike Huckabee. I'm delighted to be on this stage with some remarkable fellow Republicans. None of us are a self-professed socialist. None of us on this state are under investigation by the FBI because we destroyed government records, or because we leaked secrets. I know that there are some in the Wall-Street-to-Washington axis of power who speak of all of us contemptuously. But I'm here to say that I think we are, in fact, the A team. We have some remarkable people, and, in fact, not only are we the A team; we even have our own Mr. T, who doesn't mind saying about others, "you're a fool." And I'm delighted to be here with all of these guys, and would put any of them in an administration that I led. Thank you very much. +p2131 +aVI would certainly love to get in on this, because I think the single... +p2132 +aVI've been patiently waiting, and I'm going to just say this about Iran. +p2133 +aVBecause I think it is incredibly important. This is really about the survival of Western civilization. This is not just a little conflict with a Middle Eastern country that we've just now given over $100 billion to, the equivalent in U.S. terms is $5 trillion. This threatens Israel immediately, this threatens the entire Middle East, but it threatens the United States of America. And we can't treat a nuclear Iranian government as if it is just some government that would like to have power. This is a government for 36 years has killed Americans, they kidnapped Americans, they have maimed Americans. They have sponsored terrorist groups, Hamas and Hezbollah, and they threaten the very essence of Western civilization. To give them this agreement, that the president treats like the Magna Carta, but Iranians treat it like it's toilet paper, and we must, simply, make it very clear that the next president, one of us on this stage, will absolutely not honor that agreement, and will destroy it and will be tough with Iran, because otherwise, we put every person in this world in a very dangerous place. +p2134 +aVNo, I don't think he's on the wrong side of such an issue. Jeb is a friend. I'm not up here to fight with Jeb or to fight with anybody else. But I am here to fight for somebody who is a county clerk elected under the Kentucky constitution that 75 percent of the people of that state had voted for that said that marriage was between a man and a woman. The Supreme Court in a very, very divided decision decided out of thin air that they were just going to redefine marriage. It's a decision that the other justices in dissent said they didn't have and there wasn't a constitutional shred of capacity for them to do it. I thought that everybody here passed ninth-grade civics. The courts cannot legislate. That's what Roberts said. But heck, it's what we learned in civics. The courts can't make a law. They can interpret one. They can review one. They can't implement it. They can't force it. But here's what happened: Because the courts just decided that something was going to be and people relinquished it and the other two branches of government sat by silently \u2014 I thought we had three branches of government, they were all equal to each other, we have separation of powers, and we have checks and balances. If the court can just make a decision and we just all surrender to it, we have what Jefferson said was judicial tyranny. The reason that this is a real issue that we need to think about... +p2135 +aVNo, no. Let me finish this one thought, Jake. I haven't gotten that much time, so I'm going to take just what little I can here. We made accommodation to the Fort Hood shooter to let him grow a beard. We made accommodations to the detainees at Gitmo \u2014 I've been to Gitmo, and I've seen the accommodations that we made to the Muslim detainees who killed Americans. You're telling me that you cannot make an accommodation for an elected Democrat county clerk from Rowan County, Kentucky? What else is it other than the criminalization of her faith and the exaltation of the faith of everyone else who might be a Fort Hood shooter or a detainee at Gitmo? +p2136 +aVI have a different idea. I think we ought to get rid of all the taxes on people who produce. Why should we penalize productivity? And it's why I'm an unabashed supporter of the "fair tax," which would be a tax on our consumption, rather than a tax on our productivity. In other words, you're not going to tax anybody for what they earn, whether it's worker whose working by the hour or whether it's a hedge fund manager. If they can produce something and bring capital and labor to create jobs, we need some jobs. And I think the "fair tax" makes more sense. Now, Jake, I've been listening to everybody on the stage and there is a lot of back and forth about I'm the only one who has done this, the only one who has done that, I've done great things. We've all done great things or we wouldn't be on this stage. But it occurs to me as we're sitting here in the Reagan Library that most of us would like to pay tribute to a guy who, when he got elected, didn't get elected telling everybody how great he was. He got elected telling everybody how great the American people were. And he empowered them to live their dreams, which is what I'd love to see us do by no longer penalizing the people who are out there working because they are taking a gut punch right now. +p2137 +aV...You don't want me operating on you, I assure you. +p2138 +aVJust today \u2014 just today, there was a new report that 50 different intelligence analysts have said that what they sent up the ladder was doctored by senior officials, so that they could give some happy talk to the situation that we face. I love the idea of a good intellectual capacity to deal with our enemies, but the fact is, if you don't have good intelligence that is reliable and honest, you won't have good intelligence and you cannot make good decisions. The next president is primarily elected not just to know things, but to know what to do with the things that he knows. And the most dangerous person in any room is the person who doesn't know what he doesn't know. +p2139 +aVAnd the reason Barack Obama has been dangerous to this country and we better elect someone who had some executive experience, is because we cannot afford another eight years having a person in the office who doesn't know what he does not know. +p2140 +aVYou better believe I will, because I'm tired of liberals always having a litmus test and conservatives are supposed to pretend we don't. Well let me tell you what mine would be. Number one, I'd ask do you think that the unborn child is a human being or is it just a blob of tissue? I'd want to know the answer to that. I'd want to know do you believe in the First Amendment, do you believe that religious liberty is the fundamental liberty around which all the other freedoms of this country are based? And I'd want to know do you really believe in the Second Amendment, do you believe that we have an individual right to bear arms to protect ourselves and our family and to protect our country? And do you believe in the Fifth and the 14th Amendment? Do you believe that a person, before they're deprived of life and liberty, should in fact have due process and equal protection under the law? Because if you do, you're going to do more than defund Planned Parenthood. +p2141 +aVOne final thing. I'd make darn sure that we absolutely believe the 10th Amendment. Every governor on this stage would share this much with you. Every one of us \u2014 our biggest fight wasn't always with the legislature or even with the Democrats. My gosh, half the time, it was with the federal government who apparently never understood \u2014 +p2142 +aV\u2014 that if it's not reserved in the Constitution, then the 10th Amendment says it's left to the states. But somebody forgot to send a memo to Washington. +p2143 +aVJake? Jake? +p2144 +aVI think we need to remember that there are maybe some controversies about autism, but there is no controversy about the things that are really driving the medical costs in this country. And I would really believe that the next president ought to declare a war on cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer's, because those are the four things that are causing the greatest level of cost. John Kennedy said, "we'll go to the moon in a decade and bring a man back," and we did it. I grew up in the '50s. I remember the polio vaccine. We saved billions of dollars since that time, because we haven't had to treat for polio. Why doesn't this country focus on cures rather than treatment? Why don't we put a definitive focus scientifically on finding the cure for cancer, for heart disease, for diabetes and for Alzheimer's, a disease alone that will cost us \u2014 +p2145 +aV$1.1 trillion by the year 2050. We change the economy and the country. +p2146 +aVThat's an easy one. I'd put my wife on there. I've been married to her 41 years. She's fought cancer and lived through it. She's raised three kids, five great grandkids, and she's put up with me. I mean, who else could possibly be on that money other than my wife. And that way, she could spend her own money with her face. +p2147 +aVI'd go with Duck Hunter. +p2148 +aVAt the end of my presidency I would like to believe that the world would be a safe place, and there wouldn't be the threats. not only to the U.S., but to Israel and our allies, because we would have the most incredible well-trained, well-equipped, well- prepared military in the history of mankind. And they would know that the commander-in-chief would never send them to a mission without all the resources necessary, but people wouldn't bully us anymore. Because they would know that that would be an invitation to their destruction. Domestically, we would be operating under a tax system that eliminated the IRS. People wouldn't be punished for their work, and for what they produced. And life would be really deemed precious. Abortion would be no more. It would be as much of a scourge in our past as slavery is. And we would have a peaceful country, where people respected each other and people respected law enforcement. And we would focus on cures. And we would make this country not only safe from our enemies without, but safe from the enemies within. And it would be a good place to raise our kids and our grandkids. +p2149 +aVChris, I disagree with the idea that the real issue is a constitutional amendment. That's a long and difficult process. I've actually taken the position that's bolder than that. A lot of people are talking about defunding planned parenthood, as if that's a huge game changer. I think it's time to do something even more bold. I think the next president ought to invoke the Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the constitution now that we clearly know that that baby inside the mother's womb is a person at the moment of conception. The reason we know that it is is because of the DNA schedule that we now have clear scientific evidence on. And, this notion that we just continue to ignore the personhood of the individual is a violation of that unborn child's Fifth and 14th Amendment rights for due process and equal protection under the law. It's time that we recognize the Supreme Court is not the Supreme Being, and we change the policy to be pro-life and protect children instead of rip up their body parts and sell them like they're parts to a Buick. +p2150 +aVNot me. But you're welcome to give me a check, Donald if you'd like. +p2151 +aVIt's not too big to shrink. But the problem is we have a Wall Street-to-Washington axis of power that has controlled the political climate. The donor class feeds the political class who does the dance that the donor class wants. And the result is federal government keeps getting bigger. Every person on this stage who has been a governor will tell that you the biggest fight they had was not the other party. Wasn't even the legislature. It was the federal government, who continually put mandates on the states that we had to suck up and pay for. And the fact is there are a lot of things happening at the federal level that are absolutely beyond the jurisdiction of the Constitution. This is power that should be shifted back to the states, whether it's the EPA, there is no role at the federal level for the Department of Education. And I'm still one who says that we can get rid of the Internal Revenue Service if we would pass the FairTax, which is a tax on consumption rather than a tax on people's income, and move power back where the founders believed it should have been all along. +p2152 +aVWell, let's all be reminded, 60 million Americans are on Social Security, 60 million. A third of those people depend on 90% of their income from Social Security. Nobody in this country is on Social Security because they made the decision when they were starting work at 14 that they wanted to trust some of their money with the government. The government took it out of their check whether they wanted them to or not. And, if person goes to 65, they're going to spend 51 years with the government reaching into their pocket at every paycheck. Now, here's the point, whose fault is it that the system is screwed up? Is it the recipients, or is it the government? And, if Congress wants to mess with the retirement program, why don't we let them start by changing their retirement program, and not have one, instead of talking about getting rid of Social Security and Medicare that was robbed $700 billion dollars to pay for Obamacare. It's always that the government figures that they can do this off the backs of people, many of whom are poor, and depend on that money, and I just think it's fundamentally lying to the people and stealing from them, and we shouldn't be doing it. +p2153 +aVWell, you ask about how we fund it. One of the reasons that Social Security is in so much trouble is that the only funding stream comes from people who get a wage. The people who get wages is declining dramatically. Most of the income in this country is made by people at the top who get dividends and -- and capital gains. The FairTax transforms the process by which we fund Social Security and Medicare because the money paid in consumption is paid by everybody, including illegals, prostitutes, pimps, drug dealers, all the people that are freeloading off the system now. That's why it ought to be a transformed system. +p2154 +aVRonald Reagan said "trust, but verify." President Obama is "trust, but vilify." He trusts our enemies and vilifies everyone who disagrees with him. And the reason we disagree with him has nothing to do with party. +p2155 +aVIt has to do with the incredibly dangerous place that this world is gonna be as a result of a deal in which we got nothing. We didn't even get four hostages out. We got nothing, and Iran gets everything they want. We said we would have anywhere, anytime negotiations and inspections, we gave that up. We said that we would make sure that they didn't have any nuclear capacity, we gave that up. The president can't tell us what we got. I'll tell you what the world got. The world has a burgeoning nuclear power that didn't, as the Soviets, say "we might defend ourselves in a war." What the Iranians have said is, "we will wipe Israel off the face of the map, and we will bring death to America." When someone points a gun at your head and loads it, by God, you ought to take them seriously, and we need to take that seriously. +p2156 +aVThe military is not a social experiment. The purpose of the military is kill people and break things. It's not to transform the culture by trying out some ideas that some people think would make us a different country and more diverse. The purpose is to protect America. I'm not sure how paying for transgender surgery for soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines makes our country safer. We've reduced the military by 25 percent... ... under President Obama. The disaster is that we've forgotten why we have a military. The purpose of it is to make sure that we protect every American, wherever that American is, and if an American is calling out for help, whether it's in Benghazi or at the border, then we ought to be able to answer it. We've not done that because we've decimated our military. We're flying B-52s. The most recent one that was put in service was November of 1962. A lot of the B-52s we're flying, we've only got 44 that are in service combat ready, and the fact is, most of them are older than me. And that's pretty scary. +p2157 +aVIt seems like this election has been a whole lot about a person who's very high in the polls, that doesn't have a clue about how to govern. A person who has been filled with scandals, and who could not lead, and, of course, I'm talking about Hillary Clinton. I think America... +p2158 +aV...is in trouble, but it's not beyond repair. But it's going to take leadership who sees the greatness of this country, and who believes that once again we can be one nation, under God. I'll be my best to do that, and thank you for your support. +p2159 +aVI don't think it's that the message isn't working, I think it's the message isn't getting out because the message that I have this time, Bill, it's exactly what I said eight years ago. I talked about people who are standing on their feet on factory floors, people who lift heavy things, who sweat through their clothes, they're getting gut punched. They are not having a fair shake in this economy. I talked about that eight years ago, and I'm talking about it now. I talked about the importance of preserving life, of not just saying we're going to defund Planned Parenthood, but let's do something bolder. Let's get rid of abortion once and for all by applying the Fifth, and Fourteenth amendment to every person from conception because that means that we recognize that no person can be deprived of life or liberty unless they have due process. And, that's not happening in our country. And, I believe, and continue to practice that we need the Fair Tax to revive our economy. To make it so that people are able to be rewarded for their work rather than punished for it. +p2160 +aVYou know, I -- I would leave that to other people. I'm not going to get into an argument with all the New Yorkers, because there's a lot of them. This much I will tell you. I wish that some of those New Yorkers had funded as much of my campaign as they did the corporately funded candidates, but they didn't. And to be honest with you, when I say I'm -- wish they had, I'm glad they didn't. I'm not a New York-funded campaign. I'm not bankrolled by the corporatists, I'm not bankrolled by Goldman Sachs and Citibank and AIG and all the big brokers -- brokerage houses and the billionaires. I'm sponsored by people like Thomas, a part-time Uber driver in Pennsylvania who sent me $25 this week. He's between jobs. He's driving an Uber car. But he believed in what I'm talking about enough that, even on a limited, part-time income, he sent me $25 to help in my campaign. I'll stand with the Thomases of the world any day. I'll leave all the discussion of the big financiers to other candidates. But there's only a few of us in the entire Republican process who are not corporately funded by the same group. And let me just finish by saying, you want to know why things never change depending on whether Democrats or Republicans are in power, and why Republicans in Iowa and the rest of the country are so frustrated? The reason is, is because if you follow the money, the same folks who finance the Democrats finance the Republicans, and no matter what the speeches and the ads, they get the same results. If you want a different result, I'm available. +p2161 +aVWell, I don't trust him. I've never said I trusted him. But if somebody is willing to take a shot at the people we are taking shots at, I'm more than willing to let them use their own bullets to do it. But let's be very clear about how we take out +p2162 +aVNo, I don't think that it's impossible, but we're not going to do it by doing the same things we've been doing for all these many years. And, we've lost five million manufacturing jobs just since the year 2000. The other day I was in Newton, Iowa. It used to be a vibrant place where Maytag washers and dryers were built. Went out of business in 2007, all those shops went to Mexico. All those people lost their jobs. There was a guy in my forum that day, he lost his job. He still has never found an employment that got anywhere near the job that he had. Let me ask you, how many people do you think living around the Beltway know a guy like that? Care about a guy like that? Not many. And, that's because they're six of the ten richest counties in America that surround Washington D.C. People who live in the bubbles of the high finance world of New York, the government world of Washington, the entertainment world of Hollywood, don't have a clue about how hard people out here in Iowa are working every single day. And, I believe one of the values of campaigning in Iowa, you can't win unless you go out and talk to farmers and housewives -- and welders, and unemployed truck drivers, and I hate... ... That a president could become president who never met people who have to struggle to make a living and put food on the table. +p2163 +aVA lot of Americans are angry. And I think it's important to understand why they are mad. They are mad because they see a government that continues to do fine. They see people at the top. They are doing fine. But that person you asked Rick about a moment ago, that lady that's making 10,000 bucks a year, do you know what our poverty programs do to people? They keep them in poverty. They keep them in poverty because we have these arbitrary thresholds... ... that mean that if you go to work, you lose all the benefits for your kids, Medicaid, WIC, Section 8 housing, food stamps, and then your kids go hungry. I know a little about poverty. My sister is here tonight. Now both of us could tell you we did not grow up rich. My mother grew up in a house, oldest of seven kids. She had lived in a house that didn't have floors. Just dirt. No electricity. No running water. I resent it when people say, oh, people are poor because they want to be. No, they are not. Nobody wants to be poor. And that's a stupid, foolish thing, mean thing to say. People are poor because they don't know how to get out of the hole. And government shouldn't push them back in the hole which is what our policies do when they punish people who want to go to work and don't let them out. We can fix that, but it takes some leadership to get it done. +p2164 +aVWell, I didn't have a tax and spend approach. You got to understand where the Club for Growth comes from, a bunch of rich guys sitting around writing checks to go after people they don't like. And, they don't like me sometimes because I was fighting for the guys at the bottom, not just the guys at the top. I cut 94 taxes in a state that had never had a general major tax decrease in its history. I also was able to see per capita income growth in my state go up by 50%. I think that's a pretty darn good record. Look at the overall record and it was fine. But, it's not about stats from when I was governor. Look, one of the reasons I support the Fairtax is because it's the one thing, Bill, that would truly empower people at the bottom of the economy by no longer punishing them for their work. If a guy works an hourly job, and he works eight hours, gets paid for it, terrific. But, if he works 16 hours, he doesn't get a double paycheck because he's going to be bumped up into a new tax bracket, and the government will get more of his second shift than he will. So, we've actually punished him for being industrious, hardworking, and that is a foolish economic policy... ... that's hurting Americans about as much as anything. +p2165 +aVI honestly don't understand how anybody with IQ above plant life would honestly think... ... that we would be better off if we let the government have all of the private property and that the government would dole out what they thought we should have. I'm not "feeling the Bern," Bill. I'm not feeling it. And when Bernie Sanders promises these kids free college, I'm telling them, because I get asked, what about free college? I said, look, if we give you free college when you are 20, pal, you are going to be paying for it when you are 30, when you are 40, and when you are 50. There is no such thing as the government giving you anything. They will definitely make a mess of it. And I just think there are a lot of people who have never understood the basic understanding of economics, that you do not make people rich by tearing down those who are you providing jobs, and you don't help poor people by taking away. You give them jobs. Let them work. Let them earn. And then you let them keep the money that they earned. That's how we build a great economy. +p2166 +aVWell, this week there was a little dust up about a video we put together with the music of Adele, so I thought it'd be appropriate for me to begin tonight by saying, "Hello, Iowa. It's me." +p2167 +aVAnd, you know me. You gave me the largest number of votes in the history of the Iowa caucus eight years ago, and I think you did it because you trusted me, you believed that I had your best interest at heart. When I was governor I had a little plaque in my office in the Governor's office, and it simply said this. Come, let us reason together. I believe the next President needs to put that plaque in the oval office, and needs to lead this country by saying, "Come, let us reason together." God bless you, and thank you for your support. +p2168 +asVCRUZ +p2169 +(lp2170 +VWell, we have 80 years of precedent of not confirming Supreme Court justices in an election year. And let me say, Justice Scalia... +p2171 +aVEighty years of not confirming. For example, L.B.J. nominated Abe Fortas. Fortas did not get confirmed. He was defeated. +p2172 +aVNo, Kennedy was confirmed in '87... +p2173 +aVHe was appointed in... +p2174 +aVIn this case it's both. But if I could answer the question... +p2175 +aVJustice Scalia was a legal giant. He was somebody that I knew for 20 years. He was a brilliant man. He was faithful to the Constitution. He changed the arc of American legal history. And I'll tell you, his passing tonight, our prayers are with his family, with his wife, Maureen, who he adored, his nine children, his 36 grandkids. But it underscores the stakes of this election. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that will strike down every restriction on abortion adopted by the states. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that will reverse the Heller decision, one of Justice Scalia's seminal decisions, that upheld the Second Amendment right to keep and to bear arms. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that would undermine the religious liberty of millions of Americans \u2014 and the stakes of this election, for this year, for the Senate, the Senate needs to stand strong and say, "We're not going to give up the U.S. Supreme Court for a generation by allowing Barack Obama to make one more liberal appointee." And then for the state of South Carolina, one of the most important judgments for the men and women of South Carolina to make is who on this stage has the background, the principle, the character, the judgment and the strength of resolve to nominate and confirm principled constitutionalists to the court? That will be what I will do if I'm elected president. +p2176 +aVWell, we need to focus on what the objective is, you know? Your question about the first three questions you would ask in this Situation Room. I think it is a problem if the president, commander in chief, we've elected does not have the experience and background to understand the threats facing this country coming in on Day 1. If you look at the threats facing this country, the single gravest threat, national security threat, is the threat of a nuclear Iran. That's why I've pledged on Day 1 to rip to shreds this Iranian nuclear deal, and anyone that thinks you can negotiate Khamenei does not understand the nature of Khamenei. When it comes to +p2177 +aVWe have Kurds in both Iraq and Syria. They are fighting +p2178 +aVWell, let me say it at the outset that everyone here understands \u2014 everyone understands that how \u2014 that the middle class has been left behind in the last seven years of the Obama economy, and we've got to bring jobs back. We've got to get people back to work. We've got to get wages going up again. We've got to get people moving from part-time work to full-time work. We all agree on that, but it's not going to be solved with magic pixie dust. It's just going to be solved by declaring into the air, "Let there be jobs." We actually have to understand the principles that made America great in the first place. Now, where do you get economic growth? If you look at cause and effect over our nation's history, every time we lessen the burden of Washington on small-business owners, on job creators, we see incredible economic growth. You do that through tax reform and regulatory reform. My tax plan \u2014 typical family of four, first $36,000 you earn, you pay nothing in taxes \u2014 no income taxes, no payroll taxes, no nothing. Above 10 percent, everyone pays the same simple, flat 10 percent income rate. It's flat and fair. You can fill out your taxes on a postcard, and we abolish the I.R.S. If you want to see the postcard, I've got it on my website. +p2179 +aVNow, Major, the business flat tax that is in my tax plan is not a VAT. A VAT in Europe is a sales tax. The business flat tax is not a sales tax, it is a tax of 16 percent opposed fairly and evenly across the board on all business. One of the things that's critical is we're doing that in conjunction with abolishing the corporate income tax, with abolishing the Obamacare taxes, with abolishing the payroll taxes, which are the biggest taxes paid by most working Americans, and with abolishing the death tax, which is cruel and unfair. And you asked about economic growth \u2014 the nonpartisan Tax Foundation estimated a simple flat tax that would produce 4.9 million new jobs, it would increase capital investment by 44 percent and would lift everyone's income by double digits. That's how you turn the country around, not just hoping and praying for it, but implementing policies that work. +p2180 +aVWell, you know, your question highlights a sharp difference on immigration on this stage. You know, in a Republican primary, everyone talks tough on immigration. Everyone is against illegal immigration in a Republican primary. But as voters, we've been burned over and over again by people that give us a great campaign speech and they don't walk the walk. There are sharp differences on amnesty. If you look at the folks on this stage, when Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer and establishment Republicans were leading the fight to pass a massive amnesty plan, I stood with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and the American people and led the fight to defeat that amnesty plan. +p2181 +aVNow, that moment... +p2182 +aVThat moment was what Reagan would call "a time for choosing." When it comes to deciding which side of the line you're on, the Rubio-Schumer amnesty plan......apparently supported by the donor class, which is why Washington supported it. The Rubio-Schumer amnesty plan passed the Senate, and it was on the verge of passing the House. House leadership intended to take it up and pass it with the Democrats overruling most of the Republicans. And the question for anyone on illegal immigration is, where were you in that fight? Where did you stand? You are right. There is a difference between Senator Rubio and me on this question. +p2183 +aVMajor, I get a response to that. +p2184 +aVYou know, the lines are very, very clear. Marco right now supports citizenship for 12 million people here illegally. I oppose citizenship. Marco stood on the debate stage and said that. But I would note not only that \u2014 Marco has a long record when it comes to amnesty. In the state of Florida, as speaker of the house, he supported in-state tuition for illegal immigrants. In addition to that, Marco went on Univision in Spanish and said he would not rescind President Obama's illegal executive amnesty on his first day in office. I have promised to rescind every single illegal executive action, including that one. And on the question... +p2185 +aV. +p2186 +aVThat is simply... +p2187 +aVThat is absolutely false. What he said is knowingly false. And I would note, if you want to assess \u2014 if you want to assess... +p2188 +aV... who is telling the truth... If you want to assess who is telling the truth......then you should look to Jeff Sessions, who said, without Ted Cruz the Rubio-Schumer amnesty bill would have passed, and Ted was responsible. You should look to Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin, that said... +p2189 +aVI think it is a very important question because the people who have been hurt the most in the Obama economy had been the most vulnerable. It's been young people. It's been Hispanics. It's been African-Americans. It's been single moms. We have the lowest percentage of Americans working today in any year since 1977. And the sad reality is big government, massive taxes, massive regulation, doesn't work. What we need to do instead is bring back booming economic growth, let \u2014 small businesses are the heart of the economy. Two-thirds of all new jobs come from small businesses. If we want to lift people out of poverty \u2014 you know, I think of these issues from the perspective of my dad. My dad fled Cuba in 1957. He was just 18. He couldn't speak English. He had nothing. He had $100 in his underwear. And he washed dishes making 50 cents an hour and paid his way through school. Today, my dad is a pastor. He travels the country preaching the gospel. Now, I think about all of these issues. How would it impact my dad when he was washing dishes? If we had Obamacare in place right now, the odds are very high my father would have been laid off, because it's teenaged kids like my dad who have gotten laid off. If he didn't get laid off, the odds are high he would have had his hours forcibly reduced to 28, 29 hours a week. We need to lift the burdens on small businesses so you have jobs, and we need welfare reform that gets people off of welfare and back to work. +p2190 +aVYou know, flexibility is a good thing, but it shouldn't \u2014 you shouldn't be flexible on core principles. I like Donald, he is an amazing entertainer, but his policies for most of his life... +p2191 +aVFor most of his life, his policies have been very, very liberal. For most of his life, he has described himself as very pro- choice and as a supporter of partial birth abortion. Right now, today, as a candidate, he supports federal taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood. I disagree with him on that. That's a matter of principle, and I'll tell you... +p2192 +aVDon, I need to go on... +p2193 +aVI will say, it is fairly remarkable to see Donald defending Ben after he called, "pathological," and compared him to a child molester. Both of which were offensive and wrong. But let me say this \u2014 you notice Donald didn't disagree with the substance that he supports taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood. And Donald has this weird pattern, when you point to his own record, he screams, "Liar, liar, liar." You want to go... +p2194 +aVYou want to go... +p2195 +aVIf you want to watch the video, go to our website at Tedcruz.org. +p2196 +aVYou can see it out of Donald's own mouth. +p2197 +aVYou supported it when we were battling over defunding Planned Parenthood. You went on... +p2198 +aVYou said, "Planned Parenthood does wonderful things and we should not defund it." +p2199 +aVSo I'll tell you what... +p2200 +aVYou see, you and I... +p2201 +aVDon, the reasoned principle matters. The reasoned principle matters, sadly was illustrated by the first questions today. The next president is going to appoint one, two, three, four Supreme Court justices. If Donald Trump is president, he will appoint liberals. If Donald Trump is president, your Second Amendment will gone... +p2202 +aVYou know how I know that? +p2203 +aVI did not nominate John Roberts. I would not have nominated John Roberts. +p2204 +aVI supported... +p2205 +aVYou need to learn to not interrupt people. +p2206 +aVDonald, adults learn... +p2207 +aVAdults learn not to interrupt people. +p2208 +aVI did not nominate him. I would not have nominated him. I would've nominated my former boss Liberman, who was Justice Scalia's first law clerk. And you know how I know that Donald's Supreme Court justices will be liberals? Because his entire life, he support liberals from Jimmy Carter, to Hillary Clinton, to John Kerry. In 2004, he contributed to John Kerry. Nobody who cares about judges would contribute to John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid. +p2209 +aVThat's what Donald Trump does. +p2210 +aVSouth Carolina, you have a critical choice to make. Our country literally hangs in the balance. Do you want another Washington deal maker who will do business as usual, cut deals with the Democrats, grow government, grow debt and give up our fundamental liberties? Or do you want a conservative, a proven conservative that will stand and fight with you each and every day? Listen, repealing Obamacare is not going to be easy. Passing a simple flat tax that abolishes the I.R.S. is not going to be easy, but if we stand with the American people, we can do it. And today, we saw just how great the stakes are. Two branches of government hang in the balance. Not just the presidency but the Supreme Court. If we get this wrong, if we nominate the wrong candidates, the Second Amendment, life, marriage, religious liberty \u2014 every one of those hangs in the balance. My little girls are here. I don't want to look my daughters in the eyes and say, "We lost their liberties." Who do you know will defend the Constitution and Bill of Rights? And as a commander in chief, who do you know will stand up to our enemies as the clam, steady, deliberate, strength to defeat our enemies, to secure our borders and to keep America safe. +p2211 +aVWell, you know, David, the assessment the voters are making here in New Hampshire and across the country is they are evaluating each and every one of us. They are looking to our experience. They are looking to our knowledge. They are looking to our temperament and judgment. They are looking to our clarity of vision and our strength of resolve. The world is getting much more dangerous. We've had seven years with Barack Obama in the oval office, a commander-in-chief that is unwilling even to acknowledge the enemy we're facing. This is a president who, in the wake of Paris, in the wake of San Bernardino, will not even use the words radical Islamic terrorism, much less focus on defeating the enemy. I am convinced every individual standing on this stage, would make a much better commander-in-chief than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders. And the primary voters are making the assessment for each of us, who is best prepared to keep this country safe, to rebuild the military, to rebuild our Navy, our Air Force, our Army, our Marines, and to ensure that we keep America safe. +p2212 +aVI think that is an assessment the voters are going to make. And they are going to make it of each and everyone of us. They are going to assess who is level-headed, who has clear vision, who has judgment, who can confront our enemies, who can confront the threats we face in this country, and who can have the judgment when to engage and when not to engage \u2014 both are incredibly important for a commander-in-chief, knowing how to go after our enemies. In the case of Iran, for example, who has the clarity of vision to understand that the Ayatollah Khamenei, when he chants, "Death to America," he means it. We need a president with the judgment and resolve to keep this country safe from radical Islamic terrorists. +p2213 +aVBen is a good and honorable man and Ben and Candy have become friends. He has an amazing life story that has inspired millions, including me. When this transpired, I apologized to him then and I do so now. Ben, I'm sorry. Let me tell you the facts of what occurred for those who are interested in knowing. On Monday night, about 6:30 p.m., CNN reported that Ben was not going from Iowa to New Hampshire or South Carolina. Rather, he was, quote, "Taking a break from campaigning." They reported that on television, CNN's political anchors, Jake Tapper and Dana Bash and Wolf Blitzer, said it was highly unusual and highly significant. My political team saw CNN's report breaking news and they forwarded that news to our volunteers, it was being covered on live television. Now, at the time, I was at the caucuses, I was getting ready to speak at the caucuses just like Ben was, just like everyone else was. I knew nothing about this. A couple hours later, I found out about it. I was told that Ben was unhappy. I called him that evening because I respect him very, very highly. I didn't reach him that evening. I reached him the next day and apologized. He asked me then, he said, Ted, would you make this apologize in public? I said, yes, I will. And I did so. I regret that subsequently, CNN reported on that \u2014 they didn't correct that story until 9:15 that night. So from 6:30 p.m. to 9:15, that's what CNN was reporting. Subsequent to that initial report, Ben's campaign put out a statement saying that he was not suspending his campaign. I wish that our campaign staff had forwarded that statement. They were unaware of it, I wish that they had, that's why I apologized. +p2214 +aVWell, I would note, initially the fact that we're seeing the launch, and we're seeing the launch from a nuclear North Korea is the direct result of the failures of the first Clinton administration. The Clinton administration led the world in relaxing sanctions against North Korea. Billions of dollars flowed into North Korea in exchange for promises not to build nuclear weapons. They took those billions and built nuclear weapons. And, I would note also the lead negotiator in that failed North Korea sanctions deal was a woman named Wendy Sherman who Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton promptly recruited to come back to be the lead negotiator with Iran. So, what we are seeing with North Korea is foreshadowing of where we will be with Iran. With respect to North Korea and what we should do now, one of the first things we should do is expand our missile defense capacity. We ought to put missile defense interceptors in South Korea. South Korea wants them. One of the real risks of this launch, North Korea wants to launch a satellite, and one of the greatest risks of the satellite is they would place a nuclear device in the satellite. As it would orbit around the Earth, and as it got over the United States they would detonate that nuclear weapon and set of what's called an EMP, and electromagnetic pulse which could take down the entire electrical grid on the Eastern seaboard, potentially killing millions. We need to harden the grid to defend ourselves, and we need missile defense to protect ourselves against North Korea. +p2215 +aVYou know, at this point I'm not going to speculate on that without the intelligence briefing that any Commander in Chief would have, knowing what exactly is there. One of the real problems... +p2216 +aV... Actually, with respect, I have gotten the intelligence briefings on the Mid-East. Those have been going on for many years. I haven't gotten the intelligence briefing tonight on what North Korea's doing because I'm here in new Hampshire. When you're responding to an immediate incident, you need to know the intelligence of what's occurring. But what I was saying \u2014 look, it is qualitatively different dealing with a country once they have nuclear weapons. It's why you prevent them from getting nuclear weapons in the first place \u2014 because your hands are somewhat tied once they have nukes. It's why this Iranian nuclear deal is so catastrophic, and it's why I've pledged, on the very first day in office, to rip to shreds this Iranian nuclear deal so we're not sitting here in five years, wondering what to do about an Iranian missile launch when they have nuclear weapons. The stakes are too high for that. +p2217 +aVSo, in terms of a practical solution, I've laid out the most detailed plan for solving illegal immigration. It's 11 pages, single-spaced, chapter and verse. It's on our website, tedcruz.org. In short, we're going to do, we're going to build a wall. We're going to triple the border patrol. We're going to increase \u2014 and actually, since Donald enjoyed that, I will simply say, I've got somebody in mind to build it. We're going to increase four-fold, the fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft, so that you have technology monitoring an attempted incursion to direct the boots on the ground where they're occurring. We're going to put in place a strong e-verify system in the workplace, so you can't get a job without proving you are here legally. We'll put in place a biometric exit-entry system on visas, because 40 percent of illegal immigration comes not over the border illegally, but people coming on visas and overstaying. We will end sanctuary cities by cutting off taxpayer dollars to any jurisdiction that defies federal immigration law. And we will end welfare benefits for those here illegally. +p2218 +aVWhat you do is, you enforce the law. You know, under the Constitution, the president has an obligation to, quote, "Take care that the laws be faithfully executed." Federal immigration law provides, if someone is here illegally and is apprehended, they are to be deported. We saw just this past week the head of the border patrol union testify before Congress that President Obama had given the order to the border patrol to stand down, not to enforce the law. That is wrong. I will enforce the law, and for everyone who says, you can't possibly do that, I would note that in eight years, Bill Clinton deported 12 million people. In eight years, George W. Bush deported 10 million people. Enforcing the law \u2014 we can do it. What is missing is the political will. And when they were deporting the people, the border wasn't secure, so they'd come right back. Once you secure the border, enforcing the law will solve this problem and that will benefit American workers. +p2219 +aVGood evening. +p2220 +aVWell, let me take two different parts of that. Let me start with socialized medicine. Socialized medicine is a disaster. It does not work. If you look at the countries that have imposed socialized medicine, that have put the government in charge of providing medicine, what inevitably happens is rationing. You have a scarcity of doctors. You have rationing. And that means the elderly are told, we're going to ration a hip replacement, we're going to ration a knee replacement. We're going to ration end- of-life care. We're right now heading into a medical system with about a 90,000-doctor shortage in America and socialized medicine; whether proposed by the Democrats or proposed by a Republican would hurt the people of this country. What should we do on health care? If I'm elected president, we will repeal every word of Obamacare. And once we do that, we will adopt common sense reforms, number one, we'll allow people to purchase health insurance across state lines that will drive down prices and expand the availability of low cost catastrophic insurance. We'll expand health savings accounts; and we will de-link health insurance from employment so that you don't lose your health insurance when you lose your job, and that way health insurance can be personal, portable and affordable and we keep government from getting in between us and our doctors. HAM: Dr. Carson, you have some experience with this matter. In the past, you have said that Obamacare should be replaced before it's repealed. How and why? +p2221 +aVWell, sure. It starts with a commander-in-chief that sets the objective. And the objective has to be utterly and completely destroying +p2222 +aVMartha, I will tell you, I have visited with active duty military, with veterans over and over and over again in town halls all over the state of New Hampshire. What we are doing to our sons and daughters, it is immoral. We are sending them into fight with their arms tied behind their back. They cannot defend themselves. And it is wrong. And I will tell you this. Look. America has always been reluctant to use military force. It's the last step we take. But if and when we use it when it comes to defeating +p2223 +aVAbsolutely, yes. +p2224 +aVWell, under the definition of torture, no, it's not. Under the law, torture is excruciating pain that is equivalent to losing organs and systems, so under the definition of torture, it is not. It is enhanced interrogation, it is vigorous interrogation, but it does not meet the generally recognized definition of torture. +p2225 +aVI would not bring it back in any sort of widespread use. And indeed, I joined with Senator McCain in legislation that would prohibit line officers from employing it because I think bad things happen when enhanced interrogation is employed at lower levels. But when it comes to keeping this country safe, the commander in chief has inherent constitutional authority to keep this country safe. And so, if it were necessary to, say, prevent a city from facing an imminent terrorist attack, you can rest assured that as commander in chief, I would use whatever enhanced interrogation methods we could to keep this country safe. +p2226 +aVWell, thank you for that question. You know, there are three avenues of presidential authority to change the direction of this country. The first is executive power, the second is foreign policy, and the third is legislation. Executive power, as we all know, has been the preferred vehicle of President Obama, abusing his authority, abusing his constitutional authority. Now, the silver lining of that is everything done with executive power can be undone with executive power, so I have pledged on day one I will rescind every single illegal and unconstitutional executive action Barack Obama has done. That means on day one his efforts to restrict the Second Amendment go away with the strike of a pen. That means on day one his illegal executive amnesty goes away with the strike of a pen. The reason I can end Common Core at the federal level is because Obama is abusing executive power using Race to the Top funds in the Department of Education to force it on the states. That's one avenue. The second avenue of change is foreign policy, and foreign policy can change the fastest. It's worth remembering that Iran released our hostages the day Reagan......was sworn in. And, the third is legislation, and that can only be done with the people behind you, which is why the two big legislative initiatives I'm campaigning on are repealing Obamacare, and adopting a simple flat tax to abolish the IRS. HAM: Mr. Trump, Senator Cruz is known for opposing deals, you literally wrote the book on making them. Senator Cruz has mentioned that on the trail. What would you say to those conservatives that are concerned that a deal maker will just perpetuate the same deals in Washington and the way that things run now ... +p2227 +aVWell, Josh, as you noted, this is a problem that, for me, I understand first-hand. My older sister, Myriam, who was my half- sister, struggled her whole life with drug and alcohol addiction. My father and her mom divorced when she was a little girl and she was angry her whole life, and she ended up marrying a man who had been in and out of jail. She then became a single mom and she herself went to jail several times and she ended up spending some time in a crack house. I still remember my father and me driving up to get Myriam out of that crack house to try to convince her she needed to be a mom to \u2014 to my nephew Joey. She wasn't willing to listen. She was not willing to change the path she was on. She was angry. I was \u2014 had just gotten my first job coming out of law school. I took a $20,000 loan on a credit card to put my nephew, Joey, in Valley Forge Military Academy \u2014 he was in sixth grade at the time, to pay his way through that. And about five, six years ago, Miriam died of an overdose. It was \u2014 the coroner ruled it accidental. We don't know. She went to one night, had taken too many pills, and Joey walked in and found her dead. This is an absolute epidemic. We need leadership to solve it. Solving it has to occur at the state and local level with programs like A.A., and counseling, and churches and charities. But it also has to be securing the borders, because you have got Mexican cartels that are smuggling vast amounts of heroin into this country. We know how to secure the borders. What is missing is the political will to do it. And as president, I will secure the border, we will end this deluge of drugs that is flowing over our southern border and that is killing Americans across this country. +p2228 +aVWell, look, I recognize it is an agonizing experience when anyone is facing a loved \u2014 loved member who's been kidnapped. But at the same time, putting in place legal regimes that encourage the payment of ransom has the effect of putting a bounty on other Americans. There is a reason it has been longstanding U.S. policy that we don't negotiate with terrorists, we don't pay ransoms. If you look at what President Obama has done over and over again, whether it was the James Bergdahl deal, which was absolutely shameful, releasing five senior Taliban terrorists to bring Bergdahl back, or whether it was this recent deal with Iran, where, again, up to 21 terrorists or potential terrorists were \u2014 were released or not prosecuted in order to bring back four Americans, what that does \u2014 does is it effectively puts a bounty on American servicemen and women serving abroad, on American tourists traveling abroad. And the proper approach......is a president and commander in chief that defends this country and that goes after \u2014 goes after the terrorists, rather than showing them weakness and encouraging them to target more Americans. +p2229 +aVWith an eye to February 20th, Carolina. +p2230 +aVYou know, every candidate running for president says they will stand up to Washington. The natural follow up question is when have you ever stood up to Washington. Last week we saw a powerful illustration of that. I campaigned in the state of Iowa four-square against the ethanol mandate, something everyone said was political suicide. My two leading competitors both attacked me for it. The governor of the state said vote for anyone but Cruz, and lobbyists spent millions of dollars in attack ads, but I stood and said we should have no mandates, a level playing field, and the people of Iowa put country and our children above the cronyism and corporate welfare...... We can turn this country around if we get back to the Constitution. And, I will always stand with the American people against the bipartisan corruption of Washington. +p2231 +aVWell, Megyn, let me say at the outset to the men and women of Iowa, thank you for the incredible hospitality over this past year. By Monday, you will have welcomed me into all 99 counties in Iowa. You will have welcomed my dad to preach at your churches. You will have welcomed Heidi and our girls, Caroline and Catherine, into your homes. And I'm so grateful for the diligence, for the seriousness with which the men and women of Iowa approach this process. If I am elected president, keep an eye on the tarmac, because I'll be back, because Iowa in 2017 will not be fly-over country. It will be fly-to country. Now, secondly, let me say I'm a maniac and everyone on this stage is stupid, fat, and ugly. And Ben, you're a terrible surgeon. Now that we've gotten the Donald Trump portion out of the way... I want to thank everyone here for showing the men and women of Iowa the respect to show up and make the case to the people of this state and the people of the country why each of us believe we would make the best commander in chief. +p2232 +aVWell, let me be clear, if Donald engages in insults or anybody else, I don't intend to reciprocate. I have not insulted Donald personally and I don't intend to. I am glad Donald is running. I'm glad he has produced enormous enthusiasm, and, every Donald Trump voter or potential voter, I hope to earn your support. I know everyone else on this stage hopes to earn your support. Now, there is a difference between personal insults and attacks \u2014 between going into the mud with ad hominems and focusing on issues and substance. +p2233 +aVWell, I agree with Rand that I very much respect Ron Paul and that I think anyone who is able to win in the Republican Party has to be able to bring together the disparate elements of the Reagan coalition. You've got to be able to bring together conservatives and evangelicals and libertarians, and stitch together a winning majority. When it comes to the audit the Fed bill, as Rand knows well, I was an original sponsor of the bill, I'm strongly supportive of it. It didn't have the votes to pass. And I had commitments to be at a town hall in New Hampshire. But I look forward to signing that bill into law as president and auditing the Fed and providing needed accountability at the Federal Reserve. +p2234 +aVWell, Chris, I will apologize to nobody for the vigorousness with which I will fight terrorism, go after +p2235 +aVChris, in 1981, when Ronald Reagan came to the Oval Office, he encountered a military that had been debilitated just as the current military has, just like Jimmy Carter weakened our readiness, undermined our ability to defend this country, so too has Barack Obama. Just as morale in the military has plummeted in the last seven, so it had then. What Reagan did is he began with tax reform and regulatory reform, unleashing the engine of the American free enterprise system. It brought booming economic growth and that growth fueled rebuilding the military. I intend to do the exact same thing to defeat radical Islamic terrorism \u2014 +p2236 +aV... and to devote the resources from the booming economy to rebuilding our Navy, rebuilding our Air Force, rebuilding our Army and ensuring we have the capacity to keep this country safe. +p2237 +aVChris? Chris I was mentioned in that question. +p2238 +aV... Actually, I was... +p2239 +aV... Chris, your questions that you... +p2240 +aV... What was your question... +p2241 +aV... Your question was you have disagreed... +p2242 +aV... opening statement. +p2243 +aV... This entire question was an attack, but that's +p2244 +aVChris, I would note that that the last four questions have been, "Rand, please attack Ted. Marco, please attack Ted. Chris, please attack Ted. Jeb, please attack Ted..." Let me just say this... +p2245 +aV... Well, no, no. A debate actually is a policy issue, but I will say this. Gosh, if you guys ask one more mean question I may have to leave the stage. Chris, the most important determination any voter is going to make in this election is who's best prepared to be Commander in Chief. Who has the experience, who has the knowledge, who has the judgement, who has the clarity, and vision and strength of resolve to keep this country safe. That is what this debate is all about, and I would suggest let's stay focused on those issues \u2014 rather than just attacks directed at each other. +p2246 +aVSure. Well, let's take it one at a time. First of all, we have seen now in six years of Obamacare that it has been a disaster. It is the biggest job-killer in this country. Millions of Americans have lost their jobs, have been forced into part-time work, have lost their health insurance, have lost their doctors, have seen their premiums skyrocket. If I'm elected president, we will repeal every word of Obamacare. Now, once that is done, everyone agrees we need healthcare reform. It should follow the principles of expanding competition, empowering patients, and keeping government from getting in between us and our doctors. Three specific reforms that reflect those principles. Number one, we should allow people to purchase health insurance across state lines. That will create a true 50-state national marketplace which will drive down the cost of low-cost, catastrophic health insurance. Number two, we should expand health savings accounts so people can save in a tax-advantaged way for more routine healthcare needs. And number three, we should work to de-link health insurance from employment so if you lose your job, your health insurance goes with you and it is personal, portable and affordable. And I'll tell you, Bret, I think that's a much more attractive vision for healthcare than the Washington-drive, top-down Obamacare that is causing so many millions of people to hurt. +p2247 +aVI want this bill to be voted down. I don't want immigration reform to fail. I want immigration reform to pass. I believe if this amendment were to pass, the chances of this bill passing into law would increase dramatically. I believe if the amendments I introduced were adopted, that the bill would pass. And my effort in introducing them was to find a solution that reflected common ground and that fixed the problem. If the proponents of this bill actually demonstrate a commitment not to politics, not to campaigning all the time, but to actually fixing this problem, to finding a middle ground. That would fix the problem, and also allow, for those 11 million people who are here illegally, a legal status, with citizenship off the table. +p2248 +aVYou know, the amendment you're talking about is one sentence \u2014 it's 38 words. Anyone can go online at tedcruz.org and read exactly what it said. In those 38 words, it said anyone here illegally is permanently ineligible for citizenship. It didn't say a word about legalization. I introduced... +p2249 +aVBut \u2014 but Megyn, the bill was 1,000 pages. I introduced a series of amendments, each designed to fix problems in the bill. The fact that each amendment didn't fix every problem didn't mean that I supported the rest of the bill. And I'll tell you who supported my amendment \u2014 Jeff Sessions, the strongest opponent of amnesty in the United States Congress. And he did so because taking citizenship off the table was important, and it revealed the hypocrisy of the proponents of this bill, who were looking for votes. Listen, we can solve immigration. We just heard an argument back and forth that we can't solve immigration. I have a detailed immigration plan that is on my website, tedcruz.org. It was designed with Iowa's own Congressman Steve King and Jeff Sessions, and... ... we have the tools in federal law to do this now. We can build the fence. We can triple the border patrol. We can end sanctuary cities by cutting off... ... funding to them. We can end welfare for those here illegally. And what is missing is the political will, because too many Democrats and, sadly, too many Republicans don't want to solve this problem. If I am elected president... ... we will secure the border... +p2250 +aV... and we will end the illegal immigration. +p2251 +aVYou know, John Adams famously said, "facts are are stubborn things." The facts are are very, very simple. When that battle was waged, my friend Senator Rubio chose to stand with Barack Obama and Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer and support amnesty. And I stood alongside Jeff Sessions and Steve King, and we led the fight against amnesty. And if you want to know who's telling the truth, you should look and ask people like Jeff Sessions and Steve King and Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin, all of whom say, as Jeff Sessions said, responding to these false attacks just recently in Alabama \u2014 he said, "if it wasn't for Ted Cruz, the Gang of Eight Rubio/Schumer bill would have passed. But because Ted stood up and helped lead the effort, millions rose up to kill it. +p2252 +aVYou know, I like Marco. He's very charming. He's very smooth. But the facts are simple. When he ran for election in the state of Florida, he told the people of Florida, "if you elect me, I will lead the fight against amnesty." When I ran in Texas, I told the people of Texas, "if you elect me, I will lead the fight against amnesty." We both made the identical promises. But when we came to Washington, we made a different choice. Marco made the choice to go the direction of the major donors \u2014 to support amnesty because he thought it was politically advantageous. I honored my commitments, and as president, I will honor every commitment that I make to the men and women of this country. +p2253 +aVWell, Chris, you are exactly right that I am not the candidate of career politicians in Washington. And I'll tell you the endorsements that I am proud of are the over 200,000 volunteers across this country who have signed up to volunteer for our campaign. The endorsements that I am proud of are leading conservatives like Iowa's own Congressman Steve King, who is a national co-chairman of my campaign. The endorsements that I'm proud of are conservative leaders like Dr. James Dobson, and over 700,000 contributions nationwide, people going to our Web site, tedcruz.org. This is a grassroots campaign and, you know, when I ran for senate in Texas, I told the people of Texas that I'm not going there to go along to get along. Washington is broken. And the people I have been accountable to every single day in the Senate are the 27 million Texans who I represent and I made a promise to them that I make to you today, which is, if I am elected, every single day I will do two things: tell the truth, and do what I said I would do. +p2254 +aVWell, Chris, I'm glad to discuss my views on ethanol and energy. I think God has blessed this country with enormous natural resources, and we should pursue all of the above. We should be developing oil, and gas, and coal, and nuclear, and wind, and solar, and ethanol, and biofuels. But, I don't believe that Washington should be picking winners and losers. And, I think there should be no mandates, and no subsidies whatsoever. And, indeed, my tax plan that I've introduced, it's available on our website. It's a simple flat tax for everyone. It'll produce enormous economic growth, and it eliminates every mandate, every subsidy, so there's no subsidies for oil and gas, no subsidies for anyone. Now, it is true that there are a bunch of lobbyists, and a bunch of Democrats in this state spending millions of dollars trying to convince the people of Iowa that I somehow oppose ethanol. It's not true. I have introduced legislation that would phase out the ethanol mandate over five years, but that is in the context of having no mandates whatsoever for anyone. And, I would not that there's a much more important government regulation to ethanol, and that's the EPA's blend wall that makes it illegal to sell mid-level blends of ethanol in gasoline. I will... ... Tear down the EPA's blend wall which will enable ethanol to expand its market share by up to 60%, all without mandates. All without any government mandates whatsoever through the marketplace. And, I'll note finally, Chris, there is a reason that Iowa's Congressman Steve King, perhaps the fiercest defender of farmers in this state, is sharing my campaign. Because he understands that I'm committed to a fair, and level playing field for every energy source without lobbyists, and without Washington picking winners and losers. +p2255 +aVNinety-three hours. The media noise will soon be over and it's now for the men and women of Iowa to decide. Our country is in crisis. We're worried the future of our children and we've have been burned over and over again. The central question in this race is trust. Who do you know will kill the terrorists, defend the constitution and repeal Obamacare? Who do you know will stop amnesty and secure the borders? Who do you know will defend life, marriage and religious liberty? Examine our records, pray on it and I will be honored if you and your family will come caucus for us on Monday night. +p2256 +aVWell, Maria, thank you for that question, and let me say thank you to the state of South Carolina for welcoming us. Let me start \u2014 I want to get to the substance of the question on jobs, but I want to start with something. Today, many of us picked up our newspapers, and we were horrified to see the sight of 10 American sailors on their knees, with their hands on their heads. In that State of the Union, President Obama didn't so much as mention the 10 sailors that had been captured by Iran. President Obama's preparing to send $100 billion or more to the Ayatollah Khamenei. And I'll tell you, it was heartbreaking. But the good news is the next commander-in-chief is standing on this stage. And I give you my word, if I am elected president, no service man or service woman will be forced to be on their knees, and any nation that captures our fighting men will feel the full force and fury of the United States of America. Now, on to your substantive question. The president tried to paint a rosy picture of jobs. And you know, he's right. If you're a Washington lobbyist, if you make your money in and around Washington, things are doing great. The millionaires and billionaires are doing great under Obama. But we have the lowest percentage of Americans working today of any year since 1977. Median wages have stagnated. And the Obama-Clinton economy has left behind the working men and women of this country. The reason all of us are here is we believe we should be fighting for the working men and women of this country, and not Washington, D.C. +p2257 +aVWell Maria, thank you for passing on that hit piece in the front page of the New York Times. You know the nice thing about the mainstream media, they don't hide their views. The New York Times a few weeks back had a columnist who wrote a column saying, "Anybody But Cruz." Had that actually \u2014 that same columnist wrote a column comparing me to an evil demonic spirit from the move, "It Follows" that jumps apparently from body to body possessing people. So you know the New York Times and I don't have exactly have the warmest of relationships. Now in terms of their really stunning hit piece, what they mentioned is when I was running for senate \u2014 unlike Hillary Clinton, I don't have masses of money in the bank, hundreds of millions of dollars. When I was running for senate just about every lobbyist, just about all of the establishment opposed me in the senate race in Texas and my opponent in that race was worth over 200 million dollars. He put a 25 million dollar check up from his own pocket to fund that campaign and my wife Heidi and I, we ended up investing everything we owned. We took a loan against our assets to invest it in that campaign to defend ourselves against those attacks. And the entire New York times attack \u2014 is that I disclosed that loan on one filing with the United States Senate, that was a public filing. But it was not on a second filing with +p2258 +aVWell, Neil, I'm glad we're focusing on the important topics of the evening. You know, back in September, my friend Donald said that he had had his lawyers look at this from every which way, and there was no issue there. There was nothing to this birther issue. Now, since September, the Constitution hasn't changed. But the poll numbers have. And I recognize \u2014 I recognize that Donald is dismayed that his poll numbers are falling in Iowa. But the facts and the law here are really quite clear. Under longstanding U.S. law, the child of a U.S. citizen born abroad is a natural-born citizen. If a soldier has a child abroad, that child is a natural-born citizen. That's why John McCain, even though he was born in Panama, was eligible to run for president. If an American missionary has a child abroad, that child is a natural-born citizen. That's why George Romney, Mitt's dad, was eligible to run for president, even though he was born in Mexico. At the end of the day, the legal issue is quite straightforward, but I would note that the birther theories that Donald has been relying on \u2014 some of the more extreme ones insist that you must not only be born on U.S. soil, but have two parents born on U.S. soil. Under that theory, not only would I be disqualified, Marco Rubio would be disqualified, Bobby Jindal would be disqualified and, interestingly enough, Donald J. Trump would be disqualified. +p2259 +aVBecause \u2014 because Donald's mother was born in Scotland. She was naturalized. Now, Donald... +p2260 +aV... on the issue \u2014 on the issue of citizenship, Donald... +p2261 +aV... on the issue of citizenship, Donald, I'm not going to use your mother's birth against you. +p2262 +aVYou're an American, as is everybody else on this stage, and I would suggest we focus on who's best prepared to be commander- in-chief, because that's the most important question facing the country. +p2263 +aVNeil... +p2264 +aVWell, listen, I've spent my entire life defending the Constitution before the U.S. Supreme Court. And I'll tell you, I'm not going to be taking legal advice from Donald Trump. +p2265 +aVThe chances of any litigation proceeding and succeeding on this are zero. And Mr. Trump is very focused... +p2266 +aV... on Larry Tribe. Let me tell you who Larry Tribe is. He's a left-wing judicial activist, Harvard Law professor who was Al Gore's lawyer in Bush versus Gore. He's a major Hillary Clinton supporter. And there's a reason why Hillary's supporters are echoing Donald's attacks on me, because Hillary... +p2267 +aV... wants to face Donald Trump in the general election. +p2268 +aVAnd I'll tell you what, Donald, you \u2014 you very kindly just a moment ago offered me the V.P. slot. I'll tell you what. If this all works out, I'm happy to consider naming you as V.P. So if you happen to be right, you could get the top job at the end of the day. +p2269 +aVActually, I'd love to get you to build a wall. +p2270 +aVThe answer is simple. Your prosecute criminals. You target the bad guys. You know, a minute ago, Neil asked: What has President Obama do \u2014 done to illustrate that he wants to go after guns? Well, he appointed Eric Holder as attorney general. Eric Holder said he viewed his mission as brainwashing the American people against guns. He appointed Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, someone who has been a radical against the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. He launched Fast and Furious, illegally selling guns to Mexican drug lords that were then used to shoot law enforcement officials. And I'll tell you what Hillary Clinton has said: Hillary Clinton says she agrees with the dissenters \u2014 the Supreme Court dissenters in the Heller case. There were four dissenters, and they said that they believe the Second Amendment protects no individual right to keep and bear arms whatsoever, which means, if their view prevailed and the next president's going to get one, two, three, maybe four Supreme Court justices, the court will rule that not a single person in this room has any right under the Second Amendment and the government could confiscate your guns. And I'll note that California senator \u2014 Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein said, if she could say to Mr. America and Mrs. America, "give me your guns, I'm rounding them up," she would. And let me make a final point on this. Listen, in any Republican primary, everyone is going to say they support the Second Amendment. Unless you are clinically insane......that's what you say in a primary. But the voters are savvier than that. They recognize that people's actions don't always match their words. I've got a proven record fighting to defend the Second Amendment. There's a reason Gun Owners of America has endorsed me in this race. There's a reason the NRA gave me their Carter Knight Freedom Fund award......and there's a reason, when Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer came after our right to keep and bear arms, that I led the opposition, along with millions of Americans \u2014 we defeated that gun control legislation. And I would note the other individuals on this stage were nowhere to be found in that fight. +p2271 +aVYou know, I think most people know exactly what New York values are. +p2272 +aVWhat \u2014 what \u2014 you're from New York? So you might not. But I promise you, in the state of South Carolina, they do. And listen, there are many, many wonderful, wonderful working men and women in the state of New York. But everyone understands that the values in New York City are socially liberal or pro-abortion or pro- gay-marriage, focus around money and the media. And \u2014 and I would note indeed, the reason I said that is I was asked \u2014 my friend Donald has taken to it as advance playing Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA", and I was asked what I thought of that. And I said, "well, if he wanted to play a song, maybe he could play, 'New York, New York'?" And \u2014 and \u2014 you know, the concept of New York values is not that complicated to figure out. Not too many years ago, Donald did a long interview with Tim Russert. And in that interview, he explained his views on a whole host of issues that were very, very different from the views he's describing now. And his explanation \u2014 he said, "look, I'm from New York, that's what we believe in New York. Those aren't Iowa values, but this is what we believe in New York." And so that was his explanation. And \u2014 and I guess I can \u2014 can frame it another way. Not a lot of conservatives come out of Manhattan. I'm just saying. +p2273 +aVYou know I understand why Donald made the comments he did and I understand why Americans are feeling frustrated and scared and angry when we have a president who refuses to acknowledge the threat we face and even worse, who acts as an apologist for radical Islamic terrorism. I think what we need is a commander in chief who is focused like a laser on keeping this country safe and on defeating radical Islamic terrorism. What should we do? First, we should pass the Expatriate Terrorist Act, legislation I've introduced that says if an American goes and joins +p2274 +aVThanks for coming back to me, Maria. Both Donald and Jeb have good points, and there is a middle ground. Donald is right that China is running over President Obama like he is a child, President Obama is not protecting American workers and we are getting hammered. You know, I sat down with the senior leadership of John Deere. They discussed how \u2014 how hard it is to sell tractors in China, because all the regulatory barriers. They're protectionist. But Jeb is also right that, if we just impose a tariff, they'll put reciprocal tariffs, which will hurt Iowa farmers and South Carolina producers and 20 percent of the American jobs that depend on exports. So the way you do it is you pass a tax plan like the tax plan I've introduced: a simple flat tax, 10 percent for individuals, and a 16 percent business flat tax, you abolish the IRS......and here's the critical point, Maria \u2014 the business flat tax enables us to abolish the corporate income tax, the death tax, the Obamacare taxes, the payroll taxes, and they're border-adjustable, so every export pays no taxes whatsoever. It's tax-free \u2014 a huge advantage for our farmers and ranchers and manufacturers \u2014 and every import pays the 16 percent business flat tax. It's like a tariff, but here's the difference: if we impose a tariff, China responds. The business flat tax, they already impose their taxes on us, so there's no reciprocal......tariffs that come against us. It puts us on a level, even playing field, which brings jobs here at home... +p2275 +aV... and as president, I'm going to fight for the working men and women. +p2276 +aVMaria, I assume that I can respond to that. +p2277 +aVWell, Marco has been floating this attack for a few weeks now, but the problem is, the business flat tax in my proposal is not a vat. A vat is imposed as a sales tax when you buy a good. This is a business flat tax. It is imposed on business and a critical piece that Marco seems to be missing is that this 16 percent business flat tax enables us to eliminate the corporate income tax. It goes away. It enables us to eliminate the death tax. If you're a farmer, if you're a rancher, if you are small business owner, the death tax is gone. We eliminate the payroll tax, we eliminate the Obamacare taxes. And listen, there is a real difference between Marco's tax plan and mine. Mine gives every American a simple, flat tax of 10 percent. Marco's top tax rate is 35 percent. My tax plan enables you to fill out your taxes on a postcard so we can abolish the IRS. Marco leaves the IRS code in with all of the complexity. We need to break the Washington cartel, and the only way to do it is to end all the subsidies and all......the mandates and have a simple flat tax. The final observation, invoked Ronald Reagan. I would note that Art Laffer, Ronald Reagan's chief economic adviser, has written publicly, that my simple flat tax is the best tax plan of any of the individuals on this stage cause it produces economic growth, it raises wages and it helps everyone from the very poorest to the very richest. +p2278 +aVMaria... +p2279 +aVMaria, I'd just like to say... +p2280 +aVBut Maria, radical Islamic terrorism was not invented 24 months ago; 24 months ago, we had Al Qaida. We had Boko Haram. We had Hamas. We had Hezbollah. We had Iran putting operatives in South America and Central America. It's the reason why I stood with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and led the fight to stop the Gang of Eight amnesty bill, because it was clear then, like it's clear now, that border security is national security. +p2281 +aVIt is also the case that that Rubio-Schumer amnesty bill, one of the things it did is it expanded Barack Obama's power to let in Syrian refugees. It enabled him \u2014 the president to certify them en masse without mandating meaningful background checks. I think that's a mistake. That's why I've been leading the fight to stop it. And I would note the Senate just a few weeks ago voted to suspend refugees from Middle Eastern countries. I voted yes to suspend that. Marco voted on the other side. So you don't get to say we need to secure the borders, and at the same time try to give Barack Obama more authority to allow Middle Eastern refugees coming in, when the head of the FBI tells us they cannot vet them to determine if they are +p2282 +aVI'm going to get a response to that, Neil. There's no way he launches 11 attack \u2014 +p2283 +aVI'm going to \u2014 he had no fewer than 11 attacks there. I appreciate your dumping your research folder on the stage. +p2284 +aVBut I will say \u2014 +p2285 +aV\u2014 at least half of the things Marco said are flat-out false. They're absolutely false. +p2286 +aVSo let's start \u2014 let's start with immigration. Let's start with immigration and have a little bit of clarity. Marco stood with Chuck Schumer and Barack Obama on amnesty. I stood with Jeff Sessions and Steve King. Marco stood today, standing on this stage Marco supports legalization and citizenship for 12 million illegals. I opposed and oppose legalization and citizenship. And by the way, the attack he keeps throwing out on the military budget, Marco knows full well I voted for his amendment to increase military spending to $697 billion. What he said, and he said it in the last, it's simply not true. And as president, I will rebuild the military and keep this country safe. +p2287 +aV"13 Hours" \u2014 tomorrow morning, a new movie will debut about the incredible bravery of the men fighting for their lives in Benghazi and the politicians that abandoned them. I want to speak to all our fighting men and women. I want to speak to all the moms and dads whose sons and daughters are fighting for this country, and the incredible sense of betrayal when you have a commander-in-chief who will not even speak the name of our enemy, radical Islamic terrorism, when you have a commander-in- chief who sends $150 billion to the Ayatollah Khamenei, who's responsible for murdering hundreds of our servicemen and women. I want to speak to all of those maddened by political correctness, where Hillary Clinton apologizes for saying all lives matter. This will end. It will end on January 2017. And if I am elected president, to every soldier and sailor and airman and marine, and to every police officer and firefighter and first responder who risk their lives to keep us safe, I will have your back. +p2288 +aVThank you, Wolf. America is at war. Our enemy is not violent extremism. It is not some unnamed malevolent force. It is radical Islamic terrorist. We have a president who is unwilling to utter its name. The men and women on this stage, every one of us, is better prepared to keep this nation safe than is Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. We need a president who understands the first obligation of the commander-in-chief is to keep America safe. If I am elected president, we will hunt down and kill the terrorists. We will utterly destroy +p2289 +aVWell, listen, Hugh, everyone understands why Donald has suggested what he has. We're looking at a president who's engaged in this double-speak where he doesn't call radical Islamic terrorism by its name. Indeed, he gives a speech after the San Bernardino attack where his approach is to try to go after the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens rather than to keep us safe. And even worse, President Obama and Hillary Clinton are proposing bringing tens of thousands of Syrian refugees to this country when the head of the FBI has told Congress they cannot vet those refugees. I understand why Donald made that proposal. I introduced legislation in the Senate that I believe is more narrowly focused at the actual threat, which is radical Islamic terrorism, and what my legislation would do is suspend all refugees for three years from countries where +p2290 +aVWell, you know, I'm reminded of what FDR's grandfather said. He said, "All horse-thieves are Democrats, but not all Democrats are horse-thieves." In this instance, there are millions of peaceful Muslims across the world, in countries like India, where there is not the problems we are seeing in nations that are controlled \u2014 have territory controlled by Al Qaida or +p2291 +aVWell, Dana, the premise of your question is not accurate. I'm very proud to have joined with conservatives in both the Senate and the House to reform how we target bad guys. And what the USA Freedom Act did is it did two things. Number one, it ended the federal government's bulk collection of phone metadata of millions of law-abiding citizens. But number two in the second half of it that is critical. It strengthened the tools of national security and law enforcement to go after terrorists. It gave us greater tools and we are seeing those tools work right now in San Bernardino. And in particular, what it did is the prior program only covered a relatively narrow slice of phone calls. When you had a terrorist, you could only search a relatively narrow slice of numbers, primarily land lines. The USA Freedom Act expands that so now we have cell phones, now we have Internet phones, now we have the phones that terrorists are likely to use and the focus of law enforcement is on targeting the bad guys. You know what the Obama administration keeps getting wrong is whenever anything bad happens they focus on law-abiding citizens instead of focusing on the bad guys. We need to focus on radical Islamic terrorists and we need to stop them before they carry out acts of terror. +p2292 +aVWell, you know, I would note that Marco knows what he's saying isn't true. You know, Mark Levin wrote a column last week that says that the attack ads his Super PAC is running that are saying the same thing, that they are knowingly false and they are, in fact, Alinsky-like attacks like Barack Obama. And the reason is simple. What he knows is that the old program covered 20 percent to 30 percent of phone numbers to search for terrorists. The new program covers nearly 100 percent. That gives us greater ability to stop acts of terrorism, and he knows that that's the case. +p2293 +aVWhat it means is using overwhelming air power to utterly and completely destroy +p2294 +aVYou would carpet bomb where +p2295 +aVWell, you know, Marco has continued these attacks, and he knows they're not true. Yes, it is true that I voted against the National Defense Authorization Act, because when I campaigned in Texas I told voters in Texas that I would oppose the federal government having the authority to detain U.S. citizens permanently with no due process. I have repeatedly supported an effort to take that out of that bill, and I honored that campaign commitment. +p2296 +aVBut more broadly, you know, the notion Marco is suggesting, that somehow \u2014 he also has tossed more than a few insults this direction \u2014 let's be absolutely clear. +p2297 +aVWolf, I believe in a America first foreign policy, that far too often President Obama and Hillary Clinton \u2014 and, unfortunately, more than a few Republicans \u2014 have gotten distracted from the central focus of keeping this country safe. So let's go back to the beginning of the Obama administration, when Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama led +p2298 +aV... we ought to hunt down our enemies and kill +p2299 +aVWell, it's more than not shedding a tear. It's actively getting involved to topple a government. And we keep hearing from President Obama and Hillary Clinton and Washington Republicans that they're searching for these mythical moderate rebels. It's like a purple unicorn. They never exist. These moderate rebels end up being jihadists. And I'll tell you whose view on Assad is the same as mine. It's Prime Minister Netanyahu. Prime Minister Netanyahu has said Israel doesn't have a dog in that fight because Assad is a puppet of Iran, a Shia radical Islamic terrorist, but at the same time, Prime Minister Netanyahu doesn't want to see Syria governed by +p2300 +aVThe question of whether we should toppling dictatorships is asking the wrong question. We should be defeating our enemies. So the problem with defeating... +p2301 +aVWell, but let me explain, the focus should be... +p2302 +aV... on defeating our enemies. So, for example... +p2303 +aV... a regime we should change is Iran... +p2304 +aV... because Iran has declared war on us. But we shouldn't be toppling regimes...... that are fighting radical Islamic terrorists that are helping... +p2305 +aVWell, he \u2014 he has attempted to muddy the waters, but I think that anyone who watched the battle that we had. You know, there was a time for choosing as Reagan put it. Where there was a battle over amnesty and some chose, like Senator Rubio to stand with Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer and support a massive amnesty plan. Others chose to stand with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and the American people and secure the border. And let me mention, this issue is actually directly connected to what we've been talking about. Because the front line with +p2306 +aVLook, I understand Marco wants to raise confusion, it is not accurate what he just said that I supported legalization. Indeed, I led the fight against his legalization and amnesty. And you know, there was one commentator that put it this way that, for Marco to suggest our record's the same is like suggesting "the fireman and the arsonist because they are both at the scene of the fire." He was fighting to grant amnesty and not to secure the border, I was fighting to secure the border. And this also goes to trust, listening on to campaign trails. Candidates all the time make promises. You know, Marco said," he learned that the American people didn't trust the federal government." +p2307 +aVIn Florida promising to... +p2308 +aVgo in the fight against amnesty... +p2309 +aVHe campaigned promising to lead the fight against amnesty. +p2310 +aVI have never supported a legalization... +p2311 +aVI have never supported legalization, and I do not intend to support legalization. Let me tell you how you do this, what you do is you enforce the law... +p2312 +aVWatt you do is enforcement the law... +p2313 +aVWhat you do... +p2314 +aVWhat you do is you enforce the law. I've laid out a very, very detailed immigration plan on my website, tedcruz.org. It's 11 pages of existing federal law and in particular the question of what to do with people who are here now? You enforce the law. That means you stop the Obama administration's policy of releasing criminal illegal aliens. Do you know how many aliens Bill Clinton deported? 12 million. Do you know how many illegal aliens, George W. Bush deported? 10 million. We can enforce the laws and if we secure the border, that solves the problem. And as president I will solve this problem and secure the border. +p2315 +aVDana, what I said in private is exactly what I'll say here, which is that the judgment that every voter is making of every one of us up here is who has the experience, who has the vision, who has the judgment to be commander in chief. That is the most important decision for the voters to make. That's a standard I'm held to. And it's a standard everyone else is held to. And I will note, you know, in the whole course of this discussion about our foreign policy threats, it actually illustrates the need for clarity of focus. You know, my daughters, Caroline and Catherine, came tonight. They're 7 and 5. And you think about the Los Angeles schools canceling their schools today. And every parent is wondering, how do we keep our kids safe? We need a commander in chief who does what Ronald Reagan did with communism, which is he set out a global strategy to defeat Soviet communism. And he directed all of his... I'm answering the question, Dana. He directed all of his forces to defeating communism. One of the things we've seen here is how easy it is for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to get distracted from dealing with radical Islamic terrorism. They won't even call it by its name. We need a president who stands up, number one, and says, we will defeat +p2316 +aVAnd we need to be focused on defeating... +p2317 +aV... defeating radical Islamic terrorists. +p2318 +aVWhat I'm saying, Dana, is that is a judgment for every voter to make. What I can tell you is all nine of the people here would make an infinitely better commander in chief than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. +p2319 +aVAnd there is a real danger, Dana, when people get distracted. I'm answering the question, Wolf. There's a real danger when people get distracted by peripheral issues. They get distracted by democracy building. They get distracted about military conflicts. We need to focus on defeating jihadism. +p2320 +aVAnd I will do everything necessary to keep our children safe. +p2321 +aVJudgment, strength, clarity and trust. Barack Obama has said he doesn't believe in American leadership or America winning \u2014 he is wrong. America can win again and we will win again. Ronald Reagan reignited the American economy, rebuilt the Military, bankrupted the Soviet Union and defeated Soviet Communism. I will do the same thing. Cutting taxes, cutting regulation, unleashing small businesses and rebuilding the Military to defeat radical Islamic terrorism \u2014 our strategy is simple. We win, they lose. We've done it before and we can do it again. +p2322 +aVWell, Maria, it's great to be with you. It's great to be here in Milwaukee. You know, the question you asked really I think is the most important question any of us can have \u2014 face, which is, how do we get the economy growing? How do we bring back economic growth? Because economic growth, it's foundational to every other challenge we have. As you rightly noted, from 2008 to today, our economy has grown 1.2 percent a year on average. The Obama economy is a disaster, and the IMF is telling us this is a new normal. It doesn't have to be. If you look at the history of America, there are three levers that government has had to facilitate economic growth. The first is tax reform. And as you noted, I have rolled out a bold and simple flat tax: 10 percent for every American that would produce booming growth and 4.9 million new jobs within a decade. The second element is regulatory reform, pulling back the armies of regulators that have descended like locusts on small businesses. And the third element is sound money. Every time we've pursued all three of those \u2014 whether in the 1920s with Calvin Coolidge or the 1960s with JFK or the 1980s with Ronald Reagan \u2014 the result has been incredible economic growth. We have done it before, and with leadership, we can do it again. +p2323 +aVWell, my Mom is here, so I don't think we should be pushing any grannies off cliffs. And, you miss-stated what I've said on entitlement reform. What I've said is for seniors we should make no changes whatsoever, for younger workers we should gradually raise the retirement age, we should have benefits grow more slowly, and we should allow them to keep a portion of their taxes in a personal account that they control, and can pass on to their kids... +p2324 +aVI want to go back to the discussion we had a minute ago because, you know, what was said was right. The democrats are laughing \u2014 because if republicans join democrats as the party of amnesty, we will lose. And, you know, I understand that when the mainstream media covers immigration, it doesn't often see it as an economic issue. But, I can tell you for millions \u2014 of Americans at home watching this, it is a very personal economic issue. And, I will say the politics of it will be very, very different if a bunch of lawyers or bankers were crossing the Rio Grande. Or if a bunch of people with journalism degrees were coming over and driving down the wages in the press. Then, we would see stories about the economic calamity that is befalling our nation. And, I will say for those of us who believe people 'ought to come to this country legally, and we should enforce the law, we're tired of being told it's anti-immigrant. It's offensive. I am the son of an immigrant who came legally from Cuba... ...to seek the American dream. And, we can embrace legal immigration while believing in the rule of law \u2014 and I would note, try going illegally to another country. Try going to China, or Japan. Try going to Mexico. See what they do. Every sovereign nation secures its borders, and it is not compassionate to say we're not going to enforce the laws... ...And we're going to drive down the wages for millions of hardworking men and women. That is abandoning the working... +p2325 +aVWell, sure, you put your finger on what the problem is. The current system isn't fair. Washington is fundamentally corrupt. There are more words in the IRS code than there are in the Bible \u2014 and \u2014 and not a one of them is as good. Every one of them reflects a carve-out or a subsidy, and it's all about empowering the Washington cartel. My simple Flat Tax says that, for a family of four, for the first $36,000 you earn, you pay no taxes whatsoever. No income taxes, no payroll taxes, no nothing. Above that, every American pays 10 percent across the board \u2014 a flat, fair tax. Which means that no longer do you have hedge-fund billionaires paying a lower tax rate than their secretaries. On the business side, I've got a business flat tax of 16 percent \u2014 again, that applies across the board. Right now, with our corporate income tax, giant corporations with armies of accountants regularly are paying little to no taxes while small businesses are getting hammered. This is fair and across-the-board. Now, you ask, how do the numbers add up? I would encourage folks, if you go to our website, tedcruz.org, we have the specific numbers on the website. This plan eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax, eliminates the corporate income tax, and it abolishes the IRS. And the effect of that is incredible economic growth. It means every income group will see double-digit increases, from the very poorest to the very weakest, of at least 14 percent. So if you're a single mom, if you're making $40,000 a year, what that means is an extra about $5,000 in your pocket to provide for your kids, to make ends meet. It has a powerful, powerful effect. And there's one other really powerful feature of my plan, which is that it's border-adjustable. Which means, if you're an exporter \u2014 if you're a farmer, if you're a rancher, if you're a manufacturer, you don't pay the businesses flat tax. Exports are free of that tax, but all imports pay that 16 percent business flat tax, which means this tax plan would cause jobs to boom, and it would let America compete with China and the world on a level playing field. +p2326 +aVWell, the numbers the Tax Foundation had put out is that the static cost of the plan is $3.6 trillion over 10 years, but the dynamic cost of the plan, which \u2014 which is the cost that factors in growth, is about $768 billion. It is less than a trillion. It costs less than virtually every other plan people have put up here, and yet it produces more growth and it's one of the very few plans that abolishes the IRS. But on top of that, today, we rolled out a spending plan. $500 billion in specific cuts \u2014 five major agencies that I would eliminate. The IRS, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Energy, the Department of Commerce, and HUD \u2014 and then 25 specific programs. Again, that's on our website at tedcruz.org. You want to look at specificity? It's easy for everyone to say, "cut spending". It's much harder and riskier to put out, chapter and verse, specifically the programs you would cut to stop bankrupting our kids and grandkids. +p2327 +aV...Middle ground that brings both of these together... +p2328 +aV...Exactly right, that we have to defend this nation. You think defending this nation is expensive, try not defending it. That's a lot more expensive. But, you can do that, and pay for it. You can do that, and also be fiscally responsible. You know, I mention that the 25 programs that I put today, that I would eliminate them. Among them are corporate welfare, like sugar subsidies. Let's take that as an example. Sugar subsidies. Sugar farmers farm under... ...under roughly 0.2% of the farmland in America, and yet they give 40% of the lobbying money. That sort of corporate welfare is why we're bankrupting our kids, and grandkids. I would end those subsidies to pay for defending this nation... +p2329 +aVAbsolutely yes. You know, I have spent much of my adult life enforcing the law and defending the Constitution. And the problem that underlies all of this is the cronyism and corruption of Washington. You know, the opening question Jerry asked, would you bail out the big banks again? Nobody gave you an answer to that. I'll give you an answer. Absolutely not. And what we have right now is we have Washington \u2014 as government gets bigger and bigger, you know, the biggest lie in all of Washington and in all of politics is that Republicans are the party of the rich. The truth is, the rich do great with big government. They get in bed with big government. The big banks get bigger and bigger and bigger under Dodd-Frank and community banks are going out of business. And, by the way, the consequence of that is small businesses can't get business loans, and it is that fundamental corruption that is why six of the 10 wealthiest counties in America are in and around Washington, D.C. And let me give you a contrast to Washington cronyism. Some weeks ago, a woman named Sabina Loving testified at a hearing that I chaired in the Senate. Sabina Loving is an African-American single mom who started a tax preparation business in the south side of Chicago. She found a store front, she wanted to have her own business. She started a business. But then the IRS promulgated new regulations targeting tax preparers. They did it under a more than 100-year-old statute called the Dead Horse Act. Now, this statute and the IRS in classic Washington crony fashion had exemptions for lawyers and big fancy accountants, but Sabina had to pay $1,000 an employee. It would have driven her out of business, and Ms. Loving sued the IRS. She took the Obama IRS to court, and she won, and they struck down the rule for picking the big guys over the little guys. +p2330 +aVYes. Now, let's be clear, there is a role for the Federal Reserve \u2014 what the Fed is doing now is it is a series of philosopher- kings trying to guess what's happening with the economy. You look at the Fed, one of the reasons we had the financial crash is throughout the 2000s, we had loose money, we had an asset bubble, it drove up the price of real estate, drove up the price of commodities, and then in the third quarter of 2008, the Fed tightened the money and crashed those asset prices, which caused a cascading collapse. That's why I am supporting getting back to rules-based monetary system not with a bunch of philosopher-kings deciding, but tied... +p2331 +aVSo let me be clear. I would not bail them out, but instead of adjusting monetary policy according to whims and getting it wrong over and over again and causing booms and busts, what the Fed should be doing is, number one, keeping our money tied to a stable level of gold, and, number two, serving as a lender of last resort. That's what central banks do. So if you have a run on the bank, the Fed can serve as a lender of last resort, but it's not a bailout. It is a loan at higher interest rates. That's how central banks have worked. And I'll point out \u2014 look, we had a gold standard under Bretton Woods, we had it for about 170 years of our nation's history, and enjoyed booming economic growth and lower inflation than we have had with the Fed now. We need to get back to sound money, which helps, in particular, working men and women. What Washington does \u2014 the people who are doing well in the Obama economy are those with power and influence in the Obama government. The people who working men and women... +p2332 +aVSo, Governor Kasich... +p2333 +aV...why would you then bail out rich Wall Street banks, but not Main street, not Mom and Pop, not Sabina Loving? +p2334 +aVBut you just said an executive... +p2335 +aV...knows to step in and bail out a bank. +p2336 +aVSo you said you'd abandon philosophy and abandon principle... +p2337 +aV...but what would you do if the bank was failing? +p2338 +aVSo you \u2014 you would bail them out. +p2339 +aVAnd, Maria, I will note, she's got a lot of experience, but her policies have proven disastrous. If you look at foreign policy, every region in the world has gotten worse. Under her leadership, we abandon the nation of Israel. Under her leadership, radical Islamic terrorism has been on to the rise. Under her leadership, and Obama's leadership, Iran is getting $100 billion dollars, and on the verge of getting a nuclear weapon. Everything she's put her hand to, or has touched \u2014 and when we talk about the cronyism of Washington, Hillary Clinton embodies the cronyism... ...of Washington. And, I'll give you an example of that, which is the Congressional exemption from Obamacare, which is fundamentally wrong, and I'll tell you this, if I'm elected president, I will veto any statute that exempts members of congress. The law should apply evenly to every American. +p2340 +aVMaria, critically, when it comes to climate change... +p2341 +aV...Our \u2014 our... +p2342 +aVFifty-eight years ago, my father fled Cuba. As he stood on the deck of that ferryboat with the wind and salt air blowing, he looked back at the oppression and torture he was escaping. And yet he looked forward to the promise of America. His story is our story. What ties Americans together is we are all the children of those who risked everything for freedom. America is in crisis now. I believe in America. And if we get back to the free market principles and constitutional liberties that built this country, we can turn this country around. I believe that 2016 will be an election like 1980, that we will win by following Reagan's admonition to paint in bold colors, not pale pastels. We're building a grassroots army. I ask you to join us at tedcruz.org. And we, the people, can turn this nation around. +p2343 +aVI'm too agreeable, easy going. You know, I think my biggest weakness is exactly the opposite. I'm a fighter. I am passionate about what I believe. I've been passionate my whole life about the Constitution. And, you know, for six-and-a-half years, we've had a gigantic party. If you want someone to grab a beer with, I may not be that guy. But if you want someone to drive you home, I will get the job done and I will get you home. +p2344 +aVBecky, if you want a 10 percent flat tax where the numbers add up, I rolled out my tax plan today, you can find it on line at tedcruz.org. It is a simple flat tax where for individuals, a family of four pays nothing on the first $36,000. After that you pay 10 percent as a flat tax going up. The billionaire and the working man, no hedge fund manager pays less than his secretary. On top of that, there is a business flat tax of 16 percent. Now that applies universally to giant corporations that with lobbyists right now are not paying taxes, and as small business. And you wanted to know the numbers, the Tax Foundation, which has scored every one of our plans, shows that this plan will allow the economy to generate 4.9 million jobs, to raise wages over 12 percent, and to generate 14 percent growth. And it costs, with dynamic scoring, less than a trillion dollars. Those are the hard numbers. And every single income decile sees a double-digit increase in after-tax income. +p2345 +aVGrowth is the answer. And as Reagan demonstrated, if we cut taxes, we can bring back growth. +p2346 +aVYou know, let me say something at the outset. The questions that have been asked so far in this debate illustrate why the American people don't trust the media. This is not a cage match. And, you look at the questions \u2014 "Donald Trump, are you a comic-book villain?" "Ben Carson, can you do math?" "John Kasich, will you insult two people over here?" "Marco Rubio, why don't you resign?" "Jeb Bush, why have your numbers fallen?" How about talking about the substantive issues the people care about? +p2347 +aVAnd Carl \u2014 Carl, I'm not finished yet. The contrast with the Democratic debate, where every fawning question from the media was, "Which of you is more handsome and why?" And let me be clear. +p2348 +aVLet me be clear. The men and women on this stage have more ideas, more experience, more common sense than every participant in the Democratic debate. That debate reflected a debate between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. And nobody watching at home believed that any of the moderators had any intention of voting in a Republican primary. The questions that are being asked shouldn't be trying to get people to tear into each other. It should be what are your substantive positions... +p2349 +aVYou want me to answer that question? I'm happy to answer the question... +p2350 +aVLet me tell you how that question... +p2351 +aVLet me tell you how that question... +p2352 +aV... so you don't actually want to hear the answer, John? +p2353 +aVYou don't want to hear the answer. You just want to... +p2354 +aVYou're not interested in an answer. +p2355 +aV...Then I'll buy you a tequila... +p2356 +aV...Or, even some famous Colorado brownies. +p2357 +aVWell, sure. This deal in Washington is an example of why Washington's broken. Republican leadership joined with every single Democrat, add $80 trillion to our debt to do nothing to fix the problems. And, let me now on Social Security because we were getting into a good substantive exchange, and I want to say I think both Chris, and Mike are right. Governor Huckabee's exactly right, we need to honor the promises made to our seniors, but for younger workers \u2014 look. I'm 44 years old. It is hard to find someone in my generation that thinks Social Security will be there for us. We can save and preserve and strengthen Social Security by making no changes for seniors, but for younger workers gradually increasing the retirement age, changing the rate of growth so that it matches inflation, and critically allowing younger workers to keep a portion of our tax payments in a personal account that we own, we control them, we can pass on to our kids. +p2358 +aVWell, we've gotta turn the economy around for people who are struggling. The Democrats' answer to everything is more government control over wages, and more empowering trial lawyers to file lawsuits. You know, you look at women working. I'll tell you, in my family there are a lot of single moms in my family. My sister was a single mom, both of my aunts who were a single moms. My mom who's here today, was a single mom when my father left us when I was 3 years old. Now, thank God, my father was invited to a Bible study and became born again and he came back to my mom and me and we were raised together. But I \u2014 the struggle of single moms is extraordinary. And you know, when you see Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and all the Democrats talking about wanting to address the plight of working women, not a one of them mentioned the fact that under Barack Obama, 3.7 million women have entered poverty. Not a one of them mentioned the fact that under Barack Obama and the big government economy, the median wage for women has dropped $733. The the truth of the matter is, big government benefits the wealthy, it benefits the lobbyists, it benefits the giant corporations. And the people who are getting hammered are small businesses, it's single moms, it's Hispanics. That is who I'm fighting for. The people that Washington leaves behind. +p2359 +aVWell, Rick, it's a very important question. I have got deep concerns about the Fed. The first thing I think we need to do is audit the Fed. And I am an original co-sponsor of Rand Paul's audit the Fed legislation. The second thing we need to do is I think we need to bring together a bipartisan commission to look at getting back to rules- based monetary policy, end this star chamber that has been engaging in this incredible experiment of quantitative easing, QE1, QE2, QE3, QE- infinity. And the people who are being impacted, you know, a question that was asked earlier, Becky asked, was about working women. You know, it's interesting, you look at on Wall Street, the Fed is doing great. It's driving up stock prices. Wall Street is doing great. You know, today, the top 1 percent earn a higher share of our income than any year since 1928. But if you look at working men and women. If you look at a single mom buying groceries, she sees hamburger prices have gone up nearly 40 percent. She sees her cost of electricity going up. She sees her health insurance going up. And loose money is one of the major problems. We need sound money. And I think the Fed should get out of the business of trying to juice our economy and simply be focused on sound money and monetary stability, ideally tied to gold. +p2360 +aVLet me say on that... +p2361 +aV...Rand is exactly right. His plan is a good plan, and I will note that my 10% plan also eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax, +p2362 +aV...eliminates the business... [ +p2363 +aV...income tax... [ +p2364 +aV...10% flat rate... +p2365 +aV...is the lowest personal rate any candidate up here has, and what it would also enable us to do is for every citizen to fill out their taxes on a postcard so we can eliminate the IRS. +p2366 +aVYou know, everyone here talks about the need to take on Washington. The natural next question is who actually has done so. Who actually has stood up not just to Democrats, but to leaders in our own party? When millions of Americans rose up against Obamacare, I was proud to lead that fight. When millions of Americans rose up against amnesty, I was proud to lead that fight. When millions of Americans rose up against Planned Parenthood, I was proud to lead that fight. If people are promising they're going to take on Washington and cronyism, you need to look to who has been doing it. In my family, my dad fled oppression in Cuba to come to America. Freedom is personal for me, and I will always keep my word and fight for freedom. +p2367 +aVI'm Ted Cruz. I am the son of an Irish-Italian mom and a Cuban immigrant dad who fled oppression and came to America seeking freedom. I'm a husband to my best friend, Heidi, who's here tonight. I'm a dad to two little girls who are the loves of my life, Caroline and Catherine. If you're fed up with Washington, if you're looking for someone to stand up to career politicians in both parties, I'm the only one on this stage who has done that over and over again, and if we stand together, we can bring America back. +p2368 +aVWell, let me tell you, Jake, the single biggest national security threat facing America right now is the threat of a nuclear Iran. We've seen six and a half years of President Obama leading from behind. Weakness is provocative, and this Iranian nuclear deal is nothing short of catastrophic. This deal, on its face, will send over $100 billion to the Ayatollah Khamenei, making the Obama administration the world's leading financier of radical Islamic terrorism. +p2369 +aVThis deal abandons four American hostages in Iran, and this deal will only accelerate Iran's acquiring nuclear weapons. You'd better believe it. If I am elected president, on the very first day in office, I will rip to shreds this catastrophic Iranian nuclear deal. +p2370 +aVWell, let's be clear when it comes to experience. What President Obama wants to do is he's run to the United Nations, and he wants to use the United Nations to bind the United States, and take away our sovereignty. Well, I spent five and a half years as a Solicitor General of Texas, the lead lawyer for the state, in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, and I went in front of the Supreme Court, and took on the world court of the United Nations in a case called Medellin v. Texas, and we won a historic victory saying the World Court, and the U.N., has no power to bind the United States, and no President of the United States, Republican or Democrat, has the authority to give away our sovereignty. And, so, if there's anyone up here who would be bound by this catastrophic deal with Iran, they're giving up the core responsibility of commander in chief, and as president, I would never do that. +p2371 +aVJake, Jake... +p2372 +aVJake, there is no more important topic in 2016 than this topic right here, and I've listened to several folks saying, "Well, gosh, if they cheat, we'll act." We won't know under this agreement \u2014 there are several facilities in Iran they designate as military facilities that are off limit all together. Beyond that, the other facilities, we give them 24 days notice before inspecting them. That is designed to allow them to hide the evidence. And most astonishingly, this agreement trusts the Iranians to inspect themselves. That makes no sense whatsoever. And let me know \u2014 President Obama is violating federal law... +p2373 +aV... by not handing over the side deals, and we ought to see the United States Congress... +p2374 +aV... stand up together and say, "Hand over this treaty, and protect this country." +p2375 +aVWell, let me tell you, Dana, number one, I'm proud to stand for life. These Planned Parenthood videos are horrifying. I would encourage every American to watch the videos. See \u2014 seeing your Planned Parenthood officials callously, heartlessly bartering and selling the body parts of human beings, and then ask yourself, "are these my values?" These are horrifying. On these videos, Planned Parenthood also essentially confesses to multiple felonies. It is a felony with ten years' jail term to sell the body parts of unborn children for profit. That's what these videos show Planned Parenthood doing. Absolutely we shouldn't be sending $500 million of taxpayer money to funding an ongoing criminal enterprise, and I'll tell you, the fact that Republican leadership in both houses has begun this discussion by preemptively surrendering to Barack Obama and saying, "we'll give in because Obama threatens a veto." You know, Obama's committed to his principles. His liberal principles, he will fight for them. He says... +p2376 +aVI will veto any budget that doesn't fund Planned Parenthood, and Republicans surrender. We need to stop surrendering and start standing... +p2377 +aV...for our principles. +p2378 +aVWell, Jake, you know, I'm \u2014 I'm very glad that Donald Trump's being in this race has forced the mainstream media finally to talk about illegal immigration. I think that's very important. I like and respect Ben Carson. I'll let him talk about his own plans. But I will say this: The natural next question that primary voters are asking, after we focus on illegal immigration is, okay, what are the records of the various candidates? And this is an issue on which there are stark differences. A majority of the men and women on this stage have previously and publicly embraced amnesty. I am the only candidate on this stage who has never supported amnesty and, in fact, who helped lead the fight to stop a massive amnesty plan. In 2013, when Barack Obama and Harry Reid joined the Washington Republicans in a massive, I stood shoulder to shoulder with Jeff Sessions helping lead the fight. You know, folks here have talked about, how do you secure the borders? Well, I've been leading the fight in the Senate to triple the Border Patrol, to put in place fencings and walls, to put in place a strong biometric exit/entry system... +p2379 +aVWell, Dana, I've known John Roberts for 20 years, he's amazingly talented lawyer, but, yes, it was a mistake when he was appointed to the Supreme Court. He's a good enough lawyer that he knows in these Obamacare cases he changed the statute, he changed the law in order to force that failed law on millions of Americans for a political outcome. And, you know, we're frustrated as conservatives. We keep winning elections, and then we don't get the outcome we want. And, let me focus on two moments in time. Number one, in 1990, in one room was David Souter, and in another room was Edith Jones, the rock ribbed (ph) conservative on the fifth circuit court of appeals. George Herbert Walker Bush appointed David Souter. And then in 2005, in one room was John Roberts, in another room was my former boss, Mike Luttig, the rock ribbed (ph) conservative on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals... +p2380 +aV...George W. Bush appointed John Roberts, and let me give you the consequences of that. If, instead, the President Bush had appointed Edith Jones, and Mike Luttig, which is who I would have appointed, Obamacare would have been struck down three years ago, and the marriage laws of all 50 states would be on the books. These matter, and I fought to defend the constitution my whole life... +p2381 +aV...and I will as president as well. +p2382 +aVIt is true that after George W. Bush nominated John Roberts, I supported his confirmation. That was a mistake and I regret that. I wouldn't have nominated John Roberts, and indeed, Governor Bush pointed out why. It wasn't that the President Bushes wanted to appoint a liberal to the court, it's that it was the easier choice. Both David Souter and John Roberts, they didn't have a long paper trail. If you had nominated Edith Jones or Mike Ludig (ph) you would have had a bloody fight and they weren't willing to spend political capital to put a strong judicial conservative on the court. I have spent my entire life, starting from clerking for Chief Justice William Rehnquist on the United States Supreme Court, one of the most principled jurists. We have an out-of-control Court, and I give you my word, if I'm elected president, every single Supreme Court justice will faithfully follow the law and will not act like philosopher kings \u2014 +p2383 +aV\u2014 imposing their liberal policies on millions of Americans \u2014 +p2384 +aV\u2014 who need to be trusted to govern ourselves. +p2385 +aVI \u2014 I am not, and \u2014 and you mentioned that the U.S. Supreme Court had rightly upheld the individual right to keep and bear arms. I was proud to lead 31 states before the U.S. Supreme Court defending the Second Amendment, and we won that landmark victory. And indeed, just a couple of years ago, when Harry Reid and Barack Obama came after the right to keep and bear arms of millions of Americans, I was proud to lead the fight in the United States Senate to protect our right to keep and bear arms, and for that reason... +p2386 +aV... I was honored to be endorsed by Gun Owners of America... +p2387 +aV... as the strongest supporter of the Second Amendment on this stage today, and I will... +p2388 +aV... fight every day to defend the Bill of Rights. +p2389 +aVWell, I wouldn't change the $10 bill, I'd change the $20. I'd take Jackson off and I'd leave Alexander Hamilton right where he is as one of our Founding Fathers. And I very much agree with Marco that it should be Rosa Parks. She was a principled pioneer that helped change this country, helped remedy racial injustice, and that would be an honor that would be entirely appropriate. +p2390 +aVYou know, as a Cuban, I might go with Cohiba (ph), and I'll tell you, I'd go with, for Heidi, Angel, because she is my angel. +p2391 +aVRonald Reagan believed in America. If I'm elected president our friends and allies across the globe will know that we stand with them. the bust of Winston Churchill will be back in the Oval Office, and the American embassy in Israel will be in Jerusalem. Enemies across this world will know the United States is not to be trifled with. +p2392 +aVChris, I believe the American people are looking for someone to speak the truth. If you're looking for someone to go to Washington, to go along to get along, to get -- to agree with the career politicians in both parties who get in bed with the lobbyists and special interests, then I ain't your guy. There is a reason... .... that we have $18 trillion in debt. Because as conservatives, as Republicans, we keep winning elections. We got a Republican House, we've got a Republican Senate, and we don't have leaders who honor their commitments. I will always tell the truth and do what I said I would do. +p2393 +aVChris, absolutely yes. And not only will I support it......I have authored Kate's law in the United States Senate and filed that legislation. I tried to get the Senate to vote to pass Kate's law on the floor of the Senate just one week ago, and the leader of our own party blocked a vote on Kate's law. You know, there was reference made to our leaders being stupid. It's not a question of stupidity. It's that they don't want to enforce the immigration laws. That there are far too many in the Washington cartel that support amnesty. President Obama has talked about fundamentally transforming this country. There's 7 billion people across the face of the globe, many of whom want to come to this country. If they come legally, great. But if they come illegally and they get amnesty, that is how we fundamentally change this country, and it really is striking. A majority of the candidates on this stage have supported amnesty. I have never supported amnesty, and I led the fight against Chuck Schumer's gang of eight amnesty legislation in the Senate. +p2394 +aVMegyn, we need a commander in chief that speaks the truth. We will not defeat radical Islamic terrorism so long as we have a president unwilling to utter the words, "radical Islamic terrorism". When I asked General Dempsey, the chairman of the joint chiefs, what would be required militarily to destroy +p2395 +aVMegyn, of course it's an ideological problem, that's one of the reasons I introduce the Expatriate Terrorist Act in the Senate that said if any American travels to the Middle East and joining +p2396 +aVWell, Bret, of course they have, and over the last six and a half years we've seen the consequences of the Obama-Clinton foreign policy. Leading from behind is a disaster. We have abandoned and alienated our friends and allies, and our enemies are stronger. Radical Islam is on the rise, Iran's on the verge of acquiring a nuclear weapon, China is waging cyber warfare against America, Russia -- General Soleimani, you just mentioned, the Iranian general is the head of the al Quds forces. He's directly responsible for the murder of over 500 American servicemen in Iraq, and part of this Iranian deal was lifting the international sanctions on General Soleimani. The day General Soleimani flew back from Moscow to Iran was the day we believed that Russia used cyber warfare against the Joint Chiefs. We need a new commander in chief that will stand up to our enemies, and that will have credibility... It is worth emphasizing that Iran released our hostages in 1981 the day Ronald Reagan was sworn into office. +p2397 +aVBrett, can I -- Brett, can I jump in on this one? +p2398 +aVWell, I am blessed to receive a word from God every day in receiving the scriptures and reading the scriptures. And God speaks through the Bible. I'm the son of a pastor and evangelist and I've described many times how my father, when I was a child, was an alcoholic. He wasn't a Christian. And my father left my mother and left me when I was just three years old. And someone invited him to Clay Road Baptist Church. And he gave his heart to Jesus and it turned him around. And he got on a plane and he flew back to my mother and me. I would also note that the scripture tells us, "you shall know them by their fruit." We see lots of "campaign conservatives." But if we're going to win in 2016, we need a consistent conservative, someone who has been a fiscal conservative, a social conservative, a national security conservative. There are real differences among the candidates on issues like amnesty, like Obamacare, like religious liberty, like life and marriage. And I have been proud to fight and stand for religious liberty, to stand against Planned Parenthood, to defend life for my entire career. And I will be proud to continue to do so as president of the United States. +p2399 +aVIf I'm elected president, let me tell you about my first day in office. The first thing I intend to do is to rescind every illegal and unconstitutional executive action taken by Barack Obama. The next thing I intend to do is instruct the Department of Justice to open an investigation into these videos and to prosecute Planned Parenthood for any criminal violations. The next thing I intend to do is instruct the Department of Justice and the IRS to start (sic) persecuting religious liberty, and then intend to cancel the Iran deal, and finally move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. I will keep my word. My father fled Cuba, and I will fight to defend liberty because my family knows what it's like to lose it. +p2400 +asVHARWOOD +p2401 +(lp2402 +VMr. Trump, you've done very well in this campaign so far by promising to build a wall and make another country pay for it. +p2403 +aVSend 11 million people out of the country. Cut taxes $10 trillion without increasing the deficit. +p2404 +aVAnd make Americans better off because your greatness would replace the stupidity and incompetence of others. +p2405 +aVLet's be honest. Is this a comic book version of a presidential campaign? +p2406 +aVWe're at the 60 seconds. +p2407 +aVWe're at 60 seconds, but I gotta ask you, you talked about your tax plan. You say that it would not increase the deficit because you cut taxes $10 trillion in the economy would take off like... +p2408 +aVHold on, hold on. The economy would take off like a rocket ship. +p2409 +aVI talked to economic advisers who have served presidents of both parties. They said that you have as chance of cutting taxes that much without increasing the deficit as you would of flying away from that podium by flapping your arms. +p2410 +aVThe Tax Foundation says \u2014 has looked at all of our plans and \u2014 and his creates, even with the dynamic effect, $8 trillion dollar deficit... +p2411 +aVGovernor Kasich, hold it, I'm coming to you right now. The... +p2412 +aVWell, I'm asking you about this. +p2413 +aVI'm about to ask you about this. That is, you had some very strong words to say yesterday about what's happening in your party and what you're hearing from the two gentlemen we've just heard from. Would you repeat it? +p2414 +aVWell, let's just get more pointed about it. You said yesterday that you were hearing proposals that were just crazy from your colleagues. Who were you talking about? +p2415 +aVHold on. I think there's a \u2014 I've got question for \u2014 +p2416 +aVHold on, Governor. I've got a question for Governor Bush. +p2417 +aVNo, we're moving to Governor Bush. Governor, the fact that you're at the fifth lectern tonight shows how far your stock has fallen in this race, despite the big investment your donors have made. You noted recently, after slashing your payroll, that you had better things to do than sit around and be demonized by other people. I wanted to ask you \u2014 +p2418 +aVOK. +p2419 +aVGot it. +p2420 +aVBut it's a \u2014 OK. It's a \u2014 it's a question about why you're having difficulty. I want to ask you in this context. Ben Bernanke, who was appointed Fed chairman by your brother, recently wrote a book in which he said he no longer considers himself a Republican because the Republican Party has given in to know- nothingism. Is that why you're having a difficult time in this race? +p2421 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2422 +aVWe're gonna get down the line. Becky's got a question. +p2423 +aVSenator Paul, I've got a question for you on the same subject. +p2424 +aVSenator Paul? +p2425 +aVYou used your time on something else. Senator Paul? +p2426 +aVSenator Paul, the budget deal crafted by Speaker Boehner and passed by the House today makes cuts in entitlement programs, Medicare and Social Security disability, which are the very programs conservatives say need cutting to shrink government and solve our country's long-term budget deficit. Do you oppose that budget deal because it doesn't cut those programs enough? +p2427 +aVSenator, if what you just said is true, why did Speaker Boehner craft this deal and why did Paul Ryan, who has a strong reputation for fiscal discipline, vote for it? +p2428 +aVThank you, Senator . +p2429 +aVJim, thanks. Governor Bush, in a debate like this four years ago, every Republican running for president pledged to oppose a budget deal containing any tax increase even if it had spending cuts ten times as large. A few months later, you told Congress, put me in, coach, you said you would take that deal. Still feel that way? +p2430 +aVBut to \u2014 to the point that you made to Congress, if you were president and you were offered a bipartisan deal that had one dollar... +p2431 +aV...one dollar of tax increases per ten dollars of spending cuts, would you take it? +p2432 +aVSo you don't want the coach to put you in any more? +p2433 +aVThank you, governor. Carl? +p2434 +aVGovernor John Kasich, you've called for abolishing the Export Import Bank, which provides subsidies to help American companies compete with overseas competitors. You call that corporate welfare. One of the largest newspapers in your state wrote an editorial, said they found that strange, writing, that if that's corporate welfare, what does Kasich call the millions of dollars in financial incentives doled out to attract or retain jobs by his development effort \u2014 jobs Ohio. If subsidies are good enough for Ohio companies, why aren't they good enough for companies trying to compete overseas? +p2435 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2436 +aVThank you, Governor. Thank you. +p2437 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate on +p2438 +aVIt sounds like you think Senator Sessions is wrong to believe there is enough abuse in that program that we shouldn't... +p2439 +aVThank you, Senator. Becky? +p2440 +aVGovernor Bush, the tax reform bill that Ronald Reagan signed in 1986 cut the top personal income tax rate to 28 percent \u2014 just like your plan does. But President Reagan taxed capital gains at the same rate, while you would tax them at just 20 percent. Given the problems we've been discussing, growing gap between rich and poor, why would you tax labor at a higher rate than income from investments? +p2441 +aVSenator Rubio, 30 seconds to you. The Tax Foundation, which was alluded to earlier, scored your tax plan and concluded that you give nearly twice as much of a gain in after-tax income to the top 1 percent as to people in the middle of the income scale. Since you're the champion of Americans living paycheck-to- paycheck, don't you have that backward? +p2442 +aVThe Tax Foundation \u2014 just to be clear, they said the... +p2443 +aVNo, I did not. +p2444 +aVSenator, the Tax Foundation said after-tax income for the top 1 percent under your plan would go up 27.9 percent. +p2445 +aVAnd people in the middle of the income spectrum, about 15 percent. +p2446 +aV +p2447 +aVSenator, thank you. +p2448 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you've written about the huge divide in values between middle America and the big coastal cities like New York and Los Angeles. As a preacher as well as a politician, you know that presidents need the moral authority to bring the entire country together. The leading Republican candidate, when you look at the average of national polls right now, is Donald Trump. When you look at him, do you see someone with the moral authority to unite the country? +p2449 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2450 +aVThank you, Governor. Don't forget my colleague, Sharon Epperson. +p2451 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said something that many in your party do not believe, which is that climate change is undeniable, that human activity contributes to it, and you said, quote: "The question is, what do we do to deal with it?". So what do we do? +p2452 +aVWhat should we do? +p2453 +aVYou mean government? +p2454 +aVThank you, Governor. Becky. +p2455 +aVGovernor Bush, Mr. Trump says that he is capable of growing the economy so much that Social Security and Medicare don't have to be touched. Do you want to explain how that is going to happen, Mr. Trump? +p2456 +aVHold on, Governor. I've got a question for \u2014 for Dr. Carson. +p2457 +aVYes. You've said that you would like to replace Medicare with a system of individual family savings accounts, so that families could cover their own expenses. Obviously, that would be a very controversial idea. Explain how that would work, exactly. +p2458 +aVGovernor, do you also think that... +p2459 +aV...that Dr. Carson's right, that we can replace Medicare with individual savings accounts? +p2460 +aVMrs. Fiorina, we're right at the end of our time. +p2461 +aVYou all wanted us to limit . All right. Go ahead. +p2462 +aVWe have now reached the point in the program where candidates are going to give their closing statements, 30 seconds apiece. We're going to go right to left and start with you, Senator Paul. +p2463 +aVGovernor Christie? +p2464 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Cruz? +p2465 +aVThank you, Senator. Mrs. Fiorina? +p2466 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Dr. Carson? +p2467 +aVMr. Trump? +p2468 +aVJust for the record, the debate was always going to be two hours. Senator Rubio? +p2469 +aVSenator Rubio. +p2470 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Bush? +p2471 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Huckabee. +p2472 +aVThank you... +p2473 +aVGovernor Kasich? +p2474 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2475 +asVPAUL +p2476 +(lp2477 +VYou know, I've always had a great deal of respect. There's probably no person I respect more in the country or in recent history than my father. I think he was probably the most honest man in politics that we've ever seen in a generation. And so in no way have I ever said that I don't embrace my father or love my father or appreciate everything that he has done for the country. I think what's interesting about where that liberty vote goes that my father brought to the Republican Party is, I don't think they're necessarily going to go for Ted. You know, Ted didn't show up. We had an audit-the-Fed vote, which was the biggest thing my dad had been advocating for, for 30 years, Ted didn't have time to show up. He was the only Republican that didn't show up for it. And so I think really that vote is going to stay in the Paul household. I think more of it is coming and it's going to grow. The NSA is another big issue. Ted said he was for NSA reform, but then he told Marco Rubio, no, no, no, I voted for the bill because I'm for the government collecting 100 percent of your cell phone records. I don't think Ted can have it both ways. They want to say they're getting some of the liberty vote. But we don't see it happening at all. We think we're going to do very well in Iowa with the liberty vote. +p2478 +aVMay I respond? +p2479 +aVWell, I mean, I was talked about in the question. +p2480 +aVJust very quickly, I would like to respond. The bulk collection of your phone data, the invasion of your privacy did not stop one terrorist attack. I don't think you have to give up your liberty for a false sense of security. When we look at this bulk collection, the court has looked at this. Even the court declared it to be illegal. If we want to collect the records of terrorists, let's do it the old fashioned way. Let's use the Fourth Amendment. Let's put a name on a warrant, let's ask a judge for it. Let's respect the history of our country. John Adams said that we fought a War for Independence because we wanted to fight against generalized warrants. Let's don't forget that. +p2481 +aVMy budget was mentioned. My budget was mentioned. +p2482 +aV... Senator Cruz, I'd like to respond... +p2483 +aV... and I'd like to respond. +p2484 +aVThank you, Marco. +p2485 +aVThank you. The issue in Syria's a very important one, and it's one we need to get right. The question is, should we be bombing both sides of the war? Some want to topple Assad. In fact, they want to bomb +p2486 +aV. +p2487 +aVYeah, no, I think that's a \u2014 that's a huge mistake, to be closing down mosques. But I would say that if you want to defend the country, it begins with border security. And this is where I've had my disagreement with Senator Rubio. When he brought forward the "Gang of Eight" bill to give citizenship to those who came here illegally, I put forward an amendment that says we should have more scrutiny on those who are coming as students, those who are coming as immigrants, those who are coming as refugees, because we had two refugees come to my town in Bowling Green and try to attack us. Marco opposed this because they made a deal. He made a deal with Chuck Schumer that he would oppose any conservative amendments. And I think that's a mistake, and I just don't think Marco can have it both ways. You can't be in favor of defend us... ... against Islam \u2014 radical Islam \u2014 if you're not for border security. +p2488 +aVYou know, I've supported legislation to allow body cameras. I've been to Ferguson, I've been trying to look for solutions to our criminal justice problem. One thing I discovered in Ferguson was that a third of the budget for the city of Ferguson was being reaped by civil fines. People were just being fined to death. Now you and I and many of the people in this audience, if we get a $100 fine, we can survive it. If you're living on the edge of poverty and you get a $100 fine or your car towed, a lot of times you lose your job. I also think the war on drugs has disproportionately affected our African-American community, and what we need to do is make sure that the war on drugs is equal protection under the law and that we don't unfairly incarcerate another generation of young African-American males. In Ferguson, for every 100 African-American women, there are only 60 African-American men. Drug use is about equal between white and black, but our prisons \u2014 three out of four people in prison are black or brown. I think something has to change. I think it's a big thing that our party needs to be part of, and I've been a leader in Congress on trying to bring about criminal justice reform. +p2489 +aVI was there and I saw the debate. I saw Ted Cruz say, "we'll take citizenship off the table, and then the bill will pass, and I'm for the bill." The bill would involve legalization. He can't have it both ways. But what is particularly insulting, though, is that he is the king of saying, "you're for amnesty." Everybody's for amnesty except for Ted Cruz. But it's a falseness, and that's an authenticity problem \u2014 that everybody he knows is not as perfect as him because we're all for amnesty. I was for legalization. I think, frankly, if you have border security, you can have legalization. So was Ted, but now he says it wasn't so. That's not true. +p2490 +aVYou know, I think abortion is always wrong. I've supported a variety of solutions, both state as well as federal. In fact, just last week, I introduced the Life at Conception act, which would say that the 14th amendment would defend an individual even in the womb. But I think on the broader question of religion and politics, you know, I think liberty, itself requires a virtue \u2014 requires a virtuous people. In fact, Washington said that democracy requires a virtuous people. Oz Guinness, the theologian, said that liberty requires restraint but the only restraint consistent with liberty is self-restraint. There's a lot packed into that statement. But the bottom line is we must have virtue, we must have a religious bearing as a nation. The government is not always going to save us and it's not always going to come from government. But if we don't know right and wrong, I think we have lost our way. I think we become unmoored and I think without the religious foundation that guides us all, I think we have a great risk of going horribly in the wrong direction. +p2491 +aVBoth. No, both the federal and a state approach. I have said that we could leave it to the states but I've also introduced a federal solution as well. So the federal solution would be the Life at Conception act which is an act that would federalize the issue. But I've also said for the most part, these issues would be left back to the states. So there might be an occasion if we did overturn Roe v. Wade \u2014 Roe v. Wade nationalized the issue. If you had the court reverse Roe v. Wade, it would become a state issue once again. I think it would be better the more \u2014 the less abortions we have, so the more states that we have that made abortion illegal, the better, as far as trying to save and preserve lives. +p2492 +aVYou know, I've never really brought this up unless asked the question, but I have responded to the question. I don't blame Hillary Clinton at all for this. I don't think she's responsible for his behavior. But I do think that her position as promoting women's rights and fairness to women in the workplace, that if what Bill Clinton did any CEO in our country did with an intern, with a 22-year- old, 21-year-old intern in their office, they would be fired. They would never be hired again. Fired, never hired again and probably shunned in their community. And the thing is, she can't be a champion of women's rights at the same time she's got this that is always lurking out there, this type of behavior. So it is difficult. +p2493 +aVYeah. But I combine this also with the millions upon millions of dollars they've taken from regimes in the Middle East who treat women like cattle. +p2494 +aVWell, thanks for having me. It's great to be back. I'm an eye surgeon from Bowling Green, Kentucky, I miss doing eye surgery, still get to do a little bit. Did a couple of cataract surgeries over Christmas holidays. Got to go to Haiti last year. I've gotten to do some incredible things. Got to be on the floor of the Senate. And it has been amazing to me. But the thing that is most important to me and caused me to run for office is I'm worried about the country and how much debt we're adding. And I am the one true fiscal conservative who will look at all spending. And that's the only way we'll ever balance our budget. Thank you. +p2495 +aVThe question is, how do we keep America safe from terrorism? Trump says we ought to close that Internet thing. The question really is, what does he mean by that? Like they do in North Korea? Like they do in China? Rubio says we should collect all Americans' records all of the time. The Constitution says otherwise. I think they're both wrong. I think we defeat terrorism by showing them that we do not fear them. I think if we ban certain religions, if we censor the Internet, I think that at that point the terrorists will have won. Regime change hasn't won. Toppling secular dictators in the Middle East has only led to chaos and the rise of radical Islam. I think if we want to defeat terrorism, I think if we truly are sincere about defeating terrorism, we need to quit arming the allies of +p2496 +aVYou know, I think Marco gets it completely wrong. We are not any safer through the bulk collection of all Americans' records. In fact, I think we're less safe. We get so distracted by all of the information, we're not spending enough time getting specific immigration \u2014 specific information on terrorists. The other thing is, is the one thing that might have stopped San Bernardino, that might have stopped 9/11 would have been stricter controls on those who came here. And Marco has opposed at every point increased security \u2014 border security for those who come to our country. On his Gang of Eight bill, he would have liberalized immigration, but he did not \u2014 and he steadfastly opposed any new border security requirements for refugees or students. Last week, I introduced another bill saying we need more security, we need more scrutiny. Once again, Marco opposed this. So Marco can't have it both ways. He thinks he wants to be this, "Oh, I'm great and strong on national defense." But he's the weakest of all the candidates on immigration. He is the one for an open border that is leaving us defenseless. If we want to defend the country, we have to defend against who's coming in, and Marco is \u2014 has more of an allegiance to Chuck Schumer and to the liberals than he does to conservative policy. +p2497 +aVIf I was mentioned in the question, can I respond? +p2498 +aVMarco still misunderstands the immigration issue. What I put forward was an amendment that would have temporarily halted immigration from high-risk terrorist countries, but would have started it up, but I wanted them to go through Global Entry, which is a program where we do background checks. The thing is, is that every terrorist attack we've had since 9/11 has been legal immigration. Marco wants to expand that. I want more rules, more scrutiny, and to defend the country, you have to defend the border. +p2499 +aVWolf... +p2500 +aVWolf, this legislation... +p2501 +aVThis legislation on indefinite detention... +p2502 +aV... I think deserves a little more attention. +p2503 +aVI think that by arming the allies of +p2504 +aVI think that if you believe in regime change, you're mistaken. In 2013, we put 600 tons of weapons \u2014 us, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar \u2014 into the war against Assad. By pushing Assad back, we did create a safe space. We had people coming to our Foreign Relations Committee and saying, "Oh, we need to arm the allies of Al Qaida." They are still saying this. It is a crazy notion. This is the biggest debate we should be having tonight is is regime change a good idea; has it been a good idea. There are still people \u2014 the majority on the stage, they want to topple Assad. And then there will be chaos, and I think +p2505 +aVThese are the fundamental questions of our time, these foreign policy questions, whether or not regime change is a good idea or a bad idea. I don't think because I think the regime change was a bad idea it means that Hussein was necessarily a good idea. There is often variations of evil on both sides of the war. What we have to decide is whether or not regime change is a good idea. It's what the neoconservatives have wanted. It's what the vast majority of those on the stage want. They still want regime change. They want it in Syria. They wanted it in Iraq. They want it in Libya. It has not worked. Out of regime change you get chaos. From the chaos you have seen repeatedly the rise of radical Islam. So we get this profession of, oh, my goodness, they want to do something about terrorism and yet they're the problem because they allow terrorism to arise out of that chaos. +p2506 +aVNo, I think it's a huge mistake. I think regime change in Syria, and this is what \u2014 I've been saying this for several years now. In 2013 when we first went in, I said, you are going to give arms to the allies of al Qaida, to radical jihadists? That's crazy. But the other thing I said is the great irony is you will be back fighting against your own weapons. Had Assad been bombed when he used chemical weapons two years ago, +p2507 +aVWell, I think if you're in favor of World War III, you have your candidate. You know, here's...... the thing. My goodness, what we want in a leader is someone with judgment, not someone who is so reckless as to stand on the stage and say, "Yes, I'm jumping up and down; I'm going to shoot down Russian planes." Russia already flies in that airspace. It may not be something we're in love with the fact that they're there, but they were invited by Iraq and by Syria to fly in that airspace. And so if we announce we're going to have a no-fly zone, and others have said this. Hillary Clinton is also for it. It is a recipe for disaster. It's a recipe for World War III. We need to confront Russia from a position of strength, but we don't need to confront Russia from a point of recklessness that would lead to war. This is something \u2014 this type of judgment, you know, it's having that kind of judgment; who you would appoint and how you're going to conduct affairs, that is incredibly important. I mean, I think when we think about the judgment of someone who might want World War III, we might think about someone who might shut down a bridge because they don't like their friends; they don't want to \u2014 you know, they want to a Democrat. So I think we need to be very careful. +p2508 +aVYou know, I think we need to set the record straight on this, because I think Marco misspoke about the bill. On the Gang of Eight bill, there was no provisions really for extra scrutiny or safety for refugees. At the time the bill came up, two Iraqi refugees came to my home town, Bowling Green, Kentucky. Their fingerprints were on a bomb from Iraq. They were in the database, but we didn't pick them up. We relocated them here, put them in government housing, got them on food stamps. And we began providing for them, but we didn't have adequate security. On the Gang of Eight bill, on Marco's bill, we had an opportunity. There was a conservative consensus for an amendment I put forward called Trust, But Verify that would have strengthened border security on both refugees, students and those coming here. And Marco sided and I guess was more sympathetic to Chuck Schumer and to the president than he was to conservative principles. But this goes directly to national defense. And if he wants to run as a national \u2014 national defense conservative, he's got to explain why he hasn't stepped up to support border security. +p2509 +aVWhat my bill would do would be only for refugees going forward. So I haven't taken a position on sending anyone home. But I have taken the position that we have a lot of problems here in our country. And that one of the things that we do \u2014 charity is about giving your own money. Charity isn't giving someone else's money. To put everyone in government housing and food stamps and bring them in from around the world I think is a mistake. To give of your own money, I've given to my church. My church has helped people that came from Bosnia. That's a good thing. But we shouldn't have a program where we just say that we're going to take care of the world's refugees. Nobody in the Middle East is doing anything. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait \u2014 all the Gulf nations are doing nothing. They need to step up and take... +p2510 +aVThe greatest threat to our national security is our debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. And whose fault is it? Well, frankly, it's both parties' fault. You have those on the right who clamor and say, oh, we will spend anything on the military, and those on the left who say the same for domestic welfare. But what most Americans don't realize is there is an unholy alliance. They come together. There's a secret handshake. We spend more money on everything. And we are not stronger nation if we go further into debt. We are not projecting power from bankruptcy court. To me, there is no greater threat than our debt. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage because I'm willing to hold the line on all spending. I hope you will consider me in the election. Thank you very much. +p2511 +aVAbsolutely. And I think that we ought to look where income inequality seems to be the worst. It seems to be worst in cities run by Democrats, governors of... States run by Democrats and countries currently run by Democrats. So the thing is, let's look for root causes. But I would also say \u2014 lay some blame at the \u2014 the feet of the Federal Reserve. I think the Federal Reserve has made this problem worse. By artificially keeping interest rates below the market rate, average ordinary citizens have a tough time earning interest, have a tough time making money. They're actually talking now about negative interest. The money as it's created through quantitative easing or other means tends to start out in the big banks in New York. And because we're now paying interest for them to keep the money there, much of that money has not filtered out into the economy. So what we're finding is there is increasing income disparity and income inequality. We also find that as the Federal Reserve destroys the value of the currency, what you're finding is that, if you're poor, if you make $20,000 a year and you have three or four kids, and you're trying to get by, as your prices rise or as the value of the dollar shrinks, these are the people that are hurt the worst. So really we need to reexamine whether we not \u2014 we want a Federal Reserve that's involved so much in determining interest rates. We also need to look at root causes as to what caused the housing boom and the housing collapse. But the bottom line is, if you want less income inequality, move to a city with a Republican mayor or a state with a Republican governor. +p2512 +aVWell, it's a great question, Neil, and thanks for including me in the tax debate. I think what's important about the tax debate is, is that we have to ask the question, where is money best spent, in the private sector or in the government sector? I want a government really, really small, so small you can barely see it. So I want lower taxes and much more money in the private sector. My tax plan, however, is the only tax plan among any of the candidates on the stage that is part of a balanced budget plan. I put forward three plans that actually balance the budget over a five-year period. Each of these plans have details on exactly where we would cut. The question came up earlier, where would you cut? Nobody likes to say where they would cut. I've put pencil to paper and done three budgets that actually balance. I'm also in favor of a plan called the penny plan where we'd just cut 1 percent across the board and the budget actually balances in less than five years. So I think what is extraordinary about my tax plan is it is in the context of balancing the budget. What is also extraordinary about my tax plan is it gets rid of the payroll tax. Democrats demagogue this issue to death, and when they do they say, oh, a millionaire would get a bigger tax cut than someone making $10,000. That's proportionality, as Ben is trying to explain to folks. But the thing is, is if we get rid of the payroll tax, everybody is going to get a tax cut. And this is something that I think the public at large will support and could win an election. +p2513 +aVOurs is 14.5 percent for corporations, 14.5 percent for individuals. No payroll tax for the employee. The business tax pays for social security, and there would be two remaining deductions \u2014 home mortgage and charity. +p2514 +aVThank you. +p2515 +aVNeil, there's a point I'd like to make here... ....Neil, a point that I'd like to make about the tax credits. We have to decide what is conservative and what isn't conservative. Is it fiscally conservative to have a trillion-dollar expenditure? We're not talking about giving people back their tax money. He's talking about giving people money they didn't pay. It's a welfare transfer payment. So here's what we have. Is it conservative to have $1 trillion in transfer payments \u2014 a new welfare program that's a refundable tax credit? Add that to Marco's plan for $1 trillion in new military spending, and you get something that looks, to me, not very conservative. Thank you. +p2516 +aVNevertheless, it's not very conservative, Marco. +p2517 +aVHow is it conservative? +p2518 +aVYeah, but, Marco! Marco! How is it conservative, how is it conservative to add a trillion-dollar expenditure for the federal government that you're not paying for? +p2519 +aVHow is it conservative? +p2520 +aVHow is it conservative to add a trillion dollars in military expenditures? You can not be a conservative if you're going to keep promoting new programs that you're not going to pay for. +p2521 +aVNo. I don't think we're any safer \u2014 I do not think we are any safer from bankruptcy court. As we go further, and further into debt, we become less, and less safe. This is the most important thing we're going to talk about tonight. Can you be a conservative, and be liberal on military spending? Can you be for unlimited military spending, and say, Oh, I'm going to make the country safe? No, we need a safe country, but, you know, we spend more on our military than the next ten countries combined? I want a strong national defense, but I don't want us to be bankrupt. +p2522 +aVHey, Gerard, you know, we might want to point out China is not part of this deal. +p2523 +aVBefore we get a little bit off-kilter here... +p2524 +aVThere is an argument that China doesn't like the deal, because in us doing the deal, we'll be trading with their competitors. You're exactly right. But I think we've sort of missed the point a little bit here. There is an important point, though, about how we discuss these trade treaties that I do agree with Mr. Trump on. We should negotiate from a position of strength. And we also should negotiate using the full force and the constitutional power that was given to us. I think it's a mistake that we give up power to the presidency on these trade deals. We give up the power to filibuster, and I'm kind of fond of that power. We give up the power to amend. And I think, really, one of the big problems we have in our country is, over the last century, really, so much power has gravitated to the executive branch. Really, Congress is kind of a bystander. We don't write the rules. We don't make the laws. The executive branch does. So even in trade \u2014 and I am for trade \u2014 I think we should be careful about giving so much power to the presidency. +p2525 +aVI'd like first to respond to the acquisition, we should \u2014 I think it's particularly naive, particularly foolish to think that we're not going to talk to Russia. The idea of a no fly zone, realize that this is also something that Hillary Clinton agrees with several on our side with, you're asking for a no fly zone in an area in which Russia already flies. Russia flies in that zone at the invitation of Iraq. I'm not saying it's a good thing, but you better know at least what we're getting into. So, when you think it's going to be a good idea to have a no fly zone over Iraq, realize that means you are saying we are going to shoot down Russian planes. If you're ready for that, be ready to send your sons and daughters to another war in Iraq. I don't want to see that happen. I think the first war in Iraq was a mistake... You can be strong without being involved in every civil war around the war... +p2526 +aVRonald Reagan was strong, but Ronald Reagan didn't... +p2527 +aV...send troops into the Middle East... +p2528 +aV...Can I finish... +p2529 +aV...Can I finish my time? Could I finish with my time? +p2530 +aVYes, I would like to finish my response, basically. +p2531 +aVThis is an important question. This is an incredibly important question. And the question goes to be, who do we want to be our commander-in-chief? Do you want a commander-in-chief who says something that we never did throughout the entire Cold War, to discontinue having conversations with the Russians? I am not happy about them flying over there. But I'm not naive enough to say, well, Iraq has them flying over their airspace, we're just going to announce that we're shooting them down? That is naive to the point of being something you might hear in junior high. But it's scary... +p2532 +aVThe first thing I would do is I wouldn't arm our enemies. I wouldn't arm +p2533 +aVGerard, can I comment... +p2534 +aVThe first thing I would do as president is repeal the regulations that are hampering our energy that the President has put in place. Including the Clean Power Act. While I do think that man may have a role in our climate, I think nature also has a role. The planet's 4.5 billion years old, we've been through geologic age after geologic age. We've had times when the temperatures been warmer, we've had times when the temperatures been colder. We've had times when the carbon in the atmosphere's been higher. So, I think before we \u2014 we need to look before we leap. President's often fond of saying he wants a balance solution, but, really we do need to balance both keeping the environment clean, and we will have some rules for that. We got to balance that with the economy. He's devastated my state. I say the President's not only destroying Kentucky, he's destroying the democrat party down there because nobody wants to associate with him. So, what we really need is somebody that understands that we do need energy of all forms, and that means we will have solar, and wind, and hydro, but we will still have coal, and we still will have natural gas. And, we've got to have an all of the above policy. But, it would be a mistake to shut down all of our industries in the coal fields, and shut down the coal power plants. If we did so we're going to have a day where we wake up and some of our big cities are either very cold, or very hot. So, I think it's a big danger, and we shouldn't do it. And, what we should do is say we want all of the above... ...We want to free up the energy sector, and let people produce, let them drill, let them explore. +p2535 +aVWe're the richest, freest, most humanitarian nation in the history of mankind. But we also borrow a million dollars a minute. And the question I have for all Americans is, think about it, can you be a fiscal conservative if you don't conserve all of the money? If you're a profligate spender, you spend money in an unlimited fashion for the military, is that a conservative notion? We have to be conservative with all spending, domestic spending and welfare spending. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage. +p2536 +aVYou know, I left my medical practice and ran for office because I was concerned about an $18 trillion debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. Now, on the floor of the Congress, the Washington establishment from both parties puts forward a bill that will explode the deficit. It allows President Obama to borrow unlimited amounts of money. I will stand firm. I will spend every ounce of energy to stop it. I will begin tomorrow to filibuster it. And I ask everyone in America to call Congress tomorrow and say enough is enough; no more debt. +p2537 +aVNo, I oppose it because you're taking money from the entitlement and then spending it immediately on other items. That's what they're doing. They're taking money from Social Security and they're going to spend it on the military and they're going to spend it on domestic spending. Here's the thing. When you look at raising the debt limit, it should be leverage to try to reform government. In 2011, the sequester was passed as a reform to slow down the rate of government. Instead, the Washington establishment raised both. We raised the military spending, took from entitlements, and raised domestic spending and the deficit will explode under this. This is the unholy alliance that people need to know about between right and left. Right and left are spending us into oblivion. We should use the debt ceiling, as precisely to Don, to force upon them budgetary reforms. +p2538 +aVWell, that's a real question. Is there going to be any change in the House with new leadership? I frankly don't think there will be much change because I think what's going to happen is you're going to get more of the same. People in Washington think they were sent there to be adults and govern and do all this. Well, you know what I'm worried about? Not keeping the government open. I'm worried about bankrupting the American people. We're borrowing a million dollars a minute. That is important. And that's what we have to contrast. Keeping the government open and continuing to borrow a million dollars a minute. +p2539 +aVWell, thank you very much. I would like to thank Ted for co-sponsoring my bill, audit the Fed. And I think it's precisely because of the arrogance of someone like Ben Bernanke, who now calls us all know-nothings, that is precisely why we need audit the Fed. I think it is really very much a huge problem that an organization as powerful as the Fed comes in, lobbies against them being audited on the Hill. I would prevent them lobbying Congress. I don't think the Fed should be involved with lobbying us. I think we should examine how the Fed has really been part of the problem. You want to study income inequality, let's bring the Fed forward and talk about Fed policy and how it causes income inequality. Let's also bring the Fed forward and have them explain how they caused the housing boom and the crisis, and what they've done to make us better or worse. I think the Fed has been a great problem in our society. What you need to do is free up interest rates. Interest rates are the price of money, and we shouldn't have price controls on the price of money. +p2540 +aV...John... +p2541 +aVJohn, I'd like to address this? John, could I follow up on this? +p2542 +aVWhat are the rules on who gets to follow up. How do we decide on who gets to follow up? I've seen plenty of other people follow up? +p2543 +aVI'd like to just mention something about my tax plan, and how it relates to the discussion... +p2544 +aVAlright. Much of the discussion is centered over whether or not the different tax plans help, or affect the middle class. In fact, it's the chief argument by democrats against many of the different flat tax proposals. Mine is unique in the sense that my tax plan actually gets rid of the payroll tax as well. It shifts it to the business, and it would allow middle class people to get a tax cut. If you just cut their income tax, there isn't much income tax to cut. Mine actually cuts the payroll tax, and I think it would spread the tax cut across all socioeconomic levels, and would allow then it to be something that would be broadly supported by the public in an election. +p2545 +aVThe question always is, what works better, the private marketplace or government? And what distributes goods better? It always seems to be the private marketplace does a better job. Is there an area for a safety net? Can you have Medicare or Social Security? Yes. But you ought to acknowledge the government doesn't do a very good job at it. The main problem with Medicare right now is that the average person pays in taxes over their whole lifetime about $100,000. But the average person takes out about $350,000. We have this enormous mismatch because we have smaller and smaller families. When people ask me, whose fault is it? Whose fault is it that Medicare is broken, out of money, that Social Security is broken, out of money? And I say, look, it's not Republicans' fault, it's not Democrats' fault, it's your grandparents' fault for having too many damn kids. After the war we had all of these kids, Baby Boomers. Now we're having smaller families. We used to have 16 workers for one retiree, now you have three workers for one retiree. It's not working. I have a bill to fix Medicare. I've a bill to fix Social Security. For both of them you have to gradually raise the age. If you're not willing to do that, nobody wants to do it, but if you're not willing to gradually raise the age, you're not serious about fixing either one of them. +p2546 +aVSay again? +p2547 +aVYou can't do nothing. And that's what I hear from some people, "we'll do nothing and it will just be fixed." That's absurd, and I think people who don't want to fix it, really, or unwilling to take the chance to say, "something has to change," are missing the boat here. The age will have to gradually rise, there is no question. It's the only way you fix Medicare, the only way you fix Social Security. You will also have to means-test the benefits and declare there's not enough money. It isn't "I put money in, I'm getting it back." There is no money, it's a stack of paper. There is no money in the Social Security account. There is no money in the Medicare account. There's only a promise to pay by the next generation, and the next generation's not big enough to pay it. [ +p2548 +aVLiberty thrives when government is small. I want a government so small I can barely see it. I want a government so small that the individual has a chance to thrive and prosper. I think, though, government is too big now. And what you're going to see in Washington this week is establishment Republicans have made an agreement with the president to raise the debt ceiling in an unlimited fashion; no limit to the debt ceiling raise. This is extraordinary. It's extraordinarily wrong. You'll see me on the floor of the Senate tomorrow filibustering this and saying enough is enough, no more debt. +p2549 +aVGood evening, everyone. I'm an eye surgeon from Bowling Green, Kentucky. My wife, Kelly, and I have been married for nearly 25 years, and I spend my days defending the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I think there's nothing more important than understanding that the Constitution restrains government, not the people. Thank you. +p2550 +aVI kind of have to laugh when I think of, "Mmm, sounds like a non sequitur." He was asked whether or not he would be capable and it would be in good hands to be in charge of the nuclear weapons, and all of a sudden, there's a sideways attack at me. I think that really goes to really the judgment. Do we want someone with that kind of character, that kind of careless language to be negotiating with Putin? Do we want someone like that to be negotiating with Iran? I think really there's a sophomoric quality that is entertaining about Mr. Trump, but I am worried. I'm very concerned about him \u2014 having him in charge of the nuclear weapons, because I think his response, his \u2014 his visceral response to attack people on their appearance \u2014 short, tall, fat, ugly \u2014 my goodness, that happened in junior high. Are we not way above that? Would we not all be worried to have someone like that in charge of the nuclear arsenal? +p2551 +aVI think this goes back to essentially what we've been saying for the last two or three questions. Carly Fiorina also said we're not going to talk with Putin. Well, think if Reagan had said that during the Cold War? We continued to talk with the Russians throughout the Cold War which is much more significant that where we are now. Should we continue to talk with Iran? Yes. Should we cut up the agreement immediately? That's absurd. Wouldn't you want to know if they complied? Now, I'm going to vote against the agreement because I don't think there's significant leverage, but it doesn't mean that I would immediately not look at the agreement, and cut it up without looking to see if whether or not Iran has complied. The same goes with China. I don't think we need to be rash, I don't think we need to be reckless, and I think need to leave lines of communication open. Often we talk about whether we should be engaged in the world, or disengaged in the world, and I think this is an example of some who want to isolate us, actually, and not be engaged. We do need to be engaged with Russia. It doesn't mean we give them a free pass, or China a free pass, but, to be engaged, to continue to talk. We did throughout the Cold War, and it would be a big mistake not to do it here. +p2552 +aVI think this gets to the point of wisdom on when to intervene and when we shouldn't. Had we bombed Assad at the time, like President Obama wanted, and like Hillary Clinton wanted and many Republicans wanted, I think +p2553 +aVWell, I hate to say it, but Donald Trump has a bit of a point here. The case that was decided around 1900 was, people had a green card, were here legally, and they said that their children were citizens. There's never been a direct Supreme Court case on people who were here illegally, whether or not their kids are citizens. So it hasn't really been completely adjudicated. The 14th Amendment says that "those who are here and under the jurisdiction." The original author of the \u2014 of the 14th Amendment said on the Senate floor that this was applying to slaves, and did not specifically apply to others. +p2554 +aVWell, I'm glad we're having a discussion about taxes because everybody laments that we lose jobs overseas, we have. Our companies, and our jobs are being chased overseas by a 70,000 page tax code, so, that's why I've chosen to get rid of the whole thing, and have one single rate, 14 and a-half percent for everybody, business, and for corporate income, and personal income. But, we also get rid of the payroll tax, so the working class would get a tax break as well. So, I think a flat tax, eliminating the tax code, getting rid of all the loopholes, is the way to go, and it's the way we get America going again. +p2555 +aVHugh, can I \u2014 can I make a response to that? +p2556 +aVCan I make a response to that? +p2557 +aVMay I make a response to that? +p2558 +aVHe's referred to me. +p2559 +aVHe's referred to me... +p2560 +aV... in his remarks. May I make a response? +p2561 +aVAbsolutely. Go ahead. +p2562 +aVMay I respond? +p2563 +aVThe remark was made that there hadn't been anyone else on the podium opposed to the Iraq War. I've made my career as being an opponent of the Iraq War. I was opposed to the Syria war. I was opposed to arming people who are our enemies. Iran is now stronger because Hussein is gone. Hussein was the great bulwark and counterbalance to the Iranians. So when we complain about the Iranians, you need to remember that the Iraq War made it worse. Originally, Governor Bush was asked, was the Iraq War a mistake, and he said, "No. We'd do it again." We have to learn sometimes the interventions backfire. The Iraq War backfired and did not help us. We're still paying the repercussions of a bad decision. +p2564 +aVWe have make the decision now in Syria, should we topple Assad? Many up here wanted to topple Assad, and it's like \u2014 I said no, because if you do... +p2565 +aV... +p2566 +aVIf you want boots on the ground, and you want them to be our sons and daughters, you got 14 other choices. There will always be a Bush or Clinton for you, if you want to go back to war in Iraq. But the thing is, the first war was a mistake. And I'm not sending our sons and our daughters back to Iraq. The war didn't work. We can amplify those who live there. The Kurds deserve to be armed and I'll arm them. We can use our Air Force to amplify the forces there. But the boots on the ground need to be the people who live there. My goodness, I'm still upset with the Saudi Arabians for everything they do over there. They've funded the arms that went to the jihadists. They're not accepting any of the people, any of the migrants that have been \u2014 the refugees that are being pushed out of Syria. Saudi Arabia is not accepting one. Why are we always the world's patsies that we have to go over there and fight their wars for them? They need to fight their wars, we need to defend American interests, but it is not in America's national security interests to have another war in Iraq. +p2567 +aVI think one of the great problems, and what American people don't like about politics, is hypocrisy. People have one standard for others and not for them \u2014 for themselves. There is at least one prominent example on the stage of someone who says they smoked pot in high school, and yet the people going to \u2014 to jail for this are poor people, often African-Americans and often Hispanics, and yet the rich kids who use drugs aren't. I personally think that this is a crime for which the only victim is the individual, and I think that America has to take a different attitude. I would like to see more rehabilitation and less incarceration. I'm a fan of the drug courts which try to direct you back towards work and less time in jail. But the bottom line is the states. We say we like the 10th Amendment, until we start talking about this. And I think the federal government has gone too far, I think that the war on drugs has had a racial outcome, and really has been something that has really damaged our inner cities. Not only do the drugs damage them, we damage them again by incarcerating them and then preventing them from getting employment over time. So I don't think that the federal government should override the states. I believe in the 10th Amendment and I really will say that the states are left to themselves. +p2568 +aVWell, I think if we left it open, we could see how many people smoked pot in high school. +p2569 +aVWell, you know, the thing is that... +p2570 +aVYeah, I was talking about \u2014 well, let me... +p2571 +aVBut let me respond. The thing is, is that in Florida, Governor Bush campaigned against medical marijuana. That means that a small child like Morgan Hintz (ph) that has seizures is day, is failing on non-traditional medications, is not allowed to use cannabis oil. And if they do that in Florida, they will take the child away, they will put the parents in jail. And that's what that means if you're against allowing people use medical marijuana, you'll actually put them in jail. +p2572 +aVAnd actually, under the current circumstances, kids who had privilege like you do, don't go to jail, but the poor kids in our inner cities go to jail. I don't think that's fair. And I think we need to acknowledge it, and it is hypocritical to still want to put poor people in jail... +p2573 +aVWell, you vote \u2014 you oppose medical marijuana... +p2574 +aVBut that means you'll put people in jail. +p2575 +aVMay I respond? +p2576 +aVUnderstand what they're saying. if they're going to say we are going to enforce the federal law against what the state law is, they aren't really believing in the Tenth Amendment. Governor Christie would go into Colorado, and if you're breaking any federal law on marijuana, even though the state law allows it, he would put you in jail. If a young mother is trying to give her child cannabis oil for medical marijuana for seizure treatment, he would put her in jail, if it violates federal law. I would let Colorado do what the Tenth Amendment says. This power \u2014 we were never intended to have crime dealing at the federal level. Crime was supposed to be left to the states. Colorado has made their decision. And I don't want the federal government interfering and putting moms in jail, who are trying to get medicine for their kid... +p2577 +aVMay I respond? May I respond? +p2578 +aVHere is the thing, he doesn't want to make it about medical marijuana, but what if New Jersey's medical marijuana contradicts the federal law? He's saying he'll send the federal government in, and he will enforce the federal law. That's not consistent with the Tenth Amendment. It is not consistent with states' rights. And it is not consistent with the conservative vision for the country. I don't think we should be sending the federal police in to arrest a mother and separate them from their child for giving a medicine to their child for seizures. +p2579 +aVIf you want a skeptic \u2014 if you want a skeptic, Jake, I will happily jump into that briar patch. If you want a real... +p2580 +aVA second opinion? One of the greatest \u2014 one of the greatest medical discoveries of all times was \u2014 were the vaccines, particularly for smallpox. And if you want to read a story, it's called The Speckled Monster, it's an amazing story, it was all done voluntary. But people came in by the droves. George Washington wouldn't let his wife visit until she got vaccinated. So I'm all for vaccines. But I'm also for freedom. I'm also a little concerned about how they're bunched up. My kids had all of their vaccines, and even if the science doesn't say bunching them up is a problem, I ought to have the right to spread out my vaccines out a little bit at the very least. +p2581 +aVOoh, that's a tough one. You know, I'm big on \u2014 that we were \u2014 and I love what Carly said about women's suffrage. I think Susan B. Anthony might be a good choice. +p2582 +aVJustice Never Sleeps. +p2583 +aVI met Ronald Reagan as a teenager, and my family, we're big supporters of him when he ran against Gerald Ford. It was a big deal because he was the grassroots, running against the establishment, and I'll never forget that. And, how he stood up and said, you know what, this is something new that our country needs, and our party needs. If I were president, I would try to be one who says, you know what, I'm a Reagan Conservative. I'm someone who believes in peace through strength, and I would try to lead the country in that way knowing that our goal is peace, and that war is the last resort, not the first resort. And, that when we go to war, we go to war in a constitutional way, which means that we have to vote on it, that war is initiated by congress, not by the president, that we go to war electively (ph). That when we go to war, we don't fight with one arm tied behind our back, we fight all out to win, but then we come home. +p2584 +aVThis is what's wrong! +p2585 +aVI mean, this is what's wrong. He buys and sells politicians of all stripes, he's already... +p2586 +aVHey, look, look! He's already hedging his bet on the Clintons, OK? So if he doesn't run as a Republican, maybe he supports Clinton, or maybe he runs as an independent... +p2587 +aV...but I'd say that he's already hedging his bets because he's used to buying politicians. +p2588 +aVFirst of all, only +p2589 +aVMegyn, may I respond? May I respond? +p2590 +aVI want to collect more records from terrorists, but less records from innocent Americans. The Fourth Amendment was what we fought the Revolution over! John Adams said it was the spark that led to our war for independence, and I'm proud of standing for the Bill of Rights, and I will continue to stand for the Bill of Rights. +p2591 +aVUse the Fourth Amendment! +p2592 +aVUse the Fourth Amendment! +p2593 +aVGet a warrant! +p2594 +aVGet a judge to sign the warrant! +p2595 +aVSee, here's the problem. +p2596 +aVHere's the problem, governor. Here's the problem, governor. You fundamentally misunderstand the Bill of Rights. Every time you did a case, you got a warrant from a judge. I'm talking about searches without warrants... +p2597 +aV...indiscriminately, of all Americans' records, and that's what I fought to end. I don't trust President Obama with our records. I know you gave him a big hug, and if you want to give him a big hug again, go right ahead. +p2598 +aVI've got a news flash... +p2599 +aVNews flash, the Republican Party's been fighting against a single-payer system... +p2600 +aV-- for a decade. So I think you're on the wrong side of this if you're still arguing for a single-payer system. +p2601 +aVI oppose the Iranian deal, and will vote against it. I don't think that the president negotiated from a position of strength, but I don't immediately discount negotiations. I'm a Reagan conservative. Reagan did negotiate with the Soviets. But you have to negotiate from a position of strength, and I think President Obama gave away too much, too early. If there's going to be a negotiation, you're going to have to believe somehow that the Iranians are going to comply. And I asked this question to John Kerry, I said "do you believe they're trustworthy?" and he said "No." And I said, "well, how are we gonna get them to comply?" I would have never released the sanctions before there was consistent evidence of compliance. +p2602 +aVLook, I don't want my marriage or my guns registered in Washington. And if people have an opinion, it's a religious opinion that is heartly felt, obviously they should be allowed to practice that and no government should interfere with them. One of the things, one of the things that really got to me was the thing in Houston where you had the government, the mayor actually, trying to get the sermons of ministers. When the government tries to invade the church to enforce its own opinion on marriage, that's when it's time to resist. +p2603 +aVWell, let's be clear, I'm the only one on the stage who actually has a five-year budget that balances. I've put pencil to paper... +p2604 +aV... and I've said -- and I've said I would cut spending, and I've said exactly where. Each one of my budgets has taken a meat axe to foreign aid, because I think we ought to quit sending it to countries that hate us. I think we ought to quit sending it to countries that burn our flag. Israel is not one of those. But even Benjamin Netanyahu said that ultimately, they will be stronger when they're independent. My position is exactly the same. We shouldn't borrow money from China to send it anywhere, but why don't we start with eliminating aid to our enemies. +p2605 +aVI still say exactly what my original opinion is. Do you borrow money from China to send it to anyone? Out of your surplus, you can help your allies, and Israel is a great ally. And this is no particular animus of Israel, but what I will say, and I will say over and over again, we cannot give away money we don't have. We do not project power from bankruptcy court. We're borrowing a million dollars a minute. It's got to stop somewhere. +p2606 +aVI'm a different kind of Republican. I've introduced a five-year balanced budget. I've introduced the largest tax cut in our history. I stood for ten and a half hours on the Senate floor to defend your right to be left alone. But I've also gone to Chicago. I've gone to Detroit. I've been to Ferguson, I've been to Baltimore, because I want our party to be bigger, better and bolder, and I'm the only one that leads Hillary Clinton in five states that were won by President Obama. I'm a different kind of Republican. +p2607 +asVBASH +p2608 +(lp2609 +VA crucial question is how to balance surveillance with privacy and keeping Americans safe. Senator Cruz, you voted for a bill that President Obama signed into law just this past June that made it harder for the government to access Americans' phone records. In light of the San Bernardino attack, was your vote a mistake? +p2610 +aVThank you. Senator Rubio, Senator Cruz is right there was bipartisan support for that. But you voted against it. So, is Senator Cruz wrong? +p2611 +aVSenator Cruz? +p2612 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator \u2014 Senator Rubio, please respond. +p2613 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I know this is \u2014 this has been a very big issue for you. You hear many of your colleagues are calling for increased surveillance by law enforcement. You call that hogwash. Why is that hogwash? +p2614 +aVSenator Rubio? +p2615 +aVGovernor Christie, Governor Christie... ...Governor Christie, I'll come to you in a minute. Go ahead, Senator Paul. +p2616 +aVGo ahead, please. +p2617 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about immigration in a while. But, Governor Christie, just listening to this... +p2618 +aVListening to this, you talked \u2014 you heard Senator Paul, Senator Cruz talk about how important it is to protect Americans' privacy, even in a time of grave danger. Why \u2014 what's wrong with that? +p2619 +aVSenator Paul, you said +p2620 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I want to go back to my initial question, which is you saying that +p2621 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about regime change in a bit. But Governor Kasich, would you like to respond to Senator Paul? +p2622 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. We've been talking tonight about programs and policy proposals that you all have to keep Americans safe and it's a big discussion on the campaign trail. Also about border security and immigration. So let's talk about immigration. Senator Rubio. You co-authored a bill with Democrats two years ago that allowed a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Do you still support that path to citizenship, which means giving those immigrants rights, like the right to vote? +p2623 +aVSenator, you haven't answered the question. You described a very long path but does that path end at citizenship? +p2624 +aVThank you, senator. +p2625 +aVThank you, senator. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, on the campaign trail, Senator Rubio has said that his immigration plan is not that different from yours. Is that true? +p2626 +aVSenator Rubio, please. +p2627 +aVSenator Cruz? +p2628 +aVSenator Cruz? +p2629 +aVSenator Cruz, can you answer that question please? +p2630 +aVSenator Cruz? +p2631 +aVOne at a time please. +p2632 +aVMs. Fiorina, please wait your turn, we're going to get to you. +p2633 +aVSenator Cruz go ahead. +p2634 +aVMr. Trump, you like to say that you restarted this conversation in the campaign. +p2635 +aVSo who do you side with? Who do you side with in this, Senator Rubio or Senator Cruz? +p2636 +aVThank you. Governor Bush? +p2637 +aVListening to this, do you think this is the tone \u2014 this immigration debate that republicans need to take to win back Hispanics into our party especially states like where we are in Nevada that has a pretty Hispanic community? +p2638 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said if China launches a cyber- attack against the U.S. on your watch, "they're going to see cyber- warfare like they have never seen before." What exactly would that response look like? +p2639 +aVGovernor Bush, what you just heard from Governor Christie, are you concerned that that could really escalate with China, that they would retaliate? And, for example, as the NSA has said, attack the U.S. and maybe it's power grid, which the Chinese have the capability to do? +p2640 +aVMr. Trump, just this weekend you said Senator Cruz is not qualified to be president because he doesn't have the right temperament and acted like a maniac when he arrived in the Senate. But last month you said you were open to naming Senator Cruz as your running mate. +p2641 +aVSo why would you be willing to put somebody who's a maniac one heartbeat away from the presidency? +p2642 +aVOkay. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, you have not been willing to attack Mr. Trump in public. +p2643 +aVBut you did question his judgment in having control of American's nuclear arsenal during a private meeting with supporters. Why are you willing to say things about him in private and not in public? +p2644 +aVSenator, senator, I just... +p2645 +aVSenator, a lot of people have seen... +p2646 +aV... a lot of people have seen these comments you made in private. I just want to clarify what you're saying right now is you do believe Mr. Trump has the judgment to be commander in chief? +p2647 +aVGovernor Kasich, Senator Cruz is so committed to stripping federal funds from Planned Parenthood that it could result in shutting down the federal government in just about two weeks. Do you agree with Senator Cruz's tactic? +p2648 +aVThank you. +p2649 +aVThank you. Senator Cruz, I would just add that, on this stage not that long ago, Senator Graham said that this tactic that you're pushing would tank the Republicans' ability to win in 2016. +p2650 +aVThank you, senator. +p2651 +aVThank you... +p2652 +aVGovernor \u2014 governor, I want to go to you. Is it what Senator Cruz says, a surrender by Republicans? +p2653 +aVBut... +p2654 +aVBut is it... +p2655 +aVBut, governor, the \u2014 but, governor, the reality is, in just two weeks' time... ...we are going to be facing a question about whether or not it's enough to shut down the government to make that statement, because there is still a Democrat in the White House. Do you oppose it or support it? +p2656 +aVYes or no, do you support this shutdown? +p2657 +aVWe're talking about Planned Parenthood right now. +p2658 +aVCan you answer yes or no? +p2659 +aVOne more time. I'm sorry, I just want to get the answer. +p2660 +aVSo you would support a shutdown. +p2661 +aVGovernor Bush, Mr. Trump has suggested that your views on immigration are influenced by your Mexican born wife. He said that, quote, "If my wife were from Mexico, I think I would have a soft spot for people from Mexico." Did Mr. Trump go to far in invoking your wife? +p2662 +aVMr. Trump? +p2663 +aVMr. Trump... +p2664 +aVGo ahead. +p2665 +aVMs. Fiorina \u2014 Ms. Fiorina, we're going to come to you, we're going to come to you. I just want to give Governor Bush a chance to respond to what Mr. Trump said. +p2666 +aVOK, on that note, you have criticized Governor Bush for speaking Spanish on the campaign trail. You said, quote, "He should really set an example by speaking English in the United States." What's wrong with speaking Spanish? +p2667 +aVThank you. +p2668 +aV...Thank you.... +p2669 +aVGovernor Bush, let's talk about the issue that's very important to Republican voters, and that's the Supreme Court. After Chief Justice John Roberts voted to uphold Obamacare twice, Senator Cruz criticized your brother for appointing John Roberts to the Supreme Court. Looking back on it, did your brother make a mistake? +p2670 +aV...Is John Roberts one of those people? +p2671 +aVDo you like what you just heard, Senator Cruz? +p2672 +aVMr. Trump, you have said once or twice that you are really rich, and you are by far the richest person on this stage. Chris Christie says billionaires like you and even people who make and earn far less should no longer get Social Security, or at least there should be limits based on \u2014 on their income. You think he's wrong, and if so, why? +p2673 +aVWhat about the country as a \u2014 as a policy? +p2674 +aVSo is a voluntary program the way to get the Social Security system solvent again like that. +p2675 +asVEPPERSON +p2676 +(lp2677 +VThank you, John. Mrs. Fiorina, you were the CEO of a large corporation that offers a 401(k) to its employees. But more than half of American have no access to an employer sponsored retirement plan. That includes the workers at small businesses, and the growing ranks of Uber drivers and other part-timers in the freelance economy. Should the Federal Government play a larger role in helping to set up retirement plans for these workers? +p2678 +aVSo you wouldn't agree \u2014 you wouldn't agree with a start for 401(k) for businesses or anything like that? +p2679 +aVThank you very much. +p2680 +aVThank you, the rules say one minute. +p2681 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. We appreciate it. Thank you, thank you. I want to turn my attention now, to you now, Governor Kasich. Most people can't get a college degree without going into debt. Over 40 million Americans have student loans and many of them cannot pay them back. This country has over $100 billion in student loan defaults. That's billion with a b. What will you do to make sure that students, their families, taxpayers, won't feel the economic impact of this burden for generations? Well, first of all, in Ohio we're changing the whole system. Universities will not get paid one dime unless the student graduates or \u2014 graduates or completes a course. Secondly, you can be in high school and complete almost an entire first year before you go to college and get credit to do that. And, of course, in addition to that, we are working now to go after the cost drivers in our universities. And let me give you an example. Universities today have so many non-academic assets. At Ohio State they sold the parking garage and the parking lot, and they got $500 million because they shouldn't be in the parking lot business. They shouldn't be in the ding business, they shouldn't be in the dorm business. And, of course, we need to take advantage of on-line education to reduce these costs and begin to dis-intermediate the cost of four years. Now, for those who that have these big high costs, I think we can seriously look at an idea of where you can do public service. I mean legitimate, public service and begin to pay off some of that debt through the public service that you do. And in the meantime, it may inspire us to care more about our country, more about ourselves. This is a big moral issue in America. Living a life bigger than yourself, and being a center of healing and justice. And people can learn it through public service. +p2682 +aVThank you, thank you. +p2683 +asVBARTIROMO +p2684 +(lp2685 +VTonight we are working with Facebook to ask the candidates the questions voters want answered. And according to Facebook, the U.S. election has dominated the global conversation, with 131 million people talking about the 2016 race. That makes it the number one issue talked about on Facebook last year worldwide. +p2686 +aVTonight's rules are simple: up to 90 seconds for each answer, one minute for each follow-up response. And if a candidate goes over the allotted time, you'll hear this. So let's get started. Candidates, jobs and growth \u2014 two of the biggest issues facing the country right now. In his State of the Union address earlier this week, the president said, quote, "we have the strongest, most durable economy in the world." And according to our Facebook research, jobs is one of the biggest issues resonating across the country, including here in South Carolina. The president is touting 14 million new jobs and an unemployment rate cut in half. The president said that anyone who claims America's economy is in decline is peddling fiction. Senator Cruz, what do you see that he doesn't? +p2687 +aVThank you, sir. +p2688 +aVWe know that recent global events have many people worried \u2014 Iran detaining American sailors, forcing them to apologize; North Korea and its nuclear ambitions; an aggressive China; and a Middle East that continues to deteriorate, not to mention +p2689 +aVJust to be clear Governor, where and when would you use military action? +p2690 +aVDr. Carson, the president says he does not want to treat +p2691 +aVSenator Cruz, the New York Times is reporting that you failed to properly disclose a million dollars in loans from Goldman Sachs and CitiBank. During your senate race, your campaign said, "it was inadvertent." A million dollars is inadvertent? +p2692 +aVThank you. +p2693 +aVThank you, senator. Mr. Trump, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley in her response to the State of the Union address......appeared to choose sides within the party, saying Republicans should resist, quote, "the siren call of the angriest voices". She confirmed, she was referring to you among others. Was she out of line? And, how would a President Trump unite the party? +p2694 +aVBut what are you going to do about it? +p2695 +aVGovernor Kasich...... Governor Kasich, Hillary Clinton is getting some serious competition from Senator Bernie Sanders. He's now at 41 percent in the latest CBS/New York Times poll. Vice President Biden sang his praises, saying Bernie is speaking to a yearning that is deep and real, and he has credibility on it. So what does it say about our country that a candidate who is a self-avowed socialist and who doesn't think a 90 percent tax rate is too high could be the Democratic nominee? +p2696 +aVDr. Carson, one of the other candidates on this stage has brought Bill Clinton's past indiscretions. Is that a legitimate topic in this election? And what do you think of the notion that Hillary Clinton is an enabler of sexual misconduct? +p2697 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debates, right here in North Charleston. Let's get right back to the questions. Governor Bush, gun rights, one of the top issues seen on Facebook with close to 3 million people talking about it in the past month. Right here in Charleston, Dylann Roof, who has been accused of killing nine people in a nearby church, reportedly had not passed his background check when he got his gun. What is the harm in tightening standards for not only who buys guns, but those who sell them? +p2698 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, are there any circumstances that you think we should be limiting gun sales of any kind in America? +p2699 +aVThank you sir. +p2700 +aVThank you, sir. +p2701 +aVSo what is the answer, Senator Cruz, to stop mass shootings and violent crime, up in 30 cities across the country? +p2702 +aVSenator...... let me follow up and switch gears. Senator Cruz, you suggested Mr. Trump, quote, "embodies New York values." Could you explain what you mean by that? +p2703 +aVI am from New York. I don't. +p2704 +aVAre you sure about that? +p2705 +aVThere's much more ahead including the fight against +p2706 +aVWe welcome back to the Republican Presidential , right back to the questions. Candidates, the man who made fighting +p2707 +aVThe air-strikes. +p2708 +aVNow in their 16th month are ineffective. Dr. Carson, do you think Senator Graham is right in wanting to send 20,000 troops \u2014 ground troops to Iraq and Syria to take out +p2709 +aVThank you, sir. Senator Graham has also said that the U.S. will find Arab support for its coalition if it removes Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. And I quote, "The now king of Saudi Arabia told us, 'you can have our army, you just got to deal with Assad.' "The emir of Qatar said, 'I'll pay for the operation, but they are not going to fight +p2710 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump \u2014 Mr. Trump, your comments about banning Muslims from entering the country created a firestorm. According to Facebook, it was the most-talked-about moment online of your entire campaign, with more than 10 million people talking about the issue. Is there anything you've heard that makes you want to rethink this position? +p2711 +aVWe \u2014 we want to hear from all of you on this. According to Pew Research, the U.S. admits more than 100,000 Muslim immigrants every single year on a permanent lifetime basis. I want to ask the rest of you to comment on this. Do you agree that we should pause Muslim immigration until we get a better handle on our homeland security situation, as Mr. Trump has said? Beginning with you, Governor Kasich. +p2712 +aVThank you, sir, we want to hear from the rest of you, Governor Christie, your take. +p2713 +aVSenator Rubio, where do you stand? +p2714 +aVSenator Cruz, where do you stand? Senator Cruz? +p2715 +aVDr. Carson, where do you stand? Do you agree with Mr. Trump? +p2716 +aVSo, to be clear, the both of you do not agree with Mr. Trump? +p2717 +aVThank you governor. +p2718 +aVWe're getting... +p2719 +aVPrices go higher for... +p2720 +aVYeah. +p2721 +aVReal quick, Senator \u2014 go ahead, Senator Cruz. And then we have to get to tax reform. +p2722 +aVThank you, Governor Bush. Thank you, Mr. Trump. Very briefly. +p2723 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. +p2724 +aVThank you, Mr. Trmup. Thank you, Governor. +p2725 +aVSenator briefly. +p2726 +aVWe've got to get to tax reform, gentlemen. We've got to get to tax reform, and we've got to get to the... +p2727 +aV... we've got to get to the national debt as well. Coming up next, the growing national debt, the war on crime, tax reform. More from North Charleston, South Carolina, when we come right back. +p2728 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential here in North Charleston. Right back to the questions. Governor Christie, we have spoken much about cutting spending, given the $19 trillion debt. But according to one report, America needs $3.6 trillion in infrastructure spending by 2020. Here in South Carolina, 11 percent of bridges are considered structurally deficient, costing drivers a billion dollars a year in auto repairs. What is your plan to fix the ailing roads and bridges without breaking the bank? +p2729 +aVThank you, sir. Dr. Carson......it is true U.S. companies have $2 trillion in cash sitting overseas right now. That could be used for investment and jobs in America. Also, several companies right now are pursuing mergers to move their corporate headquarters abroad, and take advantage of much lower taxes. What will you do to stop the flow of companies building cash away from America, and those leaving America altogether? +p2730 +aVThank you, sir. Senator Rubio... +p2731 +aVWhich is why we raised it. Senator Rubio? Thank you, Mr. Trump. +p2732 +aVOne of the biggest fiscal challenges is our entitlement programs, particularly Social Security and Medicare. What policies will you put forward to make sure these programs are more financially secure? +p2733 +aVThank you senator. +p2734 +aVSenator Cruz, yes. You were meant to. Yes, of course. +p2735 +aVThank you senator. +p2736 +aVThank you senator. I have to get to a question for Mr. Trump. +p2737 +aVYes. +p2738 +aVThank you, Governor. Thank you, Governor. +p2739 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Coming up, how would the candidates protect America, and another terror attack, if we were to see it. But first, you can join us live on stage during the commercial break right from home. Go to facebook.com/foxbusiness. We'll be streaming live and answering your questions during this break next. More from South Carolina coming up. Stay with us. +p2740 +aVMr. Trump, your net worth is in the multi-billions of dollars and have an ongoing thriving hotel and real estate business. Are you planning on putting your assets in a blind trust should you become president? With such vast wealth, how difficult will it be for you to disentangle yourself from your business and your money and prioritize America's interest first? +p2741 +aVSo you'll put your assets in a blind trust? +p2742 +aVThank you sir. +p2743 +aVSenator Rubio? Under current law, the U.S. is on track to issue more new permanent immigrants on green cards over the next five years than the entire population of South Carolina. The CBO says your 2013 immigration bill would have increased green cardholders by another 10 million over 10 years. Why are you so interested in opening up borders to foreigners when American workers have a hard enough time finding work? +p2744 +aVSo your thinking has changed? +p2745 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2746 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2747 +aVWhen we come right back, closing statements. Stay with us. +p2748 +aVWelcome back. Candidates, it is time for your closing statements. You get 60 seconds each. Governor John Kasich, we begin with you. +p2749 +aVGovernor Chris Christie? +p2750 +aVSenator Marco Rubio? +p2751 +aVMr. Donald Trump? +p2752 +aVCandidates, thank you. +p2753 +aVTonight we're partnering with the Wall Street Journal to ask questions on the economy that voters want answered. We're also working with Facebook, who tells us that since the first Republican debate, more than 58 million people have joined the political conversation online. More than 9 million are talking specifically about the economy. +p2754 +aVBusinesswoman Carly Fiorina. Ohio Governor John Kasich. And Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. +p2755 +aVWe've asked people on Facebook to submit their questions for the candidates. Seth Bell wrote, "We are approaching $20 trillion in national debt. Specifically, what plans do you have to cut federal spending?" Governor Kasich, you have spoken much about your success in balancing the budget under President Clinton. Today the national debt is at record highs and growing unsustainably. Interest will be the fastest-growing part of the federal budget, tripling over the next 10 years. Social Security, the lifeline of millions of American seniors, is rushing toward insolvency. With all of the tax plans presented tonight, estimated to cost anywhere between $2 trillion and $12 trillion over a decade, what specific steps will you take to balance the budget? +p2756 +aVDid you want to name any specific steps, sir? +p2757 +aVThank you, sir. +p2758 +aVSenator Cruz, the International Monetary Fund recently cut its expectations for economic growth. Many economists expect a recession to hit the U.S. within the next year due to the weakening of manufacturing. The next president will have to deal with it. You say tax reform is a powerful lever to spur economic expansion. You're calling for a 10 percent income tax and a 16 percent business tax. What other elements do you need in this plan to actually create jobs? +p2759 +aVThank you, sir. +p2760 +aVGovernor Bush... +p2761 +aVWe have more questions for you, Governor Kasich, coming up. We have more questions for you, Governor Kasich. +p2762 +aVWe will \u2014 we will certainly get to that. Governor Bush? +p2763 +aVAlmost 40 percent of Americans are without a job and are not looking. Many have given up. That's what the participation rate tells us. You've said your policies will drive the economy back to 4 percent growth, which we haven't seen since the year 2000. What specific regulations would you change? And how will that lead to jobs and growth? +p2764 +aVThank you, sir. +p2765 +aVMr. Trump, a federal appeals court just dealt a blow to the Obama administration's plan to prevent the deportation of 5 million people living in this country illegally. The White House is appealing to the Supreme Court. At the heart of this issue is the effect that illegal immigrants are having on our economy, what will you do about it? +p2766 +aVCan we just send 5 million people back with no effect on economy? +p2767 +aVSo what will you do? +p2768 +aVThank you, sir. +p2769 +aVWe go back to Facebook. Dewayne Wesley Cato asks on Facebook, how do we get rid of regulations choking our businesses? Ms. Fiorina? Specifically, under the president's Affordable Care Act, employers with 50 or more employees are required to offer health insurance, or be fined. Many are opting to pay the fine. Others are cutting back employee hours to duck the law altogether. What specific ways will you alleviate the pressure on small business? +p2770 +aVJust to be clear, you want to repeal Obamacare... ..but, what's the alternative? +p2771 +aVJust to be clear, you say you would repeal Obamacare... +p2772 +aV...But, what is the alternative... +p2773 +aV...and how does that help small business... +p2774 +aV...Thank you... +p2775 +aVSenator Cruz, there isn't anyone in this audience or watching at home tonight who would not like to pay less in taxes. Most people just want a fair shake, and they don't want their money to be wasted. But explain how your plan works. How can you cut taxes as much as you propose without running up debt and deficits? +p2776 +aVBut you haven't told us how to pay for it. +p2777 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Bush, Republican primary voters say tax reform should be a priority for Congress and the administration. But, Governor Bush, how important is tax reform in your domestic policy agenda? Will you guarantee it in the first year of your presidency? +p2778 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2779 +aVThat's right. That's right. +p2780 +aVComing up, the biggest threats facing the next commander-in-chief. You're watching the Republican presidential debate, live tonight from Milwaukee. We'll be right back. +p2781 +aVWelcome back. Welcome back to the Republican presidential debate. The candidates taking the questions you want answered. Also tonight, you can see what America is saying about the debate. Go to Facebook and type #gopdebate into the search box. Now, back to the questions. Americans face security threats at home and abroad. Last year, terrorist attacks rose 61 percent, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace, with the most deaths occurring in just five countries, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Syria. Dr. Carson, you were against putting troops on the ground in Iraq and against a large military force in Afghanistan. Do you support the president's decision to now put 50 special ops forces in Syria and leave 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan? +p2782 +aVWe asked Facebook to take a look at some of the major issues we're talking about, and tackling in this debate tonight. This word cloud shows what people are focusing on the most. The bigger the word, the more the talk. One of the most discussed issues in the last month, homeland security. Governor Bush, what is the biggest threat facing America today? +p2783 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, in 2012 debate, President Obama mocked Mitt Romney's assertion that Russia was the top geopolitical challenge facing the United States, saying he was a Cold War dinosaur. Now, Russia has invaded Ukraine, and has put troops in Syria. You have said you will have a good relationship with Mr. Putin. So, what does President Trump do in response to Russia's aggression? +p2784 +aVThank you, sir. +p2785 +aVThank you, governor. +p2786 +aVSenator Rubio. +p2787 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. +p2788 +aVMore questions \u2014 more questions coming up, when the Republican presidential debate comes right back, live from Milwaukee. Stay with us. +p2789 +aVWelcome back to the fourth Republican presidential debate. Senator Rubio, Hillary Clinton is the clear front runner for the Democratic nomination. If she is indeed the nominee, you will be facing a candidate with an impressive resume. She was the first lady of the United States, a U.S. senator from New York, and secretary of state under Barack Obama. She has arguably more experience, certainly more time in government than almost all of you on stage tonight. Why should the American people trust you to lead this country, even though she has been so much closer to the office? +p2790 +aVSenator Paul, you were one of 15 republicans to vote for an amendment which states that human activity contributed to climate change. President Obama has announced an aggressive plan to cut carbon emissions. At the same time, energy production in America has boomed. Is it possible to continue this boom, and move toward energy self-sufficiency, while at the same time pursuing a meaningful climate change program? +p2791 +aVCarly Fiorina? +p2792 +aVFormer Governor Jeb Bush? +p2793 +aVSenator Ted Cruz? +p2794 +aVHe's funny. +p2795 +aVThank you. +p2796 +asVSANTELLI +p2797 +(lp2798 +VSenator Cruz, let's focus on our central bank, the Federal Reserve. You've been a fierce critic of the Fed, arguing for more transparency. Where do you want to take that? Do you want to get Congress involved in monetary policy, or is it time to slap the Fed back and downsize them completely? What are your thoughts? What do you believe? +p2799 +aVSenator Paul, the same question to you. +p2800 +aVThank you, Senator. Dr. Carson, you told The Des Moines Register that you don't like government subsidies, it interferes with the free market. But you've also said that you're in favor of taking oil subsidies and putting them towards ethanol processing. Isn't that just swapping one subsidy for another, Doctor? +p2801 +aVThank you, Doctor. Becky? +p2802 +asVTRUMP +p2803 +(lp2804 +VWell, I can say this. If the president, and if I were president now, I would certainly want to try and nominate a justice. I'm sure that, frankly, I'm absolutely sure that President Obama will try and do it. I hope that our Senate is going to be able \u2014 Mitch, and the entire group, is going to be able to do something about it. In times of delay, we could have a Diane Sykes, or you could have a Bill Pryor \u2014 we have some fantastic people. But this is a tremendous blow to conservatism. It's a tremendous blow, frankly, to our country. +p2805 +aV... I think he's going to do it whether or I'm O.K. with it or not. I think it's up to Mitch McConnell and everybody else to stop it. It's called delay, delay, delay. +p2806 +aVWhat we want to do, when we want to do it, and how hard do we want to hit? Because we are going to have to hit very, very hard to knock out +p2807 +aV... called me a genius, I like him so far, I have to tell you. Let me just tell you this. Jeb is so wrong. Jeb is absolutely self \u2014 just so you understand, you know what that is? That's Jeb's special interest and lobbyist talking. Look, let me just tell you something, Jeb \u2014 Jeb is so wrong. You got to fight +p2808 +aV... You'll end up with World War III... +p2809 +aV... We're supporting troops... +p2810 +aV... that we don't even know who they are. +p2811 +aV... We're supporting troops that we don't even know who they are... +p2812 +aVWe have no idea who they are. +p2813 +aV... Oh, yeah, yeah... +p2814 +aV... Let 44 million in New Hampshire, it was practically ... +p2815 +aV... 44 million \u2014 give me a break. +p2816 +aVFirst of all, I have to say, as a businessman, I get along with everybody. I have business all over the world. I know so many of the people in the audience. And by the way, I'm a self-funder. I don't have \u2014 I have my wife and I have my son. That's all I have. I don't have this. So let me just tell you, I get along with everybody, which is my obligation to my company, to myself, et cetera. Obviously, the war in Iraq was a big, fat mistake. All right? Now, you can take it any way you want, and it took \u2014 it took Jeb Bush, if you remember at the beginning of his announcement, when he announced for president, it took him five days. He went back, it was a mistake, it wasn't a mistake. It took him five days before his people told him what to say, and he ultimately said, "It was a mistake." The war in Iraq, we spent $2 trillion, thousands of lives, we don't even have it. Iran has taken over Iraq, with the second-largest oil reserves in the world. Obviously, it was a mistake. +p2817 +aVGeorge Bush made a mistake. We can make mistakes. But that one was a beauty. We should have never been in Iraq. We have destabilized the Middle East. +p2818 +aVYou do whatever you want. You call it whatever you want. I want to tell you. They lied. They said there were weapons of mass destruction, there were none. And they knew there were none. There were no weapons of mass destruction. +p2819 +aVI'm being nice. +p2820 +aVHe spent $22 million in... +p2821 +aVThe World Trade Center came down during your brother's reign, remember that. +p2822 +aVThat's not keeping us safe. +p2823 +aVShe should be running. +p2824 +aVHow did he keep us safe when the World Trade Center \u2014 the World \u2014 excuse me. I lost hundreds of friends. The World Trade Center came down during the reign of George Bush. He kept us safe? That is not safe. That is not safe, Marco. That is not safe. +p2825 +aVAnd George Bush \u2014 by the way, George Bush had the chance, also, and he didn't listen to the advice of his C.I.A. +p2826 +aVI don't want to go. +p2827 +aVYes. +p2828 +aVFirst of all, the \u2014 when you say I'm the only candidate, if you listen to the Democrats, they want to do many things to Social Security, and I want to do them on its own merit. You listen to them, what they want to do to Social Security, none of these folks are getting elected, O.K., whether they can do it or not. I'm going to save Social Security. I'm going to bring jobs back from China. I'm going to bring jobs back from Mexico and from Japan, where they're all \u2014 every country throughout the world \u2014 now Vietnam, that's the new one. They are taking our jobs. They are taking our wealth. They are taking our base. And you and I have had this discussion. We're going to make our economy strong again. I'm lowering taxes. We have $2.5 trillion offshore. We have 2.5 trillion that I think is actually five trillion because the government has no idea when they say 2.5, they have no idea what they're doing or saying, as they've proven very well. We're going to bring that money back. You take a look at what happened just this week. China bought the Chicago Stock Exchange, China, a Chinese company. Carrier is moving to Mexico, air conditioning company. Not only the ones I talk about all the time, Nabisco and Ford and \u2014 they're all moving out. We have an economy that last quarter, G.D.P. didn't grow. It was flat. We have to make our economy grow again. We're dying. This country is dying. And our workers are losing their jobs, and you're going... +p2829 +aVI'm the only one who is going to save Social Security, believe me. +p2830 +aVBecause you have tremendous waste. I'll tell you... +p2831 +aVYou have tremendous waste, fraud and abuse. That we're taking care of. That we're taking care of. It's tremendous. We have in Social Security right now thousands and thousands of people that are over 106 years old. Now, you know they don't exist. They don't exist. There's tremendous waste, fraud and abuse, and we're going to get it. But we're not going to hurt the people who have been paying into Social Security their whole life and then all of a sudden they're supposed to get less. We're bringing our jobs back. We're going to make our economy great again. +p2832 +aVI want everybody taken care of, but we have to take care of our people in this country. We're not taking care of our people. We have no border. We have no control. People are flooding across. We can't have it. We either have a border, and I'm very strongly \u2014 I'm not proposing. I will build a wall. I will build a wall. Remember this, the wall will be paid for by Mexico. We are not being treated right. We are not being treated properly. If we don't have borders, if we don't have strength, we don't have a country. People are flowing across. We have to take care of our people. Believe me. +p2833 +aVLook......When I announced that I was running for president on June 16th, illegal immigration wasn't even a subject. If I didn't bring it up, we wouldn't even be talking. Now, I don't often agree with Marco, and I don't often agree with Ted, but I can in this case. The weakest person on this stage by far on illegal immigration is Jeb Bush. They come out of an act of love, whether you like it or not. He is so weak on illegal immigration it's laughable, and everybody knows it. +p2834 +aV... Spend a little more money on the commercials... +p2835 +aV. I don't know what you're talking about. +p2836 +aV... I never called him \u2014 I don't call him.. +p2837 +aVHe also said about language... +p2838 +aV... Language. Two days ago he said he would take his pants off and moon everybody, and that's fine. Nobody reports that. He gets up and says that, and then he tells me, oh, my language was a little bit rough... +p2839 +aV... My language. Give me a break... +p2840 +aV... You did say it, you did say it. Been reported in 10 different news... +p2841 +aVOr a tax. +p2842 +aVI would build consensus with Congress, and Congress would agree with me. I'll give you an example, because I don't like the idea of using executive orders like our president. It is a disaster what he's doing. I would build consensus, but consensus means you have to work hard. You have to cajole. You have to get them into the Oval Office and get them all together, and you have to make deals. Let me just tell you, I mentioned before, China \u2014 big Chinese company bought the Chicago Exchange. Kerry is moving \u2014 and if you saw the people, because they have a video of the announcement that Carrier is moving to Mexico, O.K.? Well, I'll tell you what. I would go right now to Carrier and I would say I am going to work awfully hard. You're going to make air conditioners now in Mexico. You're going to get all of these 1,400 people that are being laid off \u2014 they're laid off. They were crying. They were \u2014 it was a very sad situation. You're going to go to Mexico. You're going to make air conditioners in Mexico, you're going to put them across our border with no tax. I'm going to tell them right now, I am going to get consensus from Congress and we're going to tax you when those air conditioners come. So stay where you are or build in the United States, because we are killing ourselves with trade pacts that are no good for us and no good for our workers. +p2843 +aVJohn, in life you have flexibility. You do have flexibility. When you're fighting wars, you're going one way, you have a plan. It's a beautiful plan. It can't lose. The enemy makes a change, and all of a sudden you have to change. You have to have flexibility. In Ronald Reagan, though, in terms of what we're talking about, was the great example. He was a somewhat liberal Democrat who became a somewhat, pretty strong conservative. He became \u2014 most importantly, he became a great president. He made many of the changes that I've made \u2014 I mean, I've seen as I grew up, I've seen, and as I get older and wiser, and I feel that I am a conservative. Now, I also feel I'm a common-sense conservative, because some of the views I don't agree with. And I think a lot of people agree with me, obviously, based on what's happening. +p2844 +aVWell, I think these people always hit me with eminent domain, and frankly, I'm not in love with eminent domain. But eminent domain is something you need very strongly. When Jeb had said, "You used eminent domain privately for a parking lot." It wasn't for a parking lot. The state of New Jersey \u2014 too bad Chris Christie is not here, he could tell you \u2014 the state of New Jersey went to build a very large tower that was going to employ thousands of people. I mean, it was going to really do a big job in terms of economic development. Now, just so you understand, I got hit very hard. It's private, it's private eminent domain. You understand that they took over a stadium in Texas, and they used private eminent domain, but he just found that out after he made the charge. +p2845 +aVYeah. Well, Jeb wouldn't have known about it. +p2846 +aVYou shouldn't have used it then, Jeb. +p2847 +aVThank you very much, I appreciate it. +p2848 +aVYou probably are worse than Jeb Bush. You are single biggest liar. This guy's lied \u2014 let me just tell you, this guy lied about Ben Carson when he took votes away from Ben Carson in Iowa, and he just continues. Today, we had robo-calls saying, "Donald Trump is not going to run in South Carolina," where I'm leading by a lot. I'm not going to vote for Ted Cruz. This is the same thing he did to Ben Carson. This guy will say anything, nasty guy. Now I know why he doesn't have one endorsement from any of his colleagues. +p2849 +aVHe's a nasty guy. +p2850 +aVWhere did I support it? Where did I... +p2851 +aVAgain, where did I support it? +p2852 +aVHey Ted, where I support it? +p2853 +aVWhere did I support? +p2854 +aVThat's a lot of lies. +p2855 +aVIt does do wonderful things, but not as it relates to abortion. +p2856 +aVExcuse me. Excuse me, there are wonderful things having to do with women's health. +p2857 +aVBut not when it comes to abortion. +p2858 +aVHold on... +p2859 +aVTed Cruz told your brother that he wanted John Roberts to be on the United States Supreme Court. They both pushed him, he twice approved Obamacare. +p2860 +aVO.K., governor. +p2861 +aVYou pushed him. You pushed him. +p2862 +aVYou worked with him and you pushed him. Why do you lie? +p2863 +aVWhy do you lie? +p2864 +aVYou pushed him. +p2865 +aVYeah, yeah, I know, you're an adult. +p2866 +aVWell, I would say my wife tells me I'm wrong all the time. And I listen. +p2867 +aVOh, let me just say \u2014 look, I am very open \u2014 I hired top people. I've had great success. I built a great, great company. I don't need to do this. I'm self-funding. I'm spending a lot of money. I've spent \u2014 like in New Hampshire, I spent $3 million. Jeb bush spent $44 million. He came in five, and I came in No. 1. That's what the country needs, folks. I spent 3, he spends 42 of their money, of special interest money. And it's just \u2014 this is not going to make \u2014 excuse me. This is not going to make our country great again. This is not what we need in our country. We need people that know what the hell they're doing. And politicians, they're all talk, they're no action. And that's why people are supporting me. I do listen to people. I hire experts. I hire top, top people. And I do listen. And you know what? Sometimes they're wrong. You have to know what to do, when to do it. But sometimes they're wrong. +p2868 +aVWell, I'll tell you \u2014 over the years, I've made many speeches. People have asked me, big companies have asked me to make speeches, and friends of mine that run big companies on success. And occasion, in order to sort of really highlight something, I'll use a profanity. One of the profanities that I got credited with using, that I didn't use, was a very bad word, two weeks ago, that I never used. I said, "You." And everybody said "Oh, he didn't say anything wrong." But you bleeped it, so everyone thinks I said the \u2014 I didn't say anything. I never said the word. It is very unfair, that criticism. Now, I will say this, with all of that being said, I have said I will not do it at all, because if I say a word that's a little bit off color, a little bit, it ends up being a headline. I will not do it again. I was a very good student at a great school not using \u2014 by the way \u2014 not using profanity is very easy. +p2869 +aVThat's not \u2014 let me respond. That's another lie. I never went bankrupt! +p2870 +aVNo, but it's another lie. +p2871 +aVNo, but it's another lie. This guy doesn't know what he's talking about. Just a lie. +p2872 +aVLet me just tell you. Jeb goes around saying, just like the biggest business leaders in this country, I've used the laws of the land to chapter \u2014 I bought a company, I threw it immediately into a chapter, I made a great deal. I uses the laws to my benefit, because I run a company. +p2873 +aVExcuse me, Jeb! +p2874 +aVI never went bankrupt, never. Now \u2014 but you don't want to say that. Now, let me just say, I've used it, just like the biggest leaders in the country. Let me tell you something \u2014 Florida. Florida, he put so much debt on Florida. You know, we keep saying he's a wonderful governor, wonderful governor. He put so much debt on Florida, and he increased spending so much that as soon as he got out of office, Florida crashed. I happened to be there. It's my second home. Florida crashed. He didn't do a good job as governor. +p2875 +aVAnd you haven't \u2014 excuse me, you haven't heard that. You listen to the good record in Florida. You take a look at what happened, as soon as that year ended he got out, Florida crashed. Too much debt. He loaded it up with debt, and his spending went through the roof. +p2876 +aVBy the way... +p2877 +aV... he was not a good governor. +p2878 +aVTake a look at your numbers. +p2879 +aVFlorida went down the tubes right after he got out of office. +p2880 +aVWent right down because of what he did to it. +p2881 +aVThank you. Politicians are all talk, no action. You've seen where they've take you to. We are 19 trillion dollars right now. It's going to be increased with that horrible budget from a month ago that was just approved by politicians. We need a change. We need a very big change. We're going to make our country great again. I say this every night, every day, every afternoon, and it's so true \u2014 we don't win anymore. We don't win with health care, we don't win with +p2882 +aVI actually think I have the best temperament. I built a massive corporation. I employ thousands and thousands of people. I've gotten along with people for years and years, have tremendous relationships with many people, including politicians on both sides. And no matter how you cut it, when I \u2014 when I came out, I hit immigration, I hit it very hard. Everybody said, "Oh, the temperament," because I talked about illegal immigration. Now, everybody's coming to me, they're all trying to say, well, he's right, we have to come to him. I hit other things. I talked about Muslims. We have a problem. Nobody else wanted to mention the problem, I brought it up. I took a lot of heat. We have to have a temporary something, because there's something going on that's not good. And remember this, I'm the only one up here, when the war of Iraq \u2014 in Iraq, I was the one that said, "Don't go, don't do it, you're going to destabilize the Middle East." So, I'm not one with a trigger. I'm not one with a trigger. Other people up here, believe me, would be a lot faster. But I'll build the mill arbitrary stronger, bigger, better than anybody up here, and nobody is going to mess with us. That, I can tell you. +p2883 +aVAm I allowed to respond? I have to respond. +p2884 +aVFirst of all, I respect what Ted just said, but if you noticed, he didn't answer your question. And that's what's going to happen \u2014 OK. That's what's going to happen with our enemies and the people we compete against. We're going to win with Trump. We're going to win. We don't win anymore. Our country doesn't win anymore. We're going to win with Trump. And people back down with Trump. And that's what I like and that's what the country is going to like. +p2885 +aVWell, let me say a couple of things. First of all, Marco said earlier on that President Obama knows exactly what he's doing, like we have this president that really knows. I disagree, respectfully, with Marco. I think we have a president who, as a president, is totally incompetent, and he doesn't know what he's doing. I think he has no idea what he's doing. And our country is going to hell. So, I just want to say, we disagree on that. Is that okay? +p2886 +aVGood. +p2887 +aVAs to North Korea? +p2888 +aVWe have \u2014 tremendous \u2014 has been just sucked out of our country by China. China says they don't have that good of control over North Korea. They have tremendous control. I deal with the Chinese all of the time. I do tremendous \u2014 the largest bank in the world is in one of my buildings in Manhattan. I deal with them. They tell me. They have total, absolute control, practically, of North Korea. They are sucking trillions of dollars out of our country \u2014 they're rebuilding China with the money they take out of our country. I would get on with China, let China solve that problem. They can do it quickly and surgically. That's what we should do with North Korea. +p2889 +aVGood evening. +p2890 +aVYes. HAM: In the Democratic primary, Hillary Clinton has criticized Bernie Sanders' plan for single payer government health care, noting it would require big, across the board tax increases for Americans. In doing so, she's doubling down on Obamacare, despite its persistent unpopularity. Mr. Trump, you have said you want to appeal Obamacare. You have also said, quote, "Everybody's got to be covered," adding, quote, "The government's going to pay for it." Are you closer to Bernie Sanders' vision for health care than Hillary Clinton's? +p2891 +aVI don't think I am. I think I'm closer to common sense. We are going to repeal Obamacare. We're going to repeal Obamacare. We are going to replace Obamacare with something so much better. And there are so many examples of it. And I will tell you, part of the reason we have some people laughing, because you have insurance people that take care of everybody up here. I am self-funded. The only one they're not taking care of is me. We have our lines around each state. The insurance companies are getting rich on Obamacare. The insurance companies are getting rich on health care and health services and everything having to do with health. We are going to end that. We're going to take out the artificial boundaries, the artificial lines. We're going to get a plan where people compete, free enterprise. They compete. So much better. In addition to that, you have the health care savings plans, which are excellent. What I do say is, there will be a certain number of people that will be on the street dying and as a Republican, I don't want that to happen. We're going to take care of people that are dying on the street because there will be a group of people that are not going to be able to even think in terms of private or anything else and we're going to take care of those people. And I think everybody on this stage would have to agree......you're not going to let people die, sitting in the middle of a street in any city in this country. +p2892 +aVWell, let me just tell you about eminent domain because almost all of these people actually criticize it, but so many people have hit me with commercials and other things about eminent domain. Eminent domain is an absolute necessity for a country, for our country. Without it, you wouldn't have roads, you wouldn't have hospitals, you wouldn't have anything. You wouldn't have schools, you wouldn't have bridges. You need eminent domain. And a lot of the big conservatives that tell me how conservative they are \u2014 I think I'm more than they are \u2014 they tell me, oh \u2014 well, they all want the Keystone Pipeline. The Keystone Pipeline, without eminent domain, it wouldn't go 10 feet, OK? You need eminent domain. And eminent domain is a good thing, not a bad thing. And what a lot of people don't know because they were all saying, oh, you're going to take their property. When somebody \u2014 when eminent domain is used on somebody's property, that person gets a fortune. They get at least fair market value, and if they are smart, they'll get two or three times the value of their property. But without eminent domain, you don't have roads, highways, schools, bridges or anything. So eminent domain \u2014 it's not that I love it, but eminent domain is absolutely \u2014 it's a necessity for a country. And certainly it's a necessity for our country. +p2893 +aVYes. +p2894 +aVJeb wants to be \u2014 he wants to be a tough guy tonight. I didn't take the property. +p2895 +aVI didn't take the property. +p2896 +aVThe woman ultimately didn't want to do that. I walked away. +p2897 +aVWell, let me just \u2014 you know, he wants to be a tough guy. A lot of times, you'll have \u2014 you'll have \u2014 and it didn't work very well. +p2898 +aVA lot of time \u2014 let me talk. Quiet. A lot of times \u2014 a lot of times... +p2899 +aV... you \u2014 let me talk. Let me talk. Quiet. A lot of times......that's all of his donors and special interests out there. So \u2014 it's what it is. That's what \u2014 and by the way, let me just tell you, we needed tickets. You can't get them. You know who has the tickets for the \u2014 I'm talking about, to the television audience? Donors, special interests, the people that are putting up the money. That's who it is. The RNC told us. We have all donors in the audience. And the reason they're not loving me......the reason they're not \u2014 excuse me. The reason they're not loving me is, I don't want their money. I'm going to do the right thing for the American public. I don't want their money. I don't need their money. And I'm the only one up here that can say that. Eminent domain, the Keystone pipeline \u2014 do you consider that a private job? Do you \u2014 do you consider that... +p2900 +aVNo \u2014 no, let me ask you, Jeb. Do you consider the Keystone pipeline private? +p2901 +aVIs it public or private? +p2902 +aVReal \u2014 a public use? +p2903 +aVNo, it's a private job. +p2904 +aVIt's a private job. +p2905 +aVYou wouldn't have the Keystone pipeline that you want so badly without eminent domain. +p2906 +aVYou wouldn't have massive \u2014 excuse me, Josh \u2014 you wouldn't have massive factories without eminent domain. +p2907 +aVWell, I think I am, and to me, I view the word conservative as a derivative I \u2014 of \u2014 of the word conserve. We want to converse our money. We want to conserve our wealth. We want to conserve. We want to be smart. We want to be smart where we go, where we spend, how we spend. We want to conserve our country. We want to save our country. And we have people that have no idea how to do that and they are not doing it, and it's a very important word and it's something I believe in very, very strongly. +p2908 +aVWell, before I go there, I will tell you, I will bring jobs back from China. I will bring jobs back from Japan. I will bring jobs back from Mexico, where New Hampshire, by the way, has been virtually wiped out. They've lost so many businesses going to Mexico because of horrible trade deals. And now we're about to sign another trade deal, TPP, which is going to be a disaster for this country because they don't talk about monetary manipulation. It is going to be a disaster. I'm going to bring jobs back and I'll start bringing them back very fast. Under my tax plan \u2014 right now, we're the highest taxed country in the world. Under my plan, we cut not only taxes for the middle class, but we cut taxes for corporations. We will bring back trillions of dollars that's offshore. Right now, they have $2.5 trillion, and in my opinion, it's much more than that. That's what the government says. All of that money is going to come back. And we're not going to lose Pfizer, which is now leaving, and other great companies, which is now leaving. And they're all leaving. We have many, many companies that are leaving this country. We're not going to lose them anymore because we're going to have a tax structure that is going to keep them in our country. +p2909 +aVWell, four years ago, I said, bomb the oil and take the oil. And if we did that, they wouldn't have the wealth they have right now. Now, I still say the same thing, because we're doing little pinpricks. We're not even bombing \u2014 if somebody's driving a truck, they give notice to the person driving the truck, "we're going to bomb." If they don't get out of the truck, the truck sails away with the oil. We actually have a case where we don't want to bomb the oil, because we don't want to hurt \u2014 pollute the atmosphere. Can you imagine General Douglas MacArthur or General Patton saying we can't bomb because we're gonna hurt the atmosphere? You have to knock the hell out of the oil. You have to take the oil. And you have also back channels of banking. You have people that you think are our great allies, our friends, in the Middle East, that are paying tremendous numbers of \u2014 tremendous amounts of money to +p2910 +aVYou have to go in \u2014 first of all, when you take away their money, when you take away their wealth, that'll very much weaken \u2014 and it will happen fairly fast. They'll last for about a year, based on all of the wealth they've accumulated. But when you stop the banking channels and when you stop the oil and take the oil \u2014 not just bomb it, take it \u2014 when you do that, it's going to dry up very quickly. They're going to become a very weakened power, quickly. Thank you. +p2911 +aVWell, I'll tell you what. In the Middle East, we have people chopping the heads off Christians, we have people chopping the heads off many other people. We have things that we have never seen before \u2014 as a group, we have never seen before, what's happening right now. The medieval times \u2014 I mean, we studied medieval times \u2014 not since medieval times have people seen what's going on. I would bring back waterboarding and I'd bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding. +p2912 +aV... No, a good deal maker will make great deals, but we'll do it the way our founders thought it should be done. People get together, they make deals. Ronald Reagan did it with Tip O'Neil very successfully, you didn't hear so much about executive orders, if you heard about it at all. You have to be able to get a consensus. Now, the real person like it was mentioned about the deal with Iran, how bad a deal is that? It doesn't get any more amateurish than that. A good deal maker would never make a deal like that. With Congress, you have to get everybody in a room, and you have to get them to agree. But, you have to get them to agree what you want, and that's part of being a deal maker. You can't leave the White House, go to Hawaii and play golf for three weeks and be a real deal maker. It doesn't work that way. You have to get people in, grab them, hug them, kiss them, and get the deal done. But, it's got to be the deal that you want. HAM: Governor Kasich, is the problem with Washington that there are too many deals, or too few? +p2913 +aVSome? +p2914 +aVWell... +p2915 +aVYes. OK, good. It looked like he was looking right at me, right there. I think that \u2014 I look at what's going on, I look at all of the polls, I do very, very well against Hillary Clinton. I can tell you, I'm the last person that she wants to run against. And I think you can see what we've done in terms of galvanizing. I've been all over the country. We're \u2014 last night, I was in South Carolina, we had 12,000 people. It set up in about four days. We have galvanized and we've created a movement. A lot of it has to do with \u2014 as an example, Josh's question on drugs. I'm the first person that said, "Build a wall." But I mean, a real wall, not a toy wall like they have right now. A real wall. And you'll solve lots of problems. But we will galvanize the people of this country, and we will beat Hillary Clinton. Because \u2014 assuming that she runs, by the way, how she gets away with the e-mail stuff is hard to believe. So, I don't know that she's going to be running. But on the assumption she runs... I mean, look. And speaking of that, if she runs, she's running for one reason. She's going to be able to run for one reason, and that's because the Democrats are protecting her. Because so many people have done so much less than her, and they were absolutely \u2014 their lives have been destroyed. But on the assumption they do protect her, I will win the election and we will win it by a lot. We will win it handily. We cannot have another four years of essentially Barack Obama. +p2916 +aVWell, there is a divide, but I have to say that the police are absolutely mistreated and misunderstood, and if there is an incident, whether it's an incident done purposely \u2014 which is a horror, and you should really take very strong action \u2014 or if it is a mistake, it's on your news casts all night, all week, all month, and it never ends. The police in this country have done an unbelievable job of keeping law and order, and they're afraid for their jobs, they're afraid of the mistreatment they get, and I'm telling you that not only, me speaking, minorities all over the country, they respect the police of this country and we have to give them more respect. They can't act. They can't act. They're afraid for losing their pension, their job. They don't know what to do. And I deal with them all the time. We have to give great respect, far greater than we are right now, to our really fantastic police. +p2917 +aVWell, they do. And, you know, they sue. Everybody sues, right? They see excessive \u2014 I mean, they go out, they sue. We have so much litigation \u2014 I see the courts, I see what they're doing. They sue, and you know what? We don't want excessive force. But at what point \u2014 you know, either you're going to have a police force that can do its job... I was just up in Manchester, I met with the police officers yesterday. Tremendous people. They love the area, they love the people, they love all the people. They want to do their job. And you're going to have abuse and you're going to have problems, and you've got to solve the problems and you have to weed out the problems. But the police in this country are absolutely amazing people. +p2918 +aVWell, I \u2014 I know Diane Foley very well. Her husband and \u2014 these are tremendous people. I spoke for them, I raised a lot of money for the foundation. I fully understand, James, one of \u2014 that was really the first that we saw, really visually saw \u2014 it was so horrible. And I will tell you, though, with all of that being said, you can not negotiate this way with terrorists. If you do, you are going to have many, many more James Foleys. James Foley was a great young man. His parents are incredible people. They've done such a good job, since his \u2014 since his death. But you just cannot negotiate that way with terrorists, or you're gonna have so many other James Foleys. And one thing on the vets \u2014 during the last debate, I raised $6 million for the vets, and I will tell you something......I will tell you that I think nobody here, nobody on this stage, gets along with the veterans groups in New Hampshire better than I do without ball (ph) to sarel (ph) and all of the people that I deal with and these are great people. The one thing that we're not mentioning, there's tremendous fraud, waste and abuse in the Veterans Administration and if I'm running things, that's going to disappear......and it's going to disappear quickly. +p2919 +aVCarolina. +p2920 +aVThat's because he got Ben Carson's votes, by the way, but we won't . Our country that we love so much doesn't win anymore. We don't win with the military, we don't' win on the border. You look at New Hampshire with the tremendous problem we have with heroin. Number one thing I hear from the people of New Hampshire, who I love, and developed such relationships, we don't win with healthcare. We don't win with trade. You look at what other countries are doing to us. China. Everyone, they're killing us on trade. If I'm elected president, we will win, and we will win, and we will win. Thank you, thank you very much. +p2921 +aVIt's not fear and terror, it's reality. You just have to look today at Indonesia, bombings all over. You look at California, you look, frankly, at Paris where there's a \u2014 the strictest no-gun policy of any city anywhere in the world, and you see what happens: 130 people dead with many to follow. They're very, very badly wounded. They will \u2014 some will follow. And you look around, and you see what's happening, and this is not the case when he introduced the doctor \u2014 very nice, everything perfect but that is not representative of what you have in that line of migration. That could be the great Trojan Horse. It could be people that are going to do great, great destruction. When I look at the migration, I looked at the line, I said it actually on your show recently, where are the women? It looked like very few women. Very few children. Strong, powerful men, young and people are looking at that and they're saying what's going on? You look at the kind of damage that two people that two people that got married, they were radicalized \u2014 they got married, they killed 15 people in actually 15 \u2014 going to be probably 16 but you look at that and you take a look \u2014 a good strong look and that's what we have. We are nineteen trillion dollars \u2014 our country's a mess and we can't let all these people come into our country and break our borders. We can't do it. +p2922 +aVBut I was born here. +p2923 +aV. Big difference. +p2924 +aVOK, good. Because it wouldn't work. +p2925 +aV... first of all, let me just tell you something \u2014 and you know, because you just saw the numbers yourself \u2014 NBC Wall Street Journal just came out with a poll \u2014 headline: Trump way up, Cruz going down. I mean, so don't \u2014 so you can't \u2014 you can't......they don't like the Wall Street Journal. They don't like NBC, but I like the poll. And frankly, it just came out, and in Iowa now, as you know, Ted, in the last three polls, I'm beating you. So \u2014 you know, you shouldn't misrepresent how well you're doing with the polls. You don't have to say that. In fact, I was all for you until you started doing that, because that's a misrepresentation, number one. Number two, this isn't me saying it. I don't care. I think I'm going to win fair and square to win this way. Thank you. Lawrence Tribe and from Harvard \u2014 of Harvard, said that there is a serious question as to whether or not Ted can do this. OK? There are other attorneys that feel, and very, very fine constitutional attorneys, that feel that because he was not born on the land, he cannot run for office. Here's the problem. We're running. We're running. He does great. I win. I choose him as my vice presidential candidate, and the Democrats sue because we can't take him along for the ride. I don't like that. OK? The fact is \u2014 and if for some reason he beats the rest of the field, he beats the rest of the field . See, they don't like that. They don't like that. No, they don't like he beats the rest of the field, because they want me. But \u2014 if for some reason, Neil, he beats the rest of the field, I already know the Democrats are going to be bringing a suit. You have a big lawsuit over your head while you're running. And if you become the nominee, who the hell knows if you can even serve in office? So you should go out, get a declaratory judgment, let the courts decide. And you shouldn't have mentioned the polls because I would have been much... +p2926 +aVBecause now he's going a little bit better. No, I didn't care . It's true. No, it's true. Hey look, he never had a chance. Now, he's doing better. He's got probably a four or five percent chance. +p2927 +aVThe fact is, there is a big overhang. There's a big question mark on your head. And you can't do that to the party. You really can't. You can't do that to the party. You have to have certainty. Even if it was a one percent chance, and it's far greater than one percent because . I mean, you have great constitutional lawyers that say you can't run. If there was a \u2014 and you know I'm not bringing a suit. I promise. But the Democrats are going to bring a lawsuit, and you have to have certainty. You can't have a question. I can agree with you or not, but you can't have a question over your head. +p2928 +aVYou don't have to. Take it from Lawrence Tribe. Take it from your professors... +p2929 +aVHe's wrong. He's wrong. +p2930 +aVHe is not the only one. +p2931 +aVThere are many lawyers. +p2932 +aVNo \u2014 no...... I think if it doesn't... I like that. I like it. I'd consider it. But I think I'll go back to building buildings if it doesn't work out. +p2933 +aVI have a feeling it's going to work out, actually. +p2934 +aVOkay. First of all, Nikki this afternoon said I'm a friend of hers. Actually a close friend. And wherever you are sitting Nikki, I'm a friend. We're friends. That's good. But she did say there was anger. And I could say, oh, I'm not angry. I'm very angry because our country is being run horribly and I will gladly accept the mantle of anger. Our military is a disaster. Our healthcare is a horror show. Obamacare, we're going to repeal it and replace it. We have no borders. Our vets are being treated horribly. Illegal immigration is beyond belief. Our country is being run by incompetent people. And yes, I am angry. And I won't be angry when we fix it, but until we fix it, I'm very, very angry. And I say that to Nikki. So when Nikki said that, I wasn't offended. She said the truth. One of your colleagues interviewed me. And said, well, she said you were angry and I said to myself, huh, she's right. I'm not fighting that. I didn't find it offensive at all. I'm angry because our country is a mess. +p2935 +aVNo. I am a 2nd amendment person. If we had guns in California on the other side where the bullets went in the different direction, you wouldn't have 14 or 15 people dead right now. If even in Paris, if they had guns on the other side, going in the opposite direction, you wouldn't have 130 people plus dead. So the answer is no and what Jeb said is absolutely correct. We have a huge mental health problem in this country. We're closing hospitals, we're closing wards, we're closing so many because the states want to save money. We have to get back into looking at what's causing it. The guns don't pull the trigger. It's the people that pull the trigger and we have to find out what is going on. We have to protect our 2nd amendment and you cannot do this and certainly what Barack Obama was doing with the executive order. He doesn't want to get people together, the old-fashioned way, where you get Congress. You get the Congress, you get the Senate, you get together, you do legislation. He just writes out an executive order. Not supposed to happen that way. +p2936 +aVYou get the Congress. You get the Senate. You get together. You do legislation. He just writes out an order, executive order. It's not supposed to happen that way. +p2937 +aVSo conservatives actually do come out of Manhattan, including William F. Buckley and others, just so you understand. And just so \u2014 if I could, because he insulted a lot of people. I've had more calls on that statement that Ted made \u2014 New York is a great place. It's got great people, it's got loving people, wonderful people. When the World Trade Center came down, I saw something that no place on Earth could have handled more beautifully, more humanely than New York. You had two one hundred... ...you had two 110-story buildings come crashing down. I saw them come down. Thousands of people killed, and the cleanup started the next day, and it was the most horrific cleanup, probably in the history of doing this, and in construction. I was down there, and I've never seen anything like it. And the people in New York fought and fought and fought, and we saw more death, and even the smell of death \u2014 nobody understood it. And it was with us for months, the smell, the air. And we rebuilt downtown Manhattan, and everybody in the world watched and everybody in the world loved New York and loved New Yorkers. And I have to tell you, that was a very insulting statement that Ted made. +p2938 +aVNo. No. Look, we have to stop with political correctness. We have to get down to creating a country that's not going to have the kind of problems that we've had with people flying planes into the World Trade Centers, with the \u2014 with the shootings in California, with all the problems all over the world. I just left Indonesia \u2014 bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb. We have to find out what's going on. I said temporarily. I didn't say permanently. I said temporarily. And I have many great Muslim friends. And some of them, I will say, not all, have called me and said, "Donald, thank you very much; you're exposing an unbelievable problem and we have to get to the bottom of it." And unlike President Obama, where he refuses even to use the term of what's going on, he can't use the term for whatever reason. And if you can't use the term, you're never going to solve the problem. My Muslim friends, some, said, "thank you very much; we'll get to the bottom of it." But we have a serious problem. And we can't be the stupid country any more. We're laughed at all over the world. +p2939 +aVEleven points, to be exact. +p2940 +aVI want security for this country. OK? I want security. I'm tired of seeing what's going on, between the border where the people flow over; people come in; they live; they shoot. I want security for this country. We have a serious problem with, as you know, with radical Islam. We have a tremendous problem. It's not only a problem here. It's a problem all over the world. I want to find out why those two young people \u2014 those two horrible young people in California when they shot the 14 people, killed them \u2014 people they knew, people that held the wedding reception for them. I want to find out \u2014 many people saw pipe bombs and all sorts of things all over their apartment. Why weren't they vigilant? Why didn't they call? Why didn't they call the police? And by the way, the police are the most mistreated people in this country. I will tell you that. The most mistreated people. In fact, we need to \u2014 wait a minute \u2014 we need vigilance. We have to find out \u2014 many people knew about what was going on. Why didn't they turn those two people in so that you wouldn't have had all the death? There's something going on and it's bad. And I'm saying we have to get to the bottom of it. That's all I'm saying. We need security. +p2941 +aVThat's wrong. They were wrong. It's the New York Times, they are always wrong. +p2942 +aVThey were wrong. +p2943 +aVNo, I said, " I would use \u2014 " they were asking me what to do about North Korea. China, they don't like to tell us but they have total control \u2014 just about, of North Korea. They can solve the problem of North Korea if they wanted to but they taunt us. They say, " well, we don't really have control." Without China, North Korea doesn't even eat. China is ripping us on trade. They're devaluing their currency and they're killing our companies. Thousands of thousands \u2014 you look at the number of companies and the number in terms of manufacturing of plans that we've lost \u2014 50,000 because of China. +p2944 +aVWe've lost anywhere between four and seven million jobs because of China. What I said then was, "we have very unfair trade with China. We're going to have a trade deficit of 505 billion dollars this year with China." A lot of that is because they devalue their currency. What I said to the New York Times, is that, "we have great power, economic power over China and if we wanted to use that and the amount \u2014 where the 45 percent comes in, that would be the amount they saw their devaluations that we should get." That we should get. What I'm saying is this, I'm saying that we do it but if they don't start treating us fairly and stop devaluing and let their currency rise so that our companies can compete and we don't lose all of these millions of jobs that we're losing, I would certainly start taxing goods that come in from China. Who the hell has to lose 505 billion dollars a year? +p2945 +aVIt's not that complicated actually. +p2946 +aVOK, just so you understand \u2014 I know so much about trading about with China. Carl Icahn today as you know endorsed. Many businessmen want to endorse me. +p2947 +aVCarl said, "no, no \u2014 " but he's somebody \u2014 these are the kind of people that we should use to negotiate and not the China people that we have who are political hacks who don't know what they're doing and we have problems like this. If these are the kinds of people \u2014 we should use our best and our finest. Now, on that tariff \u2014 here's what I'm saying, China \u2014 they send their goods and we don't tax it \u2014 they do whatever they want to do. They do whatever what they do, OK. When we do business with China, they tax us. You don't know it, they tax us. I have many friends that deal with China. They can't \u2014 when they order the product and when they finally get the product it is taxed. If you looking at what happened with Boeing and if you look at what happened with so many companies that deal \u2014 so we don't have an equal playing field. I'm saying, absolutely, we don't have to continue to lose 505 billion dollars as a trade deficit for the privilege of dealing with China. I'm a free trader. I believe in it but we have to be smart and we have to use smart people to negotiate. I have the largest bank in the world as a tenant of mine. I sell tens' of millions of . I love China. I love the Chinese people but they laugh themselves, they can't believe how stupid the American leadership is. +p2948 +aVI'm totally open to a tariff. If they don't treat us fairly, hey, their whole trade is tariffed. You can't deal in China without tariffs. They do it to us, we don't it. It's not fair trade. +p2949 +aVI'm happy to have him tonight... +p2950 +aVNeil, the problem... +p2951 +aV... with what Marco is saying is that it takes too long, they're sucking us dry and it takes too long. It would just \u2014 you absolutely have to get involved with China, they are taking so much of what we have in terms of jobs in terms of money. We just can't do it any longer. +p2952 +aVYou looking at me? +p2953 +aVCan I tell you what? It will never happen because they'll let their currency go up. They're never going to let it happen. Japan, the same thing. They are devaluing \u2014 it's so impossible for \u2014 you look at Caterpillar Tractor and what's happening with Caterpillar and Kamatsu. Kamatsu is a tractor company in Japan. Friends of mine are ordering Kamatsu tractors now because they've de-valued the yen to such an extent that you can't buy a Caterpillar tractor. And we're letting them get away with it and we can't let them get away with it. And that's why we have to use Carl and we have to use our great businesspeople and not political hacks to negotiate with these guys. +p2954 +aVAnd we don't need a weak person being president of the United State, OK? Because that's what we'd get if it were Jeb \u2014 I tell you what, we don't need that. +p2955 +aVWe don't need that. That's essentially what we have now, and we don't need that. And that's why we're in the trouble that we're in now. And by the way, Jeb you mentioned Boeing, take a look. They order planes, they make Boeing build their plant in China. They don't want them made here. They want those planes made in China. +p2956 +aVThat's not the way the game is supposed to be played. +p2957 +aVNo, the new planes. I'm not talking about now, I'm talking about in the future they're building massive plants in China because China does not want Boeing building their planes here, they want them built in China, because China happens to be smart the way they do it, not the way we do it. +p2958 +aVI'll check for you. +p2959 +aVMaria \u2014 Maria, what you were talking about just now is called corporate inversion. It's one of the biggest problems our country has. Right now, corporations, by the thousands, are thinking of leaving our country with the jobs \u2014 leave them behind. They're leaving because of taxes, but they are also leaving because they can't get their money back and everybody agrees, Democrats and Republicans, that is should come back in. But they can't get along. They can't even make a deal. Here is the case, they both agree, they can't make a deal. We have to do something. Corporate inversion is one of the biggest problems we have. So many companies are going to leave our country. +p2960 +aVThank you. +p2961 +aVWell, it's an interesting question because I'm very proud of my company. As you too know, I know I built a very great company. But if I become president, I couldn't care less about my company. It's peanuts. I want to use that same up here, whatever it may be to make America rich again and to make America great again. I have Ivanka, and Eric and Don sitting there. Run the company kids, have a good time. I'm going to do it for America. So I would \u2014 I would be willing to do that. +p2962 +aVI would put it in a blind trust. Well, I don't know if it's a blind trust if Ivanka, Don and Eric run it. If that's a blind trust, I don't know. But I would probably have my children run it with my executives and I wouldn't ever be involved because I wouldn't care about anything but our country, anything. +p2963 +aVThank you. +p2964 +aVI stood yesterday with 75 construction workers. They're tough, they're strong, they're great people. Half of them had tears pouring down their face. They were watching the humiliation of our young ten sailors, sitting on the floor with their knees in a begging position, their hands up. And Iranian wise guys having guns to their heads. It was a terrible sight. A terrible sight. And the only reason we got them back is because we owed them with a stupid deal, $150 billion. If I'm president, there won't be stupid deals anymore. We will make America great again. We will win on everything we do. Thank you. +p2965 +aVThank you. I began this journey six months ago. My total focus was on building up our military, building up our strength, building up our borders, making sure that China, Japan, Mexico, both at the border and in trade, no longer takes advantage of our country. Certainly would never have made that horrible, disgusting, absolutely incompetent deal with Iran where they get $150 billion. They're a terrorist nation. But I began it talking about other things. And those things are things that I'm very good at and maybe that's why I'm center stage. People saw it. People liked it. People respected it. A month ago things changed. Radical Islamic terrorism came into effect even more so than it has been in the past. People like what I say. People respect what I say. And we've opened up a very big discussion that needed to be opened up. Thank you very much. +p2966 +aVWe are not talking about isolation. We're talking about security. We're not talking about religion. We're talking about security. Our country is out of control. People are pouring across the southern border. I will build a wall. It will be a great wall. People will not come in unless they come in legally. Drugs will not pour through that wall. As far as other people like in the migration, where they're going, tens of thousands of people having cell phones with +p2967 +aVJeb doesn't really believe I'm unhinged. He said that very simply because he has failed in this campaign. It's been a total disaster. Nobody cares. And frankly, I'm the most solid person up here. I built a tremendous company and all I want to do is make America great again. I don't want our country to be taken away from us, and that's what's happening. The policies that we've suffered under other presidents have been a disaster for our country. We want to make America great again. And Jeb, in all fairness, he doesn't believe that. +p2968 +aVWell, look, this is so easy to answer. +p2969 +aVI would certainly be open to closing areas where we are at war with somebody. I sure as hell don't want to let people that want to kill us and kill our nation use our Internet. Yes, sir, I am. +p2970 +aVWe have to be much tougher. We have to be much stronger than we've been. We have people that know what is going on. You take a look at just the attack in California the other day. There were numerous people, including the mother, that knew what was going on. They saw a pipe bomb sitting all over the floor. They saw ammunition all over the place. They knew exactly what was going on. When you had the World Trade Center go, people were put into planes that were friends, family, girlfriends, and they were put into planes and they were sent back, for the most part, to Saudi Arabia. They knew what was going on. They went home and they wanted to watch their boyfriends on television. I would be very, very firm with families. Frankly, that will make people think because they may not care much about their lives, but they do care, believe it or not, about their families' lives. +p2971 +aVLook, the problem is we need toughness. Honestly, I think Jeb is a very nice person. He's a very nice person. But we need tough people. We need toughness. We need intelligence and we need tough. Jeb said when they come across the southern border they come as an act of love. +p2972 +aVAm I talking or are you talking, Jeb? +p2973 +aVYou can go back. You're not talking. You interrupted me. +p2974 +aVAre you going to apologize, Jeb? No. Am I allowed to finish? +p2975 +aVExcuse me, am I allowed to finish? +p2976 +aVSo... +p2977 +aV... again... +p2978 +aVI know you're trying to build up your energy, Jeb, but it's not working very well. +p2979 +aVLook, look, look. We need a toughness. We need strength. We're not respected, you know, as a nation anymore. We don't have that level of respect that we need. And if we don't get it back fast, we're just going to go weaker, weaker and just disintegrate. We can't allow that to happen. We need strength. We don't have it. When Jeb comes out and he talks about the border, and I saw it and I was witness to it, and so was everyone else, and I was standing there, "they come across as an act of love," he's saying the same thing right now with radical Islam. And we can't have that in our country. It just won't work. We need strength. +p2980 +aVWith Jeb's attitude, we will never be great again, that I can tell you. We will never be great again. +p2981 +aVSo, they can kill us, but we can't kill them? That's what you're saying. And as far as the Internet is concerned, we're not talking about closing the Internet. I'm talking about parts of Syria, parts of Iraq, where +p2982 +aVIn my opinion, we've spent $4 trillion trying to topple various people that frankly, if they were there and if we could've spent that $4 trillion in the United States to fix our roads, our bridges, and all of the other problems; our airports and all of the other problems we've had, we would've been a lot better off. I can tell you that right now. We have done a tremendous disservice, not only to Middle East, we've done a tremendous disservice to humanity. The people that have been killed, the people that have wiped away, and for what? It's not like we had victory. It's a mess. The Middle East is totally destabilized. A total and complete mess. I wish we had the $4 trillion or $5 trillion. I wish it were spent right here in the United States, on our schools, hospitals, roads, airports, and everything else that are all falling apart. +p2983 +aVWell, there's nothing to respond to. Well, people feel differently. I mean, the fact is Benghazi was a disaster because of Libya, everything just fell into place. It could not have been worse. What do we have now? We have nothing. We've spent $3 trillion and probably much more \u2013 I have no idea what we've spent. Thousands and thousands of lives, we have nothing. Wounded warriors all over the place who I love, we have nothing for it. And by the way \u2013 and Ben said incorrectly \u2013 and I'm not saying this as a knock \u2013 he's one of finest men. You're not going to find a finer men. But I've been talking about oil for three years. I've been saying,, "take the oil, take the oil." I didn't say, "just bomb it," I said," take it and use it and distribute it so that the wounded warriors -" People, I've been saying this now for many years. +p2984 +aVNow, all of a sudden everybody's saying, "take the oil." It wasn't so fashionable to take the oil six months ago. I've been saying it for years. +p2985 +aVI think Assad is a bad guy, a very bad guy, all right? Lots of people killed. I think we are backing people we have no idea who they are. The rebels, we call them the rebels, the patriotic rebels. We have no idea. A lot of people think, Hugh, that they are +p2986 +aVI think it's very sad that CNN leads Jeb Bush, Governor Bush, down a road by starting off virtually all the questions, "Mr. Trump this, Mister" \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched the first debate, and the first long number of questions were, "Mr. Trump said this, Mr. Trump said that. Mr. Trump" \u2014 these poor guys \u2014 although, I must tell you, Santorum, good guy. Governor Huckabee, good guy. They were very nice, and I respect them greatly. But I thought it was very unfair that virtually the entire early portion of the debate was Trump this, Trump that, in order to get ratings, I guess. In order to get ratings, I guess. +p2987 +aVI just think it's very \u2014 excuse me. +p2988 +aVExcuse me. I think it's very unprofessional. +p2989 +aVWell, I think it's very unprofessional. +p2990 +aVOK, fine. +p2991 +aVThis isn't tough and easy. I wish it... +p2992 +aVI wish it was always this easy as you, Jeb. +p2993 +aVOh, yeah. +p2994 +aVOh, I know. You're a tough guy, Jeb. I know. +p2995 +aVYou're tough. +p2996 +aVWell, let's see. I'm at 42, and you're at 3. So, so far, I'm doing better. +p2997 +aVSo far, I'm doing better. You know, you started off over here, Jeb. You're moving over further and further. Pretty soon you're going to be off the end... +p2998 +aVI believe I did. +p2999 +aVI have a very hardline position, we have a country or we don't have a country. People that have come into our country illegally, they have to go. They have to come back into through a legal process. I want a strong border. I do want a wall. Walls do work, you just have to speak to the folks in Israel. Walls work if they're properly constructed. I know how to build, believe me, I know how to build. I feel a very, very strong bind, and really I'm bound to this country, we either have a border or we don't. People can come into the country, we welcome people to come but they have to come in legally. +p3000 +aVWell, first of all, I think we need somebody absolutely that we can trust, who is totally responsible; who really knows what he or she is doing. That is so powerful and so important. And one of the things that I'm frankly most proud of is that in 2003, 2004, I was totally against going into Iraq because you're going to destabilize the Middle East. I called it. I called it very strongly. And it was very important. But we have to be extremely vigilant and extremely careful when it comes to nuclear. Nuclear changes the whole ball game. Frankly, I would have said get out of Syria; get out \u2014 if we didn't have the power of weaponry today. The power is so massive that we can't just leave areas that 50 years ago or 75 years ago we wouldn't care. It was hand-to-hand combat. The biggest problem this world has today is not President Obama with global warming, which is inconceivable, this is what he's saying. The biggest problem we have is nuclear \u2014 nuclear proliferation and having some maniac, having some madman go out and get a nuclear weapon. That's in my opinion, that is the single biggest problem that our country faces right now. +p3001 +aVI think \u2014 I think, for me, nuclear is just the power, the devastation is very important to me. +p3002 +aVI did. +p3003 +aVLet me just say that I have gotten to know him over the last three or four days. He has a wonderful temperament. He's just fine. Don't worry about it. +p3004 +aVYou better not attack... +p3005 +aVI really am. I'll be honest, I really am. I mean, the people have been putting me... I really am. +p3006 +aVLet me just. Can I just finish my... +p3007 +aVI've gained great respect for the Republican leadership. I've gained great respect for many \u2014 and I'm going to even say \u2014 I mean, in different forms for the people on the dais, in different forms. In different forms. But I have great respect for the people I have met through this process. I've never done this process before. I've never been a politician. I mean, for the last six months I've been a politician. But I will tell you, I am totally committed to the Republican Party. I feel very honored to be the front runner. And I think I'll do very well if I'm chosen. If I'm so fortunate to be chosen, I think I'll do very well. Polls have come out recently saying I would beat Hillary. I will do everything in my power to beat Hillary Clinton, I promise you. +p3008 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We don't win on trade. We don't win on the military. We can't defeat +p3009 +aVI can't be Neil. And the and the reason I can't be is that we are a country that is being beaten on every front economically, militarily. There is nothing that we do now to win. We don't win anymore. Our taxes are too high. I've come up with a tax plan that many, many people like very much. It's going to be a tremendous plan. I think it'll make our country and our economy very dynamic. But, taxes too high, wages too high, we're not going to be able to compete against the world. I hate to say it, but we have to leave it the way it is. People have to go out, they have to work really hard and have to get into that upper stratum. But we can not do this if we are going to compete with the rest of the world. We just can't do it. +p3010 +aVI would not do it. +p3011 +aVI was so happy yesterday when I saw that decision come down. That was an unbelievable decision. And we don't have enough of those decisions coming down. He of the executive order, because nobody wants to listen to him, including the Democrats, so he just goes around signing executive orders. That was a great day. And, frankly, we have to stop illegal immigration. It's hurting us economically. It's hurting us from every standpoint. It's causing tremendous difficulty with respect to drugs and what that does to many of our inner cities in particular. And it really is \u2014 was such an unbelievable moment because the courts have not been ruling in our favor. And it was a 2-1 decision. And it was a terrific thing that happened. And I will tell you, we are a country of laws. We need borders. We will have a wall. The wall will be built. The wall will be successful. And if you think walls don't work, all you have to do is ask Israel. The wall works, believe me. Properly done. Believe me. +p3012 +aVYou are going to have to bring people \u2014 you are going to have to send people out. Look, we're a country... +p3013 +aVMaria, we're a country of laws. We either have a country or we don't have a country. We are a country of laws. Going to have to go out and they will come back but they are going to have to go out and hopefully they get back. But we have no choice if we're going to run our country properly and if we're going to be a country. +p3014 +aVAll I can say is, you're lucky in Ohio that you struck oil. That is for one thing. Let me just tell you that Dwight Eisenhower, good president, great president, people liked him. "I like Ike," right? The expression. "I like Ike." Moved a 1.5 million illegal immigrants out of this country, moved them just beyond the border. They came back. Moved them again beyond the border, they came back. Didn't like it. Moved them way south. They never came back. Dwight Eisenhower. You don't get nicer. You don't get friendlier. They moved a 1.5 million out. We have no choice. We have no choice. +p3015 +aVNo, it's unfair. +p3016 +aV... built an unbelievable company worth billions and billions of dollars. I don't have to hear from this man, believe me. I don't have to hear from him. +p3017 +aVWe have millions of people right now on line trying to come into this country. Very, very unfair to the people that want to come into our country legally. They've gone through the process. They're on line. They're waiting. Very, very unfair to them. That I can tell you. +p3018 +aVYes. +p3019 +aVNo, I'm sorry. No, excuse me. I was there. +p3020 +aVPlease, if I could just... +p3021 +aVWe have to make our military bigger, better, stronger than ever before so that nobody messes with us, and a long run, it's going to save us. I agree with Marco, I agree with Ted, we have no choice. And, I can tell you this with certainty. We all have a different tax plan. Some I don't totally agree with. One thing we understand, each one of those tax plans is better than the mess that we have right now. +p3022 +aV...Yes... +p3023 +aV...Yeah... +p3024 +aV...It's a horrible deal... +p3025 +aVThe TPP is horrible deal. It is a deal that is going to lead to nothing but trouble. It's a deal that was designed for China to come in, as they always do, through the back door and totally take advantage of everyone. It's 5,600 pages long. So complex that nobodies read it. It's like Obamacare; nobody ever read it. They passed it; nobody read it. And look at mess we have right now. And it will be repealed. But this is one of the worst trade deals. And I would, yes, rather not have it. With all of these countries, and all of the bad ones getting advantage and taking advantage of what the good ones would normally get, I'd rather make individual deals with individual countries. We will do much better. We lose a fortune on trade. The United States loses with everybody. We're losing now over $500 billion in terms of imbalance with China, $75 billion a year imbalance with Japan. By the way, Mexico, $50 billion a year imbalance. So I must say, Gerard, I just think it's a terrible deal. I love trade. I'm a free trader, 100 percent. But we need smart people making the deals, and we don't have smart people making the deals. +p3026 +aVYes. Well, the currency manipulation they don't discuss in the agreement, which is a disaster. If you look at the way China and India and almost everybody takes advantage of the United States \u2014 China in particular, because they're so good. It's the number-one abuser of this country. And if you look at the way they take advantage, it's through currency manipulation. It's not even discussed in the almost 6,000-page agreement. It's not even discussed. +p3027 +aVAnd as you understand, I mean, you understand very well from the Wall Street Journal, currency manipulation is the single great weapon people have. They don't even discuss it in this agreement. So I say, it's a very bad deal, should not be approved. If it is approved, it will just be more bad trade deals, more loss of jobs for our country. We are losing jobs like nobody's ever lost jobs before. I want to bring jobs back into this country. +p3028 +aVWell, first of all, it's not only Russia. We have problems with North Korea where they actually have nuclear weapons. You know, nobody talks about it, we talk about Iran, and that's one of the worst deals ever made. One of the worst contracts ever signed, ever, in anything, and it's a disgrace. But, we have somebody over there, a madman, who already has nuclear weapons we don't talk about that. That's a problem. China is a problem, both economically in what they're doing in the South China Sea, I mean, they are becoming a very, very major force. So, we have more than just Russia. But, as far as the Ukraine is concerned, and you could Syria \u2014 as far as Syria, I like \u2014 if Putin wants to go in, and I got to know him very well because we were both on 60 Minutes, we were stablemates, and we did very well that night. But, you know that. But, if Putin wants to go and knocked the hell out of +p3029 +aV...They blew up \u2014 hold it.... +p3030 +aV...They blew up, wait a minute... ...They blew up a Russian airplane. He cannot be in love with these people. He's going in, and we can go in, and everybody should go in. As far as the Ukraine is concerned, we have a group of people, and a group of countries, including Germany \u2014 tremendous economic behemoth \u2014 why are we always doing the work? We are \u2014 I'm all for protecting Ukraine and working \u2014 but, we have countries that are surrounding the Ukraine that aren't doing anything. They say, "Keep going, keep going, you dummies, keep going. Protect us..." ...And we have to get smart. We can't continue to be the policeman of the world. We are $19 trillion dollars, we have a country that's going to hell, we have an infrastructure that's falling apart. Our roads, our bridges, our schools, our airports, and we have to start investing money in our country. +p3031 +aVAssad is a bad guy, but we have no idea who the so-called rebels \u2014 I read about the rebels, nobody even knows who they are. I spoke to a general two weeks ago, he said \u2014 he was very up on exactly what we're talking about. He said, "You know, Mr. Trump? We're giving hundreds of millions of dollars of equipment to these people, we have no idea who they are." So, I don't like Assad. Who's going to like Assad? But, we have no idea who these people, and what they're going to be, and what they're going to represent. They may be far worse than Assad. Look at Libya. Look at Iraq. Look at the mess we have after spending $2 trillion dollars, thousands of lives, wounded warriors all over the place \u2014 who I love, OK? All over. We have nothing. And, I said, keep the oil. And we should have kept the oil, believe me. We should have kept the oil. And, you know what? We should have given the oil... ..We should've given big chunks to the people that lost their arms, their legs, and their families, and their sons, and daughters, because right now, you know who has a lot of that oil? Iran, and +p3032 +aVWhy does she keep interrupting everybody? Terrible. +p3033 +aVWe are not. +p3034 +aV...No, no, no... +p3035 +aVWell, what's happening right now, Neil, is something that not been a subject of conversation by politicians. As primarily the only politician, I guess other than Carly on the stage, they haven't talked about a corporate inversion. A corporate inversion \u2014 companies are leaving. You know, we used to leave New York to go to Florida. We got better taxes, we got, maybe, something else. Now, they're the United States to go to other countries. They have trillions of dollars in those other countries. They're going for two reasons, they can't get their money back in. It's something where the democrats and the republicans both agree, it's the only thing I can think of. They both agree, let the money come back in. Three and a half years, they still can't make a deal. They can't get the money in. It's probably two and a half trillion, but, I think it's much more than that. All of that money could become \u2014 could come right in and be used to rebuild our country, and investments in our country. They can't do it. What we have to do, and what I've done, is made the tax rate \u2014 and one of the reasons they don't the taxes so obnoxious, they can't do it. Where, I made it a 10% number, as you know. I've been very highly praised for it. A lot of money's going to come back in, we're going to get rid of the bureaucratic problems, and roadblocks, because that's also a problem. And, we're going to have all of this money pour back into the United States. It's going to be used to build businesses, for jobs, and everything else. And, as I say, my expression is, let's make America great again. +p3036 +aVThank you. Over the years, I've created tens of thousands of jobs and a great company. It's a company I'm very proud of. Some of the most iconic assets anywhere in the world. And I will tell you, I don't have to give you a website because I'm self-funding my campaign. I'm putting up my own money. I want to do something really special. I want to make our country greater than it's ever been. I think we have that potential. We cannot lose this election. We cannot let Hillary Clinton, who is the worst secretary of state in the history of our country, win this election. We will fight. We will win. And we truly will make this even more special. We have to make it better than ever before. And I will tell you, the United States can actually be better than ever before. Thank you. +p3037 +aVI think maybe my greatest weakness is that I trust people too much. I'm too trusting. And when they let me down, if they let me down, I never forgive. I find it very, very hard to forgive people that deceived me. So I don't know if you would call that a weakness, but my wife said "let up." +p3038 +aVRight. +p3039 +aVRight. +p3040 +aVThat's right. +p3041 +aVNo, not a comic book, and it's not a very nicely asked question the way you say that. Larry Kudlow is an example, who I have a lot of respect for, who loves my tax plan. We're reducing taxes to 15 percent. We're bringing corporate taxes down, bringing money back in, corporate inversions. We have $2.5 trillion outside of the United States which we want to bring back in. As far as the wall is concerned, we're going to build a wall. We're going to create a border. We're going to let people in, but they're going to come in legally. They're going to come in legally. And it's something that can be done, and I get questioned about that. They built the great wall of China. That's 13,000 miles. Here, we actually need 1,000 because we have natural barriers. So we need 1,000. We can do a wall. We're going to have a big, fat beautiful door right in the middle of the wall. We're going to have people come in, but they're coming in legally. And Mexico's going to pay for the wall because Mexico \u2014 I love the Mexican people; I respect the Mexican leaders \u2014 but the leaders are much sharper, smarter and more cunning than our leaders. And just to finish, people say, how will you get Mexico to pay? A politician other than the people in the states \u2014 I don't want to \u2014 a politician cannot get them to pay. I can. We lose, we have a trade imbalance... Excuse me, John. ... of $50 billion... +p3042 +aV... believe me the world is peanuts by comparison. +p3043 +aVRight. Dynamically. +p3044 +aVThen you have to get rid of Larry Kudlow, who sits on your panel, who's a great guy, who came out the other day and said, I love Trump's tax plan. +p3045 +aVFirst of all, John got lucky with a thing called fracking, OK? He hit oil. He got lucky with fracking. Believe me, that is why Ohio is doing well. Number \u2014 and that is important for you to know. Number two, this was the man that was a managing general partner at Lehman Brothers when it went down the tubes and almost took every one of us with it, including Ben and myself, because I was there and I watched what happened. And Lehman Brothers started it all. He was on the board. And he was a managing general partner. And just thirdly, he was so nice. He was such a nice guy. And he said, oh, I'm never going to attack. But then his poll numbers tanked. He has got \u2014 that is why he is on the end. And he got nasty. And he got nasty. So you know what? You can have him. +p3046 +aVI think you're \u2014 +p3047 +aVWell, first of all, like many other very big businessmen, I could name them here, but I'm not going to do that for a lot of obvious reasons, but the biggest, and almost all of them, they've all used the chapter laws, the bankruptcy laws to their own benefit. Before this, I was a very successful person as a developer and as a businessman. Atlantic City has gone bad. I mean, Chris will know about that. I'm not blaming Chris, by the way, but he will know about that. Caesar's \u2014 excuse me \u2014 Caesar's, the Rolls-Royce, as you know, is in bankruptcy. Almost every hotel in Atlantic City has either been in bankruptcy or will be in bankruptcy \u2014 the biggest. But also the biggest people (ph) \u2014 now I've used that to my advantage as a business man, for my family, for myself. I never filed for bankruptcy. But many, many people did. What happened with Atlantic City is very, very disgraceful. Now hundreds of companies I've opened. I've used it three times, maybe four times. Came out great. But I guess I'm supposed to come out great. That is what I could do for the country. We owe $19 trillion, boy am I good at solving debt problems. Nobody can solve it like me. But I will tell you this, Atlantic City, you're using that, hundreds of companies that I have opened have thrived. I built a net worth of way over $10 billion, and I have done it four times out of hundreds. And I'm glad I did it. I used the laws of the country to my benefit, I'm sorry. +p3048 +aVThank you. +p3049 +aVI was not at all critical of him. I was not at all. In fact, frankly, he's complaining about the fact that we're losing some of the most talented people. They go to Harvard. They go to Yale. They go to Princeton. They come from another country and they're immediately sent out. I am all in favor of keeping these talented people here so they can go to work in Silicon Valley. +p3050 +aVSo I have nothing at all critical of him. +p3051 +aVProbably, I don't know \u2014 you people write the stuff. I don't know where you... And if I could say just one thing. I am the only person in either campaign that's self-funding. I'm putting up 100 percent of my own money. And right now, I will be putting up a tremendous \u2014 so far, I've put up less than anybody and I have the best results. Wouldn't that be nice if the country could do that? But I will be putting \u2014 I will be putting up, you know, tremendous amounts of money. SuperPacs are a disaster. They're a scam. They cause dishonesty. And you better get rid of them because they are causing a lot of bad decisions to be made by some very good people. And I'm not blaming these folks \u2014 well, I guess I could. Very good people are making very bad decisions right now. And if anything comes out of this whole thing with some of these nasty and ridiculous questions, I will tell you, you better get rid of the SuperPacs because they causing a big problem with this country, not only in dishonesty and what's going on, but also in a lot of bad decisions that have been made for the benefit of lobbyists and special interests. +p3052 +aVI never said that. I never said that. +p3053 +aVYou've got another gentleman in Florida, who happens to be a very nice guy, but not... +p3054 +aV... he's really doing some bad... +p3055 +aVI'm in favor of people coming into this country legally. And you know what? They can have it anyway you want. You can call it visas, you can call it work permits, you can call it anything you want. I've created tens of thousands of jobs, and in all due respect \u2014 and actually some of these folks I really like a lot \u2014 but I'm the only one that can say that. I have created tens of thousands of jobs, and I'll be creating many millions of jobs if I'm given \u2014 if I'm given the opportunity to be president. As far as Mark is concerned, as far as the visas are concerned, if we need people, they have \u2014 it's fine. They have to come into this country legally. We have a country of borders. We have a country of laws. We have to obey the laws. It's fine if they come in, but they have to come in legally. +p3056 +aVYes. +p3057 +aVOr somebody else. Right. +p3058 +aVYes, I might feel more comfortable. I would say that I would and I have a permit, which is very unusual in New York \u2014 a permit to carry. And I do carry on occasion, sometimes a lot. But I like to be unpredictable so that people don't know exactly... +p3059 +aVBy the way, unlike our country where we're totally predictable and the enemy, whether it's +p3060 +aVI would change them. I would change them. +p3061 +aVSuch a nasty \u2014 such a nasty question, but thank you, Governor. +p3062 +aVYes, it's very simple. We're going to make a really dynamic economy from what we have right now, which is not at all dynamic. We're going to bring jobs back from Japan, we're going to bring jobs back from China, we're going to bring, frankly, jobs back from Mexico where, as you probably saw, Nabisco is leaving Chicago with one of their biggest plants, and they're moving it to Mexico. We're going to bring jobs and manufacturing back. We're going to cut costs. We're going to save Social Security, and we're going to save Medicare. [ +p3063 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We used to win, we don't win anymore. We lose on trade. We lose with +p3064 +aVAnd, I'll do that with the country. We will make America great again. And, thank you everybody. Just for the record. +p3065 +aVThat's not right. That is absolutely not right. You know that. That is not right. [ +p3066 +aVI'm Donald Trump. I wrote "The Art of the Deal". I say not in a braggadocious way, I've made billions and billions of dollars dealing with people all over the world, and I want to put whatever that talent is to work for this country so we have great trade deals, we make our country rich again, we make it great again. We build our military, we take care of our vets, we get rid of Obamacare, and we have a great life altogether. Thank you. Thank you. +p3067 +aVWell, first of all, Rand Paul shouldn't even be on this stage. He's number 11, he's got 1 percent in the polls, and how he got up here, there's far too many people anyway. As far as temperament \u2014 and we all know that \u2014 as far as temperament, I think I have a great temperament. I built a phenomenal business with incredible, iconic assets, one of the really truly great real-estate businesses. And I may be an entertainer, because I've had tremendous success with number-one bestsellers all over the place, with "The Apprentice" and everything else I've done. But I will tell you this: What I am far and away greater than an entertainer is a businessman, and that's the kind of mindset this country needs to bring it back, because we owe $19 trillion right now, $19 trillion, and you need this kind of thinking to bring our country back. And believe me, my temperament is very good, very calm. But we will be respected outside of this country. We are not respected now. +p3068 +aVI never attacked him on his look, and believe me, there's plenty of subject matter right there. That I can tell you. +p3069 +aVI've actually been in politics all my life, although I've been on that side as opposed to this side. I'm now a politician for about three months. Obviously, I'm doing pretty well. I'm number one in every poll by a lot. But the qualification is that I've dealt with people all over the world, been successful all over the world. Everything I've done virtually has been a tremendous success. When markets changed, when things turned, I heard Governor Pataki, who, by the way, was a failed governor in New York, a very seriously failed \u2014 he wouldn't be elected dog catcher right now. I heard what he had to say. And I will tell you this: Atlantic City, I've made a tremendous amount of money in Atlantic City. I left seven years ago, I've gotten great credit for my timing, and that's what I'm all about. I'm a businessman, did really well, really well, and Jeb, what I want to do is put that ability into this country to make our country rich again. And I can do that, and I'm not sure that anybody else in the group will be able to do that. +p3070 +aVBut I have to say... +p3071 +aVWell, in Wisconsin... +p3072 +aVExcuse me. +p3073 +aVIn Wisconsin, you're losing $2.2 billion right now. +p3074 +aVI would do so much better than that. +p3075 +aVNo. +p3076 +aVI'm using facts. +p3077 +aVEvery major business leader has used the \u2014 I never went bankrupt, by the way, as you know, everybody knows. But we \u2014 hundreds of companies, hundreds of deals, I've used ???: ... into bankruptcy. That's what's wrong with politicians in Washington right now. They think we can take a country into bankruptcy. +p3078 +aVEvery major business leader, has used the \u2014 I never went bank bankrupt, by the way, as you know, everybody knows. But \u2014 hundreds of companies, hundreds of deals, I used the law four times and made a tremendous thing. I'm in business. I did a very good job. But I will say this, and people are very, very impressed with what I've done, the business people. But when the folks of Iowa found out the true facts of the job that you've done in Wisconsin, all of a sudden you, tubed (ph), he was No. 1 and now he's No. 6 or seven in the polls. So, look, we brought it out, you were supposed to make a billion dollars in the state. You lost 2.2 \u2014 you have right now, a huge budget deficit. That's not a Democratic point. That's a point. That's a fact. And when the people of Iowa found that out, I went to No. 1 and you went down the tubes. +p3079 +aVI didn't \u2014 +p3080 +aVTotally false. +p3081 +aVI would have gotten it. +p3082 +aVI promise I would have gotten it. +p3083 +aVI promise if I wanted it, I would have gotten it. +p3084 +aVI know my people. +p3085 +aVI know my people. +p3086 +aVNo. I just will tell you that, you know, Jeb made the statement. I'm not only referring to him. I \u2014 a lot of money was raised by a lot of different people that are standing up here. And the donors, the special interests, the lobbyists have very strong power over these people. I'm spending all of my money, I'm not spending \u2014 I'm not getting any \u2014 I turned down \u2014 I turn down so much, I could have right now from special interests and donors, I could have double and triple what he's got. I've turned it down. I turned down last week $5 million from somebody. So I will tell you I understand the game, I've been on the other side all of my life. And they have a lot of control over our politicians. And I don't say that favorably, and I'm not sure if there's another system, but I say this. I am not accepting any money from anybody. Nobody has control of me other than the people of this country. I'm going to do the right thing. +p3087 +aVThat's true. That's true. +p3088 +aVI was \u2014 excuse me, Jeb. +p3089 +aVI was a businessman, I got along with Clinton, I got along with everybody. That was my job, to get along with people. +p3090 +aVI didn't want to \u2014 excuse me. One second. +p3091 +aVOK, more energy tonight. I like that. Look \u2014 +p3092 +aVI didn't want \u2014 it was my obligation as a businessman to my family, to my company, to my employees, to get along with all politicians. I get along with all of them, and I did a damn good job in doing it. Go ahead. +p3093 +aVGot along with everybody. +p3094 +aVWrong. +p3095 +aVDon't make things up. Jeb, don't make things up. Come on. +p3096 +aVDon't make things up. +p3097 +aVSo, number one, they have to respect you. He has absolutely no respect for President Obama. Zero. Syria's a mess. You look at what's going on with +p3098 +aVI believe that I will get along \u2014 we will do \u2014 between that, Ukraine, all of the other problems, we won't have the kind of problems that our country has right now with Russia and many other nations. +p3099 +aVI wouldn't have drawn the line, but once he drew it, he had no choice but to go across. They do bear some responsibility, but I think he probably didn't do it, not for that reason. Somehow, he just doesn't have courage. There is something missing from our president. Had he crossed the line and really gone in with force, done something to Assad \u2014 if he had gone in with tremendous force, you wouldn't have millions of people displaced all over the world. +p3100 +aVThey had a responsibility, absolutely. I think we have three of them here... +p3101 +aVI think they had a responsibility, yes. +p3102 +aVJeb, just... +p3103 +aVI think it will haunt him. I think it's a terrible. I think it's going to haunt him absolutely. He came back later and he said he misspoke. There was no question because I heard when he said the statement. I was watching and he said the statement. And I said, wow, I can't believe it. I will take care of women. I respect women. I will take care of women. One thing we will say and I would like to get back to the Iran situation. We're talking about Iran. The agreement was terrible. It was incompetent. I've never seen anything like it. One of the worst contracts of any kind I've ever seen. And nobody ever mentions North Korea where you have this maniac sitting there and he actually has nuclear weapons and somebody better start thinking about North Korea and perhaps a couple of other places. But certainly North Korea. And Ted and I have spoken. We've \u2014 a lot of us have spoken. We're talking about Iran. They are bad actors, bad things are going to happen. But in the meantime, you have somebody right now in North Korea who has got nuclear weapons and who is saying almost every other week, I'm ready to use them. And we don't even mention it. +p3104 +aVSo why didn't you say it? Why didn't you say it? +p3105 +aVI know, but why did you say it? I heard it myself. Why did you say it? +p3106 +aVYou said you're going to cut funding for women's health. You said it. +p3107 +aVYou said it. +p3108 +aVI think she's got a beautiful face, and I think she's a beautiful woman. +p3109 +aVCorrect. First of all, I want to build a wall, a wall that works. So important, and it's a big part of it. Second of all, we have a lot of really bad dudes in this country from outside, and I think Chris knows that, maybe as well as anybody. They go, if I get elected, first day they're gone. Gangs all over the place. Chicago, Baltimore, no matter where you look. We have a country based on laws. I will make sure that those laws are adhered to. These are illegal immigrants. I don't think you'd even be asking this question if I didn't run because when I ran, and I brought this up, my opening remarks at Trump Tower, I took heat like nobody has taken heat in a long time. And, then they found out with the killing of Katie, from San Francisco, and so many other crimes, they found out that I was right. And, most people, many people, apologized to me. I don't think you'd even be talking about illegal immigration if it weren't for me. So, we have a country of laws, they're going to go out, and they'll come back if they deserve to come back. If they've had a bad record, if they've been arrested, if they've been in jail, they're never coming back. We're going to have a country again. Right now, we don't have a country, we don't have a border, and we're going to do something about it, and it can be done with proper management, and it can be done with heart. +p3110 +aV...By the way, I agree with \u2014 with what Chris is saying, but, I will say this. Illegal immigration is costing us more than $200 billion dollars a year just to maintain what we have. +p3111 +aVCorrect. +p3112 +aVWell, I have to tell you, I hear phenomenal things. I hear your wife is a lovely woman... +p3113 +aVI don't know her, and this is a total mischaracterization... +p3114 +aVGood. +p3115 +aVNo, I won't do that, because I've said nothing wrong. +p3116 +aVBut I do hear she's a lovely woman. +p3117 +aVJeb said... +p3118 +aV... that they come into our country as an act of love. With all of the problems we that we have, in so many instances \u2014 we have wonderful people coming in. But with all of the problems \u2014 this is not an act of love. He's weak on immigration \u2014 by the way, in favor of Common Core, which is also a disaster, but weak on immigration. He doesn't get my vote. +p3119 +aVNot with this intensity. +p3120 +aVAs I said, we are spending $200 billion \u2014 we are spending $200 billion a year on maintaining what we have. We will move them out. The great ones will come back, the good ones will come back. They'll be expedited, they'll be back, they'll come back legally. We'll have a country \u2014 they'll come back, legally. +p3121 +aVWell, I think it's wonderful and all, but I did it a little bit half-heartedly, but I do mean it to a large extent. We have a country, where, to assimilate, you have to speak English. And I think that where he was, and the way it came out didn't sound right to me. We have to have assimilation \u2014 to have a country, we have to have assimilation. I'm not the first one to say this, Dana. We've had many people over the years, for many, many years, saying the same thing. This is a country where we speak English, not Spanish. +p3122 +aVThis is a reporter, not a high school kid. +p3123 +aVWell, first of all, the \u2014 the 14th Amendment says very, very clearly to a lot of great legal scholars \u2014 not television scholars, but legal scholars \u2014 that it is wrong. It can be corrected with an act of Congress, probably doesn't even need that. A woman gets pregnant. She's nine months, she walks across the border, she has the baby in the United States, and we take care of the baby for 85 years. I don't think so. And by the way, Mexico and almost every other country anywhere in the world doesn't have that. We're the only ones dumb enough, stupid enough to have it. And people \u2014 and by the way, this is not just with respect to Mexico. They are coming from Asia to have babies here, and all of a sudden, we have to take care of the babies for the life of the baby. The 14th Amendment, it reads properly, you can go and \u2014 it's probably going to be have to be check \u2014 go through a process of court, probably ends up at the Supreme Court, but there are a lot of great legal scholars that say that is not correct. And in my opinion, it makes absolutely no \u2014 we're the only \u2014 one of the only countries, we're going to take care of those babies for 70, 75, 80, 90 years? I don't think so. +p3124 +aVI agree 100 percent, by the way, with Carly on the fact that the Democrats do not want to solve this problem, for the obvious reasons, but they do not. But I believe that a reading of the 14th Amendment allows you to have an interpretation where this is not legal and where it can't be done. I've seen both sides, but some of the greatest scholars agree with me, without having to go through Congress. If you do go through Congress, you can absolutely solve the problem. +p3125 +aVThat's true, sure. +p3126 +aVWell \u2014 +p3127 +aV\u2014 let me \u2014 well, let me just explain. The head of the Yale Business School, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, wrote a paper recently, one of the worst tenures for a CEO that he has ever seen, ranked one of the top 20 in the history of business. The company is a disaster and continues to be a disaster. They still haven't recovered. In fact, today, on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, they fired another 25 or 30,000 people saying we still haven't recovered from the catastrophe. When Carly says the revenues went up, that's because she bought Compaq, it was a terrible deal, and it really led to the destruction of the company. Now one other company before that was Lucent. Carly was at Lucent before that. And Lucent turned out to be a catastrophe also. So I only say this. She can't run any of my companies. That I can tell you. +p3128 +aVI never filed for bankruptcy. +p3129 +aVI'll tell you why; it's very simple. +p3130 +aVI'll tell you. I was running \u2014 +p3131 +aV\u2014 Carly, Carly \u2014 +p3132 +aV\u2014 I've made over $10 billion. I had a casino company \u2014 Caesars just filed for bankruptcy. Chris will tell you \u2014 it's not Chris' fault either \u2014 but almost everybody in Atlantic City is either in trouble or filed for \u2014 maybe I'll blame Chris. +p3133 +aVBut Atlantic City is a disaster \u2014 +p3134 +aVWait a minute, Carly. Wait. I let you speak. Atlantic City is a disaster, and I did great in Atlantic City. I knew when to get out. My timing was great. And I got a lot of credit for it. Many of the great business people that you know \u2014 and Carl Icon (ph) is going to work with me on making great deals for this country. But whether it's Carl or so many others that we read about all the time \u2014 +p3135 +aV\u2014 they have used the laws of the land, which is the \u2014 +p3136 +aV...Well, I'd like to respond, I'd like to respond... +p3137 +aVWell, I think the thing about the flat tax, I know it very well. What I don't like is that if you make $200 million a year, you pay ten percent, you're paying very little relatively to somebody that's making $50,000 a year, and has to hire H&R Block to do the \u2014 because it's so complicated. One thing I'll say to Ben is that we've had a graduated tax system for many years, so it's not a socialistic thing. What I'd like to do, and I'll be putting in the plan in about two weeks, and I think people are going to like it, it's a major reduction in taxes. It's a major reduction for the middle class. The hedge fund guys won't like me as much as they like me right now. I know them all, but they'll pay more. I know people that are making a tremendous amount of money and paying virtually no tax, and I think it's unfair. +p3138 +aVWell, I heard Hugh Hewitt, a nice man, he apologized because he actually said that we had a misunderstanding. And he said today that Donald Trump is maybe the best interview there is anywhere that he has ever done. Now unless he was just saying that on CNN to be nice, but he did say that... +p3139 +aVAnd we had a legitimate misunderstanding in terms of his pronunciation of a word. But I would say just... +p3140 +aVWell, I think it was. And he actually said that. Did you say that? +p3141 +aVOK. So I will say this, though, Hugh was giving me name after name, Arab name, Arab name, and there are few people anywhere, anywhere that would have known those names. I think he was reading them off a sheet. And frankly I will have \u2014 and I told him, I will have the finest team that anybody has put together and we will solve a lot of problems. You know, right now they know a lot and look at what is happening. The world is blowing up around us. We will have great teams and great people. +p3142 +aVI hope that answers your question. I mean, you are in the Senate, but I hope that answers your question. +p3143 +aVNo, I don't think he's suggesting that at all. I mean... +p3144 +aVI don't think he's suggesting that at all. +p3145 +aVWell, you have to understand, I am not sitting in the United States Senate with, by the way, the worst voting record there is today. Number one. I am not sitting in the United States Senate. I'm a businessman doing business transactions. +p3146 +aVI am doing business transactions. I will know more about this \u2014 and, as you said, that was very acceptable, and when you listen to that whole interview, it's a great interview, you said it, I didn't. Well, now I did. But... +p3147 +aVListen, just one second. Just one second. +p3148 +aVI will know... +p3149 +aV...I will know more about the problems of this world by the time I sit, and you look at what's going in this world right now by people that supposedly know, this world is a mess. +p3150 +aV +p3151 +aV I'm \u2014 and I'm meeting with people that are terrific people, but I have to say something because it's about judgment. I am the only person on this dais \u2014 the only person \u2014 that fought very, very hard against us (ph), and I wasn't a sitting politician going into Iraq, because I said going into Iraq \u2014 that was in 2003, you can check it out, check out \u2014 I'll give you 25 different stories. In fact, a delegation was sent to my office to see me because I was so vocal about it. I'm a very militaristic person, but you have to know when to use the military. I'm the only person up here that fought against going into Iraq. +p3152 +aVJust excuse me, one second, Rand... +p3153 +aVIf you don't mind, Rand \u2014 you know, you are on last \u2014 you do have your 1 percent. I would like \u2014 and I think it's very important. I think it's important, because it's about judgment. It's about judgment. I didn't want to go into Iraq, and I fought it, because what I said \u2014 what I said... +p3154 +aV... was you're going to \u2014 you're going to destabilize... +p3155 +aV... the Middle East, and that's what happened. +p3156 +aVIf you think about it... +p3157 +aVYour brother \u2014 and your brother's administration gave us Barack Obama, because it was such a disaster, those last three months, that Abraham Lincoln couldn't have been elected. +p3158 +aVI don't know. You feel safe right now? I don't feel so safe. +p3159 +aVOr the collapse of the economy. +p3160 +aVSpeaking for myself, I'm OK with it. I think there's a certain truth to it. I know people that, frankly, it has no impact on their life whatsoever. There are many people. I would almost say leave it up to them, but I would be willing to check it off, and say I will not get Social Security. I do not... +p3161 +aVAs a policy, I would almost leave it up to the people. Don't forget they pay in and they pay in, and maybe they do well, and maybe some people want it. But the fact is that there are people that truly don't need it, and there are many people that do need it very, very badly. And I would be willing to write mine off 100 percent, Dana. +p3162 +aVWell, I \u2014 I \u2014 I'd like to respond. +p3163 +aVI'd like to respond. +p3164 +aVAutism has become an epidemic. Twenty-five years ago, 35 years ago, you look at the statistics, not even close. It has gotten totally out of control. I am totally in favor of vaccines. But I want smaller doses over a longer period of time. Because you take a baby in \u2014 and I've seen it \u2014 and I've seen it, and I had my children taken care of over a long period of time, over a two or three year period of time. Same exact amount, but you take this little beautiful baby, and you pump \u2014 I mean, it looks just like it's meant for a horse, not for a child, and we've had so many instances, people that work for me. Just the other day, two years old, two and a half years old, a child, a beautiful child went to have the vaccine, and came back, and a week later got a tremendous fever, got very, very sick, now is autistic. I only say it's not \u2014 I'm in favor of vaccines, do them over a longer period of time, same amount. +p3165 +aVBut just in \u2014 in little sections. +p3166 +aVI think \u2014 and I think you're going to have \u2014 I think you're going to see a big impact on autism. +p3167 +aVAnd that's all I'm saying, Jake. That's all I'm saying. +p3168 +aVWell, because she's been sitting for three hours, I think my daughter, Ivanka, who's right here. +p3169 +aVOther than that we'll go with Rosa Parks. I like that. +p3170 +aVHumble. +p3171 +aVIf I become president, we will do something really special. We will make this country greater than ever before. We'll have more jobs. We'll have more of everything. We were discussing disease, we were discussing all sorts of things tonight, many of which will just be words, it will just pass on. I don't want to say politicians, all talk, no action. But a lot of what we talked about is words and it will be forgotten very quickly. If I'm president, many of the things that we discussed tonight will not be forgotten. We'll find solutions. And the world will respect us. They will respect us like never before. And it will be actually a friendlier world. And I have to say, it is a great honor to be here tonight. +p3172 +aVI fully understand. +p3173 +aVI fully understand. +p3174 +aVI cannot say. I have to respect the person that, if it's not me, the person that wins, if I do win, and I'm leading by quite a bit, that's what I want to do. I can totally make that pledge. If I'm the nominee, I will pledge I will not run as an independent. But -- and I am discussing it with everybody, but I'm, you know, talking about a lot of leverage. We want to win, and we will win. But I want to win as the Republican. I want to run as the Republican nominee. +p3175 +aVWell, I've given him plenty of money. +p3176 +aVI will not make the pledge at this time. +p3177 +aVOnly Rosie O'Donnell. +p3178 +aVThank you. +p3179 +aVYes, I'm sure it was. +p3180 +aVI think the big problem this country has is being politically correct. I've been challenged by so many people, and I don't frankly have time for total political correctness. And to be honest with you, this country doesn't have time either. This country is in big trouble. We don't win anymore. We lose to China. We lose to Mexico both in trade and at the border. We lose to everybody. And frankly, what I say, and oftentimes it's fun, it's kidding. We have a good time. What I say is what I say. And honestly Megyn, if you don't like it, I'm sorry. I've been very nice to you, although I could probably maybe not be, based on the way you have treated me. But I wouldn't do that. But you know what, we -- we need strength, we need energy, we need quickness and we need brain in this country to turn it around. That, I can tell you right now. +p3181 +aVSo, if it weren't for me, you wouldn't even be talking about illegal immigration, Chris. You wouldn't even be talking about it. This was not a subject that was on anybody's mind until I brought it up at my announcement. And I said, Mexico is sending. Except the reporters, because they're a very dishonest lot, generally speaking, in the world of politics, they didn't cover my statement the way I said it. The fact is, since then, many killings ,murders, crime, drugs pouring across the border, are money going out and the drugs coming in. And I said we need to build a wall, and it has to be built quickly. And I don't mind having a big beautiful door in that wall so that people can come into this country legally. But we need, Jeb, to build a wall, we need to keep illegals out. +p3182 +aVBorder Patrol, I was at the border last week. Border Patrol, people that I deal with, that I talk to, they say this is what's happening. Because our leaders are stupid. Our politicians are stupid. And the Mexican government is much smarter, much sharper, much more cunning. And they send the bad ones over because they don't want to pay for them. They don't want to take care of them. Why should they when the stupid leaders of the United States will do it for them? And that's what is happening whether you like it or not. +p3183 +aVA complete disaster, yes. +p3184 +aVCorrect. +p3185 +aVFirst of all, I'd like to just go back to one. In July of 2004, I came out strongly against the war with Iraq, because it was going to destabilize the Middle East. And I'm the only one on this stage that knew that and had the vision to say it. And that's exactly what happened. +p3186 +aVAnd the Middle East became totally destabilized. So I just want to say. As far as single payer, it works in Canada. It works incredibly well in Scotland. It could have worked in a different age, which is the age you're talking about here. What I'd like to see is a private system without the artificial lines around every state. I have a big company with thousands and thousands of employees. And if I'm negotiating in New York or in New Jersey or in California, I have like one bidder. Nobody can bid. You know why? Because the insurance companies are making a fortune because they have control of the politicians, of course, with the exception of the politicians on this stage. But they have total control of the politicians. They're making a fortune. Get rid of the artificial lines and you will have......yourself great plans. And then we have to take care of the people that can't take care of themselves. And I will do that through a different system. +p3187 +aVI'm not -- I'm not are -- I don't think you heard me. You're having a hard time tonight. +p3188 +aVYou'd better believe it. +p3189 +aVIf I ask them, if I need them, you know, most of the people on this stage I've given to, just so you understand, a lot of money. +p3190 +aVMany of them. +p3191 +aVNot much. +p3192 +aVBut I... +p3193 +aVI have good... +p3194 +aVGood. +p3195 +aVSounds good. Sounds good to me, Governor. I will tell you that our system is broken. I gave to many people, before this, before two months ago, I was a businessman. I give to everybody. When they call, I give. And do you know what? When I need something from them two years later, three years later, I call them, they are there for me. +p3196 +aVAnd that's a broken system. +p3197 +aVWell, I'll tell you what, with Hillary Clinton, I said be at my wedding and she came to my wedding. You know why? She didn't have a choice because I gave. I gave to a foundation that, frankly, that foundation is supposed to do good. I didn't know her money would be used on private jets going all over the world. It was. But... +p3198 +aVBecause I have used the laws of this country just like the greatest people that you read about every day in business have used the laws of this country, the chapter laws, to do a great job for my company, for myself, for my employees, for my family, et cetera. I have never gone bankrupt, by the way. I have never. But out of hundreds of deals... +p3199 +aVExcuse me. Excuse me. +p3200 +aVExcuse me, what am I saying? Out of hundreds of deals that I've done, hundreds, on four occasions I've taken advantage of the laws of this country, like other people. I'm not going to name their names because I'm not going to embarrass, but virtually every person that you read about on the front page of the business sections, they've used the law. The difference is, when somebody else uses those laws, nobody writes about it. When I use it, they say, "Trump, Trump, Trump." The fact is, I built a net worth of more than $10 billion. I have a great, great company. I employ thousands of people. And I'm very proud of the job I did. Again Chris, hundreds and hundreds of deals. Four times, I've taken advantage of the laws. And frankly, so has everybody else in my position. +p3201 +aVWell, I... +p3202 +aVLet me just tell you about the lenders. First of all, these lenders aren't babies. These are total killers. These are not the nice, sweet little people that you think, OK? You know, I mean you're living in a world of the make-believe, Chris, you want to know the truth. And I had the good sense to leave Atlantic City, which by the way, Caesars just went bankrupt. Every company, Chris can tell you, every company virtually in Atlantic City went bankrupt. Every company. And let me just tell you. I had the good sense, and I've gotten a lot of credit in the financial pages, seven years ago I left Atlantic City before it totally cratered, and I made a lot of money in Atlantic City, and I'm very proud of it. I want to tell you that. Very, very proud of it. +p3203 +aVAnd by the way, this country right now owes $19 trillion. And they need somebody like me to straighten out that mess. +p3204 +aVI don't think they like me very much. I'll tell you what. I've evolved on many issues over the years. And you know who else has? Is Ronald Reagan evolved on many issues. And I am pro-life. And if you look at the question, I was in business. They asked me a question as to pro-life or choice. And I said if you let it run, that I hate the concept of abortion. I hate the concept of abortion. And then since then, I've very much evolved. And what happened is friends of mine years ago were going to have a child, and it was going to be aborted. And it wasn't aborted. And that child today is a total superstar, a great, great child. And I saw that. And I saw other instances. And I am very, very proud to say that I am pro-life. As far as being a Republican is concerned, I come from a place, New York City, which is virtually, I mean, it is almost exclusively Democrat. And I have really started to see some of the negatives -- as an example, and I have a lot of liking for this man, but the last number of months of his brother's administration were a catastrophe. And unfortunately, those few months gave us President Obama. And you can't be happy about that. +p3205 +aVFirst of all, Jeb, I am very happy that you denied that, and I appreciate that very much. He is a true gentleman. He really is. One thing he did say, and I mean that. The one thing he did say about me, however, was my tone. And I also understand that. But when you have people that are cutting Christians' heads off, when you have a world that the border and at so many places, that it is medieval times, we've never -- it almost has to be as bad as it ever was in terms of the violence and the horror, we don't have time for tone. We have to go out and get the job done. +p3206 +aVI would be so different from what you have right now. Like, the polar opposite. We have a president who doesn't have a clue. I would say he's incompetent, but I don't want to do that because that's not nice. But if you look at the deals we make, whether it's the nuclear deal with 24 hour periods -- and by the way, before you get to the 24 hours, you have to go through a system. You look at Sgt. Bergdahl, we get Bergdahl, a traitor, and they get five of the big, great killers leaders that they want. We have people in Washington that don't know what they're doing. Now... I agree. Now, with Iran, we're making a deal, you would say, we want him. We want out our prisoners. We want all these things, and we don't get anything. We're giving them $150 billion dollars plus, they are going to be -- I'll tell you what, if Iran was a stock, you folks should go out and buy it right now because you'll quadruple -- this, what's happening in Iran, is a disgrace, and it's going to lead to destruction in large portions of the world. +p3207 +aVOur country is in serious trouble. We don't win anymore. We don't beat China in trade. We don't beat Japan, with their millions and millions of cars coming into this country, in trade. We can't beat Mexico, at the border or in trade. We can't do anything right. Our military has to be strengthened. Our vets have to be taken care of. We have to end Obamacare, and we have to make our country great again, and I will do that. Thank you. +p3208 +asVCHRISTIE +p3209 +(lp3210 +VWhat about Kasich? Can I introduce Kasich? +p3211 +aVSure. First, let's remember something. Every morning when a United States senator wakes up, they think about what kind of speech can I give or what kind of bill can I drop? Every morning, when I wake up, I think about what kind of problem do I need to solve for the people who actually elected me? It's a different experience, it's a much different experience. And the fact is, Marco, you shouldn't compare yourself to Joe Biden and you shouldn't say that that's what we're doing. Here is exactly what we're doing. You have not be involved in a consequential decision where you had to be held accountable. You just simply haven't. And the fact is \u2014 the fact when you talk about the Hezbollah Sanctions Act that you list as one of your accomplishments you just did, you weren't even there to vote for it. That's not leadership, that's truancy. And the fact is that what we need to do \u2014 what we need to have in this country is not to make the same mistake we made eight years ago. The fact is it does matter when you have to make decisions and be held accountable for them. It does matter when the challenges don't come on a list of a piece of paper of what to vote yes or no every day, but when the problems come in from the people that you serve. I like Marco Rubio, and he's a smart person and a good guy, but he simply does not have the experience to be president of the United States and make these decisions. We've watched it happen, everybody. For the last seven years, the people of New Hampshire are smart. Do not make the same mistake again. +p3212 +aVHold on one second. +p3213 +aVExcuse me... +p3214 +aVI think he mentioned me and my record in there, so I think I get a chance to respond. You see, everybody, I want the people at home to think about this. That's what Washington, D.C. Does. The drive-by shot at the beginning with incorrect and incomplete information and then the memorized 25-second speech that is exactly what his advisers gave him. See Marco \u2014 Marco, the thing is this. When you're president of the United States, when you're a governor of a state, the memorized 30-second speech where you talk about how great America is at the end of it doesn't solve one problem for one person. They expect you to plow the snow. They expect you to get the schools open. And when the worst natural disaster in your state's history hits you, they expect you to rebuild their state, which is what I've done. None of that stuff happens on the floor of the United States Senate. It's a fine job, I'm glad you ran for it, but it does not prepare you for president of the United States. +p3215 +aVThere it is. There it is. The memorized 25-second speech. There it is, everybody. +p3216 +aVYou know what the shame is \u2014 you know what the shame is, Marco? The shame is that you would actually criticize somebody for showing up to work, plowing the streets, getting the trains running back on time when you've never been responsible for that in your entire life. +p3217 +aVAnd the fact is, I went back, it got done and here's... +p3218 +aVOh, so \u2014 wait a second. Is that one of the skills you get as a United States senator ESP also? Because I don't think it is. +p3219 +aVIt gets very unruly when he gets off his talking points. +p3220 +aVLet's get something... +p3221 +aVNo. Let's make something very clear. I learned seven years as a federal prosecutor in dealing with types of situations like we're talking about in North Korea, where criminals take people hostage. You never pay ransom to the criminals. Ever. You never pay ransom to the criminals. Everyone out at home watching tonight understands that principle. And so, what you need to do is to engage in a much different way with these folks. They do not understand anything but toughness and strength, and we need to engage the Chinese to deal with the North Koreans, but we also need to make sure that they understand there's a commander-in-chief who will not pay ransom for any hostage. This president and his former secretary of State are for paying ransom for hostages. When do that, you endanger even more Americans around the world to be the subject of this type of hostage taking and illegal detention. You need a strong commander-in-chief who will look these folks in the eye and say, we will not put up with this and we will take whatever actions we need to take, not only to get our people home safely, but to swiftly and surely punish those who believe they can violate the law and violate American's sovereign rights to travel the world freely and safely. This is unacceptable. And this is why this president is so weak and why the secretary of State, who is embracing a third Barack Obama term, would be even weaker. +p3222 +aVYeah, David, I would just like you to listen, again, everybody. This is the difference between being a governor who actually has to be responsible for problems and not answering a question. The question was, "Did he fight for his legislation?" It's abundantly clear that he didn't. It's abundantly clear that he didn't fight for the legislation. When the teachers unions attacked me with $20 million of ads because I wanted to reform teacher tenure, I fought them and fought them and fought them and I won. When they didn't want \u2014 when people wanted to raise taxes in my state at Democratic legislature and threatened to close down the government, I told them, fine. Close down the government. I'll get in my cars, head to the governor's mansion, order a pizza, open a beer and watch the Mets. You can call me when the government reopens. And guess what they didn't do? They didn't pass a tax increase, because I vetoed it and they never closed the government because they knew I would fight for what I believed in. The fact of the matter is, a leader must fight for what they believe in. Not handicap it and say, well maybe since I can't win this one, I'll run. That's not what leadership is. That's what Congress is. +p3223 +aVGood evening. +p3224 +aVWell, he deserves credit for his record on jobs. He's done a very good job as governor of Ohio. Never said that John hasn't. He's done a very good job. But \u2014 but unfortunately, John's been so busy doing over stuff, he's using old statistics. That's OK. New Jersey had its best year of job growth in the last 15 years under five different governors this year in New Jersey. New Jersey cut spending over $2.3 billion and we have 10,000 fewer employees than we had when I walked in the door. John has a bigger government now and more employees than he had when he walked in the door. But all that doesn't matter. What really matters is this, that executive experience really matters. You heard this on the stage tonight. We've heard it said on the stage that President Obama knows exactly what he's doing. I'd like to ask all the veterans listening out there tonight, who are waiting in line for healthcare, who are literally dying because the Veterans Administration doesn't work, do you think Barack Obama knows what he's doing? I don't. And I'll tell you something. Anybody who evaluates him is knowing what he's doing and managing the government doesn't know how to manage a government themselves. And one last thing, David, which I think is really important. I listened to Senator Rubio's answer on his bill. He said his bill couldn't pass on the gang of eight. He acted as if he was somehow disembodied from the bill. It was his bill. He said this idea doesn't work. It was his idea. See, when you're a governor, you have to take responsibility for these things. You can't just act as if it happened out of nowhere. We have to take responsibility as executives. I take responsibility for my record in New Jersey. We've rebuilt the economy and rebuilt after the second-worst natural disaster in American history. I'm proud of my record. And by the way, I like Kasich's record, too. He's a good governor. +p3225 +aVDavid? Hey, David? David? Hey, David? I actually have experience with raising taxes on millionaires in my state. It was done. It was done by my predecessor. And I want everybody in the public who is in that 68 percent, I want to tell you the truth. You're wrong. And here is why you're wrong. After New Jersey raised taxes on millionaires, we lost, in the next four years, $70 billion in wealth left our state. It left our state to go where it would be treated more kindly. If the United States raised taxes any further, that money will leave the United States, as well. We won't have better jobs. Let New Jersey be the canary in the coal mine. It is a failed idea and a failed policy, it's class warfare. It happened in my state. I've stopped it from happening again. But we cannot do it. The 68 percent of the people are wrong about that, it will hurt the American economy. We tried it in New Jersey. Come take a look \u2014 it did not work. +p3226 +aVOf course I would. As a former United States attorney who spent seven years of my life fighting this on the streets of my state, I would do that. But we need to do more. And let me tell you what we've done in New Jersey, Josh. We are working with the folks in New Hampshire in their legislature right now to show them how we're helping to solve this problem in New Jersey. Not just for this campaign \u2014 three years ago, I proposed a law that we signed into effect, which said that anyone who was a non- violent, non-dealing, first-time drug offender no longer goes to prison in New Jersey. They go to mandatory, in-patient drug treatment. What has happened is, crime has gone down 20 percent in those years. The prison population has gone down 10 percent. We've now closed the state prison \u2014 closed a state prison, and we're turning it into a drug rehabilitation facility, so people can get the tools they need. Listen, everyone out there knows this in New Hampshire. This is a disease. It's not a moral failing, it's a disease. And we need to get people the treatment they need. And let me tell you why. Because I'm pro-life. And I'm pro life not just for the nine months in the womb, I'm pro-life for when they get out and it's a lot more complicated. Sixteen-year-old, heroin-addicted drug girl on the floor of the county lockup, I'm pro-life for her life. The 42-year-old lawyer who is taking Oxycontin and can't get out of bed and support his family \u2014 I'm pro-life for his life. Everyone of those lives is an individual gift from God. And the last thing is this. These efforts we've taken over the last three years, 2015 in New Jersey, for the first time in four years, drug overdose deaths have gone down, not up. I'll bring the same solutions to the country. +p3227 +aVYou bet I would. And the fact is that because I took strong action to make sure that anyone who was showing symptoms \u2014 remember what happened with that nurse. She was showing symptoms and coming back from a place that had the ebola virus active and she had been treating patients. This was not just some \u2014 like, we picked up her just for the heck of it, alright? We did it because she was showing symptoms, and the fact is that's the way we should make these decision. You make these decisions based upon the symptoms, the medicine, and the law. We quarantined her, she turned out to test negative ultimately after 48 hours, and we released her back to the State of Maine. But, I want to add something on the issue of mosques. Now, I'm the only one up here who's had a law enforcement background as a U.S. Attorney after September 11th. I went to mosques throughout my state to build bridges. To build bridges between our community in law enforcement so we can get intelligence and information from these folks. I've had the experience of working with them as Governor of New Jersey as well. We cannot mix the radical Islamic jihadist with everyday Muslim-Americans. New Jersey is the second largest Muslim- American population in America, of any state. These are good, law abiding, hard working people. What they need is our cooperation, and our understanding. They do not just need broadsides against them because of the religious faith they practice. +p3228 +aVMartha? +p3229 +aVCan I \u2014 can I be really \u2014 can I be really clear on this, because I am the father of two daughters. One of them is here tonight. What my wife and I have taught our daughters right from the beginning, that their sense of self-worth, their sense of value, their sense of what they want to do with their life comes not from the outside, but comes from within. And if a young woman in this country wants to go and fight to defend their country, she should be permitted to do so. Part of that also needs to be part of a greater effort in this country, and so there's no reason why one \u2014 young women should be discriminated against from registering for the selective service. The fact is, we need to be a party and a people that makes sure that our women in this country understand anything they can dream, anything that they want to aspire to, they can do. That's the way we raised our daughters and that's what we should aspire to as president for all of the women in our country. +p3230 +aVWell, I've been pretty helpful to the pro-life cause in one of the most pro-choice states in the union. I've stood up for the first time and now for the last six years we've de-funded Planned Parenthood, not talked about it like they do in Washington D.C. But for six years as governor, Planned Parenthood does not receive that funding from the state budget anymore; over $50 million worth of money that's been saved now, that is not going to do exactly what Hillary Clinton wants to have done and has advocated for. She believes that organization, which engages in the systematic murder of children in the womb, in order to maximize the value of their body parts for sale on the open market, is an acceptable position. Let me tell you something, I don't care if you are a millennial or whether you are in your 90s, no one is for that type of activity, unless you are the most radical type of extremist on this issue, like Senator Clinton and her party is on this issue. I'll say one other thing. The fact is, that I believe that if a woman has been raped, that is a birth and a pregnancy that she should be able to terminate. If she is the victim of incest \u2014 this is not a woman's choice. This is a woman being violated. And the fact is that we have always has believed, as has Ronald Reagan, that we have self-defense for women who have been raped and impregnated because of it, or the subject of incest and been impregnated for it. That woman should not have to deliver that child if they believe that violation is now an act of self-defense by terminating that pregnancy. HAM: Thank you, all. Back to you, David and Martha. +p3231 +aVDenver. +p3232 +aVThank you. I've spent the last 13 years of my life focused on one thing: serving the people who have given me the opportunity to serve them. Not about politics, not about partisanship, but putting the people of my state and our country first. I'm proud to have rebuild my state after Hurricane Sandy, and I'm incredibly proud to be on this stage tonight with these men asking for your vote. New Hampshire, I spent 70 days here with you. You've gotten to know my heart. My heart is to help you solve the problems of your state......and the problems of our nation. If you give me your vote on Tuesday I will do just that. +p3233 +aVThey're not wrong. But what's wrong is your premise in the question. You can do both. There is no reason why you can't stand for principles, go and fight for them and be able also, to have to get things done in government. You know, what people are frustrated about in Washington, D.C.., and I know the folks out there tonight are incredibly frustrated because what they see is a government that doesn't work for them. You know, for the 45-year-old construction worker out there, who is having a hard time making things meet. He's lost $4,000 in the last seven years in his income because of this administration. He doesn't want to hear the talk about politics Megyn and who is establishment and who is grassroots. And who's compromised and who is principled. What he wants is something to get done. And that's the difference between being a governor and having done that for the last six years in New Jersey and being someone who has never had to be responsible for any of those decisions. Barack Obama was never responsible for those decisions. Hillary Clinton has never been responsible for those kind of decisions where they were held accountable. I've been held accountable for six years as the governor of New Jersey and with a Democratic legislature, I've gotten conservative things done. That's exactly what I'll do as president of the United States. +p3234 +aVWell, let me say that I do believe that the vote on NSA made the country less safe. Well, let me tell you what the country should really be worried about. I watched that town hall meeting with the Democrats the other night, and I heard Hillary Clinton asked a direct question by an Iowan, and that's what Iowans like to do. They like to ask direct questions. And, they asked about her email situation. And, here's what she said to the American people. She did it for convenience. For her convenience. She put America's secrets at risk for her convenience. She put American intelligence officers at risk for her convenience. She put American strategy at risk for her convenience. Let me tell you who's not qualified to be President of the United States, Chris. Hillary Rodham Clinton did that to our country. She is not qualified to be President of the United States. The fact is what we need is someone on that stage who has been tested, who has been through it, who has made decisions, who has sit in the chair of consequence and can prosecute the case against Hillary Clinton on... ... that stage, and that is exactly what I am ready to do. +p3235 +aVTalk about what? I... +p3236 +aVWell, because you can do it without profiling, Megyn, when you do it on the facts. What those facts knew was that these folks had weapons. They knew that they were talking about trying to take our country and attack it. That's not profiling, that's law enforcement. And that's the difference between somebody who knows how to do this and somebody who's never done it before. +p3237 +aVThey knew they were talking about the issues of attacking people, Megyn. They knew that. +p3238 +aVListen, I think that what people should do is use their common sense. And the fact is, let law enforcement make those decisions. I've told people that from the time I was U.S. attorney 13 years ago. It's not for them to make those decisions about whether or not something is legal or illegal, or profiling or not. You see something that's suspicious, you call law enforcement and let law enforcement make those decisions. That's what should be done. That can be done. That can be done without profiling people. What that is, is just common sense. They thought something was wrong. And here's the problem in this country right now. The problem is that Barack Obama has made law enforcement the enemy, Hillary Clinton has made law enforcement the enemy. They're not supporting our law enforcement officers, it's making everybody nervous to get out of their cars, if you're a law enforcement officer. It's making... ... everybody nervous to get out of their cars if you're a law enforcement officer. It's making people in neighborhoods nervous to go to law enforcement. As president, I will support law enforcement and we'll stop radical terrorist attacks in this country by supporting our intelligence community and law enforcement community. +p3239 +aVYes. You want one? +p3240 +aVHow about one that I've done in New Jersey for the last six years. That's get rid of Planned Parenthood funding from the United States of America. +p3241 +aVBigger than that? Let me tell you something, when you see thousands upon thousands upon thousands of children being murdered in the womb, I can't think of anything better than that. +p3242 +aVMegyn? +p3243 +aVI want to ask the people of the audience. Like, I'm standing here, I \u2014 I watched the video of Senator Cruz. I watched the video of Senator Rubio. I heard what they said. And this is why you need to send someone from outside of Washington to Washington. I feel like... ... I feel like I need \u2014 I feel like I need a Washington to English dictionary converter, right? I mean, I heard what they both said, I saw it on the video. And the fact is this is what makes a difference when you're a governor. You can change your mind. Ted can change his mind. Marco can change his mind. It's perfectly legal in this country to change your mind. But when you're a governor, you have to admit it. You can't hide behind parliamentary tricks. That's the difference, and that's the kind of leader we need in the White House. Stop the Washington bull and let's get things done. +p3244 +aVSure, because there has been three different investigations and proven that I knew nothing. And the fact is that what I did do, what I did do from the beginning, Chris, as soon as I found out about it, I fired the people who were responsible. And that's what you expect from a leader. And, I'll tell you something else. I inherited a state in New Jersey that was downtrodden, and beaten by liberal democratic policies, high taxation, high regulation. And, this year, in 2015, New Jersey's had the best year of job growth that our state has ever had in the last 15 years. That's because we've put conservative policies in place. And, I'll tell you one other thing, you know why the Republican party will want to take a chance on me? Because they know that Hillary Clinton will never be prosecuted by this justice department, and they're going to want to put a former federal prosecutor on the stage to prosecute her next September. And, there is no one on this stage better prepared to prosecute the case against Hillary Clinton than I am. I will be ready. I will take her on, and when I take her on I guarantee you one thing, she will never get within 10 miles of the White House. The days for the Clintons in public housing are over. +p3245 +aVNo, what I said, Chris, was that the law needs to be followed. And that someone in that office has to do their job. So if Ms. Davis wanted to step aside and get rid of her ability to be able to do that, there should be someone else in that office who it didn't violate their conscience so they could follow the law of the state of Kentucky. I never said that Ms. Davis should either lose her job or that she had to do it. But what I did say was that the person who came in for the license needed to get it. And so if there's someone in that organization, and it turns out there was, who was willing to be able to do that, that's what we should do. But just as importantly, and I agree with what John said. You know, we all have our own individual interpretations of our faith. And here's the problem with what's going on around the world. The radical Islamic jihadists, what they want to do is impose their faith upon each and every one of us \u2014 every one of us. And the reason why this war against them is so important is that very basis of religious liberty. They want everyone in this country to follow their religious beliefs the way they do. They do not want us to exercise religious liberty. That's why as commander in chief, I will take on +p3246 +aVBret, let me tell you, this is another one of those places where Hillary Clinton has so much to answer for, and why she is completely unqualified to be commander in chief. In a previous Democratic debate, Martha Raddatz, three times, asked Hillary Clinton about the failure in Libya, a policy that she took credit for, and said, "what is your measure of responsibility, Madam Secretary, for the failure in Libya?" Three times, she refused to answer the question, because she refuses to be held accountable for anything that goes wrong. If it had gone right, believe me, she would have been running around to be able to take credit for it. Here's what I'd do. This is about the bigger, broader war against +p3247 +aVOn September 11, my wife was two blocks from the World Trade Center. When those buildings came down, she was trapped in her building and I didn't hear from her over six hours. We have three children, eight, five and one. And I had to confront the possibility of being a single parent. Terrorism in this country scares everyone. And the fact is that we need a commander-in- chief who not only understands how to protect us, but feels in here what it means to face the possibility of loss. I've faced it. I've prosecuted terrorists. I have made the decisions that need to be made as a governor to protect us and as president of the United States, no one will keep this country safer than I will. +p3248 +aVWell, Maria, I'm glad to have heard from you in the summary of that question about what's going on in the world. Because Tuesday night, I watched story time with Barack Obama. And I've got to tell you, it sounded like everything in the world was going amazing, you know? The fact is, there's a number of things that the next president is going to have to do to clean up this mess. The first thing is we have to strengthen our alliances around the world. And the best way to do that is to start talking to our allies again and having them be able to count on our word. Lots of people will say lots of different things about me in this campaign and others, but the one thing they've never said about me is that I'm misunderstood. And so when we talk to our allies and we give them our word, in a Christie administration, they know we're going to keep it. Next, we have to talk to our adversaries, and we have to make sure they understand the limits of our patience. And this president, given what Ted said right at the beginning, he's absolutely right. It's a \u2014 it's absolutely disgraceful that Secretary Kerry and others said in their response to what's going on in Iran that this was a good thing; it showed how the relationship was getting better. The president doesn't understand \u2014 and by the way, neither does Secretary Clinton \u2014 and here's my warning to everybody out in the audience tonight. If you're worried about the world being on fire, you're worried about how we're going to use our military, you're worried about strengthening our military and you're worried most of all about keeping your homes and your families safe and secure, you cannot give Hillary Clinton a third term of Barack Obama's leadership. I will not do that. If I'm the nominee, she won't get within 10 miles of the White House. +p3249 +aVMIlitary action, Maria, would be used when it was absolutely necessary to protect American lives and protect American interests around the world. We are not the world's policeman, but we need to stand up and be ready. And the problem, Maria, is that the military is not ready, either. We need to rebuild our military, and this president has let it diminish to a point where tinpot dictators like the mullahs in Iran are taking our Navy ships. It is disgraceful, and in a Christie administration, they would know much, much better than to do that. +p3250 +aVI stood on the stage and watched Marco in rather indignantly, look at Governor Bush and say, someone told you that because we're running for the same office, that criticizing me will get you to that office. It appears that the same someone who has been whispering in old Marco's ear too. So the indignation that you carry on, some of the stuff, you have to also own then. So let's set the facts straight. First of all, I didn't support Sonia Sotomayor. Secondly, I never wrote a check to Planned Parenthood. Third, if you look at my record as governor of New Jersey, I have vetoed a 50-caliber rifle ban. I have vetoed a reduction this clip size. I vetoed a statewide I.D. system for gun owners and I pardoned, six out-of-state folks who came through our state and were arrested for owning a gun legally in another state so they never have to face charges. And on Common Core, Common Core has been eliminated in New Jersey. So listen, this is the difference between being a governor and a senator. See when you're a senator, what you get to do is just talk and talk and talk. And you talk so much that nobody can ever keep up with what you're saying is accurate or not. When you're a governor, you're held accountable for everything you do. And the people of New Jersey, I've seen it. +p3251 +aVAnd the last piece is this. I like Marco too, and two years ago, he called me a conservative reformer that New Jersey needed. That was before he was running against me. Now that he is, he's changed his tune. I'm never going to change my tune. I like Marco Rubio. He's a good guy, a smart guy, and he would be a heck of a lot better president than Hillary Rodham Clinton would ever be. +p3252 +aVNo, absolutely not. The president wants to do things without working with his Congress, without working with the legislature, and without getting the consent of the American people. And the fact is that that's not a democracy. That's a dictatorship. And we need to very, very concerned about that. See, here's the thing. I don't think the founders put the Second Amendment as number two by accident. I don't think they dropped all the amendments into a hat and picked them out of a hat. I think they made the Second Amendment the second amendment because they thought it was just that important. The fact is in New Jersey, what we have done is to make it easier now to get a conceal and carry permit. We have made it easier to do that, not harder. And the way we've done it properly through regulatory action, not by signing unconstitutional executive orders. This guy is a petulant child. That's what he is. I mean, you know...... the fact is, Neil, let's think about \u2014 let's think about \u2014 and I want to maybe \u2014 I hope the president is watching tonight, because here's what I'd like to tell him. Mr. President, we're not against you. We're against your policies. When you became president, you had a Democratic Congress and a filibuster-proof Democratic Senate. You had only 21 Republican governors in this country. And now after seven years of your policies, we have the biggest majority we've had since the 1920s in the House; a Republican majority in the Senate; and 31 out of 50 Republican governors. The American people have rejected your agenda and now you're trying to go around it. That's not right. It's not constitutional. And we are going to kick your rear end out of the White House come this fall. +p3253 +aVMaria, you look at what this president and his secretary of state, Secretary of State Clinton, has done to get us in this spot. You think about it \u2014 this is the president who said, along with his secretary of state \u2014 drew a red line in Syria, said, if Assad uses chemical weapons against his people, that we're going to attack. He used chemical weapons, he's killed, now, over a quarter of a million of his own people, and this president has done nothing. In fact, he's done worse than nothing. This president \u2014 and, by the way, Secretary Clinton, who called Assad a reformer \u2014 she called Assad a reformer. Now, the fact is, what this president has done is invited Russia to play an even bigger role, bring in Vladimir Putin to negotiate getting those chemical weapons back from Assad, yet what do we have today? We have the Russians and the Iranians working together, not to fight +p3254 +aVNow Maria, listen. I said right from the beginning that we should take no Syrian refugees of any kind. And the reason I said that is because the FBI director told the American people, told Congress, that he could not guarantee he could vet them and it would be safe. That's the end of the conversation. I can tell you, after spending seven years as a former federal prosecutor, right after 9/11, dealing with this issue. Here's the way you need to deal with it. You can't just ban all Muslims. You have to ban radical Islamic jihadists. You have to ban the people who are trying to hurt us. The only way to figure that out is to go back to getting the intelligence community the funding and the tools that it needs to be able to keep America safe. And this summer, we didn't do that. We took it away from the NSA, it was a bad decision by the president. Bad by those in the Senate who voted for it and if I'm president, we'll make our intelligence community strong, and won't have to keep everybody out, we're just going to keep the bad folk out and make sure they don't harm us. +p3255 +aVWell, I'm glad you asked that, Maria. Here's \u2014 here's our plan. We've all been talking about tax reforms tonight, and paying for infrastructure is caught right up in tax reform. If you reform the corporate tax system in this country, which, as was mentioned before, is the highest rate in the world \u2014 and we double tax, as you know. And what that's led to over $2 trillion of American companies' monies that are being kept offshore, because they don't want to pay the second tax. And who can blame them? They pay tax once overseas. They don't want to pay 35 percent tax on the way back. So beside reforming that tax code, bringing it down to 25 percent and eliminating those special-interest loopholes that the lobbyists and the lawyers and the accountants have given \u2014 bring that rate down to 25 percent, but also, a one-time repatriation of that money. Bring the money \u2014 the $2 trillion \u2014 back to the United States. We'll tax it, that one time, at 8.75 percent, because 35 percent of zero is zero, but 8.75 percent of $2 trillion is a lot of money. And I would then dedicate that money to rebuilding infrastructure here in this country. It would not necessitate us raising any taxes. It would bring the money back into the United States to help build jobs by American companies and get our economy moving again, and growing as a higher rate, and it would rebuild those roads and bridges and tunnels that you were talking about. And \u2014 and \u2014 and the last piece of this, Maria, is this. You know, the fact is that this president has penalized corporations in America. He's penalized \u2014 and doesn't understand. In fact, what that hurts is hurt hardworking taxpayers. You've seen middle-class wages go backwards $3,700 during the Obama administration. That's wrong for hardworking taxpayers in this country. We'd rebuild infrastructure that would also create jobs in this country, and we'd work with the states to do it the right way, to do it more efficiently and more effectively. And remember this \u2014 I'm credible on this for this reason: Americans for Tax Reform says that I've vetoed more tax increases than any governor in American history. We don't need to raise taxes to get this done. We need to make the government run smarter and better, and reform this corporate tax system, bring that money back to the United States to build jobs and rebuild our infrastructure, and we need to use it also to protect our grid from terrorists. All of those things are important, and all those things would happen in a Christie administration. +p3256 +aVMaria, I'd like to interrupt this on the floor of the Senate to actually answer the question you asked, which was on entitlements. Do you remember that, everybody? This was a question on entitlements. And the reason \u2014 and the reason......no, you already had your chance, Marco, and you blew it. Here's the thing. The fact is, the reason why... +p3257 +aV... the fact is \u2014 the fact is the reason why that no one wants to answer entitlements up here is because it's hard. It's a hard problem. And I'm the only one up on this stage who back in April put forward a detailed entitlement reform plan that will save over $1 trillion, save Social Security, save Medicare, and avoid this \u2014 avoid what Hillary Rodham Clinton will do to you. Because what she will do is come in and she will raise Social Security taxes. Bernie Sanders has already said it. And she is just one or two more poll drops down from even moving further left than she's moved already to get to the left of Bernie on this. We have seniors out there who are scared to death because this Congress \u2014 this one that we have right now, just stole $150 billion from the Social Security retirement fund to give it to the Social Security disability fund. A Republican Congress did that. And the fact is it was wrong. And they consorted with Barack Obama to steal from Social Security. We need to reform Social Security. Mine is the only plan that saves over $1 trillion and that's why I'm answering your question. +p3258 +aVWell, first off, let's face it, the FBI director James Comey was a friend of mine who I worked with as U.S. Attorney of New Jersey. He was the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan. He said, "there's a chill wind blowing through law enforcement in this country." Here's why, the president of the United States and both his attorney's general, they give the benefit of the doubt to the criminal, not to the police officers. That's the truth of the matter and you see it every time with this president. Every time he's got a chance, going all the way back to \u2014 remember that Great Beer Summit he had after he messed up that time. This is a guy who just believes that law enforcement are the bad guys. Now, I for seven years was the U.S. Attorney of New Jersey. I worked hard with not only federal agents but with police officers and here's the problem, sanctuary cities is part of the problem in this country. That's where crime is happening in these cities where they don't enforce the immigration laws. And this president turns his back \u2014 this president doesn't enforce the marijuana laws in this country because he doesn't agree with them. And he allows states to go ahead and do whatever they want on a substance that's illegal. This president allows lawlessness throughout this country. Here's what I would do Neil, I would appoint an Attorney General and I would have one very brief conversation with that Attorney General. I'd say, "General, enforce the law against everyone justly, fairly, and aggressively. Make our streets safe again. Make our police officers proud of what they do but more important than that, let them know how proud we are of them." We do that, this country would be safe and secure again not only from criminals but from the terrorist who threaten us as well. I'm the only person on this stage who's done that and we will get it done as President of the United States. +p3259 +aVMaria, Neil, thank you for a great tonight. When I think about the folks who are out there at home tonight watching, and I think about what they had to watch this week \u2014 the spectacle they had to watch on the floor of the House of Representatives, with the president of the United States, who talked a fantasy land about the way they're feeling. They know that this country is not respected around the world anymore. They know that this country is pushing the middle class, the hardworking taxpayers, backwards, and they saw a president who doesn't understand their pain, and doesn't have any plan for getting away from it. I love this country. It's the most exceptional country the world has ever known. We need someone to fight for the people. We need a fighter for this country again. I've lived my whole life fighting \u2014 fighting for things that I believe in, fighting for justice and to protect people from crime and terrorism, fighting to stand up for folks who have not had enough and need an opportunity to get more, and to stand up and fight against the special interests. But here's the best way that we're going to make America much more exceptional: it is to make sure we put someone on that stage in September who will fight Hillary Clinton and make sure she never, ever gets in the White House again. I am the man who can bring us together to do that, and I ask for your vote. +p3260 +aVThank you Wolf. America has been betrayed. We've been betrayed by the leadership that Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton have provided to this country over the last number of years. Think about just what's happened today. The second largest school district in America in Los Angeles closed based on a threat. Think about the effect that, that's going to have on those children when they go back to school tomorrow wondering filled with anxiety to whether they're really going to be safe. Think about the mothers who will take those children tomorrow morning to the bus stop wondering whether their children will arrive back on that bus safe and sound. Think about the fathers of Los Angeles, who tomorrow will head off to work and wonder about the safety of their wives and their children. What is Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton done to this country? That the most basic responsibility of an administration is to protect the safety and security of the American people. I will tell you this, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I've fought terrorists and won and when we get back in the White House we will fight terrorists and win again and America will be safe. +p3261 +aVWolf, unfortunately, it's the new normal under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The fact is that if you listen to Hillary Clinton the other day, what she said to the American people was, as regards to +p3262 +aVListen, I want to talk to the audience at home for a second. If your eyes are glazing over like mine, this is what it's like to be on the floor of the United States Senate. I mean, endless debates about how many angels on the head of a pin from people who've never had to make a consequential decision in an executive position. The fact is, for seven years, I had to make these decisions after 9/11, make a decision about how to proceed forward with an investigation or how to pull back, whether you use certain actionable intelligence or whether not to. And yet they continue to debate about this bill and in the subcommittee and what \u2014 nobody in America cares about that. What they care about is, are we going to have a president who actually knows what they're doing to make these decisions? And for the seven years afterwards, New Jersey was threatened like no other region in this country and what we did was we took action within the constitution to make sure that law enforcement had all the information they needed. We prosecuted two of the biggest terrorism cases in the world and stopped Fort Dix from being attacked by six American radicalized Muslims from a Mosque in New Jersey because we worked with the Muslim American community to get intelligence and we used the Patriot Act to get other intelligence to make sure we did those cases. This is the difference between actually been a federal prosecutor, actually doing something, and not just spending your life as one of hundred debating it. Let's talk about how we do this, not about which bill, which one these guys like more. The American people don't care about that. +p3263 +aVWolf, you sit up here and you listen to this stuff, and you think that so many of these people have had so much to do in this national debate, they talk like they were bystanders. You know, we talk about our military being degraded over time, and yet we've had folks on this stage who've been a part of Congress who have participated in sequester; who participated in the degrading of this military over time. And that's why I think people get so frustrated with Washington, D.C. now. That's why they're so angry with the \u2014 the electorate is so angry with everybody who is involved in government in Washington, D.C. Because if you listen to the folks up here, you think that they weren't even there; they had nothing to do with this. This is a difference between being a governor and being in a legislature. See, because when something doesn't work in New Jersey, they look at me, say: "Why didn't it get done? Why didn't you do it?" You have to be responsible and accountable. And so on +p3264 +aVWell, I think we have to focus, Hugh, on exactly what the priorities are. And to me, what I've always said is that the president has set up an awful situation through his deal with Iran, because what his deal with Iran has done is empower them and enrich them. And that's the way +p3265 +aVNot only would I be prepared to do it, I would do it. A no-fly zone means a no-fly zone, Wolf. That's what it means. See, maybe \u2014 maybe because I'm from New Jersey, I just have this kind of plain language hangup. But I would make very clear \u2014 I would not talk to Vladimir Putin. In fact, I would talk to Vladimir Putin a lot. But I'd say to him, "Listen, Mr. President, there's a no-fly zone in Syria; you fly in, it applies to you." And yes, we would shoot down the planes of Russian pilots if in fact they were stupid enough to think that this president was the same feckless weakling that the president we have in the Oval Office is right now. +p3266 +aVWell, Wolf, I'll tell you what reckless is. What reckless is is calling Assad a reformer. What reckless is allowing Russia to come into Crimea and Ukraine. What reckless is is inviting Russia into Syria to team with Iran. That is reckless. And the reckless people are the folks in the White House right now. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are the reckless people. And if you think that a no-fly zone is a reckless policy, you're welcome to your opinion. But how is it working so far? As we have 250,000 Syrians murdered, slaughtered; millions running around the world, running for their lives. It's not working. We need to try something else. And that is not reckless. +p3267 +aVWhat I say to Carla is that the first job of the president of the United States is to protect your safety and your security and the security and safety of your family. And this debate stops with me in the discussions with the FBI director. Now, listen, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I know Jim Comey. We've worked together. He was the U.S. attorney in Manhattan when I was a U.S. attorney in New Jersey. And when Jim Comey gets up before Congress and says, we cannot effectively vet these people, for me as president, that's the end of the conversation. We have to put America's security first. The American people \u2014 we on this stage need to open our ears. We need to open our ears. The American people are not whispering to us. They are screaming to us. And they're screaming to us that it's our job to actually make this government work. It's so dysfunctional under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. It's so ineffective. It's so ineffectual that the American people say, we don't trust them to do anything anymore. So I'm not going to let Syrian refugees, any Syrian refugees in this country. And it was widows and orphans, by the way, and we now know from watching the San Bernardino attack that women can commit heinous, heinous acts against humanity just the same as men can do it. And so I don't back away from that position for a minute. When the FBI director tells me that he can vet those people, then we'll consider it and not a moment before because your safety and security is what's most important to me. +p3268 +aVWell, what it would like is, we have one of the great advantages of America being the open society that we are. It is, we are not hiding things from the American people, but China everyday is conducting business in a way that hides things from their people. So if they want to come in and attack all the personnel records in the federal government, which they've done, and which \u2014 they now have my Social Security number and my fingerprints, as well as maybe some other folks' who are on this stage. The fact is, they need to be fought back on. And what we need to do is go at the things that they are most sensitive and most embarrassing to them; that they're hiding; get that information and put it out in public. Let the Chinese people start to digest how corrupt the Chinese government is; how they steal from the Chinese people; and how they're enriching oligarchs all throughout China. They need to understand that. And we need to take those type of steps. This president has seen personnel records of people who have sacrificed for the American people and for the federal government stolen by the Chinese and he's done nothing in return. This is why \u2014 this is what I said at the beginning that this administration, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton through their foreign policy, have betrayed the American people, because the weakness they've displayed has led to Putin's incursions in the Middle East and in eastern Europe, and has led \u2014 has led to significant problems in the Middle East as well, and the death and murder of lots of folks. +p3269 +aVOn September 10th, 2001, I was named chief federal prosecutor in New Jersey and on September 11th, 2001, my wife and my brother who are in the audience tonight went through the World Trade Center and to their offices just blocks away from the Trade Center. I lost touch with them for six hours that day and prayed that they were alive. Luckily, they were sent home. But many of our friends and others in our neighborhood lost their lives that day. Terrorism \u2014 radical jihadist terrorism is not theoretical to me. It's real. And for seven years, I spent my life protecting our country against another one of those attacks. You won't have to worry when I'm President of the Untied States whether that can be done because I've already done it. I want the chance to do it again to protect you, your children and your families. If you give me the chance and give me your vote I will protect America from the wars that are being brought to our door step. +p3270 +aVI don't see a lot of weakness on this stage, quite frankly. Where I see the weakness is in those three people that are left on the Democratic stage. You know, I see a socialist, an isolationist and a pessimist. And for the sake of me, I can't figure out which one is which. But I will \u2014 but I will tell you this, the socialist says they're going to pay for everything and give you everything for free, except they don't say they're going to raise it through taxes to 90 percent to do it. The isolationist is the one who wants to continue to follow a foreign policy that has fewer democracies today than when Barack Obama came into office around the world. But I know who the pessimist is. It's Hillary Clinton. And you put me on that stage against her next September, she won't get within 10 miles of the White House. Take it to the bank. +p3271 +aVWell, I wish you would have asked that question years ago when they broke it. I mean, let me be honest with the people who are watching at home. The government has lied to you and they have stolen from you. They told you that your Social Security money is in a trust fund. All that's in that trust fund is a pile of IOUs for money they spent on something else a long time ago. And they've stolen from you because now they know they cannot pay these benefits and Social Security is going to be insolvent in seven to eight years. We're sitting up here talking about all these other things; 71 percent of federal spending today is on entitlements, and debt service. And, that's with zero percent interest rates. Now, I'm the only person that's put out a detailed plan on how to deal with entitlements. And we'll save a trillion dollars over the next 10 years. And, here's the difference between me and Hillary Clinton. What Hillary Clinton's going to say, and has said before is, she wants to raise Social Security taxes. Now, let me ask you a question everybody, and, this is for the guy, you know, who owns a landscaping business out there. If somebody's already stolen money from you, are you going to give them more? Or, are you going to deal with the problem by saying, I'm going to give people who've done well in this country less benefit on the backend. We need to get realistic about this. We're not \u2014 the American people \u2014 forget about anything else, they've already been lied to and stolen from. And... +p3272 +aV...I'm going to go to Washington to stop it... +p3273 +aV...The only way we're going to be morale, the only way we're going to keep our promise to seniors is start by following the first rule we should all follow, which is to look at them, treat them like adults, and tell them the truth. It isn't there anymore, Mike. They stole it. It got stolen from them. It's not theirs anymore. The government stole it, and spent it a long time ago... +p3274 +aVSo, let's stop fooling around about this, let's tell people the truth. For once, let's do that, and stop trying to give them some kind of fantasy that's never going to come true. +p3275 +aVYou bet they do. And if I were the prosecutor, that is exactly where they would be. The fact is that this Justice Department under this president has been a political Justice Department. It has been a Justice Department that decided that they want to pick who the winners and losers are. They like General Motors, so they give them a pass. They don't like somebody else like David Petraeus, they prosecute them and send a decorated general on to disgrace. It's a political Justice Department. And, Jim, you know full well that in the seven years I was U.S. attorney we went after pharmaceutical companies. We went after companies that were ripping off shareholders. We went after companies that were doing things that were against the law. And to expand on Mr. Carson's \u2014 or Dr. Carson's question, let's face it, we have laws already. We don't need newer (ph) laws. We don't need Hillary Clinton's price controls for \u2014 again, does anybody out there think that giving Washington, D.C., the opportunity to run the pharmaceutical industry is a good idea, given how well they have done running the government? So what we do, though, is, if there is somebody who is price- gouging, we have laws for prosecutors to take that on. Let's let a Justice Department \u2014 and I will make an attorney general who will enforce the law and make justice more than just a word. It will be a way of life. +p3276 +aVJohn, I'll tell you something. You want to talk about moral authority. Let's talk about something that happened this week in the news. You know, the FBI director, the president's appointed FBI director has said this week that because of a lack of support from politicians like the president of the United States, that police officers are afraid to get out of their cars; that they're afraid to enforce the law. And he says, the president's appointee, that crime is going up because of this. And when the president of the United States gets out to speak about it, does he support police officers? Does he stand up for law enforcement? No, he doesn't. I'll tell you this, the number one job of the president of the United States is to protect the safety and security of the American people. This president has failed, and when I'm in the Oval Office, police officers will know that they will have the support of the president of the Untied States. That's real moral authority that we need in the Oval Office. +p3277 +aVCarl, are we really talking about getting government involved in fantasy football? We have \u2014 wait a second, we have $19 trillion in debt. We have people out of work. We have +p3278 +aVWell, first off, what we don't do is do what Hillary Clinton and John Kerry and Barack Obama want us to do, which is their solution for everything, put more taxes on it, give more money to Washington, D.C., and then they will fix it. Well, there is no evidence that they can fix anything in Washington, D.C. +p3279 +aVWhat we should do is to be investing in all types of energy, John, all types of energy. I've laid out... +p3280 +aVNo, John. John, do you want me to answer or do you want to answer? How are we going to do this? Because, I've got to tell you the truth, even in New Jersey what you're doing is called rude. So... We've laid out a national energy plan that says that we should invest in all types of energy. I will tell you, you could win a bet at a bar tonight, since we're talking about fantasy football, if you ask who the top three states in America are that produce solar energy: California and Arizona are easy, but number three is New Jersey. Why? Because we work with the private sector to make solar energy affordable and available to businesses and individuals in our state. We need to make sure that we do everything across all kinds of energy: natural gas, oil, absolutely. But also where it's affordable, solar, wind in Iowa has become very affordable and it makes sense. That is the way we deal with global warming, climate change, or any of those problems, not through government intervention, not through government taxes, and for God's sake, don't send Washington another dime until they stop wasting the money they're already sending there. +p3281 +aVAnd \u2014 and \u2014 and I \u2014 you know, Ben is absolutely right in saying that what we don't need to do is to send more money to Washington, D.C. to fix this problem. And that's what you'll hear from Hillary Clinton \u2014 and I've already heard from her \u2014 is that, send more money in Social Security, send more money in Medicare taxes, send more money for Medicaid, and that's gonna solve the problem. What we know is we're living longer. That's a blessing. It's a blessing that we're living longer, so we have to increase the retirement age to reflect that blessing. We need to make sure that people understand, as Jeb said before, that if you've done extraordinarily well in this country, do you want them to take more out of your taxes now and think they're gonna give it back to you later? Or would you rather take less later on? +p3282 +aVI want to talk to the folks at home. I want to ask you: Are you fed up with how Washington taxes you? Are you fed up with how Washington wastes your money? Are you concerned like I am that the debt and deficits of Washington, D.C. are endangering America's future? I've got one more question for you then. Are you serious about this election? Because if you are, you need to elect someone who's deadly serious about changing this culture. I am deadly serious about changing this culture. I changed it in New Jersey. I'm deadly serious about doing this job the right way. I'm prepared. I'm tested. I'm ready. And I want to make this our government. For the people who say we can't do it, I say hell no, we can do it together. +p3283 +aVHi, my name is Chris Christie, and I'd like to you take the camera off me and put it on the audience because I'd like to ask all of you, how many of you, raise your hand, believe that in today's Barak Obama America your children will have a better life than you've had? You see? That's why I'm running for President. because leadership is not about me, it's about our country. And, what we talk about tonight, it's not about us, it's about the people in the audience tonight, because in seven short years this president has stripped away their trust, and their faith, and their belief that the next generation will have a better life. He's stolen that from us, and when I'm president, I'm going to take it back. +p3284 +aVWell, I know Ben wasn't talking about me, I'm sure he was talking about one of the other guys, not me. As far as being an outsider is concerned \u2014 as far as being an outsider is concerned, let me tell you this, Jake, I'm a Republican in New Jersey. I wake up every morning as an outsider. I wake up every morning with a Democratic legislature who trying to beat my head in and fight me because I'm trying to bring conservative change to a state that needed it desperately. And so, everyone can talk us here about their credentials. But the bottom line is, every morning I get up, I veto 400 bills from a crazy liberal Democratic legislature, not one of them has been overridden. I've vetoed more tax increases than any governor in American history, according to Americans for Tax Reform. What folks want in this country is somebody to go down there and get the job done. And that's exactly what I'll do. So, I know this much, that what the American people want to hire right now is somebody who believes in them. And believes that they are the ones who can fix our country. I will be the vessel through which they can fix this country, but it's not about me. It's about all of you. And getting this government off your back and out of your way, and letting you succeed. I know Ben wasn't talking about me. +p3285 +aVLook at him smiling at me right now. I know Ben didn't mean it about me. One of these other guys, I'm sure. +p3286 +aVBe honest, Ben, be honest. +p3287 +aVSee, Jake, it wasn't me. +p3288 +aVI was \u2014 +p3289 +aVShe is, and so if she, based on conscience, can't sign that \u2014 that marriage license, then there should be someone in her office to be able to do it, and if the law needs to be changed in the state of Kentucky, which is what she's advocating, it should be changed. +p3290 +aVAnd why don't we do the same thing with Planned Parenthood? +p3291 +aVWe elected a Republican Congress to do this. And they should be doing it, and they're not. And they're giving the president a pass. +p3292 +aVI put it in the list, Dana. We should be doing these things and forcing the president to take action. +p3293 +aVLet's force him to do what he says he's going to do. Now I don't know whether he'll do it or not, but let's force him to do it. +p3294 +aVFirst of, Jake, I don't yield to anybody on how to enforce the law. I'm the only person on this stage who spent seven years as a United States Attorney after September 11th, and I know how to do this. The fact is though that for 15,000 people a day to be deported every day for two years is an undertaking that almost none of us could accomplish given the current levels of funding, and the current number of law enforcement officers. Here's what we need to do, and I think this is where Donald is absolutely right. What we need to do is to secure our border, and we need to do it with more than just a wall. We need to use electronics, we need to use drones, we need to use FBI, DEA, and ATF, and yes, we need to take the fingerprint of every person who comes into this country on a visa, and when they overstay their visa, we need to tap them on the shoulder, and say, "You have overstayed your welcome, you're taking advantage of the American people. It's time for you to go." If we had that kind of system in place, we wouldn't have the 11 million people we have now. +p3295 +aVJake listen. While I'm as entertained as anyone by this personal back-and-forth about the history of Donald and Carly's career, for the 55-year-old construction worker out in that audience tonight who doesn't have a job, who can't fund his child's education, I've got to tell you the truth. They could care less about your careers, they care about theirs. Let's start talking about that on this stage and stop playing \u2014 and stop playing the games. Stop playing \u2014 +p3296 +aVJohn \u2014 I'm not done yet, John. +p3297 +aVStop \u2014 and stop playing \u2014 and Carly \u2014 Carly, listen. You can interrupt everybody else on this stage, you're not going to interrupt me, OK? The fact is that we don't want to hear about your careers, back and forth and volleying back and forth about who did well and who did poorly. You're both successful people. Congratulations. You know who's not successful? The middle class in this country who's getting plowed over by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Let's start talking about those issues tonight and stop this childish back-and-forth between the two of you. +p3298 +aVListen, you know, Hugh, it's an important point. And the question is, who is going to prosecute Hillary Clinton? The Obama White House seems to have in interest, the Justice Department seems to have no interest. I think it's time to put a former federal prosecutor on the same stage as Hillary Clinton. And I will prosecute her during those debates on that stage for the record we're talking about here. The fact she had a private email server in her basement, using national security secrets running through it, could have been hacked by the Russians, the Chinese, or two 18-year-olds on a toot (ph) wanting to have some fun. No one is answering that question from the Hillary Clinton campaign... +p3299 +aVYou know why? Because she knows she's wrong, and she cannot look in the mirror at herself, and she cannot tell the American people the truth. +p3300 +aVWell, Jake, I was named U.S. attorney by President Bush on September 10th, 2001. And that next day my wife Mary Pat did what she did every day, she traveled through the World Trade Center and went to her office two blocks from the World Trade Center. And after those planes hit, for five-and-a-half-hours after that, I couldn't reach her, didn't know whether she was dead or alive, and we had three children at the time, 8, 5 and 1. And I had to confront what so many thousands of others in my region had to confront, the idea I might become a single parent, the idea that my life and my children's life might be changed forever. We lost friends that day. We went to the funerals. And I will tell you that what those people wanted and what they deserved was for America to answer back against what had been done to them. And I support what President Bush did at that time, going into Afghanistan, hunting al Qaeda and its leaders, getting its sanctuary out of place, and making it as difficult around the world for them to move people and money. And then he went to prosecutors like us, and he said, never again. Don't prosecute these people after the crime is committed. Intervene before the crime happens. I absolutely believe that what the president did at the time was right. And I am proud to have been one of the people on the stage who was part of making sure that what Governor Bush said before was the truth. America was safe for those seven years and Barack Obama has taken that safety away from us. +p3301 +aVLet me say this, Jake, is that while that may have been a fine idea that Dr. Carson had, these people were out to kill us. I stood in that region with my family, and every time a plane went overhead in the weeks after that, people's heads jerked to the sky because they thought it was happening again. You do not need to go through subtle diplomacy at that point. That could be handled later on. What you need is a strong American leader who will take the steps that are necessary to protect our nation. That's what I would do as commander-in-chief in this circumstance. And that's what President George W. Bush did in 2001. +p3302 +aVJake, you brought my issue up. +p3303 +aVYou know, I enjoy the interplay. Thank you, gentlemen. I'll just say this, first off, New Jersey is the first state in the nation that now says if you are non-violent, non-dealing drug user, that you don't go to jail for your first offense. You go to mandatory treatment. You see, Jake, I'm pro-life. And I think you need to be pro-life for more than just the time in the womb. It gets tougher when they get out of the womb. And when they're the 16-year-old drug addict in the Florida county lockup, that life is just as precious as the life in the womb. And so, that's why I'm for rehabilitation, why I think the war on drugs has been a failure. But I'll end with this. That doesn't mean we should be legalizing gate way drugs. And if Senator Paul thinks that the only victim is the person, look at the decrease in productivity, look at the way people get used and move on to other drugs when they use marijuana as a gateway drug, it is not them that are the only victims. Their families are the victims too, their children are the victims too, and their employers are the victims also. That's why I'll enforce the federal law, while you can still put an emphasis on rehabilitation, which we've done in New Jersey. +p3304 +aVAnd Senator Paul knows that that's simply not the truth. In New Jersey, we have medical marijuana laws, which I supported and implemented. This is not medical marijuana. There's goes as much \u2014 a further step beyond. This is recreational use of marijuana. This is much different. And so, while he would like to use a sympathetic story to back up his point, it doesn't work. I'm not against medical marijuana. We do it in New Jersey. But I'm against the recreational use against marijuana. If he wants to change the federal law, get Congress to pass the law to change it, and get a president to sign it. +p3305 +aVNo, it's not. But with Donald, it's a good start. That's really good. No, listen. This is an issue that \u2014 that we've gotta talk about, and we haven't talked about yet. 71 percent of all federal spending is on entitlements and debt service. When John Kennedy was elected president in 1960, it was 26 percent. Harvard and Dartmouth says that Social Security's going to go insolvent in seven to eight years. So what I say is very simple. We need to save this program for the good people out there who have paid into the system and need it. And if that means making sure that folks like Donald and many of us on the stage don't get it, that's the right thing to do because here's what Hillary Clinton is going to want to do. She's going to want to put more money into a system that has already lied to us and stolen from us. This government doesn't need more money to make Social Security solvent. We need to be not paying out benefits to people who don't really need it. We need to protect the people who Social Security means the difference between picking between heat and rent and food. That's why I put out the proposal and that's the people I'm trying to... +p3306 +aVI don't think Senator Rubio is a skeptic of climate change. I think what Senator Rubio said I agree with. That in fact we don't need this massive government intervention to deal with the problem. Look at what we have done in New Jersey. We have already reached our clean air goals for 2020. And when I was governor, I pulled out of the regional cap and trade deal, the only state in the Northeast that did that. And we still reached our goals. Why? Because 53 percent of our electricity comes from nuclear. We use natural gas. We use solar power. We're the third-highest- using solar power state. You know why? Because we made all of those things economically feasible. I agree with Marco. We shouldn't be destroying our economy in order to chase some wild left-wing idea that somehow us by ourselves is going to fix the climate. We can contribute to that and be economically sound. We have proven we can do that in New Jersey. Nuclear needs to be back on the table in a significant way in this country if we want to go after this problem. +p3307 +aVI understand. No, no, listen, everybody makes a mistake every once in a while, Jake, even George Shultz. And if that's truly a representation of what he believes we should be doing, then with all due respect to the former secretary of state, I disagree with him. +p3308 +aVI think the Adams family has been shorted in the currency business. Our country wouldn't be here without John Adams, and he would not have been able to do it without Abigal Adams, so, I'd put Abigail Adams on the bill. +p3309 +aVYou know, I've been called a lot of names by a lot of different people, and now I got to get called by names by the Secret Service? I would just say True Heart. +p3310 +aVI turned 18 in 1980, and my first vote was for Ronald Reagan. Boy, am I glad I did it. And I think the country is, too. A Christie presidency won't be about me. It will be about you. Tonight, you sit at home in your living room, frustrated that you play by the rules, you pay the taxes, you do the hard things to raise your family, yet you feel like America's generosity is being taken advantage of. That you've been \u2014 system is being gamed, and that you're turning out to fall further and further behind. Our presidency \u2014 our presidency \u2014 will be about ending that, about enforcing the law, level the playing field for everybody, and once again reward those folks who play by the rules, and think that justice means more than just the word. But it means a way of life. And I will tell you this, around the world, I will not shake hands with, I will not meet with, and I will not agree to anything with a country that says death to us and death to Israel and holds our hostages while we sign agreements with them. It will be an America that be strong and resolute, and will once again be able to stick out its chest and say, "we truly are the greatest nation in the world, because we live our lives that way, each and every day." +p3311 +aVIf you think it's bad now, you should've seen it when I got there. The fact is -- the fact is, in the eight years before I became governor, taxes and fees were raised at the state level 115 times. In the eight years before I became governor, spending was increased 56 percent. And in the eight years before I become governor, taxes and fees were raised at the state level 115 times. In the eight years before I became Governor, spending was increased 56 percent, and in the eight years before I became governor, there was zero net private sector job growth in New Jersey. Zero. For eight years. So, what did we do? We came in, we balanced an $11 billion deficit on a $29 billion budget by cutting over 800 programs in the state budget. We brought the budget into balance with no tax increases. In fact, we vetoed five income tax increases during my time as governor. We cut business taxes $2.3 billion, and we cut regulation by one-third of what my predecessor put in place. And, what's happened since? A hundred ninety-two thousand private sector jobs in the five and a half years I've been governor. We have a lot of work to do in New Jersey, but I am darn proud we've brought our state back. +p3312 +aVYes, I do. And I'll tell you why: because I'm the only person on this stage who's actually filed applications under the Patriot Act, who has gone before the federal -- the Foreign Intelligence Service court, who has prosecuted and investigated and jailed terrorists in this country after September 11th. I was appointed U.S. attorney by President Bush on September 10th, 2001, and the world changed enormously the next day, and that happened in my state. This is not theoretical to me. I went to the funerals. We lost friends of ours in the Trade Center that day. My own wife was two blocks from the Trade Center that day, at her office, having gone through it that morning. When you actually have to be responsible for doing this, you can do it, and we did it, for seven years in my office, respecting civil liberties and protecting the homeland. And I will make no apologies, ever, for protecting the lives and the safety of the American people. We have to give more tools to our folks to be able to do that, not fewer, and then trust those people and oversee them to do it the right way. As president, that is exactly what I'll do. +p3313 +aVAnd -- and, Megyn? Megyn, that's a -- that, you know, that's a completely ridiculous answer. "I want to collect more records from terrorists, but less records from other people." How are you supposed to know, Megyn? +p3314 +aVWhat are you supposed to... +p3315 +aV...how are you supposed to -- no, I'll tell you how you, look... +p3316 +aVLet me tell you something, you go... +p3317 +aVWhen you -- you know, senator... +p3318 +aVListen, senator, you know, when you're sitting in a subcommittee, just blowing hot air about this, you can say things like that. When you're responsible for protecting the lives of the American people, then what you need to do is to make sure... +p3319 +aV...is to make sure that you use the system the way it's supposed to work. +p3320 +aVThere is no... +p3321 +aVAnd you know -- you know, Senator Paul? Senator Paul, you know, the hugs that I remember are the hugs that I gave to the families who lost their people on September 11th. Those are the hugs I remember, and those had nothing to do -- and those had nothing to do with politics, unlike what you're doing by cutting speeches on the floor of the Senate, then putting them on the Internet within half an hour to raise money for your campaign... +p3322 +aV...and while still putting our country at risk. +p3323 +aVYou know what, Megyn, can I... +p3324 +aVNo, he's not lying, he's just wrong. I mean, so, there's a difference -- I'm the only guy on this stage who's put out a detailed, 12 point plan on entitlement reform and here's why -- because 71% of federal spending right now is on entitlements, and debt service, 71%. And we have spent the last hour and five minutes talking about the other 29%, and no time on the 71%, and that makes no sense. Now, let me tell you exactly what we would do on Social Security. Yes, we'd raise the retirement age two years, and phase it in over 25 years, that means we'd raise it one month a year for 25 years when we're all living longer, and living better lives. Secondly, we would means test Social Security for those who are making over $200,000 dollars a year in retirement income, and have $4 to $5 million dollars in liquid assets saved. They don't need that Social Security check. Social Security is meant to be -- to make sure that no one who's worked hard, and played by the rules, and paid into the system grows old in poverty in America. If we don't deal with this problem, it will bankrupt our country, or lead to massive tax increases, neither one that we want in this country. +p3325 +aVChris... +p3326 +aVYeah, sure. And, I don't disagree with ending Congress' retirement program. I'm a governor, I don't have a retirement program in my state, and I don't disagree with that. But, here's the news to the American people, he's complaining about the lying and stealing. The lying and stealing has already occurred. The trust fund is filled with IOU's. We can't fix the problem just by ending Congress's retirement, that's worth about, "this" much. We need to go at the fundamental problem, and the fundamental problem is that this system is broken. It has been stolen from. We have been lied to, and we need a strong leader to tell the truth and fix... +p3327 +aVWell, listen. You know, if we want to deal with these issues, we have to deal with them in a way that makes sense. I agree with what Dr. Carson said earlier. The first thing we need to do to make America stronger is to strengthen our military, and I put out a really specific plan: no less than 500,000 active duty soldiers in the Army. No less than 185,000 active duty marines in the Marine Corps. Bring us to a 350 ship Navy again, and modernize the Ohio class of submarines, and bring our Air Force back to 2,600 aircraft that are ready to go. Those are the kind of things that are going to send a clear message around the world. Those are the things that we need to start working on immediately to make our country stronger and make it better. Those are the things that we need to be able to be doing. And as we move towards dealing with foreign aid, I don't disagree with Senator Paul's position that we shouldn't be funding our enemies. But I absolutely believe that Israel is a priority to be able to fund and keep them strong and safe after eight years of this administration. +p3328 +aVWell, thank you, Megyn. Listen, I was born into a middle class family in New Jersey. My dad came home from serving in the Army after having lost his father, worked in the Breyers ice cream plant in Newark, New Jersey. Was the first person to graduate from college. He put himself through college at night. My mom was a secretary. I was appointed United States attorney on September 10, 2001. And I spent the next seven years of my career fighting terrorism and putting terrorists in jail. I'm a conservative, pro-life governor in a state where it is really tough to be both. A state like New Jersey, with lots of Democrats, but still we cut taxes, we balanced budgets. We fought the teacher's union. This president has had weak leadership, which has led to bad choices. We have got to stop worrying about being loved and start worrying about being respected. And that's exactly how I'll lead our country. +p3329 +asVCARSON +p3330 +(lp3331 +VWell, the current Constitution actually doesn't address that particular situation, but the fact of the matter is the Supreme Court, obviously, is a very important part of our governmental system. And when our Constitution was put in place, the average age of death was under 50, and therefore the whole concept of lifetime appointments for Supreme Court judges and federal judges was not considered to be a big deal. Obviously, that has changed, and it's something that probably needs to be looked at pretty carefully at some point. But, we need to start thinking about the divisiveness that is going on in our country. I looked at some of the remarks that people made after finding out that Justice Scalia had died, and they were truly nasty remarks. And that we have managed to get to that position in our country is truly a shame. And we should be thinking about how we could create some healing in this land. But, right now, we're not going to get healing with President Obama. That's very United Nations clear. So, I...... fully agree that we should not allow a judge to be appointed during his time. +p3332 +aVNo, it isn't. First of all, let me go back to your first question for me. It wasn't phrased as who gets to nominate Supreme Court appointees. Of course that's the president. So I know that there are some left-wing media who would try to make hay on that. Secondly, thank you for including me in the debate. Two questions already. This is great. Now, as far......as far as those 2 a.m. phone calls are concerned, judgment is what is required. And the kinds of things that you come up with are sometimes very, very difficult and very unique. One of the things that I was known for is doing things that have not been done before. So no amount of experience really prepares you to do something that has never been done before. That's where judgment comes in. And that, I think, is a situation that we're in right now, a situation that we have never been in before with the kinds of threats that pose real danger to our nation, and it comes in very handy in those situations. +p3333 +aVWell, first of all, let me just address the Iraq question. You know, I was not particularly in favor of us going to war in Iraq, primarily because I have studied, you know, the Middle East, recognizing that those are nations that are ruled by dictators and have been for thousands of years. And when you go in and you remove one of those dictators, unless you have an appropriate plan for replacing them, you're going to have chaos. Now, fortunately, we were able to stabilize the situation, and it was the current administration that turned tail and ran and destabilized the situation. Now, having said that, in terms of the rules of engagement, I was talking about, you know, Obama has said, you know, we shouldn't bomb tankers, you know, coming out of refineries because there may be people in there, or because the environment may be hurt. You know, that's just asinine thinking. And the fact of the matter is... You know, we \u2014 obviously, you're not going to accomplish all of your goals without some collateral damage. You have to be able to assess what is acceptable and what is not. +p3334 +aVWell, first of all, let me just mention on the tax issue. Bencarson.com, go read about it, because my tax plan has been praised by Cato, by Wall Street Journal. Forbes said it is the best, the most pro-growth tax plan, and it's based on real fairness for everybody. Starts at the 150 percent poverty level, but even the people below that have to pay something, because everybody has to have skin in the game, and the millions of people can't, you know, talk about what other people have to pay and have no skin in the game. And it deals with corporate tax rate, and makes it the same as everybody else......everybody pays exactly the same. +p3335 +aV... And, as far as Medicare and Medicaid, my main goal is to get rid of Obamacare and put the care back in the hands of ... +p3336 +aVWell, first of all, please go to my website, bencarson.com, and read my immigration policy, O.K.? Because it actually makes sense. Now, the \u2014 as far as these fines are concerned, you know? Here's the big problem. We've got all these government regulators, and all they're doing is running around looking for people to fine. And we've got 645 different federal agencies and sub-agencies. Way, way too many, and they don't have anything else to do. I think what we really need to do is start trimming the regulatory agencies rather than going after the people who are trying to increase the viability, economic viability of our society. Now, that doesn't mean there aren't some people out there who are doing bad things. But I'm not sure that the way to solve that problem is by increasing all the regulatory burden. You know, when you consider how much regulations cost us each year, you know? $2 trillion dollars per family, $24,000 per family, that happens to be the same level as the poverty level...... for a family of four. If you want to get rid of poverty, get rid of all the regulations. +p3337 +aVBefore you ask the question, can I respond to the \u2014 you know, they mentioned my name a couple of times. +p3338 +aVAll right. Well, first of all, you know, so many people have said to me, "You need to scream and jump and down \u2014 jump up and down like everybody else." Is that really what you want? What we just saw? I don't think so. And you know, I \u2014 when I got into this race, I decided to look under the hood of the engine of what runs Washington, D.C., and my first inclination was to run away, but I didn't do it because I'm thinking about our children and the fact that we are the United States of America. And anybody up here is going to be much better than what's going to come on the other side. And what happened tonight with \u2014 with Justice Scalia tells you that we cannot afford to lose this election, and we cannot be tearing each other down. +p3339 +aVWell, first of all, I'm not a politician, so I'm never going to become a politician. But here's what \u2014 here's what people need to know. People need to know that free college is not \u2014 it's a non-starter. You know, you have to look at our economic situation. We're on the verge of economic collapse and, you know, we're \u2014 it's not just the $19 trillion, but it's also the $200 trillion in unfunded liabilities. What we need to think about is, what does that do to the average person? When we have a debt of that nature, it causes the Fed to change their policy, it causes the central bank to keep the \u2014 the rates low, and who does does that affect? Mr. Average, who used to go to the bank every Friday and put part of his check in the bank and watch it grow over three decades and be able to retire with a nice nest egg, that's gone. That part of the American dream is gone. All of these things are disappearing, and Bernie Sanders and people like Hillary Clinton blame it on the rich. They say those evil rich people, if we take their money we can solve the problem. It's not the evil rich people. It's the irresponsible, evil government. +p3340 +aVThis is the first generation not expected to do better than their parents. Some people say it's the new normal, but there's nothing normal about it in an exceptional American. I, like you, am a member of we, the people, and we know that our country is heading off the cliff. Joseph Stalin said if you want to bring America down you, have to undermine three things: our spiritual life, our patriotism and our morality. We, the people, can stop that decline, starting right here in South Carolina. If all the people who say, "I love Ben Carson and his policies, but he can't win," vote for me, not only can we win, but we can turn this thing around. You know, we have this manipulation by the political class and by the media telling us who we're supposed to pick and how we're supposed to live. We, the people, are the only people who will determine that. And if you elect me as your next president, I promise you that you will get somebody who is accountable to everybody and beholden to no one. Thank you. +p3341 +aVWell, you know, when I wasn't introduced No. 2, as was the plan, I thought maybe he thought I already had dropped out. But... But you know, today is the 105th anniversary, or \u2014 105th birthday of Ronald Reagan. His 11 Commandment was not to speak ill of another Republican. So, I'm not going to use this opportunity to savage the reputation of Senator Cruz. But I will say \u2014 I will say \u2014 I will say that I was very disappointed that members of his team thought so little of me that they thought that after having hundreds, if not thousands of volunteers and college students who sacrificed their time and were dedicated to the cause \u2014 one even died \u2014 to think that I would just walk away ten minutes before the caucus and say, "Forget about you guys." I mean, who would do something like that? Now, I don't think anyone on this stage would do something like that. And to assume that someone would, what does that tell you? So, unfortunately, it did happen. It gives us a very good example of certain types of Washington ethics. Washington ethics. Washington ethics basically says, if it's legal, you do what you need to do in order to win. That's not my ethics. My ethics is, you do what's right. +p3342 +aVSince I was mentioned... +p3343 +aVThis is great you guys. I want you all to mention me when you say something. In fact, the time line indicates that initial tweet from CNN was followed by another one within one minute that clarified that I was not dropping out. So, what happened to that one, it is unclear. But the bottom line is, we can see what happened, everybody can see what happened and you can make your own judgment. +p3344 +aVGood evening. +p3345 +aVWell, thank you. You know, I was hoping to get a chance to talk about North Korea. I was the only one who didn't get to do that, and I've got stuff to say about it, let me tell you. But at any rate, you have to replace it with something that makes sense. It doesn't make sense. And the reason that I dislike Obamacare is because the government comes in and tells the people \u2014 which the nation is supposed to be centered on \u2014 that we don't care what you think, this is what we're doing. And if you don't like it, too bad. That's a problem. And we can't afford to do that because that will fundamentally change America. I have proposed a health empowerment account system. Everybody gets a health empowerment account the day they are born, they keep it until they die. They can pass it on. We pay for it with the same dollars that we pay for traditional health care with, recognizing that we spend twice as much as many countries per capita and health care and don't have as such access. We give people the ability to shift money within their health empowerment account so that each family basically becomes its own insurance company without a middleman; that saves you a awful lot of money. And that will lower the cost of your catastrophic insurance tremendously, because the only thing coming out of that is catastrophic health care. And then in terms of taking care of the indigent, we have another whole system, and I can go ahead and explain it, but I don't have the time, but I'd be happy to if you give me some more time. But go to my website bencarson.com, read about it. You can read about everything that's been discussed here in great detail. HAM: Thank you, Dr. Carson. David, Martha, back to you. +p3346 +aVI want to say something about this, because I'm not here just to add beauty to the stage. You know, I've been talking about Libya for quite a long time. I think I was the first one to start talking about it because I say we have to have a proactive foreign policy strategy. And of course, the next place that +p3347 +aVI would support the possibility of renewed airstrikes if in conjunction with our Joint Chiefs and our military people they felt that was an appropriate strategy. The fact of the matter is none of us up here is a military expert, and we sometimes act like we are, but we're not. And if we actually sit down and talk with them and get them to understand our plan and their impression of what needs to be done, I think we're going to make a lot more progress. +p3348 +aVIt's the same question? +p3349 +aVYes. Well, first of all, I think it would be a pretty easy contrast, quite frankly, between myself and Hillary Clinton. In one case, you have someone who is known as a deceitful individual. An individual who at Benghazi, which I will never let go, quite frankly, because I think of those two men who went up there on the top of that compound with machine guns, firing away, allowing their colleagues to escape. And I'm sure, in the back of their mind, they were just saying, if we can just hold on, help is on the way. But help was not on the way. When did we in the United States not send people to help our own people? You know, this is not who we are. And \u2014 I would simply make it a referendum on honesty and integrity versus deceit and the Washington way. +p3350 +aVWell, you know, it's not a simple issue, and now, you know, we've gotten evidence that there can been active viruses in other bodily fluids like saliva and urine. So, this is going to be, obviously, a big deal. Do we quarantine people? If we have evidence that they are infected, and that there is evidence that that infection can spread by something that they're doing, yes. But, just willy-nilly going out and quarantining a bunch of people because they've been to Brazil, I don't believe that that's going to work. What we really need to be thinking about is how do we get this disease under control? And this is where we need rapid response. We need a rapid response for ebola, we need rapid response for Zika, there will be other things that will come up. These are the kinds of things that the NIH, the CDC, can be very effective in. We need to give the the appropriate support for those kind of things. +p3351 +aVCan I say something... +p3352 +aVSomething about the draft. Very quickly. +p3353 +aVYou know, 14 percent decrease in the number of people applying for voluntary military service, and I think part of it is because of the way that we treat our veterans. You know, we wouldn't be a free country if it wasn't for them, and we have 22 veterans per day committing suicide. So, I think what we should do is have an external support system for people once they volunteer and it should follow them throughout their career, should follow them for three years, five years afterwards, a year before they get out, should be working on integrating them back into society, so that they quit on Friday and they start their new job. They should have health empowerment accounts that are subsidized so they can go to any medical facility and be taken care of. They can go to a V.A. if they want to. But if we start taking care of our veterans the right way, we won't have to ever worry about a draft again. +p3354 +aVWith 100 percent certainly, I will predict the winner \u2014 it will either be Denver or Carolina. +p3355 +aVFor many months, the political class, pundits, the media, have tried to ignore or bury me. They say that politics is too complex, and too sleazy. You can't survive. Well, guess what? I'm still here, and I'm not going any place either. And, I believe there is still a place in our country for faith, integrity, and common sense. Hundreds of thousands of you drafted me to run for president...... And, I am going to with the help of God, and you, once again place the American people at the pinnacle with the government there to serve it. +p3356 +aVWell, I will gladly confess that I'm the only one on this stage with no political title. You're not going to hear a lot of polished political speech from me, but you will hear the truth. And I don't think you have to be a politician to tell the truth. In fact, sometimes it's not that way... ... and I've had more two a.m. phone calls than everybody here put together, making life and death decisions, put together very complex teams to accomplish things that have never been done before. And we are in a situation right now in our country that we have never been in before. We need people who think out of the box and can solve problems; can utilize the resources around them; very smart people, to focus on the problem and solve the problem. The American people are terrified. That's why we have this abnormal situation going on right now. We don't need more of the same solutions. We need different solutions to solve the problems and to save our nation. +p3357 +aVWell, I don't know about the GOP messaging, but I can tell you about my messaging. You know, need to stop allowing political correctness to dictate our policies, because it's going to kill us if we don't. And in the Holy Land Foundation trial in 2006 in Texas, they had a memorandum, an explanatory memorandum that talked about the fact that Americans would be easy to overcome and to commit civilization jihad because they were going to be trying to protect the rights of the very people who were trying to subvert them. But I believe in the Teddy Roosevelt philosophy. Teddy Roosevelt said, we are a nation of immigrants. As such, everybody is welcome from any race, any country, any religion, if they want to be Americans. If they want to accept our values and our laws. If not, they can stay where they are. +p3358 +aVOh, great. As I said before, we are a land of immigrants, but we have to be intelligent about the way that we form our immigration policies, and that's one of the reasons that I have called on us to declare war on the Islamic State because we need to reorient our immigration policies and our visa policies for people who are coming into this country because there are many people out there who want to destroy us. Now, I recognize that the vast majority of people coming in here probably are not those kinds of people, but that's not good enough. If you've got 10 people coming to your house and you know one of them is a terrorist, you're probably going to keep them all out. You know, we probably have to figure out a way to make sure that we keep America safe. +p3359 +aVLook, first of all, I recognize that Vladimir Putin is an opportunist and he's a bully, and we have to face him down. And I would \u2014 first of all, face him down in that whole region, the whole Baltic region. I think we need to put in some armored brigades there. We only have one or two. We need much more than that. We need to be doing military exercises if not only Estonia but Latvia and Lithuania. They're terrified by the saber rattling. I think we ought to put in our missile defense system. I think we ought to give Ukraine offensive weapons and I think we ought to fight them on the economic basis because Putin is a one- horse country: oil and energy. And we ought to fight them on that level. We ought to be helping in terms of the technology for fracking, keeping the price low, quite frankly, because that's what's keeping him contained. So, yes, I'd absolutely would go in if he attacked. I think on Article IV of +p3360 +aVWell, as anyone knows who's been listening to me, you know? I'm very much against the government being involved in every aspect of our lives, you know? We last year there was an additional 81,000 pages of government regulations. If you stack that up it would be a three-story building. This is absolutely absurd. And, they've insinuated themselves into everything. Now, as far as the renewable fuel standard is concerned, certain promises were made, certain government contracts were issued which extend all the way into the year 2022, and I believe that it's probably unfair to withdraw the rug because people have invested money. People have invested a lot of energy into that. But, you know, we are blessed with tremendous energy in this nation, and we need to be talking for new sources of energy. Seventy percent of our population lives by costly. What about hydroelectric power? We can develop that, you know? We have so much natural gas now, and we can liquify it, and we can transfer it across the sea so we can make Europe dependent on us instead of Putin \u2014 put him back in his little box where he belongs. Those are the kinds of things that we ought to be doing. And, you know, take advantage of the tremendous opportunities in energy that God has given us, not get involved in these little petty arguments. And we can get a lot of them out if we get the government out of our lives. +p3361 +aVI want to thank the people of Iowa for being so welcoming to me. Please think of our founding fathers as you listen. We the people of the United States in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the benefits of liberty to ourselves and our prosperity, do ordain and establish this constitution of the United States of America. Folks, it's not too late. Enough said. +p3362 +aVWell, I'm very happy to get a question this early on. I was going to ask you to wake me up when that time came. You know, I find it really quite fascinating some of the president's proclamations. The fact of the matter is he doesn't realize that we now live in the 21st century, and that war is very different than it used to be before. Not armies massively marching on each other and air forces, but now we have dirty bombs and we have cyber attacks and we have people who will be attacking our electrical grid. And, you know, we have a whole variety of things that they can do and they can do these things simultaneously. And we have enemies who are obtaining nuclear weapons that they can explode in our exoatmosphere and destroy our electric grid. I mean, just think about a scenario like that. They explode the bomb, we have an electromagnetic pulse. They hit us with a cyberattack simultaneously and dirty bombs. Can you imagine the chaos that would ensue at that point? He needs to recognize that those kinds of things are in fact an existential threat to us. But here's the real key. We have the world's best military, even though he's done everything he can to diminish it. And the fact of the matter is if we give them a mission and we don't tie their hands behind their back, they can get it accomplished. +p3363 +aVNeil, I was mentioned too. +p3364 +aVYeah, he said everybody. And \u2014 and I just want to take this opportunity to say, you know, in the 2012 election, you know, we \u2014 and when I say we, Republicans \u2014 tore themselves apart. You know, we have to stop this because, you know, if we manage to damage ourselves, and we lose the next election, and a progressive gets in there and they get two or three Supreme Court picks, this nation is over as we know it. And we got to look at the big picture here. +p3365 +aVWell, there's not question that we should be able to look at past president whether they're married to somebody who's running for president or not in terms of their past behavior and what it means. But you know, here's the real issue, is this America anymore? Do we still have standards? Do we still have values and principles? You know, you look at what's going on, you see all the divisiveness and the hatred that goes on in our society. You know, we have a war on virtual everything \u2014 race wars, gender wars, income wars, religious wars, age wars. Every war you can imaging, we have people at each other's throat and our strength is actually in our unity. You know, you go to the internet, you start reading an article and you go to the comments section \u2014 you cannot go five comments down before people are calling each all manner of names. Where did that spirit come from in America? It did not come from our Judeo-Christian roots, I can tell you that. And wherever it came from we need to start once again recognizing that there is such a thing as right and wrong. And let's not let the secular progressives drive that out of us. The majority of people in American actually have values and principles and they believe in the very things that made America great. They've been beaten into submission. It's time for us to stand up for what we believe in. +p3366 +aVWait a minute, who in their 16th month? +p3367 +aVOK. +p3368 +aVWell, there's no question that +p3369 +aVWell, first of all, recognize it is a substantial problem. But like all of our problems, there isn't a single one that can't be solved with common sense if you remove the ego and the politics. And clearly, what we need to do is get a group of experts together, including people from other countries, some of our friends from Israel, who have had experience screening these people and come up with new guidelines for immigration, and for visas, for people who are coming into this country. That is the thing that obviously makes sense, we can do that. And as far as the Syrians are concerned, Al-Hasakah province, perfect place. They have infrastructure. All we need to do is protect them, they will be in their own country. And that is what they told me when I was in Jordan in November. Let's listen to them and let's not listen to our politicians. +p3370 +aVWell, I would suggest a fair tax system, and that's what we have proposed. A flat tax for everybody \u2014 no exemptions, no deductions, no shelters, because some people have a better capability of taking advantage of those than others. You know, and then the other thing we have to do is stop spending so much money. You know, I \u2014 my \u2014 my mother taught me this. You know, she only had a third-grade education, but \u2014 you know, she knew how to stretch a dollar. I mean, she would drive a car until it wouldn't make a sound, and then gather up all her coins and buy a new car. In fact, if my mother were secretary of treasury, we would not be in a deficit situation. But...... you know, the \u2014 the \u2014 the fact of the matter is \u2014 you know, if we fix the taxation system, make it absolutely fair, and get rid of the incredible regulations \u2014 because every regulation is a tax, it's a \u2014 on goods and services. And it's the most regressive tax there is. You know, when you go into the store and buy a box of laundry detergent, and the price has up \u2014 you know, 50 cents because of regulations, a poor person notices that. A rich person does not. Middle class may notice it when they get to the cash register. And everything is costing more money, and we are killing our \u2014 our \u2014 our people like this. And Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton will say it's those evil rich people. It's not the evil rich people. It's the evil government that is \u2014 that is putting all these regulations on us so that we can't survive. +p3371 +aVCan I just add one very quick thing? And I just want to say, you know, last week we released our tax plan. And multiple reputable journals, including The Wall Street Journal, said ours is the best. Just want to get that out there, just saying. +p3372 +aVYou know, in recent travels around this country, I've encountered so many Americans who are discouraged and angry as they watch our freedom, our security and the American dream slipping away under an unresponsive government that is populated by bureaucrats and special interest groups. We're not going to solve this problem with traditional politics. The only way we're going to solve this problem is with we, the people. And I ask you to join me in truth and honesty and integrity. Bencarson.com \u2014 we will heal, inspire and revive America for our children. +p3373 +aVThank you, Wolf. Please join me for a moment of silence and remembrance of the San Bernardino victims. Thank you. You know, our country since its inception has been at war, every 15 or 20 years. But the war that we are fighting now against radical Islamist jihadists is one that we must win. Our very existence is dependent upon that. You know, as a pediatric neurosurgeon, I frequently faced life and death situations, and had to come up with the right diagnosis, the right plan, and execute that plan frequently with other colleagues. Right now, the United States of America is the patient. And the patient is in critical condition and will not be cured by political correctness and will not be cured by timidity. And I am asking the Congress, which represents the people, to declare a war on +p3374 +aVFirst of all, let me just complain a little bit. This is the first time I've spoken and several people have had multiple questions so please try to pay attention to that. Now, as far as monitoring is concerned, what my point is, we need to make sure that any place \u2013 I don't care whether it's a mosque, a school, a supermarket, a theater, you know it doesn't matter. If there are a lot of people getting there and engaging in radicalizing activities then we need to be suspicious of it. We have to get rid of all this PC stuff. And people are worried about if somebody's going to say that I'm Islamophobic or what have you. This is craziness because we are at war. That's why I asked congress, go ahead and declare the war . We need to be on a war footing. We need to understand that our nation is in grave danger. You know, what the Muslim Brotherhood said in the explanatory memorandum that was discovered during the Holy Land Foundation Trial was that, "they will take advantage of our PC attitude to get us. :" We have to be better than this. We have to be smarter than they are. +p3375 +aVI think you have to ask them about that. I don't want to get in between them. Let them fight. +p3376 +aVNeurosurgeon. +p3377 +aVWell, interestingly enough, you should see the eyes of some of those children when I say to them we're going to have to open your head up and take out this tumor. They're not happy about it, believe me. And they don't like me very much at that point. But later on, they love me. Sometimes you \u2014 I sound like him. You know, later on, you know, they really realize what's going on. And by the same token, you have to be able to look at the big picture and understand that it's actually merciful if you go ahead and finish the job, rather than death by 1,000 pricks. +p3378 +aVYou got it. You got it. +p3379 +aVRuthless is not necessarily the word I would use, but tough, resolute, understanding what the problems are, and understanding that the job of the president of the United States is to protect the people of this country and to do what is necessary in order to get it done. +p3380 +aVFirst of all, I've been talking about this for over a year. We have to destroy their caliphate because that gives them legitimacy to go ahead with the global Jihad. We have to take their energy because they are \u2014 +p3381 +aVNo one is ever better off with dictators but there comes a time you know, when you're on an airplane, they always say, "in case of an emergency oxygen masks will drop down. Put yours on first and then administer help to your neighbor." We need oxygen right now. And we need to start thinking about the needs of the American people before we go and solve everybody else's problems. The fact of the matter is, is that the Middle East has been in turmoil for thousands of years. For us to think that we're going to in there and fix that with a couple of little bombs and a few little decorations is relatively foolish. +p3382 +aVWell, you know, there's a false narrative that only the political class has the wisdom and the ability to be commander-in- chief. But if you go back and you study the design of our country, it was really designed for the citizen statesman. And we need to be talking about where does your experience come from? You know, and I've had a lot of experience building things, organizing things, you know, a national scholarship program. One of the things that you'll notice if you look through my life is that I don't do a lot of talking. I do a lot of doing. And really, it says more about a person than how much they talk. And then some people say you're weak because, you know, you're not loud and you're not boisterous and you're not rude. But the fact of the matter is, look and see what I've done. And that speaks volumes about strength. +p3383 +aVWell, it was very interesting having an opportunity to talk to the Syrians themselves. And I asked them: What do you want? What is your supreme desire? Their supreme desire was to be settled back in their own country. I said, "What can Americans and other countries do?" They said, "Support the efforts of those who are trying to provide safety for us, including the Jordanians." Of course, they had a brand new hospital, for instance, that was unstaffed because there wasn't enough money to do it. But here's what's really neat. If you go into Hasakah province in northeast Syria, that's an area that's as big as Lebanon. It's controlled by the Kurds, the Christians and the moderate Sunnis. And there are airstrips and hotels. You could settle a lot of people there. All we would have to do is be willing to provide them with some weaponry, some defensive weaponry. And we seem to be afraid to give the Kurds weaponry. We like to send it for some strange reason through Baghdad, and then they only get a tenth of it. And if we would support them, we'd have a perfect ideal there. We don't need to set this up as we either take a bunch of refugees who will be infiltrated with terrorists, I guarantee you. For them not to be would be terrorist malpractice. And we need to \u2014 to choose the right choice, not these false choices. +p3384 +aVWell, I definitely believe that he is unstable, and I do, in fact, believe that China has a lot more influence with him than we do. But we also recognize that North Korea is in severe financial straits, and they have decided to use their resources to build their military, rather than to feed their people and to take care of the various humanitarian responsibilities that they have. We can capitalize upon that. You know, we should use our economic power in lots of different ways. I think we can use that in order to keep Putin contained, because he is a one-horse show. Energy. And we have an abundance of energy, but we have archaic energy exportation rules. We need to get rid of those, allow ourselves to really make Europe dependent on us and other parts of the world dependent on us for energy. Put him back in his little box where he belongs. And, you know, we need to be doing lots of other things with the resources that we have. So economic power works just as well as military power, perhaps even better. And speaking of that, our Military needs to be upgraded. You know, you look at things like our Ohio Class submarines, they're 25 years old. Our minuteman 3 missiles \u2014 they are 34 years old. Our B-52 bombers \u2014 50 years old. You know, if we don't get the military right nothing else matters. +p3385 +aVWell, you know, the statement that I made last week, that I would leave the party was contingent upon whether in fact the party acts like they have in the past with a lot of subterfuge and dishonesty, or like they're going act now because I spike to Reince Priebus, and he assured me that the Washington Post writer had it all wrong, and that they're not be engaging in anything to thwart the will of the people. That's why I got into this race, as a member of we the people, to try bring some honesty and integrity back to the process. +p3386 +aVI've been fortunate enough to travel to 58 different countries and I thank God everyday that I was born in this country. The most exceptional country that the world has ever known. And I want to make sure that we preserve that exceptionalism for the next generation. My mother told me if I work hard and I really believed in American principles and I believed in God, anything is possible. I believe that is true, and that's why I'm not anxious to give away American values and principles for the sake of political correctness. +p3387 +aVWell, first of all, delighted to be here. My family's here, and my little granddaughter, who's three years old, said she wanted to come to the debate. So this is very cool. As far as the minimum wage is concerned, people need to be educated on the minimum wage. Every time we raise the minimum wage, the number of jobless people increases. It's particularly a problem in the black community. Only 19.8 percent of black teenagers have a job, who are looking for one. You know, that \u2014 and that's because of those high wages. If you lower those wages, that comes down. You know, I can remember, as a youngster \u2014 you know, my first job working in a laboratory as a lab assistant, and multiple other jobs. But I would not have gotten those jobs if someone had to pay me a large amount of money. But what I did gain from those jobs is a tremendous amount of experience, and how to operate in the world and how to relate to different people, and how to become a responsible individual. And that's what gave me what I needed to ascend the ladder of opportunity in this country. That's what we need to be thinking about. How do we allow people to ascend the ladder of opportunity, rather than how do we give them everything and keep them dependent? +p3388 +aVI would not raise it. I would not raise it, specifically because I'm interested in making sure that people are able to enter the job market and take advantage of opportunities. +p3389 +aVWell, first of all, thank you not asking me what I said in the 10th grade. I appreciate that. +p3390 +aVThe fact of the matter is, you know, what \u2014 we should vet all candidates. I have no problem with being vetted. What I do have a problem with is being lied about and then putting that out there as truth. And I don't even mind that so much, if they do it about \u2014 with everybody, like people on the other side. But, you know, when I look at somebody like Hillary Clinton, who sits there and tells her daughter and a government official that no, this was a terrorist attack, and then tells everybody else that it was a video. Where I came from, they call that a lie. And... I think that's very different from, you know, somebody misinterpreting, when I said that I was offered a scholarship to West Point, that is the words that they used. But, I've had many people come and say the same thing to me. That is what people do in those situations. We have to start treating people the same, and finding out what people really think and what they're made of. People who know me know that I'm an honest person. +p3391 +aVWell, you know, when I say tithing, I'm talking about the concept of proportionality. +p3392 +aVEverybody should pay the same proportion of what they make. You make $10 billion, you pay a billion. You make $10, you pay one. You get same rights and privileges. I don't see how anything gets a whole lot fairer than that. But you also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes because that is the thing that tilts it in one direction or another. And you have to set the rate at an appropriate level. Now I will say that, there are a lot of people who say, if you get rid of the deductions, you ruin the American dream because, you know, home mortgage deduction. But the fact of the matter is, people had homes before 1913 when we introduced the federal income tax, and later after that started deductions. And they say there will be no more charitable giving. We had churches before that and charitable organizations before that. The fact of the matter is, I believe if you put more money in people's pockets that they will actually be more generous rather than less generous. And it's... ... the money that they earned. And, the other thing is, I do care about the poor people. And in the system that we're putting together, there will be a rebate for people at the poverty level. But I also want to emphasize the fact that as we get the economy moving, and I hope I get a question about how do we get the economy moving, there will be a lot more opportunities for poor people not to be poor people because this is America. This is the land of dreams. And our policies should be aimed at allowing people to realize that dream. +p3393 +aVWell, putting the special ops people in there is better than not having them there, because they \u2014 that's why they're called special ops, they're actually able to guide some of the other things that we're doing there. And what we have to recognize is that Putin is trying to really spread his influence throughout the Middle East. This is going to be his base. And we have to oppose him there in an effective way. We also must recognize that it's a very complex place. You know, the Chinese are there, as well as the Russians, and you have all kinds of factions there. What we've been doing so far is very ineffective, but we can't give up ground right there. But we have to look at this on a much more global scale. We're talking about global jihadists. And their desire is to destroy us and to destroy our way of life. So we have to be saying, how do we make them look like losers? Because that's the way that they're able to gather a lot of influence. And I think in order to make them look like losers, we have to destroy their caliphate. And you look for the easiest place to do that? It would be in Iraq. And if \u2014 outside of Anbar in Iraq, there's a big energy field. Take that from them. Take all of that land from them. We could do that, I believe, fairly easily, I've learned from talking to several generals, and then you move on from there. But you have to continue to face them, because our goal is not to contain them, but to destroy them before they destroy us. +p3394 +aVWell, I think we should have policies that don't allow them to just enlarge themselves at the expense of smaller entities. And certainly some of the policies, some of the monetary and Fed policies that we're using makes it very easy for them, makes it very easy for the big corporations, quite frankly, at these very low interest rates to buy back their stock and to drive the price of that up artificially. Those are the kinds of things that led to the problem in the first place. And I think this all really gets back to this whole regulation issue which is creating a very abnormal situation. This country was \u2014 declared its independence in 1776. In less than 100 years, it was the number-one economic power in the world. And the reason was because we had an atmosphere that encouraged entrepreneurial risk- taking and capital investment. Those are the fuels that drive it. And what we've done now is let the creep of regulation turn into a stampede of regulations, which is involved in every aspect of our lives. If we can get that out, it makes a big difference. And even for the average person, every single regulation costs money. And it's shifted to the individual. So \u2014 and it hurts the poor and the middle class much more than it does the rich. They go into the store and they buy a bar of soap, it costs 10 cents more, they notice it. And the middle class, when they come to the cash register, have a whole cart full of things that cost 5, 10 or 15 cents more, they notice it. It is hurting the poor. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton won't tell you that that's the thing that's really hurting middle class in the core. They'll say it's the rich, take their money, but that won't help. You can take all of the rich's money and it won't make a dent in the problem that we're having. We have to come back to the fundamental principles that made America great. +p3395 +aVI would have policies that wouldn't allow that to occur. I don't want to go in and tear anybody down. I mean, that doesn't help us. But what does help us is stop tinkering around the edges and fix the actual problems that exist that are creating the problem in the first place. +p3396 +aVIn the two hours of this \u2014 of this debate, five people have died from drug-related deaths, $100 million has been added to our national debt, 200 babies have been killed by abortionists, and two veterans have taken their lives out of despair. This is a narrative that we can change, not we the Democrats, not we the Republicans, but we the people of America, because there is something special about this nation, and we must embrace it and be proud of it and never give it away for the sake of political correctness. +p3397 +aVProbably in terms of the applying for the job of president, a weakness would be not really seeing myself in that position until hundreds of thousands of people began to tell me that I needed to do it. I do, however, believe in Reagan's 11th commandment, and will not be engaging in awful things about my compatriots here. And recognizing that it's so important, this election, because we're talking about America for the people versus America for the government. +p3398 +aVWell, first of all, I didn't say that the rate would be 10 percent. I used the tithing analogy. +p3399 +aVThe rate \u2014 the rate \u2014 the rate is gonna be much closer to 15 percent. +p3400 +aVYou also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes. You also have to some strategically cutting in several places. Remember, we have 645 federal agencies and sub-agencies. Anybody who tells me that we need every penny and every one of those is in a fantasy world. So, also, we can stimulate the economy. That's gonna be the real growth engine. Stimulating the economy \u2014 because it's tethered down right now with so many regulations... +p3401 +aVThat's not true. +p3402 +aVWhen \u2014 when we put all the facts down, you'll be able to see that it's not true, it works out very well. +p3403 +aVSince I was attacked too. +p3404 +aVLet me just say, if you're talking about an $18 trillion economy, you're talking about a 15 percent tax on your gross domestic product. You're talking about $2.7 trillion. We have a budget closer to $3.5 trillion. But if you also apply that same 15 percent to several other things, including corporate taxes, and including the capital gains taxes, you make that amount up pretty quickly. So that is not by any stretch a pie in the sky. +p3405 +aVWell, there is no question that some people go overboard when it comes to trying to make profits, and they don't take into consideration the American people. What we have to start thinking about, as leaders, particularly in government, is what can we do for the average American? And you think about the reasons that we're having such difficulty right now with our job market. Well, the average small manufacturer, whatever they're manufacturing, drugs or anything, if they have less than 50 employees, the average cost in terms of regulations is $34,000 per employee. Makes it a whole lot easier for them to want to go somewhere else. So what we're going to have to start doing instead of, you know, picking on this group or this group, is we're going to have to have a major reduction in the regulatory influence that is going on. The government is not supposed to be in every part of our lives, and that is what is causing the problem. +p3406 +aVWell, obviously, you don't understand my views on homosexuality. I believe that our Constitution protects everybody, regardless of their sexual orientation or any other aspect. I also believe that marriage is between one man and one woman. And there is no reason that you can't be perfectly fair to the gay community. They shouldn't automatically assume that because you believe that marriage is between one man and one woman that you are a homophobe. And this is one of the myths that the left perpetrates on our society, and this is how they frighten people and get people to shut up. You know, that's what the PC culture is all about, and it's destroying this nation. The fact of the matter is we the American people are not each other's enemies, it's those people who are trying to divide us who are the enemies. And we need to make that very clear to everybody. +p3407 +aVWell, that's easy to answer. I didn't have an involvement with them. That is total propaganda, and this is what happens in our society. Total propaganda. I did a couple of speeches for them, I do speeches for other people. They were paid speeches. It is absolutely absurd to say that I had any kind of a relationship with them. Do I take the product? Yes. I think it's a good product. +p3408 +aVIf somebody put me on their homepage, they did it without my permission. +p3409 +aVNo, it speaks to the fact that I don't know those \u2014 See? They know. +p3410 +aVWell, first of all, I was wrong about taking the oil subsidy. I have studied that issue in great detail. And what I have concluded is that the best policy is to get rid of all government subsidies, and get the government out of our lives, and let people rise and fall based on how good they are. And \u2014 you know, all of this too big to fail stuff and picking and choosing winners and losers \u2014 this is a bunch of crap, and it is really causing a great deal of \u2014 great deal of problems for our society right now. And \u2014 and \u2014 you know, it goes back to the whole concept of regulations, which are in everything. The reason that I \u2014 I hate them so much is because every single regulation costs in terms of goods and services. That cost gets passed on to the people. Now, who are the people who are hurt by that? It's poor people and middle class. Doesn't hurt rich people if their bar of soap goes up ten cents, but it hurts the poor and the middle class. And Bernie Sanders will tell them that it's because of the rich. Well, I'll tell you something: you can take everything from the top 1 percent, and you apply it to our fiscal gap, and you won't even make a dent in it. +p3411 +aVAbout Medicare? +p3412 +aVWell, first of all the \u2014 the plan gives people the option of \u2014 of opting out. But I think they will see a very good option here. You know, the annual Medicare budget is over $600 billion. And there are 48 million people involved \u2014 40 million, 65 and over, and 8 million other. Divide that out. That comes out to $12,500 for each one. Now, I can tell you there are a lot of private-sector things that you could do with $12,500, which will get you a lot more than you get from this government program. And that's really a theme of a lot of the things that I'm talking about. How do we utilize our intellect rather than allowing the government to use its, quote, "intellect," in order to help us to be able to live healthier and better lives? It was never intended that the government should be in every aspect of our lives. This is a country that is of, for and by the people. +p3413 +aVI just want to thank all my colleagues here for being civil, and not falling for the traps. And, I also just want to thank the audience for being attentive, and noticing the questions, and the noticing the answers. And, this is what I am finding throughout America. People are waking up because it is going to be us who will determine the direction of our country. And, it was made for we the people, we are the ones who decide who we are, and we should never give away the values and principles that made America into a great nation for the sake of political correctness. +p3414 +aVHi, I'm Ben Carson, and I'm a retired pediatric neurosurgeon. I'm here with my wife, Candy, of 40 years, and two of my sons, and their wives. I stress the pediatric part of my career because the reason that I've gotten involved in this race is because I'm very concerned about the future of our children, and the direction of our country is one that does not portend well, unless we, the people, intervene and retake our rightful place at the pinnacle. +p3415 +aVTypically, politicians do things that are politically expedient. And they are looking for whatever their particular goal is. That is not the reason that I have gotten into this thing. I'm extraordinary concerned about the direction of this country, the divisiveness that is going on, fiscal irresponsibility, the failure to take a leadership position in the world. All of those things will lead to a situation where the next generation will not have a chance that we've had now. So I don't \u2014 I don't want to really get into describing who's a politician and who's not a politician, but I think the people have kind of made that decision for themselves already, and will continue to do so as time goes on. +p3416 +aVJake, can I say something about that? +p3417 +aVYou know, when I entered this race, all the political pundits said it's impossible; you can't do it because you're not connected with the money. And there's no way that you can raise what you need in order to compete successfully. I in no way am willing to get in the bed with special interest group or lick the boots of billionaires. I have said to the people if they want me to do this, please get involved. And we now have over 500,000 donations, and the money is coming in. But the pundits forgot about one thing, and that is the people. And they are really in charge. +p3418 +aVWell, first of all, I recognize that we have an incredible illegal immigration problem. I was down in Arizona a few weeks ago at the border. I mean, the fences that were there were not manned, and those are the kind of fences when I was a kid that would barely slow us down. So, I don't see any purpose in having that. Now, what we need to do is look at something that actually works. Yuma County, Arizona. They stop 97 percent of the illegal immigrants through there. They put in a double fence with a road so that there was quick access by the enforcement people. If we don't seal the border, the rest of this stuff clearly doesn't matter. It's kind of ridiculous all the other things we talk about. We have the ability to do it, we don't have the will to do it. There was one area where they had cut a hole in the fence, and to repair it, they put a few strands of barb wire across. Well, the photographers who were there with us, they wanted to photograph us from the side of the Mexicans, and they went through there, and they were not physically fit people, and they took their cameras and things with them, and shot us from the other side. That's how easy it is to get across. And, the drugs, I mean, it goes on, and on, and on. ICE tells them to release these people, 67,000 criminals released... +p3419 +aV...on to our property, it's ridiculous. +p3420 +aVWell, I have also said, if anybody knows how to do that, that I would be willing to listen. And, if they can, you know, specify exactly how that's going to be done, and what the cost, and it sounds reasonable, then I think it's worth discussing... +p3421 +aVNot exactly what I said. +p3422 +aVWell, what I said, after we seal the borders, after we turn off the spigot that dispenses all the goodies so we don't have people coming in here, including employment, that people who had a pristine record, we should consider allowing them to become guest workers, primarily in the agricultural sphere, because that's the place where Americans don't seem to want to work. That's what I said. And they have a six-month period to do that. If they don't do it within that time period, then they become illegal, and as illegals, they will be treated as such. +p3423 +aVCan I \u2014 can I \u2014 can I just... +p3424 +aVCan I correct... +p3425 +aVOK. +p3426 +aVMy plan is not amnesty for a number of reasons. Number one, you know, I've talked to farmers, and they said they cannot hire Americans to do the kind of job that I'm talking about. And the second reason is because the individuals who register as guest workers, they don't get to vote, they are not American citizens, and they don't get the rights and privileges of American citizens. So that's key. But the other thing that I want to bring up is, I mentioned something earlier. I think it was just sort of glossed over. I talked about the success in Yuma County, I mean, incredible success, and the Department of Justice said, "No, we don't want to do that. That's too successful." We don't have to keep reinventing the wheel. All we have to do is look at things that work. All we have to do is use a little common sense. +p3427 +aVIt's all about America. You know, the people who say the guy who paid a billion dollars because he had 10, he has still got $9 billion left, that's not fair, we need to take more of his money. That's called socialism. That doesn't work so well. What made America into a great nation was the fact that we said, that guy just put in $1 billion, let's create an environment that's even more conducive to his success so that next year he can put in $2 billion. And that's the kind of thing that helps us to grow. We can't grow by continuing to take a piece of pie, and dividing it, and redistributing it. But, I'm also looking at what doctor \u2014 at what Governor Huckabee talked about... +p3428 +aVThe Fair Tax. Looking at both of them, and evaluating them both, and I'm talking to the American people because one of the things we must recognize is that this country is of, for, and by the people. And, it's really time that the government get out of the way, and let the people be the ones who decide how they want to run their country. +p3429 +aVWell, first of all, let me say what I actually said about raising the minimum wage. I was asked should it be raised, I said, probably, or possibly. But, what I added, which I think is the most important thing, so, I said we need to get both sides of this issue to sit down, and talk about it. Negotiate a reasonable minimum wage, and index that so that we never have to have this conversation again in the history of America. I think we also have to have two minimum wages, a starter, and a sustaining because how are young people ever going to get a job if you have such a high minimum wage that it makes it impractical to hire them... +p3430 +aVJake, Jake... +p3431 +aVI haven't had an opportunity to weigh in on foreign policy, and I just want to mention that when the war, when the issue occurred in 2003, I suggested to President Bush that he not go to war? OK. So I just want that on the record. And, you know, a lot of people are very much against us getting involved right now with global jihadism. And they refer back to our invasion of Iraq. And they seem to think that that was what caused it. What caused it was withdrawing from there and creating a vacuum which allowed this terrible situation to occur. But it is very different from what is going on today. We're talking about global jihadists who actually want to destroy us. They are an existential threat to our nation. And we have to be mature enough to recognize that our children will have no future if we put our heads in the sand. We have to recognize we have two choices. We either allow them the continue to progress and appear to be the winners, or we use every resource available to us to destroy... +p3432 +aV... them first. +p3433 +aVWell, recognize that, you know, President George W. Bush is a great friend of ours, and we spent many wonderful days at the White House. I haven't been there in the last seven years. I probably have to have a food-tester. But at any rate, I didn't suggest that nothing be done. What I suggested to President Bush is to be Kennedy-esque, in the sense that when the Russians got ahead of us in the space race, what we did is use the bully pulpit to galvanize everybody, business, industry, academia behind a national goal to put a man on the moon and bring him back safely. I said, you can do the same kind of thing. Declare that within five to 10 years we will become petroleum independent. The moderate Arab states would have been so concerned about that, they would have turned over Osama bin Laden and anybody else you wanted on a silver platter within two weeks. There are smart ways to do things and there are muscular ways to do things. And sometimes you have to look at both of those to come up with the right solution. +p3434 +aVI have no argument with having a strong leader, and to be aggressive where aggression is needed. But it is not needed in every circumstance. There is a time when you can use your intellect to come up with other ways to do things. And I think that's what we have to start thinking about. There is no question that a lot of these problems that we have been talking about in terms of the international situation is because we are weak. It is because our Navy is so small. It is because our Air Force is incapable of doing the same things that it did a few years ago. It's because our Marines Corps is not ready to be deployed. +p3435 +aVThere are a lot of problems that are going on, and we need to solve those problems, we need to build up our military... +p3436 +aVWell, let me put it this way, there has \u2014 there have been numerous studies, and they have not demonstrated that there is any correlation between vaccinations and autism. This was something that was spread widely 15 or 20 years ago, and it has not been adequately, you know, revealed to the public what's actually going on. Vaccines are very important. Certain ones. The ones that would prevent death or crippling. There are others, there are a multitude of vaccines which probably don't fit in that category, and there should be some discretion in those cases. But, you know, a lot of this is \u2014 is \u2014 is pushed by big government. And I think that's one of the things that people so vehemently want to get rid of, big government. You know, we have 4.1 million federal employees. Six hundred and fifty federal agencies and department (sic). That's why they have to take so much of our taxes. +p3437 +aVWell, you know, I've just explained it to him. He can read about it if he wants to. I think he's an intelligent man and will make the correct decision after getting the real facts. +p3438 +aVHe's an OK doctor. But, you know, the fact of the matter is, we have extremely well-documented proof that there's no autism associated with vaccinations. But it is true that we are probably giving way too many in too short a period of time. And a lot of pediatricians now recognize that, and, I think, are cutting down on the number and the proximity in which those are done, and I think that's appropriate. +p3439 +aVI'd put my mother on there. You know, she was one of 24 children, got married at age 13, had only a third grade education, had to raise two sons by herself, refused to be a victim. Wouldn't let us be victims, and has been an inspiration to many people. +p3440 +aVOne Nation. +p3441 +aVWell, you know, I was a radical Democrat before I started listening to Ronald Reagan. And he didn't sound like what they said Republicans were. He sounded logical. And I hope that I sound logical also. Because when I look at what is going on with the United States of America, I see a lot of things that are not logical. I see us allowing people to divide us, when in fact our strength is in our unity. I see people exercising the most irresponsible fiscal habits that anyone could possibly do. And hiding it from the American people, so that the majority of people have no idea what our financial situation is. So, when someone comes along and says, free college, free phones, free this and that, and the other, they say, "wow, that's nice," having no idea that they're destabilizing our position. And I think also that Ronald Reagan was a master at understanding that a pinnacle nation has to be a nation that leads. If we learn to lead in the Middle East right now, a coalition will form behind us, but never they do it if we just sit there and talk about it. Real leadership is what I would hopefully bring to America. +p3442 +aVWell, I could take issue with -- with all of those things, but we don't have time. But I will say, we have a debate here tonight, and we will have an opportunity to explore those areas, and I'm looking very much forward to demonstrating that, in fact, the thing that is probably most important is having a brain, and to be able to figure things out and learn things very rapidly. So, you know, experience comes from a large number of different arenas, and America became a great nation early on not because it was flooded with politicians, but because it was flooded with people who understood the value of personal responsibility, hard work, creativity, innovation, and that's what will get us on the right track now, as well. +p3443 +aVWell, thank you, Megyn, I wasn't sure I was going to get to talk again. +p3444 +aVAlright. You know, what we do in order to get the information that we need is our business, and I wouldn't necessarily be broadcasting what we're going to do. We. . .uh. . .we've gotten into this -- this mindset of fighting politically correct wars. There is no such thing as a politically correct war. And, the left, of course, will say Carson doesn't believe in the Geneva Convention. Carson doesn't believe in fighting stupid wars. And -- and what we have to remember is we want to utilize the tremendous intellect that we have in the military to win wars. And I've talked to a lot of the generals, a lot of our advanced people. And believe me, if we gave them the mission, which is what the commander-in-chief does, they would be able to carry it out. And if we don't tie their hands behind their back, they will do it......extremely effectively. +p3445 +aVWhat I agree with is that we need a significantly changed taxation system. And the one that I've advocated is based on tithing, because I think God is a pretty fair guy. And he said, you know, if you give me a tithe, it doesn't matter how much you made. If you've had a bumper crop, you don't owe me triple tithes. And if you've had no crops at all, you don't owe me no tithes. So there must be something inherently fair about that. And that's why I've advocated a proportional tax system. You make $10 billion, you pay a billion. You make $10, you pay one. And everybody gets treated the same way. And you get rid of the deductions, you get rid of all the loopholes, and... +p3446 +aVAnd I have a lot more to say about it. +p3447 +aVIf Hillary is the candidate, which I doubt, that would be a dream come true. But you know, the fact of the matter is, she is the epitome of the progressive -- the secular progressive movement. And she counts on the fact that people are uninformed, the Alinsky Model, taking advantage of useful idiots. Well, I just happen to believe that people are not stupid. And the way I will come at it is to educate people, help people to actually understand that it is that progressive movement that is causing them the problems. You know, you look at the -- the national debt and how it's being driven up. If I was trying to destroy this country, what I would do is find a way to drive wedges between all the people, drive the debt to an unsustainable level, and then step off the stage as a world leader and let our enemies increase while we decreased our capacity as a military person. And that's what she's doing. +p3448 +aVWell, what we have to stop and think about is that we have weakened ourselves militarily to such an extent that if affects all of our military policies. Our Navy is at its smallest size since 1917; our Air Force, since 1940. In recent testimony, the commandant of the Marine Corps said half of the non-deployed units were not ready and you know, the sequester is cutting the heart out of our personnel. Our generals are retiring because they don't want to be part of this, and at the same time, our enemies are increasing. Our -- our friends can't trust us anymore. You know, Ukraine was a nuclear-armed state. They gave away their nuclear arms with the understanding that we would protect them. We won't even give them offensive weapons. You know, we turned our back on Israel, our ally. You know, in a situation like that, of course Obama's not going to be able to do anything. I would shore up our military first, because if you don't get the military right, nothing else is going to work. +p3449 +aVWell, I think the bully pulpit is a wonderful place to start healing that divide. You know, we have the purveyors of hatred who take every single incident between people of two races and try to make a race war out of it, and drive wedges into people. And this does not need to be done. What we need to think about instead -- you know, I was asked by an NPR reporter once, why don't I talk about race that often. I said it's because I'm a neurosurgeon. And she thought that was a strange response. And you say -- I said, you see, when I take someone to the operating room, I'm actually operating on the thing that makes them who they are. The skin doesn't make them who they are. The hair doesn't make them who they are. And it's time for us to move beyond that. Because......our strength as a nation comes in our unity. We are the United States of America, not the divided states. And those who want to destroy us are trying to divide us, and we shouldn't let them do it. +p3450 +aVWell, I haven't said anything about me being the only one to do anything, so let me try that. I'm the only one to separate Siamese twins... The -- the only one to operate on babies while they were still in mother's womb, the only one to take out half of a brain, although you would think, if you go to Washington, that someone had beat me to it. But I -- but I'm very hopeful that I'm not the only one who's willing to pick up the baton of freedom, because freedom is not free, and we must fight for it every day. Every one of us must fight for it, because we're fighting for our children and the next generation. +p3451 +asVQUINTANILLA +p3452 +(lp3453 +VGood evening, I'm Carl Quintanilla, with my colleagues Becky Quick and John Harwood. We'll be joined tonight by some of +p3454 +aVGovernor? +p3455 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p3456 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Bush. +p3457 +aVSenator Rubio. +p3458 +aVMr. Trump? +p3459 +aVDr. Carson? +p3460 +aVMrs. Fiorina? +p3461 +aVFixed it. +p3462 +aVSenator Cruz? +p3463 +aVGovernor Christie? +p3464 +aVSenator Paul? +p3465 +aVThanks to all the candidates. John? +p3466 +aVHold it. We'll cut it back to you in just a minute. Becky's moving on. +p3467 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor. thank you, Governor. +p3468 +aVMr. Trump, 30 seconds. +p3469 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3470 +aVWe're going to try to move on. +p3471 +aVYou want to bring 70,000 pages to three? +p3472 +aVIs that using really small type? +p3473 +aVIs that using really small type? +p3474 +aVMrs. Fiorina \u2014 +p3475 +aVWe're going to \u2014 +p3476 +aVWe will come around the bend, i promise. This one is for Senator Rubio. You've been a young man in a hurry ever since you won your first election in your 20s. You've had a big accomplishment in the Senate, an immigration bill providing a path to citizenship the conservatives in your party hate, and even you don't support anymore. Now, you're skipping more votes than any senator to run for president. Why not slow down, get a few more things done first or least finish what you start? +p3477 +aVSo when the Sun-Sentinel says Rubio should resign, not rip us off, when they say Floridians sent you to Washington to do a job, when they say you act like you hate your job, do you? +p3478 +aVWell, do you hate your job? +p3479 +aVIs that the standard? +p3480 +aVSenator, thank you. John. +p3481 +aVThank you, Senator. +p3482 +aVSenator Cruz. Congressional Republicans, Democrats and the White House are about to strike a compromise that would raise the debt limit, prevent a government shutdown and calm financial markets that fear of \u2014 another Washington-created crisis is on the way. Does your opposition to it show that you're not the kind of problem-solver American voters want? +p3483 +aV do we get credit ? +p3484 +aVSo, this is a question about , which you have 30 seconds left to answer, should you choose to do so. +p3485 +aVOK. I asked you about the debt limit and I got no answer. +p3486 +aVWe promised we would get to everyone this block. Governor Huckabee, I'm going to give you 60 seconds on this. +p3487 +aV...Governor... +p3488 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p3489 +aV...Senator Cruz... +p3490 +aVOK, alright. +p3491 +aVSenator Cruz... +p3492 +aV...Before we go to break, we're clearly not having that beer you mentioned, but I'll give you 30 more seconds... +p3493 +aVOK. +p3494 +aVI'll give you 30 seconds to respond... +p3495 +aVRespond on the debt limit, or an answer to the governor, which ever you choose. +p3496 +aV30 seconds, Governor Huckabee. +p3497 +aVGovernor, thank you. We will take a break. The Republican Presidential debate, live from Boulder, Colorado, coming back after a break on +p3498 +aVMrs. Fiorina, in 2010, while running for Senate in Tech Ridge (ph), California, you called an Internet sales tax a bad idea. Traditional brick and mortar stores obviously disagree. Now that the Internet shopping playing field has matured, what would be a fair plan to even that playing field? +p3499 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p3500 +aVOK. +p3501 +aVThank you very much. +p3502 +aVDr. Carson, we know you as a physician, but we wanted to ask you about your involvement on some corporate boards, including Costco's. Last year, a marketing study called the warehouse retailer the number one gay-friendly brand in America, partly because of its domestic partner benefits. Why would you serve on a company whose policies seem to run counter to your views on homosexuality? +p3503 +aVOne more question. This is a company called Mannatech, a maker of nutritional supplements, with which you had a 10-year relationship. They offered claims that they could cure autism, cancer, they paid $7 million to settle a deceptive marketing lawsuit in Texas, and yet you're involvement continued. Why? +p3504 +aVTo be fair, you were on the homepage of their website with the logo over your shoulder \u2014 +p3505 +aVDoes that not speak to your vetting process or judgment in any way. +p3506 +aVApparently. We will take a break. We'll be back in Boulder in just a minute. +p3507 +aV...We'll come back around. I want to get to governor Kasich. +p3508 +aVGovernor Kasich, let's talk ... +p3509 +aV...about Marijuana, Governor Kasich... +p3510 +aVAlright, but 30 seconds, you made a case. Sure, 30 seconds. +p3511 +aVSenator, thank you. +p3512 +aVOh, no, no, no... +p3513 +aV...Ok... +p3514 +aV...We're going to go to... +p3515 +aVOK. Thank you, Senator. Governor Kasich, let's talk about marijuana. We're broadcasting from Colorado which has seen $150 million in new revenue for the state since legalizing last year. Governor Hickenlooper is not a big fan of legalization, but he's said the people who used to be smoking it are still smoking it, they're just now paying taxes. Given the budget pressures in Ohio, and other states, is this a revenue stream you'd like to have? +p3516 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3517 +aVThank you. We'll be back from Boulder, Colorado in just a moment. +p3518 +aVMr. Trump, you've said you have a special permit to carry a gun in New York. +p3519 +aVAfter the Oregon mass shooting on October 1st, you said, "By the way, it was a gun-free zone. If you had a couple of teachers with guns, you would have been a hell of a lot better off." +p3520 +aVWould you feel more comfortable if your employees brought guns to work? +p3521 +aVAre you carrying one now? +p3522 +aVWe called a few Trump resorts, a few Trump properties that \u2014 that do not allow guns with or without a permit. Would you change those policies? +p3523 +aVOK. All right. Thank you. John? +p3524 +aVGovernor Bush, daily fantasy sports has become a phenomenon in this country, will award billions of dollars in prize money this year. But to play you have to assess your odds, put money at risk, wait for an outcome that's out of your control. Isn't that the definition of gambling, and should the Federal Government treat it as such? +p3525 +aVI had a feeling you were going to brag about that. +p3526 +aVThis is the\u2014 well, we're going to take a break. We want to save time for closing statements after the break. So this is the Republican presidential debate in Boulder, and we'll be right back. +p3527 +aVSenator Rubio... +p3528 +aV...yeah, I just wanted . +p3529 +aVI want to give you 30 seconds here. +p3530 +aVThat concludes tonight's debate. On behalf of my colleagues Becky Quick, John Harwood, Sharon Epperson, Rick Santelli and Jim Cramer, we'd like to our host, the University of Colorado at Boulder, the Republican National Committee, the candidates and, of course, tonight's audience. +p3531 +asVAUDIENCE +p3532 +(lp3533 +VBoo. +p3534 +aVBoo. +p3535 +asVSTRASSEL +p3536 +(lp3537 +VMr. Trump. +p3538 +aVYou have made a lot of promises and you have also \u2014 you're the only candidate who has said he would not touch entitlements. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has estimated that your ideas would cost an additional $12 trillion to $15 trillion over the next 10 years and that we would have to have annual economic growth of anywhere from 7.7 percent to 9 percent annually to pay for them. Are you proposing more than you can actually deliver, at least not without big deficits? +p3539 +aVBut in terms of... +p3540 +aVO.K. But how would you actually do that? Can I ask you? Because right now, Social Security and Medicare... +p3541 +aVThey take up two-thirds of the federal budget, and they're growing. +p3542 +aVO.K., I have a question, a related tax question. Senator Rubio, you have the highest tax rate of anyone up on the stage in terms of the top tax rates, 35 percent. Some economists say, "It would limit its potential to boost economic growth." You do that so that you will have more revenue to pay for a tripling of the Child Tax Credit. Normally, it's liberals who like to use the tax code to insert social policy. Why should conservatives who want to tax adopt the other side's approach? +p3543 +aVGovernor Kasich, this on is on size of government. In 2013, you pushed through a Medicaid reform in your state over the rejections of many of the Republicans in your state. Total enrollment and overall cost of program have gone well beyond what anyone had expected, including yourself. How can you argue that this overall growth fits in with conservative ambition to significantly cut back on the size of federal welfare programs? +p3544 +aVSenator Cruz. Senator Cruz, you have promised to deport illegal aliens. You have also promised to reverse President Obama's executive action that gives temporary amnesty to illegals brought here by their parent as children. As president, you would have the names and addresses of the some 800,000 of those that have registered under that action. Now, you have said that in this country, we shouldn't go door to door, look for illegals, but in this case you would have a list. Would you use it? +p3545 +aVSo would you \u2014 would you use the addresses? +p3546 +aVWould you pick them up? +p3547 +aVSenator Rubio, your reply. +p3548 +aVAll right. Senator Cruz. Your response, Senator Cruz. +p3549 +aV... O.K.... +p3550 +aVMoving subjects. Dr. Carson, this week Morgan Stanley agreed to pay a $3.2 billion fine to state and federal authorities for contributing to the mortgage crisis. You have a lot of Democrats out saying that we should be jailing more executives, so two questions. Should financial executives be held legally responsible for financial crisis, and do you think fines like these are an effective way to deter companies from future behavior like that? +p3551 +aVSenator Cruz, you were mentioned in the mix here, your response? +p3552 +aVAnd now, Marco Rubio. +p3553 +aVWe'll be back with a few final thoughts in a moment. +p3554 +asVGILMORE +p3555 +(lp3556 +VWell, Bill, can I first... +p3557 +aVWell, first of all, Bill, let me say one thing, I have been in Iowa. But this is not the place where I'm choosing to begin my campaign. I am beginning my campaign in New Hampshire and I decided to do that based upon the process that is in place in Iowa and the primary that's in place in New Hampshire. But never mind that, I want to return to something. I'm the only veteran, Bill and Martha in this race. And I'm not going to any Donald Trump event over across town on some sort of faux veteran sort of issue. I'm going to speak to you tonight about the issue that really confronts veterans. I'm going to talk to you about the concerns that they have got with the veterans administration. The lousy appeals process that they have got. The fact that sometimes they get good service at the V.A. and sometimes they don't and the fact that post traumatic stress syndrome is not properly recognized. That psychology positions are unavailable in the Veterans Administration. And I will say this to you -- as the only veteran in -- in this race, when I become president of the United States, the veterans are going to be treated with respect and competently in success in the Veterans' Administration in this country. +p3558 +aVFirst of all, Bill, I think that Gitmo ought to remain open. But I also want to point out to you that what you are saying is the exact right topic to all of these other candidates. And that's this international challenge that we are facing, the international war that America is in, even to this day. And I'm the candidate who is best qualified to deal with this issue. A degree in foreign policy in Russian area studies. I'm the only United States Army veteran having gone to Europe during the Cold War as United States Army Intelligence agent, the governor during the 9/11 attack, the chairman of the National Commission on Homeland Security for the United States for five years. And this is what I will do. If I become the president, I'm going to rebuild the United States military. We're going to take the sequester off the defense budget. Give the Navy the ships it needs. Refit the United States Army. Refit the United States Marine Corps. And on this international guerrilla war, we need to recognize our Special Forces, our intelligence community, and the people that we need in order to really protect us. And finally, this war of ideas, we must win this. We must say to the world that radical Islamism is the threat. It isn't just confined to +p3559 +aVHey, did you miss me? Did you skip me? +p3560 +aVI'm going to have something to say about this, but you just keep going. +p3561 +aVYes, I'll be there. +p3562 +aVYou know, Martha, it may be out of the barn in that the Iranians may be moving towards a nuclear program, because this nuclear deal actually gives them a time frame up the road when they are going to be able to do that kind of program. And that's very dangerous because it means people in the Middle East have to begin to react to that right now. The United States, I think, has to continue to exercise its influence in the Middle East, stay active, and not do this pull-back type of program that we are seeing all over the place with President Obama, which is creating this kind of danger. The world is a more dangerous place now than when I was an intelligence agent. We have not only this international guerrilla war but also these challenges from these other countries as well. But, Martha, I want to say one more thing to you and Bill. I disagree with Carly Fiorina when she says that it's just a political class in Washington. The truth is that the country has changed. And there are powerful forces at this point that are really controlling our lives. And that's why people are so angry. One of those is government, which is regulating everything through the Environmental Protection Agency, through other places. But the biggest one is the organized establishment media. And I just noticed just now you gave Carly Fiorina two one-minute answers in a row. This media across the country is manipulating and shaping and framing this campaign and has been for at least a year now in order to get the kind of choices that people are going to have an opportunity to see. This is wrong. It has to change. And when I'm president, it's going to change. +p3563 +aVI'll take it. +p3564 +aVMartha, I just visited a community mental health clinic in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, just three days ago, as a matter of fact. And when I was governor of Virginia, I tried to move more of those resources into the community, which will give us the facilities and the abilities to begin to identify people who actually might be dangerous and who abuse Second Amendment rights. But I do believe this is one of the really principle issues in this campaign. The president and Hillary Clinton are working very hard to change the culture of this country in order to put us in a position where we can't exercise Second Amendment rights. That's wrong. I am a board member of the National Rifle Association. The reason I'm a board member is because I believe that individuals in this country can be trusted to exercise their rights under the Second Amendment and under the Bill of Rights. To take away people's Second Amendment rights is to redefine the individual in the society, and I'm not going to put up with it. As President of the United States, when Jim Gilmore's President of the United States, I can tell you this. Gun control is not going to be an issue. If gun control... ... comes to the President's desk when I'm president, I'll veto it as fast as it takes Hillary Clinton to eliminate her emails. +p3565 +aVYou know Bill, that raises, I think, the question of the future of the Republican party. The question is -- first of all, I stand second to no one in standing up to radical Islamism. I understand that +p3566 +aVWell, thank you very much, Bill. And, thank you, and Fox and Google for including me in this debate tonight. I think it's been a wonderful opportunity. I'm the son of a meat cutter. My father worked for Safeway stores for 45 years. My mother was a secretary, she ended her career as the Secretary for the Methodist Bishop. I didn't have a father that could give me a million dollar loan to start my business. But, my father did talk character, and he provided for his family, and he was a wonderful example. And, I'm not about to go across town tonight to carry the coat for some billionaire. Instead, I intend to run for President of the United States, speak to the issue of this international war, and challenge that we're in. This issue of veterans rights, and the issue of Second Amendment rights, and I ask for your support... +p3567 +asVMACCALLUM +p3568 +(lp3569 +VSo it will come as no surprise that there is an idea out there that there is a civil war brewing within the GOP over the meaning of conservative and the question of who is electable. There are some in the GOP who are so outraged by Trump and Cruz that they say they would actually rather have Hillary Clinton in the White House. So, Carly Fiorina, I ask you this. Is your party in crisis? +p3570 +aVGovernor Huckabee, word is that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is considering getting into this race. If he does, that would make four New Yorkers, including Sanders, Clinton, and Trump. One candidate in this race has criticized so-called "New York values". So tell me, in your opinion, are New York values different than Iowa values? +p3571 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Santorum, according to Google, the Paris terror attacks were the largest story that was searched in 2015, with nearly 1 billion searches of that story worldwide. There have been at 18 terror attacks so far this year -- in just January alone, in 2016, and it will likely, as we all know, get worse. But what can an American president do to stop these terrifying killings? +p3572 +aVThank you, Senator. +p3573 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you have said when it comes to +p3574 +aVThank you. +p3575 +aVComing up, we're going to have more on the top issues in this campaign, and you can engage in tonight's conversation right from home. Go to google.com, search "FOX News debate." You can vote on which candidate you think is winning so far in tonight's debate. And you can check results after the debate is over. We are back in a moment live from the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. +p3576 +aVAlright, Governor Huckabee, government grows and grows. In fact, neighborhoods in and around the Beltway get richer and richer all the time while our manufacturing towns are disappearing. Still Republicans from Reagan to Bush have bowed to shrink the size of government, but it never works. Is this Presidency, and presidency, simply too small a David to slay the Goliath of government? +p3577 +aVAlright, Carly Fiorina, you've said that you can get the tax code down to three short simple pages. But, when lobbyists who have twisted the arms of members of Congress come sit with you in the Oval Office and say, "Madam President, sorry, I cannot be with you on this one," you may understand what previous presidents have gone through. No? +p3578 +aVSenator Santorum, Bernie Sanders asked a woman in Iowa what it's like to live in poverty. She broke down in tears, saying that she lives on less than $10,000 a year and that she is ashamed every day. She leans on her parents for help. She says she can't buy presents for her children. We are all sympathetic to this woman's plight. On the other hand, the G.O.P. is supposed to be the party of smaller government. So what would you look her in the eye and say? +p3579 +aVThank you, Senator. +p3580 +aVGovernor Gilmore, thanks to the Iranian nuclear deal, President Rouhani is currently on a tour of Europe meeting with our closest allies in France and Italy. In fact, he has already landed some 50 to 85 billion are the estimates in deals with those countries, with our allies. More on the way. You and others say that you would rip up that deal. But, really, by the time the next president is in office, won't that horse be well out of the barn? +p3581 +aVWe have another question for you, Governor Gilmore, back to back, here we go. According to Google... +p3582 +aVYou got it. According to Google, gun control is the most searched issue last month, making up nearly 80 percent of all the U.S. searches. People are looking for information on guns. When it comes to the tragic mass killings that we have seen in this country, Donald Trump says that what we need to do is build quote "more institutions for people who are sickos." Charles Krauthammer also says that in some cases involuntary commitment would help. And you have agreed with that. Given that institutions would be extraordinarily expensive to begin building, how much is too much to ask on this from the American taxpayer? +p3583 +aVThank you, Governor Gilmore. +p3584 +aVStill more to come from the Republican Presidential debate tonight. And, see how the campaigns are responding to the debate in realtime, go to Google.com and open your google search app. Type in, "Fox News Debate". We'll see you, just a moment -- back. +p3585 +aVWe are back live at the Iowa events center and this question goes to Carly Fiorina. In the last debate you said as part of your introduction, quote, " And unlike the other woman candidate in this case I actually love spending time with my husband." +p3586 +aVBut back in September in an interview you said that you would stick only to the record, your record versus Hillary Clinton's record. And never resort to personal attacks. So what changed? +p3587 +aVAll right. Carly, I want to stay with you on this next question as well. You waded into the Planned Parenthood early on. You took some heat for it. Now the people who shot that undercover video are the ones who got indicted and Planned Parenthood is untouched. Hillary Clinton has been crowing about this. Any regrets about this? +p3588 +aVThank you Carly Fiorina. Let me just ask a quick question here to Senator Santorum. Carly Fiorina was the only one of the GOP candidates to attend the March for Life in Washington last week. Where were you. +p3589 +aVAll right. Coming up, we will have the closing statements from our candidates tonight as we continue live from the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. We'll be right back. +p3590 +aVAlright, let's go now to Senator Rick Santorum. +p3591 +aV +p3592 +aVCarly Fiorina. +p3593 +aVThank you, Carly. +p3594 +aVIn one hour, seven more candidates take the stage for a debate hosted by Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly, and Chris Wallace. But, up next, the O'Reilly Factor. Good night everybody. +p3595 +asVDICKERSON +p3596 +(lp3597 +VGood evening. I'm John Dickerson. This holiday weekend, as America honors our first president, we're about to hear from six men who hope to be the 45th. The candidates for the Republican nomination are here in South Carolina for their ninth debate, one week before this state holds the first-in-the-South primary. George Washington wrote that the truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains taken to bring it to light. We hope to shed some light on the candidates' positions tonight to help voters make up their minds. So gentlemen, please join us on stage. With us tonight \u2014 with us tonight are retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson of Florida, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Businessman Donald Trump of New York. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Former Governor Jeb Bush of Florida. And Governor John Kasich of Ohio. Now, as most of you have heard by now, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died today at the age of 79. He was the longest-serving member of the court, appointed by President Reagan in 1986. Justice Scalia was the court's leading conservative, and even those who disagreed with his opinions regarded him as a brilliant legal scholar. Please join us and the candidates on our stage in a moment of silence for Justice Antonin Scalia. Thank you. We will talk to the candidates about Justice Scalia and the road ahead when the debate begins in a moment. +p3598 +aVBefore we get started, candidates, here are the rules. When we ask you a question, you will have one minute to answer, and 30 seconds more if we ask a follow-up. If you're attacked by another candidate, you get 30 seconds to respond. And here's how we keep time. After we ask a question, you'll get a green light. The yellow light means you have 30 seconds left to finish your answer, and when time is up, the light turns red. That means please stop talking. If you keep talking, you'll hear this. You don't want to hear that. Joining me in the questioning tonight, my CBS News colleague, chief White House correspondent Major Garrett, and Kimberley Strassel, who is on the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal. And you can participate in the debate through our partnership with Twitter. Tweet us your questions and comments using the hashtag "# +p3599 +aVSo, just to be clear on this, Mr. Trump, you're O.K. with the president nominating somebody ... +p3600 +aVGovernor Kasich, I want to get your thoughts on this. Justice Scalia was a real believer, obviously, in the strict word of the Constitution. Now, Harry Reid says that a failure to fill his vacancy would be, quote, "shameful abdication of one of the Senate's most essential constitutional responsibilities." Where do you come down on this? +p3601 +aVDr. Carson. Dr. Carson, you, like others, put out a statement after the death was announced, and you said the president should delay. You've written a book on the Constitution recently. What does the Constitution say about whose duty it is here to act in this kind of a situation? +p3602 +aVSenator Rubio, you're a... Senator Rubio, you're a lawyer. Quickly, can you address the issue of whether the Constitution tells us who has the power to appoint Supreme Court justices? And then, also, the Senate Republicans last year floated an idea of removing the filibuster for Senate \u2014 excuse me, for Supreme Court nominations. You seemed open to that. What's your feeling on that now? +p3603 +aVQuickly, though, on this question... Very quickly, Senator, on this specific question, though. You were once in favor of dropping the threshold... +p3604 +aV... majority \u2014 you were never in favor of that? +p3605 +aVO.K. Thank you, Senator. Governor Bush, I would like to ask you, conservatives for a long time have felt like that their Republican presidents have picked justices that didn't turn out to be real conservatives. +p3606 +aVBernie Sanders has said he would have a litmus test. He would make sure that he appointed a justice who was going to overturn Citizens United. If they can have a litmus test for a nominee, what about you? Would you have a litmus test for a nominee? And what would it be? +p3607 +aVRight, so, Senator Cruz, the Constitution... So, Senator Cruz, the Constitution says the president "shall appoint with advice and consent from the Senate," just to clear that up. So he has the constitutional power. But you don't think he should. Where do you set that date if you're president? Does it begin in election year, in December, November, September? And once you set the date, when you're president, will you abide by that date? +p3608 +aVJust can I \u2014 I'm sorry to interrupt, were any appointed in an election year, or is that just there were 80 years... +p3609 +aVBut Kennedy was confirmed in '88. +p3610 +aVHe was appointed in '87. +p3611 +aV... confirmed in '88. That's the question, is it appointing or confirming, what's the difference? +p3612 +aVSorry, I just want to get the facts straight for the audience. But I apologize. +p3613 +aVAll right. Thank you, Senator Cruz. All right, we're going to move on to national security here, and we are going to \u2014 I want to read a quote from Secretary Robert Gates, former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who served for eight year \u2014 under eight presidents. And this is what he said about Republican candidates, quote, "Part of the concern that I have with the campaign is that the solutions being offered are so simplistic and so at odds with the way the world really works." So, in that spirit, we're going to work tonight to be more specific. Mr. Trump, I want to start with you. You have said as president, you'll get up to speed very quickly. You'll know more quickly as president than any of the experts. So, you've been elected president. It's your first day in the Situation Room. What three questions do you ask your national security experts about the world? +p3614 +aVSenator Rubio \u2014 just 30 seconds on this question, Senator Rubio. Are those the questions you would ask? +p3615 +aVLet me ask you a follow-up, a full, proper question, then. Violent extremists are operating or active in 40 countries. Some 80 countries are in different degrees of instability. And so, that's just the crises overseas. Barack Obama walked into an economic collapse when he came into office. We face international health crises, from Ebola to Zika. So, there is a lot of opportunity for crisis, as you have talked about. What would you point to in your past to show voters that you've been in a crisis and that you've been tested when that inevitable crisis comes when you're president? +p3616 +aVDr. Carson, I want to ask you a question... Dr. Carson, you said you've had more 2 a.m. \u2014 2 a.m. phone calls than anybody up on this stage. But when those 2 a.m. phone calls came, you operated on a foundation of all of that amazing medical work that you did, all of that learning. So if you were to be president, though, you wouldn't have the political foundation that hones those instincts when the 2 a.m. phone call comes. So isn't that a liability? +p3617 +aVGovernor Kasich, Russia is being credited......Russia is being credited with bombing U.S.-backed rebels on behalf of Assad in Aleppo and Syria. They've also moved into the Crimea, eastern Ukraine. You've said you want to punch them in the nose. What does that mean? What are you going to do? +p3618 +aVGovernor......Governor Bush. +p3619 +aVYou said defeating +p3620 +aVMr. Trump, you're......Mr. Trump, you were mentioned here. You did say that you could get along very well with Vladimir Putin. You did at one point say let Russia take care of +p3621 +aV... All right... +p3622 +aV... All right, Governor Bush, please respond. +p3623 +aV... O.K., settle... +p3624 +aV... All right, Mr. Trump, all right... +p3625 +aVGentleman, I think we're going to leave that there. I've got a question for Senator... +p3626 +aV... All right, all right, gentlemen, gentlemen, let's leave it there so I can ask a question of Senator Cruz, who's also running for president. Senator Cruz, you talked about the first Gulf War as being a kind of model for your focused and determined effort to go after +p3627 +aVVery quickly, 30-second follow-up. You've said that, essentially, the Kurds would be the American ground forces in there. The criticism that experts have on that is that the Kurds only can work within their territory. If they take larger amounts of territory, you have an ethnic war with the Arabs. So the Kurds can't really do as much as you seem to be putting on their backs. +p3628 +aVAll right. Mr. Trump......On Monday, George W. Bush will campaign in South Carolina for his brother. As you've said tonight, and you've often said, the Iraq war and your opposition to it was a sign of your good judgment. In 2008, in an interview with Wolf Blitzer, talking about President George W. Bush's conduct of the war, you said you were surprised that Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi didn't try to impeach him. You said, quote: "Which, personally, I think would have been a wonderful thing." When you were asked what you meant by that and you said: "For the war, for the war, he lied, he got us into the war with lies." Do you still believe President Bush should have been impeached? +p3629 +aVSo... +p3630 +aVBut so I'm going to \u2014 so you still think he should be impeached? +p3631 +aVAll right. O.K. All right. Governor Bush \u2014 when a member on the stage's brother gets attacked... +p3632 +aV... the brother gets to respond. +p3633 +aVGovernor Kasich, would you weigh in on......Governor Kasich, please weigh in. +p3634 +aVWhy is it nuts? Talk about it. Give us your sense of... +p3635 +aVThirty seconds, Senator Rubio. +p3636 +aVAll right, Dr. Carson, we have a cleansing... +p3637 +aVWe have a cleansing... +p3638 +aVAll right. Well, Dr. Carson, I have got a question now for you. A moment of pause here. You have said, Dr. Carson, that \u2014 referring to yourself, that people bought into the idea that, quote, "A nice person can't be tough on terrorists." You have called for loosening the rules of engagement for the military, which could lead to more civilian casualties. So, explain why those casualties would be acceptable in the fight against +p3639 +aVAll right, thank you, Dr. Carson. We're going to have to take a commercial break here. Thank you to all the candidates. We'll be right back with CBS News's 2016 debate in Greenville, South Carolina. +p3640 +aVWe're back with the Republicans who could be president. The topic now is money and how the candidates would spend it. We'll turn the questioning over to Kimberley Strassel of The Wall Street Journal and Major Garrett of CBS News. Kim? +p3641 +aVDr. Carson, before we go to break, could you give us your sense of this conversation about either Medicaid or economic growth through taxation? +p3642 +aVDoctor... +p3643 +aV... Dr. Carson, I'm sorry, we have to go to a commercial. The free market wants what it wants. Back soon with the 2016 Republican debate in Greenville, South Carolina. +p3644 +aVWelcome back. We'll begin the second half of the debate with one of the hottest issues in the Republican campaign, immigration. But before I turn it back to Major Garrett and Kim Strassel, I have one question for Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump, in the Republican National Committee's Spanish-language response to the State of the Union, Congressman Diaz-Balart said, quote, "It's essential that we find a legislative solution," talking about immigration, "to offer a permanent and humane solution to those who live in the shadows. What does that mean to you, "a humane solution to those who live in the shadows"? +p3645 +aVSenator Cruz, I have a question for you. Speaker Paul Ryan has made a big commitment to trying to lift the 50 million poor out of poverty. Arthur Brooks, who is the president of the American Enterprise Institute, says, quote, "If we are not warriors for the poor every day, free enterprise has no matter." How you have been, in your campaign, a warrior for the poor? +p3646 +aVAll right. Mr. Trump, thank you so much. We're going to take a break for a moment. We'll be back in a moment with the CBS News Republican debate. +p3647 +aVWe're back now from Greenville, South Carolina, with the candidates for the Republican presidential nomination. Mr. Trump, I have a question for you. Presidents have to, on the one hand, be firm, but also be flexible. You have been flexible and changed your opinion on a number of things, from abortion to Hillary Clinton. But you have said, rightly, that it's just like Ronald Reagan, who changed his mind on things. But at the same time, you're criticizing Senator Cruz for what you say is a change on immigration. He disputes that, of course. So, why is your change of opinion make you like Reagan, and when he changes his opinion, it's a huge character flaw? +p3648 +aVWhich conservative idea don't you agree with? +p3649 +aVAll right. Governor Bush, I think by "they," he is referring to your brother, these on the hook for your brother. +p3650 +aVBut that was his brother. +p3651 +aVHold on, gentleman, I'm going to turn this car around. +p3652 +aVAll right, gentlemen. +p3653 +aVWell, hold on. We're going to \u2014 gentlemen, we're in danger of driving this into the dirt. Senator Rubio, I'd like you to jump in here... +p3654 +aVI understand, you're on deck, governor. +p3655 +aVSenator Cruz, 30 seconds on this one. +p3656 +aVWe're going to switch... +p3657 +aVWe're going to switch here to Senator Marco Rubio. Senator Marco Rubio, please weigh in. +p3658 +aVI thought you had a point? +p3659 +aVI thought you had a point you wanted to make. +p3660 +aVYou're on deck, sir. +p3661 +aVSenator, I wanted to ask you, just going back to immigration, in the last debate, you listed your series of accomplishments in the Senate. One thing you left off was \u2014 was immigration reform. Is it the case that in your list of accomplishments you can't mention that? +p3662 +aVDr. Carson, I have......Dr. Carson, I have a question for you. Candidates are... +p3663 +aVAll right. You have 30 seconds, Doctor. +p3664 +aVDr. Carson, I \u2014 let me ask you a different question. When you were \u2014 you were the first one, really, to talk about political correctness. Everybody now talks about it, but that was really what sparked your \u2014 your rise. Politicians are often accused of glossing over any hard choices people have to make, just always selling happy, nice things. So in the \u2014 in the spirit of saying something that might be politically incorrect, tell the voters something that they need to hear but that might be politically incorrect? +p3665 +aVGovernor Kasich. Governor Kasich, you've been described as the Democrats' favorite Republican. You talked about in New Hampshire, Democrats would come up to you and say, "I hope you win." Why will that help you win a Republican nomination? +p3666 +aVMr. Trump, let me ask you a question. Presidents in both parties say that the one thing you need in your administration is somebody who can tell you you're wrong. You don't necessarily seem like somebody who has somebody who tells you you're wrong a lot. Can you tell us of an instance where somebody has said, "Donald Trump, you're wrong," and you listened to them? +p3667 +aVAbout what? +p3668 +aVLet me \u2014 something, in talking to voters that they wish somebody would tell you to cut it out is the profanity. What's your reaction to that? +p3669 +aVAll right. O.K. Governor Bush, I'd like to ask you... +p3670 +aVWell, can I \u2014 how about you respond, and then you can answer the question I'm about to ask you. +p3671 +aVIt'll be... +p3672 +aVIf we adjudicate this, the night will be over. Governor, in 2012, you said that your father and Ronald Reagan would have a hard time in today's Republican Party, based on their records of trying to find accommodation and finding some degree of common ground. Do you still feel that way? +p3673 +aVHold on, Mr. Trump. +p3674 +aVHold on, Mr. Trump. +p3675 +aVO.K., Mr. Trump, your response. +p3676 +aVThe bells are ringing, sir. +p3677 +aVAll right. Thank you. Senator Rubio, I want to ask you a 30-second question, no president can... +p3678 +aVNo \u2014 well, I'll ask the question, you do what you want. +p3679 +aVNo president can know everything, right? So a smart leader knows how to ask questions. So if you could talk to any previous president, what's the smart question you would ask about that job that you would want to know? +p3680 +aVAll right. That's going to have to be it there, Senator Rubio. We have got to go to a break. We will be right back with the CBS News Republican debate in Greenville, South Carolina. +p3681 +aVTime now for closing statements. You will each have one minute, and we'll begin with Governor Kasich. +p3682 +aVDr. Carson \u2014 Dr. Carson, you're next. +p3683 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor Bush. +p3684 +aVSenator Cruz? Senator Cruz, your closing statement? +p3685 +aVMr. Trump, your closing statements? +p3686 +as. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/downloads/data2/script2.pickle b/downloads/data2/script2.pickle new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4bc59b8 --- /dev/null +++ b/downloads/data2/script2.pickle @@ -0,0 +1,1632 @@ +(dp0 +VHUCKABEE +p1 +(lp2 +VI wish I saw the country in the same place that the president presented it to be the other night in the State of the Union. He talked about how great the economy was doing. And I guess for the people he hangs out with, it's probably doing great. But the president should've stood in the line at the layaway counter at Walmart just before Christmas. He would have heard a very different story about the economy of America. I wish I could introduce him the lady who cleans the building where our campaign headquarters is located in Little Rock. Her name is Kathleen. She works all day at a local hospital cleaning, and then she goes to the building where a bank, and our headquarters, and other offices are she spends another seven hours. She works 15 hours a day. I guarantee you she's not working 15 hours a day because she loves scrubbing toilets, and sweeping floors. She's working that many hours because that's what it takes for her to make it work. And, she's not alone. There are people all over this country who are working like that. Many of them working two jobs \u2014 and they used to have one job, and that would take care of them. But, because of wage stagnation, which we've had for 40 years, because the fact that they're punished for working harder if they work that many hours. The government gets more of their second shift than they do. And, as a result there are a lot of people who are hurting today. I wish the President knew more of them. He might make a change in the economy and the way he's managing it. +p3 +aVLet me put that in context. When I went to Afghanistan, I saw a land that looked like the land of the Flintstones. It was desolate. It was barren. It was primitive. And it's been that way for thousands of years. They want to take the world back to be just like that. We don't. We need to make a clear goal as to why we want to be anywhere in the Middle East, and I'll tell you why we want to be and need to be, is to destroy radical Islam and everything that threatens civilization. It's not just a threat......to Israel or to America, it's a threat to every civilized person on this Earth. And we need to be equipping not only the Kurds in Iraq, we need to be making sure that those who are willing to fight radical Muslims will do it, but we need to never ever spend a drop of American blood unless there is a clearly defined goal and we can't make sure we win unless we have a military that's the strongest in the history of mankind. We've got to rebuild our navy. It's the smallest navy we've had since 1915, when my grandfather got on a destroyer in World War I when he was in the U.S. Navy. We've got young men in Air Force B-52s, one in particular, he's flying a B-52 that his father flew in the '80s and his grandfather flew in the '50s. Those planes are older than me. We've got to have a military that the world is afraid of, use it sparingly, but when we do, the whole world will know that America is on their tail and they will be on their tail on the ground, never ever to rise up again. +p4 +aVOnly if there is a concerted effort to destroy the advance of radical Islamists who are against us. As far as what are we going to make it look like. Frankly, I don't know what we can make it look like. You can't create for other people a desire for freedom and democracy. And frankly, that is not the role of the United States. The role of the United States military is not to build schools, it is not to build bridges, it is not to go around and pass out food packets. It is to kill and destroy our enemy and make America safe and that is the purpose we should be there if we're going to be there. +p5 +aV Yes, I did. +p6 +aVWell, why don't we start by making sure the Justice Department never does an idiotic program like Fast and Furious where the U.S. Government put guns......in the hands of Mexican drug lords......and end up killing one of our border agents. You know, they want to talk about law abiding citizens, I just find it amazing the President keeps saying the gun show loophole. There is no gun show loophole. I promise you I've been to more gun shows than President Obama. +p7 +aVAnd, I've bought more weapons at them, and you fill out forms. The President also says things that it's easier to get a gun now than it is to grow trees. Again, I purchase guns, and I can assure you that it is much more difficult to purchase a firearm than it is to get the ingredients of a salad at the supermarket. What the President keeps pushing are ideas that have never worked. Ideas that would not have stopped San Bernadino, Sandy Hook, Aurora, and at some point you wonder if you keep retrying things that don't work, maybe we should just see if we could resell all those used lottery tickets that didn't work real well because that's the logic of just keep doing the same thing, but something that has failed. Of course, we want to stop gun violence, but the one common thing that has happened in most mass shootings is that they happened in gun- free zones where people who would have been law abiding citizens, who could have stood up and at least tried to stop it and we're not allowed to under the law. +p8 +aVWell, we shouldn't be and that's one of the reasons that I think there a lot of voices in our country who are saying it's time to relook at the visa program. The European Union is a failure, it's not allowed for even the economic goals that they were trying to achieve. But, what we're not seeing is that it's making Europe less safe, and it's proven not to be exactly what they all thought it was going to be. Our first and foremost responsibility in this country, and the first responsibility of the President of the United States is protect America, and protect Americans. We have a President who seems to be more interested in protecting the reputation and image of Islam than he is protecting us. And, I want to be very clear......that this President. Makes comments like he did the other night, that we have to be so careful because we don't want to offend Muslims. He needs to read his own FBI crime stats from last year which would show him that of the hate crimes in the country, over 5,500, about 1,100 were religious hate crimes. And, of those, 58% were directed toward Jews. Only 16% directed toward Muslims. Maybe what the President should have talked about the other night is how we ought to be more careful in the anti-semitic comments that are going toward American Jews than toward Muslims because by three times as many......they're being targeted for religious hate crime. +p9 +aVIt does not shut down international commerce, but it may slow it down. And, you don't want to slowdown commerce that is making us safer. It's worth it. This lady who came and joined with the San Bernardino killer had passed three background checks, and that's why a lot of Americans didn't buy it when the President said we'll bring in Syrian refugees, but don't worry we'll check them out. We have a lot of confidence in a president who told us that we could keep our doctor, we could keep our health insurance, and cost us less, and now the latest is if you like your gun you can keep it too, and frankly, we don't buy it. We don't believe it. He's lost his credibility, and his inept... ...inability to work with Congress and pass legislation has led him to do what I never even imagined doing as a governor, and that's just going and doing it my own way. That's why we elect a president, is to lead, is to be able to shepherd things through. And if I can do it with a 90 percent Democrat legislature in Arkansas, there is no excuse for any president not being able to lead in Washington if he knows what the heck he is doing when he gets there. +p10 +aVWell, first of all, let's just remember that Social Security is not the government's money, it belongs to the people who had it taken out of their checks involuntarily their entire working lives. For the government to say, well it is fault of working people that we have a Social Security problem, no. It is the fault of a government that used those people's money for something other than protecting those people's accounts. So let's not blame them and punish them. But here is a fact, and I sometimes hear Republicans say well, we're going to have to cut this and extend the age. You know what I think a lot of times when I hear people say, well, let's make people work to their 70. That sounds great for white-collar people who sat at a desk most of their lives. You ever talk to somebody that stood on concrete floor for the first 40 years of their working life? Do you think they can stand another five years or 10 years, many of them will retired virtually crippled because they worked hard. And we're going to punish them some more? I don't think so. Here's the fact. Four percent economic growth, we fully fund Social Security and Medicare. Our problem is not that Social Security is just too generous to seniors. It isn't. Our problem is that our politicians have not created the kind of policies that would bring economic growth. And I still support strongly that we get rid of the 77,000 pages of the monstrous tax code......pass the fair tax, supercharge this economy with the rocket fuel that happens with the consumption tax and we don't have to cut Social Security to any senior who has worked their lifetime for it. +p11 +aVLet me go back to the reason so many people are having a hard time getting ahead. The tax system punishes them. Think about this. If you work really hard and you start moving up the economic ladder, you get bumped into a different tax bracket. So the government thinks it deserves more of your hard work than you do. And it's one of the reasons that no matter how many different reforms you have to a tax on people's productivity, you're still taxing their work, their savings. You're taxing their capital gains, inheritance, dividends, you're taxing everything that produces something. And it's way I really believe it's time to do something bold, not something minute. This is no time for a tap of the hammer, a twist of the screwdriver. It's time for something big. That's why the fair tax transforms our economy. And we don't punish workers. It's the only way we're going to get middle class people moving ahead again, because the harder they work, the more they keep. No payroll tax deducted from their checks. They get their entire paycheck. And, one of the most important parts, it's built on the common sense with which we raised our kids, and trained dogs. You reward behavior you want more of. And, you punish behavior you want less of. That's how I raise kids, it's how I trained our dogs, and folks, it's not that difficult. We now punish the behavior we say we want more of by taxing it, and we reward the behavior that we say we want less of, so if you make a good investment, we punish you with a tax. If you make a bad investment you can write that off and the rest of the taxpayers will help subsidize you, and bail you out. +p12 +aVWell, Rick, I'm pretty sure I did also fight the Clinton machine because every election I was ever in in Arkansas, I assure you, they were behind it, helping finance and campaign for every opponent. And I share with you the understanding that it's going to be a tough battle. But I spent the first half of my adult life in the private and nonprofit sector, raising a family, understanding how tough it is for people to make it. And that first half of my life is what led me to believe that America needs a different kind of leadership, not people who spent their whole life running from one office to the next, and living off the government dime. And I got involved because I got sick of what I saw. I also believe that there's got to be some leadership that not only addresses the monetary and military issues of this country, but the moral issues of this country. At the end of every political speech, most of us say, God bless America. But how can he do that when we continue to slaughter 4,000 babies a day? And I want to be the president that treats every person, including the unborn, as a person. And protect them under the 5th and 14th amendments of the constitution. I close with this word from a gentleman in East Texas named Butel Lucre. He's 100 years old and I met him down in East Texas. And he said this to me. "I sure wish, Mike, we had the days when The Ten Commandments were in all of our capitals and in every school, and we prayed again. You know, he may be 100 years old, but I believe some of those old ideas to get this country back where we unapologetically get on our knees before we get on our feet might be the best solutions we've ever sought as a country. And I ask for your support and your vote. Thank you. +p13 +asVSANTORUM +p14 +(lp15 +VWell, all he has to do is listen to the Democratic debate and find out how bad the economy is. All they do is complain about the hollowing out of the middle of America, and how America is struggling so badly, and have to make these radical changes in Washington. But they've been in control for the last seven years, and what have we seen? The most important jobs, I believe, in this country are the ones that fill the middle. For the 74% of Americans who don't have a college degree between the age of 25 and 65 are manufacturing jobs. Your governor, and your legislature, and your team here have done an amazing job of bringing manufacturing jobs back to South Carolina. Right here. Right here in Charleston, right down in the street in Boeing. You've done a great job, and what's happened? You've grown this economy, you've strengthened the center of your state, the middle. That's because you know that if you're really going to create wealth and opportunity, you got to get jobs, and good paying jobs for everybody. And, so what's happened? Two million jobs, manufacturing jobs, have left this country because of Barack Obama. Regulations, EPA, workplace regulations, things driving people off-shore all because of his number one priority, global climate change. Well, let me tell you this, Mr. President. For every dollar of GDP, China creates five times as much pollution as we do here. You want to \u2014 lower global climate change, bring those jobs back to America and let American workers do that job with less pollution. +p16 +aVWell, the historic promises that we have made to \u2014 to Iran in this agreement need to be torn up on the first day in office of the next president. And let me tell you why, because Iran has already torn it up. Iran has not approved the agreement that President Obama has said that they have approved. They have approved a different agreement in their parliament. The fact of the matter is they have violated this agreement. Carly just mentioned some of those violations. They have launched ballistic missiles, tested them, in clear violation. And here's the pathetic part. The president announced that they were going to impose sanctions. And then President Rouhani went on Twitter and said there would be retaliation. And what did we do? We backed down. Ladies and gentlemen, there are 50 some Citadel cadets in this audience tonight. I would ask them to stand up if they will. And here's what I want to tell each and every one of them, as you stand. Here's what I want to tell them. Whether it's you're watching that movie this weekend that just came out when we abandoned our men and women in Benghazi, or whether it's we treat Iran, that gave courtesies to our sailors, as they made them record a hostage video, let me tell you this, if you choose to serve this country, I will have your back. I will not let America be trampled upon anymore by these radical jihadists. +p17 +aVI would just say that if we were doing a better job within the government, we wouldn't need the private sector to do the things that we're asking them to do. I've had a little experience in this in the private sector myself. And what I found was a government with layers and layers of bureaucracy, of people who had some technical expertise but they had no authority, number one. And one of the things I found out about in the bureaucracy is if a lot of people have authority, nobody has authority, number one. And number two, that if you don't do anything, you don't get fired. It's only when you do something and something goes wrong, you get fired. So they do nothing. And that's what is happening in our Defense Department right now. We have a capability that they're trying to develop to play defense. We have a lot of technologists that are very skilled. And they're trying to figure out how to play defense. But what we don't have is we don't have folks who are thinking about offense. We don't have war-fighters. We have technologists. Technologists are not war-fighters. Technologists are thinking, how do I protect cyber-security, how do I secure, how do I protect? And we need to have a much more dynamic, how do we \u2014 how do we go after them? How do we respond? And we need leadership that's willing to make sure that when someone attacks us \u2014 and ladies and gentlemen, they're attacking us as we speak. They're attacking us all day every day, not just the government, but they're attacking private sector companies all day every day. They have to learn that we're going to pay \u2014 they're going to pay a price when they do so. And then right now, just like in every other aspect of our national security, people who attack us are not paying a price. We need a leader who will make sure that they know when they mess with America, they're going to pay a price. +p18 +aVLook, Facebook and Twitter can teach us things. We can cooperate with them. We can share ideas and information. But this is a \u2014 and this is a very dicey area for the government to go in and require the industry to do its job. It needs to develop that capability. We need to be \u2014 have responsible dialogue, but I don't think requirements are the order of the day. +p19 +aVWell, the most devastating attack that could occur is an electromagnetic pulse attack, and that would be an attack that would be triggered by a nuclear explosion in the upper atmosphere of our country. The best way to stop that from happening is to make sure that those who contemplating and actually war-gaming and talking about using it, Iran, doesn't get a nuclear weapon so they can't explode that device. And the president of the United States has put Iran on a path to a nuclear weapon. And we have done nothing to do anything to harden our grid. There is actually a bill in Congress that would put money forward to try to put redundancy and harden our electric grid so it could actually survive an EMP. An EMP is a devastating explosion that sends a pulse that knocks out all electric, everything, everything that is connected to any kind \u2014 that is wired, that has a circuit board gets fried out. Everything is gone. Cars stop. Planes fall out of the sky. This is a devastating attack. And this president has done nothing, number one, to take the most probable person to \u2014 probable country to launch an attack and stop them, and has done nothing to try to defend us, particularly our electric grid. The bottom line is, I put the original sanctions on the Iranian nuclear program when I was in the United States Senate. I've been fighting for 12 years with one thing in mind, that we must stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. And......because they're different than every other country. They do not want a nuclear weapon to defend themselves. They want a nuclear weapon to have theological ends to bring about their mahdi so they can control the world. And that is the most serious threat facing this country right now. +p20 +aVWell, the numbers just don't add up. I mean, they have not added manufacturing jobs. Manufacturing jobs have been lost in this country, 2 million of them. The bottom line is that this president has done more to take jobs away from the hard-working people who are struggling the most. And that's folks who are, as I said, the 74 percent of Americans who don't have a college degree. And they're out there talking about, well, we're going to provide free college for everybody. Well, who is going to pay for it? The 74 percent that don't have a college degree. They're not \u2014 nobody is focused. Let's just be honest, nobody is focused on the people who are struggling the most in America today. We talk about immigration. Talk about the president's immigration plan. He wants to bring in more and more people into this country. Let people who are here illegally stay in this country. Almost all of the people who are here illegally, and most of the people who came here legally over the last 20 years, they're working in wage-earning jobs. That is why wages have flat-lined. And we have unfortunately two political parties with most of the candidates in this field for some form of amnesty, some form of allowing people to stay here even though they're here illegally and for increasing levels of legal immigration. I'm someone who believes that we need to be the party that stands for the American worker. And when we say we need to send people back, I mean we send people back. And let me just make one point. I was in Storm Lake, Iowa, the other day, near a Tyson's plant, 91 percent of the kids that go to the elementary school there are minority kids. And they said, well, what are you going to do with all of these people, their families, they've lived here for a long time? I said, I'm going to give them a gift. I'm going to give them a gift of being able to help the country they were born in. And I'm going to export America, the education they were able to see. They learned English language. They learned about capitalism. They learned about democracy. You want to stop flow of immigrants? Let's send six million Mexicans, Hondurans, Guatemalans, El Savadorians......back into their country, so they can start a renaissance in their country so they won't be coming over here anymore. +p21 +aVYou know, we've had this debate about the economy, and we haven't talked the one issue now increasingly even the right, and even the are coming to agreement. I've run around doing 300 town hall meetings talking about a book written by a liberal Harvard sociologist, not a normal thing for me to be talking about, but I now name Robert Putnam who wrote a book called, "Our Kids". And, he wrote this book, I think, ostensibly to support the Democratic argument that the middle of America's hollowing out, and income gap is widening, and rich are getting richer. When he studied all the information as to what was going on, he realized that the biggest reason that we're seeing the hollowing out of the middle of America is the breakdown of the American family. The reality is that if you're a single parent \u2014 a child of a single parent, and you grew up in a single parent family neighborhood, you went to that single parent family school, the chance of you ever, ever reaching the top 20% of income earners is 3% in America. At least \u2014 I don't know about you, but that's not good enough. And, we have been too politically correct in this country because we don't want to offend anybody to fight for the lives of our children. You want \u2014 You want to be shocked? You read the first few chapters of Mr. \u2014 Dr. Putnam' book. He talks about Port Clinton, Ohio and growing up there in the 1950's, and how poor kids actually survived and did well, even though they were poor and disadvantaged. But, then he goes to the towns today and these kids are failing, and failing miserably. They don't even have a shot, and we won't even have the courage to have leadership at the federal level \u2014 not with legislation, but the most powerful tool a president have, the bully pulpit to encourage each and everyone of you, churches and businesses, and educators, and community leaders to let's have a national campaign to rebuild the American family, and give every child its birthright which is a Mom and a Dad who loves them. That will change this economy. +p22 +aVLadies and gentlemen, America is frustrated and angry and looking for someone who's a fighter, but I also think they're looking for someone who's a winner. Somebody who can go out there and take on the establishment and make a difference. And take on someone who's going to be the person who's going to be between a Republican holding the presidency and that's Hillary Clinton. And there's one person on this stage, one person in the race who's done it and done it repeatedly. I've taken on Hillary Clinton on the issues you care about. Partial-birth abortion. Go and google Rick Santorum and Hillary Clinton and there you'll see a five-minute debate. I'll let you decide who won the debate. I'll tell you who won, because we passed the bill and I know I'm out of time but I'm going to take some of Rand Paul's time here for a second. If you're looking for someone who fought Hillary Clinton on Iran's sanctions, she was one of four who voted \u2014 who's deciding vote who voted against Iran's sanctions, so we didn't get it in place as earlier as we should have. I've fought battles against her. In 1994, I ran against the Clinton machine. James Carville and Paul Begala, ran the race against me when I took on the author of Hillary care. And each one of those battles, I won. You want a fighter, you want a winner, I'd appreciate your vote. Thank you. +p23 +asVRADDATZ +p24 +(lp25 +VQuestions of leadership and character have dominated the news ever since the Iowa caucuses a few days ago. Here with us to question the candidates this evening are Josh McElveen from +p26 +aVDr. Ben Carson. +p27 +aVBusinessman Donald Trump. +p28 +aVFormer Florida Governor, Jeb Bush. +p29 +aVLadies and gentlemen, the Republican candidates. +p30 +aVAnd Donald Trump. +p31 +aVThe applause so loud you couldn't hear. We couldn't hear, either. That's a good sign for the excitement this evening. Gentlemen, thank you for being here tonight, just days before voters here in New Hampshire make their decisions. The rules are simple and have been agreed to by all the campaigns. There will be 60 seconds to answer and if another candidate is mentioned in that answer, that candidate will have 30 seconds to respond. There are green, yellow and red lights that each candidate will see to signal when time is up and they will also hear this sound. +p32 +aVSenator Cruz, you are a first term Senator as well. Your opponents say you, like Senator Rubio, are not prepared to be Commander in Chief. You have talked tough about threats we face in the Mid-East. It was reported just moments ago that the North Koreans test launched an intercontinental ballistic missile. North Korea has nuclear weapons, and conducted another nuclear test just last month. The missile that was launched is the kind the North Koreans hope could someday carry a nuclear weapon capable of reaching the United States. How would you respond if Commander in Chief to that launch? +p33 +aVWell, let me ask you this, if you were Commander in Chief tonight would you have order the U.S. military to destroy that missile preemptively on the launchpad to prevent North Korea from becoming an even graver threat? +p34 +aV... Senator Cruz, let me tell you this, you have talked tough about the Mid-East, you haven't gotten those intelligence briefings about that. Why not tell us whether you would preemptively strike a missile on a launchpad that threatens the U.S... +p35 +aVOkay. Senator Cruz, I will say that missile has been sitting there for quite some time, and they have had eyes on it. +p36 +aVSenator Rubio, I'm talking about a preemptive strike on the launch pad. +p37 +aVOK. Thank you, Senator Rubio. Governor Kasich, how would you respond to tonight's launch? +p38 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. Thank you \u2014 thank you... +p39 +aV... Governor Bush, I'll get to you in a moment. +p40 +aVThank you, Governor Bush. Mr. Trump, do you have a red line with North Korea? Would you consider military action? And how far would you let them go? +p41 +aVAnd I'd like him to finish the question, please. +p42 +aVSpecific \u2014 as to North Korea. +p43 +aVSenator Rubio, you were mentioned. +p44 +aVThank you very much, Senator Rubio. Governor Bush, another problem facing the commander-in-chief right now is that North Korea is currently detaining an American college student. What would you do to get that college student back home? +p45 +aVGovernor Christie, I want to go to you on the same question. +p46 +aVWould you negotiate with North Korea to... +p47 +aVThank you very much, Governor Christie. David? +p48 +aVSenator Cruz, to that point, Mr. Trump has said that your position on health care means that maybe you've got, quote, "no heart". There is a question here, though, about uncovered folks. You suggested repealing and replacing Obamacare. As we learned with President Obama's broken promise that everyone could keep their plan, any major plan \u2014 change in health care policy carries with it the risk that some people will lose their insurance coverage or have to change it. How do you reassure that those people that repealing and replacing Obamacare is still in their best interest? +p49 +aVSenator Cruz, you advocate what you call carpet bombing, or saturation bombing, to defeat +p50 +aVSenator Cruz, would you like to expand or loosen the rules of engagement? I was just over in a command center in Erbil and they said they thought the rules of engagement worked. Because you have so many civilians in those populated areas, they don't want to hit civilians. +p51 +aVSo, loosen the rules of engagement? +p52 +aVSenator Rubio, you said in the last debate that +p53 +aVAgain, Senator Rubio, you've already said +p54 +aVWell, what would you do \u2014 what would you do differently to try to get those Sunni forces? They have not been coming forward. +p55 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 thank you very much, Senator Rubio. Mr. Trump. You have said you will vigorously bomb +p56 +aVAnd \u2014 and what would you do in those cities, where there are people who we are trying to help, who +p57 +aVThank you very much, Mr. Trump. Let's turn to Libya. Governor Bush, it is a country in chaos. There is no government. This week, defense officials said there are now 5,000 +p58 +aVThank you very much, Governor Bush. Dr. Carson? +p59 +aVAnd would you support renewed airstrikes? +p60 +aVWe're going to move on. +p61 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. Thank you, Josh. Our partner in this debate, the Independent Journal Review, has collected questions from some prominent conservatives around the country. Here's a videotaped question from radio host Larry O'Connor. O' +p62 +aVMr. Trump, I'm going to give that question to you. You took it \u2014 you took it away anyway. +p63 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. I'm going to go to Senator Rubio on this. How would you change that narrative? +p64 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Dr. Carson, I want to go to you on Larry O' Connor's question. Would you change the narrative? +p65 +aVYes. +p66 +aVThank you very much Dr. Carson. I'm going to go back to David. +p67 +aVGovernor Christie, earlier this week, the World Health Organization declared the Zika virus a global emergency. The same kind of mosquitoes that carry the Zika virus in Latin America are found here in the United States, and the virus has been linked to severe birth defects. Governor Christie, at the peak of the Ebola outbreak in west Africa, you ordered an American nurse who landed at Newark Airport be detained and quarantined. As fear spreads now of the Zika virus and with the Rio Olympics just months away, is there a scenario where you would quarantine people traveling back from Brazil to prevent the spread in the United States? +p68 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you. I'm going to move to Dr. Carson, and go back to the Zika virus, is that going too far, quarantining? You're a doctor, what would you do? +p69 +aVThanks very much, Dr. Carson. I want to move on to the military. Senator Rubio, all restrictions on women in combat as long as they qualify. Positions including special operations forces, like Navy Seals. Just this week military leaders of the Army and Marine Corps said that they believed young women, just as young men are required to do, should sign up for Selective Service in case the Draft is reinstated. Many of you have young daughters. Senator Rubio, should young women be required to sign up for Selective Service in case of a national emergency? +p70 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Governor Bush, do you believe that young women... +p71 +aVDo you believe young women should sign up for Selective Service, be required to sign up... +p72 +aVTell me what you'd say to American people out there......who are sitting at home, who have daughters, who might worry about those answers, and might worry... +p73 +aV... if the Draft is reinstituted? +p74 +aV... Are you saying you'd do away with it? +p75 +aVYou register for the draft. +p76 +aVIf it's reinstituted. +p77 +aVThank you very much. +p78 +aVThank you very much, Governor Christie. +p79 +aVWe just covered \u2014 wait one second, Dr. Carson. +p80 +aVVery quickly. +p81 +aVThank you very much for bringing up that subject, Dr. Carson, of our veterans. And for another question about our veterans, we go back to Josh McElveen from +p82 +aVGovernor Christie. +p83 +aVDr. Carson. +p84 +aVSenator Cruz. +p85 +asVTRUMP +p86 +(lp87 +VWell, I can say this. If the president, and if I were president now, I would certainly want to try and nominate a justice. I'm sure that, frankly, I'm absolutely sure that President Obama will try and do it. I hope that our Senate is going to be able \u2014 Mitch, and the entire group, is going to be able to do something about it. In times of delay, we could have a Diane Sykes, or you could have a Bill Pryor \u2014 we have some fantastic people. But this is a tremendous blow to conservatism. It's a tremendous blow, frankly, to our country. +p88 +aV... I think he's going to do it whether or I'm O.K. with it or not. I think it's up to Mitch McConnell and everybody else to stop it. It's called delay, delay, delay. +p89 +aVWhat we want to do, when we want to do it, and how hard do we want to hit? Because we are going to have to hit very, very hard to knock out +p90 +aV... called me a genius, I like him so far, I have to tell you. Let me just tell you this. Jeb is so wrong. Jeb is absolutely self \u2014 just so you understand, you know what that is? That's Jeb's special interest and lobbyist talking. Look, let me just tell you something, Jeb \u2014 Jeb is so wrong. You got to fight +p91 +aV... You'll end up with World War III... +p92 +aV... We're supporting troops... +p93 +aV... that we don't even know who they are. +p94 +aV... We're supporting troops that we don't even know who they are... +p95 +aVWe have no idea who they are. +p96 +aV... Oh, yeah, yeah... +p97 +aV... Let 44 million in New Hampshire, it was practically ... +p98 +aV... 44 million \u2014 give me a break. +p99 +aVFirst of all, I have to say, as a businessman, I get along with everybody. I have business all over the world. I know so many of the people in the audience. And by the way, I'm a self-funder. I don't have \u2014 I have my wife and I have my son. That's all I have. I don't have this. So let me just tell you, I get along with everybody, which is my obligation to my company, to myself, et cetera. Obviously, the war in Iraq was a big, fat mistake. All right? Now, you can take it any way you want, and it took \u2014 it took Jeb Bush, if you remember at the beginning of his announcement, when he announced for president, it took him five days. He went back, it was a mistake, it wasn't a mistake. It took him five days before his people told him what to say, and he ultimately said, "It was a mistake." The war in Iraq, we spent $2 trillion, thousands of lives, we don't even have it. Iran has taken over Iraq, with the second-largest oil reserves in the world. Obviously, it was a mistake. +p100 +aVGeorge Bush made a mistake. We can make mistakes. But that one was a beauty. We should have never been in Iraq. We have destabilized the Middle East. +p101 +aVYou do whatever you want. You call it whatever you want. I want to tell you. They lied. They said there were weapons of mass destruction, there were none. And they knew there were none. There were no weapons of mass destruction. +p102 +aVI'm being nice. +p103 +aVHe spent $22 million in... +p104 +aVThe World Trade Center came down during your brother's reign, remember that. +p105 +aVThat's not keeping us safe. +p106 +aVShe should be running. +p107 +aVHow did he keep us safe when the World Trade Center \u2014 the World \u2014 excuse me. I lost hundreds of friends. The World Trade Center came down during the reign of George Bush. He kept us safe? That is not safe. That is not safe, Marco. That is not safe. +p108 +aVAnd George Bush \u2014 by the way, George Bush had the chance, also, and he didn't listen to the advice of his C.I.A. +p109 +aVI don't want to go. +p110 +aVYes. +p111 +aVFirst of all, the \u2014 when you say I'm the only candidate, if you listen to the Democrats, they want to do many things to Social Security, and I want to do them on its own merit. You listen to them, what they want to do to Social Security, none of these folks are getting elected, O.K., whether they can do it or not. I'm going to save Social Security. I'm going to bring jobs back from China. I'm going to bring jobs back from Mexico and from Japan, where they're all \u2014 every country throughout the world \u2014 now Vietnam, that's the new one. They are taking our jobs. They are taking our wealth. They are taking our base. And you and I have had this discussion. We're going to make our economy strong again. I'm lowering taxes. We have $2.5 trillion offshore. We have 2.5 trillion that I think is actually five trillion because the government has no idea when they say 2.5, they have no idea what they're doing or saying, as they've proven very well. We're going to bring that money back. You take a look at what happened just this week. China bought the Chicago Stock Exchange, China, a Chinese company. Carrier is moving to Mexico, air conditioning company. Not only the ones I talk about all the time, Nabisco and Ford and \u2014 they're all moving out. We have an economy that last quarter, G.D.P. didn't grow. It was flat. We have to make our economy grow again. We're dying. This country is dying. And our workers are losing their jobs, and you're going... +p112 +aVI'm the only one who is going to save Social Security, believe me. +p113 +aVBecause you have tremendous waste. I'll tell you... +p114 +aVYou have tremendous waste, fraud and abuse. That we're taking care of. That we're taking care of. It's tremendous. We have in Social Security right now thousands and thousands of people that are over 106 years old. Now, you know they don't exist. They don't exist. There's tremendous waste, fraud and abuse, and we're going to get it. But we're not going to hurt the people who have been paying into Social Security their whole life and then all of a sudden they're supposed to get less. We're bringing our jobs back. We're going to make our economy great again. +p115 +aVI want everybody taken care of, but we have to take care of our people in this country. We're not taking care of our people. We have no border. We have no control. People are flooding across. We can't have it. We either have a border, and I'm very strongly \u2014 I'm not proposing. I will build a wall. I will build a wall. Remember this, the wall will be paid for by Mexico. We are not being treated right. We are not being treated properly. If we don't have borders, if we don't have strength, we don't have a country. People are flowing across. We have to take care of our people. Believe me. +p116 +aVLook......When I announced that I was running for president on June 16th, illegal immigration wasn't even a subject. If I didn't bring it up, we wouldn't even be talking. Now, I don't often agree with Marco, and I don't often agree with Ted, but I can in this case. The weakest person on this stage by far on illegal immigration is Jeb Bush. They come out of an act of love, whether you like it or not. He is so weak on illegal immigration it's laughable, and everybody knows it. +p117 +aV... Spend a little more money on the commercials... +p118 +aV. I don't know what you're talking about. +p119 +aV... I never called him \u2014 I don't call him.. +p120 +aVHe also said about language... +p121 +aV... Language. Two days ago he said he would take his pants off and moon everybody, and that's fine. Nobody reports that. He gets up and says that, and then he tells me, oh, my language was a little bit rough... +p122 +aV... My language. Give me a break... +p123 +aV... You did say it, you did say it. Been reported in 10 different news... +p124 +aVOr a tax. +p125 +aVI would build consensus with Congress, and Congress would agree with me. I'll give you an example, because I don't like the idea of using executive orders like our president. It is a disaster what he's doing. I would build consensus, but consensus means you have to work hard. You have to cajole. You have to get them into the Oval Office and get them all together, and you have to make deals. Let me just tell you, I mentioned before, China \u2014 big Chinese company bought the Chicago Exchange. Kerry is moving \u2014 and if you saw the people, because they have a video of the announcement that Carrier is moving to Mexico, O.K.? Well, I'll tell you what. I would go right now to Carrier and I would say I am going to work awfully hard. You're going to make air conditioners now in Mexico. You're going to get all of these 1,400 people that are being laid off \u2014 they're laid off. They were crying. They were \u2014 it was a very sad situation. You're going to go to Mexico. You're going to make air conditioners in Mexico, you're going to put them across our border with no tax. I'm going to tell them right now, I am going to get consensus from Congress and we're going to tax you when those air conditioners come. So stay where you are or build in the United States, because we are killing ourselves with trade pacts that are no good for us and no good for our workers. +p126 +aVJohn, in life you have flexibility. You do have flexibility. When you're fighting wars, you're going one way, you have a plan. It's a beautiful plan. It can't lose. The enemy makes a change, and all of a sudden you have to change. You have to have flexibility. In Ronald Reagan, though, in terms of what we're talking about, was the great example. He was a somewhat liberal Democrat who became a somewhat, pretty strong conservative. He became \u2014 most importantly, he became a great president. He made many of the changes that I've made \u2014 I mean, I've seen as I grew up, I've seen, and as I get older and wiser, and I feel that I am a conservative. Now, I also feel I'm a common-sense conservative, because some of the views I don't agree with. And I think a lot of people agree with me, obviously, based on what's happening. +p127 +aVWell, I think these people always hit me with eminent domain, and frankly, I'm not in love with eminent domain. But eminent domain is something you need very strongly. When Jeb had said, "You used eminent domain privately for a parking lot." It wasn't for a parking lot. The state of New Jersey \u2014 too bad Chris Christie is not here, he could tell you \u2014 the state of New Jersey went to build a very large tower that was going to employ thousands of people. I mean, it was going to really do a big job in terms of economic development. Now, just so you understand, I got hit very hard. It's private, it's private eminent domain. You understand that they took over a stadium in Texas, and they used private eminent domain, but he just found that out after he made the charge. +p128 +aVYeah. Well, Jeb wouldn't have known about it. +p129 +aVYou shouldn't have used it then, Jeb. +p130 +aVThank you very much, I appreciate it. +p131 +aVYou probably are worse than Jeb Bush. You are single biggest liar. This guy's lied \u2014 let me just tell you, this guy lied about Ben Carson when he took votes away from Ben Carson in Iowa, and he just continues. Today, we had robo-calls saying, "Donald Trump is not going to run in South Carolina," where I'm leading by a lot. I'm not going to vote for Ted Cruz. This is the same thing he did to Ben Carson. This guy will say anything, nasty guy. Now I know why he doesn't have one endorsement from any of his colleagues. +p132 +aVHe's a nasty guy. +p133 +aVWhere did I support it? Where did I... +p134 +aVAgain, where did I support it? +p135 +aVHey Ted, where I support it? +p136 +aVWhere did I support? +p137 +aVThat's a lot of lies. +p138 +aVIt does do wonderful things, but not as it relates to abortion. +p139 +aVExcuse me. Excuse me, there are wonderful things having to do with women's health. +p140 +aVBut not when it comes to abortion. +p141 +aVHold on... +p142 +aVTed Cruz told your brother that he wanted John Roberts to be on the United States Supreme Court. They both pushed him, he twice approved Obamacare. +p143 +aVO.K., governor. +p144 +aVYou pushed him. You pushed him. +p145 +aVYou worked with him and you pushed him. Why do you lie? +p146 +aVWhy do you lie? +p147 +aVYou pushed him. +p148 +aVYeah, yeah, I know, you're an adult. +p149 +aVWell, I would say my wife tells me I'm wrong all the time. And I listen. +p150 +aVOh, let me just say \u2014 look, I am very open \u2014 I hired top people. I've had great success. I built a great, great company. I don't need to do this. I'm self-funding. I'm spending a lot of money. I've spent \u2014 like in New Hampshire, I spent $3 million. Jeb bush spent $44 million. He came in five, and I came in No. 1. That's what the country needs, folks. I spent 3, he spends 42 of their money, of special interest money. And it's just \u2014 this is not going to make \u2014 excuse me. This is not going to make our country great again. This is not what we need in our country. We need people that know what the hell they're doing. And politicians, they're all talk, they're no action. And that's why people are supporting me. I do listen to people. I hire experts. I hire top, top people. And I do listen. And you know what? Sometimes they're wrong. You have to know what to do, when to do it. But sometimes they're wrong. +p151 +aVWell, I'll tell you \u2014 over the years, I've made many speeches. People have asked me, big companies have asked me to make speeches, and friends of mine that run big companies on success. And occasion, in order to sort of really highlight something, I'll use a profanity. One of the profanities that I got credited with using, that I didn't use, was a very bad word, two weeks ago, that I never used. I said, "You." And everybody said "Oh, he didn't say anything wrong." But you bleeped it, so everyone thinks I said the \u2014 I didn't say anything. I never said the word. It is very unfair, that criticism. Now, I will say this, with all of that being said, I have said I will not do it at all, because if I say a word that's a little bit off color, a little bit, it ends up being a headline. I will not do it again. I was a very good student at a great school not using \u2014 by the way \u2014 not using profanity is very easy. +p152 +aVThat's not \u2014 let me respond. That's another lie. I never went bankrupt! +p153 +aVNo, but it's another lie. +p154 +aVNo, but it's another lie. This guy doesn't know what he's talking about. Just a lie. +p155 +aVLet me just tell you. Jeb goes around saying, just like the biggest business leaders in this country, I've used the laws of the land to chapter \u2014 I bought a company, I threw it immediately into a chapter, I made a great deal. I uses the laws to my benefit, because I run a company. +p156 +aVExcuse me, Jeb! +p157 +aVI never went bankrupt, never. Now \u2014 but you don't want to say that. Now, let me just say, I've used it, just like the biggest leaders in the country. Let me tell you something \u2014 Florida. Florida, he put so much debt on Florida. You know, we keep saying he's a wonderful governor, wonderful governor. He put so much debt on Florida, and he increased spending so much that as soon as he got out of office, Florida crashed. I happened to be there. It's my second home. Florida crashed. He didn't do a good job as governor. +p158 +aVAnd you haven't \u2014 excuse me, you haven't heard that. You listen to the good record in Florida. You take a look at what happened, as soon as that year ended he got out, Florida crashed. Too much debt. He loaded it up with debt, and his spending went through the roof. +p159 +aVBy the way... +p160 +aV... he was not a good governor. +p161 +aVTake a look at your numbers. +p162 +aVFlorida went down the tubes right after he got out of office. +p163 +aVWent right down because of what he did to it. +p164 +aVThank you. Politicians are all talk, no action. You've seen where they've take you to. We are 19 trillion dollars right now. It's going to be increased with that horrible budget from a month ago that was just approved by politicians. We need a change. We need a very big change. We're going to make our country great again. I say this every night, every day, every afternoon, and it's so true \u2014 we don't win anymore. We don't win with health care, we don't win with +p165 +aVI actually think I have the best temperament. I built a massive corporation. I employ thousands and thousands of people. I've gotten along with people for years and years, have tremendous relationships with many people, including politicians on both sides. And no matter how you cut it, when I \u2014 when I came out, I hit immigration, I hit it very hard. Everybody said, "Oh, the temperament," because I talked about illegal immigration. Now, everybody's coming to me, they're all trying to say, well, he's right, we have to come to him. I hit other things. I talked about Muslims. We have a problem. Nobody else wanted to mention the problem, I brought it up. I took a lot of heat. We have to have a temporary something, because there's something going on that's not good. And remember this, I'm the only one up here, when the war of Iraq \u2014 in Iraq, I was the one that said, "Don't go, don't do it, you're going to destabilize the Middle East." So, I'm not one with a trigger. I'm not one with a trigger. Other people up here, believe me, would be a lot faster. But I'll build the mill arbitrary stronger, bigger, better than anybody up here, and nobody is going to mess with us. That, I can tell you. +p166 +aVAm I allowed to respond? I have to respond. +p167 +aVFirst of all, I respect what Ted just said, but if you noticed, he didn't answer your question. And that's what's going to happen \u2014 OK. That's what's going to happen with our enemies and the people we compete against. We're going to win with Trump. We're going to win. We don't win anymore. Our country doesn't win anymore. We're going to win with Trump. And people back down with Trump. And that's what I like and that's what the country is going to like. +p168 +aVWell, let me say a couple of things. First of all, Marco said earlier on that President Obama knows exactly what he's doing, like we have this president that really knows. I disagree, respectfully, with Marco. I think we have a president who, as a president, is totally incompetent, and he doesn't know what he's doing. I think he has no idea what he's doing. And our country is going to hell. So, I just want to say, we disagree on that. Is that okay? +p169 +aVGood. +p170 +aVAs to North Korea? +p171 +aVWe have \u2014 tremendous \u2014 has been just sucked out of our country by China. China says they don't have that good of control over North Korea. They have tremendous control. I deal with the Chinese all of the time. I do tremendous \u2014 the largest bank in the world is in one of my buildings in Manhattan. I deal with them. They tell me. They have total, absolute control, practically, of North Korea. They are sucking trillions of dollars out of our country \u2014 they're rebuilding China with the money they take out of our country. I would get on with China, let China solve that problem. They can do it quickly and surgically. That's what we should do with North Korea. +p172 +aVGood evening. +p173 +aVYes. HAM: In the Democratic primary, Hillary Clinton has criticized Bernie Sanders' plan for single payer government health care, noting it would require big, across the board tax increases for Americans. In doing so, she's doubling down on Obamacare, despite its persistent unpopularity. Mr. Trump, you have said you want to appeal Obamacare. You have also said, quote, "Everybody's got to be covered," adding, quote, "The government's going to pay for it." Are you closer to Bernie Sanders' vision for health care than Hillary Clinton's? +p174 +aVI don't think I am. I think I'm closer to common sense. We are going to repeal Obamacare. We're going to repeal Obamacare. We are going to replace Obamacare with something so much better. And there are so many examples of it. And I will tell you, part of the reason we have some people laughing, because you have insurance people that take care of everybody up here. I am self-funded. The only one they're not taking care of is me. We have our lines around each state. The insurance companies are getting rich on Obamacare. The insurance companies are getting rich on health care and health services and everything having to do with health. We are going to end that. We're going to take out the artificial boundaries, the artificial lines. We're going to get a plan where people compete, free enterprise. They compete. So much better. In addition to that, you have the health care savings plans, which are excellent. What I do say is, there will be a certain number of people that will be on the street dying and as a Republican, I don't want that to happen. We're going to take care of people that are dying on the street because there will be a group of people that are not going to be able to even think in terms of private or anything else and we're going to take care of those people. And I think everybody on this stage would have to agree......you're not going to let people die, sitting in the middle of a street in any city in this country. +p175 +aVWell, let me just tell you about eminent domain because almost all of these people actually criticize it, but so many people have hit me with commercials and other things about eminent domain. Eminent domain is an absolute necessity for a country, for our country. Without it, you wouldn't have roads, you wouldn't have hospitals, you wouldn't have anything. You wouldn't have schools, you wouldn't have bridges. You need eminent domain. And a lot of the big conservatives that tell me how conservative they are \u2014 I think I'm more than they are \u2014 they tell me, oh \u2014 well, they all want the Keystone Pipeline. The Keystone Pipeline, without eminent domain, it wouldn't go 10 feet, OK? You need eminent domain. And eminent domain is a good thing, not a bad thing. And what a lot of people don't know because they were all saying, oh, you're going to take their property. When somebody \u2014 when eminent domain is used on somebody's property, that person gets a fortune. They get at least fair market value, and if they are smart, they'll get two or three times the value of their property. But without eminent domain, you don't have roads, highways, schools, bridges or anything. So eminent domain \u2014 it's not that I love it, but eminent domain is absolutely \u2014 it's a necessity for a country. And certainly it's a necessity for our country. +p176 +aVYes. +p177 +aVJeb wants to be \u2014 he wants to be a tough guy tonight. I didn't take the property. +p178 +aVI didn't take the property. +p179 +aVThe woman ultimately didn't want to do that. I walked away. +p180 +aVWell, let me just \u2014 you know, he wants to be a tough guy. A lot of times, you'll have \u2014 you'll have \u2014 and it didn't work very well. +p181 +aVA lot of time \u2014 let me talk. Quiet. A lot of times \u2014 a lot of times... +p182 +aV... you \u2014 let me talk. Let me talk. Quiet. A lot of times......that's all of his donors and special interests out there. So \u2014 it's what it is. That's what \u2014 and by the way, let me just tell you, we needed tickets. You can't get them. You know who has the tickets for the \u2014 I'm talking about, to the television audience? Donors, special interests, the people that are putting up the money. That's who it is. The RNC told us. We have all donors in the audience. And the reason they're not loving me......the reason they're not \u2014 excuse me. The reason they're not loving me is, I don't want their money. I'm going to do the right thing for the American public. I don't want their money. I don't need their money. And I'm the only one up here that can say that. Eminent domain, the Keystone pipeline \u2014 do you consider that a private job? Do you \u2014 do you consider that... +p183 +aVNo \u2014 no, let me ask you, Jeb. Do you consider the Keystone pipeline private? +p184 +aVIs it public or private? +p185 +aVReal \u2014 a public use? +p186 +aVNo, it's a private job. +p187 +aVIt's a private job. +p188 +aVYou wouldn't have the Keystone pipeline that you want so badly without eminent domain. +p189 +aVYou wouldn't have massive \u2014 excuse me, Josh \u2014 you wouldn't have massive factories without eminent domain. +p190 +aVWell, I think I am, and to me, I view the word conservative as a derivative I \u2014 of \u2014 of the word conserve. We want to converse our money. We want to conserve our wealth. We want to conserve. We want to be smart. We want to be smart where we go, where we spend, how we spend. We want to conserve our country. We want to save our country. And we have people that have no idea how to do that and they are not doing it, and it's a very important word and it's something I believe in very, very strongly. +p191 +aVWell, before I go there, I will tell you, I will bring jobs back from China. I will bring jobs back from Japan. I will bring jobs back from Mexico, where New Hampshire, by the way, has been virtually wiped out. They've lost so many businesses going to Mexico because of horrible trade deals. And now we're about to sign another trade deal, TPP, which is going to be a disaster for this country because they don't talk about monetary manipulation. It is going to be a disaster. I'm going to bring jobs back and I'll start bringing them back very fast. Under my tax plan \u2014 right now, we're the highest taxed country in the world. Under my plan, we cut not only taxes for the middle class, but we cut taxes for corporations. We will bring back trillions of dollars that's offshore. Right now, they have $2.5 trillion, and in my opinion, it's much more than that. That's what the government says. All of that money is going to come back. And we're not going to lose Pfizer, which is now leaving, and other great companies, which is now leaving. And they're all leaving. We have many, many companies that are leaving this country. We're not going to lose them anymore because we're going to have a tax structure that is going to keep them in our country. +p192 +aVWell, four years ago, I said, bomb the oil and take the oil. And if we did that, they wouldn't have the wealth they have right now. Now, I still say the same thing, because we're doing little pinpricks. We're not even bombing \u2014 if somebody's driving a truck, they give notice to the person driving the truck, "we're going to bomb." If they don't get out of the truck, the truck sails away with the oil. We actually have a case where we don't want to bomb the oil, because we don't want to hurt \u2014 pollute the atmosphere. Can you imagine General Douglas MacArthur or General Patton saying we can't bomb because we're gonna hurt the atmosphere? You have to knock the hell out of the oil. You have to take the oil. And you have also back channels of banking. You have people that you think are our great allies, our friends, in the Middle East, that are paying tremendous numbers of \u2014 tremendous amounts of money to +p193 +aVYou have to go in \u2014 first of all, when you take away their money, when you take away their wealth, that'll very much weaken \u2014 and it will happen fairly fast. They'll last for about a year, based on all of the wealth they've accumulated. But when you stop the banking channels and when you stop the oil and take the oil \u2014 not just bomb it, take it \u2014 when you do that, it's going to dry up very quickly. They're going to become a very weakened power, quickly. Thank you. +p194 +aVWell, I'll tell you what. In the Middle East, we have people chopping the heads off Christians, we have people chopping the heads off many other people. We have things that we have never seen before \u2014 as a group, we have never seen before, what's happening right now. The medieval times \u2014 I mean, we studied medieval times \u2014 not since medieval times have people seen what's going on. I would bring back waterboarding and I'd bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding. +p195 +aV... No, a good deal maker will make great deals, but we'll do it the way our founders thought it should be done. People get together, they make deals. Ronald Reagan did it with Tip O'Neil very successfully, you didn't hear so much about executive orders, if you heard about it at all. You have to be able to get a consensus. Now, the real person like it was mentioned about the deal with Iran, how bad a deal is that? It doesn't get any more amateurish than that. A good deal maker would never make a deal like that. With Congress, you have to get everybody in a room, and you have to get them to agree. But, you have to get them to agree what you want, and that's part of being a deal maker. You can't leave the White House, go to Hawaii and play golf for three weeks and be a real deal maker. It doesn't work that way. You have to get people in, grab them, hug them, kiss them, and get the deal done. But, it's got to be the deal that you want. HAM: Governor Kasich, is the problem with Washington that there are too many deals, or too few? +p196 +aVSome? +p197 +aVWell... +p198 +aVYes. OK, good. It looked like he was looking right at me, right there. I think that \u2014 I look at what's going on, I look at all of the polls, I do very, very well against Hillary Clinton. I can tell you, I'm the last person that she wants to run against. And I think you can see what we've done in terms of galvanizing. I've been all over the country. We're \u2014 last night, I was in South Carolina, we had 12,000 people. It set up in about four days. We have galvanized and we've created a movement. A lot of it has to do with \u2014 as an example, Josh's question on drugs. I'm the first person that said, "Build a wall." But I mean, a real wall, not a toy wall like they have right now. A real wall. And you'll solve lots of problems. But we will galvanize the people of this country, and we will beat Hillary Clinton. Because \u2014 assuming that she runs, by the way, how she gets away with the e-mail stuff is hard to believe. So, I don't know that she's going to be running. But on the assumption she runs... I mean, look. And speaking of that, if she runs, she's running for one reason. She's going to be able to run for one reason, and that's because the Democrats are protecting her. Because so many people have done so much less than her, and they were absolutely \u2014 their lives have been destroyed. But on the assumption they do protect her, I will win the election and we will win it by a lot. We will win it handily. We cannot have another four years of essentially Barack Obama. +p199 +aVWell, there is a divide, but I have to say that the police are absolutely mistreated and misunderstood, and if there is an incident, whether it's an incident done purposely \u2014 which is a horror, and you should really take very strong action \u2014 or if it is a mistake, it's on your news casts all night, all week, all month, and it never ends. The police in this country have done an unbelievable job of keeping law and order, and they're afraid for their jobs, they're afraid of the mistreatment they get, and I'm telling you that not only, me speaking, minorities all over the country, they respect the police of this country and we have to give them more respect. They can't act. They can't act. They're afraid for losing their pension, their job. They don't know what to do. And I deal with them all the time. We have to give great respect, far greater than we are right now, to our really fantastic police. +p200 +aVWell, they do. And, you know, they sue. Everybody sues, right? They see excessive \u2014 I mean, they go out, they sue. We have so much litigation \u2014 I see the courts, I see what they're doing. They sue, and you know what? We don't want excessive force. But at what point \u2014 you know, either you're going to have a police force that can do its job... I was just up in Manchester, I met with the police officers yesterday. Tremendous people. They love the area, they love the people, they love all the people. They want to do their job. And you're going to have abuse and you're going to have problems, and you've got to solve the problems and you have to weed out the problems. But the police in this country are absolutely amazing people. +p201 +aVWell, I \u2014 I know Diane Foley very well. Her husband and \u2014 these are tremendous people. I spoke for them, I raised a lot of money for the foundation. I fully understand, James, one of \u2014 that was really the first that we saw, really visually saw \u2014 it was so horrible. And I will tell you, though, with all of that being said, you can not negotiate this way with terrorists. If you do, you are going to have many, many more James Foleys. James Foley was a great young man. His parents are incredible people. They've done such a good job, since his \u2014 since his death. But you just cannot negotiate that way with terrorists, or you're gonna have so many other James Foleys. And one thing on the vets \u2014 during the last debate, I raised $6 million for the vets, and I will tell you something......I will tell you that I think nobody here, nobody on this stage, gets along with the veterans groups in New Hampshire better than I do without ball (ph) to sarel (ph) and all of the people that I deal with and these are great people. The one thing that we're not mentioning, there's tremendous fraud, waste and abuse in the Veterans Administration and if I'm running things, that's going to disappear......and it's going to disappear quickly. +p202 +aVCarolina. +p203 +aVThat's because he got Ben Carson's votes, by the way, but we won't . Our country that we love so much doesn't win anymore. We don't win with the military, we don't' win on the border. You look at New Hampshire with the tremendous problem we have with heroin. Number one thing I hear from the people of New Hampshire, who I love, and developed such relationships, we don't win with healthcare. We don't win with trade. You look at what other countries are doing to us. China. Everyone, they're killing us on trade. If I'm elected president, we will win, and we will win, and we will win. Thank you, thank you very much. +p204 +asVGARRETT +p205 +(lp206 +VSenator Cruz. John mentioned this is about dollars and incentives. We also want to talk about economic growth engagements. You have proposed a consumption tax, you called it the "back tax." Some analysts compare it more to an attributed "value-added tax." From the perspective from economic growth in building wages, how does that work, and how would you address those longstanding conservative concerns that something approaching the "value-added tax" would be used to constantly increase those rates to pay for future government spending and become an escalator of taxation, not of growth? +p207 +aVNow, the question \u2014 conservatives have sort of this idea conceptually for a long time, but especially on this consumption value-added tax system. In Europe, where it exists, it has become an escalator of taxation to feed government spending, and that's why conservatives have long resisted it. Why and what would you do as president to make sure that doesn't happen? +p208 +aVGovernor Bush, a question for you \u2014 but if you want to jump in, please. +p209 +aVJump in, and then I've got a question for you. +p210 +aVReal quickly, jump in, because I have got a question for Governor Bush, but jump in. +p211 +aVUnderstood, Governor Kasich. +p212 +aVYeah, Governor Bush, fine. +p213 +aVLet me get in a question from... +p214 +aVI understand, I understand. +p215 +aVI have a question on economic growth, Governor Bush. +p216 +aVA , Governor. +p217 +aVI know, understood. Governor Bush. +p218 +aVGovernor Bush, from the perspective, economic growth \u2014 viewed from this perspective of economic growth, you have proposed a tax on hedge fund managers. The Americans for Tax Reform, a conservative tax group you're probably aware of, has said no Republican should be for higher taxes on capital gains. And many conservatives wonder if this proposal of yours would undermine not only that philosophy, but undercut your projection of 4 percent economic growth annually under your presidency? +p219 +aV... Dr. Carson... +p220 +aVSenator Rubio... For the purposes of the lines \u2014 lines you would draw legislatively as a president on immigration reform, define amnesty. +p221 +aVVery quickly, Senator Cruz. +p222 +aVGovernor Bush, I want to bring this out to a little wider philosophical aspect, if you will. +p223 +aVYou have said illegal immigrants, quote, "broke the law, but it's not a felony," still quoting you, "it's an act of love, it's an act of commitment to your family." Mr. Trump has, as you are well aware, denounced that statement over and over. Do you still believe it? What does that mean to you? And how does that inform your approach to immigration reform? +p224 +aVFundamentally, do you believe this rhetoric is insufficiently compassionate to this issue? +p225 +aVMr. Trump... +p226 +aV... Governor Kasich, here in South Carolina earlier this week, you said the idea, the concept of deporting 11 million undocumented workers... +p227 +aV... We will leave the moon metaphors to be adjudicated later, I assure you. Governor Kasich, you said earlier this week in South Carolina, the concept, the idea of deporting 11 million undocumented workers in this country is nuts. Why is it you are so opposed to that idea? Senator Cruz has said it's a simple application of existing law. The application of that is not inhumane, it is just. Why do you disagree? +p228 +aV... What are you for on immigration? +p229 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 Mr. Trump. I was with you in Pendleton, South Carolina, earlier this week at the Rodeo Arena. It was a bit chilly there. You promised the crowd, and they rose to their feet, that if Ford or a company like were to move a factory to Mexico, you would try to stop it or threaten them with a 35 percent tax or tariff on every car sold. +p230 +aVRight. So my question is, based on your understanding of the presidency, where do you derive that power? Would you need the consent of Congress to go along? And do you see the presidency as a perch from which you can cajole and/or threaten private industry to do something you think is better for the U.S. economy? +p231 +aVThank you, governor. +p232 +asVMUIR +p233 +(lp234 +VGood evening, again, everyone. This is the first time since Iowa and the only time before the New Hampshire primary that the Republican candidates will have the opportunity to face each other. The people of Iowa have been heard. Now it's New Hampshire's turn. In just three days, voters here will decide who they think should be the Republican nominee for president. +p235 +aVSo let's welcome the candidates for the Republican nomination for president. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. +p236 +aVTexas Senator Ted Cruz. +p237 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. +p238 +aVAnd Ohio Governor John Kasich. +p239 +aVAnd Dr. Ben Carson, please come out on the stage. He's standing there, as well. Dr. Carson. +p240 +aVAnd lastly, we welcome back to the debate stage, Donald Trump. +p241 +aVIt was so noisy in here. Yes. Yes. We're going to introduce Ohio Governor John kasich. The applause so loud here in the hall. +p242 +aVSo let's get started. We welcome you all to the debate stage here tonight. We're going to tackle the issues Americans are most concerned about, the economy, +p243 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. I want to bring this to Senator Cruz, then. Because Senator, you did said of Trump's behavior this week, that's not the temperament of a leader to keep this country safe. Why not? +p244 +aVSenator Cruz, I did ask about Mr. Trump. You said he doesn't have the temperament to be commander-in-chief. Do you stand by those words? +p245 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. We're going to continue on this notion of readiness and experience. I'm going to come back. +p246 +aVIf you would like to respond, Mr. Trump. +p247 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. And we're going to continue on this notion of readiness and on experience, but I want to ask about a headline that was back in the papers again this morning. Dr. Carson, on the day of the Iowa caucuses, the Cruz campaign sent out messages and voicemails saying, quote, "Breaking news. Dr. Ben Carson will be planning to suspend his campaign following tonight's caucuses. Please inform any Carson caucus-goers of this news." But as we can all see, you are still standing here tonight. Late this week, your campaign sent this e-mail, quote, "This kind of deceitful behavior is why the American people don't trust politicians. If Senator Cruz does not act, then he clearly represents D.C. values." What kind of action do you think Senator Cruz should take? +p248 +aVSenator Cruz. Dr. Carson, thank you. Senator Cruz, you have said that Dr. Carson and his wife have become friends of yours. I'm curious as why you didn't call ahead of time to either the doctor or his wife or have your campaign check in with the other campaign before sending out those messages. +p249 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. We're going to move on here. Back to the issues... +p250 +aVDr. Carson, please. +p251 +aVDr. Carson, thank you. Thank you, doctor. Senator Rubio. I want to stay on the issue of readiness to be president and experience and questions about you being a first-term senator. Governor Christie warning voters here in New Hampshire against voting for another first-term senator as America did with Barack Obama in 2008. Arguing that you are, quote, " not ready to be president of the United States." And Senator Santorum, who we all know, dropped out of the race and endorsed you, had a hard time when asked on national television, listing your accomplishments as senator. Tonight, what are your accomplishments in the Senate that demonstrate you are ready to be president of the United States? +p252 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I do want to ask Governor Christie, Governor Christie, you said fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me when it comes to electing a first-term senator. You heard Senator Rubio make the case that he does have the experience. Your response? +p253 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Rubio? +p254 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I want to bring in governor bush on this, because you... +p255 +aV... have made this... +p256 +aVIf you'd like to respond to economic... +p257 +aVSenator Rubio? +p258 +aVGovernor Christie, we will \u2014 we will... +p259 +aVGovernor Christie \u2014 thank you, Governor. I will mention \u2014 listen... +p260 +aV... Listen, people... Governor Bush, I'll mention your name so that you can come in on this... +p261 +aVI want to bring you in on this because you've made this central to your campaign right here in New Hampshire in the last couple of days. Four Years ago you said of Senator Rubio, he was ready to be Vice President. You spoke of his experience as well. You said he has the fortitude to be a good President, but just this week you said Senator Rubio accomplished, quote, "nothing" in the Senate. How do you square the two? +p262 +aV... We're going to continue with leadership now. Martha? +p263 +aVMartha, we're going to turn to immigration now. And I want to bring in Governor Kasich because you told us in an ABC interview, Governor, quote, "It is completely ridiculous to think we are going to go into neighborhoods, grab people out of their homes and ship people back to Mexico." Adding, quote, "That's not where the party is. The party is not for departing 11.5 million people." But Mr. Trump and Senator Cruz, who have made deportation central to their campaigns, top the national polls. So, my question for you, are you not where the voters are? +p264 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. I want to bring this next to Senator Cruz. You heard what the governor said. He said, "We need practical solutions." And you've said, "I don't intend to send jack boots to knock on doors. That's not how we enforce the law for any crime." So, what is your plan? How will you deport 11.5 million undocumented people? And be specific. How would you do it? +p265 +aVLet me just ask you this, though, because Governor Kasich was talking about the families and what you do with the families that you would have to send home. Can you tell the American people tonight how you would do that? +p266 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. I want to bring in Senator Rubio. This question is about immigration, it is also about leadership. You're aware of the criticism from many candidates on this stage tonight that you co-authored the so-called Gang of Eight bill that would have created a path to citizenship for people here illegally. Governor Christie has said of you, as soon as you felt the heat, you turned tail and run. Governor Bush has said, "I don't think we need people cutting and running anymore." Did you fight for your own legislation, Senator, or did you run from it? +p267 +aVBut I'm asking, did you fight for the legislation at the time or did you run from it as you're... +p268 +aVGovernor Christie? +p269 +aVGovernor thank you. Senator Rubio? +p270 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. We want to turn to health care in this country, and for that, author and commentator, Mary Katherine Ham tonight. HAM: Thanks, David. Good evening, guys. +p271 +aVMary Katherine, thank you. We want to turn now to the issue of eminent domain, which is being debated right here in New Hampshire. And Josh McElveen is the political director and the anchor of +p272 +aVJosh, thank you. When we come back here tonight, jobs, +p273 +aVAnd, we welcome you back to the Republican debate from New Hampshire tonight here on ABC. We're going to turn now to what it means to be a conservative, and I want to turn to Governor Kasich. Governor, while campaigning here in New Hampshire, you were already asked about groans from some conservatives after your endorsements from the New York Times, and the Boston Globe. You said, quote, "What conservatives have to know is they have to say, look isn't it nice to have a conservative like me liked? And, maybe the ought to think about it because if I get elected president, the Republican party and the definition of conservatism is going to change." How would you change conservatism? +p274 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. Mr. Trump, you've heard the argument from many of the candidates on this stage that you're not a true conservative. Tell the voters watching tonight why you are. +p275 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. Senator Rubio, you have said yourself that you don't think Donald Trump is running as a conservative. Did he convince you? +p276 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I want to turn this discussion to the economy now. And Mr. Trump, Governor Christie has said, "I tell everybody who goes to a Donald Trump event, if you get to ask a question, just ask him how." Christie said, "I don't care which of the things he talks about, just ask him how." You have said that you'd be the greatest jobs president God ever created. Tell Americans watching tonight how many jobs you would create in the first term and how. +p277 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. There are a lot of governors on this stage tonight and Governor Christie, Governor Kasich said of you, quote, "In Ohio, we balanced a budget. They don't have one over in New Jersey. Our credit has been strengthened. Their credit has been downgraded. We've got more jobs." How important are those metrics in choosing the next president? And is his job \u2014 is his record on jobs, I should say, actually stronger than yours? +p278 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Kasich? +p279 +aVHe didn't say your record was better than his. +p280 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. +p281 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. I do want to turn from jobs to taxes. +p282 +aVIf you would like to respond to the governor, you can. +p283 +aVI'm coming to you next with a question, anyway. You can respond to that question. +p284 +aVWe're going from jobs to taxes, and here's the... +p285 +aVTo the Gang of Eight bill first? +p286 +aVThe governor wasn't talking about the president, he was talking about the Gang of Eight bill. +p287 +aVSo, let me ask you about taxes, Senator Rubio. +p288 +aVA recent poll, 68 percent of Americans favor raising taxes on people making more than $1 million a year. Are they wrong? +p289 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I want to bring in Governor Bush. And Governor, I just want to repeat that number for you \u2014 68 percent of Americans favor raising taxes on people making more than a million. What do you say to the people who believe that tonight? +p290 +aVKnew that was coming. Governor, thank you. +p291 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you. Martha? +p292 +aVMartha, thank you. We're just going to \u2014 we're going to stay on +p293 +aVIf elected president, would you bring it back? +p294 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. Mr. Trump, you said not only does it work, but that you'd bring it back. +p295 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. Governor Bush, you have said that you won't rule waterboarding out. Congress has passed laws banning the use of waterboarding by the military and the CIA, as you know. Would you want Congress to change that if you're elected president? +p296 +aVGovernor Bush, thank you. Senator Rubio, I do want to ask you, you have said that you do not want to telegraph to the enemy what you would do as commander in chief. But for the American people watching tonight who want to know where the next president will stand, do you believe waterboarding is torture? +p297 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. We want to turn now to the topic of executive orders, and for that, we're going to turn back to Mary Katharine Ham. Mary Katharine? HAM: Thanks, David. Senator Cruz, on the campaign trail you've promised voters a lot, in fact if you're elected president you'd say you end Common Core immediately, abolish the IRS, and do away with sanctuary cities. You've also been a persistent critic of President Obama's executive overreach, going it alone, not working with Congress. How do you intend to implement this aggressive agenda within your Constitutional authority, especially given that it would require working with Congress and Washington players with whom you're happy to say you have a strained relationship? +p298 +aVMary Katherine, thank you. We want to turn to something the governor of New Hampshire said... +p299 +aVA connection here on the stage. We're going to move on to what the governor of New Hampshire said just this week, and that is that heroin overdose is not the second-leading cause of death in this state. You don't need me to tell you that. But there's another number, 48 percent of the people here in this state knows someone who has abused heroin. Josh, who covers this for +p300 +aVMartha? +p301 +aVGovernor, well come to you in the next segment. When we come back, questions about race, about our veterans and social issues what younger conservative voters are now saying as we continue with New Hampshire with the Republican debate, right here on ABC. +p302 +aVWelcome back to New Hampshire, ABC News coverage of the Republican debate, and it's great to have you back at the podiums, and we want to turn to race in America. And Mr. Trump, there are many who argue cell phones and smartphones are just now exposing what's been happening in this country for years. Cases of excessive force against minorities. As you know, Mr. Trump, on the other side, the FBI director recently said there's a chill wind blowing through law enforcement because of increased scrutiny. You have said police are the most mistreated people in America. As president, how do you bridge the divide? +p303 +aVGreat. Mr. Trump, I did ask about bridging the divide though as president. So what would you say to the American families who say we have lived through this, we have seen excessive force? What would you say to those people? +p304 +aVI do want to ask \u2014 Governor Kasich? +p305 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Rubio, I want to ask you next, President Obama visited a mosque this week in America for the first time in his presidency. President George W. Bush visited a mosque after September 11th. You said of President Obama, quote, "he's always pitting people against each other." So I'm curious, how are the two visits different, and would you visit a mosque as president? +p306 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. Martha? +p307 +aVJosh, thank you. I want to turn to a family that New Hampshire voters know quite well, and Senator Cruz, the issue of hostages has been a very real and painful one here in this state. As we all know, James Foley was killed. His mother, Diane, said our government should be willing to negotiate, arguing that families should also be allowed to raise money for ransom. What would you say to Diane Foley tonight? Should families be allowed to raise money for ransom for their loved ones? +p308 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. Mr. Trump, what would you say to Diane Foley? Should families be allowed to raise money for ransom? +p309 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. We want to turn now to social issues and young voters and for the question, from Mary Katherine. HAM: Thank you David. Senator Rubio. One of the lazier pieces of political conventional wisdom is that so-called social issues are hurting Republicans with young people. But on the two most prominent social issues, polling with millennials actually moves in different directions. On one hand, it is clear, young people across the political spectrum increasingly favor same sex marriage. However young voters have not moved to the left on abortion. In fact, large numbers of them favor at least some modest restrictions that conservatives have supported. How do you speak to millennials on both these issues, while Democrats will inevitable charge intolerance and extremism? +p310 +aVMary Katherine, thank you. We're going to have closing statements here in just a moment, but before we go, quick lightning round. Come November, two battle-ground states, but they face off tomorrow in the Super Bowl. Governor Kasich, who wins? +p311 +aVGovernor Bush? +p312 +aVSenator Rubio? +p313 +aV Mr. Trump? +p314 +aVAll right, Dr. Carson? +p315 +aVYeah. Governor Christie, the last word? +p316 +aVDenver. Thank you so much, gentlemen. Closing statements in just a moment, right here, as the ABC News Republican debate continues from New Hampshire, right after this. +p317 +aVWe welcome you back. The New Hampshire primary, of course, is Tuesday, but time now for closing statements. And we begin tonight with Governor Kasich. +p318 +aVGovernor Bush. +p319 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Senator Rubio. +p320 +aVThank you. Mr. Trump. +p321 +asVSMITH +p322 +(lp323 +VGovernor Huckabee, same question to you. Where do you see the country right now? +p324 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Thank you, candidates. Moving to the world stage. The middle east is on the brink of chaos. Iran continues to provoke the United States, North Korea claims it's tested a hydrogen bomb, and Afghanistan is in danger of falling back into Taliban hands. Critics of the administration say it's all due to lack of U.S. leadership. To you, Mrs. Fiorina, how do you see America's role in the world today? +p325 +aVGovernor Huckabee, in Afghanistan, the Taliban is strengthening. Attacks are on the rise and thousands more civilians have been wounded or killed. Much of the Taliban surge can be attributed to the withdrawal of U.S. forces there. You have expressed skepticism with the war there, saying you see no end game in sight. What, then, is your solution to the growing conflict there? +p326 +aVAll right, thank you, candidates. We're just getting started. Jobs, Homeland Security, gun rights, all those issues are coming up straight ahead. We're live from North Charleston and the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back. +p327 +aVAll right, let's get started. Senator Santorum, to you first. President Obama has urged technology leaders to make it hard for terrorists to use technology to escape from justice. Hillary Clinton says social media companies can help by swiftly shutting down terrorist accounts. The companies say that they're already working with law enforcement and any proposed legislation would do more harm than good. Should companies like Facebook and Twitter be required by law to more actively \u2014 be more actively engaged in fighting terror? +p328 +aVSenator, would you \u2014 would you require anything of those companies like Facebook and Twitter if you were president? +p329 +aVThank you, Senator. +p330 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee, you called President Obama's executive orders on gun control unconstitutional and completely insane. +p331 +aVYou even told gun store owners to ignore the President's orders. Yet, innocent people are dying from gun violence in cities like Detroit, Chicago, and Charleston everyday. Is there anything that can be done at the federal level to prevent guns from falling into the hands of criminals? +p332 +aV +p333 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p334 +aVSenator Santorum, many of our military leaders believe America's critical infrastructure is vulnerable to a terrorist attack. This is the power in our homes, the water we drink, the Internet and phone systems by which we stay connected. If attacked, these essential services that underpin American society could come to a grinding halt. Do you have a specific plan to protect us from this type of attack? +p335 +aVSenator Santorum, I want to stay with you on this, moving to jobs and the economy. In his State of the Union Address the other night, President Obama touted his record on jobs, citing more than 14 million new jobs and boasted of nearly 900,000 manufacturing jobs added in the past six years. Do you dispute his track record of creating jobs? +p336 +aVGovernor Huckabee, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mike Mullen, has said the greatest threat to our security is our national debt. Our national debt is now on pace to top $19 trillion. Yet, you as well as Ms. Fiorina have laid forward no plan to reform entitlements. How can you say you're going to pay down our country's debt without cutting Social Security or Medicare? +p337 +aVOK. We're going to continue this conversation. We're taking a quick break and then coming up, the candidates' plans for strengthening the middle class. We're live in North Charleston with the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back. +p338 +aVAll right, thanks, Trish. Well, let's get started with Ms. Fiorina. Today, the middle class represents about 50 percent of the U.S. population, down from about 61 percent back in 1971. That's according to Pew Research. The same research revealed a widening income gap in America. The rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. What will you do to strengthen a middle class that is no longer the majority? +p339 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p340 +aVThank you, Senator. We're not finished yet. More Republican Presidential Debate in North Charleston after this. +p341 +aVWelcome back, it's time for the closing statements. Candidates will each get one minute, starting with Senator Santorum. Thank you very much, I want to thank the people of Charleston, which has become a little bit of a second home to me, because I am very privileged to have two young men who go to the Citadel here and they're here tonight, my son John and my son Daniel. +p342 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Governor Mike Huckabee. +p343 +aVThank you, Governor. +p344 +asVRUBIO +p345 +(lp346 +VWell, let me first talk about Justice Scalia. His loss is tremendous, and obviously our hearts and prayers go out to his family. He will go down as one of the great justices in the history of this republic. You talk about someone who defended consistently the original meaning of the Constitution, who understood that the Constitution was not there to be interpreted based on the fads of the moment, but it was there to be interpreted according to its original meaning. Justice Scalia understood that better than anyone in the history of this republic. His dissent, for example, on the independent counsel case is a brilliant piece of jurist work. And, of course, his dissent on Obergefell as well. No. 2, I do not believe the president should appoint someone. And it's not unprecedented. In fact, it has been over 80 years since a lame duck president has appointed a Supreme Court justice. And it remind us of this, how important this election is. Someone on this stage will get to choose the balance of the Supreme Court, and it will begin by filling this vacancy that's there now. And we need to put people on the bench that understand that the Constitution is not a living and breathing document. It is to be interpreted as originally meant. +p347 +aVThat's not accurate. +p348 +aVNo, I've never \u2014 there has been, for example, today, according to the changes Harry Reid made, appellate judges can now be appointed by a simple majority, but not Supreme Court justices. And I think today you see the wisdom of why we don't want that to change. Because if that were the case and we were not in charge of the Senate, Harry Reid and Barack Obama would ram down our throat a liberal justice, like the ones Barack Obama has imposed on us already. +p349 +aVNo. I think there are three major threats that you want to immediately get on top of. No. 1 is, what are we doing in the Asia-Pacific region, where both North Korea and China pose threats to the national security of the United States. No. 2 is, what are we doing in the Middle East with the combination of the Sunni-Shia conflict driven by the Shia arc that Iran is now trying to establish in the Middle East, also the growing threat of +p350 +aVWell, let me tell you what has happened a couple of years ago. One of the hardest decisions you'll ever make in Congress is when you are asked by the president to authorize the use of force in a conflict, because you are now putting your name, on behalf of the people of your state, behind a military action, where Americans in uniform could lose their life. So, in 2014, Barack Obama said he would not take military action against Assad unless it was authorized by the Senate, beginning on the Committee of Foreign Relations, where I am one of its members. And it was hard because you looked at the pictures. I saw the same images people saw. I'm the father of children. I saw the images of these little children \u2014 been gassed and poisoned by their own leaders, and we were angry. Something had to happen, and there was the sense that we needed to seek retribution. And then I looked at Barack Obama's plan. Barack Obama's plan, which John Kerry later described as unbelievably small, and I concluded that that attack would not only not help the situation, it would make it actually worse. It would allow Assad to stand up to the United States of America, survive a strike, stay in power and actually strengthen his grip. So it was a difficult decision to make, and when we only had a few days to look at and make a decision on it, and I voted against Barack Obama's plan to use force, and it was the right decision. +p351 +aVI just want to say, at least on behalf of me and my family, I thank God all the time it was George W. Bush in the White House on 9/11 and not Al Gore. And you can \u2014 I think you can look back in hindsight and say a couple of things, but he kept us safe. And not only did he keep us safe, but no matter what you want to say about weapons of mass destruction, Saddam Hussein was in violation of U.N. resolutions, in open violation, and the world wouldn't do anything about it, and George W. Bush enforced what the international community refused to do. And again, he kept us safe, and I am forever grateful to what he did for this country. +p352 +aVThe World Trade Center came down because Bill Clinton didn't kill Osama bin Laden when he had the chance to kill him. +p353 +aVWell, because I'm influencing social policy \u2014 this is their money. This is the money of parents. You don't earn the tax credit unless you're working. That's your money, it doesn't belong to government. Here's what I don't understand. If a business takes their money and they invest in the piece of the equipment, they get to write off their taxes. But if a parent takes money that they have earned to work and invests in their children, they don't? This makes no sense. Parenting is the most important job any of us will ever have. Family formation is the most important thing in society. So what my tax plan does, is it does create, especially for working families, an additional Child Tax Credit. So that parents who are working get to keep more of their own money, not the government's money, to invest in their children to go to school, to go to a private school, to buy a new backpack. Let me tell you, if you're a parent that's struggling, then you know that $50 a month is the difference between a new pair of shoes this month or not getting a new pair of shoes for your kids. I'm going to have a tax plan that is pro-family, because the family is the most important institution in society. You cannot have a strong country without strong families. +p354 +aVWell, first of all, I think amnesty is the forgiveness of a wrongdoing without consequence and that \u2014 I've never supported that. I do not support that. I think there has to be consequences for violating our immigration laws. What I think is clear about this issue to begin with is we're not going to be able to make progress on illegal immigration until first, illegal immigration is brought under control. You go back to 1986, when they legalized three million people and they promised to secure the border. It didn't happen, and as a result, people have lost trust in the federal government. It is now clear that the only way to make progress on immigration is not just to pass a law that enforces the law, but actually prove to people that it's working. They want to see the wall built. They want to see the additional border agents. They want to see E-Verify. They want to see an entry-exit tracking system. Forty percent of the people in this country illegally are entering legally and overstaying visas. And only after all of that is in place, then we'll see what the American people are willing to support on this issue. I think the American people will be very reasonable, but responsible, about how you handle someone who has been here a long time, who can pass a background check, who pays a fine and starts paying taxes and all they want is a work permit. But you can't do any of that until you prove to people that illegal immigration is under control once and for all. +p355 +aVWe're going to have to do this again, O.K.? When that issue was being debated, Ted Cruz, at a committee hearing, very passionately said, I want immigration reform to pass, I want people to be able to come out of the shadows. And he proposed an amendment that would legalized people here. Not only that, he proposed doubling the number of green cards. He proposed a 500 percent increase on guest workers. Now his position is different. Now he is a passionate opponent of all those things. So he either wasn't telling the truth then or he isn't telling the truth now, but to argue he is a purist on immigration is just not true. +p356 +aVWell, first of all, I don't know how he knows what I said on Univision, because he doesn't speak Spanish. And second of all, the other point that I would make... +p357 +aVLook, this is a disturbing pattern now, because for a number of weeks now, Ted Cruz has just been telling lies. He lied about Ben Carson in Iowa. He lies about Planned Parenthood. He lies about marriage. He's lying about all sorts of things. And now he makes things up. The bottom line is this is a campaign and people are watching it. And they see the truth behind all these issues. And here is the truth, Ted Cruz supported legalizing people that were in this country... +p358 +aV... and only now does he say... +p359 +aVWell, we'll put on our website, marcorubio.com. We're going to... +p360 +aVOn anything I want? +p361 +aVWell, let me talk about poverty. +p362 +aVI do. +p363 +aVI had something important. +p364 +aVThe issue of poverty is critical, because for me, poverty is the \u2014 is \u2014 is free enterprise not reaching people. Today, we have antipoverty programs that don't cure poverty. We don't cure poverty in America. Our antipoverty programs have become, in some instances, a way of life, a lifestyle. Now, we do need antipoverty programs, you can't have free enterprise programs without them, but not as a way of life. And so I have a very specific proposal on this and I don't \u2014 in 60 seconds, I can't describe it all, but it basically turns the program over to states. It allows states to design innovative programs that cure poverty, because I think Nikki Haley will do a better job curing poverty than Barack Obama. +p365 +aVWell, no. It's not the case. It didn't pass, and we haven't solved immigration in this country. It's still a problem. It is worse today than it was three years ago, which is worse than it was five years ago. And it has to be confronted and solved. But the only way forward on this issue \u2014 you asked a question about flexibility. Let me tell you about that. One of the things that you need in leadership is the ability to understand that to get things done, you must figure out the way to get it done. You will not pass comprehensive immigration reform. People do not trust the federal government. They want to see the law being enforced. They want to see illegal immigration come under control. They want to see that wall. They want to see E-Verify. They want to see all of these things working, and then they will have a conversation with you about what do you do with people that have been here a long time that are otherwise, you know, not criminals. But they're not going to do it until you first enforce the law. +p366 +aVThirty seconds. +p367 +aVI speak fast. +p368 +aVWell, I think one of the presidents \u2014 well, the president I grew up under was Ronald Reagan. And Reagan had a vision for America's future. And if you think about what Ronald Reagan inherited, it's not unlike what the next president is going to inherit. This is the worst president we've had in 35 years, 35 years back would have made it Jimmy Carter. That's what Ronald Reagan inherited. And I think the question you would ask is, how did you inspire again the American people to believe in the future? How did you \u2014 what did it take to ensure that the American people, despite all of the difficulties of the time \u2014 you know, you look back at that time, the American military was in decline. Our standing in the world was in decline. We had hostages being held in Iran. Our economy was in bad shape. The American people were scared about the future. They were scared about what kind of country their children were going to live in and inherit. And yet somehow Ronald Reagan was able to instill in our nation and in our people a sense of optimism. And he turned America around because of that vision and ultimately because of that leadership. I wish Ronald Reagan was still around. This country needs someone just like that. And if our next president is even half the president Ronald Reagan was, America is going to be greater than it has ever been. +p369 +aVThank you, and thank you for watching tonight. This is a difficult time in our country. Our economy's flat, it's not creating the jobs it once did, and people struggle living paycheck to paycheck. Our culture's in trouble. Wrong is considered right and right is considered wrong. All the things that once held our families together are now under constant assault. And around the world, America's reputation is in decline. Our allies don't trust us, our adversaries don't fear us, Iran captures our sailors and parades them before the world on video. These are difficult times, but 2016 can be a turning point. That's why I'm running for president, and that's why I'm here today to ask you for your vote. If you elect me president, we are going to re-embrace free enterprise so that everyone can go as far as their talent and their work will take them. We are going to be a country that says that "life begins at conception and life is worthy of the protection of our laws." We're going to be a country that says "that marriage is between one man and one woman." We are going to be a country that says, "The constitution and the rights that it talks about do not come from our president, they come from our creator." We are going to be loyal to our allies like Israel, not enemies like Iran. And we will rebuild the U.S. military so no one will there test it. Vote for me. I will unify this party. I will grow it. We will win this election, and we will make the 21st century a new American century. +p370 +aVWell, let me say, from protecting the people of Florida from imminent domain abuse, to bringing accountability to the V.A., to the Girls Count Act, to sanctioning groups, I'm proud of my service in the United States Senate and before that, in the Florida legislature. I will say, if politics becomes and the presidency becomes about electing people who have been Congress or in the Senate the longest, we should all rally around Joe Biden. He's been around 1,000 years. He's passed hundreds of bills and I don't think any of us believe Joe Biden should be president of the United States. And let's dispel once and for all with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing. Barack Obama is undertaking a systematic effort to change this country, to make America more like the rest of the world. That's why he passed Obamacare and the stimulus and Dodd-Frank and the deal with Iran. It is a systematic effort to change America. When I'm president of the United States, we are going to re-embrace all the things that made America the greatest nation in the world and we are going to leave our children with what they deserve: the single greatest nation in the history of the world. +p371 +aVIf I may respond to that. +p372 +aVWell, I think the experience is not just what you did, but how it worked out. Under Chris Christie's governorship of New Jersey, they've been downgraded nine times in their credit rating. This country already has a debt problem, we don't need to add to it by electing someone who has experience at running up and destroying the credit rating of his state. But I would add this. Let's dispel with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing. He is trying to change this country. He wants America to become more like the rest of the world. We don't want to be like the rest of the world, we want to be the United States of America. And when I'm elected president, this will become once again, the single greatest nation in the history of the world, not the disaster Barack Obama has imposed upon us. +p373 +aVChris \u2014 Chris, your state got hit by a massive snowstorm two weeks ago. You didn't even want to go back. They had to shame you into going back. And then you stayed there for 36 hours and then he left and came back to campaign. Those are the facts. Here's the bottom line. This notion that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing is just not true. He knows exactly what he's doing. +p374 +aVWell, that's the \u2014 that's the reason why this campaign is so important. Because I think this notion \u2014 I think this is an important point. We have to understand what we're going through here. We are not facing a president that doesn't know what he's doing. He knows what he is doing. That's why he's done the things he's done. That's why we have a president that passed Obamacare and the stimulus. All this damage that he's done to America is deliberate. This is a president that's trying to redefine this country. That's why this election is truly a referendum on our identity as a nation, as a people. Our future is at stake. This election is not about the past. It is about what kind of country this is going to be in the 21st century, and if we elect someone like Barack Obama, a Hillary Clinton, a Bernie Sanders or anyone like that, our children are going to be the first Americans to inherit a diminishes country. That will not happen if I'm elected. +p375 +aVChris, you didn't want to go back. You didn't want to go back. +p376 +aVYou didn't want to go back, Chris. +p377 +aVChris, everybody \u2014 you said you weren't going to go back. He told everyone he wasn't going to go back. They had to shame him into going back. And when he decided to go back, he criticized the young lady, saying, what am I supposed to do, go back with a mop and clean up the flooding? +p378 +aV... It's your record, it's not a talking point... +p379 +aVBut Martha, just \u2014 Martha, just to clarify on that point, because he's right, and one more thing to point \u2014 it is standard procedure of the United States to shoot down those missiles once launched if they pose a threat to civilians, land and ships. +p380 +aVWell \u2014 no, I understand. And not \u2014 but \u2014 but I think it's important to note that it is \u2014 and Senator Cruz, I think, was alluding to this, as well \u2014 it is the standard procedure of the United States, if those missiles pose a threat to land, civilians, our allies or any of our assets, to shoot down that missile in mid-flight. I understand your question was about a preemptive strike, but my point is that there is in place now contingencies to avoid any sort of that strike from going errant and destroying any \u2014 any assets of the United States, or implicating or hurting any of our allies or any of our assets in the region. +p381 +aVYeah. I have a \u2014 I got mentioned, can I respond? +p382 +aVHere's the broader point, as well, and then I think it touches on what Donald just mentioned. Barack Obama views America as this arrogant global power that needed to be cut down to size. OK? This is a president that views this country as a country that's been too powerful in the world and we create problems around the world. For example, it's one of the reasons why he had betrayed Israel, because he believes that if we create separation from Israel, it will help our relations in the Islamic world. The same is happening in the Asia-Pacific region with accommodations to North Korea. North Korean should be back on that list of terrorist nations, as an example. And Donald's absolutely right. China does have a lot of influence over North Korea and he should be leveraging our relationship with the Chinese to ensure that North Korea no longer has access to the resources that have allowed them \u2014 a country that has no economy to develop long range missiles already capable of reaching the west coast of the United States potentially. +p383 +aVHere's the bottom line. We can't get that legislation passed. The American people will not support doing anything about people that are in this country illegally until the law is enforced first, and you prove it to them. This has been abundantly clear. Every effort over the last ten years to do those comprehensively has failed. And it has failed because the American people have zero trust that the federal government will enforce our laws. And that's why since then, I have said repeatedly, if you are serious about immigration reform, then the key that unlocks the door to being able to do that is not just to pass a law that says it is going to enforce the law, but to actually do it. To hire the 20,000 new border agents, to finish the fencing and walls, to put in place mandatory e-verify, to put in place an entry-exit tracking system to prevent visa overstays. And once that is in place and that's working, I believe the American people will support a very reasonable, but responsible approach to people that have been here a long time, who are not dangerous criminals, who pay taxes and pay fines for what they did. But until then, none of that is going to be possible. +p384 +aVWell, the legislation passed, but it has no support. In essence, it couldn't pass in the House, it will never pass in the United States until we secure the border, and it is not the way we're going to do when I'm president. When I'm president, we are going to enforce the law first, prove to people that illegal immigration is under control. And then we'll see what the American people are willing to support when it comes to people that are not criminals, who have been in the this country for a long time and who otherwise would like to stay. +p385 +aVLeadership is ultimately about solving the problem. And the approach that was tried and has been tried now repeatedly over ten years to do this comprehensively, all at once in a massive piece of legislation has no chance of passage. It is not leadership to continue to try something that has no chance of happening. I want to make progress on this issue. It has been discussed now for 30 years and nothing ever happens. And I am telling you that the only way forward on this issue that has any chance of happening, meaning gaining the support of the American people, you cannot do this without the support of the American people, is an approach that begins by proving that once and for all, illegal immigration is under control. +p386 +aVGood evening. +p387 +aVWell, I think conservatism is about three things and Donald touched on one of them, but it's about three things. The first is conservatism is about limited government, especially at the federal level. The federal government is a limited government, limited by the Constitution, which delineates its powers. If it's not in the Constitution, it does not belong to the federal government. It belongs to states, local communities and the private sector. It's about free enterprise, which is an economic model that allows everyone to rise without pulling anyone down. The reason why free enterprise is the greatest economic model in the history of the world is because it's the only economic model where you can make poor people richer without making rich people poor. And it's about a strong national defense. It's about believing, unlike Barack Obama, that the world is a safer and a better place when America is the strongest military and the strongest nation on this planet. That's conservatism. +p388 +aVNow, see, I was mentioned by Governor... +p389 +aVYeah. +p390 +aVOK, good, then I'll get to it . Here's the... +p391 +aVWell, no, sorry. Let me respond to that question. +p392 +aVWell, here's the response. I think anyone who believes that Barack Obama isn't doing what he's doing on purpose doesn't understand what we're dealing with here, OK? This is a president \u2014 this is a president who is trying to change this country. When he talked about change, he wasn't talking about dealing with our problems. Obamacare was not an accident. The undermining of the Second Amendment is not an accident. The gutting of our military is not an accident. The undermining of America on the global stage is not an accident. Barack Obama is, indeed, trying to redefine this country. We better understand what we're dealing with here, because that's what Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders want to double down on if they are elected. +p393 +aVNo. He talked about Barack Obama. +p394 +aVYeah. +p395 +aVI don't know of any problem in America that's going to be fixed with a tax increase. We have an economy today, an economy today that is not creating jobs that pay enough. And one of the reasons why is because we have one of the most expensive business tax rates on the planet. Our combined business rate puts us among the highest in the industrialized world. And then on top of that, we are the only one that has a worldwide system of taxation, where an American company who makes money abroad has to pay taxes where they made the money and then taxes a second time when they bring it back. The combination of these two things has stranded over $2 trillion, the equivalent of the size of the Russian economy, $2 trillion of American corporate money stranded overseas, combined with all of these inversions of companies leaving us. The solution to the problems we have today are not a tax increase. It is to lower our taxes on both people and on companies, so we can make America globally competitive again. +p396 +aVWell, first, we need to understand who they are. +p397 +aVBecause they currently occupy Sunni cities and villages. Sunni cities and villages can only truly be liberated and held by Sunnis themselves. If they are held by Shias it will trigger sectarian violence. The Kurds are incredible fighters and they will liberate the Kurdish areas, but Kurds can not and do not want to liberate and hold Sunni villages and towns. It will take Sunni fighters themselves in that region to take those villages and cities, and then to hold them and avoid the sort of sectarian violence that follows in the past. And why that is important is because if Sunnis are not able to govern themselves in these areas, you are going to have a successor group to +p398 +aVWell, the problem with the Sunni forces in the region is they don't trust this administration. This administration cut a deal with their mortal enemies, the Shia, in Iran. It poisoned the well with these countries. It makes it very difficult to cooperate with them as a result. They also, by the way, understand what real U.S. air power looks like. They saw the Iraq war. They saw, up close, also Afghanistan. They know what air power looks like when the United States is committed to the cause. And they see the airstrikes that are being conducted now, and they say to themselves, that's not real commitment. We know what real commitment looks like. The \u2014 the Jordanian king was in Washington three weeks ago. He told everyone who would listen that they have begged for permission from the coalition to target caravans. And the coalition \u2014 meaning U.S. leadership on the ground......would not allow them to proceed with those airstrikes. +p399 +aVWell, when people talk about interrogating terrorists, they're acting like this is some sort of law enforcement function. Law enforcement is about gathering evidence to take someone to trial, and convict them. Anti-terrorism is about finding out information to prevent a future attack so the same tactics do not apply. And, it is true, we should not be discussing in a wide spread way the exact tactics that we're going to use because that allows terrorist to know to practice how to evade us. But, here's the bigger problem with all this, we're not interrogating anybody right now. Guantanamo's being emptied by this president. We should be putting people into Guantanamo, not emptying it out, and we shouldn't be releasing these killers who are rejoining the battlefield against the United States. +p400 +aVI think it's already happening. Look at the turnout in Iowa. A historic number of people came out and voted in those caucuses. There are saying the same thing is going to happen here in New Hampshire. Look at the rallies that every single person on this stage is having. Much higher numbers than you used to see in the past and here is why. Because people are starting to understand, very clearly, that this election is going to be a turning point. That 2016 is not just a choice between Republican or Democrat. It is a referendum on our identity as a nation and as a people. So here is what Hillary Clinton needs to understand. We're going to have our primary, we're going to have our debates \u2014 which by the way, are twice as many as the Democrats have been willing to have themselves. But we're going to bring this party together and we are going to defeat Hillary Clinton, because she is unqualified to be the president of the United States of America. She put classified information on her computer because she thinks she's above the law and anyone who lies to the families of people who have lost their loved ones in the service of our country like she did in Benghazi, can never be the commander-in-chief of the United States of America. +p401 +aVI would. But that's not \u2014 the issue \u2014 my problem with what he did is he continues to put out this fiction that there's widespread systematic discrimination against Muslim Americans. First of all, let's recognize this. If you go to a national cemetery in this country, you will see stars of Davids and crosses, but you see crescent moons. There are brave men and women who happen to be Muslim Americans who are serving this country in uniform and who have died in the service of this country. And we recognize that and we honor that. But by the same token, we face a very significant threat of home grown violent extremism. We need to have strong, positive relationships in the Islamic communities in this country so they will identify and report this activity, especially mosques, for example, that are participating not just in hate speech, but inciting violence and taking acts against us. And I do believe it is important also to recognize, you want to talk about religious discrimination in America. Well, I don't think Barack Obama is being sued by any Islamic groups, but he is being sued by the Little Sisters of the Poor. We are facing in this country Christian groups and groups that hold traditional values who feel and in fact are being discriminated against by the laws of this country that try to force them to vie to violate their conscience. +p402 +aVFirst, let me say there are already women today serving in roles that are like combat. That, in fact, whose lives are in very serious danger, and so I have no problem whatsoever with people of either gender serving in combat so long as the minimum requirements necessary to do the job are not compromised. But, I support that, and obviously now that that is the case I do believe that Selective Service should be opened up for both men and women in case a Draft is ever instituted. I think the more fundamental challenge we're now facing is what's happening to the U.S. military \u2014 I've said this many times, and I think it's important to start paying attention to this. Our Air Force is about to be the smallest it's been in 100 years. I'm sorry, in our history. Our Army is set to be smaller than it's been since the second World War, and our Navy is about to be the smallest than it's been in 100 years. I think we need to begin to refocus on rebuilding our military because every time we have cut our military in the history of this country we have had to come back later and rebuild it, and it costs more, and it's a lot more chaotic and dangerous. When I'm president, we are rebuilding the U.S. military. +p403 +aVWell, my brother's a veteran. We're very proud of him in our family. He served as a green beret in the 7th Special Forces from 1968 through 1971. And as part of his training, he jumped out of an airplane and he lost his two front teeth. And for years, he's had to go to get these dental claims. And every times he goes to get one of these dental claims filled, the V.A. asks him, "well, how do we know you lost your teeth in the Army?" And he says, "well, it's the only time I ever jumped out of a plane." But he's had to fight through this process, and I've watched it firsthand. That's why I'm proud that I worked in a bipartisan way. We passed the V.A. Accountability bill that, for the first time, allows us to fire \u2014 allows the V.A. secretary to fire someone who's not doing a good job, who's a senior executive. And the governor's right. They've only fired three people up to now. More people will be fired if I'm president. But the portability part of it is incredibly important. Veterans should be able to take their V.A. benefits to any hospital or any doctor they want to go to. When I am president of the United States, veterans will be able to take their benefits to any hospital or doctor that they choose. +p404 +aVWell, first of all, I don't believe that believing in traditional marriage the way I do makes you a bigot or a hater. It means that you believe that this institution that's been around for millenial is an important cornerstone of society. I respect people that believe differently. But I believe deeply, that marriage should be between one man and one woman. On the issue of life, to me, the issue of life is not a political issue. It's a human rights issue and it's a difficult issue, because it puts in conflict two competing rights. On the one hand is the right of a woman to choose what to do with her body which is a real right. And on the other hand is the right of an unborn human child to live. And they're in conflict. And as a policy maker, I must choose which one of these two sides takes precedence. And I have chosen to err on the side of life. Here's what I find outrageous. There has been five Democratic debates. The media has not asked them a single question on abortion and on abortion, the Democrats are extremists. Why doesn't the media ask Hillary Clinton why she believes that all abortion should be legal, even on the due date of that unborn child. Why don't they ask Hillary Clinton why she believe that partial- birth abortion, which is a gruesome procedure that has been outlawed in this country, she thinks that's a fundamental right. They are the extremists......when it comes to the issue of abortion and I can't wait to expose them in a general election. HAM: Governor Bush? I want to come to you. Your allies have recently attacked Senator Rubio for being too pro-life to be elected in November. You made a similar charge stating it in an interview. This is a pro-life party. Do you stand behind that criticism? +p405 +aVI do support protection for the life of the mother because I'm pro-life. I just believe deeply that all human life is worthy of protection of our laws. If I'm president and there's a bill that's passed that saves lives but it has exceptions, I'll sign it. But I do believe deeply that all human life is worthy of the protection of laws. I've already said, for me, the issue of life is not a political issue and I want to be frank. I would rather lose an election than be wrong on the issue of life. HAM: Governor Christie. You too, have talked about Senator Rubio's position on the life issue. Some conservative activists have called this line of attack harmful to the pro-life cause. +p406 +aVWell, I was going for Peyton Manning, but now I'm rooting for Carolina. +p407 +aVThank you. You know, this week I had the great pleasure of having my kids join me on the campaign trail. I hadn't' seen them in a while, and it was great to have them alongside me, but the most important part of it is that it once again reminded me of what's at stake. Here in New Hampshire in less than 72 hours, we are literally deciding what kind of country we will be like when they are my age. What kind of country they will be able to raise their families in. And, that's why I'm asking you for your vote. You vote for me, and we will unite this party, we will grow the conservative movement, we will defeat Hillary Clinton, and we will leave our children what our parents left us. The single greatest nation in the history of all mankind. Thank you. +p408 +asVCHRISTIE +p409 +(lp410 +VWhat about Kasich? Can I introduce Kasich? +p411 +aVSure. First, let's remember something. Every morning when a United States senator wakes up, they think about what kind of speech can I give or what kind of bill can I drop? Every morning, when I wake up, I think about what kind of problem do I need to solve for the people who actually elected me? It's a different experience, it's a much different experience. And the fact is, Marco, you shouldn't compare yourself to Joe Biden and you shouldn't say that that's what we're doing. Here is exactly what we're doing. You have not be involved in a consequential decision where you had to be held accountable. You just simply haven't. And the fact is \u2014 the fact when you talk about the Hezbollah Sanctions Act that you list as one of your accomplishments you just did, you weren't even there to vote for it. That's not leadership, that's truancy. And the fact is that what we need to do \u2014 what we need to have in this country is not to make the same mistake we made eight years ago. The fact is it does matter when you have to make decisions and be held accountable for them. It does matter when the challenges don't come on a list of a piece of paper of what to vote yes or no every day, but when the problems come in from the people that you serve. I like Marco Rubio, and he's a smart person and a good guy, but he simply does not have the experience to be president of the United States and make these decisions. We've watched it happen, everybody. For the last seven years, the people of New Hampshire are smart. Do not make the same mistake again. +p412 +aVHold on one second. +p413 +aVExcuse me... +p414 +aVI think he mentioned me and my record in there, so I think I get a chance to respond. You see, everybody, I want the people at home to think about this. That's what Washington, D.C. Does. The drive-by shot at the beginning with incorrect and incomplete information and then the memorized 25-second speech that is exactly what his advisers gave him. See Marco \u2014 Marco, the thing is this. When you're president of the United States, when you're a governor of a state, the memorized 30-second speech where you talk about how great America is at the end of it doesn't solve one problem for one person. They expect you to plow the snow. They expect you to get the schools open. And when the worst natural disaster in your state's history hits you, they expect you to rebuild their state, which is what I've done. None of that stuff happens on the floor of the United States Senate. It's a fine job, I'm glad you ran for it, but it does not prepare you for president of the United States. +p415 +aVThere it is. There it is. The memorized 25-second speech. There it is, everybody. +p416 +aVYou know what the shame is \u2014 you know what the shame is, Marco? The shame is that you would actually criticize somebody for showing up to work, plowing the streets, getting the trains running back on time when you've never been responsible for that in your entire life. +p417 +aVAnd the fact is, I went back, it got done and here's... +p418 +aVOh, so \u2014 wait a second. Is that one of the skills you get as a United States senator ESP also? Because I don't think it is. +p419 +aVIt gets very unruly when he gets off his talking points. +p420 +aVLet's get something... +p421 +aVNo. Let's make something very clear. I learned seven years as a federal prosecutor in dealing with types of situations like we're talking about in North Korea, where criminals take people hostage. You never pay ransom to the criminals. Ever. You never pay ransom to the criminals. Everyone out at home watching tonight understands that principle. And so, what you need to do is to engage in a much different way with these folks. They do not understand anything but toughness and strength, and we need to engage the Chinese to deal with the North Koreans, but we also need to make sure that they understand there's a commander-in-chief who will not pay ransom for any hostage. This president and his former secretary of State are for paying ransom for hostages. When do that, you endanger even more Americans around the world to be the subject of this type of hostage taking and illegal detention. You need a strong commander-in-chief who will look these folks in the eye and say, we will not put up with this and we will take whatever actions we need to take, not only to get our people home safely, but to swiftly and surely punish those who believe they can violate the law and violate American's sovereign rights to travel the world freely and safely. This is unacceptable. And this is why this president is so weak and why the secretary of State, who is embracing a third Barack Obama term, would be even weaker. +p422 +aVYeah, David, I would just like you to listen, again, everybody. This is the difference between being a governor who actually has to be responsible for problems and not answering a question. The question was, "Did he fight for his legislation?" It's abundantly clear that he didn't. It's abundantly clear that he didn't fight for the legislation. When the teachers unions attacked me with $20 million of ads because I wanted to reform teacher tenure, I fought them and fought them and fought them and I won. When they didn't want \u2014 when people wanted to raise taxes in my state at Democratic legislature and threatened to close down the government, I told them, fine. Close down the government. I'll get in my cars, head to the governor's mansion, order a pizza, open a beer and watch the Mets. You can call me when the government reopens. And guess what they didn't do? They didn't pass a tax increase, because I vetoed it and they never closed the government because they knew I would fight for what I believed in. The fact of the matter is, a leader must fight for what they believe in. Not handicap it and say, well maybe since I can't win this one, I'll run. That's not what leadership is. That's what Congress is. +p423 +aVGood evening. +p424 +aVWell, he deserves credit for his record on jobs. He's done a very good job as governor of Ohio. Never said that John hasn't. He's done a very good job. But \u2014 but unfortunately, John's been so busy doing over stuff, he's using old statistics. That's OK. New Jersey had its best year of job growth in the last 15 years under five different governors this year in New Jersey. New Jersey cut spending over $2.3 billion and we have 10,000 fewer employees than we had when I walked in the door. John has a bigger government now and more employees than he had when he walked in the door. But all that doesn't matter. What really matters is this, that executive experience really matters. You heard this on the stage tonight. We've heard it said on the stage that President Obama knows exactly what he's doing. I'd like to ask all the veterans listening out there tonight, who are waiting in line for healthcare, who are literally dying because the Veterans Administration doesn't work, do you think Barack Obama knows what he's doing? I don't. And I'll tell you something. Anybody who evaluates him is knowing what he's doing and managing the government doesn't know how to manage a government themselves. And one last thing, David, which I think is really important. I listened to Senator Rubio's answer on his bill. He said his bill couldn't pass on the gang of eight. He acted as if he was somehow disembodied from the bill. It was his bill. He said this idea doesn't work. It was his idea. See, when you're a governor, you have to take responsibility for these things. You can't just act as if it happened out of nowhere. We have to take responsibility as executives. I take responsibility for my record in New Jersey. We've rebuilt the economy and rebuilt after the second-worst natural disaster in American history. I'm proud of my record. And by the way, I like Kasich's record, too. He's a good governor. +p425 +aVDavid? Hey, David? David? Hey, David? I actually have experience with raising taxes on millionaires in my state. It was done. It was done by my predecessor. And I want everybody in the public who is in that 68 percent, I want to tell you the truth. You're wrong. And here is why you're wrong. After New Jersey raised taxes on millionaires, we lost, in the next four years, $70 billion in wealth left our state. It left our state to go where it would be treated more kindly. If the United States raised taxes any further, that money will leave the United States, as well. We won't have better jobs. Let New Jersey be the canary in the coal mine. It is a failed idea and a failed policy, it's class warfare. It happened in my state. I've stopped it from happening again. But we cannot do it. The 68 percent of the people are wrong about that, it will hurt the American economy. We tried it in New Jersey. Come take a look \u2014 it did not work. +p426 +aVOf course I would. As a former United States attorney who spent seven years of my life fighting this on the streets of my state, I would do that. But we need to do more. And let me tell you what we've done in New Jersey, Josh. We are working with the folks in New Hampshire in their legislature right now to show them how we're helping to solve this problem in New Jersey. Not just for this campaign \u2014 three years ago, I proposed a law that we signed into effect, which said that anyone who was a non- violent, non-dealing, first-time drug offender no longer goes to prison in New Jersey. They go to mandatory, in-patient drug treatment. What has happened is, crime has gone down 20 percent in those years. The prison population has gone down 10 percent. We've now closed the state prison \u2014 closed a state prison, and we're turning it into a drug rehabilitation facility, so people can get the tools they need. Listen, everyone out there knows this in New Hampshire. This is a disease. It's not a moral failing, it's a disease. And we need to get people the treatment they need. And let me tell you why. Because I'm pro-life. And I'm pro life not just for the nine months in the womb, I'm pro-life for when they get out and it's a lot more complicated. Sixteen-year-old, heroin-addicted drug girl on the floor of the county lockup, I'm pro-life for her life. The 42-year-old lawyer who is taking Oxycontin and can't get out of bed and support his family \u2014 I'm pro-life for his life. Everyone of those lives is an individual gift from God. And the last thing is this. These efforts we've taken over the last three years, 2015 in New Jersey, for the first time in four years, drug overdose deaths have gone down, not up. I'll bring the same solutions to the country. +p427 +aVYou bet I would. And the fact is that because I took strong action to make sure that anyone who was showing symptoms \u2014 remember what happened with that nurse. She was showing symptoms and coming back from a place that had the ebola virus active and she had been treating patients. This was not just some \u2014 like, we picked up her just for the heck of it, alright? We did it because she was showing symptoms, and the fact is that's the way we should make these decision. You make these decisions based upon the symptoms, the medicine, and the law. We quarantined her, she turned out to test negative ultimately after 48 hours, and we released her back to the State of Maine. But, I want to add something on the issue of mosques. Now, I'm the only one up here who's had a law enforcement background as a U.S. Attorney after September 11th. I went to mosques throughout my state to build bridges. To build bridges between our community in law enforcement so we can get intelligence and information from these folks. I've had the experience of working with them as Governor of New Jersey as well. We cannot mix the radical Islamic jihadist with everyday Muslim-Americans. New Jersey is the second largest Muslim- American population in America, of any state. These are good, law abiding, hard working people. What they need is our cooperation, and our understanding. They do not just need broadsides against them because of the religious faith they practice. +p428 +aVMartha? +p429 +aVCan I \u2014 can I be really \u2014 can I be really clear on this, because I am the father of two daughters. One of them is here tonight. What my wife and I have taught our daughters right from the beginning, that their sense of self-worth, their sense of value, their sense of what they want to do with their life comes not from the outside, but comes from within. And if a young woman in this country wants to go and fight to defend their country, she should be permitted to do so. Part of that also needs to be part of a greater effort in this country, and so there's no reason why one \u2014 young women should be discriminated against from registering for the selective service. The fact is, we need to be a party and a people that makes sure that our women in this country understand anything they can dream, anything that they want to aspire to, they can do. That's the way we raised our daughters and that's what we should aspire to as president for all of the women in our country. +p430 +aVWell, I've been pretty helpful to the pro-life cause in one of the most pro-choice states in the union. I've stood up for the first time and now for the last six years we've de-funded Planned Parenthood, not talked about it like they do in Washington D.C. But for six years as governor, Planned Parenthood does not receive that funding from the state budget anymore; over $50 million worth of money that's been saved now, that is not going to do exactly what Hillary Clinton wants to have done and has advocated for. She believes that organization, which engages in the systematic murder of children in the womb, in order to maximize the value of their body parts for sale on the open market, is an acceptable position. Let me tell you something, I don't care if you are a millennial or whether you are in your 90s, no one is for that type of activity, unless you are the most radical type of extremist on this issue, like Senator Clinton and her party is on this issue. I'll say one other thing. The fact is, that I believe that if a woman has been raped, that is a birth and a pregnancy that she should be able to terminate. If she is the victim of incest \u2014 this is not a woman's choice. This is a woman being violated. And the fact is that we have always has believed, as has Ronald Reagan, that we have self-defense for women who have been raped and impregnated because of it, or the subject of incest and been impregnated for it. That woman should not have to deliver that child if they believe that violation is now an act of self-defense by terminating that pregnancy. HAM: Thank you, all. Back to you, David and Martha. +p431 +aVDenver. +p432 +aVThank you. I've spent the last 13 years of my life focused on one thing: serving the people who have given me the opportunity to serve them. Not about politics, not about partisanship, but putting the people of my state and our country first. I'm proud to have rebuild my state after Hurricane Sandy, and I'm incredibly proud to be on this stage tonight with these men asking for your vote. New Hampshire, I spent 70 days here with you. You've gotten to know my heart. My heart is to help you solve the problems of your state......and the problems of our nation. If you give me your vote on Tuesday I will do just that. +p433 +asVCARSON +p434 +(lp435 +VWell, the current Constitution actually doesn't address that particular situation, but the fact of the matter is the Supreme Court, obviously, is a very important part of our governmental system. And when our Constitution was put in place, the average age of death was under 50, and therefore the whole concept of lifetime appointments for Supreme Court judges and federal judges was not considered to be a big deal. Obviously, that has changed, and it's something that probably needs to be looked at pretty carefully at some point. But, we need to start thinking about the divisiveness that is going on in our country. I looked at some of the remarks that people made after finding out that Justice Scalia had died, and they were truly nasty remarks. And that we have managed to get to that position in our country is truly a shame. And we should be thinking about how we could create some healing in this land. But, right now, we're not going to get healing with President Obama. That's very United Nations clear. So, I...... fully agree that we should not allow a judge to be appointed during his time. +p436 +aVNo, it isn't. First of all, let me go back to your first question for me. It wasn't phrased as who gets to nominate Supreme Court appointees. Of course that's the president. So I know that there are some left-wing media who would try to make hay on that. Secondly, thank you for including me in the debate. Two questions already. This is great. Now, as far......as far as those 2 a.m. phone calls are concerned, judgment is what is required. And the kinds of things that you come up with are sometimes very, very difficult and very unique. One of the things that I was known for is doing things that have not been done before. So no amount of experience really prepares you to do something that has never been done before. That's where judgment comes in. And that, I think, is a situation that we're in right now, a situation that we have never been in before with the kinds of threats that pose real danger to our nation, and it comes in very handy in those situations. +p437 +aVWell, first of all, let me just address the Iraq question. You know, I was not particularly in favor of us going to war in Iraq, primarily because I have studied, you know, the Middle East, recognizing that those are nations that are ruled by dictators and have been for thousands of years. And when you go in and you remove one of those dictators, unless you have an appropriate plan for replacing them, you're going to have chaos. Now, fortunately, we were able to stabilize the situation, and it was the current administration that turned tail and ran and destabilized the situation. Now, having said that, in terms of the rules of engagement, I was talking about, you know, Obama has said, you know, we shouldn't bomb tankers, you know, coming out of refineries because there may be people in there, or because the environment may be hurt. You know, that's just asinine thinking. And the fact of the matter is... You know, we \u2014 obviously, you're not going to accomplish all of your goals without some collateral damage. You have to be able to assess what is acceptable and what is not. +p438 +aVWell, first of all, let me just mention on the tax issue. Bencarson.com, go read about it, because my tax plan has been praised by Cato, by Wall Street Journal. Forbes said it is the best, the most pro-growth tax plan, and it's based on real fairness for everybody. Starts at the 150 percent poverty level, but even the people below that have to pay something, because everybody has to have skin in the game, and the millions of people can't, you know, talk about what other people have to pay and have no skin in the game. And it deals with corporate tax rate, and makes it the same as everybody else......everybody pays exactly the same. +p439 +aV... And, as far as Medicare and Medicaid, my main goal is to get rid of Obamacare and put the care back in the hands of ... +p440 +aVWell, first of all, please go to my website, bencarson.com, and read my immigration policy, O.K.? Because it actually makes sense. Now, the \u2014 as far as these fines are concerned, you know? Here's the big problem. We've got all these government regulators, and all they're doing is running around looking for people to fine. And we've got 645 different federal agencies and sub-agencies. Way, way too many, and they don't have anything else to do. I think what we really need to do is start trimming the regulatory agencies rather than going after the people who are trying to increase the viability, economic viability of our society. Now, that doesn't mean there aren't some people out there who are doing bad things. But I'm not sure that the way to solve that problem is by increasing all the regulatory burden. You know, when you consider how much regulations cost us each year, you know? $2 trillion dollars per family, $24,000 per family, that happens to be the same level as the poverty level...... for a family of four. If you want to get rid of poverty, get rid of all the regulations. +p441 +aVBefore you ask the question, can I respond to the \u2014 you know, they mentioned my name a couple of times. +p442 +aVAll right. Well, first of all, you know, so many people have said to me, "You need to scream and jump and down \u2014 jump up and down like everybody else." Is that really what you want? What we just saw? I don't think so. And you know, I \u2014 when I got into this race, I decided to look under the hood of the engine of what runs Washington, D.C., and my first inclination was to run away, but I didn't do it because I'm thinking about our children and the fact that we are the United States of America. And anybody up here is going to be much better than what's going to come on the other side. And what happened tonight with \u2014 with Justice Scalia tells you that we cannot afford to lose this election, and we cannot be tearing each other down. +p443 +aVWell, first of all, I'm not a politician, so I'm never going to become a politician. But here's what \u2014 here's what people need to know. People need to know that free college is not \u2014 it's a non-starter. You know, you have to look at our economic situation. We're on the verge of economic collapse and, you know, we're \u2014 it's not just the $19 trillion, but it's also the $200 trillion in unfunded liabilities. What we need to think about is, what does that do to the average person? When we have a debt of that nature, it causes the Fed to change their policy, it causes the central bank to keep the \u2014 the rates low, and who does does that affect? Mr. Average, who used to go to the bank every Friday and put part of his check in the bank and watch it grow over three decades and be able to retire with a nice nest egg, that's gone. That part of the American dream is gone. All of these things are disappearing, and Bernie Sanders and people like Hillary Clinton blame it on the rich. They say those evil rich people, if we take their money we can solve the problem. It's not the evil rich people. It's the irresponsible, evil government. +p444 +aVThis is the first generation not expected to do better than their parents. Some people say it's the new normal, but there's nothing normal about it in an exceptional American. I, like you, am a member of we, the people, and we know that our country is heading off the cliff. Joseph Stalin said if you want to bring America down you, have to undermine three things: our spiritual life, our patriotism and our morality. We, the people, can stop that decline, starting right here in South Carolina. If all the people who say, "I love Ben Carson and his policies, but he can't win," vote for me, not only can we win, but we can turn this thing around. You know, we have this manipulation by the political class and by the media telling us who we're supposed to pick and how we're supposed to live. We, the people, are the only people who will determine that. And if you elect me as your next president, I promise you that you will get somebody who is accountable to everybody and beholden to no one. Thank you. +p445 +aVWell, you know, when I wasn't introduced No. 2, as was the plan, I thought maybe he thought I already had dropped out. But... But you know, today is the 105th anniversary, or \u2014 105th birthday of Ronald Reagan. His 11 Commandment was not to speak ill of another Republican. So, I'm not going to use this opportunity to savage the reputation of Senator Cruz. But I will say \u2014 I will say \u2014 I will say that I was very disappointed that members of his team thought so little of me that they thought that after having hundreds, if not thousands of volunteers and college students who sacrificed their time and were dedicated to the cause \u2014 one even died \u2014 to think that I would just walk away ten minutes before the caucus and say, "Forget about you guys." I mean, who would do something like that? Now, I don't think anyone on this stage would do something like that. And to assume that someone would, what does that tell you? So, unfortunately, it did happen. It gives us a very good example of certain types of Washington ethics. Washington ethics. Washington ethics basically says, if it's legal, you do what you need to do in order to win. That's not my ethics. My ethics is, you do what's right. +p446 +aVSince I was mentioned... +p447 +aVThis is great you guys. I want you all to mention me when you say something. In fact, the time line indicates that initial tweet from CNN was followed by another one within one minute that clarified that I was not dropping out. So, what happened to that one, it is unclear. But the bottom line is, we can see what happened, everybody can see what happened and you can make your own judgment. +p448 +aVGood evening. +p449 +aVWell, thank you. You know, I was hoping to get a chance to talk about North Korea. I was the only one who didn't get to do that, and I've got stuff to say about it, let me tell you. But at any rate, you have to replace it with something that makes sense. It doesn't make sense. And the reason that I dislike Obamacare is because the government comes in and tells the people \u2014 which the nation is supposed to be centered on \u2014 that we don't care what you think, this is what we're doing. And if you don't like it, too bad. That's a problem. And we can't afford to do that because that will fundamentally change America. I have proposed a health empowerment account system. Everybody gets a health empowerment account the day they are born, they keep it until they die. They can pass it on. We pay for it with the same dollars that we pay for traditional health care with, recognizing that we spend twice as much as many countries per capita and health care and don't have as such access. We give people the ability to shift money within their health empowerment account so that each family basically becomes its own insurance company without a middleman; that saves you a awful lot of money. And that will lower the cost of your catastrophic insurance tremendously, because the only thing coming out of that is catastrophic health care. And then in terms of taking care of the indigent, we have another whole system, and I can go ahead and explain it, but I don't have the time, but I'd be happy to if you give me some more time. But go to my website bencarson.com, read about it. You can read about everything that's been discussed here in great detail. HAM: Thank you, Dr. Carson. David, Martha, back to you. +p450 +aVI want to say something about this, because I'm not here just to add beauty to the stage. You know, I've been talking about Libya for quite a long time. I think I was the first one to start talking about it because I say we have to have a proactive foreign policy strategy. And of course, the next place that +p451 +aVI would support the possibility of renewed airstrikes if in conjunction with our Joint Chiefs and our military people they felt that was an appropriate strategy. The fact of the matter is none of us up here is a military expert, and we sometimes act like we are, but we're not. And if we actually sit down and talk with them and get them to understand our plan and their impression of what needs to be done, I think we're going to make a lot more progress. +p452 +aVIt's the same question? +p453 +aVYes. Well, first of all, I think it would be a pretty easy contrast, quite frankly, between myself and Hillary Clinton. In one case, you have someone who is known as a deceitful individual. An individual who at Benghazi, which I will never let go, quite frankly, because I think of those two men who went up there on the top of that compound with machine guns, firing away, allowing their colleagues to escape. And I'm sure, in the back of their mind, they were just saying, if we can just hold on, help is on the way. But help was not on the way. When did we in the United States not send people to help our own people? You know, this is not who we are. And \u2014 I would simply make it a referendum on honesty and integrity versus deceit and the Washington way. +p454 +aVWell, you know, it's not a simple issue, and now, you know, we've gotten evidence that there can been active viruses in other bodily fluids like saliva and urine. So, this is going to be, obviously, a big deal. Do we quarantine people? If we have evidence that they are infected, and that there is evidence that that infection can spread by something that they're doing, yes. But, just willy-nilly going out and quarantining a bunch of people because they've been to Brazil, I don't believe that that's going to work. What we really need to be thinking about is how do we get this disease under control? And this is where we need rapid response. We need a rapid response for ebola, we need rapid response for Zika, there will be other things that will come up. These are the kinds of things that the NIH, the CDC, can be very effective in. We need to give the the appropriate support for those kind of things. +p455 +aVCan I say something... +p456 +aVSomething about the draft. Very quickly. +p457 +aVYou know, 14 percent decrease in the number of people applying for voluntary military service, and I think part of it is because of the way that we treat our veterans. You know, we wouldn't be a free country if it wasn't for them, and we have 22 veterans per day committing suicide. So, I think what we should do is have an external support system for people once they volunteer and it should follow them throughout their career, should follow them for three years, five years afterwards, a year before they get out, should be working on integrating them back into society, so that they quit on Friday and they start their new job. They should have health empowerment accounts that are subsidized so they can go to any medical facility and be taken care of. They can go to a V.A. if they want to. But if we start taking care of our veterans the right way, we won't have to ever worry about a draft again. +p458 +aVWith 100 percent certainly, I will predict the winner \u2014 it will either be Denver or Carolina. +p459 +aVFor many months, the political class, pundits, the media, have tried to ignore or bury me. They say that politics is too complex, and too sleazy. You can't survive. Well, guess what? I'm still here, and I'm not going any place either. And, I believe there is still a place in our country for faith, integrity, and common sense. Hundreds of thousands of you drafted me to run for president...... And, I am going to with the help of God, and you, once again place the American people at the pinnacle with the government there to serve it. +p460 +asVFIORINA +p461 +(lp462 +VWell, thank you. Good evening. If I may begin by saying how honored I am to be standing here with two former Iowa Caucus winners. Governor, Senator. And how honored I am to be talking with all of you. You know, I'm not a political insider. I haven't spent my lifetime running for office. The truth is I have had and been blessed by a lot of opportunities to do a lot of things in my life. And unlike another woman in this race, I actually love spending time with my husband. I'm standing here because I think we have to restore a citizen government in this country. I think we have to end crony capitalism. The crony capitalism that starts with both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. You know, Hillary Clinton sits inside government and rakes in millions, handing out access and favors. And Donald Trump sits outside government and rakes in billions buying people like Hillary Clinton. The state of our economy is not strong. We have record numbers of men out of work. We have record numbers of women living in poverty. We have young people who no longer believe that the American dream applies to them. We have working families whose wages have stagnated for decades, all while the rich get richer, the powerful get more powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected get more connected. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. +p463 +aVAmerica must lead because when we do not lead, when this exceptional nation does not lead, the world is more dangerous and a more tragic place. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, they all refuse to lead. Worse, they refuse to respond when this nation is provoked. Hillary Clinton famously asked what difference does it make how four Americans died in Benghazi? Mrs. Clinton, here's what difference it makes. When you do not stand up and say the truth, that this was a purposeful terrorist attack, when you do not say the United States of America will retaliate for that attack, terrorists assume it's open season. We have refused to respond to every provocation. The President wouldn't even mention the fact that Iran had taken two Navy boats and our sailors \u2014 hostage. He didn't mention the fact that they violated the Geneva convention. He didn't respond to the fact that Iran launched two ballistic missile just a short time ago, in direct violation of a deal they had just signed. We didn't respond to the fact that North Korea attacked Sony Pictures. When we refuse to respond over, and over to provocation and bad behavior, we will get more provocation and bad behavior. I know most of our allies personally. I have met many of our adversaries. I know our military and our intelligence capability, and I know this. When we will not stand with our allies, when we will not respond to our adversaries, when we do not lead in the world the world is a dangerous and tragic place. I will be a Commander in Chief who will lead. +p464 +aVOf course I'm worried about similar problems in the United States. We can not allow refugees to enter this country unless we can adequately vet them and we know we can't. Therefore we should stop allowing refugees into this country. And by the way, we do not need to be lectured about why we're angry and frustrated and fearful because we've had an illegal immigration problem in this country for 25 years. And we have every right to be frustrated about the fact that politicians stand up in election after election after election and promise us to fix the problem and yet, it has never been fixed. I offer leadership that understands that actions speak louder than words, that results count. We must secure our border. We must fix our broken immigration system. We must enforce a pro-American immigration system that serves our interests, not the rest of the world. I understand what it takes to translate goals into results and that is what I will do as president of the United States. Of course, we should be worried, for heavens sakes. This administration has now told us they don't know who has overstayed a visa. This administration has told us they don't even bother to check Facebook or Twitter to find out who's pledging allegiance to jihadis. We can do better than this, citizens. We need to take our country back. +p465 +aVWe need to be very clear-eyed now about who are our allies and who are our adversaries. In the fight against +p466 +aVAnd we all believe the polling data all the time, don't we? +p467 +aVOh, it's a problem for so many reasons. First of all, it is yet another lawless executive order. You see, he doesn't like the fact that Congress has rejected his ideas twice on a bipartisan basis, so he's decided he just gets to override them. Sorry, Mr. President, not the way "The Constitution" works. Secondly......secondly, he basically admitted in that speech that he hasn't been paying much attention to enforcing the laws we have. He said, gee, we need a few more FBI agents. That would have helped, perhaps, stop a tragedy here in South Carolina with Dylann Roof, a guy who clearly never should have been sold a gun. In other words, Mr. President, you're right, we need to enforce the laws we have. Let's enforce the laws we have. There are criminals running around with guns who shouldn't have them. We don't prosecute any of them. Less than 1 percent. But I want to go back to the technology issue for a moment, if I may, as well, because in this regard, I disagree with Senator Santorum. Look, I come from the technology industry and I can tell you there is one thing that bureaucracies don't know how to do. They do not know how to innovate. We have come seven generations of technology since 2011. We have bureaucracies that are incapable of bringing in that innovation. So, yes, there are some very specific things that we should ask the private sector to help us with, including making sure we have the latest and greatest in algorithms to search through all these databases so that we find terrorists before they attack us, not after it's too late. And, finally, when a president who understands technology in the Oval Office. Mrs. Clinton, actually, you cannot wipe a server with a towel. +p468 +aVYes, and see... +p469 +aVAs CEO of Hewlett Packard... +p470 +aVAs CEO of Hewlett Packard, I was asked very specifically for some very real help. The help I was asked to provide, this is now public information. So I am not revealing what \u2014 something that was \u2014 was classified. We had a very large shipment of equipment, software and hardware, headed to a retail outlet. And I was called by the head of the NSA, who had an urgent need for that capability, to begin laying out a program to track terrorists. We turned that truck around on a highway and it was escorted to the headquarters in San Jose. In World War II, our government went to the private sector and said, help us do things that we cannot do. The private sector has capabilities that the government does not have. There are some legal authorities that are required. The Sony attack could have been detected and repelled, had legal authorities been passed in Congress allowing private networks and public networks to work together. Those legal authorities have not yet been passed. Yes, I was asked to help. I know the technology industry. They will help again. But they must be asked by a president who understands what they have. +p471 +aVFor decades, the professional political class in both parties has been talking about the middle class. For decades, Republicans in particular have been talking about reducing the size and scope of government, spending less money, reducing the complexity. And yet, for 40 years, the government has gotten bigger and more expensive. We now have a 75,000 plus page tax code, although politicians have run for office for decades promising reform. And all the while, middle class incomes have stagnated. You see, when government gets bigger and bigger, more powerful, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer and the middle class gets squeezed. We need to understand who the job creators are in this country, because we need more jobs to grow the middle class and to grow the wages of the middle class. Who creates jobs? Small businesses, new businesses, family-owned businesses. They create two thirds of the new jobs in this country and they employ half the people. I started out typing for a nine person real estate firm. My husband Frank started out driving a tow truck for a family-owned auto body shop. And we are crushing small businesses and destroying the middle class. So here's my blueprint to take back America. Let us first actually reform the tax code from 73,000 pages down to three. There's a 20-year-old plan to do exactly that. And then let us begin piece by piece to focus on every single dollar the government spends, so that we will spend less overall and still have enough for our priorities. And that requires the government to budget the way you do at home \u2014 examine every dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. The fancy term for that is zero- based budgeting, but I call it common sense. Citizens, we've got to take our country back. +p472 +aVMy husband Frank, that I mentioned, I love spending time with. He's down there. He was real excited the other day because in New Hampshire, he was introduced as my eye candy. You know, everybody out there watching knows this. You cannot wait to see the debate between me and Hillary Clinton. You would pay to see that fight. And that's because you know I will win. And that's important. We've got to start by beating Hillary Clinton. All of my life, I have been told to sit down and be quiet. Settle. Settle. Don't challenge the system. That's what the American people are being told now and we have been told that for way too long \u2014 sit down and be quiet about our God, about our guns, about the abortion industry, settle for illegal immigration that's been a problem for decades, as so many of our problems have festered for decades. Accept a system of government and politics that no longer works for us. I will not sit down and be quiet. And neither will you. So I ask you to stand with me, fight with me, vote for me, citizens. It is time to take our future back, time to take our politics back. It is time to take our government back. Citizens, it is time. We must take our country back. +p473 +asVBUSH +p474 +(lp475 +VRight. +p476 +aVNot on specific issues, not at all. I think the next president \u2014 if I'm president, I will appoint people \u2014 I'll nominate people that have a proven record in the judiciary. The problem in the past has been we have appointed people thinking you can get it through the Senate because they didn't have a record. And the problem is that sometimes we're surprised. The simple fact is the next president needs to appoint someone with a proven conservative record, similar to Justice Scalia, that is a lover of liberty, that believes in limited government, that consistently applied that kind of philosophy, that didn't try to legislator from the bench, that was respectful of the Constitution. And then fight and fight, and fight for that nomination to make sure that that nomination passes. Of course, the president, by the way, has every right to nominate Supreme Court justices. I'm an Article II guy in the Constitution. We're running for the president of the United States. We want a strong executive for sure. But in return for that, there should be a consensus orientation on that nomination, and there's no doubt in my mind that Barack Obama will not have a consensus pick when he submits that person to the Senate. +p477 +aVYes. +p478 +aVNo, it doesn't, and that's the problem. The lack of leadership in this country by Barack Obama, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, thinking that this is a policy that works, this policy of containment with +p479 +aVThe very basic fact is that Vladimir Putin is not going to be an ally of the United States. The whole world knows this. It's a simple, basic fact. They're not taking out \u2014 they're not even attempting to take out +p480 +aV... Let me finish... +p481 +aV... This is ridiculous... +p482 +aV... This is coming from a guy who gets his foreign policy from the shows. +p483 +aV... This is a guy who thinks that Hillary Clinton is a great negotiator in Iran... +p484 +aV... This is a man who insults his way to the nomination... +p485 +aVI think it's my turn, isn't it? +p486 +aVI've got about five or six... +p487 +aVDo I get to do it five or six times or just once, responding to that? +p488 +aVSo here's the deal. I'm sick and tired of Barack Obama blaming my brother for all of the problems that he has had. And, frankly, I could care less about the insults that Donald Trump gives to me. It's blood sport for him. He enjoys it. And I'm glad he's happy about it. But I am sick and tired... +p489 +aVI am sick and tired of him going after my family. My dad is the greatest man alive in my mind. And while Donald Trump was building a reality TV show, my brother was building a security apparatus to keep us safe. And I'm proud of what he did. And he has had the gall to go after my brother. +p490 +aVHe has had the gall to go after my mother. Hold on. Let me finish. He has had the gall to go after my mother. +p491 +aVLook, I won the lottery when I was born 63 years ago, looked up, and I saw my mom. My mom is the strongest woman I know. +p492 +aVThis is not about my family or his family. This is about the South Carolina families that need someone to be a commander in chief that can lead. I'm that person. +p493 +aVCan I just... +p494 +aVI'm not going to invite Donald Trump to the rally in Charleston on Monday afternoon when my brother is coming to speak. +p495 +aVI'm rescinding the invitation. I thought you might want to come, but I guess not. +p496 +aVI'd like \u2014 can I \u2014 can I... +p497 +aVLook, I admire the fact that Governor Kasich is supporting spending more money on drug treatment and mental health. I think that's a high priority all across this country, but expanding Obamacare is what we're talking about, and Obamacare's expansion, even though the federal government is paying for the great majority of it, is creating further debt on the backs of our children and grandchildren. We should be fighting Obamacare, repealing Obamacare, replacing it with something totally different. When I was \u2014 as a private citizen, Florida was confronted with the choice. The governor was supportive of doing what John did. So was the Florida Senate. A committed speaker of the House asked me to go as a private citizen to make the case against the expansion. I did, and it wasn't expanded there, just as it wasn't expanded in South Carolina under Governor Haley. +p498 +aVSouth Carolina \u2014 South Carolinians need to know this, because the Cato Institute, which grades governors based on their spending, rank him right at the bottom. +p499 +aVAnd Governor Haley is ranked at the top. +p500 +aVNo. He mentioned my name. +p501 +aVLet me finish, though. No, no, no \u2014 hey, wait, wait, wait. Just hold, Major, hold, Major. Hold on, Major. +p502 +aVSouth Carolinians want to make that, they elect the most conservative governor or candidate that can win. +p503 +aVOf course not. It won't have an impact on hedge funds managers paying ordinary income. In fact, it's not just hedge fund people, but people that are doing \u2014 they're in the business of investing other people's money, getting capital gains treatment is not appropriate. They should be paying ordinary income. That's their business. They're grateful to be able to make a lot of money, I'm sure. And what we do is lower the rates. It's not the end of the world that private equity people and hedge fund folks that are, right now, getting capital gains treatment for the income they earn, pay ordinary income like everybody else in this room. That's not a problem at all. What we need to do is reform the tax code to simplify the rates, to shift power away from Washington, D.C. That's what I did as governor of the state of Florida, $19 billion dollars of tax cuts, and it stimulated seven out of the eight years. Florida led the nation in job growth. +p504 +aVThank you. +p505 +aVGreat question. I feel like I have to get into my inner Chris Christie, and point out that the reason why I should be president is listening to two senators talk about arcane amendments to bills that didn't pass. This is \u2014 this is the problem. We need a leader to fix this problem. And I have a detailed plan to do just that, including controlling the border, dealing with the visa over-stayers, making sure that we have a path to legal status, not to citizenship, for those that come out from the shadows and pay a fine, learn English, don't commit crimes, work and pay taxes. That is the better approach. +p506 +aVThe great majority of people that come to this country come because they have no other choice. They want to come to provide for their families. That doesn't mean it's right. That doesn't mean it's right. We should pick who comes to our country. We should control our border. Coming here legally should be a lot easier than coming here illegally. But the motivation, they're not all rapists, as you-know-who said. They're not that. These are people that are coming to provide for their families. And we should show a little more respect for the fact that they're struggling. It doesn't mean we shouldn't be controlling the border. That's exactly what we should be doing. +p507 +aV... So, you know......This is the standard operating procedure, to disparage me. That's fine... +p508 +aV... But, if you want to talk about weakness, you want to talk about weakness? It's weak to disparage women. +p509 +aVIt's weak to denigrate the disabled. And,it's really weak to call John McCain a loser because he was a... +p510 +aV... That is outrageous. The guy's an American hero. +p511 +aV... The simple fact is I've also laid out my plans on immigration... +p512 +aV Just, for the record make sure my mother's listening, if she's watching the debate. I didn't say that I was going to moon somebody... +p513 +aVSo, there \u2014 so, there is all sorts of intrigue about where I disagree with my brother, there would be one right there. You should not use eminent domain for private purposes. A baseball stadium or a parking lot for a limo... +p514 +aVIt's very different. Transmission lines, pipe lines, bridges and highways. All of that is proper use of imminent domain. Not to take an elderly woman's home to build a parking lot so that high-rollers can come from New York City to build casinos in Atlantic City. +p515 +aVMy name was mentioned twice. +p516 +aVHe called me a liar. +p517 +aVAlso, he talked about one of my heroes, Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan was a liberal maybe in the 1950s. He was a conservative reformed governor for eight years before he became president, and no one should suggest he made an evolution for political purposes. He was a conservative, and he didn't tear down people like Donald Trump is. He tore down the Berlin Wall. +p518 +aVHe was a great guy. +p519 +aVThat was me. +p520 +aVYeah, well, I have got to respond to this. +p521 +aVSounds like a good plan. +p522 +aVOr you could ask me two questions, so I could get two minutes instead of one. +p523 +aVI think the dysfunction in Washington is really dangerous, that's what I think. And we need a proven leader that has a record of solving problems, someone who doesn't cut and run; someone who could be a commander in chief to unite our country around common purposes; someone who doesn't disparage people. Someone that doesn't brag, for example, that he has been bankrupt four times and it was great, because he could use the legal system. Someone... +p524 +aVWe need someone with a proven record to be able to forge consensus to solve problems. And right now, both Republicans and Democrats in Washington don't get it. People are struggling \u2014 63 percent of Americans can't make a $500 car payment. Most Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. And we need someone has a proven record of growing the economy, reforming the things that are broken. And I'm that person. +p525 +aVYeah... +p526 +aVYeah. +p527 +aVHere we go. +p528 +aVHere's the record. Here's the record. We led the nation in job growth seven out of eight years. When I left there was $9 billion of reserves, 35 percent of general revenue. No state came close to that. +p529 +aVWhen I \u2014 during my time, we were one of the two states to go to AAA bond rating. We didn't go bankrupt like Trump did and call it success when people are laid off, when vendors don't get paid. That's not success. What we did was create an environment where people had a chance to have income. Personal income during my time went up by 4.4 percent. +p530 +aVThe government grew by... +p531 +aV... half of that. +p532 +aVThank you all very much. The next president is going to be confronted with an unforeseen challenge. That's almost certain. It could be a pandemic, a major natural disaster or an attack on our country. The question for South Carolinians and Americans is who do you want to have sitting behind the big desk in the Oval Office? Because that's the question. It's not the things we're talking about today. It's the great challenge that may happen. I believe I will have a steady hand as commander in chief and president of the United States. I will unite this country around common purposes because I did it as governor of the state of Florida. When I was governor, we had eight hurricanes and four tropical storms in 16 months. Our state was on its back. We recovered far faster than what people thought because we led. We want to challenge rather than cutting and running. That's what we need in Washington, D.C. We need someone with a servant's heart that has a backbone, that isn't going to focus on polls and focus groups. The focus will be on the American people to keep them safe and secure. I ask for your vote next Saturday. +p533 +aVChris, why don't you mention my name so I can get into this. +p534 +aV... I appreciate that, I really do, thank you. +p535 +aVWell, first of all he said the exact same thing about me, that I would make a great Vice Presidential nominee when Mitt Romney was considering. I said the same thing about Marco. I think we were both right at the time, and Mitt picked somebody else. So, let's move on to the 2016 race. Who has the leadership skills... ...who has the leadership skills to lead? And, I'm proud of the fact that I have 12 Medal of Honor recipients, over 30 admirals and generals that believe that I would be a steady hand as Commander in Chief. That I serve as Governor of the state of Florida where we cut taxes and reduced government. I took on very powerful interests, forged consensus, fought for my beliefs, implemented them and the state was better off. We had eight hurricanes and four tropical storms in 16 months. The whole state was turned upside down. It required a steady hand. Leadership. You learn this, you learn it by doing it. It's not something that you just go up, and on the job do it. It's not the same. Look, let's be clear. Marco Rubio is a gifted, gifted politician, and he may have the skills to be a President of the United States, but we've tried it the old way with Barack Obama, with soaring eloquence and we got \u2014 we didn't get a leader we got someone who wants to divide the country up. The next President......going to have to forge consensus to bring about a set of common purposes so that we can move forward again in this country... +p536 +aV... this relates to strategic patience. +p537 +aVThis relates to the strategic patience of the Obama administration. They come up with these great marketing terms, and what they do is they pull back, and voids are filled, and they're now filled by asymmetric threats of terror, as well as nation-states on the run. The next president of the United States is gonna have to get the United States back in the game, and if a preemptive strike is necessary to keep us safe, then we should do it. +p538 +aVWell, first of all, it's interesting that that happened literally days when this hostage release took place in Iran. A day or two days afterwards, North Korea took a \u2014 held an American student hostage. I think it's when we send a signal of weakness, when we are negotiating to release people that committed crimes in our country for people that didn't commit crimes that are held hostage in Iran. We saw the shameful treatment of our sailors, that this creates weakness \u2014 sends a signal of weakness around the world. The next president of the United States is going to have to get back in the game. Where the United States' word matters. Where we back up our allies, where we don't send signals of weakness. We need to use every \u2014 every influence possible to get this student back. And I think John is right about this, there are crippling sanctions that are available, as it relates to the two or three banks that North Korea uses to \u2014 to \u2014 use it \u2014 illicit trade. We ought to re-establish sanctions, not just because of the student, but because of their actions that they're taking right now, as it relates to building this missile capability. +p539 +aVGood evening. HAM: Mr. Trump. +p540 +aVThe difference \u2014 the difference between eminent domain for public purpose \u2014 as Donald said, roads and infrastructure, pipelines and all that \u2014 that's for public purpose. But what Donald Trump did was use eminent domain to try to take the property of an elderly woman on the strip in Atlantic City. That is not public purpose, that is down right wrong. And here's the problem with that. The problem was, it was to tear down \u2014 it was to tear down \u2014 it was to tear down the house... +p541 +aVAnd the net result was \u2014 you tried. +p542 +aVAnd you lost in the court. +p543 +aVThat is not true. And the simple fact is to turn this into a limousine parking lot for his casinos is a not public use. And in Florida, based on what we did, we made that impossible. It is part of our Constitution. That's the better approach. That is the conservative approach. +p544 +aVHow tough it is to take away property from an elderly woman? +p545 +aVHow tough it is to take away a property from an elderly woman? +p546 +aVI consider it a public use. +p547 +aVIt's a public use. It's a public use. +p548 +aVIt's a public use. +p549 +aVYeah. +p550 +aVIt's a public use. +p551 +aVEstablished by the courts \u2014 federal, state courts. +p552 +aVI would like to see more millionaires. I think we need to grow more millionaires, we need create a prosperity society where people can rise up. This notion that somehow we're undertaxed as a nation is just fool hearty, when we have entitlements growing far faster than our ability to pay for it. A conservative, because that's the point of this, believes in limited government, believes in a entrepreneurial capitalism and a strong national defense. But it also has to be, we need to reform things. In my town hall meetings, I went to a place where a woman described her neighbor, who has a better economic deal by not working than her struggling to make ends meet. We need to be on the side of working people. And you know, the problem with the left is, another tax, another regulation, another mandate makes it harder for them to rise up. Everything that we should do should be focused on high, sustained economic growth, where the middle class gets a raise for the first time, and where people are rewarded for work, rather than non-work. And I know how to do this. And if people are interested in the specifics of this, they ought to go to jeb2016.com. +p553 +aVMartha \u2014 Martha, if I... +p554 +aVI would. And I would do it in concert, again, with our Arab allies and with Europe, most particularly in this case. This is the lesson learned: in history, if you bomb something and not do anything as it relates to deal with the aftermath of this, if you don't have a stable government, you get what we have in Libya. And this is not \u2014 leading from behind is not an effective policy. We have to lead. Without the United States, nothing seems to work. Europe doesn't have the ability to \u2014 to \u2014 to lead \u2014 forward lead in this regard. And so dealing with the caliphate is important, because it now has spawned other areas. There have been 70-plus attacks in 17 countries, either inspired by +p555 +aVMartha and David, I just... +p556 +aVMartha and David... +p557 +aVNo, no, I wouldn't. No, I wouldn't. And it was used sparingly, Congress has changed the laws and I \u2014 and I think where we stand is the appropriate place. But what we need to do is to make sure that we expand our intelligence capabilities. The idea that we're going to solve this fight with predator drones, killing people somehow is a \u2014 is more acceptable than capturing them, securing the information. This is why closing Guantanamo is a complete disaster. What we need to do is make sure that we are kept safe......by having intelligence capabilities, both human and technological intelligence capabilities far superior than what we have today. That's how you get a more safe place is by making sure that we're fully engaged. And right now, this administration doesn't do that. +p558 +aVThis is a \u2014 this is an important subject. I agree with everything that's been said here about repealing unconstitutional rules and rules that are creating real burdens for investing that creating jobs. But we also ought to get back to being a Tenth Amendment country, as well, a country that respects the states to be able to make more decisions. And in the Bush administration, we would shift transportation dollars back to the states. I trust Kasich and Christie to build the roads and the infrastructure of their states than Washington, D.C. EPA delegated authority, back to the states. Education dollars, back to the states. I would like to see reform take place all across the country, where there's more vouchers, more freedom. If we did that, we would shrink government's power in Washington, D.C. and we would have a much more effective government, where people would begin to trust our government again, because now, no one believes it works. +p559 +aVYou mentioned me. He mentioned me. One other thing that I think we ought to do, along with repealing Obamacare, we need to shift all of this power of healthcare, which is the most egregious form of federal power that is suppressing wages and incomes, and allow governors to have the Medicaid plans so that they can create 21st century Medicaid insurance for people that are stuck in poverty. There's so much that can be done, but I don't trust Washington to do it. I trust the state capitals to be the place \u2014 to be the source of innovation and reform in this country. HAM: Thank you, governors. Martha and David, back to you. +p560 +aVI didn't mention him the second time. +p561 +aV... Say it again? +p562 +aV... I do, and I do think that we should not impose any kind of political agenda on the military. There should be \u2014 if women can meet the requirements, the minimum requirements for combat service they ought to have the right to do it. For sure. It ought to be focused on the morale as well. We got to make sure that we have readiness much higher than we do today. We need to eliminate the sequester which is devastating our military. We can't be focusing on the political side of this, we need to realize that our military force is how we project our word in the world. When we're weak militarily it doesn't matter what we say. We can talk about red lines, and +p563 +aV... Why would they worry about it... +p564 +aV... Well, the Draft's not going to be reinstituted, but why \u2014 if women are accessing... +p565 +aVNo. I didn't say that. You \u2014 you asked a question not about the draft, you asked about registering. And if women are going to be... +p566 +aVIf \u2014 but... +p567 +aV... we don't have a draft. I'm not suggesting we have a draft. What I'm suggesting is that we ought to have readiness being the first priority of our military, and secondly, that we make sure that the morale is high. And right now, neither one of those are acceptable because we've been gutting the military budget. We also need to reform our procurement process. We need to make sure there are more men and women in uniform than people \u2014 than civilians in our Defense Department. There's a lot of things that we need to reform to bring our defense capabilities into the 21st century and I'm the guy that could do that. That's why I have the support of generals, of admirals, of 12 Medal of Honor recipients and many other people that know that I would be a steady commander-in-chief and rebuild our military. +p568 +aVI totally agree that we need to give veterans more choices. A veterans card to be able to go to a private provider will enhance the quality of the service inside the Department of Veterans Affairs. We need career civil service reform. Only three people were fired after waiting lists were dropped where veterans didn't get care and people died. It is outrageous. And Hillary Clinton says that that's acceptable? Because she is captive of the public service uniforms. Career civil service reform would allow the next president to fire people that are \u2014 that are showing sheer incompetence. At a town hall meeting today, someone came \u2014 told a story of their father who looked like he was 85. He had \u2014 he got a bill eight years later from an operation he had, eight years it took. They couldn't resolve the dispute and then he was told that he died. Literally, the Veterans Administration sent a death certificate to this guy and it took nine months to clarify the guy \u2014 I met him. He's voting for me. And he is \u2014 likely to be alive. This is \u2014 this is outrageous. It is completely outrageous. So, giving veterans more choices, creating centers of excellence, focusing on the true problems that exist. Dr. Carson is completely right. We need to start focusing on this earlier, before they become veterans so that there's a customized plan so people don't fall through the cracks. We can do this, but it's going to require someone who has proven leadership skills to make it happen. +p569 +aVLook, I'm pro-life. In fact, on this stage, I'm the most pro-life person because I've acted on it for eight years as governor of the state of Florida. Where we abolished partial-birth abortion, where parents have the right to be notified when their teenage child is having an abortion. We were the first state to do a choose life license plate to raise money for adoption. We were the first state to have state monies go to crisis pregnancy centers, which recently was just increased to $4 million a year. We created greater regulation on abortion clinics, where there were horrific procedures. So I'm pro life, but I believe there should be exceptions: rape, incest and when the life of the mother is in danger. And so, that belief, and my consistency on this, makes me, I think, poised to be in the right place, the sweet spot for a Republican nominee. And others may have a different view and I respect it. +p570 +aVPeyton Manning is supporting me. And I'm for Denver. +p571 +aVI want to thank the people of New Hampshire, and I want to celebrate the birthday of a great president, Ronald Reagan would have been 105 today. President Reagan believed in the future of our country, believed in its greatness, had a hopeful, optimistic message. Drew people towards our cause. We need someone who has a proven record to take our case to the American people because our philosophy is by far the best one. Limited government, entrepreneurial capitalism, of peace through strength. I believe I have the skills to take our party to victory in November. I ask for your support on Tuesday to keep America, and make America a safer, stronger, and freer. Thank you all very much. +p572 +asVSTRASSEL +p573 +(lp574 +VMr. Trump. +p575 +aVYou have made a lot of promises and you have also \u2014 you're the only candidate who has said he would not touch entitlements. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has estimated that your ideas would cost an additional $12 trillion to $15 trillion over the next 10 years and that we would have to have annual economic growth of anywhere from 7.7 percent to 9 percent annually to pay for them. Are you proposing more than you can actually deliver, at least not without big deficits? +p576 +aVBut in terms of... +p577 +aVO.K. But how would you actually do that? Can I ask you? Because right now, Social Security and Medicare... +p578 +aVThey take up two-thirds of the federal budget, and they're growing. +p579 +aVO.K., I have a question, a related tax question. Senator Rubio, you have the highest tax rate of anyone up on the stage in terms of the top tax rates, 35 percent. Some economists say, "It would limit its potential to boost economic growth." You do that so that you will have more revenue to pay for a tripling of the Child Tax Credit. Normally, it's liberals who like to use the tax code to insert social policy. Why should conservatives who want to tax adopt the other side's approach? +p580 +aVGovernor Kasich, this on is on size of government. In 2013, you pushed through a Medicaid reform in your state over the rejections of many of the Republicans in your state. Total enrollment and overall cost of program have gone well beyond what anyone had expected, including yourself. How can you argue that this overall growth fits in with conservative ambition to significantly cut back on the size of federal welfare programs? +p581 +aVSenator Cruz. Senator Cruz, you have promised to deport illegal aliens. You have also promised to reverse President Obama's executive action that gives temporary amnesty to illegals brought here by their parent as children. As president, you would have the names and addresses of the some 800,000 of those that have registered under that action. Now, you have said that in this country, we shouldn't go door to door, look for illegals, but in this case you would have a list. Would you use it? +p582 +aVSo would you \u2014 would you use the addresses? +p583 +aVWould you pick them up? +p584 +aVSenator Rubio, your reply. +p585 +aVAll right. Senator Cruz. Your response, Senator Cruz. +p586 +aV... O.K.... +p587 +aVMoving subjects. Dr. Carson, this week Morgan Stanley agreed to pay a $3.2 billion fine to state and federal authorities for contributing to the mortgage crisis. You have a lot of Democrats out saying that we should be jailing more executives, so two questions. Should financial executives be held legally responsible for financial crisis, and do you think fines like these are an effective way to deter companies from future behavior like that? +p588 +aVSenator Cruz, you were mentioned in the mix here, your response? +p589 +aVAnd now, Marco Rubio. +p590 +aVWe'll be back with a few final thoughts in a moment. +p591 +asVMCELVEEN +p592 +(lp593 +VThank you, David. And good evening, candidates. Mr. Trump, you have said, quote, "I love eminent domain" which is the seizure of private property for the sake of the greater good theoretically. You tried to use the measure in business endeavors, you've said you'd support its use for the Keystone Pipeline project. Here in New Hampshire, a project, though, known as the Northern pass would bring hydro-electric power from Canada into the Northeastern grid. Do you see eminent domain as an appropriate tool to get that done? +p594 +aVSo would that be yes on the Northern Pass project? +p595 +aVMr. Trump, take 30 seconds. +p596 +aVAll right, gentlemen... +p597 +aVGentlemen, we do have to move forward. Dave, Martha, back to you. +p598 +aVYou're all aware, candidates, this is a major problem here in New Hampshire. It's a very deadly problem as well. Last month, New Hampshire senators Kelly Ayotte, Republican, and Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat, they went down to Washington, along with the police chief of the state's largest city to testify before the Judiciary Committee in D.C. Senator Cruz, you're a member of that committee. Your campaign schedule didn't allow you to attend this. Even so, the police chief called your absence outrageous, given the severity of the problem. Last week, though, you told a personal story of a close family member's struggle with addiction. What can you say to law enforcement right now to convince them that you understand the severity of this problem and you're not just saying what people want to hear days before the primary? +p599 +aVAnd Governor Christie, you have talked a lot about this issue here in New Hampshire. State reforms, criminal justice reforms, access to treatment. To Senator Cruz's point, let's take it a step further. Would you be willing to engage in cross-border enforcement into Mexico, a place where law enforcement in New Hampshire has traced at lot of this supply back to. Would you engage in cross-border enforcement without the cooperation without the Mexican government? +p600 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you very much. David, Martha, back to you. +p601 +aVThank you, Martha. None of you on stage tonight have ever worn a uniform as a member of the armed services. That's the reality of it. But as commander-in-chief, you'll also be charged with the care of 23 million active duty service members and veterans in this country. Some have suggested privatizing the V.A. as a way to enhance care and increase the quality of the care and access. Others say that veterans should carry I.D. cards that allow them access to any hospital or health care provider. Governor Bush, what specifically would you do to ensure that those who have sacrificed for us are cared for? +p602 +aVGovernor Kasich, do you have a favored approach? +p603 +aVSenator Rubio, go ahead? +p604 +aVSenator Rubio, thanks very much. Going to move forward now. David, Martha, back to you. +p605 +asVKASICH +p606 +(lp607 +VWell, John, first of all, if I were president, we wouldn't have the divisions in the country we have today. I do want to take a second as we reflected on Judge Scalia, it's amazing \u2014 it's not even two minutes after the death of Judge Scalia, nine children here today, their father didn't wake up. His wife, sad, but I just wish we hadn't run so fast into politics. Here's my concern about this. The country is so divided right now, and now we're going to see another partisan fight take place. I really wish the president would think about not nominating somebody. If you were to nominate somebody, let's have him pick somebody that's going to have unanimous approval, and such widespread approval across the country that this could happen without a lot of recrimination. I don't think that's going to happen, and I would like the president just to, for once here, put the country first. We're going to have an election for president very soon, and the people will understand what is at stake in that election. And so I believe the president should not move forward, and I think that we ought to let the next president of the United States decide who is going to run that Supreme Court with a vote by the people of the United......States of America. +p608 +aVFirst of all \u2014 yes. First of all, look, we have to make it clear to Russia what we expect. We don't have to declare an enemy, rattle a sword or threaten, but we need to make it clear what we expect. No. 1 is we will arm the folks in Ukraine who are fighting for their freedom. They deserve it. There will be no ifs, ands or buts about it. Secondly, an attack on +p609 +aVI've got to tell you, this is just crazy, huh? This is just nuts, O.K.? Jeez, oh, man. I'm sorry, John. +p610 +aVOh, well, listen, I think being in Iraq, look, we thought there were weapons of mass destruction. Colin Powell, who is one of the most distinguished generals in modern time, said there were weapons there. But, but, the fact is we got ourselves in the middle of a civil war. The Sunni, the Shia and the Kurds, never gotten along. In fact, that country was drawn \u2014 the borders of that country were drawn after World War I by Westerners that didn't understand what was happening there. The tragedy of it is that we're still embroiled. And, frankly, if there weren't weapons of mass destruction, we should never have gone. I don't believe the United States should involve itself in civil wars. Civil wars are not in our direct interest, and if you \u2014 and look, I served on a defense committee for 18 years and was called into the Pentagon after 9/11 by Secretary Rumsfeld to deal with some of the most serious problems that we faced. The fact is, is that we should go to war when it is our direct interest. We should not be policemen of the world, but when we go, we mean business. We'll do our job. We'll tell our soldiers, our people in the service, take care of your job and then come home once we've accomplished our goals. That's what we need to do. +p611 +aVYeah. Well, first of all, those numbers, incorrect. We are \u2014 our Medicaid programs are coming in below cost estimates, and our Medicaid program in the second year grew at 2.5 percent. And Kimberley, let me tell you, when we expand Medicaid and we treat the mentally ill, then they don't live under a bridge or live in a prison, where they cost $22,500 a year. When we take the drug addicted and we treat them in the prisons, we stop the revolving door of people in and out of prisons, and we save $22,500 a year. Guess what else? They get their lives back. And the working poor, they're now getting health care. And you know that about a third of the people who are now getting that health care are people who are suffering very serious illnesses, particularly cancer. So, what I would tell you is, we've gone from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. We've cut taxes by more than any governor in America by $5 billion. We have grown the number of jobs by 400,000 private-sector jobs since I've been governor. Our credit is strong. Our pensions are strong. And frankly, we leave no one behind. Economic growth is not an end unto itself. We want everyone to rise, and we will make them personally responsible for the help that they get. And that is exactly the program we're driving in Ohio. And, boy, people ought to look at Ohio, because it has got a good formula. +p612 +aVYeah, let me say a couple of things. First of all, when Jeb was governor, his first four years as governor, he expand \u2014 his Medicaid program grew twice as fast as mine. O.K.? It's just a fact. Now, with Obamacare, I've not only sued the administration, I did not set up an exchange. And he knows that I'm not for Obamacare, never have been. But here's what's interesting about Medicaid. You know who expanded Medicaid five times to try to help the folks and give them opportunity so that you could rise and get a job? President Ronald Reagan. Now, the fact of the matter is, we expanded to get people on their feet, and once they're on their feet, we are giving them the training and the efforts that they need to be able to get work and pull out of that situation. +p613 +aVThat's what we're doing in our state. +p614 +aVLet me \u2014 let's tell you... +p615 +aVMajor \u2014 Major, we can't \u2014 we've got to \u2014 look, I have got to correct the record. And the fact of the matter is, we went from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. We're up 400,000 jobs. Our credit is rock solid. And I don't know... +p616 +aVLook, the bottom line is the people of this \u2014 of this country and this state want to see everybody rise, and they want to see unity, and I don't want to get into all this fighting tonight, because people are frankly sick of the negative campaigning. +p617 +aVAnd I'm going to stay positive about what I want to do from the... +p618 +aVBefore I get to that, this is the ninth or 10th debate. What I've been watching here, this back and forth, and these attacks, some of them are personal. I think we're fixing to lose the election to Hillary Clinton if we don't stop this. I mean, the fact is \u2014 you know what? I would suggest, why don't we take off all the negative ads and all the negative comments down from television and let us just talk about what we're for, and let's sell that, and the Republican Party will be stronger as a result... +p619 +aV... First of all, I'm for sealing the border, O.K.? And then I'm for a guest worker program. People can come in, work and go back home. We haven't closed the border because special interests, I believe, blocked it. Then, we have 11 and a half million people here. If they have not committed a crime since they've been here, make them pay a fine and some back taxes, and give them a path to legalization, never to citizenship. It is not going to happen that we're going to run around and try to drag 11 and a half million people out of their homes. I'll tell you this. Within the first hundred days, I will send a plan like this to the Congress of the United States, and if I'm president, I'll bet you dollar to doughnuts right now, it will pass. That is a reasonable proposal that the people of this country, in my judgment, will support, and so will the bulk of the Congress of the United States. +p620 +aVYou know, John, I think all people are the same. Look, I did 106 town halls, and I've been doing them left and right here in South Carolina. The first thing we have to do is grow the economy, and I know the formula because I was chairman in Washington when we balanced the budget and created so many jobs, and the same that we've been able to do in Ohio. You need common-sense regulations so small business can flourish, you need lower taxes both on business and individuals, and you need a fiscal plan to be able to get ourselves in a situation where people can predict a little bit about the future when it comes to the fiscal issues. And when you have that formula, combined with work force that's trained, you can explode the economy and create many jobs. I have done it twice, and I want to go back to Washington and do it again. John, the thing is, is I think that there are people now, these blue-collar Democrats \u2014 my dad was a blue-collar Democrat \u2014 the Democratic Party has left them. When they're arguing about being socialists, they've left \u2014 they have lost those blue-collar Democrats. And you know what I think they get out of me \u2014 is my sense of what they get out of me, and it's embarrassment about campaigns, you brag about yourself. But I think I'm a uniter, I think people sense it. I think they know I have the experience, and that I'm a man that can give people hope and a sense that they have the opportunity rise. And I'll tell you, I love these blue-collar Democrats, because they're going to vote for us come next fall, promise you that. +p621 +aVWell, I want to thank the people of South Carolina. You've been fantastic. And look, what I want you to know is I'm going to send a lot of power, money and influence back to where we all live. But as I've traveled around South Carolina, I've noticed something. You know, it's that people have a sense that you're not going to wait on a president. You know, when I was a kid, we didn't wait on presidents to come to that little blue-collar town and fix things. You know, the Lord made all of us special. The Lord wants us to be connected. I believe we're part of a very big mosaic. And I'll send the power back. And whoever gets elected president here, hopefully will take care of the issue of jobs and wages and Social Security and the border. But the spirit of the America rests in all of us. It's in our guts. It's taking care of our children. It's taking care of the lady next door who just lost her husband. It's fixing the schools where we live and telling kids to stay off drugs. You see, I think what the Lord wants is for to us engage, and in America, the spirit of America doesn't come from the top down. The spirit of America rests in us. And I want to call on everyone in America to double down and realize that you were made special to heal this country and lift it for everyone. Thank you all very much. And I hope I can have your vote in South Carolina. +p622 +aVWell, we've got to to step up the pressure. And by the way, I've gotta say, after being here, every one of my 100 town hall meetings in New Hampshire were a lot more fun than what I saw here today, were so much more positive. Look, in terms of North Korea, Martha, we have to make sure that we intercept both the ships and their aircraft, because what they're trying to do is to proliferate this very dangerous material, along with the \u2014 with the technology, the instruments that can be used for mass destruction. That's what I worry about the most, frankly, is non-state actors, people who don't have a uniform, people don't have a country, who can spread this, who are not subject to the \u2014 to the mutual assured defense. In other words, you strike us, we strike you. Some of these radicals, they don't care about that. That's what I worry about, for my children, and for their children, going forward. So, we have to be very tough. And we should tell the Chinese, look, if you're not going to do this ballistic missile defense to the Koreans, ballistic missile defense to Japan \u2014 and by the way, we should impose the same kind of sanctions on North Korea that we imposed on Iran, because they're able to shift money. They're able to send money and receive money. We've gotta to be very tough on this. And frankly, I think we could have \u2014 I think we could have let the Japanese know that if you want to take action on that \u2014 on that missile that's rising, you want to take action \u2014 you will have our support, if that's what you think is the best thing to do. We cannot continue to be weak in the face of the North Koreans, or, frankly, in the entire rest of the world. Martha, this is \u2014 this is the \u2014 relates... +p623 +aVWell, you know, David, I \u2014 I've just spent a lot of time here in this state, as I mentioned earlier, and we have to have practical solutions, just like we were just talking about a few minutes ago on North Korea. Look, the situation is, we need to finish the border. It has to be completed. Just like we lock our doors at night, the country has to be able to lock its doors. And we can have a guest worker program, where people can come in and out in an orderly way. And then for the 11.5 million that are here, if they have not committed a crime since they've been here, I believe they ought to pay some back taxes, pay a fine, never get on the path to citizenship, but get legalization. It is not \u2014 I couldn't even imagine how we would even begin to think about taking a mom or a dad out of a house when they have not committed a crime since they've been here, leaving their children in the house. I mean, that is not, in my opinion, the kind of values that we believe in. And secondly, I think at the end of the day, that Americans would support a plan like this. I think Congress would pass a plan to finish the border, guest worker, pay a fine, a path to legalization, and not citizenship. And we've got to get this done. And I will tell you this, within the first 100 days that I am president, I will put that proposal to the Congress. And I will tell you, as a former Congressman, and an executive, in Ohio, I can promise you that I believe you'll get the votes to pass that, and we can move on with that issue and protect our border. That's what I think. +p624 +aVGood evening. +p625 +aVWell, first of all, look. As the New York Times said, he's certainly not a moderate, but he can bring people together to solve problems. The fact of the matter is I've cut taxes more than anybody in the country this year. I have balanced budgets, the federal budget, the state of Ohio budget, we're running a $2 billion dollar surplus, we're up 400,000 jobs, and in Washington we were able to have significant job growth whenever we balanced the budget of which I was the architect. But, here's the beauty of it, it's not just balancing a budget, it's about jobs. You know, when I was kid growing up in a neighborhood where Dad went home at night and said, "I lost my job today", it just killed the family. It just was a devastating effect. We have to have economic growth, but once we have economic growth I believe we have to reach out to people who live in the shadows. I believe we need to help the mentally ill, the drug addicted, the working poor. We need to help the developmentally disabled to rise, and we need to help our friends in the minority community develop entrepreneurship. In other words, in American, conservatism should mean not only that some rise with conservative principles, but everybody has a chance to rise regardless of who they are so they can live their God given purpose. That's what conservatism should be. +p626 +aVDavid? +p627 +aVLook, I'm \u2014 I'm not here \u2014 I like Chris. +p628 +aVLet \u2014 but let me \u2014 let me just tell you. First of all, we have the lowest number of state employees in 30 years. Secondly, we have grown government at the rate of inflation. And I went from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. And we've grown jobs by 400,000 \u2014 that's one of the fastest growing states in the country. Our pensions are secure and our credit is rock solid. Now, I've learned that, what makes things work, what gets the economy going, not just in Ohio, but in Washington \u2014 and it's three things. Common sense regulations, which we have, lower taxes, which we have, the lowest taxes, tax cuts in the country. And thirdly, a fiscal plan to balance the budget. When you go from $8 billion in the hole to $2 billion in the black, when you cut taxes by $5 billion and you grow over 400,000 jobs, that is a record that I can take to Washington, using the same formula that I used in Washington when I was part of the effort to balance the budget to give us a surplus and to create jobs. +p629 +aVThat's what I did and I'll do it again in the first 100 days. +p630 +aVWell, right now the deals \u2014 there's no leadership. I mean, a lot of the things that we're talking about here tonight, on the border, and so many of the things. What we should be doing on foreign policy, you know what the problem is, Mary Katharine? There's not a leader that gets somebody to rise up. You have to have a leader that can inspire, and actually some of what Donald was saying is true. Look, do you know how hard it was... +p631 +aV... to get the balance the federal budget balanced? You have to plead with people. To do what we've done in Ohio, you have to plead with people, then you go back down to Washington and do the same thing. You see, we have to remind people we're Americans before we're Republicans and Democrats, and when we wait, and when we delay what we end up doing, Mary Katharine, is we make the United States weaker. In fact, it's a foreign policy issue because people look at America not solving problems and they say what are they doing over there? So the point is you have to work with people. The problem with executive authority for the president, it's really bad news for this reason. Since he's given up on working with Congress, he thinks he can impose anything he wants. He's not a king. He's a president. An executive order should be used frankly in consolidation and with consulting with the leadership in the \u2014 in the Congress. I've done it in Ohio. I consult. I could use executive orders, but I don't trump the legislature, because if you do, you aggravate them, you anger them and then the long-term prospects get bleak. We have to solve problems in America by coming together, Republicans and Democrats, Americans first, party and ideology second \u2014 in the second back seat of this country. That's what we need to do. And we can do it. And we can do it. +p632 +aVMary Katherine, let me just say this to you. You must have an agenda that you are ready to move on in the first 100 days. Jeb is right. If you delay and you wait, the Washington operators will take you down. I can tell you this, in the first 100 days, I will have legislation to freeze federal regulations, have them reviewed by the vice president, reduce state taxes on individuals, reduce taxes on corporations, have a fiscal plan to balance the budget, get the border protected and begin to fix Social Security in the first 100 days. So, anybody who is here tonight, if I get elected president, head out tomorrow and buy a seat belt, because there's going to be so much happening in the first 100 days, it's going to make your head spin. We're going to move America forward. I promise you. We're going to move us forward. +p633 +aVJeb mentioned me. Time for me to go again. +p634 +aVHe says he didn't mention me the second time. I thought I heard it, Jeb. No. I'm just kidding. Thank you all very much for listening and being patient with all of us tonight. Thank you. +p635 +aVDavid, David... +p636 +aVI wanted \u2014 I wanted to say, look, this \u2014 there can be a win-win here. I have formed a collaborative between police and community leaders because people have to respect law enforcement. A family doesn't want dad or mom going home in a box. And for our community leaders, many of them think the system not only works \u2014 not only doesn't work for them, but it works against them. And I created a big collaborative in Ohio made up of law enforcement, community leaders, the head of my public safety and a former Democrat, liberal Senate senator Nina Turner, run it. They got together, they made recommendations on recruiting, on hiring, on the use of deadly force and what we're about to do is to bring community and police together so we can have a win-win. We need more win-wins in America and we don't have to pick one over another divide. We love the police, but we've got to be responsible to the people in the community. We have to do all of that. +p637 +aVJosh? +p638 +aVJosh, I mean, clearly, when a veteran comes home, they should get health care anywhere they want to go. In our state, which is what we should do in the country, you know, if they drive a truck from Kabul to Kandahar in Afghanistan, we say, you can drive a truck from Columbus to Cleveland, and you don't have to go get a license. We're going to hand you one. And if you've got expertise in the military, we're going to give you college credit or community college credit for the things that you did for our country. And in addition to that, I'll tell you, one of the biggest things I think has to be done \u2014 and I would do it as president \u2014 the Pentagon has got to work with the returning soldier, sailor, along with the family, and we \u2014 they're the most valuable employees in the country. I call them golden employees. Everybody wants to hire a veteran. But there is a disconnect between the job openings and the veteran when the veteran comes back. The veteran is a leader. The veteran is strong. The veteran is drug free. There should be no unemployment among veterans. And if the Pentagon will work with the veterans' services agencies all across this country, Josh, we can get people jobs and we can get them jobs quickly, get them their health care......get them their college education. Let's lift them. They're the greatest people defending the United States of America and we need to take care of them, and we will. We will. +p639 +aVCarolina's going to win that one. I hate to say it. But they're going to win that one. +p640 +aVWell, folks, I've done now over 100 town hall meetings and I've loved every second of it. It has been the greatest thing in the world. And I want you to know that you've changed me, because I've listened to your stories and I've had your hugs and I've seen your tears, and I've seen you walk away and say, I now have hope. You know, I've had a conservative message, but a positive message \u2014 not just a conservative message, but a positive message about how we can bring people together, how we can restore America's strength, lift everyone. New Hampshire, please give me a chance to carry this message forward to the United States of America. And then, I will come back. Thank you, loved it. And God bless you. +p641 +asVCRUZ +p642 +(lp643 +VWell, we have 80 years of precedent of not confirming Supreme Court justices in an election year. And let me say, Justice Scalia... +p644 +aVEighty years of not confirming. For example, L.B.J. nominated Abe Fortas. Fortas did not get confirmed. He was defeated. +p645 +aVNo, Kennedy was confirmed in '87... +p646 +aVHe was appointed in... +p647 +aVIn this case it's both. But if I could answer the question... +p648 +aVJustice Scalia was a legal giant. He was somebody that I knew for 20 years. He was a brilliant man. He was faithful to the Constitution. He changed the arc of American legal history. And I'll tell you, his passing tonight, our prayers are with his family, with his wife, Maureen, who he adored, his nine children, his 36 grandkids. But it underscores the stakes of this election. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that will strike down every restriction on abortion adopted by the states. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that will reverse the Heller decision, one of Justice Scalia's seminal decisions, that upheld the Second Amendment right to keep and to bear arms. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that would undermine the religious liberty of millions of Americans \u2014 and the stakes of this election, for this year, for the Senate, the Senate needs to stand strong and say, "We're not going to give up the U.S. Supreme Court for a generation by allowing Barack Obama to make one more liberal appointee." And then for the state of South Carolina, one of the most important judgments for the men and women of South Carolina to make is who on this stage has the background, the principle, the character, the judgment and the strength of resolve to nominate and confirm principled constitutionalists to the court? That will be what I will do if I'm elected president. +p649 +aVWell, we need to focus on what the objective is, you know? Your question about the first three questions you would ask in this Situation Room. I think it is a problem if the president, commander in chief, we've elected does not have the experience and background to understand the threats facing this country coming in on Day 1. If you look at the threats facing this country, the single gravest threat, national security threat, is the threat of a nuclear Iran. That's why I've pledged on Day 1 to rip to shreds this Iranian nuclear deal, and anyone that thinks you can negotiate Khamenei does not understand the nature of Khamenei. When it comes to +p650 +aVWe have Kurds in both Iraq and Syria. They are fighting +p651 +aVWell, let me say it at the outset that everyone here understands \u2014 everyone understands that how \u2014 that the middle class has been left behind in the last seven years of the Obama economy, and we've got to bring jobs back. We've got to get people back to work. We've got to get wages going up again. We've got to get people moving from part-time work to full-time work. We all agree on that, but it's not going to be solved with magic pixie dust. It's just going to be solved by declaring into the air, "Let there be jobs." We actually have to understand the principles that made America great in the first place. Now, where do you get economic growth? If you look at cause and effect over our nation's history, every time we lessen the burden of Washington on small-business owners, on job creators, we see incredible economic growth. You do that through tax reform and regulatory reform. My tax plan \u2014 typical family of four, first $36,000 you earn, you pay nothing in taxes \u2014 no income taxes, no payroll taxes, no nothing. Above 10 percent, everyone pays the same simple, flat 10 percent income rate. It's flat and fair. You can fill out your taxes on a postcard, and we abolish the I.R.S. If you want to see the postcard, I've got it on my website. +p652 +aVNow, Major, the business flat tax that is in my tax plan is not a VAT. A VAT in Europe is a sales tax. The business flat tax is not a sales tax, it is a tax of 16 percent opposed fairly and evenly across the board on all business. One of the things that's critical is we're doing that in conjunction with abolishing the corporate income tax, with abolishing the Obamacare taxes, with abolishing the payroll taxes, which are the biggest taxes paid by most working Americans, and with abolishing the death tax, which is cruel and unfair. And you asked about economic growth \u2014 the nonpartisan Tax Foundation estimated a simple flat tax that would produce 4.9 million new jobs, it would increase capital investment by 44 percent and would lift everyone's income by double digits. That's how you turn the country around, not just hoping and praying for it, but implementing policies that work. +p653 +aVWell, you know, your question highlights a sharp difference on immigration on this stage. You know, in a Republican primary, everyone talks tough on immigration. Everyone is against illegal immigration in a Republican primary. But as voters, we've been burned over and over again by people that give us a great campaign speech and they don't walk the walk. There are sharp differences on amnesty. If you look at the folks on this stage, when Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer and establishment Republicans were leading the fight to pass a massive amnesty plan, I stood with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and the American people and led the fight to defeat that amnesty plan. +p654 +aVNow, that moment... +p655 +aVThat moment was what Reagan would call "a time for choosing." When it comes to deciding which side of the line you're on, the Rubio-Schumer amnesty plan......apparently supported by the donor class, which is why Washington supported it. The Rubio-Schumer amnesty plan passed the Senate, and it was on the verge of passing the House. House leadership intended to take it up and pass it with the Democrats overruling most of the Republicans. And the question for anyone on illegal immigration is, where were you in that fight? Where did you stand? You are right. There is a difference between Senator Rubio and me on this question. +p656 +aVMajor, I get a response to that. +p657 +aVYou know, the lines are very, very clear. Marco right now supports citizenship for 12 million people here illegally. I oppose citizenship. Marco stood on the debate stage and said that. But I would note not only that \u2014 Marco has a long record when it comes to amnesty. In the state of Florida, as speaker of the house, he supported in-state tuition for illegal immigrants. In addition to that, Marco went on Univision in Spanish and said he would not rescind President Obama's illegal executive amnesty on his first day in office. I have promised to rescind every single illegal executive action, including that one. And on the question... +p658 +aV. +p659 +aVThat is simply... +p660 +aVThat is absolutely false. What he said is knowingly false. And I would note, if you want to assess \u2014 if you want to assess... +p661 +aV... who is telling the truth... If you want to assess who is telling the truth......then you should look to Jeff Sessions, who said, without Ted Cruz the Rubio-Schumer amnesty bill would have passed, and Ted was responsible. You should look to Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin, that said... +p662 +aVI think it is a very important question because the people who have been hurt the most in the Obama economy had been the most vulnerable. It's been young people. It's been Hispanics. It's been African-Americans. It's been single moms. We have the lowest percentage of Americans working today in any year since 1977. And the sad reality is big government, massive taxes, massive regulation, doesn't work. What we need to do instead is bring back booming economic growth, let \u2014 small businesses are the heart of the economy. Two-thirds of all new jobs come from small businesses. If we want to lift people out of poverty \u2014 you know, I think of these issues from the perspective of my dad. My dad fled Cuba in 1957. He was just 18. He couldn't speak English. He had nothing. He had $100 in his underwear. And he washed dishes making 50 cents an hour and paid his way through school. Today, my dad is a pastor. He travels the country preaching the gospel. Now, I think about all of these issues. How would it impact my dad when he was washing dishes? If we had Obamacare in place right now, the odds are very high my father would have been laid off, because it's teenaged kids like my dad who have gotten laid off. If he didn't get laid off, the odds are high he would have had his hours forcibly reduced to 28, 29 hours a week. We need to lift the burdens on small businesses so you have jobs, and we need welfare reform that gets people off of welfare and back to work. +p663 +aVYou know, flexibility is a good thing, but it shouldn't \u2014 you shouldn't be flexible on core principles. I like Donald, he is an amazing entertainer, but his policies for most of his life... +p664 +aVFor most of his life, his policies have been very, very liberal. For most of his life, he has described himself as very pro- choice and as a supporter of partial birth abortion. Right now, today, as a candidate, he supports federal taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood. I disagree with him on that. That's a matter of principle, and I'll tell you... +p665 +aVDon, I need to go on... +p666 +aVI will say, it is fairly remarkable to see Donald defending Ben after he called, "pathological," and compared him to a child molester. Both of which were offensive and wrong. But let me say this \u2014 you notice Donald didn't disagree with the substance that he supports taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood. And Donald has this weird pattern, when you point to his own record, he screams, "Liar, liar, liar." You want to go... +p667 +aVYou want to go... +p668 +aVIf you want to watch the video, go to our website at Tedcruz.org. +p669 +aVYou can see it out of Donald's own mouth. +p670 +aVYou supported it when we were battling over defunding Planned Parenthood. You went on... +p671 +aVYou said, "Planned Parenthood does wonderful things and we should not defund it." +p672 +aVSo I'll tell you what... +p673 +aVYou see, you and I... +p674 +aVDon, the reasoned principle matters. The reasoned principle matters, sadly was illustrated by the first questions today. The next president is going to appoint one, two, three, four Supreme Court justices. If Donald Trump is president, he will appoint liberals. If Donald Trump is president, your Second Amendment will gone... +p675 +aVYou know how I know that? +p676 +aVI did not nominate John Roberts. I would not have nominated John Roberts. +p677 +aVI supported... +p678 +aVYou need to learn to not interrupt people. +p679 +aVDonald, adults learn... +p680 +aVAdults learn not to interrupt people. +p681 +aVI did not nominate him. I would not have nominated him. I would've nominated my former boss Liberman, who was Justice Scalia's first law clerk. And you know how I know that Donald's Supreme Court justices will be liberals? Because his entire life, he support liberals from Jimmy Carter, to Hillary Clinton, to John Kerry. In 2004, he contributed to John Kerry. Nobody who cares about judges would contribute to John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid. +p682 +aVThat's what Donald Trump does. +p683 +aVSouth Carolina, you have a critical choice to make. Our country literally hangs in the balance. Do you want another Washington deal maker who will do business as usual, cut deals with the Democrats, grow government, grow debt and give up our fundamental liberties? Or do you want a conservative, a proven conservative that will stand and fight with you each and every day? Listen, repealing Obamacare is not going to be easy. Passing a simple flat tax that abolishes the I.R.S. is not going to be easy, but if we stand with the American people, we can do it. And today, we saw just how great the stakes are. Two branches of government hang in the balance. Not just the presidency but the Supreme Court. If we get this wrong, if we nominate the wrong candidates, the Second Amendment, life, marriage, religious liberty \u2014 every one of those hangs in the balance. My little girls are here. I don't want to look my daughters in the eyes and say, "We lost their liberties." Who do you know will defend the Constitution and Bill of Rights? And as a commander in chief, who do you know will stand up to our enemies as the clam, steady, deliberate, strength to defeat our enemies, to secure our borders and to keep America safe. +p684 +aVWell, you know, David, the assessment the voters are making here in New Hampshire and across the country is they are evaluating each and every one of us. They are looking to our experience. They are looking to our knowledge. They are looking to our temperament and judgment. They are looking to our clarity of vision and our strength of resolve. The world is getting much more dangerous. We've had seven years with Barack Obama in the oval office, a commander-in-chief that is unwilling even to acknowledge the enemy we're facing. This is a president who, in the wake of Paris, in the wake of San Bernardino, will not even use the words radical Islamic terrorism, much less focus on defeating the enemy. I am convinced every individual standing on this stage, would make a much better commander-in-chief than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders. And the primary voters are making the assessment for each of us, who is best prepared to keep this country safe, to rebuild the military, to rebuild our Navy, our Air Force, our Army, our Marines, and to ensure that we keep America safe. +p685 +aVI think that is an assessment the voters are going to make. And they are going to make it of each and everyone of us. They are going to assess who is level-headed, who has clear vision, who has judgment, who can confront our enemies, who can confront the threats we face in this country, and who can have the judgment when to engage and when not to engage \u2014 both are incredibly important for a commander-in-chief, knowing how to go after our enemies. In the case of Iran, for example, who has the clarity of vision to understand that the Ayatollah Khamenei, when he chants, "Death to America," he means it. We need a president with the judgment and resolve to keep this country safe from radical Islamic terrorists. +p686 +aVBen is a good and honorable man and Ben and Candy have become friends. He has an amazing life story that has inspired millions, including me. When this transpired, I apologized to him then and I do so now. Ben, I'm sorry. Let me tell you the facts of what occurred for those who are interested in knowing. On Monday night, about 6:30 p.m., CNN reported that Ben was not going from Iowa to New Hampshire or South Carolina. Rather, he was, quote, "Taking a break from campaigning." They reported that on television, CNN's political anchors, Jake Tapper and Dana Bash and Wolf Blitzer, said it was highly unusual and highly significant. My political team saw CNN's report breaking news and they forwarded that news to our volunteers, it was being covered on live television. Now, at the time, I was at the caucuses, I was getting ready to speak at the caucuses just like Ben was, just like everyone else was. I knew nothing about this. A couple hours later, I found out about it. I was told that Ben was unhappy. I called him that evening because I respect him very, very highly. I didn't reach him that evening. I reached him the next day and apologized. He asked me then, he said, Ted, would you make this apologize in public? I said, yes, I will. And I did so. I regret that subsequently, CNN reported on that \u2014 they didn't correct that story until 9:15 that night. So from 6:30 p.m. to 9:15, that's what CNN was reporting. Subsequent to that initial report, Ben's campaign put out a statement saying that he was not suspending his campaign. I wish that our campaign staff had forwarded that statement. They were unaware of it, I wish that they had, that's why I apologized. +p687 +aVWell, I would note, initially the fact that we're seeing the launch, and we're seeing the launch from a nuclear North Korea is the direct result of the failures of the first Clinton administration. The Clinton administration led the world in relaxing sanctions against North Korea. Billions of dollars flowed into North Korea in exchange for promises not to build nuclear weapons. They took those billions and built nuclear weapons. And, I would note also the lead negotiator in that failed North Korea sanctions deal was a woman named Wendy Sherman who Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton promptly recruited to come back to be the lead negotiator with Iran. So, what we are seeing with North Korea is foreshadowing of where we will be with Iran. With respect to North Korea and what we should do now, one of the first things we should do is expand our missile defense capacity. We ought to put missile defense interceptors in South Korea. South Korea wants them. One of the real risks of this launch, North Korea wants to launch a satellite, and one of the greatest risks of the satellite is they would place a nuclear device in the satellite. As it would orbit around the Earth, and as it got over the United States they would detonate that nuclear weapon and set of what's called an EMP, and electromagnetic pulse which could take down the entire electrical grid on the Eastern seaboard, potentially killing millions. We need to harden the grid to defend ourselves, and we need missile defense to protect ourselves against North Korea. +p688 +aVYou know, at this point I'm not going to speculate on that without the intelligence briefing that any Commander in Chief would have, knowing what exactly is there. One of the real problems... +p689 +aV... Actually, with respect, I have gotten the intelligence briefings on the Mid-East. Those have been going on for many years. I haven't gotten the intelligence briefing tonight on what North Korea's doing because I'm here in new Hampshire. When you're responding to an immediate incident, you need to know the intelligence of what's occurring. But what I was saying \u2014 look, it is qualitatively different dealing with a country once they have nuclear weapons. It's why you prevent them from getting nuclear weapons in the first place \u2014 because your hands are somewhat tied once they have nukes. It's why this Iranian nuclear deal is so catastrophic, and it's why I've pledged, on the very first day in office, to rip to shreds this Iranian nuclear deal so we're not sitting here in five years, wondering what to do about an Iranian missile launch when they have nuclear weapons. The stakes are too high for that. +p690 +aVSo, in terms of a practical solution, I've laid out the most detailed plan for solving illegal immigration. It's 11 pages, single-spaced, chapter and verse. It's on our website, tedcruz.org. In short, we're going to do, we're going to build a wall. We're going to triple the border patrol. We're going to increase \u2014 and actually, since Donald enjoyed that, I will simply say, I've got somebody in mind to build it. We're going to increase four-fold, the fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft, so that you have technology monitoring an attempted incursion to direct the boots on the ground where they're occurring. We're going to put in place a strong e-verify system in the workplace, so you can't get a job without proving you are here legally. We'll put in place a biometric exit-entry system on visas, because 40 percent of illegal immigration comes not over the border illegally, but people coming on visas and overstaying. We will end sanctuary cities by cutting off taxpayer dollars to any jurisdiction that defies federal immigration law. And we will end welfare benefits for those here illegally. +p691 +aVWhat you do is, you enforce the law. You know, under the Constitution, the president has an obligation to, quote, "Take care that the laws be faithfully executed." Federal immigration law provides, if someone is here illegally and is apprehended, they are to be deported. We saw just this past week the head of the border patrol union testify before Congress that President Obama had given the order to the border patrol to stand down, not to enforce the law. That is wrong. I will enforce the law, and for everyone who says, you can't possibly do that, I would note that in eight years, Bill Clinton deported 12 million people. In eight years, George W. Bush deported 10 million people. Enforcing the law \u2014 we can do it. What is missing is the political will. And when they were deporting the people, the border wasn't secure, so they'd come right back. Once you secure the border, enforcing the law will solve this problem and that will benefit American workers. +p692 +aVGood evening. +p693 +aVWell, let me take two different parts of that. Let me start with socialized medicine. Socialized medicine is a disaster. It does not work. If you look at the countries that have imposed socialized medicine, that have put the government in charge of providing medicine, what inevitably happens is rationing. You have a scarcity of doctors. You have rationing. And that means the elderly are told, we're going to ration a hip replacement, we're going to ration a knee replacement. We're going to ration end- of-life care. We're right now heading into a medical system with about a 90,000-doctor shortage in America and socialized medicine; whether proposed by the Democrats or proposed by a Republican would hurt the people of this country. What should we do on health care? If I'm elected president, we will repeal every word of Obamacare. And once we do that, we will adopt common sense reforms, number one, we'll allow people to purchase health insurance across state lines that will drive down prices and expand the availability of low cost catastrophic insurance. We'll expand health savings accounts; and we will de-link health insurance from employment so that you don't lose your health insurance when you lose your job, and that way health insurance can be personal, portable and affordable and we keep government from getting in between us and our doctors. HAM: Dr. Carson, you have some experience with this matter. In the past, you have said that Obamacare should be replaced before it's repealed. How and why? +p694 +aVWell, sure. It starts with a commander-in-chief that sets the objective. And the objective has to be utterly and completely destroying +p695 +aVMartha, I will tell you, I have visited with active duty military, with veterans over and over and over again in town halls all over the state of New Hampshire. What we are doing to our sons and daughters, it is immoral. We are sending them into fight with their arms tied behind their back. They cannot defend themselves. And it is wrong. And I will tell you this. Look. America has always been reluctant to use military force. It's the last step we take. But if and when we use it when it comes to defeating +p696 +aVAbsolutely, yes. +p697 +aVWell, under the definition of torture, no, it's not. Under the law, torture is excruciating pain that is equivalent to losing organs and systems, so under the definition of torture, it is not. It is enhanced interrogation, it is vigorous interrogation, but it does not meet the generally recognized definition of torture. +p698 +aVI would not bring it back in any sort of widespread use. And indeed, I joined with Senator McCain in legislation that would prohibit line officers from employing it because I think bad things happen when enhanced interrogation is employed at lower levels. But when it comes to keeping this country safe, the commander in chief has inherent constitutional authority to keep this country safe. And so, if it were necessary to, say, prevent a city from facing an imminent terrorist attack, you can rest assured that as commander in chief, I would use whatever enhanced interrogation methods we could to keep this country safe. +p699 +aVWell, thank you for that question. You know, there are three avenues of presidential authority to change the direction of this country. The first is executive power, the second is foreign policy, and the third is legislation. Executive power, as we all know, has been the preferred vehicle of President Obama, abusing his authority, abusing his constitutional authority. Now, the silver lining of that is everything done with executive power can be undone with executive power, so I have pledged on day one I will rescind every single illegal and unconstitutional executive action Barack Obama has done. That means on day one his efforts to restrict the Second Amendment go away with the strike of a pen. That means on day one his illegal executive amnesty goes away with the strike of a pen. The reason I can end Common Core at the federal level is because Obama is abusing executive power using Race to the Top funds in the Department of Education to force it on the states. That's one avenue. The second avenue of change is foreign policy, and foreign policy can change the fastest. It's worth remembering that Iran released our hostages the day Reagan......was sworn in. And, the third is legislation, and that can only be done with the people behind you, which is why the two big legislative initiatives I'm campaigning on are repealing Obamacare, and adopting a simple flat tax to abolish the IRS. HAM: Mr. Trump, Senator Cruz is known for opposing deals, you literally wrote the book on making them. Senator Cruz has mentioned that on the trail. What would you say to those conservatives that are concerned that a deal maker will just perpetuate the same deals in Washington and the way that things run now ... +p700 +aVWell, Josh, as you noted, this is a problem that, for me, I understand first-hand. My older sister, Myriam, who was my half- sister, struggled her whole life with drug and alcohol addiction. My father and her mom divorced when she was a little girl and she was angry her whole life, and she ended up marrying a man who had been in and out of jail. She then became a single mom and she herself went to jail several times and she ended up spending some time in a crack house. I still remember my father and me driving up to get Myriam out of that crack house to try to convince her she needed to be a mom to \u2014 to my nephew Joey. She wasn't willing to listen. She was not willing to change the path she was on. She was angry. I was \u2014 had just gotten my first job coming out of law school. I took a $20,000 loan on a credit card to put my nephew, Joey, in Valley Forge Military Academy \u2014 he was in sixth grade at the time, to pay his way through that. And about five, six years ago, Miriam died of an overdose. It was \u2014 the coroner ruled it accidental. We don't know. She went to one night, had taken too many pills, and Joey walked in and found her dead. This is an absolute epidemic. We need leadership to solve it. Solving it has to occur at the state and local level with programs like A.A., and counseling, and churches and charities. But it also has to be securing the borders, because you have got Mexican cartels that are smuggling vast amounts of heroin into this country. We know how to secure the borders. What is missing is the political will to do it. And as president, I will secure the border, we will end this deluge of drugs that is flowing over our southern border and that is killing Americans across this country. +p701 +aVWell, look, I recognize it is an agonizing experience when anyone is facing a loved \u2014 loved member who's been kidnapped. But at the same time, putting in place legal regimes that encourage the payment of ransom has the effect of putting a bounty on other Americans. There is a reason it has been longstanding U.S. policy that we don't negotiate with terrorists, we don't pay ransoms. If you look at what President Obama has done over and over again, whether it was the James Bergdahl deal, which was absolutely shameful, releasing five senior Taliban terrorists to bring Bergdahl back, or whether it was this recent deal with Iran, where, again, up to 21 terrorists or potential terrorists were \u2014 were released or not prosecuted in order to bring back four Americans, what that does \u2014 does is it effectively puts a bounty on American servicemen and women serving abroad, on American tourists traveling abroad. And the proper approach......is a president and commander in chief that defends this country and that goes after \u2014 goes after the terrorists, rather than showing them weakness and encouraging them to target more Americans. +p702 +aVWith an eye to February 20th, Carolina. +p703 +aVYou know, every candidate running for president says they will stand up to Washington. The natural follow up question is when have you ever stood up to Washington. Last week we saw a powerful illustration of that. I campaigned in the state of Iowa four-square against the ethanol mandate, something everyone said was political suicide. My two leading competitors both attacked me for it. The governor of the state said vote for anyone but Cruz, and lobbyists spent millions of dollars in attack ads, but I stood and said we should have no mandates, a level playing field, and the people of Iowa put country and our children above the cronyism and corporate welfare...... We can turn this country around if we get back to the Constitution. And, I will always stand with the American people against the bipartisan corruption of Washington. +p704 +asVREGAN +p705 +(lp706 +VIn Tuesday's State of the Union Address, the president said that our economy is strong. He cited the significant decline we've seen in unemployment rate and the millions of jobs that have been created. What is your assessment of the economy right now? And I would like to hear from all of you on this one, beginning with Ms. Fiorina. +p707 +aVThank you Governor Huckabee. Senator Santorum? +p708 +aVThank you. Well, since we've been talking about the Middle East, Senator Santorum, conflicts between Saudi Arabia and Iran have certainly escalated, amid accusations that Saudi Arabia bombed the Iranian Embassy in Yemen after the Saudi Embassy in Tehran was attacked. As we confront an increasingly unstable Middle East, how will you, as president, navigate this administration's promises to Iran while standing by our historic allies in the region? +p709 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p710 +aVGovernor Huckabee, if I could just follow-up with that. Do we need to be in Afghanistan? +p711 +aVThank you Governor Huckabee. Ms. Fiorina, nearly 600 women say they were attacked in a German city on New Year's Eve by men of Arab or North African descent and 45 percent of those alleged attacks were sexual assaults. Twenty-two of those 32 men arrested so far are asylum-seekers. Are you worried about similar problems in the United States? +p712 +aVI want to stay with you on this. The world shares a common enemy right now in the way of +p713 +aVMs. Fiorina, thank you. +p714 +aVWelcome back, everyone, to the Republican presidential debate. On to the next round of questions \u2014 Sandra. +p715 +aVMs. Fiorina, the president has just issued an executive order to expand the gun laws and background checks. And none of you on stage agree with this. But recent polls show the majority of Americans are in favor of universal background checks. +p716 +aVIt's the poll data. +p717 +aVSo tell me......why, in your view, is the president's proposal a problem? +p718 +aVMs. Fiorina, you've said that was when you were CEO of HP, you actually worked with the government. +p719 +aV\u2014 to try and combat some of these terrorist threats. +p720 +aVWhat did you do? +p721 +aVMs. Fiorina, thank you. +p722 +aVGovernor Huckabee, an American in San Bernardino murdered 14 people while terrorists with Belgian and French passports murdered 130 people. Were facing a threat within our borders, and from outside the United States. Those European terrorists, they could have come here at any time given that we have a visa waiver program that enables people to travel back and forth. It exists within those countries, and 36 others. In countries around the world, including many in Europe, cannot ensure that their citizens are not jihadists, why are we waiving the visa requirement at all? +p723 +aVIf you get the visa waiver program, does that shut down international commerce? +p724 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p725 +aVSenator Santorum, thank you. +p726 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p727 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from North Charleston. We want to jump right back in. Sandra is kicking it off. +p728 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you know it used to be you could graduate from high school and get a pretty good job at the local factory, enough to take care of your family and yourself. Those days seem to be gone. It's pretty hard to do that nowadays. Businesses are increasingly turning to automation to increase their productivity levels. It's happening right here, in fact, at the Boeing factory in North Charleston. The president says automation threatens workers' ability to get higher wages. Do you agree with that? And if so, do you have a solution? +p729 +aVThank you very much, Governor Huckabee. Senator Santorum, 40% of babies born today are born to single moms. That's twice as high as reported back in 1980, and it's 11 times as high as in 1940. Studies show that children are always better off economically, most often \u2014 and emotionally, with two parents in a household. From a policy perspective, should the government be doing anything to encourage family formation? +p730 +aVThank you. +p731 +aVCarly Fiorina? +p732 +aVThank you to all the candidates. That does it, everyone for the first debate right here in North Charleston. +p733 +asVDICKERSON +p734 +(lp735 +VGood evening. I'm John Dickerson. This holiday weekend, as America honors our first president, we're about to hear from six men who hope to be the 45th. The candidates for the Republican nomination are here in South Carolina for their ninth debate, one week before this state holds the first-in-the-South primary. George Washington wrote that the truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains taken to bring it to light. We hope to shed some light on the candidates' positions tonight to help voters make up their minds. So gentlemen, please join us on stage. With us tonight \u2014 with us tonight are retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson of Florida, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Businessman Donald Trump of New York. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Former Governor Jeb Bush of Florida. And Governor John Kasich of Ohio. Now, as most of you have heard by now, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died today at the age of 79. He was the longest-serving member of the court, appointed by President Reagan in 1986. Justice Scalia was the court's leading conservative, and even those who disagreed with his opinions regarded him as a brilliant legal scholar. Please join us and the candidates on our stage in a moment of silence for Justice Antonin Scalia. Thank you. We will talk to the candidates about Justice Scalia and the road ahead when the debate begins in a moment. +p736 +aVBefore we get started, candidates, here are the rules. When we ask you a question, you will have one minute to answer, and 30 seconds more if we ask a follow-up. If you're attacked by another candidate, you get 30 seconds to respond. And here's how we keep time. After we ask a question, you'll get a green light. The yellow light means you have 30 seconds left to finish your answer, and when time is up, the light turns red. That means please stop talking. If you keep talking, you'll hear this. You don't want to hear that. Joining me in the questioning tonight, my CBS News colleague, chief White House correspondent Major Garrett, and Kimberley Strassel, who is on the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal. And you can participate in the debate through our partnership with Twitter. Tweet us your questions and comments using the hashtag "# +p737 +aVSo, just to be clear on this, Mr. Trump, you're O.K. with the president nominating somebody ... +p738 +aVGovernor Kasich, I want to get your thoughts on this. Justice Scalia was a real believer, obviously, in the strict word of the Constitution. Now, Harry Reid says that a failure to fill his vacancy would be, quote, "shameful abdication of one of the Senate's most essential constitutional responsibilities." Where do you come down on this? +p739 +aVDr. Carson. Dr. Carson, you, like others, put out a statement after the death was announced, and you said the president should delay. You've written a book on the Constitution recently. What does the Constitution say about whose duty it is here to act in this kind of a situation? +p740 +aVSenator Rubio, you're a... Senator Rubio, you're a lawyer. Quickly, can you address the issue of whether the Constitution tells us who has the power to appoint Supreme Court justices? And then, also, the Senate Republicans last year floated an idea of removing the filibuster for Senate \u2014 excuse me, for Supreme Court nominations. You seemed open to that. What's your feeling on that now? +p741 +aVQuickly, though, on this question... Very quickly, Senator, on this specific question, though. You were once in favor of dropping the threshold... +p742 +aV... majority \u2014 you were never in favor of that? +p743 +aVO.K. Thank you, Senator. Governor Bush, I would like to ask you, conservatives for a long time have felt like that their Republican presidents have picked justices that didn't turn out to be real conservatives. +p744 +aVBernie Sanders has said he would have a litmus test. He would make sure that he appointed a justice who was going to overturn Citizens United. If they can have a litmus test for a nominee, what about you? Would you have a litmus test for a nominee? And what would it be? +p745 +aVRight, so, Senator Cruz, the Constitution... So, Senator Cruz, the Constitution says the president "shall appoint with advice and consent from the Senate," just to clear that up. So he has the constitutional power. But you don't think he should. Where do you set that date if you're president? Does it begin in election year, in December, November, September? And once you set the date, when you're president, will you abide by that date? +p746 +aVJust can I \u2014 I'm sorry to interrupt, were any appointed in an election year, or is that just there were 80 years... +p747 +aVBut Kennedy was confirmed in '88. +p748 +aVHe was appointed in '87. +p749 +aV... confirmed in '88. That's the question, is it appointing or confirming, what's the difference? +p750 +aVSorry, I just want to get the facts straight for the audience. But I apologize. +p751 +aVAll right. Thank you, Senator Cruz. All right, we're going to move on to national security here, and we are going to \u2014 I want to read a quote from Secretary Robert Gates, former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who served for eight year \u2014 under eight presidents. And this is what he said about Republican candidates, quote, "Part of the concern that I have with the campaign is that the solutions being offered are so simplistic and so at odds with the way the world really works." So, in that spirit, we're going to work tonight to be more specific. Mr. Trump, I want to start with you. You have said as president, you'll get up to speed very quickly. You'll know more quickly as president than any of the experts. So, you've been elected president. It's your first day in the Situation Room. What three questions do you ask your national security experts about the world? +p752 +aVSenator Rubio \u2014 just 30 seconds on this question, Senator Rubio. Are those the questions you would ask? +p753 +aVLet me ask you a follow-up, a full, proper question, then. Violent extremists are operating or active in 40 countries. Some 80 countries are in different degrees of instability. And so, that's just the crises overseas. Barack Obama walked into an economic collapse when he came into office. We face international health crises, from Ebola to Zika. So, there is a lot of opportunity for crisis, as you have talked about. What would you point to in your past to show voters that you've been in a crisis and that you've been tested when that inevitable crisis comes when you're president? +p754 +aVDr. Carson, I want to ask you a question... Dr. Carson, you said you've had more 2 a.m. \u2014 2 a.m. phone calls than anybody up on this stage. But when those 2 a.m. phone calls came, you operated on a foundation of all of that amazing medical work that you did, all of that learning. So if you were to be president, though, you wouldn't have the political foundation that hones those instincts when the 2 a.m. phone call comes. So isn't that a liability? +p755 +aVGovernor Kasich, Russia is being credited......Russia is being credited with bombing U.S.-backed rebels on behalf of Assad in Aleppo and Syria. They've also moved into the Crimea, eastern Ukraine. You've said you want to punch them in the nose. What does that mean? What are you going to do? +p756 +aVGovernor......Governor Bush. +p757 +aVYou said defeating +p758 +aVMr. Trump, you're......Mr. Trump, you were mentioned here. You did say that you could get along very well with Vladimir Putin. You did at one point say let Russia take care of +p759 +aV... All right... +p760 +aV... All right, Governor Bush, please respond. +p761 +aV... O.K., settle... +p762 +aV... All right, Mr. Trump, all right... +p763 +aVGentleman, I think we're going to leave that there. I've got a question for Senator... +p764 +aV... All right, all right, gentlemen, gentlemen, let's leave it there so I can ask a question of Senator Cruz, who's also running for president. Senator Cruz, you talked about the first Gulf War as being a kind of model for your focused and determined effort to go after +p765 +aVVery quickly, 30-second follow-up. You've said that, essentially, the Kurds would be the American ground forces in there. The criticism that experts have on that is that the Kurds only can work within their territory. If they take larger amounts of territory, you have an ethnic war with the Arabs. So the Kurds can't really do as much as you seem to be putting on their backs. +p766 +aVAll right. Mr. Trump......On Monday, George W. Bush will campaign in South Carolina for his brother. As you've said tonight, and you've often said, the Iraq war and your opposition to it was a sign of your good judgment. In 2008, in an interview with Wolf Blitzer, talking about President George W. Bush's conduct of the war, you said you were surprised that Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi didn't try to impeach him. You said, quote: "Which, personally, I think would have been a wonderful thing." When you were asked what you meant by that and you said: "For the war, for the war, he lied, he got us into the war with lies." Do you still believe President Bush should have been impeached? +p767 +aVSo... +p768 +aVBut so I'm going to \u2014 so you still think he should be impeached? +p769 +aVAll right. O.K. All right. Governor Bush \u2014 when a member on the stage's brother gets attacked... +p770 +aV... the brother gets to respond. +p771 +aVGovernor Kasich, would you weigh in on......Governor Kasich, please weigh in. +p772 +aVWhy is it nuts? Talk about it. Give us your sense of... +p773 +aVThirty seconds, Senator Rubio. +p774 +aVAll right, Dr. Carson, we have a cleansing... +p775 +aVWe have a cleansing... +p776 +aVAll right. Well, Dr. Carson, I have got a question now for you. A moment of pause here. You have said, Dr. Carson, that \u2014 referring to yourself, that people bought into the idea that, quote, "A nice person can't be tough on terrorists." You have called for loosening the rules of engagement for the military, which could lead to more civilian casualties. So, explain why those casualties would be acceptable in the fight against +p777 +aVAll right, thank you, Dr. Carson. We're going to have to take a commercial break here. Thank you to all the candidates. We'll be right back with CBS News's 2016 debate in Greenville, South Carolina. +p778 +aVWe're back with the Republicans who could be president. The topic now is money and how the candidates would spend it. We'll turn the questioning over to Kimberley Strassel of The Wall Street Journal and Major Garrett of CBS News. Kim? +p779 +aVDr. Carson, before we go to break, could you give us your sense of this conversation about either Medicaid or economic growth through taxation? +p780 +aVDoctor... +p781 +aV... Dr. Carson, I'm sorry, we have to go to a commercial. The free market wants what it wants. Back soon with the 2016 Republican debate in Greenville, South Carolina. +p782 +aVWelcome back. We'll begin the second half of the debate with one of the hottest issues in the Republican campaign, immigration. But before I turn it back to Major Garrett and Kim Strassel, I have one question for Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump, in the Republican National Committee's Spanish-language response to the State of the Union, Congressman Diaz-Balart said, quote, "It's essential that we find a legislative solution," talking about immigration, "to offer a permanent and humane solution to those who live in the shadows. What does that mean to you, "a humane solution to those who live in the shadows"? +p783 +aVSenator Cruz, I have a question for you. Speaker Paul Ryan has made a big commitment to trying to lift the 50 million poor out of poverty. Arthur Brooks, who is the president of the American Enterprise Institute, says, quote, "If we are not warriors for the poor every day, free enterprise has no matter." How you have been, in your campaign, a warrior for the poor? +p784 +aVAll right. Mr. Trump, thank you so much. We're going to take a break for a moment. We'll be back in a moment with the CBS News Republican debate. +p785 +aVWe're back now from Greenville, South Carolina, with the candidates for the Republican presidential nomination. Mr. Trump, I have a question for you. Presidents have to, on the one hand, be firm, but also be flexible. You have been flexible and changed your opinion on a number of things, from abortion to Hillary Clinton. But you have said, rightly, that it's just like Ronald Reagan, who changed his mind on things. But at the same time, you're criticizing Senator Cruz for what you say is a change on immigration. He disputes that, of course. So, why is your change of opinion make you like Reagan, and when he changes his opinion, it's a huge character flaw? +p786 +aVWhich conservative idea don't you agree with? +p787 +aVAll right. Governor Bush, I think by "they," he is referring to your brother, these on the hook for your brother. +p788 +aVBut that was his brother. +p789 +aVHold on, gentleman, I'm going to turn this car around. +p790 +aVAll right, gentlemen. +p791 +aVWell, hold on. We're going to \u2014 gentlemen, we're in danger of driving this into the dirt. Senator Rubio, I'd like you to jump in here... +p792 +aVI understand, you're on deck, governor. +p793 +aVSenator Cruz, 30 seconds on this one. +p794 +aVWe're going to switch... +p795 +aVWe're going to switch here to Senator Marco Rubio. Senator Marco Rubio, please weigh in. +p796 +aVI thought you had a point? +p797 +aVI thought you had a point you wanted to make. +p798 +aVYou're on deck, sir. +p799 +aVSenator, I wanted to ask you, just going back to immigration, in the last debate, you listed your series of accomplishments in the Senate. One thing you left off was \u2014 was immigration reform. Is it the case that in your list of accomplishments you can't mention that? +p800 +aVDr. Carson, I have......Dr. Carson, I have a question for you. Candidates are... +p801 +aVAll right. You have 30 seconds, Doctor. +p802 +aVDr. Carson, I \u2014 let me ask you a different question. When you were \u2014 you were the first one, really, to talk about political correctness. Everybody now talks about it, but that was really what sparked your \u2014 your rise. Politicians are often accused of glossing over any hard choices people have to make, just always selling happy, nice things. So in the \u2014 in the spirit of saying something that might be politically incorrect, tell the voters something that they need to hear but that might be politically incorrect? +p803 +aVGovernor Kasich. Governor Kasich, you've been described as the Democrats' favorite Republican. You talked about in New Hampshire, Democrats would come up to you and say, "I hope you win." Why will that help you win a Republican nomination? +p804 +aVMr. Trump, let me ask you a question. Presidents in both parties say that the one thing you need in your administration is somebody who can tell you you're wrong. You don't necessarily seem like somebody who has somebody who tells you you're wrong a lot. Can you tell us of an instance where somebody has said, "Donald Trump, you're wrong," and you listened to them? +p805 +aVAbout what? +p806 +aVLet me \u2014 something, in talking to voters that they wish somebody would tell you to cut it out is the profanity. What's your reaction to that? +p807 +aVAll right. O.K. Governor Bush, I'd like to ask you... +p808 +aVWell, can I \u2014 how about you respond, and then you can answer the question I'm about to ask you. +p809 +aVIt'll be... +p810 +aVIf we adjudicate this, the night will be over. Governor, in 2012, you said that your father and Ronald Reagan would have a hard time in today's Republican Party, based on their records of trying to find accommodation and finding some degree of common ground. Do you still feel that way? +p811 +aVHold on, Mr. Trump. +p812 +aVHold on, Mr. Trump. +p813 +aVO.K., Mr. Trump, your response. +p814 +aVThe bells are ringing, sir. +p815 +aVAll right. Thank you. Senator Rubio, I want to ask you a 30-second question, no president can... +p816 +aVNo \u2014 well, I'll ask the question, you do what you want. +p817 +aVNo president can know everything, right? So a smart leader knows how to ask questions. So if you could talk to any previous president, what's the smart question you would ask about that job that you would want to know? +p818 +aVAll right. That's going to have to be it there, Senator Rubio. We have got to go to a break. We will be right back with the CBS News Republican debate in Greenville, South Carolina. +p819 +aVTime now for closing statements. You will each have one minute, and we'll begin with Governor Kasich. +p820 +aVDr. Carson \u2014 Dr. Carson, you're next. +p821 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor Bush. +p822 +aVSenator Cruz? Senator Cruz, your closing statement? +p823 +aVMr. Trump, your closing statements? +p824 +as. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/downloads/data2/script3.pickle b/downloads/data2/script3.pickle new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5493aa1 --- /dev/null +++ b/downloads/data2/script3.pickle @@ -0,0 +1,2215 @@ +(dp0 +VRADDATZ +p1 +(lp2 +VQuestions of leadership and character have dominated the news ever since the Iowa caucuses a few days ago. Here with us to question the candidates this evening are Josh McElveen from +p3 +aVDr. Ben Carson. +p4 +aVBusinessman Donald Trump. +p5 +aVFormer Florida Governor, Jeb Bush. +p6 +aVLadies and gentlemen, the Republican candidates. +p7 +aVAnd Donald Trump. +p8 +aVThe applause so loud you couldn't hear. We couldn't hear, either. That's a good sign for the excitement this evening. Gentlemen, thank you for being here tonight, just days before voters here in New Hampshire make their decisions. The rules are simple and have been agreed to by all the campaigns. There will be 60 seconds to answer and if another candidate is mentioned in that answer, that candidate will have 30 seconds to respond. There are green, yellow and red lights that each candidate will see to signal when time is up and they will also hear this sound. +p9 +aVSenator Cruz, you are a first term Senator as well. Your opponents say you, like Senator Rubio, are not prepared to be Commander in Chief. You have talked tough about threats we face in the Mid-East. It was reported just moments ago that the North Koreans test launched an intercontinental ballistic missile. North Korea has nuclear weapons, and conducted another nuclear test just last month. The missile that was launched is the kind the North Koreans hope could someday carry a nuclear weapon capable of reaching the United States. How would you respond if Commander in Chief to that launch? +p10 +aVWell, let me ask you this, if you were Commander in Chief tonight would you have order the U.S. military to destroy that missile preemptively on the launchpad to prevent North Korea from becoming an even graver threat? +p11 +aV... Senator Cruz, let me tell you this, you have talked tough about the Mid-East, you haven't gotten those intelligence briefings about that. Why not tell us whether you would preemptively strike a missile on a launchpad that threatens the U.S... +p12 +aVOkay. Senator Cruz, I will say that missile has been sitting there for quite some time, and they have had eyes on it. +p13 +aVSenator Rubio, I'm talking about a preemptive strike on the launch pad. +p14 +aVOK. Thank you, Senator Rubio. Governor Kasich, how would you respond to tonight's launch? +p15 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. Thank you \u2014 thank you... +p16 +aV... Governor Bush, I'll get to you in a moment. +p17 +aVThank you, Governor Bush. Mr. Trump, do you have a red line with North Korea? Would you consider military action? And how far would you let them go? +p18 +aVAnd I'd like him to finish the question, please. +p19 +aVSpecific \u2014 as to North Korea. +p20 +aVSenator Rubio, you were mentioned. +p21 +aVThank you very much, Senator Rubio. Governor Bush, another problem facing the commander-in-chief right now is that North Korea is currently detaining an American college student. What would you do to get that college student back home? +p22 +aVGovernor Christie, I want to go to you on the same question. +p23 +aVWould you negotiate with North Korea to... +p24 +aVThank you very much, Governor Christie. David? +p25 +aVSenator Cruz, to that point, Mr. Trump has said that your position on health care means that maybe you've got, quote, "no heart". There is a question here, though, about uncovered folks. You suggested repealing and replacing Obamacare. As we learned with President Obama's broken promise that everyone could keep their plan, any major plan \u2014 change in health care policy carries with it the risk that some people will lose their insurance coverage or have to change it. How do you reassure that those people that repealing and replacing Obamacare is still in their best interest? +p26 +aVSenator Cruz, you advocate what you call carpet bombing, or saturation bombing, to defeat +p27 +aVSenator Cruz, would you like to expand or loosen the rules of engagement? I was just over in a command center in Erbil and they said they thought the rules of engagement worked. Because you have so many civilians in those populated areas, they don't want to hit civilians. +p28 +aVSo, loosen the rules of engagement? +p29 +aVSenator Rubio, you said in the last debate that +p30 +aVAgain, Senator Rubio, you've already said +p31 +aVWell, what would you do \u2014 what would you do differently to try to get those Sunni forces? They have not been coming forward. +p32 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 thank you very much, Senator Rubio. Mr. Trump. You have said you will vigorously bomb +p33 +aVAnd \u2014 and what would you do in those cities, where there are people who we are trying to help, who +p34 +aVThank you very much, Mr. Trump. Let's turn to Libya. Governor Bush, it is a country in chaos. There is no government. This week, defense officials said there are now 5,000 +p35 +aVThank you very much, Governor Bush. Dr. Carson? +p36 +aVAnd would you support renewed airstrikes? +p37 +aVWe're going to move on. +p38 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. Thank you, Josh. Our partner in this debate, the Independent Journal Review, has collected questions from some prominent conservatives around the country. Here's a videotaped question from radio host Larry O'Connor. O' +p39 +aVMr. Trump, I'm going to give that question to you. You took it \u2014 you took it away anyway. +p40 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. I'm going to go to Senator Rubio on this. How would you change that narrative? +p41 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Dr. Carson, I want to go to you on Larry O' Connor's question. Would you change the narrative? +p42 +aVYes. +p43 +aVThank you very much Dr. Carson. I'm going to go back to David. +p44 +aVGovernor Christie, earlier this week, the World Health Organization declared the Zika virus a global emergency. The same kind of mosquitoes that carry the Zika virus in Latin America are found here in the United States, and the virus has been linked to severe birth defects. Governor Christie, at the peak of the Ebola outbreak in west Africa, you ordered an American nurse who landed at Newark Airport be detained and quarantined. As fear spreads now of the Zika virus and with the Rio Olympics just months away, is there a scenario where you would quarantine people traveling back from Brazil to prevent the spread in the United States? +p45 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you. I'm going to move to Dr. Carson, and go back to the Zika virus, is that going too far, quarantining? You're a doctor, what would you do? +p46 +aVThanks very much, Dr. Carson. I want to move on to the military. Senator Rubio, all restrictions on women in combat as long as they qualify. Positions including special operations forces, like Navy Seals. Just this week military leaders of the Army and Marine Corps said that they believed young women, just as young men are required to do, should sign up for Selective Service in case the Draft is reinstated. Many of you have young daughters. Senator Rubio, should young women be required to sign up for Selective Service in case of a national emergency? +p47 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Governor Bush, do you believe that young women... +p48 +aVDo you believe young women should sign up for Selective Service, be required to sign up... +p49 +aVTell me what you'd say to American people out there......who are sitting at home, who have daughters, who might worry about those answers, and might worry... +p50 +aV... if the Draft is reinstituted? +p51 +aV... Are you saying you'd do away with it? +p52 +aVYou register for the draft. +p53 +aVIf it's reinstituted. +p54 +aVThank you very much. +p55 +aVThank you very much, Governor Christie. +p56 +aVWe just covered \u2014 wait one second, Dr. Carson. +p57 +aVVery quickly. +p58 +aVThank you very much for bringing up that subject, Dr. Carson, of our veterans. And for another question about our veterans, we go back to Josh McElveen from +p59 +aVGovernor Christie. +p60 +aVDr. Carson. +p61 +aVSenator Cruz. +p62 +asVSMITH +p63 +(lp64 +VGovernor Huckabee, same question to you. Where do you see the country right now? +p65 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Thank you, candidates. Moving to the world stage. The middle east is on the brink of chaos. Iran continues to provoke the United States, North Korea claims it's tested a hydrogen bomb, and Afghanistan is in danger of falling back into Taliban hands. Critics of the administration say it's all due to lack of U.S. leadership. To you, Mrs. Fiorina, how do you see America's role in the world today? +p66 +aVGovernor Huckabee, in Afghanistan, the Taliban is strengthening. Attacks are on the rise and thousands more civilians have been wounded or killed. Much of the Taliban surge can be attributed to the withdrawal of U.S. forces there. You have expressed skepticism with the war there, saying you see no end game in sight. What, then, is your solution to the growing conflict there? +p67 +aVAll right, thank you, candidates. We're just getting started. Jobs, Homeland Security, gun rights, all those issues are coming up straight ahead. We're live from North Charleston and the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back. +p68 +aVAll right, let's get started. Senator Santorum, to you first. President Obama has urged technology leaders to make it hard for terrorists to use technology to escape from justice. Hillary Clinton says social media companies can help by swiftly shutting down terrorist accounts. The companies say that they're already working with law enforcement and any proposed legislation would do more harm than good. Should companies like Facebook and Twitter be required by law to more actively \u2014 be more actively engaged in fighting terror? +p69 +aVSenator, would you \u2014 would you require anything of those companies like Facebook and Twitter if you were president? +p70 +aVThank you, Senator. +p71 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee, you called President Obama's executive orders on gun control unconstitutional and completely insane. +p72 +aVYou even told gun store owners to ignore the President's orders. Yet, innocent people are dying from gun violence in cities like Detroit, Chicago, and Charleston everyday. Is there anything that can be done at the federal level to prevent guns from falling into the hands of criminals? +p73 +aV +p74 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p75 +aVSenator Santorum, many of our military leaders believe America's critical infrastructure is vulnerable to a terrorist attack. This is the power in our homes, the water we drink, the Internet and phone systems by which we stay connected. If attacked, these essential services that underpin American society could come to a grinding halt. Do you have a specific plan to protect us from this type of attack? +p76 +aVSenator Santorum, I want to stay with you on this, moving to jobs and the economy. In his State of the Union Address the other night, President Obama touted his record on jobs, citing more than 14 million new jobs and boasted of nearly 900,000 manufacturing jobs added in the past six years. Do you dispute his track record of creating jobs? +p77 +aVGovernor Huckabee, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mike Mullen, has said the greatest threat to our security is our national debt. Our national debt is now on pace to top $19 trillion. Yet, you as well as Ms. Fiorina have laid forward no plan to reform entitlements. How can you say you're going to pay down our country's debt without cutting Social Security or Medicare? +p78 +aVOK. We're going to continue this conversation. We're taking a quick break and then coming up, the candidates' plans for strengthening the middle class. We're live in North Charleston with the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back. +p79 +aVAll right, thanks, Trish. Well, let's get started with Ms. Fiorina. Today, the middle class represents about 50 percent of the U.S. population, down from about 61 percent back in 1971. That's according to Pew Research. The same research revealed a widening income gap in America. The rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. What will you do to strengthen a middle class that is no longer the majority? +p80 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p81 +aVThank you, Senator. We're not finished yet. More Republican Presidential Debate in North Charleston after this. +p82 +aVWelcome back, it's time for the closing statements. Candidates will each get one minute, starting with Senator Santorum. Thank you very much, I want to thank the people of Charleston, which has become a little bit of a second home to me, because I am very privileged to have two young men who go to the Citadel here and they're here tonight, my son John and my son Daniel. +p83 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Governor Mike Huckabee. +p84 +aVThank you, Governor. +p85 +asVRUBIO +p86 +(lp87 +VWell, let me first talk about Justice Scalia. His loss is tremendous, and obviously our hearts and prayers go out to his family. He will go down as one of the great justices in the history of this republic. You talk about someone who defended consistently the original meaning of the Constitution, who understood that the Constitution was not there to be interpreted based on the fads of the moment, but it was there to be interpreted according to its original meaning. Justice Scalia understood that better than anyone in the history of this republic. His dissent, for example, on the independent counsel case is a brilliant piece of jurist work. And, of course, his dissent on Obergefell as well. No. 2, I do not believe the president should appoint someone. And it's not unprecedented. In fact, it has been over 80 years since a lame duck president has appointed a Supreme Court justice. And it remind us of this, how important this election is. Someone on this stage will get to choose the balance of the Supreme Court, and it will begin by filling this vacancy that's there now. And we need to put people on the bench that understand that the Constitution is not a living and breathing document. It is to be interpreted as originally meant. +p88 +aVThat's not accurate. +p89 +aVNo, I've never \u2014 there has been, for example, today, according to the changes Harry Reid made, appellate judges can now be appointed by a simple majority, but not Supreme Court justices. And I think today you see the wisdom of why we don't want that to change. Because if that were the case and we were not in charge of the Senate, Harry Reid and Barack Obama would ram down our throat a liberal justice, like the ones Barack Obama has imposed on us already. +p90 +aVNo. I think there are three major threats that you want to immediately get on top of. No. 1 is, what are we doing in the Asia-Pacific region, where both North Korea and China pose threats to the national security of the United States. No. 2 is, what are we doing in the Middle East with the combination of the Sunni-Shia conflict driven by the Shia arc that Iran is now trying to establish in the Middle East, also the growing threat of +p91 +aVWell, let me tell you what has happened a couple of years ago. One of the hardest decisions you'll ever make in Congress is when you are asked by the president to authorize the use of force in a conflict, because you are now putting your name, on behalf of the people of your state, behind a military action, where Americans in uniform could lose their life. So, in 2014, Barack Obama said he would not take military action against Assad unless it was authorized by the Senate, beginning on the Committee of Foreign Relations, where I am one of its members. And it was hard because you looked at the pictures. I saw the same images people saw. I'm the father of children. I saw the images of these little children \u2014 been gassed and poisoned by their own leaders, and we were angry. Something had to happen, and there was the sense that we needed to seek retribution. And then I looked at Barack Obama's plan. Barack Obama's plan, which John Kerry later described as unbelievably small, and I concluded that that attack would not only not help the situation, it would make it actually worse. It would allow Assad to stand up to the United States of America, survive a strike, stay in power and actually strengthen his grip. So it was a difficult decision to make, and when we only had a few days to look at and make a decision on it, and I voted against Barack Obama's plan to use force, and it was the right decision. +p92 +aVI just want to say, at least on behalf of me and my family, I thank God all the time it was George W. Bush in the White House on 9/11 and not Al Gore. And you can \u2014 I think you can look back in hindsight and say a couple of things, but he kept us safe. And not only did he keep us safe, but no matter what you want to say about weapons of mass destruction, Saddam Hussein was in violation of U.N. resolutions, in open violation, and the world wouldn't do anything about it, and George W. Bush enforced what the international community refused to do. And again, he kept us safe, and I am forever grateful to what he did for this country. +p93 +aVThe World Trade Center came down because Bill Clinton didn't kill Osama bin Laden when he had the chance to kill him. +p94 +aVWell, because I'm influencing social policy \u2014 this is their money. This is the money of parents. You don't earn the tax credit unless you're working. That's your money, it doesn't belong to government. Here's what I don't understand. If a business takes their money and they invest in the piece of the equipment, they get to write off their taxes. But if a parent takes money that they have earned to work and invests in their children, they don't? This makes no sense. Parenting is the most important job any of us will ever have. Family formation is the most important thing in society. So what my tax plan does, is it does create, especially for working families, an additional Child Tax Credit. So that parents who are working get to keep more of their own money, not the government's money, to invest in their children to go to school, to go to a private school, to buy a new backpack. Let me tell you, if you're a parent that's struggling, then you know that $50 a month is the difference between a new pair of shoes this month or not getting a new pair of shoes for your kids. I'm going to have a tax plan that is pro-family, because the family is the most important institution in society. You cannot have a strong country without strong families. +p95 +aVWell, first of all, I think amnesty is the forgiveness of a wrongdoing without consequence and that \u2014 I've never supported that. I do not support that. I think there has to be consequences for violating our immigration laws. What I think is clear about this issue to begin with is we're not going to be able to make progress on illegal immigration until first, illegal immigration is brought under control. You go back to 1986, when they legalized three million people and they promised to secure the border. It didn't happen, and as a result, people have lost trust in the federal government. It is now clear that the only way to make progress on immigration is not just to pass a law that enforces the law, but actually prove to people that it's working. They want to see the wall built. They want to see the additional border agents. They want to see E-Verify. They want to see an entry-exit tracking system. Forty percent of the people in this country illegally are entering legally and overstaying visas. And only after all of that is in place, then we'll see what the American people are willing to support on this issue. I think the American people will be very reasonable, but responsible, about how you handle someone who has been here a long time, who can pass a background check, who pays a fine and starts paying taxes and all they want is a work permit. But you can't do any of that until you prove to people that illegal immigration is under control once and for all. +p96 +aVWe're going to have to do this again, O.K.? When that issue was being debated, Ted Cruz, at a committee hearing, very passionately said, I want immigration reform to pass, I want people to be able to come out of the shadows. And he proposed an amendment that would legalized people here. Not only that, he proposed doubling the number of green cards. He proposed a 500 percent increase on guest workers. Now his position is different. Now he is a passionate opponent of all those things. So he either wasn't telling the truth then or he isn't telling the truth now, but to argue he is a purist on immigration is just not true. +p97 +aVWell, first of all, I don't know how he knows what I said on Univision, because he doesn't speak Spanish. And second of all, the other point that I would make... +p98 +aVLook, this is a disturbing pattern now, because for a number of weeks now, Ted Cruz has just been telling lies. He lied about Ben Carson in Iowa. He lies about Planned Parenthood. He lies about marriage. He's lying about all sorts of things. And now he makes things up. The bottom line is this is a campaign and people are watching it. And they see the truth behind all these issues. And here is the truth, Ted Cruz supported legalizing people that were in this country... +p99 +aV... and only now does he say... +p100 +aVWell, we'll put on our website, marcorubio.com. We're going to... +p101 +aVOn anything I want? +p102 +aVWell, let me talk about poverty. +p103 +aVI do. +p104 +aVI had something important. +p105 +aVThe issue of poverty is critical, because for me, poverty is the \u2014 is \u2014 is free enterprise not reaching people. Today, we have antipoverty programs that don't cure poverty. We don't cure poverty in America. Our antipoverty programs have become, in some instances, a way of life, a lifestyle. Now, we do need antipoverty programs, you can't have free enterprise programs without them, but not as a way of life. And so I have a very specific proposal on this and I don't \u2014 in 60 seconds, I can't describe it all, but it basically turns the program over to states. It allows states to design innovative programs that cure poverty, because I think Nikki Haley will do a better job curing poverty than Barack Obama. +p106 +aVWell, no. It's not the case. It didn't pass, and we haven't solved immigration in this country. It's still a problem. It is worse today than it was three years ago, which is worse than it was five years ago. And it has to be confronted and solved. But the only way forward on this issue \u2014 you asked a question about flexibility. Let me tell you about that. One of the things that you need in leadership is the ability to understand that to get things done, you must figure out the way to get it done. You will not pass comprehensive immigration reform. People do not trust the federal government. They want to see the law being enforced. They want to see illegal immigration come under control. They want to see that wall. They want to see E-Verify. They want to see all of these things working, and then they will have a conversation with you about what do you do with people that have been here a long time that are otherwise, you know, not criminals. But they're not going to do it until you first enforce the law. +p107 +aVThirty seconds. +p108 +aVI speak fast. +p109 +aVWell, I think one of the presidents \u2014 well, the president I grew up under was Ronald Reagan. And Reagan had a vision for America's future. And if you think about what Ronald Reagan inherited, it's not unlike what the next president is going to inherit. This is the worst president we've had in 35 years, 35 years back would have made it Jimmy Carter. That's what Ronald Reagan inherited. And I think the question you would ask is, how did you inspire again the American people to believe in the future? How did you \u2014 what did it take to ensure that the American people, despite all of the difficulties of the time \u2014 you know, you look back at that time, the American military was in decline. Our standing in the world was in decline. We had hostages being held in Iran. Our economy was in bad shape. The American people were scared about the future. They were scared about what kind of country their children were going to live in and inherit. And yet somehow Ronald Reagan was able to instill in our nation and in our people a sense of optimism. And he turned America around because of that vision and ultimately because of that leadership. I wish Ronald Reagan was still around. This country needs someone just like that. And if our next president is even half the president Ronald Reagan was, America is going to be greater than it has ever been. +p110 +aVThank you, and thank you for watching tonight. This is a difficult time in our country. Our economy's flat, it's not creating the jobs it once did, and people struggle living paycheck to paycheck. Our culture's in trouble. Wrong is considered right and right is considered wrong. All the things that once held our families together are now under constant assault. And around the world, America's reputation is in decline. Our allies don't trust us, our adversaries don't fear us, Iran captures our sailors and parades them before the world on video. These are difficult times, but 2016 can be a turning point. That's why I'm running for president, and that's why I'm here today to ask you for your vote. If you elect me president, we are going to re-embrace free enterprise so that everyone can go as far as their talent and their work will take them. We are going to be a country that says that "life begins at conception and life is worthy of the protection of our laws." We're going to be a country that says "that marriage is between one man and one woman." We are going to be a country that says, "The constitution and the rights that it talks about do not come from our president, they come from our creator." We are going to be loyal to our allies like Israel, not enemies like Iran. And we will rebuild the U.S. military so no one will there test it. Vote for me. I will unify this party. I will grow it. We will win this election, and we will make the 21st century a new American century. +p111 +aVWell, let me say, from protecting the people of Florida from imminent domain abuse, to bringing accountability to the V.A., to the Girls Count Act, to sanctioning groups, I'm proud of my service in the United States Senate and before that, in the Florida legislature. I will say, if politics becomes and the presidency becomes about electing people who have been Congress or in the Senate the longest, we should all rally around Joe Biden. He's been around 1,000 years. He's passed hundreds of bills and I don't think any of us believe Joe Biden should be president of the United States. And let's dispel once and for all with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing. Barack Obama is undertaking a systematic effort to change this country, to make America more like the rest of the world. That's why he passed Obamacare and the stimulus and Dodd-Frank and the deal with Iran. It is a systematic effort to change America. When I'm president of the United States, we are going to re-embrace all the things that made America the greatest nation in the world and we are going to leave our children with what they deserve: the single greatest nation in the history of the world. +p112 +aVIf I may respond to that. +p113 +aVWell, I think the experience is not just what you did, but how it worked out. Under Chris Christie's governorship of New Jersey, they've been downgraded nine times in their credit rating. This country already has a debt problem, we don't need to add to it by electing someone who has experience at running up and destroying the credit rating of his state. But I would add this. Let's dispel with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing. He is trying to change this country. He wants America to become more like the rest of the world. We don't want to be like the rest of the world, we want to be the United States of America. And when I'm elected president, this will become once again, the single greatest nation in the history of the world, not the disaster Barack Obama has imposed upon us. +p114 +aVChris \u2014 Chris, your state got hit by a massive snowstorm two weeks ago. You didn't even want to go back. They had to shame you into going back. And then you stayed there for 36 hours and then he left and came back to campaign. Those are the facts. Here's the bottom line. This notion that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing is just not true. He knows exactly what he's doing. +p115 +aVWell, that's the \u2014 that's the reason why this campaign is so important. Because I think this notion \u2014 I think this is an important point. We have to understand what we're going through here. We are not facing a president that doesn't know what he's doing. He knows what he is doing. That's why he's done the things he's done. That's why we have a president that passed Obamacare and the stimulus. All this damage that he's done to America is deliberate. This is a president that's trying to redefine this country. That's why this election is truly a referendum on our identity as a nation, as a people. Our future is at stake. This election is not about the past. It is about what kind of country this is going to be in the 21st century, and if we elect someone like Barack Obama, a Hillary Clinton, a Bernie Sanders or anyone like that, our children are going to be the first Americans to inherit a diminishes country. That will not happen if I'm elected. +p116 +aVChris, you didn't want to go back. You didn't want to go back. +p117 +aVYou didn't want to go back, Chris. +p118 +aVChris, everybody \u2014 you said you weren't going to go back. He told everyone he wasn't going to go back. They had to shame him into going back. And when he decided to go back, he criticized the young lady, saying, what am I supposed to do, go back with a mop and clean up the flooding? +p119 +aV... It's your record, it's not a talking point... +p120 +aVBut Martha, just \u2014 Martha, just to clarify on that point, because he's right, and one more thing to point \u2014 it is standard procedure of the United States to shoot down those missiles once launched if they pose a threat to civilians, land and ships. +p121 +aVWell \u2014 no, I understand. And not \u2014 but \u2014 but I think it's important to note that it is \u2014 and Senator Cruz, I think, was alluding to this, as well \u2014 it is the standard procedure of the United States, if those missiles pose a threat to land, civilians, our allies or any of our assets, to shoot down that missile in mid-flight. I understand your question was about a preemptive strike, but my point is that there is in place now contingencies to avoid any sort of that strike from going errant and destroying any \u2014 any assets of the United States, or implicating or hurting any of our allies or any of our assets in the region. +p122 +aVYeah. I have a \u2014 I got mentioned, can I respond? +p123 +aVHere's the broader point, as well, and then I think it touches on what Donald just mentioned. Barack Obama views America as this arrogant global power that needed to be cut down to size. OK? This is a president that views this country as a country that's been too powerful in the world and we create problems around the world. For example, it's one of the reasons why he had betrayed Israel, because he believes that if we create separation from Israel, it will help our relations in the Islamic world. The same is happening in the Asia-Pacific region with accommodations to North Korea. North Korean should be back on that list of terrorist nations, as an example. And Donald's absolutely right. China does have a lot of influence over North Korea and he should be leveraging our relationship with the Chinese to ensure that North Korea no longer has access to the resources that have allowed them \u2014 a country that has no economy to develop long range missiles already capable of reaching the west coast of the United States potentially. +p124 +aVHere's the bottom line. We can't get that legislation passed. The American people will not support doing anything about people that are in this country illegally until the law is enforced first, and you prove it to them. This has been abundantly clear. Every effort over the last ten years to do those comprehensively has failed. And it has failed because the American people have zero trust that the federal government will enforce our laws. And that's why since then, I have said repeatedly, if you are serious about immigration reform, then the key that unlocks the door to being able to do that is not just to pass a law that says it is going to enforce the law, but to actually do it. To hire the 20,000 new border agents, to finish the fencing and walls, to put in place mandatory e-verify, to put in place an entry-exit tracking system to prevent visa overstays. And once that is in place and that's working, I believe the American people will support a very reasonable, but responsible approach to people that have been here a long time, who are not dangerous criminals, who pay taxes and pay fines for what they did. But until then, none of that is going to be possible. +p125 +aVWell, the legislation passed, but it has no support. In essence, it couldn't pass in the House, it will never pass in the United States until we secure the border, and it is not the way we're going to do when I'm president. When I'm president, we are going to enforce the law first, prove to people that illegal immigration is under control. And then we'll see what the American people are willing to support when it comes to people that are not criminals, who have been in the this country for a long time and who otherwise would like to stay. +p126 +aVLeadership is ultimately about solving the problem. And the approach that was tried and has been tried now repeatedly over ten years to do this comprehensively, all at once in a massive piece of legislation has no chance of passage. It is not leadership to continue to try something that has no chance of happening. I want to make progress on this issue. It has been discussed now for 30 years and nothing ever happens. And I am telling you that the only way forward on this issue that has any chance of happening, meaning gaining the support of the American people, you cannot do this without the support of the American people, is an approach that begins by proving that once and for all, illegal immigration is under control. +p127 +aVGood evening. +p128 +aVWell, I think conservatism is about three things and Donald touched on one of them, but it's about three things. The first is conservatism is about limited government, especially at the federal level. The federal government is a limited government, limited by the Constitution, which delineates its powers. If it's not in the Constitution, it does not belong to the federal government. It belongs to states, local communities and the private sector. It's about free enterprise, which is an economic model that allows everyone to rise without pulling anyone down. The reason why free enterprise is the greatest economic model in the history of the world is because it's the only economic model where you can make poor people richer without making rich people poor. And it's about a strong national defense. It's about believing, unlike Barack Obama, that the world is a safer and a better place when America is the strongest military and the strongest nation on this planet. That's conservatism. +p129 +aVNow, see, I was mentioned by Governor... +p130 +aVYeah. +p131 +aVOK, good, then I'll get to it . Here's the... +p132 +aVWell, no, sorry. Let me respond to that question. +p133 +aVWell, here's the response. I think anyone who believes that Barack Obama isn't doing what he's doing on purpose doesn't understand what we're dealing with here, OK? This is a president \u2014 this is a president who is trying to change this country. When he talked about change, he wasn't talking about dealing with our problems. Obamacare was not an accident. The undermining of the Second Amendment is not an accident. The gutting of our military is not an accident. The undermining of America on the global stage is not an accident. Barack Obama is, indeed, trying to redefine this country. We better understand what we're dealing with here, because that's what Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders want to double down on if they are elected. +p134 +aVNo. He talked about Barack Obama. +p135 +aVYeah. +p136 +aVI don't know of any problem in America that's going to be fixed with a tax increase. We have an economy today, an economy today that is not creating jobs that pay enough. And one of the reasons why is because we have one of the most expensive business tax rates on the planet. Our combined business rate puts us among the highest in the industrialized world. And then on top of that, we are the only one that has a worldwide system of taxation, where an American company who makes money abroad has to pay taxes where they made the money and then taxes a second time when they bring it back. The combination of these two things has stranded over $2 trillion, the equivalent of the size of the Russian economy, $2 trillion of American corporate money stranded overseas, combined with all of these inversions of companies leaving us. The solution to the problems we have today are not a tax increase. It is to lower our taxes on both people and on companies, so we can make America globally competitive again. +p137 +aVWell, first, we need to understand who they are. +p138 +aVBecause they currently occupy Sunni cities and villages. Sunni cities and villages can only truly be liberated and held by Sunnis themselves. If they are held by Shias it will trigger sectarian violence. The Kurds are incredible fighters and they will liberate the Kurdish areas, but Kurds can not and do not want to liberate and hold Sunni villages and towns. It will take Sunni fighters themselves in that region to take those villages and cities, and then to hold them and avoid the sort of sectarian violence that follows in the past. And why that is important is because if Sunnis are not able to govern themselves in these areas, you are going to have a successor group to +p139 +aVWell, the problem with the Sunni forces in the region is they don't trust this administration. This administration cut a deal with their mortal enemies, the Shia, in Iran. It poisoned the well with these countries. It makes it very difficult to cooperate with them as a result. They also, by the way, understand what real U.S. air power looks like. They saw the Iraq war. They saw, up close, also Afghanistan. They know what air power looks like when the United States is committed to the cause. And they see the airstrikes that are being conducted now, and they say to themselves, that's not real commitment. We know what real commitment looks like. The \u2014 the Jordanian king was in Washington three weeks ago. He told everyone who would listen that they have begged for permission from the coalition to target caravans. And the coalition \u2014 meaning U.S. leadership on the ground......would not allow them to proceed with those airstrikes. +p140 +aVWell, when people talk about interrogating terrorists, they're acting like this is some sort of law enforcement function. Law enforcement is about gathering evidence to take someone to trial, and convict them. Anti-terrorism is about finding out information to prevent a future attack so the same tactics do not apply. And, it is true, we should not be discussing in a wide spread way the exact tactics that we're going to use because that allows terrorist to know to practice how to evade us. But, here's the bigger problem with all this, we're not interrogating anybody right now. Guantanamo's being emptied by this president. We should be putting people into Guantanamo, not emptying it out, and we shouldn't be releasing these killers who are rejoining the battlefield against the United States. +p141 +aVI think it's already happening. Look at the turnout in Iowa. A historic number of people came out and voted in those caucuses. There are saying the same thing is going to happen here in New Hampshire. Look at the rallies that every single person on this stage is having. Much higher numbers than you used to see in the past and here is why. Because people are starting to understand, very clearly, that this election is going to be a turning point. That 2016 is not just a choice between Republican or Democrat. It is a referendum on our identity as a nation and as a people. So here is what Hillary Clinton needs to understand. We're going to have our primary, we're going to have our debates \u2014 which by the way, are twice as many as the Democrats have been willing to have themselves. But we're going to bring this party together and we are going to defeat Hillary Clinton, because she is unqualified to be the president of the United States of America. She put classified information on her computer because she thinks she's above the law and anyone who lies to the families of people who have lost their loved ones in the service of our country like she did in Benghazi, can never be the commander-in-chief of the United States of America. +p142 +aVI would. But that's not \u2014 the issue \u2014 my problem with what he did is he continues to put out this fiction that there's widespread systematic discrimination against Muslim Americans. First of all, let's recognize this. If you go to a national cemetery in this country, you will see stars of Davids and crosses, but you see crescent moons. There are brave men and women who happen to be Muslim Americans who are serving this country in uniform and who have died in the service of this country. And we recognize that and we honor that. But by the same token, we face a very significant threat of home grown violent extremism. We need to have strong, positive relationships in the Islamic communities in this country so they will identify and report this activity, especially mosques, for example, that are participating not just in hate speech, but inciting violence and taking acts against us. And I do believe it is important also to recognize, you want to talk about religious discrimination in America. Well, I don't think Barack Obama is being sued by any Islamic groups, but he is being sued by the Little Sisters of the Poor. We are facing in this country Christian groups and groups that hold traditional values who feel and in fact are being discriminated against by the laws of this country that try to force them to vie to violate their conscience. +p143 +aVFirst, let me say there are already women today serving in roles that are like combat. That, in fact, whose lives are in very serious danger, and so I have no problem whatsoever with people of either gender serving in combat so long as the minimum requirements necessary to do the job are not compromised. But, I support that, and obviously now that that is the case I do believe that Selective Service should be opened up for both men and women in case a Draft is ever instituted. I think the more fundamental challenge we're now facing is what's happening to the U.S. military \u2014 I've said this many times, and I think it's important to start paying attention to this. Our Air Force is about to be the smallest it's been in 100 years. I'm sorry, in our history. Our Army is set to be smaller than it's been since the second World War, and our Navy is about to be the smallest than it's been in 100 years. I think we need to begin to refocus on rebuilding our military because every time we have cut our military in the history of this country we have had to come back later and rebuild it, and it costs more, and it's a lot more chaotic and dangerous. When I'm president, we are rebuilding the U.S. military. +p144 +aVWell, my brother's a veteran. We're very proud of him in our family. He served as a green beret in the 7th Special Forces from 1968 through 1971. And as part of his training, he jumped out of an airplane and he lost his two front teeth. And for years, he's had to go to get these dental claims. And every times he goes to get one of these dental claims filled, the V.A. asks him, "well, how do we know you lost your teeth in the Army?" And he says, "well, it's the only time I ever jumped out of a plane." But he's had to fight through this process, and I've watched it firsthand. That's why I'm proud that I worked in a bipartisan way. We passed the V.A. Accountability bill that, for the first time, allows us to fire \u2014 allows the V.A. secretary to fire someone who's not doing a good job, who's a senior executive. And the governor's right. They've only fired three people up to now. More people will be fired if I'm president. But the portability part of it is incredibly important. Veterans should be able to take their V.A. benefits to any hospital or any doctor they want to go to. When I am president of the United States, veterans will be able to take their benefits to any hospital or doctor that they choose. +p145 +aVWell, first of all, I don't believe that believing in traditional marriage the way I do makes you a bigot or a hater. It means that you believe that this institution that's been around for millenial is an important cornerstone of society. I respect people that believe differently. But I believe deeply, that marriage should be between one man and one woman. On the issue of life, to me, the issue of life is not a political issue. It's a human rights issue and it's a difficult issue, because it puts in conflict two competing rights. On the one hand is the right of a woman to choose what to do with her body which is a real right. And on the other hand is the right of an unborn human child to live. And they're in conflict. And as a policy maker, I must choose which one of these two sides takes precedence. And I have chosen to err on the side of life. Here's what I find outrageous. There has been five Democratic debates. The media has not asked them a single question on abortion and on abortion, the Democrats are extremists. Why doesn't the media ask Hillary Clinton why she believes that all abortion should be legal, even on the due date of that unborn child. Why don't they ask Hillary Clinton why she believe that partial- birth abortion, which is a gruesome procedure that has been outlawed in this country, she thinks that's a fundamental right. They are the extremists......when it comes to the issue of abortion and I can't wait to expose them in a general election. HAM: Governor Bush? I want to come to you. Your allies have recently attacked Senator Rubio for being too pro-life to be elected in November. You made a similar charge stating it in an interview. This is a pro-life party. Do you stand behind that criticism? +p146 +aVI do support protection for the life of the mother because I'm pro-life. I just believe deeply that all human life is worthy of protection of our laws. If I'm president and there's a bill that's passed that saves lives but it has exceptions, I'll sign it. But I do believe deeply that all human life is worthy of the protection of laws. I've already said, for me, the issue of life is not a political issue and I want to be frank. I would rather lose an election than be wrong on the issue of life. HAM: Governor Christie. You too, have talked about Senator Rubio's position on the life issue. Some conservative activists have called this line of attack harmful to the pro-life cause. +p147 +aVWell, I was going for Peyton Manning, but now I'm rooting for Carolina. +p148 +aVThank you. You know, this week I had the great pleasure of having my kids join me on the campaign trail. I hadn't' seen them in a while, and it was great to have them alongside me, but the most important part of it is that it once again reminded me of what's at stake. Here in New Hampshire in less than 72 hours, we are literally deciding what kind of country we will be like when they are my age. What kind of country they will be able to raise their families in. And, that's why I'm asking you for your vote. You vote for me, and we will unite this party, we will grow the conservative movement, we will defeat Hillary Clinton, and we will leave our children what our parents left us. The single greatest nation in the history of all mankind. Thank you. +p149 +aVChris, let's begin by being clear what this campaign is about. It's not about Donald Trump. He's an entertaining guy. He's the greatest show on earth. This campaign is about the greatest country in the world and a president who has systematically destroyed many of the things that made America special. You see, we usually elect presidents in America that want to change the things that are wrong in America. Barack Obama wants to change America. Barack Obama wants America to be more like the rest of the world. We don't want to be like the rest of the world. We want to be the United States of America. That is why Hillary Clinton cannot win this election. Hillary Clinton this week said Barack Obama would make a great Supreme Court justice. The guy who systematically and habitually violates the constitution on the Supreme Court? I don't think so. If I'm our nominee, I will unite this party and we'll defeat Hillary Clinton and we will turn this country around once and for all, after seven years of the disaster that is Barack Obama. +p150 +aVI think, you know, Rand and I have some significant issues on policy, but I respect Rand. He believes everything he stands for. I do respect Rand. But I want to be frank about what I stand for. I believe the world is a safer and a better place when America is the strongest power in the world. And I believe only with a strong America will we defeat this radical group, this apocalyptic group called +p151 +aVWell, again, I mean, obviously, as already has been pointed out, the only budget that Ted has ever voted for is a budget that Rand Paul sponsored that brags about cutting defense spending. And I think that's a bad idea for the following reason. +p152 +aV... First of all \u2014 Let me go first, and then you can please recognize Rand after. First of all... +p153 +aV... do I go \u2014 let me go first, and then you can please recognize Rand after. But... ... first of all... +p154 +aV... first of all, I'm \u2014 don't worry, I'm not leaving the stage no matter what you ask me. +p155 +aVAnd second of all... ... and I think \u2014 you know, Governor \u2014 Jeb, you \u2014 the attack that \u2014 the authorization that Barack Obama asked for was not against +p156 +aVMegyn, that's the problem. Radical Muslims and radical Islam is not just hate talk. It's hate action. They blow people up. Look what they did in San Bernardino. Look at the attack they inspired in Philadelphia, that the White House still refuses to link to terror, where a guy basically shot a police officer three times. He told the police, "I did it because I was inspired by +p157 +aVMight I respond? The first thing \u2014 I don't know of anyone who's not in favor of fully vetting people that are trying to come into this country, other than perhaps Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. I think we all support that. Rand's amendment was not the right way to do it. I do believe that people who are trying to come to the United States \u2014 this country has a right to know who they are and why they are coming. And that's why I've been clear, when I am the president of the United States of America, we don't know who you are, and we don't know why you're trying to come to the United States, you are not going to get in, because the radical threat that we now face from +p158 +aVWell, Bret, first that's not entirely the story. At the time, the liberal governor of Florida, who claimed he was a Republican \u2014 his name was Charlie Crist \u2014 he wanted to impose cap-and-trade on Florida. And I opposed it. I was the first person out of the box that opposed him on it. And then we saw that the leading candidates for president at the time, both the Republican and the Democrats, all supported it. And what we said is, if they're going to impose this on us, we better prepare to protect the state from it. But I have never supported cap- and-trade and I never thought it was a good idea. And I was clear about that at the time. And I do not believe it's a good idea now. I do not believe that we have to destroy our economy in order to protect our environment. And especially what these programs are asking us to pass that will do nothing to help the environment, but will be devastating for our economy. When I am president of the United States of America, there will never be any cap-and-trade in the United States. +p159 +aVNever support. Never have and never will support any effort to grant blanket legalization amnesty to folks who have entered, or stayed in this country illegally. +p160 +aVFirst of all, earned path to citizenship is basically code for amnesty. It's what they call it. And, the reality of it is this, it is unfair to the people that have legally entered this country to create an alternative for individuals who entered illegally, and knowingly did so. +p161 +aVYou cannot grant amnesty. If the American people see us granting amnesty they will never again believe in legal immigration. They will never again support it, and that's wrong for our country, bad for our future. +p162 +aVNo, because if you look at the quote, and it's very specific. And, it says blanket amnesty, I do not support blanket amnesty... +p163 +aV... I do not support amnesty... +p164 +aV... No, I said I do not support blanket amnesty... +p165 +aV... It was... +p166 +aV... It absolutely has been, and at the time in the context of that was in 2009, and 2010, where the last effort for legalization was an effort done in the Senate. It was an effort led by several people that provided almost an instant path with very little obstacles moving forward. What I've always said is that this issue does need to be solved. They've been talking about this issue for 30 years, and nothing ever happens. And, I'm going to tell you exactly how we're going to deal with it when I am president. Number one, we're going to keep +p167 +aVMay I respond? +p168 +aVIt's interesting that Jeb mentions the book. That's the book where you changed your position on immigration because you used to support a path to citizenship. +p169 +aVWell, but you changed the \u2014 in the book... +p170 +aVYou wrote a book where you changed your position from a path of citizenship to a path of legalization. And the bottom line is this, we are not going to be able to do anything on this issue until we first bring illegal immigration under control. The American people have been told for 30 years they're going to enforce the border, they're going to build a wall and it never gets built and it never happens. It is very clear there will be no progress on this issue in any way, shape or form, until you prove to the people of this country that illegal immigration is under control. And when I'm president, we are going to bring it under control once and for all after 30 years of talking about it. +p171 +aVBut Megyn... +p172 +aVThere's not going to be consensus on this issue until we enforce our immigration laws. That is abundantly clear. You're not going to be able to ram down the throat of the American people your approach. The only way we're are going to be able to move forward after two migratory crises with minor, after two unconstitutional executive orders, the only way forward on this issue is to first bring illegal immigration under control. And until that happens there's not going to be consensus on this issue. +p173 +aVYeah, but let me respond... +p174 +aV... no, I understand, but let me respond. I was mentioned on this \u2014 in this answer, and so I'm going to respond this way. This is the lie that Ted's campaign is built on, and Rand touched upon it \u2014 that he's the most conservative guy, and everyone else is a \u2014 you know, everyone else is a rhino. The truth is, Ted, throughout this campaign, you've been willing to say or do anything in order to get votes. Ted, you worked for George W. Bush's campaign... You \u2014 you \u2014 you helped design George W. Bush's \u2014 you helped design George W. Bush's immigration policy. And then, when you got to the Senate, you did an interview with CBS News \u2014 I wasn't even part of the video \u2014 where you said, on the issue of people that are here illegally, "we can reach a compromise." And then in the committee, you said, "I want to bring people out of the shadows." Now you want to trump Trump on immigration. But you can't \u2014 we're not gonna beat Hillary Clinton with someone who's willing to say or do anything to win an election. +p175 +aVAnd I think that's the false choice... ... that's the \u2014 that's the false choice in this whole debate about immigration. Of course, we're going to be a nation of immigrants. By the way, no nation on earth is more generous than America is. Every single year close to a million people emigrate to the United States legally. There's no nation on earth that comes close to that number. I think the only argument is are we a sovereign country, are we not allowed to choose who comes in, when they come in and how they come in? And that's not what's happening now. +p176 +aVI think the other problem is we have a legal immigration system that's outdated, it's primarily based on whether you have family members living here. In the 21st century, it has to be more of a merit-based system, and that is why our legal immigration system is in need of modernization. And we will always celebrate legal immigration like Dulce's great story. +p177 +aVWell, I believe, and I know that if Iowa helps make me the Republican nominee, I will defeat Hillary Clinton. Hillary doesn't want to run against me, but I cannot wait to run against her. And I cannot wait to earn the opportunity to do it because she cannot be the president of the United States. She wants to put Barack Obama on the Supreme Court of the United States of America. She said that here in Iowa just two days ago. That would be a disaster for this country. So I hope and pray and cannot wait until this state and others give me an opportunity to serve this party as its nominee because I will defeat Hillary Clinton. +p178 +aVWell, let me be clear about one thing, there's only one savior and it's not me. It's Jesus Christ who came down to earth and died for our sins. And so \u2014 and I've always made that clear about that cover story. As far as the polls are concerned, Iowa, on Monday night you're going to go to a caucus site and you'll be the first Americans that vote in this election. You will be the first Americans that get to answer the fundamental question, what comes next for this country after seven disastrous years of Barack Obama? And let me tell you what the answer better not be. It better not be Bernie Sanders. Bernie Sanders is a socialist. I think Bernie Sanders is good candidate for president of Sweden. We don't want to be Sweden. We want to be the United States of America. And Hillary Clinton, Hillary Clinton is disqualified from being the commander-in-chief of the United States. In fact, one of her first acts as president may very well be to pardon herself because Hillary Clinton... Hillary Clinton stored classified information on her private server. And Hillary Clinton lied to the families of those four brave Americans who lost their life in Benghazi. And anyone who lies to the families of Americans who have died in the service of this country can never be commander-in-chief of the United States. +p179 +aVYeah, I would encourage people to go on my website, marcorubio.com, and we'll put all the facts up there so people can see it for themselves. But you've just asked a very fundamental question about the role of faith in our country. And I think this is an important question. I think if you do not understand that our Judeo-Christian values are one of the reasons why America is such a special country, you don't understand our history. You see, why are we one of the most generous people in the world \u2014 no, the most generous people in the world? Why do Americans contribute millions of dollars to charity? It is not because of the tax writeoff. It is because in this nation, we are influenced by Judeo-Christian values that teach us to care for the less fortunate, to reach out to the needy, to love our neighbor. This is what's made our nation so special. And you should hope that our next president is someone that is influence by their faith. Because if your faith causes you to care for the less fortunate, it is something you want to see in your public figures. And when I'm president, I can tell you this, my faith will not just influence the way I'll govern as president, it will influence the way I live my life. Because in the end, my goal is not simply to live on this earth for 80 years, but to live an eternity with my creator. And I will always allow my faith to influence everything I do. +p180 +aVWell, let me first describe Iran because they're not just a normal nation state. And we have no quarrel with the Iranian people. But the Iranian leader, their supreme leader is a radical Shia cleric who has an apocalyptic vision of the future. He views himself not simply as the leader of Iran, but as the leader of all Muslims \u2014 all Shia Muslims on the planet. And they have a desire not simply to conquer the Middle East and to become the dominant power in that region, but ultimately to be able to hold America hostage. That is why they're building an \u2014 right now, developing long- range missiles capable of reaching the United States, and that is why there's going \u2014 they're going to use those $100 billion to expand their conventional capabilities and to one day buy or build a nuclear weapon. We will \u2014 when I am president of the United States, on my first day in office, we are canceling the deal with Iran, and nations will have to make a choice. They can do business with Iran, or they can do business with America, and I am very confident they're going to choose America before they choose the Iranian economy. +p181 +aVThe bible commands us to let our light shine on the world. For over 200 years, America's light has been shining on the world and the world has never been the same again. But now, that light is dimming a little, after seven years of Barack Obama. And that's why Monday night, what will happen here in Iowa is so important. I'm asking you for your vote. Caucus for me on Monday night because if I am your nominee, I will unite this party and I will defeat Hillary Clinton and when I'm president, America's light will shine again and the 21 century will be a new American century. +p182 +asVKASICH +p183 +(lp184 +VWell, John, first of all, if I were president, we wouldn't have the divisions in the country we have today. I do want to take a second as we reflected on Judge Scalia, it's amazing \u2014 it's not even two minutes after the death of Judge Scalia, nine children here today, their father didn't wake up. His wife, sad, but I just wish we hadn't run so fast into politics. Here's my concern about this. The country is so divided right now, and now we're going to see another partisan fight take place. I really wish the president would think about not nominating somebody. If you were to nominate somebody, let's have him pick somebody that's going to have unanimous approval, and such widespread approval across the country that this could happen without a lot of recrimination. I don't think that's going to happen, and I would like the president just to, for once here, put the country first. We're going to have an election for president very soon, and the people will understand what is at stake in that election. And so I believe the president should not move forward, and I think that we ought to let the next president of the United States decide who is going to run that Supreme Court with a vote by the people of the United......States of America. +p185 +aVFirst of all \u2014 yes. First of all, look, we have to make it clear to Russia what we expect. We don't have to declare an enemy, rattle a sword or threaten, but we need to make it clear what we expect. No. 1 is we will arm the folks in Ukraine who are fighting for their freedom. They deserve it. There will be no ifs, ands or buts about it. Secondly, an attack on +p186 +aVI've got to tell you, this is just crazy, huh? This is just nuts, O.K.? Jeez, oh, man. I'm sorry, John. +p187 +aVOh, well, listen, I think being in Iraq, look, we thought there were weapons of mass destruction. Colin Powell, who is one of the most distinguished generals in modern time, said there were weapons there. But, but, the fact is we got ourselves in the middle of a civil war. The Sunni, the Shia and the Kurds, never gotten along. In fact, that country was drawn \u2014 the borders of that country were drawn after World War I by Westerners that didn't understand what was happening there. The tragedy of it is that we're still embroiled. And, frankly, if there weren't weapons of mass destruction, we should never have gone. I don't believe the United States should involve itself in civil wars. Civil wars are not in our direct interest, and if you \u2014 and look, I served on a defense committee for 18 years and was called into the Pentagon after 9/11 by Secretary Rumsfeld to deal with some of the most serious problems that we faced. The fact is, is that we should go to war when it is our direct interest. We should not be policemen of the world, but when we go, we mean business. We'll do our job. We'll tell our soldiers, our people in the service, take care of your job and then come home once we've accomplished our goals. That's what we need to do. +p188 +aVYeah. Well, first of all, those numbers, incorrect. We are \u2014 our Medicaid programs are coming in below cost estimates, and our Medicaid program in the second year grew at 2.5 percent. And Kimberley, let me tell you, when we expand Medicaid and we treat the mentally ill, then they don't live under a bridge or live in a prison, where they cost $22,500 a year. When we take the drug addicted and we treat them in the prisons, we stop the revolving door of people in and out of prisons, and we save $22,500 a year. Guess what else? They get their lives back. And the working poor, they're now getting health care. And you know that about a third of the people who are now getting that health care are people who are suffering very serious illnesses, particularly cancer. So, what I would tell you is, we've gone from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. We've cut taxes by more than any governor in America by $5 billion. We have grown the number of jobs by 400,000 private-sector jobs since I've been governor. Our credit is strong. Our pensions are strong. And frankly, we leave no one behind. Economic growth is not an end unto itself. We want everyone to rise, and we will make them personally responsible for the help that they get. And that is exactly the program we're driving in Ohio. And, boy, people ought to look at Ohio, because it has got a good formula. +p189 +aVYeah, let me say a couple of things. First of all, when Jeb was governor, his first four years as governor, he expand \u2014 his Medicaid program grew twice as fast as mine. O.K.? It's just a fact. Now, with Obamacare, I've not only sued the administration, I did not set up an exchange. And he knows that I'm not for Obamacare, never have been. But here's what's interesting about Medicaid. You know who expanded Medicaid five times to try to help the folks and give them opportunity so that you could rise and get a job? President Ronald Reagan. Now, the fact of the matter is, we expanded to get people on their feet, and once they're on their feet, we are giving them the training and the efforts that they need to be able to get work and pull out of that situation. +p190 +aVThat's what we're doing in our state. +p191 +aVLet me \u2014 let's tell you... +p192 +aVMajor \u2014 Major, we can't \u2014 we've got to \u2014 look, I have got to correct the record. And the fact of the matter is, we went from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. We're up 400,000 jobs. Our credit is rock solid. And I don't know... +p193 +aVLook, the bottom line is the people of this \u2014 of this country and this state want to see everybody rise, and they want to see unity, and I don't want to get into all this fighting tonight, because people are frankly sick of the negative campaigning. +p194 +aVAnd I'm going to stay positive about what I want to do from the... +p195 +aVBefore I get to that, this is the ninth or 10th debate. What I've been watching here, this back and forth, and these attacks, some of them are personal. I think we're fixing to lose the election to Hillary Clinton if we don't stop this. I mean, the fact is \u2014 you know what? I would suggest, why don't we take off all the negative ads and all the negative comments down from television and let us just talk about what we're for, and let's sell that, and the Republican Party will be stronger as a result... +p196 +aV... First of all, I'm for sealing the border, O.K.? And then I'm for a guest worker program. People can come in, work and go back home. We haven't closed the border because special interests, I believe, blocked it. Then, we have 11 and a half million people here. If they have not committed a crime since they've been here, make them pay a fine and some back taxes, and give them a path to legalization, never to citizenship. It is not going to happen that we're going to run around and try to drag 11 and a half million people out of their homes. I'll tell you this. Within the first hundred days, I will send a plan like this to the Congress of the United States, and if I'm president, I'll bet you dollar to doughnuts right now, it will pass. That is a reasonable proposal that the people of this country, in my judgment, will support, and so will the bulk of the Congress of the United States. +p197 +aVYou know, John, I think all people are the same. Look, I did 106 town halls, and I've been doing them left and right here in South Carolina. The first thing we have to do is grow the economy, and I know the formula because I was chairman in Washington when we balanced the budget and created so many jobs, and the same that we've been able to do in Ohio. You need common-sense regulations so small business can flourish, you need lower taxes both on business and individuals, and you need a fiscal plan to be able to get ourselves in a situation where people can predict a little bit about the future when it comes to the fiscal issues. And when you have that formula, combined with work force that's trained, you can explode the economy and create many jobs. I have done it twice, and I want to go back to Washington and do it again. John, the thing is, is I think that there are people now, these blue-collar Democrats \u2014 my dad was a blue-collar Democrat \u2014 the Democratic Party has left them. When they're arguing about being socialists, they've left \u2014 they have lost those blue-collar Democrats. And you know what I think they get out of me \u2014 is my sense of what they get out of me, and it's embarrassment about campaigns, you brag about yourself. But I think I'm a uniter, I think people sense it. I think they know I have the experience, and that I'm a man that can give people hope and a sense that they have the opportunity rise. And I'll tell you, I love these blue-collar Democrats, because they're going to vote for us come next fall, promise you that. +p198 +aVWell, I want to thank the people of South Carolina. You've been fantastic. And look, what I want you to know is I'm going to send a lot of power, money and influence back to where we all live. But as I've traveled around South Carolina, I've noticed something. You know, it's that people have a sense that you're not going to wait on a president. You know, when I was a kid, we didn't wait on presidents to come to that little blue-collar town and fix things. You know, the Lord made all of us special. The Lord wants us to be connected. I believe we're part of a very big mosaic. And I'll send the power back. And whoever gets elected president here, hopefully will take care of the issue of jobs and wages and Social Security and the border. But the spirit of the America rests in all of us. It's in our guts. It's taking care of our children. It's taking care of the lady next door who just lost her husband. It's fixing the schools where we live and telling kids to stay off drugs. You see, I think what the Lord wants is for to us engage, and in America, the spirit of America doesn't come from the top down. The spirit of America rests in us. And I want to call on everyone in America to double down and realize that you were made special to heal this country and lift it for everyone. Thank you all very much. And I hope I can have your vote in South Carolina. +p199 +aVWell, we've got to to step up the pressure. And by the way, I've gotta say, after being here, every one of my 100 town hall meetings in New Hampshire were a lot more fun than what I saw here today, were so much more positive. Look, in terms of North Korea, Martha, we have to make sure that we intercept both the ships and their aircraft, because what they're trying to do is to proliferate this very dangerous material, along with the \u2014 with the technology, the instruments that can be used for mass destruction. That's what I worry about the most, frankly, is non-state actors, people who don't have a uniform, people don't have a country, who can spread this, who are not subject to the \u2014 to the mutual assured defense. In other words, you strike us, we strike you. Some of these radicals, they don't care about that. That's what I worry about, for my children, and for their children, going forward. So, we have to be very tough. And we should tell the Chinese, look, if you're not going to do this ballistic missile defense to the Koreans, ballistic missile defense to Japan \u2014 and by the way, we should impose the same kind of sanctions on North Korea that we imposed on Iran, because they're able to shift money. They're able to send money and receive money. We've gotta to be very tough on this. And frankly, I think we could have \u2014 I think we could have let the Japanese know that if you want to take action on that \u2014 on that missile that's rising, you want to take action \u2014 you will have our support, if that's what you think is the best thing to do. We cannot continue to be weak in the face of the North Koreans, or, frankly, in the entire rest of the world. Martha, this is \u2014 this is the \u2014 relates... +p200 +aVWell, you know, David, I \u2014 I've just spent a lot of time here in this state, as I mentioned earlier, and we have to have practical solutions, just like we were just talking about a few minutes ago on North Korea. Look, the situation is, we need to finish the border. It has to be completed. Just like we lock our doors at night, the country has to be able to lock its doors. And we can have a guest worker program, where people can come in and out in an orderly way. And then for the 11.5 million that are here, if they have not committed a crime since they've been here, I believe they ought to pay some back taxes, pay a fine, never get on the path to citizenship, but get legalization. It is not \u2014 I couldn't even imagine how we would even begin to think about taking a mom or a dad out of a house when they have not committed a crime since they've been here, leaving their children in the house. I mean, that is not, in my opinion, the kind of values that we believe in. And secondly, I think at the end of the day, that Americans would support a plan like this. I think Congress would pass a plan to finish the border, guest worker, pay a fine, a path to legalization, and not citizenship. And we've got to get this done. And I will tell you this, within the first 100 days that I am president, I will put that proposal to the Congress. And I will tell you, as a former Congressman, and an executive, in Ohio, I can promise you that I believe you'll get the votes to pass that, and we can move on with that issue and protect our border. That's what I think. +p201 +aVGood evening. +p202 +aVWell, first of all, look. As the New York Times said, he's certainly not a moderate, but he can bring people together to solve problems. The fact of the matter is I've cut taxes more than anybody in the country this year. I have balanced budgets, the federal budget, the state of Ohio budget, we're running a $2 billion dollar surplus, we're up 400,000 jobs, and in Washington we were able to have significant job growth whenever we balanced the budget of which I was the architect. But, here's the beauty of it, it's not just balancing a budget, it's about jobs. You know, when I was kid growing up in a neighborhood where Dad went home at night and said, "I lost my job today", it just killed the family. It just was a devastating effect. We have to have economic growth, but once we have economic growth I believe we have to reach out to people who live in the shadows. I believe we need to help the mentally ill, the drug addicted, the working poor. We need to help the developmentally disabled to rise, and we need to help our friends in the minority community develop entrepreneurship. In other words, in American, conservatism should mean not only that some rise with conservative principles, but everybody has a chance to rise regardless of who they are so they can live their God given purpose. That's what conservatism should be. +p203 +aVDavid? +p204 +aVLook, I'm \u2014 I'm not here \u2014 I like Chris. +p205 +aVLet \u2014 but let me \u2014 let me just tell you. First of all, we have the lowest number of state employees in 30 years. Secondly, we have grown government at the rate of inflation. And I went from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. And we've grown jobs by 400,000 \u2014 that's one of the fastest growing states in the country. Our pensions are secure and our credit is rock solid. Now, I've learned that, what makes things work, what gets the economy going, not just in Ohio, but in Washington \u2014 and it's three things. Common sense regulations, which we have, lower taxes, which we have, the lowest taxes, tax cuts in the country. And thirdly, a fiscal plan to balance the budget. When you go from $8 billion in the hole to $2 billion in the black, when you cut taxes by $5 billion and you grow over 400,000 jobs, that is a record that I can take to Washington, using the same formula that I used in Washington when I was part of the effort to balance the budget to give us a surplus and to create jobs. +p206 +aVThat's what I did and I'll do it again in the first 100 days. +p207 +aVWell, right now the deals \u2014 there's no leadership. I mean, a lot of the things that we're talking about here tonight, on the border, and so many of the things. What we should be doing on foreign policy, you know what the problem is, Mary Katharine? There's not a leader that gets somebody to rise up. You have to have a leader that can inspire, and actually some of what Donald was saying is true. Look, do you know how hard it was... +p208 +aV... to get the balance the federal budget balanced? You have to plead with people. To do what we've done in Ohio, you have to plead with people, then you go back down to Washington and do the same thing. You see, we have to remind people we're Americans before we're Republicans and Democrats, and when we wait, and when we delay what we end up doing, Mary Katharine, is we make the United States weaker. In fact, it's a foreign policy issue because people look at America not solving problems and they say what are they doing over there? So the point is you have to work with people. The problem with executive authority for the president, it's really bad news for this reason. Since he's given up on working with Congress, he thinks he can impose anything he wants. He's not a king. He's a president. An executive order should be used frankly in consolidation and with consulting with the leadership in the \u2014 in the Congress. I've done it in Ohio. I consult. I could use executive orders, but I don't trump the legislature, because if you do, you aggravate them, you anger them and then the long-term prospects get bleak. We have to solve problems in America by coming together, Republicans and Democrats, Americans first, party and ideology second \u2014 in the second back seat of this country. That's what we need to do. And we can do it. And we can do it. +p209 +aVMary Katherine, let me just say this to you. You must have an agenda that you are ready to move on in the first 100 days. Jeb is right. If you delay and you wait, the Washington operators will take you down. I can tell you this, in the first 100 days, I will have legislation to freeze federal regulations, have them reviewed by the vice president, reduce state taxes on individuals, reduce taxes on corporations, have a fiscal plan to balance the budget, get the border protected and begin to fix Social Security in the first 100 days. So, anybody who is here tonight, if I get elected president, head out tomorrow and buy a seat belt, because there's going to be so much happening in the first 100 days, it's going to make your head spin. We're going to move America forward. I promise you. We're going to move us forward. +p210 +aVJeb mentioned me. Time for me to go again. +p211 +aVHe says he didn't mention me the second time. I thought I heard it, Jeb. No. I'm just kidding. Thank you all very much for listening and being patient with all of us tonight. Thank you. +p212 +aVDavid, David... +p213 +aVI wanted \u2014 I wanted to say, look, this \u2014 there can be a win-win here. I have formed a collaborative between police and community leaders because people have to respect law enforcement. A family doesn't want dad or mom going home in a box. And for our community leaders, many of them think the system not only works \u2014 not only doesn't work for them, but it works against them. And I created a big collaborative in Ohio made up of law enforcement, community leaders, the head of my public safety and a former Democrat, liberal Senate senator Nina Turner, run it. They got together, they made recommendations on recruiting, on hiring, on the use of deadly force and what we're about to do is to bring community and police together so we can have a win-win. We need more win-wins in America and we don't have to pick one over another divide. We love the police, but we've got to be responsible to the people in the community. We have to do all of that. +p214 +aVJosh? +p215 +aVJosh, I mean, clearly, when a veteran comes home, they should get health care anywhere they want to go. In our state, which is what we should do in the country, you know, if they drive a truck from Kabul to Kandahar in Afghanistan, we say, you can drive a truck from Columbus to Cleveland, and you don't have to go get a license. We're going to hand you one. And if you've got expertise in the military, we're going to give you college credit or community college credit for the things that you did for our country. And in addition to that, I'll tell you, one of the biggest things I think has to be done \u2014 and I would do it as president \u2014 the Pentagon has got to work with the returning soldier, sailor, along with the family, and we \u2014 they're the most valuable employees in the country. I call them golden employees. Everybody wants to hire a veteran. But there is a disconnect between the job openings and the veteran when the veteran comes back. The veteran is a leader. The veteran is strong. The veteran is drug free. There should be no unemployment among veterans. And if the Pentagon will work with the veterans' services agencies all across this country, Josh, we can get people jobs and we can get them jobs quickly, get them their health care......get them their college education. Let's lift them. They're the greatest people defending the United States of America and we need to take care of them, and we will. We will. +p216 +aVCarolina's going to win that one. I hate to say it. But they're going to win that one. +p217 +aVWell, folks, I've done now over 100 town hall meetings and I've loved every second of it. It has been the greatest thing in the world. And I want you to know that you've changed me, because I've listened to your stories and I've had your hugs and I've seen your tears, and I've seen you walk away and say, I now have hope. You know, I've had a conservative message, but a positive message \u2014 not just a conservative message, but a positive message about how we can bring people together, how we can restore America's strength, lift everyone. New Hampshire, please give me a chance to carry this message forward to the United States of America. And then, I will come back. Thank you, loved it. And God bless you. +p218 +aVWell, first of all, I had a national reporter say, you know, there's three lanes. There's the establishment lane, the anti-establishment lane, and then there's the Kasich lane. And the reason is, is that I've been a reformer all of my career, fighting to reform welfare, fighting to reform the Pentagon, also being in a position to balance the budget, because that is very, very hard to do. And then in Ohio, of course, I had to bring about big reform, again, because we were so far in the hole and now we just found out we are up over 400,000 jobs since I took over as governor. You know, the situation is this. We cannot fix things in this country \u2014 the Social Security, the border, balancing the budget, getting wages to grow faster \u2014 unless we lead as conservatives, but we also invite people in from the other party. We have to come together as a country. And we have to stop all the divisions. And, you know, that's been my message in New Hampshire. And having been in New Hampshire and here in Iowa, but in New Hampshire, I just received the support of seven out of eight of the newspapers in that state because they see positive, they see unity, they see coming together, and they see a record of change and a record of accomplishment. And it isn't because I'm all that great. It's because I've been assembling a team of people who want to be involved in something that's a little bigger than themselves. I'll keep \u2014 I'll keep heading in that direction, believe me. +p219 +aVChris... ... there was a question about foreign policy, by the way, and experience. And I \u2014 I thought, if I didn't jump in, I might not be able to tell everybody this. I think they'd want to hear it. Look, I served on... +p220 +aV... but wait a minute... +p221 +aV...the only reason is \u2014 look... +p222 +aVOK. +p223 +aVI've always listened to you, Megyn. Go ahead. +p224 +aVYes \u2014 thank you. +p225 +aVWell, look the Joint Terrorism Task Force needs resources and tools. And those are made up of the FBI, state and local law enforcement. And Megyn, it's best not to talk anymore about back doors and encryption, it will get solved, but it needs to be solved in the situation of the White House with the technology folks. +p226 +aVBut I just have to tell you that it's best with some of these things not be said. Now I want to go back something. See, I was there when Reagan rebuilt the military. I was there in '89 when the wall came tumbling down because we were strong. And I was there when we went into the Gulf War. We didn't win that war just from the air, we won that war by assembling a group of Arab leaders who stood in the Rose Garden and stood with America. We want to destroy +p227 +aVBut we have a unique time in America to connect with people all around the world that understand that there's an existential threat against all of them, the Arabs, the Jordanians, the Saudis, the Egyptians, our friends in Europe, including the Turks. So we have a unique opportunity to bring everybody together. I saw Reagan do it, I've seen other presidents do it. And frankly, if you want to be commander in chief, you have to have the experience. At the same time we're doing all that, the Pentagon must be reformed so we get what we need for our men and women in uniform. All of that together, we're going to be just fine and America is going to continue to lead the world. +p228 +aVWell, you've got to be on top of it right away. And, you know, I don't know all the details of what Rick Snyder has done. I know there have been people who have been fired; people who are being held accountable. But the fact is, every single engine of government has to move when you see a crisis like that. And I've had many situations in the state of Ohio where we've had to move, whether it's storms, whether it was a horrible school shooting. There are many crises that come \u2014 a water crisis in Toledo. You've got to be on top of it. You've got to go the extra mile. You've got to work with local communities and you've got to work with the federal government. Because you realize that people depending on you. And so, you go the extra mile. But people have to be alert. They have to be alert to problems. And when you see a problem, you must act quickly to get on top of it. And people at home are saying they've got a problem, listen to them. Because most of the time, they're absolutely correct. So the fact is that we work for the people. The people don't work for us. And we have to have an attitude when we're in government of serving-hood. That's what really matters. We serve you. You don't serve us. We listen to you and \u2014 and then we act. +p229 +aVNo. You know, Chris, here's what happened with Medicaid in my state. We took the growth of Medicaid from over 10 percent in my second budget to 2.5 percent, without cutting off one person or cutting one benefit, because we \u2014 we innovated the government. And now mom and dad can stay in their own home, rather than being forced into a nursing home. And then we decided we could bring $14 billion of our money \u2014 I mean, Washington doesn't have any money. It was our money, and we brought them back to tend to the mentally ill. Because I don't think they ought to live in prison or live under a bridge; to treat the drug-addicted so they're not in an in-and-out-of-the-door policy out of the prisons; and to help the working poor so they don't live in emergency rooms. How has it worked? Well, we have treated the drug-addicted in our prisons and we released them in to the community, and our recidivism rate is less than 20 percent. That's basically bordering on a miracle because of our great prison director. The mentally ill? They've been stepped on for too long in this society, and we are beginning to treat them. In terms of my faith, look, all I say is that when I study scripture, I know that people who live in the shadows need to have a chance. But I'm not deciding that anybody's got to make these decisions the way that I do, on the basis of what I do. But what \u2014 I will tell you this. The time has come to stop ignoring the mentally ill in this country and begin to treat them and get them on their feet, along with, of course, with treating the drug-addicted. Because we don't want them in and out \u2014 we don't want them in and out of the prisons. Give people a chance. We talked about criminal justice reform. We've enacted it in our state. Look, the conservative message is economic growth and along with economic growth goes opportunity for everybody in America. Everybody ought to have a chance to be able to rise to their God-given purpose. And that is what we have done in Ohio. We're running surpluses. We're up 400,000 jobs. And guess what? The formula is working. I'd suggest people take a look at it. Thank you. +p230 +aVLook, we don't know what's going to happen in ten months. And if I were president of the United States right now, I'd be lining up our allies to say that, if one crossed T or one dotted I does not occur, they are \u2014 violate the agreement, we slap back on sanctions. We can slap on sanctions alone, on day one, but it's not gonna be anywhere near as effective. But the president needs to be laying the groundwork right now for the ability to slap those sanctions back on worldwide. And I'll tell you what I'm worried about \u2014 I'm worried about money. You read about all the companies now that are doing business \u2014 about to do business in Iran, and if we don't get this settled now, with other countries in the world, about sanctions, then Iran could violate that agreement, and we're the only ones putting the sanctions on. We need to move aggressively now. But I would say this to you, Bret. Number one, if they violate it, we need to move against them. And number two, if we find out they're developing a nuclear weapon and we know how to get to it, we're gonna go take it out. That is what we have to do. We cannot let things get farther down the road, like we did with North Korea. +p231 +aVThat's right. Yes. +p232 +aVI know, Bret. +p233 +aVBut Bret, here's the problem. You take a look at the \u2014 at Belgium. I talked to a diplomat from Belgium. I said, "how's it going?" He said, "we have the military in the streets right now. We never dreamt we'd ever see it." See, I think there is an opportunity to bring the world together. The Turks are being threatened. We know about the French. We know about the Belgians. We know about the Brits. Everybody is under fire and under attack, and we have to stand together as an alliance. So actually, the opportunity is there, because of the threat to all of these countries, to bring all of us together... ... and say there is something more important than money. It is the future of the world and the future of our children and grandchildren. That's the kind of leadership this country needs. It has not been in effect during the administration of Barack Obama. And that's only the beginning of the failures that they have committed, not only in the Middle East, but all over the world, including Russia and China. +p234 +aVYou know, one of our biggest national security issues is the world looks at us some time, and we look at each other and say, why can't we solve problems? Well, I've got news for you, we can. We can in fact create jobs and provide job security. We can create a situation where wages begin to rise. We can create a situation for our children to be able to get a decent job to pay down their college debt. We can re-assume our role in the world. But all of this has to come together when we have a positive attitude, an optimistic approach, an ability for us to set the tune as conservatives, to invite other people in to be part of that orchestra. You see, ladies and gentlemen, at the end of the day, I'm an optimist Because I've seen so many things get accomplished in my lifetime. And we can do it again together, all of us, to strengthen this country, work together. Thank you. +p235 +asVKELLY +p236 +(lp237 +VTonight, we are coming to you live from the Iowa Event Center in downtown Des Moines, in the shadow of the Iowa state capitol. In just four days, people here in the Hawkeye State will caucus and cast the first votes of the 2016 election. +p238 +aVSeven candidates are on that stage tonight, their position on the stage determined by their standing in the latest national polls, as well as polls in Iowa and New Hampshire. And here they are. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Florida Senator Marco Rubio. +p239 +aVWow. +p240 +aVSo let's get started. Senator Cruz, before we get to the issues, let's address the elephant not in the room tonight. Donald Trump has chosen not to attend this evening's presidential debate. What message do you think that sends to the voters of Iowa? +p241 +aVThe divide between you and Mr. Trump has turned into one of the biggest stories in the country. And for six months that \u2014 your campaign, during this campaign, you praised Mr. Trump as somebody who you thought was an effective voice against the Washington cartel. You said you were glad that he was running as a Republican. But when he started to criticize you, your message changed, and you suddenly started to portray him as the voice of the Washington cartel, and suggested he would do the Democrats' bidding. Which is it? +p242 +aVSenator Christie, you began this campaign touting your record as a Republican from a blue state who knows how to get things done and reach across the aisle. However, many Republicans feel that reaching across the aisle and getting things done isn't great if you get the wrong things done. And they prefer to stand on principle rather than compromise. Why are they wrong and you're right? +p243 +aVBut first, you can join tonight's conversation right from home. Go to google.com or open your Google search app and search Fox News debate to vote on which candidate you think has the best plan to defeat +p244 +aVWe have a lot \u2014 we have a lot to cover. But we want to \u2014 we want to turn the page to domestic... +p245 +aVNo, no. No. +p246 +aVNo no no, because we want to turn the page to domestic terror, and let me tell you why: we're partnering with Google on this debate, and they're telling us... +p247 +aV... that their search results have gone through the roof on \u2014 on people... +p248 +aV... you're a good man, Governor Kasich. +p249 +aVPeople \u2014 the search results \u2014 the searches for terror issues, for safety issues in America have gone through the roof, increased over 400 percent since 2008. People are worried. They're worried about what's happening in the country and about a domestic terror attack, as all of you know. Now, when combating this threat, Senator Rubio, you've advocated closing down mosques \u2014 we'll get back to you. Well, you have advocated closing down \u2014 closing down mosques, diners, any place where radicalization is occurring. You told me that. But the Supreme Court has made clear that hateful speech is generally protected by the First Amendment. In other words, radical Muslims have the right to be radical Muslims, unless they turn to terror. Doesn't your position run afoul of the First Amendment? +p250 +aVSenator Paul, do you agree with that? We're gonna close down mosques, we're gonna close down diners where we think radical thinking's occurring? +p251 +aVGovernor Christie, let's talk about profiling. In December... +p252 +aV... profiling. Profiling. In December, two radical Muslims killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California. Neighbors of the terrorists said that they did not report the couple to law enforcement prior to the crime, because they were afraid that they would be accused of profiling. Now, you have said that we should not profile. How do you square that with the San Bernardino case? +p253 +aVThey didn't know they were going to attack the country. +p254 +aVThat's not true. The neighbors said they saw men going in and out of the garage. They saw packages being delivered. They saw Muslims, and they did not think that was enough to call the cops. Do you? +p255 +aVDr. Carson, this week a female Muslim who served in the U.S. Air Force asked Hillary Clinton the question, she asked whether the United States is still the best place in which to raise her three Muslim children. Given what she perceives as a rise in Islamaphobia in this country. Do you think the GOP messaging on Muslims has stoked the flames of bias on this as the Democrats suggest, and how would you answer this veteran? +p256 +aVGovernor Kasich, stand back. You appear to back in another debate, a so-called back door to encrypted cell phone technology, which protects most smartphones that we all have from hacking. And it includes our phones and it also protects the cell phones of the terrorist. Now the tech companies and a group of MIT scientists, smart guys, right, warn that if they create a way for the FBI to have a back door into our encrypted communications, then the bad guys will exploit it too. And they say that this is going to cause more security problems than it would solve for everyday Americans. Are they wrong? +p257 +aVBut this is public testimony. +p258 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p259 +aVWelcome back, everybody. We are live in Des Moines, Iowa. And let's get right back to the questions \u2014 Bret. +p260 +aVAll right. We're going to move on. Because coming up, immigration, and something you've never seen before. Stay tuned, right after this break. +p261 +aVWelcome back everyone. Live, in Des Moines, Iowa. Now, we move onto the topic of immigration. Senator Rubio, we'll start with you. When you ran for Senate in 2010, you made clear that you opposed legalization and citizenship for illegal immigrants. You promised repeatedly that you would oppose it as a U.S. Senator as well. Here are just a few examples. Watch. +p262 +aVWithin two years of getting elected you were co-sponsoring legislation to create a path to citizenship, in your words, amnesty. Haven't you already proven that you cannot be trusted on this issue? +p263 +aV... But, you went on from there... +p264 +aV... You said more than that, Senator... +p265 +aV... You said earned path to citizenship is basically code for amnesty. You... +p266 +aV... supported earned path to citizenship... +p267 +aVGovernor Bush, do you agree Senator Rubio has not reversed himself on his immigration promise? +p268 +aVGo ahead, senator. +p269 +aVAll right. +p270 +aVAll right. This will be the last one. +p271 +aVOK. Let's move on. Senator Cruz, when Senator Rubio proposed that bill creating a path to citizenship, you proposed an amendment. It would have allowed for legalization but not citizenship. Yes, it would. Pressed last month on why you supported legalization, you claimed that you didn't. Right? Like you just did. Saw that. You argued that this was just a poison pill amendment, basically it's something designed to kill the bill and not actually get it through. But that is not, however, how it sounded at the time. Watch. +p272 +aVWas that all an act? It was pretty convincing. +p273 +aVBut the bill allowed both. The bill you were amending allowed citizenship and legalization. +p274 +aVOK, sir. +p275 +aVSenator Paul. You know how Washington works. Do you buy that? +p276 +aVGo ahead, sir. +p277 +aVSenator Rubio, even Chuck Schumer, your co-sponsor of that bill... +p278 +aV... agrees with Ted Cruz on this. +p279 +aVGo ahead, Senator Cruz. +p280 +aVAll right. +p281 +aVGo ahead, Governor Christie. +p282 +aVLet's go to a Youtube question. Let's get to a Youtube question. This is a question from a Youtube creator with over 2 million subscribers. Watch. +p283 +aVDr. Carson, that's one \u2014 that one's for you. +p284 +aVGo ahead. +p285 +aVAll right. +p286 +aVAll right. We're moving on. +p287 +aVGovernor bush, poll after poll shows you running among the worst in your party against Hillary Clinton. Even Mitt Romney said that a Bush v. Clinton head-to-head would be too easy for the Democrats. Yet still you and the super PACs supporting you continue to blanket the airwaves with cutting ads, not against Mrs. Clinton, but against your fellow Republicans, especially Senator Rubio. Do these attacks do more harm than good by targeting those candidates who appear to have the best chance of defeating Mrs. Clinton? +p288 +aVWelcome back, everybody. Let's get back to the questions. Chris? +p289 +aVSenator Paul, you have suggested that former President Bill Clinton's history with women is fair game in this campaign. How do you answer those who say you don't hold the sins of the husband against the wife? +p290 +aVOf her husband's? +p291 +aVWelcome back, everybody. And now, it is time for closing statements. The candidates each get 30 seconds. And we begin with Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. +p292 +aVOhio Governor Kasich. +p293 +aVFormer Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Governor. +p294 +aVTexas Senator, Ted Cruz. Senator. +p295 +aVGentlemen, thank you all so much for being here tonight. We appreciate it greatly. And that does it for the seventh Republican primary debate of the 2016 presidential race. But we're not done. The Kelly file starts in a moment and guess who is going to be there? Senator Ted Cruz. +p296 +asVREGAN +p297 +(lp298 +VIn Tuesday's State of the Union Address, the president said that our economy is strong. He cited the significant decline we've seen in unemployment rate and the millions of jobs that have been created. What is your assessment of the economy right now? And I would like to hear from all of you on this one, beginning with Ms. Fiorina. +p299 +aVThank you Governor Huckabee. Senator Santorum? +p300 +aVThank you. Well, since we've been talking about the Middle East, Senator Santorum, conflicts between Saudi Arabia and Iran have certainly escalated, amid accusations that Saudi Arabia bombed the Iranian Embassy in Yemen after the Saudi Embassy in Tehran was attacked. As we confront an increasingly unstable Middle East, how will you, as president, navigate this administration's promises to Iran while standing by our historic allies in the region? +p301 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p302 +aVGovernor Huckabee, if I could just follow-up with that. Do we need to be in Afghanistan? +p303 +aVThank you Governor Huckabee. Ms. Fiorina, nearly 600 women say they were attacked in a German city on New Year's Eve by men of Arab or North African descent and 45 percent of those alleged attacks were sexual assaults. Twenty-two of those 32 men arrested so far are asylum-seekers. Are you worried about similar problems in the United States? +p304 +aVI want to stay with you on this. The world shares a common enemy right now in the way of +p305 +aVMs. Fiorina, thank you. +p306 +aVWelcome back, everyone, to the Republican presidential debate. On to the next round of questions \u2014 Sandra. +p307 +aVMs. Fiorina, the president has just issued an executive order to expand the gun laws and background checks. And none of you on stage agree with this. But recent polls show the majority of Americans are in favor of universal background checks. +p308 +aVIt's the poll data. +p309 +aVSo tell me......why, in your view, is the president's proposal a problem? +p310 +aVMs. Fiorina, you've said that was when you were CEO of HP, you actually worked with the government. +p311 +aV\u2014 to try and combat some of these terrorist threats. +p312 +aVWhat did you do? +p313 +aVMs. Fiorina, thank you. +p314 +aVGovernor Huckabee, an American in San Bernardino murdered 14 people while terrorists with Belgian and French passports murdered 130 people. Were facing a threat within our borders, and from outside the United States. Those European terrorists, they could have come here at any time given that we have a visa waiver program that enables people to travel back and forth. It exists within those countries, and 36 others. In countries around the world, including many in Europe, cannot ensure that their citizens are not jihadists, why are we waiving the visa requirement at all? +p315 +aVIf you get the visa waiver program, does that shut down international commerce? +p316 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p317 +aVSenator Santorum, thank you. +p318 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p319 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from North Charleston. We want to jump right back in. Sandra is kicking it off. +p320 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you know it used to be you could graduate from high school and get a pretty good job at the local factory, enough to take care of your family and yourself. Those days seem to be gone. It's pretty hard to do that nowadays. Businesses are increasingly turning to automation to increase their productivity levels. It's happening right here, in fact, at the Boeing factory in North Charleston. The president says automation threatens workers' ability to get higher wages. Do you agree with that? And if so, do you have a solution? +p321 +aVThank you very much, Governor Huckabee. Senator Santorum, 40% of babies born today are born to single moms. That's twice as high as reported back in 1980, and it's 11 times as high as in 1940. Studies show that children are always better off economically, most often \u2014 and emotionally, with two parents in a household. From a policy perspective, should the government be doing anything to encourage family formation? +p322 +aVThank you. +p323 +aVCarly Fiorina? +p324 +aVThank you to all the candidates. That does it, everyone for the first debate right here in North Charleston. +p325 +asVBAIER +p326 +(lp327 +VNine p.m. on the East Coast. Eight o'clock here in Des Moines, Iowa. Welcome to the seventh Republican presidential debate of the 2016 campaign. I'm Bret Baier, along with my comoderators Megyn Kelly and Chris Wallace. +p328 +aVGoogle sees political searches spike during televised presidential debates \u2014 no surprise there. But they spike by more than 440 percent on average, as voters across America seek to learn more about what's happening on the live debate stage. +p329 +aVOhio Governor John Kasich. And Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. +p330 +aVTonight's rules are simple. Up to 60 seconds for each answer, 30 seconds for each follow-up response. And if a candidate goes over the allotted time, you will hear this. Double. +p331 +aVI think the double is the one we want. Very pleasing. We have a crowd of about 1,600 here, and while they have agreed to respect the candidates and listen intently, we can tell you they are very excited to be here. Am I right? +p332 +aVGovernor Bush, it's hard for anyone of your pedigree to avoid being called establishment. But isn't that part of the problem in this race, that three others on this stage are splitting the main stream Republican vote and there by possibly handing this nomination over to an anti-establishment candidate? +p333 +aVThank you governor. +p334 +aVSenator Paul, you are definitely not in the establishment category. But at the beginning of this campaign, you said you were your own man when asked about your father, former Texas Congressman and three-time presidential candidate Ron Paul. Senator Cruz's campaign is out with a video saying that Cruz is the intellectual and political heir to your father's 2012 campaign and the liberty movement. And your father now says it's realistic that Donald Trump will be your party's nominee. So did you make a mistake by not fully \u2014 more fully embracing your father politically at the beginning of this campaign? +p335 +aVSenator Cruz, your response to that? +p336 +aVSenator Rubio? +p337 +aVThank you, Senator. +p338 +aVWe'll come back to... +p339 +aVOK. Go ahead, go ahead. +p340 +aVWelcome back. Let's get right back to the questions. Chris. +p341 +aVGovernor Bush, just today, a wounded warrior organization designed to help wounded veterans and their families is coming under fire for raising tens of millions of dollars, but spending almost half of that on travel and hotels and dinners and luxury, lavish conferences. So taking care of veterans is obviously a huge issue in the country that has asked so many to serve and sacrifice so much. If you were president. would you police these charity organizations that say they're helping vets? +p342 +aVGovernor Bush, thank you. Speaking of veterans, we have a question from a veteran who is one of the top Youtube creators. Over the course of the evening, gentlemen, we will hear from some of Youtube's most followed stars. And here's one of them. +p343 +aVSenator Paul, that question to you. +p344 +aVSenator Paul, thank you. +p345 +aVThank you, Megyn. Gentlemen, I'll ask you some questions about federal spending and the role of the federal government. Everybody always said they want to cut federal spending and usually they start by saying they'll cut waste, fraud, and abuse, but that really doesn't ever materialize. We all know that. Governor Christie, you talk a lot about entitlement reform and you say that that's where the federal government can get savings needed to balance the budget. But can you name even one thing that the federal government does now that it should not do at all? +p346 +aVI want one. Yes. +p347 +aVAnything bigger than that? +p348 +aVAnd, Governor, I realize everyone on this stage opposes Obamacare and you're not alone. Google Data shows that in the last month when people searched "policy repeals," that there were a lot of them. Obamacare took the top two spots. But today there are millions of people who gained health insurance from Obamacare and they now rely on it. So the question, Senator Cruz, if you repeal Obamacare, as you say you will, will you be fine if millions of those people don't have health insurance? And what is your specific plan for covering the uninsured? +p349 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. Governor Bush, you've advocated for statehood for Puerto Rico. The Puerto Rican economy is collapsing under unsustainable debt burden. Only about 1 million of its 4 million residents are currently employed. So should American citizens who you say are already overtaxed, bail out Puerto Rico as well? +p350 +aVGovernor Kasich, you're one of two remaining sitting governors still in the race. Your colleague, Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan is under fire \u2014 he and his administration \u2014 for the Flint, Michigan water crisis and the botched response to it. How would you have handled that? +p351 +aVSenator Rubio, on the issue of climate change, in 2008, you wanted Florida to get ahead of other states and establish a cap- and-trade system, a program for carbon emissions, which many Republicans thought at the time would hurt the Florida economy. Now, you're a skeptic of climate change science. And in fact, you warn that federal efforts to fight climate change will cost U.S. jobs and hurt the U.S. economy. So why the change? +p352 +aVThanks, Senator. +p353 +aVThank you. +p354 +aVSenator Rubio, first before I ask you a question, any response to Governor Bush? +p355 +aVNow let's talk about electability, Senator. +p356 +aVThank you, Senator. +p357 +aVMuch more to come, including where the candidates stand on foreign policy. And, once again, you can go to Google.com, or open your Google search app and search, "Fox News Debate" to vote on which candidate you think is winning the debate tonight. We'll be right back. +p358 +aVGentlemen. I'd like to ask you a few questions about foreign policy broadly. Dr. Carson, many experts believe Russian leader Vladimir Putin has greater ideas, bigger designs for the region beyond Russia's actions inside Ukraine. Fast forward to February 2017 and it is President Carson, and Russian uniformed commandos cross the Estonian border and they occupy a city in Estonia. Estonia, a member of +p359 +aVGentlemen, you've all said that the Iran nuclear deal is a bad one. Senator Rubio, you were among the candidates who've said you would tear it up on day one. But as you know, Iran has already received tens of millions of dollars \u2014 tens of billions of dollars in this deal and has quickly reestablished ties economically with Europe. The major concessions, in other words, are up front in this deal. So should you win by the time you take office, the remaining parts of the deal would be the constraints on Iran. So why blow up those constraints on day one, letting Iran off the hook? +p360 +aVGovernor Kasich, you've said that Marco Rubio is wrong... ... that Senator Rubio is wrong with tearing it up on day one. +p361 +aVBut Governor Kasich, you know that the most powerful sanctions are the multilateral ones. +p362 +aVAnd these European countries are already reestablishing these ties. +p363 +aVThey don't want... +p364 +aVGovernor, thank you. Governor Christie... ... Libya is the newest base for +p365 +aVThank you, Governor. +p366 +aVWelcome back to Des Moines. Let's resume the debate. Megyn? +p367 +aVComing up, closing statements from the candidates as our debate continues, live, from Des Moines, Iowa. +p368 +aVNew Jersey governor, Chris Christie. +p369 +aVThank you governor. +p370 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. +p371 +aVThank you senator. +p372 +aVAnd we have you covered from Iowa, all the way to the conventions and on to the general election. Thanks again for joining us. For all of us here in Des Moines, have a great evening. +p373 +asVSANTORUM +p374 +(lp375 +VWell, all he has to do is listen to the Democratic debate and find out how bad the economy is. All they do is complain about the hollowing out of the middle of America, and how America is struggling so badly, and have to make these radical changes in Washington. But they've been in control for the last seven years, and what have we seen? The most important jobs, I believe, in this country are the ones that fill the middle. For the 74% of Americans who don't have a college degree between the age of 25 and 65 are manufacturing jobs. Your governor, and your legislature, and your team here have done an amazing job of bringing manufacturing jobs back to South Carolina. Right here. Right here in Charleston, right down in the street in Boeing. You've done a great job, and what's happened? You've grown this economy, you've strengthened the center of your state, the middle. That's because you know that if you're really going to create wealth and opportunity, you got to get jobs, and good paying jobs for everybody. And, so what's happened? Two million jobs, manufacturing jobs, have left this country because of Barack Obama. Regulations, EPA, workplace regulations, things driving people off-shore all because of his number one priority, global climate change. Well, let me tell you this, Mr. President. For every dollar of GDP, China creates five times as much pollution as we do here. You want to \u2014 lower global climate change, bring those jobs back to America and let American workers do that job with less pollution. +p376 +aVWell, the historic promises that we have made to \u2014 to Iran in this agreement need to be torn up on the first day in office of the next president. And let me tell you why, because Iran has already torn it up. Iran has not approved the agreement that President Obama has said that they have approved. They have approved a different agreement in their parliament. The fact of the matter is they have violated this agreement. Carly just mentioned some of those violations. They have launched ballistic missiles, tested them, in clear violation. And here's the pathetic part. The president announced that they were going to impose sanctions. And then President Rouhani went on Twitter and said there would be retaliation. And what did we do? We backed down. Ladies and gentlemen, there are 50 some Citadel cadets in this audience tonight. I would ask them to stand up if they will. And here's what I want to tell each and every one of them, as you stand. Here's what I want to tell them. Whether it's you're watching that movie this weekend that just came out when we abandoned our men and women in Benghazi, or whether it's we treat Iran, that gave courtesies to our sailors, as they made them record a hostage video, let me tell you this, if you choose to serve this country, I will have your back. I will not let America be trampled upon anymore by these radical jihadists. +p377 +aVI would just say that if we were doing a better job within the government, we wouldn't need the private sector to do the things that we're asking them to do. I've had a little experience in this in the private sector myself. And what I found was a government with layers and layers of bureaucracy, of people who had some technical expertise but they had no authority, number one. And one of the things I found out about in the bureaucracy is if a lot of people have authority, nobody has authority, number one. And number two, that if you don't do anything, you don't get fired. It's only when you do something and something goes wrong, you get fired. So they do nothing. And that's what is happening in our Defense Department right now. We have a capability that they're trying to develop to play defense. We have a lot of technologists that are very skilled. And they're trying to figure out how to play defense. But what we don't have is we don't have folks who are thinking about offense. We don't have war-fighters. We have technologists. Technologists are not war-fighters. Technologists are thinking, how do I protect cyber-security, how do I secure, how do I protect? And we need to have a much more dynamic, how do we \u2014 how do we go after them? How do we respond? And we need leadership that's willing to make sure that when someone attacks us \u2014 and ladies and gentlemen, they're attacking us as we speak. They're attacking us all day every day, not just the government, but they're attacking private sector companies all day every day. They have to learn that we're going to pay \u2014 they're going to pay a price when they do so. And then right now, just like in every other aspect of our national security, people who attack us are not paying a price. We need a leader who will make sure that they know when they mess with America, they're going to pay a price. +p378 +aVLook, Facebook and Twitter can teach us things. We can cooperate with them. We can share ideas and information. But this is a \u2014 and this is a very dicey area for the government to go in and require the industry to do its job. It needs to develop that capability. We need to be \u2014 have responsible dialogue, but I don't think requirements are the order of the day. +p379 +aVWell, the most devastating attack that could occur is an electromagnetic pulse attack, and that would be an attack that would be triggered by a nuclear explosion in the upper atmosphere of our country. The best way to stop that from happening is to make sure that those who contemplating and actually war-gaming and talking about using it, Iran, doesn't get a nuclear weapon so they can't explode that device. And the president of the United States has put Iran on a path to a nuclear weapon. And we have done nothing to do anything to harden our grid. There is actually a bill in Congress that would put money forward to try to put redundancy and harden our electric grid so it could actually survive an EMP. An EMP is a devastating explosion that sends a pulse that knocks out all electric, everything, everything that is connected to any kind \u2014 that is wired, that has a circuit board gets fried out. Everything is gone. Cars stop. Planes fall out of the sky. This is a devastating attack. And this president has done nothing, number one, to take the most probable person to \u2014 probable country to launch an attack and stop them, and has done nothing to try to defend us, particularly our electric grid. The bottom line is, I put the original sanctions on the Iranian nuclear program when I was in the United States Senate. I've been fighting for 12 years with one thing in mind, that we must stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. And......because they're different than every other country. They do not want a nuclear weapon to defend themselves. They want a nuclear weapon to have theological ends to bring about their mahdi so they can control the world. And that is the most serious threat facing this country right now. +p380 +aVWell, the numbers just don't add up. I mean, they have not added manufacturing jobs. Manufacturing jobs have been lost in this country, 2 million of them. The bottom line is that this president has done more to take jobs away from the hard-working people who are struggling the most. And that's folks who are, as I said, the 74 percent of Americans who don't have a college degree. And they're out there talking about, well, we're going to provide free college for everybody. Well, who is going to pay for it? The 74 percent that don't have a college degree. They're not \u2014 nobody is focused. Let's just be honest, nobody is focused on the people who are struggling the most in America today. We talk about immigration. Talk about the president's immigration plan. He wants to bring in more and more people into this country. Let people who are here illegally stay in this country. Almost all of the people who are here illegally, and most of the people who came here legally over the last 20 years, they're working in wage-earning jobs. That is why wages have flat-lined. And we have unfortunately two political parties with most of the candidates in this field for some form of amnesty, some form of allowing people to stay here even though they're here illegally and for increasing levels of legal immigration. I'm someone who believes that we need to be the party that stands for the American worker. And when we say we need to send people back, I mean we send people back. And let me just make one point. I was in Storm Lake, Iowa, the other day, near a Tyson's plant, 91 percent of the kids that go to the elementary school there are minority kids. And they said, well, what are you going to do with all of these people, their families, they've lived here for a long time? I said, I'm going to give them a gift. I'm going to give them a gift of being able to help the country they were born in. And I'm going to export America, the education they were able to see. They learned English language. They learned about capitalism. They learned about democracy. You want to stop flow of immigrants? Let's send six million Mexicans, Hondurans, Guatemalans, El Savadorians......back into their country, so they can start a renaissance in their country so they won't be coming over here anymore. +p381 +aVYou know, we've had this debate about the economy, and we haven't talked the one issue now increasingly even the right, and even the are coming to agreement. I've run around doing 300 town hall meetings talking about a book written by a liberal Harvard sociologist, not a normal thing for me to be talking about, but I now name Robert Putnam who wrote a book called, "Our Kids". And, he wrote this book, I think, ostensibly to support the Democratic argument that the middle of America's hollowing out, and income gap is widening, and rich are getting richer. When he studied all the information as to what was going on, he realized that the biggest reason that we're seeing the hollowing out of the middle of America is the breakdown of the American family. The reality is that if you're a single parent \u2014 a child of a single parent, and you grew up in a single parent family neighborhood, you went to that single parent family school, the chance of you ever, ever reaching the top 20% of income earners is 3% in America. At least \u2014 I don't know about you, but that's not good enough. And, we have been too politically correct in this country because we don't want to offend anybody to fight for the lives of our children. You want \u2014 You want to be shocked? You read the first few chapters of Mr. \u2014 Dr. Putnam' book. He talks about Port Clinton, Ohio and growing up there in the 1950's, and how poor kids actually survived and did well, even though they were poor and disadvantaged. But, then he goes to the towns today and these kids are failing, and failing miserably. They don't even have a shot, and we won't even have the courage to have leadership at the federal level \u2014 not with legislation, but the most powerful tool a president have, the bully pulpit to encourage each and everyone of you, churches and businesses, and educators, and community leaders to let's have a national campaign to rebuild the American family, and give every child its birthright which is a Mom and a Dad who loves them. That will change this economy. +p382 +aVLadies and gentlemen, America is frustrated and angry and looking for someone who's a fighter, but I also think they're looking for someone who's a winner. Somebody who can go out there and take on the establishment and make a difference. And take on someone who's going to be the person who's going to be between a Republican holding the presidency and that's Hillary Clinton. And there's one person on this stage, one person in the race who's done it and done it repeatedly. I've taken on Hillary Clinton on the issues you care about. Partial-birth abortion. Go and google Rick Santorum and Hillary Clinton and there you'll see a five-minute debate. I'll let you decide who won the debate. I'll tell you who won, because we passed the bill and I know I'm out of time but I'm going to take some of Rand Paul's time here for a second. If you're looking for someone who fought Hillary Clinton on Iran's sanctions, she was one of four who voted \u2014 who's deciding vote who voted against Iran's sanctions, so we didn't get it in place as earlier as we should have. I've fought battles against her. In 1994, I ran against the Clinton machine. James Carville and Paul Begala, ran the race against me when I took on the author of Hillary care. And each one of those battles, I won. You want a fighter, you want a winner, I'd appreciate your vote. Thank you. +p383 +asVQUESTION +p384 +(lp385 +VI'm Mark Watson. I'm known for my views on Youtube, but I'm also a veteran who served in the Army for eight years. As an African-American living near Ferguson, I've seen the strain between police officers and the communities they serve firsthand. Now, there are great tools like body cameras that \u2014 to protect both officers and citizens, but we all currently have better cameras in our pockets than in our precincts. Why aren't we using the technology available to better protect our communities? +p386 +aVI'm Dulce Candy, a Youtube creator who immigrated to the United States from Mexico when I was a little girl. Since then, I am proud to say I served in the armed forces in Iraq, became a citizen and I am now an entrepreneur. There are many immigrants who contribute positively to the American economy, but some of the comments in the campaign make us question our place in this country. If America does not seem like a welcoming place for immigrant entrepreneurs, will the American economy suffer? +p387 +aVI'm Nabela Noor. I'm a Muslim American born and raised in the U.S. who creates beauty and lifestyle videos on Youtube. In 2015, the number of hate crimes against Muslims in the U.S. has tripled, and on social media, where I spend a lot of time, I've seen many attacks directed towards fellow Muslims. This culture of hatred is only driving +p388 +asVFIORINA +p389 +(lp390 +VWell, thank you. Good evening. If I may begin by saying how honored I am to be standing here with two former Iowa Caucus winners. Governor, Senator. And how honored I am to be talking with all of you. You know, I'm not a political insider. I haven't spent my lifetime running for office. The truth is I have had and been blessed by a lot of opportunities to do a lot of things in my life. And unlike another woman in this race, I actually love spending time with my husband. I'm standing here because I think we have to restore a citizen government in this country. I think we have to end crony capitalism. The crony capitalism that starts with both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. You know, Hillary Clinton sits inside government and rakes in millions, handing out access and favors. And Donald Trump sits outside government and rakes in billions buying people like Hillary Clinton. The state of our economy is not strong. We have record numbers of men out of work. We have record numbers of women living in poverty. We have young people who no longer believe that the American dream applies to them. We have working families whose wages have stagnated for decades, all while the rich get richer, the powerful get more powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected get more connected. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. +p391 +aVAmerica must lead because when we do not lead, when this exceptional nation does not lead, the world is more dangerous and a more tragic place. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, they all refuse to lead. Worse, they refuse to respond when this nation is provoked. Hillary Clinton famously asked what difference does it make how four Americans died in Benghazi? Mrs. Clinton, here's what difference it makes. When you do not stand up and say the truth, that this was a purposeful terrorist attack, when you do not say the United States of America will retaliate for that attack, terrorists assume it's open season. We have refused to respond to every provocation. The President wouldn't even mention the fact that Iran had taken two Navy boats and our sailors \u2014 hostage. He didn't mention the fact that they violated the Geneva convention. He didn't respond to the fact that Iran launched two ballistic missile just a short time ago, in direct violation of a deal they had just signed. We didn't respond to the fact that North Korea attacked Sony Pictures. When we refuse to respond over, and over to provocation and bad behavior, we will get more provocation and bad behavior. I know most of our allies personally. I have met many of our adversaries. I know our military and our intelligence capability, and I know this. When we will not stand with our allies, when we will not respond to our adversaries, when we do not lead in the world the world is a dangerous and tragic place. I will be a Commander in Chief who will lead. +p392 +aVOf course I'm worried about similar problems in the United States. We can not allow refugees to enter this country unless we can adequately vet them and we know we can't. Therefore we should stop allowing refugees into this country. And by the way, we do not need to be lectured about why we're angry and frustrated and fearful because we've had an illegal immigration problem in this country for 25 years. And we have every right to be frustrated about the fact that politicians stand up in election after election after election and promise us to fix the problem and yet, it has never been fixed. I offer leadership that understands that actions speak louder than words, that results count. We must secure our border. We must fix our broken immigration system. We must enforce a pro-American immigration system that serves our interests, not the rest of the world. I understand what it takes to translate goals into results and that is what I will do as president of the United States. Of course, we should be worried, for heavens sakes. This administration has now told us they don't know who has overstayed a visa. This administration has told us they don't even bother to check Facebook or Twitter to find out who's pledging allegiance to jihadis. We can do better than this, citizens. We need to take our country back. +p393 +aVWe need to be very clear-eyed now about who are our allies and who are our adversaries. In the fight against +p394 +aVAnd we all believe the polling data all the time, don't we? +p395 +aVOh, it's a problem for so many reasons. First of all, it is yet another lawless executive order. You see, he doesn't like the fact that Congress has rejected his ideas twice on a bipartisan basis, so he's decided he just gets to override them. Sorry, Mr. President, not the way "The Constitution" works. Secondly......secondly, he basically admitted in that speech that he hasn't been paying much attention to enforcing the laws we have. He said, gee, we need a few more FBI agents. That would have helped, perhaps, stop a tragedy here in South Carolina with Dylann Roof, a guy who clearly never should have been sold a gun. In other words, Mr. President, you're right, we need to enforce the laws we have. Let's enforce the laws we have. There are criminals running around with guns who shouldn't have them. We don't prosecute any of them. Less than 1 percent. But I want to go back to the technology issue for a moment, if I may, as well, because in this regard, I disagree with Senator Santorum. Look, I come from the technology industry and I can tell you there is one thing that bureaucracies don't know how to do. They do not know how to innovate. We have come seven generations of technology since 2011. We have bureaucracies that are incapable of bringing in that innovation. So, yes, there are some very specific things that we should ask the private sector to help us with, including making sure we have the latest and greatest in algorithms to search through all these databases so that we find terrorists before they attack us, not after it's too late. And, finally, when a president who understands technology in the Oval Office. Mrs. Clinton, actually, you cannot wipe a server with a towel. +p396 +aVYes, and see... +p397 +aVAs CEO of Hewlett Packard... +p398 +aVAs CEO of Hewlett Packard, I was asked very specifically for some very real help. The help I was asked to provide, this is now public information. So I am not revealing what \u2014 something that was \u2014 was classified. We had a very large shipment of equipment, software and hardware, headed to a retail outlet. And I was called by the head of the NSA, who had an urgent need for that capability, to begin laying out a program to track terrorists. We turned that truck around on a highway and it was escorted to the headquarters in San Jose. In World War II, our government went to the private sector and said, help us do things that we cannot do. The private sector has capabilities that the government does not have. There are some legal authorities that are required. The Sony attack could have been detected and repelled, had legal authorities been passed in Congress allowing private networks and public networks to work together. Those legal authorities have not yet been passed. Yes, I was asked to help. I know the technology industry. They will help again. But they must be asked by a president who understands what they have. +p399 +aVFor decades, the professional political class in both parties has been talking about the middle class. For decades, Republicans in particular have been talking about reducing the size and scope of government, spending less money, reducing the complexity. And yet, for 40 years, the government has gotten bigger and more expensive. We now have a 75,000 plus page tax code, although politicians have run for office for decades promising reform. And all the while, middle class incomes have stagnated. You see, when government gets bigger and bigger, more powerful, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer and the middle class gets squeezed. We need to understand who the job creators are in this country, because we need more jobs to grow the middle class and to grow the wages of the middle class. Who creates jobs? Small businesses, new businesses, family-owned businesses. They create two thirds of the new jobs in this country and they employ half the people. I started out typing for a nine person real estate firm. My husband Frank started out driving a tow truck for a family-owned auto body shop. And we are crushing small businesses and destroying the middle class. So here's my blueprint to take back America. Let us first actually reform the tax code from 73,000 pages down to three. There's a 20-year-old plan to do exactly that. And then let us begin piece by piece to focus on every single dollar the government spends, so that we will spend less overall and still have enough for our priorities. And that requires the government to budget the way you do at home \u2014 examine every dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. The fancy term for that is zero- based budgeting, but I call it common sense. Citizens, we've got to take our country back. +p400 +aVMy husband Frank, that I mentioned, I love spending time with. He's down there. He was real excited the other day because in New Hampshire, he was introduced as my eye candy. You know, everybody out there watching knows this. You cannot wait to see the debate between me and Hillary Clinton. You would pay to see that fight. And that's because you know I will win. And that's important. We've got to start by beating Hillary Clinton. All of my life, I have been told to sit down and be quiet. Settle. Settle. Don't challenge the system. That's what the American people are being told now and we have been told that for way too long \u2014 sit down and be quiet about our God, about our guns, about the abortion industry, settle for illegal immigration that's been a problem for decades, as so many of our problems have festered for decades. Accept a system of government and politics that no longer works for us. I will not sit down and be quiet. And neither will you. So I ask you to stand with me, fight with me, vote for me, citizens. It is time to take our future back, time to take our politics back. It is time to take our government back. Citizens, it is time. We must take our country back. +p401 +asVBUSH +p402 +(lp403 +VRight. +p404 +aVNot on specific issues, not at all. I think the next president \u2014 if I'm president, I will appoint people \u2014 I'll nominate people that have a proven record in the judiciary. The problem in the past has been we have appointed people thinking you can get it through the Senate because they didn't have a record. And the problem is that sometimes we're surprised. The simple fact is the next president needs to appoint someone with a proven conservative record, similar to Justice Scalia, that is a lover of liberty, that believes in limited government, that consistently applied that kind of philosophy, that didn't try to legislator from the bench, that was respectful of the Constitution. And then fight and fight, and fight for that nomination to make sure that that nomination passes. Of course, the president, by the way, has every right to nominate Supreme Court justices. I'm an Article II guy in the Constitution. We're running for the president of the United States. We want a strong executive for sure. But in return for that, there should be a consensus orientation on that nomination, and there's no doubt in my mind that Barack Obama will not have a consensus pick when he submits that person to the Senate. +p405 +aVYes. +p406 +aVNo, it doesn't, and that's the problem. The lack of leadership in this country by Barack Obama, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, thinking that this is a policy that works, this policy of containment with +p407 +aVThe very basic fact is that Vladimir Putin is not going to be an ally of the United States. The whole world knows this. It's a simple, basic fact. They're not taking out \u2014 they're not even attempting to take out +p408 +aV... Let me finish... +p409 +aV... This is ridiculous... +p410 +aV... This is coming from a guy who gets his foreign policy from the shows. +p411 +aV... This is a guy who thinks that Hillary Clinton is a great negotiator in Iran... +p412 +aV... This is a man who insults his way to the nomination... +p413 +aVI think it's my turn, isn't it? +p414 +aVI've got about five or six... +p415 +aVDo I get to do it five or six times or just once, responding to that? +p416 +aVSo here's the deal. I'm sick and tired of Barack Obama blaming my brother for all of the problems that he has had. And, frankly, I could care less about the insults that Donald Trump gives to me. It's blood sport for him. He enjoys it. And I'm glad he's happy about it. But I am sick and tired... +p417 +aVI am sick and tired of him going after my family. My dad is the greatest man alive in my mind. And while Donald Trump was building a reality TV show, my brother was building a security apparatus to keep us safe. And I'm proud of what he did. And he has had the gall to go after my brother. +p418 +aVHe has had the gall to go after my mother. Hold on. Let me finish. He has had the gall to go after my mother. +p419 +aVLook, I won the lottery when I was born 63 years ago, looked up, and I saw my mom. My mom is the strongest woman I know. +p420 +aVThis is not about my family or his family. This is about the South Carolina families that need someone to be a commander in chief that can lead. I'm that person. +p421 +aVCan I just... +p422 +aVI'm not going to invite Donald Trump to the rally in Charleston on Monday afternoon when my brother is coming to speak. +p423 +aVI'm rescinding the invitation. I thought you might want to come, but I guess not. +p424 +aVI'd like \u2014 can I \u2014 can I... +p425 +aVLook, I admire the fact that Governor Kasich is supporting spending more money on drug treatment and mental health. I think that's a high priority all across this country, but expanding Obamacare is what we're talking about, and Obamacare's expansion, even though the federal government is paying for the great majority of it, is creating further debt on the backs of our children and grandchildren. We should be fighting Obamacare, repealing Obamacare, replacing it with something totally different. When I was \u2014 as a private citizen, Florida was confronted with the choice. The governor was supportive of doing what John did. So was the Florida Senate. A committed speaker of the House asked me to go as a private citizen to make the case against the expansion. I did, and it wasn't expanded there, just as it wasn't expanded in South Carolina under Governor Haley. +p426 +aVSouth Carolina \u2014 South Carolinians need to know this, because the Cato Institute, which grades governors based on their spending, rank him right at the bottom. +p427 +aVAnd Governor Haley is ranked at the top. +p428 +aVNo. He mentioned my name. +p429 +aVLet me finish, though. No, no, no \u2014 hey, wait, wait, wait. Just hold, Major, hold, Major. Hold on, Major. +p430 +aVSouth Carolinians want to make that, they elect the most conservative governor or candidate that can win. +p431 +aVOf course not. It won't have an impact on hedge funds managers paying ordinary income. In fact, it's not just hedge fund people, but people that are doing \u2014 they're in the business of investing other people's money, getting capital gains treatment is not appropriate. They should be paying ordinary income. That's their business. They're grateful to be able to make a lot of money, I'm sure. And what we do is lower the rates. It's not the end of the world that private equity people and hedge fund folks that are, right now, getting capital gains treatment for the income they earn, pay ordinary income like everybody else in this room. That's not a problem at all. What we need to do is reform the tax code to simplify the rates, to shift power away from Washington, D.C. That's what I did as governor of the state of Florida, $19 billion dollars of tax cuts, and it stimulated seven out of the eight years. Florida led the nation in job growth. +p432 +aVThank you. +p433 +aVGreat question. I feel like I have to get into my inner Chris Christie, and point out that the reason why I should be president is listening to two senators talk about arcane amendments to bills that didn't pass. This is \u2014 this is the problem. We need a leader to fix this problem. And I have a detailed plan to do just that, including controlling the border, dealing with the visa over-stayers, making sure that we have a path to legal status, not to citizenship, for those that come out from the shadows and pay a fine, learn English, don't commit crimes, work and pay taxes. That is the better approach. +p434 +aVThe great majority of people that come to this country come because they have no other choice. They want to come to provide for their families. That doesn't mean it's right. That doesn't mean it's right. We should pick who comes to our country. We should control our border. Coming here legally should be a lot easier than coming here illegally. But the motivation, they're not all rapists, as you-know-who said. They're not that. These are people that are coming to provide for their families. And we should show a little more respect for the fact that they're struggling. It doesn't mean we shouldn't be controlling the border. That's exactly what we should be doing. +p435 +aV... So, you know......This is the standard operating procedure, to disparage me. That's fine... +p436 +aV... But, if you want to talk about weakness, you want to talk about weakness? It's weak to disparage women. +p437 +aVIt's weak to denigrate the disabled. And,it's really weak to call John McCain a loser because he was a... +p438 +aV... That is outrageous. The guy's an American hero. +p439 +aV... The simple fact is I've also laid out my plans on immigration... +p440 +aV Just, for the record make sure my mother's listening, if she's watching the debate. I didn't say that I was going to moon somebody... +p441 +aVSo, there \u2014 so, there is all sorts of intrigue about where I disagree with my brother, there would be one right there. You should not use eminent domain for private purposes. A baseball stadium or a parking lot for a limo... +p442 +aVIt's very different. Transmission lines, pipe lines, bridges and highways. All of that is proper use of imminent domain. Not to take an elderly woman's home to build a parking lot so that high-rollers can come from New York City to build casinos in Atlantic City. +p443 +aVMy name was mentioned twice. +p444 +aVHe called me a liar. +p445 +aVAlso, he talked about one of my heroes, Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan was a liberal maybe in the 1950s. He was a conservative reformed governor for eight years before he became president, and no one should suggest he made an evolution for political purposes. He was a conservative, and he didn't tear down people like Donald Trump is. He tore down the Berlin Wall. +p446 +aVHe was a great guy. +p447 +aVThat was me. +p448 +aVYeah, well, I have got to respond to this. +p449 +aVSounds like a good plan. +p450 +aVOr you could ask me two questions, so I could get two minutes instead of one. +p451 +aVI think the dysfunction in Washington is really dangerous, that's what I think. And we need a proven leader that has a record of solving problems, someone who doesn't cut and run; someone who could be a commander in chief to unite our country around common purposes; someone who doesn't disparage people. Someone that doesn't brag, for example, that he has been bankrupt four times and it was great, because he could use the legal system. Someone... +p452 +aVWe need someone with a proven record to be able to forge consensus to solve problems. And right now, both Republicans and Democrats in Washington don't get it. People are struggling \u2014 63 percent of Americans can't make a $500 car payment. Most Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. And we need someone has a proven record of growing the economy, reforming the things that are broken. And I'm that person. +p453 +aVYeah... +p454 +aVYeah. +p455 +aVHere we go. +p456 +aVHere's the record. Here's the record. We led the nation in job growth seven out of eight years. When I left there was $9 billion of reserves, 35 percent of general revenue. No state came close to that. +p457 +aVWhen I \u2014 during my time, we were one of the two states to go to AAA bond rating. We didn't go bankrupt like Trump did and call it success when people are laid off, when vendors don't get paid. That's not success. What we did was create an environment where people had a chance to have income. Personal income during my time went up by 4.4 percent. +p458 +aVThe government grew by... +p459 +aV... half of that. +p460 +aVThank you all very much. The next president is going to be confronted with an unforeseen challenge. That's almost certain. It could be a pandemic, a major natural disaster or an attack on our country. The question for South Carolinians and Americans is who do you want to have sitting behind the big desk in the Oval Office? Because that's the question. It's not the things we're talking about today. It's the great challenge that may happen. I believe I will have a steady hand as commander in chief and president of the United States. I will unite this country around common purposes because I did it as governor of the state of Florida. When I was governor, we had eight hurricanes and four tropical storms in 16 months. Our state was on its back. We recovered far faster than what people thought because we led. We want to challenge rather than cutting and running. That's what we need in Washington, D.C. We need someone with a servant's heart that has a backbone, that isn't going to focus on polls and focus groups. The focus will be on the American people to keep them safe and secure. I ask for your vote next Saturday. +p461 +aVChris, why don't you mention my name so I can get into this. +p462 +aV... I appreciate that, I really do, thank you. +p463 +aVWell, first of all he said the exact same thing about me, that I would make a great Vice Presidential nominee when Mitt Romney was considering. I said the same thing about Marco. I think we were both right at the time, and Mitt picked somebody else. So, let's move on to the 2016 race. Who has the leadership skills... ...who has the leadership skills to lead? And, I'm proud of the fact that I have 12 Medal of Honor recipients, over 30 admirals and generals that believe that I would be a steady hand as Commander in Chief. That I serve as Governor of the state of Florida where we cut taxes and reduced government. I took on very powerful interests, forged consensus, fought for my beliefs, implemented them and the state was better off. We had eight hurricanes and four tropical storms in 16 months. The whole state was turned upside down. It required a steady hand. Leadership. You learn this, you learn it by doing it. It's not something that you just go up, and on the job do it. It's not the same. Look, let's be clear. Marco Rubio is a gifted, gifted politician, and he may have the skills to be a President of the United States, but we've tried it the old way with Barack Obama, with soaring eloquence and we got \u2014 we didn't get a leader we got someone who wants to divide the country up. The next President......going to have to forge consensus to bring about a set of common purposes so that we can move forward again in this country... +p464 +aV... this relates to strategic patience. +p465 +aVThis relates to the strategic patience of the Obama administration. They come up with these great marketing terms, and what they do is they pull back, and voids are filled, and they're now filled by asymmetric threats of terror, as well as nation-states on the run. The next president of the United States is gonna have to get the United States back in the game, and if a preemptive strike is necessary to keep us safe, then we should do it. +p466 +aVWell, first of all, it's interesting that that happened literally days when this hostage release took place in Iran. A day or two days afterwards, North Korea took a \u2014 held an American student hostage. I think it's when we send a signal of weakness, when we are negotiating to release people that committed crimes in our country for people that didn't commit crimes that are held hostage in Iran. We saw the shameful treatment of our sailors, that this creates weakness \u2014 sends a signal of weakness around the world. The next president of the United States is going to have to get back in the game. Where the United States' word matters. Where we back up our allies, where we don't send signals of weakness. We need to use every \u2014 every influence possible to get this student back. And I think John is right about this, there are crippling sanctions that are available, as it relates to the two or three banks that North Korea uses to \u2014 to \u2014 use it \u2014 illicit trade. We ought to re-establish sanctions, not just because of the student, but because of their actions that they're taking right now, as it relates to building this missile capability. +p467 +aVGood evening. HAM: Mr. Trump. +p468 +aVThe difference \u2014 the difference between eminent domain for public purpose \u2014 as Donald said, roads and infrastructure, pipelines and all that \u2014 that's for public purpose. But what Donald Trump did was use eminent domain to try to take the property of an elderly woman on the strip in Atlantic City. That is not public purpose, that is down right wrong. And here's the problem with that. The problem was, it was to tear down \u2014 it was to tear down \u2014 it was to tear down the house... +p469 +aVAnd the net result was \u2014 you tried. +p470 +aVAnd you lost in the court. +p471 +aVThat is not true. And the simple fact is to turn this into a limousine parking lot for his casinos is a not public use. And in Florida, based on what we did, we made that impossible. It is part of our Constitution. That's the better approach. That is the conservative approach. +p472 +aVHow tough it is to take away property from an elderly woman? +p473 +aVHow tough it is to take away a property from an elderly woman? +p474 +aVI consider it a public use. +p475 +aVIt's a public use. It's a public use. +p476 +aVIt's a public use. +p477 +aVYeah. +p478 +aVIt's a public use. +p479 +aVEstablished by the courts \u2014 federal, state courts. +p480 +aVI would like to see more millionaires. I think we need to grow more millionaires, we need create a prosperity society where people can rise up. This notion that somehow we're undertaxed as a nation is just fool hearty, when we have entitlements growing far faster than our ability to pay for it. A conservative, because that's the point of this, believes in limited government, believes in a entrepreneurial capitalism and a strong national defense. But it also has to be, we need to reform things. In my town hall meetings, I went to a place where a woman described her neighbor, who has a better economic deal by not working than her struggling to make ends meet. We need to be on the side of working people. And you know, the problem with the left is, another tax, another regulation, another mandate makes it harder for them to rise up. Everything that we should do should be focused on high, sustained economic growth, where the middle class gets a raise for the first time, and where people are rewarded for work, rather than non-work. And I know how to do this. And if people are interested in the specifics of this, they ought to go to jeb2016.com. +p481 +aVMartha \u2014 Martha, if I... +p482 +aVI would. And I would do it in concert, again, with our Arab allies and with Europe, most particularly in this case. This is the lesson learned: in history, if you bomb something and not do anything as it relates to deal with the aftermath of this, if you don't have a stable government, you get what we have in Libya. And this is not \u2014 leading from behind is not an effective policy. We have to lead. Without the United States, nothing seems to work. Europe doesn't have the ability to \u2014 to \u2014 to lead \u2014 forward lead in this regard. And so dealing with the caliphate is important, because it now has spawned other areas. There have been 70-plus attacks in 17 countries, either inspired by +p483 +aVMartha and David, I just... +p484 +aVMartha and David... +p485 +aVNo, no, I wouldn't. No, I wouldn't. And it was used sparingly, Congress has changed the laws and I \u2014 and I think where we stand is the appropriate place. But what we need to do is to make sure that we expand our intelligence capabilities. The idea that we're going to solve this fight with predator drones, killing people somehow is a \u2014 is more acceptable than capturing them, securing the information. This is why closing Guantanamo is a complete disaster. What we need to do is make sure that we are kept safe......by having intelligence capabilities, both human and technological intelligence capabilities far superior than what we have today. That's how you get a more safe place is by making sure that we're fully engaged. And right now, this administration doesn't do that. +p486 +aVThis is a \u2014 this is an important subject. I agree with everything that's been said here about repealing unconstitutional rules and rules that are creating real burdens for investing that creating jobs. But we also ought to get back to being a Tenth Amendment country, as well, a country that respects the states to be able to make more decisions. And in the Bush administration, we would shift transportation dollars back to the states. I trust Kasich and Christie to build the roads and the infrastructure of their states than Washington, D.C. EPA delegated authority, back to the states. Education dollars, back to the states. I would like to see reform take place all across the country, where there's more vouchers, more freedom. If we did that, we would shrink government's power in Washington, D.C. and we would have a much more effective government, where people would begin to trust our government again, because now, no one believes it works. +p487 +aVYou mentioned me. He mentioned me. One other thing that I think we ought to do, along with repealing Obamacare, we need to shift all of this power of healthcare, which is the most egregious form of federal power that is suppressing wages and incomes, and allow governors to have the Medicaid plans so that they can create 21st century Medicaid insurance for people that are stuck in poverty. There's so much that can be done, but I don't trust Washington to do it. I trust the state capitals to be the place \u2014 to be the source of innovation and reform in this country. HAM: Thank you, governors. Martha and David, back to you. +p488 +aVI didn't mention him the second time. +p489 +aV... Say it again? +p490 +aV... I do, and I do think that we should not impose any kind of political agenda on the military. There should be \u2014 if women can meet the requirements, the minimum requirements for combat service they ought to have the right to do it. For sure. It ought to be focused on the morale as well. We got to make sure that we have readiness much higher than we do today. We need to eliminate the sequester which is devastating our military. We can't be focusing on the political side of this, we need to realize that our military force is how we project our word in the world. When we're weak militarily it doesn't matter what we say. We can talk about red lines, and +p491 +aV... Why would they worry about it... +p492 +aV... Well, the Draft's not going to be reinstituted, but why \u2014 if women are accessing... +p493 +aVNo. I didn't say that. You \u2014 you asked a question not about the draft, you asked about registering. And if women are going to be... +p494 +aVIf \u2014 but... +p495 +aV... we don't have a draft. I'm not suggesting we have a draft. What I'm suggesting is that we ought to have readiness being the first priority of our military, and secondly, that we make sure that the morale is high. And right now, neither one of those are acceptable because we've been gutting the military budget. We also need to reform our procurement process. We need to make sure there are more men and women in uniform than people \u2014 than civilians in our Defense Department. There's a lot of things that we need to reform to bring our defense capabilities into the 21st century and I'm the guy that could do that. That's why I have the support of generals, of admirals, of 12 Medal of Honor recipients and many other people that know that I would be a steady commander-in-chief and rebuild our military. +p496 +aVI totally agree that we need to give veterans more choices. A veterans card to be able to go to a private provider will enhance the quality of the service inside the Department of Veterans Affairs. We need career civil service reform. Only three people were fired after waiting lists were dropped where veterans didn't get care and people died. It is outrageous. And Hillary Clinton says that that's acceptable? Because she is captive of the public service uniforms. Career civil service reform would allow the next president to fire people that are \u2014 that are showing sheer incompetence. At a town hall meeting today, someone came \u2014 told a story of their father who looked like he was 85. He had \u2014 he got a bill eight years later from an operation he had, eight years it took. They couldn't resolve the dispute and then he was told that he died. Literally, the Veterans Administration sent a death certificate to this guy and it took nine months to clarify the guy \u2014 I met him. He's voting for me. And he is \u2014 likely to be alive. This is \u2014 this is outrageous. It is completely outrageous. So, giving veterans more choices, creating centers of excellence, focusing on the true problems that exist. Dr. Carson is completely right. We need to start focusing on this earlier, before they become veterans so that there's a customized plan so people don't fall through the cracks. We can do this, but it's going to require someone who has proven leadership skills to make it happen. +p497 +aVLook, I'm pro-life. In fact, on this stage, I'm the most pro-life person because I've acted on it for eight years as governor of the state of Florida. Where we abolished partial-birth abortion, where parents have the right to be notified when their teenage child is having an abortion. We were the first state to do a choose life license plate to raise money for adoption. We were the first state to have state monies go to crisis pregnancy centers, which recently was just increased to $4 million a year. We created greater regulation on abortion clinics, where there were horrific procedures. So I'm pro life, but I believe there should be exceptions: rape, incest and when the life of the mother is in danger. And so, that belief, and my consistency on this, makes me, I think, poised to be in the right place, the sweet spot for a Republican nominee. And others may have a different view and I respect it. +p498 +aVPeyton Manning is supporting me. And I'm for Denver. +p499 +aVI want to thank the people of New Hampshire, and I want to celebrate the birthday of a great president, Ronald Reagan would have been 105 today. President Reagan believed in the future of our country, believed in its greatness, had a hopeful, optimistic message. Drew people towards our cause. We need someone who has a proven record to take our case to the American people because our philosophy is by far the best one. Limited government, entrepreneurial capitalism, of peace through strength. I believe I have the skills to take our party to victory in November. I ask for your support on Tuesday to keep America, and make America a safer, stronger, and freer. Thank you all very much. +p500 +aVBret, we're just starting. The first vote hasn't been counted. Why don't we let the process work. I trust Iowans, Granite staters, people in South Carolina, people in Nevada, to start this process out. I kind of miss Donald Trump. He was a little teddy bear to me. We always had such a loving relationship in these debates and in between and the tweets. I kind of miss him. I wish he was here. Everybody else was in the witness protection program when I went after him on behalf of what the Republican cause should be: conservative principles, believing in limited government, believing in accountability. Leading by fixing the things that are broken. Look, I am in the establishment because my dad, the greatest man alive was president of the United States and my brother, who I adore as well as fantastic brother was president. Fine, I'll take it. I guess I'm part of the establishment Barbara Bush is my mom. I'll take that, too. But this election is not about our pedigree, this is an election about people that are really hurting. We need a leader that will fix things and have a proven record to do it. And we need someone who will take on Hillary Clinton in November. Someone who has a proven record, who has been tested, who is totally transparent. I released 34 years of tax returns... ... and 300,000 e-mails in my government record. To get the information from Hillary Clinton, you need to get a subpoena from the FBI. +p501 +aVNo, you weren't. Your name wasn't mentioned, Ted. +p502 +aV... Chris, keep it coming... +p503 +aV... Thank you Chris... +p504 +aVWell, first, I was critical of the Senators not giving the authorization for the use of military force. They should have made it more open ended for the next president. We shouldn't have the war fighters have their arms tied behind their back as President Obama wanted to do, but they had a chance to show support and it wasn't popular at the time. It became popular after the attack in Paris, and San Bernardino. Now we hear the tough talk. Prior to that, in the Reagan Library, I gave a detailed plan. Exactly what to do as it relates to +p505 +aVOf course. And there's all sorts of ways that can be done at the state, local and federal level to do that. But the first duty of the next president of the United States is to fix the mess at the Department of Veterans Affairs. That's his first responsibility. Look, we have waiting lists for veterans that are \u2014 that are leaving because of the sequester where we're gutting the military. More and more military personnel are leaving becoming veterans, and the waiting list grows. They've given out $140 million of bonuses to Veterans Department employees, including reducing the waiting lists, without giving veterans care. People died, and only three people have been fired. I will make sure that we fire the sheer incompetence inside the Department of Veterans Affairs and then we'll give veterans a choice card so that they don't have to travel hours and hours to get care if they want to go to their private provider. You want to make the Veterans Administration do a better job, give them \u2014 give veterans choices and you'll get a much better result. And as it relates to all the other organizations, let me give you a good example. In Houston, Texas, there's an organization in place because someone acted on their heart, wanted to make sure that there's no homeless veterans in Houston. And they've come pretty close to that without federal government assistance. We need to mobilize the entire country to treat our veterans and treat them with much more respect than they get today. +p506 +aVNo, they shouldn't. And I believe that Puerto Rico ought to have the right of self-determination. If I was a Puerto Rican, I'd vote for statehood so that they have full citizenship. They serve in the military. They would have to pay federal taxes. They would \u2014 they would accept the responsibilities of full U.S. citizenship. But they should have the right of determine \u2014 self-determination. Before you get to that, though, Puerto Rico is going to have to deal with the structural problems they face. You know, it's \u2014 it's a fact that if you can pay for a $79 one-way ticket to Orlando, and you can escape the challenges of a declining economy and high crime rates, you move to Orlando. And a lot of people are doing that. And the spiraling out-of- control requires Puerto Rico to make structural reforms. The federal government can play a role in allowing them to do that, but they should not \u2014 the process of statehood or the status of Puerto Rico won't be solved until we get to the bigger issue of how you deal with the structural economic problems they're facing right now. +p507 +aVWell, I'm kind of confused because he was the sponsor of the Gang of Eight bill that did require a bunch of thresholds but ultimately allowed for citizenship over an extended period of time. I mean, that's a fact. And he asked me to support that. And I \u2014 I supported him because I think people, when you're elected, you need to do things. And he led the charge to finally fix this immigration problem that has existed now for, as Marco says, for 30 years. And then he cut and run because it wasn't popular amongst conservatives, I guess. Here's what I believe. And I wrote a book about this called Immigration Wars. You can get it at $2.99 on Amazon. It's not a bestseller. I can promise you. There won't be any \u2014 you can get it. It's affordable for everybody. We should have a path to legal status for the 12 million people that are here illegally. It means, come out from the shadows, pay a fine, earn legal status by working, by paying taxes, learning English. Not committing crimes and earn legal status where you're not cutting in front of the line for people that are patiently waiting outside. I think that is the \u2014 I think that's the conservative consensus pragmatic approach to how to solve this problem. +p508 +aVSo did you. +p509 +aVYeah. So did you, Marco. +p510 +aVMarco, Marco \u2014 he brought up my name. I have supported a consensus approach to solving this problem wherever it came up. and in 2007 it almost passed when my brother was president of the United States. A bipartisan approach got close. Barack Obama actually had the poison pill to stop it then. And when you led the charge with the Gang of Eight, I supported it because you asked me to. I think it's important for people in elected office to try to forge consensus to solve problems. There's never going do be perfect bill. +p511 +aVBut when you didn't do that and you ask people to support, you shouldn't cut and run. +p512 +aVYou should stick with it and that's exactly what happened. He cut and run. And that's a tragedy because now... ... it's harder and harder to actually solve this problem. +p513 +aVCan I \u2014 can I \u2014 I just... +p514 +aVThat beautiful young woman who's an entrepreneur who served in the military, first of all, is deserving of our respect for service in the military and the fact that she's an entrepreneur. And we should be a welcoming nation. Our identity is not based on race or ethnicity, it's based on a set of shared values. That's American citizenship. And Dulce Candy \u2014 a pretty cool name, actually \u2014 that is now an entrepreneur over Youtube is part of that American spirit, and we should celebrate it as conservatives. That's what we believe in. You can \u2014 you can deal with the threat of terror and also recognize that this country should be aspirational across the board. +p515 +aVWell, first of all, I've seen polls where I'm beating Hillary Clinton pretty regularly. And I believe I can, because I have a proven record, a record of accomplishment, a record of cutting taxes, of shrinking the government, of reforming education, of challenging the status quo, eliminating career civil service protections, shrinking the government workforce by 11 percent, but leading the nation in job growth. That's the record of accomplishment that should be taken to Hillary Clinton, who has no record of accomplishment. So I'm confident if I win this nomination, I will aggressively go against her and beat her. As it relates to the super PACs, I have no control over that. And this is beanbag compared to what the Clinton hit machine is going to do to the Republican nominee. The simple fact is, we all have a record. It all will be scrutinized. There's give and take. It's called the politics. And that's the way it is. I'm running hard and I believe I'll be the Republican nominee and I'll be the one best suited to beat Hillary Clinton, who should not be president of the United States. +p516 +aVWell first of all, I think it's important that when we're running for the highest office in the land that we recognize that we're living in dangerous times and we have to be serious about it, that our words have consequences. Donald Trump, for example \u2014 I'm glad \u2014 I mentioned his name again just if anybody was missing him... ... Mr. Trump believed that in reaction to people's fears that we should ban all Muslims. Well, that creates an environment that's toxic in our own country. Nobela is a rising entrepreneur. She wants to pursue the American dream. She's an American citizen. She should not feel uncomfortable about her citizenship. She's not the threat. The threat is Islamic terrorism. We need to focus our energies there, not these broad, blanket, kind of statements that will make it harder for us to deal with +p517 +aVWe desperately need a conservative leader as president of the United States. I have a proven record as governor of the state of Florida, as a conservative leader. And I also have detailed plans to fix the mess in Washington, D.C. As president I will restore and rebuild our military, restore the alliances and keep us safe. And as our party's nominee, I will defeat Hillary Clinton in November. I ask for your support on the caucuses come Monday night and I will make you proud as our party's nominee. Thank you very much. +p518 +asVMCELVEEN +p519 +(lp520 +VThank you, David. And good evening, candidates. Mr. Trump, you have said, quote, "I love eminent domain" which is the seizure of private property for the sake of the greater good theoretically. You tried to use the measure in business endeavors, you've said you'd support its use for the Keystone Pipeline project. Here in New Hampshire, a project, though, known as the Northern pass would bring hydro-electric power from Canada into the Northeastern grid. Do you see eminent domain as an appropriate tool to get that done? +p521 +aVSo would that be yes on the Northern Pass project? +p522 +aVMr. Trump, take 30 seconds. +p523 +aVAll right, gentlemen... +p524 +aVGentlemen, we do have to move forward. Dave, Martha, back to you. +p525 +aVYou're all aware, candidates, this is a major problem here in New Hampshire. It's a very deadly problem as well. Last month, New Hampshire senators Kelly Ayotte, Republican, and Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat, they went down to Washington, along with the police chief of the state's largest city to testify before the Judiciary Committee in D.C. Senator Cruz, you're a member of that committee. Your campaign schedule didn't allow you to attend this. Even so, the police chief called your absence outrageous, given the severity of the problem. Last week, though, you told a personal story of a close family member's struggle with addiction. What can you say to law enforcement right now to convince them that you understand the severity of this problem and you're not just saying what people want to hear days before the primary? +p526 +aVAnd Governor Christie, you have talked a lot about this issue here in New Hampshire. State reforms, criminal justice reforms, access to treatment. To Senator Cruz's point, let's take it a step further. Would you be willing to engage in cross-border enforcement into Mexico, a place where law enforcement in New Hampshire has traced at lot of this supply back to. Would you engage in cross-border enforcement without the cooperation without the Mexican government? +p527 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you very much. David, Martha, back to you. +p528 +aVThank you, Martha. None of you on stage tonight have ever worn a uniform as a member of the armed services. That's the reality of it. But as commander-in-chief, you'll also be charged with the care of 23 million active duty service members and veterans in this country. Some have suggested privatizing the V.A. as a way to enhance care and increase the quality of the care and access. Others say that veterans should carry I.D. cards that allow them access to any hospital or health care provider. Governor Bush, what specifically would you do to ensure that those who have sacrificed for us are cared for? +p529 +aVGovernor Kasich, do you have a favored approach? +p530 +aVSenator Rubio, go ahead? +p531 +aVSenator Rubio, thanks very much. Going to move forward now. David, Martha, back to you. +p532 +asVWALLACE +p533 +(lp534 +VTonight, we're partnering with Google for an exclusive second-screen experience. Search Fox News debate on Google any time in the next two hours to access exclusive content. You can see the campaigns respond to the debate in real time, and you can weigh in by voting on the topics being discussed. Just go to google.com or open your Google search app and type in Fox News debate. +p535 +aVNeurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. +p536 +aVApparently Iowa's near Kentucky. +p537 +aVSenator Rubio, I want to explore this sort of larger issue. The campaign has in a sense turned into a battle for the soul of the Republican party: establishment versus grassroots, pragmatic versus principle. You say that you can unite all of the factions inside the GOP. How? +p538 +aVGovernor Kasich, I want to get back to this question of where conservatives are this year. You call yourself a, quote, "inside-outside guy, a reformer who knows how to get things done," but you reject the establishment label. First question is why do you reject it? And secondly, what do you say to Republican voters this year who view practical government experience as a liability and not an asset? +p539 +aVDr. Carson, I want to pick up on that with you. Governor Kasich likes to say he knows how to land the plane. You've landed a lot of planes in the O.R. But what about the idea of running for president with no experience in government at all? +p540 +aVGentlemen, we're now going to start to drill down into specific issues that are on voters' minds. I'm going to start with one of the biggest ones, which is foreign terror. According to Google, +p541 +aVSenator Rubio, does Senator Cruz's record match his rhetoric? +p542 +aVSenator Cruz, you've got 30 seconds. You were mentioned. +p543 +aVGentlemen. +p544 +aVMay I \u2014 may I just say, we are going to continue the questions about foreign terror, gentlemen, right after this break. +p545 +aVThank you. Governor Christie, you have compared both Senators Cruz and Rubio to Barack Obama, saying that we cannot afford another inexperienced President. You've also said that Senator Cruz's vote to curtail the NSA surveillance program made America less safe. Is either of them ready to be Commander in Chief? +p546 +aVGovernor Bush... +p547 +aV... I don't think that your name was mentioned... +p548 +aV... Sir, I think \u2014 I think the question was... +p549 +aV... It's not my question that you get a chance to respond to, it's his answer. You don't get 30 seconds to respond to me... +p550 +aV... You don't get 30 seconds to respond to me... +p551 +aV... If I could go on. Sir, I know you like to argue about the rules, but we're going to conduct a debate... +p552 +aV... Governor Bush... +p553 +aVGovernor Bush, here's the question \u2014 I'm going to ask Governor Bush the question. You criticized several candidates in this field on this stage for what you call unrealistic ideas about how to fight terrorists, including Rubio, and Cruz on the issue of their refusing to give the President authority to enforce the redline in Syria. But, given the fact that your brother got us into two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that have still not ended. That have still not ended, what lessons have you learned from his mistakes, sir? +p554 +aVSenator Cruz, now you get a chance to respond. +p555 +aV... It is a debate, sir. +p556 +aVI think the questions were about issues. Senator Rubio, what would you like to respond sir... +p557 +aVThank you. +p558 +aVGood. +p559 +aVSenator Paul, go ahead. +p560 +aVWell... ... we'll be talking about foreign policy a little bit later. We're going to talk... +p561 +aVThis debate is just getting started. Coming up, the role of the federal government. But first, join tonight's conversation right from your home. Go to google.com or open your Google search app and search Fox News Debate to vote on which issue is most important to you in this election. More from the Iowa Events Center and the Republican presidential debate in a moment. +p562 +aVGentlemen, we're going to turn now to what we call electability, issues that you're either facing in the primaries or issues that you're certainly going to face in a general election. So you may not be altogether unhappy if you're not included in this round. Senator Cruz, you pride yourself on standing up to the D.C. cartel, but as we've seen to a certain degree tonight, there's a price for standing up to the D.C. cartel. Thirteen Republican senators have endorsed other candidates, none have endorsed you. You \u2014 twice last year, you asked for a colleague to second a motion, a routine courtesy on the Senate floor, and no senator would do it. Top GOP officials worry that if you're at the top of the ticket \u2014 some officials \u2014 that not only will you lose the White House, but it will tank the ticket all the way down the line. The question is does your style sometimes get in the way of your ability to get things done, sir? +p563 +aVGovernor Christie, two of your former top aides go on trial in May for fraud and conspiracy in the "Bridge-gate" case, the politically motivated closure of lanes to the George Washington Bridge. Another former aide who has already pleaded guilty and will likely testify for the government, as you know, says that you knew about this whole deal. Can the GOP take the chance of nominating you with this scandal still out there, sir? +p564 +aVGentlemen, almost 60% of Republican caucus-goers identify themselves as Evangelicals, so I'd like to spend a few minutes exploring social issues. Governor Kasich, you talk a good deal about your faith. In fact, you say it played a role in your decision to expand Medicaid, and you say that when you meet Saint Peter at the Pearly Gates, he's going to ask what you did for the poor, not what you did to keep government small. Senator Cruz is on the opposite side of this issue from you, so does that mean that you're getting in and he isn't? +p565 +aVGentlemen, we had a case study on religious liberty just this last summer. A county clerk in Kentucky named Kim Davis refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples after the Supreme Court ruling, saying that it violated her religious beliefs. Governor Christie, you said that she must follow the law or be moved to another job that would be in keeping with her conscience. But some conservatives say that that violates her religious liberty. +p566 +aVThank you, sir. Senator Rubio, during the last debate, you said Governor Christie had changed his position and his mind on gun control, on common core, and backing President Obama's nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. He said you're wrong on the facts and you can't, quote, "slime your way to the White House." I assume in the last two weeks, you've done some fact-checking. Do you want to take anything back? +p567 +aVThank you, senator. Senator Paul, in May on the campaign trail you, said you didn't get into politics to fight about abortion. You said you were more concerned about the national debt. Your answer is to turn abortion back to the states the way it was before Roe v. Wade. Does that mean that if a liberal state, let's say, wants to make abortion legal, that you're okay with that and what do you say to conservative voters who believe deeply that abortion is murder? +p568 +aVSir, just 30 seconds to answer my specific... Just 30 seconds to answer my specific question. Do you favor the idea that abortion should be a states' rights issue and if a liberal state wants to make it legal, that that's their choice? Yes or no? +p569 +aVThank you, sir. +p570 +aVWe're not finished yet. More to come from the presidential debate, live from Des Moines, Iowa, next. And remember, to see how the campaigns are responding to the debate in real time, go togoogle.com or open your Google search app and search Fox News debate, and please stay with us. +p571 +aVWe have another question from one of Youtube's top creators. Here it is. +p572 +aVGovernor Bush, how do you answer Nabela? +p573 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Cruz, change of subject. You called for an end to the renewable fuel standards which mandate that refineries blend biofuels, including ethanol into gasoline. As you well know, ethanol's a big industry in this state, $10 billion dollars a year. Last week, Terry Branstad, the popular Governor of Iowa... ... Who is in the hall tonight, said that you're bankrolled by big oil, and that Iowa voters would be making a mistake supporting you. Why should those voters side with you over the six- term governor of the state, sir? +p574 +aVDr. Carson, I'd like to ask you about exactly that issue. Where are you on the mandatory ethanol standard, and precisely this question. Should government be in the business of picking winners and losers, or should it be left to the market place? +p575 +aVDoctor, thank you. +p576 +aVDr. Ben Carson. +p577 +aVAnd don't forget, after all the talk, the first voting of the 2016 campaign happens in just four days. The first Americans to vote, the Iowa caucuses are Monday and Fox News will have complete coverage. +p578 +asVGARRETT +p579 +(lp580 +VSenator Cruz. John mentioned this is about dollars and incentives. We also want to talk about economic growth engagements. You have proposed a consumption tax, you called it the "back tax." Some analysts compare it more to an attributed "value-added tax." From the perspective from economic growth in building wages, how does that work, and how would you address those longstanding conservative concerns that something approaching the "value-added tax" would be used to constantly increase those rates to pay for future government spending and become an escalator of taxation, not of growth? +p581 +aVNow, the question \u2014 conservatives have sort of this idea conceptually for a long time, but especially on this consumption value-added tax system. In Europe, where it exists, it has become an escalator of taxation to feed government spending, and that's why conservatives have long resisted it. Why and what would you do as president to make sure that doesn't happen? +p582 +aVGovernor Bush, a question for you \u2014 but if you want to jump in, please. +p583 +aVJump in, and then I've got a question for you. +p584 +aVReal quickly, jump in, because I have got a question for Governor Bush, but jump in. +p585 +aVUnderstood, Governor Kasich. +p586 +aVYeah, Governor Bush, fine. +p587 +aVLet me get in a question from... +p588 +aVI understand, I understand. +p589 +aVI have a question on economic growth, Governor Bush. +p590 +aVA , Governor. +p591 +aVI know, understood. Governor Bush. +p592 +aVGovernor Bush, from the perspective, economic growth \u2014 viewed from this perspective of economic growth, you have proposed a tax on hedge fund managers. The Americans for Tax Reform, a conservative tax group you're probably aware of, has said no Republican should be for higher taxes on capital gains. And many conservatives wonder if this proposal of yours would undermine not only that philosophy, but undercut your projection of 4 percent economic growth annually under your presidency? +p593 +aV... Dr. Carson... +p594 +aVSenator Rubio... For the purposes of the lines \u2014 lines you would draw legislatively as a president on immigration reform, define amnesty. +p595 +aVVery quickly, Senator Cruz. +p596 +aVGovernor Bush, I want to bring this out to a little wider philosophical aspect, if you will. +p597 +aVYou have said illegal immigrants, quote, "broke the law, but it's not a felony," still quoting you, "it's an act of love, it's an act of commitment to your family." Mr. Trump has, as you are well aware, denounced that statement over and over. Do you still believe it? What does that mean to you? And how does that inform your approach to immigration reform? +p598 +aVFundamentally, do you believe this rhetoric is insufficiently compassionate to this issue? +p599 +aVMr. Trump... +p600 +aV... Governor Kasich, here in South Carolina earlier this week, you said the idea, the concept of deporting 11 million undocumented workers... +p601 +aV... We will leave the moon metaphors to be adjudicated later, I assure you. Governor Kasich, you said earlier this week in South Carolina, the concept, the idea of deporting 11 million undocumented workers in this country is nuts. Why is it you are so opposed to that idea? Senator Cruz has said it's a simple application of existing law. The application of that is not inhumane, it is just. Why do you disagree? +p602 +aV... What are you for on immigration? +p603 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 Mr. Trump. I was with you in Pendleton, South Carolina, earlier this week at the Rodeo Arena. It was a bit chilly there. You promised the crowd, and they rose to their feet, that if Ford or a company like were to move a factory to Mexico, you would try to stop it or threaten them with a 35 percent tax or tariff on every car sold. +p604 +aVRight. So my question is, based on your understanding of the presidency, where do you derive that power? Would you need the consent of Congress to go along? And do you see the presidency as a perch from which you can cajole and/or threaten private industry to do something you think is better for the U.S. economy? +p605 +aVThank you, governor. +p606 +asVMUIR +p607 +(lp608 +VGood evening, again, everyone. This is the first time since Iowa and the only time before the New Hampshire primary that the Republican candidates will have the opportunity to face each other. The people of Iowa have been heard. Now it's New Hampshire's turn. In just three days, voters here will decide who they think should be the Republican nominee for president. +p609 +aVSo let's welcome the candidates for the Republican nomination for president. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. +p610 +aVTexas Senator Ted Cruz. +p611 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. +p612 +aVAnd Ohio Governor John Kasich. +p613 +aVAnd Dr. Ben Carson, please come out on the stage. He's standing there, as well. Dr. Carson. +p614 +aVAnd lastly, we welcome back to the debate stage, Donald Trump. +p615 +aVIt was so noisy in here. Yes. Yes. We're going to introduce Ohio Governor John kasich. The applause so loud here in the hall. +p616 +aVSo let's get started. We welcome you all to the debate stage here tonight. We're going to tackle the issues Americans are most concerned about, the economy, +p617 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. I want to bring this to Senator Cruz, then. Because Senator, you did said of Trump's behavior this week, that's not the temperament of a leader to keep this country safe. Why not? +p618 +aVSenator Cruz, I did ask about Mr. Trump. You said he doesn't have the temperament to be commander-in-chief. Do you stand by those words? +p619 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. We're going to continue on this notion of readiness and experience. I'm going to come back. +p620 +aVIf you would like to respond, Mr. Trump. +p621 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. And we're going to continue on this notion of readiness and on experience, but I want to ask about a headline that was back in the papers again this morning. Dr. Carson, on the day of the Iowa caucuses, the Cruz campaign sent out messages and voicemails saying, quote, "Breaking news. Dr. Ben Carson will be planning to suspend his campaign following tonight's caucuses. Please inform any Carson caucus-goers of this news." But as we can all see, you are still standing here tonight. Late this week, your campaign sent this e-mail, quote, "This kind of deceitful behavior is why the American people don't trust politicians. If Senator Cruz does not act, then he clearly represents D.C. values." What kind of action do you think Senator Cruz should take? +p622 +aVSenator Cruz. Dr. Carson, thank you. Senator Cruz, you have said that Dr. Carson and his wife have become friends of yours. I'm curious as why you didn't call ahead of time to either the doctor or his wife or have your campaign check in with the other campaign before sending out those messages. +p623 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. We're going to move on here. Back to the issues... +p624 +aVDr. Carson, please. +p625 +aVDr. Carson, thank you. Thank you, doctor. Senator Rubio. I want to stay on the issue of readiness to be president and experience and questions about you being a first-term senator. Governor Christie warning voters here in New Hampshire against voting for another first-term senator as America did with Barack Obama in 2008. Arguing that you are, quote, " not ready to be president of the United States." And Senator Santorum, who we all know, dropped out of the race and endorsed you, had a hard time when asked on national television, listing your accomplishments as senator. Tonight, what are your accomplishments in the Senate that demonstrate you are ready to be president of the United States? +p626 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I do want to ask Governor Christie, Governor Christie, you said fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me when it comes to electing a first-term senator. You heard Senator Rubio make the case that he does have the experience. Your response? +p627 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Rubio? +p628 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I want to bring in governor bush on this, because you... +p629 +aV... have made this... +p630 +aVIf you'd like to respond to economic... +p631 +aVSenator Rubio? +p632 +aVGovernor Christie, we will \u2014 we will... +p633 +aVGovernor Christie \u2014 thank you, Governor. I will mention \u2014 listen... +p634 +aV... Listen, people... Governor Bush, I'll mention your name so that you can come in on this... +p635 +aVI want to bring you in on this because you've made this central to your campaign right here in New Hampshire in the last couple of days. Four Years ago you said of Senator Rubio, he was ready to be Vice President. You spoke of his experience as well. You said he has the fortitude to be a good President, but just this week you said Senator Rubio accomplished, quote, "nothing" in the Senate. How do you square the two? +p636 +aV... We're going to continue with leadership now. Martha? +p637 +aVMartha, we're going to turn to immigration now. And I want to bring in Governor Kasich because you told us in an ABC interview, Governor, quote, "It is completely ridiculous to think we are going to go into neighborhoods, grab people out of their homes and ship people back to Mexico." Adding, quote, "That's not where the party is. The party is not for departing 11.5 million people." But Mr. Trump and Senator Cruz, who have made deportation central to their campaigns, top the national polls. So, my question for you, are you not where the voters are? +p638 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. I want to bring this next to Senator Cruz. You heard what the governor said. He said, "We need practical solutions." And you've said, "I don't intend to send jack boots to knock on doors. That's not how we enforce the law for any crime." So, what is your plan? How will you deport 11.5 million undocumented people? And be specific. How would you do it? +p639 +aVLet me just ask you this, though, because Governor Kasich was talking about the families and what you do with the families that you would have to send home. Can you tell the American people tonight how you would do that? +p640 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. I want to bring in Senator Rubio. This question is about immigration, it is also about leadership. You're aware of the criticism from many candidates on this stage tonight that you co-authored the so-called Gang of Eight bill that would have created a path to citizenship for people here illegally. Governor Christie has said of you, as soon as you felt the heat, you turned tail and run. Governor Bush has said, "I don't think we need people cutting and running anymore." Did you fight for your own legislation, Senator, or did you run from it? +p641 +aVBut I'm asking, did you fight for the legislation at the time or did you run from it as you're... +p642 +aVGovernor Christie? +p643 +aVGovernor thank you. Senator Rubio? +p644 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. We want to turn to health care in this country, and for that, author and commentator, Mary Katherine Ham tonight. HAM: Thanks, David. Good evening, guys. +p645 +aVMary Katherine, thank you. We want to turn now to the issue of eminent domain, which is being debated right here in New Hampshire. And Josh McElveen is the political director and the anchor of +p646 +aVJosh, thank you. When we come back here tonight, jobs, +p647 +aVAnd, we welcome you back to the Republican debate from New Hampshire tonight here on ABC. We're going to turn now to what it means to be a conservative, and I want to turn to Governor Kasich. Governor, while campaigning here in New Hampshire, you were already asked about groans from some conservatives after your endorsements from the New York Times, and the Boston Globe. You said, quote, "What conservatives have to know is they have to say, look isn't it nice to have a conservative like me liked? And, maybe the ought to think about it because if I get elected president, the Republican party and the definition of conservatism is going to change." How would you change conservatism? +p648 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. Mr. Trump, you've heard the argument from many of the candidates on this stage that you're not a true conservative. Tell the voters watching tonight why you are. +p649 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. Senator Rubio, you have said yourself that you don't think Donald Trump is running as a conservative. Did he convince you? +p650 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I want to turn this discussion to the economy now. And Mr. Trump, Governor Christie has said, "I tell everybody who goes to a Donald Trump event, if you get to ask a question, just ask him how." Christie said, "I don't care which of the things he talks about, just ask him how." You have said that you'd be the greatest jobs president God ever created. Tell Americans watching tonight how many jobs you would create in the first term and how. +p651 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. There are a lot of governors on this stage tonight and Governor Christie, Governor Kasich said of you, quote, "In Ohio, we balanced a budget. They don't have one over in New Jersey. Our credit has been strengthened. Their credit has been downgraded. We've got more jobs." How important are those metrics in choosing the next president? And is his job \u2014 is his record on jobs, I should say, actually stronger than yours? +p652 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Kasich? +p653 +aVHe didn't say your record was better than his. +p654 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. +p655 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. I do want to turn from jobs to taxes. +p656 +aVIf you would like to respond to the governor, you can. +p657 +aVI'm coming to you next with a question, anyway. You can respond to that question. +p658 +aVWe're going from jobs to taxes, and here's the... +p659 +aVTo the Gang of Eight bill first? +p660 +aVThe governor wasn't talking about the president, he was talking about the Gang of Eight bill. +p661 +aVSo, let me ask you about taxes, Senator Rubio. +p662 +aVA recent poll, 68 percent of Americans favor raising taxes on people making more than $1 million a year. Are they wrong? +p663 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I want to bring in Governor Bush. And Governor, I just want to repeat that number for you \u2014 68 percent of Americans favor raising taxes on people making more than a million. What do you say to the people who believe that tonight? +p664 +aVKnew that was coming. Governor, thank you. +p665 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you. Martha? +p666 +aVMartha, thank you. We're just going to \u2014 we're going to stay on +p667 +aVIf elected president, would you bring it back? +p668 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. Mr. Trump, you said not only does it work, but that you'd bring it back. +p669 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. Governor Bush, you have said that you won't rule waterboarding out. Congress has passed laws banning the use of waterboarding by the military and the CIA, as you know. Would you want Congress to change that if you're elected president? +p670 +aVGovernor Bush, thank you. Senator Rubio, I do want to ask you, you have said that you do not want to telegraph to the enemy what you would do as commander in chief. But for the American people watching tonight who want to know where the next president will stand, do you believe waterboarding is torture? +p671 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. We want to turn now to the topic of executive orders, and for that, we're going to turn back to Mary Katharine Ham. Mary Katharine? HAM: Thanks, David. Senator Cruz, on the campaign trail you've promised voters a lot, in fact if you're elected president you'd say you end Common Core immediately, abolish the IRS, and do away with sanctuary cities. You've also been a persistent critic of President Obama's executive overreach, going it alone, not working with Congress. How do you intend to implement this aggressive agenda within your Constitutional authority, especially given that it would require working with Congress and Washington players with whom you're happy to say you have a strained relationship? +p672 +aVMary Katherine, thank you. We want to turn to something the governor of New Hampshire said... +p673 +aVA connection here on the stage. We're going to move on to what the governor of New Hampshire said just this week, and that is that heroin overdose is not the second-leading cause of death in this state. You don't need me to tell you that. But there's another number, 48 percent of the people here in this state knows someone who has abused heroin. Josh, who covers this for +p674 +aVMartha? +p675 +aVGovernor, well come to you in the next segment. When we come back, questions about race, about our veterans and social issues what younger conservative voters are now saying as we continue with New Hampshire with the Republican debate, right here on ABC. +p676 +aVWelcome back to New Hampshire, ABC News coverage of the Republican debate, and it's great to have you back at the podiums, and we want to turn to race in America. And Mr. Trump, there are many who argue cell phones and smartphones are just now exposing what's been happening in this country for years. Cases of excessive force against minorities. As you know, Mr. Trump, on the other side, the FBI director recently said there's a chill wind blowing through law enforcement because of increased scrutiny. You have said police are the most mistreated people in America. As president, how do you bridge the divide? +p677 +aVGreat. Mr. Trump, I did ask about bridging the divide though as president. So what would you say to the American families who say we have lived through this, we have seen excessive force? What would you say to those people? +p678 +aVI do want to ask \u2014 Governor Kasich? +p679 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Rubio, I want to ask you next, President Obama visited a mosque this week in America for the first time in his presidency. President George W. Bush visited a mosque after September 11th. You said of President Obama, quote, "he's always pitting people against each other." So I'm curious, how are the two visits different, and would you visit a mosque as president? +p680 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. Martha? +p681 +aVJosh, thank you. I want to turn to a family that New Hampshire voters know quite well, and Senator Cruz, the issue of hostages has been a very real and painful one here in this state. As we all know, James Foley was killed. His mother, Diane, said our government should be willing to negotiate, arguing that families should also be allowed to raise money for ransom. What would you say to Diane Foley tonight? Should families be allowed to raise money for ransom for their loved ones? +p682 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. Mr. Trump, what would you say to Diane Foley? Should families be allowed to raise money for ransom? +p683 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. We want to turn now to social issues and young voters and for the question, from Mary Katherine. HAM: Thank you David. Senator Rubio. One of the lazier pieces of political conventional wisdom is that so-called social issues are hurting Republicans with young people. But on the two most prominent social issues, polling with millennials actually moves in different directions. On one hand, it is clear, young people across the political spectrum increasingly favor same sex marriage. However young voters have not moved to the left on abortion. In fact, large numbers of them favor at least some modest restrictions that conservatives have supported. How do you speak to millennials on both these issues, while Democrats will inevitable charge intolerance and extremism? +p684 +aVMary Katherine, thank you. We're going to have closing statements here in just a moment, but before we go, quick lightning round. Come November, two battle-ground states, but they face off tomorrow in the Super Bowl. Governor Kasich, who wins? +p685 +aVGovernor Bush? +p686 +aVSenator Rubio? +p687 +aV Mr. Trump? +p688 +aVAll right, Dr. Carson? +p689 +aVYeah. Governor Christie, the last word? +p690 +aVDenver. Thank you so much, gentlemen. Closing statements in just a moment, right here, as the ABC News Republican debate continues from New Hampshire, right after this. +p691 +aVWe welcome you back. The New Hampshire primary, of course, is Tuesday, but time now for closing statements. And we begin tonight with Governor Kasich. +p692 +aVGovernor Bush. +p693 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Senator Rubio. +p694 +aVThank you. Mr. Trump. +p695 +asVHUCKABEE +p696 +(lp697 +VI wish I saw the country in the same place that the president presented it to be the other night in the State of the Union. He talked about how great the economy was doing. And I guess for the people he hangs out with, it's probably doing great. But the president should've stood in the line at the layaway counter at Walmart just before Christmas. He would have heard a very different story about the economy of America. I wish I could introduce him the lady who cleans the building where our campaign headquarters is located in Little Rock. Her name is Kathleen. She works all day at a local hospital cleaning, and then she goes to the building where a bank, and our headquarters, and other offices are she spends another seven hours. She works 15 hours a day. I guarantee you she's not working 15 hours a day because she loves scrubbing toilets, and sweeping floors. She's working that many hours because that's what it takes for her to make it work. And, she's not alone. There are people all over this country who are working like that. Many of them working two jobs \u2014 and they used to have one job, and that would take care of them. But, because of wage stagnation, which we've had for 40 years, because the fact that they're punished for working harder if they work that many hours. The government gets more of their second shift than they do. And, as a result there are a lot of people who are hurting today. I wish the President knew more of them. He might make a change in the economy and the way he's managing it. +p698 +aVLet me put that in context. When I went to Afghanistan, I saw a land that looked like the land of the Flintstones. It was desolate. It was barren. It was primitive. And it's been that way for thousands of years. They want to take the world back to be just like that. We don't. We need to make a clear goal as to why we want to be anywhere in the Middle East, and I'll tell you why we want to be and need to be, is to destroy radical Islam and everything that threatens civilization. It's not just a threat......to Israel or to America, it's a threat to every civilized person on this Earth. And we need to be equipping not only the Kurds in Iraq, we need to be making sure that those who are willing to fight radical Muslims will do it, but we need to never ever spend a drop of American blood unless there is a clearly defined goal and we can't make sure we win unless we have a military that's the strongest in the history of mankind. We've got to rebuild our navy. It's the smallest navy we've had since 1915, when my grandfather got on a destroyer in World War I when he was in the U.S. Navy. We've got young men in Air Force B-52s, one in particular, he's flying a B-52 that his father flew in the '80s and his grandfather flew in the '50s. Those planes are older than me. We've got to have a military that the world is afraid of, use it sparingly, but when we do, the whole world will know that America is on their tail and they will be on their tail on the ground, never ever to rise up again. +p699 +aVOnly if there is a concerted effort to destroy the advance of radical Islamists who are against us. As far as what are we going to make it look like. Frankly, I don't know what we can make it look like. You can't create for other people a desire for freedom and democracy. And frankly, that is not the role of the United States. The role of the United States military is not to build schools, it is not to build bridges, it is not to go around and pass out food packets. It is to kill and destroy our enemy and make America safe and that is the purpose we should be there if we're going to be there. +p700 +aV Yes, I did. +p701 +aVWell, why don't we start by making sure the Justice Department never does an idiotic program like Fast and Furious where the U.S. Government put guns......in the hands of Mexican drug lords......and end up killing one of our border agents. You know, they want to talk about law abiding citizens, I just find it amazing the President keeps saying the gun show loophole. There is no gun show loophole. I promise you I've been to more gun shows than President Obama. +p702 +aVAnd, I've bought more weapons at them, and you fill out forms. The President also says things that it's easier to get a gun now than it is to grow trees. Again, I purchase guns, and I can assure you that it is much more difficult to purchase a firearm than it is to get the ingredients of a salad at the supermarket. What the President keeps pushing are ideas that have never worked. Ideas that would not have stopped San Bernadino, Sandy Hook, Aurora, and at some point you wonder if you keep retrying things that don't work, maybe we should just see if we could resell all those used lottery tickets that didn't work real well because that's the logic of just keep doing the same thing, but something that has failed. Of course, we want to stop gun violence, but the one common thing that has happened in most mass shootings is that they happened in gun- free zones where people who would have been law abiding citizens, who could have stood up and at least tried to stop it and we're not allowed to under the law. +p703 +aVWell, we shouldn't be and that's one of the reasons that I think there a lot of voices in our country who are saying it's time to relook at the visa program. The European Union is a failure, it's not allowed for even the economic goals that they were trying to achieve. But, what we're not seeing is that it's making Europe less safe, and it's proven not to be exactly what they all thought it was going to be. Our first and foremost responsibility in this country, and the first responsibility of the President of the United States is protect America, and protect Americans. We have a President who seems to be more interested in protecting the reputation and image of Islam than he is protecting us. And, I want to be very clear......that this President. Makes comments like he did the other night, that we have to be so careful because we don't want to offend Muslims. He needs to read his own FBI crime stats from last year which would show him that of the hate crimes in the country, over 5,500, about 1,100 were religious hate crimes. And, of those, 58% were directed toward Jews. Only 16% directed toward Muslims. Maybe what the President should have talked about the other night is how we ought to be more careful in the anti-semitic comments that are going toward American Jews than toward Muslims because by three times as many......they're being targeted for religious hate crime. +p704 +aVIt does not shut down international commerce, but it may slow it down. And, you don't want to slowdown commerce that is making us safer. It's worth it. This lady who came and joined with the San Bernardino killer had passed three background checks, and that's why a lot of Americans didn't buy it when the President said we'll bring in Syrian refugees, but don't worry we'll check them out. We have a lot of confidence in a president who told us that we could keep our doctor, we could keep our health insurance, and cost us less, and now the latest is if you like your gun you can keep it too, and frankly, we don't buy it. We don't believe it. He's lost his credibility, and his inept... ...inability to work with Congress and pass legislation has led him to do what I never even imagined doing as a governor, and that's just going and doing it my own way. That's why we elect a president, is to lead, is to be able to shepherd things through. And if I can do it with a 90 percent Democrat legislature in Arkansas, there is no excuse for any president not being able to lead in Washington if he knows what the heck he is doing when he gets there. +p705 +aVWell, first of all, let's just remember that Social Security is not the government's money, it belongs to the people who had it taken out of their checks involuntarily their entire working lives. For the government to say, well it is fault of working people that we have a Social Security problem, no. It is the fault of a government that used those people's money for something other than protecting those people's accounts. So let's not blame them and punish them. But here is a fact, and I sometimes hear Republicans say well, we're going to have to cut this and extend the age. You know what I think a lot of times when I hear people say, well, let's make people work to their 70. That sounds great for white-collar people who sat at a desk most of their lives. You ever talk to somebody that stood on concrete floor for the first 40 years of their working life? Do you think they can stand another five years or 10 years, many of them will retired virtually crippled because they worked hard. And we're going to punish them some more? I don't think so. Here's the fact. Four percent economic growth, we fully fund Social Security and Medicare. Our problem is not that Social Security is just too generous to seniors. It isn't. Our problem is that our politicians have not created the kind of policies that would bring economic growth. And I still support strongly that we get rid of the 77,000 pages of the monstrous tax code......pass the fair tax, supercharge this economy with the rocket fuel that happens with the consumption tax and we don't have to cut Social Security to any senior who has worked their lifetime for it. +p706 +aVLet me go back to the reason so many people are having a hard time getting ahead. The tax system punishes them. Think about this. If you work really hard and you start moving up the economic ladder, you get bumped into a different tax bracket. So the government thinks it deserves more of your hard work than you do. And it's one of the reasons that no matter how many different reforms you have to a tax on people's productivity, you're still taxing their work, their savings. You're taxing their capital gains, inheritance, dividends, you're taxing everything that produces something. And it's way I really believe it's time to do something bold, not something minute. This is no time for a tap of the hammer, a twist of the screwdriver. It's time for something big. That's why the fair tax transforms our economy. And we don't punish workers. It's the only way we're going to get middle class people moving ahead again, because the harder they work, the more they keep. No payroll tax deducted from their checks. They get their entire paycheck. And, one of the most important parts, it's built on the common sense with which we raised our kids, and trained dogs. You reward behavior you want more of. And, you punish behavior you want less of. That's how I raise kids, it's how I trained our dogs, and folks, it's not that difficult. We now punish the behavior we say we want more of by taxing it, and we reward the behavior that we say we want less of, so if you make a good investment, we punish you with a tax. If you make a bad investment you can write that off and the rest of the taxpayers will help subsidize you, and bail you out. +p707 +aVWell, Rick, I'm pretty sure I did also fight the Clinton machine because every election I was ever in in Arkansas, I assure you, they were behind it, helping finance and campaign for every opponent. And I share with you the understanding that it's going to be a tough battle. But I spent the first half of my adult life in the private and nonprofit sector, raising a family, understanding how tough it is for people to make it. And that first half of my life is what led me to believe that America needs a different kind of leadership, not people who spent their whole life running from one office to the next, and living off the government dime. And I got involved because I got sick of what I saw. I also believe that there's got to be some leadership that not only addresses the monetary and military issues of this country, but the moral issues of this country. At the end of every political speech, most of us say, God bless America. But how can he do that when we continue to slaughter 4,000 babies a day? And I want to be the president that treats every person, including the unborn, as a person. And protect them under the 5th and 14th amendments of the constitution. I close with this word from a gentleman in East Texas named Butel Lucre. He's 100 years old and I met him down in East Texas. And he said this to me. "I sure wish, Mike, we had the days when The Ten Commandments were in all of our capitals and in every school, and we prayed again. You know, he may be 100 years old, but I believe some of those old ideas to get this country back where we unapologetically get on our knees before we get on our feet might be the best solutions we've ever sought as a country. And I ask for your support and your vote. Thank you. +p708 +asVCRUZ +p709 +(lp710 +VWell, we have 80 years of precedent of not confirming Supreme Court justices in an election year. And let me say, Justice Scalia... +p711 +aVEighty years of not confirming. For example, L.B.J. nominated Abe Fortas. Fortas did not get confirmed. He was defeated. +p712 +aVNo, Kennedy was confirmed in '87... +p713 +aVHe was appointed in... +p714 +aVIn this case it's both. But if I could answer the question... +p715 +aVJustice Scalia was a legal giant. He was somebody that I knew for 20 years. He was a brilliant man. He was faithful to the Constitution. He changed the arc of American legal history. And I'll tell you, his passing tonight, our prayers are with his family, with his wife, Maureen, who he adored, his nine children, his 36 grandkids. But it underscores the stakes of this election. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that will strike down every restriction on abortion adopted by the states. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that will reverse the Heller decision, one of Justice Scalia's seminal decisions, that upheld the Second Amendment right to keep and to bear arms. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that would undermine the religious liberty of millions of Americans \u2014 and the stakes of this election, for this year, for the Senate, the Senate needs to stand strong and say, "We're not going to give up the U.S. Supreme Court for a generation by allowing Barack Obama to make one more liberal appointee." And then for the state of South Carolina, one of the most important judgments for the men and women of South Carolina to make is who on this stage has the background, the principle, the character, the judgment and the strength of resolve to nominate and confirm principled constitutionalists to the court? That will be what I will do if I'm elected president. +p716 +aVWell, we need to focus on what the objective is, you know? Your question about the first three questions you would ask in this Situation Room. I think it is a problem if the president, commander in chief, we've elected does not have the experience and background to understand the threats facing this country coming in on Day 1. If you look at the threats facing this country, the single gravest threat, national security threat, is the threat of a nuclear Iran. That's why I've pledged on Day 1 to rip to shreds this Iranian nuclear deal, and anyone that thinks you can negotiate Khamenei does not understand the nature of Khamenei. When it comes to +p717 +aVWe have Kurds in both Iraq and Syria. They are fighting +p718 +aVWell, let me say it at the outset that everyone here understands \u2014 everyone understands that how \u2014 that the middle class has been left behind in the last seven years of the Obama economy, and we've got to bring jobs back. We've got to get people back to work. We've got to get wages going up again. We've got to get people moving from part-time work to full-time work. We all agree on that, but it's not going to be solved with magic pixie dust. It's just going to be solved by declaring into the air, "Let there be jobs." We actually have to understand the principles that made America great in the first place. Now, where do you get economic growth? If you look at cause and effect over our nation's history, every time we lessen the burden of Washington on small-business owners, on job creators, we see incredible economic growth. You do that through tax reform and regulatory reform. My tax plan \u2014 typical family of four, first $36,000 you earn, you pay nothing in taxes \u2014 no income taxes, no payroll taxes, no nothing. Above 10 percent, everyone pays the same simple, flat 10 percent income rate. It's flat and fair. You can fill out your taxes on a postcard, and we abolish the I.R.S. If you want to see the postcard, I've got it on my website. +p719 +aVNow, Major, the business flat tax that is in my tax plan is not a VAT. A VAT in Europe is a sales tax. The business flat tax is not a sales tax, it is a tax of 16 percent opposed fairly and evenly across the board on all business. One of the things that's critical is we're doing that in conjunction with abolishing the corporate income tax, with abolishing the Obamacare taxes, with abolishing the payroll taxes, which are the biggest taxes paid by most working Americans, and with abolishing the death tax, which is cruel and unfair. And you asked about economic growth \u2014 the nonpartisan Tax Foundation estimated a simple flat tax that would produce 4.9 million new jobs, it would increase capital investment by 44 percent and would lift everyone's income by double digits. That's how you turn the country around, not just hoping and praying for it, but implementing policies that work. +p720 +aVWell, you know, your question highlights a sharp difference on immigration on this stage. You know, in a Republican primary, everyone talks tough on immigration. Everyone is against illegal immigration in a Republican primary. But as voters, we've been burned over and over again by people that give us a great campaign speech and they don't walk the walk. There are sharp differences on amnesty. If you look at the folks on this stage, when Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer and establishment Republicans were leading the fight to pass a massive amnesty plan, I stood with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and the American people and led the fight to defeat that amnesty plan. +p721 +aVNow, that moment... +p722 +aVThat moment was what Reagan would call "a time for choosing." When it comes to deciding which side of the line you're on, the Rubio-Schumer amnesty plan......apparently supported by the donor class, which is why Washington supported it. The Rubio-Schumer amnesty plan passed the Senate, and it was on the verge of passing the House. House leadership intended to take it up and pass it with the Democrats overruling most of the Republicans. And the question for anyone on illegal immigration is, where were you in that fight? Where did you stand? You are right. There is a difference between Senator Rubio and me on this question. +p723 +aVMajor, I get a response to that. +p724 +aVYou know, the lines are very, very clear. Marco right now supports citizenship for 12 million people here illegally. I oppose citizenship. Marco stood on the debate stage and said that. But I would note not only that \u2014 Marco has a long record when it comes to amnesty. In the state of Florida, as speaker of the house, he supported in-state tuition for illegal immigrants. In addition to that, Marco went on Univision in Spanish and said he would not rescind President Obama's illegal executive amnesty on his first day in office. I have promised to rescind every single illegal executive action, including that one. And on the question... +p725 +aV. +p726 +aVThat is simply... +p727 +aVThat is absolutely false. What he said is knowingly false. And I would note, if you want to assess \u2014 if you want to assess... +p728 +aV... who is telling the truth... If you want to assess who is telling the truth......then you should look to Jeff Sessions, who said, without Ted Cruz the Rubio-Schumer amnesty bill would have passed, and Ted was responsible. You should look to Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin, that said... +p729 +aVI think it is a very important question because the people who have been hurt the most in the Obama economy had been the most vulnerable. It's been young people. It's been Hispanics. It's been African-Americans. It's been single moms. We have the lowest percentage of Americans working today in any year since 1977. And the sad reality is big government, massive taxes, massive regulation, doesn't work. What we need to do instead is bring back booming economic growth, let \u2014 small businesses are the heart of the economy. Two-thirds of all new jobs come from small businesses. If we want to lift people out of poverty \u2014 you know, I think of these issues from the perspective of my dad. My dad fled Cuba in 1957. He was just 18. He couldn't speak English. He had nothing. He had $100 in his underwear. And he washed dishes making 50 cents an hour and paid his way through school. Today, my dad is a pastor. He travels the country preaching the gospel. Now, I think about all of these issues. How would it impact my dad when he was washing dishes? If we had Obamacare in place right now, the odds are very high my father would have been laid off, because it's teenaged kids like my dad who have gotten laid off. If he didn't get laid off, the odds are high he would have had his hours forcibly reduced to 28, 29 hours a week. We need to lift the burdens on small businesses so you have jobs, and we need welfare reform that gets people off of welfare and back to work. +p730 +aVYou know, flexibility is a good thing, but it shouldn't \u2014 you shouldn't be flexible on core principles. I like Donald, he is an amazing entertainer, but his policies for most of his life... +p731 +aVFor most of his life, his policies have been very, very liberal. For most of his life, he has described himself as very pro- choice and as a supporter of partial birth abortion. Right now, today, as a candidate, he supports federal taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood. I disagree with him on that. That's a matter of principle, and I'll tell you... +p732 +aVDon, I need to go on... +p733 +aVI will say, it is fairly remarkable to see Donald defending Ben after he called, "pathological," and compared him to a child molester. Both of which were offensive and wrong. But let me say this \u2014 you notice Donald didn't disagree with the substance that he supports taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood. And Donald has this weird pattern, when you point to his own record, he screams, "Liar, liar, liar." You want to go... +p734 +aVYou want to go... +p735 +aVIf you want to watch the video, go to our website at Tedcruz.org. +p736 +aVYou can see it out of Donald's own mouth. +p737 +aVYou supported it when we were battling over defunding Planned Parenthood. You went on... +p738 +aVYou said, "Planned Parenthood does wonderful things and we should not defund it." +p739 +aVSo I'll tell you what... +p740 +aVYou see, you and I... +p741 +aVDon, the reasoned principle matters. The reasoned principle matters, sadly was illustrated by the first questions today. The next president is going to appoint one, two, three, four Supreme Court justices. If Donald Trump is president, he will appoint liberals. If Donald Trump is president, your Second Amendment will gone... +p742 +aVYou know how I know that? +p743 +aVI did not nominate John Roberts. I would not have nominated John Roberts. +p744 +aVI supported... +p745 +aVYou need to learn to not interrupt people. +p746 +aVDonald, adults learn... +p747 +aVAdults learn not to interrupt people. +p748 +aVI did not nominate him. I would not have nominated him. I would've nominated my former boss Liberman, who was Justice Scalia's first law clerk. And you know how I know that Donald's Supreme Court justices will be liberals? Because his entire life, he support liberals from Jimmy Carter, to Hillary Clinton, to John Kerry. In 2004, he contributed to John Kerry. Nobody who cares about judges would contribute to John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid. +p749 +aVThat's what Donald Trump does. +p750 +aVSouth Carolina, you have a critical choice to make. Our country literally hangs in the balance. Do you want another Washington deal maker who will do business as usual, cut deals with the Democrats, grow government, grow debt and give up our fundamental liberties? Or do you want a conservative, a proven conservative that will stand and fight with you each and every day? Listen, repealing Obamacare is not going to be easy. Passing a simple flat tax that abolishes the I.R.S. is not going to be easy, but if we stand with the American people, we can do it. And today, we saw just how great the stakes are. Two branches of government hang in the balance. Not just the presidency but the Supreme Court. If we get this wrong, if we nominate the wrong candidates, the Second Amendment, life, marriage, religious liberty \u2014 every one of those hangs in the balance. My little girls are here. I don't want to look my daughters in the eyes and say, "We lost their liberties." Who do you know will defend the Constitution and Bill of Rights? And as a commander in chief, who do you know will stand up to our enemies as the clam, steady, deliberate, strength to defeat our enemies, to secure our borders and to keep America safe. +p751 +aVWell, you know, David, the assessment the voters are making here in New Hampshire and across the country is they are evaluating each and every one of us. They are looking to our experience. They are looking to our knowledge. They are looking to our temperament and judgment. They are looking to our clarity of vision and our strength of resolve. The world is getting much more dangerous. We've had seven years with Barack Obama in the oval office, a commander-in-chief that is unwilling even to acknowledge the enemy we're facing. This is a president who, in the wake of Paris, in the wake of San Bernardino, will not even use the words radical Islamic terrorism, much less focus on defeating the enemy. I am convinced every individual standing on this stage, would make a much better commander-in-chief than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders. And the primary voters are making the assessment for each of us, who is best prepared to keep this country safe, to rebuild the military, to rebuild our Navy, our Air Force, our Army, our Marines, and to ensure that we keep America safe. +p752 +aVI think that is an assessment the voters are going to make. And they are going to make it of each and everyone of us. They are going to assess who is level-headed, who has clear vision, who has judgment, who can confront our enemies, who can confront the threats we face in this country, and who can have the judgment when to engage and when not to engage \u2014 both are incredibly important for a commander-in-chief, knowing how to go after our enemies. In the case of Iran, for example, who has the clarity of vision to understand that the Ayatollah Khamenei, when he chants, "Death to America," he means it. We need a president with the judgment and resolve to keep this country safe from radical Islamic terrorists. +p753 +aVBen is a good and honorable man and Ben and Candy have become friends. He has an amazing life story that has inspired millions, including me. When this transpired, I apologized to him then and I do so now. Ben, I'm sorry. Let me tell you the facts of what occurred for those who are interested in knowing. On Monday night, about 6:30 p.m., CNN reported that Ben was not going from Iowa to New Hampshire or South Carolina. Rather, he was, quote, "Taking a break from campaigning." They reported that on television, CNN's political anchors, Jake Tapper and Dana Bash and Wolf Blitzer, said it was highly unusual and highly significant. My political team saw CNN's report breaking news and they forwarded that news to our volunteers, it was being covered on live television. Now, at the time, I was at the caucuses, I was getting ready to speak at the caucuses just like Ben was, just like everyone else was. I knew nothing about this. A couple hours later, I found out about it. I was told that Ben was unhappy. I called him that evening because I respect him very, very highly. I didn't reach him that evening. I reached him the next day and apologized. He asked me then, he said, Ted, would you make this apologize in public? I said, yes, I will. And I did so. I regret that subsequently, CNN reported on that \u2014 they didn't correct that story until 9:15 that night. So from 6:30 p.m. to 9:15, that's what CNN was reporting. Subsequent to that initial report, Ben's campaign put out a statement saying that he was not suspending his campaign. I wish that our campaign staff had forwarded that statement. They were unaware of it, I wish that they had, that's why I apologized. +p754 +aVWell, I would note, initially the fact that we're seeing the launch, and we're seeing the launch from a nuclear North Korea is the direct result of the failures of the first Clinton administration. The Clinton administration led the world in relaxing sanctions against North Korea. Billions of dollars flowed into North Korea in exchange for promises not to build nuclear weapons. They took those billions and built nuclear weapons. And, I would note also the lead negotiator in that failed North Korea sanctions deal was a woman named Wendy Sherman who Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton promptly recruited to come back to be the lead negotiator with Iran. So, what we are seeing with North Korea is foreshadowing of where we will be with Iran. With respect to North Korea and what we should do now, one of the first things we should do is expand our missile defense capacity. We ought to put missile defense interceptors in South Korea. South Korea wants them. One of the real risks of this launch, North Korea wants to launch a satellite, and one of the greatest risks of the satellite is they would place a nuclear device in the satellite. As it would orbit around the Earth, and as it got over the United States they would detonate that nuclear weapon and set of what's called an EMP, and electromagnetic pulse which could take down the entire electrical grid on the Eastern seaboard, potentially killing millions. We need to harden the grid to defend ourselves, and we need missile defense to protect ourselves against North Korea. +p755 +aVYou know, at this point I'm not going to speculate on that without the intelligence briefing that any Commander in Chief would have, knowing what exactly is there. One of the real problems... +p756 +aV... Actually, with respect, I have gotten the intelligence briefings on the Mid-East. Those have been going on for many years. I haven't gotten the intelligence briefing tonight on what North Korea's doing because I'm here in new Hampshire. When you're responding to an immediate incident, you need to know the intelligence of what's occurring. But what I was saying \u2014 look, it is qualitatively different dealing with a country once they have nuclear weapons. It's why you prevent them from getting nuclear weapons in the first place \u2014 because your hands are somewhat tied once they have nukes. It's why this Iranian nuclear deal is so catastrophic, and it's why I've pledged, on the very first day in office, to rip to shreds this Iranian nuclear deal so we're not sitting here in five years, wondering what to do about an Iranian missile launch when they have nuclear weapons. The stakes are too high for that. +p757 +aVSo, in terms of a practical solution, I've laid out the most detailed plan for solving illegal immigration. It's 11 pages, single-spaced, chapter and verse. It's on our website, tedcruz.org. In short, we're going to do, we're going to build a wall. We're going to triple the border patrol. We're going to increase \u2014 and actually, since Donald enjoyed that, I will simply say, I've got somebody in mind to build it. We're going to increase four-fold, the fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft, so that you have technology monitoring an attempted incursion to direct the boots on the ground where they're occurring. We're going to put in place a strong e-verify system in the workplace, so you can't get a job without proving you are here legally. We'll put in place a biometric exit-entry system on visas, because 40 percent of illegal immigration comes not over the border illegally, but people coming on visas and overstaying. We will end sanctuary cities by cutting off taxpayer dollars to any jurisdiction that defies federal immigration law. And we will end welfare benefits for those here illegally. +p758 +aVWhat you do is, you enforce the law. You know, under the Constitution, the president has an obligation to, quote, "Take care that the laws be faithfully executed." Federal immigration law provides, if someone is here illegally and is apprehended, they are to be deported. We saw just this past week the head of the border patrol union testify before Congress that President Obama had given the order to the border patrol to stand down, not to enforce the law. That is wrong. I will enforce the law, and for everyone who says, you can't possibly do that, I would note that in eight years, Bill Clinton deported 12 million people. In eight years, George W. Bush deported 10 million people. Enforcing the law \u2014 we can do it. What is missing is the political will. And when they were deporting the people, the border wasn't secure, so they'd come right back. Once you secure the border, enforcing the law will solve this problem and that will benefit American workers. +p759 +aVGood evening. +p760 +aVWell, let me take two different parts of that. Let me start with socialized medicine. Socialized medicine is a disaster. It does not work. If you look at the countries that have imposed socialized medicine, that have put the government in charge of providing medicine, what inevitably happens is rationing. You have a scarcity of doctors. You have rationing. And that means the elderly are told, we're going to ration a hip replacement, we're going to ration a knee replacement. We're going to ration end- of-life care. We're right now heading into a medical system with about a 90,000-doctor shortage in America and socialized medicine; whether proposed by the Democrats or proposed by a Republican would hurt the people of this country. What should we do on health care? If I'm elected president, we will repeal every word of Obamacare. And once we do that, we will adopt common sense reforms, number one, we'll allow people to purchase health insurance across state lines that will drive down prices and expand the availability of low cost catastrophic insurance. We'll expand health savings accounts; and we will de-link health insurance from employment so that you don't lose your health insurance when you lose your job, and that way health insurance can be personal, portable and affordable and we keep government from getting in between us and our doctors. HAM: Dr. Carson, you have some experience with this matter. In the past, you have said that Obamacare should be replaced before it's repealed. How and why? +p761 +aVWell, sure. It starts with a commander-in-chief that sets the objective. And the objective has to be utterly and completely destroying +p762 +aVMartha, I will tell you, I have visited with active duty military, with veterans over and over and over again in town halls all over the state of New Hampshire. What we are doing to our sons and daughters, it is immoral. We are sending them into fight with their arms tied behind their back. They cannot defend themselves. And it is wrong. And I will tell you this. Look. America has always been reluctant to use military force. It's the last step we take. But if and when we use it when it comes to defeating +p763 +aVAbsolutely, yes. +p764 +aVWell, under the definition of torture, no, it's not. Under the law, torture is excruciating pain that is equivalent to losing organs and systems, so under the definition of torture, it is not. It is enhanced interrogation, it is vigorous interrogation, but it does not meet the generally recognized definition of torture. +p765 +aVI would not bring it back in any sort of widespread use. And indeed, I joined with Senator McCain in legislation that would prohibit line officers from employing it because I think bad things happen when enhanced interrogation is employed at lower levels. But when it comes to keeping this country safe, the commander in chief has inherent constitutional authority to keep this country safe. And so, if it were necessary to, say, prevent a city from facing an imminent terrorist attack, you can rest assured that as commander in chief, I would use whatever enhanced interrogation methods we could to keep this country safe. +p766 +aVWell, thank you for that question. You know, there are three avenues of presidential authority to change the direction of this country. The first is executive power, the second is foreign policy, and the third is legislation. Executive power, as we all know, has been the preferred vehicle of President Obama, abusing his authority, abusing his constitutional authority. Now, the silver lining of that is everything done with executive power can be undone with executive power, so I have pledged on day one I will rescind every single illegal and unconstitutional executive action Barack Obama has done. That means on day one his efforts to restrict the Second Amendment go away with the strike of a pen. That means on day one his illegal executive amnesty goes away with the strike of a pen. The reason I can end Common Core at the federal level is because Obama is abusing executive power using Race to the Top funds in the Department of Education to force it on the states. That's one avenue. The second avenue of change is foreign policy, and foreign policy can change the fastest. It's worth remembering that Iran released our hostages the day Reagan......was sworn in. And, the third is legislation, and that can only be done with the people behind you, which is why the two big legislative initiatives I'm campaigning on are repealing Obamacare, and adopting a simple flat tax to abolish the IRS. HAM: Mr. Trump, Senator Cruz is known for opposing deals, you literally wrote the book on making them. Senator Cruz has mentioned that on the trail. What would you say to those conservatives that are concerned that a deal maker will just perpetuate the same deals in Washington and the way that things run now ... +p767 +aVWell, Josh, as you noted, this is a problem that, for me, I understand first-hand. My older sister, Myriam, who was my half- sister, struggled her whole life with drug and alcohol addiction. My father and her mom divorced when she was a little girl and she was angry her whole life, and she ended up marrying a man who had been in and out of jail. She then became a single mom and she herself went to jail several times and she ended up spending some time in a crack house. I still remember my father and me driving up to get Myriam out of that crack house to try to convince her she needed to be a mom to \u2014 to my nephew Joey. She wasn't willing to listen. She was not willing to change the path she was on. She was angry. I was \u2014 had just gotten my first job coming out of law school. I took a $20,000 loan on a credit card to put my nephew, Joey, in Valley Forge Military Academy \u2014 he was in sixth grade at the time, to pay his way through that. And about five, six years ago, Miriam died of an overdose. It was \u2014 the coroner ruled it accidental. We don't know. She went to one night, had taken too many pills, and Joey walked in and found her dead. This is an absolute epidemic. We need leadership to solve it. Solving it has to occur at the state and local level with programs like A.A., and counseling, and churches and charities. But it also has to be securing the borders, because you have got Mexican cartels that are smuggling vast amounts of heroin into this country. We know how to secure the borders. What is missing is the political will to do it. And as president, I will secure the border, we will end this deluge of drugs that is flowing over our southern border and that is killing Americans across this country. +p768 +aVWell, look, I recognize it is an agonizing experience when anyone is facing a loved \u2014 loved member who's been kidnapped. But at the same time, putting in place legal regimes that encourage the payment of ransom has the effect of putting a bounty on other Americans. There is a reason it has been longstanding U.S. policy that we don't negotiate with terrorists, we don't pay ransoms. If you look at what President Obama has done over and over again, whether it was the James Bergdahl deal, which was absolutely shameful, releasing five senior Taliban terrorists to bring Bergdahl back, or whether it was this recent deal with Iran, where, again, up to 21 terrorists or potential terrorists were \u2014 were released or not prosecuted in order to bring back four Americans, what that does \u2014 does is it effectively puts a bounty on American servicemen and women serving abroad, on American tourists traveling abroad. And the proper approach......is a president and commander in chief that defends this country and that goes after \u2014 goes after the terrorists, rather than showing them weakness and encouraging them to target more Americans. +p769 +aVWith an eye to February 20th, Carolina. +p770 +aVYou know, every candidate running for president says they will stand up to Washington. The natural follow up question is when have you ever stood up to Washington. Last week we saw a powerful illustration of that. I campaigned in the state of Iowa four-square against the ethanol mandate, something everyone said was political suicide. My two leading competitors both attacked me for it. The governor of the state said vote for anyone but Cruz, and lobbyists spent millions of dollars in attack ads, but I stood and said we should have no mandates, a level playing field, and the people of Iowa put country and our children above the cronyism and corporate welfare...... We can turn this country around if we get back to the Constitution. And, I will always stand with the American people against the bipartisan corruption of Washington. +p771 +aVWell, Megyn, let me say at the outset to the men and women of Iowa, thank you for the incredible hospitality over this past year. By Monday, you will have welcomed me into all 99 counties in Iowa. You will have welcomed my dad to preach at your churches. You will have welcomed Heidi and our girls, Caroline and Catherine, into your homes. And I'm so grateful for the diligence, for the seriousness with which the men and women of Iowa approach this process. If I am elected president, keep an eye on the tarmac, because I'll be back, because Iowa in 2017 will not be fly-over country. It will be fly-to country. Now, secondly, let me say I'm a maniac and everyone on this stage is stupid, fat, and ugly. And Ben, you're a terrible surgeon. Now that we've gotten the Donald Trump portion out of the way... I want to thank everyone here for showing the men and women of Iowa the respect to show up and make the case to the people of this state and the people of the country why each of us believe we would make the best commander in chief. +p772 +aVWell, let me be clear, if Donald engages in insults or anybody else, I don't intend to reciprocate. I have not insulted Donald personally and I don't intend to. I am glad Donald is running. I'm glad he has produced enormous enthusiasm, and, every Donald Trump voter or potential voter, I hope to earn your support. I know everyone else on this stage hopes to earn your support. Now, there is a difference between personal insults and attacks \u2014 between going into the mud with ad hominems and focusing on issues and substance. +p773 +aVWell, I agree with Rand that I very much respect Ron Paul and that I think anyone who is able to win in the Republican Party has to be able to bring together the disparate elements of the Reagan coalition. You've got to be able to bring together conservatives and evangelicals and libertarians, and stitch together a winning majority. When it comes to the audit the Fed bill, as Rand knows well, I was an original sponsor of the bill, I'm strongly supportive of it. It didn't have the votes to pass. And I had commitments to be at a town hall in New Hampshire. But I look forward to signing that bill into law as president and auditing the Fed and providing needed accountability at the Federal Reserve. +p774 +aVWell, Chris, I will apologize to nobody for the vigorousness with which I will fight terrorism, go after +p775 +aVChris, in 1981, when Ronald Reagan came to the Oval Office, he encountered a military that had been debilitated just as the current military has, just like Jimmy Carter weakened our readiness, undermined our ability to defend this country, so too has Barack Obama. Just as morale in the military has plummeted in the last seven, so it had then. What Reagan did is he began with tax reform and regulatory reform, unleashing the engine of the American free enterprise system. It brought booming economic growth and that growth fueled rebuilding the military. I intend to do the exact same thing to defeat radical Islamic terrorism \u2014 +p776 +aV... and to devote the resources from the booming economy to rebuilding our Navy, rebuilding our Air Force, rebuilding our Army and ensuring we have the capacity to keep this country safe. +p777 +aVChris? Chris I was mentioned in that question. +p778 +aV... Actually, I was... +p779 +aV... Chris, your questions that you... +p780 +aV... What was your question... +p781 +aV... Your question was you have disagreed... +p782 +aV... opening statement. +p783 +aV... This entire question was an attack, but that's +p784 +aVChris, I would note that that the last four questions have been, "Rand, please attack Ted. Marco, please attack Ted. Chris, please attack Ted. Jeb, please attack Ted..." Let me just say this... +p785 +aV... Well, no, no. A debate actually is a policy issue, but I will say this. Gosh, if you guys ask one more mean question I may have to leave the stage. Chris, the most important determination any voter is going to make in this election is who's best prepared to be Commander in Chief. Who has the experience, who has the knowledge, who has the judgement, who has the clarity, and vision and strength of resolve to keep this country safe. That is what this debate is all about, and I would suggest let's stay focused on those issues \u2014 rather than just attacks directed at each other. +p786 +aVSure. Well, let's take it one at a time. First of all, we have seen now in six years of Obamacare that it has been a disaster. It is the biggest job-killer in this country. Millions of Americans have lost their jobs, have been forced into part-time work, have lost their health insurance, have lost their doctors, have seen their premiums skyrocket. If I'm elected president, we will repeal every word of Obamacare. Now, once that is done, everyone agrees we need healthcare reform. It should follow the principles of expanding competition, empowering patients, and keeping government from getting in between us and our doctors. Three specific reforms that reflect those principles. Number one, we should allow people to purchase health insurance across state lines. That will create a true 50-state national marketplace which will drive down the cost of low-cost, catastrophic health insurance. Number two, we should expand health savings accounts so people can save in a tax-advantaged way for more routine healthcare needs. And number three, we should work to de-link health insurance from employment so if you lose your job, your health insurance goes with you and it is personal, portable and affordable. And I'll tell you, Bret, I think that's a much more attractive vision for healthcare than the Washington-drive, top-down Obamacare that is causing so many millions of people to hurt. +p787 +aVI want this bill to be voted down. I don't want immigration reform to fail. I want immigration reform to pass. I believe if this amendment were to pass, the chances of this bill passing into law would increase dramatically. I believe if the amendments I introduced were adopted, that the bill would pass. And my effort in introducing them was to find a solution that reflected common ground and that fixed the problem. If the proponents of this bill actually demonstrate a commitment not to politics, not to campaigning all the time, but to actually fixing this problem, to finding a middle ground. That would fix the problem, and also allow, for those 11 million people who are here illegally, a legal status, with citizenship off the table. +p788 +aVYou know, the amendment you're talking about is one sentence \u2014 it's 38 words. Anyone can go online at tedcruz.org and read exactly what it said. In those 38 words, it said anyone here illegally is permanently ineligible for citizenship. It didn't say a word about legalization. I introduced... +p789 +aVBut \u2014 but Megyn, the bill was 1,000 pages. I introduced a series of amendments, each designed to fix problems in the bill. The fact that each amendment didn't fix every problem didn't mean that I supported the rest of the bill. And I'll tell you who supported my amendment \u2014 Jeff Sessions, the strongest opponent of amnesty in the United States Congress. And he did so because taking citizenship off the table was important, and it revealed the hypocrisy of the proponents of this bill, who were looking for votes. Listen, we can solve immigration. We just heard an argument back and forth that we can't solve immigration. I have a detailed immigration plan that is on my website, tedcruz.org. It was designed with Iowa's own Congressman Steve King and Jeff Sessions, and... ... we have the tools in federal law to do this now. We can build the fence. We can triple the border patrol. We can end sanctuary cities by cutting off... ... funding to them. We can end welfare for those here illegally. And what is missing is the political will, because too many Democrats and, sadly, too many Republicans don't want to solve this problem. If I am elected president... ... we will secure the border... +p790 +aV... and we will end the illegal immigration. +p791 +aVYou know, John Adams famously said, "facts are are stubborn things." The facts are are very, very simple. When that battle was waged, my friend Senator Rubio chose to stand with Barack Obama and Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer and support amnesty. And I stood alongside Jeff Sessions and Steve King, and we led the fight against amnesty. And if you want to know who's telling the truth, you should look and ask people like Jeff Sessions and Steve King and Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin, all of whom say, as Jeff Sessions said, responding to these false attacks just recently in Alabama \u2014 he said, "if it wasn't for Ted Cruz, the Gang of Eight Rubio/Schumer bill would have passed. But because Ted stood up and helped lead the effort, millions rose up to kill it. +p792 +aVYou know, I like Marco. He's very charming. He's very smooth. But the facts are simple. When he ran for election in the state of Florida, he told the people of Florida, "if you elect me, I will lead the fight against amnesty." When I ran in Texas, I told the people of Texas, "if you elect me, I will lead the fight against amnesty." We both made the identical promises. But when we came to Washington, we made a different choice. Marco made the choice to go the direction of the major donors \u2014 to support amnesty because he thought it was politically advantageous. I honored my commitments, and as president, I will honor every commitment that I make to the men and women of this country. +p793 +aVWell, Chris, you are exactly right that I am not the candidate of career politicians in Washington. And I'll tell you the endorsements that I am proud of are the over 200,000 volunteers across this country who have signed up to volunteer for our campaign. The endorsements that I am proud of are leading conservatives like Iowa's own Congressman Steve King, who is a national co-chairman of my campaign. The endorsements that I'm proud of are conservative leaders like Dr. James Dobson, and over 700,000 contributions nationwide, people going to our Web site, tedcruz.org. This is a grassroots campaign and, you know, when I ran for senate in Texas, I told the people of Texas that I'm not going there to go along to get along. Washington is broken. And the people I have been accountable to every single day in the Senate are the 27 million Texans who I represent and I made a promise to them that I make to you today, which is, if I am elected, every single day I will do two things: tell the truth, and do what I said I would do. +p794 +aVWell, Chris, I'm glad to discuss my views on ethanol and energy. I think God has blessed this country with enormous natural resources, and we should pursue all of the above. We should be developing oil, and gas, and coal, and nuclear, and wind, and solar, and ethanol, and biofuels. But, I don't believe that Washington should be picking winners and losers. And, I think there should be no mandates, and no subsidies whatsoever. And, indeed, my tax plan that I've introduced, it's available on our website. It's a simple flat tax for everyone. It'll produce enormous economic growth, and it eliminates every mandate, every subsidy, so there's no subsidies for oil and gas, no subsidies for anyone. Now, it is true that there are a bunch of lobbyists, and a bunch of Democrats in this state spending millions of dollars trying to convince the people of Iowa that I somehow oppose ethanol. It's not true. I have introduced legislation that would phase out the ethanol mandate over five years, but that is in the context of having no mandates whatsoever for anyone. And, I would not that there's a much more important government regulation to ethanol, and that's the EPA's blend wall that makes it illegal to sell mid-level blends of ethanol in gasoline. I will... ... Tear down the EPA's blend wall which will enable ethanol to expand its market share by up to 60%, all without mandates. All without any government mandates whatsoever through the marketplace. And, I'll note finally, Chris, there is a reason that Iowa's Congressman Steve King, perhaps the fiercest defender of farmers in this state, is sharing my campaign. Because he understands that I'm committed to a fair, and level playing field for every energy source without lobbyists, and without Washington picking winners and losers. +p795 +aVNinety-three hours. The media noise will soon be over and it's now for the men and women of Iowa to decide. Our country is in crisis. We're worried the future of our children and we've have been burned over and over again. The central question in this race is trust. Who do you know will kill the terrorists, defend the constitution and repeal Obamacare? Who do you know will stop amnesty and secure the borders? Who do you know will defend life, marriage and religious liberty? Examine our records, pray on it and I will be honored if you and your family will come caucus for us on Monday night. +p796 +asVPAUL +p797 +(lp798 +VYou know, I've always had a great deal of respect. There's probably no person I respect more in the country or in recent history than my father. I think he was probably the most honest man in politics that we've ever seen in a generation. And so in no way have I ever said that I don't embrace my father or love my father or appreciate everything that he has done for the country. I think what's interesting about where that liberty vote goes that my father brought to the Republican Party is, I don't think they're necessarily going to go for Ted. You know, Ted didn't show up. We had an audit-the-Fed vote, which was the biggest thing my dad had been advocating for, for 30 years, Ted didn't have time to show up. He was the only Republican that didn't show up for it. And so I think really that vote is going to stay in the Paul household. I think more of it is coming and it's going to grow. The NSA is another big issue. Ted said he was for NSA reform, but then he told Marco Rubio, no, no, no, I voted for the bill because I'm for the government collecting 100 percent of your cell phone records. I don't think Ted can have it both ways. They want to say they're getting some of the liberty vote. But we don't see it happening at all. We think we're going to do very well in Iowa with the liberty vote. +p799 +aVMay I respond? +p800 +aVWell, I mean, I was talked about in the question. +p801 +aVJust very quickly, I would like to respond. The bulk collection of your phone data, the invasion of your privacy did not stop one terrorist attack. I don't think you have to give up your liberty for a false sense of security. When we look at this bulk collection, the court has looked at this. Even the court declared it to be illegal. If we want to collect the records of terrorists, let's do it the old fashioned way. Let's use the Fourth Amendment. Let's put a name on a warrant, let's ask a judge for it. Let's respect the history of our country. John Adams said that we fought a War for Independence because we wanted to fight against generalized warrants. Let's don't forget that. +p802 +aVMy budget was mentioned. My budget was mentioned. +p803 +aV... Senator Cruz, I'd like to respond... +p804 +aV... and I'd like to respond. +p805 +aVThank you, Marco. +p806 +aVThank you. The issue in Syria's a very important one, and it's one we need to get right. The question is, should we be bombing both sides of the war? Some want to topple Assad. In fact, they want to bomb +p807 +aV. +p808 +aVYeah, no, I think that's a \u2014 that's a huge mistake, to be closing down mosques. But I would say that if you want to defend the country, it begins with border security. And this is where I've had my disagreement with Senator Rubio. When he brought forward the "Gang of Eight" bill to give citizenship to those who came here illegally, I put forward an amendment that says we should have more scrutiny on those who are coming as students, those who are coming as immigrants, those who are coming as refugees, because we had two refugees come to my town in Bowling Green and try to attack us. Marco opposed this because they made a deal. He made a deal with Chuck Schumer that he would oppose any conservative amendments. And I think that's a mistake, and I just don't think Marco can have it both ways. You can't be in favor of defend us... ... against Islam \u2014 radical Islam \u2014 if you're not for border security. +p809 +aVYou know, I've supported legislation to allow body cameras. I've been to Ferguson, I've been trying to look for solutions to our criminal justice problem. One thing I discovered in Ferguson was that a third of the budget for the city of Ferguson was being reaped by civil fines. People were just being fined to death. Now you and I and many of the people in this audience, if we get a $100 fine, we can survive it. If you're living on the edge of poverty and you get a $100 fine or your car towed, a lot of times you lose your job. I also think the war on drugs has disproportionately affected our African-American community, and what we need to do is make sure that the war on drugs is equal protection under the law and that we don't unfairly incarcerate another generation of young African-American males. In Ferguson, for every 100 African-American women, there are only 60 African-American men. Drug use is about equal between white and black, but our prisons \u2014 three out of four people in prison are black or brown. I think something has to change. I think it's a big thing that our party needs to be part of, and I've been a leader in Congress on trying to bring about criminal justice reform. +p810 +aVI was there and I saw the debate. I saw Ted Cruz say, "we'll take citizenship off the table, and then the bill will pass, and I'm for the bill." The bill would involve legalization. He can't have it both ways. But what is particularly insulting, though, is that he is the king of saying, "you're for amnesty." Everybody's for amnesty except for Ted Cruz. But it's a falseness, and that's an authenticity problem \u2014 that everybody he knows is not as perfect as him because we're all for amnesty. I was for legalization. I think, frankly, if you have border security, you can have legalization. So was Ted, but now he says it wasn't so. That's not true. +p811 +aVYou know, I think abortion is always wrong. I've supported a variety of solutions, both state as well as federal. In fact, just last week, I introduced the Life at Conception act, which would say that the 14th amendment would defend an individual even in the womb. But I think on the broader question of religion and politics, you know, I think liberty, itself requires a virtue \u2014 requires a virtuous people. In fact, Washington said that democracy requires a virtuous people. Oz Guinness, the theologian, said that liberty requires restraint but the only restraint consistent with liberty is self-restraint. There's a lot packed into that statement. But the bottom line is we must have virtue, we must have a religious bearing as a nation. The government is not always going to save us and it's not always going to come from government. But if we don't know right and wrong, I think we have lost our way. I think we become unmoored and I think without the religious foundation that guides us all, I think we have a great risk of going horribly in the wrong direction. +p812 +aVBoth. No, both the federal and a state approach. I have said that we could leave it to the states but I've also introduced a federal solution as well. So the federal solution would be the Life at Conception act which is an act that would federalize the issue. But I've also said for the most part, these issues would be left back to the states. So there might be an occasion if we did overturn Roe v. Wade \u2014 Roe v. Wade nationalized the issue. If you had the court reverse Roe v. Wade, it would become a state issue once again. I think it would be better the more \u2014 the less abortions we have, so the more states that we have that made abortion illegal, the better, as far as trying to save and preserve lives. +p813 +aVYou know, I've never really brought this up unless asked the question, but I have responded to the question. I don't blame Hillary Clinton at all for this. I don't think she's responsible for his behavior. But I do think that her position as promoting women's rights and fairness to women in the workplace, that if what Bill Clinton did any CEO in our country did with an intern, with a 22-year- old, 21-year-old intern in their office, they would be fired. They would never be hired again. Fired, never hired again and probably shunned in their community. And the thing is, she can't be a champion of women's rights at the same time she's got this that is always lurking out there, this type of behavior. So it is difficult. +p814 +aVYeah. But I combine this also with the millions upon millions of dollars they've taken from regimes in the Middle East who treat women like cattle. +p815 +aVWell, thanks for having me. It's great to be back. I'm an eye surgeon from Bowling Green, Kentucky, I miss doing eye surgery, still get to do a little bit. Did a couple of cataract surgeries over Christmas holidays. Got to go to Haiti last year. I've gotten to do some incredible things. Got to be on the floor of the Senate. And it has been amazing to me. But the thing that is most important to me and caused me to run for office is I'm worried about the country and how much debt we're adding. And I am the one true fiscal conservative who will look at all spending. And that's the only way we'll ever balance our budget. Thank you. +p816 +asVTRUMP +p817 +(lp818 +VWell, I can say this. If the president, and if I were president now, I would certainly want to try and nominate a justice. I'm sure that, frankly, I'm absolutely sure that President Obama will try and do it. I hope that our Senate is going to be able \u2014 Mitch, and the entire group, is going to be able to do something about it. In times of delay, we could have a Diane Sykes, or you could have a Bill Pryor \u2014 we have some fantastic people. But this is a tremendous blow to conservatism. It's a tremendous blow, frankly, to our country. +p819 +aV... I think he's going to do it whether or I'm O.K. with it or not. I think it's up to Mitch McConnell and everybody else to stop it. It's called delay, delay, delay. +p820 +aVWhat we want to do, when we want to do it, and how hard do we want to hit? Because we are going to have to hit very, very hard to knock out +p821 +aV... called me a genius, I like him so far, I have to tell you. Let me just tell you this. Jeb is so wrong. Jeb is absolutely self \u2014 just so you understand, you know what that is? That's Jeb's special interest and lobbyist talking. Look, let me just tell you something, Jeb \u2014 Jeb is so wrong. You got to fight +p822 +aV... You'll end up with World War III... +p823 +aV... We're supporting troops... +p824 +aV... that we don't even know who they are. +p825 +aV... We're supporting troops that we don't even know who they are... +p826 +aVWe have no idea who they are. +p827 +aV... Oh, yeah, yeah... +p828 +aV... Let 44 million in New Hampshire, it was practically ... +p829 +aV... 44 million \u2014 give me a break. +p830 +aVFirst of all, I have to say, as a businessman, I get along with everybody. I have business all over the world. I know so many of the people in the audience. And by the way, I'm a self-funder. I don't have \u2014 I have my wife and I have my son. That's all I have. I don't have this. So let me just tell you, I get along with everybody, which is my obligation to my company, to myself, et cetera. Obviously, the war in Iraq was a big, fat mistake. All right? Now, you can take it any way you want, and it took \u2014 it took Jeb Bush, if you remember at the beginning of his announcement, when he announced for president, it took him five days. He went back, it was a mistake, it wasn't a mistake. It took him five days before his people told him what to say, and he ultimately said, "It was a mistake." The war in Iraq, we spent $2 trillion, thousands of lives, we don't even have it. Iran has taken over Iraq, with the second-largest oil reserves in the world. Obviously, it was a mistake. +p831 +aVGeorge Bush made a mistake. We can make mistakes. But that one was a beauty. We should have never been in Iraq. We have destabilized the Middle East. +p832 +aVYou do whatever you want. You call it whatever you want. I want to tell you. They lied. They said there were weapons of mass destruction, there were none. And they knew there were none. There were no weapons of mass destruction. +p833 +aVI'm being nice. +p834 +aVHe spent $22 million in... +p835 +aVThe World Trade Center came down during your brother's reign, remember that. +p836 +aVThat's not keeping us safe. +p837 +aVShe should be running. +p838 +aVHow did he keep us safe when the World Trade Center \u2014 the World \u2014 excuse me. I lost hundreds of friends. The World Trade Center came down during the reign of George Bush. He kept us safe? That is not safe. That is not safe, Marco. That is not safe. +p839 +aVAnd George Bush \u2014 by the way, George Bush had the chance, also, and he didn't listen to the advice of his C.I.A. +p840 +aVI don't want to go. +p841 +aVYes. +p842 +aVFirst of all, the \u2014 when you say I'm the only candidate, if you listen to the Democrats, they want to do many things to Social Security, and I want to do them on its own merit. You listen to them, what they want to do to Social Security, none of these folks are getting elected, O.K., whether they can do it or not. I'm going to save Social Security. I'm going to bring jobs back from China. I'm going to bring jobs back from Mexico and from Japan, where they're all \u2014 every country throughout the world \u2014 now Vietnam, that's the new one. They are taking our jobs. They are taking our wealth. They are taking our base. And you and I have had this discussion. We're going to make our economy strong again. I'm lowering taxes. We have $2.5 trillion offshore. We have 2.5 trillion that I think is actually five trillion because the government has no idea when they say 2.5, they have no idea what they're doing or saying, as they've proven very well. We're going to bring that money back. You take a look at what happened just this week. China bought the Chicago Stock Exchange, China, a Chinese company. Carrier is moving to Mexico, air conditioning company. Not only the ones I talk about all the time, Nabisco and Ford and \u2014 they're all moving out. We have an economy that last quarter, G.D.P. didn't grow. It was flat. We have to make our economy grow again. We're dying. This country is dying. And our workers are losing their jobs, and you're going... +p843 +aVI'm the only one who is going to save Social Security, believe me. +p844 +aVBecause you have tremendous waste. I'll tell you... +p845 +aVYou have tremendous waste, fraud and abuse. That we're taking care of. That we're taking care of. It's tremendous. We have in Social Security right now thousands and thousands of people that are over 106 years old. Now, you know they don't exist. They don't exist. There's tremendous waste, fraud and abuse, and we're going to get it. But we're not going to hurt the people who have been paying into Social Security their whole life and then all of a sudden they're supposed to get less. We're bringing our jobs back. We're going to make our economy great again. +p846 +aVI want everybody taken care of, but we have to take care of our people in this country. We're not taking care of our people. We have no border. We have no control. People are flooding across. We can't have it. We either have a border, and I'm very strongly \u2014 I'm not proposing. I will build a wall. I will build a wall. Remember this, the wall will be paid for by Mexico. We are not being treated right. We are not being treated properly. If we don't have borders, if we don't have strength, we don't have a country. People are flowing across. We have to take care of our people. Believe me. +p847 +aVLook......When I announced that I was running for president on June 16th, illegal immigration wasn't even a subject. If I didn't bring it up, we wouldn't even be talking. Now, I don't often agree with Marco, and I don't often agree with Ted, but I can in this case. The weakest person on this stage by far on illegal immigration is Jeb Bush. They come out of an act of love, whether you like it or not. He is so weak on illegal immigration it's laughable, and everybody knows it. +p848 +aV... Spend a little more money on the commercials... +p849 +aV. I don't know what you're talking about. +p850 +aV... I never called him \u2014 I don't call him.. +p851 +aVHe also said about language... +p852 +aV... Language. Two days ago he said he would take his pants off and moon everybody, and that's fine. Nobody reports that. He gets up and says that, and then he tells me, oh, my language was a little bit rough... +p853 +aV... My language. Give me a break... +p854 +aV... You did say it, you did say it. Been reported in 10 different news... +p855 +aVOr a tax. +p856 +aVI would build consensus with Congress, and Congress would agree with me. I'll give you an example, because I don't like the idea of using executive orders like our president. It is a disaster what he's doing. I would build consensus, but consensus means you have to work hard. You have to cajole. You have to get them into the Oval Office and get them all together, and you have to make deals. Let me just tell you, I mentioned before, China \u2014 big Chinese company bought the Chicago Exchange. Kerry is moving \u2014 and if you saw the people, because they have a video of the announcement that Carrier is moving to Mexico, O.K.? Well, I'll tell you what. I would go right now to Carrier and I would say I am going to work awfully hard. You're going to make air conditioners now in Mexico. You're going to get all of these 1,400 people that are being laid off \u2014 they're laid off. They were crying. They were \u2014 it was a very sad situation. You're going to go to Mexico. You're going to make air conditioners in Mexico, you're going to put them across our border with no tax. I'm going to tell them right now, I am going to get consensus from Congress and we're going to tax you when those air conditioners come. So stay where you are or build in the United States, because we are killing ourselves with trade pacts that are no good for us and no good for our workers. +p857 +aVJohn, in life you have flexibility. You do have flexibility. When you're fighting wars, you're going one way, you have a plan. It's a beautiful plan. It can't lose. The enemy makes a change, and all of a sudden you have to change. You have to have flexibility. In Ronald Reagan, though, in terms of what we're talking about, was the great example. He was a somewhat liberal Democrat who became a somewhat, pretty strong conservative. He became \u2014 most importantly, he became a great president. He made many of the changes that I've made \u2014 I mean, I've seen as I grew up, I've seen, and as I get older and wiser, and I feel that I am a conservative. Now, I also feel I'm a common-sense conservative, because some of the views I don't agree with. And I think a lot of people agree with me, obviously, based on what's happening. +p858 +aVWell, I think these people always hit me with eminent domain, and frankly, I'm not in love with eminent domain. But eminent domain is something you need very strongly. When Jeb had said, "You used eminent domain privately for a parking lot." It wasn't for a parking lot. The state of New Jersey \u2014 too bad Chris Christie is not here, he could tell you \u2014 the state of New Jersey went to build a very large tower that was going to employ thousands of people. I mean, it was going to really do a big job in terms of economic development. Now, just so you understand, I got hit very hard. It's private, it's private eminent domain. You understand that they took over a stadium in Texas, and they used private eminent domain, but he just found that out after he made the charge. +p859 +aVYeah. Well, Jeb wouldn't have known about it. +p860 +aVYou shouldn't have used it then, Jeb. +p861 +aVThank you very much, I appreciate it. +p862 +aVYou probably are worse than Jeb Bush. You are single biggest liar. This guy's lied \u2014 let me just tell you, this guy lied about Ben Carson when he took votes away from Ben Carson in Iowa, and he just continues. Today, we had robo-calls saying, "Donald Trump is not going to run in South Carolina," where I'm leading by a lot. I'm not going to vote for Ted Cruz. This is the same thing he did to Ben Carson. This guy will say anything, nasty guy. Now I know why he doesn't have one endorsement from any of his colleagues. +p863 +aVHe's a nasty guy. +p864 +aVWhere did I support it? Where did I... +p865 +aVAgain, where did I support it? +p866 +aVHey Ted, where I support it? +p867 +aVWhere did I support? +p868 +aVThat's a lot of lies. +p869 +aVIt does do wonderful things, but not as it relates to abortion. +p870 +aVExcuse me. Excuse me, there are wonderful things having to do with women's health. +p871 +aVBut not when it comes to abortion. +p872 +aVHold on... +p873 +aVTed Cruz told your brother that he wanted John Roberts to be on the United States Supreme Court. They both pushed him, he twice approved Obamacare. +p874 +aVO.K., governor. +p875 +aVYou pushed him. You pushed him. +p876 +aVYou worked with him and you pushed him. Why do you lie? +p877 +aVWhy do you lie? +p878 +aVYou pushed him. +p879 +aVYeah, yeah, I know, you're an adult. +p880 +aVWell, I would say my wife tells me I'm wrong all the time. And I listen. +p881 +aVOh, let me just say \u2014 look, I am very open \u2014 I hired top people. I've had great success. I built a great, great company. I don't need to do this. I'm self-funding. I'm spending a lot of money. I've spent \u2014 like in New Hampshire, I spent $3 million. Jeb bush spent $44 million. He came in five, and I came in No. 1. That's what the country needs, folks. I spent 3, he spends 42 of their money, of special interest money. And it's just \u2014 this is not going to make \u2014 excuse me. This is not going to make our country great again. This is not what we need in our country. We need people that know what the hell they're doing. And politicians, they're all talk, they're no action. And that's why people are supporting me. I do listen to people. I hire experts. I hire top, top people. And I do listen. And you know what? Sometimes they're wrong. You have to know what to do, when to do it. But sometimes they're wrong. +p882 +aVWell, I'll tell you \u2014 over the years, I've made many speeches. People have asked me, big companies have asked me to make speeches, and friends of mine that run big companies on success. And occasion, in order to sort of really highlight something, I'll use a profanity. One of the profanities that I got credited with using, that I didn't use, was a very bad word, two weeks ago, that I never used. I said, "You." And everybody said "Oh, he didn't say anything wrong." But you bleeped it, so everyone thinks I said the \u2014 I didn't say anything. I never said the word. It is very unfair, that criticism. Now, I will say this, with all of that being said, I have said I will not do it at all, because if I say a word that's a little bit off color, a little bit, it ends up being a headline. I will not do it again. I was a very good student at a great school not using \u2014 by the way \u2014 not using profanity is very easy. +p883 +aVThat's not \u2014 let me respond. That's another lie. I never went bankrupt! +p884 +aVNo, but it's another lie. +p885 +aVNo, but it's another lie. This guy doesn't know what he's talking about. Just a lie. +p886 +aVLet me just tell you. Jeb goes around saying, just like the biggest business leaders in this country, I've used the laws of the land to chapter \u2014 I bought a company, I threw it immediately into a chapter, I made a great deal. I uses the laws to my benefit, because I run a company. +p887 +aVExcuse me, Jeb! +p888 +aVI never went bankrupt, never. Now \u2014 but you don't want to say that. Now, let me just say, I've used it, just like the biggest leaders in the country. Let me tell you something \u2014 Florida. Florida, he put so much debt on Florida. You know, we keep saying he's a wonderful governor, wonderful governor. He put so much debt on Florida, and he increased spending so much that as soon as he got out of office, Florida crashed. I happened to be there. It's my second home. Florida crashed. He didn't do a good job as governor. +p889 +aVAnd you haven't \u2014 excuse me, you haven't heard that. You listen to the good record in Florida. You take a look at what happened, as soon as that year ended he got out, Florida crashed. Too much debt. He loaded it up with debt, and his spending went through the roof. +p890 +aVBy the way... +p891 +aV... he was not a good governor. +p892 +aVTake a look at your numbers. +p893 +aVFlorida went down the tubes right after he got out of office. +p894 +aVWent right down because of what he did to it. +p895 +aVThank you. Politicians are all talk, no action. You've seen where they've take you to. We are 19 trillion dollars right now. It's going to be increased with that horrible budget from a month ago that was just approved by politicians. We need a change. We need a very big change. We're going to make our country great again. I say this every night, every day, every afternoon, and it's so true \u2014 we don't win anymore. We don't win with health care, we don't win with +p896 +aVI actually think I have the best temperament. I built a massive corporation. I employ thousands and thousands of people. I've gotten along with people for years and years, have tremendous relationships with many people, including politicians on both sides. And no matter how you cut it, when I \u2014 when I came out, I hit immigration, I hit it very hard. Everybody said, "Oh, the temperament," because I talked about illegal immigration. Now, everybody's coming to me, they're all trying to say, well, he's right, we have to come to him. I hit other things. I talked about Muslims. We have a problem. Nobody else wanted to mention the problem, I brought it up. I took a lot of heat. We have to have a temporary something, because there's something going on that's not good. And remember this, I'm the only one up here, when the war of Iraq \u2014 in Iraq, I was the one that said, "Don't go, don't do it, you're going to destabilize the Middle East." So, I'm not one with a trigger. I'm not one with a trigger. Other people up here, believe me, would be a lot faster. But I'll build the mill arbitrary stronger, bigger, better than anybody up here, and nobody is going to mess with us. That, I can tell you. +p897 +aVAm I allowed to respond? I have to respond. +p898 +aVFirst of all, I respect what Ted just said, but if you noticed, he didn't answer your question. And that's what's going to happen \u2014 OK. That's what's going to happen with our enemies and the people we compete against. We're going to win with Trump. We're going to win. We don't win anymore. Our country doesn't win anymore. We're going to win with Trump. And people back down with Trump. And that's what I like and that's what the country is going to like. +p899 +aVWell, let me say a couple of things. First of all, Marco said earlier on that President Obama knows exactly what he's doing, like we have this president that really knows. I disagree, respectfully, with Marco. I think we have a president who, as a president, is totally incompetent, and he doesn't know what he's doing. I think he has no idea what he's doing. And our country is going to hell. So, I just want to say, we disagree on that. Is that okay? +p900 +aVGood. +p901 +aVAs to North Korea? +p902 +aVWe have \u2014 tremendous \u2014 has been just sucked out of our country by China. China says they don't have that good of control over North Korea. They have tremendous control. I deal with the Chinese all of the time. I do tremendous \u2014 the largest bank in the world is in one of my buildings in Manhattan. I deal with them. They tell me. They have total, absolute control, practically, of North Korea. They are sucking trillions of dollars out of our country \u2014 they're rebuilding China with the money they take out of our country. I would get on with China, let China solve that problem. They can do it quickly and surgically. That's what we should do with North Korea. +p903 +aVGood evening. +p904 +aVYes. HAM: In the Democratic primary, Hillary Clinton has criticized Bernie Sanders' plan for single payer government health care, noting it would require big, across the board tax increases for Americans. In doing so, she's doubling down on Obamacare, despite its persistent unpopularity. Mr. Trump, you have said you want to appeal Obamacare. You have also said, quote, "Everybody's got to be covered," adding, quote, "The government's going to pay for it." Are you closer to Bernie Sanders' vision for health care than Hillary Clinton's? +p905 +aVI don't think I am. I think I'm closer to common sense. We are going to repeal Obamacare. We're going to repeal Obamacare. We are going to replace Obamacare with something so much better. And there are so many examples of it. And I will tell you, part of the reason we have some people laughing, because you have insurance people that take care of everybody up here. I am self-funded. The only one they're not taking care of is me. We have our lines around each state. The insurance companies are getting rich on Obamacare. The insurance companies are getting rich on health care and health services and everything having to do with health. We are going to end that. We're going to take out the artificial boundaries, the artificial lines. We're going to get a plan where people compete, free enterprise. They compete. So much better. In addition to that, you have the health care savings plans, which are excellent. What I do say is, there will be a certain number of people that will be on the street dying and as a Republican, I don't want that to happen. We're going to take care of people that are dying on the street because there will be a group of people that are not going to be able to even think in terms of private or anything else and we're going to take care of those people. And I think everybody on this stage would have to agree......you're not going to let people die, sitting in the middle of a street in any city in this country. +p906 +aVWell, let me just tell you about eminent domain because almost all of these people actually criticize it, but so many people have hit me with commercials and other things about eminent domain. Eminent domain is an absolute necessity for a country, for our country. Without it, you wouldn't have roads, you wouldn't have hospitals, you wouldn't have anything. You wouldn't have schools, you wouldn't have bridges. You need eminent domain. And a lot of the big conservatives that tell me how conservative they are \u2014 I think I'm more than they are \u2014 they tell me, oh \u2014 well, they all want the Keystone Pipeline. The Keystone Pipeline, without eminent domain, it wouldn't go 10 feet, OK? You need eminent domain. And eminent domain is a good thing, not a bad thing. And what a lot of people don't know because they were all saying, oh, you're going to take their property. When somebody \u2014 when eminent domain is used on somebody's property, that person gets a fortune. They get at least fair market value, and if they are smart, they'll get two or three times the value of their property. But without eminent domain, you don't have roads, highways, schools, bridges or anything. So eminent domain \u2014 it's not that I love it, but eminent domain is absolutely \u2014 it's a necessity for a country. And certainly it's a necessity for our country. +p907 +aVYes. +p908 +aVJeb wants to be \u2014 he wants to be a tough guy tonight. I didn't take the property. +p909 +aVI didn't take the property. +p910 +aVThe woman ultimately didn't want to do that. I walked away. +p911 +aVWell, let me just \u2014 you know, he wants to be a tough guy. A lot of times, you'll have \u2014 you'll have \u2014 and it didn't work very well. +p912 +aVA lot of time \u2014 let me talk. Quiet. A lot of times \u2014 a lot of times... +p913 +aV... you \u2014 let me talk. Let me talk. Quiet. A lot of times......that's all of his donors and special interests out there. So \u2014 it's what it is. That's what \u2014 and by the way, let me just tell you, we needed tickets. You can't get them. You know who has the tickets for the \u2014 I'm talking about, to the television audience? Donors, special interests, the people that are putting up the money. That's who it is. The RNC told us. We have all donors in the audience. And the reason they're not loving me......the reason they're not \u2014 excuse me. The reason they're not loving me is, I don't want their money. I'm going to do the right thing for the American public. I don't want their money. I don't need their money. And I'm the only one up here that can say that. Eminent domain, the Keystone pipeline \u2014 do you consider that a private job? Do you \u2014 do you consider that... +p914 +aVNo \u2014 no, let me ask you, Jeb. Do you consider the Keystone pipeline private? +p915 +aVIs it public or private? +p916 +aVReal \u2014 a public use? +p917 +aVNo, it's a private job. +p918 +aVIt's a private job. +p919 +aVYou wouldn't have the Keystone pipeline that you want so badly without eminent domain. +p920 +aVYou wouldn't have massive \u2014 excuse me, Josh \u2014 you wouldn't have massive factories without eminent domain. +p921 +aVWell, I think I am, and to me, I view the word conservative as a derivative I \u2014 of \u2014 of the word conserve. We want to converse our money. We want to conserve our wealth. We want to conserve. We want to be smart. We want to be smart where we go, where we spend, how we spend. We want to conserve our country. We want to save our country. And we have people that have no idea how to do that and they are not doing it, and it's a very important word and it's something I believe in very, very strongly. +p922 +aVWell, before I go there, I will tell you, I will bring jobs back from China. I will bring jobs back from Japan. I will bring jobs back from Mexico, where New Hampshire, by the way, has been virtually wiped out. They've lost so many businesses going to Mexico because of horrible trade deals. And now we're about to sign another trade deal, TPP, which is going to be a disaster for this country because they don't talk about monetary manipulation. It is going to be a disaster. I'm going to bring jobs back and I'll start bringing them back very fast. Under my tax plan \u2014 right now, we're the highest taxed country in the world. Under my plan, we cut not only taxes for the middle class, but we cut taxes for corporations. We will bring back trillions of dollars that's offshore. Right now, they have $2.5 trillion, and in my opinion, it's much more than that. That's what the government says. All of that money is going to come back. And we're not going to lose Pfizer, which is now leaving, and other great companies, which is now leaving. And they're all leaving. We have many, many companies that are leaving this country. We're not going to lose them anymore because we're going to have a tax structure that is going to keep them in our country. +p923 +aVWell, four years ago, I said, bomb the oil and take the oil. And if we did that, they wouldn't have the wealth they have right now. Now, I still say the same thing, because we're doing little pinpricks. We're not even bombing \u2014 if somebody's driving a truck, they give notice to the person driving the truck, "we're going to bomb." If they don't get out of the truck, the truck sails away with the oil. We actually have a case where we don't want to bomb the oil, because we don't want to hurt \u2014 pollute the atmosphere. Can you imagine General Douglas MacArthur or General Patton saying we can't bomb because we're gonna hurt the atmosphere? You have to knock the hell out of the oil. You have to take the oil. And you have also back channels of banking. You have people that you think are our great allies, our friends, in the Middle East, that are paying tremendous numbers of \u2014 tremendous amounts of money to +p924 +aVYou have to go in \u2014 first of all, when you take away their money, when you take away their wealth, that'll very much weaken \u2014 and it will happen fairly fast. They'll last for about a year, based on all of the wealth they've accumulated. But when you stop the banking channels and when you stop the oil and take the oil \u2014 not just bomb it, take it \u2014 when you do that, it's going to dry up very quickly. They're going to become a very weakened power, quickly. Thank you. +p925 +aVWell, I'll tell you what. In the Middle East, we have people chopping the heads off Christians, we have people chopping the heads off many other people. We have things that we have never seen before \u2014 as a group, we have never seen before, what's happening right now. The medieval times \u2014 I mean, we studied medieval times \u2014 not since medieval times have people seen what's going on. I would bring back waterboarding and I'd bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding. +p926 +aV... No, a good deal maker will make great deals, but we'll do it the way our founders thought it should be done. People get together, they make deals. Ronald Reagan did it with Tip O'Neil very successfully, you didn't hear so much about executive orders, if you heard about it at all. You have to be able to get a consensus. Now, the real person like it was mentioned about the deal with Iran, how bad a deal is that? It doesn't get any more amateurish than that. A good deal maker would never make a deal like that. With Congress, you have to get everybody in a room, and you have to get them to agree. But, you have to get them to agree what you want, and that's part of being a deal maker. You can't leave the White House, go to Hawaii and play golf for three weeks and be a real deal maker. It doesn't work that way. You have to get people in, grab them, hug them, kiss them, and get the deal done. But, it's got to be the deal that you want. HAM: Governor Kasich, is the problem with Washington that there are too many deals, or too few? +p927 +aVSome? +p928 +aVWell... +p929 +aVYes. OK, good. It looked like he was looking right at me, right there. I think that \u2014 I look at what's going on, I look at all of the polls, I do very, very well against Hillary Clinton. I can tell you, I'm the last person that she wants to run against. And I think you can see what we've done in terms of galvanizing. I've been all over the country. We're \u2014 last night, I was in South Carolina, we had 12,000 people. It set up in about four days. We have galvanized and we've created a movement. A lot of it has to do with \u2014 as an example, Josh's question on drugs. I'm the first person that said, "Build a wall." But I mean, a real wall, not a toy wall like they have right now. A real wall. And you'll solve lots of problems. But we will galvanize the people of this country, and we will beat Hillary Clinton. Because \u2014 assuming that she runs, by the way, how she gets away with the e-mail stuff is hard to believe. So, I don't know that she's going to be running. But on the assumption she runs... I mean, look. And speaking of that, if she runs, she's running for one reason. She's going to be able to run for one reason, and that's because the Democrats are protecting her. Because so many people have done so much less than her, and they were absolutely \u2014 their lives have been destroyed. But on the assumption they do protect her, I will win the election and we will win it by a lot. We will win it handily. We cannot have another four years of essentially Barack Obama. +p930 +aVWell, there is a divide, but I have to say that the police are absolutely mistreated and misunderstood, and if there is an incident, whether it's an incident done purposely \u2014 which is a horror, and you should really take very strong action \u2014 or if it is a mistake, it's on your news casts all night, all week, all month, and it never ends. The police in this country have done an unbelievable job of keeping law and order, and they're afraid for their jobs, they're afraid of the mistreatment they get, and I'm telling you that not only, me speaking, minorities all over the country, they respect the police of this country and we have to give them more respect. They can't act. They can't act. They're afraid for losing their pension, their job. They don't know what to do. And I deal with them all the time. We have to give great respect, far greater than we are right now, to our really fantastic police. +p931 +aVWell, they do. And, you know, they sue. Everybody sues, right? They see excessive \u2014 I mean, they go out, they sue. We have so much litigation \u2014 I see the courts, I see what they're doing. They sue, and you know what? We don't want excessive force. But at what point \u2014 you know, either you're going to have a police force that can do its job... I was just up in Manchester, I met with the police officers yesterday. Tremendous people. They love the area, they love the people, they love all the people. They want to do their job. And you're going to have abuse and you're going to have problems, and you've got to solve the problems and you have to weed out the problems. But the police in this country are absolutely amazing people. +p932 +aVWell, I \u2014 I know Diane Foley very well. Her husband and \u2014 these are tremendous people. I spoke for them, I raised a lot of money for the foundation. I fully understand, James, one of \u2014 that was really the first that we saw, really visually saw \u2014 it was so horrible. And I will tell you, though, with all of that being said, you can not negotiate this way with terrorists. If you do, you are going to have many, many more James Foleys. James Foley was a great young man. His parents are incredible people. They've done such a good job, since his \u2014 since his death. But you just cannot negotiate that way with terrorists, or you're gonna have so many other James Foleys. And one thing on the vets \u2014 during the last debate, I raised $6 million for the vets, and I will tell you something......I will tell you that I think nobody here, nobody on this stage, gets along with the veterans groups in New Hampshire better than I do without ball (ph) to sarel (ph) and all of the people that I deal with and these are great people. The one thing that we're not mentioning, there's tremendous fraud, waste and abuse in the Veterans Administration and if I'm running things, that's going to disappear......and it's going to disappear quickly. +p933 +aVCarolina. +p934 +aVThat's because he got Ben Carson's votes, by the way, but we won't . Our country that we love so much doesn't win anymore. We don't win with the military, we don't' win on the border. You look at New Hampshire with the tremendous problem we have with heroin. Number one thing I hear from the people of New Hampshire, who I love, and developed such relationships, we don't win with healthcare. We don't win with trade. You look at what other countries are doing to us. China. Everyone, they're killing us on trade. If I'm elected president, we will win, and we will win, and we will win. Thank you, thank you very much. +p935 +asVCHRISTIE +p936 +(lp937 +VWhat about Kasich? Can I introduce Kasich? +p938 +aVSure. First, let's remember something. Every morning when a United States senator wakes up, they think about what kind of speech can I give or what kind of bill can I drop? Every morning, when I wake up, I think about what kind of problem do I need to solve for the people who actually elected me? It's a different experience, it's a much different experience. And the fact is, Marco, you shouldn't compare yourself to Joe Biden and you shouldn't say that that's what we're doing. Here is exactly what we're doing. You have not be involved in a consequential decision where you had to be held accountable. You just simply haven't. And the fact is \u2014 the fact when you talk about the Hezbollah Sanctions Act that you list as one of your accomplishments you just did, you weren't even there to vote for it. That's not leadership, that's truancy. And the fact is that what we need to do \u2014 what we need to have in this country is not to make the same mistake we made eight years ago. The fact is it does matter when you have to make decisions and be held accountable for them. It does matter when the challenges don't come on a list of a piece of paper of what to vote yes or no every day, but when the problems come in from the people that you serve. I like Marco Rubio, and he's a smart person and a good guy, but he simply does not have the experience to be president of the United States and make these decisions. We've watched it happen, everybody. For the last seven years, the people of New Hampshire are smart. Do not make the same mistake again. +p939 +aVHold on one second. +p940 +aVExcuse me... +p941 +aVI think he mentioned me and my record in there, so I think I get a chance to respond. You see, everybody, I want the people at home to think about this. That's what Washington, D.C. Does. The drive-by shot at the beginning with incorrect and incomplete information and then the memorized 25-second speech that is exactly what his advisers gave him. See Marco \u2014 Marco, the thing is this. When you're president of the United States, when you're a governor of a state, the memorized 30-second speech where you talk about how great America is at the end of it doesn't solve one problem for one person. They expect you to plow the snow. They expect you to get the schools open. And when the worst natural disaster in your state's history hits you, they expect you to rebuild their state, which is what I've done. None of that stuff happens on the floor of the United States Senate. It's a fine job, I'm glad you ran for it, but it does not prepare you for president of the United States. +p942 +aVThere it is. There it is. The memorized 25-second speech. There it is, everybody. +p943 +aVYou know what the shame is \u2014 you know what the shame is, Marco? The shame is that you would actually criticize somebody for showing up to work, plowing the streets, getting the trains running back on time when you've never been responsible for that in your entire life. +p944 +aVAnd the fact is, I went back, it got done and here's... +p945 +aVOh, so \u2014 wait a second. Is that one of the skills you get as a United States senator ESP also? Because I don't think it is. +p946 +aVIt gets very unruly when he gets off his talking points. +p947 +aVLet's get something... +p948 +aVNo. Let's make something very clear. I learned seven years as a federal prosecutor in dealing with types of situations like we're talking about in North Korea, where criminals take people hostage. You never pay ransom to the criminals. Ever. You never pay ransom to the criminals. Everyone out at home watching tonight understands that principle. And so, what you need to do is to engage in a much different way with these folks. They do not understand anything but toughness and strength, and we need to engage the Chinese to deal with the North Koreans, but we also need to make sure that they understand there's a commander-in-chief who will not pay ransom for any hostage. This president and his former secretary of State are for paying ransom for hostages. When do that, you endanger even more Americans around the world to be the subject of this type of hostage taking and illegal detention. You need a strong commander-in-chief who will look these folks in the eye and say, we will not put up with this and we will take whatever actions we need to take, not only to get our people home safely, but to swiftly and surely punish those who believe they can violate the law and violate American's sovereign rights to travel the world freely and safely. This is unacceptable. And this is why this president is so weak and why the secretary of State, who is embracing a third Barack Obama term, would be even weaker. +p949 +aVYeah, David, I would just like you to listen, again, everybody. This is the difference between being a governor who actually has to be responsible for problems and not answering a question. The question was, "Did he fight for his legislation?" It's abundantly clear that he didn't. It's abundantly clear that he didn't fight for the legislation. When the teachers unions attacked me with $20 million of ads because I wanted to reform teacher tenure, I fought them and fought them and fought them and I won. When they didn't want \u2014 when people wanted to raise taxes in my state at Democratic legislature and threatened to close down the government, I told them, fine. Close down the government. I'll get in my cars, head to the governor's mansion, order a pizza, open a beer and watch the Mets. You can call me when the government reopens. And guess what they didn't do? They didn't pass a tax increase, because I vetoed it and they never closed the government because they knew I would fight for what I believed in. The fact of the matter is, a leader must fight for what they believe in. Not handicap it and say, well maybe since I can't win this one, I'll run. That's not what leadership is. That's what Congress is. +p950 +aVGood evening. +p951 +aVWell, he deserves credit for his record on jobs. He's done a very good job as governor of Ohio. Never said that John hasn't. He's done a very good job. But \u2014 but unfortunately, John's been so busy doing over stuff, he's using old statistics. That's OK. New Jersey had its best year of job growth in the last 15 years under five different governors this year in New Jersey. New Jersey cut spending over $2.3 billion and we have 10,000 fewer employees than we had when I walked in the door. John has a bigger government now and more employees than he had when he walked in the door. But all that doesn't matter. What really matters is this, that executive experience really matters. You heard this on the stage tonight. We've heard it said on the stage that President Obama knows exactly what he's doing. I'd like to ask all the veterans listening out there tonight, who are waiting in line for healthcare, who are literally dying because the Veterans Administration doesn't work, do you think Barack Obama knows what he's doing? I don't. And I'll tell you something. Anybody who evaluates him is knowing what he's doing and managing the government doesn't know how to manage a government themselves. And one last thing, David, which I think is really important. I listened to Senator Rubio's answer on his bill. He said his bill couldn't pass on the gang of eight. He acted as if he was somehow disembodied from the bill. It was his bill. He said this idea doesn't work. It was his idea. See, when you're a governor, you have to take responsibility for these things. You can't just act as if it happened out of nowhere. We have to take responsibility as executives. I take responsibility for my record in New Jersey. We've rebuilt the economy and rebuilt after the second-worst natural disaster in American history. I'm proud of my record. And by the way, I like Kasich's record, too. He's a good governor. +p952 +aVDavid? Hey, David? David? Hey, David? I actually have experience with raising taxes on millionaires in my state. It was done. It was done by my predecessor. And I want everybody in the public who is in that 68 percent, I want to tell you the truth. You're wrong. And here is why you're wrong. After New Jersey raised taxes on millionaires, we lost, in the next four years, $70 billion in wealth left our state. It left our state to go where it would be treated more kindly. If the United States raised taxes any further, that money will leave the United States, as well. We won't have better jobs. Let New Jersey be the canary in the coal mine. It is a failed idea and a failed policy, it's class warfare. It happened in my state. I've stopped it from happening again. But we cannot do it. The 68 percent of the people are wrong about that, it will hurt the American economy. We tried it in New Jersey. Come take a look \u2014 it did not work. +p953 +aVOf course I would. As a former United States attorney who spent seven years of my life fighting this on the streets of my state, I would do that. But we need to do more. And let me tell you what we've done in New Jersey, Josh. We are working with the folks in New Hampshire in their legislature right now to show them how we're helping to solve this problem in New Jersey. Not just for this campaign \u2014 three years ago, I proposed a law that we signed into effect, which said that anyone who was a non- violent, non-dealing, first-time drug offender no longer goes to prison in New Jersey. They go to mandatory, in-patient drug treatment. What has happened is, crime has gone down 20 percent in those years. The prison population has gone down 10 percent. We've now closed the state prison \u2014 closed a state prison, and we're turning it into a drug rehabilitation facility, so people can get the tools they need. Listen, everyone out there knows this in New Hampshire. This is a disease. It's not a moral failing, it's a disease. And we need to get people the treatment they need. And let me tell you why. Because I'm pro-life. And I'm pro life not just for the nine months in the womb, I'm pro-life for when they get out and it's a lot more complicated. Sixteen-year-old, heroin-addicted drug girl on the floor of the county lockup, I'm pro-life for her life. The 42-year-old lawyer who is taking Oxycontin and can't get out of bed and support his family \u2014 I'm pro-life for his life. Everyone of those lives is an individual gift from God. And the last thing is this. These efforts we've taken over the last three years, 2015 in New Jersey, for the first time in four years, drug overdose deaths have gone down, not up. I'll bring the same solutions to the country. +p954 +aVYou bet I would. And the fact is that because I took strong action to make sure that anyone who was showing symptoms \u2014 remember what happened with that nurse. She was showing symptoms and coming back from a place that had the ebola virus active and she had been treating patients. This was not just some \u2014 like, we picked up her just for the heck of it, alright? We did it because she was showing symptoms, and the fact is that's the way we should make these decision. You make these decisions based upon the symptoms, the medicine, and the law. We quarantined her, she turned out to test negative ultimately after 48 hours, and we released her back to the State of Maine. But, I want to add something on the issue of mosques. Now, I'm the only one up here who's had a law enforcement background as a U.S. Attorney after September 11th. I went to mosques throughout my state to build bridges. To build bridges between our community in law enforcement so we can get intelligence and information from these folks. I've had the experience of working with them as Governor of New Jersey as well. We cannot mix the radical Islamic jihadist with everyday Muslim-Americans. New Jersey is the second largest Muslim- American population in America, of any state. These are good, law abiding, hard working people. What they need is our cooperation, and our understanding. They do not just need broadsides against them because of the religious faith they practice. +p955 +aVMartha? +p956 +aVCan I \u2014 can I be really \u2014 can I be really clear on this, because I am the father of two daughters. One of them is here tonight. What my wife and I have taught our daughters right from the beginning, that their sense of self-worth, their sense of value, their sense of what they want to do with their life comes not from the outside, but comes from within. And if a young woman in this country wants to go and fight to defend their country, she should be permitted to do so. Part of that also needs to be part of a greater effort in this country, and so there's no reason why one \u2014 young women should be discriminated against from registering for the selective service. The fact is, we need to be a party and a people that makes sure that our women in this country understand anything they can dream, anything that they want to aspire to, they can do. That's the way we raised our daughters and that's what we should aspire to as president for all of the women in our country. +p957 +aVWell, I've been pretty helpful to the pro-life cause in one of the most pro-choice states in the union. I've stood up for the first time and now for the last six years we've de-funded Planned Parenthood, not talked about it like they do in Washington D.C. But for six years as governor, Planned Parenthood does not receive that funding from the state budget anymore; over $50 million worth of money that's been saved now, that is not going to do exactly what Hillary Clinton wants to have done and has advocated for. She believes that organization, which engages in the systematic murder of children in the womb, in order to maximize the value of their body parts for sale on the open market, is an acceptable position. Let me tell you something, I don't care if you are a millennial or whether you are in your 90s, no one is for that type of activity, unless you are the most radical type of extremist on this issue, like Senator Clinton and her party is on this issue. I'll say one other thing. The fact is, that I believe that if a woman has been raped, that is a birth and a pregnancy that she should be able to terminate. If she is the victim of incest \u2014 this is not a woman's choice. This is a woman being violated. And the fact is that we have always has believed, as has Ronald Reagan, that we have self-defense for women who have been raped and impregnated because of it, or the subject of incest and been impregnated for it. That woman should not have to deliver that child if they believe that violation is now an act of self-defense by terminating that pregnancy. HAM: Thank you, all. Back to you, David and Martha. +p958 +aVDenver. +p959 +aVThank you. I've spent the last 13 years of my life focused on one thing: serving the people who have given me the opportunity to serve them. Not about politics, not about partisanship, but putting the people of my state and our country first. I'm proud to have rebuild my state after Hurricane Sandy, and I'm incredibly proud to be on this stage tonight with these men asking for your vote. New Hampshire, I spent 70 days here with you. You've gotten to know my heart. My heart is to help you solve the problems of your state......and the problems of our nation. If you give me your vote on Tuesday I will do just that. +p960 +aVThey're not wrong. But what's wrong is your premise in the question. You can do both. There is no reason why you can't stand for principles, go and fight for them and be able also, to have to get things done in government. You know, what people are frustrated about in Washington, D.C.., and I know the folks out there tonight are incredibly frustrated because what they see is a government that doesn't work for them. You know, for the 45-year-old construction worker out there, who is having a hard time making things meet. He's lost $4,000 in the last seven years in his income because of this administration. He doesn't want to hear the talk about politics Megyn and who is establishment and who is grassroots. And who's compromised and who is principled. What he wants is something to get done. And that's the difference between being a governor and having done that for the last six years in New Jersey and being someone who has never had to be responsible for any of those decisions. Barack Obama was never responsible for those decisions. Hillary Clinton has never been responsible for those kind of decisions where they were held accountable. I've been held accountable for six years as the governor of New Jersey and with a Democratic legislature, I've gotten conservative things done. That's exactly what I'll do as president of the United States. +p961 +aVWell, let me say that I do believe that the vote on NSA made the country less safe. Well, let me tell you what the country should really be worried about. I watched that town hall meeting with the Democrats the other night, and I heard Hillary Clinton asked a direct question by an Iowan, and that's what Iowans like to do. They like to ask direct questions. And, they asked about her email situation. And, here's what she said to the American people. She did it for convenience. For her convenience. She put America's secrets at risk for her convenience. She put American intelligence officers at risk for her convenience. She put American strategy at risk for her convenience. Let me tell you who's not qualified to be President of the United States, Chris. Hillary Rodham Clinton did that to our country. She is not qualified to be President of the United States. The fact is what we need is someone on that stage who has been tested, who has been through it, who has made decisions, who has sit in the chair of consequence and can prosecute the case against Hillary Clinton on... ... that stage, and that is exactly what I am ready to do. +p962 +aVTalk about what? I... +p963 +aVWell, because you can do it without profiling, Megyn, when you do it on the facts. What those facts knew was that these folks had weapons. They knew that they were talking about trying to take our country and attack it. That's not profiling, that's law enforcement. And that's the difference between somebody who knows how to do this and somebody who's never done it before. +p964 +aVThey knew they were talking about the issues of attacking people, Megyn. They knew that. +p965 +aVListen, I think that what people should do is use their common sense. And the fact is, let law enforcement make those decisions. I've told people that from the time I was U.S. attorney 13 years ago. It's not for them to make those decisions about whether or not something is legal or illegal, or profiling or not. You see something that's suspicious, you call law enforcement and let law enforcement make those decisions. That's what should be done. That can be done. That can be done without profiling people. What that is, is just common sense. They thought something was wrong. And here's the problem in this country right now. The problem is that Barack Obama has made law enforcement the enemy, Hillary Clinton has made law enforcement the enemy. They're not supporting our law enforcement officers, it's making everybody nervous to get out of their cars, if you're a law enforcement officer. It's making... ... everybody nervous to get out of their cars if you're a law enforcement officer. It's making people in neighborhoods nervous to go to law enforcement. As president, I will support law enforcement and we'll stop radical terrorist attacks in this country by supporting our intelligence community and law enforcement community. +p966 +aVYes. You want one? +p967 +aVHow about one that I've done in New Jersey for the last six years. That's get rid of Planned Parenthood funding from the United States of America. +p968 +aVBigger than that? Let me tell you something, when you see thousands upon thousands upon thousands of children being murdered in the womb, I can't think of anything better than that. +p969 +aVMegyn? +p970 +aVI want to ask the people of the audience. Like, I'm standing here, I \u2014 I watched the video of Senator Cruz. I watched the video of Senator Rubio. I heard what they said. And this is why you need to send someone from outside of Washington to Washington. I feel like... ... I feel like I need \u2014 I feel like I need a Washington to English dictionary converter, right? I mean, I heard what they both said, I saw it on the video. And the fact is this is what makes a difference when you're a governor. You can change your mind. Ted can change his mind. Marco can change his mind. It's perfectly legal in this country to change your mind. But when you're a governor, you have to admit it. You can't hide behind parliamentary tricks. That's the difference, and that's the kind of leader we need in the White House. Stop the Washington bull and let's get things done. +p971 +aVSure, because there has been three different investigations and proven that I knew nothing. And the fact is that what I did do, what I did do from the beginning, Chris, as soon as I found out about it, I fired the people who were responsible. And that's what you expect from a leader. And, I'll tell you something else. I inherited a state in New Jersey that was downtrodden, and beaten by liberal democratic policies, high taxation, high regulation. And, this year, in 2015, New Jersey's had the best year of job growth that our state has ever had in the last 15 years. That's because we've put conservative policies in place. And, I'll tell you one other thing, you know why the Republican party will want to take a chance on me? Because they know that Hillary Clinton will never be prosecuted by this justice department, and they're going to want to put a former federal prosecutor on the stage to prosecute her next September. And, there is no one on this stage better prepared to prosecute the case against Hillary Clinton than I am. I will be ready. I will take her on, and when I take her on I guarantee you one thing, she will never get within 10 miles of the White House. The days for the Clintons in public housing are over. +p972 +aVNo, what I said, Chris, was that the law needs to be followed. And that someone in that office has to do their job. So if Ms. Davis wanted to step aside and get rid of her ability to be able to do that, there should be someone else in that office who it didn't violate their conscience so they could follow the law of the state of Kentucky. I never said that Ms. Davis should either lose her job or that she had to do it. But what I did say was that the person who came in for the license needed to get it. And so if there's someone in that organization, and it turns out there was, who was willing to be able to do that, that's what we should do. But just as importantly, and I agree with what John said. You know, we all have our own individual interpretations of our faith. And here's the problem with what's going on around the world. The radical Islamic jihadists, what they want to do is impose their faith upon each and every one of us \u2014 every one of us. And the reason why this war against them is so important is that very basis of religious liberty. They want everyone in this country to follow their religious beliefs the way they do. They do not want us to exercise religious liberty. That's why as commander in chief, I will take on +p973 +aVBret, let me tell you, this is another one of those places where Hillary Clinton has so much to answer for, and why she is completely unqualified to be commander in chief. In a previous Democratic debate, Martha Raddatz, three times, asked Hillary Clinton about the failure in Libya, a policy that she took credit for, and said, "what is your measure of responsibility, Madam Secretary, for the failure in Libya?" Three times, she refused to answer the question, because she refuses to be held accountable for anything that goes wrong. If it had gone right, believe me, she would have been running around to be able to take credit for it. Here's what I'd do. This is about the bigger, broader war against +p974 +aVOn September 11, my wife was two blocks from the World Trade Center. When those buildings came down, she was trapped in her building and I didn't hear from her over six hours. We have three children, eight, five and one. And I had to confront the possibility of being a single parent. Terrorism in this country scares everyone. And the fact is that we need a commander-in- chief who not only understands how to protect us, but feels in here what it means to face the possibility of loss. I've faced it. I've prosecuted terrorists. I have made the decisions that need to be made as a governor to protect us and as president of the United States, no one will keep this country safer than I will. +p975 +asVCARSON +p976 +(lp977 +VWell, the current Constitution actually doesn't address that particular situation, but the fact of the matter is the Supreme Court, obviously, is a very important part of our governmental system. And when our Constitution was put in place, the average age of death was under 50, and therefore the whole concept of lifetime appointments for Supreme Court judges and federal judges was not considered to be a big deal. Obviously, that has changed, and it's something that probably needs to be looked at pretty carefully at some point. But, we need to start thinking about the divisiveness that is going on in our country. I looked at some of the remarks that people made after finding out that Justice Scalia had died, and they were truly nasty remarks. And that we have managed to get to that position in our country is truly a shame. And we should be thinking about how we could create some healing in this land. But, right now, we're not going to get healing with President Obama. That's very United Nations clear. So, I...... fully agree that we should not allow a judge to be appointed during his time. +p978 +aVNo, it isn't. First of all, let me go back to your first question for me. It wasn't phrased as who gets to nominate Supreme Court appointees. Of course that's the president. So I know that there are some left-wing media who would try to make hay on that. Secondly, thank you for including me in the debate. Two questions already. This is great. Now, as far......as far as those 2 a.m. phone calls are concerned, judgment is what is required. And the kinds of things that you come up with are sometimes very, very difficult and very unique. One of the things that I was known for is doing things that have not been done before. So no amount of experience really prepares you to do something that has never been done before. That's where judgment comes in. And that, I think, is a situation that we're in right now, a situation that we have never been in before with the kinds of threats that pose real danger to our nation, and it comes in very handy in those situations. +p979 +aVWell, first of all, let me just address the Iraq question. You know, I was not particularly in favor of us going to war in Iraq, primarily because I have studied, you know, the Middle East, recognizing that those are nations that are ruled by dictators and have been for thousands of years. And when you go in and you remove one of those dictators, unless you have an appropriate plan for replacing them, you're going to have chaos. Now, fortunately, we were able to stabilize the situation, and it was the current administration that turned tail and ran and destabilized the situation. Now, having said that, in terms of the rules of engagement, I was talking about, you know, Obama has said, you know, we shouldn't bomb tankers, you know, coming out of refineries because there may be people in there, or because the environment may be hurt. You know, that's just asinine thinking. And the fact of the matter is... You know, we \u2014 obviously, you're not going to accomplish all of your goals without some collateral damage. You have to be able to assess what is acceptable and what is not. +p980 +aVWell, first of all, let me just mention on the tax issue. Bencarson.com, go read about it, because my tax plan has been praised by Cato, by Wall Street Journal. Forbes said it is the best, the most pro-growth tax plan, and it's based on real fairness for everybody. Starts at the 150 percent poverty level, but even the people below that have to pay something, because everybody has to have skin in the game, and the millions of people can't, you know, talk about what other people have to pay and have no skin in the game. And it deals with corporate tax rate, and makes it the same as everybody else......everybody pays exactly the same. +p981 +aV... And, as far as Medicare and Medicaid, my main goal is to get rid of Obamacare and put the care back in the hands of ... +p982 +aVWell, first of all, please go to my website, bencarson.com, and read my immigration policy, O.K.? Because it actually makes sense. Now, the \u2014 as far as these fines are concerned, you know? Here's the big problem. We've got all these government regulators, and all they're doing is running around looking for people to fine. And we've got 645 different federal agencies and sub-agencies. Way, way too many, and they don't have anything else to do. I think what we really need to do is start trimming the regulatory agencies rather than going after the people who are trying to increase the viability, economic viability of our society. Now, that doesn't mean there aren't some people out there who are doing bad things. But I'm not sure that the way to solve that problem is by increasing all the regulatory burden. You know, when you consider how much regulations cost us each year, you know? $2 trillion dollars per family, $24,000 per family, that happens to be the same level as the poverty level...... for a family of four. If you want to get rid of poverty, get rid of all the regulations. +p983 +aVBefore you ask the question, can I respond to the \u2014 you know, they mentioned my name a couple of times. +p984 +aVAll right. Well, first of all, you know, so many people have said to me, "You need to scream and jump and down \u2014 jump up and down like everybody else." Is that really what you want? What we just saw? I don't think so. And you know, I \u2014 when I got into this race, I decided to look under the hood of the engine of what runs Washington, D.C., and my first inclination was to run away, but I didn't do it because I'm thinking about our children and the fact that we are the United States of America. And anybody up here is going to be much better than what's going to come on the other side. And what happened tonight with \u2014 with Justice Scalia tells you that we cannot afford to lose this election, and we cannot be tearing each other down. +p985 +aVWell, first of all, I'm not a politician, so I'm never going to become a politician. But here's what \u2014 here's what people need to know. People need to know that free college is not \u2014 it's a non-starter. You know, you have to look at our economic situation. We're on the verge of economic collapse and, you know, we're \u2014 it's not just the $19 trillion, but it's also the $200 trillion in unfunded liabilities. What we need to think about is, what does that do to the average person? When we have a debt of that nature, it causes the Fed to change their policy, it causes the central bank to keep the \u2014 the rates low, and who does does that affect? Mr. Average, who used to go to the bank every Friday and put part of his check in the bank and watch it grow over three decades and be able to retire with a nice nest egg, that's gone. That part of the American dream is gone. All of these things are disappearing, and Bernie Sanders and people like Hillary Clinton blame it on the rich. They say those evil rich people, if we take their money we can solve the problem. It's not the evil rich people. It's the irresponsible, evil government. +p986 +aVThis is the first generation not expected to do better than their parents. Some people say it's the new normal, but there's nothing normal about it in an exceptional American. I, like you, am a member of we, the people, and we know that our country is heading off the cliff. Joseph Stalin said if you want to bring America down you, have to undermine three things: our spiritual life, our patriotism and our morality. We, the people, can stop that decline, starting right here in South Carolina. If all the people who say, "I love Ben Carson and his policies, but he can't win," vote for me, not only can we win, but we can turn this thing around. You know, we have this manipulation by the political class and by the media telling us who we're supposed to pick and how we're supposed to live. We, the people, are the only people who will determine that. And if you elect me as your next president, I promise you that you will get somebody who is accountable to everybody and beholden to no one. Thank you. +p987 +aVWell, you know, when I wasn't introduced No. 2, as was the plan, I thought maybe he thought I already had dropped out. But... But you know, today is the 105th anniversary, or \u2014 105th birthday of Ronald Reagan. His 11 Commandment was not to speak ill of another Republican. So, I'm not going to use this opportunity to savage the reputation of Senator Cruz. But I will say \u2014 I will say \u2014 I will say that I was very disappointed that members of his team thought so little of me that they thought that after having hundreds, if not thousands of volunteers and college students who sacrificed their time and were dedicated to the cause \u2014 one even died \u2014 to think that I would just walk away ten minutes before the caucus and say, "Forget about you guys." I mean, who would do something like that? Now, I don't think anyone on this stage would do something like that. And to assume that someone would, what does that tell you? So, unfortunately, it did happen. It gives us a very good example of certain types of Washington ethics. Washington ethics. Washington ethics basically says, if it's legal, you do what you need to do in order to win. That's not my ethics. My ethics is, you do what's right. +p988 +aVSince I was mentioned... +p989 +aVThis is great you guys. I want you all to mention me when you say something. In fact, the time line indicates that initial tweet from CNN was followed by another one within one minute that clarified that I was not dropping out. So, what happened to that one, it is unclear. But the bottom line is, we can see what happened, everybody can see what happened and you can make your own judgment. +p990 +aVGood evening. +p991 +aVWell, thank you. You know, I was hoping to get a chance to talk about North Korea. I was the only one who didn't get to do that, and I've got stuff to say about it, let me tell you. But at any rate, you have to replace it with something that makes sense. It doesn't make sense. And the reason that I dislike Obamacare is because the government comes in and tells the people \u2014 which the nation is supposed to be centered on \u2014 that we don't care what you think, this is what we're doing. And if you don't like it, too bad. That's a problem. And we can't afford to do that because that will fundamentally change America. I have proposed a health empowerment account system. Everybody gets a health empowerment account the day they are born, they keep it until they die. They can pass it on. We pay for it with the same dollars that we pay for traditional health care with, recognizing that we spend twice as much as many countries per capita and health care and don't have as such access. We give people the ability to shift money within their health empowerment account so that each family basically becomes its own insurance company without a middleman; that saves you a awful lot of money. And that will lower the cost of your catastrophic insurance tremendously, because the only thing coming out of that is catastrophic health care. And then in terms of taking care of the indigent, we have another whole system, and I can go ahead and explain it, but I don't have the time, but I'd be happy to if you give me some more time. But go to my website bencarson.com, read about it. You can read about everything that's been discussed here in great detail. HAM: Thank you, Dr. Carson. David, Martha, back to you. +p992 +aVI want to say something about this, because I'm not here just to add beauty to the stage. You know, I've been talking about Libya for quite a long time. I think I was the first one to start talking about it because I say we have to have a proactive foreign policy strategy. And of course, the next place that +p993 +aVI would support the possibility of renewed airstrikes if in conjunction with our Joint Chiefs and our military people they felt that was an appropriate strategy. The fact of the matter is none of us up here is a military expert, and we sometimes act like we are, but we're not. And if we actually sit down and talk with them and get them to understand our plan and their impression of what needs to be done, I think we're going to make a lot more progress. +p994 +aVIt's the same question? +p995 +aVYes. Well, first of all, I think it would be a pretty easy contrast, quite frankly, between myself and Hillary Clinton. In one case, you have someone who is known as a deceitful individual. An individual who at Benghazi, which I will never let go, quite frankly, because I think of those two men who went up there on the top of that compound with machine guns, firing away, allowing their colleagues to escape. And I'm sure, in the back of their mind, they were just saying, if we can just hold on, help is on the way. But help was not on the way. When did we in the United States not send people to help our own people? You know, this is not who we are. And \u2014 I would simply make it a referendum on honesty and integrity versus deceit and the Washington way. +p996 +aVWell, you know, it's not a simple issue, and now, you know, we've gotten evidence that there can been active viruses in other bodily fluids like saliva and urine. So, this is going to be, obviously, a big deal. Do we quarantine people? If we have evidence that they are infected, and that there is evidence that that infection can spread by something that they're doing, yes. But, just willy-nilly going out and quarantining a bunch of people because they've been to Brazil, I don't believe that that's going to work. What we really need to be thinking about is how do we get this disease under control? And this is where we need rapid response. We need a rapid response for ebola, we need rapid response for Zika, there will be other things that will come up. These are the kinds of things that the NIH, the CDC, can be very effective in. We need to give the the appropriate support for those kind of things. +p997 +aVCan I say something... +p998 +aVSomething about the draft. Very quickly. +p999 +aVYou know, 14 percent decrease in the number of people applying for voluntary military service, and I think part of it is because of the way that we treat our veterans. You know, we wouldn't be a free country if it wasn't for them, and we have 22 veterans per day committing suicide. So, I think what we should do is have an external support system for people once they volunteer and it should follow them throughout their career, should follow them for three years, five years afterwards, a year before they get out, should be working on integrating them back into society, so that they quit on Friday and they start their new job. They should have health empowerment accounts that are subsidized so they can go to any medical facility and be taken care of. They can go to a V.A. if they want to. But if we start taking care of our veterans the right way, we won't have to ever worry about a draft again. +p1000 +aVWith 100 percent certainly, I will predict the winner \u2014 it will either be Denver or Carolina. +p1001 +aVFor many months, the political class, pundits, the media, have tried to ignore or bury me. They say that politics is too complex, and too sleazy. You can't survive. Well, guess what? I'm still here, and I'm not going any place either. And, I believe there is still a place in our country for faith, integrity, and common sense. Hundreds of thousands of you drafted me to run for president...... And, I am going to with the help of God, and you, once again place the American people at the pinnacle with the government there to serve it. +p1002 +aVWell, I will gladly confess that I'm the only one on this stage with no political title. You're not going to hear a lot of polished political speech from me, but you will hear the truth. And I don't think you have to be a politician to tell the truth. In fact, sometimes it's not that way... ... and I've had more two a.m. phone calls than everybody here put together, making life and death decisions, put together very complex teams to accomplish things that have never been done before. And we are in a situation right now in our country that we have never been in before. We need people who think out of the box and can solve problems; can utilize the resources around them; very smart people, to focus on the problem and solve the problem. The American people are terrified. That's why we have this abnormal situation going on right now. We don't need more of the same solutions. We need different solutions to solve the problems and to save our nation. +p1003 +aVWell, I don't know about the GOP messaging, but I can tell you about my messaging. You know, need to stop allowing political correctness to dictate our policies, because it's going to kill us if we don't. And in the Holy Land Foundation trial in 2006 in Texas, they had a memorandum, an explanatory memorandum that talked about the fact that Americans would be easy to overcome and to commit civilization jihad because they were going to be trying to protect the rights of the very people who were trying to subvert them. But I believe in the Teddy Roosevelt philosophy. Teddy Roosevelt said, we are a nation of immigrants. As such, everybody is welcome from any race, any country, any religion, if they want to be Americans. If they want to accept our values and our laws. If not, they can stay where they are. +p1004 +aVOh, great. As I said before, we are a land of immigrants, but we have to be intelligent about the way that we form our immigration policies, and that's one of the reasons that I have called on us to declare war on the Islamic State because we need to reorient our immigration policies and our visa policies for people who are coming into this country because there are many people out there who want to destroy us. Now, I recognize that the vast majority of people coming in here probably are not those kinds of people, but that's not good enough. If you've got 10 people coming to your house and you know one of them is a terrorist, you're probably going to keep them all out. You know, we probably have to figure out a way to make sure that we keep America safe. +p1005 +aVLook, first of all, I recognize that Vladimir Putin is an opportunist and he's a bully, and we have to face him down. And I would \u2014 first of all, face him down in that whole region, the whole Baltic region. I think we need to put in some armored brigades there. We only have one or two. We need much more than that. We need to be doing military exercises if not only Estonia but Latvia and Lithuania. They're terrified by the saber rattling. I think we ought to put in our missile defense system. I think we ought to give Ukraine offensive weapons and I think we ought to fight them on the economic basis because Putin is a one- horse country: oil and energy. And we ought to fight them on that level. We ought to be helping in terms of the technology for fracking, keeping the price low, quite frankly, because that's what's keeping him contained. So, yes, I'd absolutely would go in if he attacked. I think on Article IV of +p1006 +aVWell, as anyone knows who's been listening to me, you know? I'm very much against the government being involved in every aspect of our lives, you know? We last year there was an additional 81,000 pages of government regulations. If you stack that up it would be a three-story building. This is absolutely absurd. And, they've insinuated themselves into everything. Now, as far as the renewable fuel standard is concerned, certain promises were made, certain government contracts were issued which extend all the way into the year 2022, and I believe that it's probably unfair to withdraw the rug because people have invested money. People have invested a lot of energy into that. But, you know, we are blessed with tremendous energy in this nation, and we need to be talking for new sources of energy. Seventy percent of our population lives by costly. What about hydroelectric power? We can develop that, you know? We have so much natural gas now, and we can liquify it, and we can transfer it across the sea so we can make Europe dependent on us instead of Putin \u2014 put him back in his little box where he belongs. Those are the kinds of things that we ought to be doing. And, you know, take advantage of the tremendous opportunities in energy that God has given us, not get involved in these little petty arguments. And we can get a lot of them out if we get the government out of our lives. +p1007 +aVI want to thank the people of Iowa for being so welcoming to me. Please think of our founding fathers as you listen. We the people of the United States in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the benefits of liberty to ourselves and our prosperity, do ordain and establish this constitution of the United States of America. Folks, it's not too late. Enough said. +p1008 +asVSTRASSEL +p1009 +(lp1010 +VMr. Trump. +p1011 +aVYou have made a lot of promises and you have also \u2014 you're the only candidate who has said he would not touch entitlements. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has estimated that your ideas would cost an additional $12 trillion to $15 trillion over the next 10 years and that we would have to have annual economic growth of anywhere from 7.7 percent to 9 percent annually to pay for them. Are you proposing more than you can actually deliver, at least not without big deficits? +p1012 +aVBut in terms of... +p1013 +aVO.K. But how would you actually do that? Can I ask you? Because right now, Social Security and Medicare... +p1014 +aVThey take up two-thirds of the federal budget, and they're growing. +p1015 +aVO.K., I have a question, a related tax question. Senator Rubio, you have the highest tax rate of anyone up on the stage in terms of the top tax rates, 35 percent. Some economists say, "It would limit its potential to boost economic growth." You do that so that you will have more revenue to pay for a tripling of the Child Tax Credit. Normally, it's liberals who like to use the tax code to insert social policy. Why should conservatives who want to tax adopt the other side's approach? +p1016 +aVGovernor Kasich, this on is on size of government. In 2013, you pushed through a Medicaid reform in your state over the rejections of many of the Republicans in your state. Total enrollment and overall cost of program have gone well beyond what anyone had expected, including yourself. How can you argue that this overall growth fits in with conservative ambition to significantly cut back on the size of federal welfare programs? +p1017 +aVSenator Cruz. Senator Cruz, you have promised to deport illegal aliens. You have also promised to reverse President Obama's executive action that gives temporary amnesty to illegals brought here by their parent as children. As president, you would have the names and addresses of the some 800,000 of those that have registered under that action. Now, you have said that in this country, we shouldn't go door to door, look for illegals, but in this case you would have a list. Would you use it? +p1018 +aVSo would you \u2014 would you use the addresses? +p1019 +aVWould you pick them up? +p1020 +aVSenator Rubio, your reply. +p1021 +aVAll right. Senator Cruz. Your response, Senator Cruz. +p1022 +aV... O.K.... +p1023 +aVMoving subjects. Dr. Carson, this week Morgan Stanley agreed to pay a $3.2 billion fine to state and federal authorities for contributing to the mortgage crisis. You have a lot of Democrats out saying that we should be jailing more executives, so two questions. Should financial executives be held legally responsible for financial crisis, and do you think fines like these are an effective way to deter companies from future behavior like that? +p1024 +aVSenator Cruz, you were mentioned in the mix here, your response? +p1025 +aVAnd now, Marco Rubio. +p1026 +aVWe'll be back with a few final thoughts in a moment. +p1027 +asVDICKERSON +p1028 +(lp1029 +VGood evening. I'm John Dickerson. This holiday weekend, as America honors our first president, we're about to hear from six men who hope to be the 45th. The candidates for the Republican nomination are here in South Carolina for their ninth debate, one week before this state holds the first-in-the-South primary. George Washington wrote that the truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains taken to bring it to light. We hope to shed some light on the candidates' positions tonight to help voters make up their minds. So gentlemen, please join us on stage. With us tonight \u2014 with us tonight are retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson of Florida, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Businessman Donald Trump of New York. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Former Governor Jeb Bush of Florida. And Governor John Kasich of Ohio. Now, as most of you have heard by now, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died today at the age of 79. He was the longest-serving member of the court, appointed by President Reagan in 1986. Justice Scalia was the court's leading conservative, and even those who disagreed with his opinions regarded him as a brilliant legal scholar. Please join us and the candidates on our stage in a moment of silence for Justice Antonin Scalia. Thank you. We will talk to the candidates about Justice Scalia and the road ahead when the debate begins in a moment. +p1030 +aVBefore we get started, candidates, here are the rules. When we ask you a question, you will have one minute to answer, and 30 seconds more if we ask a follow-up. If you're attacked by another candidate, you get 30 seconds to respond. And here's how we keep time. After we ask a question, you'll get a green light. The yellow light means you have 30 seconds left to finish your answer, and when time is up, the light turns red. That means please stop talking. If you keep talking, you'll hear this. You don't want to hear that. Joining me in the questioning tonight, my CBS News colleague, chief White House correspondent Major Garrett, and Kimberley Strassel, who is on the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal. And you can participate in the debate through our partnership with Twitter. Tweet us your questions and comments using the hashtag "# +p1031 +aVSo, just to be clear on this, Mr. Trump, you're O.K. with the president nominating somebody ... +p1032 +aVGovernor Kasich, I want to get your thoughts on this. Justice Scalia was a real believer, obviously, in the strict word of the Constitution. Now, Harry Reid says that a failure to fill his vacancy would be, quote, "shameful abdication of one of the Senate's most essential constitutional responsibilities." Where do you come down on this? +p1033 +aVDr. Carson. Dr. Carson, you, like others, put out a statement after the death was announced, and you said the president should delay. You've written a book on the Constitution recently. What does the Constitution say about whose duty it is here to act in this kind of a situation? +p1034 +aVSenator Rubio, you're a... Senator Rubio, you're a lawyer. Quickly, can you address the issue of whether the Constitution tells us who has the power to appoint Supreme Court justices? And then, also, the Senate Republicans last year floated an idea of removing the filibuster for Senate \u2014 excuse me, for Supreme Court nominations. You seemed open to that. What's your feeling on that now? +p1035 +aVQuickly, though, on this question... Very quickly, Senator, on this specific question, though. You were once in favor of dropping the threshold... +p1036 +aV... majority \u2014 you were never in favor of that? +p1037 +aVO.K. Thank you, Senator. Governor Bush, I would like to ask you, conservatives for a long time have felt like that their Republican presidents have picked justices that didn't turn out to be real conservatives. +p1038 +aVBernie Sanders has said he would have a litmus test. He would make sure that he appointed a justice who was going to overturn Citizens United. If they can have a litmus test for a nominee, what about you? Would you have a litmus test for a nominee? And what would it be? +p1039 +aVRight, so, Senator Cruz, the Constitution... So, Senator Cruz, the Constitution says the president "shall appoint with advice and consent from the Senate," just to clear that up. So he has the constitutional power. But you don't think he should. Where do you set that date if you're president? Does it begin in election year, in December, November, September? And once you set the date, when you're president, will you abide by that date? +p1040 +aVJust can I \u2014 I'm sorry to interrupt, were any appointed in an election year, or is that just there were 80 years... +p1041 +aVBut Kennedy was confirmed in '88. +p1042 +aVHe was appointed in '87. +p1043 +aV... confirmed in '88. That's the question, is it appointing or confirming, what's the difference? +p1044 +aVSorry, I just want to get the facts straight for the audience. But I apologize. +p1045 +aVAll right. Thank you, Senator Cruz. All right, we're going to move on to national security here, and we are going to \u2014 I want to read a quote from Secretary Robert Gates, former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who served for eight year \u2014 under eight presidents. And this is what he said about Republican candidates, quote, "Part of the concern that I have with the campaign is that the solutions being offered are so simplistic and so at odds with the way the world really works." So, in that spirit, we're going to work tonight to be more specific. Mr. Trump, I want to start with you. You have said as president, you'll get up to speed very quickly. You'll know more quickly as president than any of the experts. So, you've been elected president. It's your first day in the Situation Room. What three questions do you ask your national security experts about the world? +p1046 +aVSenator Rubio \u2014 just 30 seconds on this question, Senator Rubio. Are those the questions you would ask? +p1047 +aVLet me ask you a follow-up, a full, proper question, then. Violent extremists are operating or active in 40 countries. Some 80 countries are in different degrees of instability. And so, that's just the crises overseas. Barack Obama walked into an economic collapse when he came into office. We face international health crises, from Ebola to Zika. So, there is a lot of opportunity for crisis, as you have talked about. What would you point to in your past to show voters that you've been in a crisis and that you've been tested when that inevitable crisis comes when you're president? +p1048 +aVDr. Carson, I want to ask you a question... Dr. Carson, you said you've had more 2 a.m. \u2014 2 a.m. phone calls than anybody up on this stage. But when those 2 a.m. phone calls came, you operated on a foundation of all of that amazing medical work that you did, all of that learning. So if you were to be president, though, you wouldn't have the political foundation that hones those instincts when the 2 a.m. phone call comes. So isn't that a liability? +p1049 +aVGovernor Kasich, Russia is being credited......Russia is being credited with bombing U.S.-backed rebels on behalf of Assad in Aleppo and Syria. They've also moved into the Crimea, eastern Ukraine. You've said you want to punch them in the nose. What does that mean? What are you going to do? +p1050 +aVGovernor......Governor Bush. +p1051 +aVYou said defeating +p1052 +aVMr. Trump, you're......Mr. Trump, you were mentioned here. You did say that you could get along very well with Vladimir Putin. You did at one point say let Russia take care of +p1053 +aV... All right... +p1054 +aV... All right, Governor Bush, please respond. +p1055 +aV... O.K., settle... +p1056 +aV... All right, Mr. Trump, all right... +p1057 +aVGentleman, I think we're going to leave that there. I've got a question for Senator... +p1058 +aV... All right, all right, gentlemen, gentlemen, let's leave it there so I can ask a question of Senator Cruz, who's also running for president. Senator Cruz, you talked about the first Gulf War as being a kind of model for your focused and determined effort to go after +p1059 +aVVery quickly, 30-second follow-up. You've said that, essentially, the Kurds would be the American ground forces in there. The criticism that experts have on that is that the Kurds only can work within their territory. If they take larger amounts of territory, you have an ethnic war with the Arabs. So the Kurds can't really do as much as you seem to be putting on their backs. +p1060 +aVAll right. Mr. Trump......On Monday, George W. Bush will campaign in South Carolina for his brother. As you've said tonight, and you've often said, the Iraq war and your opposition to it was a sign of your good judgment. In 2008, in an interview with Wolf Blitzer, talking about President George W. Bush's conduct of the war, you said you were surprised that Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi didn't try to impeach him. You said, quote: "Which, personally, I think would have been a wonderful thing." When you were asked what you meant by that and you said: "For the war, for the war, he lied, he got us into the war with lies." Do you still believe President Bush should have been impeached? +p1061 +aVSo... +p1062 +aVBut so I'm going to \u2014 so you still think he should be impeached? +p1063 +aVAll right. O.K. All right. Governor Bush \u2014 when a member on the stage's brother gets attacked... +p1064 +aV... the brother gets to respond. +p1065 +aVGovernor Kasich, would you weigh in on......Governor Kasich, please weigh in. +p1066 +aVWhy is it nuts? Talk about it. Give us your sense of... +p1067 +aVThirty seconds, Senator Rubio. +p1068 +aVAll right, Dr. Carson, we have a cleansing... +p1069 +aVWe have a cleansing... +p1070 +aVAll right. Well, Dr. Carson, I have got a question now for you. A moment of pause here. You have said, Dr. Carson, that \u2014 referring to yourself, that people bought into the idea that, quote, "A nice person can't be tough on terrorists." You have called for loosening the rules of engagement for the military, which could lead to more civilian casualties. So, explain why those casualties would be acceptable in the fight against +p1071 +aVAll right, thank you, Dr. Carson. We're going to have to take a commercial break here. Thank you to all the candidates. We'll be right back with CBS News's 2016 debate in Greenville, South Carolina. +p1072 +aVWe're back with the Republicans who could be president. The topic now is money and how the candidates would spend it. We'll turn the questioning over to Kimberley Strassel of The Wall Street Journal and Major Garrett of CBS News. Kim? +p1073 +aVDr. Carson, before we go to break, could you give us your sense of this conversation about either Medicaid or economic growth through taxation? +p1074 +aVDoctor... +p1075 +aV... Dr. Carson, I'm sorry, we have to go to a commercial. The free market wants what it wants. Back soon with the 2016 Republican debate in Greenville, South Carolina. +p1076 +aVWelcome back. We'll begin the second half of the debate with one of the hottest issues in the Republican campaign, immigration. But before I turn it back to Major Garrett and Kim Strassel, I have one question for Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump, in the Republican National Committee's Spanish-language response to the State of the Union, Congressman Diaz-Balart said, quote, "It's essential that we find a legislative solution," talking about immigration, "to offer a permanent and humane solution to those who live in the shadows. What does that mean to you, "a humane solution to those who live in the shadows"? +p1077 +aVSenator Cruz, I have a question for you. Speaker Paul Ryan has made a big commitment to trying to lift the 50 million poor out of poverty. Arthur Brooks, who is the president of the American Enterprise Institute, says, quote, "If we are not warriors for the poor every day, free enterprise has no matter." How you have been, in your campaign, a warrior for the poor? +p1078 +aVAll right. Mr. Trump, thank you so much. We're going to take a break for a moment. We'll be back in a moment with the CBS News Republican debate. +p1079 +aVWe're back now from Greenville, South Carolina, with the candidates for the Republican presidential nomination. Mr. Trump, I have a question for you. Presidents have to, on the one hand, be firm, but also be flexible. You have been flexible and changed your opinion on a number of things, from abortion to Hillary Clinton. But you have said, rightly, that it's just like Ronald Reagan, who changed his mind on things. But at the same time, you're criticizing Senator Cruz for what you say is a change on immigration. He disputes that, of course. So, why is your change of opinion make you like Reagan, and when he changes his opinion, it's a huge character flaw? +p1080 +aVWhich conservative idea don't you agree with? +p1081 +aVAll right. Governor Bush, I think by "they," he is referring to your brother, these on the hook for your brother. +p1082 +aVBut that was his brother. +p1083 +aVHold on, gentleman, I'm going to turn this car around. +p1084 +aVAll right, gentlemen. +p1085 +aVWell, hold on. We're going to \u2014 gentlemen, we're in danger of driving this into the dirt. Senator Rubio, I'd like you to jump in here... +p1086 +aVI understand, you're on deck, governor. +p1087 +aVSenator Cruz, 30 seconds on this one. +p1088 +aVWe're going to switch... +p1089 +aVWe're going to switch here to Senator Marco Rubio. Senator Marco Rubio, please weigh in. +p1090 +aVI thought you had a point? +p1091 +aVI thought you had a point you wanted to make. +p1092 +aVYou're on deck, sir. +p1093 +aVSenator, I wanted to ask you, just going back to immigration, in the last debate, you listed your series of accomplishments in the Senate. One thing you left off was \u2014 was immigration reform. Is it the case that in your list of accomplishments you can't mention that? +p1094 +aVDr. Carson, I have......Dr. Carson, I have a question for you. Candidates are... +p1095 +aVAll right. You have 30 seconds, Doctor. +p1096 +aVDr. Carson, I \u2014 let me ask you a different question. When you were \u2014 you were the first one, really, to talk about political correctness. Everybody now talks about it, but that was really what sparked your \u2014 your rise. Politicians are often accused of glossing over any hard choices people have to make, just always selling happy, nice things. So in the \u2014 in the spirit of saying something that might be politically incorrect, tell the voters something that they need to hear but that might be politically incorrect? +p1097 +aVGovernor Kasich. Governor Kasich, you've been described as the Democrats' favorite Republican. You talked about in New Hampshire, Democrats would come up to you and say, "I hope you win." Why will that help you win a Republican nomination? +p1098 +aVMr. Trump, let me ask you a question. Presidents in both parties say that the one thing you need in your administration is somebody who can tell you you're wrong. You don't necessarily seem like somebody who has somebody who tells you you're wrong a lot. Can you tell us of an instance where somebody has said, "Donald Trump, you're wrong," and you listened to them? +p1099 +aVAbout what? +p1100 +aVLet me \u2014 something, in talking to voters that they wish somebody would tell you to cut it out is the profanity. What's your reaction to that? +p1101 +aVAll right. O.K. Governor Bush, I'd like to ask you... +p1102 +aVWell, can I \u2014 how about you respond, and then you can answer the question I'm about to ask you. +p1103 +aVIt'll be... +p1104 +aVIf we adjudicate this, the night will be over. Governor, in 2012, you said that your father and Ronald Reagan would have a hard time in today's Republican Party, based on their records of trying to find accommodation and finding some degree of common ground. Do you still feel that way? +p1105 +aVHold on, Mr. Trump. +p1106 +aVHold on, Mr. Trump. +p1107 +aVO.K., Mr. Trump, your response. +p1108 +aVThe bells are ringing, sir. +p1109 +aVAll right. Thank you. Senator Rubio, I want to ask you a 30-second question, no president can... +p1110 +aVNo \u2014 well, I'll ask the question, you do what you want. +p1111 +aVNo president can know everything, right? So a smart leader knows how to ask questions. So if you could talk to any previous president, what's the smart question you would ask about that job that you would want to know? +p1112 +aVAll right. That's going to have to be it there, Senator Rubio. We have got to go to a break. We will be right back with the CBS News Republican debate in Greenville, South Carolina. +p1113 +aVTime now for closing statements. You will each have one minute, and we'll begin with Governor Kasich. +p1114 +aVDr. Carson \u2014 Dr. Carson, you're next. +p1115 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor Bush. +p1116 +aVSenator Cruz? Senator Cruz, your closing statement? +p1117 +aVMr. Trump, your closing statements? +p1118 +as. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/downloads/data2/script4.pickle b/downloads/data2/script4.pickle new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e77756e --- /dev/null +++ b/downloads/data2/script4.pickle @@ -0,0 +1,2781 @@ +(dp0 +VRADDATZ +p1 +(lp2 +VQuestions of leadership and character have dominated the news ever since the Iowa caucuses a few days ago. Here with us to question the candidates this evening are Josh McElveen from +p3 +aVDr. Ben Carson. +p4 +aVBusinessman Donald Trump. +p5 +aVFormer Florida Governor, Jeb Bush. +p6 +aVLadies and gentlemen, the Republican candidates. +p7 +aVAnd Donald Trump. +p8 +aVThe applause so loud you couldn't hear. We couldn't hear, either. That's a good sign for the excitement this evening. Gentlemen, thank you for being here tonight, just days before voters here in New Hampshire make their decisions. The rules are simple and have been agreed to by all the campaigns. There will be 60 seconds to answer and if another candidate is mentioned in that answer, that candidate will have 30 seconds to respond. There are green, yellow and red lights that each candidate will see to signal when time is up and they will also hear this sound. +p9 +aVSenator Cruz, you are a first term Senator as well. Your opponents say you, like Senator Rubio, are not prepared to be Commander in Chief. You have talked tough about threats we face in the Mid-East. It was reported just moments ago that the North Koreans test launched an intercontinental ballistic missile. North Korea has nuclear weapons, and conducted another nuclear test just last month. The missile that was launched is the kind the North Koreans hope could someday carry a nuclear weapon capable of reaching the United States. How would you respond if Commander in Chief to that launch? +p10 +aVWell, let me ask you this, if you were Commander in Chief tonight would you have order the U.S. military to destroy that missile preemptively on the launchpad to prevent North Korea from becoming an even graver threat? +p11 +aV... Senator Cruz, let me tell you this, you have talked tough about the Mid-East, you haven't gotten those intelligence briefings about that. Why not tell us whether you would preemptively strike a missile on a launchpad that threatens the U.S... +p12 +aVOkay. Senator Cruz, I will say that missile has been sitting there for quite some time, and they have had eyes on it. +p13 +aVSenator Rubio, I'm talking about a preemptive strike on the launch pad. +p14 +aVOK. Thank you, Senator Rubio. Governor Kasich, how would you respond to tonight's launch? +p15 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. Thank you \u2014 thank you... +p16 +aV... Governor Bush, I'll get to you in a moment. +p17 +aVThank you, Governor Bush. Mr. Trump, do you have a red line with North Korea? Would you consider military action? And how far would you let them go? +p18 +aVAnd I'd like him to finish the question, please. +p19 +aVSpecific \u2014 as to North Korea. +p20 +aVSenator Rubio, you were mentioned. +p21 +aVThank you very much, Senator Rubio. Governor Bush, another problem facing the commander-in-chief right now is that North Korea is currently detaining an American college student. What would you do to get that college student back home? +p22 +aVGovernor Christie, I want to go to you on the same question. +p23 +aVWould you negotiate with North Korea to... +p24 +aVThank you very much, Governor Christie. David? +p25 +aVSenator Cruz, to that point, Mr. Trump has said that your position on health care means that maybe you've got, quote, "no heart". There is a question here, though, about uncovered folks. You suggested repealing and replacing Obamacare. As we learned with President Obama's broken promise that everyone could keep their plan, any major plan \u2014 change in health care policy carries with it the risk that some people will lose their insurance coverage or have to change it. How do you reassure that those people that repealing and replacing Obamacare is still in their best interest? +p26 +aVSenator Cruz, you advocate what you call carpet bombing, or saturation bombing, to defeat +p27 +aVSenator Cruz, would you like to expand or loosen the rules of engagement? I was just over in a command center in Erbil and they said they thought the rules of engagement worked. Because you have so many civilians in those populated areas, they don't want to hit civilians. +p28 +aVSo, loosen the rules of engagement? +p29 +aVSenator Rubio, you said in the last debate that +p30 +aVAgain, Senator Rubio, you've already said +p31 +aVWell, what would you do \u2014 what would you do differently to try to get those Sunni forces? They have not been coming forward. +p32 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 thank you very much, Senator Rubio. Mr. Trump. You have said you will vigorously bomb +p33 +aVAnd \u2014 and what would you do in those cities, where there are people who we are trying to help, who +p34 +aVThank you very much, Mr. Trump. Let's turn to Libya. Governor Bush, it is a country in chaos. There is no government. This week, defense officials said there are now 5,000 +p35 +aVThank you very much, Governor Bush. Dr. Carson? +p36 +aVAnd would you support renewed airstrikes? +p37 +aVWe're going to move on. +p38 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. Thank you, Josh. Our partner in this debate, the Independent Journal Review, has collected questions from some prominent conservatives around the country. Here's a videotaped question from radio host Larry O'Connor. O' +p39 +aVMr. Trump, I'm going to give that question to you. You took it \u2014 you took it away anyway. +p40 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. I'm going to go to Senator Rubio on this. How would you change that narrative? +p41 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Dr. Carson, I want to go to you on Larry O' Connor's question. Would you change the narrative? +p42 +aVYes. +p43 +aVThank you very much Dr. Carson. I'm going to go back to David. +p44 +aVGovernor Christie, earlier this week, the World Health Organization declared the Zika virus a global emergency. The same kind of mosquitoes that carry the Zika virus in Latin America are found here in the United States, and the virus has been linked to severe birth defects. Governor Christie, at the peak of the Ebola outbreak in west Africa, you ordered an American nurse who landed at Newark Airport be detained and quarantined. As fear spreads now of the Zika virus and with the Rio Olympics just months away, is there a scenario where you would quarantine people traveling back from Brazil to prevent the spread in the United States? +p45 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you. I'm going to move to Dr. Carson, and go back to the Zika virus, is that going too far, quarantining? You're a doctor, what would you do? +p46 +aVThanks very much, Dr. Carson. I want to move on to the military. Senator Rubio, all restrictions on women in combat as long as they qualify. Positions including special operations forces, like Navy Seals. Just this week military leaders of the Army and Marine Corps said that they believed young women, just as young men are required to do, should sign up for Selective Service in case the Draft is reinstated. Many of you have young daughters. Senator Rubio, should young women be required to sign up for Selective Service in case of a national emergency? +p47 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Governor Bush, do you believe that young women... +p48 +aVDo you believe young women should sign up for Selective Service, be required to sign up... +p49 +aVTell me what you'd say to American people out there......who are sitting at home, who have daughters, who might worry about those answers, and might worry... +p50 +aV... if the Draft is reinstituted? +p51 +aV... Are you saying you'd do away with it? +p52 +aVYou register for the draft. +p53 +aVIf it's reinstituted. +p54 +aVThank you very much. +p55 +aVThank you very much, Governor Christie. +p56 +aVWe just covered \u2014 wait one second, Dr. Carson. +p57 +aVVery quickly. +p58 +aVThank you very much for bringing up that subject, Dr. Carson, of our veterans. And for another question about our veterans, we go back to Josh McElveen from +p59 +aVGovernor Christie. +p60 +aVDr. Carson. +p61 +aVSenator Cruz. +p62 +asVUNKNOWN +p63 +(lp64 +VNot me. +p65 +aVMaria... +p66 +aVYeah, but I want to talk about taxes. +p67 +asVSMITH +p68 +(lp69 +VGovernor Huckabee, same question to you. Where do you see the country right now? +p70 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Thank you, candidates. Moving to the world stage. The middle east is on the brink of chaos. Iran continues to provoke the United States, North Korea claims it's tested a hydrogen bomb, and Afghanistan is in danger of falling back into Taliban hands. Critics of the administration say it's all due to lack of U.S. leadership. To you, Mrs. Fiorina, how do you see America's role in the world today? +p71 +aVGovernor Huckabee, in Afghanistan, the Taliban is strengthening. Attacks are on the rise and thousands more civilians have been wounded or killed. Much of the Taliban surge can be attributed to the withdrawal of U.S. forces there. You have expressed skepticism with the war there, saying you see no end game in sight. What, then, is your solution to the growing conflict there? +p72 +aVAll right, thank you, candidates. We're just getting started. Jobs, Homeland Security, gun rights, all those issues are coming up straight ahead. We're live from North Charleston and the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back. +p73 +aVAll right, let's get started. Senator Santorum, to you first. President Obama has urged technology leaders to make it hard for terrorists to use technology to escape from justice. Hillary Clinton says social media companies can help by swiftly shutting down terrorist accounts. The companies say that they're already working with law enforcement and any proposed legislation would do more harm than good. Should companies like Facebook and Twitter be required by law to more actively \u2014 be more actively engaged in fighting terror? +p74 +aVSenator, would you \u2014 would you require anything of those companies like Facebook and Twitter if you were president? +p75 +aVThank you, Senator. +p76 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee, you called President Obama's executive orders on gun control unconstitutional and completely insane. +p77 +aVYou even told gun store owners to ignore the President's orders. Yet, innocent people are dying from gun violence in cities like Detroit, Chicago, and Charleston everyday. Is there anything that can be done at the federal level to prevent guns from falling into the hands of criminals? +p78 +aV +p79 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p80 +aVSenator Santorum, many of our military leaders believe America's critical infrastructure is vulnerable to a terrorist attack. This is the power in our homes, the water we drink, the Internet and phone systems by which we stay connected. If attacked, these essential services that underpin American society could come to a grinding halt. Do you have a specific plan to protect us from this type of attack? +p81 +aVSenator Santorum, I want to stay with you on this, moving to jobs and the economy. In his State of the Union Address the other night, President Obama touted his record on jobs, citing more than 14 million new jobs and boasted of nearly 900,000 manufacturing jobs added in the past six years. Do you dispute his track record of creating jobs? +p82 +aVGovernor Huckabee, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mike Mullen, has said the greatest threat to our security is our national debt. Our national debt is now on pace to top $19 trillion. Yet, you as well as Ms. Fiorina have laid forward no plan to reform entitlements. How can you say you're going to pay down our country's debt without cutting Social Security or Medicare? +p83 +aVOK. We're going to continue this conversation. We're taking a quick break and then coming up, the candidates' plans for strengthening the middle class. We're live in North Charleston with the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back. +p84 +aVAll right, thanks, Trish. Well, let's get started with Ms. Fiorina. Today, the middle class represents about 50 percent of the U.S. population, down from about 61 percent back in 1971. That's according to Pew Research. The same research revealed a widening income gap in America. The rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. What will you do to strengthen a middle class that is no longer the majority? +p85 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p86 +aVThank you, Senator. We're not finished yet. More Republican Presidential Debate in North Charleston after this. +p87 +aVWelcome back, it's time for the closing statements. Candidates will each get one minute, starting with Senator Santorum. Thank you very much, I want to thank the people of Charleston, which has become a little bit of a second home to me, because I am very privileged to have two young men who go to the Citadel here and they're here tonight, my son John and my son Daniel. +p88 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Governor Mike Huckabee. +p89 +aVThank you, Governor. +p90 +asVRUBIO +p91 +(lp92 +VWell, let me first talk about Justice Scalia. His loss is tremendous, and obviously our hearts and prayers go out to his family. He will go down as one of the great justices in the history of this republic. You talk about someone who defended consistently the original meaning of the Constitution, who understood that the Constitution was not there to be interpreted based on the fads of the moment, but it was there to be interpreted according to its original meaning. Justice Scalia understood that better than anyone in the history of this republic. His dissent, for example, on the independent counsel case is a brilliant piece of jurist work. And, of course, his dissent on Obergefell as well. No. 2, I do not believe the president should appoint someone. And it's not unprecedented. In fact, it has been over 80 years since a lame duck president has appointed a Supreme Court justice. And it remind us of this, how important this election is. Someone on this stage will get to choose the balance of the Supreme Court, and it will begin by filling this vacancy that's there now. And we need to put people on the bench that understand that the Constitution is not a living and breathing document. It is to be interpreted as originally meant. +p93 +aVThat's not accurate. +p94 +aVNo, I've never \u2014 there has been, for example, today, according to the changes Harry Reid made, appellate judges can now be appointed by a simple majority, but not Supreme Court justices. And I think today you see the wisdom of why we don't want that to change. Because if that were the case and we were not in charge of the Senate, Harry Reid and Barack Obama would ram down our throat a liberal justice, like the ones Barack Obama has imposed on us already. +p95 +aVNo. I think there are three major threats that you want to immediately get on top of. No. 1 is, what are we doing in the Asia-Pacific region, where both North Korea and China pose threats to the national security of the United States. No. 2 is, what are we doing in the Middle East with the combination of the Sunni-Shia conflict driven by the Shia arc that Iran is now trying to establish in the Middle East, also the growing threat of +p96 +aVWell, let me tell you what has happened a couple of years ago. One of the hardest decisions you'll ever make in Congress is when you are asked by the president to authorize the use of force in a conflict, because you are now putting your name, on behalf of the people of your state, behind a military action, where Americans in uniform could lose their life. So, in 2014, Barack Obama said he would not take military action against Assad unless it was authorized by the Senate, beginning on the Committee of Foreign Relations, where I am one of its members. And it was hard because you looked at the pictures. I saw the same images people saw. I'm the father of children. I saw the images of these little children \u2014 been gassed and poisoned by their own leaders, and we were angry. Something had to happen, and there was the sense that we needed to seek retribution. And then I looked at Barack Obama's plan. Barack Obama's plan, which John Kerry later described as unbelievably small, and I concluded that that attack would not only not help the situation, it would make it actually worse. It would allow Assad to stand up to the United States of America, survive a strike, stay in power and actually strengthen his grip. So it was a difficult decision to make, and when we only had a few days to look at and make a decision on it, and I voted against Barack Obama's plan to use force, and it was the right decision. +p97 +aVI just want to say, at least on behalf of me and my family, I thank God all the time it was George W. Bush in the White House on 9/11 and not Al Gore. And you can \u2014 I think you can look back in hindsight and say a couple of things, but he kept us safe. And not only did he keep us safe, but no matter what you want to say about weapons of mass destruction, Saddam Hussein was in violation of U.N. resolutions, in open violation, and the world wouldn't do anything about it, and George W. Bush enforced what the international community refused to do. And again, he kept us safe, and I am forever grateful to what he did for this country. +p98 +aVThe World Trade Center came down because Bill Clinton didn't kill Osama bin Laden when he had the chance to kill him. +p99 +aVWell, because I'm influencing social policy \u2014 this is their money. This is the money of parents. You don't earn the tax credit unless you're working. That's your money, it doesn't belong to government. Here's what I don't understand. If a business takes their money and they invest in the piece of the equipment, they get to write off their taxes. But if a parent takes money that they have earned to work and invests in their children, they don't? This makes no sense. Parenting is the most important job any of us will ever have. Family formation is the most important thing in society. So what my tax plan does, is it does create, especially for working families, an additional Child Tax Credit. So that parents who are working get to keep more of their own money, not the government's money, to invest in their children to go to school, to go to a private school, to buy a new backpack. Let me tell you, if you're a parent that's struggling, then you know that $50 a month is the difference between a new pair of shoes this month or not getting a new pair of shoes for your kids. I'm going to have a tax plan that is pro-family, because the family is the most important institution in society. You cannot have a strong country without strong families. +p100 +aVWell, first of all, I think amnesty is the forgiveness of a wrongdoing without consequence and that \u2014 I've never supported that. I do not support that. I think there has to be consequences for violating our immigration laws. What I think is clear about this issue to begin with is we're not going to be able to make progress on illegal immigration until first, illegal immigration is brought under control. You go back to 1986, when they legalized three million people and they promised to secure the border. It didn't happen, and as a result, people have lost trust in the federal government. It is now clear that the only way to make progress on immigration is not just to pass a law that enforces the law, but actually prove to people that it's working. They want to see the wall built. They want to see the additional border agents. They want to see E-Verify. They want to see an entry-exit tracking system. Forty percent of the people in this country illegally are entering legally and overstaying visas. And only after all of that is in place, then we'll see what the American people are willing to support on this issue. I think the American people will be very reasonable, but responsible, about how you handle someone who has been here a long time, who can pass a background check, who pays a fine and starts paying taxes and all they want is a work permit. But you can't do any of that until you prove to people that illegal immigration is under control once and for all. +p101 +aVWe're going to have to do this again, O.K.? When that issue was being debated, Ted Cruz, at a committee hearing, very passionately said, I want immigration reform to pass, I want people to be able to come out of the shadows. And he proposed an amendment that would legalized people here. Not only that, he proposed doubling the number of green cards. He proposed a 500 percent increase on guest workers. Now his position is different. Now he is a passionate opponent of all those things. So he either wasn't telling the truth then or he isn't telling the truth now, but to argue he is a purist on immigration is just not true. +p102 +aVWell, first of all, I don't know how he knows what I said on Univision, because he doesn't speak Spanish. And second of all, the other point that I would make... +p103 +aVLook, this is a disturbing pattern now, because for a number of weeks now, Ted Cruz has just been telling lies. He lied about Ben Carson in Iowa. He lies about Planned Parenthood. He lies about marriage. He's lying about all sorts of things. And now he makes things up. The bottom line is this is a campaign and people are watching it. And they see the truth behind all these issues. And here is the truth, Ted Cruz supported legalizing people that were in this country... +p104 +aV... and only now does he say... +p105 +aVWell, we'll put on our website, marcorubio.com. We're going to... +p106 +aVOn anything I want? +p107 +aVWell, let me talk about poverty. +p108 +aVI do. +p109 +aVI had something important. +p110 +aVThe issue of poverty is critical, because for me, poverty is the \u2014 is \u2014 is free enterprise not reaching people. Today, we have antipoverty programs that don't cure poverty. We don't cure poverty in America. Our antipoverty programs have become, in some instances, a way of life, a lifestyle. Now, we do need antipoverty programs, you can't have free enterprise programs without them, but not as a way of life. And so I have a very specific proposal on this and I don't \u2014 in 60 seconds, I can't describe it all, but it basically turns the program over to states. It allows states to design innovative programs that cure poverty, because I think Nikki Haley will do a better job curing poverty than Barack Obama. +p111 +aVWell, no. It's not the case. It didn't pass, and we haven't solved immigration in this country. It's still a problem. It is worse today than it was three years ago, which is worse than it was five years ago. And it has to be confronted and solved. But the only way forward on this issue \u2014 you asked a question about flexibility. Let me tell you about that. One of the things that you need in leadership is the ability to understand that to get things done, you must figure out the way to get it done. You will not pass comprehensive immigration reform. People do not trust the federal government. They want to see the law being enforced. They want to see illegal immigration come under control. They want to see that wall. They want to see E-Verify. They want to see all of these things working, and then they will have a conversation with you about what do you do with people that have been here a long time that are otherwise, you know, not criminals. But they're not going to do it until you first enforce the law. +p112 +aVThirty seconds. +p113 +aVI speak fast. +p114 +aVWell, I think one of the presidents \u2014 well, the president I grew up under was Ronald Reagan. And Reagan had a vision for America's future. And if you think about what Ronald Reagan inherited, it's not unlike what the next president is going to inherit. This is the worst president we've had in 35 years, 35 years back would have made it Jimmy Carter. That's what Ronald Reagan inherited. And I think the question you would ask is, how did you inspire again the American people to believe in the future? How did you \u2014 what did it take to ensure that the American people, despite all of the difficulties of the time \u2014 you know, you look back at that time, the American military was in decline. Our standing in the world was in decline. We had hostages being held in Iran. Our economy was in bad shape. The American people were scared about the future. They were scared about what kind of country their children were going to live in and inherit. And yet somehow Ronald Reagan was able to instill in our nation and in our people a sense of optimism. And he turned America around because of that vision and ultimately because of that leadership. I wish Ronald Reagan was still around. This country needs someone just like that. And if our next president is even half the president Ronald Reagan was, America is going to be greater than it has ever been. +p115 +aVThank you, and thank you for watching tonight. This is a difficult time in our country. Our economy's flat, it's not creating the jobs it once did, and people struggle living paycheck to paycheck. Our culture's in trouble. Wrong is considered right and right is considered wrong. All the things that once held our families together are now under constant assault. And around the world, America's reputation is in decline. Our allies don't trust us, our adversaries don't fear us, Iran captures our sailors and parades them before the world on video. These are difficult times, but 2016 can be a turning point. That's why I'm running for president, and that's why I'm here today to ask you for your vote. If you elect me president, we are going to re-embrace free enterprise so that everyone can go as far as their talent and their work will take them. We are going to be a country that says that "life begins at conception and life is worthy of the protection of our laws." We're going to be a country that says "that marriage is between one man and one woman." We are going to be a country that says, "The constitution and the rights that it talks about do not come from our president, they come from our creator." We are going to be loyal to our allies like Israel, not enemies like Iran. And we will rebuild the U.S. military so no one will there test it. Vote for me. I will unify this party. I will grow it. We will win this election, and we will make the 21st century a new American century. +p116 +aVWell, let me say, from protecting the people of Florida from imminent domain abuse, to bringing accountability to the V.A., to the Girls Count Act, to sanctioning groups, I'm proud of my service in the United States Senate and before that, in the Florida legislature. I will say, if politics becomes and the presidency becomes about electing people who have been Congress or in the Senate the longest, we should all rally around Joe Biden. He's been around 1,000 years. He's passed hundreds of bills and I don't think any of us believe Joe Biden should be president of the United States. And let's dispel once and for all with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing. Barack Obama is undertaking a systematic effort to change this country, to make America more like the rest of the world. That's why he passed Obamacare and the stimulus and Dodd-Frank and the deal with Iran. It is a systematic effort to change America. When I'm president of the United States, we are going to re-embrace all the things that made America the greatest nation in the world and we are going to leave our children with what they deserve: the single greatest nation in the history of the world. +p117 +aVIf I may respond to that. +p118 +aVWell, I think the experience is not just what you did, but how it worked out. Under Chris Christie's governorship of New Jersey, they've been downgraded nine times in their credit rating. This country already has a debt problem, we don't need to add to it by electing someone who has experience at running up and destroying the credit rating of his state. But I would add this. Let's dispel with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing. He is trying to change this country. He wants America to become more like the rest of the world. We don't want to be like the rest of the world, we want to be the United States of America. And when I'm elected president, this will become once again, the single greatest nation in the history of the world, not the disaster Barack Obama has imposed upon us. +p119 +aVChris \u2014 Chris, your state got hit by a massive snowstorm two weeks ago. You didn't even want to go back. They had to shame you into going back. And then you stayed there for 36 hours and then he left and came back to campaign. Those are the facts. Here's the bottom line. This notion that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing is just not true. He knows exactly what he's doing. +p120 +aVWell, that's the \u2014 that's the reason why this campaign is so important. Because I think this notion \u2014 I think this is an important point. We have to understand what we're going through here. We are not facing a president that doesn't know what he's doing. He knows what he is doing. That's why he's done the things he's done. That's why we have a president that passed Obamacare and the stimulus. All this damage that he's done to America is deliberate. This is a president that's trying to redefine this country. That's why this election is truly a referendum on our identity as a nation, as a people. Our future is at stake. This election is not about the past. It is about what kind of country this is going to be in the 21st century, and if we elect someone like Barack Obama, a Hillary Clinton, a Bernie Sanders or anyone like that, our children are going to be the first Americans to inherit a diminishes country. That will not happen if I'm elected. +p121 +aVChris, you didn't want to go back. You didn't want to go back. +p122 +aVYou didn't want to go back, Chris. +p123 +aVChris, everybody \u2014 you said you weren't going to go back. He told everyone he wasn't going to go back. They had to shame him into going back. And when he decided to go back, he criticized the young lady, saying, what am I supposed to do, go back with a mop and clean up the flooding? +p124 +aV... It's your record, it's not a talking point... +p125 +aVBut Martha, just \u2014 Martha, just to clarify on that point, because he's right, and one more thing to point \u2014 it is standard procedure of the United States to shoot down those missiles once launched if they pose a threat to civilians, land and ships. +p126 +aVWell \u2014 no, I understand. And not \u2014 but \u2014 but I think it's important to note that it is \u2014 and Senator Cruz, I think, was alluding to this, as well \u2014 it is the standard procedure of the United States, if those missiles pose a threat to land, civilians, our allies or any of our assets, to shoot down that missile in mid-flight. I understand your question was about a preemptive strike, but my point is that there is in place now contingencies to avoid any sort of that strike from going errant and destroying any \u2014 any assets of the United States, or implicating or hurting any of our allies or any of our assets in the region. +p127 +aVYeah. I have a \u2014 I got mentioned, can I respond? +p128 +aVHere's the broader point, as well, and then I think it touches on what Donald just mentioned. Barack Obama views America as this arrogant global power that needed to be cut down to size. OK? This is a president that views this country as a country that's been too powerful in the world and we create problems around the world. For example, it's one of the reasons why he had betrayed Israel, because he believes that if we create separation from Israel, it will help our relations in the Islamic world. The same is happening in the Asia-Pacific region with accommodations to North Korea. North Korean should be back on that list of terrorist nations, as an example. And Donald's absolutely right. China does have a lot of influence over North Korea and he should be leveraging our relationship with the Chinese to ensure that North Korea no longer has access to the resources that have allowed them \u2014 a country that has no economy to develop long range missiles already capable of reaching the west coast of the United States potentially. +p129 +aVHere's the bottom line. We can't get that legislation passed. The American people will not support doing anything about people that are in this country illegally until the law is enforced first, and you prove it to them. This has been abundantly clear. Every effort over the last ten years to do those comprehensively has failed. And it has failed because the American people have zero trust that the federal government will enforce our laws. And that's why since then, I have said repeatedly, if you are serious about immigration reform, then the key that unlocks the door to being able to do that is not just to pass a law that says it is going to enforce the law, but to actually do it. To hire the 20,000 new border agents, to finish the fencing and walls, to put in place mandatory e-verify, to put in place an entry-exit tracking system to prevent visa overstays. And once that is in place and that's working, I believe the American people will support a very reasonable, but responsible approach to people that have been here a long time, who are not dangerous criminals, who pay taxes and pay fines for what they did. But until then, none of that is going to be possible. +p130 +aVWell, the legislation passed, but it has no support. In essence, it couldn't pass in the House, it will never pass in the United States until we secure the border, and it is not the way we're going to do when I'm president. When I'm president, we are going to enforce the law first, prove to people that illegal immigration is under control. And then we'll see what the American people are willing to support when it comes to people that are not criminals, who have been in the this country for a long time and who otherwise would like to stay. +p131 +aVLeadership is ultimately about solving the problem. And the approach that was tried and has been tried now repeatedly over ten years to do this comprehensively, all at once in a massive piece of legislation has no chance of passage. It is not leadership to continue to try something that has no chance of happening. I want to make progress on this issue. It has been discussed now for 30 years and nothing ever happens. And I am telling you that the only way forward on this issue that has any chance of happening, meaning gaining the support of the American people, you cannot do this without the support of the American people, is an approach that begins by proving that once and for all, illegal immigration is under control. +p132 +aVGood evening. +p133 +aVWell, I think conservatism is about three things and Donald touched on one of them, but it's about three things. The first is conservatism is about limited government, especially at the federal level. The federal government is a limited government, limited by the Constitution, which delineates its powers. If it's not in the Constitution, it does not belong to the federal government. It belongs to states, local communities and the private sector. It's about free enterprise, which is an economic model that allows everyone to rise without pulling anyone down. The reason why free enterprise is the greatest economic model in the history of the world is because it's the only economic model where you can make poor people richer without making rich people poor. And it's about a strong national defense. It's about believing, unlike Barack Obama, that the world is a safer and a better place when America is the strongest military and the strongest nation on this planet. That's conservatism. +p134 +aVNow, see, I was mentioned by Governor... +p135 +aVYeah. +p136 +aVOK, good, then I'll get to it . Here's the... +p137 +aVWell, no, sorry. Let me respond to that question. +p138 +aVWell, here's the response. I think anyone who believes that Barack Obama isn't doing what he's doing on purpose doesn't understand what we're dealing with here, OK? This is a president \u2014 this is a president who is trying to change this country. When he talked about change, he wasn't talking about dealing with our problems. Obamacare was not an accident. The undermining of the Second Amendment is not an accident. The gutting of our military is not an accident. The undermining of America on the global stage is not an accident. Barack Obama is, indeed, trying to redefine this country. We better understand what we're dealing with here, because that's what Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders want to double down on if they are elected. +p139 +aVNo. He talked about Barack Obama. +p140 +aVYeah. +p141 +aVI don't know of any problem in America that's going to be fixed with a tax increase. We have an economy today, an economy today that is not creating jobs that pay enough. And one of the reasons why is because we have one of the most expensive business tax rates on the planet. Our combined business rate puts us among the highest in the industrialized world. And then on top of that, we are the only one that has a worldwide system of taxation, where an American company who makes money abroad has to pay taxes where they made the money and then taxes a second time when they bring it back. The combination of these two things has stranded over $2 trillion, the equivalent of the size of the Russian economy, $2 trillion of American corporate money stranded overseas, combined with all of these inversions of companies leaving us. The solution to the problems we have today are not a tax increase. It is to lower our taxes on both people and on companies, so we can make America globally competitive again. +p142 +aVWell, first, we need to understand who they are. +p143 +aVBecause they currently occupy Sunni cities and villages. Sunni cities and villages can only truly be liberated and held by Sunnis themselves. If they are held by Shias it will trigger sectarian violence. The Kurds are incredible fighters and they will liberate the Kurdish areas, but Kurds can not and do not want to liberate and hold Sunni villages and towns. It will take Sunni fighters themselves in that region to take those villages and cities, and then to hold them and avoid the sort of sectarian violence that follows in the past. And why that is important is because if Sunnis are not able to govern themselves in these areas, you are going to have a successor group to +p144 +aVWell, the problem with the Sunni forces in the region is they don't trust this administration. This administration cut a deal with their mortal enemies, the Shia, in Iran. It poisoned the well with these countries. It makes it very difficult to cooperate with them as a result. They also, by the way, understand what real U.S. air power looks like. They saw the Iraq war. They saw, up close, also Afghanistan. They know what air power looks like when the United States is committed to the cause. And they see the airstrikes that are being conducted now, and they say to themselves, that's not real commitment. We know what real commitment looks like. The \u2014 the Jordanian king was in Washington three weeks ago. He told everyone who would listen that they have begged for permission from the coalition to target caravans. And the coalition \u2014 meaning U.S. leadership on the ground......would not allow them to proceed with those airstrikes. +p145 +aVWell, when people talk about interrogating terrorists, they're acting like this is some sort of law enforcement function. Law enforcement is about gathering evidence to take someone to trial, and convict them. Anti-terrorism is about finding out information to prevent a future attack so the same tactics do not apply. And, it is true, we should not be discussing in a wide spread way the exact tactics that we're going to use because that allows terrorist to know to practice how to evade us. But, here's the bigger problem with all this, we're not interrogating anybody right now. Guantanamo's being emptied by this president. We should be putting people into Guantanamo, not emptying it out, and we shouldn't be releasing these killers who are rejoining the battlefield against the United States. +p146 +aVI think it's already happening. Look at the turnout in Iowa. A historic number of people came out and voted in those caucuses. There are saying the same thing is going to happen here in New Hampshire. Look at the rallies that every single person on this stage is having. Much higher numbers than you used to see in the past and here is why. Because people are starting to understand, very clearly, that this election is going to be a turning point. That 2016 is not just a choice between Republican or Democrat. It is a referendum on our identity as a nation and as a people. So here is what Hillary Clinton needs to understand. We're going to have our primary, we're going to have our debates \u2014 which by the way, are twice as many as the Democrats have been willing to have themselves. But we're going to bring this party together and we are going to defeat Hillary Clinton, because she is unqualified to be the president of the United States of America. She put classified information on her computer because she thinks she's above the law and anyone who lies to the families of people who have lost their loved ones in the service of our country like she did in Benghazi, can never be the commander-in-chief of the United States of America. +p147 +aVI would. But that's not \u2014 the issue \u2014 my problem with what he did is he continues to put out this fiction that there's widespread systematic discrimination against Muslim Americans. First of all, let's recognize this. If you go to a national cemetery in this country, you will see stars of Davids and crosses, but you see crescent moons. There are brave men and women who happen to be Muslim Americans who are serving this country in uniform and who have died in the service of this country. And we recognize that and we honor that. But by the same token, we face a very significant threat of home grown violent extremism. We need to have strong, positive relationships in the Islamic communities in this country so they will identify and report this activity, especially mosques, for example, that are participating not just in hate speech, but inciting violence and taking acts against us. And I do believe it is important also to recognize, you want to talk about religious discrimination in America. Well, I don't think Barack Obama is being sued by any Islamic groups, but he is being sued by the Little Sisters of the Poor. We are facing in this country Christian groups and groups that hold traditional values who feel and in fact are being discriminated against by the laws of this country that try to force them to vie to violate their conscience. +p148 +aVFirst, let me say there are already women today serving in roles that are like combat. That, in fact, whose lives are in very serious danger, and so I have no problem whatsoever with people of either gender serving in combat so long as the minimum requirements necessary to do the job are not compromised. But, I support that, and obviously now that that is the case I do believe that Selective Service should be opened up for both men and women in case a Draft is ever instituted. I think the more fundamental challenge we're now facing is what's happening to the U.S. military \u2014 I've said this many times, and I think it's important to start paying attention to this. Our Air Force is about to be the smallest it's been in 100 years. I'm sorry, in our history. Our Army is set to be smaller than it's been since the second World War, and our Navy is about to be the smallest than it's been in 100 years. I think we need to begin to refocus on rebuilding our military because every time we have cut our military in the history of this country we have had to come back later and rebuild it, and it costs more, and it's a lot more chaotic and dangerous. When I'm president, we are rebuilding the U.S. military. +p149 +aVWell, my brother's a veteran. We're very proud of him in our family. He served as a green beret in the 7th Special Forces from 1968 through 1971. And as part of his training, he jumped out of an airplane and he lost his two front teeth. And for years, he's had to go to get these dental claims. And every times he goes to get one of these dental claims filled, the V.A. asks him, "well, how do we know you lost your teeth in the Army?" And he says, "well, it's the only time I ever jumped out of a plane." But he's had to fight through this process, and I've watched it firsthand. That's why I'm proud that I worked in a bipartisan way. We passed the V.A. Accountability bill that, for the first time, allows us to fire \u2014 allows the V.A. secretary to fire someone who's not doing a good job, who's a senior executive. And the governor's right. They've only fired three people up to now. More people will be fired if I'm president. But the portability part of it is incredibly important. Veterans should be able to take their V.A. benefits to any hospital or any doctor they want to go to. When I am president of the United States, veterans will be able to take their benefits to any hospital or doctor that they choose. +p150 +aVWell, first of all, I don't believe that believing in traditional marriage the way I do makes you a bigot or a hater. It means that you believe that this institution that's been around for millenial is an important cornerstone of society. I respect people that believe differently. But I believe deeply, that marriage should be between one man and one woman. On the issue of life, to me, the issue of life is not a political issue. It's a human rights issue and it's a difficult issue, because it puts in conflict two competing rights. On the one hand is the right of a woman to choose what to do with her body which is a real right. And on the other hand is the right of an unborn human child to live. And they're in conflict. And as a policy maker, I must choose which one of these two sides takes precedence. And I have chosen to err on the side of life. Here's what I find outrageous. There has been five Democratic debates. The media has not asked them a single question on abortion and on abortion, the Democrats are extremists. Why doesn't the media ask Hillary Clinton why she believes that all abortion should be legal, even on the due date of that unborn child. Why don't they ask Hillary Clinton why she believe that partial- birth abortion, which is a gruesome procedure that has been outlawed in this country, she thinks that's a fundamental right. They are the extremists......when it comes to the issue of abortion and I can't wait to expose them in a general election. HAM: Governor Bush? I want to come to you. Your allies have recently attacked Senator Rubio for being too pro-life to be elected in November. You made a similar charge stating it in an interview. This is a pro-life party. Do you stand behind that criticism? +p151 +aVI do support protection for the life of the mother because I'm pro-life. I just believe deeply that all human life is worthy of protection of our laws. If I'm president and there's a bill that's passed that saves lives but it has exceptions, I'll sign it. But I do believe deeply that all human life is worthy of the protection of laws. I've already said, for me, the issue of life is not a political issue and I want to be frank. I would rather lose an election than be wrong on the issue of life. HAM: Governor Christie. You too, have talked about Senator Rubio's position on the life issue. Some conservative activists have called this line of attack harmful to the pro-life cause. +p152 +aVWell, I was going for Peyton Manning, but now I'm rooting for Carolina. +p153 +aVThank you. You know, this week I had the great pleasure of having my kids join me on the campaign trail. I hadn't' seen them in a while, and it was great to have them alongside me, but the most important part of it is that it once again reminded me of what's at stake. Here in New Hampshire in less than 72 hours, we are literally deciding what kind of country we will be like when they are my age. What kind of country they will be able to raise their families in. And, that's why I'm asking you for your vote. You vote for me, and we will unite this party, we will grow the conservative movement, we will defeat Hillary Clinton, and we will leave our children what our parents left us. The single greatest nation in the history of all mankind. Thank you. +p154 +aVChris, let's begin by being clear what this campaign is about. It's not about Donald Trump. He's an entertaining guy. He's the greatest show on earth. This campaign is about the greatest country in the world and a president who has systematically destroyed many of the things that made America special. You see, we usually elect presidents in America that want to change the things that are wrong in America. Barack Obama wants to change America. Barack Obama wants America to be more like the rest of the world. We don't want to be like the rest of the world. We want to be the United States of America. That is why Hillary Clinton cannot win this election. Hillary Clinton this week said Barack Obama would make a great Supreme Court justice. The guy who systematically and habitually violates the constitution on the Supreme Court? I don't think so. If I'm our nominee, I will unite this party and we'll defeat Hillary Clinton and we will turn this country around once and for all, after seven years of the disaster that is Barack Obama. +p155 +aVI think, you know, Rand and I have some significant issues on policy, but I respect Rand. He believes everything he stands for. I do respect Rand. But I want to be frank about what I stand for. I believe the world is a safer and a better place when America is the strongest power in the world. And I believe only with a strong America will we defeat this radical group, this apocalyptic group called +p156 +aVWell, again, I mean, obviously, as already has been pointed out, the only budget that Ted has ever voted for is a budget that Rand Paul sponsored that brags about cutting defense spending. And I think that's a bad idea for the following reason. +p157 +aV... First of all \u2014 Let me go first, and then you can please recognize Rand after. First of all... +p158 +aV... do I go \u2014 let me go first, and then you can please recognize Rand after. But... ... first of all... +p159 +aV... first of all, I'm \u2014 don't worry, I'm not leaving the stage no matter what you ask me. +p160 +aVAnd second of all... ... and I think \u2014 you know, Governor \u2014 Jeb, you \u2014 the attack that \u2014 the authorization that Barack Obama asked for was not against +p161 +aVMegyn, that's the problem. Radical Muslims and radical Islam is not just hate talk. It's hate action. They blow people up. Look what they did in San Bernardino. Look at the attack they inspired in Philadelphia, that the White House still refuses to link to terror, where a guy basically shot a police officer three times. He told the police, "I did it because I was inspired by +p162 +aVMight I respond? The first thing \u2014 I don't know of anyone who's not in favor of fully vetting people that are trying to come into this country, other than perhaps Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. I think we all support that. Rand's amendment was not the right way to do it. I do believe that people who are trying to come to the United States \u2014 this country has a right to know who they are and why they are coming. And that's why I've been clear, when I am the president of the United States of America, we don't know who you are, and we don't know why you're trying to come to the United States, you are not going to get in, because the radical threat that we now face from +p163 +aVWell, Bret, first that's not entirely the story. At the time, the liberal governor of Florida, who claimed he was a Republican \u2014 his name was Charlie Crist \u2014 he wanted to impose cap-and-trade on Florida. And I opposed it. I was the first person out of the box that opposed him on it. And then we saw that the leading candidates for president at the time, both the Republican and the Democrats, all supported it. And what we said is, if they're going to impose this on us, we better prepare to protect the state from it. But I have never supported cap- and-trade and I never thought it was a good idea. And I was clear about that at the time. And I do not believe it's a good idea now. I do not believe that we have to destroy our economy in order to protect our environment. And especially what these programs are asking us to pass that will do nothing to help the environment, but will be devastating for our economy. When I am president of the United States of America, there will never be any cap-and-trade in the United States. +p164 +aVNever support. Never have and never will support any effort to grant blanket legalization amnesty to folks who have entered, or stayed in this country illegally. +p165 +aVFirst of all, earned path to citizenship is basically code for amnesty. It's what they call it. And, the reality of it is this, it is unfair to the people that have legally entered this country to create an alternative for individuals who entered illegally, and knowingly did so. +p166 +aVYou cannot grant amnesty. If the American people see us granting amnesty they will never again believe in legal immigration. They will never again support it, and that's wrong for our country, bad for our future. +p167 +aVNo, because if you look at the quote, and it's very specific. And, it says blanket amnesty, I do not support blanket amnesty... +p168 +aV... I do not support amnesty... +p169 +aV... No, I said I do not support blanket amnesty... +p170 +aV... It was... +p171 +aV... It absolutely has been, and at the time in the context of that was in 2009, and 2010, where the last effort for legalization was an effort done in the Senate. It was an effort led by several people that provided almost an instant path with very little obstacles moving forward. What I've always said is that this issue does need to be solved. They've been talking about this issue for 30 years, and nothing ever happens. And, I'm going to tell you exactly how we're going to deal with it when I am president. Number one, we're going to keep +p172 +aVMay I respond? +p173 +aVIt's interesting that Jeb mentions the book. That's the book where you changed your position on immigration because you used to support a path to citizenship. +p174 +aVWell, but you changed the \u2014 in the book... +p175 +aVYou wrote a book where you changed your position from a path of citizenship to a path of legalization. And the bottom line is this, we are not going to be able to do anything on this issue until we first bring illegal immigration under control. The American people have been told for 30 years they're going to enforce the border, they're going to build a wall and it never gets built and it never happens. It is very clear there will be no progress on this issue in any way, shape or form, until you prove to the people of this country that illegal immigration is under control. And when I'm president, we are going to bring it under control once and for all after 30 years of talking about it. +p176 +aVBut Megyn... +p177 +aVThere's not going to be consensus on this issue until we enforce our immigration laws. That is abundantly clear. You're not going to be able to ram down the throat of the American people your approach. The only way we're are going to be able to move forward after two migratory crises with minor, after two unconstitutional executive orders, the only way forward on this issue is to first bring illegal immigration under control. And until that happens there's not going to be consensus on this issue. +p178 +aVYeah, but let me respond... +p179 +aV... no, I understand, but let me respond. I was mentioned on this \u2014 in this answer, and so I'm going to respond this way. This is the lie that Ted's campaign is built on, and Rand touched upon it \u2014 that he's the most conservative guy, and everyone else is a \u2014 you know, everyone else is a rhino. The truth is, Ted, throughout this campaign, you've been willing to say or do anything in order to get votes. Ted, you worked for George W. Bush's campaign... You \u2014 you \u2014 you helped design George W. Bush's \u2014 you helped design George W. Bush's immigration policy. And then, when you got to the Senate, you did an interview with CBS News \u2014 I wasn't even part of the video \u2014 where you said, on the issue of people that are here illegally, "we can reach a compromise." And then in the committee, you said, "I want to bring people out of the shadows." Now you want to trump Trump on immigration. But you can't \u2014 we're not gonna beat Hillary Clinton with someone who's willing to say or do anything to win an election. +p180 +aVAnd I think that's the false choice... ... that's the \u2014 that's the false choice in this whole debate about immigration. Of course, we're going to be a nation of immigrants. By the way, no nation on earth is more generous than America is. Every single year close to a million people emigrate to the United States legally. There's no nation on earth that comes close to that number. I think the only argument is are we a sovereign country, are we not allowed to choose who comes in, when they come in and how they come in? And that's not what's happening now. +p181 +aVI think the other problem is we have a legal immigration system that's outdated, it's primarily based on whether you have family members living here. In the 21st century, it has to be more of a merit-based system, and that is why our legal immigration system is in need of modernization. And we will always celebrate legal immigration like Dulce's great story. +p182 +aVWell, I believe, and I know that if Iowa helps make me the Republican nominee, I will defeat Hillary Clinton. Hillary doesn't want to run against me, but I cannot wait to run against her. And I cannot wait to earn the opportunity to do it because she cannot be the president of the United States. She wants to put Barack Obama on the Supreme Court of the United States of America. She said that here in Iowa just two days ago. That would be a disaster for this country. So I hope and pray and cannot wait until this state and others give me an opportunity to serve this party as its nominee because I will defeat Hillary Clinton. +p183 +aVWell, let me be clear about one thing, there's only one savior and it's not me. It's Jesus Christ who came down to earth and died for our sins. And so \u2014 and I've always made that clear about that cover story. As far as the polls are concerned, Iowa, on Monday night you're going to go to a caucus site and you'll be the first Americans that vote in this election. You will be the first Americans that get to answer the fundamental question, what comes next for this country after seven disastrous years of Barack Obama? And let me tell you what the answer better not be. It better not be Bernie Sanders. Bernie Sanders is a socialist. I think Bernie Sanders is good candidate for president of Sweden. We don't want to be Sweden. We want to be the United States of America. And Hillary Clinton, Hillary Clinton is disqualified from being the commander-in-chief of the United States. In fact, one of her first acts as president may very well be to pardon herself because Hillary Clinton... Hillary Clinton stored classified information on her private server. And Hillary Clinton lied to the families of those four brave Americans who lost their life in Benghazi. And anyone who lies to the families of Americans who have died in the service of this country can never be commander-in-chief of the United States. +p184 +aVYeah, I would encourage people to go on my website, marcorubio.com, and we'll put all the facts up there so people can see it for themselves. But you've just asked a very fundamental question about the role of faith in our country. And I think this is an important question. I think if you do not understand that our Judeo-Christian values are one of the reasons why America is such a special country, you don't understand our history. You see, why are we one of the most generous people in the world \u2014 no, the most generous people in the world? Why do Americans contribute millions of dollars to charity? It is not because of the tax writeoff. It is because in this nation, we are influenced by Judeo-Christian values that teach us to care for the less fortunate, to reach out to the needy, to love our neighbor. This is what's made our nation so special. And you should hope that our next president is someone that is influence by their faith. Because if your faith causes you to care for the less fortunate, it is something you want to see in your public figures. And when I'm president, I can tell you this, my faith will not just influence the way I'll govern as president, it will influence the way I live my life. Because in the end, my goal is not simply to live on this earth for 80 years, but to live an eternity with my creator. And I will always allow my faith to influence everything I do. +p185 +aVWell, let me first describe Iran because they're not just a normal nation state. And we have no quarrel with the Iranian people. But the Iranian leader, their supreme leader is a radical Shia cleric who has an apocalyptic vision of the future. He views himself not simply as the leader of Iran, but as the leader of all Muslims \u2014 all Shia Muslims on the planet. And they have a desire not simply to conquer the Middle East and to become the dominant power in that region, but ultimately to be able to hold America hostage. That is why they're building an \u2014 right now, developing long- range missiles capable of reaching the United States, and that is why there's going \u2014 they're going to use those $100 billion to expand their conventional capabilities and to one day buy or build a nuclear weapon. We will \u2014 when I am president of the United States, on my first day in office, we are canceling the deal with Iran, and nations will have to make a choice. They can do business with Iran, or they can do business with America, and I am very confident they're going to choose America before they choose the Iranian economy. +p186 +aVThe bible commands us to let our light shine on the world. For over 200 years, America's light has been shining on the world and the world has never been the same again. But now, that light is dimming a little, after seven years of Barack Obama. And that's why Monday night, what will happen here in Iowa is so important. I'm asking you for your vote. Caucus for me on Monday night because if I am your nominee, I will unite this party and I will defeat Hillary Clinton and when I'm president, America's light will shine again and the 21 century will be a new American century. +p187 +aVYeah, I would go, first of all, one step further in this description of Hillary Clinton. She wouldn't just be a disaster, Hillary Clinton is disqualified from being commander in chief of the United States. Someone who cannot handle intelligence information appropriately cannot be commander in chief and someone who lies to the families of those four victims in Benghazi can never be president of the United States. Ever. On the issue of Barack Obama, Barack Obama does not believe that America is a great global power. Barack Obama believes that America is a arrogant global power that needs to be cut down to size. And that's how you get a foreign policy where we cut deals with our enemies like Iran and we betray our allies like Israel and we gut our military and we go around the world like he has done on 10 separate occasions and apologized for America. He doesn't understand the threat in +p188 +aVLet me . I was invoked in that question, so let me just say \u2014 in that answer \u2014 let me say, the real question here, I hate to interrupt this episode of Court TV. But the real \u2014 but I think we have to get back to what this election has to be about. OK? Listen, we \u2014 this is the greatest country in the history of mankind. But in 2008, we elected a president that didn't want to fix America. He wants to change America. We elected a president that doesn't believe in the Constitution. He undermines it. We elected a president that is weakening America on the global stage. We elected a president that doesn't believe in the free enterprise system. This election has to be about reversing all of that damage. That's why I'm running for office because when I become president of the United States, on my first day in office we are going to repeal every single one of his unconstitutional executive orders. When I'm president of the United States we are getting rid of Obamacare and we are rebuilding our military. And when I'm president, we're not just going to have a president that gives a State of the Union and says America is the greatest country in the world. When I'm president, we're going to have a president that acts like it. +p189 +aVYou know, as I said already twice in this , we have a very serious problem in this country. We have a president of the United States that is undermining this country's security and expanding the role of... +p190 +aVWell, I am going to answer your question, Neil. He is \u2014 this president is undermining the constitutional basis of this government. This president is undermining our military. He is undermining our standing in the world. I like Chris Christie, but we can not afford to have a president of the United States that supports Common Core. We can not afford to have a president of the United States that supports gun control. This president, this president is more interested in funding \u2014 less interested in funding the military, than he is in funding planned \u2014 he's more interested in funding Planned Parenthood than he is in funding the military. Chris Christie wrote a check to Planned Parenthood. All I'm saying is our next president has to be someone that undoes the damage Barack Obama has done to this country. It can not be someone that agrees with his agenda. Because the damage he has done to America is extraordinary. Let me tell you, if we don't get this election right, there may be no turning back for America. We're on the verge of being the first generation of Americans that leave our children worse off than ourselves. So I just truly, with all my heart belief, I like everybody on the stage. No one is a socialist. No one here is under FBI investigation. So we have a good group of people. +p191 +aVOur next president... +p192 +aVUnfortunately, Governor Christie has endorsed many of the ideas that Barack Obama supports, whether it is Common Core or gun control or the appointment of Sonia Sotomayor or the donation he made to Planned Parenthood. Our next president, and our Republican nominee can not be someone who supports those positions. +p193 +aVThat sounds like people are afraid the president's going to take their guns away. Look, the Second Amendment is not an option. It is not a suggestion. It is a constitutional right of every American to be able to protect themselves and their families. I am convinced that if this president could confiscate every gun in America, he would. I am convinced that this president, if he could get rid of the Second Amendment, he would. I am convinced because I see how he works with his attorney general, not to defend the Second Amendment, but to figure out ways to undermine it. I have seen him appoint people to our courts not to defend the Second Amendment, but to figure out ways to undermine it. Here's my second problem. None of these instances that the president points to as the reason why he's doing these things would have been preventive. You know why? Because criminals don't buy their guns from a gun show. They don't buy their guns from a collector. And they don't buy their guns from a gun store. They get \u2014 they steal them. They get them on the black market. And let me tell you, +p194 +aVAbout every two weeks, he holds a press conference talking about how he can't wait to restrict people's access to guns. He has never defended......I'll give you a fact. Well, let me tell you this. Do you remember when he ran for president of the United States, and he was a candidate, and he went and said, "These Americans with traditional values, they are bitter people, and they cling to their guns and to their religion." That tells you right away where he was headed on all of this. This president every chance he has ever gotten has tried to undermine the Second Amendment. He doesn't meet \u2014 here's the difference. When he meets with the attorney general in the White House, it's not "how can we protect the Second Amendment rights of Americans." It's "give me options on how I can make it harder for law-abiding people to buy guns." That will never happen when I am president of the United States. +p195 +aVWell, first of all, let's understand why we are even having this and why Donald tapped in to some of that anger that's out there about this whole issue. Because this president has consistently underestimated the threat of +p196 +aVBut on this point, if I may add something on this point. We are all frustrated with what China is doing. I think we need to be very careful with tariffs, and here's why. China doesn't pay the tariff, the buyer pays the tariff. If you send a tie or a shirt made in China into the United States and an American goes to buy it at the store and there's a tariff on it, it gets passed on in the price to price to the consumer. So I think the better approach, the best thing we can do to protect ourselves against China economically is to make our economy stronger, which means reversing course from all the damage Barack Obama is doing to this economy. It begins with tax reform. Let's not have the most expensive business tax rate in the world. Let's allow companies to immediately expense. It continues with regulatory reform. Regulations in this country are out of control, especially the Employment Prevention Agency, the EPA, and all of the rules they continue to impose on our economy and hurting us. How about Obamacare, a certified job killer? It needs to be repealed and replaced. And we need to bring our debt under control, make our economy stronger. That is the way to deal with China at the end of the day. +p197 +aVWell, first let me address the tax issue because it's related to the entitlement issue and I want to thank you for holding a substantive debates where we can have debates about these key issues on taxes. Here is the one thing I'm not going to do. I'm not going to have something that Ted described in his tax plan. It's called the value added tax. And it's a tax you find in many companies in Europe. Where basically, businesses now will have to pay a tax, both on the money they make, but they also have to pay taxes on the money that they pay their employees. And that's why they have it in Europe, because it is a way to blindfolded the people, that's what Ronald Reagan said. Ronald Regan opposed the value tax because he said it was a way to blindfold the people, so the true cost of government was not there there for them. Now, you can support one now that's very low. But what is to prevent a future liberal president or a liberal Congress from coming back and not just raising the income tax, but also raising that VAT tax, and that vat tax is really bad for seniors. Because seniors, if they are retired, are no longer earning an income from a job. And therefore, they don't get the income tax break, but their prices are going to be higher, because the vat tax is embedded in both the prices that business that are charging and in the wages they pay their employees. When I am president of the United States, I'm going to side with Ronald Regan on this and not Nancy Pelosi and we are not having a vat tax. +p198 +aVBut that's not an accurate description of the plan. Because, first of all, you may rename the IRS but you are not going to abolishes the IRS, because there has to be some agency that's going to collect your vat tax. Someone's going to be collecting this tax. In fact, Ronald Reagan's treasury, when Ronald Reagan's treasury looked at the vat tax, you know what they found? That they were going to have to hire 20,000 new IRS agencies to collect it. The second point, it does not eliminate the corporate tax or the payroll tax. Businesses will now have to pay 16 percent on the money they make. They will also have to pay 16 percent on the money they pay their employees. So there are people watching tonight in business. If you are now hit on a 60 percent tax on both your income and on the wages you pay your employees, where are you going to get that money from? You're going to get it by paying your employees less and charging your customers more, that is a tax, the difference is, you don't see it on the bill. And that's why Ronald Reagan said that it was a blindfold. You blindfold the American people so that they cannot see the true cost of government. Now 16 percent is what the rate Ted wants it at. But what happens if, God forbid, the next Barack Obama takes over, and the next Nancy Pelosi, and the next Harry Reid......and they decide, we're going to raise it to 30 percent, plus we're going to raise the income tax to 30 percent. Now, you've got Europe. +p199 +aVIf you'll answer the core question. +p200 +aVWell, first of all, this is an issue that's been debated now for 30 years. And for 30 years, the issue of immigration has been about someone who's in this country, maybe they're here illegally, but they're looking for a job. This issue is not about that anymore. First and foremost, this issue has to be now more than anything else about keeping America safe. And here's why. There is a radical jihadist group that is manipulating our immigration system. And not just green cards. They're looking \u2014 they're recruiting people that enter this country as doctors and engineers and even fiances. They understand the vulnerabilities we have on the southern border. They're looking \u2014 they're looking to manipulate our \u2014 the visa waiver countries to get people into the United States. So our number one priority must now become ensuring that +p201 +aVThe issue is a dramatically different issue than it was 24 months ago. Twenty-four months ago, 36 months ago, you did not have a group of radical crazies named +p202 +aVMaria, let me clear something up here. This is an interesting point when you talk about immigration. Ted Cruz, you used to say you supported doubling the number of green cards, now you say that you're against it. You used to support a 500 percent increase in the number of guest workers, now you say that you're against it. You used to support legalizing people that were here illegally, now you say you're against it. You used to say that you were in favor of birthright citizenship, now you say that you are against it. And by the way, it's not just on immigration, you used to support TPA, now you say you're against it. I saw you on the Senate floor flip your vote on crop insurance because they told you it would help you in Iowa, and last week, we all saw you flip your vote on ethanol in Iowa for the same reason. That is not consistent conservatism, that is political calculation. When I am president, I will work consistently every single day to keep this country safe, not call Edward Snowden, as you did, a great public servant. Edward Snowden is a traitor. And if I am president and we get our hands on him, he is standing trial for treason. And one more point, one more point. Every single time that there has been a Defense bill in the Senate, three people team up to vote against it. Bernie Sanders, Rand Paul and Ted Cruz. In fact, the only budget you have ever voted for, Ted, in your entire time in the Senate is a budget from Rand Paul that brags about how it cuts defense. Here's the bottom line, and I'll close with this. If I'm president of the United States and Congress tries to cut the military, I will veto that in a millisecond. +p203 +aVNo, it's your record. +p204 +aVYou know, 200 years ago, America was founded on this powerful principle that our rights don't come from government. Our rights come from God. That's why we embraced free enterprise, and it made us the most prosperous people in the history of the world. That's why we embraced individual liberty, and we became the freest people ever, and the result was the American miracle. But now as I travel the country, people say what I feel. This country is changing. It feels different. We feel like we're being left behind and left out. And the reason is simple: because in 2008, we elected as president someone who wasn't interested in fixing America. We elected someone as president who wants to change America, who wants to make it more like the rest of the world. And so he undermines the Constitution, and he undermines free enterprise by expanding government, and he betrays our allies and cuts deals with our enemies and guts our military. And that's why 2016 is a turning point in our history. If we elect Hillary Clinton, the next four years will be worse than the last eight, and our children will be the first Americans ever to inherit a diminished country. But if we elect the right person \u2014 if you elect me \u2014 we will turn this country around, we will reclaim the American dream and this nation will be stronger and greater than it has ever been. +p205 +asVKASICH +p206 +(lp207 +VWell, John, first of all, if I were president, we wouldn't have the divisions in the country we have today. I do want to take a second as we reflected on Judge Scalia, it's amazing \u2014 it's not even two minutes after the death of Judge Scalia, nine children here today, their father didn't wake up. His wife, sad, but I just wish we hadn't run so fast into politics. Here's my concern about this. The country is so divided right now, and now we're going to see another partisan fight take place. I really wish the president would think about not nominating somebody. If you were to nominate somebody, let's have him pick somebody that's going to have unanimous approval, and such widespread approval across the country that this could happen without a lot of recrimination. I don't think that's going to happen, and I would like the president just to, for once here, put the country first. We're going to have an election for president very soon, and the people will understand what is at stake in that election. And so I believe the president should not move forward, and I think that we ought to let the next president of the United States decide who is going to run that Supreme Court with a vote by the people of the United......States of America. +p208 +aVFirst of all \u2014 yes. First of all, look, we have to make it clear to Russia what we expect. We don't have to declare an enemy, rattle a sword or threaten, but we need to make it clear what we expect. No. 1 is we will arm the folks in Ukraine who are fighting for their freedom. They deserve it. There will be no ifs, ands or buts about it. Secondly, an attack on +p209 +aVI've got to tell you, this is just crazy, huh? This is just nuts, O.K.? Jeez, oh, man. I'm sorry, John. +p210 +aVOh, well, listen, I think being in Iraq, look, we thought there were weapons of mass destruction. Colin Powell, who is one of the most distinguished generals in modern time, said there were weapons there. But, but, the fact is we got ourselves in the middle of a civil war. The Sunni, the Shia and the Kurds, never gotten along. In fact, that country was drawn \u2014 the borders of that country were drawn after World War I by Westerners that didn't understand what was happening there. The tragedy of it is that we're still embroiled. And, frankly, if there weren't weapons of mass destruction, we should never have gone. I don't believe the United States should involve itself in civil wars. Civil wars are not in our direct interest, and if you \u2014 and look, I served on a defense committee for 18 years and was called into the Pentagon after 9/11 by Secretary Rumsfeld to deal with some of the most serious problems that we faced. The fact is, is that we should go to war when it is our direct interest. We should not be policemen of the world, but when we go, we mean business. We'll do our job. We'll tell our soldiers, our people in the service, take care of your job and then come home once we've accomplished our goals. That's what we need to do. +p211 +aVYeah. Well, first of all, those numbers, incorrect. We are \u2014 our Medicaid programs are coming in below cost estimates, and our Medicaid program in the second year grew at 2.5 percent. And Kimberley, let me tell you, when we expand Medicaid and we treat the mentally ill, then they don't live under a bridge or live in a prison, where they cost $22,500 a year. When we take the drug addicted and we treat them in the prisons, we stop the revolving door of people in and out of prisons, and we save $22,500 a year. Guess what else? They get their lives back. And the working poor, they're now getting health care. And you know that about a third of the people who are now getting that health care are people who are suffering very serious illnesses, particularly cancer. So, what I would tell you is, we've gone from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. We've cut taxes by more than any governor in America by $5 billion. We have grown the number of jobs by 400,000 private-sector jobs since I've been governor. Our credit is strong. Our pensions are strong. And frankly, we leave no one behind. Economic growth is not an end unto itself. We want everyone to rise, and we will make them personally responsible for the help that they get. And that is exactly the program we're driving in Ohio. And, boy, people ought to look at Ohio, because it has got a good formula. +p212 +aVYeah, let me say a couple of things. First of all, when Jeb was governor, his first four years as governor, he expand \u2014 his Medicaid program grew twice as fast as mine. O.K.? It's just a fact. Now, with Obamacare, I've not only sued the administration, I did not set up an exchange. And he knows that I'm not for Obamacare, never have been. But here's what's interesting about Medicaid. You know who expanded Medicaid five times to try to help the folks and give them opportunity so that you could rise and get a job? President Ronald Reagan. Now, the fact of the matter is, we expanded to get people on their feet, and once they're on their feet, we are giving them the training and the efforts that they need to be able to get work and pull out of that situation. +p213 +aVThat's what we're doing in our state. +p214 +aVLet me \u2014 let's tell you... +p215 +aVMajor \u2014 Major, we can't \u2014 we've got to \u2014 look, I have got to correct the record. And the fact of the matter is, we went from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. We're up 400,000 jobs. Our credit is rock solid. And I don't know... +p216 +aVLook, the bottom line is the people of this \u2014 of this country and this state want to see everybody rise, and they want to see unity, and I don't want to get into all this fighting tonight, because people are frankly sick of the negative campaigning. +p217 +aVAnd I'm going to stay positive about what I want to do from the... +p218 +aVBefore I get to that, this is the ninth or 10th debate. What I've been watching here, this back and forth, and these attacks, some of them are personal. I think we're fixing to lose the election to Hillary Clinton if we don't stop this. I mean, the fact is \u2014 you know what? I would suggest, why don't we take off all the negative ads and all the negative comments down from television and let us just talk about what we're for, and let's sell that, and the Republican Party will be stronger as a result... +p219 +aV... First of all, I'm for sealing the border, O.K.? And then I'm for a guest worker program. People can come in, work and go back home. We haven't closed the border because special interests, I believe, blocked it. Then, we have 11 and a half million people here. If they have not committed a crime since they've been here, make them pay a fine and some back taxes, and give them a path to legalization, never to citizenship. It is not going to happen that we're going to run around and try to drag 11 and a half million people out of their homes. I'll tell you this. Within the first hundred days, I will send a plan like this to the Congress of the United States, and if I'm president, I'll bet you dollar to doughnuts right now, it will pass. That is a reasonable proposal that the people of this country, in my judgment, will support, and so will the bulk of the Congress of the United States. +p220 +aVYou know, John, I think all people are the same. Look, I did 106 town halls, and I've been doing them left and right here in South Carolina. The first thing we have to do is grow the economy, and I know the formula because I was chairman in Washington when we balanced the budget and created so many jobs, and the same that we've been able to do in Ohio. You need common-sense regulations so small business can flourish, you need lower taxes both on business and individuals, and you need a fiscal plan to be able to get ourselves in a situation where people can predict a little bit about the future when it comes to the fiscal issues. And when you have that formula, combined with work force that's trained, you can explode the economy and create many jobs. I have done it twice, and I want to go back to Washington and do it again. John, the thing is, is I think that there are people now, these blue-collar Democrats \u2014 my dad was a blue-collar Democrat \u2014 the Democratic Party has left them. When they're arguing about being socialists, they've left \u2014 they have lost those blue-collar Democrats. And you know what I think they get out of me \u2014 is my sense of what they get out of me, and it's embarrassment about campaigns, you brag about yourself. But I think I'm a uniter, I think people sense it. I think they know I have the experience, and that I'm a man that can give people hope and a sense that they have the opportunity rise. And I'll tell you, I love these blue-collar Democrats, because they're going to vote for us come next fall, promise you that. +p221 +aVWell, I want to thank the people of South Carolina. You've been fantastic. And look, what I want you to know is I'm going to send a lot of power, money and influence back to where we all live. But as I've traveled around South Carolina, I've noticed something. You know, it's that people have a sense that you're not going to wait on a president. You know, when I was a kid, we didn't wait on presidents to come to that little blue-collar town and fix things. You know, the Lord made all of us special. The Lord wants us to be connected. I believe we're part of a very big mosaic. And I'll send the power back. And whoever gets elected president here, hopefully will take care of the issue of jobs and wages and Social Security and the border. But the spirit of the America rests in all of us. It's in our guts. It's taking care of our children. It's taking care of the lady next door who just lost her husband. It's fixing the schools where we live and telling kids to stay off drugs. You see, I think what the Lord wants is for to us engage, and in America, the spirit of America doesn't come from the top down. The spirit of America rests in us. And I want to call on everyone in America to double down and realize that you were made special to heal this country and lift it for everyone. Thank you all very much. And I hope I can have your vote in South Carolina. +p222 +aVWell, we've got to to step up the pressure. And by the way, I've gotta say, after being here, every one of my 100 town hall meetings in New Hampshire were a lot more fun than what I saw here today, were so much more positive. Look, in terms of North Korea, Martha, we have to make sure that we intercept both the ships and their aircraft, because what they're trying to do is to proliferate this very dangerous material, along with the \u2014 with the technology, the instruments that can be used for mass destruction. That's what I worry about the most, frankly, is non-state actors, people who don't have a uniform, people don't have a country, who can spread this, who are not subject to the \u2014 to the mutual assured defense. In other words, you strike us, we strike you. Some of these radicals, they don't care about that. That's what I worry about, for my children, and for their children, going forward. So, we have to be very tough. And we should tell the Chinese, look, if you're not going to do this ballistic missile defense to the Koreans, ballistic missile defense to Japan \u2014 and by the way, we should impose the same kind of sanctions on North Korea that we imposed on Iran, because they're able to shift money. They're able to send money and receive money. We've gotta to be very tough on this. And frankly, I think we could have \u2014 I think we could have let the Japanese know that if you want to take action on that \u2014 on that missile that's rising, you want to take action \u2014 you will have our support, if that's what you think is the best thing to do. We cannot continue to be weak in the face of the North Koreans, or, frankly, in the entire rest of the world. Martha, this is \u2014 this is the \u2014 relates... +p223 +aVWell, you know, David, I \u2014 I've just spent a lot of time here in this state, as I mentioned earlier, and we have to have practical solutions, just like we were just talking about a few minutes ago on North Korea. Look, the situation is, we need to finish the border. It has to be completed. Just like we lock our doors at night, the country has to be able to lock its doors. And we can have a guest worker program, where people can come in and out in an orderly way. And then for the 11.5 million that are here, if they have not committed a crime since they've been here, I believe they ought to pay some back taxes, pay a fine, never get on the path to citizenship, but get legalization. It is not \u2014 I couldn't even imagine how we would even begin to think about taking a mom or a dad out of a house when they have not committed a crime since they've been here, leaving their children in the house. I mean, that is not, in my opinion, the kind of values that we believe in. And secondly, I think at the end of the day, that Americans would support a plan like this. I think Congress would pass a plan to finish the border, guest worker, pay a fine, a path to legalization, and not citizenship. And we've got to get this done. And I will tell you this, within the first 100 days that I am president, I will put that proposal to the Congress. And I will tell you, as a former Congressman, and an executive, in Ohio, I can promise you that I believe you'll get the votes to pass that, and we can move on with that issue and protect our border. That's what I think. +p224 +aVGood evening. +p225 +aVWell, first of all, look. As the New York Times said, he's certainly not a moderate, but he can bring people together to solve problems. The fact of the matter is I've cut taxes more than anybody in the country this year. I have balanced budgets, the federal budget, the state of Ohio budget, we're running a $2 billion dollar surplus, we're up 400,000 jobs, and in Washington we were able to have significant job growth whenever we balanced the budget of which I was the architect. But, here's the beauty of it, it's not just balancing a budget, it's about jobs. You know, when I was kid growing up in a neighborhood where Dad went home at night and said, "I lost my job today", it just killed the family. It just was a devastating effect. We have to have economic growth, but once we have economic growth I believe we have to reach out to people who live in the shadows. I believe we need to help the mentally ill, the drug addicted, the working poor. We need to help the developmentally disabled to rise, and we need to help our friends in the minority community develop entrepreneurship. In other words, in American, conservatism should mean not only that some rise with conservative principles, but everybody has a chance to rise regardless of who they are so they can live their God given purpose. That's what conservatism should be. +p226 +aVDavid? +p227 +aVLook, I'm \u2014 I'm not here \u2014 I like Chris. +p228 +aVLet \u2014 but let me \u2014 let me just tell you. First of all, we have the lowest number of state employees in 30 years. Secondly, we have grown government at the rate of inflation. And I went from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. And we've grown jobs by 400,000 \u2014 that's one of the fastest growing states in the country. Our pensions are secure and our credit is rock solid. Now, I've learned that, what makes things work, what gets the economy going, not just in Ohio, but in Washington \u2014 and it's three things. Common sense regulations, which we have, lower taxes, which we have, the lowest taxes, tax cuts in the country. And thirdly, a fiscal plan to balance the budget. When you go from $8 billion in the hole to $2 billion in the black, when you cut taxes by $5 billion and you grow over 400,000 jobs, that is a record that I can take to Washington, using the same formula that I used in Washington when I was part of the effort to balance the budget to give us a surplus and to create jobs. +p229 +aVThat's what I did and I'll do it again in the first 100 days. +p230 +aVWell, right now the deals \u2014 there's no leadership. I mean, a lot of the things that we're talking about here tonight, on the border, and so many of the things. What we should be doing on foreign policy, you know what the problem is, Mary Katharine? There's not a leader that gets somebody to rise up. You have to have a leader that can inspire, and actually some of what Donald was saying is true. Look, do you know how hard it was... +p231 +aV... to get the balance the federal budget balanced? You have to plead with people. To do what we've done in Ohio, you have to plead with people, then you go back down to Washington and do the same thing. You see, we have to remind people we're Americans before we're Republicans and Democrats, and when we wait, and when we delay what we end up doing, Mary Katharine, is we make the United States weaker. In fact, it's a foreign policy issue because people look at America not solving problems and they say what are they doing over there? So the point is you have to work with people. The problem with executive authority for the president, it's really bad news for this reason. Since he's given up on working with Congress, he thinks he can impose anything he wants. He's not a king. He's a president. An executive order should be used frankly in consolidation and with consulting with the leadership in the \u2014 in the Congress. I've done it in Ohio. I consult. I could use executive orders, but I don't trump the legislature, because if you do, you aggravate them, you anger them and then the long-term prospects get bleak. We have to solve problems in America by coming together, Republicans and Democrats, Americans first, party and ideology second \u2014 in the second back seat of this country. That's what we need to do. And we can do it. And we can do it. +p232 +aVMary Katherine, let me just say this to you. You must have an agenda that you are ready to move on in the first 100 days. Jeb is right. If you delay and you wait, the Washington operators will take you down. I can tell you this, in the first 100 days, I will have legislation to freeze federal regulations, have them reviewed by the vice president, reduce state taxes on individuals, reduce taxes on corporations, have a fiscal plan to balance the budget, get the border protected and begin to fix Social Security in the first 100 days. So, anybody who is here tonight, if I get elected president, head out tomorrow and buy a seat belt, because there's going to be so much happening in the first 100 days, it's going to make your head spin. We're going to move America forward. I promise you. We're going to move us forward. +p233 +aVJeb mentioned me. Time for me to go again. +p234 +aVHe says he didn't mention me the second time. I thought I heard it, Jeb. No. I'm just kidding. Thank you all very much for listening and being patient with all of us tonight. Thank you. +p235 +aVDavid, David... +p236 +aVI wanted \u2014 I wanted to say, look, this \u2014 there can be a win-win here. I have formed a collaborative between police and community leaders because people have to respect law enforcement. A family doesn't want dad or mom going home in a box. And for our community leaders, many of them think the system not only works \u2014 not only doesn't work for them, but it works against them. And I created a big collaborative in Ohio made up of law enforcement, community leaders, the head of my public safety and a former Democrat, liberal Senate senator Nina Turner, run it. They got together, they made recommendations on recruiting, on hiring, on the use of deadly force and what we're about to do is to bring community and police together so we can have a win-win. We need more win-wins in America and we don't have to pick one over another divide. We love the police, but we've got to be responsible to the people in the community. We have to do all of that. +p237 +aVJosh? +p238 +aVJosh, I mean, clearly, when a veteran comes home, they should get health care anywhere they want to go. In our state, which is what we should do in the country, you know, if they drive a truck from Kabul to Kandahar in Afghanistan, we say, you can drive a truck from Columbus to Cleveland, and you don't have to go get a license. We're going to hand you one. And if you've got expertise in the military, we're going to give you college credit or community college credit for the things that you did for our country. And in addition to that, I'll tell you, one of the biggest things I think has to be done \u2014 and I would do it as president \u2014 the Pentagon has got to work with the returning soldier, sailor, along with the family, and we \u2014 they're the most valuable employees in the country. I call them golden employees. Everybody wants to hire a veteran. But there is a disconnect between the job openings and the veteran when the veteran comes back. The veteran is a leader. The veteran is strong. The veteran is drug free. There should be no unemployment among veterans. And if the Pentagon will work with the veterans' services agencies all across this country, Josh, we can get people jobs and we can get them jobs quickly, get them their health care......get them their college education. Let's lift them. They're the greatest people defending the United States of America and we need to take care of them, and we will. We will. +p239 +aVCarolina's going to win that one. I hate to say it. But they're going to win that one. +p240 +aVWell, folks, I've done now over 100 town hall meetings and I've loved every second of it. It has been the greatest thing in the world. And I want you to know that you've changed me, because I've listened to your stories and I've had your hugs and I've seen your tears, and I've seen you walk away and say, I now have hope. You know, I've had a conservative message, but a positive message \u2014 not just a conservative message, but a positive message about how we can bring people together, how we can restore America's strength, lift everyone. New Hampshire, please give me a chance to carry this message forward to the United States of America. And then, I will come back. Thank you, loved it. And God bless you. +p241 +aVWell, first of all, I had a national reporter say, you know, there's three lanes. There's the establishment lane, the anti-establishment lane, and then there's the Kasich lane. And the reason is, is that I've been a reformer all of my career, fighting to reform welfare, fighting to reform the Pentagon, also being in a position to balance the budget, because that is very, very hard to do. And then in Ohio, of course, I had to bring about big reform, again, because we were so far in the hole and now we just found out we are up over 400,000 jobs since I took over as governor. You know, the situation is this. We cannot fix things in this country \u2014 the Social Security, the border, balancing the budget, getting wages to grow faster \u2014 unless we lead as conservatives, but we also invite people in from the other party. We have to come together as a country. And we have to stop all the divisions. And, you know, that's been my message in New Hampshire. And having been in New Hampshire and here in Iowa, but in New Hampshire, I just received the support of seven out of eight of the newspapers in that state because they see positive, they see unity, they see coming together, and they see a record of change and a record of accomplishment. And it isn't because I'm all that great. It's because I've been assembling a team of people who want to be involved in something that's a little bigger than themselves. I'll keep \u2014 I'll keep heading in that direction, believe me. +p242 +aVChris... ... there was a question about foreign policy, by the way, and experience. And I \u2014 I thought, if I didn't jump in, I might not be able to tell everybody this. I think they'd want to hear it. Look, I served on... +p243 +aV... but wait a minute... +p244 +aV...the only reason is \u2014 look... +p245 +aVOK. +p246 +aVI've always listened to you, Megyn. Go ahead. +p247 +aVYes \u2014 thank you. +p248 +aVWell, look the Joint Terrorism Task Force needs resources and tools. And those are made up of the FBI, state and local law enforcement. And Megyn, it's best not to talk anymore about back doors and encryption, it will get solved, but it needs to be solved in the situation of the White House with the technology folks. +p249 +aVBut I just have to tell you that it's best with some of these things not be said. Now I want to go back something. See, I was there when Reagan rebuilt the military. I was there in '89 when the wall came tumbling down because we were strong. And I was there when we went into the Gulf War. We didn't win that war just from the air, we won that war by assembling a group of Arab leaders who stood in the Rose Garden and stood with America. We want to destroy +p250 +aVBut we have a unique time in America to connect with people all around the world that understand that there's an existential threat against all of them, the Arabs, the Jordanians, the Saudis, the Egyptians, our friends in Europe, including the Turks. So we have a unique opportunity to bring everybody together. I saw Reagan do it, I've seen other presidents do it. And frankly, if you want to be commander in chief, you have to have the experience. At the same time we're doing all that, the Pentagon must be reformed so we get what we need for our men and women in uniform. All of that together, we're going to be just fine and America is going to continue to lead the world. +p251 +aVWell, you've got to be on top of it right away. And, you know, I don't know all the details of what Rick Snyder has done. I know there have been people who have been fired; people who are being held accountable. But the fact is, every single engine of government has to move when you see a crisis like that. And I've had many situations in the state of Ohio where we've had to move, whether it's storms, whether it was a horrible school shooting. There are many crises that come \u2014 a water crisis in Toledo. You've got to be on top of it. You've got to go the extra mile. You've got to work with local communities and you've got to work with the federal government. Because you realize that people depending on you. And so, you go the extra mile. But people have to be alert. They have to be alert to problems. And when you see a problem, you must act quickly to get on top of it. And people at home are saying they've got a problem, listen to them. Because most of the time, they're absolutely correct. So the fact is that we work for the people. The people don't work for us. And we have to have an attitude when we're in government of serving-hood. That's what really matters. We serve you. You don't serve us. We listen to you and \u2014 and then we act. +p252 +aVNo. You know, Chris, here's what happened with Medicaid in my state. We took the growth of Medicaid from over 10 percent in my second budget to 2.5 percent, without cutting off one person or cutting one benefit, because we \u2014 we innovated the government. And now mom and dad can stay in their own home, rather than being forced into a nursing home. And then we decided we could bring $14 billion of our money \u2014 I mean, Washington doesn't have any money. It was our money, and we brought them back to tend to the mentally ill. Because I don't think they ought to live in prison or live under a bridge; to treat the drug-addicted so they're not in an in-and-out-of-the-door policy out of the prisons; and to help the working poor so they don't live in emergency rooms. How has it worked? Well, we have treated the drug-addicted in our prisons and we released them in to the community, and our recidivism rate is less than 20 percent. That's basically bordering on a miracle because of our great prison director. The mentally ill? They've been stepped on for too long in this society, and we are beginning to treat them. In terms of my faith, look, all I say is that when I study scripture, I know that people who live in the shadows need to have a chance. But I'm not deciding that anybody's got to make these decisions the way that I do, on the basis of what I do. But what \u2014 I will tell you this. The time has come to stop ignoring the mentally ill in this country and begin to treat them and get them on their feet, along with, of course, with treating the drug-addicted. Because we don't want them in and out \u2014 we don't want them in and out of the prisons. Give people a chance. We talked about criminal justice reform. We've enacted it in our state. Look, the conservative message is economic growth and along with economic growth goes opportunity for everybody in America. Everybody ought to have a chance to be able to rise to their God-given purpose. And that is what we have done in Ohio. We're running surpluses. We're up 400,000 jobs. And guess what? The formula is working. I'd suggest people take a look at it. Thank you. +p253 +aVLook, we don't know what's going to happen in ten months. And if I were president of the United States right now, I'd be lining up our allies to say that, if one crossed T or one dotted I does not occur, they are \u2014 violate the agreement, we slap back on sanctions. We can slap on sanctions alone, on day one, but it's not gonna be anywhere near as effective. But the president needs to be laying the groundwork right now for the ability to slap those sanctions back on worldwide. And I'll tell you what I'm worried about \u2014 I'm worried about money. You read about all the companies now that are doing business \u2014 about to do business in Iran, and if we don't get this settled now, with other countries in the world, about sanctions, then Iran could violate that agreement, and we're the only ones putting the sanctions on. We need to move aggressively now. But I would say this to you, Bret. Number one, if they violate it, we need to move against them. And number two, if we find out they're developing a nuclear weapon and we know how to get to it, we're gonna go take it out. That is what we have to do. We cannot let things get farther down the road, like we did with North Korea. +p254 +aVThat's right. Yes. +p255 +aVI know, Bret. +p256 +aVBut Bret, here's the problem. You take a look at the \u2014 at Belgium. I talked to a diplomat from Belgium. I said, "how's it going?" He said, "we have the military in the streets right now. We never dreamt we'd ever see it." See, I think there is an opportunity to bring the world together. The Turks are being threatened. We know about the French. We know about the Belgians. We know about the Brits. Everybody is under fire and under attack, and we have to stand together as an alliance. So actually, the opportunity is there, because of the threat to all of these countries, to bring all of us together... ... and say there is something more important than money. It is the future of the world and the future of our children and grandchildren. That's the kind of leadership this country needs. It has not been in effect during the administration of Barack Obama. And that's only the beginning of the failures that they have committed, not only in the Middle East, but all over the world, including Russia and China. +p257 +aVYou know, one of our biggest national security issues is the world looks at us some time, and we look at each other and say, why can't we solve problems? Well, I've got news for you, we can. We can in fact create jobs and provide job security. We can create a situation where wages begin to rise. We can create a situation for our children to be able to get a decent job to pay down their college debt. We can re-assume our role in the world. But all of this has to come together when we have a positive attitude, an optimistic approach, an ability for us to set the tune as conservatives, to invite other people in to be part of that orchestra. You see, ladies and gentlemen, at the end of the day, I'm an optimist Because I've seen so many things get accomplished in my lifetime. And we can do it again together, all of us, to strengthen this country, work together. Thank you. +p258 +aVLook, it takes three things basically to grow jobs. And I've done it when I was in Washington when we had a balanced budget; had four years of balanced budgets; paid down a half-trillion of debt. And our economy was growing like crazy. It's the same thing that I did in Ohio. It's a simple formula: common sense regulations, which is why I think we should freeze all federal regulations for one year, except for health and safety. It requires tax cuts, because that sends a message to the job creators that things are headed the right way. And if you tax cuts \u2014 if you cut taxes for corporations, and you cut taxes for individuals, you're going to make things move, particularly the corporate tax, which is the highest, of course, in the \u2014 in the world. But in addition to that, we have to have fiscal discipline. We have to show that we can march to a balanced budget. And when you do that, when you're in a position of managing regulations; when you reduce taxes; and when you have fiscal discipline, you see the job creators begin to get very comfortable with the fact that they can invest. Right now, you don't have the \u2014 you have taxes that are too high. You have regulations \u2014 I mean, come on, they're affecting everybody here, particularly our small businesses. They are \u2014 they're in a position where they're smothering people. And I mean, are you kidding me? We're nowhere close to a balanced budget or fiscal discipline. Those three things put together are going to give confidence to job creators and you will begin to see wages rise. You will begin to see jobs created in a robust economy. And how do I know it? Because I've done it. I did it as the chairman of the Budget Committee, working with Senator Domenici. And I've done it in the state of Ohio as the chief executive. Our wages are growing faster than the national average. We're running surpluses. And we can take that message and that formula to Washington to lift every single American to a better life. +p259 +aVWell, if that's the case, we're going to win every state, if Bernie Sanders is the nominee. That's not even an issue. But look......and I know Bernie, and I can promise you he's not going to be president of the United States. So here's this \u2014 the situation, I think, Maria. And this is what we have to \u2014 I \u2014 I've got to tell you, when wages don't rise \u2014 and they haven't for a lot of families for a number of years \u2014 it's very, very difficult for them. Part of the reason why it hasn't risen because sometimes we're not giving people the skills they need. Sometimes it's because the Federal Reserve kept interest rates so low that the wealthy were able to invest in \u2014 in strong assets like the stock market when everybody else was left behind. People are upset about it. I'll tell you what else they're upset about: you're 50 or 51 years old, and some kid walks in and tells you you're out of work, and you don't know where to go and where to turn. Do we have answer for that? We do. There are ways to retrain the 50 and 51-year-olds, because they've got great value. I'll tell you what else people are concerned about. Their kids come out of college, they have high debt and they can't get a good job. We got to do a lot about the high cost of high \u2014 higher education, but we've got to make sure we're training people for jobs that exist, that are good jobs that can pay. Let me tell you that, in this country \u2014 in this country, people are concerned about their economic future. They're very concerned about it. And they wonder whether somebody is getting something to \u2014 keeping them from getting it. That's not the America that I've ever known. My father used to say, "Johnny, we never \u2014 we don't hate the rich. We just want to be the rich." And we just got to make sure that every American has the tools, in K-through-12 and in vocational education, in higher education. And we got to fight like crazy so people can think the American dream still exists, because it does, with rising wages, with full employment and with everybody in America \u2014 and I mean everybody in America \u2014 having an opportunity to realize the American dream of having a better life than their mother and their father. I'm president \u2014 look, I've done it once. I've done it once in Washington, with great jobs and lower taxes. The economy was really booming. And now in Ohio, with the same formula, wages higher than the \u2014 than the national average. A growth of 385,000 jobs. It's not that hard. Just know where you want to go, stick to your guts. Get it done, because our \u2014 our children and grandchildren are counting on us to get it done. And, folks, we will. You count on it. +p260 +aVWell, let me \u2014 let me first of all talk a little bit about my experience. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years, and by the way, one of the members of that committee was Senator Strom Thurmond from South Carolina. Let em also tell you......that after the 9/11 attacks, Secretary Rumsfeld invited me to the Pentagon with a meeting of the former secretaries of Defense. And in that meeting, I suggested we had a problem with technology, and that I wanted to take people from Silicon Valley into the Pentagon to solve our most significant problems. So I not only had the opportunity to go through the Cold War struggles in Central America, and even after 9/11 to be involved. With Saudi Arabia and oil production, first of all, it's so critical for us to be energy independent, and we're getting there because of fracking and we ought to explore because, see, energy independence gives us leverage and flexibility, and secondly, if you want to bring jobs back to the United States of America in industry, low prices make the difference. We're seeing it in my state and we'll see it in this country. And that's why we must make sure we continue to frack. In terms of Saudi Arabia, look, my biggest problem with them is they're funding radical clerics through their madrasses. That is a bad deal and an evil situation, and presidents have looked the other way. And I was going to tell you, whether I'm president or not, we better make it clear to the Saudis that we're going to support you, we're in relation with you just like we were in the first Gulf War, but you've got to knock off the funding and teaching of radical clerics who are the very people who try to destroy us and will turn around and destroy them. So look, in foreign policy \u2014 in foreign policy, it's strength, but you've got to be cool. You've got to have a clear vision of where you want to go. And I'm going to tell you, that it \u2014 I'm going to suggest to you here tonight, that you can't do on the job training. I've seen so much of it \u2013 a Soviet Union, the coming down of a wall, the issues that we saw around the world in Central America, the potential spread of communism, and 9/11 and Gulf War. You see what the Saudi's \u2014 deliver them a strong message but at the end of the day we have to keep our cool because most of the time they're going right with us. And they must be part of our coalition to destroy +p261 +aVI \u2014 I've been for pausing on admitting the Syrian refugees. And the reasons why I've done is I don't believe we have a good process of being able to vet them. But you know, we don't want to put everybody in the same category. And I'll go back to something that had been mentioned just a few minutes ago. If we're going to have a coalition, we're going to have to have a coalition not just of people in the western part of the world, our European allies, but we need the Saudis, we need the Egyptians, we need the Jordanians, we need the Gulf states. We need Jordan. We need all of them to be part of exactly what the first George Bush put together in the first Gulf War. It was a coalition made up of Arabs and Americans and westerners and we're going to need it again. And if we try to put everybody in the same \u2014 call everybody the same thing, we can't do it. And that's just not acceptable. But I think a pause on Syrian refugees has been exactly right for all the governors that have called for it, and also, of course, for me as the governor of Ohio. +p262 +aVNeil, Neil \u2014 can I say one thing about this. I'm a free trader. I support +p263 +aVFor too long \u2014 no, for too long, what happens is somebody dumps their product in our country and take our people's jobs, and then we go to an international court and it takes them like a year or two to figure out whether they were cheating us. And guess what? The worker's out of a job. So when they \u2014 be found against that country that's selling products in here lower than the cost of what it takes to produce them, then what do we tell the worker? Oh, well, you know, it just didn't work out for you. I think we should be for free trade but I think fair trade. And when countries violate trade agreements or dump product in this country, we need \u2014 we need to stand up against those countries that do that without making them into an enemy. And I want to just suggest to you. How do I know this? Because so many people in my family worked in steel mills, and they didn't work with a white collar, they worked in a blue collar. And the fact is those jobs are critical, they're hard working members of the middle class and they need to be paid attention to because they're Americans and they carry the load. So let's demand open trade but fair trade in this country. That's what I think we need to do. +p264 +aVWell, I created a task force well over a year ago and the purpose was to bring law enforcement, community people, clergy and the person that I named as one of the co-chair was a lady by the name of Nina Turner, a former State Senator, a liberal Democrat. She actually ran against one of my friends and our head of public safety. And they say down as a group trying to make sure that we can begin to heal some of these problems that we see between community and police. And they came back with 23 recommendations. One of them is a statewide use of deadly force. And it is now being put into place everyplace across the state of Ohio. Secondly, a policy on recruiting and hiring, and then more resources for \u2014 for training. But let me also tell you, one of the issues has got to be the integration of both community and police. Community has to understand that that police officer wants to get home at night, and not \u2014 not to lose their life. Their family is waiting for them. At the same time, law enforcement understands there are people in the community who not only think that the system doesn't work for them, but works against them. See, in Ohio, we've had some controversial decisions. But the leaders have come forward to realize that protest is fine, but violence is wrong. And it has been a remarkable situation in our state. And as president of the United States, it's all about communication, folks. It's all about getting people to listen to one another's problems. And when you do that, you will be amazed at how much progress you can make, and how much healing we can have. Because, folks, at the end of the day, the country needs healed. I've heard a lot of hot rhetoric here tonight, but I've got to tell you, as somebody that actually passed a budget; that paid down a half-a-trillion dollars of our national debt, you can't do it alone. You've got to bring people together. You've got to give people hope. And together, we can solve these problems that hurt us and heal America. And that is what's so critical for our neighborhoods, our families, our children, and our grandchildren. +p265 +aVYou know, in our country, there are a lot of people who feel as though they just don't have the power. You know, they feel like if they don't have a lobbyist, if they're not wealthy, that somehow they don't get to play. But all of my career, you know, having been raised in \u2014 by a mailman father whose father was a coal miner, who died of black lung and was losing his eyesight; or a mother whose mother could barely speak English. You see, all of my career, I've fought about giving voice to the people that I grew up with and voice to the people that elected me. Whether it's welfare reform and getting something back for the hard-earned taxpayers; whether it's engaging in Pentagon reform and taking on the big contractors that were charging thousands of dollars for hammers and screw drivers and ripping us off; or whether it's taking on the special interests in the nursing home industry in Ohio, so that mom and dad can have the ability to stay in their own home, rather than being forced into a nursing home. Look, that's who I stand up for. That's who's in my mind......And if you really want to believe that you can get your voice back, I will tell you, as I have all my career, I will continue to fight for you, because you're the ones that built this country, and will carry it into the future. Thank you. +p266 +asVKELLY +p267 +(lp268 +VTonight, we are coming to you live from the Iowa Event Center in downtown Des Moines, in the shadow of the Iowa state capitol. In just four days, people here in the Hawkeye State will caucus and cast the first votes of the 2016 election. +p269 +aVSeven candidates are on that stage tonight, their position on the stage determined by their standing in the latest national polls, as well as polls in Iowa and New Hampshire. And here they are. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Florida Senator Marco Rubio. +p270 +aVWow. +p271 +aVSo let's get started. Senator Cruz, before we get to the issues, let's address the elephant not in the room tonight. Donald Trump has chosen not to attend this evening's presidential debate. What message do you think that sends to the voters of Iowa? +p272 +aVThe divide between you and Mr. Trump has turned into one of the biggest stories in the country. And for six months that \u2014 your campaign, during this campaign, you praised Mr. Trump as somebody who you thought was an effective voice against the Washington cartel. You said you were glad that he was running as a Republican. But when he started to criticize you, your message changed, and you suddenly started to portray him as the voice of the Washington cartel, and suggested he would do the Democrats' bidding. Which is it? +p273 +aVSenator Christie, you began this campaign touting your record as a Republican from a blue state who knows how to get things done and reach across the aisle. However, many Republicans feel that reaching across the aisle and getting things done isn't great if you get the wrong things done. And they prefer to stand on principle rather than compromise. Why are they wrong and you're right? +p274 +aVBut first, you can join tonight's conversation right from home. Go to google.com or open your Google search app and search Fox News debate to vote on which candidate you think has the best plan to defeat +p275 +aVWe have a lot \u2014 we have a lot to cover. But we want to \u2014 we want to turn the page to domestic... +p276 +aVNo, no. No. +p277 +aVNo no no, because we want to turn the page to domestic terror, and let me tell you why: we're partnering with Google on this debate, and they're telling us... +p278 +aV... that their search results have gone through the roof on \u2014 on people... +p279 +aV... you're a good man, Governor Kasich. +p280 +aVPeople \u2014 the search results \u2014 the searches for terror issues, for safety issues in America have gone through the roof, increased over 400 percent since 2008. People are worried. They're worried about what's happening in the country and about a domestic terror attack, as all of you know. Now, when combating this threat, Senator Rubio, you've advocated closing down mosques \u2014 we'll get back to you. Well, you have advocated closing down \u2014 closing down mosques, diners, any place where radicalization is occurring. You told me that. But the Supreme Court has made clear that hateful speech is generally protected by the First Amendment. In other words, radical Muslims have the right to be radical Muslims, unless they turn to terror. Doesn't your position run afoul of the First Amendment? +p281 +aVSenator Paul, do you agree with that? We're gonna close down mosques, we're gonna close down diners where we think radical thinking's occurring? +p282 +aVGovernor Christie, let's talk about profiling. In December... +p283 +aV... profiling. Profiling. In December, two radical Muslims killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California. Neighbors of the terrorists said that they did not report the couple to law enforcement prior to the crime, because they were afraid that they would be accused of profiling. Now, you have said that we should not profile. How do you square that with the San Bernardino case? +p284 +aVThey didn't know they were going to attack the country. +p285 +aVThat's not true. The neighbors said they saw men going in and out of the garage. They saw packages being delivered. They saw Muslims, and they did not think that was enough to call the cops. Do you? +p286 +aVDr. Carson, this week a female Muslim who served in the U.S. Air Force asked Hillary Clinton the question, she asked whether the United States is still the best place in which to raise her three Muslim children. Given what she perceives as a rise in Islamaphobia in this country. Do you think the GOP messaging on Muslims has stoked the flames of bias on this as the Democrats suggest, and how would you answer this veteran? +p287 +aVGovernor Kasich, stand back. You appear to back in another debate, a so-called back door to encrypted cell phone technology, which protects most smartphones that we all have from hacking. And it includes our phones and it also protects the cell phones of the terrorist. Now the tech companies and a group of MIT scientists, smart guys, right, warn that if they create a way for the FBI to have a back door into our encrypted communications, then the bad guys will exploit it too. And they say that this is going to cause more security problems than it would solve for everyday Americans. Are they wrong? +p288 +aVBut this is public testimony. +p289 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p290 +aVWelcome back, everybody. We are live in Des Moines, Iowa. And let's get right back to the questions \u2014 Bret. +p291 +aVAll right. We're going to move on. Because coming up, immigration, and something you've never seen before. Stay tuned, right after this break. +p292 +aVWelcome back everyone. Live, in Des Moines, Iowa. Now, we move onto the topic of immigration. Senator Rubio, we'll start with you. When you ran for Senate in 2010, you made clear that you opposed legalization and citizenship for illegal immigrants. You promised repeatedly that you would oppose it as a U.S. Senator as well. Here are just a few examples. Watch. +p293 +aVWithin two years of getting elected you were co-sponsoring legislation to create a path to citizenship, in your words, amnesty. Haven't you already proven that you cannot be trusted on this issue? +p294 +aV... But, you went on from there... +p295 +aV... You said more than that, Senator... +p296 +aV... You said earned path to citizenship is basically code for amnesty. You... +p297 +aV... supported earned path to citizenship... +p298 +aVGovernor Bush, do you agree Senator Rubio has not reversed himself on his immigration promise? +p299 +aVGo ahead, senator. +p300 +aVAll right. +p301 +aVAll right. This will be the last one. +p302 +aVOK. Let's move on. Senator Cruz, when Senator Rubio proposed that bill creating a path to citizenship, you proposed an amendment. It would have allowed for legalization but not citizenship. Yes, it would. Pressed last month on why you supported legalization, you claimed that you didn't. Right? Like you just did. Saw that. You argued that this was just a poison pill amendment, basically it's something designed to kill the bill and not actually get it through. But that is not, however, how it sounded at the time. Watch. +p303 +aVWas that all an act? It was pretty convincing. +p304 +aVBut the bill allowed both. The bill you were amending allowed citizenship and legalization. +p305 +aVOK, sir. +p306 +aVSenator Paul. You know how Washington works. Do you buy that? +p307 +aVGo ahead, sir. +p308 +aVSenator Rubio, even Chuck Schumer, your co-sponsor of that bill... +p309 +aV... agrees with Ted Cruz on this. +p310 +aVGo ahead, Senator Cruz. +p311 +aVAll right. +p312 +aVGo ahead, Governor Christie. +p313 +aVLet's go to a Youtube question. Let's get to a Youtube question. This is a question from a Youtube creator with over 2 million subscribers. Watch. +p314 +aVDr. Carson, that's one \u2014 that one's for you. +p315 +aVGo ahead. +p316 +aVAll right. +p317 +aVAll right. We're moving on. +p318 +aVGovernor bush, poll after poll shows you running among the worst in your party against Hillary Clinton. Even Mitt Romney said that a Bush v. Clinton head-to-head would be too easy for the Democrats. Yet still you and the super PACs supporting you continue to blanket the airwaves with cutting ads, not against Mrs. Clinton, but against your fellow Republicans, especially Senator Rubio. Do these attacks do more harm than good by targeting those candidates who appear to have the best chance of defeating Mrs. Clinton? +p319 +aVWelcome back, everybody. Let's get back to the questions. Chris? +p320 +aVSenator Paul, you have suggested that former President Bill Clinton's history with women is fair game in this campaign. How do you answer those who say you don't hold the sins of the husband against the wife? +p321 +aVOf her husband's? +p322 +aVWelcome back, everybody. And now, it is time for closing statements. The candidates each get 30 seconds. And we begin with Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. +p323 +aVOhio Governor Kasich. +p324 +aVFormer Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Governor. +p325 +aVTexas Senator, Ted Cruz. Senator. +p326 +aVGentlemen, thank you all so much for being here tonight. We appreciate it greatly. And that does it for the seventh Republican primary debate of the 2016 presidential race. But we're not done. The Kelly file starts in a moment and guess who is going to be there? Senator Ted Cruz. +p327 +asVREGAN +p328 +(lp329 +VIn Tuesday's State of the Union Address, the president said that our economy is strong. He cited the significant decline we've seen in unemployment rate and the millions of jobs that have been created. What is your assessment of the economy right now? And I would like to hear from all of you on this one, beginning with Ms. Fiorina. +p330 +aVThank you Governor Huckabee. Senator Santorum? +p331 +aVThank you. Well, since we've been talking about the Middle East, Senator Santorum, conflicts between Saudi Arabia and Iran have certainly escalated, amid accusations that Saudi Arabia bombed the Iranian Embassy in Yemen after the Saudi Embassy in Tehran was attacked. As we confront an increasingly unstable Middle East, how will you, as president, navigate this administration's promises to Iran while standing by our historic allies in the region? +p332 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p333 +aVGovernor Huckabee, if I could just follow-up with that. Do we need to be in Afghanistan? +p334 +aVThank you Governor Huckabee. Ms. Fiorina, nearly 600 women say they were attacked in a German city on New Year's Eve by men of Arab or North African descent and 45 percent of those alleged attacks were sexual assaults. Twenty-two of those 32 men arrested so far are asylum-seekers. Are you worried about similar problems in the United States? +p335 +aVI want to stay with you on this. The world shares a common enemy right now in the way of +p336 +aVMs. Fiorina, thank you. +p337 +aVWelcome back, everyone, to the Republican presidential debate. On to the next round of questions \u2014 Sandra. +p338 +aVMs. Fiorina, the president has just issued an executive order to expand the gun laws and background checks. And none of you on stage agree with this. But recent polls show the majority of Americans are in favor of universal background checks. +p339 +aVIt's the poll data. +p340 +aVSo tell me......why, in your view, is the president's proposal a problem? +p341 +aVMs. Fiorina, you've said that was when you were CEO of HP, you actually worked with the government. +p342 +aV\u2014 to try and combat some of these terrorist threats. +p343 +aVWhat did you do? +p344 +aVMs. Fiorina, thank you. +p345 +aVGovernor Huckabee, an American in San Bernardino murdered 14 people while terrorists with Belgian and French passports murdered 130 people. Were facing a threat within our borders, and from outside the United States. Those European terrorists, they could have come here at any time given that we have a visa waiver program that enables people to travel back and forth. It exists within those countries, and 36 others. In countries around the world, including many in Europe, cannot ensure that their citizens are not jihadists, why are we waiving the visa requirement at all? +p346 +aVIf you get the visa waiver program, does that shut down international commerce? +p347 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p348 +aVSenator Santorum, thank you. +p349 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p350 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from North Charleston. We want to jump right back in. Sandra is kicking it off. +p351 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you know it used to be you could graduate from high school and get a pretty good job at the local factory, enough to take care of your family and yourself. Those days seem to be gone. It's pretty hard to do that nowadays. Businesses are increasingly turning to automation to increase their productivity levels. It's happening right here, in fact, at the Boeing factory in North Charleston. The president says automation threatens workers' ability to get higher wages. Do you agree with that? And if so, do you have a solution? +p352 +aVThank you very much, Governor Huckabee. Senator Santorum, 40% of babies born today are born to single moms. That's twice as high as reported back in 1980, and it's 11 times as high as in 1940. Studies show that children are always better off economically, most often \u2014 and emotionally, with two parents in a household. From a policy perspective, should the government be doing anything to encourage family formation? +p353 +aVThank you. +p354 +aVCarly Fiorina? +p355 +aVThank you to all the candidates. That does it, everyone for the first debate right here in North Charleston. +p356 +asVBAIER +p357 +(lp358 +VNine p.m. on the East Coast. Eight o'clock here in Des Moines, Iowa. Welcome to the seventh Republican presidential debate of the 2016 campaign. I'm Bret Baier, along with my comoderators Megyn Kelly and Chris Wallace. +p359 +aVGoogle sees political searches spike during televised presidential debates \u2014 no surprise there. But they spike by more than 440 percent on average, as voters across America seek to learn more about what's happening on the live debate stage. +p360 +aVOhio Governor John Kasich. And Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. +p361 +aVTonight's rules are simple. Up to 60 seconds for each answer, 30 seconds for each follow-up response. And if a candidate goes over the allotted time, you will hear this. Double. +p362 +aVI think the double is the one we want. Very pleasing. We have a crowd of about 1,600 here, and while they have agreed to respect the candidates and listen intently, we can tell you they are very excited to be here. Am I right? +p363 +aVGovernor Bush, it's hard for anyone of your pedigree to avoid being called establishment. But isn't that part of the problem in this race, that three others on this stage are splitting the main stream Republican vote and there by possibly handing this nomination over to an anti-establishment candidate? +p364 +aVThank you governor. +p365 +aVSenator Paul, you are definitely not in the establishment category. But at the beginning of this campaign, you said you were your own man when asked about your father, former Texas Congressman and three-time presidential candidate Ron Paul. Senator Cruz's campaign is out with a video saying that Cruz is the intellectual and political heir to your father's 2012 campaign and the liberty movement. And your father now says it's realistic that Donald Trump will be your party's nominee. So did you make a mistake by not fully \u2014 more fully embracing your father politically at the beginning of this campaign? +p366 +aVSenator Cruz, your response to that? +p367 +aVSenator Rubio? +p368 +aVThank you, Senator. +p369 +aVWe'll come back to... +p370 +aVOK. Go ahead, go ahead. +p371 +aVWelcome back. Let's get right back to the questions. Chris. +p372 +aVGovernor Bush, just today, a wounded warrior organization designed to help wounded veterans and their families is coming under fire for raising tens of millions of dollars, but spending almost half of that on travel and hotels and dinners and luxury, lavish conferences. So taking care of veterans is obviously a huge issue in the country that has asked so many to serve and sacrifice so much. If you were president. would you police these charity organizations that say they're helping vets? +p373 +aVGovernor Bush, thank you. Speaking of veterans, we have a question from a veteran who is one of the top Youtube creators. Over the course of the evening, gentlemen, we will hear from some of Youtube's most followed stars. And here's one of them. +p374 +aVSenator Paul, that question to you. +p375 +aVSenator Paul, thank you. +p376 +aVThank you, Megyn. Gentlemen, I'll ask you some questions about federal spending and the role of the federal government. Everybody always said they want to cut federal spending and usually they start by saying they'll cut waste, fraud, and abuse, but that really doesn't ever materialize. We all know that. Governor Christie, you talk a lot about entitlement reform and you say that that's where the federal government can get savings needed to balance the budget. But can you name even one thing that the federal government does now that it should not do at all? +p377 +aVI want one. Yes. +p378 +aVAnything bigger than that? +p379 +aVAnd, Governor, I realize everyone on this stage opposes Obamacare and you're not alone. Google Data shows that in the last month when people searched "policy repeals," that there were a lot of them. Obamacare took the top two spots. But today there are millions of people who gained health insurance from Obamacare and they now rely on it. So the question, Senator Cruz, if you repeal Obamacare, as you say you will, will you be fine if millions of those people don't have health insurance? And what is your specific plan for covering the uninsured? +p380 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. Governor Bush, you've advocated for statehood for Puerto Rico. The Puerto Rican economy is collapsing under unsustainable debt burden. Only about 1 million of its 4 million residents are currently employed. So should American citizens who you say are already overtaxed, bail out Puerto Rico as well? +p381 +aVGovernor Kasich, you're one of two remaining sitting governors still in the race. Your colleague, Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan is under fire \u2014 he and his administration \u2014 for the Flint, Michigan water crisis and the botched response to it. How would you have handled that? +p382 +aVSenator Rubio, on the issue of climate change, in 2008, you wanted Florida to get ahead of other states and establish a cap- and-trade system, a program for carbon emissions, which many Republicans thought at the time would hurt the Florida economy. Now, you're a skeptic of climate change science. And in fact, you warn that federal efforts to fight climate change will cost U.S. jobs and hurt the U.S. economy. So why the change? +p383 +aVThanks, Senator. +p384 +aVThank you. +p385 +aVSenator Rubio, first before I ask you a question, any response to Governor Bush? +p386 +aVNow let's talk about electability, Senator. +p387 +aVThank you, Senator. +p388 +aVMuch more to come, including where the candidates stand on foreign policy. And, once again, you can go to Google.com, or open your Google search app and search, "Fox News Debate" to vote on which candidate you think is winning the debate tonight. We'll be right back. +p389 +aVGentlemen. I'd like to ask you a few questions about foreign policy broadly. Dr. Carson, many experts believe Russian leader Vladimir Putin has greater ideas, bigger designs for the region beyond Russia's actions inside Ukraine. Fast forward to February 2017 and it is President Carson, and Russian uniformed commandos cross the Estonian border and they occupy a city in Estonia. Estonia, a member of +p390 +aVGentlemen, you've all said that the Iran nuclear deal is a bad one. Senator Rubio, you were among the candidates who've said you would tear it up on day one. But as you know, Iran has already received tens of millions of dollars \u2014 tens of billions of dollars in this deal and has quickly reestablished ties economically with Europe. The major concessions, in other words, are up front in this deal. So should you win by the time you take office, the remaining parts of the deal would be the constraints on Iran. So why blow up those constraints on day one, letting Iran off the hook? +p391 +aVGovernor Kasich, you've said that Marco Rubio is wrong... ... that Senator Rubio is wrong with tearing it up on day one. +p392 +aVBut Governor Kasich, you know that the most powerful sanctions are the multilateral ones. +p393 +aVAnd these European countries are already reestablishing these ties. +p394 +aVThey don't want... +p395 +aVGovernor, thank you. Governor Christie... ... Libya is the newest base for +p396 +aVThank you, Governor. +p397 +aVWelcome back to Des Moines. Let's resume the debate. Megyn? +p398 +aVComing up, closing statements from the candidates as our debate continues, live, from Des Moines, Iowa. +p399 +aVNew Jersey governor, Chris Christie. +p400 +aVThank you governor. +p401 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. +p402 +aVThank you senator. +p403 +aVAnd we have you covered from Iowa, all the way to the conventions and on to the general election. Thanks again for joining us. For all of us here in Des Moines, have a great evening. +p404 +asVSANTORUM +p405 +(lp406 +VWell, all he has to do is listen to the Democratic debate and find out how bad the economy is. All they do is complain about the hollowing out of the middle of America, and how America is struggling so badly, and have to make these radical changes in Washington. But they've been in control for the last seven years, and what have we seen? The most important jobs, I believe, in this country are the ones that fill the middle. For the 74% of Americans who don't have a college degree between the age of 25 and 65 are manufacturing jobs. Your governor, and your legislature, and your team here have done an amazing job of bringing manufacturing jobs back to South Carolina. Right here. Right here in Charleston, right down in the street in Boeing. You've done a great job, and what's happened? You've grown this economy, you've strengthened the center of your state, the middle. That's because you know that if you're really going to create wealth and opportunity, you got to get jobs, and good paying jobs for everybody. And, so what's happened? Two million jobs, manufacturing jobs, have left this country because of Barack Obama. Regulations, EPA, workplace regulations, things driving people off-shore all because of his number one priority, global climate change. Well, let me tell you this, Mr. President. For every dollar of GDP, China creates five times as much pollution as we do here. You want to \u2014 lower global climate change, bring those jobs back to America and let American workers do that job with less pollution. +p407 +aVWell, the historic promises that we have made to \u2014 to Iran in this agreement need to be torn up on the first day in office of the next president. And let me tell you why, because Iran has already torn it up. Iran has not approved the agreement that President Obama has said that they have approved. They have approved a different agreement in their parliament. The fact of the matter is they have violated this agreement. Carly just mentioned some of those violations. They have launched ballistic missiles, tested them, in clear violation. And here's the pathetic part. The president announced that they were going to impose sanctions. And then President Rouhani went on Twitter and said there would be retaliation. And what did we do? We backed down. Ladies and gentlemen, there are 50 some Citadel cadets in this audience tonight. I would ask them to stand up if they will. And here's what I want to tell each and every one of them, as you stand. Here's what I want to tell them. Whether it's you're watching that movie this weekend that just came out when we abandoned our men and women in Benghazi, or whether it's we treat Iran, that gave courtesies to our sailors, as they made them record a hostage video, let me tell you this, if you choose to serve this country, I will have your back. I will not let America be trampled upon anymore by these radical jihadists. +p408 +aVI would just say that if we were doing a better job within the government, we wouldn't need the private sector to do the things that we're asking them to do. I've had a little experience in this in the private sector myself. And what I found was a government with layers and layers of bureaucracy, of people who had some technical expertise but they had no authority, number one. And one of the things I found out about in the bureaucracy is if a lot of people have authority, nobody has authority, number one. And number two, that if you don't do anything, you don't get fired. It's only when you do something and something goes wrong, you get fired. So they do nothing. And that's what is happening in our Defense Department right now. We have a capability that they're trying to develop to play defense. We have a lot of technologists that are very skilled. And they're trying to figure out how to play defense. But what we don't have is we don't have folks who are thinking about offense. We don't have war-fighters. We have technologists. Technologists are not war-fighters. Technologists are thinking, how do I protect cyber-security, how do I secure, how do I protect? And we need to have a much more dynamic, how do we \u2014 how do we go after them? How do we respond? And we need leadership that's willing to make sure that when someone attacks us \u2014 and ladies and gentlemen, they're attacking us as we speak. They're attacking us all day every day, not just the government, but they're attacking private sector companies all day every day. They have to learn that we're going to pay \u2014 they're going to pay a price when they do so. And then right now, just like in every other aspect of our national security, people who attack us are not paying a price. We need a leader who will make sure that they know when they mess with America, they're going to pay a price. +p409 +aVLook, Facebook and Twitter can teach us things. We can cooperate with them. We can share ideas and information. But this is a \u2014 and this is a very dicey area for the government to go in and require the industry to do its job. It needs to develop that capability. We need to be \u2014 have responsible dialogue, but I don't think requirements are the order of the day. +p410 +aVWell, the most devastating attack that could occur is an electromagnetic pulse attack, and that would be an attack that would be triggered by a nuclear explosion in the upper atmosphere of our country. The best way to stop that from happening is to make sure that those who contemplating and actually war-gaming and talking about using it, Iran, doesn't get a nuclear weapon so they can't explode that device. And the president of the United States has put Iran on a path to a nuclear weapon. And we have done nothing to do anything to harden our grid. There is actually a bill in Congress that would put money forward to try to put redundancy and harden our electric grid so it could actually survive an EMP. An EMP is a devastating explosion that sends a pulse that knocks out all electric, everything, everything that is connected to any kind \u2014 that is wired, that has a circuit board gets fried out. Everything is gone. Cars stop. Planes fall out of the sky. This is a devastating attack. And this president has done nothing, number one, to take the most probable person to \u2014 probable country to launch an attack and stop them, and has done nothing to try to defend us, particularly our electric grid. The bottom line is, I put the original sanctions on the Iranian nuclear program when I was in the United States Senate. I've been fighting for 12 years with one thing in mind, that we must stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. And......because they're different than every other country. They do not want a nuclear weapon to defend themselves. They want a nuclear weapon to have theological ends to bring about their mahdi so they can control the world. And that is the most serious threat facing this country right now. +p411 +aVWell, the numbers just don't add up. I mean, they have not added manufacturing jobs. Manufacturing jobs have been lost in this country, 2 million of them. The bottom line is that this president has done more to take jobs away from the hard-working people who are struggling the most. And that's folks who are, as I said, the 74 percent of Americans who don't have a college degree. And they're out there talking about, well, we're going to provide free college for everybody. Well, who is going to pay for it? The 74 percent that don't have a college degree. They're not \u2014 nobody is focused. Let's just be honest, nobody is focused on the people who are struggling the most in America today. We talk about immigration. Talk about the president's immigration plan. He wants to bring in more and more people into this country. Let people who are here illegally stay in this country. Almost all of the people who are here illegally, and most of the people who came here legally over the last 20 years, they're working in wage-earning jobs. That is why wages have flat-lined. And we have unfortunately two political parties with most of the candidates in this field for some form of amnesty, some form of allowing people to stay here even though they're here illegally and for increasing levels of legal immigration. I'm someone who believes that we need to be the party that stands for the American worker. And when we say we need to send people back, I mean we send people back. And let me just make one point. I was in Storm Lake, Iowa, the other day, near a Tyson's plant, 91 percent of the kids that go to the elementary school there are minority kids. And they said, well, what are you going to do with all of these people, their families, they've lived here for a long time? I said, I'm going to give them a gift. I'm going to give them a gift of being able to help the country they were born in. And I'm going to export America, the education they were able to see. They learned English language. They learned about capitalism. They learned about democracy. You want to stop flow of immigrants? Let's send six million Mexicans, Hondurans, Guatemalans, El Savadorians......back into their country, so they can start a renaissance in their country so they won't be coming over here anymore. +p412 +aVYou know, we've had this debate about the economy, and we haven't talked the one issue now increasingly even the right, and even the are coming to agreement. I've run around doing 300 town hall meetings talking about a book written by a liberal Harvard sociologist, not a normal thing for me to be talking about, but I now name Robert Putnam who wrote a book called, "Our Kids". And, he wrote this book, I think, ostensibly to support the Democratic argument that the middle of America's hollowing out, and income gap is widening, and rich are getting richer. When he studied all the information as to what was going on, he realized that the biggest reason that we're seeing the hollowing out of the middle of America is the breakdown of the American family. The reality is that if you're a single parent \u2014 a child of a single parent, and you grew up in a single parent family neighborhood, you went to that single parent family school, the chance of you ever, ever reaching the top 20% of income earners is 3% in America. At least \u2014 I don't know about you, but that's not good enough. And, we have been too politically correct in this country because we don't want to offend anybody to fight for the lives of our children. You want \u2014 You want to be shocked? You read the first few chapters of Mr. \u2014 Dr. Putnam' book. He talks about Port Clinton, Ohio and growing up there in the 1950's, and how poor kids actually survived and did well, even though they were poor and disadvantaged. But, then he goes to the towns today and these kids are failing, and failing miserably. They don't even have a shot, and we won't even have the courage to have leadership at the federal level \u2014 not with legislation, but the most powerful tool a president have, the bully pulpit to encourage each and everyone of you, churches and businesses, and educators, and community leaders to let's have a national campaign to rebuild the American family, and give every child its birthright which is a Mom and a Dad who loves them. That will change this economy. +p413 +aVLadies and gentlemen, America is frustrated and angry and looking for someone who's a fighter, but I also think they're looking for someone who's a winner. Somebody who can go out there and take on the establishment and make a difference. And take on someone who's going to be the person who's going to be between a Republican holding the presidency and that's Hillary Clinton. And there's one person on this stage, one person in the race who's done it and done it repeatedly. I've taken on Hillary Clinton on the issues you care about. Partial-birth abortion. Go and google Rick Santorum and Hillary Clinton and there you'll see a five-minute debate. I'll let you decide who won the debate. I'll tell you who won, because we passed the bill and I know I'm out of time but I'm going to take some of Rand Paul's time here for a second. If you're looking for someone who fought Hillary Clinton on Iran's sanctions, she was one of four who voted \u2014 who's deciding vote who voted against Iran's sanctions, so we didn't get it in place as earlier as we should have. I've fought battles against her. In 1994, I ran against the Clinton machine. James Carville and Paul Begala, ran the race against me when I took on the author of Hillary care. And each one of those battles, I won. You want a fighter, you want a winner, I'd appreciate your vote. Thank you. +p414 +asVQUESTION +p415 +(lp416 +VI'm Mark Watson. I'm known for my views on Youtube, but I'm also a veteran who served in the Army for eight years. As an African-American living near Ferguson, I've seen the strain between police officers and the communities they serve firsthand. Now, there are great tools like body cameras that \u2014 to protect both officers and citizens, but we all currently have better cameras in our pockets than in our precincts. Why aren't we using the technology available to better protect our communities? +p417 +aVI'm Dulce Candy, a Youtube creator who immigrated to the United States from Mexico when I was a little girl. Since then, I am proud to say I served in the armed forces in Iraq, became a citizen and I am now an entrepreneur. There are many immigrants who contribute positively to the American economy, but some of the comments in the campaign make us question our place in this country. If America does not seem like a welcoming place for immigrant entrepreneurs, will the American economy suffer? +p418 +aVI'm Nabela Noor. I'm a Muslim American born and raised in the U.S. who creates beauty and lifestyle videos on Youtube. In 2015, the number of hate crimes against Muslims in the U.S. has tripled, and on social media, where I spend a lot of time, I've seen many attacks directed towards fellow Muslims. This culture of hatred is only driving +p419 +asVCAVUTO +p420 +(lp421 +VIt is 9:00 p.m. here at the North Charleston Coliseum and Performing Arts Center in South Carolina. Welcome to the sixth Republican presidential of the 2016 campaign, here on the Fox Business Network. I'm Neil Cavuto, alongside my friend and co-moderator Maria Bartiromo. +p422 +aVNow, the seven candidates on the stage tonight were selected based on their standing in six national polls, as well as polls in the early-voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire, those standings determining the position on the stage of the candidates tonight. And here they are. Businessman Donald Trump. Texas senator Ted Cruz. Florida senator Marco Rubio. Neurosurgeon Ben Carson. New Jersey governor Chris Christie. Former Florida governor Jeb Bush. And Ohio governor John Kasich. +p423 +aVGovernor Kasich, we are not even two weeks into this stock trading year, but investors already lost $1.6 trillion in market value. That makes it the worst start to a new year ever. Many worry that things will get even worse, and that banks and financial stocks are particularly vulnerable. Now, if this escalates, like it did back when Barack Obama first assumed the presidency, what actions would you take if this same thing happens all over again just as, in this example, you are taking over the presidency? +p424 +aVGovernor Bush, the president just told the nation two nights ago that America is back and that the idea that our enemies are getting stronger or that this country is getting weaker, well, it's just rhetoric and hot air. Now other Democrats go even further, sir, saying Republicans even suggesting such comments actually embolden our enemies. I guess they would include you. What do you say? +p425 +aVSo I take it from that you do not agree with the president. +p426 +aVSenator Rubio, the president says that +p427 +aVThank you, Senator. +p428 +aVMr. Trump, at the State of the Union, the president pointed to a guest who was a Syrian refugee you might recall whose wife and daughter and other family members were killed in an air attack. Now he fled that country seeking asylum here, ultimately ended up in Detroit where he's now trying to start a new life. The president says that that doctor is the real face of these refugees and not the one that you and some of your colleagues on this stage are painting; that you prefer the face of fear and terror and that you would refuse to let in anyone into this country seeking legitimate asylum. How do you answer that? +p429 +aVAll right. Welcome back to the Republican presidential , right here in North Charleston, South Carolina. Let's get right back to the questions. And I'll start with you, Senator Cruz. Now you are, of course, a strict constitutionalist \u2014 no one would doubt that. And as you know, the U.S. Constitution says only natural-born citizens are eligible for the office of president of the United States. Stop me if you've heard this before. Now, you were born...... you were born in Canada to an American mother. So you were and are considered an American citizen. But that fellow next to you, Donald Trump \u2014 and others \u2014 have said that being born in Canada means you are not natural-born, and that has raised questions about your eligibility. Do you want to try to close this topic once and for all tonight? +p430 +aVMr. Trump......that you raised it because of his rising poll numbers. +p431 +aVWhy are you saying this now \u2014 right now? Why are you raising this issue now? +p432 +aVSenator, do you want to respond? +p433 +aVMarco Rubio. I'm sorry, it's the time constraints. You and Governor Christie have been exchanging some fairly nasty words of late, and I will allow the governor to respond as well. The governor went so far to say, you won't be able to slime your way to the White House. He's referring to a series of ads done by a PAC, speaking on your behalf, that say quote,"One high tax, Common Core, liberal, energy-loving, Obamacare, Medicaid-expanding president is enough. You think you went too far on that and do you want to apologize to the governor? +p434 +aVThat is not my question. +p435 +aVIs he a liberal? +p436 +aVIs he a liberal? +p437 +aVGovernor? +p438 +aVYou were? +p439 +aVWell, we are not done. Coming up, one of the top things people are talking about on Facebook, guns. And you can join us live us on this stage in the conversation during this commercial break right from home. You can go to Facebook.com/. We will be streaming live and talking about how we think the is going so far. We're back in a moment in Charleston, South Carolina. +p440 +aVSenator Rubio, you said that President Obama wants to take people's guns away. Yet under his presidency, gun sales have more than doubled. That doesn't sound like a White House unfriendly to gun owners. +p441 +aVBut what fact can you point to, Senator \u2014 what fact can you point to that the president would take away everyone's gun? You don't think that's ? +p442 +aVGovernor Christie, you, too, have criticized the president's recent executive action on gun control, saying it's unconstitutional, another step to bypass Congress. But hasn't your own position on guns evolved, sir? The New Jersey Star-Ledger reports that you signed several laws to regulate the possession of firearms, and that you argued back in August 2013, and I quote, "These common sense measures will strengthen New Jersey's already tough gun laws." So isn't that kind of what the president wants to do now? +p443 +aVMaria... +p444 +aVGovernor bush, for the third time in as many months, the Iranians have provoked us, detaining us, as we've been discussing, with these 10 Navy sailors Tehran had said strayed into their waters. The sailors were released, but only after shown on video apologizing for the incident. This occurring only weeks after Iran fired multiple rockets within 1,500 yards of a U.S. aircraft carrier and then continued to test medium range missiles. Now you've claimed that such actions indicate Tehran has little to fear from a President Obama. I wonder, sir, what would change if they continued doing this sort of thing under a President Jeb Bush? +p445 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Kasich, while everyone has been focusing on Iran's provocations, I'm wondering what you make of what Saudi Arabia has been doing and its recent moves in the region, including its execution of a well-known Shi'ite cleric and its move to dramatically increase oil production, some say in an effort to drive down oil prices and force a lot of U.S. oil producers out of business. Sure enough, oil prices have tumbled. One brokerage house is predicting a third or more of American oil producers and those heavily invested in fracking will go bankrupt, and soon Saudi Arabia and +p446 +aVThank you John. +p447 +aVBut you said \u2014 you said that he made those comments and they represented him being unhinged after he made them. +p448 +aVWell \u2014 well, after he made them......his poll numbers went up eight points in South Carolina. Now \u2014 now, wait... +p449 +aVAre you \u2014 are you saying \u2014 are you saying that all those people who agree with Mr. Trump are unhinged? +p450 +aVMr. Trump, sometimes maybe in the heat of the campaign, you say things and you have to dial them back. Last week, the New York Times editorial board quoted as saying that you would oppose, "up to 45 percent tariff on Chinese goods." +p451 +aVWell... +p452 +aVYou never said because they provided that... +p453 +aVSo they've never said to put a tariff on their... +p454 +aVI'm sorry, you lost me. +p455 +aVThen I apologize. Then I want to understand, if you don't want a 45 percent tariff, say that wasn't the figure, would you be open \u2014 are you open to slapping a higher tariff on Chinese goods of any sort to go back at them? +p456 +aVI know... +p457 +aVSo you're open to a tariff? +p458 +aVAll right. +p459 +aVHe is right. If you put a tariff on a good, it's Americans who pay. +p460 +aVGovernor Christie, going back to your U.S. Attorney days, you had been praised by both parties as certainly a tough law and order guy. So I wonder what you make of recent statistics that showed violent crimes that have been spiking sometimes by double digit ratings in 30 cities across the country. Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn said, "most local law enforcement officials feel abandoned by Washington." Former NYC Police Chief Ray Kelly, says that, "police are being less proactive because they're being overly scrutinized and second guessed and they're afraid of being sued or thrown in jail." What would you do as president to address this? +p461 +aVThank you governor. Governor Kasich, as someone has to deal with controversial police shootings in your own state, what do you make of Chicago's move recently to sort of retrain police? Maybe make them not so quick to use their guns? +p462 +aVThank you, Governor. +p463 +aVGentlemen, gentlemen \u2014 +p464 +aVVery quick, very quick. +p465 +aVDo you think they like each other? +p466 +aVAll right, gentlemen, we've got to stop. I know you are very passionate about that. Governor Bush, fears have gripped this country obviously, and you touched on it earlier since the San Bernardino attacks. Since our last , the national conversation has changed, according to Facebook data as well. Now this first graphic shows the issues that were most talked about right before those attacks and now after: the issues of Islam, homeland security and +p467 +aVWould you answer this question? +p468 +aVFair enough. So Tim Cook \u2014 so Tim Cook says he's going to keep it private. +p469 +aVBut if Tim cook is telling you no, Mr. President. +p470 +aVDo you ask or do you order? +p471 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p472 +aVGovernor Bush? +p473 +aVDr. Ben Carson? +p474 +aVSenator Ted Cruz? +p475 +aVGentlemen, thank you all. All of you. That wraps up our debate. We went a little bit over here. But we wanted to make sure everyone was able to say their due. He's upset. All right. Thank you for joining us. Much more to come in the Spin Room ahead. +p476 +asVFIORINA +p477 +(lp478 +VWell, thank you. Good evening. If I may begin by saying how honored I am to be standing here with two former Iowa Caucus winners. Governor, Senator. And how honored I am to be talking with all of you. You know, I'm not a political insider. I haven't spent my lifetime running for office. The truth is I have had and been blessed by a lot of opportunities to do a lot of things in my life. And unlike another woman in this race, I actually love spending time with my husband. I'm standing here because I think we have to restore a citizen government in this country. I think we have to end crony capitalism. The crony capitalism that starts with both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. You know, Hillary Clinton sits inside government and rakes in millions, handing out access and favors. And Donald Trump sits outside government and rakes in billions buying people like Hillary Clinton. The state of our economy is not strong. We have record numbers of men out of work. We have record numbers of women living in poverty. We have young people who no longer believe that the American dream applies to them. We have working families whose wages have stagnated for decades, all while the rich get richer, the powerful get more powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected get more connected. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. +p479 +aVAmerica must lead because when we do not lead, when this exceptional nation does not lead, the world is more dangerous and a more tragic place. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, they all refuse to lead. Worse, they refuse to respond when this nation is provoked. Hillary Clinton famously asked what difference does it make how four Americans died in Benghazi? Mrs. Clinton, here's what difference it makes. When you do not stand up and say the truth, that this was a purposeful terrorist attack, when you do not say the United States of America will retaliate for that attack, terrorists assume it's open season. We have refused to respond to every provocation. The President wouldn't even mention the fact that Iran had taken two Navy boats and our sailors \u2014 hostage. He didn't mention the fact that they violated the Geneva convention. He didn't respond to the fact that Iran launched two ballistic missile just a short time ago, in direct violation of a deal they had just signed. We didn't respond to the fact that North Korea attacked Sony Pictures. When we refuse to respond over, and over to provocation and bad behavior, we will get more provocation and bad behavior. I know most of our allies personally. I have met many of our adversaries. I know our military and our intelligence capability, and I know this. When we will not stand with our allies, when we will not respond to our adversaries, when we do not lead in the world the world is a dangerous and tragic place. I will be a Commander in Chief who will lead. +p480 +aVOf course I'm worried about similar problems in the United States. We can not allow refugees to enter this country unless we can adequately vet them and we know we can't. Therefore we should stop allowing refugees into this country. And by the way, we do not need to be lectured about why we're angry and frustrated and fearful because we've had an illegal immigration problem in this country for 25 years. And we have every right to be frustrated about the fact that politicians stand up in election after election after election and promise us to fix the problem and yet, it has never been fixed. I offer leadership that understands that actions speak louder than words, that results count. We must secure our border. We must fix our broken immigration system. We must enforce a pro-American immigration system that serves our interests, not the rest of the world. I understand what it takes to translate goals into results and that is what I will do as president of the United States. Of course, we should be worried, for heavens sakes. This administration has now told us they don't know who has overstayed a visa. This administration has told us they don't even bother to check Facebook or Twitter to find out who's pledging allegiance to jihadis. We can do better than this, citizens. We need to take our country back. +p481 +aVWe need to be very clear-eyed now about who are our allies and who are our adversaries. In the fight against +p482 +aVAnd we all believe the polling data all the time, don't we? +p483 +aVOh, it's a problem for so many reasons. First of all, it is yet another lawless executive order. You see, he doesn't like the fact that Congress has rejected his ideas twice on a bipartisan basis, so he's decided he just gets to override them. Sorry, Mr. President, not the way "The Constitution" works. Secondly......secondly, he basically admitted in that speech that he hasn't been paying much attention to enforcing the laws we have. He said, gee, we need a few more FBI agents. That would have helped, perhaps, stop a tragedy here in South Carolina with Dylann Roof, a guy who clearly never should have been sold a gun. In other words, Mr. President, you're right, we need to enforce the laws we have. Let's enforce the laws we have. There are criminals running around with guns who shouldn't have them. We don't prosecute any of them. Less than 1 percent. But I want to go back to the technology issue for a moment, if I may, as well, because in this regard, I disagree with Senator Santorum. Look, I come from the technology industry and I can tell you there is one thing that bureaucracies don't know how to do. They do not know how to innovate. We have come seven generations of technology since 2011. We have bureaucracies that are incapable of bringing in that innovation. So, yes, there are some very specific things that we should ask the private sector to help us with, including making sure we have the latest and greatest in algorithms to search through all these databases so that we find terrorists before they attack us, not after it's too late. And, finally, when a president who understands technology in the Oval Office. Mrs. Clinton, actually, you cannot wipe a server with a towel. +p484 +aVYes, and see... +p485 +aVAs CEO of Hewlett Packard... +p486 +aVAs CEO of Hewlett Packard, I was asked very specifically for some very real help. The help I was asked to provide, this is now public information. So I am not revealing what \u2014 something that was \u2014 was classified. We had a very large shipment of equipment, software and hardware, headed to a retail outlet. And I was called by the head of the NSA, who had an urgent need for that capability, to begin laying out a program to track terrorists. We turned that truck around on a highway and it was escorted to the headquarters in San Jose. In World War II, our government went to the private sector and said, help us do things that we cannot do. The private sector has capabilities that the government does not have. There are some legal authorities that are required. The Sony attack could have been detected and repelled, had legal authorities been passed in Congress allowing private networks and public networks to work together. Those legal authorities have not yet been passed. Yes, I was asked to help. I know the technology industry. They will help again. But they must be asked by a president who understands what they have. +p487 +aVFor decades, the professional political class in both parties has been talking about the middle class. For decades, Republicans in particular have been talking about reducing the size and scope of government, spending less money, reducing the complexity. And yet, for 40 years, the government has gotten bigger and more expensive. We now have a 75,000 plus page tax code, although politicians have run for office for decades promising reform. And all the while, middle class incomes have stagnated. You see, when government gets bigger and bigger, more powerful, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer and the middle class gets squeezed. We need to understand who the job creators are in this country, because we need more jobs to grow the middle class and to grow the wages of the middle class. Who creates jobs? Small businesses, new businesses, family-owned businesses. They create two thirds of the new jobs in this country and they employ half the people. I started out typing for a nine person real estate firm. My husband Frank started out driving a tow truck for a family-owned auto body shop. And we are crushing small businesses and destroying the middle class. So here's my blueprint to take back America. Let us first actually reform the tax code from 73,000 pages down to three. There's a 20-year-old plan to do exactly that. And then let us begin piece by piece to focus on every single dollar the government spends, so that we will spend less overall and still have enough for our priorities. And that requires the government to budget the way you do at home \u2014 examine every dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. The fancy term for that is zero- based budgeting, but I call it common sense. Citizens, we've got to take our country back. +p488 +aVMy husband Frank, that I mentioned, I love spending time with. He's down there. He was real excited the other day because in New Hampshire, he was introduced as my eye candy. You know, everybody out there watching knows this. You cannot wait to see the debate between me and Hillary Clinton. You would pay to see that fight. And that's because you know I will win. And that's important. We've got to start by beating Hillary Clinton. All of my life, I have been told to sit down and be quiet. Settle. Settle. Don't challenge the system. That's what the American people are being told now and we have been told that for way too long \u2014 sit down and be quiet about our God, about our guns, about the abortion industry, settle for illegal immigration that's been a problem for decades, as so many of our problems have festered for decades. Accept a system of government and politics that no longer works for us. I will not sit down and be quiet. And neither will you. So I ask you to stand with me, fight with me, vote for me, citizens. It is time to take our future back, time to take our politics back. It is time to take our government back. Citizens, it is time. We must take our country back. +p489 +asVBUSH +p490 +(lp491 +VRight. +p492 +aVNot on specific issues, not at all. I think the next president \u2014 if I'm president, I will appoint people \u2014 I'll nominate people that have a proven record in the judiciary. The problem in the past has been we have appointed people thinking you can get it through the Senate because they didn't have a record. And the problem is that sometimes we're surprised. The simple fact is the next president needs to appoint someone with a proven conservative record, similar to Justice Scalia, that is a lover of liberty, that believes in limited government, that consistently applied that kind of philosophy, that didn't try to legislator from the bench, that was respectful of the Constitution. And then fight and fight, and fight for that nomination to make sure that that nomination passes. Of course, the president, by the way, has every right to nominate Supreme Court justices. I'm an Article II guy in the Constitution. We're running for the president of the United States. We want a strong executive for sure. But in return for that, there should be a consensus orientation on that nomination, and there's no doubt in my mind that Barack Obama will not have a consensus pick when he submits that person to the Senate. +p493 +aVYes. +p494 +aVNo, it doesn't, and that's the problem. The lack of leadership in this country by Barack Obama, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, thinking that this is a policy that works, this policy of containment with +p495 +aVThe very basic fact is that Vladimir Putin is not going to be an ally of the United States. The whole world knows this. It's a simple, basic fact. They're not taking out \u2014 they're not even attempting to take out +p496 +aV... Let me finish... +p497 +aV... This is ridiculous... +p498 +aV... This is coming from a guy who gets his foreign policy from the shows. +p499 +aV... This is a guy who thinks that Hillary Clinton is a great negotiator in Iran... +p500 +aV... This is a man who insults his way to the nomination... +p501 +aVI think it's my turn, isn't it? +p502 +aVI've got about five or six... +p503 +aVDo I get to do it five or six times or just once, responding to that? +p504 +aVSo here's the deal. I'm sick and tired of Barack Obama blaming my brother for all of the problems that he has had. And, frankly, I could care less about the insults that Donald Trump gives to me. It's blood sport for him. He enjoys it. And I'm glad he's happy about it. But I am sick and tired... +p505 +aVI am sick and tired of him going after my family. My dad is the greatest man alive in my mind. And while Donald Trump was building a reality TV show, my brother was building a security apparatus to keep us safe. And I'm proud of what he did. And he has had the gall to go after my brother. +p506 +aVHe has had the gall to go after my mother. Hold on. Let me finish. He has had the gall to go after my mother. +p507 +aVLook, I won the lottery when I was born 63 years ago, looked up, and I saw my mom. My mom is the strongest woman I know. +p508 +aVThis is not about my family or his family. This is about the South Carolina families that need someone to be a commander in chief that can lead. I'm that person. +p509 +aVCan I just... +p510 +aVI'm not going to invite Donald Trump to the rally in Charleston on Monday afternoon when my brother is coming to speak. +p511 +aVI'm rescinding the invitation. I thought you might want to come, but I guess not. +p512 +aVI'd like \u2014 can I \u2014 can I... +p513 +aVLook, I admire the fact that Governor Kasich is supporting spending more money on drug treatment and mental health. I think that's a high priority all across this country, but expanding Obamacare is what we're talking about, and Obamacare's expansion, even though the federal government is paying for the great majority of it, is creating further debt on the backs of our children and grandchildren. We should be fighting Obamacare, repealing Obamacare, replacing it with something totally different. When I was \u2014 as a private citizen, Florida was confronted with the choice. The governor was supportive of doing what John did. So was the Florida Senate. A committed speaker of the House asked me to go as a private citizen to make the case against the expansion. I did, and it wasn't expanded there, just as it wasn't expanded in South Carolina under Governor Haley. +p514 +aVSouth Carolina \u2014 South Carolinians need to know this, because the Cato Institute, which grades governors based on their spending, rank him right at the bottom. +p515 +aVAnd Governor Haley is ranked at the top. +p516 +aVNo. He mentioned my name. +p517 +aVLet me finish, though. No, no, no \u2014 hey, wait, wait, wait. Just hold, Major, hold, Major. Hold on, Major. +p518 +aVSouth Carolinians want to make that, they elect the most conservative governor or candidate that can win. +p519 +aVOf course not. It won't have an impact on hedge funds managers paying ordinary income. In fact, it's not just hedge fund people, but people that are doing \u2014 they're in the business of investing other people's money, getting capital gains treatment is not appropriate. They should be paying ordinary income. That's their business. They're grateful to be able to make a lot of money, I'm sure. And what we do is lower the rates. It's not the end of the world that private equity people and hedge fund folks that are, right now, getting capital gains treatment for the income they earn, pay ordinary income like everybody else in this room. That's not a problem at all. What we need to do is reform the tax code to simplify the rates, to shift power away from Washington, D.C. That's what I did as governor of the state of Florida, $19 billion dollars of tax cuts, and it stimulated seven out of the eight years. Florida led the nation in job growth. +p520 +aVThank you. +p521 +aVGreat question. I feel like I have to get into my inner Chris Christie, and point out that the reason why I should be president is listening to two senators talk about arcane amendments to bills that didn't pass. This is \u2014 this is the problem. We need a leader to fix this problem. And I have a detailed plan to do just that, including controlling the border, dealing with the visa over-stayers, making sure that we have a path to legal status, not to citizenship, for those that come out from the shadows and pay a fine, learn English, don't commit crimes, work and pay taxes. That is the better approach. +p522 +aVThe great majority of people that come to this country come because they have no other choice. They want to come to provide for their families. That doesn't mean it's right. That doesn't mean it's right. We should pick who comes to our country. We should control our border. Coming here legally should be a lot easier than coming here illegally. But the motivation, they're not all rapists, as you-know-who said. They're not that. These are people that are coming to provide for their families. And we should show a little more respect for the fact that they're struggling. It doesn't mean we shouldn't be controlling the border. That's exactly what we should be doing. +p523 +aV... So, you know......This is the standard operating procedure, to disparage me. That's fine... +p524 +aV... But, if you want to talk about weakness, you want to talk about weakness? It's weak to disparage women. +p525 +aVIt's weak to denigrate the disabled. And,it's really weak to call John McCain a loser because he was a... +p526 +aV... That is outrageous. The guy's an American hero. +p527 +aV... The simple fact is I've also laid out my plans on immigration... +p528 +aV Just, for the record make sure my mother's listening, if she's watching the debate. I didn't say that I was going to moon somebody... +p529 +aVSo, there \u2014 so, there is all sorts of intrigue about where I disagree with my brother, there would be one right there. You should not use eminent domain for private purposes. A baseball stadium or a parking lot for a limo... +p530 +aVIt's very different. Transmission lines, pipe lines, bridges and highways. All of that is proper use of imminent domain. Not to take an elderly woman's home to build a parking lot so that high-rollers can come from New York City to build casinos in Atlantic City. +p531 +aVMy name was mentioned twice. +p532 +aVHe called me a liar. +p533 +aVAlso, he talked about one of my heroes, Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan was a liberal maybe in the 1950s. He was a conservative reformed governor for eight years before he became president, and no one should suggest he made an evolution for political purposes. He was a conservative, and he didn't tear down people like Donald Trump is. He tore down the Berlin Wall. +p534 +aVHe was a great guy. +p535 +aVThat was me. +p536 +aVYeah, well, I have got to respond to this. +p537 +aVSounds like a good plan. +p538 +aVOr you could ask me two questions, so I could get two minutes instead of one. +p539 +aVI think the dysfunction in Washington is really dangerous, that's what I think. And we need a proven leader that has a record of solving problems, someone who doesn't cut and run; someone who could be a commander in chief to unite our country around common purposes; someone who doesn't disparage people. Someone that doesn't brag, for example, that he has been bankrupt four times and it was great, because he could use the legal system. Someone... +p540 +aVWe need someone with a proven record to be able to forge consensus to solve problems. And right now, both Republicans and Democrats in Washington don't get it. People are struggling \u2014 63 percent of Americans can't make a $500 car payment. Most Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. And we need someone has a proven record of growing the economy, reforming the things that are broken. And I'm that person. +p541 +aVYeah... +p542 +aVYeah. +p543 +aVHere we go. +p544 +aVHere's the record. Here's the record. We led the nation in job growth seven out of eight years. When I left there was $9 billion of reserves, 35 percent of general revenue. No state came close to that. +p545 +aVWhen I \u2014 during my time, we were one of the two states to go to AAA bond rating. We didn't go bankrupt like Trump did and call it success when people are laid off, when vendors don't get paid. That's not success. What we did was create an environment where people had a chance to have income. Personal income during my time went up by 4.4 percent. +p546 +aVThe government grew by... +p547 +aV... half of that. +p548 +aVThank you all very much. The next president is going to be confronted with an unforeseen challenge. That's almost certain. It could be a pandemic, a major natural disaster or an attack on our country. The question for South Carolinians and Americans is who do you want to have sitting behind the big desk in the Oval Office? Because that's the question. It's not the things we're talking about today. It's the great challenge that may happen. I believe I will have a steady hand as commander in chief and president of the United States. I will unite this country around common purposes because I did it as governor of the state of Florida. When I was governor, we had eight hurricanes and four tropical storms in 16 months. Our state was on its back. We recovered far faster than what people thought because we led. We want to challenge rather than cutting and running. That's what we need in Washington, D.C. We need someone with a servant's heart that has a backbone, that isn't going to focus on polls and focus groups. The focus will be on the American people to keep them safe and secure. I ask for your vote next Saturday. +p549 +aVChris, why don't you mention my name so I can get into this. +p550 +aV... I appreciate that, I really do, thank you. +p551 +aVWell, first of all he said the exact same thing about me, that I would make a great Vice Presidential nominee when Mitt Romney was considering. I said the same thing about Marco. I think we were both right at the time, and Mitt picked somebody else. So, let's move on to the 2016 race. Who has the leadership skills... ...who has the leadership skills to lead? And, I'm proud of the fact that I have 12 Medal of Honor recipients, over 30 admirals and generals that believe that I would be a steady hand as Commander in Chief. That I serve as Governor of the state of Florida where we cut taxes and reduced government. I took on very powerful interests, forged consensus, fought for my beliefs, implemented them and the state was better off. We had eight hurricanes and four tropical storms in 16 months. The whole state was turned upside down. It required a steady hand. Leadership. You learn this, you learn it by doing it. It's not something that you just go up, and on the job do it. It's not the same. Look, let's be clear. Marco Rubio is a gifted, gifted politician, and he may have the skills to be a President of the United States, but we've tried it the old way with Barack Obama, with soaring eloquence and we got \u2014 we didn't get a leader we got someone who wants to divide the country up. The next President......going to have to forge consensus to bring about a set of common purposes so that we can move forward again in this country... +p552 +aV... this relates to strategic patience. +p553 +aVThis relates to the strategic patience of the Obama administration. They come up with these great marketing terms, and what they do is they pull back, and voids are filled, and they're now filled by asymmetric threats of terror, as well as nation-states on the run. The next president of the United States is gonna have to get the United States back in the game, and if a preemptive strike is necessary to keep us safe, then we should do it. +p554 +aVWell, first of all, it's interesting that that happened literally days when this hostage release took place in Iran. A day or two days afterwards, North Korea took a \u2014 held an American student hostage. I think it's when we send a signal of weakness, when we are negotiating to release people that committed crimes in our country for people that didn't commit crimes that are held hostage in Iran. We saw the shameful treatment of our sailors, that this creates weakness \u2014 sends a signal of weakness around the world. The next president of the United States is going to have to get back in the game. Where the United States' word matters. Where we back up our allies, where we don't send signals of weakness. We need to use every \u2014 every influence possible to get this student back. And I think John is right about this, there are crippling sanctions that are available, as it relates to the two or three banks that North Korea uses to \u2014 to \u2014 use it \u2014 illicit trade. We ought to re-establish sanctions, not just because of the student, but because of their actions that they're taking right now, as it relates to building this missile capability. +p555 +aVGood evening. HAM: Mr. Trump. +p556 +aVThe difference \u2014 the difference between eminent domain for public purpose \u2014 as Donald said, roads and infrastructure, pipelines and all that \u2014 that's for public purpose. But what Donald Trump did was use eminent domain to try to take the property of an elderly woman on the strip in Atlantic City. That is not public purpose, that is down right wrong. And here's the problem with that. The problem was, it was to tear down \u2014 it was to tear down \u2014 it was to tear down the house... +p557 +aVAnd the net result was \u2014 you tried. +p558 +aVAnd you lost in the court. +p559 +aVThat is not true. And the simple fact is to turn this into a limousine parking lot for his casinos is a not public use. And in Florida, based on what we did, we made that impossible. It is part of our Constitution. That's the better approach. That is the conservative approach. +p560 +aVHow tough it is to take away property from an elderly woman? +p561 +aVHow tough it is to take away a property from an elderly woman? +p562 +aVI consider it a public use. +p563 +aVIt's a public use. It's a public use. +p564 +aVIt's a public use. +p565 +aVYeah. +p566 +aVIt's a public use. +p567 +aVEstablished by the courts \u2014 federal, state courts. +p568 +aVI would like to see more millionaires. I think we need to grow more millionaires, we need create a prosperity society where people can rise up. This notion that somehow we're undertaxed as a nation is just fool hearty, when we have entitlements growing far faster than our ability to pay for it. A conservative, because that's the point of this, believes in limited government, believes in a entrepreneurial capitalism and a strong national defense. But it also has to be, we need to reform things. In my town hall meetings, I went to a place where a woman described her neighbor, who has a better economic deal by not working than her struggling to make ends meet. We need to be on the side of working people. And you know, the problem with the left is, another tax, another regulation, another mandate makes it harder for them to rise up. Everything that we should do should be focused on high, sustained economic growth, where the middle class gets a raise for the first time, and where people are rewarded for work, rather than non-work. And I know how to do this. And if people are interested in the specifics of this, they ought to go to jeb2016.com. +p569 +aVMartha \u2014 Martha, if I... +p570 +aVI would. And I would do it in concert, again, with our Arab allies and with Europe, most particularly in this case. This is the lesson learned: in history, if you bomb something and not do anything as it relates to deal with the aftermath of this, if you don't have a stable government, you get what we have in Libya. And this is not \u2014 leading from behind is not an effective policy. We have to lead. Without the United States, nothing seems to work. Europe doesn't have the ability to \u2014 to \u2014 to lead \u2014 forward lead in this regard. And so dealing with the caliphate is important, because it now has spawned other areas. There have been 70-plus attacks in 17 countries, either inspired by +p571 +aVMartha and David, I just... +p572 +aVMartha and David... +p573 +aVNo, no, I wouldn't. No, I wouldn't. And it was used sparingly, Congress has changed the laws and I \u2014 and I think where we stand is the appropriate place. But what we need to do is to make sure that we expand our intelligence capabilities. The idea that we're going to solve this fight with predator drones, killing people somehow is a \u2014 is more acceptable than capturing them, securing the information. This is why closing Guantanamo is a complete disaster. What we need to do is make sure that we are kept safe......by having intelligence capabilities, both human and technological intelligence capabilities far superior than what we have today. That's how you get a more safe place is by making sure that we're fully engaged. And right now, this administration doesn't do that. +p574 +aVThis is a \u2014 this is an important subject. I agree with everything that's been said here about repealing unconstitutional rules and rules that are creating real burdens for investing that creating jobs. But we also ought to get back to being a Tenth Amendment country, as well, a country that respects the states to be able to make more decisions. And in the Bush administration, we would shift transportation dollars back to the states. I trust Kasich and Christie to build the roads and the infrastructure of their states than Washington, D.C. EPA delegated authority, back to the states. Education dollars, back to the states. I would like to see reform take place all across the country, where there's more vouchers, more freedom. If we did that, we would shrink government's power in Washington, D.C. and we would have a much more effective government, where people would begin to trust our government again, because now, no one believes it works. +p575 +aVYou mentioned me. He mentioned me. One other thing that I think we ought to do, along with repealing Obamacare, we need to shift all of this power of healthcare, which is the most egregious form of federal power that is suppressing wages and incomes, and allow governors to have the Medicaid plans so that they can create 21st century Medicaid insurance for people that are stuck in poverty. There's so much that can be done, but I don't trust Washington to do it. I trust the state capitals to be the place \u2014 to be the source of innovation and reform in this country. HAM: Thank you, governors. Martha and David, back to you. +p576 +aVI didn't mention him the second time. +p577 +aV... Say it again? +p578 +aV... I do, and I do think that we should not impose any kind of political agenda on the military. There should be \u2014 if women can meet the requirements, the minimum requirements for combat service they ought to have the right to do it. For sure. It ought to be focused on the morale as well. We got to make sure that we have readiness much higher than we do today. We need to eliminate the sequester which is devastating our military. We can't be focusing on the political side of this, we need to realize that our military force is how we project our word in the world. When we're weak militarily it doesn't matter what we say. We can talk about red lines, and +p579 +aV... Why would they worry about it... +p580 +aV... Well, the Draft's not going to be reinstituted, but why \u2014 if women are accessing... +p581 +aVNo. I didn't say that. You \u2014 you asked a question not about the draft, you asked about registering. And if women are going to be... +p582 +aVIf \u2014 but... +p583 +aV... we don't have a draft. I'm not suggesting we have a draft. What I'm suggesting is that we ought to have readiness being the first priority of our military, and secondly, that we make sure that the morale is high. And right now, neither one of those are acceptable because we've been gutting the military budget. We also need to reform our procurement process. We need to make sure there are more men and women in uniform than people \u2014 than civilians in our Defense Department. There's a lot of things that we need to reform to bring our defense capabilities into the 21st century and I'm the guy that could do that. That's why I have the support of generals, of admirals, of 12 Medal of Honor recipients and many other people that know that I would be a steady commander-in-chief and rebuild our military. +p584 +aVI totally agree that we need to give veterans more choices. A veterans card to be able to go to a private provider will enhance the quality of the service inside the Department of Veterans Affairs. We need career civil service reform. Only three people were fired after waiting lists were dropped where veterans didn't get care and people died. It is outrageous. And Hillary Clinton says that that's acceptable? Because she is captive of the public service uniforms. Career civil service reform would allow the next president to fire people that are \u2014 that are showing sheer incompetence. At a town hall meeting today, someone came \u2014 told a story of their father who looked like he was 85. He had \u2014 he got a bill eight years later from an operation he had, eight years it took. They couldn't resolve the dispute and then he was told that he died. Literally, the Veterans Administration sent a death certificate to this guy and it took nine months to clarify the guy \u2014 I met him. He's voting for me. And he is \u2014 likely to be alive. This is \u2014 this is outrageous. It is completely outrageous. So, giving veterans more choices, creating centers of excellence, focusing on the true problems that exist. Dr. Carson is completely right. We need to start focusing on this earlier, before they become veterans so that there's a customized plan so people don't fall through the cracks. We can do this, but it's going to require someone who has proven leadership skills to make it happen. +p585 +aVLook, I'm pro-life. In fact, on this stage, I'm the most pro-life person because I've acted on it for eight years as governor of the state of Florida. Where we abolished partial-birth abortion, where parents have the right to be notified when their teenage child is having an abortion. We were the first state to do a choose life license plate to raise money for adoption. We were the first state to have state monies go to crisis pregnancy centers, which recently was just increased to $4 million a year. We created greater regulation on abortion clinics, where there were horrific procedures. So I'm pro life, but I believe there should be exceptions: rape, incest and when the life of the mother is in danger. And so, that belief, and my consistency on this, makes me, I think, poised to be in the right place, the sweet spot for a Republican nominee. And others may have a different view and I respect it. +p586 +aVPeyton Manning is supporting me. And I'm for Denver. +p587 +aVI want to thank the people of New Hampshire, and I want to celebrate the birthday of a great president, Ronald Reagan would have been 105 today. President Reagan believed in the future of our country, believed in its greatness, had a hopeful, optimistic message. Drew people towards our cause. We need someone who has a proven record to take our case to the American people because our philosophy is by far the best one. Limited government, entrepreneurial capitalism, of peace through strength. I believe I have the skills to take our party to victory in November. I ask for your support on Tuesday to keep America, and make America a safer, stronger, and freer. Thank you all very much. +p588 +aVBret, we're just starting. The first vote hasn't been counted. Why don't we let the process work. I trust Iowans, Granite staters, people in South Carolina, people in Nevada, to start this process out. I kind of miss Donald Trump. He was a little teddy bear to me. We always had such a loving relationship in these debates and in between and the tweets. I kind of miss him. I wish he was here. Everybody else was in the witness protection program when I went after him on behalf of what the Republican cause should be: conservative principles, believing in limited government, believing in accountability. Leading by fixing the things that are broken. Look, I am in the establishment because my dad, the greatest man alive was president of the United States and my brother, who I adore as well as fantastic brother was president. Fine, I'll take it. I guess I'm part of the establishment Barbara Bush is my mom. I'll take that, too. But this election is not about our pedigree, this is an election about people that are really hurting. We need a leader that will fix things and have a proven record to do it. And we need someone who will take on Hillary Clinton in November. Someone who has a proven record, who has been tested, who is totally transparent. I released 34 years of tax returns... ... and 300,000 e-mails in my government record. To get the information from Hillary Clinton, you need to get a subpoena from the FBI. +p589 +aVNo, you weren't. Your name wasn't mentioned, Ted. +p590 +aV... Chris, keep it coming... +p591 +aV... Thank you Chris... +p592 +aVWell, first, I was critical of the Senators not giving the authorization for the use of military force. They should have made it more open ended for the next president. We shouldn't have the war fighters have their arms tied behind their back as President Obama wanted to do, but they had a chance to show support and it wasn't popular at the time. It became popular after the attack in Paris, and San Bernardino. Now we hear the tough talk. Prior to that, in the Reagan Library, I gave a detailed plan. Exactly what to do as it relates to +p593 +aVOf course. And there's all sorts of ways that can be done at the state, local and federal level to do that. But the first duty of the next president of the United States is to fix the mess at the Department of Veterans Affairs. That's his first responsibility. Look, we have waiting lists for veterans that are \u2014 that are leaving because of the sequester where we're gutting the military. More and more military personnel are leaving becoming veterans, and the waiting list grows. They've given out $140 million of bonuses to Veterans Department employees, including reducing the waiting lists, without giving veterans care. People died, and only three people have been fired. I will make sure that we fire the sheer incompetence inside the Department of Veterans Affairs and then we'll give veterans a choice card so that they don't have to travel hours and hours to get care if they want to go to their private provider. You want to make the Veterans Administration do a better job, give them \u2014 give veterans choices and you'll get a much better result. And as it relates to all the other organizations, let me give you a good example. In Houston, Texas, there's an organization in place because someone acted on their heart, wanted to make sure that there's no homeless veterans in Houston. And they've come pretty close to that without federal government assistance. We need to mobilize the entire country to treat our veterans and treat them with much more respect than they get today. +p594 +aVNo, they shouldn't. And I believe that Puerto Rico ought to have the right of self-determination. If I was a Puerto Rican, I'd vote for statehood so that they have full citizenship. They serve in the military. They would have to pay federal taxes. They would \u2014 they would accept the responsibilities of full U.S. citizenship. But they should have the right of determine \u2014 self-determination. Before you get to that, though, Puerto Rico is going to have to deal with the structural problems they face. You know, it's \u2014 it's a fact that if you can pay for a $79 one-way ticket to Orlando, and you can escape the challenges of a declining economy and high crime rates, you move to Orlando. And a lot of people are doing that. And the spiraling out-of- control requires Puerto Rico to make structural reforms. The federal government can play a role in allowing them to do that, but they should not \u2014 the process of statehood or the status of Puerto Rico won't be solved until we get to the bigger issue of how you deal with the structural economic problems they're facing right now. +p595 +aVWell, I'm kind of confused because he was the sponsor of the Gang of Eight bill that did require a bunch of thresholds but ultimately allowed for citizenship over an extended period of time. I mean, that's a fact. And he asked me to support that. And I \u2014 I supported him because I think people, when you're elected, you need to do things. And he led the charge to finally fix this immigration problem that has existed now for, as Marco says, for 30 years. And then he cut and run because it wasn't popular amongst conservatives, I guess. Here's what I believe. And I wrote a book about this called Immigration Wars. You can get it at $2.99 on Amazon. It's not a bestseller. I can promise you. There won't be any \u2014 you can get it. It's affordable for everybody. We should have a path to legal status for the 12 million people that are here illegally. It means, come out from the shadows, pay a fine, earn legal status by working, by paying taxes, learning English. Not committing crimes and earn legal status where you're not cutting in front of the line for people that are patiently waiting outside. I think that is the \u2014 I think that's the conservative consensus pragmatic approach to how to solve this problem. +p596 +aVSo did you. +p597 +aVYeah. So did you, Marco. +p598 +aVMarco, Marco \u2014 he brought up my name. I have supported a consensus approach to solving this problem wherever it came up. and in 2007 it almost passed when my brother was president of the United States. A bipartisan approach got close. Barack Obama actually had the poison pill to stop it then. And when you led the charge with the Gang of Eight, I supported it because you asked me to. I think it's important for people in elected office to try to forge consensus to solve problems. There's never going do be perfect bill. +p599 +aVBut when you didn't do that and you ask people to support, you shouldn't cut and run. +p600 +aVYou should stick with it and that's exactly what happened. He cut and run. And that's a tragedy because now... ... it's harder and harder to actually solve this problem. +p601 +aVCan I \u2014 can I \u2014 I just... +p602 +aVThat beautiful young woman who's an entrepreneur who served in the military, first of all, is deserving of our respect for service in the military and the fact that she's an entrepreneur. And we should be a welcoming nation. Our identity is not based on race or ethnicity, it's based on a set of shared values. That's American citizenship. And Dulce Candy \u2014 a pretty cool name, actually \u2014 that is now an entrepreneur over Youtube is part of that American spirit, and we should celebrate it as conservatives. That's what we believe in. You can \u2014 you can deal with the threat of terror and also recognize that this country should be aspirational across the board. +p603 +aVWell, first of all, I've seen polls where I'm beating Hillary Clinton pretty regularly. And I believe I can, because I have a proven record, a record of accomplishment, a record of cutting taxes, of shrinking the government, of reforming education, of challenging the status quo, eliminating career civil service protections, shrinking the government workforce by 11 percent, but leading the nation in job growth. That's the record of accomplishment that should be taken to Hillary Clinton, who has no record of accomplishment. So I'm confident if I win this nomination, I will aggressively go against her and beat her. As it relates to the super PACs, I have no control over that. And this is beanbag compared to what the Clinton hit machine is going to do to the Republican nominee. The simple fact is, we all have a record. It all will be scrutinized. There's give and take. It's called the politics. And that's the way it is. I'm running hard and I believe I'll be the Republican nominee and I'll be the one best suited to beat Hillary Clinton, who should not be president of the United States. +p604 +aVWell first of all, I think it's important that when we're running for the highest office in the land that we recognize that we're living in dangerous times and we have to be serious about it, that our words have consequences. Donald Trump, for example \u2014 I'm glad \u2014 I mentioned his name again just if anybody was missing him... ... Mr. Trump believed that in reaction to people's fears that we should ban all Muslims. Well, that creates an environment that's toxic in our own country. Nobela is a rising entrepreneur. She wants to pursue the American dream. She's an American citizen. She should not feel uncomfortable about her citizenship. She's not the threat. The threat is Islamic terrorism. We need to focus our energies there, not these broad, blanket, kind of statements that will make it harder for us to deal with +p605 +aVWe desperately need a conservative leader as president of the United States. I have a proven record as governor of the state of Florida, as a conservative leader. And I also have detailed plans to fix the mess in Washington, D.C. As president I will restore and rebuild our military, restore the alliances and keep us safe. And as our party's nominee, I will defeat Hillary Clinton in November. I ask for your support on the caucuses come Monday night and I will make you proud as our party's nominee. Thank you very much. +p606 +aVWell first of all, the idea that somehow we're better off today than the day that Barack Obama was inaugurated president of the United States is totally an alternative universe. The simple fact is that the world has been torn asunder. Think about it. With grandiose language, the president talks about red lines and nothing to follow it up; talks about +p607 +aVNo. And worse \u2014 worse yet, to be honest with you, Hillary Clinton would be a national security disaster. Think about it. She wants to continue down the path of Iran, Benghazi, the Russian reset, Dodd-Frank, all the things that have \u2014 that have gone wrong in this country, she would be a national security mess. And that is wrong. And you know what? Here's the problem. If she gets elected, she's under investigation with the FBI right now. If she gets elected, her first 100 days, instead of setting an agenda, she might be going back and forth between the White House and the courthouse. We need to stop that. +p608 +aVNeil, my name was mentioned here. Neil, my name was mentioned as well. Here's the deal, Chris is totally right. He's been a good governor, and he's a heck of a lot better than his predecessor that would have bankrupted New Jersey. Everybody on this stage is better than Hillary Clinton. And I think the focus ought to be on making sure that we leave this nomination process, as wild and woolly as it's going to be \u2014 this is not being bad. These attack ads are going to be part of life. Everybody just needs to get used to it. Everybody's record's going to be scrutinized, and at the end of the day we need to unite behind the winner so we can defeat Hillary Clinton, because she is a disaster. Our country rise up again, but we need to have a compelling conservative agenda that we present to the American people in a way that doesn't disparage people, that unites us around our common purpose. And so everybody needs to discount some of the things you're going to hear in these ads, and discount the \u2014 the back-and-forth here, because every person here is better than Hillary Clinton. +p609 +aVFirst of all, I'd like to recognize Governor Haley for her incredible leadership in the aftermath of the \u2014 \u2014 the Emanuel AME church killings. And I also want to recognize the people in that church that showed the grace of God and the grace of forgiveness and the mercy that they showed. I don't know if any of us could have done what they did, one after another, within 48 hours of that tragedy taking place. Look, here's the deal, in this particular case, the FBI made a mistake. The law itself requires a background check, but that didn't fulfill their part of the bargain within the time that they were supposed to do. We don't need to add new rules, we need to make sure the FBI does its job. Because that person should not have gotten a gun, should not \u2014 would not have passed a background check. The first impulse of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton is to take rights away from law- abiding citizens. That's what they do, whether it's the San Bernardino attack or if it's these tragedies that take place, I think we need to focus on what the bigger issue is. It isn't law-abiding gun owners. Look, I have an A plus rating in the NRA and we also have a reduction in gun violence because in Florida, if you commit a crime with a gun, you're going away. You're going away for a long, long while. And that's what we should focus on is the violence in our communities. Target the efforts for people that are committing crimes with guns, and if you do that, and get it right, you're going to be much better off than creating a political argument where there's a big divide. The other issue is mental health. That's a serious issue that we could work on. Republicans and Democrats alike believe this. The president's first impulse is do this by executive order, power he doesn't have. Why not go to Congress and in a bipartisan way, begin to deal with the process of mental health issues so that people that are spiraling out of control because of mental health challenges don't have access to guns. +p610 +aVWell, first of all, under President Jeb Bush, we would restore the strength of the military. Last week, Secretary Carter announced that the Navy's going to be cut again. It's now half the size of what it was prior to Operation Desert Storm. The deployments are too high for the military personnel. We don't have procurement being done for refreshing the equipment. The B-52 is still operational as the long range bomber; it was inaugurated in the age of Harry Truman. The planes are older than the pilots. We're gutting our military, and so the Iranians and the Chinese and the Russians and many other countries look at the United States not as serious as we once were. We have to eliminate the sequester, rebuild our military in a way that makes it clear that we're back in the game. Secondly, as it relates to Iran, we need to confront their ambitions across the board. We should reimpose sanctions, they've already violated sanctions after this agreement was signed by testing medium-range missiles. Thirdly, we need to move our embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem to send a serious signal that we're back in the game with Israel......and sign an agreement that makes sure that the world knows that they will have technological superiority. We need to get back in the game as it relates to our Arab nations. The rest of the world is moving away from us towards other alliances because we are weak. This president and John Kerry and Hillary Clinton all have made it harder for the next president to act, but he must act to confront the ambitions of Iran. We can get back in the game to restore order and security for our own country. +p611 +aVDonald, Donald \u2014 can I \u2014 I hope you reconsider this, because this policy is a policy that makes it impossible to build the coalition necessary to take out +p612 +aVYeah, they are unhinged. +p613 +aVNo, not at all, absolutely not. I can see why people are angry and scared, because this president has created a condition where our national security has weakened dramatically. I totally get that. But we're running for the presidency of the United States here. This isn't \u2014 this isn't, you know, a different kind of job. You have to lead. You cannot make rash statements and expect the rest of the world to respond as though, well, it's just politics. Every time we send signals like this, we send a signal of weakness, not strength. And so it was his statement, which is why I'm asking him to consider changing his views. +p614 +aVSo, are we going to ban Muslims from India, from Indonesia, from countries that are strong allies \u2014 that we need to build better relationships with? Of course not. What we need to do is destroy +p615 +aVAbsolutely. +p616 +aVYeah. +p617 +aVHere's \u2014 apart from the \u2014 apart from the higher prices on consumers and people are living paycheck to paycheck, apart from that, there will be retaliation. +p618 +aVSo they soybean sales from Iowa, entire soybean production goes \u2014 the equivalent of it goes to China. Or how about Boeing right here within a mile? Do you think that the Chinese, if they had a 45 percent tariff imposed on all their imports wouldn't retaliate and start buying Airbus? Of course, they would. This would be devastating for the economy. We need someone with a steady hand being president of the United States. +p619 +aVThey're a mile away from here. +p620 +aVMy name was mentioned. My name was mentioned here. The simple fact is that the plane that's being build here is being sold to China. You can \u2014 if you \u2014 you flew in with your 767, didn't you? Right there, right next to the plant. +p621 +aVWhen you head back to airport tonight, go check and see what the... +p622 +aVCheck it out. +p623 +aVThere's \u2014 look, there's \u2014 +p624 +aVI would try to convince him otherwise, but this last back and forth between two senators \u2014 back bench senators, you know, explains why we have the mess in Washington, D.C. We need a president that will fix our immigration laws and stick with it, not bend with the wind. The simple fact is one of the ways, Maria, to solve the problem you described is narrow the number of people coming by family petitioning to what every other country has so that we have the best and the brightest that come to our country. We need to control the border, we need to do all of this in a comprehensive way, not just going back and forth and talking about stuff \u2014 +p625 +aVOh, I'll talk about that, too. But you haven't asked me a question in a while, Neil, so I thought I'd get that off my chest if you don't mind. +p626 +aVI got that. And the problem today is there's no confidence in Washington, D.C. There needs to be more than one meeting, there needs to complete dialogue with the large technology companies. They understand that there's a national security risk. We ought to give them a little bit of a liability release so that they share data amongst themselves and share data with the federal government, they're not fearful of a lawsuit. We need to make sure that we keep the country safe. This is the first priority. The cybersecurity challenges that we face, this administration failed us completely, completely. Not just the hacking of OPM, but that is \u2014 that is just shameful. 23 million files in the hands of the Chinese? So it's not just the government \u2014 the private sector companies, it's also our own government that needs to raise the level of our game. We should put the NSA in charge of the civilian side of this as well. That expertise needs to spread all across the government and there needs to be much more cooperation with our private sector. +p627 +aVYou've got to keep asking. You've got to keep asking because this is a hugely important issue. If you can encrypt messages, +p628 +aVWell, if the law would change, yeah. But I think there has to be recognition that if we \u2014 if we are too punitive, then you'll go to other \u2014 other technology companies outside the United States. And what we want to do is to control this. We also want to dominate this from a commercial side. So there's a lot of balanced interests. But the president leads in this regard. That's what we need. We need leadership, someone who has a backbone and sticks with things, rather than just talks about them as though anything matters when you're talking about amendments that don't even actually are part of a bill that ever passed. +p629 +aVWho can you count on to keep us safer, stronger and freer? Results count, and as governor, I pushed Florida up to the top in terms of jobs, income and small business growth. Detailed plans count, and I believe that the plan I've laid out to destroy +p630 +asVMCELVEEN +p631 +(lp632 +VThank you, David. And good evening, candidates. Mr. Trump, you have said, quote, "I love eminent domain" which is the seizure of private property for the sake of the greater good theoretically. You tried to use the measure in business endeavors, you've said you'd support its use for the Keystone Pipeline project. Here in New Hampshire, a project, though, known as the Northern pass would bring hydro-electric power from Canada into the Northeastern grid. Do you see eminent domain as an appropriate tool to get that done? +p633 +aVSo would that be yes on the Northern Pass project? +p634 +aVMr. Trump, take 30 seconds. +p635 +aVAll right, gentlemen... +p636 +aVGentlemen, we do have to move forward. Dave, Martha, back to you. +p637 +aVYou're all aware, candidates, this is a major problem here in New Hampshire. It's a very deadly problem as well. Last month, New Hampshire senators Kelly Ayotte, Republican, and Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat, they went down to Washington, along with the police chief of the state's largest city to testify before the Judiciary Committee in D.C. Senator Cruz, you're a member of that committee. Your campaign schedule didn't allow you to attend this. Even so, the police chief called your absence outrageous, given the severity of the problem. Last week, though, you told a personal story of a close family member's struggle with addiction. What can you say to law enforcement right now to convince them that you understand the severity of this problem and you're not just saying what people want to hear days before the primary? +p638 +aVAnd Governor Christie, you have talked a lot about this issue here in New Hampshire. State reforms, criminal justice reforms, access to treatment. To Senator Cruz's point, let's take it a step further. Would you be willing to engage in cross-border enforcement into Mexico, a place where law enforcement in New Hampshire has traced at lot of this supply back to. Would you engage in cross-border enforcement without the cooperation without the Mexican government? +p639 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you very much. David, Martha, back to you. +p640 +aVThank you, Martha. None of you on stage tonight have ever worn a uniform as a member of the armed services. That's the reality of it. But as commander-in-chief, you'll also be charged with the care of 23 million active duty service members and veterans in this country. Some have suggested privatizing the V.A. as a way to enhance care and increase the quality of the care and access. Others say that veterans should carry I.D. cards that allow them access to any hospital or health care provider. Governor Bush, what specifically would you do to ensure that those who have sacrificed for us are cared for? +p641 +aVGovernor Kasich, do you have a favored approach? +p642 +aVSenator Rubio, go ahead? +p643 +aVSenator Rubio, thanks very much. Going to move forward now. David, Martha, back to you. +p644 +asVWALLACE +p645 +(lp646 +VTonight, we're partnering with Google for an exclusive second-screen experience. Search Fox News debate on Google any time in the next two hours to access exclusive content. You can see the campaigns respond to the debate in real time, and you can weigh in by voting on the topics being discussed. Just go to google.com or open your Google search app and type in Fox News debate. +p647 +aVNeurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. +p648 +aVApparently Iowa's near Kentucky. +p649 +aVSenator Rubio, I want to explore this sort of larger issue. The campaign has in a sense turned into a battle for the soul of the Republican party: establishment versus grassroots, pragmatic versus principle. You say that you can unite all of the factions inside the GOP. How? +p650 +aVGovernor Kasich, I want to get back to this question of where conservatives are this year. You call yourself a, quote, "inside-outside guy, a reformer who knows how to get things done," but you reject the establishment label. First question is why do you reject it? And secondly, what do you say to Republican voters this year who view practical government experience as a liability and not an asset? +p651 +aVDr. Carson, I want to pick up on that with you. Governor Kasich likes to say he knows how to land the plane. You've landed a lot of planes in the O.R. But what about the idea of running for president with no experience in government at all? +p652 +aVGentlemen, we're now going to start to drill down into specific issues that are on voters' minds. I'm going to start with one of the biggest ones, which is foreign terror. According to Google, +p653 +aVSenator Rubio, does Senator Cruz's record match his rhetoric? +p654 +aVSenator Cruz, you've got 30 seconds. You were mentioned. +p655 +aVGentlemen. +p656 +aVMay I \u2014 may I just say, we are going to continue the questions about foreign terror, gentlemen, right after this break. +p657 +aVThank you. Governor Christie, you have compared both Senators Cruz and Rubio to Barack Obama, saying that we cannot afford another inexperienced President. You've also said that Senator Cruz's vote to curtail the NSA surveillance program made America less safe. Is either of them ready to be Commander in Chief? +p658 +aVGovernor Bush... +p659 +aV... I don't think that your name was mentioned... +p660 +aV... Sir, I think \u2014 I think the question was... +p661 +aV... It's not my question that you get a chance to respond to, it's his answer. You don't get 30 seconds to respond to me... +p662 +aV... You don't get 30 seconds to respond to me... +p663 +aV... If I could go on. Sir, I know you like to argue about the rules, but we're going to conduct a debate... +p664 +aV... Governor Bush... +p665 +aVGovernor Bush, here's the question \u2014 I'm going to ask Governor Bush the question. You criticized several candidates in this field on this stage for what you call unrealistic ideas about how to fight terrorists, including Rubio, and Cruz on the issue of their refusing to give the President authority to enforce the redline in Syria. But, given the fact that your brother got us into two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that have still not ended. That have still not ended, what lessons have you learned from his mistakes, sir? +p666 +aVSenator Cruz, now you get a chance to respond. +p667 +aV... It is a debate, sir. +p668 +aVI think the questions were about issues. Senator Rubio, what would you like to respond sir... +p669 +aVThank you. +p670 +aVGood. +p671 +aVSenator Paul, go ahead. +p672 +aVWell... ... we'll be talking about foreign policy a little bit later. We're going to talk... +p673 +aVThis debate is just getting started. Coming up, the role of the federal government. But first, join tonight's conversation right from your home. Go to google.com or open your Google search app and search Fox News Debate to vote on which issue is most important to you in this election. More from the Iowa Events Center and the Republican presidential debate in a moment. +p674 +aVGentlemen, we're going to turn now to what we call electability, issues that you're either facing in the primaries or issues that you're certainly going to face in a general election. So you may not be altogether unhappy if you're not included in this round. Senator Cruz, you pride yourself on standing up to the D.C. cartel, but as we've seen to a certain degree tonight, there's a price for standing up to the D.C. cartel. Thirteen Republican senators have endorsed other candidates, none have endorsed you. You \u2014 twice last year, you asked for a colleague to second a motion, a routine courtesy on the Senate floor, and no senator would do it. Top GOP officials worry that if you're at the top of the ticket \u2014 some officials \u2014 that not only will you lose the White House, but it will tank the ticket all the way down the line. The question is does your style sometimes get in the way of your ability to get things done, sir? +p675 +aVGovernor Christie, two of your former top aides go on trial in May for fraud and conspiracy in the "Bridge-gate" case, the politically motivated closure of lanes to the George Washington Bridge. Another former aide who has already pleaded guilty and will likely testify for the government, as you know, says that you knew about this whole deal. Can the GOP take the chance of nominating you with this scandal still out there, sir? +p676 +aVGentlemen, almost 60% of Republican caucus-goers identify themselves as Evangelicals, so I'd like to spend a few minutes exploring social issues. Governor Kasich, you talk a good deal about your faith. In fact, you say it played a role in your decision to expand Medicaid, and you say that when you meet Saint Peter at the Pearly Gates, he's going to ask what you did for the poor, not what you did to keep government small. Senator Cruz is on the opposite side of this issue from you, so does that mean that you're getting in and he isn't? +p677 +aVGentlemen, we had a case study on religious liberty just this last summer. A county clerk in Kentucky named Kim Davis refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples after the Supreme Court ruling, saying that it violated her religious beliefs. Governor Christie, you said that she must follow the law or be moved to another job that would be in keeping with her conscience. But some conservatives say that that violates her religious liberty. +p678 +aVThank you, sir. Senator Rubio, during the last debate, you said Governor Christie had changed his position and his mind on gun control, on common core, and backing President Obama's nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. He said you're wrong on the facts and you can't, quote, "slime your way to the White House." I assume in the last two weeks, you've done some fact-checking. Do you want to take anything back? +p679 +aVThank you, senator. Senator Paul, in May on the campaign trail you, said you didn't get into politics to fight about abortion. You said you were more concerned about the national debt. Your answer is to turn abortion back to the states the way it was before Roe v. Wade. Does that mean that if a liberal state, let's say, wants to make abortion legal, that you're okay with that and what do you say to conservative voters who believe deeply that abortion is murder? +p680 +aVSir, just 30 seconds to answer my specific... Just 30 seconds to answer my specific question. Do you favor the idea that abortion should be a states' rights issue and if a liberal state wants to make it legal, that that's their choice? Yes or no? +p681 +aVThank you, sir. +p682 +aVWe're not finished yet. More to come from the presidential debate, live from Des Moines, Iowa, next. And remember, to see how the campaigns are responding to the debate in real time, go togoogle.com or open your Google search app and search Fox News debate, and please stay with us. +p683 +aVWe have another question from one of Youtube's top creators. Here it is. +p684 +aVGovernor Bush, how do you answer Nabela? +p685 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Cruz, change of subject. You called for an end to the renewable fuel standards which mandate that refineries blend biofuels, including ethanol into gasoline. As you well know, ethanol's a big industry in this state, $10 billion dollars a year. Last week, Terry Branstad, the popular Governor of Iowa... ... Who is in the hall tonight, said that you're bankrolled by big oil, and that Iowa voters would be making a mistake supporting you. Why should those voters side with you over the six- term governor of the state, sir? +p686 +aVDr. Carson, I'd like to ask you about exactly that issue. Where are you on the mandatory ethanol standard, and precisely this question. Should government be in the business of picking winners and losers, or should it be left to the market place? +p687 +aVDoctor, thank you. +p688 +aVDr. Ben Carson. +p689 +aVAnd don't forget, after all the talk, the first voting of the 2016 campaign happens in just four days. The first Americans to vote, the Iowa caucuses are Monday and Fox News will have complete coverage. +p690 +asVGARRETT +p691 +(lp692 +VSenator Cruz. John mentioned this is about dollars and incentives. We also want to talk about economic growth engagements. You have proposed a consumption tax, you called it the "back tax." Some analysts compare it more to an attributed "value-added tax." From the perspective from economic growth in building wages, how does that work, and how would you address those longstanding conservative concerns that something approaching the "value-added tax" would be used to constantly increase those rates to pay for future government spending and become an escalator of taxation, not of growth? +p693 +aVNow, the question \u2014 conservatives have sort of this idea conceptually for a long time, but especially on this consumption value-added tax system. In Europe, where it exists, it has become an escalator of taxation to feed government spending, and that's why conservatives have long resisted it. Why and what would you do as president to make sure that doesn't happen? +p694 +aVGovernor Bush, a question for you \u2014 but if you want to jump in, please. +p695 +aVJump in, and then I've got a question for you. +p696 +aVReal quickly, jump in, because I have got a question for Governor Bush, but jump in. +p697 +aVUnderstood, Governor Kasich. +p698 +aVYeah, Governor Bush, fine. +p699 +aVLet me get in a question from... +p700 +aVI understand, I understand. +p701 +aVI have a question on economic growth, Governor Bush. +p702 +aVA , Governor. +p703 +aVI know, understood. Governor Bush. +p704 +aVGovernor Bush, from the perspective, economic growth \u2014 viewed from this perspective of economic growth, you have proposed a tax on hedge fund managers. The Americans for Tax Reform, a conservative tax group you're probably aware of, has said no Republican should be for higher taxes on capital gains. And many conservatives wonder if this proposal of yours would undermine not only that philosophy, but undercut your projection of 4 percent economic growth annually under your presidency? +p705 +aV... Dr. Carson... +p706 +aVSenator Rubio... For the purposes of the lines \u2014 lines you would draw legislatively as a president on immigration reform, define amnesty. +p707 +aVVery quickly, Senator Cruz. +p708 +aVGovernor Bush, I want to bring this out to a little wider philosophical aspect, if you will. +p709 +aVYou have said illegal immigrants, quote, "broke the law, but it's not a felony," still quoting you, "it's an act of love, it's an act of commitment to your family." Mr. Trump has, as you are well aware, denounced that statement over and over. Do you still believe it? What does that mean to you? And how does that inform your approach to immigration reform? +p710 +aVFundamentally, do you believe this rhetoric is insufficiently compassionate to this issue? +p711 +aVMr. Trump... +p712 +aV... Governor Kasich, here in South Carolina earlier this week, you said the idea, the concept of deporting 11 million undocumented workers... +p713 +aV... We will leave the moon metaphors to be adjudicated later, I assure you. Governor Kasich, you said earlier this week in South Carolina, the concept, the idea of deporting 11 million undocumented workers in this country is nuts. Why is it you are so opposed to that idea? Senator Cruz has said it's a simple application of existing law. The application of that is not inhumane, it is just. Why do you disagree? +p714 +aV... What are you for on immigration? +p715 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 Mr. Trump. I was with you in Pendleton, South Carolina, earlier this week at the Rodeo Arena. It was a bit chilly there. You promised the crowd, and they rose to their feet, that if Ford or a company like were to move a factory to Mexico, you would try to stop it or threaten them with a 35 percent tax or tariff on every car sold. +p716 +aVRight. So my question is, based on your understanding of the presidency, where do you derive that power? Would you need the consent of Congress to go along? And do you see the presidency as a perch from which you can cajole and/or threaten private industry to do something you think is better for the U.S. economy? +p717 +aVThank you, governor. +p718 +asVMUIR +p719 +(lp720 +VGood evening, again, everyone. This is the first time since Iowa and the only time before the New Hampshire primary that the Republican candidates will have the opportunity to face each other. The people of Iowa have been heard. Now it's New Hampshire's turn. In just three days, voters here will decide who they think should be the Republican nominee for president. +p721 +aVSo let's welcome the candidates for the Republican nomination for president. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. +p722 +aVTexas Senator Ted Cruz. +p723 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. +p724 +aVAnd Ohio Governor John Kasich. +p725 +aVAnd Dr. Ben Carson, please come out on the stage. He's standing there, as well. Dr. Carson. +p726 +aVAnd lastly, we welcome back to the debate stage, Donald Trump. +p727 +aVIt was so noisy in here. Yes. Yes. We're going to introduce Ohio Governor John kasich. The applause so loud here in the hall. +p728 +aVSo let's get started. We welcome you all to the debate stage here tonight. We're going to tackle the issues Americans are most concerned about, the economy, +p729 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. I want to bring this to Senator Cruz, then. Because Senator, you did said of Trump's behavior this week, that's not the temperament of a leader to keep this country safe. Why not? +p730 +aVSenator Cruz, I did ask about Mr. Trump. You said he doesn't have the temperament to be commander-in-chief. Do you stand by those words? +p731 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. We're going to continue on this notion of readiness and experience. I'm going to come back. +p732 +aVIf you would like to respond, Mr. Trump. +p733 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. And we're going to continue on this notion of readiness and on experience, but I want to ask about a headline that was back in the papers again this morning. Dr. Carson, on the day of the Iowa caucuses, the Cruz campaign sent out messages and voicemails saying, quote, "Breaking news. Dr. Ben Carson will be planning to suspend his campaign following tonight's caucuses. Please inform any Carson caucus-goers of this news." But as we can all see, you are still standing here tonight. Late this week, your campaign sent this e-mail, quote, "This kind of deceitful behavior is why the American people don't trust politicians. If Senator Cruz does not act, then he clearly represents D.C. values." What kind of action do you think Senator Cruz should take? +p734 +aVSenator Cruz. Dr. Carson, thank you. Senator Cruz, you have said that Dr. Carson and his wife have become friends of yours. I'm curious as why you didn't call ahead of time to either the doctor or his wife or have your campaign check in with the other campaign before sending out those messages. +p735 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. We're going to move on here. Back to the issues... +p736 +aVDr. Carson, please. +p737 +aVDr. Carson, thank you. Thank you, doctor. Senator Rubio. I want to stay on the issue of readiness to be president and experience and questions about you being a first-term senator. Governor Christie warning voters here in New Hampshire against voting for another first-term senator as America did with Barack Obama in 2008. Arguing that you are, quote, " not ready to be president of the United States." And Senator Santorum, who we all know, dropped out of the race and endorsed you, had a hard time when asked on national television, listing your accomplishments as senator. Tonight, what are your accomplishments in the Senate that demonstrate you are ready to be president of the United States? +p738 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I do want to ask Governor Christie, Governor Christie, you said fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me when it comes to electing a first-term senator. You heard Senator Rubio make the case that he does have the experience. Your response? +p739 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Rubio? +p740 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I want to bring in governor bush on this, because you... +p741 +aV... have made this... +p742 +aVIf you'd like to respond to economic... +p743 +aVSenator Rubio? +p744 +aVGovernor Christie, we will \u2014 we will... +p745 +aVGovernor Christie \u2014 thank you, Governor. I will mention \u2014 listen... +p746 +aV... Listen, people... Governor Bush, I'll mention your name so that you can come in on this... +p747 +aVI want to bring you in on this because you've made this central to your campaign right here in New Hampshire in the last couple of days. Four Years ago you said of Senator Rubio, he was ready to be Vice President. You spoke of his experience as well. You said he has the fortitude to be a good President, but just this week you said Senator Rubio accomplished, quote, "nothing" in the Senate. How do you square the two? +p748 +aV... We're going to continue with leadership now. Martha? +p749 +aVMartha, we're going to turn to immigration now. And I want to bring in Governor Kasich because you told us in an ABC interview, Governor, quote, "It is completely ridiculous to think we are going to go into neighborhoods, grab people out of their homes and ship people back to Mexico." Adding, quote, "That's not where the party is. The party is not for departing 11.5 million people." But Mr. Trump and Senator Cruz, who have made deportation central to their campaigns, top the national polls. So, my question for you, are you not where the voters are? +p750 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. I want to bring this next to Senator Cruz. You heard what the governor said. He said, "We need practical solutions." And you've said, "I don't intend to send jack boots to knock on doors. That's not how we enforce the law for any crime." So, what is your plan? How will you deport 11.5 million undocumented people? And be specific. How would you do it? +p751 +aVLet me just ask you this, though, because Governor Kasich was talking about the families and what you do with the families that you would have to send home. Can you tell the American people tonight how you would do that? +p752 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. I want to bring in Senator Rubio. This question is about immigration, it is also about leadership. You're aware of the criticism from many candidates on this stage tonight that you co-authored the so-called Gang of Eight bill that would have created a path to citizenship for people here illegally. Governor Christie has said of you, as soon as you felt the heat, you turned tail and run. Governor Bush has said, "I don't think we need people cutting and running anymore." Did you fight for your own legislation, Senator, or did you run from it? +p753 +aVBut I'm asking, did you fight for the legislation at the time or did you run from it as you're... +p754 +aVGovernor Christie? +p755 +aVGovernor thank you. Senator Rubio? +p756 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. We want to turn to health care in this country, and for that, author and commentator, Mary Katherine Ham tonight. HAM: Thanks, David. Good evening, guys. +p757 +aVMary Katherine, thank you. We want to turn now to the issue of eminent domain, which is being debated right here in New Hampshire. And Josh McElveen is the political director and the anchor of +p758 +aVJosh, thank you. When we come back here tonight, jobs, +p759 +aVAnd, we welcome you back to the Republican debate from New Hampshire tonight here on ABC. We're going to turn now to what it means to be a conservative, and I want to turn to Governor Kasich. Governor, while campaigning here in New Hampshire, you were already asked about groans from some conservatives after your endorsements from the New York Times, and the Boston Globe. You said, quote, "What conservatives have to know is they have to say, look isn't it nice to have a conservative like me liked? And, maybe the ought to think about it because if I get elected president, the Republican party and the definition of conservatism is going to change." How would you change conservatism? +p760 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. Mr. Trump, you've heard the argument from many of the candidates on this stage that you're not a true conservative. Tell the voters watching tonight why you are. +p761 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. Senator Rubio, you have said yourself that you don't think Donald Trump is running as a conservative. Did he convince you? +p762 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I want to turn this discussion to the economy now. And Mr. Trump, Governor Christie has said, "I tell everybody who goes to a Donald Trump event, if you get to ask a question, just ask him how." Christie said, "I don't care which of the things he talks about, just ask him how." You have said that you'd be the greatest jobs president God ever created. Tell Americans watching tonight how many jobs you would create in the first term and how. +p763 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. There are a lot of governors on this stage tonight and Governor Christie, Governor Kasich said of you, quote, "In Ohio, we balanced a budget. They don't have one over in New Jersey. Our credit has been strengthened. Their credit has been downgraded. We've got more jobs." How important are those metrics in choosing the next president? And is his job \u2014 is his record on jobs, I should say, actually stronger than yours? +p764 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Kasich? +p765 +aVHe didn't say your record was better than his. +p766 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. +p767 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. I do want to turn from jobs to taxes. +p768 +aVIf you would like to respond to the governor, you can. +p769 +aVI'm coming to you next with a question, anyway. You can respond to that question. +p770 +aVWe're going from jobs to taxes, and here's the... +p771 +aVTo the Gang of Eight bill first? +p772 +aVThe governor wasn't talking about the president, he was talking about the Gang of Eight bill. +p773 +aVSo, let me ask you about taxes, Senator Rubio. +p774 +aVA recent poll, 68 percent of Americans favor raising taxes on people making more than $1 million a year. Are they wrong? +p775 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I want to bring in Governor Bush. And Governor, I just want to repeat that number for you \u2014 68 percent of Americans favor raising taxes on people making more than a million. What do you say to the people who believe that tonight? +p776 +aVKnew that was coming. Governor, thank you. +p777 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you. Martha? +p778 +aVMartha, thank you. We're just going to \u2014 we're going to stay on +p779 +aVIf elected president, would you bring it back? +p780 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. Mr. Trump, you said not only does it work, but that you'd bring it back. +p781 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. Governor Bush, you have said that you won't rule waterboarding out. Congress has passed laws banning the use of waterboarding by the military and the CIA, as you know. Would you want Congress to change that if you're elected president? +p782 +aVGovernor Bush, thank you. Senator Rubio, I do want to ask you, you have said that you do not want to telegraph to the enemy what you would do as commander in chief. But for the American people watching tonight who want to know where the next president will stand, do you believe waterboarding is torture? +p783 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. We want to turn now to the topic of executive orders, and for that, we're going to turn back to Mary Katharine Ham. Mary Katharine? HAM: Thanks, David. Senator Cruz, on the campaign trail you've promised voters a lot, in fact if you're elected president you'd say you end Common Core immediately, abolish the IRS, and do away with sanctuary cities. You've also been a persistent critic of President Obama's executive overreach, going it alone, not working with Congress. How do you intend to implement this aggressive agenda within your Constitutional authority, especially given that it would require working with Congress and Washington players with whom you're happy to say you have a strained relationship? +p784 +aVMary Katherine, thank you. We want to turn to something the governor of New Hampshire said... +p785 +aVA connection here on the stage. We're going to move on to what the governor of New Hampshire said just this week, and that is that heroin overdose is not the second-leading cause of death in this state. You don't need me to tell you that. But there's another number, 48 percent of the people here in this state knows someone who has abused heroin. Josh, who covers this for +p786 +aVMartha? +p787 +aVGovernor, well come to you in the next segment. When we come back, questions about race, about our veterans and social issues what younger conservative voters are now saying as we continue with New Hampshire with the Republican debate, right here on ABC. +p788 +aVWelcome back to New Hampshire, ABC News coverage of the Republican debate, and it's great to have you back at the podiums, and we want to turn to race in America. And Mr. Trump, there are many who argue cell phones and smartphones are just now exposing what's been happening in this country for years. Cases of excessive force against minorities. As you know, Mr. Trump, on the other side, the FBI director recently said there's a chill wind blowing through law enforcement because of increased scrutiny. You have said police are the most mistreated people in America. As president, how do you bridge the divide? +p789 +aVGreat. Mr. Trump, I did ask about bridging the divide though as president. So what would you say to the American families who say we have lived through this, we have seen excessive force? What would you say to those people? +p790 +aVI do want to ask \u2014 Governor Kasich? +p791 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Rubio, I want to ask you next, President Obama visited a mosque this week in America for the first time in his presidency. President George W. Bush visited a mosque after September 11th. You said of President Obama, quote, "he's always pitting people against each other." So I'm curious, how are the two visits different, and would you visit a mosque as president? +p792 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. Martha? +p793 +aVJosh, thank you. I want to turn to a family that New Hampshire voters know quite well, and Senator Cruz, the issue of hostages has been a very real and painful one here in this state. As we all know, James Foley was killed. His mother, Diane, said our government should be willing to negotiate, arguing that families should also be allowed to raise money for ransom. What would you say to Diane Foley tonight? Should families be allowed to raise money for ransom for their loved ones? +p794 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. Mr. Trump, what would you say to Diane Foley? Should families be allowed to raise money for ransom? +p795 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. We want to turn now to social issues and young voters and for the question, from Mary Katherine. HAM: Thank you David. Senator Rubio. One of the lazier pieces of political conventional wisdom is that so-called social issues are hurting Republicans with young people. But on the two most prominent social issues, polling with millennials actually moves in different directions. On one hand, it is clear, young people across the political spectrum increasingly favor same sex marriage. However young voters have not moved to the left on abortion. In fact, large numbers of them favor at least some modest restrictions that conservatives have supported. How do you speak to millennials on both these issues, while Democrats will inevitable charge intolerance and extremism? +p796 +aVMary Katherine, thank you. We're going to have closing statements here in just a moment, but before we go, quick lightning round. Come November, two battle-ground states, but they face off tomorrow in the Super Bowl. Governor Kasich, who wins? +p797 +aVGovernor Bush? +p798 +aVSenator Rubio? +p799 +aV Mr. Trump? +p800 +aVAll right, Dr. Carson? +p801 +aVYeah. Governor Christie, the last word? +p802 +aVDenver. Thank you so much, gentlemen. Closing statements in just a moment, right here, as the ABC News Republican debate continues from New Hampshire, right after this. +p803 +aVWe welcome you back. The New Hampshire primary, of course, is Tuesday, but time now for closing statements. And we begin tonight with Governor Kasich. +p804 +aVGovernor Bush. +p805 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Senator Rubio. +p806 +aVThank you. Mr. Trump. +p807 +asVHUCKABEE +p808 +(lp809 +VI wish I saw the country in the same place that the president presented it to be the other night in the State of the Union. He talked about how great the economy was doing. And I guess for the people he hangs out with, it's probably doing great. But the president should've stood in the line at the layaway counter at Walmart just before Christmas. He would have heard a very different story about the economy of America. I wish I could introduce him the lady who cleans the building where our campaign headquarters is located in Little Rock. Her name is Kathleen. She works all day at a local hospital cleaning, and then she goes to the building where a bank, and our headquarters, and other offices are she spends another seven hours. She works 15 hours a day. I guarantee you she's not working 15 hours a day because she loves scrubbing toilets, and sweeping floors. She's working that many hours because that's what it takes for her to make it work. And, she's not alone. There are people all over this country who are working like that. Many of them working two jobs \u2014 and they used to have one job, and that would take care of them. But, because of wage stagnation, which we've had for 40 years, because the fact that they're punished for working harder if they work that many hours. The government gets more of their second shift than they do. And, as a result there are a lot of people who are hurting today. I wish the President knew more of them. He might make a change in the economy and the way he's managing it. +p810 +aVLet me put that in context. When I went to Afghanistan, I saw a land that looked like the land of the Flintstones. It was desolate. It was barren. It was primitive. And it's been that way for thousands of years. They want to take the world back to be just like that. We don't. We need to make a clear goal as to why we want to be anywhere in the Middle East, and I'll tell you why we want to be and need to be, is to destroy radical Islam and everything that threatens civilization. It's not just a threat......to Israel or to America, it's a threat to every civilized person on this Earth. And we need to be equipping not only the Kurds in Iraq, we need to be making sure that those who are willing to fight radical Muslims will do it, but we need to never ever spend a drop of American blood unless there is a clearly defined goal and we can't make sure we win unless we have a military that's the strongest in the history of mankind. We've got to rebuild our navy. It's the smallest navy we've had since 1915, when my grandfather got on a destroyer in World War I when he was in the U.S. Navy. We've got young men in Air Force B-52s, one in particular, he's flying a B-52 that his father flew in the '80s and his grandfather flew in the '50s. Those planes are older than me. We've got to have a military that the world is afraid of, use it sparingly, but when we do, the whole world will know that America is on their tail and they will be on their tail on the ground, never ever to rise up again. +p811 +aVOnly if there is a concerted effort to destroy the advance of radical Islamists who are against us. As far as what are we going to make it look like. Frankly, I don't know what we can make it look like. You can't create for other people a desire for freedom and democracy. And frankly, that is not the role of the United States. The role of the United States military is not to build schools, it is not to build bridges, it is not to go around and pass out food packets. It is to kill and destroy our enemy and make America safe and that is the purpose we should be there if we're going to be there. +p812 +aV Yes, I did. +p813 +aVWell, why don't we start by making sure the Justice Department never does an idiotic program like Fast and Furious where the U.S. Government put guns......in the hands of Mexican drug lords......and end up killing one of our border agents. You know, they want to talk about law abiding citizens, I just find it amazing the President keeps saying the gun show loophole. There is no gun show loophole. I promise you I've been to more gun shows than President Obama. +p814 +aVAnd, I've bought more weapons at them, and you fill out forms. The President also says things that it's easier to get a gun now than it is to grow trees. Again, I purchase guns, and I can assure you that it is much more difficult to purchase a firearm than it is to get the ingredients of a salad at the supermarket. What the President keeps pushing are ideas that have never worked. Ideas that would not have stopped San Bernadino, Sandy Hook, Aurora, and at some point you wonder if you keep retrying things that don't work, maybe we should just see if we could resell all those used lottery tickets that didn't work real well because that's the logic of just keep doing the same thing, but something that has failed. Of course, we want to stop gun violence, but the one common thing that has happened in most mass shootings is that they happened in gun- free zones where people who would have been law abiding citizens, who could have stood up and at least tried to stop it and we're not allowed to under the law. +p815 +aVWell, we shouldn't be and that's one of the reasons that I think there a lot of voices in our country who are saying it's time to relook at the visa program. The European Union is a failure, it's not allowed for even the economic goals that they were trying to achieve. But, what we're not seeing is that it's making Europe less safe, and it's proven not to be exactly what they all thought it was going to be. Our first and foremost responsibility in this country, and the first responsibility of the President of the United States is protect America, and protect Americans. We have a President who seems to be more interested in protecting the reputation and image of Islam than he is protecting us. And, I want to be very clear......that this President. Makes comments like he did the other night, that we have to be so careful because we don't want to offend Muslims. He needs to read his own FBI crime stats from last year which would show him that of the hate crimes in the country, over 5,500, about 1,100 were religious hate crimes. And, of those, 58% were directed toward Jews. Only 16% directed toward Muslims. Maybe what the President should have talked about the other night is how we ought to be more careful in the anti-semitic comments that are going toward American Jews than toward Muslims because by three times as many......they're being targeted for religious hate crime. +p816 +aVIt does not shut down international commerce, but it may slow it down. And, you don't want to slowdown commerce that is making us safer. It's worth it. This lady who came and joined with the San Bernardino killer had passed three background checks, and that's why a lot of Americans didn't buy it when the President said we'll bring in Syrian refugees, but don't worry we'll check them out. We have a lot of confidence in a president who told us that we could keep our doctor, we could keep our health insurance, and cost us less, and now the latest is if you like your gun you can keep it too, and frankly, we don't buy it. We don't believe it. He's lost his credibility, and his inept... ...inability to work with Congress and pass legislation has led him to do what I never even imagined doing as a governor, and that's just going and doing it my own way. That's why we elect a president, is to lead, is to be able to shepherd things through. And if I can do it with a 90 percent Democrat legislature in Arkansas, there is no excuse for any president not being able to lead in Washington if he knows what the heck he is doing when he gets there. +p817 +aVWell, first of all, let's just remember that Social Security is not the government's money, it belongs to the people who had it taken out of their checks involuntarily their entire working lives. For the government to say, well it is fault of working people that we have a Social Security problem, no. It is the fault of a government that used those people's money for something other than protecting those people's accounts. So let's not blame them and punish them. But here is a fact, and I sometimes hear Republicans say well, we're going to have to cut this and extend the age. You know what I think a lot of times when I hear people say, well, let's make people work to their 70. That sounds great for white-collar people who sat at a desk most of their lives. You ever talk to somebody that stood on concrete floor for the first 40 years of their working life? Do you think they can stand another five years or 10 years, many of them will retired virtually crippled because they worked hard. And we're going to punish them some more? I don't think so. Here's the fact. Four percent economic growth, we fully fund Social Security and Medicare. Our problem is not that Social Security is just too generous to seniors. It isn't. Our problem is that our politicians have not created the kind of policies that would bring economic growth. And I still support strongly that we get rid of the 77,000 pages of the monstrous tax code......pass the fair tax, supercharge this economy with the rocket fuel that happens with the consumption tax and we don't have to cut Social Security to any senior who has worked their lifetime for it. +p818 +aVLet me go back to the reason so many people are having a hard time getting ahead. The tax system punishes them. Think about this. If you work really hard and you start moving up the economic ladder, you get bumped into a different tax bracket. So the government thinks it deserves more of your hard work than you do. And it's one of the reasons that no matter how many different reforms you have to a tax on people's productivity, you're still taxing their work, their savings. You're taxing their capital gains, inheritance, dividends, you're taxing everything that produces something. And it's way I really believe it's time to do something bold, not something minute. This is no time for a tap of the hammer, a twist of the screwdriver. It's time for something big. That's why the fair tax transforms our economy. And we don't punish workers. It's the only way we're going to get middle class people moving ahead again, because the harder they work, the more they keep. No payroll tax deducted from their checks. They get their entire paycheck. And, one of the most important parts, it's built on the common sense with which we raised our kids, and trained dogs. You reward behavior you want more of. And, you punish behavior you want less of. That's how I raise kids, it's how I trained our dogs, and folks, it's not that difficult. We now punish the behavior we say we want more of by taxing it, and we reward the behavior that we say we want less of, so if you make a good investment, we punish you with a tax. If you make a bad investment you can write that off and the rest of the taxpayers will help subsidize you, and bail you out. +p819 +aVWell, Rick, I'm pretty sure I did also fight the Clinton machine because every election I was ever in in Arkansas, I assure you, they were behind it, helping finance and campaign for every opponent. And I share with you the understanding that it's going to be a tough battle. But I spent the first half of my adult life in the private and nonprofit sector, raising a family, understanding how tough it is for people to make it. And that first half of my life is what led me to believe that America needs a different kind of leadership, not people who spent their whole life running from one office to the next, and living off the government dime. And I got involved because I got sick of what I saw. I also believe that there's got to be some leadership that not only addresses the monetary and military issues of this country, but the moral issues of this country. At the end of every political speech, most of us say, God bless America. But how can he do that when we continue to slaughter 4,000 babies a day? And I want to be the president that treats every person, including the unborn, as a person. And protect them under the 5th and 14th amendments of the constitution. I close with this word from a gentleman in East Texas named Butel Lucre. He's 100 years old and I met him down in East Texas. And he said this to me. "I sure wish, Mike, we had the days when The Ten Commandments were in all of our capitals and in every school, and we prayed again. You know, he may be 100 years old, but I believe some of those old ideas to get this country back where we unapologetically get on our knees before we get on our feet might be the best solutions we've ever sought as a country. And I ask for your support and your vote. Thank you. +p820 +asVCRUZ +p821 +(lp822 +VWell, we have 80 years of precedent of not confirming Supreme Court justices in an election year. And let me say, Justice Scalia... +p823 +aVEighty years of not confirming. For example, L.B.J. nominated Abe Fortas. Fortas did not get confirmed. He was defeated. +p824 +aVNo, Kennedy was confirmed in '87... +p825 +aVHe was appointed in... +p826 +aVIn this case it's both. But if I could answer the question... +p827 +aVJustice Scalia was a legal giant. He was somebody that I knew for 20 years. He was a brilliant man. He was faithful to the Constitution. He changed the arc of American legal history. And I'll tell you, his passing tonight, our prayers are with his family, with his wife, Maureen, who he adored, his nine children, his 36 grandkids. But it underscores the stakes of this election. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that will strike down every restriction on abortion adopted by the states. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that will reverse the Heller decision, one of Justice Scalia's seminal decisions, that upheld the Second Amendment right to keep and to bear arms. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that would undermine the religious liberty of millions of Americans \u2014 and the stakes of this election, for this year, for the Senate, the Senate needs to stand strong and say, "We're not going to give up the U.S. Supreme Court for a generation by allowing Barack Obama to make one more liberal appointee." And then for the state of South Carolina, one of the most important judgments for the men and women of South Carolina to make is who on this stage has the background, the principle, the character, the judgment and the strength of resolve to nominate and confirm principled constitutionalists to the court? That will be what I will do if I'm elected president. +p828 +aVWell, we need to focus on what the objective is, you know? Your question about the first three questions you would ask in this Situation Room. I think it is a problem if the president, commander in chief, we've elected does not have the experience and background to understand the threats facing this country coming in on Day 1. If you look at the threats facing this country, the single gravest threat, national security threat, is the threat of a nuclear Iran. That's why I've pledged on Day 1 to rip to shreds this Iranian nuclear deal, and anyone that thinks you can negotiate Khamenei does not understand the nature of Khamenei. When it comes to +p829 +aVWe have Kurds in both Iraq and Syria. They are fighting +p830 +aVWell, let me say it at the outset that everyone here understands \u2014 everyone understands that how \u2014 that the middle class has been left behind in the last seven years of the Obama economy, and we've got to bring jobs back. We've got to get people back to work. We've got to get wages going up again. We've got to get people moving from part-time work to full-time work. We all agree on that, but it's not going to be solved with magic pixie dust. It's just going to be solved by declaring into the air, "Let there be jobs." We actually have to understand the principles that made America great in the first place. Now, where do you get economic growth? If you look at cause and effect over our nation's history, every time we lessen the burden of Washington on small-business owners, on job creators, we see incredible economic growth. You do that through tax reform and regulatory reform. My tax plan \u2014 typical family of four, first $36,000 you earn, you pay nothing in taxes \u2014 no income taxes, no payroll taxes, no nothing. Above 10 percent, everyone pays the same simple, flat 10 percent income rate. It's flat and fair. You can fill out your taxes on a postcard, and we abolish the I.R.S. If you want to see the postcard, I've got it on my website. +p831 +aVNow, Major, the business flat tax that is in my tax plan is not a VAT. A VAT in Europe is a sales tax. The business flat tax is not a sales tax, it is a tax of 16 percent opposed fairly and evenly across the board on all business. One of the things that's critical is we're doing that in conjunction with abolishing the corporate income tax, with abolishing the Obamacare taxes, with abolishing the payroll taxes, which are the biggest taxes paid by most working Americans, and with abolishing the death tax, which is cruel and unfair. And you asked about economic growth \u2014 the nonpartisan Tax Foundation estimated a simple flat tax that would produce 4.9 million new jobs, it would increase capital investment by 44 percent and would lift everyone's income by double digits. That's how you turn the country around, not just hoping and praying for it, but implementing policies that work. +p832 +aVWell, you know, your question highlights a sharp difference on immigration on this stage. You know, in a Republican primary, everyone talks tough on immigration. Everyone is against illegal immigration in a Republican primary. But as voters, we've been burned over and over again by people that give us a great campaign speech and they don't walk the walk. There are sharp differences on amnesty. If you look at the folks on this stage, when Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer and establishment Republicans were leading the fight to pass a massive amnesty plan, I stood with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and the American people and led the fight to defeat that amnesty plan. +p833 +aVNow, that moment... +p834 +aVThat moment was what Reagan would call "a time for choosing." When it comes to deciding which side of the line you're on, the Rubio-Schumer amnesty plan......apparently supported by the donor class, which is why Washington supported it. The Rubio-Schumer amnesty plan passed the Senate, and it was on the verge of passing the House. House leadership intended to take it up and pass it with the Democrats overruling most of the Republicans. And the question for anyone on illegal immigration is, where were you in that fight? Where did you stand? You are right. There is a difference between Senator Rubio and me on this question. +p835 +aVMajor, I get a response to that. +p836 +aVYou know, the lines are very, very clear. Marco right now supports citizenship for 12 million people here illegally. I oppose citizenship. Marco stood on the debate stage and said that. But I would note not only that \u2014 Marco has a long record when it comes to amnesty. In the state of Florida, as speaker of the house, he supported in-state tuition for illegal immigrants. In addition to that, Marco went on Univision in Spanish and said he would not rescind President Obama's illegal executive amnesty on his first day in office. I have promised to rescind every single illegal executive action, including that one. And on the question... +p837 +aV. +p838 +aVThat is simply... +p839 +aVThat is absolutely false. What he said is knowingly false. And I would note, if you want to assess \u2014 if you want to assess... +p840 +aV... who is telling the truth... If you want to assess who is telling the truth......then you should look to Jeff Sessions, who said, without Ted Cruz the Rubio-Schumer amnesty bill would have passed, and Ted was responsible. You should look to Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin, that said... +p841 +aVI think it is a very important question because the people who have been hurt the most in the Obama economy had been the most vulnerable. It's been young people. It's been Hispanics. It's been African-Americans. It's been single moms. We have the lowest percentage of Americans working today in any year since 1977. And the sad reality is big government, massive taxes, massive regulation, doesn't work. What we need to do instead is bring back booming economic growth, let \u2014 small businesses are the heart of the economy. Two-thirds of all new jobs come from small businesses. If we want to lift people out of poverty \u2014 you know, I think of these issues from the perspective of my dad. My dad fled Cuba in 1957. He was just 18. He couldn't speak English. He had nothing. He had $100 in his underwear. And he washed dishes making 50 cents an hour and paid his way through school. Today, my dad is a pastor. He travels the country preaching the gospel. Now, I think about all of these issues. How would it impact my dad when he was washing dishes? If we had Obamacare in place right now, the odds are very high my father would have been laid off, because it's teenaged kids like my dad who have gotten laid off. If he didn't get laid off, the odds are high he would have had his hours forcibly reduced to 28, 29 hours a week. We need to lift the burdens on small businesses so you have jobs, and we need welfare reform that gets people off of welfare and back to work. +p842 +aVYou know, flexibility is a good thing, but it shouldn't \u2014 you shouldn't be flexible on core principles. I like Donald, he is an amazing entertainer, but his policies for most of his life... +p843 +aVFor most of his life, his policies have been very, very liberal. For most of his life, he has described himself as very pro- choice and as a supporter of partial birth abortion. Right now, today, as a candidate, he supports federal taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood. I disagree with him on that. That's a matter of principle, and I'll tell you... +p844 +aVDon, I need to go on... +p845 +aVI will say, it is fairly remarkable to see Donald defending Ben after he called, "pathological," and compared him to a child molester. Both of which were offensive and wrong. But let me say this \u2014 you notice Donald didn't disagree with the substance that he supports taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood. And Donald has this weird pattern, when you point to his own record, he screams, "Liar, liar, liar." You want to go... +p846 +aVYou want to go... +p847 +aVIf you want to watch the video, go to our website at Tedcruz.org. +p848 +aVYou can see it out of Donald's own mouth. +p849 +aVYou supported it when we were battling over defunding Planned Parenthood. You went on... +p850 +aVYou said, "Planned Parenthood does wonderful things and we should not defund it." +p851 +aVSo I'll tell you what... +p852 +aVYou see, you and I... +p853 +aVDon, the reasoned principle matters. The reasoned principle matters, sadly was illustrated by the first questions today. The next president is going to appoint one, two, three, four Supreme Court justices. If Donald Trump is president, he will appoint liberals. If Donald Trump is president, your Second Amendment will gone... +p854 +aVYou know how I know that? +p855 +aVI did not nominate John Roberts. I would not have nominated John Roberts. +p856 +aVI supported... +p857 +aVYou need to learn to not interrupt people. +p858 +aVDonald, adults learn... +p859 +aVAdults learn not to interrupt people. +p860 +aVI did not nominate him. I would not have nominated him. I would've nominated my former boss Liberman, who was Justice Scalia's first law clerk. And you know how I know that Donald's Supreme Court justices will be liberals? Because his entire life, he support liberals from Jimmy Carter, to Hillary Clinton, to John Kerry. In 2004, he contributed to John Kerry. Nobody who cares about judges would contribute to John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid. +p861 +aVThat's what Donald Trump does. +p862 +aVSouth Carolina, you have a critical choice to make. Our country literally hangs in the balance. Do you want another Washington deal maker who will do business as usual, cut deals with the Democrats, grow government, grow debt and give up our fundamental liberties? Or do you want a conservative, a proven conservative that will stand and fight with you each and every day? Listen, repealing Obamacare is not going to be easy. Passing a simple flat tax that abolishes the I.R.S. is not going to be easy, but if we stand with the American people, we can do it. And today, we saw just how great the stakes are. Two branches of government hang in the balance. Not just the presidency but the Supreme Court. If we get this wrong, if we nominate the wrong candidates, the Second Amendment, life, marriage, religious liberty \u2014 every one of those hangs in the balance. My little girls are here. I don't want to look my daughters in the eyes and say, "We lost their liberties." Who do you know will defend the Constitution and Bill of Rights? And as a commander in chief, who do you know will stand up to our enemies as the clam, steady, deliberate, strength to defeat our enemies, to secure our borders and to keep America safe. +p863 +aVWell, you know, David, the assessment the voters are making here in New Hampshire and across the country is they are evaluating each and every one of us. They are looking to our experience. They are looking to our knowledge. They are looking to our temperament and judgment. They are looking to our clarity of vision and our strength of resolve. The world is getting much more dangerous. We've had seven years with Barack Obama in the oval office, a commander-in-chief that is unwilling even to acknowledge the enemy we're facing. This is a president who, in the wake of Paris, in the wake of San Bernardino, will not even use the words radical Islamic terrorism, much less focus on defeating the enemy. I am convinced every individual standing on this stage, would make a much better commander-in-chief than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders. And the primary voters are making the assessment for each of us, who is best prepared to keep this country safe, to rebuild the military, to rebuild our Navy, our Air Force, our Army, our Marines, and to ensure that we keep America safe. +p864 +aVI think that is an assessment the voters are going to make. And they are going to make it of each and everyone of us. They are going to assess who is level-headed, who has clear vision, who has judgment, who can confront our enemies, who can confront the threats we face in this country, and who can have the judgment when to engage and when not to engage \u2014 both are incredibly important for a commander-in-chief, knowing how to go after our enemies. In the case of Iran, for example, who has the clarity of vision to understand that the Ayatollah Khamenei, when he chants, "Death to America," he means it. We need a president with the judgment and resolve to keep this country safe from radical Islamic terrorists. +p865 +aVBen is a good and honorable man and Ben and Candy have become friends. He has an amazing life story that has inspired millions, including me. When this transpired, I apologized to him then and I do so now. Ben, I'm sorry. Let me tell you the facts of what occurred for those who are interested in knowing. On Monday night, about 6:30 p.m., CNN reported that Ben was not going from Iowa to New Hampshire or South Carolina. Rather, he was, quote, "Taking a break from campaigning." They reported that on television, CNN's political anchors, Jake Tapper and Dana Bash and Wolf Blitzer, said it was highly unusual and highly significant. My political team saw CNN's report breaking news and they forwarded that news to our volunteers, it was being covered on live television. Now, at the time, I was at the caucuses, I was getting ready to speak at the caucuses just like Ben was, just like everyone else was. I knew nothing about this. A couple hours later, I found out about it. I was told that Ben was unhappy. I called him that evening because I respect him very, very highly. I didn't reach him that evening. I reached him the next day and apologized. He asked me then, he said, Ted, would you make this apologize in public? I said, yes, I will. And I did so. I regret that subsequently, CNN reported on that \u2014 they didn't correct that story until 9:15 that night. So from 6:30 p.m. to 9:15, that's what CNN was reporting. Subsequent to that initial report, Ben's campaign put out a statement saying that he was not suspending his campaign. I wish that our campaign staff had forwarded that statement. They were unaware of it, I wish that they had, that's why I apologized. +p866 +aVWell, I would note, initially the fact that we're seeing the launch, and we're seeing the launch from a nuclear North Korea is the direct result of the failures of the first Clinton administration. The Clinton administration led the world in relaxing sanctions against North Korea. Billions of dollars flowed into North Korea in exchange for promises not to build nuclear weapons. They took those billions and built nuclear weapons. And, I would note also the lead negotiator in that failed North Korea sanctions deal was a woman named Wendy Sherman who Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton promptly recruited to come back to be the lead negotiator with Iran. So, what we are seeing with North Korea is foreshadowing of where we will be with Iran. With respect to North Korea and what we should do now, one of the first things we should do is expand our missile defense capacity. We ought to put missile defense interceptors in South Korea. South Korea wants them. One of the real risks of this launch, North Korea wants to launch a satellite, and one of the greatest risks of the satellite is they would place a nuclear device in the satellite. As it would orbit around the Earth, and as it got over the United States they would detonate that nuclear weapon and set of what's called an EMP, and electromagnetic pulse which could take down the entire electrical grid on the Eastern seaboard, potentially killing millions. We need to harden the grid to defend ourselves, and we need missile defense to protect ourselves against North Korea. +p867 +aVYou know, at this point I'm not going to speculate on that without the intelligence briefing that any Commander in Chief would have, knowing what exactly is there. One of the real problems... +p868 +aV... Actually, with respect, I have gotten the intelligence briefings on the Mid-East. Those have been going on for many years. I haven't gotten the intelligence briefing tonight on what North Korea's doing because I'm here in new Hampshire. When you're responding to an immediate incident, you need to know the intelligence of what's occurring. But what I was saying \u2014 look, it is qualitatively different dealing with a country once they have nuclear weapons. It's why you prevent them from getting nuclear weapons in the first place \u2014 because your hands are somewhat tied once they have nukes. It's why this Iranian nuclear deal is so catastrophic, and it's why I've pledged, on the very first day in office, to rip to shreds this Iranian nuclear deal so we're not sitting here in five years, wondering what to do about an Iranian missile launch when they have nuclear weapons. The stakes are too high for that. +p869 +aVSo, in terms of a practical solution, I've laid out the most detailed plan for solving illegal immigration. It's 11 pages, single-spaced, chapter and verse. It's on our website, tedcruz.org. In short, we're going to do, we're going to build a wall. We're going to triple the border patrol. We're going to increase \u2014 and actually, since Donald enjoyed that, I will simply say, I've got somebody in mind to build it. We're going to increase four-fold, the fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft, so that you have technology monitoring an attempted incursion to direct the boots on the ground where they're occurring. We're going to put in place a strong e-verify system in the workplace, so you can't get a job without proving you are here legally. We'll put in place a biometric exit-entry system on visas, because 40 percent of illegal immigration comes not over the border illegally, but people coming on visas and overstaying. We will end sanctuary cities by cutting off taxpayer dollars to any jurisdiction that defies federal immigration law. And we will end welfare benefits for those here illegally. +p870 +aVWhat you do is, you enforce the law. You know, under the Constitution, the president has an obligation to, quote, "Take care that the laws be faithfully executed." Federal immigration law provides, if someone is here illegally and is apprehended, they are to be deported. We saw just this past week the head of the border patrol union testify before Congress that President Obama had given the order to the border patrol to stand down, not to enforce the law. That is wrong. I will enforce the law, and for everyone who says, you can't possibly do that, I would note that in eight years, Bill Clinton deported 12 million people. In eight years, George W. Bush deported 10 million people. Enforcing the law \u2014 we can do it. What is missing is the political will. And when they were deporting the people, the border wasn't secure, so they'd come right back. Once you secure the border, enforcing the law will solve this problem and that will benefit American workers. +p871 +aVGood evening. +p872 +aVWell, let me take two different parts of that. Let me start with socialized medicine. Socialized medicine is a disaster. It does not work. If you look at the countries that have imposed socialized medicine, that have put the government in charge of providing medicine, what inevitably happens is rationing. You have a scarcity of doctors. You have rationing. And that means the elderly are told, we're going to ration a hip replacement, we're going to ration a knee replacement. We're going to ration end- of-life care. We're right now heading into a medical system with about a 90,000-doctor shortage in America and socialized medicine; whether proposed by the Democrats or proposed by a Republican would hurt the people of this country. What should we do on health care? If I'm elected president, we will repeal every word of Obamacare. And once we do that, we will adopt common sense reforms, number one, we'll allow people to purchase health insurance across state lines that will drive down prices and expand the availability of low cost catastrophic insurance. We'll expand health savings accounts; and we will de-link health insurance from employment so that you don't lose your health insurance when you lose your job, and that way health insurance can be personal, portable and affordable and we keep government from getting in between us and our doctors. HAM: Dr. Carson, you have some experience with this matter. In the past, you have said that Obamacare should be replaced before it's repealed. How and why? +p873 +aVWell, sure. It starts with a commander-in-chief that sets the objective. And the objective has to be utterly and completely destroying +p874 +aVMartha, I will tell you, I have visited with active duty military, with veterans over and over and over again in town halls all over the state of New Hampshire. What we are doing to our sons and daughters, it is immoral. We are sending them into fight with their arms tied behind their back. They cannot defend themselves. And it is wrong. And I will tell you this. Look. America has always been reluctant to use military force. It's the last step we take. But if and when we use it when it comes to defeating +p875 +aVAbsolutely, yes. +p876 +aVWell, under the definition of torture, no, it's not. Under the law, torture is excruciating pain that is equivalent to losing organs and systems, so under the definition of torture, it is not. It is enhanced interrogation, it is vigorous interrogation, but it does not meet the generally recognized definition of torture. +p877 +aVI would not bring it back in any sort of widespread use. And indeed, I joined with Senator McCain in legislation that would prohibit line officers from employing it because I think bad things happen when enhanced interrogation is employed at lower levels. But when it comes to keeping this country safe, the commander in chief has inherent constitutional authority to keep this country safe. And so, if it were necessary to, say, prevent a city from facing an imminent terrorist attack, you can rest assured that as commander in chief, I would use whatever enhanced interrogation methods we could to keep this country safe. +p878 +aVWell, thank you for that question. You know, there are three avenues of presidential authority to change the direction of this country. The first is executive power, the second is foreign policy, and the third is legislation. Executive power, as we all know, has been the preferred vehicle of President Obama, abusing his authority, abusing his constitutional authority. Now, the silver lining of that is everything done with executive power can be undone with executive power, so I have pledged on day one I will rescind every single illegal and unconstitutional executive action Barack Obama has done. That means on day one his efforts to restrict the Second Amendment go away with the strike of a pen. That means on day one his illegal executive amnesty goes away with the strike of a pen. The reason I can end Common Core at the federal level is because Obama is abusing executive power using Race to the Top funds in the Department of Education to force it on the states. That's one avenue. The second avenue of change is foreign policy, and foreign policy can change the fastest. It's worth remembering that Iran released our hostages the day Reagan......was sworn in. And, the third is legislation, and that can only be done with the people behind you, which is why the two big legislative initiatives I'm campaigning on are repealing Obamacare, and adopting a simple flat tax to abolish the IRS. HAM: Mr. Trump, Senator Cruz is known for opposing deals, you literally wrote the book on making them. Senator Cruz has mentioned that on the trail. What would you say to those conservatives that are concerned that a deal maker will just perpetuate the same deals in Washington and the way that things run now ... +p879 +aVWell, Josh, as you noted, this is a problem that, for me, I understand first-hand. My older sister, Myriam, who was my half- sister, struggled her whole life with drug and alcohol addiction. My father and her mom divorced when she was a little girl and she was angry her whole life, and she ended up marrying a man who had been in and out of jail. She then became a single mom and she herself went to jail several times and she ended up spending some time in a crack house. I still remember my father and me driving up to get Myriam out of that crack house to try to convince her she needed to be a mom to \u2014 to my nephew Joey. She wasn't willing to listen. She was not willing to change the path she was on. She was angry. I was \u2014 had just gotten my first job coming out of law school. I took a $20,000 loan on a credit card to put my nephew, Joey, in Valley Forge Military Academy \u2014 he was in sixth grade at the time, to pay his way through that. And about five, six years ago, Miriam died of an overdose. It was \u2014 the coroner ruled it accidental. We don't know. She went to one night, had taken too many pills, and Joey walked in and found her dead. This is an absolute epidemic. We need leadership to solve it. Solving it has to occur at the state and local level with programs like A.A., and counseling, and churches and charities. But it also has to be securing the borders, because you have got Mexican cartels that are smuggling vast amounts of heroin into this country. We know how to secure the borders. What is missing is the political will to do it. And as president, I will secure the border, we will end this deluge of drugs that is flowing over our southern border and that is killing Americans across this country. +p880 +aVWell, look, I recognize it is an agonizing experience when anyone is facing a loved \u2014 loved member who's been kidnapped. But at the same time, putting in place legal regimes that encourage the payment of ransom has the effect of putting a bounty on other Americans. There is a reason it has been longstanding U.S. policy that we don't negotiate with terrorists, we don't pay ransoms. If you look at what President Obama has done over and over again, whether it was the James Bergdahl deal, which was absolutely shameful, releasing five senior Taliban terrorists to bring Bergdahl back, or whether it was this recent deal with Iran, where, again, up to 21 terrorists or potential terrorists were \u2014 were released or not prosecuted in order to bring back four Americans, what that does \u2014 does is it effectively puts a bounty on American servicemen and women serving abroad, on American tourists traveling abroad. And the proper approach......is a president and commander in chief that defends this country and that goes after \u2014 goes after the terrorists, rather than showing them weakness and encouraging them to target more Americans. +p881 +aVWith an eye to February 20th, Carolina. +p882 +aVYou know, every candidate running for president says they will stand up to Washington. The natural follow up question is when have you ever stood up to Washington. Last week we saw a powerful illustration of that. I campaigned in the state of Iowa four-square against the ethanol mandate, something everyone said was political suicide. My two leading competitors both attacked me for it. The governor of the state said vote for anyone but Cruz, and lobbyists spent millions of dollars in attack ads, but I stood and said we should have no mandates, a level playing field, and the people of Iowa put country and our children above the cronyism and corporate welfare...... We can turn this country around if we get back to the Constitution. And, I will always stand with the American people against the bipartisan corruption of Washington. +p883 +aVWell, Megyn, let me say at the outset to the men and women of Iowa, thank you for the incredible hospitality over this past year. By Monday, you will have welcomed me into all 99 counties in Iowa. You will have welcomed my dad to preach at your churches. You will have welcomed Heidi and our girls, Caroline and Catherine, into your homes. And I'm so grateful for the diligence, for the seriousness with which the men and women of Iowa approach this process. If I am elected president, keep an eye on the tarmac, because I'll be back, because Iowa in 2017 will not be fly-over country. It will be fly-to country. Now, secondly, let me say I'm a maniac and everyone on this stage is stupid, fat, and ugly. And Ben, you're a terrible surgeon. Now that we've gotten the Donald Trump portion out of the way... I want to thank everyone here for showing the men and women of Iowa the respect to show up and make the case to the people of this state and the people of the country why each of us believe we would make the best commander in chief. +p884 +aVWell, let me be clear, if Donald engages in insults or anybody else, I don't intend to reciprocate. I have not insulted Donald personally and I don't intend to. I am glad Donald is running. I'm glad he has produced enormous enthusiasm, and, every Donald Trump voter or potential voter, I hope to earn your support. I know everyone else on this stage hopes to earn your support. Now, there is a difference between personal insults and attacks \u2014 between going into the mud with ad hominems and focusing on issues and substance. +p885 +aVWell, I agree with Rand that I very much respect Ron Paul and that I think anyone who is able to win in the Republican Party has to be able to bring together the disparate elements of the Reagan coalition. You've got to be able to bring together conservatives and evangelicals and libertarians, and stitch together a winning majority. When it comes to the audit the Fed bill, as Rand knows well, I was an original sponsor of the bill, I'm strongly supportive of it. It didn't have the votes to pass. And I had commitments to be at a town hall in New Hampshire. But I look forward to signing that bill into law as president and auditing the Fed and providing needed accountability at the Federal Reserve. +p886 +aVWell, Chris, I will apologize to nobody for the vigorousness with which I will fight terrorism, go after +p887 +aVChris, in 1981, when Ronald Reagan came to the Oval Office, he encountered a military that had been debilitated just as the current military has, just like Jimmy Carter weakened our readiness, undermined our ability to defend this country, so too has Barack Obama. Just as morale in the military has plummeted in the last seven, so it had then. What Reagan did is he began with tax reform and regulatory reform, unleashing the engine of the American free enterprise system. It brought booming economic growth and that growth fueled rebuilding the military. I intend to do the exact same thing to defeat radical Islamic terrorism \u2014 +p888 +aV... and to devote the resources from the booming economy to rebuilding our Navy, rebuilding our Air Force, rebuilding our Army and ensuring we have the capacity to keep this country safe. +p889 +aVChris? Chris I was mentioned in that question. +p890 +aV... Actually, I was... +p891 +aV... Chris, your questions that you... +p892 +aV... What was your question... +p893 +aV... Your question was you have disagreed... +p894 +aV... opening statement. +p895 +aV... This entire question was an attack, but that's +p896 +aVChris, I would note that that the last four questions have been, "Rand, please attack Ted. Marco, please attack Ted. Chris, please attack Ted. Jeb, please attack Ted..." Let me just say this... +p897 +aV... Well, no, no. A debate actually is a policy issue, but I will say this. Gosh, if you guys ask one more mean question I may have to leave the stage. Chris, the most important determination any voter is going to make in this election is who's best prepared to be Commander in Chief. Who has the experience, who has the knowledge, who has the judgement, who has the clarity, and vision and strength of resolve to keep this country safe. That is what this debate is all about, and I would suggest let's stay focused on those issues \u2014 rather than just attacks directed at each other. +p898 +aVSure. Well, let's take it one at a time. First of all, we have seen now in six years of Obamacare that it has been a disaster. It is the biggest job-killer in this country. Millions of Americans have lost their jobs, have been forced into part-time work, have lost their health insurance, have lost their doctors, have seen their premiums skyrocket. If I'm elected president, we will repeal every word of Obamacare. Now, once that is done, everyone agrees we need healthcare reform. It should follow the principles of expanding competition, empowering patients, and keeping government from getting in between us and our doctors. Three specific reforms that reflect those principles. Number one, we should allow people to purchase health insurance across state lines. That will create a true 50-state national marketplace which will drive down the cost of low-cost, catastrophic health insurance. Number two, we should expand health savings accounts so people can save in a tax-advantaged way for more routine healthcare needs. And number three, we should work to de-link health insurance from employment so if you lose your job, your health insurance goes with you and it is personal, portable and affordable. And I'll tell you, Bret, I think that's a much more attractive vision for healthcare than the Washington-drive, top-down Obamacare that is causing so many millions of people to hurt. +p899 +aVI want this bill to be voted down. I don't want immigration reform to fail. I want immigration reform to pass. I believe if this amendment were to pass, the chances of this bill passing into law would increase dramatically. I believe if the amendments I introduced were adopted, that the bill would pass. And my effort in introducing them was to find a solution that reflected common ground and that fixed the problem. If the proponents of this bill actually demonstrate a commitment not to politics, not to campaigning all the time, but to actually fixing this problem, to finding a middle ground. That would fix the problem, and also allow, for those 11 million people who are here illegally, a legal status, with citizenship off the table. +p900 +aVYou know, the amendment you're talking about is one sentence \u2014 it's 38 words. Anyone can go online at tedcruz.org and read exactly what it said. In those 38 words, it said anyone here illegally is permanently ineligible for citizenship. It didn't say a word about legalization. I introduced... +p901 +aVBut \u2014 but Megyn, the bill was 1,000 pages. I introduced a series of amendments, each designed to fix problems in the bill. The fact that each amendment didn't fix every problem didn't mean that I supported the rest of the bill. And I'll tell you who supported my amendment \u2014 Jeff Sessions, the strongest opponent of amnesty in the United States Congress. And he did so because taking citizenship off the table was important, and it revealed the hypocrisy of the proponents of this bill, who were looking for votes. Listen, we can solve immigration. We just heard an argument back and forth that we can't solve immigration. I have a detailed immigration plan that is on my website, tedcruz.org. It was designed with Iowa's own Congressman Steve King and Jeff Sessions, and... ... we have the tools in federal law to do this now. We can build the fence. We can triple the border patrol. We can end sanctuary cities by cutting off... ... funding to them. We can end welfare for those here illegally. And what is missing is the political will, because too many Democrats and, sadly, too many Republicans don't want to solve this problem. If I am elected president... ... we will secure the border... +p902 +aV... and we will end the illegal immigration. +p903 +aVYou know, John Adams famously said, "facts are are stubborn things." The facts are are very, very simple. When that battle was waged, my friend Senator Rubio chose to stand with Barack Obama and Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer and support amnesty. And I stood alongside Jeff Sessions and Steve King, and we led the fight against amnesty. And if you want to know who's telling the truth, you should look and ask people like Jeff Sessions and Steve King and Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin, all of whom say, as Jeff Sessions said, responding to these false attacks just recently in Alabama \u2014 he said, "if it wasn't for Ted Cruz, the Gang of Eight Rubio/Schumer bill would have passed. But because Ted stood up and helped lead the effort, millions rose up to kill it. +p904 +aVYou know, I like Marco. He's very charming. He's very smooth. But the facts are simple. When he ran for election in the state of Florida, he told the people of Florida, "if you elect me, I will lead the fight against amnesty." When I ran in Texas, I told the people of Texas, "if you elect me, I will lead the fight against amnesty." We both made the identical promises. But when we came to Washington, we made a different choice. Marco made the choice to go the direction of the major donors \u2014 to support amnesty because he thought it was politically advantageous. I honored my commitments, and as president, I will honor every commitment that I make to the men and women of this country. +p905 +aVWell, Chris, you are exactly right that I am not the candidate of career politicians in Washington. And I'll tell you the endorsements that I am proud of are the over 200,000 volunteers across this country who have signed up to volunteer for our campaign. The endorsements that I am proud of are leading conservatives like Iowa's own Congressman Steve King, who is a national co-chairman of my campaign. The endorsements that I'm proud of are conservative leaders like Dr. James Dobson, and over 700,000 contributions nationwide, people going to our Web site, tedcruz.org. This is a grassroots campaign and, you know, when I ran for senate in Texas, I told the people of Texas that I'm not going there to go along to get along. Washington is broken. And the people I have been accountable to every single day in the Senate are the 27 million Texans who I represent and I made a promise to them that I make to you today, which is, if I am elected, every single day I will do two things: tell the truth, and do what I said I would do. +p906 +aVWell, Chris, I'm glad to discuss my views on ethanol and energy. I think God has blessed this country with enormous natural resources, and we should pursue all of the above. We should be developing oil, and gas, and coal, and nuclear, and wind, and solar, and ethanol, and biofuels. But, I don't believe that Washington should be picking winners and losers. And, I think there should be no mandates, and no subsidies whatsoever. And, indeed, my tax plan that I've introduced, it's available on our website. It's a simple flat tax for everyone. It'll produce enormous economic growth, and it eliminates every mandate, every subsidy, so there's no subsidies for oil and gas, no subsidies for anyone. Now, it is true that there are a bunch of lobbyists, and a bunch of Democrats in this state spending millions of dollars trying to convince the people of Iowa that I somehow oppose ethanol. It's not true. I have introduced legislation that would phase out the ethanol mandate over five years, but that is in the context of having no mandates whatsoever for anyone. And, I would not that there's a much more important government regulation to ethanol, and that's the EPA's blend wall that makes it illegal to sell mid-level blends of ethanol in gasoline. I will... ... Tear down the EPA's blend wall which will enable ethanol to expand its market share by up to 60%, all without mandates. All without any government mandates whatsoever through the marketplace. And, I'll note finally, Chris, there is a reason that Iowa's Congressman Steve King, perhaps the fiercest defender of farmers in this state, is sharing my campaign. Because he understands that I'm committed to a fair, and level playing field for every energy source without lobbyists, and without Washington picking winners and losers. +p907 +aVNinety-three hours. The media noise will soon be over and it's now for the men and women of Iowa to decide. Our country is in crisis. We're worried the future of our children and we've have been burned over and over again. The central question in this race is trust. Who do you know will kill the terrorists, defend the constitution and repeal Obamacare? Who do you know will stop amnesty and secure the borders? Who do you know will defend life, marriage and religious liberty? Examine our records, pray on it and I will be honored if you and your family will come caucus for us on Monday night. +p908 +aVWell, Maria, thank you for that question, and let me say thank you to the state of South Carolina for welcoming us. Let me start \u2014 I want to get to the substance of the question on jobs, but I want to start with something. Today, many of us picked up our newspapers, and we were horrified to see the sight of 10 American sailors on their knees, with their hands on their heads. In that State of the Union, President Obama didn't so much as mention the 10 sailors that had been captured by Iran. President Obama's preparing to send $100 billion or more to the Ayatollah Khamenei. And I'll tell you, it was heartbreaking. But the good news is the next commander-in-chief is standing on this stage. And I give you my word, if I am elected president, no service man or service woman will be forced to be on their knees, and any nation that captures our fighting men will feel the full force and fury of the United States of America. Now, on to your substantive question. The president tried to paint a rosy picture of jobs. And you know, he's right. If you're a Washington lobbyist, if you make your money in and around Washington, things are doing great. The millionaires and billionaires are doing great under Obama. But we have the lowest percentage of Americans working today of any year since 1977. Median wages have stagnated. And the Obama-Clinton economy has left behind the working men and women of this country. The reason all of us are here is we believe we should be fighting for the working men and women of this country, and not Washington, D.C. +p909 +aVWell Maria, thank you for passing on that hit piece in the front page of the New York Times. You know the nice thing about the mainstream media, they don't hide their views. The New York Times a few weeks back had a columnist who wrote a column saying, "Anybody But Cruz." Had that actually \u2014 that same columnist wrote a column comparing me to an evil demonic spirit from the move, "It Follows" that jumps apparently from body to body possessing people. So you know the New York Times and I don't have exactly have the warmest of relationships. Now in terms of their really stunning hit piece, what they mentioned is when I was running for senate \u2014 unlike Hillary Clinton, I don't have masses of money in the bank, hundreds of millions of dollars. When I was running for senate just about every lobbyist, just about all of the establishment opposed me in the senate race in Texas and my opponent in that race was worth over 200 million dollars. He put a 25 million dollar check up from his own pocket to fund that campaign and my wife Heidi and I, we ended up investing everything we owned. We took a loan against our assets to invest it in that campaign to defend ourselves against those attacks. And the entire New York times attack \u2014 is that I disclosed that loan on one filing with the United States Senate, that was a public filing. But it was not on a second filing with +p910 +aVWell, Neil, I'm glad we're focusing on the important topics of the evening. You know, back in September, my friend Donald said that he had had his lawyers look at this from every which way, and there was no issue there. There was nothing to this birther issue. Now, since September, the Constitution hasn't changed. But the poll numbers have. And I recognize \u2014 I recognize that Donald is dismayed that his poll numbers are falling in Iowa. But the facts and the law here are really quite clear. Under longstanding U.S. law, the child of a U.S. citizen born abroad is a natural-born citizen. If a soldier has a child abroad, that child is a natural-born citizen. That's why John McCain, even though he was born in Panama, was eligible to run for president. If an American missionary has a child abroad, that child is a natural-born citizen. That's why George Romney, Mitt's dad, was eligible to run for president, even though he was born in Mexico. At the end of the day, the legal issue is quite straightforward, but I would note that the birther theories that Donald has been relying on \u2014 some of the more extreme ones insist that you must not only be born on U.S. soil, but have two parents born on U.S. soil. Under that theory, not only would I be disqualified, Marco Rubio would be disqualified, Bobby Jindal would be disqualified and, interestingly enough, Donald J. Trump would be disqualified. +p911 +aVBecause \u2014 because Donald's mother was born in Scotland. She was naturalized. Now, Donald... +p912 +aV... on the issue \u2014 on the issue of citizenship, Donald... +p913 +aV... on the issue of citizenship, Donald, I'm not going to use your mother's birth against you. +p914 +aVYou're an American, as is everybody else on this stage, and I would suggest we focus on who's best prepared to be commander- in-chief, because that's the most important question facing the country. +p915 +aVNeil... +p916 +aVWell, listen, I've spent my entire life defending the Constitution before the U.S. Supreme Court. And I'll tell you, I'm not going to be taking legal advice from Donald Trump. +p917 +aVThe chances of any litigation proceeding and succeeding on this are zero. And Mr. Trump is very focused... +p918 +aV... on Larry Tribe. Let me tell you who Larry Tribe is. He's a left-wing judicial activist, Harvard Law professor who was Al Gore's lawyer in Bush versus Gore. He's a major Hillary Clinton supporter. And there's a reason why Hillary's supporters are echoing Donald's attacks on me, because Hillary... +p919 +aV... wants to face Donald Trump in the general election. +p920 +aVAnd I'll tell you what, Donald, you \u2014 you very kindly just a moment ago offered me the V.P. slot. I'll tell you what. If this all works out, I'm happy to consider naming you as V.P. So if you happen to be right, you could get the top job at the end of the day. +p921 +aVActually, I'd love to get you to build a wall. +p922 +aVThe answer is simple. Your prosecute criminals. You target the bad guys. You know, a minute ago, Neil asked: What has President Obama do \u2014 done to illustrate that he wants to go after guns? Well, he appointed Eric Holder as attorney general. Eric Holder said he viewed his mission as brainwashing the American people against guns. He appointed Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, someone who has been a radical against the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. He launched Fast and Furious, illegally selling guns to Mexican drug lords that were then used to shoot law enforcement officials. And I'll tell you what Hillary Clinton has said: Hillary Clinton says she agrees with the dissenters \u2014 the Supreme Court dissenters in the Heller case. There were four dissenters, and they said that they believe the Second Amendment protects no individual right to keep and bear arms whatsoever, which means, if their view prevailed and the next president's going to get one, two, three, maybe four Supreme Court justices, the court will rule that not a single person in this room has any right under the Second Amendment and the government could confiscate your guns. And I'll note that California senator \u2014 Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein said, if she could say to Mr. America and Mrs. America, "give me your guns, I'm rounding them up," she would. And let me make a final point on this. Listen, in any Republican primary, everyone is going to say they support the Second Amendment. Unless you are clinically insane......that's what you say in a primary. But the voters are savvier than that. They recognize that people's actions don't always match their words. I've got a proven record fighting to defend the Second Amendment. There's a reason Gun Owners of America has endorsed me in this race. There's a reason the NRA gave me their Carter Knight Freedom Fund award......and there's a reason, when Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer came after our right to keep and bear arms, that I led the opposition, along with millions of Americans \u2014 we defeated that gun control legislation. And I would note the other individuals on this stage were nowhere to be found in that fight. +p923 +aVYou know, I think most people know exactly what New York values are. +p924 +aVWhat \u2014 what \u2014 you're from New York? So you might not. But I promise you, in the state of South Carolina, they do. And listen, there are many, many wonderful, wonderful working men and women in the state of New York. But everyone understands that the values in New York City are socially liberal or pro-abortion or pro- gay-marriage, focus around money and the media. And \u2014 and I would note indeed, the reason I said that is I was asked \u2014 my friend Donald has taken to it as advance playing Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA", and I was asked what I thought of that. And I said, "well, if he wanted to play a song, maybe he could play, 'New York, New York'?" And \u2014 and \u2014 you know, the concept of New York values is not that complicated to figure out. Not too many years ago, Donald did a long interview with Tim Russert. And in that interview, he explained his views on a whole host of issues that were very, very different from the views he's describing now. And his explanation \u2014 he said, "look, I'm from New York, that's what we believe in New York. Those aren't Iowa values, but this is what we believe in New York." And so that was his explanation. And \u2014 and I guess I can \u2014 can frame it another way. Not a lot of conservatives come out of Manhattan. I'm just saying. +p925 +aVYou know I understand why Donald made the comments he did and I understand why Americans are feeling frustrated and scared and angry when we have a president who refuses to acknowledge the threat we face and even worse, who acts as an apologist for radical Islamic terrorism. I think what we need is a commander in chief who is focused like a laser on keeping this country safe and on defeating radical Islamic terrorism. What should we do? First, we should pass the Expatriate Terrorist Act, legislation I've introduced that says if an American goes and joins +p926 +aVThanks for coming back to me, Maria. Both Donald and Jeb have good points, and there is a middle ground. Donald is right that China is running over President Obama like he is a child, President Obama is not protecting American workers and we are getting hammered. You know, I sat down with the senior leadership of John Deere. They discussed how \u2014 how hard it is to sell tractors in China, because all the regulatory barriers. They're protectionist. But Jeb is also right that, if we just impose a tariff, they'll put reciprocal tariffs, which will hurt Iowa farmers and South Carolina producers and 20 percent of the American jobs that depend on exports. So the way you do it is you pass a tax plan like the tax plan I've introduced: a simple flat tax, 10 percent for individuals, and a 16 percent business flat tax, you abolish the IRS......and here's the critical point, Maria \u2014 the business flat tax enables us to abolish the corporate income tax, the death tax, the Obamacare taxes, the payroll taxes, and they're border-adjustable, so every export pays no taxes whatsoever. It's tax-free \u2014 a huge advantage for our farmers and ranchers and manufacturers \u2014 and every import pays the 16 percent business flat tax. It's like a tariff, but here's the difference: if we impose a tariff, China responds. The business flat tax, they already impose their taxes on us, so there's no reciprocal......tariffs that come against us. It puts us on a level, even playing field, which brings jobs here at home... +p927 +aV... and as president, I'm going to fight for the working men and women. +p928 +aVMaria, I assume that I can respond to that. +p929 +aVWell, Marco has been floating this attack for a few weeks now, but the problem is, the business flat tax in my proposal is not a vat. A vat is imposed as a sales tax when you buy a good. This is a business flat tax. It is imposed on business and a critical piece that Marco seems to be missing is that this 16 percent business flat tax enables us to eliminate the corporate income tax. It goes away. It enables us to eliminate the death tax. If you're a farmer, if you're a rancher, if you are small business owner, the death tax is gone. We eliminate the payroll tax, we eliminate the Obamacare taxes. And listen, there is a real difference between Marco's tax plan and mine. Mine gives every American a simple, flat tax of 10 percent. Marco's top tax rate is 35 percent. My tax plan enables you to fill out your taxes on a postcard so we can abolish the IRS. Marco leaves the IRS code in with all of the complexity. We need to break the Washington cartel, and the only way to do it is to end all the subsidies and all......the mandates and have a simple flat tax. The final observation, invoked Ronald Reagan. I would note that Art Laffer, Ronald Reagan's chief economic adviser, has written publicly, that my simple flat tax is the best tax plan of any of the individuals on this stage cause it produces economic growth, it raises wages and it helps everyone from the very poorest to the very richest. +p930 +aVMaria... +p931 +aVMaria, I'd just like to say... +p932 +aVBut Maria, radical Islamic terrorism was not invented 24 months ago; 24 months ago, we had Al Qaida. We had Boko Haram. We had Hamas. We had Hezbollah. We had Iran putting operatives in South America and Central America. It's the reason why I stood with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and led the fight to stop the Gang of Eight amnesty bill, because it was clear then, like it's clear now, that border security is national security. +p933 +aVIt is also the case that that Rubio-Schumer amnesty bill, one of the things it did is it expanded Barack Obama's power to let in Syrian refugees. It enabled him \u2014 the president to certify them en masse without mandating meaningful background checks. I think that's a mistake. That's why I've been leading the fight to stop it. And I would note the Senate just a few weeks ago voted to suspend refugees from Middle Eastern countries. I voted yes to suspend that. Marco voted on the other side. So you don't get to say we need to secure the borders, and at the same time try to give Barack Obama more authority to allow Middle Eastern refugees coming in, when the head of the FBI tells us they cannot vet them to determine if they are +p934 +aVI'm going to get a response to that, Neil. There's no way he launches 11 attack \u2014 +p935 +aVI'm going to \u2014 he had no fewer than 11 attacks there. I appreciate your dumping your research folder on the stage. +p936 +aVBut I will say \u2014 +p937 +aV\u2014 at least half of the things Marco said are flat-out false. They're absolutely false. +p938 +aVSo let's start \u2014 let's start with immigration. Let's start with immigration and have a little bit of clarity. Marco stood with Chuck Schumer and Barack Obama on amnesty. I stood with Jeff Sessions and Steve King. Marco stood today, standing on this stage Marco supports legalization and citizenship for 12 million illegals. I opposed and oppose legalization and citizenship. And by the way, the attack he keeps throwing out on the military budget, Marco knows full well I voted for his amendment to increase military spending to $697 billion. What he said, and he said it in the last, it's simply not true. And as president, I will rebuild the military and keep this country safe. +p939 +aV"13 Hours" \u2014 tomorrow morning, a new movie will debut about the incredible bravery of the men fighting for their lives in Benghazi and the politicians that abandoned them. I want to speak to all our fighting men and women. I want to speak to all the moms and dads whose sons and daughters are fighting for this country, and the incredible sense of betrayal when you have a commander-in-chief who will not even speak the name of our enemy, radical Islamic terrorism, when you have a commander-in- chief who sends $150 billion to the Ayatollah Khamenei, who's responsible for murdering hundreds of our servicemen and women. I want to speak to all of those maddened by political correctness, where Hillary Clinton apologizes for saying all lives matter. This will end. It will end on January 2017. And if I am elected president, to every soldier and sailor and airman and marine, and to every police officer and firefighter and first responder who risk their lives to keep us safe, I will have your back. +p940 +asVPAUL +p941 +(lp942 +VYou know, I've always had a great deal of respect. There's probably no person I respect more in the country or in recent history than my father. I think he was probably the most honest man in politics that we've ever seen in a generation. And so in no way have I ever said that I don't embrace my father or love my father or appreciate everything that he has done for the country. I think what's interesting about where that liberty vote goes that my father brought to the Republican Party is, I don't think they're necessarily going to go for Ted. You know, Ted didn't show up. We had an audit-the-Fed vote, which was the biggest thing my dad had been advocating for, for 30 years, Ted didn't have time to show up. He was the only Republican that didn't show up for it. And so I think really that vote is going to stay in the Paul household. I think more of it is coming and it's going to grow. The NSA is another big issue. Ted said he was for NSA reform, but then he told Marco Rubio, no, no, no, I voted for the bill because I'm for the government collecting 100 percent of your cell phone records. I don't think Ted can have it both ways. They want to say they're getting some of the liberty vote. But we don't see it happening at all. We think we're going to do very well in Iowa with the liberty vote. +p943 +aVMay I respond? +p944 +aVWell, I mean, I was talked about in the question. +p945 +aVJust very quickly, I would like to respond. The bulk collection of your phone data, the invasion of your privacy did not stop one terrorist attack. I don't think you have to give up your liberty for a false sense of security. When we look at this bulk collection, the court has looked at this. Even the court declared it to be illegal. If we want to collect the records of terrorists, let's do it the old fashioned way. Let's use the Fourth Amendment. Let's put a name on a warrant, let's ask a judge for it. Let's respect the history of our country. John Adams said that we fought a War for Independence because we wanted to fight against generalized warrants. Let's don't forget that. +p946 +aVMy budget was mentioned. My budget was mentioned. +p947 +aV... Senator Cruz, I'd like to respond... +p948 +aV... and I'd like to respond. +p949 +aVThank you, Marco. +p950 +aVThank you. The issue in Syria's a very important one, and it's one we need to get right. The question is, should we be bombing both sides of the war? Some want to topple Assad. In fact, they want to bomb +p951 +aV. +p952 +aVYeah, no, I think that's a \u2014 that's a huge mistake, to be closing down mosques. But I would say that if you want to defend the country, it begins with border security. And this is where I've had my disagreement with Senator Rubio. When he brought forward the "Gang of Eight" bill to give citizenship to those who came here illegally, I put forward an amendment that says we should have more scrutiny on those who are coming as students, those who are coming as immigrants, those who are coming as refugees, because we had two refugees come to my town in Bowling Green and try to attack us. Marco opposed this because they made a deal. He made a deal with Chuck Schumer that he would oppose any conservative amendments. And I think that's a mistake, and I just don't think Marco can have it both ways. You can't be in favor of defend us... ... against Islam \u2014 radical Islam \u2014 if you're not for border security. +p953 +aVYou know, I've supported legislation to allow body cameras. I've been to Ferguson, I've been trying to look for solutions to our criminal justice problem. One thing I discovered in Ferguson was that a third of the budget for the city of Ferguson was being reaped by civil fines. People were just being fined to death. Now you and I and many of the people in this audience, if we get a $100 fine, we can survive it. If you're living on the edge of poverty and you get a $100 fine or your car towed, a lot of times you lose your job. I also think the war on drugs has disproportionately affected our African-American community, and what we need to do is make sure that the war on drugs is equal protection under the law and that we don't unfairly incarcerate another generation of young African-American males. In Ferguson, for every 100 African-American women, there are only 60 African-American men. Drug use is about equal between white and black, but our prisons \u2014 three out of four people in prison are black or brown. I think something has to change. I think it's a big thing that our party needs to be part of, and I've been a leader in Congress on trying to bring about criminal justice reform. +p954 +aVI was there and I saw the debate. I saw Ted Cruz say, "we'll take citizenship off the table, and then the bill will pass, and I'm for the bill." The bill would involve legalization. He can't have it both ways. But what is particularly insulting, though, is that he is the king of saying, "you're for amnesty." Everybody's for amnesty except for Ted Cruz. But it's a falseness, and that's an authenticity problem \u2014 that everybody he knows is not as perfect as him because we're all for amnesty. I was for legalization. I think, frankly, if you have border security, you can have legalization. So was Ted, but now he says it wasn't so. That's not true. +p955 +aVYou know, I think abortion is always wrong. I've supported a variety of solutions, both state as well as federal. In fact, just last week, I introduced the Life at Conception act, which would say that the 14th amendment would defend an individual even in the womb. But I think on the broader question of religion and politics, you know, I think liberty, itself requires a virtue \u2014 requires a virtuous people. In fact, Washington said that democracy requires a virtuous people. Oz Guinness, the theologian, said that liberty requires restraint but the only restraint consistent with liberty is self-restraint. There's a lot packed into that statement. But the bottom line is we must have virtue, we must have a religious bearing as a nation. The government is not always going to save us and it's not always going to come from government. But if we don't know right and wrong, I think we have lost our way. I think we become unmoored and I think without the religious foundation that guides us all, I think we have a great risk of going horribly in the wrong direction. +p956 +aVBoth. No, both the federal and a state approach. I have said that we could leave it to the states but I've also introduced a federal solution as well. So the federal solution would be the Life at Conception act which is an act that would federalize the issue. But I've also said for the most part, these issues would be left back to the states. So there might be an occasion if we did overturn Roe v. Wade \u2014 Roe v. Wade nationalized the issue. If you had the court reverse Roe v. Wade, it would become a state issue once again. I think it would be better the more \u2014 the less abortions we have, so the more states that we have that made abortion illegal, the better, as far as trying to save and preserve lives. +p957 +aVYou know, I've never really brought this up unless asked the question, but I have responded to the question. I don't blame Hillary Clinton at all for this. I don't think she's responsible for his behavior. But I do think that her position as promoting women's rights and fairness to women in the workplace, that if what Bill Clinton did any CEO in our country did with an intern, with a 22-year- old, 21-year-old intern in their office, they would be fired. They would never be hired again. Fired, never hired again and probably shunned in their community. And the thing is, she can't be a champion of women's rights at the same time she's got this that is always lurking out there, this type of behavior. So it is difficult. +p958 +aVYeah. But I combine this also with the millions upon millions of dollars they've taken from regimes in the Middle East who treat women like cattle. +p959 +aVWell, thanks for having me. It's great to be back. I'm an eye surgeon from Bowling Green, Kentucky, I miss doing eye surgery, still get to do a little bit. Did a couple of cataract surgeries over Christmas holidays. Got to go to Haiti last year. I've gotten to do some incredible things. Got to be on the floor of the Senate. And it has been amazing to me. But the thing that is most important to me and caused me to run for office is I'm worried about the country and how much debt we're adding. And I am the one true fiscal conservative who will look at all spending. And that's the only way we'll ever balance our budget. Thank you. +p960 +asVBARTIROMO +p961 +(lp962 +VTonight we are working with Facebook to ask the candidates the questions voters want answered. And according to Facebook, the U.S. election has dominated the global conversation, with 131 million people talking about the 2016 race. That makes it the number one issue talked about on Facebook last year worldwide. +p963 +aVTonight's rules are simple: up to 90 seconds for each answer, one minute for each follow-up response. And if a candidate goes over the allotted time, you'll hear this. So let's get started. Candidates, jobs and growth \u2014 two of the biggest issues facing the country right now. In his State of the Union address earlier this week, the president said, quote, "we have the strongest, most durable economy in the world." And according to our Facebook research, jobs is one of the biggest issues resonating across the country, including here in South Carolina. The president is touting 14 million new jobs and an unemployment rate cut in half. The president said that anyone who claims America's economy is in decline is peddling fiction. Senator Cruz, what do you see that he doesn't? +p964 +aVThank you, sir. +p965 +aVWe know that recent global events have many people worried \u2014 Iran detaining American sailors, forcing them to apologize; North Korea and its nuclear ambitions; an aggressive China; and a Middle East that continues to deteriorate, not to mention +p966 +aVJust to be clear Governor, where and when would you use military action? +p967 +aVDr. Carson, the president says he does not want to treat +p968 +aVSenator Cruz, the New York Times is reporting that you failed to properly disclose a million dollars in loans from Goldman Sachs and CitiBank. During your senate race, your campaign said, "it was inadvertent." A million dollars is inadvertent? +p969 +aVThank you. +p970 +aVThank you, senator. Mr. Trump, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley in her response to the State of the Union address......appeared to choose sides within the party, saying Republicans should resist, quote, "the siren call of the angriest voices". She confirmed, she was referring to you among others. Was she out of line? And, how would a President Trump unite the party? +p971 +aVBut what are you going to do about it? +p972 +aVGovernor Kasich...... Governor Kasich, Hillary Clinton is getting some serious competition from Senator Bernie Sanders. He's now at 41 percent in the latest CBS/New York Times poll. Vice President Biden sang his praises, saying Bernie is speaking to a yearning that is deep and real, and he has credibility on it. So what does it say about our country that a candidate who is a self-avowed socialist and who doesn't think a 90 percent tax rate is too high could be the Democratic nominee? +p973 +aVDr. Carson, one of the other candidates on this stage has brought Bill Clinton's past indiscretions. Is that a legitimate topic in this election? And what do you think of the notion that Hillary Clinton is an enabler of sexual misconduct? +p974 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debates, right here in North Charleston. Let's get right back to the questions. Governor Bush, gun rights, one of the top issues seen on Facebook with close to 3 million people talking about it in the past month. Right here in Charleston, Dylann Roof, who has been accused of killing nine people in a nearby church, reportedly had not passed his background check when he got his gun. What is the harm in tightening standards for not only who buys guns, but those who sell them? +p975 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, are there any circumstances that you think we should be limiting gun sales of any kind in America? +p976 +aVThank you sir. +p977 +aVThank you, sir. +p978 +aVSo what is the answer, Senator Cruz, to stop mass shootings and violent crime, up in 30 cities across the country? +p979 +aVSenator...... let me follow up and switch gears. Senator Cruz, you suggested Mr. Trump, quote, "embodies New York values." Could you explain what you mean by that? +p980 +aVI am from New York. I don't. +p981 +aVAre you sure about that? +p982 +aVThere's much more ahead including the fight against +p983 +aVWe welcome back to the Republican Presidential , right back to the questions. Candidates, the man who made fighting +p984 +aVThe air-strikes. +p985 +aVNow in their 16th month are ineffective. Dr. Carson, do you think Senator Graham is right in wanting to send 20,000 troops \u2014 ground troops to Iraq and Syria to take out +p986 +aVThank you, sir. Senator Graham has also said that the U.S. will find Arab support for its coalition if it removes Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. And I quote, "The now king of Saudi Arabia told us, 'you can have our army, you just got to deal with Assad.' "The emir of Qatar said, 'I'll pay for the operation, but they are not going to fight +p987 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump \u2014 Mr. Trump, your comments about banning Muslims from entering the country created a firestorm. According to Facebook, it was the most-talked-about moment online of your entire campaign, with more than 10 million people talking about the issue. Is there anything you've heard that makes you want to rethink this position? +p988 +aVWe \u2014 we want to hear from all of you on this. According to Pew Research, the U.S. admits more than 100,000 Muslim immigrants every single year on a permanent lifetime basis. I want to ask the rest of you to comment on this. Do you agree that we should pause Muslim immigration until we get a better handle on our homeland security situation, as Mr. Trump has said? Beginning with you, Governor Kasich. +p989 +aVThank you, sir, we want to hear from the rest of you, Governor Christie, your take. +p990 +aVSenator Rubio, where do you stand? +p991 +aVSenator Cruz, where do you stand? Senator Cruz? +p992 +aVDr. Carson, where do you stand? Do you agree with Mr. Trump? +p993 +aVSo, to be clear, the both of you do not agree with Mr. Trump? +p994 +aVThank you governor. +p995 +aVWe're getting... +p996 +aVPrices go higher for... +p997 +aVYeah. +p998 +aVReal quick, Senator \u2014 go ahead, Senator Cruz. And then we have to get to tax reform. +p999 +aVThank you, Governor Bush. Thank you, Mr. Trump. Very briefly. +p1000 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. +p1001 +aVThank you, Mr. Trmup. Thank you, Governor. +p1002 +aVSenator briefly. +p1003 +aVWe've got to get to tax reform, gentlemen. We've got to get to tax reform, and we've got to get to the... +p1004 +aV... we've got to get to the national debt as well. Coming up next, the growing national debt, the war on crime, tax reform. More from North Charleston, South Carolina, when we come right back. +p1005 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential here in North Charleston. Right back to the questions. Governor Christie, we have spoken much about cutting spending, given the $19 trillion debt. But according to one report, America needs $3.6 trillion in infrastructure spending by 2020. Here in South Carolina, 11 percent of bridges are considered structurally deficient, costing drivers a billion dollars a year in auto repairs. What is your plan to fix the ailing roads and bridges without breaking the bank? +p1006 +aVThank you, sir. Dr. Carson......it is true U.S. companies have $2 trillion in cash sitting overseas right now. That could be used for investment and jobs in America. Also, several companies right now are pursuing mergers to move their corporate headquarters abroad, and take advantage of much lower taxes. What will you do to stop the flow of companies building cash away from America, and those leaving America altogether? +p1007 +aVThank you, sir. Senator Rubio... +p1008 +aVWhich is why we raised it. Senator Rubio? Thank you, Mr. Trump. +p1009 +aVOne of the biggest fiscal challenges is our entitlement programs, particularly Social Security and Medicare. What policies will you put forward to make sure these programs are more financially secure? +p1010 +aVThank you senator. +p1011 +aVSenator Cruz, yes. You were meant to. Yes, of course. +p1012 +aVThank you senator. +p1013 +aVThank you senator. I have to get to a question for Mr. Trump. +p1014 +aVYes. +p1015 +aVThank you, Governor. Thank you, Governor. +p1016 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Coming up, how would the candidates protect America, and another terror attack, if we were to see it. But first, you can join us live on stage during the commercial break right from home. Go to facebook.com/foxbusiness. We'll be streaming live and answering your questions during this break next. More from South Carolina coming up. Stay with us. +p1017 +aVMr. Trump, your net worth is in the multi-billions of dollars and have an ongoing thriving hotel and real estate business. Are you planning on putting your assets in a blind trust should you become president? With such vast wealth, how difficult will it be for you to disentangle yourself from your business and your money and prioritize America's interest first? +p1018 +aVSo you'll put your assets in a blind trust? +p1019 +aVThank you sir. +p1020 +aVSenator Rubio? Under current law, the U.S. is on track to issue more new permanent immigrants on green cards over the next five years than the entire population of South Carolina. The CBO says your 2013 immigration bill would have increased green cardholders by another 10 million over 10 years. Why are you so interested in opening up borders to foreigners when American workers have a hard enough time finding work? +p1021 +aVSo your thinking has changed? +p1022 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1023 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1024 +aVWhen we come right back, closing statements. Stay with us. +p1025 +aVWelcome back. Candidates, it is time for your closing statements. You get 60 seconds each. Governor John Kasich, we begin with you. +p1026 +aVGovernor Chris Christie? +p1027 +aVSenator Marco Rubio? +p1028 +aVMr. Donald Trump? +p1029 +aVCandidates, thank you. +p1030 +asVTRUMP +p1031 +(lp1032 +VWell, I can say this. If the president, and if I were president now, I would certainly want to try and nominate a justice. I'm sure that, frankly, I'm absolutely sure that President Obama will try and do it. I hope that our Senate is going to be able \u2014 Mitch, and the entire group, is going to be able to do something about it. In times of delay, we could have a Diane Sykes, or you could have a Bill Pryor \u2014 we have some fantastic people. But this is a tremendous blow to conservatism. It's a tremendous blow, frankly, to our country. +p1033 +aV... I think he's going to do it whether or I'm O.K. with it or not. I think it's up to Mitch McConnell and everybody else to stop it. It's called delay, delay, delay. +p1034 +aVWhat we want to do, when we want to do it, and how hard do we want to hit? Because we are going to have to hit very, very hard to knock out +p1035 +aV... called me a genius, I like him so far, I have to tell you. Let me just tell you this. Jeb is so wrong. Jeb is absolutely self \u2014 just so you understand, you know what that is? That's Jeb's special interest and lobbyist talking. Look, let me just tell you something, Jeb \u2014 Jeb is so wrong. You got to fight +p1036 +aV... You'll end up with World War III... +p1037 +aV... We're supporting troops... +p1038 +aV... that we don't even know who they are. +p1039 +aV... We're supporting troops that we don't even know who they are... +p1040 +aVWe have no idea who they are. +p1041 +aV... Oh, yeah, yeah... +p1042 +aV... Let 44 million in New Hampshire, it was practically ... +p1043 +aV... 44 million \u2014 give me a break. +p1044 +aVFirst of all, I have to say, as a businessman, I get along with everybody. I have business all over the world. I know so many of the people in the audience. And by the way, I'm a self-funder. I don't have \u2014 I have my wife and I have my son. That's all I have. I don't have this. So let me just tell you, I get along with everybody, which is my obligation to my company, to myself, et cetera. Obviously, the war in Iraq was a big, fat mistake. All right? Now, you can take it any way you want, and it took \u2014 it took Jeb Bush, if you remember at the beginning of his announcement, when he announced for president, it took him five days. He went back, it was a mistake, it wasn't a mistake. It took him five days before his people told him what to say, and he ultimately said, "It was a mistake." The war in Iraq, we spent $2 trillion, thousands of lives, we don't even have it. Iran has taken over Iraq, with the second-largest oil reserves in the world. Obviously, it was a mistake. +p1045 +aVGeorge Bush made a mistake. We can make mistakes. But that one was a beauty. We should have never been in Iraq. We have destabilized the Middle East. +p1046 +aVYou do whatever you want. You call it whatever you want. I want to tell you. They lied. They said there were weapons of mass destruction, there were none. And they knew there were none. There were no weapons of mass destruction. +p1047 +aVI'm being nice. +p1048 +aVHe spent $22 million in... +p1049 +aVThe World Trade Center came down during your brother's reign, remember that. +p1050 +aVThat's not keeping us safe. +p1051 +aVShe should be running. +p1052 +aVHow did he keep us safe when the World Trade Center \u2014 the World \u2014 excuse me. I lost hundreds of friends. The World Trade Center came down during the reign of George Bush. He kept us safe? That is not safe. That is not safe, Marco. That is not safe. +p1053 +aVAnd George Bush \u2014 by the way, George Bush had the chance, also, and he didn't listen to the advice of his C.I.A. +p1054 +aVI don't want to go. +p1055 +aVYes. +p1056 +aVFirst of all, the \u2014 when you say I'm the only candidate, if you listen to the Democrats, they want to do many things to Social Security, and I want to do them on its own merit. You listen to them, what they want to do to Social Security, none of these folks are getting elected, O.K., whether they can do it or not. I'm going to save Social Security. I'm going to bring jobs back from China. I'm going to bring jobs back from Mexico and from Japan, where they're all \u2014 every country throughout the world \u2014 now Vietnam, that's the new one. They are taking our jobs. They are taking our wealth. They are taking our base. And you and I have had this discussion. We're going to make our economy strong again. I'm lowering taxes. We have $2.5 trillion offshore. We have 2.5 trillion that I think is actually five trillion because the government has no idea when they say 2.5, they have no idea what they're doing or saying, as they've proven very well. We're going to bring that money back. You take a look at what happened just this week. China bought the Chicago Stock Exchange, China, a Chinese company. Carrier is moving to Mexico, air conditioning company. Not only the ones I talk about all the time, Nabisco and Ford and \u2014 they're all moving out. We have an economy that last quarter, G.D.P. didn't grow. It was flat. We have to make our economy grow again. We're dying. This country is dying. And our workers are losing their jobs, and you're going... +p1057 +aVI'm the only one who is going to save Social Security, believe me. +p1058 +aVBecause you have tremendous waste. I'll tell you... +p1059 +aVYou have tremendous waste, fraud and abuse. That we're taking care of. That we're taking care of. It's tremendous. We have in Social Security right now thousands and thousands of people that are over 106 years old. Now, you know they don't exist. They don't exist. There's tremendous waste, fraud and abuse, and we're going to get it. But we're not going to hurt the people who have been paying into Social Security their whole life and then all of a sudden they're supposed to get less. We're bringing our jobs back. We're going to make our economy great again. +p1060 +aVI want everybody taken care of, but we have to take care of our people in this country. We're not taking care of our people. We have no border. We have no control. People are flooding across. We can't have it. We either have a border, and I'm very strongly \u2014 I'm not proposing. I will build a wall. I will build a wall. Remember this, the wall will be paid for by Mexico. We are not being treated right. We are not being treated properly. If we don't have borders, if we don't have strength, we don't have a country. People are flowing across. We have to take care of our people. Believe me. +p1061 +aVLook......When I announced that I was running for president on June 16th, illegal immigration wasn't even a subject. If I didn't bring it up, we wouldn't even be talking. Now, I don't often agree with Marco, and I don't often agree with Ted, but I can in this case. The weakest person on this stage by far on illegal immigration is Jeb Bush. They come out of an act of love, whether you like it or not. He is so weak on illegal immigration it's laughable, and everybody knows it. +p1062 +aV... Spend a little more money on the commercials... +p1063 +aV. I don't know what you're talking about. +p1064 +aV... I never called him \u2014 I don't call him.. +p1065 +aVHe also said about language... +p1066 +aV... Language. Two days ago he said he would take his pants off and moon everybody, and that's fine. Nobody reports that. He gets up and says that, and then he tells me, oh, my language was a little bit rough... +p1067 +aV... My language. Give me a break... +p1068 +aV... You did say it, you did say it. Been reported in 10 different news... +p1069 +aVOr a tax. +p1070 +aVI would build consensus with Congress, and Congress would agree with me. I'll give you an example, because I don't like the idea of using executive orders like our president. It is a disaster what he's doing. I would build consensus, but consensus means you have to work hard. You have to cajole. You have to get them into the Oval Office and get them all together, and you have to make deals. Let me just tell you, I mentioned before, China \u2014 big Chinese company bought the Chicago Exchange. Kerry is moving \u2014 and if you saw the people, because they have a video of the announcement that Carrier is moving to Mexico, O.K.? Well, I'll tell you what. I would go right now to Carrier and I would say I am going to work awfully hard. You're going to make air conditioners now in Mexico. You're going to get all of these 1,400 people that are being laid off \u2014 they're laid off. They were crying. They were \u2014 it was a very sad situation. You're going to go to Mexico. You're going to make air conditioners in Mexico, you're going to put them across our border with no tax. I'm going to tell them right now, I am going to get consensus from Congress and we're going to tax you when those air conditioners come. So stay where you are or build in the United States, because we are killing ourselves with trade pacts that are no good for us and no good for our workers. +p1071 +aVJohn, in life you have flexibility. You do have flexibility. When you're fighting wars, you're going one way, you have a plan. It's a beautiful plan. It can't lose. The enemy makes a change, and all of a sudden you have to change. You have to have flexibility. In Ronald Reagan, though, in terms of what we're talking about, was the great example. He was a somewhat liberal Democrat who became a somewhat, pretty strong conservative. He became \u2014 most importantly, he became a great president. He made many of the changes that I've made \u2014 I mean, I've seen as I grew up, I've seen, and as I get older and wiser, and I feel that I am a conservative. Now, I also feel I'm a common-sense conservative, because some of the views I don't agree with. And I think a lot of people agree with me, obviously, based on what's happening. +p1072 +aVWell, I think these people always hit me with eminent domain, and frankly, I'm not in love with eminent domain. But eminent domain is something you need very strongly. When Jeb had said, "You used eminent domain privately for a parking lot." It wasn't for a parking lot. The state of New Jersey \u2014 too bad Chris Christie is not here, he could tell you \u2014 the state of New Jersey went to build a very large tower that was going to employ thousands of people. I mean, it was going to really do a big job in terms of economic development. Now, just so you understand, I got hit very hard. It's private, it's private eminent domain. You understand that they took over a stadium in Texas, and they used private eminent domain, but he just found that out after he made the charge. +p1073 +aVYeah. Well, Jeb wouldn't have known about it. +p1074 +aVYou shouldn't have used it then, Jeb. +p1075 +aVThank you very much, I appreciate it. +p1076 +aVYou probably are worse than Jeb Bush. You are single biggest liar. This guy's lied \u2014 let me just tell you, this guy lied about Ben Carson when he took votes away from Ben Carson in Iowa, and he just continues. Today, we had robo-calls saying, "Donald Trump is not going to run in South Carolina," where I'm leading by a lot. I'm not going to vote for Ted Cruz. This is the same thing he did to Ben Carson. This guy will say anything, nasty guy. Now I know why he doesn't have one endorsement from any of his colleagues. +p1077 +aVHe's a nasty guy. +p1078 +aVWhere did I support it? Where did I... +p1079 +aVAgain, where did I support it? +p1080 +aVHey Ted, where I support it? +p1081 +aVWhere did I support? +p1082 +aVThat's a lot of lies. +p1083 +aVIt does do wonderful things, but not as it relates to abortion. +p1084 +aVExcuse me. Excuse me, there are wonderful things having to do with women's health. +p1085 +aVBut not when it comes to abortion. +p1086 +aVHold on... +p1087 +aVTed Cruz told your brother that he wanted John Roberts to be on the United States Supreme Court. They both pushed him, he twice approved Obamacare. +p1088 +aVO.K., governor. +p1089 +aVYou pushed him. You pushed him. +p1090 +aVYou worked with him and you pushed him. Why do you lie? +p1091 +aVWhy do you lie? +p1092 +aVYou pushed him. +p1093 +aVYeah, yeah, I know, you're an adult. +p1094 +aVWell, I would say my wife tells me I'm wrong all the time. And I listen. +p1095 +aVOh, let me just say \u2014 look, I am very open \u2014 I hired top people. I've had great success. I built a great, great company. I don't need to do this. I'm self-funding. I'm spending a lot of money. I've spent \u2014 like in New Hampshire, I spent $3 million. Jeb bush spent $44 million. He came in five, and I came in No. 1. That's what the country needs, folks. I spent 3, he spends 42 of their money, of special interest money. And it's just \u2014 this is not going to make \u2014 excuse me. This is not going to make our country great again. This is not what we need in our country. We need people that know what the hell they're doing. And politicians, they're all talk, they're no action. And that's why people are supporting me. I do listen to people. I hire experts. I hire top, top people. And I do listen. And you know what? Sometimes they're wrong. You have to know what to do, when to do it. But sometimes they're wrong. +p1096 +aVWell, I'll tell you \u2014 over the years, I've made many speeches. People have asked me, big companies have asked me to make speeches, and friends of mine that run big companies on success. And occasion, in order to sort of really highlight something, I'll use a profanity. One of the profanities that I got credited with using, that I didn't use, was a very bad word, two weeks ago, that I never used. I said, "You." And everybody said "Oh, he didn't say anything wrong." But you bleeped it, so everyone thinks I said the \u2014 I didn't say anything. I never said the word. It is very unfair, that criticism. Now, I will say this, with all of that being said, I have said I will not do it at all, because if I say a word that's a little bit off color, a little bit, it ends up being a headline. I will not do it again. I was a very good student at a great school not using \u2014 by the way \u2014 not using profanity is very easy. +p1097 +aVThat's not \u2014 let me respond. That's another lie. I never went bankrupt! +p1098 +aVNo, but it's another lie. +p1099 +aVNo, but it's another lie. This guy doesn't know what he's talking about. Just a lie. +p1100 +aVLet me just tell you. Jeb goes around saying, just like the biggest business leaders in this country, I've used the laws of the land to chapter \u2014 I bought a company, I threw it immediately into a chapter, I made a great deal. I uses the laws to my benefit, because I run a company. +p1101 +aVExcuse me, Jeb! +p1102 +aVI never went bankrupt, never. Now \u2014 but you don't want to say that. Now, let me just say, I've used it, just like the biggest leaders in the country. Let me tell you something \u2014 Florida. Florida, he put so much debt on Florida. You know, we keep saying he's a wonderful governor, wonderful governor. He put so much debt on Florida, and he increased spending so much that as soon as he got out of office, Florida crashed. I happened to be there. It's my second home. Florida crashed. He didn't do a good job as governor. +p1103 +aVAnd you haven't \u2014 excuse me, you haven't heard that. You listen to the good record in Florida. You take a look at what happened, as soon as that year ended he got out, Florida crashed. Too much debt. He loaded it up with debt, and his spending went through the roof. +p1104 +aVBy the way... +p1105 +aV... he was not a good governor. +p1106 +aVTake a look at your numbers. +p1107 +aVFlorida went down the tubes right after he got out of office. +p1108 +aVWent right down because of what he did to it. +p1109 +aVThank you. Politicians are all talk, no action. You've seen where they've take you to. We are 19 trillion dollars right now. It's going to be increased with that horrible budget from a month ago that was just approved by politicians. We need a change. We need a very big change. We're going to make our country great again. I say this every night, every day, every afternoon, and it's so true \u2014 we don't win anymore. We don't win with health care, we don't win with +p1110 +aVI actually think I have the best temperament. I built a massive corporation. I employ thousands and thousands of people. I've gotten along with people for years and years, have tremendous relationships with many people, including politicians on both sides. And no matter how you cut it, when I \u2014 when I came out, I hit immigration, I hit it very hard. Everybody said, "Oh, the temperament," because I talked about illegal immigration. Now, everybody's coming to me, they're all trying to say, well, he's right, we have to come to him. I hit other things. I talked about Muslims. We have a problem. Nobody else wanted to mention the problem, I brought it up. I took a lot of heat. We have to have a temporary something, because there's something going on that's not good. And remember this, I'm the only one up here, when the war of Iraq \u2014 in Iraq, I was the one that said, "Don't go, don't do it, you're going to destabilize the Middle East." So, I'm not one with a trigger. I'm not one with a trigger. Other people up here, believe me, would be a lot faster. But I'll build the mill arbitrary stronger, bigger, better than anybody up here, and nobody is going to mess with us. That, I can tell you. +p1111 +aVAm I allowed to respond? I have to respond. +p1112 +aVFirst of all, I respect what Ted just said, but if you noticed, he didn't answer your question. And that's what's going to happen \u2014 OK. That's what's going to happen with our enemies and the people we compete against. We're going to win with Trump. We're going to win. We don't win anymore. Our country doesn't win anymore. We're going to win with Trump. And people back down with Trump. And that's what I like and that's what the country is going to like. +p1113 +aVWell, let me say a couple of things. First of all, Marco said earlier on that President Obama knows exactly what he's doing, like we have this president that really knows. I disagree, respectfully, with Marco. I think we have a president who, as a president, is totally incompetent, and he doesn't know what he's doing. I think he has no idea what he's doing. And our country is going to hell. So, I just want to say, we disagree on that. Is that okay? +p1114 +aVGood. +p1115 +aVAs to North Korea? +p1116 +aVWe have \u2014 tremendous \u2014 has been just sucked out of our country by China. China says they don't have that good of control over North Korea. They have tremendous control. I deal with the Chinese all of the time. I do tremendous \u2014 the largest bank in the world is in one of my buildings in Manhattan. I deal with them. They tell me. They have total, absolute control, practically, of North Korea. They are sucking trillions of dollars out of our country \u2014 they're rebuilding China with the money they take out of our country. I would get on with China, let China solve that problem. They can do it quickly and surgically. That's what we should do with North Korea. +p1117 +aVGood evening. +p1118 +aVYes. HAM: In the Democratic primary, Hillary Clinton has criticized Bernie Sanders' plan for single payer government health care, noting it would require big, across the board tax increases for Americans. In doing so, she's doubling down on Obamacare, despite its persistent unpopularity. Mr. Trump, you have said you want to appeal Obamacare. You have also said, quote, "Everybody's got to be covered," adding, quote, "The government's going to pay for it." Are you closer to Bernie Sanders' vision for health care than Hillary Clinton's? +p1119 +aVI don't think I am. I think I'm closer to common sense. We are going to repeal Obamacare. We're going to repeal Obamacare. We are going to replace Obamacare with something so much better. And there are so many examples of it. And I will tell you, part of the reason we have some people laughing, because you have insurance people that take care of everybody up here. I am self-funded. The only one they're not taking care of is me. We have our lines around each state. The insurance companies are getting rich on Obamacare. The insurance companies are getting rich on health care and health services and everything having to do with health. We are going to end that. We're going to take out the artificial boundaries, the artificial lines. We're going to get a plan where people compete, free enterprise. They compete. So much better. In addition to that, you have the health care savings plans, which are excellent. What I do say is, there will be a certain number of people that will be on the street dying and as a Republican, I don't want that to happen. We're going to take care of people that are dying on the street because there will be a group of people that are not going to be able to even think in terms of private or anything else and we're going to take care of those people. And I think everybody on this stage would have to agree......you're not going to let people die, sitting in the middle of a street in any city in this country. +p1120 +aVWell, let me just tell you about eminent domain because almost all of these people actually criticize it, but so many people have hit me with commercials and other things about eminent domain. Eminent domain is an absolute necessity for a country, for our country. Without it, you wouldn't have roads, you wouldn't have hospitals, you wouldn't have anything. You wouldn't have schools, you wouldn't have bridges. You need eminent domain. And a lot of the big conservatives that tell me how conservative they are \u2014 I think I'm more than they are \u2014 they tell me, oh \u2014 well, they all want the Keystone Pipeline. The Keystone Pipeline, without eminent domain, it wouldn't go 10 feet, OK? You need eminent domain. And eminent domain is a good thing, not a bad thing. And what a lot of people don't know because they were all saying, oh, you're going to take their property. When somebody \u2014 when eminent domain is used on somebody's property, that person gets a fortune. They get at least fair market value, and if they are smart, they'll get two or three times the value of their property. But without eminent domain, you don't have roads, highways, schools, bridges or anything. So eminent domain \u2014 it's not that I love it, but eminent domain is absolutely \u2014 it's a necessity for a country. And certainly it's a necessity for our country. +p1121 +aVYes. +p1122 +aVJeb wants to be \u2014 he wants to be a tough guy tonight. I didn't take the property. +p1123 +aVI didn't take the property. +p1124 +aVThe woman ultimately didn't want to do that. I walked away. +p1125 +aVWell, let me just \u2014 you know, he wants to be a tough guy. A lot of times, you'll have \u2014 you'll have \u2014 and it didn't work very well. +p1126 +aVA lot of time \u2014 let me talk. Quiet. A lot of times \u2014 a lot of times... +p1127 +aV... you \u2014 let me talk. Let me talk. Quiet. A lot of times......that's all of his donors and special interests out there. So \u2014 it's what it is. That's what \u2014 and by the way, let me just tell you, we needed tickets. You can't get them. You know who has the tickets for the \u2014 I'm talking about, to the television audience? Donors, special interests, the people that are putting up the money. That's who it is. The RNC told us. We have all donors in the audience. And the reason they're not loving me......the reason they're not \u2014 excuse me. The reason they're not loving me is, I don't want their money. I'm going to do the right thing for the American public. I don't want their money. I don't need their money. And I'm the only one up here that can say that. Eminent domain, the Keystone pipeline \u2014 do you consider that a private job? Do you \u2014 do you consider that... +p1128 +aVNo \u2014 no, let me ask you, Jeb. Do you consider the Keystone pipeline private? +p1129 +aVIs it public or private? +p1130 +aVReal \u2014 a public use? +p1131 +aVNo, it's a private job. +p1132 +aVIt's a private job. +p1133 +aVYou wouldn't have the Keystone pipeline that you want so badly without eminent domain. +p1134 +aVYou wouldn't have massive \u2014 excuse me, Josh \u2014 you wouldn't have massive factories without eminent domain. +p1135 +aVWell, I think I am, and to me, I view the word conservative as a derivative I \u2014 of \u2014 of the word conserve. We want to converse our money. We want to conserve our wealth. We want to conserve. We want to be smart. We want to be smart where we go, where we spend, how we spend. We want to conserve our country. We want to save our country. And we have people that have no idea how to do that and they are not doing it, and it's a very important word and it's something I believe in very, very strongly. +p1136 +aVWell, before I go there, I will tell you, I will bring jobs back from China. I will bring jobs back from Japan. I will bring jobs back from Mexico, where New Hampshire, by the way, has been virtually wiped out. They've lost so many businesses going to Mexico because of horrible trade deals. And now we're about to sign another trade deal, TPP, which is going to be a disaster for this country because they don't talk about monetary manipulation. It is going to be a disaster. I'm going to bring jobs back and I'll start bringing them back very fast. Under my tax plan \u2014 right now, we're the highest taxed country in the world. Under my plan, we cut not only taxes for the middle class, but we cut taxes for corporations. We will bring back trillions of dollars that's offshore. Right now, they have $2.5 trillion, and in my opinion, it's much more than that. That's what the government says. All of that money is going to come back. And we're not going to lose Pfizer, which is now leaving, and other great companies, which is now leaving. And they're all leaving. We have many, many companies that are leaving this country. We're not going to lose them anymore because we're going to have a tax structure that is going to keep them in our country. +p1137 +aVWell, four years ago, I said, bomb the oil and take the oil. And if we did that, they wouldn't have the wealth they have right now. Now, I still say the same thing, because we're doing little pinpricks. We're not even bombing \u2014 if somebody's driving a truck, they give notice to the person driving the truck, "we're going to bomb." If they don't get out of the truck, the truck sails away with the oil. We actually have a case where we don't want to bomb the oil, because we don't want to hurt \u2014 pollute the atmosphere. Can you imagine General Douglas MacArthur or General Patton saying we can't bomb because we're gonna hurt the atmosphere? You have to knock the hell out of the oil. You have to take the oil. And you have also back channels of banking. You have people that you think are our great allies, our friends, in the Middle East, that are paying tremendous numbers of \u2014 tremendous amounts of money to +p1138 +aVYou have to go in \u2014 first of all, when you take away their money, when you take away their wealth, that'll very much weaken \u2014 and it will happen fairly fast. They'll last for about a year, based on all of the wealth they've accumulated. But when you stop the banking channels and when you stop the oil and take the oil \u2014 not just bomb it, take it \u2014 when you do that, it's going to dry up very quickly. They're going to become a very weakened power, quickly. Thank you. +p1139 +aVWell, I'll tell you what. In the Middle East, we have people chopping the heads off Christians, we have people chopping the heads off many other people. We have things that we have never seen before \u2014 as a group, we have never seen before, what's happening right now. The medieval times \u2014 I mean, we studied medieval times \u2014 not since medieval times have people seen what's going on. I would bring back waterboarding and I'd bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding. +p1140 +aV... No, a good deal maker will make great deals, but we'll do it the way our founders thought it should be done. People get together, they make deals. Ronald Reagan did it with Tip O'Neil very successfully, you didn't hear so much about executive orders, if you heard about it at all. You have to be able to get a consensus. Now, the real person like it was mentioned about the deal with Iran, how bad a deal is that? It doesn't get any more amateurish than that. A good deal maker would never make a deal like that. With Congress, you have to get everybody in a room, and you have to get them to agree. But, you have to get them to agree what you want, and that's part of being a deal maker. You can't leave the White House, go to Hawaii and play golf for three weeks and be a real deal maker. It doesn't work that way. You have to get people in, grab them, hug them, kiss them, and get the deal done. But, it's got to be the deal that you want. HAM: Governor Kasich, is the problem with Washington that there are too many deals, or too few? +p1141 +aVSome? +p1142 +aVWell... +p1143 +aVYes. OK, good. It looked like he was looking right at me, right there. I think that \u2014 I look at what's going on, I look at all of the polls, I do very, very well against Hillary Clinton. I can tell you, I'm the last person that she wants to run against. And I think you can see what we've done in terms of galvanizing. I've been all over the country. We're \u2014 last night, I was in South Carolina, we had 12,000 people. It set up in about four days. We have galvanized and we've created a movement. A lot of it has to do with \u2014 as an example, Josh's question on drugs. I'm the first person that said, "Build a wall." But I mean, a real wall, not a toy wall like they have right now. A real wall. And you'll solve lots of problems. But we will galvanize the people of this country, and we will beat Hillary Clinton. Because \u2014 assuming that she runs, by the way, how she gets away with the e-mail stuff is hard to believe. So, I don't know that she's going to be running. But on the assumption she runs... I mean, look. And speaking of that, if she runs, she's running for one reason. She's going to be able to run for one reason, and that's because the Democrats are protecting her. Because so many people have done so much less than her, and they were absolutely \u2014 their lives have been destroyed. But on the assumption they do protect her, I will win the election and we will win it by a lot. We will win it handily. We cannot have another four years of essentially Barack Obama. +p1144 +aVWell, there is a divide, but I have to say that the police are absolutely mistreated and misunderstood, and if there is an incident, whether it's an incident done purposely \u2014 which is a horror, and you should really take very strong action \u2014 or if it is a mistake, it's on your news casts all night, all week, all month, and it never ends. The police in this country have done an unbelievable job of keeping law and order, and they're afraid for their jobs, they're afraid of the mistreatment they get, and I'm telling you that not only, me speaking, minorities all over the country, they respect the police of this country and we have to give them more respect. They can't act. They can't act. They're afraid for losing their pension, their job. They don't know what to do. And I deal with them all the time. We have to give great respect, far greater than we are right now, to our really fantastic police. +p1145 +aVWell, they do. And, you know, they sue. Everybody sues, right? They see excessive \u2014 I mean, they go out, they sue. We have so much litigation \u2014 I see the courts, I see what they're doing. They sue, and you know what? We don't want excessive force. But at what point \u2014 you know, either you're going to have a police force that can do its job... I was just up in Manchester, I met with the police officers yesterday. Tremendous people. They love the area, they love the people, they love all the people. They want to do their job. And you're going to have abuse and you're going to have problems, and you've got to solve the problems and you have to weed out the problems. But the police in this country are absolutely amazing people. +p1146 +aVWell, I \u2014 I know Diane Foley very well. Her husband and \u2014 these are tremendous people. I spoke for them, I raised a lot of money for the foundation. I fully understand, James, one of \u2014 that was really the first that we saw, really visually saw \u2014 it was so horrible. And I will tell you, though, with all of that being said, you can not negotiate this way with terrorists. If you do, you are going to have many, many more James Foleys. James Foley was a great young man. His parents are incredible people. They've done such a good job, since his \u2014 since his death. But you just cannot negotiate that way with terrorists, or you're gonna have so many other James Foleys. And one thing on the vets \u2014 during the last debate, I raised $6 million for the vets, and I will tell you something......I will tell you that I think nobody here, nobody on this stage, gets along with the veterans groups in New Hampshire better than I do without ball (ph) to sarel (ph) and all of the people that I deal with and these are great people. The one thing that we're not mentioning, there's tremendous fraud, waste and abuse in the Veterans Administration and if I'm running things, that's going to disappear......and it's going to disappear quickly. +p1147 +aVCarolina. +p1148 +aVThat's because he got Ben Carson's votes, by the way, but we won't . Our country that we love so much doesn't win anymore. We don't win with the military, we don't' win on the border. You look at New Hampshire with the tremendous problem we have with heroin. Number one thing I hear from the people of New Hampshire, who I love, and developed such relationships, we don't win with healthcare. We don't win with trade. You look at what other countries are doing to us. China. Everyone, they're killing us on trade. If I'm elected president, we will win, and we will win, and we will win. Thank you, thank you very much. +p1149 +aVIt's not fear and terror, it's reality. You just have to look today at Indonesia, bombings all over. You look at California, you look, frankly, at Paris where there's a \u2014 the strictest no-gun policy of any city anywhere in the world, and you see what happens: 130 people dead with many to follow. They're very, very badly wounded. They will \u2014 some will follow. And you look around, and you see what's happening, and this is not the case when he introduced the doctor \u2014 very nice, everything perfect but that is not representative of what you have in that line of migration. That could be the great Trojan Horse. It could be people that are going to do great, great destruction. When I look at the migration, I looked at the line, I said it actually on your show recently, where are the women? It looked like very few women. Very few children. Strong, powerful men, young and people are looking at that and they're saying what's going on? You look at the kind of damage that two people that two people that got married, they were radicalized \u2014 they got married, they killed 15 people in actually 15 \u2014 going to be probably 16 but you look at that and you take a look \u2014 a good strong look and that's what we have. We are nineteen trillion dollars \u2014 our country's a mess and we can't let all these people come into our country and break our borders. We can't do it. +p1150 +aVBut I was born here. +p1151 +aV. Big difference. +p1152 +aVOK, good. Because it wouldn't work. +p1153 +aV... first of all, let me just tell you something \u2014 and you know, because you just saw the numbers yourself \u2014 NBC Wall Street Journal just came out with a poll \u2014 headline: Trump way up, Cruz going down. I mean, so don't \u2014 so you can't \u2014 you can't......they don't like the Wall Street Journal. They don't like NBC, but I like the poll. And frankly, it just came out, and in Iowa now, as you know, Ted, in the last three polls, I'm beating you. So \u2014 you know, you shouldn't misrepresent how well you're doing with the polls. You don't have to say that. In fact, I was all for you until you started doing that, because that's a misrepresentation, number one. Number two, this isn't me saying it. I don't care. I think I'm going to win fair and square to win this way. Thank you. Lawrence Tribe and from Harvard \u2014 of Harvard, said that there is a serious question as to whether or not Ted can do this. OK? There are other attorneys that feel, and very, very fine constitutional attorneys, that feel that because he was not born on the land, he cannot run for office. Here's the problem. We're running. We're running. He does great. I win. I choose him as my vice presidential candidate, and the Democrats sue because we can't take him along for the ride. I don't like that. OK? The fact is \u2014 and if for some reason he beats the rest of the field, he beats the rest of the field . See, they don't like that. They don't like that. No, they don't like he beats the rest of the field, because they want me. But \u2014 if for some reason, Neil, he beats the rest of the field, I already know the Democrats are going to be bringing a suit. You have a big lawsuit over your head while you're running. And if you become the nominee, who the hell knows if you can even serve in office? So you should go out, get a declaratory judgment, let the courts decide. And you shouldn't have mentioned the polls because I would have been much... +p1154 +aVBecause now he's going a little bit better. No, I didn't care . It's true. No, it's true. Hey look, he never had a chance. Now, he's doing better. He's got probably a four or five percent chance. +p1155 +aVThe fact is, there is a big overhang. There's a big question mark on your head. And you can't do that to the party. You really can't. You can't do that to the party. You have to have certainty. Even if it was a one percent chance, and it's far greater than one percent because . I mean, you have great constitutional lawyers that say you can't run. If there was a \u2014 and you know I'm not bringing a suit. I promise. But the Democrats are going to bring a lawsuit, and you have to have certainty. You can't have a question. I can agree with you or not, but you can't have a question over your head. +p1156 +aVYou don't have to. Take it from Lawrence Tribe. Take it from your professors... +p1157 +aVHe's wrong. He's wrong. +p1158 +aVHe is not the only one. +p1159 +aVThere are many lawyers. +p1160 +aVNo \u2014 no...... I think if it doesn't... I like that. I like it. I'd consider it. But I think I'll go back to building buildings if it doesn't work out. +p1161 +aVI have a feeling it's going to work out, actually. +p1162 +aVOkay. First of all, Nikki this afternoon said I'm a friend of hers. Actually a close friend. And wherever you are sitting Nikki, I'm a friend. We're friends. That's good. But she did say there was anger. And I could say, oh, I'm not angry. I'm very angry because our country is being run horribly and I will gladly accept the mantle of anger. Our military is a disaster. Our healthcare is a horror show. Obamacare, we're going to repeal it and replace it. We have no borders. Our vets are being treated horribly. Illegal immigration is beyond belief. Our country is being run by incompetent people. And yes, I am angry. And I won't be angry when we fix it, but until we fix it, I'm very, very angry. And I say that to Nikki. So when Nikki said that, I wasn't offended. She said the truth. One of your colleagues interviewed me. And said, well, she said you were angry and I said to myself, huh, she's right. I'm not fighting that. I didn't find it offensive at all. I'm angry because our country is a mess. +p1163 +aVNo. I am a 2nd amendment person. If we had guns in California on the other side where the bullets went in the different direction, you wouldn't have 14 or 15 people dead right now. If even in Paris, if they had guns on the other side, going in the opposite direction, you wouldn't have 130 people plus dead. So the answer is no and what Jeb said is absolutely correct. We have a huge mental health problem in this country. We're closing hospitals, we're closing wards, we're closing so many because the states want to save money. We have to get back into looking at what's causing it. The guns don't pull the trigger. It's the people that pull the trigger and we have to find out what is going on. We have to protect our 2nd amendment and you cannot do this and certainly what Barack Obama was doing with the executive order. He doesn't want to get people together, the old-fashioned way, where you get Congress. You get the Congress, you get the Senate, you get together, you do legislation. He just writes out an executive order. Not supposed to happen that way. +p1164 +aVYou get the Congress. You get the Senate. You get together. You do legislation. He just writes out an order, executive order. It's not supposed to happen that way. +p1165 +aVSo conservatives actually do come out of Manhattan, including William F. Buckley and others, just so you understand. And just so \u2014 if I could, because he insulted a lot of people. I've had more calls on that statement that Ted made \u2014 New York is a great place. It's got great people, it's got loving people, wonderful people. When the World Trade Center came down, I saw something that no place on Earth could have handled more beautifully, more humanely than New York. You had two one hundred... ...you had two 110-story buildings come crashing down. I saw them come down. Thousands of people killed, and the cleanup started the next day, and it was the most horrific cleanup, probably in the history of doing this, and in construction. I was down there, and I've never seen anything like it. And the people in New York fought and fought and fought, and we saw more death, and even the smell of death \u2014 nobody understood it. And it was with us for months, the smell, the air. And we rebuilt downtown Manhattan, and everybody in the world watched and everybody in the world loved New York and loved New Yorkers. And I have to tell you, that was a very insulting statement that Ted made. +p1166 +aVNo. No. Look, we have to stop with political correctness. We have to get down to creating a country that's not going to have the kind of problems that we've had with people flying planes into the World Trade Centers, with the \u2014 with the shootings in California, with all the problems all over the world. I just left Indonesia \u2014 bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb. We have to find out what's going on. I said temporarily. I didn't say permanently. I said temporarily. And I have many great Muslim friends. And some of them, I will say, not all, have called me and said, "Donald, thank you very much; you're exposing an unbelievable problem and we have to get to the bottom of it." And unlike President Obama, where he refuses even to use the term of what's going on, he can't use the term for whatever reason. And if you can't use the term, you're never going to solve the problem. My Muslim friends, some, said, "thank you very much; we'll get to the bottom of it." But we have a serious problem. And we can't be the stupid country any more. We're laughed at all over the world. +p1167 +aVEleven points, to be exact. +p1168 +aVI want security for this country. OK? I want security. I'm tired of seeing what's going on, between the border where the people flow over; people come in; they live; they shoot. I want security for this country. We have a serious problem with, as you know, with radical Islam. We have a tremendous problem. It's not only a problem here. It's a problem all over the world. I want to find out why those two young people \u2014 those two horrible young people in California when they shot the 14 people, killed them \u2014 people they knew, people that held the wedding reception for them. I want to find out \u2014 many people saw pipe bombs and all sorts of things all over their apartment. Why weren't they vigilant? Why didn't they call? Why didn't they call the police? And by the way, the police are the most mistreated people in this country. I will tell you that. The most mistreated people. In fact, we need to \u2014 wait a minute \u2014 we need vigilance. We have to find out \u2014 many people knew about what was going on. Why didn't they turn those two people in so that you wouldn't have had all the death? There's something going on and it's bad. And I'm saying we have to get to the bottom of it. That's all I'm saying. We need security. +p1169 +aVThat's wrong. They were wrong. It's the New York Times, they are always wrong. +p1170 +aVThey were wrong. +p1171 +aVNo, I said, " I would use \u2014 " they were asking me what to do about North Korea. China, they don't like to tell us but they have total control \u2014 just about, of North Korea. They can solve the problem of North Korea if they wanted to but they taunt us. They say, " well, we don't really have control." Without China, North Korea doesn't even eat. China is ripping us on trade. They're devaluing their currency and they're killing our companies. Thousands of thousands \u2014 you look at the number of companies and the number in terms of manufacturing of plans that we've lost \u2014 50,000 because of China. +p1172 +aVWe've lost anywhere between four and seven million jobs because of China. What I said then was, "we have very unfair trade with China. We're going to have a trade deficit of 505 billion dollars this year with China." A lot of that is because they devalue their currency. What I said to the New York Times, is that, "we have great power, economic power over China and if we wanted to use that and the amount \u2014 where the 45 percent comes in, that would be the amount they saw their devaluations that we should get." That we should get. What I'm saying is this, I'm saying that we do it but if they don't start treating us fairly and stop devaluing and let their currency rise so that our companies can compete and we don't lose all of these millions of jobs that we're losing, I would certainly start taxing goods that come in from China. Who the hell has to lose 505 billion dollars a year? +p1173 +aVIt's not that complicated actually. +p1174 +aVOK, just so you understand \u2014 I know so much about trading about with China. Carl Icahn today as you know endorsed. Many businessmen want to endorse me. +p1175 +aVCarl said, "no, no \u2014 " but he's somebody \u2014 these are the kind of people that we should use to negotiate and not the China people that we have who are political hacks who don't know what they're doing and we have problems like this. If these are the kinds of people \u2014 we should use our best and our finest. Now, on that tariff \u2014 here's what I'm saying, China \u2014 they send their goods and we don't tax it \u2014 they do whatever they want to do. They do whatever what they do, OK. When we do business with China, they tax us. You don't know it, they tax us. I have many friends that deal with China. They can't \u2014 when they order the product and when they finally get the product it is taxed. If you looking at what happened with Boeing and if you look at what happened with so many companies that deal \u2014 so we don't have an equal playing field. I'm saying, absolutely, we don't have to continue to lose 505 billion dollars as a trade deficit for the privilege of dealing with China. I'm a free trader. I believe in it but we have to be smart and we have to use smart people to negotiate. I have the largest bank in the world as a tenant of mine. I sell tens' of millions of . I love China. I love the Chinese people but they laugh themselves, they can't believe how stupid the American leadership is. +p1176 +aVI'm totally open to a tariff. If they don't treat us fairly, hey, their whole trade is tariffed. You can't deal in China without tariffs. They do it to us, we don't it. It's not fair trade. +p1177 +aVI'm happy to have him tonight... +p1178 +aVNeil, the problem... +p1179 +aV... with what Marco is saying is that it takes too long, they're sucking us dry and it takes too long. It would just \u2014 you absolutely have to get involved with China, they are taking so much of what we have in terms of jobs in terms of money. We just can't do it any longer. +p1180 +aVYou looking at me? +p1181 +aVCan I tell you what? It will never happen because they'll let their currency go up. They're never going to let it happen. Japan, the same thing. They are devaluing \u2014 it's so impossible for \u2014 you look at Caterpillar Tractor and what's happening with Caterpillar and Kamatsu. Kamatsu is a tractor company in Japan. Friends of mine are ordering Kamatsu tractors now because they've de-valued the yen to such an extent that you can't buy a Caterpillar tractor. And we're letting them get away with it and we can't let them get away with it. And that's why we have to use Carl and we have to use our great businesspeople and not political hacks to negotiate with these guys. +p1182 +aVAnd we don't need a weak person being president of the United State, OK? Because that's what we'd get if it were Jeb \u2014 I tell you what, we don't need that. +p1183 +aVWe don't need that. That's essentially what we have now, and we don't need that. And that's why we're in the trouble that we're in now. And by the way, Jeb you mentioned Boeing, take a look. They order planes, they make Boeing build their plant in China. They don't want them made here. They want those planes made in China. +p1184 +aVThat's not the way the game is supposed to be played. +p1185 +aVNo, the new planes. I'm not talking about now, I'm talking about in the future they're building massive plants in China because China does not want Boeing building their planes here, they want them built in China, because China happens to be smart the way they do it, not the way we do it. +p1186 +aVI'll check for you. +p1187 +aVMaria \u2014 Maria, what you were talking about just now is called corporate inversion. It's one of the biggest problems our country has. Right now, corporations, by the thousands, are thinking of leaving our country with the jobs \u2014 leave them behind. They're leaving because of taxes, but they are also leaving because they can't get their money back and everybody agrees, Democrats and Republicans, that is should come back in. But they can't get along. They can't even make a deal. Here is the case, they both agree, they can't make a deal. We have to do something. Corporate inversion is one of the biggest problems we have. So many companies are going to leave our country. +p1188 +aVThank you. +p1189 +aVWell, it's an interesting question because I'm very proud of my company. As you too know, I know I built a very great company. But if I become president, I couldn't care less about my company. It's peanuts. I want to use that same up here, whatever it may be to make America rich again and to make America great again. I have Ivanka, and Eric and Don sitting there. Run the company kids, have a good time. I'm going to do it for America. So I would \u2014 I would be willing to do that. +p1190 +aVI would put it in a blind trust. Well, I don't know if it's a blind trust if Ivanka, Don and Eric run it. If that's a blind trust, I don't know. But I would probably have my children run it with my executives and I wouldn't ever be involved because I wouldn't care about anything but our country, anything. +p1191 +aVThank you. +p1192 +aVI stood yesterday with 75 construction workers. They're tough, they're strong, they're great people. Half of them had tears pouring down their face. They were watching the humiliation of our young ten sailors, sitting on the floor with their knees in a begging position, their hands up. And Iranian wise guys having guns to their heads. It was a terrible sight. A terrible sight. And the only reason we got them back is because we owed them with a stupid deal, $150 billion. If I'm president, there won't be stupid deals anymore. We will make America great again. We will win on everything we do. Thank you. +p1193 +asVCHRISTIE +p1194 +(lp1195 +VWhat about Kasich? Can I introduce Kasich? +p1196 +aVSure. First, let's remember something. Every morning when a United States senator wakes up, they think about what kind of speech can I give or what kind of bill can I drop? Every morning, when I wake up, I think about what kind of problem do I need to solve for the people who actually elected me? It's a different experience, it's a much different experience. And the fact is, Marco, you shouldn't compare yourself to Joe Biden and you shouldn't say that that's what we're doing. Here is exactly what we're doing. You have not be involved in a consequential decision where you had to be held accountable. You just simply haven't. And the fact is \u2014 the fact when you talk about the Hezbollah Sanctions Act that you list as one of your accomplishments you just did, you weren't even there to vote for it. That's not leadership, that's truancy. And the fact is that what we need to do \u2014 what we need to have in this country is not to make the same mistake we made eight years ago. The fact is it does matter when you have to make decisions and be held accountable for them. It does matter when the challenges don't come on a list of a piece of paper of what to vote yes or no every day, but when the problems come in from the people that you serve. I like Marco Rubio, and he's a smart person and a good guy, but he simply does not have the experience to be president of the United States and make these decisions. We've watched it happen, everybody. For the last seven years, the people of New Hampshire are smart. Do not make the same mistake again. +p1197 +aVHold on one second. +p1198 +aVExcuse me... +p1199 +aVI think he mentioned me and my record in there, so I think I get a chance to respond. You see, everybody, I want the people at home to think about this. That's what Washington, D.C. Does. The drive-by shot at the beginning with incorrect and incomplete information and then the memorized 25-second speech that is exactly what his advisers gave him. See Marco \u2014 Marco, the thing is this. When you're president of the United States, when you're a governor of a state, the memorized 30-second speech where you talk about how great America is at the end of it doesn't solve one problem for one person. They expect you to plow the snow. They expect you to get the schools open. And when the worst natural disaster in your state's history hits you, they expect you to rebuild their state, which is what I've done. None of that stuff happens on the floor of the United States Senate. It's a fine job, I'm glad you ran for it, but it does not prepare you for president of the United States. +p1200 +aVThere it is. There it is. The memorized 25-second speech. There it is, everybody. +p1201 +aVYou know what the shame is \u2014 you know what the shame is, Marco? The shame is that you would actually criticize somebody for showing up to work, plowing the streets, getting the trains running back on time when you've never been responsible for that in your entire life. +p1202 +aVAnd the fact is, I went back, it got done and here's... +p1203 +aVOh, so \u2014 wait a second. Is that one of the skills you get as a United States senator ESP also? Because I don't think it is. +p1204 +aVIt gets very unruly when he gets off his talking points. +p1205 +aVLet's get something... +p1206 +aVNo. Let's make something very clear. I learned seven years as a federal prosecutor in dealing with types of situations like we're talking about in North Korea, where criminals take people hostage. You never pay ransom to the criminals. Ever. You never pay ransom to the criminals. Everyone out at home watching tonight understands that principle. And so, what you need to do is to engage in a much different way with these folks. They do not understand anything but toughness and strength, and we need to engage the Chinese to deal with the North Koreans, but we also need to make sure that they understand there's a commander-in-chief who will not pay ransom for any hostage. This president and his former secretary of State are for paying ransom for hostages. When do that, you endanger even more Americans around the world to be the subject of this type of hostage taking and illegal detention. You need a strong commander-in-chief who will look these folks in the eye and say, we will not put up with this and we will take whatever actions we need to take, not only to get our people home safely, but to swiftly and surely punish those who believe they can violate the law and violate American's sovereign rights to travel the world freely and safely. This is unacceptable. And this is why this president is so weak and why the secretary of State, who is embracing a third Barack Obama term, would be even weaker. +p1207 +aVYeah, David, I would just like you to listen, again, everybody. This is the difference between being a governor who actually has to be responsible for problems and not answering a question. The question was, "Did he fight for his legislation?" It's abundantly clear that he didn't. It's abundantly clear that he didn't fight for the legislation. When the teachers unions attacked me with $20 million of ads because I wanted to reform teacher tenure, I fought them and fought them and fought them and I won. When they didn't want \u2014 when people wanted to raise taxes in my state at Democratic legislature and threatened to close down the government, I told them, fine. Close down the government. I'll get in my cars, head to the governor's mansion, order a pizza, open a beer and watch the Mets. You can call me when the government reopens. And guess what they didn't do? They didn't pass a tax increase, because I vetoed it and they never closed the government because they knew I would fight for what I believed in. The fact of the matter is, a leader must fight for what they believe in. Not handicap it and say, well maybe since I can't win this one, I'll run. That's not what leadership is. That's what Congress is. +p1208 +aVGood evening. +p1209 +aVWell, he deserves credit for his record on jobs. He's done a very good job as governor of Ohio. Never said that John hasn't. He's done a very good job. But \u2014 but unfortunately, John's been so busy doing over stuff, he's using old statistics. That's OK. New Jersey had its best year of job growth in the last 15 years under five different governors this year in New Jersey. New Jersey cut spending over $2.3 billion and we have 10,000 fewer employees than we had when I walked in the door. John has a bigger government now and more employees than he had when he walked in the door. But all that doesn't matter. What really matters is this, that executive experience really matters. You heard this on the stage tonight. We've heard it said on the stage that President Obama knows exactly what he's doing. I'd like to ask all the veterans listening out there tonight, who are waiting in line for healthcare, who are literally dying because the Veterans Administration doesn't work, do you think Barack Obama knows what he's doing? I don't. And I'll tell you something. Anybody who evaluates him is knowing what he's doing and managing the government doesn't know how to manage a government themselves. And one last thing, David, which I think is really important. I listened to Senator Rubio's answer on his bill. He said his bill couldn't pass on the gang of eight. He acted as if he was somehow disembodied from the bill. It was his bill. He said this idea doesn't work. It was his idea. See, when you're a governor, you have to take responsibility for these things. You can't just act as if it happened out of nowhere. We have to take responsibility as executives. I take responsibility for my record in New Jersey. We've rebuilt the economy and rebuilt after the second-worst natural disaster in American history. I'm proud of my record. And by the way, I like Kasich's record, too. He's a good governor. +p1210 +aVDavid? Hey, David? David? Hey, David? I actually have experience with raising taxes on millionaires in my state. It was done. It was done by my predecessor. And I want everybody in the public who is in that 68 percent, I want to tell you the truth. You're wrong. And here is why you're wrong. After New Jersey raised taxes on millionaires, we lost, in the next four years, $70 billion in wealth left our state. It left our state to go where it would be treated more kindly. If the United States raised taxes any further, that money will leave the United States, as well. We won't have better jobs. Let New Jersey be the canary in the coal mine. It is a failed idea and a failed policy, it's class warfare. It happened in my state. I've stopped it from happening again. But we cannot do it. The 68 percent of the people are wrong about that, it will hurt the American economy. We tried it in New Jersey. Come take a look \u2014 it did not work. +p1211 +aVOf course I would. As a former United States attorney who spent seven years of my life fighting this on the streets of my state, I would do that. But we need to do more. And let me tell you what we've done in New Jersey, Josh. We are working with the folks in New Hampshire in their legislature right now to show them how we're helping to solve this problem in New Jersey. Not just for this campaign \u2014 three years ago, I proposed a law that we signed into effect, which said that anyone who was a non- violent, non-dealing, first-time drug offender no longer goes to prison in New Jersey. They go to mandatory, in-patient drug treatment. What has happened is, crime has gone down 20 percent in those years. The prison population has gone down 10 percent. We've now closed the state prison \u2014 closed a state prison, and we're turning it into a drug rehabilitation facility, so people can get the tools they need. Listen, everyone out there knows this in New Hampshire. This is a disease. It's not a moral failing, it's a disease. And we need to get people the treatment they need. And let me tell you why. Because I'm pro-life. And I'm pro life not just for the nine months in the womb, I'm pro-life for when they get out and it's a lot more complicated. Sixteen-year-old, heroin-addicted drug girl on the floor of the county lockup, I'm pro-life for her life. The 42-year-old lawyer who is taking Oxycontin and can't get out of bed and support his family \u2014 I'm pro-life for his life. Everyone of those lives is an individual gift from God. And the last thing is this. These efforts we've taken over the last three years, 2015 in New Jersey, for the first time in four years, drug overdose deaths have gone down, not up. I'll bring the same solutions to the country. +p1212 +aVYou bet I would. And the fact is that because I took strong action to make sure that anyone who was showing symptoms \u2014 remember what happened with that nurse. She was showing symptoms and coming back from a place that had the ebola virus active and she had been treating patients. This was not just some \u2014 like, we picked up her just for the heck of it, alright? We did it because she was showing symptoms, and the fact is that's the way we should make these decision. You make these decisions based upon the symptoms, the medicine, and the law. We quarantined her, she turned out to test negative ultimately after 48 hours, and we released her back to the State of Maine. But, I want to add something on the issue of mosques. Now, I'm the only one up here who's had a law enforcement background as a U.S. Attorney after September 11th. I went to mosques throughout my state to build bridges. To build bridges between our community in law enforcement so we can get intelligence and information from these folks. I've had the experience of working with them as Governor of New Jersey as well. We cannot mix the radical Islamic jihadist with everyday Muslim-Americans. New Jersey is the second largest Muslim- American population in America, of any state. These are good, law abiding, hard working people. What they need is our cooperation, and our understanding. They do not just need broadsides against them because of the religious faith they practice. +p1213 +aVMartha? +p1214 +aVCan I \u2014 can I be really \u2014 can I be really clear on this, because I am the father of two daughters. One of them is here tonight. What my wife and I have taught our daughters right from the beginning, that their sense of self-worth, their sense of value, their sense of what they want to do with their life comes not from the outside, but comes from within. And if a young woman in this country wants to go and fight to defend their country, she should be permitted to do so. Part of that also needs to be part of a greater effort in this country, and so there's no reason why one \u2014 young women should be discriminated against from registering for the selective service. The fact is, we need to be a party and a people that makes sure that our women in this country understand anything they can dream, anything that they want to aspire to, they can do. That's the way we raised our daughters and that's what we should aspire to as president for all of the women in our country. +p1215 +aVWell, I've been pretty helpful to the pro-life cause in one of the most pro-choice states in the union. I've stood up for the first time and now for the last six years we've de-funded Planned Parenthood, not talked about it like they do in Washington D.C. But for six years as governor, Planned Parenthood does not receive that funding from the state budget anymore; over $50 million worth of money that's been saved now, that is not going to do exactly what Hillary Clinton wants to have done and has advocated for. She believes that organization, which engages in the systematic murder of children in the womb, in order to maximize the value of their body parts for sale on the open market, is an acceptable position. Let me tell you something, I don't care if you are a millennial or whether you are in your 90s, no one is for that type of activity, unless you are the most radical type of extremist on this issue, like Senator Clinton and her party is on this issue. I'll say one other thing. The fact is, that I believe that if a woman has been raped, that is a birth and a pregnancy that she should be able to terminate. If she is the victim of incest \u2014 this is not a woman's choice. This is a woman being violated. And the fact is that we have always has believed, as has Ronald Reagan, that we have self-defense for women who have been raped and impregnated because of it, or the subject of incest and been impregnated for it. That woman should not have to deliver that child if they believe that violation is now an act of self-defense by terminating that pregnancy. HAM: Thank you, all. Back to you, David and Martha. +p1216 +aVDenver. +p1217 +aVThank you. I've spent the last 13 years of my life focused on one thing: serving the people who have given me the opportunity to serve them. Not about politics, not about partisanship, but putting the people of my state and our country first. I'm proud to have rebuild my state after Hurricane Sandy, and I'm incredibly proud to be on this stage tonight with these men asking for your vote. New Hampshire, I spent 70 days here with you. You've gotten to know my heart. My heart is to help you solve the problems of your state......and the problems of our nation. If you give me your vote on Tuesday I will do just that. +p1218 +aVThey're not wrong. But what's wrong is your premise in the question. You can do both. There is no reason why you can't stand for principles, go and fight for them and be able also, to have to get things done in government. You know, what people are frustrated about in Washington, D.C.., and I know the folks out there tonight are incredibly frustrated because what they see is a government that doesn't work for them. You know, for the 45-year-old construction worker out there, who is having a hard time making things meet. He's lost $4,000 in the last seven years in his income because of this administration. He doesn't want to hear the talk about politics Megyn and who is establishment and who is grassroots. And who's compromised and who is principled. What he wants is something to get done. And that's the difference between being a governor and having done that for the last six years in New Jersey and being someone who has never had to be responsible for any of those decisions. Barack Obama was never responsible for those decisions. Hillary Clinton has never been responsible for those kind of decisions where they were held accountable. I've been held accountable for six years as the governor of New Jersey and with a Democratic legislature, I've gotten conservative things done. That's exactly what I'll do as president of the United States. +p1219 +aVWell, let me say that I do believe that the vote on NSA made the country less safe. Well, let me tell you what the country should really be worried about. I watched that town hall meeting with the Democrats the other night, and I heard Hillary Clinton asked a direct question by an Iowan, and that's what Iowans like to do. They like to ask direct questions. And, they asked about her email situation. And, here's what she said to the American people. She did it for convenience. For her convenience. She put America's secrets at risk for her convenience. She put American intelligence officers at risk for her convenience. She put American strategy at risk for her convenience. Let me tell you who's not qualified to be President of the United States, Chris. Hillary Rodham Clinton did that to our country. She is not qualified to be President of the United States. The fact is what we need is someone on that stage who has been tested, who has been through it, who has made decisions, who has sit in the chair of consequence and can prosecute the case against Hillary Clinton on... ... that stage, and that is exactly what I am ready to do. +p1220 +aVTalk about what? I... +p1221 +aVWell, because you can do it without profiling, Megyn, when you do it on the facts. What those facts knew was that these folks had weapons. They knew that they were talking about trying to take our country and attack it. That's not profiling, that's law enforcement. And that's the difference between somebody who knows how to do this and somebody who's never done it before. +p1222 +aVThey knew they were talking about the issues of attacking people, Megyn. They knew that. +p1223 +aVListen, I think that what people should do is use their common sense. And the fact is, let law enforcement make those decisions. I've told people that from the time I was U.S. attorney 13 years ago. It's not for them to make those decisions about whether or not something is legal or illegal, or profiling or not. You see something that's suspicious, you call law enforcement and let law enforcement make those decisions. That's what should be done. That can be done. That can be done without profiling people. What that is, is just common sense. They thought something was wrong. And here's the problem in this country right now. The problem is that Barack Obama has made law enforcement the enemy, Hillary Clinton has made law enforcement the enemy. They're not supporting our law enforcement officers, it's making everybody nervous to get out of their cars, if you're a law enforcement officer. It's making... ... everybody nervous to get out of their cars if you're a law enforcement officer. It's making people in neighborhoods nervous to go to law enforcement. As president, I will support law enforcement and we'll stop radical terrorist attacks in this country by supporting our intelligence community and law enforcement community. +p1224 +aVYes. You want one? +p1225 +aVHow about one that I've done in New Jersey for the last six years. That's get rid of Planned Parenthood funding from the United States of America. +p1226 +aVBigger than that? Let me tell you something, when you see thousands upon thousands upon thousands of children being murdered in the womb, I can't think of anything better than that. +p1227 +aVMegyn? +p1228 +aVI want to ask the people of the audience. Like, I'm standing here, I \u2014 I watched the video of Senator Cruz. I watched the video of Senator Rubio. I heard what they said. And this is why you need to send someone from outside of Washington to Washington. I feel like... ... I feel like I need \u2014 I feel like I need a Washington to English dictionary converter, right? I mean, I heard what they both said, I saw it on the video. And the fact is this is what makes a difference when you're a governor. You can change your mind. Ted can change his mind. Marco can change his mind. It's perfectly legal in this country to change your mind. But when you're a governor, you have to admit it. You can't hide behind parliamentary tricks. That's the difference, and that's the kind of leader we need in the White House. Stop the Washington bull and let's get things done. +p1229 +aVSure, because there has been three different investigations and proven that I knew nothing. And the fact is that what I did do, what I did do from the beginning, Chris, as soon as I found out about it, I fired the people who were responsible. And that's what you expect from a leader. And, I'll tell you something else. I inherited a state in New Jersey that was downtrodden, and beaten by liberal democratic policies, high taxation, high regulation. And, this year, in 2015, New Jersey's had the best year of job growth that our state has ever had in the last 15 years. That's because we've put conservative policies in place. And, I'll tell you one other thing, you know why the Republican party will want to take a chance on me? Because they know that Hillary Clinton will never be prosecuted by this justice department, and they're going to want to put a former federal prosecutor on the stage to prosecute her next September. And, there is no one on this stage better prepared to prosecute the case against Hillary Clinton than I am. I will be ready. I will take her on, and when I take her on I guarantee you one thing, she will never get within 10 miles of the White House. The days for the Clintons in public housing are over. +p1230 +aVNo, what I said, Chris, was that the law needs to be followed. And that someone in that office has to do their job. So if Ms. Davis wanted to step aside and get rid of her ability to be able to do that, there should be someone else in that office who it didn't violate their conscience so they could follow the law of the state of Kentucky. I never said that Ms. Davis should either lose her job or that she had to do it. But what I did say was that the person who came in for the license needed to get it. And so if there's someone in that organization, and it turns out there was, who was willing to be able to do that, that's what we should do. But just as importantly, and I agree with what John said. You know, we all have our own individual interpretations of our faith. And here's the problem with what's going on around the world. The radical Islamic jihadists, what they want to do is impose their faith upon each and every one of us \u2014 every one of us. And the reason why this war against them is so important is that very basis of religious liberty. They want everyone in this country to follow their religious beliefs the way they do. They do not want us to exercise religious liberty. That's why as commander in chief, I will take on +p1231 +aVBret, let me tell you, this is another one of those places where Hillary Clinton has so much to answer for, and why she is completely unqualified to be commander in chief. In a previous Democratic debate, Martha Raddatz, three times, asked Hillary Clinton about the failure in Libya, a policy that she took credit for, and said, "what is your measure of responsibility, Madam Secretary, for the failure in Libya?" Three times, she refused to answer the question, because she refuses to be held accountable for anything that goes wrong. If it had gone right, believe me, she would have been running around to be able to take credit for it. Here's what I'd do. This is about the bigger, broader war against +p1232 +aVOn September 11, my wife was two blocks from the World Trade Center. When those buildings came down, she was trapped in her building and I didn't hear from her over six hours. We have three children, eight, five and one. And I had to confront the possibility of being a single parent. Terrorism in this country scares everyone. And the fact is that we need a commander-in- chief who not only understands how to protect us, but feels in here what it means to face the possibility of loss. I've faced it. I've prosecuted terrorists. I have made the decisions that need to be made as a governor to protect us and as president of the United States, no one will keep this country safer than I will. +p1233 +aVWell, Maria, I'm glad to have heard from you in the summary of that question about what's going on in the world. Because Tuesday night, I watched story time with Barack Obama. And I've got to tell you, it sounded like everything in the world was going amazing, you know? The fact is, there's a number of things that the next president is going to have to do to clean up this mess. The first thing is we have to strengthen our alliances around the world. And the best way to do that is to start talking to our allies again and having them be able to count on our word. Lots of people will say lots of different things about me in this campaign and others, but the one thing they've never said about me is that I'm misunderstood. And so when we talk to our allies and we give them our word, in a Christie administration, they know we're going to keep it. Next, we have to talk to our adversaries, and we have to make sure they understand the limits of our patience. And this president, given what Ted said right at the beginning, he's absolutely right. It's a \u2014 it's absolutely disgraceful that Secretary Kerry and others said in their response to what's going on in Iran that this was a good thing; it showed how the relationship was getting better. The president doesn't understand \u2014 and by the way, neither does Secretary Clinton \u2014 and here's my warning to everybody out in the audience tonight. If you're worried about the world being on fire, you're worried about how we're going to use our military, you're worried about strengthening our military and you're worried most of all about keeping your homes and your families safe and secure, you cannot give Hillary Clinton a third term of Barack Obama's leadership. I will not do that. If I'm the nominee, she won't get within 10 miles of the White House. +p1234 +aVMIlitary action, Maria, would be used when it was absolutely necessary to protect American lives and protect American interests around the world. We are not the world's policeman, but we need to stand up and be ready. And the problem, Maria, is that the military is not ready, either. We need to rebuild our military, and this president has let it diminish to a point where tinpot dictators like the mullahs in Iran are taking our Navy ships. It is disgraceful, and in a Christie administration, they would know much, much better than to do that. +p1235 +aVI stood on the stage and watched Marco in rather indignantly, look at Governor Bush and say, someone told you that because we're running for the same office, that criticizing me will get you to that office. It appears that the same someone who has been whispering in old Marco's ear too. So the indignation that you carry on, some of the stuff, you have to also own then. So let's set the facts straight. First of all, I didn't support Sonia Sotomayor. Secondly, I never wrote a check to Planned Parenthood. Third, if you look at my record as governor of New Jersey, I have vetoed a 50-caliber rifle ban. I have vetoed a reduction this clip size. I vetoed a statewide I.D. system for gun owners and I pardoned, six out-of-state folks who came through our state and were arrested for owning a gun legally in another state so they never have to face charges. And on Common Core, Common Core has been eliminated in New Jersey. So listen, this is the difference between being a governor and a senator. See when you're a senator, what you get to do is just talk and talk and talk. And you talk so much that nobody can ever keep up with what you're saying is accurate or not. When you're a governor, you're held accountable for everything you do. And the people of New Jersey, I've seen it. +p1236 +aVAnd the last piece is this. I like Marco too, and two years ago, he called me a conservative reformer that New Jersey needed. That was before he was running against me. Now that he is, he's changed his tune. I'm never going to change my tune. I like Marco Rubio. He's a good guy, a smart guy, and he would be a heck of a lot better president than Hillary Rodham Clinton would ever be. +p1237 +aVNo, absolutely not. The president wants to do things without working with his Congress, without working with the legislature, and without getting the consent of the American people. And the fact is that that's not a democracy. That's a dictatorship. And we need to very, very concerned about that. See, here's the thing. I don't think the founders put the Second Amendment as number two by accident. I don't think they dropped all the amendments into a hat and picked them out of a hat. I think they made the Second Amendment the second amendment because they thought it was just that important. The fact is in New Jersey, what we have done is to make it easier now to get a conceal and carry permit. We have made it easier to do that, not harder. And the way we've done it properly through regulatory action, not by signing unconstitutional executive orders. This guy is a petulant child. That's what he is. I mean, you know...... the fact is, Neil, let's think about \u2014 let's think about \u2014 and I want to maybe \u2014 I hope the president is watching tonight, because here's what I'd like to tell him. Mr. President, we're not against you. We're against your policies. When you became president, you had a Democratic Congress and a filibuster-proof Democratic Senate. You had only 21 Republican governors in this country. And now after seven years of your policies, we have the biggest majority we've had since the 1920s in the House; a Republican majority in the Senate; and 31 out of 50 Republican governors. The American people have rejected your agenda and now you're trying to go around it. That's not right. It's not constitutional. And we are going to kick your rear end out of the White House come this fall. +p1238 +aVMaria, you look at what this president and his secretary of state, Secretary of State Clinton, has done to get us in this spot. You think about it \u2014 this is the president who said, along with his secretary of state \u2014 drew a red line in Syria, said, if Assad uses chemical weapons against his people, that we're going to attack. He used chemical weapons, he's killed, now, over a quarter of a million of his own people, and this president has done nothing. In fact, he's done worse than nothing. This president \u2014 and, by the way, Secretary Clinton, who called Assad a reformer \u2014 she called Assad a reformer. Now, the fact is, what this president has done is invited Russia to play an even bigger role, bring in Vladimir Putin to negotiate getting those chemical weapons back from Assad, yet what do we have today? We have the Russians and the Iranians working together, not to fight +p1239 +aVNow Maria, listen. I said right from the beginning that we should take no Syrian refugees of any kind. And the reason I said that is because the FBI director told the American people, told Congress, that he could not guarantee he could vet them and it would be safe. That's the end of the conversation. I can tell you, after spending seven years as a former federal prosecutor, right after 9/11, dealing with this issue. Here's the way you need to deal with it. You can't just ban all Muslims. You have to ban radical Islamic jihadists. You have to ban the people who are trying to hurt us. The only way to figure that out is to go back to getting the intelligence community the funding and the tools that it needs to be able to keep America safe. And this summer, we didn't do that. We took it away from the NSA, it was a bad decision by the president. Bad by those in the Senate who voted for it and if I'm president, we'll make our intelligence community strong, and won't have to keep everybody out, we're just going to keep the bad folk out and make sure they don't harm us. +p1240 +aVWell, I'm glad you asked that, Maria. Here's \u2014 here's our plan. We've all been talking about tax reforms tonight, and paying for infrastructure is caught right up in tax reform. If you reform the corporate tax system in this country, which, as was mentioned before, is the highest rate in the world \u2014 and we double tax, as you know. And what that's led to over $2 trillion of American companies' monies that are being kept offshore, because they don't want to pay the second tax. And who can blame them? They pay tax once overseas. They don't want to pay 35 percent tax on the way back. So beside reforming that tax code, bringing it down to 25 percent and eliminating those special-interest loopholes that the lobbyists and the lawyers and the accountants have given \u2014 bring that rate down to 25 percent, but also, a one-time repatriation of that money. Bring the money \u2014 the $2 trillion \u2014 back to the United States. We'll tax it, that one time, at 8.75 percent, because 35 percent of zero is zero, but 8.75 percent of $2 trillion is a lot of money. And I would then dedicate that money to rebuilding infrastructure here in this country. It would not necessitate us raising any taxes. It would bring the money back into the United States to help build jobs by American companies and get our economy moving again, and growing as a higher rate, and it would rebuild those roads and bridges and tunnels that you were talking about. And \u2014 and \u2014 and the last piece of this, Maria, is this. You know, the fact is that this president has penalized corporations in America. He's penalized \u2014 and doesn't understand. In fact, what that hurts is hurt hardworking taxpayers. You've seen middle-class wages go backwards $3,700 during the Obama administration. That's wrong for hardworking taxpayers in this country. We'd rebuild infrastructure that would also create jobs in this country, and we'd work with the states to do it the right way, to do it more efficiently and more effectively. And remember this \u2014 I'm credible on this for this reason: Americans for Tax Reform says that I've vetoed more tax increases than any governor in American history. We don't need to raise taxes to get this done. We need to make the government run smarter and better, and reform this corporate tax system, bring that money back to the United States to build jobs and rebuild our infrastructure, and we need to use it also to protect our grid from terrorists. All of those things are important, and all those things would happen in a Christie administration. +p1241 +aVMaria, I'd like to interrupt this on the floor of the Senate to actually answer the question you asked, which was on entitlements. Do you remember that, everybody? This was a question on entitlements. And the reason \u2014 and the reason......no, you already had your chance, Marco, and you blew it. Here's the thing. The fact is, the reason why... +p1242 +aV... the fact is \u2014 the fact is the reason why that no one wants to answer entitlements up here is because it's hard. It's a hard problem. And I'm the only one up on this stage who back in April put forward a detailed entitlement reform plan that will save over $1 trillion, save Social Security, save Medicare, and avoid this \u2014 avoid what Hillary Rodham Clinton will do to you. Because what she will do is come in and she will raise Social Security taxes. Bernie Sanders has already said it. And she is just one or two more poll drops down from even moving further left than she's moved already to get to the left of Bernie on this. We have seniors out there who are scared to death because this Congress \u2014 this one that we have right now, just stole $150 billion from the Social Security retirement fund to give it to the Social Security disability fund. A Republican Congress did that. And the fact is it was wrong. And they consorted with Barack Obama to steal from Social Security. We need to reform Social Security. Mine is the only plan that saves over $1 trillion and that's why I'm answering your question. +p1243 +aVWell, first off, let's face it, the FBI director James Comey was a friend of mine who I worked with as U.S. Attorney of New Jersey. He was the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan. He said, "there's a chill wind blowing through law enforcement in this country." Here's why, the president of the United States and both his attorney's general, they give the benefit of the doubt to the criminal, not to the police officers. That's the truth of the matter and you see it every time with this president. Every time he's got a chance, going all the way back to \u2014 remember that Great Beer Summit he had after he messed up that time. This is a guy who just believes that law enforcement are the bad guys. Now, I for seven years was the U.S. Attorney of New Jersey. I worked hard with not only federal agents but with police officers and here's the problem, sanctuary cities is part of the problem in this country. That's where crime is happening in these cities where they don't enforce the immigration laws. And this president turns his back \u2014 this president doesn't enforce the marijuana laws in this country because he doesn't agree with them. And he allows states to go ahead and do whatever they want on a substance that's illegal. This president allows lawlessness throughout this country. Here's what I would do Neil, I would appoint an Attorney General and I would have one very brief conversation with that Attorney General. I'd say, "General, enforce the law against everyone justly, fairly, and aggressively. Make our streets safe again. Make our police officers proud of what they do but more important than that, let them know how proud we are of them." We do that, this country would be safe and secure again not only from criminals but from the terrorist who threaten us as well. I'm the only person on this stage who's done that and we will get it done as President of the United States. +p1244 +aVMaria, Neil, thank you for a great tonight. When I think about the folks who are out there at home tonight watching, and I think about what they had to watch this week \u2014 the spectacle they had to watch on the floor of the House of Representatives, with the president of the United States, who talked a fantasy land about the way they're feeling. They know that this country is not respected around the world anymore. They know that this country is pushing the middle class, the hardworking taxpayers, backwards, and they saw a president who doesn't understand their pain, and doesn't have any plan for getting away from it. I love this country. It's the most exceptional country the world has ever known. We need someone to fight for the people. We need a fighter for this country again. I've lived my whole life fighting \u2014 fighting for things that I believe in, fighting for justice and to protect people from crime and terrorism, fighting to stand up for folks who have not had enough and need an opportunity to get more, and to stand up and fight against the special interests. But here's the best way that we're going to make America much more exceptional: it is to make sure we put someone on that stage in September who will fight Hillary Clinton and make sure she never, ever gets in the White House again. I am the man who can bring us together to do that, and I ask for your vote. +p1245 +asVCARSON +p1246 +(lp1247 +VWell, the current Constitution actually doesn't address that particular situation, but the fact of the matter is the Supreme Court, obviously, is a very important part of our governmental system. And when our Constitution was put in place, the average age of death was under 50, and therefore the whole concept of lifetime appointments for Supreme Court judges and federal judges was not considered to be a big deal. Obviously, that has changed, and it's something that probably needs to be looked at pretty carefully at some point. But, we need to start thinking about the divisiveness that is going on in our country. I looked at some of the remarks that people made after finding out that Justice Scalia had died, and they were truly nasty remarks. And that we have managed to get to that position in our country is truly a shame. And we should be thinking about how we could create some healing in this land. But, right now, we're not going to get healing with President Obama. That's very United Nations clear. So, I...... fully agree that we should not allow a judge to be appointed during his time. +p1248 +aVNo, it isn't. First of all, let me go back to your first question for me. It wasn't phrased as who gets to nominate Supreme Court appointees. Of course that's the president. So I know that there are some left-wing media who would try to make hay on that. Secondly, thank you for including me in the debate. Two questions already. This is great. Now, as far......as far as those 2 a.m. phone calls are concerned, judgment is what is required. And the kinds of things that you come up with are sometimes very, very difficult and very unique. One of the things that I was known for is doing things that have not been done before. So no amount of experience really prepares you to do something that has never been done before. That's where judgment comes in. And that, I think, is a situation that we're in right now, a situation that we have never been in before with the kinds of threats that pose real danger to our nation, and it comes in very handy in those situations. +p1249 +aVWell, first of all, let me just address the Iraq question. You know, I was not particularly in favor of us going to war in Iraq, primarily because I have studied, you know, the Middle East, recognizing that those are nations that are ruled by dictators and have been for thousands of years. And when you go in and you remove one of those dictators, unless you have an appropriate plan for replacing them, you're going to have chaos. Now, fortunately, we were able to stabilize the situation, and it was the current administration that turned tail and ran and destabilized the situation. Now, having said that, in terms of the rules of engagement, I was talking about, you know, Obama has said, you know, we shouldn't bomb tankers, you know, coming out of refineries because there may be people in there, or because the environment may be hurt. You know, that's just asinine thinking. And the fact of the matter is... You know, we \u2014 obviously, you're not going to accomplish all of your goals without some collateral damage. You have to be able to assess what is acceptable and what is not. +p1250 +aVWell, first of all, let me just mention on the tax issue. Bencarson.com, go read about it, because my tax plan has been praised by Cato, by Wall Street Journal. Forbes said it is the best, the most pro-growth tax plan, and it's based on real fairness for everybody. Starts at the 150 percent poverty level, but even the people below that have to pay something, because everybody has to have skin in the game, and the millions of people can't, you know, talk about what other people have to pay and have no skin in the game. And it deals with corporate tax rate, and makes it the same as everybody else......everybody pays exactly the same. +p1251 +aV... And, as far as Medicare and Medicaid, my main goal is to get rid of Obamacare and put the care back in the hands of ... +p1252 +aVWell, first of all, please go to my website, bencarson.com, and read my immigration policy, O.K.? Because it actually makes sense. Now, the \u2014 as far as these fines are concerned, you know? Here's the big problem. We've got all these government regulators, and all they're doing is running around looking for people to fine. And we've got 645 different federal agencies and sub-agencies. Way, way too many, and they don't have anything else to do. I think what we really need to do is start trimming the regulatory agencies rather than going after the people who are trying to increase the viability, economic viability of our society. Now, that doesn't mean there aren't some people out there who are doing bad things. But I'm not sure that the way to solve that problem is by increasing all the regulatory burden. You know, when you consider how much regulations cost us each year, you know? $2 trillion dollars per family, $24,000 per family, that happens to be the same level as the poverty level...... for a family of four. If you want to get rid of poverty, get rid of all the regulations. +p1253 +aVBefore you ask the question, can I respond to the \u2014 you know, they mentioned my name a couple of times. +p1254 +aVAll right. Well, first of all, you know, so many people have said to me, "You need to scream and jump and down \u2014 jump up and down like everybody else." Is that really what you want? What we just saw? I don't think so. And you know, I \u2014 when I got into this race, I decided to look under the hood of the engine of what runs Washington, D.C., and my first inclination was to run away, but I didn't do it because I'm thinking about our children and the fact that we are the United States of America. And anybody up here is going to be much better than what's going to come on the other side. And what happened tonight with \u2014 with Justice Scalia tells you that we cannot afford to lose this election, and we cannot be tearing each other down. +p1255 +aVWell, first of all, I'm not a politician, so I'm never going to become a politician. But here's what \u2014 here's what people need to know. People need to know that free college is not \u2014 it's a non-starter. You know, you have to look at our economic situation. We're on the verge of economic collapse and, you know, we're \u2014 it's not just the $19 trillion, but it's also the $200 trillion in unfunded liabilities. What we need to think about is, what does that do to the average person? When we have a debt of that nature, it causes the Fed to change their policy, it causes the central bank to keep the \u2014 the rates low, and who does does that affect? Mr. Average, who used to go to the bank every Friday and put part of his check in the bank and watch it grow over three decades and be able to retire with a nice nest egg, that's gone. That part of the American dream is gone. All of these things are disappearing, and Bernie Sanders and people like Hillary Clinton blame it on the rich. They say those evil rich people, if we take their money we can solve the problem. It's not the evil rich people. It's the irresponsible, evil government. +p1256 +aVThis is the first generation not expected to do better than their parents. Some people say it's the new normal, but there's nothing normal about it in an exceptional American. I, like you, am a member of we, the people, and we know that our country is heading off the cliff. Joseph Stalin said if you want to bring America down you, have to undermine three things: our spiritual life, our patriotism and our morality. We, the people, can stop that decline, starting right here in South Carolina. If all the people who say, "I love Ben Carson and his policies, but he can't win," vote for me, not only can we win, but we can turn this thing around. You know, we have this manipulation by the political class and by the media telling us who we're supposed to pick and how we're supposed to live. We, the people, are the only people who will determine that. And if you elect me as your next president, I promise you that you will get somebody who is accountable to everybody and beholden to no one. Thank you. +p1257 +aVWell, you know, when I wasn't introduced No. 2, as was the plan, I thought maybe he thought I already had dropped out. But... But you know, today is the 105th anniversary, or \u2014 105th birthday of Ronald Reagan. His 11 Commandment was not to speak ill of another Republican. So, I'm not going to use this opportunity to savage the reputation of Senator Cruz. But I will say \u2014 I will say \u2014 I will say that I was very disappointed that members of his team thought so little of me that they thought that after having hundreds, if not thousands of volunteers and college students who sacrificed their time and were dedicated to the cause \u2014 one even died \u2014 to think that I would just walk away ten minutes before the caucus and say, "Forget about you guys." I mean, who would do something like that? Now, I don't think anyone on this stage would do something like that. And to assume that someone would, what does that tell you? So, unfortunately, it did happen. It gives us a very good example of certain types of Washington ethics. Washington ethics. Washington ethics basically says, if it's legal, you do what you need to do in order to win. That's not my ethics. My ethics is, you do what's right. +p1258 +aVSince I was mentioned... +p1259 +aVThis is great you guys. I want you all to mention me when you say something. In fact, the time line indicates that initial tweet from CNN was followed by another one within one minute that clarified that I was not dropping out. So, what happened to that one, it is unclear. But the bottom line is, we can see what happened, everybody can see what happened and you can make your own judgment. +p1260 +aVGood evening. +p1261 +aVWell, thank you. You know, I was hoping to get a chance to talk about North Korea. I was the only one who didn't get to do that, and I've got stuff to say about it, let me tell you. But at any rate, you have to replace it with something that makes sense. It doesn't make sense. And the reason that I dislike Obamacare is because the government comes in and tells the people \u2014 which the nation is supposed to be centered on \u2014 that we don't care what you think, this is what we're doing. And if you don't like it, too bad. That's a problem. And we can't afford to do that because that will fundamentally change America. I have proposed a health empowerment account system. Everybody gets a health empowerment account the day they are born, they keep it until they die. They can pass it on. We pay for it with the same dollars that we pay for traditional health care with, recognizing that we spend twice as much as many countries per capita and health care and don't have as such access. We give people the ability to shift money within their health empowerment account so that each family basically becomes its own insurance company without a middleman; that saves you a awful lot of money. And that will lower the cost of your catastrophic insurance tremendously, because the only thing coming out of that is catastrophic health care. And then in terms of taking care of the indigent, we have another whole system, and I can go ahead and explain it, but I don't have the time, but I'd be happy to if you give me some more time. But go to my website bencarson.com, read about it. You can read about everything that's been discussed here in great detail. HAM: Thank you, Dr. Carson. David, Martha, back to you. +p1262 +aVI want to say something about this, because I'm not here just to add beauty to the stage. You know, I've been talking about Libya for quite a long time. I think I was the first one to start talking about it because I say we have to have a proactive foreign policy strategy. And of course, the next place that +p1263 +aVI would support the possibility of renewed airstrikes if in conjunction with our Joint Chiefs and our military people they felt that was an appropriate strategy. The fact of the matter is none of us up here is a military expert, and we sometimes act like we are, but we're not. And if we actually sit down and talk with them and get them to understand our plan and their impression of what needs to be done, I think we're going to make a lot more progress. +p1264 +aVIt's the same question? +p1265 +aVYes. Well, first of all, I think it would be a pretty easy contrast, quite frankly, between myself and Hillary Clinton. In one case, you have someone who is known as a deceitful individual. An individual who at Benghazi, which I will never let go, quite frankly, because I think of those two men who went up there on the top of that compound with machine guns, firing away, allowing their colleagues to escape. And I'm sure, in the back of their mind, they were just saying, if we can just hold on, help is on the way. But help was not on the way. When did we in the United States not send people to help our own people? You know, this is not who we are. And \u2014 I would simply make it a referendum on honesty and integrity versus deceit and the Washington way. +p1266 +aVWell, you know, it's not a simple issue, and now, you know, we've gotten evidence that there can been active viruses in other bodily fluids like saliva and urine. So, this is going to be, obviously, a big deal. Do we quarantine people? If we have evidence that they are infected, and that there is evidence that that infection can spread by something that they're doing, yes. But, just willy-nilly going out and quarantining a bunch of people because they've been to Brazil, I don't believe that that's going to work. What we really need to be thinking about is how do we get this disease under control? And this is where we need rapid response. We need a rapid response for ebola, we need rapid response for Zika, there will be other things that will come up. These are the kinds of things that the NIH, the CDC, can be very effective in. We need to give the the appropriate support for those kind of things. +p1267 +aVCan I say something... +p1268 +aVSomething about the draft. Very quickly. +p1269 +aVYou know, 14 percent decrease in the number of people applying for voluntary military service, and I think part of it is because of the way that we treat our veterans. You know, we wouldn't be a free country if it wasn't for them, and we have 22 veterans per day committing suicide. So, I think what we should do is have an external support system for people once they volunteer and it should follow them throughout their career, should follow them for three years, five years afterwards, a year before they get out, should be working on integrating them back into society, so that they quit on Friday and they start their new job. They should have health empowerment accounts that are subsidized so they can go to any medical facility and be taken care of. They can go to a V.A. if they want to. But if we start taking care of our veterans the right way, we won't have to ever worry about a draft again. +p1270 +aVWith 100 percent certainly, I will predict the winner \u2014 it will either be Denver or Carolina. +p1271 +aVFor many months, the political class, pundits, the media, have tried to ignore or bury me. They say that politics is too complex, and too sleazy. You can't survive. Well, guess what? I'm still here, and I'm not going any place either. And, I believe there is still a place in our country for faith, integrity, and common sense. Hundreds of thousands of you drafted me to run for president...... And, I am going to with the help of God, and you, once again place the American people at the pinnacle with the government there to serve it. +p1272 +aVWell, I will gladly confess that I'm the only one on this stage with no political title. You're not going to hear a lot of polished political speech from me, but you will hear the truth. And I don't think you have to be a politician to tell the truth. In fact, sometimes it's not that way... ... and I've had more two a.m. phone calls than everybody here put together, making life and death decisions, put together very complex teams to accomplish things that have never been done before. And we are in a situation right now in our country that we have never been in before. We need people who think out of the box and can solve problems; can utilize the resources around them; very smart people, to focus on the problem and solve the problem. The American people are terrified. That's why we have this abnormal situation going on right now. We don't need more of the same solutions. We need different solutions to solve the problems and to save our nation. +p1273 +aVWell, I don't know about the GOP messaging, but I can tell you about my messaging. You know, need to stop allowing political correctness to dictate our policies, because it's going to kill us if we don't. And in the Holy Land Foundation trial in 2006 in Texas, they had a memorandum, an explanatory memorandum that talked about the fact that Americans would be easy to overcome and to commit civilization jihad because they were going to be trying to protect the rights of the very people who were trying to subvert them. But I believe in the Teddy Roosevelt philosophy. Teddy Roosevelt said, we are a nation of immigrants. As such, everybody is welcome from any race, any country, any religion, if they want to be Americans. If they want to accept our values and our laws. If not, they can stay where they are. +p1274 +aVOh, great. As I said before, we are a land of immigrants, but we have to be intelligent about the way that we form our immigration policies, and that's one of the reasons that I have called on us to declare war on the Islamic State because we need to reorient our immigration policies and our visa policies for people who are coming into this country because there are many people out there who want to destroy us. Now, I recognize that the vast majority of people coming in here probably are not those kinds of people, but that's not good enough. If you've got 10 people coming to your house and you know one of them is a terrorist, you're probably going to keep them all out. You know, we probably have to figure out a way to make sure that we keep America safe. +p1275 +aVLook, first of all, I recognize that Vladimir Putin is an opportunist and he's a bully, and we have to face him down. And I would \u2014 first of all, face him down in that whole region, the whole Baltic region. I think we need to put in some armored brigades there. We only have one or two. We need much more than that. We need to be doing military exercises if not only Estonia but Latvia and Lithuania. They're terrified by the saber rattling. I think we ought to put in our missile defense system. I think we ought to give Ukraine offensive weapons and I think we ought to fight them on the economic basis because Putin is a one- horse country: oil and energy. And we ought to fight them on that level. We ought to be helping in terms of the technology for fracking, keeping the price low, quite frankly, because that's what's keeping him contained. So, yes, I'd absolutely would go in if he attacked. I think on Article IV of +p1276 +aVWell, as anyone knows who's been listening to me, you know? I'm very much against the government being involved in every aspect of our lives, you know? We last year there was an additional 81,000 pages of government regulations. If you stack that up it would be a three-story building. This is absolutely absurd. And, they've insinuated themselves into everything. Now, as far as the renewable fuel standard is concerned, certain promises were made, certain government contracts were issued which extend all the way into the year 2022, and I believe that it's probably unfair to withdraw the rug because people have invested money. People have invested a lot of energy into that. But, you know, we are blessed with tremendous energy in this nation, and we need to be talking for new sources of energy. Seventy percent of our population lives by costly. What about hydroelectric power? We can develop that, you know? We have so much natural gas now, and we can liquify it, and we can transfer it across the sea so we can make Europe dependent on us instead of Putin \u2014 put him back in his little box where he belongs. Those are the kinds of things that we ought to be doing. And, you know, take advantage of the tremendous opportunities in energy that God has given us, not get involved in these little petty arguments. And we can get a lot of them out if we get the government out of our lives. +p1277 +aVI want to thank the people of Iowa for being so welcoming to me. Please think of our founding fathers as you listen. We the people of the United States in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the benefits of liberty to ourselves and our prosperity, do ordain and establish this constitution of the United States of America. Folks, it's not too late. Enough said. +p1278 +aVWell, I'm very happy to get a question this early on. I was going to ask you to wake me up when that time came. You know, I find it really quite fascinating some of the president's proclamations. The fact of the matter is he doesn't realize that we now live in the 21st century, and that war is very different than it used to be before. Not armies massively marching on each other and air forces, but now we have dirty bombs and we have cyber attacks and we have people who will be attacking our electrical grid. And, you know, we have a whole variety of things that they can do and they can do these things simultaneously. And we have enemies who are obtaining nuclear weapons that they can explode in our exoatmosphere and destroy our electric grid. I mean, just think about a scenario like that. They explode the bomb, we have an electromagnetic pulse. They hit us with a cyberattack simultaneously and dirty bombs. Can you imagine the chaos that would ensue at that point? He needs to recognize that those kinds of things are in fact an existential threat to us. But here's the real key. We have the world's best military, even though he's done everything he can to diminish it. And the fact of the matter is if we give them a mission and we don't tie their hands behind their back, they can get it accomplished. +p1279 +aVNeil, I was mentioned too. +p1280 +aVYeah, he said everybody. And \u2014 and I just want to take this opportunity to say, you know, in the 2012 election, you know, we \u2014 and when I say we, Republicans \u2014 tore themselves apart. You know, we have to stop this because, you know, if we manage to damage ourselves, and we lose the next election, and a progressive gets in there and they get two or three Supreme Court picks, this nation is over as we know it. And we got to look at the big picture here. +p1281 +aVWell, there's not question that we should be able to look at past president whether they're married to somebody who's running for president or not in terms of their past behavior and what it means. But you know, here's the real issue, is this America anymore? Do we still have standards? Do we still have values and principles? You know, you look at what's going on, you see all the divisiveness and the hatred that goes on in our society. You know, we have a war on virtual everything \u2014 race wars, gender wars, income wars, religious wars, age wars. Every war you can imaging, we have people at each other's throat and our strength is actually in our unity. You know, you go to the internet, you start reading an article and you go to the comments section \u2014 you cannot go five comments down before people are calling each all manner of names. Where did that spirit come from in America? It did not come from our Judeo-Christian roots, I can tell you that. And wherever it came from we need to start once again recognizing that there is such a thing as right and wrong. And let's not let the secular progressives drive that out of us. The majority of people in American actually have values and principles and they believe in the very things that made America great. They've been beaten into submission. It's time for us to stand up for what we believe in. +p1282 +aVWait a minute, who in their 16th month? +p1283 +aVOK. +p1284 +aVWell, there's no question that +p1285 +aVWell, first of all, recognize it is a substantial problem. But like all of our problems, there isn't a single one that can't be solved with common sense if you remove the ego and the politics. And clearly, what we need to do is get a group of experts together, including people from other countries, some of our friends from Israel, who have had experience screening these people and come up with new guidelines for immigration, and for visas, for people who are coming into this country. That is the thing that obviously makes sense, we can do that. And as far as the Syrians are concerned, Al-Hasakah province, perfect place. They have infrastructure. All we need to do is protect them, they will be in their own country. And that is what they told me when I was in Jordan in November. Let's listen to them and let's not listen to our politicians. +p1286 +aVWell, I would suggest a fair tax system, and that's what we have proposed. A flat tax for everybody \u2014 no exemptions, no deductions, no shelters, because some people have a better capability of taking advantage of those than others. You know, and then the other thing we have to do is stop spending so much money. You know, I \u2014 my \u2014 my mother taught me this. You know, she only had a third-grade education, but \u2014 you know, she knew how to stretch a dollar. I mean, she would drive a car until it wouldn't make a sound, and then gather up all her coins and buy a new car. In fact, if my mother were secretary of treasury, we would not be in a deficit situation. But...... you know, the \u2014 the \u2014 the fact of the matter is \u2014 you know, if we fix the taxation system, make it absolutely fair, and get rid of the incredible regulations \u2014 because every regulation is a tax, it's a \u2014 on goods and services. And it's the most regressive tax there is. You know, when you go into the store and buy a box of laundry detergent, and the price has up \u2014 you know, 50 cents because of regulations, a poor person notices that. A rich person does not. Middle class may notice it when they get to the cash register. And everything is costing more money, and we are killing our \u2014 our \u2014 our people like this. And Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton will say it's those evil rich people. It's not the evil rich people. It's the evil government that is \u2014 that is putting all these regulations on us so that we can't survive. +p1287 +aVCan I just add one very quick thing? And I just want to say, you know, last week we released our tax plan. And multiple reputable journals, including The Wall Street Journal, said ours is the best. Just want to get that out there, just saying. +p1288 +aVYou know, in recent travels around this country, I've encountered so many Americans who are discouraged and angry as they watch our freedom, our security and the American dream slipping away under an unresponsive government that is populated by bureaucrats and special interest groups. We're not going to solve this problem with traditional politics. The only way we're going to solve this problem is with we, the people. And I ask you to join me in truth and honesty and integrity. Bencarson.com \u2014 we will heal, inspire and revive America for our children. +p1289 +asVAUDIENCE +p1290 +(lp1291 +VBoo. +p1292 +aVBoo. +p1293 +asVSTRASSEL +p1294 +(lp1295 +VMr. Trump. +p1296 +aVYou have made a lot of promises and you have also \u2014 you're the only candidate who has said he would not touch entitlements. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has estimated that your ideas would cost an additional $12 trillion to $15 trillion over the next 10 years and that we would have to have annual economic growth of anywhere from 7.7 percent to 9 percent annually to pay for them. Are you proposing more than you can actually deliver, at least not without big deficits? +p1297 +aVBut in terms of... +p1298 +aVO.K. But how would you actually do that? Can I ask you? Because right now, Social Security and Medicare... +p1299 +aVThey take up two-thirds of the federal budget, and they're growing. +p1300 +aVO.K., I have a question, a related tax question. Senator Rubio, you have the highest tax rate of anyone up on the stage in terms of the top tax rates, 35 percent. Some economists say, "It would limit its potential to boost economic growth." You do that so that you will have more revenue to pay for a tripling of the Child Tax Credit. Normally, it's liberals who like to use the tax code to insert social policy. Why should conservatives who want to tax adopt the other side's approach? +p1301 +aVGovernor Kasich, this on is on size of government. In 2013, you pushed through a Medicaid reform in your state over the rejections of many of the Republicans in your state. Total enrollment and overall cost of program have gone well beyond what anyone had expected, including yourself. How can you argue that this overall growth fits in with conservative ambition to significantly cut back on the size of federal welfare programs? +p1302 +aVSenator Cruz. Senator Cruz, you have promised to deport illegal aliens. You have also promised to reverse President Obama's executive action that gives temporary amnesty to illegals brought here by their parent as children. As president, you would have the names and addresses of the some 800,000 of those that have registered under that action. Now, you have said that in this country, we shouldn't go door to door, look for illegals, but in this case you would have a list. Would you use it? +p1303 +aVSo would you \u2014 would you use the addresses? +p1304 +aVWould you pick them up? +p1305 +aVSenator Rubio, your reply. +p1306 +aVAll right. Senator Cruz. Your response, Senator Cruz. +p1307 +aV... O.K.... +p1308 +aVMoving subjects. Dr. Carson, this week Morgan Stanley agreed to pay a $3.2 billion fine to state and federal authorities for contributing to the mortgage crisis. You have a lot of Democrats out saying that we should be jailing more executives, so two questions. Should financial executives be held legally responsible for financial crisis, and do you think fines like these are an effective way to deter companies from future behavior like that? +p1309 +aVSenator Cruz, you were mentioned in the mix here, your response? +p1310 +aVAnd now, Marco Rubio. +p1311 +aVWe'll be back with a few final thoughts in a moment. +p1312 +asVDICKERSON +p1313 +(lp1314 +VGood evening. I'm John Dickerson. This holiday weekend, as America honors our first president, we're about to hear from six men who hope to be the 45th. The candidates for the Republican nomination are here in South Carolina for their ninth debate, one week before this state holds the first-in-the-South primary. George Washington wrote that the truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains taken to bring it to light. We hope to shed some light on the candidates' positions tonight to help voters make up their minds. So gentlemen, please join us on stage. With us tonight \u2014 with us tonight are retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson of Florida, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Businessman Donald Trump of New York. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Former Governor Jeb Bush of Florida. And Governor John Kasich of Ohio. Now, as most of you have heard by now, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died today at the age of 79. He was the longest-serving member of the court, appointed by President Reagan in 1986. Justice Scalia was the court's leading conservative, and even those who disagreed with his opinions regarded him as a brilliant legal scholar. Please join us and the candidates on our stage in a moment of silence for Justice Antonin Scalia. Thank you. We will talk to the candidates about Justice Scalia and the road ahead when the debate begins in a moment. +p1315 +aVBefore we get started, candidates, here are the rules. When we ask you a question, you will have one minute to answer, and 30 seconds more if we ask a follow-up. If you're attacked by another candidate, you get 30 seconds to respond. And here's how we keep time. After we ask a question, you'll get a green light. The yellow light means you have 30 seconds left to finish your answer, and when time is up, the light turns red. That means please stop talking. If you keep talking, you'll hear this. You don't want to hear that. Joining me in the questioning tonight, my CBS News colleague, chief White House correspondent Major Garrett, and Kimberley Strassel, who is on the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal. And you can participate in the debate through our partnership with Twitter. Tweet us your questions and comments using the hashtag "# +p1316 +aVSo, just to be clear on this, Mr. Trump, you're O.K. with the president nominating somebody ... +p1317 +aVGovernor Kasich, I want to get your thoughts on this. Justice Scalia was a real believer, obviously, in the strict word of the Constitution. Now, Harry Reid says that a failure to fill his vacancy would be, quote, "shameful abdication of one of the Senate's most essential constitutional responsibilities." Where do you come down on this? +p1318 +aVDr. Carson. Dr. Carson, you, like others, put out a statement after the death was announced, and you said the president should delay. You've written a book on the Constitution recently. What does the Constitution say about whose duty it is here to act in this kind of a situation? +p1319 +aVSenator Rubio, you're a... Senator Rubio, you're a lawyer. Quickly, can you address the issue of whether the Constitution tells us who has the power to appoint Supreme Court justices? And then, also, the Senate Republicans last year floated an idea of removing the filibuster for Senate \u2014 excuse me, for Supreme Court nominations. You seemed open to that. What's your feeling on that now? +p1320 +aVQuickly, though, on this question... Very quickly, Senator, on this specific question, though. You were once in favor of dropping the threshold... +p1321 +aV... majority \u2014 you were never in favor of that? +p1322 +aVO.K. Thank you, Senator. Governor Bush, I would like to ask you, conservatives for a long time have felt like that their Republican presidents have picked justices that didn't turn out to be real conservatives. +p1323 +aVBernie Sanders has said he would have a litmus test. He would make sure that he appointed a justice who was going to overturn Citizens United. If they can have a litmus test for a nominee, what about you? Would you have a litmus test for a nominee? And what would it be? +p1324 +aVRight, so, Senator Cruz, the Constitution... So, Senator Cruz, the Constitution says the president "shall appoint with advice and consent from the Senate," just to clear that up. So he has the constitutional power. But you don't think he should. Where do you set that date if you're president? Does it begin in election year, in December, November, September? And once you set the date, when you're president, will you abide by that date? +p1325 +aVJust can I \u2014 I'm sorry to interrupt, were any appointed in an election year, or is that just there were 80 years... +p1326 +aVBut Kennedy was confirmed in '88. +p1327 +aVHe was appointed in '87. +p1328 +aV... confirmed in '88. That's the question, is it appointing or confirming, what's the difference? +p1329 +aVSorry, I just want to get the facts straight for the audience. But I apologize. +p1330 +aVAll right. Thank you, Senator Cruz. All right, we're going to move on to national security here, and we are going to \u2014 I want to read a quote from Secretary Robert Gates, former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who served for eight year \u2014 under eight presidents. And this is what he said about Republican candidates, quote, "Part of the concern that I have with the campaign is that the solutions being offered are so simplistic and so at odds with the way the world really works." So, in that spirit, we're going to work tonight to be more specific. Mr. Trump, I want to start with you. You have said as president, you'll get up to speed very quickly. You'll know more quickly as president than any of the experts. So, you've been elected president. It's your first day in the Situation Room. What three questions do you ask your national security experts about the world? +p1331 +aVSenator Rubio \u2014 just 30 seconds on this question, Senator Rubio. Are those the questions you would ask? +p1332 +aVLet me ask you a follow-up, a full, proper question, then. Violent extremists are operating or active in 40 countries. Some 80 countries are in different degrees of instability. And so, that's just the crises overseas. Barack Obama walked into an economic collapse when he came into office. We face international health crises, from Ebola to Zika. So, there is a lot of opportunity for crisis, as you have talked about. What would you point to in your past to show voters that you've been in a crisis and that you've been tested when that inevitable crisis comes when you're president? +p1333 +aVDr. Carson, I want to ask you a question... Dr. Carson, you said you've had more 2 a.m. \u2014 2 a.m. phone calls than anybody up on this stage. But when those 2 a.m. phone calls came, you operated on a foundation of all of that amazing medical work that you did, all of that learning. So if you were to be president, though, you wouldn't have the political foundation that hones those instincts when the 2 a.m. phone call comes. So isn't that a liability? +p1334 +aVGovernor Kasich, Russia is being credited......Russia is being credited with bombing U.S.-backed rebels on behalf of Assad in Aleppo and Syria. They've also moved into the Crimea, eastern Ukraine. You've said you want to punch them in the nose. What does that mean? What are you going to do? +p1335 +aVGovernor......Governor Bush. +p1336 +aVYou said defeating +p1337 +aVMr. Trump, you're......Mr. Trump, you were mentioned here. You did say that you could get along very well with Vladimir Putin. You did at one point say let Russia take care of +p1338 +aV... All right... +p1339 +aV... All right, Governor Bush, please respond. +p1340 +aV... O.K., settle... +p1341 +aV... All right, Mr. Trump, all right... +p1342 +aVGentleman, I think we're going to leave that there. I've got a question for Senator... +p1343 +aV... All right, all right, gentlemen, gentlemen, let's leave it there so I can ask a question of Senator Cruz, who's also running for president. Senator Cruz, you talked about the first Gulf War as being a kind of model for your focused and determined effort to go after +p1344 +aVVery quickly, 30-second follow-up. You've said that, essentially, the Kurds would be the American ground forces in there. The criticism that experts have on that is that the Kurds only can work within their territory. If they take larger amounts of territory, you have an ethnic war with the Arabs. So the Kurds can't really do as much as you seem to be putting on their backs. +p1345 +aVAll right. Mr. Trump......On Monday, George W. Bush will campaign in South Carolina for his brother. As you've said tonight, and you've often said, the Iraq war and your opposition to it was a sign of your good judgment. In 2008, in an interview with Wolf Blitzer, talking about President George W. Bush's conduct of the war, you said you were surprised that Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi didn't try to impeach him. You said, quote: "Which, personally, I think would have been a wonderful thing." When you were asked what you meant by that and you said: "For the war, for the war, he lied, he got us into the war with lies." Do you still believe President Bush should have been impeached? +p1346 +aVSo... +p1347 +aVBut so I'm going to \u2014 so you still think he should be impeached? +p1348 +aVAll right. O.K. All right. Governor Bush \u2014 when a member on the stage's brother gets attacked... +p1349 +aV... the brother gets to respond. +p1350 +aVGovernor Kasich, would you weigh in on......Governor Kasich, please weigh in. +p1351 +aVWhy is it nuts? Talk about it. Give us your sense of... +p1352 +aVThirty seconds, Senator Rubio. +p1353 +aVAll right, Dr. Carson, we have a cleansing... +p1354 +aVWe have a cleansing... +p1355 +aVAll right. Well, Dr. Carson, I have got a question now for you. A moment of pause here. You have said, Dr. Carson, that \u2014 referring to yourself, that people bought into the idea that, quote, "A nice person can't be tough on terrorists." You have called for loosening the rules of engagement for the military, which could lead to more civilian casualties. So, explain why those casualties would be acceptable in the fight against +p1356 +aVAll right, thank you, Dr. Carson. We're going to have to take a commercial break here. Thank you to all the candidates. We'll be right back with CBS News's 2016 debate in Greenville, South Carolina. +p1357 +aVWe're back with the Republicans who could be president. The topic now is money and how the candidates would spend it. We'll turn the questioning over to Kimberley Strassel of The Wall Street Journal and Major Garrett of CBS News. Kim? +p1358 +aVDr. Carson, before we go to break, could you give us your sense of this conversation about either Medicaid or economic growth through taxation? +p1359 +aVDoctor... +p1360 +aV... Dr. Carson, I'm sorry, we have to go to a commercial. The free market wants what it wants. Back soon with the 2016 Republican debate in Greenville, South Carolina. +p1361 +aVWelcome back. We'll begin the second half of the debate with one of the hottest issues in the Republican campaign, immigration. But before I turn it back to Major Garrett and Kim Strassel, I have one question for Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump, in the Republican National Committee's Spanish-language response to the State of the Union, Congressman Diaz-Balart said, quote, "It's essential that we find a legislative solution," talking about immigration, "to offer a permanent and humane solution to those who live in the shadows. What does that mean to you, "a humane solution to those who live in the shadows"? +p1362 +aVSenator Cruz, I have a question for you. Speaker Paul Ryan has made a big commitment to trying to lift the 50 million poor out of poverty. Arthur Brooks, who is the president of the American Enterprise Institute, says, quote, "If we are not warriors for the poor every day, free enterprise has no matter." How you have been, in your campaign, a warrior for the poor? +p1363 +aVAll right. Mr. Trump, thank you so much. We're going to take a break for a moment. We'll be back in a moment with the CBS News Republican debate. +p1364 +aVWe're back now from Greenville, South Carolina, with the candidates for the Republican presidential nomination. Mr. Trump, I have a question for you. Presidents have to, on the one hand, be firm, but also be flexible. You have been flexible and changed your opinion on a number of things, from abortion to Hillary Clinton. But you have said, rightly, that it's just like Ronald Reagan, who changed his mind on things. But at the same time, you're criticizing Senator Cruz for what you say is a change on immigration. He disputes that, of course. So, why is your change of opinion make you like Reagan, and when he changes his opinion, it's a huge character flaw? +p1365 +aVWhich conservative idea don't you agree with? +p1366 +aVAll right. Governor Bush, I think by "they," he is referring to your brother, these on the hook for your brother. +p1367 +aVBut that was his brother. +p1368 +aVHold on, gentleman, I'm going to turn this car around. +p1369 +aVAll right, gentlemen. +p1370 +aVWell, hold on. We're going to \u2014 gentlemen, we're in danger of driving this into the dirt. Senator Rubio, I'd like you to jump in here... +p1371 +aVI understand, you're on deck, governor. +p1372 +aVSenator Cruz, 30 seconds on this one. +p1373 +aVWe're going to switch... +p1374 +aVWe're going to switch here to Senator Marco Rubio. Senator Marco Rubio, please weigh in. +p1375 +aVI thought you had a point? +p1376 +aVI thought you had a point you wanted to make. +p1377 +aVYou're on deck, sir. +p1378 +aVSenator, I wanted to ask you, just going back to immigration, in the last debate, you listed your series of accomplishments in the Senate. One thing you left off was \u2014 was immigration reform. Is it the case that in your list of accomplishments you can't mention that? +p1379 +aVDr. Carson, I have......Dr. Carson, I have a question for you. Candidates are... +p1380 +aVAll right. You have 30 seconds, Doctor. +p1381 +aVDr. Carson, I \u2014 let me ask you a different question. When you were \u2014 you were the first one, really, to talk about political correctness. Everybody now talks about it, but that was really what sparked your \u2014 your rise. Politicians are often accused of glossing over any hard choices people have to make, just always selling happy, nice things. So in the \u2014 in the spirit of saying something that might be politically incorrect, tell the voters something that they need to hear but that might be politically incorrect? +p1382 +aVGovernor Kasich. Governor Kasich, you've been described as the Democrats' favorite Republican. You talked about in New Hampshire, Democrats would come up to you and say, "I hope you win." Why will that help you win a Republican nomination? +p1383 +aVMr. Trump, let me ask you a question. Presidents in both parties say that the one thing you need in your administration is somebody who can tell you you're wrong. You don't necessarily seem like somebody who has somebody who tells you you're wrong a lot. Can you tell us of an instance where somebody has said, "Donald Trump, you're wrong," and you listened to them? +p1384 +aVAbout what? +p1385 +aVLet me \u2014 something, in talking to voters that they wish somebody would tell you to cut it out is the profanity. What's your reaction to that? +p1386 +aVAll right. O.K. Governor Bush, I'd like to ask you... +p1387 +aVWell, can I \u2014 how about you respond, and then you can answer the question I'm about to ask you. +p1388 +aVIt'll be... +p1389 +aVIf we adjudicate this, the night will be over. Governor, in 2012, you said that your father and Ronald Reagan would have a hard time in today's Republican Party, based on their records of trying to find accommodation and finding some degree of common ground. Do you still feel that way? +p1390 +aVHold on, Mr. Trump. +p1391 +aVHold on, Mr. Trump. +p1392 +aVO.K., Mr. Trump, your response. +p1393 +aVThe bells are ringing, sir. +p1394 +aVAll right. Thank you. Senator Rubio, I want to ask you a 30-second question, no president can... +p1395 +aVNo \u2014 well, I'll ask the question, you do what you want. +p1396 +aVNo president can know everything, right? So a smart leader knows how to ask questions. So if you could talk to any previous president, what's the smart question you would ask about that job that you would want to know? +p1397 +aVAll right. That's going to have to be it there, Senator Rubio. We have got to go to a break. We will be right back with the CBS News Republican debate in Greenville, South Carolina. +p1398 +aVTime now for closing statements. You will each have one minute, and we'll begin with Governor Kasich. +p1399 +aVDr. Carson \u2014 Dr. Carson, you're next. +p1400 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor Bush. +p1401 +aVSenator Cruz? Senator Cruz, your closing statement? +p1402 +aVMr. Trump, your closing statements? +p1403 +as. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/downloads/data2/script5.pickle b/downloads/data2/script5.pickle new file mode 100644 index 0000000..61de26b --- /dev/null +++ b/downloads/data2/script5.pickle @@ -0,0 +1,3534 @@ +(dp0 +VRADDATZ +p1 +(lp2 +VQuestions of leadership and character have dominated the news ever since the Iowa caucuses a few days ago. Here with us to question the candidates this evening are Josh McElveen from +p3 +aVDr. Ben Carson. +p4 +aVBusinessman Donald Trump. +p5 +aVFormer Florida Governor, Jeb Bush. +p6 +aVLadies and gentlemen, the Republican candidates. +p7 +aVAnd Donald Trump. +p8 +aVThe applause so loud you couldn't hear. We couldn't hear, either. That's a good sign for the excitement this evening. Gentlemen, thank you for being here tonight, just days before voters here in New Hampshire make their decisions. The rules are simple and have been agreed to by all the campaigns. There will be 60 seconds to answer and if another candidate is mentioned in that answer, that candidate will have 30 seconds to respond. There are green, yellow and red lights that each candidate will see to signal when time is up and they will also hear this sound. +p9 +aVSenator Cruz, you are a first term Senator as well. Your opponents say you, like Senator Rubio, are not prepared to be Commander in Chief. You have talked tough about threats we face in the Mid-East. It was reported just moments ago that the North Koreans test launched an intercontinental ballistic missile. North Korea has nuclear weapons, and conducted another nuclear test just last month. The missile that was launched is the kind the North Koreans hope could someday carry a nuclear weapon capable of reaching the United States. How would you respond if Commander in Chief to that launch? +p10 +aVWell, let me ask you this, if you were Commander in Chief tonight would you have order the U.S. military to destroy that missile preemptively on the launchpad to prevent North Korea from becoming an even graver threat? +p11 +aV... Senator Cruz, let me tell you this, you have talked tough about the Mid-East, you haven't gotten those intelligence briefings about that. Why not tell us whether you would preemptively strike a missile on a launchpad that threatens the U.S... +p12 +aVOkay. Senator Cruz, I will say that missile has been sitting there for quite some time, and they have had eyes on it. +p13 +aVSenator Rubio, I'm talking about a preemptive strike on the launch pad. +p14 +aVOK. Thank you, Senator Rubio. Governor Kasich, how would you respond to tonight's launch? +p15 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. Thank you \u2014 thank you... +p16 +aV... Governor Bush, I'll get to you in a moment. +p17 +aVThank you, Governor Bush. Mr. Trump, do you have a red line with North Korea? Would you consider military action? And how far would you let them go? +p18 +aVAnd I'd like him to finish the question, please. +p19 +aVSpecific \u2014 as to North Korea. +p20 +aVSenator Rubio, you were mentioned. +p21 +aVThank you very much, Senator Rubio. Governor Bush, another problem facing the commander-in-chief right now is that North Korea is currently detaining an American college student. What would you do to get that college student back home? +p22 +aVGovernor Christie, I want to go to you on the same question. +p23 +aVWould you negotiate with North Korea to... +p24 +aVThank you very much, Governor Christie. David? +p25 +aVSenator Cruz, to that point, Mr. Trump has said that your position on health care means that maybe you've got, quote, "no heart". There is a question here, though, about uncovered folks. You suggested repealing and replacing Obamacare. As we learned with President Obama's broken promise that everyone could keep their plan, any major plan \u2014 change in health care policy carries with it the risk that some people will lose their insurance coverage or have to change it. How do you reassure that those people that repealing and replacing Obamacare is still in their best interest? +p26 +aVSenator Cruz, you advocate what you call carpet bombing, or saturation bombing, to defeat +p27 +aVSenator Cruz, would you like to expand or loosen the rules of engagement? I was just over in a command center in Erbil and they said they thought the rules of engagement worked. Because you have so many civilians in those populated areas, they don't want to hit civilians. +p28 +aVSo, loosen the rules of engagement? +p29 +aVSenator Rubio, you said in the last debate that +p30 +aVAgain, Senator Rubio, you've already said +p31 +aVWell, what would you do \u2014 what would you do differently to try to get those Sunni forces? They have not been coming forward. +p32 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 thank you very much, Senator Rubio. Mr. Trump. You have said you will vigorously bomb +p33 +aVAnd \u2014 and what would you do in those cities, where there are people who we are trying to help, who +p34 +aVThank you very much, Mr. Trump. Let's turn to Libya. Governor Bush, it is a country in chaos. There is no government. This week, defense officials said there are now 5,000 +p35 +aVThank you very much, Governor Bush. Dr. Carson? +p36 +aVAnd would you support renewed airstrikes? +p37 +aVWe're going to move on. +p38 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. Thank you, Josh. Our partner in this debate, the Independent Journal Review, has collected questions from some prominent conservatives around the country. Here's a videotaped question from radio host Larry O'Connor. O' +p39 +aVMr. Trump, I'm going to give that question to you. You took it \u2014 you took it away anyway. +p40 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. I'm going to go to Senator Rubio on this. How would you change that narrative? +p41 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Dr. Carson, I want to go to you on Larry O' Connor's question. Would you change the narrative? +p42 +aVYes. +p43 +aVThank you very much Dr. Carson. I'm going to go back to David. +p44 +aVGovernor Christie, earlier this week, the World Health Organization declared the Zika virus a global emergency. The same kind of mosquitoes that carry the Zika virus in Latin America are found here in the United States, and the virus has been linked to severe birth defects. Governor Christie, at the peak of the Ebola outbreak in west Africa, you ordered an American nurse who landed at Newark Airport be detained and quarantined. As fear spreads now of the Zika virus and with the Rio Olympics just months away, is there a scenario where you would quarantine people traveling back from Brazil to prevent the spread in the United States? +p45 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you. I'm going to move to Dr. Carson, and go back to the Zika virus, is that going too far, quarantining? You're a doctor, what would you do? +p46 +aVThanks very much, Dr. Carson. I want to move on to the military. Senator Rubio, all restrictions on women in combat as long as they qualify. Positions including special operations forces, like Navy Seals. Just this week military leaders of the Army and Marine Corps said that they believed young women, just as young men are required to do, should sign up for Selective Service in case the Draft is reinstated. Many of you have young daughters. Senator Rubio, should young women be required to sign up for Selective Service in case of a national emergency? +p47 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Governor Bush, do you believe that young women... +p48 +aVDo you believe young women should sign up for Selective Service, be required to sign up... +p49 +aVTell me what you'd say to American people out there......who are sitting at home, who have daughters, who might worry about those answers, and might worry... +p50 +aV... if the Draft is reinstituted? +p51 +aV... Are you saying you'd do away with it? +p52 +aVYou register for the draft. +p53 +aVIf it's reinstituted. +p54 +aVThank you very much. +p55 +aVThank you very much, Governor Christie. +p56 +aVWe just covered \u2014 wait one second, Dr. Carson. +p57 +aVVery quickly. +p58 +aVThank you very much for bringing up that subject, Dr. Carson, of our veterans. And for another question about our veterans, we go back to Josh McElveen from +p59 +aVGovernor Christie. +p60 +aVDr. Carson. +p61 +aVSenator Cruz. +p62 +asVUNKNOWN +p63 +(lp64 +VNot me. +p65 +aVMaria... +p66 +aVYeah, but I want to talk about taxes. +p67 +asVSMITH +p68 +(lp69 +VGovernor Huckabee, same question to you. Where do you see the country right now? +p70 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Thank you, candidates. Moving to the world stage. The middle east is on the brink of chaos. Iran continues to provoke the United States, North Korea claims it's tested a hydrogen bomb, and Afghanistan is in danger of falling back into Taliban hands. Critics of the administration say it's all due to lack of U.S. leadership. To you, Mrs. Fiorina, how do you see America's role in the world today? +p71 +aVGovernor Huckabee, in Afghanistan, the Taliban is strengthening. Attacks are on the rise and thousands more civilians have been wounded or killed. Much of the Taliban surge can be attributed to the withdrawal of U.S. forces there. You have expressed skepticism with the war there, saying you see no end game in sight. What, then, is your solution to the growing conflict there? +p72 +aVAll right, thank you, candidates. We're just getting started. Jobs, Homeland Security, gun rights, all those issues are coming up straight ahead. We're live from North Charleston and the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back. +p73 +aVAll right, let's get started. Senator Santorum, to you first. President Obama has urged technology leaders to make it hard for terrorists to use technology to escape from justice. Hillary Clinton says social media companies can help by swiftly shutting down terrorist accounts. The companies say that they're already working with law enforcement and any proposed legislation would do more harm than good. Should companies like Facebook and Twitter be required by law to more actively \u2014 be more actively engaged in fighting terror? +p74 +aVSenator, would you \u2014 would you require anything of those companies like Facebook and Twitter if you were president? +p75 +aVThank you, Senator. +p76 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee, you called President Obama's executive orders on gun control unconstitutional and completely insane. +p77 +aVYou even told gun store owners to ignore the President's orders. Yet, innocent people are dying from gun violence in cities like Detroit, Chicago, and Charleston everyday. Is there anything that can be done at the federal level to prevent guns from falling into the hands of criminals? +p78 +aV +p79 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p80 +aVSenator Santorum, many of our military leaders believe America's critical infrastructure is vulnerable to a terrorist attack. This is the power in our homes, the water we drink, the Internet and phone systems by which we stay connected. If attacked, these essential services that underpin American society could come to a grinding halt. Do you have a specific plan to protect us from this type of attack? +p81 +aVSenator Santorum, I want to stay with you on this, moving to jobs and the economy. In his State of the Union Address the other night, President Obama touted his record on jobs, citing more than 14 million new jobs and boasted of nearly 900,000 manufacturing jobs added in the past six years. Do you dispute his track record of creating jobs? +p82 +aVGovernor Huckabee, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mike Mullen, has said the greatest threat to our security is our national debt. Our national debt is now on pace to top $19 trillion. Yet, you as well as Ms. Fiorina have laid forward no plan to reform entitlements. How can you say you're going to pay down our country's debt without cutting Social Security or Medicare? +p83 +aVOK. We're going to continue this conversation. We're taking a quick break and then coming up, the candidates' plans for strengthening the middle class. We're live in North Charleston with the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back. +p84 +aVAll right, thanks, Trish. Well, let's get started with Ms. Fiorina. Today, the middle class represents about 50 percent of the U.S. population, down from about 61 percent back in 1971. That's according to Pew Research. The same research revealed a widening income gap in America. The rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. What will you do to strengthen a middle class that is no longer the majority? +p85 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p86 +aVThank you, Senator. We're not finished yet. More Republican Presidential Debate in North Charleston after this. +p87 +aVWelcome back, it's time for the closing statements. Candidates will each get one minute, starting with Senator Santorum. Thank you very much, I want to thank the people of Charleston, which has become a little bit of a second home to me, because I am very privileged to have two young men who go to the Citadel here and they're here tonight, my son John and my son Daniel. +p88 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Governor Mike Huckabee. +p89 +aVThank you, Governor. +p90 +asVRUBIO +p91 +(lp92 +VWell, let me first talk about Justice Scalia. His loss is tremendous, and obviously our hearts and prayers go out to his family. He will go down as one of the great justices in the history of this republic. You talk about someone who defended consistently the original meaning of the Constitution, who understood that the Constitution was not there to be interpreted based on the fads of the moment, but it was there to be interpreted according to its original meaning. Justice Scalia understood that better than anyone in the history of this republic. His dissent, for example, on the independent counsel case is a brilliant piece of jurist work. And, of course, his dissent on Obergefell as well. No. 2, I do not believe the president should appoint someone. And it's not unprecedented. In fact, it has been over 80 years since a lame duck president has appointed a Supreme Court justice. And it remind us of this, how important this election is. Someone on this stage will get to choose the balance of the Supreme Court, and it will begin by filling this vacancy that's there now. And we need to put people on the bench that understand that the Constitution is not a living and breathing document. It is to be interpreted as originally meant. +p93 +aVThat's not accurate. +p94 +aVNo, I've never \u2014 there has been, for example, today, according to the changes Harry Reid made, appellate judges can now be appointed by a simple majority, but not Supreme Court justices. And I think today you see the wisdom of why we don't want that to change. Because if that were the case and we were not in charge of the Senate, Harry Reid and Barack Obama would ram down our throat a liberal justice, like the ones Barack Obama has imposed on us already. +p95 +aVNo. I think there are three major threats that you want to immediately get on top of. No. 1 is, what are we doing in the Asia-Pacific region, where both North Korea and China pose threats to the national security of the United States. No. 2 is, what are we doing in the Middle East with the combination of the Sunni-Shia conflict driven by the Shia arc that Iran is now trying to establish in the Middle East, also the growing threat of +p96 +aVWell, let me tell you what has happened a couple of years ago. One of the hardest decisions you'll ever make in Congress is when you are asked by the president to authorize the use of force in a conflict, because you are now putting your name, on behalf of the people of your state, behind a military action, where Americans in uniform could lose their life. So, in 2014, Barack Obama said he would not take military action against Assad unless it was authorized by the Senate, beginning on the Committee of Foreign Relations, where I am one of its members. And it was hard because you looked at the pictures. I saw the same images people saw. I'm the father of children. I saw the images of these little children \u2014 been gassed and poisoned by their own leaders, and we were angry. Something had to happen, and there was the sense that we needed to seek retribution. And then I looked at Barack Obama's plan. Barack Obama's plan, which John Kerry later described as unbelievably small, and I concluded that that attack would not only not help the situation, it would make it actually worse. It would allow Assad to stand up to the United States of America, survive a strike, stay in power and actually strengthen his grip. So it was a difficult decision to make, and when we only had a few days to look at and make a decision on it, and I voted against Barack Obama's plan to use force, and it was the right decision. +p97 +aVI just want to say, at least on behalf of me and my family, I thank God all the time it was George W. Bush in the White House on 9/11 and not Al Gore. And you can \u2014 I think you can look back in hindsight and say a couple of things, but he kept us safe. And not only did he keep us safe, but no matter what you want to say about weapons of mass destruction, Saddam Hussein was in violation of U.N. resolutions, in open violation, and the world wouldn't do anything about it, and George W. Bush enforced what the international community refused to do. And again, he kept us safe, and I am forever grateful to what he did for this country. +p98 +aVThe World Trade Center came down because Bill Clinton didn't kill Osama bin Laden when he had the chance to kill him. +p99 +aVWell, because I'm influencing social policy \u2014 this is their money. This is the money of parents. You don't earn the tax credit unless you're working. That's your money, it doesn't belong to government. Here's what I don't understand. If a business takes their money and they invest in the piece of the equipment, they get to write off their taxes. But if a parent takes money that they have earned to work and invests in their children, they don't? This makes no sense. Parenting is the most important job any of us will ever have. Family formation is the most important thing in society. So what my tax plan does, is it does create, especially for working families, an additional Child Tax Credit. So that parents who are working get to keep more of their own money, not the government's money, to invest in their children to go to school, to go to a private school, to buy a new backpack. Let me tell you, if you're a parent that's struggling, then you know that $50 a month is the difference between a new pair of shoes this month or not getting a new pair of shoes for your kids. I'm going to have a tax plan that is pro-family, because the family is the most important institution in society. You cannot have a strong country without strong families. +p100 +aVWell, first of all, I think amnesty is the forgiveness of a wrongdoing without consequence and that \u2014 I've never supported that. I do not support that. I think there has to be consequences for violating our immigration laws. What I think is clear about this issue to begin with is we're not going to be able to make progress on illegal immigration until first, illegal immigration is brought under control. You go back to 1986, when they legalized three million people and they promised to secure the border. It didn't happen, and as a result, people have lost trust in the federal government. It is now clear that the only way to make progress on immigration is not just to pass a law that enforces the law, but actually prove to people that it's working. They want to see the wall built. They want to see the additional border agents. They want to see E-Verify. They want to see an entry-exit tracking system. Forty percent of the people in this country illegally are entering legally and overstaying visas. And only after all of that is in place, then we'll see what the American people are willing to support on this issue. I think the American people will be very reasonable, but responsible, about how you handle someone who has been here a long time, who can pass a background check, who pays a fine and starts paying taxes and all they want is a work permit. But you can't do any of that until you prove to people that illegal immigration is under control once and for all. +p101 +aVWe're going to have to do this again, O.K.? When that issue was being debated, Ted Cruz, at a committee hearing, very passionately said, I want immigration reform to pass, I want people to be able to come out of the shadows. And he proposed an amendment that would legalized people here. Not only that, he proposed doubling the number of green cards. He proposed a 500 percent increase on guest workers. Now his position is different. Now he is a passionate opponent of all those things. So he either wasn't telling the truth then or he isn't telling the truth now, but to argue he is a purist on immigration is just not true. +p102 +aVWell, first of all, I don't know how he knows what I said on Univision, because he doesn't speak Spanish. And second of all, the other point that I would make... +p103 +aVLook, this is a disturbing pattern now, because for a number of weeks now, Ted Cruz has just been telling lies. He lied about Ben Carson in Iowa. He lies about Planned Parenthood. He lies about marriage. He's lying about all sorts of things. And now he makes things up. The bottom line is this is a campaign and people are watching it. And they see the truth behind all these issues. And here is the truth, Ted Cruz supported legalizing people that were in this country... +p104 +aV... and only now does he say... +p105 +aVWell, we'll put on our website, marcorubio.com. We're going to... +p106 +aVOn anything I want? +p107 +aVWell, let me talk about poverty. +p108 +aVI do. +p109 +aVI had something important. +p110 +aVThe issue of poverty is critical, because for me, poverty is the \u2014 is \u2014 is free enterprise not reaching people. Today, we have antipoverty programs that don't cure poverty. We don't cure poverty in America. Our antipoverty programs have become, in some instances, a way of life, a lifestyle. Now, we do need antipoverty programs, you can't have free enterprise programs without them, but not as a way of life. And so I have a very specific proposal on this and I don't \u2014 in 60 seconds, I can't describe it all, but it basically turns the program over to states. It allows states to design innovative programs that cure poverty, because I think Nikki Haley will do a better job curing poverty than Barack Obama. +p111 +aVWell, no. It's not the case. It didn't pass, and we haven't solved immigration in this country. It's still a problem. It is worse today than it was three years ago, which is worse than it was five years ago. And it has to be confronted and solved. But the only way forward on this issue \u2014 you asked a question about flexibility. Let me tell you about that. One of the things that you need in leadership is the ability to understand that to get things done, you must figure out the way to get it done. You will not pass comprehensive immigration reform. People do not trust the federal government. They want to see the law being enforced. They want to see illegal immigration come under control. They want to see that wall. They want to see E-Verify. They want to see all of these things working, and then they will have a conversation with you about what do you do with people that have been here a long time that are otherwise, you know, not criminals. But they're not going to do it until you first enforce the law. +p112 +aVThirty seconds. +p113 +aVI speak fast. +p114 +aVWell, I think one of the presidents \u2014 well, the president I grew up under was Ronald Reagan. And Reagan had a vision for America's future. And if you think about what Ronald Reagan inherited, it's not unlike what the next president is going to inherit. This is the worst president we've had in 35 years, 35 years back would have made it Jimmy Carter. That's what Ronald Reagan inherited. And I think the question you would ask is, how did you inspire again the American people to believe in the future? How did you \u2014 what did it take to ensure that the American people, despite all of the difficulties of the time \u2014 you know, you look back at that time, the American military was in decline. Our standing in the world was in decline. We had hostages being held in Iran. Our economy was in bad shape. The American people were scared about the future. They were scared about what kind of country their children were going to live in and inherit. And yet somehow Ronald Reagan was able to instill in our nation and in our people a sense of optimism. And he turned America around because of that vision and ultimately because of that leadership. I wish Ronald Reagan was still around. This country needs someone just like that. And if our next president is even half the president Ronald Reagan was, America is going to be greater than it has ever been. +p115 +aVThank you, and thank you for watching tonight. This is a difficult time in our country. Our economy's flat, it's not creating the jobs it once did, and people struggle living paycheck to paycheck. Our culture's in trouble. Wrong is considered right and right is considered wrong. All the things that once held our families together are now under constant assault. And around the world, America's reputation is in decline. Our allies don't trust us, our adversaries don't fear us, Iran captures our sailors and parades them before the world on video. These are difficult times, but 2016 can be a turning point. That's why I'm running for president, and that's why I'm here today to ask you for your vote. If you elect me president, we are going to re-embrace free enterprise so that everyone can go as far as their talent and their work will take them. We are going to be a country that says that "life begins at conception and life is worthy of the protection of our laws." We're going to be a country that says "that marriage is between one man and one woman." We are going to be a country that says, "The constitution and the rights that it talks about do not come from our president, they come from our creator." We are going to be loyal to our allies like Israel, not enemies like Iran. And we will rebuild the U.S. military so no one will there test it. Vote for me. I will unify this party. I will grow it. We will win this election, and we will make the 21st century a new American century. +p116 +aVWell, let me say, from protecting the people of Florida from imminent domain abuse, to bringing accountability to the V.A., to the Girls Count Act, to sanctioning groups, I'm proud of my service in the United States Senate and before that, in the Florida legislature. I will say, if politics becomes and the presidency becomes about electing people who have been Congress or in the Senate the longest, we should all rally around Joe Biden. He's been around 1,000 years. He's passed hundreds of bills and I don't think any of us believe Joe Biden should be president of the United States. And let's dispel once and for all with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing. Barack Obama is undertaking a systematic effort to change this country, to make America more like the rest of the world. That's why he passed Obamacare and the stimulus and Dodd-Frank and the deal with Iran. It is a systematic effort to change America. When I'm president of the United States, we are going to re-embrace all the things that made America the greatest nation in the world and we are going to leave our children with what they deserve: the single greatest nation in the history of the world. +p117 +aVIf I may respond to that. +p118 +aVWell, I think the experience is not just what you did, but how it worked out. Under Chris Christie's governorship of New Jersey, they've been downgraded nine times in their credit rating. This country already has a debt problem, we don't need to add to it by electing someone who has experience at running up and destroying the credit rating of his state. But I would add this. Let's dispel with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing. He is trying to change this country. He wants America to become more like the rest of the world. We don't want to be like the rest of the world, we want to be the United States of America. And when I'm elected president, this will become once again, the single greatest nation in the history of the world, not the disaster Barack Obama has imposed upon us. +p119 +aVChris \u2014 Chris, your state got hit by a massive snowstorm two weeks ago. You didn't even want to go back. They had to shame you into going back. And then you stayed there for 36 hours and then he left and came back to campaign. Those are the facts. Here's the bottom line. This notion that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing is just not true. He knows exactly what he's doing. +p120 +aVWell, that's the \u2014 that's the reason why this campaign is so important. Because I think this notion \u2014 I think this is an important point. We have to understand what we're going through here. We are not facing a president that doesn't know what he's doing. He knows what he is doing. That's why he's done the things he's done. That's why we have a president that passed Obamacare and the stimulus. All this damage that he's done to America is deliberate. This is a president that's trying to redefine this country. That's why this election is truly a referendum on our identity as a nation, as a people. Our future is at stake. This election is not about the past. It is about what kind of country this is going to be in the 21st century, and if we elect someone like Barack Obama, a Hillary Clinton, a Bernie Sanders or anyone like that, our children are going to be the first Americans to inherit a diminishes country. That will not happen if I'm elected. +p121 +aVChris, you didn't want to go back. You didn't want to go back. +p122 +aVYou didn't want to go back, Chris. +p123 +aVChris, everybody \u2014 you said you weren't going to go back. He told everyone he wasn't going to go back. They had to shame him into going back. And when he decided to go back, he criticized the young lady, saying, what am I supposed to do, go back with a mop and clean up the flooding? +p124 +aV... It's your record, it's not a talking point... +p125 +aVBut Martha, just \u2014 Martha, just to clarify on that point, because he's right, and one more thing to point \u2014 it is standard procedure of the United States to shoot down those missiles once launched if they pose a threat to civilians, land and ships. +p126 +aVWell \u2014 no, I understand. And not \u2014 but \u2014 but I think it's important to note that it is \u2014 and Senator Cruz, I think, was alluding to this, as well \u2014 it is the standard procedure of the United States, if those missiles pose a threat to land, civilians, our allies or any of our assets, to shoot down that missile in mid-flight. I understand your question was about a preemptive strike, but my point is that there is in place now contingencies to avoid any sort of that strike from going errant and destroying any \u2014 any assets of the United States, or implicating or hurting any of our allies or any of our assets in the region. +p127 +aVYeah. I have a \u2014 I got mentioned, can I respond? +p128 +aVHere's the broader point, as well, and then I think it touches on what Donald just mentioned. Barack Obama views America as this arrogant global power that needed to be cut down to size. OK? This is a president that views this country as a country that's been too powerful in the world and we create problems around the world. For example, it's one of the reasons why he had betrayed Israel, because he believes that if we create separation from Israel, it will help our relations in the Islamic world. The same is happening in the Asia-Pacific region with accommodations to North Korea. North Korean should be back on that list of terrorist nations, as an example. And Donald's absolutely right. China does have a lot of influence over North Korea and he should be leveraging our relationship with the Chinese to ensure that North Korea no longer has access to the resources that have allowed them \u2014 a country that has no economy to develop long range missiles already capable of reaching the west coast of the United States potentially. +p129 +aVHere's the bottom line. We can't get that legislation passed. The American people will not support doing anything about people that are in this country illegally until the law is enforced first, and you prove it to them. This has been abundantly clear. Every effort over the last ten years to do those comprehensively has failed. And it has failed because the American people have zero trust that the federal government will enforce our laws. And that's why since then, I have said repeatedly, if you are serious about immigration reform, then the key that unlocks the door to being able to do that is not just to pass a law that says it is going to enforce the law, but to actually do it. To hire the 20,000 new border agents, to finish the fencing and walls, to put in place mandatory e-verify, to put in place an entry-exit tracking system to prevent visa overstays. And once that is in place and that's working, I believe the American people will support a very reasonable, but responsible approach to people that have been here a long time, who are not dangerous criminals, who pay taxes and pay fines for what they did. But until then, none of that is going to be possible. +p130 +aVWell, the legislation passed, but it has no support. In essence, it couldn't pass in the House, it will never pass in the United States until we secure the border, and it is not the way we're going to do when I'm president. When I'm president, we are going to enforce the law first, prove to people that illegal immigration is under control. And then we'll see what the American people are willing to support when it comes to people that are not criminals, who have been in the this country for a long time and who otherwise would like to stay. +p131 +aVLeadership is ultimately about solving the problem. And the approach that was tried and has been tried now repeatedly over ten years to do this comprehensively, all at once in a massive piece of legislation has no chance of passage. It is not leadership to continue to try something that has no chance of happening. I want to make progress on this issue. It has been discussed now for 30 years and nothing ever happens. And I am telling you that the only way forward on this issue that has any chance of happening, meaning gaining the support of the American people, you cannot do this without the support of the American people, is an approach that begins by proving that once and for all, illegal immigration is under control. +p132 +aVGood evening. +p133 +aVWell, I think conservatism is about three things and Donald touched on one of them, but it's about three things. The first is conservatism is about limited government, especially at the federal level. The federal government is a limited government, limited by the Constitution, which delineates its powers. If it's not in the Constitution, it does not belong to the federal government. It belongs to states, local communities and the private sector. It's about free enterprise, which is an economic model that allows everyone to rise without pulling anyone down. The reason why free enterprise is the greatest economic model in the history of the world is because it's the only economic model where you can make poor people richer without making rich people poor. And it's about a strong national defense. It's about believing, unlike Barack Obama, that the world is a safer and a better place when America is the strongest military and the strongest nation on this planet. That's conservatism. +p134 +aVNow, see, I was mentioned by Governor... +p135 +aVYeah. +p136 +aVOK, good, then I'll get to it . Here's the... +p137 +aVWell, no, sorry. Let me respond to that question. +p138 +aVWell, here's the response. I think anyone who believes that Barack Obama isn't doing what he's doing on purpose doesn't understand what we're dealing with here, OK? This is a president \u2014 this is a president who is trying to change this country. When he talked about change, he wasn't talking about dealing with our problems. Obamacare was not an accident. The undermining of the Second Amendment is not an accident. The gutting of our military is not an accident. The undermining of America on the global stage is not an accident. Barack Obama is, indeed, trying to redefine this country. We better understand what we're dealing with here, because that's what Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders want to double down on if they are elected. +p139 +aVNo. He talked about Barack Obama. +p140 +aVYeah. +p141 +aVI don't know of any problem in America that's going to be fixed with a tax increase. We have an economy today, an economy today that is not creating jobs that pay enough. And one of the reasons why is because we have one of the most expensive business tax rates on the planet. Our combined business rate puts us among the highest in the industrialized world. And then on top of that, we are the only one that has a worldwide system of taxation, where an American company who makes money abroad has to pay taxes where they made the money and then taxes a second time when they bring it back. The combination of these two things has stranded over $2 trillion, the equivalent of the size of the Russian economy, $2 trillion of American corporate money stranded overseas, combined with all of these inversions of companies leaving us. The solution to the problems we have today are not a tax increase. It is to lower our taxes on both people and on companies, so we can make America globally competitive again. +p142 +aVWell, first, we need to understand who they are. +p143 +aVBecause they currently occupy Sunni cities and villages. Sunni cities and villages can only truly be liberated and held by Sunnis themselves. If they are held by Shias it will trigger sectarian violence. The Kurds are incredible fighters and they will liberate the Kurdish areas, but Kurds can not and do not want to liberate and hold Sunni villages and towns. It will take Sunni fighters themselves in that region to take those villages and cities, and then to hold them and avoid the sort of sectarian violence that follows in the past. And why that is important is because if Sunnis are not able to govern themselves in these areas, you are going to have a successor group to +p144 +aVWell, the problem with the Sunni forces in the region is they don't trust this administration. This administration cut a deal with their mortal enemies, the Shia, in Iran. It poisoned the well with these countries. It makes it very difficult to cooperate with them as a result. They also, by the way, understand what real U.S. air power looks like. They saw the Iraq war. They saw, up close, also Afghanistan. They know what air power looks like when the United States is committed to the cause. And they see the airstrikes that are being conducted now, and they say to themselves, that's not real commitment. We know what real commitment looks like. The \u2014 the Jordanian king was in Washington three weeks ago. He told everyone who would listen that they have begged for permission from the coalition to target caravans. And the coalition \u2014 meaning U.S. leadership on the ground......would not allow them to proceed with those airstrikes. +p145 +aVWell, when people talk about interrogating terrorists, they're acting like this is some sort of law enforcement function. Law enforcement is about gathering evidence to take someone to trial, and convict them. Anti-terrorism is about finding out information to prevent a future attack so the same tactics do not apply. And, it is true, we should not be discussing in a wide spread way the exact tactics that we're going to use because that allows terrorist to know to practice how to evade us. But, here's the bigger problem with all this, we're not interrogating anybody right now. Guantanamo's being emptied by this president. We should be putting people into Guantanamo, not emptying it out, and we shouldn't be releasing these killers who are rejoining the battlefield against the United States. +p146 +aVI think it's already happening. Look at the turnout in Iowa. A historic number of people came out and voted in those caucuses. There are saying the same thing is going to happen here in New Hampshire. Look at the rallies that every single person on this stage is having. Much higher numbers than you used to see in the past and here is why. Because people are starting to understand, very clearly, that this election is going to be a turning point. That 2016 is not just a choice between Republican or Democrat. It is a referendum on our identity as a nation and as a people. So here is what Hillary Clinton needs to understand. We're going to have our primary, we're going to have our debates \u2014 which by the way, are twice as many as the Democrats have been willing to have themselves. But we're going to bring this party together and we are going to defeat Hillary Clinton, because she is unqualified to be the president of the United States of America. She put classified information on her computer because she thinks she's above the law and anyone who lies to the families of people who have lost their loved ones in the service of our country like she did in Benghazi, can never be the commander-in-chief of the United States of America. +p147 +aVI would. But that's not \u2014 the issue \u2014 my problem with what he did is he continues to put out this fiction that there's widespread systematic discrimination against Muslim Americans. First of all, let's recognize this. If you go to a national cemetery in this country, you will see stars of Davids and crosses, but you see crescent moons. There are brave men and women who happen to be Muslim Americans who are serving this country in uniform and who have died in the service of this country. And we recognize that and we honor that. But by the same token, we face a very significant threat of home grown violent extremism. We need to have strong, positive relationships in the Islamic communities in this country so they will identify and report this activity, especially mosques, for example, that are participating not just in hate speech, but inciting violence and taking acts against us. And I do believe it is important also to recognize, you want to talk about religious discrimination in America. Well, I don't think Barack Obama is being sued by any Islamic groups, but he is being sued by the Little Sisters of the Poor. We are facing in this country Christian groups and groups that hold traditional values who feel and in fact are being discriminated against by the laws of this country that try to force them to vie to violate their conscience. +p148 +aVFirst, let me say there are already women today serving in roles that are like combat. That, in fact, whose lives are in very serious danger, and so I have no problem whatsoever with people of either gender serving in combat so long as the minimum requirements necessary to do the job are not compromised. But, I support that, and obviously now that that is the case I do believe that Selective Service should be opened up for both men and women in case a Draft is ever instituted. I think the more fundamental challenge we're now facing is what's happening to the U.S. military \u2014 I've said this many times, and I think it's important to start paying attention to this. Our Air Force is about to be the smallest it's been in 100 years. I'm sorry, in our history. Our Army is set to be smaller than it's been since the second World War, and our Navy is about to be the smallest than it's been in 100 years. I think we need to begin to refocus on rebuilding our military because every time we have cut our military in the history of this country we have had to come back later and rebuild it, and it costs more, and it's a lot more chaotic and dangerous. When I'm president, we are rebuilding the U.S. military. +p149 +aVWell, my brother's a veteran. We're very proud of him in our family. He served as a green beret in the 7th Special Forces from 1968 through 1971. And as part of his training, he jumped out of an airplane and he lost his two front teeth. And for years, he's had to go to get these dental claims. And every times he goes to get one of these dental claims filled, the V.A. asks him, "well, how do we know you lost your teeth in the Army?" And he says, "well, it's the only time I ever jumped out of a plane." But he's had to fight through this process, and I've watched it firsthand. That's why I'm proud that I worked in a bipartisan way. We passed the V.A. Accountability bill that, for the first time, allows us to fire \u2014 allows the V.A. secretary to fire someone who's not doing a good job, who's a senior executive. And the governor's right. They've only fired three people up to now. More people will be fired if I'm president. But the portability part of it is incredibly important. Veterans should be able to take their V.A. benefits to any hospital or any doctor they want to go to. When I am president of the United States, veterans will be able to take their benefits to any hospital or doctor that they choose. +p150 +aVWell, first of all, I don't believe that believing in traditional marriage the way I do makes you a bigot or a hater. It means that you believe that this institution that's been around for millenial is an important cornerstone of society. I respect people that believe differently. But I believe deeply, that marriage should be between one man and one woman. On the issue of life, to me, the issue of life is not a political issue. It's a human rights issue and it's a difficult issue, because it puts in conflict two competing rights. On the one hand is the right of a woman to choose what to do with her body which is a real right. And on the other hand is the right of an unborn human child to live. And they're in conflict. And as a policy maker, I must choose which one of these two sides takes precedence. And I have chosen to err on the side of life. Here's what I find outrageous. There has been five Democratic debates. The media has not asked them a single question on abortion and on abortion, the Democrats are extremists. Why doesn't the media ask Hillary Clinton why she believes that all abortion should be legal, even on the due date of that unborn child. Why don't they ask Hillary Clinton why she believe that partial- birth abortion, which is a gruesome procedure that has been outlawed in this country, she thinks that's a fundamental right. They are the extremists......when it comes to the issue of abortion and I can't wait to expose them in a general election. HAM: Governor Bush? I want to come to you. Your allies have recently attacked Senator Rubio for being too pro-life to be elected in November. You made a similar charge stating it in an interview. This is a pro-life party. Do you stand behind that criticism? +p151 +aVI do support protection for the life of the mother because I'm pro-life. I just believe deeply that all human life is worthy of protection of our laws. If I'm president and there's a bill that's passed that saves lives but it has exceptions, I'll sign it. But I do believe deeply that all human life is worthy of the protection of laws. I've already said, for me, the issue of life is not a political issue and I want to be frank. I would rather lose an election than be wrong on the issue of life. HAM: Governor Christie. You too, have talked about Senator Rubio's position on the life issue. Some conservative activists have called this line of attack harmful to the pro-life cause. +p152 +aVWell, I was going for Peyton Manning, but now I'm rooting for Carolina. +p153 +aVThank you. You know, this week I had the great pleasure of having my kids join me on the campaign trail. I hadn't' seen them in a while, and it was great to have them alongside me, but the most important part of it is that it once again reminded me of what's at stake. Here in New Hampshire in less than 72 hours, we are literally deciding what kind of country we will be like when they are my age. What kind of country they will be able to raise their families in. And, that's why I'm asking you for your vote. You vote for me, and we will unite this party, we will grow the conservative movement, we will defeat Hillary Clinton, and we will leave our children what our parents left us. The single greatest nation in the history of all mankind. Thank you. +p154 +aVChris, let's begin by being clear what this campaign is about. It's not about Donald Trump. He's an entertaining guy. He's the greatest show on earth. This campaign is about the greatest country in the world and a president who has systematically destroyed many of the things that made America special. You see, we usually elect presidents in America that want to change the things that are wrong in America. Barack Obama wants to change America. Barack Obama wants America to be more like the rest of the world. We don't want to be like the rest of the world. We want to be the United States of America. That is why Hillary Clinton cannot win this election. Hillary Clinton this week said Barack Obama would make a great Supreme Court justice. The guy who systematically and habitually violates the constitution on the Supreme Court? I don't think so. If I'm our nominee, I will unite this party and we'll defeat Hillary Clinton and we will turn this country around once and for all, after seven years of the disaster that is Barack Obama. +p155 +aVI think, you know, Rand and I have some significant issues on policy, but I respect Rand. He believes everything he stands for. I do respect Rand. But I want to be frank about what I stand for. I believe the world is a safer and a better place when America is the strongest power in the world. And I believe only with a strong America will we defeat this radical group, this apocalyptic group called +p156 +aVWell, again, I mean, obviously, as already has been pointed out, the only budget that Ted has ever voted for is a budget that Rand Paul sponsored that brags about cutting defense spending. And I think that's a bad idea for the following reason. +p157 +aV... First of all \u2014 Let me go first, and then you can please recognize Rand after. First of all... +p158 +aV... do I go \u2014 let me go first, and then you can please recognize Rand after. But... ... first of all... +p159 +aV... first of all, I'm \u2014 don't worry, I'm not leaving the stage no matter what you ask me. +p160 +aVAnd second of all... ... and I think \u2014 you know, Governor \u2014 Jeb, you \u2014 the attack that \u2014 the authorization that Barack Obama asked for was not against +p161 +aVMegyn, that's the problem. Radical Muslims and radical Islam is not just hate talk. It's hate action. They blow people up. Look what they did in San Bernardino. Look at the attack they inspired in Philadelphia, that the White House still refuses to link to terror, where a guy basically shot a police officer three times. He told the police, "I did it because I was inspired by +p162 +aVMight I respond? The first thing \u2014 I don't know of anyone who's not in favor of fully vetting people that are trying to come into this country, other than perhaps Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. I think we all support that. Rand's amendment was not the right way to do it. I do believe that people who are trying to come to the United States \u2014 this country has a right to know who they are and why they are coming. And that's why I've been clear, when I am the president of the United States of America, we don't know who you are, and we don't know why you're trying to come to the United States, you are not going to get in, because the radical threat that we now face from +p163 +aVWell, Bret, first that's not entirely the story. At the time, the liberal governor of Florida, who claimed he was a Republican \u2014 his name was Charlie Crist \u2014 he wanted to impose cap-and-trade on Florida. And I opposed it. I was the first person out of the box that opposed him on it. And then we saw that the leading candidates for president at the time, both the Republican and the Democrats, all supported it. And what we said is, if they're going to impose this on us, we better prepare to protect the state from it. But I have never supported cap- and-trade and I never thought it was a good idea. And I was clear about that at the time. And I do not believe it's a good idea now. I do not believe that we have to destroy our economy in order to protect our environment. And especially what these programs are asking us to pass that will do nothing to help the environment, but will be devastating for our economy. When I am president of the United States of America, there will never be any cap-and-trade in the United States. +p164 +aVNever support. Never have and never will support any effort to grant blanket legalization amnesty to folks who have entered, or stayed in this country illegally. +p165 +aVFirst of all, earned path to citizenship is basically code for amnesty. It's what they call it. And, the reality of it is this, it is unfair to the people that have legally entered this country to create an alternative for individuals who entered illegally, and knowingly did so. +p166 +aVYou cannot grant amnesty. If the American people see us granting amnesty they will never again believe in legal immigration. They will never again support it, and that's wrong for our country, bad for our future. +p167 +aVNo, because if you look at the quote, and it's very specific. And, it says blanket amnesty, I do not support blanket amnesty... +p168 +aV... I do not support amnesty... +p169 +aV... No, I said I do not support blanket amnesty... +p170 +aV... It was... +p171 +aV... It absolutely has been, and at the time in the context of that was in 2009, and 2010, where the last effort for legalization was an effort done in the Senate. It was an effort led by several people that provided almost an instant path with very little obstacles moving forward. What I've always said is that this issue does need to be solved. They've been talking about this issue for 30 years, and nothing ever happens. And, I'm going to tell you exactly how we're going to deal with it when I am president. Number one, we're going to keep +p172 +aVMay I respond? +p173 +aVIt's interesting that Jeb mentions the book. That's the book where you changed your position on immigration because you used to support a path to citizenship. +p174 +aVWell, but you changed the \u2014 in the book... +p175 +aVYou wrote a book where you changed your position from a path of citizenship to a path of legalization. And the bottom line is this, we are not going to be able to do anything on this issue until we first bring illegal immigration under control. The American people have been told for 30 years they're going to enforce the border, they're going to build a wall and it never gets built and it never happens. It is very clear there will be no progress on this issue in any way, shape or form, until you prove to the people of this country that illegal immigration is under control. And when I'm president, we are going to bring it under control once and for all after 30 years of talking about it. +p176 +aVBut Megyn... +p177 +aVThere's not going to be consensus on this issue until we enforce our immigration laws. That is abundantly clear. You're not going to be able to ram down the throat of the American people your approach. The only way we're are going to be able to move forward after two migratory crises with minor, after two unconstitutional executive orders, the only way forward on this issue is to first bring illegal immigration under control. And until that happens there's not going to be consensus on this issue. +p178 +aVYeah, but let me respond... +p179 +aV... no, I understand, but let me respond. I was mentioned on this \u2014 in this answer, and so I'm going to respond this way. This is the lie that Ted's campaign is built on, and Rand touched upon it \u2014 that he's the most conservative guy, and everyone else is a \u2014 you know, everyone else is a rhino. The truth is, Ted, throughout this campaign, you've been willing to say or do anything in order to get votes. Ted, you worked for George W. Bush's campaign... You \u2014 you \u2014 you helped design George W. Bush's \u2014 you helped design George W. Bush's immigration policy. And then, when you got to the Senate, you did an interview with CBS News \u2014 I wasn't even part of the video \u2014 where you said, on the issue of people that are here illegally, "we can reach a compromise." And then in the committee, you said, "I want to bring people out of the shadows." Now you want to trump Trump on immigration. But you can't \u2014 we're not gonna beat Hillary Clinton with someone who's willing to say or do anything to win an election. +p180 +aVAnd I think that's the false choice... ... that's the \u2014 that's the false choice in this whole debate about immigration. Of course, we're going to be a nation of immigrants. By the way, no nation on earth is more generous than America is. Every single year close to a million people emigrate to the United States legally. There's no nation on earth that comes close to that number. I think the only argument is are we a sovereign country, are we not allowed to choose who comes in, when they come in and how they come in? And that's not what's happening now. +p181 +aVI think the other problem is we have a legal immigration system that's outdated, it's primarily based on whether you have family members living here. In the 21st century, it has to be more of a merit-based system, and that is why our legal immigration system is in need of modernization. And we will always celebrate legal immigration like Dulce's great story. +p182 +aVWell, I believe, and I know that if Iowa helps make me the Republican nominee, I will defeat Hillary Clinton. Hillary doesn't want to run against me, but I cannot wait to run against her. And I cannot wait to earn the opportunity to do it because she cannot be the president of the United States. She wants to put Barack Obama on the Supreme Court of the United States of America. She said that here in Iowa just two days ago. That would be a disaster for this country. So I hope and pray and cannot wait until this state and others give me an opportunity to serve this party as its nominee because I will defeat Hillary Clinton. +p183 +aVWell, let me be clear about one thing, there's only one savior and it's not me. It's Jesus Christ who came down to earth and died for our sins. And so \u2014 and I've always made that clear about that cover story. As far as the polls are concerned, Iowa, on Monday night you're going to go to a caucus site and you'll be the first Americans that vote in this election. You will be the first Americans that get to answer the fundamental question, what comes next for this country after seven disastrous years of Barack Obama? And let me tell you what the answer better not be. It better not be Bernie Sanders. Bernie Sanders is a socialist. I think Bernie Sanders is good candidate for president of Sweden. We don't want to be Sweden. We want to be the United States of America. And Hillary Clinton, Hillary Clinton is disqualified from being the commander-in-chief of the United States. In fact, one of her first acts as president may very well be to pardon herself because Hillary Clinton... Hillary Clinton stored classified information on her private server. And Hillary Clinton lied to the families of those four brave Americans who lost their life in Benghazi. And anyone who lies to the families of Americans who have died in the service of this country can never be commander-in-chief of the United States. +p184 +aVYeah, I would encourage people to go on my website, marcorubio.com, and we'll put all the facts up there so people can see it for themselves. But you've just asked a very fundamental question about the role of faith in our country. And I think this is an important question. I think if you do not understand that our Judeo-Christian values are one of the reasons why America is such a special country, you don't understand our history. You see, why are we one of the most generous people in the world \u2014 no, the most generous people in the world? Why do Americans contribute millions of dollars to charity? It is not because of the tax writeoff. It is because in this nation, we are influenced by Judeo-Christian values that teach us to care for the less fortunate, to reach out to the needy, to love our neighbor. This is what's made our nation so special. And you should hope that our next president is someone that is influence by their faith. Because if your faith causes you to care for the less fortunate, it is something you want to see in your public figures. And when I'm president, I can tell you this, my faith will not just influence the way I'll govern as president, it will influence the way I live my life. Because in the end, my goal is not simply to live on this earth for 80 years, but to live an eternity with my creator. And I will always allow my faith to influence everything I do. +p185 +aVWell, let me first describe Iran because they're not just a normal nation state. And we have no quarrel with the Iranian people. But the Iranian leader, their supreme leader is a radical Shia cleric who has an apocalyptic vision of the future. He views himself not simply as the leader of Iran, but as the leader of all Muslims \u2014 all Shia Muslims on the planet. And they have a desire not simply to conquer the Middle East and to become the dominant power in that region, but ultimately to be able to hold America hostage. That is why they're building an \u2014 right now, developing long- range missiles capable of reaching the United States, and that is why there's going \u2014 they're going to use those $100 billion to expand their conventional capabilities and to one day buy or build a nuclear weapon. We will \u2014 when I am president of the United States, on my first day in office, we are canceling the deal with Iran, and nations will have to make a choice. They can do business with Iran, or they can do business with America, and I am very confident they're going to choose America before they choose the Iranian economy. +p186 +aVThe bible commands us to let our light shine on the world. For over 200 years, America's light has been shining on the world and the world has never been the same again. But now, that light is dimming a little, after seven years of Barack Obama. And that's why Monday night, what will happen here in Iowa is so important. I'm asking you for your vote. Caucus for me on Monday night because if I am your nominee, I will unite this party and I will defeat Hillary Clinton and when I'm president, America's light will shine again and the 21 century will be a new American century. +p187 +aVYeah, I would go, first of all, one step further in this description of Hillary Clinton. She wouldn't just be a disaster, Hillary Clinton is disqualified from being commander in chief of the United States. Someone who cannot handle intelligence information appropriately cannot be commander in chief and someone who lies to the families of those four victims in Benghazi can never be president of the United States. Ever. On the issue of Barack Obama, Barack Obama does not believe that America is a great global power. Barack Obama believes that America is a arrogant global power that needs to be cut down to size. And that's how you get a foreign policy where we cut deals with our enemies like Iran and we betray our allies like Israel and we gut our military and we go around the world like he has done on 10 separate occasions and apologized for America. He doesn't understand the threat in +p188 +aVLet me . I was invoked in that question, so let me just say \u2014 in that answer \u2014 let me say, the real question here, I hate to interrupt this episode of Court TV. But the real \u2014 but I think we have to get back to what this election has to be about. OK? Listen, we \u2014 this is the greatest country in the history of mankind. But in 2008, we elected a president that didn't want to fix America. He wants to change America. We elected a president that doesn't believe in the Constitution. He undermines it. We elected a president that is weakening America on the global stage. We elected a president that doesn't believe in the free enterprise system. This election has to be about reversing all of that damage. That's why I'm running for office because when I become president of the United States, on my first day in office we are going to repeal every single one of his unconstitutional executive orders. When I'm president of the United States we are getting rid of Obamacare and we are rebuilding our military. And when I'm president, we're not just going to have a president that gives a State of the Union and says America is the greatest country in the world. When I'm president, we're going to have a president that acts like it. +p189 +aVYou know, as I said already twice in this , we have a very serious problem in this country. We have a president of the United States that is undermining this country's security and expanding the role of... +p190 +aVWell, I am going to answer your question, Neil. He is \u2014 this president is undermining the constitutional basis of this government. This president is undermining our military. He is undermining our standing in the world. I like Chris Christie, but we can not afford to have a president of the United States that supports Common Core. We can not afford to have a president of the United States that supports gun control. This president, this president is more interested in funding \u2014 less interested in funding the military, than he is in funding planned \u2014 he's more interested in funding Planned Parenthood than he is in funding the military. Chris Christie wrote a check to Planned Parenthood. All I'm saying is our next president has to be someone that undoes the damage Barack Obama has done to this country. It can not be someone that agrees with his agenda. Because the damage he has done to America is extraordinary. Let me tell you, if we don't get this election right, there may be no turning back for America. We're on the verge of being the first generation of Americans that leave our children worse off than ourselves. So I just truly, with all my heart belief, I like everybody on the stage. No one is a socialist. No one here is under FBI investigation. So we have a good group of people. +p191 +aVOur next president... +p192 +aVUnfortunately, Governor Christie has endorsed many of the ideas that Barack Obama supports, whether it is Common Core or gun control or the appointment of Sonia Sotomayor or the donation he made to Planned Parenthood. Our next president, and our Republican nominee can not be someone who supports those positions. +p193 +aVThat sounds like people are afraid the president's going to take their guns away. Look, the Second Amendment is not an option. It is not a suggestion. It is a constitutional right of every American to be able to protect themselves and their families. I am convinced that if this president could confiscate every gun in America, he would. I am convinced that this president, if he could get rid of the Second Amendment, he would. I am convinced because I see how he works with his attorney general, not to defend the Second Amendment, but to figure out ways to undermine it. I have seen him appoint people to our courts not to defend the Second Amendment, but to figure out ways to undermine it. Here's my second problem. None of these instances that the president points to as the reason why he's doing these things would have been preventive. You know why? Because criminals don't buy their guns from a gun show. They don't buy their guns from a collector. And they don't buy their guns from a gun store. They get \u2014 they steal them. They get them on the black market. And let me tell you, +p194 +aVAbout every two weeks, he holds a press conference talking about how he can't wait to restrict people's access to guns. He has never defended......I'll give you a fact. Well, let me tell you this. Do you remember when he ran for president of the United States, and he was a candidate, and he went and said, "These Americans with traditional values, they are bitter people, and they cling to their guns and to their religion." That tells you right away where he was headed on all of this. This president every chance he has ever gotten has tried to undermine the Second Amendment. He doesn't meet \u2014 here's the difference. When he meets with the attorney general in the White House, it's not "how can we protect the Second Amendment rights of Americans." It's "give me options on how I can make it harder for law-abiding people to buy guns." That will never happen when I am president of the United States. +p195 +aVWell, first of all, let's understand why we are even having this and why Donald tapped in to some of that anger that's out there about this whole issue. Because this president has consistently underestimated the threat of +p196 +aVBut on this point, if I may add something on this point. We are all frustrated with what China is doing. I think we need to be very careful with tariffs, and here's why. China doesn't pay the tariff, the buyer pays the tariff. If you send a tie or a shirt made in China into the United States and an American goes to buy it at the store and there's a tariff on it, it gets passed on in the price to price to the consumer. So I think the better approach, the best thing we can do to protect ourselves against China economically is to make our economy stronger, which means reversing course from all the damage Barack Obama is doing to this economy. It begins with tax reform. Let's not have the most expensive business tax rate in the world. Let's allow companies to immediately expense. It continues with regulatory reform. Regulations in this country are out of control, especially the Employment Prevention Agency, the EPA, and all of the rules they continue to impose on our economy and hurting us. How about Obamacare, a certified job killer? It needs to be repealed and replaced. And we need to bring our debt under control, make our economy stronger. That is the way to deal with China at the end of the day. +p197 +aVWell, first let me address the tax issue because it's related to the entitlement issue and I want to thank you for holding a substantive debates where we can have debates about these key issues on taxes. Here is the one thing I'm not going to do. I'm not going to have something that Ted described in his tax plan. It's called the value added tax. And it's a tax you find in many companies in Europe. Where basically, businesses now will have to pay a tax, both on the money they make, but they also have to pay taxes on the money that they pay their employees. And that's why they have it in Europe, because it is a way to blindfolded the people, that's what Ronald Reagan said. Ronald Regan opposed the value tax because he said it was a way to blindfold the people, so the true cost of government was not there there for them. Now, you can support one now that's very low. But what is to prevent a future liberal president or a liberal Congress from coming back and not just raising the income tax, but also raising that VAT tax, and that vat tax is really bad for seniors. Because seniors, if they are retired, are no longer earning an income from a job. And therefore, they don't get the income tax break, but their prices are going to be higher, because the vat tax is embedded in both the prices that business that are charging and in the wages they pay their employees. When I am president of the United States, I'm going to side with Ronald Regan on this and not Nancy Pelosi and we are not having a vat tax. +p198 +aVBut that's not an accurate description of the plan. Because, first of all, you may rename the IRS but you are not going to abolishes the IRS, because there has to be some agency that's going to collect your vat tax. Someone's going to be collecting this tax. In fact, Ronald Reagan's treasury, when Ronald Reagan's treasury looked at the vat tax, you know what they found? That they were going to have to hire 20,000 new IRS agencies to collect it. The second point, it does not eliminate the corporate tax or the payroll tax. Businesses will now have to pay 16 percent on the money they make. They will also have to pay 16 percent on the money they pay their employees. So there are people watching tonight in business. If you are now hit on a 60 percent tax on both your income and on the wages you pay your employees, where are you going to get that money from? You're going to get it by paying your employees less and charging your customers more, that is a tax, the difference is, you don't see it on the bill. And that's why Ronald Reagan said that it was a blindfold. You blindfold the American people so that they cannot see the true cost of government. Now 16 percent is what the rate Ted wants it at. But what happens if, God forbid, the next Barack Obama takes over, and the next Nancy Pelosi, and the next Harry Reid......and they decide, we're going to raise it to 30 percent, plus we're going to raise the income tax to 30 percent. Now, you've got Europe. +p199 +aVIf you'll answer the core question. +p200 +aVWell, first of all, this is an issue that's been debated now for 30 years. And for 30 years, the issue of immigration has been about someone who's in this country, maybe they're here illegally, but they're looking for a job. This issue is not about that anymore. First and foremost, this issue has to be now more than anything else about keeping America safe. And here's why. There is a radical jihadist group that is manipulating our immigration system. And not just green cards. They're looking \u2014 they're recruiting people that enter this country as doctors and engineers and even fiances. They understand the vulnerabilities we have on the southern border. They're looking \u2014 they're looking to manipulate our \u2014 the visa waiver countries to get people into the United States. So our number one priority must now become ensuring that +p201 +aVThe issue is a dramatically different issue than it was 24 months ago. Twenty-four months ago, 36 months ago, you did not have a group of radical crazies named +p202 +aVMaria, let me clear something up here. This is an interesting point when you talk about immigration. Ted Cruz, you used to say you supported doubling the number of green cards, now you say that you're against it. You used to support a 500 percent increase in the number of guest workers, now you say that you're against it. You used to support legalizing people that were here illegally, now you say you're against it. You used to say that you were in favor of birthright citizenship, now you say that you are against it. And by the way, it's not just on immigration, you used to support TPA, now you say you're against it. I saw you on the Senate floor flip your vote on crop insurance because they told you it would help you in Iowa, and last week, we all saw you flip your vote on ethanol in Iowa for the same reason. That is not consistent conservatism, that is political calculation. When I am president, I will work consistently every single day to keep this country safe, not call Edward Snowden, as you did, a great public servant. Edward Snowden is a traitor. And if I am president and we get our hands on him, he is standing trial for treason. And one more point, one more point. Every single time that there has been a Defense bill in the Senate, three people team up to vote against it. Bernie Sanders, Rand Paul and Ted Cruz. In fact, the only budget you have ever voted for, Ted, in your entire time in the Senate is a budget from Rand Paul that brags about how it cuts defense. Here's the bottom line, and I'll close with this. If I'm president of the United States and Congress tries to cut the military, I will veto that in a millisecond. +p203 +aVNo, it's your record. +p204 +aVYou know, 200 years ago, America was founded on this powerful principle that our rights don't come from government. Our rights come from God. That's why we embraced free enterprise, and it made us the most prosperous people in the history of the world. That's why we embraced individual liberty, and we became the freest people ever, and the result was the American miracle. But now as I travel the country, people say what I feel. This country is changing. It feels different. We feel like we're being left behind and left out. And the reason is simple: because in 2008, we elected as president someone who wasn't interested in fixing America. We elected someone as president who wants to change America, who wants to make it more like the rest of the world. And so he undermines the Constitution, and he undermines free enterprise by expanding government, and he betrays our allies and cuts deals with our enemies and guts our military. And that's why 2016 is a turning point in our history. If we elect Hillary Clinton, the next four years will be worse than the last eight, and our children will be the first Americans ever to inherit a diminished country. But if we elect the right person \u2014 if you elect me \u2014 we will turn this country around, we will reclaim the American dream and this nation will be stronger and greater than it has ever been. +p205 +aVThank you Wolf. It's really amazing to be back in Las Vegas. I spent six years as a child growing not far from where we stand tonight. I use to sit on the porch of our home and listen to my grandfather tell stories as he smoked one of three daily cigars. One of the things my grandfather instilled in me, was that I was really blessed because I was a citizen of the greatest country in the history of our mankind. But there have always been people in American politics that wanted America to be more like the rest of the world. And In 2008, one of them was elected president of this country and the result has been a disaster. Today you have millions of Americans that feel left out and out of place in their own country, struggling to live paycheck to paycheck, called bigots because they hold on to traditional values. And around the world, America's influence has declined while this president has destroyed our military, our allies no longer trust us, and our adversaries no longer respect us. And that is why this election is so important. That is why I'm running for president. And that's why I'm going to ask you for your vote tonight. If you elect me president, we will have a president that believes America is the greatest country in the world and we will have a president that acts like it. +p206 +aVWell, I understand why they feel that way, because this president hasn't kept us safe. The problem is we had an attack in San Bernardino. And we were paying attention to the most important issue we have faced in a decade since 9/11, and then all the talk was about this proposal, which isn't going to happen. But this is what's important to do is we must deal frontally with this threat of radical Islamists, especially from +p207 +aVHe is and so are those that voted for it. There were some that voted for it because they wanted to keep it alive and they were afraid the whole program would expire. Here's the world we live in. This is a radical jihadist group that is increasingly sophisticated in its ability, for example, to radicalize American citizens, in its inability to exploit loopholes in our legal immigration system, in its ability to capture and hold territory in the Middle East, as I outlined earlier, in multiple countries. This is not just the most capable, it is the most sophisticated terror threat we have ever faced. We are now at a time when we need more tools, not less tools. And that took we lost, the metadata program, was a valuable tool that we no longer have at our disposal. +p208 +aVDana, may I interject here? +p209 +aVLet me be very careful when answering this, because I don't think national television in front of 15 million people is the place to discuss classified information. So let me just be very clear. There is nothing that we are allowed to do under this bill that we could not do before. This bill did, however, take away a valuable tool that allowed the National Security Agency and other law \u2014 and other intelligence agencies to quickly and rapidly access phone records and match them up with other phone records to see who terrorists have been calling. Because I promise you, the next time there is attack on \u2014 an attack on this country, the first thing people are going to want to know is, why didn't we know about it and why didn't we stop it? And the answer better not be because we didn't have access to records or information that would have allowed us to identify these killers before they attacked. +p210 +aVI want to thank Rand for another 30 seconds, because, number one, what he's pointing to is a bill last week that \u2014 amendment that he voted for that only 10 people voted for. You know why? Because it's not focused on terrorists. It would have banned anyone from coming here. Someone from Taiwan would not have been able to come here as a tourist. Number two, this program, this metadata program is actually more strict than what a regular law enforcement agency has now. If a regular law enforcement agency wants your phone records, all they have to do is issue a subpoena. But now the intelligence agency is not able to quickly gather records and look at them to see who these terrorists are calling. And the terrorists that attacked us in San Bernardino was an American citizen, born and raised in this country. And I bet you we wish we would have had access to five years of his records so we could see who he was working with... +p211 +aVDo I get another 30 seconds? He mentioned me. +p212 +aVWell, let me begin by saying that we have to understand who +p213 +aVThat is accurate. Three times he voted against the Defense Authorization Act, which is a bill that funds the troops. It also, by the way, funds the Iron Dome and other important programs. And I have to assume that if you vote against it in the Senate, you would also veto it as president. He has also supported, by the way, a budget that is called the containment budget. And it is a budget that would radically reduce the amount of money we spend on our military. You can't carpet bomb +p214 +aVYes, let me \u2014 three points of distinction. The first is, if you're an American citizen and you decide to join up with +p215 +aVWell, they most certainly will have to be worked on to provide more than what they are doing now. There's no doubt about it. And there's one \u2014 one major reason why they have not been willing to be a broader part of the coalition, and that is they have lost complete trust and confidence in this president. This president cut a deal with their moral enemy, the Shia, in Iran. And this is the reason why they no longer trust this president and are willing to work alongside them. But they have as much invested in this as we do. In fact, more so, for it is the king of Saudi Arabia they want to behead first. It's the king of Jordan that they want to dethrone. It's the \u2014 they want to go into Egypt the way they've already gone into Libya. And on another point that we need to talk about, Assad is one of the main reasons why +p216 +aVTo begin with, Moammar Gadhafi and the revolt against Gadhafi was not started by the United States. It was started by the Libyan people. And the reason why I argued we needed to get involved is because he was going to go one way or the other. And my argument then was proven true, and that is, the longer that civil war took, the more militias would be formed and the more unstable the country would be after the fact. As far as Moammar Gadhafi is concerned, by the way, Moammar Gadhafi is the man that killed those Americans over Lockerbie, Scotland. Moammar Gadhafi is also the man that bombed that cafe in Berlin and killed those Marines. And you want to know why Moammar Gadhafi started cooperating on his nuclear program? Because we got rid of Saddam Hussein. And so he got scared that he would be next, and that's why he started cooperating. Look, we will have to work around the world with less than ideal governments. The government in Saudi Arabia is not a democracy, but we will have to work with them. The government in Jordan is not perfect, but we will have to work with them. But anti-American dictators like Assad, who help Hezbollah, who helped get those IEDs into Iraq, if they go, I will not shed a tear. +p217 +aVYeah. Immigration is not an issue that I read about in the newspaper or watch a documentary on PBS or CNN. It's an issues I've lived around my whole life. My family are immigrants. My wife's family are immigrants. All of my neighbors are immigrants. I see every aspect of this problem. The good, the bad, and the ugly. And here's what we learned in 2013. The American people don't trust the Federal Government to enforce our immigration laws, and we will not be able to do anything on immigration until we first prove to the American people that illegal immigration is under control. And we can do that. We know what it takes to do that. It takes at least 20,000 more additional border agents. It takes completing those 700 miles of fencing. It takes a mandatory e-verify system and a mandatory entry/exit tracking system to prevent overstays. After we have done that, the second thing we have to do is reform and modernize the legal immigration system. And after we have done those two things, I think the American people are gonna be reasonable with what do you do with someone who has been in this country for 10 or 12 years who hasn't otherwise violated our laws \u2014 because if they're a criminal they can't stay. They'll have to undergo a background check, pay a fine, start paying taxes. And ultimately, they'll given a work permit and that's all they're gonna be allowed to have for at least 10 years. But you can't get to that third step until you have done the other two things, and that was the lesson we learned in 2013. There is no trust that the Federal Government will enforce the law. They will not support you until you see it done first. +p218 +aVBut I've answered that question repeatedly. I am personally open \u2014 after all that has happened and after ten years in that probationary status where all they have is a permit, I personally am open to allowing people to apply for a green card. That may not be a majority position in my party, but that's down the road. You can't even begin that process until you prove to people \u2014 not just pass a law that says you're gonna bring illegal immigration under control. You're gonna have to do it and prove to people that it's working. And that was the lesson of 2013. And it's more true today, than it was then. After a migratory crisis on the border with minors coming over that you're seeing start up again now, after all these executive orders the President has issued. More than ever we need to... +p219 +aV... prove to people that illegal immigration is under control. +p220 +aVYeah, a couple points. In 2013 we had never faced a crisis like the Syrian refugee crisis now. Up until that point, a refugee meant someone fleeing oppression, fleeing Communism like it is in my community. As far as Ted's record, I'm always puzzled by his attack on this issue. Ted, you support legalizing people who are in this country illegally. Ted Cruz supported a 500-percent increase in the number of H-1 visas, the guest workers that are allowed into this country, and Ted supports doubling the number of green cards. So I think what's important for us to understand and there is a way forward on this issue that we an bring our country together on. And while I'm president I will do it. And it will begin by bringing illegal immigration under control and proving to the American people. +p221 +aVNo, no, give him time. +p222 +aVTed, do you... +p223 +aVDid Ted Cruz fight to support legalizing people that are in this country illegally? +p224 +aVDoes Ted Cruz rule out ever legalizing people that are in this country now? +p225 +aVWould you rule it out? +p226 +aVWell, he's just admitted \u2014 as he's just admitted, the reason why those refugees were allowed in was because they messed up in how they used the actual database. They should have know. They didn't because they didn't run the actual law as it exists now. It didn't work well. As far as the refugees are concerned, it's not that America doesn't want to accept refugees, Wolf. It's that we may not be able to, because this is an issue we have to be 100 percent right on. If we allow 9,999 Syrian refugees into the United States, and all of them are good people, but we allow one person in who's an +p227 +aVI do. First, let's explain to people at home who the triad \u2014 what the triad is. Maybe a lot of people haven't heard that terminology before. The triad is our ability of the United States to conduct nuclear attacks using airplanes, using missiles launched from silos or from the ground, and also from our nuclear subs' ability to attack. And it's important \u2014 all three of them are critical. It gives us the ability at deterrence. Now, some have become more critical than others; for example, the submarines. And that's the Ohio Class submarine that needs to be modernized. The air component also needs to be modernized. The B-52, as someone earlier pointed out, is an outdated model that was flown by the grandparents of people that are flying it now. And we need a serious modernization program as well on our silo-launched missiles. All three are critical for the defense of the country. +p228 +aVThank you. As we near the end of this year, we enter one of the most important elections in a generation. For what's at stake in this election is not simply what party's going to be in charge. But our very identity as a people and as a nation. For over 200 years this has been a special country. A unique place where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything. But now millions of Americans feel like they're being left behind. Insecure in their future and unsafe in the face of terrorism. This election is about electing a president that will restore our economic vibrancy so that the American dream can expand to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And rebuild our Military and our intelligence programs so that we can remain the strongest nation on earth. Tonight I ask you for your vote. If you do this, we will rebuild this country, and together we will usher in a new American century \u2014 the greatest era in the history of this great land. +p229 +asVKASICH +p230 +(lp231 +VWell, John, first of all, if I were president, we wouldn't have the divisions in the country we have today. I do want to take a second as we reflected on Judge Scalia, it's amazing \u2014 it's not even two minutes after the death of Judge Scalia, nine children here today, their father didn't wake up. His wife, sad, but I just wish we hadn't run so fast into politics. Here's my concern about this. The country is so divided right now, and now we're going to see another partisan fight take place. I really wish the president would think about not nominating somebody. If you were to nominate somebody, let's have him pick somebody that's going to have unanimous approval, and such widespread approval across the country that this could happen without a lot of recrimination. I don't think that's going to happen, and I would like the president just to, for once here, put the country first. We're going to have an election for president very soon, and the people will understand what is at stake in that election. And so I believe the president should not move forward, and I think that we ought to let the next president of the United States decide who is going to run that Supreme Court with a vote by the people of the United......States of America. +p232 +aVFirst of all \u2014 yes. First of all, look, we have to make it clear to Russia what we expect. We don't have to declare an enemy, rattle a sword or threaten, but we need to make it clear what we expect. No. 1 is we will arm the folks in Ukraine who are fighting for their freedom. They deserve it. There will be no ifs, ands or buts about it. Secondly, an attack on +p233 +aVI've got to tell you, this is just crazy, huh? This is just nuts, O.K.? Jeez, oh, man. I'm sorry, John. +p234 +aVOh, well, listen, I think being in Iraq, look, we thought there were weapons of mass destruction. Colin Powell, who is one of the most distinguished generals in modern time, said there were weapons there. But, but, the fact is we got ourselves in the middle of a civil war. The Sunni, the Shia and the Kurds, never gotten along. In fact, that country was drawn \u2014 the borders of that country were drawn after World War I by Westerners that didn't understand what was happening there. The tragedy of it is that we're still embroiled. And, frankly, if there weren't weapons of mass destruction, we should never have gone. I don't believe the United States should involve itself in civil wars. Civil wars are not in our direct interest, and if you \u2014 and look, I served on a defense committee for 18 years and was called into the Pentagon after 9/11 by Secretary Rumsfeld to deal with some of the most serious problems that we faced. The fact is, is that we should go to war when it is our direct interest. We should not be policemen of the world, but when we go, we mean business. We'll do our job. We'll tell our soldiers, our people in the service, take care of your job and then come home once we've accomplished our goals. That's what we need to do. +p235 +aVYeah. Well, first of all, those numbers, incorrect. We are \u2014 our Medicaid programs are coming in below cost estimates, and our Medicaid program in the second year grew at 2.5 percent. And Kimberley, let me tell you, when we expand Medicaid and we treat the mentally ill, then they don't live under a bridge or live in a prison, where they cost $22,500 a year. When we take the drug addicted and we treat them in the prisons, we stop the revolving door of people in and out of prisons, and we save $22,500 a year. Guess what else? They get their lives back. And the working poor, they're now getting health care. And you know that about a third of the people who are now getting that health care are people who are suffering very serious illnesses, particularly cancer. So, what I would tell you is, we've gone from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. We've cut taxes by more than any governor in America by $5 billion. We have grown the number of jobs by 400,000 private-sector jobs since I've been governor. Our credit is strong. Our pensions are strong. And frankly, we leave no one behind. Economic growth is not an end unto itself. We want everyone to rise, and we will make them personally responsible for the help that they get. And that is exactly the program we're driving in Ohio. And, boy, people ought to look at Ohio, because it has got a good formula. +p236 +aVYeah, let me say a couple of things. First of all, when Jeb was governor, his first four years as governor, he expand \u2014 his Medicaid program grew twice as fast as mine. O.K.? It's just a fact. Now, with Obamacare, I've not only sued the administration, I did not set up an exchange. And he knows that I'm not for Obamacare, never have been. But here's what's interesting about Medicaid. You know who expanded Medicaid five times to try to help the folks and give them opportunity so that you could rise and get a job? President Ronald Reagan. Now, the fact of the matter is, we expanded to get people on their feet, and once they're on their feet, we are giving them the training and the efforts that they need to be able to get work and pull out of that situation. +p237 +aVThat's what we're doing in our state. +p238 +aVLet me \u2014 let's tell you... +p239 +aVMajor \u2014 Major, we can't \u2014 we've got to \u2014 look, I have got to correct the record. And the fact of the matter is, we went from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. We're up 400,000 jobs. Our credit is rock solid. And I don't know... +p240 +aVLook, the bottom line is the people of this \u2014 of this country and this state want to see everybody rise, and they want to see unity, and I don't want to get into all this fighting tonight, because people are frankly sick of the negative campaigning. +p241 +aVAnd I'm going to stay positive about what I want to do from the... +p242 +aVBefore I get to that, this is the ninth or 10th debate. What I've been watching here, this back and forth, and these attacks, some of them are personal. I think we're fixing to lose the election to Hillary Clinton if we don't stop this. I mean, the fact is \u2014 you know what? I would suggest, why don't we take off all the negative ads and all the negative comments down from television and let us just talk about what we're for, and let's sell that, and the Republican Party will be stronger as a result... +p243 +aV... First of all, I'm for sealing the border, O.K.? And then I'm for a guest worker program. People can come in, work and go back home. We haven't closed the border because special interests, I believe, blocked it. Then, we have 11 and a half million people here. If they have not committed a crime since they've been here, make them pay a fine and some back taxes, and give them a path to legalization, never to citizenship. It is not going to happen that we're going to run around and try to drag 11 and a half million people out of their homes. I'll tell you this. Within the first hundred days, I will send a plan like this to the Congress of the United States, and if I'm president, I'll bet you dollar to doughnuts right now, it will pass. That is a reasonable proposal that the people of this country, in my judgment, will support, and so will the bulk of the Congress of the United States. +p244 +aVYou know, John, I think all people are the same. Look, I did 106 town halls, and I've been doing them left and right here in South Carolina. The first thing we have to do is grow the economy, and I know the formula because I was chairman in Washington when we balanced the budget and created so many jobs, and the same that we've been able to do in Ohio. You need common-sense regulations so small business can flourish, you need lower taxes both on business and individuals, and you need a fiscal plan to be able to get ourselves in a situation where people can predict a little bit about the future when it comes to the fiscal issues. And when you have that formula, combined with work force that's trained, you can explode the economy and create many jobs. I have done it twice, and I want to go back to Washington and do it again. John, the thing is, is I think that there are people now, these blue-collar Democrats \u2014 my dad was a blue-collar Democrat \u2014 the Democratic Party has left them. When they're arguing about being socialists, they've left \u2014 they have lost those blue-collar Democrats. And you know what I think they get out of me \u2014 is my sense of what they get out of me, and it's embarrassment about campaigns, you brag about yourself. But I think I'm a uniter, I think people sense it. I think they know I have the experience, and that I'm a man that can give people hope and a sense that they have the opportunity rise. And I'll tell you, I love these blue-collar Democrats, because they're going to vote for us come next fall, promise you that. +p245 +aVWell, I want to thank the people of South Carolina. You've been fantastic. And look, what I want you to know is I'm going to send a lot of power, money and influence back to where we all live. But as I've traveled around South Carolina, I've noticed something. You know, it's that people have a sense that you're not going to wait on a president. You know, when I was a kid, we didn't wait on presidents to come to that little blue-collar town and fix things. You know, the Lord made all of us special. The Lord wants us to be connected. I believe we're part of a very big mosaic. And I'll send the power back. And whoever gets elected president here, hopefully will take care of the issue of jobs and wages and Social Security and the border. But the spirit of the America rests in all of us. It's in our guts. It's taking care of our children. It's taking care of the lady next door who just lost her husband. It's fixing the schools where we live and telling kids to stay off drugs. You see, I think what the Lord wants is for to us engage, and in America, the spirit of America doesn't come from the top down. The spirit of America rests in us. And I want to call on everyone in America to double down and realize that you were made special to heal this country and lift it for everyone. Thank you all very much. And I hope I can have your vote in South Carolina. +p246 +aVWell, we've got to to step up the pressure. And by the way, I've gotta say, after being here, every one of my 100 town hall meetings in New Hampshire were a lot more fun than what I saw here today, were so much more positive. Look, in terms of North Korea, Martha, we have to make sure that we intercept both the ships and their aircraft, because what they're trying to do is to proliferate this very dangerous material, along with the \u2014 with the technology, the instruments that can be used for mass destruction. That's what I worry about the most, frankly, is non-state actors, people who don't have a uniform, people don't have a country, who can spread this, who are not subject to the \u2014 to the mutual assured defense. In other words, you strike us, we strike you. Some of these radicals, they don't care about that. That's what I worry about, for my children, and for their children, going forward. So, we have to be very tough. And we should tell the Chinese, look, if you're not going to do this ballistic missile defense to the Koreans, ballistic missile defense to Japan \u2014 and by the way, we should impose the same kind of sanctions on North Korea that we imposed on Iran, because they're able to shift money. They're able to send money and receive money. We've gotta to be very tough on this. And frankly, I think we could have \u2014 I think we could have let the Japanese know that if you want to take action on that \u2014 on that missile that's rising, you want to take action \u2014 you will have our support, if that's what you think is the best thing to do. We cannot continue to be weak in the face of the North Koreans, or, frankly, in the entire rest of the world. Martha, this is \u2014 this is the \u2014 relates... +p247 +aVWell, you know, David, I \u2014 I've just spent a lot of time here in this state, as I mentioned earlier, and we have to have practical solutions, just like we were just talking about a few minutes ago on North Korea. Look, the situation is, we need to finish the border. It has to be completed. Just like we lock our doors at night, the country has to be able to lock its doors. And we can have a guest worker program, where people can come in and out in an orderly way. And then for the 11.5 million that are here, if they have not committed a crime since they've been here, I believe they ought to pay some back taxes, pay a fine, never get on the path to citizenship, but get legalization. It is not \u2014 I couldn't even imagine how we would even begin to think about taking a mom or a dad out of a house when they have not committed a crime since they've been here, leaving their children in the house. I mean, that is not, in my opinion, the kind of values that we believe in. And secondly, I think at the end of the day, that Americans would support a plan like this. I think Congress would pass a plan to finish the border, guest worker, pay a fine, a path to legalization, and not citizenship. And we've got to get this done. And I will tell you this, within the first 100 days that I am president, I will put that proposal to the Congress. And I will tell you, as a former Congressman, and an executive, in Ohio, I can promise you that I believe you'll get the votes to pass that, and we can move on with that issue and protect our border. That's what I think. +p248 +aVGood evening. +p249 +aVWell, first of all, look. As the New York Times said, he's certainly not a moderate, but he can bring people together to solve problems. The fact of the matter is I've cut taxes more than anybody in the country this year. I have balanced budgets, the federal budget, the state of Ohio budget, we're running a $2 billion dollar surplus, we're up 400,000 jobs, and in Washington we were able to have significant job growth whenever we balanced the budget of which I was the architect. But, here's the beauty of it, it's not just balancing a budget, it's about jobs. You know, when I was kid growing up in a neighborhood where Dad went home at night and said, "I lost my job today", it just killed the family. It just was a devastating effect. We have to have economic growth, but once we have economic growth I believe we have to reach out to people who live in the shadows. I believe we need to help the mentally ill, the drug addicted, the working poor. We need to help the developmentally disabled to rise, and we need to help our friends in the minority community develop entrepreneurship. In other words, in American, conservatism should mean not only that some rise with conservative principles, but everybody has a chance to rise regardless of who they are so they can live their God given purpose. That's what conservatism should be. +p250 +aVDavid? +p251 +aVLook, I'm \u2014 I'm not here \u2014 I like Chris. +p252 +aVLet \u2014 but let me \u2014 let me just tell you. First of all, we have the lowest number of state employees in 30 years. Secondly, we have grown government at the rate of inflation. And I went from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. And we've grown jobs by 400,000 \u2014 that's one of the fastest growing states in the country. Our pensions are secure and our credit is rock solid. Now, I've learned that, what makes things work, what gets the economy going, not just in Ohio, but in Washington \u2014 and it's three things. Common sense regulations, which we have, lower taxes, which we have, the lowest taxes, tax cuts in the country. And thirdly, a fiscal plan to balance the budget. When you go from $8 billion in the hole to $2 billion in the black, when you cut taxes by $5 billion and you grow over 400,000 jobs, that is a record that I can take to Washington, using the same formula that I used in Washington when I was part of the effort to balance the budget to give us a surplus and to create jobs. +p253 +aVThat's what I did and I'll do it again in the first 100 days. +p254 +aVWell, right now the deals \u2014 there's no leadership. I mean, a lot of the things that we're talking about here tonight, on the border, and so many of the things. What we should be doing on foreign policy, you know what the problem is, Mary Katharine? There's not a leader that gets somebody to rise up. You have to have a leader that can inspire, and actually some of what Donald was saying is true. Look, do you know how hard it was... +p255 +aV... to get the balance the federal budget balanced? You have to plead with people. To do what we've done in Ohio, you have to plead with people, then you go back down to Washington and do the same thing. You see, we have to remind people we're Americans before we're Republicans and Democrats, and when we wait, and when we delay what we end up doing, Mary Katharine, is we make the United States weaker. In fact, it's a foreign policy issue because people look at America not solving problems and they say what are they doing over there? So the point is you have to work with people. The problem with executive authority for the president, it's really bad news for this reason. Since he's given up on working with Congress, he thinks he can impose anything he wants. He's not a king. He's a president. An executive order should be used frankly in consolidation and with consulting with the leadership in the \u2014 in the Congress. I've done it in Ohio. I consult. I could use executive orders, but I don't trump the legislature, because if you do, you aggravate them, you anger them and then the long-term prospects get bleak. We have to solve problems in America by coming together, Republicans and Democrats, Americans first, party and ideology second \u2014 in the second back seat of this country. That's what we need to do. And we can do it. And we can do it. +p256 +aVMary Katherine, let me just say this to you. You must have an agenda that you are ready to move on in the first 100 days. Jeb is right. If you delay and you wait, the Washington operators will take you down. I can tell you this, in the first 100 days, I will have legislation to freeze federal regulations, have them reviewed by the vice president, reduce state taxes on individuals, reduce taxes on corporations, have a fiscal plan to balance the budget, get the border protected and begin to fix Social Security in the first 100 days. So, anybody who is here tonight, if I get elected president, head out tomorrow and buy a seat belt, because there's going to be so much happening in the first 100 days, it's going to make your head spin. We're going to move America forward. I promise you. We're going to move us forward. +p257 +aVJeb mentioned me. Time for me to go again. +p258 +aVHe says he didn't mention me the second time. I thought I heard it, Jeb. No. I'm just kidding. Thank you all very much for listening and being patient with all of us tonight. Thank you. +p259 +aVDavid, David... +p260 +aVI wanted \u2014 I wanted to say, look, this \u2014 there can be a win-win here. I have formed a collaborative between police and community leaders because people have to respect law enforcement. A family doesn't want dad or mom going home in a box. And for our community leaders, many of them think the system not only works \u2014 not only doesn't work for them, but it works against them. And I created a big collaborative in Ohio made up of law enforcement, community leaders, the head of my public safety and a former Democrat, liberal Senate senator Nina Turner, run it. They got together, they made recommendations on recruiting, on hiring, on the use of deadly force and what we're about to do is to bring community and police together so we can have a win-win. We need more win-wins in America and we don't have to pick one over another divide. We love the police, but we've got to be responsible to the people in the community. We have to do all of that. +p261 +aVJosh? +p262 +aVJosh, I mean, clearly, when a veteran comes home, they should get health care anywhere they want to go. In our state, which is what we should do in the country, you know, if they drive a truck from Kabul to Kandahar in Afghanistan, we say, you can drive a truck from Columbus to Cleveland, and you don't have to go get a license. We're going to hand you one. And if you've got expertise in the military, we're going to give you college credit or community college credit for the things that you did for our country. And in addition to that, I'll tell you, one of the biggest things I think has to be done \u2014 and I would do it as president \u2014 the Pentagon has got to work with the returning soldier, sailor, along with the family, and we \u2014 they're the most valuable employees in the country. I call them golden employees. Everybody wants to hire a veteran. But there is a disconnect between the job openings and the veteran when the veteran comes back. The veteran is a leader. The veteran is strong. The veteran is drug free. There should be no unemployment among veterans. And if the Pentagon will work with the veterans' services agencies all across this country, Josh, we can get people jobs and we can get them jobs quickly, get them their health care......get them their college education. Let's lift them. They're the greatest people defending the United States of America and we need to take care of them, and we will. We will. +p263 +aVCarolina's going to win that one. I hate to say it. But they're going to win that one. +p264 +aVWell, folks, I've done now over 100 town hall meetings and I've loved every second of it. It has been the greatest thing in the world. And I want you to know that you've changed me, because I've listened to your stories and I've had your hugs and I've seen your tears, and I've seen you walk away and say, I now have hope. You know, I've had a conservative message, but a positive message \u2014 not just a conservative message, but a positive message about how we can bring people together, how we can restore America's strength, lift everyone. New Hampshire, please give me a chance to carry this message forward to the United States of America. And then, I will come back. Thank you, loved it. And God bless you. +p265 +aVWell, first of all, I had a national reporter say, you know, there's three lanes. There's the establishment lane, the anti-establishment lane, and then there's the Kasich lane. And the reason is, is that I've been a reformer all of my career, fighting to reform welfare, fighting to reform the Pentagon, also being in a position to balance the budget, because that is very, very hard to do. And then in Ohio, of course, I had to bring about big reform, again, because we were so far in the hole and now we just found out we are up over 400,000 jobs since I took over as governor. You know, the situation is this. We cannot fix things in this country \u2014 the Social Security, the border, balancing the budget, getting wages to grow faster \u2014 unless we lead as conservatives, but we also invite people in from the other party. We have to come together as a country. And we have to stop all the divisions. And, you know, that's been my message in New Hampshire. And having been in New Hampshire and here in Iowa, but in New Hampshire, I just received the support of seven out of eight of the newspapers in that state because they see positive, they see unity, they see coming together, and they see a record of change and a record of accomplishment. And it isn't because I'm all that great. It's because I've been assembling a team of people who want to be involved in something that's a little bigger than themselves. I'll keep \u2014 I'll keep heading in that direction, believe me. +p266 +aVChris... ... there was a question about foreign policy, by the way, and experience. And I \u2014 I thought, if I didn't jump in, I might not be able to tell everybody this. I think they'd want to hear it. Look, I served on... +p267 +aV... but wait a minute... +p268 +aV...the only reason is \u2014 look... +p269 +aVOK. +p270 +aVI've always listened to you, Megyn. Go ahead. +p271 +aVYes \u2014 thank you. +p272 +aVWell, look the Joint Terrorism Task Force needs resources and tools. And those are made up of the FBI, state and local law enforcement. And Megyn, it's best not to talk anymore about back doors and encryption, it will get solved, but it needs to be solved in the situation of the White House with the technology folks. +p273 +aVBut I just have to tell you that it's best with some of these things not be said. Now I want to go back something. See, I was there when Reagan rebuilt the military. I was there in '89 when the wall came tumbling down because we were strong. And I was there when we went into the Gulf War. We didn't win that war just from the air, we won that war by assembling a group of Arab leaders who stood in the Rose Garden and stood with America. We want to destroy +p274 +aVBut we have a unique time in America to connect with people all around the world that understand that there's an existential threat against all of them, the Arabs, the Jordanians, the Saudis, the Egyptians, our friends in Europe, including the Turks. So we have a unique opportunity to bring everybody together. I saw Reagan do it, I've seen other presidents do it. And frankly, if you want to be commander in chief, you have to have the experience. At the same time we're doing all that, the Pentagon must be reformed so we get what we need for our men and women in uniform. All of that together, we're going to be just fine and America is going to continue to lead the world. +p275 +aVWell, you've got to be on top of it right away. And, you know, I don't know all the details of what Rick Snyder has done. I know there have been people who have been fired; people who are being held accountable. But the fact is, every single engine of government has to move when you see a crisis like that. And I've had many situations in the state of Ohio where we've had to move, whether it's storms, whether it was a horrible school shooting. There are many crises that come \u2014 a water crisis in Toledo. You've got to be on top of it. You've got to go the extra mile. You've got to work with local communities and you've got to work with the federal government. Because you realize that people depending on you. And so, you go the extra mile. But people have to be alert. They have to be alert to problems. And when you see a problem, you must act quickly to get on top of it. And people at home are saying they've got a problem, listen to them. Because most of the time, they're absolutely correct. So the fact is that we work for the people. The people don't work for us. And we have to have an attitude when we're in government of serving-hood. That's what really matters. We serve you. You don't serve us. We listen to you and \u2014 and then we act. +p276 +aVNo. You know, Chris, here's what happened with Medicaid in my state. We took the growth of Medicaid from over 10 percent in my second budget to 2.5 percent, without cutting off one person or cutting one benefit, because we \u2014 we innovated the government. And now mom and dad can stay in their own home, rather than being forced into a nursing home. And then we decided we could bring $14 billion of our money \u2014 I mean, Washington doesn't have any money. It was our money, and we brought them back to tend to the mentally ill. Because I don't think they ought to live in prison or live under a bridge; to treat the drug-addicted so they're not in an in-and-out-of-the-door policy out of the prisons; and to help the working poor so they don't live in emergency rooms. How has it worked? Well, we have treated the drug-addicted in our prisons and we released them in to the community, and our recidivism rate is less than 20 percent. That's basically bordering on a miracle because of our great prison director. The mentally ill? They've been stepped on for too long in this society, and we are beginning to treat them. In terms of my faith, look, all I say is that when I study scripture, I know that people who live in the shadows need to have a chance. But I'm not deciding that anybody's got to make these decisions the way that I do, on the basis of what I do. But what \u2014 I will tell you this. The time has come to stop ignoring the mentally ill in this country and begin to treat them and get them on their feet, along with, of course, with treating the drug-addicted. Because we don't want them in and out \u2014 we don't want them in and out of the prisons. Give people a chance. We talked about criminal justice reform. We've enacted it in our state. Look, the conservative message is economic growth and along with economic growth goes opportunity for everybody in America. Everybody ought to have a chance to be able to rise to their God-given purpose. And that is what we have done in Ohio. We're running surpluses. We're up 400,000 jobs. And guess what? The formula is working. I'd suggest people take a look at it. Thank you. +p277 +aVLook, we don't know what's going to happen in ten months. And if I were president of the United States right now, I'd be lining up our allies to say that, if one crossed T or one dotted I does not occur, they are \u2014 violate the agreement, we slap back on sanctions. We can slap on sanctions alone, on day one, but it's not gonna be anywhere near as effective. But the president needs to be laying the groundwork right now for the ability to slap those sanctions back on worldwide. And I'll tell you what I'm worried about \u2014 I'm worried about money. You read about all the companies now that are doing business \u2014 about to do business in Iran, and if we don't get this settled now, with other countries in the world, about sanctions, then Iran could violate that agreement, and we're the only ones putting the sanctions on. We need to move aggressively now. But I would say this to you, Bret. Number one, if they violate it, we need to move against them. And number two, if we find out they're developing a nuclear weapon and we know how to get to it, we're gonna go take it out. That is what we have to do. We cannot let things get farther down the road, like we did with North Korea. +p278 +aVThat's right. Yes. +p279 +aVI know, Bret. +p280 +aVBut Bret, here's the problem. You take a look at the \u2014 at Belgium. I talked to a diplomat from Belgium. I said, "how's it going?" He said, "we have the military in the streets right now. We never dreamt we'd ever see it." See, I think there is an opportunity to bring the world together. The Turks are being threatened. We know about the French. We know about the Belgians. We know about the Brits. Everybody is under fire and under attack, and we have to stand together as an alliance. So actually, the opportunity is there, because of the threat to all of these countries, to bring all of us together... ... and say there is something more important than money. It is the future of the world and the future of our children and grandchildren. That's the kind of leadership this country needs. It has not been in effect during the administration of Barack Obama. And that's only the beginning of the failures that they have committed, not only in the Middle East, but all over the world, including Russia and China. +p281 +aVYou know, one of our biggest national security issues is the world looks at us some time, and we look at each other and say, why can't we solve problems? Well, I've got news for you, we can. We can in fact create jobs and provide job security. We can create a situation where wages begin to rise. We can create a situation for our children to be able to get a decent job to pay down their college debt. We can re-assume our role in the world. But all of this has to come together when we have a positive attitude, an optimistic approach, an ability for us to set the tune as conservatives, to invite other people in to be part of that orchestra. You see, ladies and gentlemen, at the end of the day, I'm an optimist Because I've seen so many things get accomplished in my lifetime. And we can do it again together, all of us, to strengthen this country, work together. Thank you. +p282 +aVLook, it takes three things basically to grow jobs. And I've done it when I was in Washington when we had a balanced budget; had four years of balanced budgets; paid down a half-trillion of debt. And our economy was growing like crazy. It's the same thing that I did in Ohio. It's a simple formula: common sense regulations, which is why I think we should freeze all federal regulations for one year, except for health and safety. It requires tax cuts, because that sends a message to the job creators that things are headed the right way. And if you tax cuts \u2014 if you cut taxes for corporations, and you cut taxes for individuals, you're going to make things move, particularly the corporate tax, which is the highest, of course, in the \u2014 in the world. But in addition to that, we have to have fiscal discipline. We have to show that we can march to a balanced budget. And when you do that, when you're in a position of managing regulations; when you reduce taxes; and when you have fiscal discipline, you see the job creators begin to get very comfortable with the fact that they can invest. Right now, you don't have the \u2014 you have taxes that are too high. You have regulations \u2014 I mean, come on, they're affecting everybody here, particularly our small businesses. They are \u2014 they're in a position where they're smothering people. And I mean, are you kidding me? We're nowhere close to a balanced budget or fiscal discipline. Those three things put together are going to give confidence to job creators and you will begin to see wages rise. You will begin to see jobs created in a robust economy. And how do I know it? Because I've done it. I did it as the chairman of the Budget Committee, working with Senator Domenici. And I've done it in the state of Ohio as the chief executive. Our wages are growing faster than the national average. We're running surpluses. And we can take that message and that formula to Washington to lift every single American to a better life. +p283 +aVWell, if that's the case, we're going to win every state, if Bernie Sanders is the nominee. That's not even an issue. But look......and I know Bernie, and I can promise you he's not going to be president of the United States. So here's this \u2014 the situation, I think, Maria. And this is what we have to \u2014 I \u2014 I've got to tell you, when wages don't rise \u2014 and they haven't for a lot of families for a number of years \u2014 it's very, very difficult for them. Part of the reason why it hasn't risen because sometimes we're not giving people the skills they need. Sometimes it's because the Federal Reserve kept interest rates so low that the wealthy were able to invest in \u2014 in strong assets like the stock market when everybody else was left behind. People are upset about it. I'll tell you what else they're upset about: you're 50 or 51 years old, and some kid walks in and tells you you're out of work, and you don't know where to go and where to turn. Do we have answer for that? We do. There are ways to retrain the 50 and 51-year-olds, because they've got great value. I'll tell you what else people are concerned about. Their kids come out of college, they have high debt and they can't get a good job. We got to do a lot about the high cost of high \u2014 higher education, but we've got to make sure we're training people for jobs that exist, that are good jobs that can pay. Let me tell you that, in this country \u2014 in this country, people are concerned about their economic future. They're very concerned about it. And they wonder whether somebody is getting something to \u2014 keeping them from getting it. That's not the America that I've ever known. My father used to say, "Johnny, we never \u2014 we don't hate the rich. We just want to be the rich." And we just got to make sure that every American has the tools, in K-through-12 and in vocational education, in higher education. And we got to fight like crazy so people can think the American dream still exists, because it does, with rising wages, with full employment and with everybody in America \u2014 and I mean everybody in America \u2014 having an opportunity to realize the American dream of having a better life than their mother and their father. I'm president \u2014 look, I've done it once. I've done it once in Washington, with great jobs and lower taxes. The economy was really booming. And now in Ohio, with the same formula, wages higher than the \u2014 than the national average. A growth of 385,000 jobs. It's not that hard. Just know where you want to go, stick to your guts. Get it done, because our \u2014 our children and grandchildren are counting on us to get it done. And, folks, we will. You count on it. +p284 +aVWell, let me \u2014 let me first of all talk a little bit about my experience. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years, and by the way, one of the members of that committee was Senator Strom Thurmond from South Carolina. Let em also tell you......that after the 9/11 attacks, Secretary Rumsfeld invited me to the Pentagon with a meeting of the former secretaries of Defense. And in that meeting, I suggested we had a problem with technology, and that I wanted to take people from Silicon Valley into the Pentagon to solve our most significant problems. So I not only had the opportunity to go through the Cold War struggles in Central America, and even after 9/11 to be involved. With Saudi Arabia and oil production, first of all, it's so critical for us to be energy independent, and we're getting there because of fracking and we ought to explore because, see, energy independence gives us leverage and flexibility, and secondly, if you want to bring jobs back to the United States of America in industry, low prices make the difference. We're seeing it in my state and we'll see it in this country. And that's why we must make sure we continue to frack. In terms of Saudi Arabia, look, my biggest problem with them is they're funding radical clerics through their madrasses. That is a bad deal and an evil situation, and presidents have looked the other way. And I was going to tell you, whether I'm president or not, we better make it clear to the Saudis that we're going to support you, we're in relation with you just like we were in the first Gulf War, but you've got to knock off the funding and teaching of radical clerics who are the very people who try to destroy us and will turn around and destroy them. So look, in foreign policy \u2014 in foreign policy, it's strength, but you've got to be cool. You've got to have a clear vision of where you want to go. And I'm going to tell you, that it \u2014 I'm going to suggest to you here tonight, that you can't do on the job training. I've seen so much of it \u2013 a Soviet Union, the coming down of a wall, the issues that we saw around the world in Central America, the potential spread of communism, and 9/11 and Gulf War. You see what the Saudi's \u2014 deliver them a strong message but at the end of the day we have to keep our cool because most of the time they're going right with us. And they must be part of our coalition to destroy +p285 +aVI \u2014 I've been for pausing on admitting the Syrian refugees. And the reasons why I've done is I don't believe we have a good process of being able to vet them. But you know, we don't want to put everybody in the same category. And I'll go back to something that had been mentioned just a few minutes ago. If we're going to have a coalition, we're going to have to have a coalition not just of people in the western part of the world, our European allies, but we need the Saudis, we need the Egyptians, we need the Jordanians, we need the Gulf states. We need Jordan. We need all of them to be part of exactly what the first George Bush put together in the first Gulf War. It was a coalition made up of Arabs and Americans and westerners and we're going to need it again. And if we try to put everybody in the same \u2014 call everybody the same thing, we can't do it. And that's just not acceptable. But I think a pause on Syrian refugees has been exactly right for all the governors that have called for it, and also, of course, for me as the governor of Ohio. +p286 +aVNeil, Neil \u2014 can I say one thing about this. I'm a free trader. I support +p287 +aVFor too long \u2014 no, for too long, what happens is somebody dumps their product in our country and take our people's jobs, and then we go to an international court and it takes them like a year or two to figure out whether they were cheating us. And guess what? The worker's out of a job. So when they \u2014 be found against that country that's selling products in here lower than the cost of what it takes to produce them, then what do we tell the worker? Oh, well, you know, it just didn't work out for you. I think we should be for free trade but I think fair trade. And when countries violate trade agreements or dump product in this country, we need \u2014 we need to stand up against those countries that do that without making them into an enemy. And I want to just suggest to you. How do I know this? Because so many people in my family worked in steel mills, and they didn't work with a white collar, they worked in a blue collar. And the fact is those jobs are critical, they're hard working members of the middle class and they need to be paid attention to because they're Americans and they carry the load. So let's demand open trade but fair trade in this country. That's what I think we need to do. +p288 +aVWell, I created a task force well over a year ago and the purpose was to bring law enforcement, community people, clergy and the person that I named as one of the co-chair was a lady by the name of Nina Turner, a former State Senator, a liberal Democrat. She actually ran against one of my friends and our head of public safety. And they say down as a group trying to make sure that we can begin to heal some of these problems that we see between community and police. And they came back with 23 recommendations. One of them is a statewide use of deadly force. And it is now being put into place everyplace across the state of Ohio. Secondly, a policy on recruiting and hiring, and then more resources for \u2014 for training. But let me also tell you, one of the issues has got to be the integration of both community and police. Community has to understand that that police officer wants to get home at night, and not \u2014 not to lose their life. Their family is waiting for them. At the same time, law enforcement understands there are people in the community who not only think that the system doesn't work for them, but works against them. See, in Ohio, we've had some controversial decisions. But the leaders have come forward to realize that protest is fine, but violence is wrong. And it has been a remarkable situation in our state. And as president of the United States, it's all about communication, folks. It's all about getting people to listen to one another's problems. And when you do that, you will be amazed at how much progress you can make, and how much healing we can have. Because, folks, at the end of the day, the country needs healed. I've heard a lot of hot rhetoric here tonight, but I've got to tell you, as somebody that actually passed a budget; that paid down a half-a-trillion dollars of our national debt, you can't do it alone. You've got to bring people together. You've got to give people hope. And together, we can solve these problems that hurt us and heal America. And that is what's so critical for our neighborhoods, our families, our children, and our grandchildren. +p289 +aVYou know, in our country, there are a lot of people who feel as though they just don't have the power. You know, they feel like if they don't have a lobbyist, if they're not wealthy, that somehow they don't get to play. But all of my career, you know, having been raised in \u2014 by a mailman father whose father was a coal miner, who died of black lung and was losing his eyesight; or a mother whose mother could barely speak English. You see, all of my career, I've fought about giving voice to the people that I grew up with and voice to the people that elected me. Whether it's welfare reform and getting something back for the hard-earned taxpayers; whether it's engaging in Pentagon reform and taking on the big contractors that were charging thousands of dollars for hammers and screw drivers and ripping us off; or whether it's taking on the special interests in the nursing home industry in Ohio, so that mom and dad can have the ability to stay in their own home, rather than being forced into a nursing home. Look, that's who I stand up for. That's who's in my mind......And if you really want to believe that you can get your voice back, I will tell you, as I have all my career, I will continue to fight for you, because you're the ones that built this country, and will carry it into the future. Thank you. +p290 +aVThank you, Wolf. Just last weekend, just last week, a friend asked one of my daughters, "Do you like politics?" And my daughter said, "No, I don't. And the reason I don't like it is because there's too much fighting, too much yelling. It's so loud, I don't like it." You know, I turned to my friend and I said, "You know, she's really on to something." And when we think about our country and the big issues that we face in this country; creating jobs, making sure people can keep their jobs, the need for rising wages, whether our children when they graduate from college can find a job, protecting the homeland, destroying +p291 +aVWell, first of all, Wolf, I said last February that we needed to have people on the ground, troops on the ground in a coalition similar to what we had in the first Gulf War. I remember when the Egyptian ambassador to the United States stood in the Rose Garden and pledged Arab commitment to removing Saddam Hussein from Kuwait. Before we came out here tonight, I am told that the Saudis have organized 34 countries who want to join in the battle against terrorism. First and foremost, we need to go and destroy +p292 +aVNo, I don't think it is. And I want to go back to two other issues. One is the metadata. We know we have to hold this data for a longer period of time. And, you know, in a lot of ways, Chris is right. Look, what a president has to do is take a position. We don't want to err on the side of having less. We want to err on the side of having more. That's good for our families. In addition to that, Wolf, there is a big problem. It's called encryption. And the people in San Bernardino were communicating with people who the FBI had been watching. But because their phone was encrypted, because the intelligence officials could not see who they were talking to, it was lost. We have to solve the encryption problem. It is not easy. A president of the United States, again, has to bring people together, have a position. We need to be able to penetrate these people when they are involved in these plots and these plans. And we have to give the local authorities the ability to penetrate to disrupt. That's what we need to do. Encryption is a major problem, and Congress has got to deal with this and so does the president to keep us safe. +p293 +aVYeah, let me \u2014 let me just suggest to everybody, and I hear \u2014 last February, I said we needed to have people on the ground in a coalition with Europe and our allies. This is not going to get done just by working with the Sunnis. And it is not going to get done if we just embed a few people. We have to go massively, like we did in the first Gulf War where we destroyed Saddam's ability to take Kuwait. We need to have a coalition that will stand for nothing less than the total destruction of +p294 +aVI don't understand this thing about Assad. He has to go. Assad is aligned with Iran and Russia. The one thing we want to prevent is we want to prevent Iran being able to extend a Shia crescent all across the Middle East. Assad has got to go. And there are moderates there. There are moderates in Syria who we should be supporting. I do not support a civil war. I don't want to be policeman of the world. But we can't back off of this. And let me tell you, at the end, the Saudis have agreed to put together a coalition inside of Syria to stabilize that country. +p295 +aVHe must go. It will be a blow to Iran and Russia. +p296 +aVThe foreign policy, you have to know how to pick and choose. There's no way, if Saddam had not had weapons of mass destruction, I would have gone, because I don't believe that the U.S. should be involved directly in civil wars. I opposed the U.S. involvement in Lebanon. We ended up having to withdraw our marines after our barracks were blown up. There is a difference between Iraq, where you have Sunni, Shia, and Kurds put together after the First World War by the Western powers. It doesn't work. It needs to break up into three parts. And for the Russians, frankly, it's time that we punched the Russians in the nose. They've gotten away with too much in this world and we need to stand up against them, not just there, but also in Eastern Europe where they threaten some of our most precious allies. +p297 +aVIt sounds more and more what my daughter said that I said in the beginning, all the fighting and arguing is not advancing us. +p298 +aVIt is not the way we're going to strengthen our country. We will strengthen our country when we come together. And, look, you've got Rand Paul, you've got Ted Cruz, you've got Marco, you've got a lot of people on this stage that have studied these issues. You know what a leader does? A leader has a sound program, has a good policy, and then brings people together to solve problems. Guess what? Both in Congress in balancing the budget and in Ohio fixing the economy \u2014 and, by the way, we talk about the fence. The first thing we better get going is strengthening our economy, because if we don't have a strong economy, we can't pay for all of this. And the world wants us to be able to function from strength, believe it or not. Get our economy going, get these people together in a room. We can fix this, ladies and gentlemen. We don't have to fight all the time. It can be done, and we will be great... +p299 +aV... when we join together. Thank you, Hugh. +p300 +aVYou know, obviously, as president of the United States, we've got to keep the people safe. That's first and foremost. But as governor of Ohio, I have an obligation to keep the 11.5 million people in Ohio safe. And we have been very effective with our Joint Terrorism Task Force, being able to make busts. In fact, we just made one three-four weeks ago against a person who was favorable to +p301 +aVNo Republican has ever been elected president of the United States without winning Ohio. Let me give you a little tip on how you win Ohio, it's reform, it's hope, it's growth, it's opportunity, and it's security. The people of Ohio are the people of America. The people of America are reflected in Ohio. Our message has to be big, and bold, and positive, and connect, not just with people's heads but also connect with their hearts. If we do it, we will beat Hillary Clinton, and we will run the White House, and we will strengthen and fix America, I promise you. +p302 +asVKELLY +p303 +(lp304 +VTonight, we are coming to you live from the Iowa Event Center in downtown Des Moines, in the shadow of the Iowa state capitol. In just four days, people here in the Hawkeye State will caucus and cast the first votes of the 2016 election. +p305 +aVSeven candidates are on that stage tonight, their position on the stage determined by their standing in the latest national polls, as well as polls in Iowa and New Hampshire. And here they are. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Florida Senator Marco Rubio. +p306 +aVWow. +p307 +aVSo let's get started. Senator Cruz, before we get to the issues, let's address the elephant not in the room tonight. Donald Trump has chosen not to attend this evening's presidential debate. What message do you think that sends to the voters of Iowa? +p308 +aVThe divide between you and Mr. Trump has turned into one of the biggest stories in the country. And for six months that \u2014 your campaign, during this campaign, you praised Mr. Trump as somebody who you thought was an effective voice against the Washington cartel. You said you were glad that he was running as a Republican. But when he started to criticize you, your message changed, and you suddenly started to portray him as the voice of the Washington cartel, and suggested he would do the Democrats' bidding. Which is it? +p309 +aVSenator Christie, you began this campaign touting your record as a Republican from a blue state who knows how to get things done and reach across the aisle. However, many Republicans feel that reaching across the aisle and getting things done isn't great if you get the wrong things done. And they prefer to stand on principle rather than compromise. Why are they wrong and you're right? +p310 +aVBut first, you can join tonight's conversation right from home. Go to google.com or open your Google search app and search Fox News debate to vote on which candidate you think has the best plan to defeat +p311 +aVWe have a lot \u2014 we have a lot to cover. But we want to \u2014 we want to turn the page to domestic... +p312 +aVNo, no. No. +p313 +aVNo no no, because we want to turn the page to domestic terror, and let me tell you why: we're partnering with Google on this debate, and they're telling us... +p314 +aV... that their search results have gone through the roof on \u2014 on people... +p315 +aV... you're a good man, Governor Kasich. +p316 +aVPeople \u2014 the search results \u2014 the searches for terror issues, for safety issues in America have gone through the roof, increased over 400 percent since 2008. People are worried. They're worried about what's happening in the country and about a domestic terror attack, as all of you know. Now, when combating this threat, Senator Rubio, you've advocated closing down mosques \u2014 we'll get back to you. Well, you have advocated closing down \u2014 closing down mosques, diners, any place where radicalization is occurring. You told me that. But the Supreme Court has made clear that hateful speech is generally protected by the First Amendment. In other words, radical Muslims have the right to be radical Muslims, unless they turn to terror. Doesn't your position run afoul of the First Amendment? +p317 +aVSenator Paul, do you agree with that? We're gonna close down mosques, we're gonna close down diners where we think radical thinking's occurring? +p318 +aVGovernor Christie, let's talk about profiling. In December... +p319 +aV... profiling. Profiling. In December, two radical Muslims killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California. Neighbors of the terrorists said that they did not report the couple to law enforcement prior to the crime, because they were afraid that they would be accused of profiling. Now, you have said that we should not profile. How do you square that with the San Bernardino case? +p320 +aVThey didn't know they were going to attack the country. +p321 +aVThat's not true. The neighbors said they saw men going in and out of the garage. They saw packages being delivered. They saw Muslims, and they did not think that was enough to call the cops. Do you? +p322 +aVDr. Carson, this week a female Muslim who served in the U.S. Air Force asked Hillary Clinton the question, she asked whether the United States is still the best place in which to raise her three Muslim children. Given what she perceives as a rise in Islamaphobia in this country. Do you think the GOP messaging on Muslims has stoked the flames of bias on this as the Democrats suggest, and how would you answer this veteran? +p323 +aVGovernor Kasich, stand back. You appear to back in another debate, a so-called back door to encrypted cell phone technology, which protects most smartphones that we all have from hacking. And it includes our phones and it also protects the cell phones of the terrorist. Now the tech companies and a group of MIT scientists, smart guys, right, warn that if they create a way for the FBI to have a back door into our encrypted communications, then the bad guys will exploit it too. And they say that this is going to cause more security problems than it would solve for everyday Americans. Are they wrong? +p324 +aVBut this is public testimony. +p325 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p326 +aVWelcome back, everybody. We are live in Des Moines, Iowa. And let's get right back to the questions \u2014 Bret. +p327 +aVAll right. We're going to move on. Because coming up, immigration, and something you've never seen before. Stay tuned, right after this break. +p328 +aVWelcome back everyone. Live, in Des Moines, Iowa. Now, we move onto the topic of immigration. Senator Rubio, we'll start with you. When you ran for Senate in 2010, you made clear that you opposed legalization and citizenship for illegal immigrants. You promised repeatedly that you would oppose it as a U.S. Senator as well. Here are just a few examples. Watch. +p329 +aVWithin two years of getting elected you were co-sponsoring legislation to create a path to citizenship, in your words, amnesty. Haven't you already proven that you cannot be trusted on this issue? +p330 +aV... But, you went on from there... +p331 +aV... You said more than that, Senator... +p332 +aV... You said earned path to citizenship is basically code for amnesty. You... +p333 +aV... supported earned path to citizenship... +p334 +aVGovernor Bush, do you agree Senator Rubio has not reversed himself on his immigration promise? +p335 +aVGo ahead, senator. +p336 +aVAll right. +p337 +aVAll right. This will be the last one. +p338 +aVOK. Let's move on. Senator Cruz, when Senator Rubio proposed that bill creating a path to citizenship, you proposed an amendment. It would have allowed for legalization but not citizenship. Yes, it would. Pressed last month on why you supported legalization, you claimed that you didn't. Right? Like you just did. Saw that. You argued that this was just a poison pill amendment, basically it's something designed to kill the bill and not actually get it through. But that is not, however, how it sounded at the time. Watch. +p339 +aVWas that all an act? It was pretty convincing. +p340 +aVBut the bill allowed both. The bill you were amending allowed citizenship and legalization. +p341 +aVOK, sir. +p342 +aVSenator Paul. You know how Washington works. Do you buy that? +p343 +aVGo ahead, sir. +p344 +aVSenator Rubio, even Chuck Schumer, your co-sponsor of that bill... +p345 +aV... agrees with Ted Cruz on this. +p346 +aVGo ahead, Senator Cruz. +p347 +aVAll right. +p348 +aVGo ahead, Governor Christie. +p349 +aVLet's go to a Youtube question. Let's get to a Youtube question. This is a question from a Youtube creator with over 2 million subscribers. Watch. +p350 +aVDr. Carson, that's one \u2014 that one's for you. +p351 +aVGo ahead. +p352 +aVAll right. +p353 +aVAll right. We're moving on. +p354 +aVGovernor bush, poll after poll shows you running among the worst in your party against Hillary Clinton. Even Mitt Romney said that a Bush v. Clinton head-to-head would be too easy for the Democrats. Yet still you and the super PACs supporting you continue to blanket the airwaves with cutting ads, not against Mrs. Clinton, but against your fellow Republicans, especially Senator Rubio. Do these attacks do more harm than good by targeting those candidates who appear to have the best chance of defeating Mrs. Clinton? +p355 +aVWelcome back, everybody. Let's get back to the questions. Chris? +p356 +aVSenator Paul, you have suggested that former President Bill Clinton's history with women is fair game in this campaign. How do you answer those who say you don't hold the sins of the husband against the wife? +p357 +aVOf her husband's? +p358 +aVWelcome back, everybody. And now, it is time for closing statements. The candidates each get 30 seconds. And we begin with Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. +p359 +aVOhio Governor Kasich. +p360 +aVFormer Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Governor. +p361 +aVTexas Senator, Ted Cruz. Senator. +p362 +aVGentlemen, thank you all so much for being here tonight. We appreciate it greatly. And that does it for the seventh Republican primary debate of the 2016 presidential race. But we're not done. The Kelly file starts in a moment and guess who is going to be there? Senator Ted Cruz. +p363 +asVREGAN +p364 +(lp365 +VIn Tuesday's State of the Union Address, the president said that our economy is strong. He cited the significant decline we've seen in unemployment rate and the millions of jobs that have been created. What is your assessment of the economy right now? And I would like to hear from all of you on this one, beginning with Ms. Fiorina. +p366 +aVThank you Governor Huckabee. Senator Santorum? +p367 +aVThank you. Well, since we've been talking about the Middle East, Senator Santorum, conflicts between Saudi Arabia and Iran have certainly escalated, amid accusations that Saudi Arabia bombed the Iranian Embassy in Yemen after the Saudi Embassy in Tehran was attacked. As we confront an increasingly unstable Middle East, how will you, as president, navigate this administration's promises to Iran while standing by our historic allies in the region? +p368 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p369 +aVGovernor Huckabee, if I could just follow-up with that. Do we need to be in Afghanistan? +p370 +aVThank you Governor Huckabee. Ms. Fiorina, nearly 600 women say they were attacked in a German city on New Year's Eve by men of Arab or North African descent and 45 percent of those alleged attacks were sexual assaults. Twenty-two of those 32 men arrested so far are asylum-seekers. Are you worried about similar problems in the United States? +p371 +aVI want to stay with you on this. The world shares a common enemy right now in the way of +p372 +aVMs. Fiorina, thank you. +p373 +aVWelcome back, everyone, to the Republican presidential debate. On to the next round of questions \u2014 Sandra. +p374 +aVMs. Fiorina, the president has just issued an executive order to expand the gun laws and background checks. And none of you on stage agree with this. But recent polls show the majority of Americans are in favor of universal background checks. +p375 +aVIt's the poll data. +p376 +aVSo tell me......why, in your view, is the president's proposal a problem? +p377 +aVMs. Fiorina, you've said that was when you were CEO of HP, you actually worked with the government. +p378 +aV\u2014 to try and combat some of these terrorist threats. +p379 +aVWhat did you do? +p380 +aVMs. Fiorina, thank you. +p381 +aVGovernor Huckabee, an American in San Bernardino murdered 14 people while terrorists with Belgian and French passports murdered 130 people. Were facing a threat within our borders, and from outside the United States. Those European terrorists, they could have come here at any time given that we have a visa waiver program that enables people to travel back and forth. It exists within those countries, and 36 others. In countries around the world, including many in Europe, cannot ensure that their citizens are not jihadists, why are we waiving the visa requirement at all? +p382 +aVIf you get the visa waiver program, does that shut down international commerce? +p383 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p384 +aVSenator Santorum, thank you. +p385 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p386 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from North Charleston. We want to jump right back in. Sandra is kicking it off. +p387 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you know it used to be you could graduate from high school and get a pretty good job at the local factory, enough to take care of your family and yourself. Those days seem to be gone. It's pretty hard to do that nowadays. Businesses are increasingly turning to automation to increase their productivity levels. It's happening right here, in fact, at the Boeing factory in North Charleston. The president says automation threatens workers' ability to get higher wages. Do you agree with that? And if so, do you have a solution? +p388 +aVThank you very much, Governor Huckabee. Senator Santorum, 40% of babies born today are born to single moms. That's twice as high as reported back in 1980, and it's 11 times as high as in 1940. Studies show that children are always better off economically, most often \u2014 and emotionally, with two parents in a household. From a policy perspective, should the government be doing anything to encourage family formation? +p389 +aVThank you. +p390 +aVCarly Fiorina? +p391 +aVThank you to all the candidates. That does it, everyone for the first debate right here in North Charleston. +p392 +asVBAIER +p393 +(lp394 +VNine p.m. on the East Coast. Eight o'clock here in Des Moines, Iowa. Welcome to the seventh Republican presidential debate of the 2016 campaign. I'm Bret Baier, along with my comoderators Megyn Kelly and Chris Wallace. +p395 +aVGoogle sees political searches spike during televised presidential debates \u2014 no surprise there. But they spike by more than 440 percent on average, as voters across America seek to learn more about what's happening on the live debate stage. +p396 +aVOhio Governor John Kasich. And Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. +p397 +aVTonight's rules are simple. Up to 60 seconds for each answer, 30 seconds for each follow-up response. And if a candidate goes over the allotted time, you will hear this. Double. +p398 +aVI think the double is the one we want. Very pleasing. We have a crowd of about 1,600 here, and while they have agreed to respect the candidates and listen intently, we can tell you they are very excited to be here. Am I right? +p399 +aVGovernor Bush, it's hard for anyone of your pedigree to avoid being called establishment. But isn't that part of the problem in this race, that three others on this stage are splitting the main stream Republican vote and there by possibly handing this nomination over to an anti-establishment candidate? +p400 +aVThank you governor. +p401 +aVSenator Paul, you are definitely not in the establishment category. But at the beginning of this campaign, you said you were your own man when asked about your father, former Texas Congressman and three-time presidential candidate Ron Paul. Senator Cruz's campaign is out with a video saying that Cruz is the intellectual and political heir to your father's 2012 campaign and the liberty movement. And your father now says it's realistic that Donald Trump will be your party's nominee. So did you make a mistake by not fully \u2014 more fully embracing your father politically at the beginning of this campaign? +p402 +aVSenator Cruz, your response to that? +p403 +aVSenator Rubio? +p404 +aVThank you, Senator. +p405 +aVWe'll come back to... +p406 +aVOK. Go ahead, go ahead. +p407 +aVWelcome back. Let's get right back to the questions. Chris. +p408 +aVGovernor Bush, just today, a wounded warrior organization designed to help wounded veterans and their families is coming under fire for raising tens of millions of dollars, but spending almost half of that on travel and hotels and dinners and luxury, lavish conferences. So taking care of veterans is obviously a huge issue in the country that has asked so many to serve and sacrifice so much. If you were president. would you police these charity organizations that say they're helping vets? +p409 +aVGovernor Bush, thank you. Speaking of veterans, we have a question from a veteran who is one of the top Youtube creators. Over the course of the evening, gentlemen, we will hear from some of Youtube's most followed stars. And here's one of them. +p410 +aVSenator Paul, that question to you. +p411 +aVSenator Paul, thank you. +p412 +aVThank you, Megyn. Gentlemen, I'll ask you some questions about federal spending and the role of the federal government. Everybody always said they want to cut federal spending and usually they start by saying they'll cut waste, fraud, and abuse, but that really doesn't ever materialize. We all know that. Governor Christie, you talk a lot about entitlement reform and you say that that's where the federal government can get savings needed to balance the budget. But can you name even one thing that the federal government does now that it should not do at all? +p413 +aVI want one. Yes. +p414 +aVAnything bigger than that? +p415 +aVAnd, Governor, I realize everyone on this stage opposes Obamacare and you're not alone. Google Data shows that in the last month when people searched "policy repeals," that there were a lot of them. Obamacare took the top two spots. But today there are millions of people who gained health insurance from Obamacare and they now rely on it. So the question, Senator Cruz, if you repeal Obamacare, as you say you will, will you be fine if millions of those people don't have health insurance? And what is your specific plan for covering the uninsured? +p416 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. Governor Bush, you've advocated for statehood for Puerto Rico. The Puerto Rican economy is collapsing under unsustainable debt burden. Only about 1 million of its 4 million residents are currently employed. So should American citizens who you say are already overtaxed, bail out Puerto Rico as well? +p417 +aVGovernor Kasich, you're one of two remaining sitting governors still in the race. Your colleague, Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan is under fire \u2014 he and his administration \u2014 for the Flint, Michigan water crisis and the botched response to it. How would you have handled that? +p418 +aVSenator Rubio, on the issue of climate change, in 2008, you wanted Florida to get ahead of other states and establish a cap- and-trade system, a program for carbon emissions, which many Republicans thought at the time would hurt the Florida economy. Now, you're a skeptic of climate change science. And in fact, you warn that federal efforts to fight climate change will cost U.S. jobs and hurt the U.S. economy. So why the change? +p419 +aVThanks, Senator. +p420 +aVThank you. +p421 +aVSenator Rubio, first before I ask you a question, any response to Governor Bush? +p422 +aVNow let's talk about electability, Senator. +p423 +aVThank you, Senator. +p424 +aVMuch more to come, including where the candidates stand on foreign policy. And, once again, you can go to Google.com, or open your Google search app and search, "Fox News Debate" to vote on which candidate you think is winning the debate tonight. We'll be right back. +p425 +aVGentlemen. I'd like to ask you a few questions about foreign policy broadly. Dr. Carson, many experts believe Russian leader Vladimir Putin has greater ideas, bigger designs for the region beyond Russia's actions inside Ukraine. Fast forward to February 2017 and it is President Carson, and Russian uniformed commandos cross the Estonian border and they occupy a city in Estonia. Estonia, a member of +p426 +aVGentlemen, you've all said that the Iran nuclear deal is a bad one. Senator Rubio, you were among the candidates who've said you would tear it up on day one. But as you know, Iran has already received tens of millions of dollars \u2014 tens of billions of dollars in this deal and has quickly reestablished ties economically with Europe. The major concessions, in other words, are up front in this deal. So should you win by the time you take office, the remaining parts of the deal would be the constraints on Iran. So why blow up those constraints on day one, letting Iran off the hook? +p427 +aVGovernor Kasich, you've said that Marco Rubio is wrong... ... that Senator Rubio is wrong with tearing it up on day one. +p428 +aVBut Governor Kasich, you know that the most powerful sanctions are the multilateral ones. +p429 +aVAnd these European countries are already reestablishing these ties. +p430 +aVThey don't want... +p431 +aVGovernor, thank you. Governor Christie... ... Libya is the newest base for +p432 +aVThank you, Governor. +p433 +aVWelcome back to Des Moines. Let's resume the debate. Megyn? +p434 +aVComing up, closing statements from the candidates as our debate continues, live, from Des Moines, Iowa. +p435 +aVNew Jersey governor, Chris Christie. +p436 +aVThank you governor. +p437 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. +p438 +aVThank you senator. +p439 +aVAnd we have you covered from Iowa, all the way to the conventions and on to the general election. Thanks again for joining us. For all of us here in Des Moines, have a great evening. +p440 +asVSANTORUM +p441 +(lp442 +VWell, all he has to do is listen to the Democratic debate and find out how bad the economy is. All they do is complain about the hollowing out of the middle of America, and how America is struggling so badly, and have to make these radical changes in Washington. But they've been in control for the last seven years, and what have we seen? The most important jobs, I believe, in this country are the ones that fill the middle. For the 74% of Americans who don't have a college degree between the age of 25 and 65 are manufacturing jobs. Your governor, and your legislature, and your team here have done an amazing job of bringing manufacturing jobs back to South Carolina. Right here. Right here in Charleston, right down in the street in Boeing. You've done a great job, and what's happened? You've grown this economy, you've strengthened the center of your state, the middle. That's because you know that if you're really going to create wealth and opportunity, you got to get jobs, and good paying jobs for everybody. And, so what's happened? Two million jobs, manufacturing jobs, have left this country because of Barack Obama. Regulations, EPA, workplace regulations, things driving people off-shore all because of his number one priority, global climate change. Well, let me tell you this, Mr. President. For every dollar of GDP, China creates five times as much pollution as we do here. You want to \u2014 lower global climate change, bring those jobs back to America and let American workers do that job with less pollution. +p443 +aVWell, the historic promises that we have made to \u2014 to Iran in this agreement need to be torn up on the first day in office of the next president. And let me tell you why, because Iran has already torn it up. Iran has not approved the agreement that President Obama has said that they have approved. They have approved a different agreement in their parliament. The fact of the matter is they have violated this agreement. Carly just mentioned some of those violations. They have launched ballistic missiles, tested them, in clear violation. And here's the pathetic part. The president announced that they were going to impose sanctions. And then President Rouhani went on Twitter and said there would be retaliation. And what did we do? We backed down. Ladies and gentlemen, there are 50 some Citadel cadets in this audience tonight. I would ask them to stand up if they will. And here's what I want to tell each and every one of them, as you stand. Here's what I want to tell them. Whether it's you're watching that movie this weekend that just came out when we abandoned our men and women in Benghazi, or whether it's we treat Iran, that gave courtesies to our sailors, as they made them record a hostage video, let me tell you this, if you choose to serve this country, I will have your back. I will not let America be trampled upon anymore by these radical jihadists. +p444 +aVI would just say that if we were doing a better job within the government, we wouldn't need the private sector to do the things that we're asking them to do. I've had a little experience in this in the private sector myself. And what I found was a government with layers and layers of bureaucracy, of people who had some technical expertise but they had no authority, number one. And one of the things I found out about in the bureaucracy is if a lot of people have authority, nobody has authority, number one. And number two, that if you don't do anything, you don't get fired. It's only when you do something and something goes wrong, you get fired. So they do nothing. And that's what is happening in our Defense Department right now. We have a capability that they're trying to develop to play defense. We have a lot of technologists that are very skilled. And they're trying to figure out how to play defense. But what we don't have is we don't have folks who are thinking about offense. We don't have war-fighters. We have technologists. Technologists are not war-fighters. Technologists are thinking, how do I protect cyber-security, how do I secure, how do I protect? And we need to have a much more dynamic, how do we \u2014 how do we go after them? How do we respond? And we need leadership that's willing to make sure that when someone attacks us \u2014 and ladies and gentlemen, they're attacking us as we speak. They're attacking us all day every day, not just the government, but they're attacking private sector companies all day every day. They have to learn that we're going to pay \u2014 they're going to pay a price when they do so. And then right now, just like in every other aspect of our national security, people who attack us are not paying a price. We need a leader who will make sure that they know when they mess with America, they're going to pay a price. +p445 +aVLook, Facebook and Twitter can teach us things. We can cooperate with them. We can share ideas and information. But this is a \u2014 and this is a very dicey area for the government to go in and require the industry to do its job. It needs to develop that capability. We need to be \u2014 have responsible dialogue, but I don't think requirements are the order of the day. +p446 +aVWell, the most devastating attack that could occur is an electromagnetic pulse attack, and that would be an attack that would be triggered by a nuclear explosion in the upper atmosphere of our country. The best way to stop that from happening is to make sure that those who contemplating and actually war-gaming and talking about using it, Iran, doesn't get a nuclear weapon so they can't explode that device. And the president of the United States has put Iran on a path to a nuclear weapon. And we have done nothing to do anything to harden our grid. There is actually a bill in Congress that would put money forward to try to put redundancy and harden our electric grid so it could actually survive an EMP. An EMP is a devastating explosion that sends a pulse that knocks out all electric, everything, everything that is connected to any kind \u2014 that is wired, that has a circuit board gets fried out. Everything is gone. Cars stop. Planes fall out of the sky. This is a devastating attack. And this president has done nothing, number one, to take the most probable person to \u2014 probable country to launch an attack and stop them, and has done nothing to try to defend us, particularly our electric grid. The bottom line is, I put the original sanctions on the Iranian nuclear program when I was in the United States Senate. I've been fighting for 12 years with one thing in mind, that we must stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. And......because they're different than every other country. They do not want a nuclear weapon to defend themselves. They want a nuclear weapon to have theological ends to bring about their mahdi so they can control the world. And that is the most serious threat facing this country right now. +p447 +aVWell, the numbers just don't add up. I mean, they have not added manufacturing jobs. Manufacturing jobs have been lost in this country, 2 million of them. The bottom line is that this president has done more to take jobs away from the hard-working people who are struggling the most. And that's folks who are, as I said, the 74 percent of Americans who don't have a college degree. And they're out there talking about, well, we're going to provide free college for everybody. Well, who is going to pay for it? The 74 percent that don't have a college degree. They're not \u2014 nobody is focused. Let's just be honest, nobody is focused on the people who are struggling the most in America today. We talk about immigration. Talk about the president's immigration plan. He wants to bring in more and more people into this country. Let people who are here illegally stay in this country. Almost all of the people who are here illegally, and most of the people who came here legally over the last 20 years, they're working in wage-earning jobs. That is why wages have flat-lined. And we have unfortunately two political parties with most of the candidates in this field for some form of amnesty, some form of allowing people to stay here even though they're here illegally and for increasing levels of legal immigration. I'm someone who believes that we need to be the party that stands for the American worker. And when we say we need to send people back, I mean we send people back. And let me just make one point. I was in Storm Lake, Iowa, the other day, near a Tyson's plant, 91 percent of the kids that go to the elementary school there are minority kids. And they said, well, what are you going to do with all of these people, their families, they've lived here for a long time? I said, I'm going to give them a gift. I'm going to give them a gift of being able to help the country they were born in. And I'm going to export America, the education they were able to see. They learned English language. They learned about capitalism. They learned about democracy. You want to stop flow of immigrants? Let's send six million Mexicans, Hondurans, Guatemalans, El Savadorians......back into their country, so they can start a renaissance in their country so they won't be coming over here anymore. +p448 +aVYou know, we've had this debate about the economy, and we haven't talked the one issue now increasingly even the right, and even the are coming to agreement. I've run around doing 300 town hall meetings talking about a book written by a liberal Harvard sociologist, not a normal thing for me to be talking about, but I now name Robert Putnam who wrote a book called, "Our Kids". And, he wrote this book, I think, ostensibly to support the Democratic argument that the middle of America's hollowing out, and income gap is widening, and rich are getting richer. When he studied all the information as to what was going on, he realized that the biggest reason that we're seeing the hollowing out of the middle of America is the breakdown of the American family. The reality is that if you're a single parent \u2014 a child of a single parent, and you grew up in a single parent family neighborhood, you went to that single parent family school, the chance of you ever, ever reaching the top 20% of income earners is 3% in America. At least \u2014 I don't know about you, but that's not good enough. And, we have been too politically correct in this country because we don't want to offend anybody to fight for the lives of our children. You want \u2014 You want to be shocked? You read the first few chapters of Mr. \u2014 Dr. Putnam' book. He talks about Port Clinton, Ohio and growing up there in the 1950's, and how poor kids actually survived and did well, even though they were poor and disadvantaged. But, then he goes to the towns today and these kids are failing, and failing miserably. They don't even have a shot, and we won't even have the courage to have leadership at the federal level \u2014 not with legislation, but the most powerful tool a president have, the bully pulpit to encourage each and everyone of you, churches and businesses, and educators, and community leaders to let's have a national campaign to rebuild the American family, and give every child its birthright which is a Mom and a Dad who loves them. That will change this economy. +p449 +aVLadies and gentlemen, America is frustrated and angry and looking for someone who's a fighter, but I also think they're looking for someone who's a winner. Somebody who can go out there and take on the establishment and make a difference. And take on someone who's going to be the person who's going to be between a Republican holding the presidency and that's Hillary Clinton. And there's one person on this stage, one person in the race who's done it and done it repeatedly. I've taken on Hillary Clinton on the issues you care about. Partial-birth abortion. Go and google Rick Santorum and Hillary Clinton and there you'll see a five-minute debate. I'll let you decide who won the debate. I'll tell you who won, because we passed the bill and I know I'm out of time but I'm going to take some of Rand Paul's time here for a second. If you're looking for someone who fought Hillary Clinton on Iran's sanctions, she was one of four who voted \u2014 who's deciding vote who voted against Iran's sanctions, so we didn't get it in place as earlier as we should have. I've fought battles against her. In 1994, I ran against the Clinton machine. James Carville and Paul Begala, ran the race against me when I took on the author of Hillary care. And each one of those battles, I won. You want a fighter, you want a winner, I'd appreciate your vote. Thank you. +p450 +asVQUESTION +p451 +(lp452 +VI'm Mark Watson. I'm known for my views on Youtube, but I'm also a veteran who served in the Army for eight years. As an African-American living near Ferguson, I've seen the strain between police officers and the communities they serve firsthand. Now, there are great tools like body cameras that \u2014 to protect both officers and citizens, but we all currently have better cameras in our pockets than in our precincts. Why aren't we using the technology available to better protect our communities? +p453 +aVI'm Dulce Candy, a Youtube creator who immigrated to the United States from Mexico when I was a little girl. Since then, I am proud to say I served in the armed forces in Iraq, became a citizen and I am now an entrepreneur. There are many immigrants who contribute positively to the American economy, but some of the comments in the campaign make us question our place in this country. If America does not seem like a welcoming place for immigrant entrepreneurs, will the American economy suffer? +p454 +aVI'm Nabela Noor. I'm a Muslim American born and raised in the U.S. who creates beauty and lifestyle videos on Youtube. In 2015, the number of hate crimes against Muslims in the U.S. has tripled, and on social media, where I spend a lot of time, I've seen many attacks directed towards fellow Muslims. This culture of hatred is only driving +p455 +aVMy name is Ashley Tofil. Ms. Fiorina, in November, you said that you would not talk to Vladimir Putin after you were elected because you would be communicating from a position of weakness. Do you believe that it is feasible to not communicate with another world leader? And do you think that that also is a sign of weakness? +p456 +aVMy name is Carla Hernandez. I'm from the University of Texas at Austin. And my question is directed to all the candidates. If the Bible clearly states that we need to embrace those in need and not fear, how can we justify not accepting refugees? +p457 +asVCAVUTO +p458 +(lp459 +VIt is 9:00 p.m. here at the North Charleston Coliseum and Performing Arts Center in South Carolina. Welcome to the sixth Republican presidential of the 2016 campaign, here on the Fox Business Network. I'm Neil Cavuto, alongside my friend and co-moderator Maria Bartiromo. +p460 +aVNow, the seven candidates on the stage tonight were selected based on their standing in six national polls, as well as polls in the early-voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire, those standings determining the position on the stage of the candidates tonight. And here they are. Businessman Donald Trump. Texas senator Ted Cruz. Florida senator Marco Rubio. Neurosurgeon Ben Carson. New Jersey governor Chris Christie. Former Florida governor Jeb Bush. And Ohio governor John Kasich. +p461 +aVGovernor Kasich, we are not even two weeks into this stock trading year, but investors already lost $1.6 trillion in market value. That makes it the worst start to a new year ever. Many worry that things will get even worse, and that banks and financial stocks are particularly vulnerable. Now, if this escalates, like it did back when Barack Obama first assumed the presidency, what actions would you take if this same thing happens all over again just as, in this example, you are taking over the presidency? +p462 +aVGovernor Bush, the president just told the nation two nights ago that America is back and that the idea that our enemies are getting stronger or that this country is getting weaker, well, it's just rhetoric and hot air. Now other Democrats go even further, sir, saying Republicans even suggesting such comments actually embolden our enemies. I guess they would include you. What do you say? +p463 +aVSo I take it from that you do not agree with the president. +p464 +aVSenator Rubio, the president says that +p465 +aVThank you, Senator. +p466 +aVMr. Trump, at the State of the Union, the president pointed to a guest who was a Syrian refugee you might recall whose wife and daughter and other family members were killed in an air attack. Now he fled that country seeking asylum here, ultimately ended up in Detroit where he's now trying to start a new life. The president says that that doctor is the real face of these refugees and not the one that you and some of your colleagues on this stage are painting; that you prefer the face of fear and terror and that you would refuse to let in anyone into this country seeking legitimate asylum. How do you answer that? +p467 +aVAll right. Welcome back to the Republican presidential , right here in North Charleston, South Carolina. Let's get right back to the questions. And I'll start with you, Senator Cruz. Now you are, of course, a strict constitutionalist \u2014 no one would doubt that. And as you know, the U.S. Constitution says only natural-born citizens are eligible for the office of president of the United States. Stop me if you've heard this before. Now, you were born...... you were born in Canada to an American mother. So you were and are considered an American citizen. But that fellow next to you, Donald Trump \u2014 and others \u2014 have said that being born in Canada means you are not natural-born, and that has raised questions about your eligibility. Do you want to try to close this topic once and for all tonight? +p468 +aVMr. Trump......that you raised it because of his rising poll numbers. +p469 +aVWhy are you saying this now \u2014 right now? Why are you raising this issue now? +p470 +aVSenator, do you want to respond? +p471 +aVMarco Rubio. I'm sorry, it's the time constraints. You and Governor Christie have been exchanging some fairly nasty words of late, and I will allow the governor to respond as well. The governor went so far to say, you won't be able to slime your way to the White House. He's referring to a series of ads done by a PAC, speaking on your behalf, that say quote,"One high tax, Common Core, liberal, energy-loving, Obamacare, Medicaid-expanding president is enough. You think you went too far on that and do you want to apologize to the governor? +p472 +aVThat is not my question. +p473 +aVIs he a liberal? +p474 +aVIs he a liberal? +p475 +aVGovernor? +p476 +aVYou were? +p477 +aVWell, we are not done. Coming up, one of the top things people are talking about on Facebook, guns. And you can join us live us on this stage in the conversation during this commercial break right from home. You can go to Facebook.com/. We will be streaming live and talking about how we think the is going so far. We're back in a moment in Charleston, South Carolina. +p478 +aVSenator Rubio, you said that President Obama wants to take people's guns away. Yet under his presidency, gun sales have more than doubled. That doesn't sound like a White House unfriendly to gun owners. +p479 +aVBut what fact can you point to, Senator \u2014 what fact can you point to that the president would take away everyone's gun? You don't think that's ? +p480 +aVGovernor Christie, you, too, have criticized the president's recent executive action on gun control, saying it's unconstitutional, another step to bypass Congress. But hasn't your own position on guns evolved, sir? The New Jersey Star-Ledger reports that you signed several laws to regulate the possession of firearms, and that you argued back in August 2013, and I quote, "These common sense measures will strengthen New Jersey's already tough gun laws." So isn't that kind of what the president wants to do now? +p481 +aVMaria... +p482 +aVGovernor bush, for the third time in as many months, the Iranians have provoked us, detaining us, as we've been discussing, with these 10 Navy sailors Tehran had said strayed into their waters. The sailors were released, but only after shown on video apologizing for the incident. This occurring only weeks after Iran fired multiple rockets within 1,500 yards of a U.S. aircraft carrier and then continued to test medium range missiles. Now you've claimed that such actions indicate Tehran has little to fear from a President Obama. I wonder, sir, what would change if they continued doing this sort of thing under a President Jeb Bush? +p483 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Kasich, while everyone has been focusing on Iran's provocations, I'm wondering what you make of what Saudi Arabia has been doing and its recent moves in the region, including its execution of a well-known Shi'ite cleric and its move to dramatically increase oil production, some say in an effort to drive down oil prices and force a lot of U.S. oil producers out of business. Sure enough, oil prices have tumbled. One brokerage house is predicting a third or more of American oil producers and those heavily invested in fracking will go bankrupt, and soon Saudi Arabia and +p484 +aVThank you John. +p485 +aVBut you said \u2014 you said that he made those comments and they represented him being unhinged after he made them. +p486 +aVWell \u2014 well, after he made them......his poll numbers went up eight points in South Carolina. Now \u2014 now, wait... +p487 +aVAre you \u2014 are you saying \u2014 are you saying that all those people who agree with Mr. Trump are unhinged? +p488 +aVMr. Trump, sometimes maybe in the heat of the campaign, you say things and you have to dial them back. Last week, the New York Times editorial board quoted as saying that you would oppose, "up to 45 percent tariff on Chinese goods." +p489 +aVWell... +p490 +aVYou never said because they provided that... +p491 +aVSo they've never said to put a tariff on their... +p492 +aVI'm sorry, you lost me. +p493 +aVThen I apologize. Then I want to understand, if you don't want a 45 percent tariff, say that wasn't the figure, would you be open \u2014 are you open to slapping a higher tariff on Chinese goods of any sort to go back at them? +p494 +aVI know... +p495 +aVSo you're open to a tariff? +p496 +aVAll right. +p497 +aVHe is right. If you put a tariff on a good, it's Americans who pay. +p498 +aVGovernor Christie, going back to your U.S. Attorney days, you had been praised by both parties as certainly a tough law and order guy. So I wonder what you make of recent statistics that showed violent crimes that have been spiking sometimes by double digit ratings in 30 cities across the country. Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn said, "most local law enforcement officials feel abandoned by Washington." Former NYC Police Chief Ray Kelly, says that, "police are being less proactive because they're being overly scrutinized and second guessed and they're afraid of being sued or thrown in jail." What would you do as president to address this? +p499 +aVThank you governor. Governor Kasich, as someone has to deal with controversial police shootings in your own state, what do you make of Chicago's move recently to sort of retrain police? Maybe make them not so quick to use their guns? +p500 +aVThank you, Governor. +p501 +aVGentlemen, gentlemen \u2014 +p502 +aVVery quick, very quick. +p503 +aVDo you think they like each other? +p504 +aVAll right, gentlemen, we've got to stop. I know you are very passionate about that. Governor Bush, fears have gripped this country obviously, and you touched on it earlier since the San Bernardino attacks. Since our last , the national conversation has changed, according to Facebook data as well. Now this first graphic shows the issues that were most talked about right before those attacks and now after: the issues of Islam, homeland security and +p505 +aVWould you answer this question? +p506 +aVFair enough. So Tim Cook \u2014 so Tim Cook says he's going to keep it private. +p507 +aVBut if Tim cook is telling you no, Mr. President. +p508 +aVDo you ask or do you order? +p509 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p510 +aVGovernor Bush? +p511 +aVDr. Ben Carson? +p512 +aVSenator Ted Cruz? +p513 +aVGentlemen, thank you all. All of you. That wraps up our debate. We went a little bit over here. But we wanted to make sure everyone was able to say their due. He's upset. All right. Thank you for joining us. Much more to come in the Spin Room ahead. +p514 +asVBLITZER +p515 +(lp516 +VWelcome to the CNN-Facebook Republican presidential debate here at the Venetian Las Vegas. We have a very enthusiastic audience. Everyone is here. They're looking forward to a serious and spirited discussion about the security of this nation. I'm Wolf Blitzer, your moderator tonight. This debate is airing on CNN networks here in the United States and around the world, and on the Salem Radio Network. The nine leading candidates, they are here. Let's welcome them right now. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Businessman and real estate developer Donald Trump. Retired neurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. And Ohio Governor John Kasich. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome these Republican candidates for president of the United States. This is the final Republican debate before the election year begins, and we're taking a moment for the photographs of the candidates together on the stage. Now, everyone, please rise for the national anthem sung by Ayla Brown. +p517 +aVI know everyone is eager to get started. So, candidates, please take your places while I explain the ground rules for tonight. As moderator, I'll guide the discussion, and I'll be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt and CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. We also asked Republicans and independents nationwide to share their questions for the candidates. We teamed up with Facebook to send a campaign camper across the country over the past several weeks. Thousands of people stepped inside and recorded their questions on video. Millions more have weighed in on Facebook. Candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have a minute and 15 seconds to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you're singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know that we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. And as the candidates requested, a bell will sound like this. We know you are all eager to jump in and debate these important issues, so, please, wait until you're called on. These nine Republicans are positioned on stage based on their ranking in the recent polls, so let's begin right now. I'd like to invite each candidate to introduce himself or herself to our audience. You'll have one minute. First to you, Senator Paul. +p518 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p519 +aVGovernor Christie? +p520 +aVMs. Fiorina? +p521 +aVGovernor Bush? +p522 +aVSenator Rubio? +p523 +aVSenator Cruz. +p524 +aVDr. Carson. +p525 +aVMr. Trump. +p526 +aVThank you. Since you last debated, Americans have witnessed terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino. The FBI director says the country now faces the greatest terror threat since 9/11. You all have different approaches to keeping the country safe. And that will be the focus of tonight's debate. Mr. Trump, as you mentioned in your opening statement, part of your strategy is to focus in on America's borders. To keep the country safe, you say you want to temporarily ban non-American Muslims from coming to the United States; ban refugees fleeing +p527 +aVGovernor Bush, you called Mr. Trump "unhinged" when he proposed banning non-American Muslims from the United States. Why is that unhinged? +p528 +aVMr. Trump? +p529 +aVSenator Rubio \u2014 I'm going to go to Senator Rubio and get his thoughts. You have said banning Muslims is unconstitutional. But according to a recent ABC News-Washington Post poll, a majority of Republicans support Mr. Trump's idea. Why are they wrong? +p530 +aVHugh Hewitt, you have a question. +p531 +aVGovernor Christie, Americans are clearly more afraid today than at any time since 9/11. As you mentioned in your opening statement, today in Los Angeles, 650 schoolchildren didn't go to \u2014 650,000 schoolchildren didn't go to school because of an e-mail threat, this two weeks after an attack killed 14 people in San Bernardino. Is this the new normal? And if so, what steps would you take as president of the United States to ensure that fear does not paralyze America? +p532 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, one of the killers in San Bernardino was an American who was not on anyone's watch list. How are you going to find that radicalized person and stop another such attack? +p533 +aVThank you. Dana Bash, you have the next question. +p534 +aVThank you. Dr. Carson, you're in favor of monitoring mosques and schools where there is anti-America sentiment, what do you consider anti- America? +p535 +aVDr. Carson, who was right in that little debate that we just heard between Senator Rubio and Senator Paul? +p536 +aVHold on a sec, we have a lot more to come and everybody's going to have their full opportunity. Governor Bush, six days after 9/11 your brother visited a mosque and said quote, "Islam is peace." The conversation tonight is about banning Muslims and surveillance of mosques, are President Bush's words still relevant in today's Republican party? +p537 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you pointed out you were a CEO in Silicon Valley on 9/11. Companies there, they say they won't help the FBI now crack encrypted communication from +p538 +aVBut my question was: Should these Silicon Valley companies be forced to cooperate with the FBI? +p539 +aVMr. Trump, you recently suggested closing that Internet up, those were your words, as a way to stop +p540 +aVLet me follow up, Mr. Trump. So, are you open to closing parts of the Internet? +p541 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, is shutting down any part of the Internet a good idea? +p542 +aVThank you, Governor. The fight against radical Islamic terrorists and +p543 +aVThank you. To be clear, Senator Cruz, would you carpet bomb Raqqa, the +p544 +aVThank you. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you've been critical of Senator Cruz's strategy. You say his voting record doesn't match his rhetoric. Why? +p545 +aVBecause I asked the question, Senator, because you said this. You said he, referring to Senator Cruz, voted against the Defense Authorization Act every year that it came up, and I assume that if he voted against it, he would veto it as president. That's the bill that funds our troops. +p546 +aVSenator Cruz? +p547 +aVSenator Rubio. +p548 +aVWe are going to have much more on this... +p549 +aVWe're going to have much more on this. But I want to move now back to Mr. Trump. +p550 +aVHold on. Hold on. Hold on. +p551 +aVWe have a lot... +p552 +aVWe have a lot to discuss. I want to move to Mr. Trump right now. We have a question on this war against +p553 +aVMr. Trump. +p554 +aVGovernor Bush. Governor Bush. +p555 +aVMr. Trump. +p556 +aVJust one at a time, go ahead... +p557 +aVGo ahead, Mr. Trump. +p558 +aVGovernor Bush, please. +p559 +aVOne at a time. +p560 +aVGovernor Bush. +p561 +aVThank you. +p562 +aVAll right. Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash, Hugh, go ahead with the next question. +p563 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Rubio? Let's continue this conversation. This is a critically important issue. +p564 +aVWe will get to \u2014 we have a lot of time, Ms. Fiorina. I want to get to Senator Rubio right now. Let's talk about, one of the aspects of your strategy, you say the only way to defeat +p565 +aVThank you, Senator. Stand by. Ms. Fiorina, the former defense secretary, Bob Gates, says the chances of getting Sunni-Arab forces on the ground to get the job done, his words, "chances very remote." What's your strategy? +p566 +aVThank you. Governor Christie, what's your strategy? +p567 +aVDr. Carson, what is your strategy? +p568 +aVThank you. Everyone stand by. We're only just beginning. Coming up, which candidates on this stage tonight want to move foreign policy in a dramatically new direction? We'll be right back. +p569 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate here at the Venetian, Las Vegas. The war against +p570 +aVThank you. +p571 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you supported the removal of Moammar Gadhafi in Libya. Now that country is in turmoil, as +p572 +aVSenator Cruz? +p573 +aVStandby. Everybody standby for a moment. Governor Kasich, go ahead. +p574 +aVThank you. +p575 +aVWe're going to talk about Assad in a moment. Mr. Trump, are Americans safer with dictators running the world in the Middle East? +p576 +aVThank you. Mr. Trump? +p577 +aVAll right. +p578 +aVThank you. +p579 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East... +p580 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East better off with dictators? +p581 +aVGovernor Bush. +p582 +aVHold on Governor Bush., here's the question. You said, "getting rid of Saddam Hussein in your words was a pretty good deal." In light of what has happened in Iraq, do you still feel that way? +p583 +aVSenator Paul, was getting rid of Saddam Hussein a pretty good deal? +p584 +aVThank you. Hugh Hewitt, go ahead. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hugh. +p585 +aVSenator, Senator, we're going to get to you. Wait your turn. We have two hours of debate. We'll have plenty of time. Let Hugh ask his question. +p586 +aVSenator, please. +p587 +aVSenator... +p588 +aVYou'll have plenty of opportunity. Hugh, go ahead. +p589 +aVThese are the rules all of you agreed to. Hugh, go ahead with your question. +p590 +aVLet's continue with Russia right now. We have another question from Facebook. Listen and watch. +p591 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you know, U.S. and Russian warplanes are flying all over Syria right now. With so many lives on the line, is this a good time for the United States not to talk to Putin? +p592 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Christie, if the U.S. imposed a no-fly zone over Syria and a Russian plane encroached, invaded that no-fly zone, would you be prepared to shoot down that Russian plane and risk war with Russia? +p593 +aVSenator Paul \u2014 Senator Paul, I want you to respond to what we just heard from Governor Christie. If there was a no-fly zone, you say that potentially could lead to World War III. Why? +p594 +aVGovernor Christie? +p595 +aVAll right, let's go back \u2014 Hugh and Dana? +p596 +aVOne at a time. Hugh, go ahead. +p597 +aVGovernor, thank you very much. So, Dr. Carson, you recently visited a refugee camp in Jordan and you deemed it your words, "really quite nice." Saying the people there didn't want to come to the United States. Do you think these camps are a long-term solution of the problem of Syrian refugees? +p598 +aVSenator Paul, you oppose letting in Syrian refugees at this time into the United States. The U.S. has already accepted 2,000 Syrian refugees, including 13 living here in Las Vegas right now. Would you send them back? What would you do with these people? +p599 +aVSenator Rubio? +p600 +aVSenator Paul, you didn't answer the question about the 2,000 Syrian refugees who are already here in the United States. Will you send them back or let them stay? +p601 +aVWe have another \u2014 we have another question. We have another question from Facebook. Let's listen. +p602 +aVGovernor Christie, you say there should be a pause in allowing new refugees to come into the United States, including orphans under the age of five. What do you say to Carla? +p603 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p604 +aVThank you, Governor. There is much more coming up. We are only just beginning. Coming up, what other global hot spots await the next president of the United States. +p605 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate. We're here at the Venetian Las Vegas. Tonight we have been focusing on the Middle East, but let's turn to some other world threats that you will potentially face as Commander in Chief. Ms. Fiorina, candidates here have called the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un a maniac who is mentally unstable. Last week he said he now has a hydrogen bomb. If you were elected president, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p606 +aVDr. Carson, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p607 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Dana and Hugh you have questions as well. +p608 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Some of you on this stage have questioned whether your opponents have temperament, the right temperament, to be in control of the nuclear codes. Dana, you have a question on this? +p609 +aVThank you, senator. Thank you. +p610 +aVThank you, Senator. +p611 +aVThank you, Senator. We're a month and a half away now from the first real test who will be the Republican presidential nominee. Hugh, you have a question? +p612 +aVAll right. Candidates, we have more coming up. When we come back, everyone will have an opportunity to explain why this particular candidate, each of you on the stage, believes he or she should be the Republican presidential nominee. +p613 +aVNow it's time for the closing statements from the candidates. Each one has 30 seconds. Senator Paul. +p614 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p615 +aVGovernor Christie. +p616 +aVMs. Fiorina. +p617 +aVGovernor Bush. +p618 +aVSenator Rubio. +p619 +aVSenator Cruz. +p620 +aVDr. Carson. +p621 +aVThanks to all the Republican presidential candidates. That does it for this Republican presidential debate. +p622 +asVFIORINA +p623 +(lp624 +VWell, thank you. Good evening. If I may begin by saying how honored I am to be standing here with two former Iowa Caucus winners. Governor, Senator. And how honored I am to be talking with all of you. You know, I'm not a political insider. I haven't spent my lifetime running for office. The truth is I have had and been blessed by a lot of opportunities to do a lot of things in my life. And unlike another woman in this race, I actually love spending time with my husband. I'm standing here because I think we have to restore a citizen government in this country. I think we have to end crony capitalism. The crony capitalism that starts with both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. You know, Hillary Clinton sits inside government and rakes in millions, handing out access and favors. And Donald Trump sits outside government and rakes in billions buying people like Hillary Clinton. The state of our economy is not strong. We have record numbers of men out of work. We have record numbers of women living in poverty. We have young people who no longer believe that the American dream applies to them. We have working families whose wages have stagnated for decades, all while the rich get richer, the powerful get more powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected get more connected. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. +p625 +aVAmerica must lead because when we do not lead, when this exceptional nation does not lead, the world is more dangerous and a more tragic place. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, they all refuse to lead. Worse, they refuse to respond when this nation is provoked. Hillary Clinton famously asked what difference does it make how four Americans died in Benghazi? Mrs. Clinton, here's what difference it makes. When you do not stand up and say the truth, that this was a purposeful terrorist attack, when you do not say the United States of America will retaliate for that attack, terrorists assume it's open season. We have refused to respond to every provocation. The President wouldn't even mention the fact that Iran had taken two Navy boats and our sailors \u2014 hostage. He didn't mention the fact that they violated the Geneva convention. He didn't respond to the fact that Iran launched two ballistic missile just a short time ago, in direct violation of a deal they had just signed. We didn't respond to the fact that North Korea attacked Sony Pictures. When we refuse to respond over, and over to provocation and bad behavior, we will get more provocation and bad behavior. I know most of our allies personally. I have met many of our adversaries. I know our military and our intelligence capability, and I know this. When we will not stand with our allies, when we will not respond to our adversaries, when we do not lead in the world the world is a dangerous and tragic place. I will be a Commander in Chief who will lead. +p626 +aVOf course I'm worried about similar problems in the United States. We can not allow refugees to enter this country unless we can adequately vet them and we know we can't. Therefore we should stop allowing refugees into this country. And by the way, we do not need to be lectured about why we're angry and frustrated and fearful because we've had an illegal immigration problem in this country for 25 years. And we have every right to be frustrated about the fact that politicians stand up in election after election after election and promise us to fix the problem and yet, it has never been fixed. I offer leadership that understands that actions speak louder than words, that results count. We must secure our border. We must fix our broken immigration system. We must enforce a pro-American immigration system that serves our interests, not the rest of the world. I understand what it takes to translate goals into results and that is what I will do as president of the United States. Of course, we should be worried, for heavens sakes. This administration has now told us they don't know who has overstayed a visa. This administration has told us they don't even bother to check Facebook or Twitter to find out who's pledging allegiance to jihadis. We can do better than this, citizens. We need to take our country back. +p627 +aVWe need to be very clear-eyed now about who are our allies and who are our adversaries. In the fight against +p628 +aVAnd we all believe the polling data all the time, don't we? +p629 +aVOh, it's a problem for so many reasons. First of all, it is yet another lawless executive order. You see, he doesn't like the fact that Congress has rejected his ideas twice on a bipartisan basis, so he's decided he just gets to override them. Sorry, Mr. President, not the way "The Constitution" works. Secondly......secondly, he basically admitted in that speech that he hasn't been paying much attention to enforcing the laws we have. He said, gee, we need a few more FBI agents. That would have helped, perhaps, stop a tragedy here in South Carolina with Dylann Roof, a guy who clearly never should have been sold a gun. In other words, Mr. President, you're right, we need to enforce the laws we have. Let's enforce the laws we have. There are criminals running around with guns who shouldn't have them. We don't prosecute any of them. Less than 1 percent. But I want to go back to the technology issue for a moment, if I may, as well, because in this regard, I disagree with Senator Santorum. Look, I come from the technology industry and I can tell you there is one thing that bureaucracies don't know how to do. They do not know how to innovate. We have come seven generations of technology since 2011. We have bureaucracies that are incapable of bringing in that innovation. So, yes, there are some very specific things that we should ask the private sector to help us with, including making sure we have the latest and greatest in algorithms to search through all these databases so that we find terrorists before they attack us, not after it's too late. And, finally, when a president who understands technology in the Oval Office. Mrs. Clinton, actually, you cannot wipe a server with a towel. +p630 +aVYes, and see... +p631 +aVAs CEO of Hewlett Packard... +p632 +aVAs CEO of Hewlett Packard, I was asked very specifically for some very real help. The help I was asked to provide, this is now public information. So I am not revealing what \u2014 something that was \u2014 was classified. We had a very large shipment of equipment, software and hardware, headed to a retail outlet. And I was called by the head of the NSA, who had an urgent need for that capability, to begin laying out a program to track terrorists. We turned that truck around on a highway and it was escorted to the headquarters in San Jose. In World War II, our government went to the private sector and said, help us do things that we cannot do. The private sector has capabilities that the government does not have. There are some legal authorities that are required. The Sony attack could have been detected and repelled, had legal authorities been passed in Congress allowing private networks and public networks to work together. Those legal authorities have not yet been passed. Yes, I was asked to help. I know the technology industry. They will help again. But they must be asked by a president who understands what they have. +p633 +aVFor decades, the professional political class in both parties has been talking about the middle class. For decades, Republicans in particular have been talking about reducing the size and scope of government, spending less money, reducing the complexity. And yet, for 40 years, the government has gotten bigger and more expensive. We now have a 75,000 plus page tax code, although politicians have run for office for decades promising reform. And all the while, middle class incomes have stagnated. You see, when government gets bigger and bigger, more powerful, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer and the middle class gets squeezed. We need to understand who the job creators are in this country, because we need more jobs to grow the middle class and to grow the wages of the middle class. Who creates jobs? Small businesses, new businesses, family-owned businesses. They create two thirds of the new jobs in this country and they employ half the people. I started out typing for a nine person real estate firm. My husband Frank started out driving a tow truck for a family-owned auto body shop. And we are crushing small businesses and destroying the middle class. So here's my blueprint to take back America. Let us first actually reform the tax code from 73,000 pages down to three. There's a 20-year-old plan to do exactly that. And then let us begin piece by piece to focus on every single dollar the government spends, so that we will spend less overall and still have enough for our priorities. And that requires the government to budget the way you do at home \u2014 examine every dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. The fancy term for that is zero- based budgeting, but I call it common sense. Citizens, we've got to take our country back. +p634 +aVMy husband Frank, that I mentioned, I love spending time with. He's down there. He was real excited the other day because in New Hampshire, he was introduced as my eye candy. You know, everybody out there watching knows this. You cannot wait to see the debate between me and Hillary Clinton. You would pay to see that fight. And that's because you know I will win. And that's important. We've got to start by beating Hillary Clinton. All of my life, I have been told to sit down and be quiet. Settle. Settle. Don't challenge the system. That's what the American people are being told now and we have been told that for way too long \u2014 sit down and be quiet about our God, about our guns, about the abortion industry, settle for illegal immigration that's been a problem for decades, as so many of our problems have festered for decades. Accept a system of government and politics that no longer works for us. I will not sit down and be quiet. And neither will you. So I ask you to stand with me, fight with me, vote for me, citizens. It is time to take our future back, time to take our politics back. It is time to take our government back. Citizens, it is time. We must take our country back. +p635 +aVLike all of you I'm angry. I'm angry at what's happening to our nation. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. Bombastic insults wont take it back. Political rhetoric that promises a lot and delivers little, won't take it back. All of our problems can be solved. All of our wounds can be healed by a tested leader who is willing to fight for the character of our nation. I have been tested. I have beaten breast cancer. I have buried a child. I started as a secretary. I fought my way to the top of corporate America while being called every B word in the book. I fought my way into this election and on to this debate stage while all the political insiders and the pundits told, "it couldn't be done." I've been told, "no,: all my life. And all my life, I've refused to accept no as an answer. Citizens, it is time to take our country back from the political class, from the media, from the liberal elite. It can be done, it must be done, join me and we will get it done. +p636 +aVWhat I think we need to stand for are solutions. I offer myself as a leader to the people of this country because I think they're looking for solutions, not lawyers arguing over laws or entertainers throwing out sound bites that draw media attention. We need to solve the problem. To solve the problem, we need to do something here at home and something over there in their caliphate. We need to deny them territory. But here at home, we need to do two fundamental things. Number one, we need to recognize that technology has moved on. The Patriot Act was signed in 2001, roughly. The iPhone was invented in 2007. The iPad was invented in 2011. Snapchat and Twitter, all the rest of it, have been around just for several years. Technology has moved on, and the terrorists have moved on with it. Let me tell you a story. Soon after 9/11, I got a phone call from the NSA. They needed help. I gave them help. I stopped a truckload of equipment. I had it turned around. It was escorted by the NSA into headquarters. We need the private sector's help, because government is not innovating. Technology is running ahead by leaps and bound. The private sector will help, just as I helped after 9/11. But they must be engaged, and they must be asked. I will ask them. I know them. +p637 +aVYou know, listening to this conversation, let me just say, we have a lot of argument about laws but none of it solves the problem. Let's examine what happened, why did we miss the Tsarnaev brothers, why did we miss the San Bernardino couple? It wasn't because we had stopped collected metadata it was because, I think, as someone who comes from the technology world, we were using the wrong algorithms. This is a place where the private sector could be helpful because the government is woefully behind the technology curve. But secondly, the bureaucratic processes that have been in place since 9/11 are woefully inadequate as well. What do we now know? That DHS vets people by going into databases of known or suspected terrorists. And yet, we also know that +p638 +aVThey do not need to be forced. They need to be asked to bring the best and brightest, the most recent technology to the table. I was asked as a CEO. I complied happily. And they will as well. But they have not been asked. That's why it cost billions of dollars to build an Obama website that failed because the private sector wasn't asked. +p639 +aVI hope at some point you're going to ask me my strategy. +p640 +aVWell, first I'll just point out that talking tough is not the same as being strong. And to wage war, we need a commander in chief who has made tough calls in tough times and stood up to be held accountable over and over, not first-term senators who've never made an executive decision in their life. One of the things I would immediately do, in addition to defeating them here at home, is bring back the warrior class \u2014 Petraeus, McChrystal, Mattis, Keane, Flynn. Every single one of these generals I know. Every one was retired early because they told President Obama things that he didn't want to hear. We must have Sunni-Arabs involved in this coalition. We must commit leadership, strength, support and resolve. I'll just add that Margaret Thatcher once said, "If you want something talked about, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman." +p641 +aVThat is exactly what President Obama said. I'm amazed to hear that from a republican presidential candidate. But let's just start with, who got it wrong? Who really got it wrong? Hillary Clinton has gotten every foreign policy challenge wrong. Hitting the reset button with Vladimir Putin \u2013 recall that she called Bashar Al-Assad a positive reformer and then she opened an embassy and then later she said, over, and over, and over again, "Bashar Al-Assad must go." Although she wasn't prepared to do anything about it. Recall that Hillary Clinton was all for toppling Gadhafi then didn't listen to her own people on the ground. And then of course, when she lied about the terrorist attack in Benghazi, she invited more terrorist attacks. +p642 +aVWe've mismanaged going into Iraq. +p643 +aVWe've mismanaged going out of Iraq. +p644 +aVWe actually... +p645 +aVI didn't say I would cut off all communication with Putin. What I said was as president of the United States, now is not the time to talk with him. Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. There is a time and a place for everything. There is a time and a place for talk. And there is a time and a place for action. I know Vladimir Putin. He respects strength. He lied to our president's face; didn't both to tell him about warplanes and troops going into Syria. We need to speak to him from a position of strength. So as commander in chief, I will not speak to him until we've set up that no-fly zone; until we've gathered our Sunni-Arab allies and begun to deny +p646 +aVThis doesn't do a thing to solve the problems...It doesn't do a thing to solve the problems. +p647 +aVIt will not solve the problem. +p648 +aVLadies and gentleman, this is why the American people are standing up. +p649 +aVThis is why the nation is fed up... +p650 +aVWe have been talking about this... +p651 +aVSorry, but you haven't gotten to me. This is why... +p652 +aVthe people are fed up with the political class. +p653 +aVWell, first, Kim Jong-Un is a dangerous leader, without a doubt. And both Republican and Democrat administrations have been completely ineffective in dealing with him. So we must continue to isolate him. We will need China as part of that strategy. China is a rising adversary. So one of the things we have to do if we want China's support is to push back on China. They, too, recognize one thing \u2014 strength and their own economic interest. I have done business in China for 25 years, so I know that in order to get China to cooperate with us, we must first actually retaliate against their cyber-attacks so they know we're serious. We have to push back on their desire to control the trade route through the South China Sea through which flows $5 trillion worth of goods and services every year. We cannot let them control the disputed islands, and we must work with the Australians, the South Koreans, the Japanese and the Filipinos to contain China. And then we must ask for their support and their help with North Korea. Because believe it or not, China is as concerned about Kim Jong-Un as we are. +p654 +aVI too remember September 11th. I remember immediately putting into place security procedures all throughout our company that did business in 170 countries where we thought corporate interests would be attacked next. To take our country back, to keep our nation safe, we have to begin by beating Hillary Clinton. We need to unify our party. We need to better than our government, which 75 percent of the American people now think is corrupt and incompetent. They're right. We need to better than our politics. 80 percent think we have a professional/political class of both parties that cares more about its power, position and privilege than actually on getting anything done. We need to unify our party, we need a real Conservative in the White House, and we need to beat Hillary Clinton to take our country back and keep our nation safe. I can. I am. And together, if you join me, we will take our country back. +p655 +asVBUSH +p656 +(lp657 +VRight. +p658 +aVNot on specific issues, not at all. I think the next president \u2014 if I'm president, I will appoint people \u2014 I'll nominate people that have a proven record in the judiciary. The problem in the past has been we have appointed people thinking you can get it through the Senate because they didn't have a record. And the problem is that sometimes we're surprised. The simple fact is the next president needs to appoint someone with a proven conservative record, similar to Justice Scalia, that is a lover of liberty, that believes in limited government, that consistently applied that kind of philosophy, that didn't try to legislator from the bench, that was respectful of the Constitution. And then fight and fight, and fight for that nomination to make sure that that nomination passes. Of course, the president, by the way, has every right to nominate Supreme Court justices. I'm an Article II guy in the Constitution. We're running for the president of the United States. We want a strong executive for sure. But in return for that, there should be a consensus orientation on that nomination, and there's no doubt in my mind that Barack Obama will not have a consensus pick when he submits that person to the Senate. +p659 +aVYes. +p660 +aVNo, it doesn't, and that's the problem. The lack of leadership in this country by Barack Obama, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, thinking that this is a policy that works, this policy of containment with +p661 +aVThe very basic fact is that Vladimir Putin is not going to be an ally of the United States. The whole world knows this. It's a simple, basic fact. They're not taking out \u2014 they're not even attempting to take out +p662 +aV... Let me finish... +p663 +aV... This is ridiculous... +p664 +aV... This is coming from a guy who gets his foreign policy from the shows. +p665 +aV... This is a guy who thinks that Hillary Clinton is a great negotiator in Iran... +p666 +aV... This is a man who insults his way to the nomination... +p667 +aVI think it's my turn, isn't it? +p668 +aVI've got about five or six... +p669 +aVDo I get to do it five or six times or just once, responding to that? +p670 +aVSo here's the deal. I'm sick and tired of Barack Obama blaming my brother for all of the problems that he has had. And, frankly, I could care less about the insults that Donald Trump gives to me. It's blood sport for him. He enjoys it. And I'm glad he's happy about it. But I am sick and tired... +p671 +aVI am sick and tired of him going after my family. My dad is the greatest man alive in my mind. And while Donald Trump was building a reality TV show, my brother was building a security apparatus to keep us safe. And I'm proud of what he did. And he has had the gall to go after my brother. +p672 +aVHe has had the gall to go after my mother. Hold on. Let me finish. He has had the gall to go after my mother. +p673 +aVLook, I won the lottery when I was born 63 years ago, looked up, and I saw my mom. My mom is the strongest woman I know. +p674 +aVThis is not about my family or his family. This is about the South Carolina families that need someone to be a commander in chief that can lead. I'm that person. +p675 +aVCan I just... +p676 +aVI'm not going to invite Donald Trump to the rally in Charleston on Monday afternoon when my brother is coming to speak. +p677 +aVI'm rescinding the invitation. I thought you might want to come, but I guess not. +p678 +aVI'd like \u2014 can I \u2014 can I... +p679 +aVLook, I admire the fact that Governor Kasich is supporting spending more money on drug treatment and mental health. I think that's a high priority all across this country, but expanding Obamacare is what we're talking about, and Obamacare's expansion, even though the federal government is paying for the great majority of it, is creating further debt on the backs of our children and grandchildren. We should be fighting Obamacare, repealing Obamacare, replacing it with something totally different. When I was \u2014 as a private citizen, Florida was confronted with the choice. The governor was supportive of doing what John did. So was the Florida Senate. A committed speaker of the House asked me to go as a private citizen to make the case against the expansion. I did, and it wasn't expanded there, just as it wasn't expanded in South Carolina under Governor Haley. +p680 +aVSouth Carolina \u2014 South Carolinians need to know this, because the Cato Institute, which grades governors based on their spending, rank him right at the bottom. +p681 +aVAnd Governor Haley is ranked at the top. +p682 +aVNo. He mentioned my name. +p683 +aVLet me finish, though. No, no, no \u2014 hey, wait, wait, wait. Just hold, Major, hold, Major. Hold on, Major. +p684 +aVSouth Carolinians want to make that, they elect the most conservative governor or candidate that can win. +p685 +aVOf course not. It won't have an impact on hedge funds managers paying ordinary income. In fact, it's not just hedge fund people, but people that are doing \u2014 they're in the business of investing other people's money, getting capital gains treatment is not appropriate. They should be paying ordinary income. That's their business. They're grateful to be able to make a lot of money, I'm sure. And what we do is lower the rates. It's not the end of the world that private equity people and hedge fund folks that are, right now, getting capital gains treatment for the income they earn, pay ordinary income like everybody else in this room. That's not a problem at all. What we need to do is reform the tax code to simplify the rates, to shift power away from Washington, D.C. That's what I did as governor of the state of Florida, $19 billion dollars of tax cuts, and it stimulated seven out of the eight years. Florida led the nation in job growth. +p686 +aVThank you. +p687 +aVGreat question. I feel like I have to get into my inner Chris Christie, and point out that the reason why I should be president is listening to two senators talk about arcane amendments to bills that didn't pass. This is \u2014 this is the problem. We need a leader to fix this problem. And I have a detailed plan to do just that, including controlling the border, dealing with the visa over-stayers, making sure that we have a path to legal status, not to citizenship, for those that come out from the shadows and pay a fine, learn English, don't commit crimes, work and pay taxes. That is the better approach. +p688 +aVThe great majority of people that come to this country come because they have no other choice. They want to come to provide for their families. That doesn't mean it's right. That doesn't mean it's right. We should pick who comes to our country. We should control our border. Coming here legally should be a lot easier than coming here illegally. But the motivation, they're not all rapists, as you-know-who said. They're not that. These are people that are coming to provide for their families. And we should show a little more respect for the fact that they're struggling. It doesn't mean we shouldn't be controlling the border. That's exactly what we should be doing. +p689 +aV... So, you know......This is the standard operating procedure, to disparage me. That's fine... +p690 +aV... But, if you want to talk about weakness, you want to talk about weakness? It's weak to disparage women. +p691 +aVIt's weak to denigrate the disabled. And,it's really weak to call John McCain a loser because he was a... +p692 +aV... That is outrageous. The guy's an American hero. +p693 +aV... The simple fact is I've also laid out my plans on immigration... +p694 +aV Just, for the record make sure my mother's listening, if she's watching the debate. I didn't say that I was going to moon somebody... +p695 +aVSo, there \u2014 so, there is all sorts of intrigue about where I disagree with my brother, there would be one right there. You should not use eminent domain for private purposes. A baseball stadium or a parking lot for a limo... +p696 +aVIt's very different. Transmission lines, pipe lines, bridges and highways. All of that is proper use of imminent domain. Not to take an elderly woman's home to build a parking lot so that high-rollers can come from New York City to build casinos in Atlantic City. +p697 +aVMy name was mentioned twice. +p698 +aVHe called me a liar. +p699 +aVAlso, he talked about one of my heroes, Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan was a liberal maybe in the 1950s. He was a conservative reformed governor for eight years before he became president, and no one should suggest he made an evolution for political purposes. He was a conservative, and he didn't tear down people like Donald Trump is. He tore down the Berlin Wall. +p700 +aVHe was a great guy. +p701 +aVThat was me. +p702 +aVYeah, well, I have got to respond to this. +p703 +aVSounds like a good plan. +p704 +aVOr you could ask me two questions, so I could get two minutes instead of one. +p705 +aVI think the dysfunction in Washington is really dangerous, that's what I think. And we need a proven leader that has a record of solving problems, someone who doesn't cut and run; someone who could be a commander in chief to unite our country around common purposes; someone who doesn't disparage people. Someone that doesn't brag, for example, that he has been bankrupt four times and it was great, because he could use the legal system. Someone... +p706 +aVWe need someone with a proven record to be able to forge consensus to solve problems. And right now, both Republicans and Democrats in Washington don't get it. People are struggling \u2014 63 percent of Americans can't make a $500 car payment. Most Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. And we need someone has a proven record of growing the economy, reforming the things that are broken. And I'm that person. +p707 +aVYeah... +p708 +aVYeah. +p709 +aVHere we go. +p710 +aVHere's the record. Here's the record. We led the nation in job growth seven out of eight years. When I left there was $9 billion of reserves, 35 percent of general revenue. No state came close to that. +p711 +aVWhen I \u2014 during my time, we were one of the two states to go to AAA bond rating. We didn't go bankrupt like Trump did and call it success when people are laid off, when vendors don't get paid. That's not success. What we did was create an environment where people had a chance to have income. Personal income during my time went up by 4.4 percent. +p712 +aVThe government grew by... +p713 +aV... half of that. +p714 +aVThank you all very much. The next president is going to be confronted with an unforeseen challenge. That's almost certain. It could be a pandemic, a major natural disaster or an attack on our country. The question for South Carolinians and Americans is who do you want to have sitting behind the big desk in the Oval Office? Because that's the question. It's not the things we're talking about today. It's the great challenge that may happen. I believe I will have a steady hand as commander in chief and president of the United States. I will unite this country around common purposes because I did it as governor of the state of Florida. When I was governor, we had eight hurricanes and four tropical storms in 16 months. Our state was on its back. We recovered far faster than what people thought because we led. We want to challenge rather than cutting and running. That's what we need in Washington, D.C. We need someone with a servant's heart that has a backbone, that isn't going to focus on polls and focus groups. The focus will be on the American people to keep them safe and secure. I ask for your vote next Saturday. +p715 +aVChris, why don't you mention my name so I can get into this. +p716 +aV... I appreciate that, I really do, thank you. +p717 +aVWell, first of all he said the exact same thing about me, that I would make a great Vice Presidential nominee when Mitt Romney was considering. I said the same thing about Marco. I think we were both right at the time, and Mitt picked somebody else. So, let's move on to the 2016 race. Who has the leadership skills... ...who has the leadership skills to lead? And, I'm proud of the fact that I have 12 Medal of Honor recipients, over 30 admirals and generals that believe that I would be a steady hand as Commander in Chief. That I serve as Governor of the state of Florida where we cut taxes and reduced government. I took on very powerful interests, forged consensus, fought for my beliefs, implemented them and the state was better off. We had eight hurricanes and four tropical storms in 16 months. The whole state was turned upside down. It required a steady hand. Leadership. You learn this, you learn it by doing it. It's not something that you just go up, and on the job do it. It's not the same. Look, let's be clear. Marco Rubio is a gifted, gifted politician, and he may have the skills to be a President of the United States, but we've tried it the old way with Barack Obama, with soaring eloquence and we got \u2014 we didn't get a leader we got someone who wants to divide the country up. The next President......going to have to forge consensus to bring about a set of common purposes so that we can move forward again in this country... +p718 +aV... this relates to strategic patience. +p719 +aVThis relates to the strategic patience of the Obama administration. They come up with these great marketing terms, and what they do is they pull back, and voids are filled, and they're now filled by asymmetric threats of terror, as well as nation-states on the run. The next president of the United States is gonna have to get the United States back in the game, and if a preemptive strike is necessary to keep us safe, then we should do it. +p720 +aVWell, first of all, it's interesting that that happened literally days when this hostage release took place in Iran. A day or two days afterwards, North Korea took a \u2014 held an American student hostage. I think it's when we send a signal of weakness, when we are negotiating to release people that committed crimes in our country for people that didn't commit crimes that are held hostage in Iran. We saw the shameful treatment of our sailors, that this creates weakness \u2014 sends a signal of weakness around the world. The next president of the United States is going to have to get back in the game. Where the United States' word matters. Where we back up our allies, where we don't send signals of weakness. We need to use every \u2014 every influence possible to get this student back. And I think John is right about this, there are crippling sanctions that are available, as it relates to the two or three banks that North Korea uses to \u2014 to \u2014 use it \u2014 illicit trade. We ought to re-establish sanctions, not just because of the student, but because of their actions that they're taking right now, as it relates to building this missile capability. +p721 +aVGood evening. HAM: Mr. Trump. +p722 +aVThe difference \u2014 the difference between eminent domain for public purpose \u2014 as Donald said, roads and infrastructure, pipelines and all that \u2014 that's for public purpose. But what Donald Trump did was use eminent domain to try to take the property of an elderly woman on the strip in Atlantic City. That is not public purpose, that is down right wrong. And here's the problem with that. The problem was, it was to tear down \u2014 it was to tear down \u2014 it was to tear down the house... +p723 +aVAnd the net result was \u2014 you tried. +p724 +aVAnd you lost in the court. +p725 +aVThat is not true. And the simple fact is to turn this into a limousine parking lot for his casinos is a not public use. And in Florida, based on what we did, we made that impossible. It is part of our Constitution. That's the better approach. That is the conservative approach. +p726 +aVHow tough it is to take away property from an elderly woman? +p727 +aVHow tough it is to take away a property from an elderly woman? +p728 +aVI consider it a public use. +p729 +aVIt's a public use. It's a public use. +p730 +aVIt's a public use. +p731 +aVYeah. +p732 +aVIt's a public use. +p733 +aVEstablished by the courts \u2014 federal, state courts. +p734 +aVI would like to see more millionaires. I think we need to grow more millionaires, we need create a prosperity society where people can rise up. This notion that somehow we're undertaxed as a nation is just fool hearty, when we have entitlements growing far faster than our ability to pay for it. A conservative, because that's the point of this, believes in limited government, believes in a entrepreneurial capitalism and a strong national defense. But it also has to be, we need to reform things. In my town hall meetings, I went to a place where a woman described her neighbor, who has a better economic deal by not working than her struggling to make ends meet. We need to be on the side of working people. And you know, the problem with the left is, another tax, another regulation, another mandate makes it harder for them to rise up. Everything that we should do should be focused on high, sustained economic growth, where the middle class gets a raise for the first time, and where people are rewarded for work, rather than non-work. And I know how to do this. And if people are interested in the specifics of this, they ought to go to jeb2016.com. +p735 +aVMartha \u2014 Martha, if I... +p736 +aVI would. And I would do it in concert, again, with our Arab allies and with Europe, most particularly in this case. This is the lesson learned: in history, if you bomb something and not do anything as it relates to deal with the aftermath of this, if you don't have a stable government, you get what we have in Libya. And this is not \u2014 leading from behind is not an effective policy. We have to lead. Without the United States, nothing seems to work. Europe doesn't have the ability to \u2014 to \u2014 to lead \u2014 forward lead in this regard. And so dealing with the caliphate is important, because it now has spawned other areas. There have been 70-plus attacks in 17 countries, either inspired by +p737 +aVMartha and David, I just... +p738 +aVMartha and David... +p739 +aVNo, no, I wouldn't. No, I wouldn't. And it was used sparingly, Congress has changed the laws and I \u2014 and I think where we stand is the appropriate place. But what we need to do is to make sure that we expand our intelligence capabilities. The idea that we're going to solve this fight with predator drones, killing people somehow is a \u2014 is more acceptable than capturing them, securing the information. This is why closing Guantanamo is a complete disaster. What we need to do is make sure that we are kept safe......by having intelligence capabilities, both human and technological intelligence capabilities far superior than what we have today. That's how you get a more safe place is by making sure that we're fully engaged. And right now, this administration doesn't do that. +p740 +aVThis is a \u2014 this is an important subject. I agree with everything that's been said here about repealing unconstitutional rules and rules that are creating real burdens for investing that creating jobs. But we also ought to get back to being a Tenth Amendment country, as well, a country that respects the states to be able to make more decisions. And in the Bush administration, we would shift transportation dollars back to the states. I trust Kasich and Christie to build the roads and the infrastructure of their states than Washington, D.C. EPA delegated authority, back to the states. Education dollars, back to the states. I would like to see reform take place all across the country, where there's more vouchers, more freedom. If we did that, we would shrink government's power in Washington, D.C. and we would have a much more effective government, where people would begin to trust our government again, because now, no one believes it works. +p741 +aVYou mentioned me. He mentioned me. One other thing that I think we ought to do, along with repealing Obamacare, we need to shift all of this power of healthcare, which is the most egregious form of federal power that is suppressing wages and incomes, and allow governors to have the Medicaid plans so that they can create 21st century Medicaid insurance for people that are stuck in poverty. There's so much that can be done, but I don't trust Washington to do it. I trust the state capitals to be the place \u2014 to be the source of innovation and reform in this country. HAM: Thank you, governors. Martha and David, back to you. +p742 +aVI didn't mention him the second time. +p743 +aV... Say it again? +p744 +aV... I do, and I do think that we should not impose any kind of political agenda on the military. There should be \u2014 if women can meet the requirements, the minimum requirements for combat service they ought to have the right to do it. For sure. It ought to be focused on the morale as well. We got to make sure that we have readiness much higher than we do today. We need to eliminate the sequester which is devastating our military. We can't be focusing on the political side of this, we need to realize that our military force is how we project our word in the world. When we're weak militarily it doesn't matter what we say. We can talk about red lines, and +p745 +aV... Why would they worry about it... +p746 +aV... Well, the Draft's not going to be reinstituted, but why \u2014 if women are accessing... +p747 +aVNo. I didn't say that. You \u2014 you asked a question not about the draft, you asked about registering. And if women are going to be... +p748 +aVIf \u2014 but... +p749 +aV... we don't have a draft. I'm not suggesting we have a draft. What I'm suggesting is that we ought to have readiness being the first priority of our military, and secondly, that we make sure that the morale is high. And right now, neither one of those are acceptable because we've been gutting the military budget. We also need to reform our procurement process. We need to make sure there are more men and women in uniform than people \u2014 than civilians in our Defense Department. There's a lot of things that we need to reform to bring our defense capabilities into the 21st century and I'm the guy that could do that. That's why I have the support of generals, of admirals, of 12 Medal of Honor recipients and many other people that know that I would be a steady commander-in-chief and rebuild our military. +p750 +aVI totally agree that we need to give veterans more choices. A veterans card to be able to go to a private provider will enhance the quality of the service inside the Department of Veterans Affairs. We need career civil service reform. Only three people were fired after waiting lists were dropped where veterans didn't get care and people died. It is outrageous. And Hillary Clinton says that that's acceptable? Because she is captive of the public service uniforms. Career civil service reform would allow the next president to fire people that are \u2014 that are showing sheer incompetence. At a town hall meeting today, someone came \u2014 told a story of their father who looked like he was 85. He had \u2014 he got a bill eight years later from an operation he had, eight years it took. They couldn't resolve the dispute and then he was told that he died. Literally, the Veterans Administration sent a death certificate to this guy and it took nine months to clarify the guy \u2014 I met him. He's voting for me. And he is \u2014 likely to be alive. This is \u2014 this is outrageous. It is completely outrageous. So, giving veterans more choices, creating centers of excellence, focusing on the true problems that exist. Dr. Carson is completely right. We need to start focusing on this earlier, before they become veterans so that there's a customized plan so people don't fall through the cracks. We can do this, but it's going to require someone who has proven leadership skills to make it happen. +p751 +aVLook, I'm pro-life. In fact, on this stage, I'm the most pro-life person because I've acted on it for eight years as governor of the state of Florida. Where we abolished partial-birth abortion, where parents have the right to be notified when their teenage child is having an abortion. We were the first state to do a choose life license plate to raise money for adoption. We were the first state to have state monies go to crisis pregnancy centers, which recently was just increased to $4 million a year. We created greater regulation on abortion clinics, where there were horrific procedures. So I'm pro life, but I believe there should be exceptions: rape, incest and when the life of the mother is in danger. And so, that belief, and my consistency on this, makes me, I think, poised to be in the right place, the sweet spot for a Republican nominee. And others may have a different view and I respect it. +p752 +aVPeyton Manning is supporting me. And I'm for Denver. +p753 +aVI want to thank the people of New Hampshire, and I want to celebrate the birthday of a great president, Ronald Reagan would have been 105 today. President Reagan believed in the future of our country, believed in its greatness, had a hopeful, optimistic message. Drew people towards our cause. We need someone who has a proven record to take our case to the American people because our philosophy is by far the best one. Limited government, entrepreneurial capitalism, of peace through strength. I believe I have the skills to take our party to victory in November. I ask for your support on Tuesday to keep America, and make America a safer, stronger, and freer. Thank you all very much. +p754 +aVBret, we're just starting. The first vote hasn't been counted. Why don't we let the process work. I trust Iowans, Granite staters, people in South Carolina, people in Nevada, to start this process out. I kind of miss Donald Trump. He was a little teddy bear to me. We always had such a loving relationship in these debates and in between and the tweets. I kind of miss him. I wish he was here. Everybody else was in the witness protection program when I went after him on behalf of what the Republican cause should be: conservative principles, believing in limited government, believing in accountability. Leading by fixing the things that are broken. Look, I am in the establishment because my dad, the greatest man alive was president of the United States and my brother, who I adore as well as fantastic brother was president. Fine, I'll take it. I guess I'm part of the establishment Barbara Bush is my mom. I'll take that, too. But this election is not about our pedigree, this is an election about people that are really hurting. We need a leader that will fix things and have a proven record to do it. And we need someone who will take on Hillary Clinton in November. Someone who has a proven record, who has been tested, who is totally transparent. I released 34 years of tax returns... ... and 300,000 e-mails in my government record. To get the information from Hillary Clinton, you need to get a subpoena from the FBI. +p755 +aVNo, you weren't. Your name wasn't mentioned, Ted. +p756 +aV... Chris, keep it coming... +p757 +aV... Thank you Chris... +p758 +aVWell, first, I was critical of the Senators not giving the authorization for the use of military force. They should have made it more open ended for the next president. We shouldn't have the war fighters have their arms tied behind their back as President Obama wanted to do, but they had a chance to show support and it wasn't popular at the time. It became popular after the attack in Paris, and San Bernardino. Now we hear the tough talk. Prior to that, in the Reagan Library, I gave a detailed plan. Exactly what to do as it relates to +p759 +aVOf course. And there's all sorts of ways that can be done at the state, local and federal level to do that. But the first duty of the next president of the United States is to fix the mess at the Department of Veterans Affairs. That's his first responsibility. Look, we have waiting lists for veterans that are \u2014 that are leaving because of the sequester where we're gutting the military. More and more military personnel are leaving becoming veterans, and the waiting list grows. They've given out $140 million of bonuses to Veterans Department employees, including reducing the waiting lists, without giving veterans care. People died, and only three people have been fired. I will make sure that we fire the sheer incompetence inside the Department of Veterans Affairs and then we'll give veterans a choice card so that they don't have to travel hours and hours to get care if they want to go to their private provider. You want to make the Veterans Administration do a better job, give them \u2014 give veterans choices and you'll get a much better result. And as it relates to all the other organizations, let me give you a good example. In Houston, Texas, there's an organization in place because someone acted on their heart, wanted to make sure that there's no homeless veterans in Houston. And they've come pretty close to that without federal government assistance. We need to mobilize the entire country to treat our veterans and treat them with much more respect than they get today. +p760 +aVNo, they shouldn't. And I believe that Puerto Rico ought to have the right of self-determination. If I was a Puerto Rican, I'd vote for statehood so that they have full citizenship. They serve in the military. They would have to pay federal taxes. They would \u2014 they would accept the responsibilities of full U.S. citizenship. But they should have the right of determine \u2014 self-determination. Before you get to that, though, Puerto Rico is going to have to deal with the structural problems they face. You know, it's \u2014 it's a fact that if you can pay for a $79 one-way ticket to Orlando, and you can escape the challenges of a declining economy and high crime rates, you move to Orlando. And a lot of people are doing that. And the spiraling out-of- control requires Puerto Rico to make structural reforms. The federal government can play a role in allowing them to do that, but they should not \u2014 the process of statehood or the status of Puerto Rico won't be solved until we get to the bigger issue of how you deal with the structural economic problems they're facing right now. +p761 +aVWell, I'm kind of confused because he was the sponsor of the Gang of Eight bill that did require a bunch of thresholds but ultimately allowed for citizenship over an extended period of time. I mean, that's a fact. And he asked me to support that. And I \u2014 I supported him because I think people, when you're elected, you need to do things. And he led the charge to finally fix this immigration problem that has existed now for, as Marco says, for 30 years. And then he cut and run because it wasn't popular amongst conservatives, I guess. Here's what I believe. And I wrote a book about this called Immigration Wars. You can get it at $2.99 on Amazon. It's not a bestseller. I can promise you. There won't be any \u2014 you can get it. It's affordable for everybody. We should have a path to legal status for the 12 million people that are here illegally. It means, come out from the shadows, pay a fine, earn legal status by working, by paying taxes, learning English. Not committing crimes and earn legal status where you're not cutting in front of the line for people that are patiently waiting outside. I think that is the \u2014 I think that's the conservative consensus pragmatic approach to how to solve this problem. +p762 +aVSo did you. +p763 +aVYeah. So did you, Marco. +p764 +aVMarco, Marco \u2014 he brought up my name. I have supported a consensus approach to solving this problem wherever it came up. and in 2007 it almost passed when my brother was president of the United States. A bipartisan approach got close. Barack Obama actually had the poison pill to stop it then. And when you led the charge with the Gang of Eight, I supported it because you asked me to. I think it's important for people in elected office to try to forge consensus to solve problems. There's never going do be perfect bill. +p765 +aVBut when you didn't do that and you ask people to support, you shouldn't cut and run. +p766 +aVYou should stick with it and that's exactly what happened. He cut and run. And that's a tragedy because now... ... it's harder and harder to actually solve this problem. +p767 +aVCan I \u2014 can I \u2014 I just... +p768 +aVThat beautiful young woman who's an entrepreneur who served in the military, first of all, is deserving of our respect for service in the military and the fact that she's an entrepreneur. And we should be a welcoming nation. Our identity is not based on race or ethnicity, it's based on a set of shared values. That's American citizenship. And Dulce Candy \u2014 a pretty cool name, actually \u2014 that is now an entrepreneur over Youtube is part of that American spirit, and we should celebrate it as conservatives. That's what we believe in. You can \u2014 you can deal with the threat of terror and also recognize that this country should be aspirational across the board. +p769 +aVWell, first of all, I've seen polls where I'm beating Hillary Clinton pretty regularly. And I believe I can, because I have a proven record, a record of accomplishment, a record of cutting taxes, of shrinking the government, of reforming education, of challenging the status quo, eliminating career civil service protections, shrinking the government workforce by 11 percent, but leading the nation in job growth. That's the record of accomplishment that should be taken to Hillary Clinton, who has no record of accomplishment. So I'm confident if I win this nomination, I will aggressively go against her and beat her. As it relates to the super PACs, I have no control over that. And this is beanbag compared to what the Clinton hit machine is going to do to the Republican nominee. The simple fact is, we all have a record. It all will be scrutinized. There's give and take. It's called the politics. And that's the way it is. I'm running hard and I believe I'll be the Republican nominee and I'll be the one best suited to beat Hillary Clinton, who should not be president of the United States. +p770 +aVWell first of all, I think it's important that when we're running for the highest office in the land that we recognize that we're living in dangerous times and we have to be serious about it, that our words have consequences. Donald Trump, for example \u2014 I'm glad \u2014 I mentioned his name again just if anybody was missing him... ... Mr. Trump believed that in reaction to people's fears that we should ban all Muslims. Well, that creates an environment that's toxic in our own country. Nobela is a rising entrepreneur. She wants to pursue the American dream. She's an American citizen. She should not feel uncomfortable about her citizenship. She's not the threat. The threat is Islamic terrorism. We need to focus our energies there, not these broad, blanket, kind of statements that will make it harder for us to deal with +p771 +aVWe desperately need a conservative leader as president of the United States. I have a proven record as governor of the state of Florida, as a conservative leader. And I also have detailed plans to fix the mess in Washington, D.C. As president I will restore and rebuild our military, restore the alliances and keep us safe. And as our party's nominee, I will defeat Hillary Clinton in November. I ask for your support on the caucuses come Monday night and I will make you proud as our party's nominee. Thank you very much. +p772 +aVWell first of all, the idea that somehow we're better off today than the day that Barack Obama was inaugurated president of the United States is totally an alternative universe. The simple fact is that the world has been torn asunder. Think about it. With grandiose language, the president talks about red lines and nothing to follow it up; talks about +p773 +aVNo. And worse \u2014 worse yet, to be honest with you, Hillary Clinton would be a national security disaster. Think about it. She wants to continue down the path of Iran, Benghazi, the Russian reset, Dodd-Frank, all the things that have \u2014 that have gone wrong in this country, she would be a national security mess. And that is wrong. And you know what? Here's the problem. If she gets elected, she's under investigation with the FBI right now. If she gets elected, her first 100 days, instead of setting an agenda, she might be going back and forth between the White House and the courthouse. We need to stop that. +p774 +aVNeil, my name was mentioned here. Neil, my name was mentioned as well. Here's the deal, Chris is totally right. He's been a good governor, and he's a heck of a lot better than his predecessor that would have bankrupted New Jersey. Everybody on this stage is better than Hillary Clinton. And I think the focus ought to be on making sure that we leave this nomination process, as wild and woolly as it's going to be \u2014 this is not being bad. These attack ads are going to be part of life. Everybody just needs to get used to it. Everybody's record's going to be scrutinized, and at the end of the day we need to unite behind the winner so we can defeat Hillary Clinton, because she is a disaster. Our country rise up again, but we need to have a compelling conservative agenda that we present to the American people in a way that doesn't disparage people, that unites us around our common purpose. And so everybody needs to discount some of the things you're going to hear in these ads, and discount the \u2014 the back-and-forth here, because every person here is better than Hillary Clinton. +p775 +aVFirst of all, I'd like to recognize Governor Haley for her incredible leadership in the aftermath of the \u2014 \u2014 the Emanuel AME church killings. And I also want to recognize the people in that church that showed the grace of God and the grace of forgiveness and the mercy that they showed. I don't know if any of us could have done what they did, one after another, within 48 hours of that tragedy taking place. Look, here's the deal, in this particular case, the FBI made a mistake. The law itself requires a background check, but that didn't fulfill their part of the bargain within the time that they were supposed to do. We don't need to add new rules, we need to make sure the FBI does its job. Because that person should not have gotten a gun, should not \u2014 would not have passed a background check. The first impulse of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton is to take rights away from law- abiding citizens. That's what they do, whether it's the San Bernardino attack or if it's these tragedies that take place, I think we need to focus on what the bigger issue is. It isn't law-abiding gun owners. Look, I have an A plus rating in the NRA and we also have a reduction in gun violence because in Florida, if you commit a crime with a gun, you're going away. You're going away for a long, long while. And that's what we should focus on is the violence in our communities. Target the efforts for people that are committing crimes with guns, and if you do that, and get it right, you're going to be much better off than creating a political argument where there's a big divide. The other issue is mental health. That's a serious issue that we could work on. Republicans and Democrats alike believe this. The president's first impulse is do this by executive order, power he doesn't have. Why not go to Congress and in a bipartisan way, begin to deal with the process of mental health issues so that people that are spiraling out of control because of mental health challenges don't have access to guns. +p776 +aVWell, first of all, under President Jeb Bush, we would restore the strength of the military. Last week, Secretary Carter announced that the Navy's going to be cut again. It's now half the size of what it was prior to Operation Desert Storm. The deployments are too high for the military personnel. We don't have procurement being done for refreshing the equipment. The B-52 is still operational as the long range bomber; it was inaugurated in the age of Harry Truman. The planes are older than the pilots. We're gutting our military, and so the Iranians and the Chinese and the Russians and many other countries look at the United States not as serious as we once were. We have to eliminate the sequester, rebuild our military in a way that makes it clear that we're back in the game. Secondly, as it relates to Iran, we need to confront their ambitions across the board. We should reimpose sanctions, they've already violated sanctions after this agreement was signed by testing medium-range missiles. Thirdly, we need to move our embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem to send a serious signal that we're back in the game with Israel......and sign an agreement that makes sure that the world knows that they will have technological superiority. We need to get back in the game as it relates to our Arab nations. The rest of the world is moving away from us towards other alliances because we are weak. This president and John Kerry and Hillary Clinton all have made it harder for the next president to act, but he must act to confront the ambitions of Iran. We can get back in the game to restore order and security for our own country. +p777 +aVDonald, Donald \u2014 can I \u2014 I hope you reconsider this, because this policy is a policy that makes it impossible to build the coalition necessary to take out +p778 +aVYeah, they are unhinged. +p779 +aVNo, not at all, absolutely not. I can see why people are angry and scared, because this president has created a condition where our national security has weakened dramatically. I totally get that. But we're running for the presidency of the United States here. This isn't \u2014 this isn't, you know, a different kind of job. You have to lead. You cannot make rash statements and expect the rest of the world to respond as though, well, it's just politics. Every time we send signals like this, we send a signal of weakness, not strength. And so it was his statement, which is why I'm asking him to consider changing his views. +p780 +aVSo, are we going to ban Muslims from India, from Indonesia, from countries that are strong allies \u2014 that we need to build better relationships with? Of course not. What we need to do is destroy +p781 +aVAbsolutely. +p782 +aVYeah. +p783 +aVHere's \u2014 apart from the \u2014 apart from the higher prices on consumers and people are living paycheck to paycheck, apart from that, there will be retaliation. +p784 +aVSo they soybean sales from Iowa, entire soybean production goes \u2014 the equivalent of it goes to China. Or how about Boeing right here within a mile? Do you think that the Chinese, if they had a 45 percent tariff imposed on all their imports wouldn't retaliate and start buying Airbus? Of course, they would. This would be devastating for the economy. We need someone with a steady hand being president of the United States. +p785 +aVThey're a mile away from here. +p786 +aVMy name was mentioned. My name was mentioned here. The simple fact is that the plane that's being build here is being sold to China. You can \u2014 if you \u2014 you flew in with your 767, didn't you? Right there, right next to the plant. +p787 +aVWhen you head back to airport tonight, go check and see what the... +p788 +aVCheck it out. +p789 +aVThere's \u2014 look, there's \u2014 +p790 +aVI would try to convince him otherwise, but this last back and forth between two senators \u2014 back bench senators, you know, explains why we have the mess in Washington, D.C. We need a president that will fix our immigration laws and stick with it, not bend with the wind. The simple fact is one of the ways, Maria, to solve the problem you described is narrow the number of people coming by family petitioning to what every other country has so that we have the best and the brightest that come to our country. We need to control the border, we need to do all of this in a comprehensive way, not just going back and forth and talking about stuff \u2014 +p791 +aVOh, I'll talk about that, too. But you haven't asked me a question in a while, Neil, so I thought I'd get that off my chest if you don't mind. +p792 +aVI got that. And the problem today is there's no confidence in Washington, D.C. There needs to be more than one meeting, there needs to complete dialogue with the large technology companies. They understand that there's a national security risk. We ought to give them a little bit of a liability release so that they share data amongst themselves and share data with the federal government, they're not fearful of a lawsuit. We need to make sure that we keep the country safe. This is the first priority. The cybersecurity challenges that we face, this administration failed us completely, completely. Not just the hacking of OPM, but that is \u2014 that is just shameful. 23 million files in the hands of the Chinese? So it's not just the government \u2014 the private sector companies, it's also our own government that needs to raise the level of our game. We should put the NSA in charge of the civilian side of this as well. That expertise needs to spread all across the government and there needs to be much more cooperation with our private sector. +p793 +aVYou've got to keep asking. You've got to keep asking because this is a hugely important issue. If you can encrypt messages, +p794 +aVWell, if the law would change, yeah. But I think there has to be recognition that if we \u2014 if we are too punitive, then you'll go to other \u2014 other technology companies outside the United States. And what we want to do is to control this. We also want to dominate this from a commercial side. So there's a lot of balanced interests. But the president leads in this regard. That's what we need. We need leadership, someone who has a backbone and sticks with things, rather than just talks about them as though anything matters when you're talking about amendments that don't even actually are part of a bill that ever passed. +p795 +aVWho can you count on to keep us safer, stronger and freer? Results count, and as governor, I pushed Florida up to the top in terms of jobs, income and small business growth. Detailed plans count, and I believe that the plan I've laid out to destroy +p796 +aVOur freedom is under attack. Our economy is under water. The leading democrat is under investigation. And America is under the gun to lead the free world to protect our civilized way of life. Serious times require strong leadership, that's what at stake right now. Regarding national security, we need to restore the defense cuts of Barack Obama to rebuild our military, to destroy +p797 +aVWell, first of all, we need to destroy +p798 +aVLook, he mentioned me. I can bring \u2014 I can talk. This is \u2014 this is the problem. Banning all Muslims will make it harder for us to do exactly what we need to do, which is to destroy +p799 +aVThey are relevant if we want to destroy +p800 +aVDonald, this has got... +p801 +aVThis is another example of the lack of seriousness. Look, this is \u2014 this is troubling because we're at war. They've declared war on us and we need to have a serious strategy to destroy +p802 +aVYou said on September 30th that +p803 +aVI'm talking right now. I'm talking. +p804 +aVSeptember 30th you said... +p805 +aVA little of your own medicine there, Donald. +p806 +aVDonald, you're not going to be able to insult your way to the presidency. That's not going to happen. And I do have the strength. Leadership, leadership is not about attacking people and disparaging people. Leadership is about creating a serious strategy to deal with the threat of our time. And I laid out that strategy before the attacks in Paris and before the attacks in San Bernardino. And it is the way forward. We need to increase our military spending. We need to deal with a no- fly zone in Syria, a safe zone. We need to focus on building a military that is second-to-none... +p807 +aV... so that we can destroy Islamic terrorism. +p808 +aVI think we're focusing a whole... +p809 +aVI do. I think the lesson's learned are that we have to have to have a strategy to get and a strategy to get out. Which means, that you create a stable situation. This president and this is what the focus ought to be, it's not the differences between us, it's Barack Obama does not believe America's leadership in the world is a force for good. He does not believe that our strength is a place where security can take place. He leads from behind. He creates an environment that now we're creating the most unstable situation we've had since the World War II era. The focus ought to be on the single fact that Hillary Clinton wants to double down on a failed foreign policy and we need to be united to defeat that because we're going to be in a place that is far less secure than it is today. Don't you all agree? +p810 +aVBecause I \u2014 first of all, I know what I don't know. I know what I don't know. I would seek out, as I have, the best advice that exists. I won't get my information from the shows. I don't know if that's Saturday morning or Sunday morning. I don't know which one. I will seek out the best advice, and I will create a strategy and I will persuade the American people what the role of America should be. I've laid out a policy of rebuilding our military. All of the talk that we're seeing here \u2014 most of which I agree on, frankly \u2014 requires a much stronger military. We now have a lack of readiness that is quite scary. We have planes that were \u2014 that Harry Truman inaugurated, the B-52. We have \u2014 the Navy has been gutted and decimated. The readiness of the Marines is way down. If we're serious about America's leadership in the world, then we need to make sure that we have the back of the armed forces. The Armed Forces Radio is here listening to this today. I hope they know that if I'm president, I'll be a commander-in-chief, not an agitator- in-chief or a divider-in-chief, that I will lead this country in a way that will create greater security and greater safety. +p811 +aVSo I was \u2014 I was \u2014 I was mentioned, so I can bring up something, I think, right? Look, the simple fact is, if you think this is tough you're not being treated fairly... +p812 +aV... imagine what it's going to be like dealing with Putin or dealing with President Xi. +p813 +aVOr dealing with the Islamic terrorism that exists. +p814 +aVThis is a tough business to run for president. +p815 +aVAnd it's \u2014 and we need...... to have a leader that is... +p816 +aVYou're never going to be president of the United States by insulting your way to the presidency. +p817 +aVDoesn't matter. Doesn't matter. +p818 +aVYes. +p819 +aVNo it isn't but it is an important subject to talk about for sure. And I think people have good ideas on this. Clearly, we need to secure the border. Coming here legally needs to be a lot easier than coming here illegally. If you don't have that, you don't have the rule of law. We now have a national security consideration, public health issues, we have an epidemic of heroine overdoses in all places in this country because of the ease of bringing heroine in. We have to secure the border. It is a serious undertaking and yes, we do need more fencing and we do need to use technology, and we do need more border control. And we need to have better cooperation by the way with local law enforcement. There are 800,000 cops on the beat, they ought to be trained to be the eyes and ears for law enforcement for the threat against terror as well as for immigration. This is a serious challenge and if we can get it right, yes, we'll start winning votes again. The real problem isn't anybody on this stage, the real problem is Barack Obama has had six years to advocate a position to fix this and he's done nothing. The congress has funded these programs of building more fencing and doing all this and he hasn't done it. He wants to maintain it as a wedge issue and so does Hillary Clinton. Republicans need to fix it and when we do, we'll be better off. +p820 +aVI completely agree with Chris. And this administration has been so lax. Think about it. Hillary Clinton is using a private server for \u2014 where classified information go by. This is a \u2014 this is a serious administration? The president receives an inspector general's report that the Office of Personnel Management could be hacked into; they had antiquated firewalls; 23 million files have been \u2014 are in the hands of the Chinese allegedly, including, by the way, members of the press, it turns out, last week. Maybe that's the only part that's good news, so that you guys can get a feel for what it's like now to see this type of attack. This is something \u2014 we have to have the best defensive capabilities. We need to coordinate all of our efforts with the private sector. We need to give them liability relief so that we can do that. And offensively, we need to have capabilities second to none. We need to create a situation where they know that there will be adverse impacts if they continue to do what they're doing. They'll respect that. They'll respect a United States that is serious about protecting our \u2014 our infrastructure. If we don't do it, we'll continue to see what's \u2014 exactly what's happening, not just from the Chinese, by the way. The Russians and rogue actors, including +p821 +aVAsk yourself, which candidate will keep you and our country safer, stronger and freer? Hillary Clinton has aligned herself with Barack Obama on +p822 +asVMCELVEEN +p823 +(lp824 +VThank you, David. And good evening, candidates. Mr. Trump, you have said, quote, "I love eminent domain" which is the seizure of private property for the sake of the greater good theoretically. You tried to use the measure in business endeavors, you've said you'd support its use for the Keystone Pipeline project. Here in New Hampshire, a project, though, known as the Northern pass would bring hydro-electric power from Canada into the Northeastern grid. Do you see eminent domain as an appropriate tool to get that done? +p825 +aVSo would that be yes on the Northern Pass project? +p826 +aVMr. Trump, take 30 seconds. +p827 +aVAll right, gentlemen... +p828 +aVGentlemen, we do have to move forward. Dave, Martha, back to you. +p829 +aVYou're all aware, candidates, this is a major problem here in New Hampshire. It's a very deadly problem as well. Last month, New Hampshire senators Kelly Ayotte, Republican, and Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat, they went down to Washington, along with the police chief of the state's largest city to testify before the Judiciary Committee in D.C. Senator Cruz, you're a member of that committee. Your campaign schedule didn't allow you to attend this. Even so, the police chief called your absence outrageous, given the severity of the problem. Last week, though, you told a personal story of a close family member's struggle with addiction. What can you say to law enforcement right now to convince them that you understand the severity of this problem and you're not just saying what people want to hear days before the primary? +p830 +aVAnd Governor Christie, you have talked a lot about this issue here in New Hampshire. State reforms, criminal justice reforms, access to treatment. To Senator Cruz's point, let's take it a step further. Would you be willing to engage in cross-border enforcement into Mexico, a place where law enforcement in New Hampshire has traced at lot of this supply back to. Would you engage in cross-border enforcement without the cooperation without the Mexican government? +p831 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you very much. David, Martha, back to you. +p832 +aVThank you, Martha. None of you on stage tonight have ever worn a uniform as a member of the armed services. That's the reality of it. But as commander-in-chief, you'll also be charged with the care of 23 million active duty service members and veterans in this country. Some have suggested privatizing the V.A. as a way to enhance care and increase the quality of the care and access. Others say that veterans should carry I.D. cards that allow them access to any hospital or health care provider. Governor Bush, what specifically would you do to ensure that those who have sacrificed for us are cared for? +p833 +aVGovernor Kasich, do you have a favored approach? +p834 +aVSenator Rubio, go ahead? +p835 +aVSenator Rubio, thanks very much. Going to move forward now. David, Martha, back to you. +p836 +asVHEWITT +p837 +(lp838 +VSenator Cruz, you've said you disagree with Mr. Trump's policy. I don't want a cage match; you've tweeted you don't want a cage match. But Republican primary voters deserve to know, with the kind of specificity and responsiveness you delivered in your nine Supreme Court arguments, how you disagree with Mr. Trump. Would you spell that out with us? +p839 +aVSo you're saying you disagree because he's too broad and you have a narrower focus? Why do you disagree with him? +p840 +aVCarly Fiorina... ... this is the Christmas dinner debate. This will be the debate that Americans talk about at Christmas. And thus far, in the first 10 minutes, we haven't heard a lot about Ronald Reagan's city on a hill. We've heard a lot about keeping Americans out or keeping Americans safe and everyone else out. Is this what you want the party to stand for? +p841 +aVDr. Carson...... you mentioned in your opening remarks that you're a pediatric neurologist surgeon... +p842 +aVNeurosurgeon. And people admire and respect and are inspired by your life story, your kindness, your evangelical core support. We're talking about ruthless things tonight \u2014 carpet bombing, toughness, war. And people wonder, could you do that? Could you order air strikes that would kill innocent children by not the scores, but the hundreds and the thousands? Could you wage war as a commander-in-chief? +p843 +aVSo you are OK with the deaths of thousands of innocent children and civilian? It's like... +p844 +aVThat is what war \u2014 can you be as ruthless as Churchill was in prosecuting the war against the Nazis? +p845 +aVMr. Trump, we are talking about the most important thing, that's why it's heated. And it's, you are OK with Mr. Assad staying in power, but you are also in favor of winning. If he stays in power, Iran is winning, Hezbollah is winning. Iran is winning in Yemen. They are winning everywhere. If they are winning how can we be winning? +p846 +aVGovernor Christie, is he right? Because if we step back, Iran goes nuclear. Is Donald Trump right? +p847 +aVSenator Paul, let me ask you, you heard Governor Kasich say Assad must go. Do you agree? +p848 +aVGovernor Bush, a commander-in-chief question. You've said that Mr. Trump is not qualified to be president because he's not qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin. Why are you better qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin than Mr. Trump? +p849 +aVMr. Trump? +p850 +aVBut, Mr. Trump, it's not CNN \u2014 I was on CNN last night... +p851 +aV... watching... +p852 +aVBut it wasn't \u2014 it wasn't CNN. It was me. I watched you last night for 16 minutes. It's not CNN. +p853 +aVIt's not CNN. It's America's watching you. +p854 +aVIt's America's watching. +p855 +aVGovernor \u2014 thank you, Governor. +p856 +aVDr. Carson, commander-in-chief question again. You've been the head of neurosurgery for a big hospital. You're on a lot of boards of a lot of companies. You've traveled the world. You're going traveling again next week. But does that prepare you to command troops from Djibouti to Japan, troops from Afghanistan to Iraq to be in charge of the men and women watching on Armed Services Network tonight? +p857 +aVMr. Trump...... Dr. Carson just referenced the single most important job of the president, the command, the control and the care of our nuclear forces. And he mentioned the triad. The B-52s are older than I am. The missiles are old. The submarines are aging out. It's an executive order. It's a commander-in-chief decision. What's your priority among our nuclear triad? +p858 +aVOf the three legs of the triad, though, do you have a priority? I want to go to Senator Rubio after that and ask him. +p859 +aVSenator Rubio, do you have a response? +p860 +aVMy listeners tell me again and again they are worried that Hillary Clinton will win the White House because you'll run as an independent. Are you ready to assure Republicans tonight that you will run as a Republican and abide by the decision of the Republicans? +p861 +aVDr. Carson, last week... +p862 +aVPlease. +p863 +aVDr. Carson, Mr. Trump just committed to stay the distance regardless of the result. How about you? +p864 +asVWALLACE +p865 +(lp866 +VTonight, we're partnering with Google for an exclusive second-screen experience. Search Fox News debate on Google any time in the next two hours to access exclusive content. You can see the campaigns respond to the debate in real time, and you can weigh in by voting on the topics being discussed. Just go to google.com or open your Google search app and type in Fox News debate. +p867 +aVNeurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. +p868 +aVApparently Iowa's near Kentucky. +p869 +aVSenator Rubio, I want to explore this sort of larger issue. The campaign has in a sense turned into a battle for the soul of the Republican party: establishment versus grassroots, pragmatic versus principle. You say that you can unite all of the factions inside the GOP. How? +p870 +aVGovernor Kasich, I want to get back to this question of where conservatives are this year. You call yourself a, quote, "inside-outside guy, a reformer who knows how to get things done," but you reject the establishment label. First question is why do you reject it? And secondly, what do you say to Republican voters this year who view practical government experience as a liability and not an asset? +p871 +aVDr. Carson, I want to pick up on that with you. Governor Kasich likes to say he knows how to land the plane. You've landed a lot of planes in the O.R. But what about the idea of running for president with no experience in government at all? +p872 +aVGentlemen, we're now going to start to drill down into specific issues that are on voters' minds. I'm going to start with one of the biggest ones, which is foreign terror. According to Google, +p873 +aVSenator Rubio, does Senator Cruz's record match his rhetoric? +p874 +aVSenator Cruz, you've got 30 seconds. You were mentioned. +p875 +aVGentlemen. +p876 +aVMay I \u2014 may I just say, we are going to continue the questions about foreign terror, gentlemen, right after this break. +p877 +aVThank you. Governor Christie, you have compared both Senators Cruz and Rubio to Barack Obama, saying that we cannot afford another inexperienced President. You've also said that Senator Cruz's vote to curtail the NSA surveillance program made America less safe. Is either of them ready to be Commander in Chief? +p878 +aVGovernor Bush... +p879 +aV... I don't think that your name was mentioned... +p880 +aV... Sir, I think \u2014 I think the question was... +p881 +aV... It's not my question that you get a chance to respond to, it's his answer. You don't get 30 seconds to respond to me... +p882 +aV... You don't get 30 seconds to respond to me... +p883 +aV... If I could go on. Sir, I know you like to argue about the rules, but we're going to conduct a debate... +p884 +aV... Governor Bush... +p885 +aVGovernor Bush, here's the question \u2014 I'm going to ask Governor Bush the question. You criticized several candidates in this field on this stage for what you call unrealistic ideas about how to fight terrorists, including Rubio, and Cruz on the issue of their refusing to give the President authority to enforce the redline in Syria. But, given the fact that your brother got us into two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that have still not ended. That have still not ended, what lessons have you learned from his mistakes, sir? +p886 +aVSenator Cruz, now you get a chance to respond. +p887 +aV... It is a debate, sir. +p888 +aVI think the questions were about issues. Senator Rubio, what would you like to respond sir... +p889 +aVThank you. +p890 +aVGood. +p891 +aVSenator Paul, go ahead. +p892 +aVWell... ... we'll be talking about foreign policy a little bit later. We're going to talk... +p893 +aVThis debate is just getting started. Coming up, the role of the federal government. But first, join tonight's conversation right from your home. Go to google.com or open your Google search app and search Fox News Debate to vote on which issue is most important to you in this election. More from the Iowa Events Center and the Republican presidential debate in a moment. +p894 +aVGentlemen, we're going to turn now to what we call electability, issues that you're either facing in the primaries or issues that you're certainly going to face in a general election. So you may not be altogether unhappy if you're not included in this round. Senator Cruz, you pride yourself on standing up to the D.C. cartel, but as we've seen to a certain degree tonight, there's a price for standing up to the D.C. cartel. Thirteen Republican senators have endorsed other candidates, none have endorsed you. You \u2014 twice last year, you asked for a colleague to second a motion, a routine courtesy on the Senate floor, and no senator would do it. Top GOP officials worry that if you're at the top of the ticket \u2014 some officials \u2014 that not only will you lose the White House, but it will tank the ticket all the way down the line. The question is does your style sometimes get in the way of your ability to get things done, sir? +p895 +aVGovernor Christie, two of your former top aides go on trial in May for fraud and conspiracy in the "Bridge-gate" case, the politically motivated closure of lanes to the George Washington Bridge. Another former aide who has already pleaded guilty and will likely testify for the government, as you know, says that you knew about this whole deal. Can the GOP take the chance of nominating you with this scandal still out there, sir? +p896 +aVGentlemen, almost 60% of Republican caucus-goers identify themselves as Evangelicals, so I'd like to spend a few minutes exploring social issues. Governor Kasich, you talk a good deal about your faith. In fact, you say it played a role in your decision to expand Medicaid, and you say that when you meet Saint Peter at the Pearly Gates, he's going to ask what you did for the poor, not what you did to keep government small. Senator Cruz is on the opposite side of this issue from you, so does that mean that you're getting in and he isn't? +p897 +aVGentlemen, we had a case study on religious liberty just this last summer. A county clerk in Kentucky named Kim Davis refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples after the Supreme Court ruling, saying that it violated her religious beliefs. Governor Christie, you said that she must follow the law or be moved to another job that would be in keeping with her conscience. But some conservatives say that that violates her religious liberty. +p898 +aVThank you, sir. Senator Rubio, during the last debate, you said Governor Christie had changed his position and his mind on gun control, on common core, and backing President Obama's nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. He said you're wrong on the facts and you can't, quote, "slime your way to the White House." I assume in the last two weeks, you've done some fact-checking. Do you want to take anything back? +p899 +aVThank you, senator. Senator Paul, in May on the campaign trail you, said you didn't get into politics to fight about abortion. You said you were more concerned about the national debt. Your answer is to turn abortion back to the states the way it was before Roe v. Wade. Does that mean that if a liberal state, let's say, wants to make abortion legal, that you're okay with that and what do you say to conservative voters who believe deeply that abortion is murder? +p900 +aVSir, just 30 seconds to answer my specific... Just 30 seconds to answer my specific question. Do you favor the idea that abortion should be a states' rights issue and if a liberal state wants to make it legal, that that's their choice? Yes or no? +p901 +aVThank you, sir. +p902 +aVWe're not finished yet. More to come from the presidential debate, live from Des Moines, Iowa, next. And remember, to see how the campaigns are responding to the debate in real time, go togoogle.com or open your Google search app and search Fox News debate, and please stay with us. +p903 +aVWe have another question from one of Youtube's top creators. Here it is. +p904 +aVGovernor Bush, how do you answer Nabela? +p905 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Cruz, change of subject. You called for an end to the renewable fuel standards which mandate that refineries blend biofuels, including ethanol into gasoline. As you well know, ethanol's a big industry in this state, $10 billion dollars a year. Last week, Terry Branstad, the popular Governor of Iowa... ... Who is in the hall tonight, said that you're bankrolled by big oil, and that Iowa voters would be making a mistake supporting you. Why should those voters side with you over the six- term governor of the state, sir? +p906 +aVDr. Carson, I'd like to ask you about exactly that issue. Where are you on the mandatory ethanol standard, and precisely this question. Should government be in the business of picking winners and losers, or should it be left to the market place? +p907 +aVDoctor, thank you. +p908 +aVDr. Ben Carson. +p909 +aVAnd don't forget, after all the talk, the first voting of the 2016 campaign happens in just four days. The first Americans to vote, the Iowa caucuses are Monday and Fox News will have complete coverage. +p910 +asVGARRETT +p911 +(lp912 +VSenator Cruz. John mentioned this is about dollars and incentives. We also want to talk about economic growth engagements. You have proposed a consumption tax, you called it the "back tax." Some analysts compare it more to an attributed "value-added tax." From the perspective from economic growth in building wages, how does that work, and how would you address those longstanding conservative concerns that something approaching the "value-added tax" would be used to constantly increase those rates to pay for future government spending and become an escalator of taxation, not of growth? +p913 +aVNow, the question \u2014 conservatives have sort of this idea conceptually for a long time, but especially on this consumption value-added tax system. In Europe, where it exists, it has become an escalator of taxation to feed government spending, and that's why conservatives have long resisted it. Why and what would you do as president to make sure that doesn't happen? +p914 +aVGovernor Bush, a question for you \u2014 but if you want to jump in, please. +p915 +aVJump in, and then I've got a question for you. +p916 +aVReal quickly, jump in, because I have got a question for Governor Bush, but jump in. +p917 +aVUnderstood, Governor Kasich. +p918 +aVYeah, Governor Bush, fine. +p919 +aVLet me get in a question from... +p920 +aVI understand, I understand. +p921 +aVI have a question on economic growth, Governor Bush. +p922 +aVA , Governor. +p923 +aVI know, understood. Governor Bush. +p924 +aVGovernor Bush, from the perspective, economic growth \u2014 viewed from this perspective of economic growth, you have proposed a tax on hedge fund managers. The Americans for Tax Reform, a conservative tax group you're probably aware of, has said no Republican should be for higher taxes on capital gains. And many conservatives wonder if this proposal of yours would undermine not only that philosophy, but undercut your projection of 4 percent economic growth annually under your presidency? +p925 +aV... Dr. Carson... +p926 +aVSenator Rubio... For the purposes of the lines \u2014 lines you would draw legislatively as a president on immigration reform, define amnesty. +p927 +aVVery quickly, Senator Cruz. +p928 +aVGovernor Bush, I want to bring this out to a little wider philosophical aspect, if you will. +p929 +aVYou have said illegal immigrants, quote, "broke the law, but it's not a felony," still quoting you, "it's an act of love, it's an act of commitment to your family." Mr. Trump has, as you are well aware, denounced that statement over and over. Do you still believe it? What does that mean to you? And how does that inform your approach to immigration reform? +p930 +aVFundamentally, do you believe this rhetoric is insufficiently compassionate to this issue? +p931 +aVMr. Trump... +p932 +aV... Governor Kasich, here in South Carolina earlier this week, you said the idea, the concept of deporting 11 million undocumented workers... +p933 +aV... We will leave the moon metaphors to be adjudicated later, I assure you. Governor Kasich, you said earlier this week in South Carolina, the concept, the idea of deporting 11 million undocumented workers in this country is nuts. Why is it you are so opposed to that idea? Senator Cruz has said it's a simple application of existing law. The application of that is not inhumane, it is just. Why do you disagree? +p934 +aV... What are you for on immigration? +p935 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 Mr. Trump. I was with you in Pendleton, South Carolina, earlier this week at the Rodeo Arena. It was a bit chilly there. You promised the crowd, and they rose to their feet, that if Ford or a company like were to move a factory to Mexico, you would try to stop it or threaten them with a 35 percent tax or tariff on every car sold. +p936 +aVRight. So my question is, based on your understanding of the presidency, where do you derive that power? Would you need the consent of Congress to go along? And do you see the presidency as a perch from which you can cajole and/or threaten private industry to do something you think is better for the U.S. economy? +p937 +aVThank you, governor. +p938 +asVMUIR +p939 +(lp940 +VGood evening, again, everyone. This is the first time since Iowa and the only time before the New Hampshire primary that the Republican candidates will have the opportunity to face each other. The people of Iowa have been heard. Now it's New Hampshire's turn. In just three days, voters here will decide who they think should be the Republican nominee for president. +p941 +aVSo let's welcome the candidates for the Republican nomination for president. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. +p942 +aVTexas Senator Ted Cruz. +p943 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. +p944 +aVAnd Ohio Governor John Kasich. +p945 +aVAnd Dr. Ben Carson, please come out on the stage. He's standing there, as well. Dr. Carson. +p946 +aVAnd lastly, we welcome back to the debate stage, Donald Trump. +p947 +aVIt was so noisy in here. Yes. Yes. We're going to introduce Ohio Governor John kasich. The applause so loud here in the hall. +p948 +aVSo let's get started. We welcome you all to the debate stage here tonight. We're going to tackle the issues Americans are most concerned about, the economy, +p949 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. I want to bring this to Senator Cruz, then. Because Senator, you did said of Trump's behavior this week, that's not the temperament of a leader to keep this country safe. Why not? +p950 +aVSenator Cruz, I did ask about Mr. Trump. You said he doesn't have the temperament to be commander-in-chief. Do you stand by those words? +p951 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. We're going to continue on this notion of readiness and experience. I'm going to come back. +p952 +aVIf you would like to respond, Mr. Trump. +p953 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. And we're going to continue on this notion of readiness and on experience, but I want to ask about a headline that was back in the papers again this morning. Dr. Carson, on the day of the Iowa caucuses, the Cruz campaign sent out messages and voicemails saying, quote, "Breaking news. Dr. Ben Carson will be planning to suspend his campaign following tonight's caucuses. Please inform any Carson caucus-goers of this news." But as we can all see, you are still standing here tonight. Late this week, your campaign sent this e-mail, quote, "This kind of deceitful behavior is why the American people don't trust politicians. If Senator Cruz does not act, then he clearly represents D.C. values." What kind of action do you think Senator Cruz should take? +p954 +aVSenator Cruz. Dr. Carson, thank you. Senator Cruz, you have said that Dr. Carson and his wife have become friends of yours. I'm curious as why you didn't call ahead of time to either the doctor or his wife or have your campaign check in with the other campaign before sending out those messages. +p955 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. We're going to move on here. Back to the issues... +p956 +aVDr. Carson, please. +p957 +aVDr. Carson, thank you. Thank you, doctor. Senator Rubio. I want to stay on the issue of readiness to be president and experience and questions about you being a first-term senator. Governor Christie warning voters here in New Hampshire against voting for another first-term senator as America did with Barack Obama in 2008. Arguing that you are, quote, " not ready to be president of the United States." And Senator Santorum, who we all know, dropped out of the race and endorsed you, had a hard time when asked on national television, listing your accomplishments as senator. Tonight, what are your accomplishments in the Senate that demonstrate you are ready to be president of the United States? +p958 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I do want to ask Governor Christie, Governor Christie, you said fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me when it comes to electing a first-term senator. You heard Senator Rubio make the case that he does have the experience. Your response? +p959 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Rubio? +p960 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I want to bring in governor bush on this, because you... +p961 +aV... have made this... +p962 +aVIf you'd like to respond to economic... +p963 +aVSenator Rubio? +p964 +aVGovernor Christie, we will \u2014 we will... +p965 +aVGovernor Christie \u2014 thank you, Governor. I will mention \u2014 listen... +p966 +aV... Listen, people... Governor Bush, I'll mention your name so that you can come in on this... +p967 +aVI want to bring you in on this because you've made this central to your campaign right here in New Hampshire in the last couple of days. Four Years ago you said of Senator Rubio, he was ready to be Vice President. You spoke of his experience as well. You said he has the fortitude to be a good President, but just this week you said Senator Rubio accomplished, quote, "nothing" in the Senate. How do you square the two? +p968 +aV... We're going to continue with leadership now. Martha? +p969 +aVMartha, we're going to turn to immigration now. And I want to bring in Governor Kasich because you told us in an ABC interview, Governor, quote, "It is completely ridiculous to think we are going to go into neighborhoods, grab people out of their homes and ship people back to Mexico." Adding, quote, "That's not where the party is. The party is not for departing 11.5 million people." But Mr. Trump and Senator Cruz, who have made deportation central to their campaigns, top the national polls. So, my question for you, are you not where the voters are? +p970 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. I want to bring this next to Senator Cruz. You heard what the governor said. He said, "We need practical solutions." And you've said, "I don't intend to send jack boots to knock on doors. That's not how we enforce the law for any crime." So, what is your plan? How will you deport 11.5 million undocumented people? And be specific. How would you do it? +p971 +aVLet me just ask you this, though, because Governor Kasich was talking about the families and what you do with the families that you would have to send home. Can you tell the American people tonight how you would do that? +p972 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. I want to bring in Senator Rubio. This question is about immigration, it is also about leadership. You're aware of the criticism from many candidates on this stage tonight that you co-authored the so-called Gang of Eight bill that would have created a path to citizenship for people here illegally. Governor Christie has said of you, as soon as you felt the heat, you turned tail and run. Governor Bush has said, "I don't think we need people cutting and running anymore." Did you fight for your own legislation, Senator, or did you run from it? +p973 +aVBut I'm asking, did you fight for the legislation at the time or did you run from it as you're... +p974 +aVGovernor Christie? +p975 +aVGovernor thank you. Senator Rubio? +p976 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. We want to turn to health care in this country, and for that, author and commentator, Mary Katherine Ham tonight. HAM: Thanks, David. Good evening, guys. +p977 +aVMary Katherine, thank you. We want to turn now to the issue of eminent domain, which is being debated right here in New Hampshire. And Josh McElveen is the political director and the anchor of +p978 +aVJosh, thank you. When we come back here tonight, jobs, +p979 +aVAnd, we welcome you back to the Republican debate from New Hampshire tonight here on ABC. We're going to turn now to what it means to be a conservative, and I want to turn to Governor Kasich. Governor, while campaigning here in New Hampshire, you were already asked about groans from some conservatives after your endorsements from the New York Times, and the Boston Globe. You said, quote, "What conservatives have to know is they have to say, look isn't it nice to have a conservative like me liked? And, maybe the ought to think about it because if I get elected president, the Republican party and the definition of conservatism is going to change." How would you change conservatism? +p980 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. Mr. Trump, you've heard the argument from many of the candidates on this stage that you're not a true conservative. Tell the voters watching tonight why you are. +p981 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. Senator Rubio, you have said yourself that you don't think Donald Trump is running as a conservative. Did he convince you? +p982 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I want to turn this discussion to the economy now. And Mr. Trump, Governor Christie has said, "I tell everybody who goes to a Donald Trump event, if you get to ask a question, just ask him how." Christie said, "I don't care which of the things he talks about, just ask him how." You have said that you'd be the greatest jobs president God ever created. Tell Americans watching tonight how many jobs you would create in the first term and how. +p983 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. There are a lot of governors on this stage tonight and Governor Christie, Governor Kasich said of you, quote, "In Ohio, we balanced a budget. They don't have one over in New Jersey. Our credit has been strengthened. Their credit has been downgraded. We've got more jobs." How important are those metrics in choosing the next president? And is his job \u2014 is his record on jobs, I should say, actually stronger than yours? +p984 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Kasich? +p985 +aVHe didn't say your record was better than his. +p986 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. +p987 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. I do want to turn from jobs to taxes. +p988 +aVIf you would like to respond to the governor, you can. +p989 +aVI'm coming to you next with a question, anyway. You can respond to that question. +p990 +aVWe're going from jobs to taxes, and here's the... +p991 +aVTo the Gang of Eight bill first? +p992 +aVThe governor wasn't talking about the president, he was talking about the Gang of Eight bill. +p993 +aVSo, let me ask you about taxes, Senator Rubio. +p994 +aVA recent poll, 68 percent of Americans favor raising taxes on people making more than $1 million a year. Are they wrong? +p995 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I want to bring in Governor Bush. And Governor, I just want to repeat that number for you \u2014 68 percent of Americans favor raising taxes on people making more than a million. What do you say to the people who believe that tonight? +p996 +aVKnew that was coming. Governor, thank you. +p997 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you. Martha? +p998 +aVMartha, thank you. We're just going to \u2014 we're going to stay on +p999 +aVIf elected president, would you bring it back? +p1000 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. Mr. Trump, you said not only does it work, but that you'd bring it back. +p1001 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. Governor Bush, you have said that you won't rule waterboarding out. Congress has passed laws banning the use of waterboarding by the military and the CIA, as you know. Would you want Congress to change that if you're elected president? +p1002 +aVGovernor Bush, thank you. Senator Rubio, I do want to ask you, you have said that you do not want to telegraph to the enemy what you would do as commander in chief. But for the American people watching tonight who want to know where the next president will stand, do you believe waterboarding is torture? +p1003 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. We want to turn now to the topic of executive orders, and for that, we're going to turn back to Mary Katharine Ham. Mary Katharine? HAM: Thanks, David. Senator Cruz, on the campaign trail you've promised voters a lot, in fact if you're elected president you'd say you end Common Core immediately, abolish the IRS, and do away with sanctuary cities. You've also been a persistent critic of President Obama's executive overreach, going it alone, not working with Congress. How do you intend to implement this aggressive agenda within your Constitutional authority, especially given that it would require working with Congress and Washington players with whom you're happy to say you have a strained relationship? +p1004 +aVMary Katherine, thank you. We want to turn to something the governor of New Hampshire said... +p1005 +aVA connection here on the stage. We're going to move on to what the governor of New Hampshire said just this week, and that is that heroin overdose is not the second-leading cause of death in this state. You don't need me to tell you that. But there's another number, 48 percent of the people here in this state knows someone who has abused heroin. Josh, who covers this for +p1006 +aVMartha? +p1007 +aVGovernor, well come to you in the next segment. When we come back, questions about race, about our veterans and social issues what younger conservative voters are now saying as we continue with New Hampshire with the Republican debate, right here on ABC. +p1008 +aVWelcome back to New Hampshire, ABC News coverage of the Republican debate, and it's great to have you back at the podiums, and we want to turn to race in America. And Mr. Trump, there are many who argue cell phones and smartphones are just now exposing what's been happening in this country for years. Cases of excessive force against minorities. As you know, Mr. Trump, on the other side, the FBI director recently said there's a chill wind blowing through law enforcement because of increased scrutiny. You have said police are the most mistreated people in America. As president, how do you bridge the divide? +p1009 +aVGreat. Mr. Trump, I did ask about bridging the divide though as president. So what would you say to the American families who say we have lived through this, we have seen excessive force? What would you say to those people? +p1010 +aVI do want to ask \u2014 Governor Kasich? +p1011 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Rubio, I want to ask you next, President Obama visited a mosque this week in America for the first time in his presidency. President George W. Bush visited a mosque after September 11th. You said of President Obama, quote, "he's always pitting people against each other." So I'm curious, how are the two visits different, and would you visit a mosque as president? +p1012 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. Martha? +p1013 +aVJosh, thank you. I want to turn to a family that New Hampshire voters know quite well, and Senator Cruz, the issue of hostages has been a very real and painful one here in this state. As we all know, James Foley was killed. His mother, Diane, said our government should be willing to negotiate, arguing that families should also be allowed to raise money for ransom. What would you say to Diane Foley tonight? Should families be allowed to raise money for ransom for their loved ones? +p1014 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. Mr. Trump, what would you say to Diane Foley? Should families be allowed to raise money for ransom? +p1015 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. We want to turn now to social issues and young voters and for the question, from Mary Katherine. HAM: Thank you David. Senator Rubio. One of the lazier pieces of political conventional wisdom is that so-called social issues are hurting Republicans with young people. But on the two most prominent social issues, polling with millennials actually moves in different directions. On one hand, it is clear, young people across the political spectrum increasingly favor same sex marriage. However young voters have not moved to the left on abortion. In fact, large numbers of them favor at least some modest restrictions that conservatives have supported. How do you speak to millennials on both these issues, while Democrats will inevitable charge intolerance and extremism? +p1016 +aVMary Katherine, thank you. We're going to have closing statements here in just a moment, but before we go, quick lightning round. Come November, two battle-ground states, but they face off tomorrow in the Super Bowl. Governor Kasich, who wins? +p1017 +aVGovernor Bush? +p1018 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1019 +aV Mr. Trump? +p1020 +aVAll right, Dr. Carson? +p1021 +aVYeah. Governor Christie, the last word? +p1022 +aVDenver. Thank you so much, gentlemen. Closing statements in just a moment, right here, as the ABC News Republican debate continues from New Hampshire, right after this. +p1023 +aVWe welcome you back. The New Hampshire primary, of course, is Tuesday, but time now for closing statements. And we begin tonight with Governor Kasich. +p1024 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1025 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Senator Rubio. +p1026 +aVThank you. Mr. Trump. +p1027 +asVHUCKABEE +p1028 +(lp1029 +VI wish I saw the country in the same place that the president presented it to be the other night in the State of the Union. He talked about how great the economy was doing. And I guess for the people he hangs out with, it's probably doing great. But the president should've stood in the line at the layaway counter at Walmart just before Christmas. He would have heard a very different story about the economy of America. I wish I could introduce him the lady who cleans the building where our campaign headquarters is located in Little Rock. Her name is Kathleen. She works all day at a local hospital cleaning, and then she goes to the building where a bank, and our headquarters, and other offices are she spends another seven hours. She works 15 hours a day. I guarantee you she's not working 15 hours a day because she loves scrubbing toilets, and sweeping floors. She's working that many hours because that's what it takes for her to make it work. And, she's not alone. There are people all over this country who are working like that. Many of them working two jobs \u2014 and they used to have one job, and that would take care of them. But, because of wage stagnation, which we've had for 40 years, because the fact that they're punished for working harder if they work that many hours. The government gets more of their second shift than they do. And, as a result there are a lot of people who are hurting today. I wish the President knew more of them. He might make a change in the economy and the way he's managing it. +p1030 +aVLet me put that in context. When I went to Afghanistan, I saw a land that looked like the land of the Flintstones. It was desolate. It was barren. It was primitive. And it's been that way for thousands of years. They want to take the world back to be just like that. We don't. We need to make a clear goal as to why we want to be anywhere in the Middle East, and I'll tell you why we want to be and need to be, is to destroy radical Islam and everything that threatens civilization. It's not just a threat......to Israel or to America, it's a threat to every civilized person on this Earth. And we need to be equipping not only the Kurds in Iraq, we need to be making sure that those who are willing to fight radical Muslims will do it, but we need to never ever spend a drop of American blood unless there is a clearly defined goal and we can't make sure we win unless we have a military that's the strongest in the history of mankind. We've got to rebuild our navy. It's the smallest navy we've had since 1915, when my grandfather got on a destroyer in World War I when he was in the U.S. Navy. We've got young men in Air Force B-52s, one in particular, he's flying a B-52 that his father flew in the '80s and his grandfather flew in the '50s. Those planes are older than me. We've got to have a military that the world is afraid of, use it sparingly, but when we do, the whole world will know that America is on their tail and they will be on their tail on the ground, never ever to rise up again. +p1031 +aVOnly if there is a concerted effort to destroy the advance of radical Islamists who are against us. As far as what are we going to make it look like. Frankly, I don't know what we can make it look like. You can't create for other people a desire for freedom and democracy. And frankly, that is not the role of the United States. The role of the United States military is not to build schools, it is not to build bridges, it is not to go around and pass out food packets. It is to kill and destroy our enemy and make America safe and that is the purpose we should be there if we're going to be there. +p1032 +aV Yes, I did. +p1033 +aVWell, why don't we start by making sure the Justice Department never does an idiotic program like Fast and Furious where the U.S. Government put guns......in the hands of Mexican drug lords......and end up killing one of our border agents. You know, they want to talk about law abiding citizens, I just find it amazing the President keeps saying the gun show loophole. There is no gun show loophole. I promise you I've been to more gun shows than President Obama. +p1034 +aVAnd, I've bought more weapons at them, and you fill out forms. The President also says things that it's easier to get a gun now than it is to grow trees. Again, I purchase guns, and I can assure you that it is much more difficult to purchase a firearm than it is to get the ingredients of a salad at the supermarket. What the President keeps pushing are ideas that have never worked. Ideas that would not have stopped San Bernadino, Sandy Hook, Aurora, and at some point you wonder if you keep retrying things that don't work, maybe we should just see if we could resell all those used lottery tickets that didn't work real well because that's the logic of just keep doing the same thing, but something that has failed. Of course, we want to stop gun violence, but the one common thing that has happened in most mass shootings is that they happened in gun- free zones where people who would have been law abiding citizens, who could have stood up and at least tried to stop it and we're not allowed to under the law. +p1035 +aVWell, we shouldn't be and that's one of the reasons that I think there a lot of voices in our country who are saying it's time to relook at the visa program. The European Union is a failure, it's not allowed for even the economic goals that they were trying to achieve. But, what we're not seeing is that it's making Europe less safe, and it's proven not to be exactly what they all thought it was going to be. Our first and foremost responsibility in this country, and the first responsibility of the President of the United States is protect America, and protect Americans. We have a President who seems to be more interested in protecting the reputation and image of Islam than he is protecting us. And, I want to be very clear......that this President. Makes comments like he did the other night, that we have to be so careful because we don't want to offend Muslims. He needs to read his own FBI crime stats from last year which would show him that of the hate crimes in the country, over 5,500, about 1,100 were religious hate crimes. And, of those, 58% were directed toward Jews. Only 16% directed toward Muslims. Maybe what the President should have talked about the other night is how we ought to be more careful in the anti-semitic comments that are going toward American Jews than toward Muslims because by three times as many......they're being targeted for religious hate crime. +p1036 +aVIt does not shut down international commerce, but it may slow it down. And, you don't want to slowdown commerce that is making us safer. It's worth it. This lady who came and joined with the San Bernardino killer had passed three background checks, and that's why a lot of Americans didn't buy it when the President said we'll bring in Syrian refugees, but don't worry we'll check them out. We have a lot of confidence in a president who told us that we could keep our doctor, we could keep our health insurance, and cost us less, and now the latest is if you like your gun you can keep it too, and frankly, we don't buy it. We don't believe it. He's lost his credibility, and his inept... ...inability to work with Congress and pass legislation has led him to do what I never even imagined doing as a governor, and that's just going and doing it my own way. That's why we elect a president, is to lead, is to be able to shepherd things through. And if I can do it with a 90 percent Democrat legislature in Arkansas, there is no excuse for any president not being able to lead in Washington if he knows what the heck he is doing when he gets there. +p1037 +aVWell, first of all, let's just remember that Social Security is not the government's money, it belongs to the people who had it taken out of their checks involuntarily their entire working lives. For the government to say, well it is fault of working people that we have a Social Security problem, no. It is the fault of a government that used those people's money for something other than protecting those people's accounts. So let's not blame them and punish them. But here is a fact, and I sometimes hear Republicans say well, we're going to have to cut this and extend the age. You know what I think a lot of times when I hear people say, well, let's make people work to their 70. That sounds great for white-collar people who sat at a desk most of their lives. You ever talk to somebody that stood on concrete floor for the first 40 years of their working life? Do you think they can stand another five years or 10 years, many of them will retired virtually crippled because they worked hard. And we're going to punish them some more? I don't think so. Here's the fact. Four percent economic growth, we fully fund Social Security and Medicare. Our problem is not that Social Security is just too generous to seniors. It isn't. Our problem is that our politicians have not created the kind of policies that would bring economic growth. And I still support strongly that we get rid of the 77,000 pages of the monstrous tax code......pass the fair tax, supercharge this economy with the rocket fuel that happens with the consumption tax and we don't have to cut Social Security to any senior who has worked their lifetime for it. +p1038 +aVLet me go back to the reason so many people are having a hard time getting ahead. The tax system punishes them. Think about this. If you work really hard and you start moving up the economic ladder, you get bumped into a different tax bracket. So the government thinks it deserves more of your hard work than you do. And it's one of the reasons that no matter how many different reforms you have to a tax on people's productivity, you're still taxing their work, their savings. You're taxing their capital gains, inheritance, dividends, you're taxing everything that produces something. And it's way I really believe it's time to do something bold, not something minute. This is no time for a tap of the hammer, a twist of the screwdriver. It's time for something big. That's why the fair tax transforms our economy. And we don't punish workers. It's the only way we're going to get middle class people moving ahead again, because the harder they work, the more they keep. No payroll tax deducted from their checks. They get their entire paycheck. And, one of the most important parts, it's built on the common sense with which we raised our kids, and trained dogs. You reward behavior you want more of. And, you punish behavior you want less of. That's how I raise kids, it's how I trained our dogs, and folks, it's not that difficult. We now punish the behavior we say we want more of by taxing it, and we reward the behavior that we say we want less of, so if you make a good investment, we punish you with a tax. If you make a bad investment you can write that off and the rest of the taxpayers will help subsidize you, and bail you out. +p1039 +aVWell, Rick, I'm pretty sure I did also fight the Clinton machine because every election I was ever in in Arkansas, I assure you, they were behind it, helping finance and campaign for every opponent. And I share with you the understanding that it's going to be a tough battle. But I spent the first half of my adult life in the private and nonprofit sector, raising a family, understanding how tough it is for people to make it. And that first half of my life is what led me to believe that America needs a different kind of leadership, not people who spent their whole life running from one office to the next, and living off the government dime. And I got involved because I got sick of what I saw. I also believe that there's got to be some leadership that not only addresses the monetary and military issues of this country, but the moral issues of this country. At the end of every political speech, most of us say, God bless America. But how can he do that when we continue to slaughter 4,000 babies a day? And I want to be the president that treats every person, including the unborn, as a person. And protect them under the 5th and 14th amendments of the constitution. I close with this word from a gentleman in East Texas named Butel Lucre. He's 100 years old and I met him down in East Texas. And he said this to me. "I sure wish, Mike, we had the days when The Ten Commandments were in all of our capitals and in every school, and we prayed again. You know, he may be 100 years old, but I believe some of those old ideas to get this country back where we unapologetically get on our knees before we get on our feet might be the best solutions we've ever sought as a country. And I ask for your support and your vote. Thank you. +p1040 +asVCRUZ +p1041 +(lp1042 +VWell, we have 80 years of precedent of not confirming Supreme Court justices in an election year. And let me say, Justice Scalia... +p1043 +aVEighty years of not confirming. For example, L.B.J. nominated Abe Fortas. Fortas did not get confirmed. He was defeated. +p1044 +aVNo, Kennedy was confirmed in '87... +p1045 +aVHe was appointed in... +p1046 +aVIn this case it's both. But if I could answer the question... +p1047 +aVJustice Scalia was a legal giant. He was somebody that I knew for 20 years. He was a brilliant man. He was faithful to the Constitution. He changed the arc of American legal history. And I'll tell you, his passing tonight, our prayers are with his family, with his wife, Maureen, who he adored, his nine children, his 36 grandkids. But it underscores the stakes of this election. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that will strike down every restriction on abortion adopted by the states. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that will reverse the Heller decision, one of Justice Scalia's seminal decisions, that upheld the Second Amendment right to keep and to bear arms. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that would undermine the religious liberty of millions of Americans \u2014 and the stakes of this election, for this year, for the Senate, the Senate needs to stand strong and say, "We're not going to give up the U.S. Supreme Court for a generation by allowing Barack Obama to make one more liberal appointee." And then for the state of South Carolina, one of the most important judgments for the men and women of South Carolina to make is who on this stage has the background, the principle, the character, the judgment and the strength of resolve to nominate and confirm principled constitutionalists to the court? That will be what I will do if I'm elected president. +p1048 +aVWell, we need to focus on what the objective is, you know? Your question about the first three questions you would ask in this Situation Room. I think it is a problem if the president, commander in chief, we've elected does not have the experience and background to understand the threats facing this country coming in on Day 1. If you look at the threats facing this country, the single gravest threat, national security threat, is the threat of a nuclear Iran. That's why I've pledged on Day 1 to rip to shreds this Iranian nuclear deal, and anyone that thinks you can negotiate Khamenei does not understand the nature of Khamenei. When it comes to +p1049 +aVWe have Kurds in both Iraq and Syria. They are fighting +p1050 +aVWell, let me say it at the outset that everyone here understands \u2014 everyone understands that how \u2014 that the middle class has been left behind in the last seven years of the Obama economy, and we've got to bring jobs back. We've got to get people back to work. We've got to get wages going up again. We've got to get people moving from part-time work to full-time work. We all agree on that, but it's not going to be solved with magic pixie dust. It's just going to be solved by declaring into the air, "Let there be jobs." We actually have to understand the principles that made America great in the first place. Now, where do you get economic growth? If you look at cause and effect over our nation's history, every time we lessen the burden of Washington on small-business owners, on job creators, we see incredible economic growth. You do that through tax reform and regulatory reform. My tax plan \u2014 typical family of four, first $36,000 you earn, you pay nothing in taxes \u2014 no income taxes, no payroll taxes, no nothing. Above 10 percent, everyone pays the same simple, flat 10 percent income rate. It's flat and fair. You can fill out your taxes on a postcard, and we abolish the I.R.S. If you want to see the postcard, I've got it on my website. +p1051 +aVNow, Major, the business flat tax that is in my tax plan is not a VAT. A VAT in Europe is a sales tax. The business flat tax is not a sales tax, it is a tax of 16 percent opposed fairly and evenly across the board on all business. One of the things that's critical is we're doing that in conjunction with abolishing the corporate income tax, with abolishing the Obamacare taxes, with abolishing the payroll taxes, which are the biggest taxes paid by most working Americans, and with abolishing the death tax, which is cruel and unfair. And you asked about economic growth \u2014 the nonpartisan Tax Foundation estimated a simple flat tax that would produce 4.9 million new jobs, it would increase capital investment by 44 percent and would lift everyone's income by double digits. That's how you turn the country around, not just hoping and praying for it, but implementing policies that work. +p1052 +aVWell, you know, your question highlights a sharp difference on immigration on this stage. You know, in a Republican primary, everyone talks tough on immigration. Everyone is against illegal immigration in a Republican primary. But as voters, we've been burned over and over again by people that give us a great campaign speech and they don't walk the walk. There are sharp differences on amnesty. If you look at the folks on this stage, when Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer and establishment Republicans were leading the fight to pass a massive amnesty plan, I stood with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and the American people and led the fight to defeat that amnesty plan. +p1053 +aVNow, that moment... +p1054 +aVThat moment was what Reagan would call "a time for choosing." When it comes to deciding which side of the line you're on, the Rubio-Schumer amnesty plan......apparently supported by the donor class, which is why Washington supported it. The Rubio-Schumer amnesty plan passed the Senate, and it was on the verge of passing the House. House leadership intended to take it up and pass it with the Democrats overruling most of the Republicans. And the question for anyone on illegal immigration is, where were you in that fight? Where did you stand? You are right. There is a difference between Senator Rubio and me on this question. +p1055 +aVMajor, I get a response to that. +p1056 +aVYou know, the lines are very, very clear. Marco right now supports citizenship for 12 million people here illegally. I oppose citizenship. Marco stood on the debate stage and said that. But I would note not only that \u2014 Marco has a long record when it comes to amnesty. In the state of Florida, as speaker of the house, he supported in-state tuition for illegal immigrants. In addition to that, Marco went on Univision in Spanish and said he would not rescind President Obama's illegal executive amnesty on his first day in office. I have promised to rescind every single illegal executive action, including that one. And on the question... +p1057 +aV. +p1058 +aVThat is simply... +p1059 +aVThat is absolutely false. What he said is knowingly false. And I would note, if you want to assess \u2014 if you want to assess... +p1060 +aV... who is telling the truth... If you want to assess who is telling the truth......then you should look to Jeff Sessions, who said, without Ted Cruz the Rubio-Schumer amnesty bill would have passed, and Ted was responsible. You should look to Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin, that said... +p1061 +aVI think it is a very important question because the people who have been hurt the most in the Obama economy had been the most vulnerable. It's been young people. It's been Hispanics. It's been African-Americans. It's been single moms. We have the lowest percentage of Americans working today in any year since 1977. And the sad reality is big government, massive taxes, massive regulation, doesn't work. What we need to do instead is bring back booming economic growth, let \u2014 small businesses are the heart of the economy. Two-thirds of all new jobs come from small businesses. If we want to lift people out of poverty \u2014 you know, I think of these issues from the perspective of my dad. My dad fled Cuba in 1957. He was just 18. He couldn't speak English. He had nothing. He had $100 in his underwear. And he washed dishes making 50 cents an hour and paid his way through school. Today, my dad is a pastor. He travels the country preaching the gospel. Now, I think about all of these issues. How would it impact my dad when he was washing dishes? If we had Obamacare in place right now, the odds are very high my father would have been laid off, because it's teenaged kids like my dad who have gotten laid off. If he didn't get laid off, the odds are high he would have had his hours forcibly reduced to 28, 29 hours a week. We need to lift the burdens on small businesses so you have jobs, and we need welfare reform that gets people off of welfare and back to work. +p1062 +aVYou know, flexibility is a good thing, but it shouldn't \u2014 you shouldn't be flexible on core principles. I like Donald, he is an amazing entertainer, but his policies for most of his life... +p1063 +aVFor most of his life, his policies have been very, very liberal. For most of his life, he has described himself as very pro- choice and as a supporter of partial birth abortion. Right now, today, as a candidate, he supports federal taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood. I disagree with him on that. That's a matter of principle, and I'll tell you... +p1064 +aVDon, I need to go on... +p1065 +aVI will say, it is fairly remarkable to see Donald defending Ben after he called, "pathological," and compared him to a child molester. Both of which were offensive and wrong. But let me say this \u2014 you notice Donald didn't disagree with the substance that he supports taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood. And Donald has this weird pattern, when you point to his own record, he screams, "Liar, liar, liar." You want to go... +p1066 +aVYou want to go... +p1067 +aVIf you want to watch the video, go to our website at Tedcruz.org. +p1068 +aVYou can see it out of Donald's own mouth. +p1069 +aVYou supported it when we were battling over defunding Planned Parenthood. You went on... +p1070 +aVYou said, "Planned Parenthood does wonderful things and we should not defund it." +p1071 +aVSo I'll tell you what... +p1072 +aVYou see, you and I... +p1073 +aVDon, the reasoned principle matters. The reasoned principle matters, sadly was illustrated by the first questions today. The next president is going to appoint one, two, three, four Supreme Court justices. If Donald Trump is president, he will appoint liberals. If Donald Trump is president, your Second Amendment will gone... +p1074 +aVYou know how I know that? +p1075 +aVI did not nominate John Roberts. I would not have nominated John Roberts. +p1076 +aVI supported... +p1077 +aVYou need to learn to not interrupt people. +p1078 +aVDonald, adults learn... +p1079 +aVAdults learn not to interrupt people. +p1080 +aVI did not nominate him. I would not have nominated him. I would've nominated my former boss Liberman, who was Justice Scalia's first law clerk. And you know how I know that Donald's Supreme Court justices will be liberals? Because his entire life, he support liberals from Jimmy Carter, to Hillary Clinton, to John Kerry. In 2004, he contributed to John Kerry. Nobody who cares about judges would contribute to John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid. +p1081 +aVThat's what Donald Trump does. +p1082 +aVSouth Carolina, you have a critical choice to make. Our country literally hangs in the balance. Do you want another Washington deal maker who will do business as usual, cut deals with the Democrats, grow government, grow debt and give up our fundamental liberties? Or do you want a conservative, a proven conservative that will stand and fight with you each and every day? Listen, repealing Obamacare is not going to be easy. Passing a simple flat tax that abolishes the I.R.S. is not going to be easy, but if we stand with the American people, we can do it. And today, we saw just how great the stakes are. Two branches of government hang in the balance. Not just the presidency but the Supreme Court. If we get this wrong, if we nominate the wrong candidates, the Second Amendment, life, marriage, religious liberty \u2014 every one of those hangs in the balance. My little girls are here. I don't want to look my daughters in the eyes and say, "We lost their liberties." Who do you know will defend the Constitution and Bill of Rights? And as a commander in chief, who do you know will stand up to our enemies as the clam, steady, deliberate, strength to defeat our enemies, to secure our borders and to keep America safe. +p1083 +aVWell, you know, David, the assessment the voters are making here in New Hampshire and across the country is they are evaluating each and every one of us. They are looking to our experience. They are looking to our knowledge. They are looking to our temperament and judgment. They are looking to our clarity of vision and our strength of resolve. The world is getting much more dangerous. We've had seven years with Barack Obama in the oval office, a commander-in-chief that is unwilling even to acknowledge the enemy we're facing. This is a president who, in the wake of Paris, in the wake of San Bernardino, will not even use the words radical Islamic terrorism, much less focus on defeating the enemy. I am convinced every individual standing on this stage, would make a much better commander-in-chief than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders. And the primary voters are making the assessment for each of us, who is best prepared to keep this country safe, to rebuild the military, to rebuild our Navy, our Air Force, our Army, our Marines, and to ensure that we keep America safe. +p1084 +aVI think that is an assessment the voters are going to make. And they are going to make it of each and everyone of us. They are going to assess who is level-headed, who has clear vision, who has judgment, who can confront our enemies, who can confront the threats we face in this country, and who can have the judgment when to engage and when not to engage \u2014 both are incredibly important for a commander-in-chief, knowing how to go after our enemies. In the case of Iran, for example, who has the clarity of vision to understand that the Ayatollah Khamenei, when he chants, "Death to America," he means it. We need a president with the judgment and resolve to keep this country safe from radical Islamic terrorists. +p1085 +aVBen is a good and honorable man and Ben and Candy have become friends. He has an amazing life story that has inspired millions, including me. When this transpired, I apologized to him then and I do so now. Ben, I'm sorry. Let me tell you the facts of what occurred for those who are interested in knowing. On Monday night, about 6:30 p.m., CNN reported that Ben was not going from Iowa to New Hampshire or South Carolina. Rather, he was, quote, "Taking a break from campaigning." They reported that on television, CNN's political anchors, Jake Tapper and Dana Bash and Wolf Blitzer, said it was highly unusual and highly significant. My political team saw CNN's report breaking news and they forwarded that news to our volunteers, it was being covered on live television. Now, at the time, I was at the caucuses, I was getting ready to speak at the caucuses just like Ben was, just like everyone else was. I knew nothing about this. A couple hours later, I found out about it. I was told that Ben was unhappy. I called him that evening because I respect him very, very highly. I didn't reach him that evening. I reached him the next day and apologized. He asked me then, he said, Ted, would you make this apologize in public? I said, yes, I will. And I did so. I regret that subsequently, CNN reported on that \u2014 they didn't correct that story until 9:15 that night. So from 6:30 p.m. to 9:15, that's what CNN was reporting. Subsequent to that initial report, Ben's campaign put out a statement saying that he was not suspending his campaign. I wish that our campaign staff had forwarded that statement. They were unaware of it, I wish that they had, that's why I apologized. +p1086 +aVWell, I would note, initially the fact that we're seeing the launch, and we're seeing the launch from a nuclear North Korea is the direct result of the failures of the first Clinton administration. The Clinton administration led the world in relaxing sanctions against North Korea. Billions of dollars flowed into North Korea in exchange for promises not to build nuclear weapons. They took those billions and built nuclear weapons. And, I would note also the lead negotiator in that failed North Korea sanctions deal was a woman named Wendy Sherman who Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton promptly recruited to come back to be the lead negotiator with Iran. So, what we are seeing with North Korea is foreshadowing of where we will be with Iran. With respect to North Korea and what we should do now, one of the first things we should do is expand our missile defense capacity. We ought to put missile defense interceptors in South Korea. South Korea wants them. One of the real risks of this launch, North Korea wants to launch a satellite, and one of the greatest risks of the satellite is they would place a nuclear device in the satellite. As it would orbit around the Earth, and as it got over the United States they would detonate that nuclear weapon and set of what's called an EMP, and electromagnetic pulse which could take down the entire electrical grid on the Eastern seaboard, potentially killing millions. We need to harden the grid to defend ourselves, and we need missile defense to protect ourselves against North Korea. +p1087 +aVYou know, at this point I'm not going to speculate on that without the intelligence briefing that any Commander in Chief would have, knowing what exactly is there. One of the real problems... +p1088 +aV... Actually, with respect, I have gotten the intelligence briefings on the Mid-East. Those have been going on for many years. I haven't gotten the intelligence briefing tonight on what North Korea's doing because I'm here in new Hampshire. When you're responding to an immediate incident, you need to know the intelligence of what's occurring. But what I was saying \u2014 look, it is qualitatively different dealing with a country once they have nuclear weapons. It's why you prevent them from getting nuclear weapons in the first place \u2014 because your hands are somewhat tied once they have nukes. It's why this Iranian nuclear deal is so catastrophic, and it's why I've pledged, on the very first day in office, to rip to shreds this Iranian nuclear deal so we're not sitting here in five years, wondering what to do about an Iranian missile launch when they have nuclear weapons. The stakes are too high for that. +p1089 +aVSo, in terms of a practical solution, I've laid out the most detailed plan for solving illegal immigration. It's 11 pages, single-spaced, chapter and verse. It's on our website, tedcruz.org. In short, we're going to do, we're going to build a wall. We're going to triple the border patrol. We're going to increase \u2014 and actually, since Donald enjoyed that, I will simply say, I've got somebody in mind to build it. We're going to increase four-fold, the fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft, so that you have technology monitoring an attempted incursion to direct the boots on the ground where they're occurring. We're going to put in place a strong e-verify system in the workplace, so you can't get a job without proving you are here legally. We'll put in place a biometric exit-entry system on visas, because 40 percent of illegal immigration comes not over the border illegally, but people coming on visas and overstaying. We will end sanctuary cities by cutting off taxpayer dollars to any jurisdiction that defies federal immigration law. And we will end welfare benefits for those here illegally. +p1090 +aVWhat you do is, you enforce the law. You know, under the Constitution, the president has an obligation to, quote, "Take care that the laws be faithfully executed." Federal immigration law provides, if someone is here illegally and is apprehended, they are to be deported. We saw just this past week the head of the border patrol union testify before Congress that President Obama had given the order to the border patrol to stand down, not to enforce the law. That is wrong. I will enforce the law, and for everyone who says, you can't possibly do that, I would note that in eight years, Bill Clinton deported 12 million people. In eight years, George W. Bush deported 10 million people. Enforcing the law \u2014 we can do it. What is missing is the political will. And when they were deporting the people, the border wasn't secure, so they'd come right back. Once you secure the border, enforcing the law will solve this problem and that will benefit American workers. +p1091 +aVGood evening. +p1092 +aVWell, let me take two different parts of that. Let me start with socialized medicine. Socialized medicine is a disaster. It does not work. If you look at the countries that have imposed socialized medicine, that have put the government in charge of providing medicine, what inevitably happens is rationing. You have a scarcity of doctors. You have rationing. And that means the elderly are told, we're going to ration a hip replacement, we're going to ration a knee replacement. We're going to ration end- of-life care. We're right now heading into a medical system with about a 90,000-doctor shortage in America and socialized medicine; whether proposed by the Democrats or proposed by a Republican would hurt the people of this country. What should we do on health care? If I'm elected president, we will repeal every word of Obamacare. And once we do that, we will adopt common sense reforms, number one, we'll allow people to purchase health insurance across state lines that will drive down prices and expand the availability of low cost catastrophic insurance. We'll expand health savings accounts; and we will de-link health insurance from employment so that you don't lose your health insurance when you lose your job, and that way health insurance can be personal, portable and affordable and we keep government from getting in between us and our doctors. HAM: Dr. Carson, you have some experience with this matter. In the past, you have said that Obamacare should be replaced before it's repealed. How and why? +p1093 +aVWell, sure. It starts with a commander-in-chief that sets the objective. And the objective has to be utterly and completely destroying +p1094 +aVMartha, I will tell you, I have visited with active duty military, with veterans over and over and over again in town halls all over the state of New Hampshire. What we are doing to our sons and daughters, it is immoral. We are sending them into fight with their arms tied behind their back. They cannot defend themselves. And it is wrong. And I will tell you this. Look. America has always been reluctant to use military force. It's the last step we take. But if and when we use it when it comes to defeating +p1095 +aVAbsolutely, yes. +p1096 +aVWell, under the definition of torture, no, it's not. Under the law, torture is excruciating pain that is equivalent to losing organs and systems, so under the definition of torture, it is not. It is enhanced interrogation, it is vigorous interrogation, but it does not meet the generally recognized definition of torture. +p1097 +aVI would not bring it back in any sort of widespread use. And indeed, I joined with Senator McCain in legislation that would prohibit line officers from employing it because I think bad things happen when enhanced interrogation is employed at lower levels. But when it comes to keeping this country safe, the commander in chief has inherent constitutional authority to keep this country safe. And so, if it were necessary to, say, prevent a city from facing an imminent terrorist attack, you can rest assured that as commander in chief, I would use whatever enhanced interrogation methods we could to keep this country safe. +p1098 +aVWell, thank you for that question. You know, there are three avenues of presidential authority to change the direction of this country. The first is executive power, the second is foreign policy, and the third is legislation. Executive power, as we all know, has been the preferred vehicle of President Obama, abusing his authority, abusing his constitutional authority. Now, the silver lining of that is everything done with executive power can be undone with executive power, so I have pledged on day one I will rescind every single illegal and unconstitutional executive action Barack Obama has done. That means on day one his efforts to restrict the Second Amendment go away with the strike of a pen. That means on day one his illegal executive amnesty goes away with the strike of a pen. The reason I can end Common Core at the federal level is because Obama is abusing executive power using Race to the Top funds in the Department of Education to force it on the states. That's one avenue. The second avenue of change is foreign policy, and foreign policy can change the fastest. It's worth remembering that Iran released our hostages the day Reagan......was sworn in. And, the third is legislation, and that can only be done with the people behind you, which is why the two big legislative initiatives I'm campaigning on are repealing Obamacare, and adopting a simple flat tax to abolish the IRS. HAM: Mr. Trump, Senator Cruz is known for opposing deals, you literally wrote the book on making them. Senator Cruz has mentioned that on the trail. What would you say to those conservatives that are concerned that a deal maker will just perpetuate the same deals in Washington and the way that things run now ... +p1099 +aVWell, Josh, as you noted, this is a problem that, for me, I understand first-hand. My older sister, Myriam, who was my half- sister, struggled her whole life with drug and alcohol addiction. My father and her mom divorced when she was a little girl and she was angry her whole life, and she ended up marrying a man who had been in and out of jail. She then became a single mom and she herself went to jail several times and she ended up spending some time in a crack house. I still remember my father and me driving up to get Myriam out of that crack house to try to convince her she needed to be a mom to \u2014 to my nephew Joey. She wasn't willing to listen. She was not willing to change the path she was on. She was angry. I was \u2014 had just gotten my first job coming out of law school. I took a $20,000 loan on a credit card to put my nephew, Joey, in Valley Forge Military Academy \u2014 he was in sixth grade at the time, to pay his way through that. And about five, six years ago, Miriam died of an overdose. It was \u2014 the coroner ruled it accidental. We don't know. She went to one night, had taken too many pills, and Joey walked in and found her dead. This is an absolute epidemic. We need leadership to solve it. Solving it has to occur at the state and local level with programs like A.A., and counseling, and churches and charities. But it also has to be securing the borders, because you have got Mexican cartels that are smuggling vast amounts of heroin into this country. We know how to secure the borders. What is missing is the political will to do it. And as president, I will secure the border, we will end this deluge of drugs that is flowing over our southern border and that is killing Americans across this country. +p1100 +aVWell, look, I recognize it is an agonizing experience when anyone is facing a loved \u2014 loved member who's been kidnapped. But at the same time, putting in place legal regimes that encourage the payment of ransom has the effect of putting a bounty on other Americans. There is a reason it has been longstanding U.S. policy that we don't negotiate with terrorists, we don't pay ransoms. If you look at what President Obama has done over and over again, whether it was the James Bergdahl deal, which was absolutely shameful, releasing five senior Taliban terrorists to bring Bergdahl back, or whether it was this recent deal with Iran, where, again, up to 21 terrorists or potential terrorists were \u2014 were released or not prosecuted in order to bring back four Americans, what that does \u2014 does is it effectively puts a bounty on American servicemen and women serving abroad, on American tourists traveling abroad. And the proper approach......is a president and commander in chief that defends this country and that goes after \u2014 goes after the terrorists, rather than showing them weakness and encouraging them to target more Americans. +p1101 +aVWith an eye to February 20th, Carolina. +p1102 +aVYou know, every candidate running for president says they will stand up to Washington. The natural follow up question is when have you ever stood up to Washington. Last week we saw a powerful illustration of that. I campaigned in the state of Iowa four-square against the ethanol mandate, something everyone said was political suicide. My two leading competitors both attacked me for it. The governor of the state said vote for anyone but Cruz, and lobbyists spent millions of dollars in attack ads, but I stood and said we should have no mandates, a level playing field, and the people of Iowa put country and our children above the cronyism and corporate welfare...... We can turn this country around if we get back to the Constitution. And, I will always stand with the American people against the bipartisan corruption of Washington. +p1103 +aVWell, Megyn, let me say at the outset to the men and women of Iowa, thank you for the incredible hospitality over this past year. By Monday, you will have welcomed me into all 99 counties in Iowa. You will have welcomed my dad to preach at your churches. You will have welcomed Heidi and our girls, Caroline and Catherine, into your homes. And I'm so grateful for the diligence, for the seriousness with which the men and women of Iowa approach this process. If I am elected president, keep an eye on the tarmac, because I'll be back, because Iowa in 2017 will not be fly-over country. It will be fly-to country. Now, secondly, let me say I'm a maniac and everyone on this stage is stupid, fat, and ugly. And Ben, you're a terrible surgeon. Now that we've gotten the Donald Trump portion out of the way... I want to thank everyone here for showing the men and women of Iowa the respect to show up and make the case to the people of this state and the people of the country why each of us believe we would make the best commander in chief. +p1104 +aVWell, let me be clear, if Donald engages in insults or anybody else, I don't intend to reciprocate. I have not insulted Donald personally and I don't intend to. I am glad Donald is running. I'm glad he has produced enormous enthusiasm, and, every Donald Trump voter or potential voter, I hope to earn your support. I know everyone else on this stage hopes to earn your support. Now, there is a difference between personal insults and attacks \u2014 between going into the mud with ad hominems and focusing on issues and substance. +p1105 +aVWell, I agree with Rand that I very much respect Ron Paul and that I think anyone who is able to win in the Republican Party has to be able to bring together the disparate elements of the Reagan coalition. You've got to be able to bring together conservatives and evangelicals and libertarians, and stitch together a winning majority. When it comes to the audit the Fed bill, as Rand knows well, I was an original sponsor of the bill, I'm strongly supportive of it. It didn't have the votes to pass. And I had commitments to be at a town hall in New Hampshire. But I look forward to signing that bill into law as president and auditing the Fed and providing needed accountability at the Federal Reserve. +p1106 +aVWell, Chris, I will apologize to nobody for the vigorousness with which I will fight terrorism, go after +p1107 +aVChris, in 1981, when Ronald Reagan came to the Oval Office, he encountered a military that had been debilitated just as the current military has, just like Jimmy Carter weakened our readiness, undermined our ability to defend this country, so too has Barack Obama. Just as morale in the military has plummeted in the last seven, so it had then. What Reagan did is he began with tax reform and regulatory reform, unleashing the engine of the American free enterprise system. It brought booming economic growth and that growth fueled rebuilding the military. I intend to do the exact same thing to defeat radical Islamic terrorism \u2014 +p1108 +aV... and to devote the resources from the booming economy to rebuilding our Navy, rebuilding our Air Force, rebuilding our Army and ensuring we have the capacity to keep this country safe. +p1109 +aVChris? Chris I was mentioned in that question. +p1110 +aV... Actually, I was... +p1111 +aV... Chris, your questions that you... +p1112 +aV... What was your question... +p1113 +aV... Your question was you have disagreed... +p1114 +aV... opening statement. +p1115 +aV... This entire question was an attack, but that's +p1116 +aVChris, I would note that that the last four questions have been, "Rand, please attack Ted. Marco, please attack Ted. Chris, please attack Ted. Jeb, please attack Ted..." Let me just say this... +p1117 +aV... Well, no, no. A debate actually is a policy issue, but I will say this. Gosh, if you guys ask one more mean question I may have to leave the stage. Chris, the most important determination any voter is going to make in this election is who's best prepared to be Commander in Chief. Who has the experience, who has the knowledge, who has the judgement, who has the clarity, and vision and strength of resolve to keep this country safe. That is what this debate is all about, and I would suggest let's stay focused on those issues \u2014 rather than just attacks directed at each other. +p1118 +aVSure. Well, let's take it one at a time. First of all, we have seen now in six years of Obamacare that it has been a disaster. It is the biggest job-killer in this country. Millions of Americans have lost their jobs, have been forced into part-time work, have lost their health insurance, have lost their doctors, have seen their premiums skyrocket. If I'm elected president, we will repeal every word of Obamacare. Now, once that is done, everyone agrees we need healthcare reform. It should follow the principles of expanding competition, empowering patients, and keeping government from getting in between us and our doctors. Three specific reforms that reflect those principles. Number one, we should allow people to purchase health insurance across state lines. That will create a true 50-state national marketplace which will drive down the cost of low-cost, catastrophic health insurance. Number two, we should expand health savings accounts so people can save in a tax-advantaged way for more routine healthcare needs. And number three, we should work to de-link health insurance from employment so if you lose your job, your health insurance goes with you and it is personal, portable and affordable. And I'll tell you, Bret, I think that's a much more attractive vision for healthcare than the Washington-drive, top-down Obamacare that is causing so many millions of people to hurt. +p1119 +aVI want this bill to be voted down. I don't want immigration reform to fail. I want immigration reform to pass. I believe if this amendment were to pass, the chances of this bill passing into law would increase dramatically. I believe if the amendments I introduced were adopted, that the bill would pass. And my effort in introducing them was to find a solution that reflected common ground and that fixed the problem. If the proponents of this bill actually demonstrate a commitment not to politics, not to campaigning all the time, but to actually fixing this problem, to finding a middle ground. That would fix the problem, and also allow, for those 11 million people who are here illegally, a legal status, with citizenship off the table. +p1120 +aVYou know, the amendment you're talking about is one sentence \u2014 it's 38 words. Anyone can go online at tedcruz.org and read exactly what it said. In those 38 words, it said anyone here illegally is permanently ineligible for citizenship. It didn't say a word about legalization. I introduced... +p1121 +aVBut \u2014 but Megyn, the bill was 1,000 pages. I introduced a series of amendments, each designed to fix problems in the bill. The fact that each amendment didn't fix every problem didn't mean that I supported the rest of the bill. And I'll tell you who supported my amendment \u2014 Jeff Sessions, the strongest opponent of amnesty in the United States Congress. And he did so because taking citizenship off the table was important, and it revealed the hypocrisy of the proponents of this bill, who were looking for votes. Listen, we can solve immigration. We just heard an argument back and forth that we can't solve immigration. I have a detailed immigration plan that is on my website, tedcruz.org. It was designed with Iowa's own Congressman Steve King and Jeff Sessions, and... ... we have the tools in federal law to do this now. We can build the fence. We can triple the border patrol. We can end sanctuary cities by cutting off... ... funding to them. We can end welfare for those here illegally. And what is missing is the political will, because too many Democrats and, sadly, too many Republicans don't want to solve this problem. If I am elected president... ... we will secure the border... +p1122 +aV... and we will end the illegal immigration. +p1123 +aVYou know, John Adams famously said, "facts are are stubborn things." The facts are are very, very simple. When that battle was waged, my friend Senator Rubio chose to stand with Barack Obama and Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer and support amnesty. And I stood alongside Jeff Sessions and Steve King, and we led the fight against amnesty. And if you want to know who's telling the truth, you should look and ask people like Jeff Sessions and Steve King and Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin, all of whom say, as Jeff Sessions said, responding to these false attacks just recently in Alabama \u2014 he said, "if it wasn't for Ted Cruz, the Gang of Eight Rubio/Schumer bill would have passed. But because Ted stood up and helped lead the effort, millions rose up to kill it. +p1124 +aVYou know, I like Marco. He's very charming. He's very smooth. But the facts are simple. When he ran for election in the state of Florida, he told the people of Florida, "if you elect me, I will lead the fight against amnesty." When I ran in Texas, I told the people of Texas, "if you elect me, I will lead the fight against amnesty." We both made the identical promises. But when we came to Washington, we made a different choice. Marco made the choice to go the direction of the major donors \u2014 to support amnesty because he thought it was politically advantageous. I honored my commitments, and as president, I will honor every commitment that I make to the men and women of this country. +p1125 +aVWell, Chris, you are exactly right that I am not the candidate of career politicians in Washington. And I'll tell you the endorsements that I am proud of are the over 200,000 volunteers across this country who have signed up to volunteer for our campaign. The endorsements that I am proud of are leading conservatives like Iowa's own Congressman Steve King, who is a national co-chairman of my campaign. The endorsements that I'm proud of are conservative leaders like Dr. James Dobson, and over 700,000 contributions nationwide, people going to our Web site, tedcruz.org. This is a grassroots campaign and, you know, when I ran for senate in Texas, I told the people of Texas that I'm not going there to go along to get along. Washington is broken. And the people I have been accountable to every single day in the Senate are the 27 million Texans who I represent and I made a promise to them that I make to you today, which is, if I am elected, every single day I will do two things: tell the truth, and do what I said I would do. +p1126 +aVWell, Chris, I'm glad to discuss my views on ethanol and energy. I think God has blessed this country with enormous natural resources, and we should pursue all of the above. We should be developing oil, and gas, and coal, and nuclear, and wind, and solar, and ethanol, and biofuels. But, I don't believe that Washington should be picking winners and losers. And, I think there should be no mandates, and no subsidies whatsoever. And, indeed, my tax plan that I've introduced, it's available on our website. It's a simple flat tax for everyone. It'll produce enormous economic growth, and it eliminates every mandate, every subsidy, so there's no subsidies for oil and gas, no subsidies for anyone. Now, it is true that there are a bunch of lobbyists, and a bunch of Democrats in this state spending millions of dollars trying to convince the people of Iowa that I somehow oppose ethanol. It's not true. I have introduced legislation that would phase out the ethanol mandate over five years, but that is in the context of having no mandates whatsoever for anyone. And, I would not that there's a much more important government regulation to ethanol, and that's the EPA's blend wall that makes it illegal to sell mid-level blends of ethanol in gasoline. I will... ... Tear down the EPA's blend wall which will enable ethanol to expand its market share by up to 60%, all without mandates. All without any government mandates whatsoever through the marketplace. And, I'll note finally, Chris, there is a reason that Iowa's Congressman Steve King, perhaps the fiercest defender of farmers in this state, is sharing my campaign. Because he understands that I'm committed to a fair, and level playing field for every energy source without lobbyists, and without Washington picking winners and losers. +p1127 +aVNinety-three hours. The media noise will soon be over and it's now for the men and women of Iowa to decide. Our country is in crisis. We're worried the future of our children and we've have been burned over and over again. The central question in this race is trust. Who do you know will kill the terrorists, defend the constitution and repeal Obamacare? Who do you know will stop amnesty and secure the borders? Who do you know will defend life, marriage and religious liberty? Examine our records, pray on it and I will be honored if you and your family will come caucus for us on Monday night. +p1128 +aVWell, Maria, thank you for that question, and let me say thank you to the state of South Carolina for welcoming us. Let me start \u2014 I want to get to the substance of the question on jobs, but I want to start with something. Today, many of us picked up our newspapers, and we were horrified to see the sight of 10 American sailors on their knees, with their hands on their heads. In that State of the Union, President Obama didn't so much as mention the 10 sailors that had been captured by Iran. President Obama's preparing to send $100 billion or more to the Ayatollah Khamenei. And I'll tell you, it was heartbreaking. But the good news is the next commander-in-chief is standing on this stage. And I give you my word, if I am elected president, no service man or service woman will be forced to be on their knees, and any nation that captures our fighting men will feel the full force and fury of the United States of America. Now, on to your substantive question. The president tried to paint a rosy picture of jobs. And you know, he's right. If you're a Washington lobbyist, if you make your money in and around Washington, things are doing great. The millionaires and billionaires are doing great under Obama. But we have the lowest percentage of Americans working today of any year since 1977. Median wages have stagnated. And the Obama-Clinton economy has left behind the working men and women of this country. The reason all of us are here is we believe we should be fighting for the working men and women of this country, and not Washington, D.C. +p1129 +aVWell Maria, thank you for passing on that hit piece in the front page of the New York Times. You know the nice thing about the mainstream media, they don't hide their views. The New York Times a few weeks back had a columnist who wrote a column saying, "Anybody But Cruz." Had that actually \u2014 that same columnist wrote a column comparing me to an evil demonic spirit from the move, "It Follows" that jumps apparently from body to body possessing people. So you know the New York Times and I don't have exactly have the warmest of relationships. Now in terms of their really stunning hit piece, what they mentioned is when I was running for senate \u2014 unlike Hillary Clinton, I don't have masses of money in the bank, hundreds of millions of dollars. When I was running for senate just about every lobbyist, just about all of the establishment opposed me in the senate race in Texas and my opponent in that race was worth over 200 million dollars. He put a 25 million dollar check up from his own pocket to fund that campaign and my wife Heidi and I, we ended up investing everything we owned. We took a loan against our assets to invest it in that campaign to defend ourselves against those attacks. And the entire New York times attack \u2014 is that I disclosed that loan on one filing with the United States Senate, that was a public filing. But it was not on a second filing with +p1130 +aVWell, Neil, I'm glad we're focusing on the important topics of the evening. You know, back in September, my friend Donald said that he had had his lawyers look at this from every which way, and there was no issue there. There was nothing to this birther issue. Now, since September, the Constitution hasn't changed. But the poll numbers have. And I recognize \u2014 I recognize that Donald is dismayed that his poll numbers are falling in Iowa. But the facts and the law here are really quite clear. Under longstanding U.S. law, the child of a U.S. citizen born abroad is a natural-born citizen. If a soldier has a child abroad, that child is a natural-born citizen. That's why John McCain, even though he was born in Panama, was eligible to run for president. If an American missionary has a child abroad, that child is a natural-born citizen. That's why George Romney, Mitt's dad, was eligible to run for president, even though he was born in Mexico. At the end of the day, the legal issue is quite straightforward, but I would note that the birther theories that Donald has been relying on \u2014 some of the more extreme ones insist that you must not only be born on U.S. soil, but have two parents born on U.S. soil. Under that theory, not only would I be disqualified, Marco Rubio would be disqualified, Bobby Jindal would be disqualified and, interestingly enough, Donald J. Trump would be disqualified. +p1131 +aVBecause \u2014 because Donald's mother was born in Scotland. She was naturalized. Now, Donald... +p1132 +aV... on the issue \u2014 on the issue of citizenship, Donald... +p1133 +aV... on the issue of citizenship, Donald, I'm not going to use your mother's birth against you. +p1134 +aVYou're an American, as is everybody else on this stage, and I would suggest we focus on who's best prepared to be commander- in-chief, because that's the most important question facing the country. +p1135 +aVNeil... +p1136 +aVWell, listen, I've spent my entire life defending the Constitution before the U.S. Supreme Court. And I'll tell you, I'm not going to be taking legal advice from Donald Trump. +p1137 +aVThe chances of any litigation proceeding and succeeding on this are zero. And Mr. Trump is very focused... +p1138 +aV... on Larry Tribe. Let me tell you who Larry Tribe is. He's a left-wing judicial activist, Harvard Law professor who was Al Gore's lawyer in Bush versus Gore. He's a major Hillary Clinton supporter. And there's a reason why Hillary's supporters are echoing Donald's attacks on me, because Hillary... +p1139 +aV... wants to face Donald Trump in the general election. +p1140 +aVAnd I'll tell you what, Donald, you \u2014 you very kindly just a moment ago offered me the V.P. slot. I'll tell you what. If this all works out, I'm happy to consider naming you as V.P. So if you happen to be right, you could get the top job at the end of the day. +p1141 +aVActually, I'd love to get you to build a wall. +p1142 +aVThe answer is simple. Your prosecute criminals. You target the bad guys. You know, a minute ago, Neil asked: What has President Obama do \u2014 done to illustrate that he wants to go after guns? Well, he appointed Eric Holder as attorney general. Eric Holder said he viewed his mission as brainwashing the American people against guns. He appointed Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, someone who has been a radical against the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. He launched Fast and Furious, illegally selling guns to Mexican drug lords that were then used to shoot law enforcement officials. And I'll tell you what Hillary Clinton has said: Hillary Clinton says she agrees with the dissenters \u2014 the Supreme Court dissenters in the Heller case. There were four dissenters, and they said that they believe the Second Amendment protects no individual right to keep and bear arms whatsoever, which means, if their view prevailed and the next president's going to get one, two, three, maybe four Supreme Court justices, the court will rule that not a single person in this room has any right under the Second Amendment and the government could confiscate your guns. And I'll note that California senator \u2014 Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein said, if she could say to Mr. America and Mrs. America, "give me your guns, I'm rounding them up," she would. And let me make a final point on this. Listen, in any Republican primary, everyone is going to say they support the Second Amendment. Unless you are clinically insane......that's what you say in a primary. But the voters are savvier than that. They recognize that people's actions don't always match their words. I've got a proven record fighting to defend the Second Amendment. There's a reason Gun Owners of America has endorsed me in this race. There's a reason the NRA gave me their Carter Knight Freedom Fund award......and there's a reason, when Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer came after our right to keep and bear arms, that I led the opposition, along with millions of Americans \u2014 we defeated that gun control legislation. And I would note the other individuals on this stage were nowhere to be found in that fight. +p1143 +aVYou know, I think most people know exactly what New York values are. +p1144 +aVWhat \u2014 what \u2014 you're from New York? So you might not. But I promise you, in the state of South Carolina, they do. And listen, there are many, many wonderful, wonderful working men and women in the state of New York. But everyone understands that the values in New York City are socially liberal or pro-abortion or pro- gay-marriage, focus around money and the media. And \u2014 and I would note indeed, the reason I said that is I was asked \u2014 my friend Donald has taken to it as advance playing Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA", and I was asked what I thought of that. And I said, "well, if he wanted to play a song, maybe he could play, 'New York, New York'?" And \u2014 and \u2014 you know, the concept of New York values is not that complicated to figure out. Not too many years ago, Donald did a long interview with Tim Russert. And in that interview, he explained his views on a whole host of issues that were very, very different from the views he's describing now. And his explanation \u2014 he said, "look, I'm from New York, that's what we believe in New York. Those aren't Iowa values, but this is what we believe in New York." And so that was his explanation. And \u2014 and I guess I can \u2014 can frame it another way. Not a lot of conservatives come out of Manhattan. I'm just saying. +p1145 +aVYou know I understand why Donald made the comments he did and I understand why Americans are feeling frustrated and scared and angry when we have a president who refuses to acknowledge the threat we face and even worse, who acts as an apologist for radical Islamic terrorism. I think what we need is a commander in chief who is focused like a laser on keeping this country safe and on defeating radical Islamic terrorism. What should we do? First, we should pass the Expatriate Terrorist Act, legislation I've introduced that says if an American goes and joins +p1146 +aVThanks for coming back to me, Maria. Both Donald and Jeb have good points, and there is a middle ground. Donald is right that China is running over President Obama like he is a child, President Obama is not protecting American workers and we are getting hammered. You know, I sat down with the senior leadership of John Deere. They discussed how \u2014 how hard it is to sell tractors in China, because all the regulatory barriers. They're protectionist. But Jeb is also right that, if we just impose a tariff, they'll put reciprocal tariffs, which will hurt Iowa farmers and South Carolina producers and 20 percent of the American jobs that depend on exports. So the way you do it is you pass a tax plan like the tax plan I've introduced: a simple flat tax, 10 percent for individuals, and a 16 percent business flat tax, you abolish the IRS......and here's the critical point, Maria \u2014 the business flat tax enables us to abolish the corporate income tax, the death tax, the Obamacare taxes, the payroll taxes, and they're border-adjustable, so every export pays no taxes whatsoever. It's tax-free \u2014 a huge advantage for our farmers and ranchers and manufacturers \u2014 and every import pays the 16 percent business flat tax. It's like a tariff, but here's the difference: if we impose a tariff, China responds. The business flat tax, they already impose their taxes on us, so there's no reciprocal......tariffs that come against us. It puts us on a level, even playing field, which brings jobs here at home... +p1147 +aV... and as president, I'm going to fight for the working men and women. +p1148 +aVMaria, I assume that I can respond to that. +p1149 +aVWell, Marco has been floating this attack for a few weeks now, but the problem is, the business flat tax in my proposal is not a vat. A vat is imposed as a sales tax when you buy a good. This is a business flat tax. It is imposed on business and a critical piece that Marco seems to be missing is that this 16 percent business flat tax enables us to eliminate the corporate income tax. It goes away. It enables us to eliminate the death tax. If you're a farmer, if you're a rancher, if you are small business owner, the death tax is gone. We eliminate the payroll tax, we eliminate the Obamacare taxes. And listen, there is a real difference between Marco's tax plan and mine. Mine gives every American a simple, flat tax of 10 percent. Marco's top tax rate is 35 percent. My tax plan enables you to fill out your taxes on a postcard so we can abolish the IRS. Marco leaves the IRS code in with all of the complexity. We need to break the Washington cartel, and the only way to do it is to end all the subsidies and all......the mandates and have a simple flat tax. The final observation, invoked Ronald Reagan. I would note that Art Laffer, Ronald Reagan's chief economic adviser, has written publicly, that my simple flat tax is the best tax plan of any of the individuals on this stage cause it produces economic growth, it raises wages and it helps everyone from the very poorest to the very richest. +p1150 +aVMaria... +p1151 +aVMaria, I'd just like to say... +p1152 +aVBut Maria, radical Islamic terrorism was not invented 24 months ago; 24 months ago, we had Al Qaida. We had Boko Haram. We had Hamas. We had Hezbollah. We had Iran putting operatives in South America and Central America. It's the reason why I stood with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and led the fight to stop the Gang of Eight amnesty bill, because it was clear then, like it's clear now, that border security is national security. +p1153 +aVIt is also the case that that Rubio-Schumer amnesty bill, one of the things it did is it expanded Barack Obama's power to let in Syrian refugees. It enabled him \u2014 the president to certify them en masse without mandating meaningful background checks. I think that's a mistake. That's why I've been leading the fight to stop it. And I would note the Senate just a few weeks ago voted to suspend refugees from Middle Eastern countries. I voted yes to suspend that. Marco voted on the other side. So you don't get to say we need to secure the borders, and at the same time try to give Barack Obama more authority to allow Middle Eastern refugees coming in, when the head of the FBI tells us they cannot vet them to determine if they are +p1154 +aVI'm going to get a response to that, Neil. There's no way he launches 11 attack \u2014 +p1155 +aVI'm going to \u2014 he had no fewer than 11 attacks there. I appreciate your dumping your research folder on the stage. +p1156 +aVBut I will say \u2014 +p1157 +aV\u2014 at least half of the things Marco said are flat-out false. They're absolutely false. +p1158 +aVSo let's start \u2014 let's start with immigration. Let's start with immigration and have a little bit of clarity. Marco stood with Chuck Schumer and Barack Obama on amnesty. I stood with Jeff Sessions and Steve King. Marco stood today, standing on this stage Marco supports legalization and citizenship for 12 million illegals. I opposed and oppose legalization and citizenship. And by the way, the attack he keeps throwing out on the military budget, Marco knows full well I voted for his amendment to increase military spending to $697 billion. What he said, and he said it in the last, it's simply not true. And as president, I will rebuild the military and keep this country safe. +p1159 +aV"13 Hours" \u2014 tomorrow morning, a new movie will debut about the incredible bravery of the men fighting for their lives in Benghazi and the politicians that abandoned them. I want to speak to all our fighting men and women. I want to speak to all the moms and dads whose sons and daughters are fighting for this country, and the incredible sense of betrayal when you have a commander-in-chief who will not even speak the name of our enemy, radical Islamic terrorism, when you have a commander-in- chief who sends $150 billion to the Ayatollah Khamenei, who's responsible for murdering hundreds of our servicemen and women. I want to speak to all of those maddened by political correctness, where Hillary Clinton apologizes for saying all lives matter. This will end. It will end on January 2017. And if I am elected president, to every soldier and sailor and airman and marine, and to every police officer and firefighter and first responder who risk their lives to keep us safe, I will have your back. +p1160 +aVThank you, Wolf. America is at war. Our enemy is not violent extremism. It is not some unnamed malevolent force. It is radical Islamic terrorist. We have a president who is unwilling to utter its name. The men and women on this stage, every one of us, is better prepared to keep this nation safe than is Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. We need a president who understands the first obligation of the commander-in-chief is to keep America safe. If I am elected president, we will hunt down and kill the terrorists. We will utterly destroy +p1161 +aVWell, listen, Hugh, everyone understands why Donald has suggested what he has. We're looking at a president who's engaged in this double-speak where he doesn't call radical Islamic terrorism by its name. Indeed, he gives a speech after the San Bernardino attack where his approach is to try to go after the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens rather than to keep us safe. And even worse, President Obama and Hillary Clinton are proposing bringing tens of thousands of Syrian refugees to this country when the head of the FBI has told Congress they cannot vet those refugees. I understand why Donald made that proposal. I introduced legislation in the Senate that I believe is more narrowly focused at the actual threat, which is radical Islamic terrorism, and what my legislation would do is suspend all refugees for three years from countries where +p1162 +aVWell, you know, I'm reminded of what FDR's grandfather said. He said, "All horse-thieves are Democrats, but not all Democrats are horse-thieves." In this instance, there are millions of peaceful Muslims across the world, in countries like India, where there is not the problems we are seeing in nations that are controlled \u2014 have territory controlled by Al Qaida or +p1163 +aVWell, Dana, the premise of your question is not accurate. I'm very proud to have joined with conservatives in both the Senate and the House to reform how we target bad guys. And what the USA Freedom Act did is it did two things. Number one, it ended the federal government's bulk collection of phone metadata of millions of law-abiding citizens. But number two in the second half of it that is critical. It strengthened the tools of national security and law enforcement to go after terrorists. It gave us greater tools and we are seeing those tools work right now in San Bernardino. And in particular, what it did is the prior program only covered a relatively narrow slice of phone calls. When you had a terrorist, you could only search a relatively narrow slice of numbers, primarily land lines. The USA Freedom Act expands that so now we have cell phones, now we have Internet phones, now we have the phones that terrorists are likely to use and the focus of law enforcement is on targeting the bad guys. You know what the Obama administration keeps getting wrong is whenever anything bad happens they focus on law-abiding citizens instead of focusing on the bad guys. We need to focus on radical Islamic terrorists and we need to stop them before they carry out acts of terror. +p1164 +aVWell, you know, I would note that Marco knows what he's saying isn't true. You know, Mark Levin wrote a column last week that says that the attack ads his Super PAC is running that are saying the same thing, that they are knowingly false and they are, in fact, Alinsky-like attacks like Barack Obama. And the reason is simple. What he knows is that the old program covered 20 percent to 30 percent of phone numbers to search for terrorists. The new program covers nearly 100 percent. That gives us greater ability to stop acts of terrorism, and he knows that that's the case. +p1165 +aVWhat it means is using overwhelming air power to utterly and completely destroy +p1166 +aVYou would carpet bomb where +p1167 +aVWell, you know, Marco has continued these attacks, and he knows they're not true. Yes, it is true that I voted against the National Defense Authorization Act, because when I campaigned in Texas I told voters in Texas that I would oppose the federal government having the authority to detain U.S. citizens permanently with no due process. I have repeatedly supported an effort to take that out of that bill, and I honored that campaign commitment. +p1168 +aVBut more broadly, you know, the notion Marco is suggesting, that somehow \u2014 he also has tossed more than a few insults this direction \u2014 let's be absolutely clear. +p1169 +aVWolf, I believe in a America first foreign policy, that far too often President Obama and Hillary Clinton \u2014 and, unfortunately, more than a few Republicans \u2014 have gotten distracted from the central focus of keeping this country safe. So let's go back to the beginning of the Obama administration, when Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama led +p1170 +aV... we ought to hunt down our enemies and kill +p1171 +aVWell, it's more than not shedding a tear. It's actively getting involved to topple a government. And we keep hearing from President Obama and Hillary Clinton and Washington Republicans that they're searching for these mythical moderate rebels. It's like a purple unicorn. They never exist. These moderate rebels end up being jihadists. And I'll tell you whose view on Assad is the same as mine. It's Prime Minister Netanyahu. Prime Minister Netanyahu has said Israel doesn't have a dog in that fight because Assad is a puppet of Iran, a Shia radical Islamic terrorist, but at the same time, Prime Minister Netanyahu doesn't want to see Syria governed by +p1172 +aVThe question of whether we should toppling dictatorships is asking the wrong question. We should be defeating our enemies. So the problem with defeating... +p1173 +aVWell, but let me explain, the focus should be... +p1174 +aV... on defeating our enemies. So, for example... +p1175 +aV... a regime we should change is Iran... +p1176 +aV... because Iran has declared war on us. But we shouldn't be toppling regimes...... that are fighting radical Islamic terrorists that are helping... +p1177 +aVWell, he \u2014 he has attempted to muddy the waters, but I think that anyone who watched the battle that we had. You know, there was a time for choosing as Reagan put it. Where there was a battle over amnesty and some chose, like Senator Rubio to stand with Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer and support a massive amnesty plan. Others chose to stand with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and the American people and secure the border. And let me mention, this issue is actually directly connected to what we've been talking about. Because the front line with +p1178 +aVLook, I understand Marco wants to raise confusion, it is not accurate what he just said that I supported legalization. Indeed, I led the fight against his legalization and amnesty. And you know, there was one commentator that put it this way that, for Marco to suggest our record's the same is like suggesting "the fireman and the arsonist because they are both at the scene of the fire." He was fighting to grant amnesty and not to secure the border, I was fighting to secure the border. And this also goes to trust, listening on to campaign trails. Candidates all the time make promises. You know, Marco said," he learned that the American people didn't trust the federal government." +p1179 +aVIn Florida promising to... +p1180 +aVgo in the fight against amnesty... +p1181 +aVHe campaigned promising to lead the fight against amnesty. +p1182 +aVI have never supported a legalization... +p1183 +aVI have never supported legalization, and I do not intend to support legalization. Let me tell you how you do this, what you do is you enforce the law... +p1184 +aVWatt you do is enforcement the law... +p1185 +aVWhat you do... +p1186 +aVWhat you do is you enforce the law. I've laid out a very, very detailed immigration plan on my website, tedcruz.org. It's 11 pages of existing federal law and in particular the question of what to do with people who are here now? You enforce the law. That means you stop the Obama administration's policy of releasing criminal illegal aliens. Do you know how many aliens Bill Clinton deported? 12 million. Do you know how many illegal aliens, George W. Bush deported? 10 million. We can enforce the laws and if we secure the border, that solves the problem. And as president I will solve this problem and secure the border. +p1187 +aVDana, what I said in private is exactly what I'll say here, which is that the judgment that every voter is making of every one of us up here is who has the experience, who has the vision, who has the judgment to be commander in chief. That is the most important decision for the voters to make. That's a standard I'm held to. And it's a standard everyone else is held to. And I will note, you know, in the whole course of this discussion about our foreign policy threats, it actually illustrates the need for clarity of focus. You know, my daughters, Caroline and Catherine, came tonight. They're 7 and 5. And you think about the Los Angeles schools canceling their schools today. And every parent is wondering, how do we keep our kids safe? We need a commander in chief who does what Ronald Reagan did with communism, which is he set out a global strategy to defeat Soviet communism. And he directed all of his... I'm answering the question, Dana. He directed all of his forces to defeating communism. One of the things we've seen here is how easy it is for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to get distracted from dealing with radical Islamic terrorism. They won't even call it by its name. We need a president who stands up, number one, and says, we will defeat +p1188 +aVAnd we need to be focused on defeating... +p1189 +aV... defeating radical Islamic terrorists. +p1190 +aVWhat I'm saying, Dana, is that is a judgment for every voter to make. What I can tell you is all nine of the people here would make an infinitely better commander in chief than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. +p1191 +aVAnd there is a real danger, Dana, when people get distracted. I'm answering the question, Wolf. There's a real danger when people get distracted by peripheral issues. They get distracted by democracy building. They get distracted about military conflicts. We need to focus on defeating jihadism. +p1192 +aVAnd I will do everything necessary to keep our children safe. +p1193 +aVJudgment, strength, clarity and trust. Barack Obama has said he doesn't believe in American leadership or America winning \u2014 he is wrong. America can win again and we will win again. Ronald Reagan reignited the American economy, rebuilt the Military, bankrupted the Soviet Union and defeated Soviet Communism. I will do the same thing. Cutting taxes, cutting regulation, unleashing small businesses and rebuilding the Military to defeat radical Islamic terrorism \u2014 our strategy is simple. We win, they lose. We've done it before and we can do it again. +p1194 +asVPAUL +p1195 +(lp1196 +VYou know, I've always had a great deal of respect. There's probably no person I respect more in the country or in recent history than my father. I think he was probably the most honest man in politics that we've ever seen in a generation. And so in no way have I ever said that I don't embrace my father or love my father or appreciate everything that he has done for the country. I think what's interesting about where that liberty vote goes that my father brought to the Republican Party is, I don't think they're necessarily going to go for Ted. You know, Ted didn't show up. We had an audit-the-Fed vote, which was the biggest thing my dad had been advocating for, for 30 years, Ted didn't have time to show up. He was the only Republican that didn't show up for it. And so I think really that vote is going to stay in the Paul household. I think more of it is coming and it's going to grow. The NSA is another big issue. Ted said he was for NSA reform, but then he told Marco Rubio, no, no, no, I voted for the bill because I'm for the government collecting 100 percent of your cell phone records. I don't think Ted can have it both ways. They want to say they're getting some of the liberty vote. But we don't see it happening at all. We think we're going to do very well in Iowa with the liberty vote. +p1197 +aVMay I respond? +p1198 +aVWell, I mean, I was talked about in the question. +p1199 +aVJust very quickly, I would like to respond. The bulk collection of your phone data, the invasion of your privacy did not stop one terrorist attack. I don't think you have to give up your liberty for a false sense of security. When we look at this bulk collection, the court has looked at this. Even the court declared it to be illegal. If we want to collect the records of terrorists, let's do it the old fashioned way. Let's use the Fourth Amendment. Let's put a name on a warrant, let's ask a judge for it. Let's respect the history of our country. John Adams said that we fought a War for Independence because we wanted to fight against generalized warrants. Let's don't forget that. +p1200 +aVMy budget was mentioned. My budget was mentioned. +p1201 +aV... Senator Cruz, I'd like to respond... +p1202 +aV... and I'd like to respond. +p1203 +aVThank you, Marco. +p1204 +aVThank you. The issue in Syria's a very important one, and it's one we need to get right. The question is, should we be bombing both sides of the war? Some want to topple Assad. In fact, they want to bomb +p1205 +aV. +p1206 +aVYeah, no, I think that's a \u2014 that's a huge mistake, to be closing down mosques. But I would say that if you want to defend the country, it begins with border security. And this is where I've had my disagreement with Senator Rubio. When he brought forward the "Gang of Eight" bill to give citizenship to those who came here illegally, I put forward an amendment that says we should have more scrutiny on those who are coming as students, those who are coming as immigrants, those who are coming as refugees, because we had two refugees come to my town in Bowling Green and try to attack us. Marco opposed this because they made a deal. He made a deal with Chuck Schumer that he would oppose any conservative amendments. And I think that's a mistake, and I just don't think Marco can have it both ways. You can't be in favor of defend us... ... against Islam \u2014 radical Islam \u2014 if you're not for border security. +p1207 +aVYou know, I've supported legislation to allow body cameras. I've been to Ferguson, I've been trying to look for solutions to our criminal justice problem. One thing I discovered in Ferguson was that a third of the budget for the city of Ferguson was being reaped by civil fines. People were just being fined to death. Now you and I and many of the people in this audience, if we get a $100 fine, we can survive it. If you're living on the edge of poverty and you get a $100 fine or your car towed, a lot of times you lose your job. I also think the war on drugs has disproportionately affected our African-American community, and what we need to do is make sure that the war on drugs is equal protection under the law and that we don't unfairly incarcerate another generation of young African-American males. In Ferguson, for every 100 African-American women, there are only 60 African-American men. Drug use is about equal between white and black, but our prisons \u2014 three out of four people in prison are black or brown. I think something has to change. I think it's a big thing that our party needs to be part of, and I've been a leader in Congress on trying to bring about criminal justice reform. +p1208 +aVI was there and I saw the debate. I saw Ted Cruz say, "we'll take citizenship off the table, and then the bill will pass, and I'm for the bill." The bill would involve legalization. He can't have it both ways. But what is particularly insulting, though, is that he is the king of saying, "you're for amnesty." Everybody's for amnesty except for Ted Cruz. But it's a falseness, and that's an authenticity problem \u2014 that everybody he knows is not as perfect as him because we're all for amnesty. I was for legalization. I think, frankly, if you have border security, you can have legalization. So was Ted, but now he says it wasn't so. That's not true. +p1209 +aVYou know, I think abortion is always wrong. I've supported a variety of solutions, both state as well as federal. In fact, just last week, I introduced the Life at Conception act, which would say that the 14th amendment would defend an individual even in the womb. But I think on the broader question of religion and politics, you know, I think liberty, itself requires a virtue \u2014 requires a virtuous people. In fact, Washington said that democracy requires a virtuous people. Oz Guinness, the theologian, said that liberty requires restraint but the only restraint consistent with liberty is self-restraint. There's a lot packed into that statement. But the bottom line is we must have virtue, we must have a religious bearing as a nation. The government is not always going to save us and it's not always going to come from government. But if we don't know right and wrong, I think we have lost our way. I think we become unmoored and I think without the religious foundation that guides us all, I think we have a great risk of going horribly in the wrong direction. +p1210 +aVBoth. No, both the federal and a state approach. I have said that we could leave it to the states but I've also introduced a federal solution as well. So the federal solution would be the Life at Conception act which is an act that would federalize the issue. But I've also said for the most part, these issues would be left back to the states. So there might be an occasion if we did overturn Roe v. Wade \u2014 Roe v. Wade nationalized the issue. If you had the court reverse Roe v. Wade, it would become a state issue once again. I think it would be better the more \u2014 the less abortions we have, so the more states that we have that made abortion illegal, the better, as far as trying to save and preserve lives. +p1211 +aVYou know, I've never really brought this up unless asked the question, but I have responded to the question. I don't blame Hillary Clinton at all for this. I don't think she's responsible for his behavior. But I do think that her position as promoting women's rights and fairness to women in the workplace, that if what Bill Clinton did any CEO in our country did with an intern, with a 22-year- old, 21-year-old intern in their office, they would be fired. They would never be hired again. Fired, never hired again and probably shunned in their community. And the thing is, she can't be a champion of women's rights at the same time she's got this that is always lurking out there, this type of behavior. So it is difficult. +p1212 +aVYeah. But I combine this also with the millions upon millions of dollars they've taken from regimes in the Middle East who treat women like cattle. +p1213 +aVWell, thanks for having me. It's great to be back. I'm an eye surgeon from Bowling Green, Kentucky, I miss doing eye surgery, still get to do a little bit. Did a couple of cataract surgeries over Christmas holidays. Got to go to Haiti last year. I've gotten to do some incredible things. Got to be on the floor of the Senate. And it has been amazing to me. But the thing that is most important to me and caused me to run for office is I'm worried about the country and how much debt we're adding. And I am the one true fiscal conservative who will look at all spending. And that's the only way we'll ever balance our budget. Thank you. +p1214 +aVThe question is, how do we keep America safe from terrorism? Trump says we ought to close that Internet thing. The question really is, what does he mean by that? Like they do in North Korea? Like they do in China? Rubio says we should collect all Americans' records all of the time. The Constitution says otherwise. I think they're both wrong. I think we defeat terrorism by showing them that we do not fear them. I think if we ban certain religions, if we censor the Internet, I think that at that point the terrorists will have won. Regime change hasn't won. Toppling secular dictators in the Middle East has only led to chaos and the rise of radical Islam. I think if we want to defeat terrorism, I think if we truly are sincere about defeating terrorism, we need to quit arming the allies of +p1215 +aVYou know, I think Marco gets it completely wrong. We are not any safer through the bulk collection of all Americans' records. In fact, I think we're less safe. We get so distracted by all of the information, we're not spending enough time getting specific immigration \u2014 specific information on terrorists. The other thing is, is the one thing that might have stopped San Bernardino, that might have stopped 9/11 would have been stricter controls on those who came here. And Marco has opposed at every point increased security \u2014 border security for those who come to our country. On his Gang of Eight bill, he would have liberalized immigration, but he did not \u2014 and he steadfastly opposed any new border security requirements for refugees or students. Last week, I introduced another bill saying we need more security, we need more scrutiny. Once again, Marco opposed this. So Marco can't have it both ways. He thinks he wants to be this, "Oh, I'm great and strong on national defense." But he's the weakest of all the candidates on immigration. He is the one for an open border that is leaving us defenseless. If we want to defend the country, we have to defend against who's coming in, and Marco is \u2014 has more of an allegiance to Chuck Schumer and to the liberals than he does to conservative policy. +p1216 +aVIf I was mentioned in the question, can I respond? +p1217 +aVMarco still misunderstands the immigration issue. What I put forward was an amendment that would have temporarily halted immigration from high-risk terrorist countries, but would have started it up, but I wanted them to go through Global Entry, which is a program where we do background checks. The thing is, is that every terrorist attack we've had since 9/11 has been legal immigration. Marco wants to expand that. I want more rules, more scrutiny, and to defend the country, you have to defend the border. +p1218 +aVWolf... +p1219 +aVWolf, this legislation... +p1220 +aVThis legislation on indefinite detention... +p1221 +aV... I think deserves a little more attention. +p1222 +aVI think that by arming the allies of +p1223 +aVI think that if you believe in regime change, you're mistaken. In 2013, we put 600 tons of weapons \u2014 us, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar \u2014 into the war against Assad. By pushing Assad back, we did create a safe space. We had people coming to our Foreign Relations Committee and saying, "Oh, we need to arm the allies of Al Qaida." They are still saying this. It is a crazy notion. This is the biggest debate we should be having tonight is is regime change a good idea; has it been a good idea. There are still people \u2014 the majority on the stage, they want to topple Assad. And then there will be chaos, and I think +p1224 +aVThese are the fundamental questions of our time, these foreign policy questions, whether or not regime change is a good idea or a bad idea. I don't think because I think the regime change was a bad idea it means that Hussein was necessarily a good idea. There is often variations of evil on both sides of the war. What we have to decide is whether or not regime change is a good idea. It's what the neoconservatives have wanted. It's what the vast majority of those on the stage want. They still want regime change. They want it in Syria. They wanted it in Iraq. They want it in Libya. It has not worked. Out of regime change you get chaos. From the chaos you have seen repeatedly the rise of radical Islam. So we get this profession of, oh, my goodness, they want to do something about terrorism and yet they're the problem because they allow terrorism to arise out of that chaos. +p1225 +aVNo, I think it's a huge mistake. I think regime change in Syria, and this is what \u2014 I've been saying this for several years now. In 2013 when we first went in, I said, you are going to give arms to the allies of al Qaida, to radical jihadists? That's crazy. But the other thing I said is the great irony is you will be back fighting against your own weapons. Had Assad been bombed when he used chemical weapons two years ago, +p1226 +aVWell, I think if you're in favor of World War III, you have your candidate. You know, here's...... the thing. My goodness, what we want in a leader is someone with judgment, not someone who is so reckless as to stand on the stage and say, "Yes, I'm jumping up and down; I'm going to shoot down Russian planes." Russia already flies in that airspace. It may not be something we're in love with the fact that they're there, but they were invited by Iraq and by Syria to fly in that airspace. And so if we announce we're going to have a no-fly zone, and others have said this. Hillary Clinton is also for it. It is a recipe for disaster. It's a recipe for World War III. We need to confront Russia from a position of strength, but we don't need to confront Russia from a point of recklessness that would lead to war. This is something \u2014 this type of judgment, you know, it's having that kind of judgment; who you would appoint and how you're going to conduct affairs, that is incredibly important. I mean, I think when we think about the judgment of someone who might want World War III, we might think about someone who might shut down a bridge because they don't like their friends; they don't want to \u2014 you know, they want to a Democrat. So I think we need to be very careful. +p1227 +aVYou know, I think we need to set the record straight on this, because I think Marco misspoke about the bill. On the Gang of Eight bill, there was no provisions really for extra scrutiny or safety for refugees. At the time the bill came up, two Iraqi refugees came to my home town, Bowling Green, Kentucky. Their fingerprints were on a bomb from Iraq. They were in the database, but we didn't pick them up. We relocated them here, put them in government housing, got them on food stamps. And we began providing for them, but we didn't have adequate security. On the Gang of Eight bill, on Marco's bill, we had an opportunity. There was a conservative consensus for an amendment I put forward called Trust, But Verify that would have strengthened border security on both refugees, students and those coming here. And Marco sided and I guess was more sympathetic to Chuck Schumer and to the president than he was to conservative principles. But this goes directly to national defense. And if he wants to run as a national \u2014 national defense conservative, he's got to explain why he hasn't stepped up to support border security. +p1228 +aVWhat my bill would do would be only for refugees going forward. So I haven't taken a position on sending anyone home. But I have taken the position that we have a lot of problems here in our country. And that one of the things that we do \u2014 charity is about giving your own money. Charity isn't giving someone else's money. To put everyone in government housing and food stamps and bring them in from around the world I think is a mistake. To give of your own money, I've given to my church. My church has helped people that came from Bosnia. That's a good thing. But we shouldn't have a program where we just say that we're going to take care of the world's refugees. Nobody in the Middle East is doing anything. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait \u2014 all the Gulf nations are doing nothing. They need to step up and take... +p1229 +aVThe greatest threat to our national security is our debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. And whose fault is it? Well, frankly, it's both parties' fault. You have those on the right who clamor and say, oh, we will spend anything on the military, and those on the left who say the same for domestic welfare. But what most Americans don't realize is there is an unholy alliance. They come together. There's a secret handshake. We spend more money on everything. And we are not stronger nation if we go further into debt. We are not projecting power from bankruptcy court. To me, there is no greater threat than our debt. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage because I'm willing to hold the line on all spending. I hope you will consider me in the election. Thank you very much. +p1230 +asVBASH +p1231 +(lp1232 +VA crucial question is how to balance surveillance with privacy and keeping Americans safe. Senator Cruz, you voted for a bill that President Obama signed into law just this past June that made it harder for the government to access Americans' phone records. In light of the San Bernardino attack, was your vote a mistake? +p1233 +aVThank you. Senator Rubio, Senator Cruz is right there was bipartisan support for that. But you voted against it. So, is Senator Cruz wrong? +p1234 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1235 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator \u2014 Senator Rubio, please respond. +p1236 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I know this is \u2014 this has been a very big issue for you. You hear many of your colleagues are calling for increased surveillance by law enforcement. You call that hogwash. Why is that hogwash? +p1237 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1238 +aVGovernor Christie, Governor Christie... ...Governor Christie, I'll come to you in a minute. Go ahead, Senator Paul. +p1239 +aVGo ahead, please. +p1240 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about immigration in a while. But, Governor Christie, just listening to this... +p1241 +aVListening to this, you talked \u2014 you heard Senator Paul, Senator Cruz talk about how important it is to protect Americans' privacy, even in a time of grave danger. Why \u2014 what's wrong with that? +p1242 +aVSenator Paul, you said +p1243 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I want to go back to my initial question, which is you saying that +p1244 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about regime change in a bit. But Governor Kasich, would you like to respond to Senator Paul? +p1245 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. We've been talking tonight about programs and policy proposals that you all have to keep Americans safe and it's a big discussion on the campaign trail. Also about border security and immigration. So let's talk about immigration. Senator Rubio. You co-authored a bill with Democrats two years ago that allowed a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Do you still support that path to citizenship, which means giving those immigrants rights, like the right to vote? +p1246 +aVSenator, you haven't answered the question. You described a very long path but does that path end at citizenship? +p1247 +aVThank you, senator. +p1248 +aVThank you, senator. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, on the campaign trail, Senator Rubio has said that his immigration plan is not that different from yours. Is that true? +p1249 +aVSenator Rubio, please. +p1250 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1251 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1252 +aVSenator Cruz, can you answer that question please? +p1253 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1254 +aVOne at a time please. +p1255 +aVMs. Fiorina, please wait your turn, we're going to get to you. +p1256 +aVSenator Cruz go ahead. +p1257 +aVMr. Trump, you like to say that you restarted this conversation in the campaign. +p1258 +aVSo who do you side with? Who do you side with in this, Senator Rubio or Senator Cruz? +p1259 +aVThank you. Governor Bush? +p1260 +aVListening to this, do you think this is the tone \u2014 this immigration debate that republicans need to take to win back Hispanics into our party especially states like where we are in Nevada that has a pretty Hispanic community? +p1261 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said if China launches a cyber- attack against the U.S. on your watch, "they're going to see cyber- warfare like they have never seen before." What exactly would that response look like? +p1262 +aVGovernor Bush, what you just heard from Governor Christie, are you concerned that that could really escalate with China, that they would retaliate? And, for example, as the NSA has said, attack the U.S. and maybe it's power grid, which the Chinese have the capability to do? +p1263 +aVMr. Trump, just this weekend you said Senator Cruz is not qualified to be president because he doesn't have the right temperament and acted like a maniac when he arrived in the Senate. But last month you said you were open to naming Senator Cruz as your running mate. +p1264 +aVSo why would you be willing to put somebody who's a maniac one heartbeat away from the presidency? +p1265 +aVOkay. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, you have not been willing to attack Mr. Trump in public. +p1266 +aVBut you did question his judgment in having control of American's nuclear arsenal during a private meeting with supporters. Why are you willing to say things about him in private and not in public? +p1267 +aVSenator, senator, I just... +p1268 +aVSenator, a lot of people have seen... +p1269 +aV... a lot of people have seen these comments you made in private. I just want to clarify what you're saying right now is you do believe Mr. Trump has the judgment to be commander in chief? +p1270 +asVBARTIROMO +p1271 +(lp1272 +VTonight we are working with Facebook to ask the candidates the questions voters want answered. And according to Facebook, the U.S. election has dominated the global conversation, with 131 million people talking about the 2016 race. That makes it the number one issue talked about on Facebook last year worldwide. +p1273 +aVTonight's rules are simple: up to 90 seconds for each answer, one minute for each follow-up response. And if a candidate goes over the allotted time, you'll hear this. So let's get started. Candidates, jobs and growth \u2014 two of the biggest issues facing the country right now. In his State of the Union address earlier this week, the president said, quote, "we have the strongest, most durable economy in the world." And according to our Facebook research, jobs is one of the biggest issues resonating across the country, including here in South Carolina. The president is touting 14 million new jobs and an unemployment rate cut in half. The president said that anyone who claims America's economy is in decline is peddling fiction. Senator Cruz, what do you see that he doesn't? +p1274 +aVThank you, sir. +p1275 +aVWe know that recent global events have many people worried \u2014 Iran detaining American sailors, forcing them to apologize; North Korea and its nuclear ambitions; an aggressive China; and a Middle East that continues to deteriorate, not to mention +p1276 +aVJust to be clear Governor, where and when would you use military action? +p1277 +aVDr. Carson, the president says he does not want to treat +p1278 +aVSenator Cruz, the New York Times is reporting that you failed to properly disclose a million dollars in loans from Goldman Sachs and CitiBank. During your senate race, your campaign said, "it was inadvertent." A million dollars is inadvertent? +p1279 +aVThank you. +p1280 +aVThank you, senator. Mr. Trump, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley in her response to the State of the Union address......appeared to choose sides within the party, saying Republicans should resist, quote, "the siren call of the angriest voices". She confirmed, she was referring to you among others. Was she out of line? And, how would a President Trump unite the party? +p1281 +aVBut what are you going to do about it? +p1282 +aVGovernor Kasich...... Governor Kasich, Hillary Clinton is getting some serious competition from Senator Bernie Sanders. He's now at 41 percent in the latest CBS/New York Times poll. Vice President Biden sang his praises, saying Bernie is speaking to a yearning that is deep and real, and he has credibility on it. So what does it say about our country that a candidate who is a self-avowed socialist and who doesn't think a 90 percent tax rate is too high could be the Democratic nominee? +p1283 +aVDr. Carson, one of the other candidates on this stage has brought Bill Clinton's past indiscretions. Is that a legitimate topic in this election? And what do you think of the notion that Hillary Clinton is an enabler of sexual misconduct? +p1284 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debates, right here in North Charleston. Let's get right back to the questions. Governor Bush, gun rights, one of the top issues seen on Facebook with close to 3 million people talking about it in the past month. Right here in Charleston, Dylann Roof, who has been accused of killing nine people in a nearby church, reportedly had not passed his background check when he got his gun. What is the harm in tightening standards for not only who buys guns, but those who sell them? +p1285 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, are there any circumstances that you think we should be limiting gun sales of any kind in America? +p1286 +aVThank you sir. +p1287 +aVThank you, sir. +p1288 +aVSo what is the answer, Senator Cruz, to stop mass shootings and violent crime, up in 30 cities across the country? +p1289 +aVSenator...... let me follow up and switch gears. Senator Cruz, you suggested Mr. Trump, quote, "embodies New York values." Could you explain what you mean by that? +p1290 +aVI am from New York. I don't. +p1291 +aVAre you sure about that? +p1292 +aVThere's much more ahead including the fight against +p1293 +aVWe welcome back to the Republican Presidential , right back to the questions. Candidates, the man who made fighting +p1294 +aVThe air-strikes. +p1295 +aVNow in their 16th month are ineffective. Dr. Carson, do you think Senator Graham is right in wanting to send 20,000 troops \u2014 ground troops to Iraq and Syria to take out +p1296 +aVThank you, sir. Senator Graham has also said that the U.S. will find Arab support for its coalition if it removes Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. And I quote, "The now king of Saudi Arabia told us, 'you can have our army, you just got to deal with Assad.' "The emir of Qatar said, 'I'll pay for the operation, but they are not going to fight +p1297 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump \u2014 Mr. Trump, your comments about banning Muslims from entering the country created a firestorm. According to Facebook, it was the most-talked-about moment online of your entire campaign, with more than 10 million people talking about the issue. Is there anything you've heard that makes you want to rethink this position? +p1298 +aVWe \u2014 we want to hear from all of you on this. According to Pew Research, the U.S. admits more than 100,000 Muslim immigrants every single year on a permanent lifetime basis. I want to ask the rest of you to comment on this. Do you agree that we should pause Muslim immigration until we get a better handle on our homeland security situation, as Mr. Trump has said? Beginning with you, Governor Kasich. +p1299 +aVThank you, sir, we want to hear from the rest of you, Governor Christie, your take. +p1300 +aVSenator Rubio, where do you stand? +p1301 +aVSenator Cruz, where do you stand? Senator Cruz? +p1302 +aVDr. Carson, where do you stand? Do you agree with Mr. Trump? +p1303 +aVSo, to be clear, the both of you do not agree with Mr. Trump? +p1304 +aVThank you governor. +p1305 +aVWe're getting... +p1306 +aVPrices go higher for... +p1307 +aVYeah. +p1308 +aVReal quick, Senator \u2014 go ahead, Senator Cruz. And then we have to get to tax reform. +p1309 +aVThank you, Governor Bush. Thank you, Mr. Trump. Very briefly. +p1310 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. +p1311 +aVThank you, Mr. Trmup. Thank you, Governor. +p1312 +aVSenator briefly. +p1313 +aVWe've got to get to tax reform, gentlemen. We've got to get to tax reform, and we've got to get to the... +p1314 +aV... we've got to get to the national debt as well. Coming up next, the growing national debt, the war on crime, tax reform. More from North Charleston, South Carolina, when we come right back. +p1315 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential here in North Charleston. Right back to the questions. Governor Christie, we have spoken much about cutting spending, given the $19 trillion debt. But according to one report, America needs $3.6 trillion in infrastructure spending by 2020. Here in South Carolina, 11 percent of bridges are considered structurally deficient, costing drivers a billion dollars a year in auto repairs. What is your plan to fix the ailing roads and bridges without breaking the bank? +p1316 +aVThank you, sir. Dr. Carson......it is true U.S. companies have $2 trillion in cash sitting overseas right now. That could be used for investment and jobs in America. Also, several companies right now are pursuing mergers to move their corporate headquarters abroad, and take advantage of much lower taxes. What will you do to stop the flow of companies building cash away from America, and those leaving America altogether? +p1317 +aVThank you, sir. Senator Rubio... +p1318 +aVWhich is why we raised it. Senator Rubio? Thank you, Mr. Trump. +p1319 +aVOne of the biggest fiscal challenges is our entitlement programs, particularly Social Security and Medicare. What policies will you put forward to make sure these programs are more financially secure? +p1320 +aVThank you senator. +p1321 +aVSenator Cruz, yes. You were meant to. Yes, of course. +p1322 +aVThank you senator. +p1323 +aVThank you senator. I have to get to a question for Mr. Trump. +p1324 +aVYes. +p1325 +aVThank you, Governor. Thank you, Governor. +p1326 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Coming up, how would the candidates protect America, and another terror attack, if we were to see it. But first, you can join us live on stage during the commercial break right from home. Go to facebook.com/foxbusiness. We'll be streaming live and answering your questions during this break next. More from South Carolina coming up. Stay with us. +p1327 +aVMr. Trump, your net worth is in the multi-billions of dollars and have an ongoing thriving hotel and real estate business. Are you planning on putting your assets in a blind trust should you become president? With such vast wealth, how difficult will it be for you to disentangle yourself from your business and your money and prioritize America's interest first? +p1328 +aVSo you'll put your assets in a blind trust? +p1329 +aVThank you sir. +p1330 +aVSenator Rubio? Under current law, the U.S. is on track to issue more new permanent immigrants on green cards over the next five years than the entire population of South Carolina. The CBO says your 2013 immigration bill would have increased green cardholders by another 10 million over 10 years. Why are you so interested in opening up borders to foreigners when American workers have a hard enough time finding work? +p1331 +aVSo your thinking has changed? +p1332 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1333 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1334 +aVWhen we come right back, closing statements. Stay with us. +p1335 +aVWelcome back. Candidates, it is time for your closing statements. You get 60 seconds each. Governor John Kasich, we begin with you. +p1336 +aVGovernor Chris Christie? +p1337 +aVSenator Marco Rubio? +p1338 +aVMr. Donald Trump? +p1339 +aVCandidates, thank you. +p1340 +asVTRUMP +p1341 +(lp1342 +VWell, I can say this. If the president, and if I were president now, I would certainly want to try and nominate a justice. I'm sure that, frankly, I'm absolutely sure that President Obama will try and do it. I hope that our Senate is going to be able \u2014 Mitch, and the entire group, is going to be able to do something about it. In times of delay, we could have a Diane Sykes, or you could have a Bill Pryor \u2014 we have some fantastic people. But this is a tremendous blow to conservatism. It's a tremendous blow, frankly, to our country. +p1343 +aV... I think he's going to do it whether or I'm O.K. with it or not. I think it's up to Mitch McConnell and everybody else to stop it. It's called delay, delay, delay. +p1344 +aVWhat we want to do, when we want to do it, and how hard do we want to hit? Because we are going to have to hit very, very hard to knock out +p1345 +aV... called me a genius, I like him so far, I have to tell you. Let me just tell you this. Jeb is so wrong. Jeb is absolutely self \u2014 just so you understand, you know what that is? That's Jeb's special interest and lobbyist talking. Look, let me just tell you something, Jeb \u2014 Jeb is so wrong. You got to fight +p1346 +aV... You'll end up with World War III... +p1347 +aV... We're supporting troops... +p1348 +aV... that we don't even know who they are. +p1349 +aV... We're supporting troops that we don't even know who they are... +p1350 +aVWe have no idea who they are. +p1351 +aV... Oh, yeah, yeah... +p1352 +aV... Let 44 million in New Hampshire, it was practically ... +p1353 +aV... 44 million \u2014 give me a break. +p1354 +aVFirst of all, I have to say, as a businessman, I get along with everybody. I have business all over the world. I know so many of the people in the audience. And by the way, I'm a self-funder. I don't have \u2014 I have my wife and I have my son. That's all I have. I don't have this. So let me just tell you, I get along with everybody, which is my obligation to my company, to myself, et cetera. Obviously, the war in Iraq was a big, fat mistake. All right? Now, you can take it any way you want, and it took \u2014 it took Jeb Bush, if you remember at the beginning of his announcement, when he announced for president, it took him five days. He went back, it was a mistake, it wasn't a mistake. It took him five days before his people told him what to say, and he ultimately said, "It was a mistake." The war in Iraq, we spent $2 trillion, thousands of lives, we don't even have it. Iran has taken over Iraq, with the second-largest oil reserves in the world. Obviously, it was a mistake. +p1355 +aVGeorge Bush made a mistake. We can make mistakes. But that one was a beauty. We should have never been in Iraq. We have destabilized the Middle East. +p1356 +aVYou do whatever you want. You call it whatever you want. I want to tell you. They lied. They said there were weapons of mass destruction, there were none. And they knew there were none. There were no weapons of mass destruction. +p1357 +aVI'm being nice. +p1358 +aVHe spent $22 million in... +p1359 +aVThe World Trade Center came down during your brother's reign, remember that. +p1360 +aVThat's not keeping us safe. +p1361 +aVShe should be running. +p1362 +aVHow did he keep us safe when the World Trade Center \u2014 the World \u2014 excuse me. I lost hundreds of friends. The World Trade Center came down during the reign of George Bush. He kept us safe? That is not safe. That is not safe, Marco. That is not safe. +p1363 +aVAnd George Bush \u2014 by the way, George Bush had the chance, also, and he didn't listen to the advice of his C.I.A. +p1364 +aVI don't want to go. +p1365 +aVYes. +p1366 +aVFirst of all, the \u2014 when you say I'm the only candidate, if you listen to the Democrats, they want to do many things to Social Security, and I want to do them on its own merit. You listen to them, what they want to do to Social Security, none of these folks are getting elected, O.K., whether they can do it or not. I'm going to save Social Security. I'm going to bring jobs back from China. I'm going to bring jobs back from Mexico and from Japan, where they're all \u2014 every country throughout the world \u2014 now Vietnam, that's the new one. They are taking our jobs. They are taking our wealth. They are taking our base. And you and I have had this discussion. We're going to make our economy strong again. I'm lowering taxes. We have $2.5 trillion offshore. We have 2.5 trillion that I think is actually five trillion because the government has no idea when they say 2.5, they have no idea what they're doing or saying, as they've proven very well. We're going to bring that money back. You take a look at what happened just this week. China bought the Chicago Stock Exchange, China, a Chinese company. Carrier is moving to Mexico, air conditioning company. Not only the ones I talk about all the time, Nabisco and Ford and \u2014 they're all moving out. We have an economy that last quarter, G.D.P. didn't grow. It was flat. We have to make our economy grow again. We're dying. This country is dying. And our workers are losing their jobs, and you're going... +p1367 +aVI'm the only one who is going to save Social Security, believe me. +p1368 +aVBecause you have tremendous waste. I'll tell you... +p1369 +aVYou have tremendous waste, fraud and abuse. That we're taking care of. That we're taking care of. It's tremendous. We have in Social Security right now thousands and thousands of people that are over 106 years old. Now, you know they don't exist. They don't exist. There's tremendous waste, fraud and abuse, and we're going to get it. But we're not going to hurt the people who have been paying into Social Security their whole life and then all of a sudden they're supposed to get less. We're bringing our jobs back. We're going to make our economy great again. +p1370 +aVI want everybody taken care of, but we have to take care of our people in this country. We're not taking care of our people. We have no border. We have no control. People are flooding across. We can't have it. We either have a border, and I'm very strongly \u2014 I'm not proposing. I will build a wall. I will build a wall. Remember this, the wall will be paid for by Mexico. We are not being treated right. We are not being treated properly. If we don't have borders, if we don't have strength, we don't have a country. People are flowing across. We have to take care of our people. Believe me. +p1371 +aVLook......When I announced that I was running for president on June 16th, illegal immigration wasn't even a subject. If I didn't bring it up, we wouldn't even be talking. Now, I don't often agree with Marco, and I don't often agree with Ted, but I can in this case. The weakest person on this stage by far on illegal immigration is Jeb Bush. They come out of an act of love, whether you like it or not. He is so weak on illegal immigration it's laughable, and everybody knows it. +p1372 +aV... Spend a little more money on the commercials... +p1373 +aV. I don't know what you're talking about. +p1374 +aV... I never called him \u2014 I don't call him.. +p1375 +aVHe also said about language... +p1376 +aV... Language. Two days ago he said he would take his pants off and moon everybody, and that's fine. Nobody reports that. He gets up and says that, and then he tells me, oh, my language was a little bit rough... +p1377 +aV... My language. Give me a break... +p1378 +aV... You did say it, you did say it. Been reported in 10 different news... +p1379 +aVOr a tax. +p1380 +aVI would build consensus with Congress, and Congress would agree with me. I'll give you an example, because I don't like the idea of using executive orders like our president. It is a disaster what he's doing. I would build consensus, but consensus means you have to work hard. You have to cajole. You have to get them into the Oval Office and get them all together, and you have to make deals. Let me just tell you, I mentioned before, China \u2014 big Chinese company bought the Chicago Exchange. Kerry is moving \u2014 and if you saw the people, because they have a video of the announcement that Carrier is moving to Mexico, O.K.? Well, I'll tell you what. I would go right now to Carrier and I would say I am going to work awfully hard. You're going to make air conditioners now in Mexico. You're going to get all of these 1,400 people that are being laid off \u2014 they're laid off. They were crying. They were \u2014 it was a very sad situation. You're going to go to Mexico. You're going to make air conditioners in Mexico, you're going to put them across our border with no tax. I'm going to tell them right now, I am going to get consensus from Congress and we're going to tax you when those air conditioners come. So stay where you are or build in the United States, because we are killing ourselves with trade pacts that are no good for us and no good for our workers. +p1381 +aVJohn, in life you have flexibility. You do have flexibility. When you're fighting wars, you're going one way, you have a plan. It's a beautiful plan. It can't lose. The enemy makes a change, and all of a sudden you have to change. You have to have flexibility. In Ronald Reagan, though, in terms of what we're talking about, was the great example. He was a somewhat liberal Democrat who became a somewhat, pretty strong conservative. He became \u2014 most importantly, he became a great president. He made many of the changes that I've made \u2014 I mean, I've seen as I grew up, I've seen, and as I get older and wiser, and I feel that I am a conservative. Now, I also feel I'm a common-sense conservative, because some of the views I don't agree with. And I think a lot of people agree with me, obviously, based on what's happening. +p1382 +aVWell, I think these people always hit me with eminent domain, and frankly, I'm not in love with eminent domain. But eminent domain is something you need very strongly. When Jeb had said, "You used eminent domain privately for a parking lot." It wasn't for a parking lot. The state of New Jersey \u2014 too bad Chris Christie is not here, he could tell you \u2014 the state of New Jersey went to build a very large tower that was going to employ thousands of people. I mean, it was going to really do a big job in terms of economic development. Now, just so you understand, I got hit very hard. It's private, it's private eminent domain. You understand that they took over a stadium in Texas, and they used private eminent domain, but he just found that out after he made the charge. +p1383 +aVYeah. Well, Jeb wouldn't have known about it. +p1384 +aVYou shouldn't have used it then, Jeb. +p1385 +aVThank you very much, I appreciate it. +p1386 +aVYou probably are worse than Jeb Bush. You are single biggest liar. This guy's lied \u2014 let me just tell you, this guy lied about Ben Carson when he took votes away from Ben Carson in Iowa, and he just continues. Today, we had robo-calls saying, "Donald Trump is not going to run in South Carolina," where I'm leading by a lot. I'm not going to vote for Ted Cruz. This is the same thing he did to Ben Carson. This guy will say anything, nasty guy. Now I know why he doesn't have one endorsement from any of his colleagues. +p1387 +aVHe's a nasty guy. +p1388 +aVWhere did I support it? Where did I... +p1389 +aVAgain, where did I support it? +p1390 +aVHey Ted, where I support it? +p1391 +aVWhere did I support? +p1392 +aVThat's a lot of lies. +p1393 +aVIt does do wonderful things, but not as it relates to abortion. +p1394 +aVExcuse me. Excuse me, there are wonderful things having to do with women's health. +p1395 +aVBut not when it comes to abortion. +p1396 +aVHold on... +p1397 +aVTed Cruz told your brother that he wanted John Roberts to be on the United States Supreme Court. They both pushed him, he twice approved Obamacare. +p1398 +aVO.K., governor. +p1399 +aVYou pushed him. You pushed him. +p1400 +aVYou worked with him and you pushed him. Why do you lie? +p1401 +aVWhy do you lie? +p1402 +aVYou pushed him. +p1403 +aVYeah, yeah, I know, you're an adult. +p1404 +aVWell, I would say my wife tells me I'm wrong all the time. And I listen. +p1405 +aVOh, let me just say \u2014 look, I am very open \u2014 I hired top people. I've had great success. I built a great, great company. I don't need to do this. I'm self-funding. I'm spending a lot of money. I've spent \u2014 like in New Hampshire, I spent $3 million. Jeb bush spent $44 million. He came in five, and I came in No. 1. That's what the country needs, folks. I spent 3, he spends 42 of their money, of special interest money. And it's just \u2014 this is not going to make \u2014 excuse me. This is not going to make our country great again. This is not what we need in our country. We need people that know what the hell they're doing. And politicians, they're all talk, they're no action. And that's why people are supporting me. I do listen to people. I hire experts. I hire top, top people. And I do listen. And you know what? Sometimes they're wrong. You have to know what to do, when to do it. But sometimes they're wrong. +p1406 +aVWell, I'll tell you \u2014 over the years, I've made many speeches. People have asked me, big companies have asked me to make speeches, and friends of mine that run big companies on success. And occasion, in order to sort of really highlight something, I'll use a profanity. One of the profanities that I got credited with using, that I didn't use, was a very bad word, two weeks ago, that I never used. I said, "You." And everybody said "Oh, he didn't say anything wrong." But you bleeped it, so everyone thinks I said the \u2014 I didn't say anything. I never said the word. It is very unfair, that criticism. Now, I will say this, with all of that being said, I have said I will not do it at all, because if I say a word that's a little bit off color, a little bit, it ends up being a headline. I will not do it again. I was a very good student at a great school not using \u2014 by the way \u2014 not using profanity is very easy. +p1407 +aVThat's not \u2014 let me respond. That's another lie. I never went bankrupt! +p1408 +aVNo, but it's another lie. +p1409 +aVNo, but it's another lie. This guy doesn't know what he's talking about. Just a lie. +p1410 +aVLet me just tell you. Jeb goes around saying, just like the biggest business leaders in this country, I've used the laws of the land to chapter \u2014 I bought a company, I threw it immediately into a chapter, I made a great deal. I uses the laws to my benefit, because I run a company. +p1411 +aVExcuse me, Jeb! +p1412 +aVI never went bankrupt, never. Now \u2014 but you don't want to say that. Now, let me just say, I've used it, just like the biggest leaders in the country. Let me tell you something \u2014 Florida. Florida, he put so much debt on Florida. You know, we keep saying he's a wonderful governor, wonderful governor. He put so much debt on Florida, and he increased spending so much that as soon as he got out of office, Florida crashed. I happened to be there. It's my second home. Florida crashed. He didn't do a good job as governor. +p1413 +aVAnd you haven't \u2014 excuse me, you haven't heard that. You listen to the good record in Florida. You take a look at what happened, as soon as that year ended he got out, Florida crashed. Too much debt. He loaded it up with debt, and his spending went through the roof. +p1414 +aVBy the way... +p1415 +aV... he was not a good governor. +p1416 +aVTake a look at your numbers. +p1417 +aVFlorida went down the tubes right after he got out of office. +p1418 +aVWent right down because of what he did to it. +p1419 +aVThank you. Politicians are all talk, no action. You've seen where they've take you to. We are 19 trillion dollars right now. It's going to be increased with that horrible budget from a month ago that was just approved by politicians. We need a change. We need a very big change. We're going to make our country great again. I say this every night, every day, every afternoon, and it's so true \u2014 we don't win anymore. We don't win with health care, we don't win with +p1420 +aVI actually think I have the best temperament. I built a massive corporation. I employ thousands and thousands of people. I've gotten along with people for years and years, have tremendous relationships with many people, including politicians on both sides. And no matter how you cut it, when I \u2014 when I came out, I hit immigration, I hit it very hard. Everybody said, "Oh, the temperament," because I talked about illegal immigration. Now, everybody's coming to me, they're all trying to say, well, he's right, we have to come to him. I hit other things. I talked about Muslims. We have a problem. Nobody else wanted to mention the problem, I brought it up. I took a lot of heat. We have to have a temporary something, because there's something going on that's not good. And remember this, I'm the only one up here, when the war of Iraq \u2014 in Iraq, I was the one that said, "Don't go, don't do it, you're going to destabilize the Middle East." So, I'm not one with a trigger. I'm not one with a trigger. Other people up here, believe me, would be a lot faster. But I'll build the mill arbitrary stronger, bigger, better than anybody up here, and nobody is going to mess with us. That, I can tell you. +p1421 +aVAm I allowed to respond? I have to respond. +p1422 +aVFirst of all, I respect what Ted just said, but if you noticed, he didn't answer your question. And that's what's going to happen \u2014 OK. That's what's going to happen with our enemies and the people we compete against. We're going to win with Trump. We're going to win. We don't win anymore. Our country doesn't win anymore. We're going to win with Trump. And people back down with Trump. And that's what I like and that's what the country is going to like. +p1423 +aVWell, let me say a couple of things. First of all, Marco said earlier on that President Obama knows exactly what he's doing, like we have this president that really knows. I disagree, respectfully, with Marco. I think we have a president who, as a president, is totally incompetent, and he doesn't know what he's doing. I think he has no idea what he's doing. And our country is going to hell. So, I just want to say, we disagree on that. Is that okay? +p1424 +aVGood. +p1425 +aVAs to North Korea? +p1426 +aVWe have \u2014 tremendous \u2014 has been just sucked out of our country by China. China says they don't have that good of control over North Korea. They have tremendous control. I deal with the Chinese all of the time. I do tremendous \u2014 the largest bank in the world is in one of my buildings in Manhattan. I deal with them. They tell me. They have total, absolute control, practically, of North Korea. They are sucking trillions of dollars out of our country \u2014 they're rebuilding China with the money they take out of our country. I would get on with China, let China solve that problem. They can do it quickly and surgically. That's what we should do with North Korea. +p1427 +aVGood evening. +p1428 +aVYes. HAM: In the Democratic primary, Hillary Clinton has criticized Bernie Sanders' plan for single payer government health care, noting it would require big, across the board tax increases for Americans. In doing so, she's doubling down on Obamacare, despite its persistent unpopularity. Mr. Trump, you have said you want to appeal Obamacare. You have also said, quote, "Everybody's got to be covered," adding, quote, "The government's going to pay for it." Are you closer to Bernie Sanders' vision for health care than Hillary Clinton's? +p1429 +aVI don't think I am. I think I'm closer to common sense. We are going to repeal Obamacare. We're going to repeal Obamacare. We are going to replace Obamacare with something so much better. And there are so many examples of it. And I will tell you, part of the reason we have some people laughing, because you have insurance people that take care of everybody up here. I am self-funded. The only one they're not taking care of is me. We have our lines around each state. The insurance companies are getting rich on Obamacare. The insurance companies are getting rich on health care and health services and everything having to do with health. We are going to end that. We're going to take out the artificial boundaries, the artificial lines. We're going to get a plan where people compete, free enterprise. They compete. So much better. In addition to that, you have the health care savings plans, which are excellent. What I do say is, there will be a certain number of people that will be on the street dying and as a Republican, I don't want that to happen. We're going to take care of people that are dying on the street because there will be a group of people that are not going to be able to even think in terms of private or anything else and we're going to take care of those people. And I think everybody on this stage would have to agree......you're not going to let people die, sitting in the middle of a street in any city in this country. +p1430 +aVWell, let me just tell you about eminent domain because almost all of these people actually criticize it, but so many people have hit me with commercials and other things about eminent domain. Eminent domain is an absolute necessity for a country, for our country. Without it, you wouldn't have roads, you wouldn't have hospitals, you wouldn't have anything. You wouldn't have schools, you wouldn't have bridges. You need eminent domain. And a lot of the big conservatives that tell me how conservative they are \u2014 I think I'm more than they are \u2014 they tell me, oh \u2014 well, they all want the Keystone Pipeline. The Keystone Pipeline, without eminent domain, it wouldn't go 10 feet, OK? You need eminent domain. And eminent domain is a good thing, not a bad thing. And what a lot of people don't know because they were all saying, oh, you're going to take their property. When somebody \u2014 when eminent domain is used on somebody's property, that person gets a fortune. They get at least fair market value, and if they are smart, they'll get two or three times the value of their property. But without eminent domain, you don't have roads, highways, schools, bridges or anything. So eminent domain \u2014 it's not that I love it, but eminent domain is absolutely \u2014 it's a necessity for a country. And certainly it's a necessity for our country. +p1431 +aVYes. +p1432 +aVJeb wants to be \u2014 he wants to be a tough guy tonight. I didn't take the property. +p1433 +aVI didn't take the property. +p1434 +aVThe woman ultimately didn't want to do that. I walked away. +p1435 +aVWell, let me just \u2014 you know, he wants to be a tough guy. A lot of times, you'll have \u2014 you'll have \u2014 and it didn't work very well. +p1436 +aVA lot of time \u2014 let me talk. Quiet. A lot of times \u2014 a lot of times... +p1437 +aV... you \u2014 let me talk. Let me talk. Quiet. A lot of times......that's all of his donors and special interests out there. So \u2014 it's what it is. That's what \u2014 and by the way, let me just tell you, we needed tickets. You can't get them. You know who has the tickets for the \u2014 I'm talking about, to the television audience? Donors, special interests, the people that are putting up the money. That's who it is. The RNC told us. We have all donors in the audience. And the reason they're not loving me......the reason they're not \u2014 excuse me. The reason they're not loving me is, I don't want their money. I'm going to do the right thing for the American public. I don't want their money. I don't need their money. And I'm the only one up here that can say that. Eminent domain, the Keystone pipeline \u2014 do you consider that a private job? Do you \u2014 do you consider that... +p1438 +aVNo \u2014 no, let me ask you, Jeb. Do you consider the Keystone pipeline private? +p1439 +aVIs it public or private? +p1440 +aVReal \u2014 a public use? +p1441 +aVNo, it's a private job. +p1442 +aVIt's a private job. +p1443 +aVYou wouldn't have the Keystone pipeline that you want so badly without eminent domain. +p1444 +aVYou wouldn't have massive \u2014 excuse me, Josh \u2014 you wouldn't have massive factories without eminent domain. +p1445 +aVWell, I think I am, and to me, I view the word conservative as a derivative I \u2014 of \u2014 of the word conserve. We want to converse our money. We want to conserve our wealth. We want to conserve. We want to be smart. We want to be smart where we go, where we spend, how we spend. We want to conserve our country. We want to save our country. And we have people that have no idea how to do that and they are not doing it, and it's a very important word and it's something I believe in very, very strongly. +p1446 +aVWell, before I go there, I will tell you, I will bring jobs back from China. I will bring jobs back from Japan. I will bring jobs back from Mexico, where New Hampshire, by the way, has been virtually wiped out. They've lost so many businesses going to Mexico because of horrible trade deals. And now we're about to sign another trade deal, TPP, which is going to be a disaster for this country because they don't talk about monetary manipulation. It is going to be a disaster. I'm going to bring jobs back and I'll start bringing them back very fast. Under my tax plan \u2014 right now, we're the highest taxed country in the world. Under my plan, we cut not only taxes for the middle class, but we cut taxes for corporations. We will bring back trillions of dollars that's offshore. Right now, they have $2.5 trillion, and in my opinion, it's much more than that. That's what the government says. All of that money is going to come back. And we're not going to lose Pfizer, which is now leaving, and other great companies, which is now leaving. And they're all leaving. We have many, many companies that are leaving this country. We're not going to lose them anymore because we're going to have a tax structure that is going to keep them in our country. +p1447 +aVWell, four years ago, I said, bomb the oil and take the oil. And if we did that, they wouldn't have the wealth they have right now. Now, I still say the same thing, because we're doing little pinpricks. We're not even bombing \u2014 if somebody's driving a truck, they give notice to the person driving the truck, "we're going to bomb." If they don't get out of the truck, the truck sails away with the oil. We actually have a case where we don't want to bomb the oil, because we don't want to hurt \u2014 pollute the atmosphere. Can you imagine General Douglas MacArthur or General Patton saying we can't bomb because we're gonna hurt the atmosphere? You have to knock the hell out of the oil. You have to take the oil. And you have also back channels of banking. You have people that you think are our great allies, our friends, in the Middle East, that are paying tremendous numbers of \u2014 tremendous amounts of money to +p1448 +aVYou have to go in \u2014 first of all, when you take away their money, when you take away their wealth, that'll very much weaken \u2014 and it will happen fairly fast. They'll last for about a year, based on all of the wealth they've accumulated. But when you stop the banking channels and when you stop the oil and take the oil \u2014 not just bomb it, take it \u2014 when you do that, it's going to dry up very quickly. They're going to become a very weakened power, quickly. Thank you. +p1449 +aVWell, I'll tell you what. In the Middle East, we have people chopping the heads off Christians, we have people chopping the heads off many other people. We have things that we have never seen before \u2014 as a group, we have never seen before, what's happening right now. The medieval times \u2014 I mean, we studied medieval times \u2014 not since medieval times have people seen what's going on. I would bring back waterboarding and I'd bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding. +p1450 +aV... No, a good deal maker will make great deals, but we'll do it the way our founders thought it should be done. People get together, they make deals. Ronald Reagan did it with Tip O'Neil very successfully, you didn't hear so much about executive orders, if you heard about it at all. You have to be able to get a consensus. Now, the real person like it was mentioned about the deal with Iran, how bad a deal is that? It doesn't get any more amateurish than that. A good deal maker would never make a deal like that. With Congress, you have to get everybody in a room, and you have to get them to agree. But, you have to get them to agree what you want, and that's part of being a deal maker. You can't leave the White House, go to Hawaii and play golf for three weeks and be a real deal maker. It doesn't work that way. You have to get people in, grab them, hug them, kiss them, and get the deal done. But, it's got to be the deal that you want. HAM: Governor Kasich, is the problem with Washington that there are too many deals, or too few? +p1451 +aVSome? +p1452 +aVWell... +p1453 +aVYes. OK, good. It looked like he was looking right at me, right there. I think that \u2014 I look at what's going on, I look at all of the polls, I do very, very well against Hillary Clinton. I can tell you, I'm the last person that she wants to run against. And I think you can see what we've done in terms of galvanizing. I've been all over the country. We're \u2014 last night, I was in South Carolina, we had 12,000 people. It set up in about four days. We have galvanized and we've created a movement. A lot of it has to do with \u2014 as an example, Josh's question on drugs. I'm the first person that said, "Build a wall." But I mean, a real wall, not a toy wall like they have right now. A real wall. And you'll solve lots of problems. But we will galvanize the people of this country, and we will beat Hillary Clinton. Because \u2014 assuming that she runs, by the way, how she gets away with the e-mail stuff is hard to believe. So, I don't know that she's going to be running. But on the assumption she runs... I mean, look. And speaking of that, if she runs, she's running for one reason. She's going to be able to run for one reason, and that's because the Democrats are protecting her. Because so many people have done so much less than her, and they were absolutely \u2014 their lives have been destroyed. But on the assumption they do protect her, I will win the election and we will win it by a lot. We will win it handily. We cannot have another four years of essentially Barack Obama. +p1454 +aVWell, there is a divide, but I have to say that the police are absolutely mistreated and misunderstood, and if there is an incident, whether it's an incident done purposely \u2014 which is a horror, and you should really take very strong action \u2014 or if it is a mistake, it's on your news casts all night, all week, all month, and it never ends. The police in this country have done an unbelievable job of keeping law and order, and they're afraid for their jobs, they're afraid of the mistreatment they get, and I'm telling you that not only, me speaking, minorities all over the country, they respect the police of this country and we have to give them more respect. They can't act. They can't act. They're afraid for losing their pension, their job. They don't know what to do. And I deal with them all the time. We have to give great respect, far greater than we are right now, to our really fantastic police. +p1455 +aVWell, they do. And, you know, they sue. Everybody sues, right? They see excessive \u2014 I mean, they go out, they sue. We have so much litigation \u2014 I see the courts, I see what they're doing. They sue, and you know what? We don't want excessive force. But at what point \u2014 you know, either you're going to have a police force that can do its job... I was just up in Manchester, I met with the police officers yesterday. Tremendous people. They love the area, they love the people, they love all the people. They want to do their job. And you're going to have abuse and you're going to have problems, and you've got to solve the problems and you have to weed out the problems. But the police in this country are absolutely amazing people. +p1456 +aVWell, I \u2014 I know Diane Foley very well. Her husband and \u2014 these are tremendous people. I spoke for them, I raised a lot of money for the foundation. I fully understand, James, one of \u2014 that was really the first that we saw, really visually saw \u2014 it was so horrible. And I will tell you, though, with all of that being said, you can not negotiate this way with terrorists. If you do, you are going to have many, many more James Foleys. James Foley was a great young man. His parents are incredible people. They've done such a good job, since his \u2014 since his death. But you just cannot negotiate that way with terrorists, or you're gonna have so many other James Foleys. And one thing on the vets \u2014 during the last debate, I raised $6 million for the vets, and I will tell you something......I will tell you that I think nobody here, nobody on this stage, gets along with the veterans groups in New Hampshire better than I do without ball (ph) to sarel (ph) and all of the people that I deal with and these are great people. The one thing that we're not mentioning, there's tremendous fraud, waste and abuse in the Veterans Administration and if I'm running things, that's going to disappear......and it's going to disappear quickly. +p1457 +aVCarolina. +p1458 +aVThat's because he got Ben Carson's votes, by the way, but we won't . Our country that we love so much doesn't win anymore. We don't win with the military, we don't' win on the border. You look at New Hampshire with the tremendous problem we have with heroin. Number one thing I hear from the people of New Hampshire, who I love, and developed such relationships, we don't win with healthcare. We don't win with trade. You look at what other countries are doing to us. China. Everyone, they're killing us on trade. If I'm elected president, we will win, and we will win, and we will win. Thank you, thank you very much. +p1459 +aVIt's not fear and terror, it's reality. You just have to look today at Indonesia, bombings all over. You look at California, you look, frankly, at Paris where there's a \u2014 the strictest no-gun policy of any city anywhere in the world, and you see what happens: 130 people dead with many to follow. They're very, very badly wounded. They will \u2014 some will follow. And you look around, and you see what's happening, and this is not the case when he introduced the doctor \u2014 very nice, everything perfect but that is not representative of what you have in that line of migration. That could be the great Trojan Horse. It could be people that are going to do great, great destruction. When I look at the migration, I looked at the line, I said it actually on your show recently, where are the women? It looked like very few women. Very few children. Strong, powerful men, young and people are looking at that and they're saying what's going on? You look at the kind of damage that two people that two people that got married, they were radicalized \u2014 they got married, they killed 15 people in actually 15 \u2014 going to be probably 16 but you look at that and you take a look \u2014 a good strong look and that's what we have. We are nineteen trillion dollars \u2014 our country's a mess and we can't let all these people come into our country and break our borders. We can't do it. +p1460 +aVBut I was born here. +p1461 +aV. Big difference. +p1462 +aVOK, good. Because it wouldn't work. +p1463 +aV... first of all, let me just tell you something \u2014 and you know, because you just saw the numbers yourself \u2014 NBC Wall Street Journal just came out with a poll \u2014 headline: Trump way up, Cruz going down. I mean, so don't \u2014 so you can't \u2014 you can't......they don't like the Wall Street Journal. They don't like NBC, but I like the poll. And frankly, it just came out, and in Iowa now, as you know, Ted, in the last three polls, I'm beating you. So \u2014 you know, you shouldn't misrepresent how well you're doing with the polls. You don't have to say that. In fact, I was all for you until you started doing that, because that's a misrepresentation, number one. Number two, this isn't me saying it. I don't care. I think I'm going to win fair and square to win this way. Thank you. Lawrence Tribe and from Harvard \u2014 of Harvard, said that there is a serious question as to whether or not Ted can do this. OK? There are other attorneys that feel, and very, very fine constitutional attorneys, that feel that because he was not born on the land, he cannot run for office. Here's the problem. We're running. We're running. He does great. I win. I choose him as my vice presidential candidate, and the Democrats sue because we can't take him along for the ride. I don't like that. OK? The fact is \u2014 and if for some reason he beats the rest of the field, he beats the rest of the field . See, they don't like that. They don't like that. No, they don't like he beats the rest of the field, because they want me. But \u2014 if for some reason, Neil, he beats the rest of the field, I already know the Democrats are going to be bringing a suit. You have a big lawsuit over your head while you're running. And if you become the nominee, who the hell knows if you can even serve in office? So you should go out, get a declaratory judgment, let the courts decide. And you shouldn't have mentioned the polls because I would have been much... +p1464 +aVBecause now he's going a little bit better. No, I didn't care . It's true. No, it's true. Hey look, he never had a chance. Now, he's doing better. He's got probably a four or five percent chance. +p1465 +aVThe fact is, there is a big overhang. There's a big question mark on your head. And you can't do that to the party. You really can't. You can't do that to the party. You have to have certainty. Even if it was a one percent chance, and it's far greater than one percent because . I mean, you have great constitutional lawyers that say you can't run. If there was a \u2014 and you know I'm not bringing a suit. I promise. But the Democrats are going to bring a lawsuit, and you have to have certainty. You can't have a question. I can agree with you or not, but you can't have a question over your head. +p1466 +aVYou don't have to. Take it from Lawrence Tribe. Take it from your professors... +p1467 +aVHe's wrong. He's wrong. +p1468 +aVHe is not the only one. +p1469 +aVThere are many lawyers. +p1470 +aVNo \u2014 no...... I think if it doesn't... I like that. I like it. I'd consider it. But I think I'll go back to building buildings if it doesn't work out. +p1471 +aVI have a feeling it's going to work out, actually. +p1472 +aVOkay. First of all, Nikki this afternoon said I'm a friend of hers. Actually a close friend. And wherever you are sitting Nikki, I'm a friend. We're friends. That's good. But she did say there was anger. And I could say, oh, I'm not angry. I'm very angry because our country is being run horribly and I will gladly accept the mantle of anger. Our military is a disaster. Our healthcare is a horror show. Obamacare, we're going to repeal it and replace it. We have no borders. Our vets are being treated horribly. Illegal immigration is beyond belief. Our country is being run by incompetent people. And yes, I am angry. And I won't be angry when we fix it, but until we fix it, I'm very, very angry. And I say that to Nikki. So when Nikki said that, I wasn't offended. She said the truth. One of your colleagues interviewed me. And said, well, she said you were angry and I said to myself, huh, she's right. I'm not fighting that. I didn't find it offensive at all. I'm angry because our country is a mess. +p1473 +aVNo. I am a 2nd amendment person. If we had guns in California on the other side where the bullets went in the different direction, you wouldn't have 14 or 15 people dead right now. If even in Paris, if they had guns on the other side, going in the opposite direction, you wouldn't have 130 people plus dead. So the answer is no and what Jeb said is absolutely correct. We have a huge mental health problem in this country. We're closing hospitals, we're closing wards, we're closing so many because the states want to save money. We have to get back into looking at what's causing it. The guns don't pull the trigger. It's the people that pull the trigger and we have to find out what is going on. We have to protect our 2nd amendment and you cannot do this and certainly what Barack Obama was doing with the executive order. He doesn't want to get people together, the old-fashioned way, where you get Congress. You get the Congress, you get the Senate, you get together, you do legislation. He just writes out an executive order. Not supposed to happen that way. +p1474 +aVYou get the Congress. You get the Senate. You get together. You do legislation. He just writes out an order, executive order. It's not supposed to happen that way. +p1475 +aVSo conservatives actually do come out of Manhattan, including William F. Buckley and others, just so you understand. And just so \u2014 if I could, because he insulted a lot of people. I've had more calls on that statement that Ted made \u2014 New York is a great place. It's got great people, it's got loving people, wonderful people. When the World Trade Center came down, I saw something that no place on Earth could have handled more beautifully, more humanely than New York. You had two one hundred... ...you had two 110-story buildings come crashing down. I saw them come down. Thousands of people killed, and the cleanup started the next day, and it was the most horrific cleanup, probably in the history of doing this, and in construction. I was down there, and I've never seen anything like it. And the people in New York fought and fought and fought, and we saw more death, and even the smell of death \u2014 nobody understood it. And it was with us for months, the smell, the air. And we rebuilt downtown Manhattan, and everybody in the world watched and everybody in the world loved New York and loved New Yorkers. And I have to tell you, that was a very insulting statement that Ted made. +p1476 +aVNo. No. Look, we have to stop with political correctness. We have to get down to creating a country that's not going to have the kind of problems that we've had with people flying planes into the World Trade Centers, with the \u2014 with the shootings in California, with all the problems all over the world. I just left Indonesia \u2014 bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb. We have to find out what's going on. I said temporarily. I didn't say permanently. I said temporarily. And I have many great Muslim friends. And some of them, I will say, not all, have called me and said, "Donald, thank you very much; you're exposing an unbelievable problem and we have to get to the bottom of it." And unlike President Obama, where he refuses even to use the term of what's going on, he can't use the term for whatever reason. And if you can't use the term, you're never going to solve the problem. My Muslim friends, some, said, "thank you very much; we'll get to the bottom of it." But we have a serious problem. And we can't be the stupid country any more. We're laughed at all over the world. +p1477 +aVEleven points, to be exact. +p1478 +aVI want security for this country. OK? I want security. I'm tired of seeing what's going on, between the border where the people flow over; people come in; they live; they shoot. I want security for this country. We have a serious problem with, as you know, with radical Islam. We have a tremendous problem. It's not only a problem here. It's a problem all over the world. I want to find out why those two young people \u2014 those two horrible young people in California when they shot the 14 people, killed them \u2014 people they knew, people that held the wedding reception for them. I want to find out \u2014 many people saw pipe bombs and all sorts of things all over their apartment. Why weren't they vigilant? Why didn't they call? Why didn't they call the police? And by the way, the police are the most mistreated people in this country. I will tell you that. The most mistreated people. In fact, we need to \u2014 wait a minute \u2014 we need vigilance. We have to find out \u2014 many people knew about what was going on. Why didn't they turn those two people in so that you wouldn't have had all the death? There's something going on and it's bad. And I'm saying we have to get to the bottom of it. That's all I'm saying. We need security. +p1479 +aVThat's wrong. They were wrong. It's the New York Times, they are always wrong. +p1480 +aVThey were wrong. +p1481 +aVNo, I said, " I would use \u2014 " they were asking me what to do about North Korea. China, they don't like to tell us but they have total control \u2014 just about, of North Korea. They can solve the problem of North Korea if they wanted to but they taunt us. They say, " well, we don't really have control." Without China, North Korea doesn't even eat. China is ripping us on trade. They're devaluing their currency and they're killing our companies. Thousands of thousands \u2014 you look at the number of companies and the number in terms of manufacturing of plans that we've lost \u2014 50,000 because of China. +p1482 +aVWe've lost anywhere between four and seven million jobs because of China. What I said then was, "we have very unfair trade with China. We're going to have a trade deficit of 505 billion dollars this year with China." A lot of that is because they devalue their currency. What I said to the New York Times, is that, "we have great power, economic power over China and if we wanted to use that and the amount \u2014 where the 45 percent comes in, that would be the amount they saw their devaluations that we should get." That we should get. What I'm saying is this, I'm saying that we do it but if they don't start treating us fairly and stop devaluing and let their currency rise so that our companies can compete and we don't lose all of these millions of jobs that we're losing, I would certainly start taxing goods that come in from China. Who the hell has to lose 505 billion dollars a year? +p1483 +aVIt's not that complicated actually. +p1484 +aVOK, just so you understand \u2014 I know so much about trading about with China. Carl Icahn today as you know endorsed. Many businessmen want to endorse me. +p1485 +aVCarl said, "no, no \u2014 " but he's somebody \u2014 these are the kind of people that we should use to negotiate and not the China people that we have who are political hacks who don't know what they're doing and we have problems like this. If these are the kinds of people \u2014 we should use our best and our finest. Now, on that tariff \u2014 here's what I'm saying, China \u2014 they send their goods and we don't tax it \u2014 they do whatever they want to do. They do whatever what they do, OK. When we do business with China, they tax us. You don't know it, they tax us. I have many friends that deal with China. They can't \u2014 when they order the product and when they finally get the product it is taxed. If you looking at what happened with Boeing and if you look at what happened with so many companies that deal \u2014 so we don't have an equal playing field. I'm saying, absolutely, we don't have to continue to lose 505 billion dollars as a trade deficit for the privilege of dealing with China. I'm a free trader. I believe in it but we have to be smart and we have to use smart people to negotiate. I have the largest bank in the world as a tenant of mine. I sell tens' of millions of . I love China. I love the Chinese people but they laugh themselves, they can't believe how stupid the American leadership is. +p1486 +aVI'm totally open to a tariff. If they don't treat us fairly, hey, their whole trade is tariffed. You can't deal in China without tariffs. They do it to us, we don't it. It's not fair trade. +p1487 +aVI'm happy to have him tonight... +p1488 +aVNeil, the problem... +p1489 +aV... with what Marco is saying is that it takes too long, they're sucking us dry and it takes too long. It would just \u2014 you absolutely have to get involved with China, they are taking so much of what we have in terms of jobs in terms of money. We just can't do it any longer. +p1490 +aVYou looking at me? +p1491 +aVCan I tell you what? It will never happen because they'll let their currency go up. They're never going to let it happen. Japan, the same thing. They are devaluing \u2014 it's so impossible for \u2014 you look at Caterpillar Tractor and what's happening with Caterpillar and Kamatsu. Kamatsu is a tractor company in Japan. Friends of mine are ordering Kamatsu tractors now because they've de-valued the yen to such an extent that you can't buy a Caterpillar tractor. And we're letting them get away with it and we can't let them get away with it. And that's why we have to use Carl and we have to use our great businesspeople and not political hacks to negotiate with these guys. +p1492 +aVAnd we don't need a weak person being president of the United State, OK? Because that's what we'd get if it were Jeb \u2014 I tell you what, we don't need that. +p1493 +aVWe don't need that. That's essentially what we have now, and we don't need that. And that's why we're in the trouble that we're in now. And by the way, Jeb you mentioned Boeing, take a look. They order planes, they make Boeing build their plant in China. They don't want them made here. They want those planes made in China. +p1494 +aVThat's not the way the game is supposed to be played. +p1495 +aVNo, the new planes. I'm not talking about now, I'm talking about in the future they're building massive plants in China because China does not want Boeing building their planes here, they want them built in China, because China happens to be smart the way they do it, not the way we do it. +p1496 +aVI'll check for you. +p1497 +aVMaria \u2014 Maria, what you were talking about just now is called corporate inversion. It's one of the biggest problems our country has. Right now, corporations, by the thousands, are thinking of leaving our country with the jobs \u2014 leave them behind. They're leaving because of taxes, but they are also leaving because they can't get their money back and everybody agrees, Democrats and Republicans, that is should come back in. But they can't get along. They can't even make a deal. Here is the case, they both agree, they can't make a deal. We have to do something. Corporate inversion is one of the biggest problems we have. So many companies are going to leave our country. +p1498 +aVThank you. +p1499 +aVWell, it's an interesting question because I'm very proud of my company. As you too know, I know I built a very great company. But if I become president, I couldn't care less about my company. It's peanuts. I want to use that same up here, whatever it may be to make America rich again and to make America great again. I have Ivanka, and Eric and Don sitting there. Run the company kids, have a good time. I'm going to do it for America. So I would \u2014 I would be willing to do that. +p1500 +aVI would put it in a blind trust. Well, I don't know if it's a blind trust if Ivanka, Don and Eric run it. If that's a blind trust, I don't know. But I would probably have my children run it with my executives and I wouldn't ever be involved because I wouldn't care about anything but our country, anything. +p1501 +aVThank you. +p1502 +aVI stood yesterday with 75 construction workers. They're tough, they're strong, they're great people. Half of them had tears pouring down their face. They were watching the humiliation of our young ten sailors, sitting on the floor with their knees in a begging position, their hands up. And Iranian wise guys having guns to their heads. It was a terrible sight. A terrible sight. And the only reason we got them back is because we owed them with a stupid deal, $150 billion. If I'm president, there won't be stupid deals anymore. We will make America great again. We will win on everything we do. Thank you. +p1503 +aVThank you. I began this journey six months ago. My total focus was on building up our military, building up our strength, building up our borders, making sure that China, Japan, Mexico, both at the border and in trade, no longer takes advantage of our country. Certainly would never have made that horrible, disgusting, absolutely incompetent deal with Iran where they get $150 billion. They're a terrorist nation. But I began it talking about other things. And those things are things that I'm very good at and maybe that's why I'm center stage. People saw it. People liked it. People respected it. A month ago things changed. Radical Islamic terrorism came into effect even more so than it has been in the past. People like what I say. People respect what I say. And we've opened up a very big discussion that needed to be opened up. Thank you very much. +p1504 +aVWe are not talking about isolation. We're talking about security. We're not talking about religion. We're talking about security. Our country is out of control. People are pouring across the southern border. I will build a wall. It will be a great wall. People will not come in unless they come in legally. Drugs will not pour through that wall. As far as other people like in the migration, where they're going, tens of thousands of people having cell phones with +p1505 +aVJeb doesn't really believe I'm unhinged. He said that very simply because he has failed in this campaign. It's been a total disaster. Nobody cares. And frankly, I'm the most solid person up here. I built a tremendous company and all I want to do is make America great again. I don't want our country to be taken away from us, and that's what's happening. The policies that we've suffered under other presidents have been a disaster for our country. We want to make America great again. And Jeb, in all fairness, he doesn't believe that. +p1506 +aVWell, look, this is so easy to answer. +p1507 +aVI would certainly be open to closing areas where we are at war with somebody. I sure as hell don't want to let people that want to kill us and kill our nation use our Internet. Yes, sir, I am. +p1508 +aVWe have to be much tougher. We have to be much stronger than we've been. We have people that know what is going on. You take a look at just the attack in California the other day. There were numerous people, including the mother, that knew what was going on. They saw a pipe bomb sitting all over the floor. They saw ammunition all over the place. They knew exactly what was going on. When you had the World Trade Center go, people were put into planes that were friends, family, girlfriends, and they were put into planes and they were sent back, for the most part, to Saudi Arabia. They knew what was going on. They went home and they wanted to watch their boyfriends on television. I would be very, very firm with families. Frankly, that will make people think because they may not care much about their lives, but they do care, believe it or not, about their families' lives. +p1509 +aVLook, the problem is we need toughness. Honestly, I think Jeb is a very nice person. He's a very nice person. But we need tough people. We need toughness. We need intelligence and we need tough. Jeb said when they come across the southern border they come as an act of love. +p1510 +aVAm I talking or are you talking, Jeb? +p1511 +aVYou can go back. You're not talking. You interrupted me. +p1512 +aVAre you going to apologize, Jeb? No. Am I allowed to finish? +p1513 +aVExcuse me, am I allowed to finish? +p1514 +aVSo... +p1515 +aV... again... +p1516 +aVI know you're trying to build up your energy, Jeb, but it's not working very well. +p1517 +aVLook, look, look. We need a toughness. We need strength. We're not respected, you know, as a nation anymore. We don't have that level of respect that we need. And if we don't get it back fast, we're just going to go weaker, weaker and just disintegrate. We can't allow that to happen. We need strength. We don't have it. When Jeb comes out and he talks about the border, and I saw it and I was witness to it, and so was everyone else, and I was standing there, "they come across as an act of love," he's saying the same thing right now with radical Islam. And we can't have that in our country. It just won't work. We need strength. +p1518 +aVWith Jeb's attitude, we will never be great again, that I can tell you. We will never be great again. +p1519 +aVSo, they can kill us, but we can't kill them? That's what you're saying. And as far as the Internet is concerned, we're not talking about closing the Internet. I'm talking about parts of Syria, parts of Iraq, where +p1520 +aVIn my opinion, we've spent $4 trillion trying to topple various people that frankly, if they were there and if we could've spent that $4 trillion in the United States to fix our roads, our bridges, and all of the other problems; our airports and all of the other problems we've had, we would've been a lot better off. I can tell you that right now. We have done a tremendous disservice, not only to Middle East, we've done a tremendous disservice to humanity. The people that have been killed, the people that have wiped away, and for what? It's not like we had victory. It's a mess. The Middle East is totally destabilized. A total and complete mess. I wish we had the $4 trillion or $5 trillion. I wish it were spent right here in the United States, on our schools, hospitals, roads, airports, and everything else that are all falling apart. +p1521 +aVWell, there's nothing to respond to. Well, people feel differently. I mean, the fact is Benghazi was a disaster because of Libya, everything just fell into place. It could not have been worse. What do we have now? We have nothing. We've spent $3 trillion and probably much more \u2013 I have no idea what we've spent. Thousands and thousands of lives, we have nothing. Wounded warriors all over the place who I love, we have nothing for it. And by the way \u2013 and Ben said incorrectly \u2013 and I'm not saying this as a knock \u2013 he's one of finest men. You're not going to find a finer men. But I've been talking about oil for three years. I've been saying,, "take the oil, take the oil." I didn't say, "just bomb it," I said," take it and use it and distribute it so that the wounded warriors -" People, I've been saying this now for many years. +p1522 +aVNow, all of a sudden everybody's saying, "take the oil." It wasn't so fashionable to take the oil six months ago. I've been saying it for years. +p1523 +aVI think Assad is a bad guy, a very bad guy, all right? Lots of people killed. I think we are backing people we have no idea who they are. The rebels, we call them the rebels, the patriotic rebels. We have no idea. A lot of people think, Hugh, that they are +p1524 +aVI think it's very sad that CNN leads Jeb Bush, Governor Bush, down a road by starting off virtually all the questions, "Mr. Trump this, Mister" \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched the first debate, and the first long number of questions were, "Mr. Trump said this, Mr. Trump said that. Mr. Trump" \u2014 these poor guys \u2014 although, I must tell you, Santorum, good guy. Governor Huckabee, good guy. They were very nice, and I respect them greatly. But I thought it was very unfair that virtually the entire early portion of the debate was Trump this, Trump that, in order to get ratings, I guess. In order to get ratings, I guess. +p1525 +aVI just think it's very \u2014 excuse me. +p1526 +aVExcuse me. I think it's very unprofessional. +p1527 +aVWell, I think it's very unprofessional. +p1528 +aVOK, fine. +p1529 +aVThis isn't tough and easy. I wish it... +p1530 +aVI wish it was always this easy as you, Jeb. +p1531 +aVOh, yeah. +p1532 +aVOh, I know. You're a tough guy, Jeb. I know. +p1533 +aVYou're tough. +p1534 +aVWell, let's see. I'm at 42, and you're at 3. So, so far, I'm doing better. +p1535 +aVSo far, I'm doing better. You know, you started off over here, Jeb. You're moving over further and further. Pretty soon you're going to be off the end... +p1536 +aVI believe I did. +p1537 +aVI have a very hardline position, we have a country or we don't have a country. People that have come into our country illegally, they have to go. They have to come back into through a legal process. I want a strong border. I do want a wall. Walls do work, you just have to speak to the folks in Israel. Walls work if they're properly constructed. I know how to build, believe me, I know how to build. I feel a very, very strong bind, and really I'm bound to this country, we either have a border or we don't. People can come into the country, we welcome people to come but they have to come in legally. +p1538 +aVWell, first of all, I think we need somebody absolutely that we can trust, who is totally responsible; who really knows what he or she is doing. That is so powerful and so important. And one of the things that I'm frankly most proud of is that in 2003, 2004, I was totally against going into Iraq because you're going to destabilize the Middle East. I called it. I called it very strongly. And it was very important. But we have to be extremely vigilant and extremely careful when it comes to nuclear. Nuclear changes the whole ball game. Frankly, I would have said get out of Syria; get out \u2014 if we didn't have the power of weaponry today. The power is so massive that we can't just leave areas that 50 years ago or 75 years ago we wouldn't care. It was hand-to-hand combat. The biggest problem this world has today is not President Obama with global warming, which is inconceivable, this is what he's saying. The biggest problem we have is nuclear \u2014 nuclear proliferation and having some maniac, having some madman go out and get a nuclear weapon. That's in my opinion, that is the single biggest problem that our country faces right now. +p1539 +aVI think \u2014 I think, for me, nuclear is just the power, the devastation is very important to me. +p1540 +aVI did. +p1541 +aVLet me just say that I have gotten to know him over the last three or four days. He has a wonderful temperament. He's just fine. Don't worry about it. +p1542 +aVYou better not attack... +p1543 +aVI really am. I'll be honest, I really am. I mean, the people have been putting me... I really am. +p1544 +aVLet me just. Can I just finish my... +p1545 +aVI've gained great respect for the Republican leadership. I've gained great respect for many \u2014 and I'm going to even say \u2014 I mean, in different forms for the people on the dais, in different forms. In different forms. But I have great respect for the people I have met through this process. I've never done this process before. I've never been a politician. I mean, for the last six months I've been a politician. But I will tell you, I am totally committed to the Republican Party. I feel very honored to be the front runner. And I think I'll do very well if I'm chosen. If I'm so fortunate to be chosen, I think I'll do very well. Polls have come out recently saying I would beat Hillary. I will do everything in my power to beat Hillary Clinton, I promise you. +p1546 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We don't win on trade. We don't win on the military. We can't defeat +p1547 +asVCHRISTIE +p1548 +(lp1549 +VWhat about Kasich? Can I introduce Kasich? +p1550 +aVSure. First, let's remember something. Every morning when a United States senator wakes up, they think about what kind of speech can I give or what kind of bill can I drop? Every morning, when I wake up, I think about what kind of problem do I need to solve for the people who actually elected me? It's a different experience, it's a much different experience. And the fact is, Marco, you shouldn't compare yourself to Joe Biden and you shouldn't say that that's what we're doing. Here is exactly what we're doing. You have not be involved in a consequential decision where you had to be held accountable. You just simply haven't. And the fact is \u2014 the fact when you talk about the Hezbollah Sanctions Act that you list as one of your accomplishments you just did, you weren't even there to vote for it. That's not leadership, that's truancy. And the fact is that what we need to do \u2014 what we need to have in this country is not to make the same mistake we made eight years ago. The fact is it does matter when you have to make decisions and be held accountable for them. It does matter when the challenges don't come on a list of a piece of paper of what to vote yes or no every day, but when the problems come in from the people that you serve. I like Marco Rubio, and he's a smart person and a good guy, but he simply does not have the experience to be president of the United States and make these decisions. We've watched it happen, everybody. For the last seven years, the people of New Hampshire are smart. Do not make the same mistake again. +p1551 +aVHold on one second. +p1552 +aVExcuse me... +p1553 +aVI think he mentioned me and my record in there, so I think I get a chance to respond. You see, everybody, I want the people at home to think about this. That's what Washington, D.C. Does. The drive-by shot at the beginning with incorrect and incomplete information and then the memorized 25-second speech that is exactly what his advisers gave him. See Marco \u2014 Marco, the thing is this. When you're president of the United States, when you're a governor of a state, the memorized 30-second speech where you talk about how great America is at the end of it doesn't solve one problem for one person. They expect you to plow the snow. They expect you to get the schools open. And when the worst natural disaster in your state's history hits you, they expect you to rebuild their state, which is what I've done. None of that stuff happens on the floor of the United States Senate. It's a fine job, I'm glad you ran for it, but it does not prepare you for president of the United States. +p1554 +aVThere it is. There it is. The memorized 25-second speech. There it is, everybody. +p1555 +aVYou know what the shame is \u2014 you know what the shame is, Marco? The shame is that you would actually criticize somebody for showing up to work, plowing the streets, getting the trains running back on time when you've never been responsible for that in your entire life. +p1556 +aVAnd the fact is, I went back, it got done and here's... +p1557 +aVOh, so \u2014 wait a second. Is that one of the skills you get as a United States senator ESP also? Because I don't think it is. +p1558 +aVIt gets very unruly when he gets off his talking points. +p1559 +aVLet's get something... +p1560 +aVNo. Let's make something very clear. I learned seven years as a federal prosecutor in dealing with types of situations like we're talking about in North Korea, where criminals take people hostage. You never pay ransom to the criminals. Ever. You never pay ransom to the criminals. Everyone out at home watching tonight understands that principle. And so, what you need to do is to engage in a much different way with these folks. They do not understand anything but toughness and strength, and we need to engage the Chinese to deal with the North Koreans, but we also need to make sure that they understand there's a commander-in-chief who will not pay ransom for any hostage. This president and his former secretary of State are for paying ransom for hostages. When do that, you endanger even more Americans around the world to be the subject of this type of hostage taking and illegal detention. You need a strong commander-in-chief who will look these folks in the eye and say, we will not put up with this and we will take whatever actions we need to take, not only to get our people home safely, but to swiftly and surely punish those who believe they can violate the law and violate American's sovereign rights to travel the world freely and safely. This is unacceptable. And this is why this president is so weak and why the secretary of State, who is embracing a third Barack Obama term, would be even weaker. +p1561 +aVYeah, David, I would just like you to listen, again, everybody. This is the difference between being a governor who actually has to be responsible for problems and not answering a question. The question was, "Did he fight for his legislation?" It's abundantly clear that he didn't. It's abundantly clear that he didn't fight for the legislation. When the teachers unions attacked me with $20 million of ads because I wanted to reform teacher tenure, I fought them and fought them and fought them and I won. When they didn't want \u2014 when people wanted to raise taxes in my state at Democratic legislature and threatened to close down the government, I told them, fine. Close down the government. I'll get in my cars, head to the governor's mansion, order a pizza, open a beer and watch the Mets. You can call me when the government reopens. And guess what they didn't do? They didn't pass a tax increase, because I vetoed it and they never closed the government because they knew I would fight for what I believed in. The fact of the matter is, a leader must fight for what they believe in. Not handicap it and say, well maybe since I can't win this one, I'll run. That's not what leadership is. That's what Congress is. +p1562 +aVGood evening. +p1563 +aVWell, he deserves credit for his record on jobs. He's done a very good job as governor of Ohio. Never said that John hasn't. He's done a very good job. But \u2014 but unfortunately, John's been so busy doing over stuff, he's using old statistics. That's OK. New Jersey had its best year of job growth in the last 15 years under five different governors this year in New Jersey. New Jersey cut spending over $2.3 billion and we have 10,000 fewer employees than we had when I walked in the door. John has a bigger government now and more employees than he had when he walked in the door. But all that doesn't matter. What really matters is this, that executive experience really matters. You heard this on the stage tonight. We've heard it said on the stage that President Obama knows exactly what he's doing. I'd like to ask all the veterans listening out there tonight, who are waiting in line for healthcare, who are literally dying because the Veterans Administration doesn't work, do you think Barack Obama knows what he's doing? I don't. And I'll tell you something. Anybody who evaluates him is knowing what he's doing and managing the government doesn't know how to manage a government themselves. And one last thing, David, which I think is really important. I listened to Senator Rubio's answer on his bill. He said his bill couldn't pass on the gang of eight. He acted as if he was somehow disembodied from the bill. It was his bill. He said this idea doesn't work. It was his idea. See, when you're a governor, you have to take responsibility for these things. You can't just act as if it happened out of nowhere. We have to take responsibility as executives. I take responsibility for my record in New Jersey. We've rebuilt the economy and rebuilt after the second-worst natural disaster in American history. I'm proud of my record. And by the way, I like Kasich's record, too. He's a good governor. +p1564 +aVDavid? Hey, David? David? Hey, David? I actually have experience with raising taxes on millionaires in my state. It was done. It was done by my predecessor. And I want everybody in the public who is in that 68 percent, I want to tell you the truth. You're wrong. And here is why you're wrong. After New Jersey raised taxes on millionaires, we lost, in the next four years, $70 billion in wealth left our state. It left our state to go where it would be treated more kindly. If the United States raised taxes any further, that money will leave the United States, as well. We won't have better jobs. Let New Jersey be the canary in the coal mine. It is a failed idea and a failed policy, it's class warfare. It happened in my state. I've stopped it from happening again. But we cannot do it. The 68 percent of the people are wrong about that, it will hurt the American economy. We tried it in New Jersey. Come take a look \u2014 it did not work. +p1565 +aVOf course I would. As a former United States attorney who spent seven years of my life fighting this on the streets of my state, I would do that. But we need to do more. And let me tell you what we've done in New Jersey, Josh. We are working with the folks in New Hampshire in their legislature right now to show them how we're helping to solve this problem in New Jersey. Not just for this campaign \u2014 three years ago, I proposed a law that we signed into effect, which said that anyone who was a non- violent, non-dealing, first-time drug offender no longer goes to prison in New Jersey. They go to mandatory, in-patient drug treatment. What has happened is, crime has gone down 20 percent in those years. The prison population has gone down 10 percent. We've now closed the state prison \u2014 closed a state prison, and we're turning it into a drug rehabilitation facility, so people can get the tools they need. Listen, everyone out there knows this in New Hampshire. This is a disease. It's not a moral failing, it's a disease. And we need to get people the treatment they need. And let me tell you why. Because I'm pro-life. And I'm pro life not just for the nine months in the womb, I'm pro-life for when they get out and it's a lot more complicated. Sixteen-year-old, heroin-addicted drug girl on the floor of the county lockup, I'm pro-life for her life. The 42-year-old lawyer who is taking Oxycontin and can't get out of bed and support his family \u2014 I'm pro-life for his life. Everyone of those lives is an individual gift from God. And the last thing is this. These efforts we've taken over the last three years, 2015 in New Jersey, for the first time in four years, drug overdose deaths have gone down, not up. I'll bring the same solutions to the country. +p1566 +aVYou bet I would. And the fact is that because I took strong action to make sure that anyone who was showing symptoms \u2014 remember what happened with that nurse. She was showing symptoms and coming back from a place that had the ebola virus active and she had been treating patients. This was not just some \u2014 like, we picked up her just for the heck of it, alright? We did it because she was showing symptoms, and the fact is that's the way we should make these decision. You make these decisions based upon the symptoms, the medicine, and the law. We quarantined her, she turned out to test negative ultimately after 48 hours, and we released her back to the State of Maine. But, I want to add something on the issue of mosques. Now, I'm the only one up here who's had a law enforcement background as a U.S. Attorney after September 11th. I went to mosques throughout my state to build bridges. To build bridges between our community in law enforcement so we can get intelligence and information from these folks. I've had the experience of working with them as Governor of New Jersey as well. We cannot mix the radical Islamic jihadist with everyday Muslim-Americans. New Jersey is the second largest Muslim- American population in America, of any state. These are good, law abiding, hard working people. What they need is our cooperation, and our understanding. They do not just need broadsides against them because of the religious faith they practice. +p1567 +aVMartha? +p1568 +aVCan I \u2014 can I be really \u2014 can I be really clear on this, because I am the father of two daughters. One of them is here tonight. What my wife and I have taught our daughters right from the beginning, that their sense of self-worth, their sense of value, their sense of what they want to do with their life comes not from the outside, but comes from within. And if a young woman in this country wants to go and fight to defend their country, she should be permitted to do so. Part of that also needs to be part of a greater effort in this country, and so there's no reason why one \u2014 young women should be discriminated against from registering for the selective service. The fact is, we need to be a party and a people that makes sure that our women in this country understand anything they can dream, anything that they want to aspire to, they can do. That's the way we raised our daughters and that's what we should aspire to as president for all of the women in our country. +p1569 +aVWell, I've been pretty helpful to the pro-life cause in one of the most pro-choice states in the union. I've stood up for the first time and now for the last six years we've de-funded Planned Parenthood, not talked about it like they do in Washington D.C. But for six years as governor, Planned Parenthood does not receive that funding from the state budget anymore; over $50 million worth of money that's been saved now, that is not going to do exactly what Hillary Clinton wants to have done and has advocated for. She believes that organization, which engages in the systematic murder of children in the womb, in order to maximize the value of their body parts for sale on the open market, is an acceptable position. Let me tell you something, I don't care if you are a millennial or whether you are in your 90s, no one is for that type of activity, unless you are the most radical type of extremist on this issue, like Senator Clinton and her party is on this issue. I'll say one other thing. The fact is, that I believe that if a woman has been raped, that is a birth and a pregnancy that she should be able to terminate. If she is the victim of incest \u2014 this is not a woman's choice. This is a woman being violated. And the fact is that we have always has believed, as has Ronald Reagan, that we have self-defense for women who have been raped and impregnated because of it, or the subject of incest and been impregnated for it. That woman should not have to deliver that child if they believe that violation is now an act of self-defense by terminating that pregnancy. HAM: Thank you, all. Back to you, David and Martha. +p1570 +aVDenver. +p1571 +aVThank you. I've spent the last 13 years of my life focused on one thing: serving the people who have given me the opportunity to serve them. Not about politics, not about partisanship, but putting the people of my state and our country first. I'm proud to have rebuild my state after Hurricane Sandy, and I'm incredibly proud to be on this stage tonight with these men asking for your vote. New Hampshire, I spent 70 days here with you. You've gotten to know my heart. My heart is to help you solve the problems of your state......and the problems of our nation. If you give me your vote on Tuesday I will do just that. +p1572 +aVThey're not wrong. But what's wrong is your premise in the question. You can do both. There is no reason why you can't stand for principles, go and fight for them and be able also, to have to get things done in government. You know, what people are frustrated about in Washington, D.C.., and I know the folks out there tonight are incredibly frustrated because what they see is a government that doesn't work for them. You know, for the 45-year-old construction worker out there, who is having a hard time making things meet. He's lost $4,000 in the last seven years in his income because of this administration. He doesn't want to hear the talk about politics Megyn and who is establishment and who is grassroots. And who's compromised and who is principled. What he wants is something to get done. And that's the difference between being a governor and having done that for the last six years in New Jersey and being someone who has never had to be responsible for any of those decisions. Barack Obama was never responsible for those decisions. Hillary Clinton has never been responsible for those kind of decisions where they were held accountable. I've been held accountable for six years as the governor of New Jersey and with a Democratic legislature, I've gotten conservative things done. That's exactly what I'll do as president of the United States. +p1573 +aVWell, let me say that I do believe that the vote on NSA made the country less safe. Well, let me tell you what the country should really be worried about. I watched that town hall meeting with the Democrats the other night, and I heard Hillary Clinton asked a direct question by an Iowan, and that's what Iowans like to do. They like to ask direct questions. And, they asked about her email situation. And, here's what she said to the American people. She did it for convenience. For her convenience. She put America's secrets at risk for her convenience. She put American intelligence officers at risk for her convenience. She put American strategy at risk for her convenience. Let me tell you who's not qualified to be President of the United States, Chris. Hillary Rodham Clinton did that to our country. She is not qualified to be President of the United States. The fact is what we need is someone on that stage who has been tested, who has been through it, who has made decisions, who has sit in the chair of consequence and can prosecute the case against Hillary Clinton on... ... that stage, and that is exactly what I am ready to do. +p1574 +aVTalk about what? I... +p1575 +aVWell, because you can do it without profiling, Megyn, when you do it on the facts. What those facts knew was that these folks had weapons. They knew that they were talking about trying to take our country and attack it. That's not profiling, that's law enforcement. And that's the difference between somebody who knows how to do this and somebody who's never done it before. +p1576 +aVThey knew they were talking about the issues of attacking people, Megyn. They knew that. +p1577 +aVListen, I think that what people should do is use their common sense. And the fact is, let law enforcement make those decisions. I've told people that from the time I was U.S. attorney 13 years ago. It's not for them to make those decisions about whether or not something is legal or illegal, or profiling or not. You see something that's suspicious, you call law enforcement and let law enforcement make those decisions. That's what should be done. That can be done. That can be done without profiling people. What that is, is just common sense. They thought something was wrong. And here's the problem in this country right now. The problem is that Barack Obama has made law enforcement the enemy, Hillary Clinton has made law enforcement the enemy. They're not supporting our law enforcement officers, it's making everybody nervous to get out of their cars, if you're a law enforcement officer. It's making... ... everybody nervous to get out of their cars if you're a law enforcement officer. It's making people in neighborhoods nervous to go to law enforcement. As president, I will support law enforcement and we'll stop radical terrorist attacks in this country by supporting our intelligence community and law enforcement community. +p1578 +aVYes. You want one? +p1579 +aVHow about one that I've done in New Jersey for the last six years. That's get rid of Planned Parenthood funding from the United States of America. +p1580 +aVBigger than that? Let me tell you something, when you see thousands upon thousands upon thousands of children being murdered in the womb, I can't think of anything better than that. +p1581 +aVMegyn? +p1582 +aVI want to ask the people of the audience. Like, I'm standing here, I \u2014 I watched the video of Senator Cruz. I watched the video of Senator Rubio. I heard what they said. And this is why you need to send someone from outside of Washington to Washington. I feel like... ... I feel like I need \u2014 I feel like I need a Washington to English dictionary converter, right? I mean, I heard what they both said, I saw it on the video. And the fact is this is what makes a difference when you're a governor. You can change your mind. Ted can change his mind. Marco can change his mind. It's perfectly legal in this country to change your mind. But when you're a governor, you have to admit it. You can't hide behind parliamentary tricks. That's the difference, and that's the kind of leader we need in the White House. Stop the Washington bull and let's get things done. +p1583 +aVSure, because there has been three different investigations and proven that I knew nothing. And the fact is that what I did do, what I did do from the beginning, Chris, as soon as I found out about it, I fired the people who were responsible. And that's what you expect from a leader. And, I'll tell you something else. I inherited a state in New Jersey that was downtrodden, and beaten by liberal democratic policies, high taxation, high regulation. And, this year, in 2015, New Jersey's had the best year of job growth that our state has ever had in the last 15 years. That's because we've put conservative policies in place. And, I'll tell you one other thing, you know why the Republican party will want to take a chance on me? Because they know that Hillary Clinton will never be prosecuted by this justice department, and they're going to want to put a former federal prosecutor on the stage to prosecute her next September. And, there is no one on this stage better prepared to prosecute the case against Hillary Clinton than I am. I will be ready. I will take her on, and when I take her on I guarantee you one thing, she will never get within 10 miles of the White House. The days for the Clintons in public housing are over. +p1584 +aVNo, what I said, Chris, was that the law needs to be followed. And that someone in that office has to do their job. So if Ms. Davis wanted to step aside and get rid of her ability to be able to do that, there should be someone else in that office who it didn't violate their conscience so they could follow the law of the state of Kentucky. I never said that Ms. Davis should either lose her job or that she had to do it. But what I did say was that the person who came in for the license needed to get it. And so if there's someone in that organization, and it turns out there was, who was willing to be able to do that, that's what we should do. But just as importantly, and I agree with what John said. You know, we all have our own individual interpretations of our faith. And here's the problem with what's going on around the world. The radical Islamic jihadists, what they want to do is impose their faith upon each and every one of us \u2014 every one of us. And the reason why this war against them is so important is that very basis of religious liberty. They want everyone in this country to follow their religious beliefs the way they do. They do not want us to exercise religious liberty. That's why as commander in chief, I will take on +p1585 +aVBret, let me tell you, this is another one of those places where Hillary Clinton has so much to answer for, and why she is completely unqualified to be commander in chief. In a previous Democratic debate, Martha Raddatz, three times, asked Hillary Clinton about the failure in Libya, a policy that she took credit for, and said, "what is your measure of responsibility, Madam Secretary, for the failure in Libya?" Three times, she refused to answer the question, because she refuses to be held accountable for anything that goes wrong. If it had gone right, believe me, she would have been running around to be able to take credit for it. Here's what I'd do. This is about the bigger, broader war against +p1586 +aVOn September 11, my wife was two blocks from the World Trade Center. When those buildings came down, she was trapped in her building and I didn't hear from her over six hours. We have three children, eight, five and one. And I had to confront the possibility of being a single parent. Terrorism in this country scares everyone. And the fact is that we need a commander-in- chief who not only understands how to protect us, but feels in here what it means to face the possibility of loss. I've faced it. I've prosecuted terrorists. I have made the decisions that need to be made as a governor to protect us and as president of the United States, no one will keep this country safer than I will. +p1587 +aVWell, Maria, I'm glad to have heard from you in the summary of that question about what's going on in the world. Because Tuesday night, I watched story time with Barack Obama. And I've got to tell you, it sounded like everything in the world was going amazing, you know? The fact is, there's a number of things that the next president is going to have to do to clean up this mess. The first thing is we have to strengthen our alliances around the world. And the best way to do that is to start talking to our allies again and having them be able to count on our word. Lots of people will say lots of different things about me in this campaign and others, but the one thing they've never said about me is that I'm misunderstood. And so when we talk to our allies and we give them our word, in a Christie administration, they know we're going to keep it. Next, we have to talk to our adversaries, and we have to make sure they understand the limits of our patience. And this president, given what Ted said right at the beginning, he's absolutely right. It's a \u2014 it's absolutely disgraceful that Secretary Kerry and others said in their response to what's going on in Iran that this was a good thing; it showed how the relationship was getting better. The president doesn't understand \u2014 and by the way, neither does Secretary Clinton \u2014 and here's my warning to everybody out in the audience tonight. If you're worried about the world being on fire, you're worried about how we're going to use our military, you're worried about strengthening our military and you're worried most of all about keeping your homes and your families safe and secure, you cannot give Hillary Clinton a third term of Barack Obama's leadership. I will not do that. If I'm the nominee, she won't get within 10 miles of the White House. +p1588 +aVMIlitary action, Maria, would be used when it was absolutely necessary to protect American lives and protect American interests around the world. We are not the world's policeman, but we need to stand up and be ready. And the problem, Maria, is that the military is not ready, either. We need to rebuild our military, and this president has let it diminish to a point where tinpot dictators like the mullahs in Iran are taking our Navy ships. It is disgraceful, and in a Christie administration, they would know much, much better than to do that. +p1589 +aVI stood on the stage and watched Marco in rather indignantly, look at Governor Bush and say, someone told you that because we're running for the same office, that criticizing me will get you to that office. It appears that the same someone who has been whispering in old Marco's ear too. So the indignation that you carry on, some of the stuff, you have to also own then. So let's set the facts straight. First of all, I didn't support Sonia Sotomayor. Secondly, I never wrote a check to Planned Parenthood. Third, if you look at my record as governor of New Jersey, I have vetoed a 50-caliber rifle ban. I have vetoed a reduction this clip size. I vetoed a statewide I.D. system for gun owners and I pardoned, six out-of-state folks who came through our state and were arrested for owning a gun legally in another state so they never have to face charges. And on Common Core, Common Core has been eliminated in New Jersey. So listen, this is the difference between being a governor and a senator. See when you're a senator, what you get to do is just talk and talk and talk. And you talk so much that nobody can ever keep up with what you're saying is accurate or not. When you're a governor, you're held accountable for everything you do. And the people of New Jersey, I've seen it. +p1590 +aVAnd the last piece is this. I like Marco too, and two years ago, he called me a conservative reformer that New Jersey needed. That was before he was running against me. Now that he is, he's changed his tune. I'm never going to change my tune. I like Marco Rubio. He's a good guy, a smart guy, and he would be a heck of a lot better president than Hillary Rodham Clinton would ever be. +p1591 +aVNo, absolutely not. The president wants to do things without working with his Congress, without working with the legislature, and without getting the consent of the American people. And the fact is that that's not a democracy. That's a dictatorship. And we need to very, very concerned about that. See, here's the thing. I don't think the founders put the Second Amendment as number two by accident. I don't think they dropped all the amendments into a hat and picked them out of a hat. I think they made the Second Amendment the second amendment because they thought it was just that important. The fact is in New Jersey, what we have done is to make it easier now to get a conceal and carry permit. We have made it easier to do that, not harder. And the way we've done it properly through regulatory action, not by signing unconstitutional executive orders. This guy is a petulant child. That's what he is. I mean, you know...... the fact is, Neil, let's think about \u2014 let's think about \u2014 and I want to maybe \u2014 I hope the president is watching tonight, because here's what I'd like to tell him. Mr. President, we're not against you. We're against your policies. When you became president, you had a Democratic Congress and a filibuster-proof Democratic Senate. You had only 21 Republican governors in this country. And now after seven years of your policies, we have the biggest majority we've had since the 1920s in the House; a Republican majority in the Senate; and 31 out of 50 Republican governors. The American people have rejected your agenda and now you're trying to go around it. That's not right. It's not constitutional. And we are going to kick your rear end out of the White House come this fall. +p1592 +aVMaria, you look at what this president and his secretary of state, Secretary of State Clinton, has done to get us in this spot. You think about it \u2014 this is the president who said, along with his secretary of state \u2014 drew a red line in Syria, said, if Assad uses chemical weapons against his people, that we're going to attack. He used chemical weapons, he's killed, now, over a quarter of a million of his own people, and this president has done nothing. In fact, he's done worse than nothing. This president \u2014 and, by the way, Secretary Clinton, who called Assad a reformer \u2014 she called Assad a reformer. Now, the fact is, what this president has done is invited Russia to play an even bigger role, bring in Vladimir Putin to negotiate getting those chemical weapons back from Assad, yet what do we have today? We have the Russians and the Iranians working together, not to fight +p1593 +aVNow Maria, listen. I said right from the beginning that we should take no Syrian refugees of any kind. And the reason I said that is because the FBI director told the American people, told Congress, that he could not guarantee he could vet them and it would be safe. That's the end of the conversation. I can tell you, after spending seven years as a former federal prosecutor, right after 9/11, dealing with this issue. Here's the way you need to deal with it. You can't just ban all Muslims. You have to ban radical Islamic jihadists. You have to ban the people who are trying to hurt us. The only way to figure that out is to go back to getting the intelligence community the funding and the tools that it needs to be able to keep America safe. And this summer, we didn't do that. We took it away from the NSA, it was a bad decision by the president. Bad by those in the Senate who voted for it and if I'm president, we'll make our intelligence community strong, and won't have to keep everybody out, we're just going to keep the bad folk out and make sure they don't harm us. +p1594 +aVWell, I'm glad you asked that, Maria. Here's \u2014 here's our plan. We've all been talking about tax reforms tonight, and paying for infrastructure is caught right up in tax reform. If you reform the corporate tax system in this country, which, as was mentioned before, is the highest rate in the world \u2014 and we double tax, as you know. And what that's led to over $2 trillion of American companies' monies that are being kept offshore, because they don't want to pay the second tax. And who can blame them? They pay tax once overseas. They don't want to pay 35 percent tax on the way back. So beside reforming that tax code, bringing it down to 25 percent and eliminating those special-interest loopholes that the lobbyists and the lawyers and the accountants have given \u2014 bring that rate down to 25 percent, but also, a one-time repatriation of that money. Bring the money \u2014 the $2 trillion \u2014 back to the United States. We'll tax it, that one time, at 8.75 percent, because 35 percent of zero is zero, but 8.75 percent of $2 trillion is a lot of money. And I would then dedicate that money to rebuilding infrastructure here in this country. It would not necessitate us raising any taxes. It would bring the money back into the United States to help build jobs by American companies and get our economy moving again, and growing as a higher rate, and it would rebuild those roads and bridges and tunnels that you were talking about. And \u2014 and \u2014 and the last piece of this, Maria, is this. You know, the fact is that this president has penalized corporations in America. He's penalized \u2014 and doesn't understand. In fact, what that hurts is hurt hardworking taxpayers. You've seen middle-class wages go backwards $3,700 during the Obama administration. That's wrong for hardworking taxpayers in this country. We'd rebuild infrastructure that would also create jobs in this country, and we'd work with the states to do it the right way, to do it more efficiently and more effectively. And remember this \u2014 I'm credible on this for this reason: Americans for Tax Reform says that I've vetoed more tax increases than any governor in American history. We don't need to raise taxes to get this done. We need to make the government run smarter and better, and reform this corporate tax system, bring that money back to the United States to build jobs and rebuild our infrastructure, and we need to use it also to protect our grid from terrorists. All of those things are important, and all those things would happen in a Christie administration. +p1595 +aVMaria, I'd like to interrupt this on the floor of the Senate to actually answer the question you asked, which was on entitlements. Do you remember that, everybody? This was a question on entitlements. And the reason \u2014 and the reason......no, you already had your chance, Marco, and you blew it. Here's the thing. The fact is, the reason why... +p1596 +aV... the fact is \u2014 the fact is the reason why that no one wants to answer entitlements up here is because it's hard. It's a hard problem. And I'm the only one up on this stage who back in April put forward a detailed entitlement reform plan that will save over $1 trillion, save Social Security, save Medicare, and avoid this \u2014 avoid what Hillary Rodham Clinton will do to you. Because what she will do is come in and she will raise Social Security taxes. Bernie Sanders has already said it. And she is just one or two more poll drops down from even moving further left than she's moved already to get to the left of Bernie on this. We have seniors out there who are scared to death because this Congress \u2014 this one that we have right now, just stole $150 billion from the Social Security retirement fund to give it to the Social Security disability fund. A Republican Congress did that. And the fact is it was wrong. And they consorted with Barack Obama to steal from Social Security. We need to reform Social Security. Mine is the only plan that saves over $1 trillion and that's why I'm answering your question. +p1597 +aVWell, first off, let's face it, the FBI director James Comey was a friend of mine who I worked with as U.S. Attorney of New Jersey. He was the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan. He said, "there's a chill wind blowing through law enforcement in this country." Here's why, the president of the United States and both his attorney's general, they give the benefit of the doubt to the criminal, not to the police officers. That's the truth of the matter and you see it every time with this president. Every time he's got a chance, going all the way back to \u2014 remember that Great Beer Summit he had after he messed up that time. This is a guy who just believes that law enforcement are the bad guys. Now, I for seven years was the U.S. Attorney of New Jersey. I worked hard with not only federal agents but with police officers and here's the problem, sanctuary cities is part of the problem in this country. That's where crime is happening in these cities where they don't enforce the immigration laws. And this president turns his back \u2014 this president doesn't enforce the marijuana laws in this country because he doesn't agree with them. And he allows states to go ahead and do whatever they want on a substance that's illegal. This president allows lawlessness throughout this country. Here's what I would do Neil, I would appoint an Attorney General and I would have one very brief conversation with that Attorney General. I'd say, "General, enforce the law against everyone justly, fairly, and aggressively. Make our streets safe again. Make our police officers proud of what they do but more important than that, let them know how proud we are of them." We do that, this country would be safe and secure again not only from criminals but from the terrorist who threaten us as well. I'm the only person on this stage who's done that and we will get it done as President of the United States. +p1598 +aVMaria, Neil, thank you for a great tonight. When I think about the folks who are out there at home tonight watching, and I think about what they had to watch this week \u2014 the spectacle they had to watch on the floor of the House of Representatives, with the president of the United States, who talked a fantasy land about the way they're feeling. They know that this country is not respected around the world anymore. They know that this country is pushing the middle class, the hardworking taxpayers, backwards, and they saw a president who doesn't understand their pain, and doesn't have any plan for getting away from it. I love this country. It's the most exceptional country the world has ever known. We need someone to fight for the people. We need a fighter for this country again. I've lived my whole life fighting \u2014 fighting for things that I believe in, fighting for justice and to protect people from crime and terrorism, fighting to stand up for folks who have not had enough and need an opportunity to get more, and to stand up and fight against the special interests. But here's the best way that we're going to make America much more exceptional: it is to make sure we put someone on that stage in September who will fight Hillary Clinton and make sure she never, ever gets in the White House again. I am the man who can bring us together to do that, and I ask for your vote. +p1599 +aVThank you Wolf. America has been betrayed. We've been betrayed by the leadership that Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton have provided to this country over the last number of years. Think about just what's happened today. The second largest school district in America in Los Angeles closed based on a threat. Think about the effect that, that's going to have on those children when they go back to school tomorrow wondering filled with anxiety to whether they're really going to be safe. Think about the mothers who will take those children tomorrow morning to the bus stop wondering whether their children will arrive back on that bus safe and sound. Think about the fathers of Los Angeles, who tomorrow will head off to work and wonder about the safety of their wives and their children. What is Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton done to this country? That the most basic responsibility of an administration is to protect the safety and security of the American people. I will tell you this, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I've fought terrorists and won and when we get back in the White House we will fight terrorists and win again and America will be safe. +p1600 +aVWolf, unfortunately, it's the new normal under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The fact is that if you listen to Hillary Clinton the other day, what she said to the American people was, as regards to +p1601 +aVListen, I want to talk to the audience at home for a second. If your eyes are glazing over like mine, this is what it's like to be on the floor of the United States Senate. I mean, endless debates about how many angels on the head of a pin from people who've never had to make a consequential decision in an executive position. The fact is, for seven years, I had to make these decisions after 9/11, make a decision about how to proceed forward with an investigation or how to pull back, whether you use certain actionable intelligence or whether not to. And yet they continue to debate about this bill and in the subcommittee and what \u2014 nobody in America cares about that. What they care about is, are we going to have a president who actually knows what they're doing to make these decisions? And for the seven years afterwards, New Jersey was threatened like no other region in this country and what we did was we took action within the constitution to make sure that law enforcement had all the information they needed. We prosecuted two of the biggest terrorism cases in the world and stopped Fort Dix from being attacked by six American radicalized Muslims from a Mosque in New Jersey because we worked with the Muslim American community to get intelligence and we used the Patriot Act to get other intelligence to make sure we did those cases. This is the difference between actually been a federal prosecutor, actually doing something, and not just spending your life as one of hundred debating it. Let's talk about how we do this, not about which bill, which one these guys like more. The American people don't care about that. +p1602 +aVWolf, you sit up here and you listen to this stuff, and you think that so many of these people have had so much to do in this national debate, they talk like they were bystanders. You know, we talk about our military being degraded over time, and yet we've had folks on this stage who've been a part of Congress who have participated in sequester; who participated in the degrading of this military over time. And that's why I think people get so frustrated with Washington, D.C. now. That's why they're so angry with the \u2014 the electorate is so angry with everybody who is involved in government in Washington, D.C. Because if you listen to the folks up here, you think that they weren't even there; they had nothing to do with this. This is a difference between being a governor and being in a legislature. See, because when something doesn't work in New Jersey, they look at me, say: "Why didn't it get done? Why didn't you do it?" You have to be responsible and accountable. And so on +p1603 +aVWell, I think we have to focus, Hugh, on exactly what the priorities are. And to me, what I've always said is that the president has set up an awful situation through his deal with Iran, because what his deal with Iran has done is empower them and enrich them. And that's the way +p1604 +aVNot only would I be prepared to do it, I would do it. A no-fly zone means a no-fly zone, Wolf. That's what it means. See, maybe \u2014 maybe because I'm from New Jersey, I just have this kind of plain language hangup. But I would make very clear \u2014 I would not talk to Vladimir Putin. In fact, I would talk to Vladimir Putin a lot. But I'd say to him, "Listen, Mr. President, there's a no-fly zone in Syria; you fly in, it applies to you." And yes, we would shoot down the planes of Russian pilots if in fact they were stupid enough to think that this president was the same feckless weakling that the president we have in the Oval Office is right now. +p1605 +aVWell, Wolf, I'll tell you what reckless is. What reckless is is calling Assad a reformer. What reckless is allowing Russia to come into Crimea and Ukraine. What reckless is is inviting Russia into Syria to team with Iran. That is reckless. And the reckless people are the folks in the White House right now. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are the reckless people. And if you think that a no-fly zone is a reckless policy, you're welcome to your opinion. But how is it working so far? As we have 250,000 Syrians murdered, slaughtered; millions running around the world, running for their lives. It's not working. We need to try something else. And that is not reckless. +p1606 +aVWhat I say to Carla is that the first job of the president of the United States is to protect your safety and your security and the security and safety of your family. And this debate stops with me in the discussions with the FBI director. Now, listen, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I know Jim Comey. We've worked together. He was the U.S. attorney in Manhattan when I was a U.S. attorney in New Jersey. And when Jim Comey gets up before Congress and says, we cannot effectively vet these people, for me as president, that's the end of the conversation. We have to put America's security first. The American people \u2014 we on this stage need to open our ears. We need to open our ears. The American people are not whispering to us. They are screaming to us. And they're screaming to us that it's our job to actually make this government work. It's so dysfunctional under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. It's so ineffective. It's so ineffectual that the American people say, we don't trust them to do anything anymore. So I'm not going to let Syrian refugees, any Syrian refugees in this country. And it was widows and orphans, by the way, and we now know from watching the San Bernardino attack that women can commit heinous, heinous acts against humanity just the same as men can do it. And so I don't back away from that position for a minute. When the FBI director tells me that he can vet those people, then we'll consider it and not a moment before because your safety and security is what's most important to me. +p1607 +aVWell, what it would like is, we have one of the great advantages of America being the open society that we are. It is, we are not hiding things from the American people, but China everyday is conducting business in a way that hides things from their people. So if they want to come in and attack all the personnel records in the federal government, which they've done, and which \u2014 they now have my Social Security number and my fingerprints, as well as maybe some other folks' who are on this stage. The fact is, they need to be fought back on. And what we need to do is go at the things that they are most sensitive and most embarrassing to them; that they're hiding; get that information and put it out in public. Let the Chinese people start to digest how corrupt the Chinese government is; how they steal from the Chinese people; and how they're enriching oligarchs all throughout China. They need to understand that. And we need to take those type of steps. This president has seen personnel records of people who have sacrificed for the American people and for the federal government stolen by the Chinese and he's done nothing in return. This is why \u2014 this is what I said at the beginning that this administration, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton through their foreign policy, have betrayed the American people, because the weakness they've displayed has led to Putin's incursions in the Middle East and in eastern Europe, and has led \u2014 has led to significant problems in the Middle East as well, and the death and murder of lots of folks. +p1608 +aVOn September 10th, 2001, I was named chief federal prosecutor in New Jersey and on September 11th, 2001, my wife and my brother who are in the audience tonight went through the World Trade Center and to their offices just blocks away from the Trade Center. I lost touch with them for six hours that day and prayed that they were alive. Luckily, they were sent home. But many of our friends and others in our neighborhood lost their lives that day. Terrorism \u2014 radical jihadist terrorism is not theoretical to me. It's real. And for seven years, I spent my life protecting our country against another one of those attacks. You won't have to worry when I'm President of the Untied States whether that can be done because I've already done it. I want the chance to do it again to protect you, your children and your families. If you give me the chance and give me your vote I will protect America from the wars that are being brought to our door step. +p1609 +asVCARSON +p1610 +(lp1611 +VWell, the current Constitution actually doesn't address that particular situation, but the fact of the matter is the Supreme Court, obviously, is a very important part of our governmental system. And when our Constitution was put in place, the average age of death was under 50, and therefore the whole concept of lifetime appointments for Supreme Court judges and federal judges was not considered to be a big deal. Obviously, that has changed, and it's something that probably needs to be looked at pretty carefully at some point. But, we need to start thinking about the divisiveness that is going on in our country. I looked at some of the remarks that people made after finding out that Justice Scalia had died, and they were truly nasty remarks. And that we have managed to get to that position in our country is truly a shame. And we should be thinking about how we could create some healing in this land. But, right now, we're not going to get healing with President Obama. That's very United Nations clear. So, I...... fully agree that we should not allow a judge to be appointed during his time. +p1612 +aVNo, it isn't. First of all, let me go back to your first question for me. It wasn't phrased as who gets to nominate Supreme Court appointees. Of course that's the president. So I know that there are some left-wing media who would try to make hay on that. Secondly, thank you for including me in the debate. Two questions already. This is great. Now, as far......as far as those 2 a.m. phone calls are concerned, judgment is what is required. And the kinds of things that you come up with are sometimes very, very difficult and very unique. One of the things that I was known for is doing things that have not been done before. So no amount of experience really prepares you to do something that has never been done before. That's where judgment comes in. And that, I think, is a situation that we're in right now, a situation that we have never been in before with the kinds of threats that pose real danger to our nation, and it comes in very handy in those situations. +p1613 +aVWell, first of all, let me just address the Iraq question. You know, I was not particularly in favor of us going to war in Iraq, primarily because I have studied, you know, the Middle East, recognizing that those are nations that are ruled by dictators and have been for thousands of years. And when you go in and you remove one of those dictators, unless you have an appropriate plan for replacing them, you're going to have chaos. Now, fortunately, we were able to stabilize the situation, and it was the current administration that turned tail and ran and destabilized the situation. Now, having said that, in terms of the rules of engagement, I was talking about, you know, Obama has said, you know, we shouldn't bomb tankers, you know, coming out of refineries because there may be people in there, or because the environment may be hurt. You know, that's just asinine thinking. And the fact of the matter is... You know, we \u2014 obviously, you're not going to accomplish all of your goals without some collateral damage. You have to be able to assess what is acceptable and what is not. +p1614 +aVWell, first of all, let me just mention on the tax issue. Bencarson.com, go read about it, because my tax plan has been praised by Cato, by Wall Street Journal. Forbes said it is the best, the most pro-growth tax plan, and it's based on real fairness for everybody. Starts at the 150 percent poverty level, but even the people below that have to pay something, because everybody has to have skin in the game, and the millions of people can't, you know, talk about what other people have to pay and have no skin in the game. And it deals with corporate tax rate, and makes it the same as everybody else......everybody pays exactly the same. +p1615 +aV... And, as far as Medicare and Medicaid, my main goal is to get rid of Obamacare and put the care back in the hands of ... +p1616 +aVWell, first of all, please go to my website, bencarson.com, and read my immigration policy, O.K.? Because it actually makes sense. Now, the \u2014 as far as these fines are concerned, you know? Here's the big problem. We've got all these government regulators, and all they're doing is running around looking for people to fine. And we've got 645 different federal agencies and sub-agencies. Way, way too many, and they don't have anything else to do. I think what we really need to do is start trimming the regulatory agencies rather than going after the people who are trying to increase the viability, economic viability of our society. Now, that doesn't mean there aren't some people out there who are doing bad things. But I'm not sure that the way to solve that problem is by increasing all the regulatory burden. You know, when you consider how much regulations cost us each year, you know? $2 trillion dollars per family, $24,000 per family, that happens to be the same level as the poverty level...... for a family of four. If you want to get rid of poverty, get rid of all the regulations. +p1617 +aVBefore you ask the question, can I respond to the \u2014 you know, they mentioned my name a couple of times. +p1618 +aVAll right. Well, first of all, you know, so many people have said to me, "You need to scream and jump and down \u2014 jump up and down like everybody else." Is that really what you want? What we just saw? I don't think so. And you know, I \u2014 when I got into this race, I decided to look under the hood of the engine of what runs Washington, D.C., and my first inclination was to run away, but I didn't do it because I'm thinking about our children and the fact that we are the United States of America. And anybody up here is going to be much better than what's going to come on the other side. And what happened tonight with \u2014 with Justice Scalia tells you that we cannot afford to lose this election, and we cannot be tearing each other down. +p1619 +aVWell, first of all, I'm not a politician, so I'm never going to become a politician. But here's what \u2014 here's what people need to know. People need to know that free college is not \u2014 it's a non-starter. You know, you have to look at our economic situation. We're on the verge of economic collapse and, you know, we're \u2014 it's not just the $19 trillion, but it's also the $200 trillion in unfunded liabilities. What we need to think about is, what does that do to the average person? When we have a debt of that nature, it causes the Fed to change their policy, it causes the central bank to keep the \u2014 the rates low, and who does does that affect? Mr. Average, who used to go to the bank every Friday and put part of his check in the bank and watch it grow over three decades and be able to retire with a nice nest egg, that's gone. That part of the American dream is gone. All of these things are disappearing, and Bernie Sanders and people like Hillary Clinton blame it on the rich. They say those evil rich people, if we take their money we can solve the problem. It's not the evil rich people. It's the irresponsible, evil government. +p1620 +aVThis is the first generation not expected to do better than their parents. Some people say it's the new normal, but there's nothing normal about it in an exceptional American. I, like you, am a member of we, the people, and we know that our country is heading off the cliff. Joseph Stalin said if you want to bring America down you, have to undermine three things: our spiritual life, our patriotism and our morality. We, the people, can stop that decline, starting right here in South Carolina. If all the people who say, "I love Ben Carson and his policies, but he can't win," vote for me, not only can we win, but we can turn this thing around. You know, we have this manipulation by the political class and by the media telling us who we're supposed to pick and how we're supposed to live. We, the people, are the only people who will determine that. And if you elect me as your next president, I promise you that you will get somebody who is accountable to everybody and beholden to no one. Thank you. +p1621 +aVWell, you know, when I wasn't introduced No. 2, as was the plan, I thought maybe he thought I already had dropped out. But... But you know, today is the 105th anniversary, or \u2014 105th birthday of Ronald Reagan. His 11 Commandment was not to speak ill of another Republican. So, I'm not going to use this opportunity to savage the reputation of Senator Cruz. But I will say \u2014 I will say \u2014 I will say that I was very disappointed that members of his team thought so little of me that they thought that after having hundreds, if not thousands of volunteers and college students who sacrificed their time and were dedicated to the cause \u2014 one even died \u2014 to think that I would just walk away ten minutes before the caucus and say, "Forget about you guys." I mean, who would do something like that? Now, I don't think anyone on this stage would do something like that. And to assume that someone would, what does that tell you? So, unfortunately, it did happen. It gives us a very good example of certain types of Washington ethics. Washington ethics. Washington ethics basically says, if it's legal, you do what you need to do in order to win. That's not my ethics. My ethics is, you do what's right. +p1622 +aVSince I was mentioned... +p1623 +aVThis is great you guys. I want you all to mention me when you say something. In fact, the time line indicates that initial tweet from CNN was followed by another one within one minute that clarified that I was not dropping out. So, what happened to that one, it is unclear. But the bottom line is, we can see what happened, everybody can see what happened and you can make your own judgment. +p1624 +aVGood evening. +p1625 +aVWell, thank you. You know, I was hoping to get a chance to talk about North Korea. I was the only one who didn't get to do that, and I've got stuff to say about it, let me tell you. But at any rate, you have to replace it with something that makes sense. It doesn't make sense. And the reason that I dislike Obamacare is because the government comes in and tells the people \u2014 which the nation is supposed to be centered on \u2014 that we don't care what you think, this is what we're doing. And if you don't like it, too bad. That's a problem. And we can't afford to do that because that will fundamentally change America. I have proposed a health empowerment account system. Everybody gets a health empowerment account the day they are born, they keep it until they die. They can pass it on. We pay for it with the same dollars that we pay for traditional health care with, recognizing that we spend twice as much as many countries per capita and health care and don't have as such access. We give people the ability to shift money within their health empowerment account so that each family basically becomes its own insurance company without a middleman; that saves you a awful lot of money. And that will lower the cost of your catastrophic insurance tremendously, because the only thing coming out of that is catastrophic health care. And then in terms of taking care of the indigent, we have another whole system, and I can go ahead and explain it, but I don't have the time, but I'd be happy to if you give me some more time. But go to my website bencarson.com, read about it. You can read about everything that's been discussed here in great detail. HAM: Thank you, Dr. Carson. David, Martha, back to you. +p1626 +aVI want to say something about this, because I'm not here just to add beauty to the stage. You know, I've been talking about Libya for quite a long time. I think I was the first one to start talking about it because I say we have to have a proactive foreign policy strategy. And of course, the next place that +p1627 +aVI would support the possibility of renewed airstrikes if in conjunction with our Joint Chiefs and our military people they felt that was an appropriate strategy. The fact of the matter is none of us up here is a military expert, and we sometimes act like we are, but we're not. And if we actually sit down and talk with them and get them to understand our plan and their impression of what needs to be done, I think we're going to make a lot more progress. +p1628 +aVIt's the same question? +p1629 +aVYes. Well, first of all, I think it would be a pretty easy contrast, quite frankly, between myself and Hillary Clinton. In one case, you have someone who is known as a deceitful individual. An individual who at Benghazi, which I will never let go, quite frankly, because I think of those two men who went up there on the top of that compound with machine guns, firing away, allowing their colleagues to escape. And I'm sure, in the back of their mind, they were just saying, if we can just hold on, help is on the way. But help was not on the way. When did we in the United States not send people to help our own people? You know, this is not who we are. And \u2014 I would simply make it a referendum on honesty and integrity versus deceit and the Washington way. +p1630 +aVWell, you know, it's not a simple issue, and now, you know, we've gotten evidence that there can been active viruses in other bodily fluids like saliva and urine. So, this is going to be, obviously, a big deal. Do we quarantine people? If we have evidence that they are infected, and that there is evidence that that infection can spread by something that they're doing, yes. But, just willy-nilly going out and quarantining a bunch of people because they've been to Brazil, I don't believe that that's going to work. What we really need to be thinking about is how do we get this disease under control? And this is where we need rapid response. We need a rapid response for ebola, we need rapid response for Zika, there will be other things that will come up. These are the kinds of things that the NIH, the CDC, can be very effective in. We need to give the the appropriate support for those kind of things. +p1631 +aVCan I say something... +p1632 +aVSomething about the draft. Very quickly. +p1633 +aVYou know, 14 percent decrease in the number of people applying for voluntary military service, and I think part of it is because of the way that we treat our veterans. You know, we wouldn't be a free country if it wasn't for them, and we have 22 veterans per day committing suicide. So, I think what we should do is have an external support system for people once they volunteer and it should follow them throughout their career, should follow them for three years, five years afterwards, a year before they get out, should be working on integrating them back into society, so that they quit on Friday and they start their new job. They should have health empowerment accounts that are subsidized so they can go to any medical facility and be taken care of. They can go to a V.A. if they want to. But if we start taking care of our veterans the right way, we won't have to ever worry about a draft again. +p1634 +aVWith 100 percent certainly, I will predict the winner \u2014 it will either be Denver or Carolina. +p1635 +aVFor many months, the political class, pundits, the media, have tried to ignore or bury me. They say that politics is too complex, and too sleazy. You can't survive. Well, guess what? I'm still here, and I'm not going any place either. And, I believe there is still a place in our country for faith, integrity, and common sense. Hundreds of thousands of you drafted me to run for president...... And, I am going to with the help of God, and you, once again place the American people at the pinnacle with the government there to serve it. +p1636 +aVWell, I will gladly confess that I'm the only one on this stage with no political title. You're not going to hear a lot of polished political speech from me, but you will hear the truth. And I don't think you have to be a politician to tell the truth. In fact, sometimes it's not that way... ... and I've had more two a.m. phone calls than everybody here put together, making life and death decisions, put together very complex teams to accomplish things that have never been done before. And we are in a situation right now in our country that we have never been in before. We need people who think out of the box and can solve problems; can utilize the resources around them; very smart people, to focus on the problem and solve the problem. The American people are terrified. That's why we have this abnormal situation going on right now. We don't need more of the same solutions. We need different solutions to solve the problems and to save our nation. +p1637 +aVWell, I don't know about the GOP messaging, but I can tell you about my messaging. You know, need to stop allowing political correctness to dictate our policies, because it's going to kill us if we don't. And in the Holy Land Foundation trial in 2006 in Texas, they had a memorandum, an explanatory memorandum that talked about the fact that Americans would be easy to overcome and to commit civilization jihad because they were going to be trying to protect the rights of the very people who were trying to subvert them. But I believe in the Teddy Roosevelt philosophy. Teddy Roosevelt said, we are a nation of immigrants. As such, everybody is welcome from any race, any country, any religion, if they want to be Americans. If they want to accept our values and our laws. If not, they can stay where they are. +p1638 +aVOh, great. As I said before, we are a land of immigrants, but we have to be intelligent about the way that we form our immigration policies, and that's one of the reasons that I have called on us to declare war on the Islamic State because we need to reorient our immigration policies and our visa policies for people who are coming into this country because there are many people out there who want to destroy us. Now, I recognize that the vast majority of people coming in here probably are not those kinds of people, but that's not good enough. If you've got 10 people coming to your house and you know one of them is a terrorist, you're probably going to keep them all out. You know, we probably have to figure out a way to make sure that we keep America safe. +p1639 +aVLook, first of all, I recognize that Vladimir Putin is an opportunist and he's a bully, and we have to face him down. And I would \u2014 first of all, face him down in that whole region, the whole Baltic region. I think we need to put in some armored brigades there. We only have one or two. We need much more than that. We need to be doing military exercises if not only Estonia but Latvia and Lithuania. They're terrified by the saber rattling. I think we ought to put in our missile defense system. I think we ought to give Ukraine offensive weapons and I think we ought to fight them on the economic basis because Putin is a one- horse country: oil and energy. And we ought to fight them on that level. We ought to be helping in terms of the technology for fracking, keeping the price low, quite frankly, because that's what's keeping him contained. So, yes, I'd absolutely would go in if he attacked. I think on Article IV of +p1640 +aVWell, as anyone knows who's been listening to me, you know? I'm very much against the government being involved in every aspect of our lives, you know? We last year there was an additional 81,000 pages of government regulations. If you stack that up it would be a three-story building. This is absolutely absurd. And, they've insinuated themselves into everything. Now, as far as the renewable fuel standard is concerned, certain promises were made, certain government contracts were issued which extend all the way into the year 2022, and I believe that it's probably unfair to withdraw the rug because people have invested money. People have invested a lot of energy into that. But, you know, we are blessed with tremendous energy in this nation, and we need to be talking for new sources of energy. Seventy percent of our population lives by costly. What about hydroelectric power? We can develop that, you know? We have so much natural gas now, and we can liquify it, and we can transfer it across the sea so we can make Europe dependent on us instead of Putin \u2014 put him back in his little box where he belongs. Those are the kinds of things that we ought to be doing. And, you know, take advantage of the tremendous opportunities in energy that God has given us, not get involved in these little petty arguments. And we can get a lot of them out if we get the government out of our lives. +p1641 +aVI want to thank the people of Iowa for being so welcoming to me. Please think of our founding fathers as you listen. We the people of the United States in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the benefits of liberty to ourselves and our prosperity, do ordain and establish this constitution of the United States of America. Folks, it's not too late. Enough said. +p1642 +aVWell, I'm very happy to get a question this early on. I was going to ask you to wake me up when that time came. You know, I find it really quite fascinating some of the president's proclamations. The fact of the matter is he doesn't realize that we now live in the 21st century, and that war is very different than it used to be before. Not armies massively marching on each other and air forces, but now we have dirty bombs and we have cyber attacks and we have people who will be attacking our electrical grid. And, you know, we have a whole variety of things that they can do and they can do these things simultaneously. And we have enemies who are obtaining nuclear weapons that they can explode in our exoatmosphere and destroy our electric grid. I mean, just think about a scenario like that. They explode the bomb, we have an electromagnetic pulse. They hit us with a cyberattack simultaneously and dirty bombs. Can you imagine the chaos that would ensue at that point? He needs to recognize that those kinds of things are in fact an existential threat to us. But here's the real key. We have the world's best military, even though he's done everything he can to diminish it. And the fact of the matter is if we give them a mission and we don't tie their hands behind their back, they can get it accomplished. +p1643 +aVNeil, I was mentioned too. +p1644 +aVYeah, he said everybody. And \u2014 and I just want to take this opportunity to say, you know, in the 2012 election, you know, we \u2014 and when I say we, Republicans \u2014 tore themselves apart. You know, we have to stop this because, you know, if we manage to damage ourselves, and we lose the next election, and a progressive gets in there and they get two or three Supreme Court picks, this nation is over as we know it. And we got to look at the big picture here. +p1645 +aVWell, there's not question that we should be able to look at past president whether they're married to somebody who's running for president or not in terms of their past behavior and what it means. But you know, here's the real issue, is this America anymore? Do we still have standards? Do we still have values and principles? You know, you look at what's going on, you see all the divisiveness and the hatred that goes on in our society. You know, we have a war on virtual everything \u2014 race wars, gender wars, income wars, religious wars, age wars. Every war you can imaging, we have people at each other's throat and our strength is actually in our unity. You know, you go to the internet, you start reading an article and you go to the comments section \u2014 you cannot go five comments down before people are calling each all manner of names. Where did that spirit come from in America? It did not come from our Judeo-Christian roots, I can tell you that. And wherever it came from we need to start once again recognizing that there is such a thing as right and wrong. And let's not let the secular progressives drive that out of us. The majority of people in American actually have values and principles and they believe in the very things that made America great. They've been beaten into submission. It's time for us to stand up for what we believe in. +p1646 +aVWait a minute, who in their 16th month? +p1647 +aVOK. +p1648 +aVWell, there's no question that +p1649 +aVWell, first of all, recognize it is a substantial problem. But like all of our problems, there isn't a single one that can't be solved with common sense if you remove the ego and the politics. And clearly, what we need to do is get a group of experts together, including people from other countries, some of our friends from Israel, who have had experience screening these people and come up with new guidelines for immigration, and for visas, for people who are coming into this country. That is the thing that obviously makes sense, we can do that. And as far as the Syrians are concerned, Al-Hasakah province, perfect place. They have infrastructure. All we need to do is protect them, they will be in their own country. And that is what they told me when I was in Jordan in November. Let's listen to them and let's not listen to our politicians. +p1650 +aVWell, I would suggest a fair tax system, and that's what we have proposed. A flat tax for everybody \u2014 no exemptions, no deductions, no shelters, because some people have a better capability of taking advantage of those than others. You know, and then the other thing we have to do is stop spending so much money. You know, I \u2014 my \u2014 my mother taught me this. You know, she only had a third-grade education, but \u2014 you know, she knew how to stretch a dollar. I mean, she would drive a car until it wouldn't make a sound, and then gather up all her coins and buy a new car. In fact, if my mother were secretary of treasury, we would not be in a deficit situation. But...... you know, the \u2014 the \u2014 the fact of the matter is \u2014 you know, if we fix the taxation system, make it absolutely fair, and get rid of the incredible regulations \u2014 because every regulation is a tax, it's a \u2014 on goods and services. And it's the most regressive tax there is. You know, when you go into the store and buy a box of laundry detergent, and the price has up \u2014 you know, 50 cents because of regulations, a poor person notices that. A rich person does not. Middle class may notice it when they get to the cash register. And everything is costing more money, and we are killing our \u2014 our \u2014 our people like this. And Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton will say it's those evil rich people. It's not the evil rich people. It's the evil government that is \u2014 that is putting all these regulations on us so that we can't survive. +p1651 +aVCan I just add one very quick thing? And I just want to say, you know, last week we released our tax plan. And multiple reputable journals, including The Wall Street Journal, said ours is the best. Just want to get that out there, just saying. +p1652 +aVYou know, in recent travels around this country, I've encountered so many Americans who are discouraged and angry as they watch our freedom, our security and the American dream slipping away under an unresponsive government that is populated by bureaucrats and special interest groups. We're not going to solve this problem with traditional politics. The only way we're going to solve this problem is with we, the people. And I ask you to join me in truth and honesty and integrity. Bencarson.com \u2014 we will heal, inspire and revive America for our children. +p1653 +aVThank you, Wolf. Please join me for a moment of silence and remembrance of the San Bernardino victims. Thank you. You know, our country since its inception has been at war, every 15 or 20 years. But the war that we are fighting now against radical Islamist jihadists is one that we must win. Our very existence is dependent upon that. You know, as a pediatric neurosurgeon, I frequently faced life and death situations, and had to come up with the right diagnosis, the right plan, and execute that plan frequently with other colleagues. Right now, the United States of America is the patient. And the patient is in critical condition and will not be cured by political correctness and will not be cured by timidity. And I am asking the Congress, which represents the people, to declare a war on +p1654 +aVFirst of all, let me just complain a little bit. This is the first time I've spoken and several people have had multiple questions so please try to pay attention to that. Now, as far as monitoring is concerned, what my point is, we need to make sure that any place \u2013 I don't care whether it's a mosque, a school, a supermarket, a theater, you know it doesn't matter. If there are a lot of people getting there and engaging in radicalizing activities then we need to be suspicious of it. We have to get rid of all this PC stuff. And people are worried about if somebody's going to say that I'm Islamophobic or what have you. This is craziness because we are at war. That's why I asked congress, go ahead and declare the war . We need to be on a war footing. We need to understand that our nation is in grave danger. You know, what the Muslim Brotherhood said in the explanatory memorandum that was discovered during the Holy Land Foundation Trial was that, "they will take advantage of our PC attitude to get us. :" We have to be better than this. We have to be smarter than they are. +p1655 +aVI think you have to ask them about that. I don't want to get in between them. Let them fight. +p1656 +aVNeurosurgeon. +p1657 +aVWell, interestingly enough, you should see the eyes of some of those children when I say to them we're going to have to open your head up and take out this tumor. They're not happy about it, believe me. And they don't like me very much at that point. But later on, they love me. Sometimes you \u2014 I sound like him. You know, later on, you know, they really realize what's going on. And by the same token, you have to be able to look at the big picture and understand that it's actually merciful if you go ahead and finish the job, rather than death by 1,000 pricks. +p1658 +aVYou got it. You got it. +p1659 +aVRuthless is not necessarily the word I would use, but tough, resolute, understanding what the problems are, and understanding that the job of the president of the United States is to protect the people of this country and to do what is necessary in order to get it done. +p1660 +aVFirst of all, I've been talking about this for over a year. We have to destroy their caliphate because that gives them legitimacy to go ahead with the global Jihad. We have to take their energy because they are \u2014 +p1661 +aVNo one is ever better off with dictators but there comes a time you know, when you're on an airplane, they always say, "in case of an emergency oxygen masks will drop down. Put yours on first and then administer help to your neighbor." We need oxygen right now. And we need to start thinking about the needs of the American people before we go and solve everybody else's problems. The fact of the matter is, is that the Middle East has been in turmoil for thousands of years. For us to think that we're going to in there and fix that with a couple of little bombs and a few little decorations is relatively foolish. +p1662 +aVWell, you know, there's a false narrative that only the political class has the wisdom and the ability to be commander-in- chief. But if you go back and you study the design of our country, it was really designed for the citizen statesman. And we need to be talking about where does your experience come from? You know, and I've had a lot of experience building things, organizing things, you know, a national scholarship program. One of the things that you'll notice if you look through my life is that I don't do a lot of talking. I do a lot of doing. And really, it says more about a person than how much they talk. And then some people say you're weak because, you know, you're not loud and you're not boisterous and you're not rude. But the fact of the matter is, look and see what I've done. And that speaks volumes about strength. +p1663 +aVWell, it was very interesting having an opportunity to talk to the Syrians themselves. And I asked them: What do you want? What is your supreme desire? Their supreme desire was to be settled back in their own country. I said, "What can Americans and other countries do?" They said, "Support the efforts of those who are trying to provide safety for us, including the Jordanians." Of course, they had a brand new hospital, for instance, that was unstaffed because there wasn't enough money to do it. But here's what's really neat. If you go into Hasakah province in northeast Syria, that's an area that's as big as Lebanon. It's controlled by the Kurds, the Christians and the moderate Sunnis. And there are airstrips and hotels. You could settle a lot of people there. All we would have to do is be willing to provide them with some weaponry, some defensive weaponry. And we seem to be afraid to give the Kurds weaponry. We like to send it for some strange reason through Baghdad, and then they only get a tenth of it. And if we would support them, we'd have a perfect ideal there. We don't need to set this up as we either take a bunch of refugees who will be infiltrated with terrorists, I guarantee you. For them not to be would be terrorist malpractice. And we need to \u2014 to choose the right choice, not these false choices. +p1664 +aVWell, I definitely believe that he is unstable, and I do, in fact, believe that China has a lot more influence with him than we do. But we also recognize that North Korea is in severe financial straits, and they have decided to use their resources to build their military, rather than to feed their people and to take care of the various humanitarian responsibilities that they have. We can capitalize upon that. You know, we should use our economic power in lots of different ways. I think we can use that in order to keep Putin contained, because he is a one-horse show. Energy. And we have an abundance of energy, but we have archaic energy exportation rules. We need to get rid of those, allow ourselves to really make Europe dependent on us and other parts of the world dependent on us for energy. Put him back in his little box where he belongs. And, you know, we need to be doing lots of other things with the resources that we have. So economic power works just as well as military power, perhaps even better. And speaking of that, our Military needs to be upgraded. You know, you look at things like our Ohio Class submarines, they're 25 years old. Our minuteman 3 missiles \u2014 they are 34 years old. Our B-52 bombers \u2014 50 years old. You know, if we don't get the military right nothing else matters. +p1665 +aVWell, you know, the statement that I made last week, that I would leave the party was contingent upon whether in fact the party acts like they have in the past with a lot of subterfuge and dishonesty, or like they're going act now because I spike to Reince Priebus, and he assured me that the Washington Post writer had it all wrong, and that they're not be engaging in anything to thwart the will of the people. That's why I got into this race, as a member of we the people, to try bring some honesty and integrity back to the process. +p1666 +aVI've been fortunate enough to travel to 58 different countries and I thank God everyday that I was born in this country. The most exceptional country that the world has ever known. And I want to make sure that we preserve that exceptionalism for the next generation. My mother told me if I work hard and I really believed in American principles and I believed in God, anything is possible. I believe that is true, and that's why I'm not anxious to give away American values and principles for the sake of political correctness. +p1667 +asVAUDIENCE +p1668 +(lp1669 +VBoo. +p1670 +aVBoo. +p1671 +asVSTRASSEL +p1672 +(lp1673 +VMr. Trump. +p1674 +aVYou have made a lot of promises and you have also \u2014 you're the only candidate who has said he would not touch entitlements. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has estimated that your ideas would cost an additional $12 trillion to $15 trillion over the next 10 years and that we would have to have annual economic growth of anywhere from 7.7 percent to 9 percent annually to pay for them. Are you proposing more than you can actually deliver, at least not without big deficits? +p1675 +aVBut in terms of... +p1676 +aVO.K. But how would you actually do that? Can I ask you? Because right now, Social Security and Medicare... +p1677 +aVThey take up two-thirds of the federal budget, and they're growing. +p1678 +aVO.K., I have a question, a related tax question. Senator Rubio, you have the highest tax rate of anyone up on the stage in terms of the top tax rates, 35 percent. Some economists say, "It would limit its potential to boost economic growth." You do that so that you will have more revenue to pay for a tripling of the Child Tax Credit. Normally, it's liberals who like to use the tax code to insert social policy. Why should conservatives who want to tax adopt the other side's approach? +p1679 +aVGovernor Kasich, this on is on size of government. In 2013, you pushed through a Medicaid reform in your state over the rejections of many of the Republicans in your state. Total enrollment and overall cost of program have gone well beyond what anyone had expected, including yourself. How can you argue that this overall growth fits in with conservative ambition to significantly cut back on the size of federal welfare programs? +p1680 +aVSenator Cruz. Senator Cruz, you have promised to deport illegal aliens. You have also promised to reverse President Obama's executive action that gives temporary amnesty to illegals brought here by their parent as children. As president, you would have the names and addresses of the some 800,000 of those that have registered under that action. Now, you have said that in this country, we shouldn't go door to door, look for illegals, but in this case you would have a list. Would you use it? +p1681 +aVSo would you \u2014 would you use the addresses? +p1682 +aVWould you pick them up? +p1683 +aVSenator Rubio, your reply. +p1684 +aVAll right. Senator Cruz. Your response, Senator Cruz. +p1685 +aV... O.K.... +p1686 +aVMoving subjects. Dr. Carson, this week Morgan Stanley agreed to pay a $3.2 billion fine to state and federal authorities for contributing to the mortgage crisis. You have a lot of Democrats out saying that we should be jailing more executives, so two questions. Should financial executives be held legally responsible for financial crisis, and do you think fines like these are an effective way to deter companies from future behavior like that? +p1687 +aVSenator Cruz, you were mentioned in the mix here, your response? +p1688 +aVAnd now, Marco Rubio. +p1689 +aVWe'll be back with a few final thoughts in a moment. +p1690 +asVDICKERSON +p1691 +(lp1692 +VGood evening. I'm John Dickerson. This holiday weekend, as America honors our first president, we're about to hear from six men who hope to be the 45th. The candidates for the Republican nomination are here in South Carolina for their ninth debate, one week before this state holds the first-in-the-South primary. George Washington wrote that the truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains taken to bring it to light. We hope to shed some light on the candidates' positions tonight to help voters make up their minds. So gentlemen, please join us on stage. With us tonight \u2014 with us tonight are retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson of Florida, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Businessman Donald Trump of New York. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Former Governor Jeb Bush of Florida. And Governor John Kasich of Ohio. Now, as most of you have heard by now, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died today at the age of 79. He was the longest-serving member of the court, appointed by President Reagan in 1986. Justice Scalia was the court's leading conservative, and even those who disagreed with his opinions regarded him as a brilliant legal scholar. Please join us and the candidates on our stage in a moment of silence for Justice Antonin Scalia. Thank you. We will talk to the candidates about Justice Scalia and the road ahead when the debate begins in a moment. +p1693 +aVBefore we get started, candidates, here are the rules. When we ask you a question, you will have one minute to answer, and 30 seconds more if we ask a follow-up. If you're attacked by another candidate, you get 30 seconds to respond. And here's how we keep time. After we ask a question, you'll get a green light. The yellow light means you have 30 seconds left to finish your answer, and when time is up, the light turns red. That means please stop talking. If you keep talking, you'll hear this. You don't want to hear that. Joining me in the questioning tonight, my CBS News colleague, chief White House correspondent Major Garrett, and Kimberley Strassel, who is on the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal. And you can participate in the debate through our partnership with Twitter. Tweet us your questions and comments using the hashtag "# +p1694 +aVSo, just to be clear on this, Mr. Trump, you're O.K. with the president nominating somebody ... +p1695 +aVGovernor Kasich, I want to get your thoughts on this. Justice Scalia was a real believer, obviously, in the strict word of the Constitution. Now, Harry Reid says that a failure to fill his vacancy would be, quote, "shameful abdication of one of the Senate's most essential constitutional responsibilities." Where do you come down on this? +p1696 +aVDr. Carson. Dr. Carson, you, like others, put out a statement after the death was announced, and you said the president should delay. You've written a book on the Constitution recently. What does the Constitution say about whose duty it is here to act in this kind of a situation? +p1697 +aVSenator Rubio, you're a... Senator Rubio, you're a lawyer. Quickly, can you address the issue of whether the Constitution tells us who has the power to appoint Supreme Court justices? And then, also, the Senate Republicans last year floated an idea of removing the filibuster for Senate \u2014 excuse me, for Supreme Court nominations. You seemed open to that. What's your feeling on that now? +p1698 +aVQuickly, though, on this question... Very quickly, Senator, on this specific question, though. You were once in favor of dropping the threshold... +p1699 +aV... majority \u2014 you were never in favor of that? +p1700 +aVO.K. Thank you, Senator. Governor Bush, I would like to ask you, conservatives for a long time have felt like that their Republican presidents have picked justices that didn't turn out to be real conservatives. +p1701 +aVBernie Sanders has said he would have a litmus test. He would make sure that he appointed a justice who was going to overturn Citizens United. If they can have a litmus test for a nominee, what about you? Would you have a litmus test for a nominee? And what would it be? +p1702 +aVRight, so, Senator Cruz, the Constitution... So, Senator Cruz, the Constitution says the president "shall appoint with advice and consent from the Senate," just to clear that up. So he has the constitutional power. But you don't think he should. Where do you set that date if you're president? Does it begin in election year, in December, November, September? And once you set the date, when you're president, will you abide by that date? +p1703 +aVJust can I \u2014 I'm sorry to interrupt, were any appointed in an election year, or is that just there were 80 years... +p1704 +aVBut Kennedy was confirmed in '88. +p1705 +aVHe was appointed in '87. +p1706 +aV... confirmed in '88. That's the question, is it appointing or confirming, what's the difference? +p1707 +aVSorry, I just want to get the facts straight for the audience. But I apologize. +p1708 +aVAll right. Thank you, Senator Cruz. All right, we're going to move on to national security here, and we are going to \u2014 I want to read a quote from Secretary Robert Gates, former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who served for eight year \u2014 under eight presidents. And this is what he said about Republican candidates, quote, "Part of the concern that I have with the campaign is that the solutions being offered are so simplistic and so at odds with the way the world really works." So, in that spirit, we're going to work tonight to be more specific. Mr. Trump, I want to start with you. You have said as president, you'll get up to speed very quickly. You'll know more quickly as president than any of the experts. So, you've been elected president. It's your first day in the Situation Room. What three questions do you ask your national security experts about the world? +p1709 +aVSenator Rubio \u2014 just 30 seconds on this question, Senator Rubio. Are those the questions you would ask? +p1710 +aVLet me ask you a follow-up, a full, proper question, then. Violent extremists are operating or active in 40 countries. Some 80 countries are in different degrees of instability. And so, that's just the crises overseas. Barack Obama walked into an economic collapse when he came into office. We face international health crises, from Ebola to Zika. So, there is a lot of opportunity for crisis, as you have talked about. What would you point to in your past to show voters that you've been in a crisis and that you've been tested when that inevitable crisis comes when you're president? +p1711 +aVDr. Carson, I want to ask you a question... Dr. Carson, you said you've had more 2 a.m. \u2014 2 a.m. phone calls than anybody up on this stage. But when those 2 a.m. phone calls came, you operated on a foundation of all of that amazing medical work that you did, all of that learning. So if you were to be president, though, you wouldn't have the political foundation that hones those instincts when the 2 a.m. phone call comes. So isn't that a liability? +p1712 +aVGovernor Kasich, Russia is being credited......Russia is being credited with bombing U.S.-backed rebels on behalf of Assad in Aleppo and Syria. They've also moved into the Crimea, eastern Ukraine. You've said you want to punch them in the nose. What does that mean? What are you going to do? +p1713 +aVGovernor......Governor Bush. +p1714 +aVYou said defeating +p1715 +aVMr. Trump, you're......Mr. Trump, you were mentioned here. You did say that you could get along very well with Vladimir Putin. You did at one point say let Russia take care of +p1716 +aV... All right... +p1717 +aV... All right, Governor Bush, please respond. +p1718 +aV... O.K., settle... +p1719 +aV... All right, Mr. Trump, all right... +p1720 +aVGentleman, I think we're going to leave that there. I've got a question for Senator... +p1721 +aV... All right, all right, gentlemen, gentlemen, let's leave it there so I can ask a question of Senator Cruz, who's also running for president. Senator Cruz, you talked about the first Gulf War as being a kind of model for your focused and determined effort to go after +p1722 +aVVery quickly, 30-second follow-up. You've said that, essentially, the Kurds would be the American ground forces in there. The criticism that experts have on that is that the Kurds only can work within their territory. If they take larger amounts of territory, you have an ethnic war with the Arabs. So the Kurds can't really do as much as you seem to be putting on their backs. +p1723 +aVAll right. Mr. Trump......On Monday, George W. Bush will campaign in South Carolina for his brother. As you've said tonight, and you've often said, the Iraq war and your opposition to it was a sign of your good judgment. In 2008, in an interview with Wolf Blitzer, talking about President George W. Bush's conduct of the war, you said you were surprised that Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi didn't try to impeach him. You said, quote: "Which, personally, I think would have been a wonderful thing." When you were asked what you meant by that and you said: "For the war, for the war, he lied, he got us into the war with lies." Do you still believe President Bush should have been impeached? +p1724 +aVSo... +p1725 +aVBut so I'm going to \u2014 so you still think he should be impeached? +p1726 +aVAll right. O.K. All right. Governor Bush \u2014 when a member on the stage's brother gets attacked... +p1727 +aV... the brother gets to respond. +p1728 +aVGovernor Kasich, would you weigh in on......Governor Kasich, please weigh in. +p1729 +aVWhy is it nuts? Talk about it. Give us your sense of... +p1730 +aVThirty seconds, Senator Rubio. +p1731 +aVAll right, Dr. Carson, we have a cleansing... +p1732 +aVWe have a cleansing... +p1733 +aVAll right. Well, Dr. Carson, I have got a question now for you. A moment of pause here. You have said, Dr. Carson, that \u2014 referring to yourself, that people bought into the idea that, quote, "A nice person can't be tough on terrorists." You have called for loosening the rules of engagement for the military, which could lead to more civilian casualties. So, explain why those casualties would be acceptable in the fight against +p1734 +aVAll right, thank you, Dr. Carson. We're going to have to take a commercial break here. Thank you to all the candidates. We'll be right back with CBS News's 2016 debate in Greenville, South Carolina. +p1735 +aVWe're back with the Republicans who could be president. The topic now is money and how the candidates would spend it. We'll turn the questioning over to Kimberley Strassel of The Wall Street Journal and Major Garrett of CBS News. Kim? +p1736 +aVDr. Carson, before we go to break, could you give us your sense of this conversation about either Medicaid or economic growth through taxation? +p1737 +aVDoctor... +p1738 +aV... Dr. Carson, I'm sorry, we have to go to a commercial. The free market wants what it wants. Back soon with the 2016 Republican debate in Greenville, South Carolina. +p1739 +aVWelcome back. We'll begin the second half of the debate with one of the hottest issues in the Republican campaign, immigration. But before I turn it back to Major Garrett and Kim Strassel, I have one question for Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump, in the Republican National Committee's Spanish-language response to the State of the Union, Congressman Diaz-Balart said, quote, "It's essential that we find a legislative solution," talking about immigration, "to offer a permanent and humane solution to those who live in the shadows. What does that mean to you, "a humane solution to those who live in the shadows"? +p1740 +aVSenator Cruz, I have a question for you. Speaker Paul Ryan has made a big commitment to trying to lift the 50 million poor out of poverty. Arthur Brooks, who is the president of the American Enterprise Institute, says, quote, "If we are not warriors for the poor every day, free enterprise has no matter." How you have been, in your campaign, a warrior for the poor? +p1741 +aVAll right. Mr. Trump, thank you so much. We're going to take a break for a moment. We'll be back in a moment with the CBS News Republican debate. +p1742 +aVWe're back now from Greenville, South Carolina, with the candidates for the Republican presidential nomination. Mr. Trump, I have a question for you. Presidents have to, on the one hand, be firm, but also be flexible. You have been flexible and changed your opinion on a number of things, from abortion to Hillary Clinton. But you have said, rightly, that it's just like Ronald Reagan, who changed his mind on things. But at the same time, you're criticizing Senator Cruz for what you say is a change on immigration. He disputes that, of course. So, why is your change of opinion make you like Reagan, and when he changes his opinion, it's a huge character flaw? +p1743 +aVWhich conservative idea don't you agree with? +p1744 +aVAll right. Governor Bush, I think by "they," he is referring to your brother, these on the hook for your brother. +p1745 +aVBut that was his brother. +p1746 +aVHold on, gentleman, I'm going to turn this car around. +p1747 +aVAll right, gentlemen. +p1748 +aVWell, hold on. We're going to \u2014 gentlemen, we're in danger of driving this into the dirt. Senator Rubio, I'd like you to jump in here... +p1749 +aVI understand, you're on deck, governor. +p1750 +aVSenator Cruz, 30 seconds on this one. +p1751 +aVWe're going to switch... +p1752 +aVWe're going to switch here to Senator Marco Rubio. Senator Marco Rubio, please weigh in. +p1753 +aVI thought you had a point? +p1754 +aVI thought you had a point you wanted to make. +p1755 +aVYou're on deck, sir. +p1756 +aVSenator, I wanted to ask you, just going back to immigration, in the last debate, you listed your series of accomplishments in the Senate. One thing you left off was \u2014 was immigration reform. Is it the case that in your list of accomplishments you can't mention that? +p1757 +aVDr. Carson, I have......Dr. Carson, I have a question for you. Candidates are... +p1758 +aVAll right. You have 30 seconds, Doctor. +p1759 +aVDr. Carson, I \u2014 let me ask you a different question. When you were \u2014 you were the first one, really, to talk about political correctness. Everybody now talks about it, but that was really what sparked your \u2014 your rise. Politicians are often accused of glossing over any hard choices people have to make, just always selling happy, nice things. So in the \u2014 in the spirit of saying something that might be politically incorrect, tell the voters something that they need to hear but that might be politically incorrect? +p1760 +aVGovernor Kasich. Governor Kasich, you've been described as the Democrats' favorite Republican. You talked about in New Hampshire, Democrats would come up to you and say, "I hope you win." Why will that help you win a Republican nomination? +p1761 +aVMr. Trump, let me ask you a question. Presidents in both parties say that the one thing you need in your administration is somebody who can tell you you're wrong. You don't necessarily seem like somebody who has somebody who tells you you're wrong a lot. Can you tell us of an instance where somebody has said, "Donald Trump, you're wrong," and you listened to them? +p1762 +aVAbout what? +p1763 +aVLet me \u2014 something, in talking to voters that they wish somebody would tell you to cut it out is the profanity. What's your reaction to that? +p1764 +aVAll right. O.K. Governor Bush, I'd like to ask you... +p1765 +aVWell, can I \u2014 how about you respond, and then you can answer the question I'm about to ask you. +p1766 +aVIt'll be... +p1767 +aVIf we adjudicate this, the night will be over. Governor, in 2012, you said that your father and Ronald Reagan would have a hard time in today's Republican Party, based on their records of trying to find accommodation and finding some degree of common ground. Do you still feel that way? +p1768 +aVHold on, Mr. Trump. +p1769 +aVHold on, Mr. Trump. +p1770 +aVO.K., Mr. Trump, your response. +p1771 +aVThe bells are ringing, sir. +p1772 +aVAll right. Thank you. Senator Rubio, I want to ask you a 30-second question, no president can... +p1773 +aVNo \u2014 well, I'll ask the question, you do what you want. +p1774 +aVNo president can know everything, right? So a smart leader knows how to ask questions. So if you could talk to any previous president, what's the smart question you would ask about that job that you would want to know? +p1775 +aVAll right. That's going to have to be it there, Senator Rubio. We have got to go to a break. We will be right back with the CBS News Republican debate in Greenville, South Carolina. +p1776 +aVTime now for closing statements. You will each have one minute, and we'll begin with Governor Kasich. +p1777 +aVDr. Carson \u2014 Dr. Carson, you're next. +p1778 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor Bush. +p1779 +aVSenator Cruz? Senator Cruz, your closing statement? +p1780 +aVMr. Trump, your closing statements? +p1781 +as. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/downloads/data2/script6.pickle b/downloads/data2/script6.pickle new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dcab99a --- /dev/null +++ b/downloads/data2/script6.pickle @@ -0,0 +1,4121 @@ +(dp0 +VRADDATZ +p1 +(lp2 +VQuestions of leadership and character have dominated the news ever since the Iowa caucuses a few days ago. Here with us to question the candidates this evening are Josh McElveen from +p3 +aVDr. Ben Carson. +p4 +aVBusinessman Donald Trump. +p5 +aVFormer Florida Governor, Jeb Bush. +p6 +aVLadies and gentlemen, the Republican candidates. +p7 +aVAnd Donald Trump. +p8 +aVThe applause so loud you couldn't hear. We couldn't hear, either. That's a good sign for the excitement this evening. Gentlemen, thank you for being here tonight, just days before voters here in New Hampshire make their decisions. The rules are simple and have been agreed to by all the campaigns. There will be 60 seconds to answer and if another candidate is mentioned in that answer, that candidate will have 30 seconds to respond. There are green, yellow and red lights that each candidate will see to signal when time is up and they will also hear this sound. +p9 +aVSenator Cruz, you are a first term Senator as well. Your opponents say you, like Senator Rubio, are not prepared to be Commander in Chief. You have talked tough about threats we face in the Mid-East. It was reported just moments ago that the North Koreans test launched an intercontinental ballistic missile. North Korea has nuclear weapons, and conducted another nuclear test just last month. The missile that was launched is the kind the North Koreans hope could someday carry a nuclear weapon capable of reaching the United States. How would you respond if Commander in Chief to that launch? +p10 +aVWell, let me ask you this, if you were Commander in Chief tonight would you have order the U.S. military to destroy that missile preemptively on the launchpad to prevent North Korea from becoming an even graver threat? +p11 +aV... Senator Cruz, let me tell you this, you have talked tough about the Mid-East, you haven't gotten those intelligence briefings about that. Why not tell us whether you would preemptively strike a missile on a launchpad that threatens the U.S... +p12 +aVOkay. Senator Cruz, I will say that missile has been sitting there for quite some time, and they have had eyes on it. +p13 +aVSenator Rubio, I'm talking about a preemptive strike on the launch pad. +p14 +aVOK. Thank you, Senator Rubio. Governor Kasich, how would you respond to tonight's launch? +p15 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. Thank you \u2014 thank you... +p16 +aV... Governor Bush, I'll get to you in a moment. +p17 +aVThank you, Governor Bush. Mr. Trump, do you have a red line with North Korea? Would you consider military action? And how far would you let them go? +p18 +aVAnd I'd like him to finish the question, please. +p19 +aVSpecific \u2014 as to North Korea. +p20 +aVSenator Rubio, you were mentioned. +p21 +aVThank you very much, Senator Rubio. Governor Bush, another problem facing the commander-in-chief right now is that North Korea is currently detaining an American college student. What would you do to get that college student back home? +p22 +aVGovernor Christie, I want to go to you on the same question. +p23 +aVWould you negotiate with North Korea to... +p24 +aVThank you very much, Governor Christie. David? +p25 +aVSenator Cruz, to that point, Mr. Trump has said that your position on health care means that maybe you've got, quote, "no heart". There is a question here, though, about uncovered folks. You suggested repealing and replacing Obamacare. As we learned with President Obama's broken promise that everyone could keep their plan, any major plan \u2014 change in health care policy carries with it the risk that some people will lose their insurance coverage or have to change it. How do you reassure that those people that repealing and replacing Obamacare is still in their best interest? +p26 +aVSenator Cruz, you advocate what you call carpet bombing, or saturation bombing, to defeat +p27 +aVSenator Cruz, would you like to expand or loosen the rules of engagement? I was just over in a command center in Erbil and they said they thought the rules of engagement worked. Because you have so many civilians in those populated areas, they don't want to hit civilians. +p28 +aVSo, loosen the rules of engagement? +p29 +aVSenator Rubio, you said in the last debate that +p30 +aVAgain, Senator Rubio, you've already said +p31 +aVWell, what would you do \u2014 what would you do differently to try to get those Sunni forces? They have not been coming forward. +p32 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 thank you very much, Senator Rubio. Mr. Trump. You have said you will vigorously bomb +p33 +aVAnd \u2014 and what would you do in those cities, where there are people who we are trying to help, who +p34 +aVThank you very much, Mr. Trump. Let's turn to Libya. Governor Bush, it is a country in chaos. There is no government. This week, defense officials said there are now 5,000 +p35 +aVThank you very much, Governor Bush. Dr. Carson? +p36 +aVAnd would you support renewed airstrikes? +p37 +aVWe're going to move on. +p38 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. Thank you, Josh. Our partner in this debate, the Independent Journal Review, has collected questions from some prominent conservatives around the country. Here's a videotaped question from radio host Larry O'Connor. O' +p39 +aVMr. Trump, I'm going to give that question to you. You took it \u2014 you took it away anyway. +p40 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. I'm going to go to Senator Rubio on this. How would you change that narrative? +p41 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Dr. Carson, I want to go to you on Larry O' Connor's question. Would you change the narrative? +p42 +aVYes. +p43 +aVThank you very much Dr. Carson. I'm going to go back to David. +p44 +aVGovernor Christie, earlier this week, the World Health Organization declared the Zika virus a global emergency. The same kind of mosquitoes that carry the Zika virus in Latin America are found here in the United States, and the virus has been linked to severe birth defects. Governor Christie, at the peak of the Ebola outbreak in west Africa, you ordered an American nurse who landed at Newark Airport be detained and quarantined. As fear spreads now of the Zika virus and with the Rio Olympics just months away, is there a scenario where you would quarantine people traveling back from Brazil to prevent the spread in the United States? +p45 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you. I'm going to move to Dr. Carson, and go back to the Zika virus, is that going too far, quarantining? You're a doctor, what would you do? +p46 +aVThanks very much, Dr. Carson. I want to move on to the military. Senator Rubio, all restrictions on women in combat as long as they qualify. Positions including special operations forces, like Navy Seals. Just this week military leaders of the Army and Marine Corps said that they believed young women, just as young men are required to do, should sign up for Selective Service in case the Draft is reinstated. Many of you have young daughters. Senator Rubio, should young women be required to sign up for Selective Service in case of a national emergency? +p47 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Governor Bush, do you believe that young women... +p48 +aVDo you believe young women should sign up for Selective Service, be required to sign up... +p49 +aVTell me what you'd say to American people out there......who are sitting at home, who have daughters, who might worry about those answers, and might worry... +p50 +aV... if the Draft is reinstituted? +p51 +aV... Are you saying you'd do away with it? +p52 +aVYou register for the draft. +p53 +aVIf it's reinstituted. +p54 +aVThank you very much. +p55 +aVThank you very much, Governor Christie. +p56 +aVWe just covered \u2014 wait one second, Dr. Carson. +p57 +aVVery quickly. +p58 +aVThank you very much for bringing up that subject, Dr. Carson, of our veterans. And for another question about our veterans, we go back to Josh McElveen from +p59 +aVGovernor Christie. +p60 +aVDr. Carson. +p61 +aVSenator Cruz. +p62 +asVUNKNOWN +p63 +(lp64 +VNot me. +p65 +aVMaria... +p66 +aVYeah, but I want to talk about taxes. +p67 +aVIf you're not going to have my back, I'm going to have my back. +p68 +aVA couple things here. First of all... +p69 +aVWe have grown \u2014 we have grown... +p70 +aVTrue. It's true. +p71 +aV...let me follow up that... +p72 +aV +p73 +aVOh, great. +p74 +asVSMITH +p75 +(lp76 +VGovernor Huckabee, same question to you. Where do you see the country right now? +p77 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Thank you, candidates. Moving to the world stage. The middle east is on the brink of chaos. Iran continues to provoke the United States, North Korea claims it's tested a hydrogen bomb, and Afghanistan is in danger of falling back into Taliban hands. Critics of the administration say it's all due to lack of U.S. leadership. To you, Mrs. Fiorina, how do you see America's role in the world today? +p78 +aVGovernor Huckabee, in Afghanistan, the Taliban is strengthening. Attacks are on the rise and thousands more civilians have been wounded or killed. Much of the Taliban surge can be attributed to the withdrawal of U.S. forces there. You have expressed skepticism with the war there, saying you see no end game in sight. What, then, is your solution to the growing conflict there? +p79 +aVAll right, thank you, candidates. We're just getting started. Jobs, Homeland Security, gun rights, all those issues are coming up straight ahead. We're live from North Charleston and the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back. +p80 +aVAll right, let's get started. Senator Santorum, to you first. President Obama has urged technology leaders to make it hard for terrorists to use technology to escape from justice. Hillary Clinton says social media companies can help by swiftly shutting down terrorist accounts. The companies say that they're already working with law enforcement and any proposed legislation would do more harm than good. Should companies like Facebook and Twitter be required by law to more actively \u2014 be more actively engaged in fighting terror? +p81 +aVSenator, would you \u2014 would you require anything of those companies like Facebook and Twitter if you were president? +p82 +aVThank you, Senator. +p83 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee, you called President Obama's executive orders on gun control unconstitutional and completely insane. +p84 +aVYou even told gun store owners to ignore the President's orders. Yet, innocent people are dying from gun violence in cities like Detroit, Chicago, and Charleston everyday. Is there anything that can be done at the federal level to prevent guns from falling into the hands of criminals? +p85 +aV +p86 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p87 +aVSenator Santorum, many of our military leaders believe America's critical infrastructure is vulnerable to a terrorist attack. This is the power in our homes, the water we drink, the Internet and phone systems by which we stay connected. If attacked, these essential services that underpin American society could come to a grinding halt. Do you have a specific plan to protect us from this type of attack? +p88 +aVSenator Santorum, I want to stay with you on this, moving to jobs and the economy. In his State of the Union Address the other night, President Obama touted his record on jobs, citing more than 14 million new jobs and boasted of nearly 900,000 manufacturing jobs added in the past six years. Do you dispute his track record of creating jobs? +p89 +aVGovernor Huckabee, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mike Mullen, has said the greatest threat to our security is our national debt. Our national debt is now on pace to top $19 trillion. Yet, you as well as Ms. Fiorina have laid forward no plan to reform entitlements. How can you say you're going to pay down our country's debt without cutting Social Security or Medicare? +p90 +aVOK. We're going to continue this conversation. We're taking a quick break and then coming up, the candidates' plans for strengthening the middle class. We're live in North Charleston with the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back. +p91 +aVAll right, thanks, Trish. Well, let's get started with Ms. Fiorina. Today, the middle class represents about 50 percent of the U.S. population, down from about 61 percent back in 1971. That's according to Pew Research. The same research revealed a widening income gap in America. The rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. What will you do to strengthen a middle class that is no longer the majority? +p92 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p93 +aVThank you, Senator. We're not finished yet. More Republican Presidential Debate in North Charleston after this. +p94 +aVWelcome back, it's time for the closing statements. Candidates will each get one minute, starting with Senator Santorum. Thank you very much, I want to thank the people of Charleston, which has become a little bit of a second home to me, because I am very privileged to have two young men who go to the Citadel here and they're here tonight, my son John and my son Daniel. +p95 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Governor Mike Huckabee. +p96 +aVThank you, Governor. +p97 +asVRUBIO +p98 +(lp99 +VWell, let me first talk about Justice Scalia. His loss is tremendous, and obviously our hearts and prayers go out to his family. He will go down as one of the great justices in the history of this republic. You talk about someone who defended consistently the original meaning of the Constitution, who understood that the Constitution was not there to be interpreted based on the fads of the moment, but it was there to be interpreted according to its original meaning. Justice Scalia understood that better than anyone in the history of this republic. His dissent, for example, on the independent counsel case is a brilliant piece of jurist work. And, of course, his dissent on Obergefell as well. No. 2, I do not believe the president should appoint someone. And it's not unprecedented. In fact, it has been over 80 years since a lame duck president has appointed a Supreme Court justice. And it remind us of this, how important this election is. Someone on this stage will get to choose the balance of the Supreme Court, and it will begin by filling this vacancy that's there now. And we need to put people on the bench that understand that the Constitution is not a living and breathing document. It is to be interpreted as originally meant. +p100 +aVThat's not accurate. +p101 +aVNo, I've never \u2014 there has been, for example, today, according to the changes Harry Reid made, appellate judges can now be appointed by a simple majority, but not Supreme Court justices. And I think today you see the wisdom of why we don't want that to change. Because if that were the case and we were not in charge of the Senate, Harry Reid and Barack Obama would ram down our throat a liberal justice, like the ones Barack Obama has imposed on us already. +p102 +aVNo. I think there are three major threats that you want to immediately get on top of. No. 1 is, what are we doing in the Asia-Pacific region, where both North Korea and China pose threats to the national security of the United States. No. 2 is, what are we doing in the Middle East with the combination of the Sunni-Shia conflict driven by the Shia arc that Iran is now trying to establish in the Middle East, also the growing threat of +p103 +aVWell, let me tell you what has happened a couple of years ago. One of the hardest decisions you'll ever make in Congress is when you are asked by the president to authorize the use of force in a conflict, because you are now putting your name, on behalf of the people of your state, behind a military action, where Americans in uniform could lose their life. So, in 2014, Barack Obama said he would not take military action against Assad unless it was authorized by the Senate, beginning on the Committee of Foreign Relations, where I am one of its members. And it was hard because you looked at the pictures. I saw the same images people saw. I'm the father of children. I saw the images of these little children \u2014 been gassed and poisoned by their own leaders, and we were angry. Something had to happen, and there was the sense that we needed to seek retribution. And then I looked at Barack Obama's plan. Barack Obama's plan, which John Kerry later described as unbelievably small, and I concluded that that attack would not only not help the situation, it would make it actually worse. It would allow Assad to stand up to the United States of America, survive a strike, stay in power and actually strengthen his grip. So it was a difficult decision to make, and when we only had a few days to look at and make a decision on it, and I voted against Barack Obama's plan to use force, and it was the right decision. +p104 +aVI just want to say, at least on behalf of me and my family, I thank God all the time it was George W. Bush in the White House on 9/11 and not Al Gore. And you can \u2014 I think you can look back in hindsight and say a couple of things, but he kept us safe. And not only did he keep us safe, but no matter what you want to say about weapons of mass destruction, Saddam Hussein was in violation of U.N. resolutions, in open violation, and the world wouldn't do anything about it, and George W. Bush enforced what the international community refused to do. And again, he kept us safe, and I am forever grateful to what he did for this country. +p105 +aVThe World Trade Center came down because Bill Clinton didn't kill Osama bin Laden when he had the chance to kill him. +p106 +aVWell, because I'm influencing social policy \u2014 this is their money. This is the money of parents. You don't earn the tax credit unless you're working. That's your money, it doesn't belong to government. Here's what I don't understand. If a business takes their money and they invest in the piece of the equipment, they get to write off their taxes. But if a parent takes money that they have earned to work and invests in their children, they don't? This makes no sense. Parenting is the most important job any of us will ever have. Family formation is the most important thing in society. So what my tax plan does, is it does create, especially for working families, an additional Child Tax Credit. So that parents who are working get to keep more of their own money, not the government's money, to invest in their children to go to school, to go to a private school, to buy a new backpack. Let me tell you, if you're a parent that's struggling, then you know that $50 a month is the difference between a new pair of shoes this month or not getting a new pair of shoes for your kids. I'm going to have a tax plan that is pro-family, because the family is the most important institution in society. You cannot have a strong country without strong families. +p107 +aVWell, first of all, I think amnesty is the forgiveness of a wrongdoing without consequence and that \u2014 I've never supported that. I do not support that. I think there has to be consequences for violating our immigration laws. What I think is clear about this issue to begin with is we're not going to be able to make progress on illegal immigration until first, illegal immigration is brought under control. You go back to 1986, when they legalized three million people and they promised to secure the border. It didn't happen, and as a result, people have lost trust in the federal government. It is now clear that the only way to make progress on immigration is not just to pass a law that enforces the law, but actually prove to people that it's working. They want to see the wall built. They want to see the additional border agents. They want to see E-Verify. They want to see an entry-exit tracking system. Forty percent of the people in this country illegally are entering legally and overstaying visas. And only after all of that is in place, then we'll see what the American people are willing to support on this issue. I think the American people will be very reasonable, but responsible, about how you handle someone who has been here a long time, who can pass a background check, who pays a fine and starts paying taxes and all they want is a work permit. But you can't do any of that until you prove to people that illegal immigration is under control once and for all. +p108 +aVWe're going to have to do this again, O.K.? When that issue was being debated, Ted Cruz, at a committee hearing, very passionately said, I want immigration reform to pass, I want people to be able to come out of the shadows. And he proposed an amendment that would legalized people here. Not only that, he proposed doubling the number of green cards. He proposed a 500 percent increase on guest workers. Now his position is different. Now he is a passionate opponent of all those things. So he either wasn't telling the truth then or he isn't telling the truth now, but to argue he is a purist on immigration is just not true. +p109 +aVWell, first of all, I don't know how he knows what I said on Univision, because he doesn't speak Spanish. And second of all, the other point that I would make... +p110 +aVLook, this is a disturbing pattern now, because for a number of weeks now, Ted Cruz has just been telling lies. He lied about Ben Carson in Iowa. He lies about Planned Parenthood. He lies about marriage. He's lying about all sorts of things. And now he makes things up. The bottom line is this is a campaign and people are watching it. And they see the truth behind all these issues. And here is the truth, Ted Cruz supported legalizing people that were in this country... +p111 +aV... and only now does he say... +p112 +aVWell, we'll put on our website, marcorubio.com. We're going to... +p113 +aVOn anything I want? +p114 +aVWell, let me talk about poverty. +p115 +aVI do. +p116 +aVI had something important. +p117 +aVThe issue of poverty is critical, because for me, poverty is the \u2014 is \u2014 is free enterprise not reaching people. Today, we have antipoverty programs that don't cure poverty. We don't cure poverty in America. Our antipoverty programs have become, in some instances, a way of life, a lifestyle. Now, we do need antipoverty programs, you can't have free enterprise programs without them, but not as a way of life. And so I have a very specific proposal on this and I don't \u2014 in 60 seconds, I can't describe it all, but it basically turns the program over to states. It allows states to design innovative programs that cure poverty, because I think Nikki Haley will do a better job curing poverty than Barack Obama. +p118 +aVWell, no. It's not the case. It didn't pass, and we haven't solved immigration in this country. It's still a problem. It is worse today than it was three years ago, which is worse than it was five years ago. And it has to be confronted and solved. But the only way forward on this issue \u2014 you asked a question about flexibility. Let me tell you about that. One of the things that you need in leadership is the ability to understand that to get things done, you must figure out the way to get it done. You will not pass comprehensive immigration reform. People do not trust the federal government. They want to see the law being enforced. They want to see illegal immigration come under control. They want to see that wall. They want to see E-Verify. They want to see all of these things working, and then they will have a conversation with you about what do you do with people that have been here a long time that are otherwise, you know, not criminals. But they're not going to do it until you first enforce the law. +p119 +aVThirty seconds. +p120 +aVI speak fast. +p121 +aVWell, I think one of the presidents \u2014 well, the president I grew up under was Ronald Reagan. And Reagan had a vision for America's future. And if you think about what Ronald Reagan inherited, it's not unlike what the next president is going to inherit. This is the worst president we've had in 35 years, 35 years back would have made it Jimmy Carter. That's what Ronald Reagan inherited. And I think the question you would ask is, how did you inspire again the American people to believe in the future? How did you \u2014 what did it take to ensure that the American people, despite all of the difficulties of the time \u2014 you know, you look back at that time, the American military was in decline. Our standing in the world was in decline. We had hostages being held in Iran. Our economy was in bad shape. The American people were scared about the future. They were scared about what kind of country their children were going to live in and inherit. And yet somehow Ronald Reagan was able to instill in our nation and in our people a sense of optimism. And he turned America around because of that vision and ultimately because of that leadership. I wish Ronald Reagan was still around. This country needs someone just like that. And if our next president is even half the president Ronald Reagan was, America is going to be greater than it has ever been. +p122 +aVThank you, and thank you for watching tonight. This is a difficult time in our country. Our economy's flat, it's not creating the jobs it once did, and people struggle living paycheck to paycheck. Our culture's in trouble. Wrong is considered right and right is considered wrong. All the things that once held our families together are now under constant assault. And around the world, America's reputation is in decline. Our allies don't trust us, our adversaries don't fear us, Iran captures our sailors and parades them before the world on video. These are difficult times, but 2016 can be a turning point. That's why I'm running for president, and that's why I'm here today to ask you for your vote. If you elect me president, we are going to re-embrace free enterprise so that everyone can go as far as their talent and their work will take them. We are going to be a country that says that "life begins at conception and life is worthy of the protection of our laws." We're going to be a country that says "that marriage is between one man and one woman." We are going to be a country that says, "The constitution and the rights that it talks about do not come from our president, they come from our creator." We are going to be loyal to our allies like Israel, not enemies like Iran. And we will rebuild the U.S. military so no one will there test it. Vote for me. I will unify this party. I will grow it. We will win this election, and we will make the 21st century a new American century. +p123 +aVWell, let me say, from protecting the people of Florida from imminent domain abuse, to bringing accountability to the V.A., to the Girls Count Act, to sanctioning groups, I'm proud of my service in the United States Senate and before that, in the Florida legislature. I will say, if politics becomes and the presidency becomes about electing people who have been Congress or in the Senate the longest, we should all rally around Joe Biden. He's been around 1,000 years. He's passed hundreds of bills and I don't think any of us believe Joe Biden should be president of the United States. And let's dispel once and for all with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing. Barack Obama is undertaking a systematic effort to change this country, to make America more like the rest of the world. That's why he passed Obamacare and the stimulus and Dodd-Frank and the deal with Iran. It is a systematic effort to change America. When I'm president of the United States, we are going to re-embrace all the things that made America the greatest nation in the world and we are going to leave our children with what they deserve: the single greatest nation in the history of the world. +p124 +aVIf I may respond to that. +p125 +aVWell, I think the experience is not just what you did, but how it worked out. Under Chris Christie's governorship of New Jersey, they've been downgraded nine times in their credit rating. This country already has a debt problem, we don't need to add to it by electing someone who has experience at running up and destroying the credit rating of his state. But I would add this. Let's dispel with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing. He is trying to change this country. He wants America to become more like the rest of the world. We don't want to be like the rest of the world, we want to be the United States of America. And when I'm elected president, this will become once again, the single greatest nation in the history of the world, not the disaster Barack Obama has imposed upon us. +p126 +aVChris \u2014 Chris, your state got hit by a massive snowstorm two weeks ago. You didn't even want to go back. They had to shame you into going back. And then you stayed there for 36 hours and then he left and came back to campaign. Those are the facts. Here's the bottom line. This notion that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing is just not true. He knows exactly what he's doing. +p127 +aVWell, that's the \u2014 that's the reason why this campaign is so important. Because I think this notion \u2014 I think this is an important point. We have to understand what we're going through here. We are not facing a president that doesn't know what he's doing. He knows what he is doing. That's why he's done the things he's done. That's why we have a president that passed Obamacare and the stimulus. All this damage that he's done to America is deliberate. This is a president that's trying to redefine this country. That's why this election is truly a referendum on our identity as a nation, as a people. Our future is at stake. This election is not about the past. It is about what kind of country this is going to be in the 21st century, and if we elect someone like Barack Obama, a Hillary Clinton, a Bernie Sanders or anyone like that, our children are going to be the first Americans to inherit a diminishes country. That will not happen if I'm elected. +p128 +aVChris, you didn't want to go back. You didn't want to go back. +p129 +aVYou didn't want to go back, Chris. +p130 +aVChris, everybody \u2014 you said you weren't going to go back. He told everyone he wasn't going to go back. They had to shame him into going back. And when he decided to go back, he criticized the young lady, saying, what am I supposed to do, go back with a mop and clean up the flooding? +p131 +aV... It's your record, it's not a talking point... +p132 +aVBut Martha, just \u2014 Martha, just to clarify on that point, because he's right, and one more thing to point \u2014 it is standard procedure of the United States to shoot down those missiles once launched if they pose a threat to civilians, land and ships. +p133 +aVWell \u2014 no, I understand. And not \u2014 but \u2014 but I think it's important to note that it is \u2014 and Senator Cruz, I think, was alluding to this, as well \u2014 it is the standard procedure of the United States, if those missiles pose a threat to land, civilians, our allies or any of our assets, to shoot down that missile in mid-flight. I understand your question was about a preemptive strike, but my point is that there is in place now contingencies to avoid any sort of that strike from going errant and destroying any \u2014 any assets of the United States, or implicating or hurting any of our allies or any of our assets in the region. +p134 +aVYeah. I have a \u2014 I got mentioned, can I respond? +p135 +aVHere's the broader point, as well, and then I think it touches on what Donald just mentioned. Barack Obama views America as this arrogant global power that needed to be cut down to size. OK? This is a president that views this country as a country that's been too powerful in the world and we create problems around the world. For example, it's one of the reasons why he had betrayed Israel, because he believes that if we create separation from Israel, it will help our relations in the Islamic world. The same is happening in the Asia-Pacific region with accommodations to North Korea. North Korean should be back on that list of terrorist nations, as an example. And Donald's absolutely right. China does have a lot of influence over North Korea and he should be leveraging our relationship with the Chinese to ensure that North Korea no longer has access to the resources that have allowed them \u2014 a country that has no economy to develop long range missiles already capable of reaching the west coast of the United States potentially. +p136 +aVHere's the bottom line. We can't get that legislation passed. The American people will not support doing anything about people that are in this country illegally until the law is enforced first, and you prove it to them. This has been abundantly clear. Every effort over the last ten years to do those comprehensively has failed. And it has failed because the American people have zero trust that the federal government will enforce our laws. And that's why since then, I have said repeatedly, if you are serious about immigration reform, then the key that unlocks the door to being able to do that is not just to pass a law that says it is going to enforce the law, but to actually do it. To hire the 20,000 new border agents, to finish the fencing and walls, to put in place mandatory e-verify, to put in place an entry-exit tracking system to prevent visa overstays. And once that is in place and that's working, I believe the American people will support a very reasonable, but responsible approach to people that have been here a long time, who are not dangerous criminals, who pay taxes and pay fines for what they did. But until then, none of that is going to be possible. +p137 +aVWell, the legislation passed, but it has no support. In essence, it couldn't pass in the House, it will never pass in the United States until we secure the border, and it is not the way we're going to do when I'm president. When I'm president, we are going to enforce the law first, prove to people that illegal immigration is under control. And then we'll see what the American people are willing to support when it comes to people that are not criminals, who have been in the this country for a long time and who otherwise would like to stay. +p138 +aVLeadership is ultimately about solving the problem. And the approach that was tried and has been tried now repeatedly over ten years to do this comprehensively, all at once in a massive piece of legislation has no chance of passage. It is not leadership to continue to try something that has no chance of happening. I want to make progress on this issue. It has been discussed now for 30 years and nothing ever happens. And I am telling you that the only way forward on this issue that has any chance of happening, meaning gaining the support of the American people, you cannot do this without the support of the American people, is an approach that begins by proving that once and for all, illegal immigration is under control. +p139 +aVGood evening. +p140 +aVWell, I think conservatism is about three things and Donald touched on one of them, but it's about three things. The first is conservatism is about limited government, especially at the federal level. The federal government is a limited government, limited by the Constitution, which delineates its powers. If it's not in the Constitution, it does not belong to the federal government. It belongs to states, local communities and the private sector. It's about free enterprise, which is an economic model that allows everyone to rise without pulling anyone down. The reason why free enterprise is the greatest economic model in the history of the world is because it's the only economic model where you can make poor people richer without making rich people poor. And it's about a strong national defense. It's about believing, unlike Barack Obama, that the world is a safer and a better place when America is the strongest military and the strongest nation on this planet. That's conservatism. +p141 +aVNow, see, I was mentioned by Governor... +p142 +aVYeah. +p143 +aVOK, good, then I'll get to it . Here's the... +p144 +aVWell, no, sorry. Let me respond to that question. +p145 +aVWell, here's the response. I think anyone who believes that Barack Obama isn't doing what he's doing on purpose doesn't understand what we're dealing with here, OK? This is a president \u2014 this is a president who is trying to change this country. When he talked about change, he wasn't talking about dealing with our problems. Obamacare was not an accident. The undermining of the Second Amendment is not an accident. The gutting of our military is not an accident. The undermining of America on the global stage is not an accident. Barack Obama is, indeed, trying to redefine this country. We better understand what we're dealing with here, because that's what Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders want to double down on if they are elected. +p146 +aVNo. He talked about Barack Obama. +p147 +aVYeah. +p148 +aVI don't know of any problem in America that's going to be fixed with a tax increase. We have an economy today, an economy today that is not creating jobs that pay enough. And one of the reasons why is because we have one of the most expensive business tax rates on the planet. Our combined business rate puts us among the highest in the industrialized world. And then on top of that, we are the only one that has a worldwide system of taxation, where an American company who makes money abroad has to pay taxes where they made the money and then taxes a second time when they bring it back. The combination of these two things has stranded over $2 trillion, the equivalent of the size of the Russian economy, $2 trillion of American corporate money stranded overseas, combined with all of these inversions of companies leaving us. The solution to the problems we have today are not a tax increase. It is to lower our taxes on both people and on companies, so we can make America globally competitive again. +p149 +aVWell, first, we need to understand who they are. +p150 +aVBecause they currently occupy Sunni cities and villages. Sunni cities and villages can only truly be liberated and held by Sunnis themselves. If they are held by Shias it will trigger sectarian violence. The Kurds are incredible fighters and they will liberate the Kurdish areas, but Kurds can not and do not want to liberate and hold Sunni villages and towns. It will take Sunni fighters themselves in that region to take those villages and cities, and then to hold them and avoid the sort of sectarian violence that follows in the past. And why that is important is because if Sunnis are not able to govern themselves in these areas, you are going to have a successor group to +p151 +aVWell, the problem with the Sunni forces in the region is they don't trust this administration. This administration cut a deal with their mortal enemies, the Shia, in Iran. It poisoned the well with these countries. It makes it very difficult to cooperate with them as a result. They also, by the way, understand what real U.S. air power looks like. They saw the Iraq war. They saw, up close, also Afghanistan. They know what air power looks like when the United States is committed to the cause. And they see the airstrikes that are being conducted now, and they say to themselves, that's not real commitment. We know what real commitment looks like. The \u2014 the Jordanian king was in Washington three weeks ago. He told everyone who would listen that they have begged for permission from the coalition to target caravans. And the coalition \u2014 meaning U.S. leadership on the ground......would not allow them to proceed with those airstrikes. +p152 +aVWell, when people talk about interrogating terrorists, they're acting like this is some sort of law enforcement function. Law enforcement is about gathering evidence to take someone to trial, and convict them. Anti-terrorism is about finding out information to prevent a future attack so the same tactics do not apply. And, it is true, we should not be discussing in a wide spread way the exact tactics that we're going to use because that allows terrorist to know to practice how to evade us. But, here's the bigger problem with all this, we're not interrogating anybody right now. Guantanamo's being emptied by this president. We should be putting people into Guantanamo, not emptying it out, and we shouldn't be releasing these killers who are rejoining the battlefield against the United States. +p153 +aVI think it's already happening. Look at the turnout in Iowa. A historic number of people came out and voted in those caucuses. There are saying the same thing is going to happen here in New Hampshire. Look at the rallies that every single person on this stage is having. Much higher numbers than you used to see in the past and here is why. Because people are starting to understand, very clearly, that this election is going to be a turning point. That 2016 is not just a choice between Republican or Democrat. It is a referendum on our identity as a nation and as a people. So here is what Hillary Clinton needs to understand. We're going to have our primary, we're going to have our debates \u2014 which by the way, are twice as many as the Democrats have been willing to have themselves. But we're going to bring this party together and we are going to defeat Hillary Clinton, because she is unqualified to be the president of the United States of America. She put classified information on her computer because she thinks she's above the law and anyone who lies to the families of people who have lost their loved ones in the service of our country like she did in Benghazi, can never be the commander-in-chief of the United States of America. +p154 +aVI would. But that's not \u2014 the issue \u2014 my problem with what he did is he continues to put out this fiction that there's widespread systematic discrimination against Muslim Americans. First of all, let's recognize this. If you go to a national cemetery in this country, you will see stars of Davids and crosses, but you see crescent moons. There are brave men and women who happen to be Muslim Americans who are serving this country in uniform and who have died in the service of this country. And we recognize that and we honor that. But by the same token, we face a very significant threat of home grown violent extremism. We need to have strong, positive relationships in the Islamic communities in this country so they will identify and report this activity, especially mosques, for example, that are participating not just in hate speech, but inciting violence and taking acts against us. And I do believe it is important also to recognize, you want to talk about religious discrimination in America. Well, I don't think Barack Obama is being sued by any Islamic groups, but he is being sued by the Little Sisters of the Poor. We are facing in this country Christian groups and groups that hold traditional values who feel and in fact are being discriminated against by the laws of this country that try to force them to vie to violate their conscience. +p155 +aVFirst, let me say there are already women today serving in roles that are like combat. That, in fact, whose lives are in very serious danger, and so I have no problem whatsoever with people of either gender serving in combat so long as the minimum requirements necessary to do the job are not compromised. But, I support that, and obviously now that that is the case I do believe that Selective Service should be opened up for both men and women in case a Draft is ever instituted. I think the more fundamental challenge we're now facing is what's happening to the U.S. military \u2014 I've said this many times, and I think it's important to start paying attention to this. Our Air Force is about to be the smallest it's been in 100 years. I'm sorry, in our history. Our Army is set to be smaller than it's been since the second World War, and our Navy is about to be the smallest than it's been in 100 years. I think we need to begin to refocus on rebuilding our military because every time we have cut our military in the history of this country we have had to come back later and rebuild it, and it costs more, and it's a lot more chaotic and dangerous. When I'm president, we are rebuilding the U.S. military. +p156 +aVWell, my brother's a veteran. We're very proud of him in our family. He served as a green beret in the 7th Special Forces from 1968 through 1971. And as part of his training, he jumped out of an airplane and he lost his two front teeth. And for years, he's had to go to get these dental claims. And every times he goes to get one of these dental claims filled, the V.A. asks him, "well, how do we know you lost your teeth in the Army?" And he says, "well, it's the only time I ever jumped out of a plane." But he's had to fight through this process, and I've watched it firsthand. That's why I'm proud that I worked in a bipartisan way. We passed the V.A. Accountability bill that, for the first time, allows us to fire \u2014 allows the V.A. secretary to fire someone who's not doing a good job, who's a senior executive. And the governor's right. They've only fired three people up to now. More people will be fired if I'm president. But the portability part of it is incredibly important. Veterans should be able to take their V.A. benefits to any hospital or any doctor they want to go to. When I am president of the United States, veterans will be able to take their benefits to any hospital or doctor that they choose. +p157 +aVWell, first of all, I don't believe that believing in traditional marriage the way I do makes you a bigot or a hater. It means that you believe that this institution that's been around for millenial is an important cornerstone of society. I respect people that believe differently. But I believe deeply, that marriage should be between one man and one woman. On the issue of life, to me, the issue of life is not a political issue. It's a human rights issue and it's a difficult issue, because it puts in conflict two competing rights. On the one hand is the right of a woman to choose what to do with her body which is a real right. And on the other hand is the right of an unborn human child to live. And they're in conflict. And as a policy maker, I must choose which one of these two sides takes precedence. And I have chosen to err on the side of life. Here's what I find outrageous. There has been five Democratic debates. The media has not asked them a single question on abortion and on abortion, the Democrats are extremists. Why doesn't the media ask Hillary Clinton why she believes that all abortion should be legal, even on the due date of that unborn child. Why don't they ask Hillary Clinton why she believe that partial- birth abortion, which is a gruesome procedure that has been outlawed in this country, she thinks that's a fundamental right. They are the extremists......when it comes to the issue of abortion and I can't wait to expose them in a general election. HAM: Governor Bush? I want to come to you. Your allies have recently attacked Senator Rubio for being too pro-life to be elected in November. You made a similar charge stating it in an interview. This is a pro-life party. Do you stand behind that criticism? +p158 +aVI do support protection for the life of the mother because I'm pro-life. I just believe deeply that all human life is worthy of protection of our laws. If I'm president and there's a bill that's passed that saves lives but it has exceptions, I'll sign it. But I do believe deeply that all human life is worthy of the protection of laws. I've already said, for me, the issue of life is not a political issue and I want to be frank. I would rather lose an election than be wrong on the issue of life. HAM: Governor Christie. You too, have talked about Senator Rubio's position on the life issue. Some conservative activists have called this line of attack harmful to the pro-life cause. +p159 +aVWell, I was going for Peyton Manning, but now I'm rooting for Carolina. +p160 +aVThank you. You know, this week I had the great pleasure of having my kids join me on the campaign trail. I hadn't' seen them in a while, and it was great to have them alongside me, but the most important part of it is that it once again reminded me of what's at stake. Here in New Hampshire in less than 72 hours, we are literally deciding what kind of country we will be like when they are my age. What kind of country they will be able to raise their families in. And, that's why I'm asking you for your vote. You vote for me, and we will unite this party, we will grow the conservative movement, we will defeat Hillary Clinton, and we will leave our children what our parents left us. The single greatest nation in the history of all mankind. Thank you. +p161 +aVChris, let's begin by being clear what this campaign is about. It's not about Donald Trump. He's an entertaining guy. He's the greatest show on earth. This campaign is about the greatest country in the world and a president who has systematically destroyed many of the things that made America special. You see, we usually elect presidents in America that want to change the things that are wrong in America. Barack Obama wants to change America. Barack Obama wants America to be more like the rest of the world. We don't want to be like the rest of the world. We want to be the United States of America. That is why Hillary Clinton cannot win this election. Hillary Clinton this week said Barack Obama would make a great Supreme Court justice. The guy who systematically and habitually violates the constitution on the Supreme Court? I don't think so. If I'm our nominee, I will unite this party and we'll defeat Hillary Clinton and we will turn this country around once and for all, after seven years of the disaster that is Barack Obama. +p162 +aVI think, you know, Rand and I have some significant issues on policy, but I respect Rand. He believes everything he stands for. I do respect Rand. But I want to be frank about what I stand for. I believe the world is a safer and a better place when America is the strongest power in the world. And I believe only with a strong America will we defeat this radical group, this apocalyptic group called +p163 +aVWell, again, I mean, obviously, as already has been pointed out, the only budget that Ted has ever voted for is a budget that Rand Paul sponsored that brags about cutting defense spending. And I think that's a bad idea for the following reason. +p164 +aV... First of all \u2014 Let me go first, and then you can please recognize Rand after. First of all... +p165 +aV... do I go \u2014 let me go first, and then you can please recognize Rand after. But... ... first of all... +p166 +aV... first of all, I'm \u2014 don't worry, I'm not leaving the stage no matter what you ask me. +p167 +aVAnd second of all... ... and I think \u2014 you know, Governor \u2014 Jeb, you \u2014 the attack that \u2014 the authorization that Barack Obama asked for was not against +p168 +aVMegyn, that's the problem. Radical Muslims and radical Islam is not just hate talk. It's hate action. They blow people up. Look what they did in San Bernardino. Look at the attack they inspired in Philadelphia, that the White House still refuses to link to terror, where a guy basically shot a police officer three times. He told the police, "I did it because I was inspired by +p169 +aVMight I respond? The first thing \u2014 I don't know of anyone who's not in favor of fully vetting people that are trying to come into this country, other than perhaps Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. I think we all support that. Rand's amendment was not the right way to do it. I do believe that people who are trying to come to the United States \u2014 this country has a right to know who they are and why they are coming. And that's why I've been clear, when I am the president of the United States of America, we don't know who you are, and we don't know why you're trying to come to the United States, you are not going to get in, because the radical threat that we now face from +p170 +aVWell, Bret, first that's not entirely the story. At the time, the liberal governor of Florida, who claimed he was a Republican \u2014 his name was Charlie Crist \u2014 he wanted to impose cap-and-trade on Florida. And I opposed it. I was the first person out of the box that opposed him on it. And then we saw that the leading candidates for president at the time, both the Republican and the Democrats, all supported it. And what we said is, if they're going to impose this on us, we better prepare to protect the state from it. But I have never supported cap- and-trade and I never thought it was a good idea. And I was clear about that at the time. And I do not believe it's a good idea now. I do not believe that we have to destroy our economy in order to protect our environment. And especially what these programs are asking us to pass that will do nothing to help the environment, but will be devastating for our economy. When I am president of the United States of America, there will never be any cap-and-trade in the United States. +p171 +aVNever support. Never have and never will support any effort to grant blanket legalization amnesty to folks who have entered, or stayed in this country illegally. +p172 +aVFirst of all, earned path to citizenship is basically code for amnesty. It's what they call it. And, the reality of it is this, it is unfair to the people that have legally entered this country to create an alternative for individuals who entered illegally, and knowingly did so. +p173 +aVYou cannot grant amnesty. If the American people see us granting amnesty they will never again believe in legal immigration. They will never again support it, and that's wrong for our country, bad for our future. +p174 +aVNo, because if you look at the quote, and it's very specific. And, it says blanket amnesty, I do not support blanket amnesty... +p175 +aV... I do not support amnesty... +p176 +aV... No, I said I do not support blanket amnesty... +p177 +aV... It was... +p178 +aV... It absolutely has been, and at the time in the context of that was in 2009, and 2010, where the last effort for legalization was an effort done in the Senate. It was an effort led by several people that provided almost an instant path with very little obstacles moving forward. What I've always said is that this issue does need to be solved. They've been talking about this issue for 30 years, and nothing ever happens. And, I'm going to tell you exactly how we're going to deal with it when I am president. Number one, we're going to keep +p179 +aVMay I respond? +p180 +aVIt's interesting that Jeb mentions the book. That's the book where you changed your position on immigration because you used to support a path to citizenship. +p181 +aVWell, but you changed the \u2014 in the book... +p182 +aVYou wrote a book where you changed your position from a path of citizenship to a path of legalization. And the bottom line is this, we are not going to be able to do anything on this issue until we first bring illegal immigration under control. The American people have been told for 30 years they're going to enforce the border, they're going to build a wall and it never gets built and it never happens. It is very clear there will be no progress on this issue in any way, shape or form, until you prove to the people of this country that illegal immigration is under control. And when I'm president, we are going to bring it under control once and for all after 30 years of talking about it. +p183 +aVBut Megyn... +p184 +aVThere's not going to be consensus on this issue until we enforce our immigration laws. That is abundantly clear. You're not going to be able to ram down the throat of the American people your approach. The only way we're are going to be able to move forward after two migratory crises with minor, after two unconstitutional executive orders, the only way forward on this issue is to first bring illegal immigration under control. And until that happens there's not going to be consensus on this issue. +p185 +aVYeah, but let me respond... +p186 +aV... no, I understand, but let me respond. I was mentioned on this \u2014 in this answer, and so I'm going to respond this way. This is the lie that Ted's campaign is built on, and Rand touched upon it \u2014 that he's the most conservative guy, and everyone else is a \u2014 you know, everyone else is a rhino. The truth is, Ted, throughout this campaign, you've been willing to say or do anything in order to get votes. Ted, you worked for George W. Bush's campaign... You \u2014 you \u2014 you helped design George W. Bush's \u2014 you helped design George W. Bush's immigration policy. And then, when you got to the Senate, you did an interview with CBS News \u2014 I wasn't even part of the video \u2014 where you said, on the issue of people that are here illegally, "we can reach a compromise." And then in the committee, you said, "I want to bring people out of the shadows." Now you want to trump Trump on immigration. But you can't \u2014 we're not gonna beat Hillary Clinton with someone who's willing to say or do anything to win an election. +p187 +aVAnd I think that's the false choice... ... that's the \u2014 that's the false choice in this whole debate about immigration. Of course, we're going to be a nation of immigrants. By the way, no nation on earth is more generous than America is. Every single year close to a million people emigrate to the United States legally. There's no nation on earth that comes close to that number. I think the only argument is are we a sovereign country, are we not allowed to choose who comes in, when they come in and how they come in? And that's not what's happening now. +p188 +aVI think the other problem is we have a legal immigration system that's outdated, it's primarily based on whether you have family members living here. In the 21st century, it has to be more of a merit-based system, and that is why our legal immigration system is in need of modernization. And we will always celebrate legal immigration like Dulce's great story. +p189 +aVWell, I believe, and I know that if Iowa helps make me the Republican nominee, I will defeat Hillary Clinton. Hillary doesn't want to run against me, but I cannot wait to run against her. And I cannot wait to earn the opportunity to do it because she cannot be the president of the United States. She wants to put Barack Obama on the Supreme Court of the United States of America. She said that here in Iowa just two days ago. That would be a disaster for this country. So I hope and pray and cannot wait until this state and others give me an opportunity to serve this party as its nominee because I will defeat Hillary Clinton. +p190 +aVWell, let me be clear about one thing, there's only one savior and it's not me. It's Jesus Christ who came down to earth and died for our sins. And so \u2014 and I've always made that clear about that cover story. As far as the polls are concerned, Iowa, on Monday night you're going to go to a caucus site and you'll be the first Americans that vote in this election. You will be the first Americans that get to answer the fundamental question, what comes next for this country after seven disastrous years of Barack Obama? And let me tell you what the answer better not be. It better not be Bernie Sanders. Bernie Sanders is a socialist. I think Bernie Sanders is good candidate for president of Sweden. We don't want to be Sweden. We want to be the United States of America. And Hillary Clinton, Hillary Clinton is disqualified from being the commander-in-chief of the United States. In fact, one of her first acts as president may very well be to pardon herself because Hillary Clinton... Hillary Clinton stored classified information on her private server. And Hillary Clinton lied to the families of those four brave Americans who lost their life in Benghazi. And anyone who lies to the families of Americans who have died in the service of this country can never be commander-in-chief of the United States. +p191 +aVYeah, I would encourage people to go on my website, marcorubio.com, and we'll put all the facts up there so people can see it for themselves. But you've just asked a very fundamental question about the role of faith in our country. And I think this is an important question. I think if you do not understand that our Judeo-Christian values are one of the reasons why America is such a special country, you don't understand our history. You see, why are we one of the most generous people in the world \u2014 no, the most generous people in the world? Why do Americans contribute millions of dollars to charity? It is not because of the tax writeoff. It is because in this nation, we are influenced by Judeo-Christian values that teach us to care for the less fortunate, to reach out to the needy, to love our neighbor. This is what's made our nation so special. And you should hope that our next president is someone that is influence by their faith. Because if your faith causes you to care for the less fortunate, it is something you want to see in your public figures. And when I'm president, I can tell you this, my faith will not just influence the way I'll govern as president, it will influence the way I live my life. Because in the end, my goal is not simply to live on this earth for 80 years, but to live an eternity with my creator. And I will always allow my faith to influence everything I do. +p192 +aVWell, let me first describe Iran because they're not just a normal nation state. And we have no quarrel with the Iranian people. But the Iranian leader, their supreme leader is a radical Shia cleric who has an apocalyptic vision of the future. He views himself not simply as the leader of Iran, but as the leader of all Muslims \u2014 all Shia Muslims on the planet. And they have a desire not simply to conquer the Middle East and to become the dominant power in that region, but ultimately to be able to hold America hostage. That is why they're building an \u2014 right now, developing long- range missiles capable of reaching the United States, and that is why there's going \u2014 they're going to use those $100 billion to expand their conventional capabilities and to one day buy or build a nuclear weapon. We will \u2014 when I am president of the United States, on my first day in office, we are canceling the deal with Iran, and nations will have to make a choice. They can do business with Iran, or they can do business with America, and I am very confident they're going to choose America before they choose the Iranian economy. +p193 +aVThe bible commands us to let our light shine on the world. For over 200 years, America's light has been shining on the world and the world has never been the same again. But now, that light is dimming a little, after seven years of Barack Obama. And that's why Monday night, what will happen here in Iowa is so important. I'm asking you for your vote. Caucus for me on Monday night because if I am your nominee, I will unite this party and I will defeat Hillary Clinton and when I'm president, America's light will shine again and the 21 century will be a new American century. +p194 +aVYeah, I would go, first of all, one step further in this description of Hillary Clinton. She wouldn't just be a disaster, Hillary Clinton is disqualified from being commander in chief of the United States. Someone who cannot handle intelligence information appropriately cannot be commander in chief and someone who lies to the families of those four victims in Benghazi can never be president of the United States. Ever. On the issue of Barack Obama, Barack Obama does not believe that America is a great global power. Barack Obama believes that America is a arrogant global power that needs to be cut down to size. And that's how you get a foreign policy where we cut deals with our enemies like Iran and we betray our allies like Israel and we gut our military and we go around the world like he has done on 10 separate occasions and apologized for America. He doesn't understand the threat in +p195 +aVLet me . I was invoked in that question, so let me just say \u2014 in that answer \u2014 let me say, the real question here, I hate to interrupt this episode of Court TV. But the real \u2014 but I think we have to get back to what this election has to be about. OK? Listen, we \u2014 this is the greatest country in the history of mankind. But in 2008, we elected a president that didn't want to fix America. He wants to change America. We elected a president that doesn't believe in the Constitution. He undermines it. We elected a president that is weakening America on the global stage. We elected a president that doesn't believe in the free enterprise system. This election has to be about reversing all of that damage. That's why I'm running for office because when I become president of the United States, on my first day in office we are going to repeal every single one of his unconstitutional executive orders. When I'm president of the United States we are getting rid of Obamacare and we are rebuilding our military. And when I'm president, we're not just going to have a president that gives a State of the Union and says America is the greatest country in the world. When I'm president, we're going to have a president that acts like it. +p196 +aVYou know, as I said already twice in this , we have a very serious problem in this country. We have a president of the United States that is undermining this country's security and expanding the role of... +p197 +aVWell, I am going to answer your question, Neil. He is \u2014 this president is undermining the constitutional basis of this government. This president is undermining our military. He is undermining our standing in the world. I like Chris Christie, but we can not afford to have a president of the United States that supports Common Core. We can not afford to have a president of the United States that supports gun control. This president, this president is more interested in funding \u2014 less interested in funding the military, than he is in funding planned \u2014 he's more interested in funding Planned Parenthood than he is in funding the military. Chris Christie wrote a check to Planned Parenthood. All I'm saying is our next president has to be someone that undoes the damage Barack Obama has done to this country. It can not be someone that agrees with his agenda. Because the damage he has done to America is extraordinary. Let me tell you, if we don't get this election right, there may be no turning back for America. We're on the verge of being the first generation of Americans that leave our children worse off than ourselves. So I just truly, with all my heart belief, I like everybody on the stage. No one is a socialist. No one here is under FBI investigation. So we have a good group of people. +p198 +aVOur next president... +p199 +aVUnfortunately, Governor Christie has endorsed many of the ideas that Barack Obama supports, whether it is Common Core or gun control or the appointment of Sonia Sotomayor or the donation he made to Planned Parenthood. Our next president, and our Republican nominee can not be someone who supports those positions. +p200 +aVThat sounds like people are afraid the president's going to take their guns away. Look, the Second Amendment is not an option. It is not a suggestion. It is a constitutional right of every American to be able to protect themselves and their families. I am convinced that if this president could confiscate every gun in America, he would. I am convinced that this president, if he could get rid of the Second Amendment, he would. I am convinced because I see how he works with his attorney general, not to defend the Second Amendment, but to figure out ways to undermine it. I have seen him appoint people to our courts not to defend the Second Amendment, but to figure out ways to undermine it. Here's my second problem. None of these instances that the president points to as the reason why he's doing these things would have been preventive. You know why? Because criminals don't buy their guns from a gun show. They don't buy their guns from a collector. And they don't buy their guns from a gun store. They get \u2014 they steal them. They get them on the black market. And let me tell you, +p201 +aVAbout every two weeks, he holds a press conference talking about how he can't wait to restrict people's access to guns. He has never defended......I'll give you a fact. Well, let me tell you this. Do you remember when he ran for president of the United States, and he was a candidate, and he went and said, "These Americans with traditional values, they are bitter people, and they cling to their guns and to their religion." That tells you right away where he was headed on all of this. This president every chance he has ever gotten has tried to undermine the Second Amendment. He doesn't meet \u2014 here's the difference. When he meets with the attorney general in the White House, it's not "how can we protect the Second Amendment rights of Americans." It's "give me options on how I can make it harder for law-abiding people to buy guns." That will never happen when I am president of the United States. +p202 +aVWell, first of all, let's understand why we are even having this and why Donald tapped in to some of that anger that's out there about this whole issue. Because this president has consistently underestimated the threat of +p203 +aVBut on this point, if I may add something on this point. We are all frustrated with what China is doing. I think we need to be very careful with tariffs, and here's why. China doesn't pay the tariff, the buyer pays the tariff. If you send a tie or a shirt made in China into the United States and an American goes to buy it at the store and there's a tariff on it, it gets passed on in the price to price to the consumer. So I think the better approach, the best thing we can do to protect ourselves against China economically is to make our economy stronger, which means reversing course from all the damage Barack Obama is doing to this economy. It begins with tax reform. Let's not have the most expensive business tax rate in the world. Let's allow companies to immediately expense. It continues with regulatory reform. Regulations in this country are out of control, especially the Employment Prevention Agency, the EPA, and all of the rules they continue to impose on our economy and hurting us. How about Obamacare, a certified job killer? It needs to be repealed and replaced. And we need to bring our debt under control, make our economy stronger. That is the way to deal with China at the end of the day. +p204 +aVWell, first let me address the tax issue because it's related to the entitlement issue and I want to thank you for holding a substantive debates where we can have debates about these key issues on taxes. Here is the one thing I'm not going to do. I'm not going to have something that Ted described in his tax plan. It's called the value added tax. And it's a tax you find in many companies in Europe. Where basically, businesses now will have to pay a tax, both on the money they make, but they also have to pay taxes on the money that they pay their employees. And that's why they have it in Europe, because it is a way to blindfolded the people, that's what Ronald Reagan said. Ronald Regan opposed the value tax because he said it was a way to blindfold the people, so the true cost of government was not there there for them. Now, you can support one now that's very low. But what is to prevent a future liberal president or a liberal Congress from coming back and not just raising the income tax, but also raising that VAT tax, and that vat tax is really bad for seniors. Because seniors, if they are retired, are no longer earning an income from a job. And therefore, they don't get the income tax break, but their prices are going to be higher, because the vat tax is embedded in both the prices that business that are charging and in the wages they pay their employees. When I am president of the United States, I'm going to side with Ronald Regan on this and not Nancy Pelosi and we are not having a vat tax. +p205 +aVBut that's not an accurate description of the plan. Because, first of all, you may rename the IRS but you are not going to abolishes the IRS, because there has to be some agency that's going to collect your vat tax. Someone's going to be collecting this tax. In fact, Ronald Reagan's treasury, when Ronald Reagan's treasury looked at the vat tax, you know what they found? That they were going to have to hire 20,000 new IRS agencies to collect it. The second point, it does not eliminate the corporate tax or the payroll tax. Businesses will now have to pay 16 percent on the money they make. They will also have to pay 16 percent on the money they pay their employees. So there are people watching tonight in business. If you are now hit on a 60 percent tax on both your income and on the wages you pay your employees, where are you going to get that money from? You're going to get it by paying your employees less and charging your customers more, that is a tax, the difference is, you don't see it on the bill. And that's why Ronald Reagan said that it was a blindfold. You blindfold the American people so that they cannot see the true cost of government. Now 16 percent is what the rate Ted wants it at. But what happens if, God forbid, the next Barack Obama takes over, and the next Nancy Pelosi, and the next Harry Reid......and they decide, we're going to raise it to 30 percent, plus we're going to raise the income tax to 30 percent. Now, you've got Europe. +p206 +aVIf you'll answer the core question. +p207 +aVWell, first of all, this is an issue that's been debated now for 30 years. And for 30 years, the issue of immigration has been about someone who's in this country, maybe they're here illegally, but they're looking for a job. This issue is not about that anymore. First and foremost, this issue has to be now more than anything else about keeping America safe. And here's why. There is a radical jihadist group that is manipulating our immigration system. And not just green cards. They're looking \u2014 they're recruiting people that enter this country as doctors and engineers and even fiances. They understand the vulnerabilities we have on the southern border. They're looking \u2014 they're looking to manipulate our \u2014 the visa waiver countries to get people into the United States. So our number one priority must now become ensuring that +p208 +aVThe issue is a dramatically different issue than it was 24 months ago. Twenty-four months ago, 36 months ago, you did not have a group of radical crazies named +p209 +aVMaria, let me clear something up here. This is an interesting point when you talk about immigration. Ted Cruz, you used to say you supported doubling the number of green cards, now you say that you're against it. You used to support a 500 percent increase in the number of guest workers, now you say that you're against it. You used to support legalizing people that were here illegally, now you say you're against it. You used to say that you were in favor of birthright citizenship, now you say that you are against it. And by the way, it's not just on immigration, you used to support TPA, now you say you're against it. I saw you on the Senate floor flip your vote on crop insurance because they told you it would help you in Iowa, and last week, we all saw you flip your vote on ethanol in Iowa for the same reason. That is not consistent conservatism, that is political calculation. When I am president, I will work consistently every single day to keep this country safe, not call Edward Snowden, as you did, a great public servant. Edward Snowden is a traitor. And if I am president and we get our hands on him, he is standing trial for treason. And one more point, one more point. Every single time that there has been a Defense bill in the Senate, three people team up to vote against it. Bernie Sanders, Rand Paul and Ted Cruz. In fact, the only budget you have ever voted for, Ted, in your entire time in the Senate is a budget from Rand Paul that brags about how it cuts defense. Here's the bottom line, and I'll close with this. If I'm president of the United States and Congress tries to cut the military, I will veto that in a millisecond. +p210 +aVNo, it's your record. +p211 +aVYou know, 200 years ago, America was founded on this powerful principle that our rights don't come from government. Our rights come from God. That's why we embraced free enterprise, and it made us the most prosperous people in the history of the world. That's why we embraced individual liberty, and we became the freest people ever, and the result was the American miracle. But now as I travel the country, people say what I feel. This country is changing. It feels different. We feel like we're being left behind and left out. And the reason is simple: because in 2008, we elected as president someone who wasn't interested in fixing America. We elected someone as president who wants to change America, who wants to make it more like the rest of the world. And so he undermines the Constitution, and he undermines free enterprise by expanding government, and he betrays our allies and cuts deals with our enemies and guts our military. And that's why 2016 is a turning point in our history. If we elect Hillary Clinton, the next four years will be worse than the last eight, and our children will be the first Americans ever to inherit a diminished country. But if we elect the right person \u2014 if you elect me \u2014 we will turn this country around, we will reclaim the American dream and this nation will be stronger and greater than it has ever been. +p212 +aVThank you Wolf. It's really amazing to be back in Las Vegas. I spent six years as a child growing not far from where we stand tonight. I use to sit on the porch of our home and listen to my grandfather tell stories as he smoked one of three daily cigars. One of the things my grandfather instilled in me, was that I was really blessed because I was a citizen of the greatest country in the history of our mankind. But there have always been people in American politics that wanted America to be more like the rest of the world. And In 2008, one of them was elected president of this country and the result has been a disaster. Today you have millions of Americans that feel left out and out of place in their own country, struggling to live paycheck to paycheck, called bigots because they hold on to traditional values. And around the world, America's influence has declined while this president has destroyed our military, our allies no longer trust us, and our adversaries no longer respect us. And that is why this election is so important. That is why I'm running for president. And that's why I'm going to ask you for your vote tonight. If you elect me president, we will have a president that believes America is the greatest country in the world and we will have a president that acts like it. +p213 +aVWell, I understand why they feel that way, because this president hasn't kept us safe. The problem is we had an attack in San Bernardino. And we were paying attention to the most important issue we have faced in a decade since 9/11, and then all the talk was about this proposal, which isn't going to happen. But this is what's important to do is we must deal frontally with this threat of radical Islamists, especially from +p214 +aVHe is and so are those that voted for it. There were some that voted for it because they wanted to keep it alive and they were afraid the whole program would expire. Here's the world we live in. This is a radical jihadist group that is increasingly sophisticated in its ability, for example, to radicalize American citizens, in its inability to exploit loopholes in our legal immigration system, in its ability to capture and hold territory in the Middle East, as I outlined earlier, in multiple countries. This is not just the most capable, it is the most sophisticated terror threat we have ever faced. We are now at a time when we need more tools, not less tools. And that took we lost, the metadata program, was a valuable tool that we no longer have at our disposal. +p215 +aVDana, may I interject here? +p216 +aVLet me be very careful when answering this, because I don't think national television in front of 15 million people is the place to discuss classified information. So let me just be very clear. There is nothing that we are allowed to do under this bill that we could not do before. This bill did, however, take away a valuable tool that allowed the National Security Agency and other law \u2014 and other intelligence agencies to quickly and rapidly access phone records and match them up with other phone records to see who terrorists have been calling. Because I promise you, the next time there is attack on \u2014 an attack on this country, the first thing people are going to want to know is, why didn't we know about it and why didn't we stop it? And the answer better not be because we didn't have access to records or information that would have allowed us to identify these killers before they attacked. +p217 +aVI want to thank Rand for another 30 seconds, because, number one, what he's pointing to is a bill last week that \u2014 amendment that he voted for that only 10 people voted for. You know why? Because it's not focused on terrorists. It would have banned anyone from coming here. Someone from Taiwan would not have been able to come here as a tourist. Number two, this program, this metadata program is actually more strict than what a regular law enforcement agency has now. If a regular law enforcement agency wants your phone records, all they have to do is issue a subpoena. But now the intelligence agency is not able to quickly gather records and look at them to see who these terrorists are calling. And the terrorists that attacked us in San Bernardino was an American citizen, born and raised in this country. And I bet you we wish we would have had access to five years of his records so we could see who he was working with... +p218 +aVDo I get another 30 seconds? He mentioned me. +p219 +aVWell, let me begin by saying that we have to understand who +p220 +aVThat is accurate. Three times he voted against the Defense Authorization Act, which is a bill that funds the troops. It also, by the way, funds the Iron Dome and other important programs. And I have to assume that if you vote against it in the Senate, you would also veto it as president. He has also supported, by the way, a budget that is called the containment budget. And it is a budget that would radically reduce the amount of money we spend on our military. You can't carpet bomb +p221 +aVYes, let me \u2014 three points of distinction. The first is, if you're an American citizen and you decide to join up with +p222 +aVWell, they most certainly will have to be worked on to provide more than what they are doing now. There's no doubt about it. And there's one \u2014 one major reason why they have not been willing to be a broader part of the coalition, and that is they have lost complete trust and confidence in this president. This president cut a deal with their moral enemy, the Shia, in Iran. And this is the reason why they no longer trust this president and are willing to work alongside them. But they have as much invested in this as we do. In fact, more so, for it is the king of Saudi Arabia they want to behead first. It's the king of Jordan that they want to dethrone. It's the \u2014 they want to go into Egypt the way they've already gone into Libya. And on another point that we need to talk about, Assad is one of the main reasons why +p223 +aVTo begin with, Moammar Gadhafi and the revolt against Gadhafi was not started by the United States. It was started by the Libyan people. And the reason why I argued we needed to get involved is because he was going to go one way or the other. And my argument then was proven true, and that is, the longer that civil war took, the more militias would be formed and the more unstable the country would be after the fact. As far as Moammar Gadhafi is concerned, by the way, Moammar Gadhafi is the man that killed those Americans over Lockerbie, Scotland. Moammar Gadhafi is also the man that bombed that cafe in Berlin and killed those Marines. And you want to know why Moammar Gadhafi started cooperating on his nuclear program? Because we got rid of Saddam Hussein. And so he got scared that he would be next, and that's why he started cooperating. Look, we will have to work around the world with less than ideal governments. The government in Saudi Arabia is not a democracy, but we will have to work with them. The government in Jordan is not perfect, but we will have to work with them. But anti-American dictators like Assad, who help Hezbollah, who helped get those IEDs into Iraq, if they go, I will not shed a tear. +p224 +aVYeah. Immigration is not an issue that I read about in the newspaper or watch a documentary on PBS or CNN. It's an issues I've lived around my whole life. My family are immigrants. My wife's family are immigrants. All of my neighbors are immigrants. I see every aspect of this problem. The good, the bad, and the ugly. And here's what we learned in 2013. The American people don't trust the Federal Government to enforce our immigration laws, and we will not be able to do anything on immigration until we first prove to the American people that illegal immigration is under control. And we can do that. We know what it takes to do that. It takes at least 20,000 more additional border agents. It takes completing those 700 miles of fencing. It takes a mandatory e-verify system and a mandatory entry/exit tracking system to prevent overstays. After we have done that, the second thing we have to do is reform and modernize the legal immigration system. And after we have done those two things, I think the American people are gonna be reasonable with what do you do with someone who has been in this country for 10 or 12 years who hasn't otherwise violated our laws \u2014 because if they're a criminal they can't stay. They'll have to undergo a background check, pay a fine, start paying taxes. And ultimately, they'll given a work permit and that's all they're gonna be allowed to have for at least 10 years. But you can't get to that third step until you have done the other two things, and that was the lesson we learned in 2013. There is no trust that the Federal Government will enforce the law. They will not support you until you see it done first. +p225 +aVBut I've answered that question repeatedly. I am personally open \u2014 after all that has happened and after ten years in that probationary status where all they have is a permit, I personally am open to allowing people to apply for a green card. That may not be a majority position in my party, but that's down the road. You can't even begin that process until you prove to people \u2014 not just pass a law that says you're gonna bring illegal immigration under control. You're gonna have to do it and prove to people that it's working. And that was the lesson of 2013. And it's more true today, than it was then. After a migratory crisis on the border with minors coming over that you're seeing start up again now, after all these executive orders the President has issued. More than ever we need to... +p226 +aV... prove to people that illegal immigration is under control. +p227 +aVYeah, a couple points. In 2013 we had never faced a crisis like the Syrian refugee crisis now. Up until that point, a refugee meant someone fleeing oppression, fleeing Communism like it is in my community. As far as Ted's record, I'm always puzzled by his attack on this issue. Ted, you support legalizing people who are in this country illegally. Ted Cruz supported a 500-percent increase in the number of H-1 visas, the guest workers that are allowed into this country, and Ted supports doubling the number of green cards. So I think what's important for us to understand and there is a way forward on this issue that we an bring our country together on. And while I'm president I will do it. And it will begin by bringing illegal immigration under control and proving to the American people. +p228 +aVNo, no, give him time. +p229 +aVTed, do you... +p230 +aVDid Ted Cruz fight to support legalizing people that are in this country illegally? +p231 +aVDoes Ted Cruz rule out ever legalizing people that are in this country now? +p232 +aVWould you rule it out? +p233 +aVWell, he's just admitted \u2014 as he's just admitted, the reason why those refugees were allowed in was because they messed up in how they used the actual database. They should have know. They didn't because they didn't run the actual law as it exists now. It didn't work well. As far as the refugees are concerned, it's not that America doesn't want to accept refugees, Wolf. It's that we may not be able to, because this is an issue we have to be 100 percent right on. If we allow 9,999 Syrian refugees into the United States, and all of them are good people, but we allow one person in who's an +p234 +aVI do. First, let's explain to people at home who the triad \u2014 what the triad is. Maybe a lot of people haven't heard that terminology before. The triad is our ability of the United States to conduct nuclear attacks using airplanes, using missiles launched from silos or from the ground, and also from our nuclear subs' ability to attack. And it's important \u2014 all three of them are critical. It gives us the ability at deterrence. Now, some have become more critical than others; for example, the submarines. And that's the Ohio Class submarine that needs to be modernized. The air component also needs to be modernized. The B-52, as someone earlier pointed out, is an outdated model that was flown by the grandparents of people that are flying it now. And we need a serious modernization program as well on our silo-launched missiles. All three are critical for the defense of the country. +p235 +aVThank you. As we near the end of this year, we enter one of the most important elections in a generation. For what's at stake in this election is not simply what party's going to be in charge. But our very identity as a people and as a nation. For over 200 years this has been a special country. A unique place where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything. But now millions of Americans feel like they're being left behind. Insecure in their future and unsafe in the face of terrorism. This election is about electing a president that will restore our economic vibrancy so that the American dream can expand to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And rebuild our Military and our intelligence programs so that we can remain the strongest nation on earth. Tonight I ask you for your vote. If you do this, we will rebuild this country, and together we will usher in a new American century \u2014 the greatest era in the history of this great land. +p236 +aVWell, let me begin by answering both the first question and this one, because they're related. As I've said many times before, my parents were never rich people. My father was a bartender. My mother was a maid. They worked for a living. But they were successful people, because, despite the fact that they weren't well educated and had those jobs, they made enough money to buy a home in a safe and stable neighborhood, retire with dignity, leave all four of their children better off than themselves. We call that the American dream, but in fact, it's a universal dream of a better life that people have all over the world. It is a reminder that every country in the world has rich people. What makes America special is that we have millions and millions of people that are not rich, that through hard work and perseverance are able to be successful. The problem is that today people are not successful working as hard as ever because the economy is not providing jobs that pay enough. If I thought that raising the minimum wage was the best way to help people increase their pay, I would be all for it, but it isn't. In the 20th century, it's a disaster. If you raise the minimum wage, you're going to make people more expensive than a machine. And that means all this automation that's replacing jobs and people right now is only going to be accelerated. Here's the best way to raise wages. Make America the best place in the world to start a business or expand an existing business, tax reform and regulatory reform, bring our debt under control, fully utilize our energy resources so we can reinvigorate manufacturing, repeal and replace Obamacare, and make higher education faster and easier to access, especially vocational training. For the life of me, I don't know why we have stigmatized vocational education. Welders make more money than philosophers. We need more welders and less philosophers. If we do that \u2014 and if we do this \u2014 if we do this, we will be able to increase wages for millions of Americans and we will be able to leave everyone better off without making anyone worse off. +p237 +aVWell, you know, that's an excellent question, because what we are going through in this country is not simply an economic downturn. We are living through a massive economic transformation. I mean, this economy is nothing like what it was like five years ago, not to mention 15 or 20 years ago. And it isn't just a different economy. It's changing faster than ever. You know, it took the telephone 75 years to reach 100 million users. It took Candy Crush one year to reach some 100 million users. So the world is changing faster than ever, and it is disruptive. Number one, we are in a global competition now, and several of the candidates have said that. There are now dozens of developed economies on this planet that we have to compete with. And we lose that competition because we have the highest business tax rate in the industrialized world, because we have regulations that continue to grow by the billions every single week, because we have a crazy health care law that discourages companies from hiring people, but because we're not fully utilizing our energy resources, that if we did, it would bring back all kinds of growth, especially in manufacturing, and because we have an outdated higher education system. Our higher education system is completely outdated. It is too expensive, too hard to access, and it doesn't teach 21st century skills. If we do what needs to be done \u2014 tax reform, regulatory reform, fully utilize our energy resources, repeal and replace Obamacare, and modernize higher education, then we can grasp the potential and the promise of this new economy. And we won't just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And then truly this new century can be a new American century. +p238 +aVThe most important job I'm ever going to have, the most important job anyone in this room will ever have, is the job of being a parent. Not the job of being president, or the job of being a senator, or the job of being a congressman. The most important job any of us will ever do is the job of being a president (sic), because the most important institution in society is the family. If the family breaks down, society breaks down. You can't have a strong nation without strong values, and no one is born with strong values. They have to be taught to you in strong families and reinforced in you in strong communities. And so when we set out to do tax reform, we endeavor to have a pro-family tax code, and we endeavor to do it because we know how difficult it is for families in the 21st century to afford the cost of living. It is expensive to raise children in the 21st century, and families that are raising children are raising the future taxpayers of the United States, and everything costs more. In 35 out of 50 states, child care costs more than college. There are millions of people watching this broadcast tonight that understand exactly what I'm talking about. They don't know how they're going to make that payment every month, and if they can't make it, they can't work, because someone needs to watch their kids during the day. They don't know how they're going to save for their kids' future, to go to college. And so, yes, I have a child tax credit increase, and I'm proud of it. I am proud that I have a pro-family tax code, because the pro- family tax plan I have will strengthen the most important institution in the \u2014 in the country, the family. +p239 +aVNow I get my 60 seconds to respond. He's talking about my tax plan. +p240 +aVSo let me begin with this. I actually believe \u2014 first of all, this is their money. They do pay. It is refundable, not just against the taxes they pay to the government, but also the \u2014 on their federal income tax, it's refundable against the payroll tax. Everyone pays payroll tax. This is their money. This is not our money. And here's what I don't understand \u2014 if you invest that money in a piece of equipment, if you invest that money in a business, you get to write it off your taxes. But if you invest it in your children, in the future of America and strengthening your family, we're not going to recognize that in our tax code? The family is the most important institution in society. And, yes... +p241 +aV... I do want to rebuild the American military. +p242 +aVI know that Rand is a committed isolationist. I'm not. I believe the world is a stronger and a better place, when the United States is the strongest military power in the world. +p243 +aVBecause... +p244 +aV...are you talking about the military, Rand? +p245 +aVWe can't even have an economy if we're not safe. There are radical jihadist in the Middle East beheading people and crucifying Christians. A radical Shia cleric in Iran trying to get a nuclear weapon, the Chinese taking over the South China Sea... ...Yes, I believe the world is a safer \u2014 no, no, I don't believe, I know that the world is a safer place when America is the strongest military power in the world. +p246 +aVYou know, if I may respond... +p247 +aVI need to add a couple of points to this. The first is, I've never met Vladimir Putin, but I know enough about him to know he is a gangster. He is basically an organized crime figure that runs a country, controls a $2 trillion economy. And is using to build up his military in a rapid way despite the fact his economy is a disaster. He understands only geopolitical strength. And every time he has acted anywhere in the world, whether it's in Ukraine or Georgia before that, or now in the Middle East, it's because he is trusting in weakness. His calculation in the Middle East is that he has seen what this president has done, which is nothing, the president has no strategy, our allies in the region do not trust us. For goodness sake, there is only one pro-American free enterprise democracy in the Middle East, it is the state of Israel. And we have a president that treats the prime minister of Israel with less respect than what he gives the ayatollah in Iran. And so our allies in the region don't trust us. Vladimir Putin is exploiting that weakness, for purposes of edging the Americans out as the most important geopolitical power broker in the region. And we do have a vested interest. And here's why. Because all those radical terrorist groups that, by the way, are not just in Syria and in Iraq, +p248 +aVCan I just add what \u2014 he's right on point there. Do you know why these banks are so big? The government made them big. The government made them big by adding thousands and thousands of pages of regulations. So the big banks, they have an army of lawyers, they have an army of compliance officers. They can deal with all these things. The small banks, like Governor Bush was saying, they can't deal with all these regulations. They can't deal with all \u2014 they cannot hire the fanciest law firm in Washington or the best lobbying firm to deal with all these regulations. And so the result is, the big banks get bigger, the small banks struggle to lend or even exist, and the result is what you have today. And in Dodd-Frank, you have actually codified too big to fail. We have actually created a category of systemically important institutions, and these banks go around bragging about it. You know what they say to people with a wink and a nod? We are so big, we are so important that if we get in trouble, the government has to bail us out. This is an outrage. We need to repeal Dodd-Frank as soon as possible. +p249 +aVWell, that's a great question, and let me begin by answering it. This election is about the future, about what kind of country this nation is gonna be in the 21st century. This next (ph) election is actually a generational choice. A choice about what kind of nation we will be in the 21st century. For over 2.5 centuries, America's been a special country, the one place on earth where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything, a nation that's been a force for good on this planet. But now, a growing number of Americans feel out of place in their own country. We have a society that stigmatizes those that hold cultural values that are traditional. We have a society where people \u2014 millions of people \u2014 are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, but they're living paycheck to paycheck because the economy has changed underneath their feet. We have young Americans who owe thousands of dollars in student loans for a degree that doesn't lead to a job. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses dying than starting, and around the world, every day brings news of a new humiliation for America \u2014 many the direct response \u2014 direct consequence of decisions made when Hillary Clinton was the secretary of the \u2014 of state. And so here's the truth: this election is about the future, and the Democratic Party, and the political left has no ideas about the future. All their ideas are the same, tired ideas of the past. More government, more spending. For every issue for America, their answer is a new tax on someone, and a new government program. This nation is going to turn the page, and that's what this election should be about, and, as I said at the first debate... ...If I am our nominee, they will be the party of the past, we will be the party of the 21st century. +p250 +aVOurs \u2014 the story of America is an extraordinary story. It is the story of a nation that for over two centuries each generation has left the next better off than themselves. But now, because Washington is out of touch, for the fault of both political parties, for the first time in our history, that is in doubt. And that is what this election must be about, because if the next four years are anything like the last eight years, our children will be the first Americans ever left worse off by their parents. This election is about making a different choice, about applying our principles of limited government and free enterprise to the unique issues of our time. And if we do, we will not just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And the 21st century can be a new American century. So tonight, I ask you for your vote and I ask you to join us at my website, marcorubio.com. +p251 +asVKASICH +p252 +(lp253 +VWell, John, first of all, if I were president, we wouldn't have the divisions in the country we have today. I do want to take a second as we reflected on Judge Scalia, it's amazing \u2014 it's not even two minutes after the death of Judge Scalia, nine children here today, their father didn't wake up. His wife, sad, but I just wish we hadn't run so fast into politics. Here's my concern about this. The country is so divided right now, and now we're going to see another partisan fight take place. I really wish the president would think about not nominating somebody. If you were to nominate somebody, let's have him pick somebody that's going to have unanimous approval, and such widespread approval across the country that this could happen without a lot of recrimination. I don't think that's going to happen, and I would like the president just to, for once here, put the country first. We're going to have an election for president very soon, and the people will understand what is at stake in that election. And so I believe the president should not move forward, and I think that we ought to let the next president of the United States decide who is going to run that Supreme Court with a vote by the people of the United......States of America. +p254 +aVFirst of all \u2014 yes. First of all, look, we have to make it clear to Russia what we expect. We don't have to declare an enemy, rattle a sword or threaten, but we need to make it clear what we expect. No. 1 is we will arm the folks in Ukraine who are fighting for their freedom. They deserve it. There will be no ifs, ands or buts about it. Secondly, an attack on +p255 +aVI've got to tell you, this is just crazy, huh? This is just nuts, O.K.? Jeez, oh, man. I'm sorry, John. +p256 +aVOh, well, listen, I think being in Iraq, look, we thought there were weapons of mass destruction. Colin Powell, who is one of the most distinguished generals in modern time, said there were weapons there. But, but, the fact is we got ourselves in the middle of a civil war. The Sunni, the Shia and the Kurds, never gotten along. In fact, that country was drawn \u2014 the borders of that country were drawn after World War I by Westerners that didn't understand what was happening there. The tragedy of it is that we're still embroiled. And, frankly, if there weren't weapons of mass destruction, we should never have gone. I don't believe the United States should involve itself in civil wars. Civil wars are not in our direct interest, and if you \u2014 and look, I served on a defense committee for 18 years and was called into the Pentagon after 9/11 by Secretary Rumsfeld to deal with some of the most serious problems that we faced. The fact is, is that we should go to war when it is our direct interest. We should not be policemen of the world, but when we go, we mean business. We'll do our job. We'll tell our soldiers, our people in the service, take care of your job and then come home once we've accomplished our goals. That's what we need to do. +p257 +aVYeah. Well, first of all, those numbers, incorrect. We are \u2014 our Medicaid programs are coming in below cost estimates, and our Medicaid program in the second year grew at 2.5 percent. And Kimberley, let me tell you, when we expand Medicaid and we treat the mentally ill, then they don't live under a bridge or live in a prison, where they cost $22,500 a year. When we take the drug addicted and we treat them in the prisons, we stop the revolving door of people in and out of prisons, and we save $22,500 a year. Guess what else? They get their lives back. And the working poor, they're now getting health care. And you know that about a third of the people who are now getting that health care are people who are suffering very serious illnesses, particularly cancer. So, what I would tell you is, we've gone from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. We've cut taxes by more than any governor in America by $5 billion. We have grown the number of jobs by 400,000 private-sector jobs since I've been governor. Our credit is strong. Our pensions are strong. And frankly, we leave no one behind. Economic growth is not an end unto itself. We want everyone to rise, and we will make them personally responsible for the help that they get. And that is exactly the program we're driving in Ohio. And, boy, people ought to look at Ohio, because it has got a good formula. +p258 +aVYeah, let me say a couple of things. First of all, when Jeb was governor, his first four years as governor, he expand \u2014 his Medicaid program grew twice as fast as mine. O.K.? It's just a fact. Now, with Obamacare, I've not only sued the administration, I did not set up an exchange. And he knows that I'm not for Obamacare, never have been. But here's what's interesting about Medicaid. You know who expanded Medicaid five times to try to help the folks and give them opportunity so that you could rise and get a job? President Ronald Reagan. Now, the fact of the matter is, we expanded to get people on their feet, and once they're on their feet, we are giving them the training and the efforts that they need to be able to get work and pull out of that situation. +p259 +aVThat's what we're doing in our state. +p260 +aVLet me \u2014 let's tell you... +p261 +aVMajor \u2014 Major, we can't \u2014 we've got to \u2014 look, I have got to correct the record. And the fact of the matter is, we went from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. We're up 400,000 jobs. Our credit is rock solid. And I don't know... +p262 +aVLook, the bottom line is the people of this \u2014 of this country and this state want to see everybody rise, and they want to see unity, and I don't want to get into all this fighting tonight, because people are frankly sick of the negative campaigning. +p263 +aVAnd I'm going to stay positive about what I want to do from the... +p264 +aVBefore I get to that, this is the ninth or 10th debate. What I've been watching here, this back and forth, and these attacks, some of them are personal. I think we're fixing to lose the election to Hillary Clinton if we don't stop this. I mean, the fact is \u2014 you know what? I would suggest, why don't we take off all the negative ads and all the negative comments down from television and let us just talk about what we're for, and let's sell that, and the Republican Party will be stronger as a result... +p265 +aV... First of all, I'm for sealing the border, O.K.? And then I'm for a guest worker program. People can come in, work and go back home. We haven't closed the border because special interests, I believe, blocked it. Then, we have 11 and a half million people here. If they have not committed a crime since they've been here, make them pay a fine and some back taxes, and give them a path to legalization, never to citizenship. It is not going to happen that we're going to run around and try to drag 11 and a half million people out of their homes. I'll tell you this. Within the first hundred days, I will send a plan like this to the Congress of the United States, and if I'm president, I'll bet you dollar to doughnuts right now, it will pass. That is a reasonable proposal that the people of this country, in my judgment, will support, and so will the bulk of the Congress of the United States. +p266 +aVYou know, John, I think all people are the same. Look, I did 106 town halls, and I've been doing them left and right here in South Carolina. The first thing we have to do is grow the economy, and I know the formula because I was chairman in Washington when we balanced the budget and created so many jobs, and the same that we've been able to do in Ohio. You need common-sense regulations so small business can flourish, you need lower taxes both on business and individuals, and you need a fiscal plan to be able to get ourselves in a situation where people can predict a little bit about the future when it comes to the fiscal issues. And when you have that formula, combined with work force that's trained, you can explode the economy and create many jobs. I have done it twice, and I want to go back to Washington and do it again. John, the thing is, is I think that there are people now, these blue-collar Democrats \u2014 my dad was a blue-collar Democrat \u2014 the Democratic Party has left them. When they're arguing about being socialists, they've left \u2014 they have lost those blue-collar Democrats. And you know what I think they get out of me \u2014 is my sense of what they get out of me, and it's embarrassment about campaigns, you brag about yourself. But I think I'm a uniter, I think people sense it. I think they know I have the experience, and that I'm a man that can give people hope and a sense that they have the opportunity rise. And I'll tell you, I love these blue-collar Democrats, because they're going to vote for us come next fall, promise you that. +p267 +aVWell, I want to thank the people of South Carolina. You've been fantastic. And look, what I want you to know is I'm going to send a lot of power, money and influence back to where we all live. But as I've traveled around South Carolina, I've noticed something. You know, it's that people have a sense that you're not going to wait on a president. You know, when I was a kid, we didn't wait on presidents to come to that little blue-collar town and fix things. You know, the Lord made all of us special. The Lord wants us to be connected. I believe we're part of a very big mosaic. And I'll send the power back. And whoever gets elected president here, hopefully will take care of the issue of jobs and wages and Social Security and the border. But the spirit of the America rests in all of us. It's in our guts. It's taking care of our children. It's taking care of the lady next door who just lost her husband. It's fixing the schools where we live and telling kids to stay off drugs. You see, I think what the Lord wants is for to us engage, and in America, the spirit of America doesn't come from the top down. The spirit of America rests in us. And I want to call on everyone in America to double down and realize that you were made special to heal this country and lift it for everyone. Thank you all very much. And I hope I can have your vote in South Carolina. +p268 +aVWell, we've got to to step up the pressure. And by the way, I've gotta say, after being here, every one of my 100 town hall meetings in New Hampshire were a lot more fun than what I saw here today, were so much more positive. Look, in terms of North Korea, Martha, we have to make sure that we intercept both the ships and their aircraft, because what they're trying to do is to proliferate this very dangerous material, along with the \u2014 with the technology, the instruments that can be used for mass destruction. That's what I worry about the most, frankly, is non-state actors, people who don't have a uniform, people don't have a country, who can spread this, who are not subject to the \u2014 to the mutual assured defense. In other words, you strike us, we strike you. Some of these radicals, they don't care about that. That's what I worry about, for my children, and for their children, going forward. So, we have to be very tough. And we should tell the Chinese, look, if you're not going to do this ballistic missile defense to the Koreans, ballistic missile defense to Japan \u2014 and by the way, we should impose the same kind of sanctions on North Korea that we imposed on Iran, because they're able to shift money. They're able to send money and receive money. We've gotta to be very tough on this. And frankly, I think we could have \u2014 I think we could have let the Japanese know that if you want to take action on that \u2014 on that missile that's rising, you want to take action \u2014 you will have our support, if that's what you think is the best thing to do. We cannot continue to be weak in the face of the North Koreans, or, frankly, in the entire rest of the world. Martha, this is \u2014 this is the \u2014 relates... +p269 +aVWell, you know, David, I \u2014 I've just spent a lot of time here in this state, as I mentioned earlier, and we have to have practical solutions, just like we were just talking about a few minutes ago on North Korea. Look, the situation is, we need to finish the border. It has to be completed. Just like we lock our doors at night, the country has to be able to lock its doors. And we can have a guest worker program, where people can come in and out in an orderly way. And then for the 11.5 million that are here, if they have not committed a crime since they've been here, I believe they ought to pay some back taxes, pay a fine, never get on the path to citizenship, but get legalization. It is not \u2014 I couldn't even imagine how we would even begin to think about taking a mom or a dad out of a house when they have not committed a crime since they've been here, leaving their children in the house. I mean, that is not, in my opinion, the kind of values that we believe in. And secondly, I think at the end of the day, that Americans would support a plan like this. I think Congress would pass a plan to finish the border, guest worker, pay a fine, a path to legalization, and not citizenship. And we've got to get this done. And I will tell you this, within the first 100 days that I am president, I will put that proposal to the Congress. And I will tell you, as a former Congressman, and an executive, in Ohio, I can promise you that I believe you'll get the votes to pass that, and we can move on with that issue and protect our border. That's what I think. +p270 +aVGood evening. +p271 +aVWell, first of all, look. As the New York Times said, he's certainly not a moderate, but he can bring people together to solve problems. The fact of the matter is I've cut taxes more than anybody in the country this year. I have balanced budgets, the federal budget, the state of Ohio budget, we're running a $2 billion dollar surplus, we're up 400,000 jobs, and in Washington we were able to have significant job growth whenever we balanced the budget of which I was the architect. But, here's the beauty of it, it's not just balancing a budget, it's about jobs. You know, when I was kid growing up in a neighborhood where Dad went home at night and said, "I lost my job today", it just killed the family. It just was a devastating effect. We have to have economic growth, but once we have economic growth I believe we have to reach out to people who live in the shadows. I believe we need to help the mentally ill, the drug addicted, the working poor. We need to help the developmentally disabled to rise, and we need to help our friends in the minority community develop entrepreneurship. In other words, in American, conservatism should mean not only that some rise with conservative principles, but everybody has a chance to rise regardless of who they are so they can live their God given purpose. That's what conservatism should be. +p272 +aVDavid? +p273 +aVLook, I'm \u2014 I'm not here \u2014 I like Chris. +p274 +aVLet \u2014 but let me \u2014 let me just tell you. First of all, we have the lowest number of state employees in 30 years. Secondly, we have grown government at the rate of inflation. And I went from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. And we've grown jobs by 400,000 \u2014 that's one of the fastest growing states in the country. Our pensions are secure and our credit is rock solid. Now, I've learned that, what makes things work, what gets the economy going, not just in Ohio, but in Washington \u2014 and it's three things. Common sense regulations, which we have, lower taxes, which we have, the lowest taxes, tax cuts in the country. And thirdly, a fiscal plan to balance the budget. When you go from $8 billion in the hole to $2 billion in the black, when you cut taxes by $5 billion and you grow over 400,000 jobs, that is a record that I can take to Washington, using the same formula that I used in Washington when I was part of the effort to balance the budget to give us a surplus and to create jobs. +p275 +aVThat's what I did and I'll do it again in the first 100 days. +p276 +aVWell, right now the deals \u2014 there's no leadership. I mean, a lot of the things that we're talking about here tonight, on the border, and so many of the things. What we should be doing on foreign policy, you know what the problem is, Mary Katharine? There's not a leader that gets somebody to rise up. You have to have a leader that can inspire, and actually some of what Donald was saying is true. Look, do you know how hard it was... +p277 +aV... to get the balance the federal budget balanced? You have to plead with people. To do what we've done in Ohio, you have to plead with people, then you go back down to Washington and do the same thing. You see, we have to remind people we're Americans before we're Republicans and Democrats, and when we wait, and when we delay what we end up doing, Mary Katharine, is we make the United States weaker. In fact, it's a foreign policy issue because people look at America not solving problems and they say what are they doing over there? So the point is you have to work with people. The problem with executive authority for the president, it's really bad news for this reason. Since he's given up on working with Congress, he thinks he can impose anything he wants. He's not a king. He's a president. An executive order should be used frankly in consolidation and with consulting with the leadership in the \u2014 in the Congress. I've done it in Ohio. I consult. I could use executive orders, but I don't trump the legislature, because if you do, you aggravate them, you anger them and then the long-term prospects get bleak. We have to solve problems in America by coming together, Republicans and Democrats, Americans first, party and ideology second \u2014 in the second back seat of this country. That's what we need to do. And we can do it. And we can do it. +p278 +aVMary Katherine, let me just say this to you. You must have an agenda that you are ready to move on in the first 100 days. Jeb is right. If you delay and you wait, the Washington operators will take you down. I can tell you this, in the first 100 days, I will have legislation to freeze federal regulations, have them reviewed by the vice president, reduce state taxes on individuals, reduce taxes on corporations, have a fiscal plan to balance the budget, get the border protected and begin to fix Social Security in the first 100 days. So, anybody who is here tonight, if I get elected president, head out tomorrow and buy a seat belt, because there's going to be so much happening in the first 100 days, it's going to make your head spin. We're going to move America forward. I promise you. We're going to move us forward. +p279 +aVJeb mentioned me. Time for me to go again. +p280 +aVHe says he didn't mention me the second time. I thought I heard it, Jeb. No. I'm just kidding. Thank you all very much for listening and being patient with all of us tonight. Thank you. +p281 +aVDavid, David... +p282 +aVI wanted \u2014 I wanted to say, look, this \u2014 there can be a win-win here. I have formed a collaborative between police and community leaders because people have to respect law enforcement. A family doesn't want dad or mom going home in a box. And for our community leaders, many of them think the system not only works \u2014 not only doesn't work for them, but it works against them. And I created a big collaborative in Ohio made up of law enforcement, community leaders, the head of my public safety and a former Democrat, liberal Senate senator Nina Turner, run it. They got together, they made recommendations on recruiting, on hiring, on the use of deadly force and what we're about to do is to bring community and police together so we can have a win-win. We need more win-wins in America and we don't have to pick one over another divide. We love the police, but we've got to be responsible to the people in the community. We have to do all of that. +p283 +aVJosh? +p284 +aVJosh, I mean, clearly, when a veteran comes home, they should get health care anywhere they want to go. In our state, which is what we should do in the country, you know, if they drive a truck from Kabul to Kandahar in Afghanistan, we say, you can drive a truck from Columbus to Cleveland, and you don't have to go get a license. We're going to hand you one. And if you've got expertise in the military, we're going to give you college credit or community college credit for the things that you did for our country. And in addition to that, I'll tell you, one of the biggest things I think has to be done \u2014 and I would do it as president \u2014 the Pentagon has got to work with the returning soldier, sailor, along with the family, and we \u2014 they're the most valuable employees in the country. I call them golden employees. Everybody wants to hire a veteran. But there is a disconnect between the job openings and the veteran when the veteran comes back. The veteran is a leader. The veteran is strong. The veteran is drug free. There should be no unemployment among veterans. And if the Pentagon will work with the veterans' services agencies all across this country, Josh, we can get people jobs and we can get them jobs quickly, get them their health care......get them their college education. Let's lift them. They're the greatest people defending the United States of America and we need to take care of them, and we will. We will. +p285 +aVCarolina's going to win that one. I hate to say it. But they're going to win that one. +p286 +aVWell, folks, I've done now over 100 town hall meetings and I've loved every second of it. It has been the greatest thing in the world. And I want you to know that you've changed me, because I've listened to your stories and I've had your hugs and I've seen your tears, and I've seen you walk away and say, I now have hope. You know, I've had a conservative message, but a positive message \u2014 not just a conservative message, but a positive message about how we can bring people together, how we can restore America's strength, lift everyone. New Hampshire, please give me a chance to carry this message forward to the United States of America. And then, I will come back. Thank you, loved it. And God bless you. +p287 +aVWell, first of all, I had a national reporter say, you know, there's three lanes. There's the establishment lane, the anti-establishment lane, and then there's the Kasich lane. And the reason is, is that I've been a reformer all of my career, fighting to reform welfare, fighting to reform the Pentagon, also being in a position to balance the budget, because that is very, very hard to do. And then in Ohio, of course, I had to bring about big reform, again, because we were so far in the hole and now we just found out we are up over 400,000 jobs since I took over as governor. You know, the situation is this. We cannot fix things in this country \u2014 the Social Security, the border, balancing the budget, getting wages to grow faster \u2014 unless we lead as conservatives, but we also invite people in from the other party. We have to come together as a country. And we have to stop all the divisions. And, you know, that's been my message in New Hampshire. And having been in New Hampshire and here in Iowa, but in New Hampshire, I just received the support of seven out of eight of the newspapers in that state because they see positive, they see unity, they see coming together, and they see a record of change and a record of accomplishment. And it isn't because I'm all that great. It's because I've been assembling a team of people who want to be involved in something that's a little bigger than themselves. I'll keep \u2014 I'll keep heading in that direction, believe me. +p288 +aVChris... ... there was a question about foreign policy, by the way, and experience. And I \u2014 I thought, if I didn't jump in, I might not be able to tell everybody this. I think they'd want to hear it. Look, I served on... +p289 +aV... but wait a minute... +p290 +aV...the only reason is \u2014 look... +p291 +aVOK. +p292 +aVI've always listened to you, Megyn. Go ahead. +p293 +aVYes \u2014 thank you. +p294 +aVWell, look the Joint Terrorism Task Force needs resources and tools. And those are made up of the FBI, state and local law enforcement. And Megyn, it's best not to talk anymore about back doors and encryption, it will get solved, but it needs to be solved in the situation of the White House with the technology folks. +p295 +aVBut I just have to tell you that it's best with some of these things not be said. Now I want to go back something. See, I was there when Reagan rebuilt the military. I was there in '89 when the wall came tumbling down because we were strong. And I was there when we went into the Gulf War. We didn't win that war just from the air, we won that war by assembling a group of Arab leaders who stood in the Rose Garden and stood with America. We want to destroy +p296 +aVBut we have a unique time in America to connect with people all around the world that understand that there's an existential threat against all of them, the Arabs, the Jordanians, the Saudis, the Egyptians, our friends in Europe, including the Turks. So we have a unique opportunity to bring everybody together. I saw Reagan do it, I've seen other presidents do it. And frankly, if you want to be commander in chief, you have to have the experience. At the same time we're doing all that, the Pentagon must be reformed so we get what we need for our men and women in uniform. All of that together, we're going to be just fine and America is going to continue to lead the world. +p297 +aVWell, you've got to be on top of it right away. And, you know, I don't know all the details of what Rick Snyder has done. I know there have been people who have been fired; people who are being held accountable. But the fact is, every single engine of government has to move when you see a crisis like that. And I've had many situations in the state of Ohio where we've had to move, whether it's storms, whether it was a horrible school shooting. There are many crises that come \u2014 a water crisis in Toledo. You've got to be on top of it. You've got to go the extra mile. You've got to work with local communities and you've got to work with the federal government. Because you realize that people depending on you. And so, you go the extra mile. But people have to be alert. They have to be alert to problems. And when you see a problem, you must act quickly to get on top of it. And people at home are saying they've got a problem, listen to them. Because most of the time, they're absolutely correct. So the fact is that we work for the people. The people don't work for us. And we have to have an attitude when we're in government of serving-hood. That's what really matters. We serve you. You don't serve us. We listen to you and \u2014 and then we act. +p298 +aVNo. You know, Chris, here's what happened with Medicaid in my state. We took the growth of Medicaid from over 10 percent in my second budget to 2.5 percent, without cutting off one person or cutting one benefit, because we \u2014 we innovated the government. And now mom and dad can stay in their own home, rather than being forced into a nursing home. And then we decided we could bring $14 billion of our money \u2014 I mean, Washington doesn't have any money. It was our money, and we brought them back to tend to the mentally ill. Because I don't think they ought to live in prison or live under a bridge; to treat the drug-addicted so they're not in an in-and-out-of-the-door policy out of the prisons; and to help the working poor so they don't live in emergency rooms. How has it worked? Well, we have treated the drug-addicted in our prisons and we released them in to the community, and our recidivism rate is less than 20 percent. That's basically bordering on a miracle because of our great prison director. The mentally ill? They've been stepped on for too long in this society, and we are beginning to treat them. In terms of my faith, look, all I say is that when I study scripture, I know that people who live in the shadows need to have a chance. But I'm not deciding that anybody's got to make these decisions the way that I do, on the basis of what I do. But what \u2014 I will tell you this. The time has come to stop ignoring the mentally ill in this country and begin to treat them and get them on their feet, along with, of course, with treating the drug-addicted. Because we don't want them in and out \u2014 we don't want them in and out of the prisons. Give people a chance. We talked about criminal justice reform. We've enacted it in our state. Look, the conservative message is economic growth and along with economic growth goes opportunity for everybody in America. Everybody ought to have a chance to be able to rise to their God-given purpose. And that is what we have done in Ohio. We're running surpluses. We're up 400,000 jobs. And guess what? The formula is working. I'd suggest people take a look at it. Thank you. +p299 +aVLook, we don't know what's going to happen in ten months. And if I were president of the United States right now, I'd be lining up our allies to say that, if one crossed T or one dotted I does not occur, they are \u2014 violate the agreement, we slap back on sanctions. We can slap on sanctions alone, on day one, but it's not gonna be anywhere near as effective. But the president needs to be laying the groundwork right now for the ability to slap those sanctions back on worldwide. And I'll tell you what I'm worried about \u2014 I'm worried about money. You read about all the companies now that are doing business \u2014 about to do business in Iran, and if we don't get this settled now, with other countries in the world, about sanctions, then Iran could violate that agreement, and we're the only ones putting the sanctions on. We need to move aggressively now. But I would say this to you, Bret. Number one, if they violate it, we need to move against them. And number two, if we find out they're developing a nuclear weapon and we know how to get to it, we're gonna go take it out. That is what we have to do. We cannot let things get farther down the road, like we did with North Korea. +p300 +aVThat's right. Yes. +p301 +aVI know, Bret. +p302 +aVBut Bret, here's the problem. You take a look at the \u2014 at Belgium. I talked to a diplomat from Belgium. I said, "how's it going?" He said, "we have the military in the streets right now. We never dreamt we'd ever see it." See, I think there is an opportunity to bring the world together. The Turks are being threatened. We know about the French. We know about the Belgians. We know about the Brits. Everybody is under fire and under attack, and we have to stand together as an alliance. So actually, the opportunity is there, because of the threat to all of these countries, to bring all of us together... ... and say there is something more important than money. It is the future of the world and the future of our children and grandchildren. That's the kind of leadership this country needs. It has not been in effect during the administration of Barack Obama. And that's only the beginning of the failures that they have committed, not only in the Middle East, but all over the world, including Russia and China. +p303 +aVYou know, one of our biggest national security issues is the world looks at us some time, and we look at each other and say, why can't we solve problems? Well, I've got news for you, we can. We can in fact create jobs and provide job security. We can create a situation where wages begin to rise. We can create a situation for our children to be able to get a decent job to pay down their college debt. We can re-assume our role in the world. But all of this has to come together when we have a positive attitude, an optimistic approach, an ability for us to set the tune as conservatives, to invite other people in to be part of that orchestra. You see, ladies and gentlemen, at the end of the day, I'm an optimist Because I've seen so many things get accomplished in my lifetime. And we can do it again together, all of us, to strengthen this country, work together. Thank you. +p304 +aVLook, it takes three things basically to grow jobs. And I've done it when I was in Washington when we had a balanced budget; had four years of balanced budgets; paid down a half-trillion of debt. And our economy was growing like crazy. It's the same thing that I did in Ohio. It's a simple formula: common sense regulations, which is why I think we should freeze all federal regulations for one year, except for health and safety. It requires tax cuts, because that sends a message to the job creators that things are headed the right way. And if you tax cuts \u2014 if you cut taxes for corporations, and you cut taxes for individuals, you're going to make things move, particularly the corporate tax, which is the highest, of course, in the \u2014 in the world. But in addition to that, we have to have fiscal discipline. We have to show that we can march to a balanced budget. And when you do that, when you're in a position of managing regulations; when you reduce taxes; and when you have fiscal discipline, you see the job creators begin to get very comfortable with the fact that they can invest. Right now, you don't have the \u2014 you have taxes that are too high. You have regulations \u2014 I mean, come on, they're affecting everybody here, particularly our small businesses. They are \u2014 they're in a position where they're smothering people. And I mean, are you kidding me? We're nowhere close to a balanced budget or fiscal discipline. Those three things put together are going to give confidence to job creators and you will begin to see wages rise. You will begin to see jobs created in a robust economy. And how do I know it? Because I've done it. I did it as the chairman of the Budget Committee, working with Senator Domenici. And I've done it in the state of Ohio as the chief executive. Our wages are growing faster than the national average. We're running surpluses. And we can take that message and that formula to Washington to lift every single American to a better life. +p305 +aVWell, if that's the case, we're going to win every state, if Bernie Sanders is the nominee. That's not even an issue. But look......and I know Bernie, and I can promise you he's not going to be president of the United States. So here's this \u2014 the situation, I think, Maria. And this is what we have to \u2014 I \u2014 I've got to tell you, when wages don't rise \u2014 and they haven't for a lot of families for a number of years \u2014 it's very, very difficult for them. Part of the reason why it hasn't risen because sometimes we're not giving people the skills they need. Sometimes it's because the Federal Reserve kept interest rates so low that the wealthy were able to invest in \u2014 in strong assets like the stock market when everybody else was left behind. People are upset about it. I'll tell you what else they're upset about: you're 50 or 51 years old, and some kid walks in and tells you you're out of work, and you don't know where to go and where to turn. Do we have answer for that? We do. There are ways to retrain the 50 and 51-year-olds, because they've got great value. I'll tell you what else people are concerned about. Their kids come out of college, they have high debt and they can't get a good job. We got to do a lot about the high cost of high \u2014 higher education, but we've got to make sure we're training people for jobs that exist, that are good jobs that can pay. Let me tell you that, in this country \u2014 in this country, people are concerned about their economic future. They're very concerned about it. And they wonder whether somebody is getting something to \u2014 keeping them from getting it. That's not the America that I've ever known. My father used to say, "Johnny, we never \u2014 we don't hate the rich. We just want to be the rich." And we just got to make sure that every American has the tools, in K-through-12 and in vocational education, in higher education. And we got to fight like crazy so people can think the American dream still exists, because it does, with rising wages, with full employment and with everybody in America \u2014 and I mean everybody in America \u2014 having an opportunity to realize the American dream of having a better life than their mother and their father. I'm president \u2014 look, I've done it once. I've done it once in Washington, with great jobs and lower taxes. The economy was really booming. And now in Ohio, with the same formula, wages higher than the \u2014 than the national average. A growth of 385,000 jobs. It's not that hard. Just know where you want to go, stick to your guts. Get it done, because our \u2014 our children and grandchildren are counting on us to get it done. And, folks, we will. You count on it. +p306 +aVWell, let me \u2014 let me first of all talk a little bit about my experience. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years, and by the way, one of the members of that committee was Senator Strom Thurmond from South Carolina. Let em also tell you......that after the 9/11 attacks, Secretary Rumsfeld invited me to the Pentagon with a meeting of the former secretaries of Defense. And in that meeting, I suggested we had a problem with technology, and that I wanted to take people from Silicon Valley into the Pentagon to solve our most significant problems. So I not only had the opportunity to go through the Cold War struggles in Central America, and even after 9/11 to be involved. With Saudi Arabia and oil production, first of all, it's so critical for us to be energy independent, and we're getting there because of fracking and we ought to explore because, see, energy independence gives us leverage and flexibility, and secondly, if you want to bring jobs back to the United States of America in industry, low prices make the difference. We're seeing it in my state and we'll see it in this country. And that's why we must make sure we continue to frack. In terms of Saudi Arabia, look, my biggest problem with them is they're funding radical clerics through their madrasses. That is a bad deal and an evil situation, and presidents have looked the other way. And I was going to tell you, whether I'm president or not, we better make it clear to the Saudis that we're going to support you, we're in relation with you just like we were in the first Gulf War, but you've got to knock off the funding and teaching of radical clerics who are the very people who try to destroy us and will turn around and destroy them. So look, in foreign policy \u2014 in foreign policy, it's strength, but you've got to be cool. You've got to have a clear vision of where you want to go. And I'm going to tell you, that it \u2014 I'm going to suggest to you here tonight, that you can't do on the job training. I've seen so much of it \u2013 a Soviet Union, the coming down of a wall, the issues that we saw around the world in Central America, the potential spread of communism, and 9/11 and Gulf War. You see what the Saudi's \u2014 deliver them a strong message but at the end of the day we have to keep our cool because most of the time they're going right with us. And they must be part of our coalition to destroy +p307 +aVI \u2014 I've been for pausing on admitting the Syrian refugees. And the reasons why I've done is I don't believe we have a good process of being able to vet them. But you know, we don't want to put everybody in the same category. And I'll go back to something that had been mentioned just a few minutes ago. If we're going to have a coalition, we're going to have to have a coalition not just of people in the western part of the world, our European allies, but we need the Saudis, we need the Egyptians, we need the Jordanians, we need the Gulf states. We need Jordan. We need all of them to be part of exactly what the first George Bush put together in the first Gulf War. It was a coalition made up of Arabs and Americans and westerners and we're going to need it again. And if we try to put everybody in the same \u2014 call everybody the same thing, we can't do it. And that's just not acceptable. But I think a pause on Syrian refugees has been exactly right for all the governors that have called for it, and also, of course, for me as the governor of Ohio. +p308 +aVNeil, Neil \u2014 can I say one thing about this. I'm a free trader. I support +p309 +aVFor too long \u2014 no, for too long, what happens is somebody dumps their product in our country and take our people's jobs, and then we go to an international court and it takes them like a year or two to figure out whether they were cheating us. And guess what? The worker's out of a job. So when they \u2014 be found against that country that's selling products in here lower than the cost of what it takes to produce them, then what do we tell the worker? Oh, well, you know, it just didn't work out for you. I think we should be for free trade but I think fair trade. And when countries violate trade agreements or dump product in this country, we need \u2014 we need to stand up against those countries that do that without making them into an enemy. And I want to just suggest to you. How do I know this? Because so many people in my family worked in steel mills, and they didn't work with a white collar, they worked in a blue collar. And the fact is those jobs are critical, they're hard working members of the middle class and they need to be paid attention to because they're Americans and they carry the load. So let's demand open trade but fair trade in this country. That's what I think we need to do. +p310 +aVWell, I created a task force well over a year ago and the purpose was to bring law enforcement, community people, clergy and the person that I named as one of the co-chair was a lady by the name of Nina Turner, a former State Senator, a liberal Democrat. She actually ran against one of my friends and our head of public safety. And they say down as a group trying to make sure that we can begin to heal some of these problems that we see between community and police. And they came back with 23 recommendations. One of them is a statewide use of deadly force. And it is now being put into place everyplace across the state of Ohio. Secondly, a policy on recruiting and hiring, and then more resources for \u2014 for training. But let me also tell you, one of the issues has got to be the integration of both community and police. Community has to understand that that police officer wants to get home at night, and not \u2014 not to lose their life. Their family is waiting for them. At the same time, law enforcement understands there are people in the community who not only think that the system doesn't work for them, but works against them. See, in Ohio, we've had some controversial decisions. But the leaders have come forward to realize that protest is fine, but violence is wrong. And it has been a remarkable situation in our state. And as president of the United States, it's all about communication, folks. It's all about getting people to listen to one another's problems. And when you do that, you will be amazed at how much progress you can make, and how much healing we can have. Because, folks, at the end of the day, the country needs healed. I've heard a lot of hot rhetoric here tonight, but I've got to tell you, as somebody that actually passed a budget; that paid down a half-a-trillion dollars of our national debt, you can't do it alone. You've got to bring people together. You've got to give people hope. And together, we can solve these problems that hurt us and heal America. And that is what's so critical for our neighborhoods, our families, our children, and our grandchildren. +p311 +aVYou know, in our country, there are a lot of people who feel as though they just don't have the power. You know, they feel like if they don't have a lobbyist, if they're not wealthy, that somehow they don't get to play. But all of my career, you know, having been raised in \u2014 by a mailman father whose father was a coal miner, who died of black lung and was losing his eyesight; or a mother whose mother could barely speak English. You see, all of my career, I've fought about giving voice to the people that I grew up with and voice to the people that elected me. Whether it's welfare reform and getting something back for the hard-earned taxpayers; whether it's engaging in Pentagon reform and taking on the big contractors that were charging thousands of dollars for hammers and screw drivers and ripping us off; or whether it's taking on the special interests in the nursing home industry in Ohio, so that mom and dad can have the ability to stay in their own home, rather than being forced into a nursing home. Look, that's who I stand up for. That's who's in my mind......And if you really want to believe that you can get your voice back, I will tell you, as I have all my career, I will continue to fight for you, because you're the ones that built this country, and will carry it into the future. Thank you. +p312 +aVThank you, Wolf. Just last weekend, just last week, a friend asked one of my daughters, "Do you like politics?" And my daughter said, "No, I don't. And the reason I don't like it is because there's too much fighting, too much yelling. It's so loud, I don't like it." You know, I turned to my friend and I said, "You know, she's really on to something." And when we think about our country and the big issues that we face in this country; creating jobs, making sure people can keep their jobs, the need for rising wages, whether our children when they graduate from college can find a job, protecting the homeland, destroying +p313 +aVWell, first of all, Wolf, I said last February that we needed to have people on the ground, troops on the ground in a coalition similar to what we had in the first Gulf War. I remember when the Egyptian ambassador to the United States stood in the Rose Garden and pledged Arab commitment to removing Saddam Hussein from Kuwait. Before we came out here tonight, I am told that the Saudis have organized 34 countries who want to join in the battle against terrorism. First and foremost, we need to go and destroy +p314 +aVNo, I don't think it is. And I want to go back to two other issues. One is the metadata. We know we have to hold this data for a longer period of time. And, you know, in a lot of ways, Chris is right. Look, what a president has to do is take a position. We don't want to err on the side of having less. We want to err on the side of having more. That's good for our families. In addition to that, Wolf, there is a big problem. It's called encryption. And the people in San Bernardino were communicating with people who the FBI had been watching. But because their phone was encrypted, because the intelligence officials could not see who they were talking to, it was lost. We have to solve the encryption problem. It is not easy. A president of the United States, again, has to bring people together, have a position. We need to be able to penetrate these people when they are involved in these plots and these plans. And we have to give the local authorities the ability to penetrate to disrupt. That's what we need to do. Encryption is a major problem, and Congress has got to deal with this and so does the president to keep us safe. +p315 +aVYeah, let me \u2014 let me just suggest to everybody, and I hear \u2014 last February, I said we needed to have people on the ground in a coalition with Europe and our allies. This is not going to get done just by working with the Sunnis. And it is not going to get done if we just embed a few people. We have to go massively, like we did in the first Gulf War where we destroyed Saddam's ability to take Kuwait. We need to have a coalition that will stand for nothing less than the total destruction of +p316 +aVI don't understand this thing about Assad. He has to go. Assad is aligned with Iran and Russia. The one thing we want to prevent is we want to prevent Iran being able to extend a Shia crescent all across the Middle East. Assad has got to go. And there are moderates there. There are moderates in Syria who we should be supporting. I do not support a civil war. I don't want to be policeman of the world. But we can't back off of this. And let me tell you, at the end, the Saudis have agreed to put together a coalition inside of Syria to stabilize that country. +p317 +aVHe must go. It will be a blow to Iran and Russia. +p318 +aVThe foreign policy, you have to know how to pick and choose. There's no way, if Saddam had not had weapons of mass destruction, I would have gone, because I don't believe that the U.S. should be involved directly in civil wars. I opposed the U.S. involvement in Lebanon. We ended up having to withdraw our marines after our barracks were blown up. There is a difference between Iraq, where you have Sunni, Shia, and Kurds put together after the First World War by the Western powers. It doesn't work. It needs to break up into three parts. And for the Russians, frankly, it's time that we punched the Russians in the nose. They've gotten away with too much in this world and we need to stand up against them, not just there, but also in Eastern Europe where they threaten some of our most precious allies. +p319 +aVIt sounds more and more what my daughter said that I said in the beginning, all the fighting and arguing is not advancing us. +p320 +aVIt is not the way we're going to strengthen our country. We will strengthen our country when we come together. And, look, you've got Rand Paul, you've got Ted Cruz, you've got Marco, you've got a lot of people on this stage that have studied these issues. You know what a leader does? A leader has a sound program, has a good policy, and then brings people together to solve problems. Guess what? Both in Congress in balancing the budget and in Ohio fixing the economy \u2014 and, by the way, we talk about the fence. The first thing we better get going is strengthening our economy, because if we don't have a strong economy, we can't pay for all of this. And the world wants us to be able to function from strength, believe it or not. Get our economy going, get these people together in a room. We can fix this, ladies and gentlemen. We don't have to fight all the time. It can be done, and we will be great... +p321 +aV... when we join together. Thank you, Hugh. +p322 +aVYou know, obviously, as president of the United States, we've got to keep the people safe. That's first and foremost. But as governor of Ohio, I have an obligation to keep the 11.5 million people in Ohio safe. And we have been very effective with our Joint Terrorism Task Force, being able to make busts. In fact, we just made one three-four weeks ago against a person who was favorable to +p323 +aVNo Republican has ever been elected president of the United States without winning Ohio. Let me give you a little tip on how you win Ohio, it's reform, it's hope, it's growth, it's opportunity, and it's security. The people of Ohio are the people of America. The people of America are reflected in Ohio. Our message has to be big, and bold, and positive, and connect, not just with people's heads but also connect with their hearts. If we do it, we will beat Hillary Clinton, and we will run the White House, and we will strengthen and fix America, I promise you. +p324 +aVFirst of all, let me just say that, in the state of Ohio \u2014 and I'm the only acting executive on \u2014 on this stage today \u2014 we do have a moderate increase in the minimum wage. And I got to tell you, my father carried mail on his back. His father was a coal miner. He died of black lung. He was losing his eyesight. My mother's mother lived with us. She could barely speak English. I come from a town where if the wind blew the wrong way, people found themselves out of work. An economic theory is fine, but you know what? People need help. Now, I have a plan that, in fact, would cut taxes, but not $11 trillion or $12 trillion that would put my children further in debt. I have a plan that would not only cut taxes, lower the income tax rate for individuals, lower the tax for businesses so businesses will compete here and not move operations overseas, and also a plan \u2014 the only plan of anybody standing on this stage to get us to a balanced budget by the end of a second term. And, you know, the simple fact of the matter is, we hear a lot of promises in this debate, a lot of promises about these tax cuts or tax schemes sometimes that I call them. Hillary and the Democrats promise everything on the spending side. We've got to be responsible about what we propose on the tax side. Yes, lower taxes, lower spending. My website, JohnKasich.com, will show you exactly how we balance the budget. I balanced the budget in Washington as a chief architect, and I have balanced it in Ohio for one reason. When you balance the budget and you cut taxes, people get work. And our most important moral purpose as leaders in the political system is to make sure we create an environment for job creation so people can live their dreams and realize their God-given potential. That's why it's so important. And for those at the bottom, we've got to do what we can to train them so they can move up. But to just look the other way is not acceptable, because, you know what, as the governor of Ohio I have to deal with real challenges, and we've gotten it done in our state, and I will do it for America. +p325 +aVSure. We would move the Medicare system from a 7 percent growth down to about a 5 percent growth. And I have a whole series of ways to do that. In Ohio, we reduced Medicaid funding for the poor from 10 percent to 2.5 percent, didn't cut one benefit or didn't take anybody off the rolls. Why? Because we're innovators. I've been an innovator my entire career. And I really don't care what special interests or lobbyists have to say. I have a job to do when I take over a public office. Now, we freeze non-defense discretionary for eight years. We also put an increase in defense spending. Our tax cuts balance out. And at the end of the day, we will get to a balanced budget. And I want everybody here to know, when I was Budget Committee chairman in Washington, I stepped on every toe in that town, and we got to a balanced budget, and we had enormous job growth. And as governor of Ohio, we went from 350,000 lost jobs to a gain of 347,000 jobs. +p326 +aVI'll do it in Washington. I've done it twice; I'll do it thrice for the United States of America. +p327 +aVExcuse me. +p328 +aVYeah, I would like to make a comment. +p329 +aVI appreciate it, Jeb. I'm all of you. But I want at some point to talk about a value-added tax and $11 trillion, $12 trillion tax cuts that will put our kids way deeper in the hole than they have been at this point. So I would like to talk about it at some point, because that's what leadership is. +p330 +aVMaria, can we comment on that? +p331 +aVCan we comment on that? +p332 +aVWell, look, in 1986 Ronald Reagan basically said the people who were here, if they were law-abiding, could stay. But, what didn't happen is we didn't build the walls effectively and we didn't control the border. We need to. We need to control our border just like people have to control who goes in and out of their house. But if people think that we are going to ship 11 million people who are law-abiding, who are in this country, and somehow pick them up at their house and ship them out of Mexico \u2014 to Mexico, think about the families. Think about the children. So, you know what the answer really is? If they have been law- abiding, they pay a penalty. They get to stay. We protect the wall. Anybody else comes over, they go back. But for the 11 million people, come on, folks. We all know you can't pick them up and ship them across, back across the border. It's a silly argument. It is not an adult argument. It makes no sense. +p333 +aVJerry, Gerald, it was an attack. +p334 +aVIn the state of Ohio, the state of Ohio, we have grown 347,000 jobs. Our unemployment is half of what it was. Our fracking industry, energy industry may have contributed 20,000, but if Mr. Trump understood that the real jobs come in the downstream, not in the upstream, but in the downstream. And that's where we're going to get our jobs. But Ohio is diversified. And little false little things, sir, they don't really work when it comes to the truth. So the fact is, all I'm suggesting, we can't ship 11 million people out of this country. Children would be terrified, and it will not work. +p335 +aV...Mr. Baker, everybody got to talk about taxes... +p336 +aV...I think you were coming to me and then... +p337 +aV...Look, I hate to crash the party to you, Mr. Baker, but, you know, what's fair... +p338 +aV...Yes, sir... +p339 +aVLet me tell you this, Mr. Baker, in terms of the cyber attacks, we have the capability to not only have a defensive posture, but it also to make it clear to people that if you attack us with cyber attacks, we will destroy the mechanisms that you are using to attack us. I want to give you a little trip around the world. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years. In the Ukraine, arm the people there so they can fight for themselves. In the eastern part of Europe, make sure that Finland and the Baltics know that if the Russians move, we move. In Syria, yes, a no-fly zone in the north on the Turkish border, a no-fly zone on the south on the Jordanian border. Anybody flies in the first time, maybe they can fly out. They fly in there a second time, they will not fly out. And it also becomes a sanctuary for the people to be. And it also sends many messages in the Middle East that we're still involved. Saudi Arabia, cut off the funding for the radical clerics, the ones that preach against us. But they're fundamentally our friends. Jordan, we want the king to reign for 1,000 years. Egypt, they have been our ally and a moderating force in the Middle East throughout their history. In the groups \u2014 in the countries of the Gulf states of Bahrain, the Cleveland Clinic is opening an operation. Clearly we see the same with them. And in Israel, we have no better ally in the world, and no more criticizing them in public, we should support them. And finally China, China doesn't own the South China Sea, and I give the president some credit for being able to move a naval force in there to let the Chinese know that we're not going to put up with it any more. And in the trade agreement, the TPP, it's critical to us, not only for economic reasons and for jobs, because there are so many people who are connected to getting jobs because of trade, but it allows us to create not only economy alliances, but also potentially strategic alliances against the Chinese. They are not our enemy, but they are certainly not our friend. And finally, I will say to everyone in this room, we have been talking about taxes and economics. When the fall comes, and we run against Hillary, which will be a disaster if she got elected. I have two 16-year-old girls, and I want this country to be strong. We make promises we can't keep under the bright light of the fall, we will have trouble. We must make sure that economic programs and our military programs are solid. I served in Washington as the chairman of the Budget Committee, and we got the budget balanced. And in Ohio, as the CEO, and guess what, we have got to have a CEO mentality and a way to beat Hillary Clinton and the Democracies in the fall. And our ideas have to add up. They have to be solid. And people have to know we have the confidence to lead America. And as president, I will lead this country, as I have before in Washington and in Ohio, and will return both on domestic and international affairs. And I appreciate the opportunity to speak this time, Gerry. +p340 +aVLet me \u2014 let me also say, Gary \u2014 Gary, let me also say, Jeb is \u2014 what Jeb is talking about with the big banks is to force them to reserve their capital, people who invest it and they hold their capital, so that if the bank goes down, the people who are invested in the bank are the ones that pay. That's what he's trying to say. Secondly, I'll tell you about Wall Street: There's too much greed. And the fact is, a free enterprise system is a system that's produced the greatest wealth for the world. But you know Michael Novak, the great Catholic theologian, says that a free enterprise system that is not underlaid with values \u2014 and we should all think about the way we conduct our lives \u2014 yes, free enterprise is great, profits are great, but there have to be some values that underlay it, and they need a good ethics lesson on Wall Street on a regular basis to keep them in check so we, the people, do not lose. +p341 +aVNeil, that's the difference of being an executive. And let me just explain: when a bank is ready to go under and depositors are getting ready to lose their life savings, you just don't say we believe in philosophical concerns. You know what an executive has to decide? When there's a water crisis, how do we get water to the city? When there's a school shooting, how do you get there and help heal a community? When there are financial crisis, or a crisis with ebola, you got to go there and try to fix it. Philosophy doesn't work when you run something. And I gotta tell you, on-the-job training for president of the United States doesn't work. We've done it for 8 years, \u2014 and almost 8 years now. It does not work. We need an executive who's been tried, has been tested, and judge the decisions that that executive makes. I don't like what the Fed is doing, but I'll tell you what worries me more than anything else: turning the Fed over to the Congress of the United States... +p342 +aV...so they can print the money. That would be a very bad approach. +p343 +aVI wouldn't. I wouldn't. +p344 +aVNo. No, I didn't say that. +p345 +aVThey were \u2014 they were talking about what you would do with depositors. Would you let these banks shut down? My argument is, going forward, the banks have to reserve the capital, so that the \u2014 so that the people who own the capital start pressuring the banks to not take these risky approaches, Ted. But at the end of the day... +p346 +aV... I'm gonna tell you this. Let me tell you this. If during \u2014 if during... +p347 +aV...because if during \u2014 well, I'll tell you what (ph). +p348 +aVAs an executive \u2014 no. As an executive, I would figure out how to separate those people who can afford it versus those people, or the hard-working folks who put those money in those institutions...... let me \u2014 no, no. Let me say another thing. Here's what I mean by that. Here's what I mean by that. +p349 +aVWhen you are faced \u2014 when you are faced, in the last financial crisis, with banks going under \u2014 with banks going under, and people, people who put their \u2014 their life savings in there, you got to deal with it. You can't turn a blind eye to it. Now, going forward, that's one thing. If you had another financial crisis, perhaps there would be an effort to make sure that we do (ph). +p350 +aVWell, ladies and gentlemen, if Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders were to win this election, my 16-year-olds, I \u2014 I worry about what their life is going to be like. You know, the conservative movement is all about opportunity. It is about lower taxes. It's about balanced budgets. It's about less regulation. And it's about sending power, money and influence back to where we live so we can run America from the bottom up. In addition to that, once we have the power and the money and the influence with programs we shift out, that each of us have a responsibility to reach out and to rebuild our families, make them stronger, and connect our neighborhoods. All that together \u2014 wealth, connection, family \u2014 America's greatest days are ahead. We must win this election. +p351 +asVKELLY +p352 +(lp353 +VTonight, we are coming to you live from the Iowa Event Center in downtown Des Moines, in the shadow of the Iowa state capitol. In just four days, people here in the Hawkeye State will caucus and cast the first votes of the 2016 election. +p354 +aVSeven candidates are on that stage tonight, their position on the stage determined by their standing in the latest national polls, as well as polls in Iowa and New Hampshire. And here they are. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Florida Senator Marco Rubio. +p355 +aVWow. +p356 +aVSo let's get started. Senator Cruz, before we get to the issues, let's address the elephant not in the room tonight. Donald Trump has chosen not to attend this evening's presidential debate. What message do you think that sends to the voters of Iowa? +p357 +aVThe divide between you and Mr. Trump has turned into one of the biggest stories in the country. And for six months that \u2014 your campaign, during this campaign, you praised Mr. Trump as somebody who you thought was an effective voice against the Washington cartel. You said you were glad that he was running as a Republican. But when he started to criticize you, your message changed, and you suddenly started to portray him as the voice of the Washington cartel, and suggested he would do the Democrats' bidding. Which is it? +p358 +aVSenator Christie, you began this campaign touting your record as a Republican from a blue state who knows how to get things done and reach across the aisle. However, many Republicans feel that reaching across the aisle and getting things done isn't great if you get the wrong things done. And they prefer to stand on principle rather than compromise. Why are they wrong and you're right? +p359 +aVBut first, you can join tonight's conversation right from home. Go to google.com or open your Google search app and search Fox News debate to vote on which candidate you think has the best plan to defeat +p360 +aVWe have a lot \u2014 we have a lot to cover. But we want to \u2014 we want to turn the page to domestic... +p361 +aVNo, no. No. +p362 +aVNo no no, because we want to turn the page to domestic terror, and let me tell you why: we're partnering with Google on this debate, and they're telling us... +p363 +aV... that their search results have gone through the roof on \u2014 on people... +p364 +aV... you're a good man, Governor Kasich. +p365 +aVPeople \u2014 the search results \u2014 the searches for terror issues, for safety issues in America have gone through the roof, increased over 400 percent since 2008. People are worried. They're worried about what's happening in the country and about a domestic terror attack, as all of you know. Now, when combating this threat, Senator Rubio, you've advocated closing down mosques \u2014 we'll get back to you. Well, you have advocated closing down \u2014 closing down mosques, diners, any place where radicalization is occurring. You told me that. But the Supreme Court has made clear that hateful speech is generally protected by the First Amendment. In other words, radical Muslims have the right to be radical Muslims, unless they turn to terror. Doesn't your position run afoul of the First Amendment? +p366 +aVSenator Paul, do you agree with that? We're gonna close down mosques, we're gonna close down diners where we think radical thinking's occurring? +p367 +aVGovernor Christie, let's talk about profiling. In December... +p368 +aV... profiling. Profiling. In December, two radical Muslims killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California. Neighbors of the terrorists said that they did not report the couple to law enforcement prior to the crime, because they were afraid that they would be accused of profiling. Now, you have said that we should not profile. How do you square that with the San Bernardino case? +p369 +aVThey didn't know they were going to attack the country. +p370 +aVThat's not true. The neighbors said they saw men going in and out of the garage. They saw packages being delivered. They saw Muslims, and they did not think that was enough to call the cops. Do you? +p371 +aVDr. Carson, this week a female Muslim who served in the U.S. Air Force asked Hillary Clinton the question, she asked whether the United States is still the best place in which to raise her three Muslim children. Given what she perceives as a rise in Islamaphobia in this country. Do you think the GOP messaging on Muslims has stoked the flames of bias on this as the Democrats suggest, and how would you answer this veteran? +p372 +aVGovernor Kasich, stand back. You appear to back in another debate, a so-called back door to encrypted cell phone technology, which protects most smartphones that we all have from hacking. And it includes our phones and it also protects the cell phones of the terrorist. Now the tech companies and a group of MIT scientists, smart guys, right, warn that if they create a way for the FBI to have a back door into our encrypted communications, then the bad guys will exploit it too. And they say that this is going to cause more security problems than it would solve for everyday Americans. Are they wrong? +p373 +aVBut this is public testimony. +p374 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p375 +aVWelcome back, everybody. We are live in Des Moines, Iowa. And let's get right back to the questions \u2014 Bret. +p376 +aVAll right. We're going to move on. Because coming up, immigration, and something you've never seen before. Stay tuned, right after this break. +p377 +aVWelcome back everyone. Live, in Des Moines, Iowa. Now, we move onto the topic of immigration. Senator Rubio, we'll start with you. When you ran for Senate in 2010, you made clear that you opposed legalization and citizenship for illegal immigrants. You promised repeatedly that you would oppose it as a U.S. Senator as well. Here are just a few examples. Watch. +p378 +aVWithin two years of getting elected you were co-sponsoring legislation to create a path to citizenship, in your words, amnesty. Haven't you already proven that you cannot be trusted on this issue? +p379 +aV... But, you went on from there... +p380 +aV... You said more than that, Senator... +p381 +aV... You said earned path to citizenship is basically code for amnesty. You... +p382 +aV... supported earned path to citizenship... +p383 +aVGovernor Bush, do you agree Senator Rubio has not reversed himself on his immigration promise? +p384 +aVGo ahead, senator. +p385 +aVAll right. +p386 +aVAll right. This will be the last one. +p387 +aVOK. Let's move on. Senator Cruz, when Senator Rubio proposed that bill creating a path to citizenship, you proposed an amendment. It would have allowed for legalization but not citizenship. Yes, it would. Pressed last month on why you supported legalization, you claimed that you didn't. Right? Like you just did. Saw that. You argued that this was just a poison pill amendment, basically it's something designed to kill the bill and not actually get it through. But that is not, however, how it sounded at the time. Watch. +p388 +aVWas that all an act? It was pretty convincing. +p389 +aVBut the bill allowed both. The bill you were amending allowed citizenship and legalization. +p390 +aVOK, sir. +p391 +aVSenator Paul. You know how Washington works. Do you buy that? +p392 +aVGo ahead, sir. +p393 +aVSenator Rubio, even Chuck Schumer, your co-sponsor of that bill... +p394 +aV... agrees with Ted Cruz on this. +p395 +aVGo ahead, Senator Cruz. +p396 +aVAll right. +p397 +aVGo ahead, Governor Christie. +p398 +aVLet's go to a Youtube question. Let's get to a Youtube question. This is a question from a Youtube creator with over 2 million subscribers. Watch. +p399 +aVDr. Carson, that's one \u2014 that one's for you. +p400 +aVGo ahead. +p401 +aVAll right. +p402 +aVAll right. We're moving on. +p403 +aVGovernor bush, poll after poll shows you running among the worst in your party against Hillary Clinton. Even Mitt Romney said that a Bush v. Clinton head-to-head would be too easy for the Democrats. Yet still you and the super PACs supporting you continue to blanket the airwaves with cutting ads, not against Mrs. Clinton, but against your fellow Republicans, especially Senator Rubio. Do these attacks do more harm than good by targeting those candidates who appear to have the best chance of defeating Mrs. Clinton? +p404 +aVWelcome back, everybody. Let's get back to the questions. Chris? +p405 +aVSenator Paul, you have suggested that former President Bill Clinton's history with women is fair game in this campaign. How do you answer those who say you don't hold the sins of the husband against the wife? +p406 +aVOf her husband's? +p407 +aVWelcome back, everybody. And now, it is time for closing statements. The candidates each get 30 seconds. And we begin with Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. +p408 +aVOhio Governor Kasich. +p409 +aVFormer Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Governor. +p410 +aVTexas Senator, Ted Cruz. Senator. +p411 +aVGentlemen, thank you all so much for being here tonight. We appreciate it greatly. And that does it for the seventh Republican primary debate of the 2016 presidential race. But we're not done. The Kelly file starts in a moment and guess who is going to be there? Senator Ted Cruz. +p412 +asVREGAN +p413 +(lp414 +VIn Tuesday's State of the Union Address, the president said that our economy is strong. He cited the significant decline we've seen in unemployment rate and the millions of jobs that have been created. What is your assessment of the economy right now? And I would like to hear from all of you on this one, beginning with Ms. Fiorina. +p415 +aVThank you Governor Huckabee. Senator Santorum? +p416 +aVThank you. Well, since we've been talking about the Middle East, Senator Santorum, conflicts between Saudi Arabia and Iran have certainly escalated, amid accusations that Saudi Arabia bombed the Iranian Embassy in Yemen after the Saudi Embassy in Tehran was attacked. As we confront an increasingly unstable Middle East, how will you, as president, navigate this administration's promises to Iran while standing by our historic allies in the region? +p417 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p418 +aVGovernor Huckabee, if I could just follow-up with that. Do we need to be in Afghanistan? +p419 +aVThank you Governor Huckabee. Ms. Fiorina, nearly 600 women say they were attacked in a German city on New Year's Eve by men of Arab or North African descent and 45 percent of those alleged attacks were sexual assaults. Twenty-two of those 32 men arrested so far are asylum-seekers. Are you worried about similar problems in the United States? +p420 +aVI want to stay with you on this. The world shares a common enemy right now in the way of +p421 +aVMs. Fiorina, thank you. +p422 +aVWelcome back, everyone, to the Republican presidential debate. On to the next round of questions \u2014 Sandra. +p423 +aVMs. Fiorina, the president has just issued an executive order to expand the gun laws and background checks. And none of you on stage agree with this. But recent polls show the majority of Americans are in favor of universal background checks. +p424 +aVIt's the poll data. +p425 +aVSo tell me......why, in your view, is the president's proposal a problem? +p426 +aVMs. Fiorina, you've said that was when you were CEO of HP, you actually worked with the government. +p427 +aV\u2014 to try and combat some of these terrorist threats. +p428 +aVWhat did you do? +p429 +aVMs. Fiorina, thank you. +p430 +aVGovernor Huckabee, an American in San Bernardino murdered 14 people while terrorists with Belgian and French passports murdered 130 people. Were facing a threat within our borders, and from outside the United States. Those European terrorists, they could have come here at any time given that we have a visa waiver program that enables people to travel back and forth. It exists within those countries, and 36 others. In countries around the world, including many in Europe, cannot ensure that their citizens are not jihadists, why are we waiving the visa requirement at all? +p431 +aVIf you get the visa waiver program, does that shut down international commerce? +p432 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p433 +aVSenator Santorum, thank you. +p434 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p435 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from North Charleston. We want to jump right back in. Sandra is kicking it off. +p436 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you know it used to be you could graduate from high school and get a pretty good job at the local factory, enough to take care of your family and yourself. Those days seem to be gone. It's pretty hard to do that nowadays. Businesses are increasingly turning to automation to increase their productivity levels. It's happening right here, in fact, at the Boeing factory in North Charleston. The president says automation threatens workers' ability to get higher wages. Do you agree with that? And if so, do you have a solution? +p437 +aVThank you very much, Governor Huckabee. Senator Santorum, 40% of babies born today are born to single moms. That's twice as high as reported back in 1980, and it's 11 times as high as in 1940. Studies show that children are always better off economically, most often \u2014 and emotionally, with two parents in a household. From a policy perspective, should the government be doing anything to encourage family formation? +p438 +aVThank you. +p439 +aVCarly Fiorina? +p440 +aVThank you to all the candidates. That does it, everyone for the first debate right here in North Charleston. +p441 +asVBAIER +p442 +(lp443 +VNine p.m. on the East Coast. Eight o'clock here in Des Moines, Iowa. Welcome to the seventh Republican presidential debate of the 2016 campaign. I'm Bret Baier, along with my comoderators Megyn Kelly and Chris Wallace. +p444 +aVGoogle sees political searches spike during televised presidential debates \u2014 no surprise there. But they spike by more than 440 percent on average, as voters across America seek to learn more about what's happening on the live debate stage. +p445 +aVOhio Governor John Kasich. And Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. +p446 +aVTonight's rules are simple. Up to 60 seconds for each answer, 30 seconds for each follow-up response. And if a candidate goes over the allotted time, you will hear this. Double. +p447 +aVI think the double is the one we want. Very pleasing. We have a crowd of about 1,600 here, and while they have agreed to respect the candidates and listen intently, we can tell you they are very excited to be here. Am I right? +p448 +aVGovernor Bush, it's hard for anyone of your pedigree to avoid being called establishment. But isn't that part of the problem in this race, that three others on this stage are splitting the main stream Republican vote and there by possibly handing this nomination over to an anti-establishment candidate? +p449 +aVThank you governor. +p450 +aVSenator Paul, you are definitely not in the establishment category. But at the beginning of this campaign, you said you were your own man when asked about your father, former Texas Congressman and three-time presidential candidate Ron Paul. Senator Cruz's campaign is out with a video saying that Cruz is the intellectual and political heir to your father's 2012 campaign and the liberty movement. And your father now says it's realistic that Donald Trump will be your party's nominee. So did you make a mistake by not fully \u2014 more fully embracing your father politically at the beginning of this campaign? +p451 +aVSenator Cruz, your response to that? +p452 +aVSenator Rubio? +p453 +aVThank you, Senator. +p454 +aVWe'll come back to... +p455 +aVOK. Go ahead, go ahead. +p456 +aVWelcome back. Let's get right back to the questions. Chris. +p457 +aVGovernor Bush, just today, a wounded warrior organization designed to help wounded veterans and their families is coming under fire for raising tens of millions of dollars, but spending almost half of that on travel and hotels and dinners and luxury, lavish conferences. So taking care of veterans is obviously a huge issue in the country that has asked so many to serve and sacrifice so much. If you were president. would you police these charity organizations that say they're helping vets? +p458 +aVGovernor Bush, thank you. Speaking of veterans, we have a question from a veteran who is one of the top Youtube creators. Over the course of the evening, gentlemen, we will hear from some of Youtube's most followed stars. And here's one of them. +p459 +aVSenator Paul, that question to you. +p460 +aVSenator Paul, thank you. +p461 +aVThank you, Megyn. Gentlemen, I'll ask you some questions about federal spending and the role of the federal government. Everybody always said they want to cut federal spending and usually they start by saying they'll cut waste, fraud, and abuse, but that really doesn't ever materialize. We all know that. Governor Christie, you talk a lot about entitlement reform and you say that that's where the federal government can get savings needed to balance the budget. But can you name even one thing that the federal government does now that it should not do at all? +p462 +aVI want one. Yes. +p463 +aVAnything bigger than that? +p464 +aVAnd, Governor, I realize everyone on this stage opposes Obamacare and you're not alone. Google Data shows that in the last month when people searched "policy repeals," that there were a lot of them. Obamacare took the top two spots. But today there are millions of people who gained health insurance from Obamacare and they now rely on it. So the question, Senator Cruz, if you repeal Obamacare, as you say you will, will you be fine if millions of those people don't have health insurance? And what is your specific plan for covering the uninsured? +p465 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. Governor Bush, you've advocated for statehood for Puerto Rico. The Puerto Rican economy is collapsing under unsustainable debt burden. Only about 1 million of its 4 million residents are currently employed. So should American citizens who you say are already overtaxed, bail out Puerto Rico as well? +p466 +aVGovernor Kasich, you're one of two remaining sitting governors still in the race. Your colleague, Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan is under fire \u2014 he and his administration \u2014 for the Flint, Michigan water crisis and the botched response to it. How would you have handled that? +p467 +aVSenator Rubio, on the issue of climate change, in 2008, you wanted Florida to get ahead of other states and establish a cap- and-trade system, a program for carbon emissions, which many Republicans thought at the time would hurt the Florida economy. Now, you're a skeptic of climate change science. And in fact, you warn that federal efforts to fight climate change will cost U.S. jobs and hurt the U.S. economy. So why the change? +p468 +aVThanks, Senator. +p469 +aVThank you. +p470 +aVSenator Rubio, first before I ask you a question, any response to Governor Bush? +p471 +aVNow let's talk about electability, Senator. +p472 +aVThank you, Senator. +p473 +aVMuch more to come, including where the candidates stand on foreign policy. And, once again, you can go to Google.com, or open your Google search app and search, "Fox News Debate" to vote on which candidate you think is winning the debate tonight. We'll be right back. +p474 +aVGentlemen. I'd like to ask you a few questions about foreign policy broadly. Dr. Carson, many experts believe Russian leader Vladimir Putin has greater ideas, bigger designs for the region beyond Russia's actions inside Ukraine. Fast forward to February 2017 and it is President Carson, and Russian uniformed commandos cross the Estonian border and they occupy a city in Estonia. Estonia, a member of +p475 +aVGentlemen, you've all said that the Iran nuclear deal is a bad one. Senator Rubio, you were among the candidates who've said you would tear it up on day one. But as you know, Iran has already received tens of millions of dollars \u2014 tens of billions of dollars in this deal and has quickly reestablished ties economically with Europe. The major concessions, in other words, are up front in this deal. So should you win by the time you take office, the remaining parts of the deal would be the constraints on Iran. So why blow up those constraints on day one, letting Iran off the hook? +p476 +aVGovernor Kasich, you've said that Marco Rubio is wrong... ... that Senator Rubio is wrong with tearing it up on day one. +p477 +aVBut Governor Kasich, you know that the most powerful sanctions are the multilateral ones. +p478 +aVAnd these European countries are already reestablishing these ties. +p479 +aVThey don't want... +p480 +aVGovernor, thank you. Governor Christie... ... Libya is the newest base for +p481 +aVThank you, Governor. +p482 +aVWelcome back to Des Moines. Let's resume the debate. Megyn? +p483 +aVComing up, closing statements from the candidates as our debate continues, live, from Des Moines, Iowa. +p484 +aVNew Jersey governor, Chris Christie. +p485 +aVThank you governor. +p486 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. +p487 +aVThank you senator. +p488 +aVAnd we have you covered from Iowa, all the way to the conventions and on to the general election. Thanks again for joining us. For all of us here in Des Moines, have a great evening. +p489 +asVSANTORUM +p490 +(lp491 +VWell, all he has to do is listen to the Democratic debate and find out how bad the economy is. All they do is complain about the hollowing out of the middle of America, and how America is struggling so badly, and have to make these radical changes in Washington. But they've been in control for the last seven years, and what have we seen? The most important jobs, I believe, in this country are the ones that fill the middle. For the 74% of Americans who don't have a college degree between the age of 25 and 65 are manufacturing jobs. Your governor, and your legislature, and your team here have done an amazing job of bringing manufacturing jobs back to South Carolina. Right here. Right here in Charleston, right down in the street in Boeing. You've done a great job, and what's happened? You've grown this economy, you've strengthened the center of your state, the middle. That's because you know that if you're really going to create wealth and opportunity, you got to get jobs, and good paying jobs for everybody. And, so what's happened? Two million jobs, manufacturing jobs, have left this country because of Barack Obama. Regulations, EPA, workplace regulations, things driving people off-shore all because of his number one priority, global climate change. Well, let me tell you this, Mr. President. For every dollar of GDP, China creates five times as much pollution as we do here. You want to \u2014 lower global climate change, bring those jobs back to America and let American workers do that job with less pollution. +p492 +aVWell, the historic promises that we have made to \u2014 to Iran in this agreement need to be torn up on the first day in office of the next president. And let me tell you why, because Iran has already torn it up. Iran has not approved the agreement that President Obama has said that they have approved. They have approved a different agreement in their parliament. The fact of the matter is they have violated this agreement. Carly just mentioned some of those violations. They have launched ballistic missiles, tested them, in clear violation. And here's the pathetic part. The president announced that they were going to impose sanctions. And then President Rouhani went on Twitter and said there would be retaliation. And what did we do? We backed down. Ladies and gentlemen, there are 50 some Citadel cadets in this audience tonight. I would ask them to stand up if they will. And here's what I want to tell each and every one of them, as you stand. Here's what I want to tell them. Whether it's you're watching that movie this weekend that just came out when we abandoned our men and women in Benghazi, or whether it's we treat Iran, that gave courtesies to our sailors, as they made them record a hostage video, let me tell you this, if you choose to serve this country, I will have your back. I will not let America be trampled upon anymore by these radical jihadists. +p493 +aVI would just say that if we were doing a better job within the government, we wouldn't need the private sector to do the things that we're asking them to do. I've had a little experience in this in the private sector myself. And what I found was a government with layers and layers of bureaucracy, of people who had some technical expertise but they had no authority, number one. And one of the things I found out about in the bureaucracy is if a lot of people have authority, nobody has authority, number one. And number two, that if you don't do anything, you don't get fired. It's only when you do something and something goes wrong, you get fired. So they do nothing. And that's what is happening in our Defense Department right now. We have a capability that they're trying to develop to play defense. We have a lot of technologists that are very skilled. And they're trying to figure out how to play defense. But what we don't have is we don't have folks who are thinking about offense. We don't have war-fighters. We have technologists. Technologists are not war-fighters. Technologists are thinking, how do I protect cyber-security, how do I secure, how do I protect? And we need to have a much more dynamic, how do we \u2014 how do we go after them? How do we respond? And we need leadership that's willing to make sure that when someone attacks us \u2014 and ladies and gentlemen, they're attacking us as we speak. They're attacking us all day every day, not just the government, but they're attacking private sector companies all day every day. They have to learn that we're going to pay \u2014 they're going to pay a price when they do so. And then right now, just like in every other aspect of our national security, people who attack us are not paying a price. We need a leader who will make sure that they know when they mess with America, they're going to pay a price. +p494 +aVLook, Facebook and Twitter can teach us things. We can cooperate with them. We can share ideas and information. But this is a \u2014 and this is a very dicey area for the government to go in and require the industry to do its job. It needs to develop that capability. We need to be \u2014 have responsible dialogue, but I don't think requirements are the order of the day. +p495 +aVWell, the most devastating attack that could occur is an electromagnetic pulse attack, and that would be an attack that would be triggered by a nuclear explosion in the upper atmosphere of our country. The best way to stop that from happening is to make sure that those who contemplating and actually war-gaming and talking about using it, Iran, doesn't get a nuclear weapon so they can't explode that device. And the president of the United States has put Iran on a path to a nuclear weapon. And we have done nothing to do anything to harden our grid. There is actually a bill in Congress that would put money forward to try to put redundancy and harden our electric grid so it could actually survive an EMP. An EMP is a devastating explosion that sends a pulse that knocks out all electric, everything, everything that is connected to any kind \u2014 that is wired, that has a circuit board gets fried out. Everything is gone. Cars stop. Planes fall out of the sky. This is a devastating attack. And this president has done nothing, number one, to take the most probable person to \u2014 probable country to launch an attack and stop them, and has done nothing to try to defend us, particularly our electric grid. The bottom line is, I put the original sanctions on the Iranian nuclear program when I was in the United States Senate. I've been fighting for 12 years with one thing in mind, that we must stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. And......because they're different than every other country. They do not want a nuclear weapon to defend themselves. They want a nuclear weapon to have theological ends to bring about their mahdi so they can control the world. And that is the most serious threat facing this country right now. +p496 +aVWell, the numbers just don't add up. I mean, they have not added manufacturing jobs. Manufacturing jobs have been lost in this country, 2 million of them. The bottom line is that this president has done more to take jobs away from the hard-working people who are struggling the most. And that's folks who are, as I said, the 74 percent of Americans who don't have a college degree. And they're out there talking about, well, we're going to provide free college for everybody. Well, who is going to pay for it? The 74 percent that don't have a college degree. They're not \u2014 nobody is focused. Let's just be honest, nobody is focused on the people who are struggling the most in America today. We talk about immigration. Talk about the president's immigration plan. He wants to bring in more and more people into this country. Let people who are here illegally stay in this country. Almost all of the people who are here illegally, and most of the people who came here legally over the last 20 years, they're working in wage-earning jobs. That is why wages have flat-lined. And we have unfortunately two political parties with most of the candidates in this field for some form of amnesty, some form of allowing people to stay here even though they're here illegally and for increasing levels of legal immigration. I'm someone who believes that we need to be the party that stands for the American worker. And when we say we need to send people back, I mean we send people back. And let me just make one point. I was in Storm Lake, Iowa, the other day, near a Tyson's plant, 91 percent of the kids that go to the elementary school there are minority kids. And they said, well, what are you going to do with all of these people, their families, they've lived here for a long time? I said, I'm going to give them a gift. I'm going to give them a gift of being able to help the country they were born in. And I'm going to export America, the education they were able to see. They learned English language. They learned about capitalism. They learned about democracy. You want to stop flow of immigrants? Let's send six million Mexicans, Hondurans, Guatemalans, El Savadorians......back into their country, so they can start a renaissance in their country so they won't be coming over here anymore. +p497 +aVYou know, we've had this debate about the economy, and we haven't talked the one issue now increasingly even the right, and even the are coming to agreement. I've run around doing 300 town hall meetings talking about a book written by a liberal Harvard sociologist, not a normal thing for me to be talking about, but I now name Robert Putnam who wrote a book called, "Our Kids". And, he wrote this book, I think, ostensibly to support the Democratic argument that the middle of America's hollowing out, and income gap is widening, and rich are getting richer. When he studied all the information as to what was going on, he realized that the biggest reason that we're seeing the hollowing out of the middle of America is the breakdown of the American family. The reality is that if you're a single parent \u2014 a child of a single parent, and you grew up in a single parent family neighborhood, you went to that single parent family school, the chance of you ever, ever reaching the top 20% of income earners is 3% in America. At least \u2014 I don't know about you, but that's not good enough. And, we have been too politically correct in this country because we don't want to offend anybody to fight for the lives of our children. You want \u2014 You want to be shocked? You read the first few chapters of Mr. \u2014 Dr. Putnam' book. He talks about Port Clinton, Ohio and growing up there in the 1950's, and how poor kids actually survived and did well, even though they were poor and disadvantaged. But, then he goes to the towns today and these kids are failing, and failing miserably. They don't even have a shot, and we won't even have the courage to have leadership at the federal level \u2014 not with legislation, but the most powerful tool a president have, the bully pulpit to encourage each and everyone of you, churches and businesses, and educators, and community leaders to let's have a national campaign to rebuild the American family, and give every child its birthright which is a Mom and a Dad who loves them. That will change this economy. +p498 +aVLadies and gentlemen, America is frustrated and angry and looking for someone who's a fighter, but I also think they're looking for someone who's a winner. Somebody who can go out there and take on the establishment and make a difference. And take on someone who's going to be the person who's going to be between a Republican holding the presidency and that's Hillary Clinton. And there's one person on this stage, one person in the race who's done it and done it repeatedly. I've taken on Hillary Clinton on the issues you care about. Partial-birth abortion. Go and google Rick Santorum and Hillary Clinton and there you'll see a five-minute debate. I'll let you decide who won the debate. I'll tell you who won, because we passed the bill and I know I'm out of time but I'm going to take some of Rand Paul's time here for a second. If you're looking for someone who fought Hillary Clinton on Iran's sanctions, she was one of four who voted \u2014 who's deciding vote who voted against Iran's sanctions, so we didn't get it in place as earlier as we should have. I've fought battles against her. In 1994, I ran against the Clinton machine. James Carville and Paul Begala, ran the race against me when I took on the author of Hillary care. And each one of those battles, I won. You want a fighter, you want a winner, I'd appreciate your vote. Thank you. +p499 +asVQUESTION +p500 +(lp501 +VI'm Mark Watson. I'm known for my views on Youtube, but I'm also a veteran who served in the Army for eight years. As an African-American living near Ferguson, I've seen the strain between police officers and the communities they serve firsthand. Now, there are great tools like body cameras that \u2014 to protect both officers and citizens, but we all currently have better cameras in our pockets than in our precincts. Why aren't we using the technology available to better protect our communities? +p502 +aVI'm Dulce Candy, a Youtube creator who immigrated to the United States from Mexico when I was a little girl. Since then, I am proud to say I served in the armed forces in Iraq, became a citizen and I am now an entrepreneur. There are many immigrants who contribute positively to the American economy, but some of the comments in the campaign make us question our place in this country. If America does not seem like a welcoming place for immigrant entrepreneurs, will the American economy suffer? +p503 +aVI'm Nabela Noor. I'm a Muslim American born and raised in the U.S. who creates beauty and lifestyle videos on Youtube. In 2015, the number of hate crimes against Muslims in the U.S. has tripled, and on social media, where I spend a lot of time, I've seen many attacks directed towards fellow Muslims. This culture of hatred is only driving +p504 +aVMy name is Ashley Tofil. Ms. Fiorina, in November, you said that you would not talk to Vladimir Putin after you were elected because you would be communicating from a position of weakness. Do you believe that it is feasible to not communicate with another world leader? And do you think that that also is a sign of weakness? +p505 +aVMy name is Carla Hernandez. I'm from the University of Texas at Austin. And my question is directed to all the candidates. If the Bible clearly states that we need to embrace those in need and not fear, how can we justify not accepting refugees? +p506 +asVCAVUTO +p507 +(lp508 +VIt is 9:00 p.m. here at the North Charleston Coliseum and Performing Arts Center in South Carolina. Welcome to the sixth Republican presidential of the 2016 campaign, here on the Fox Business Network. I'm Neil Cavuto, alongside my friend and co-moderator Maria Bartiromo. +p509 +aVNow, the seven candidates on the stage tonight were selected based on their standing in six national polls, as well as polls in the early-voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire, those standings determining the position on the stage of the candidates tonight. And here they are. Businessman Donald Trump. Texas senator Ted Cruz. Florida senator Marco Rubio. Neurosurgeon Ben Carson. New Jersey governor Chris Christie. Former Florida governor Jeb Bush. And Ohio governor John Kasich. +p510 +aVGovernor Kasich, we are not even two weeks into this stock trading year, but investors already lost $1.6 trillion in market value. That makes it the worst start to a new year ever. Many worry that things will get even worse, and that banks and financial stocks are particularly vulnerable. Now, if this escalates, like it did back when Barack Obama first assumed the presidency, what actions would you take if this same thing happens all over again just as, in this example, you are taking over the presidency? +p511 +aVGovernor Bush, the president just told the nation two nights ago that America is back and that the idea that our enemies are getting stronger or that this country is getting weaker, well, it's just rhetoric and hot air. Now other Democrats go even further, sir, saying Republicans even suggesting such comments actually embolden our enemies. I guess they would include you. What do you say? +p512 +aVSo I take it from that you do not agree with the president. +p513 +aVSenator Rubio, the president says that +p514 +aVThank you, Senator. +p515 +aVMr. Trump, at the State of the Union, the president pointed to a guest who was a Syrian refugee you might recall whose wife and daughter and other family members were killed in an air attack. Now he fled that country seeking asylum here, ultimately ended up in Detroit where he's now trying to start a new life. The president says that that doctor is the real face of these refugees and not the one that you and some of your colleagues on this stage are painting; that you prefer the face of fear and terror and that you would refuse to let in anyone into this country seeking legitimate asylum. How do you answer that? +p516 +aVAll right. Welcome back to the Republican presidential , right here in North Charleston, South Carolina. Let's get right back to the questions. And I'll start with you, Senator Cruz. Now you are, of course, a strict constitutionalist \u2014 no one would doubt that. And as you know, the U.S. Constitution says only natural-born citizens are eligible for the office of president of the United States. Stop me if you've heard this before. Now, you were born...... you were born in Canada to an American mother. So you were and are considered an American citizen. But that fellow next to you, Donald Trump \u2014 and others \u2014 have said that being born in Canada means you are not natural-born, and that has raised questions about your eligibility. Do you want to try to close this topic once and for all tonight? +p517 +aVMr. Trump......that you raised it because of his rising poll numbers. +p518 +aVWhy are you saying this now \u2014 right now? Why are you raising this issue now? +p519 +aVSenator, do you want to respond? +p520 +aVMarco Rubio. I'm sorry, it's the time constraints. You and Governor Christie have been exchanging some fairly nasty words of late, and I will allow the governor to respond as well. The governor went so far to say, you won't be able to slime your way to the White House. He's referring to a series of ads done by a PAC, speaking on your behalf, that say quote,"One high tax, Common Core, liberal, energy-loving, Obamacare, Medicaid-expanding president is enough. You think you went too far on that and do you want to apologize to the governor? +p521 +aVThat is not my question. +p522 +aVIs he a liberal? +p523 +aVIs he a liberal? +p524 +aVGovernor? +p525 +aVYou were? +p526 +aVWell, we are not done. Coming up, one of the top things people are talking about on Facebook, guns. And you can join us live us on this stage in the conversation during this commercial break right from home. You can go to Facebook.com/. We will be streaming live and talking about how we think the is going so far. We're back in a moment in Charleston, South Carolina. +p527 +aVSenator Rubio, you said that President Obama wants to take people's guns away. Yet under his presidency, gun sales have more than doubled. That doesn't sound like a White House unfriendly to gun owners. +p528 +aVBut what fact can you point to, Senator \u2014 what fact can you point to that the president would take away everyone's gun? You don't think that's ? +p529 +aVGovernor Christie, you, too, have criticized the president's recent executive action on gun control, saying it's unconstitutional, another step to bypass Congress. But hasn't your own position on guns evolved, sir? The New Jersey Star-Ledger reports that you signed several laws to regulate the possession of firearms, and that you argued back in August 2013, and I quote, "These common sense measures will strengthen New Jersey's already tough gun laws." So isn't that kind of what the president wants to do now? +p530 +aVMaria... +p531 +aVGovernor bush, for the third time in as many months, the Iranians have provoked us, detaining us, as we've been discussing, with these 10 Navy sailors Tehran had said strayed into their waters. The sailors were released, but only after shown on video apologizing for the incident. This occurring only weeks after Iran fired multiple rockets within 1,500 yards of a U.S. aircraft carrier and then continued to test medium range missiles. Now you've claimed that such actions indicate Tehran has little to fear from a President Obama. I wonder, sir, what would change if they continued doing this sort of thing under a President Jeb Bush? +p532 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Kasich, while everyone has been focusing on Iran's provocations, I'm wondering what you make of what Saudi Arabia has been doing and its recent moves in the region, including its execution of a well-known Shi'ite cleric and its move to dramatically increase oil production, some say in an effort to drive down oil prices and force a lot of U.S. oil producers out of business. Sure enough, oil prices have tumbled. One brokerage house is predicting a third or more of American oil producers and those heavily invested in fracking will go bankrupt, and soon Saudi Arabia and +p533 +aVThank you John. +p534 +aVBut you said \u2014 you said that he made those comments and they represented him being unhinged after he made them. +p535 +aVWell \u2014 well, after he made them......his poll numbers went up eight points in South Carolina. Now \u2014 now, wait... +p536 +aVAre you \u2014 are you saying \u2014 are you saying that all those people who agree with Mr. Trump are unhinged? +p537 +aVMr. Trump, sometimes maybe in the heat of the campaign, you say things and you have to dial them back. Last week, the New York Times editorial board quoted as saying that you would oppose, "up to 45 percent tariff on Chinese goods." +p538 +aVWell... +p539 +aVYou never said because they provided that... +p540 +aVSo they've never said to put a tariff on their... +p541 +aVI'm sorry, you lost me. +p542 +aVThen I apologize. Then I want to understand, if you don't want a 45 percent tariff, say that wasn't the figure, would you be open \u2014 are you open to slapping a higher tariff on Chinese goods of any sort to go back at them? +p543 +aVI know... +p544 +aVSo you're open to a tariff? +p545 +aVAll right. +p546 +aVHe is right. If you put a tariff on a good, it's Americans who pay. +p547 +aVGovernor Christie, going back to your U.S. Attorney days, you had been praised by both parties as certainly a tough law and order guy. So I wonder what you make of recent statistics that showed violent crimes that have been spiking sometimes by double digit ratings in 30 cities across the country. Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn said, "most local law enforcement officials feel abandoned by Washington." Former NYC Police Chief Ray Kelly, says that, "police are being less proactive because they're being overly scrutinized and second guessed and they're afraid of being sued or thrown in jail." What would you do as president to address this? +p548 +aVThank you governor. Governor Kasich, as someone has to deal with controversial police shootings in your own state, what do you make of Chicago's move recently to sort of retrain police? Maybe make them not so quick to use their guns? +p549 +aVThank you, Governor. +p550 +aVGentlemen, gentlemen \u2014 +p551 +aVVery quick, very quick. +p552 +aVDo you think they like each other? +p553 +aVAll right, gentlemen, we've got to stop. I know you are very passionate about that. Governor Bush, fears have gripped this country obviously, and you touched on it earlier since the San Bernardino attacks. Since our last , the national conversation has changed, according to Facebook data as well. Now this first graphic shows the issues that were most talked about right before those attacks and now after: the issues of Islam, homeland security and +p554 +aVWould you answer this question? +p555 +aVFair enough. So Tim Cook \u2014 so Tim Cook says he's going to keep it private. +p556 +aVBut if Tim cook is telling you no, Mr. President. +p557 +aVDo you ask or do you order? +p558 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p559 +aVGovernor Bush? +p560 +aVDr. Ben Carson? +p561 +aVSenator Ted Cruz? +p562 +aVGentlemen, thank you all. All of you. That wraps up our debate. We went a little bit over here. But we wanted to make sure everyone was able to say their due. He's upset. All right. Thank you for joining us. Much more to come in the Spin Room ahead. +p563 +aVIt is 9:00 p.m. on the East Coast, 8:00 p.m. here inside the Milwaukee theater. Welcome to the Republican presidential debate here on the Fox Business Network. I'm Neil Cavuto, alongside my co-moderators, Maria Bartiromo, and the editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal, Gerard Baker. +p564 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. +p565 +aVIt sounds like a game show but it's not. Now I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the elephant in the room, and I'm not talking about your party's fine symbol. I'm talking about the purpose of tonight's debate. The economy and what each of you would do to improve it. No more, no less. We are focused on those issues, and what you have said on those issues in your words and what your opponents have said in their words about your words. That is the agenda tonight. How each of you plans to make America better tomorrow. And so we begin. Candidates, as we gather tonight in this very august theater, just outside and across the country, picketers are gathering as well. They're demanding an immediate hike in the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Just a few hours ago, near Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed doing the same for all state workers, the first governor to do so. Mr. Trump, as the leading presidential candidate on this stage and one whose tax plan exempts couples making up to $50,000 a year from paying any federal income taxes at all, are you sympathetic to the protesters cause since a $15 wage works out to about $31,000 a year? +p566 +aVSo do not raise the minimum wage? +p567 +aVDr. Carson, you have long bemoaned this lackluster recovery. And this Facebook map show Americans share your concern. The green represents how the jobs issue is resonating all across the nation, especially here in the state of Wisconsin. You suggested one minimum wage does not fit all, and that perhaps we should offer a lower or starter wage for young people. Those protesters outside are looking for $15 and nothing less. Where are you? +p568 +aVSo, sir, just to be clear, you would not raise it? +p569 +aVSenator Rubio, you called the recent Democratic debate in Las Vegas a night of giveaways, including free health care, free college and a host of other government-paid benefits. Since you aren't a fan of all they're giving away, tell us tonight what you would take back. +p570 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. +p571 +aVAll right. We're only just getting started. Coming up, your taxes. Stick around. You're watching FOX Business +p572 +aVWelcome back to the Milwaukee Theater and the Republican presidential debate. Let's get right back to our questions. Dr. Carson, to you. You recently railed against the double- standard in the media, sir, that seems obsessed with inconsistencies and potential exaggerations in your life story, but looked the other way when it came to then-Senator Barack Obama's. Still, as a candidate whose brand has always been trust, are you worried your campaign \u2014 which you've always said, sir, is bigger than you \u2014 is now being hurt by you? +p573 +aVI'll just forget that follow-up there. +p574 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p575 +aVAlright, thank you. We're going to take a break here. Coming up, a big issue many Americans are facing, taxes. The Republican Presidential Debate continues now, live, from Milwaukee. +p576 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from Milwaukee. Let's get back to the questions. And we want to touch on obviously one of the biggest of this issue in this year, taxes. And this will go to several of you. One of the biggest economic concerns of course in the country are taxes. Facebook data certainly backs that up. Once again the green on this map that we're going to see here shows how the conversation around taxes is resonating across the nation, especially here in Wisconsin. First off, Dr. Carson, to you. You say you are in favor of a tax system, I guess akin to tithing, sir, with a flat tax rate of up to 15 percent because you said, if everybody pays this, I think God is a pretty fair guy, so tithing is a pretty fair process. But Donald Trump says that is not fair. That wealthier taxpayers should pay a higher rate because it's a fair thing to do. So whose plan would God endorse then, Doctor? Yours or Mr. Trump's? +p577 +aVRight. +p578 +aVThank you very much. Senator Paul, you said you want to blow up the tax code and start over with an across-the-board 14.5 percent fair and flat tax. You happily offered that it is not revenue neutral and that's the idea. You want to choke off the amount of money coming into Washington. But don't you risk, sir, creating a near-term budget crisis just as your presidency would be beginning? +p579 +aVThere are no deductions on your \u2014 under your plan? +p580 +aVThank you, Senator. +p581 +aVSenator Paul... Senator Paul, you have already said, sir, that that would be a mistake in not talking to Vladimir Putin, or to rule it out. You've argued that it's never a good idea to close down communication. With that in mind, do you think the same applies to administration efforts right now to include the Iranians in talks on Syria? +p582 +aV...Well, then how would you respond? +p583 +aVBut if you're not going to respond in a no-fly zone strategy, what would yours be? +p584 +aVAll right. And look at the time, look at the time. You are watching FOX Business, we'll take a break. Stick around. +p585 +aVSenator Cruz \u2014 and I will get to you \u2014 but, Senator Cruz, on that theme, Facebook data shows that over the last month alone, nearly 1 million people \u2014 nearly 1 million \u2014 have been concerned about reining in Wall Street, apparently believing that some have not been punished enough. So, as an accomplished litigator yourself and a former solicitor general, would you go after the very people who believe and fear that Wall Street has ignored, in other words, the crooks that Bernie Sanders say have gotten away with a financial murder? +p586 +aVSenator......Senator, I really want to be clear here. Are you saying, sir, that if Bank of America were on the brink, you would let it fail? +p587 +aVSir, I understand that. I just want to be clear, if you don't mind, that millions of depositors would be on the line with that decision. And I just want to be clear. If it were to happen again, for whatever the reason, you would let it go, you would let a Bank of America go? +p588 +aVOK, I think it's fair to say you're not fans of Hillary Clinton's resume. Alright, Mr. Trump.... +p589 +aVI had a feeling. Perhaps the most successful capitalist on this stage tonight, you've acknowledged that some give capitalism a bad name. You've been particularly critical of businesses that find all sorts of ways of paying their taxes by keeping money abroad, but your own plan includes an incentive to bring \u2014 that more the $2 trillion dollars home. Isn't that, like, a one-time bounty... +p590 +aV...Some of the guys you all but call pirates, so they still keep the loot, and pay only a price to bring it back. +p591 +aV...Alright, gentlemen, I know you want to \u2014 and I want to, be we also promised to get people home tonight, and we are going to take a quick break here. I think it is fair to say at this juncture that you can discuss these issues, and only business issues, but still keep it interesting. Stick around for these candidates closing statements. +p592 +aVSenator Marco Rubio? +p593 +aVDr. Ben Carson? +p594 +aVDonald Trump? +p595 +aVCandidates, we want to thank you all. We also appreciate your helping save time by talking over one another at times. That was welcomed. But by all means, it was a very riveting debate. Business issues can be \u2014 can be riveting, because it wasn't about us, it's about them. +p596 +aVThat'll do it. Thank you for joining us. +p597 +asVBLITZER +p598 +(lp599 +VWelcome to the CNN-Facebook Republican presidential debate here at the Venetian Las Vegas. We have a very enthusiastic audience. Everyone is here. They're looking forward to a serious and spirited discussion about the security of this nation. I'm Wolf Blitzer, your moderator tonight. This debate is airing on CNN networks here in the United States and around the world, and on the Salem Radio Network. The nine leading candidates, they are here. Let's welcome them right now. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Businessman and real estate developer Donald Trump. Retired neurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. And Ohio Governor John Kasich. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome these Republican candidates for president of the United States. This is the final Republican debate before the election year begins, and we're taking a moment for the photographs of the candidates together on the stage. Now, everyone, please rise for the national anthem sung by Ayla Brown. +p600 +aVI know everyone is eager to get started. So, candidates, please take your places while I explain the ground rules for tonight. As moderator, I'll guide the discussion, and I'll be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt and CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. We also asked Republicans and independents nationwide to share their questions for the candidates. We teamed up with Facebook to send a campaign camper across the country over the past several weeks. Thousands of people stepped inside and recorded their questions on video. Millions more have weighed in on Facebook. Candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have a minute and 15 seconds to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you're singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know that we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. And as the candidates requested, a bell will sound like this. We know you are all eager to jump in and debate these important issues, so, please, wait until you're called on. These nine Republicans are positioned on stage based on their ranking in the recent polls, so let's begin right now. I'd like to invite each candidate to introduce himself or herself to our audience. You'll have one minute. First to you, Senator Paul. +p601 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p602 +aVGovernor Christie? +p603 +aVMs. Fiorina? +p604 +aVGovernor Bush? +p605 +aVSenator Rubio? +p606 +aVSenator Cruz. +p607 +aVDr. Carson. +p608 +aVMr. Trump. +p609 +aVThank you. Since you last debated, Americans have witnessed terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino. The FBI director says the country now faces the greatest terror threat since 9/11. You all have different approaches to keeping the country safe. And that will be the focus of tonight's debate. Mr. Trump, as you mentioned in your opening statement, part of your strategy is to focus in on America's borders. To keep the country safe, you say you want to temporarily ban non-American Muslims from coming to the United States; ban refugees fleeing +p610 +aVGovernor Bush, you called Mr. Trump "unhinged" when he proposed banning non-American Muslims from the United States. Why is that unhinged? +p611 +aVMr. Trump? +p612 +aVSenator Rubio \u2014 I'm going to go to Senator Rubio and get his thoughts. You have said banning Muslims is unconstitutional. But according to a recent ABC News-Washington Post poll, a majority of Republicans support Mr. Trump's idea. Why are they wrong? +p613 +aVHugh Hewitt, you have a question. +p614 +aVGovernor Christie, Americans are clearly more afraid today than at any time since 9/11. As you mentioned in your opening statement, today in Los Angeles, 650 schoolchildren didn't go to \u2014 650,000 schoolchildren didn't go to school because of an e-mail threat, this two weeks after an attack killed 14 people in San Bernardino. Is this the new normal? And if so, what steps would you take as president of the United States to ensure that fear does not paralyze America? +p615 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, one of the killers in San Bernardino was an American who was not on anyone's watch list. How are you going to find that radicalized person and stop another such attack? +p616 +aVThank you. Dana Bash, you have the next question. +p617 +aVThank you. Dr. Carson, you're in favor of monitoring mosques and schools where there is anti-America sentiment, what do you consider anti- America? +p618 +aVDr. Carson, who was right in that little debate that we just heard between Senator Rubio and Senator Paul? +p619 +aVHold on a sec, we have a lot more to come and everybody's going to have their full opportunity. Governor Bush, six days after 9/11 your brother visited a mosque and said quote, "Islam is peace." The conversation tonight is about banning Muslims and surveillance of mosques, are President Bush's words still relevant in today's Republican party? +p620 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you pointed out you were a CEO in Silicon Valley on 9/11. Companies there, they say they won't help the FBI now crack encrypted communication from +p621 +aVBut my question was: Should these Silicon Valley companies be forced to cooperate with the FBI? +p622 +aVMr. Trump, you recently suggested closing that Internet up, those were your words, as a way to stop +p623 +aVLet me follow up, Mr. Trump. So, are you open to closing parts of the Internet? +p624 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, is shutting down any part of the Internet a good idea? +p625 +aVThank you, Governor. The fight against radical Islamic terrorists and +p626 +aVThank you. To be clear, Senator Cruz, would you carpet bomb Raqqa, the +p627 +aVThank you. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you've been critical of Senator Cruz's strategy. You say his voting record doesn't match his rhetoric. Why? +p628 +aVBecause I asked the question, Senator, because you said this. You said he, referring to Senator Cruz, voted against the Defense Authorization Act every year that it came up, and I assume that if he voted against it, he would veto it as president. That's the bill that funds our troops. +p629 +aVSenator Cruz? +p630 +aVSenator Rubio. +p631 +aVWe are going to have much more on this... +p632 +aVWe're going to have much more on this. But I want to move now back to Mr. Trump. +p633 +aVHold on. Hold on. Hold on. +p634 +aVWe have a lot... +p635 +aVWe have a lot to discuss. I want to move to Mr. Trump right now. We have a question on this war against +p636 +aVMr. Trump. +p637 +aVGovernor Bush. Governor Bush. +p638 +aVMr. Trump. +p639 +aVJust one at a time, go ahead... +p640 +aVGo ahead, Mr. Trump. +p641 +aVGovernor Bush, please. +p642 +aVOne at a time. +p643 +aVGovernor Bush. +p644 +aVThank you. +p645 +aVAll right. Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash, Hugh, go ahead with the next question. +p646 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Rubio? Let's continue this conversation. This is a critically important issue. +p647 +aVWe will get to \u2014 we have a lot of time, Ms. Fiorina. I want to get to Senator Rubio right now. Let's talk about, one of the aspects of your strategy, you say the only way to defeat +p648 +aVThank you, Senator. Stand by. Ms. Fiorina, the former defense secretary, Bob Gates, says the chances of getting Sunni-Arab forces on the ground to get the job done, his words, "chances very remote." What's your strategy? +p649 +aVThank you. Governor Christie, what's your strategy? +p650 +aVDr. Carson, what is your strategy? +p651 +aVThank you. Everyone stand by. We're only just beginning. Coming up, which candidates on this stage tonight want to move foreign policy in a dramatically new direction? We'll be right back. +p652 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate here at the Venetian, Las Vegas. The war against +p653 +aVThank you. +p654 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you supported the removal of Moammar Gadhafi in Libya. Now that country is in turmoil, as +p655 +aVSenator Cruz? +p656 +aVStandby. Everybody standby for a moment. Governor Kasich, go ahead. +p657 +aVThank you. +p658 +aVWe're going to talk about Assad in a moment. Mr. Trump, are Americans safer with dictators running the world in the Middle East? +p659 +aVThank you. Mr. Trump? +p660 +aVAll right. +p661 +aVThank you. +p662 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East... +p663 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East better off with dictators? +p664 +aVGovernor Bush. +p665 +aVHold on Governor Bush., here's the question. You said, "getting rid of Saddam Hussein in your words was a pretty good deal." In light of what has happened in Iraq, do you still feel that way? +p666 +aVSenator Paul, was getting rid of Saddam Hussein a pretty good deal? +p667 +aVThank you. Hugh Hewitt, go ahead. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hugh. +p668 +aVSenator, Senator, we're going to get to you. Wait your turn. We have two hours of debate. We'll have plenty of time. Let Hugh ask his question. +p669 +aVSenator, please. +p670 +aVSenator... +p671 +aVYou'll have plenty of opportunity. Hugh, go ahead. +p672 +aVThese are the rules all of you agreed to. Hugh, go ahead with your question. +p673 +aVLet's continue with Russia right now. We have another question from Facebook. Listen and watch. +p674 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you know, U.S. and Russian warplanes are flying all over Syria right now. With so many lives on the line, is this a good time for the United States not to talk to Putin? +p675 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Christie, if the U.S. imposed a no-fly zone over Syria and a Russian plane encroached, invaded that no-fly zone, would you be prepared to shoot down that Russian plane and risk war with Russia? +p676 +aVSenator Paul \u2014 Senator Paul, I want you to respond to what we just heard from Governor Christie. If there was a no-fly zone, you say that potentially could lead to World War III. Why? +p677 +aVGovernor Christie? +p678 +aVAll right, let's go back \u2014 Hugh and Dana? +p679 +aVOne at a time. Hugh, go ahead. +p680 +aVGovernor, thank you very much. So, Dr. Carson, you recently visited a refugee camp in Jordan and you deemed it your words, "really quite nice." Saying the people there didn't want to come to the United States. Do you think these camps are a long-term solution of the problem of Syrian refugees? +p681 +aVSenator Paul, you oppose letting in Syrian refugees at this time into the United States. The U.S. has already accepted 2,000 Syrian refugees, including 13 living here in Las Vegas right now. Would you send them back? What would you do with these people? +p682 +aVSenator Rubio? +p683 +aVSenator Paul, you didn't answer the question about the 2,000 Syrian refugees who are already here in the United States. Will you send them back or let them stay? +p684 +aVWe have another \u2014 we have another question. We have another question from Facebook. Let's listen. +p685 +aVGovernor Christie, you say there should be a pause in allowing new refugees to come into the United States, including orphans under the age of five. What do you say to Carla? +p686 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p687 +aVThank you, Governor. There is much more coming up. We are only just beginning. Coming up, what other global hot spots await the next president of the United States. +p688 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate. We're here at the Venetian Las Vegas. Tonight we have been focusing on the Middle East, but let's turn to some other world threats that you will potentially face as Commander in Chief. Ms. Fiorina, candidates here have called the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un a maniac who is mentally unstable. Last week he said he now has a hydrogen bomb. If you were elected president, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p689 +aVDr. Carson, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p690 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Dana and Hugh you have questions as well. +p691 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Some of you on this stage have questioned whether your opponents have temperament, the right temperament, to be in control of the nuclear codes. Dana, you have a question on this? +p692 +aVThank you, senator. Thank you. +p693 +aVThank you, Senator. +p694 +aVThank you, Senator. We're a month and a half away now from the first real test who will be the Republican presidential nominee. Hugh, you have a question? +p695 +aVAll right. Candidates, we have more coming up. When we come back, everyone will have an opportunity to explain why this particular candidate, each of you on the stage, believes he or she should be the Republican presidential nominee. +p696 +aVNow it's time for the closing statements from the candidates. Each one has 30 seconds. Senator Paul. +p697 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p698 +aVGovernor Christie. +p699 +aVMs. Fiorina. +p700 +aVGovernor Bush. +p701 +aVSenator Rubio. +p702 +aVSenator Cruz. +p703 +aVDr. Carson. +p704 +aVThanks to all the Republican presidential candidates. That does it for this Republican presidential debate. +p705 +asVFIORINA +p706 +(lp707 +VWell, thank you. Good evening. If I may begin by saying how honored I am to be standing here with two former Iowa Caucus winners. Governor, Senator. And how honored I am to be talking with all of you. You know, I'm not a political insider. I haven't spent my lifetime running for office. The truth is I have had and been blessed by a lot of opportunities to do a lot of things in my life. And unlike another woman in this race, I actually love spending time with my husband. I'm standing here because I think we have to restore a citizen government in this country. I think we have to end crony capitalism. The crony capitalism that starts with both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. You know, Hillary Clinton sits inside government and rakes in millions, handing out access and favors. And Donald Trump sits outside government and rakes in billions buying people like Hillary Clinton. The state of our economy is not strong. We have record numbers of men out of work. We have record numbers of women living in poverty. We have young people who no longer believe that the American dream applies to them. We have working families whose wages have stagnated for decades, all while the rich get richer, the powerful get more powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected get more connected. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. +p708 +aVAmerica must lead because when we do not lead, when this exceptional nation does not lead, the world is more dangerous and a more tragic place. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, they all refuse to lead. Worse, they refuse to respond when this nation is provoked. Hillary Clinton famously asked what difference does it make how four Americans died in Benghazi? Mrs. Clinton, here's what difference it makes. When you do not stand up and say the truth, that this was a purposeful terrorist attack, when you do not say the United States of America will retaliate for that attack, terrorists assume it's open season. We have refused to respond to every provocation. The President wouldn't even mention the fact that Iran had taken two Navy boats and our sailors \u2014 hostage. He didn't mention the fact that they violated the Geneva convention. He didn't respond to the fact that Iran launched two ballistic missile just a short time ago, in direct violation of a deal they had just signed. We didn't respond to the fact that North Korea attacked Sony Pictures. When we refuse to respond over, and over to provocation and bad behavior, we will get more provocation and bad behavior. I know most of our allies personally. I have met many of our adversaries. I know our military and our intelligence capability, and I know this. When we will not stand with our allies, when we will not respond to our adversaries, when we do not lead in the world the world is a dangerous and tragic place. I will be a Commander in Chief who will lead. +p709 +aVOf course I'm worried about similar problems in the United States. We can not allow refugees to enter this country unless we can adequately vet them and we know we can't. Therefore we should stop allowing refugees into this country. And by the way, we do not need to be lectured about why we're angry and frustrated and fearful because we've had an illegal immigration problem in this country for 25 years. And we have every right to be frustrated about the fact that politicians stand up in election after election after election and promise us to fix the problem and yet, it has never been fixed. I offer leadership that understands that actions speak louder than words, that results count. We must secure our border. We must fix our broken immigration system. We must enforce a pro-American immigration system that serves our interests, not the rest of the world. I understand what it takes to translate goals into results and that is what I will do as president of the United States. Of course, we should be worried, for heavens sakes. This administration has now told us they don't know who has overstayed a visa. This administration has told us they don't even bother to check Facebook or Twitter to find out who's pledging allegiance to jihadis. We can do better than this, citizens. We need to take our country back. +p710 +aVWe need to be very clear-eyed now about who are our allies and who are our adversaries. In the fight against +p711 +aVAnd we all believe the polling data all the time, don't we? +p712 +aVOh, it's a problem for so many reasons. First of all, it is yet another lawless executive order. You see, he doesn't like the fact that Congress has rejected his ideas twice on a bipartisan basis, so he's decided he just gets to override them. Sorry, Mr. President, not the way "The Constitution" works. Secondly......secondly, he basically admitted in that speech that he hasn't been paying much attention to enforcing the laws we have. He said, gee, we need a few more FBI agents. That would have helped, perhaps, stop a tragedy here in South Carolina with Dylann Roof, a guy who clearly never should have been sold a gun. In other words, Mr. President, you're right, we need to enforce the laws we have. Let's enforce the laws we have. There are criminals running around with guns who shouldn't have them. We don't prosecute any of them. Less than 1 percent. But I want to go back to the technology issue for a moment, if I may, as well, because in this regard, I disagree with Senator Santorum. Look, I come from the technology industry and I can tell you there is one thing that bureaucracies don't know how to do. They do not know how to innovate. We have come seven generations of technology since 2011. We have bureaucracies that are incapable of bringing in that innovation. So, yes, there are some very specific things that we should ask the private sector to help us with, including making sure we have the latest and greatest in algorithms to search through all these databases so that we find terrorists before they attack us, not after it's too late. And, finally, when a president who understands technology in the Oval Office. Mrs. Clinton, actually, you cannot wipe a server with a towel. +p713 +aVYes, and see... +p714 +aVAs CEO of Hewlett Packard... +p715 +aVAs CEO of Hewlett Packard, I was asked very specifically for some very real help. The help I was asked to provide, this is now public information. So I am not revealing what \u2014 something that was \u2014 was classified. We had a very large shipment of equipment, software and hardware, headed to a retail outlet. And I was called by the head of the NSA, who had an urgent need for that capability, to begin laying out a program to track terrorists. We turned that truck around on a highway and it was escorted to the headquarters in San Jose. In World War II, our government went to the private sector and said, help us do things that we cannot do. The private sector has capabilities that the government does not have. There are some legal authorities that are required. The Sony attack could have been detected and repelled, had legal authorities been passed in Congress allowing private networks and public networks to work together. Those legal authorities have not yet been passed. Yes, I was asked to help. I know the technology industry. They will help again. But they must be asked by a president who understands what they have. +p716 +aVFor decades, the professional political class in both parties has been talking about the middle class. For decades, Republicans in particular have been talking about reducing the size and scope of government, spending less money, reducing the complexity. And yet, for 40 years, the government has gotten bigger and more expensive. We now have a 75,000 plus page tax code, although politicians have run for office for decades promising reform. And all the while, middle class incomes have stagnated. You see, when government gets bigger and bigger, more powerful, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer and the middle class gets squeezed. We need to understand who the job creators are in this country, because we need more jobs to grow the middle class and to grow the wages of the middle class. Who creates jobs? Small businesses, new businesses, family-owned businesses. They create two thirds of the new jobs in this country and they employ half the people. I started out typing for a nine person real estate firm. My husband Frank started out driving a tow truck for a family-owned auto body shop. And we are crushing small businesses and destroying the middle class. So here's my blueprint to take back America. Let us first actually reform the tax code from 73,000 pages down to three. There's a 20-year-old plan to do exactly that. And then let us begin piece by piece to focus on every single dollar the government spends, so that we will spend less overall and still have enough for our priorities. And that requires the government to budget the way you do at home \u2014 examine every dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. The fancy term for that is zero- based budgeting, but I call it common sense. Citizens, we've got to take our country back. +p717 +aVMy husband Frank, that I mentioned, I love spending time with. He's down there. He was real excited the other day because in New Hampshire, he was introduced as my eye candy. You know, everybody out there watching knows this. You cannot wait to see the debate between me and Hillary Clinton. You would pay to see that fight. And that's because you know I will win. And that's important. We've got to start by beating Hillary Clinton. All of my life, I have been told to sit down and be quiet. Settle. Settle. Don't challenge the system. That's what the American people are being told now and we have been told that for way too long \u2014 sit down and be quiet about our God, about our guns, about the abortion industry, settle for illegal immigration that's been a problem for decades, as so many of our problems have festered for decades. Accept a system of government and politics that no longer works for us. I will not sit down and be quiet. And neither will you. So I ask you to stand with me, fight with me, vote for me, citizens. It is time to take our future back, time to take our politics back. It is time to take our government back. Citizens, it is time. We must take our country back. +p718 +aVLike all of you I'm angry. I'm angry at what's happening to our nation. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. Bombastic insults wont take it back. Political rhetoric that promises a lot and delivers little, won't take it back. All of our problems can be solved. All of our wounds can be healed by a tested leader who is willing to fight for the character of our nation. I have been tested. I have beaten breast cancer. I have buried a child. I started as a secretary. I fought my way to the top of corporate America while being called every B word in the book. I fought my way into this election and on to this debate stage while all the political insiders and the pundits told, "it couldn't be done." I've been told, "no,: all my life. And all my life, I've refused to accept no as an answer. Citizens, it is time to take our country back from the political class, from the media, from the liberal elite. It can be done, it must be done, join me and we will get it done. +p719 +aVWhat I think we need to stand for are solutions. I offer myself as a leader to the people of this country because I think they're looking for solutions, not lawyers arguing over laws or entertainers throwing out sound bites that draw media attention. We need to solve the problem. To solve the problem, we need to do something here at home and something over there in their caliphate. We need to deny them territory. But here at home, we need to do two fundamental things. Number one, we need to recognize that technology has moved on. The Patriot Act was signed in 2001, roughly. The iPhone was invented in 2007. The iPad was invented in 2011. Snapchat and Twitter, all the rest of it, have been around just for several years. Technology has moved on, and the terrorists have moved on with it. Let me tell you a story. Soon after 9/11, I got a phone call from the NSA. They needed help. I gave them help. I stopped a truckload of equipment. I had it turned around. It was escorted by the NSA into headquarters. We need the private sector's help, because government is not innovating. Technology is running ahead by leaps and bound. The private sector will help, just as I helped after 9/11. But they must be engaged, and they must be asked. I will ask them. I know them. +p720 +aVYou know, listening to this conversation, let me just say, we have a lot of argument about laws but none of it solves the problem. Let's examine what happened, why did we miss the Tsarnaev brothers, why did we miss the San Bernardino couple? It wasn't because we had stopped collected metadata it was because, I think, as someone who comes from the technology world, we were using the wrong algorithms. This is a place where the private sector could be helpful because the government is woefully behind the technology curve. But secondly, the bureaucratic processes that have been in place since 9/11 are woefully inadequate as well. What do we now know? That DHS vets people by going into databases of known or suspected terrorists. And yet, we also know that +p721 +aVThey do not need to be forced. They need to be asked to bring the best and brightest, the most recent technology to the table. I was asked as a CEO. I complied happily. And they will as well. But they have not been asked. That's why it cost billions of dollars to build an Obama website that failed because the private sector wasn't asked. +p722 +aVI hope at some point you're going to ask me my strategy. +p723 +aVWell, first I'll just point out that talking tough is not the same as being strong. And to wage war, we need a commander in chief who has made tough calls in tough times and stood up to be held accountable over and over, not first-term senators who've never made an executive decision in their life. One of the things I would immediately do, in addition to defeating them here at home, is bring back the warrior class \u2014 Petraeus, McChrystal, Mattis, Keane, Flynn. Every single one of these generals I know. Every one was retired early because they told President Obama things that he didn't want to hear. We must have Sunni-Arabs involved in this coalition. We must commit leadership, strength, support and resolve. I'll just add that Margaret Thatcher once said, "If you want something talked about, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman." +p724 +aVThat is exactly what President Obama said. I'm amazed to hear that from a republican presidential candidate. But let's just start with, who got it wrong? Who really got it wrong? Hillary Clinton has gotten every foreign policy challenge wrong. Hitting the reset button with Vladimir Putin \u2013 recall that she called Bashar Al-Assad a positive reformer and then she opened an embassy and then later she said, over, and over, and over again, "Bashar Al-Assad must go." Although she wasn't prepared to do anything about it. Recall that Hillary Clinton was all for toppling Gadhafi then didn't listen to her own people on the ground. And then of course, when she lied about the terrorist attack in Benghazi, she invited more terrorist attacks. +p725 +aVWe've mismanaged going into Iraq. +p726 +aVWe've mismanaged going out of Iraq. +p727 +aVWe actually... +p728 +aVI didn't say I would cut off all communication with Putin. What I said was as president of the United States, now is not the time to talk with him. Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. There is a time and a place for everything. There is a time and a place for talk. And there is a time and a place for action. I know Vladimir Putin. He respects strength. He lied to our president's face; didn't both to tell him about warplanes and troops going into Syria. We need to speak to him from a position of strength. So as commander in chief, I will not speak to him until we've set up that no-fly zone; until we've gathered our Sunni-Arab allies and begun to deny +p729 +aVThis doesn't do a thing to solve the problems...It doesn't do a thing to solve the problems. +p730 +aVIt will not solve the problem. +p731 +aVLadies and gentleman, this is why the American people are standing up. +p732 +aVThis is why the nation is fed up... +p733 +aVWe have been talking about this... +p734 +aVSorry, but you haven't gotten to me. This is why... +p735 +aVthe people are fed up with the political class. +p736 +aVWell, first, Kim Jong-Un is a dangerous leader, without a doubt. And both Republican and Democrat administrations have been completely ineffective in dealing with him. So we must continue to isolate him. We will need China as part of that strategy. China is a rising adversary. So one of the things we have to do if we want China's support is to push back on China. They, too, recognize one thing \u2014 strength and their own economic interest. I have done business in China for 25 years, so I know that in order to get China to cooperate with us, we must first actually retaliate against their cyber-attacks so they know we're serious. We have to push back on their desire to control the trade route through the South China Sea through which flows $5 trillion worth of goods and services every year. We cannot let them control the disputed islands, and we must work with the Australians, the South Koreans, the Japanese and the Filipinos to contain China. And then we must ask for their support and their help with North Korea. Because believe it or not, China is as concerned about Kim Jong-Un as we are. +p737 +aVI too remember September 11th. I remember immediately putting into place security procedures all throughout our company that did business in 170 countries where we thought corporate interests would be attacked next. To take our country back, to keep our nation safe, we have to begin by beating Hillary Clinton. We need to unify our party. We need to better than our government, which 75 percent of the American people now think is corrupt and incompetent. They're right. We need to better than our politics. 80 percent think we have a professional/political class of both parties that cares more about its power, position and privilege than actually on getting anything done. We need to unify our party, we need a real Conservative in the White House, and we need to beat Hillary Clinton to take our country back and keep our nation safe. I can. I am. And together, if you join me, we will take our country back. +p738 +aVWell, first of all, I must say as I think about that question, I think about a woman I met the other day. I would guess she was 40 years old. She had several children. And she said to me, you know, Carly, I go to bed every night afraid for my children's future. And that really struck me. This is America. A mother is going to bed afraid for her children's future. And the reason she's afraid for her children's future is because we've had problems for a long time. Yes, problems have gotten much worse under Democrats. But the truth is, this government has been growing bigger and bigger, more corrupt, less effective, crushing the engine of economic growth for a very long time. This isn't about just replacing a Democrat with a Republican now. It's about actually challenging the status quo of big government. Big government has created a big business called politics. And there are lots of people invested in the status quo of that big business called politics. Specifically, we need actually to do five things to really get this economy going again. We need to go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dollar is being spent, we can challenge any dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. We need to actually reform the tax code. Go to a three-page tax code. Yes, there are plans that would reform our tax code to three pages. In addition to rolling back what President Obama has done, we need to do a top-to-bottom review of every single regulation on the books. That hasn't been done in 50 years. We need to pass the +p739 +aVWell, first Obamacare has to be repealed because it's failing... ...it's failing the very people it was intended to help, but, also, it is croney-capitalism at its worst. Who helped write this bill? Drug companies, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, every single one of those kinds of companies are bulking up to deal with big government. See, that's what happens. As government gets bigger, and bigger \u2014 and it has been for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike \u2014 and business have to bulk up to deal with big government. So, we have to repeal it. It's tens of thousands of pages long, no one can possible understand it except the big companies, the lawyers, the accountants, the lobbyists that they hire to protect their interests. Then, we have to give back to states the responsibility to manage a high risk pool. We need to try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried. Health insurance has always been a cozy, little game between regulators and health insurance companies. We need to try the free market. The free market. Where people actually have to compete. And, we 'ought to have the government ensure that you must \u2014 and I don't use that term often, that government 'ought to do something, but every healthcare provider 'ought to publish its costs, its prices, its outcomes, because as patients we don't know what we're buying. Now, let me just say \u2014 let me just say, I know more about innovation and entrepreneurship than anyone on this panel because I have led innovative businesses in the most highly competitive industry in the world for decades. The truth is the secret sauce of America is innovation, and entrepreneurship, it is why we must cut our government down to size, and hold it accountable. It's why we have to take our government back, because innovation and entrepreneurship is crushed by the crushing load of a 73,000 page tax code. It is crushed... ...by regulatory thicket that is so vast we don't even know what's in it anymore. It is crushed as well by government bureaucrats who don't do their jobs very well, and who are not held accountable, which is why I've said we got to take our government back, and to do that, we have to know where every dollar being spent, and be able to move any dollar. We have to hack through this regulatory thicket, repeal so much, but, also, know what's in that regulatory thicket \u2014 we don't even know what regulations have been passed. Third, we need to build a meritocracy \u2014 Scott Walker, by the way, is trying now to do in Wisconsin... ...Finally, we need to get to a three page tax code, and, yes, that plan exists. +p740 +aVSorry, I can't hear you. +p741 +aV...Absolutely... +p742 +aV...You need to give... +p743 +aVThe alternative is to allow states to manage high risk pools for those who really need help. Look, I'm a cancer survivor, OK? I understand that you cannot have someone who's battled cancer just become known as a pre-existing condition. I understand that you cannot allow families to go bankrupt if they truly need help. But, I also understand that Obamacare isn't helping anyone. We're throwing more, and more people into Medicaid, and fewer, and fewer doctors are taking those payments. The point is Obamacare is crushing small businesses, it is not helping the families it was intended to help. So, let us allow states to manage high risk pools. Let us try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried, the free market. Let us ensure that as patients, and customers... +p744 +aV...that we have information to shop wisely for our health care. +p745 +aV...Yes, the middle ground is this... +p746 +aV...This is why \u2014 this is why we must combine, actually, zero-based budgeting with tax reform because unless we can examine, and cut, and move, every single dollar of discretionary spending in the federal government, we cannot reform taxes and reduce spending at the same time. Ask yourself this question, how is it possible that the federal government gets more money each and every year, which the federal government has been doing, receiving more money every year for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike, and yet, never has enough money to do the important things? The answer? All the money's always spoken for. All the money's spoken for. So, we have to go to zero-based budgeting, which is a simple idea \u2014 by the way, there's been a bill for zeros-based (ph) budgeting... ...It exists, it can be voted on. Every dollar must be examined. Any dollar can be cut. Any dollar can be cut, any dollar can be moved. We have to go to a three page tax code. You lower every rate, you close every loophole, why? Because the government uses the tax code to decide winners, and losers. You have to strip the corruption out of the tax code to pay for it. You have to know where every single dollar is being spent... +p747 +aV...Cut where you need to, and invest where you need to... +p748 +aV...The two go hand in hand... +p749 +aVYou know, Mr. Trump fancies himself a very good negotiator. And, I accept that he's done a lot of good deals, so, Mr. Trump 'ought to know that we should not speak to people from a position of weakness. Senator Paul should know that as well. One of the reasons I've said that I would not be talking to Vladimir Putin right now, although I have met him as well, not in a green room for a show, but in a private meeting. One of the reasons I've said I wouldn't be talking to Vladimir Putin right now is because we are speaking to him from a position of weakness brought on by this administration, so, I wouldn't talk to him for awhile, but, I would do this. I would start rebuilding the Sixth Fleet right under his nose, rebuilding the military \u2014 the missile defense program in Poland right under his nose. I would conduct very aggressive military exercises in the Baltic States so that he understood we would protect our +p750 +aV...we have the strongest military on the face of the planet, and everyone has to know it. +p751 +aV...Ronald Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. +p752 +aV...he walked away, he quit talks... +p753 +aV...when it was time to quit talking... +p754 +aVCan I just \u2014 could I just say, as a chief executive who's had to make tough calls to save jobs and to grow jobs, I think what's interesting about Dodd-Frank is it's a great example of how socialism starts. Socialism starts when government creates a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. Government created the problem. Government created the problem of a real estate boom. How did we create it? Under Republican and Democrats alike, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, everybody gathered together, Republicans and Democrats, and said, "home ownership is part of the American dream. Let's create a bubble," and then government stepped in \u2014 by the way, under president George W. Bush, banks were told \u2014 encouraged \u2014 told, really \u2014 to buy other banks, to take money. And now what do we have with Dodd-Frank? The classic of crony capitalism. The big have gotten bigger, 1,590 community banks have gone out of business, and on top of all that, we've created something called the Consumer Financial Production Bureau, a vast bureaucracy with no congressional oversight that's digging through hundreds of millions of your credit records to detect fraud. This is how socialism starts, ladies and gentlemen. We must take our government back. +p755 +aVImagine a Clinton presidency. Our military will continue to deteriorate. Our veterans will not be cared for. And, no, Mrs. Clinton, that situation is not exaggerated. The rich will get richer. The poor will get poorer. The middle class will continue to get crushed. And as bad as that picture is, what's even worse is that a Clinton presidency will corrode the character of this nation. Why? Because of the Clinton way: Say whatever you have to, lie as long as you can get away with it. We must beat Hillary Clinton. Carly Fiorina can beat Hillary Clinton. I will beat Hillary Clinton. And under a President Fiorina, we will restore the character of this nation, the security of this nation, the prosperity of this nation, because as citizens, we will take our government back. +p756 +asVBUSH +p757 +(lp758 +VRight. +p759 +aVNot on specific issues, not at all. I think the next president \u2014 if I'm president, I will appoint people \u2014 I'll nominate people that have a proven record in the judiciary. The problem in the past has been we have appointed people thinking you can get it through the Senate because they didn't have a record. And the problem is that sometimes we're surprised. The simple fact is the next president needs to appoint someone with a proven conservative record, similar to Justice Scalia, that is a lover of liberty, that believes in limited government, that consistently applied that kind of philosophy, that didn't try to legislator from the bench, that was respectful of the Constitution. And then fight and fight, and fight for that nomination to make sure that that nomination passes. Of course, the president, by the way, has every right to nominate Supreme Court justices. I'm an Article II guy in the Constitution. We're running for the president of the United States. We want a strong executive for sure. But in return for that, there should be a consensus orientation on that nomination, and there's no doubt in my mind that Barack Obama will not have a consensus pick when he submits that person to the Senate. +p760 +aVYes. +p761 +aVNo, it doesn't, and that's the problem. The lack of leadership in this country by Barack Obama, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, thinking that this is a policy that works, this policy of containment with +p762 +aVThe very basic fact is that Vladimir Putin is not going to be an ally of the United States. The whole world knows this. It's a simple, basic fact. They're not taking out \u2014 they're not even attempting to take out +p763 +aV... Let me finish... +p764 +aV... This is ridiculous... +p765 +aV... This is coming from a guy who gets his foreign policy from the shows. +p766 +aV... This is a guy who thinks that Hillary Clinton is a great negotiator in Iran... +p767 +aV... This is a man who insults his way to the nomination... +p768 +aVI think it's my turn, isn't it? +p769 +aVI've got about five or six... +p770 +aVDo I get to do it five or six times or just once, responding to that? +p771 +aVSo here's the deal. I'm sick and tired of Barack Obama blaming my brother for all of the problems that he has had. And, frankly, I could care less about the insults that Donald Trump gives to me. It's blood sport for him. He enjoys it. And I'm glad he's happy about it. But I am sick and tired... +p772 +aVI am sick and tired of him going after my family. My dad is the greatest man alive in my mind. And while Donald Trump was building a reality TV show, my brother was building a security apparatus to keep us safe. And I'm proud of what he did. And he has had the gall to go after my brother. +p773 +aVHe has had the gall to go after my mother. Hold on. Let me finish. He has had the gall to go after my mother. +p774 +aVLook, I won the lottery when I was born 63 years ago, looked up, and I saw my mom. My mom is the strongest woman I know. +p775 +aVThis is not about my family or his family. This is about the South Carolina families that need someone to be a commander in chief that can lead. I'm that person. +p776 +aVCan I just... +p777 +aVI'm not going to invite Donald Trump to the rally in Charleston on Monday afternoon when my brother is coming to speak. +p778 +aVI'm rescinding the invitation. I thought you might want to come, but I guess not. +p779 +aVI'd like \u2014 can I \u2014 can I... +p780 +aVLook, I admire the fact that Governor Kasich is supporting spending more money on drug treatment and mental health. I think that's a high priority all across this country, but expanding Obamacare is what we're talking about, and Obamacare's expansion, even though the federal government is paying for the great majority of it, is creating further debt on the backs of our children and grandchildren. We should be fighting Obamacare, repealing Obamacare, replacing it with something totally different. When I was \u2014 as a private citizen, Florida was confronted with the choice. The governor was supportive of doing what John did. So was the Florida Senate. A committed speaker of the House asked me to go as a private citizen to make the case against the expansion. I did, and it wasn't expanded there, just as it wasn't expanded in South Carolina under Governor Haley. +p781 +aVSouth Carolina \u2014 South Carolinians need to know this, because the Cato Institute, which grades governors based on their spending, rank him right at the bottom. +p782 +aVAnd Governor Haley is ranked at the top. +p783 +aVNo. He mentioned my name. +p784 +aVLet me finish, though. No, no, no \u2014 hey, wait, wait, wait. Just hold, Major, hold, Major. Hold on, Major. +p785 +aVSouth Carolinians want to make that, they elect the most conservative governor or candidate that can win. +p786 +aVOf course not. It won't have an impact on hedge funds managers paying ordinary income. In fact, it's not just hedge fund people, but people that are doing \u2014 they're in the business of investing other people's money, getting capital gains treatment is not appropriate. They should be paying ordinary income. That's their business. They're grateful to be able to make a lot of money, I'm sure. And what we do is lower the rates. It's not the end of the world that private equity people and hedge fund folks that are, right now, getting capital gains treatment for the income they earn, pay ordinary income like everybody else in this room. That's not a problem at all. What we need to do is reform the tax code to simplify the rates, to shift power away from Washington, D.C. That's what I did as governor of the state of Florida, $19 billion dollars of tax cuts, and it stimulated seven out of the eight years. Florida led the nation in job growth. +p787 +aVThank you. +p788 +aVGreat question. I feel like I have to get into my inner Chris Christie, and point out that the reason why I should be president is listening to two senators talk about arcane amendments to bills that didn't pass. This is \u2014 this is the problem. We need a leader to fix this problem. And I have a detailed plan to do just that, including controlling the border, dealing with the visa over-stayers, making sure that we have a path to legal status, not to citizenship, for those that come out from the shadows and pay a fine, learn English, don't commit crimes, work and pay taxes. That is the better approach. +p789 +aVThe great majority of people that come to this country come because they have no other choice. They want to come to provide for their families. That doesn't mean it's right. That doesn't mean it's right. We should pick who comes to our country. We should control our border. Coming here legally should be a lot easier than coming here illegally. But the motivation, they're not all rapists, as you-know-who said. They're not that. These are people that are coming to provide for their families. And we should show a little more respect for the fact that they're struggling. It doesn't mean we shouldn't be controlling the border. That's exactly what we should be doing. +p790 +aV... So, you know......This is the standard operating procedure, to disparage me. That's fine... +p791 +aV... But, if you want to talk about weakness, you want to talk about weakness? It's weak to disparage women. +p792 +aVIt's weak to denigrate the disabled. And,it's really weak to call John McCain a loser because he was a... +p793 +aV... That is outrageous. The guy's an American hero. +p794 +aV... The simple fact is I've also laid out my plans on immigration... +p795 +aV Just, for the record make sure my mother's listening, if she's watching the debate. I didn't say that I was going to moon somebody... +p796 +aVSo, there \u2014 so, there is all sorts of intrigue about where I disagree with my brother, there would be one right there. You should not use eminent domain for private purposes. A baseball stadium or a parking lot for a limo... +p797 +aVIt's very different. Transmission lines, pipe lines, bridges and highways. All of that is proper use of imminent domain. Not to take an elderly woman's home to build a parking lot so that high-rollers can come from New York City to build casinos in Atlantic City. +p798 +aVMy name was mentioned twice. +p799 +aVHe called me a liar. +p800 +aVAlso, he talked about one of my heroes, Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan was a liberal maybe in the 1950s. He was a conservative reformed governor for eight years before he became president, and no one should suggest he made an evolution for political purposes. He was a conservative, and he didn't tear down people like Donald Trump is. He tore down the Berlin Wall. +p801 +aVHe was a great guy. +p802 +aVThat was me. +p803 +aVYeah, well, I have got to respond to this. +p804 +aVSounds like a good plan. +p805 +aVOr you could ask me two questions, so I could get two minutes instead of one. +p806 +aVI think the dysfunction in Washington is really dangerous, that's what I think. And we need a proven leader that has a record of solving problems, someone who doesn't cut and run; someone who could be a commander in chief to unite our country around common purposes; someone who doesn't disparage people. Someone that doesn't brag, for example, that he has been bankrupt four times and it was great, because he could use the legal system. Someone... +p807 +aVWe need someone with a proven record to be able to forge consensus to solve problems. And right now, both Republicans and Democrats in Washington don't get it. People are struggling \u2014 63 percent of Americans can't make a $500 car payment. Most Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. And we need someone has a proven record of growing the economy, reforming the things that are broken. And I'm that person. +p808 +aVYeah... +p809 +aVYeah. +p810 +aVHere we go. +p811 +aVHere's the record. Here's the record. We led the nation in job growth seven out of eight years. When I left there was $9 billion of reserves, 35 percent of general revenue. No state came close to that. +p812 +aVWhen I \u2014 during my time, we were one of the two states to go to AAA bond rating. We didn't go bankrupt like Trump did and call it success when people are laid off, when vendors don't get paid. That's not success. What we did was create an environment where people had a chance to have income. Personal income during my time went up by 4.4 percent. +p813 +aVThe government grew by... +p814 +aV... half of that. +p815 +aVThank you all very much. The next president is going to be confronted with an unforeseen challenge. That's almost certain. It could be a pandemic, a major natural disaster or an attack on our country. The question for South Carolinians and Americans is who do you want to have sitting behind the big desk in the Oval Office? Because that's the question. It's not the things we're talking about today. It's the great challenge that may happen. I believe I will have a steady hand as commander in chief and president of the United States. I will unite this country around common purposes because I did it as governor of the state of Florida. When I was governor, we had eight hurricanes and four tropical storms in 16 months. Our state was on its back. We recovered far faster than what people thought because we led. We want to challenge rather than cutting and running. That's what we need in Washington, D.C. We need someone with a servant's heart that has a backbone, that isn't going to focus on polls and focus groups. The focus will be on the American people to keep them safe and secure. I ask for your vote next Saturday. +p816 +aVChris, why don't you mention my name so I can get into this. +p817 +aV... I appreciate that, I really do, thank you. +p818 +aVWell, first of all he said the exact same thing about me, that I would make a great Vice Presidential nominee when Mitt Romney was considering. I said the same thing about Marco. I think we were both right at the time, and Mitt picked somebody else. So, let's move on to the 2016 race. Who has the leadership skills... ...who has the leadership skills to lead? And, I'm proud of the fact that I have 12 Medal of Honor recipients, over 30 admirals and generals that believe that I would be a steady hand as Commander in Chief. That I serve as Governor of the state of Florida where we cut taxes and reduced government. I took on very powerful interests, forged consensus, fought for my beliefs, implemented them and the state was better off. We had eight hurricanes and four tropical storms in 16 months. The whole state was turned upside down. It required a steady hand. Leadership. You learn this, you learn it by doing it. It's not something that you just go up, and on the job do it. It's not the same. Look, let's be clear. Marco Rubio is a gifted, gifted politician, and he may have the skills to be a President of the United States, but we've tried it the old way with Barack Obama, with soaring eloquence and we got \u2014 we didn't get a leader we got someone who wants to divide the country up. The next President......going to have to forge consensus to bring about a set of common purposes so that we can move forward again in this country... +p819 +aV... this relates to strategic patience. +p820 +aVThis relates to the strategic patience of the Obama administration. They come up with these great marketing terms, and what they do is they pull back, and voids are filled, and they're now filled by asymmetric threats of terror, as well as nation-states on the run. The next president of the United States is gonna have to get the United States back in the game, and if a preemptive strike is necessary to keep us safe, then we should do it. +p821 +aVWell, first of all, it's interesting that that happened literally days when this hostage release took place in Iran. A day or two days afterwards, North Korea took a \u2014 held an American student hostage. I think it's when we send a signal of weakness, when we are negotiating to release people that committed crimes in our country for people that didn't commit crimes that are held hostage in Iran. We saw the shameful treatment of our sailors, that this creates weakness \u2014 sends a signal of weakness around the world. The next president of the United States is going to have to get back in the game. Where the United States' word matters. Where we back up our allies, where we don't send signals of weakness. We need to use every \u2014 every influence possible to get this student back. And I think John is right about this, there are crippling sanctions that are available, as it relates to the two or three banks that North Korea uses to \u2014 to \u2014 use it \u2014 illicit trade. We ought to re-establish sanctions, not just because of the student, but because of their actions that they're taking right now, as it relates to building this missile capability. +p822 +aVGood evening. HAM: Mr. Trump. +p823 +aVThe difference \u2014 the difference between eminent domain for public purpose \u2014 as Donald said, roads and infrastructure, pipelines and all that \u2014 that's for public purpose. But what Donald Trump did was use eminent domain to try to take the property of an elderly woman on the strip in Atlantic City. That is not public purpose, that is down right wrong. And here's the problem with that. The problem was, it was to tear down \u2014 it was to tear down \u2014 it was to tear down the house... +p824 +aVAnd the net result was \u2014 you tried. +p825 +aVAnd you lost in the court. +p826 +aVThat is not true. And the simple fact is to turn this into a limousine parking lot for his casinos is a not public use. And in Florida, based on what we did, we made that impossible. It is part of our Constitution. That's the better approach. That is the conservative approach. +p827 +aVHow tough it is to take away property from an elderly woman? +p828 +aVHow tough it is to take away a property from an elderly woman? +p829 +aVI consider it a public use. +p830 +aVIt's a public use. It's a public use. +p831 +aVIt's a public use. +p832 +aVYeah. +p833 +aVIt's a public use. +p834 +aVEstablished by the courts \u2014 federal, state courts. +p835 +aVI would like to see more millionaires. I think we need to grow more millionaires, we need create a prosperity society where people can rise up. This notion that somehow we're undertaxed as a nation is just fool hearty, when we have entitlements growing far faster than our ability to pay for it. A conservative, because that's the point of this, believes in limited government, believes in a entrepreneurial capitalism and a strong national defense. But it also has to be, we need to reform things. In my town hall meetings, I went to a place where a woman described her neighbor, who has a better economic deal by not working than her struggling to make ends meet. We need to be on the side of working people. And you know, the problem with the left is, another tax, another regulation, another mandate makes it harder for them to rise up. Everything that we should do should be focused on high, sustained economic growth, where the middle class gets a raise for the first time, and where people are rewarded for work, rather than non-work. And I know how to do this. And if people are interested in the specifics of this, they ought to go to jeb2016.com. +p836 +aVMartha \u2014 Martha, if I... +p837 +aVI would. And I would do it in concert, again, with our Arab allies and with Europe, most particularly in this case. This is the lesson learned: in history, if you bomb something and not do anything as it relates to deal with the aftermath of this, if you don't have a stable government, you get what we have in Libya. And this is not \u2014 leading from behind is not an effective policy. We have to lead. Without the United States, nothing seems to work. Europe doesn't have the ability to \u2014 to \u2014 to lead \u2014 forward lead in this regard. And so dealing with the caliphate is important, because it now has spawned other areas. There have been 70-plus attacks in 17 countries, either inspired by +p838 +aVMartha and David, I just... +p839 +aVMartha and David... +p840 +aVNo, no, I wouldn't. No, I wouldn't. And it was used sparingly, Congress has changed the laws and I \u2014 and I think where we stand is the appropriate place. But what we need to do is to make sure that we expand our intelligence capabilities. The idea that we're going to solve this fight with predator drones, killing people somehow is a \u2014 is more acceptable than capturing them, securing the information. This is why closing Guantanamo is a complete disaster. What we need to do is make sure that we are kept safe......by having intelligence capabilities, both human and technological intelligence capabilities far superior than what we have today. That's how you get a more safe place is by making sure that we're fully engaged. And right now, this administration doesn't do that. +p841 +aVThis is a \u2014 this is an important subject. I agree with everything that's been said here about repealing unconstitutional rules and rules that are creating real burdens for investing that creating jobs. But we also ought to get back to being a Tenth Amendment country, as well, a country that respects the states to be able to make more decisions. And in the Bush administration, we would shift transportation dollars back to the states. I trust Kasich and Christie to build the roads and the infrastructure of their states than Washington, D.C. EPA delegated authority, back to the states. Education dollars, back to the states. I would like to see reform take place all across the country, where there's more vouchers, more freedom. If we did that, we would shrink government's power in Washington, D.C. and we would have a much more effective government, where people would begin to trust our government again, because now, no one believes it works. +p842 +aVYou mentioned me. He mentioned me. One other thing that I think we ought to do, along with repealing Obamacare, we need to shift all of this power of healthcare, which is the most egregious form of federal power that is suppressing wages and incomes, and allow governors to have the Medicaid plans so that they can create 21st century Medicaid insurance for people that are stuck in poverty. There's so much that can be done, but I don't trust Washington to do it. I trust the state capitals to be the place \u2014 to be the source of innovation and reform in this country. HAM: Thank you, governors. Martha and David, back to you. +p843 +aVI didn't mention him the second time. +p844 +aV... Say it again? +p845 +aV... I do, and I do think that we should not impose any kind of political agenda on the military. There should be \u2014 if women can meet the requirements, the minimum requirements for combat service they ought to have the right to do it. For sure. It ought to be focused on the morale as well. We got to make sure that we have readiness much higher than we do today. We need to eliminate the sequester which is devastating our military. We can't be focusing on the political side of this, we need to realize that our military force is how we project our word in the world. When we're weak militarily it doesn't matter what we say. We can talk about red lines, and +p846 +aV... Why would they worry about it... +p847 +aV... Well, the Draft's not going to be reinstituted, but why \u2014 if women are accessing... +p848 +aVNo. I didn't say that. You \u2014 you asked a question not about the draft, you asked about registering. And if women are going to be... +p849 +aVIf \u2014 but... +p850 +aV... we don't have a draft. I'm not suggesting we have a draft. What I'm suggesting is that we ought to have readiness being the first priority of our military, and secondly, that we make sure that the morale is high. And right now, neither one of those are acceptable because we've been gutting the military budget. We also need to reform our procurement process. We need to make sure there are more men and women in uniform than people \u2014 than civilians in our Defense Department. There's a lot of things that we need to reform to bring our defense capabilities into the 21st century and I'm the guy that could do that. That's why I have the support of generals, of admirals, of 12 Medal of Honor recipients and many other people that know that I would be a steady commander-in-chief and rebuild our military. +p851 +aVI totally agree that we need to give veterans more choices. A veterans card to be able to go to a private provider will enhance the quality of the service inside the Department of Veterans Affairs. We need career civil service reform. Only three people were fired after waiting lists were dropped where veterans didn't get care and people died. It is outrageous. And Hillary Clinton says that that's acceptable? Because she is captive of the public service uniforms. Career civil service reform would allow the next president to fire people that are \u2014 that are showing sheer incompetence. At a town hall meeting today, someone came \u2014 told a story of their father who looked like he was 85. He had \u2014 he got a bill eight years later from an operation he had, eight years it took. They couldn't resolve the dispute and then he was told that he died. Literally, the Veterans Administration sent a death certificate to this guy and it took nine months to clarify the guy \u2014 I met him. He's voting for me. And he is \u2014 likely to be alive. This is \u2014 this is outrageous. It is completely outrageous. So, giving veterans more choices, creating centers of excellence, focusing on the true problems that exist. Dr. Carson is completely right. We need to start focusing on this earlier, before they become veterans so that there's a customized plan so people don't fall through the cracks. We can do this, but it's going to require someone who has proven leadership skills to make it happen. +p852 +aVLook, I'm pro-life. In fact, on this stage, I'm the most pro-life person because I've acted on it for eight years as governor of the state of Florida. Where we abolished partial-birth abortion, where parents have the right to be notified when their teenage child is having an abortion. We were the first state to do a choose life license plate to raise money for adoption. We were the first state to have state monies go to crisis pregnancy centers, which recently was just increased to $4 million a year. We created greater regulation on abortion clinics, where there were horrific procedures. So I'm pro life, but I believe there should be exceptions: rape, incest and when the life of the mother is in danger. And so, that belief, and my consistency on this, makes me, I think, poised to be in the right place, the sweet spot for a Republican nominee. And others may have a different view and I respect it. +p853 +aVPeyton Manning is supporting me. And I'm for Denver. +p854 +aVI want to thank the people of New Hampshire, and I want to celebrate the birthday of a great president, Ronald Reagan would have been 105 today. President Reagan believed in the future of our country, believed in its greatness, had a hopeful, optimistic message. Drew people towards our cause. We need someone who has a proven record to take our case to the American people because our philosophy is by far the best one. Limited government, entrepreneurial capitalism, of peace through strength. I believe I have the skills to take our party to victory in November. I ask for your support on Tuesday to keep America, and make America a safer, stronger, and freer. Thank you all very much. +p855 +aVBret, we're just starting. The first vote hasn't been counted. Why don't we let the process work. I trust Iowans, Granite staters, people in South Carolina, people in Nevada, to start this process out. I kind of miss Donald Trump. He was a little teddy bear to me. We always had such a loving relationship in these debates and in between and the tweets. I kind of miss him. I wish he was here. Everybody else was in the witness protection program when I went after him on behalf of what the Republican cause should be: conservative principles, believing in limited government, believing in accountability. Leading by fixing the things that are broken. Look, I am in the establishment because my dad, the greatest man alive was president of the United States and my brother, who I adore as well as fantastic brother was president. Fine, I'll take it. I guess I'm part of the establishment Barbara Bush is my mom. I'll take that, too. But this election is not about our pedigree, this is an election about people that are really hurting. We need a leader that will fix things and have a proven record to do it. And we need someone who will take on Hillary Clinton in November. Someone who has a proven record, who has been tested, who is totally transparent. I released 34 years of tax returns... ... and 300,000 e-mails in my government record. To get the information from Hillary Clinton, you need to get a subpoena from the FBI. +p856 +aVNo, you weren't. Your name wasn't mentioned, Ted. +p857 +aV... Chris, keep it coming... +p858 +aV... Thank you Chris... +p859 +aVWell, first, I was critical of the Senators not giving the authorization for the use of military force. They should have made it more open ended for the next president. We shouldn't have the war fighters have their arms tied behind their back as President Obama wanted to do, but they had a chance to show support and it wasn't popular at the time. It became popular after the attack in Paris, and San Bernardino. Now we hear the tough talk. Prior to that, in the Reagan Library, I gave a detailed plan. Exactly what to do as it relates to +p860 +aVOf course. And there's all sorts of ways that can be done at the state, local and federal level to do that. But the first duty of the next president of the United States is to fix the mess at the Department of Veterans Affairs. That's his first responsibility. Look, we have waiting lists for veterans that are \u2014 that are leaving because of the sequester where we're gutting the military. More and more military personnel are leaving becoming veterans, and the waiting list grows. They've given out $140 million of bonuses to Veterans Department employees, including reducing the waiting lists, without giving veterans care. People died, and only three people have been fired. I will make sure that we fire the sheer incompetence inside the Department of Veterans Affairs and then we'll give veterans a choice card so that they don't have to travel hours and hours to get care if they want to go to their private provider. You want to make the Veterans Administration do a better job, give them \u2014 give veterans choices and you'll get a much better result. And as it relates to all the other organizations, let me give you a good example. In Houston, Texas, there's an organization in place because someone acted on their heart, wanted to make sure that there's no homeless veterans in Houston. And they've come pretty close to that without federal government assistance. We need to mobilize the entire country to treat our veterans and treat them with much more respect than they get today. +p861 +aVNo, they shouldn't. And I believe that Puerto Rico ought to have the right of self-determination. If I was a Puerto Rican, I'd vote for statehood so that they have full citizenship. They serve in the military. They would have to pay federal taxes. They would \u2014 they would accept the responsibilities of full U.S. citizenship. But they should have the right of determine \u2014 self-determination. Before you get to that, though, Puerto Rico is going to have to deal with the structural problems they face. You know, it's \u2014 it's a fact that if you can pay for a $79 one-way ticket to Orlando, and you can escape the challenges of a declining economy and high crime rates, you move to Orlando. And a lot of people are doing that. And the spiraling out-of- control requires Puerto Rico to make structural reforms. The federal government can play a role in allowing them to do that, but they should not \u2014 the process of statehood or the status of Puerto Rico won't be solved until we get to the bigger issue of how you deal with the structural economic problems they're facing right now. +p862 +aVWell, I'm kind of confused because he was the sponsor of the Gang of Eight bill that did require a bunch of thresholds but ultimately allowed for citizenship over an extended period of time. I mean, that's a fact. And he asked me to support that. And I \u2014 I supported him because I think people, when you're elected, you need to do things. And he led the charge to finally fix this immigration problem that has existed now for, as Marco says, for 30 years. And then he cut and run because it wasn't popular amongst conservatives, I guess. Here's what I believe. And I wrote a book about this called Immigration Wars. You can get it at $2.99 on Amazon. It's not a bestseller. I can promise you. There won't be any \u2014 you can get it. It's affordable for everybody. We should have a path to legal status for the 12 million people that are here illegally. It means, come out from the shadows, pay a fine, earn legal status by working, by paying taxes, learning English. Not committing crimes and earn legal status where you're not cutting in front of the line for people that are patiently waiting outside. I think that is the \u2014 I think that's the conservative consensus pragmatic approach to how to solve this problem. +p863 +aVSo did you. +p864 +aVYeah. So did you, Marco. +p865 +aVMarco, Marco \u2014 he brought up my name. I have supported a consensus approach to solving this problem wherever it came up. and in 2007 it almost passed when my brother was president of the United States. A bipartisan approach got close. Barack Obama actually had the poison pill to stop it then. And when you led the charge with the Gang of Eight, I supported it because you asked me to. I think it's important for people in elected office to try to forge consensus to solve problems. There's never going do be perfect bill. +p866 +aVBut when you didn't do that and you ask people to support, you shouldn't cut and run. +p867 +aVYou should stick with it and that's exactly what happened. He cut and run. And that's a tragedy because now... ... it's harder and harder to actually solve this problem. +p868 +aVCan I \u2014 can I \u2014 I just... +p869 +aVThat beautiful young woman who's an entrepreneur who served in the military, first of all, is deserving of our respect for service in the military and the fact that she's an entrepreneur. And we should be a welcoming nation. Our identity is not based on race or ethnicity, it's based on a set of shared values. That's American citizenship. And Dulce Candy \u2014 a pretty cool name, actually \u2014 that is now an entrepreneur over Youtube is part of that American spirit, and we should celebrate it as conservatives. That's what we believe in. You can \u2014 you can deal with the threat of terror and also recognize that this country should be aspirational across the board. +p870 +aVWell, first of all, I've seen polls where I'm beating Hillary Clinton pretty regularly. And I believe I can, because I have a proven record, a record of accomplishment, a record of cutting taxes, of shrinking the government, of reforming education, of challenging the status quo, eliminating career civil service protections, shrinking the government workforce by 11 percent, but leading the nation in job growth. That's the record of accomplishment that should be taken to Hillary Clinton, who has no record of accomplishment. So I'm confident if I win this nomination, I will aggressively go against her and beat her. As it relates to the super PACs, I have no control over that. And this is beanbag compared to what the Clinton hit machine is going to do to the Republican nominee. The simple fact is, we all have a record. It all will be scrutinized. There's give and take. It's called the politics. And that's the way it is. I'm running hard and I believe I'll be the Republican nominee and I'll be the one best suited to beat Hillary Clinton, who should not be president of the United States. +p871 +aVWell first of all, I think it's important that when we're running for the highest office in the land that we recognize that we're living in dangerous times and we have to be serious about it, that our words have consequences. Donald Trump, for example \u2014 I'm glad \u2014 I mentioned his name again just if anybody was missing him... ... Mr. Trump believed that in reaction to people's fears that we should ban all Muslims. Well, that creates an environment that's toxic in our own country. Nobela is a rising entrepreneur. She wants to pursue the American dream. She's an American citizen. She should not feel uncomfortable about her citizenship. She's not the threat. The threat is Islamic terrorism. We need to focus our energies there, not these broad, blanket, kind of statements that will make it harder for us to deal with +p872 +aVWe desperately need a conservative leader as president of the United States. I have a proven record as governor of the state of Florida, as a conservative leader. And I also have detailed plans to fix the mess in Washington, D.C. As president I will restore and rebuild our military, restore the alliances and keep us safe. And as our party's nominee, I will defeat Hillary Clinton in November. I ask for your support on the caucuses come Monday night and I will make you proud as our party's nominee. Thank you very much. +p873 +aVWell first of all, the idea that somehow we're better off today than the day that Barack Obama was inaugurated president of the United States is totally an alternative universe. The simple fact is that the world has been torn asunder. Think about it. With grandiose language, the president talks about red lines and nothing to follow it up; talks about +p874 +aVNo. And worse \u2014 worse yet, to be honest with you, Hillary Clinton would be a national security disaster. Think about it. She wants to continue down the path of Iran, Benghazi, the Russian reset, Dodd-Frank, all the things that have \u2014 that have gone wrong in this country, she would be a national security mess. And that is wrong. And you know what? Here's the problem. If she gets elected, she's under investigation with the FBI right now. If she gets elected, her first 100 days, instead of setting an agenda, she might be going back and forth between the White House and the courthouse. We need to stop that. +p875 +aVNeil, my name was mentioned here. Neil, my name was mentioned as well. Here's the deal, Chris is totally right. He's been a good governor, and he's a heck of a lot better than his predecessor that would have bankrupted New Jersey. Everybody on this stage is better than Hillary Clinton. And I think the focus ought to be on making sure that we leave this nomination process, as wild and woolly as it's going to be \u2014 this is not being bad. These attack ads are going to be part of life. Everybody just needs to get used to it. Everybody's record's going to be scrutinized, and at the end of the day we need to unite behind the winner so we can defeat Hillary Clinton, because she is a disaster. Our country rise up again, but we need to have a compelling conservative agenda that we present to the American people in a way that doesn't disparage people, that unites us around our common purpose. And so everybody needs to discount some of the things you're going to hear in these ads, and discount the \u2014 the back-and-forth here, because every person here is better than Hillary Clinton. +p876 +aVFirst of all, I'd like to recognize Governor Haley for her incredible leadership in the aftermath of the \u2014 \u2014 the Emanuel AME church killings. And I also want to recognize the people in that church that showed the grace of God and the grace of forgiveness and the mercy that they showed. I don't know if any of us could have done what they did, one after another, within 48 hours of that tragedy taking place. Look, here's the deal, in this particular case, the FBI made a mistake. The law itself requires a background check, but that didn't fulfill their part of the bargain within the time that they were supposed to do. We don't need to add new rules, we need to make sure the FBI does its job. Because that person should not have gotten a gun, should not \u2014 would not have passed a background check. The first impulse of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton is to take rights away from law- abiding citizens. That's what they do, whether it's the San Bernardino attack or if it's these tragedies that take place, I think we need to focus on what the bigger issue is. It isn't law-abiding gun owners. Look, I have an A plus rating in the NRA and we also have a reduction in gun violence because in Florida, if you commit a crime with a gun, you're going away. You're going away for a long, long while. And that's what we should focus on is the violence in our communities. Target the efforts for people that are committing crimes with guns, and if you do that, and get it right, you're going to be much better off than creating a political argument where there's a big divide. The other issue is mental health. That's a serious issue that we could work on. Republicans and Democrats alike believe this. The president's first impulse is do this by executive order, power he doesn't have. Why not go to Congress and in a bipartisan way, begin to deal with the process of mental health issues so that people that are spiraling out of control because of mental health challenges don't have access to guns. +p877 +aVWell, first of all, under President Jeb Bush, we would restore the strength of the military. Last week, Secretary Carter announced that the Navy's going to be cut again. It's now half the size of what it was prior to Operation Desert Storm. The deployments are too high for the military personnel. We don't have procurement being done for refreshing the equipment. The B-52 is still operational as the long range bomber; it was inaugurated in the age of Harry Truman. The planes are older than the pilots. We're gutting our military, and so the Iranians and the Chinese and the Russians and many other countries look at the United States not as serious as we once were. We have to eliminate the sequester, rebuild our military in a way that makes it clear that we're back in the game. Secondly, as it relates to Iran, we need to confront their ambitions across the board. We should reimpose sanctions, they've already violated sanctions after this agreement was signed by testing medium-range missiles. Thirdly, we need to move our embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem to send a serious signal that we're back in the game with Israel......and sign an agreement that makes sure that the world knows that they will have technological superiority. We need to get back in the game as it relates to our Arab nations. The rest of the world is moving away from us towards other alliances because we are weak. This president and John Kerry and Hillary Clinton all have made it harder for the next president to act, but he must act to confront the ambitions of Iran. We can get back in the game to restore order and security for our own country. +p878 +aVDonald, Donald \u2014 can I \u2014 I hope you reconsider this, because this policy is a policy that makes it impossible to build the coalition necessary to take out +p879 +aVYeah, they are unhinged. +p880 +aVNo, not at all, absolutely not. I can see why people are angry and scared, because this president has created a condition where our national security has weakened dramatically. I totally get that. But we're running for the presidency of the United States here. This isn't \u2014 this isn't, you know, a different kind of job. You have to lead. You cannot make rash statements and expect the rest of the world to respond as though, well, it's just politics. Every time we send signals like this, we send a signal of weakness, not strength. And so it was his statement, which is why I'm asking him to consider changing his views. +p881 +aVSo, are we going to ban Muslims from India, from Indonesia, from countries that are strong allies \u2014 that we need to build better relationships with? Of course not. What we need to do is destroy +p882 +aVAbsolutely. +p883 +aVYeah. +p884 +aVHere's \u2014 apart from the \u2014 apart from the higher prices on consumers and people are living paycheck to paycheck, apart from that, there will be retaliation. +p885 +aVSo they soybean sales from Iowa, entire soybean production goes \u2014 the equivalent of it goes to China. Or how about Boeing right here within a mile? Do you think that the Chinese, if they had a 45 percent tariff imposed on all their imports wouldn't retaliate and start buying Airbus? Of course, they would. This would be devastating for the economy. We need someone with a steady hand being president of the United States. +p886 +aVThey're a mile away from here. +p887 +aVMy name was mentioned. My name was mentioned here. The simple fact is that the plane that's being build here is being sold to China. You can \u2014 if you \u2014 you flew in with your 767, didn't you? Right there, right next to the plant. +p888 +aVWhen you head back to airport tonight, go check and see what the... +p889 +aVCheck it out. +p890 +aVThere's \u2014 look, there's \u2014 +p891 +aVI would try to convince him otherwise, but this last back and forth between two senators \u2014 back bench senators, you know, explains why we have the mess in Washington, D.C. We need a president that will fix our immigration laws and stick with it, not bend with the wind. The simple fact is one of the ways, Maria, to solve the problem you described is narrow the number of people coming by family petitioning to what every other country has so that we have the best and the brightest that come to our country. We need to control the border, we need to do all of this in a comprehensive way, not just going back and forth and talking about stuff \u2014 +p892 +aVOh, I'll talk about that, too. But you haven't asked me a question in a while, Neil, so I thought I'd get that off my chest if you don't mind. +p893 +aVI got that. And the problem today is there's no confidence in Washington, D.C. There needs to be more than one meeting, there needs to complete dialogue with the large technology companies. They understand that there's a national security risk. We ought to give them a little bit of a liability release so that they share data amongst themselves and share data with the federal government, they're not fearful of a lawsuit. We need to make sure that we keep the country safe. This is the first priority. The cybersecurity challenges that we face, this administration failed us completely, completely. Not just the hacking of OPM, but that is \u2014 that is just shameful. 23 million files in the hands of the Chinese? So it's not just the government \u2014 the private sector companies, it's also our own government that needs to raise the level of our game. We should put the NSA in charge of the civilian side of this as well. That expertise needs to spread all across the government and there needs to be much more cooperation with our private sector. +p894 +aVYou've got to keep asking. You've got to keep asking because this is a hugely important issue. If you can encrypt messages, +p895 +aVWell, if the law would change, yeah. But I think there has to be recognition that if we \u2014 if we are too punitive, then you'll go to other \u2014 other technology companies outside the United States. And what we want to do is to control this. We also want to dominate this from a commercial side. So there's a lot of balanced interests. But the president leads in this regard. That's what we need. We need leadership, someone who has a backbone and sticks with things, rather than just talks about them as though anything matters when you're talking about amendments that don't even actually are part of a bill that ever passed. +p896 +aVWho can you count on to keep us safer, stronger and freer? Results count, and as governor, I pushed Florida up to the top in terms of jobs, income and small business growth. Detailed plans count, and I believe that the plan I've laid out to destroy +p897 +aVOur freedom is under attack. Our economy is under water. The leading democrat is under investigation. And America is under the gun to lead the free world to protect our civilized way of life. Serious times require strong leadership, that's what at stake right now. Regarding national security, we need to restore the defense cuts of Barack Obama to rebuild our military, to destroy +p898 +aVWell, first of all, we need to destroy +p899 +aVLook, he mentioned me. I can bring \u2014 I can talk. This is \u2014 this is the problem. Banning all Muslims will make it harder for us to do exactly what we need to do, which is to destroy +p900 +aVThey are relevant if we want to destroy +p901 +aVDonald, this has got... +p902 +aVThis is another example of the lack of seriousness. Look, this is \u2014 this is troubling because we're at war. They've declared war on us and we need to have a serious strategy to destroy +p903 +aVYou said on September 30th that +p904 +aVI'm talking right now. I'm talking. +p905 +aVSeptember 30th you said... +p906 +aVA little of your own medicine there, Donald. +p907 +aVDonald, you're not going to be able to insult your way to the presidency. That's not going to happen. And I do have the strength. Leadership, leadership is not about attacking people and disparaging people. Leadership is about creating a serious strategy to deal with the threat of our time. And I laid out that strategy before the attacks in Paris and before the attacks in San Bernardino. And it is the way forward. We need to increase our military spending. We need to deal with a no- fly zone in Syria, a safe zone. We need to focus on building a military that is second-to-none... +p908 +aV... so that we can destroy Islamic terrorism. +p909 +aVI think we're focusing a whole... +p910 +aVI do. I think the lesson's learned are that we have to have to have a strategy to get and a strategy to get out. Which means, that you create a stable situation. This president and this is what the focus ought to be, it's not the differences between us, it's Barack Obama does not believe America's leadership in the world is a force for good. He does not believe that our strength is a place where security can take place. He leads from behind. He creates an environment that now we're creating the most unstable situation we've had since the World War II era. The focus ought to be on the single fact that Hillary Clinton wants to double down on a failed foreign policy and we need to be united to defeat that because we're going to be in a place that is far less secure than it is today. Don't you all agree? +p911 +aVBecause I \u2014 first of all, I know what I don't know. I know what I don't know. I would seek out, as I have, the best advice that exists. I won't get my information from the shows. I don't know if that's Saturday morning or Sunday morning. I don't know which one. I will seek out the best advice, and I will create a strategy and I will persuade the American people what the role of America should be. I've laid out a policy of rebuilding our military. All of the talk that we're seeing here \u2014 most of which I agree on, frankly \u2014 requires a much stronger military. We now have a lack of readiness that is quite scary. We have planes that were \u2014 that Harry Truman inaugurated, the B-52. We have \u2014 the Navy has been gutted and decimated. The readiness of the Marines is way down. If we're serious about America's leadership in the world, then we need to make sure that we have the back of the armed forces. The Armed Forces Radio is here listening to this today. I hope they know that if I'm president, I'll be a commander-in-chief, not an agitator- in-chief or a divider-in-chief, that I will lead this country in a way that will create greater security and greater safety. +p912 +aVSo I was \u2014 I was \u2014 I was mentioned, so I can bring up something, I think, right? Look, the simple fact is, if you think this is tough you're not being treated fairly... +p913 +aV... imagine what it's going to be like dealing with Putin or dealing with President Xi. +p914 +aVOr dealing with the Islamic terrorism that exists. +p915 +aVThis is a tough business to run for president. +p916 +aVAnd it's \u2014 and we need...... to have a leader that is... +p917 +aVYou're never going to be president of the United States by insulting your way to the presidency. +p918 +aVDoesn't matter. Doesn't matter. +p919 +aVYes. +p920 +aVNo it isn't but it is an important subject to talk about for sure. And I think people have good ideas on this. Clearly, we need to secure the border. Coming here legally needs to be a lot easier than coming here illegally. If you don't have that, you don't have the rule of law. We now have a national security consideration, public health issues, we have an epidemic of heroine overdoses in all places in this country because of the ease of bringing heroine in. We have to secure the border. It is a serious undertaking and yes, we do need more fencing and we do need to use technology, and we do need more border control. And we need to have better cooperation by the way with local law enforcement. There are 800,000 cops on the beat, they ought to be trained to be the eyes and ears for law enforcement for the threat against terror as well as for immigration. This is a serious challenge and if we can get it right, yes, we'll start winning votes again. The real problem isn't anybody on this stage, the real problem is Barack Obama has had six years to advocate a position to fix this and he's done nothing. The congress has funded these programs of building more fencing and doing all this and he hasn't done it. He wants to maintain it as a wedge issue and so does Hillary Clinton. Republicans need to fix it and when we do, we'll be better off. +p921 +aVI completely agree with Chris. And this administration has been so lax. Think about it. Hillary Clinton is using a private server for \u2014 where classified information go by. This is a \u2014 this is a serious administration? The president receives an inspector general's report that the Office of Personnel Management could be hacked into; they had antiquated firewalls; 23 million files have been \u2014 are in the hands of the Chinese allegedly, including, by the way, members of the press, it turns out, last week. Maybe that's the only part that's good news, so that you guys can get a feel for what it's like now to see this type of attack. This is something \u2014 we have to have the best defensive capabilities. We need to coordinate all of our efforts with the private sector. We need to give them liability relief so that we can do that. And offensively, we need to have capabilities second to none. We need to create a situation where they know that there will be adverse impacts if they continue to do what they're doing. They'll respect that. They'll respect a United States that is serious about protecting our \u2014 our infrastructure. If we don't do it, we'll continue to see what's \u2014 exactly what's happening, not just from the Chinese, by the way. The Russians and rogue actors, including +p922 +aVAsk yourself, which candidate will keep you and our country safer, stronger and freer? Hillary Clinton has aligned herself with Barack Obama on +p923 +aVYou've already made two comments, John. It's my turn. +p924 +aVI got about four minutes in the last debate. I'm going to get my question right now. +p925 +aVYes. +p926 +aVFirst of all, we could get to 4 percent growth. The new normal of 2 percent puts huge demands on government. The reason why we have structural deficits is that more and more people are relying on government and the growth that we don't have makes \u2014 makes the deficit grow. A 4 percent growth strategy starts with tax reform. And the proposal that I've laid out is the one the Wall Street Journal editorial board has said is the most pro-growth of all the proposals out there. We cut the \u2014 we eliminate a lot of deductions and cut the rates down. A corporate rate of 20 percent, which puts us 5 percent above \u2014 below that of China, and allows us full expensing of investing. It would create an explosion of investment back into this country, creating higher-wage jobs, and so that's part of it. On the regulatory side I think we need to repeal every rule that Barack Obama has in terms of work in progress, every one of them. And start over. For those that are already in existence, the regulation of the Internet, we have to start over, but we ought to do that. The clean power act, we ought to repeal that and \u2014 and start over on that. The waters of the United States act, which is going to be devastating for agriculture and many industries, we should repeal that. We should repeal the rules because the economic costs of this far exceed the social benefit. And if we're serious about being serious about high growth, then we have to recognize that small businesses right now, more of them are closing than \u2014 than are \u2014 than are being set up. Hillary Clinton has said that Barack Obama's policies get an A. Really? One in 10 people right now aren't working or have given up altogether, as you said. That's not an A. One in seven people are living in poverty. That's not an A. One in five children are on food stamps. That is not an A. It may be the best that Hillary Clinton can do, but it's not the best America can do. +p927 +aVThank you, Donald, for allowing me to speak at the debate. That's really nice of you. Really appreciate that. What a generous man you are. Twelve million illegal immigrants, to send them back, 500,000 a month, is just not \u2014 not possible. And it's not embracing American values. And it would tear communities apart. And it would send a signal that we're not the kind of country that I know America is. And even having this conversation sends a powerful signal \u2014 they're doing high-fives in the Clinton campaign right now when they hear this. That's the problem with this. We have to win the presidency. And the way you win the presidency is to have practical plans. Lay them out there. What we need to do is allow people to earn legal status where they pay a fine, where they work, where they don't commit crimes, where they learn English, and over an extended period of time, they earn legal status. That's the path \u2014 a proper path... +p928 +aVI'm gonna fight as hard as I can to make sure that we shift power away from Washington, simplify the tax code, to spur economic activity in this country. Of course it's the highest priority. If we don't do that, we're stuck with the "new normal" of 2 percent growth. Hillary Clinton says, basically, we just gotta get used to it. Two percent growth means declining income for the middle class. It means more than 6 million people are stuck in poverty than the day that Barack Obama was inaugurated. It means \u2014 it means more demands on government \u2014 growing the economy is the first job, if we're going to be serious about dealing with the deficit and debt. And more importantly, people are really struggling right now. In this economy, the disposable income of the great middle is down 2,300 bucks. So yeah, we've created jobs, your \u2014 argue (ph) \u2014 brought that up early, and it was a good question. Jobs are being created, but they're lower-income jobs than the jobs that were lost. And the net effect of this is we need to jump-start the economy. I think of Jonathan (ph) and Reagan Love (ph), who are supporters of mine. Jonathan has been deployed by the National Guard, he is \u2014 he's in Oklahoma. Reagan Love \u2014 by the way, pretty great name, I think \u2014 is a teacher. When \u2014 if they had this tax cut, what they told me was that that $2,300 of money in their pocket \u2014 they would go back to South Carolina and start a business. Imagine what it would be like, instead of having more businesses closed than started, we had it the exact opposite. We would grow our economy, and the government would get the revenue necessary to make things \u2014 make things better. Hillary Clinton's approach to this is more top-down, more regulation, more taxes, more government, and it will destroy our economy. +p929 +aVIt is \u2014 I'd say it is Islamic terrorism, and, back to the question of what we are dealing with in Iraq, when we pull back voids are filled. That's the lesson of history, and, sadly, this president does not believe in American leadership. He does not believe it, and the net result is that we have a caliphate the size of Indiana that gains energy each and everyday to recruit Americans in our own country, and the threat to the homeland relates to the fact that we have not dealt with this threat of terror in the Middle East. We should have a no fly zone in Syria. We should have a support for the remnants of the Syrian Free Army, and create safe zones. If you want to deal with the four million refugees that are leaving Syria because of the devastation there, then we 'ought to create safe zones for them to stay in the region rather than go to Europe. And, that requires American leadership. Without American leadership every other country in the neighborhood beings to change their priorities. It is tragic that you see Iraq, and other countries now talking to Russia. It wasn't that long ago that Russia had no influence in the region at all. And, so, the United States needs to lead across the board. This president, and Hillary Clinton both do not believe the United States has a leadership role to play, and we're now paying a price, and it will have a huge impact on the economy of this country if we don't deal with this. +p930 +aV...They're not doing that... +p931 +aV +p932 +aVDonald \u2014 Donald's wrong on this. He is absolutely wrong on this. We're not going to be the world's policeman, but we sure as heck better be the world's leader. That's \u2014 there's a huge difference where, without us leading... ...voids are filled, and the idea that it's a good idea for Putin to be in Syria, let +p933 +aVWe're not \u2014 we shouldn't have another financial crisis. What we ought to do is raise the capital requirements so banks aren't too big to fail. Dodd-Frank has actually done the opposite, totally the opposite, where banks now have higher concentration of risk in assets and the capital requirements aren't high enough. If we were serious about it, we would raise the capital requirements and lessen the load on the community banks and other financial institutions. This vast overreach has created a huge problem for our country, and Hillary Clinton wants to double down on that. I was in Washington, Iowa, about three months ago talking about how bad Washington, D.C., is. It was \u2014 get the \u2014 kind of the \u2014 anyway. We had... It \u2014 and I talked to a banker there. This is a bank that had $125 million of assets, four branches. Their compliance costs because of Dodd-Frank went from $100,000 to $600,000 in a two-year period. The net effect of that is \u2014 and they had \u2014 they had not one loan that went bad during the financial crisis. They knew \u2014 they knew their borrowers. They gave back to the community. They were engaged in the community. And imagine America without its community banks. Well, that's what's happening because of Dodd-Frank. That's \u2014 that's my worry. My worry is that the real economy has been hurt by the vast overreach of the Obama administration. And Hillary Clinton, she wants to double down on that. She wants to create even more so. She is a captive of the left of her party to the point now where she is \u2014 she was for the trade agreement in \u2014 the Pacific agreement. Now she's against it. She was \u2014 hinted she was for the XL pipeline. Now she's opposed to it. All the things that would create sustained economic growth she's now doubling down against it. +p934 +aVYou could, if you were serious about... +p935 +aVNo, I can't say that. But I can say, if you created higher capital requirements, that's the solution to this, not having concentration of assets. The bigger banks now have more and more control over \u2014 over the financial assets of this country. And that is the wrong approach to take. +p936 +aVMaria? +p937 +aV...We've had a 10% reduction in carbon emissions, and it isn't because of Solyndra. It isn't because of the central planners in Washington D.C. It's because we've had a great American success story, the explosion of natural gas. Taking two existing technologies, and applying it through innovation has created lower carbon emissions, lower energy costs \u2014 40% of all the economic activity in the age of Obama has come from the energy sector, and Hillary Clinton wants to suppress that. We \u2014 I think we ought to be expanding this. High growth is the path to lower carbon, and more jobs. I know for a fact, as Governor of the State of Florida, we created the largest land purchasing programs, and environment clean-up programs because we had a growing economy. Our revenues were growing at 4.4%. It allowed for resources to be able to protect the natural system. We got to get to a conservation... ...in environmental policy that goes beyond just carbon... +p938 +aVJane Horton is sitting with my wife here today. Her husband, Chris, was killed in action in Afghanistan. And Jane spends her time now defending and fighting for military families. They're both heroes. I don't think we need an agitator-in-chief or a divider-in-chief. We need a commander-in-chief that will rebuild our military and restore respect to our veterans by revamping and fixing a broken Veterans Administration, That's my pledge to you. I ask for your support. Thank you. +p939 +asVMCELVEEN +p940 +(lp941 +VThank you, David. And good evening, candidates. Mr. Trump, you have said, quote, "I love eminent domain" which is the seizure of private property for the sake of the greater good theoretically. You tried to use the measure in business endeavors, you've said you'd support its use for the Keystone Pipeline project. Here in New Hampshire, a project, though, known as the Northern pass would bring hydro-electric power from Canada into the Northeastern grid. Do you see eminent domain as an appropriate tool to get that done? +p942 +aVSo would that be yes on the Northern Pass project? +p943 +aVMr. Trump, take 30 seconds. +p944 +aVAll right, gentlemen... +p945 +aVGentlemen, we do have to move forward. Dave, Martha, back to you. +p946 +aVYou're all aware, candidates, this is a major problem here in New Hampshire. It's a very deadly problem as well. Last month, New Hampshire senators Kelly Ayotte, Republican, and Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat, they went down to Washington, along with the police chief of the state's largest city to testify before the Judiciary Committee in D.C. Senator Cruz, you're a member of that committee. Your campaign schedule didn't allow you to attend this. Even so, the police chief called your absence outrageous, given the severity of the problem. Last week, though, you told a personal story of a close family member's struggle with addiction. What can you say to law enforcement right now to convince them that you understand the severity of this problem and you're not just saying what people want to hear days before the primary? +p947 +aVAnd Governor Christie, you have talked a lot about this issue here in New Hampshire. State reforms, criminal justice reforms, access to treatment. To Senator Cruz's point, let's take it a step further. Would you be willing to engage in cross-border enforcement into Mexico, a place where law enforcement in New Hampshire has traced at lot of this supply back to. Would you engage in cross-border enforcement without the cooperation without the Mexican government? +p948 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you very much. David, Martha, back to you. +p949 +aVThank you, Martha. None of you on stage tonight have ever worn a uniform as a member of the armed services. That's the reality of it. But as commander-in-chief, you'll also be charged with the care of 23 million active duty service members and veterans in this country. Some have suggested privatizing the V.A. as a way to enhance care and increase the quality of the care and access. Others say that veterans should carry I.D. cards that allow them access to any hospital or health care provider. Governor Bush, what specifically would you do to ensure that those who have sacrificed for us are cared for? +p950 +aVGovernor Kasich, do you have a favored approach? +p951 +aVSenator Rubio, go ahead? +p952 +aVSenator Rubio, thanks very much. Going to move forward now. David, Martha, back to you. +p953 +asVBAKER +p954 +(lp955 +VThe candidates on stage tonight were selected based on their standing in an average of four national polls. Those standings determining their position on the stage. And here they are. At center stage, businessman Donald Trump. Neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson. +p956 +aVTonight's rules are simple. Up to 90 second for each answer. One minute for each follow-up response. And if a candidate goes over their allotted time, you'll here this. +p957 +aVMs. Fiorina, while you've all pointed out how weak the current recovery has been and how disappointing by any historical standards, in the general election, the Democrats will inevitably ask you and voters to compare the recent president's jobs performance. Now, in seven years under President Obama, the U.S. has added an average of 107,000 jobs a month. Under President Clinton, the economy added about 240,000 jobs a month. Under George W. Bush, it was only 13,000 a month. If you win the nomination, you'll probably be facing a Democrat named Clinton. How are you going to respond to the claim that Democratic presidents are better at creating jobs than Republicans? +p958 +aVThank you. Thank you. Senator Paul, income inequality has been rising in the United States. Fifty years ago, for example, the average CEO of a big corporation in this country earned 20 times the average salary of one of his or her workers. Today, that CEO earns about 300 times the average salary of a worker. Does it matter at all that the gap between the rich and everyone else is widening? +p959 +aVThank you, Senator. +p960 +aVSenator Rubio... +p961 +aVYes, one quick comment, yes. +p962 +aVGovernor Bush... +p963 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor, you...You should let Jeb speak. +p964 +aVMr. Trump, Mr. Trump, you yourself \u2014 you yourself said let Governor Bush speak. Governor Bush? +p965 +aVSenator Rubio? Senator... +p966 +aVSenator Rubio, Senator Rubio, let me \u2014 let me take you to a question that I think gets to the root of a lot of the anxiety that people have in this country. The economy is undergoing a transformation through information technology. Americans are anxious that the new economy isn't producing higher-paying jobs. Many are concerned that the new wealth seems to be going mainly to innovators and investors. Meanwhile, with factories run by robots and shopping done increasingly on smartphones, many traditional jobs are just going away. How do you reassure American workers that their jobs are not being steadily replaced by machines? +p967 +aVThank you. Senator Cruz \u2014 Senator Cruz, entitlements. You've argued for raising the retirement age and reducing benefits for future retirees, but reducing any sort of benefits for the elderly has always been notoriously hard to do politically. When Speaker Paul Ryan proposed replacing traditional Medicare with federally funded private plans a few years ago, a liberal group responded with a commercial that featured a granny being pushed off a cliff. What's going to be different this time? +p968 +aV...I said for future retirees was your statement... +p969 +aVSenator Rubio. Can I just come to Senator Rubio? We're coming to you, Mr. Trump, in one second. I \u2014 I promise. +p970 +aVSenator Rubio, your tax plan includes a large expansion of child tax credits to raise off (ph) the tax incomes for low-income parents. A similar tax credit that you previously proposed in the Senate was estimated to cost as much as $170 billion a year, according to the Tax Foundation. Isn't \u2014 isn't there a risk you're just adding another expensive entitle program to an already overburdened federal budget? +p971 +aVGovernor Kasich? Let me come to Governor Kasich. +p972 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p973 +aVVery quickly, Senator. +p974 +aVPlease. +p975 +aV...Gentleman, we need to move on... +p976 +aV...We need to move... +p977 +aV...We need too... +p978 +aV...We do need to move on. Mr. Trump... +p979 +aV...Very quick. +p980 +aVLet's talk about \u2014 No, no, Governor, I really must move on. I really want to move on. Mr. Trump, let's talk about the international economy... +p981 +aV...We really need to move on... +p982 +aV...No, governor, I promise I will come to you... +p983 +aV...Listen... +p984 +aV...Mr. Trump, can I ask you about... +p985 +aV...the U.S. just concluded an international trade agreement with 11 countries in the Pacific. You've said that you'd rather have no deal... +p986 +aV...than sign the one that's on the table... +p987 +aV...Most economists \u2014 most economists say that trade is boosted growth, and every single post war president has supported the expansion of international trade, including the last three republican presidents. Why would you reverse more than 50 years of U.S. trade policy? +p988 +aVThe \u2014 the deal, as you say, the terms of the deal were published \u2014 were published just last week, the details, 5,000 pages of it, and 80 percent of U.S. trade with countries in the Pacific, these countries, these 11 countries, is actually tariff-free, and these \u2014 the trade deal only affects the other 20 percent. Which \u2014 are there particular parts of the deal that you think were badly negotiated? +p989 +aVThere was a separate \u2014 separate... +p990 +aVBut isn't that \u2014 isn't that part of the problem? When I say, Senator, that if \u2014 if this deal is not ratified by \u2014 by the U.S. \u2014 by the Senate, then it would actually give China an opportunity to grow its economic leadership, which it's been seeking to do? And if the U.S. is unable to take part in this trade deal with these countries in Asia, China will take the lead? +p991 +aVThank you. Thanks, Senator. +p992 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich, I want to ask you about China, in particular hundreds of American companies have been subjected to cyber attacks from the Chinese military, yet state-backed Chinese companies, growing their presence in the United States, Chinese investments in U.S., which were nearly nonexistent a few years ago, are now over $50 billion. And as my newspaper recently reported, Chinese companies are planning to bid for one of the largest hotel chains in the United States, what would be the largest ever Chinese takeover of a U.S. company. Would you stop them? +p993 +aVThank you, Governor. Plenty of opportunities. Thank you. Neil? +p994 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate, live from Milwaukee. Now let's get straight back to the questions, and Governor Bush. Governor, Hillary Clinton recently said that if we had another financial crisis like the one in 2008, she wouldn't bail out the banks. Would you? +p995 +aVBut, Governor, but can I just quickly \u2014 did \u2014 you can't seriously guarantee that there won't be another financial crisis, can you? +p996 +aVEver? There will never be another financial crisis? +p997 +aVDr. Carson, if I may, just on that point, despite measures taken, as the governor says, since the crisis to make the financial system safer, the major banks in the U.S., many of them are actually bigger than ever. Asset held by JPMorgan Chase, for example, the very largest bank, have increased by nearly 40 percent to over $2.6 trillion. Do you think JPMorgan and the other big banks should be broken up? +p998 +aVBut just to be clear, just \u2014 just to be clear, then, you wouldn't \u2014 you wouldn't favor breaking up the big banks? You think they're big enough \u2014 they're OK as they are, as big as they are? +p999 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1000 +aVThank you. +p1001 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate. And now, candidates, it's time for your closing statements. You get 30 seconds each, and, Senator Paul, we will begin with you. +p1002 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p1003 +asVHEWITT +p1004 +(lp1005 +VSenator Cruz, you've said you disagree with Mr. Trump's policy. I don't want a cage match; you've tweeted you don't want a cage match. But Republican primary voters deserve to know, with the kind of specificity and responsiveness you delivered in your nine Supreme Court arguments, how you disagree with Mr. Trump. Would you spell that out with us? +p1006 +aVSo you're saying you disagree because he's too broad and you have a narrower focus? Why do you disagree with him? +p1007 +aVCarly Fiorina... ... this is the Christmas dinner debate. This will be the debate that Americans talk about at Christmas. And thus far, in the first 10 minutes, we haven't heard a lot about Ronald Reagan's city on a hill. We've heard a lot about keeping Americans out or keeping Americans safe and everyone else out. Is this what you want the party to stand for? +p1008 +aVDr. Carson...... you mentioned in your opening remarks that you're a pediatric neurologist surgeon... +p1009 +aVNeurosurgeon. And people admire and respect and are inspired by your life story, your kindness, your evangelical core support. We're talking about ruthless things tonight \u2014 carpet bombing, toughness, war. And people wonder, could you do that? Could you order air strikes that would kill innocent children by not the scores, but the hundreds and the thousands? Could you wage war as a commander-in-chief? +p1010 +aVSo you are OK with the deaths of thousands of innocent children and civilian? It's like... +p1011 +aVThat is what war \u2014 can you be as ruthless as Churchill was in prosecuting the war against the Nazis? +p1012 +aVMr. Trump, we are talking about the most important thing, that's why it's heated. And it's, you are OK with Mr. Assad staying in power, but you are also in favor of winning. If he stays in power, Iran is winning, Hezbollah is winning. Iran is winning in Yemen. They are winning everywhere. If they are winning how can we be winning? +p1013 +aVGovernor Christie, is he right? Because if we step back, Iran goes nuclear. Is Donald Trump right? +p1014 +aVSenator Paul, let me ask you, you heard Governor Kasich say Assad must go. Do you agree? +p1015 +aVGovernor Bush, a commander-in-chief question. You've said that Mr. Trump is not qualified to be president because he's not qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin. Why are you better qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin than Mr. Trump? +p1016 +aVMr. Trump? +p1017 +aVBut, Mr. Trump, it's not CNN \u2014 I was on CNN last night... +p1018 +aV... watching... +p1019 +aVBut it wasn't \u2014 it wasn't CNN. It was me. I watched you last night for 16 minutes. It's not CNN. +p1020 +aVIt's not CNN. It's America's watching you. +p1021 +aVIt's America's watching. +p1022 +aVGovernor \u2014 thank you, Governor. +p1023 +aVDr. Carson, commander-in-chief question again. You've been the head of neurosurgery for a big hospital. You're on a lot of boards of a lot of companies. You've traveled the world. You're going traveling again next week. But does that prepare you to command troops from Djibouti to Japan, troops from Afghanistan to Iraq to be in charge of the men and women watching on Armed Services Network tonight? +p1024 +aVMr. Trump...... Dr. Carson just referenced the single most important job of the president, the command, the control and the care of our nuclear forces. And he mentioned the triad. The B-52s are older than I am. The missiles are old. The submarines are aging out. It's an executive order. It's a commander-in-chief decision. What's your priority among our nuclear triad? +p1025 +aVOf the three legs of the triad, though, do you have a priority? I want to go to Senator Rubio after that and ask him. +p1026 +aVSenator Rubio, do you have a response? +p1027 +aVMy listeners tell me again and again they are worried that Hillary Clinton will win the White House because you'll run as an independent. Are you ready to assure Republicans tonight that you will run as a Republican and abide by the decision of the Republicans? +p1028 +aVDr. Carson, last week... +p1029 +aVPlease. +p1030 +aVDr. Carson, Mr. Trump just committed to stay the distance regardless of the result. How about you? +p1031 +asVWALLACE +p1032 +(lp1033 +VTonight, we're partnering with Google for an exclusive second-screen experience. Search Fox News debate on Google any time in the next two hours to access exclusive content. You can see the campaigns respond to the debate in real time, and you can weigh in by voting on the topics being discussed. Just go to google.com or open your Google search app and type in Fox News debate. +p1034 +aVNeurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. +p1035 +aVApparently Iowa's near Kentucky. +p1036 +aVSenator Rubio, I want to explore this sort of larger issue. The campaign has in a sense turned into a battle for the soul of the Republican party: establishment versus grassroots, pragmatic versus principle. You say that you can unite all of the factions inside the GOP. How? +p1037 +aVGovernor Kasich, I want to get back to this question of where conservatives are this year. You call yourself a, quote, "inside-outside guy, a reformer who knows how to get things done," but you reject the establishment label. First question is why do you reject it? And secondly, what do you say to Republican voters this year who view practical government experience as a liability and not an asset? +p1038 +aVDr. Carson, I want to pick up on that with you. Governor Kasich likes to say he knows how to land the plane. You've landed a lot of planes in the O.R. But what about the idea of running for president with no experience in government at all? +p1039 +aVGentlemen, we're now going to start to drill down into specific issues that are on voters' minds. I'm going to start with one of the biggest ones, which is foreign terror. According to Google, +p1040 +aVSenator Rubio, does Senator Cruz's record match his rhetoric? +p1041 +aVSenator Cruz, you've got 30 seconds. You were mentioned. +p1042 +aVGentlemen. +p1043 +aVMay I \u2014 may I just say, we are going to continue the questions about foreign terror, gentlemen, right after this break. +p1044 +aVThank you. Governor Christie, you have compared both Senators Cruz and Rubio to Barack Obama, saying that we cannot afford another inexperienced President. You've also said that Senator Cruz's vote to curtail the NSA surveillance program made America less safe. Is either of them ready to be Commander in Chief? +p1045 +aVGovernor Bush... +p1046 +aV... I don't think that your name was mentioned... +p1047 +aV... Sir, I think \u2014 I think the question was... +p1048 +aV... It's not my question that you get a chance to respond to, it's his answer. You don't get 30 seconds to respond to me... +p1049 +aV... You don't get 30 seconds to respond to me... +p1050 +aV... If I could go on. Sir, I know you like to argue about the rules, but we're going to conduct a debate... +p1051 +aV... Governor Bush... +p1052 +aVGovernor Bush, here's the question \u2014 I'm going to ask Governor Bush the question. You criticized several candidates in this field on this stage for what you call unrealistic ideas about how to fight terrorists, including Rubio, and Cruz on the issue of their refusing to give the President authority to enforce the redline in Syria. But, given the fact that your brother got us into two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that have still not ended. That have still not ended, what lessons have you learned from his mistakes, sir? +p1053 +aVSenator Cruz, now you get a chance to respond. +p1054 +aV... It is a debate, sir. +p1055 +aVI think the questions were about issues. Senator Rubio, what would you like to respond sir... +p1056 +aVThank you. +p1057 +aVGood. +p1058 +aVSenator Paul, go ahead. +p1059 +aVWell... ... we'll be talking about foreign policy a little bit later. We're going to talk... +p1060 +aVThis debate is just getting started. Coming up, the role of the federal government. But first, join tonight's conversation right from your home. Go to google.com or open your Google search app and search Fox News Debate to vote on which issue is most important to you in this election. More from the Iowa Events Center and the Republican presidential debate in a moment. +p1061 +aVGentlemen, we're going to turn now to what we call electability, issues that you're either facing in the primaries or issues that you're certainly going to face in a general election. So you may not be altogether unhappy if you're not included in this round. Senator Cruz, you pride yourself on standing up to the D.C. cartel, but as we've seen to a certain degree tonight, there's a price for standing up to the D.C. cartel. Thirteen Republican senators have endorsed other candidates, none have endorsed you. You \u2014 twice last year, you asked for a colleague to second a motion, a routine courtesy on the Senate floor, and no senator would do it. Top GOP officials worry that if you're at the top of the ticket \u2014 some officials \u2014 that not only will you lose the White House, but it will tank the ticket all the way down the line. The question is does your style sometimes get in the way of your ability to get things done, sir? +p1062 +aVGovernor Christie, two of your former top aides go on trial in May for fraud and conspiracy in the "Bridge-gate" case, the politically motivated closure of lanes to the George Washington Bridge. Another former aide who has already pleaded guilty and will likely testify for the government, as you know, says that you knew about this whole deal. Can the GOP take the chance of nominating you with this scandal still out there, sir? +p1063 +aVGentlemen, almost 60% of Republican caucus-goers identify themselves as Evangelicals, so I'd like to spend a few minutes exploring social issues. Governor Kasich, you talk a good deal about your faith. In fact, you say it played a role in your decision to expand Medicaid, and you say that when you meet Saint Peter at the Pearly Gates, he's going to ask what you did for the poor, not what you did to keep government small. Senator Cruz is on the opposite side of this issue from you, so does that mean that you're getting in and he isn't? +p1064 +aVGentlemen, we had a case study on religious liberty just this last summer. A county clerk in Kentucky named Kim Davis refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples after the Supreme Court ruling, saying that it violated her religious beliefs. Governor Christie, you said that she must follow the law or be moved to another job that would be in keeping with her conscience. But some conservatives say that that violates her religious liberty. +p1065 +aVThank you, sir. Senator Rubio, during the last debate, you said Governor Christie had changed his position and his mind on gun control, on common core, and backing President Obama's nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. He said you're wrong on the facts and you can't, quote, "slime your way to the White House." I assume in the last two weeks, you've done some fact-checking. Do you want to take anything back? +p1066 +aVThank you, senator. Senator Paul, in May on the campaign trail you, said you didn't get into politics to fight about abortion. You said you were more concerned about the national debt. Your answer is to turn abortion back to the states the way it was before Roe v. Wade. Does that mean that if a liberal state, let's say, wants to make abortion legal, that you're okay with that and what do you say to conservative voters who believe deeply that abortion is murder? +p1067 +aVSir, just 30 seconds to answer my specific... Just 30 seconds to answer my specific question. Do you favor the idea that abortion should be a states' rights issue and if a liberal state wants to make it legal, that that's their choice? Yes or no? +p1068 +aVThank you, sir. +p1069 +aVWe're not finished yet. More to come from the presidential debate, live from Des Moines, Iowa, next. And remember, to see how the campaigns are responding to the debate in real time, go togoogle.com or open your Google search app and search Fox News debate, and please stay with us. +p1070 +aVWe have another question from one of Youtube's top creators. Here it is. +p1071 +aVGovernor Bush, how do you answer Nabela? +p1072 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Cruz, change of subject. You called for an end to the renewable fuel standards which mandate that refineries blend biofuels, including ethanol into gasoline. As you well know, ethanol's a big industry in this state, $10 billion dollars a year. Last week, Terry Branstad, the popular Governor of Iowa... ... Who is in the hall tonight, said that you're bankrolled by big oil, and that Iowa voters would be making a mistake supporting you. Why should those voters side with you over the six- term governor of the state, sir? +p1073 +aVDr. Carson, I'd like to ask you about exactly that issue. Where are you on the mandatory ethanol standard, and precisely this question. Should government be in the business of picking winners and losers, or should it be left to the market place? +p1074 +aVDoctor, thank you. +p1075 +aVDr. Ben Carson. +p1076 +aVAnd don't forget, after all the talk, the first voting of the 2016 campaign happens in just four days. The first Americans to vote, the Iowa caucuses are Monday and Fox News will have complete coverage. +p1077 +asVGARRETT +p1078 +(lp1079 +VSenator Cruz. John mentioned this is about dollars and incentives. We also want to talk about economic growth engagements. You have proposed a consumption tax, you called it the "back tax." Some analysts compare it more to an attributed "value-added tax." From the perspective from economic growth in building wages, how does that work, and how would you address those longstanding conservative concerns that something approaching the "value-added tax" would be used to constantly increase those rates to pay for future government spending and become an escalator of taxation, not of growth? +p1080 +aVNow, the question \u2014 conservatives have sort of this idea conceptually for a long time, but especially on this consumption value-added tax system. In Europe, where it exists, it has become an escalator of taxation to feed government spending, and that's why conservatives have long resisted it. Why and what would you do as president to make sure that doesn't happen? +p1081 +aVGovernor Bush, a question for you \u2014 but if you want to jump in, please. +p1082 +aVJump in, and then I've got a question for you. +p1083 +aVReal quickly, jump in, because I have got a question for Governor Bush, but jump in. +p1084 +aVUnderstood, Governor Kasich. +p1085 +aVYeah, Governor Bush, fine. +p1086 +aVLet me get in a question from... +p1087 +aVI understand, I understand. +p1088 +aVI have a question on economic growth, Governor Bush. +p1089 +aVA , Governor. +p1090 +aVI know, understood. Governor Bush. +p1091 +aVGovernor Bush, from the perspective, economic growth \u2014 viewed from this perspective of economic growth, you have proposed a tax on hedge fund managers. The Americans for Tax Reform, a conservative tax group you're probably aware of, has said no Republican should be for higher taxes on capital gains. And many conservatives wonder if this proposal of yours would undermine not only that philosophy, but undercut your projection of 4 percent economic growth annually under your presidency? +p1092 +aV... Dr. Carson... +p1093 +aVSenator Rubio... For the purposes of the lines \u2014 lines you would draw legislatively as a president on immigration reform, define amnesty. +p1094 +aVVery quickly, Senator Cruz. +p1095 +aVGovernor Bush, I want to bring this out to a little wider philosophical aspect, if you will. +p1096 +aVYou have said illegal immigrants, quote, "broke the law, but it's not a felony," still quoting you, "it's an act of love, it's an act of commitment to your family." Mr. Trump has, as you are well aware, denounced that statement over and over. Do you still believe it? What does that mean to you? And how does that inform your approach to immigration reform? +p1097 +aVFundamentally, do you believe this rhetoric is insufficiently compassionate to this issue? +p1098 +aVMr. Trump... +p1099 +aV... Governor Kasich, here in South Carolina earlier this week, you said the idea, the concept of deporting 11 million undocumented workers... +p1100 +aV... We will leave the moon metaphors to be adjudicated later, I assure you. Governor Kasich, you said earlier this week in South Carolina, the concept, the idea of deporting 11 million undocumented workers in this country is nuts. Why is it you are so opposed to that idea? Senator Cruz has said it's a simple application of existing law. The application of that is not inhumane, it is just. Why do you disagree? +p1101 +aV... What are you for on immigration? +p1102 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 Mr. Trump. I was with you in Pendleton, South Carolina, earlier this week at the Rodeo Arena. It was a bit chilly there. You promised the crowd, and they rose to their feet, that if Ford or a company like were to move a factory to Mexico, you would try to stop it or threaten them with a 35 percent tax or tariff on every car sold. +p1103 +aVRight. So my question is, based on your understanding of the presidency, where do you derive that power? Would you need the consent of Congress to go along? And do you see the presidency as a perch from which you can cajole and/or threaten private industry to do something you think is better for the U.S. economy? +p1104 +aVThank you, governor. +p1105 +asVMUIR +p1106 +(lp1107 +VGood evening, again, everyone. This is the first time since Iowa and the only time before the New Hampshire primary that the Republican candidates will have the opportunity to face each other. The people of Iowa have been heard. Now it's New Hampshire's turn. In just three days, voters here will decide who they think should be the Republican nominee for president. +p1108 +aVSo let's welcome the candidates for the Republican nomination for president. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. +p1109 +aVTexas Senator Ted Cruz. +p1110 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. +p1111 +aVAnd Ohio Governor John Kasich. +p1112 +aVAnd Dr. Ben Carson, please come out on the stage. He's standing there, as well. Dr. Carson. +p1113 +aVAnd lastly, we welcome back to the debate stage, Donald Trump. +p1114 +aVIt was so noisy in here. Yes. Yes. We're going to introduce Ohio Governor John kasich. The applause so loud here in the hall. +p1115 +aVSo let's get started. We welcome you all to the debate stage here tonight. We're going to tackle the issues Americans are most concerned about, the economy, +p1116 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. I want to bring this to Senator Cruz, then. Because Senator, you did said of Trump's behavior this week, that's not the temperament of a leader to keep this country safe. Why not? +p1117 +aVSenator Cruz, I did ask about Mr. Trump. You said he doesn't have the temperament to be commander-in-chief. Do you stand by those words? +p1118 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. We're going to continue on this notion of readiness and experience. I'm going to come back. +p1119 +aVIf you would like to respond, Mr. Trump. +p1120 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. And we're going to continue on this notion of readiness and on experience, but I want to ask about a headline that was back in the papers again this morning. Dr. Carson, on the day of the Iowa caucuses, the Cruz campaign sent out messages and voicemails saying, quote, "Breaking news. Dr. Ben Carson will be planning to suspend his campaign following tonight's caucuses. Please inform any Carson caucus-goers of this news." But as we can all see, you are still standing here tonight. Late this week, your campaign sent this e-mail, quote, "This kind of deceitful behavior is why the American people don't trust politicians. If Senator Cruz does not act, then he clearly represents D.C. values." What kind of action do you think Senator Cruz should take? +p1121 +aVSenator Cruz. Dr. Carson, thank you. Senator Cruz, you have said that Dr. Carson and his wife have become friends of yours. I'm curious as why you didn't call ahead of time to either the doctor or his wife or have your campaign check in with the other campaign before sending out those messages. +p1122 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. We're going to move on here. Back to the issues... +p1123 +aVDr. Carson, please. +p1124 +aVDr. Carson, thank you. Thank you, doctor. Senator Rubio. I want to stay on the issue of readiness to be president and experience and questions about you being a first-term senator. Governor Christie warning voters here in New Hampshire against voting for another first-term senator as America did with Barack Obama in 2008. Arguing that you are, quote, " not ready to be president of the United States." And Senator Santorum, who we all know, dropped out of the race and endorsed you, had a hard time when asked on national television, listing your accomplishments as senator. Tonight, what are your accomplishments in the Senate that demonstrate you are ready to be president of the United States? +p1125 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I do want to ask Governor Christie, Governor Christie, you said fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me when it comes to electing a first-term senator. You heard Senator Rubio make the case that he does have the experience. Your response? +p1126 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Rubio? +p1127 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I want to bring in governor bush on this, because you... +p1128 +aV... have made this... +p1129 +aVIf you'd like to respond to economic... +p1130 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1131 +aVGovernor Christie, we will \u2014 we will... +p1132 +aVGovernor Christie \u2014 thank you, Governor. I will mention \u2014 listen... +p1133 +aV... Listen, people... Governor Bush, I'll mention your name so that you can come in on this... +p1134 +aVI want to bring you in on this because you've made this central to your campaign right here in New Hampshire in the last couple of days. Four Years ago you said of Senator Rubio, he was ready to be Vice President. You spoke of his experience as well. You said he has the fortitude to be a good President, but just this week you said Senator Rubio accomplished, quote, "nothing" in the Senate. How do you square the two? +p1135 +aV... We're going to continue with leadership now. Martha? +p1136 +aVMartha, we're going to turn to immigration now. And I want to bring in Governor Kasich because you told us in an ABC interview, Governor, quote, "It is completely ridiculous to think we are going to go into neighborhoods, grab people out of their homes and ship people back to Mexico." Adding, quote, "That's not where the party is. The party is not for departing 11.5 million people." But Mr. Trump and Senator Cruz, who have made deportation central to their campaigns, top the national polls. So, my question for you, are you not where the voters are? +p1137 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. I want to bring this next to Senator Cruz. You heard what the governor said. He said, "We need practical solutions." And you've said, "I don't intend to send jack boots to knock on doors. That's not how we enforce the law for any crime." So, what is your plan? How will you deport 11.5 million undocumented people? And be specific. How would you do it? +p1138 +aVLet me just ask you this, though, because Governor Kasich was talking about the families and what you do with the families that you would have to send home. Can you tell the American people tonight how you would do that? +p1139 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. I want to bring in Senator Rubio. This question is about immigration, it is also about leadership. You're aware of the criticism from many candidates on this stage tonight that you co-authored the so-called Gang of Eight bill that would have created a path to citizenship for people here illegally. Governor Christie has said of you, as soon as you felt the heat, you turned tail and run. Governor Bush has said, "I don't think we need people cutting and running anymore." Did you fight for your own legislation, Senator, or did you run from it? +p1140 +aVBut I'm asking, did you fight for the legislation at the time or did you run from it as you're... +p1141 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1142 +aVGovernor thank you. Senator Rubio? +p1143 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. We want to turn to health care in this country, and for that, author and commentator, Mary Katherine Ham tonight. HAM: Thanks, David. Good evening, guys. +p1144 +aVMary Katherine, thank you. We want to turn now to the issue of eminent domain, which is being debated right here in New Hampshire. And Josh McElveen is the political director and the anchor of +p1145 +aVJosh, thank you. When we come back here tonight, jobs, +p1146 +aVAnd, we welcome you back to the Republican debate from New Hampshire tonight here on ABC. We're going to turn now to what it means to be a conservative, and I want to turn to Governor Kasich. Governor, while campaigning here in New Hampshire, you were already asked about groans from some conservatives after your endorsements from the New York Times, and the Boston Globe. You said, quote, "What conservatives have to know is they have to say, look isn't it nice to have a conservative like me liked? And, maybe the ought to think about it because if I get elected president, the Republican party and the definition of conservatism is going to change." How would you change conservatism? +p1147 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. Mr. Trump, you've heard the argument from many of the candidates on this stage that you're not a true conservative. Tell the voters watching tonight why you are. +p1148 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. Senator Rubio, you have said yourself that you don't think Donald Trump is running as a conservative. Did he convince you? +p1149 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I want to turn this discussion to the economy now. And Mr. Trump, Governor Christie has said, "I tell everybody who goes to a Donald Trump event, if you get to ask a question, just ask him how." Christie said, "I don't care which of the things he talks about, just ask him how." You have said that you'd be the greatest jobs president God ever created. Tell Americans watching tonight how many jobs you would create in the first term and how. +p1150 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. There are a lot of governors on this stage tonight and Governor Christie, Governor Kasich said of you, quote, "In Ohio, we balanced a budget. They don't have one over in New Jersey. Our credit has been strengthened. Their credit has been downgraded. We've got more jobs." How important are those metrics in choosing the next president? And is his job \u2014 is his record on jobs, I should say, actually stronger than yours? +p1151 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Kasich? +p1152 +aVHe didn't say your record was better than his. +p1153 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. +p1154 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. I do want to turn from jobs to taxes. +p1155 +aVIf you would like to respond to the governor, you can. +p1156 +aVI'm coming to you next with a question, anyway. You can respond to that question. +p1157 +aVWe're going from jobs to taxes, and here's the... +p1158 +aVTo the Gang of Eight bill first? +p1159 +aVThe governor wasn't talking about the president, he was talking about the Gang of Eight bill. +p1160 +aVSo, let me ask you about taxes, Senator Rubio. +p1161 +aVA recent poll, 68 percent of Americans favor raising taxes on people making more than $1 million a year. Are they wrong? +p1162 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I want to bring in Governor Bush. And Governor, I just want to repeat that number for you \u2014 68 percent of Americans favor raising taxes on people making more than a million. What do you say to the people who believe that tonight? +p1163 +aVKnew that was coming. Governor, thank you. +p1164 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you. Martha? +p1165 +aVMartha, thank you. We're just going to \u2014 we're going to stay on +p1166 +aVIf elected president, would you bring it back? +p1167 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. Mr. Trump, you said not only does it work, but that you'd bring it back. +p1168 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. Governor Bush, you have said that you won't rule waterboarding out. Congress has passed laws banning the use of waterboarding by the military and the CIA, as you know. Would you want Congress to change that if you're elected president? +p1169 +aVGovernor Bush, thank you. Senator Rubio, I do want to ask you, you have said that you do not want to telegraph to the enemy what you would do as commander in chief. But for the American people watching tonight who want to know where the next president will stand, do you believe waterboarding is torture? +p1170 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. We want to turn now to the topic of executive orders, and for that, we're going to turn back to Mary Katharine Ham. Mary Katharine? HAM: Thanks, David. Senator Cruz, on the campaign trail you've promised voters a lot, in fact if you're elected president you'd say you end Common Core immediately, abolish the IRS, and do away with sanctuary cities. You've also been a persistent critic of President Obama's executive overreach, going it alone, not working with Congress. How do you intend to implement this aggressive agenda within your Constitutional authority, especially given that it would require working with Congress and Washington players with whom you're happy to say you have a strained relationship? +p1171 +aVMary Katherine, thank you. We want to turn to something the governor of New Hampshire said... +p1172 +aVA connection here on the stage. We're going to move on to what the governor of New Hampshire said just this week, and that is that heroin overdose is not the second-leading cause of death in this state. You don't need me to tell you that. But there's another number, 48 percent of the people here in this state knows someone who has abused heroin. Josh, who covers this for +p1173 +aVMartha? +p1174 +aVGovernor, well come to you in the next segment. When we come back, questions about race, about our veterans and social issues what younger conservative voters are now saying as we continue with New Hampshire with the Republican debate, right here on ABC. +p1175 +aVWelcome back to New Hampshire, ABC News coverage of the Republican debate, and it's great to have you back at the podiums, and we want to turn to race in America. And Mr. Trump, there are many who argue cell phones and smartphones are just now exposing what's been happening in this country for years. Cases of excessive force against minorities. As you know, Mr. Trump, on the other side, the FBI director recently said there's a chill wind blowing through law enforcement because of increased scrutiny. You have said police are the most mistreated people in America. As president, how do you bridge the divide? +p1176 +aVGreat. Mr. Trump, I did ask about bridging the divide though as president. So what would you say to the American families who say we have lived through this, we have seen excessive force? What would you say to those people? +p1177 +aVI do want to ask \u2014 Governor Kasich? +p1178 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Rubio, I want to ask you next, President Obama visited a mosque this week in America for the first time in his presidency. President George W. Bush visited a mosque after September 11th. You said of President Obama, quote, "he's always pitting people against each other." So I'm curious, how are the two visits different, and would you visit a mosque as president? +p1179 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. Martha? +p1180 +aVJosh, thank you. I want to turn to a family that New Hampshire voters know quite well, and Senator Cruz, the issue of hostages has been a very real and painful one here in this state. As we all know, James Foley was killed. His mother, Diane, said our government should be willing to negotiate, arguing that families should also be allowed to raise money for ransom. What would you say to Diane Foley tonight? Should families be allowed to raise money for ransom for their loved ones? +p1181 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. Mr. Trump, what would you say to Diane Foley? Should families be allowed to raise money for ransom? +p1182 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. We want to turn now to social issues and young voters and for the question, from Mary Katherine. HAM: Thank you David. Senator Rubio. One of the lazier pieces of political conventional wisdom is that so-called social issues are hurting Republicans with young people. But on the two most prominent social issues, polling with millennials actually moves in different directions. On one hand, it is clear, young people across the political spectrum increasingly favor same sex marriage. However young voters have not moved to the left on abortion. In fact, large numbers of them favor at least some modest restrictions that conservatives have supported. How do you speak to millennials on both these issues, while Democrats will inevitable charge intolerance and extremism? +p1183 +aVMary Katherine, thank you. We're going to have closing statements here in just a moment, but before we go, quick lightning round. Come November, two battle-ground states, but they face off tomorrow in the Super Bowl. Governor Kasich, who wins? +p1184 +aVGovernor Bush? +p1185 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1186 +aV Mr. Trump? +p1187 +aVAll right, Dr. Carson? +p1188 +aVYeah. Governor Christie, the last word? +p1189 +aVDenver. Thank you so much, gentlemen. Closing statements in just a moment, right here, as the ABC News Republican debate continues from New Hampshire, right after this. +p1190 +aVWe welcome you back. The New Hampshire primary, of course, is Tuesday, but time now for closing statements. And we begin tonight with Governor Kasich. +p1191 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1192 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Senator Rubio. +p1193 +aVThank you. Mr. Trump. +p1194 +asVHUCKABEE +p1195 +(lp1196 +VI wish I saw the country in the same place that the president presented it to be the other night in the State of the Union. He talked about how great the economy was doing. And I guess for the people he hangs out with, it's probably doing great. But the president should've stood in the line at the layaway counter at Walmart just before Christmas. He would have heard a very different story about the economy of America. I wish I could introduce him the lady who cleans the building where our campaign headquarters is located in Little Rock. Her name is Kathleen. She works all day at a local hospital cleaning, and then she goes to the building where a bank, and our headquarters, and other offices are she spends another seven hours. She works 15 hours a day. I guarantee you she's not working 15 hours a day because she loves scrubbing toilets, and sweeping floors. She's working that many hours because that's what it takes for her to make it work. And, she's not alone. There are people all over this country who are working like that. Many of them working two jobs \u2014 and they used to have one job, and that would take care of them. But, because of wage stagnation, which we've had for 40 years, because the fact that they're punished for working harder if they work that many hours. The government gets more of their second shift than they do. And, as a result there are a lot of people who are hurting today. I wish the President knew more of them. He might make a change in the economy and the way he's managing it. +p1197 +aVLet me put that in context. When I went to Afghanistan, I saw a land that looked like the land of the Flintstones. It was desolate. It was barren. It was primitive. And it's been that way for thousands of years. They want to take the world back to be just like that. We don't. We need to make a clear goal as to why we want to be anywhere in the Middle East, and I'll tell you why we want to be and need to be, is to destroy radical Islam and everything that threatens civilization. It's not just a threat......to Israel or to America, it's a threat to every civilized person on this Earth. And we need to be equipping not only the Kurds in Iraq, we need to be making sure that those who are willing to fight radical Muslims will do it, but we need to never ever spend a drop of American blood unless there is a clearly defined goal and we can't make sure we win unless we have a military that's the strongest in the history of mankind. We've got to rebuild our navy. It's the smallest navy we've had since 1915, when my grandfather got on a destroyer in World War I when he was in the U.S. Navy. We've got young men in Air Force B-52s, one in particular, he's flying a B-52 that his father flew in the '80s and his grandfather flew in the '50s. Those planes are older than me. We've got to have a military that the world is afraid of, use it sparingly, but when we do, the whole world will know that America is on their tail and they will be on their tail on the ground, never ever to rise up again. +p1198 +aVOnly if there is a concerted effort to destroy the advance of radical Islamists who are against us. As far as what are we going to make it look like. Frankly, I don't know what we can make it look like. You can't create for other people a desire for freedom and democracy. And frankly, that is not the role of the United States. The role of the United States military is not to build schools, it is not to build bridges, it is not to go around and pass out food packets. It is to kill and destroy our enemy and make America safe and that is the purpose we should be there if we're going to be there. +p1199 +aV Yes, I did. +p1200 +aVWell, why don't we start by making sure the Justice Department never does an idiotic program like Fast and Furious where the U.S. Government put guns......in the hands of Mexican drug lords......and end up killing one of our border agents. You know, they want to talk about law abiding citizens, I just find it amazing the President keeps saying the gun show loophole. There is no gun show loophole. I promise you I've been to more gun shows than President Obama. +p1201 +aVAnd, I've bought more weapons at them, and you fill out forms. The President also says things that it's easier to get a gun now than it is to grow trees. Again, I purchase guns, and I can assure you that it is much more difficult to purchase a firearm than it is to get the ingredients of a salad at the supermarket. What the President keeps pushing are ideas that have never worked. Ideas that would not have stopped San Bernadino, Sandy Hook, Aurora, and at some point you wonder if you keep retrying things that don't work, maybe we should just see if we could resell all those used lottery tickets that didn't work real well because that's the logic of just keep doing the same thing, but something that has failed. Of course, we want to stop gun violence, but the one common thing that has happened in most mass shootings is that they happened in gun- free zones where people who would have been law abiding citizens, who could have stood up and at least tried to stop it and we're not allowed to under the law. +p1202 +aVWell, we shouldn't be and that's one of the reasons that I think there a lot of voices in our country who are saying it's time to relook at the visa program. The European Union is a failure, it's not allowed for even the economic goals that they were trying to achieve. But, what we're not seeing is that it's making Europe less safe, and it's proven not to be exactly what they all thought it was going to be. Our first and foremost responsibility in this country, and the first responsibility of the President of the United States is protect America, and protect Americans. We have a President who seems to be more interested in protecting the reputation and image of Islam than he is protecting us. And, I want to be very clear......that this President. Makes comments like he did the other night, that we have to be so careful because we don't want to offend Muslims. He needs to read his own FBI crime stats from last year which would show him that of the hate crimes in the country, over 5,500, about 1,100 were religious hate crimes. And, of those, 58% were directed toward Jews. Only 16% directed toward Muslims. Maybe what the President should have talked about the other night is how we ought to be more careful in the anti-semitic comments that are going toward American Jews than toward Muslims because by three times as many......they're being targeted for religious hate crime. +p1203 +aVIt does not shut down international commerce, but it may slow it down. And, you don't want to slowdown commerce that is making us safer. It's worth it. This lady who came and joined with the San Bernardino killer had passed three background checks, and that's why a lot of Americans didn't buy it when the President said we'll bring in Syrian refugees, but don't worry we'll check them out. We have a lot of confidence in a president who told us that we could keep our doctor, we could keep our health insurance, and cost us less, and now the latest is if you like your gun you can keep it too, and frankly, we don't buy it. We don't believe it. He's lost his credibility, and his inept... ...inability to work with Congress and pass legislation has led him to do what I never even imagined doing as a governor, and that's just going and doing it my own way. That's why we elect a president, is to lead, is to be able to shepherd things through. And if I can do it with a 90 percent Democrat legislature in Arkansas, there is no excuse for any president not being able to lead in Washington if he knows what the heck he is doing when he gets there. +p1204 +aVWell, first of all, let's just remember that Social Security is not the government's money, it belongs to the people who had it taken out of their checks involuntarily their entire working lives. For the government to say, well it is fault of working people that we have a Social Security problem, no. It is the fault of a government that used those people's money for something other than protecting those people's accounts. So let's not blame them and punish them. But here is a fact, and I sometimes hear Republicans say well, we're going to have to cut this and extend the age. You know what I think a lot of times when I hear people say, well, let's make people work to their 70. That sounds great for white-collar people who sat at a desk most of their lives. You ever talk to somebody that stood on concrete floor for the first 40 years of their working life? Do you think they can stand another five years or 10 years, many of them will retired virtually crippled because they worked hard. And we're going to punish them some more? I don't think so. Here's the fact. Four percent economic growth, we fully fund Social Security and Medicare. Our problem is not that Social Security is just too generous to seniors. It isn't. Our problem is that our politicians have not created the kind of policies that would bring economic growth. And I still support strongly that we get rid of the 77,000 pages of the monstrous tax code......pass the fair tax, supercharge this economy with the rocket fuel that happens with the consumption tax and we don't have to cut Social Security to any senior who has worked their lifetime for it. +p1205 +aVLet me go back to the reason so many people are having a hard time getting ahead. The tax system punishes them. Think about this. If you work really hard and you start moving up the economic ladder, you get bumped into a different tax bracket. So the government thinks it deserves more of your hard work than you do. And it's one of the reasons that no matter how many different reforms you have to a tax on people's productivity, you're still taxing their work, their savings. You're taxing their capital gains, inheritance, dividends, you're taxing everything that produces something. And it's way I really believe it's time to do something bold, not something minute. This is no time for a tap of the hammer, a twist of the screwdriver. It's time for something big. That's why the fair tax transforms our economy. And we don't punish workers. It's the only way we're going to get middle class people moving ahead again, because the harder they work, the more they keep. No payroll tax deducted from their checks. They get their entire paycheck. And, one of the most important parts, it's built on the common sense with which we raised our kids, and trained dogs. You reward behavior you want more of. And, you punish behavior you want less of. That's how I raise kids, it's how I trained our dogs, and folks, it's not that difficult. We now punish the behavior we say we want more of by taxing it, and we reward the behavior that we say we want less of, so if you make a good investment, we punish you with a tax. If you make a bad investment you can write that off and the rest of the taxpayers will help subsidize you, and bail you out. +p1206 +aVWell, Rick, I'm pretty sure I did also fight the Clinton machine because every election I was ever in in Arkansas, I assure you, they were behind it, helping finance and campaign for every opponent. And I share with you the understanding that it's going to be a tough battle. But I spent the first half of my adult life in the private and nonprofit sector, raising a family, understanding how tough it is for people to make it. And that first half of my life is what led me to believe that America needs a different kind of leadership, not people who spent their whole life running from one office to the next, and living off the government dime. And I got involved because I got sick of what I saw. I also believe that there's got to be some leadership that not only addresses the monetary and military issues of this country, but the moral issues of this country. At the end of every political speech, most of us say, God bless America. But how can he do that when we continue to slaughter 4,000 babies a day? And I want to be the president that treats every person, including the unborn, as a person. And protect them under the 5th and 14th amendments of the constitution. I close with this word from a gentleman in East Texas named Butel Lucre. He's 100 years old and I met him down in East Texas. And he said this to me. "I sure wish, Mike, we had the days when The Ten Commandments were in all of our capitals and in every school, and we prayed again. You know, he may be 100 years old, but I believe some of those old ideas to get this country back where we unapologetically get on our knees before we get on our feet might be the best solutions we've ever sought as a country. And I ask for your support and your vote. Thank you. +p1207 +asVCRUZ +p1208 +(lp1209 +VWell, we have 80 years of precedent of not confirming Supreme Court justices in an election year. And let me say, Justice Scalia... +p1210 +aVEighty years of not confirming. For example, L.B.J. nominated Abe Fortas. Fortas did not get confirmed. He was defeated. +p1211 +aVNo, Kennedy was confirmed in '87... +p1212 +aVHe was appointed in... +p1213 +aVIn this case it's both. But if I could answer the question... +p1214 +aVJustice Scalia was a legal giant. He was somebody that I knew for 20 years. He was a brilliant man. He was faithful to the Constitution. He changed the arc of American legal history. And I'll tell you, his passing tonight, our prayers are with his family, with his wife, Maureen, who he adored, his nine children, his 36 grandkids. But it underscores the stakes of this election. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that will strike down every restriction on abortion adopted by the states. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that will reverse the Heller decision, one of Justice Scalia's seminal decisions, that upheld the Second Amendment right to keep and to bear arms. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that would undermine the religious liberty of millions of Americans \u2014 and the stakes of this election, for this year, for the Senate, the Senate needs to stand strong and say, "We're not going to give up the U.S. Supreme Court for a generation by allowing Barack Obama to make one more liberal appointee." And then for the state of South Carolina, one of the most important judgments for the men and women of South Carolina to make is who on this stage has the background, the principle, the character, the judgment and the strength of resolve to nominate and confirm principled constitutionalists to the court? That will be what I will do if I'm elected president. +p1215 +aVWell, we need to focus on what the objective is, you know? Your question about the first three questions you would ask in this Situation Room. I think it is a problem if the president, commander in chief, we've elected does not have the experience and background to understand the threats facing this country coming in on Day 1. If you look at the threats facing this country, the single gravest threat, national security threat, is the threat of a nuclear Iran. That's why I've pledged on Day 1 to rip to shreds this Iranian nuclear deal, and anyone that thinks you can negotiate Khamenei does not understand the nature of Khamenei. When it comes to +p1216 +aVWe have Kurds in both Iraq and Syria. They are fighting +p1217 +aVWell, let me say it at the outset that everyone here understands \u2014 everyone understands that how \u2014 that the middle class has been left behind in the last seven years of the Obama economy, and we've got to bring jobs back. We've got to get people back to work. We've got to get wages going up again. We've got to get people moving from part-time work to full-time work. We all agree on that, but it's not going to be solved with magic pixie dust. It's just going to be solved by declaring into the air, "Let there be jobs." We actually have to understand the principles that made America great in the first place. Now, where do you get economic growth? If you look at cause and effect over our nation's history, every time we lessen the burden of Washington on small-business owners, on job creators, we see incredible economic growth. You do that through tax reform and regulatory reform. My tax plan \u2014 typical family of four, first $36,000 you earn, you pay nothing in taxes \u2014 no income taxes, no payroll taxes, no nothing. Above 10 percent, everyone pays the same simple, flat 10 percent income rate. It's flat and fair. You can fill out your taxes on a postcard, and we abolish the I.R.S. If you want to see the postcard, I've got it on my website. +p1218 +aVNow, Major, the business flat tax that is in my tax plan is not a VAT. A VAT in Europe is a sales tax. The business flat tax is not a sales tax, it is a tax of 16 percent opposed fairly and evenly across the board on all business. One of the things that's critical is we're doing that in conjunction with abolishing the corporate income tax, with abolishing the Obamacare taxes, with abolishing the payroll taxes, which are the biggest taxes paid by most working Americans, and with abolishing the death tax, which is cruel and unfair. And you asked about economic growth \u2014 the nonpartisan Tax Foundation estimated a simple flat tax that would produce 4.9 million new jobs, it would increase capital investment by 44 percent and would lift everyone's income by double digits. That's how you turn the country around, not just hoping and praying for it, but implementing policies that work. +p1219 +aVWell, you know, your question highlights a sharp difference on immigration on this stage. You know, in a Republican primary, everyone talks tough on immigration. Everyone is against illegal immigration in a Republican primary. But as voters, we've been burned over and over again by people that give us a great campaign speech and they don't walk the walk. There are sharp differences on amnesty. If you look at the folks on this stage, when Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer and establishment Republicans were leading the fight to pass a massive amnesty plan, I stood with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and the American people and led the fight to defeat that amnesty plan. +p1220 +aVNow, that moment... +p1221 +aVThat moment was what Reagan would call "a time for choosing." When it comes to deciding which side of the line you're on, the Rubio-Schumer amnesty plan......apparently supported by the donor class, which is why Washington supported it. The Rubio-Schumer amnesty plan passed the Senate, and it was on the verge of passing the House. House leadership intended to take it up and pass it with the Democrats overruling most of the Republicans. And the question for anyone on illegal immigration is, where were you in that fight? Where did you stand? You are right. There is a difference between Senator Rubio and me on this question. +p1222 +aVMajor, I get a response to that. +p1223 +aVYou know, the lines are very, very clear. Marco right now supports citizenship for 12 million people here illegally. I oppose citizenship. Marco stood on the debate stage and said that. But I would note not only that \u2014 Marco has a long record when it comes to amnesty. In the state of Florida, as speaker of the house, he supported in-state tuition for illegal immigrants. In addition to that, Marco went on Univision in Spanish and said he would not rescind President Obama's illegal executive amnesty on his first day in office. I have promised to rescind every single illegal executive action, including that one. And on the question... +p1224 +aV. +p1225 +aVThat is simply... +p1226 +aVThat is absolutely false. What he said is knowingly false. And I would note, if you want to assess \u2014 if you want to assess... +p1227 +aV... who is telling the truth... If you want to assess who is telling the truth......then you should look to Jeff Sessions, who said, without Ted Cruz the Rubio-Schumer amnesty bill would have passed, and Ted was responsible. You should look to Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin, that said... +p1228 +aVI think it is a very important question because the people who have been hurt the most in the Obama economy had been the most vulnerable. It's been young people. It's been Hispanics. It's been African-Americans. It's been single moms. We have the lowest percentage of Americans working today in any year since 1977. And the sad reality is big government, massive taxes, massive regulation, doesn't work. What we need to do instead is bring back booming economic growth, let \u2014 small businesses are the heart of the economy. Two-thirds of all new jobs come from small businesses. If we want to lift people out of poverty \u2014 you know, I think of these issues from the perspective of my dad. My dad fled Cuba in 1957. He was just 18. He couldn't speak English. He had nothing. He had $100 in his underwear. And he washed dishes making 50 cents an hour and paid his way through school. Today, my dad is a pastor. He travels the country preaching the gospel. Now, I think about all of these issues. How would it impact my dad when he was washing dishes? If we had Obamacare in place right now, the odds are very high my father would have been laid off, because it's teenaged kids like my dad who have gotten laid off. If he didn't get laid off, the odds are high he would have had his hours forcibly reduced to 28, 29 hours a week. We need to lift the burdens on small businesses so you have jobs, and we need welfare reform that gets people off of welfare and back to work. +p1229 +aVYou know, flexibility is a good thing, but it shouldn't \u2014 you shouldn't be flexible on core principles. I like Donald, he is an amazing entertainer, but his policies for most of his life... +p1230 +aVFor most of his life, his policies have been very, very liberal. For most of his life, he has described himself as very pro- choice and as a supporter of partial birth abortion. Right now, today, as a candidate, he supports federal taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood. I disagree with him on that. That's a matter of principle, and I'll tell you... +p1231 +aVDon, I need to go on... +p1232 +aVI will say, it is fairly remarkable to see Donald defending Ben after he called, "pathological," and compared him to a child molester. Both of which were offensive and wrong. But let me say this \u2014 you notice Donald didn't disagree with the substance that he supports taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood. And Donald has this weird pattern, when you point to his own record, he screams, "Liar, liar, liar." You want to go... +p1233 +aVYou want to go... +p1234 +aVIf you want to watch the video, go to our website at Tedcruz.org. +p1235 +aVYou can see it out of Donald's own mouth. +p1236 +aVYou supported it when we were battling over defunding Planned Parenthood. You went on... +p1237 +aVYou said, "Planned Parenthood does wonderful things and we should not defund it." +p1238 +aVSo I'll tell you what... +p1239 +aVYou see, you and I... +p1240 +aVDon, the reasoned principle matters. The reasoned principle matters, sadly was illustrated by the first questions today. The next president is going to appoint one, two, three, four Supreme Court justices. If Donald Trump is president, he will appoint liberals. If Donald Trump is president, your Second Amendment will gone... +p1241 +aVYou know how I know that? +p1242 +aVI did not nominate John Roberts. I would not have nominated John Roberts. +p1243 +aVI supported... +p1244 +aVYou need to learn to not interrupt people. +p1245 +aVDonald, adults learn... +p1246 +aVAdults learn not to interrupt people. +p1247 +aVI did not nominate him. I would not have nominated him. I would've nominated my former boss Liberman, who was Justice Scalia's first law clerk. And you know how I know that Donald's Supreme Court justices will be liberals? Because his entire life, he support liberals from Jimmy Carter, to Hillary Clinton, to John Kerry. In 2004, he contributed to John Kerry. Nobody who cares about judges would contribute to John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid. +p1248 +aVThat's what Donald Trump does. +p1249 +aVSouth Carolina, you have a critical choice to make. Our country literally hangs in the balance. Do you want another Washington deal maker who will do business as usual, cut deals with the Democrats, grow government, grow debt and give up our fundamental liberties? Or do you want a conservative, a proven conservative that will stand and fight with you each and every day? Listen, repealing Obamacare is not going to be easy. Passing a simple flat tax that abolishes the I.R.S. is not going to be easy, but if we stand with the American people, we can do it. And today, we saw just how great the stakes are. Two branches of government hang in the balance. Not just the presidency but the Supreme Court. If we get this wrong, if we nominate the wrong candidates, the Second Amendment, life, marriage, religious liberty \u2014 every one of those hangs in the balance. My little girls are here. I don't want to look my daughters in the eyes and say, "We lost their liberties." Who do you know will defend the Constitution and Bill of Rights? And as a commander in chief, who do you know will stand up to our enemies as the clam, steady, deliberate, strength to defeat our enemies, to secure our borders and to keep America safe. +p1250 +aVWell, you know, David, the assessment the voters are making here in New Hampshire and across the country is they are evaluating each and every one of us. They are looking to our experience. They are looking to our knowledge. They are looking to our temperament and judgment. They are looking to our clarity of vision and our strength of resolve. The world is getting much more dangerous. We've had seven years with Barack Obama in the oval office, a commander-in-chief that is unwilling even to acknowledge the enemy we're facing. This is a president who, in the wake of Paris, in the wake of San Bernardino, will not even use the words radical Islamic terrorism, much less focus on defeating the enemy. I am convinced every individual standing on this stage, would make a much better commander-in-chief than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders. And the primary voters are making the assessment for each of us, who is best prepared to keep this country safe, to rebuild the military, to rebuild our Navy, our Air Force, our Army, our Marines, and to ensure that we keep America safe. +p1251 +aVI think that is an assessment the voters are going to make. And they are going to make it of each and everyone of us. They are going to assess who is level-headed, who has clear vision, who has judgment, who can confront our enemies, who can confront the threats we face in this country, and who can have the judgment when to engage and when not to engage \u2014 both are incredibly important for a commander-in-chief, knowing how to go after our enemies. In the case of Iran, for example, who has the clarity of vision to understand that the Ayatollah Khamenei, when he chants, "Death to America," he means it. We need a president with the judgment and resolve to keep this country safe from radical Islamic terrorists. +p1252 +aVBen is a good and honorable man and Ben and Candy have become friends. He has an amazing life story that has inspired millions, including me. When this transpired, I apologized to him then and I do so now. Ben, I'm sorry. Let me tell you the facts of what occurred for those who are interested in knowing. On Monday night, about 6:30 p.m., CNN reported that Ben was not going from Iowa to New Hampshire or South Carolina. Rather, he was, quote, "Taking a break from campaigning." They reported that on television, CNN's political anchors, Jake Tapper and Dana Bash and Wolf Blitzer, said it was highly unusual and highly significant. My political team saw CNN's report breaking news and they forwarded that news to our volunteers, it was being covered on live television. Now, at the time, I was at the caucuses, I was getting ready to speak at the caucuses just like Ben was, just like everyone else was. I knew nothing about this. A couple hours later, I found out about it. I was told that Ben was unhappy. I called him that evening because I respect him very, very highly. I didn't reach him that evening. I reached him the next day and apologized. He asked me then, he said, Ted, would you make this apologize in public? I said, yes, I will. And I did so. I regret that subsequently, CNN reported on that \u2014 they didn't correct that story until 9:15 that night. So from 6:30 p.m. to 9:15, that's what CNN was reporting. Subsequent to that initial report, Ben's campaign put out a statement saying that he was not suspending his campaign. I wish that our campaign staff had forwarded that statement. They were unaware of it, I wish that they had, that's why I apologized. +p1253 +aVWell, I would note, initially the fact that we're seeing the launch, and we're seeing the launch from a nuclear North Korea is the direct result of the failures of the first Clinton administration. The Clinton administration led the world in relaxing sanctions against North Korea. Billions of dollars flowed into North Korea in exchange for promises not to build nuclear weapons. They took those billions and built nuclear weapons. And, I would note also the lead negotiator in that failed North Korea sanctions deal was a woman named Wendy Sherman who Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton promptly recruited to come back to be the lead negotiator with Iran. So, what we are seeing with North Korea is foreshadowing of where we will be with Iran. With respect to North Korea and what we should do now, one of the first things we should do is expand our missile defense capacity. We ought to put missile defense interceptors in South Korea. South Korea wants them. One of the real risks of this launch, North Korea wants to launch a satellite, and one of the greatest risks of the satellite is they would place a nuclear device in the satellite. As it would orbit around the Earth, and as it got over the United States they would detonate that nuclear weapon and set of what's called an EMP, and electromagnetic pulse which could take down the entire electrical grid on the Eastern seaboard, potentially killing millions. We need to harden the grid to defend ourselves, and we need missile defense to protect ourselves against North Korea. +p1254 +aVYou know, at this point I'm not going to speculate on that without the intelligence briefing that any Commander in Chief would have, knowing what exactly is there. One of the real problems... +p1255 +aV... Actually, with respect, I have gotten the intelligence briefings on the Mid-East. Those have been going on for many years. I haven't gotten the intelligence briefing tonight on what North Korea's doing because I'm here in new Hampshire. When you're responding to an immediate incident, you need to know the intelligence of what's occurring. But what I was saying \u2014 look, it is qualitatively different dealing with a country once they have nuclear weapons. It's why you prevent them from getting nuclear weapons in the first place \u2014 because your hands are somewhat tied once they have nukes. It's why this Iranian nuclear deal is so catastrophic, and it's why I've pledged, on the very first day in office, to rip to shreds this Iranian nuclear deal so we're not sitting here in five years, wondering what to do about an Iranian missile launch when they have nuclear weapons. The stakes are too high for that. +p1256 +aVSo, in terms of a practical solution, I've laid out the most detailed plan for solving illegal immigration. It's 11 pages, single-spaced, chapter and verse. It's on our website, tedcruz.org. In short, we're going to do, we're going to build a wall. We're going to triple the border patrol. We're going to increase \u2014 and actually, since Donald enjoyed that, I will simply say, I've got somebody in mind to build it. We're going to increase four-fold, the fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft, so that you have technology monitoring an attempted incursion to direct the boots on the ground where they're occurring. We're going to put in place a strong e-verify system in the workplace, so you can't get a job without proving you are here legally. We'll put in place a biometric exit-entry system on visas, because 40 percent of illegal immigration comes not over the border illegally, but people coming on visas and overstaying. We will end sanctuary cities by cutting off taxpayer dollars to any jurisdiction that defies federal immigration law. And we will end welfare benefits for those here illegally. +p1257 +aVWhat you do is, you enforce the law. You know, under the Constitution, the president has an obligation to, quote, "Take care that the laws be faithfully executed." Federal immigration law provides, if someone is here illegally and is apprehended, they are to be deported. We saw just this past week the head of the border patrol union testify before Congress that President Obama had given the order to the border patrol to stand down, not to enforce the law. That is wrong. I will enforce the law, and for everyone who says, you can't possibly do that, I would note that in eight years, Bill Clinton deported 12 million people. In eight years, George W. Bush deported 10 million people. Enforcing the law \u2014 we can do it. What is missing is the political will. And when they were deporting the people, the border wasn't secure, so they'd come right back. Once you secure the border, enforcing the law will solve this problem and that will benefit American workers. +p1258 +aVGood evening. +p1259 +aVWell, let me take two different parts of that. Let me start with socialized medicine. Socialized medicine is a disaster. It does not work. If you look at the countries that have imposed socialized medicine, that have put the government in charge of providing medicine, what inevitably happens is rationing. You have a scarcity of doctors. You have rationing. And that means the elderly are told, we're going to ration a hip replacement, we're going to ration a knee replacement. We're going to ration end- of-life care. We're right now heading into a medical system with about a 90,000-doctor shortage in America and socialized medicine; whether proposed by the Democrats or proposed by a Republican would hurt the people of this country. What should we do on health care? If I'm elected president, we will repeal every word of Obamacare. And once we do that, we will adopt common sense reforms, number one, we'll allow people to purchase health insurance across state lines that will drive down prices and expand the availability of low cost catastrophic insurance. We'll expand health savings accounts; and we will de-link health insurance from employment so that you don't lose your health insurance when you lose your job, and that way health insurance can be personal, portable and affordable and we keep government from getting in between us and our doctors. HAM: Dr. Carson, you have some experience with this matter. In the past, you have said that Obamacare should be replaced before it's repealed. How and why? +p1260 +aVWell, sure. It starts with a commander-in-chief that sets the objective. And the objective has to be utterly and completely destroying +p1261 +aVMartha, I will tell you, I have visited with active duty military, with veterans over and over and over again in town halls all over the state of New Hampshire. What we are doing to our sons and daughters, it is immoral. We are sending them into fight with their arms tied behind their back. They cannot defend themselves. And it is wrong. And I will tell you this. Look. America has always been reluctant to use military force. It's the last step we take. But if and when we use it when it comes to defeating +p1262 +aVAbsolutely, yes. +p1263 +aVWell, under the definition of torture, no, it's not. Under the law, torture is excruciating pain that is equivalent to losing organs and systems, so under the definition of torture, it is not. It is enhanced interrogation, it is vigorous interrogation, but it does not meet the generally recognized definition of torture. +p1264 +aVI would not bring it back in any sort of widespread use. And indeed, I joined with Senator McCain in legislation that would prohibit line officers from employing it because I think bad things happen when enhanced interrogation is employed at lower levels. But when it comes to keeping this country safe, the commander in chief has inherent constitutional authority to keep this country safe. And so, if it were necessary to, say, prevent a city from facing an imminent terrorist attack, you can rest assured that as commander in chief, I would use whatever enhanced interrogation methods we could to keep this country safe. +p1265 +aVWell, thank you for that question. You know, there are three avenues of presidential authority to change the direction of this country. The first is executive power, the second is foreign policy, and the third is legislation. Executive power, as we all know, has been the preferred vehicle of President Obama, abusing his authority, abusing his constitutional authority. Now, the silver lining of that is everything done with executive power can be undone with executive power, so I have pledged on day one I will rescind every single illegal and unconstitutional executive action Barack Obama has done. That means on day one his efforts to restrict the Second Amendment go away with the strike of a pen. That means on day one his illegal executive amnesty goes away with the strike of a pen. The reason I can end Common Core at the federal level is because Obama is abusing executive power using Race to the Top funds in the Department of Education to force it on the states. That's one avenue. The second avenue of change is foreign policy, and foreign policy can change the fastest. It's worth remembering that Iran released our hostages the day Reagan......was sworn in. And, the third is legislation, and that can only be done with the people behind you, which is why the two big legislative initiatives I'm campaigning on are repealing Obamacare, and adopting a simple flat tax to abolish the IRS. HAM: Mr. Trump, Senator Cruz is known for opposing deals, you literally wrote the book on making them. Senator Cruz has mentioned that on the trail. What would you say to those conservatives that are concerned that a deal maker will just perpetuate the same deals in Washington and the way that things run now ... +p1266 +aVWell, Josh, as you noted, this is a problem that, for me, I understand first-hand. My older sister, Myriam, who was my half- sister, struggled her whole life with drug and alcohol addiction. My father and her mom divorced when she was a little girl and she was angry her whole life, and she ended up marrying a man who had been in and out of jail. She then became a single mom and she herself went to jail several times and she ended up spending some time in a crack house. I still remember my father and me driving up to get Myriam out of that crack house to try to convince her she needed to be a mom to \u2014 to my nephew Joey. She wasn't willing to listen. She was not willing to change the path she was on. She was angry. I was \u2014 had just gotten my first job coming out of law school. I took a $20,000 loan on a credit card to put my nephew, Joey, in Valley Forge Military Academy \u2014 he was in sixth grade at the time, to pay his way through that. And about five, six years ago, Miriam died of an overdose. It was \u2014 the coroner ruled it accidental. We don't know. She went to one night, had taken too many pills, and Joey walked in and found her dead. This is an absolute epidemic. We need leadership to solve it. Solving it has to occur at the state and local level with programs like A.A., and counseling, and churches and charities. But it also has to be securing the borders, because you have got Mexican cartels that are smuggling vast amounts of heroin into this country. We know how to secure the borders. What is missing is the political will to do it. And as president, I will secure the border, we will end this deluge of drugs that is flowing over our southern border and that is killing Americans across this country. +p1267 +aVWell, look, I recognize it is an agonizing experience when anyone is facing a loved \u2014 loved member who's been kidnapped. But at the same time, putting in place legal regimes that encourage the payment of ransom has the effect of putting a bounty on other Americans. There is a reason it has been longstanding U.S. policy that we don't negotiate with terrorists, we don't pay ransoms. If you look at what President Obama has done over and over again, whether it was the James Bergdahl deal, which was absolutely shameful, releasing five senior Taliban terrorists to bring Bergdahl back, or whether it was this recent deal with Iran, where, again, up to 21 terrorists or potential terrorists were \u2014 were released or not prosecuted in order to bring back four Americans, what that does \u2014 does is it effectively puts a bounty on American servicemen and women serving abroad, on American tourists traveling abroad. And the proper approach......is a president and commander in chief that defends this country and that goes after \u2014 goes after the terrorists, rather than showing them weakness and encouraging them to target more Americans. +p1268 +aVWith an eye to February 20th, Carolina. +p1269 +aVYou know, every candidate running for president says they will stand up to Washington. The natural follow up question is when have you ever stood up to Washington. Last week we saw a powerful illustration of that. I campaigned in the state of Iowa four-square against the ethanol mandate, something everyone said was political suicide. My two leading competitors both attacked me for it. The governor of the state said vote for anyone but Cruz, and lobbyists spent millions of dollars in attack ads, but I stood and said we should have no mandates, a level playing field, and the people of Iowa put country and our children above the cronyism and corporate welfare...... We can turn this country around if we get back to the Constitution. And, I will always stand with the American people against the bipartisan corruption of Washington. +p1270 +aVWell, Megyn, let me say at the outset to the men and women of Iowa, thank you for the incredible hospitality over this past year. By Monday, you will have welcomed me into all 99 counties in Iowa. You will have welcomed my dad to preach at your churches. You will have welcomed Heidi and our girls, Caroline and Catherine, into your homes. And I'm so grateful for the diligence, for the seriousness with which the men and women of Iowa approach this process. If I am elected president, keep an eye on the tarmac, because I'll be back, because Iowa in 2017 will not be fly-over country. It will be fly-to country. Now, secondly, let me say I'm a maniac and everyone on this stage is stupid, fat, and ugly. And Ben, you're a terrible surgeon. Now that we've gotten the Donald Trump portion out of the way... I want to thank everyone here for showing the men and women of Iowa the respect to show up and make the case to the people of this state and the people of the country why each of us believe we would make the best commander in chief. +p1271 +aVWell, let me be clear, if Donald engages in insults or anybody else, I don't intend to reciprocate. I have not insulted Donald personally and I don't intend to. I am glad Donald is running. I'm glad he has produced enormous enthusiasm, and, every Donald Trump voter or potential voter, I hope to earn your support. I know everyone else on this stage hopes to earn your support. Now, there is a difference between personal insults and attacks \u2014 between going into the mud with ad hominems and focusing on issues and substance. +p1272 +aVWell, I agree with Rand that I very much respect Ron Paul and that I think anyone who is able to win in the Republican Party has to be able to bring together the disparate elements of the Reagan coalition. You've got to be able to bring together conservatives and evangelicals and libertarians, and stitch together a winning majority. When it comes to the audit the Fed bill, as Rand knows well, I was an original sponsor of the bill, I'm strongly supportive of it. It didn't have the votes to pass. And I had commitments to be at a town hall in New Hampshire. But I look forward to signing that bill into law as president and auditing the Fed and providing needed accountability at the Federal Reserve. +p1273 +aVWell, Chris, I will apologize to nobody for the vigorousness with which I will fight terrorism, go after +p1274 +aVChris, in 1981, when Ronald Reagan came to the Oval Office, he encountered a military that had been debilitated just as the current military has, just like Jimmy Carter weakened our readiness, undermined our ability to defend this country, so too has Barack Obama. Just as morale in the military has plummeted in the last seven, so it had then. What Reagan did is he began with tax reform and regulatory reform, unleashing the engine of the American free enterprise system. It brought booming economic growth and that growth fueled rebuilding the military. I intend to do the exact same thing to defeat radical Islamic terrorism \u2014 +p1275 +aV... and to devote the resources from the booming economy to rebuilding our Navy, rebuilding our Air Force, rebuilding our Army and ensuring we have the capacity to keep this country safe. +p1276 +aVChris? Chris I was mentioned in that question. +p1277 +aV... Actually, I was... +p1278 +aV... Chris, your questions that you... +p1279 +aV... What was your question... +p1280 +aV... Your question was you have disagreed... +p1281 +aV... opening statement. +p1282 +aV... This entire question was an attack, but that's +p1283 +aVChris, I would note that that the last four questions have been, "Rand, please attack Ted. Marco, please attack Ted. Chris, please attack Ted. Jeb, please attack Ted..." Let me just say this... +p1284 +aV... Well, no, no. A debate actually is a policy issue, but I will say this. Gosh, if you guys ask one more mean question I may have to leave the stage. Chris, the most important determination any voter is going to make in this election is who's best prepared to be Commander in Chief. Who has the experience, who has the knowledge, who has the judgement, who has the clarity, and vision and strength of resolve to keep this country safe. That is what this debate is all about, and I would suggest let's stay focused on those issues \u2014 rather than just attacks directed at each other. +p1285 +aVSure. Well, let's take it one at a time. First of all, we have seen now in six years of Obamacare that it has been a disaster. It is the biggest job-killer in this country. Millions of Americans have lost their jobs, have been forced into part-time work, have lost their health insurance, have lost their doctors, have seen their premiums skyrocket. If I'm elected president, we will repeal every word of Obamacare. Now, once that is done, everyone agrees we need healthcare reform. It should follow the principles of expanding competition, empowering patients, and keeping government from getting in between us and our doctors. Three specific reforms that reflect those principles. Number one, we should allow people to purchase health insurance across state lines. That will create a true 50-state national marketplace which will drive down the cost of low-cost, catastrophic health insurance. Number two, we should expand health savings accounts so people can save in a tax-advantaged way for more routine healthcare needs. And number three, we should work to de-link health insurance from employment so if you lose your job, your health insurance goes with you and it is personal, portable and affordable. And I'll tell you, Bret, I think that's a much more attractive vision for healthcare than the Washington-drive, top-down Obamacare that is causing so many millions of people to hurt. +p1286 +aVI want this bill to be voted down. I don't want immigration reform to fail. I want immigration reform to pass. I believe if this amendment were to pass, the chances of this bill passing into law would increase dramatically. I believe if the amendments I introduced were adopted, that the bill would pass. And my effort in introducing them was to find a solution that reflected common ground and that fixed the problem. If the proponents of this bill actually demonstrate a commitment not to politics, not to campaigning all the time, but to actually fixing this problem, to finding a middle ground. That would fix the problem, and also allow, for those 11 million people who are here illegally, a legal status, with citizenship off the table. +p1287 +aVYou know, the amendment you're talking about is one sentence \u2014 it's 38 words. Anyone can go online at tedcruz.org and read exactly what it said. In those 38 words, it said anyone here illegally is permanently ineligible for citizenship. It didn't say a word about legalization. I introduced... +p1288 +aVBut \u2014 but Megyn, the bill was 1,000 pages. I introduced a series of amendments, each designed to fix problems in the bill. The fact that each amendment didn't fix every problem didn't mean that I supported the rest of the bill. And I'll tell you who supported my amendment \u2014 Jeff Sessions, the strongest opponent of amnesty in the United States Congress. And he did so because taking citizenship off the table was important, and it revealed the hypocrisy of the proponents of this bill, who were looking for votes. Listen, we can solve immigration. We just heard an argument back and forth that we can't solve immigration. I have a detailed immigration plan that is on my website, tedcruz.org. It was designed with Iowa's own Congressman Steve King and Jeff Sessions, and... ... we have the tools in federal law to do this now. We can build the fence. We can triple the border patrol. We can end sanctuary cities by cutting off... ... funding to them. We can end welfare for those here illegally. And what is missing is the political will, because too many Democrats and, sadly, too many Republicans don't want to solve this problem. If I am elected president... ... we will secure the border... +p1289 +aV... and we will end the illegal immigration. +p1290 +aVYou know, John Adams famously said, "facts are are stubborn things." The facts are are very, very simple. When that battle was waged, my friend Senator Rubio chose to stand with Barack Obama and Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer and support amnesty. And I stood alongside Jeff Sessions and Steve King, and we led the fight against amnesty. And if you want to know who's telling the truth, you should look and ask people like Jeff Sessions and Steve King and Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin, all of whom say, as Jeff Sessions said, responding to these false attacks just recently in Alabama \u2014 he said, "if it wasn't for Ted Cruz, the Gang of Eight Rubio/Schumer bill would have passed. But because Ted stood up and helped lead the effort, millions rose up to kill it. +p1291 +aVYou know, I like Marco. He's very charming. He's very smooth. But the facts are simple. When he ran for election in the state of Florida, he told the people of Florida, "if you elect me, I will lead the fight against amnesty." When I ran in Texas, I told the people of Texas, "if you elect me, I will lead the fight against amnesty." We both made the identical promises. But when we came to Washington, we made a different choice. Marco made the choice to go the direction of the major donors \u2014 to support amnesty because he thought it was politically advantageous. I honored my commitments, and as president, I will honor every commitment that I make to the men and women of this country. +p1292 +aVWell, Chris, you are exactly right that I am not the candidate of career politicians in Washington. And I'll tell you the endorsements that I am proud of are the over 200,000 volunteers across this country who have signed up to volunteer for our campaign. The endorsements that I am proud of are leading conservatives like Iowa's own Congressman Steve King, who is a national co-chairman of my campaign. The endorsements that I'm proud of are conservative leaders like Dr. James Dobson, and over 700,000 contributions nationwide, people going to our Web site, tedcruz.org. This is a grassroots campaign and, you know, when I ran for senate in Texas, I told the people of Texas that I'm not going there to go along to get along. Washington is broken. And the people I have been accountable to every single day in the Senate are the 27 million Texans who I represent and I made a promise to them that I make to you today, which is, if I am elected, every single day I will do two things: tell the truth, and do what I said I would do. +p1293 +aVWell, Chris, I'm glad to discuss my views on ethanol and energy. I think God has blessed this country with enormous natural resources, and we should pursue all of the above. We should be developing oil, and gas, and coal, and nuclear, and wind, and solar, and ethanol, and biofuels. But, I don't believe that Washington should be picking winners and losers. And, I think there should be no mandates, and no subsidies whatsoever. And, indeed, my tax plan that I've introduced, it's available on our website. It's a simple flat tax for everyone. It'll produce enormous economic growth, and it eliminates every mandate, every subsidy, so there's no subsidies for oil and gas, no subsidies for anyone. Now, it is true that there are a bunch of lobbyists, and a bunch of Democrats in this state spending millions of dollars trying to convince the people of Iowa that I somehow oppose ethanol. It's not true. I have introduced legislation that would phase out the ethanol mandate over five years, but that is in the context of having no mandates whatsoever for anyone. And, I would not that there's a much more important government regulation to ethanol, and that's the EPA's blend wall that makes it illegal to sell mid-level blends of ethanol in gasoline. I will... ... Tear down the EPA's blend wall which will enable ethanol to expand its market share by up to 60%, all without mandates. All without any government mandates whatsoever through the marketplace. And, I'll note finally, Chris, there is a reason that Iowa's Congressman Steve King, perhaps the fiercest defender of farmers in this state, is sharing my campaign. Because he understands that I'm committed to a fair, and level playing field for every energy source without lobbyists, and without Washington picking winners and losers. +p1294 +aVNinety-three hours. The media noise will soon be over and it's now for the men and women of Iowa to decide. Our country is in crisis. We're worried the future of our children and we've have been burned over and over again. The central question in this race is trust. Who do you know will kill the terrorists, defend the constitution and repeal Obamacare? Who do you know will stop amnesty and secure the borders? Who do you know will defend life, marriage and religious liberty? Examine our records, pray on it and I will be honored if you and your family will come caucus for us on Monday night. +p1295 +aVWell, Maria, thank you for that question, and let me say thank you to the state of South Carolina for welcoming us. Let me start \u2014 I want to get to the substance of the question on jobs, but I want to start with something. Today, many of us picked up our newspapers, and we were horrified to see the sight of 10 American sailors on their knees, with their hands on their heads. In that State of the Union, President Obama didn't so much as mention the 10 sailors that had been captured by Iran. President Obama's preparing to send $100 billion or more to the Ayatollah Khamenei. And I'll tell you, it was heartbreaking. But the good news is the next commander-in-chief is standing on this stage. And I give you my word, if I am elected president, no service man or service woman will be forced to be on their knees, and any nation that captures our fighting men will feel the full force and fury of the United States of America. Now, on to your substantive question. The president tried to paint a rosy picture of jobs. And you know, he's right. If you're a Washington lobbyist, if you make your money in and around Washington, things are doing great. The millionaires and billionaires are doing great under Obama. But we have the lowest percentage of Americans working today of any year since 1977. Median wages have stagnated. And the Obama-Clinton economy has left behind the working men and women of this country. The reason all of us are here is we believe we should be fighting for the working men and women of this country, and not Washington, D.C. +p1296 +aVWell Maria, thank you for passing on that hit piece in the front page of the New York Times. You know the nice thing about the mainstream media, they don't hide their views. The New York Times a few weeks back had a columnist who wrote a column saying, "Anybody But Cruz." Had that actually \u2014 that same columnist wrote a column comparing me to an evil demonic spirit from the move, "It Follows" that jumps apparently from body to body possessing people. So you know the New York Times and I don't have exactly have the warmest of relationships. Now in terms of their really stunning hit piece, what they mentioned is when I was running for senate \u2014 unlike Hillary Clinton, I don't have masses of money in the bank, hundreds of millions of dollars. When I was running for senate just about every lobbyist, just about all of the establishment opposed me in the senate race in Texas and my opponent in that race was worth over 200 million dollars. He put a 25 million dollar check up from his own pocket to fund that campaign and my wife Heidi and I, we ended up investing everything we owned. We took a loan against our assets to invest it in that campaign to defend ourselves against those attacks. And the entire New York times attack \u2014 is that I disclosed that loan on one filing with the United States Senate, that was a public filing. But it was not on a second filing with +p1297 +aVWell, Neil, I'm glad we're focusing on the important topics of the evening. You know, back in September, my friend Donald said that he had had his lawyers look at this from every which way, and there was no issue there. There was nothing to this birther issue. Now, since September, the Constitution hasn't changed. But the poll numbers have. And I recognize \u2014 I recognize that Donald is dismayed that his poll numbers are falling in Iowa. But the facts and the law here are really quite clear. Under longstanding U.S. law, the child of a U.S. citizen born abroad is a natural-born citizen. If a soldier has a child abroad, that child is a natural-born citizen. That's why John McCain, even though he was born in Panama, was eligible to run for president. If an American missionary has a child abroad, that child is a natural-born citizen. That's why George Romney, Mitt's dad, was eligible to run for president, even though he was born in Mexico. At the end of the day, the legal issue is quite straightforward, but I would note that the birther theories that Donald has been relying on \u2014 some of the more extreme ones insist that you must not only be born on U.S. soil, but have two parents born on U.S. soil. Under that theory, not only would I be disqualified, Marco Rubio would be disqualified, Bobby Jindal would be disqualified and, interestingly enough, Donald J. Trump would be disqualified. +p1298 +aVBecause \u2014 because Donald's mother was born in Scotland. She was naturalized. Now, Donald... +p1299 +aV... on the issue \u2014 on the issue of citizenship, Donald... +p1300 +aV... on the issue of citizenship, Donald, I'm not going to use your mother's birth against you. +p1301 +aVYou're an American, as is everybody else on this stage, and I would suggest we focus on who's best prepared to be commander- in-chief, because that's the most important question facing the country. +p1302 +aVNeil... +p1303 +aVWell, listen, I've spent my entire life defending the Constitution before the U.S. Supreme Court. And I'll tell you, I'm not going to be taking legal advice from Donald Trump. +p1304 +aVThe chances of any litigation proceeding and succeeding on this are zero. And Mr. Trump is very focused... +p1305 +aV... on Larry Tribe. Let me tell you who Larry Tribe is. He's a left-wing judicial activist, Harvard Law professor who was Al Gore's lawyer in Bush versus Gore. He's a major Hillary Clinton supporter. And there's a reason why Hillary's supporters are echoing Donald's attacks on me, because Hillary... +p1306 +aV... wants to face Donald Trump in the general election. +p1307 +aVAnd I'll tell you what, Donald, you \u2014 you very kindly just a moment ago offered me the V.P. slot. I'll tell you what. If this all works out, I'm happy to consider naming you as V.P. So if you happen to be right, you could get the top job at the end of the day. +p1308 +aVActually, I'd love to get you to build a wall. +p1309 +aVThe answer is simple. Your prosecute criminals. You target the bad guys. You know, a minute ago, Neil asked: What has President Obama do \u2014 done to illustrate that he wants to go after guns? Well, he appointed Eric Holder as attorney general. Eric Holder said he viewed his mission as brainwashing the American people against guns. He appointed Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, someone who has been a radical against the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. He launched Fast and Furious, illegally selling guns to Mexican drug lords that were then used to shoot law enforcement officials. And I'll tell you what Hillary Clinton has said: Hillary Clinton says she agrees with the dissenters \u2014 the Supreme Court dissenters in the Heller case. There were four dissenters, and they said that they believe the Second Amendment protects no individual right to keep and bear arms whatsoever, which means, if their view prevailed and the next president's going to get one, two, three, maybe four Supreme Court justices, the court will rule that not a single person in this room has any right under the Second Amendment and the government could confiscate your guns. And I'll note that California senator \u2014 Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein said, if she could say to Mr. America and Mrs. America, "give me your guns, I'm rounding them up," she would. And let me make a final point on this. Listen, in any Republican primary, everyone is going to say they support the Second Amendment. Unless you are clinically insane......that's what you say in a primary. But the voters are savvier than that. They recognize that people's actions don't always match their words. I've got a proven record fighting to defend the Second Amendment. There's a reason Gun Owners of America has endorsed me in this race. There's a reason the NRA gave me their Carter Knight Freedom Fund award......and there's a reason, when Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer came after our right to keep and bear arms, that I led the opposition, along with millions of Americans \u2014 we defeated that gun control legislation. And I would note the other individuals on this stage were nowhere to be found in that fight. +p1310 +aVYou know, I think most people know exactly what New York values are. +p1311 +aVWhat \u2014 what \u2014 you're from New York? So you might not. But I promise you, in the state of South Carolina, they do. And listen, there are many, many wonderful, wonderful working men and women in the state of New York. But everyone understands that the values in New York City are socially liberal or pro-abortion or pro- gay-marriage, focus around money and the media. And \u2014 and I would note indeed, the reason I said that is I was asked \u2014 my friend Donald has taken to it as advance playing Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA", and I was asked what I thought of that. And I said, "well, if he wanted to play a song, maybe he could play, 'New York, New York'?" And \u2014 and \u2014 you know, the concept of New York values is not that complicated to figure out. Not too many years ago, Donald did a long interview with Tim Russert. And in that interview, he explained his views on a whole host of issues that were very, very different from the views he's describing now. And his explanation \u2014 he said, "look, I'm from New York, that's what we believe in New York. Those aren't Iowa values, but this is what we believe in New York." And so that was his explanation. And \u2014 and I guess I can \u2014 can frame it another way. Not a lot of conservatives come out of Manhattan. I'm just saying. +p1312 +aVYou know I understand why Donald made the comments he did and I understand why Americans are feeling frustrated and scared and angry when we have a president who refuses to acknowledge the threat we face and even worse, who acts as an apologist for radical Islamic terrorism. I think what we need is a commander in chief who is focused like a laser on keeping this country safe and on defeating radical Islamic terrorism. What should we do? First, we should pass the Expatriate Terrorist Act, legislation I've introduced that says if an American goes and joins +p1313 +aVThanks for coming back to me, Maria. Both Donald and Jeb have good points, and there is a middle ground. Donald is right that China is running over President Obama like he is a child, President Obama is not protecting American workers and we are getting hammered. You know, I sat down with the senior leadership of John Deere. They discussed how \u2014 how hard it is to sell tractors in China, because all the regulatory barriers. They're protectionist. But Jeb is also right that, if we just impose a tariff, they'll put reciprocal tariffs, which will hurt Iowa farmers and South Carolina producers and 20 percent of the American jobs that depend on exports. So the way you do it is you pass a tax plan like the tax plan I've introduced: a simple flat tax, 10 percent for individuals, and a 16 percent business flat tax, you abolish the IRS......and here's the critical point, Maria \u2014 the business flat tax enables us to abolish the corporate income tax, the death tax, the Obamacare taxes, the payroll taxes, and they're border-adjustable, so every export pays no taxes whatsoever. It's tax-free \u2014 a huge advantage for our farmers and ranchers and manufacturers \u2014 and every import pays the 16 percent business flat tax. It's like a tariff, but here's the difference: if we impose a tariff, China responds. The business flat tax, they already impose their taxes on us, so there's no reciprocal......tariffs that come against us. It puts us on a level, even playing field, which brings jobs here at home... +p1314 +aV... and as president, I'm going to fight for the working men and women. +p1315 +aVMaria, I assume that I can respond to that. +p1316 +aVWell, Marco has been floating this attack for a few weeks now, but the problem is, the business flat tax in my proposal is not a vat. A vat is imposed as a sales tax when you buy a good. This is a business flat tax. It is imposed on business and a critical piece that Marco seems to be missing is that this 16 percent business flat tax enables us to eliminate the corporate income tax. It goes away. It enables us to eliminate the death tax. If you're a farmer, if you're a rancher, if you are small business owner, the death tax is gone. We eliminate the payroll tax, we eliminate the Obamacare taxes. And listen, there is a real difference between Marco's tax plan and mine. Mine gives every American a simple, flat tax of 10 percent. Marco's top tax rate is 35 percent. My tax plan enables you to fill out your taxes on a postcard so we can abolish the IRS. Marco leaves the IRS code in with all of the complexity. We need to break the Washington cartel, and the only way to do it is to end all the subsidies and all......the mandates and have a simple flat tax. The final observation, invoked Ronald Reagan. I would note that Art Laffer, Ronald Reagan's chief economic adviser, has written publicly, that my simple flat tax is the best tax plan of any of the individuals on this stage cause it produces economic growth, it raises wages and it helps everyone from the very poorest to the very richest. +p1317 +aVMaria... +p1318 +aVMaria, I'd just like to say... +p1319 +aVBut Maria, radical Islamic terrorism was not invented 24 months ago; 24 months ago, we had Al Qaida. We had Boko Haram. We had Hamas. We had Hezbollah. We had Iran putting operatives in South America and Central America. It's the reason why I stood with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and led the fight to stop the Gang of Eight amnesty bill, because it was clear then, like it's clear now, that border security is national security. +p1320 +aVIt is also the case that that Rubio-Schumer amnesty bill, one of the things it did is it expanded Barack Obama's power to let in Syrian refugees. It enabled him \u2014 the president to certify them en masse without mandating meaningful background checks. I think that's a mistake. That's why I've been leading the fight to stop it. And I would note the Senate just a few weeks ago voted to suspend refugees from Middle Eastern countries. I voted yes to suspend that. Marco voted on the other side. So you don't get to say we need to secure the borders, and at the same time try to give Barack Obama more authority to allow Middle Eastern refugees coming in, when the head of the FBI tells us they cannot vet them to determine if they are +p1321 +aVI'm going to get a response to that, Neil. There's no way he launches 11 attack \u2014 +p1322 +aVI'm going to \u2014 he had no fewer than 11 attacks there. I appreciate your dumping your research folder on the stage. +p1323 +aVBut I will say \u2014 +p1324 +aV\u2014 at least half of the things Marco said are flat-out false. They're absolutely false. +p1325 +aVSo let's start \u2014 let's start with immigration. Let's start with immigration and have a little bit of clarity. Marco stood with Chuck Schumer and Barack Obama on amnesty. I stood with Jeff Sessions and Steve King. Marco stood today, standing on this stage Marco supports legalization and citizenship for 12 million illegals. I opposed and oppose legalization and citizenship. And by the way, the attack he keeps throwing out on the military budget, Marco knows full well I voted for his amendment to increase military spending to $697 billion. What he said, and he said it in the last, it's simply not true. And as president, I will rebuild the military and keep this country safe. +p1326 +aV"13 Hours" \u2014 tomorrow morning, a new movie will debut about the incredible bravery of the men fighting for their lives in Benghazi and the politicians that abandoned them. I want to speak to all our fighting men and women. I want to speak to all the moms and dads whose sons and daughters are fighting for this country, and the incredible sense of betrayal when you have a commander-in-chief who will not even speak the name of our enemy, radical Islamic terrorism, when you have a commander-in- chief who sends $150 billion to the Ayatollah Khamenei, who's responsible for murdering hundreds of our servicemen and women. I want to speak to all of those maddened by political correctness, where Hillary Clinton apologizes for saying all lives matter. This will end. It will end on January 2017. And if I am elected president, to every soldier and sailor and airman and marine, and to every police officer and firefighter and first responder who risk their lives to keep us safe, I will have your back. +p1327 +aVThank you, Wolf. America is at war. Our enemy is not violent extremism. It is not some unnamed malevolent force. It is radical Islamic terrorist. We have a president who is unwilling to utter its name. The men and women on this stage, every one of us, is better prepared to keep this nation safe than is Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. We need a president who understands the first obligation of the commander-in-chief is to keep America safe. If I am elected president, we will hunt down and kill the terrorists. We will utterly destroy +p1328 +aVWell, listen, Hugh, everyone understands why Donald has suggested what he has. We're looking at a president who's engaged in this double-speak where he doesn't call radical Islamic terrorism by its name. Indeed, he gives a speech after the San Bernardino attack where his approach is to try to go after the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens rather than to keep us safe. And even worse, President Obama and Hillary Clinton are proposing bringing tens of thousands of Syrian refugees to this country when the head of the FBI has told Congress they cannot vet those refugees. I understand why Donald made that proposal. I introduced legislation in the Senate that I believe is more narrowly focused at the actual threat, which is radical Islamic terrorism, and what my legislation would do is suspend all refugees for three years from countries where +p1329 +aVWell, you know, I'm reminded of what FDR's grandfather said. He said, "All horse-thieves are Democrats, but not all Democrats are horse-thieves." In this instance, there are millions of peaceful Muslims across the world, in countries like India, where there is not the problems we are seeing in nations that are controlled \u2014 have territory controlled by Al Qaida or +p1330 +aVWell, Dana, the premise of your question is not accurate. I'm very proud to have joined with conservatives in both the Senate and the House to reform how we target bad guys. And what the USA Freedom Act did is it did two things. Number one, it ended the federal government's bulk collection of phone metadata of millions of law-abiding citizens. But number two in the second half of it that is critical. It strengthened the tools of national security and law enforcement to go after terrorists. It gave us greater tools and we are seeing those tools work right now in San Bernardino. And in particular, what it did is the prior program only covered a relatively narrow slice of phone calls. When you had a terrorist, you could only search a relatively narrow slice of numbers, primarily land lines. The USA Freedom Act expands that so now we have cell phones, now we have Internet phones, now we have the phones that terrorists are likely to use and the focus of law enforcement is on targeting the bad guys. You know what the Obama administration keeps getting wrong is whenever anything bad happens they focus on law-abiding citizens instead of focusing on the bad guys. We need to focus on radical Islamic terrorists and we need to stop them before they carry out acts of terror. +p1331 +aVWell, you know, I would note that Marco knows what he's saying isn't true. You know, Mark Levin wrote a column last week that says that the attack ads his Super PAC is running that are saying the same thing, that they are knowingly false and they are, in fact, Alinsky-like attacks like Barack Obama. And the reason is simple. What he knows is that the old program covered 20 percent to 30 percent of phone numbers to search for terrorists. The new program covers nearly 100 percent. That gives us greater ability to stop acts of terrorism, and he knows that that's the case. +p1332 +aVWhat it means is using overwhelming air power to utterly and completely destroy +p1333 +aVYou would carpet bomb where +p1334 +aVWell, you know, Marco has continued these attacks, and he knows they're not true. Yes, it is true that I voted against the National Defense Authorization Act, because when I campaigned in Texas I told voters in Texas that I would oppose the federal government having the authority to detain U.S. citizens permanently with no due process. I have repeatedly supported an effort to take that out of that bill, and I honored that campaign commitment. +p1335 +aVBut more broadly, you know, the notion Marco is suggesting, that somehow \u2014 he also has tossed more than a few insults this direction \u2014 let's be absolutely clear. +p1336 +aVWolf, I believe in a America first foreign policy, that far too often President Obama and Hillary Clinton \u2014 and, unfortunately, more than a few Republicans \u2014 have gotten distracted from the central focus of keeping this country safe. So let's go back to the beginning of the Obama administration, when Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama led +p1337 +aV... we ought to hunt down our enemies and kill +p1338 +aVWell, it's more than not shedding a tear. It's actively getting involved to topple a government. And we keep hearing from President Obama and Hillary Clinton and Washington Republicans that they're searching for these mythical moderate rebels. It's like a purple unicorn. They never exist. These moderate rebels end up being jihadists. And I'll tell you whose view on Assad is the same as mine. It's Prime Minister Netanyahu. Prime Minister Netanyahu has said Israel doesn't have a dog in that fight because Assad is a puppet of Iran, a Shia radical Islamic terrorist, but at the same time, Prime Minister Netanyahu doesn't want to see Syria governed by +p1339 +aVThe question of whether we should toppling dictatorships is asking the wrong question. We should be defeating our enemies. So the problem with defeating... +p1340 +aVWell, but let me explain, the focus should be... +p1341 +aV... on defeating our enemies. So, for example... +p1342 +aV... a regime we should change is Iran... +p1343 +aV... because Iran has declared war on us. But we shouldn't be toppling regimes...... that are fighting radical Islamic terrorists that are helping... +p1344 +aVWell, he \u2014 he has attempted to muddy the waters, but I think that anyone who watched the battle that we had. You know, there was a time for choosing as Reagan put it. Where there was a battle over amnesty and some chose, like Senator Rubio to stand with Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer and support a massive amnesty plan. Others chose to stand with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and the American people and secure the border. And let me mention, this issue is actually directly connected to what we've been talking about. Because the front line with +p1345 +aVLook, I understand Marco wants to raise confusion, it is not accurate what he just said that I supported legalization. Indeed, I led the fight against his legalization and amnesty. And you know, there was one commentator that put it this way that, for Marco to suggest our record's the same is like suggesting "the fireman and the arsonist because they are both at the scene of the fire." He was fighting to grant amnesty and not to secure the border, I was fighting to secure the border. And this also goes to trust, listening on to campaign trails. Candidates all the time make promises. You know, Marco said," he learned that the American people didn't trust the federal government." +p1346 +aVIn Florida promising to... +p1347 +aVgo in the fight against amnesty... +p1348 +aVHe campaigned promising to lead the fight against amnesty. +p1349 +aVI have never supported a legalization... +p1350 +aVI have never supported legalization, and I do not intend to support legalization. Let me tell you how you do this, what you do is you enforce the law... +p1351 +aVWatt you do is enforcement the law... +p1352 +aVWhat you do... +p1353 +aVWhat you do is you enforce the law. I've laid out a very, very detailed immigration plan on my website, tedcruz.org. It's 11 pages of existing federal law and in particular the question of what to do with people who are here now? You enforce the law. That means you stop the Obama administration's policy of releasing criminal illegal aliens. Do you know how many aliens Bill Clinton deported? 12 million. Do you know how many illegal aliens, George W. Bush deported? 10 million. We can enforce the laws and if we secure the border, that solves the problem. And as president I will solve this problem and secure the border. +p1354 +aVDana, what I said in private is exactly what I'll say here, which is that the judgment that every voter is making of every one of us up here is who has the experience, who has the vision, who has the judgment to be commander in chief. That is the most important decision for the voters to make. That's a standard I'm held to. And it's a standard everyone else is held to. And I will note, you know, in the whole course of this discussion about our foreign policy threats, it actually illustrates the need for clarity of focus. You know, my daughters, Caroline and Catherine, came tonight. They're 7 and 5. And you think about the Los Angeles schools canceling their schools today. And every parent is wondering, how do we keep our kids safe? We need a commander in chief who does what Ronald Reagan did with communism, which is he set out a global strategy to defeat Soviet communism. And he directed all of his... I'm answering the question, Dana. He directed all of his forces to defeating communism. One of the things we've seen here is how easy it is for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to get distracted from dealing with radical Islamic terrorism. They won't even call it by its name. We need a president who stands up, number one, and says, we will defeat +p1355 +aVAnd we need to be focused on defeating... +p1356 +aV... defeating radical Islamic terrorists. +p1357 +aVWhat I'm saying, Dana, is that is a judgment for every voter to make. What I can tell you is all nine of the people here would make an infinitely better commander in chief than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. +p1358 +aVAnd there is a real danger, Dana, when people get distracted. I'm answering the question, Wolf. There's a real danger when people get distracted by peripheral issues. They get distracted by democracy building. They get distracted about military conflicts. We need to focus on defeating jihadism. +p1359 +aVAnd I will do everything necessary to keep our children safe. +p1360 +aVJudgment, strength, clarity and trust. Barack Obama has said he doesn't believe in American leadership or America winning \u2014 he is wrong. America can win again and we will win again. Ronald Reagan reignited the American economy, rebuilt the Military, bankrupted the Soviet Union and defeated Soviet Communism. I will do the same thing. Cutting taxes, cutting regulation, unleashing small businesses and rebuilding the Military to defeat radical Islamic terrorism \u2014 our strategy is simple. We win, they lose. We've done it before and we can do it again. +p1361 +aVWell, Maria, it's great to be with you. It's great to be here in Milwaukee. You know, the question you asked really I think is the most important question any of us can have \u2014 face, which is, how do we get the economy growing? How do we bring back economic growth? Because economic growth, it's foundational to every other challenge we have. As you rightly noted, from 2008 to today, our economy has grown 1.2 percent a year on average. The Obama economy is a disaster, and the IMF is telling us this is a new normal. It doesn't have to be. If you look at the history of America, there are three levers that government has had to facilitate economic growth. The first is tax reform. And as you noted, I have rolled out a bold and simple flat tax: 10 percent for every American that would produce booming growth and 4.9 million new jobs within a decade. The second element is regulatory reform, pulling back the armies of regulators that have descended like locusts on small businesses. And the third element is sound money. Every time we've pursued all three of those \u2014 whether in the 1920s with Calvin Coolidge or the 1960s with JFK or the 1980s with Ronald Reagan \u2014 the result has been incredible economic growth. We have done it before, and with leadership, we can do it again. +p1362 +aVWell, my Mom is here, so I don't think we should be pushing any grannies off cliffs. And, you miss-stated what I've said on entitlement reform. What I've said is for seniors we should make no changes whatsoever, for younger workers we should gradually raise the retirement age, we should have benefits grow more slowly, and we should allow them to keep a portion of their taxes in a personal account that they control, and can pass on to their kids... +p1363 +aVI want to go back to the discussion we had a minute ago because, you know, what was said was right. The democrats are laughing \u2014 because if republicans join democrats as the party of amnesty, we will lose. And, you know, I understand that when the mainstream media covers immigration, it doesn't often see it as an economic issue. But, I can tell you for millions \u2014 of Americans at home watching this, it is a very personal economic issue. And, I will say the politics of it will be very, very different if a bunch of lawyers or bankers were crossing the Rio Grande. Or if a bunch of people with journalism degrees were coming over and driving down the wages in the press. Then, we would see stories about the economic calamity that is befalling our nation. And, I will say for those of us who believe people 'ought to come to this country legally, and we should enforce the law, we're tired of being told it's anti-immigrant. It's offensive. I am the son of an immigrant who came legally from Cuba... ...to seek the American dream. And, we can embrace legal immigration while believing in the rule of law \u2014 and I would note, try going illegally to another country. Try going to China, or Japan. Try going to Mexico. See what they do. Every sovereign nation secures its borders, and it is not compassionate to say we're not going to enforce the laws... ...And we're going to drive down the wages for millions of hardworking men and women. That is abandoning the working... +p1364 +aVWell, sure, you put your finger on what the problem is. The current system isn't fair. Washington is fundamentally corrupt. There are more words in the IRS code than there are in the Bible \u2014 and \u2014 and not a one of them is as good. Every one of them reflects a carve-out or a subsidy, and it's all about empowering the Washington cartel. My simple Flat Tax says that, for a family of four, for the first $36,000 you earn, you pay no taxes whatsoever. No income taxes, no payroll taxes, no nothing. Above that, every American pays 10 percent across the board \u2014 a flat, fair tax. Which means that no longer do you have hedge-fund billionaires paying a lower tax rate than their secretaries. On the business side, I've got a business flat tax of 16 percent \u2014 again, that applies across the board. Right now, with our corporate income tax, giant corporations with armies of accountants regularly are paying little to no taxes while small businesses are getting hammered. This is fair and across-the-board. Now, you ask, how do the numbers add up? I would encourage folks, if you go to our website, tedcruz.org, we have the specific numbers on the website. This plan eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax, eliminates the corporate income tax, and it abolishes the IRS. And the effect of that is incredible economic growth. It means every income group will see double-digit increases, from the very poorest to the very weakest, of at least 14 percent. So if you're a single mom, if you're making $40,000 a year, what that means is an extra about $5,000 in your pocket to provide for your kids, to make ends meet. It has a powerful, powerful effect. And there's one other really powerful feature of my plan, which is that it's border-adjustable. Which means, if you're an exporter \u2014 if you're a farmer, if you're a rancher, if you're a manufacturer, you don't pay the businesses flat tax. Exports are free of that tax, but all imports pay that 16 percent business flat tax, which means this tax plan would cause jobs to boom, and it would let America compete with China and the world on a level playing field. +p1365 +aVWell, the numbers the Tax Foundation had put out is that the static cost of the plan is $3.6 trillion over 10 years, but the dynamic cost of the plan, which \u2014 which is the cost that factors in growth, is about $768 billion. It is less than a trillion. It costs less than virtually every other plan people have put up here, and yet it produces more growth and it's one of the very few plans that abolishes the IRS. But on top of that, today, we rolled out a spending plan. $500 billion in specific cuts \u2014 five major agencies that I would eliminate. The IRS, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Energy, the Department of Commerce, and HUD \u2014 and then 25 specific programs. Again, that's on our website at tedcruz.org. You want to look at specificity? It's easy for everyone to say, "cut spending". It's much harder and riskier to put out, chapter and verse, specifically the programs you would cut to stop bankrupting our kids and grandkids. +p1366 +aV...Middle ground that brings both of these together... +p1367 +aV...Exactly right, that we have to defend this nation. You think defending this nation is expensive, try not defending it. That's a lot more expensive. But, you can do that, and pay for it. You can do that, and also be fiscally responsible. You know, I mention that the 25 programs that I put today, that I would eliminate them. Among them are corporate welfare, like sugar subsidies. Let's take that as an example. Sugar subsidies. Sugar farmers farm under... ...under roughly 0.2% of the farmland in America, and yet they give 40% of the lobbying money. That sort of corporate welfare is why we're bankrupting our kids, and grandkids. I would end those subsidies to pay for defending this nation... +p1368 +aVAbsolutely yes. You know, I have spent much of my adult life enforcing the law and defending the Constitution. And the problem that underlies all of this is the cronyism and corruption of Washington. You know, the opening question Jerry asked, would you bail out the big banks again? Nobody gave you an answer to that. I'll give you an answer. Absolutely not. And what we have right now is we have Washington \u2014 as government gets bigger and bigger, you know, the biggest lie in all of Washington and in all of politics is that Republicans are the party of the rich. The truth is, the rich do great with big government. They get in bed with big government. The big banks get bigger and bigger and bigger under Dodd-Frank and community banks are going out of business. And, by the way, the consequence of that is small businesses can't get business loans, and it is that fundamental corruption that is why six of the 10 wealthiest counties in America are in and around Washington, D.C. And let me give you a contrast to Washington cronyism. Some weeks ago, a woman named Sabina Loving testified at a hearing that I chaired in the Senate. Sabina Loving is an African-American single mom who started a tax preparation business in the south side of Chicago. She found a store front, she wanted to have her own business. She started a business. But then the IRS promulgated new regulations targeting tax preparers. They did it under a more than 100-year-old statute called the Dead Horse Act. Now, this statute and the IRS in classic Washington crony fashion had exemptions for lawyers and big fancy accountants, but Sabina had to pay $1,000 an employee. It would have driven her out of business, and Ms. Loving sued the IRS. She took the Obama IRS to court, and she won, and they struck down the rule for picking the big guys over the little guys. +p1369 +aVYes. Now, let's be clear, there is a role for the Federal Reserve \u2014 what the Fed is doing now is it is a series of philosopher- kings trying to guess what's happening with the economy. You look at the Fed, one of the reasons we had the financial crash is throughout the 2000s, we had loose money, we had an asset bubble, it drove up the price of real estate, drove up the price of commodities, and then in the third quarter of 2008, the Fed tightened the money and crashed those asset prices, which caused a cascading collapse. That's why I am supporting getting back to rules-based monetary system not with a bunch of philosopher-kings deciding, but tied... +p1370 +aVSo let me be clear. I would not bail them out, but instead of adjusting monetary policy according to whims and getting it wrong over and over again and causing booms and busts, what the Fed should be doing is, number one, keeping our money tied to a stable level of gold, and, number two, serving as a lender of last resort. That's what central banks do. So if you have a run on the bank, the Fed can serve as a lender of last resort, but it's not a bailout. It is a loan at higher interest rates. That's how central banks have worked. And I'll point out \u2014 look, we had a gold standard under Bretton Woods, we had it for about 170 years of our nation's history, and enjoyed booming economic growth and lower inflation than we have had with the Fed now. We need to get back to sound money, which helps, in particular, working men and women. What Washington does \u2014 the people who are doing well in the Obama economy are those with power and influence in the Obama government. The people who working men and women... +p1371 +aVSo, Governor Kasich... +p1372 +aV...why would you then bail out rich Wall Street banks, but not Main street, not Mom and Pop, not Sabina Loving? +p1373 +aVBut you just said an executive... +p1374 +aV...knows to step in and bail out a bank. +p1375 +aVSo you said you'd abandon philosophy and abandon principle... +p1376 +aV...but what would you do if the bank was failing? +p1377 +aVSo you \u2014 you would bail them out. +p1378 +aVAnd, Maria, I will note, she's got a lot of experience, but her policies have proven disastrous. If you look at foreign policy, every region in the world has gotten worse. Under her leadership, we abandon the nation of Israel. Under her leadership, radical Islamic terrorism has been on to the rise. Under her leadership, and Obama's leadership, Iran is getting $100 billion dollars, and on the verge of getting a nuclear weapon. Everything she's put her hand to, or has touched \u2014 and when we talk about the cronyism of Washington, Hillary Clinton embodies the cronyism... ...of Washington. And, I'll give you an example of that, which is the Congressional exemption from Obamacare, which is fundamentally wrong, and I'll tell you this, if I'm elected president, I will veto any statute that exempts members of congress. The law should apply evenly to every American. +p1379 +aVMaria, critically, when it comes to climate change... +p1380 +aV...Our \u2014 our... +p1381 +aVFifty-eight years ago, my father fled Cuba. As he stood on the deck of that ferryboat with the wind and salt air blowing, he looked back at the oppression and torture he was escaping. And yet he looked forward to the promise of America. His story is our story. What ties Americans together is we are all the children of those who risked everything for freedom. America is in crisis now. I believe in America. And if we get back to the free market principles and constitutional liberties that built this country, we can turn this country around. I believe that 2016 will be an election like 1980, that we will win by following Reagan's admonition to paint in bold colors, not pale pastels. We're building a grassroots army. I ask you to join us at tedcruz.org. And we, the people, can turn this nation around. +p1382 +asVPAUL +p1383 +(lp1384 +VYou know, I've always had a great deal of respect. There's probably no person I respect more in the country or in recent history than my father. I think he was probably the most honest man in politics that we've ever seen in a generation. And so in no way have I ever said that I don't embrace my father or love my father or appreciate everything that he has done for the country. I think what's interesting about where that liberty vote goes that my father brought to the Republican Party is, I don't think they're necessarily going to go for Ted. You know, Ted didn't show up. We had an audit-the-Fed vote, which was the biggest thing my dad had been advocating for, for 30 years, Ted didn't have time to show up. He was the only Republican that didn't show up for it. And so I think really that vote is going to stay in the Paul household. I think more of it is coming and it's going to grow. The NSA is another big issue. Ted said he was for NSA reform, but then he told Marco Rubio, no, no, no, I voted for the bill because I'm for the government collecting 100 percent of your cell phone records. I don't think Ted can have it both ways. They want to say they're getting some of the liberty vote. But we don't see it happening at all. We think we're going to do very well in Iowa with the liberty vote. +p1385 +aVMay I respond? +p1386 +aVWell, I mean, I was talked about in the question. +p1387 +aVJust very quickly, I would like to respond. The bulk collection of your phone data, the invasion of your privacy did not stop one terrorist attack. I don't think you have to give up your liberty for a false sense of security. When we look at this bulk collection, the court has looked at this. Even the court declared it to be illegal. If we want to collect the records of terrorists, let's do it the old fashioned way. Let's use the Fourth Amendment. Let's put a name on a warrant, let's ask a judge for it. Let's respect the history of our country. John Adams said that we fought a War for Independence because we wanted to fight against generalized warrants. Let's don't forget that. +p1388 +aVMy budget was mentioned. My budget was mentioned. +p1389 +aV... Senator Cruz, I'd like to respond... +p1390 +aV... and I'd like to respond. +p1391 +aVThank you, Marco. +p1392 +aVThank you. The issue in Syria's a very important one, and it's one we need to get right. The question is, should we be bombing both sides of the war? Some want to topple Assad. In fact, they want to bomb +p1393 +aV. +p1394 +aVYeah, no, I think that's a \u2014 that's a huge mistake, to be closing down mosques. But I would say that if you want to defend the country, it begins with border security. And this is where I've had my disagreement with Senator Rubio. When he brought forward the "Gang of Eight" bill to give citizenship to those who came here illegally, I put forward an amendment that says we should have more scrutiny on those who are coming as students, those who are coming as immigrants, those who are coming as refugees, because we had two refugees come to my town in Bowling Green and try to attack us. Marco opposed this because they made a deal. He made a deal with Chuck Schumer that he would oppose any conservative amendments. And I think that's a mistake, and I just don't think Marco can have it both ways. You can't be in favor of defend us... ... against Islam \u2014 radical Islam \u2014 if you're not for border security. +p1395 +aVYou know, I've supported legislation to allow body cameras. I've been to Ferguson, I've been trying to look for solutions to our criminal justice problem. One thing I discovered in Ferguson was that a third of the budget for the city of Ferguson was being reaped by civil fines. People were just being fined to death. Now you and I and many of the people in this audience, if we get a $100 fine, we can survive it. If you're living on the edge of poverty and you get a $100 fine or your car towed, a lot of times you lose your job. I also think the war on drugs has disproportionately affected our African-American community, and what we need to do is make sure that the war on drugs is equal protection under the law and that we don't unfairly incarcerate another generation of young African-American males. In Ferguson, for every 100 African-American women, there are only 60 African-American men. Drug use is about equal between white and black, but our prisons \u2014 three out of four people in prison are black or brown. I think something has to change. I think it's a big thing that our party needs to be part of, and I've been a leader in Congress on trying to bring about criminal justice reform. +p1396 +aVI was there and I saw the debate. I saw Ted Cruz say, "we'll take citizenship off the table, and then the bill will pass, and I'm for the bill." The bill would involve legalization. He can't have it both ways. But what is particularly insulting, though, is that he is the king of saying, "you're for amnesty." Everybody's for amnesty except for Ted Cruz. But it's a falseness, and that's an authenticity problem \u2014 that everybody he knows is not as perfect as him because we're all for amnesty. I was for legalization. I think, frankly, if you have border security, you can have legalization. So was Ted, but now he says it wasn't so. That's not true. +p1397 +aVYou know, I think abortion is always wrong. I've supported a variety of solutions, both state as well as federal. In fact, just last week, I introduced the Life at Conception act, which would say that the 14th amendment would defend an individual even in the womb. But I think on the broader question of religion and politics, you know, I think liberty, itself requires a virtue \u2014 requires a virtuous people. In fact, Washington said that democracy requires a virtuous people. Oz Guinness, the theologian, said that liberty requires restraint but the only restraint consistent with liberty is self-restraint. There's a lot packed into that statement. But the bottom line is we must have virtue, we must have a religious bearing as a nation. The government is not always going to save us and it's not always going to come from government. But if we don't know right and wrong, I think we have lost our way. I think we become unmoored and I think without the religious foundation that guides us all, I think we have a great risk of going horribly in the wrong direction. +p1398 +aVBoth. No, both the federal and a state approach. I have said that we could leave it to the states but I've also introduced a federal solution as well. So the federal solution would be the Life at Conception act which is an act that would federalize the issue. But I've also said for the most part, these issues would be left back to the states. So there might be an occasion if we did overturn Roe v. Wade \u2014 Roe v. Wade nationalized the issue. If you had the court reverse Roe v. Wade, it would become a state issue once again. I think it would be better the more \u2014 the less abortions we have, so the more states that we have that made abortion illegal, the better, as far as trying to save and preserve lives. +p1399 +aVYou know, I've never really brought this up unless asked the question, but I have responded to the question. I don't blame Hillary Clinton at all for this. I don't think she's responsible for his behavior. But I do think that her position as promoting women's rights and fairness to women in the workplace, that if what Bill Clinton did any CEO in our country did with an intern, with a 22-year- old, 21-year-old intern in their office, they would be fired. They would never be hired again. Fired, never hired again and probably shunned in their community. And the thing is, she can't be a champion of women's rights at the same time she's got this that is always lurking out there, this type of behavior. So it is difficult. +p1400 +aVYeah. But I combine this also with the millions upon millions of dollars they've taken from regimes in the Middle East who treat women like cattle. +p1401 +aVWell, thanks for having me. It's great to be back. I'm an eye surgeon from Bowling Green, Kentucky, I miss doing eye surgery, still get to do a little bit. Did a couple of cataract surgeries over Christmas holidays. Got to go to Haiti last year. I've gotten to do some incredible things. Got to be on the floor of the Senate. And it has been amazing to me. But the thing that is most important to me and caused me to run for office is I'm worried about the country and how much debt we're adding. And I am the one true fiscal conservative who will look at all spending. And that's the only way we'll ever balance our budget. Thank you. +p1402 +aVThe question is, how do we keep America safe from terrorism? Trump says we ought to close that Internet thing. The question really is, what does he mean by that? Like they do in North Korea? Like they do in China? Rubio says we should collect all Americans' records all of the time. The Constitution says otherwise. I think they're both wrong. I think we defeat terrorism by showing them that we do not fear them. I think if we ban certain religions, if we censor the Internet, I think that at that point the terrorists will have won. Regime change hasn't won. Toppling secular dictators in the Middle East has only led to chaos and the rise of radical Islam. I think if we want to defeat terrorism, I think if we truly are sincere about defeating terrorism, we need to quit arming the allies of +p1403 +aVYou know, I think Marco gets it completely wrong. We are not any safer through the bulk collection of all Americans' records. In fact, I think we're less safe. We get so distracted by all of the information, we're not spending enough time getting specific immigration \u2014 specific information on terrorists. The other thing is, is the one thing that might have stopped San Bernardino, that might have stopped 9/11 would have been stricter controls on those who came here. And Marco has opposed at every point increased security \u2014 border security for those who come to our country. On his Gang of Eight bill, he would have liberalized immigration, but he did not \u2014 and he steadfastly opposed any new border security requirements for refugees or students. Last week, I introduced another bill saying we need more security, we need more scrutiny. Once again, Marco opposed this. So Marco can't have it both ways. He thinks he wants to be this, "Oh, I'm great and strong on national defense." But he's the weakest of all the candidates on immigration. He is the one for an open border that is leaving us defenseless. If we want to defend the country, we have to defend against who's coming in, and Marco is \u2014 has more of an allegiance to Chuck Schumer and to the liberals than he does to conservative policy. +p1404 +aVIf I was mentioned in the question, can I respond? +p1405 +aVMarco still misunderstands the immigration issue. What I put forward was an amendment that would have temporarily halted immigration from high-risk terrorist countries, but would have started it up, but I wanted them to go through Global Entry, which is a program where we do background checks. The thing is, is that every terrorist attack we've had since 9/11 has been legal immigration. Marco wants to expand that. I want more rules, more scrutiny, and to defend the country, you have to defend the border. +p1406 +aVWolf... +p1407 +aVWolf, this legislation... +p1408 +aVThis legislation on indefinite detention... +p1409 +aV... I think deserves a little more attention. +p1410 +aVI think that by arming the allies of +p1411 +aVI think that if you believe in regime change, you're mistaken. In 2013, we put 600 tons of weapons \u2014 us, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar \u2014 into the war against Assad. By pushing Assad back, we did create a safe space. We had people coming to our Foreign Relations Committee and saying, "Oh, we need to arm the allies of Al Qaida." They are still saying this. It is a crazy notion. This is the biggest debate we should be having tonight is is regime change a good idea; has it been a good idea. There are still people \u2014 the majority on the stage, they want to topple Assad. And then there will be chaos, and I think +p1412 +aVThese are the fundamental questions of our time, these foreign policy questions, whether or not regime change is a good idea or a bad idea. I don't think because I think the regime change was a bad idea it means that Hussein was necessarily a good idea. There is often variations of evil on both sides of the war. What we have to decide is whether or not regime change is a good idea. It's what the neoconservatives have wanted. It's what the vast majority of those on the stage want. They still want regime change. They want it in Syria. They wanted it in Iraq. They want it in Libya. It has not worked. Out of regime change you get chaos. From the chaos you have seen repeatedly the rise of radical Islam. So we get this profession of, oh, my goodness, they want to do something about terrorism and yet they're the problem because they allow terrorism to arise out of that chaos. +p1413 +aVNo, I think it's a huge mistake. I think regime change in Syria, and this is what \u2014 I've been saying this for several years now. In 2013 when we first went in, I said, you are going to give arms to the allies of al Qaida, to radical jihadists? That's crazy. But the other thing I said is the great irony is you will be back fighting against your own weapons. Had Assad been bombed when he used chemical weapons two years ago, +p1414 +aVWell, I think if you're in favor of World War III, you have your candidate. You know, here's...... the thing. My goodness, what we want in a leader is someone with judgment, not someone who is so reckless as to stand on the stage and say, "Yes, I'm jumping up and down; I'm going to shoot down Russian planes." Russia already flies in that airspace. It may not be something we're in love with the fact that they're there, but they were invited by Iraq and by Syria to fly in that airspace. And so if we announce we're going to have a no-fly zone, and others have said this. Hillary Clinton is also for it. It is a recipe for disaster. It's a recipe for World War III. We need to confront Russia from a position of strength, but we don't need to confront Russia from a point of recklessness that would lead to war. This is something \u2014 this type of judgment, you know, it's having that kind of judgment; who you would appoint and how you're going to conduct affairs, that is incredibly important. I mean, I think when we think about the judgment of someone who might want World War III, we might think about someone who might shut down a bridge because they don't like their friends; they don't want to \u2014 you know, they want to a Democrat. So I think we need to be very careful. +p1415 +aVYou know, I think we need to set the record straight on this, because I think Marco misspoke about the bill. On the Gang of Eight bill, there was no provisions really for extra scrutiny or safety for refugees. At the time the bill came up, two Iraqi refugees came to my home town, Bowling Green, Kentucky. Their fingerprints were on a bomb from Iraq. They were in the database, but we didn't pick them up. We relocated them here, put them in government housing, got them on food stamps. And we began providing for them, but we didn't have adequate security. On the Gang of Eight bill, on Marco's bill, we had an opportunity. There was a conservative consensus for an amendment I put forward called Trust, But Verify that would have strengthened border security on both refugees, students and those coming here. And Marco sided and I guess was more sympathetic to Chuck Schumer and to the president than he was to conservative principles. But this goes directly to national defense. And if he wants to run as a national \u2014 national defense conservative, he's got to explain why he hasn't stepped up to support border security. +p1416 +aVWhat my bill would do would be only for refugees going forward. So I haven't taken a position on sending anyone home. But I have taken the position that we have a lot of problems here in our country. And that one of the things that we do \u2014 charity is about giving your own money. Charity isn't giving someone else's money. To put everyone in government housing and food stamps and bring them in from around the world I think is a mistake. To give of your own money, I've given to my church. My church has helped people that came from Bosnia. That's a good thing. But we shouldn't have a program where we just say that we're going to take care of the world's refugees. Nobody in the Middle East is doing anything. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait \u2014 all the Gulf nations are doing nothing. They need to step up and take... +p1417 +aVThe greatest threat to our national security is our debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. And whose fault is it? Well, frankly, it's both parties' fault. You have those on the right who clamor and say, oh, we will spend anything on the military, and those on the left who say the same for domestic welfare. But what most Americans don't realize is there is an unholy alliance. They come together. There's a secret handshake. We spend more money on everything. And we are not stronger nation if we go further into debt. We are not projecting power from bankruptcy court. To me, there is no greater threat than our debt. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage because I'm willing to hold the line on all spending. I hope you will consider me in the election. Thank you very much. +p1418 +aVAbsolutely. And I think that we ought to look where income inequality seems to be the worst. It seems to be worst in cities run by Democrats, governors of... States run by Democrats and countries currently run by Democrats. So the thing is, let's look for root causes. But I would also say \u2014 lay some blame at the \u2014 the feet of the Federal Reserve. I think the Federal Reserve has made this problem worse. By artificially keeping interest rates below the market rate, average ordinary citizens have a tough time earning interest, have a tough time making money. They're actually talking now about negative interest. The money as it's created through quantitative easing or other means tends to start out in the big banks in New York. And because we're now paying interest for them to keep the money there, much of that money has not filtered out into the economy. So what we're finding is there is increasing income disparity and income inequality. We also find that as the Federal Reserve destroys the value of the currency, what you're finding is that, if you're poor, if you make $20,000 a year and you have three or four kids, and you're trying to get by, as your prices rise or as the value of the dollar shrinks, these are the people that are hurt the worst. So really we need to reexamine whether we not \u2014 we want a Federal Reserve that's involved so much in determining interest rates. We also need to look at root causes as to what caused the housing boom and the housing collapse. But the bottom line is, if you want less income inequality, move to a city with a Republican mayor or a state with a Republican governor. +p1419 +aVWell, it's a great question, Neil, and thanks for including me in the tax debate. I think what's important about the tax debate is, is that we have to ask the question, where is money best spent, in the private sector or in the government sector? I want a government really, really small, so small you can barely see it. So I want lower taxes and much more money in the private sector. My tax plan, however, is the only tax plan among any of the candidates on the stage that is part of a balanced budget plan. I put forward three plans that actually balance the budget over a five-year period. Each of these plans have details on exactly where we would cut. The question came up earlier, where would you cut? Nobody likes to say where they would cut. I've put pencil to paper and done three budgets that actually balance. I'm also in favor of a plan called the penny plan where we'd just cut 1 percent across the board and the budget actually balances in less than five years. So I think what is extraordinary about my tax plan is it is in the context of balancing the budget. What is also extraordinary about my tax plan is it gets rid of the payroll tax. Democrats demagogue this issue to death, and when they do they say, oh, a millionaire would get a bigger tax cut than someone making $10,000. That's proportionality, as Ben is trying to explain to folks. But the thing is, is if we get rid of the payroll tax, everybody is going to get a tax cut. And this is something that I think the public at large will support and could win an election. +p1420 +aVOurs is 14.5 percent for corporations, 14.5 percent for individuals. No payroll tax for the employee. The business tax pays for social security, and there would be two remaining deductions \u2014 home mortgage and charity. +p1421 +aVThank you. +p1422 +aVNeil, there's a point I'd like to make here... ....Neil, a point that I'd like to make about the tax credits. We have to decide what is conservative and what isn't conservative. Is it fiscally conservative to have a trillion-dollar expenditure? We're not talking about giving people back their tax money. He's talking about giving people money they didn't pay. It's a welfare transfer payment. So here's what we have. Is it conservative to have $1 trillion in transfer payments \u2014 a new welfare program that's a refundable tax credit? Add that to Marco's plan for $1 trillion in new military spending, and you get something that looks, to me, not very conservative. Thank you. +p1423 +aVNevertheless, it's not very conservative, Marco. +p1424 +aVHow is it conservative? +p1425 +aVYeah, but, Marco! Marco! How is it conservative, how is it conservative to add a trillion-dollar expenditure for the federal government that you're not paying for? +p1426 +aVHow is it conservative? +p1427 +aVHow is it conservative to add a trillion dollars in military expenditures? You can not be a conservative if you're going to keep promoting new programs that you're not going to pay for. +p1428 +aVNo. I don't think we're any safer \u2014 I do not think we are any safer from bankruptcy court. As we go further, and further into debt, we become less, and less safe. This is the most important thing we're going to talk about tonight. Can you be a conservative, and be liberal on military spending? Can you be for unlimited military spending, and say, Oh, I'm going to make the country safe? No, we need a safe country, but, you know, we spend more on our military than the next ten countries combined? I want a strong national defense, but I don't want us to be bankrupt. +p1429 +aVHey, Gerard, you know, we might want to point out China is not part of this deal. +p1430 +aVBefore we get a little bit off-kilter here... +p1431 +aVThere is an argument that China doesn't like the deal, because in us doing the deal, we'll be trading with their competitors. You're exactly right. But I think we've sort of missed the point a little bit here. There is an important point, though, about how we discuss these trade treaties that I do agree with Mr. Trump on. We should negotiate from a position of strength. And we also should negotiate using the full force and the constitutional power that was given to us. I think it's a mistake that we give up power to the presidency on these trade deals. We give up the power to filibuster, and I'm kind of fond of that power. We give up the power to amend. And I think, really, one of the big problems we have in our country is, over the last century, really, so much power has gravitated to the executive branch. Really, Congress is kind of a bystander. We don't write the rules. We don't make the laws. The executive branch does. So even in trade \u2014 and I am for trade \u2014 I think we should be careful about giving so much power to the presidency. +p1432 +aVI'd like first to respond to the acquisition, we should \u2014 I think it's particularly naive, particularly foolish to think that we're not going to talk to Russia. The idea of a no fly zone, realize that this is also something that Hillary Clinton agrees with several on our side with, you're asking for a no fly zone in an area in which Russia already flies. Russia flies in that zone at the invitation of Iraq. I'm not saying it's a good thing, but you better know at least what we're getting into. So, when you think it's going to be a good idea to have a no fly zone over Iraq, realize that means you are saying we are going to shoot down Russian planes. If you're ready for that, be ready to send your sons and daughters to another war in Iraq. I don't want to see that happen. I think the first war in Iraq was a mistake... You can be strong without being involved in every civil war around the war... +p1433 +aVRonald Reagan was strong, but Ronald Reagan didn't... +p1434 +aV...send troops into the Middle East... +p1435 +aV...Can I finish... +p1436 +aV...Can I finish my time? Could I finish with my time? +p1437 +aVYes, I would like to finish my response, basically. +p1438 +aVThis is an important question. This is an incredibly important question. And the question goes to be, who do we want to be our commander-in-chief? Do you want a commander-in-chief who says something that we never did throughout the entire Cold War, to discontinue having conversations with the Russians? I am not happy about them flying over there. But I'm not naive enough to say, well, Iraq has them flying over their airspace, we're just going to announce that we're shooting them down? That is naive to the point of being something you might hear in junior high. But it's scary... +p1439 +aVThe first thing I would do is I wouldn't arm our enemies. I wouldn't arm +p1440 +aVGerard, can I comment... +p1441 +aVThe first thing I would do as president is repeal the regulations that are hampering our energy that the President has put in place. Including the Clean Power Act. While I do think that man may have a role in our climate, I think nature also has a role. The planet's 4.5 billion years old, we've been through geologic age after geologic age. We've had times when the temperatures been warmer, we've had times when the temperatures been colder. We've had times when the carbon in the atmosphere's been higher. So, I think before we \u2014 we need to look before we leap. President's often fond of saying he wants a balance solution, but, really we do need to balance both keeping the environment clean, and we will have some rules for that. We got to balance that with the economy. He's devastated my state. I say the President's not only destroying Kentucky, he's destroying the democrat party down there because nobody wants to associate with him. So, what we really need is somebody that understands that we do need energy of all forms, and that means we will have solar, and wind, and hydro, but we will still have coal, and we still will have natural gas. And, we've got to have an all of the above policy. But, it would be a mistake to shut down all of our industries in the coal fields, and shut down the coal power plants. If we did so we're going to have a day where we wake up and some of our big cities are either very cold, or very hot. So, I think it's a big danger, and we shouldn't do it. And, what we should do is say we want all of the above... ...We want to free up the energy sector, and let people produce, let them drill, let them explore. +p1442 +aVWe're the richest, freest, most humanitarian nation in the history of mankind. But we also borrow a million dollars a minute. And the question I have for all Americans is, think about it, can you be a fiscal conservative if you don't conserve all of the money? If you're a profligate spender, you spend money in an unlimited fashion for the military, is that a conservative notion? We have to be conservative with all spending, domestic spending and welfare spending. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage. +p1443 +asVBASH +p1444 +(lp1445 +VA crucial question is how to balance surveillance with privacy and keeping Americans safe. Senator Cruz, you voted for a bill that President Obama signed into law just this past June that made it harder for the government to access Americans' phone records. In light of the San Bernardino attack, was your vote a mistake? +p1446 +aVThank you. Senator Rubio, Senator Cruz is right there was bipartisan support for that. But you voted against it. So, is Senator Cruz wrong? +p1447 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1448 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator \u2014 Senator Rubio, please respond. +p1449 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I know this is \u2014 this has been a very big issue for you. You hear many of your colleagues are calling for increased surveillance by law enforcement. You call that hogwash. Why is that hogwash? +p1450 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1451 +aVGovernor Christie, Governor Christie... ...Governor Christie, I'll come to you in a minute. Go ahead, Senator Paul. +p1452 +aVGo ahead, please. +p1453 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about immigration in a while. But, Governor Christie, just listening to this... +p1454 +aVListening to this, you talked \u2014 you heard Senator Paul, Senator Cruz talk about how important it is to protect Americans' privacy, even in a time of grave danger. Why \u2014 what's wrong with that? +p1455 +aVSenator Paul, you said +p1456 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I want to go back to my initial question, which is you saying that +p1457 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about regime change in a bit. But Governor Kasich, would you like to respond to Senator Paul? +p1458 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. We've been talking tonight about programs and policy proposals that you all have to keep Americans safe and it's a big discussion on the campaign trail. Also about border security and immigration. So let's talk about immigration. Senator Rubio. You co-authored a bill with Democrats two years ago that allowed a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Do you still support that path to citizenship, which means giving those immigrants rights, like the right to vote? +p1459 +aVSenator, you haven't answered the question. You described a very long path but does that path end at citizenship? +p1460 +aVThank you, senator. +p1461 +aVThank you, senator. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, on the campaign trail, Senator Rubio has said that his immigration plan is not that different from yours. Is that true? +p1462 +aVSenator Rubio, please. +p1463 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1464 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1465 +aVSenator Cruz, can you answer that question please? +p1466 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1467 +aVOne at a time please. +p1468 +aVMs. Fiorina, please wait your turn, we're going to get to you. +p1469 +aVSenator Cruz go ahead. +p1470 +aVMr. Trump, you like to say that you restarted this conversation in the campaign. +p1471 +aVSo who do you side with? Who do you side with in this, Senator Rubio or Senator Cruz? +p1472 +aVThank you. Governor Bush? +p1473 +aVListening to this, do you think this is the tone \u2014 this immigration debate that republicans need to take to win back Hispanics into our party especially states like where we are in Nevada that has a pretty Hispanic community? +p1474 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said if China launches a cyber- attack against the U.S. on your watch, "they're going to see cyber- warfare like they have never seen before." What exactly would that response look like? +p1475 +aVGovernor Bush, what you just heard from Governor Christie, are you concerned that that could really escalate with China, that they would retaliate? And, for example, as the NSA has said, attack the U.S. and maybe it's power grid, which the Chinese have the capability to do? +p1476 +aVMr. Trump, just this weekend you said Senator Cruz is not qualified to be president because he doesn't have the right temperament and acted like a maniac when he arrived in the Senate. But last month you said you were open to naming Senator Cruz as your running mate. +p1477 +aVSo why would you be willing to put somebody who's a maniac one heartbeat away from the presidency? +p1478 +aVOkay. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, you have not been willing to attack Mr. Trump in public. +p1479 +aVBut you did question his judgment in having control of American's nuclear arsenal during a private meeting with supporters. Why are you willing to say things about him in private and not in public? +p1480 +aVSenator, senator, I just... +p1481 +aVSenator, a lot of people have seen... +p1482 +aV... a lot of people have seen these comments you made in private. I just want to clarify what you're saying right now is you do believe Mr. Trump has the judgment to be commander in chief? +p1483 +asVBARTIROMO +p1484 +(lp1485 +VTonight we are working with Facebook to ask the candidates the questions voters want answered. And according to Facebook, the U.S. election has dominated the global conversation, with 131 million people talking about the 2016 race. That makes it the number one issue talked about on Facebook last year worldwide. +p1486 +aVTonight's rules are simple: up to 90 seconds for each answer, one minute for each follow-up response. And if a candidate goes over the allotted time, you'll hear this. So let's get started. Candidates, jobs and growth \u2014 two of the biggest issues facing the country right now. In his State of the Union address earlier this week, the president said, quote, "we have the strongest, most durable economy in the world." And according to our Facebook research, jobs is one of the biggest issues resonating across the country, including here in South Carolina. The president is touting 14 million new jobs and an unemployment rate cut in half. The president said that anyone who claims America's economy is in decline is peddling fiction. Senator Cruz, what do you see that he doesn't? +p1487 +aVThank you, sir. +p1488 +aVWe know that recent global events have many people worried \u2014 Iran detaining American sailors, forcing them to apologize; North Korea and its nuclear ambitions; an aggressive China; and a Middle East that continues to deteriorate, not to mention +p1489 +aVJust to be clear Governor, where and when would you use military action? +p1490 +aVDr. Carson, the president says he does not want to treat +p1491 +aVSenator Cruz, the New York Times is reporting that you failed to properly disclose a million dollars in loans from Goldman Sachs and CitiBank. During your senate race, your campaign said, "it was inadvertent." A million dollars is inadvertent? +p1492 +aVThank you. +p1493 +aVThank you, senator. Mr. Trump, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley in her response to the State of the Union address......appeared to choose sides within the party, saying Republicans should resist, quote, "the siren call of the angriest voices". She confirmed, she was referring to you among others. Was she out of line? And, how would a President Trump unite the party? +p1494 +aVBut what are you going to do about it? +p1495 +aVGovernor Kasich...... Governor Kasich, Hillary Clinton is getting some serious competition from Senator Bernie Sanders. He's now at 41 percent in the latest CBS/New York Times poll. Vice President Biden sang his praises, saying Bernie is speaking to a yearning that is deep and real, and he has credibility on it. So what does it say about our country that a candidate who is a self-avowed socialist and who doesn't think a 90 percent tax rate is too high could be the Democratic nominee? +p1496 +aVDr. Carson, one of the other candidates on this stage has brought Bill Clinton's past indiscretions. Is that a legitimate topic in this election? And what do you think of the notion that Hillary Clinton is an enabler of sexual misconduct? +p1497 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debates, right here in North Charleston. Let's get right back to the questions. Governor Bush, gun rights, one of the top issues seen on Facebook with close to 3 million people talking about it in the past month. Right here in Charleston, Dylann Roof, who has been accused of killing nine people in a nearby church, reportedly had not passed his background check when he got his gun. What is the harm in tightening standards for not only who buys guns, but those who sell them? +p1498 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, are there any circumstances that you think we should be limiting gun sales of any kind in America? +p1499 +aVThank you sir. +p1500 +aVThank you, sir. +p1501 +aVSo what is the answer, Senator Cruz, to stop mass shootings and violent crime, up in 30 cities across the country? +p1502 +aVSenator...... let me follow up and switch gears. Senator Cruz, you suggested Mr. Trump, quote, "embodies New York values." Could you explain what you mean by that? +p1503 +aVI am from New York. I don't. +p1504 +aVAre you sure about that? +p1505 +aVThere's much more ahead including the fight against +p1506 +aVWe welcome back to the Republican Presidential , right back to the questions. Candidates, the man who made fighting +p1507 +aVThe air-strikes. +p1508 +aVNow in their 16th month are ineffective. Dr. Carson, do you think Senator Graham is right in wanting to send 20,000 troops \u2014 ground troops to Iraq and Syria to take out +p1509 +aVThank you, sir. Senator Graham has also said that the U.S. will find Arab support for its coalition if it removes Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. And I quote, "The now king of Saudi Arabia told us, 'you can have our army, you just got to deal with Assad.' "The emir of Qatar said, 'I'll pay for the operation, but they are not going to fight +p1510 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump \u2014 Mr. Trump, your comments about banning Muslims from entering the country created a firestorm. According to Facebook, it was the most-talked-about moment online of your entire campaign, with more than 10 million people talking about the issue. Is there anything you've heard that makes you want to rethink this position? +p1511 +aVWe \u2014 we want to hear from all of you on this. According to Pew Research, the U.S. admits more than 100,000 Muslim immigrants every single year on a permanent lifetime basis. I want to ask the rest of you to comment on this. Do you agree that we should pause Muslim immigration until we get a better handle on our homeland security situation, as Mr. Trump has said? Beginning with you, Governor Kasich. +p1512 +aVThank you, sir, we want to hear from the rest of you, Governor Christie, your take. +p1513 +aVSenator Rubio, where do you stand? +p1514 +aVSenator Cruz, where do you stand? Senator Cruz? +p1515 +aVDr. Carson, where do you stand? Do you agree with Mr. Trump? +p1516 +aVSo, to be clear, the both of you do not agree with Mr. Trump? +p1517 +aVThank you governor. +p1518 +aVWe're getting... +p1519 +aVPrices go higher for... +p1520 +aVYeah. +p1521 +aVReal quick, Senator \u2014 go ahead, Senator Cruz. And then we have to get to tax reform. +p1522 +aVThank you, Governor Bush. Thank you, Mr. Trump. Very briefly. +p1523 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. +p1524 +aVThank you, Mr. Trmup. Thank you, Governor. +p1525 +aVSenator briefly. +p1526 +aVWe've got to get to tax reform, gentlemen. We've got to get to tax reform, and we've got to get to the... +p1527 +aV... we've got to get to the national debt as well. Coming up next, the growing national debt, the war on crime, tax reform. More from North Charleston, South Carolina, when we come right back. +p1528 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential here in North Charleston. Right back to the questions. Governor Christie, we have spoken much about cutting spending, given the $19 trillion debt. But according to one report, America needs $3.6 trillion in infrastructure spending by 2020. Here in South Carolina, 11 percent of bridges are considered structurally deficient, costing drivers a billion dollars a year in auto repairs. What is your plan to fix the ailing roads and bridges without breaking the bank? +p1529 +aVThank you, sir. Dr. Carson......it is true U.S. companies have $2 trillion in cash sitting overseas right now. That could be used for investment and jobs in America. Also, several companies right now are pursuing mergers to move their corporate headquarters abroad, and take advantage of much lower taxes. What will you do to stop the flow of companies building cash away from America, and those leaving America altogether? +p1530 +aVThank you, sir. Senator Rubio... +p1531 +aVWhich is why we raised it. Senator Rubio? Thank you, Mr. Trump. +p1532 +aVOne of the biggest fiscal challenges is our entitlement programs, particularly Social Security and Medicare. What policies will you put forward to make sure these programs are more financially secure? +p1533 +aVThank you senator. +p1534 +aVSenator Cruz, yes. You were meant to. Yes, of course. +p1535 +aVThank you senator. +p1536 +aVThank you senator. I have to get to a question for Mr. Trump. +p1537 +aVYes. +p1538 +aVThank you, Governor. Thank you, Governor. +p1539 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Coming up, how would the candidates protect America, and another terror attack, if we were to see it. But first, you can join us live on stage during the commercial break right from home. Go to facebook.com/foxbusiness. We'll be streaming live and answering your questions during this break next. More from South Carolina coming up. Stay with us. +p1540 +aVMr. Trump, your net worth is in the multi-billions of dollars and have an ongoing thriving hotel and real estate business. Are you planning on putting your assets in a blind trust should you become president? With such vast wealth, how difficult will it be for you to disentangle yourself from your business and your money and prioritize America's interest first? +p1541 +aVSo you'll put your assets in a blind trust? +p1542 +aVThank you sir. +p1543 +aVSenator Rubio? Under current law, the U.S. is on track to issue more new permanent immigrants on green cards over the next five years than the entire population of South Carolina. The CBO says your 2013 immigration bill would have increased green cardholders by another 10 million over 10 years. Why are you so interested in opening up borders to foreigners when American workers have a hard enough time finding work? +p1544 +aVSo your thinking has changed? +p1545 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1546 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1547 +aVWhen we come right back, closing statements. Stay with us. +p1548 +aVWelcome back. Candidates, it is time for your closing statements. You get 60 seconds each. Governor John Kasich, we begin with you. +p1549 +aVGovernor Chris Christie? +p1550 +aVSenator Marco Rubio? +p1551 +aVMr. Donald Trump? +p1552 +aVCandidates, thank you. +p1553 +aVTonight we're partnering with the Wall Street Journal to ask questions on the economy that voters want answered. We're also working with Facebook, who tells us that since the first Republican debate, more than 58 million people have joined the political conversation online. More than 9 million are talking specifically about the economy. +p1554 +aVBusinesswoman Carly Fiorina. Ohio Governor John Kasich. And Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. +p1555 +aVWe've asked people on Facebook to submit their questions for the candidates. Seth Bell wrote, "We are approaching $20 trillion in national debt. Specifically, what plans do you have to cut federal spending?" Governor Kasich, you have spoken much about your success in balancing the budget under President Clinton. Today the national debt is at record highs and growing unsustainably. Interest will be the fastest-growing part of the federal budget, tripling over the next 10 years. Social Security, the lifeline of millions of American seniors, is rushing toward insolvency. With all of the tax plans presented tonight, estimated to cost anywhere between $2 trillion and $12 trillion over a decade, what specific steps will you take to balance the budget? +p1556 +aVDid you want to name any specific steps, sir? +p1557 +aVThank you, sir. +p1558 +aVSenator Cruz, the International Monetary Fund recently cut its expectations for economic growth. Many economists expect a recession to hit the U.S. within the next year due to the weakening of manufacturing. The next president will have to deal with it. You say tax reform is a powerful lever to spur economic expansion. You're calling for a 10 percent income tax and a 16 percent business tax. What other elements do you need in this plan to actually create jobs? +p1559 +aVThank you, sir. +p1560 +aVGovernor Bush... +p1561 +aVWe have more questions for you, Governor Kasich, coming up. We have more questions for you, Governor Kasich. +p1562 +aVWe will \u2014 we will certainly get to that. Governor Bush? +p1563 +aVAlmost 40 percent of Americans are without a job and are not looking. Many have given up. That's what the participation rate tells us. You've said your policies will drive the economy back to 4 percent growth, which we haven't seen since the year 2000. What specific regulations would you change? And how will that lead to jobs and growth? +p1564 +aVThank you, sir. +p1565 +aVMr. Trump, a federal appeals court just dealt a blow to the Obama administration's plan to prevent the deportation of 5 million people living in this country illegally. The White House is appealing to the Supreme Court. At the heart of this issue is the effect that illegal immigrants are having on our economy, what will you do about it? +p1566 +aVCan we just send 5 million people back with no effect on economy? +p1567 +aVSo what will you do? +p1568 +aVThank you, sir. +p1569 +aVWe go back to Facebook. Dewayne Wesley Cato asks on Facebook, how do we get rid of regulations choking our businesses? Ms. Fiorina? Specifically, under the president's Affordable Care Act, employers with 50 or more employees are required to offer health insurance, or be fined. Many are opting to pay the fine. Others are cutting back employee hours to duck the law altogether. What specific ways will you alleviate the pressure on small business? +p1570 +aVJust to be clear, you want to repeal Obamacare... ..but, what's the alternative? +p1571 +aVJust to be clear, you say you would repeal Obamacare... +p1572 +aV...But, what is the alternative... +p1573 +aV...and how does that help small business... +p1574 +aV...Thank you... +p1575 +aVSenator Cruz, there isn't anyone in this audience or watching at home tonight who would not like to pay less in taxes. Most people just want a fair shake, and they don't want their money to be wasted. But explain how your plan works. How can you cut taxes as much as you propose without running up debt and deficits? +p1576 +aVBut you haven't told us how to pay for it. +p1577 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Bush, Republican primary voters say tax reform should be a priority for Congress and the administration. But, Governor Bush, how important is tax reform in your domestic policy agenda? Will you guarantee it in the first year of your presidency? +p1578 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1579 +aVThat's right. That's right. +p1580 +aVComing up, the biggest threats facing the next commander-in-chief. You're watching the Republican presidential debate, live tonight from Milwaukee. We'll be right back. +p1581 +aVWelcome back. Welcome back to the Republican presidential debate. The candidates taking the questions you want answered. Also tonight, you can see what America is saying about the debate. Go to Facebook and type #gopdebate into the search box. Now, back to the questions. Americans face security threats at home and abroad. Last year, terrorist attacks rose 61 percent, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace, with the most deaths occurring in just five countries, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Syria. Dr. Carson, you were against putting troops on the ground in Iraq and against a large military force in Afghanistan. Do you support the president's decision to now put 50 special ops forces in Syria and leave 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan? +p1582 +aVWe asked Facebook to take a look at some of the major issues we're talking about, and tackling in this debate tonight. This word cloud shows what people are focusing on the most. The bigger the word, the more the talk. One of the most discussed issues in the last month, homeland security. Governor Bush, what is the biggest threat facing America today? +p1583 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, in 2012 debate, President Obama mocked Mitt Romney's assertion that Russia was the top geopolitical challenge facing the United States, saying he was a Cold War dinosaur. Now, Russia has invaded Ukraine, and has put troops in Syria. You have said you will have a good relationship with Mr. Putin. So, what does President Trump do in response to Russia's aggression? +p1584 +aVThank you, sir. +p1585 +aVThank you, governor. +p1586 +aVSenator Rubio. +p1587 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. +p1588 +aVMore questions \u2014 more questions coming up, when the Republican presidential debate comes right back, live from Milwaukee. Stay with us. +p1589 +aVWelcome back to the fourth Republican presidential debate. Senator Rubio, Hillary Clinton is the clear front runner for the Democratic nomination. If she is indeed the nominee, you will be facing a candidate with an impressive resume. She was the first lady of the United States, a U.S. senator from New York, and secretary of state under Barack Obama. She has arguably more experience, certainly more time in government than almost all of you on stage tonight. Why should the American people trust you to lead this country, even though she has been so much closer to the office? +p1590 +aVSenator Paul, you were one of 15 republicans to vote for an amendment which states that human activity contributed to climate change. President Obama has announced an aggressive plan to cut carbon emissions. At the same time, energy production in America has boomed. Is it possible to continue this boom, and move toward energy self-sufficiency, while at the same time pursuing a meaningful climate change program? +p1591 +aVCarly Fiorina? +p1592 +aVFormer Governor Jeb Bush? +p1593 +aVSenator Ted Cruz? +p1594 +aVHe's funny. +p1595 +aVThank you. +p1596 +asVTRUMP +p1597 +(lp1598 +VWell, I can say this. If the president, and if I were president now, I would certainly want to try and nominate a justice. I'm sure that, frankly, I'm absolutely sure that President Obama will try and do it. I hope that our Senate is going to be able \u2014 Mitch, and the entire group, is going to be able to do something about it. In times of delay, we could have a Diane Sykes, or you could have a Bill Pryor \u2014 we have some fantastic people. But this is a tremendous blow to conservatism. It's a tremendous blow, frankly, to our country. +p1599 +aV... I think he's going to do it whether or I'm O.K. with it or not. I think it's up to Mitch McConnell and everybody else to stop it. It's called delay, delay, delay. +p1600 +aVWhat we want to do, when we want to do it, and how hard do we want to hit? Because we are going to have to hit very, very hard to knock out +p1601 +aV... called me a genius, I like him so far, I have to tell you. Let me just tell you this. Jeb is so wrong. Jeb is absolutely self \u2014 just so you understand, you know what that is? That's Jeb's special interest and lobbyist talking. Look, let me just tell you something, Jeb \u2014 Jeb is so wrong. You got to fight +p1602 +aV... You'll end up with World War III... +p1603 +aV... We're supporting troops... +p1604 +aV... that we don't even know who they are. +p1605 +aV... We're supporting troops that we don't even know who they are... +p1606 +aVWe have no idea who they are. +p1607 +aV... Oh, yeah, yeah... +p1608 +aV... Let 44 million in New Hampshire, it was practically ... +p1609 +aV... 44 million \u2014 give me a break. +p1610 +aVFirst of all, I have to say, as a businessman, I get along with everybody. I have business all over the world. I know so many of the people in the audience. And by the way, I'm a self-funder. I don't have \u2014 I have my wife and I have my son. That's all I have. I don't have this. So let me just tell you, I get along with everybody, which is my obligation to my company, to myself, et cetera. Obviously, the war in Iraq was a big, fat mistake. All right? Now, you can take it any way you want, and it took \u2014 it took Jeb Bush, if you remember at the beginning of his announcement, when he announced for president, it took him five days. He went back, it was a mistake, it wasn't a mistake. It took him five days before his people told him what to say, and he ultimately said, "It was a mistake." The war in Iraq, we spent $2 trillion, thousands of lives, we don't even have it. Iran has taken over Iraq, with the second-largest oil reserves in the world. Obviously, it was a mistake. +p1611 +aVGeorge Bush made a mistake. We can make mistakes. But that one was a beauty. We should have never been in Iraq. We have destabilized the Middle East. +p1612 +aVYou do whatever you want. You call it whatever you want. I want to tell you. They lied. They said there were weapons of mass destruction, there were none. And they knew there were none. There were no weapons of mass destruction. +p1613 +aVI'm being nice. +p1614 +aVHe spent $22 million in... +p1615 +aVThe World Trade Center came down during your brother's reign, remember that. +p1616 +aVThat's not keeping us safe. +p1617 +aVShe should be running. +p1618 +aVHow did he keep us safe when the World Trade Center \u2014 the World \u2014 excuse me. I lost hundreds of friends. The World Trade Center came down during the reign of George Bush. He kept us safe? That is not safe. That is not safe, Marco. That is not safe. +p1619 +aVAnd George Bush \u2014 by the way, George Bush had the chance, also, and he didn't listen to the advice of his C.I.A. +p1620 +aVI don't want to go. +p1621 +aVYes. +p1622 +aVFirst of all, the \u2014 when you say I'm the only candidate, if you listen to the Democrats, they want to do many things to Social Security, and I want to do them on its own merit. You listen to them, what they want to do to Social Security, none of these folks are getting elected, O.K., whether they can do it or not. I'm going to save Social Security. I'm going to bring jobs back from China. I'm going to bring jobs back from Mexico and from Japan, where they're all \u2014 every country throughout the world \u2014 now Vietnam, that's the new one. They are taking our jobs. They are taking our wealth. They are taking our base. And you and I have had this discussion. We're going to make our economy strong again. I'm lowering taxes. We have $2.5 trillion offshore. We have 2.5 trillion that I think is actually five trillion because the government has no idea when they say 2.5, they have no idea what they're doing or saying, as they've proven very well. We're going to bring that money back. You take a look at what happened just this week. China bought the Chicago Stock Exchange, China, a Chinese company. Carrier is moving to Mexico, air conditioning company. Not only the ones I talk about all the time, Nabisco and Ford and \u2014 they're all moving out. We have an economy that last quarter, G.D.P. didn't grow. It was flat. We have to make our economy grow again. We're dying. This country is dying. And our workers are losing their jobs, and you're going... +p1623 +aVI'm the only one who is going to save Social Security, believe me. +p1624 +aVBecause you have tremendous waste. I'll tell you... +p1625 +aVYou have tremendous waste, fraud and abuse. That we're taking care of. That we're taking care of. It's tremendous. We have in Social Security right now thousands and thousands of people that are over 106 years old. Now, you know they don't exist. They don't exist. There's tremendous waste, fraud and abuse, and we're going to get it. But we're not going to hurt the people who have been paying into Social Security their whole life and then all of a sudden they're supposed to get less. We're bringing our jobs back. We're going to make our economy great again. +p1626 +aVI want everybody taken care of, but we have to take care of our people in this country. We're not taking care of our people. We have no border. We have no control. People are flooding across. We can't have it. We either have a border, and I'm very strongly \u2014 I'm not proposing. I will build a wall. I will build a wall. Remember this, the wall will be paid for by Mexico. We are not being treated right. We are not being treated properly. If we don't have borders, if we don't have strength, we don't have a country. People are flowing across. We have to take care of our people. Believe me. +p1627 +aVLook......When I announced that I was running for president on June 16th, illegal immigration wasn't even a subject. If I didn't bring it up, we wouldn't even be talking. Now, I don't often agree with Marco, and I don't often agree with Ted, but I can in this case. The weakest person on this stage by far on illegal immigration is Jeb Bush. They come out of an act of love, whether you like it or not. He is so weak on illegal immigration it's laughable, and everybody knows it. +p1628 +aV... Spend a little more money on the commercials... +p1629 +aV. I don't know what you're talking about. +p1630 +aV... I never called him \u2014 I don't call him.. +p1631 +aVHe also said about language... +p1632 +aV... Language. Two days ago he said he would take his pants off and moon everybody, and that's fine. Nobody reports that. He gets up and says that, and then he tells me, oh, my language was a little bit rough... +p1633 +aV... My language. Give me a break... +p1634 +aV... You did say it, you did say it. Been reported in 10 different news... +p1635 +aVOr a tax. +p1636 +aVI would build consensus with Congress, and Congress would agree with me. I'll give you an example, because I don't like the idea of using executive orders like our president. It is a disaster what he's doing. I would build consensus, but consensus means you have to work hard. You have to cajole. You have to get them into the Oval Office and get them all together, and you have to make deals. Let me just tell you, I mentioned before, China \u2014 big Chinese company bought the Chicago Exchange. Kerry is moving \u2014 and if you saw the people, because they have a video of the announcement that Carrier is moving to Mexico, O.K.? Well, I'll tell you what. I would go right now to Carrier and I would say I am going to work awfully hard. You're going to make air conditioners now in Mexico. You're going to get all of these 1,400 people that are being laid off \u2014 they're laid off. They were crying. They were \u2014 it was a very sad situation. You're going to go to Mexico. You're going to make air conditioners in Mexico, you're going to put them across our border with no tax. I'm going to tell them right now, I am going to get consensus from Congress and we're going to tax you when those air conditioners come. So stay where you are or build in the United States, because we are killing ourselves with trade pacts that are no good for us and no good for our workers. +p1637 +aVJohn, in life you have flexibility. You do have flexibility. When you're fighting wars, you're going one way, you have a plan. It's a beautiful plan. It can't lose. The enemy makes a change, and all of a sudden you have to change. You have to have flexibility. In Ronald Reagan, though, in terms of what we're talking about, was the great example. He was a somewhat liberal Democrat who became a somewhat, pretty strong conservative. He became \u2014 most importantly, he became a great president. He made many of the changes that I've made \u2014 I mean, I've seen as I grew up, I've seen, and as I get older and wiser, and I feel that I am a conservative. Now, I also feel I'm a common-sense conservative, because some of the views I don't agree with. And I think a lot of people agree with me, obviously, based on what's happening. +p1638 +aVWell, I think these people always hit me with eminent domain, and frankly, I'm not in love with eminent domain. But eminent domain is something you need very strongly. When Jeb had said, "You used eminent domain privately for a parking lot." It wasn't for a parking lot. The state of New Jersey \u2014 too bad Chris Christie is not here, he could tell you \u2014 the state of New Jersey went to build a very large tower that was going to employ thousands of people. I mean, it was going to really do a big job in terms of economic development. Now, just so you understand, I got hit very hard. It's private, it's private eminent domain. You understand that they took over a stadium in Texas, and they used private eminent domain, but he just found that out after he made the charge. +p1639 +aVYeah. Well, Jeb wouldn't have known about it. +p1640 +aVYou shouldn't have used it then, Jeb. +p1641 +aVThank you very much, I appreciate it. +p1642 +aVYou probably are worse than Jeb Bush. You are single biggest liar. This guy's lied \u2014 let me just tell you, this guy lied about Ben Carson when he took votes away from Ben Carson in Iowa, and he just continues. Today, we had robo-calls saying, "Donald Trump is not going to run in South Carolina," where I'm leading by a lot. I'm not going to vote for Ted Cruz. This is the same thing he did to Ben Carson. This guy will say anything, nasty guy. Now I know why he doesn't have one endorsement from any of his colleagues. +p1643 +aVHe's a nasty guy. +p1644 +aVWhere did I support it? Where did I... +p1645 +aVAgain, where did I support it? +p1646 +aVHey Ted, where I support it? +p1647 +aVWhere did I support? +p1648 +aVThat's a lot of lies. +p1649 +aVIt does do wonderful things, but not as it relates to abortion. +p1650 +aVExcuse me. Excuse me, there are wonderful things having to do with women's health. +p1651 +aVBut not when it comes to abortion. +p1652 +aVHold on... +p1653 +aVTed Cruz told your brother that he wanted John Roberts to be on the United States Supreme Court. They both pushed him, he twice approved Obamacare. +p1654 +aVO.K., governor. +p1655 +aVYou pushed him. You pushed him. +p1656 +aVYou worked with him and you pushed him. Why do you lie? +p1657 +aVWhy do you lie? +p1658 +aVYou pushed him. +p1659 +aVYeah, yeah, I know, you're an adult. +p1660 +aVWell, I would say my wife tells me I'm wrong all the time. And I listen. +p1661 +aVOh, let me just say \u2014 look, I am very open \u2014 I hired top people. I've had great success. I built a great, great company. I don't need to do this. I'm self-funding. I'm spending a lot of money. I've spent \u2014 like in New Hampshire, I spent $3 million. Jeb bush spent $44 million. He came in five, and I came in No. 1. That's what the country needs, folks. I spent 3, he spends 42 of their money, of special interest money. And it's just \u2014 this is not going to make \u2014 excuse me. This is not going to make our country great again. This is not what we need in our country. We need people that know what the hell they're doing. And politicians, they're all talk, they're no action. And that's why people are supporting me. I do listen to people. I hire experts. I hire top, top people. And I do listen. And you know what? Sometimes they're wrong. You have to know what to do, when to do it. But sometimes they're wrong. +p1662 +aVWell, I'll tell you \u2014 over the years, I've made many speeches. People have asked me, big companies have asked me to make speeches, and friends of mine that run big companies on success. And occasion, in order to sort of really highlight something, I'll use a profanity. One of the profanities that I got credited with using, that I didn't use, was a very bad word, two weeks ago, that I never used. I said, "You." And everybody said "Oh, he didn't say anything wrong." But you bleeped it, so everyone thinks I said the \u2014 I didn't say anything. I never said the word. It is very unfair, that criticism. Now, I will say this, with all of that being said, I have said I will not do it at all, because if I say a word that's a little bit off color, a little bit, it ends up being a headline. I will not do it again. I was a very good student at a great school not using \u2014 by the way \u2014 not using profanity is very easy. +p1663 +aVThat's not \u2014 let me respond. That's another lie. I never went bankrupt! +p1664 +aVNo, but it's another lie. +p1665 +aVNo, but it's another lie. This guy doesn't know what he's talking about. Just a lie. +p1666 +aVLet me just tell you. Jeb goes around saying, just like the biggest business leaders in this country, I've used the laws of the land to chapter \u2014 I bought a company, I threw it immediately into a chapter, I made a great deal. I uses the laws to my benefit, because I run a company. +p1667 +aVExcuse me, Jeb! +p1668 +aVI never went bankrupt, never. Now \u2014 but you don't want to say that. Now, let me just say, I've used it, just like the biggest leaders in the country. Let me tell you something \u2014 Florida. Florida, he put so much debt on Florida. You know, we keep saying he's a wonderful governor, wonderful governor. He put so much debt on Florida, and he increased spending so much that as soon as he got out of office, Florida crashed. I happened to be there. It's my second home. Florida crashed. He didn't do a good job as governor. +p1669 +aVAnd you haven't \u2014 excuse me, you haven't heard that. You listen to the good record in Florida. You take a look at what happened, as soon as that year ended he got out, Florida crashed. Too much debt. He loaded it up with debt, and his spending went through the roof. +p1670 +aVBy the way... +p1671 +aV... he was not a good governor. +p1672 +aVTake a look at your numbers. +p1673 +aVFlorida went down the tubes right after he got out of office. +p1674 +aVWent right down because of what he did to it. +p1675 +aVThank you. Politicians are all talk, no action. You've seen where they've take you to. We are 19 trillion dollars right now. It's going to be increased with that horrible budget from a month ago that was just approved by politicians. We need a change. We need a very big change. We're going to make our country great again. I say this every night, every day, every afternoon, and it's so true \u2014 we don't win anymore. We don't win with health care, we don't win with +p1676 +aVI actually think I have the best temperament. I built a massive corporation. I employ thousands and thousands of people. I've gotten along with people for years and years, have tremendous relationships with many people, including politicians on both sides. And no matter how you cut it, when I \u2014 when I came out, I hit immigration, I hit it very hard. Everybody said, "Oh, the temperament," because I talked about illegal immigration. Now, everybody's coming to me, they're all trying to say, well, he's right, we have to come to him. I hit other things. I talked about Muslims. We have a problem. Nobody else wanted to mention the problem, I brought it up. I took a lot of heat. We have to have a temporary something, because there's something going on that's not good. And remember this, I'm the only one up here, when the war of Iraq \u2014 in Iraq, I was the one that said, "Don't go, don't do it, you're going to destabilize the Middle East." So, I'm not one with a trigger. I'm not one with a trigger. Other people up here, believe me, would be a lot faster. But I'll build the mill arbitrary stronger, bigger, better than anybody up here, and nobody is going to mess with us. That, I can tell you. +p1677 +aVAm I allowed to respond? I have to respond. +p1678 +aVFirst of all, I respect what Ted just said, but if you noticed, he didn't answer your question. And that's what's going to happen \u2014 OK. That's what's going to happen with our enemies and the people we compete against. We're going to win with Trump. We're going to win. We don't win anymore. Our country doesn't win anymore. We're going to win with Trump. And people back down with Trump. And that's what I like and that's what the country is going to like. +p1679 +aVWell, let me say a couple of things. First of all, Marco said earlier on that President Obama knows exactly what he's doing, like we have this president that really knows. I disagree, respectfully, with Marco. I think we have a president who, as a president, is totally incompetent, and he doesn't know what he's doing. I think he has no idea what he's doing. And our country is going to hell. So, I just want to say, we disagree on that. Is that okay? +p1680 +aVGood. +p1681 +aVAs to North Korea? +p1682 +aVWe have \u2014 tremendous \u2014 has been just sucked out of our country by China. China says they don't have that good of control over North Korea. They have tremendous control. I deal with the Chinese all of the time. I do tremendous \u2014 the largest bank in the world is in one of my buildings in Manhattan. I deal with them. They tell me. They have total, absolute control, practically, of North Korea. They are sucking trillions of dollars out of our country \u2014 they're rebuilding China with the money they take out of our country. I would get on with China, let China solve that problem. They can do it quickly and surgically. That's what we should do with North Korea. +p1683 +aVGood evening. +p1684 +aVYes. HAM: In the Democratic primary, Hillary Clinton has criticized Bernie Sanders' plan for single payer government health care, noting it would require big, across the board tax increases for Americans. In doing so, she's doubling down on Obamacare, despite its persistent unpopularity. Mr. Trump, you have said you want to appeal Obamacare. You have also said, quote, "Everybody's got to be covered," adding, quote, "The government's going to pay for it." Are you closer to Bernie Sanders' vision for health care than Hillary Clinton's? +p1685 +aVI don't think I am. I think I'm closer to common sense. We are going to repeal Obamacare. We're going to repeal Obamacare. We are going to replace Obamacare with something so much better. And there are so many examples of it. And I will tell you, part of the reason we have some people laughing, because you have insurance people that take care of everybody up here. I am self-funded. The only one they're not taking care of is me. We have our lines around each state. The insurance companies are getting rich on Obamacare. The insurance companies are getting rich on health care and health services and everything having to do with health. We are going to end that. We're going to take out the artificial boundaries, the artificial lines. We're going to get a plan where people compete, free enterprise. They compete. So much better. In addition to that, you have the health care savings plans, which are excellent. What I do say is, there will be a certain number of people that will be on the street dying and as a Republican, I don't want that to happen. We're going to take care of people that are dying on the street because there will be a group of people that are not going to be able to even think in terms of private or anything else and we're going to take care of those people. And I think everybody on this stage would have to agree......you're not going to let people die, sitting in the middle of a street in any city in this country. +p1686 +aVWell, let me just tell you about eminent domain because almost all of these people actually criticize it, but so many people have hit me with commercials and other things about eminent domain. Eminent domain is an absolute necessity for a country, for our country. Without it, you wouldn't have roads, you wouldn't have hospitals, you wouldn't have anything. You wouldn't have schools, you wouldn't have bridges. You need eminent domain. And a lot of the big conservatives that tell me how conservative they are \u2014 I think I'm more than they are \u2014 they tell me, oh \u2014 well, they all want the Keystone Pipeline. The Keystone Pipeline, without eminent domain, it wouldn't go 10 feet, OK? You need eminent domain. And eminent domain is a good thing, not a bad thing. And what a lot of people don't know because they were all saying, oh, you're going to take their property. When somebody \u2014 when eminent domain is used on somebody's property, that person gets a fortune. They get at least fair market value, and if they are smart, they'll get two or three times the value of their property. But without eminent domain, you don't have roads, highways, schools, bridges or anything. So eminent domain \u2014 it's not that I love it, but eminent domain is absolutely \u2014 it's a necessity for a country. And certainly it's a necessity for our country. +p1687 +aVYes. +p1688 +aVJeb wants to be \u2014 he wants to be a tough guy tonight. I didn't take the property. +p1689 +aVI didn't take the property. +p1690 +aVThe woman ultimately didn't want to do that. I walked away. +p1691 +aVWell, let me just \u2014 you know, he wants to be a tough guy. A lot of times, you'll have \u2014 you'll have \u2014 and it didn't work very well. +p1692 +aVA lot of time \u2014 let me talk. Quiet. A lot of times \u2014 a lot of times... +p1693 +aV... you \u2014 let me talk. Let me talk. Quiet. A lot of times......that's all of his donors and special interests out there. So \u2014 it's what it is. That's what \u2014 and by the way, let me just tell you, we needed tickets. You can't get them. You know who has the tickets for the \u2014 I'm talking about, to the television audience? Donors, special interests, the people that are putting up the money. That's who it is. The RNC told us. We have all donors in the audience. And the reason they're not loving me......the reason they're not \u2014 excuse me. The reason they're not loving me is, I don't want their money. I'm going to do the right thing for the American public. I don't want their money. I don't need their money. And I'm the only one up here that can say that. Eminent domain, the Keystone pipeline \u2014 do you consider that a private job? Do you \u2014 do you consider that... +p1694 +aVNo \u2014 no, let me ask you, Jeb. Do you consider the Keystone pipeline private? +p1695 +aVIs it public or private? +p1696 +aVReal \u2014 a public use? +p1697 +aVNo, it's a private job. +p1698 +aVIt's a private job. +p1699 +aVYou wouldn't have the Keystone pipeline that you want so badly without eminent domain. +p1700 +aVYou wouldn't have massive \u2014 excuse me, Josh \u2014 you wouldn't have massive factories without eminent domain. +p1701 +aVWell, I think I am, and to me, I view the word conservative as a derivative I \u2014 of \u2014 of the word conserve. We want to converse our money. We want to conserve our wealth. We want to conserve. We want to be smart. We want to be smart where we go, where we spend, how we spend. We want to conserve our country. We want to save our country. And we have people that have no idea how to do that and they are not doing it, and it's a very important word and it's something I believe in very, very strongly. +p1702 +aVWell, before I go there, I will tell you, I will bring jobs back from China. I will bring jobs back from Japan. I will bring jobs back from Mexico, where New Hampshire, by the way, has been virtually wiped out. They've lost so many businesses going to Mexico because of horrible trade deals. And now we're about to sign another trade deal, TPP, which is going to be a disaster for this country because they don't talk about monetary manipulation. It is going to be a disaster. I'm going to bring jobs back and I'll start bringing them back very fast. Under my tax plan \u2014 right now, we're the highest taxed country in the world. Under my plan, we cut not only taxes for the middle class, but we cut taxes for corporations. We will bring back trillions of dollars that's offshore. Right now, they have $2.5 trillion, and in my opinion, it's much more than that. That's what the government says. All of that money is going to come back. And we're not going to lose Pfizer, which is now leaving, and other great companies, which is now leaving. And they're all leaving. We have many, many companies that are leaving this country. We're not going to lose them anymore because we're going to have a tax structure that is going to keep them in our country. +p1703 +aVWell, four years ago, I said, bomb the oil and take the oil. And if we did that, they wouldn't have the wealth they have right now. Now, I still say the same thing, because we're doing little pinpricks. We're not even bombing \u2014 if somebody's driving a truck, they give notice to the person driving the truck, "we're going to bomb." If they don't get out of the truck, the truck sails away with the oil. We actually have a case where we don't want to bomb the oil, because we don't want to hurt \u2014 pollute the atmosphere. Can you imagine General Douglas MacArthur or General Patton saying we can't bomb because we're gonna hurt the atmosphere? You have to knock the hell out of the oil. You have to take the oil. And you have also back channels of banking. You have people that you think are our great allies, our friends, in the Middle East, that are paying tremendous numbers of \u2014 tremendous amounts of money to +p1704 +aVYou have to go in \u2014 first of all, when you take away their money, when you take away their wealth, that'll very much weaken \u2014 and it will happen fairly fast. They'll last for about a year, based on all of the wealth they've accumulated. But when you stop the banking channels and when you stop the oil and take the oil \u2014 not just bomb it, take it \u2014 when you do that, it's going to dry up very quickly. They're going to become a very weakened power, quickly. Thank you. +p1705 +aVWell, I'll tell you what. In the Middle East, we have people chopping the heads off Christians, we have people chopping the heads off many other people. We have things that we have never seen before \u2014 as a group, we have never seen before, what's happening right now. The medieval times \u2014 I mean, we studied medieval times \u2014 not since medieval times have people seen what's going on. I would bring back waterboarding and I'd bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding. +p1706 +aV... No, a good deal maker will make great deals, but we'll do it the way our founders thought it should be done. People get together, they make deals. Ronald Reagan did it with Tip O'Neil very successfully, you didn't hear so much about executive orders, if you heard about it at all. You have to be able to get a consensus. Now, the real person like it was mentioned about the deal with Iran, how bad a deal is that? It doesn't get any more amateurish than that. A good deal maker would never make a deal like that. With Congress, you have to get everybody in a room, and you have to get them to agree. But, you have to get them to agree what you want, and that's part of being a deal maker. You can't leave the White House, go to Hawaii and play golf for three weeks and be a real deal maker. It doesn't work that way. You have to get people in, grab them, hug them, kiss them, and get the deal done. But, it's got to be the deal that you want. HAM: Governor Kasich, is the problem with Washington that there are too many deals, or too few? +p1707 +aVSome? +p1708 +aVWell... +p1709 +aVYes. OK, good. It looked like he was looking right at me, right there. I think that \u2014 I look at what's going on, I look at all of the polls, I do very, very well against Hillary Clinton. I can tell you, I'm the last person that she wants to run against. And I think you can see what we've done in terms of galvanizing. I've been all over the country. We're \u2014 last night, I was in South Carolina, we had 12,000 people. It set up in about four days. We have galvanized and we've created a movement. A lot of it has to do with \u2014 as an example, Josh's question on drugs. I'm the first person that said, "Build a wall." But I mean, a real wall, not a toy wall like they have right now. A real wall. And you'll solve lots of problems. But we will galvanize the people of this country, and we will beat Hillary Clinton. Because \u2014 assuming that she runs, by the way, how she gets away with the e-mail stuff is hard to believe. So, I don't know that she's going to be running. But on the assumption she runs... I mean, look. And speaking of that, if she runs, she's running for one reason. She's going to be able to run for one reason, and that's because the Democrats are protecting her. Because so many people have done so much less than her, and they were absolutely \u2014 their lives have been destroyed. But on the assumption they do protect her, I will win the election and we will win it by a lot. We will win it handily. We cannot have another four years of essentially Barack Obama. +p1710 +aVWell, there is a divide, but I have to say that the police are absolutely mistreated and misunderstood, and if there is an incident, whether it's an incident done purposely \u2014 which is a horror, and you should really take very strong action \u2014 or if it is a mistake, it's on your news casts all night, all week, all month, and it never ends. The police in this country have done an unbelievable job of keeping law and order, and they're afraid for their jobs, they're afraid of the mistreatment they get, and I'm telling you that not only, me speaking, minorities all over the country, they respect the police of this country and we have to give them more respect. They can't act. They can't act. They're afraid for losing their pension, their job. They don't know what to do. And I deal with them all the time. We have to give great respect, far greater than we are right now, to our really fantastic police. +p1711 +aVWell, they do. And, you know, they sue. Everybody sues, right? They see excessive \u2014 I mean, they go out, they sue. We have so much litigation \u2014 I see the courts, I see what they're doing. They sue, and you know what? We don't want excessive force. But at what point \u2014 you know, either you're going to have a police force that can do its job... I was just up in Manchester, I met with the police officers yesterday. Tremendous people. They love the area, they love the people, they love all the people. They want to do their job. And you're going to have abuse and you're going to have problems, and you've got to solve the problems and you have to weed out the problems. But the police in this country are absolutely amazing people. +p1712 +aVWell, I \u2014 I know Diane Foley very well. Her husband and \u2014 these are tremendous people. I spoke for them, I raised a lot of money for the foundation. I fully understand, James, one of \u2014 that was really the first that we saw, really visually saw \u2014 it was so horrible. And I will tell you, though, with all of that being said, you can not negotiate this way with terrorists. If you do, you are going to have many, many more James Foleys. James Foley was a great young man. His parents are incredible people. They've done such a good job, since his \u2014 since his death. But you just cannot negotiate that way with terrorists, or you're gonna have so many other James Foleys. And one thing on the vets \u2014 during the last debate, I raised $6 million for the vets, and I will tell you something......I will tell you that I think nobody here, nobody on this stage, gets along with the veterans groups in New Hampshire better than I do without ball (ph) to sarel (ph) and all of the people that I deal with and these are great people. The one thing that we're not mentioning, there's tremendous fraud, waste and abuse in the Veterans Administration and if I'm running things, that's going to disappear......and it's going to disappear quickly. +p1713 +aVCarolina. +p1714 +aVThat's because he got Ben Carson's votes, by the way, but we won't . Our country that we love so much doesn't win anymore. We don't win with the military, we don't' win on the border. You look at New Hampshire with the tremendous problem we have with heroin. Number one thing I hear from the people of New Hampshire, who I love, and developed such relationships, we don't win with healthcare. We don't win with trade. You look at what other countries are doing to us. China. Everyone, they're killing us on trade. If I'm elected president, we will win, and we will win, and we will win. Thank you, thank you very much. +p1715 +aVIt's not fear and terror, it's reality. You just have to look today at Indonesia, bombings all over. You look at California, you look, frankly, at Paris where there's a \u2014 the strictest no-gun policy of any city anywhere in the world, and you see what happens: 130 people dead with many to follow. They're very, very badly wounded. They will \u2014 some will follow. And you look around, and you see what's happening, and this is not the case when he introduced the doctor \u2014 very nice, everything perfect but that is not representative of what you have in that line of migration. That could be the great Trojan Horse. It could be people that are going to do great, great destruction. When I look at the migration, I looked at the line, I said it actually on your show recently, where are the women? It looked like very few women. Very few children. Strong, powerful men, young and people are looking at that and they're saying what's going on? You look at the kind of damage that two people that two people that got married, they were radicalized \u2014 they got married, they killed 15 people in actually 15 \u2014 going to be probably 16 but you look at that and you take a look \u2014 a good strong look and that's what we have. We are nineteen trillion dollars \u2014 our country's a mess and we can't let all these people come into our country and break our borders. We can't do it. +p1716 +aVBut I was born here. +p1717 +aV. Big difference. +p1718 +aVOK, good. Because it wouldn't work. +p1719 +aV... first of all, let me just tell you something \u2014 and you know, because you just saw the numbers yourself \u2014 NBC Wall Street Journal just came out with a poll \u2014 headline: Trump way up, Cruz going down. I mean, so don't \u2014 so you can't \u2014 you can't......they don't like the Wall Street Journal. They don't like NBC, but I like the poll. And frankly, it just came out, and in Iowa now, as you know, Ted, in the last three polls, I'm beating you. So \u2014 you know, you shouldn't misrepresent how well you're doing with the polls. You don't have to say that. In fact, I was all for you until you started doing that, because that's a misrepresentation, number one. Number two, this isn't me saying it. I don't care. I think I'm going to win fair and square to win this way. Thank you. Lawrence Tribe and from Harvard \u2014 of Harvard, said that there is a serious question as to whether or not Ted can do this. OK? There are other attorneys that feel, and very, very fine constitutional attorneys, that feel that because he was not born on the land, he cannot run for office. Here's the problem. We're running. We're running. He does great. I win. I choose him as my vice presidential candidate, and the Democrats sue because we can't take him along for the ride. I don't like that. OK? The fact is \u2014 and if for some reason he beats the rest of the field, he beats the rest of the field . See, they don't like that. They don't like that. No, they don't like he beats the rest of the field, because they want me. But \u2014 if for some reason, Neil, he beats the rest of the field, I already know the Democrats are going to be bringing a suit. You have a big lawsuit over your head while you're running. And if you become the nominee, who the hell knows if you can even serve in office? So you should go out, get a declaratory judgment, let the courts decide. And you shouldn't have mentioned the polls because I would have been much... +p1720 +aVBecause now he's going a little bit better. No, I didn't care . It's true. No, it's true. Hey look, he never had a chance. Now, he's doing better. He's got probably a four or five percent chance. +p1721 +aVThe fact is, there is a big overhang. There's a big question mark on your head. And you can't do that to the party. You really can't. You can't do that to the party. You have to have certainty. Even if it was a one percent chance, and it's far greater than one percent because . I mean, you have great constitutional lawyers that say you can't run. If there was a \u2014 and you know I'm not bringing a suit. I promise. But the Democrats are going to bring a lawsuit, and you have to have certainty. You can't have a question. I can agree with you or not, but you can't have a question over your head. +p1722 +aVYou don't have to. Take it from Lawrence Tribe. Take it from your professors... +p1723 +aVHe's wrong. He's wrong. +p1724 +aVHe is not the only one. +p1725 +aVThere are many lawyers. +p1726 +aVNo \u2014 no...... I think if it doesn't... I like that. I like it. I'd consider it. But I think I'll go back to building buildings if it doesn't work out. +p1727 +aVI have a feeling it's going to work out, actually. +p1728 +aVOkay. First of all, Nikki this afternoon said I'm a friend of hers. Actually a close friend. And wherever you are sitting Nikki, I'm a friend. We're friends. That's good. But she did say there was anger. And I could say, oh, I'm not angry. I'm very angry because our country is being run horribly and I will gladly accept the mantle of anger. Our military is a disaster. Our healthcare is a horror show. Obamacare, we're going to repeal it and replace it. We have no borders. Our vets are being treated horribly. Illegal immigration is beyond belief. Our country is being run by incompetent people. And yes, I am angry. And I won't be angry when we fix it, but until we fix it, I'm very, very angry. And I say that to Nikki. So when Nikki said that, I wasn't offended. She said the truth. One of your colleagues interviewed me. And said, well, she said you were angry and I said to myself, huh, she's right. I'm not fighting that. I didn't find it offensive at all. I'm angry because our country is a mess. +p1729 +aVNo. I am a 2nd amendment person. If we had guns in California on the other side where the bullets went in the different direction, you wouldn't have 14 or 15 people dead right now. If even in Paris, if they had guns on the other side, going in the opposite direction, you wouldn't have 130 people plus dead. So the answer is no and what Jeb said is absolutely correct. We have a huge mental health problem in this country. We're closing hospitals, we're closing wards, we're closing so many because the states want to save money. We have to get back into looking at what's causing it. The guns don't pull the trigger. It's the people that pull the trigger and we have to find out what is going on. We have to protect our 2nd amendment and you cannot do this and certainly what Barack Obama was doing with the executive order. He doesn't want to get people together, the old-fashioned way, where you get Congress. You get the Congress, you get the Senate, you get together, you do legislation. He just writes out an executive order. Not supposed to happen that way. +p1730 +aVYou get the Congress. You get the Senate. You get together. You do legislation. He just writes out an order, executive order. It's not supposed to happen that way. +p1731 +aVSo conservatives actually do come out of Manhattan, including William F. Buckley and others, just so you understand. And just so \u2014 if I could, because he insulted a lot of people. I've had more calls on that statement that Ted made \u2014 New York is a great place. It's got great people, it's got loving people, wonderful people. When the World Trade Center came down, I saw something that no place on Earth could have handled more beautifully, more humanely than New York. You had two one hundred... ...you had two 110-story buildings come crashing down. I saw them come down. Thousands of people killed, and the cleanup started the next day, and it was the most horrific cleanup, probably in the history of doing this, and in construction. I was down there, and I've never seen anything like it. And the people in New York fought and fought and fought, and we saw more death, and even the smell of death \u2014 nobody understood it. And it was with us for months, the smell, the air. And we rebuilt downtown Manhattan, and everybody in the world watched and everybody in the world loved New York and loved New Yorkers. And I have to tell you, that was a very insulting statement that Ted made. +p1732 +aVNo. No. Look, we have to stop with political correctness. We have to get down to creating a country that's not going to have the kind of problems that we've had with people flying planes into the World Trade Centers, with the \u2014 with the shootings in California, with all the problems all over the world. I just left Indonesia \u2014 bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb. We have to find out what's going on. I said temporarily. I didn't say permanently. I said temporarily. And I have many great Muslim friends. And some of them, I will say, not all, have called me and said, "Donald, thank you very much; you're exposing an unbelievable problem and we have to get to the bottom of it." And unlike President Obama, where he refuses even to use the term of what's going on, he can't use the term for whatever reason. And if you can't use the term, you're never going to solve the problem. My Muslim friends, some, said, "thank you very much; we'll get to the bottom of it." But we have a serious problem. And we can't be the stupid country any more. We're laughed at all over the world. +p1733 +aVEleven points, to be exact. +p1734 +aVI want security for this country. OK? I want security. I'm tired of seeing what's going on, between the border where the people flow over; people come in; they live; they shoot. I want security for this country. We have a serious problem with, as you know, with radical Islam. We have a tremendous problem. It's not only a problem here. It's a problem all over the world. I want to find out why those two young people \u2014 those two horrible young people in California when they shot the 14 people, killed them \u2014 people they knew, people that held the wedding reception for them. I want to find out \u2014 many people saw pipe bombs and all sorts of things all over their apartment. Why weren't they vigilant? Why didn't they call? Why didn't they call the police? And by the way, the police are the most mistreated people in this country. I will tell you that. The most mistreated people. In fact, we need to \u2014 wait a minute \u2014 we need vigilance. We have to find out \u2014 many people knew about what was going on. Why didn't they turn those two people in so that you wouldn't have had all the death? There's something going on and it's bad. And I'm saying we have to get to the bottom of it. That's all I'm saying. We need security. +p1735 +aVThat's wrong. They were wrong. It's the New York Times, they are always wrong. +p1736 +aVThey were wrong. +p1737 +aVNo, I said, " I would use \u2014 " they were asking me what to do about North Korea. China, they don't like to tell us but they have total control \u2014 just about, of North Korea. They can solve the problem of North Korea if they wanted to but they taunt us. They say, " well, we don't really have control." Without China, North Korea doesn't even eat. China is ripping us on trade. They're devaluing their currency and they're killing our companies. Thousands of thousands \u2014 you look at the number of companies and the number in terms of manufacturing of plans that we've lost \u2014 50,000 because of China. +p1738 +aVWe've lost anywhere between four and seven million jobs because of China. What I said then was, "we have very unfair trade with China. We're going to have a trade deficit of 505 billion dollars this year with China." A lot of that is because they devalue their currency. What I said to the New York Times, is that, "we have great power, economic power over China and if we wanted to use that and the amount \u2014 where the 45 percent comes in, that would be the amount they saw their devaluations that we should get." That we should get. What I'm saying is this, I'm saying that we do it but if they don't start treating us fairly and stop devaluing and let their currency rise so that our companies can compete and we don't lose all of these millions of jobs that we're losing, I would certainly start taxing goods that come in from China. Who the hell has to lose 505 billion dollars a year? +p1739 +aVIt's not that complicated actually. +p1740 +aVOK, just so you understand \u2014 I know so much about trading about with China. Carl Icahn today as you know endorsed. Many businessmen want to endorse me. +p1741 +aVCarl said, "no, no \u2014 " but he's somebody \u2014 these are the kind of people that we should use to negotiate and not the China people that we have who are political hacks who don't know what they're doing and we have problems like this. If these are the kinds of people \u2014 we should use our best and our finest. Now, on that tariff \u2014 here's what I'm saying, China \u2014 they send their goods and we don't tax it \u2014 they do whatever they want to do. They do whatever what they do, OK. When we do business with China, they tax us. You don't know it, they tax us. I have many friends that deal with China. They can't \u2014 when they order the product and when they finally get the product it is taxed. If you looking at what happened with Boeing and if you look at what happened with so many companies that deal \u2014 so we don't have an equal playing field. I'm saying, absolutely, we don't have to continue to lose 505 billion dollars as a trade deficit for the privilege of dealing with China. I'm a free trader. I believe in it but we have to be smart and we have to use smart people to negotiate. I have the largest bank in the world as a tenant of mine. I sell tens' of millions of . I love China. I love the Chinese people but they laugh themselves, they can't believe how stupid the American leadership is. +p1742 +aVI'm totally open to a tariff. If they don't treat us fairly, hey, their whole trade is tariffed. You can't deal in China without tariffs. They do it to us, we don't it. It's not fair trade. +p1743 +aVI'm happy to have him tonight... +p1744 +aVNeil, the problem... +p1745 +aV... with what Marco is saying is that it takes too long, they're sucking us dry and it takes too long. It would just \u2014 you absolutely have to get involved with China, they are taking so much of what we have in terms of jobs in terms of money. We just can't do it any longer. +p1746 +aVYou looking at me? +p1747 +aVCan I tell you what? It will never happen because they'll let their currency go up. They're never going to let it happen. Japan, the same thing. They are devaluing \u2014 it's so impossible for \u2014 you look at Caterpillar Tractor and what's happening with Caterpillar and Kamatsu. Kamatsu is a tractor company in Japan. Friends of mine are ordering Kamatsu tractors now because they've de-valued the yen to such an extent that you can't buy a Caterpillar tractor. And we're letting them get away with it and we can't let them get away with it. And that's why we have to use Carl and we have to use our great businesspeople and not political hacks to negotiate with these guys. +p1748 +aVAnd we don't need a weak person being president of the United State, OK? Because that's what we'd get if it were Jeb \u2014 I tell you what, we don't need that. +p1749 +aVWe don't need that. That's essentially what we have now, and we don't need that. And that's why we're in the trouble that we're in now. And by the way, Jeb you mentioned Boeing, take a look. They order planes, they make Boeing build their plant in China. They don't want them made here. They want those planes made in China. +p1750 +aVThat's not the way the game is supposed to be played. +p1751 +aVNo, the new planes. I'm not talking about now, I'm talking about in the future they're building massive plants in China because China does not want Boeing building their planes here, they want them built in China, because China happens to be smart the way they do it, not the way we do it. +p1752 +aVI'll check for you. +p1753 +aVMaria \u2014 Maria, what you were talking about just now is called corporate inversion. It's one of the biggest problems our country has. Right now, corporations, by the thousands, are thinking of leaving our country with the jobs \u2014 leave them behind. They're leaving because of taxes, but they are also leaving because they can't get their money back and everybody agrees, Democrats and Republicans, that is should come back in. But they can't get along. They can't even make a deal. Here is the case, they both agree, they can't make a deal. We have to do something. Corporate inversion is one of the biggest problems we have. So many companies are going to leave our country. +p1754 +aVThank you. +p1755 +aVWell, it's an interesting question because I'm very proud of my company. As you too know, I know I built a very great company. But if I become president, I couldn't care less about my company. It's peanuts. I want to use that same up here, whatever it may be to make America rich again and to make America great again. I have Ivanka, and Eric and Don sitting there. Run the company kids, have a good time. I'm going to do it for America. So I would \u2014 I would be willing to do that. +p1756 +aVI would put it in a blind trust. Well, I don't know if it's a blind trust if Ivanka, Don and Eric run it. If that's a blind trust, I don't know. But I would probably have my children run it with my executives and I wouldn't ever be involved because I wouldn't care about anything but our country, anything. +p1757 +aVThank you. +p1758 +aVI stood yesterday with 75 construction workers. They're tough, they're strong, they're great people. Half of them had tears pouring down their face. They were watching the humiliation of our young ten sailors, sitting on the floor with their knees in a begging position, their hands up. And Iranian wise guys having guns to their heads. It was a terrible sight. A terrible sight. And the only reason we got them back is because we owed them with a stupid deal, $150 billion. If I'm president, there won't be stupid deals anymore. We will make America great again. We will win on everything we do. Thank you. +p1759 +aVThank you. I began this journey six months ago. My total focus was on building up our military, building up our strength, building up our borders, making sure that China, Japan, Mexico, both at the border and in trade, no longer takes advantage of our country. Certainly would never have made that horrible, disgusting, absolutely incompetent deal with Iran where they get $150 billion. They're a terrorist nation. But I began it talking about other things. And those things are things that I'm very good at and maybe that's why I'm center stage. People saw it. People liked it. People respected it. A month ago things changed. Radical Islamic terrorism came into effect even more so than it has been in the past. People like what I say. People respect what I say. And we've opened up a very big discussion that needed to be opened up. Thank you very much. +p1760 +aVWe are not talking about isolation. We're talking about security. We're not talking about religion. We're talking about security. Our country is out of control. People are pouring across the southern border. I will build a wall. It will be a great wall. People will not come in unless they come in legally. Drugs will not pour through that wall. As far as other people like in the migration, where they're going, tens of thousands of people having cell phones with +p1761 +aVJeb doesn't really believe I'm unhinged. He said that very simply because he has failed in this campaign. It's been a total disaster. Nobody cares. And frankly, I'm the most solid person up here. I built a tremendous company and all I want to do is make America great again. I don't want our country to be taken away from us, and that's what's happening. The policies that we've suffered under other presidents have been a disaster for our country. We want to make America great again. And Jeb, in all fairness, he doesn't believe that. +p1762 +aVWell, look, this is so easy to answer. +p1763 +aVI would certainly be open to closing areas where we are at war with somebody. I sure as hell don't want to let people that want to kill us and kill our nation use our Internet. Yes, sir, I am. +p1764 +aVWe have to be much tougher. We have to be much stronger than we've been. We have people that know what is going on. You take a look at just the attack in California the other day. There were numerous people, including the mother, that knew what was going on. They saw a pipe bomb sitting all over the floor. They saw ammunition all over the place. They knew exactly what was going on. When you had the World Trade Center go, people were put into planes that were friends, family, girlfriends, and they were put into planes and they were sent back, for the most part, to Saudi Arabia. They knew what was going on. They went home and they wanted to watch their boyfriends on television. I would be very, very firm with families. Frankly, that will make people think because they may not care much about their lives, but they do care, believe it or not, about their families' lives. +p1765 +aVLook, the problem is we need toughness. Honestly, I think Jeb is a very nice person. He's a very nice person. But we need tough people. We need toughness. We need intelligence and we need tough. Jeb said when they come across the southern border they come as an act of love. +p1766 +aVAm I talking or are you talking, Jeb? +p1767 +aVYou can go back. You're not talking. You interrupted me. +p1768 +aVAre you going to apologize, Jeb? No. Am I allowed to finish? +p1769 +aVExcuse me, am I allowed to finish? +p1770 +aVSo... +p1771 +aV... again... +p1772 +aVI know you're trying to build up your energy, Jeb, but it's not working very well. +p1773 +aVLook, look, look. We need a toughness. We need strength. We're not respected, you know, as a nation anymore. We don't have that level of respect that we need. And if we don't get it back fast, we're just going to go weaker, weaker and just disintegrate. We can't allow that to happen. We need strength. We don't have it. When Jeb comes out and he talks about the border, and I saw it and I was witness to it, and so was everyone else, and I was standing there, "they come across as an act of love," he's saying the same thing right now with radical Islam. And we can't have that in our country. It just won't work. We need strength. +p1774 +aVWith Jeb's attitude, we will never be great again, that I can tell you. We will never be great again. +p1775 +aVSo, they can kill us, but we can't kill them? That's what you're saying. And as far as the Internet is concerned, we're not talking about closing the Internet. I'm talking about parts of Syria, parts of Iraq, where +p1776 +aVIn my opinion, we've spent $4 trillion trying to topple various people that frankly, if they were there and if we could've spent that $4 trillion in the United States to fix our roads, our bridges, and all of the other problems; our airports and all of the other problems we've had, we would've been a lot better off. I can tell you that right now. We have done a tremendous disservice, not only to Middle East, we've done a tremendous disservice to humanity. The people that have been killed, the people that have wiped away, and for what? It's not like we had victory. It's a mess. The Middle East is totally destabilized. A total and complete mess. I wish we had the $4 trillion or $5 trillion. I wish it were spent right here in the United States, on our schools, hospitals, roads, airports, and everything else that are all falling apart. +p1777 +aVWell, there's nothing to respond to. Well, people feel differently. I mean, the fact is Benghazi was a disaster because of Libya, everything just fell into place. It could not have been worse. What do we have now? We have nothing. We've spent $3 trillion and probably much more \u2013 I have no idea what we've spent. Thousands and thousands of lives, we have nothing. Wounded warriors all over the place who I love, we have nothing for it. And by the way \u2013 and Ben said incorrectly \u2013 and I'm not saying this as a knock \u2013 he's one of finest men. You're not going to find a finer men. But I've been talking about oil for three years. I've been saying,, "take the oil, take the oil." I didn't say, "just bomb it," I said," take it and use it and distribute it so that the wounded warriors -" People, I've been saying this now for many years. +p1778 +aVNow, all of a sudden everybody's saying, "take the oil." It wasn't so fashionable to take the oil six months ago. I've been saying it for years. +p1779 +aVI think Assad is a bad guy, a very bad guy, all right? Lots of people killed. I think we are backing people we have no idea who they are. The rebels, we call them the rebels, the patriotic rebels. We have no idea. A lot of people think, Hugh, that they are +p1780 +aVI think it's very sad that CNN leads Jeb Bush, Governor Bush, down a road by starting off virtually all the questions, "Mr. Trump this, Mister" \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched the first debate, and the first long number of questions were, "Mr. Trump said this, Mr. Trump said that. Mr. Trump" \u2014 these poor guys \u2014 although, I must tell you, Santorum, good guy. Governor Huckabee, good guy. They were very nice, and I respect them greatly. But I thought it was very unfair that virtually the entire early portion of the debate was Trump this, Trump that, in order to get ratings, I guess. In order to get ratings, I guess. +p1781 +aVI just think it's very \u2014 excuse me. +p1782 +aVExcuse me. I think it's very unprofessional. +p1783 +aVWell, I think it's very unprofessional. +p1784 +aVOK, fine. +p1785 +aVThis isn't tough and easy. I wish it... +p1786 +aVI wish it was always this easy as you, Jeb. +p1787 +aVOh, yeah. +p1788 +aVOh, I know. You're a tough guy, Jeb. I know. +p1789 +aVYou're tough. +p1790 +aVWell, let's see. I'm at 42, and you're at 3. So, so far, I'm doing better. +p1791 +aVSo far, I'm doing better. You know, you started off over here, Jeb. You're moving over further and further. Pretty soon you're going to be off the end... +p1792 +aVI believe I did. +p1793 +aVI have a very hardline position, we have a country or we don't have a country. People that have come into our country illegally, they have to go. They have to come back into through a legal process. I want a strong border. I do want a wall. Walls do work, you just have to speak to the folks in Israel. Walls work if they're properly constructed. I know how to build, believe me, I know how to build. I feel a very, very strong bind, and really I'm bound to this country, we either have a border or we don't. People can come into the country, we welcome people to come but they have to come in legally. +p1794 +aVWell, first of all, I think we need somebody absolutely that we can trust, who is totally responsible; who really knows what he or she is doing. That is so powerful and so important. And one of the things that I'm frankly most proud of is that in 2003, 2004, I was totally against going into Iraq because you're going to destabilize the Middle East. I called it. I called it very strongly. And it was very important. But we have to be extremely vigilant and extremely careful when it comes to nuclear. Nuclear changes the whole ball game. Frankly, I would have said get out of Syria; get out \u2014 if we didn't have the power of weaponry today. The power is so massive that we can't just leave areas that 50 years ago or 75 years ago we wouldn't care. It was hand-to-hand combat. The biggest problem this world has today is not President Obama with global warming, which is inconceivable, this is what he's saying. The biggest problem we have is nuclear \u2014 nuclear proliferation and having some maniac, having some madman go out and get a nuclear weapon. That's in my opinion, that is the single biggest problem that our country faces right now. +p1795 +aVI think \u2014 I think, for me, nuclear is just the power, the devastation is very important to me. +p1796 +aVI did. +p1797 +aVLet me just say that I have gotten to know him over the last three or four days. He has a wonderful temperament. He's just fine. Don't worry about it. +p1798 +aVYou better not attack... +p1799 +aVI really am. I'll be honest, I really am. I mean, the people have been putting me... I really am. +p1800 +aVLet me just. Can I just finish my... +p1801 +aVI've gained great respect for the Republican leadership. I've gained great respect for many \u2014 and I'm going to even say \u2014 I mean, in different forms for the people on the dais, in different forms. In different forms. But I have great respect for the people I have met through this process. I've never done this process before. I've never been a politician. I mean, for the last six months I've been a politician. But I will tell you, I am totally committed to the Republican Party. I feel very honored to be the front runner. And I think I'll do very well if I'm chosen. If I'm so fortunate to be chosen, I think I'll do very well. Polls have come out recently saying I would beat Hillary. I will do everything in my power to beat Hillary Clinton, I promise you. +p1802 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We don't win on trade. We don't win on the military. We can't defeat +p1803 +aVI can't be Neil. And the and the reason I can't be is that we are a country that is being beaten on every front economically, militarily. There is nothing that we do now to win. We don't win anymore. Our taxes are too high. I've come up with a tax plan that many, many people like very much. It's going to be a tremendous plan. I think it'll make our country and our economy very dynamic. But, taxes too high, wages too high, we're not going to be able to compete against the world. I hate to say it, but we have to leave it the way it is. People have to go out, they have to work really hard and have to get into that upper stratum. But we can not do this if we are going to compete with the rest of the world. We just can't do it. +p1804 +aVI would not do it. +p1805 +aVI was so happy yesterday when I saw that decision come down. That was an unbelievable decision. And we don't have enough of those decisions coming down. He of the executive order, because nobody wants to listen to him, including the Democrats, so he just goes around signing executive orders. That was a great day. And, frankly, we have to stop illegal immigration. It's hurting us economically. It's hurting us from every standpoint. It's causing tremendous difficulty with respect to drugs and what that does to many of our inner cities in particular. And it really is \u2014 was such an unbelievable moment because the courts have not been ruling in our favor. And it was a 2-1 decision. And it was a terrific thing that happened. And I will tell you, we are a country of laws. We need borders. We will have a wall. The wall will be built. The wall will be successful. And if you think walls don't work, all you have to do is ask Israel. The wall works, believe me. Properly done. Believe me. +p1806 +aVYou are going to have to bring people \u2014 you are going to have to send people out. Look, we're a country... +p1807 +aVMaria, we're a country of laws. We either have a country or we don't have a country. We are a country of laws. Going to have to go out and they will come back but they are going to have to go out and hopefully they get back. But we have no choice if we're going to run our country properly and if we're going to be a country. +p1808 +aVAll I can say is, you're lucky in Ohio that you struck oil. That is for one thing. Let me just tell you that Dwight Eisenhower, good president, great president, people liked him. "I like Ike," right? The expression. "I like Ike." Moved a 1.5 million illegal immigrants out of this country, moved them just beyond the border. They came back. Moved them again beyond the border, they came back. Didn't like it. Moved them way south. They never came back. Dwight Eisenhower. You don't get nicer. You don't get friendlier. They moved a 1.5 million out. We have no choice. We have no choice. +p1809 +aVNo, it's unfair. +p1810 +aV... built an unbelievable company worth billions and billions of dollars. I don't have to hear from this man, believe me. I don't have to hear from him. +p1811 +aVWe have millions of people right now on line trying to come into this country. Very, very unfair to the people that want to come into our country legally. They've gone through the process. They're on line. They're waiting. Very, very unfair to them. That I can tell you. +p1812 +aVYes. +p1813 +aVNo, I'm sorry. No, excuse me. I was there. +p1814 +aVPlease, if I could just... +p1815 +aVWe have to make our military bigger, better, stronger than ever before so that nobody messes with us, and a long run, it's going to save us. I agree with Marco, I agree with Ted, we have no choice. And, I can tell you this with certainty. We all have a different tax plan. Some I don't totally agree with. One thing we understand, each one of those tax plans is better than the mess that we have right now. +p1816 +aV...Yes... +p1817 +aV...Yeah... +p1818 +aV...It's a horrible deal... +p1819 +aVThe TPP is horrible deal. It is a deal that is going to lead to nothing but trouble. It's a deal that was designed for China to come in, as they always do, through the back door and totally take advantage of everyone. It's 5,600 pages long. So complex that nobodies read it. It's like Obamacare; nobody ever read it. They passed it; nobody read it. And look at mess we have right now. And it will be repealed. But this is one of the worst trade deals. And I would, yes, rather not have it. With all of these countries, and all of the bad ones getting advantage and taking advantage of what the good ones would normally get, I'd rather make individual deals with individual countries. We will do much better. We lose a fortune on trade. The United States loses with everybody. We're losing now over $500 billion in terms of imbalance with China, $75 billion a year imbalance with Japan. By the way, Mexico, $50 billion a year imbalance. So I must say, Gerard, I just think it's a terrible deal. I love trade. I'm a free trader, 100 percent. But we need smart people making the deals, and we don't have smart people making the deals. +p1820 +aVYes. Well, the currency manipulation they don't discuss in the agreement, which is a disaster. If you look at the way China and India and almost everybody takes advantage of the United States \u2014 China in particular, because they're so good. It's the number-one abuser of this country. And if you look at the way they take advantage, it's through currency manipulation. It's not even discussed in the almost 6,000-page agreement. It's not even discussed. +p1821 +aVAnd as you understand, I mean, you understand very well from the Wall Street Journal, currency manipulation is the single great weapon people have. They don't even discuss it in this agreement. So I say, it's a very bad deal, should not be approved. If it is approved, it will just be more bad trade deals, more loss of jobs for our country. We are losing jobs like nobody's ever lost jobs before. I want to bring jobs back into this country. +p1822 +aVWell, first of all, it's not only Russia. We have problems with North Korea where they actually have nuclear weapons. You know, nobody talks about it, we talk about Iran, and that's one of the worst deals ever made. One of the worst contracts ever signed, ever, in anything, and it's a disgrace. But, we have somebody over there, a madman, who already has nuclear weapons we don't talk about that. That's a problem. China is a problem, both economically in what they're doing in the South China Sea, I mean, they are becoming a very, very major force. So, we have more than just Russia. But, as far as the Ukraine is concerned, and you could Syria \u2014 as far as Syria, I like \u2014 if Putin wants to go in, and I got to know him very well because we were both on 60 Minutes, we were stablemates, and we did very well that night. But, you know that. But, if Putin wants to go and knocked the hell out of +p1823 +aV...They blew up \u2014 hold it.... +p1824 +aV...They blew up, wait a minute... ...They blew up a Russian airplane. He cannot be in love with these people. He's going in, and we can go in, and everybody should go in. As far as the Ukraine is concerned, we have a group of people, and a group of countries, including Germany \u2014 tremendous economic behemoth \u2014 why are we always doing the work? We are \u2014 I'm all for protecting Ukraine and working \u2014 but, we have countries that are surrounding the Ukraine that aren't doing anything. They say, "Keep going, keep going, you dummies, keep going. Protect us..." ...And we have to get smart. We can't continue to be the policeman of the world. We are $19 trillion dollars, we have a country that's going to hell, we have an infrastructure that's falling apart. Our roads, our bridges, our schools, our airports, and we have to start investing money in our country. +p1825 +aVAssad is a bad guy, but we have no idea who the so-called rebels \u2014 I read about the rebels, nobody even knows who they are. I spoke to a general two weeks ago, he said \u2014 he was very up on exactly what we're talking about. He said, "You know, Mr. Trump? We're giving hundreds of millions of dollars of equipment to these people, we have no idea who they are." So, I don't like Assad. Who's going to like Assad? But, we have no idea who these people, and what they're going to be, and what they're going to represent. They may be far worse than Assad. Look at Libya. Look at Iraq. Look at the mess we have after spending $2 trillion dollars, thousands of lives, wounded warriors all over the place \u2014 who I love, OK? All over. We have nothing. And, I said, keep the oil. And we should have kept the oil, believe me. We should have kept the oil. And, you know what? We should have given the oil... ..We should've given big chunks to the people that lost their arms, their legs, and their families, and their sons, and daughters, because right now, you know who has a lot of that oil? Iran, and +p1826 +aVWhy does she keep interrupting everybody? Terrible. +p1827 +aVWe are not. +p1828 +aV...No, no, no... +p1829 +aVWell, what's happening right now, Neil, is something that not been a subject of conversation by politicians. As primarily the only politician, I guess other than Carly on the stage, they haven't talked about a corporate inversion. A corporate inversion \u2014 companies are leaving. You know, we used to leave New York to go to Florida. We got better taxes, we got, maybe, something else. Now, they're the United States to go to other countries. They have trillions of dollars in those other countries. They're going for two reasons, they can't get their money back in. It's something where the democrats and the republicans both agree, it's the only thing I can think of. They both agree, let the money come back in. Three and a half years, they still can't make a deal. They can't get the money in. It's probably two and a half trillion, but, I think it's much more than that. All of that money could become \u2014 could come right in and be used to rebuild our country, and investments in our country. They can't do it. What we have to do, and what I've done, is made the tax rate \u2014 and one of the reasons they don't the taxes so obnoxious, they can't do it. Where, I made it a 10% number, as you know. I've been very highly praised for it. A lot of money's going to come back in, we're going to get rid of the bureaucratic problems, and roadblocks, because that's also a problem. And, we're going to have all of this money pour back into the United States. It's going to be used to build businesses, for jobs, and everything else. And, as I say, my expression is, let's make America great again. +p1830 +aVThank you. Over the years, I've created tens of thousands of jobs and a great company. It's a company I'm very proud of. Some of the most iconic assets anywhere in the world. And I will tell you, I don't have to give you a website because I'm self-funding my campaign. I'm putting up my own money. I want to do something really special. I want to make our country greater than it's ever been. I think we have that potential. We cannot lose this election. We cannot let Hillary Clinton, who is the worst secretary of state in the history of our country, win this election. We will fight. We will win. And we truly will make this even more special. We have to make it better than ever before. And I will tell you, the United States can actually be better than ever before. Thank you. +p1831 +asVCHRISTIE +p1832 +(lp1833 +VWhat about Kasich? Can I introduce Kasich? +p1834 +aVSure. First, let's remember something. Every morning when a United States senator wakes up, they think about what kind of speech can I give or what kind of bill can I drop? Every morning, when I wake up, I think about what kind of problem do I need to solve for the people who actually elected me? It's a different experience, it's a much different experience. And the fact is, Marco, you shouldn't compare yourself to Joe Biden and you shouldn't say that that's what we're doing. Here is exactly what we're doing. You have not be involved in a consequential decision where you had to be held accountable. You just simply haven't. And the fact is \u2014 the fact when you talk about the Hezbollah Sanctions Act that you list as one of your accomplishments you just did, you weren't even there to vote for it. That's not leadership, that's truancy. And the fact is that what we need to do \u2014 what we need to have in this country is not to make the same mistake we made eight years ago. The fact is it does matter when you have to make decisions and be held accountable for them. It does matter when the challenges don't come on a list of a piece of paper of what to vote yes or no every day, but when the problems come in from the people that you serve. I like Marco Rubio, and he's a smart person and a good guy, but he simply does not have the experience to be president of the United States and make these decisions. We've watched it happen, everybody. For the last seven years, the people of New Hampshire are smart. Do not make the same mistake again. +p1835 +aVHold on one second. +p1836 +aVExcuse me... +p1837 +aVI think he mentioned me and my record in there, so I think I get a chance to respond. You see, everybody, I want the people at home to think about this. That's what Washington, D.C. Does. The drive-by shot at the beginning with incorrect and incomplete information and then the memorized 25-second speech that is exactly what his advisers gave him. See Marco \u2014 Marco, the thing is this. When you're president of the United States, when you're a governor of a state, the memorized 30-second speech where you talk about how great America is at the end of it doesn't solve one problem for one person. They expect you to plow the snow. They expect you to get the schools open. And when the worst natural disaster in your state's history hits you, they expect you to rebuild their state, which is what I've done. None of that stuff happens on the floor of the United States Senate. It's a fine job, I'm glad you ran for it, but it does not prepare you for president of the United States. +p1838 +aVThere it is. There it is. The memorized 25-second speech. There it is, everybody. +p1839 +aVYou know what the shame is \u2014 you know what the shame is, Marco? The shame is that you would actually criticize somebody for showing up to work, plowing the streets, getting the trains running back on time when you've never been responsible for that in your entire life. +p1840 +aVAnd the fact is, I went back, it got done and here's... +p1841 +aVOh, so \u2014 wait a second. Is that one of the skills you get as a United States senator ESP also? Because I don't think it is. +p1842 +aVIt gets very unruly when he gets off his talking points. +p1843 +aVLet's get something... +p1844 +aVNo. Let's make something very clear. I learned seven years as a federal prosecutor in dealing with types of situations like we're talking about in North Korea, where criminals take people hostage. You never pay ransom to the criminals. Ever. You never pay ransom to the criminals. Everyone out at home watching tonight understands that principle. And so, what you need to do is to engage in a much different way with these folks. They do not understand anything but toughness and strength, and we need to engage the Chinese to deal with the North Koreans, but we also need to make sure that they understand there's a commander-in-chief who will not pay ransom for any hostage. This president and his former secretary of State are for paying ransom for hostages. When do that, you endanger even more Americans around the world to be the subject of this type of hostage taking and illegal detention. You need a strong commander-in-chief who will look these folks in the eye and say, we will not put up with this and we will take whatever actions we need to take, not only to get our people home safely, but to swiftly and surely punish those who believe they can violate the law and violate American's sovereign rights to travel the world freely and safely. This is unacceptable. And this is why this president is so weak and why the secretary of State, who is embracing a third Barack Obama term, would be even weaker. +p1845 +aVYeah, David, I would just like you to listen, again, everybody. This is the difference between being a governor who actually has to be responsible for problems and not answering a question. The question was, "Did he fight for his legislation?" It's abundantly clear that he didn't. It's abundantly clear that he didn't fight for the legislation. When the teachers unions attacked me with $20 million of ads because I wanted to reform teacher tenure, I fought them and fought them and fought them and I won. When they didn't want \u2014 when people wanted to raise taxes in my state at Democratic legislature and threatened to close down the government, I told them, fine. Close down the government. I'll get in my cars, head to the governor's mansion, order a pizza, open a beer and watch the Mets. You can call me when the government reopens. And guess what they didn't do? They didn't pass a tax increase, because I vetoed it and they never closed the government because they knew I would fight for what I believed in. The fact of the matter is, a leader must fight for what they believe in. Not handicap it and say, well maybe since I can't win this one, I'll run. That's not what leadership is. That's what Congress is. +p1846 +aVGood evening. +p1847 +aVWell, he deserves credit for his record on jobs. He's done a very good job as governor of Ohio. Never said that John hasn't. He's done a very good job. But \u2014 but unfortunately, John's been so busy doing over stuff, he's using old statistics. That's OK. New Jersey had its best year of job growth in the last 15 years under five different governors this year in New Jersey. New Jersey cut spending over $2.3 billion and we have 10,000 fewer employees than we had when I walked in the door. John has a bigger government now and more employees than he had when he walked in the door. But all that doesn't matter. What really matters is this, that executive experience really matters. You heard this on the stage tonight. We've heard it said on the stage that President Obama knows exactly what he's doing. I'd like to ask all the veterans listening out there tonight, who are waiting in line for healthcare, who are literally dying because the Veterans Administration doesn't work, do you think Barack Obama knows what he's doing? I don't. And I'll tell you something. Anybody who evaluates him is knowing what he's doing and managing the government doesn't know how to manage a government themselves. And one last thing, David, which I think is really important. I listened to Senator Rubio's answer on his bill. He said his bill couldn't pass on the gang of eight. He acted as if he was somehow disembodied from the bill. It was his bill. He said this idea doesn't work. It was his idea. See, when you're a governor, you have to take responsibility for these things. You can't just act as if it happened out of nowhere. We have to take responsibility as executives. I take responsibility for my record in New Jersey. We've rebuilt the economy and rebuilt after the second-worst natural disaster in American history. I'm proud of my record. And by the way, I like Kasich's record, too. He's a good governor. +p1848 +aVDavid? Hey, David? David? Hey, David? I actually have experience with raising taxes on millionaires in my state. It was done. It was done by my predecessor. And I want everybody in the public who is in that 68 percent, I want to tell you the truth. You're wrong. And here is why you're wrong. After New Jersey raised taxes on millionaires, we lost, in the next four years, $70 billion in wealth left our state. It left our state to go where it would be treated more kindly. If the United States raised taxes any further, that money will leave the United States, as well. We won't have better jobs. Let New Jersey be the canary in the coal mine. It is a failed idea and a failed policy, it's class warfare. It happened in my state. I've stopped it from happening again. But we cannot do it. The 68 percent of the people are wrong about that, it will hurt the American economy. We tried it in New Jersey. Come take a look \u2014 it did not work. +p1849 +aVOf course I would. As a former United States attorney who spent seven years of my life fighting this on the streets of my state, I would do that. But we need to do more. And let me tell you what we've done in New Jersey, Josh. We are working with the folks in New Hampshire in their legislature right now to show them how we're helping to solve this problem in New Jersey. Not just for this campaign \u2014 three years ago, I proposed a law that we signed into effect, which said that anyone who was a non- violent, non-dealing, first-time drug offender no longer goes to prison in New Jersey. They go to mandatory, in-patient drug treatment. What has happened is, crime has gone down 20 percent in those years. The prison population has gone down 10 percent. We've now closed the state prison \u2014 closed a state prison, and we're turning it into a drug rehabilitation facility, so people can get the tools they need. Listen, everyone out there knows this in New Hampshire. This is a disease. It's not a moral failing, it's a disease. And we need to get people the treatment they need. And let me tell you why. Because I'm pro-life. And I'm pro life not just for the nine months in the womb, I'm pro-life for when they get out and it's a lot more complicated. Sixteen-year-old, heroin-addicted drug girl on the floor of the county lockup, I'm pro-life for her life. The 42-year-old lawyer who is taking Oxycontin and can't get out of bed and support his family \u2014 I'm pro-life for his life. Everyone of those lives is an individual gift from God. And the last thing is this. These efforts we've taken over the last three years, 2015 in New Jersey, for the first time in four years, drug overdose deaths have gone down, not up. I'll bring the same solutions to the country. +p1850 +aVYou bet I would. And the fact is that because I took strong action to make sure that anyone who was showing symptoms \u2014 remember what happened with that nurse. She was showing symptoms and coming back from a place that had the ebola virus active and she had been treating patients. This was not just some \u2014 like, we picked up her just for the heck of it, alright? We did it because she was showing symptoms, and the fact is that's the way we should make these decision. You make these decisions based upon the symptoms, the medicine, and the law. We quarantined her, she turned out to test negative ultimately after 48 hours, and we released her back to the State of Maine. But, I want to add something on the issue of mosques. Now, I'm the only one up here who's had a law enforcement background as a U.S. Attorney after September 11th. I went to mosques throughout my state to build bridges. To build bridges between our community in law enforcement so we can get intelligence and information from these folks. I've had the experience of working with them as Governor of New Jersey as well. We cannot mix the radical Islamic jihadist with everyday Muslim-Americans. New Jersey is the second largest Muslim- American population in America, of any state. These are good, law abiding, hard working people. What they need is our cooperation, and our understanding. They do not just need broadsides against them because of the religious faith they practice. +p1851 +aVMartha? +p1852 +aVCan I \u2014 can I be really \u2014 can I be really clear on this, because I am the father of two daughters. One of them is here tonight. What my wife and I have taught our daughters right from the beginning, that their sense of self-worth, their sense of value, their sense of what they want to do with their life comes not from the outside, but comes from within. And if a young woman in this country wants to go and fight to defend their country, she should be permitted to do so. Part of that also needs to be part of a greater effort in this country, and so there's no reason why one \u2014 young women should be discriminated against from registering for the selective service. The fact is, we need to be a party and a people that makes sure that our women in this country understand anything they can dream, anything that they want to aspire to, they can do. That's the way we raised our daughters and that's what we should aspire to as president for all of the women in our country. +p1853 +aVWell, I've been pretty helpful to the pro-life cause in one of the most pro-choice states in the union. I've stood up for the first time and now for the last six years we've de-funded Planned Parenthood, not talked about it like they do in Washington D.C. But for six years as governor, Planned Parenthood does not receive that funding from the state budget anymore; over $50 million worth of money that's been saved now, that is not going to do exactly what Hillary Clinton wants to have done and has advocated for. She believes that organization, which engages in the systematic murder of children in the womb, in order to maximize the value of their body parts for sale on the open market, is an acceptable position. Let me tell you something, I don't care if you are a millennial or whether you are in your 90s, no one is for that type of activity, unless you are the most radical type of extremist on this issue, like Senator Clinton and her party is on this issue. I'll say one other thing. The fact is, that I believe that if a woman has been raped, that is a birth and a pregnancy that she should be able to terminate. If she is the victim of incest \u2014 this is not a woman's choice. This is a woman being violated. And the fact is that we have always has believed, as has Ronald Reagan, that we have self-defense for women who have been raped and impregnated because of it, or the subject of incest and been impregnated for it. That woman should not have to deliver that child if they believe that violation is now an act of self-defense by terminating that pregnancy. HAM: Thank you, all. Back to you, David and Martha. +p1854 +aVDenver. +p1855 +aVThank you. I've spent the last 13 years of my life focused on one thing: serving the people who have given me the opportunity to serve them. Not about politics, not about partisanship, but putting the people of my state and our country first. I'm proud to have rebuild my state after Hurricane Sandy, and I'm incredibly proud to be on this stage tonight with these men asking for your vote. New Hampshire, I spent 70 days here with you. You've gotten to know my heart. My heart is to help you solve the problems of your state......and the problems of our nation. If you give me your vote on Tuesday I will do just that. +p1856 +aVThey're not wrong. But what's wrong is your premise in the question. You can do both. There is no reason why you can't stand for principles, go and fight for them and be able also, to have to get things done in government. You know, what people are frustrated about in Washington, D.C.., and I know the folks out there tonight are incredibly frustrated because what they see is a government that doesn't work for them. You know, for the 45-year-old construction worker out there, who is having a hard time making things meet. He's lost $4,000 in the last seven years in his income because of this administration. He doesn't want to hear the talk about politics Megyn and who is establishment and who is grassroots. And who's compromised and who is principled. What he wants is something to get done. And that's the difference between being a governor and having done that for the last six years in New Jersey and being someone who has never had to be responsible for any of those decisions. Barack Obama was never responsible for those decisions. Hillary Clinton has never been responsible for those kind of decisions where they were held accountable. I've been held accountable for six years as the governor of New Jersey and with a Democratic legislature, I've gotten conservative things done. That's exactly what I'll do as president of the United States. +p1857 +aVWell, let me say that I do believe that the vote on NSA made the country less safe. Well, let me tell you what the country should really be worried about. I watched that town hall meeting with the Democrats the other night, and I heard Hillary Clinton asked a direct question by an Iowan, and that's what Iowans like to do. They like to ask direct questions. And, they asked about her email situation. And, here's what she said to the American people. She did it for convenience. For her convenience. She put America's secrets at risk for her convenience. She put American intelligence officers at risk for her convenience. She put American strategy at risk for her convenience. Let me tell you who's not qualified to be President of the United States, Chris. Hillary Rodham Clinton did that to our country. She is not qualified to be President of the United States. The fact is what we need is someone on that stage who has been tested, who has been through it, who has made decisions, who has sit in the chair of consequence and can prosecute the case against Hillary Clinton on... ... that stage, and that is exactly what I am ready to do. +p1858 +aVTalk about what? I... +p1859 +aVWell, because you can do it without profiling, Megyn, when you do it on the facts. What those facts knew was that these folks had weapons. They knew that they were talking about trying to take our country and attack it. That's not profiling, that's law enforcement. And that's the difference between somebody who knows how to do this and somebody who's never done it before. +p1860 +aVThey knew they were talking about the issues of attacking people, Megyn. They knew that. +p1861 +aVListen, I think that what people should do is use their common sense. And the fact is, let law enforcement make those decisions. I've told people that from the time I was U.S. attorney 13 years ago. It's not for them to make those decisions about whether or not something is legal or illegal, or profiling or not. You see something that's suspicious, you call law enforcement and let law enforcement make those decisions. That's what should be done. That can be done. That can be done without profiling people. What that is, is just common sense. They thought something was wrong. And here's the problem in this country right now. The problem is that Barack Obama has made law enforcement the enemy, Hillary Clinton has made law enforcement the enemy. They're not supporting our law enforcement officers, it's making everybody nervous to get out of their cars, if you're a law enforcement officer. It's making... ... everybody nervous to get out of their cars if you're a law enforcement officer. It's making people in neighborhoods nervous to go to law enforcement. As president, I will support law enforcement and we'll stop radical terrorist attacks in this country by supporting our intelligence community and law enforcement community. +p1862 +aVYes. You want one? +p1863 +aVHow about one that I've done in New Jersey for the last six years. That's get rid of Planned Parenthood funding from the United States of America. +p1864 +aVBigger than that? Let me tell you something, when you see thousands upon thousands upon thousands of children being murdered in the womb, I can't think of anything better than that. +p1865 +aVMegyn? +p1866 +aVI want to ask the people of the audience. Like, I'm standing here, I \u2014 I watched the video of Senator Cruz. I watched the video of Senator Rubio. I heard what they said. And this is why you need to send someone from outside of Washington to Washington. I feel like... ... I feel like I need \u2014 I feel like I need a Washington to English dictionary converter, right? I mean, I heard what they both said, I saw it on the video. And the fact is this is what makes a difference when you're a governor. You can change your mind. Ted can change his mind. Marco can change his mind. It's perfectly legal in this country to change your mind. But when you're a governor, you have to admit it. You can't hide behind parliamentary tricks. That's the difference, and that's the kind of leader we need in the White House. Stop the Washington bull and let's get things done. +p1867 +aVSure, because there has been three different investigations and proven that I knew nothing. And the fact is that what I did do, what I did do from the beginning, Chris, as soon as I found out about it, I fired the people who were responsible. And that's what you expect from a leader. And, I'll tell you something else. I inherited a state in New Jersey that was downtrodden, and beaten by liberal democratic policies, high taxation, high regulation. And, this year, in 2015, New Jersey's had the best year of job growth that our state has ever had in the last 15 years. That's because we've put conservative policies in place. And, I'll tell you one other thing, you know why the Republican party will want to take a chance on me? Because they know that Hillary Clinton will never be prosecuted by this justice department, and they're going to want to put a former federal prosecutor on the stage to prosecute her next September. And, there is no one on this stage better prepared to prosecute the case against Hillary Clinton than I am. I will be ready. I will take her on, and when I take her on I guarantee you one thing, she will never get within 10 miles of the White House. The days for the Clintons in public housing are over. +p1868 +aVNo, what I said, Chris, was that the law needs to be followed. And that someone in that office has to do their job. So if Ms. Davis wanted to step aside and get rid of her ability to be able to do that, there should be someone else in that office who it didn't violate their conscience so they could follow the law of the state of Kentucky. I never said that Ms. Davis should either lose her job or that she had to do it. But what I did say was that the person who came in for the license needed to get it. And so if there's someone in that organization, and it turns out there was, who was willing to be able to do that, that's what we should do. But just as importantly, and I agree with what John said. You know, we all have our own individual interpretations of our faith. And here's the problem with what's going on around the world. The radical Islamic jihadists, what they want to do is impose their faith upon each and every one of us \u2014 every one of us. And the reason why this war against them is so important is that very basis of religious liberty. They want everyone in this country to follow their religious beliefs the way they do. They do not want us to exercise religious liberty. That's why as commander in chief, I will take on +p1869 +aVBret, let me tell you, this is another one of those places where Hillary Clinton has so much to answer for, and why she is completely unqualified to be commander in chief. In a previous Democratic debate, Martha Raddatz, three times, asked Hillary Clinton about the failure in Libya, a policy that she took credit for, and said, "what is your measure of responsibility, Madam Secretary, for the failure in Libya?" Three times, she refused to answer the question, because she refuses to be held accountable for anything that goes wrong. If it had gone right, believe me, she would have been running around to be able to take credit for it. Here's what I'd do. This is about the bigger, broader war against +p1870 +aVOn September 11, my wife was two blocks from the World Trade Center. When those buildings came down, she was trapped in her building and I didn't hear from her over six hours. We have three children, eight, five and one. And I had to confront the possibility of being a single parent. Terrorism in this country scares everyone. And the fact is that we need a commander-in- chief who not only understands how to protect us, but feels in here what it means to face the possibility of loss. I've faced it. I've prosecuted terrorists. I have made the decisions that need to be made as a governor to protect us and as president of the United States, no one will keep this country safer than I will. +p1871 +aVWell, Maria, I'm glad to have heard from you in the summary of that question about what's going on in the world. Because Tuesday night, I watched story time with Barack Obama. And I've got to tell you, it sounded like everything in the world was going amazing, you know? The fact is, there's a number of things that the next president is going to have to do to clean up this mess. The first thing is we have to strengthen our alliances around the world. And the best way to do that is to start talking to our allies again and having them be able to count on our word. Lots of people will say lots of different things about me in this campaign and others, but the one thing they've never said about me is that I'm misunderstood. And so when we talk to our allies and we give them our word, in a Christie administration, they know we're going to keep it. Next, we have to talk to our adversaries, and we have to make sure they understand the limits of our patience. And this president, given what Ted said right at the beginning, he's absolutely right. It's a \u2014 it's absolutely disgraceful that Secretary Kerry and others said in their response to what's going on in Iran that this was a good thing; it showed how the relationship was getting better. The president doesn't understand \u2014 and by the way, neither does Secretary Clinton \u2014 and here's my warning to everybody out in the audience tonight. If you're worried about the world being on fire, you're worried about how we're going to use our military, you're worried about strengthening our military and you're worried most of all about keeping your homes and your families safe and secure, you cannot give Hillary Clinton a third term of Barack Obama's leadership. I will not do that. If I'm the nominee, she won't get within 10 miles of the White House. +p1872 +aVMIlitary action, Maria, would be used when it was absolutely necessary to protect American lives and protect American interests around the world. We are not the world's policeman, but we need to stand up and be ready. And the problem, Maria, is that the military is not ready, either. We need to rebuild our military, and this president has let it diminish to a point where tinpot dictators like the mullahs in Iran are taking our Navy ships. It is disgraceful, and in a Christie administration, they would know much, much better than to do that. +p1873 +aVI stood on the stage and watched Marco in rather indignantly, look at Governor Bush and say, someone told you that because we're running for the same office, that criticizing me will get you to that office. It appears that the same someone who has been whispering in old Marco's ear too. So the indignation that you carry on, some of the stuff, you have to also own then. So let's set the facts straight. First of all, I didn't support Sonia Sotomayor. Secondly, I never wrote a check to Planned Parenthood. Third, if you look at my record as governor of New Jersey, I have vetoed a 50-caliber rifle ban. I have vetoed a reduction this clip size. I vetoed a statewide I.D. system for gun owners and I pardoned, six out-of-state folks who came through our state and were arrested for owning a gun legally in another state so they never have to face charges. And on Common Core, Common Core has been eliminated in New Jersey. So listen, this is the difference between being a governor and a senator. See when you're a senator, what you get to do is just talk and talk and talk. And you talk so much that nobody can ever keep up with what you're saying is accurate or not. When you're a governor, you're held accountable for everything you do. And the people of New Jersey, I've seen it. +p1874 +aVAnd the last piece is this. I like Marco too, and two years ago, he called me a conservative reformer that New Jersey needed. That was before he was running against me. Now that he is, he's changed his tune. I'm never going to change my tune. I like Marco Rubio. He's a good guy, a smart guy, and he would be a heck of a lot better president than Hillary Rodham Clinton would ever be. +p1875 +aVNo, absolutely not. The president wants to do things without working with his Congress, without working with the legislature, and without getting the consent of the American people. And the fact is that that's not a democracy. That's a dictatorship. And we need to very, very concerned about that. See, here's the thing. I don't think the founders put the Second Amendment as number two by accident. I don't think they dropped all the amendments into a hat and picked them out of a hat. I think they made the Second Amendment the second amendment because they thought it was just that important. The fact is in New Jersey, what we have done is to make it easier now to get a conceal and carry permit. We have made it easier to do that, not harder. And the way we've done it properly through regulatory action, not by signing unconstitutional executive orders. This guy is a petulant child. That's what he is. I mean, you know...... the fact is, Neil, let's think about \u2014 let's think about \u2014 and I want to maybe \u2014 I hope the president is watching tonight, because here's what I'd like to tell him. Mr. President, we're not against you. We're against your policies. When you became president, you had a Democratic Congress and a filibuster-proof Democratic Senate. You had only 21 Republican governors in this country. And now after seven years of your policies, we have the biggest majority we've had since the 1920s in the House; a Republican majority in the Senate; and 31 out of 50 Republican governors. The American people have rejected your agenda and now you're trying to go around it. That's not right. It's not constitutional. And we are going to kick your rear end out of the White House come this fall. +p1876 +aVMaria, you look at what this president and his secretary of state, Secretary of State Clinton, has done to get us in this spot. You think about it \u2014 this is the president who said, along with his secretary of state \u2014 drew a red line in Syria, said, if Assad uses chemical weapons against his people, that we're going to attack. He used chemical weapons, he's killed, now, over a quarter of a million of his own people, and this president has done nothing. In fact, he's done worse than nothing. This president \u2014 and, by the way, Secretary Clinton, who called Assad a reformer \u2014 she called Assad a reformer. Now, the fact is, what this president has done is invited Russia to play an even bigger role, bring in Vladimir Putin to negotiate getting those chemical weapons back from Assad, yet what do we have today? We have the Russians and the Iranians working together, not to fight +p1877 +aVNow Maria, listen. I said right from the beginning that we should take no Syrian refugees of any kind. And the reason I said that is because the FBI director told the American people, told Congress, that he could not guarantee he could vet them and it would be safe. That's the end of the conversation. I can tell you, after spending seven years as a former federal prosecutor, right after 9/11, dealing with this issue. Here's the way you need to deal with it. You can't just ban all Muslims. You have to ban radical Islamic jihadists. You have to ban the people who are trying to hurt us. The only way to figure that out is to go back to getting the intelligence community the funding and the tools that it needs to be able to keep America safe. And this summer, we didn't do that. We took it away from the NSA, it was a bad decision by the president. Bad by those in the Senate who voted for it and if I'm president, we'll make our intelligence community strong, and won't have to keep everybody out, we're just going to keep the bad folk out and make sure they don't harm us. +p1878 +aVWell, I'm glad you asked that, Maria. Here's \u2014 here's our plan. We've all been talking about tax reforms tonight, and paying for infrastructure is caught right up in tax reform. If you reform the corporate tax system in this country, which, as was mentioned before, is the highest rate in the world \u2014 and we double tax, as you know. And what that's led to over $2 trillion of American companies' monies that are being kept offshore, because they don't want to pay the second tax. And who can blame them? They pay tax once overseas. They don't want to pay 35 percent tax on the way back. So beside reforming that tax code, bringing it down to 25 percent and eliminating those special-interest loopholes that the lobbyists and the lawyers and the accountants have given \u2014 bring that rate down to 25 percent, but also, a one-time repatriation of that money. Bring the money \u2014 the $2 trillion \u2014 back to the United States. We'll tax it, that one time, at 8.75 percent, because 35 percent of zero is zero, but 8.75 percent of $2 trillion is a lot of money. And I would then dedicate that money to rebuilding infrastructure here in this country. It would not necessitate us raising any taxes. It would bring the money back into the United States to help build jobs by American companies and get our economy moving again, and growing as a higher rate, and it would rebuild those roads and bridges and tunnels that you were talking about. And \u2014 and \u2014 and the last piece of this, Maria, is this. You know, the fact is that this president has penalized corporations in America. He's penalized \u2014 and doesn't understand. In fact, what that hurts is hurt hardworking taxpayers. You've seen middle-class wages go backwards $3,700 during the Obama administration. That's wrong for hardworking taxpayers in this country. We'd rebuild infrastructure that would also create jobs in this country, and we'd work with the states to do it the right way, to do it more efficiently and more effectively. And remember this \u2014 I'm credible on this for this reason: Americans for Tax Reform says that I've vetoed more tax increases than any governor in American history. We don't need to raise taxes to get this done. We need to make the government run smarter and better, and reform this corporate tax system, bring that money back to the United States to build jobs and rebuild our infrastructure, and we need to use it also to protect our grid from terrorists. All of those things are important, and all those things would happen in a Christie administration. +p1879 +aVMaria, I'd like to interrupt this on the floor of the Senate to actually answer the question you asked, which was on entitlements. Do you remember that, everybody? This was a question on entitlements. And the reason \u2014 and the reason......no, you already had your chance, Marco, and you blew it. Here's the thing. The fact is, the reason why... +p1880 +aV... the fact is \u2014 the fact is the reason why that no one wants to answer entitlements up here is because it's hard. It's a hard problem. And I'm the only one up on this stage who back in April put forward a detailed entitlement reform plan that will save over $1 trillion, save Social Security, save Medicare, and avoid this \u2014 avoid what Hillary Rodham Clinton will do to you. Because what she will do is come in and she will raise Social Security taxes. Bernie Sanders has already said it. And she is just one or two more poll drops down from even moving further left than she's moved already to get to the left of Bernie on this. We have seniors out there who are scared to death because this Congress \u2014 this one that we have right now, just stole $150 billion from the Social Security retirement fund to give it to the Social Security disability fund. A Republican Congress did that. And the fact is it was wrong. And they consorted with Barack Obama to steal from Social Security. We need to reform Social Security. Mine is the only plan that saves over $1 trillion and that's why I'm answering your question. +p1881 +aVWell, first off, let's face it, the FBI director James Comey was a friend of mine who I worked with as U.S. Attorney of New Jersey. He was the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan. He said, "there's a chill wind blowing through law enforcement in this country." Here's why, the president of the United States and both his attorney's general, they give the benefit of the doubt to the criminal, not to the police officers. That's the truth of the matter and you see it every time with this president. Every time he's got a chance, going all the way back to \u2014 remember that Great Beer Summit he had after he messed up that time. This is a guy who just believes that law enforcement are the bad guys. Now, I for seven years was the U.S. Attorney of New Jersey. I worked hard with not only federal agents but with police officers and here's the problem, sanctuary cities is part of the problem in this country. That's where crime is happening in these cities where they don't enforce the immigration laws. And this president turns his back \u2014 this president doesn't enforce the marijuana laws in this country because he doesn't agree with them. And he allows states to go ahead and do whatever they want on a substance that's illegal. This president allows lawlessness throughout this country. Here's what I would do Neil, I would appoint an Attorney General and I would have one very brief conversation with that Attorney General. I'd say, "General, enforce the law against everyone justly, fairly, and aggressively. Make our streets safe again. Make our police officers proud of what they do but more important than that, let them know how proud we are of them." We do that, this country would be safe and secure again not only from criminals but from the terrorist who threaten us as well. I'm the only person on this stage who's done that and we will get it done as President of the United States. +p1882 +aVMaria, Neil, thank you for a great tonight. When I think about the folks who are out there at home tonight watching, and I think about what they had to watch this week \u2014 the spectacle they had to watch on the floor of the House of Representatives, with the president of the United States, who talked a fantasy land about the way they're feeling. They know that this country is not respected around the world anymore. They know that this country is pushing the middle class, the hardworking taxpayers, backwards, and they saw a president who doesn't understand their pain, and doesn't have any plan for getting away from it. I love this country. It's the most exceptional country the world has ever known. We need someone to fight for the people. We need a fighter for this country again. I've lived my whole life fighting \u2014 fighting for things that I believe in, fighting for justice and to protect people from crime and terrorism, fighting to stand up for folks who have not had enough and need an opportunity to get more, and to stand up and fight against the special interests. But here's the best way that we're going to make America much more exceptional: it is to make sure we put someone on that stage in September who will fight Hillary Clinton and make sure she never, ever gets in the White House again. I am the man who can bring us together to do that, and I ask for your vote. +p1883 +aVThank you Wolf. America has been betrayed. We've been betrayed by the leadership that Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton have provided to this country over the last number of years. Think about just what's happened today. The second largest school district in America in Los Angeles closed based on a threat. Think about the effect that, that's going to have on those children when they go back to school tomorrow wondering filled with anxiety to whether they're really going to be safe. Think about the mothers who will take those children tomorrow morning to the bus stop wondering whether their children will arrive back on that bus safe and sound. Think about the fathers of Los Angeles, who tomorrow will head off to work and wonder about the safety of their wives and their children. What is Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton done to this country? That the most basic responsibility of an administration is to protect the safety and security of the American people. I will tell you this, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I've fought terrorists and won and when we get back in the White House we will fight terrorists and win again and America will be safe. +p1884 +aVWolf, unfortunately, it's the new normal under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The fact is that if you listen to Hillary Clinton the other day, what she said to the American people was, as regards to +p1885 +aVListen, I want to talk to the audience at home for a second. If your eyes are glazing over like mine, this is what it's like to be on the floor of the United States Senate. I mean, endless debates about how many angels on the head of a pin from people who've never had to make a consequential decision in an executive position. The fact is, for seven years, I had to make these decisions after 9/11, make a decision about how to proceed forward with an investigation or how to pull back, whether you use certain actionable intelligence or whether not to. And yet they continue to debate about this bill and in the subcommittee and what \u2014 nobody in America cares about that. What they care about is, are we going to have a president who actually knows what they're doing to make these decisions? And for the seven years afterwards, New Jersey was threatened like no other region in this country and what we did was we took action within the constitution to make sure that law enforcement had all the information they needed. We prosecuted two of the biggest terrorism cases in the world and stopped Fort Dix from being attacked by six American radicalized Muslims from a Mosque in New Jersey because we worked with the Muslim American community to get intelligence and we used the Patriot Act to get other intelligence to make sure we did those cases. This is the difference between actually been a federal prosecutor, actually doing something, and not just spending your life as one of hundred debating it. Let's talk about how we do this, not about which bill, which one these guys like more. The American people don't care about that. +p1886 +aVWolf, you sit up here and you listen to this stuff, and you think that so many of these people have had so much to do in this national debate, they talk like they were bystanders. You know, we talk about our military being degraded over time, and yet we've had folks on this stage who've been a part of Congress who have participated in sequester; who participated in the degrading of this military over time. And that's why I think people get so frustrated with Washington, D.C. now. That's why they're so angry with the \u2014 the electorate is so angry with everybody who is involved in government in Washington, D.C. Because if you listen to the folks up here, you think that they weren't even there; they had nothing to do with this. This is a difference between being a governor and being in a legislature. See, because when something doesn't work in New Jersey, they look at me, say: "Why didn't it get done? Why didn't you do it?" You have to be responsible and accountable. And so on +p1887 +aVWell, I think we have to focus, Hugh, on exactly what the priorities are. And to me, what I've always said is that the president has set up an awful situation through his deal with Iran, because what his deal with Iran has done is empower them and enrich them. And that's the way +p1888 +aVNot only would I be prepared to do it, I would do it. A no-fly zone means a no-fly zone, Wolf. That's what it means. See, maybe \u2014 maybe because I'm from New Jersey, I just have this kind of plain language hangup. But I would make very clear \u2014 I would not talk to Vladimir Putin. In fact, I would talk to Vladimir Putin a lot. But I'd say to him, "Listen, Mr. President, there's a no-fly zone in Syria; you fly in, it applies to you." And yes, we would shoot down the planes of Russian pilots if in fact they were stupid enough to think that this president was the same feckless weakling that the president we have in the Oval Office is right now. +p1889 +aVWell, Wolf, I'll tell you what reckless is. What reckless is is calling Assad a reformer. What reckless is allowing Russia to come into Crimea and Ukraine. What reckless is is inviting Russia into Syria to team with Iran. That is reckless. And the reckless people are the folks in the White House right now. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are the reckless people. And if you think that a no-fly zone is a reckless policy, you're welcome to your opinion. But how is it working so far? As we have 250,000 Syrians murdered, slaughtered; millions running around the world, running for their lives. It's not working. We need to try something else. And that is not reckless. +p1890 +aVWhat I say to Carla is that the first job of the president of the United States is to protect your safety and your security and the security and safety of your family. And this debate stops with me in the discussions with the FBI director. Now, listen, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I know Jim Comey. We've worked together. He was the U.S. attorney in Manhattan when I was a U.S. attorney in New Jersey. And when Jim Comey gets up before Congress and says, we cannot effectively vet these people, for me as president, that's the end of the conversation. We have to put America's security first. The American people \u2014 we on this stage need to open our ears. We need to open our ears. The American people are not whispering to us. They are screaming to us. And they're screaming to us that it's our job to actually make this government work. It's so dysfunctional under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. It's so ineffective. It's so ineffectual that the American people say, we don't trust them to do anything anymore. So I'm not going to let Syrian refugees, any Syrian refugees in this country. And it was widows and orphans, by the way, and we now know from watching the San Bernardino attack that women can commit heinous, heinous acts against humanity just the same as men can do it. And so I don't back away from that position for a minute. When the FBI director tells me that he can vet those people, then we'll consider it and not a moment before because your safety and security is what's most important to me. +p1891 +aVWell, what it would like is, we have one of the great advantages of America being the open society that we are. It is, we are not hiding things from the American people, but China everyday is conducting business in a way that hides things from their people. So if they want to come in and attack all the personnel records in the federal government, which they've done, and which \u2014 they now have my Social Security number and my fingerprints, as well as maybe some other folks' who are on this stage. The fact is, they need to be fought back on. And what we need to do is go at the things that they are most sensitive and most embarrassing to them; that they're hiding; get that information and put it out in public. Let the Chinese people start to digest how corrupt the Chinese government is; how they steal from the Chinese people; and how they're enriching oligarchs all throughout China. They need to understand that. And we need to take those type of steps. This president has seen personnel records of people who have sacrificed for the American people and for the federal government stolen by the Chinese and he's done nothing in return. This is why \u2014 this is what I said at the beginning that this administration, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton through their foreign policy, have betrayed the American people, because the weakness they've displayed has led to Putin's incursions in the Middle East and in eastern Europe, and has led \u2014 has led to significant problems in the Middle East as well, and the death and murder of lots of folks. +p1892 +aVOn September 10th, 2001, I was named chief federal prosecutor in New Jersey and on September 11th, 2001, my wife and my brother who are in the audience tonight went through the World Trade Center and to their offices just blocks away from the Trade Center. I lost touch with them for six hours that day and prayed that they were alive. Luckily, they were sent home. But many of our friends and others in our neighborhood lost their lives that day. Terrorism \u2014 radical jihadist terrorism is not theoretical to me. It's real. And for seven years, I spent my life protecting our country against another one of those attacks. You won't have to worry when I'm President of the Untied States whether that can be done because I've already done it. I want the chance to do it again to protect you, your children and your families. If you give me the chance and give me your vote I will protect America from the wars that are being brought to our door step. +p1893 +asVCARSON +p1894 +(lp1895 +VWell, the current Constitution actually doesn't address that particular situation, but the fact of the matter is the Supreme Court, obviously, is a very important part of our governmental system. And when our Constitution was put in place, the average age of death was under 50, and therefore the whole concept of lifetime appointments for Supreme Court judges and federal judges was not considered to be a big deal. Obviously, that has changed, and it's something that probably needs to be looked at pretty carefully at some point. But, we need to start thinking about the divisiveness that is going on in our country. I looked at some of the remarks that people made after finding out that Justice Scalia had died, and they were truly nasty remarks. And that we have managed to get to that position in our country is truly a shame. And we should be thinking about how we could create some healing in this land. But, right now, we're not going to get healing with President Obama. That's very United Nations clear. So, I...... fully agree that we should not allow a judge to be appointed during his time. +p1896 +aVNo, it isn't. First of all, let me go back to your first question for me. It wasn't phrased as who gets to nominate Supreme Court appointees. Of course that's the president. So I know that there are some left-wing media who would try to make hay on that. Secondly, thank you for including me in the debate. Two questions already. This is great. Now, as far......as far as those 2 a.m. phone calls are concerned, judgment is what is required. And the kinds of things that you come up with are sometimes very, very difficult and very unique. One of the things that I was known for is doing things that have not been done before. So no amount of experience really prepares you to do something that has never been done before. That's where judgment comes in. And that, I think, is a situation that we're in right now, a situation that we have never been in before with the kinds of threats that pose real danger to our nation, and it comes in very handy in those situations. +p1897 +aVWell, first of all, let me just address the Iraq question. You know, I was not particularly in favor of us going to war in Iraq, primarily because I have studied, you know, the Middle East, recognizing that those are nations that are ruled by dictators and have been for thousands of years. And when you go in and you remove one of those dictators, unless you have an appropriate plan for replacing them, you're going to have chaos. Now, fortunately, we were able to stabilize the situation, and it was the current administration that turned tail and ran and destabilized the situation. Now, having said that, in terms of the rules of engagement, I was talking about, you know, Obama has said, you know, we shouldn't bomb tankers, you know, coming out of refineries because there may be people in there, or because the environment may be hurt. You know, that's just asinine thinking. And the fact of the matter is... You know, we \u2014 obviously, you're not going to accomplish all of your goals without some collateral damage. You have to be able to assess what is acceptable and what is not. +p1898 +aVWell, first of all, let me just mention on the tax issue. Bencarson.com, go read about it, because my tax plan has been praised by Cato, by Wall Street Journal. Forbes said it is the best, the most pro-growth tax plan, and it's based on real fairness for everybody. Starts at the 150 percent poverty level, but even the people below that have to pay something, because everybody has to have skin in the game, and the millions of people can't, you know, talk about what other people have to pay and have no skin in the game. And it deals with corporate tax rate, and makes it the same as everybody else......everybody pays exactly the same. +p1899 +aV... And, as far as Medicare and Medicaid, my main goal is to get rid of Obamacare and put the care back in the hands of ... +p1900 +aVWell, first of all, please go to my website, bencarson.com, and read my immigration policy, O.K.? Because it actually makes sense. Now, the \u2014 as far as these fines are concerned, you know? Here's the big problem. We've got all these government regulators, and all they're doing is running around looking for people to fine. And we've got 645 different federal agencies and sub-agencies. Way, way too many, and they don't have anything else to do. I think what we really need to do is start trimming the regulatory agencies rather than going after the people who are trying to increase the viability, economic viability of our society. Now, that doesn't mean there aren't some people out there who are doing bad things. But I'm not sure that the way to solve that problem is by increasing all the regulatory burden. You know, when you consider how much regulations cost us each year, you know? $2 trillion dollars per family, $24,000 per family, that happens to be the same level as the poverty level...... for a family of four. If you want to get rid of poverty, get rid of all the regulations. +p1901 +aVBefore you ask the question, can I respond to the \u2014 you know, they mentioned my name a couple of times. +p1902 +aVAll right. Well, first of all, you know, so many people have said to me, "You need to scream and jump and down \u2014 jump up and down like everybody else." Is that really what you want? What we just saw? I don't think so. And you know, I \u2014 when I got into this race, I decided to look under the hood of the engine of what runs Washington, D.C., and my first inclination was to run away, but I didn't do it because I'm thinking about our children and the fact that we are the United States of America. And anybody up here is going to be much better than what's going to come on the other side. And what happened tonight with \u2014 with Justice Scalia tells you that we cannot afford to lose this election, and we cannot be tearing each other down. +p1903 +aVWell, first of all, I'm not a politician, so I'm never going to become a politician. But here's what \u2014 here's what people need to know. People need to know that free college is not \u2014 it's a non-starter. You know, you have to look at our economic situation. We're on the verge of economic collapse and, you know, we're \u2014 it's not just the $19 trillion, but it's also the $200 trillion in unfunded liabilities. What we need to think about is, what does that do to the average person? When we have a debt of that nature, it causes the Fed to change their policy, it causes the central bank to keep the \u2014 the rates low, and who does does that affect? Mr. Average, who used to go to the bank every Friday and put part of his check in the bank and watch it grow over three decades and be able to retire with a nice nest egg, that's gone. That part of the American dream is gone. All of these things are disappearing, and Bernie Sanders and people like Hillary Clinton blame it on the rich. They say those evil rich people, if we take their money we can solve the problem. It's not the evil rich people. It's the irresponsible, evil government. +p1904 +aVThis is the first generation not expected to do better than their parents. Some people say it's the new normal, but there's nothing normal about it in an exceptional American. I, like you, am a member of we, the people, and we know that our country is heading off the cliff. Joseph Stalin said if you want to bring America down you, have to undermine three things: our spiritual life, our patriotism and our morality. We, the people, can stop that decline, starting right here in South Carolina. If all the people who say, "I love Ben Carson and his policies, but he can't win," vote for me, not only can we win, but we can turn this thing around. You know, we have this manipulation by the political class and by the media telling us who we're supposed to pick and how we're supposed to live. We, the people, are the only people who will determine that. And if you elect me as your next president, I promise you that you will get somebody who is accountable to everybody and beholden to no one. Thank you. +p1905 +aVWell, you know, when I wasn't introduced No. 2, as was the plan, I thought maybe he thought I already had dropped out. But... But you know, today is the 105th anniversary, or \u2014 105th birthday of Ronald Reagan. His 11 Commandment was not to speak ill of another Republican. So, I'm not going to use this opportunity to savage the reputation of Senator Cruz. But I will say \u2014 I will say \u2014 I will say that I was very disappointed that members of his team thought so little of me that they thought that after having hundreds, if not thousands of volunteers and college students who sacrificed their time and were dedicated to the cause \u2014 one even died \u2014 to think that I would just walk away ten minutes before the caucus and say, "Forget about you guys." I mean, who would do something like that? Now, I don't think anyone on this stage would do something like that. And to assume that someone would, what does that tell you? So, unfortunately, it did happen. It gives us a very good example of certain types of Washington ethics. Washington ethics. Washington ethics basically says, if it's legal, you do what you need to do in order to win. That's not my ethics. My ethics is, you do what's right. +p1906 +aVSince I was mentioned... +p1907 +aVThis is great you guys. I want you all to mention me when you say something. In fact, the time line indicates that initial tweet from CNN was followed by another one within one minute that clarified that I was not dropping out. So, what happened to that one, it is unclear. But the bottom line is, we can see what happened, everybody can see what happened and you can make your own judgment. +p1908 +aVGood evening. +p1909 +aVWell, thank you. You know, I was hoping to get a chance to talk about North Korea. I was the only one who didn't get to do that, and I've got stuff to say about it, let me tell you. But at any rate, you have to replace it with something that makes sense. It doesn't make sense. And the reason that I dislike Obamacare is because the government comes in and tells the people \u2014 which the nation is supposed to be centered on \u2014 that we don't care what you think, this is what we're doing. And if you don't like it, too bad. That's a problem. And we can't afford to do that because that will fundamentally change America. I have proposed a health empowerment account system. Everybody gets a health empowerment account the day they are born, they keep it until they die. They can pass it on. We pay for it with the same dollars that we pay for traditional health care with, recognizing that we spend twice as much as many countries per capita and health care and don't have as such access. We give people the ability to shift money within their health empowerment account so that each family basically becomes its own insurance company without a middleman; that saves you a awful lot of money. And that will lower the cost of your catastrophic insurance tremendously, because the only thing coming out of that is catastrophic health care. And then in terms of taking care of the indigent, we have another whole system, and I can go ahead and explain it, but I don't have the time, but I'd be happy to if you give me some more time. But go to my website bencarson.com, read about it. You can read about everything that's been discussed here in great detail. HAM: Thank you, Dr. Carson. David, Martha, back to you. +p1910 +aVI want to say something about this, because I'm not here just to add beauty to the stage. You know, I've been talking about Libya for quite a long time. I think I was the first one to start talking about it because I say we have to have a proactive foreign policy strategy. And of course, the next place that +p1911 +aVI would support the possibility of renewed airstrikes if in conjunction with our Joint Chiefs and our military people they felt that was an appropriate strategy. The fact of the matter is none of us up here is a military expert, and we sometimes act like we are, but we're not. And if we actually sit down and talk with them and get them to understand our plan and their impression of what needs to be done, I think we're going to make a lot more progress. +p1912 +aVIt's the same question? +p1913 +aVYes. Well, first of all, I think it would be a pretty easy contrast, quite frankly, between myself and Hillary Clinton. In one case, you have someone who is known as a deceitful individual. An individual who at Benghazi, which I will never let go, quite frankly, because I think of those two men who went up there on the top of that compound with machine guns, firing away, allowing their colleagues to escape. And I'm sure, in the back of their mind, they were just saying, if we can just hold on, help is on the way. But help was not on the way. When did we in the United States not send people to help our own people? You know, this is not who we are. And \u2014 I would simply make it a referendum on honesty and integrity versus deceit and the Washington way. +p1914 +aVWell, you know, it's not a simple issue, and now, you know, we've gotten evidence that there can been active viruses in other bodily fluids like saliva and urine. So, this is going to be, obviously, a big deal. Do we quarantine people? If we have evidence that they are infected, and that there is evidence that that infection can spread by something that they're doing, yes. But, just willy-nilly going out and quarantining a bunch of people because they've been to Brazil, I don't believe that that's going to work. What we really need to be thinking about is how do we get this disease under control? And this is where we need rapid response. We need a rapid response for ebola, we need rapid response for Zika, there will be other things that will come up. These are the kinds of things that the NIH, the CDC, can be very effective in. We need to give the the appropriate support for those kind of things. +p1915 +aVCan I say something... +p1916 +aVSomething about the draft. Very quickly. +p1917 +aVYou know, 14 percent decrease in the number of people applying for voluntary military service, and I think part of it is because of the way that we treat our veterans. You know, we wouldn't be a free country if it wasn't for them, and we have 22 veterans per day committing suicide. So, I think what we should do is have an external support system for people once they volunteer and it should follow them throughout their career, should follow them for three years, five years afterwards, a year before they get out, should be working on integrating them back into society, so that they quit on Friday and they start their new job. They should have health empowerment accounts that are subsidized so they can go to any medical facility and be taken care of. They can go to a V.A. if they want to. But if we start taking care of our veterans the right way, we won't have to ever worry about a draft again. +p1918 +aVWith 100 percent certainly, I will predict the winner \u2014 it will either be Denver or Carolina. +p1919 +aVFor many months, the political class, pundits, the media, have tried to ignore or bury me. They say that politics is too complex, and too sleazy. You can't survive. Well, guess what? I'm still here, and I'm not going any place either. And, I believe there is still a place in our country for faith, integrity, and common sense. Hundreds of thousands of you drafted me to run for president...... And, I am going to with the help of God, and you, once again place the American people at the pinnacle with the government there to serve it. +p1920 +aVWell, I will gladly confess that I'm the only one on this stage with no political title. You're not going to hear a lot of polished political speech from me, but you will hear the truth. And I don't think you have to be a politician to tell the truth. In fact, sometimes it's not that way... ... and I've had more two a.m. phone calls than everybody here put together, making life and death decisions, put together very complex teams to accomplish things that have never been done before. And we are in a situation right now in our country that we have never been in before. We need people who think out of the box and can solve problems; can utilize the resources around them; very smart people, to focus on the problem and solve the problem. The American people are terrified. That's why we have this abnormal situation going on right now. We don't need more of the same solutions. We need different solutions to solve the problems and to save our nation. +p1921 +aVWell, I don't know about the GOP messaging, but I can tell you about my messaging. You know, need to stop allowing political correctness to dictate our policies, because it's going to kill us if we don't. And in the Holy Land Foundation trial in 2006 in Texas, they had a memorandum, an explanatory memorandum that talked about the fact that Americans would be easy to overcome and to commit civilization jihad because they were going to be trying to protect the rights of the very people who were trying to subvert them. But I believe in the Teddy Roosevelt philosophy. Teddy Roosevelt said, we are a nation of immigrants. As such, everybody is welcome from any race, any country, any religion, if they want to be Americans. If they want to accept our values and our laws. If not, they can stay where they are. +p1922 +aVOh, great. As I said before, we are a land of immigrants, but we have to be intelligent about the way that we form our immigration policies, and that's one of the reasons that I have called on us to declare war on the Islamic State because we need to reorient our immigration policies and our visa policies for people who are coming into this country because there are many people out there who want to destroy us. Now, I recognize that the vast majority of people coming in here probably are not those kinds of people, but that's not good enough. If you've got 10 people coming to your house and you know one of them is a terrorist, you're probably going to keep them all out. You know, we probably have to figure out a way to make sure that we keep America safe. +p1923 +aVLook, first of all, I recognize that Vladimir Putin is an opportunist and he's a bully, and we have to face him down. And I would \u2014 first of all, face him down in that whole region, the whole Baltic region. I think we need to put in some armored brigades there. We only have one or two. We need much more than that. We need to be doing military exercises if not only Estonia but Latvia and Lithuania. They're terrified by the saber rattling. I think we ought to put in our missile defense system. I think we ought to give Ukraine offensive weapons and I think we ought to fight them on the economic basis because Putin is a one- horse country: oil and energy. And we ought to fight them on that level. We ought to be helping in terms of the technology for fracking, keeping the price low, quite frankly, because that's what's keeping him contained. So, yes, I'd absolutely would go in if he attacked. I think on Article IV of +p1924 +aVWell, as anyone knows who's been listening to me, you know? I'm very much against the government being involved in every aspect of our lives, you know? We last year there was an additional 81,000 pages of government regulations. If you stack that up it would be a three-story building. This is absolutely absurd. And, they've insinuated themselves into everything. Now, as far as the renewable fuel standard is concerned, certain promises were made, certain government contracts were issued which extend all the way into the year 2022, and I believe that it's probably unfair to withdraw the rug because people have invested money. People have invested a lot of energy into that. But, you know, we are blessed with tremendous energy in this nation, and we need to be talking for new sources of energy. Seventy percent of our population lives by costly. What about hydroelectric power? We can develop that, you know? We have so much natural gas now, and we can liquify it, and we can transfer it across the sea so we can make Europe dependent on us instead of Putin \u2014 put him back in his little box where he belongs. Those are the kinds of things that we ought to be doing. And, you know, take advantage of the tremendous opportunities in energy that God has given us, not get involved in these little petty arguments. And we can get a lot of them out if we get the government out of our lives. +p1925 +aVI want to thank the people of Iowa for being so welcoming to me. Please think of our founding fathers as you listen. We the people of the United States in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the benefits of liberty to ourselves and our prosperity, do ordain and establish this constitution of the United States of America. Folks, it's not too late. Enough said. +p1926 +aVWell, I'm very happy to get a question this early on. I was going to ask you to wake me up when that time came. You know, I find it really quite fascinating some of the president's proclamations. The fact of the matter is he doesn't realize that we now live in the 21st century, and that war is very different than it used to be before. Not armies massively marching on each other and air forces, but now we have dirty bombs and we have cyber attacks and we have people who will be attacking our electrical grid. And, you know, we have a whole variety of things that they can do and they can do these things simultaneously. And we have enemies who are obtaining nuclear weapons that they can explode in our exoatmosphere and destroy our electric grid. I mean, just think about a scenario like that. They explode the bomb, we have an electromagnetic pulse. They hit us with a cyberattack simultaneously and dirty bombs. Can you imagine the chaos that would ensue at that point? He needs to recognize that those kinds of things are in fact an existential threat to us. But here's the real key. We have the world's best military, even though he's done everything he can to diminish it. And the fact of the matter is if we give them a mission and we don't tie their hands behind their back, they can get it accomplished. +p1927 +aVNeil, I was mentioned too. +p1928 +aVYeah, he said everybody. And \u2014 and I just want to take this opportunity to say, you know, in the 2012 election, you know, we \u2014 and when I say we, Republicans \u2014 tore themselves apart. You know, we have to stop this because, you know, if we manage to damage ourselves, and we lose the next election, and a progressive gets in there and they get two or three Supreme Court picks, this nation is over as we know it. And we got to look at the big picture here. +p1929 +aVWell, there's not question that we should be able to look at past president whether they're married to somebody who's running for president or not in terms of their past behavior and what it means. But you know, here's the real issue, is this America anymore? Do we still have standards? Do we still have values and principles? You know, you look at what's going on, you see all the divisiveness and the hatred that goes on in our society. You know, we have a war on virtual everything \u2014 race wars, gender wars, income wars, religious wars, age wars. Every war you can imaging, we have people at each other's throat and our strength is actually in our unity. You know, you go to the internet, you start reading an article and you go to the comments section \u2014 you cannot go five comments down before people are calling each all manner of names. Where did that spirit come from in America? It did not come from our Judeo-Christian roots, I can tell you that. And wherever it came from we need to start once again recognizing that there is such a thing as right and wrong. And let's not let the secular progressives drive that out of us. The majority of people in American actually have values and principles and they believe in the very things that made America great. They've been beaten into submission. It's time for us to stand up for what we believe in. +p1930 +aVWait a minute, who in their 16th month? +p1931 +aVOK. +p1932 +aVWell, there's no question that +p1933 +aVWell, first of all, recognize it is a substantial problem. But like all of our problems, there isn't a single one that can't be solved with common sense if you remove the ego and the politics. And clearly, what we need to do is get a group of experts together, including people from other countries, some of our friends from Israel, who have had experience screening these people and come up with new guidelines for immigration, and for visas, for people who are coming into this country. That is the thing that obviously makes sense, we can do that. And as far as the Syrians are concerned, Al-Hasakah province, perfect place. They have infrastructure. All we need to do is protect them, they will be in their own country. And that is what they told me when I was in Jordan in November. Let's listen to them and let's not listen to our politicians. +p1934 +aVWell, I would suggest a fair tax system, and that's what we have proposed. A flat tax for everybody \u2014 no exemptions, no deductions, no shelters, because some people have a better capability of taking advantage of those than others. You know, and then the other thing we have to do is stop spending so much money. You know, I \u2014 my \u2014 my mother taught me this. You know, she only had a third-grade education, but \u2014 you know, she knew how to stretch a dollar. I mean, she would drive a car until it wouldn't make a sound, and then gather up all her coins and buy a new car. In fact, if my mother were secretary of treasury, we would not be in a deficit situation. But...... you know, the \u2014 the \u2014 the fact of the matter is \u2014 you know, if we fix the taxation system, make it absolutely fair, and get rid of the incredible regulations \u2014 because every regulation is a tax, it's a \u2014 on goods and services. And it's the most regressive tax there is. You know, when you go into the store and buy a box of laundry detergent, and the price has up \u2014 you know, 50 cents because of regulations, a poor person notices that. A rich person does not. Middle class may notice it when they get to the cash register. And everything is costing more money, and we are killing our \u2014 our \u2014 our people like this. And Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton will say it's those evil rich people. It's not the evil rich people. It's the evil government that is \u2014 that is putting all these regulations on us so that we can't survive. +p1935 +aVCan I just add one very quick thing? And I just want to say, you know, last week we released our tax plan. And multiple reputable journals, including The Wall Street Journal, said ours is the best. Just want to get that out there, just saying. +p1936 +aVYou know, in recent travels around this country, I've encountered so many Americans who are discouraged and angry as they watch our freedom, our security and the American dream slipping away under an unresponsive government that is populated by bureaucrats and special interest groups. We're not going to solve this problem with traditional politics. The only way we're going to solve this problem is with we, the people. And I ask you to join me in truth and honesty and integrity. Bencarson.com \u2014 we will heal, inspire and revive America for our children. +p1937 +aVThank you, Wolf. Please join me for a moment of silence and remembrance of the San Bernardino victims. Thank you. You know, our country since its inception has been at war, every 15 or 20 years. But the war that we are fighting now against radical Islamist jihadists is one that we must win. Our very existence is dependent upon that. You know, as a pediatric neurosurgeon, I frequently faced life and death situations, and had to come up with the right diagnosis, the right plan, and execute that plan frequently with other colleagues. Right now, the United States of America is the patient. And the patient is in critical condition and will not be cured by political correctness and will not be cured by timidity. And I am asking the Congress, which represents the people, to declare a war on +p1938 +aVFirst of all, let me just complain a little bit. This is the first time I've spoken and several people have had multiple questions so please try to pay attention to that. Now, as far as monitoring is concerned, what my point is, we need to make sure that any place \u2013 I don't care whether it's a mosque, a school, a supermarket, a theater, you know it doesn't matter. If there are a lot of people getting there and engaging in radicalizing activities then we need to be suspicious of it. We have to get rid of all this PC stuff. And people are worried about if somebody's going to say that I'm Islamophobic or what have you. This is craziness because we are at war. That's why I asked congress, go ahead and declare the war . We need to be on a war footing. We need to understand that our nation is in grave danger. You know, what the Muslim Brotherhood said in the explanatory memorandum that was discovered during the Holy Land Foundation Trial was that, "they will take advantage of our PC attitude to get us. :" We have to be better than this. We have to be smarter than they are. +p1939 +aVI think you have to ask them about that. I don't want to get in between them. Let them fight. +p1940 +aVNeurosurgeon. +p1941 +aVWell, interestingly enough, you should see the eyes of some of those children when I say to them we're going to have to open your head up and take out this tumor. They're not happy about it, believe me. And they don't like me very much at that point. But later on, they love me. Sometimes you \u2014 I sound like him. You know, later on, you know, they really realize what's going on. And by the same token, you have to be able to look at the big picture and understand that it's actually merciful if you go ahead and finish the job, rather than death by 1,000 pricks. +p1942 +aVYou got it. You got it. +p1943 +aVRuthless is not necessarily the word I would use, but tough, resolute, understanding what the problems are, and understanding that the job of the president of the United States is to protect the people of this country and to do what is necessary in order to get it done. +p1944 +aVFirst of all, I've been talking about this for over a year. We have to destroy their caliphate because that gives them legitimacy to go ahead with the global Jihad. We have to take their energy because they are \u2014 +p1945 +aVNo one is ever better off with dictators but there comes a time you know, when you're on an airplane, they always say, "in case of an emergency oxygen masks will drop down. Put yours on first and then administer help to your neighbor." We need oxygen right now. And we need to start thinking about the needs of the American people before we go and solve everybody else's problems. The fact of the matter is, is that the Middle East has been in turmoil for thousands of years. For us to think that we're going to in there and fix that with a couple of little bombs and a few little decorations is relatively foolish. +p1946 +aVWell, you know, there's a false narrative that only the political class has the wisdom and the ability to be commander-in- chief. But if you go back and you study the design of our country, it was really designed for the citizen statesman. And we need to be talking about where does your experience come from? You know, and I've had a lot of experience building things, organizing things, you know, a national scholarship program. One of the things that you'll notice if you look through my life is that I don't do a lot of talking. I do a lot of doing. And really, it says more about a person than how much they talk. And then some people say you're weak because, you know, you're not loud and you're not boisterous and you're not rude. But the fact of the matter is, look and see what I've done. And that speaks volumes about strength. +p1947 +aVWell, it was very interesting having an opportunity to talk to the Syrians themselves. And I asked them: What do you want? What is your supreme desire? Their supreme desire was to be settled back in their own country. I said, "What can Americans and other countries do?" They said, "Support the efforts of those who are trying to provide safety for us, including the Jordanians." Of course, they had a brand new hospital, for instance, that was unstaffed because there wasn't enough money to do it. But here's what's really neat. If you go into Hasakah province in northeast Syria, that's an area that's as big as Lebanon. It's controlled by the Kurds, the Christians and the moderate Sunnis. And there are airstrips and hotels. You could settle a lot of people there. All we would have to do is be willing to provide them with some weaponry, some defensive weaponry. And we seem to be afraid to give the Kurds weaponry. We like to send it for some strange reason through Baghdad, and then they only get a tenth of it. And if we would support them, we'd have a perfect ideal there. We don't need to set this up as we either take a bunch of refugees who will be infiltrated with terrorists, I guarantee you. For them not to be would be terrorist malpractice. And we need to \u2014 to choose the right choice, not these false choices. +p1948 +aVWell, I definitely believe that he is unstable, and I do, in fact, believe that China has a lot more influence with him than we do. But we also recognize that North Korea is in severe financial straits, and they have decided to use their resources to build their military, rather than to feed their people and to take care of the various humanitarian responsibilities that they have. We can capitalize upon that. You know, we should use our economic power in lots of different ways. I think we can use that in order to keep Putin contained, because he is a one-horse show. Energy. And we have an abundance of energy, but we have archaic energy exportation rules. We need to get rid of those, allow ourselves to really make Europe dependent on us and other parts of the world dependent on us for energy. Put him back in his little box where he belongs. And, you know, we need to be doing lots of other things with the resources that we have. So economic power works just as well as military power, perhaps even better. And speaking of that, our Military needs to be upgraded. You know, you look at things like our Ohio Class submarines, they're 25 years old. Our minuteman 3 missiles \u2014 they are 34 years old. Our B-52 bombers \u2014 50 years old. You know, if we don't get the military right nothing else matters. +p1949 +aVWell, you know, the statement that I made last week, that I would leave the party was contingent upon whether in fact the party acts like they have in the past with a lot of subterfuge and dishonesty, or like they're going act now because I spike to Reince Priebus, and he assured me that the Washington Post writer had it all wrong, and that they're not be engaging in anything to thwart the will of the people. That's why I got into this race, as a member of we the people, to try bring some honesty and integrity back to the process. +p1950 +aVI've been fortunate enough to travel to 58 different countries and I thank God everyday that I was born in this country. The most exceptional country that the world has ever known. And I want to make sure that we preserve that exceptionalism for the next generation. My mother told me if I work hard and I really believed in American principles and I believed in God, anything is possible. I believe that is true, and that's why I'm not anxious to give away American values and principles for the sake of political correctness. +p1951 +aVWell, first of all, delighted to be here. My family's here, and my little granddaughter, who's three years old, said she wanted to come to the debate. So this is very cool. As far as the minimum wage is concerned, people need to be educated on the minimum wage. Every time we raise the minimum wage, the number of jobless people increases. It's particularly a problem in the black community. Only 19.8 percent of black teenagers have a job, who are looking for one. You know, that \u2014 and that's because of those high wages. If you lower those wages, that comes down. You know, I can remember, as a youngster \u2014 you know, my first job working in a laboratory as a lab assistant, and multiple other jobs. But I would not have gotten those jobs if someone had to pay me a large amount of money. But what I did gain from those jobs is a tremendous amount of experience, and how to operate in the world and how to relate to different people, and how to become a responsible individual. And that's what gave me what I needed to ascend the ladder of opportunity in this country. That's what we need to be thinking about. How do we allow people to ascend the ladder of opportunity, rather than how do we give them everything and keep them dependent? +p1952 +aVI would not raise it. I would not raise it, specifically because I'm interested in making sure that people are able to enter the job market and take advantage of opportunities. +p1953 +aVWell, first of all, thank you not asking me what I said in the 10th grade. I appreciate that. +p1954 +aVThe fact of the matter is, you know, what \u2014 we should vet all candidates. I have no problem with being vetted. What I do have a problem with is being lied about and then putting that out there as truth. And I don't even mind that so much, if they do it about \u2014 with everybody, like people on the other side. But, you know, when I look at somebody like Hillary Clinton, who sits there and tells her daughter and a government official that no, this was a terrorist attack, and then tells everybody else that it was a video. Where I came from, they call that a lie. And... I think that's very different from, you know, somebody misinterpreting, when I said that I was offered a scholarship to West Point, that is the words that they used. But, I've had many people come and say the same thing to me. That is what people do in those situations. We have to start treating people the same, and finding out what people really think and what they're made of. People who know me know that I'm an honest person. +p1955 +aVWell, you know, when I say tithing, I'm talking about the concept of proportionality. +p1956 +aVEverybody should pay the same proportion of what they make. You make $10 billion, you pay a billion. You make $10, you pay one. You get same rights and privileges. I don't see how anything gets a whole lot fairer than that. But you also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes because that is the thing that tilts it in one direction or another. And you have to set the rate at an appropriate level. Now I will say that, there are a lot of people who say, if you get rid of the deductions, you ruin the American dream because, you know, home mortgage deduction. But the fact of the matter is, people had homes before 1913 when we introduced the federal income tax, and later after that started deductions. And they say there will be no more charitable giving. We had churches before that and charitable organizations before that. The fact of the matter is, I believe if you put more money in people's pockets that they will actually be more generous rather than less generous. And it's... ... the money that they earned. And, the other thing is, I do care about the poor people. And in the system that we're putting together, there will be a rebate for people at the poverty level. But I also want to emphasize the fact that as we get the economy moving, and I hope I get a question about how do we get the economy moving, there will be a lot more opportunities for poor people not to be poor people because this is America. This is the land of dreams. And our policies should be aimed at allowing people to realize that dream. +p1957 +aVWell, putting the special ops people in there is better than not having them there, because they \u2014 that's why they're called special ops, they're actually able to guide some of the other things that we're doing there. And what we have to recognize is that Putin is trying to really spread his influence throughout the Middle East. This is going to be his base. And we have to oppose him there in an effective way. We also must recognize that it's a very complex place. You know, the Chinese are there, as well as the Russians, and you have all kinds of factions there. What we've been doing so far is very ineffective, but we can't give up ground right there. But we have to look at this on a much more global scale. We're talking about global jihadists. And their desire is to destroy us and to destroy our way of life. So we have to be saying, how do we make them look like losers? Because that's the way that they're able to gather a lot of influence. And I think in order to make them look like losers, we have to destroy their caliphate. And you look for the easiest place to do that? It would be in Iraq. And if \u2014 outside of Anbar in Iraq, there's a big energy field. Take that from them. Take all of that land from them. We could do that, I believe, fairly easily, I've learned from talking to several generals, and then you move on from there. But you have to continue to face them, because our goal is not to contain them, but to destroy them before they destroy us. +p1958 +aVWell, I think we should have policies that don't allow them to just enlarge themselves at the expense of smaller entities. And certainly some of the policies, some of the monetary and Fed policies that we're using makes it very easy for them, makes it very easy for the big corporations, quite frankly, at these very low interest rates to buy back their stock and to drive the price of that up artificially. Those are the kinds of things that led to the problem in the first place. And I think this all really gets back to this whole regulation issue which is creating a very abnormal situation. This country was \u2014 declared its independence in 1776. In less than 100 years, it was the number-one economic power in the world. And the reason was because we had an atmosphere that encouraged entrepreneurial risk- taking and capital investment. Those are the fuels that drive it. And what we've done now is let the creep of regulation turn into a stampede of regulations, which is involved in every aspect of our lives. If we can get that out, it makes a big difference. And even for the average person, every single regulation costs money. And it's shifted to the individual. So \u2014 and it hurts the poor and the middle class much more than it does the rich. They go into the store and they buy a bar of soap, it costs 10 cents more, they notice it. And the middle class, when they come to the cash register, have a whole cart full of things that cost 5, 10 or 15 cents more, they notice it. It is hurting the poor. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton won't tell you that that's the thing that's really hurting middle class in the core. They'll say it's the rich, take their money, but that won't help. You can take all of the rich's money and it won't make a dent in the problem that we're having. We have to come back to the fundamental principles that made America great. +p1959 +aVI would have policies that wouldn't allow that to occur. I don't want to go in and tear anybody down. I mean, that doesn't help us. But what does help us is stop tinkering around the edges and fix the actual problems that exist that are creating the problem in the first place. +p1960 +aVIn the two hours of this \u2014 of this debate, five people have died from drug-related deaths, $100 million has been added to our national debt, 200 babies have been killed by abortionists, and two veterans have taken their lives out of despair. This is a narrative that we can change, not we the Democrats, not we the Republicans, but we the people of America, because there is something special about this nation, and we must embrace it and be proud of it and never give it away for the sake of political correctness. +p1961 +asVAUDIENCE +p1962 +(lp1963 +VBoo. +p1964 +aVBoo. +p1965 +asVSTRASSEL +p1966 +(lp1967 +VMr. Trump. +p1968 +aVYou have made a lot of promises and you have also \u2014 you're the only candidate who has said he would not touch entitlements. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has estimated that your ideas would cost an additional $12 trillion to $15 trillion over the next 10 years and that we would have to have annual economic growth of anywhere from 7.7 percent to 9 percent annually to pay for them. Are you proposing more than you can actually deliver, at least not without big deficits? +p1969 +aVBut in terms of... +p1970 +aVO.K. But how would you actually do that? Can I ask you? Because right now, Social Security and Medicare... +p1971 +aVThey take up two-thirds of the federal budget, and they're growing. +p1972 +aVO.K., I have a question, a related tax question. Senator Rubio, you have the highest tax rate of anyone up on the stage in terms of the top tax rates, 35 percent. Some economists say, "It would limit its potential to boost economic growth." You do that so that you will have more revenue to pay for a tripling of the Child Tax Credit. Normally, it's liberals who like to use the tax code to insert social policy. Why should conservatives who want to tax adopt the other side's approach? +p1973 +aVGovernor Kasich, this on is on size of government. In 2013, you pushed through a Medicaid reform in your state over the rejections of many of the Republicans in your state. Total enrollment and overall cost of program have gone well beyond what anyone had expected, including yourself. How can you argue that this overall growth fits in with conservative ambition to significantly cut back on the size of federal welfare programs? +p1974 +aVSenator Cruz. Senator Cruz, you have promised to deport illegal aliens. You have also promised to reverse President Obama's executive action that gives temporary amnesty to illegals brought here by their parent as children. As president, you would have the names and addresses of the some 800,000 of those that have registered under that action. Now, you have said that in this country, we shouldn't go door to door, look for illegals, but in this case you would have a list. Would you use it? +p1975 +aVSo would you \u2014 would you use the addresses? +p1976 +aVWould you pick them up? +p1977 +aVSenator Rubio, your reply. +p1978 +aVAll right. Senator Cruz. Your response, Senator Cruz. +p1979 +aV... O.K.... +p1980 +aVMoving subjects. Dr. Carson, this week Morgan Stanley agreed to pay a $3.2 billion fine to state and federal authorities for contributing to the mortgage crisis. You have a lot of Democrats out saying that we should be jailing more executives, so two questions. Should financial executives be held legally responsible for financial crisis, and do you think fines like these are an effective way to deter companies from future behavior like that? +p1981 +aVSenator Cruz, you were mentioned in the mix here, your response? +p1982 +aVAnd now, Marco Rubio. +p1983 +aVWe'll be back with a few final thoughts in a moment. +p1984 +asVDICKERSON +p1985 +(lp1986 +VGood evening. I'm John Dickerson. This holiday weekend, as America honors our first president, we're about to hear from six men who hope to be the 45th. The candidates for the Republican nomination are here in South Carolina for their ninth debate, one week before this state holds the first-in-the-South primary. George Washington wrote that the truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains taken to bring it to light. We hope to shed some light on the candidates' positions tonight to help voters make up their minds. So gentlemen, please join us on stage. With us tonight \u2014 with us tonight are retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson of Florida, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Businessman Donald Trump of New York. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Former Governor Jeb Bush of Florida. And Governor John Kasich of Ohio. Now, as most of you have heard by now, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died today at the age of 79. He was the longest-serving member of the court, appointed by President Reagan in 1986. Justice Scalia was the court's leading conservative, and even those who disagreed with his opinions regarded him as a brilliant legal scholar. Please join us and the candidates on our stage in a moment of silence for Justice Antonin Scalia. Thank you. We will talk to the candidates about Justice Scalia and the road ahead when the debate begins in a moment. +p1987 +aVBefore we get started, candidates, here are the rules. When we ask you a question, you will have one minute to answer, and 30 seconds more if we ask a follow-up. If you're attacked by another candidate, you get 30 seconds to respond. And here's how we keep time. After we ask a question, you'll get a green light. The yellow light means you have 30 seconds left to finish your answer, and when time is up, the light turns red. That means please stop talking. If you keep talking, you'll hear this. You don't want to hear that. Joining me in the questioning tonight, my CBS News colleague, chief White House correspondent Major Garrett, and Kimberley Strassel, who is on the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal. And you can participate in the debate through our partnership with Twitter. Tweet us your questions and comments using the hashtag "# +p1988 +aVSo, just to be clear on this, Mr. Trump, you're O.K. with the president nominating somebody ... +p1989 +aVGovernor Kasich, I want to get your thoughts on this. Justice Scalia was a real believer, obviously, in the strict word of the Constitution. Now, Harry Reid says that a failure to fill his vacancy would be, quote, "shameful abdication of one of the Senate's most essential constitutional responsibilities." Where do you come down on this? +p1990 +aVDr. Carson. Dr. Carson, you, like others, put out a statement after the death was announced, and you said the president should delay. You've written a book on the Constitution recently. What does the Constitution say about whose duty it is here to act in this kind of a situation? +p1991 +aVSenator Rubio, you're a... Senator Rubio, you're a lawyer. Quickly, can you address the issue of whether the Constitution tells us who has the power to appoint Supreme Court justices? And then, also, the Senate Republicans last year floated an idea of removing the filibuster for Senate \u2014 excuse me, for Supreme Court nominations. You seemed open to that. What's your feeling on that now? +p1992 +aVQuickly, though, on this question... Very quickly, Senator, on this specific question, though. You were once in favor of dropping the threshold... +p1993 +aV... majority \u2014 you were never in favor of that? +p1994 +aVO.K. Thank you, Senator. Governor Bush, I would like to ask you, conservatives for a long time have felt like that their Republican presidents have picked justices that didn't turn out to be real conservatives. +p1995 +aVBernie Sanders has said he would have a litmus test. He would make sure that he appointed a justice who was going to overturn Citizens United. If they can have a litmus test for a nominee, what about you? Would you have a litmus test for a nominee? And what would it be? +p1996 +aVRight, so, Senator Cruz, the Constitution... So, Senator Cruz, the Constitution says the president "shall appoint with advice and consent from the Senate," just to clear that up. So he has the constitutional power. But you don't think he should. Where do you set that date if you're president? Does it begin in election year, in December, November, September? And once you set the date, when you're president, will you abide by that date? +p1997 +aVJust can I \u2014 I'm sorry to interrupt, were any appointed in an election year, or is that just there were 80 years... +p1998 +aVBut Kennedy was confirmed in '88. +p1999 +aVHe was appointed in '87. +p2000 +aV... confirmed in '88. That's the question, is it appointing or confirming, what's the difference? +p2001 +aVSorry, I just want to get the facts straight for the audience. But I apologize. +p2002 +aVAll right. Thank you, Senator Cruz. All right, we're going to move on to national security here, and we are going to \u2014 I want to read a quote from Secretary Robert Gates, former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who served for eight year \u2014 under eight presidents. And this is what he said about Republican candidates, quote, "Part of the concern that I have with the campaign is that the solutions being offered are so simplistic and so at odds with the way the world really works." So, in that spirit, we're going to work tonight to be more specific. Mr. Trump, I want to start with you. You have said as president, you'll get up to speed very quickly. You'll know more quickly as president than any of the experts. So, you've been elected president. It's your first day in the Situation Room. What three questions do you ask your national security experts about the world? +p2003 +aVSenator Rubio \u2014 just 30 seconds on this question, Senator Rubio. Are those the questions you would ask? +p2004 +aVLet me ask you a follow-up, a full, proper question, then. Violent extremists are operating or active in 40 countries. Some 80 countries are in different degrees of instability. And so, that's just the crises overseas. Barack Obama walked into an economic collapse when he came into office. We face international health crises, from Ebola to Zika. So, there is a lot of opportunity for crisis, as you have talked about. What would you point to in your past to show voters that you've been in a crisis and that you've been tested when that inevitable crisis comes when you're president? +p2005 +aVDr. Carson, I want to ask you a question... Dr. Carson, you said you've had more 2 a.m. \u2014 2 a.m. phone calls than anybody up on this stage. But when those 2 a.m. phone calls came, you operated on a foundation of all of that amazing medical work that you did, all of that learning. So if you were to be president, though, you wouldn't have the political foundation that hones those instincts when the 2 a.m. phone call comes. So isn't that a liability? +p2006 +aVGovernor Kasich, Russia is being credited......Russia is being credited with bombing U.S.-backed rebels on behalf of Assad in Aleppo and Syria. They've also moved into the Crimea, eastern Ukraine. You've said you want to punch them in the nose. What does that mean? What are you going to do? +p2007 +aVGovernor......Governor Bush. +p2008 +aVYou said defeating +p2009 +aVMr. Trump, you're......Mr. Trump, you were mentioned here. You did say that you could get along very well with Vladimir Putin. You did at one point say let Russia take care of +p2010 +aV... All right... +p2011 +aV... All right, Governor Bush, please respond. +p2012 +aV... O.K., settle... +p2013 +aV... All right, Mr. Trump, all right... +p2014 +aVGentleman, I think we're going to leave that there. I've got a question for Senator... +p2015 +aV... All right, all right, gentlemen, gentlemen, let's leave it there so I can ask a question of Senator Cruz, who's also running for president. Senator Cruz, you talked about the first Gulf War as being a kind of model for your focused and determined effort to go after +p2016 +aVVery quickly, 30-second follow-up. You've said that, essentially, the Kurds would be the American ground forces in there. The criticism that experts have on that is that the Kurds only can work within their territory. If they take larger amounts of territory, you have an ethnic war with the Arabs. So the Kurds can't really do as much as you seem to be putting on their backs. +p2017 +aVAll right. Mr. Trump......On Monday, George W. Bush will campaign in South Carolina for his brother. As you've said tonight, and you've often said, the Iraq war and your opposition to it was a sign of your good judgment. In 2008, in an interview with Wolf Blitzer, talking about President George W. Bush's conduct of the war, you said you were surprised that Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi didn't try to impeach him. You said, quote: "Which, personally, I think would have been a wonderful thing." When you were asked what you meant by that and you said: "For the war, for the war, he lied, he got us into the war with lies." Do you still believe President Bush should have been impeached? +p2018 +aVSo... +p2019 +aVBut so I'm going to \u2014 so you still think he should be impeached? +p2020 +aVAll right. O.K. All right. Governor Bush \u2014 when a member on the stage's brother gets attacked... +p2021 +aV... the brother gets to respond. +p2022 +aVGovernor Kasich, would you weigh in on......Governor Kasich, please weigh in. +p2023 +aVWhy is it nuts? Talk about it. Give us your sense of... +p2024 +aVThirty seconds, Senator Rubio. +p2025 +aVAll right, Dr. Carson, we have a cleansing... +p2026 +aVWe have a cleansing... +p2027 +aVAll right. Well, Dr. Carson, I have got a question now for you. A moment of pause here. You have said, Dr. Carson, that \u2014 referring to yourself, that people bought into the idea that, quote, "A nice person can't be tough on terrorists." You have called for loosening the rules of engagement for the military, which could lead to more civilian casualties. So, explain why those casualties would be acceptable in the fight against +p2028 +aVAll right, thank you, Dr. Carson. We're going to have to take a commercial break here. Thank you to all the candidates. We'll be right back with CBS News's 2016 debate in Greenville, South Carolina. +p2029 +aVWe're back with the Republicans who could be president. The topic now is money and how the candidates would spend it. We'll turn the questioning over to Kimberley Strassel of The Wall Street Journal and Major Garrett of CBS News. Kim? +p2030 +aVDr. Carson, before we go to break, could you give us your sense of this conversation about either Medicaid or economic growth through taxation? +p2031 +aVDoctor... +p2032 +aV... Dr. Carson, I'm sorry, we have to go to a commercial. The free market wants what it wants. Back soon with the 2016 Republican debate in Greenville, South Carolina. +p2033 +aVWelcome back. We'll begin the second half of the debate with one of the hottest issues in the Republican campaign, immigration. But before I turn it back to Major Garrett and Kim Strassel, I have one question for Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump, in the Republican National Committee's Spanish-language response to the State of the Union, Congressman Diaz-Balart said, quote, "It's essential that we find a legislative solution," talking about immigration, "to offer a permanent and humane solution to those who live in the shadows. What does that mean to you, "a humane solution to those who live in the shadows"? +p2034 +aVSenator Cruz, I have a question for you. Speaker Paul Ryan has made a big commitment to trying to lift the 50 million poor out of poverty. Arthur Brooks, who is the president of the American Enterprise Institute, says, quote, "If we are not warriors for the poor every day, free enterprise has no matter." How you have been, in your campaign, a warrior for the poor? +p2035 +aVAll right. Mr. Trump, thank you so much. We're going to take a break for a moment. We'll be back in a moment with the CBS News Republican debate. +p2036 +aVWe're back now from Greenville, South Carolina, with the candidates for the Republican presidential nomination. Mr. Trump, I have a question for you. Presidents have to, on the one hand, be firm, but also be flexible. You have been flexible and changed your opinion on a number of things, from abortion to Hillary Clinton. But you have said, rightly, that it's just like Ronald Reagan, who changed his mind on things. But at the same time, you're criticizing Senator Cruz for what you say is a change on immigration. He disputes that, of course. So, why is your change of opinion make you like Reagan, and when he changes his opinion, it's a huge character flaw? +p2037 +aVWhich conservative idea don't you agree with? +p2038 +aVAll right. Governor Bush, I think by "they," he is referring to your brother, these on the hook for your brother. +p2039 +aVBut that was his brother. +p2040 +aVHold on, gentleman, I'm going to turn this car around. +p2041 +aVAll right, gentlemen. +p2042 +aVWell, hold on. We're going to \u2014 gentlemen, we're in danger of driving this into the dirt. Senator Rubio, I'd like you to jump in here... +p2043 +aVI understand, you're on deck, governor. +p2044 +aVSenator Cruz, 30 seconds on this one. +p2045 +aVWe're going to switch... +p2046 +aVWe're going to switch here to Senator Marco Rubio. Senator Marco Rubio, please weigh in. +p2047 +aVI thought you had a point? +p2048 +aVI thought you had a point you wanted to make. +p2049 +aVYou're on deck, sir. +p2050 +aVSenator, I wanted to ask you, just going back to immigration, in the last debate, you listed your series of accomplishments in the Senate. One thing you left off was \u2014 was immigration reform. Is it the case that in your list of accomplishments you can't mention that? +p2051 +aVDr. Carson, I have......Dr. Carson, I have a question for you. Candidates are... +p2052 +aVAll right. You have 30 seconds, Doctor. +p2053 +aVDr. Carson, I \u2014 let me ask you a different question. When you were \u2014 you were the first one, really, to talk about political correctness. Everybody now talks about it, but that was really what sparked your \u2014 your rise. Politicians are often accused of glossing over any hard choices people have to make, just always selling happy, nice things. So in the \u2014 in the spirit of saying something that might be politically incorrect, tell the voters something that they need to hear but that might be politically incorrect? +p2054 +aVGovernor Kasich. Governor Kasich, you've been described as the Democrats' favorite Republican. You talked about in New Hampshire, Democrats would come up to you and say, "I hope you win." Why will that help you win a Republican nomination? +p2055 +aVMr. Trump, let me ask you a question. Presidents in both parties say that the one thing you need in your administration is somebody who can tell you you're wrong. You don't necessarily seem like somebody who has somebody who tells you you're wrong a lot. Can you tell us of an instance where somebody has said, "Donald Trump, you're wrong," and you listened to them? +p2056 +aVAbout what? +p2057 +aVLet me \u2014 something, in talking to voters that they wish somebody would tell you to cut it out is the profanity. What's your reaction to that? +p2058 +aVAll right. O.K. Governor Bush, I'd like to ask you... +p2059 +aVWell, can I \u2014 how about you respond, and then you can answer the question I'm about to ask you. +p2060 +aVIt'll be... +p2061 +aVIf we adjudicate this, the night will be over. Governor, in 2012, you said that your father and Ronald Reagan would have a hard time in today's Republican Party, based on their records of trying to find accommodation and finding some degree of common ground. Do you still feel that way? +p2062 +aVHold on, Mr. Trump. +p2063 +aVHold on, Mr. Trump. +p2064 +aVO.K., Mr. Trump, your response. +p2065 +aVThe bells are ringing, sir. +p2066 +aVAll right. Thank you. Senator Rubio, I want to ask you a 30-second question, no president can... +p2067 +aVNo \u2014 well, I'll ask the question, you do what you want. +p2068 +aVNo president can know everything, right? So a smart leader knows how to ask questions. So if you could talk to any previous president, what's the smart question you would ask about that job that you would want to know? +p2069 +aVAll right. That's going to have to be it there, Senator Rubio. We have got to go to a break. We will be right back with the CBS News Republican debate in Greenville, South Carolina. +p2070 +aVTime now for closing statements. You will each have one minute, and we'll begin with Governor Kasich. +p2071 +aVDr. Carson \u2014 Dr. Carson, you're next. +p2072 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor Bush. +p2073 +aVSenator Cruz? Senator Cruz, your closing statement? +p2074 +aVMr. Trump, your closing statements? +p2075 +as. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/downloads/data2/script7.pickle b/downloads/data2/script7.pickle new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6a14ff1 --- /dev/null +++ b/downloads/data2/script7.pickle @@ -0,0 +1,5035 @@ +(dp0 +VCRAMER +p1 +(lp2 +VDr. Carson, in recent weeks, a number of pharmaceutical companies has been accused of profiteering, for dramatically raising the prices of life-saving drugs. You have spent a lifetime in medicine. Have these companies gone too far? Should the government be involved in controlling some of these price increases? +p3 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Governor Christie, there has been a lot of political rhetoric that some bank executives should have gone to jail for the 2008 financial crisis. But General Motors paid more than $1 billion in fines and settlements for its ignition switch defect. One hundred and twenty- four people died as a result of these faulty switches. No one went to jail. As a former prosecutor, do you believe the people responsible for the switch and the cover-up belong behind bars? +p4 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. +p5 +asVRADDATZ +p6 +(lp7 +VQuestions of leadership and character have dominated the news ever since the Iowa caucuses a few days ago. Here with us to question the candidates this evening are Josh McElveen from +p8 +aVDr. Ben Carson. +p9 +aVBusinessman Donald Trump. +p10 +aVFormer Florida Governor, Jeb Bush. +p11 +aVLadies and gentlemen, the Republican candidates. +p12 +aVAnd Donald Trump. +p13 +aVThe applause so loud you couldn't hear. We couldn't hear, either. That's a good sign for the excitement this evening. Gentlemen, thank you for being here tonight, just days before voters here in New Hampshire make their decisions. The rules are simple and have been agreed to by all the campaigns. There will be 60 seconds to answer and if another candidate is mentioned in that answer, that candidate will have 30 seconds to respond. There are green, yellow and red lights that each candidate will see to signal when time is up and they will also hear this sound. +p14 +aVSenator Cruz, you are a first term Senator as well. Your opponents say you, like Senator Rubio, are not prepared to be Commander in Chief. You have talked tough about threats we face in the Mid-East. It was reported just moments ago that the North Koreans test launched an intercontinental ballistic missile. North Korea has nuclear weapons, and conducted another nuclear test just last month. The missile that was launched is the kind the North Koreans hope could someday carry a nuclear weapon capable of reaching the United States. How would you respond if Commander in Chief to that launch? +p15 +aVWell, let me ask you this, if you were Commander in Chief tonight would you have order the U.S. military to destroy that missile preemptively on the launchpad to prevent North Korea from becoming an even graver threat? +p16 +aV... Senator Cruz, let me tell you this, you have talked tough about the Mid-East, you haven't gotten those intelligence briefings about that. Why not tell us whether you would preemptively strike a missile on a launchpad that threatens the U.S... +p17 +aVOkay. Senator Cruz, I will say that missile has been sitting there for quite some time, and they have had eyes on it. +p18 +aVSenator Rubio, I'm talking about a preemptive strike on the launch pad. +p19 +aVOK. Thank you, Senator Rubio. Governor Kasich, how would you respond to tonight's launch? +p20 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. Thank you \u2014 thank you... +p21 +aV... Governor Bush, I'll get to you in a moment. +p22 +aVThank you, Governor Bush. Mr. Trump, do you have a red line with North Korea? Would you consider military action? And how far would you let them go? +p23 +aVAnd I'd like him to finish the question, please. +p24 +aVSpecific \u2014 as to North Korea. +p25 +aVSenator Rubio, you were mentioned. +p26 +aVThank you very much, Senator Rubio. Governor Bush, another problem facing the commander-in-chief right now is that North Korea is currently detaining an American college student. What would you do to get that college student back home? +p27 +aVGovernor Christie, I want to go to you on the same question. +p28 +aVWould you negotiate with North Korea to... +p29 +aVThank you very much, Governor Christie. David? +p30 +aVSenator Cruz, to that point, Mr. Trump has said that your position on health care means that maybe you've got, quote, "no heart". There is a question here, though, about uncovered folks. You suggested repealing and replacing Obamacare. As we learned with President Obama's broken promise that everyone could keep their plan, any major plan \u2014 change in health care policy carries with it the risk that some people will lose their insurance coverage or have to change it. How do you reassure that those people that repealing and replacing Obamacare is still in their best interest? +p31 +aVSenator Cruz, you advocate what you call carpet bombing, or saturation bombing, to defeat +p32 +aVSenator Cruz, would you like to expand or loosen the rules of engagement? I was just over in a command center in Erbil and they said they thought the rules of engagement worked. Because you have so many civilians in those populated areas, they don't want to hit civilians. +p33 +aVSo, loosen the rules of engagement? +p34 +aVSenator Rubio, you said in the last debate that +p35 +aVAgain, Senator Rubio, you've already said +p36 +aVWell, what would you do \u2014 what would you do differently to try to get those Sunni forces? They have not been coming forward. +p37 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 thank you very much, Senator Rubio. Mr. Trump. You have said you will vigorously bomb +p38 +aVAnd \u2014 and what would you do in those cities, where there are people who we are trying to help, who +p39 +aVThank you very much, Mr. Trump. Let's turn to Libya. Governor Bush, it is a country in chaos. There is no government. This week, defense officials said there are now 5,000 +p40 +aVThank you very much, Governor Bush. Dr. Carson? +p41 +aVAnd would you support renewed airstrikes? +p42 +aVWe're going to move on. +p43 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. Thank you, Josh. Our partner in this debate, the Independent Journal Review, has collected questions from some prominent conservatives around the country. Here's a videotaped question from radio host Larry O'Connor. O' +p44 +aVMr. Trump, I'm going to give that question to you. You took it \u2014 you took it away anyway. +p45 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. I'm going to go to Senator Rubio on this. How would you change that narrative? +p46 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Dr. Carson, I want to go to you on Larry O' Connor's question. Would you change the narrative? +p47 +aVYes. +p48 +aVThank you very much Dr. Carson. I'm going to go back to David. +p49 +aVGovernor Christie, earlier this week, the World Health Organization declared the Zika virus a global emergency. The same kind of mosquitoes that carry the Zika virus in Latin America are found here in the United States, and the virus has been linked to severe birth defects. Governor Christie, at the peak of the Ebola outbreak in west Africa, you ordered an American nurse who landed at Newark Airport be detained and quarantined. As fear spreads now of the Zika virus and with the Rio Olympics just months away, is there a scenario where you would quarantine people traveling back from Brazil to prevent the spread in the United States? +p50 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you. I'm going to move to Dr. Carson, and go back to the Zika virus, is that going too far, quarantining? You're a doctor, what would you do? +p51 +aVThanks very much, Dr. Carson. I want to move on to the military. Senator Rubio, all restrictions on women in combat as long as they qualify. Positions including special operations forces, like Navy Seals. Just this week military leaders of the Army and Marine Corps said that they believed young women, just as young men are required to do, should sign up for Selective Service in case the Draft is reinstated. Many of you have young daughters. Senator Rubio, should young women be required to sign up for Selective Service in case of a national emergency? +p52 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Governor Bush, do you believe that young women... +p53 +aVDo you believe young women should sign up for Selective Service, be required to sign up... +p54 +aVTell me what you'd say to American people out there......who are sitting at home, who have daughters, who might worry about those answers, and might worry... +p55 +aV... if the Draft is reinstituted? +p56 +aV... Are you saying you'd do away with it? +p57 +aVYou register for the draft. +p58 +aVIf it's reinstituted. +p59 +aVThank you very much. +p60 +aVThank you very much, Governor Christie. +p61 +aVWe just covered \u2014 wait one second, Dr. Carson. +p62 +aVVery quickly. +p63 +aVThank you very much for bringing up that subject, Dr. Carson, of our veterans. And for another question about our veterans, we go back to Josh McElveen from +p64 +aVGovernor Christie. +p65 +aVDr. Carson. +p66 +aVSenator Cruz. +p67 +asVUNKNOWN +p68 +(lp69 +VNot me. +p70 +aVMaria... +p71 +aVYeah, but I want to talk about taxes. +p72 +aVIf you're not going to have my back, I'm going to have my back. +p73 +aVA couple things here. First of all... +p74 +aVWe have grown \u2014 we have grown... +p75 +aVTrue. It's true. +p76 +aV...let me follow up that... +p77 +aV +p78 +aVOh, great. +p79 +asVSMITH +p80 +(lp81 +VGovernor Huckabee, same question to you. Where do you see the country right now? +p82 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Thank you, candidates. Moving to the world stage. The middle east is on the brink of chaos. Iran continues to provoke the United States, North Korea claims it's tested a hydrogen bomb, and Afghanistan is in danger of falling back into Taliban hands. Critics of the administration say it's all due to lack of U.S. leadership. To you, Mrs. Fiorina, how do you see America's role in the world today? +p83 +aVGovernor Huckabee, in Afghanistan, the Taliban is strengthening. Attacks are on the rise and thousands more civilians have been wounded or killed. Much of the Taliban surge can be attributed to the withdrawal of U.S. forces there. You have expressed skepticism with the war there, saying you see no end game in sight. What, then, is your solution to the growing conflict there? +p84 +aVAll right, thank you, candidates. We're just getting started. Jobs, Homeland Security, gun rights, all those issues are coming up straight ahead. We're live from North Charleston and the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back. +p85 +aVAll right, let's get started. Senator Santorum, to you first. President Obama has urged technology leaders to make it hard for terrorists to use technology to escape from justice. Hillary Clinton says social media companies can help by swiftly shutting down terrorist accounts. The companies say that they're already working with law enforcement and any proposed legislation would do more harm than good. Should companies like Facebook and Twitter be required by law to more actively \u2014 be more actively engaged in fighting terror? +p86 +aVSenator, would you \u2014 would you require anything of those companies like Facebook and Twitter if you were president? +p87 +aVThank you, Senator. +p88 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee, you called President Obama's executive orders on gun control unconstitutional and completely insane. +p89 +aVYou even told gun store owners to ignore the President's orders. Yet, innocent people are dying from gun violence in cities like Detroit, Chicago, and Charleston everyday. Is there anything that can be done at the federal level to prevent guns from falling into the hands of criminals? +p90 +aV +p91 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p92 +aVSenator Santorum, many of our military leaders believe America's critical infrastructure is vulnerable to a terrorist attack. This is the power in our homes, the water we drink, the Internet and phone systems by which we stay connected. If attacked, these essential services that underpin American society could come to a grinding halt. Do you have a specific plan to protect us from this type of attack? +p93 +aVSenator Santorum, I want to stay with you on this, moving to jobs and the economy. In his State of the Union Address the other night, President Obama touted his record on jobs, citing more than 14 million new jobs and boasted of nearly 900,000 manufacturing jobs added in the past six years. Do you dispute his track record of creating jobs? +p94 +aVGovernor Huckabee, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mike Mullen, has said the greatest threat to our security is our national debt. Our national debt is now on pace to top $19 trillion. Yet, you as well as Ms. Fiorina have laid forward no plan to reform entitlements. How can you say you're going to pay down our country's debt without cutting Social Security or Medicare? +p95 +aVOK. We're going to continue this conversation. We're taking a quick break and then coming up, the candidates' plans for strengthening the middle class. We're live in North Charleston with the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back. +p96 +aVAll right, thanks, Trish. Well, let's get started with Ms. Fiorina. Today, the middle class represents about 50 percent of the U.S. population, down from about 61 percent back in 1971. That's according to Pew Research. The same research revealed a widening income gap in America. The rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. What will you do to strengthen a middle class that is no longer the majority? +p97 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p98 +aVThank you, Senator. We're not finished yet. More Republican Presidential Debate in North Charleston after this. +p99 +aVWelcome back, it's time for the closing statements. Candidates will each get one minute, starting with Senator Santorum. Thank you very much, I want to thank the people of Charleston, which has become a little bit of a second home to me, because I am very privileged to have two young men who go to the Citadel here and they're here tonight, my son John and my son Daniel. +p100 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Governor Mike Huckabee. +p101 +aVThank you, Governor. +p102 +asVQUICK +p103 +(lp104 +VGentlemen \u2014 we'll \u2014 we'll get back to this \u2014 just a minute \u2014 just a minute we're gonna continue this. I wanna talk taxes... +p105 +aVDr. Carson, let's talk about taxes. You have a flat tax plan of 10 percent flat taxes, and \u2014 I've looked at it \u2014 and this is something that is very appealing to a lot of voters, but I've had a really tough time trying to make the math work on this. If you were to took a 10 percent tax, with the numbers right now in total personal income, you're gonna come in with bring in $1.5 trillion. That is less than half of what we bring in right now. And by the way, it's gonna leave us in a $2 trillion hole. So what analysis got you to the point where you think this will work? +p106 +aVI \u2014 I understand that, but if you \u2014 if you look at the numbers you probably have to get to 28. +p107 +aV15 percent still leaves you with a $1.1 trillion hole. +p108 +aVYou'd have to cut \u2014 you'd have to cut government about 40 percent to make it work with a $1.1 trillion hole. +p109 +aVThat is true, I looked at the numbers. +p110 +aVDr. Carson, thank you. +p111 +aVGovernor... +p112 +aVDr. Carson, let me get 30 seconds with Dr. Carson... +p113 +aVThank you. +p114 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, thank you. +p115 +aVGentlemen, I'm sorry, we need to... +p116 +aVWe're going to move on. +p117 +aVThirty seconds. +p118 +aVWe'll get to everyone. Ms. Fiorina, I \u2014 I'd like to ask you a question. You are running for president of the United States because of your record running Hewlett-Packard. But the stock market is usually a fair indicator of the performance of a CEO, and the market was not kind to you. Someone who invested a dollar in your company the day you took office had lost half of the dollar by the day you left. Obviously, you've talked in the past about what a difficult time it was for technology companies, but anybody who was following the market knows that your stock was a much worse performer, if you looked at your competitors, if you looked at the overall market. I just wonder, in terms of all of that \u2014 you know, we look back, your board fired you. I just wondered why you think we should hire you now. +p119 +aVMrs. Fiorina, it's interesting that you bring up Mr. Perkins, because... ...he said a lot of very questionable things. Last year, in an interview, he said that he thinks wealthy people should get more votes than poor people. I think his quote was that, "if you pay zero dollars in taxes, you should get zero votes. If you pay a million dollars, you should get a million votes." Is this the type of person you want defending you? +p120 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p121 +aVThank you, we're out of time. Thank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Carl. +p122 +aVGovernor Christie, I'd like to a question next. Actually, I have a question for you . In your tell it like it is campaign, you've said a lot of tough things. You've said that we need to raise the retirement age for Social Security. You think that we need to cut benefits for people who make over $80,000 and eliminate them entirely for seniors who are making over $200,000. Governor Huckabee, who is here on the stage, has said that you and others who think this way are trying to rob seniors of the benefits that they've earned. It raises the question: When it is acceptable to break a social compact? +p123 +aV...Governor... +p124 +aV...Thank you. +p125 +aVWelcome back to the presidential debate for the Republicans. We are live in Boulder, Colorado, right here on +p126 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. +p127 +aVSenator Rubio, you yourself have said that you've had issues. You have a lack of bookkeeping skills. You accidentally inter-mingled campaign money with your personal money. You faced (ph) foreclosure on a second home that you bought. And just last year, you liquidated a $68,000 retirement fund. That's something that cost you thousands of dollars in taxes and penalties. In terms of all of that, it raises the question whether you have the maturity and wisdom to lead this $17 trillion economy. What do you say? +p128 +aVSenator, I understand all of that. I had a lot of student loans when I got out, too. But you've had a windfall that a lot of Americans haven't. You made over a million dollars on a book deal, and some of these problems came after that. +p129 +aVBut you \u2014 but you liquidated that retirement account after the fact, and that cost you about $24,000 out of that in taxes and feed. That \u2014 that was after you'd already come into that windfall. That's why I raised the question. +p130 +aVYes, thank you John. Senator Cruz, working women in this country still earn just 77 percent of what men earn. And I know that you've said you've been very sympathetic to our cause. But you've also you said that the Democrats' moves to try and change this are the political show votes. I just wonder what you would do as President to try and help in this cause? +p131 +aVMrs. Fiorina \u2014 +p132 +aVMrs. Fiorina, we will come back to you. +p133 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Carl? +p134 +aVMr. Trump, let's stay on this issue of immigration. You have been very critical of Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook who has wanted to increase the number of these H1Bs. +p135 +aVSo you're in favor of... +p136 +aVWhere did I read this and come up with this that you were... +p137 +aVYou know, Mr. \u2014 you know, Mr. Trump, if I may . You've been \u2014 you have been \u2014 you had talked a little bit about Marco Rubio. I think you called him Mark Zuckerberg's personal senator because he was in favor of the H1B. +p138 +aVSo this was an erroneous article the whole way around? +p139 +aVMy apologies. I'm sorry. +p140 +aVYes, you can. +p141 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you very much. I would like to introduce my colleague, Rick Santelli, he has some comments as well, sir. +p142 +aVRick, thank you very much. Governor Huckabee, you have railed against income inequality. You've said that some Wall Street executives should have gone to jail over the roles that they played during the financial crisis. Apart from your tax plan, are there specific steps you would require from corporate America to try and reduce the income inequality. +p143 +aVGovernor? +p144 +aVGovernor? +p145 +aVThank you. +p146 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee. +p147 +aVHow about 15 more seconds? +p148 +aVGovernor? +p149 +aVGovernor, I'm sorry... +p150 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p151 +aVGovernor, thank you. Appreciate it. John? +p152 +aVIt's at the moderator discretion. +p153 +aVWelcome back to the University of Colorado and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p154 +aVThank you, sir. +p155 +aVYou were. You get 30 seconds. +p156 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Carl? +p157 +aVHigher education is the example... +p158 +aVI want to go back, if I can, to the issue of... +p159 +aVI want to go back, if I may, to the... +p160 +aVSenator Paul, among the leading conservative opponents to the creation of Medicare back in the 1960s was Ronald Reagan. He warned that it would lead to socialism. Considering the mounting cost of Medicare, was he right to oppose it? +p161 +aVSenator, thank you. [ +p162 +aVWelcome back to Boulder, Colorado and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p163 +aVThank you, Governor. +p164 +aVGovernor. +p165 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Paul, let's go back to you. Do these solutions sound like they work? +p166 +aVDo these solutions sound like they would work? +p167 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Governor? +p168 +asVRUBIO +p169 +(lp170 +VWell, let me first talk about Justice Scalia. His loss is tremendous, and obviously our hearts and prayers go out to his family. He will go down as one of the great justices in the history of this republic. You talk about someone who defended consistently the original meaning of the Constitution, who understood that the Constitution was not there to be interpreted based on the fads of the moment, but it was there to be interpreted according to its original meaning. Justice Scalia understood that better than anyone in the history of this republic. His dissent, for example, on the independent counsel case is a brilliant piece of jurist work. And, of course, his dissent on Obergefell as well. No. 2, I do not believe the president should appoint someone. And it's not unprecedented. In fact, it has been over 80 years since a lame duck president has appointed a Supreme Court justice. And it remind us of this, how important this election is. Someone on this stage will get to choose the balance of the Supreme Court, and it will begin by filling this vacancy that's there now. And we need to put people on the bench that understand that the Constitution is not a living and breathing document. It is to be interpreted as originally meant. +p171 +aVThat's not accurate. +p172 +aVNo, I've never \u2014 there has been, for example, today, according to the changes Harry Reid made, appellate judges can now be appointed by a simple majority, but not Supreme Court justices. And I think today you see the wisdom of why we don't want that to change. Because if that were the case and we were not in charge of the Senate, Harry Reid and Barack Obama would ram down our throat a liberal justice, like the ones Barack Obama has imposed on us already. +p173 +aVNo. I think there are three major threats that you want to immediately get on top of. No. 1 is, what are we doing in the Asia-Pacific region, where both North Korea and China pose threats to the national security of the United States. No. 2 is, what are we doing in the Middle East with the combination of the Sunni-Shia conflict driven by the Shia arc that Iran is now trying to establish in the Middle East, also the growing threat of +p174 +aVWell, let me tell you what has happened a couple of years ago. One of the hardest decisions you'll ever make in Congress is when you are asked by the president to authorize the use of force in a conflict, because you are now putting your name, on behalf of the people of your state, behind a military action, where Americans in uniform could lose their life. So, in 2014, Barack Obama said he would not take military action against Assad unless it was authorized by the Senate, beginning on the Committee of Foreign Relations, where I am one of its members. And it was hard because you looked at the pictures. I saw the same images people saw. I'm the father of children. I saw the images of these little children \u2014 been gassed and poisoned by their own leaders, and we were angry. Something had to happen, and there was the sense that we needed to seek retribution. And then I looked at Barack Obama's plan. Barack Obama's plan, which John Kerry later described as unbelievably small, and I concluded that that attack would not only not help the situation, it would make it actually worse. It would allow Assad to stand up to the United States of America, survive a strike, stay in power and actually strengthen his grip. So it was a difficult decision to make, and when we only had a few days to look at and make a decision on it, and I voted against Barack Obama's plan to use force, and it was the right decision. +p175 +aVI just want to say, at least on behalf of me and my family, I thank God all the time it was George W. Bush in the White House on 9/11 and not Al Gore. And you can \u2014 I think you can look back in hindsight and say a couple of things, but he kept us safe. And not only did he keep us safe, but no matter what you want to say about weapons of mass destruction, Saddam Hussein was in violation of U.N. resolutions, in open violation, and the world wouldn't do anything about it, and George W. Bush enforced what the international community refused to do. And again, he kept us safe, and I am forever grateful to what he did for this country. +p176 +aVThe World Trade Center came down because Bill Clinton didn't kill Osama bin Laden when he had the chance to kill him. +p177 +aVWell, because I'm influencing social policy \u2014 this is their money. This is the money of parents. You don't earn the tax credit unless you're working. That's your money, it doesn't belong to government. Here's what I don't understand. If a business takes their money and they invest in the piece of the equipment, they get to write off their taxes. But if a parent takes money that they have earned to work and invests in their children, they don't? This makes no sense. Parenting is the most important job any of us will ever have. Family formation is the most important thing in society. So what my tax plan does, is it does create, especially for working families, an additional Child Tax Credit. So that parents who are working get to keep more of their own money, not the government's money, to invest in their children to go to school, to go to a private school, to buy a new backpack. Let me tell you, if you're a parent that's struggling, then you know that $50 a month is the difference between a new pair of shoes this month or not getting a new pair of shoes for your kids. I'm going to have a tax plan that is pro-family, because the family is the most important institution in society. You cannot have a strong country without strong families. +p178 +aVWell, first of all, I think amnesty is the forgiveness of a wrongdoing without consequence and that \u2014 I've never supported that. I do not support that. I think there has to be consequences for violating our immigration laws. What I think is clear about this issue to begin with is we're not going to be able to make progress on illegal immigration until first, illegal immigration is brought under control. You go back to 1986, when they legalized three million people and they promised to secure the border. It didn't happen, and as a result, people have lost trust in the federal government. It is now clear that the only way to make progress on immigration is not just to pass a law that enforces the law, but actually prove to people that it's working. They want to see the wall built. They want to see the additional border agents. They want to see E-Verify. They want to see an entry-exit tracking system. Forty percent of the people in this country illegally are entering legally and overstaying visas. And only after all of that is in place, then we'll see what the American people are willing to support on this issue. I think the American people will be very reasonable, but responsible, about how you handle someone who has been here a long time, who can pass a background check, who pays a fine and starts paying taxes and all they want is a work permit. But you can't do any of that until you prove to people that illegal immigration is under control once and for all. +p179 +aVWe're going to have to do this again, O.K.? When that issue was being debated, Ted Cruz, at a committee hearing, very passionately said, I want immigration reform to pass, I want people to be able to come out of the shadows. And he proposed an amendment that would legalized people here. Not only that, he proposed doubling the number of green cards. He proposed a 500 percent increase on guest workers. Now his position is different. Now he is a passionate opponent of all those things. So he either wasn't telling the truth then or he isn't telling the truth now, but to argue he is a purist on immigration is just not true. +p180 +aVWell, first of all, I don't know how he knows what I said on Univision, because he doesn't speak Spanish. And second of all, the other point that I would make... +p181 +aVLook, this is a disturbing pattern now, because for a number of weeks now, Ted Cruz has just been telling lies. He lied about Ben Carson in Iowa. He lies about Planned Parenthood. He lies about marriage. He's lying about all sorts of things. And now he makes things up. The bottom line is this is a campaign and people are watching it. And they see the truth behind all these issues. And here is the truth, Ted Cruz supported legalizing people that were in this country... +p182 +aV... and only now does he say... +p183 +aVWell, we'll put on our website, marcorubio.com. We're going to... +p184 +aVOn anything I want? +p185 +aVWell, let me talk about poverty. +p186 +aVI do. +p187 +aVI had something important. +p188 +aVThe issue of poverty is critical, because for me, poverty is the \u2014 is \u2014 is free enterprise not reaching people. Today, we have antipoverty programs that don't cure poverty. We don't cure poverty in America. Our antipoverty programs have become, in some instances, a way of life, a lifestyle. Now, we do need antipoverty programs, you can't have free enterprise programs without them, but not as a way of life. And so I have a very specific proposal on this and I don't \u2014 in 60 seconds, I can't describe it all, but it basically turns the program over to states. It allows states to design innovative programs that cure poverty, because I think Nikki Haley will do a better job curing poverty than Barack Obama. +p189 +aVWell, no. It's not the case. It didn't pass, and we haven't solved immigration in this country. It's still a problem. It is worse today than it was three years ago, which is worse than it was five years ago. And it has to be confronted and solved. But the only way forward on this issue \u2014 you asked a question about flexibility. Let me tell you about that. One of the things that you need in leadership is the ability to understand that to get things done, you must figure out the way to get it done. You will not pass comprehensive immigration reform. People do not trust the federal government. They want to see the law being enforced. They want to see illegal immigration come under control. They want to see that wall. They want to see E-Verify. They want to see all of these things working, and then they will have a conversation with you about what do you do with people that have been here a long time that are otherwise, you know, not criminals. But they're not going to do it until you first enforce the law. +p190 +aVThirty seconds. +p191 +aVI speak fast. +p192 +aVWell, I think one of the presidents \u2014 well, the president I grew up under was Ronald Reagan. And Reagan had a vision for America's future. And if you think about what Ronald Reagan inherited, it's not unlike what the next president is going to inherit. This is the worst president we've had in 35 years, 35 years back would have made it Jimmy Carter. That's what Ronald Reagan inherited. And I think the question you would ask is, how did you inspire again the American people to believe in the future? How did you \u2014 what did it take to ensure that the American people, despite all of the difficulties of the time \u2014 you know, you look back at that time, the American military was in decline. Our standing in the world was in decline. We had hostages being held in Iran. Our economy was in bad shape. The American people were scared about the future. They were scared about what kind of country their children were going to live in and inherit. And yet somehow Ronald Reagan was able to instill in our nation and in our people a sense of optimism. And he turned America around because of that vision and ultimately because of that leadership. I wish Ronald Reagan was still around. This country needs someone just like that. And if our next president is even half the president Ronald Reagan was, America is going to be greater than it has ever been. +p193 +aVThank you, and thank you for watching tonight. This is a difficult time in our country. Our economy's flat, it's not creating the jobs it once did, and people struggle living paycheck to paycheck. Our culture's in trouble. Wrong is considered right and right is considered wrong. All the things that once held our families together are now under constant assault. And around the world, America's reputation is in decline. Our allies don't trust us, our adversaries don't fear us, Iran captures our sailors and parades them before the world on video. These are difficult times, but 2016 can be a turning point. That's why I'm running for president, and that's why I'm here today to ask you for your vote. If you elect me president, we are going to re-embrace free enterprise so that everyone can go as far as their talent and their work will take them. We are going to be a country that says that "life begins at conception and life is worthy of the protection of our laws." We're going to be a country that says "that marriage is between one man and one woman." We are going to be a country that says, "The constitution and the rights that it talks about do not come from our president, they come from our creator." We are going to be loyal to our allies like Israel, not enemies like Iran. And we will rebuild the U.S. military so no one will there test it. Vote for me. I will unify this party. I will grow it. We will win this election, and we will make the 21st century a new American century. +p194 +aVWell, let me say, from protecting the people of Florida from imminent domain abuse, to bringing accountability to the V.A., to the Girls Count Act, to sanctioning groups, I'm proud of my service in the United States Senate and before that, in the Florida legislature. I will say, if politics becomes and the presidency becomes about electing people who have been Congress or in the Senate the longest, we should all rally around Joe Biden. He's been around 1,000 years. He's passed hundreds of bills and I don't think any of us believe Joe Biden should be president of the United States. And let's dispel once and for all with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing. Barack Obama is undertaking a systematic effort to change this country, to make America more like the rest of the world. That's why he passed Obamacare and the stimulus and Dodd-Frank and the deal with Iran. It is a systematic effort to change America. When I'm president of the United States, we are going to re-embrace all the things that made America the greatest nation in the world and we are going to leave our children with what they deserve: the single greatest nation in the history of the world. +p195 +aVIf I may respond to that. +p196 +aVWell, I think the experience is not just what you did, but how it worked out. Under Chris Christie's governorship of New Jersey, they've been downgraded nine times in their credit rating. This country already has a debt problem, we don't need to add to it by electing someone who has experience at running up and destroying the credit rating of his state. But I would add this. Let's dispel with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing. He is trying to change this country. He wants America to become more like the rest of the world. We don't want to be like the rest of the world, we want to be the United States of America. And when I'm elected president, this will become once again, the single greatest nation in the history of the world, not the disaster Barack Obama has imposed upon us. +p197 +aVChris \u2014 Chris, your state got hit by a massive snowstorm two weeks ago. You didn't even want to go back. They had to shame you into going back. And then you stayed there for 36 hours and then he left and came back to campaign. Those are the facts. Here's the bottom line. This notion that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing is just not true. He knows exactly what he's doing. +p198 +aVWell, that's the \u2014 that's the reason why this campaign is so important. Because I think this notion \u2014 I think this is an important point. We have to understand what we're going through here. We are not facing a president that doesn't know what he's doing. He knows what he is doing. That's why he's done the things he's done. That's why we have a president that passed Obamacare and the stimulus. All this damage that he's done to America is deliberate. This is a president that's trying to redefine this country. That's why this election is truly a referendum on our identity as a nation, as a people. Our future is at stake. This election is not about the past. It is about what kind of country this is going to be in the 21st century, and if we elect someone like Barack Obama, a Hillary Clinton, a Bernie Sanders or anyone like that, our children are going to be the first Americans to inherit a diminishes country. That will not happen if I'm elected. +p199 +aVChris, you didn't want to go back. You didn't want to go back. +p200 +aVYou didn't want to go back, Chris. +p201 +aVChris, everybody \u2014 you said you weren't going to go back. He told everyone he wasn't going to go back. They had to shame him into going back. And when he decided to go back, he criticized the young lady, saying, what am I supposed to do, go back with a mop and clean up the flooding? +p202 +aV... It's your record, it's not a talking point... +p203 +aVBut Martha, just \u2014 Martha, just to clarify on that point, because he's right, and one more thing to point \u2014 it is standard procedure of the United States to shoot down those missiles once launched if they pose a threat to civilians, land and ships. +p204 +aVWell \u2014 no, I understand. And not \u2014 but \u2014 but I think it's important to note that it is \u2014 and Senator Cruz, I think, was alluding to this, as well \u2014 it is the standard procedure of the United States, if those missiles pose a threat to land, civilians, our allies or any of our assets, to shoot down that missile in mid-flight. I understand your question was about a preemptive strike, but my point is that there is in place now contingencies to avoid any sort of that strike from going errant and destroying any \u2014 any assets of the United States, or implicating or hurting any of our allies or any of our assets in the region. +p205 +aVYeah. I have a \u2014 I got mentioned, can I respond? +p206 +aVHere's the broader point, as well, and then I think it touches on what Donald just mentioned. Barack Obama views America as this arrogant global power that needed to be cut down to size. OK? This is a president that views this country as a country that's been too powerful in the world and we create problems around the world. For example, it's one of the reasons why he had betrayed Israel, because he believes that if we create separation from Israel, it will help our relations in the Islamic world. The same is happening in the Asia-Pacific region with accommodations to North Korea. North Korean should be back on that list of terrorist nations, as an example. And Donald's absolutely right. China does have a lot of influence over North Korea and he should be leveraging our relationship with the Chinese to ensure that North Korea no longer has access to the resources that have allowed them \u2014 a country that has no economy to develop long range missiles already capable of reaching the west coast of the United States potentially. +p207 +aVHere's the bottom line. We can't get that legislation passed. The American people will not support doing anything about people that are in this country illegally until the law is enforced first, and you prove it to them. This has been abundantly clear. Every effort over the last ten years to do those comprehensively has failed. And it has failed because the American people have zero trust that the federal government will enforce our laws. And that's why since then, I have said repeatedly, if you are serious about immigration reform, then the key that unlocks the door to being able to do that is not just to pass a law that says it is going to enforce the law, but to actually do it. To hire the 20,000 new border agents, to finish the fencing and walls, to put in place mandatory e-verify, to put in place an entry-exit tracking system to prevent visa overstays. And once that is in place and that's working, I believe the American people will support a very reasonable, but responsible approach to people that have been here a long time, who are not dangerous criminals, who pay taxes and pay fines for what they did. But until then, none of that is going to be possible. +p208 +aVWell, the legislation passed, but it has no support. In essence, it couldn't pass in the House, it will never pass in the United States until we secure the border, and it is not the way we're going to do when I'm president. When I'm president, we are going to enforce the law first, prove to people that illegal immigration is under control. And then we'll see what the American people are willing to support when it comes to people that are not criminals, who have been in the this country for a long time and who otherwise would like to stay. +p209 +aVLeadership is ultimately about solving the problem. And the approach that was tried and has been tried now repeatedly over ten years to do this comprehensively, all at once in a massive piece of legislation has no chance of passage. It is not leadership to continue to try something that has no chance of happening. I want to make progress on this issue. It has been discussed now for 30 years and nothing ever happens. And I am telling you that the only way forward on this issue that has any chance of happening, meaning gaining the support of the American people, you cannot do this without the support of the American people, is an approach that begins by proving that once and for all, illegal immigration is under control. +p210 +aVGood evening. +p211 +aVWell, I think conservatism is about three things and Donald touched on one of them, but it's about three things. The first is conservatism is about limited government, especially at the federal level. The federal government is a limited government, limited by the Constitution, which delineates its powers. If it's not in the Constitution, it does not belong to the federal government. It belongs to states, local communities and the private sector. It's about free enterprise, which is an economic model that allows everyone to rise without pulling anyone down. The reason why free enterprise is the greatest economic model in the history of the world is because it's the only economic model where you can make poor people richer without making rich people poor. And it's about a strong national defense. It's about believing, unlike Barack Obama, that the world is a safer and a better place when America is the strongest military and the strongest nation on this planet. That's conservatism. +p212 +aVNow, see, I was mentioned by Governor... +p213 +aVYeah. +p214 +aVOK, good, then I'll get to it . Here's the... +p215 +aVWell, no, sorry. Let me respond to that question. +p216 +aVWell, here's the response. I think anyone who believes that Barack Obama isn't doing what he's doing on purpose doesn't understand what we're dealing with here, OK? This is a president \u2014 this is a president who is trying to change this country. When he talked about change, he wasn't talking about dealing with our problems. Obamacare was not an accident. The undermining of the Second Amendment is not an accident. The gutting of our military is not an accident. The undermining of America on the global stage is not an accident. Barack Obama is, indeed, trying to redefine this country. We better understand what we're dealing with here, because that's what Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders want to double down on if they are elected. +p217 +aVNo. He talked about Barack Obama. +p218 +aVYeah. +p219 +aVI don't know of any problem in America that's going to be fixed with a tax increase. We have an economy today, an economy today that is not creating jobs that pay enough. And one of the reasons why is because we have one of the most expensive business tax rates on the planet. Our combined business rate puts us among the highest in the industrialized world. And then on top of that, we are the only one that has a worldwide system of taxation, where an American company who makes money abroad has to pay taxes where they made the money and then taxes a second time when they bring it back. The combination of these two things has stranded over $2 trillion, the equivalent of the size of the Russian economy, $2 trillion of American corporate money stranded overseas, combined with all of these inversions of companies leaving us. The solution to the problems we have today are not a tax increase. It is to lower our taxes on both people and on companies, so we can make America globally competitive again. +p220 +aVWell, first, we need to understand who they are. +p221 +aVBecause they currently occupy Sunni cities and villages. Sunni cities and villages can only truly be liberated and held by Sunnis themselves. If they are held by Shias it will trigger sectarian violence. The Kurds are incredible fighters and they will liberate the Kurdish areas, but Kurds can not and do not want to liberate and hold Sunni villages and towns. It will take Sunni fighters themselves in that region to take those villages and cities, and then to hold them and avoid the sort of sectarian violence that follows in the past. And why that is important is because if Sunnis are not able to govern themselves in these areas, you are going to have a successor group to +p222 +aVWell, the problem with the Sunni forces in the region is they don't trust this administration. This administration cut a deal with their mortal enemies, the Shia, in Iran. It poisoned the well with these countries. It makes it very difficult to cooperate with them as a result. They also, by the way, understand what real U.S. air power looks like. They saw the Iraq war. They saw, up close, also Afghanistan. They know what air power looks like when the United States is committed to the cause. And they see the airstrikes that are being conducted now, and they say to themselves, that's not real commitment. We know what real commitment looks like. The \u2014 the Jordanian king was in Washington three weeks ago. He told everyone who would listen that they have begged for permission from the coalition to target caravans. And the coalition \u2014 meaning U.S. leadership on the ground......would not allow them to proceed with those airstrikes. +p223 +aVWell, when people talk about interrogating terrorists, they're acting like this is some sort of law enforcement function. Law enforcement is about gathering evidence to take someone to trial, and convict them. Anti-terrorism is about finding out information to prevent a future attack so the same tactics do not apply. And, it is true, we should not be discussing in a wide spread way the exact tactics that we're going to use because that allows terrorist to know to practice how to evade us. But, here's the bigger problem with all this, we're not interrogating anybody right now. Guantanamo's being emptied by this president. We should be putting people into Guantanamo, not emptying it out, and we shouldn't be releasing these killers who are rejoining the battlefield against the United States. +p224 +aVI think it's already happening. Look at the turnout in Iowa. A historic number of people came out and voted in those caucuses. There are saying the same thing is going to happen here in New Hampshire. Look at the rallies that every single person on this stage is having. Much higher numbers than you used to see in the past and here is why. Because people are starting to understand, very clearly, that this election is going to be a turning point. That 2016 is not just a choice between Republican or Democrat. It is a referendum on our identity as a nation and as a people. So here is what Hillary Clinton needs to understand. We're going to have our primary, we're going to have our debates \u2014 which by the way, are twice as many as the Democrats have been willing to have themselves. But we're going to bring this party together and we are going to defeat Hillary Clinton, because she is unqualified to be the president of the United States of America. She put classified information on her computer because she thinks she's above the law and anyone who lies to the families of people who have lost their loved ones in the service of our country like she did in Benghazi, can never be the commander-in-chief of the United States of America. +p225 +aVI would. But that's not \u2014 the issue \u2014 my problem with what he did is he continues to put out this fiction that there's widespread systematic discrimination against Muslim Americans. First of all, let's recognize this. If you go to a national cemetery in this country, you will see stars of Davids and crosses, but you see crescent moons. There are brave men and women who happen to be Muslim Americans who are serving this country in uniform and who have died in the service of this country. And we recognize that and we honor that. But by the same token, we face a very significant threat of home grown violent extremism. We need to have strong, positive relationships in the Islamic communities in this country so they will identify and report this activity, especially mosques, for example, that are participating not just in hate speech, but inciting violence and taking acts against us. And I do believe it is important also to recognize, you want to talk about religious discrimination in America. Well, I don't think Barack Obama is being sued by any Islamic groups, but he is being sued by the Little Sisters of the Poor. We are facing in this country Christian groups and groups that hold traditional values who feel and in fact are being discriminated against by the laws of this country that try to force them to vie to violate their conscience. +p226 +aVFirst, let me say there are already women today serving in roles that are like combat. That, in fact, whose lives are in very serious danger, and so I have no problem whatsoever with people of either gender serving in combat so long as the minimum requirements necessary to do the job are not compromised. But, I support that, and obviously now that that is the case I do believe that Selective Service should be opened up for both men and women in case a Draft is ever instituted. I think the more fundamental challenge we're now facing is what's happening to the U.S. military \u2014 I've said this many times, and I think it's important to start paying attention to this. Our Air Force is about to be the smallest it's been in 100 years. I'm sorry, in our history. Our Army is set to be smaller than it's been since the second World War, and our Navy is about to be the smallest than it's been in 100 years. I think we need to begin to refocus on rebuilding our military because every time we have cut our military in the history of this country we have had to come back later and rebuild it, and it costs more, and it's a lot more chaotic and dangerous. When I'm president, we are rebuilding the U.S. military. +p227 +aVWell, my brother's a veteran. We're very proud of him in our family. He served as a green beret in the 7th Special Forces from 1968 through 1971. And as part of his training, he jumped out of an airplane and he lost his two front teeth. And for years, he's had to go to get these dental claims. And every times he goes to get one of these dental claims filled, the V.A. asks him, "well, how do we know you lost your teeth in the Army?" And he says, "well, it's the only time I ever jumped out of a plane." But he's had to fight through this process, and I've watched it firsthand. That's why I'm proud that I worked in a bipartisan way. We passed the V.A. Accountability bill that, for the first time, allows us to fire \u2014 allows the V.A. secretary to fire someone who's not doing a good job, who's a senior executive. And the governor's right. They've only fired three people up to now. More people will be fired if I'm president. But the portability part of it is incredibly important. Veterans should be able to take their V.A. benefits to any hospital or any doctor they want to go to. When I am president of the United States, veterans will be able to take their benefits to any hospital or doctor that they choose. +p228 +aVWell, first of all, I don't believe that believing in traditional marriage the way I do makes you a bigot or a hater. It means that you believe that this institution that's been around for millenial is an important cornerstone of society. I respect people that believe differently. But I believe deeply, that marriage should be between one man and one woman. On the issue of life, to me, the issue of life is not a political issue. It's a human rights issue and it's a difficult issue, because it puts in conflict two competing rights. On the one hand is the right of a woman to choose what to do with her body which is a real right. And on the other hand is the right of an unborn human child to live. And they're in conflict. And as a policy maker, I must choose which one of these two sides takes precedence. And I have chosen to err on the side of life. Here's what I find outrageous. There has been five Democratic debates. The media has not asked them a single question on abortion and on abortion, the Democrats are extremists. Why doesn't the media ask Hillary Clinton why she believes that all abortion should be legal, even on the due date of that unborn child. Why don't they ask Hillary Clinton why she believe that partial- birth abortion, which is a gruesome procedure that has been outlawed in this country, she thinks that's a fundamental right. They are the extremists......when it comes to the issue of abortion and I can't wait to expose them in a general election. HAM: Governor Bush? I want to come to you. Your allies have recently attacked Senator Rubio for being too pro-life to be elected in November. You made a similar charge stating it in an interview. This is a pro-life party. Do you stand behind that criticism? +p229 +aVI do support protection for the life of the mother because I'm pro-life. I just believe deeply that all human life is worthy of protection of our laws. If I'm president and there's a bill that's passed that saves lives but it has exceptions, I'll sign it. But I do believe deeply that all human life is worthy of the protection of laws. I've already said, for me, the issue of life is not a political issue and I want to be frank. I would rather lose an election than be wrong on the issue of life. HAM: Governor Christie. You too, have talked about Senator Rubio's position on the life issue. Some conservative activists have called this line of attack harmful to the pro-life cause. +p230 +aVWell, I was going for Peyton Manning, but now I'm rooting for Carolina. +p231 +aVThank you. You know, this week I had the great pleasure of having my kids join me on the campaign trail. I hadn't' seen them in a while, and it was great to have them alongside me, but the most important part of it is that it once again reminded me of what's at stake. Here in New Hampshire in less than 72 hours, we are literally deciding what kind of country we will be like when they are my age. What kind of country they will be able to raise their families in. And, that's why I'm asking you for your vote. You vote for me, and we will unite this party, we will grow the conservative movement, we will defeat Hillary Clinton, and we will leave our children what our parents left us. The single greatest nation in the history of all mankind. Thank you. +p232 +aVChris, let's begin by being clear what this campaign is about. It's not about Donald Trump. He's an entertaining guy. He's the greatest show on earth. This campaign is about the greatest country in the world and a president who has systematically destroyed many of the things that made America special. You see, we usually elect presidents in America that want to change the things that are wrong in America. Barack Obama wants to change America. Barack Obama wants America to be more like the rest of the world. We don't want to be like the rest of the world. We want to be the United States of America. That is why Hillary Clinton cannot win this election. Hillary Clinton this week said Barack Obama would make a great Supreme Court justice. The guy who systematically and habitually violates the constitution on the Supreme Court? I don't think so. If I'm our nominee, I will unite this party and we'll defeat Hillary Clinton and we will turn this country around once and for all, after seven years of the disaster that is Barack Obama. +p233 +aVI think, you know, Rand and I have some significant issues on policy, but I respect Rand. He believes everything he stands for. I do respect Rand. But I want to be frank about what I stand for. I believe the world is a safer and a better place when America is the strongest power in the world. And I believe only with a strong America will we defeat this radical group, this apocalyptic group called +p234 +aVWell, again, I mean, obviously, as already has been pointed out, the only budget that Ted has ever voted for is a budget that Rand Paul sponsored that brags about cutting defense spending. And I think that's a bad idea for the following reason. +p235 +aV... First of all \u2014 Let me go first, and then you can please recognize Rand after. First of all... +p236 +aV... do I go \u2014 let me go first, and then you can please recognize Rand after. But... ... first of all... +p237 +aV... first of all, I'm \u2014 don't worry, I'm not leaving the stage no matter what you ask me. +p238 +aVAnd second of all... ... and I think \u2014 you know, Governor \u2014 Jeb, you \u2014 the attack that \u2014 the authorization that Barack Obama asked for was not against +p239 +aVMegyn, that's the problem. Radical Muslims and radical Islam is not just hate talk. It's hate action. They blow people up. Look what they did in San Bernardino. Look at the attack they inspired in Philadelphia, that the White House still refuses to link to terror, where a guy basically shot a police officer three times. He told the police, "I did it because I was inspired by +p240 +aVMight I respond? The first thing \u2014 I don't know of anyone who's not in favor of fully vetting people that are trying to come into this country, other than perhaps Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. I think we all support that. Rand's amendment was not the right way to do it. I do believe that people who are trying to come to the United States \u2014 this country has a right to know who they are and why they are coming. And that's why I've been clear, when I am the president of the United States of America, we don't know who you are, and we don't know why you're trying to come to the United States, you are not going to get in, because the radical threat that we now face from +p241 +aVWell, Bret, first that's not entirely the story. At the time, the liberal governor of Florida, who claimed he was a Republican \u2014 his name was Charlie Crist \u2014 he wanted to impose cap-and-trade on Florida. And I opposed it. I was the first person out of the box that opposed him on it. And then we saw that the leading candidates for president at the time, both the Republican and the Democrats, all supported it. And what we said is, if they're going to impose this on us, we better prepare to protect the state from it. But I have never supported cap- and-trade and I never thought it was a good idea. And I was clear about that at the time. And I do not believe it's a good idea now. I do not believe that we have to destroy our economy in order to protect our environment. And especially what these programs are asking us to pass that will do nothing to help the environment, but will be devastating for our economy. When I am president of the United States of America, there will never be any cap-and-trade in the United States. +p242 +aVNever support. Never have and never will support any effort to grant blanket legalization amnesty to folks who have entered, or stayed in this country illegally. +p243 +aVFirst of all, earned path to citizenship is basically code for amnesty. It's what they call it. And, the reality of it is this, it is unfair to the people that have legally entered this country to create an alternative for individuals who entered illegally, and knowingly did so. +p244 +aVYou cannot grant amnesty. If the American people see us granting amnesty they will never again believe in legal immigration. They will never again support it, and that's wrong for our country, bad for our future. +p245 +aVNo, because if you look at the quote, and it's very specific. And, it says blanket amnesty, I do not support blanket amnesty... +p246 +aV... I do not support amnesty... +p247 +aV... No, I said I do not support blanket amnesty... +p248 +aV... It was... +p249 +aV... It absolutely has been, and at the time in the context of that was in 2009, and 2010, where the last effort for legalization was an effort done in the Senate. It was an effort led by several people that provided almost an instant path with very little obstacles moving forward. What I've always said is that this issue does need to be solved. They've been talking about this issue for 30 years, and nothing ever happens. And, I'm going to tell you exactly how we're going to deal with it when I am president. Number one, we're going to keep +p250 +aVMay I respond? +p251 +aVIt's interesting that Jeb mentions the book. That's the book where you changed your position on immigration because you used to support a path to citizenship. +p252 +aVWell, but you changed the \u2014 in the book... +p253 +aVYou wrote a book where you changed your position from a path of citizenship to a path of legalization. And the bottom line is this, we are not going to be able to do anything on this issue until we first bring illegal immigration under control. The American people have been told for 30 years they're going to enforce the border, they're going to build a wall and it never gets built and it never happens. It is very clear there will be no progress on this issue in any way, shape or form, until you prove to the people of this country that illegal immigration is under control. And when I'm president, we are going to bring it under control once and for all after 30 years of talking about it. +p254 +aVBut Megyn... +p255 +aVThere's not going to be consensus on this issue until we enforce our immigration laws. That is abundantly clear. You're not going to be able to ram down the throat of the American people your approach. The only way we're are going to be able to move forward after two migratory crises with minor, after two unconstitutional executive orders, the only way forward on this issue is to first bring illegal immigration under control. And until that happens there's not going to be consensus on this issue. +p256 +aVYeah, but let me respond... +p257 +aV... no, I understand, but let me respond. I was mentioned on this \u2014 in this answer, and so I'm going to respond this way. This is the lie that Ted's campaign is built on, and Rand touched upon it \u2014 that he's the most conservative guy, and everyone else is a \u2014 you know, everyone else is a rhino. The truth is, Ted, throughout this campaign, you've been willing to say or do anything in order to get votes. Ted, you worked for George W. Bush's campaign... You \u2014 you \u2014 you helped design George W. Bush's \u2014 you helped design George W. Bush's immigration policy. And then, when you got to the Senate, you did an interview with CBS News \u2014 I wasn't even part of the video \u2014 where you said, on the issue of people that are here illegally, "we can reach a compromise." And then in the committee, you said, "I want to bring people out of the shadows." Now you want to trump Trump on immigration. But you can't \u2014 we're not gonna beat Hillary Clinton with someone who's willing to say or do anything to win an election. +p258 +aVAnd I think that's the false choice... ... that's the \u2014 that's the false choice in this whole debate about immigration. Of course, we're going to be a nation of immigrants. By the way, no nation on earth is more generous than America is. Every single year close to a million people emigrate to the United States legally. There's no nation on earth that comes close to that number. I think the only argument is are we a sovereign country, are we not allowed to choose who comes in, when they come in and how they come in? And that's not what's happening now. +p259 +aVI think the other problem is we have a legal immigration system that's outdated, it's primarily based on whether you have family members living here. In the 21st century, it has to be more of a merit-based system, and that is why our legal immigration system is in need of modernization. And we will always celebrate legal immigration like Dulce's great story. +p260 +aVWell, I believe, and I know that if Iowa helps make me the Republican nominee, I will defeat Hillary Clinton. Hillary doesn't want to run against me, but I cannot wait to run against her. And I cannot wait to earn the opportunity to do it because she cannot be the president of the United States. She wants to put Barack Obama on the Supreme Court of the United States of America. She said that here in Iowa just two days ago. That would be a disaster for this country. So I hope and pray and cannot wait until this state and others give me an opportunity to serve this party as its nominee because I will defeat Hillary Clinton. +p261 +aVWell, let me be clear about one thing, there's only one savior and it's not me. It's Jesus Christ who came down to earth and died for our sins. And so \u2014 and I've always made that clear about that cover story. As far as the polls are concerned, Iowa, on Monday night you're going to go to a caucus site and you'll be the first Americans that vote in this election. You will be the first Americans that get to answer the fundamental question, what comes next for this country after seven disastrous years of Barack Obama? And let me tell you what the answer better not be. It better not be Bernie Sanders. Bernie Sanders is a socialist. I think Bernie Sanders is good candidate for president of Sweden. We don't want to be Sweden. We want to be the United States of America. And Hillary Clinton, Hillary Clinton is disqualified from being the commander-in-chief of the United States. In fact, one of her first acts as president may very well be to pardon herself because Hillary Clinton... Hillary Clinton stored classified information on her private server. And Hillary Clinton lied to the families of those four brave Americans who lost their life in Benghazi. And anyone who lies to the families of Americans who have died in the service of this country can never be commander-in-chief of the United States. +p262 +aVYeah, I would encourage people to go on my website, marcorubio.com, and we'll put all the facts up there so people can see it for themselves. But you've just asked a very fundamental question about the role of faith in our country. And I think this is an important question. I think if you do not understand that our Judeo-Christian values are one of the reasons why America is such a special country, you don't understand our history. You see, why are we one of the most generous people in the world \u2014 no, the most generous people in the world? Why do Americans contribute millions of dollars to charity? It is not because of the tax writeoff. It is because in this nation, we are influenced by Judeo-Christian values that teach us to care for the less fortunate, to reach out to the needy, to love our neighbor. This is what's made our nation so special. And you should hope that our next president is someone that is influence by their faith. Because if your faith causes you to care for the less fortunate, it is something you want to see in your public figures. And when I'm president, I can tell you this, my faith will not just influence the way I'll govern as president, it will influence the way I live my life. Because in the end, my goal is not simply to live on this earth for 80 years, but to live an eternity with my creator. And I will always allow my faith to influence everything I do. +p263 +aVWell, let me first describe Iran because they're not just a normal nation state. And we have no quarrel with the Iranian people. But the Iranian leader, their supreme leader is a radical Shia cleric who has an apocalyptic vision of the future. He views himself not simply as the leader of Iran, but as the leader of all Muslims \u2014 all Shia Muslims on the planet. And they have a desire not simply to conquer the Middle East and to become the dominant power in that region, but ultimately to be able to hold America hostage. That is why they're building an \u2014 right now, developing long- range missiles capable of reaching the United States, and that is why there's going \u2014 they're going to use those $100 billion to expand their conventional capabilities and to one day buy or build a nuclear weapon. We will \u2014 when I am president of the United States, on my first day in office, we are canceling the deal with Iran, and nations will have to make a choice. They can do business with Iran, or they can do business with America, and I am very confident they're going to choose America before they choose the Iranian economy. +p264 +aVThe bible commands us to let our light shine on the world. For over 200 years, America's light has been shining on the world and the world has never been the same again. But now, that light is dimming a little, after seven years of Barack Obama. And that's why Monday night, what will happen here in Iowa is so important. I'm asking you for your vote. Caucus for me on Monday night because if I am your nominee, I will unite this party and I will defeat Hillary Clinton and when I'm president, America's light will shine again and the 21 century will be a new American century. +p265 +aVYeah, I would go, first of all, one step further in this description of Hillary Clinton. She wouldn't just be a disaster, Hillary Clinton is disqualified from being commander in chief of the United States. Someone who cannot handle intelligence information appropriately cannot be commander in chief and someone who lies to the families of those four victims in Benghazi can never be president of the United States. Ever. On the issue of Barack Obama, Barack Obama does not believe that America is a great global power. Barack Obama believes that America is a arrogant global power that needs to be cut down to size. And that's how you get a foreign policy where we cut deals with our enemies like Iran and we betray our allies like Israel and we gut our military and we go around the world like he has done on 10 separate occasions and apologized for America. He doesn't understand the threat in +p266 +aVLet me . I was invoked in that question, so let me just say \u2014 in that answer \u2014 let me say, the real question here, I hate to interrupt this episode of Court TV. But the real \u2014 but I think we have to get back to what this election has to be about. OK? Listen, we \u2014 this is the greatest country in the history of mankind. But in 2008, we elected a president that didn't want to fix America. He wants to change America. We elected a president that doesn't believe in the Constitution. He undermines it. We elected a president that is weakening America on the global stage. We elected a president that doesn't believe in the free enterprise system. This election has to be about reversing all of that damage. That's why I'm running for office because when I become president of the United States, on my first day in office we are going to repeal every single one of his unconstitutional executive orders. When I'm president of the United States we are getting rid of Obamacare and we are rebuilding our military. And when I'm president, we're not just going to have a president that gives a State of the Union and says America is the greatest country in the world. When I'm president, we're going to have a president that acts like it. +p267 +aVYou know, as I said already twice in this , we have a very serious problem in this country. We have a president of the United States that is undermining this country's security and expanding the role of... +p268 +aVWell, I am going to answer your question, Neil. He is \u2014 this president is undermining the constitutional basis of this government. This president is undermining our military. He is undermining our standing in the world. I like Chris Christie, but we can not afford to have a president of the United States that supports Common Core. We can not afford to have a president of the United States that supports gun control. This president, this president is more interested in funding \u2014 less interested in funding the military, than he is in funding planned \u2014 he's more interested in funding Planned Parenthood than he is in funding the military. Chris Christie wrote a check to Planned Parenthood. All I'm saying is our next president has to be someone that undoes the damage Barack Obama has done to this country. It can not be someone that agrees with his agenda. Because the damage he has done to America is extraordinary. Let me tell you, if we don't get this election right, there may be no turning back for America. We're on the verge of being the first generation of Americans that leave our children worse off than ourselves. So I just truly, with all my heart belief, I like everybody on the stage. No one is a socialist. No one here is under FBI investigation. So we have a good group of people. +p269 +aVOur next president... +p270 +aVUnfortunately, Governor Christie has endorsed many of the ideas that Barack Obama supports, whether it is Common Core or gun control or the appointment of Sonia Sotomayor or the donation he made to Planned Parenthood. Our next president, and our Republican nominee can not be someone who supports those positions. +p271 +aVThat sounds like people are afraid the president's going to take their guns away. Look, the Second Amendment is not an option. It is not a suggestion. It is a constitutional right of every American to be able to protect themselves and their families. I am convinced that if this president could confiscate every gun in America, he would. I am convinced that this president, if he could get rid of the Second Amendment, he would. I am convinced because I see how he works with his attorney general, not to defend the Second Amendment, but to figure out ways to undermine it. I have seen him appoint people to our courts not to defend the Second Amendment, but to figure out ways to undermine it. Here's my second problem. None of these instances that the president points to as the reason why he's doing these things would have been preventive. You know why? Because criminals don't buy their guns from a gun show. They don't buy their guns from a collector. And they don't buy their guns from a gun store. They get \u2014 they steal them. They get them on the black market. And let me tell you, +p272 +aVAbout every two weeks, he holds a press conference talking about how he can't wait to restrict people's access to guns. He has never defended......I'll give you a fact. Well, let me tell you this. Do you remember when he ran for president of the United States, and he was a candidate, and he went and said, "These Americans with traditional values, they are bitter people, and they cling to their guns and to their religion." That tells you right away where he was headed on all of this. This president every chance he has ever gotten has tried to undermine the Second Amendment. He doesn't meet \u2014 here's the difference. When he meets with the attorney general in the White House, it's not "how can we protect the Second Amendment rights of Americans." It's "give me options on how I can make it harder for law-abiding people to buy guns." That will never happen when I am president of the United States. +p273 +aVWell, first of all, let's understand why we are even having this and why Donald tapped in to some of that anger that's out there about this whole issue. Because this president has consistently underestimated the threat of +p274 +aVBut on this point, if I may add something on this point. We are all frustrated with what China is doing. I think we need to be very careful with tariffs, and here's why. China doesn't pay the tariff, the buyer pays the tariff. If you send a tie or a shirt made in China into the United States and an American goes to buy it at the store and there's a tariff on it, it gets passed on in the price to price to the consumer. So I think the better approach, the best thing we can do to protect ourselves against China economically is to make our economy stronger, which means reversing course from all the damage Barack Obama is doing to this economy. It begins with tax reform. Let's not have the most expensive business tax rate in the world. Let's allow companies to immediately expense. It continues with regulatory reform. Regulations in this country are out of control, especially the Employment Prevention Agency, the EPA, and all of the rules they continue to impose on our economy and hurting us. How about Obamacare, a certified job killer? It needs to be repealed and replaced. And we need to bring our debt under control, make our economy stronger. That is the way to deal with China at the end of the day. +p275 +aVWell, first let me address the tax issue because it's related to the entitlement issue and I want to thank you for holding a substantive debates where we can have debates about these key issues on taxes. Here is the one thing I'm not going to do. I'm not going to have something that Ted described in his tax plan. It's called the value added tax. And it's a tax you find in many companies in Europe. Where basically, businesses now will have to pay a tax, both on the money they make, but they also have to pay taxes on the money that they pay their employees. And that's why they have it in Europe, because it is a way to blindfolded the people, that's what Ronald Reagan said. Ronald Regan opposed the value tax because he said it was a way to blindfold the people, so the true cost of government was not there there for them. Now, you can support one now that's very low. But what is to prevent a future liberal president or a liberal Congress from coming back and not just raising the income tax, but also raising that VAT tax, and that vat tax is really bad for seniors. Because seniors, if they are retired, are no longer earning an income from a job. And therefore, they don't get the income tax break, but their prices are going to be higher, because the vat tax is embedded in both the prices that business that are charging and in the wages they pay their employees. When I am president of the United States, I'm going to side with Ronald Regan on this and not Nancy Pelosi and we are not having a vat tax. +p276 +aVBut that's not an accurate description of the plan. Because, first of all, you may rename the IRS but you are not going to abolishes the IRS, because there has to be some agency that's going to collect your vat tax. Someone's going to be collecting this tax. In fact, Ronald Reagan's treasury, when Ronald Reagan's treasury looked at the vat tax, you know what they found? That they were going to have to hire 20,000 new IRS agencies to collect it. The second point, it does not eliminate the corporate tax or the payroll tax. Businesses will now have to pay 16 percent on the money they make. They will also have to pay 16 percent on the money they pay their employees. So there are people watching tonight in business. If you are now hit on a 60 percent tax on both your income and on the wages you pay your employees, where are you going to get that money from? You're going to get it by paying your employees less and charging your customers more, that is a tax, the difference is, you don't see it on the bill. And that's why Ronald Reagan said that it was a blindfold. You blindfold the American people so that they cannot see the true cost of government. Now 16 percent is what the rate Ted wants it at. But what happens if, God forbid, the next Barack Obama takes over, and the next Nancy Pelosi, and the next Harry Reid......and they decide, we're going to raise it to 30 percent, plus we're going to raise the income tax to 30 percent. Now, you've got Europe. +p277 +aVIf you'll answer the core question. +p278 +aVWell, first of all, this is an issue that's been debated now for 30 years. And for 30 years, the issue of immigration has been about someone who's in this country, maybe they're here illegally, but they're looking for a job. This issue is not about that anymore. First and foremost, this issue has to be now more than anything else about keeping America safe. And here's why. There is a radical jihadist group that is manipulating our immigration system. And not just green cards. They're looking \u2014 they're recruiting people that enter this country as doctors and engineers and even fiances. They understand the vulnerabilities we have on the southern border. They're looking \u2014 they're looking to manipulate our \u2014 the visa waiver countries to get people into the United States. So our number one priority must now become ensuring that +p279 +aVThe issue is a dramatically different issue than it was 24 months ago. Twenty-four months ago, 36 months ago, you did not have a group of radical crazies named +p280 +aVMaria, let me clear something up here. This is an interesting point when you talk about immigration. Ted Cruz, you used to say you supported doubling the number of green cards, now you say that you're against it. You used to support a 500 percent increase in the number of guest workers, now you say that you're against it. You used to support legalizing people that were here illegally, now you say you're against it. You used to say that you were in favor of birthright citizenship, now you say that you are against it. And by the way, it's not just on immigration, you used to support TPA, now you say you're against it. I saw you on the Senate floor flip your vote on crop insurance because they told you it would help you in Iowa, and last week, we all saw you flip your vote on ethanol in Iowa for the same reason. That is not consistent conservatism, that is political calculation. When I am president, I will work consistently every single day to keep this country safe, not call Edward Snowden, as you did, a great public servant. Edward Snowden is a traitor. And if I am president and we get our hands on him, he is standing trial for treason. And one more point, one more point. Every single time that there has been a Defense bill in the Senate, three people team up to vote against it. Bernie Sanders, Rand Paul and Ted Cruz. In fact, the only budget you have ever voted for, Ted, in your entire time in the Senate is a budget from Rand Paul that brags about how it cuts defense. Here's the bottom line, and I'll close with this. If I'm president of the United States and Congress tries to cut the military, I will veto that in a millisecond. +p281 +aVNo, it's your record. +p282 +aVYou know, 200 years ago, America was founded on this powerful principle that our rights don't come from government. Our rights come from God. That's why we embraced free enterprise, and it made us the most prosperous people in the history of the world. That's why we embraced individual liberty, and we became the freest people ever, and the result was the American miracle. But now as I travel the country, people say what I feel. This country is changing. It feels different. We feel like we're being left behind and left out. And the reason is simple: because in 2008, we elected as president someone who wasn't interested in fixing America. We elected someone as president who wants to change America, who wants to make it more like the rest of the world. And so he undermines the Constitution, and he undermines free enterprise by expanding government, and he betrays our allies and cuts deals with our enemies and guts our military. And that's why 2016 is a turning point in our history. If we elect Hillary Clinton, the next four years will be worse than the last eight, and our children will be the first Americans ever to inherit a diminished country. But if we elect the right person \u2014 if you elect me \u2014 we will turn this country around, we will reclaim the American dream and this nation will be stronger and greater than it has ever been. +p283 +aVThank you Wolf. It's really amazing to be back in Las Vegas. I spent six years as a child growing not far from where we stand tonight. I use to sit on the porch of our home and listen to my grandfather tell stories as he smoked one of three daily cigars. One of the things my grandfather instilled in me, was that I was really blessed because I was a citizen of the greatest country in the history of our mankind. But there have always been people in American politics that wanted America to be more like the rest of the world. And In 2008, one of them was elected president of this country and the result has been a disaster. Today you have millions of Americans that feel left out and out of place in their own country, struggling to live paycheck to paycheck, called bigots because they hold on to traditional values. And around the world, America's influence has declined while this president has destroyed our military, our allies no longer trust us, and our adversaries no longer respect us. And that is why this election is so important. That is why I'm running for president. And that's why I'm going to ask you for your vote tonight. If you elect me president, we will have a president that believes America is the greatest country in the world and we will have a president that acts like it. +p284 +aVWell, I understand why they feel that way, because this president hasn't kept us safe. The problem is we had an attack in San Bernardino. And we were paying attention to the most important issue we have faced in a decade since 9/11, and then all the talk was about this proposal, which isn't going to happen. But this is what's important to do is we must deal frontally with this threat of radical Islamists, especially from +p285 +aVHe is and so are those that voted for it. There were some that voted for it because they wanted to keep it alive and they were afraid the whole program would expire. Here's the world we live in. This is a radical jihadist group that is increasingly sophisticated in its ability, for example, to radicalize American citizens, in its inability to exploit loopholes in our legal immigration system, in its ability to capture and hold territory in the Middle East, as I outlined earlier, in multiple countries. This is not just the most capable, it is the most sophisticated terror threat we have ever faced. We are now at a time when we need more tools, not less tools. And that took we lost, the metadata program, was a valuable tool that we no longer have at our disposal. +p286 +aVDana, may I interject here? +p287 +aVLet me be very careful when answering this, because I don't think national television in front of 15 million people is the place to discuss classified information. So let me just be very clear. There is nothing that we are allowed to do under this bill that we could not do before. This bill did, however, take away a valuable tool that allowed the National Security Agency and other law \u2014 and other intelligence agencies to quickly and rapidly access phone records and match them up with other phone records to see who terrorists have been calling. Because I promise you, the next time there is attack on \u2014 an attack on this country, the first thing people are going to want to know is, why didn't we know about it and why didn't we stop it? And the answer better not be because we didn't have access to records or information that would have allowed us to identify these killers before they attacked. +p288 +aVI want to thank Rand for another 30 seconds, because, number one, what he's pointing to is a bill last week that \u2014 amendment that he voted for that only 10 people voted for. You know why? Because it's not focused on terrorists. It would have banned anyone from coming here. Someone from Taiwan would not have been able to come here as a tourist. Number two, this program, this metadata program is actually more strict than what a regular law enforcement agency has now. If a regular law enforcement agency wants your phone records, all they have to do is issue a subpoena. But now the intelligence agency is not able to quickly gather records and look at them to see who these terrorists are calling. And the terrorists that attacked us in San Bernardino was an American citizen, born and raised in this country. And I bet you we wish we would have had access to five years of his records so we could see who he was working with... +p289 +aVDo I get another 30 seconds? He mentioned me. +p290 +aVWell, let me begin by saying that we have to understand who +p291 +aVThat is accurate. Three times he voted against the Defense Authorization Act, which is a bill that funds the troops. It also, by the way, funds the Iron Dome and other important programs. And I have to assume that if you vote against it in the Senate, you would also veto it as president. He has also supported, by the way, a budget that is called the containment budget. And it is a budget that would radically reduce the amount of money we spend on our military. You can't carpet bomb +p292 +aVYes, let me \u2014 three points of distinction. The first is, if you're an American citizen and you decide to join up with +p293 +aVWell, they most certainly will have to be worked on to provide more than what they are doing now. There's no doubt about it. And there's one \u2014 one major reason why they have not been willing to be a broader part of the coalition, and that is they have lost complete trust and confidence in this president. This president cut a deal with their moral enemy, the Shia, in Iran. And this is the reason why they no longer trust this president and are willing to work alongside them. But they have as much invested in this as we do. In fact, more so, for it is the king of Saudi Arabia they want to behead first. It's the king of Jordan that they want to dethrone. It's the \u2014 they want to go into Egypt the way they've already gone into Libya. And on another point that we need to talk about, Assad is one of the main reasons why +p294 +aVTo begin with, Moammar Gadhafi and the revolt against Gadhafi was not started by the United States. It was started by the Libyan people. And the reason why I argued we needed to get involved is because he was going to go one way or the other. And my argument then was proven true, and that is, the longer that civil war took, the more militias would be formed and the more unstable the country would be after the fact. As far as Moammar Gadhafi is concerned, by the way, Moammar Gadhafi is the man that killed those Americans over Lockerbie, Scotland. Moammar Gadhafi is also the man that bombed that cafe in Berlin and killed those Marines. And you want to know why Moammar Gadhafi started cooperating on his nuclear program? Because we got rid of Saddam Hussein. And so he got scared that he would be next, and that's why he started cooperating. Look, we will have to work around the world with less than ideal governments. The government in Saudi Arabia is not a democracy, but we will have to work with them. The government in Jordan is not perfect, but we will have to work with them. But anti-American dictators like Assad, who help Hezbollah, who helped get those IEDs into Iraq, if they go, I will not shed a tear. +p295 +aVYeah. Immigration is not an issue that I read about in the newspaper or watch a documentary on PBS or CNN. It's an issues I've lived around my whole life. My family are immigrants. My wife's family are immigrants. All of my neighbors are immigrants. I see every aspect of this problem. The good, the bad, and the ugly. And here's what we learned in 2013. The American people don't trust the Federal Government to enforce our immigration laws, and we will not be able to do anything on immigration until we first prove to the American people that illegal immigration is under control. And we can do that. We know what it takes to do that. It takes at least 20,000 more additional border agents. It takes completing those 700 miles of fencing. It takes a mandatory e-verify system and a mandatory entry/exit tracking system to prevent overstays. After we have done that, the second thing we have to do is reform and modernize the legal immigration system. And after we have done those two things, I think the American people are gonna be reasonable with what do you do with someone who has been in this country for 10 or 12 years who hasn't otherwise violated our laws \u2014 because if they're a criminal they can't stay. They'll have to undergo a background check, pay a fine, start paying taxes. And ultimately, they'll given a work permit and that's all they're gonna be allowed to have for at least 10 years. But you can't get to that third step until you have done the other two things, and that was the lesson we learned in 2013. There is no trust that the Federal Government will enforce the law. They will not support you until you see it done first. +p296 +aVBut I've answered that question repeatedly. I am personally open \u2014 after all that has happened and after ten years in that probationary status where all they have is a permit, I personally am open to allowing people to apply for a green card. That may not be a majority position in my party, but that's down the road. You can't even begin that process until you prove to people \u2014 not just pass a law that says you're gonna bring illegal immigration under control. You're gonna have to do it and prove to people that it's working. And that was the lesson of 2013. And it's more true today, than it was then. After a migratory crisis on the border with minors coming over that you're seeing start up again now, after all these executive orders the President has issued. More than ever we need to... +p297 +aV... prove to people that illegal immigration is under control. +p298 +aVYeah, a couple points. In 2013 we had never faced a crisis like the Syrian refugee crisis now. Up until that point, a refugee meant someone fleeing oppression, fleeing Communism like it is in my community. As far as Ted's record, I'm always puzzled by his attack on this issue. Ted, you support legalizing people who are in this country illegally. Ted Cruz supported a 500-percent increase in the number of H-1 visas, the guest workers that are allowed into this country, and Ted supports doubling the number of green cards. So I think what's important for us to understand and there is a way forward on this issue that we an bring our country together on. And while I'm president I will do it. And it will begin by bringing illegal immigration under control and proving to the American people. +p299 +aVNo, no, give him time. +p300 +aVTed, do you... +p301 +aVDid Ted Cruz fight to support legalizing people that are in this country illegally? +p302 +aVDoes Ted Cruz rule out ever legalizing people that are in this country now? +p303 +aVWould you rule it out? +p304 +aVWell, he's just admitted \u2014 as he's just admitted, the reason why those refugees were allowed in was because they messed up in how they used the actual database. They should have know. They didn't because they didn't run the actual law as it exists now. It didn't work well. As far as the refugees are concerned, it's not that America doesn't want to accept refugees, Wolf. It's that we may not be able to, because this is an issue we have to be 100 percent right on. If we allow 9,999 Syrian refugees into the United States, and all of them are good people, but we allow one person in who's an +p305 +aVI do. First, let's explain to people at home who the triad \u2014 what the triad is. Maybe a lot of people haven't heard that terminology before. The triad is our ability of the United States to conduct nuclear attacks using airplanes, using missiles launched from silos or from the ground, and also from our nuclear subs' ability to attack. And it's important \u2014 all three of them are critical. It gives us the ability at deterrence. Now, some have become more critical than others; for example, the submarines. And that's the Ohio Class submarine that needs to be modernized. The air component also needs to be modernized. The B-52, as someone earlier pointed out, is an outdated model that was flown by the grandparents of people that are flying it now. And we need a serious modernization program as well on our silo-launched missiles. All three are critical for the defense of the country. +p306 +aVThank you. As we near the end of this year, we enter one of the most important elections in a generation. For what's at stake in this election is not simply what party's going to be in charge. But our very identity as a people and as a nation. For over 200 years this has been a special country. A unique place where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything. But now millions of Americans feel like they're being left behind. Insecure in their future and unsafe in the face of terrorism. This election is about electing a president that will restore our economic vibrancy so that the American dream can expand to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And rebuild our Military and our intelligence programs so that we can remain the strongest nation on earth. Tonight I ask you for your vote. If you do this, we will rebuild this country, and together we will usher in a new American century \u2014 the greatest era in the history of this great land. +p307 +aVWell, let me begin by answering both the first question and this one, because they're related. As I've said many times before, my parents were never rich people. My father was a bartender. My mother was a maid. They worked for a living. But they were successful people, because, despite the fact that they weren't well educated and had those jobs, they made enough money to buy a home in a safe and stable neighborhood, retire with dignity, leave all four of their children better off than themselves. We call that the American dream, but in fact, it's a universal dream of a better life that people have all over the world. It is a reminder that every country in the world has rich people. What makes America special is that we have millions and millions of people that are not rich, that through hard work and perseverance are able to be successful. The problem is that today people are not successful working as hard as ever because the economy is not providing jobs that pay enough. If I thought that raising the minimum wage was the best way to help people increase their pay, I would be all for it, but it isn't. In the 20th century, it's a disaster. If you raise the minimum wage, you're going to make people more expensive than a machine. And that means all this automation that's replacing jobs and people right now is only going to be accelerated. Here's the best way to raise wages. Make America the best place in the world to start a business or expand an existing business, tax reform and regulatory reform, bring our debt under control, fully utilize our energy resources so we can reinvigorate manufacturing, repeal and replace Obamacare, and make higher education faster and easier to access, especially vocational training. For the life of me, I don't know why we have stigmatized vocational education. Welders make more money than philosophers. We need more welders and less philosophers. If we do that \u2014 and if we do this \u2014 if we do this, we will be able to increase wages for millions of Americans and we will be able to leave everyone better off without making anyone worse off. +p308 +aVWell, you know, that's an excellent question, because what we are going through in this country is not simply an economic downturn. We are living through a massive economic transformation. I mean, this economy is nothing like what it was like five years ago, not to mention 15 or 20 years ago. And it isn't just a different economy. It's changing faster than ever. You know, it took the telephone 75 years to reach 100 million users. It took Candy Crush one year to reach some 100 million users. So the world is changing faster than ever, and it is disruptive. Number one, we are in a global competition now, and several of the candidates have said that. There are now dozens of developed economies on this planet that we have to compete with. And we lose that competition because we have the highest business tax rate in the industrialized world, because we have regulations that continue to grow by the billions every single week, because we have a crazy health care law that discourages companies from hiring people, but because we're not fully utilizing our energy resources, that if we did, it would bring back all kinds of growth, especially in manufacturing, and because we have an outdated higher education system. Our higher education system is completely outdated. It is too expensive, too hard to access, and it doesn't teach 21st century skills. If we do what needs to be done \u2014 tax reform, regulatory reform, fully utilize our energy resources, repeal and replace Obamacare, and modernize higher education, then we can grasp the potential and the promise of this new economy. And we won't just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And then truly this new century can be a new American century. +p309 +aVThe most important job I'm ever going to have, the most important job anyone in this room will ever have, is the job of being a parent. Not the job of being president, or the job of being a senator, or the job of being a congressman. The most important job any of us will ever do is the job of being a president (sic), because the most important institution in society is the family. If the family breaks down, society breaks down. You can't have a strong nation without strong values, and no one is born with strong values. They have to be taught to you in strong families and reinforced in you in strong communities. And so when we set out to do tax reform, we endeavor to have a pro-family tax code, and we endeavor to do it because we know how difficult it is for families in the 21st century to afford the cost of living. It is expensive to raise children in the 21st century, and families that are raising children are raising the future taxpayers of the United States, and everything costs more. In 35 out of 50 states, child care costs more than college. There are millions of people watching this broadcast tonight that understand exactly what I'm talking about. They don't know how they're going to make that payment every month, and if they can't make it, they can't work, because someone needs to watch their kids during the day. They don't know how they're going to save for their kids' future, to go to college. And so, yes, I have a child tax credit increase, and I'm proud of it. I am proud that I have a pro-family tax code, because the pro- family tax plan I have will strengthen the most important institution in the \u2014 in the country, the family. +p310 +aVNow I get my 60 seconds to respond. He's talking about my tax plan. +p311 +aVSo let me begin with this. I actually believe \u2014 first of all, this is their money. They do pay. It is refundable, not just against the taxes they pay to the government, but also the \u2014 on their federal income tax, it's refundable against the payroll tax. Everyone pays payroll tax. This is their money. This is not our money. And here's what I don't understand \u2014 if you invest that money in a piece of equipment, if you invest that money in a business, you get to write it off your taxes. But if you invest it in your children, in the future of America and strengthening your family, we're not going to recognize that in our tax code? The family is the most important institution in society. And, yes... +p312 +aV... I do want to rebuild the American military. +p313 +aVI know that Rand is a committed isolationist. I'm not. I believe the world is a stronger and a better place, when the United States is the strongest military power in the world. +p314 +aVBecause... +p315 +aV...are you talking about the military, Rand? +p316 +aVWe can't even have an economy if we're not safe. There are radical jihadist in the Middle East beheading people and crucifying Christians. A radical Shia cleric in Iran trying to get a nuclear weapon, the Chinese taking over the South China Sea... ...Yes, I believe the world is a safer \u2014 no, no, I don't believe, I know that the world is a safer place when America is the strongest military power in the world. +p317 +aVYou know, if I may respond... +p318 +aVI need to add a couple of points to this. The first is, I've never met Vladimir Putin, but I know enough about him to know he is a gangster. He is basically an organized crime figure that runs a country, controls a $2 trillion economy. And is using to build up his military in a rapid way despite the fact his economy is a disaster. He understands only geopolitical strength. And every time he has acted anywhere in the world, whether it's in Ukraine or Georgia before that, or now in the Middle East, it's because he is trusting in weakness. His calculation in the Middle East is that he has seen what this president has done, which is nothing, the president has no strategy, our allies in the region do not trust us. For goodness sake, there is only one pro-American free enterprise democracy in the Middle East, it is the state of Israel. And we have a president that treats the prime minister of Israel with less respect than what he gives the ayatollah in Iran. And so our allies in the region don't trust us. Vladimir Putin is exploiting that weakness, for purposes of edging the Americans out as the most important geopolitical power broker in the region. And we do have a vested interest. And here's why. Because all those radical terrorist groups that, by the way, are not just in Syria and in Iraq, +p319 +aVCan I just add what \u2014 he's right on point there. Do you know why these banks are so big? The government made them big. The government made them big by adding thousands and thousands of pages of regulations. So the big banks, they have an army of lawyers, they have an army of compliance officers. They can deal with all these things. The small banks, like Governor Bush was saying, they can't deal with all these regulations. They can't deal with all \u2014 they cannot hire the fanciest law firm in Washington or the best lobbying firm to deal with all these regulations. And so the result is, the big banks get bigger, the small banks struggle to lend or even exist, and the result is what you have today. And in Dodd-Frank, you have actually codified too big to fail. We have actually created a category of systemically important institutions, and these banks go around bragging about it. You know what they say to people with a wink and a nod? We are so big, we are so important that if we get in trouble, the government has to bail us out. This is an outrage. We need to repeal Dodd-Frank as soon as possible. +p320 +aVWell, that's a great question, and let me begin by answering it. This election is about the future, about what kind of country this nation is gonna be in the 21st century. This next (ph) election is actually a generational choice. A choice about what kind of nation we will be in the 21st century. For over 2.5 centuries, America's been a special country, the one place on earth where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything, a nation that's been a force for good on this planet. But now, a growing number of Americans feel out of place in their own country. We have a society that stigmatizes those that hold cultural values that are traditional. We have a society where people \u2014 millions of people \u2014 are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, but they're living paycheck to paycheck because the economy has changed underneath their feet. We have young Americans who owe thousands of dollars in student loans for a degree that doesn't lead to a job. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses dying than starting, and around the world, every day brings news of a new humiliation for America \u2014 many the direct response \u2014 direct consequence of decisions made when Hillary Clinton was the secretary of the \u2014 of state. And so here's the truth: this election is about the future, and the Democratic Party, and the political left has no ideas about the future. All their ideas are the same, tired ideas of the past. More government, more spending. For every issue for America, their answer is a new tax on someone, and a new government program. This nation is going to turn the page, and that's what this election should be about, and, as I said at the first debate... ...If I am our nominee, they will be the party of the past, we will be the party of the 21st century. +p321 +aVOurs \u2014 the story of America is an extraordinary story. It is the story of a nation that for over two centuries each generation has left the next better off than themselves. But now, because Washington is out of touch, for the fault of both political parties, for the first time in our history, that is in doubt. And that is what this election must be about, because if the next four years are anything like the last eight years, our children will be the first Americans ever left worse off by their parents. This election is about making a different choice, about applying our principles of limited government and free enterprise to the unique issues of our time. And if we do, we will not just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And the 21st century can be a new American century. So tonight, I ask you for your vote and I ask you to join us at my website, marcorubio.com. +p322 +aVThank you for that question. I would begin by saying that I'm not sure it's a weakness, but I do believe that I share a sense of optimism for America's future that, today, is eroding from too many of our people. I think there's a sense in this country today that somehow our best days are behind us. And that doesn't have to be true. Our greatest days lie ahead if we are willing to do what it takes now. If we're willing to do what it takes now, the 21st century is going to be the new American century, greater than any other era we've had in the history of this great nation. +p323 +aVThat's an interesting question. That's exactly what the Republican establishment says too. Why don't you wait in line? Wait for what? This country is running out of time. We can't afford to have another four years like the last eight years. Watching this broadcast tonight are millions of people that are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, everything costs more, and they haven't had a raise in decades. You have small businesses in America that are struggling. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses closing than starting. We have a world that's out of control and has grown dangerous and a president that is weakening our military and making our foreign policy unstable and unreliable in the eyes of our allies. And our adversaries continue to grow stronger. We have a \u2014 they say there's no bipartisanship in Washington? We have a $19 trillion bipartisan debt and it continues to grow as we borrow money from countries that do not like us to pay for government we cannot afford. The time to act is now. The time to turn the page is now. If we \u2014 if we don't act now, we are going to be the first generation in American history that leaves our children worse off than ourselves. +p324 +aVLet me say, I read that editorial today with a great amusement. It's actually evidence of the bias that exists in the American media today. +p325 +aVLet me \u2014 let me answer your question on the Sun-Sentinel editorial today. Back in 2004, one of my predecessors to the Senate by the name of Bob Graham, a Democrat, ran for president missing over 30 percent of his votes. I don't recall them calling for his resignation \u2014 +p326 +aVLater that year, in 2004, John Kerry ran for president missing close to 60 to 70 percent of his votes. I don't recall the Sun \u2014 in fact, the Sun-Sentinel endorsed him. In 2008, Barack Obama missed 60 or 70 percent of his votes, and the same newspaper endorsed him again. So this is another example of the double standard that exists in this country between the mainstream media and the conservative movement. +p327 +aVI get to respond, right? +p328 +aVWell, it's interesting. Over the last few weeks, I've listened to Jeb as he walked around the country and said that you're modeling your campaign after John McCain, that you're going to launch a furious comeback the way he did, by fighting hard in New Hampshire and places like that, carrying your own bag at the airport. You know how many votes John McCain missed when he was carrying out that furious comeback that you're now modeling after? +p329 +aVNo Jeb, I don't remember \u2014 well, let me tell you. I don't remember you ever complaining about John McCain's vote record. The only reason why you're doing it now is because we're running for the same position, and someone has convinced you that attacking me is going to help you. +p330 +aVHere's the bottom line. I'm not \u2014 my campaign is going to be about the future of America, it's not going to be about attacking anyone else on this stage. I will continue to have tremendous admiration and respect for Governor Bush. I'm not running against Governor Bush, I'm not running against anyone on this stage. I'm running for president because there is no way we can elect Hillary Clinton to continue the policies of Barack Obama. +p331 +aVWell, you just \u2014 you just listed a litany of discredited attacks from Democrats and my political opponents, and I'm not gonna waste 60 seconds detailing them all. But I'm going to tell you the truth. Here's the truth. I didn't inherit any money. My dad was a bartender, my mother was a maid. They worked hard to provide us the chance at a better life. They didn't save enough money for us to go to school. I had to work my way through school. I had to borrow money to go to school. I tried (ph), early in my marriage, explaining to my wife why someone named Sallie Mae was taking $1,000 out of our bank account every month. I know what it's like to owe that money, and we've worked hard. We've worked hard our whole life to provide a better family \u2014 a better life for our family. We own a home four blocks away from the place that I grew up in. My four children have been able to receive a good Christian education, and I've been able to save for them to go to college so they never have to have the loans that I did. But I'm not worried about my finances, I'm worried about the finances of everyday Americans who today are struggling in an economy that is not producing good paying jobs while everything else costs more. And that's what this economy needs to \u2014 that's what this debate needs to be about. This debate needs to be about the men and women across this country that are struggling on a daily basis to provide for their families the better future that we've always said this country is all about. +p332 +aVAnd I used it to pay off my loans. And it's available on paperback, if you're interested in buying my book. +p333 +aVYeah, again, as I said, we're raising a family in the 21st century and it's one of the reasons why my tax plan is a pro- family tax plan. It increases the per child tax credit, because I didn't read about this in a book. I know for a fact how difficult it is to raise children, how expensive it's become for working families. And I make a lot more than the average American. Imagine how hard it is for these people out there that are making 40, 50, $60,000 a year, and they're trying to provide for their families at a time when this economy is not growing. We can't afford another four years of that. Which is what we're gonna get if we elect a big government liberal like Hillary Clinton to the White House. Thank you, senator. +p334 +aVWell, first of all, if a company gets caught doing that, they should never be able to use the program again. If you get caught abusing this program, you should never be able to use it again. The second thing I said is we need to add reforms, not just increase the numbers, but add reforms. For example, before you hire anyone from abroad, you should have to advertise that job for 180 days. You also have to prove that you're going to pay these people more than you would pay someone else, so that you're not undercutting it by bringing in cheap labor. But here's the best solution of all. We need to get back to training people in this country to do the jobs of the 21st century. Why, for the life of me, I do not understand why did we stop doing vocational education in America, people that can work with their hands; people you can train to do this work while they're still in high school so they can graduate ready to go work. But the best way to close this gap is to modernize higher education so Americans have the skills for those jobs. But in the interim, in the absence of that, what's happening is some of these tech companies are taking those \u2014 those centers (ph) to Canada because they can get people to go over there instead of here. But the ideal scenario is to train Americans to do the work so we don't have to rely on people from abroad. +p335 +aVWell, I believe that there are abuses, those companies should be permanently barred from ever using the program again and we should put strict standards in place to ensure that they're not being abused, like the prevailing wage requirement and like the advertising requirement. +p336 +aVSince I've been mentioned, can I respond? +p337 +aVOK. I know the Democrats have the ultimate SuperPac. It's called the mainstream media who every single day... ... and I'll tell you why. Last week, Hillary Clinton went before a committee. She admitted she had sent e-mails to her family saying, "Hey, this attack at Benghazi was caused by Al Qaida-like elements." She spent over a week telling the families of those victims and the American people that it was because of a video. And yet the mainstream media is going around saying it was the greatest week in Hillary Clinton's campaign. It was the week she got exposed as a liar. It was the week that she got exposed as a liar... But she has her super PAC helping her out, the American mainstream media. +p338 +aVNo, that's \u2014 you're wrong. In fact, the largest after- tax gains is for the people at the lower end of the tax spectrum under my plan. And there's a bunch of things my tax plan does to help them. Number one, you have people in this country that... +p339 +aV...you wrote a story on it, and you had to go back and correct it. +p340 +aVYou did. No, you did. +p341 +aVWell, you're talking about \u2014 yeah. +p342 +aVYeah, but that \u2014 because the math is, if you \u2014 5 percent of a million is a lot more than 5 percent of a thousand. So yeah, someone who makes more money... +p343 +aV...numerically, it's gonna be higher. But the greatest gains, percentage-wise, for people, are gonna be at the lower end of our plan, and here's why: because in addition to a general personal exemption, we are increasing the per-child tax credit for working families. We are lowering taxes on small business. You know, a lot of business activity in America is conducted like the guy that does my dry cleaning. He's an S corporation. He pays on his personal rate, and he is paying higher than the big dry-cleaning chain down the street, because he's paying at his personal rate. Under my plan, no business, big or small, will pay more than 25 percent flat rate on their business income. That is a dramatic tax decrease for hard-working people who run their own businesses. +p344 +aV...The other thing I'd like to make about our plan, one more point, it is the most pro growth tax plan that I can imagine because it doesn't tax investments at all. You know why? Because the more you tax something, the less of it you get. I want to be in \u2014 I want America to be the best... +p345 +aV...in the world for people... +p346 +aVI was mentioned in the question. +p347 +aVThank you. Well, I've learned the rules on this. Look, in addition to what Donald was saying is we also need to talk about the legal immigration system for permanent residents. Today, we have a legal immigration system for permanent residency that is largely based on whether or not you have a relative living here. And that's the way my parents came legally in 1956. But in 2015, we have a very different economy. Our legal immigration system from now on has to be merit-based. It has to be based on what skills you have, what you can contribute economically, and most important of all, on whether or not you're coming here to become an American, not just live in America, but be an American. +p348 +aVNo. No. What I said was that I think that Dr. Carson's ideas are good ideas. They're not my ideas, and I don't necessarily agree with all of them. But this is what you're seeing in the Republican debate that you didn't see in that Democrat debate. You didn't see it for a minute. You didn't see these kind of ideas being batted around, and being batted around in a way that's civil and smart and that's trying to help to inform the voter out there. What you saw was a parade of, "I'll give you this for free; I'll give you that for free." Let me tell you, everybody, when they say they want to give it to you for free, keep your hands on your wallets because they're coming to you to pay for it. And that's why I think these ideas up here are great, and that's what we should have is have more discussions like this and less gotcha. +p349 +aVI want to take off from that point and argue the same thing. And that is that one of the things you're watching tonight are 11 quality candidates debating an important issue. The Republican Party is blessed to have 11 good candidates, 10 good candidates. The Democrats can't even come up with one. And on this issue of the Medicare in particular, it's important because they're going to demagogue what we're saying here tonight. Everyone up here tonight that's talking about reforms, I think and I know for myself I speak to this, we're all talking about reforms for future generations. Nothing has to change for current beneficiaries. My mother is on Medicare and Social Security. I'm against anything that's bad for my mother. So, we're talking about \u2014 we're talking about reform for people like me and people like Senator Cruz, as he talked about earlier, who are years away from retirement that have a way to plan for these changes, and way that's very reasonable. And it's not too much to ask of our generation after everything our parents and our grandparents did for us. +p350 +aVYou know, America doesn't owe me anything. I have a debt to America I'll never repay. This isn't just the country I was born in, this is the nation that literally changed the history of my family. My parents in this country were able to give me the chance to do all the things they never did. We call that the American Dream, although, it's built on the universal dream of a better life. The fact that it's happened for so many people here throughout our history, that's what makes us special. But, now for millions of Americans, it's slipping away. And, we have a government and leaders in government that are completely out of touch, and that's why I'm running for president. Because we can't just save the American Dream, we can expand it to reach more people, and change more lives than ever before. And, that's why tonight I'm asking you for your vote. +p351 +asVKASICH +p352 +(lp353 +VWell, John, first of all, if I were president, we wouldn't have the divisions in the country we have today. I do want to take a second as we reflected on Judge Scalia, it's amazing \u2014 it's not even two minutes after the death of Judge Scalia, nine children here today, their father didn't wake up. His wife, sad, but I just wish we hadn't run so fast into politics. Here's my concern about this. The country is so divided right now, and now we're going to see another partisan fight take place. I really wish the president would think about not nominating somebody. If you were to nominate somebody, let's have him pick somebody that's going to have unanimous approval, and such widespread approval across the country that this could happen without a lot of recrimination. I don't think that's going to happen, and I would like the president just to, for once here, put the country first. We're going to have an election for president very soon, and the people will understand what is at stake in that election. And so I believe the president should not move forward, and I think that we ought to let the next president of the United States decide who is going to run that Supreme Court with a vote by the people of the United......States of America. +p354 +aVFirst of all \u2014 yes. First of all, look, we have to make it clear to Russia what we expect. We don't have to declare an enemy, rattle a sword or threaten, but we need to make it clear what we expect. No. 1 is we will arm the folks in Ukraine who are fighting for their freedom. They deserve it. There will be no ifs, ands or buts about it. Secondly, an attack on +p355 +aVI've got to tell you, this is just crazy, huh? This is just nuts, O.K.? Jeez, oh, man. I'm sorry, John. +p356 +aVOh, well, listen, I think being in Iraq, look, we thought there were weapons of mass destruction. Colin Powell, who is one of the most distinguished generals in modern time, said there were weapons there. But, but, the fact is we got ourselves in the middle of a civil war. The Sunni, the Shia and the Kurds, never gotten along. In fact, that country was drawn \u2014 the borders of that country were drawn after World War I by Westerners that didn't understand what was happening there. The tragedy of it is that we're still embroiled. And, frankly, if there weren't weapons of mass destruction, we should never have gone. I don't believe the United States should involve itself in civil wars. Civil wars are not in our direct interest, and if you \u2014 and look, I served on a defense committee for 18 years and was called into the Pentagon after 9/11 by Secretary Rumsfeld to deal with some of the most serious problems that we faced. The fact is, is that we should go to war when it is our direct interest. We should not be policemen of the world, but when we go, we mean business. We'll do our job. We'll tell our soldiers, our people in the service, take care of your job and then come home once we've accomplished our goals. That's what we need to do. +p357 +aVYeah. Well, first of all, those numbers, incorrect. We are \u2014 our Medicaid programs are coming in below cost estimates, and our Medicaid program in the second year grew at 2.5 percent. And Kimberley, let me tell you, when we expand Medicaid and we treat the mentally ill, then they don't live under a bridge or live in a prison, where they cost $22,500 a year. When we take the drug addicted and we treat them in the prisons, we stop the revolving door of people in and out of prisons, and we save $22,500 a year. Guess what else? They get their lives back. And the working poor, they're now getting health care. And you know that about a third of the people who are now getting that health care are people who are suffering very serious illnesses, particularly cancer. So, what I would tell you is, we've gone from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. We've cut taxes by more than any governor in America by $5 billion. We have grown the number of jobs by 400,000 private-sector jobs since I've been governor. Our credit is strong. Our pensions are strong. And frankly, we leave no one behind. Economic growth is not an end unto itself. We want everyone to rise, and we will make them personally responsible for the help that they get. And that is exactly the program we're driving in Ohio. And, boy, people ought to look at Ohio, because it has got a good formula. +p358 +aVYeah, let me say a couple of things. First of all, when Jeb was governor, his first four years as governor, he expand \u2014 his Medicaid program grew twice as fast as mine. O.K.? It's just a fact. Now, with Obamacare, I've not only sued the administration, I did not set up an exchange. And he knows that I'm not for Obamacare, never have been. But here's what's interesting about Medicaid. You know who expanded Medicaid five times to try to help the folks and give them opportunity so that you could rise and get a job? President Ronald Reagan. Now, the fact of the matter is, we expanded to get people on their feet, and once they're on their feet, we are giving them the training and the efforts that they need to be able to get work and pull out of that situation. +p359 +aVThat's what we're doing in our state. +p360 +aVLet me \u2014 let's tell you... +p361 +aVMajor \u2014 Major, we can't \u2014 we've got to \u2014 look, I have got to correct the record. And the fact of the matter is, we went from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. We're up 400,000 jobs. Our credit is rock solid. And I don't know... +p362 +aVLook, the bottom line is the people of this \u2014 of this country and this state want to see everybody rise, and they want to see unity, and I don't want to get into all this fighting tonight, because people are frankly sick of the negative campaigning. +p363 +aVAnd I'm going to stay positive about what I want to do from the... +p364 +aVBefore I get to that, this is the ninth or 10th debate. What I've been watching here, this back and forth, and these attacks, some of them are personal. I think we're fixing to lose the election to Hillary Clinton if we don't stop this. I mean, the fact is \u2014 you know what? I would suggest, why don't we take off all the negative ads and all the negative comments down from television and let us just talk about what we're for, and let's sell that, and the Republican Party will be stronger as a result... +p365 +aV... First of all, I'm for sealing the border, O.K.? And then I'm for a guest worker program. People can come in, work and go back home. We haven't closed the border because special interests, I believe, blocked it. Then, we have 11 and a half million people here. If they have not committed a crime since they've been here, make them pay a fine and some back taxes, and give them a path to legalization, never to citizenship. It is not going to happen that we're going to run around and try to drag 11 and a half million people out of their homes. I'll tell you this. Within the first hundred days, I will send a plan like this to the Congress of the United States, and if I'm president, I'll bet you dollar to doughnuts right now, it will pass. That is a reasonable proposal that the people of this country, in my judgment, will support, and so will the bulk of the Congress of the United States. +p366 +aVYou know, John, I think all people are the same. Look, I did 106 town halls, and I've been doing them left and right here in South Carolina. The first thing we have to do is grow the economy, and I know the formula because I was chairman in Washington when we balanced the budget and created so many jobs, and the same that we've been able to do in Ohio. You need common-sense regulations so small business can flourish, you need lower taxes both on business and individuals, and you need a fiscal plan to be able to get ourselves in a situation where people can predict a little bit about the future when it comes to the fiscal issues. And when you have that formula, combined with work force that's trained, you can explode the economy and create many jobs. I have done it twice, and I want to go back to Washington and do it again. John, the thing is, is I think that there are people now, these blue-collar Democrats \u2014 my dad was a blue-collar Democrat \u2014 the Democratic Party has left them. When they're arguing about being socialists, they've left \u2014 they have lost those blue-collar Democrats. And you know what I think they get out of me \u2014 is my sense of what they get out of me, and it's embarrassment about campaigns, you brag about yourself. But I think I'm a uniter, I think people sense it. I think they know I have the experience, and that I'm a man that can give people hope and a sense that they have the opportunity rise. And I'll tell you, I love these blue-collar Democrats, because they're going to vote for us come next fall, promise you that. +p367 +aVWell, I want to thank the people of South Carolina. You've been fantastic. And look, what I want you to know is I'm going to send a lot of power, money and influence back to where we all live. But as I've traveled around South Carolina, I've noticed something. You know, it's that people have a sense that you're not going to wait on a president. You know, when I was a kid, we didn't wait on presidents to come to that little blue-collar town and fix things. You know, the Lord made all of us special. The Lord wants us to be connected. I believe we're part of a very big mosaic. And I'll send the power back. And whoever gets elected president here, hopefully will take care of the issue of jobs and wages and Social Security and the border. But the spirit of the America rests in all of us. It's in our guts. It's taking care of our children. It's taking care of the lady next door who just lost her husband. It's fixing the schools where we live and telling kids to stay off drugs. You see, I think what the Lord wants is for to us engage, and in America, the spirit of America doesn't come from the top down. The spirit of America rests in us. And I want to call on everyone in America to double down and realize that you were made special to heal this country and lift it for everyone. Thank you all very much. And I hope I can have your vote in South Carolina. +p368 +aVWell, we've got to to step up the pressure. And by the way, I've gotta say, after being here, every one of my 100 town hall meetings in New Hampshire were a lot more fun than what I saw here today, were so much more positive. Look, in terms of North Korea, Martha, we have to make sure that we intercept both the ships and their aircraft, because what they're trying to do is to proliferate this very dangerous material, along with the \u2014 with the technology, the instruments that can be used for mass destruction. That's what I worry about the most, frankly, is non-state actors, people who don't have a uniform, people don't have a country, who can spread this, who are not subject to the \u2014 to the mutual assured defense. In other words, you strike us, we strike you. Some of these radicals, they don't care about that. That's what I worry about, for my children, and for their children, going forward. So, we have to be very tough. And we should tell the Chinese, look, if you're not going to do this ballistic missile defense to the Koreans, ballistic missile defense to Japan \u2014 and by the way, we should impose the same kind of sanctions on North Korea that we imposed on Iran, because they're able to shift money. They're able to send money and receive money. We've gotta to be very tough on this. And frankly, I think we could have \u2014 I think we could have let the Japanese know that if you want to take action on that \u2014 on that missile that's rising, you want to take action \u2014 you will have our support, if that's what you think is the best thing to do. We cannot continue to be weak in the face of the North Koreans, or, frankly, in the entire rest of the world. Martha, this is \u2014 this is the \u2014 relates... +p369 +aVWell, you know, David, I \u2014 I've just spent a lot of time here in this state, as I mentioned earlier, and we have to have practical solutions, just like we were just talking about a few minutes ago on North Korea. Look, the situation is, we need to finish the border. It has to be completed. Just like we lock our doors at night, the country has to be able to lock its doors. And we can have a guest worker program, where people can come in and out in an orderly way. And then for the 11.5 million that are here, if they have not committed a crime since they've been here, I believe they ought to pay some back taxes, pay a fine, never get on the path to citizenship, but get legalization. It is not \u2014 I couldn't even imagine how we would even begin to think about taking a mom or a dad out of a house when they have not committed a crime since they've been here, leaving their children in the house. I mean, that is not, in my opinion, the kind of values that we believe in. And secondly, I think at the end of the day, that Americans would support a plan like this. I think Congress would pass a plan to finish the border, guest worker, pay a fine, a path to legalization, and not citizenship. And we've got to get this done. And I will tell you this, within the first 100 days that I am president, I will put that proposal to the Congress. And I will tell you, as a former Congressman, and an executive, in Ohio, I can promise you that I believe you'll get the votes to pass that, and we can move on with that issue and protect our border. That's what I think. +p370 +aVGood evening. +p371 +aVWell, first of all, look. As the New York Times said, he's certainly not a moderate, but he can bring people together to solve problems. The fact of the matter is I've cut taxes more than anybody in the country this year. I have balanced budgets, the federal budget, the state of Ohio budget, we're running a $2 billion dollar surplus, we're up 400,000 jobs, and in Washington we were able to have significant job growth whenever we balanced the budget of which I was the architect. But, here's the beauty of it, it's not just balancing a budget, it's about jobs. You know, when I was kid growing up in a neighborhood where Dad went home at night and said, "I lost my job today", it just killed the family. It just was a devastating effect. We have to have economic growth, but once we have economic growth I believe we have to reach out to people who live in the shadows. I believe we need to help the mentally ill, the drug addicted, the working poor. We need to help the developmentally disabled to rise, and we need to help our friends in the minority community develop entrepreneurship. In other words, in American, conservatism should mean not only that some rise with conservative principles, but everybody has a chance to rise regardless of who they are so they can live their God given purpose. That's what conservatism should be. +p372 +aVDavid? +p373 +aVLook, I'm \u2014 I'm not here \u2014 I like Chris. +p374 +aVLet \u2014 but let me \u2014 let me just tell you. First of all, we have the lowest number of state employees in 30 years. Secondly, we have grown government at the rate of inflation. And I went from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. And we've grown jobs by 400,000 \u2014 that's one of the fastest growing states in the country. Our pensions are secure and our credit is rock solid. Now, I've learned that, what makes things work, what gets the economy going, not just in Ohio, but in Washington \u2014 and it's three things. Common sense regulations, which we have, lower taxes, which we have, the lowest taxes, tax cuts in the country. And thirdly, a fiscal plan to balance the budget. When you go from $8 billion in the hole to $2 billion in the black, when you cut taxes by $5 billion and you grow over 400,000 jobs, that is a record that I can take to Washington, using the same formula that I used in Washington when I was part of the effort to balance the budget to give us a surplus and to create jobs. +p375 +aVThat's what I did and I'll do it again in the first 100 days. +p376 +aVWell, right now the deals \u2014 there's no leadership. I mean, a lot of the things that we're talking about here tonight, on the border, and so many of the things. What we should be doing on foreign policy, you know what the problem is, Mary Katharine? There's not a leader that gets somebody to rise up. You have to have a leader that can inspire, and actually some of what Donald was saying is true. Look, do you know how hard it was... +p377 +aV... to get the balance the federal budget balanced? You have to plead with people. To do what we've done in Ohio, you have to plead with people, then you go back down to Washington and do the same thing. You see, we have to remind people we're Americans before we're Republicans and Democrats, and when we wait, and when we delay what we end up doing, Mary Katharine, is we make the United States weaker. In fact, it's a foreign policy issue because people look at America not solving problems and they say what are they doing over there? So the point is you have to work with people. The problem with executive authority for the president, it's really bad news for this reason. Since he's given up on working with Congress, he thinks he can impose anything he wants. He's not a king. He's a president. An executive order should be used frankly in consolidation and with consulting with the leadership in the \u2014 in the Congress. I've done it in Ohio. I consult. I could use executive orders, but I don't trump the legislature, because if you do, you aggravate them, you anger them and then the long-term prospects get bleak. We have to solve problems in America by coming together, Republicans and Democrats, Americans first, party and ideology second \u2014 in the second back seat of this country. That's what we need to do. And we can do it. And we can do it. +p378 +aVMary Katherine, let me just say this to you. You must have an agenda that you are ready to move on in the first 100 days. Jeb is right. If you delay and you wait, the Washington operators will take you down. I can tell you this, in the first 100 days, I will have legislation to freeze federal regulations, have them reviewed by the vice president, reduce state taxes on individuals, reduce taxes on corporations, have a fiscal plan to balance the budget, get the border protected and begin to fix Social Security in the first 100 days. So, anybody who is here tonight, if I get elected president, head out tomorrow and buy a seat belt, because there's going to be so much happening in the first 100 days, it's going to make your head spin. We're going to move America forward. I promise you. We're going to move us forward. +p379 +aVJeb mentioned me. Time for me to go again. +p380 +aVHe says he didn't mention me the second time. I thought I heard it, Jeb. No. I'm just kidding. Thank you all very much for listening and being patient with all of us tonight. Thank you. +p381 +aVDavid, David... +p382 +aVI wanted \u2014 I wanted to say, look, this \u2014 there can be a win-win here. I have formed a collaborative between police and community leaders because people have to respect law enforcement. A family doesn't want dad or mom going home in a box. And for our community leaders, many of them think the system not only works \u2014 not only doesn't work for them, but it works against them. And I created a big collaborative in Ohio made up of law enforcement, community leaders, the head of my public safety and a former Democrat, liberal Senate senator Nina Turner, run it. They got together, they made recommendations on recruiting, on hiring, on the use of deadly force and what we're about to do is to bring community and police together so we can have a win-win. We need more win-wins in America and we don't have to pick one over another divide. We love the police, but we've got to be responsible to the people in the community. We have to do all of that. +p383 +aVJosh? +p384 +aVJosh, I mean, clearly, when a veteran comes home, they should get health care anywhere they want to go. In our state, which is what we should do in the country, you know, if they drive a truck from Kabul to Kandahar in Afghanistan, we say, you can drive a truck from Columbus to Cleveland, and you don't have to go get a license. We're going to hand you one. And if you've got expertise in the military, we're going to give you college credit or community college credit for the things that you did for our country. And in addition to that, I'll tell you, one of the biggest things I think has to be done \u2014 and I would do it as president \u2014 the Pentagon has got to work with the returning soldier, sailor, along with the family, and we \u2014 they're the most valuable employees in the country. I call them golden employees. Everybody wants to hire a veteran. But there is a disconnect between the job openings and the veteran when the veteran comes back. The veteran is a leader. The veteran is strong. The veteran is drug free. There should be no unemployment among veterans. And if the Pentagon will work with the veterans' services agencies all across this country, Josh, we can get people jobs and we can get them jobs quickly, get them their health care......get them their college education. Let's lift them. They're the greatest people defending the United States of America and we need to take care of them, and we will. We will. +p385 +aVCarolina's going to win that one. I hate to say it. But they're going to win that one. +p386 +aVWell, folks, I've done now over 100 town hall meetings and I've loved every second of it. It has been the greatest thing in the world. And I want you to know that you've changed me, because I've listened to your stories and I've had your hugs and I've seen your tears, and I've seen you walk away and say, I now have hope. You know, I've had a conservative message, but a positive message \u2014 not just a conservative message, but a positive message about how we can bring people together, how we can restore America's strength, lift everyone. New Hampshire, please give me a chance to carry this message forward to the United States of America. And then, I will come back. Thank you, loved it. And God bless you. +p387 +aVWell, first of all, I had a national reporter say, you know, there's three lanes. There's the establishment lane, the anti-establishment lane, and then there's the Kasich lane. And the reason is, is that I've been a reformer all of my career, fighting to reform welfare, fighting to reform the Pentagon, also being in a position to balance the budget, because that is very, very hard to do. And then in Ohio, of course, I had to bring about big reform, again, because we were so far in the hole and now we just found out we are up over 400,000 jobs since I took over as governor. You know, the situation is this. We cannot fix things in this country \u2014 the Social Security, the border, balancing the budget, getting wages to grow faster \u2014 unless we lead as conservatives, but we also invite people in from the other party. We have to come together as a country. And we have to stop all the divisions. And, you know, that's been my message in New Hampshire. And having been in New Hampshire and here in Iowa, but in New Hampshire, I just received the support of seven out of eight of the newspapers in that state because they see positive, they see unity, they see coming together, and they see a record of change and a record of accomplishment. And it isn't because I'm all that great. It's because I've been assembling a team of people who want to be involved in something that's a little bigger than themselves. I'll keep \u2014 I'll keep heading in that direction, believe me. +p388 +aVChris... ... there was a question about foreign policy, by the way, and experience. And I \u2014 I thought, if I didn't jump in, I might not be able to tell everybody this. I think they'd want to hear it. Look, I served on... +p389 +aV... but wait a minute... +p390 +aV...the only reason is \u2014 look... +p391 +aVOK. +p392 +aVI've always listened to you, Megyn. Go ahead. +p393 +aVYes \u2014 thank you. +p394 +aVWell, look the Joint Terrorism Task Force needs resources and tools. And those are made up of the FBI, state and local law enforcement. And Megyn, it's best not to talk anymore about back doors and encryption, it will get solved, but it needs to be solved in the situation of the White House with the technology folks. +p395 +aVBut I just have to tell you that it's best with some of these things not be said. Now I want to go back something. See, I was there when Reagan rebuilt the military. I was there in '89 when the wall came tumbling down because we were strong. And I was there when we went into the Gulf War. We didn't win that war just from the air, we won that war by assembling a group of Arab leaders who stood in the Rose Garden and stood with America. We want to destroy +p396 +aVBut we have a unique time in America to connect with people all around the world that understand that there's an existential threat against all of them, the Arabs, the Jordanians, the Saudis, the Egyptians, our friends in Europe, including the Turks. So we have a unique opportunity to bring everybody together. I saw Reagan do it, I've seen other presidents do it. And frankly, if you want to be commander in chief, you have to have the experience. At the same time we're doing all that, the Pentagon must be reformed so we get what we need for our men and women in uniform. All of that together, we're going to be just fine and America is going to continue to lead the world. +p397 +aVWell, you've got to be on top of it right away. And, you know, I don't know all the details of what Rick Snyder has done. I know there have been people who have been fired; people who are being held accountable. But the fact is, every single engine of government has to move when you see a crisis like that. And I've had many situations in the state of Ohio where we've had to move, whether it's storms, whether it was a horrible school shooting. There are many crises that come \u2014 a water crisis in Toledo. You've got to be on top of it. You've got to go the extra mile. You've got to work with local communities and you've got to work with the federal government. Because you realize that people depending on you. And so, you go the extra mile. But people have to be alert. They have to be alert to problems. And when you see a problem, you must act quickly to get on top of it. And people at home are saying they've got a problem, listen to them. Because most of the time, they're absolutely correct. So the fact is that we work for the people. The people don't work for us. And we have to have an attitude when we're in government of serving-hood. That's what really matters. We serve you. You don't serve us. We listen to you and \u2014 and then we act. +p398 +aVNo. You know, Chris, here's what happened with Medicaid in my state. We took the growth of Medicaid from over 10 percent in my second budget to 2.5 percent, without cutting off one person or cutting one benefit, because we \u2014 we innovated the government. And now mom and dad can stay in their own home, rather than being forced into a nursing home. And then we decided we could bring $14 billion of our money \u2014 I mean, Washington doesn't have any money. It was our money, and we brought them back to tend to the mentally ill. Because I don't think they ought to live in prison or live under a bridge; to treat the drug-addicted so they're not in an in-and-out-of-the-door policy out of the prisons; and to help the working poor so they don't live in emergency rooms. How has it worked? Well, we have treated the drug-addicted in our prisons and we released them in to the community, and our recidivism rate is less than 20 percent. That's basically bordering on a miracle because of our great prison director. The mentally ill? They've been stepped on for too long in this society, and we are beginning to treat them. In terms of my faith, look, all I say is that when I study scripture, I know that people who live in the shadows need to have a chance. But I'm not deciding that anybody's got to make these decisions the way that I do, on the basis of what I do. But what \u2014 I will tell you this. The time has come to stop ignoring the mentally ill in this country and begin to treat them and get them on their feet, along with, of course, with treating the drug-addicted. Because we don't want them in and out \u2014 we don't want them in and out of the prisons. Give people a chance. We talked about criminal justice reform. We've enacted it in our state. Look, the conservative message is economic growth and along with economic growth goes opportunity for everybody in America. Everybody ought to have a chance to be able to rise to their God-given purpose. And that is what we have done in Ohio. We're running surpluses. We're up 400,000 jobs. And guess what? The formula is working. I'd suggest people take a look at it. Thank you. +p399 +aVLook, we don't know what's going to happen in ten months. And if I were president of the United States right now, I'd be lining up our allies to say that, if one crossed T or one dotted I does not occur, they are \u2014 violate the agreement, we slap back on sanctions. We can slap on sanctions alone, on day one, but it's not gonna be anywhere near as effective. But the president needs to be laying the groundwork right now for the ability to slap those sanctions back on worldwide. And I'll tell you what I'm worried about \u2014 I'm worried about money. You read about all the companies now that are doing business \u2014 about to do business in Iran, and if we don't get this settled now, with other countries in the world, about sanctions, then Iran could violate that agreement, and we're the only ones putting the sanctions on. We need to move aggressively now. But I would say this to you, Bret. Number one, if they violate it, we need to move against them. And number two, if we find out they're developing a nuclear weapon and we know how to get to it, we're gonna go take it out. That is what we have to do. We cannot let things get farther down the road, like we did with North Korea. +p400 +aVThat's right. Yes. +p401 +aVI know, Bret. +p402 +aVBut Bret, here's the problem. You take a look at the \u2014 at Belgium. I talked to a diplomat from Belgium. I said, "how's it going?" He said, "we have the military in the streets right now. We never dreamt we'd ever see it." See, I think there is an opportunity to bring the world together. The Turks are being threatened. We know about the French. We know about the Belgians. We know about the Brits. Everybody is under fire and under attack, and we have to stand together as an alliance. So actually, the opportunity is there, because of the threat to all of these countries, to bring all of us together... ... and say there is something more important than money. It is the future of the world and the future of our children and grandchildren. That's the kind of leadership this country needs. It has not been in effect during the administration of Barack Obama. And that's only the beginning of the failures that they have committed, not only in the Middle East, but all over the world, including Russia and China. +p403 +aVYou know, one of our biggest national security issues is the world looks at us some time, and we look at each other and say, why can't we solve problems? Well, I've got news for you, we can. We can in fact create jobs and provide job security. We can create a situation where wages begin to rise. We can create a situation for our children to be able to get a decent job to pay down their college debt. We can re-assume our role in the world. But all of this has to come together when we have a positive attitude, an optimistic approach, an ability for us to set the tune as conservatives, to invite other people in to be part of that orchestra. You see, ladies and gentlemen, at the end of the day, I'm an optimist Because I've seen so many things get accomplished in my lifetime. And we can do it again together, all of us, to strengthen this country, work together. Thank you. +p404 +aVLook, it takes three things basically to grow jobs. And I've done it when I was in Washington when we had a balanced budget; had four years of balanced budgets; paid down a half-trillion of debt. And our economy was growing like crazy. It's the same thing that I did in Ohio. It's a simple formula: common sense regulations, which is why I think we should freeze all federal regulations for one year, except for health and safety. It requires tax cuts, because that sends a message to the job creators that things are headed the right way. And if you tax cuts \u2014 if you cut taxes for corporations, and you cut taxes for individuals, you're going to make things move, particularly the corporate tax, which is the highest, of course, in the \u2014 in the world. But in addition to that, we have to have fiscal discipline. We have to show that we can march to a balanced budget. And when you do that, when you're in a position of managing regulations; when you reduce taxes; and when you have fiscal discipline, you see the job creators begin to get very comfortable with the fact that they can invest. Right now, you don't have the \u2014 you have taxes that are too high. You have regulations \u2014 I mean, come on, they're affecting everybody here, particularly our small businesses. They are \u2014 they're in a position where they're smothering people. And I mean, are you kidding me? We're nowhere close to a balanced budget or fiscal discipline. Those three things put together are going to give confidence to job creators and you will begin to see wages rise. You will begin to see jobs created in a robust economy. And how do I know it? Because I've done it. I did it as the chairman of the Budget Committee, working with Senator Domenici. And I've done it in the state of Ohio as the chief executive. Our wages are growing faster than the national average. We're running surpluses. And we can take that message and that formula to Washington to lift every single American to a better life. +p405 +aVWell, if that's the case, we're going to win every state, if Bernie Sanders is the nominee. That's not even an issue. But look......and I know Bernie, and I can promise you he's not going to be president of the United States. So here's this \u2014 the situation, I think, Maria. And this is what we have to \u2014 I \u2014 I've got to tell you, when wages don't rise \u2014 and they haven't for a lot of families for a number of years \u2014 it's very, very difficult for them. Part of the reason why it hasn't risen because sometimes we're not giving people the skills they need. Sometimes it's because the Federal Reserve kept interest rates so low that the wealthy were able to invest in \u2014 in strong assets like the stock market when everybody else was left behind. People are upset about it. I'll tell you what else they're upset about: you're 50 or 51 years old, and some kid walks in and tells you you're out of work, and you don't know where to go and where to turn. Do we have answer for that? We do. There are ways to retrain the 50 and 51-year-olds, because they've got great value. I'll tell you what else people are concerned about. Their kids come out of college, they have high debt and they can't get a good job. We got to do a lot about the high cost of high \u2014 higher education, but we've got to make sure we're training people for jobs that exist, that are good jobs that can pay. Let me tell you that, in this country \u2014 in this country, people are concerned about their economic future. They're very concerned about it. And they wonder whether somebody is getting something to \u2014 keeping them from getting it. That's not the America that I've ever known. My father used to say, "Johnny, we never \u2014 we don't hate the rich. We just want to be the rich." And we just got to make sure that every American has the tools, in K-through-12 and in vocational education, in higher education. And we got to fight like crazy so people can think the American dream still exists, because it does, with rising wages, with full employment and with everybody in America \u2014 and I mean everybody in America \u2014 having an opportunity to realize the American dream of having a better life than their mother and their father. I'm president \u2014 look, I've done it once. I've done it once in Washington, with great jobs and lower taxes. The economy was really booming. And now in Ohio, with the same formula, wages higher than the \u2014 than the national average. A growth of 385,000 jobs. It's not that hard. Just know where you want to go, stick to your guts. Get it done, because our \u2014 our children and grandchildren are counting on us to get it done. And, folks, we will. You count on it. +p406 +aVWell, let me \u2014 let me first of all talk a little bit about my experience. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years, and by the way, one of the members of that committee was Senator Strom Thurmond from South Carolina. Let em also tell you......that after the 9/11 attacks, Secretary Rumsfeld invited me to the Pentagon with a meeting of the former secretaries of Defense. And in that meeting, I suggested we had a problem with technology, and that I wanted to take people from Silicon Valley into the Pentagon to solve our most significant problems. So I not only had the opportunity to go through the Cold War struggles in Central America, and even after 9/11 to be involved. With Saudi Arabia and oil production, first of all, it's so critical for us to be energy independent, and we're getting there because of fracking and we ought to explore because, see, energy independence gives us leverage and flexibility, and secondly, if you want to bring jobs back to the United States of America in industry, low prices make the difference. We're seeing it in my state and we'll see it in this country. And that's why we must make sure we continue to frack. In terms of Saudi Arabia, look, my biggest problem with them is they're funding radical clerics through their madrasses. That is a bad deal and an evil situation, and presidents have looked the other way. And I was going to tell you, whether I'm president or not, we better make it clear to the Saudis that we're going to support you, we're in relation with you just like we were in the first Gulf War, but you've got to knock off the funding and teaching of radical clerics who are the very people who try to destroy us and will turn around and destroy them. So look, in foreign policy \u2014 in foreign policy, it's strength, but you've got to be cool. You've got to have a clear vision of where you want to go. And I'm going to tell you, that it \u2014 I'm going to suggest to you here tonight, that you can't do on the job training. I've seen so much of it \u2013 a Soviet Union, the coming down of a wall, the issues that we saw around the world in Central America, the potential spread of communism, and 9/11 and Gulf War. You see what the Saudi's \u2014 deliver them a strong message but at the end of the day we have to keep our cool because most of the time they're going right with us. And they must be part of our coalition to destroy +p407 +aVI \u2014 I've been for pausing on admitting the Syrian refugees. And the reasons why I've done is I don't believe we have a good process of being able to vet them. But you know, we don't want to put everybody in the same category. And I'll go back to something that had been mentioned just a few minutes ago. If we're going to have a coalition, we're going to have to have a coalition not just of people in the western part of the world, our European allies, but we need the Saudis, we need the Egyptians, we need the Jordanians, we need the Gulf states. We need Jordan. We need all of them to be part of exactly what the first George Bush put together in the first Gulf War. It was a coalition made up of Arabs and Americans and westerners and we're going to need it again. And if we try to put everybody in the same \u2014 call everybody the same thing, we can't do it. And that's just not acceptable. But I think a pause on Syrian refugees has been exactly right for all the governors that have called for it, and also, of course, for me as the governor of Ohio. +p408 +aVNeil, Neil \u2014 can I say one thing about this. I'm a free trader. I support +p409 +aVFor too long \u2014 no, for too long, what happens is somebody dumps their product in our country and take our people's jobs, and then we go to an international court and it takes them like a year or two to figure out whether they were cheating us. And guess what? The worker's out of a job. So when they \u2014 be found against that country that's selling products in here lower than the cost of what it takes to produce them, then what do we tell the worker? Oh, well, you know, it just didn't work out for you. I think we should be for free trade but I think fair trade. And when countries violate trade agreements or dump product in this country, we need \u2014 we need to stand up against those countries that do that without making them into an enemy. And I want to just suggest to you. How do I know this? Because so many people in my family worked in steel mills, and they didn't work with a white collar, they worked in a blue collar. And the fact is those jobs are critical, they're hard working members of the middle class and they need to be paid attention to because they're Americans and they carry the load. So let's demand open trade but fair trade in this country. That's what I think we need to do. +p410 +aVWell, I created a task force well over a year ago and the purpose was to bring law enforcement, community people, clergy and the person that I named as one of the co-chair was a lady by the name of Nina Turner, a former State Senator, a liberal Democrat. She actually ran against one of my friends and our head of public safety. And they say down as a group trying to make sure that we can begin to heal some of these problems that we see between community and police. And they came back with 23 recommendations. One of them is a statewide use of deadly force. And it is now being put into place everyplace across the state of Ohio. Secondly, a policy on recruiting and hiring, and then more resources for \u2014 for training. But let me also tell you, one of the issues has got to be the integration of both community and police. Community has to understand that that police officer wants to get home at night, and not \u2014 not to lose their life. Their family is waiting for them. At the same time, law enforcement understands there are people in the community who not only think that the system doesn't work for them, but works against them. See, in Ohio, we've had some controversial decisions. But the leaders have come forward to realize that protest is fine, but violence is wrong. And it has been a remarkable situation in our state. And as president of the United States, it's all about communication, folks. It's all about getting people to listen to one another's problems. And when you do that, you will be amazed at how much progress you can make, and how much healing we can have. Because, folks, at the end of the day, the country needs healed. I've heard a lot of hot rhetoric here tonight, but I've got to tell you, as somebody that actually passed a budget; that paid down a half-a-trillion dollars of our national debt, you can't do it alone. You've got to bring people together. You've got to give people hope. And together, we can solve these problems that hurt us and heal America. And that is what's so critical for our neighborhoods, our families, our children, and our grandchildren. +p411 +aVYou know, in our country, there are a lot of people who feel as though they just don't have the power. You know, they feel like if they don't have a lobbyist, if they're not wealthy, that somehow they don't get to play. But all of my career, you know, having been raised in \u2014 by a mailman father whose father was a coal miner, who died of black lung and was losing his eyesight; or a mother whose mother could barely speak English. You see, all of my career, I've fought about giving voice to the people that I grew up with and voice to the people that elected me. Whether it's welfare reform and getting something back for the hard-earned taxpayers; whether it's engaging in Pentagon reform and taking on the big contractors that were charging thousands of dollars for hammers and screw drivers and ripping us off; or whether it's taking on the special interests in the nursing home industry in Ohio, so that mom and dad can have the ability to stay in their own home, rather than being forced into a nursing home. Look, that's who I stand up for. That's who's in my mind......And if you really want to believe that you can get your voice back, I will tell you, as I have all my career, I will continue to fight for you, because you're the ones that built this country, and will carry it into the future. Thank you. +p412 +aVThank you, Wolf. Just last weekend, just last week, a friend asked one of my daughters, "Do you like politics?" And my daughter said, "No, I don't. And the reason I don't like it is because there's too much fighting, too much yelling. It's so loud, I don't like it." You know, I turned to my friend and I said, "You know, she's really on to something." And when we think about our country and the big issues that we face in this country; creating jobs, making sure people can keep their jobs, the need for rising wages, whether our children when they graduate from college can find a job, protecting the homeland, destroying +p413 +aVWell, first of all, Wolf, I said last February that we needed to have people on the ground, troops on the ground in a coalition similar to what we had in the first Gulf War. I remember when the Egyptian ambassador to the United States stood in the Rose Garden and pledged Arab commitment to removing Saddam Hussein from Kuwait. Before we came out here tonight, I am told that the Saudis have organized 34 countries who want to join in the battle against terrorism. First and foremost, we need to go and destroy +p414 +aVNo, I don't think it is. And I want to go back to two other issues. One is the metadata. We know we have to hold this data for a longer period of time. And, you know, in a lot of ways, Chris is right. Look, what a president has to do is take a position. We don't want to err on the side of having less. We want to err on the side of having more. That's good for our families. In addition to that, Wolf, there is a big problem. It's called encryption. And the people in San Bernardino were communicating with people who the FBI had been watching. But because their phone was encrypted, because the intelligence officials could not see who they were talking to, it was lost. We have to solve the encryption problem. It is not easy. A president of the United States, again, has to bring people together, have a position. We need to be able to penetrate these people when they are involved in these plots and these plans. And we have to give the local authorities the ability to penetrate to disrupt. That's what we need to do. Encryption is a major problem, and Congress has got to deal with this and so does the president to keep us safe. +p415 +aVYeah, let me \u2014 let me just suggest to everybody, and I hear \u2014 last February, I said we needed to have people on the ground in a coalition with Europe and our allies. This is not going to get done just by working with the Sunnis. And it is not going to get done if we just embed a few people. We have to go massively, like we did in the first Gulf War where we destroyed Saddam's ability to take Kuwait. We need to have a coalition that will stand for nothing less than the total destruction of +p416 +aVI don't understand this thing about Assad. He has to go. Assad is aligned with Iran and Russia. The one thing we want to prevent is we want to prevent Iran being able to extend a Shia crescent all across the Middle East. Assad has got to go. And there are moderates there. There are moderates in Syria who we should be supporting. I do not support a civil war. I don't want to be policeman of the world. But we can't back off of this. And let me tell you, at the end, the Saudis have agreed to put together a coalition inside of Syria to stabilize that country. +p417 +aVHe must go. It will be a blow to Iran and Russia. +p418 +aVThe foreign policy, you have to know how to pick and choose. There's no way, if Saddam had not had weapons of mass destruction, I would have gone, because I don't believe that the U.S. should be involved directly in civil wars. I opposed the U.S. involvement in Lebanon. We ended up having to withdraw our marines after our barracks were blown up. There is a difference between Iraq, where you have Sunni, Shia, and Kurds put together after the First World War by the Western powers. It doesn't work. It needs to break up into three parts. And for the Russians, frankly, it's time that we punched the Russians in the nose. They've gotten away with too much in this world and we need to stand up against them, not just there, but also in Eastern Europe where they threaten some of our most precious allies. +p419 +aVIt sounds more and more what my daughter said that I said in the beginning, all the fighting and arguing is not advancing us. +p420 +aVIt is not the way we're going to strengthen our country. We will strengthen our country when we come together. And, look, you've got Rand Paul, you've got Ted Cruz, you've got Marco, you've got a lot of people on this stage that have studied these issues. You know what a leader does? A leader has a sound program, has a good policy, and then brings people together to solve problems. Guess what? Both in Congress in balancing the budget and in Ohio fixing the economy \u2014 and, by the way, we talk about the fence. The first thing we better get going is strengthening our economy, because if we don't have a strong economy, we can't pay for all of this. And the world wants us to be able to function from strength, believe it or not. Get our economy going, get these people together in a room. We can fix this, ladies and gentlemen. We don't have to fight all the time. It can be done, and we will be great... +p421 +aV... when we join together. Thank you, Hugh. +p422 +aVYou know, obviously, as president of the United States, we've got to keep the people safe. That's first and foremost. But as governor of Ohio, I have an obligation to keep the 11.5 million people in Ohio safe. And we have been very effective with our Joint Terrorism Task Force, being able to make busts. In fact, we just made one three-four weeks ago against a person who was favorable to +p423 +aVNo Republican has ever been elected president of the United States without winning Ohio. Let me give you a little tip on how you win Ohio, it's reform, it's hope, it's growth, it's opportunity, and it's security. The people of Ohio are the people of America. The people of America are reflected in Ohio. Our message has to be big, and bold, and positive, and connect, not just with people's heads but also connect with their hearts. If we do it, we will beat Hillary Clinton, and we will run the White House, and we will strengthen and fix America, I promise you. +p424 +aVFirst of all, let me just say that, in the state of Ohio \u2014 and I'm the only acting executive on \u2014 on this stage today \u2014 we do have a moderate increase in the minimum wage. And I got to tell you, my father carried mail on his back. His father was a coal miner. He died of black lung. He was losing his eyesight. My mother's mother lived with us. She could barely speak English. I come from a town where if the wind blew the wrong way, people found themselves out of work. An economic theory is fine, but you know what? People need help. Now, I have a plan that, in fact, would cut taxes, but not $11 trillion or $12 trillion that would put my children further in debt. I have a plan that would not only cut taxes, lower the income tax rate for individuals, lower the tax for businesses so businesses will compete here and not move operations overseas, and also a plan \u2014 the only plan of anybody standing on this stage to get us to a balanced budget by the end of a second term. And, you know, the simple fact of the matter is, we hear a lot of promises in this debate, a lot of promises about these tax cuts or tax schemes sometimes that I call them. Hillary and the Democrats promise everything on the spending side. We've got to be responsible about what we propose on the tax side. Yes, lower taxes, lower spending. My website, JohnKasich.com, will show you exactly how we balance the budget. I balanced the budget in Washington as a chief architect, and I have balanced it in Ohio for one reason. When you balance the budget and you cut taxes, people get work. And our most important moral purpose as leaders in the political system is to make sure we create an environment for job creation so people can live their dreams and realize their God-given potential. That's why it's so important. And for those at the bottom, we've got to do what we can to train them so they can move up. But to just look the other way is not acceptable, because, you know what, as the governor of Ohio I have to deal with real challenges, and we've gotten it done in our state, and I will do it for America. +p425 +aVSure. We would move the Medicare system from a 7 percent growth down to about a 5 percent growth. And I have a whole series of ways to do that. In Ohio, we reduced Medicaid funding for the poor from 10 percent to 2.5 percent, didn't cut one benefit or didn't take anybody off the rolls. Why? Because we're innovators. I've been an innovator my entire career. And I really don't care what special interests or lobbyists have to say. I have a job to do when I take over a public office. Now, we freeze non-defense discretionary for eight years. We also put an increase in defense spending. Our tax cuts balance out. And at the end of the day, we will get to a balanced budget. And I want everybody here to know, when I was Budget Committee chairman in Washington, I stepped on every toe in that town, and we got to a balanced budget, and we had enormous job growth. And as governor of Ohio, we went from 350,000 lost jobs to a gain of 347,000 jobs. +p426 +aVI'll do it in Washington. I've done it twice; I'll do it thrice for the United States of America. +p427 +aVExcuse me. +p428 +aVYeah, I would like to make a comment. +p429 +aVI appreciate it, Jeb. I'm all of you. But I want at some point to talk about a value-added tax and $11 trillion, $12 trillion tax cuts that will put our kids way deeper in the hole than they have been at this point. So I would like to talk about it at some point, because that's what leadership is. +p430 +aVMaria, can we comment on that? +p431 +aVCan we comment on that? +p432 +aVWell, look, in 1986 Ronald Reagan basically said the people who were here, if they were law-abiding, could stay. But, what didn't happen is we didn't build the walls effectively and we didn't control the border. We need to. We need to control our border just like people have to control who goes in and out of their house. But if people think that we are going to ship 11 million people who are law-abiding, who are in this country, and somehow pick them up at their house and ship them out of Mexico \u2014 to Mexico, think about the families. Think about the children. So, you know what the answer really is? If they have been law- abiding, they pay a penalty. They get to stay. We protect the wall. Anybody else comes over, they go back. But for the 11 million people, come on, folks. We all know you can't pick them up and ship them across, back across the border. It's a silly argument. It is not an adult argument. It makes no sense. +p433 +aVJerry, Gerald, it was an attack. +p434 +aVIn the state of Ohio, the state of Ohio, we have grown 347,000 jobs. Our unemployment is half of what it was. Our fracking industry, energy industry may have contributed 20,000, but if Mr. Trump understood that the real jobs come in the downstream, not in the upstream, but in the downstream. And that's where we're going to get our jobs. But Ohio is diversified. And little false little things, sir, they don't really work when it comes to the truth. So the fact is, all I'm suggesting, we can't ship 11 million people out of this country. Children would be terrified, and it will not work. +p435 +aV...Mr. Baker, everybody got to talk about taxes... +p436 +aV...I think you were coming to me and then... +p437 +aV...Look, I hate to crash the party to you, Mr. Baker, but, you know, what's fair... +p438 +aV...Yes, sir... +p439 +aVLet me tell you this, Mr. Baker, in terms of the cyber attacks, we have the capability to not only have a defensive posture, but it also to make it clear to people that if you attack us with cyber attacks, we will destroy the mechanisms that you are using to attack us. I want to give you a little trip around the world. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years. In the Ukraine, arm the people there so they can fight for themselves. In the eastern part of Europe, make sure that Finland and the Baltics know that if the Russians move, we move. In Syria, yes, a no-fly zone in the north on the Turkish border, a no-fly zone on the south on the Jordanian border. Anybody flies in the first time, maybe they can fly out. They fly in there a second time, they will not fly out. And it also becomes a sanctuary for the people to be. And it also sends many messages in the Middle East that we're still involved. Saudi Arabia, cut off the funding for the radical clerics, the ones that preach against us. But they're fundamentally our friends. Jordan, we want the king to reign for 1,000 years. Egypt, they have been our ally and a moderating force in the Middle East throughout their history. In the groups \u2014 in the countries of the Gulf states of Bahrain, the Cleveland Clinic is opening an operation. Clearly we see the same with them. And in Israel, we have no better ally in the world, and no more criticizing them in public, we should support them. And finally China, China doesn't own the South China Sea, and I give the president some credit for being able to move a naval force in there to let the Chinese know that we're not going to put up with it any more. And in the trade agreement, the TPP, it's critical to us, not only for economic reasons and for jobs, because there are so many people who are connected to getting jobs because of trade, but it allows us to create not only economy alliances, but also potentially strategic alliances against the Chinese. They are not our enemy, but they are certainly not our friend. And finally, I will say to everyone in this room, we have been talking about taxes and economics. When the fall comes, and we run against Hillary, which will be a disaster if she got elected. I have two 16-year-old girls, and I want this country to be strong. We make promises we can't keep under the bright light of the fall, we will have trouble. We must make sure that economic programs and our military programs are solid. I served in Washington as the chairman of the Budget Committee, and we got the budget balanced. And in Ohio, as the CEO, and guess what, we have got to have a CEO mentality and a way to beat Hillary Clinton and the Democracies in the fall. And our ideas have to add up. They have to be solid. And people have to know we have the confidence to lead America. And as president, I will lead this country, as I have before in Washington and in Ohio, and will return both on domestic and international affairs. And I appreciate the opportunity to speak this time, Gerry. +p440 +aVLet me \u2014 let me also say, Gary \u2014 Gary, let me also say, Jeb is \u2014 what Jeb is talking about with the big banks is to force them to reserve their capital, people who invest it and they hold their capital, so that if the bank goes down, the people who are invested in the bank are the ones that pay. That's what he's trying to say. Secondly, I'll tell you about Wall Street: There's too much greed. And the fact is, a free enterprise system is a system that's produced the greatest wealth for the world. But you know Michael Novak, the great Catholic theologian, says that a free enterprise system that is not underlaid with values \u2014 and we should all think about the way we conduct our lives \u2014 yes, free enterprise is great, profits are great, but there have to be some values that underlay it, and they need a good ethics lesson on Wall Street on a regular basis to keep them in check so we, the people, do not lose. +p441 +aVNeil, that's the difference of being an executive. And let me just explain: when a bank is ready to go under and depositors are getting ready to lose their life savings, you just don't say we believe in philosophical concerns. You know what an executive has to decide? When there's a water crisis, how do we get water to the city? When there's a school shooting, how do you get there and help heal a community? When there are financial crisis, or a crisis with ebola, you got to go there and try to fix it. Philosophy doesn't work when you run something. And I gotta tell you, on-the-job training for president of the United States doesn't work. We've done it for 8 years, \u2014 and almost 8 years now. It does not work. We need an executive who's been tried, has been tested, and judge the decisions that that executive makes. I don't like what the Fed is doing, but I'll tell you what worries me more than anything else: turning the Fed over to the Congress of the United States... +p442 +aV...so they can print the money. That would be a very bad approach. +p443 +aVI wouldn't. I wouldn't. +p444 +aVNo. No, I didn't say that. +p445 +aVThey were \u2014 they were talking about what you would do with depositors. Would you let these banks shut down? My argument is, going forward, the banks have to reserve the capital, so that the \u2014 so that the people who own the capital start pressuring the banks to not take these risky approaches, Ted. But at the end of the day... +p446 +aV... I'm gonna tell you this. Let me tell you this. If during \u2014 if during... +p447 +aV...because if during \u2014 well, I'll tell you what (ph). +p448 +aVAs an executive \u2014 no. As an executive, I would figure out how to separate those people who can afford it versus those people, or the hard-working folks who put those money in those institutions...... let me \u2014 no, no. Let me say another thing. Here's what I mean by that. Here's what I mean by that. +p449 +aVWhen you are faced \u2014 when you are faced, in the last financial crisis, with banks going under \u2014 with banks going under, and people, people who put their \u2014 their life savings in there, you got to deal with it. You can't turn a blind eye to it. Now, going forward, that's one thing. If you had another financial crisis, perhaps there would be an effort to make sure that we do (ph). +p450 +aVWell, ladies and gentlemen, if Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders were to win this election, my 16-year-olds, I \u2014 I worry about what their life is going to be like. You know, the conservative movement is all about opportunity. It is about lower taxes. It's about balanced budgets. It's about less regulation. And it's about sending power, money and influence back to where we live so we can run America from the bottom up. In addition to that, once we have the power and the money and the influence with programs we shift out, that each of us have a responsibility to reach out and to rebuild our families, make them stronger, and connect our neighborhoods. All that together \u2014 wealth, connection, family \u2014 America's greatest days are ahead. We must win this election. +p451 +aVGood question, but I want to tell you, my great concern is that we are on the verge, perhaps, of picking someone who cannot do this job. I've watched to see people say that we should dismantle Medicare and Medicaid and leave the senior citizens out \u2014 out in the \u2014 in the cold. I've heard them talk about deporting 10 or 11 \u2014 people here from this country out of this country, splitting families. I've heard about tax schemes that don't add up, that put our kids in \u2014 in a deeper hole than they are today. We need somebody who can lead. We need somebody who can balance budgets, cut taxes... +p452 +aVYou know, frankly, I did it in Washington, in Ohio, and I will do it again in Washington, if I'm president, to get this country moving again. +p453 +aVcountry moving again. +p454 +aVListen, I want to just comment. +p455 +aVWell I want to comment on this. This is the fantasy... +p456 +aVThis is the fantasy that I talked about in the beginning. +p457 +aVI'm the only person on this stage that actually was involved in the chief architect of balancing the Federal Budget. You can't do it with empty promised. You know, these plans would put us trillions and trillions of dollars in debt. I actually have a plan. I'm the only one on this stage that has a plan that would create jobs, cut taxes, balance the budget and can get it done because I'm realistic. You just don't make promises like this. Why don't we just give a chicken in every pot, while we're, you know, coming up \u2014 coming up with these fantasy tax schemes. We'll just clean it up. Where are you gonna clean it up? You have to deal with entitlements, you have to be in a position to control discretionary spending. You gotta be creative and imaginative. Now, let me just be clear, John. I went into Ohio where we had an $8 billion hole and now we have a $2 billion surplus. We're up 347,000 jobs. When I was in Washington, I fought to get the budget balanced. I was the architect. It was the first time we did it since man walked on the moon. We cut taxes and we had a $5 trillion projected surplus when I left. That's was hard work. Fiscal discipline, know what you're doing. Creativity. This stuff is fantasy. Just like getting rid of Medicare and Medicaid. Come on, that's just not \u2014 you scare senior citizens with that. It's not responsible. +p458 +aVWell, I mean right here. To talk about we're just gonna have a 10 percent tithe and that's how we're gonna fund the government? And we're going to just fix everything with waste, fraud, and abuse? Or that we're just going to be great? Or we're going to ship 10 million Americans \u2014 or 10 million people out of this country, leaving their children here in this country and dividing families? Folks, we've got to wake up. We cannot elect somebody that doesn't know how to do the job. You have got to pick somebody who has experience, somebody that has the know-how, the discipline. And I spent my entire lifetime balancing federal budgets, growing jobs, the same in Ohio. And I will go back to Washington with my plan. +p459 +aVAnd I will have done it within 100 days, and it will pass. And we will be strong again. Thank you. +p460 +aVLet me just \u2014 let me respond. First of all, Ohio does have an energy industry, but we're diversified. We're one of the fastest growing states in the country. We came back from the dead. And you know what? It works very, very well. And secondly, when you talk about me being on the board of Lehman Brothers, I wasn't on the board of Lehman Brothers. I was a banker and I was proud of it. And I traveled the country and learned how people made jobs. We ought to have politicians who not only have government experience but know how the CEOs and the job creators work. My state is doing great across the board. And guess what, in 2011, I got a deal... +p461 +aV... an agreement with the... +p462 +aV... that he tried to take credit for four years later. It's a joke. +p463 +aVJohn Harwood, there's a bigger issue here. +p464 +aVWell, first of all, when we talk about the Import Export Bank, it's time to clean up corporate welfare. If we're gonna reform welfare for poor people, we ought to reform it for rich people, as well. Secondly, in our state, we went from a loss of 350,000 jobs to, now, a gain of 347,000 jobs to the positive. Our wages are growing faster than the national average, and I've cut taxes more than any sitting governor in this state \u2014 $5 billion, including no taxes on small business and killing the death tax. I want to go back to what we were talking about earlier, this budget deal in Washington. This is the same old stuff since I left. You spend the money today and then you hope you're going to save money tomorrow. I don't know if people understand, but I spent a lifetime with my colleagues getting us to a federal balanced budget. We actually did it. And I have a road map and a plan right now to get us to balance. Reforming entitlements, cutting taxes. You see, because if you really want to get to a balanced budget, you need to reduce your expenses and you need to grow your economy. So what I will tell you about our incentives \u2014 our incentives are tight, and at the end of the day we make sure that we gain more from the creation of jobs than what we lose. And you know what? Ohio, one of the best growing places in the country \u2014 I not only did it in Washington, I did it in Ohio, and I'll go back to Washington, and there will be no more silly deals... +p465 +aV... If I become President because we'll have a Constitutional Amendment to require a federally balanced budget so they will do their job. +p466 +aVWell, first of all, we're running a $2 billion dollar surplus, we're not having a revenue problem right now. And, sending mixed signals to kids about drugs is a disaster. Drugs is one of the greatest scourge in this country, and I spent five years of my administration working with my team to do a whole sort of things to try to reign in the problem of overdoses, and it goes on and on. We could do a whole show on that. I want to go back for a second thought on this issue of income inequality. My program would move the 104 programs of the federal Department of Education into four block grants, and send them back to the states because income inequality is driven by a lack of skills when kids don't get what they need to be able to compete and win in this country. The fact is, in order to get this economy moving again, I call for freezing regulations for a year except for the problem of public safety. I believe that we need to cut these taxes down, we need to be on a roadmap to balancing the budget, and we need to send power, money, and influence, the welfare department, the education department, job training, infrastructure, Medicaid, all of that out of Washington back to the states so we can run these programs from where we live to the top, not a one size fits all mentality that they have in Washington. And, that will get to the nub of opportunity for our children, and an ability to see wages rise. Again... +p467 +aV...One more time, in Ohio, our wages are growing faster than the national average. We've cut taxes, balanced budgets, changed the regulatory environment. Folks, you want to \u2014 +p468 +aV\u2014 fix America, this is the formula. It worked for Reagan and it works for our team in Ohio. Thank you. +p469 +aVJohn. +p470 +aVI wanna tell you, in my state, we took Medicaid, the hardest program to control, and we took it from a 10 percent growth rate to 2.5 percent without taking one person off the rolls or cutting one single benefit. And so much of what we did \u2014 to force competition, to use technology, to stand down the special interest groups \u2014 can you imagine taking Medicaid from 10 to 2.5 percent? We can take many of those same procedures, we can apply it to Medicare. We can make a stronger program. But I agree with Jeb, you can't just do this by growing the economy. You can't grow your way out of demographics. But we can give people better health care. And finally, on health care, why don't we start treating \u2014 keep giving... +p471 +aV...incentives for people to keep people healthy, rather than giving the incentives to treat them when they're sick? +p472 +aVI was on morning Joe at a town hall and a young student stood up and said, "Can I still be idealistic?" I said, absolutely, you can still change the world. And, you know the old inscription, if you save one life, you've changed the world. Folks, we have a problem here with the leadership in Washington, but I'll tell you another problem. We need to rebuild our families. We need to have stronger families. We need to know who our neighbors are. We need to come together as a country because we have to realize that America is great, not from the top-down. Oh yeah, we want to elect a good president, but America is great from the bottom-up, and the bottom-up is us in our families, in our communities, in our neighborhoods. We will renew America if we work together, and I am totally confident that we will. And God bless America. +p473 +asVKELLY +p474 +(lp475 +VTonight, we are coming to you live from the Iowa Event Center in downtown Des Moines, in the shadow of the Iowa state capitol. In just four days, people here in the Hawkeye State will caucus and cast the first votes of the 2016 election. +p476 +aVSeven candidates are on that stage tonight, their position on the stage determined by their standing in the latest national polls, as well as polls in Iowa and New Hampshire. And here they are. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Florida Senator Marco Rubio. +p477 +aVWow. +p478 +aVSo let's get started. Senator Cruz, before we get to the issues, let's address the elephant not in the room tonight. Donald Trump has chosen not to attend this evening's presidential debate. What message do you think that sends to the voters of Iowa? +p479 +aVThe divide between you and Mr. Trump has turned into one of the biggest stories in the country. And for six months that \u2014 your campaign, during this campaign, you praised Mr. Trump as somebody who you thought was an effective voice against the Washington cartel. You said you were glad that he was running as a Republican. But when he started to criticize you, your message changed, and you suddenly started to portray him as the voice of the Washington cartel, and suggested he would do the Democrats' bidding. Which is it? +p480 +aVSenator Christie, you began this campaign touting your record as a Republican from a blue state who knows how to get things done and reach across the aisle. However, many Republicans feel that reaching across the aisle and getting things done isn't great if you get the wrong things done. And they prefer to stand on principle rather than compromise. Why are they wrong and you're right? +p481 +aVBut first, you can join tonight's conversation right from home. Go to google.com or open your Google search app and search Fox News debate to vote on which candidate you think has the best plan to defeat +p482 +aVWe have a lot \u2014 we have a lot to cover. But we want to \u2014 we want to turn the page to domestic... +p483 +aVNo, no. No. +p484 +aVNo no no, because we want to turn the page to domestic terror, and let me tell you why: we're partnering with Google on this debate, and they're telling us... +p485 +aV... that their search results have gone through the roof on \u2014 on people... +p486 +aV... you're a good man, Governor Kasich. +p487 +aVPeople \u2014 the search results \u2014 the searches for terror issues, for safety issues in America have gone through the roof, increased over 400 percent since 2008. People are worried. They're worried about what's happening in the country and about a domestic terror attack, as all of you know. Now, when combating this threat, Senator Rubio, you've advocated closing down mosques \u2014 we'll get back to you. Well, you have advocated closing down \u2014 closing down mosques, diners, any place where radicalization is occurring. You told me that. But the Supreme Court has made clear that hateful speech is generally protected by the First Amendment. In other words, radical Muslims have the right to be radical Muslims, unless they turn to terror. Doesn't your position run afoul of the First Amendment? +p488 +aVSenator Paul, do you agree with that? We're gonna close down mosques, we're gonna close down diners where we think radical thinking's occurring? +p489 +aVGovernor Christie, let's talk about profiling. In December... +p490 +aV... profiling. Profiling. In December, two radical Muslims killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California. Neighbors of the terrorists said that they did not report the couple to law enforcement prior to the crime, because they were afraid that they would be accused of profiling. Now, you have said that we should not profile. How do you square that with the San Bernardino case? +p491 +aVThey didn't know they were going to attack the country. +p492 +aVThat's not true. The neighbors said they saw men going in and out of the garage. They saw packages being delivered. They saw Muslims, and they did not think that was enough to call the cops. Do you? +p493 +aVDr. Carson, this week a female Muslim who served in the U.S. Air Force asked Hillary Clinton the question, she asked whether the United States is still the best place in which to raise her three Muslim children. Given what she perceives as a rise in Islamaphobia in this country. Do you think the GOP messaging on Muslims has stoked the flames of bias on this as the Democrats suggest, and how would you answer this veteran? +p494 +aVGovernor Kasich, stand back. You appear to back in another debate, a so-called back door to encrypted cell phone technology, which protects most smartphones that we all have from hacking. And it includes our phones and it also protects the cell phones of the terrorist. Now the tech companies and a group of MIT scientists, smart guys, right, warn that if they create a way for the FBI to have a back door into our encrypted communications, then the bad guys will exploit it too. And they say that this is going to cause more security problems than it would solve for everyday Americans. Are they wrong? +p495 +aVBut this is public testimony. +p496 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p497 +aVWelcome back, everybody. We are live in Des Moines, Iowa. And let's get right back to the questions \u2014 Bret. +p498 +aVAll right. We're going to move on. Because coming up, immigration, and something you've never seen before. Stay tuned, right after this break. +p499 +aVWelcome back everyone. Live, in Des Moines, Iowa. Now, we move onto the topic of immigration. Senator Rubio, we'll start with you. When you ran for Senate in 2010, you made clear that you opposed legalization and citizenship for illegal immigrants. You promised repeatedly that you would oppose it as a U.S. Senator as well. Here are just a few examples. Watch. +p500 +aVWithin two years of getting elected you were co-sponsoring legislation to create a path to citizenship, in your words, amnesty. Haven't you already proven that you cannot be trusted on this issue? +p501 +aV... But, you went on from there... +p502 +aV... You said more than that, Senator... +p503 +aV... You said earned path to citizenship is basically code for amnesty. You... +p504 +aV... supported earned path to citizenship... +p505 +aVGovernor Bush, do you agree Senator Rubio has not reversed himself on his immigration promise? +p506 +aVGo ahead, senator. +p507 +aVAll right. +p508 +aVAll right. This will be the last one. +p509 +aVOK. Let's move on. Senator Cruz, when Senator Rubio proposed that bill creating a path to citizenship, you proposed an amendment. It would have allowed for legalization but not citizenship. Yes, it would. Pressed last month on why you supported legalization, you claimed that you didn't. Right? Like you just did. Saw that. You argued that this was just a poison pill amendment, basically it's something designed to kill the bill and not actually get it through. But that is not, however, how it sounded at the time. Watch. +p510 +aVWas that all an act? It was pretty convincing. +p511 +aVBut the bill allowed both. The bill you were amending allowed citizenship and legalization. +p512 +aVOK, sir. +p513 +aVSenator Paul. You know how Washington works. Do you buy that? +p514 +aVGo ahead, sir. +p515 +aVSenator Rubio, even Chuck Schumer, your co-sponsor of that bill... +p516 +aV... agrees with Ted Cruz on this. +p517 +aVGo ahead, Senator Cruz. +p518 +aVAll right. +p519 +aVGo ahead, Governor Christie. +p520 +aVLet's go to a Youtube question. Let's get to a Youtube question. This is a question from a Youtube creator with over 2 million subscribers. Watch. +p521 +aVDr. Carson, that's one \u2014 that one's for you. +p522 +aVGo ahead. +p523 +aVAll right. +p524 +aVAll right. We're moving on. +p525 +aVGovernor bush, poll after poll shows you running among the worst in your party against Hillary Clinton. Even Mitt Romney said that a Bush v. Clinton head-to-head would be too easy for the Democrats. Yet still you and the super PACs supporting you continue to blanket the airwaves with cutting ads, not against Mrs. Clinton, but against your fellow Republicans, especially Senator Rubio. Do these attacks do more harm than good by targeting those candidates who appear to have the best chance of defeating Mrs. Clinton? +p526 +aVWelcome back, everybody. Let's get back to the questions. Chris? +p527 +aVSenator Paul, you have suggested that former President Bill Clinton's history with women is fair game in this campaign. How do you answer those who say you don't hold the sins of the husband against the wife? +p528 +aVOf her husband's? +p529 +aVWelcome back, everybody. And now, it is time for closing statements. The candidates each get 30 seconds. And we begin with Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. +p530 +aVOhio Governor Kasich. +p531 +aVFormer Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Governor. +p532 +aVTexas Senator, Ted Cruz. Senator. +p533 +aVGentlemen, thank you all so much for being here tonight. We appreciate it greatly. And that does it for the seventh Republican primary debate of the 2016 presidential race. But we're not done. The Kelly file starts in a moment and guess who is going to be there? Senator Ted Cruz. +p534 +asVREGAN +p535 +(lp536 +VIn Tuesday's State of the Union Address, the president said that our economy is strong. He cited the significant decline we've seen in unemployment rate and the millions of jobs that have been created. What is your assessment of the economy right now? And I would like to hear from all of you on this one, beginning with Ms. Fiorina. +p537 +aVThank you Governor Huckabee. Senator Santorum? +p538 +aVThank you. Well, since we've been talking about the Middle East, Senator Santorum, conflicts between Saudi Arabia and Iran have certainly escalated, amid accusations that Saudi Arabia bombed the Iranian Embassy in Yemen after the Saudi Embassy in Tehran was attacked. As we confront an increasingly unstable Middle East, how will you, as president, navigate this administration's promises to Iran while standing by our historic allies in the region? +p539 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p540 +aVGovernor Huckabee, if I could just follow-up with that. Do we need to be in Afghanistan? +p541 +aVThank you Governor Huckabee. Ms. Fiorina, nearly 600 women say they were attacked in a German city on New Year's Eve by men of Arab or North African descent and 45 percent of those alleged attacks were sexual assaults. Twenty-two of those 32 men arrested so far are asylum-seekers. Are you worried about similar problems in the United States? +p542 +aVI want to stay with you on this. The world shares a common enemy right now in the way of +p543 +aVMs. Fiorina, thank you. +p544 +aVWelcome back, everyone, to the Republican presidential debate. On to the next round of questions \u2014 Sandra. +p545 +aVMs. Fiorina, the president has just issued an executive order to expand the gun laws and background checks. And none of you on stage agree with this. But recent polls show the majority of Americans are in favor of universal background checks. +p546 +aVIt's the poll data. +p547 +aVSo tell me......why, in your view, is the president's proposal a problem? +p548 +aVMs. Fiorina, you've said that was when you were CEO of HP, you actually worked with the government. +p549 +aV\u2014 to try and combat some of these terrorist threats. +p550 +aVWhat did you do? +p551 +aVMs. Fiorina, thank you. +p552 +aVGovernor Huckabee, an American in San Bernardino murdered 14 people while terrorists with Belgian and French passports murdered 130 people. Were facing a threat within our borders, and from outside the United States. Those European terrorists, they could have come here at any time given that we have a visa waiver program that enables people to travel back and forth. It exists within those countries, and 36 others. In countries around the world, including many in Europe, cannot ensure that their citizens are not jihadists, why are we waiving the visa requirement at all? +p553 +aVIf you get the visa waiver program, does that shut down international commerce? +p554 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p555 +aVSenator Santorum, thank you. +p556 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p557 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from North Charleston. We want to jump right back in. Sandra is kicking it off. +p558 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you know it used to be you could graduate from high school and get a pretty good job at the local factory, enough to take care of your family and yourself. Those days seem to be gone. It's pretty hard to do that nowadays. Businesses are increasingly turning to automation to increase their productivity levels. It's happening right here, in fact, at the Boeing factory in North Charleston. The president says automation threatens workers' ability to get higher wages. Do you agree with that? And if so, do you have a solution? +p559 +aVThank you very much, Governor Huckabee. Senator Santorum, 40% of babies born today are born to single moms. That's twice as high as reported back in 1980, and it's 11 times as high as in 1940. Studies show that children are always better off economically, most often \u2014 and emotionally, with two parents in a household. From a policy perspective, should the government be doing anything to encourage family formation? +p560 +aVThank you. +p561 +aVCarly Fiorina? +p562 +aVThank you to all the candidates. That does it, everyone for the first debate right here in North Charleston. +p563 +asVBAIER +p564 +(lp565 +VNine p.m. on the East Coast. Eight o'clock here in Des Moines, Iowa. Welcome to the seventh Republican presidential debate of the 2016 campaign. I'm Bret Baier, along with my comoderators Megyn Kelly and Chris Wallace. +p566 +aVGoogle sees political searches spike during televised presidential debates \u2014 no surprise there. But they spike by more than 440 percent on average, as voters across America seek to learn more about what's happening on the live debate stage. +p567 +aVOhio Governor John Kasich. And Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. +p568 +aVTonight's rules are simple. Up to 60 seconds for each answer, 30 seconds for each follow-up response. And if a candidate goes over the allotted time, you will hear this. Double. +p569 +aVI think the double is the one we want. Very pleasing. We have a crowd of about 1,600 here, and while they have agreed to respect the candidates and listen intently, we can tell you they are very excited to be here. Am I right? +p570 +aVGovernor Bush, it's hard for anyone of your pedigree to avoid being called establishment. But isn't that part of the problem in this race, that three others on this stage are splitting the main stream Republican vote and there by possibly handing this nomination over to an anti-establishment candidate? +p571 +aVThank you governor. +p572 +aVSenator Paul, you are definitely not in the establishment category. But at the beginning of this campaign, you said you were your own man when asked about your father, former Texas Congressman and three-time presidential candidate Ron Paul. Senator Cruz's campaign is out with a video saying that Cruz is the intellectual and political heir to your father's 2012 campaign and the liberty movement. And your father now says it's realistic that Donald Trump will be your party's nominee. So did you make a mistake by not fully \u2014 more fully embracing your father politically at the beginning of this campaign? +p573 +aVSenator Cruz, your response to that? +p574 +aVSenator Rubio? +p575 +aVThank you, Senator. +p576 +aVWe'll come back to... +p577 +aVOK. Go ahead, go ahead. +p578 +aVWelcome back. Let's get right back to the questions. Chris. +p579 +aVGovernor Bush, just today, a wounded warrior organization designed to help wounded veterans and their families is coming under fire for raising tens of millions of dollars, but spending almost half of that on travel and hotels and dinners and luxury, lavish conferences. So taking care of veterans is obviously a huge issue in the country that has asked so many to serve and sacrifice so much. If you were president. would you police these charity organizations that say they're helping vets? +p580 +aVGovernor Bush, thank you. Speaking of veterans, we have a question from a veteran who is one of the top Youtube creators. Over the course of the evening, gentlemen, we will hear from some of Youtube's most followed stars. And here's one of them. +p581 +aVSenator Paul, that question to you. +p582 +aVSenator Paul, thank you. +p583 +aVThank you, Megyn. Gentlemen, I'll ask you some questions about federal spending and the role of the federal government. Everybody always said they want to cut federal spending and usually they start by saying they'll cut waste, fraud, and abuse, but that really doesn't ever materialize. We all know that. Governor Christie, you talk a lot about entitlement reform and you say that that's where the federal government can get savings needed to balance the budget. But can you name even one thing that the federal government does now that it should not do at all? +p584 +aVI want one. Yes. +p585 +aVAnything bigger than that? +p586 +aVAnd, Governor, I realize everyone on this stage opposes Obamacare and you're not alone. Google Data shows that in the last month when people searched "policy repeals," that there were a lot of them. Obamacare took the top two spots. But today there are millions of people who gained health insurance from Obamacare and they now rely on it. So the question, Senator Cruz, if you repeal Obamacare, as you say you will, will you be fine if millions of those people don't have health insurance? And what is your specific plan for covering the uninsured? +p587 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. Governor Bush, you've advocated for statehood for Puerto Rico. The Puerto Rican economy is collapsing under unsustainable debt burden. Only about 1 million of its 4 million residents are currently employed. So should American citizens who you say are already overtaxed, bail out Puerto Rico as well? +p588 +aVGovernor Kasich, you're one of two remaining sitting governors still in the race. Your colleague, Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan is under fire \u2014 he and his administration \u2014 for the Flint, Michigan water crisis and the botched response to it. How would you have handled that? +p589 +aVSenator Rubio, on the issue of climate change, in 2008, you wanted Florida to get ahead of other states and establish a cap- and-trade system, a program for carbon emissions, which many Republicans thought at the time would hurt the Florida economy. Now, you're a skeptic of climate change science. And in fact, you warn that federal efforts to fight climate change will cost U.S. jobs and hurt the U.S. economy. So why the change? +p590 +aVThanks, Senator. +p591 +aVThank you. +p592 +aVSenator Rubio, first before I ask you a question, any response to Governor Bush? +p593 +aVNow let's talk about electability, Senator. +p594 +aVThank you, Senator. +p595 +aVMuch more to come, including where the candidates stand on foreign policy. And, once again, you can go to Google.com, or open your Google search app and search, "Fox News Debate" to vote on which candidate you think is winning the debate tonight. We'll be right back. +p596 +aVGentlemen. I'd like to ask you a few questions about foreign policy broadly. Dr. Carson, many experts believe Russian leader Vladimir Putin has greater ideas, bigger designs for the region beyond Russia's actions inside Ukraine. Fast forward to February 2017 and it is President Carson, and Russian uniformed commandos cross the Estonian border and they occupy a city in Estonia. Estonia, a member of +p597 +aVGentlemen, you've all said that the Iran nuclear deal is a bad one. Senator Rubio, you were among the candidates who've said you would tear it up on day one. But as you know, Iran has already received tens of millions of dollars \u2014 tens of billions of dollars in this deal and has quickly reestablished ties economically with Europe. The major concessions, in other words, are up front in this deal. So should you win by the time you take office, the remaining parts of the deal would be the constraints on Iran. So why blow up those constraints on day one, letting Iran off the hook? +p598 +aVGovernor Kasich, you've said that Marco Rubio is wrong... ... that Senator Rubio is wrong with tearing it up on day one. +p599 +aVBut Governor Kasich, you know that the most powerful sanctions are the multilateral ones. +p600 +aVAnd these European countries are already reestablishing these ties. +p601 +aVThey don't want... +p602 +aVGovernor, thank you. Governor Christie... ... Libya is the newest base for +p603 +aVThank you, Governor. +p604 +aVWelcome back to Des Moines. Let's resume the debate. Megyn? +p605 +aVComing up, closing statements from the candidates as our debate continues, live, from Des Moines, Iowa. +p606 +aVNew Jersey governor, Chris Christie. +p607 +aVThank you governor. +p608 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. +p609 +aVThank you senator. +p610 +aVAnd we have you covered from Iowa, all the way to the conventions and on to the general election. Thanks again for joining us. For all of us here in Des Moines, have a great evening. +p611 +asVSANTORUM +p612 +(lp613 +VWell, all he has to do is listen to the Democratic debate and find out how bad the economy is. All they do is complain about the hollowing out of the middle of America, and how America is struggling so badly, and have to make these radical changes in Washington. But they've been in control for the last seven years, and what have we seen? The most important jobs, I believe, in this country are the ones that fill the middle. For the 74% of Americans who don't have a college degree between the age of 25 and 65 are manufacturing jobs. Your governor, and your legislature, and your team here have done an amazing job of bringing manufacturing jobs back to South Carolina. Right here. Right here in Charleston, right down in the street in Boeing. You've done a great job, and what's happened? You've grown this economy, you've strengthened the center of your state, the middle. That's because you know that if you're really going to create wealth and opportunity, you got to get jobs, and good paying jobs for everybody. And, so what's happened? Two million jobs, manufacturing jobs, have left this country because of Barack Obama. Regulations, EPA, workplace regulations, things driving people off-shore all because of his number one priority, global climate change. Well, let me tell you this, Mr. President. For every dollar of GDP, China creates five times as much pollution as we do here. You want to \u2014 lower global climate change, bring those jobs back to America and let American workers do that job with less pollution. +p614 +aVWell, the historic promises that we have made to \u2014 to Iran in this agreement need to be torn up on the first day in office of the next president. And let me tell you why, because Iran has already torn it up. Iran has not approved the agreement that President Obama has said that they have approved. They have approved a different agreement in their parliament. The fact of the matter is they have violated this agreement. Carly just mentioned some of those violations. They have launched ballistic missiles, tested them, in clear violation. And here's the pathetic part. The president announced that they were going to impose sanctions. And then President Rouhani went on Twitter and said there would be retaliation. And what did we do? We backed down. Ladies and gentlemen, there are 50 some Citadel cadets in this audience tonight. I would ask them to stand up if they will. And here's what I want to tell each and every one of them, as you stand. Here's what I want to tell them. Whether it's you're watching that movie this weekend that just came out when we abandoned our men and women in Benghazi, or whether it's we treat Iran, that gave courtesies to our sailors, as they made them record a hostage video, let me tell you this, if you choose to serve this country, I will have your back. I will not let America be trampled upon anymore by these radical jihadists. +p615 +aVI would just say that if we were doing a better job within the government, we wouldn't need the private sector to do the things that we're asking them to do. I've had a little experience in this in the private sector myself. And what I found was a government with layers and layers of bureaucracy, of people who had some technical expertise but they had no authority, number one. And one of the things I found out about in the bureaucracy is if a lot of people have authority, nobody has authority, number one. And number two, that if you don't do anything, you don't get fired. It's only when you do something and something goes wrong, you get fired. So they do nothing. And that's what is happening in our Defense Department right now. We have a capability that they're trying to develop to play defense. We have a lot of technologists that are very skilled. And they're trying to figure out how to play defense. But what we don't have is we don't have folks who are thinking about offense. We don't have war-fighters. We have technologists. Technologists are not war-fighters. Technologists are thinking, how do I protect cyber-security, how do I secure, how do I protect? And we need to have a much more dynamic, how do we \u2014 how do we go after them? How do we respond? And we need leadership that's willing to make sure that when someone attacks us \u2014 and ladies and gentlemen, they're attacking us as we speak. They're attacking us all day every day, not just the government, but they're attacking private sector companies all day every day. They have to learn that we're going to pay \u2014 they're going to pay a price when they do so. And then right now, just like in every other aspect of our national security, people who attack us are not paying a price. We need a leader who will make sure that they know when they mess with America, they're going to pay a price. +p616 +aVLook, Facebook and Twitter can teach us things. We can cooperate with them. We can share ideas and information. But this is a \u2014 and this is a very dicey area for the government to go in and require the industry to do its job. It needs to develop that capability. We need to be \u2014 have responsible dialogue, but I don't think requirements are the order of the day. +p617 +aVWell, the most devastating attack that could occur is an electromagnetic pulse attack, and that would be an attack that would be triggered by a nuclear explosion in the upper atmosphere of our country. The best way to stop that from happening is to make sure that those who contemplating and actually war-gaming and talking about using it, Iran, doesn't get a nuclear weapon so they can't explode that device. And the president of the United States has put Iran on a path to a nuclear weapon. And we have done nothing to do anything to harden our grid. There is actually a bill in Congress that would put money forward to try to put redundancy and harden our electric grid so it could actually survive an EMP. An EMP is a devastating explosion that sends a pulse that knocks out all electric, everything, everything that is connected to any kind \u2014 that is wired, that has a circuit board gets fried out. Everything is gone. Cars stop. Planes fall out of the sky. This is a devastating attack. And this president has done nothing, number one, to take the most probable person to \u2014 probable country to launch an attack and stop them, and has done nothing to try to defend us, particularly our electric grid. The bottom line is, I put the original sanctions on the Iranian nuclear program when I was in the United States Senate. I've been fighting for 12 years with one thing in mind, that we must stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. And......because they're different than every other country. They do not want a nuclear weapon to defend themselves. They want a nuclear weapon to have theological ends to bring about their mahdi so they can control the world. And that is the most serious threat facing this country right now. +p618 +aVWell, the numbers just don't add up. I mean, they have not added manufacturing jobs. Manufacturing jobs have been lost in this country, 2 million of them. The bottom line is that this president has done more to take jobs away from the hard-working people who are struggling the most. And that's folks who are, as I said, the 74 percent of Americans who don't have a college degree. And they're out there talking about, well, we're going to provide free college for everybody. Well, who is going to pay for it? The 74 percent that don't have a college degree. They're not \u2014 nobody is focused. Let's just be honest, nobody is focused on the people who are struggling the most in America today. We talk about immigration. Talk about the president's immigration plan. He wants to bring in more and more people into this country. Let people who are here illegally stay in this country. Almost all of the people who are here illegally, and most of the people who came here legally over the last 20 years, they're working in wage-earning jobs. That is why wages have flat-lined. And we have unfortunately two political parties with most of the candidates in this field for some form of amnesty, some form of allowing people to stay here even though they're here illegally and for increasing levels of legal immigration. I'm someone who believes that we need to be the party that stands for the American worker. And when we say we need to send people back, I mean we send people back. And let me just make one point. I was in Storm Lake, Iowa, the other day, near a Tyson's plant, 91 percent of the kids that go to the elementary school there are minority kids. And they said, well, what are you going to do with all of these people, their families, they've lived here for a long time? I said, I'm going to give them a gift. I'm going to give them a gift of being able to help the country they were born in. And I'm going to export America, the education they were able to see. They learned English language. They learned about capitalism. They learned about democracy. You want to stop flow of immigrants? Let's send six million Mexicans, Hondurans, Guatemalans, El Savadorians......back into their country, so they can start a renaissance in their country so they won't be coming over here anymore. +p619 +aVYou know, we've had this debate about the economy, and we haven't talked the one issue now increasingly even the right, and even the are coming to agreement. I've run around doing 300 town hall meetings talking about a book written by a liberal Harvard sociologist, not a normal thing for me to be talking about, but I now name Robert Putnam who wrote a book called, "Our Kids". And, he wrote this book, I think, ostensibly to support the Democratic argument that the middle of America's hollowing out, and income gap is widening, and rich are getting richer. When he studied all the information as to what was going on, he realized that the biggest reason that we're seeing the hollowing out of the middle of America is the breakdown of the American family. The reality is that if you're a single parent \u2014 a child of a single parent, and you grew up in a single parent family neighborhood, you went to that single parent family school, the chance of you ever, ever reaching the top 20% of income earners is 3% in America. At least \u2014 I don't know about you, but that's not good enough. And, we have been too politically correct in this country because we don't want to offend anybody to fight for the lives of our children. You want \u2014 You want to be shocked? You read the first few chapters of Mr. \u2014 Dr. Putnam' book. He talks about Port Clinton, Ohio and growing up there in the 1950's, and how poor kids actually survived and did well, even though they were poor and disadvantaged. But, then he goes to the towns today and these kids are failing, and failing miserably. They don't even have a shot, and we won't even have the courage to have leadership at the federal level \u2014 not with legislation, but the most powerful tool a president have, the bully pulpit to encourage each and everyone of you, churches and businesses, and educators, and community leaders to let's have a national campaign to rebuild the American family, and give every child its birthright which is a Mom and a Dad who loves them. That will change this economy. +p620 +aVLadies and gentlemen, America is frustrated and angry and looking for someone who's a fighter, but I also think they're looking for someone who's a winner. Somebody who can go out there and take on the establishment and make a difference. And take on someone who's going to be the person who's going to be between a Republican holding the presidency and that's Hillary Clinton. And there's one person on this stage, one person in the race who's done it and done it repeatedly. I've taken on Hillary Clinton on the issues you care about. Partial-birth abortion. Go and google Rick Santorum and Hillary Clinton and there you'll see a five-minute debate. I'll let you decide who won the debate. I'll tell you who won, because we passed the bill and I know I'm out of time but I'm going to take some of Rand Paul's time here for a second. If you're looking for someone who fought Hillary Clinton on Iran's sanctions, she was one of four who voted \u2014 who's deciding vote who voted against Iran's sanctions, so we didn't get it in place as earlier as we should have. I've fought battles against her. In 1994, I ran against the Clinton machine. James Carville and Paul Begala, ran the race against me when I took on the author of Hillary care. And each one of those battles, I won. You want a fighter, you want a winner, I'd appreciate your vote. Thank you. +p621 +asVQUESTION +p622 +(lp623 +VI'm Mark Watson. I'm known for my views on Youtube, but I'm also a veteran who served in the Army for eight years. As an African-American living near Ferguson, I've seen the strain between police officers and the communities they serve firsthand. Now, there are great tools like body cameras that \u2014 to protect both officers and citizens, but we all currently have better cameras in our pockets than in our precincts. Why aren't we using the technology available to better protect our communities? +p624 +aVI'm Dulce Candy, a Youtube creator who immigrated to the United States from Mexico when I was a little girl. Since then, I am proud to say I served in the armed forces in Iraq, became a citizen and I am now an entrepreneur. There are many immigrants who contribute positively to the American economy, but some of the comments in the campaign make us question our place in this country. If America does not seem like a welcoming place for immigrant entrepreneurs, will the American economy suffer? +p625 +aVI'm Nabela Noor. I'm a Muslim American born and raised in the U.S. who creates beauty and lifestyle videos on Youtube. In 2015, the number of hate crimes against Muslims in the U.S. has tripled, and on social media, where I spend a lot of time, I've seen many attacks directed towards fellow Muslims. This culture of hatred is only driving +p626 +aVMy name is Ashley Tofil. Ms. Fiorina, in November, you said that you would not talk to Vladimir Putin after you were elected because you would be communicating from a position of weakness. Do you believe that it is feasible to not communicate with another world leader? And do you think that that also is a sign of weakness? +p627 +aVMy name is Carla Hernandez. I'm from the University of Texas at Austin. And my question is directed to all the candidates. If the Bible clearly states that we need to embrace those in need and not fear, how can we justify not accepting refugees? +p628 +asVCAVUTO +p629 +(lp630 +VIt is 9:00 p.m. here at the North Charleston Coliseum and Performing Arts Center in South Carolina. Welcome to the sixth Republican presidential of the 2016 campaign, here on the Fox Business Network. I'm Neil Cavuto, alongside my friend and co-moderator Maria Bartiromo. +p631 +aVNow, the seven candidates on the stage tonight were selected based on their standing in six national polls, as well as polls in the early-voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire, those standings determining the position on the stage of the candidates tonight. And here they are. Businessman Donald Trump. Texas senator Ted Cruz. Florida senator Marco Rubio. Neurosurgeon Ben Carson. New Jersey governor Chris Christie. Former Florida governor Jeb Bush. And Ohio governor John Kasich. +p632 +aVGovernor Kasich, we are not even two weeks into this stock trading year, but investors already lost $1.6 trillion in market value. That makes it the worst start to a new year ever. Many worry that things will get even worse, and that banks and financial stocks are particularly vulnerable. Now, if this escalates, like it did back when Barack Obama first assumed the presidency, what actions would you take if this same thing happens all over again just as, in this example, you are taking over the presidency? +p633 +aVGovernor Bush, the president just told the nation two nights ago that America is back and that the idea that our enemies are getting stronger or that this country is getting weaker, well, it's just rhetoric and hot air. Now other Democrats go even further, sir, saying Republicans even suggesting such comments actually embolden our enemies. I guess they would include you. What do you say? +p634 +aVSo I take it from that you do not agree with the president. +p635 +aVSenator Rubio, the president says that +p636 +aVThank you, Senator. +p637 +aVMr. Trump, at the State of the Union, the president pointed to a guest who was a Syrian refugee you might recall whose wife and daughter and other family members were killed in an air attack. Now he fled that country seeking asylum here, ultimately ended up in Detroit where he's now trying to start a new life. The president says that that doctor is the real face of these refugees and not the one that you and some of your colleagues on this stage are painting; that you prefer the face of fear and terror and that you would refuse to let in anyone into this country seeking legitimate asylum. How do you answer that? +p638 +aVAll right. Welcome back to the Republican presidential , right here in North Charleston, South Carolina. Let's get right back to the questions. And I'll start with you, Senator Cruz. Now you are, of course, a strict constitutionalist \u2014 no one would doubt that. And as you know, the U.S. Constitution says only natural-born citizens are eligible for the office of president of the United States. Stop me if you've heard this before. Now, you were born...... you were born in Canada to an American mother. So you were and are considered an American citizen. But that fellow next to you, Donald Trump \u2014 and others \u2014 have said that being born in Canada means you are not natural-born, and that has raised questions about your eligibility. Do you want to try to close this topic once and for all tonight? +p639 +aVMr. Trump......that you raised it because of his rising poll numbers. +p640 +aVWhy are you saying this now \u2014 right now? Why are you raising this issue now? +p641 +aVSenator, do you want to respond? +p642 +aVMarco Rubio. I'm sorry, it's the time constraints. You and Governor Christie have been exchanging some fairly nasty words of late, and I will allow the governor to respond as well. The governor went so far to say, you won't be able to slime your way to the White House. He's referring to a series of ads done by a PAC, speaking on your behalf, that say quote,"One high tax, Common Core, liberal, energy-loving, Obamacare, Medicaid-expanding president is enough. You think you went too far on that and do you want to apologize to the governor? +p643 +aVThat is not my question. +p644 +aVIs he a liberal? +p645 +aVIs he a liberal? +p646 +aVGovernor? +p647 +aVYou were? +p648 +aVWell, we are not done. Coming up, one of the top things people are talking about on Facebook, guns. And you can join us live us on this stage in the conversation during this commercial break right from home. You can go to Facebook.com/. We will be streaming live and talking about how we think the is going so far. We're back in a moment in Charleston, South Carolina. +p649 +aVSenator Rubio, you said that President Obama wants to take people's guns away. Yet under his presidency, gun sales have more than doubled. That doesn't sound like a White House unfriendly to gun owners. +p650 +aVBut what fact can you point to, Senator \u2014 what fact can you point to that the president would take away everyone's gun? You don't think that's ? +p651 +aVGovernor Christie, you, too, have criticized the president's recent executive action on gun control, saying it's unconstitutional, another step to bypass Congress. But hasn't your own position on guns evolved, sir? The New Jersey Star-Ledger reports that you signed several laws to regulate the possession of firearms, and that you argued back in August 2013, and I quote, "These common sense measures will strengthen New Jersey's already tough gun laws." So isn't that kind of what the president wants to do now? +p652 +aVMaria... +p653 +aVGovernor bush, for the third time in as many months, the Iranians have provoked us, detaining us, as we've been discussing, with these 10 Navy sailors Tehran had said strayed into their waters. The sailors were released, but only after shown on video apologizing for the incident. This occurring only weeks after Iran fired multiple rockets within 1,500 yards of a U.S. aircraft carrier and then continued to test medium range missiles. Now you've claimed that such actions indicate Tehran has little to fear from a President Obama. I wonder, sir, what would change if they continued doing this sort of thing under a President Jeb Bush? +p654 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Kasich, while everyone has been focusing on Iran's provocations, I'm wondering what you make of what Saudi Arabia has been doing and its recent moves in the region, including its execution of a well-known Shi'ite cleric and its move to dramatically increase oil production, some say in an effort to drive down oil prices and force a lot of U.S. oil producers out of business. Sure enough, oil prices have tumbled. One brokerage house is predicting a third or more of American oil producers and those heavily invested in fracking will go bankrupt, and soon Saudi Arabia and +p655 +aVThank you John. +p656 +aVBut you said \u2014 you said that he made those comments and they represented him being unhinged after he made them. +p657 +aVWell \u2014 well, after he made them......his poll numbers went up eight points in South Carolina. Now \u2014 now, wait... +p658 +aVAre you \u2014 are you saying \u2014 are you saying that all those people who agree with Mr. Trump are unhinged? +p659 +aVMr. Trump, sometimes maybe in the heat of the campaign, you say things and you have to dial them back. Last week, the New York Times editorial board quoted as saying that you would oppose, "up to 45 percent tariff on Chinese goods." +p660 +aVWell... +p661 +aVYou never said because they provided that... +p662 +aVSo they've never said to put a tariff on their... +p663 +aVI'm sorry, you lost me. +p664 +aVThen I apologize. Then I want to understand, if you don't want a 45 percent tariff, say that wasn't the figure, would you be open \u2014 are you open to slapping a higher tariff on Chinese goods of any sort to go back at them? +p665 +aVI know... +p666 +aVSo you're open to a tariff? +p667 +aVAll right. +p668 +aVHe is right. If you put a tariff on a good, it's Americans who pay. +p669 +aVGovernor Christie, going back to your U.S. Attorney days, you had been praised by both parties as certainly a tough law and order guy. So I wonder what you make of recent statistics that showed violent crimes that have been spiking sometimes by double digit ratings in 30 cities across the country. Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn said, "most local law enforcement officials feel abandoned by Washington." Former NYC Police Chief Ray Kelly, says that, "police are being less proactive because they're being overly scrutinized and second guessed and they're afraid of being sued or thrown in jail." What would you do as president to address this? +p670 +aVThank you governor. Governor Kasich, as someone has to deal with controversial police shootings in your own state, what do you make of Chicago's move recently to sort of retrain police? Maybe make them not so quick to use their guns? +p671 +aVThank you, Governor. +p672 +aVGentlemen, gentlemen \u2014 +p673 +aVVery quick, very quick. +p674 +aVDo you think they like each other? +p675 +aVAll right, gentlemen, we've got to stop. I know you are very passionate about that. Governor Bush, fears have gripped this country obviously, and you touched on it earlier since the San Bernardino attacks. Since our last , the national conversation has changed, according to Facebook data as well. Now this first graphic shows the issues that were most talked about right before those attacks and now after: the issues of Islam, homeland security and +p676 +aVWould you answer this question? +p677 +aVFair enough. So Tim Cook \u2014 so Tim Cook says he's going to keep it private. +p678 +aVBut if Tim cook is telling you no, Mr. President. +p679 +aVDo you ask or do you order? +p680 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p681 +aVGovernor Bush? +p682 +aVDr. Ben Carson? +p683 +aVSenator Ted Cruz? +p684 +aVGentlemen, thank you all. All of you. That wraps up our debate. We went a little bit over here. But we wanted to make sure everyone was able to say their due. He's upset. All right. Thank you for joining us. Much more to come in the Spin Room ahead. +p685 +aVIt is 9:00 p.m. on the East Coast, 8:00 p.m. here inside the Milwaukee theater. Welcome to the Republican presidential debate here on the Fox Business Network. I'm Neil Cavuto, alongside my co-moderators, Maria Bartiromo, and the editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal, Gerard Baker. +p686 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. +p687 +aVIt sounds like a game show but it's not. Now I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the elephant in the room, and I'm not talking about your party's fine symbol. I'm talking about the purpose of tonight's debate. The economy and what each of you would do to improve it. No more, no less. We are focused on those issues, and what you have said on those issues in your words and what your opponents have said in their words about your words. That is the agenda tonight. How each of you plans to make America better tomorrow. And so we begin. Candidates, as we gather tonight in this very august theater, just outside and across the country, picketers are gathering as well. They're demanding an immediate hike in the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Just a few hours ago, near Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed doing the same for all state workers, the first governor to do so. Mr. Trump, as the leading presidential candidate on this stage and one whose tax plan exempts couples making up to $50,000 a year from paying any federal income taxes at all, are you sympathetic to the protesters cause since a $15 wage works out to about $31,000 a year? +p688 +aVSo do not raise the minimum wage? +p689 +aVDr. Carson, you have long bemoaned this lackluster recovery. And this Facebook map show Americans share your concern. The green represents how the jobs issue is resonating all across the nation, especially here in the state of Wisconsin. You suggested one minimum wage does not fit all, and that perhaps we should offer a lower or starter wage for young people. Those protesters outside are looking for $15 and nothing less. Where are you? +p690 +aVSo, sir, just to be clear, you would not raise it? +p691 +aVSenator Rubio, you called the recent Democratic debate in Las Vegas a night of giveaways, including free health care, free college and a host of other government-paid benefits. Since you aren't a fan of all they're giving away, tell us tonight what you would take back. +p692 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. +p693 +aVAll right. We're only just getting started. Coming up, your taxes. Stick around. You're watching FOX Business +p694 +aVWelcome back to the Milwaukee Theater and the Republican presidential debate. Let's get right back to our questions. Dr. Carson, to you. You recently railed against the double- standard in the media, sir, that seems obsessed with inconsistencies and potential exaggerations in your life story, but looked the other way when it came to then-Senator Barack Obama's. Still, as a candidate whose brand has always been trust, are you worried your campaign \u2014 which you've always said, sir, is bigger than you \u2014 is now being hurt by you? +p695 +aVI'll just forget that follow-up there. +p696 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p697 +aVAlright, thank you. We're going to take a break here. Coming up, a big issue many Americans are facing, taxes. The Republican Presidential Debate continues now, live, from Milwaukee. +p698 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from Milwaukee. Let's get back to the questions. And we want to touch on obviously one of the biggest of this issue in this year, taxes. And this will go to several of you. One of the biggest economic concerns of course in the country are taxes. Facebook data certainly backs that up. Once again the green on this map that we're going to see here shows how the conversation around taxes is resonating across the nation, especially here in Wisconsin. First off, Dr. Carson, to you. You say you are in favor of a tax system, I guess akin to tithing, sir, with a flat tax rate of up to 15 percent because you said, if everybody pays this, I think God is a pretty fair guy, so tithing is a pretty fair process. But Donald Trump says that is not fair. That wealthier taxpayers should pay a higher rate because it's a fair thing to do. So whose plan would God endorse then, Doctor? Yours or Mr. Trump's? +p699 +aVRight. +p700 +aVThank you very much. Senator Paul, you said you want to blow up the tax code and start over with an across-the-board 14.5 percent fair and flat tax. You happily offered that it is not revenue neutral and that's the idea. You want to choke off the amount of money coming into Washington. But don't you risk, sir, creating a near-term budget crisis just as your presidency would be beginning? +p701 +aVThere are no deductions on your \u2014 under your plan? +p702 +aVThank you, Senator. +p703 +aVSenator Paul... Senator Paul, you have already said, sir, that that would be a mistake in not talking to Vladimir Putin, or to rule it out. You've argued that it's never a good idea to close down communication. With that in mind, do you think the same applies to administration efforts right now to include the Iranians in talks on Syria? +p704 +aV...Well, then how would you respond? +p705 +aVBut if you're not going to respond in a no-fly zone strategy, what would yours be? +p706 +aVAll right. And look at the time, look at the time. You are watching FOX Business, we'll take a break. Stick around. +p707 +aVSenator Cruz \u2014 and I will get to you \u2014 but, Senator Cruz, on that theme, Facebook data shows that over the last month alone, nearly 1 million people \u2014 nearly 1 million \u2014 have been concerned about reining in Wall Street, apparently believing that some have not been punished enough. So, as an accomplished litigator yourself and a former solicitor general, would you go after the very people who believe and fear that Wall Street has ignored, in other words, the crooks that Bernie Sanders say have gotten away with a financial murder? +p708 +aVSenator......Senator, I really want to be clear here. Are you saying, sir, that if Bank of America were on the brink, you would let it fail? +p709 +aVSir, I understand that. I just want to be clear, if you don't mind, that millions of depositors would be on the line with that decision. And I just want to be clear. If it were to happen again, for whatever the reason, you would let it go, you would let a Bank of America go? +p710 +aVOK, I think it's fair to say you're not fans of Hillary Clinton's resume. Alright, Mr. Trump.... +p711 +aVI had a feeling. Perhaps the most successful capitalist on this stage tonight, you've acknowledged that some give capitalism a bad name. You've been particularly critical of businesses that find all sorts of ways of paying their taxes by keeping money abroad, but your own plan includes an incentive to bring \u2014 that more the $2 trillion dollars home. Isn't that, like, a one-time bounty... +p712 +aV...Some of the guys you all but call pirates, so they still keep the loot, and pay only a price to bring it back. +p713 +aV...Alright, gentlemen, I know you want to \u2014 and I want to, be we also promised to get people home tonight, and we are going to take a quick break here. I think it is fair to say at this juncture that you can discuss these issues, and only business issues, but still keep it interesting. Stick around for these candidates closing statements. +p714 +aVSenator Marco Rubio? +p715 +aVDr. Ben Carson? +p716 +aVDonald Trump? +p717 +aVCandidates, we want to thank you all. We also appreciate your helping save time by talking over one another at times. That was welcomed. But by all means, it was a very riveting debate. Business issues can be \u2014 can be riveting, because it wasn't about us, it's about them. +p718 +aVThat'll do it. Thank you for joining us. +p719 +asVBLITZER +p720 +(lp721 +VWelcome to the CNN-Facebook Republican presidential debate here at the Venetian Las Vegas. We have a very enthusiastic audience. Everyone is here. They're looking forward to a serious and spirited discussion about the security of this nation. I'm Wolf Blitzer, your moderator tonight. This debate is airing on CNN networks here in the United States and around the world, and on the Salem Radio Network. The nine leading candidates, they are here. Let's welcome them right now. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Businessman and real estate developer Donald Trump. Retired neurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. And Ohio Governor John Kasich. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome these Republican candidates for president of the United States. This is the final Republican debate before the election year begins, and we're taking a moment for the photographs of the candidates together on the stage. Now, everyone, please rise for the national anthem sung by Ayla Brown. +p722 +aVI know everyone is eager to get started. So, candidates, please take your places while I explain the ground rules for tonight. As moderator, I'll guide the discussion, and I'll be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt and CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. We also asked Republicans and independents nationwide to share their questions for the candidates. We teamed up with Facebook to send a campaign camper across the country over the past several weeks. Thousands of people stepped inside and recorded their questions on video. Millions more have weighed in on Facebook. Candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have a minute and 15 seconds to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you're singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know that we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. And as the candidates requested, a bell will sound like this. We know you are all eager to jump in and debate these important issues, so, please, wait until you're called on. These nine Republicans are positioned on stage based on their ranking in the recent polls, so let's begin right now. I'd like to invite each candidate to introduce himself or herself to our audience. You'll have one minute. First to you, Senator Paul. +p723 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p724 +aVGovernor Christie? +p725 +aVMs. Fiorina? +p726 +aVGovernor Bush? +p727 +aVSenator Rubio? +p728 +aVSenator Cruz. +p729 +aVDr. Carson. +p730 +aVMr. Trump. +p731 +aVThank you. Since you last debated, Americans have witnessed terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino. The FBI director says the country now faces the greatest terror threat since 9/11. You all have different approaches to keeping the country safe. And that will be the focus of tonight's debate. Mr. Trump, as you mentioned in your opening statement, part of your strategy is to focus in on America's borders. To keep the country safe, you say you want to temporarily ban non-American Muslims from coming to the United States; ban refugees fleeing +p732 +aVGovernor Bush, you called Mr. Trump "unhinged" when he proposed banning non-American Muslims from the United States. Why is that unhinged? +p733 +aVMr. Trump? +p734 +aVSenator Rubio \u2014 I'm going to go to Senator Rubio and get his thoughts. You have said banning Muslims is unconstitutional. But according to a recent ABC News-Washington Post poll, a majority of Republicans support Mr. Trump's idea. Why are they wrong? +p735 +aVHugh Hewitt, you have a question. +p736 +aVGovernor Christie, Americans are clearly more afraid today than at any time since 9/11. As you mentioned in your opening statement, today in Los Angeles, 650 schoolchildren didn't go to \u2014 650,000 schoolchildren didn't go to school because of an e-mail threat, this two weeks after an attack killed 14 people in San Bernardino. Is this the new normal? And if so, what steps would you take as president of the United States to ensure that fear does not paralyze America? +p737 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, one of the killers in San Bernardino was an American who was not on anyone's watch list. How are you going to find that radicalized person and stop another such attack? +p738 +aVThank you. Dana Bash, you have the next question. +p739 +aVThank you. Dr. Carson, you're in favor of monitoring mosques and schools where there is anti-America sentiment, what do you consider anti- America? +p740 +aVDr. Carson, who was right in that little debate that we just heard between Senator Rubio and Senator Paul? +p741 +aVHold on a sec, we have a lot more to come and everybody's going to have their full opportunity. Governor Bush, six days after 9/11 your brother visited a mosque and said quote, "Islam is peace." The conversation tonight is about banning Muslims and surveillance of mosques, are President Bush's words still relevant in today's Republican party? +p742 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you pointed out you were a CEO in Silicon Valley on 9/11. Companies there, they say they won't help the FBI now crack encrypted communication from +p743 +aVBut my question was: Should these Silicon Valley companies be forced to cooperate with the FBI? +p744 +aVMr. Trump, you recently suggested closing that Internet up, those were your words, as a way to stop +p745 +aVLet me follow up, Mr. Trump. So, are you open to closing parts of the Internet? +p746 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, is shutting down any part of the Internet a good idea? +p747 +aVThank you, Governor. The fight against radical Islamic terrorists and +p748 +aVThank you. To be clear, Senator Cruz, would you carpet bomb Raqqa, the +p749 +aVThank you. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you've been critical of Senator Cruz's strategy. You say his voting record doesn't match his rhetoric. Why? +p750 +aVBecause I asked the question, Senator, because you said this. You said he, referring to Senator Cruz, voted against the Defense Authorization Act every year that it came up, and I assume that if he voted against it, he would veto it as president. That's the bill that funds our troops. +p751 +aVSenator Cruz? +p752 +aVSenator Rubio. +p753 +aVWe are going to have much more on this... +p754 +aVWe're going to have much more on this. But I want to move now back to Mr. Trump. +p755 +aVHold on. Hold on. Hold on. +p756 +aVWe have a lot... +p757 +aVWe have a lot to discuss. I want to move to Mr. Trump right now. We have a question on this war against +p758 +aVMr. Trump. +p759 +aVGovernor Bush. Governor Bush. +p760 +aVMr. Trump. +p761 +aVJust one at a time, go ahead... +p762 +aVGo ahead, Mr. Trump. +p763 +aVGovernor Bush, please. +p764 +aVOne at a time. +p765 +aVGovernor Bush. +p766 +aVThank you. +p767 +aVAll right. Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash, Hugh, go ahead with the next question. +p768 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Rubio? Let's continue this conversation. This is a critically important issue. +p769 +aVWe will get to \u2014 we have a lot of time, Ms. Fiorina. I want to get to Senator Rubio right now. Let's talk about, one of the aspects of your strategy, you say the only way to defeat +p770 +aVThank you, Senator. Stand by. Ms. Fiorina, the former defense secretary, Bob Gates, says the chances of getting Sunni-Arab forces on the ground to get the job done, his words, "chances very remote." What's your strategy? +p771 +aVThank you. Governor Christie, what's your strategy? +p772 +aVDr. Carson, what is your strategy? +p773 +aVThank you. Everyone stand by. We're only just beginning. Coming up, which candidates on this stage tonight want to move foreign policy in a dramatically new direction? We'll be right back. +p774 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate here at the Venetian, Las Vegas. The war against +p775 +aVThank you. +p776 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you supported the removal of Moammar Gadhafi in Libya. Now that country is in turmoil, as +p777 +aVSenator Cruz? +p778 +aVStandby. Everybody standby for a moment. Governor Kasich, go ahead. +p779 +aVThank you. +p780 +aVWe're going to talk about Assad in a moment. Mr. Trump, are Americans safer with dictators running the world in the Middle East? +p781 +aVThank you. Mr. Trump? +p782 +aVAll right. +p783 +aVThank you. +p784 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East... +p785 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East better off with dictators? +p786 +aVGovernor Bush. +p787 +aVHold on Governor Bush., here's the question. You said, "getting rid of Saddam Hussein in your words was a pretty good deal." In light of what has happened in Iraq, do you still feel that way? +p788 +aVSenator Paul, was getting rid of Saddam Hussein a pretty good deal? +p789 +aVThank you. Hugh Hewitt, go ahead. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hugh. +p790 +aVSenator, Senator, we're going to get to you. Wait your turn. We have two hours of debate. We'll have plenty of time. Let Hugh ask his question. +p791 +aVSenator, please. +p792 +aVSenator... +p793 +aVYou'll have plenty of opportunity. Hugh, go ahead. +p794 +aVThese are the rules all of you agreed to. Hugh, go ahead with your question. +p795 +aVLet's continue with Russia right now. We have another question from Facebook. Listen and watch. +p796 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you know, U.S. and Russian warplanes are flying all over Syria right now. With so many lives on the line, is this a good time for the United States not to talk to Putin? +p797 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Christie, if the U.S. imposed a no-fly zone over Syria and a Russian plane encroached, invaded that no-fly zone, would you be prepared to shoot down that Russian plane and risk war with Russia? +p798 +aVSenator Paul \u2014 Senator Paul, I want you to respond to what we just heard from Governor Christie. If there was a no-fly zone, you say that potentially could lead to World War III. Why? +p799 +aVGovernor Christie? +p800 +aVAll right, let's go back \u2014 Hugh and Dana? +p801 +aVOne at a time. Hugh, go ahead. +p802 +aVGovernor, thank you very much. So, Dr. Carson, you recently visited a refugee camp in Jordan and you deemed it your words, "really quite nice." Saying the people there didn't want to come to the United States. Do you think these camps are a long-term solution of the problem of Syrian refugees? +p803 +aVSenator Paul, you oppose letting in Syrian refugees at this time into the United States. The U.S. has already accepted 2,000 Syrian refugees, including 13 living here in Las Vegas right now. Would you send them back? What would you do with these people? +p804 +aVSenator Rubio? +p805 +aVSenator Paul, you didn't answer the question about the 2,000 Syrian refugees who are already here in the United States. Will you send them back or let them stay? +p806 +aVWe have another \u2014 we have another question. We have another question from Facebook. Let's listen. +p807 +aVGovernor Christie, you say there should be a pause in allowing new refugees to come into the United States, including orphans under the age of five. What do you say to Carla? +p808 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p809 +aVThank you, Governor. There is much more coming up. We are only just beginning. Coming up, what other global hot spots await the next president of the United States. +p810 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate. We're here at the Venetian Las Vegas. Tonight we have been focusing on the Middle East, but let's turn to some other world threats that you will potentially face as Commander in Chief. Ms. Fiorina, candidates here have called the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un a maniac who is mentally unstable. Last week he said he now has a hydrogen bomb. If you were elected president, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p811 +aVDr. Carson, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p812 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Dana and Hugh you have questions as well. +p813 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Some of you on this stage have questioned whether your opponents have temperament, the right temperament, to be in control of the nuclear codes. Dana, you have a question on this? +p814 +aVThank you, senator. Thank you. +p815 +aVThank you, Senator. +p816 +aVThank you, Senator. We're a month and a half away now from the first real test who will be the Republican presidential nominee. Hugh, you have a question? +p817 +aVAll right. Candidates, we have more coming up. When we come back, everyone will have an opportunity to explain why this particular candidate, each of you on the stage, believes he or she should be the Republican presidential nominee. +p818 +aVNow it's time for the closing statements from the candidates. Each one has 30 seconds. Senator Paul. +p819 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p820 +aVGovernor Christie. +p821 +aVMs. Fiorina. +p822 +aVGovernor Bush. +p823 +aVSenator Rubio. +p824 +aVSenator Cruz. +p825 +aVDr. Carson. +p826 +aVThanks to all the Republican presidential candidates. That does it for this Republican presidential debate. +p827 +asVFIORINA +p828 +(lp829 +VWell, thank you. Good evening. If I may begin by saying how honored I am to be standing here with two former Iowa Caucus winners. Governor, Senator. And how honored I am to be talking with all of you. You know, I'm not a political insider. I haven't spent my lifetime running for office. The truth is I have had and been blessed by a lot of opportunities to do a lot of things in my life. And unlike another woman in this race, I actually love spending time with my husband. I'm standing here because I think we have to restore a citizen government in this country. I think we have to end crony capitalism. The crony capitalism that starts with both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. You know, Hillary Clinton sits inside government and rakes in millions, handing out access and favors. And Donald Trump sits outside government and rakes in billions buying people like Hillary Clinton. The state of our economy is not strong. We have record numbers of men out of work. We have record numbers of women living in poverty. We have young people who no longer believe that the American dream applies to them. We have working families whose wages have stagnated for decades, all while the rich get richer, the powerful get more powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected get more connected. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. +p830 +aVAmerica must lead because when we do not lead, when this exceptional nation does not lead, the world is more dangerous and a more tragic place. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, they all refuse to lead. Worse, they refuse to respond when this nation is provoked. Hillary Clinton famously asked what difference does it make how four Americans died in Benghazi? Mrs. Clinton, here's what difference it makes. When you do not stand up and say the truth, that this was a purposeful terrorist attack, when you do not say the United States of America will retaliate for that attack, terrorists assume it's open season. We have refused to respond to every provocation. The President wouldn't even mention the fact that Iran had taken two Navy boats and our sailors \u2014 hostage. He didn't mention the fact that they violated the Geneva convention. He didn't respond to the fact that Iran launched two ballistic missile just a short time ago, in direct violation of a deal they had just signed. We didn't respond to the fact that North Korea attacked Sony Pictures. When we refuse to respond over, and over to provocation and bad behavior, we will get more provocation and bad behavior. I know most of our allies personally. I have met many of our adversaries. I know our military and our intelligence capability, and I know this. When we will not stand with our allies, when we will not respond to our adversaries, when we do not lead in the world the world is a dangerous and tragic place. I will be a Commander in Chief who will lead. +p831 +aVOf course I'm worried about similar problems in the United States. We can not allow refugees to enter this country unless we can adequately vet them and we know we can't. Therefore we should stop allowing refugees into this country. And by the way, we do not need to be lectured about why we're angry and frustrated and fearful because we've had an illegal immigration problem in this country for 25 years. And we have every right to be frustrated about the fact that politicians stand up in election after election after election and promise us to fix the problem and yet, it has never been fixed. I offer leadership that understands that actions speak louder than words, that results count. We must secure our border. We must fix our broken immigration system. We must enforce a pro-American immigration system that serves our interests, not the rest of the world. I understand what it takes to translate goals into results and that is what I will do as president of the United States. Of course, we should be worried, for heavens sakes. This administration has now told us they don't know who has overstayed a visa. This administration has told us they don't even bother to check Facebook or Twitter to find out who's pledging allegiance to jihadis. We can do better than this, citizens. We need to take our country back. +p832 +aVWe need to be very clear-eyed now about who are our allies and who are our adversaries. In the fight against +p833 +aVAnd we all believe the polling data all the time, don't we? +p834 +aVOh, it's a problem for so many reasons. First of all, it is yet another lawless executive order. You see, he doesn't like the fact that Congress has rejected his ideas twice on a bipartisan basis, so he's decided he just gets to override them. Sorry, Mr. President, not the way "The Constitution" works. Secondly......secondly, he basically admitted in that speech that he hasn't been paying much attention to enforcing the laws we have. He said, gee, we need a few more FBI agents. That would have helped, perhaps, stop a tragedy here in South Carolina with Dylann Roof, a guy who clearly never should have been sold a gun. In other words, Mr. President, you're right, we need to enforce the laws we have. Let's enforce the laws we have. There are criminals running around with guns who shouldn't have them. We don't prosecute any of them. Less than 1 percent. But I want to go back to the technology issue for a moment, if I may, as well, because in this regard, I disagree with Senator Santorum. Look, I come from the technology industry and I can tell you there is one thing that bureaucracies don't know how to do. They do not know how to innovate. We have come seven generations of technology since 2011. We have bureaucracies that are incapable of bringing in that innovation. So, yes, there are some very specific things that we should ask the private sector to help us with, including making sure we have the latest and greatest in algorithms to search through all these databases so that we find terrorists before they attack us, not after it's too late. And, finally, when a president who understands technology in the Oval Office. Mrs. Clinton, actually, you cannot wipe a server with a towel. +p835 +aVYes, and see... +p836 +aVAs CEO of Hewlett Packard... +p837 +aVAs CEO of Hewlett Packard, I was asked very specifically for some very real help. The help I was asked to provide, this is now public information. So I am not revealing what \u2014 something that was \u2014 was classified. We had a very large shipment of equipment, software and hardware, headed to a retail outlet. And I was called by the head of the NSA, who had an urgent need for that capability, to begin laying out a program to track terrorists. We turned that truck around on a highway and it was escorted to the headquarters in San Jose. In World War II, our government went to the private sector and said, help us do things that we cannot do. The private sector has capabilities that the government does not have. There are some legal authorities that are required. The Sony attack could have been detected and repelled, had legal authorities been passed in Congress allowing private networks and public networks to work together. Those legal authorities have not yet been passed. Yes, I was asked to help. I know the technology industry. They will help again. But they must be asked by a president who understands what they have. +p838 +aVFor decades, the professional political class in both parties has been talking about the middle class. For decades, Republicans in particular have been talking about reducing the size and scope of government, spending less money, reducing the complexity. And yet, for 40 years, the government has gotten bigger and more expensive. We now have a 75,000 plus page tax code, although politicians have run for office for decades promising reform. And all the while, middle class incomes have stagnated. You see, when government gets bigger and bigger, more powerful, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer and the middle class gets squeezed. We need to understand who the job creators are in this country, because we need more jobs to grow the middle class and to grow the wages of the middle class. Who creates jobs? Small businesses, new businesses, family-owned businesses. They create two thirds of the new jobs in this country and they employ half the people. I started out typing for a nine person real estate firm. My husband Frank started out driving a tow truck for a family-owned auto body shop. And we are crushing small businesses and destroying the middle class. So here's my blueprint to take back America. Let us first actually reform the tax code from 73,000 pages down to three. There's a 20-year-old plan to do exactly that. And then let us begin piece by piece to focus on every single dollar the government spends, so that we will spend less overall and still have enough for our priorities. And that requires the government to budget the way you do at home \u2014 examine every dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. The fancy term for that is zero- based budgeting, but I call it common sense. Citizens, we've got to take our country back. +p839 +aVMy husband Frank, that I mentioned, I love spending time with. He's down there. He was real excited the other day because in New Hampshire, he was introduced as my eye candy. You know, everybody out there watching knows this. You cannot wait to see the debate between me and Hillary Clinton. You would pay to see that fight. And that's because you know I will win. And that's important. We've got to start by beating Hillary Clinton. All of my life, I have been told to sit down and be quiet. Settle. Settle. Don't challenge the system. That's what the American people are being told now and we have been told that for way too long \u2014 sit down and be quiet about our God, about our guns, about the abortion industry, settle for illegal immigration that's been a problem for decades, as so many of our problems have festered for decades. Accept a system of government and politics that no longer works for us. I will not sit down and be quiet. And neither will you. So I ask you to stand with me, fight with me, vote for me, citizens. It is time to take our future back, time to take our politics back. It is time to take our government back. Citizens, it is time. We must take our country back. +p840 +aVLike all of you I'm angry. I'm angry at what's happening to our nation. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. Bombastic insults wont take it back. Political rhetoric that promises a lot and delivers little, won't take it back. All of our problems can be solved. All of our wounds can be healed by a tested leader who is willing to fight for the character of our nation. I have been tested. I have beaten breast cancer. I have buried a child. I started as a secretary. I fought my way to the top of corporate America while being called every B word in the book. I fought my way into this election and on to this debate stage while all the political insiders and the pundits told, "it couldn't be done." I've been told, "no,: all my life. And all my life, I've refused to accept no as an answer. Citizens, it is time to take our country back from the political class, from the media, from the liberal elite. It can be done, it must be done, join me and we will get it done. +p841 +aVWhat I think we need to stand for are solutions. I offer myself as a leader to the people of this country because I think they're looking for solutions, not lawyers arguing over laws or entertainers throwing out sound bites that draw media attention. We need to solve the problem. To solve the problem, we need to do something here at home and something over there in their caliphate. We need to deny them territory. But here at home, we need to do two fundamental things. Number one, we need to recognize that technology has moved on. The Patriot Act was signed in 2001, roughly. The iPhone was invented in 2007. The iPad was invented in 2011. Snapchat and Twitter, all the rest of it, have been around just for several years. Technology has moved on, and the terrorists have moved on with it. Let me tell you a story. Soon after 9/11, I got a phone call from the NSA. They needed help. I gave them help. I stopped a truckload of equipment. I had it turned around. It was escorted by the NSA into headquarters. We need the private sector's help, because government is not innovating. Technology is running ahead by leaps and bound. The private sector will help, just as I helped after 9/11. But they must be engaged, and they must be asked. I will ask them. I know them. +p842 +aVYou know, listening to this conversation, let me just say, we have a lot of argument about laws but none of it solves the problem. Let's examine what happened, why did we miss the Tsarnaev brothers, why did we miss the San Bernardino couple? It wasn't because we had stopped collected metadata it was because, I think, as someone who comes from the technology world, we were using the wrong algorithms. This is a place where the private sector could be helpful because the government is woefully behind the technology curve. But secondly, the bureaucratic processes that have been in place since 9/11 are woefully inadequate as well. What do we now know? That DHS vets people by going into databases of known or suspected terrorists. And yet, we also know that +p843 +aVThey do not need to be forced. They need to be asked to bring the best and brightest, the most recent technology to the table. I was asked as a CEO. I complied happily. And they will as well. But they have not been asked. That's why it cost billions of dollars to build an Obama website that failed because the private sector wasn't asked. +p844 +aVI hope at some point you're going to ask me my strategy. +p845 +aVWell, first I'll just point out that talking tough is not the same as being strong. And to wage war, we need a commander in chief who has made tough calls in tough times and stood up to be held accountable over and over, not first-term senators who've never made an executive decision in their life. One of the things I would immediately do, in addition to defeating them here at home, is bring back the warrior class \u2014 Petraeus, McChrystal, Mattis, Keane, Flynn. Every single one of these generals I know. Every one was retired early because they told President Obama things that he didn't want to hear. We must have Sunni-Arabs involved in this coalition. We must commit leadership, strength, support and resolve. I'll just add that Margaret Thatcher once said, "If you want something talked about, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman." +p846 +aVThat is exactly what President Obama said. I'm amazed to hear that from a republican presidential candidate. But let's just start with, who got it wrong? Who really got it wrong? Hillary Clinton has gotten every foreign policy challenge wrong. Hitting the reset button with Vladimir Putin \u2013 recall that she called Bashar Al-Assad a positive reformer and then she opened an embassy and then later she said, over, and over, and over again, "Bashar Al-Assad must go." Although she wasn't prepared to do anything about it. Recall that Hillary Clinton was all for toppling Gadhafi then didn't listen to her own people on the ground. And then of course, when she lied about the terrorist attack in Benghazi, she invited more terrorist attacks. +p847 +aVWe've mismanaged going into Iraq. +p848 +aVWe've mismanaged going out of Iraq. +p849 +aVWe actually... +p850 +aVI didn't say I would cut off all communication with Putin. What I said was as president of the United States, now is not the time to talk with him. Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. There is a time and a place for everything. There is a time and a place for talk. And there is a time and a place for action. I know Vladimir Putin. He respects strength. He lied to our president's face; didn't both to tell him about warplanes and troops going into Syria. We need to speak to him from a position of strength. So as commander in chief, I will not speak to him until we've set up that no-fly zone; until we've gathered our Sunni-Arab allies and begun to deny +p851 +aVThis doesn't do a thing to solve the problems...It doesn't do a thing to solve the problems. +p852 +aVIt will not solve the problem. +p853 +aVLadies and gentleman, this is why the American people are standing up. +p854 +aVThis is why the nation is fed up... +p855 +aVWe have been talking about this... +p856 +aVSorry, but you haven't gotten to me. This is why... +p857 +aVthe people are fed up with the political class. +p858 +aVWell, first, Kim Jong-Un is a dangerous leader, without a doubt. And both Republican and Democrat administrations have been completely ineffective in dealing with him. So we must continue to isolate him. We will need China as part of that strategy. China is a rising adversary. So one of the things we have to do if we want China's support is to push back on China. They, too, recognize one thing \u2014 strength and their own economic interest. I have done business in China for 25 years, so I know that in order to get China to cooperate with us, we must first actually retaliate against their cyber-attacks so they know we're serious. We have to push back on their desire to control the trade route through the South China Sea through which flows $5 trillion worth of goods and services every year. We cannot let them control the disputed islands, and we must work with the Australians, the South Koreans, the Japanese and the Filipinos to contain China. And then we must ask for their support and their help with North Korea. Because believe it or not, China is as concerned about Kim Jong-Un as we are. +p859 +aVI too remember September 11th. I remember immediately putting into place security procedures all throughout our company that did business in 170 countries where we thought corporate interests would be attacked next. To take our country back, to keep our nation safe, we have to begin by beating Hillary Clinton. We need to unify our party. We need to better than our government, which 75 percent of the American people now think is corrupt and incompetent. They're right. We need to better than our politics. 80 percent think we have a professional/political class of both parties that cares more about its power, position and privilege than actually on getting anything done. We need to unify our party, we need a real Conservative in the White House, and we need to beat Hillary Clinton to take our country back and keep our nation safe. I can. I am. And together, if you join me, we will take our country back. +p860 +aVWell, first of all, I must say as I think about that question, I think about a woman I met the other day. I would guess she was 40 years old. She had several children. And she said to me, you know, Carly, I go to bed every night afraid for my children's future. And that really struck me. This is America. A mother is going to bed afraid for her children's future. And the reason she's afraid for her children's future is because we've had problems for a long time. Yes, problems have gotten much worse under Democrats. But the truth is, this government has been growing bigger and bigger, more corrupt, less effective, crushing the engine of economic growth for a very long time. This isn't about just replacing a Democrat with a Republican now. It's about actually challenging the status quo of big government. Big government has created a big business called politics. And there are lots of people invested in the status quo of that big business called politics. Specifically, we need actually to do five things to really get this economy going again. We need to go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dollar is being spent, we can challenge any dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. We need to actually reform the tax code. Go to a three-page tax code. Yes, there are plans that would reform our tax code to three pages. In addition to rolling back what President Obama has done, we need to do a top-to-bottom review of every single regulation on the books. That hasn't been done in 50 years. We need to pass the +p861 +aVWell, first Obamacare has to be repealed because it's failing... ...it's failing the very people it was intended to help, but, also, it is croney-capitalism at its worst. Who helped write this bill? Drug companies, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, every single one of those kinds of companies are bulking up to deal with big government. See, that's what happens. As government gets bigger, and bigger \u2014 and it has been for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike \u2014 and business have to bulk up to deal with big government. So, we have to repeal it. It's tens of thousands of pages long, no one can possible understand it except the big companies, the lawyers, the accountants, the lobbyists that they hire to protect their interests. Then, we have to give back to states the responsibility to manage a high risk pool. We need to try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried. Health insurance has always been a cozy, little game between regulators and health insurance companies. We need to try the free market. The free market. Where people actually have to compete. And, we 'ought to have the government ensure that you must \u2014 and I don't use that term often, that government 'ought to do something, but every healthcare provider 'ought to publish its costs, its prices, its outcomes, because as patients we don't know what we're buying. Now, let me just say \u2014 let me just say, I know more about innovation and entrepreneurship than anyone on this panel because I have led innovative businesses in the most highly competitive industry in the world for decades. The truth is the secret sauce of America is innovation, and entrepreneurship, it is why we must cut our government down to size, and hold it accountable. It's why we have to take our government back, because innovation and entrepreneurship is crushed by the crushing load of a 73,000 page tax code. It is crushed... ...by regulatory thicket that is so vast we don't even know what's in it anymore. It is crushed as well by government bureaucrats who don't do their jobs very well, and who are not held accountable, which is why I've said we got to take our government back, and to do that, we have to know where every dollar being spent, and be able to move any dollar. We have to hack through this regulatory thicket, repeal so much, but, also, know what's in that regulatory thicket \u2014 we don't even know what regulations have been passed. Third, we need to build a meritocracy \u2014 Scott Walker, by the way, is trying now to do in Wisconsin... ...Finally, we need to get to a three page tax code, and, yes, that plan exists. +p862 +aVSorry, I can't hear you. +p863 +aV...Absolutely... +p864 +aV...You need to give... +p865 +aVThe alternative is to allow states to manage high risk pools for those who really need help. Look, I'm a cancer survivor, OK? I understand that you cannot have someone who's battled cancer just become known as a pre-existing condition. I understand that you cannot allow families to go bankrupt if they truly need help. But, I also understand that Obamacare isn't helping anyone. We're throwing more, and more people into Medicaid, and fewer, and fewer doctors are taking those payments. The point is Obamacare is crushing small businesses, it is not helping the families it was intended to help. So, let us allow states to manage high risk pools. Let us try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried, the free market. Let us ensure that as patients, and customers... +p866 +aV...that we have information to shop wisely for our health care. +p867 +aV...Yes, the middle ground is this... +p868 +aV...This is why \u2014 this is why we must combine, actually, zero-based budgeting with tax reform because unless we can examine, and cut, and move, every single dollar of discretionary spending in the federal government, we cannot reform taxes and reduce spending at the same time. Ask yourself this question, how is it possible that the federal government gets more money each and every year, which the federal government has been doing, receiving more money every year for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike, and yet, never has enough money to do the important things? The answer? All the money's always spoken for. All the money's spoken for. So, we have to go to zero-based budgeting, which is a simple idea \u2014 by the way, there's been a bill for zeros-based (ph) budgeting... ...It exists, it can be voted on. Every dollar must be examined. Any dollar can be cut. Any dollar can be cut, any dollar can be moved. We have to go to a three page tax code. You lower every rate, you close every loophole, why? Because the government uses the tax code to decide winners, and losers. You have to strip the corruption out of the tax code to pay for it. You have to know where every single dollar is being spent... +p869 +aV...Cut where you need to, and invest where you need to... +p870 +aV...The two go hand in hand... +p871 +aVYou know, Mr. Trump fancies himself a very good negotiator. And, I accept that he's done a lot of good deals, so, Mr. Trump 'ought to know that we should not speak to people from a position of weakness. Senator Paul should know that as well. One of the reasons I've said that I would not be talking to Vladimir Putin right now, although I have met him as well, not in a green room for a show, but in a private meeting. One of the reasons I've said I wouldn't be talking to Vladimir Putin right now is because we are speaking to him from a position of weakness brought on by this administration, so, I wouldn't talk to him for awhile, but, I would do this. I would start rebuilding the Sixth Fleet right under his nose, rebuilding the military \u2014 the missile defense program in Poland right under his nose. I would conduct very aggressive military exercises in the Baltic States so that he understood we would protect our +p872 +aV...we have the strongest military on the face of the planet, and everyone has to know it. +p873 +aV...Ronald Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. +p874 +aV...he walked away, he quit talks... +p875 +aV...when it was time to quit talking... +p876 +aVCan I just \u2014 could I just say, as a chief executive who's had to make tough calls to save jobs and to grow jobs, I think what's interesting about Dodd-Frank is it's a great example of how socialism starts. Socialism starts when government creates a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. Government created the problem. Government created the problem of a real estate boom. How did we create it? Under Republican and Democrats alike, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, everybody gathered together, Republicans and Democrats, and said, "home ownership is part of the American dream. Let's create a bubble," and then government stepped in \u2014 by the way, under president George W. Bush, banks were told \u2014 encouraged \u2014 told, really \u2014 to buy other banks, to take money. And now what do we have with Dodd-Frank? The classic of crony capitalism. The big have gotten bigger, 1,590 community banks have gone out of business, and on top of all that, we've created something called the Consumer Financial Production Bureau, a vast bureaucracy with no congressional oversight that's digging through hundreds of millions of your credit records to detect fraud. This is how socialism starts, ladies and gentlemen. We must take our government back. +p877 +aVImagine a Clinton presidency. Our military will continue to deteriorate. Our veterans will not be cared for. And, no, Mrs. Clinton, that situation is not exaggerated. The rich will get richer. The poor will get poorer. The middle class will continue to get crushed. And as bad as that picture is, what's even worse is that a Clinton presidency will corrode the character of this nation. Why? Because of the Clinton way: Say whatever you have to, lie as long as you can get away with it. We must beat Hillary Clinton. Carly Fiorina can beat Hillary Clinton. I will beat Hillary Clinton. And under a President Fiorina, we will restore the character of this nation, the security of this nation, the prosperity of this nation, because as citizens, we will take our government back. +p878 +aVWell, gee, after the last debate, I was told that I didn't smile enough. +p879 +aVBut I also think that these are very serious times; 75 percent of the American people think the federal government is corrupt. I agree with them. And this big powerful, corrupt bureaucracy works now only for the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected. Meantime, wages have stagnated for 40 years. We have more Americans out of work or just Americans who quit looking for work for 40 years. Ours was intended to be a citizen government. This is about more than replacing a D with an R. We need a leader who will help us take our government back. +p880 +aVLet me just say on taxes, how long have we been talking about tax reform in Washington, D.C.? We have been talking about it for decades. We now have a 73,000-page tax code. There have been more than 4,000 changes to the tax plan since 2001 alone. There are loads of great ideas, great conservative ideas from wonderful think tanks about how to reform the tax code. The problem is we never get it done. We have talked about tax reform in every single election for decades. It never happens. And the politicians always say it is so complicated, nobody but a politician can figure it out. The truth is this, the big problem, we need a leader in Washington who understands how to get something done, not to talk about it, not to propose it, to get it done. +p881 +aVThat's right, three pages. +p882 +aVYou know why three? +p883 +aVNo. You know why three? Because only if it's about three pages are you leveling the playing field between the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected who can hire the armies of lawyers and accountants and, yes, lobbyists to help them navigate their way through 73,000 pages. Three pages is about the maximum that a single business owner or a farmer or just a couple can understand without hiring somebody. Almost 60 percent of American people now need to hire an expert to understand their taxes. So yes, you're going to hear a lot of talk about tax reform \u2014 +p884 +aV\u2014 the issue is who is going to get it done. +p885 +aVYou know, the +p886 +aVWell, this is one of the reasons why Tom Perkins and I had disagreements in the boardroom, Becky. Nevertheless, one of the things that I think people don't always understand is how accountable a CEO actually is. So you know, I had to report results every 90 days in excruciating detail. I had to answer every single question about every single result and every single projection in public until there were no more questions. And if I misrepresented those results or those projections in any way, I was held criminally liable. Imagine \u2014 imagine \u2014 if a politician were held to that standard of account. I will run on my record all day long. And I believe people need a leader who is prepared to make tough calls in tough times and stand up... +p887 +aV...and be held accountable. +p888 +aVYou know, I want to go back for a moment to what we were just talking about. Crony capitalism is alive and well, and has been so in Washington, D.C. for decades. What's crony capitalism? Crony capitalism is what happens when government gets so big and so powerful that only the big and the powerful can handle it. So why are the pharmaceutical companies consolidating? Why are there five even bigger Wall Street banks now, instead of the ten we used to have on Wall Street? Because when government gets big and powerful, the big feel like they need to get even bigger to deal with all that power, and meanwhile, the small and the powerless \u2014 in this case, 1,590 community banks \u2014 go out of business. You see, folks, this is how socialism starts. Government causes a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. This is why, fundamentally, we have to take our government back. The student loan problem has been created by government. Government trying to level the playing field between Internet and brick-and-mortar creates a problem. The FCC jumping in now and saying, "we're going to put 400 pages of regulation over the Internet," is going to create massive problems. But guess who pushed for that regulation? The big Internet companies. This is what's going on. Big and powerful use big and powerful government to their advantage. It's why you see Walgreens buying Rite Aid. It's why you see the pharmaceuticals getting together. It's you see the health insurance companies getting together. It's why you see the banks consolidating. And meanwhile, small businesses are getting crushed. Community- based businesses and farms are getting crushed. Community banks are going out of business. Big government favors the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected, and crushes the small and the powerless. +p889 +aVIt is why we have to simplify. It is why we have to reduce the size and power of government. +p890 +aVIt's the only way to level the playing field between big and powerful and small and powerless. +p891 +aVBecky, it is the height of hypocrisy for Mrs. Clinton to talk about being the first woman President, when every single policy she espouses, and every single policy of President Obama has been demonstrably bad for women. 92 percent \u2014 92 percent of the jobs lost during Barack Obama's first term belonged to women. Senator Cruz is precisely right. Three million women have fallen into poverty under this administration. The number of women \u2014 +p892 +aV\u2014 living in extreme poverty is the highest level on record. I am a conservative because I know our values, our principles and our policies \u2014 +p893 +aV\u2014 work better to lift everyone up, men and women. +p894 +aVNo, the Federal Government should not play a larger role. Look, every time the Federal Government gets engaged in something it gets worse. And then the Government steps in to try and solve the problem and we get a little further down to that progressive vision that Hillary Clinton is talking about. Companies should, if they want to attract the best workers, provide a good set of benefits. But honestly, if you're a small business owner today you are being crushed. We have 400,000 small businesses forming every year in this country. How great is that? They are employing themselves, they are potentially employing others. The bad news is, we have 470,000 going out of business every year. And why? They cite Obamacare. They are refusing to... +p895 +aVI think it's a wonderful that that businesses start a 401(k). The point I'm making is this, the Federal Government should not be in a lot of things. There is no Constitutional role for the Federal Government in setting up \u2014 retirement plans. There is no Constitutional role for the Federal Government to be setting minimum wages... +p896 +aV... The more the Government gets engaged in the economy, the slower the economy becomes. The more the Government gets engaged in the economy, it is demonstrably true... +p897 +aV... The more the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected are advantaged. +p898 +aVJohn, I \u2014 if I \u2014 a lot of people have jumped in here. I'd like to jump in. A lot of people have jumped in here. +p899 +aVI understand. +p900 +aVI would just say that... ... I would just say this, we've heard a lot of great ideas up here, and I agree with what Senator Rubio said. Every election we talk about this. Every election we talk about Medicare and Social Security reform. It never happens. I would like to start with a basic. Let us actually go to zero- based budgeting so we know where the money is being spent. It's kind of basic. There is a bill sitting in the House that would actually pass and have us go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dime of your money is being spent instead of only talking about how much more we're going to spend year after year after year. My point is this. While there are lots of good ideas for reform, we have never tackled the basics. And we finally need to tackle the basics to cut this government down to size and hold it accountable. So let's start by knowing where your money is being spent by the federal government. +p901 +aVYou know, every election we hear a lot of talk. We hear a lot of good plans. We hear actually a lot of good intentions. But somehow for decades, nothing really has changed. What we need now is a proven leader who has produced results. That's how you go from secretary to CEO. You lead and you produce results. I will cut this government down to size and hold it accountable, simplify the tax code, roll back the regulations that have been spewing out of Washington, D.C. for 50 years. I may not be your dream candidate just yet, but I can assure you I am Hillary Clinton's worst nightmare. And in your heart of hearts, you cannot wait to see a debate between Hillary Clinton and Carly Fiorina. I will tell you this, I will beat Hillary Clinton. And with your vote and your support and your prayers, I will lead with the citizens of this great nation the resurgence of this great nation. +p902 +asVBUSH +p903 +(lp904 +VRight. +p905 +aVNot on specific issues, not at all. I think the next president \u2014 if I'm president, I will appoint people \u2014 I'll nominate people that have a proven record in the judiciary. The problem in the past has been we have appointed people thinking you can get it through the Senate because they didn't have a record. And the problem is that sometimes we're surprised. The simple fact is the next president needs to appoint someone with a proven conservative record, similar to Justice Scalia, that is a lover of liberty, that believes in limited government, that consistently applied that kind of philosophy, that didn't try to legislator from the bench, that was respectful of the Constitution. And then fight and fight, and fight for that nomination to make sure that that nomination passes. Of course, the president, by the way, has every right to nominate Supreme Court justices. I'm an Article II guy in the Constitution. We're running for the president of the United States. We want a strong executive for sure. But in return for that, there should be a consensus orientation on that nomination, and there's no doubt in my mind that Barack Obama will not have a consensus pick when he submits that person to the Senate. +p906 +aVYes. +p907 +aVNo, it doesn't, and that's the problem. The lack of leadership in this country by Barack Obama, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, thinking that this is a policy that works, this policy of containment with +p908 +aVThe very basic fact is that Vladimir Putin is not going to be an ally of the United States. The whole world knows this. It's a simple, basic fact. They're not taking out \u2014 they're not even attempting to take out +p909 +aV... Let me finish... +p910 +aV... This is ridiculous... +p911 +aV... This is coming from a guy who gets his foreign policy from the shows. +p912 +aV... This is a guy who thinks that Hillary Clinton is a great negotiator in Iran... +p913 +aV... This is a man who insults his way to the nomination... +p914 +aVI think it's my turn, isn't it? +p915 +aVI've got about five or six... +p916 +aVDo I get to do it five or six times or just once, responding to that? +p917 +aVSo here's the deal. I'm sick and tired of Barack Obama blaming my brother for all of the problems that he has had. And, frankly, I could care less about the insults that Donald Trump gives to me. It's blood sport for him. He enjoys it. And I'm glad he's happy about it. But I am sick and tired... +p918 +aVI am sick and tired of him going after my family. My dad is the greatest man alive in my mind. And while Donald Trump was building a reality TV show, my brother was building a security apparatus to keep us safe. And I'm proud of what he did. And he has had the gall to go after my brother. +p919 +aVHe has had the gall to go after my mother. Hold on. Let me finish. He has had the gall to go after my mother. +p920 +aVLook, I won the lottery when I was born 63 years ago, looked up, and I saw my mom. My mom is the strongest woman I know. +p921 +aVThis is not about my family or his family. This is about the South Carolina families that need someone to be a commander in chief that can lead. I'm that person. +p922 +aVCan I just... +p923 +aVI'm not going to invite Donald Trump to the rally in Charleston on Monday afternoon when my brother is coming to speak. +p924 +aVI'm rescinding the invitation. I thought you might want to come, but I guess not. +p925 +aVI'd like \u2014 can I \u2014 can I... +p926 +aVLook, I admire the fact that Governor Kasich is supporting spending more money on drug treatment and mental health. I think that's a high priority all across this country, but expanding Obamacare is what we're talking about, and Obamacare's expansion, even though the federal government is paying for the great majority of it, is creating further debt on the backs of our children and grandchildren. We should be fighting Obamacare, repealing Obamacare, replacing it with something totally different. When I was \u2014 as a private citizen, Florida was confronted with the choice. The governor was supportive of doing what John did. So was the Florida Senate. A committed speaker of the House asked me to go as a private citizen to make the case against the expansion. I did, and it wasn't expanded there, just as it wasn't expanded in South Carolina under Governor Haley. +p927 +aVSouth Carolina \u2014 South Carolinians need to know this, because the Cato Institute, which grades governors based on their spending, rank him right at the bottom. +p928 +aVAnd Governor Haley is ranked at the top. +p929 +aVNo. He mentioned my name. +p930 +aVLet me finish, though. No, no, no \u2014 hey, wait, wait, wait. Just hold, Major, hold, Major. Hold on, Major. +p931 +aVSouth Carolinians want to make that, they elect the most conservative governor or candidate that can win. +p932 +aVOf course not. It won't have an impact on hedge funds managers paying ordinary income. In fact, it's not just hedge fund people, but people that are doing \u2014 they're in the business of investing other people's money, getting capital gains treatment is not appropriate. They should be paying ordinary income. That's their business. They're grateful to be able to make a lot of money, I'm sure. And what we do is lower the rates. It's not the end of the world that private equity people and hedge fund folks that are, right now, getting capital gains treatment for the income they earn, pay ordinary income like everybody else in this room. That's not a problem at all. What we need to do is reform the tax code to simplify the rates, to shift power away from Washington, D.C. That's what I did as governor of the state of Florida, $19 billion dollars of tax cuts, and it stimulated seven out of the eight years. Florida led the nation in job growth. +p933 +aVThank you. +p934 +aVGreat question. I feel like I have to get into my inner Chris Christie, and point out that the reason why I should be president is listening to two senators talk about arcane amendments to bills that didn't pass. This is \u2014 this is the problem. We need a leader to fix this problem. And I have a detailed plan to do just that, including controlling the border, dealing with the visa over-stayers, making sure that we have a path to legal status, not to citizenship, for those that come out from the shadows and pay a fine, learn English, don't commit crimes, work and pay taxes. That is the better approach. +p935 +aVThe great majority of people that come to this country come because they have no other choice. They want to come to provide for their families. That doesn't mean it's right. That doesn't mean it's right. We should pick who comes to our country. We should control our border. Coming here legally should be a lot easier than coming here illegally. But the motivation, they're not all rapists, as you-know-who said. They're not that. These are people that are coming to provide for their families. And we should show a little more respect for the fact that they're struggling. It doesn't mean we shouldn't be controlling the border. That's exactly what we should be doing. +p936 +aV... So, you know......This is the standard operating procedure, to disparage me. That's fine... +p937 +aV... But, if you want to talk about weakness, you want to talk about weakness? It's weak to disparage women. +p938 +aVIt's weak to denigrate the disabled. And,it's really weak to call John McCain a loser because he was a... +p939 +aV... That is outrageous. The guy's an American hero. +p940 +aV... The simple fact is I've also laid out my plans on immigration... +p941 +aV Just, for the record make sure my mother's listening, if she's watching the debate. I didn't say that I was going to moon somebody... +p942 +aVSo, there \u2014 so, there is all sorts of intrigue about where I disagree with my brother, there would be one right there. You should not use eminent domain for private purposes. A baseball stadium or a parking lot for a limo... +p943 +aVIt's very different. Transmission lines, pipe lines, bridges and highways. All of that is proper use of imminent domain. Not to take an elderly woman's home to build a parking lot so that high-rollers can come from New York City to build casinos in Atlantic City. +p944 +aVMy name was mentioned twice. +p945 +aVHe called me a liar. +p946 +aVAlso, he talked about one of my heroes, Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan was a liberal maybe in the 1950s. He was a conservative reformed governor for eight years before he became president, and no one should suggest he made an evolution for political purposes. He was a conservative, and he didn't tear down people like Donald Trump is. He tore down the Berlin Wall. +p947 +aVHe was a great guy. +p948 +aVThat was me. +p949 +aVYeah, well, I have got to respond to this. +p950 +aVSounds like a good plan. +p951 +aVOr you could ask me two questions, so I could get two minutes instead of one. +p952 +aVI think the dysfunction in Washington is really dangerous, that's what I think. And we need a proven leader that has a record of solving problems, someone who doesn't cut and run; someone who could be a commander in chief to unite our country around common purposes; someone who doesn't disparage people. Someone that doesn't brag, for example, that he has been bankrupt four times and it was great, because he could use the legal system. Someone... +p953 +aVWe need someone with a proven record to be able to forge consensus to solve problems. And right now, both Republicans and Democrats in Washington don't get it. People are struggling \u2014 63 percent of Americans can't make a $500 car payment. Most Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. And we need someone has a proven record of growing the economy, reforming the things that are broken. And I'm that person. +p954 +aVYeah... +p955 +aVYeah. +p956 +aVHere we go. +p957 +aVHere's the record. Here's the record. We led the nation in job growth seven out of eight years. When I left there was $9 billion of reserves, 35 percent of general revenue. No state came close to that. +p958 +aVWhen I \u2014 during my time, we were one of the two states to go to AAA bond rating. We didn't go bankrupt like Trump did and call it success when people are laid off, when vendors don't get paid. That's not success. What we did was create an environment where people had a chance to have income. Personal income during my time went up by 4.4 percent. +p959 +aVThe government grew by... +p960 +aV... half of that. +p961 +aVThank you all very much. The next president is going to be confronted with an unforeseen challenge. That's almost certain. It could be a pandemic, a major natural disaster or an attack on our country. The question for South Carolinians and Americans is who do you want to have sitting behind the big desk in the Oval Office? Because that's the question. It's not the things we're talking about today. It's the great challenge that may happen. I believe I will have a steady hand as commander in chief and president of the United States. I will unite this country around common purposes because I did it as governor of the state of Florida. When I was governor, we had eight hurricanes and four tropical storms in 16 months. Our state was on its back. We recovered far faster than what people thought because we led. We want to challenge rather than cutting and running. That's what we need in Washington, D.C. We need someone with a servant's heart that has a backbone, that isn't going to focus on polls and focus groups. The focus will be on the American people to keep them safe and secure. I ask for your vote next Saturday. +p962 +aVChris, why don't you mention my name so I can get into this. +p963 +aV... I appreciate that, I really do, thank you. +p964 +aVWell, first of all he said the exact same thing about me, that I would make a great Vice Presidential nominee when Mitt Romney was considering. I said the same thing about Marco. I think we were both right at the time, and Mitt picked somebody else. So, let's move on to the 2016 race. Who has the leadership skills... ...who has the leadership skills to lead? And, I'm proud of the fact that I have 12 Medal of Honor recipients, over 30 admirals and generals that believe that I would be a steady hand as Commander in Chief. That I serve as Governor of the state of Florida where we cut taxes and reduced government. I took on very powerful interests, forged consensus, fought for my beliefs, implemented them and the state was better off. We had eight hurricanes and four tropical storms in 16 months. The whole state was turned upside down. It required a steady hand. Leadership. You learn this, you learn it by doing it. It's not something that you just go up, and on the job do it. It's not the same. Look, let's be clear. Marco Rubio is a gifted, gifted politician, and he may have the skills to be a President of the United States, but we've tried it the old way with Barack Obama, with soaring eloquence and we got \u2014 we didn't get a leader we got someone who wants to divide the country up. The next President......going to have to forge consensus to bring about a set of common purposes so that we can move forward again in this country... +p965 +aV... this relates to strategic patience. +p966 +aVThis relates to the strategic patience of the Obama administration. They come up with these great marketing terms, and what they do is they pull back, and voids are filled, and they're now filled by asymmetric threats of terror, as well as nation-states on the run. The next president of the United States is gonna have to get the United States back in the game, and if a preemptive strike is necessary to keep us safe, then we should do it. +p967 +aVWell, first of all, it's interesting that that happened literally days when this hostage release took place in Iran. A day or two days afterwards, North Korea took a \u2014 held an American student hostage. I think it's when we send a signal of weakness, when we are negotiating to release people that committed crimes in our country for people that didn't commit crimes that are held hostage in Iran. We saw the shameful treatment of our sailors, that this creates weakness \u2014 sends a signal of weakness around the world. The next president of the United States is going to have to get back in the game. Where the United States' word matters. Where we back up our allies, where we don't send signals of weakness. We need to use every \u2014 every influence possible to get this student back. And I think John is right about this, there are crippling sanctions that are available, as it relates to the two or three banks that North Korea uses to \u2014 to \u2014 use it \u2014 illicit trade. We ought to re-establish sanctions, not just because of the student, but because of their actions that they're taking right now, as it relates to building this missile capability. +p968 +aVGood evening. HAM: Mr. Trump. +p969 +aVThe difference \u2014 the difference between eminent domain for public purpose \u2014 as Donald said, roads and infrastructure, pipelines and all that \u2014 that's for public purpose. But what Donald Trump did was use eminent domain to try to take the property of an elderly woman on the strip in Atlantic City. That is not public purpose, that is down right wrong. And here's the problem with that. The problem was, it was to tear down \u2014 it was to tear down \u2014 it was to tear down the house... +p970 +aVAnd the net result was \u2014 you tried. +p971 +aVAnd you lost in the court. +p972 +aVThat is not true. And the simple fact is to turn this into a limousine parking lot for his casinos is a not public use. And in Florida, based on what we did, we made that impossible. It is part of our Constitution. That's the better approach. That is the conservative approach. +p973 +aVHow tough it is to take away property from an elderly woman? +p974 +aVHow tough it is to take away a property from an elderly woman? +p975 +aVI consider it a public use. +p976 +aVIt's a public use. It's a public use. +p977 +aVIt's a public use. +p978 +aVYeah. +p979 +aVIt's a public use. +p980 +aVEstablished by the courts \u2014 federal, state courts. +p981 +aVI would like to see more millionaires. I think we need to grow more millionaires, we need create a prosperity society where people can rise up. This notion that somehow we're undertaxed as a nation is just fool hearty, when we have entitlements growing far faster than our ability to pay for it. A conservative, because that's the point of this, believes in limited government, believes in a entrepreneurial capitalism and a strong national defense. But it also has to be, we need to reform things. In my town hall meetings, I went to a place where a woman described her neighbor, who has a better economic deal by not working than her struggling to make ends meet. We need to be on the side of working people. And you know, the problem with the left is, another tax, another regulation, another mandate makes it harder for them to rise up. Everything that we should do should be focused on high, sustained economic growth, where the middle class gets a raise for the first time, and where people are rewarded for work, rather than non-work. And I know how to do this. And if people are interested in the specifics of this, they ought to go to jeb2016.com. +p982 +aVMartha \u2014 Martha, if I... +p983 +aVI would. And I would do it in concert, again, with our Arab allies and with Europe, most particularly in this case. This is the lesson learned: in history, if you bomb something and not do anything as it relates to deal with the aftermath of this, if you don't have a stable government, you get what we have in Libya. And this is not \u2014 leading from behind is not an effective policy. We have to lead. Without the United States, nothing seems to work. Europe doesn't have the ability to \u2014 to \u2014 to lead \u2014 forward lead in this regard. And so dealing with the caliphate is important, because it now has spawned other areas. There have been 70-plus attacks in 17 countries, either inspired by +p984 +aVMartha and David, I just... +p985 +aVMartha and David... +p986 +aVNo, no, I wouldn't. No, I wouldn't. And it was used sparingly, Congress has changed the laws and I \u2014 and I think where we stand is the appropriate place. But what we need to do is to make sure that we expand our intelligence capabilities. The idea that we're going to solve this fight with predator drones, killing people somehow is a \u2014 is more acceptable than capturing them, securing the information. This is why closing Guantanamo is a complete disaster. What we need to do is make sure that we are kept safe......by having intelligence capabilities, both human and technological intelligence capabilities far superior than what we have today. That's how you get a more safe place is by making sure that we're fully engaged. And right now, this administration doesn't do that. +p987 +aVThis is a \u2014 this is an important subject. I agree with everything that's been said here about repealing unconstitutional rules and rules that are creating real burdens for investing that creating jobs. But we also ought to get back to being a Tenth Amendment country, as well, a country that respects the states to be able to make more decisions. And in the Bush administration, we would shift transportation dollars back to the states. I trust Kasich and Christie to build the roads and the infrastructure of their states than Washington, D.C. EPA delegated authority, back to the states. Education dollars, back to the states. I would like to see reform take place all across the country, where there's more vouchers, more freedom. If we did that, we would shrink government's power in Washington, D.C. and we would have a much more effective government, where people would begin to trust our government again, because now, no one believes it works. +p988 +aVYou mentioned me. He mentioned me. One other thing that I think we ought to do, along with repealing Obamacare, we need to shift all of this power of healthcare, which is the most egregious form of federal power that is suppressing wages and incomes, and allow governors to have the Medicaid plans so that they can create 21st century Medicaid insurance for people that are stuck in poverty. There's so much that can be done, but I don't trust Washington to do it. I trust the state capitals to be the place \u2014 to be the source of innovation and reform in this country. HAM: Thank you, governors. Martha and David, back to you. +p989 +aVI didn't mention him the second time. +p990 +aV... Say it again? +p991 +aV... I do, and I do think that we should not impose any kind of political agenda on the military. There should be \u2014 if women can meet the requirements, the minimum requirements for combat service they ought to have the right to do it. For sure. It ought to be focused on the morale as well. We got to make sure that we have readiness much higher than we do today. We need to eliminate the sequester which is devastating our military. We can't be focusing on the political side of this, we need to realize that our military force is how we project our word in the world. When we're weak militarily it doesn't matter what we say. We can talk about red lines, and +p992 +aV... Why would they worry about it... +p993 +aV... Well, the Draft's not going to be reinstituted, but why \u2014 if women are accessing... +p994 +aVNo. I didn't say that. You \u2014 you asked a question not about the draft, you asked about registering. And if women are going to be... +p995 +aVIf \u2014 but... +p996 +aV... we don't have a draft. I'm not suggesting we have a draft. What I'm suggesting is that we ought to have readiness being the first priority of our military, and secondly, that we make sure that the morale is high. And right now, neither one of those are acceptable because we've been gutting the military budget. We also need to reform our procurement process. We need to make sure there are more men and women in uniform than people \u2014 than civilians in our Defense Department. There's a lot of things that we need to reform to bring our defense capabilities into the 21st century and I'm the guy that could do that. That's why I have the support of generals, of admirals, of 12 Medal of Honor recipients and many other people that know that I would be a steady commander-in-chief and rebuild our military. +p997 +aVI totally agree that we need to give veterans more choices. A veterans card to be able to go to a private provider will enhance the quality of the service inside the Department of Veterans Affairs. We need career civil service reform. Only three people were fired after waiting lists were dropped where veterans didn't get care and people died. It is outrageous. And Hillary Clinton says that that's acceptable? Because she is captive of the public service uniforms. Career civil service reform would allow the next president to fire people that are \u2014 that are showing sheer incompetence. At a town hall meeting today, someone came \u2014 told a story of their father who looked like he was 85. He had \u2014 he got a bill eight years later from an operation he had, eight years it took. They couldn't resolve the dispute and then he was told that he died. Literally, the Veterans Administration sent a death certificate to this guy and it took nine months to clarify the guy \u2014 I met him. He's voting for me. And he is \u2014 likely to be alive. This is \u2014 this is outrageous. It is completely outrageous. So, giving veterans more choices, creating centers of excellence, focusing on the true problems that exist. Dr. Carson is completely right. We need to start focusing on this earlier, before they become veterans so that there's a customized plan so people don't fall through the cracks. We can do this, but it's going to require someone who has proven leadership skills to make it happen. +p998 +aVLook, I'm pro-life. In fact, on this stage, I'm the most pro-life person because I've acted on it for eight years as governor of the state of Florida. Where we abolished partial-birth abortion, where parents have the right to be notified when their teenage child is having an abortion. We were the first state to do a choose life license plate to raise money for adoption. We were the first state to have state monies go to crisis pregnancy centers, which recently was just increased to $4 million a year. We created greater regulation on abortion clinics, where there were horrific procedures. So I'm pro life, but I believe there should be exceptions: rape, incest and when the life of the mother is in danger. And so, that belief, and my consistency on this, makes me, I think, poised to be in the right place, the sweet spot for a Republican nominee. And others may have a different view and I respect it. +p999 +aVPeyton Manning is supporting me. And I'm for Denver. +p1000 +aVI want to thank the people of New Hampshire, and I want to celebrate the birthday of a great president, Ronald Reagan would have been 105 today. President Reagan believed in the future of our country, believed in its greatness, had a hopeful, optimistic message. Drew people towards our cause. We need someone who has a proven record to take our case to the American people because our philosophy is by far the best one. Limited government, entrepreneurial capitalism, of peace through strength. I believe I have the skills to take our party to victory in November. I ask for your support on Tuesday to keep America, and make America a safer, stronger, and freer. Thank you all very much. +p1001 +aVBret, we're just starting. The first vote hasn't been counted. Why don't we let the process work. I trust Iowans, Granite staters, people in South Carolina, people in Nevada, to start this process out. I kind of miss Donald Trump. He was a little teddy bear to me. We always had such a loving relationship in these debates and in between and the tweets. I kind of miss him. I wish he was here. Everybody else was in the witness protection program when I went after him on behalf of what the Republican cause should be: conservative principles, believing in limited government, believing in accountability. Leading by fixing the things that are broken. Look, I am in the establishment because my dad, the greatest man alive was president of the United States and my brother, who I adore as well as fantastic brother was president. Fine, I'll take it. I guess I'm part of the establishment Barbara Bush is my mom. I'll take that, too. But this election is not about our pedigree, this is an election about people that are really hurting. We need a leader that will fix things and have a proven record to do it. And we need someone who will take on Hillary Clinton in November. Someone who has a proven record, who has been tested, who is totally transparent. I released 34 years of tax returns... ... and 300,000 e-mails in my government record. To get the information from Hillary Clinton, you need to get a subpoena from the FBI. +p1002 +aVNo, you weren't. Your name wasn't mentioned, Ted. +p1003 +aV... Chris, keep it coming... +p1004 +aV... Thank you Chris... +p1005 +aVWell, first, I was critical of the Senators not giving the authorization for the use of military force. They should have made it more open ended for the next president. We shouldn't have the war fighters have their arms tied behind their back as President Obama wanted to do, but they had a chance to show support and it wasn't popular at the time. It became popular after the attack in Paris, and San Bernardino. Now we hear the tough talk. Prior to that, in the Reagan Library, I gave a detailed plan. Exactly what to do as it relates to +p1006 +aVOf course. And there's all sorts of ways that can be done at the state, local and federal level to do that. But the first duty of the next president of the United States is to fix the mess at the Department of Veterans Affairs. That's his first responsibility. Look, we have waiting lists for veterans that are \u2014 that are leaving because of the sequester where we're gutting the military. More and more military personnel are leaving becoming veterans, and the waiting list grows. They've given out $140 million of bonuses to Veterans Department employees, including reducing the waiting lists, without giving veterans care. People died, and only three people have been fired. I will make sure that we fire the sheer incompetence inside the Department of Veterans Affairs and then we'll give veterans a choice card so that they don't have to travel hours and hours to get care if they want to go to their private provider. You want to make the Veterans Administration do a better job, give them \u2014 give veterans choices and you'll get a much better result. And as it relates to all the other organizations, let me give you a good example. In Houston, Texas, there's an organization in place because someone acted on their heart, wanted to make sure that there's no homeless veterans in Houston. And they've come pretty close to that without federal government assistance. We need to mobilize the entire country to treat our veterans and treat them with much more respect than they get today. +p1007 +aVNo, they shouldn't. And I believe that Puerto Rico ought to have the right of self-determination. If I was a Puerto Rican, I'd vote for statehood so that they have full citizenship. They serve in the military. They would have to pay federal taxes. They would \u2014 they would accept the responsibilities of full U.S. citizenship. But they should have the right of determine \u2014 self-determination. Before you get to that, though, Puerto Rico is going to have to deal with the structural problems they face. You know, it's \u2014 it's a fact that if you can pay for a $79 one-way ticket to Orlando, and you can escape the challenges of a declining economy and high crime rates, you move to Orlando. And a lot of people are doing that. And the spiraling out-of- control requires Puerto Rico to make structural reforms. The federal government can play a role in allowing them to do that, but they should not \u2014 the process of statehood or the status of Puerto Rico won't be solved until we get to the bigger issue of how you deal with the structural economic problems they're facing right now. +p1008 +aVWell, I'm kind of confused because he was the sponsor of the Gang of Eight bill that did require a bunch of thresholds but ultimately allowed for citizenship over an extended period of time. I mean, that's a fact. And he asked me to support that. And I \u2014 I supported him because I think people, when you're elected, you need to do things. And he led the charge to finally fix this immigration problem that has existed now for, as Marco says, for 30 years. And then he cut and run because it wasn't popular amongst conservatives, I guess. Here's what I believe. And I wrote a book about this called Immigration Wars. You can get it at $2.99 on Amazon. It's not a bestseller. I can promise you. There won't be any \u2014 you can get it. It's affordable for everybody. We should have a path to legal status for the 12 million people that are here illegally. It means, come out from the shadows, pay a fine, earn legal status by working, by paying taxes, learning English. Not committing crimes and earn legal status where you're not cutting in front of the line for people that are patiently waiting outside. I think that is the \u2014 I think that's the conservative consensus pragmatic approach to how to solve this problem. +p1009 +aVSo did you. +p1010 +aVYeah. So did you, Marco. +p1011 +aVMarco, Marco \u2014 he brought up my name. I have supported a consensus approach to solving this problem wherever it came up. and in 2007 it almost passed when my brother was president of the United States. A bipartisan approach got close. Barack Obama actually had the poison pill to stop it then. And when you led the charge with the Gang of Eight, I supported it because you asked me to. I think it's important for people in elected office to try to forge consensus to solve problems. There's never going do be perfect bill. +p1012 +aVBut when you didn't do that and you ask people to support, you shouldn't cut and run. +p1013 +aVYou should stick with it and that's exactly what happened. He cut and run. And that's a tragedy because now... ... it's harder and harder to actually solve this problem. +p1014 +aVCan I \u2014 can I \u2014 I just... +p1015 +aVThat beautiful young woman who's an entrepreneur who served in the military, first of all, is deserving of our respect for service in the military and the fact that she's an entrepreneur. And we should be a welcoming nation. Our identity is not based on race or ethnicity, it's based on a set of shared values. That's American citizenship. And Dulce Candy \u2014 a pretty cool name, actually \u2014 that is now an entrepreneur over Youtube is part of that American spirit, and we should celebrate it as conservatives. That's what we believe in. You can \u2014 you can deal with the threat of terror and also recognize that this country should be aspirational across the board. +p1016 +aVWell, first of all, I've seen polls where I'm beating Hillary Clinton pretty regularly. And I believe I can, because I have a proven record, a record of accomplishment, a record of cutting taxes, of shrinking the government, of reforming education, of challenging the status quo, eliminating career civil service protections, shrinking the government workforce by 11 percent, but leading the nation in job growth. That's the record of accomplishment that should be taken to Hillary Clinton, who has no record of accomplishment. So I'm confident if I win this nomination, I will aggressively go against her and beat her. As it relates to the super PACs, I have no control over that. And this is beanbag compared to what the Clinton hit machine is going to do to the Republican nominee. The simple fact is, we all have a record. It all will be scrutinized. There's give and take. It's called the politics. And that's the way it is. I'm running hard and I believe I'll be the Republican nominee and I'll be the one best suited to beat Hillary Clinton, who should not be president of the United States. +p1017 +aVWell first of all, I think it's important that when we're running for the highest office in the land that we recognize that we're living in dangerous times and we have to be serious about it, that our words have consequences. Donald Trump, for example \u2014 I'm glad \u2014 I mentioned his name again just if anybody was missing him... ... Mr. Trump believed that in reaction to people's fears that we should ban all Muslims. Well, that creates an environment that's toxic in our own country. Nobela is a rising entrepreneur. She wants to pursue the American dream. She's an American citizen. She should not feel uncomfortable about her citizenship. She's not the threat. The threat is Islamic terrorism. We need to focus our energies there, not these broad, blanket, kind of statements that will make it harder for us to deal with +p1018 +aVWe desperately need a conservative leader as president of the United States. I have a proven record as governor of the state of Florida, as a conservative leader. And I also have detailed plans to fix the mess in Washington, D.C. As president I will restore and rebuild our military, restore the alliances and keep us safe. And as our party's nominee, I will defeat Hillary Clinton in November. I ask for your support on the caucuses come Monday night and I will make you proud as our party's nominee. Thank you very much. +p1019 +aVWell first of all, the idea that somehow we're better off today than the day that Barack Obama was inaugurated president of the United States is totally an alternative universe. The simple fact is that the world has been torn asunder. Think about it. With grandiose language, the president talks about red lines and nothing to follow it up; talks about +p1020 +aVNo. And worse \u2014 worse yet, to be honest with you, Hillary Clinton would be a national security disaster. Think about it. She wants to continue down the path of Iran, Benghazi, the Russian reset, Dodd-Frank, all the things that have \u2014 that have gone wrong in this country, she would be a national security mess. And that is wrong. And you know what? Here's the problem. If she gets elected, she's under investigation with the FBI right now. If she gets elected, her first 100 days, instead of setting an agenda, she might be going back and forth between the White House and the courthouse. We need to stop that. +p1021 +aVNeil, my name was mentioned here. Neil, my name was mentioned as well. Here's the deal, Chris is totally right. He's been a good governor, and he's a heck of a lot better than his predecessor that would have bankrupted New Jersey. Everybody on this stage is better than Hillary Clinton. And I think the focus ought to be on making sure that we leave this nomination process, as wild and woolly as it's going to be \u2014 this is not being bad. These attack ads are going to be part of life. Everybody just needs to get used to it. Everybody's record's going to be scrutinized, and at the end of the day we need to unite behind the winner so we can defeat Hillary Clinton, because she is a disaster. Our country rise up again, but we need to have a compelling conservative agenda that we present to the American people in a way that doesn't disparage people, that unites us around our common purpose. And so everybody needs to discount some of the things you're going to hear in these ads, and discount the \u2014 the back-and-forth here, because every person here is better than Hillary Clinton. +p1022 +aVFirst of all, I'd like to recognize Governor Haley for her incredible leadership in the aftermath of the \u2014 \u2014 the Emanuel AME church killings. And I also want to recognize the people in that church that showed the grace of God and the grace of forgiveness and the mercy that they showed. I don't know if any of us could have done what they did, one after another, within 48 hours of that tragedy taking place. Look, here's the deal, in this particular case, the FBI made a mistake. The law itself requires a background check, but that didn't fulfill their part of the bargain within the time that they were supposed to do. We don't need to add new rules, we need to make sure the FBI does its job. Because that person should not have gotten a gun, should not \u2014 would not have passed a background check. The first impulse of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton is to take rights away from law- abiding citizens. That's what they do, whether it's the San Bernardino attack or if it's these tragedies that take place, I think we need to focus on what the bigger issue is. It isn't law-abiding gun owners. Look, I have an A plus rating in the NRA and we also have a reduction in gun violence because in Florida, if you commit a crime with a gun, you're going away. You're going away for a long, long while. And that's what we should focus on is the violence in our communities. Target the efforts for people that are committing crimes with guns, and if you do that, and get it right, you're going to be much better off than creating a political argument where there's a big divide. The other issue is mental health. That's a serious issue that we could work on. Republicans and Democrats alike believe this. The president's first impulse is do this by executive order, power he doesn't have. Why not go to Congress and in a bipartisan way, begin to deal with the process of mental health issues so that people that are spiraling out of control because of mental health challenges don't have access to guns. +p1023 +aVWell, first of all, under President Jeb Bush, we would restore the strength of the military. Last week, Secretary Carter announced that the Navy's going to be cut again. It's now half the size of what it was prior to Operation Desert Storm. The deployments are too high for the military personnel. We don't have procurement being done for refreshing the equipment. The B-52 is still operational as the long range bomber; it was inaugurated in the age of Harry Truman. The planes are older than the pilots. We're gutting our military, and so the Iranians and the Chinese and the Russians and many other countries look at the United States not as serious as we once were. We have to eliminate the sequester, rebuild our military in a way that makes it clear that we're back in the game. Secondly, as it relates to Iran, we need to confront their ambitions across the board. We should reimpose sanctions, they've already violated sanctions after this agreement was signed by testing medium-range missiles. Thirdly, we need to move our embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem to send a serious signal that we're back in the game with Israel......and sign an agreement that makes sure that the world knows that they will have technological superiority. We need to get back in the game as it relates to our Arab nations. The rest of the world is moving away from us towards other alliances because we are weak. This president and John Kerry and Hillary Clinton all have made it harder for the next president to act, but he must act to confront the ambitions of Iran. We can get back in the game to restore order and security for our own country. +p1024 +aVDonald, Donald \u2014 can I \u2014 I hope you reconsider this, because this policy is a policy that makes it impossible to build the coalition necessary to take out +p1025 +aVYeah, they are unhinged. +p1026 +aVNo, not at all, absolutely not. I can see why people are angry and scared, because this president has created a condition where our national security has weakened dramatically. I totally get that. But we're running for the presidency of the United States here. This isn't \u2014 this isn't, you know, a different kind of job. You have to lead. You cannot make rash statements and expect the rest of the world to respond as though, well, it's just politics. Every time we send signals like this, we send a signal of weakness, not strength. And so it was his statement, which is why I'm asking him to consider changing his views. +p1027 +aVSo, are we going to ban Muslims from India, from Indonesia, from countries that are strong allies \u2014 that we need to build better relationships with? Of course not. What we need to do is destroy +p1028 +aVAbsolutely. +p1029 +aVYeah. +p1030 +aVHere's \u2014 apart from the \u2014 apart from the higher prices on consumers and people are living paycheck to paycheck, apart from that, there will be retaliation. +p1031 +aVSo they soybean sales from Iowa, entire soybean production goes \u2014 the equivalent of it goes to China. Or how about Boeing right here within a mile? Do you think that the Chinese, if they had a 45 percent tariff imposed on all their imports wouldn't retaliate and start buying Airbus? Of course, they would. This would be devastating for the economy. We need someone with a steady hand being president of the United States. +p1032 +aVThey're a mile away from here. +p1033 +aVMy name was mentioned. My name was mentioned here. The simple fact is that the plane that's being build here is being sold to China. You can \u2014 if you \u2014 you flew in with your 767, didn't you? Right there, right next to the plant. +p1034 +aVWhen you head back to airport tonight, go check and see what the... +p1035 +aVCheck it out. +p1036 +aVThere's \u2014 look, there's \u2014 +p1037 +aVI would try to convince him otherwise, but this last back and forth between two senators \u2014 back bench senators, you know, explains why we have the mess in Washington, D.C. We need a president that will fix our immigration laws and stick with it, not bend with the wind. The simple fact is one of the ways, Maria, to solve the problem you described is narrow the number of people coming by family petitioning to what every other country has so that we have the best and the brightest that come to our country. We need to control the border, we need to do all of this in a comprehensive way, not just going back and forth and talking about stuff \u2014 +p1038 +aVOh, I'll talk about that, too. But you haven't asked me a question in a while, Neil, so I thought I'd get that off my chest if you don't mind. +p1039 +aVI got that. And the problem today is there's no confidence in Washington, D.C. There needs to be more than one meeting, there needs to complete dialogue with the large technology companies. They understand that there's a national security risk. We ought to give them a little bit of a liability release so that they share data amongst themselves and share data with the federal government, they're not fearful of a lawsuit. We need to make sure that we keep the country safe. This is the first priority. The cybersecurity challenges that we face, this administration failed us completely, completely. Not just the hacking of OPM, but that is \u2014 that is just shameful. 23 million files in the hands of the Chinese? So it's not just the government \u2014 the private sector companies, it's also our own government that needs to raise the level of our game. We should put the NSA in charge of the civilian side of this as well. That expertise needs to spread all across the government and there needs to be much more cooperation with our private sector. +p1040 +aVYou've got to keep asking. You've got to keep asking because this is a hugely important issue. If you can encrypt messages, +p1041 +aVWell, if the law would change, yeah. But I think there has to be recognition that if we \u2014 if we are too punitive, then you'll go to other \u2014 other technology companies outside the United States. And what we want to do is to control this. We also want to dominate this from a commercial side. So there's a lot of balanced interests. But the president leads in this regard. That's what we need. We need leadership, someone who has a backbone and sticks with things, rather than just talks about them as though anything matters when you're talking about amendments that don't even actually are part of a bill that ever passed. +p1042 +aVWho can you count on to keep us safer, stronger and freer? Results count, and as governor, I pushed Florida up to the top in terms of jobs, income and small business growth. Detailed plans count, and I believe that the plan I've laid out to destroy +p1043 +aVOur freedom is under attack. Our economy is under water. The leading democrat is under investigation. And America is under the gun to lead the free world to protect our civilized way of life. Serious times require strong leadership, that's what at stake right now. Regarding national security, we need to restore the defense cuts of Barack Obama to rebuild our military, to destroy +p1044 +aVWell, first of all, we need to destroy +p1045 +aVLook, he mentioned me. I can bring \u2014 I can talk. This is \u2014 this is the problem. Banning all Muslims will make it harder for us to do exactly what we need to do, which is to destroy +p1046 +aVThey are relevant if we want to destroy +p1047 +aVDonald, this has got... +p1048 +aVThis is another example of the lack of seriousness. Look, this is \u2014 this is troubling because we're at war. They've declared war on us and we need to have a serious strategy to destroy +p1049 +aVYou said on September 30th that +p1050 +aVI'm talking right now. I'm talking. +p1051 +aVSeptember 30th you said... +p1052 +aVA little of your own medicine there, Donald. +p1053 +aVDonald, you're not going to be able to insult your way to the presidency. That's not going to happen. And I do have the strength. Leadership, leadership is not about attacking people and disparaging people. Leadership is about creating a serious strategy to deal with the threat of our time. And I laid out that strategy before the attacks in Paris and before the attacks in San Bernardino. And it is the way forward. We need to increase our military spending. We need to deal with a no- fly zone in Syria, a safe zone. We need to focus on building a military that is second-to-none... +p1054 +aV... so that we can destroy Islamic terrorism. +p1055 +aVI think we're focusing a whole... +p1056 +aVI do. I think the lesson's learned are that we have to have to have a strategy to get and a strategy to get out. Which means, that you create a stable situation. This president and this is what the focus ought to be, it's not the differences between us, it's Barack Obama does not believe America's leadership in the world is a force for good. He does not believe that our strength is a place where security can take place. He leads from behind. He creates an environment that now we're creating the most unstable situation we've had since the World War II era. The focus ought to be on the single fact that Hillary Clinton wants to double down on a failed foreign policy and we need to be united to defeat that because we're going to be in a place that is far less secure than it is today. Don't you all agree? +p1057 +aVBecause I \u2014 first of all, I know what I don't know. I know what I don't know. I would seek out, as I have, the best advice that exists. I won't get my information from the shows. I don't know if that's Saturday morning or Sunday morning. I don't know which one. I will seek out the best advice, and I will create a strategy and I will persuade the American people what the role of America should be. I've laid out a policy of rebuilding our military. All of the talk that we're seeing here \u2014 most of which I agree on, frankly \u2014 requires a much stronger military. We now have a lack of readiness that is quite scary. We have planes that were \u2014 that Harry Truman inaugurated, the B-52. We have \u2014 the Navy has been gutted and decimated. The readiness of the Marines is way down. If we're serious about America's leadership in the world, then we need to make sure that we have the back of the armed forces. The Armed Forces Radio is here listening to this today. I hope they know that if I'm president, I'll be a commander-in-chief, not an agitator- in-chief or a divider-in-chief, that I will lead this country in a way that will create greater security and greater safety. +p1058 +aVSo I was \u2014 I was \u2014 I was mentioned, so I can bring up something, I think, right? Look, the simple fact is, if you think this is tough you're not being treated fairly... +p1059 +aV... imagine what it's going to be like dealing with Putin or dealing with President Xi. +p1060 +aVOr dealing with the Islamic terrorism that exists. +p1061 +aVThis is a tough business to run for president. +p1062 +aVAnd it's \u2014 and we need...... to have a leader that is... +p1063 +aVYou're never going to be president of the United States by insulting your way to the presidency. +p1064 +aVDoesn't matter. Doesn't matter. +p1065 +aVYes. +p1066 +aVNo it isn't but it is an important subject to talk about for sure. And I think people have good ideas on this. Clearly, we need to secure the border. Coming here legally needs to be a lot easier than coming here illegally. If you don't have that, you don't have the rule of law. We now have a national security consideration, public health issues, we have an epidemic of heroine overdoses in all places in this country because of the ease of bringing heroine in. We have to secure the border. It is a serious undertaking and yes, we do need more fencing and we do need to use technology, and we do need more border control. And we need to have better cooperation by the way with local law enforcement. There are 800,000 cops on the beat, they ought to be trained to be the eyes and ears for law enforcement for the threat against terror as well as for immigration. This is a serious challenge and if we can get it right, yes, we'll start winning votes again. The real problem isn't anybody on this stage, the real problem is Barack Obama has had six years to advocate a position to fix this and he's done nothing. The congress has funded these programs of building more fencing and doing all this and he hasn't done it. He wants to maintain it as a wedge issue and so does Hillary Clinton. Republicans need to fix it and when we do, we'll be better off. +p1067 +aVI completely agree with Chris. And this administration has been so lax. Think about it. Hillary Clinton is using a private server for \u2014 where classified information go by. This is a \u2014 this is a serious administration? The president receives an inspector general's report that the Office of Personnel Management could be hacked into; they had antiquated firewalls; 23 million files have been \u2014 are in the hands of the Chinese allegedly, including, by the way, members of the press, it turns out, last week. Maybe that's the only part that's good news, so that you guys can get a feel for what it's like now to see this type of attack. This is something \u2014 we have to have the best defensive capabilities. We need to coordinate all of our efforts with the private sector. We need to give them liability relief so that we can do that. And offensively, we need to have capabilities second to none. We need to create a situation where they know that there will be adverse impacts if they continue to do what they're doing. They'll respect that. They'll respect a United States that is serious about protecting our \u2014 our infrastructure. If we don't do it, we'll continue to see what's \u2014 exactly what's happening, not just from the Chinese, by the way. The Russians and rogue actors, including +p1068 +aVAsk yourself, which candidate will keep you and our country safer, stronger and freer? Hillary Clinton has aligned herself with Barack Obama on +p1069 +aVYou've already made two comments, John. It's my turn. +p1070 +aVI got about four minutes in the last debate. I'm going to get my question right now. +p1071 +aVYes. +p1072 +aVFirst of all, we could get to 4 percent growth. The new normal of 2 percent puts huge demands on government. The reason why we have structural deficits is that more and more people are relying on government and the growth that we don't have makes \u2014 makes the deficit grow. A 4 percent growth strategy starts with tax reform. And the proposal that I've laid out is the one the Wall Street Journal editorial board has said is the most pro-growth of all the proposals out there. We cut the \u2014 we eliminate a lot of deductions and cut the rates down. A corporate rate of 20 percent, which puts us 5 percent above \u2014 below that of China, and allows us full expensing of investing. It would create an explosion of investment back into this country, creating higher-wage jobs, and so that's part of it. On the regulatory side I think we need to repeal every rule that Barack Obama has in terms of work in progress, every one of them. And start over. For those that are already in existence, the regulation of the Internet, we have to start over, but we ought to do that. The clean power act, we ought to repeal that and \u2014 and start over on that. The waters of the United States act, which is going to be devastating for agriculture and many industries, we should repeal that. We should repeal the rules because the economic costs of this far exceed the social benefit. And if we're serious about being serious about high growth, then we have to recognize that small businesses right now, more of them are closing than \u2014 than are \u2014 than are being set up. Hillary Clinton has said that Barack Obama's policies get an A. Really? One in 10 people right now aren't working or have given up altogether, as you said. That's not an A. One in seven people are living in poverty. That's not an A. One in five children are on food stamps. That is not an A. It may be the best that Hillary Clinton can do, but it's not the best America can do. +p1073 +aVThank you, Donald, for allowing me to speak at the debate. That's really nice of you. Really appreciate that. What a generous man you are. Twelve million illegal immigrants, to send them back, 500,000 a month, is just not \u2014 not possible. And it's not embracing American values. And it would tear communities apart. And it would send a signal that we're not the kind of country that I know America is. And even having this conversation sends a powerful signal \u2014 they're doing high-fives in the Clinton campaign right now when they hear this. That's the problem with this. We have to win the presidency. And the way you win the presidency is to have practical plans. Lay them out there. What we need to do is allow people to earn legal status where they pay a fine, where they work, where they don't commit crimes, where they learn English, and over an extended period of time, they earn legal status. That's the path \u2014 a proper path... +p1074 +aVI'm gonna fight as hard as I can to make sure that we shift power away from Washington, simplify the tax code, to spur economic activity in this country. Of course it's the highest priority. If we don't do that, we're stuck with the "new normal" of 2 percent growth. Hillary Clinton says, basically, we just gotta get used to it. Two percent growth means declining income for the middle class. It means more than 6 million people are stuck in poverty than the day that Barack Obama was inaugurated. It means \u2014 it means more demands on government \u2014 growing the economy is the first job, if we're going to be serious about dealing with the deficit and debt. And more importantly, people are really struggling right now. In this economy, the disposable income of the great middle is down 2,300 bucks. So yeah, we've created jobs, your \u2014 argue (ph) \u2014 brought that up early, and it was a good question. Jobs are being created, but they're lower-income jobs than the jobs that were lost. And the net effect of this is we need to jump-start the economy. I think of Jonathan (ph) and Reagan Love (ph), who are supporters of mine. Jonathan has been deployed by the National Guard, he is \u2014 he's in Oklahoma. Reagan Love \u2014 by the way, pretty great name, I think \u2014 is a teacher. When \u2014 if they had this tax cut, what they told me was that that $2,300 of money in their pocket \u2014 they would go back to South Carolina and start a business. Imagine what it would be like, instead of having more businesses closed than started, we had it the exact opposite. We would grow our economy, and the government would get the revenue necessary to make things \u2014 make things better. Hillary Clinton's approach to this is more top-down, more regulation, more taxes, more government, and it will destroy our economy. +p1075 +aVIt is \u2014 I'd say it is Islamic terrorism, and, back to the question of what we are dealing with in Iraq, when we pull back voids are filled. That's the lesson of history, and, sadly, this president does not believe in American leadership. He does not believe it, and the net result is that we have a caliphate the size of Indiana that gains energy each and everyday to recruit Americans in our own country, and the threat to the homeland relates to the fact that we have not dealt with this threat of terror in the Middle East. We should have a no fly zone in Syria. We should have a support for the remnants of the Syrian Free Army, and create safe zones. If you want to deal with the four million refugees that are leaving Syria because of the devastation there, then we 'ought to create safe zones for them to stay in the region rather than go to Europe. And, that requires American leadership. Without American leadership every other country in the neighborhood beings to change their priorities. It is tragic that you see Iraq, and other countries now talking to Russia. It wasn't that long ago that Russia had no influence in the region at all. And, so, the United States needs to lead across the board. This president, and Hillary Clinton both do not believe the United States has a leadership role to play, and we're now paying a price, and it will have a huge impact on the economy of this country if we don't deal with this. +p1076 +aV...They're not doing that... +p1077 +aV +p1078 +aVDonald \u2014 Donald's wrong on this. He is absolutely wrong on this. We're not going to be the world's policeman, but we sure as heck better be the world's leader. That's \u2014 there's a huge difference where, without us leading... ...voids are filled, and the idea that it's a good idea for Putin to be in Syria, let +p1079 +aVWe're not \u2014 we shouldn't have another financial crisis. What we ought to do is raise the capital requirements so banks aren't too big to fail. Dodd-Frank has actually done the opposite, totally the opposite, where banks now have higher concentration of risk in assets and the capital requirements aren't high enough. If we were serious about it, we would raise the capital requirements and lessen the load on the community banks and other financial institutions. This vast overreach has created a huge problem for our country, and Hillary Clinton wants to double down on that. I was in Washington, Iowa, about three months ago talking about how bad Washington, D.C., is. It was \u2014 get the \u2014 kind of the \u2014 anyway. We had... It \u2014 and I talked to a banker there. This is a bank that had $125 million of assets, four branches. Their compliance costs because of Dodd-Frank went from $100,000 to $600,000 in a two-year period. The net effect of that is \u2014 and they had \u2014 they had not one loan that went bad during the financial crisis. They knew \u2014 they knew their borrowers. They gave back to the community. They were engaged in the community. And imagine America without its community banks. Well, that's what's happening because of Dodd-Frank. That's \u2014 that's my worry. My worry is that the real economy has been hurt by the vast overreach of the Obama administration. And Hillary Clinton, she wants to double down on that. She wants to create even more so. She is a captive of the left of her party to the point now where she is \u2014 she was for the trade agreement in \u2014 the Pacific agreement. Now she's against it. She was \u2014 hinted she was for the XL pipeline. Now she's opposed to it. All the things that would create sustained economic growth she's now doubling down against it. +p1080 +aVYou could, if you were serious about... +p1081 +aVNo, I can't say that. But I can say, if you created higher capital requirements, that's the solution to this, not having concentration of assets. The bigger banks now have more and more control over \u2014 over the financial assets of this country. And that is the wrong approach to take. +p1082 +aVMaria? +p1083 +aV...We've had a 10% reduction in carbon emissions, and it isn't because of Solyndra. It isn't because of the central planners in Washington D.C. It's because we've had a great American success story, the explosion of natural gas. Taking two existing technologies, and applying it through innovation has created lower carbon emissions, lower energy costs \u2014 40% of all the economic activity in the age of Obama has come from the energy sector, and Hillary Clinton wants to suppress that. We \u2014 I think we ought to be expanding this. High growth is the path to lower carbon, and more jobs. I know for a fact, as Governor of the State of Florida, we created the largest land purchasing programs, and environment clean-up programs because we had a growing economy. Our revenues were growing at 4.4%. It allowed for resources to be able to protect the natural system. We got to get to a conservation... ...in environmental policy that goes beyond just carbon... +p1084 +aVJane Horton is sitting with my wife here today. Her husband, Chris, was killed in action in Afghanistan. And Jane spends her time now defending and fighting for military families. They're both heroes. I don't think we need an agitator-in-chief or a divider-in-chief. We need a commander-in-chief that will rebuild our military and restore respect to our veterans by revamping and fixing a broken Veterans Administration, That's my pledge to you. I ask for your support. Thank you. +p1085 +aVYou know, I am by my nature impatient. And this is not an endeavor that rewards that. You gotta be patient. You gotta be \u2014 stick with it, and all that. But also, I can't fake anger. I believe this is still the most extraordinary country on the face of the Earth. And it troubles me that people are rewarded for tearing down our country. It's never been that way in American politics before. I can't do it. I just don't believe that this country's days are going to be deeply \u2014 you know, going down. I think we're on the verge of the greatest time, and I want to fix the things to let people rise up. +p1086 +aVCould I \u2014 could I bring something up here, because I'm a constituent of the senator and I helped him and I expected that he would do constituent service, which means that he shows up to work. He got endorsed by the Sun-Sentinel because he was the most talented guy in the field. He's a gifted politician. But Marco, when you signed up for this, this was a six-year term, and you should be showing up to work. I mean, literally, the Senate \u2014 what is it, like a French work week? You get, like, three days where you have to show up? You can campaign, or just resign and let someone else take the job. There are a lot of people living paycheck to paycheck in Florida as well, they're looking for a senator that will fight for them each and every day. +p1087 +aVHe wasn't my senator. +p1088 +aVWell, I've been \u2014 +p1089 +aVNo, no. What I said was I don't believe that I would be president of the United States and have the same dysfunction that exists in Washington, D.C. now. +p1090 +aVDon't vote for me if you want to keep the gridlock in Washington, D.C. +p1091 +aVBut if you want someone who has a proven, effective leadership, that was a governor of a state, that transformed the culture there, elect me so I can fight for the American people and change the culture in Washington, D.C. +p1092 +aV, the great majority of Republicans and Americans believe in a hopeful future. They don't believe in building walls and a pessimistic view of the future. They're concerned that Washington is so dysfunctional it is holding them back. There are lids on people's aspirations. Think about it: six and a half million people working part-time. Workforce participation rates lower than they were in 1977. Six million more people living in poverty than the day that Barack Obama got elected president, and the left just wants more of the same. We have to offer a compelling alternative that is based on hope and optimism and grounded in serious policy, which I've laid out. And you can go get it at jeb2016.com. +p1093 +aVWell, the deal was done. Barack Obama got his massive tax increase, and there was no spending cuts. You just see the recent deal announced today or yesterday, more spending, more tax increasing, more regulation. And now we have to accept 2 percent, the new normal for economic growth. And the net result is the middle class has $2,300 less in their pockets than the day that Barack Obama got elected president. And now they see Hillary Clinton proposing a third term of economic policy for our country. We need to reverse that. And my record was one of cutting taxes each and every year. You don't have to guess about it, because I actually have a record. $19 billion of tax cuts, 1.3 million jobs created. We were one of two states to go to AAA bond rating, and our government spending was far less than the spending in people's income. +p1094 +aVYou find me... +p1095 +aVYou find me a Democrat \u2014 you find me a Democrat that will cut spending ten dollars? Heck, find me a Republican in Congress that would cut spending ten dollars. I'll talk to them. +p1096 +aVLook, the \u2014 the deal is already done. The biggest tax increase happened under the watch of Barack Obama, and spending's gone up. You find a Democrat that's for cutting taxes \u2014 cutting spending ten dollars, I'll give them a warm kiss. +p1097 +aVLook, the \u2014 the simple fact is that my plan actually gives the middle class the greatest break: $2,000 per family. And if you make $40,000 a year, a family of four, you don't pay any income tax at all. Simplifying the code and lowering rates, both for corporations and \u2014 and personal rates, is exactly what we need to do. You think about the regulatory cost and the tax cost \u2014 that's why small businesses are closing, rather than being formed in our country right now. The big corporations have the scale to deal with all of this. And what I think all of us are saying is, our monetary policy, our tax policy, regulatory policy needs to be radically changed so we can create high sustained growth for income to rise. The government has tried it their way. Under \u2014 under Barack Obama and the proposals of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and others, they've tried it their way, and it has failed miserably. We need to take a new approach of taxing \u2014 reforming how we tax, and reforming the regulations in our \u2014 in our country before it's too late. +p1098 +aVWe don't need the federal government to be involved in this at all. +p1099 +aVWe don't need the Federal Government to be involved in this, because when they do we create a $1.2 trillion debt. In Florida, we have the lowest in-state tuition of any state, because there's accountability, just as John said. Let the states do this. You'll create a much better graduation rate at a lower cost, and you won't in debt the next generation with recourse debt on their backs. It's always a solution of the left to create more Government from the Federal Government. It is broke, it is not working. +p1100 +aVWell, first of all, I'm 7 and 0 in my fantasy league. +p1101 +aVGronkowski is still going strong. I have Ryan Tannehill, Marco, as my quarterback, he was 18 for 19 last week. So I'm doing great. But we're not gambling. And I think this has become something that needs to be looked at in terms of regulation. Effectively it is day trading without any regulation at all. And when you have insider information, which apparently has been the case, where people use that information and use big data to try to take advantage of it, there has to be some regulation. If they can't regulate themselves, then the NFL needs to look at just, you know, moving away from them a little bit. And there should be some regulation. I have no clue whether the federal government is the proper place, my instinct is to say, hell no, just about everything about the federal government. +p1102 +aVBecky \u2014 +p1103 +aV\u2014 the governor's absolutely right. But we also need to reform Medicare and Social Security. We can't just allow it to continue on its current path the way that Hillary Clinton wants to do because there'll be major reductions in benefits in the next decade if we do nothing. I have a concrete plan to do just that, which allows people to keep HSAs to encourage savings, it allows for people that are retiring with Social Security to be able to get a minimum of 125 percent of the poverty level so that there is a baseline that in this generous country of ours no one goes below. +p1104 +aVYou have to reform Social Security, and the simple way to do it is to make sure that the wealthiest don't receive the same benefits as people that are lower-income. And make sure you enhance savings in the private market. The idea of 401(k)s. I have a small business that I set up. It took \u2014 it took an arm and a leg to be able to set up a 401(k). Because of all the federal mandates and federal laws, it was too expensive. We need to incent private savings and make sure that Social Security is protected for those that have it. +p1105 +aVBut the idea that you can't \u2014 that you're just gonna grow your way out of this \u2014 I have a plan to grow the economy at 4 percent, but you're gonna have to make adjustments for both Medicare and Social Security. [ +p1106 +aVAmerica's at a crossroads. The D.C. politicians continue to make things worse. I have a proven record of success, 32 years in business, and 8 years as Governor of the state of Florida. I will change the culture in Washington, just as I changed the culture in Tallahassee. I will do so in a way that will bring people together. We need a unifier, not a cynical divider in chief, and that's exactly what I will do. Imagine a country where people are lifted out of poverty again. Imagine a country where the middle class can get rising income again. I know we can do this because we're still the most extraordinary country on the face of the Earth. +p1107 +asVMCELVEEN +p1108 +(lp1109 +VThank you, David. And good evening, candidates. Mr. Trump, you have said, quote, "I love eminent domain" which is the seizure of private property for the sake of the greater good theoretically. You tried to use the measure in business endeavors, you've said you'd support its use for the Keystone Pipeline project. Here in New Hampshire, a project, though, known as the Northern pass would bring hydro-electric power from Canada into the Northeastern grid. Do you see eminent domain as an appropriate tool to get that done? +p1110 +aVSo would that be yes on the Northern Pass project? +p1111 +aVMr. Trump, take 30 seconds. +p1112 +aVAll right, gentlemen... +p1113 +aVGentlemen, we do have to move forward. Dave, Martha, back to you. +p1114 +aVYou're all aware, candidates, this is a major problem here in New Hampshire. It's a very deadly problem as well. Last month, New Hampshire senators Kelly Ayotte, Republican, and Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat, they went down to Washington, along with the police chief of the state's largest city to testify before the Judiciary Committee in D.C. Senator Cruz, you're a member of that committee. Your campaign schedule didn't allow you to attend this. Even so, the police chief called your absence outrageous, given the severity of the problem. Last week, though, you told a personal story of a close family member's struggle with addiction. What can you say to law enforcement right now to convince them that you understand the severity of this problem and you're not just saying what people want to hear days before the primary? +p1115 +aVAnd Governor Christie, you have talked a lot about this issue here in New Hampshire. State reforms, criminal justice reforms, access to treatment. To Senator Cruz's point, let's take it a step further. Would you be willing to engage in cross-border enforcement into Mexico, a place where law enforcement in New Hampshire has traced at lot of this supply back to. Would you engage in cross-border enforcement without the cooperation without the Mexican government? +p1116 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you very much. David, Martha, back to you. +p1117 +aVThank you, Martha. None of you on stage tonight have ever worn a uniform as a member of the armed services. That's the reality of it. But as commander-in-chief, you'll also be charged with the care of 23 million active duty service members and veterans in this country. Some have suggested privatizing the V.A. as a way to enhance care and increase the quality of the care and access. Others say that veterans should carry I.D. cards that allow them access to any hospital or health care provider. Governor Bush, what specifically would you do to ensure that those who have sacrificed for us are cared for? +p1118 +aVGovernor Kasich, do you have a favored approach? +p1119 +aVSenator Rubio, go ahead? +p1120 +aVSenator Rubio, thanks very much. Going to move forward now. David, Martha, back to you. +p1121 +asVBAKER +p1122 +(lp1123 +VThe candidates on stage tonight were selected based on their standing in an average of four national polls. Those standings determining their position on the stage. And here they are. At center stage, businessman Donald Trump. Neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson. +p1124 +aVTonight's rules are simple. Up to 90 second for each answer. One minute for each follow-up response. And if a candidate goes over their allotted time, you'll here this. +p1125 +aVMs. Fiorina, while you've all pointed out how weak the current recovery has been and how disappointing by any historical standards, in the general election, the Democrats will inevitably ask you and voters to compare the recent president's jobs performance. Now, in seven years under President Obama, the U.S. has added an average of 107,000 jobs a month. Under President Clinton, the economy added about 240,000 jobs a month. Under George W. Bush, it was only 13,000 a month. If you win the nomination, you'll probably be facing a Democrat named Clinton. How are you going to respond to the claim that Democratic presidents are better at creating jobs than Republicans? +p1126 +aVThank you. Thank you. Senator Paul, income inequality has been rising in the United States. Fifty years ago, for example, the average CEO of a big corporation in this country earned 20 times the average salary of one of his or her workers. Today, that CEO earns about 300 times the average salary of a worker. Does it matter at all that the gap between the rich and everyone else is widening? +p1127 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1128 +aVSenator Rubio... +p1129 +aVYes, one quick comment, yes. +p1130 +aVGovernor Bush... +p1131 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor, you...You should let Jeb speak. +p1132 +aVMr. Trump, Mr. Trump, you yourself \u2014 you yourself said let Governor Bush speak. Governor Bush? +p1133 +aVSenator Rubio? Senator... +p1134 +aVSenator Rubio, Senator Rubio, let me \u2014 let me take you to a question that I think gets to the root of a lot of the anxiety that people have in this country. The economy is undergoing a transformation through information technology. Americans are anxious that the new economy isn't producing higher-paying jobs. Many are concerned that the new wealth seems to be going mainly to innovators and investors. Meanwhile, with factories run by robots and shopping done increasingly on smartphones, many traditional jobs are just going away. How do you reassure American workers that their jobs are not being steadily replaced by machines? +p1135 +aVThank you. Senator Cruz \u2014 Senator Cruz, entitlements. You've argued for raising the retirement age and reducing benefits for future retirees, but reducing any sort of benefits for the elderly has always been notoriously hard to do politically. When Speaker Paul Ryan proposed replacing traditional Medicare with federally funded private plans a few years ago, a liberal group responded with a commercial that featured a granny being pushed off a cliff. What's going to be different this time? +p1136 +aV...I said for future retirees was your statement... +p1137 +aVSenator Rubio. Can I just come to Senator Rubio? We're coming to you, Mr. Trump, in one second. I \u2014 I promise. +p1138 +aVSenator Rubio, your tax plan includes a large expansion of child tax credits to raise off (ph) the tax incomes for low-income parents. A similar tax credit that you previously proposed in the Senate was estimated to cost as much as $170 billion a year, according to the Tax Foundation. Isn't \u2014 isn't there a risk you're just adding another expensive entitle program to an already overburdened federal budget? +p1139 +aVGovernor Kasich? Let me come to Governor Kasich. +p1140 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1141 +aVVery quickly, Senator. +p1142 +aVPlease. +p1143 +aV...Gentleman, we need to move on... +p1144 +aV...We need to move... +p1145 +aV...We need too... +p1146 +aV...We do need to move on. Mr. Trump... +p1147 +aV...Very quick. +p1148 +aVLet's talk about \u2014 No, no, Governor, I really must move on. I really want to move on. Mr. Trump, let's talk about the international economy... +p1149 +aV...We really need to move on... +p1150 +aV...No, governor, I promise I will come to you... +p1151 +aV...Listen... +p1152 +aV...Mr. Trump, can I ask you about... +p1153 +aV...the U.S. just concluded an international trade agreement with 11 countries in the Pacific. You've said that you'd rather have no deal... +p1154 +aV...than sign the one that's on the table... +p1155 +aV...Most economists \u2014 most economists say that trade is boosted growth, and every single post war president has supported the expansion of international trade, including the last three republican presidents. Why would you reverse more than 50 years of U.S. trade policy? +p1156 +aVThe \u2014 the deal, as you say, the terms of the deal were published \u2014 were published just last week, the details, 5,000 pages of it, and 80 percent of U.S. trade with countries in the Pacific, these countries, these 11 countries, is actually tariff-free, and these \u2014 the trade deal only affects the other 20 percent. Which \u2014 are there particular parts of the deal that you think were badly negotiated? +p1157 +aVThere was a separate \u2014 separate... +p1158 +aVBut isn't that \u2014 isn't that part of the problem? When I say, Senator, that if \u2014 if this deal is not ratified by \u2014 by the U.S. \u2014 by the Senate, then it would actually give China an opportunity to grow its economic leadership, which it's been seeking to do? And if the U.S. is unable to take part in this trade deal with these countries in Asia, China will take the lead? +p1159 +aVThank you. Thanks, Senator. +p1160 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich, I want to ask you about China, in particular hundreds of American companies have been subjected to cyber attacks from the Chinese military, yet state-backed Chinese companies, growing their presence in the United States, Chinese investments in U.S., which were nearly nonexistent a few years ago, are now over $50 billion. And as my newspaper recently reported, Chinese companies are planning to bid for one of the largest hotel chains in the United States, what would be the largest ever Chinese takeover of a U.S. company. Would you stop them? +p1161 +aVThank you, Governor. Plenty of opportunities. Thank you. Neil? +p1162 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate, live from Milwaukee. Now let's get straight back to the questions, and Governor Bush. Governor, Hillary Clinton recently said that if we had another financial crisis like the one in 2008, she wouldn't bail out the banks. Would you? +p1163 +aVBut, Governor, but can I just quickly \u2014 did \u2014 you can't seriously guarantee that there won't be another financial crisis, can you? +p1164 +aVEver? There will never be another financial crisis? +p1165 +aVDr. Carson, if I may, just on that point, despite measures taken, as the governor says, since the crisis to make the financial system safer, the major banks in the U.S., many of them are actually bigger than ever. Asset held by JPMorgan Chase, for example, the very largest bank, have increased by nearly 40 percent to over $2.6 trillion. Do you think JPMorgan and the other big banks should be broken up? +p1166 +aVBut just to be clear, just \u2014 just to be clear, then, you wouldn't \u2014 you wouldn't favor breaking up the big banks? You think they're big enough \u2014 they're OK as they are, as big as they are? +p1167 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1168 +aVThank you. +p1169 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate. And now, candidates, it's time for your closing statements. You get 30 seconds each, and, Senator Paul, we will begin with you. +p1170 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p1171 +asVHEWITT +p1172 +(lp1173 +VSenator Cruz, you've said you disagree with Mr. Trump's policy. I don't want a cage match; you've tweeted you don't want a cage match. But Republican primary voters deserve to know, with the kind of specificity and responsiveness you delivered in your nine Supreme Court arguments, how you disagree with Mr. Trump. Would you spell that out with us? +p1174 +aVSo you're saying you disagree because he's too broad and you have a narrower focus? Why do you disagree with him? +p1175 +aVCarly Fiorina... ... this is the Christmas dinner debate. This will be the debate that Americans talk about at Christmas. And thus far, in the first 10 minutes, we haven't heard a lot about Ronald Reagan's city on a hill. We've heard a lot about keeping Americans out or keeping Americans safe and everyone else out. Is this what you want the party to stand for? +p1176 +aVDr. Carson...... you mentioned in your opening remarks that you're a pediatric neurologist surgeon... +p1177 +aVNeurosurgeon. And people admire and respect and are inspired by your life story, your kindness, your evangelical core support. We're talking about ruthless things tonight \u2014 carpet bombing, toughness, war. And people wonder, could you do that? Could you order air strikes that would kill innocent children by not the scores, but the hundreds and the thousands? Could you wage war as a commander-in-chief? +p1178 +aVSo you are OK with the deaths of thousands of innocent children and civilian? It's like... +p1179 +aVThat is what war \u2014 can you be as ruthless as Churchill was in prosecuting the war against the Nazis? +p1180 +aVMr. Trump, we are talking about the most important thing, that's why it's heated. And it's, you are OK with Mr. Assad staying in power, but you are also in favor of winning. If he stays in power, Iran is winning, Hezbollah is winning. Iran is winning in Yemen. They are winning everywhere. If they are winning how can we be winning? +p1181 +aVGovernor Christie, is he right? Because if we step back, Iran goes nuclear. Is Donald Trump right? +p1182 +aVSenator Paul, let me ask you, you heard Governor Kasich say Assad must go. Do you agree? +p1183 +aVGovernor Bush, a commander-in-chief question. You've said that Mr. Trump is not qualified to be president because he's not qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin. Why are you better qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin than Mr. Trump? +p1184 +aVMr. Trump? +p1185 +aVBut, Mr. Trump, it's not CNN \u2014 I was on CNN last night... +p1186 +aV... watching... +p1187 +aVBut it wasn't \u2014 it wasn't CNN. It was me. I watched you last night for 16 minutes. It's not CNN. +p1188 +aVIt's not CNN. It's America's watching you. +p1189 +aVIt's America's watching. +p1190 +aVGovernor \u2014 thank you, Governor. +p1191 +aVDr. Carson, commander-in-chief question again. You've been the head of neurosurgery for a big hospital. You're on a lot of boards of a lot of companies. You've traveled the world. You're going traveling again next week. But does that prepare you to command troops from Djibouti to Japan, troops from Afghanistan to Iraq to be in charge of the men and women watching on Armed Services Network tonight? +p1192 +aVMr. Trump...... Dr. Carson just referenced the single most important job of the president, the command, the control and the care of our nuclear forces. And he mentioned the triad. The B-52s are older than I am. The missiles are old. The submarines are aging out. It's an executive order. It's a commander-in-chief decision. What's your priority among our nuclear triad? +p1193 +aVOf the three legs of the triad, though, do you have a priority? I want to go to Senator Rubio after that and ask him. +p1194 +aVSenator Rubio, do you have a response? +p1195 +aVMy listeners tell me again and again they are worried that Hillary Clinton will win the White House because you'll run as an independent. Are you ready to assure Republicans tonight that you will run as a Republican and abide by the decision of the Republicans? +p1196 +aVDr. Carson, last week... +p1197 +aVPlease. +p1198 +aVDr. Carson, Mr. Trump just committed to stay the distance regardless of the result. How about you? +p1199 +asVWALLACE +p1200 +(lp1201 +VTonight, we're partnering with Google for an exclusive second-screen experience. Search Fox News debate on Google any time in the next two hours to access exclusive content. You can see the campaigns respond to the debate in real time, and you can weigh in by voting on the topics being discussed. Just go to google.com or open your Google search app and type in Fox News debate. +p1202 +aVNeurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. +p1203 +aVApparently Iowa's near Kentucky. +p1204 +aVSenator Rubio, I want to explore this sort of larger issue. The campaign has in a sense turned into a battle for the soul of the Republican party: establishment versus grassroots, pragmatic versus principle. You say that you can unite all of the factions inside the GOP. How? +p1205 +aVGovernor Kasich, I want to get back to this question of where conservatives are this year. You call yourself a, quote, "inside-outside guy, a reformer who knows how to get things done," but you reject the establishment label. First question is why do you reject it? And secondly, what do you say to Republican voters this year who view practical government experience as a liability and not an asset? +p1206 +aVDr. Carson, I want to pick up on that with you. Governor Kasich likes to say he knows how to land the plane. You've landed a lot of planes in the O.R. But what about the idea of running for president with no experience in government at all? +p1207 +aVGentlemen, we're now going to start to drill down into specific issues that are on voters' minds. I'm going to start with one of the biggest ones, which is foreign terror. According to Google, +p1208 +aVSenator Rubio, does Senator Cruz's record match his rhetoric? +p1209 +aVSenator Cruz, you've got 30 seconds. You were mentioned. +p1210 +aVGentlemen. +p1211 +aVMay I \u2014 may I just say, we are going to continue the questions about foreign terror, gentlemen, right after this break. +p1212 +aVThank you. Governor Christie, you have compared both Senators Cruz and Rubio to Barack Obama, saying that we cannot afford another inexperienced President. You've also said that Senator Cruz's vote to curtail the NSA surveillance program made America less safe. Is either of them ready to be Commander in Chief? +p1213 +aVGovernor Bush... +p1214 +aV... I don't think that your name was mentioned... +p1215 +aV... Sir, I think \u2014 I think the question was... +p1216 +aV... It's not my question that you get a chance to respond to, it's his answer. You don't get 30 seconds to respond to me... +p1217 +aV... You don't get 30 seconds to respond to me... +p1218 +aV... If I could go on. Sir, I know you like to argue about the rules, but we're going to conduct a debate... +p1219 +aV... Governor Bush... +p1220 +aVGovernor Bush, here's the question \u2014 I'm going to ask Governor Bush the question. You criticized several candidates in this field on this stage for what you call unrealistic ideas about how to fight terrorists, including Rubio, and Cruz on the issue of their refusing to give the President authority to enforce the redline in Syria. But, given the fact that your brother got us into two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that have still not ended. That have still not ended, what lessons have you learned from his mistakes, sir? +p1221 +aVSenator Cruz, now you get a chance to respond. +p1222 +aV... It is a debate, sir. +p1223 +aVI think the questions were about issues. Senator Rubio, what would you like to respond sir... +p1224 +aVThank you. +p1225 +aVGood. +p1226 +aVSenator Paul, go ahead. +p1227 +aVWell... ... we'll be talking about foreign policy a little bit later. We're going to talk... +p1228 +aVThis debate is just getting started. Coming up, the role of the federal government. But first, join tonight's conversation right from your home. Go to google.com or open your Google search app and search Fox News Debate to vote on which issue is most important to you in this election. More from the Iowa Events Center and the Republican presidential debate in a moment. +p1229 +aVGentlemen, we're going to turn now to what we call electability, issues that you're either facing in the primaries or issues that you're certainly going to face in a general election. So you may not be altogether unhappy if you're not included in this round. Senator Cruz, you pride yourself on standing up to the D.C. cartel, but as we've seen to a certain degree tonight, there's a price for standing up to the D.C. cartel. Thirteen Republican senators have endorsed other candidates, none have endorsed you. You \u2014 twice last year, you asked for a colleague to second a motion, a routine courtesy on the Senate floor, and no senator would do it. Top GOP officials worry that if you're at the top of the ticket \u2014 some officials \u2014 that not only will you lose the White House, but it will tank the ticket all the way down the line. The question is does your style sometimes get in the way of your ability to get things done, sir? +p1230 +aVGovernor Christie, two of your former top aides go on trial in May for fraud and conspiracy in the "Bridge-gate" case, the politically motivated closure of lanes to the George Washington Bridge. Another former aide who has already pleaded guilty and will likely testify for the government, as you know, says that you knew about this whole deal. Can the GOP take the chance of nominating you with this scandal still out there, sir? +p1231 +aVGentlemen, almost 60% of Republican caucus-goers identify themselves as Evangelicals, so I'd like to spend a few minutes exploring social issues. Governor Kasich, you talk a good deal about your faith. In fact, you say it played a role in your decision to expand Medicaid, and you say that when you meet Saint Peter at the Pearly Gates, he's going to ask what you did for the poor, not what you did to keep government small. Senator Cruz is on the opposite side of this issue from you, so does that mean that you're getting in and he isn't? +p1232 +aVGentlemen, we had a case study on religious liberty just this last summer. A county clerk in Kentucky named Kim Davis refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples after the Supreme Court ruling, saying that it violated her religious beliefs. Governor Christie, you said that she must follow the law or be moved to another job that would be in keeping with her conscience. But some conservatives say that that violates her religious liberty. +p1233 +aVThank you, sir. Senator Rubio, during the last debate, you said Governor Christie had changed his position and his mind on gun control, on common core, and backing President Obama's nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. He said you're wrong on the facts and you can't, quote, "slime your way to the White House." I assume in the last two weeks, you've done some fact-checking. Do you want to take anything back? +p1234 +aVThank you, senator. Senator Paul, in May on the campaign trail you, said you didn't get into politics to fight about abortion. You said you were more concerned about the national debt. Your answer is to turn abortion back to the states the way it was before Roe v. Wade. Does that mean that if a liberal state, let's say, wants to make abortion legal, that you're okay with that and what do you say to conservative voters who believe deeply that abortion is murder? +p1235 +aVSir, just 30 seconds to answer my specific... Just 30 seconds to answer my specific question. Do you favor the idea that abortion should be a states' rights issue and if a liberal state wants to make it legal, that that's their choice? Yes or no? +p1236 +aVThank you, sir. +p1237 +aVWe're not finished yet. More to come from the presidential debate, live from Des Moines, Iowa, next. And remember, to see how the campaigns are responding to the debate in real time, go togoogle.com or open your Google search app and search Fox News debate, and please stay with us. +p1238 +aVWe have another question from one of Youtube's top creators. Here it is. +p1239 +aVGovernor Bush, how do you answer Nabela? +p1240 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Cruz, change of subject. You called for an end to the renewable fuel standards which mandate that refineries blend biofuels, including ethanol into gasoline. As you well know, ethanol's a big industry in this state, $10 billion dollars a year. Last week, Terry Branstad, the popular Governor of Iowa... ... Who is in the hall tonight, said that you're bankrolled by big oil, and that Iowa voters would be making a mistake supporting you. Why should those voters side with you over the six- term governor of the state, sir? +p1241 +aVDr. Carson, I'd like to ask you about exactly that issue. Where are you on the mandatory ethanol standard, and precisely this question. Should government be in the business of picking winners and losers, or should it be left to the market place? +p1242 +aVDoctor, thank you. +p1243 +aVDr. Ben Carson. +p1244 +aVAnd don't forget, after all the talk, the first voting of the 2016 campaign happens in just four days. The first Americans to vote, the Iowa caucuses are Monday and Fox News will have complete coverage. +p1245 +asVGARRETT +p1246 +(lp1247 +VSenator Cruz. John mentioned this is about dollars and incentives. We also want to talk about economic growth engagements. You have proposed a consumption tax, you called it the "back tax." Some analysts compare it more to an attributed "value-added tax." From the perspective from economic growth in building wages, how does that work, and how would you address those longstanding conservative concerns that something approaching the "value-added tax" would be used to constantly increase those rates to pay for future government spending and become an escalator of taxation, not of growth? +p1248 +aVNow, the question \u2014 conservatives have sort of this idea conceptually for a long time, but especially on this consumption value-added tax system. In Europe, where it exists, it has become an escalator of taxation to feed government spending, and that's why conservatives have long resisted it. Why and what would you do as president to make sure that doesn't happen? +p1249 +aVGovernor Bush, a question for you \u2014 but if you want to jump in, please. +p1250 +aVJump in, and then I've got a question for you. +p1251 +aVReal quickly, jump in, because I have got a question for Governor Bush, but jump in. +p1252 +aVUnderstood, Governor Kasich. +p1253 +aVYeah, Governor Bush, fine. +p1254 +aVLet me get in a question from... +p1255 +aVI understand, I understand. +p1256 +aVI have a question on economic growth, Governor Bush. +p1257 +aVA , Governor. +p1258 +aVI know, understood. Governor Bush. +p1259 +aVGovernor Bush, from the perspective, economic growth \u2014 viewed from this perspective of economic growth, you have proposed a tax on hedge fund managers. The Americans for Tax Reform, a conservative tax group you're probably aware of, has said no Republican should be for higher taxes on capital gains. And many conservatives wonder if this proposal of yours would undermine not only that philosophy, but undercut your projection of 4 percent economic growth annually under your presidency? +p1260 +aV... Dr. Carson... +p1261 +aVSenator Rubio... For the purposes of the lines \u2014 lines you would draw legislatively as a president on immigration reform, define amnesty. +p1262 +aVVery quickly, Senator Cruz. +p1263 +aVGovernor Bush, I want to bring this out to a little wider philosophical aspect, if you will. +p1264 +aVYou have said illegal immigrants, quote, "broke the law, but it's not a felony," still quoting you, "it's an act of love, it's an act of commitment to your family." Mr. Trump has, as you are well aware, denounced that statement over and over. Do you still believe it? What does that mean to you? And how does that inform your approach to immigration reform? +p1265 +aVFundamentally, do you believe this rhetoric is insufficiently compassionate to this issue? +p1266 +aVMr. Trump... +p1267 +aV... Governor Kasich, here in South Carolina earlier this week, you said the idea, the concept of deporting 11 million undocumented workers... +p1268 +aV... We will leave the moon metaphors to be adjudicated later, I assure you. Governor Kasich, you said earlier this week in South Carolina, the concept, the idea of deporting 11 million undocumented workers in this country is nuts. Why is it you are so opposed to that idea? Senator Cruz has said it's a simple application of existing law. The application of that is not inhumane, it is just. Why do you disagree? +p1269 +aV... What are you for on immigration? +p1270 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 Mr. Trump. I was with you in Pendleton, South Carolina, earlier this week at the Rodeo Arena. It was a bit chilly there. You promised the crowd, and they rose to their feet, that if Ford or a company like were to move a factory to Mexico, you would try to stop it or threaten them with a 35 percent tax or tariff on every car sold. +p1271 +aVRight. So my question is, based on your understanding of the presidency, where do you derive that power? Would you need the consent of Congress to go along? And do you see the presidency as a perch from which you can cajole and/or threaten private industry to do something you think is better for the U.S. economy? +p1272 +aVThank you, governor. +p1273 +asVMUIR +p1274 +(lp1275 +VGood evening, again, everyone. This is the first time since Iowa and the only time before the New Hampshire primary that the Republican candidates will have the opportunity to face each other. The people of Iowa have been heard. Now it's New Hampshire's turn. In just three days, voters here will decide who they think should be the Republican nominee for president. +p1276 +aVSo let's welcome the candidates for the Republican nomination for president. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. +p1277 +aVTexas Senator Ted Cruz. +p1278 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. +p1279 +aVAnd Ohio Governor John Kasich. +p1280 +aVAnd Dr. Ben Carson, please come out on the stage. He's standing there, as well. Dr. Carson. +p1281 +aVAnd lastly, we welcome back to the debate stage, Donald Trump. +p1282 +aVIt was so noisy in here. Yes. Yes. We're going to introduce Ohio Governor John kasich. The applause so loud here in the hall. +p1283 +aVSo let's get started. We welcome you all to the debate stage here tonight. We're going to tackle the issues Americans are most concerned about, the economy, +p1284 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. I want to bring this to Senator Cruz, then. Because Senator, you did said of Trump's behavior this week, that's not the temperament of a leader to keep this country safe. Why not? +p1285 +aVSenator Cruz, I did ask about Mr. Trump. You said he doesn't have the temperament to be commander-in-chief. Do you stand by those words? +p1286 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. We're going to continue on this notion of readiness and experience. I'm going to come back. +p1287 +aVIf you would like to respond, Mr. Trump. +p1288 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. And we're going to continue on this notion of readiness and on experience, but I want to ask about a headline that was back in the papers again this morning. Dr. Carson, on the day of the Iowa caucuses, the Cruz campaign sent out messages and voicemails saying, quote, "Breaking news. Dr. Ben Carson will be planning to suspend his campaign following tonight's caucuses. Please inform any Carson caucus-goers of this news." But as we can all see, you are still standing here tonight. Late this week, your campaign sent this e-mail, quote, "This kind of deceitful behavior is why the American people don't trust politicians. If Senator Cruz does not act, then he clearly represents D.C. values." What kind of action do you think Senator Cruz should take? +p1289 +aVSenator Cruz. Dr. Carson, thank you. Senator Cruz, you have said that Dr. Carson and his wife have become friends of yours. I'm curious as why you didn't call ahead of time to either the doctor or his wife or have your campaign check in with the other campaign before sending out those messages. +p1290 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. We're going to move on here. Back to the issues... +p1291 +aVDr. Carson, please. +p1292 +aVDr. Carson, thank you. Thank you, doctor. Senator Rubio. I want to stay on the issue of readiness to be president and experience and questions about you being a first-term senator. Governor Christie warning voters here in New Hampshire against voting for another first-term senator as America did with Barack Obama in 2008. Arguing that you are, quote, " not ready to be president of the United States." And Senator Santorum, who we all know, dropped out of the race and endorsed you, had a hard time when asked on national television, listing your accomplishments as senator. Tonight, what are your accomplishments in the Senate that demonstrate you are ready to be president of the United States? +p1293 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I do want to ask Governor Christie, Governor Christie, you said fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me when it comes to electing a first-term senator. You heard Senator Rubio make the case that he does have the experience. Your response? +p1294 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Rubio? +p1295 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I want to bring in governor bush on this, because you... +p1296 +aV... have made this... +p1297 +aVIf you'd like to respond to economic... +p1298 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1299 +aVGovernor Christie, we will \u2014 we will... +p1300 +aVGovernor Christie \u2014 thank you, Governor. I will mention \u2014 listen... +p1301 +aV... Listen, people... Governor Bush, I'll mention your name so that you can come in on this... +p1302 +aVI want to bring you in on this because you've made this central to your campaign right here in New Hampshire in the last couple of days. Four Years ago you said of Senator Rubio, he was ready to be Vice President. You spoke of his experience as well. You said he has the fortitude to be a good President, but just this week you said Senator Rubio accomplished, quote, "nothing" in the Senate. How do you square the two? +p1303 +aV... We're going to continue with leadership now. Martha? +p1304 +aVMartha, we're going to turn to immigration now. And I want to bring in Governor Kasich because you told us in an ABC interview, Governor, quote, "It is completely ridiculous to think we are going to go into neighborhoods, grab people out of their homes and ship people back to Mexico." Adding, quote, "That's not where the party is. The party is not for departing 11.5 million people." But Mr. Trump and Senator Cruz, who have made deportation central to their campaigns, top the national polls. So, my question for you, are you not where the voters are? +p1305 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. I want to bring this next to Senator Cruz. You heard what the governor said. He said, "We need practical solutions." And you've said, "I don't intend to send jack boots to knock on doors. That's not how we enforce the law for any crime." So, what is your plan? How will you deport 11.5 million undocumented people? And be specific. How would you do it? +p1306 +aVLet me just ask you this, though, because Governor Kasich was talking about the families and what you do with the families that you would have to send home. Can you tell the American people tonight how you would do that? +p1307 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. I want to bring in Senator Rubio. This question is about immigration, it is also about leadership. You're aware of the criticism from many candidates on this stage tonight that you co-authored the so-called Gang of Eight bill that would have created a path to citizenship for people here illegally. Governor Christie has said of you, as soon as you felt the heat, you turned tail and run. Governor Bush has said, "I don't think we need people cutting and running anymore." Did you fight for your own legislation, Senator, or did you run from it? +p1308 +aVBut I'm asking, did you fight for the legislation at the time or did you run from it as you're... +p1309 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1310 +aVGovernor thank you. Senator Rubio? +p1311 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. We want to turn to health care in this country, and for that, author and commentator, Mary Katherine Ham tonight. HAM: Thanks, David. Good evening, guys. +p1312 +aVMary Katherine, thank you. We want to turn now to the issue of eminent domain, which is being debated right here in New Hampshire. And Josh McElveen is the political director and the anchor of +p1313 +aVJosh, thank you. When we come back here tonight, jobs, +p1314 +aVAnd, we welcome you back to the Republican debate from New Hampshire tonight here on ABC. We're going to turn now to what it means to be a conservative, and I want to turn to Governor Kasich. Governor, while campaigning here in New Hampshire, you were already asked about groans from some conservatives after your endorsements from the New York Times, and the Boston Globe. You said, quote, "What conservatives have to know is they have to say, look isn't it nice to have a conservative like me liked? And, maybe the ought to think about it because if I get elected president, the Republican party and the definition of conservatism is going to change." How would you change conservatism? +p1315 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. Mr. Trump, you've heard the argument from many of the candidates on this stage that you're not a true conservative. Tell the voters watching tonight why you are. +p1316 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. Senator Rubio, you have said yourself that you don't think Donald Trump is running as a conservative. Did he convince you? +p1317 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I want to turn this discussion to the economy now. And Mr. Trump, Governor Christie has said, "I tell everybody who goes to a Donald Trump event, if you get to ask a question, just ask him how." Christie said, "I don't care which of the things he talks about, just ask him how." You have said that you'd be the greatest jobs president God ever created. Tell Americans watching tonight how many jobs you would create in the first term and how. +p1318 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. There are a lot of governors on this stage tonight and Governor Christie, Governor Kasich said of you, quote, "In Ohio, we balanced a budget. They don't have one over in New Jersey. Our credit has been strengthened. Their credit has been downgraded. We've got more jobs." How important are those metrics in choosing the next president? And is his job \u2014 is his record on jobs, I should say, actually stronger than yours? +p1319 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Kasich? +p1320 +aVHe didn't say your record was better than his. +p1321 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. +p1322 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. I do want to turn from jobs to taxes. +p1323 +aVIf you would like to respond to the governor, you can. +p1324 +aVI'm coming to you next with a question, anyway. You can respond to that question. +p1325 +aVWe're going from jobs to taxes, and here's the... +p1326 +aVTo the Gang of Eight bill first? +p1327 +aVThe governor wasn't talking about the president, he was talking about the Gang of Eight bill. +p1328 +aVSo, let me ask you about taxes, Senator Rubio. +p1329 +aVA recent poll, 68 percent of Americans favor raising taxes on people making more than $1 million a year. Are they wrong? +p1330 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I want to bring in Governor Bush. And Governor, I just want to repeat that number for you \u2014 68 percent of Americans favor raising taxes on people making more than a million. What do you say to the people who believe that tonight? +p1331 +aVKnew that was coming. Governor, thank you. +p1332 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you. Martha? +p1333 +aVMartha, thank you. We're just going to \u2014 we're going to stay on +p1334 +aVIf elected president, would you bring it back? +p1335 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. Mr. Trump, you said not only does it work, but that you'd bring it back. +p1336 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. Governor Bush, you have said that you won't rule waterboarding out. Congress has passed laws banning the use of waterboarding by the military and the CIA, as you know. Would you want Congress to change that if you're elected president? +p1337 +aVGovernor Bush, thank you. Senator Rubio, I do want to ask you, you have said that you do not want to telegraph to the enemy what you would do as commander in chief. But for the American people watching tonight who want to know where the next president will stand, do you believe waterboarding is torture? +p1338 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. We want to turn now to the topic of executive orders, and for that, we're going to turn back to Mary Katharine Ham. Mary Katharine? HAM: Thanks, David. Senator Cruz, on the campaign trail you've promised voters a lot, in fact if you're elected president you'd say you end Common Core immediately, abolish the IRS, and do away with sanctuary cities. You've also been a persistent critic of President Obama's executive overreach, going it alone, not working with Congress. How do you intend to implement this aggressive agenda within your Constitutional authority, especially given that it would require working with Congress and Washington players with whom you're happy to say you have a strained relationship? +p1339 +aVMary Katherine, thank you. We want to turn to something the governor of New Hampshire said... +p1340 +aVA connection here on the stage. We're going to move on to what the governor of New Hampshire said just this week, and that is that heroin overdose is not the second-leading cause of death in this state. You don't need me to tell you that. But there's another number, 48 percent of the people here in this state knows someone who has abused heroin. Josh, who covers this for +p1341 +aVMartha? +p1342 +aVGovernor, well come to you in the next segment. When we come back, questions about race, about our veterans and social issues what younger conservative voters are now saying as we continue with New Hampshire with the Republican debate, right here on ABC. +p1343 +aVWelcome back to New Hampshire, ABC News coverage of the Republican debate, and it's great to have you back at the podiums, and we want to turn to race in America. And Mr. Trump, there are many who argue cell phones and smartphones are just now exposing what's been happening in this country for years. Cases of excessive force against minorities. As you know, Mr. Trump, on the other side, the FBI director recently said there's a chill wind blowing through law enforcement because of increased scrutiny. You have said police are the most mistreated people in America. As president, how do you bridge the divide? +p1344 +aVGreat. Mr. Trump, I did ask about bridging the divide though as president. So what would you say to the American families who say we have lived through this, we have seen excessive force? What would you say to those people? +p1345 +aVI do want to ask \u2014 Governor Kasich? +p1346 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Rubio, I want to ask you next, President Obama visited a mosque this week in America for the first time in his presidency. President George W. Bush visited a mosque after September 11th. You said of President Obama, quote, "he's always pitting people against each other." So I'm curious, how are the two visits different, and would you visit a mosque as president? +p1347 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. Martha? +p1348 +aVJosh, thank you. I want to turn to a family that New Hampshire voters know quite well, and Senator Cruz, the issue of hostages has been a very real and painful one here in this state. As we all know, James Foley was killed. His mother, Diane, said our government should be willing to negotiate, arguing that families should also be allowed to raise money for ransom. What would you say to Diane Foley tonight? Should families be allowed to raise money for ransom for their loved ones? +p1349 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. Mr. Trump, what would you say to Diane Foley? Should families be allowed to raise money for ransom? +p1350 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. We want to turn now to social issues and young voters and for the question, from Mary Katherine. HAM: Thank you David. Senator Rubio. One of the lazier pieces of political conventional wisdom is that so-called social issues are hurting Republicans with young people. But on the two most prominent social issues, polling with millennials actually moves in different directions. On one hand, it is clear, young people across the political spectrum increasingly favor same sex marriage. However young voters have not moved to the left on abortion. In fact, large numbers of them favor at least some modest restrictions that conservatives have supported. How do you speak to millennials on both these issues, while Democrats will inevitable charge intolerance and extremism? +p1351 +aVMary Katherine, thank you. We're going to have closing statements here in just a moment, but before we go, quick lightning round. Come November, two battle-ground states, but they face off tomorrow in the Super Bowl. Governor Kasich, who wins? +p1352 +aVGovernor Bush? +p1353 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1354 +aV Mr. Trump? +p1355 +aVAll right, Dr. Carson? +p1356 +aVYeah. Governor Christie, the last word? +p1357 +aVDenver. Thank you so much, gentlemen. Closing statements in just a moment, right here, as the ABC News Republican debate continues from New Hampshire, right after this. +p1358 +aVWe welcome you back. The New Hampshire primary, of course, is Tuesday, but time now for closing statements. And we begin tonight with Governor Kasich. +p1359 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1360 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Senator Rubio. +p1361 +aVThank you. Mr. Trump. +p1362 +asVHUCKABEE +p1363 +(lp1364 +VI wish I saw the country in the same place that the president presented it to be the other night in the State of the Union. He talked about how great the economy was doing. And I guess for the people he hangs out with, it's probably doing great. But the president should've stood in the line at the layaway counter at Walmart just before Christmas. He would have heard a very different story about the economy of America. I wish I could introduce him the lady who cleans the building where our campaign headquarters is located in Little Rock. Her name is Kathleen. She works all day at a local hospital cleaning, and then she goes to the building where a bank, and our headquarters, and other offices are she spends another seven hours. She works 15 hours a day. I guarantee you she's not working 15 hours a day because she loves scrubbing toilets, and sweeping floors. She's working that many hours because that's what it takes for her to make it work. And, she's not alone. There are people all over this country who are working like that. Many of them working two jobs \u2014 and they used to have one job, and that would take care of them. But, because of wage stagnation, which we've had for 40 years, because the fact that they're punished for working harder if they work that many hours. The government gets more of their second shift than they do. And, as a result there are a lot of people who are hurting today. I wish the President knew more of them. He might make a change in the economy and the way he's managing it. +p1365 +aVLet me put that in context. When I went to Afghanistan, I saw a land that looked like the land of the Flintstones. It was desolate. It was barren. It was primitive. And it's been that way for thousands of years. They want to take the world back to be just like that. We don't. We need to make a clear goal as to why we want to be anywhere in the Middle East, and I'll tell you why we want to be and need to be, is to destroy radical Islam and everything that threatens civilization. It's not just a threat......to Israel or to America, it's a threat to every civilized person on this Earth. And we need to be equipping not only the Kurds in Iraq, we need to be making sure that those who are willing to fight radical Muslims will do it, but we need to never ever spend a drop of American blood unless there is a clearly defined goal and we can't make sure we win unless we have a military that's the strongest in the history of mankind. We've got to rebuild our navy. It's the smallest navy we've had since 1915, when my grandfather got on a destroyer in World War I when he was in the U.S. Navy. We've got young men in Air Force B-52s, one in particular, he's flying a B-52 that his father flew in the '80s and his grandfather flew in the '50s. Those planes are older than me. We've got to have a military that the world is afraid of, use it sparingly, but when we do, the whole world will know that America is on their tail and they will be on their tail on the ground, never ever to rise up again. +p1366 +aVOnly if there is a concerted effort to destroy the advance of radical Islamists who are against us. As far as what are we going to make it look like. Frankly, I don't know what we can make it look like. You can't create for other people a desire for freedom and democracy. And frankly, that is not the role of the United States. The role of the United States military is not to build schools, it is not to build bridges, it is not to go around and pass out food packets. It is to kill and destroy our enemy and make America safe and that is the purpose we should be there if we're going to be there. +p1367 +aV Yes, I did. +p1368 +aVWell, why don't we start by making sure the Justice Department never does an idiotic program like Fast and Furious where the U.S. Government put guns......in the hands of Mexican drug lords......and end up killing one of our border agents. You know, they want to talk about law abiding citizens, I just find it amazing the President keeps saying the gun show loophole. There is no gun show loophole. I promise you I've been to more gun shows than President Obama. +p1369 +aVAnd, I've bought more weapons at them, and you fill out forms. The President also says things that it's easier to get a gun now than it is to grow trees. Again, I purchase guns, and I can assure you that it is much more difficult to purchase a firearm than it is to get the ingredients of a salad at the supermarket. What the President keeps pushing are ideas that have never worked. Ideas that would not have stopped San Bernadino, Sandy Hook, Aurora, and at some point you wonder if you keep retrying things that don't work, maybe we should just see if we could resell all those used lottery tickets that didn't work real well because that's the logic of just keep doing the same thing, but something that has failed. Of course, we want to stop gun violence, but the one common thing that has happened in most mass shootings is that they happened in gun- free zones where people who would have been law abiding citizens, who could have stood up and at least tried to stop it and we're not allowed to under the law. +p1370 +aVWell, we shouldn't be and that's one of the reasons that I think there a lot of voices in our country who are saying it's time to relook at the visa program. The European Union is a failure, it's not allowed for even the economic goals that they were trying to achieve. But, what we're not seeing is that it's making Europe less safe, and it's proven not to be exactly what they all thought it was going to be. Our first and foremost responsibility in this country, and the first responsibility of the President of the United States is protect America, and protect Americans. We have a President who seems to be more interested in protecting the reputation and image of Islam than he is protecting us. And, I want to be very clear......that this President. Makes comments like he did the other night, that we have to be so careful because we don't want to offend Muslims. He needs to read his own FBI crime stats from last year which would show him that of the hate crimes in the country, over 5,500, about 1,100 were religious hate crimes. And, of those, 58% were directed toward Jews. Only 16% directed toward Muslims. Maybe what the President should have talked about the other night is how we ought to be more careful in the anti-semitic comments that are going toward American Jews than toward Muslims because by three times as many......they're being targeted for religious hate crime. +p1371 +aVIt does not shut down international commerce, but it may slow it down. And, you don't want to slowdown commerce that is making us safer. It's worth it. This lady who came and joined with the San Bernardino killer had passed three background checks, and that's why a lot of Americans didn't buy it when the President said we'll bring in Syrian refugees, but don't worry we'll check them out. We have a lot of confidence in a president who told us that we could keep our doctor, we could keep our health insurance, and cost us less, and now the latest is if you like your gun you can keep it too, and frankly, we don't buy it. We don't believe it. He's lost his credibility, and his inept... ...inability to work with Congress and pass legislation has led him to do what I never even imagined doing as a governor, and that's just going and doing it my own way. That's why we elect a president, is to lead, is to be able to shepherd things through. And if I can do it with a 90 percent Democrat legislature in Arkansas, there is no excuse for any president not being able to lead in Washington if he knows what the heck he is doing when he gets there. +p1372 +aVWell, first of all, let's just remember that Social Security is not the government's money, it belongs to the people who had it taken out of their checks involuntarily their entire working lives. For the government to say, well it is fault of working people that we have a Social Security problem, no. It is the fault of a government that used those people's money for something other than protecting those people's accounts. So let's not blame them and punish them. But here is a fact, and I sometimes hear Republicans say well, we're going to have to cut this and extend the age. You know what I think a lot of times when I hear people say, well, let's make people work to their 70. That sounds great for white-collar people who sat at a desk most of their lives. You ever talk to somebody that stood on concrete floor for the first 40 years of their working life? Do you think they can stand another five years or 10 years, many of them will retired virtually crippled because they worked hard. And we're going to punish them some more? I don't think so. Here's the fact. Four percent economic growth, we fully fund Social Security and Medicare. Our problem is not that Social Security is just too generous to seniors. It isn't. Our problem is that our politicians have not created the kind of policies that would bring economic growth. And I still support strongly that we get rid of the 77,000 pages of the monstrous tax code......pass the fair tax, supercharge this economy with the rocket fuel that happens with the consumption tax and we don't have to cut Social Security to any senior who has worked their lifetime for it. +p1373 +aVLet me go back to the reason so many people are having a hard time getting ahead. The tax system punishes them. Think about this. If you work really hard and you start moving up the economic ladder, you get bumped into a different tax bracket. So the government thinks it deserves more of your hard work than you do. And it's one of the reasons that no matter how many different reforms you have to a tax on people's productivity, you're still taxing their work, their savings. You're taxing their capital gains, inheritance, dividends, you're taxing everything that produces something. And it's way I really believe it's time to do something bold, not something minute. This is no time for a tap of the hammer, a twist of the screwdriver. It's time for something big. That's why the fair tax transforms our economy. And we don't punish workers. It's the only way we're going to get middle class people moving ahead again, because the harder they work, the more they keep. No payroll tax deducted from their checks. They get their entire paycheck. And, one of the most important parts, it's built on the common sense with which we raised our kids, and trained dogs. You reward behavior you want more of. And, you punish behavior you want less of. That's how I raise kids, it's how I trained our dogs, and folks, it's not that difficult. We now punish the behavior we say we want more of by taxing it, and we reward the behavior that we say we want less of, so if you make a good investment, we punish you with a tax. If you make a bad investment you can write that off and the rest of the taxpayers will help subsidize you, and bail you out. +p1374 +aVWell, Rick, I'm pretty sure I did also fight the Clinton machine because every election I was ever in in Arkansas, I assure you, they were behind it, helping finance and campaign for every opponent. And I share with you the understanding that it's going to be a tough battle. But I spent the first half of my adult life in the private and nonprofit sector, raising a family, understanding how tough it is for people to make it. And that first half of my life is what led me to believe that America needs a different kind of leadership, not people who spent their whole life running from one office to the next, and living off the government dime. And I got involved because I got sick of what I saw. I also believe that there's got to be some leadership that not only addresses the monetary and military issues of this country, but the moral issues of this country. At the end of every political speech, most of us say, God bless America. But how can he do that when we continue to slaughter 4,000 babies a day? And I want to be the president that treats every person, including the unborn, as a person. And protect them under the 5th and 14th amendments of the constitution. I close with this word from a gentleman in East Texas named Butel Lucre. He's 100 years old and I met him down in East Texas. And he said this to me. "I sure wish, Mike, we had the days when The Ten Commandments were in all of our capitals and in every school, and we prayed again. You know, he may be 100 years old, but I believe some of those old ideas to get this country back where we unapologetically get on our knees before we get on our feet might be the best solutions we've ever sought as a country. And I ask for your support and your vote. Thank you. +p1375 +aVWell, John, I don't really have any weaknesses that I can think of. But my wife is down here in the front, and I'm sure, if you'd like to talk to her later, she can give you more than you'll ever be able to take care of. If I have a weakness, it's that I try to live by the rules. I try to live by the rules, no matter what they are, and I was brought up that way as a kid. Play by the rules. And I'll tell you what a weakness is of this country: there are a lot of people who are sick and tired because Washington does not play by the same rules that the American people have to play by. +p1376 +aVWell, I would really appreciate that. First of all, yes, we've stolen. Yes, we've lied to the American people about Social Security, and Medicare. But, you know what we're not telling them? It's their money. This isn't the governments money. This is not entitlement, it's not welfare. This is money that people have confiscated out of their paychecks. Everytime they got a paycheck, the government reached in and took something out of it before they ever saw it. Now, we're going to blame the people. Today congress decided to take another $150 billion dollars away from Social Security so they can borrow more money. That makes no sense to everybody. And, they're always going to say, "Well, we're going to fix this one day." No their not. It's like a 400 pound man saying, "I'm going to go on a diet, but I'm eating a sack of Krispy Kremes before I do." And, people are sick of believing that the government is never going to really address this. But, let me tell you who not to blame. Let's quit blaming the people on Social Security. Let's quit making it a problem for them. It's like them getting mugged, and then us saying, well, we're going to mug you some more. You ought to just be able to get over it, get used to it... +p1377 +aV...No, sir... +p1378 +aV...we need to honor our promises... +p1379 +aV...before I go. This is the only time I've had a chance, let me finish. +p1380 +aV...This is a matter not of math, this is a matter of morality. If this country that does not keep its promise to seniors then what promise can this country hope to be trusted to keep? And, the fact is, none of them. [ +p1381 +aVAnd, the only way \u2014 no... +p1382 +aV...Chris... +p1383 +aV...Chris... +p1384 +aVSince he brought me up, do I not get to respond? +p1385 +aVJohn, listen, let's keep in mind that for one-third of the 60 million Americans on Social Security it represents 90 percent of their income. And, when I hear people talking about means testing, let's just remember what that means. If we means test Social Security, it means that the government decides whether or not I deserve it. If a person lives in a seven room house, does the government get to say you don't need seven rooms, we're going to take two of them away? Folks, the government has no business stealing even more from the people who have paid this in. I just want to remind you, people paid their money. They expect to have it. And, if this government doesn't pay it, than tell me what's different between the government and Bernie Madolf, who sits in prison today for doing less than what the government has done to the people on social security and Medicare in this country. +p1386 +aVI don't think it's so much about when the government orders a corporation to do something. In fact, that's part of the problem. If you saw that blimp that got cut loose from Maryland today, it's a perfect example of government. I mean, what we had was something the government made \u2014 basically a bag of gas \u2014 that cut loose, destroyed everything in its path, left thousands of people powerless, but they couldn't get rid of it because we had too much money invested in it, so we had to keep it. That is our government today. We saw it in the blimp. That's exactly what we saw. So look, corporations ought to exercise some responsibility. When CEO income has risen 90 percent above the average worker, when the bottom 90 percent of this country's economy has had stagnant wages for the past 40 years, somebody is taking it in the teeth. And it's not the folks on Wall Street. I'm not anti-Wall Street, but I don't believe the government ought to wear a team jersey, pick winners and losers. +p1387 +aVThe government ought to wear a striped shirt and just make sure the game... +p1388 +aV...is paid \u2014 played fairly. +p1389 +aVNow, everybody else has fudged their time and gone over, so please, don't cut me off too quick, Becky. +p1390 +aVLet me just close it out this way. +p1391 +aVWe need to be focusing on what fixes this country. And I'll tell you one thing that we never talk about \u2014 we haven't talked about it tonight. Why aren't we talking about \u2014 instead of cutting benefits for old people, cutting benefits for sick people \u2014 why don't we say, "let's cure the four big cost-driving diseases... +p1392 +aV..."diabetes, heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer's?" +p1393 +aVIf you do that, you don't just change the economy, you transform the lives of millions of hurting Americans. +p1394 +aVGosh, I'd love for us to talk about something like that. Thank you. +p1395 +aVYou know, of the few questions I've got, the last one I need is to give him some more time. I love Donald Trump. He is a good man. I'm wearing a Trump tie tonight. Get over that one, OK? [ +p1396 +aVI don't know. [ +p1397 +aVI have no idea. +p1398 +aVYou're welcome. Let me tell you, Donald Trump would be a president every day of the week and twice on Sunday, rather than Hillary. I've spent a lifetime in politics fighting the Clinton machine. You want to talk about what we're going to be up against next year? I'm the only guy on this stage \u2014 you know, everybody has an "only guy" \u2014 "I'm the only guy this; I'm the only guy that." Well, let me tell you one thing that I am the only guy: The only guy that has consistently fought the Clinton machine every election I was ever in over the past 26 years. And not only did I fight them, but I beat them. Somebody says "I'm a fighter." Well, I want to know, did you win? Well, I did. And not only did I fight them and win, I lived to tell about it and I'm standing on this stage tonight as evidence of that. And I think that ought to be worth something. +p1399 +aVWell, and specifically to Medicare, Becky, because 85 percent of the cost of Medicare is chronic disease. The fact is if we don't address what's costing so much, we can't throw enough money at this. And it's why I've continued to focus on the fact that we need to declare war on the four big cost drivers because 80 percent of all medical costs in this country are chronic disease. We don't have a health care crisis in America, we have a health crisis. And until we deal with the health of Americans and do what we did with polio \u2014 when I was a little kid, we eradicated it. You know how much money we spent on polio last year in America? We didn't spend any. We've saved billions of dollars. You want to fix Medicare? Focus on the diseases that are costing us the trillions of dollars. Alzheimers, diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Eradicate those and you fix Medicare and you've fixed America, its economy and you've made people's lives a heck of a lot better. +p1400 +aVYou know, I know to a lot of people in the media, this is just a great big game, and we're the players. And, we come out here, and we do our thing. And, sometimes we're held up in contempt by people who write columns, but, I guarantee you to every person on this stage there's something deep inside of us that would cause us to give up our livelihoods and step out on this stage and fight for the people of America. I've got five grandkids. I do not want to walk my five grandkids through the charred remains of a once great country called America, and say, "Here you go, $20 trillion dollars of debt. Good luck making something out of this mess." And, for those of us who are serious enough to run for president, think long and hard why we're here, and hopefully you'll know we're not here for ourselves. We honest to god are here to get this country back on track. I know this, I certainly am. +p1401 +aV...Thank you. +p1402 +asVCRUZ +p1403 +(lp1404 +VWell, we have 80 years of precedent of not confirming Supreme Court justices in an election year. And let me say, Justice Scalia... +p1405 +aVEighty years of not confirming. For example, L.B.J. nominated Abe Fortas. Fortas did not get confirmed. He was defeated. +p1406 +aVNo, Kennedy was confirmed in '87... +p1407 +aVHe was appointed in... +p1408 +aVIn this case it's both. But if I could answer the question... +p1409 +aVJustice Scalia was a legal giant. He was somebody that I knew for 20 years. He was a brilliant man. He was faithful to the Constitution. He changed the arc of American legal history. And I'll tell you, his passing tonight, our prayers are with his family, with his wife, Maureen, who he adored, his nine children, his 36 grandkids. But it underscores the stakes of this election. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that will strike down every restriction on abortion adopted by the states. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that will reverse the Heller decision, one of Justice Scalia's seminal decisions, that upheld the Second Amendment right to keep and to bear arms. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that would undermine the religious liberty of millions of Americans \u2014 and the stakes of this election, for this year, for the Senate, the Senate needs to stand strong and say, "We're not going to give up the U.S. Supreme Court for a generation by allowing Barack Obama to make one more liberal appointee." And then for the state of South Carolina, one of the most important judgments for the men and women of South Carolina to make is who on this stage has the background, the principle, the character, the judgment and the strength of resolve to nominate and confirm principled constitutionalists to the court? That will be what I will do if I'm elected president. +p1410 +aVWell, we need to focus on what the objective is, you know? Your question about the first three questions you would ask in this Situation Room. I think it is a problem if the president, commander in chief, we've elected does not have the experience and background to understand the threats facing this country coming in on Day 1. If you look at the threats facing this country, the single gravest threat, national security threat, is the threat of a nuclear Iran. That's why I've pledged on Day 1 to rip to shreds this Iranian nuclear deal, and anyone that thinks you can negotiate Khamenei does not understand the nature of Khamenei. When it comes to +p1411 +aVWe have Kurds in both Iraq and Syria. They are fighting +p1412 +aVWell, let me say it at the outset that everyone here understands \u2014 everyone understands that how \u2014 that the middle class has been left behind in the last seven years of the Obama economy, and we've got to bring jobs back. We've got to get people back to work. We've got to get wages going up again. We've got to get people moving from part-time work to full-time work. We all agree on that, but it's not going to be solved with magic pixie dust. It's just going to be solved by declaring into the air, "Let there be jobs." We actually have to understand the principles that made America great in the first place. Now, where do you get economic growth? If you look at cause and effect over our nation's history, every time we lessen the burden of Washington on small-business owners, on job creators, we see incredible economic growth. You do that through tax reform and regulatory reform. My tax plan \u2014 typical family of four, first $36,000 you earn, you pay nothing in taxes \u2014 no income taxes, no payroll taxes, no nothing. Above 10 percent, everyone pays the same simple, flat 10 percent income rate. It's flat and fair. You can fill out your taxes on a postcard, and we abolish the I.R.S. If you want to see the postcard, I've got it on my website. +p1413 +aVNow, Major, the business flat tax that is in my tax plan is not a VAT. A VAT in Europe is a sales tax. The business flat tax is not a sales tax, it is a tax of 16 percent opposed fairly and evenly across the board on all business. One of the things that's critical is we're doing that in conjunction with abolishing the corporate income tax, with abolishing the Obamacare taxes, with abolishing the payroll taxes, which are the biggest taxes paid by most working Americans, and with abolishing the death tax, which is cruel and unfair. And you asked about economic growth \u2014 the nonpartisan Tax Foundation estimated a simple flat tax that would produce 4.9 million new jobs, it would increase capital investment by 44 percent and would lift everyone's income by double digits. That's how you turn the country around, not just hoping and praying for it, but implementing policies that work. +p1414 +aVWell, you know, your question highlights a sharp difference on immigration on this stage. You know, in a Republican primary, everyone talks tough on immigration. Everyone is against illegal immigration in a Republican primary. But as voters, we've been burned over and over again by people that give us a great campaign speech and they don't walk the walk. There are sharp differences on amnesty. If you look at the folks on this stage, when Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer and establishment Republicans were leading the fight to pass a massive amnesty plan, I stood with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and the American people and led the fight to defeat that amnesty plan. +p1415 +aVNow, that moment... +p1416 +aVThat moment was what Reagan would call "a time for choosing." When it comes to deciding which side of the line you're on, the Rubio-Schumer amnesty plan......apparently supported by the donor class, which is why Washington supported it. The Rubio-Schumer amnesty plan passed the Senate, and it was on the verge of passing the House. House leadership intended to take it up and pass it with the Democrats overruling most of the Republicans. And the question for anyone on illegal immigration is, where were you in that fight? Where did you stand? You are right. There is a difference between Senator Rubio and me on this question. +p1417 +aVMajor, I get a response to that. +p1418 +aVYou know, the lines are very, very clear. Marco right now supports citizenship for 12 million people here illegally. I oppose citizenship. Marco stood on the debate stage and said that. But I would note not only that \u2014 Marco has a long record when it comes to amnesty. In the state of Florida, as speaker of the house, he supported in-state tuition for illegal immigrants. In addition to that, Marco went on Univision in Spanish and said he would not rescind President Obama's illegal executive amnesty on his first day in office. I have promised to rescind every single illegal executive action, including that one. And on the question... +p1419 +aV. +p1420 +aVThat is simply... +p1421 +aVThat is absolutely false. What he said is knowingly false. And I would note, if you want to assess \u2014 if you want to assess... +p1422 +aV... who is telling the truth... If you want to assess who is telling the truth......then you should look to Jeff Sessions, who said, without Ted Cruz the Rubio-Schumer amnesty bill would have passed, and Ted was responsible. You should look to Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin, that said... +p1423 +aVI think it is a very important question because the people who have been hurt the most in the Obama economy had been the most vulnerable. It's been young people. It's been Hispanics. It's been African-Americans. It's been single moms. We have the lowest percentage of Americans working today in any year since 1977. And the sad reality is big government, massive taxes, massive regulation, doesn't work. What we need to do instead is bring back booming economic growth, let \u2014 small businesses are the heart of the economy. Two-thirds of all new jobs come from small businesses. If we want to lift people out of poverty \u2014 you know, I think of these issues from the perspective of my dad. My dad fled Cuba in 1957. He was just 18. He couldn't speak English. He had nothing. He had $100 in his underwear. And he washed dishes making 50 cents an hour and paid his way through school. Today, my dad is a pastor. He travels the country preaching the gospel. Now, I think about all of these issues. How would it impact my dad when he was washing dishes? If we had Obamacare in place right now, the odds are very high my father would have been laid off, because it's teenaged kids like my dad who have gotten laid off. If he didn't get laid off, the odds are high he would have had his hours forcibly reduced to 28, 29 hours a week. We need to lift the burdens on small businesses so you have jobs, and we need welfare reform that gets people off of welfare and back to work. +p1424 +aVYou know, flexibility is a good thing, but it shouldn't \u2014 you shouldn't be flexible on core principles. I like Donald, he is an amazing entertainer, but his policies for most of his life... +p1425 +aVFor most of his life, his policies have been very, very liberal. For most of his life, he has described himself as very pro- choice and as a supporter of partial birth abortion. Right now, today, as a candidate, he supports federal taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood. I disagree with him on that. That's a matter of principle, and I'll tell you... +p1426 +aVDon, I need to go on... +p1427 +aVI will say, it is fairly remarkable to see Donald defending Ben after he called, "pathological," and compared him to a child molester. Both of which were offensive and wrong. But let me say this \u2014 you notice Donald didn't disagree with the substance that he supports taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood. And Donald has this weird pattern, when you point to his own record, he screams, "Liar, liar, liar." You want to go... +p1428 +aVYou want to go... +p1429 +aVIf you want to watch the video, go to our website at Tedcruz.org. +p1430 +aVYou can see it out of Donald's own mouth. +p1431 +aVYou supported it when we were battling over defunding Planned Parenthood. You went on... +p1432 +aVYou said, "Planned Parenthood does wonderful things and we should not defund it." +p1433 +aVSo I'll tell you what... +p1434 +aVYou see, you and I... +p1435 +aVDon, the reasoned principle matters. The reasoned principle matters, sadly was illustrated by the first questions today. The next president is going to appoint one, two, three, four Supreme Court justices. If Donald Trump is president, he will appoint liberals. If Donald Trump is president, your Second Amendment will gone... +p1436 +aVYou know how I know that? +p1437 +aVI did not nominate John Roberts. I would not have nominated John Roberts. +p1438 +aVI supported... +p1439 +aVYou need to learn to not interrupt people. +p1440 +aVDonald, adults learn... +p1441 +aVAdults learn not to interrupt people. +p1442 +aVI did not nominate him. I would not have nominated him. I would've nominated my former boss Liberman, who was Justice Scalia's first law clerk. And you know how I know that Donald's Supreme Court justices will be liberals? Because his entire life, he support liberals from Jimmy Carter, to Hillary Clinton, to John Kerry. In 2004, he contributed to John Kerry. Nobody who cares about judges would contribute to John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid. +p1443 +aVThat's what Donald Trump does. +p1444 +aVSouth Carolina, you have a critical choice to make. Our country literally hangs in the balance. Do you want another Washington deal maker who will do business as usual, cut deals with the Democrats, grow government, grow debt and give up our fundamental liberties? Or do you want a conservative, a proven conservative that will stand and fight with you each and every day? Listen, repealing Obamacare is not going to be easy. Passing a simple flat tax that abolishes the I.R.S. is not going to be easy, but if we stand with the American people, we can do it. And today, we saw just how great the stakes are. Two branches of government hang in the balance. Not just the presidency but the Supreme Court. If we get this wrong, if we nominate the wrong candidates, the Second Amendment, life, marriage, religious liberty \u2014 every one of those hangs in the balance. My little girls are here. I don't want to look my daughters in the eyes and say, "We lost their liberties." Who do you know will defend the Constitution and Bill of Rights? And as a commander in chief, who do you know will stand up to our enemies as the clam, steady, deliberate, strength to defeat our enemies, to secure our borders and to keep America safe. +p1445 +aVWell, you know, David, the assessment the voters are making here in New Hampshire and across the country is they are evaluating each and every one of us. They are looking to our experience. They are looking to our knowledge. They are looking to our temperament and judgment. They are looking to our clarity of vision and our strength of resolve. The world is getting much more dangerous. We've had seven years with Barack Obama in the oval office, a commander-in-chief that is unwilling even to acknowledge the enemy we're facing. This is a president who, in the wake of Paris, in the wake of San Bernardino, will not even use the words radical Islamic terrorism, much less focus on defeating the enemy. I am convinced every individual standing on this stage, would make a much better commander-in-chief than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders. And the primary voters are making the assessment for each of us, who is best prepared to keep this country safe, to rebuild the military, to rebuild our Navy, our Air Force, our Army, our Marines, and to ensure that we keep America safe. +p1446 +aVI think that is an assessment the voters are going to make. And they are going to make it of each and everyone of us. They are going to assess who is level-headed, who has clear vision, who has judgment, who can confront our enemies, who can confront the threats we face in this country, and who can have the judgment when to engage and when not to engage \u2014 both are incredibly important for a commander-in-chief, knowing how to go after our enemies. In the case of Iran, for example, who has the clarity of vision to understand that the Ayatollah Khamenei, when he chants, "Death to America," he means it. We need a president with the judgment and resolve to keep this country safe from radical Islamic terrorists. +p1447 +aVBen is a good and honorable man and Ben and Candy have become friends. He has an amazing life story that has inspired millions, including me. When this transpired, I apologized to him then and I do so now. Ben, I'm sorry. Let me tell you the facts of what occurred for those who are interested in knowing. On Monday night, about 6:30 p.m., CNN reported that Ben was not going from Iowa to New Hampshire or South Carolina. Rather, he was, quote, "Taking a break from campaigning." They reported that on television, CNN's political anchors, Jake Tapper and Dana Bash and Wolf Blitzer, said it was highly unusual and highly significant. My political team saw CNN's report breaking news and they forwarded that news to our volunteers, it was being covered on live television. Now, at the time, I was at the caucuses, I was getting ready to speak at the caucuses just like Ben was, just like everyone else was. I knew nothing about this. A couple hours later, I found out about it. I was told that Ben was unhappy. I called him that evening because I respect him very, very highly. I didn't reach him that evening. I reached him the next day and apologized. He asked me then, he said, Ted, would you make this apologize in public? I said, yes, I will. And I did so. I regret that subsequently, CNN reported on that \u2014 they didn't correct that story until 9:15 that night. So from 6:30 p.m. to 9:15, that's what CNN was reporting. Subsequent to that initial report, Ben's campaign put out a statement saying that he was not suspending his campaign. I wish that our campaign staff had forwarded that statement. They were unaware of it, I wish that they had, that's why I apologized. +p1448 +aVWell, I would note, initially the fact that we're seeing the launch, and we're seeing the launch from a nuclear North Korea is the direct result of the failures of the first Clinton administration. The Clinton administration led the world in relaxing sanctions against North Korea. Billions of dollars flowed into North Korea in exchange for promises not to build nuclear weapons. They took those billions and built nuclear weapons. And, I would note also the lead negotiator in that failed North Korea sanctions deal was a woman named Wendy Sherman who Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton promptly recruited to come back to be the lead negotiator with Iran. So, what we are seeing with North Korea is foreshadowing of where we will be with Iran. With respect to North Korea and what we should do now, one of the first things we should do is expand our missile defense capacity. We ought to put missile defense interceptors in South Korea. South Korea wants them. One of the real risks of this launch, North Korea wants to launch a satellite, and one of the greatest risks of the satellite is they would place a nuclear device in the satellite. As it would orbit around the Earth, and as it got over the United States they would detonate that nuclear weapon and set of what's called an EMP, and electromagnetic pulse which could take down the entire electrical grid on the Eastern seaboard, potentially killing millions. We need to harden the grid to defend ourselves, and we need missile defense to protect ourselves against North Korea. +p1449 +aVYou know, at this point I'm not going to speculate on that without the intelligence briefing that any Commander in Chief would have, knowing what exactly is there. One of the real problems... +p1450 +aV... Actually, with respect, I have gotten the intelligence briefings on the Mid-East. Those have been going on for many years. I haven't gotten the intelligence briefing tonight on what North Korea's doing because I'm here in new Hampshire. When you're responding to an immediate incident, you need to know the intelligence of what's occurring. But what I was saying \u2014 look, it is qualitatively different dealing with a country once they have nuclear weapons. It's why you prevent them from getting nuclear weapons in the first place \u2014 because your hands are somewhat tied once they have nukes. It's why this Iranian nuclear deal is so catastrophic, and it's why I've pledged, on the very first day in office, to rip to shreds this Iranian nuclear deal so we're not sitting here in five years, wondering what to do about an Iranian missile launch when they have nuclear weapons. The stakes are too high for that. +p1451 +aVSo, in terms of a practical solution, I've laid out the most detailed plan for solving illegal immigration. It's 11 pages, single-spaced, chapter and verse. It's on our website, tedcruz.org. In short, we're going to do, we're going to build a wall. We're going to triple the border patrol. We're going to increase \u2014 and actually, since Donald enjoyed that, I will simply say, I've got somebody in mind to build it. We're going to increase four-fold, the fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft, so that you have technology monitoring an attempted incursion to direct the boots on the ground where they're occurring. We're going to put in place a strong e-verify system in the workplace, so you can't get a job without proving you are here legally. We'll put in place a biometric exit-entry system on visas, because 40 percent of illegal immigration comes not over the border illegally, but people coming on visas and overstaying. We will end sanctuary cities by cutting off taxpayer dollars to any jurisdiction that defies federal immigration law. And we will end welfare benefits for those here illegally. +p1452 +aVWhat you do is, you enforce the law. You know, under the Constitution, the president has an obligation to, quote, "Take care that the laws be faithfully executed." Federal immigration law provides, if someone is here illegally and is apprehended, they are to be deported. We saw just this past week the head of the border patrol union testify before Congress that President Obama had given the order to the border patrol to stand down, not to enforce the law. That is wrong. I will enforce the law, and for everyone who says, you can't possibly do that, I would note that in eight years, Bill Clinton deported 12 million people. In eight years, George W. Bush deported 10 million people. Enforcing the law \u2014 we can do it. What is missing is the political will. And when they were deporting the people, the border wasn't secure, so they'd come right back. Once you secure the border, enforcing the law will solve this problem and that will benefit American workers. +p1453 +aVGood evening. +p1454 +aVWell, let me take two different parts of that. Let me start with socialized medicine. Socialized medicine is a disaster. It does not work. If you look at the countries that have imposed socialized medicine, that have put the government in charge of providing medicine, what inevitably happens is rationing. You have a scarcity of doctors. You have rationing. And that means the elderly are told, we're going to ration a hip replacement, we're going to ration a knee replacement. We're going to ration end- of-life care. We're right now heading into a medical system with about a 90,000-doctor shortage in America and socialized medicine; whether proposed by the Democrats or proposed by a Republican would hurt the people of this country. What should we do on health care? If I'm elected president, we will repeal every word of Obamacare. And once we do that, we will adopt common sense reforms, number one, we'll allow people to purchase health insurance across state lines that will drive down prices and expand the availability of low cost catastrophic insurance. We'll expand health savings accounts; and we will de-link health insurance from employment so that you don't lose your health insurance when you lose your job, and that way health insurance can be personal, portable and affordable and we keep government from getting in between us and our doctors. HAM: Dr. Carson, you have some experience with this matter. In the past, you have said that Obamacare should be replaced before it's repealed. How and why? +p1455 +aVWell, sure. It starts with a commander-in-chief that sets the objective. And the objective has to be utterly and completely destroying +p1456 +aVMartha, I will tell you, I have visited with active duty military, with veterans over and over and over again in town halls all over the state of New Hampshire. What we are doing to our sons and daughters, it is immoral. We are sending them into fight with their arms tied behind their back. They cannot defend themselves. And it is wrong. And I will tell you this. Look. America has always been reluctant to use military force. It's the last step we take. But if and when we use it when it comes to defeating +p1457 +aVAbsolutely, yes. +p1458 +aVWell, under the definition of torture, no, it's not. Under the law, torture is excruciating pain that is equivalent to losing organs and systems, so under the definition of torture, it is not. It is enhanced interrogation, it is vigorous interrogation, but it does not meet the generally recognized definition of torture. +p1459 +aVI would not bring it back in any sort of widespread use. And indeed, I joined with Senator McCain in legislation that would prohibit line officers from employing it because I think bad things happen when enhanced interrogation is employed at lower levels. But when it comes to keeping this country safe, the commander in chief has inherent constitutional authority to keep this country safe. And so, if it were necessary to, say, prevent a city from facing an imminent terrorist attack, you can rest assured that as commander in chief, I would use whatever enhanced interrogation methods we could to keep this country safe. +p1460 +aVWell, thank you for that question. You know, there are three avenues of presidential authority to change the direction of this country. The first is executive power, the second is foreign policy, and the third is legislation. Executive power, as we all know, has been the preferred vehicle of President Obama, abusing his authority, abusing his constitutional authority. Now, the silver lining of that is everything done with executive power can be undone with executive power, so I have pledged on day one I will rescind every single illegal and unconstitutional executive action Barack Obama has done. That means on day one his efforts to restrict the Second Amendment go away with the strike of a pen. That means on day one his illegal executive amnesty goes away with the strike of a pen. The reason I can end Common Core at the federal level is because Obama is abusing executive power using Race to the Top funds in the Department of Education to force it on the states. That's one avenue. The second avenue of change is foreign policy, and foreign policy can change the fastest. It's worth remembering that Iran released our hostages the day Reagan......was sworn in. And, the third is legislation, and that can only be done with the people behind you, which is why the two big legislative initiatives I'm campaigning on are repealing Obamacare, and adopting a simple flat tax to abolish the IRS. HAM: Mr. Trump, Senator Cruz is known for opposing deals, you literally wrote the book on making them. Senator Cruz has mentioned that on the trail. What would you say to those conservatives that are concerned that a deal maker will just perpetuate the same deals in Washington and the way that things run now ... +p1461 +aVWell, Josh, as you noted, this is a problem that, for me, I understand first-hand. My older sister, Myriam, who was my half- sister, struggled her whole life with drug and alcohol addiction. My father and her mom divorced when she was a little girl and she was angry her whole life, and she ended up marrying a man who had been in and out of jail. She then became a single mom and she herself went to jail several times and she ended up spending some time in a crack house. I still remember my father and me driving up to get Myriam out of that crack house to try to convince her she needed to be a mom to \u2014 to my nephew Joey. She wasn't willing to listen. She was not willing to change the path she was on. She was angry. I was \u2014 had just gotten my first job coming out of law school. I took a $20,000 loan on a credit card to put my nephew, Joey, in Valley Forge Military Academy \u2014 he was in sixth grade at the time, to pay his way through that. And about five, six years ago, Miriam died of an overdose. It was \u2014 the coroner ruled it accidental. We don't know. She went to one night, had taken too many pills, and Joey walked in and found her dead. This is an absolute epidemic. We need leadership to solve it. Solving it has to occur at the state and local level with programs like A.A., and counseling, and churches and charities. But it also has to be securing the borders, because you have got Mexican cartels that are smuggling vast amounts of heroin into this country. We know how to secure the borders. What is missing is the political will to do it. And as president, I will secure the border, we will end this deluge of drugs that is flowing over our southern border and that is killing Americans across this country. +p1462 +aVWell, look, I recognize it is an agonizing experience when anyone is facing a loved \u2014 loved member who's been kidnapped. But at the same time, putting in place legal regimes that encourage the payment of ransom has the effect of putting a bounty on other Americans. There is a reason it has been longstanding U.S. policy that we don't negotiate with terrorists, we don't pay ransoms. If you look at what President Obama has done over and over again, whether it was the James Bergdahl deal, which was absolutely shameful, releasing five senior Taliban terrorists to bring Bergdahl back, or whether it was this recent deal with Iran, where, again, up to 21 terrorists or potential terrorists were \u2014 were released or not prosecuted in order to bring back four Americans, what that does \u2014 does is it effectively puts a bounty on American servicemen and women serving abroad, on American tourists traveling abroad. And the proper approach......is a president and commander in chief that defends this country and that goes after \u2014 goes after the terrorists, rather than showing them weakness and encouraging them to target more Americans. +p1463 +aVWith an eye to February 20th, Carolina. +p1464 +aVYou know, every candidate running for president says they will stand up to Washington. The natural follow up question is when have you ever stood up to Washington. Last week we saw a powerful illustration of that. I campaigned in the state of Iowa four-square against the ethanol mandate, something everyone said was political suicide. My two leading competitors both attacked me for it. The governor of the state said vote for anyone but Cruz, and lobbyists spent millions of dollars in attack ads, but I stood and said we should have no mandates, a level playing field, and the people of Iowa put country and our children above the cronyism and corporate welfare...... We can turn this country around if we get back to the Constitution. And, I will always stand with the American people against the bipartisan corruption of Washington. +p1465 +aVWell, Megyn, let me say at the outset to the men and women of Iowa, thank you for the incredible hospitality over this past year. By Monday, you will have welcomed me into all 99 counties in Iowa. You will have welcomed my dad to preach at your churches. You will have welcomed Heidi and our girls, Caroline and Catherine, into your homes. And I'm so grateful for the diligence, for the seriousness with which the men and women of Iowa approach this process. If I am elected president, keep an eye on the tarmac, because I'll be back, because Iowa in 2017 will not be fly-over country. It will be fly-to country. Now, secondly, let me say I'm a maniac and everyone on this stage is stupid, fat, and ugly. And Ben, you're a terrible surgeon. Now that we've gotten the Donald Trump portion out of the way... I want to thank everyone here for showing the men and women of Iowa the respect to show up and make the case to the people of this state and the people of the country why each of us believe we would make the best commander in chief. +p1466 +aVWell, let me be clear, if Donald engages in insults or anybody else, I don't intend to reciprocate. I have not insulted Donald personally and I don't intend to. I am glad Donald is running. I'm glad he has produced enormous enthusiasm, and, every Donald Trump voter or potential voter, I hope to earn your support. I know everyone else on this stage hopes to earn your support. Now, there is a difference between personal insults and attacks \u2014 between going into the mud with ad hominems and focusing on issues and substance. +p1467 +aVWell, I agree with Rand that I very much respect Ron Paul and that I think anyone who is able to win in the Republican Party has to be able to bring together the disparate elements of the Reagan coalition. You've got to be able to bring together conservatives and evangelicals and libertarians, and stitch together a winning majority. When it comes to the audit the Fed bill, as Rand knows well, I was an original sponsor of the bill, I'm strongly supportive of it. It didn't have the votes to pass. And I had commitments to be at a town hall in New Hampshire. But I look forward to signing that bill into law as president and auditing the Fed and providing needed accountability at the Federal Reserve. +p1468 +aVWell, Chris, I will apologize to nobody for the vigorousness with which I will fight terrorism, go after +p1469 +aVChris, in 1981, when Ronald Reagan came to the Oval Office, he encountered a military that had been debilitated just as the current military has, just like Jimmy Carter weakened our readiness, undermined our ability to defend this country, so too has Barack Obama. Just as morale in the military has plummeted in the last seven, so it had then. What Reagan did is he began with tax reform and regulatory reform, unleashing the engine of the American free enterprise system. It brought booming economic growth and that growth fueled rebuilding the military. I intend to do the exact same thing to defeat radical Islamic terrorism \u2014 +p1470 +aV... and to devote the resources from the booming economy to rebuilding our Navy, rebuilding our Air Force, rebuilding our Army and ensuring we have the capacity to keep this country safe. +p1471 +aVChris? Chris I was mentioned in that question. +p1472 +aV... Actually, I was... +p1473 +aV... Chris, your questions that you... +p1474 +aV... What was your question... +p1475 +aV... Your question was you have disagreed... +p1476 +aV... opening statement. +p1477 +aV... This entire question was an attack, but that's +p1478 +aVChris, I would note that that the last four questions have been, "Rand, please attack Ted. Marco, please attack Ted. Chris, please attack Ted. Jeb, please attack Ted..." Let me just say this... +p1479 +aV... Well, no, no. A debate actually is a policy issue, but I will say this. Gosh, if you guys ask one more mean question I may have to leave the stage. Chris, the most important determination any voter is going to make in this election is who's best prepared to be Commander in Chief. Who has the experience, who has the knowledge, who has the judgement, who has the clarity, and vision and strength of resolve to keep this country safe. That is what this debate is all about, and I would suggest let's stay focused on those issues \u2014 rather than just attacks directed at each other. +p1480 +aVSure. Well, let's take it one at a time. First of all, we have seen now in six years of Obamacare that it has been a disaster. It is the biggest job-killer in this country. Millions of Americans have lost their jobs, have been forced into part-time work, have lost their health insurance, have lost their doctors, have seen their premiums skyrocket. If I'm elected president, we will repeal every word of Obamacare. Now, once that is done, everyone agrees we need healthcare reform. It should follow the principles of expanding competition, empowering patients, and keeping government from getting in between us and our doctors. Three specific reforms that reflect those principles. Number one, we should allow people to purchase health insurance across state lines. That will create a true 50-state national marketplace which will drive down the cost of low-cost, catastrophic health insurance. Number two, we should expand health savings accounts so people can save in a tax-advantaged way for more routine healthcare needs. And number three, we should work to de-link health insurance from employment so if you lose your job, your health insurance goes with you and it is personal, portable and affordable. And I'll tell you, Bret, I think that's a much more attractive vision for healthcare than the Washington-drive, top-down Obamacare that is causing so many millions of people to hurt. +p1481 +aVI want this bill to be voted down. I don't want immigration reform to fail. I want immigration reform to pass. I believe if this amendment were to pass, the chances of this bill passing into law would increase dramatically. I believe if the amendments I introduced were adopted, that the bill would pass. And my effort in introducing them was to find a solution that reflected common ground and that fixed the problem. If the proponents of this bill actually demonstrate a commitment not to politics, not to campaigning all the time, but to actually fixing this problem, to finding a middle ground. That would fix the problem, and also allow, for those 11 million people who are here illegally, a legal status, with citizenship off the table. +p1482 +aVYou know, the amendment you're talking about is one sentence \u2014 it's 38 words. Anyone can go online at tedcruz.org and read exactly what it said. In those 38 words, it said anyone here illegally is permanently ineligible for citizenship. It didn't say a word about legalization. I introduced... +p1483 +aVBut \u2014 but Megyn, the bill was 1,000 pages. I introduced a series of amendments, each designed to fix problems in the bill. The fact that each amendment didn't fix every problem didn't mean that I supported the rest of the bill. And I'll tell you who supported my amendment \u2014 Jeff Sessions, the strongest opponent of amnesty in the United States Congress. And he did so because taking citizenship off the table was important, and it revealed the hypocrisy of the proponents of this bill, who were looking for votes. Listen, we can solve immigration. We just heard an argument back and forth that we can't solve immigration. I have a detailed immigration plan that is on my website, tedcruz.org. It was designed with Iowa's own Congressman Steve King and Jeff Sessions, and... ... we have the tools in federal law to do this now. We can build the fence. We can triple the border patrol. We can end sanctuary cities by cutting off... ... funding to them. We can end welfare for those here illegally. And what is missing is the political will, because too many Democrats and, sadly, too many Republicans don't want to solve this problem. If I am elected president... ... we will secure the border... +p1484 +aV... and we will end the illegal immigration. +p1485 +aVYou know, John Adams famously said, "facts are are stubborn things." The facts are are very, very simple. When that battle was waged, my friend Senator Rubio chose to stand with Barack Obama and Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer and support amnesty. And I stood alongside Jeff Sessions and Steve King, and we led the fight against amnesty. And if you want to know who's telling the truth, you should look and ask people like Jeff Sessions and Steve King and Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin, all of whom say, as Jeff Sessions said, responding to these false attacks just recently in Alabama \u2014 he said, "if it wasn't for Ted Cruz, the Gang of Eight Rubio/Schumer bill would have passed. But because Ted stood up and helped lead the effort, millions rose up to kill it. +p1486 +aVYou know, I like Marco. He's very charming. He's very smooth. But the facts are simple. When he ran for election in the state of Florida, he told the people of Florida, "if you elect me, I will lead the fight against amnesty." When I ran in Texas, I told the people of Texas, "if you elect me, I will lead the fight against amnesty." We both made the identical promises. But when we came to Washington, we made a different choice. Marco made the choice to go the direction of the major donors \u2014 to support amnesty because he thought it was politically advantageous. I honored my commitments, and as president, I will honor every commitment that I make to the men and women of this country. +p1487 +aVWell, Chris, you are exactly right that I am not the candidate of career politicians in Washington. And I'll tell you the endorsements that I am proud of are the over 200,000 volunteers across this country who have signed up to volunteer for our campaign. The endorsements that I am proud of are leading conservatives like Iowa's own Congressman Steve King, who is a national co-chairman of my campaign. The endorsements that I'm proud of are conservative leaders like Dr. James Dobson, and over 700,000 contributions nationwide, people going to our Web site, tedcruz.org. This is a grassroots campaign and, you know, when I ran for senate in Texas, I told the people of Texas that I'm not going there to go along to get along. Washington is broken. And the people I have been accountable to every single day in the Senate are the 27 million Texans who I represent and I made a promise to them that I make to you today, which is, if I am elected, every single day I will do two things: tell the truth, and do what I said I would do. +p1488 +aVWell, Chris, I'm glad to discuss my views on ethanol and energy. I think God has blessed this country with enormous natural resources, and we should pursue all of the above. We should be developing oil, and gas, and coal, and nuclear, and wind, and solar, and ethanol, and biofuels. But, I don't believe that Washington should be picking winners and losers. And, I think there should be no mandates, and no subsidies whatsoever. And, indeed, my tax plan that I've introduced, it's available on our website. It's a simple flat tax for everyone. It'll produce enormous economic growth, and it eliminates every mandate, every subsidy, so there's no subsidies for oil and gas, no subsidies for anyone. Now, it is true that there are a bunch of lobbyists, and a bunch of Democrats in this state spending millions of dollars trying to convince the people of Iowa that I somehow oppose ethanol. It's not true. I have introduced legislation that would phase out the ethanol mandate over five years, but that is in the context of having no mandates whatsoever for anyone. And, I would not that there's a much more important government regulation to ethanol, and that's the EPA's blend wall that makes it illegal to sell mid-level blends of ethanol in gasoline. I will... ... Tear down the EPA's blend wall which will enable ethanol to expand its market share by up to 60%, all without mandates. All without any government mandates whatsoever through the marketplace. And, I'll note finally, Chris, there is a reason that Iowa's Congressman Steve King, perhaps the fiercest defender of farmers in this state, is sharing my campaign. Because he understands that I'm committed to a fair, and level playing field for every energy source without lobbyists, and without Washington picking winners and losers. +p1489 +aVNinety-three hours. The media noise will soon be over and it's now for the men and women of Iowa to decide. Our country is in crisis. We're worried the future of our children and we've have been burned over and over again. The central question in this race is trust. Who do you know will kill the terrorists, defend the constitution and repeal Obamacare? Who do you know will stop amnesty and secure the borders? Who do you know will defend life, marriage and religious liberty? Examine our records, pray on it and I will be honored if you and your family will come caucus for us on Monday night. +p1490 +aVWell, Maria, thank you for that question, and let me say thank you to the state of South Carolina for welcoming us. Let me start \u2014 I want to get to the substance of the question on jobs, but I want to start with something. Today, many of us picked up our newspapers, and we were horrified to see the sight of 10 American sailors on their knees, with their hands on their heads. In that State of the Union, President Obama didn't so much as mention the 10 sailors that had been captured by Iran. President Obama's preparing to send $100 billion or more to the Ayatollah Khamenei. And I'll tell you, it was heartbreaking. But the good news is the next commander-in-chief is standing on this stage. And I give you my word, if I am elected president, no service man or service woman will be forced to be on their knees, and any nation that captures our fighting men will feel the full force and fury of the United States of America. Now, on to your substantive question. The president tried to paint a rosy picture of jobs. And you know, he's right. If you're a Washington lobbyist, if you make your money in and around Washington, things are doing great. The millionaires and billionaires are doing great under Obama. But we have the lowest percentage of Americans working today of any year since 1977. Median wages have stagnated. And the Obama-Clinton economy has left behind the working men and women of this country. The reason all of us are here is we believe we should be fighting for the working men and women of this country, and not Washington, D.C. +p1491 +aVWell Maria, thank you for passing on that hit piece in the front page of the New York Times. You know the nice thing about the mainstream media, they don't hide their views. The New York Times a few weeks back had a columnist who wrote a column saying, "Anybody But Cruz." Had that actually \u2014 that same columnist wrote a column comparing me to an evil demonic spirit from the move, "It Follows" that jumps apparently from body to body possessing people. So you know the New York Times and I don't have exactly have the warmest of relationships. Now in terms of their really stunning hit piece, what they mentioned is when I was running for senate \u2014 unlike Hillary Clinton, I don't have masses of money in the bank, hundreds of millions of dollars. When I was running for senate just about every lobbyist, just about all of the establishment opposed me in the senate race in Texas and my opponent in that race was worth over 200 million dollars. He put a 25 million dollar check up from his own pocket to fund that campaign and my wife Heidi and I, we ended up investing everything we owned. We took a loan against our assets to invest it in that campaign to defend ourselves against those attacks. And the entire New York times attack \u2014 is that I disclosed that loan on one filing with the United States Senate, that was a public filing. But it was not on a second filing with +p1492 +aVWell, Neil, I'm glad we're focusing on the important topics of the evening. You know, back in September, my friend Donald said that he had had his lawyers look at this from every which way, and there was no issue there. There was nothing to this birther issue. Now, since September, the Constitution hasn't changed. But the poll numbers have. And I recognize \u2014 I recognize that Donald is dismayed that his poll numbers are falling in Iowa. But the facts and the law here are really quite clear. Under longstanding U.S. law, the child of a U.S. citizen born abroad is a natural-born citizen. If a soldier has a child abroad, that child is a natural-born citizen. That's why John McCain, even though he was born in Panama, was eligible to run for president. If an American missionary has a child abroad, that child is a natural-born citizen. That's why George Romney, Mitt's dad, was eligible to run for president, even though he was born in Mexico. At the end of the day, the legal issue is quite straightforward, but I would note that the birther theories that Donald has been relying on \u2014 some of the more extreme ones insist that you must not only be born on U.S. soil, but have two parents born on U.S. soil. Under that theory, not only would I be disqualified, Marco Rubio would be disqualified, Bobby Jindal would be disqualified and, interestingly enough, Donald J. Trump would be disqualified. +p1493 +aVBecause \u2014 because Donald's mother was born in Scotland. She was naturalized. Now, Donald... +p1494 +aV... on the issue \u2014 on the issue of citizenship, Donald... +p1495 +aV... on the issue of citizenship, Donald, I'm not going to use your mother's birth against you. +p1496 +aVYou're an American, as is everybody else on this stage, and I would suggest we focus on who's best prepared to be commander- in-chief, because that's the most important question facing the country. +p1497 +aVNeil... +p1498 +aVWell, listen, I've spent my entire life defending the Constitution before the U.S. Supreme Court. And I'll tell you, I'm not going to be taking legal advice from Donald Trump. +p1499 +aVThe chances of any litigation proceeding and succeeding on this are zero. And Mr. Trump is very focused... +p1500 +aV... on Larry Tribe. Let me tell you who Larry Tribe is. He's a left-wing judicial activist, Harvard Law professor who was Al Gore's lawyer in Bush versus Gore. He's a major Hillary Clinton supporter. And there's a reason why Hillary's supporters are echoing Donald's attacks on me, because Hillary... +p1501 +aV... wants to face Donald Trump in the general election. +p1502 +aVAnd I'll tell you what, Donald, you \u2014 you very kindly just a moment ago offered me the V.P. slot. I'll tell you what. If this all works out, I'm happy to consider naming you as V.P. So if you happen to be right, you could get the top job at the end of the day. +p1503 +aVActually, I'd love to get you to build a wall. +p1504 +aVThe answer is simple. Your prosecute criminals. You target the bad guys. You know, a minute ago, Neil asked: What has President Obama do \u2014 done to illustrate that he wants to go after guns? Well, he appointed Eric Holder as attorney general. Eric Holder said he viewed his mission as brainwashing the American people against guns. He appointed Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, someone who has been a radical against the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. He launched Fast and Furious, illegally selling guns to Mexican drug lords that were then used to shoot law enforcement officials. And I'll tell you what Hillary Clinton has said: Hillary Clinton says she agrees with the dissenters \u2014 the Supreme Court dissenters in the Heller case. There were four dissenters, and they said that they believe the Second Amendment protects no individual right to keep and bear arms whatsoever, which means, if their view prevailed and the next president's going to get one, two, three, maybe four Supreme Court justices, the court will rule that not a single person in this room has any right under the Second Amendment and the government could confiscate your guns. And I'll note that California senator \u2014 Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein said, if she could say to Mr. America and Mrs. America, "give me your guns, I'm rounding them up," she would. And let me make a final point on this. Listen, in any Republican primary, everyone is going to say they support the Second Amendment. Unless you are clinically insane......that's what you say in a primary. But the voters are savvier than that. They recognize that people's actions don't always match their words. I've got a proven record fighting to defend the Second Amendment. There's a reason Gun Owners of America has endorsed me in this race. There's a reason the NRA gave me their Carter Knight Freedom Fund award......and there's a reason, when Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer came after our right to keep and bear arms, that I led the opposition, along with millions of Americans \u2014 we defeated that gun control legislation. And I would note the other individuals on this stage were nowhere to be found in that fight. +p1505 +aVYou know, I think most people know exactly what New York values are. +p1506 +aVWhat \u2014 what \u2014 you're from New York? So you might not. But I promise you, in the state of South Carolina, they do. And listen, there are many, many wonderful, wonderful working men and women in the state of New York. But everyone understands that the values in New York City are socially liberal or pro-abortion or pro- gay-marriage, focus around money and the media. And \u2014 and I would note indeed, the reason I said that is I was asked \u2014 my friend Donald has taken to it as advance playing Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA", and I was asked what I thought of that. And I said, "well, if he wanted to play a song, maybe he could play, 'New York, New York'?" And \u2014 and \u2014 you know, the concept of New York values is not that complicated to figure out. Not too many years ago, Donald did a long interview with Tim Russert. And in that interview, he explained his views on a whole host of issues that were very, very different from the views he's describing now. And his explanation \u2014 he said, "look, I'm from New York, that's what we believe in New York. Those aren't Iowa values, but this is what we believe in New York." And so that was his explanation. And \u2014 and I guess I can \u2014 can frame it another way. Not a lot of conservatives come out of Manhattan. I'm just saying. +p1507 +aVYou know I understand why Donald made the comments he did and I understand why Americans are feeling frustrated and scared and angry when we have a president who refuses to acknowledge the threat we face and even worse, who acts as an apologist for radical Islamic terrorism. I think what we need is a commander in chief who is focused like a laser on keeping this country safe and on defeating radical Islamic terrorism. What should we do? First, we should pass the Expatriate Terrorist Act, legislation I've introduced that says if an American goes and joins +p1508 +aVThanks for coming back to me, Maria. Both Donald and Jeb have good points, and there is a middle ground. Donald is right that China is running over President Obama like he is a child, President Obama is not protecting American workers and we are getting hammered. You know, I sat down with the senior leadership of John Deere. They discussed how \u2014 how hard it is to sell tractors in China, because all the regulatory barriers. They're protectionist. But Jeb is also right that, if we just impose a tariff, they'll put reciprocal tariffs, which will hurt Iowa farmers and South Carolina producers and 20 percent of the American jobs that depend on exports. So the way you do it is you pass a tax plan like the tax plan I've introduced: a simple flat tax, 10 percent for individuals, and a 16 percent business flat tax, you abolish the IRS......and here's the critical point, Maria \u2014 the business flat tax enables us to abolish the corporate income tax, the death tax, the Obamacare taxes, the payroll taxes, and they're border-adjustable, so every export pays no taxes whatsoever. It's tax-free \u2014 a huge advantage for our farmers and ranchers and manufacturers \u2014 and every import pays the 16 percent business flat tax. It's like a tariff, but here's the difference: if we impose a tariff, China responds. The business flat tax, they already impose their taxes on us, so there's no reciprocal......tariffs that come against us. It puts us on a level, even playing field, which brings jobs here at home... +p1509 +aV... and as president, I'm going to fight for the working men and women. +p1510 +aVMaria, I assume that I can respond to that. +p1511 +aVWell, Marco has been floating this attack for a few weeks now, but the problem is, the business flat tax in my proposal is not a vat. A vat is imposed as a sales tax when you buy a good. This is a business flat tax. It is imposed on business and a critical piece that Marco seems to be missing is that this 16 percent business flat tax enables us to eliminate the corporate income tax. It goes away. It enables us to eliminate the death tax. If you're a farmer, if you're a rancher, if you are small business owner, the death tax is gone. We eliminate the payroll tax, we eliminate the Obamacare taxes. And listen, there is a real difference between Marco's tax plan and mine. Mine gives every American a simple, flat tax of 10 percent. Marco's top tax rate is 35 percent. My tax plan enables you to fill out your taxes on a postcard so we can abolish the IRS. Marco leaves the IRS code in with all of the complexity. We need to break the Washington cartel, and the only way to do it is to end all the subsidies and all......the mandates and have a simple flat tax. The final observation, invoked Ronald Reagan. I would note that Art Laffer, Ronald Reagan's chief economic adviser, has written publicly, that my simple flat tax is the best tax plan of any of the individuals on this stage cause it produces economic growth, it raises wages and it helps everyone from the very poorest to the very richest. +p1512 +aVMaria... +p1513 +aVMaria, I'd just like to say... +p1514 +aVBut Maria, radical Islamic terrorism was not invented 24 months ago; 24 months ago, we had Al Qaida. We had Boko Haram. We had Hamas. We had Hezbollah. We had Iran putting operatives in South America and Central America. It's the reason why I stood with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and led the fight to stop the Gang of Eight amnesty bill, because it was clear then, like it's clear now, that border security is national security. +p1515 +aVIt is also the case that that Rubio-Schumer amnesty bill, one of the things it did is it expanded Barack Obama's power to let in Syrian refugees. It enabled him \u2014 the president to certify them en masse without mandating meaningful background checks. I think that's a mistake. That's why I've been leading the fight to stop it. And I would note the Senate just a few weeks ago voted to suspend refugees from Middle Eastern countries. I voted yes to suspend that. Marco voted on the other side. So you don't get to say we need to secure the borders, and at the same time try to give Barack Obama more authority to allow Middle Eastern refugees coming in, when the head of the FBI tells us they cannot vet them to determine if they are +p1516 +aVI'm going to get a response to that, Neil. There's no way he launches 11 attack \u2014 +p1517 +aVI'm going to \u2014 he had no fewer than 11 attacks there. I appreciate your dumping your research folder on the stage. +p1518 +aVBut I will say \u2014 +p1519 +aV\u2014 at least half of the things Marco said are flat-out false. They're absolutely false. +p1520 +aVSo let's start \u2014 let's start with immigration. Let's start with immigration and have a little bit of clarity. Marco stood with Chuck Schumer and Barack Obama on amnesty. I stood with Jeff Sessions and Steve King. Marco stood today, standing on this stage Marco supports legalization and citizenship for 12 million illegals. I opposed and oppose legalization and citizenship. And by the way, the attack he keeps throwing out on the military budget, Marco knows full well I voted for his amendment to increase military spending to $697 billion. What he said, and he said it in the last, it's simply not true. And as president, I will rebuild the military and keep this country safe. +p1521 +aV"13 Hours" \u2014 tomorrow morning, a new movie will debut about the incredible bravery of the men fighting for their lives in Benghazi and the politicians that abandoned them. I want to speak to all our fighting men and women. I want to speak to all the moms and dads whose sons and daughters are fighting for this country, and the incredible sense of betrayal when you have a commander-in-chief who will not even speak the name of our enemy, radical Islamic terrorism, when you have a commander-in- chief who sends $150 billion to the Ayatollah Khamenei, who's responsible for murdering hundreds of our servicemen and women. I want to speak to all of those maddened by political correctness, where Hillary Clinton apologizes for saying all lives matter. This will end. It will end on January 2017. And if I am elected president, to every soldier and sailor and airman and marine, and to every police officer and firefighter and first responder who risk their lives to keep us safe, I will have your back. +p1522 +aVThank you, Wolf. America is at war. Our enemy is not violent extremism. It is not some unnamed malevolent force. It is radical Islamic terrorist. We have a president who is unwilling to utter its name. The men and women on this stage, every one of us, is better prepared to keep this nation safe than is Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. We need a president who understands the first obligation of the commander-in-chief is to keep America safe. If I am elected president, we will hunt down and kill the terrorists. We will utterly destroy +p1523 +aVWell, listen, Hugh, everyone understands why Donald has suggested what he has. We're looking at a president who's engaged in this double-speak where he doesn't call radical Islamic terrorism by its name. Indeed, he gives a speech after the San Bernardino attack where his approach is to try to go after the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens rather than to keep us safe. And even worse, President Obama and Hillary Clinton are proposing bringing tens of thousands of Syrian refugees to this country when the head of the FBI has told Congress they cannot vet those refugees. I understand why Donald made that proposal. I introduced legislation in the Senate that I believe is more narrowly focused at the actual threat, which is radical Islamic terrorism, and what my legislation would do is suspend all refugees for three years from countries where +p1524 +aVWell, you know, I'm reminded of what FDR's grandfather said. He said, "All horse-thieves are Democrats, but not all Democrats are horse-thieves." In this instance, there are millions of peaceful Muslims across the world, in countries like India, where there is not the problems we are seeing in nations that are controlled \u2014 have territory controlled by Al Qaida or +p1525 +aVWell, Dana, the premise of your question is not accurate. I'm very proud to have joined with conservatives in both the Senate and the House to reform how we target bad guys. And what the USA Freedom Act did is it did two things. Number one, it ended the federal government's bulk collection of phone metadata of millions of law-abiding citizens. But number two in the second half of it that is critical. It strengthened the tools of national security and law enforcement to go after terrorists. It gave us greater tools and we are seeing those tools work right now in San Bernardino. And in particular, what it did is the prior program only covered a relatively narrow slice of phone calls. When you had a terrorist, you could only search a relatively narrow slice of numbers, primarily land lines. The USA Freedom Act expands that so now we have cell phones, now we have Internet phones, now we have the phones that terrorists are likely to use and the focus of law enforcement is on targeting the bad guys. You know what the Obama administration keeps getting wrong is whenever anything bad happens they focus on law-abiding citizens instead of focusing on the bad guys. We need to focus on radical Islamic terrorists and we need to stop them before they carry out acts of terror. +p1526 +aVWell, you know, I would note that Marco knows what he's saying isn't true. You know, Mark Levin wrote a column last week that says that the attack ads his Super PAC is running that are saying the same thing, that they are knowingly false and they are, in fact, Alinsky-like attacks like Barack Obama. And the reason is simple. What he knows is that the old program covered 20 percent to 30 percent of phone numbers to search for terrorists. The new program covers nearly 100 percent. That gives us greater ability to stop acts of terrorism, and he knows that that's the case. +p1527 +aVWhat it means is using overwhelming air power to utterly and completely destroy +p1528 +aVYou would carpet bomb where +p1529 +aVWell, you know, Marco has continued these attacks, and he knows they're not true. Yes, it is true that I voted against the National Defense Authorization Act, because when I campaigned in Texas I told voters in Texas that I would oppose the federal government having the authority to detain U.S. citizens permanently with no due process. I have repeatedly supported an effort to take that out of that bill, and I honored that campaign commitment. +p1530 +aVBut more broadly, you know, the notion Marco is suggesting, that somehow \u2014 he also has tossed more than a few insults this direction \u2014 let's be absolutely clear. +p1531 +aVWolf, I believe in a America first foreign policy, that far too often President Obama and Hillary Clinton \u2014 and, unfortunately, more than a few Republicans \u2014 have gotten distracted from the central focus of keeping this country safe. So let's go back to the beginning of the Obama administration, when Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama led +p1532 +aV... we ought to hunt down our enemies and kill +p1533 +aVWell, it's more than not shedding a tear. It's actively getting involved to topple a government. And we keep hearing from President Obama and Hillary Clinton and Washington Republicans that they're searching for these mythical moderate rebels. It's like a purple unicorn. They never exist. These moderate rebels end up being jihadists. And I'll tell you whose view on Assad is the same as mine. It's Prime Minister Netanyahu. Prime Minister Netanyahu has said Israel doesn't have a dog in that fight because Assad is a puppet of Iran, a Shia radical Islamic terrorist, but at the same time, Prime Minister Netanyahu doesn't want to see Syria governed by +p1534 +aVThe question of whether we should toppling dictatorships is asking the wrong question. We should be defeating our enemies. So the problem with defeating... +p1535 +aVWell, but let me explain, the focus should be... +p1536 +aV... on defeating our enemies. So, for example... +p1537 +aV... a regime we should change is Iran... +p1538 +aV... because Iran has declared war on us. But we shouldn't be toppling regimes...... that are fighting radical Islamic terrorists that are helping... +p1539 +aVWell, he \u2014 he has attempted to muddy the waters, but I think that anyone who watched the battle that we had. You know, there was a time for choosing as Reagan put it. Where there was a battle over amnesty and some chose, like Senator Rubio to stand with Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer and support a massive amnesty plan. Others chose to stand with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and the American people and secure the border. And let me mention, this issue is actually directly connected to what we've been talking about. Because the front line with +p1540 +aVLook, I understand Marco wants to raise confusion, it is not accurate what he just said that I supported legalization. Indeed, I led the fight against his legalization and amnesty. And you know, there was one commentator that put it this way that, for Marco to suggest our record's the same is like suggesting "the fireman and the arsonist because they are both at the scene of the fire." He was fighting to grant amnesty and not to secure the border, I was fighting to secure the border. And this also goes to trust, listening on to campaign trails. Candidates all the time make promises. You know, Marco said," he learned that the American people didn't trust the federal government." +p1541 +aVIn Florida promising to... +p1542 +aVgo in the fight against amnesty... +p1543 +aVHe campaigned promising to lead the fight against amnesty. +p1544 +aVI have never supported a legalization... +p1545 +aVI have never supported legalization, and I do not intend to support legalization. Let me tell you how you do this, what you do is you enforce the law... +p1546 +aVWatt you do is enforcement the law... +p1547 +aVWhat you do... +p1548 +aVWhat you do is you enforce the law. I've laid out a very, very detailed immigration plan on my website, tedcruz.org. It's 11 pages of existing federal law and in particular the question of what to do with people who are here now? You enforce the law. That means you stop the Obama administration's policy of releasing criminal illegal aliens. Do you know how many aliens Bill Clinton deported? 12 million. Do you know how many illegal aliens, George W. Bush deported? 10 million. We can enforce the laws and if we secure the border, that solves the problem. And as president I will solve this problem and secure the border. +p1549 +aVDana, what I said in private is exactly what I'll say here, which is that the judgment that every voter is making of every one of us up here is who has the experience, who has the vision, who has the judgment to be commander in chief. That is the most important decision for the voters to make. That's a standard I'm held to. And it's a standard everyone else is held to. And I will note, you know, in the whole course of this discussion about our foreign policy threats, it actually illustrates the need for clarity of focus. You know, my daughters, Caroline and Catherine, came tonight. They're 7 and 5. And you think about the Los Angeles schools canceling their schools today. And every parent is wondering, how do we keep our kids safe? We need a commander in chief who does what Ronald Reagan did with communism, which is he set out a global strategy to defeat Soviet communism. And he directed all of his... I'm answering the question, Dana. He directed all of his forces to defeating communism. One of the things we've seen here is how easy it is for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to get distracted from dealing with radical Islamic terrorism. They won't even call it by its name. We need a president who stands up, number one, and says, we will defeat +p1550 +aVAnd we need to be focused on defeating... +p1551 +aV... defeating radical Islamic terrorists. +p1552 +aVWhat I'm saying, Dana, is that is a judgment for every voter to make. What I can tell you is all nine of the people here would make an infinitely better commander in chief than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. +p1553 +aVAnd there is a real danger, Dana, when people get distracted. I'm answering the question, Wolf. There's a real danger when people get distracted by peripheral issues. They get distracted by democracy building. They get distracted about military conflicts. We need to focus on defeating jihadism. +p1554 +aVAnd I will do everything necessary to keep our children safe. +p1555 +aVJudgment, strength, clarity and trust. Barack Obama has said he doesn't believe in American leadership or America winning \u2014 he is wrong. America can win again and we will win again. Ronald Reagan reignited the American economy, rebuilt the Military, bankrupted the Soviet Union and defeated Soviet Communism. I will do the same thing. Cutting taxes, cutting regulation, unleashing small businesses and rebuilding the Military to defeat radical Islamic terrorism \u2014 our strategy is simple. We win, they lose. We've done it before and we can do it again. +p1556 +aVWell, Maria, it's great to be with you. It's great to be here in Milwaukee. You know, the question you asked really I think is the most important question any of us can have \u2014 face, which is, how do we get the economy growing? How do we bring back economic growth? Because economic growth, it's foundational to every other challenge we have. As you rightly noted, from 2008 to today, our economy has grown 1.2 percent a year on average. The Obama economy is a disaster, and the IMF is telling us this is a new normal. It doesn't have to be. If you look at the history of America, there are three levers that government has had to facilitate economic growth. The first is tax reform. And as you noted, I have rolled out a bold and simple flat tax: 10 percent for every American that would produce booming growth and 4.9 million new jobs within a decade. The second element is regulatory reform, pulling back the armies of regulators that have descended like locusts on small businesses. And the third element is sound money. Every time we've pursued all three of those \u2014 whether in the 1920s with Calvin Coolidge or the 1960s with JFK or the 1980s with Ronald Reagan \u2014 the result has been incredible economic growth. We have done it before, and with leadership, we can do it again. +p1557 +aVWell, my Mom is here, so I don't think we should be pushing any grannies off cliffs. And, you miss-stated what I've said on entitlement reform. What I've said is for seniors we should make no changes whatsoever, for younger workers we should gradually raise the retirement age, we should have benefits grow more slowly, and we should allow them to keep a portion of their taxes in a personal account that they control, and can pass on to their kids... +p1558 +aVI want to go back to the discussion we had a minute ago because, you know, what was said was right. The democrats are laughing \u2014 because if republicans join democrats as the party of amnesty, we will lose. And, you know, I understand that when the mainstream media covers immigration, it doesn't often see it as an economic issue. But, I can tell you for millions \u2014 of Americans at home watching this, it is a very personal economic issue. And, I will say the politics of it will be very, very different if a bunch of lawyers or bankers were crossing the Rio Grande. Or if a bunch of people with journalism degrees were coming over and driving down the wages in the press. Then, we would see stories about the economic calamity that is befalling our nation. And, I will say for those of us who believe people 'ought to come to this country legally, and we should enforce the law, we're tired of being told it's anti-immigrant. It's offensive. I am the son of an immigrant who came legally from Cuba... ...to seek the American dream. And, we can embrace legal immigration while believing in the rule of law \u2014 and I would note, try going illegally to another country. Try going to China, or Japan. Try going to Mexico. See what they do. Every sovereign nation secures its borders, and it is not compassionate to say we're not going to enforce the laws... ...And we're going to drive down the wages for millions of hardworking men and women. That is abandoning the working... +p1559 +aVWell, sure, you put your finger on what the problem is. The current system isn't fair. Washington is fundamentally corrupt. There are more words in the IRS code than there are in the Bible \u2014 and \u2014 and not a one of them is as good. Every one of them reflects a carve-out or a subsidy, and it's all about empowering the Washington cartel. My simple Flat Tax says that, for a family of four, for the first $36,000 you earn, you pay no taxes whatsoever. No income taxes, no payroll taxes, no nothing. Above that, every American pays 10 percent across the board \u2014 a flat, fair tax. Which means that no longer do you have hedge-fund billionaires paying a lower tax rate than their secretaries. On the business side, I've got a business flat tax of 16 percent \u2014 again, that applies across the board. Right now, with our corporate income tax, giant corporations with armies of accountants regularly are paying little to no taxes while small businesses are getting hammered. This is fair and across-the-board. Now, you ask, how do the numbers add up? I would encourage folks, if you go to our website, tedcruz.org, we have the specific numbers on the website. This plan eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax, eliminates the corporate income tax, and it abolishes the IRS. And the effect of that is incredible economic growth. It means every income group will see double-digit increases, from the very poorest to the very weakest, of at least 14 percent. So if you're a single mom, if you're making $40,000 a year, what that means is an extra about $5,000 in your pocket to provide for your kids, to make ends meet. It has a powerful, powerful effect. And there's one other really powerful feature of my plan, which is that it's border-adjustable. Which means, if you're an exporter \u2014 if you're a farmer, if you're a rancher, if you're a manufacturer, you don't pay the businesses flat tax. Exports are free of that tax, but all imports pay that 16 percent business flat tax, which means this tax plan would cause jobs to boom, and it would let America compete with China and the world on a level playing field. +p1560 +aVWell, the numbers the Tax Foundation had put out is that the static cost of the plan is $3.6 trillion over 10 years, but the dynamic cost of the plan, which \u2014 which is the cost that factors in growth, is about $768 billion. It is less than a trillion. It costs less than virtually every other plan people have put up here, and yet it produces more growth and it's one of the very few plans that abolishes the IRS. But on top of that, today, we rolled out a spending plan. $500 billion in specific cuts \u2014 five major agencies that I would eliminate. The IRS, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Energy, the Department of Commerce, and HUD \u2014 and then 25 specific programs. Again, that's on our website at tedcruz.org. You want to look at specificity? It's easy for everyone to say, "cut spending". It's much harder and riskier to put out, chapter and verse, specifically the programs you would cut to stop bankrupting our kids and grandkids. +p1561 +aV...Middle ground that brings both of these together... +p1562 +aV...Exactly right, that we have to defend this nation. You think defending this nation is expensive, try not defending it. That's a lot more expensive. But, you can do that, and pay for it. You can do that, and also be fiscally responsible. You know, I mention that the 25 programs that I put today, that I would eliminate them. Among them are corporate welfare, like sugar subsidies. Let's take that as an example. Sugar subsidies. Sugar farmers farm under... ...under roughly 0.2% of the farmland in America, and yet they give 40% of the lobbying money. That sort of corporate welfare is why we're bankrupting our kids, and grandkids. I would end those subsidies to pay for defending this nation... +p1563 +aVAbsolutely yes. You know, I have spent much of my adult life enforcing the law and defending the Constitution. And the problem that underlies all of this is the cronyism and corruption of Washington. You know, the opening question Jerry asked, would you bail out the big banks again? Nobody gave you an answer to that. I'll give you an answer. Absolutely not. And what we have right now is we have Washington \u2014 as government gets bigger and bigger, you know, the biggest lie in all of Washington and in all of politics is that Republicans are the party of the rich. The truth is, the rich do great with big government. They get in bed with big government. The big banks get bigger and bigger and bigger under Dodd-Frank and community banks are going out of business. And, by the way, the consequence of that is small businesses can't get business loans, and it is that fundamental corruption that is why six of the 10 wealthiest counties in America are in and around Washington, D.C. And let me give you a contrast to Washington cronyism. Some weeks ago, a woman named Sabina Loving testified at a hearing that I chaired in the Senate. Sabina Loving is an African-American single mom who started a tax preparation business in the south side of Chicago. She found a store front, she wanted to have her own business. She started a business. But then the IRS promulgated new regulations targeting tax preparers. They did it under a more than 100-year-old statute called the Dead Horse Act. Now, this statute and the IRS in classic Washington crony fashion had exemptions for lawyers and big fancy accountants, but Sabina had to pay $1,000 an employee. It would have driven her out of business, and Ms. Loving sued the IRS. She took the Obama IRS to court, and she won, and they struck down the rule for picking the big guys over the little guys. +p1564 +aVYes. Now, let's be clear, there is a role for the Federal Reserve \u2014 what the Fed is doing now is it is a series of philosopher- kings trying to guess what's happening with the economy. You look at the Fed, one of the reasons we had the financial crash is throughout the 2000s, we had loose money, we had an asset bubble, it drove up the price of real estate, drove up the price of commodities, and then in the third quarter of 2008, the Fed tightened the money and crashed those asset prices, which caused a cascading collapse. That's why I am supporting getting back to rules-based monetary system not with a bunch of philosopher-kings deciding, but tied... +p1565 +aVSo let me be clear. I would not bail them out, but instead of adjusting monetary policy according to whims and getting it wrong over and over again and causing booms and busts, what the Fed should be doing is, number one, keeping our money tied to a stable level of gold, and, number two, serving as a lender of last resort. That's what central banks do. So if you have a run on the bank, the Fed can serve as a lender of last resort, but it's not a bailout. It is a loan at higher interest rates. That's how central banks have worked. And I'll point out \u2014 look, we had a gold standard under Bretton Woods, we had it for about 170 years of our nation's history, and enjoyed booming economic growth and lower inflation than we have had with the Fed now. We need to get back to sound money, which helps, in particular, working men and women. What Washington does \u2014 the people who are doing well in the Obama economy are those with power and influence in the Obama government. The people who working men and women... +p1566 +aVSo, Governor Kasich... +p1567 +aV...why would you then bail out rich Wall Street banks, but not Main street, not Mom and Pop, not Sabina Loving? +p1568 +aVBut you just said an executive... +p1569 +aV...knows to step in and bail out a bank. +p1570 +aVSo you said you'd abandon philosophy and abandon principle... +p1571 +aV...but what would you do if the bank was failing? +p1572 +aVSo you \u2014 you would bail them out. +p1573 +aVAnd, Maria, I will note, she's got a lot of experience, but her policies have proven disastrous. If you look at foreign policy, every region in the world has gotten worse. Under her leadership, we abandon the nation of Israel. Under her leadership, radical Islamic terrorism has been on to the rise. Under her leadership, and Obama's leadership, Iran is getting $100 billion dollars, and on the verge of getting a nuclear weapon. Everything she's put her hand to, or has touched \u2014 and when we talk about the cronyism of Washington, Hillary Clinton embodies the cronyism... ...of Washington. And, I'll give you an example of that, which is the Congressional exemption from Obamacare, which is fundamentally wrong, and I'll tell you this, if I'm elected president, I will veto any statute that exempts members of congress. The law should apply evenly to every American. +p1574 +aVMaria, critically, when it comes to climate change... +p1575 +aV...Our \u2014 our... +p1576 +aVFifty-eight years ago, my father fled Cuba. As he stood on the deck of that ferryboat with the wind and salt air blowing, he looked back at the oppression and torture he was escaping. And yet he looked forward to the promise of America. His story is our story. What ties Americans together is we are all the children of those who risked everything for freedom. America is in crisis now. I believe in America. And if we get back to the free market principles and constitutional liberties that built this country, we can turn this country around. I believe that 2016 will be an election like 1980, that we will win by following Reagan's admonition to paint in bold colors, not pale pastels. We're building a grassroots army. I ask you to join us at tedcruz.org. And we, the people, can turn this nation around. +p1577 +aVI'm too agreeable, easy going. You know, I think my biggest weakness is exactly the opposite. I'm a fighter. I am passionate about what I believe. I've been passionate my whole life about the Constitution. And, you know, for six-and-a-half years, we've had a gigantic party. If you want someone to grab a beer with, I may not be that guy. But if you want someone to drive you home, I will get the job done and I will get you home. +p1578 +aVBecky, if you want a 10 percent flat tax where the numbers add up, I rolled out my tax plan today, you can find it on line at tedcruz.org. It is a simple flat tax where for individuals, a family of four pays nothing on the first $36,000. After that you pay 10 percent as a flat tax going up. The billionaire and the working man, no hedge fund manager pays less than his secretary. On top of that, there is a business flat tax of 16 percent. Now that applies universally to giant corporations that with lobbyists right now are not paying taxes, and as small business. And you wanted to know the numbers, the Tax Foundation, which has scored every one of our plans, shows that this plan will allow the economy to generate 4.9 million jobs, to raise wages over 12 percent, and to generate 14 percent growth. And it costs, with dynamic scoring, less than a trillion dollars. Those are the hard numbers. And every single income decile sees a double-digit increase in after-tax income. +p1579 +aVGrowth is the answer. And as Reagan demonstrated, if we cut taxes, we can bring back growth. +p1580 +aVYou know, let me say something at the outset. The questions that have been asked so far in this debate illustrate why the American people don't trust the media. This is not a cage match. And, you look at the questions \u2014 "Donald Trump, are you a comic-book villain?" "Ben Carson, can you do math?" "John Kasich, will you insult two people over here?" "Marco Rubio, why don't you resign?" "Jeb Bush, why have your numbers fallen?" How about talking about the substantive issues the people care about? +p1581 +aVAnd Carl \u2014 Carl, I'm not finished yet. The contrast with the Democratic debate, where every fawning question from the media was, "Which of you is more handsome and why?" And let me be clear. +p1582 +aVLet me be clear. The men and women on this stage have more ideas, more experience, more common sense than every participant in the Democratic debate. That debate reflected a debate between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. And nobody watching at home believed that any of the moderators had any intention of voting in a Republican primary. The questions that are being asked shouldn't be trying to get people to tear into each other. It should be what are your substantive positions... +p1583 +aVYou want me to answer that question? I'm happy to answer the question... +p1584 +aVLet me tell you how that question... +p1585 +aVLet me tell you how that question... +p1586 +aV... so you don't actually want to hear the answer, John? +p1587 +aVYou don't want to hear the answer. You just want to... +p1588 +aVYou're not interested in an answer. +p1589 +aV...Then I'll buy you a tequila... +p1590 +aV...Or, even some famous Colorado brownies. +p1591 +aVWell, sure. This deal in Washington is an example of why Washington's broken. Republican leadership joined with every single Democrat, add $80 trillion to our debt to do nothing to fix the problems. And, let me now on Social Security because we were getting into a good substantive exchange, and I want to say I think both Chris, and Mike are right. Governor Huckabee's exactly right, we need to honor the promises made to our seniors, but for younger workers \u2014 look. I'm 44 years old. It is hard to find someone in my generation that thinks Social Security will be there for us. We can save and preserve and strengthen Social Security by making no changes for seniors, but for younger workers gradually increasing the retirement age, changing the rate of growth so that it matches inflation, and critically allowing younger workers to keep a portion of our tax payments in a personal account that we own, we control them, we can pass on to our kids. +p1592 +aVWell, we've gotta turn the economy around for people who are struggling. The Democrats' answer to everything is more government control over wages, and more empowering trial lawyers to file lawsuits. You know, you look at women working. I'll tell you, in my family there are a lot of single moms in my family. My sister was a single mom, both of my aunts who were a single moms. My mom who's here today, was a single mom when my father left us when I was 3 years old. Now, thank God, my father was invited to a Bible study and became born again and he came back to my mom and me and we were raised together. But I \u2014 the struggle of single moms is extraordinary. And you know, when you see Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and all the Democrats talking about wanting to address the plight of working women, not a one of them mentioned the fact that under Barack Obama, 3.7 million women have entered poverty. Not a one of them mentioned the fact that under Barack Obama and the big government economy, the median wage for women has dropped $733. The the truth of the matter is, big government benefits the wealthy, it benefits the lobbyists, it benefits the giant corporations. And the people who are getting hammered are small businesses, it's single moms, it's Hispanics. That is who I'm fighting for. The people that Washington leaves behind. +p1593 +aVWell, Rick, it's a very important question. I have got deep concerns about the Fed. The first thing I think we need to do is audit the Fed. And I am an original co-sponsor of Rand Paul's audit the Fed legislation. The second thing we need to do is I think we need to bring together a bipartisan commission to look at getting back to rules- based monetary policy, end this star chamber that has been engaging in this incredible experiment of quantitative easing, QE1, QE2, QE3, QE- infinity. And the people who are being impacted, you know, a question that was asked earlier, Becky asked, was about working women. You know, it's interesting, you look at on Wall Street, the Fed is doing great. It's driving up stock prices. Wall Street is doing great. You know, today, the top 1 percent earn a higher share of our income than any year since 1928. But if you look at working men and women. If you look at a single mom buying groceries, she sees hamburger prices have gone up nearly 40 percent. She sees her cost of electricity going up. She sees her health insurance going up. And loose money is one of the major problems. We need sound money. And I think the Fed should get out of the business of trying to juice our economy and simply be focused on sound money and monetary stability, ideally tied to gold. +p1594 +aVLet me say on that... +p1595 +aV...Rand is exactly right. His plan is a good plan, and I will note that my 10% plan also eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax, +p1596 +aV...eliminates the business... [ +p1597 +aV...income tax... [ +p1598 +aV...10% flat rate... +p1599 +aV...is the lowest personal rate any candidate up here has, and what it would also enable us to do is for every citizen to fill out their taxes on a postcard so we can eliminate the IRS. +p1600 +aVYou know, everyone here talks about the need to take on Washington. The natural next question is who actually has done so. Who actually has stood up not just to Democrats, but to leaders in our own party? When millions of Americans rose up against Obamacare, I was proud to lead that fight. When millions of Americans rose up against amnesty, I was proud to lead that fight. When millions of Americans rose up against Planned Parenthood, I was proud to lead that fight. If people are promising they're going to take on Washington and cronyism, you need to look to who has been doing it. In my family, my dad fled oppression in Cuba to come to America. Freedom is personal for me, and I will always keep my word and fight for freedom. +p1601 +asVHARWOOD +p1602 +(lp1603 +VMr. Trump, you've done very well in this campaign so far by promising to build a wall and make another country pay for it. +p1604 +aVSend 11 million people out of the country. Cut taxes $10 trillion without increasing the deficit. +p1605 +aVAnd make Americans better off because your greatness would replace the stupidity and incompetence of others. +p1606 +aVLet's be honest. Is this a comic book version of a presidential campaign? +p1607 +aVWe're at the 60 seconds. +p1608 +aVWe're at 60 seconds, but I gotta ask you, you talked about your tax plan. You say that it would not increase the deficit because you cut taxes $10 trillion in the economy would take off like... +p1609 +aVHold on, hold on. The economy would take off like a rocket ship. +p1610 +aVI talked to economic advisers who have served presidents of both parties. They said that you have as chance of cutting taxes that much without increasing the deficit as you would of flying away from that podium by flapping your arms. +p1611 +aVThe Tax Foundation says \u2014 has looked at all of our plans and \u2014 and his creates, even with the dynamic effect, $8 trillion dollar deficit... +p1612 +aVGovernor Kasich, hold it, I'm coming to you right now. The... +p1613 +aVWell, I'm asking you about this. +p1614 +aVI'm about to ask you about this. That is, you had some very strong words to say yesterday about what's happening in your party and what you're hearing from the two gentlemen we've just heard from. Would you repeat it? +p1615 +aVWell, let's just get more pointed about it. You said yesterday that you were hearing proposals that were just crazy from your colleagues. Who were you talking about? +p1616 +aVHold on. I think there's a \u2014 I've got question for \u2014 +p1617 +aVHold on, Governor. I've got a question for Governor Bush. +p1618 +aVNo, we're moving to Governor Bush. Governor, the fact that you're at the fifth lectern tonight shows how far your stock has fallen in this race, despite the big investment your donors have made. You noted recently, after slashing your payroll, that you had better things to do than sit around and be demonized by other people. I wanted to ask you \u2014 +p1619 +aVOK. +p1620 +aVGot it. +p1621 +aVBut it's a \u2014 OK. It's a \u2014 it's a question about why you're having difficulty. I want to ask you in this context. Ben Bernanke, who was appointed Fed chairman by your brother, recently wrote a book in which he said he no longer considers himself a Republican because the Republican Party has given in to know- nothingism. Is that why you're having a difficult time in this race? +p1622 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1623 +aVWe're gonna get down the line. Becky's got a question. +p1624 +aVSenator Paul, I've got a question for you on the same subject. +p1625 +aVSenator Paul? +p1626 +aVYou used your time on something else. Senator Paul? +p1627 +aVSenator Paul, the budget deal crafted by Speaker Boehner and passed by the House today makes cuts in entitlement programs, Medicare and Social Security disability, which are the very programs conservatives say need cutting to shrink government and solve our country's long-term budget deficit. Do you oppose that budget deal because it doesn't cut those programs enough? +p1628 +aVSenator, if what you just said is true, why did Speaker Boehner craft this deal and why did Paul Ryan, who has a strong reputation for fiscal discipline, vote for it? +p1629 +aVThank you, Senator . +p1630 +aVJim, thanks. Governor Bush, in a debate like this four years ago, every Republican running for president pledged to oppose a budget deal containing any tax increase even if it had spending cuts ten times as large. A few months later, you told Congress, put me in, coach, you said you would take that deal. Still feel that way? +p1631 +aVBut to \u2014 to the point that you made to Congress, if you were president and you were offered a bipartisan deal that had one dollar... +p1632 +aV...one dollar of tax increases per ten dollars of spending cuts, would you take it? +p1633 +aVSo you don't want the coach to put you in any more? +p1634 +aVThank you, governor. Carl? +p1635 +aVGovernor John Kasich, you've called for abolishing the Export Import Bank, which provides subsidies to help American companies compete with overseas competitors. You call that corporate welfare. One of the largest newspapers in your state wrote an editorial, said they found that strange, writing, that if that's corporate welfare, what does Kasich call the millions of dollars in financial incentives doled out to attract or retain jobs by his development effort \u2014 jobs Ohio. If subsidies are good enough for Ohio companies, why aren't they good enough for companies trying to compete overseas? +p1636 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1637 +aVThank you, Governor. Thank you. +p1638 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate on +p1639 +aVIt sounds like you think Senator Sessions is wrong to believe there is enough abuse in that program that we shouldn't... +p1640 +aVThank you, Senator. Becky? +p1641 +aVGovernor Bush, the tax reform bill that Ronald Reagan signed in 1986 cut the top personal income tax rate to 28 percent \u2014 just like your plan does. But President Reagan taxed capital gains at the same rate, while you would tax them at just 20 percent. Given the problems we've been discussing, growing gap between rich and poor, why would you tax labor at a higher rate than income from investments? +p1642 +aVSenator Rubio, 30 seconds to you. The Tax Foundation, which was alluded to earlier, scored your tax plan and concluded that you give nearly twice as much of a gain in after-tax income to the top 1 percent as to people in the middle of the income scale. Since you're the champion of Americans living paycheck-to- paycheck, don't you have that backward? +p1643 +aVThe Tax Foundation \u2014 just to be clear, they said the... +p1644 +aVNo, I did not. +p1645 +aVSenator, the Tax Foundation said after-tax income for the top 1 percent under your plan would go up 27.9 percent. +p1646 +aVAnd people in the middle of the income spectrum, about 15 percent. +p1647 +aV +p1648 +aVSenator, thank you. +p1649 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you've written about the huge divide in values between middle America and the big coastal cities like New York and Los Angeles. As a preacher as well as a politician, you know that presidents need the moral authority to bring the entire country together. The leading Republican candidate, when you look at the average of national polls right now, is Donald Trump. When you look at him, do you see someone with the moral authority to unite the country? +p1650 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1651 +aVThank you, Governor. Don't forget my colleague, Sharon Epperson. +p1652 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said something that many in your party do not believe, which is that climate change is undeniable, that human activity contributes to it, and you said, quote: "The question is, what do we do to deal with it?". So what do we do? +p1653 +aVWhat should we do? +p1654 +aVYou mean government? +p1655 +aVThank you, Governor. Becky. +p1656 +aVGovernor Bush, Mr. Trump says that he is capable of growing the economy so much that Social Security and Medicare don't have to be touched. Do you want to explain how that is going to happen, Mr. Trump? +p1657 +aVHold on, Governor. I've got a question for \u2014 for Dr. Carson. +p1658 +aVYes. You've said that you would like to replace Medicare with a system of individual family savings accounts, so that families could cover their own expenses. Obviously, that would be a very controversial idea. Explain how that would work, exactly. +p1659 +aVGovernor, do you also think that... +p1660 +aV...that Dr. Carson's right, that we can replace Medicare with individual savings accounts? +p1661 +aVMrs. Fiorina, we're right at the end of our time. +p1662 +aVYou all wanted us to limit . All right. Go ahead. +p1663 +aVWe have now reached the point in the program where candidates are going to give their closing statements, 30 seconds apiece. We're going to go right to left and start with you, Senator Paul. +p1664 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1665 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Cruz? +p1666 +aVThank you, Senator. Mrs. Fiorina? +p1667 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Dr. Carson? +p1668 +aVMr. Trump? +p1669 +aVJust for the record, the debate was always going to be two hours. Senator Rubio? +p1670 +aVSenator Rubio. +p1671 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Bush? +p1672 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Huckabee. +p1673 +aVThank you... +p1674 +aVGovernor Kasich? +p1675 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1676 +asVPAUL +p1677 +(lp1678 +VYou know, I've always had a great deal of respect. There's probably no person I respect more in the country or in recent history than my father. I think he was probably the most honest man in politics that we've ever seen in a generation. And so in no way have I ever said that I don't embrace my father or love my father or appreciate everything that he has done for the country. I think what's interesting about where that liberty vote goes that my father brought to the Republican Party is, I don't think they're necessarily going to go for Ted. You know, Ted didn't show up. We had an audit-the-Fed vote, which was the biggest thing my dad had been advocating for, for 30 years, Ted didn't have time to show up. He was the only Republican that didn't show up for it. And so I think really that vote is going to stay in the Paul household. I think more of it is coming and it's going to grow. The NSA is another big issue. Ted said he was for NSA reform, but then he told Marco Rubio, no, no, no, I voted for the bill because I'm for the government collecting 100 percent of your cell phone records. I don't think Ted can have it both ways. They want to say they're getting some of the liberty vote. But we don't see it happening at all. We think we're going to do very well in Iowa with the liberty vote. +p1679 +aVMay I respond? +p1680 +aVWell, I mean, I was talked about in the question. +p1681 +aVJust very quickly, I would like to respond. The bulk collection of your phone data, the invasion of your privacy did not stop one terrorist attack. I don't think you have to give up your liberty for a false sense of security. When we look at this bulk collection, the court has looked at this. Even the court declared it to be illegal. If we want to collect the records of terrorists, let's do it the old fashioned way. Let's use the Fourth Amendment. Let's put a name on a warrant, let's ask a judge for it. Let's respect the history of our country. John Adams said that we fought a War for Independence because we wanted to fight against generalized warrants. Let's don't forget that. +p1682 +aVMy budget was mentioned. My budget was mentioned. +p1683 +aV... Senator Cruz, I'd like to respond... +p1684 +aV... and I'd like to respond. +p1685 +aVThank you, Marco. +p1686 +aVThank you. The issue in Syria's a very important one, and it's one we need to get right. The question is, should we be bombing both sides of the war? Some want to topple Assad. In fact, they want to bomb +p1687 +aV. +p1688 +aVYeah, no, I think that's a \u2014 that's a huge mistake, to be closing down mosques. But I would say that if you want to defend the country, it begins with border security. And this is where I've had my disagreement with Senator Rubio. When he brought forward the "Gang of Eight" bill to give citizenship to those who came here illegally, I put forward an amendment that says we should have more scrutiny on those who are coming as students, those who are coming as immigrants, those who are coming as refugees, because we had two refugees come to my town in Bowling Green and try to attack us. Marco opposed this because they made a deal. He made a deal with Chuck Schumer that he would oppose any conservative amendments. And I think that's a mistake, and I just don't think Marco can have it both ways. You can't be in favor of defend us... ... against Islam \u2014 radical Islam \u2014 if you're not for border security. +p1689 +aVYou know, I've supported legislation to allow body cameras. I've been to Ferguson, I've been trying to look for solutions to our criminal justice problem. One thing I discovered in Ferguson was that a third of the budget for the city of Ferguson was being reaped by civil fines. People were just being fined to death. Now you and I and many of the people in this audience, if we get a $100 fine, we can survive it. If you're living on the edge of poverty and you get a $100 fine or your car towed, a lot of times you lose your job. I also think the war on drugs has disproportionately affected our African-American community, and what we need to do is make sure that the war on drugs is equal protection under the law and that we don't unfairly incarcerate another generation of young African-American males. In Ferguson, for every 100 African-American women, there are only 60 African-American men. Drug use is about equal between white and black, but our prisons \u2014 three out of four people in prison are black or brown. I think something has to change. I think it's a big thing that our party needs to be part of, and I've been a leader in Congress on trying to bring about criminal justice reform. +p1690 +aVI was there and I saw the debate. I saw Ted Cruz say, "we'll take citizenship off the table, and then the bill will pass, and I'm for the bill." The bill would involve legalization. He can't have it both ways. But what is particularly insulting, though, is that he is the king of saying, "you're for amnesty." Everybody's for amnesty except for Ted Cruz. But it's a falseness, and that's an authenticity problem \u2014 that everybody he knows is not as perfect as him because we're all for amnesty. I was for legalization. I think, frankly, if you have border security, you can have legalization. So was Ted, but now he says it wasn't so. That's not true. +p1691 +aVYou know, I think abortion is always wrong. I've supported a variety of solutions, both state as well as federal. In fact, just last week, I introduced the Life at Conception act, which would say that the 14th amendment would defend an individual even in the womb. But I think on the broader question of religion and politics, you know, I think liberty, itself requires a virtue \u2014 requires a virtuous people. In fact, Washington said that democracy requires a virtuous people. Oz Guinness, the theologian, said that liberty requires restraint but the only restraint consistent with liberty is self-restraint. There's a lot packed into that statement. But the bottom line is we must have virtue, we must have a religious bearing as a nation. The government is not always going to save us and it's not always going to come from government. But if we don't know right and wrong, I think we have lost our way. I think we become unmoored and I think without the religious foundation that guides us all, I think we have a great risk of going horribly in the wrong direction. +p1692 +aVBoth. No, both the federal and a state approach. I have said that we could leave it to the states but I've also introduced a federal solution as well. So the federal solution would be the Life at Conception act which is an act that would federalize the issue. But I've also said for the most part, these issues would be left back to the states. So there might be an occasion if we did overturn Roe v. Wade \u2014 Roe v. Wade nationalized the issue. If you had the court reverse Roe v. Wade, it would become a state issue once again. I think it would be better the more \u2014 the less abortions we have, so the more states that we have that made abortion illegal, the better, as far as trying to save and preserve lives. +p1693 +aVYou know, I've never really brought this up unless asked the question, but I have responded to the question. I don't blame Hillary Clinton at all for this. I don't think she's responsible for his behavior. But I do think that her position as promoting women's rights and fairness to women in the workplace, that if what Bill Clinton did any CEO in our country did with an intern, with a 22-year- old, 21-year-old intern in their office, they would be fired. They would never be hired again. Fired, never hired again and probably shunned in their community. And the thing is, she can't be a champion of women's rights at the same time she's got this that is always lurking out there, this type of behavior. So it is difficult. +p1694 +aVYeah. But I combine this also with the millions upon millions of dollars they've taken from regimes in the Middle East who treat women like cattle. +p1695 +aVWell, thanks for having me. It's great to be back. I'm an eye surgeon from Bowling Green, Kentucky, I miss doing eye surgery, still get to do a little bit. Did a couple of cataract surgeries over Christmas holidays. Got to go to Haiti last year. I've gotten to do some incredible things. Got to be on the floor of the Senate. And it has been amazing to me. But the thing that is most important to me and caused me to run for office is I'm worried about the country and how much debt we're adding. And I am the one true fiscal conservative who will look at all spending. And that's the only way we'll ever balance our budget. Thank you. +p1696 +aVThe question is, how do we keep America safe from terrorism? Trump says we ought to close that Internet thing. The question really is, what does he mean by that? Like they do in North Korea? Like they do in China? Rubio says we should collect all Americans' records all of the time. The Constitution says otherwise. I think they're both wrong. I think we defeat terrorism by showing them that we do not fear them. I think if we ban certain religions, if we censor the Internet, I think that at that point the terrorists will have won. Regime change hasn't won. Toppling secular dictators in the Middle East has only led to chaos and the rise of radical Islam. I think if we want to defeat terrorism, I think if we truly are sincere about defeating terrorism, we need to quit arming the allies of +p1697 +aVYou know, I think Marco gets it completely wrong. We are not any safer through the bulk collection of all Americans' records. In fact, I think we're less safe. We get so distracted by all of the information, we're not spending enough time getting specific immigration \u2014 specific information on terrorists. The other thing is, is the one thing that might have stopped San Bernardino, that might have stopped 9/11 would have been stricter controls on those who came here. And Marco has opposed at every point increased security \u2014 border security for those who come to our country. On his Gang of Eight bill, he would have liberalized immigration, but he did not \u2014 and he steadfastly opposed any new border security requirements for refugees or students. Last week, I introduced another bill saying we need more security, we need more scrutiny. Once again, Marco opposed this. So Marco can't have it both ways. He thinks he wants to be this, "Oh, I'm great and strong on national defense." But he's the weakest of all the candidates on immigration. He is the one for an open border that is leaving us defenseless. If we want to defend the country, we have to defend against who's coming in, and Marco is \u2014 has more of an allegiance to Chuck Schumer and to the liberals than he does to conservative policy. +p1698 +aVIf I was mentioned in the question, can I respond? +p1699 +aVMarco still misunderstands the immigration issue. What I put forward was an amendment that would have temporarily halted immigration from high-risk terrorist countries, but would have started it up, but I wanted them to go through Global Entry, which is a program where we do background checks. The thing is, is that every terrorist attack we've had since 9/11 has been legal immigration. Marco wants to expand that. I want more rules, more scrutiny, and to defend the country, you have to defend the border. +p1700 +aVWolf... +p1701 +aVWolf, this legislation... +p1702 +aVThis legislation on indefinite detention... +p1703 +aV... I think deserves a little more attention. +p1704 +aVI think that by arming the allies of +p1705 +aVI think that if you believe in regime change, you're mistaken. In 2013, we put 600 tons of weapons \u2014 us, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar \u2014 into the war against Assad. By pushing Assad back, we did create a safe space. We had people coming to our Foreign Relations Committee and saying, "Oh, we need to arm the allies of Al Qaida." They are still saying this. It is a crazy notion. This is the biggest debate we should be having tonight is is regime change a good idea; has it been a good idea. There are still people \u2014 the majority on the stage, they want to topple Assad. And then there will be chaos, and I think +p1706 +aVThese are the fundamental questions of our time, these foreign policy questions, whether or not regime change is a good idea or a bad idea. I don't think because I think the regime change was a bad idea it means that Hussein was necessarily a good idea. There is often variations of evil on both sides of the war. What we have to decide is whether or not regime change is a good idea. It's what the neoconservatives have wanted. It's what the vast majority of those on the stage want. They still want regime change. They want it in Syria. They wanted it in Iraq. They want it in Libya. It has not worked. Out of regime change you get chaos. From the chaos you have seen repeatedly the rise of radical Islam. So we get this profession of, oh, my goodness, they want to do something about terrorism and yet they're the problem because they allow terrorism to arise out of that chaos. +p1707 +aVNo, I think it's a huge mistake. I think regime change in Syria, and this is what \u2014 I've been saying this for several years now. In 2013 when we first went in, I said, you are going to give arms to the allies of al Qaida, to radical jihadists? That's crazy. But the other thing I said is the great irony is you will be back fighting against your own weapons. Had Assad been bombed when he used chemical weapons two years ago, +p1708 +aVWell, I think if you're in favor of World War III, you have your candidate. You know, here's...... the thing. My goodness, what we want in a leader is someone with judgment, not someone who is so reckless as to stand on the stage and say, "Yes, I'm jumping up and down; I'm going to shoot down Russian planes." Russia already flies in that airspace. It may not be something we're in love with the fact that they're there, but they were invited by Iraq and by Syria to fly in that airspace. And so if we announce we're going to have a no-fly zone, and others have said this. Hillary Clinton is also for it. It is a recipe for disaster. It's a recipe for World War III. We need to confront Russia from a position of strength, but we don't need to confront Russia from a point of recklessness that would lead to war. This is something \u2014 this type of judgment, you know, it's having that kind of judgment; who you would appoint and how you're going to conduct affairs, that is incredibly important. I mean, I think when we think about the judgment of someone who might want World War III, we might think about someone who might shut down a bridge because they don't like their friends; they don't want to \u2014 you know, they want to a Democrat. So I think we need to be very careful. +p1709 +aVYou know, I think we need to set the record straight on this, because I think Marco misspoke about the bill. On the Gang of Eight bill, there was no provisions really for extra scrutiny or safety for refugees. At the time the bill came up, two Iraqi refugees came to my home town, Bowling Green, Kentucky. Their fingerprints were on a bomb from Iraq. They were in the database, but we didn't pick them up. We relocated them here, put them in government housing, got them on food stamps. And we began providing for them, but we didn't have adequate security. On the Gang of Eight bill, on Marco's bill, we had an opportunity. There was a conservative consensus for an amendment I put forward called Trust, But Verify that would have strengthened border security on both refugees, students and those coming here. And Marco sided and I guess was more sympathetic to Chuck Schumer and to the president than he was to conservative principles. But this goes directly to national defense. And if he wants to run as a national \u2014 national defense conservative, he's got to explain why he hasn't stepped up to support border security. +p1710 +aVWhat my bill would do would be only for refugees going forward. So I haven't taken a position on sending anyone home. But I have taken the position that we have a lot of problems here in our country. And that one of the things that we do \u2014 charity is about giving your own money. Charity isn't giving someone else's money. To put everyone in government housing and food stamps and bring them in from around the world I think is a mistake. To give of your own money, I've given to my church. My church has helped people that came from Bosnia. That's a good thing. But we shouldn't have a program where we just say that we're going to take care of the world's refugees. Nobody in the Middle East is doing anything. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait \u2014 all the Gulf nations are doing nothing. They need to step up and take... +p1711 +aVThe greatest threat to our national security is our debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. And whose fault is it? Well, frankly, it's both parties' fault. You have those on the right who clamor and say, oh, we will spend anything on the military, and those on the left who say the same for domestic welfare. But what most Americans don't realize is there is an unholy alliance. They come together. There's a secret handshake. We spend more money on everything. And we are not stronger nation if we go further into debt. We are not projecting power from bankruptcy court. To me, there is no greater threat than our debt. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage because I'm willing to hold the line on all spending. I hope you will consider me in the election. Thank you very much. +p1712 +aVAbsolutely. And I think that we ought to look where income inequality seems to be the worst. It seems to be worst in cities run by Democrats, governors of... States run by Democrats and countries currently run by Democrats. So the thing is, let's look for root causes. But I would also say \u2014 lay some blame at the \u2014 the feet of the Federal Reserve. I think the Federal Reserve has made this problem worse. By artificially keeping interest rates below the market rate, average ordinary citizens have a tough time earning interest, have a tough time making money. They're actually talking now about negative interest. The money as it's created through quantitative easing or other means tends to start out in the big banks in New York. And because we're now paying interest for them to keep the money there, much of that money has not filtered out into the economy. So what we're finding is there is increasing income disparity and income inequality. We also find that as the Federal Reserve destroys the value of the currency, what you're finding is that, if you're poor, if you make $20,000 a year and you have three or four kids, and you're trying to get by, as your prices rise or as the value of the dollar shrinks, these are the people that are hurt the worst. So really we need to reexamine whether we not \u2014 we want a Federal Reserve that's involved so much in determining interest rates. We also need to look at root causes as to what caused the housing boom and the housing collapse. But the bottom line is, if you want less income inequality, move to a city with a Republican mayor or a state with a Republican governor. +p1713 +aVWell, it's a great question, Neil, and thanks for including me in the tax debate. I think what's important about the tax debate is, is that we have to ask the question, where is money best spent, in the private sector or in the government sector? I want a government really, really small, so small you can barely see it. So I want lower taxes and much more money in the private sector. My tax plan, however, is the only tax plan among any of the candidates on the stage that is part of a balanced budget plan. I put forward three plans that actually balance the budget over a five-year period. Each of these plans have details on exactly where we would cut. The question came up earlier, where would you cut? Nobody likes to say where they would cut. I've put pencil to paper and done three budgets that actually balance. I'm also in favor of a plan called the penny plan where we'd just cut 1 percent across the board and the budget actually balances in less than five years. So I think what is extraordinary about my tax plan is it is in the context of balancing the budget. What is also extraordinary about my tax plan is it gets rid of the payroll tax. Democrats demagogue this issue to death, and when they do they say, oh, a millionaire would get a bigger tax cut than someone making $10,000. That's proportionality, as Ben is trying to explain to folks. But the thing is, is if we get rid of the payroll tax, everybody is going to get a tax cut. And this is something that I think the public at large will support and could win an election. +p1714 +aVOurs is 14.5 percent for corporations, 14.5 percent for individuals. No payroll tax for the employee. The business tax pays for social security, and there would be two remaining deductions \u2014 home mortgage and charity. +p1715 +aVThank you. +p1716 +aVNeil, there's a point I'd like to make here... ....Neil, a point that I'd like to make about the tax credits. We have to decide what is conservative and what isn't conservative. Is it fiscally conservative to have a trillion-dollar expenditure? We're not talking about giving people back their tax money. He's talking about giving people money they didn't pay. It's a welfare transfer payment. So here's what we have. Is it conservative to have $1 trillion in transfer payments \u2014 a new welfare program that's a refundable tax credit? Add that to Marco's plan for $1 trillion in new military spending, and you get something that looks, to me, not very conservative. Thank you. +p1717 +aVNevertheless, it's not very conservative, Marco. +p1718 +aVHow is it conservative? +p1719 +aVYeah, but, Marco! Marco! How is it conservative, how is it conservative to add a trillion-dollar expenditure for the federal government that you're not paying for? +p1720 +aVHow is it conservative? +p1721 +aVHow is it conservative to add a trillion dollars in military expenditures? You can not be a conservative if you're going to keep promoting new programs that you're not going to pay for. +p1722 +aVNo. I don't think we're any safer \u2014 I do not think we are any safer from bankruptcy court. As we go further, and further into debt, we become less, and less safe. This is the most important thing we're going to talk about tonight. Can you be a conservative, and be liberal on military spending? Can you be for unlimited military spending, and say, Oh, I'm going to make the country safe? No, we need a safe country, but, you know, we spend more on our military than the next ten countries combined? I want a strong national defense, but I don't want us to be bankrupt. +p1723 +aVHey, Gerard, you know, we might want to point out China is not part of this deal. +p1724 +aVBefore we get a little bit off-kilter here... +p1725 +aVThere is an argument that China doesn't like the deal, because in us doing the deal, we'll be trading with their competitors. You're exactly right. But I think we've sort of missed the point a little bit here. There is an important point, though, about how we discuss these trade treaties that I do agree with Mr. Trump on. We should negotiate from a position of strength. And we also should negotiate using the full force and the constitutional power that was given to us. I think it's a mistake that we give up power to the presidency on these trade deals. We give up the power to filibuster, and I'm kind of fond of that power. We give up the power to amend. And I think, really, one of the big problems we have in our country is, over the last century, really, so much power has gravitated to the executive branch. Really, Congress is kind of a bystander. We don't write the rules. We don't make the laws. The executive branch does. So even in trade \u2014 and I am for trade \u2014 I think we should be careful about giving so much power to the presidency. +p1726 +aVI'd like first to respond to the acquisition, we should \u2014 I think it's particularly naive, particularly foolish to think that we're not going to talk to Russia. The idea of a no fly zone, realize that this is also something that Hillary Clinton agrees with several on our side with, you're asking for a no fly zone in an area in which Russia already flies. Russia flies in that zone at the invitation of Iraq. I'm not saying it's a good thing, but you better know at least what we're getting into. So, when you think it's going to be a good idea to have a no fly zone over Iraq, realize that means you are saying we are going to shoot down Russian planes. If you're ready for that, be ready to send your sons and daughters to another war in Iraq. I don't want to see that happen. I think the first war in Iraq was a mistake... You can be strong without being involved in every civil war around the war... +p1727 +aVRonald Reagan was strong, but Ronald Reagan didn't... +p1728 +aV...send troops into the Middle East... +p1729 +aV...Can I finish... +p1730 +aV...Can I finish my time? Could I finish with my time? +p1731 +aVYes, I would like to finish my response, basically. +p1732 +aVThis is an important question. This is an incredibly important question. And the question goes to be, who do we want to be our commander-in-chief? Do you want a commander-in-chief who says something that we never did throughout the entire Cold War, to discontinue having conversations with the Russians? I am not happy about them flying over there. But I'm not naive enough to say, well, Iraq has them flying over their airspace, we're just going to announce that we're shooting them down? That is naive to the point of being something you might hear in junior high. But it's scary... +p1733 +aVThe first thing I would do is I wouldn't arm our enemies. I wouldn't arm +p1734 +aVGerard, can I comment... +p1735 +aVThe first thing I would do as president is repeal the regulations that are hampering our energy that the President has put in place. Including the Clean Power Act. While I do think that man may have a role in our climate, I think nature also has a role. The planet's 4.5 billion years old, we've been through geologic age after geologic age. We've had times when the temperatures been warmer, we've had times when the temperatures been colder. We've had times when the carbon in the atmosphere's been higher. So, I think before we \u2014 we need to look before we leap. President's often fond of saying he wants a balance solution, but, really we do need to balance both keeping the environment clean, and we will have some rules for that. We got to balance that with the economy. He's devastated my state. I say the President's not only destroying Kentucky, he's destroying the democrat party down there because nobody wants to associate with him. So, what we really need is somebody that understands that we do need energy of all forms, and that means we will have solar, and wind, and hydro, but we will still have coal, and we still will have natural gas. And, we've got to have an all of the above policy. But, it would be a mistake to shut down all of our industries in the coal fields, and shut down the coal power plants. If we did so we're going to have a day where we wake up and some of our big cities are either very cold, or very hot. So, I think it's a big danger, and we shouldn't do it. And, what we should do is say we want all of the above... ...We want to free up the energy sector, and let people produce, let them drill, let them explore. +p1736 +aVWe're the richest, freest, most humanitarian nation in the history of mankind. But we also borrow a million dollars a minute. And the question I have for all Americans is, think about it, can you be a fiscal conservative if you don't conserve all of the money? If you're a profligate spender, you spend money in an unlimited fashion for the military, is that a conservative notion? We have to be conservative with all spending, domestic spending and welfare spending. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage. +p1737 +aVYou know, I left my medical practice and ran for office because I was concerned about an $18 trillion debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. Now, on the floor of the Congress, the Washington establishment from both parties puts forward a bill that will explode the deficit. It allows President Obama to borrow unlimited amounts of money. I will stand firm. I will spend every ounce of energy to stop it. I will begin tomorrow to filibuster it. And I ask everyone in America to call Congress tomorrow and say enough is enough; no more debt. +p1738 +aVNo, I oppose it because you're taking money from the entitlement and then spending it immediately on other items. That's what they're doing. They're taking money from Social Security and they're going to spend it on the military and they're going to spend it on domestic spending. Here's the thing. When you look at raising the debt limit, it should be leverage to try to reform government. In 2011, the sequester was passed as a reform to slow down the rate of government. Instead, the Washington establishment raised both. We raised the military spending, took from entitlements, and raised domestic spending and the deficit will explode under this. This is the unholy alliance that people need to know about between right and left. Right and left are spending us into oblivion. We should use the debt ceiling, as precisely to Don, to force upon them budgetary reforms. +p1739 +aVWell, that's a real question. Is there going to be any change in the House with new leadership? I frankly don't think there will be much change because I think what's going to happen is you're going to get more of the same. People in Washington think they were sent there to be adults and govern and do all this. Well, you know what I'm worried about? Not keeping the government open. I'm worried about bankrupting the American people. We're borrowing a million dollars a minute. That is important. And that's what we have to contrast. Keeping the government open and continuing to borrow a million dollars a minute. +p1740 +aVWell, thank you very much. I would like to thank Ted for co-sponsoring my bill, audit the Fed. And I think it's precisely because of the arrogance of someone like Ben Bernanke, who now calls us all know-nothings, that is precisely why we need audit the Fed. I think it is really very much a huge problem that an organization as powerful as the Fed comes in, lobbies against them being audited on the Hill. I would prevent them lobbying Congress. I don't think the Fed should be involved with lobbying us. I think we should examine how the Fed has really been part of the problem. You want to study income inequality, let's bring the Fed forward and talk about Fed policy and how it causes income inequality. Let's also bring the Fed forward and have them explain how they caused the housing boom and the crisis, and what they've done to make us better or worse. I think the Fed has been a great problem in our society. What you need to do is free up interest rates. Interest rates are the price of money, and we shouldn't have price controls on the price of money. +p1741 +aV...John... +p1742 +aVJohn, I'd like to address this? John, could I follow up on this? +p1743 +aVWhat are the rules on who gets to follow up. How do we decide on who gets to follow up? I've seen plenty of other people follow up? +p1744 +aVI'd like to just mention something about my tax plan, and how it relates to the discussion... +p1745 +aVAlright. Much of the discussion is centered over whether or not the different tax plans help, or affect the middle class. In fact, it's the chief argument by democrats against many of the different flat tax proposals. Mine is unique in the sense that my tax plan actually gets rid of the payroll tax as well. It shifts it to the business, and it would allow middle class people to get a tax cut. If you just cut their income tax, there isn't much income tax to cut. Mine actually cuts the payroll tax, and I think it would spread the tax cut across all socioeconomic levels, and would allow then it to be something that would be broadly supported by the public in an election. +p1746 +aVThe question always is, what works better, the private marketplace or government? And what distributes goods better? It always seems to be the private marketplace does a better job. Is there an area for a safety net? Can you have Medicare or Social Security? Yes. But you ought to acknowledge the government doesn't do a very good job at it. The main problem with Medicare right now is that the average person pays in taxes over their whole lifetime about $100,000. But the average person takes out about $350,000. We have this enormous mismatch because we have smaller and smaller families. When people ask me, whose fault is it? Whose fault is it that Medicare is broken, out of money, that Social Security is broken, out of money? And I say, look, it's not Republicans' fault, it's not Democrats' fault, it's your grandparents' fault for having too many damn kids. After the war we had all of these kids, Baby Boomers. Now we're having smaller families. We used to have 16 workers for one retiree, now you have three workers for one retiree. It's not working. I have a bill to fix Medicare. I've a bill to fix Social Security. For both of them you have to gradually raise the age. If you're not willing to do that, nobody wants to do it, but if you're not willing to gradually raise the age, you're not serious about fixing either one of them. +p1747 +aVSay again? +p1748 +aVYou can't do nothing. And that's what I hear from some people, "we'll do nothing and it will just be fixed." That's absurd, and I think people who don't want to fix it, really, or unwilling to take the chance to say, "something has to change," are missing the boat here. The age will have to gradually rise, there is no question. It's the only way you fix Medicare, the only way you fix Social Security. You will also have to means-test the benefits and declare there's not enough money. It isn't "I put money in, I'm getting it back." There is no money, it's a stack of paper. There is no money in the Social Security account. There is no money in the Medicare account. There's only a promise to pay by the next generation, and the next generation's not big enough to pay it. [ +p1749 +aVLiberty thrives when government is small. I want a government so small I can barely see it. I want a government so small that the individual has a chance to thrive and prosper. I think, though, government is too big now. And what you're going to see in Washington this week is establishment Republicans have made an agreement with the president to raise the debt ceiling in an unlimited fashion; no limit to the debt ceiling raise. This is extraordinary. It's extraordinarily wrong. You'll see me on the floor of the Senate tomorrow filibustering this and saying enough is enough, no more debt. +p1750 +asVBASH +p1751 +(lp1752 +VA crucial question is how to balance surveillance with privacy and keeping Americans safe. Senator Cruz, you voted for a bill that President Obama signed into law just this past June that made it harder for the government to access Americans' phone records. In light of the San Bernardino attack, was your vote a mistake? +p1753 +aVThank you. Senator Rubio, Senator Cruz is right there was bipartisan support for that. But you voted against it. So, is Senator Cruz wrong? +p1754 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1755 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator \u2014 Senator Rubio, please respond. +p1756 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I know this is \u2014 this has been a very big issue for you. You hear many of your colleagues are calling for increased surveillance by law enforcement. You call that hogwash. Why is that hogwash? +p1757 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1758 +aVGovernor Christie, Governor Christie... ...Governor Christie, I'll come to you in a minute. Go ahead, Senator Paul. +p1759 +aVGo ahead, please. +p1760 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about immigration in a while. But, Governor Christie, just listening to this... +p1761 +aVListening to this, you talked \u2014 you heard Senator Paul, Senator Cruz talk about how important it is to protect Americans' privacy, even in a time of grave danger. Why \u2014 what's wrong with that? +p1762 +aVSenator Paul, you said +p1763 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I want to go back to my initial question, which is you saying that +p1764 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about regime change in a bit. But Governor Kasich, would you like to respond to Senator Paul? +p1765 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. We've been talking tonight about programs and policy proposals that you all have to keep Americans safe and it's a big discussion on the campaign trail. Also about border security and immigration. So let's talk about immigration. Senator Rubio. You co-authored a bill with Democrats two years ago that allowed a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Do you still support that path to citizenship, which means giving those immigrants rights, like the right to vote? +p1766 +aVSenator, you haven't answered the question. You described a very long path but does that path end at citizenship? +p1767 +aVThank you, senator. +p1768 +aVThank you, senator. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, on the campaign trail, Senator Rubio has said that his immigration plan is not that different from yours. Is that true? +p1769 +aVSenator Rubio, please. +p1770 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1771 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1772 +aVSenator Cruz, can you answer that question please? +p1773 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1774 +aVOne at a time please. +p1775 +aVMs. Fiorina, please wait your turn, we're going to get to you. +p1776 +aVSenator Cruz go ahead. +p1777 +aVMr. Trump, you like to say that you restarted this conversation in the campaign. +p1778 +aVSo who do you side with? Who do you side with in this, Senator Rubio or Senator Cruz? +p1779 +aVThank you. Governor Bush? +p1780 +aVListening to this, do you think this is the tone \u2014 this immigration debate that republicans need to take to win back Hispanics into our party especially states like where we are in Nevada that has a pretty Hispanic community? +p1781 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said if China launches a cyber- attack against the U.S. on your watch, "they're going to see cyber- warfare like they have never seen before." What exactly would that response look like? +p1782 +aVGovernor Bush, what you just heard from Governor Christie, are you concerned that that could really escalate with China, that they would retaliate? And, for example, as the NSA has said, attack the U.S. and maybe it's power grid, which the Chinese have the capability to do? +p1783 +aVMr. Trump, just this weekend you said Senator Cruz is not qualified to be president because he doesn't have the right temperament and acted like a maniac when he arrived in the Senate. But last month you said you were open to naming Senator Cruz as your running mate. +p1784 +aVSo why would you be willing to put somebody who's a maniac one heartbeat away from the presidency? +p1785 +aVOkay. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, you have not been willing to attack Mr. Trump in public. +p1786 +aVBut you did question his judgment in having control of American's nuclear arsenal during a private meeting with supporters. Why are you willing to say things about him in private and not in public? +p1787 +aVSenator, senator, I just... +p1788 +aVSenator, a lot of people have seen... +p1789 +aV... a lot of people have seen these comments you made in private. I just want to clarify what you're saying right now is you do believe Mr. Trump has the judgment to be commander in chief? +p1790 +asVEPPERSON +p1791 +(lp1792 +VThank you, John. Mrs. Fiorina, you were the CEO of a large corporation that offers a 401(k) to its employees. But more than half of American have no access to an employer sponsored retirement plan. That includes the workers at small businesses, and the growing ranks of Uber drivers and other part-timers in the freelance economy. Should the Federal Government play a larger role in helping to set up retirement plans for these workers? +p1793 +aVSo you wouldn't agree \u2014 you wouldn't agree with a start for 401(k) for businesses or anything like that? +p1794 +aVThank you very much. +p1795 +aVThank you, the rules say one minute. +p1796 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. We appreciate it. Thank you, thank you. I want to turn my attention now, to you now, Governor Kasich. Most people can't get a college degree without going into debt. Over 40 million Americans have student loans and many of them cannot pay them back. This country has over $100 billion in student loan defaults. That's billion with a b. What will you do to make sure that students, their families, taxpayers, won't feel the economic impact of this burden for generations? Well, first of all, in Ohio we're changing the whole system. Universities will not get paid one dime unless the student graduates or \u2014 graduates or completes a course. Secondly, you can be in high school and complete almost an entire first year before you go to college and get credit to do that. And, of course, in addition to that, we are working now to go after the cost drivers in our universities. And let me give you an example. Universities today have so many non-academic assets. At Ohio State they sold the parking garage and the parking lot, and they got $500 million because they shouldn't be in the parking lot business. They shouldn't be in the ding business, they shouldn't be in the dorm business. And, of course, we need to take advantage of on-line education to reduce these costs and begin to dis-intermediate the cost of four years. Now, for those who that have these big high costs, I think we can seriously look at an idea of where you can do public service. I mean legitimate, public service and begin to pay off some of that debt through the public service that you do. And in the meantime, it may inspire us to care more about our country, more about ourselves. This is a big moral issue in America. Living a life bigger than yourself, and being a center of healing and justice. And people can learn it through public service. +p1797 +aVThank you, thank you. +p1798 +asVBARTIROMO +p1799 +(lp1800 +VTonight we are working with Facebook to ask the candidates the questions voters want answered. And according to Facebook, the U.S. election has dominated the global conversation, with 131 million people talking about the 2016 race. That makes it the number one issue talked about on Facebook last year worldwide. +p1801 +aVTonight's rules are simple: up to 90 seconds for each answer, one minute for each follow-up response. And if a candidate goes over the allotted time, you'll hear this. So let's get started. Candidates, jobs and growth \u2014 two of the biggest issues facing the country right now. In his State of the Union address earlier this week, the president said, quote, "we have the strongest, most durable economy in the world." And according to our Facebook research, jobs is one of the biggest issues resonating across the country, including here in South Carolina. The president is touting 14 million new jobs and an unemployment rate cut in half. The president said that anyone who claims America's economy is in decline is peddling fiction. Senator Cruz, what do you see that he doesn't? +p1802 +aVThank you, sir. +p1803 +aVWe know that recent global events have many people worried \u2014 Iran detaining American sailors, forcing them to apologize; North Korea and its nuclear ambitions; an aggressive China; and a Middle East that continues to deteriorate, not to mention +p1804 +aVJust to be clear Governor, where and when would you use military action? +p1805 +aVDr. Carson, the president says he does not want to treat +p1806 +aVSenator Cruz, the New York Times is reporting that you failed to properly disclose a million dollars in loans from Goldman Sachs and CitiBank. During your senate race, your campaign said, "it was inadvertent." A million dollars is inadvertent? +p1807 +aVThank you. +p1808 +aVThank you, senator. Mr. Trump, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley in her response to the State of the Union address......appeared to choose sides within the party, saying Republicans should resist, quote, "the siren call of the angriest voices". She confirmed, she was referring to you among others. Was she out of line? And, how would a President Trump unite the party? +p1809 +aVBut what are you going to do about it? +p1810 +aVGovernor Kasich...... Governor Kasich, Hillary Clinton is getting some serious competition from Senator Bernie Sanders. He's now at 41 percent in the latest CBS/New York Times poll. Vice President Biden sang his praises, saying Bernie is speaking to a yearning that is deep and real, and he has credibility on it. So what does it say about our country that a candidate who is a self-avowed socialist and who doesn't think a 90 percent tax rate is too high could be the Democratic nominee? +p1811 +aVDr. Carson, one of the other candidates on this stage has brought Bill Clinton's past indiscretions. Is that a legitimate topic in this election? And what do you think of the notion that Hillary Clinton is an enabler of sexual misconduct? +p1812 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debates, right here in North Charleston. Let's get right back to the questions. Governor Bush, gun rights, one of the top issues seen on Facebook with close to 3 million people talking about it in the past month. Right here in Charleston, Dylann Roof, who has been accused of killing nine people in a nearby church, reportedly had not passed his background check when he got his gun. What is the harm in tightening standards for not only who buys guns, but those who sell them? +p1813 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, are there any circumstances that you think we should be limiting gun sales of any kind in America? +p1814 +aVThank you sir. +p1815 +aVThank you, sir. +p1816 +aVSo what is the answer, Senator Cruz, to stop mass shootings and violent crime, up in 30 cities across the country? +p1817 +aVSenator...... let me follow up and switch gears. Senator Cruz, you suggested Mr. Trump, quote, "embodies New York values." Could you explain what you mean by that? +p1818 +aVI am from New York. I don't. +p1819 +aVAre you sure about that? +p1820 +aVThere's much more ahead including the fight against +p1821 +aVWe welcome back to the Republican Presidential , right back to the questions. Candidates, the man who made fighting +p1822 +aVThe air-strikes. +p1823 +aVNow in their 16th month are ineffective. Dr. Carson, do you think Senator Graham is right in wanting to send 20,000 troops \u2014 ground troops to Iraq and Syria to take out +p1824 +aVThank you, sir. Senator Graham has also said that the U.S. will find Arab support for its coalition if it removes Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. And I quote, "The now king of Saudi Arabia told us, 'you can have our army, you just got to deal with Assad.' "The emir of Qatar said, 'I'll pay for the operation, but they are not going to fight +p1825 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump \u2014 Mr. Trump, your comments about banning Muslims from entering the country created a firestorm. According to Facebook, it was the most-talked-about moment online of your entire campaign, with more than 10 million people talking about the issue. Is there anything you've heard that makes you want to rethink this position? +p1826 +aVWe \u2014 we want to hear from all of you on this. According to Pew Research, the U.S. admits more than 100,000 Muslim immigrants every single year on a permanent lifetime basis. I want to ask the rest of you to comment on this. Do you agree that we should pause Muslim immigration until we get a better handle on our homeland security situation, as Mr. Trump has said? Beginning with you, Governor Kasich. +p1827 +aVThank you, sir, we want to hear from the rest of you, Governor Christie, your take. +p1828 +aVSenator Rubio, where do you stand? +p1829 +aVSenator Cruz, where do you stand? Senator Cruz? +p1830 +aVDr. Carson, where do you stand? Do you agree with Mr. Trump? +p1831 +aVSo, to be clear, the both of you do not agree with Mr. Trump? +p1832 +aVThank you governor. +p1833 +aVWe're getting... +p1834 +aVPrices go higher for... +p1835 +aVYeah. +p1836 +aVReal quick, Senator \u2014 go ahead, Senator Cruz. And then we have to get to tax reform. +p1837 +aVThank you, Governor Bush. Thank you, Mr. Trump. Very briefly. +p1838 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. +p1839 +aVThank you, Mr. Trmup. Thank you, Governor. +p1840 +aVSenator briefly. +p1841 +aVWe've got to get to tax reform, gentlemen. We've got to get to tax reform, and we've got to get to the... +p1842 +aV... we've got to get to the national debt as well. Coming up next, the growing national debt, the war on crime, tax reform. More from North Charleston, South Carolina, when we come right back. +p1843 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential here in North Charleston. Right back to the questions. Governor Christie, we have spoken much about cutting spending, given the $19 trillion debt. But according to one report, America needs $3.6 trillion in infrastructure spending by 2020. Here in South Carolina, 11 percent of bridges are considered structurally deficient, costing drivers a billion dollars a year in auto repairs. What is your plan to fix the ailing roads and bridges without breaking the bank? +p1844 +aVThank you, sir. Dr. Carson......it is true U.S. companies have $2 trillion in cash sitting overseas right now. That could be used for investment and jobs in America. Also, several companies right now are pursuing mergers to move their corporate headquarters abroad, and take advantage of much lower taxes. What will you do to stop the flow of companies building cash away from America, and those leaving America altogether? +p1845 +aVThank you, sir. Senator Rubio... +p1846 +aVWhich is why we raised it. Senator Rubio? Thank you, Mr. Trump. +p1847 +aVOne of the biggest fiscal challenges is our entitlement programs, particularly Social Security and Medicare. What policies will you put forward to make sure these programs are more financially secure? +p1848 +aVThank you senator. +p1849 +aVSenator Cruz, yes. You were meant to. Yes, of course. +p1850 +aVThank you senator. +p1851 +aVThank you senator. I have to get to a question for Mr. Trump. +p1852 +aVYes. +p1853 +aVThank you, Governor. Thank you, Governor. +p1854 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Coming up, how would the candidates protect America, and another terror attack, if we were to see it. But first, you can join us live on stage during the commercial break right from home. Go to facebook.com/foxbusiness. We'll be streaming live and answering your questions during this break next. More from South Carolina coming up. Stay with us. +p1855 +aVMr. Trump, your net worth is in the multi-billions of dollars and have an ongoing thriving hotel and real estate business. Are you planning on putting your assets in a blind trust should you become president? With such vast wealth, how difficult will it be for you to disentangle yourself from your business and your money and prioritize America's interest first? +p1856 +aVSo you'll put your assets in a blind trust? +p1857 +aVThank you sir. +p1858 +aVSenator Rubio? Under current law, the U.S. is on track to issue more new permanent immigrants on green cards over the next five years than the entire population of South Carolina. The CBO says your 2013 immigration bill would have increased green cardholders by another 10 million over 10 years. Why are you so interested in opening up borders to foreigners when American workers have a hard enough time finding work? +p1859 +aVSo your thinking has changed? +p1860 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1861 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1862 +aVWhen we come right back, closing statements. Stay with us. +p1863 +aVWelcome back. Candidates, it is time for your closing statements. You get 60 seconds each. Governor John Kasich, we begin with you. +p1864 +aVGovernor Chris Christie? +p1865 +aVSenator Marco Rubio? +p1866 +aVMr. Donald Trump? +p1867 +aVCandidates, thank you. +p1868 +aVTonight we're partnering with the Wall Street Journal to ask questions on the economy that voters want answered. We're also working with Facebook, who tells us that since the first Republican debate, more than 58 million people have joined the political conversation online. More than 9 million are talking specifically about the economy. +p1869 +aVBusinesswoman Carly Fiorina. Ohio Governor John Kasich. And Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. +p1870 +aVWe've asked people on Facebook to submit their questions for the candidates. Seth Bell wrote, "We are approaching $20 trillion in national debt. Specifically, what plans do you have to cut federal spending?" Governor Kasich, you have spoken much about your success in balancing the budget under President Clinton. Today the national debt is at record highs and growing unsustainably. Interest will be the fastest-growing part of the federal budget, tripling over the next 10 years. Social Security, the lifeline of millions of American seniors, is rushing toward insolvency. With all of the tax plans presented tonight, estimated to cost anywhere between $2 trillion and $12 trillion over a decade, what specific steps will you take to balance the budget? +p1871 +aVDid you want to name any specific steps, sir? +p1872 +aVThank you, sir. +p1873 +aVSenator Cruz, the International Monetary Fund recently cut its expectations for economic growth. Many economists expect a recession to hit the U.S. within the next year due to the weakening of manufacturing. The next president will have to deal with it. You say tax reform is a powerful lever to spur economic expansion. You're calling for a 10 percent income tax and a 16 percent business tax. What other elements do you need in this plan to actually create jobs? +p1874 +aVThank you, sir. +p1875 +aVGovernor Bush... +p1876 +aVWe have more questions for you, Governor Kasich, coming up. We have more questions for you, Governor Kasich. +p1877 +aVWe will \u2014 we will certainly get to that. Governor Bush? +p1878 +aVAlmost 40 percent of Americans are without a job and are not looking. Many have given up. That's what the participation rate tells us. You've said your policies will drive the economy back to 4 percent growth, which we haven't seen since the year 2000. What specific regulations would you change? And how will that lead to jobs and growth? +p1879 +aVThank you, sir. +p1880 +aVMr. Trump, a federal appeals court just dealt a blow to the Obama administration's plan to prevent the deportation of 5 million people living in this country illegally. The White House is appealing to the Supreme Court. At the heart of this issue is the effect that illegal immigrants are having on our economy, what will you do about it? +p1881 +aVCan we just send 5 million people back with no effect on economy? +p1882 +aVSo what will you do? +p1883 +aVThank you, sir. +p1884 +aVWe go back to Facebook. Dewayne Wesley Cato asks on Facebook, how do we get rid of regulations choking our businesses? Ms. Fiorina? Specifically, under the president's Affordable Care Act, employers with 50 or more employees are required to offer health insurance, or be fined. Many are opting to pay the fine. Others are cutting back employee hours to duck the law altogether. What specific ways will you alleviate the pressure on small business? +p1885 +aVJust to be clear, you want to repeal Obamacare... ..but, what's the alternative? +p1886 +aVJust to be clear, you say you would repeal Obamacare... +p1887 +aV...But, what is the alternative... +p1888 +aV...and how does that help small business... +p1889 +aV...Thank you... +p1890 +aVSenator Cruz, there isn't anyone in this audience or watching at home tonight who would not like to pay less in taxes. Most people just want a fair shake, and they don't want their money to be wasted. But explain how your plan works. How can you cut taxes as much as you propose without running up debt and deficits? +p1891 +aVBut you haven't told us how to pay for it. +p1892 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Bush, Republican primary voters say tax reform should be a priority for Congress and the administration. But, Governor Bush, how important is tax reform in your domestic policy agenda? Will you guarantee it in the first year of your presidency? +p1893 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1894 +aVThat's right. That's right. +p1895 +aVComing up, the biggest threats facing the next commander-in-chief. You're watching the Republican presidential debate, live tonight from Milwaukee. We'll be right back. +p1896 +aVWelcome back. Welcome back to the Republican presidential debate. The candidates taking the questions you want answered. Also tonight, you can see what America is saying about the debate. Go to Facebook and type #gopdebate into the search box. Now, back to the questions. Americans face security threats at home and abroad. Last year, terrorist attacks rose 61 percent, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace, with the most deaths occurring in just five countries, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Syria. Dr. Carson, you were against putting troops on the ground in Iraq and against a large military force in Afghanistan. Do you support the president's decision to now put 50 special ops forces in Syria and leave 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan? +p1897 +aVWe asked Facebook to take a look at some of the major issues we're talking about, and tackling in this debate tonight. This word cloud shows what people are focusing on the most. The bigger the word, the more the talk. One of the most discussed issues in the last month, homeland security. Governor Bush, what is the biggest threat facing America today? +p1898 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, in 2012 debate, President Obama mocked Mitt Romney's assertion that Russia was the top geopolitical challenge facing the United States, saying he was a Cold War dinosaur. Now, Russia has invaded Ukraine, and has put troops in Syria. You have said you will have a good relationship with Mr. Putin. So, what does President Trump do in response to Russia's aggression? +p1899 +aVThank you, sir. +p1900 +aVThank you, governor. +p1901 +aVSenator Rubio. +p1902 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. +p1903 +aVMore questions \u2014 more questions coming up, when the Republican presidential debate comes right back, live from Milwaukee. Stay with us. +p1904 +aVWelcome back to the fourth Republican presidential debate. Senator Rubio, Hillary Clinton is the clear front runner for the Democratic nomination. If she is indeed the nominee, you will be facing a candidate with an impressive resume. She was the first lady of the United States, a U.S. senator from New York, and secretary of state under Barack Obama. She has arguably more experience, certainly more time in government than almost all of you on stage tonight. Why should the American people trust you to lead this country, even though she has been so much closer to the office? +p1905 +aVSenator Paul, you were one of 15 republicans to vote for an amendment which states that human activity contributed to climate change. President Obama has announced an aggressive plan to cut carbon emissions. At the same time, energy production in America has boomed. Is it possible to continue this boom, and move toward energy self-sufficiency, while at the same time pursuing a meaningful climate change program? +p1906 +aVCarly Fiorina? +p1907 +aVFormer Governor Jeb Bush? +p1908 +aVSenator Ted Cruz? +p1909 +aVHe's funny. +p1910 +aVThank you. +p1911 +asVSANTELLI +p1912 +(lp1913 +VSenator Cruz, let's focus on our central bank, the Federal Reserve. You've been a fierce critic of the Fed, arguing for more transparency. Where do you want to take that? Do you want to get Congress involved in monetary policy, or is it time to slap the Fed back and downsize them completely? What are your thoughts? What do you believe? +p1914 +aVSenator Paul, the same question to you. +p1915 +aVThank you, Senator. Dr. Carson, you told The Des Moines Register that you don't like government subsidies, it interferes with the free market. But you've also said that you're in favor of taking oil subsidies and putting them towards ethanol processing. Isn't that just swapping one subsidy for another, Doctor? +p1916 +aVThank you, Doctor. Becky? +p1917 +asVTRUMP +p1918 +(lp1919 +VWell, I can say this. If the president, and if I were president now, I would certainly want to try and nominate a justice. I'm sure that, frankly, I'm absolutely sure that President Obama will try and do it. I hope that our Senate is going to be able \u2014 Mitch, and the entire group, is going to be able to do something about it. In times of delay, we could have a Diane Sykes, or you could have a Bill Pryor \u2014 we have some fantastic people. But this is a tremendous blow to conservatism. It's a tremendous blow, frankly, to our country. +p1920 +aV... I think he's going to do it whether or I'm O.K. with it or not. I think it's up to Mitch McConnell and everybody else to stop it. It's called delay, delay, delay. +p1921 +aVWhat we want to do, when we want to do it, and how hard do we want to hit? Because we are going to have to hit very, very hard to knock out +p1922 +aV... called me a genius, I like him so far, I have to tell you. Let me just tell you this. Jeb is so wrong. Jeb is absolutely self \u2014 just so you understand, you know what that is? That's Jeb's special interest and lobbyist talking. Look, let me just tell you something, Jeb \u2014 Jeb is so wrong. You got to fight +p1923 +aV... You'll end up with World War III... +p1924 +aV... We're supporting troops... +p1925 +aV... that we don't even know who they are. +p1926 +aV... We're supporting troops that we don't even know who they are... +p1927 +aVWe have no idea who they are. +p1928 +aV... Oh, yeah, yeah... +p1929 +aV... Let 44 million in New Hampshire, it was practically ... +p1930 +aV... 44 million \u2014 give me a break. +p1931 +aVFirst of all, I have to say, as a businessman, I get along with everybody. I have business all over the world. I know so many of the people in the audience. And by the way, I'm a self-funder. I don't have \u2014 I have my wife and I have my son. That's all I have. I don't have this. So let me just tell you, I get along with everybody, which is my obligation to my company, to myself, et cetera. Obviously, the war in Iraq was a big, fat mistake. All right? Now, you can take it any way you want, and it took \u2014 it took Jeb Bush, if you remember at the beginning of his announcement, when he announced for president, it took him five days. He went back, it was a mistake, it wasn't a mistake. It took him five days before his people told him what to say, and he ultimately said, "It was a mistake." The war in Iraq, we spent $2 trillion, thousands of lives, we don't even have it. Iran has taken over Iraq, with the second-largest oil reserves in the world. Obviously, it was a mistake. +p1932 +aVGeorge Bush made a mistake. We can make mistakes. But that one was a beauty. We should have never been in Iraq. We have destabilized the Middle East. +p1933 +aVYou do whatever you want. You call it whatever you want. I want to tell you. They lied. They said there were weapons of mass destruction, there were none. And they knew there were none. There were no weapons of mass destruction. +p1934 +aVI'm being nice. +p1935 +aVHe spent $22 million in... +p1936 +aVThe World Trade Center came down during your brother's reign, remember that. +p1937 +aVThat's not keeping us safe. +p1938 +aVShe should be running. +p1939 +aVHow did he keep us safe when the World Trade Center \u2014 the World \u2014 excuse me. I lost hundreds of friends. The World Trade Center came down during the reign of George Bush. He kept us safe? That is not safe. That is not safe, Marco. That is not safe. +p1940 +aVAnd George Bush \u2014 by the way, George Bush had the chance, also, and he didn't listen to the advice of his C.I.A. +p1941 +aVI don't want to go. +p1942 +aVYes. +p1943 +aVFirst of all, the \u2014 when you say I'm the only candidate, if you listen to the Democrats, they want to do many things to Social Security, and I want to do them on its own merit. You listen to them, what they want to do to Social Security, none of these folks are getting elected, O.K., whether they can do it or not. I'm going to save Social Security. I'm going to bring jobs back from China. I'm going to bring jobs back from Mexico and from Japan, where they're all \u2014 every country throughout the world \u2014 now Vietnam, that's the new one. They are taking our jobs. They are taking our wealth. They are taking our base. And you and I have had this discussion. We're going to make our economy strong again. I'm lowering taxes. We have $2.5 trillion offshore. We have 2.5 trillion that I think is actually five trillion because the government has no idea when they say 2.5, they have no idea what they're doing or saying, as they've proven very well. We're going to bring that money back. You take a look at what happened just this week. China bought the Chicago Stock Exchange, China, a Chinese company. Carrier is moving to Mexico, air conditioning company. Not only the ones I talk about all the time, Nabisco and Ford and \u2014 they're all moving out. We have an economy that last quarter, G.D.P. didn't grow. It was flat. We have to make our economy grow again. We're dying. This country is dying. And our workers are losing their jobs, and you're going... +p1944 +aVI'm the only one who is going to save Social Security, believe me. +p1945 +aVBecause you have tremendous waste. I'll tell you... +p1946 +aVYou have tremendous waste, fraud and abuse. That we're taking care of. That we're taking care of. It's tremendous. We have in Social Security right now thousands and thousands of people that are over 106 years old. Now, you know they don't exist. They don't exist. There's tremendous waste, fraud and abuse, and we're going to get it. But we're not going to hurt the people who have been paying into Social Security their whole life and then all of a sudden they're supposed to get less. We're bringing our jobs back. We're going to make our economy great again. +p1947 +aVI want everybody taken care of, but we have to take care of our people in this country. We're not taking care of our people. We have no border. We have no control. People are flooding across. We can't have it. We either have a border, and I'm very strongly \u2014 I'm not proposing. I will build a wall. I will build a wall. Remember this, the wall will be paid for by Mexico. We are not being treated right. We are not being treated properly. If we don't have borders, if we don't have strength, we don't have a country. People are flowing across. We have to take care of our people. Believe me. +p1948 +aVLook......When I announced that I was running for president on June 16th, illegal immigration wasn't even a subject. If I didn't bring it up, we wouldn't even be talking. Now, I don't often agree with Marco, and I don't often agree with Ted, but I can in this case. The weakest person on this stage by far on illegal immigration is Jeb Bush. They come out of an act of love, whether you like it or not. He is so weak on illegal immigration it's laughable, and everybody knows it. +p1949 +aV... Spend a little more money on the commercials... +p1950 +aV. I don't know what you're talking about. +p1951 +aV... I never called him \u2014 I don't call him.. +p1952 +aVHe also said about language... +p1953 +aV... Language. Two days ago he said he would take his pants off and moon everybody, and that's fine. Nobody reports that. He gets up and says that, and then he tells me, oh, my language was a little bit rough... +p1954 +aV... My language. Give me a break... +p1955 +aV... You did say it, you did say it. Been reported in 10 different news... +p1956 +aVOr a tax. +p1957 +aVI would build consensus with Congress, and Congress would agree with me. I'll give you an example, because I don't like the idea of using executive orders like our president. It is a disaster what he's doing. I would build consensus, but consensus means you have to work hard. You have to cajole. You have to get them into the Oval Office and get them all together, and you have to make deals. Let me just tell you, I mentioned before, China \u2014 big Chinese company bought the Chicago Exchange. Kerry is moving \u2014 and if you saw the people, because they have a video of the announcement that Carrier is moving to Mexico, O.K.? Well, I'll tell you what. I would go right now to Carrier and I would say I am going to work awfully hard. You're going to make air conditioners now in Mexico. You're going to get all of these 1,400 people that are being laid off \u2014 they're laid off. They were crying. They were \u2014 it was a very sad situation. You're going to go to Mexico. You're going to make air conditioners in Mexico, you're going to put them across our border with no tax. I'm going to tell them right now, I am going to get consensus from Congress and we're going to tax you when those air conditioners come. So stay where you are or build in the United States, because we are killing ourselves with trade pacts that are no good for us and no good for our workers. +p1958 +aVJohn, in life you have flexibility. You do have flexibility. When you're fighting wars, you're going one way, you have a plan. It's a beautiful plan. It can't lose. The enemy makes a change, and all of a sudden you have to change. You have to have flexibility. In Ronald Reagan, though, in terms of what we're talking about, was the great example. He was a somewhat liberal Democrat who became a somewhat, pretty strong conservative. He became \u2014 most importantly, he became a great president. He made many of the changes that I've made \u2014 I mean, I've seen as I grew up, I've seen, and as I get older and wiser, and I feel that I am a conservative. Now, I also feel I'm a common-sense conservative, because some of the views I don't agree with. And I think a lot of people agree with me, obviously, based on what's happening. +p1959 +aVWell, I think these people always hit me with eminent domain, and frankly, I'm not in love with eminent domain. But eminent domain is something you need very strongly. When Jeb had said, "You used eminent domain privately for a parking lot." It wasn't for a parking lot. The state of New Jersey \u2014 too bad Chris Christie is not here, he could tell you \u2014 the state of New Jersey went to build a very large tower that was going to employ thousands of people. I mean, it was going to really do a big job in terms of economic development. Now, just so you understand, I got hit very hard. It's private, it's private eminent domain. You understand that they took over a stadium in Texas, and they used private eminent domain, but he just found that out after he made the charge. +p1960 +aVYeah. Well, Jeb wouldn't have known about it. +p1961 +aVYou shouldn't have used it then, Jeb. +p1962 +aVThank you very much, I appreciate it. +p1963 +aVYou probably are worse than Jeb Bush. You are single biggest liar. This guy's lied \u2014 let me just tell you, this guy lied about Ben Carson when he took votes away from Ben Carson in Iowa, and he just continues. Today, we had robo-calls saying, "Donald Trump is not going to run in South Carolina," where I'm leading by a lot. I'm not going to vote for Ted Cruz. This is the same thing he did to Ben Carson. This guy will say anything, nasty guy. Now I know why he doesn't have one endorsement from any of his colleagues. +p1964 +aVHe's a nasty guy. +p1965 +aVWhere did I support it? Where did I... +p1966 +aVAgain, where did I support it? +p1967 +aVHey Ted, where I support it? +p1968 +aVWhere did I support? +p1969 +aVThat's a lot of lies. +p1970 +aVIt does do wonderful things, but not as it relates to abortion. +p1971 +aVExcuse me. Excuse me, there are wonderful things having to do with women's health. +p1972 +aVBut not when it comes to abortion. +p1973 +aVHold on... +p1974 +aVTed Cruz told your brother that he wanted John Roberts to be on the United States Supreme Court. They both pushed him, he twice approved Obamacare. +p1975 +aVO.K., governor. +p1976 +aVYou pushed him. You pushed him. +p1977 +aVYou worked with him and you pushed him. Why do you lie? +p1978 +aVWhy do you lie? +p1979 +aVYou pushed him. +p1980 +aVYeah, yeah, I know, you're an adult. +p1981 +aVWell, I would say my wife tells me I'm wrong all the time. And I listen. +p1982 +aVOh, let me just say \u2014 look, I am very open \u2014 I hired top people. I've had great success. I built a great, great company. I don't need to do this. I'm self-funding. I'm spending a lot of money. I've spent \u2014 like in New Hampshire, I spent $3 million. Jeb bush spent $44 million. He came in five, and I came in No. 1. That's what the country needs, folks. I spent 3, he spends 42 of their money, of special interest money. And it's just \u2014 this is not going to make \u2014 excuse me. This is not going to make our country great again. This is not what we need in our country. We need people that know what the hell they're doing. And politicians, they're all talk, they're no action. And that's why people are supporting me. I do listen to people. I hire experts. I hire top, top people. And I do listen. And you know what? Sometimes they're wrong. You have to know what to do, when to do it. But sometimes they're wrong. +p1983 +aVWell, I'll tell you \u2014 over the years, I've made many speeches. People have asked me, big companies have asked me to make speeches, and friends of mine that run big companies on success. And occasion, in order to sort of really highlight something, I'll use a profanity. One of the profanities that I got credited with using, that I didn't use, was a very bad word, two weeks ago, that I never used. I said, "You." And everybody said "Oh, he didn't say anything wrong." But you bleeped it, so everyone thinks I said the \u2014 I didn't say anything. I never said the word. It is very unfair, that criticism. Now, I will say this, with all of that being said, I have said I will not do it at all, because if I say a word that's a little bit off color, a little bit, it ends up being a headline. I will not do it again. I was a very good student at a great school not using \u2014 by the way \u2014 not using profanity is very easy. +p1984 +aVThat's not \u2014 let me respond. That's another lie. I never went bankrupt! +p1985 +aVNo, but it's another lie. +p1986 +aVNo, but it's another lie. This guy doesn't know what he's talking about. Just a lie. +p1987 +aVLet me just tell you. Jeb goes around saying, just like the biggest business leaders in this country, I've used the laws of the land to chapter \u2014 I bought a company, I threw it immediately into a chapter, I made a great deal. I uses the laws to my benefit, because I run a company. +p1988 +aVExcuse me, Jeb! +p1989 +aVI never went bankrupt, never. Now \u2014 but you don't want to say that. Now, let me just say, I've used it, just like the biggest leaders in the country. Let me tell you something \u2014 Florida. Florida, he put so much debt on Florida. You know, we keep saying he's a wonderful governor, wonderful governor. He put so much debt on Florida, and he increased spending so much that as soon as he got out of office, Florida crashed. I happened to be there. It's my second home. Florida crashed. He didn't do a good job as governor. +p1990 +aVAnd you haven't \u2014 excuse me, you haven't heard that. You listen to the good record in Florida. You take a look at what happened, as soon as that year ended he got out, Florida crashed. Too much debt. He loaded it up with debt, and his spending went through the roof. +p1991 +aVBy the way... +p1992 +aV... he was not a good governor. +p1993 +aVTake a look at your numbers. +p1994 +aVFlorida went down the tubes right after he got out of office. +p1995 +aVWent right down because of what he did to it. +p1996 +aVThank you. Politicians are all talk, no action. You've seen where they've take you to. We are 19 trillion dollars right now. It's going to be increased with that horrible budget from a month ago that was just approved by politicians. We need a change. We need a very big change. We're going to make our country great again. I say this every night, every day, every afternoon, and it's so true \u2014 we don't win anymore. We don't win with health care, we don't win with +p1997 +aVI actually think I have the best temperament. I built a massive corporation. I employ thousands and thousands of people. I've gotten along with people for years and years, have tremendous relationships with many people, including politicians on both sides. And no matter how you cut it, when I \u2014 when I came out, I hit immigration, I hit it very hard. Everybody said, "Oh, the temperament," because I talked about illegal immigration. Now, everybody's coming to me, they're all trying to say, well, he's right, we have to come to him. I hit other things. I talked about Muslims. We have a problem. Nobody else wanted to mention the problem, I brought it up. I took a lot of heat. We have to have a temporary something, because there's something going on that's not good. And remember this, I'm the only one up here, when the war of Iraq \u2014 in Iraq, I was the one that said, "Don't go, don't do it, you're going to destabilize the Middle East." So, I'm not one with a trigger. I'm not one with a trigger. Other people up here, believe me, would be a lot faster. But I'll build the mill arbitrary stronger, bigger, better than anybody up here, and nobody is going to mess with us. That, I can tell you. +p1998 +aVAm I allowed to respond? I have to respond. +p1999 +aVFirst of all, I respect what Ted just said, but if you noticed, he didn't answer your question. And that's what's going to happen \u2014 OK. That's what's going to happen with our enemies and the people we compete against. We're going to win with Trump. We're going to win. We don't win anymore. Our country doesn't win anymore. We're going to win with Trump. And people back down with Trump. And that's what I like and that's what the country is going to like. +p2000 +aVWell, let me say a couple of things. First of all, Marco said earlier on that President Obama knows exactly what he's doing, like we have this president that really knows. I disagree, respectfully, with Marco. I think we have a president who, as a president, is totally incompetent, and he doesn't know what he's doing. I think he has no idea what he's doing. And our country is going to hell. So, I just want to say, we disagree on that. Is that okay? +p2001 +aVGood. +p2002 +aVAs to North Korea? +p2003 +aVWe have \u2014 tremendous \u2014 has been just sucked out of our country by China. China says they don't have that good of control over North Korea. They have tremendous control. I deal with the Chinese all of the time. I do tremendous \u2014 the largest bank in the world is in one of my buildings in Manhattan. I deal with them. They tell me. They have total, absolute control, practically, of North Korea. They are sucking trillions of dollars out of our country \u2014 they're rebuilding China with the money they take out of our country. I would get on with China, let China solve that problem. They can do it quickly and surgically. That's what we should do with North Korea. +p2004 +aVGood evening. +p2005 +aVYes. HAM: In the Democratic primary, Hillary Clinton has criticized Bernie Sanders' plan for single payer government health care, noting it would require big, across the board tax increases for Americans. In doing so, she's doubling down on Obamacare, despite its persistent unpopularity. Mr. Trump, you have said you want to appeal Obamacare. You have also said, quote, "Everybody's got to be covered," adding, quote, "The government's going to pay for it." Are you closer to Bernie Sanders' vision for health care than Hillary Clinton's? +p2006 +aVI don't think I am. I think I'm closer to common sense. We are going to repeal Obamacare. We're going to repeal Obamacare. We are going to replace Obamacare with something so much better. And there are so many examples of it. And I will tell you, part of the reason we have some people laughing, because you have insurance people that take care of everybody up here. I am self-funded. The only one they're not taking care of is me. We have our lines around each state. The insurance companies are getting rich on Obamacare. The insurance companies are getting rich on health care and health services and everything having to do with health. We are going to end that. We're going to take out the artificial boundaries, the artificial lines. We're going to get a plan where people compete, free enterprise. They compete. So much better. In addition to that, you have the health care savings plans, which are excellent. What I do say is, there will be a certain number of people that will be on the street dying and as a Republican, I don't want that to happen. We're going to take care of people that are dying on the street because there will be a group of people that are not going to be able to even think in terms of private or anything else and we're going to take care of those people. And I think everybody on this stage would have to agree......you're not going to let people die, sitting in the middle of a street in any city in this country. +p2007 +aVWell, let me just tell you about eminent domain because almost all of these people actually criticize it, but so many people have hit me with commercials and other things about eminent domain. Eminent domain is an absolute necessity for a country, for our country. Without it, you wouldn't have roads, you wouldn't have hospitals, you wouldn't have anything. You wouldn't have schools, you wouldn't have bridges. You need eminent domain. And a lot of the big conservatives that tell me how conservative they are \u2014 I think I'm more than they are \u2014 they tell me, oh \u2014 well, they all want the Keystone Pipeline. The Keystone Pipeline, without eminent domain, it wouldn't go 10 feet, OK? You need eminent domain. And eminent domain is a good thing, not a bad thing. And what a lot of people don't know because they were all saying, oh, you're going to take their property. When somebody \u2014 when eminent domain is used on somebody's property, that person gets a fortune. They get at least fair market value, and if they are smart, they'll get two or three times the value of their property. But without eminent domain, you don't have roads, highways, schools, bridges or anything. So eminent domain \u2014 it's not that I love it, but eminent domain is absolutely \u2014 it's a necessity for a country. And certainly it's a necessity for our country. +p2008 +aVYes. +p2009 +aVJeb wants to be \u2014 he wants to be a tough guy tonight. I didn't take the property. +p2010 +aVI didn't take the property. +p2011 +aVThe woman ultimately didn't want to do that. I walked away. +p2012 +aVWell, let me just \u2014 you know, he wants to be a tough guy. A lot of times, you'll have \u2014 you'll have \u2014 and it didn't work very well. +p2013 +aVA lot of time \u2014 let me talk. Quiet. A lot of times \u2014 a lot of times... +p2014 +aV... you \u2014 let me talk. Let me talk. Quiet. A lot of times......that's all of his donors and special interests out there. So \u2014 it's what it is. That's what \u2014 and by the way, let me just tell you, we needed tickets. You can't get them. You know who has the tickets for the \u2014 I'm talking about, to the television audience? Donors, special interests, the people that are putting up the money. That's who it is. The RNC told us. We have all donors in the audience. And the reason they're not loving me......the reason they're not \u2014 excuse me. The reason they're not loving me is, I don't want their money. I'm going to do the right thing for the American public. I don't want their money. I don't need their money. And I'm the only one up here that can say that. Eminent domain, the Keystone pipeline \u2014 do you consider that a private job? Do you \u2014 do you consider that... +p2015 +aVNo \u2014 no, let me ask you, Jeb. Do you consider the Keystone pipeline private? +p2016 +aVIs it public or private? +p2017 +aVReal \u2014 a public use? +p2018 +aVNo, it's a private job. +p2019 +aVIt's a private job. +p2020 +aVYou wouldn't have the Keystone pipeline that you want so badly without eminent domain. +p2021 +aVYou wouldn't have massive \u2014 excuse me, Josh \u2014 you wouldn't have massive factories without eminent domain. +p2022 +aVWell, I think I am, and to me, I view the word conservative as a derivative I \u2014 of \u2014 of the word conserve. We want to converse our money. We want to conserve our wealth. We want to conserve. We want to be smart. We want to be smart where we go, where we spend, how we spend. We want to conserve our country. We want to save our country. And we have people that have no idea how to do that and they are not doing it, and it's a very important word and it's something I believe in very, very strongly. +p2023 +aVWell, before I go there, I will tell you, I will bring jobs back from China. I will bring jobs back from Japan. I will bring jobs back from Mexico, where New Hampshire, by the way, has been virtually wiped out. They've lost so many businesses going to Mexico because of horrible trade deals. And now we're about to sign another trade deal, TPP, which is going to be a disaster for this country because they don't talk about monetary manipulation. It is going to be a disaster. I'm going to bring jobs back and I'll start bringing them back very fast. Under my tax plan \u2014 right now, we're the highest taxed country in the world. Under my plan, we cut not only taxes for the middle class, but we cut taxes for corporations. We will bring back trillions of dollars that's offshore. Right now, they have $2.5 trillion, and in my opinion, it's much more than that. That's what the government says. All of that money is going to come back. And we're not going to lose Pfizer, which is now leaving, and other great companies, which is now leaving. And they're all leaving. We have many, many companies that are leaving this country. We're not going to lose them anymore because we're going to have a tax structure that is going to keep them in our country. +p2024 +aVWell, four years ago, I said, bomb the oil and take the oil. And if we did that, they wouldn't have the wealth they have right now. Now, I still say the same thing, because we're doing little pinpricks. We're not even bombing \u2014 if somebody's driving a truck, they give notice to the person driving the truck, "we're going to bomb." If they don't get out of the truck, the truck sails away with the oil. We actually have a case where we don't want to bomb the oil, because we don't want to hurt \u2014 pollute the atmosphere. Can you imagine General Douglas MacArthur or General Patton saying we can't bomb because we're gonna hurt the atmosphere? You have to knock the hell out of the oil. You have to take the oil. And you have also back channels of banking. You have people that you think are our great allies, our friends, in the Middle East, that are paying tremendous numbers of \u2014 tremendous amounts of money to +p2025 +aVYou have to go in \u2014 first of all, when you take away their money, when you take away their wealth, that'll very much weaken \u2014 and it will happen fairly fast. They'll last for about a year, based on all of the wealth they've accumulated. But when you stop the banking channels and when you stop the oil and take the oil \u2014 not just bomb it, take it \u2014 when you do that, it's going to dry up very quickly. They're going to become a very weakened power, quickly. Thank you. +p2026 +aVWell, I'll tell you what. In the Middle East, we have people chopping the heads off Christians, we have people chopping the heads off many other people. We have things that we have never seen before \u2014 as a group, we have never seen before, what's happening right now. The medieval times \u2014 I mean, we studied medieval times \u2014 not since medieval times have people seen what's going on. I would bring back waterboarding and I'd bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding. +p2027 +aV... No, a good deal maker will make great deals, but we'll do it the way our founders thought it should be done. People get together, they make deals. Ronald Reagan did it with Tip O'Neil very successfully, you didn't hear so much about executive orders, if you heard about it at all. You have to be able to get a consensus. Now, the real person like it was mentioned about the deal with Iran, how bad a deal is that? It doesn't get any more amateurish than that. A good deal maker would never make a deal like that. With Congress, you have to get everybody in a room, and you have to get them to agree. But, you have to get them to agree what you want, and that's part of being a deal maker. You can't leave the White House, go to Hawaii and play golf for three weeks and be a real deal maker. It doesn't work that way. You have to get people in, grab them, hug them, kiss them, and get the deal done. But, it's got to be the deal that you want. HAM: Governor Kasich, is the problem with Washington that there are too many deals, or too few? +p2028 +aVSome? +p2029 +aVWell... +p2030 +aVYes. OK, good. It looked like he was looking right at me, right there. I think that \u2014 I look at what's going on, I look at all of the polls, I do very, very well against Hillary Clinton. I can tell you, I'm the last person that she wants to run against. And I think you can see what we've done in terms of galvanizing. I've been all over the country. We're \u2014 last night, I was in South Carolina, we had 12,000 people. It set up in about four days. We have galvanized and we've created a movement. A lot of it has to do with \u2014 as an example, Josh's question on drugs. I'm the first person that said, "Build a wall." But I mean, a real wall, not a toy wall like they have right now. A real wall. And you'll solve lots of problems. But we will galvanize the people of this country, and we will beat Hillary Clinton. Because \u2014 assuming that she runs, by the way, how she gets away with the e-mail stuff is hard to believe. So, I don't know that she's going to be running. But on the assumption she runs... I mean, look. And speaking of that, if she runs, she's running for one reason. She's going to be able to run for one reason, and that's because the Democrats are protecting her. Because so many people have done so much less than her, and they were absolutely \u2014 their lives have been destroyed. But on the assumption they do protect her, I will win the election and we will win it by a lot. We will win it handily. We cannot have another four years of essentially Barack Obama. +p2031 +aVWell, there is a divide, but I have to say that the police are absolutely mistreated and misunderstood, and if there is an incident, whether it's an incident done purposely \u2014 which is a horror, and you should really take very strong action \u2014 or if it is a mistake, it's on your news casts all night, all week, all month, and it never ends. The police in this country have done an unbelievable job of keeping law and order, and they're afraid for their jobs, they're afraid of the mistreatment they get, and I'm telling you that not only, me speaking, minorities all over the country, they respect the police of this country and we have to give them more respect. They can't act. They can't act. They're afraid for losing their pension, their job. They don't know what to do. And I deal with them all the time. We have to give great respect, far greater than we are right now, to our really fantastic police. +p2032 +aVWell, they do. And, you know, they sue. Everybody sues, right? They see excessive \u2014 I mean, they go out, they sue. We have so much litigation \u2014 I see the courts, I see what they're doing. They sue, and you know what? We don't want excessive force. But at what point \u2014 you know, either you're going to have a police force that can do its job... I was just up in Manchester, I met with the police officers yesterday. Tremendous people. They love the area, they love the people, they love all the people. They want to do their job. And you're going to have abuse and you're going to have problems, and you've got to solve the problems and you have to weed out the problems. But the police in this country are absolutely amazing people. +p2033 +aVWell, I \u2014 I know Diane Foley very well. Her husband and \u2014 these are tremendous people. I spoke for them, I raised a lot of money for the foundation. I fully understand, James, one of \u2014 that was really the first that we saw, really visually saw \u2014 it was so horrible. And I will tell you, though, with all of that being said, you can not negotiate this way with terrorists. If you do, you are going to have many, many more James Foleys. James Foley was a great young man. His parents are incredible people. They've done such a good job, since his \u2014 since his death. But you just cannot negotiate that way with terrorists, or you're gonna have so many other James Foleys. And one thing on the vets \u2014 during the last debate, I raised $6 million for the vets, and I will tell you something......I will tell you that I think nobody here, nobody on this stage, gets along with the veterans groups in New Hampshire better than I do without ball (ph) to sarel (ph) and all of the people that I deal with and these are great people. The one thing that we're not mentioning, there's tremendous fraud, waste and abuse in the Veterans Administration and if I'm running things, that's going to disappear......and it's going to disappear quickly. +p2034 +aVCarolina. +p2035 +aVThat's because he got Ben Carson's votes, by the way, but we won't . Our country that we love so much doesn't win anymore. We don't win with the military, we don't' win on the border. You look at New Hampshire with the tremendous problem we have with heroin. Number one thing I hear from the people of New Hampshire, who I love, and developed such relationships, we don't win with healthcare. We don't win with trade. You look at what other countries are doing to us. China. Everyone, they're killing us on trade. If I'm elected president, we will win, and we will win, and we will win. Thank you, thank you very much. +p2036 +aVIt's not fear and terror, it's reality. You just have to look today at Indonesia, bombings all over. You look at California, you look, frankly, at Paris where there's a \u2014 the strictest no-gun policy of any city anywhere in the world, and you see what happens: 130 people dead with many to follow. They're very, very badly wounded. They will \u2014 some will follow. And you look around, and you see what's happening, and this is not the case when he introduced the doctor \u2014 very nice, everything perfect but that is not representative of what you have in that line of migration. That could be the great Trojan Horse. It could be people that are going to do great, great destruction. When I look at the migration, I looked at the line, I said it actually on your show recently, where are the women? It looked like very few women. Very few children. Strong, powerful men, young and people are looking at that and they're saying what's going on? You look at the kind of damage that two people that two people that got married, they were radicalized \u2014 they got married, they killed 15 people in actually 15 \u2014 going to be probably 16 but you look at that and you take a look \u2014 a good strong look and that's what we have. We are nineteen trillion dollars \u2014 our country's a mess and we can't let all these people come into our country and break our borders. We can't do it. +p2037 +aVBut I was born here. +p2038 +aV. Big difference. +p2039 +aVOK, good. Because it wouldn't work. +p2040 +aV... first of all, let me just tell you something \u2014 and you know, because you just saw the numbers yourself \u2014 NBC Wall Street Journal just came out with a poll \u2014 headline: Trump way up, Cruz going down. I mean, so don't \u2014 so you can't \u2014 you can't......they don't like the Wall Street Journal. They don't like NBC, but I like the poll. And frankly, it just came out, and in Iowa now, as you know, Ted, in the last three polls, I'm beating you. So \u2014 you know, you shouldn't misrepresent how well you're doing with the polls. You don't have to say that. In fact, I was all for you until you started doing that, because that's a misrepresentation, number one. Number two, this isn't me saying it. I don't care. I think I'm going to win fair and square to win this way. Thank you. Lawrence Tribe and from Harvard \u2014 of Harvard, said that there is a serious question as to whether or not Ted can do this. OK? There are other attorneys that feel, and very, very fine constitutional attorneys, that feel that because he was not born on the land, he cannot run for office. Here's the problem. We're running. We're running. He does great. I win. I choose him as my vice presidential candidate, and the Democrats sue because we can't take him along for the ride. I don't like that. OK? The fact is \u2014 and if for some reason he beats the rest of the field, he beats the rest of the field . See, they don't like that. They don't like that. No, they don't like he beats the rest of the field, because they want me. But \u2014 if for some reason, Neil, he beats the rest of the field, I already know the Democrats are going to be bringing a suit. You have a big lawsuit over your head while you're running. And if you become the nominee, who the hell knows if you can even serve in office? So you should go out, get a declaratory judgment, let the courts decide. And you shouldn't have mentioned the polls because I would have been much... +p2041 +aVBecause now he's going a little bit better. No, I didn't care . It's true. No, it's true. Hey look, he never had a chance. Now, he's doing better. He's got probably a four or five percent chance. +p2042 +aVThe fact is, there is a big overhang. There's a big question mark on your head. And you can't do that to the party. You really can't. You can't do that to the party. You have to have certainty. Even if it was a one percent chance, and it's far greater than one percent because . I mean, you have great constitutional lawyers that say you can't run. If there was a \u2014 and you know I'm not bringing a suit. I promise. But the Democrats are going to bring a lawsuit, and you have to have certainty. You can't have a question. I can agree with you or not, but you can't have a question over your head. +p2043 +aVYou don't have to. Take it from Lawrence Tribe. Take it from your professors... +p2044 +aVHe's wrong. He's wrong. +p2045 +aVHe is not the only one. +p2046 +aVThere are many lawyers. +p2047 +aVNo \u2014 no...... I think if it doesn't... I like that. I like it. I'd consider it. But I think I'll go back to building buildings if it doesn't work out. +p2048 +aVI have a feeling it's going to work out, actually. +p2049 +aVOkay. First of all, Nikki this afternoon said I'm a friend of hers. Actually a close friend. And wherever you are sitting Nikki, I'm a friend. We're friends. That's good. But she did say there was anger. And I could say, oh, I'm not angry. I'm very angry because our country is being run horribly and I will gladly accept the mantle of anger. Our military is a disaster. Our healthcare is a horror show. Obamacare, we're going to repeal it and replace it. We have no borders. Our vets are being treated horribly. Illegal immigration is beyond belief. Our country is being run by incompetent people. And yes, I am angry. And I won't be angry when we fix it, but until we fix it, I'm very, very angry. And I say that to Nikki. So when Nikki said that, I wasn't offended. She said the truth. One of your colleagues interviewed me. And said, well, she said you were angry and I said to myself, huh, she's right. I'm not fighting that. I didn't find it offensive at all. I'm angry because our country is a mess. +p2050 +aVNo. I am a 2nd amendment person. If we had guns in California on the other side where the bullets went in the different direction, you wouldn't have 14 or 15 people dead right now. If even in Paris, if they had guns on the other side, going in the opposite direction, you wouldn't have 130 people plus dead. So the answer is no and what Jeb said is absolutely correct. We have a huge mental health problem in this country. We're closing hospitals, we're closing wards, we're closing so many because the states want to save money. We have to get back into looking at what's causing it. The guns don't pull the trigger. It's the people that pull the trigger and we have to find out what is going on. We have to protect our 2nd amendment and you cannot do this and certainly what Barack Obama was doing with the executive order. He doesn't want to get people together, the old-fashioned way, where you get Congress. You get the Congress, you get the Senate, you get together, you do legislation. He just writes out an executive order. Not supposed to happen that way. +p2051 +aVYou get the Congress. You get the Senate. You get together. You do legislation. He just writes out an order, executive order. It's not supposed to happen that way. +p2052 +aVSo conservatives actually do come out of Manhattan, including William F. Buckley and others, just so you understand. And just so \u2014 if I could, because he insulted a lot of people. I've had more calls on that statement that Ted made \u2014 New York is a great place. It's got great people, it's got loving people, wonderful people. When the World Trade Center came down, I saw something that no place on Earth could have handled more beautifully, more humanely than New York. You had two one hundred... ...you had two 110-story buildings come crashing down. I saw them come down. Thousands of people killed, and the cleanup started the next day, and it was the most horrific cleanup, probably in the history of doing this, and in construction. I was down there, and I've never seen anything like it. And the people in New York fought and fought and fought, and we saw more death, and even the smell of death \u2014 nobody understood it. And it was with us for months, the smell, the air. And we rebuilt downtown Manhattan, and everybody in the world watched and everybody in the world loved New York and loved New Yorkers. And I have to tell you, that was a very insulting statement that Ted made. +p2053 +aVNo. No. Look, we have to stop with political correctness. We have to get down to creating a country that's not going to have the kind of problems that we've had with people flying planes into the World Trade Centers, with the \u2014 with the shootings in California, with all the problems all over the world. I just left Indonesia \u2014 bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb. We have to find out what's going on. I said temporarily. I didn't say permanently. I said temporarily. And I have many great Muslim friends. And some of them, I will say, not all, have called me and said, "Donald, thank you very much; you're exposing an unbelievable problem and we have to get to the bottom of it." And unlike President Obama, where he refuses even to use the term of what's going on, he can't use the term for whatever reason. And if you can't use the term, you're never going to solve the problem. My Muslim friends, some, said, "thank you very much; we'll get to the bottom of it." But we have a serious problem. And we can't be the stupid country any more. We're laughed at all over the world. +p2054 +aVEleven points, to be exact. +p2055 +aVI want security for this country. OK? I want security. I'm tired of seeing what's going on, between the border where the people flow over; people come in; they live; they shoot. I want security for this country. We have a serious problem with, as you know, with radical Islam. We have a tremendous problem. It's not only a problem here. It's a problem all over the world. I want to find out why those two young people \u2014 those two horrible young people in California when they shot the 14 people, killed them \u2014 people they knew, people that held the wedding reception for them. I want to find out \u2014 many people saw pipe bombs and all sorts of things all over their apartment. Why weren't they vigilant? Why didn't they call? Why didn't they call the police? And by the way, the police are the most mistreated people in this country. I will tell you that. The most mistreated people. In fact, we need to \u2014 wait a minute \u2014 we need vigilance. We have to find out \u2014 many people knew about what was going on. Why didn't they turn those two people in so that you wouldn't have had all the death? There's something going on and it's bad. And I'm saying we have to get to the bottom of it. That's all I'm saying. We need security. +p2056 +aVThat's wrong. They were wrong. It's the New York Times, they are always wrong. +p2057 +aVThey were wrong. +p2058 +aVNo, I said, " I would use \u2014 " they were asking me what to do about North Korea. China, they don't like to tell us but they have total control \u2014 just about, of North Korea. They can solve the problem of North Korea if they wanted to but they taunt us. They say, " well, we don't really have control." Without China, North Korea doesn't even eat. China is ripping us on trade. They're devaluing their currency and they're killing our companies. Thousands of thousands \u2014 you look at the number of companies and the number in terms of manufacturing of plans that we've lost \u2014 50,000 because of China. +p2059 +aVWe've lost anywhere between four and seven million jobs because of China. What I said then was, "we have very unfair trade with China. We're going to have a trade deficit of 505 billion dollars this year with China." A lot of that is because they devalue their currency. What I said to the New York Times, is that, "we have great power, economic power over China and if we wanted to use that and the amount \u2014 where the 45 percent comes in, that would be the amount they saw their devaluations that we should get." That we should get. What I'm saying is this, I'm saying that we do it but if they don't start treating us fairly and stop devaluing and let their currency rise so that our companies can compete and we don't lose all of these millions of jobs that we're losing, I would certainly start taxing goods that come in from China. Who the hell has to lose 505 billion dollars a year? +p2060 +aVIt's not that complicated actually. +p2061 +aVOK, just so you understand \u2014 I know so much about trading about with China. Carl Icahn today as you know endorsed. Many businessmen want to endorse me. +p2062 +aVCarl said, "no, no \u2014 " but he's somebody \u2014 these are the kind of people that we should use to negotiate and not the China people that we have who are political hacks who don't know what they're doing and we have problems like this. If these are the kinds of people \u2014 we should use our best and our finest. Now, on that tariff \u2014 here's what I'm saying, China \u2014 they send their goods and we don't tax it \u2014 they do whatever they want to do. They do whatever what they do, OK. When we do business with China, they tax us. You don't know it, they tax us. I have many friends that deal with China. They can't \u2014 when they order the product and when they finally get the product it is taxed. If you looking at what happened with Boeing and if you look at what happened with so many companies that deal \u2014 so we don't have an equal playing field. I'm saying, absolutely, we don't have to continue to lose 505 billion dollars as a trade deficit for the privilege of dealing with China. I'm a free trader. I believe in it but we have to be smart and we have to use smart people to negotiate. I have the largest bank in the world as a tenant of mine. I sell tens' of millions of . I love China. I love the Chinese people but they laugh themselves, they can't believe how stupid the American leadership is. +p2063 +aVI'm totally open to a tariff. If they don't treat us fairly, hey, their whole trade is tariffed. You can't deal in China without tariffs. They do it to us, we don't it. It's not fair trade. +p2064 +aVI'm happy to have him tonight... +p2065 +aVNeil, the problem... +p2066 +aV... with what Marco is saying is that it takes too long, they're sucking us dry and it takes too long. It would just \u2014 you absolutely have to get involved with China, they are taking so much of what we have in terms of jobs in terms of money. We just can't do it any longer. +p2067 +aVYou looking at me? +p2068 +aVCan I tell you what? It will never happen because they'll let their currency go up. They're never going to let it happen. Japan, the same thing. They are devaluing \u2014 it's so impossible for \u2014 you look at Caterpillar Tractor and what's happening with Caterpillar and Kamatsu. Kamatsu is a tractor company in Japan. Friends of mine are ordering Kamatsu tractors now because they've de-valued the yen to such an extent that you can't buy a Caterpillar tractor. And we're letting them get away with it and we can't let them get away with it. And that's why we have to use Carl and we have to use our great businesspeople and not political hacks to negotiate with these guys. +p2069 +aVAnd we don't need a weak person being president of the United State, OK? Because that's what we'd get if it were Jeb \u2014 I tell you what, we don't need that. +p2070 +aVWe don't need that. That's essentially what we have now, and we don't need that. And that's why we're in the trouble that we're in now. And by the way, Jeb you mentioned Boeing, take a look. They order planes, they make Boeing build their plant in China. They don't want them made here. They want those planes made in China. +p2071 +aVThat's not the way the game is supposed to be played. +p2072 +aVNo, the new planes. I'm not talking about now, I'm talking about in the future they're building massive plants in China because China does not want Boeing building their planes here, they want them built in China, because China happens to be smart the way they do it, not the way we do it. +p2073 +aVI'll check for you. +p2074 +aVMaria \u2014 Maria, what you were talking about just now is called corporate inversion. It's one of the biggest problems our country has. Right now, corporations, by the thousands, are thinking of leaving our country with the jobs \u2014 leave them behind. They're leaving because of taxes, but they are also leaving because they can't get their money back and everybody agrees, Democrats and Republicans, that is should come back in. But they can't get along. They can't even make a deal. Here is the case, they both agree, they can't make a deal. We have to do something. Corporate inversion is one of the biggest problems we have. So many companies are going to leave our country. +p2075 +aVThank you. +p2076 +aVWell, it's an interesting question because I'm very proud of my company. As you too know, I know I built a very great company. But if I become president, I couldn't care less about my company. It's peanuts. I want to use that same up here, whatever it may be to make America rich again and to make America great again. I have Ivanka, and Eric and Don sitting there. Run the company kids, have a good time. I'm going to do it for America. So I would \u2014 I would be willing to do that. +p2077 +aVI would put it in a blind trust. Well, I don't know if it's a blind trust if Ivanka, Don and Eric run it. If that's a blind trust, I don't know. But I would probably have my children run it with my executives and I wouldn't ever be involved because I wouldn't care about anything but our country, anything. +p2078 +aVThank you. +p2079 +aVI stood yesterday with 75 construction workers. They're tough, they're strong, they're great people. Half of them had tears pouring down their face. They were watching the humiliation of our young ten sailors, sitting on the floor with their knees in a begging position, their hands up. And Iranian wise guys having guns to their heads. It was a terrible sight. A terrible sight. And the only reason we got them back is because we owed them with a stupid deal, $150 billion. If I'm president, there won't be stupid deals anymore. We will make America great again. We will win on everything we do. Thank you. +p2080 +aVThank you. I began this journey six months ago. My total focus was on building up our military, building up our strength, building up our borders, making sure that China, Japan, Mexico, both at the border and in trade, no longer takes advantage of our country. Certainly would never have made that horrible, disgusting, absolutely incompetent deal with Iran where they get $150 billion. They're a terrorist nation. But I began it talking about other things. And those things are things that I'm very good at and maybe that's why I'm center stage. People saw it. People liked it. People respected it. A month ago things changed. Radical Islamic terrorism came into effect even more so than it has been in the past. People like what I say. People respect what I say. And we've opened up a very big discussion that needed to be opened up. Thank you very much. +p2081 +aVWe are not talking about isolation. We're talking about security. We're not talking about religion. We're talking about security. Our country is out of control. People are pouring across the southern border. I will build a wall. It will be a great wall. People will not come in unless they come in legally. Drugs will not pour through that wall. As far as other people like in the migration, where they're going, tens of thousands of people having cell phones with +p2082 +aVJeb doesn't really believe I'm unhinged. He said that very simply because he has failed in this campaign. It's been a total disaster. Nobody cares. And frankly, I'm the most solid person up here. I built a tremendous company and all I want to do is make America great again. I don't want our country to be taken away from us, and that's what's happening. The policies that we've suffered under other presidents have been a disaster for our country. We want to make America great again. And Jeb, in all fairness, he doesn't believe that. +p2083 +aVWell, look, this is so easy to answer. +p2084 +aVI would certainly be open to closing areas where we are at war with somebody. I sure as hell don't want to let people that want to kill us and kill our nation use our Internet. Yes, sir, I am. +p2085 +aVWe have to be much tougher. We have to be much stronger than we've been. We have people that know what is going on. You take a look at just the attack in California the other day. There were numerous people, including the mother, that knew what was going on. They saw a pipe bomb sitting all over the floor. They saw ammunition all over the place. They knew exactly what was going on. When you had the World Trade Center go, people were put into planes that were friends, family, girlfriends, and they were put into planes and they were sent back, for the most part, to Saudi Arabia. They knew what was going on. They went home and they wanted to watch their boyfriends on television. I would be very, very firm with families. Frankly, that will make people think because they may not care much about their lives, but they do care, believe it or not, about their families' lives. +p2086 +aVLook, the problem is we need toughness. Honestly, I think Jeb is a very nice person. He's a very nice person. But we need tough people. We need toughness. We need intelligence and we need tough. Jeb said when they come across the southern border they come as an act of love. +p2087 +aVAm I talking or are you talking, Jeb? +p2088 +aVYou can go back. You're not talking. You interrupted me. +p2089 +aVAre you going to apologize, Jeb? No. Am I allowed to finish? +p2090 +aVExcuse me, am I allowed to finish? +p2091 +aVSo... +p2092 +aV... again... +p2093 +aVI know you're trying to build up your energy, Jeb, but it's not working very well. +p2094 +aVLook, look, look. We need a toughness. We need strength. We're not respected, you know, as a nation anymore. We don't have that level of respect that we need. And if we don't get it back fast, we're just going to go weaker, weaker and just disintegrate. We can't allow that to happen. We need strength. We don't have it. When Jeb comes out and he talks about the border, and I saw it and I was witness to it, and so was everyone else, and I was standing there, "they come across as an act of love," he's saying the same thing right now with radical Islam. And we can't have that in our country. It just won't work. We need strength. +p2095 +aVWith Jeb's attitude, we will never be great again, that I can tell you. We will never be great again. +p2096 +aVSo, they can kill us, but we can't kill them? That's what you're saying. And as far as the Internet is concerned, we're not talking about closing the Internet. I'm talking about parts of Syria, parts of Iraq, where +p2097 +aVIn my opinion, we've spent $4 trillion trying to topple various people that frankly, if they were there and if we could've spent that $4 trillion in the United States to fix our roads, our bridges, and all of the other problems; our airports and all of the other problems we've had, we would've been a lot better off. I can tell you that right now. We have done a tremendous disservice, not only to Middle East, we've done a tremendous disservice to humanity. The people that have been killed, the people that have wiped away, and for what? It's not like we had victory. It's a mess. The Middle East is totally destabilized. A total and complete mess. I wish we had the $4 trillion or $5 trillion. I wish it were spent right here in the United States, on our schools, hospitals, roads, airports, and everything else that are all falling apart. +p2098 +aVWell, there's nothing to respond to. Well, people feel differently. I mean, the fact is Benghazi was a disaster because of Libya, everything just fell into place. It could not have been worse. What do we have now? We have nothing. We've spent $3 trillion and probably much more \u2013 I have no idea what we've spent. Thousands and thousands of lives, we have nothing. Wounded warriors all over the place who I love, we have nothing for it. And by the way \u2013 and Ben said incorrectly \u2013 and I'm not saying this as a knock \u2013 he's one of finest men. You're not going to find a finer men. But I've been talking about oil for three years. I've been saying,, "take the oil, take the oil." I didn't say, "just bomb it," I said," take it and use it and distribute it so that the wounded warriors -" People, I've been saying this now for many years. +p2099 +aVNow, all of a sudden everybody's saying, "take the oil." It wasn't so fashionable to take the oil six months ago. I've been saying it for years. +p2100 +aVI think Assad is a bad guy, a very bad guy, all right? Lots of people killed. I think we are backing people we have no idea who they are. The rebels, we call them the rebels, the patriotic rebels. We have no idea. A lot of people think, Hugh, that they are +p2101 +aVI think it's very sad that CNN leads Jeb Bush, Governor Bush, down a road by starting off virtually all the questions, "Mr. Trump this, Mister" \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched the first debate, and the first long number of questions were, "Mr. Trump said this, Mr. Trump said that. Mr. Trump" \u2014 these poor guys \u2014 although, I must tell you, Santorum, good guy. Governor Huckabee, good guy. They were very nice, and I respect them greatly. But I thought it was very unfair that virtually the entire early portion of the debate was Trump this, Trump that, in order to get ratings, I guess. In order to get ratings, I guess. +p2102 +aVI just think it's very \u2014 excuse me. +p2103 +aVExcuse me. I think it's very unprofessional. +p2104 +aVWell, I think it's very unprofessional. +p2105 +aVOK, fine. +p2106 +aVThis isn't tough and easy. I wish it... +p2107 +aVI wish it was always this easy as you, Jeb. +p2108 +aVOh, yeah. +p2109 +aVOh, I know. You're a tough guy, Jeb. I know. +p2110 +aVYou're tough. +p2111 +aVWell, let's see. I'm at 42, and you're at 3. So, so far, I'm doing better. +p2112 +aVSo far, I'm doing better. You know, you started off over here, Jeb. You're moving over further and further. Pretty soon you're going to be off the end... +p2113 +aVI believe I did. +p2114 +aVI have a very hardline position, we have a country or we don't have a country. People that have come into our country illegally, they have to go. They have to come back into through a legal process. I want a strong border. I do want a wall. Walls do work, you just have to speak to the folks in Israel. Walls work if they're properly constructed. I know how to build, believe me, I know how to build. I feel a very, very strong bind, and really I'm bound to this country, we either have a border or we don't. People can come into the country, we welcome people to come but they have to come in legally. +p2115 +aVWell, first of all, I think we need somebody absolutely that we can trust, who is totally responsible; who really knows what he or she is doing. That is so powerful and so important. And one of the things that I'm frankly most proud of is that in 2003, 2004, I was totally against going into Iraq because you're going to destabilize the Middle East. I called it. I called it very strongly. And it was very important. But we have to be extremely vigilant and extremely careful when it comes to nuclear. Nuclear changes the whole ball game. Frankly, I would have said get out of Syria; get out \u2014 if we didn't have the power of weaponry today. The power is so massive that we can't just leave areas that 50 years ago or 75 years ago we wouldn't care. It was hand-to-hand combat. The biggest problem this world has today is not President Obama with global warming, which is inconceivable, this is what he's saying. The biggest problem we have is nuclear \u2014 nuclear proliferation and having some maniac, having some madman go out and get a nuclear weapon. That's in my opinion, that is the single biggest problem that our country faces right now. +p2116 +aVI think \u2014 I think, for me, nuclear is just the power, the devastation is very important to me. +p2117 +aVI did. +p2118 +aVLet me just say that I have gotten to know him over the last three or four days. He has a wonderful temperament. He's just fine. Don't worry about it. +p2119 +aVYou better not attack... +p2120 +aVI really am. I'll be honest, I really am. I mean, the people have been putting me... I really am. +p2121 +aVLet me just. Can I just finish my... +p2122 +aVI've gained great respect for the Republican leadership. I've gained great respect for many \u2014 and I'm going to even say \u2014 I mean, in different forms for the people on the dais, in different forms. In different forms. But I have great respect for the people I have met through this process. I've never done this process before. I've never been a politician. I mean, for the last six months I've been a politician. But I will tell you, I am totally committed to the Republican Party. I feel very honored to be the front runner. And I think I'll do very well if I'm chosen. If I'm so fortunate to be chosen, I think I'll do very well. Polls have come out recently saying I would beat Hillary. I will do everything in my power to beat Hillary Clinton, I promise you. +p2123 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We don't win on trade. We don't win on the military. We can't defeat +p2124 +aVI can't be Neil. And the and the reason I can't be is that we are a country that is being beaten on every front economically, militarily. There is nothing that we do now to win. We don't win anymore. Our taxes are too high. I've come up with a tax plan that many, many people like very much. It's going to be a tremendous plan. I think it'll make our country and our economy very dynamic. But, taxes too high, wages too high, we're not going to be able to compete against the world. I hate to say it, but we have to leave it the way it is. People have to go out, they have to work really hard and have to get into that upper stratum. But we can not do this if we are going to compete with the rest of the world. We just can't do it. +p2125 +aVI would not do it. +p2126 +aVI was so happy yesterday when I saw that decision come down. That was an unbelievable decision. And we don't have enough of those decisions coming down. He of the executive order, because nobody wants to listen to him, including the Democrats, so he just goes around signing executive orders. That was a great day. And, frankly, we have to stop illegal immigration. It's hurting us economically. It's hurting us from every standpoint. It's causing tremendous difficulty with respect to drugs and what that does to many of our inner cities in particular. And it really is \u2014 was such an unbelievable moment because the courts have not been ruling in our favor. And it was a 2-1 decision. And it was a terrific thing that happened. And I will tell you, we are a country of laws. We need borders. We will have a wall. The wall will be built. The wall will be successful. And if you think walls don't work, all you have to do is ask Israel. The wall works, believe me. Properly done. Believe me. +p2127 +aVYou are going to have to bring people \u2014 you are going to have to send people out. Look, we're a country... +p2128 +aVMaria, we're a country of laws. We either have a country or we don't have a country. We are a country of laws. Going to have to go out and they will come back but they are going to have to go out and hopefully they get back. But we have no choice if we're going to run our country properly and if we're going to be a country. +p2129 +aVAll I can say is, you're lucky in Ohio that you struck oil. That is for one thing. Let me just tell you that Dwight Eisenhower, good president, great president, people liked him. "I like Ike," right? The expression. "I like Ike." Moved a 1.5 million illegal immigrants out of this country, moved them just beyond the border. They came back. Moved them again beyond the border, they came back. Didn't like it. Moved them way south. They never came back. Dwight Eisenhower. You don't get nicer. You don't get friendlier. They moved a 1.5 million out. We have no choice. We have no choice. +p2130 +aVNo, it's unfair. +p2131 +aV... built an unbelievable company worth billions and billions of dollars. I don't have to hear from this man, believe me. I don't have to hear from him. +p2132 +aVWe have millions of people right now on line trying to come into this country. Very, very unfair to the people that want to come into our country legally. They've gone through the process. They're on line. They're waiting. Very, very unfair to them. That I can tell you. +p2133 +aVYes. +p2134 +aVNo, I'm sorry. No, excuse me. I was there. +p2135 +aVPlease, if I could just... +p2136 +aVWe have to make our military bigger, better, stronger than ever before so that nobody messes with us, and a long run, it's going to save us. I agree with Marco, I agree with Ted, we have no choice. And, I can tell you this with certainty. We all have a different tax plan. Some I don't totally agree with. One thing we understand, each one of those tax plans is better than the mess that we have right now. +p2137 +aV...Yes... +p2138 +aV...Yeah... +p2139 +aV...It's a horrible deal... +p2140 +aVThe TPP is horrible deal. It is a deal that is going to lead to nothing but trouble. It's a deal that was designed for China to come in, as they always do, through the back door and totally take advantage of everyone. It's 5,600 pages long. So complex that nobodies read it. It's like Obamacare; nobody ever read it. They passed it; nobody read it. And look at mess we have right now. And it will be repealed. But this is one of the worst trade deals. And I would, yes, rather not have it. With all of these countries, and all of the bad ones getting advantage and taking advantage of what the good ones would normally get, I'd rather make individual deals with individual countries. We will do much better. We lose a fortune on trade. The United States loses with everybody. We're losing now over $500 billion in terms of imbalance with China, $75 billion a year imbalance with Japan. By the way, Mexico, $50 billion a year imbalance. So I must say, Gerard, I just think it's a terrible deal. I love trade. I'm a free trader, 100 percent. But we need smart people making the deals, and we don't have smart people making the deals. +p2141 +aVYes. Well, the currency manipulation they don't discuss in the agreement, which is a disaster. If you look at the way China and India and almost everybody takes advantage of the United States \u2014 China in particular, because they're so good. It's the number-one abuser of this country. And if you look at the way they take advantage, it's through currency manipulation. It's not even discussed in the almost 6,000-page agreement. It's not even discussed. +p2142 +aVAnd as you understand, I mean, you understand very well from the Wall Street Journal, currency manipulation is the single great weapon people have. They don't even discuss it in this agreement. So I say, it's a very bad deal, should not be approved. If it is approved, it will just be more bad trade deals, more loss of jobs for our country. We are losing jobs like nobody's ever lost jobs before. I want to bring jobs back into this country. +p2143 +aVWell, first of all, it's not only Russia. We have problems with North Korea where they actually have nuclear weapons. You know, nobody talks about it, we talk about Iran, and that's one of the worst deals ever made. One of the worst contracts ever signed, ever, in anything, and it's a disgrace. But, we have somebody over there, a madman, who already has nuclear weapons we don't talk about that. That's a problem. China is a problem, both economically in what they're doing in the South China Sea, I mean, they are becoming a very, very major force. So, we have more than just Russia. But, as far as the Ukraine is concerned, and you could Syria \u2014 as far as Syria, I like \u2014 if Putin wants to go in, and I got to know him very well because we were both on 60 Minutes, we were stablemates, and we did very well that night. But, you know that. But, if Putin wants to go and knocked the hell out of +p2144 +aV...They blew up \u2014 hold it.... +p2145 +aV...They blew up, wait a minute... ...They blew up a Russian airplane. He cannot be in love with these people. He's going in, and we can go in, and everybody should go in. As far as the Ukraine is concerned, we have a group of people, and a group of countries, including Germany \u2014 tremendous economic behemoth \u2014 why are we always doing the work? We are \u2014 I'm all for protecting Ukraine and working \u2014 but, we have countries that are surrounding the Ukraine that aren't doing anything. They say, "Keep going, keep going, you dummies, keep going. Protect us..." ...And we have to get smart. We can't continue to be the policeman of the world. We are $19 trillion dollars, we have a country that's going to hell, we have an infrastructure that's falling apart. Our roads, our bridges, our schools, our airports, and we have to start investing money in our country. +p2146 +aVAssad is a bad guy, but we have no idea who the so-called rebels \u2014 I read about the rebels, nobody even knows who they are. I spoke to a general two weeks ago, he said \u2014 he was very up on exactly what we're talking about. He said, "You know, Mr. Trump? We're giving hundreds of millions of dollars of equipment to these people, we have no idea who they are." So, I don't like Assad. Who's going to like Assad? But, we have no idea who these people, and what they're going to be, and what they're going to represent. They may be far worse than Assad. Look at Libya. Look at Iraq. Look at the mess we have after spending $2 trillion dollars, thousands of lives, wounded warriors all over the place \u2014 who I love, OK? All over. We have nothing. And, I said, keep the oil. And we should have kept the oil, believe me. We should have kept the oil. And, you know what? We should have given the oil... ..We should've given big chunks to the people that lost their arms, their legs, and their families, and their sons, and daughters, because right now, you know who has a lot of that oil? Iran, and +p2147 +aVWhy does she keep interrupting everybody? Terrible. +p2148 +aVWe are not. +p2149 +aV...No, no, no... +p2150 +aVWell, what's happening right now, Neil, is something that not been a subject of conversation by politicians. As primarily the only politician, I guess other than Carly on the stage, they haven't talked about a corporate inversion. A corporate inversion \u2014 companies are leaving. You know, we used to leave New York to go to Florida. We got better taxes, we got, maybe, something else. Now, they're the United States to go to other countries. They have trillions of dollars in those other countries. They're going for two reasons, they can't get their money back in. It's something where the democrats and the republicans both agree, it's the only thing I can think of. They both agree, let the money come back in. Three and a half years, they still can't make a deal. They can't get the money in. It's probably two and a half trillion, but, I think it's much more than that. All of that money could become \u2014 could come right in and be used to rebuild our country, and investments in our country. They can't do it. What we have to do, and what I've done, is made the tax rate \u2014 and one of the reasons they don't the taxes so obnoxious, they can't do it. Where, I made it a 10% number, as you know. I've been very highly praised for it. A lot of money's going to come back in, we're going to get rid of the bureaucratic problems, and roadblocks, because that's also a problem. And, we're going to have all of this money pour back into the United States. It's going to be used to build businesses, for jobs, and everything else. And, as I say, my expression is, let's make America great again. +p2151 +aVThank you. Over the years, I've created tens of thousands of jobs and a great company. It's a company I'm very proud of. Some of the most iconic assets anywhere in the world. And I will tell you, I don't have to give you a website because I'm self-funding my campaign. I'm putting up my own money. I want to do something really special. I want to make our country greater than it's ever been. I think we have that potential. We cannot lose this election. We cannot let Hillary Clinton, who is the worst secretary of state in the history of our country, win this election. We will fight. We will win. And we truly will make this even more special. We have to make it better than ever before. And I will tell you, the United States can actually be better than ever before. Thank you. +p2152 +aVI think maybe my greatest weakness is that I trust people too much. I'm too trusting. And when they let me down, if they let me down, I never forgive. I find it very, very hard to forgive people that deceived me. So I don't know if you would call that a weakness, but my wife said "let up." +p2153 +aVRight. +p2154 +aVRight. +p2155 +aVThat's right. +p2156 +aVNo, not a comic book, and it's not a very nicely asked question the way you say that. Larry Kudlow is an example, who I have a lot of respect for, who loves my tax plan. We're reducing taxes to 15 percent. We're bringing corporate taxes down, bringing money back in, corporate inversions. We have $2.5 trillion outside of the United States which we want to bring back in. As far as the wall is concerned, we're going to build a wall. We're going to create a border. We're going to let people in, but they're going to come in legally. They're going to come in legally. And it's something that can be done, and I get questioned about that. They built the great wall of China. That's 13,000 miles. Here, we actually need 1,000 because we have natural barriers. So we need 1,000. We can do a wall. We're going to have a big, fat beautiful door right in the middle of the wall. We're going to have people come in, but they're coming in legally. And Mexico's going to pay for the wall because Mexico \u2014 I love the Mexican people; I respect the Mexican leaders \u2014 but the leaders are much sharper, smarter and more cunning than our leaders. And just to finish, people say, how will you get Mexico to pay? A politician other than the people in the states \u2014 I don't want to \u2014 a politician cannot get them to pay. I can. We lose, we have a trade imbalance... Excuse me, John. ... of $50 billion... +p2157 +aV... believe me the world is peanuts by comparison. +p2158 +aVRight. Dynamically. +p2159 +aVThen you have to get rid of Larry Kudlow, who sits on your panel, who's a great guy, who came out the other day and said, I love Trump's tax plan. +p2160 +aVFirst of all, John got lucky with a thing called fracking, OK? He hit oil. He got lucky with fracking. Believe me, that is why Ohio is doing well. Number \u2014 and that is important for you to know. Number two, this was the man that was a managing general partner at Lehman Brothers when it went down the tubes and almost took every one of us with it, including Ben and myself, because I was there and I watched what happened. And Lehman Brothers started it all. He was on the board. And he was a managing general partner. And just thirdly, he was so nice. He was such a nice guy. And he said, oh, I'm never going to attack. But then his poll numbers tanked. He has got \u2014 that is why he is on the end. And he got nasty. And he got nasty. So you know what? You can have him. +p2161 +aVI think you're \u2014 +p2162 +aVWell, first of all, like many other very big businessmen, I could name them here, but I'm not going to do that for a lot of obvious reasons, but the biggest, and almost all of them, they've all used the chapter laws, the bankruptcy laws to their own benefit. Before this, I was a very successful person as a developer and as a businessman. Atlantic City has gone bad. I mean, Chris will know about that. I'm not blaming Chris, by the way, but he will know about that. Caesar's \u2014 excuse me \u2014 Caesar's, the Rolls-Royce, as you know, is in bankruptcy. Almost every hotel in Atlantic City has either been in bankruptcy or will be in bankruptcy \u2014 the biggest. But also the biggest people (ph) \u2014 now I've used that to my advantage as a business man, for my family, for myself. I never filed for bankruptcy. But many, many people did. What happened with Atlantic City is very, very disgraceful. Now hundreds of companies I've opened. I've used it three times, maybe four times. Came out great. But I guess I'm supposed to come out great. That is what I could do for the country. We owe $19 trillion, boy am I good at solving debt problems. Nobody can solve it like me. But I will tell you this, Atlantic City, you're using that, hundreds of companies that I have opened have thrived. I built a net worth of way over $10 billion, and I have done it four times out of hundreds. And I'm glad I did it. I used the laws of the country to my benefit, I'm sorry. +p2163 +aVThank you. +p2164 +aVI was not at all critical of him. I was not at all. In fact, frankly, he's complaining about the fact that we're losing some of the most talented people. They go to Harvard. They go to Yale. They go to Princeton. They come from another country and they're immediately sent out. I am all in favor of keeping these talented people here so they can go to work in Silicon Valley. +p2165 +aVSo I have nothing at all critical of him. +p2166 +aVProbably, I don't know \u2014 you people write the stuff. I don't know where you... And if I could say just one thing. I am the only person in either campaign that's self-funding. I'm putting up 100 percent of my own money. And right now, I will be putting up a tremendous \u2014 so far, I've put up less than anybody and I have the best results. Wouldn't that be nice if the country could do that? But I will be putting \u2014 I will be putting up, you know, tremendous amounts of money. SuperPacs are a disaster. They're a scam. They cause dishonesty. And you better get rid of them because they are causing a lot of bad decisions to be made by some very good people. And I'm not blaming these folks \u2014 well, I guess I could. Very good people are making very bad decisions right now. And if anything comes out of this whole thing with some of these nasty and ridiculous questions, I will tell you, you better get rid of the SuperPacs because they causing a big problem with this country, not only in dishonesty and what's going on, but also in a lot of bad decisions that have been made for the benefit of lobbyists and special interests. +p2167 +aVI never said that. I never said that. +p2168 +aVYou've got another gentleman in Florida, who happens to be a very nice guy, but not... +p2169 +aV... he's really doing some bad... +p2170 +aVI'm in favor of people coming into this country legally. And you know what? They can have it anyway you want. You can call it visas, you can call it work permits, you can call it anything you want. I've created tens of thousands of jobs, and in all due respect \u2014 and actually some of these folks I really like a lot \u2014 but I'm the only one that can say that. I have created tens of thousands of jobs, and I'll be creating many millions of jobs if I'm given \u2014 if I'm given the opportunity to be president. As far as Mark is concerned, as far as the visas are concerned, if we need people, they have \u2014 it's fine. They have to come into this country legally. We have a country of borders. We have a country of laws. We have to obey the laws. It's fine if they come in, but they have to come in legally. +p2171 +aVYes. +p2172 +aVOr somebody else. Right. +p2173 +aVYes, I might feel more comfortable. I would say that I would and I have a permit, which is very unusual in New York \u2014 a permit to carry. And I do carry on occasion, sometimes a lot. But I like to be unpredictable so that people don't know exactly... +p2174 +aVBy the way, unlike our country where we're totally predictable and the enemy, whether it's +p2175 +aVI would change them. I would change them. +p2176 +aVSuch a nasty \u2014 such a nasty question, but thank you, Governor. +p2177 +aVYes, it's very simple. We're going to make a really dynamic economy from what we have right now, which is not at all dynamic. We're going to bring jobs back from Japan, we're going to bring jobs back from China, we're going to bring, frankly, jobs back from Mexico where, as you probably saw, Nabisco is leaving Chicago with one of their biggest plants, and they're moving it to Mexico. We're going to bring jobs and manufacturing back. We're going to cut costs. We're going to save Social Security, and we're going to save Medicare. [ +p2178 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We used to win, we don't win anymore. We lose on trade. We lose with +p2179 +aVAnd, I'll do that with the country. We will make America great again. And, thank you everybody. Just for the record. +p2180 +aVThat's not right. That is absolutely not right. You know that. That is not right. [ +p2181 +asVCHRISTIE +p2182 +(lp2183 +VWhat about Kasich? Can I introduce Kasich? +p2184 +aVSure. First, let's remember something. Every morning when a United States senator wakes up, they think about what kind of speech can I give or what kind of bill can I drop? Every morning, when I wake up, I think about what kind of problem do I need to solve for the people who actually elected me? It's a different experience, it's a much different experience. And the fact is, Marco, you shouldn't compare yourself to Joe Biden and you shouldn't say that that's what we're doing. Here is exactly what we're doing. You have not be involved in a consequential decision where you had to be held accountable. You just simply haven't. And the fact is \u2014 the fact when you talk about the Hezbollah Sanctions Act that you list as one of your accomplishments you just did, you weren't even there to vote for it. That's not leadership, that's truancy. And the fact is that what we need to do \u2014 what we need to have in this country is not to make the same mistake we made eight years ago. The fact is it does matter when you have to make decisions and be held accountable for them. It does matter when the challenges don't come on a list of a piece of paper of what to vote yes or no every day, but when the problems come in from the people that you serve. I like Marco Rubio, and he's a smart person and a good guy, but he simply does not have the experience to be president of the United States and make these decisions. We've watched it happen, everybody. For the last seven years, the people of New Hampshire are smart. Do not make the same mistake again. +p2185 +aVHold on one second. +p2186 +aVExcuse me... +p2187 +aVI think he mentioned me and my record in there, so I think I get a chance to respond. You see, everybody, I want the people at home to think about this. That's what Washington, D.C. Does. The drive-by shot at the beginning with incorrect and incomplete information and then the memorized 25-second speech that is exactly what his advisers gave him. See Marco \u2014 Marco, the thing is this. When you're president of the United States, when you're a governor of a state, the memorized 30-second speech where you talk about how great America is at the end of it doesn't solve one problem for one person. They expect you to plow the snow. They expect you to get the schools open. And when the worst natural disaster in your state's history hits you, they expect you to rebuild their state, which is what I've done. None of that stuff happens on the floor of the United States Senate. It's a fine job, I'm glad you ran for it, but it does not prepare you for president of the United States. +p2188 +aVThere it is. There it is. The memorized 25-second speech. There it is, everybody. +p2189 +aVYou know what the shame is \u2014 you know what the shame is, Marco? The shame is that you would actually criticize somebody for showing up to work, plowing the streets, getting the trains running back on time when you've never been responsible for that in your entire life. +p2190 +aVAnd the fact is, I went back, it got done and here's... +p2191 +aVOh, so \u2014 wait a second. Is that one of the skills you get as a United States senator ESP also? Because I don't think it is. +p2192 +aVIt gets very unruly when he gets off his talking points. +p2193 +aVLet's get something... +p2194 +aVNo. Let's make something very clear. I learned seven years as a federal prosecutor in dealing with types of situations like we're talking about in North Korea, where criminals take people hostage. You never pay ransom to the criminals. Ever. You never pay ransom to the criminals. Everyone out at home watching tonight understands that principle. And so, what you need to do is to engage in a much different way with these folks. They do not understand anything but toughness and strength, and we need to engage the Chinese to deal with the North Koreans, but we also need to make sure that they understand there's a commander-in-chief who will not pay ransom for any hostage. This president and his former secretary of State are for paying ransom for hostages. When do that, you endanger even more Americans around the world to be the subject of this type of hostage taking and illegal detention. You need a strong commander-in-chief who will look these folks in the eye and say, we will not put up with this and we will take whatever actions we need to take, not only to get our people home safely, but to swiftly and surely punish those who believe they can violate the law and violate American's sovereign rights to travel the world freely and safely. This is unacceptable. And this is why this president is so weak and why the secretary of State, who is embracing a third Barack Obama term, would be even weaker. +p2195 +aVYeah, David, I would just like you to listen, again, everybody. This is the difference between being a governor who actually has to be responsible for problems and not answering a question. The question was, "Did he fight for his legislation?" It's abundantly clear that he didn't. It's abundantly clear that he didn't fight for the legislation. When the teachers unions attacked me with $20 million of ads because I wanted to reform teacher tenure, I fought them and fought them and fought them and I won. When they didn't want \u2014 when people wanted to raise taxes in my state at Democratic legislature and threatened to close down the government, I told them, fine. Close down the government. I'll get in my cars, head to the governor's mansion, order a pizza, open a beer and watch the Mets. You can call me when the government reopens. And guess what they didn't do? They didn't pass a tax increase, because I vetoed it and they never closed the government because they knew I would fight for what I believed in. The fact of the matter is, a leader must fight for what they believe in. Not handicap it and say, well maybe since I can't win this one, I'll run. That's not what leadership is. That's what Congress is. +p2196 +aVGood evening. +p2197 +aVWell, he deserves credit for his record on jobs. He's done a very good job as governor of Ohio. Never said that John hasn't. He's done a very good job. But \u2014 but unfortunately, John's been so busy doing over stuff, he's using old statistics. That's OK. New Jersey had its best year of job growth in the last 15 years under five different governors this year in New Jersey. New Jersey cut spending over $2.3 billion and we have 10,000 fewer employees than we had when I walked in the door. John has a bigger government now and more employees than he had when he walked in the door. But all that doesn't matter. What really matters is this, that executive experience really matters. You heard this on the stage tonight. We've heard it said on the stage that President Obama knows exactly what he's doing. I'd like to ask all the veterans listening out there tonight, who are waiting in line for healthcare, who are literally dying because the Veterans Administration doesn't work, do you think Barack Obama knows what he's doing? I don't. And I'll tell you something. Anybody who evaluates him is knowing what he's doing and managing the government doesn't know how to manage a government themselves. And one last thing, David, which I think is really important. I listened to Senator Rubio's answer on his bill. He said his bill couldn't pass on the gang of eight. He acted as if he was somehow disembodied from the bill. It was his bill. He said this idea doesn't work. It was his idea. See, when you're a governor, you have to take responsibility for these things. You can't just act as if it happened out of nowhere. We have to take responsibility as executives. I take responsibility for my record in New Jersey. We've rebuilt the economy and rebuilt after the second-worst natural disaster in American history. I'm proud of my record. And by the way, I like Kasich's record, too. He's a good governor. +p2198 +aVDavid? Hey, David? David? Hey, David? I actually have experience with raising taxes on millionaires in my state. It was done. It was done by my predecessor. And I want everybody in the public who is in that 68 percent, I want to tell you the truth. You're wrong. And here is why you're wrong. After New Jersey raised taxes on millionaires, we lost, in the next four years, $70 billion in wealth left our state. It left our state to go where it would be treated more kindly. If the United States raised taxes any further, that money will leave the United States, as well. We won't have better jobs. Let New Jersey be the canary in the coal mine. It is a failed idea and a failed policy, it's class warfare. It happened in my state. I've stopped it from happening again. But we cannot do it. The 68 percent of the people are wrong about that, it will hurt the American economy. We tried it in New Jersey. Come take a look \u2014 it did not work. +p2199 +aVOf course I would. As a former United States attorney who spent seven years of my life fighting this on the streets of my state, I would do that. But we need to do more. And let me tell you what we've done in New Jersey, Josh. We are working with the folks in New Hampshire in their legislature right now to show them how we're helping to solve this problem in New Jersey. Not just for this campaign \u2014 three years ago, I proposed a law that we signed into effect, which said that anyone who was a non- violent, non-dealing, first-time drug offender no longer goes to prison in New Jersey. They go to mandatory, in-patient drug treatment. What has happened is, crime has gone down 20 percent in those years. The prison population has gone down 10 percent. We've now closed the state prison \u2014 closed a state prison, and we're turning it into a drug rehabilitation facility, so people can get the tools they need. Listen, everyone out there knows this in New Hampshire. This is a disease. It's not a moral failing, it's a disease. And we need to get people the treatment they need. And let me tell you why. Because I'm pro-life. And I'm pro life not just for the nine months in the womb, I'm pro-life for when they get out and it's a lot more complicated. Sixteen-year-old, heroin-addicted drug girl on the floor of the county lockup, I'm pro-life for her life. The 42-year-old lawyer who is taking Oxycontin and can't get out of bed and support his family \u2014 I'm pro-life for his life. Everyone of those lives is an individual gift from God. And the last thing is this. These efforts we've taken over the last three years, 2015 in New Jersey, for the first time in four years, drug overdose deaths have gone down, not up. I'll bring the same solutions to the country. +p2200 +aVYou bet I would. And the fact is that because I took strong action to make sure that anyone who was showing symptoms \u2014 remember what happened with that nurse. She was showing symptoms and coming back from a place that had the ebola virus active and she had been treating patients. This was not just some \u2014 like, we picked up her just for the heck of it, alright? We did it because she was showing symptoms, and the fact is that's the way we should make these decision. You make these decisions based upon the symptoms, the medicine, and the law. We quarantined her, she turned out to test negative ultimately after 48 hours, and we released her back to the State of Maine. But, I want to add something on the issue of mosques. Now, I'm the only one up here who's had a law enforcement background as a U.S. Attorney after September 11th. I went to mosques throughout my state to build bridges. To build bridges between our community in law enforcement so we can get intelligence and information from these folks. I've had the experience of working with them as Governor of New Jersey as well. We cannot mix the radical Islamic jihadist with everyday Muslim-Americans. New Jersey is the second largest Muslim- American population in America, of any state. These are good, law abiding, hard working people. What they need is our cooperation, and our understanding. They do not just need broadsides against them because of the religious faith they practice. +p2201 +aVMartha? +p2202 +aVCan I \u2014 can I be really \u2014 can I be really clear on this, because I am the father of two daughters. One of them is here tonight. What my wife and I have taught our daughters right from the beginning, that their sense of self-worth, their sense of value, their sense of what they want to do with their life comes not from the outside, but comes from within. And if a young woman in this country wants to go and fight to defend their country, she should be permitted to do so. Part of that also needs to be part of a greater effort in this country, and so there's no reason why one \u2014 young women should be discriminated against from registering for the selective service. The fact is, we need to be a party and a people that makes sure that our women in this country understand anything they can dream, anything that they want to aspire to, they can do. That's the way we raised our daughters and that's what we should aspire to as president for all of the women in our country. +p2203 +aVWell, I've been pretty helpful to the pro-life cause in one of the most pro-choice states in the union. I've stood up for the first time and now for the last six years we've de-funded Planned Parenthood, not talked about it like they do in Washington D.C. But for six years as governor, Planned Parenthood does not receive that funding from the state budget anymore; over $50 million worth of money that's been saved now, that is not going to do exactly what Hillary Clinton wants to have done and has advocated for. She believes that organization, which engages in the systematic murder of children in the womb, in order to maximize the value of their body parts for sale on the open market, is an acceptable position. Let me tell you something, I don't care if you are a millennial or whether you are in your 90s, no one is for that type of activity, unless you are the most radical type of extremist on this issue, like Senator Clinton and her party is on this issue. I'll say one other thing. The fact is, that I believe that if a woman has been raped, that is a birth and a pregnancy that she should be able to terminate. If she is the victim of incest \u2014 this is not a woman's choice. This is a woman being violated. And the fact is that we have always has believed, as has Ronald Reagan, that we have self-defense for women who have been raped and impregnated because of it, or the subject of incest and been impregnated for it. That woman should not have to deliver that child if they believe that violation is now an act of self-defense by terminating that pregnancy. HAM: Thank you, all. Back to you, David and Martha. +p2204 +aVDenver. +p2205 +aVThank you. I've spent the last 13 years of my life focused on one thing: serving the people who have given me the opportunity to serve them. Not about politics, not about partisanship, but putting the people of my state and our country first. I'm proud to have rebuild my state after Hurricane Sandy, and I'm incredibly proud to be on this stage tonight with these men asking for your vote. New Hampshire, I spent 70 days here with you. You've gotten to know my heart. My heart is to help you solve the problems of your state......and the problems of our nation. If you give me your vote on Tuesday I will do just that. +p2206 +aVThey're not wrong. But what's wrong is your premise in the question. You can do both. There is no reason why you can't stand for principles, go and fight for them and be able also, to have to get things done in government. You know, what people are frustrated about in Washington, D.C.., and I know the folks out there tonight are incredibly frustrated because what they see is a government that doesn't work for them. You know, for the 45-year-old construction worker out there, who is having a hard time making things meet. He's lost $4,000 in the last seven years in his income because of this administration. He doesn't want to hear the talk about politics Megyn and who is establishment and who is grassroots. And who's compromised and who is principled. What he wants is something to get done. And that's the difference between being a governor and having done that for the last six years in New Jersey and being someone who has never had to be responsible for any of those decisions. Barack Obama was never responsible for those decisions. Hillary Clinton has never been responsible for those kind of decisions where they were held accountable. I've been held accountable for six years as the governor of New Jersey and with a Democratic legislature, I've gotten conservative things done. That's exactly what I'll do as president of the United States. +p2207 +aVWell, let me say that I do believe that the vote on NSA made the country less safe. Well, let me tell you what the country should really be worried about. I watched that town hall meeting with the Democrats the other night, and I heard Hillary Clinton asked a direct question by an Iowan, and that's what Iowans like to do. They like to ask direct questions. And, they asked about her email situation. And, here's what she said to the American people. She did it for convenience. For her convenience. She put America's secrets at risk for her convenience. She put American intelligence officers at risk for her convenience. She put American strategy at risk for her convenience. Let me tell you who's not qualified to be President of the United States, Chris. Hillary Rodham Clinton did that to our country. She is not qualified to be President of the United States. The fact is what we need is someone on that stage who has been tested, who has been through it, who has made decisions, who has sit in the chair of consequence and can prosecute the case against Hillary Clinton on... ... that stage, and that is exactly what I am ready to do. +p2208 +aVTalk about what? I... +p2209 +aVWell, because you can do it without profiling, Megyn, when you do it on the facts. What those facts knew was that these folks had weapons. They knew that they were talking about trying to take our country and attack it. That's not profiling, that's law enforcement. And that's the difference between somebody who knows how to do this and somebody who's never done it before. +p2210 +aVThey knew they were talking about the issues of attacking people, Megyn. They knew that. +p2211 +aVListen, I think that what people should do is use their common sense. And the fact is, let law enforcement make those decisions. I've told people that from the time I was U.S. attorney 13 years ago. It's not for them to make those decisions about whether or not something is legal or illegal, or profiling or not. You see something that's suspicious, you call law enforcement and let law enforcement make those decisions. That's what should be done. That can be done. That can be done without profiling people. What that is, is just common sense. They thought something was wrong. And here's the problem in this country right now. The problem is that Barack Obama has made law enforcement the enemy, Hillary Clinton has made law enforcement the enemy. They're not supporting our law enforcement officers, it's making everybody nervous to get out of their cars, if you're a law enforcement officer. It's making... ... everybody nervous to get out of their cars if you're a law enforcement officer. It's making people in neighborhoods nervous to go to law enforcement. As president, I will support law enforcement and we'll stop radical terrorist attacks in this country by supporting our intelligence community and law enforcement community. +p2212 +aVYes. You want one? +p2213 +aVHow about one that I've done in New Jersey for the last six years. That's get rid of Planned Parenthood funding from the United States of America. +p2214 +aVBigger than that? Let me tell you something, when you see thousands upon thousands upon thousands of children being murdered in the womb, I can't think of anything better than that. +p2215 +aVMegyn? +p2216 +aVI want to ask the people of the audience. Like, I'm standing here, I \u2014 I watched the video of Senator Cruz. I watched the video of Senator Rubio. I heard what they said. And this is why you need to send someone from outside of Washington to Washington. I feel like... ... I feel like I need \u2014 I feel like I need a Washington to English dictionary converter, right? I mean, I heard what they both said, I saw it on the video. And the fact is this is what makes a difference when you're a governor. You can change your mind. Ted can change his mind. Marco can change his mind. It's perfectly legal in this country to change your mind. But when you're a governor, you have to admit it. You can't hide behind parliamentary tricks. That's the difference, and that's the kind of leader we need in the White House. Stop the Washington bull and let's get things done. +p2217 +aVSure, because there has been three different investigations and proven that I knew nothing. And the fact is that what I did do, what I did do from the beginning, Chris, as soon as I found out about it, I fired the people who were responsible. And that's what you expect from a leader. And, I'll tell you something else. I inherited a state in New Jersey that was downtrodden, and beaten by liberal democratic policies, high taxation, high regulation. And, this year, in 2015, New Jersey's had the best year of job growth that our state has ever had in the last 15 years. That's because we've put conservative policies in place. And, I'll tell you one other thing, you know why the Republican party will want to take a chance on me? Because they know that Hillary Clinton will never be prosecuted by this justice department, and they're going to want to put a former federal prosecutor on the stage to prosecute her next September. And, there is no one on this stage better prepared to prosecute the case against Hillary Clinton than I am. I will be ready. I will take her on, and when I take her on I guarantee you one thing, she will never get within 10 miles of the White House. The days for the Clintons in public housing are over. +p2218 +aVNo, what I said, Chris, was that the law needs to be followed. And that someone in that office has to do their job. So if Ms. Davis wanted to step aside and get rid of her ability to be able to do that, there should be someone else in that office who it didn't violate their conscience so they could follow the law of the state of Kentucky. I never said that Ms. Davis should either lose her job or that she had to do it. But what I did say was that the person who came in for the license needed to get it. And so if there's someone in that organization, and it turns out there was, who was willing to be able to do that, that's what we should do. But just as importantly, and I agree with what John said. You know, we all have our own individual interpretations of our faith. And here's the problem with what's going on around the world. The radical Islamic jihadists, what they want to do is impose their faith upon each and every one of us \u2014 every one of us. And the reason why this war against them is so important is that very basis of religious liberty. They want everyone in this country to follow their religious beliefs the way they do. They do not want us to exercise religious liberty. That's why as commander in chief, I will take on +p2219 +aVBret, let me tell you, this is another one of those places where Hillary Clinton has so much to answer for, and why she is completely unqualified to be commander in chief. In a previous Democratic debate, Martha Raddatz, three times, asked Hillary Clinton about the failure in Libya, a policy that she took credit for, and said, "what is your measure of responsibility, Madam Secretary, for the failure in Libya?" Three times, she refused to answer the question, because she refuses to be held accountable for anything that goes wrong. If it had gone right, believe me, she would have been running around to be able to take credit for it. Here's what I'd do. This is about the bigger, broader war against +p2220 +aVOn September 11, my wife was two blocks from the World Trade Center. When those buildings came down, she was trapped in her building and I didn't hear from her over six hours. We have three children, eight, five and one. And I had to confront the possibility of being a single parent. Terrorism in this country scares everyone. And the fact is that we need a commander-in- chief who not only understands how to protect us, but feels in here what it means to face the possibility of loss. I've faced it. I've prosecuted terrorists. I have made the decisions that need to be made as a governor to protect us and as president of the United States, no one will keep this country safer than I will. +p2221 +aVWell, Maria, I'm glad to have heard from you in the summary of that question about what's going on in the world. Because Tuesday night, I watched story time with Barack Obama. And I've got to tell you, it sounded like everything in the world was going amazing, you know? The fact is, there's a number of things that the next president is going to have to do to clean up this mess. The first thing is we have to strengthen our alliances around the world. And the best way to do that is to start talking to our allies again and having them be able to count on our word. Lots of people will say lots of different things about me in this campaign and others, but the one thing they've never said about me is that I'm misunderstood. And so when we talk to our allies and we give them our word, in a Christie administration, they know we're going to keep it. Next, we have to talk to our adversaries, and we have to make sure they understand the limits of our patience. And this president, given what Ted said right at the beginning, he's absolutely right. It's a \u2014 it's absolutely disgraceful that Secretary Kerry and others said in their response to what's going on in Iran that this was a good thing; it showed how the relationship was getting better. The president doesn't understand \u2014 and by the way, neither does Secretary Clinton \u2014 and here's my warning to everybody out in the audience tonight. If you're worried about the world being on fire, you're worried about how we're going to use our military, you're worried about strengthening our military and you're worried most of all about keeping your homes and your families safe and secure, you cannot give Hillary Clinton a third term of Barack Obama's leadership. I will not do that. If I'm the nominee, she won't get within 10 miles of the White House. +p2222 +aVMIlitary action, Maria, would be used when it was absolutely necessary to protect American lives and protect American interests around the world. We are not the world's policeman, but we need to stand up and be ready. And the problem, Maria, is that the military is not ready, either. We need to rebuild our military, and this president has let it diminish to a point where tinpot dictators like the mullahs in Iran are taking our Navy ships. It is disgraceful, and in a Christie administration, they would know much, much better than to do that. +p2223 +aVI stood on the stage and watched Marco in rather indignantly, look at Governor Bush and say, someone told you that because we're running for the same office, that criticizing me will get you to that office. It appears that the same someone who has been whispering in old Marco's ear too. So the indignation that you carry on, some of the stuff, you have to also own then. So let's set the facts straight. First of all, I didn't support Sonia Sotomayor. Secondly, I never wrote a check to Planned Parenthood. Third, if you look at my record as governor of New Jersey, I have vetoed a 50-caliber rifle ban. I have vetoed a reduction this clip size. I vetoed a statewide I.D. system for gun owners and I pardoned, six out-of-state folks who came through our state and were arrested for owning a gun legally in another state so they never have to face charges. And on Common Core, Common Core has been eliminated in New Jersey. So listen, this is the difference between being a governor and a senator. See when you're a senator, what you get to do is just talk and talk and talk. And you talk so much that nobody can ever keep up with what you're saying is accurate or not. When you're a governor, you're held accountable for everything you do. And the people of New Jersey, I've seen it. +p2224 +aVAnd the last piece is this. I like Marco too, and two years ago, he called me a conservative reformer that New Jersey needed. That was before he was running against me. Now that he is, he's changed his tune. I'm never going to change my tune. I like Marco Rubio. He's a good guy, a smart guy, and he would be a heck of a lot better president than Hillary Rodham Clinton would ever be. +p2225 +aVNo, absolutely not. The president wants to do things without working with his Congress, without working with the legislature, and without getting the consent of the American people. And the fact is that that's not a democracy. That's a dictatorship. And we need to very, very concerned about that. See, here's the thing. I don't think the founders put the Second Amendment as number two by accident. I don't think they dropped all the amendments into a hat and picked them out of a hat. I think they made the Second Amendment the second amendment because they thought it was just that important. The fact is in New Jersey, what we have done is to make it easier now to get a conceal and carry permit. We have made it easier to do that, not harder. And the way we've done it properly through regulatory action, not by signing unconstitutional executive orders. This guy is a petulant child. That's what he is. I mean, you know...... the fact is, Neil, let's think about \u2014 let's think about \u2014 and I want to maybe \u2014 I hope the president is watching tonight, because here's what I'd like to tell him. Mr. President, we're not against you. We're against your policies. When you became president, you had a Democratic Congress and a filibuster-proof Democratic Senate. You had only 21 Republican governors in this country. And now after seven years of your policies, we have the biggest majority we've had since the 1920s in the House; a Republican majority in the Senate; and 31 out of 50 Republican governors. The American people have rejected your agenda and now you're trying to go around it. That's not right. It's not constitutional. And we are going to kick your rear end out of the White House come this fall. +p2226 +aVMaria, you look at what this president and his secretary of state, Secretary of State Clinton, has done to get us in this spot. You think about it \u2014 this is the president who said, along with his secretary of state \u2014 drew a red line in Syria, said, if Assad uses chemical weapons against his people, that we're going to attack. He used chemical weapons, he's killed, now, over a quarter of a million of his own people, and this president has done nothing. In fact, he's done worse than nothing. This president \u2014 and, by the way, Secretary Clinton, who called Assad a reformer \u2014 she called Assad a reformer. Now, the fact is, what this president has done is invited Russia to play an even bigger role, bring in Vladimir Putin to negotiate getting those chemical weapons back from Assad, yet what do we have today? We have the Russians and the Iranians working together, not to fight +p2227 +aVNow Maria, listen. I said right from the beginning that we should take no Syrian refugees of any kind. And the reason I said that is because the FBI director told the American people, told Congress, that he could not guarantee he could vet them and it would be safe. That's the end of the conversation. I can tell you, after spending seven years as a former federal prosecutor, right after 9/11, dealing with this issue. Here's the way you need to deal with it. You can't just ban all Muslims. You have to ban radical Islamic jihadists. You have to ban the people who are trying to hurt us. The only way to figure that out is to go back to getting the intelligence community the funding and the tools that it needs to be able to keep America safe. And this summer, we didn't do that. We took it away from the NSA, it was a bad decision by the president. Bad by those in the Senate who voted for it and if I'm president, we'll make our intelligence community strong, and won't have to keep everybody out, we're just going to keep the bad folk out and make sure they don't harm us. +p2228 +aVWell, I'm glad you asked that, Maria. Here's \u2014 here's our plan. We've all been talking about tax reforms tonight, and paying for infrastructure is caught right up in tax reform. If you reform the corporate tax system in this country, which, as was mentioned before, is the highest rate in the world \u2014 and we double tax, as you know. And what that's led to over $2 trillion of American companies' monies that are being kept offshore, because they don't want to pay the second tax. And who can blame them? They pay tax once overseas. They don't want to pay 35 percent tax on the way back. So beside reforming that tax code, bringing it down to 25 percent and eliminating those special-interest loopholes that the lobbyists and the lawyers and the accountants have given \u2014 bring that rate down to 25 percent, but also, a one-time repatriation of that money. Bring the money \u2014 the $2 trillion \u2014 back to the United States. We'll tax it, that one time, at 8.75 percent, because 35 percent of zero is zero, but 8.75 percent of $2 trillion is a lot of money. And I would then dedicate that money to rebuilding infrastructure here in this country. It would not necessitate us raising any taxes. It would bring the money back into the United States to help build jobs by American companies and get our economy moving again, and growing as a higher rate, and it would rebuild those roads and bridges and tunnels that you were talking about. And \u2014 and \u2014 and the last piece of this, Maria, is this. You know, the fact is that this president has penalized corporations in America. He's penalized \u2014 and doesn't understand. In fact, what that hurts is hurt hardworking taxpayers. You've seen middle-class wages go backwards $3,700 during the Obama administration. That's wrong for hardworking taxpayers in this country. We'd rebuild infrastructure that would also create jobs in this country, and we'd work with the states to do it the right way, to do it more efficiently and more effectively. And remember this \u2014 I'm credible on this for this reason: Americans for Tax Reform says that I've vetoed more tax increases than any governor in American history. We don't need to raise taxes to get this done. We need to make the government run smarter and better, and reform this corporate tax system, bring that money back to the United States to build jobs and rebuild our infrastructure, and we need to use it also to protect our grid from terrorists. All of those things are important, and all those things would happen in a Christie administration. +p2229 +aVMaria, I'd like to interrupt this on the floor of the Senate to actually answer the question you asked, which was on entitlements. Do you remember that, everybody? This was a question on entitlements. And the reason \u2014 and the reason......no, you already had your chance, Marco, and you blew it. Here's the thing. The fact is, the reason why... +p2230 +aV... the fact is \u2014 the fact is the reason why that no one wants to answer entitlements up here is because it's hard. It's a hard problem. And I'm the only one up on this stage who back in April put forward a detailed entitlement reform plan that will save over $1 trillion, save Social Security, save Medicare, and avoid this \u2014 avoid what Hillary Rodham Clinton will do to you. Because what she will do is come in and she will raise Social Security taxes. Bernie Sanders has already said it. And she is just one or two more poll drops down from even moving further left than she's moved already to get to the left of Bernie on this. We have seniors out there who are scared to death because this Congress \u2014 this one that we have right now, just stole $150 billion from the Social Security retirement fund to give it to the Social Security disability fund. A Republican Congress did that. And the fact is it was wrong. And they consorted with Barack Obama to steal from Social Security. We need to reform Social Security. Mine is the only plan that saves over $1 trillion and that's why I'm answering your question. +p2231 +aVWell, first off, let's face it, the FBI director James Comey was a friend of mine who I worked with as U.S. Attorney of New Jersey. He was the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan. He said, "there's a chill wind blowing through law enforcement in this country." Here's why, the president of the United States and both his attorney's general, they give the benefit of the doubt to the criminal, not to the police officers. That's the truth of the matter and you see it every time with this president. Every time he's got a chance, going all the way back to \u2014 remember that Great Beer Summit he had after he messed up that time. This is a guy who just believes that law enforcement are the bad guys. Now, I for seven years was the U.S. Attorney of New Jersey. I worked hard with not only federal agents but with police officers and here's the problem, sanctuary cities is part of the problem in this country. That's where crime is happening in these cities where they don't enforce the immigration laws. And this president turns his back \u2014 this president doesn't enforce the marijuana laws in this country because he doesn't agree with them. And he allows states to go ahead and do whatever they want on a substance that's illegal. This president allows lawlessness throughout this country. Here's what I would do Neil, I would appoint an Attorney General and I would have one very brief conversation with that Attorney General. I'd say, "General, enforce the law against everyone justly, fairly, and aggressively. Make our streets safe again. Make our police officers proud of what they do but more important than that, let them know how proud we are of them." We do that, this country would be safe and secure again not only from criminals but from the terrorist who threaten us as well. I'm the only person on this stage who's done that and we will get it done as President of the United States. +p2232 +aVMaria, Neil, thank you for a great tonight. When I think about the folks who are out there at home tonight watching, and I think about what they had to watch this week \u2014 the spectacle they had to watch on the floor of the House of Representatives, with the president of the United States, who talked a fantasy land about the way they're feeling. They know that this country is not respected around the world anymore. They know that this country is pushing the middle class, the hardworking taxpayers, backwards, and they saw a president who doesn't understand their pain, and doesn't have any plan for getting away from it. I love this country. It's the most exceptional country the world has ever known. We need someone to fight for the people. We need a fighter for this country again. I've lived my whole life fighting \u2014 fighting for things that I believe in, fighting for justice and to protect people from crime and terrorism, fighting to stand up for folks who have not had enough and need an opportunity to get more, and to stand up and fight against the special interests. But here's the best way that we're going to make America much more exceptional: it is to make sure we put someone on that stage in September who will fight Hillary Clinton and make sure she never, ever gets in the White House again. I am the man who can bring us together to do that, and I ask for your vote. +p2233 +aVThank you Wolf. America has been betrayed. We've been betrayed by the leadership that Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton have provided to this country over the last number of years. Think about just what's happened today. The second largest school district in America in Los Angeles closed based on a threat. Think about the effect that, that's going to have on those children when they go back to school tomorrow wondering filled with anxiety to whether they're really going to be safe. Think about the mothers who will take those children tomorrow morning to the bus stop wondering whether their children will arrive back on that bus safe and sound. Think about the fathers of Los Angeles, who tomorrow will head off to work and wonder about the safety of their wives and their children. What is Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton done to this country? That the most basic responsibility of an administration is to protect the safety and security of the American people. I will tell you this, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I've fought terrorists and won and when we get back in the White House we will fight terrorists and win again and America will be safe. +p2234 +aVWolf, unfortunately, it's the new normal under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The fact is that if you listen to Hillary Clinton the other day, what she said to the American people was, as regards to +p2235 +aVListen, I want to talk to the audience at home for a second. If your eyes are glazing over like mine, this is what it's like to be on the floor of the United States Senate. I mean, endless debates about how many angels on the head of a pin from people who've never had to make a consequential decision in an executive position. The fact is, for seven years, I had to make these decisions after 9/11, make a decision about how to proceed forward with an investigation or how to pull back, whether you use certain actionable intelligence or whether not to. And yet they continue to debate about this bill and in the subcommittee and what \u2014 nobody in America cares about that. What they care about is, are we going to have a president who actually knows what they're doing to make these decisions? And for the seven years afterwards, New Jersey was threatened like no other region in this country and what we did was we took action within the constitution to make sure that law enforcement had all the information they needed. We prosecuted two of the biggest terrorism cases in the world and stopped Fort Dix from being attacked by six American radicalized Muslims from a Mosque in New Jersey because we worked with the Muslim American community to get intelligence and we used the Patriot Act to get other intelligence to make sure we did those cases. This is the difference between actually been a federal prosecutor, actually doing something, and not just spending your life as one of hundred debating it. Let's talk about how we do this, not about which bill, which one these guys like more. The American people don't care about that. +p2236 +aVWolf, you sit up here and you listen to this stuff, and you think that so many of these people have had so much to do in this national debate, they talk like they were bystanders. You know, we talk about our military being degraded over time, and yet we've had folks on this stage who've been a part of Congress who have participated in sequester; who participated in the degrading of this military over time. And that's why I think people get so frustrated with Washington, D.C. now. That's why they're so angry with the \u2014 the electorate is so angry with everybody who is involved in government in Washington, D.C. Because if you listen to the folks up here, you think that they weren't even there; they had nothing to do with this. This is a difference between being a governor and being in a legislature. See, because when something doesn't work in New Jersey, they look at me, say: "Why didn't it get done? Why didn't you do it?" You have to be responsible and accountable. And so on +p2237 +aVWell, I think we have to focus, Hugh, on exactly what the priorities are. And to me, what I've always said is that the president has set up an awful situation through his deal with Iran, because what his deal with Iran has done is empower them and enrich them. And that's the way +p2238 +aVNot only would I be prepared to do it, I would do it. A no-fly zone means a no-fly zone, Wolf. That's what it means. See, maybe \u2014 maybe because I'm from New Jersey, I just have this kind of plain language hangup. But I would make very clear \u2014 I would not talk to Vladimir Putin. In fact, I would talk to Vladimir Putin a lot. But I'd say to him, "Listen, Mr. President, there's a no-fly zone in Syria; you fly in, it applies to you." And yes, we would shoot down the planes of Russian pilots if in fact they were stupid enough to think that this president was the same feckless weakling that the president we have in the Oval Office is right now. +p2239 +aVWell, Wolf, I'll tell you what reckless is. What reckless is is calling Assad a reformer. What reckless is allowing Russia to come into Crimea and Ukraine. What reckless is is inviting Russia into Syria to team with Iran. That is reckless. And the reckless people are the folks in the White House right now. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are the reckless people. And if you think that a no-fly zone is a reckless policy, you're welcome to your opinion. But how is it working so far? As we have 250,000 Syrians murdered, slaughtered; millions running around the world, running for their lives. It's not working. We need to try something else. And that is not reckless. +p2240 +aVWhat I say to Carla is that the first job of the president of the United States is to protect your safety and your security and the security and safety of your family. And this debate stops with me in the discussions with the FBI director. Now, listen, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I know Jim Comey. We've worked together. He was the U.S. attorney in Manhattan when I was a U.S. attorney in New Jersey. And when Jim Comey gets up before Congress and says, we cannot effectively vet these people, for me as president, that's the end of the conversation. We have to put America's security first. The American people \u2014 we on this stage need to open our ears. We need to open our ears. The American people are not whispering to us. They are screaming to us. And they're screaming to us that it's our job to actually make this government work. It's so dysfunctional under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. It's so ineffective. It's so ineffectual that the American people say, we don't trust them to do anything anymore. So I'm not going to let Syrian refugees, any Syrian refugees in this country. And it was widows and orphans, by the way, and we now know from watching the San Bernardino attack that women can commit heinous, heinous acts against humanity just the same as men can do it. And so I don't back away from that position for a minute. When the FBI director tells me that he can vet those people, then we'll consider it and not a moment before because your safety and security is what's most important to me. +p2241 +aVWell, what it would like is, we have one of the great advantages of America being the open society that we are. It is, we are not hiding things from the American people, but China everyday is conducting business in a way that hides things from their people. So if they want to come in and attack all the personnel records in the federal government, which they've done, and which \u2014 they now have my Social Security number and my fingerprints, as well as maybe some other folks' who are on this stage. The fact is, they need to be fought back on. And what we need to do is go at the things that they are most sensitive and most embarrassing to them; that they're hiding; get that information and put it out in public. Let the Chinese people start to digest how corrupt the Chinese government is; how they steal from the Chinese people; and how they're enriching oligarchs all throughout China. They need to understand that. And we need to take those type of steps. This president has seen personnel records of people who have sacrificed for the American people and for the federal government stolen by the Chinese and he's done nothing in return. This is why \u2014 this is what I said at the beginning that this administration, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton through their foreign policy, have betrayed the American people, because the weakness they've displayed has led to Putin's incursions in the Middle East and in eastern Europe, and has led \u2014 has led to significant problems in the Middle East as well, and the death and murder of lots of folks. +p2242 +aVOn September 10th, 2001, I was named chief federal prosecutor in New Jersey and on September 11th, 2001, my wife and my brother who are in the audience tonight went through the World Trade Center and to their offices just blocks away from the Trade Center. I lost touch with them for six hours that day and prayed that they were alive. Luckily, they were sent home. But many of our friends and others in our neighborhood lost their lives that day. Terrorism \u2014 radical jihadist terrorism is not theoretical to me. It's real. And for seven years, I spent my life protecting our country against another one of those attacks. You won't have to worry when I'm President of the Untied States whether that can be done because I've already done it. I want the chance to do it again to protect you, your children and your families. If you give me the chance and give me your vote I will protect America from the wars that are being brought to our door step. +p2243 +aVI don't see a lot of weakness on this stage, quite frankly. Where I see the weakness is in those three people that are left on the Democratic stage. You know, I see a socialist, an isolationist and a pessimist. And for the sake of me, I can't figure out which one is which. But I will \u2014 but I will tell you this, the socialist says they're going to pay for everything and give you everything for free, except they don't say they're going to raise it through taxes to 90 percent to do it. The isolationist is the one who wants to continue to follow a foreign policy that has fewer democracies today than when Barack Obama came into office around the world. But I know who the pessimist is. It's Hillary Clinton. And you put me on that stage against her next September, she won't get within 10 miles of the White House. Take it to the bank. +p2244 +aVWell, I wish you would have asked that question years ago when they broke it. I mean, let me be honest with the people who are watching at home. The government has lied to you and they have stolen from you. They told you that your Social Security money is in a trust fund. All that's in that trust fund is a pile of IOUs for money they spent on something else a long time ago. And they've stolen from you because now they know they cannot pay these benefits and Social Security is going to be insolvent in seven to eight years. We're sitting up here talking about all these other things; 71 percent of federal spending today is on entitlements, and debt service. And, that's with zero percent interest rates. Now, I'm the only person that's put out a detailed plan on how to deal with entitlements. And we'll save a trillion dollars over the next 10 years. And, here's the difference between me and Hillary Clinton. What Hillary Clinton's going to say, and has said before is, she wants to raise Social Security taxes. Now, let me ask you a question everybody, and, this is for the guy, you know, who owns a landscaping business out there. If somebody's already stolen money from you, are you going to give them more? Or, are you going to deal with the problem by saying, I'm going to give people who've done well in this country less benefit on the backend. We need to get realistic about this. We're not \u2014 the American people \u2014 forget about anything else, they've already been lied to and stolen from. And... +p2245 +aV...I'm going to go to Washington to stop it... +p2246 +aV...The only way we're going to be morale, the only way we're going to keep our promise to seniors is start by following the first rule we should all follow, which is to look at them, treat them like adults, and tell them the truth. It isn't there anymore, Mike. They stole it. It got stolen from them. It's not theirs anymore. The government stole it, and spent it a long time ago... +p2247 +aVSo, let's stop fooling around about this, let's tell people the truth. For once, let's do that, and stop trying to give them some kind of fantasy that's never going to come true. +p2248 +aVYou bet they do. And if I were the prosecutor, that is exactly where they would be. The fact is that this Justice Department under this president has been a political Justice Department. It has been a Justice Department that decided that they want to pick who the winners and losers are. They like General Motors, so they give them a pass. They don't like somebody else like David Petraeus, they prosecute them and send a decorated general on to disgrace. It's a political Justice Department. And, Jim, you know full well that in the seven years I was U.S. attorney we went after pharmaceutical companies. We went after companies that were ripping off shareholders. We went after companies that were doing things that were against the law. And to expand on Mr. Carson's \u2014 or Dr. Carson's question, let's face it, we have laws already. We don't need newer (ph) laws. We don't need Hillary Clinton's price controls for \u2014 again, does anybody out there think that giving Washington, D.C., the opportunity to run the pharmaceutical industry is a good idea, given how well they have done running the government? So what we do, though, is, if there is somebody who is price- gouging, we have laws for prosecutors to take that on. Let's let a Justice Department \u2014 and I will make an attorney general who will enforce the law and make justice more than just a word. It will be a way of life. +p2249 +aVJohn, I'll tell you something. You want to talk about moral authority. Let's talk about something that happened this week in the news. You know, the FBI director, the president's appointed FBI director has said this week that because of a lack of support from politicians like the president of the United States, that police officers are afraid to get out of their cars; that they're afraid to enforce the law. And he says, the president's appointee, that crime is going up because of this. And when the president of the United States gets out to speak about it, does he support police officers? Does he stand up for law enforcement? No, he doesn't. I'll tell you this, the number one job of the president of the United States is to protect the safety and security of the American people. This president has failed, and when I'm in the Oval Office, police officers will know that they will have the support of the president of the Untied States. That's real moral authority that we need in the Oval Office. +p2250 +aVCarl, are we really talking about getting government involved in fantasy football? We have \u2014 wait a second, we have $19 trillion in debt. We have people out of work. We have +p2251 +aVWell, first off, what we don't do is do what Hillary Clinton and John Kerry and Barack Obama want us to do, which is their solution for everything, put more taxes on it, give more money to Washington, D.C., and then they will fix it. Well, there is no evidence that they can fix anything in Washington, D.C. +p2252 +aVWhat we should do is to be investing in all types of energy, John, all types of energy. I've laid out... +p2253 +aVNo, John. John, do you want me to answer or do you want to answer? How are we going to do this? Because, I've got to tell you the truth, even in New Jersey what you're doing is called rude. So... We've laid out a national energy plan that says that we should invest in all types of energy. I will tell you, you could win a bet at a bar tonight, since we're talking about fantasy football, if you ask who the top three states in America are that produce solar energy: California and Arizona are easy, but number three is New Jersey. Why? Because we work with the private sector to make solar energy affordable and available to businesses and individuals in our state. We need to make sure that we do everything across all kinds of energy: natural gas, oil, absolutely. But also where it's affordable, solar, wind in Iowa has become very affordable and it makes sense. That is the way we deal with global warming, climate change, or any of those problems, not through government intervention, not through government taxes, and for God's sake, don't send Washington another dime until they stop wasting the money they're already sending there. +p2254 +aVAnd \u2014 and \u2014 and I \u2014 you know, Ben is absolutely right in saying that what we don't need to do is to send more money to Washington, D.C. to fix this problem. And that's what you'll hear from Hillary Clinton \u2014 and I've already heard from her \u2014 is that, send more money in Social Security, send more money in Medicare taxes, send more money for Medicaid, and that's gonna solve the problem. What we know is we're living longer. That's a blessing. It's a blessing that we're living longer, so we have to increase the retirement age to reflect that blessing. We need to make sure that people understand, as Jeb said before, that if you've done extraordinarily well in this country, do you want them to take more out of your taxes now and think they're gonna give it back to you later? Or would you rather take less later on? +p2255 +aVI want to talk to the folks at home. I want to ask you: Are you fed up with how Washington taxes you? Are you fed up with how Washington wastes your money? Are you concerned like I am that the debt and deficits of Washington, D.C. are endangering America's future? I've got one more question for you then. Are you serious about this election? Because if you are, you need to elect someone who's deadly serious about changing this culture. I am deadly serious about changing this culture. I changed it in New Jersey. I'm deadly serious about doing this job the right way. I'm prepared. I'm tested. I'm ready. And I want to make this our government. For the people who say we can't do it, I say hell no, we can do it together. +p2256 +asVCARSON +p2257 +(lp2258 +VWell, the current Constitution actually doesn't address that particular situation, but the fact of the matter is the Supreme Court, obviously, is a very important part of our governmental system. And when our Constitution was put in place, the average age of death was under 50, and therefore the whole concept of lifetime appointments for Supreme Court judges and federal judges was not considered to be a big deal. Obviously, that has changed, and it's something that probably needs to be looked at pretty carefully at some point. But, we need to start thinking about the divisiveness that is going on in our country. I looked at some of the remarks that people made after finding out that Justice Scalia had died, and they were truly nasty remarks. And that we have managed to get to that position in our country is truly a shame. And we should be thinking about how we could create some healing in this land. But, right now, we're not going to get healing with President Obama. That's very United Nations clear. So, I...... fully agree that we should not allow a judge to be appointed during his time. +p2259 +aVNo, it isn't. First of all, let me go back to your first question for me. It wasn't phrased as who gets to nominate Supreme Court appointees. Of course that's the president. So I know that there are some left-wing media who would try to make hay on that. Secondly, thank you for including me in the debate. Two questions already. This is great. Now, as far......as far as those 2 a.m. phone calls are concerned, judgment is what is required. And the kinds of things that you come up with are sometimes very, very difficult and very unique. One of the things that I was known for is doing things that have not been done before. So no amount of experience really prepares you to do something that has never been done before. That's where judgment comes in. And that, I think, is a situation that we're in right now, a situation that we have never been in before with the kinds of threats that pose real danger to our nation, and it comes in very handy in those situations. +p2260 +aVWell, first of all, let me just address the Iraq question. You know, I was not particularly in favor of us going to war in Iraq, primarily because I have studied, you know, the Middle East, recognizing that those are nations that are ruled by dictators and have been for thousands of years. And when you go in and you remove one of those dictators, unless you have an appropriate plan for replacing them, you're going to have chaos. Now, fortunately, we were able to stabilize the situation, and it was the current administration that turned tail and ran and destabilized the situation. Now, having said that, in terms of the rules of engagement, I was talking about, you know, Obama has said, you know, we shouldn't bomb tankers, you know, coming out of refineries because there may be people in there, or because the environment may be hurt. You know, that's just asinine thinking. And the fact of the matter is... You know, we \u2014 obviously, you're not going to accomplish all of your goals without some collateral damage. You have to be able to assess what is acceptable and what is not. +p2261 +aVWell, first of all, let me just mention on the tax issue. Bencarson.com, go read about it, because my tax plan has been praised by Cato, by Wall Street Journal. Forbes said it is the best, the most pro-growth tax plan, and it's based on real fairness for everybody. Starts at the 150 percent poverty level, but even the people below that have to pay something, because everybody has to have skin in the game, and the millions of people can't, you know, talk about what other people have to pay and have no skin in the game. And it deals with corporate tax rate, and makes it the same as everybody else......everybody pays exactly the same. +p2262 +aV... And, as far as Medicare and Medicaid, my main goal is to get rid of Obamacare and put the care back in the hands of ... +p2263 +aVWell, first of all, please go to my website, bencarson.com, and read my immigration policy, O.K.? Because it actually makes sense. Now, the \u2014 as far as these fines are concerned, you know? Here's the big problem. We've got all these government regulators, and all they're doing is running around looking for people to fine. And we've got 645 different federal agencies and sub-agencies. Way, way too many, and they don't have anything else to do. I think what we really need to do is start trimming the regulatory agencies rather than going after the people who are trying to increase the viability, economic viability of our society. Now, that doesn't mean there aren't some people out there who are doing bad things. But I'm not sure that the way to solve that problem is by increasing all the regulatory burden. You know, when you consider how much regulations cost us each year, you know? $2 trillion dollars per family, $24,000 per family, that happens to be the same level as the poverty level...... for a family of four. If you want to get rid of poverty, get rid of all the regulations. +p2264 +aVBefore you ask the question, can I respond to the \u2014 you know, they mentioned my name a couple of times. +p2265 +aVAll right. Well, first of all, you know, so many people have said to me, "You need to scream and jump and down \u2014 jump up and down like everybody else." Is that really what you want? What we just saw? I don't think so. And you know, I \u2014 when I got into this race, I decided to look under the hood of the engine of what runs Washington, D.C., and my first inclination was to run away, but I didn't do it because I'm thinking about our children and the fact that we are the United States of America. And anybody up here is going to be much better than what's going to come on the other side. And what happened tonight with \u2014 with Justice Scalia tells you that we cannot afford to lose this election, and we cannot be tearing each other down. +p2266 +aVWell, first of all, I'm not a politician, so I'm never going to become a politician. But here's what \u2014 here's what people need to know. People need to know that free college is not \u2014 it's a non-starter. You know, you have to look at our economic situation. We're on the verge of economic collapse and, you know, we're \u2014 it's not just the $19 trillion, but it's also the $200 trillion in unfunded liabilities. What we need to think about is, what does that do to the average person? When we have a debt of that nature, it causes the Fed to change their policy, it causes the central bank to keep the \u2014 the rates low, and who does does that affect? Mr. Average, who used to go to the bank every Friday and put part of his check in the bank and watch it grow over three decades and be able to retire with a nice nest egg, that's gone. That part of the American dream is gone. All of these things are disappearing, and Bernie Sanders and people like Hillary Clinton blame it on the rich. They say those evil rich people, if we take their money we can solve the problem. It's not the evil rich people. It's the irresponsible, evil government. +p2267 +aVThis is the first generation not expected to do better than their parents. Some people say it's the new normal, but there's nothing normal about it in an exceptional American. I, like you, am a member of we, the people, and we know that our country is heading off the cliff. Joseph Stalin said if you want to bring America down you, have to undermine three things: our spiritual life, our patriotism and our morality. We, the people, can stop that decline, starting right here in South Carolina. If all the people who say, "I love Ben Carson and his policies, but he can't win," vote for me, not only can we win, but we can turn this thing around. You know, we have this manipulation by the political class and by the media telling us who we're supposed to pick and how we're supposed to live. We, the people, are the only people who will determine that. And if you elect me as your next president, I promise you that you will get somebody who is accountable to everybody and beholden to no one. Thank you. +p2268 +aVWell, you know, when I wasn't introduced No. 2, as was the plan, I thought maybe he thought I already had dropped out. But... But you know, today is the 105th anniversary, or \u2014 105th birthday of Ronald Reagan. His 11 Commandment was not to speak ill of another Republican. So, I'm not going to use this opportunity to savage the reputation of Senator Cruz. But I will say \u2014 I will say \u2014 I will say that I was very disappointed that members of his team thought so little of me that they thought that after having hundreds, if not thousands of volunteers and college students who sacrificed their time and were dedicated to the cause \u2014 one even died \u2014 to think that I would just walk away ten minutes before the caucus and say, "Forget about you guys." I mean, who would do something like that? Now, I don't think anyone on this stage would do something like that. And to assume that someone would, what does that tell you? So, unfortunately, it did happen. It gives us a very good example of certain types of Washington ethics. Washington ethics. Washington ethics basically says, if it's legal, you do what you need to do in order to win. That's not my ethics. My ethics is, you do what's right. +p2269 +aVSince I was mentioned... +p2270 +aVThis is great you guys. I want you all to mention me when you say something. In fact, the time line indicates that initial tweet from CNN was followed by another one within one minute that clarified that I was not dropping out. So, what happened to that one, it is unclear. But the bottom line is, we can see what happened, everybody can see what happened and you can make your own judgment. +p2271 +aVGood evening. +p2272 +aVWell, thank you. You know, I was hoping to get a chance to talk about North Korea. I was the only one who didn't get to do that, and I've got stuff to say about it, let me tell you. But at any rate, you have to replace it with something that makes sense. It doesn't make sense. And the reason that I dislike Obamacare is because the government comes in and tells the people \u2014 which the nation is supposed to be centered on \u2014 that we don't care what you think, this is what we're doing. And if you don't like it, too bad. That's a problem. And we can't afford to do that because that will fundamentally change America. I have proposed a health empowerment account system. Everybody gets a health empowerment account the day they are born, they keep it until they die. They can pass it on. We pay for it with the same dollars that we pay for traditional health care with, recognizing that we spend twice as much as many countries per capita and health care and don't have as such access. We give people the ability to shift money within their health empowerment account so that each family basically becomes its own insurance company without a middleman; that saves you a awful lot of money. And that will lower the cost of your catastrophic insurance tremendously, because the only thing coming out of that is catastrophic health care. And then in terms of taking care of the indigent, we have another whole system, and I can go ahead and explain it, but I don't have the time, but I'd be happy to if you give me some more time. But go to my website bencarson.com, read about it. You can read about everything that's been discussed here in great detail. HAM: Thank you, Dr. Carson. David, Martha, back to you. +p2273 +aVI want to say something about this, because I'm not here just to add beauty to the stage. You know, I've been talking about Libya for quite a long time. I think I was the first one to start talking about it because I say we have to have a proactive foreign policy strategy. And of course, the next place that +p2274 +aVI would support the possibility of renewed airstrikes if in conjunction with our Joint Chiefs and our military people they felt that was an appropriate strategy. The fact of the matter is none of us up here is a military expert, and we sometimes act like we are, but we're not. And if we actually sit down and talk with them and get them to understand our plan and their impression of what needs to be done, I think we're going to make a lot more progress. +p2275 +aVIt's the same question? +p2276 +aVYes. Well, first of all, I think it would be a pretty easy contrast, quite frankly, between myself and Hillary Clinton. In one case, you have someone who is known as a deceitful individual. An individual who at Benghazi, which I will never let go, quite frankly, because I think of those two men who went up there on the top of that compound with machine guns, firing away, allowing their colleagues to escape. And I'm sure, in the back of their mind, they were just saying, if we can just hold on, help is on the way. But help was not on the way. When did we in the United States not send people to help our own people? You know, this is not who we are. And \u2014 I would simply make it a referendum on honesty and integrity versus deceit and the Washington way. +p2277 +aVWell, you know, it's not a simple issue, and now, you know, we've gotten evidence that there can been active viruses in other bodily fluids like saliva and urine. So, this is going to be, obviously, a big deal. Do we quarantine people? If we have evidence that they are infected, and that there is evidence that that infection can spread by something that they're doing, yes. But, just willy-nilly going out and quarantining a bunch of people because they've been to Brazil, I don't believe that that's going to work. What we really need to be thinking about is how do we get this disease under control? And this is where we need rapid response. We need a rapid response for ebola, we need rapid response for Zika, there will be other things that will come up. These are the kinds of things that the NIH, the CDC, can be very effective in. We need to give the the appropriate support for those kind of things. +p2278 +aVCan I say something... +p2279 +aVSomething about the draft. Very quickly. +p2280 +aVYou know, 14 percent decrease in the number of people applying for voluntary military service, and I think part of it is because of the way that we treat our veterans. You know, we wouldn't be a free country if it wasn't for them, and we have 22 veterans per day committing suicide. So, I think what we should do is have an external support system for people once they volunteer and it should follow them throughout their career, should follow them for three years, five years afterwards, a year before they get out, should be working on integrating them back into society, so that they quit on Friday and they start their new job. They should have health empowerment accounts that are subsidized so they can go to any medical facility and be taken care of. They can go to a V.A. if they want to. But if we start taking care of our veterans the right way, we won't have to ever worry about a draft again. +p2281 +aVWith 100 percent certainly, I will predict the winner \u2014 it will either be Denver or Carolina. +p2282 +aVFor many months, the political class, pundits, the media, have tried to ignore or bury me. They say that politics is too complex, and too sleazy. You can't survive. Well, guess what? I'm still here, and I'm not going any place either. And, I believe there is still a place in our country for faith, integrity, and common sense. Hundreds of thousands of you drafted me to run for president...... And, I am going to with the help of God, and you, once again place the American people at the pinnacle with the government there to serve it. +p2283 +aVWell, I will gladly confess that I'm the only one on this stage with no political title. You're not going to hear a lot of polished political speech from me, but you will hear the truth. And I don't think you have to be a politician to tell the truth. In fact, sometimes it's not that way... ... and I've had more two a.m. phone calls than everybody here put together, making life and death decisions, put together very complex teams to accomplish things that have never been done before. And we are in a situation right now in our country that we have never been in before. We need people who think out of the box and can solve problems; can utilize the resources around them; very smart people, to focus on the problem and solve the problem. The American people are terrified. That's why we have this abnormal situation going on right now. We don't need more of the same solutions. We need different solutions to solve the problems and to save our nation. +p2284 +aVWell, I don't know about the GOP messaging, but I can tell you about my messaging. You know, need to stop allowing political correctness to dictate our policies, because it's going to kill us if we don't. And in the Holy Land Foundation trial in 2006 in Texas, they had a memorandum, an explanatory memorandum that talked about the fact that Americans would be easy to overcome and to commit civilization jihad because they were going to be trying to protect the rights of the very people who were trying to subvert them. But I believe in the Teddy Roosevelt philosophy. Teddy Roosevelt said, we are a nation of immigrants. As such, everybody is welcome from any race, any country, any religion, if they want to be Americans. If they want to accept our values and our laws. If not, they can stay where they are. +p2285 +aVOh, great. As I said before, we are a land of immigrants, but we have to be intelligent about the way that we form our immigration policies, and that's one of the reasons that I have called on us to declare war on the Islamic State because we need to reorient our immigration policies and our visa policies for people who are coming into this country because there are many people out there who want to destroy us. Now, I recognize that the vast majority of people coming in here probably are not those kinds of people, but that's not good enough. If you've got 10 people coming to your house and you know one of them is a terrorist, you're probably going to keep them all out. You know, we probably have to figure out a way to make sure that we keep America safe. +p2286 +aVLook, first of all, I recognize that Vladimir Putin is an opportunist and he's a bully, and we have to face him down. And I would \u2014 first of all, face him down in that whole region, the whole Baltic region. I think we need to put in some armored brigades there. We only have one or two. We need much more than that. We need to be doing military exercises if not only Estonia but Latvia and Lithuania. They're terrified by the saber rattling. I think we ought to put in our missile defense system. I think we ought to give Ukraine offensive weapons and I think we ought to fight them on the economic basis because Putin is a one- horse country: oil and energy. And we ought to fight them on that level. We ought to be helping in terms of the technology for fracking, keeping the price low, quite frankly, because that's what's keeping him contained. So, yes, I'd absolutely would go in if he attacked. I think on Article IV of +p2287 +aVWell, as anyone knows who's been listening to me, you know? I'm very much against the government being involved in every aspect of our lives, you know? We last year there was an additional 81,000 pages of government regulations. If you stack that up it would be a three-story building. This is absolutely absurd. And, they've insinuated themselves into everything. Now, as far as the renewable fuel standard is concerned, certain promises were made, certain government contracts were issued which extend all the way into the year 2022, and I believe that it's probably unfair to withdraw the rug because people have invested money. People have invested a lot of energy into that. But, you know, we are blessed with tremendous energy in this nation, and we need to be talking for new sources of energy. Seventy percent of our population lives by costly. What about hydroelectric power? We can develop that, you know? We have so much natural gas now, and we can liquify it, and we can transfer it across the sea so we can make Europe dependent on us instead of Putin \u2014 put him back in his little box where he belongs. Those are the kinds of things that we ought to be doing. And, you know, take advantage of the tremendous opportunities in energy that God has given us, not get involved in these little petty arguments. And we can get a lot of them out if we get the government out of our lives. +p2288 +aVI want to thank the people of Iowa for being so welcoming to me. Please think of our founding fathers as you listen. We the people of the United States in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the benefits of liberty to ourselves and our prosperity, do ordain and establish this constitution of the United States of America. Folks, it's not too late. Enough said. +p2289 +aVWell, I'm very happy to get a question this early on. I was going to ask you to wake me up when that time came. You know, I find it really quite fascinating some of the president's proclamations. The fact of the matter is he doesn't realize that we now live in the 21st century, and that war is very different than it used to be before. Not armies massively marching on each other and air forces, but now we have dirty bombs and we have cyber attacks and we have people who will be attacking our electrical grid. And, you know, we have a whole variety of things that they can do and they can do these things simultaneously. And we have enemies who are obtaining nuclear weapons that they can explode in our exoatmosphere and destroy our electric grid. I mean, just think about a scenario like that. They explode the bomb, we have an electromagnetic pulse. They hit us with a cyberattack simultaneously and dirty bombs. Can you imagine the chaos that would ensue at that point? He needs to recognize that those kinds of things are in fact an existential threat to us. But here's the real key. We have the world's best military, even though he's done everything he can to diminish it. And the fact of the matter is if we give them a mission and we don't tie their hands behind their back, they can get it accomplished. +p2290 +aVNeil, I was mentioned too. +p2291 +aVYeah, he said everybody. And \u2014 and I just want to take this opportunity to say, you know, in the 2012 election, you know, we \u2014 and when I say we, Republicans \u2014 tore themselves apart. You know, we have to stop this because, you know, if we manage to damage ourselves, and we lose the next election, and a progressive gets in there and they get two or three Supreme Court picks, this nation is over as we know it. And we got to look at the big picture here. +p2292 +aVWell, there's not question that we should be able to look at past president whether they're married to somebody who's running for president or not in terms of their past behavior and what it means. But you know, here's the real issue, is this America anymore? Do we still have standards? Do we still have values and principles? You know, you look at what's going on, you see all the divisiveness and the hatred that goes on in our society. You know, we have a war on virtual everything \u2014 race wars, gender wars, income wars, religious wars, age wars. Every war you can imaging, we have people at each other's throat and our strength is actually in our unity. You know, you go to the internet, you start reading an article and you go to the comments section \u2014 you cannot go five comments down before people are calling each all manner of names. Where did that spirit come from in America? It did not come from our Judeo-Christian roots, I can tell you that. And wherever it came from we need to start once again recognizing that there is such a thing as right and wrong. And let's not let the secular progressives drive that out of us. The majority of people in American actually have values and principles and they believe in the very things that made America great. They've been beaten into submission. It's time for us to stand up for what we believe in. +p2293 +aVWait a minute, who in their 16th month? +p2294 +aVOK. +p2295 +aVWell, there's no question that +p2296 +aVWell, first of all, recognize it is a substantial problem. But like all of our problems, there isn't a single one that can't be solved with common sense if you remove the ego and the politics. And clearly, what we need to do is get a group of experts together, including people from other countries, some of our friends from Israel, who have had experience screening these people and come up with new guidelines for immigration, and for visas, for people who are coming into this country. That is the thing that obviously makes sense, we can do that. And as far as the Syrians are concerned, Al-Hasakah province, perfect place. They have infrastructure. All we need to do is protect them, they will be in their own country. And that is what they told me when I was in Jordan in November. Let's listen to them and let's not listen to our politicians. +p2297 +aVWell, I would suggest a fair tax system, and that's what we have proposed. A flat tax for everybody \u2014 no exemptions, no deductions, no shelters, because some people have a better capability of taking advantage of those than others. You know, and then the other thing we have to do is stop spending so much money. You know, I \u2014 my \u2014 my mother taught me this. You know, she only had a third-grade education, but \u2014 you know, she knew how to stretch a dollar. I mean, she would drive a car until it wouldn't make a sound, and then gather up all her coins and buy a new car. In fact, if my mother were secretary of treasury, we would not be in a deficit situation. But...... you know, the \u2014 the \u2014 the fact of the matter is \u2014 you know, if we fix the taxation system, make it absolutely fair, and get rid of the incredible regulations \u2014 because every regulation is a tax, it's a \u2014 on goods and services. And it's the most regressive tax there is. You know, when you go into the store and buy a box of laundry detergent, and the price has up \u2014 you know, 50 cents because of regulations, a poor person notices that. A rich person does not. Middle class may notice it when they get to the cash register. And everything is costing more money, and we are killing our \u2014 our \u2014 our people like this. And Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton will say it's those evil rich people. It's not the evil rich people. It's the evil government that is \u2014 that is putting all these regulations on us so that we can't survive. +p2298 +aVCan I just add one very quick thing? And I just want to say, you know, last week we released our tax plan. And multiple reputable journals, including The Wall Street Journal, said ours is the best. Just want to get that out there, just saying. +p2299 +aVYou know, in recent travels around this country, I've encountered so many Americans who are discouraged and angry as they watch our freedom, our security and the American dream slipping away under an unresponsive government that is populated by bureaucrats and special interest groups. We're not going to solve this problem with traditional politics. The only way we're going to solve this problem is with we, the people. And I ask you to join me in truth and honesty and integrity. Bencarson.com \u2014 we will heal, inspire and revive America for our children. +p2300 +aVThank you, Wolf. Please join me for a moment of silence and remembrance of the San Bernardino victims. Thank you. You know, our country since its inception has been at war, every 15 or 20 years. But the war that we are fighting now against radical Islamist jihadists is one that we must win. Our very existence is dependent upon that. You know, as a pediatric neurosurgeon, I frequently faced life and death situations, and had to come up with the right diagnosis, the right plan, and execute that plan frequently with other colleagues. Right now, the United States of America is the patient. And the patient is in critical condition and will not be cured by political correctness and will not be cured by timidity. And I am asking the Congress, which represents the people, to declare a war on +p2301 +aVFirst of all, let me just complain a little bit. This is the first time I've spoken and several people have had multiple questions so please try to pay attention to that. Now, as far as monitoring is concerned, what my point is, we need to make sure that any place \u2013 I don't care whether it's a mosque, a school, a supermarket, a theater, you know it doesn't matter. If there are a lot of people getting there and engaging in radicalizing activities then we need to be suspicious of it. We have to get rid of all this PC stuff. And people are worried about if somebody's going to say that I'm Islamophobic or what have you. This is craziness because we are at war. That's why I asked congress, go ahead and declare the war . We need to be on a war footing. We need to understand that our nation is in grave danger. You know, what the Muslim Brotherhood said in the explanatory memorandum that was discovered during the Holy Land Foundation Trial was that, "they will take advantage of our PC attitude to get us. :" We have to be better than this. We have to be smarter than they are. +p2302 +aVI think you have to ask them about that. I don't want to get in between them. Let them fight. +p2303 +aVNeurosurgeon. +p2304 +aVWell, interestingly enough, you should see the eyes of some of those children when I say to them we're going to have to open your head up and take out this tumor. They're not happy about it, believe me. And they don't like me very much at that point. But later on, they love me. Sometimes you \u2014 I sound like him. You know, later on, you know, they really realize what's going on. And by the same token, you have to be able to look at the big picture and understand that it's actually merciful if you go ahead and finish the job, rather than death by 1,000 pricks. +p2305 +aVYou got it. You got it. +p2306 +aVRuthless is not necessarily the word I would use, but tough, resolute, understanding what the problems are, and understanding that the job of the president of the United States is to protect the people of this country and to do what is necessary in order to get it done. +p2307 +aVFirst of all, I've been talking about this for over a year. We have to destroy their caliphate because that gives them legitimacy to go ahead with the global Jihad. We have to take their energy because they are \u2014 +p2308 +aVNo one is ever better off with dictators but there comes a time you know, when you're on an airplane, they always say, "in case of an emergency oxygen masks will drop down. Put yours on first and then administer help to your neighbor." We need oxygen right now. And we need to start thinking about the needs of the American people before we go and solve everybody else's problems. The fact of the matter is, is that the Middle East has been in turmoil for thousands of years. For us to think that we're going to in there and fix that with a couple of little bombs and a few little decorations is relatively foolish. +p2309 +aVWell, you know, there's a false narrative that only the political class has the wisdom and the ability to be commander-in- chief. But if you go back and you study the design of our country, it was really designed for the citizen statesman. And we need to be talking about where does your experience come from? You know, and I've had a lot of experience building things, organizing things, you know, a national scholarship program. One of the things that you'll notice if you look through my life is that I don't do a lot of talking. I do a lot of doing. And really, it says more about a person than how much they talk. And then some people say you're weak because, you know, you're not loud and you're not boisterous and you're not rude. But the fact of the matter is, look and see what I've done. And that speaks volumes about strength. +p2310 +aVWell, it was very interesting having an opportunity to talk to the Syrians themselves. And I asked them: What do you want? What is your supreme desire? Their supreme desire was to be settled back in their own country. I said, "What can Americans and other countries do?" They said, "Support the efforts of those who are trying to provide safety for us, including the Jordanians." Of course, they had a brand new hospital, for instance, that was unstaffed because there wasn't enough money to do it. But here's what's really neat. If you go into Hasakah province in northeast Syria, that's an area that's as big as Lebanon. It's controlled by the Kurds, the Christians and the moderate Sunnis. And there are airstrips and hotels. You could settle a lot of people there. All we would have to do is be willing to provide them with some weaponry, some defensive weaponry. And we seem to be afraid to give the Kurds weaponry. We like to send it for some strange reason through Baghdad, and then they only get a tenth of it. And if we would support them, we'd have a perfect ideal there. We don't need to set this up as we either take a bunch of refugees who will be infiltrated with terrorists, I guarantee you. For them not to be would be terrorist malpractice. And we need to \u2014 to choose the right choice, not these false choices. +p2311 +aVWell, I definitely believe that he is unstable, and I do, in fact, believe that China has a lot more influence with him than we do. But we also recognize that North Korea is in severe financial straits, and they have decided to use their resources to build their military, rather than to feed their people and to take care of the various humanitarian responsibilities that they have. We can capitalize upon that. You know, we should use our economic power in lots of different ways. I think we can use that in order to keep Putin contained, because he is a one-horse show. Energy. And we have an abundance of energy, but we have archaic energy exportation rules. We need to get rid of those, allow ourselves to really make Europe dependent on us and other parts of the world dependent on us for energy. Put him back in his little box where he belongs. And, you know, we need to be doing lots of other things with the resources that we have. So economic power works just as well as military power, perhaps even better. And speaking of that, our Military needs to be upgraded. You know, you look at things like our Ohio Class submarines, they're 25 years old. Our minuteman 3 missiles \u2014 they are 34 years old. Our B-52 bombers \u2014 50 years old. You know, if we don't get the military right nothing else matters. +p2312 +aVWell, you know, the statement that I made last week, that I would leave the party was contingent upon whether in fact the party acts like they have in the past with a lot of subterfuge and dishonesty, or like they're going act now because I spike to Reince Priebus, and he assured me that the Washington Post writer had it all wrong, and that they're not be engaging in anything to thwart the will of the people. That's why I got into this race, as a member of we the people, to try bring some honesty and integrity back to the process. +p2313 +aVI've been fortunate enough to travel to 58 different countries and I thank God everyday that I was born in this country. The most exceptional country that the world has ever known. And I want to make sure that we preserve that exceptionalism for the next generation. My mother told me if I work hard and I really believed in American principles and I believed in God, anything is possible. I believe that is true, and that's why I'm not anxious to give away American values and principles for the sake of political correctness. +p2314 +aVWell, first of all, delighted to be here. My family's here, and my little granddaughter, who's three years old, said she wanted to come to the debate. So this is very cool. As far as the minimum wage is concerned, people need to be educated on the minimum wage. Every time we raise the minimum wage, the number of jobless people increases. It's particularly a problem in the black community. Only 19.8 percent of black teenagers have a job, who are looking for one. You know, that \u2014 and that's because of those high wages. If you lower those wages, that comes down. You know, I can remember, as a youngster \u2014 you know, my first job working in a laboratory as a lab assistant, and multiple other jobs. But I would not have gotten those jobs if someone had to pay me a large amount of money. But what I did gain from those jobs is a tremendous amount of experience, and how to operate in the world and how to relate to different people, and how to become a responsible individual. And that's what gave me what I needed to ascend the ladder of opportunity in this country. That's what we need to be thinking about. How do we allow people to ascend the ladder of opportunity, rather than how do we give them everything and keep them dependent? +p2315 +aVI would not raise it. I would not raise it, specifically because I'm interested in making sure that people are able to enter the job market and take advantage of opportunities. +p2316 +aVWell, first of all, thank you not asking me what I said in the 10th grade. I appreciate that. +p2317 +aVThe fact of the matter is, you know, what \u2014 we should vet all candidates. I have no problem with being vetted. What I do have a problem with is being lied about and then putting that out there as truth. And I don't even mind that so much, if they do it about \u2014 with everybody, like people on the other side. But, you know, when I look at somebody like Hillary Clinton, who sits there and tells her daughter and a government official that no, this was a terrorist attack, and then tells everybody else that it was a video. Where I came from, they call that a lie. And... I think that's very different from, you know, somebody misinterpreting, when I said that I was offered a scholarship to West Point, that is the words that they used. But, I've had many people come and say the same thing to me. That is what people do in those situations. We have to start treating people the same, and finding out what people really think and what they're made of. People who know me know that I'm an honest person. +p2318 +aVWell, you know, when I say tithing, I'm talking about the concept of proportionality. +p2319 +aVEverybody should pay the same proportion of what they make. You make $10 billion, you pay a billion. You make $10, you pay one. You get same rights and privileges. I don't see how anything gets a whole lot fairer than that. But you also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes because that is the thing that tilts it in one direction or another. And you have to set the rate at an appropriate level. Now I will say that, there are a lot of people who say, if you get rid of the deductions, you ruin the American dream because, you know, home mortgage deduction. But the fact of the matter is, people had homes before 1913 when we introduced the federal income tax, and later after that started deductions. And they say there will be no more charitable giving. We had churches before that and charitable organizations before that. The fact of the matter is, I believe if you put more money in people's pockets that they will actually be more generous rather than less generous. And it's... ... the money that they earned. And, the other thing is, I do care about the poor people. And in the system that we're putting together, there will be a rebate for people at the poverty level. But I also want to emphasize the fact that as we get the economy moving, and I hope I get a question about how do we get the economy moving, there will be a lot more opportunities for poor people not to be poor people because this is America. This is the land of dreams. And our policies should be aimed at allowing people to realize that dream. +p2320 +aVWell, putting the special ops people in there is better than not having them there, because they \u2014 that's why they're called special ops, they're actually able to guide some of the other things that we're doing there. And what we have to recognize is that Putin is trying to really spread his influence throughout the Middle East. This is going to be his base. And we have to oppose him there in an effective way. We also must recognize that it's a very complex place. You know, the Chinese are there, as well as the Russians, and you have all kinds of factions there. What we've been doing so far is very ineffective, but we can't give up ground right there. But we have to look at this on a much more global scale. We're talking about global jihadists. And their desire is to destroy us and to destroy our way of life. So we have to be saying, how do we make them look like losers? Because that's the way that they're able to gather a lot of influence. And I think in order to make them look like losers, we have to destroy their caliphate. And you look for the easiest place to do that? It would be in Iraq. And if \u2014 outside of Anbar in Iraq, there's a big energy field. Take that from them. Take all of that land from them. We could do that, I believe, fairly easily, I've learned from talking to several generals, and then you move on from there. But you have to continue to face them, because our goal is not to contain them, but to destroy them before they destroy us. +p2321 +aVWell, I think we should have policies that don't allow them to just enlarge themselves at the expense of smaller entities. And certainly some of the policies, some of the monetary and Fed policies that we're using makes it very easy for them, makes it very easy for the big corporations, quite frankly, at these very low interest rates to buy back their stock and to drive the price of that up artificially. Those are the kinds of things that led to the problem in the first place. And I think this all really gets back to this whole regulation issue which is creating a very abnormal situation. This country was \u2014 declared its independence in 1776. In less than 100 years, it was the number-one economic power in the world. And the reason was because we had an atmosphere that encouraged entrepreneurial risk- taking and capital investment. Those are the fuels that drive it. And what we've done now is let the creep of regulation turn into a stampede of regulations, which is involved in every aspect of our lives. If we can get that out, it makes a big difference. And even for the average person, every single regulation costs money. And it's shifted to the individual. So \u2014 and it hurts the poor and the middle class much more than it does the rich. They go into the store and they buy a bar of soap, it costs 10 cents more, they notice it. And the middle class, when they come to the cash register, have a whole cart full of things that cost 5, 10 or 15 cents more, they notice it. It is hurting the poor. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton won't tell you that that's the thing that's really hurting middle class in the core. They'll say it's the rich, take their money, but that won't help. You can take all of the rich's money and it won't make a dent in the problem that we're having. We have to come back to the fundamental principles that made America great. +p2322 +aVI would have policies that wouldn't allow that to occur. I don't want to go in and tear anybody down. I mean, that doesn't help us. But what does help us is stop tinkering around the edges and fix the actual problems that exist that are creating the problem in the first place. +p2323 +aVIn the two hours of this \u2014 of this debate, five people have died from drug-related deaths, $100 million has been added to our national debt, 200 babies have been killed by abortionists, and two veterans have taken their lives out of despair. This is a narrative that we can change, not we the Democrats, not we the Republicans, but we the people of America, because there is something special about this nation, and we must embrace it and be proud of it and never give it away for the sake of political correctness. +p2324 +aVProbably in terms of the applying for the job of president, a weakness would be not really seeing myself in that position until hundreds of thousands of people began to tell me that I needed to do it. I do, however, believe in Reagan's 11th commandment, and will not be engaging in awful things about my compatriots here. And recognizing that it's so important, this election, because we're talking about America for the people versus America for the government. +p2325 +aVWell, first of all, I didn't say that the rate would be 10 percent. I used the tithing analogy. +p2326 +aVThe rate \u2014 the rate \u2014 the rate is gonna be much closer to 15 percent. +p2327 +aVYou also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes. You also have to some strategically cutting in several places. Remember, we have 645 federal agencies and sub-agencies. Anybody who tells me that we need every penny and every one of those is in a fantasy world. So, also, we can stimulate the economy. That's gonna be the real growth engine. Stimulating the economy \u2014 because it's tethered down right now with so many regulations... +p2328 +aVThat's not true. +p2329 +aVWhen \u2014 when we put all the facts down, you'll be able to see that it's not true, it works out very well. +p2330 +aVSince I was attacked too. +p2331 +aVLet me just say, if you're talking about an $18 trillion economy, you're talking about a 15 percent tax on your gross domestic product. You're talking about $2.7 trillion. We have a budget closer to $3.5 trillion. But if you also apply that same 15 percent to several other things, including corporate taxes, and including the capital gains taxes, you make that amount up pretty quickly. So that is not by any stretch a pie in the sky. +p2332 +aVWell, there is no question that some people go overboard when it comes to trying to make profits, and they don't take into consideration the American people. What we have to start thinking about, as leaders, particularly in government, is what can we do for the average American? And you think about the reasons that we're having such difficulty right now with our job market. Well, the average small manufacturer, whatever they're manufacturing, drugs or anything, if they have less than 50 employees, the average cost in terms of regulations is $34,000 per employee. Makes it a whole lot easier for them to want to go somewhere else. So what we're going to have to start doing instead of, you know, picking on this group or this group, is we're going to have to have a major reduction in the regulatory influence that is going on. The government is not supposed to be in every part of our lives, and that is what is causing the problem. +p2333 +aVWell, obviously, you don't understand my views on homosexuality. I believe that our Constitution protects everybody, regardless of their sexual orientation or any other aspect. I also believe that marriage is between one man and one woman. And there is no reason that you can't be perfectly fair to the gay community. They shouldn't automatically assume that because you believe that marriage is between one man and one woman that you are a homophobe. And this is one of the myths that the left perpetrates on our society, and this is how they frighten people and get people to shut up. You know, that's what the PC culture is all about, and it's destroying this nation. The fact of the matter is we the American people are not each other's enemies, it's those people who are trying to divide us who are the enemies. And we need to make that very clear to everybody. +p2334 +aVWell, that's easy to answer. I didn't have an involvement with them. That is total propaganda, and this is what happens in our society. Total propaganda. I did a couple of speeches for them, I do speeches for other people. They were paid speeches. It is absolutely absurd to say that I had any kind of a relationship with them. Do I take the product? Yes. I think it's a good product. +p2335 +aVIf somebody put me on their homepage, they did it without my permission. +p2336 +aVNo, it speaks to the fact that I don't know those \u2014 See? They know. +p2337 +aVWell, first of all, I was wrong about taking the oil subsidy. I have studied that issue in great detail. And what I have concluded is that the best policy is to get rid of all government subsidies, and get the government out of our lives, and let people rise and fall based on how good they are. And \u2014 you know, all of this too big to fail stuff and picking and choosing winners and losers \u2014 this is a bunch of crap, and it is really causing a great deal of \u2014 great deal of problems for our society right now. And \u2014 and \u2014 you know, it goes back to the whole concept of regulations, which are in everything. The reason that I \u2014 I hate them so much is because every single regulation costs in terms of goods and services. That cost gets passed on to the people. Now, who are the people who are hurt by that? It's poor people and middle class. Doesn't hurt rich people if their bar of soap goes up ten cents, but it hurts the poor and the middle class. And Bernie Sanders will tell them that it's because of the rich. Well, I'll tell you something: you can take everything from the top 1 percent, and you apply it to our fiscal gap, and you won't even make a dent in it. +p2338 +aVAbout Medicare? +p2339 +aVWell, first of all the \u2014 the plan gives people the option of \u2014 of opting out. But I think they will see a very good option here. You know, the annual Medicare budget is over $600 billion. And there are 48 million people involved \u2014 40 million, 65 and over, and 8 million other. Divide that out. That comes out to $12,500 for each one. Now, I can tell you there are a lot of private-sector things that you could do with $12,500, which will get you a lot more than you get from this government program. And that's really a theme of a lot of the things that I'm talking about. How do we utilize our intellect rather than allowing the government to use its, quote, "intellect," in order to help us to be able to live healthier and better lives? It was never intended that the government should be in every aspect of our lives. This is a country that is of, for and by the people. +p2340 +aVI just want to thank all my colleagues here for being civil, and not falling for the traps. And, I also just want to thank the audience for being attentive, and noticing the questions, and the noticing the answers. And, this is what I am finding throughout America. People are waking up because it is going to be us who will determine the direction of our country. And, it was made for we the people, we are the ones who decide who we are, and we should never give away the values and principles that made America into a great nation for the sake of political correctness. +p2341 +asVQUINTANILLA +p2342 +(lp2343 +VGood evening, I'm Carl Quintanilla, with my colleagues Becky Quick and John Harwood. We'll be joined tonight by some of +p2344 +aVGovernor? +p2345 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p2346 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Bush. +p2347 +aVSenator Rubio. +p2348 +aVMr. Trump? +p2349 +aVDr. Carson? +p2350 +aVMrs. Fiorina? +p2351 +aVFixed it. +p2352 +aVSenator Cruz? +p2353 +aVGovernor Christie? +p2354 +aVSenator Paul? +p2355 +aVThanks to all the candidates. John? +p2356 +aVHold it. We'll cut it back to you in just a minute. Becky's moving on. +p2357 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor. thank you, Governor. +p2358 +aVMr. Trump, 30 seconds. +p2359 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2360 +aVWe're going to try to move on. +p2361 +aVYou want to bring 70,000 pages to three? +p2362 +aVIs that using really small type? +p2363 +aVIs that using really small type? +p2364 +aVMrs. Fiorina \u2014 +p2365 +aVWe're going to \u2014 +p2366 +aVWe will come around the bend, i promise. This one is for Senator Rubio. You've been a young man in a hurry ever since you won your first election in your 20s. You've had a big accomplishment in the Senate, an immigration bill providing a path to citizenship the conservatives in your party hate, and even you don't support anymore. Now, you're skipping more votes than any senator to run for president. Why not slow down, get a few more things done first or least finish what you start? +p2367 +aVSo when the Sun-Sentinel says Rubio should resign, not rip us off, when they say Floridians sent you to Washington to do a job, when they say you act like you hate your job, do you? +p2368 +aVWell, do you hate your job? +p2369 +aVIs that the standard? +p2370 +aVSenator, thank you. John. +p2371 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2372 +aVSenator Cruz. Congressional Republicans, Democrats and the White House are about to strike a compromise that would raise the debt limit, prevent a government shutdown and calm financial markets that fear of \u2014 another Washington-created crisis is on the way. Does your opposition to it show that you're not the kind of problem-solver American voters want? +p2373 +aV do we get credit ? +p2374 +aVSo, this is a question about , which you have 30 seconds left to answer, should you choose to do so. +p2375 +aVOK. I asked you about the debt limit and I got no answer. +p2376 +aVWe promised we would get to everyone this block. Governor Huckabee, I'm going to give you 60 seconds on this. +p2377 +aV...Governor... +p2378 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p2379 +aV...Senator Cruz... +p2380 +aVOK, alright. +p2381 +aVSenator Cruz... +p2382 +aV...Before we go to break, we're clearly not having that beer you mentioned, but I'll give you 30 more seconds... +p2383 +aVOK. +p2384 +aVI'll give you 30 seconds to respond... +p2385 +aVRespond on the debt limit, or an answer to the governor, which ever you choose. +p2386 +aV30 seconds, Governor Huckabee. +p2387 +aVGovernor, thank you. We will take a break. The Republican Presidential debate, live from Boulder, Colorado, coming back after a break on +p2388 +aVMrs. Fiorina, in 2010, while running for Senate in Tech Ridge (ph), California, you called an Internet sales tax a bad idea. Traditional brick and mortar stores obviously disagree. Now that the Internet shopping playing field has matured, what would be a fair plan to even that playing field? +p2389 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p2390 +aVOK. +p2391 +aVThank you very much. +p2392 +aVDr. Carson, we know you as a physician, but we wanted to ask you about your involvement on some corporate boards, including Costco's. Last year, a marketing study called the warehouse retailer the number one gay-friendly brand in America, partly because of its domestic partner benefits. Why would you serve on a company whose policies seem to run counter to your views on homosexuality? +p2393 +aVOne more question. This is a company called Mannatech, a maker of nutritional supplements, with which you had a 10-year relationship. They offered claims that they could cure autism, cancer, they paid $7 million to settle a deceptive marketing lawsuit in Texas, and yet you're involvement continued. Why? +p2394 +aVTo be fair, you were on the homepage of their website with the logo over your shoulder \u2014 +p2395 +aVDoes that not speak to your vetting process or judgment in any way. +p2396 +aVApparently. We will take a break. We'll be back in Boulder in just a minute. +p2397 +aV...We'll come back around. I want to get to governor Kasich. +p2398 +aVGovernor Kasich, let's talk ... +p2399 +aV...about Marijuana, Governor Kasich... +p2400 +aVAlright, but 30 seconds, you made a case. Sure, 30 seconds. +p2401 +aVSenator, thank you. +p2402 +aVOh, no, no, no... +p2403 +aV...Ok... +p2404 +aV...We're going to go to... +p2405 +aVOK. Thank you, Senator. Governor Kasich, let's talk about marijuana. We're broadcasting from Colorado which has seen $150 million in new revenue for the state since legalizing last year. Governor Hickenlooper is not a big fan of legalization, but he's said the people who used to be smoking it are still smoking it, they're just now paying taxes. Given the budget pressures in Ohio, and other states, is this a revenue stream you'd like to have? +p2406 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2407 +aVThank you. We'll be back from Boulder, Colorado in just a moment. +p2408 +aVMr. Trump, you've said you have a special permit to carry a gun in New York. +p2409 +aVAfter the Oregon mass shooting on October 1st, you said, "By the way, it was a gun-free zone. If you had a couple of teachers with guns, you would have been a hell of a lot better off." +p2410 +aVWould you feel more comfortable if your employees brought guns to work? +p2411 +aVAre you carrying one now? +p2412 +aVWe called a few Trump resorts, a few Trump properties that \u2014 that do not allow guns with or without a permit. Would you change those policies? +p2413 +aVOK. All right. Thank you. John? +p2414 +aVGovernor Bush, daily fantasy sports has become a phenomenon in this country, will award billions of dollars in prize money this year. But to play you have to assess your odds, put money at risk, wait for an outcome that's out of your control. Isn't that the definition of gambling, and should the Federal Government treat it as such? +p2415 +aVI had a feeling you were going to brag about that. +p2416 +aVThis is the\u2014 well, we're going to take a break. We want to save time for closing statements after the break. So this is the Republican presidential debate in Boulder, and we'll be right back. +p2417 +aVSenator Rubio... +p2418 +aV...yeah, I just wanted . +p2419 +aVI want to give you 30 seconds here. +p2420 +aVThat concludes tonight's debate. On behalf of my colleagues Becky Quick, John Harwood, Sharon Epperson, Rick Santelli and Jim Cramer, we'd like to our host, the University of Colorado at Boulder, the Republican National Committee, the candidates and, of course, tonight's audience. +p2421 +asVAUDIENCE +p2422 +(lp2423 +VBoo. +p2424 +aVBoo. +p2425 +asVSTRASSEL +p2426 +(lp2427 +VMr. Trump. +p2428 +aVYou have made a lot of promises and you have also \u2014 you're the only candidate who has said he would not touch entitlements. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has estimated that your ideas would cost an additional $12 trillion to $15 trillion over the next 10 years and that we would have to have annual economic growth of anywhere from 7.7 percent to 9 percent annually to pay for them. Are you proposing more than you can actually deliver, at least not without big deficits? +p2429 +aVBut in terms of... +p2430 +aVO.K. But how would you actually do that? Can I ask you? Because right now, Social Security and Medicare... +p2431 +aVThey take up two-thirds of the federal budget, and they're growing. +p2432 +aVO.K., I have a question, a related tax question. Senator Rubio, you have the highest tax rate of anyone up on the stage in terms of the top tax rates, 35 percent. Some economists say, "It would limit its potential to boost economic growth." You do that so that you will have more revenue to pay for a tripling of the Child Tax Credit. Normally, it's liberals who like to use the tax code to insert social policy. Why should conservatives who want to tax adopt the other side's approach? +p2433 +aVGovernor Kasich, this on is on size of government. In 2013, you pushed through a Medicaid reform in your state over the rejections of many of the Republicans in your state. Total enrollment and overall cost of program have gone well beyond what anyone had expected, including yourself. How can you argue that this overall growth fits in with conservative ambition to significantly cut back on the size of federal welfare programs? +p2434 +aVSenator Cruz. Senator Cruz, you have promised to deport illegal aliens. You have also promised to reverse President Obama's executive action that gives temporary amnesty to illegals brought here by their parent as children. As president, you would have the names and addresses of the some 800,000 of those that have registered under that action. Now, you have said that in this country, we shouldn't go door to door, look for illegals, but in this case you would have a list. Would you use it? +p2435 +aVSo would you \u2014 would you use the addresses? +p2436 +aVWould you pick them up? +p2437 +aVSenator Rubio, your reply. +p2438 +aVAll right. Senator Cruz. Your response, Senator Cruz. +p2439 +aV... O.K.... +p2440 +aVMoving subjects. Dr. Carson, this week Morgan Stanley agreed to pay a $3.2 billion fine to state and federal authorities for contributing to the mortgage crisis. You have a lot of Democrats out saying that we should be jailing more executives, so two questions. Should financial executives be held legally responsible for financial crisis, and do you think fines like these are an effective way to deter companies from future behavior like that? +p2441 +aVSenator Cruz, you were mentioned in the mix here, your response? +p2442 +aVAnd now, Marco Rubio. +p2443 +aVWe'll be back with a few final thoughts in a moment. +p2444 +asVDICKERSON +p2445 +(lp2446 +VGood evening. I'm John Dickerson. This holiday weekend, as America honors our first president, we're about to hear from six men who hope to be the 45th. The candidates for the Republican nomination are here in South Carolina for their ninth debate, one week before this state holds the first-in-the-South primary. George Washington wrote that the truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains taken to bring it to light. We hope to shed some light on the candidates' positions tonight to help voters make up their minds. So gentlemen, please join us on stage. With us tonight \u2014 with us tonight are retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson of Florida, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Businessman Donald Trump of New York. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Former Governor Jeb Bush of Florida. And Governor John Kasich of Ohio. Now, as most of you have heard by now, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died today at the age of 79. He was the longest-serving member of the court, appointed by President Reagan in 1986. Justice Scalia was the court's leading conservative, and even those who disagreed with his opinions regarded him as a brilliant legal scholar. Please join us and the candidates on our stage in a moment of silence for Justice Antonin Scalia. Thank you. We will talk to the candidates about Justice Scalia and the road ahead when the debate begins in a moment. +p2447 +aVBefore we get started, candidates, here are the rules. When we ask you a question, you will have one minute to answer, and 30 seconds more if we ask a follow-up. If you're attacked by another candidate, you get 30 seconds to respond. And here's how we keep time. After we ask a question, you'll get a green light. The yellow light means you have 30 seconds left to finish your answer, and when time is up, the light turns red. That means please stop talking. If you keep talking, you'll hear this. You don't want to hear that. Joining me in the questioning tonight, my CBS News colleague, chief White House correspondent Major Garrett, and Kimberley Strassel, who is on the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal. And you can participate in the debate through our partnership with Twitter. Tweet us your questions and comments using the hashtag "# +p2448 +aVSo, just to be clear on this, Mr. Trump, you're O.K. with the president nominating somebody ... +p2449 +aVGovernor Kasich, I want to get your thoughts on this. Justice Scalia was a real believer, obviously, in the strict word of the Constitution. Now, Harry Reid says that a failure to fill his vacancy would be, quote, "shameful abdication of one of the Senate's most essential constitutional responsibilities." Where do you come down on this? +p2450 +aVDr. Carson. Dr. Carson, you, like others, put out a statement after the death was announced, and you said the president should delay. You've written a book on the Constitution recently. What does the Constitution say about whose duty it is here to act in this kind of a situation? +p2451 +aVSenator Rubio, you're a... Senator Rubio, you're a lawyer. Quickly, can you address the issue of whether the Constitution tells us who has the power to appoint Supreme Court justices? And then, also, the Senate Republicans last year floated an idea of removing the filibuster for Senate \u2014 excuse me, for Supreme Court nominations. You seemed open to that. What's your feeling on that now? +p2452 +aVQuickly, though, on this question... Very quickly, Senator, on this specific question, though. You were once in favor of dropping the threshold... +p2453 +aV... majority \u2014 you were never in favor of that? +p2454 +aVO.K. Thank you, Senator. Governor Bush, I would like to ask you, conservatives for a long time have felt like that their Republican presidents have picked justices that didn't turn out to be real conservatives. +p2455 +aVBernie Sanders has said he would have a litmus test. He would make sure that he appointed a justice who was going to overturn Citizens United. If they can have a litmus test for a nominee, what about you? Would you have a litmus test for a nominee? And what would it be? +p2456 +aVRight, so, Senator Cruz, the Constitution... So, Senator Cruz, the Constitution says the president "shall appoint with advice and consent from the Senate," just to clear that up. So he has the constitutional power. But you don't think he should. Where do you set that date if you're president? Does it begin in election year, in December, November, September? And once you set the date, when you're president, will you abide by that date? +p2457 +aVJust can I \u2014 I'm sorry to interrupt, were any appointed in an election year, or is that just there were 80 years... +p2458 +aVBut Kennedy was confirmed in '88. +p2459 +aVHe was appointed in '87. +p2460 +aV... confirmed in '88. That's the question, is it appointing or confirming, what's the difference? +p2461 +aVSorry, I just want to get the facts straight for the audience. But I apologize. +p2462 +aVAll right. Thank you, Senator Cruz. All right, we're going to move on to national security here, and we are going to \u2014 I want to read a quote from Secretary Robert Gates, former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who served for eight year \u2014 under eight presidents. And this is what he said about Republican candidates, quote, "Part of the concern that I have with the campaign is that the solutions being offered are so simplistic and so at odds with the way the world really works." So, in that spirit, we're going to work tonight to be more specific. Mr. Trump, I want to start with you. You have said as president, you'll get up to speed very quickly. You'll know more quickly as president than any of the experts. So, you've been elected president. It's your first day in the Situation Room. What three questions do you ask your national security experts about the world? +p2463 +aVSenator Rubio \u2014 just 30 seconds on this question, Senator Rubio. Are those the questions you would ask? +p2464 +aVLet me ask you a follow-up, a full, proper question, then. Violent extremists are operating or active in 40 countries. Some 80 countries are in different degrees of instability. And so, that's just the crises overseas. Barack Obama walked into an economic collapse when he came into office. We face international health crises, from Ebola to Zika. So, there is a lot of opportunity for crisis, as you have talked about. What would you point to in your past to show voters that you've been in a crisis and that you've been tested when that inevitable crisis comes when you're president? +p2465 +aVDr. Carson, I want to ask you a question... Dr. Carson, you said you've had more 2 a.m. \u2014 2 a.m. phone calls than anybody up on this stage. But when those 2 a.m. phone calls came, you operated on a foundation of all of that amazing medical work that you did, all of that learning. So if you were to be president, though, you wouldn't have the political foundation that hones those instincts when the 2 a.m. phone call comes. So isn't that a liability? +p2466 +aVGovernor Kasich, Russia is being credited......Russia is being credited with bombing U.S.-backed rebels on behalf of Assad in Aleppo and Syria. They've also moved into the Crimea, eastern Ukraine. You've said you want to punch them in the nose. What does that mean? What are you going to do? +p2467 +aVGovernor......Governor Bush. +p2468 +aVYou said defeating +p2469 +aVMr. Trump, you're......Mr. Trump, you were mentioned here. You did say that you could get along very well with Vladimir Putin. You did at one point say let Russia take care of +p2470 +aV... All right... +p2471 +aV... All right, Governor Bush, please respond. +p2472 +aV... O.K., settle... +p2473 +aV... All right, Mr. Trump, all right... +p2474 +aVGentleman, I think we're going to leave that there. I've got a question for Senator... +p2475 +aV... All right, all right, gentlemen, gentlemen, let's leave it there so I can ask a question of Senator Cruz, who's also running for president. Senator Cruz, you talked about the first Gulf War as being a kind of model for your focused and determined effort to go after +p2476 +aVVery quickly, 30-second follow-up. You've said that, essentially, the Kurds would be the American ground forces in there. The criticism that experts have on that is that the Kurds only can work within their territory. If they take larger amounts of territory, you have an ethnic war with the Arabs. So the Kurds can't really do as much as you seem to be putting on their backs. +p2477 +aVAll right. Mr. Trump......On Monday, George W. Bush will campaign in South Carolina for his brother. As you've said tonight, and you've often said, the Iraq war and your opposition to it was a sign of your good judgment. In 2008, in an interview with Wolf Blitzer, talking about President George W. Bush's conduct of the war, you said you were surprised that Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi didn't try to impeach him. You said, quote: "Which, personally, I think would have been a wonderful thing." When you were asked what you meant by that and you said: "For the war, for the war, he lied, he got us into the war with lies." Do you still believe President Bush should have been impeached? +p2478 +aVSo... +p2479 +aVBut so I'm going to \u2014 so you still think he should be impeached? +p2480 +aVAll right. O.K. All right. Governor Bush \u2014 when a member on the stage's brother gets attacked... +p2481 +aV... the brother gets to respond. +p2482 +aVGovernor Kasich, would you weigh in on......Governor Kasich, please weigh in. +p2483 +aVWhy is it nuts? Talk about it. Give us your sense of... +p2484 +aVThirty seconds, Senator Rubio. +p2485 +aVAll right, Dr. Carson, we have a cleansing... +p2486 +aVWe have a cleansing... +p2487 +aVAll right. Well, Dr. Carson, I have got a question now for you. A moment of pause here. You have said, Dr. Carson, that \u2014 referring to yourself, that people bought into the idea that, quote, "A nice person can't be tough on terrorists." You have called for loosening the rules of engagement for the military, which could lead to more civilian casualties. So, explain why those casualties would be acceptable in the fight against +p2488 +aVAll right, thank you, Dr. Carson. We're going to have to take a commercial break here. Thank you to all the candidates. We'll be right back with CBS News's 2016 debate in Greenville, South Carolina. +p2489 +aVWe're back with the Republicans who could be president. The topic now is money and how the candidates would spend it. We'll turn the questioning over to Kimberley Strassel of The Wall Street Journal and Major Garrett of CBS News. Kim? +p2490 +aVDr. Carson, before we go to break, could you give us your sense of this conversation about either Medicaid or economic growth through taxation? +p2491 +aVDoctor... +p2492 +aV... Dr. Carson, I'm sorry, we have to go to a commercial. The free market wants what it wants. Back soon with the 2016 Republican debate in Greenville, South Carolina. +p2493 +aVWelcome back. We'll begin the second half of the debate with one of the hottest issues in the Republican campaign, immigration. But before I turn it back to Major Garrett and Kim Strassel, I have one question for Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump, in the Republican National Committee's Spanish-language response to the State of the Union, Congressman Diaz-Balart said, quote, "It's essential that we find a legislative solution," talking about immigration, "to offer a permanent and humane solution to those who live in the shadows. What does that mean to you, "a humane solution to those who live in the shadows"? +p2494 +aVSenator Cruz, I have a question for you. Speaker Paul Ryan has made a big commitment to trying to lift the 50 million poor out of poverty. Arthur Brooks, who is the president of the American Enterprise Institute, says, quote, "If we are not warriors for the poor every day, free enterprise has no matter." How you have been, in your campaign, a warrior for the poor? +p2495 +aVAll right. Mr. Trump, thank you so much. We're going to take a break for a moment. We'll be back in a moment with the CBS News Republican debate. +p2496 +aVWe're back now from Greenville, South Carolina, with the candidates for the Republican presidential nomination. Mr. Trump, I have a question for you. Presidents have to, on the one hand, be firm, but also be flexible. You have been flexible and changed your opinion on a number of things, from abortion to Hillary Clinton. But you have said, rightly, that it's just like Ronald Reagan, who changed his mind on things. But at the same time, you're criticizing Senator Cruz for what you say is a change on immigration. He disputes that, of course. So, why is your change of opinion make you like Reagan, and when he changes his opinion, it's a huge character flaw? +p2497 +aVWhich conservative idea don't you agree with? +p2498 +aVAll right. Governor Bush, I think by "they," he is referring to your brother, these on the hook for your brother. +p2499 +aVBut that was his brother. +p2500 +aVHold on, gentleman, I'm going to turn this car around. +p2501 +aVAll right, gentlemen. +p2502 +aVWell, hold on. We're going to \u2014 gentlemen, we're in danger of driving this into the dirt. Senator Rubio, I'd like you to jump in here... +p2503 +aVI understand, you're on deck, governor. +p2504 +aVSenator Cruz, 30 seconds on this one. +p2505 +aVWe're going to switch... +p2506 +aVWe're going to switch here to Senator Marco Rubio. Senator Marco Rubio, please weigh in. +p2507 +aVI thought you had a point? +p2508 +aVI thought you had a point you wanted to make. +p2509 +aVYou're on deck, sir. +p2510 +aVSenator, I wanted to ask you, just going back to immigration, in the last debate, you listed your series of accomplishments in the Senate. One thing you left off was \u2014 was immigration reform. Is it the case that in your list of accomplishments you can't mention that? +p2511 +aVDr. Carson, I have......Dr. Carson, I have a question for you. Candidates are... +p2512 +aVAll right. You have 30 seconds, Doctor. +p2513 +aVDr. Carson, I \u2014 let me ask you a different question. When you were \u2014 you were the first one, really, to talk about political correctness. Everybody now talks about it, but that was really what sparked your \u2014 your rise. Politicians are often accused of glossing over any hard choices people have to make, just always selling happy, nice things. So in the \u2014 in the spirit of saying something that might be politically incorrect, tell the voters something that they need to hear but that might be politically incorrect? +p2514 +aVGovernor Kasich. Governor Kasich, you've been described as the Democrats' favorite Republican. You talked about in New Hampshire, Democrats would come up to you and say, "I hope you win." Why will that help you win a Republican nomination? +p2515 +aVMr. Trump, let me ask you a question. Presidents in both parties say that the one thing you need in your administration is somebody who can tell you you're wrong. You don't necessarily seem like somebody who has somebody who tells you you're wrong a lot. Can you tell us of an instance where somebody has said, "Donald Trump, you're wrong," and you listened to them? +p2516 +aVAbout what? +p2517 +aVLet me \u2014 something, in talking to voters that they wish somebody would tell you to cut it out is the profanity. What's your reaction to that? +p2518 +aVAll right. O.K. Governor Bush, I'd like to ask you... +p2519 +aVWell, can I \u2014 how about you respond, and then you can answer the question I'm about to ask you. +p2520 +aVIt'll be... +p2521 +aVIf we adjudicate this, the night will be over. Governor, in 2012, you said that your father and Ronald Reagan would have a hard time in today's Republican Party, based on their records of trying to find accommodation and finding some degree of common ground. Do you still feel that way? +p2522 +aVHold on, Mr. Trump. +p2523 +aVHold on, Mr. Trump. +p2524 +aVO.K., Mr. Trump, your response. +p2525 +aVThe bells are ringing, sir. +p2526 +aVAll right. Thank you. Senator Rubio, I want to ask you a 30-second question, no president can... +p2527 +aVNo \u2014 well, I'll ask the question, you do what you want. +p2528 +aVNo president can know everything, right? So a smart leader knows how to ask questions. So if you could talk to any previous president, what's the smart question you would ask about that job that you would want to know? +p2529 +aVAll right. That's going to have to be it there, Senator Rubio. We have got to go to a break. We will be right back with the CBS News Republican debate in Greenville, South Carolina. +p2530 +aVTime now for closing statements. You will each have one minute, and we'll begin with Governor Kasich. +p2531 +aVDr. Carson \u2014 Dr. Carson, you're next. +p2532 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor Bush. +p2533 +aVSenator Cruz? Senator Cruz, your closing statement? +p2534 +aVMr. Trump, your closing statements? +p2535 +as. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/downloads/data2/script8.pickle b/downloads/data2/script8.pickle new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1e05b82 --- /dev/null +++ b/downloads/data2/script8.pickle @@ -0,0 +1,6510 @@ +(dp0 +VCRAMER +p1 +(lp2 +VDr. Carson, in recent weeks, a number of pharmaceutical companies has been accused of profiteering, for dramatically raising the prices of life-saving drugs. You have spent a lifetime in medicine. Have these companies gone too far? Should the government be involved in controlling some of these price increases? +p3 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Governor Christie, there has been a lot of political rhetoric that some bank executives should have gone to jail for the 2008 financial crisis. But General Motors paid more than $1 billion in fines and settlements for its ignition switch defect. One hundred and twenty- four people died as a result of these faulty switches. No one went to jail. As a former prosecutor, do you believe the people responsible for the switch and the cover-up belong behind bars? +p4 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. +p5 +asVRADDATZ +p6 +(lp7 +VQuestions of leadership and character have dominated the news ever since the Iowa caucuses a few days ago. Here with us to question the candidates this evening are Josh McElveen from +p8 +aVDr. Ben Carson. +p9 +aVBusinessman Donald Trump. +p10 +aVFormer Florida Governor, Jeb Bush. +p11 +aVLadies and gentlemen, the Republican candidates. +p12 +aVAnd Donald Trump. +p13 +aVThe applause so loud you couldn't hear. We couldn't hear, either. That's a good sign for the excitement this evening. Gentlemen, thank you for being here tonight, just days before voters here in New Hampshire make their decisions. The rules are simple and have been agreed to by all the campaigns. There will be 60 seconds to answer and if another candidate is mentioned in that answer, that candidate will have 30 seconds to respond. There are green, yellow and red lights that each candidate will see to signal when time is up and they will also hear this sound. +p14 +aVSenator Cruz, you are a first term Senator as well. Your opponents say you, like Senator Rubio, are not prepared to be Commander in Chief. You have talked tough about threats we face in the Mid-East. It was reported just moments ago that the North Koreans test launched an intercontinental ballistic missile. North Korea has nuclear weapons, and conducted another nuclear test just last month. The missile that was launched is the kind the North Koreans hope could someday carry a nuclear weapon capable of reaching the United States. How would you respond if Commander in Chief to that launch? +p15 +aVWell, let me ask you this, if you were Commander in Chief tonight would you have order the U.S. military to destroy that missile preemptively on the launchpad to prevent North Korea from becoming an even graver threat? +p16 +aV... Senator Cruz, let me tell you this, you have talked tough about the Mid-East, you haven't gotten those intelligence briefings about that. Why not tell us whether you would preemptively strike a missile on a launchpad that threatens the U.S... +p17 +aVOkay. Senator Cruz, I will say that missile has been sitting there for quite some time, and they have had eyes on it. +p18 +aVSenator Rubio, I'm talking about a preemptive strike on the launch pad. +p19 +aVOK. Thank you, Senator Rubio. Governor Kasich, how would you respond to tonight's launch? +p20 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. Thank you \u2014 thank you... +p21 +aV... Governor Bush, I'll get to you in a moment. +p22 +aVThank you, Governor Bush. Mr. Trump, do you have a red line with North Korea? Would you consider military action? And how far would you let them go? +p23 +aVAnd I'd like him to finish the question, please. +p24 +aVSpecific \u2014 as to North Korea. +p25 +aVSenator Rubio, you were mentioned. +p26 +aVThank you very much, Senator Rubio. Governor Bush, another problem facing the commander-in-chief right now is that North Korea is currently detaining an American college student. What would you do to get that college student back home? +p27 +aVGovernor Christie, I want to go to you on the same question. +p28 +aVWould you negotiate with North Korea to... +p29 +aVThank you very much, Governor Christie. David? +p30 +aVSenator Cruz, to that point, Mr. Trump has said that your position on health care means that maybe you've got, quote, "no heart". There is a question here, though, about uncovered folks. You suggested repealing and replacing Obamacare. As we learned with President Obama's broken promise that everyone could keep their plan, any major plan \u2014 change in health care policy carries with it the risk that some people will lose their insurance coverage or have to change it. How do you reassure that those people that repealing and replacing Obamacare is still in their best interest? +p31 +aVSenator Cruz, you advocate what you call carpet bombing, or saturation bombing, to defeat +p32 +aVSenator Cruz, would you like to expand or loosen the rules of engagement? I was just over in a command center in Erbil and they said they thought the rules of engagement worked. Because you have so many civilians in those populated areas, they don't want to hit civilians. +p33 +aVSo, loosen the rules of engagement? +p34 +aVSenator Rubio, you said in the last debate that +p35 +aVAgain, Senator Rubio, you've already said +p36 +aVWell, what would you do \u2014 what would you do differently to try to get those Sunni forces? They have not been coming forward. +p37 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 thank you very much, Senator Rubio. Mr. Trump. You have said you will vigorously bomb +p38 +aVAnd \u2014 and what would you do in those cities, where there are people who we are trying to help, who +p39 +aVThank you very much, Mr. Trump. Let's turn to Libya. Governor Bush, it is a country in chaos. There is no government. This week, defense officials said there are now 5,000 +p40 +aVThank you very much, Governor Bush. Dr. Carson? +p41 +aVAnd would you support renewed airstrikes? +p42 +aVWe're going to move on. +p43 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. Thank you, Josh. Our partner in this debate, the Independent Journal Review, has collected questions from some prominent conservatives around the country. Here's a videotaped question from radio host Larry O'Connor. O' +p44 +aVMr. Trump, I'm going to give that question to you. You took it \u2014 you took it away anyway. +p45 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. I'm going to go to Senator Rubio on this. How would you change that narrative? +p46 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Dr. Carson, I want to go to you on Larry O' Connor's question. Would you change the narrative? +p47 +aVYes. +p48 +aVThank you very much Dr. Carson. I'm going to go back to David. +p49 +aVGovernor Christie, earlier this week, the World Health Organization declared the Zika virus a global emergency. The same kind of mosquitoes that carry the Zika virus in Latin America are found here in the United States, and the virus has been linked to severe birth defects. Governor Christie, at the peak of the Ebola outbreak in west Africa, you ordered an American nurse who landed at Newark Airport be detained and quarantined. As fear spreads now of the Zika virus and with the Rio Olympics just months away, is there a scenario where you would quarantine people traveling back from Brazil to prevent the spread in the United States? +p50 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you. I'm going to move to Dr. Carson, and go back to the Zika virus, is that going too far, quarantining? You're a doctor, what would you do? +p51 +aVThanks very much, Dr. Carson. I want to move on to the military. Senator Rubio, all restrictions on women in combat as long as they qualify. Positions including special operations forces, like Navy Seals. Just this week military leaders of the Army and Marine Corps said that they believed young women, just as young men are required to do, should sign up for Selective Service in case the Draft is reinstated. Many of you have young daughters. Senator Rubio, should young women be required to sign up for Selective Service in case of a national emergency? +p52 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Governor Bush, do you believe that young women... +p53 +aVDo you believe young women should sign up for Selective Service, be required to sign up... +p54 +aVTell me what you'd say to American people out there......who are sitting at home, who have daughters, who might worry about those answers, and might worry... +p55 +aV... if the Draft is reinstituted? +p56 +aV... Are you saying you'd do away with it? +p57 +aVYou register for the draft. +p58 +aVIf it's reinstituted. +p59 +aVThank you very much. +p60 +aVThank you very much, Governor Christie. +p61 +aVWe just covered \u2014 wait one second, Dr. Carson. +p62 +aVVery quickly. +p63 +aVThank you very much for bringing up that subject, Dr. Carson, of our veterans. And for another question about our veterans, we go back to Josh McElveen from +p64 +aVGovernor Christie. +p65 +aVDr. Carson. +p66 +aVSenator Cruz. +p67 +asVUNKNOWN +p68 +(lp69 +VNot me. +p70 +aVMaria... +p71 +aVYeah, but I want to talk about taxes. +p72 +aVIf you're not going to have my back, I'm going to have my back. +p73 +aVA couple things here. First of all... +p74 +aVWe have grown \u2014 we have grown... +p75 +aVTrue. It's true. +p76 +aV...let me follow up that... +p77 +aV +p78 +aVOh, great. +p79 +asVSMITH +p80 +(lp81 +VGovernor Huckabee, same question to you. Where do you see the country right now? +p82 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Thank you, candidates. Moving to the world stage. The middle east is on the brink of chaos. Iran continues to provoke the United States, North Korea claims it's tested a hydrogen bomb, and Afghanistan is in danger of falling back into Taliban hands. Critics of the administration say it's all due to lack of U.S. leadership. To you, Mrs. Fiorina, how do you see America's role in the world today? +p83 +aVGovernor Huckabee, in Afghanistan, the Taliban is strengthening. Attacks are on the rise and thousands more civilians have been wounded or killed. Much of the Taliban surge can be attributed to the withdrawal of U.S. forces there. You have expressed skepticism with the war there, saying you see no end game in sight. What, then, is your solution to the growing conflict there? +p84 +aVAll right, thank you, candidates. We're just getting started. Jobs, Homeland Security, gun rights, all those issues are coming up straight ahead. We're live from North Charleston and the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back. +p85 +aVAll right, let's get started. Senator Santorum, to you first. President Obama has urged technology leaders to make it hard for terrorists to use technology to escape from justice. Hillary Clinton says social media companies can help by swiftly shutting down terrorist accounts. The companies say that they're already working with law enforcement and any proposed legislation would do more harm than good. Should companies like Facebook and Twitter be required by law to more actively \u2014 be more actively engaged in fighting terror? +p86 +aVSenator, would you \u2014 would you require anything of those companies like Facebook and Twitter if you were president? +p87 +aVThank you, Senator. +p88 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee, you called President Obama's executive orders on gun control unconstitutional and completely insane. +p89 +aVYou even told gun store owners to ignore the President's orders. Yet, innocent people are dying from gun violence in cities like Detroit, Chicago, and Charleston everyday. Is there anything that can be done at the federal level to prevent guns from falling into the hands of criminals? +p90 +aV +p91 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p92 +aVSenator Santorum, many of our military leaders believe America's critical infrastructure is vulnerable to a terrorist attack. This is the power in our homes, the water we drink, the Internet and phone systems by which we stay connected. If attacked, these essential services that underpin American society could come to a grinding halt. Do you have a specific plan to protect us from this type of attack? +p93 +aVSenator Santorum, I want to stay with you on this, moving to jobs and the economy. In his State of the Union Address the other night, President Obama touted his record on jobs, citing more than 14 million new jobs and boasted of nearly 900,000 manufacturing jobs added in the past six years. Do you dispute his track record of creating jobs? +p94 +aVGovernor Huckabee, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mike Mullen, has said the greatest threat to our security is our national debt. Our national debt is now on pace to top $19 trillion. Yet, you as well as Ms. Fiorina have laid forward no plan to reform entitlements. How can you say you're going to pay down our country's debt without cutting Social Security or Medicare? +p95 +aVOK. We're going to continue this conversation. We're taking a quick break and then coming up, the candidates' plans for strengthening the middle class. We're live in North Charleston with the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back. +p96 +aVAll right, thanks, Trish. Well, let's get started with Ms. Fiorina. Today, the middle class represents about 50 percent of the U.S. population, down from about 61 percent back in 1971. That's according to Pew Research. The same research revealed a widening income gap in America. The rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. What will you do to strengthen a middle class that is no longer the majority? +p97 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p98 +aVThank you, Senator. We're not finished yet. More Republican Presidential Debate in North Charleston after this. +p99 +aVWelcome back, it's time for the closing statements. Candidates will each get one minute, starting with Senator Santorum. Thank you very much, I want to thank the people of Charleston, which has become a little bit of a second home to me, because I am very privileged to have two young men who go to the Citadel here and they're here tonight, my son John and my son Daniel. +p100 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Governor Mike Huckabee. +p101 +aVThank you, Governor. +p102 +asVQUICK +p103 +(lp104 +VGentlemen \u2014 we'll \u2014 we'll get back to this \u2014 just a minute \u2014 just a minute we're gonna continue this. I wanna talk taxes... +p105 +aVDr. Carson, let's talk about taxes. You have a flat tax plan of 10 percent flat taxes, and \u2014 I've looked at it \u2014 and this is something that is very appealing to a lot of voters, but I've had a really tough time trying to make the math work on this. If you were to took a 10 percent tax, with the numbers right now in total personal income, you're gonna come in with bring in $1.5 trillion. That is less than half of what we bring in right now. And by the way, it's gonna leave us in a $2 trillion hole. So what analysis got you to the point where you think this will work? +p106 +aVI \u2014 I understand that, but if you \u2014 if you look at the numbers you probably have to get to 28. +p107 +aV15 percent still leaves you with a $1.1 trillion hole. +p108 +aVYou'd have to cut \u2014 you'd have to cut government about 40 percent to make it work with a $1.1 trillion hole. +p109 +aVThat is true, I looked at the numbers. +p110 +aVDr. Carson, thank you. +p111 +aVGovernor... +p112 +aVDr. Carson, let me get 30 seconds with Dr. Carson... +p113 +aVThank you. +p114 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, thank you. +p115 +aVGentlemen, I'm sorry, we need to... +p116 +aVWe're going to move on. +p117 +aVThirty seconds. +p118 +aVWe'll get to everyone. Ms. Fiorina, I \u2014 I'd like to ask you a question. You are running for president of the United States because of your record running Hewlett-Packard. But the stock market is usually a fair indicator of the performance of a CEO, and the market was not kind to you. Someone who invested a dollar in your company the day you took office had lost half of the dollar by the day you left. Obviously, you've talked in the past about what a difficult time it was for technology companies, but anybody who was following the market knows that your stock was a much worse performer, if you looked at your competitors, if you looked at the overall market. I just wonder, in terms of all of that \u2014 you know, we look back, your board fired you. I just wondered why you think we should hire you now. +p119 +aVMrs. Fiorina, it's interesting that you bring up Mr. Perkins, because... ...he said a lot of very questionable things. Last year, in an interview, he said that he thinks wealthy people should get more votes than poor people. I think his quote was that, "if you pay zero dollars in taxes, you should get zero votes. If you pay a million dollars, you should get a million votes." Is this the type of person you want defending you? +p120 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p121 +aVThank you, we're out of time. Thank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Carl. +p122 +aVGovernor Christie, I'd like to a question next. Actually, I have a question for you . In your tell it like it is campaign, you've said a lot of tough things. You've said that we need to raise the retirement age for Social Security. You think that we need to cut benefits for people who make over $80,000 and eliminate them entirely for seniors who are making over $200,000. Governor Huckabee, who is here on the stage, has said that you and others who think this way are trying to rob seniors of the benefits that they've earned. It raises the question: When it is acceptable to break a social compact? +p123 +aV...Governor... +p124 +aV...Thank you. +p125 +aVWelcome back to the presidential debate for the Republicans. We are live in Boulder, Colorado, right here on +p126 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. +p127 +aVSenator Rubio, you yourself have said that you've had issues. You have a lack of bookkeeping skills. You accidentally inter-mingled campaign money with your personal money. You faced (ph) foreclosure on a second home that you bought. And just last year, you liquidated a $68,000 retirement fund. That's something that cost you thousands of dollars in taxes and penalties. In terms of all of that, it raises the question whether you have the maturity and wisdom to lead this $17 trillion economy. What do you say? +p128 +aVSenator, I understand all of that. I had a lot of student loans when I got out, too. But you've had a windfall that a lot of Americans haven't. You made over a million dollars on a book deal, and some of these problems came after that. +p129 +aVBut you \u2014 but you liquidated that retirement account after the fact, and that cost you about $24,000 out of that in taxes and feed. That \u2014 that was after you'd already come into that windfall. That's why I raised the question. +p130 +aVYes, thank you John. Senator Cruz, working women in this country still earn just 77 percent of what men earn. And I know that you've said you've been very sympathetic to our cause. But you've also you said that the Democrats' moves to try and change this are the political show votes. I just wonder what you would do as President to try and help in this cause? +p131 +aVMrs. Fiorina \u2014 +p132 +aVMrs. Fiorina, we will come back to you. +p133 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Carl? +p134 +aVMr. Trump, let's stay on this issue of immigration. You have been very critical of Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook who has wanted to increase the number of these H1Bs. +p135 +aVSo you're in favor of... +p136 +aVWhere did I read this and come up with this that you were... +p137 +aVYou know, Mr. \u2014 you know, Mr. Trump, if I may . You've been \u2014 you have been \u2014 you had talked a little bit about Marco Rubio. I think you called him Mark Zuckerberg's personal senator because he was in favor of the H1B. +p138 +aVSo this was an erroneous article the whole way around? +p139 +aVMy apologies. I'm sorry. +p140 +aVYes, you can. +p141 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you very much. I would like to introduce my colleague, Rick Santelli, he has some comments as well, sir. +p142 +aVRick, thank you very much. Governor Huckabee, you have railed against income inequality. You've said that some Wall Street executives should have gone to jail over the roles that they played during the financial crisis. Apart from your tax plan, are there specific steps you would require from corporate America to try and reduce the income inequality. +p143 +aVGovernor? +p144 +aVGovernor? +p145 +aVThank you. +p146 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee. +p147 +aVHow about 15 more seconds? +p148 +aVGovernor? +p149 +aVGovernor, I'm sorry... +p150 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p151 +aVGovernor, thank you. Appreciate it. John? +p152 +aVIt's at the moderator discretion. +p153 +aVWelcome back to the University of Colorado and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p154 +aVThank you, sir. +p155 +aVYou were. You get 30 seconds. +p156 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Carl? +p157 +aVHigher education is the example... +p158 +aVI want to go back, if I can, to the issue of... +p159 +aVI want to go back, if I may, to the... +p160 +aVSenator Paul, among the leading conservative opponents to the creation of Medicare back in the 1960s was Ronald Reagan. He warned that it would lead to socialism. Considering the mounting cost of Medicare, was he right to oppose it? +p161 +aVSenator, thank you. [ +p162 +aVWelcome back to Boulder, Colorado and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p163 +aVThank you, Governor. +p164 +aVGovernor. +p165 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Paul, let's go back to you. Do these solutions sound like they work? +p166 +aVDo these solutions sound like they would work? +p167 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Governor? +p168 +asVRUBIO +p169 +(lp170 +VWell, let me first talk about Justice Scalia. His loss is tremendous, and obviously our hearts and prayers go out to his family. He will go down as one of the great justices in the history of this republic. You talk about someone who defended consistently the original meaning of the Constitution, who understood that the Constitution was not there to be interpreted based on the fads of the moment, but it was there to be interpreted according to its original meaning. Justice Scalia understood that better than anyone in the history of this republic. His dissent, for example, on the independent counsel case is a brilliant piece of jurist work. And, of course, his dissent on Obergefell as well. No. 2, I do not believe the president should appoint someone. And it's not unprecedented. In fact, it has been over 80 years since a lame duck president has appointed a Supreme Court justice. And it remind us of this, how important this election is. Someone on this stage will get to choose the balance of the Supreme Court, and it will begin by filling this vacancy that's there now. And we need to put people on the bench that understand that the Constitution is not a living and breathing document. It is to be interpreted as originally meant. +p171 +aVThat's not accurate. +p172 +aVNo, I've never \u2014 there has been, for example, today, according to the changes Harry Reid made, appellate judges can now be appointed by a simple majority, but not Supreme Court justices. And I think today you see the wisdom of why we don't want that to change. Because if that were the case and we were not in charge of the Senate, Harry Reid and Barack Obama would ram down our throat a liberal justice, like the ones Barack Obama has imposed on us already. +p173 +aVNo. I think there are three major threats that you want to immediately get on top of. No. 1 is, what are we doing in the Asia-Pacific region, where both North Korea and China pose threats to the national security of the United States. No. 2 is, what are we doing in the Middle East with the combination of the Sunni-Shia conflict driven by the Shia arc that Iran is now trying to establish in the Middle East, also the growing threat of +p174 +aVWell, let me tell you what has happened a couple of years ago. One of the hardest decisions you'll ever make in Congress is when you are asked by the president to authorize the use of force in a conflict, because you are now putting your name, on behalf of the people of your state, behind a military action, where Americans in uniform could lose their life. So, in 2014, Barack Obama said he would not take military action against Assad unless it was authorized by the Senate, beginning on the Committee of Foreign Relations, where I am one of its members. And it was hard because you looked at the pictures. I saw the same images people saw. I'm the father of children. I saw the images of these little children \u2014 been gassed and poisoned by their own leaders, and we were angry. Something had to happen, and there was the sense that we needed to seek retribution. And then I looked at Barack Obama's plan. Barack Obama's plan, which John Kerry later described as unbelievably small, and I concluded that that attack would not only not help the situation, it would make it actually worse. It would allow Assad to stand up to the United States of America, survive a strike, stay in power and actually strengthen his grip. So it was a difficult decision to make, and when we only had a few days to look at and make a decision on it, and I voted against Barack Obama's plan to use force, and it was the right decision. +p175 +aVI just want to say, at least on behalf of me and my family, I thank God all the time it was George W. Bush in the White House on 9/11 and not Al Gore. And you can \u2014 I think you can look back in hindsight and say a couple of things, but he kept us safe. And not only did he keep us safe, but no matter what you want to say about weapons of mass destruction, Saddam Hussein was in violation of U.N. resolutions, in open violation, and the world wouldn't do anything about it, and George W. Bush enforced what the international community refused to do. And again, he kept us safe, and I am forever grateful to what he did for this country. +p176 +aVThe World Trade Center came down because Bill Clinton didn't kill Osama bin Laden when he had the chance to kill him. +p177 +aVWell, because I'm influencing social policy \u2014 this is their money. This is the money of parents. You don't earn the tax credit unless you're working. That's your money, it doesn't belong to government. Here's what I don't understand. If a business takes their money and they invest in the piece of the equipment, they get to write off their taxes. But if a parent takes money that they have earned to work and invests in their children, they don't? This makes no sense. Parenting is the most important job any of us will ever have. Family formation is the most important thing in society. So what my tax plan does, is it does create, especially for working families, an additional Child Tax Credit. So that parents who are working get to keep more of their own money, not the government's money, to invest in their children to go to school, to go to a private school, to buy a new backpack. Let me tell you, if you're a parent that's struggling, then you know that $50 a month is the difference between a new pair of shoes this month or not getting a new pair of shoes for your kids. I'm going to have a tax plan that is pro-family, because the family is the most important institution in society. You cannot have a strong country without strong families. +p178 +aVWell, first of all, I think amnesty is the forgiveness of a wrongdoing without consequence and that \u2014 I've never supported that. I do not support that. I think there has to be consequences for violating our immigration laws. What I think is clear about this issue to begin with is we're not going to be able to make progress on illegal immigration until first, illegal immigration is brought under control. You go back to 1986, when they legalized three million people and they promised to secure the border. It didn't happen, and as a result, people have lost trust in the federal government. It is now clear that the only way to make progress on immigration is not just to pass a law that enforces the law, but actually prove to people that it's working. They want to see the wall built. They want to see the additional border agents. They want to see E-Verify. They want to see an entry-exit tracking system. Forty percent of the people in this country illegally are entering legally and overstaying visas. And only after all of that is in place, then we'll see what the American people are willing to support on this issue. I think the American people will be very reasonable, but responsible, about how you handle someone who has been here a long time, who can pass a background check, who pays a fine and starts paying taxes and all they want is a work permit. But you can't do any of that until you prove to people that illegal immigration is under control once and for all. +p179 +aVWe're going to have to do this again, O.K.? When that issue was being debated, Ted Cruz, at a committee hearing, very passionately said, I want immigration reform to pass, I want people to be able to come out of the shadows. And he proposed an amendment that would legalized people here. Not only that, he proposed doubling the number of green cards. He proposed a 500 percent increase on guest workers. Now his position is different. Now he is a passionate opponent of all those things. So he either wasn't telling the truth then or he isn't telling the truth now, but to argue he is a purist on immigration is just not true. +p180 +aVWell, first of all, I don't know how he knows what I said on Univision, because he doesn't speak Spanish. And second of all, the other point that I would make... +p181 +aVLook, this is a disturbing pattern now, because for a number of weeks now, Ted Cruz has just been telling lies. He lied about Ben Carson in Iowa. He lies about Planned Parenthood. He lies about marriage. He's lying about all sorts of things. And now he makes things up. The bottom line is this is a campaign and people are watching it. And they see the truth behind all these issues. And here is the truth, Ted Cruz supported legalizing people that were in this country... +p182 +aV... and only now does he say... +p183 +aVWell, we'll put on our website, marcorubio.com. We're going to... +p184 +aVOn anything I want? +p185 +aVWell, let me talk about poverty. +p186 +aVI do. +p187 +aVI had something important. +p188 +aVThe issue of poverty is critical, because for me, poverty is the \u2014 is \u2014 is free enterprise not reaching people. Today, we have antipoverty programs that don't cure poverty. We don't cure poverty in America. Our antipoverty programs have become, in some instances, a way of life, a lifestyle. Now, we do need antipoverty programs, you can't have free enterprise programs without them, but not as a way of life. And so I have a very specific proposal on this and I don't \u2014 in 60 seconds, I can't describe it all, but it basically turns the program over to states. It allows states to design innovative programs that cure poverty, because I think Nikki Haley will do a better job curing poverty than Barack Obama. +p189 +aVWell, no. It's not the case. It didn't pass, and we haven't solved immigration in this country. It's still a problem. It is worse today than it was three years ago, which is worse than it was five years ago. And it has to be confronted and solved. But the only way forward on this issue \u2014 you asked a question about flexibility. Let me tell you about that. One of the things that you need in leadership is the ability to understand that to get things done, you must figure out the way to get it done. You will not pass comprehensive immigration reform. People do not trust the federal government. They want to see the law being enforced. They want to see illegal immigration come under control. They want to see that wall. They want to see E-Verify. They want to see all of these things working, and then they will have a conversation with you about what do you do with people that have been here a long time that are otherwise, you know, not criminals. But they're not going to do it until you first enforce the law. +p190 +aVThirty seconds. +p191 +aVI speak fast. +p192 +aVWell, I think one of the presidents \u2014 well, the president I grew up under was Ronald Reagan. And Reagan had a vision for America's future. And if you think about what Ronald Reagan inherited, it's not unlike what the next president is going to inherit. This is the worst president we've had in 35 years, 35 years back would have made it Jimmy Carter. That's what Ronald Reagan inherited. And I think the question you would ask is, how did you inspire again the American people to believe in the future? How did you \u2014 what did it take to ensure that the American people, despite all of the difficulties of the time \u2014 you know, you look back at that time, the American military was in decline. Our standing in the world was in decline. We had hostages being held in Iran. Our economy was in bad shape. The American people were scared about the future. They were scared about what kind of country their children were going to live in and inherit. And yet somehow Ronald Reagan was able to instill in our nation and in our people a sense of optimism. And he turned America around because of that vision and ultimately because of that leadership. I wish Ronald Reagan was still around. This country needs someone just like that. And if our next president is even half the president Ronald Reagan was, America is going to be greater than it has ever been. +p193 +aVThank you, and thank you for watching tonight. This is a difficult time in our country. Our economy's flat, it's not creating the jobs it once did, and people struggle living paycheck to paycheck. Our culture's in trouble. Wrong is considered right and right is considered wrong. All the things that once held our families together are now under constant assault. And around the world, America's reputation is in decline. Our allies don't trust us, our adversaries don't fear us, Iran captures our sailors and parades them before the world on video. These are difficult times, but 2016 can be a turning point. That's why I'm running for president, and that's why I'm here today to ask you for your vote. If you elect me president, we are going to re-embrace free enterprise so that everyone can go as far as their talent and their work will take them. We are going to be a country that says that "life begins at conception and life is worthy of the protection of our laws." We're going to be a country that says "that marriage is between one man and one woman." We are going to be a country that says, "The constitution and the rights that it talks about do not come from our president, they come from our creator." We are going to be loyal to our allies like Israel, not enemies like Iran. And we will rebuild the U.S. military so no one will there test it. Vote for me. I will unify this party. I will grow it. We will win this election, and we will make the 21st century a new American century. +p194 +aVWell, let me say, from protecting the people of Florida from imminent domain abuse, to bringing accountability to the V.A., to the Girls Count Act, to sanctioning groups, I'm proud of my service in the United States Senate and before that, in the Florida legislature. I will say, if politics becomes and the presidency becomes about electing people who have been Congress or in the Senate the longest, we should all rally around Joe Biden. He's been around 1,000 years. He's passed hundreds of bills and I don't think any of us believe Joe Biden should be president of the United States. And let's dispel once and for all with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing. Barack Obama is undertaking a systematic effort to change this country, to make America more like the rest of the world. That's why he passed Obamacare and the stimulus and Dodd-Frank and the deal with Iran. It is a systematic effort to change America. When I'm president of the United States, we are going to re-embrace all the things that made America the greatest nation in the world and we are going to leave our children with what they deserve: the single greatest nation in the history of the world. +p195 +aVIf I may respond to that. +p196 +aVWell, I think the experience is not just what you did, but how it worked out. Under Chris Christie's governorship of New Jersey, they've been downgraded nine times in their credit rating. This country already has a debt problem, we don't need to add to it by electing someone who has experience at running up and destroying the credit rating of his state. But I would add this. Let's dispel with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing. He is trying to change this country. He wants America to become more like the rest of the world. We don't want to be like the rest of the world, we want to be the United States of America. And when I'm elected president, this will become once again, the single greatest nation in the history of the world, not the disaster Barack Obama has imposed upon us. +p197 +aVChris \u2014 Chris, your state got hit by a massive snowstorm two weeks ago. You didn't even want to go back. They had to shame you into going back. And then you stayed there for 36 hours and then he left and came back to campaign. Those are the facts. Here's the bottom line. This notion that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing is just not true. He knows exactly what he's doing. +p198 +aVWell, that's the \u2014 that's the reason why this campaign is so important. Because I think this notion \u2014 I think this is an important point. We have to understand what we're going through here. We are not facing a president that doesn't know what he's doing. He knows what he is doing. That's why he's done the things he's done. That's why we have a president that passed Obamacare and the stimulus. All this damage that he's done to America is deliberate. This is a president that's trying to redefine this country. That's why this election is truly a referendum on our identity as a nation, as a people. Our future is at stake. This election is not about the past. It is about what kind of country this is going to be in the 21st century, and if we elect someone like Barack Obama, a Hillary Clinton, a Bernie Sanders or anyone like that, our children are going to be the first Americans to inherit a diminishes country. That will not happen if I'm elected. +p199 +aVChris, you didn't want to go back. You didn't want to go back. +p200 +aVYou didn't want to go back, Chris. +p201 +aVChris, everybody \u2014 you said you weren't going to go back. He told everyone he wasn't going to go back. They had to shame him into going back. And when he decided to go back, he criticized the young lady, saying, what am I supposed to do, go back with a mop and clean up the flooding? +p202 +aV... It's your record, it's not a talking point... +p203 +aVBut Martha, just \u2014 Martha, just to clarify on that point, because he's right, and one more thing to point \u2014 it is standard procedure of the United States to shoot down those missiles once launched if they pose a threat to civilians, land and ships. +p204 +aVWell \u2014 no, I understand. And not \u2014 but \u2014 but I think it's important to note that it is \u2014 and Senator Cruz, I think, was alluding to this, as well \u2014 it is the standard procedure of the United States, if those missiles pose a threat to land, civilians, our allies or any of our assets, to shoot down that missile in mid-flight. I understand your question was about a preemptive strike, but my point is that there is in place now contingencies to avoid any sort of that strike from going errant and destroying any \u2014 any assets of the United States, or implicating or hurting any of our allies or any of our assets in the region. +p205 +aVYeah. I have a \u2014 I got mentioned, can I respond? +p206 +aVHere's the broader point, as well, and then I think it touches on what Donald just mentioned. Barack Obama views America as this arrogant global power that needed to be cut down to size. OK? This is a president that views this country as a country that's been too powerful in the world and we create problems around the world. For example, it's one of the reasons why he had betrayed Israel, because he believes that if we create separation from Israel, it will help our relations in the Islamic world. The same is happening in the Asia-Pacific region with accommodations to North Korea. North Korean should be back on that list of terrorist nations, as an example. And Donald's absolutely right. China does have a lot of influence over North Korea and he should be leveraging our relationship with the Chinese to ensure that North Korea no longer has access to the resources that have allowed them \u2014 a country that has no economy to develop long range missiles already capable of reaching the west coast of the United States potentially. +p207 +aVHere's the bottom line. We can't get that legislation passed. The American people will not support doing anything about people that are in this country illegally until the law is enforced first, and you prove it to them. This has been abundantly clear. Every effort over the last ten years to do those comprehensively has failed. And it has failed because the American people have zero trust that the federal government will enforce our laws. And that's why since then, I have said repeatedly, if you are serious about immigration reform, then the key that unlocks the door to being able to do that is not just to pass a law that says it is going to enforce the law, but to actually do it. To hire the 20,000 new border agents, to finish the fencing and walls, to put in place mandatory e-verify, to put in place an entry-exit tracking system to prevent visa overstays. And once that is in place and that's working, I believe the American people will support a very reasonable, but responsible approach to people that have been here a long time, who are not dangerous criminals, who pay taxes and pay fines for what they did. But until then, none of that is going to be possible. +p208 +aVWell, the legislation passed, but it has no support. In essence, it couldn't pass in the House, it will never pass in the United States until we secure the border, and it is not the way we're going to do when I'm president. When I'm president, we are going to enforce the law first, prove to people that illegal immigration is under control. And then we'll see what the American people are willing to support when it comes to people that are not criminals, who have been in the this country for a long time and who otherwise would like to stay. +p209 +aVLeadership is ultimately about solving the problem. And the approach that was tried and has been tried now repeatedly over ten years to do this comprehensively, all at once in a massive piece of legislation has no chance of passage. It is not leadership to continue to try something that has no chance of happening. I want to make progress on this issue. It has been discussed now for 30 years and nothing ever happens. And I am telling you that the only way forward on this issue that has any chance of happening, meaning gaining the support of the American people, you cannot do this without the support of the American people, is an approach that begins by proving that once and for all, illegal immigration is under control. +p210 +aVGood evening. +p211 +aVWell, I think conservatism is about three things and Donald touched on one of them, but it's about three things. The first is conservatism is about limited government, especially at the federal level. The federal government is a limited government, limited by the Constitution, which delineates its powers. If it's not in the Constitution, it does not belong to the federal government. It belongs to states, local communities and the private sector. It's about free enterprise, which is an economic model that allows everyone to rise without pulling anyone down. The reason why free enterprise is the greatest economic model in the history of the world is because it's the only economic model where you can make poor people richer without making rich people poor. And it's about a strong national defense. It's about believing, unlike Barack Obama, that the world is a safer and a better place when America is the strongest military and the strongest nation on this planet. That's conservatism. +p212 +aVNow, see, I was mentioned by Governor... +p213 +aVYeah. +p214 +aVOK, good, then I'll get to it . Here's the... +p215 +aVWell, no, sorry. Let me respond to that question. +p216 +aVWell, here's the response. I think anyone who believes that Barack Obama isn't doing what he's doing on purpose doesn't understand what we're dealing with here, OK? This is a president \u2014 this is a president who is trying to change this country. When he talked about change, he wasn't talking about dealing with our problems. Obamacare was not an accident. The undermining of the Second Amendment is not an accident. The gutting of our military is not an accident. The undermining of America on the global stage is not an accident. Barack Obama is, indeed, trying to redefine this country. We better understand what we're dealing with here, because that's what Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders want to double down on if they are elected. +p217 +aVNo. He talked about Barack Obama. +p218 +aVYeah. +p219 +aVI don't know of any problem in America that's going to be fixed with a tax increase. We have an economy today, an economy today that is not creating jobs that pay enough. And one of the reasons why is because we have one of the most expensive business tax rates on the planet. Our combined business rate puts us among the highest in the industrialized world. And then on top of that, we are the only one that has a worldwide system of taxation, where an American company who makes money abroad has to pay taxes where they made the money and then taxes a second time when they bring it back. The combination of these two things has stranded over $2 trillion, the equivalent of the size of the Russian economy, $2 trillion of American corporate money stranded overseas, combined with all of these inversions of companies leaving us. The solution to the problems we have today are not a tax increase. It is to lower our taxes on both people and on companies, so we can make America globally competitive again. +p220 +aVWell, first, we need to understand who they are. +p221 +aVBecause they currently occupy Sunni cities and villages. Sunni cities and villages can only truly be liberated and held by Sunnis themselves. If they are held by Shias it will trigger sectarian violence. The Kurds are incredible fighters and they will liberate the Kurdish areas, but Kurds can not and do not want to liberate and hold Sunni villages and towns. It will take Sunni fighters themselves in that region to take those villages and cities, and then to hold them and avoid the sort of sectarian violence that follows in the past. And why that is important is because if Sunnis are not able to govern themselves in these areas, you are going to have a successor group to +p222 +aVWell, the problem with the Sunni forces in the region is they don't trust this administration. This administration cut a deal with their mortal enemies, the Shia, in Iran. It poisoned the well with these countries. It makes it very difficult to cooperate with them as a result. They also, by the way, understand what real U.S. air power looks like. They saw the Iraq war. They saw, up close, also Afghanistan. They know what air power looks like when the United States is committed to the cause. And they see the airstrikes that are being conducted now, and they say to themselves, that's not real commitment. We know what real commitment looks like. The \u2014 the Jordanian king was in Washington three weeks ago. He told everyone who would listen that they have begged for permission from the coalition to target caravans. And the coalition \u2014 meaning U.S. leadership on the ground......would not allow them to proceed with those airstrikes. +p223 +aVWell, when people talk about interrogating terrorists, they're acting like this is some sort of law enforcement function. Law enforcement is about gathering evidence to take someone to trial, and convict them. Anti-terrorism is about finding out information to prevent a future attack so the same tactics do not apply. And, it is true, we should not be discussing in a wide spread way the exact tactics that we're going to use because that allows terrorist to know to practice how to evade us. But, here's the bigger problem with all this, we're not interrogating anybody right now. Guantanamo's being emptied by this president. We should be putting people into Guantanamo, not emptying it out, and we shouldn't be releasing these killers who are rejoining the battlefield against the United States. +p224 +aVI think it's already happening. Look at the turnout in Iowa. A historic number of people came out and voted in those caucuses. There are saying the same thing is going to happen here in New Hampshire. Look at the rallies that every single person on this stage is having. Much higher numbers than you used to see in the past and here is why. Because people are starting to understand, very clearly, that this election is going to be a turning point. That 2016 is not just a choice between Republican or Democrat. It is a referendum on our identity as a nation and as a people. So here is what Hillary Clinton needs to understand. We're going to have our primary, we're going to have our debates \u2014 which by the way, are twice as many as the Democrats have been willing to have themselves. But we're going to bring this party together and we are going to defeat Hillary Clinton, because she is unqualified to be the president of the United States of America. She put classified information on her computer because she thinks she's above the law and anyone who lies to the families of people who have lost their loved ones in the service of our country like she did in Benghazi, can never be the commander-in-chief of the United States of America. +p225 +aVI would. But that's not \u2014 the issue \u2014 my problem with what he did is he continues to put out this fiction that there's widespread systematic discrimination against Muslim Americans. First of all, let's recognize this. If you go to a national cemetery in this country, you will see stars of Davids and crosses, but you see crescent moons. There are brave men and women who happen to be Muslim Americans who are serving this country in uniform and who have died in the service of this country. And we recognize that and we honor that. But by the same token, we face a very significant threat of home grown violent extremism. We need to have strong, positive relationships in the Islamic communities in this country so they will identify and report this activity, especially mosques, for example, that are participating not just in hate speech, but inciting violence and taking acts against us. And I do believe it is important also to recognize, you want to talk about religious discrimination in America. Well, I don't think Barack Obama is being sued by any Islamic groups, but he is being sued by the Little Sisters of the Poor. We are facing in this country Christian groups and groups that hold traditional values who feel and in fact are being discriminated against by the laws of this country that try to force them to vie to violate their conscience. +p226 +aVFirst, let me say there are already women today serving in roles that are like combat. That, in fact, whose lives are in very serious danger, and so I have no problem whatsoever with people of either gender serving in combat so long as the minimum requirements necessary to do the job are not compromised. But, I support that, and obviously now that that is the case I do believe that Selective Service should be opened up for both men and women in case a Draft is ever instituted. I think the more fundamental challenge we're now facing is what's happening to the U.S. military \u2014 I've said this many times, and I think it's important to start paying attention to this. Our Air Force is about to be the smallest it's been in 100 years. I'm sorry, in our history. Our Army is set to be smaller than it's been since the second World War, and our Navy is about to be the smallest than it's been in 100 years. I think we need to begin to refocus on rebuilding our military because every time we have cut our military in the history of this country we have had to come back later and rebuild it, and it costs more, and it's a lot more chaotic and dangerous. When I'm president, we are rebuilding the U.S. military. +p227 +aVWell, my brother's a veteran. We're very proud of him in our family. He served as a green beret in the 7th Special Forces from 1968 through 1971. And as part of his training, he jumped out of an airplane and he lost his two front teeth. And for years, he's had to go to get these dental claims. And every times he goes to get one of these dental claims filled, the V.A. asks him, "well, how do we know you lost your teeth in the Army?" And he says, "well, it's the only time I ever jumped out of a plane." But he's had to fight through this process, and I've watched it firsthand. That's why I'm proud that I worked in a bipartisan way. We passed the V.A. Accountability bill that, for the first time, allows us to fire \u2014 allows the V.A. secretary to fire someone who's not doing a good job, who's a senior executive. And the governor's right. They've only fired three people up to now. More people will be fired if I'm president. But the portability part of it is incredibly important. Veterans should be able to take their V.A. benefits to any hospital or any doctor they want to go to. When I am president of the United States, veterans will be able to take their benefits to any hospital or doctor that they choose. +p228 +aVWell, first of all, I don't believe that believing in traditional marriage the way I do makes you a bigot or a hater. It means that you believe that this institution that's been around for millenial is an important cornerstone of society. I respect people that believe differently. But I believe deeply, that marriage should be between one man and one woman. On the issue of life, to me, the issue of life is not a political issue. It's a human rights issue and it's a difficult issue, because it puts in conflict two competing rights. On the one hand is the right of a woman to choose what to do with her body which is a real right. And on the other hand is the right of an unborn human child to live. And they're in conflict. And as a policy maker, I must choose which one of these two sides takes precedence. And I have chosen to err on the side of life. Here's what I find outrageous. There has been five Democratic debates. The media has not asked them a single question on abortion and on abortion, the Democrats are extremists. Why doesn't the media ask Hillary Clinton why she believes that all abortion should be legal, even on the due date of that unborn child. Why don't they ask Hillary Clinton why she believe that partial- birth abortion, which is a gruesome procedure that has been outlawed in this country, she thinks that's a fundamental right. They are the extremists......when it comes to the issue of abortion and I can't wait to expose them in a general election. HAM: Governor Bush? I want to come to you. Your allies have recently attacked Senator Rubio for being too pro-life to be elected in November. You made a similar charge stating it in an interview. This is a pro-life party. Do you stand behind that criticism? +p229 +aVI do support protection for the life of the mother because I'm pro-life. I just believe deeply that all human life is worthy of protection of our laws. If I'm president and there's a bill that's passed that saves lives but it has exceptions, I'll sign it. But I do believe deeply that all human life is worthy of the protection of laws. I've already said, for me, the issue of life is not a political issue and I want to be frank. I would rather lose an election than be wrong on the issue of life. HAM: Governor Christie. You too, have talked about Senator Rubio's position on the life issue. Some conservative activists have called this line of attack harmful to the pro-life cause. +p230 +aVWell, I was going for Peyton Manning, but now I'm rooting for Carolina. +p231 +aVThank you. You know, this week I had the great pleasure of having my kids join me on the campaign trail. I hadn't' seen them in a while, and it was great to have them alongside me, but the most important part of it is that it once again reminded me of what's at stake. Here in New Hampshire in less than 72 hours, we are literally deciding what kind of country we will be like when they are my age. What kind of country they will be able to raise their families in. And, that's why I'm asking you for your vote. You vote for me, and we will unite this party, we will grow the conservative movement, we will defeat Hillary Clinton, and we will leave our children what our parents left us. The single greatest nation in the history of all mankind. Thank you. +p232 +aVChris, let's begin by being clear what this campaign is about. It's not about Donald Trump. He's an entertaining guy. He's the greatest show on earth. This campaign is about the greatest country in the world and a president who has systematically destroyed many of the things that made America special. You see, we usually elect presidents in America that want to change the things that are wrong in America. Barack Obama wants to change America. Barack Obama wants America to be more like the rest of the world. We don't want to be like the rest of the world. We want to be the United States of America. That is why Hillary Clinton cannot win this election. Hillary Clinton this week said Barack Obama would make a great Supreme Court justice. The guy who systematically and habitually violates the constitution on the Supreme Court? I don't think so. If I'm our nominee, I will unite this party and we'll defeat Hillary Clinton and we will turn this country around once and for all, after seven years of the disaster that is Barack Obama. +p233 +aVI think, you know, Rand and I have some significant issues on policy, but I respect Rand. He believes everything he stands for. I do respect Rand. But I want to be frank about what I stand for. I believe the world is a safer and a better place when America is the strongest power in the world. And I believe only with a strong America will we defeat this radical group, this apocalyptic group called +p234 +aVWell, again, I mean, obviously, as already has been pointed out, the only budget that Ted has ever voted for is a budget that Rand Paul sponsored that brags about cutting defense spending. And I think that's a bad idea for the following reason. +p235 +aV... First of all \u2014 Let me go first, and then you can please recognize Rand after. First of all... +p236 +aV... do I go \u2014 let me go first, and then you can please recognize Rand after. But... ... first of all... +p237 +aV... first of all, I'm \u2014 don't worry, I'm not leaving the stage no matter what you ask me. +p238 +aVAnd second of all... ... and I think \u2014 you know, Governor \u2014 Jeb, you \u2014 the attack that \u2014 the authorization that Barack Obama asked for was not against +p239 +aVMegyn, that's the problem. Radical Muslims and radical Islam is not just hate talk. It's hate action. They blow people up. Look what they did in San Bernardino. Look at the attack they inspired in Philadelphia, that the White House still refuses to link to terror, where a guy basically shot a police officer three times. He told the police, "I did it because I was inspired by +p240 +aVMight I respond? The first thing \u2014 I don't know of anyone who's not in favor of fully vetting people that are trying to come into this country, other than perhaps Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. I think we all support that. Rand's amendment was not the right way to do it. I do believe that people who are trying to come to the United States \u2014 this country has a right to know who they are and why they are coming. And that's why I've been clear, when I am the president of the United States of America, we don't know who you are, and we don't know why you're trying to come to the United States, you are not going to get in, because the radical threat that we now face from +p241 +aVWell, Bret, first that's not entirely the story. At the time, the liberal governor of Florida, who claimed he was a Republican \u2014 his name was Charlie Crist \u2014 he wanted to impose cap-and-trade on Florida. And I opposed it. I was the first person out of the box that opposed him on it. And then we saw that the leading candidates for president at the time, both the Republican and the Democrats, all supported it. And what we said is, if they're going to impose this on us, we better prepare to protect the state from it. But I have never supported cap- and-trade and I never thought it was a good idea. And I was clear about that at the time. And I do not believe it's a good idea now. I do not believe that we have to destroy our economy in order to protect our environment. And especially what these programs are asking us to pass that will do nothing to help the environment, but will be devastating for our economy. When I am president of the United States of America, there will never be any cap-and-trade in the United States. +p242 +aVNever support. Never have and never will support any effort to grant blanket legalization amnesty to folks who have entered, or stayed in this country illegally. +p243 +aVFirst of all, earned path to citizenship is basically code for amnesty. It's what they call it. And, the reality of it is this, it is unfair to the people that have legally entered this country to create an alternative for individuals who entered illegally, and knowingly did so. +p244 +aVYou cannot grant amnesty. If the American people see us granting amnesty they will never again believe in legal immigration. They will never again support it, and that's wrong for our country, bad for our future. +p245 +aVNo, because if you look at the quote, and it's very specific. And, it says blanket amnesty, I do not support blanket amnesty... +p246 +aV... I do not support amnesty... +p247 +aV... No, I said I do not support blanket amnesty... +p248 +aV... It was... +p249 +aV... It absolutely has been, and at the time in the context of that was in 2009, and 2010, where the last effort for legalization was an effort done in the Senate. It was an effort led by several people that provided almost an instant path with very little obstacles moving forward. What I've always said is that this issue does need to be solved. They've been talking about this issue for 30 years, and nothing ever happens. And, I'm going to tell you exactly how we're going to deal with it when I am president. Number one, we're going to keep +p250 +aVMay I respond? +p251 +aVIt's interesting that Jeb mentions the book. That's the book where you changed your position on immigration because you used to support a path to citizenship. +p252 +aVWell, but you changed the \u2014 in the book... +p253 +aVYou wrote a book where you changed your position from a path of citizenship to a path of legalization. And the bottom line is this, we are not going to be able to do anything on this issue until we first bring illegal immigration under control. The American people have been told for 30 years they're going to enforce the border, they're going to build a wall and it never gets built and it never happens. It is very clear there will be no progress on this issue in any way, shape or form, until you prove to the people of this country that illegal immigration is under control. And when I'm president, we are going to bring it under control once and for all after 30 years of talking about it. +p254 +aVBut Megyn... +p255 +aVThere's not going to be consensus on this issue until we enforce our immigration laws. That is abundantly clear. You're not going to be able to ram down the throat of the American people your approach. The only way we're are going to be able to move forward after two migratory crises with minor, after two unconstitutional executive orders, the only way forward on this issue is to first bring illegal immigration under control. And until that happens there's not going to be consensus on this issue. +p256 +aVYeah, but let me respond... +p257 +aV... no, I understand, but let me respond. I was mentioned on this \u2014 in this answer, and so I'm going to respond this way. This is the lie that Ted's campaign is built on, and Rand touched upon it \u2014 that he's the most conservative guy, and everyone else is a \u2014 you know, everyone else is a rhino. The truth is, Ted, throughout this campaign, you've been willing to say or do anything in order to get votes. Ted, you worked for George W. Bush's campaign... You \u2014 you \u2014 you helped design George W. Bush's \u2014 you helped design George W. Bush's immigration policy. And then, when you got to the Senate, you did an interview with CBS News \u2014 I wasn't even part of the video \u2014 where you said, on the issue of people that are here illegally, "we can reach a compromise." And then in the committee, you said, "I want to bring people out of the shadows." Now you want to trump Trump on immigration. But you can't \u2014 we're not gonna beat Hillary Clinton with someone who's willing to say or do anything to win an election. +p258 +aVAnd I think that's the false choice... ... that's the \u2014 that's the false choice in this whole debate about immigration. Of course, we're going to be a nation of immigrants. By the way, no nation on earth is more generous than America is. Every single year close to a million people emigrate to the United States legally. There's no nation on earth that comes close to that number. I think the only argument is are we a sovereign country, are we not allowed to choose who comes in, when they come in and how they come in? And that's not what's happening now. +p259 +aVI think the other problem is we have a legal immigration system that's outdated, it's primarily based on whether you have family members living here. In the 21st century, it has to be more of a merit-based system, and that is why our legal immigration system is in need of modernization. And we will always celebrate legal immigration like Dulce's great story. +p260 +aVWell, I believe, and I know that if Iowa helps make me the Republican nominee, I will defeat Hillary Clinton. Hillary doesn't want to run against me, but I cannot wait to run against her. And I cannot wait to earn the opportunity to do it because she cannot be the president of the United States. She wants to put Barack Obama on the Supreme Court of the United States of America. She said that here in Iowa just two days ago. That would be a disaster for this country. So I hope and pray and cannot wait until this state and others give me an opportunity to serve this party as its nominee because I will defeat Hillary Clinton. +p261 +aVWell, let me be clear about one thing, there's only one savior and it's not me. It's Jesus Christ who came down to earth and died for our sins. And so \u2014 and I've always made that clear about that cover story. As far as the polls are concerned, Iowa, on Monday night you're going to go to a caucus site and you'll be the first Americans that vote in this election. You will be the first Americans that get to answer the fundamental question, what comes next for this country after seven disastrous years of Barack Obama? And let me tell you what the answer better not be. It better not be Bernie Sanders. Bernie Sanders is a socialist. I think Bernie Sanders is good candidate for president of Sweden. We don't want to be Sweden. We want to be the United States of America. And Hillary Clinton, Hillary Clinton is disqualified from being the commander-in-chief of the United States. In fact, one of her first acts as president may very well be to pardon herself because Hillary Clinton... Hillary Clinton stored classified information on her private server. And Hillary Clinton lied to the families of those four brave Americans who lost their life in Benghazi. And anyone who lies to the families of Americans who have died in the service of this country can never be commander-in-chief of the United States. +p262 +aVYeah, I would encourage people to go on my website, marcorubio.com, and we'll put all the facts up there so people can see it for themselves. But you've just asked a very fundamental question about the role of faith in our country. And I think this is an important question. I think if you do not understand that our Judeo-Christian values are one of the reasons why America is such a special country, you don't understand our history. You see, why are we one of the most generous people in the world \u2014 no, the most generous people in the world? Why do Americans contribute millions of dollars to charity? It is not because of the tax writeoff. It is because in this nation, we are influenced by Judeo-Christian values that teach us to care for the less fortunate, to reach out to the needy, to love our neighbor. This is what's made our nation so special. And you should hope that our next president is someone that is influence by their faith. Because if your faith causes you to care for the less fortunate, it is something you want to see in your public figures. And when I'm president, I can tell you this, my faith will not just influence the way I'll govern as president, it will influence the way I live my life. Because in the end, my goal is not simply to live on this earth for 80 years, but to live an eternity with my creator. And I will always allow my faith to influence everything I do. +p263 +aVWell, let me first describe Iran because they're not just a normal nation state. And we have no quarrel with the Iranian people. But the Iranian leader, their supreme leader is a radical Shia cleric who has an apocalyptic vision of the future. He views himself not simply as the leader of Iran, but as the leader of all Muslims \u2014 all Shia Muslims on the planet. And they have a desire not simply to conquer the Middle East and to become the dominant power in that region, but ultimately to be able to hold America hostage. That is why they're building an \u2014 right now, developing long- range missiles capable of reaching the United States, and that is why there's going \u2014 they're going to use those $100 billion to expand their conventional capabilities and to one day buy or build a nuclear weapon. We will \u2014 when I am president of the United States, on my first day in office, we are canceling the deal with Iran, and nations will have to make a choice. They can do business with Iran, or they can do business with America, and I am very confident they're going to choose America before they choose the Iranian economy. +p264 +aVThe bible commands us to let our light shine on the world. For over 200 years, America's light has been shining on the world and the world has never been the same again. But now, that light is dimming a little, after seven years of Barack Obama. And that's why Monday night, what will happen here in Iowa is so important. I'm asking you for your vote. Caucus for me on Monday night because if I am your nominee, I will unite this party and I will defeat Hillary Clinton and when I'm president, America's light will shine again and the 21 century will be a new American century. +p265 +aVYeah, I would go, first of all, one step further in this description of Hillary Clinton. She wouldn't just be a disaster, Hillary Clinton is disqualified from being commander in chief of the United States. Someone who cannot handle intelligence information appropriately cannot be commander in chief and someone who lies to the families of those four victims in Benghazi can never be president of the United States. Ever. On the issue of Barack Obama, Barack Obama does not believe that America is a great global power. Barack Obama believes that America is a arrogant global power that needs to be cut down to size. And that's how you get a foreign policy where we cut deals with our enemies like Iran and we betray our allies like Israel and we gut our military and we go around the world like he has done on 10 separate occasions and apologized for America. He doesn't understand the threat in +p266 +aVLet me . I was invoked in that question, so let me just say \u2014 in that answer \u2014 let me say, the real question here, I hate to interrupt this episode of Court TV. But the real \u2014 but I think we have to get back to what this election has to be about. OK? Listen, we \u2014 this is the greatest country in the history of mankind. But in 2008, we elected a president that didn't want to fix America. He wants to change America. We elected a president that doesn't believe in the Constitution. He undermines it. We elected a president that is weakening America on the global stage. We elected a president that doesn't believe in the free enterprise system. This election has to be about reversing all of that damage. That's why I'm running for office because when I become president of the United States, on my first day in office we are going to repeal every single one of his unconstitutional executive orders. When I'm president of the United States we are getting rid of Obamacare and we are rebuilding our military. And when I'm president, we're not just going to have a president that gives a State of the Union and says America is the greatest country in the world. When I'm president, we're going to have a president that acts like it. +p267 +aVYou know, as I said already twice in this , we have a very serious problem in this country. We have a president of the United States that is undermining this country's security and expanding the role of... +p268 +aVWell, I am going to answer your question, Neil. He is \u2014 this president is undermining the constitutional basis of this government. This president is undermining our military. He is undermining our standing in the world. I like Chris Christie, but we can not afford to have a president of the United States that supports Common Core. We can not afford to have a president of the United States that supports gun control. This president, this president is more interested in funding \u2014 less interested in funding the military, than he is in funding planned \u2014 he's more interested in funding Planned Parenthood than he is in funding the military. Chris Christie wrote a check to Planned Parenthood. All I'm saying is our next president has to be someone that undoes the damage Barack Obama has done to this country. It can not be someone that agrees with his agenda. Because the damage he has done to America is extraordinary. Let me tell you, if we don't get this election right, there may be no turning back for America. We're on the verge of being the first generation of Americans that leave our children worse off than ourselves. So I just truly, with all my heart belief, I like everybody on the stage. No one is a socialist. No one here is under FBI investigation. So we have a good group of people. +p269 +aVOur next president... +p270 +aVUnfortunately, Governor Christie has endorsed many of the ideas that Barack Obama supports, whether it is Common Core or gun control or the appointment of Sonia Sotomayor or the donation he made to Planned Parenthood. Our next president, and our Republican nominee can not be someone who supports those positions. +p271 +aVThat sounds like people are afraid the president's going to take their guns away. Look, the Second Amendment is not an option. It is not a suggestion. It is a constitutional right of every American to be able to protect themselves and their families. I am convinced that if this president could confiscate every gun in America, he would. I am convinced that this president, if he could get rid of the Second Amendment, he would. I am convinced because I see how he works with his attorney general, not to defend the Second Amendment, but to figure out ways to undermine it. I have seen him appoint people to our courts not to defend the Second Amendment, but to figure out ways to undermine it. Here's my second problem. None of these instances that the president points to as the reason why he's doing these things would have been preventive. You know why? Because criminals don't buy their guns from a gun show. They don't buy their guns from a collector. And they don't buy their guns from a gun store. They get \u2014 they steal them. They get them on the black market. And let me tell you, +p272 +aVAbout every two weeks, he holds a press conference talking about how he can't wait to restrict people's access to guns. He has never defended......I'll give you a fact. Well, let me tell you this. Do you remember when he ran for president of the United States, and he was a candidate, and he went and said, "These Americans with traditional values, they are bitter people, and they cling to their guns and to their religion." That tells you right away where he was headed on all of this. This president every chance he has ever gotten has tried to undermine the Second Amendment. He doesn't meet \u2014 here's the difference. When he meets with the attorney general in the White House, it's not "how can we protect the Second Amendment rights of Americans." It's "give me options on how I can make it harder for law-abiding people to buy guns." That will never happen when I am president of the United States. +p273 +aVWell, first of all, let's understand why we are even having this and why Donald tapped in to some of that anger that's out there about this whole issue. Because this president has consistently underestimated the threat of +p274 +aVBut on this point, if I may add something on this point. We are all frustrated with what China is doing. I think we need to be very careful with tariffs, and here's why. China doesn't pay the tariff, the buyer pays the tariff. If you send a tie or a shirt made in China into the United States and an American goes to buy it at the store and there's a tariff on it, it gets passed on in the price to price to the consumer. So I think the better approach, the best thing we can do to protect ourselves against China economically is to make our economy stronger, which means reversing course from all the damage Barack Obama is doing to this economy. It begins with tax reform. Let's not have the most expensive business tax rate in the world. Let's allow companies to immediately expense. It continues with regulatory reform. Regulations in this country are out of control, especially the Employment Prevention Agency, the EPA, and all of the rules they continue to impose on our economy and hurting us. How about Obamacare, a certified job killer? It needs to be repealed and replaced. And we need to bring our debt under control, make our economy stronger. That is the way to deal with China at the end of the day. +p275 +aVWell, first let me address the tax issue because it's related to the entitlement issue and I want to thank you for holding a substantive debates where we can have debates about these key issues on taxes. Here is the one thing I'm not going to do. I'm not going to have something that Ted described in his tax plan. It's called the value added tax. And it's a tax you find in many companies in Europe. Where basically, businesses now will have to pay a tax, both on the money they make, but they also have to pay taxes on the money that they pay their employees. And that's why they have it in Europe, because it is a way to blindfolded the people, that's what Ronald Reagan said. Ronald Regan opposed the value tax because he said it was a way to blindfold the people, so the true cost of government was not there there for them. Now, you can support one now that's very low. But what is to prevent a future liberal president or a liberal Congress from coming back and not just raising the income tax, but also raising that VAT tax, and that vat tax is really bad for seniors. Because seniors, if they are retired, are no longer earning an income from a job. And therefore, they don't get the income tax break, but their prices are going to be higher, because the vat tax is embedded in both the prices that business that are charging and in the wages they pay their employees. When I am president of the United States, I'm going to side with Ronald Regan on this and not Nancy Pelosi and we are not having a vat tax. +p276 +aVBut that's not an accurate description of the plan. Because, first of all, you may rename the IRS but you are not going to abolishes the IRS, because there has to be some agency that's going to collect your vat tax. Someone's going to be collecting this tax. In fact, Ronald Reagan's treasury, when Ronald Reagan's treasury looked at the vat tax, you know what they found? That they were going to have to hire 20,000 new IRS agencies to collect it. The second point, it does not eliminate the corporate tax or the payroll tax. Businesses will now have to pay 16 percent on the money they make. They will also have to pay 16 percent on the money they pay their employees. So there are people watching tonight in business. If you are now hit on a 60 percent tax on both your income and on the wages you pay your employees, where are you going to get that money from? You're going to get it by paying your employees less and charging your customers more, that is a tax, the difference is, you don't see it on the bill. And that's why Ronald Reagan said that it was a blindfold. You blindfold the American people so that they cannot see the true cost of government. Now 16 percent is what the rate Ted wants it at. But what happens if, God forbid, the next Barack Obama takes over, and the next Nancy Pelosi, and the next Harry Reid......and they decide, we're going to raise it to 30 percent, plus we're going to raise the income tax to 30 percent. Now, you've got Europe. +p277 +aVIf you'll answer the core question. +p278 +aVWell, first of all, this is an issue that's been debated now for 30 years. And for 30 years, the issue of immigration has been about someone who's in this country, maybe they're here illegally, but they're looking for a job. This issue is not about that anymore. First and foremost, this issue has to be now more than anything else about keeping America safe. And here's why. There is a radical jihadist group that is manipulating our immigration system. And not just green cards. They're looking \u2014 they're recruiting people that enter this country as doctors and engineers and even fiances. They understand the vulnerabilities we have on the southern border. They're looking \u2014 they're looking to manipulate our \u2014 the visa waiver countries to get people into the United States. So our number one priority must now become ensuring that +p279 +aVThe issue is a dramatically different issue than it was 24 months ago. Twenty-four months ago, 36 months ago, you did not have a group of radical crazies named +p280 +aVMaria, let me clear something up here. This is an interesting point when you talk about immigration. Ted Cruz, you used to say you supported doubling the number of green cards, now you say that you're against it. You used to support a 500 percent increase in the number of guest workers, now you say that you're against it. You used to support legalizing people that were here illegally, now you say you're against it. You used to say that you were in favor of birthright citizenship, now you say that you are against it. And by the way, it's not just on immigration, you used to support TPA, now you say you're against it. I saw you on the Senate floor flip your vote on crop insurance because they told you it would help you in Iowa, and last week, we all saw you flip your vote on ethanol in Iowa for the same reason. That is not consistent conservatism, that is political calculation. When I am president, I will work consistently every single day to keep this country safe, not call Edward Snowden, as you did, a great public servant. Edward Snowden is a traitor. And if I am president and we get our hands on him, he is standing trial for treason. And one more point, one more point. Every single time that there has been a Defense bill in the Senate, three people team up to vote against it. Bernie Sanders, Rand Paul and Ted Cruz. In fact, the only budget you have ever voted for, Ted, in your entire time in the Senate is a budget from Rand Paul that brags about how it cuts defense. Here's the bottom line, and I'll close with this. If I'm president of the United States and Congress tries to cut the military, I will veto that in a millisecond. +p281 +aVNo, it's your record. +p282 +aVYou know, 200 years ago, America was founded on this powerful principle that our rights don't come from government. Our rights come from God. That's why we embraced free enterprise, and it made us the most prosperous people in the history of the world. That's why we embraced individual liberty, and we became the freest people ever, and the result was the American miracle. But now as I travel the country, people say what I feel. This country is changing. It feels different. We feel like we're being left behind and left out. And the reason is simple: because in 2008, we elected as president someone who wasn't interested in fixing America. We elected someone as president who wants to change America, who wants to make it more like the rest of the world. And so he undermines the Constitution, and he undermines free enterprise by expanding government, and he betrays our allies and cuts deals with our enemies and guts our military. And that's why 2016 is a turning point in our history. If we elect Hillary Clinton, the next four years will be worse than the last eight, and our children will be the first Americans ever to inherit a diminished country. But if we elect the right person \u2014 if you elect me \u2014 we will turn this country around, we will reclaim the American dream and this nation will be stronger and greater than it has ever been. +p283 +aVThank you Wolf. It's really amazing to be back in Las Vegas. I spent six years as a child growing not far from where we stand tonight. I use to sit on the porch of our home and listen to my grandfather tell stories as he smoked one of three daily cigars. One of the things my grandfather instilled in me, was that I was really blessed because I was a citizen of the greatest country in the history of our mankind. But there have always been people in American politics that wanted America to be more like the rest of the world. And In 2008, one of them was elected president of this country and the result has been a disaster. Today you have millions of Americans that feel left out and out of place in their own country, struggling to live paycheck to paycheck, called bigots because they hold on to traditional values. And around the world, America's influence has declined while this president has destroyed our military, our allies no longer trust us, and our adversaries no longer respect us. And that is why this election is so important. That is why I'm running for president. And that's why I'm going to ask you for your vote tonight. If you elect me president, we will have a president that believes America is the greatest country in the world and we will have a president that acts like it. +p284 +aVWell, I understand why they feel that way, because this president hasn't kept us safe. The problem is we had an attack in San Bernardino. And we were paying attention to the most important issue we have faced in a decade since 9/11, and then all the talk was about this proposal, which isn't going to happen. But this is what's important to do is we must deal frontally with this threat of radical Islamists, especially from +p285 +aVHe is and so are those that voted for it. There were some that voted for it because they wanted to keep it alive and they were afraid the whole program would expire. Here's the world we live in. This is a radical jihadist group that is increasingly sophisticated in its ability, for example, to radicalize American citizens, in its inability to exploit loopholes in our legal immigration system, in its ability to capture and hold territory in the Middle East, as I outlined earlier, in multiple countries. This is not just the most capable, it is the most sophisticated terror threat we have ever faced. We are now at a time when we need more tools, not less tools. And that took we lost, the metadata program, was a valuable tool that we no longer have at our disposal. +p286 +aVDana, may I interject here? +p287 +aVLet me be very careful when answering this, because I don't think national television in front of 15 million people is the place to discuss classified information. So let me just be very clear. There is nothing that we are allowed to do under this bill that we could not do before. This bill did, however, take away a valuable tool that allowed the National Security Agency and other law \u2014 and other intelligence agencies to quickly and rapidly access phone records and match them up with other phone records to see who terrorists have been calling. Because I promise you, the next time there is attack on \u2014 an attack on this country, the first thing people are going to want to know is, why didn't we know about it and why didn't we stop it? And the answer better not be because we didn't have access to records or information that would have allowed us to identify these killers before they attacked. +p288 +aVI want to thank Rand for another 30 seconds, because, number one, what he's pointing to is a bill last week that \u2014 amendment that he voted for that only 10 people voted for. You know why? Because it's not focused on terrorists. It would have banned anyone from coming here. Someone from Taiwan would not have been able to come here as a tourist. Number two, this program, this metadata program is actually more strict than what a regular law enforcement agency has now. If a regular law enforcement agency wants your phone records, all they have to do is issue a subpoena. But now the intelligence agency is not able to quickly gather records and look at them to see who these terrorists are calling. And the terrorists that attacked us in San Bernardino was an American citizen, born and raised in this country. And I bet you we wish we would have had access to five years of his records so we could see who he was working with... +p289 +aVDo I get another 30 seconds? He mentioned me. +p290 +aVWell, let me begin by saying that we have to understand who +p291 +aVThat is accurate. Three times he voted against the Defense Authorization Act, which is a bill that funds the troops. It also, by the way, funds the Iron Dome and other important programs. And I have to assume that if you vote against it in the Senate, you would also veto it as president. He has also supported, by the way, a budget that is called the containment budget. And it is a budget that would radically reduce the amount of money we spend on our military. You can't carpet bomb +p292 +aVYes, let me \u2014 three points of distinction. The first is, if you're an American citizen and you decide to join up with +p293 +aVWell, they most certainly will have to be worked on to provide more than what they are doing now. There's no doubt about it. And there's one \u2014 one major reason why they have not been willing to be a broader part of the coalition, and that is they have lost complete trust and confidence in this president. This president cut a deal with their moral enemy, the Shia, in Iran. And this is the reason why they no longer trust this president and are willing to work alongside them. But they have as much invested in this as we do. In fact, more so, for it is the king of Saudi Arabia they want to behead first. It's the king of Jordan that they want to dethrone. It's the \u2014 they want to go into Egypt the way they've already gone into Libya. And on another point that we need to talk about, Assad is one of the main reasons why +p294 +aVTo begin with, Moammar Gadhafi and the revolt against Gadhafi was not started by the United States. It was started by the Libyan people. And the reason why I argued we needed to get involved is because he was going to go one way or the other. And my argument then was proven true, and that is, the longer that civil war took, the more militias would be formed and the more unstable the country would be after the fact. As far as Moammar Gadhafi is concerned, by the way, Moammar Gadhafi is the man that killed those Americans over Lockerbie, Scotland. Moammar Gadhafi is also the man that bombed that cafe in Berlin and killed those Marines. And you want to know why Moammar Gadhafi started cooperating on his nuclear program? Because we got rid of Saddam Hussein. And so he got scared that he would be next, and that's why he started cooperating. Look, we will have to work around the world with less than ideal governments. The government in Saudi Arabia is not a democracy, but we will have to work with them. The government in Jordan is not perfect, but we will have to work with them. But anti-American dictators like Assad, who help Hezbollah, who helped get those IEDs into Iraq, if they go, I will not shed a tear. +p295 +aVYeah. Immigration is not an issue that I read about in the newspaper or watch a documentary on PBS or CNN. It's an issues I've lived around my whole life. My family are immigrants. My wife's family are immigrants. All of my neighbors are immigrants. I see every aspect of this problem. The good, the bad, and the ugly. And here's what we learned in 2013. The American people don't trust the Federal Government to enforce our immigration laws, and we will not be able to do anything on immigration until we first prove to the American people that illegal immigration is under control. And we can do that. We know what it takes to do that. It takes at least 20,000 more additional border agents. It takes completing those 700 miles of fencing. It takes a mandatory e-verify system and a mandatory entry/exit tracking system to prevent overstays. After we have done that, the second thing we have to do is reform and modernize the legal immigration system. And after we have done those two things, I think the American people are gonna be reasonable with what do you do with someone who has been in this country for 10 or 12 years who hasn't otherwise violated our laws \u2014 because if they're a criminal they can't stay. They'll have to undergo a background check, pay a fine, start paying taxes. And ultimately, they'll given a work permit and that's all they're gonna be allowed to have for at least 10 years. But you can't get to that third step until you have done the other two things, and that was the lesson we learned in 2013. There is no trust that the Federal Government will enforce the law. They will not support you until you see it done first. +p296 +aVBut I've answered that question repeatedly. I am personally open \u2014 after all that has happened and after ten years in that probationary status where all they have is a permit, I personally am open to allowing people to apply for a green card. That may not be a majority position in my party, but that's down the road. You can't even begin that process until you prove to people \u2014 not just pass a law that says you're gonna bring illegal immigration under control. You're gonna have to do it and prove to people that it's working. And that was the lesson of 2013. And it's more true today, than it was then. After a migratory crisis on the border with minors coming over that you're seeing start up again now, after all these executive orders the President has issued. More than ever we need to... +p297 +aV... prove to people that illegal immigration is under control. +p298 +aVYeah, a couple points. In 2013 we had never faced a crisis like the Syrian refugee crisis now. Up until that point, a refugee meant someone fleeing oppression, fleeing Communism like it is in my community. As far as Ted's record, I'm always puzzled by his attack on this issue. Ted, you support legalizing people who are in this country illegally. Ted Cruz supported a 500-percent increase in the number of H-1 visas, the guest workers that are allowed into this country, and Ted supports doubling the number of green cards. So I think what's important for us to understand and there is a way forward on this issue that we an bring our country together on. And while I'm president I will do it. And it will begin by bringing illegal immigration under control and proving to the American people. +p299 +aVNo, no, give him time. +p300 +aVTed, do you... +p301 +aVDid Ted Cruz fight to support legalizing people that are in this country illegally? +p302 +aVDoes Ted Cruz rule out ever legalizing people that are in this country now? +p303 +aVWould you rule it out? +p304 +aVWell, he's just admitted \u2014 as he's just admitted, the reason why those refugees were allowed in was because they messed up in how they used the actual database. They should have know. They didn't because they didn't run the actual law as it exists now. It didn't work well. As far as the refugees are concerned, it's not that America doesn't want to accept refugees, Wolf. It's that we may not be able to, because this is an issue we have to be 100 percent right on. If we allow 9,999 Syrian refugees into the United States, and all of them are good people, but we allow one person in who's an +p305 +aVI do. First, let's explain to people at home who the triad \u2014 what the triad is. Maybe a lot of people haven't heard that terminology before. The triad is our ability of the United States to conduct nuclear attacks using airplanes, using missiles launched from silos or from the ground, and also from our nuclear subs' ability to attack. And it's important \u2014 all three of them are critical. It gives us the ability at deterrence. Now, some have become more critical than others; for example, the submarines. And that's the Ohio Class submarine that needs to be modernized. The air component also needs to be modernized. The B-52, as someone earlier pointed out, is an outdated model that was flown by the grandparents of people that are flying it now. And we need a serious modernization program as well on our silo-launched missiles. All three are critical for the defense of the country. +p306 +aVThank you. As we near the end of this year, we enter one of the most important elections in a generation. For what's at stake in this election is not simply what party's going to be in charge. But our very identity as a people and as a nation. For over 200 years this has been a special country. A unique place where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything. But now millions of Americans feel like they're being left behind. Insecure in their future and unsafe in the face of terrorism. This election is about electing a president that will restore our economic vibrancy so that the American dream can expand to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And rebuild our Military and our intelligence programs so that we can remain the strongest nation on earth. Tonight I ask you for your vote. If you do this, we will rebuild this country, and together we will usher in a new American century \u2014 the greatest era in the history of this great land. +p307 +aVWell, let me begin by answering both the first question and this one, because they're related. As I've said many times before, my parents were never rich people. My father was a bartender. My mother was a maid. They worked for a living. But they were successful people, because, despite the fact that they weren't well educated and had those jobs, they made enough money to buy a home in a safe and stable neighborhood, retire with dignity, leave all four of their children better off than themselves. We call that the American dream, but in fact, it's a universal dream of a better life that people have all over the world. It is a reminder that every country in the world has rich people. What makes America special is that we have millions and millions of people that are not rich, that through hard work and perseverance are able to be successful. The problem is that today people are not successful working as hard as ever because the economy is not providing jobs that pay enough. If I thought that raising the minimum wage was the best way to help people increase their pay, I would be all for it, but it isn't. In the 20th century, it's a disaster. If you raise the minimum wage, you're going to make people more expensive than a machine. And that means all this automation that's replacing jobs and people right now is only going to be accelerated. Here's the best way to raise wages. Make America the best place in the world to start a business or expand an existing business, tax reform and regulatory reform, bring our debt under control, fully utilize our energy resources so we can reinvigorate manufacturing, repeal and replace Obamacare, and make higher education faster and easier to access, especially vocational training. For the life of me, I don't know why we have stigmatized vocational education. Welders make more money than philosophers. We need more welders and less philosophers. If we do that \u2014 and if we do this \u2014 if we do this, we will be able to increase wages for millions of Americans and we will be able to leave everyone better off without making anyone worse off. +p308 +aVWell, you know, that's an excellent question, because what we are going through in this country is not simply an economic downturn. We are living through a massive economic transformation. I mean, this economy is nothing like what it was like five years ago, not to mention 15 or 20 years ago. And it isn't just a different economy. It's changing faster than ever. You know, it took the telephone 75 years to reach 100 million users. It took Candy Crush one year to reach some 100 million users. So the world is changing faster than ever, and it is disruptive. Number one, we are in a global competition now, and several of the candidates have said that. There are now dozens of developed economies on this planet that we have to compete with. And we lose that competition because we have the highest business tax rate in the industrialized world, because we have regulations that continue to grow by the billions every single week, because we have a crazy health care law that discourages companies from hiring people, but because we're not fully utilizing our energy resources, that if we did, it would bring back all kinds of growth, especially in manufacturing, and because we have an outdated higher education system. Our higher education system is completely outdated. It is too expensive, too hard to access, and it doesn't teach 21st century skills. If we do what needs to be done \u2014 tax reform, regulatory reform, fully utilize our energy resources, repeal and replace Obamacare, and modernize higher education, then we can grasp the potential and the promise of this new economy. And we won't just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And then truly this new century can be a new American century. +p309 +aVThe most important job I'm ever going to have, the most important job anyone in this room will ever have, is the job of being a parent. Not the job of being president, or the job of being a senator, or the job of being a congressman. The most important job any of us will ever do is the job of being a president (sic), because the most important institution in society is the family. If the family breaks down, society breaks down. You can't have a strong nation without strong values, and no one is born with strong values. They have to be taught to you in strong families and reinforced in you in strong communities. And so when we set out to do tax reform, we endeavor to have a pro-family tax code, and we endeavor to do it because we know how difficult it is for families in the 21st century to afford the cost of living. It is expensive to raise children in the 21st century, and families that are raising children are raising the future taxpayers of the United States, and everything costs more. In 35 out of 50 states, child care costs more than college. There are millions of people watching this broadcast tonight that understand exactly what I'm talking about. They don't know how they're going to make that payment every month, and if they can't make it, they can't work, because someone needs to watch their kids during the day. They don't know how they're going to save for their kids' future, to go to college. And so, yes, I have a child tax credit increase, and I'm proud of it. I am proud that I have a pro-family tax code, because the pro- family tax plan I have will strengthen the most important institution in the \u2014 in the country, the family. +p310 +aVNow I get my 60 seconds to respond. He's talking about my tax plan. +p311 +aVSo let me begin with this. I actually believe \u2014 first of all, this is their money. They do pay. It is refundable, not just against the taxes they pay to the government, but also the \u2014 on their federal income tax, it's refundable against the payroll tax. Everyone pays payroll tax. This is their money. This is not our money. And here's what I don't understand \u2014 if you invest that money in a piece of equipment, if you invest that money in a business, you get to write it off your taxes. But if you invest it in your children, in the future of America and strengthening your family, we're not going to recognize that in our tax code? The family is the most important institution in society. And, yes... +p312 +aV... I do want to rebuild the American military. +p313 +aVI know that Rand is a committed isolationist. I'm not. I believe the world is a stronger and a better place, when the United States is the strongest military power in the world. +p314 +aVBecause... +p315 +aV...are you talking about the military, Rand? +p316 +aVWe can't even have an economy if we're not safe. There are radical jihadist in the Middle East beheading people and crucifying Christians. A radical Shia cleric in Iran trying to get a nuclear weapon, the Chinese taking over the South China Sea... ...Yes, I believe the world is a safer \u2014 no, no, I don't believe, I know that the world is a safer place when America is the strongest military power in the world. +p317 +aVYou know, if I may respond... +p318 +aVI need to add a couple of points to this. The first is, I've never met Vladimir Putin, but I know enough about him to know he is a gangster. He is basically an organized crime figure that runs a country, controls a $2 trillion economy. And is using to build up his military in a rapid way despite the fact his economy is a disaster. He understands only geopolitical strength. And every time he has acted anywhere in the world, whether it's in Ukraine or Georgia before that, or now in the Middle East, it's because he is trusting in weakness. His calculation in the Middle East is that he has seen what this president has done, which is nothing, the president has no strategy, our allies in the region do not trust us. For goodness sake, there is only one pro-American free enterprise democracy in the Middle East, it is the state of Israel. And we have a president that treats the prime minister of Israel with less respect than what he gives the ayatollah in Iran. And so our allies in the region don't trust us. Vladimir Putin is exploiting that weakness, for purposes of edging the Americans out as the most important geopolitical power broker in the region. And we do have a vested interest. And here's why. Because all those radical terrorist groups that, by the way, are not just in Syria and in Iraq, +p319 +aVCan I just add what \u2014 he's right on point there. Do you know why these banks are so big? The government made them big. The government made them big by adding thousands and thousands of pages of regulations. So the big banks, they have an army of lawyers, they have an army of compliance officers. They can deal with all these things. The small banks, like Governor Bush was saying, they can't deal with all these regulations. They can't deal with all \u2014 they cannot hire the fanciest law firm in Washington or the best lobbying firm to deal with all these regulations. And so the result is, the big banks get bigger, the small banks struggle to lend or even exist, and the result is what you have today. And in Dodd-Frank, you have actually codified too big to fail. We have actually created a category of systemically important institutions, and these banks go around bragging about it. You know what they say to people with a wink and a nod? We are so big, we are so important that if we get in trouble, the government has to bail us out. This is an outrage. We need to repeal Dodd-Frank as soon as possible. +p320 +aVWell, that's a great question, and let me begin by answering it. This election is about the future, about what kind of country this nation is gonna be in the 21st century. This next (ph) election is actually a generational choice. A choice about what kind of nation we will be in the 21st century. For over 2.5 centuries, America's been a special country, the one place on earth where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything, a nation that's been a force for good on this planet. But now, a growing number of Americans feel out of place in their own country. We have a society that stigmatizes those that hold cultural values that are traditional. We have a society where people \u2014 millions of people \u2014 are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, but they're living paycheck to paycheck because the economy has changed underneath their feet. We have young Americans who owe thousands of dollars in student loans for a degree that doesn't lead to a job. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses dying than starting, and around the world, every day brings news of a new humiliation for America \u2014 many the direct response \u2014 direct consequence of decisions made when Hillary Clinton was the secretary of the \u2014 of state. And so here's the truth: this election is about the future, and the Democratic Party, and the political left has no ideas about the future. All their ideas are the same, tired ideas of the past. More government, more spending. For every issue for America, their answer is a new tax on someone, and a new government program. This nation is going to turn the page, and that's what this election should be about, and, as I said at the first debate... ...If I am our nominee, they will be the party of the past, we will be the party of the 21st century. +p321 +aVOurs \u2014 the story of America is an extraordinary story. It is the story of a nation that for over two centuries each generation has left the next better off than themselves. But now, because Washington is out of touch, for the fault of both political parties, for the first time in our history, that is in doubt. And that is what this election must be about, because if the next four years are anything like the last eight years, our children will be the first Americans ever left worse off by their parents. This election is about making a different choice, about applying our principles of limited government and free enterprise to the unique issues of our time. And if we do, we will not just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And the 21st century can be a new American century. So tonight, I ask you for your vote and I ask you to join us at my website, marcorubio.com. +p322 +aVThank you for that question. I would begin by saying that I'm not sure it's a weakness, but I do believe that I share a sense of optimism for America's future that, today, is eroding from too many of our people. I think there's a sense in this country today that somehow our best days are behind us. And that doesn't have to be true. Our greatest days lie ahead if we are willing to do what it takes now. If we're willing to do what it takes now, the 21st century is going to be the new American century, greater than any other era we've had in the history of this great nation. +p323 +aVThat's an interesting question. That's exactly what the Republican establishment says too. Why don't you wait in line? Wait for what? This country is running out of time. We can't afford to have another four years like the last eight years. Watching this broadcast tonight are millions of people that are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, everything costs more, and they haven't had a raise in decades. You have small businesses in America that are struggling. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses closing than starting. We have a world that's out of control and has grown dangerous and a president that is weakening our military and making our foreign policy unstable and unreliable in the eyes of our allies. And our adversaries continue to grow stronger. We have a \u2014 they say there's no bipartisanship in Washington? We have a $19 trillion bipartisan debt and it continues to grow as we borrow money from countries that do not like us to pay for government we cannot afford. The time to act is now. The time to turn the page is now. If we \u2014 if we don't act now, we are going to be the first generation in American history that leaves our children worse off than ourselves. +p324 +aVLet me say, I read that editorial today with a great amusement. It's actually evidence of the bias that exists in the American media today. +p325 +aVLet me \u2014 let me answer your question on the Sun-Sentinel editorial today. Back in 2004, one of my predecessors to the Senate by the name of Bob Graham, a Democrat, ran for president missing over 30 percent of his votes. I don't recall them calling for his resignation \u2014 +p326 +aVLater that year, in 2004, John Kerry ran for president missing close to 60 to 70 percent of his votes. I don't recall the Sun \u2014 in fact, the Sun-Sentinel endorsed him. In 2008, Barack Obama missed 60 or 70 percent of his votes, and the same newspaper endorsed him again. So this is another example of the double standard that exists in this country between the mainstream media and the conservative movement. +p327 +aVI get to respond, right? +p328 +aVWell, it's interesting. Over the last few weeks, I've listened to Jeb as he walked around the country and said that you're modeling your campaign after John McCain, that you're going to launch a furious comeback the way he did, by fighting hard in New Hampshire and places like that, carrying your own bag at the airport. You know how many votes John McCain missed when he was carrying out that furious comeback that you're now modeling after? +p329 +aVNo Jeb, I don't remember \u2014 well, let me tell you. I don't remember you ever complaining about John McCain's vote record. The only reason why you're doing it now is because we're running for the same position, and someone has convinced you that attacking me is going to help you. +p330 +aVHere's the bottom line. I'm not \u2014 my campaign is going to be about the future of America, it's not going to be about attacking anyone else on this stage. I will continue to have tremendous admiration and respect for Governor Bush. I'm not running against Governor Bush, I'm not running against anyone on this stage. I'm running for president because there is no way we can elect Hillary Clinton to continue the policies of Barack Obama. +p331 +aVWell, you just \u2014 you just listed a litany of discredited attacks from Democrats and my political opponents, and I'm not gonna waste 60 seconds detailing them all. But I'm going to tell you the truth. Here's the truth. I didn't inherit any money. My dad was a bartender, my mother was a maid. They worked hard to provide us the chance at a better life. They didn't save enough money for us to go to school. I had to work my way through school. I had to borrow money to go to school. I tried (ph), early in my marriage, explaining to my wife why someone named Sallie Mae was taking $1,000 out of our bank account every month. I know what it's like to owe that money, and we've worked hard. We've worked hard our whole life to provide a better family \u2014 a better life for our family. We own a home four blocks away from the place that I grew up in. My four children have been able to receive a good Christian education, and I've been able to save for them to go to college so they never have to have the loans that I did. But I'm not worried about my finances, I'm worried about the finances of everyday Americans who today are struggling in an economy that is not producing good paying jobs while everything else costs more. And that's what this economy needs to \u2014 that's what this debate needs to be about. This debate needs to be about the men and women across this country that are struggling on a daily basis to provide for their families the better future that we've always said this country is all about. +p332 +aVAnd I used it to pay off my loans. And it's available on paperback, if you're interested in buying my book. +p333 +aVYeah, again, as I said, we're raising a family in the 21st century and it's one of the reasons why my tax plan is a pro- family tax plan. It increases the per child tax credit, because I didn't read about this in a book. I know for a fact how difficult it is to raise children, how expensive it's become for working families. And I make a lot more than the average American. Imagine how hard it is for these people out there that are making 40, 50, $60,000 a year, and they're trying to provide for their families at a time when this economy is not growing. We can't afford another four years of that. Which is what we're gonna get if we elect a big government liberal like Hillary Clinton to the White House. Thank you, senator. +p334 +aVWell, first of all, if a company gets caught doing that, they should never be able to use the program again. If you get caught abusing this program, you should never be able to use it again. The second thing I said is we need to add reforms, not just increase the numbers, but add reforms. For example, before you hire anyone from abroad, you should have to advertise that job for 180 days. You also have to prove that you're going to pay these people more than you would pay someone else, so that you're not undercutting it by bringing in cheap labor. But here's the best solution of all. We need to get back to training people in this country to do the jobs of the 21st century. Why, for the life of me, I do not understand why did we stop doing vocational education in America, people that can work with their hands; people you can train to do this work while they're still in high school so they can graduate ready to go work. But the best way to close this gap is to modernize higher education so Americans have the skills for those jobs. But in the interim, in the absence of that, what's happening is some of these tech companies are taking those \u2014 those centers (ph) to Canada because they can get people to go over there instead of here. But the ideal scenario is to train Americans to do the work so we don't have to rely on people from abroad. +p335 +aVWell, I believe that there are abuses, those companies should be permanently barred from ever using the program again and we should put strict standards in place to ensure that they're not being abused, like the prevailing wage requirement and like the advertising requirement. +p336 +aVSince I've been mentioned, can I respond? +p337 +aVOK. I know the Democrats have the ultimate SuperPac. It's called the mainstream media who every single day... ... and I'll tell you why. Last week, Hillary Clinton went before a committee. She admitted she had sent e-mails to her family saying, "Hey, this attack at Benghazi was caused by Al Qaida-like elements." She spent over a week telling the families of those victims and the American people that it was because of a video. And yet the mainstream media is going around saying it was the greatest week in Hillary Clinton's campaign. It was the week she got exposed as a liar. It was the week that she got exposed as a liar... But she has her super PAC helping her out, the American mainstream media. +p338 +aVNo, that's \u2014 you're wrong. In fact, the largest after- tax gains is for the people at the lower end of the tax spectrum under my plan. And there's a bunch of things my tax plan does to help them. Number one, you have people in this country that... +p339 +aV...you wrote a story on it, and you had to go back and correct it. +p340 +aVYou did. No, you did. +p341 +aVWell, you're talking about \u2014 yeah. +p342 +aVYeah, but that \u2014 because the math is, if you \u2014 5 percent of a million is a lot more than 5 percent of a thousand. So yeah, someone who makes more money... +p343 +aV...numerically, it's gonna be higher. But the greatest gains, percentage-wise, for people, are gonna be at the lower end of our plan, and here's why: because in addition to a general personal exemption, we are increasing the per-child tax credit for working families. We are lowering taxes on small business. You know, a lot of business activity in America is conducted like the guy that does my dry cleaning. He's an S corporation. He pays on his personal rate, and he is paying higher than the big dry-cleaning chain down the street, because he's paying at his personal rate. Under my plan, no business, big or small, will pay more than 25 percent flat rate on their business income. That is a dramatic tax decrease for hard-working people who run their own businesses. +p344 +aV...The other thing I'd like to make about our plan, one more point, it is the most pro growth tax plan that I can imagine because it doesn't tax investments at all. You know why? Because the more you tax something, the less of it you get. I want to be in \u2014 I want America to be the best... +p345 +aV...in the world for people... +p346 +aVI was mentioned in the question. +p347 +aVThank you. Well, I've learned the rules on this. Look, in addition to what Donald was saying is we also need to talk about the legal immigration system for permanent residents. Today, we have a legal immigration system for permanent residency that is largely based on whether or not you have a relative living here. And that's the way my parents came legally in 1956. But in 2015, we have a very different economy. Our legal immigration system from now on has to be merit-based. It has to be based on what skills you have, what you can contribute economically, and most important of all, on whether or not you're coming here to become an American, not just live in America, but be an American. +p348 +aVNo. No. What I said was that I think that Dr. Carson's ideas are good ideas. They're not my ideas, and I don't necessarily agree with all of them. But this is what you're seeing in the Republican debate that you didn't see in that Democrat debate. You didn't see it for a minute. You didn't see these kind of ideas being batted around, and being batted around in a way that's civil and smart and that's trying to help to inform the voter out there. What you saw was a parade of, "I'll give you this for free; I'll give you that for free." Let me tell you, everybody, when they say they want to give it to you for free, keep your hands on your wallets because they're coming to you to pay for it. And that's why I think these ideas up here are great, and that's what we should have is have more discussions like this and less gotcha. +p349 +aVI want to take off from that point and argue the same thing. And that is that one of the things you're watching tonight are 11 quality candidates debating an important issue. The Republican Party is blessed to have 11 good candidates, 10 good candidates. The Democrats can't even come up with one. And on this issue of the Medicare in particular, it's important because they're going to demagogue what we're saying here tonight. Everyone up here tonight that's talking about reforms, I think and I know for myself I speak to this, we're all talking about reforms for future generations. Nothing has to change for current beneficiaries. My mother is on Medicare and Social Security. I'm against anything that's bad for my mother. So, we're talking about \u2014 we're talking about reform for people like me and people like Senator Cruz, as he talked about earlier, who are years away from retirement that have a way to plan for these changes, and way that's very reasonable. And it's not too much to ask of our generation after everything our parents and our grandparents did for us. +p350 +aVYou know, America doesn't owe me anything. I have a debt to America I'll never repay. This isn't just the country I was born in, this is the nation that literally changed the history of my family. My parents in this country were able to give me the chance to do all the things they never did. We call that the American Dream, although, it's built on the universal dream of a better life. The fact that it's happened for so many people here throughout our history, that's what makes us special. But, now for millions of Americans, it's slipping away. And, we have a government and leaders in government that are completely out of touch, and that's why I'm running for president. Because we can't just save the American Dream, we can expand it to reach more people, and change more lives than ever before. And, that's why tonight I'm asking you for your vote. +p351 +aVThank you. My name is Marco Rubio. I'm from Florida. My wife Jeanette and I are the proud \u2014 we've been married 17 years, and we're the proud parents of four children, two of whom were able to join us here this evening. I'm honored to be here at the Reagan Library, at a place that honors the legacy of a man who inspired not just my interest in public service, but also our love for country. And I'm also aware that California has a drought, and so that's why I made sure I brought my own water. +p352 +aVWell, first of all, I have an understanding of exactly what it is Russia and Putin are doing, and it's pretty straightforward. He wants to reposition Russia, once again, as a geopolitical force. He himself said that the destruction of the Soviet Union \u2014 the fall of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century, and now he's trying to reverse that. He's trying to destroy +p353 +aVLet me tell you \u2014 I will tell you we have zero responsibility, because let's remember what the president said. He said the attack he would conduct would be a pinprick. Well, the United States military was not build to conduct pinprick attacks. If the United States military is going to be engaged by a commander-in-chief, it should only be engaged in an endeavor to win. And we're not going to authorize use of force if you're not put in a position where they can win. And quite frankly, people don't trust this president as commander-in-chief because of that. +p354 +aVHold on, a second, Jake, he asked me, as well. I'd like to actually... +p355 +aV... respond. I think I'm the first senator. The No. 1 test for use of military force should be the vital national security interest of the United States. The reason why I opposed President Obama bombing Syria, is because he couldn't answer the question what do you do if chemical weapons end up in the hands of radical Islamic terrorists like al-Nusra, like Al Qaida, like +p356 +aVIn the middle of negotiating this treaty, Khamenei led the assembled masses in chanting, death to America. I'm reminded of a great editorial cartoon. It shows the Ayatollah Khamenei saying, "Death to all Americans," and then it shows John Kerry coming back, saying, "Can we meet ya half way?" We need a commander-in-chief who will stand up and protect this country. And I'll tell you, I can't wait to stand on that debate stage with Hillary Clinton and to make abundantly clear if you vote for Hillary, you are voting for the Ayatollah Khomeini to possess a nuclear weapon and if you elect me as president, under no circumstances will a theocratic ayatollah who chants death to America ever be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon. +p357 +aVMs. Dana, I agree that English is the unifying language of our country, and everyone should learn to speak it. It's important. I want to tell you a story about someone that didn't speak English that well. It was my grandfather; he came to this country in the 1960s, as a \u2014 escaping Cuba. And he lived with us, growing up. And my grandfather loved America. He understood what was so special about this country. He loved Ronald Reagan; he would be very proud of the fact that we're here this evening. My grandfather instilled in me the belief that I was blessed to live in the one society in all of human history where even I, the son of a bartender and a maid, could aspire to have anything, and be anything that I was willing to work hard to achieve. But he taught me that in Spanish, because it was the language he was most comfortable in. And he became a conservative, even though he got his news in Spanish. And so, I do give interviews in Spanish, and here's why \u2014 because I believe that free enterprise and limited government is the best way to help people who are trying to achieve upward mobility. And if they get their news in Spanish, I want them to hear that directly from me. Not from a translator at Univision. +p358 +aVWell, let me say that legal immigration is not an issue I read about in the newspaper. Immigration, illegal immigration, all the good aspects of immigration and all the negative ones as well, I live with. My family's immigrants. My neighbors are all immigrants. My in-laws are all immigrants. So I've seen every aspect of it, and I can tell you America doesn't have one immigration problem, it has three. First, despite the fact that we are the most generous country in the history of the world in allowing people to come here legally, we have people still coming illegally. Second, we have a legal immigration system that no longer works. It primary is built on the basis of whether you have a relative living here instead of merit. And third, we have 11 million or 12 million people, many of whom have been here for longer than a decade who are already here illegally. And we must deal with all three of these problems. We cannot deal with all three of these problems in one massive piece of legislation. I learned that. We tried it that way. Here's the way forward: First, we must \u2014 we must secure our border, the physical border, with \u2014 with a wall, absolutely. But we also need to have an entry/exit tracking system. 40 percent of the people who come here illegally come legally, and then they overstay the visa. We also need a mandatory e-verify system. After we've done that, step two would be to modernize our legal immigration system so you come to America on the basis of what you can contribute economically, not whether or not simply you have a relative living here. And after we've done those two things, I believe the American people... +p359 +aV... will be very reasonable and responsible about what you do with someone who's been here and isn't a criminal. If you're a criminal, obviously, you will not be able to stay. +p360 +aVYes, well, it does. But it's in the following way, this is an important question. I think if you're running for president, these are important issues, because look at around the world today. There is a lunatic in North Korea with dozens of nuclear weapons and long-range rocket that can already hit the very place in which we stand tonight. The Chinese are rapidly expanding their military. They hack into our computers. They're building artificial islands in the South China Sea, the most important shipping lane in the world. A gangster in Moscow is not just threatening Europe, he's threatening to destroy and divide +p361 +aVWell, that's why we have a debate. I think that we should have a deeper debate about these issues, because there is no more important decision that a president will make. +p362 +aVWell, you should ask him questions in detail about the foreign policy issues our president will confront, because you had better be able to lead our country on the first day. Not six months from now, not a year from now, on the first day in office, our president could very well confront a national security crisis. You can't predict it. Sometimes you cannot control it. And it is the most \u2014 the federal government does all kinds of things it's not supposed to be doing. It regulates bathrooms. It regulates schools that belong to local communities. But the one thing that the federal government must do, the one thing that only the federal government can do is keep us safe. And a president better be up-to-date on those issues on his first day in office, on her first day in office. +p363 +aVTrust (ph) me, I get that. OK. +p364 +aVI never get to addressed, and... +p365 +aV...and when I do, I'm gonna jump in. +p366 +aVYeah. He did. Let me \u2014 I'm proud to serve in the United States Senate. You know, when I ran five years ago, the entire leadership of my party in Washington lined up against me. But I'm glad I won. And I'm glad that I ran, because this country's headed in the wrong direction. And if we keep electing the same people, nothing is going to change. And you're right, I have missed some votes, and I'll tell you why, Mr. Trump. Because in my years in the Senate, I've figured out very quickly that the political establishment in Washington, D.C. in both political parties is completely out of touch with the lives of our people. You have millions of people in this country living paycheck to paycheck, and nothing is being done about it. We are about to leave our children with $18 trillion in \u2014 in \u2014 in debt, and they're about to raise the debt limit again. We have a world that grows increasingly dangerous, and we are eviscerating our military spending and signing deals with Iran. And these \u2014 if this thing continues, we are going to be the first Americans to leave our children worse off than ourselves. That's why I'm missing votes. Because I am leaving the Senate, I'm not running for re-election, and I'm running for president because I know this: unless we have the right president, we cannot make America fulfill its potential, but with the right person in office, the 21st century can be the greatest era that our nation has ever known. +p367 +aVI want to go even deeper \u2014 and I want to go even deeper in that direction, because I think the belief that somehow by retreating, America makes the world safer has been disproven every single time it's ever been tried. Syria's a perfect example of it. The uprising in Syria was not started by the United States; it was started by the Syrian people. And I warned at the time \u2014 this was three and a half years ago \u2014 I openly and repeatedly warned that if we did not find moderate elements on the ground that we could equip and arm, that void would be filled by radical jihadists. Well, the president didn't listen, the administration didn't follow through, and that's exactly what happened. That is why +p368 +aV... as you asked earlier today. +p369 +aVBut radical terrorism cannot be solved by intellect. It cannot \u2014 they require \u2014 what they need, is they need an operating space. That's what Afghanistan was for Al Qaida. It was a vacuum that they filled, and they created an operating space. That's why they had to be drawn out of there. That's why they had to be destroyed. It is the reason why +p370 +aVThere's a broader issue here, Hugh. And there's a broader issue here as well. First of all, the only people that follow the law are law-abiding people. Criminals by definition ignore the law, so you can pass all the gun laws in the world, like the left wants. The criminals are going to ignore it because they are criminals. Here's the real issue. The real issue \u2014 the real issue is not what are people using to commit violence, but why are they committing the violence? And here's the truth: Because you cannot separate the social, moral wellbeing of your people from their economic and other wellbeing. You cannot separate it. You can't have a strong country without strong people, you cannot have strong people without strong values, and you cannot have strong values without strong families and the institutions in this country that defend and support those families. +p371 +aVWell, and today, we have a left-wing government under this president that is undermining all of the institutions and society that support the family and teach those values. +p372 +aVBecause we're not going to destroy our economy the way the left-wing government that we are under now wants to do. We're not going to... +p373 +aVWell, and I don't \u2014 he may have lined up with their positions on this issue. But here is the bottom line. Every proposal they put forward are going to be proposals that will make it harder to do business in America, that will make it harder to create jobs in America. Single parents are already struggling across this country to provide for their families. Maybe a billionaire here in California can afford an increase in their utility rates, but a working family in Tampa, Florida, or anywhere across this country cannot afford it. So we are not going to destroy our economy. We are not going to make America a harder place to create jobs in order to pursue policies that will do absolutely nothing, nothing to change our climate, to change our weather, because America is a lot of things, the greatest country in the world, absolutely. But America is not a planet. And we are not even the largest carbon producer anymore, China is. And they're drilling a hole and digging anywhere in the world that they can get a hold of. So the bottom line is, I am not in favor of any policies that make America a harder place for people to live, or to work, or to raise their families. +p374 +aVJake, you mentioned me and called me a denier. Let me say, climate change... +p375 +aVOK. A skeptic. You can measure the climate. You can measure it. That's not the issue we're discussing. Here is what I'm skeptical of. I'm skeptical of the decisions that the left wants us to make, because I know the impact those are going to have and they're all going to be on our economy. They will not do a thing to lower the rise of the sea. They will not do a thing to cure the drought here in California. But what they will do is they will make America a more expensive place to create jobs. And today with millions of people watching this broadcast that are struggling paycheck to paycheck that do not know how they're going to pay their bills at the end of this month, I'm not in favor of anything that is going to make it harder for them to raise their family. +p376 +aVSenator Rubio, you mean? +p377 +aVI know we all look alike. +p378 +aVThe \u2014 Rosa Parks, an everyday American that changed the course of history. +p379 +aVWell, there are some people in Florida upset at me over a joke I made about Florida State, but, what the heck, I want my codename to be Gator. +p380 +aVOne of the things that made Ronald Reagan a great president, is that he understood that America was a unique nation, like any other that had existed throughout human history. He knew it was founded on universal principles that were powerful, the dignity of all people, human rights, the rights of all to live in freedom and liberty, and choose their own path in life. He didn't just believe it, he acted on it. That's why bringing down communism was so important to him. If I'm honored with the opportunity to be president, I hope that our Air Force One will fly, first and foremost, to our allies; in Israel, in South Korea, and Japan. They know we stand with them. That America can be counted on. It would also fly to China, not just to meet with our enemies, not just to meet with those adversaries of ours that are there, but also to meet with those that aspire to freedom and liberty within China. I would even invite them to my inauguration. We would also fly into Moscow and into Russia. And not just meet with the leaders of Russia, but also meet with those who aspire to freedom and liberty in Russia. And ultimately, I hope that my Air Force One, if I become president, will one day land in a free Cuba, where its people can choose its leaders and its own destiny. +p381 +asVKASICH +p382 +(lp383 +VWell, John, first of all, if I were president, we wouldn't have the divisions in the country we have today. I do want to take a second as we reflected on Judge Scalia, it's amazing \u2014 it's not even two minutes after the death of Judge Scalia, nine children here today, their father didn't wake up. His wife, sad, but I just wish we hadn't run so fast into politics. Here's my concern about this. The country is so divided right now, and now we're going to see another partisan fight take place. I really wish the president would think about not nominating somebody. If you were to nominate somebody, let's have him pick somebody that's going to have unanimous approval, and such widespread approval across the country that this could happen without a lot of recrimination. I don't think that's going to happen, and I would like the president just to, for once here, put the country first. We're going to have an election for president very soon, and the people will understand what is at stake in that election. And so I believe the president should not move forward, and I think that we ought to let the next president of the United States decide who is going to run that Supreme Court with a vote by the people of the United......States of America. +p384 +aVFirst of all \u2014 yes. First of all, look, we have to make it clear to Russia what we expect. We don't have to declare an enemy, rattle a sword or threaten, but we need to make it clear what we expect. No. 1 is we will arm the folks in Ukraine who are fighting for their freedom. They deserve it. There will be no ifs, ands or buts about it. Secondly, an attack on +p385 +aVI've got to tell you, this is just crazy, huh? This is just nuts, O.K.? Jeez, oh, man. I'm sorry, John. +p386 +aVOh, well, listen, I think being in Iraq, look, we thought there were weapons of mass destruction. Colin Powell, who is one of the most distinguished generals in modern time, said there were weapons there. But, but, the fact is we got ourselves in the middle of a civil war. The Sunni, the Shia and the Kurds, never gotten along. In fact, that country was drawn \u2014 the borders of that country were drawn after World War I by Westerners that didn't understand what was happening there. The tragedy of it is that we're still embroiled. And, frankly, if there weren't weapons of mass destruction, we should never have gone. I don't believe the United States should involve itself in civil wars. Civil wars are not in our direct interest, and if you \u2014 and look, I served on a defense committee for 18 years and was called into the Pentagon after 9/11 by Secretary Rumsfeld to deal with some of the most serious problems that we faced. The fact is, is that we should go to war when it is our direct interest. We should not be policemen of the world, but when we go, we mean business. We'll do our job. We'll tell our soldiers, our people in the service, take care of your job and then come home once we've accomplished our goals. That's what we need to do. +p387 +aVYeah. Well, first of all, those numbers, incorrect. We are \u2014 our Medicaid programs are coming in below cost estimates, and our Medicaid program in the second year grew at 2.5 percent. And Kimberley, let me tell you, when we expand Medicaid and we treat the mentally ill, then they don't live under a bridge or live in a prison, where they cost $22,500 a year. When we take the drug addicted and we treat them in the prisons, we stop the revolving door of people in and out of prisons, and we save $22,500 a year. Guess what else? They get their lives back. And the working poor, they're now getting health care. And you know that about a third of the people who are now getting that health care are people who are suffering very serious illnesses, particularly cancer. So, what I would tell you is, we've gone from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. We've cut taxes by more than any governor in America by $5 billion. We have grown the number of jobs by 400,000 private-sector jobs since I've been governor. Our credit is strong. Our pensions are strong. And frankly, we leave no one behind. Economic growth is not an end unto itself. We want everyone to rise, and we will make them personally responsible for the help that they get. And that is exactly the program we're driving in Ohio. And, boy, people ought to look at Ohio, because it has got a good formula. +p388 +aVYeah, let me say a couple of things. First of all, when Jeb was governor, his first four years as governor, he expand \u2014 his Medicaid program grew twice as fast as mine. O.K.? It's just a fact. Now, with Obamacare, I've not only sued the administration, I did not set up an exchange. And he knows that I'm not for Obamacare, never have been. But here's what's interesting about Medicaid. You know who expanded Medicaid five times to try to help the folks and give them opportunity so that you could rise and get a job? President Ronald Reagan. Now, the fact of the matter is, we expanded to get people on their feet, and once they're on their feet, we are giving them the training and the efforts that they need to be able to get work and pull out of that situation. +p389 +aVThat's what we're doing in our state. +p390 +aVLet me \u2014 let's tell you... +p391 +aVMajor \u2014 Major, we can't \u2014 we've got to \u2014 look, I have got to correct the record. And the fact of the matter is, we went from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. We're up 400,000 jobs. Our credit is rock solid. And I don't know... +p392 +aVLook, the bottom line is the people of this \u2014 of this country and this state want to see everybody rise, and they want to see unity, and I don't want to get into all this fighting tonight, because people are frankly sick of the negative campaigning. +p393 +aVAnd I'm going to stay positive about what I want to do from the... +p394 +aVBefore I get to that, this is the ninth or 10th debate. What I've been watching here, this back and forth, and these attacks, some of them are personal. I think we're fixing to lose the election to Hillary Clinton if we don't stop this. I mean, the fact is \u2014 you know what? I would suggest, why don't we take off all the negative ads and all the negative comments down from television and let us just talk about what we're for, and let's sell that, and the Republican Party will be stronger as a result... +p395 +aV... First of all, I'm for sealing the border, O.K.? And then I'm for a guest worker program. People can come in, work and go back home. We haven't closed the border because special interests, I believe, blocked it. Then, we have 11 and a half million people here. If they have not committed a crime since they've been here, make them pay a fine and some back taxes, and give them a path to legalization, never to citizenship. It is not going to happen that we're going to run around and try to drag 11 and a half million people out of their homes. I'll tell you this. Within the first hundred days, I will send a plan like this to the Congress of the United States, and if I'm president, I'll bet you dollar to doughnuts right now, it will pass. That is a reasonable proposal that the people of this country, in my judgment, will support, and so will the bulk of the Congress of the United States. +p396 +aVYou know, John, I think all people are the same. Look, I did 106 town halls, and I've been doing them left and right here in South Carolina. The first thing we have to do is grow the economy, and I know the formula because I was chairman in Washington when we balanced the budget and created so many jobs, and the same that we've been able to do in Ohio. You need common-sense regulations so small business can flourish, you need lower taxes both on business and individuals, and you need a fiscal plan to be able to get ourselves in a situation where people can predict a little bit about the future when it comes to the fiscal issues. And when you have that formula, combined with work force that's trained, you can explode the economy and create many jobs. I have done it twice, and I want to go back to Washington and do it again. John, the thing is, is I think that there are people now, these blue-collar Democrats \u2014 my dad was a blue-collar Democrat \u2014 the Democratic Party has left them. When they're arguing about being socialists, they've left \u2014 they have lost those blue-collar Democrats. And you know what I think they get out of me \u2014 is my sense of what they get out of me, and it's embarrassment about campaigns, you brag about yourself. But I think I'm a uniter, I think people sense it. I think they know I have the experience, and that I'm a man that can give people hope and a sense that they have the opportunity rise. And I'll tell you, I love these blue-collar Democrats, because they're going to vote for us come next fall, promise you that. +p397 +aVWell, I want to thank the people of South Carolina. You've been fantastic. And look, what I want you to know is I'm going to send a lot of power, money and influence back to where we all live. But as I've traveled around South Carolina, I've noticed something. You know, it's that people have a sense that you're not going to wait on a president. You know, when I was a kid, we didn't wait on presidents to come to that little blue-collar town and fix things. You know, the Lord made all of us special. The Lord wants us to be connected. I believe we're part of a very big mosaic. And I'll send the power back. And whoever gets elected president here, hopefully will take care of the issue of jobs and wages and Social Security and the border. But the spirit of the America rests in all of us. It's in our guts. It's taking care of our children. It's taking care of the lady next door who just lost her husband. It's fixing the schools where we live and telling kids to stay off drugs. You see, I think what the Lord wants is for to us engage, and in America, the spirit of America doesn't come from the top down. The spirit of America rests in us. And I want to call on everyone in America to double down and realize that you were made special to heal this country and lift it for everyone. Thank you all very much. And I hope I can have your vote in South Carolina. +p398 +aVWell, we've got to to step up the pressure. And by the way, I've gotta say, after being here, every one of my 100 town hall meetings in New Hampshire were a lot more fun than what I saw here today, were so much more positive. Look, in terms of North Korea, Martha, we have to make sure that we intercept both the ships and their aircraft, because what they're trying to do is to proliferate this very dangerous material, along with the \u2014 with the technology, the instruments that can be used for mass destruction. That's what I worry about the most, frankly, is non-state actors, people who don't have a uniform, people don't have a country, who can spread this, who are not subject to the \u2014 to the mutual assured defense. In other words, you strike us, we strike you. Some of these radicals, they don't care about that. That's what I worry about, for my children, and for their children, going forward. So, we have to be very tough. And we should tell the Chinese, look, if you're not going to do this ballistic missile defense to the Koreans, ballistic missile defense to Japan \u2014 and by the way, we should impose the same kind of sanctions on North Korea that we imposed on Iran, because they're able to shift money. They're able to send money and receive money. We've gotta to be very tough on this. And frankly, I think we could have \u2014 I think we could have let the Japanese know that if you want to take action on that \u2014 on that missile that's rising, you want to take action \u2014 you will have our support, if that's what you think is the best thing to do. We cannot continue to be weak in the face of the North Koreans, or, frankly, in the entire rest of the world. Martha, this is \u2014 this is the \u2014 relates... +p399 +aVWell, you know, David, I \u2014 I've just spent a lot of time here in this state, as I mentioned earlier, and we have to have practical solutions, just like we were just talking about a few minutes ago on North Korea. Look, the situation is, we need to finish the border. It has to be completed. Just like we lock our doors at night, the country has to be able to lock its doors. And we can have a guest worker program, where people can come in and out in an orderly way. And then for the 11.5 million that are here, if they have not committed a crime since they've been here, I believe they ought to pay some back taxes, pay a fine, never get on the path to citizenship, but get legalization. It is not \u2014 I couldn't even imagine how we would even begin to think about taking a mom or a dad out of a house when they have not committed a crime since they've been here, leaving their children in the house. I mean, that is not, in my opinion, the kind of values that we believe in. And secondly, I think at the end of the day, that Americans would support a plan like this. I think Congress would pass a plan to finish the border, guest worker, pay a fine, a path to legalization, and not citizenship. And we've got to get this done. And I will tell you this, within the first 100 days that I am president, I will put that proposal to the Congress. And I will tell you, as a former Congressman, and an executive, in Ohio, I can promise you that I believe you'll get the votes to pass that, and we can move on with that issue and protect our border. That's what I think. +p400 +aVGood evening. +p401 +aVWell, first of all, look. As the New York Times said, he's certainly not a moderate, but he can bring people together to solve problems. The fact of the matter is I've cut taxes more than anybody in the country this year. I have balanced budgets, the federal budget, the state of Ohio budget, we're running a $2 billion dollar surplus, we're up 400,000 jobs, and in Washington we were able to have significant job growth whenever we balanced the budget of which I was the architect. But, here's the beauty of it, it's not just balancing a budget, it's about jobs. You know, when I was kid growing up in a neighborhood where Dad went home at night and said, "I lost my job today", it just killed the family. It just was a devastating effect. We have to have economic growth, but once we have economic growth I believe we have to reach out to people who live in the shadows. I believe we need to help the mentally ill, the drug addicted, the working poor. We need to help the developmentally disabled to rise, and we need to help our friends in the minority community develop entrepreneurship. In other words, in American, conservatism should mean not only that some rise with conservative principles, but everybody has a chance to rise regardless of who they are so they can live their God given purpose. That's what conservatism should be. +p402 +aVDavid? +p403 +aVLook, I'm \u2014 I'm not here \u2014 I like Chris. +p404 +aVLet \u2014 but let me \u2014 let me just tell you. First of all, we have the lowest number of state employees in 30 years. Secondly, we have grown government at the rate of inflation. And I went from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. And we've grown jobs by 400,000 \u2014 that's one of the fastest growing states in the country. Our pensions are secure and our credit is rock solid. Now, I've learned that, what makes things work, what gets the economy going, not just in Ohio, but in Washington \u2014 and it's three things. Common sense regulations, which we have, lower taxes, which we have, the lowest taxes, tax cuts in the country. And thirdly, a fiscal plan to balance the budget. When you go from $8 billion in the hole to $2 billion in the black, when you cut taxes by $5 billion and you grow over 400,000 jobs, that is a record that I can take to Washington, using the same formula that I used in Washington when I was part of the effort to balance the budget to give us a surplus and to create jobs. +p405 +aVThat's what I did and I'll do it again in the first 100 days. +p406 +aVWell, right now the deals \u2014 there's no leadership. I mean, a lot of the things that we're talking about here tonight, on the border, and so many of the things. What we should be doing on foreign policy, you know what the problem is, Mary Katharine? There's not a leader that gets somebody to rise up. You have to have a leader that can inspire, and actually some of what Donald was saying is true. Look, do you know how hard it was... +p407 +aV... to get the balance the federal budget balanced? You have to plead with people. To do what we've done in Ohio, you have to plead with people, then you go back down to Washington and do the same thing. You see, we have to remind people we're Americans before we're Republicans and Democrats, and when we wait, and when we delay what we end up doing, Mary Katharine, is we make the United States weaker. In fact, it's a foreign policy issue because people look at America not solving problems and they say what are they doing over there? So the point is you have to work with people. The problem with executive authority for the president, it's really bad news for this reason. Since he's given up on working with Congress, he thinks he can impose anything he wants. He's not a king. He's a president. An executive order should be used frankly in consolidation and with consulting with the leadership in the \u2014 in the Congress. I've done it in Ohio. I consult. I could use executive orders, but I don't trump the legislature, because if you do, you aggravate them, you anger them and then the long-term prospects get bleak. We have to solve problems in America by coming together, Republicans and Democrats, Americans first, party and ideology second \u2014 in the second back seat of this country. That's what we need to do. And we can do it. And we can do it. +p408 +aVMary Katherine, let me just say this to you. You must have an agenda that you are ready to move on in the first 100 days. Jeb is right. If you delay and you wait, the Washington operators will take you down. I can tell you this, in the first 100 days, I will have legislation to freeze federal regulations, have them reviewed by the vice president, reduce state taxes on individuals, reduce taxes on corporations, have a fiscal plan to balance the budget, get the border protected and begin to fix Social Security in the first 100 days. So, anybody who is here tonight, if I get elected president, head out tomorrow and buy a seat belt, because there's going to be so much happening in the first 100 days, it's going to make your head spin. We're going to move America forward. I promise you. We're going to move us forward. +p409 +aVJeb mentioned me. Time for me to go again. +p410 +aVHe says he didn't mention me the second time. I thought I heard it, Jeb. No. I'm just kidding. Thank you all very much for listening and being patient with all of us tonight. Thank you. +p411 +aVDavid, David... +p412 +aVI wanted \u2014 I wanted to say, look, this \u2014 there can be a win-win here. I have formed a collaborative between police and community leaders because people have to respect law enforcement. A family doesn't want dad or mom going home in a box. And for our community leaders, many of them think the system not only works \u2014 not only doesn't work for them, but it works against them. And I created a big collaborative in Ohio made up of law enforcement, community leaders, the head of my public safety and a former Democrat, liberal Senate senator Nina Turner, run it. They got together, they made recommendations on recruiting, on hiring, on the use of deadly force and what we're about to do is to bring community and police together so we can have a win-win. We need more win-wins in America and we don't have to pick one over another divide. We love the police, but we've got to be responsible to the people in the community. We have to do all of that. +p413 +aVJosh? +p414 +aVJosh, I mean, clearly, when a veteran comes home, they should get health care anywhere they want to go. In our state, which is what we should do in the country, you know, if they drive a truck from Kabul to Kandahar in Afghanistan, we say, you can drive a truck from Columbus to Cleveland, and you don't have to go get a license. We're going to hand you one. And if you've got expertise in the military, we're going to give you college credit or community college credit for the things that you did for our country. And in addition to that, I'll tell you, one of the biggest things I think has to be done \u2014 and I would do it as president \u2014 the Pentagon has got to work with the returning soldier, sailor, along with the family, and we \u2014 they're the most valuable employees in the country. I call them golden employees. Everybody wants to hire a veteran. But there is a disconnect between the job openings and the veteran when the veteran comes back. The veteran is a leader. The veteran is strong. The veteran is drug free. There should be no unemployment among veterans. And if the Pentagon will work with the veterans' services agencies all across this country, Josh, we can get people jobs and we can get them jobs quickly, get them their health care......get them their college education. Let's lift them. They're the greatest people defending the United States of America and we need to take care of them, and we will. We will. +p415 +aVCarolina's going to win that one. I hate to say it. But they're going to win that one. +p416 +aVWell, folks, I've done now over 100 town hall meetings and I've loved every second of it. It has been the greatest thing in the world. And I want you to know that you've changed me, because I've listened to your stories and I've had your hugs and I've seen your tears, and I've seen you walk away and say, I now have hope. You know, I've had a conservative message, but a positive message \u2014 not just a conservative message, but a positive message about how we can bring people together, how we can restore America's strength, lift everyone. New Hampshire, please give me a chance to carry this message forward to the United States of America. And then, I will come back. Thank you, loved it. And God bless you. +p417 +aVWell, first of all, I had a national reporter say, you know, there's three lanes. There's the establishment lane, the anti-establishment lane, and then there's the Kasich lane. And the reason is, is that I've been a reformer all of my career, fighting to reform welfare, fighting to reform the Pentagon, also being in a position to balance the budget, because that is very, very hard to do. And then in Ohio, of course, I had to bring about big reform, again, because we were so far in the hole and now we just found out we are up over 400,000 jobs since I took over as governor. You know, the situation is this. We cannot fix things in this country \u2014 the Social Security, the border, balancing the budget, getting wages to grow faster \u2014 unless we lead as conservatives, but we also invite people in from the other party. We have to come together as a country. And we have to stop all the divisions. And, you know, that's been my message in New Hampshire. And having been in New Hampshire and here in Iowa, but in New Hampshire, I just received the support of seven out of eight of the newspapers in that state because they see positive, they see unity, they see coming together, and they see a record of change and a record of accomplishment. And it isn't because I'm all that great. It's because I've been assembling a team of people who want to be involved in something that's a little bigger than themselves. I'll keep \u2014 I'll keep heading in that direction, believe me. +p418 +aVChris... ... there was a question about foreign policy, by the way, and experience. And I \u2014 I thought, if I didn't jump in, I might not be able to tell everybody this. I think they'd want to hear it. Look, I served on... +p419 +aV... but wait a minute... +p420 +aV...the only reason is \u2014 look... +p421 +aVOK. +p422 +aVI've always listened to you, Megyn. Go ahead. +p423 +aVYes \u2014 thank you. +p424 +aVWell, look the Joint Terrorism Task Force needs resources and tools. And those are made up of the FBI, state and local law enforcement. And Megyn, it's best not to talk anymore about back doors and encryption, it will get solved, but it needs to be solved in the situation of the White House with the technology folks. +p425 +aVBut I just have to tell you that it's best with some of these things not be said. Now I want to go back something. See, I was there when Reagan rebuilt the military. I was there in '89 when the wall came tumbling down because we were strong. And I was there when we went into the Gulf War. We didn't win that war just from the air, we won that war by assembling a group of Arab leaders who stood in the Rose Garden and stood with America. We want to destroy +p426 +aVBut we have a unique time in America to connect with people all around the world that understand that there's an existential threat against all of them, the Arabs, the Jordanians, the Saudis, the Egyptians, our friends in Europe, including the Turks. So we have a unique opportunity to bring everybody together. I saw Reagan do it, I've seen other presidents do it. And frankly, if you want to be commander in chief, you have to have the experience. At the same time we're doing all that, the Pentagon must be reformed so we get what we need for our men and women in uniform. All of that together, we're going to be just fine and America is going to continue to lead the world. +p427 +aVWell, you've got to be on top of it right away. And, you know, I don't know all the details of what Rick Snyder has done. I know there have been people who have been fired; people who are being held accountable. But the fact is, every single engine of government has to move when you see a crisis like that. And I've had many situations in the state of Ohio where we've had to move, whether it's storms, whether it was a horrible school shooting. There are many crises that come \u2014 a water crisis in Toledo. You've got to be on top of it. You've got to go the extra mile. You've got to work with local communities and you've got to work with the federal government. Because you realize that people depending on you. And so, you go the extra mile. But people have to be alert. They have to be alert to problems. And when you see a problem, you must act quickly to get on top of it. And people at home are saying they've got a problem, listen to them. Because most of the time, they're absolutely correct. So the fact is that we work for the people. The people don't work for us. And we have to have an attitude when we're in government of serving-hood. That's what really matters. We serve you. You don't serve us. We listen to you and \u2014 and then we act. +p428 +aVNo. You know, Chris, here's what happened with Medicaid in my state. We took the growth of Medicaid from over 10 percent in my second budget to 2.5 percent, without cutting off one person or cutting one benefit, because we \u2014 we innovated the government. And now mom and dad can stay in their own home, rather than being forced into a nursing home. And then we decided we could bring $14 billion of our money \u2014 I mean, Washington doesn't have any money. It was our money, and we brought them back to tend to the mentally ill. Because I don't think they ought to live in prison or live under a bridge; to treat the drug-addicted so they're not in an in-and-out-of-the-door policy out of the prisons; and to help the working poor so they don't live in emergency rooms. How has it worked? Well, we have treated the drug-addicted in our prisons and we released them in to the community, and our recidivism rate is less than 20 percent. That's basically bordering on a miracle because of our great prison director. The mentally ill? They've been stepped on for too long in this society, and we are beginning to treat them. In terms of my faith, look, all I say is that when I study scripture, I know that people who live in the shadows need to have a chance. But I'm not deciding that anybody's got to make these decisions the way that I do, on the basis of what I do. But what \u2014 I will tell you this. The time has come to stop ignoring the mentally ill in this country and begin to treat them and get them on their feet, along with, of course, with treating the drug-addicted. Because we don't want them in and out \u2014 we don't want them in and out of the prisons. Give people a chance. We talked about criminal justice reform. We've enacted it in our state. Look, the conservative message is economic growth and along with economic growth goes opportunity for everybody in America. Everybody ought to have a chance to be able to rise to their God-given purpose. And that is what we have done in Ohio. We're running surpluses. We're up 400,000 jobs. And guess what? The formula is working. I'd suggest people take a look at it. Thank you. +p429 +aVLook, we don't know what's going to happen in ten months. And if I were president of the United States right now, I'd be lining up our allies to say that, if one crossed T or one dotted I does not occur, they are \u2014 violate the agreement, we slap back on sanctions. We can slap on sanctions alone, on day one, but it's not gonna be anywhere near as effective. But the president needs to be laying the groundwork right now for the ability to slap those sanctions back on worldwide. And I'll tell you what I'm worried about \u2014 I'm worried about money. You read about all the companies now that are doing business \u2014 about to do business in Iran, and if we don't get this settled now, with other countries in the world, about sanctions, then Iran could violate that agreement, and we're the only ones putting the sanctions on. We need to move aggressively now. But I would say this to you, Bret. Number one, if they violate it, we need to move against them. And number two, if we find out they're developing a nuclear weapon and we know how to get to it, we're gonna go take it out. That is what we have to do. We cannot let things get farther down the road, like we did with North Korea. +p430 +aVThat's right. Yes. +p431 +aVI know, Bret. +p432 +aVBut Bret, here's the problem. You take a look at the \u2014 at Belgium. I talked to a diplomat from Belgium. I said, "how's it going?" He said, "we have the military in the streets right now. We never dreamt we'd ever see it." See, I think there is an opportunity to bring the world together. The Turks are being threatened. We know about the French. We know about the Belgians. We know about the Brits. Everybody is under fire and under attack, and we have to stand together as an alliance. So actually, the opportunity is there, because of the threat to all of these countries, to bring all of us together... ... and say there is something more important than money. It is the future of the world and the future of our children and grandchildren. That's the kind of leadership this country needs. It has not been in effect during the administration of Barack Obama. And that's only the beginning of the failures that they have committed, not only in the Middle East, but all over the world, including Russia and China. +p433 +aVYou know, one of our biggest national security issues is the world looks at us some time, and we look at each other and say, why can't we solve problems? Well, I've got news for you, we can. We can in fact create jobs and provide job security. We can create a situation where wages begin to rise. We can create a situation for our children to be able to get a decent job to pay down their college debt. We can re-assume our role in the world. But all of this has to come together when we have a positive attitude, an optimistic approach, an ability for us to set the tune as conservatives, to invite other people in to be part of that orchestra. You see, ladies and gentlemen, at the end of the day, I'm an optimist Because I've seen so many things get accomplished in my lifetime. And we can do it again together, all of us, to strengthen this country, work together. Thank you. +p434 +aVLook, it takes three things basically to grow jobs. And I've done it when I was in Washington when we had a balanced budget; had four years of balanced budgets; paid down a half-trillion of debt. And our economy was growing like crazy. It's the same thing that I did in Ohio. It's a simple formula: common sense regulations, which is why I think we should freeze all federal regulations for one year, except for health and safety. It requires tax cuts, because that sends a message to the job creators that things are headed the right way. And if you tax cuts \u2014 if you cut taxes for corporations, and you cut taxes for individuals, you're going to make things move, particularly the corporate tax, which is the highest, of course, in the \u2014 in the world. But in addition to that, we have to have fiscal discipline. We have to show that we can march to a balanced budget. And when you do that, when you're in a position of managing regulations; when you reduce taxes; and when you have fiscal discipline, you see the job creators begin to get very comfortable with the fact that they can invest. Right now, you don't have the \u2014 you have taxes that are too high. You have regulations \u2014 I mean, come on, they're affecting everybody here, particularly our small businesses. They are \u2014 they're in a position where they're smothering people. And I mean, are you kidding me? We're nowhere close to a balanced budget or fiscal discipline. Those three things put together are going to give confidence to job creators and you will begin to see wages rise. You will begin to see jobs created in a robust economy. And how do I know it? Because I've done it. I did it as the chairman of the Budget Committee, working with Senator Domenici. And I've done it in the state of Ohio as the chief executive. Our wages are growing faster than the national average. We're running surpluses. And we can take that message and that formula to Washington to lift every single American to a better life. +p435 +aVWell, if that's the case, we're going to win every state, if Bernie Sanders is the nominee. That's not even an issue. But look......and I know Bernie, and I can promise you he's not going to be president of the United States. So here's this \u2014 the situation, I think, Maria. And this is what we have to \u2014 I \u2014 I've got to tell you, when wages don't rise \u2014 and they haven't for a lot of families for a number of years \u2014 it's very, very difficult for them. Part of the reason why it hasn't risen because sometimes we're not giving people the skills they need. Sometimes it's because the Federal Reserve kept interest rates so low that the wealthy were able to invest in \u2014 in strong assets like the stock market when everybody else was left behind. People are upset about it. I'll tell you what else they're upset about: you're 50 or 51 years old, and some kid walks in and tells you you're out of work, and you don't know where to go and where to turn. Do we have answer for that? We do. There are ways to retrain the 50 and 51-year-olds, because they've got great value. I'll tell you what else people are concerned about. Their kids come out of college, they have high debt and they can't get a good job. We got to do a lot about the high cost of high \u2014 higher education, but we've got to make sure we're training people for jobs that exist, that are good jobs that can pay. Let me tell you that, in this country \u2014 in this country, people are concerned about their economic future. They're very concerned about it. And they wonder whether somebody is getting something to \u2014 keeping them from getting it. That's not the America that I've ever known. My father used to say, "Johnny, we never \u2014 we don't hate the rich. We just want to be the rich." And we just got to make sure that every American has the tools, in K-through-12 and in vocational education, in higher education. And we got to fight like crazy so people can think the American dream still exists, because it does, with rising wages, with full employment and with everybody in America \u2014 and I mean everybody in America \u2014 having an opportunity to realize the American dream of having a better life than their mother and their father. I'm president \u2014 look, I've done it once. I've done it once in Washington, with great jobs and lower taxes. The economy was really booming. And now in Ohio, with the same formula, wages higher than the \u2014 than the national average. A growth of 385,000 jobs. It's not that hard. Just know where you want to go, stick to your guts. Get it done, because our \u2014 our children and grandchildren are counting on us to get it done. And, folks, we will. You count on it. +p436 +aVWell, let me \u2014 let me first of all talk a little bit about my experience. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years, and by the way, one of the members of that committee was Senator Strom Thurmond from South Carolina. Let em also tell you......that after the 9/11 attacks, Secretary Rumsfeld invited me to the Pentagon with a meeting of the former secretaries of Defense. And in that meeting, I suggested we had a problem with technology, and that I wanted to take people from Silicon Valley into the Pentagon to solve our most significant problems. So I not only had the opportunity to go through the Cold War struggles in Central America, and even after 9/11 to be involved. With Saudi Arabia and oil production, first of all, it's so critical for us to be energy independent, and we're getting there because of fracking and we ought to explore because, see, energy independence gives us leverage and flexibility, and secondly, if you want to bring jobs back to the United States of America in industry, low prices make the difference. We're seeing it in my state and we'll see it in this country. And that's why we must make sure we continue to frack. In terms of Saudi Arabia, look, my biggest problem with them is they're funding radical clerics through their madrasses. That is a bad deal and an evil situation, and presidents have looked the other way. And I was going to tell you, whether I'm president or not, we better make it clear to the Saudis that we're going to support you, we're in relation with you just like we were in the first Gulf War, but you've got to knock off the funding and teaching of radical clerics who are the very people who try to destroy us and will turn around and destroy them. So look, in foreign policy \u2014 in foreign policy, it's strength, but you've got to be cool. You've got to have a clear vision of where you want to go. And I'm going to tell you, that it \u2014 I'm going to suggest to you here tonight, that you can't do on the job training. I've seen so much of it \u2013 a Soviet Union, the coming down of a wall, the issues that we saw around the world in Central America, the potential spread of communism, and 9/11 and Gulf War. You see what the Saudi's \u2014 deliver them a strong message but at the end of the day we have to keep our cool because most of the time they're going right with us. And they must be part of our coalition to destroy +p437 +aVI \u2014 I've been for pausing on admitting the Syrian refugees. And the reasons why I've done is I don't believe we have a good process of being able to vet them. But you know, we don't want to put everybody in the same category. And I'll go back to something that had been mentioned just a few minutes ago. If we're going to have a coalition, we're going to have to have a coalition not just of people in the western part of the world, our European allies, but we need the Saudis, we need the Egyptians, we need the Jordanians, we need the Gulf states. We need Jordan. We need all of them to be part of exactly what the first George Bush put together in the first Gulf War. It was a coalition made up of Arabs and Americans and westerners and we're going to need it again. And if we try to put everybody in the same \u2014 call everybody the same thing, we can't do it. And that's just not acceptable. But I think a pause on Syrian refugees has been exactly right for all the governors that have called for it, and also, of course, for me as the governor of Ohio. +p438 +aVNeil, Neil \u2014 can I say one thing about this. I'm a free trader. I support +p439 +aVFor too long \u2014 no, for too long, what happens is somebody dumps their product in our country and take our people's jobs, and then we go to an international court and it takes them like a year or two to figure out whether they were cheating us. And guess what? The worker's out of a job. So when they \u2014 be found against that country that's selling products in here lower than the cost of what it takes to produce them, then what do we tell the worker? Oh, well, you know, it just didn't work out for you. I think we should be for free trade but I think fair trade. And when countries violate trade agreements or dump product in this country, we need \u2014 we need to stand up against those countries that do that without making them into an enemy. And I want to just suggest to you. How do I know this? Because so many people in my family worked in steel mills, and they didn't work with a white collar, they worked in a blue collar. And the fact is those jobs are critical, they're hard working members of the middle class and they need to be paid attention to because they're Americans and they carry the load. So let's demand open trade but fair trade in this country. That's what I think we need to do. +p440 +aVWell, I created a task force well over a year ago and the purpose was to bring law enforcement, community people, clergy and the person that I named as one of the co-chair was a lady by the name of Nina Turner, a former State Senator, a liberal Democrat. She actually ran against one of my friends and our head of public safety. And they say down as a group trying to make sure that we can begin to heal some of these problems that we see between community and police. And they came back with 23 recommendations. One of them is a statewide use of deadly force. And it is now being put into place everyplace across the state of Ohio. Secondly, a policy on recruiting and hiring, and then more resources for \u2014 for training. But let me also tell you, one of the issues has got to be the integration of both community and police. Community has to understand that that police officer wants to get home at night, and not \u2014 not to lose their life. Their family is waiting for them. At the same time, law enforcement understands there are people in the community who not only think that the system doesn't work for them, but works against them. See, in Ohio, we've had some controversial decisions. But the leaders have come forward to realize that protest is fine, but violence is wrong. And it has been a remarkable situation in our state. And as president of the United States, it's all about communication, folks. It's all about getting people to listen to one another's problems. And when you do that, you will be amazed at how much progress you can make, and how much healing we can have. Because, folks, at the end of the day, the country needs healed. I've heard a lot of hot rhetoric here tonight, but I've got to tell you, as somebody that actually passed a budget; that paid down a half-a-trillion dollars of our national debt, you can't do it alone. You've got to bring people together. You've got to give people hope. And together, we can solve these problems that hurt us and heal America. And that is what's so critical for our neighborhoods, our families, our children, and our grandchildren. +p441 +aVYou know, in our country, there are a lot of people who feel as though they just don't have the power. You know, they feel like if they don't have a lobbyist, if they're not wealthy, that somehow they don't get to play. But all of my career, you know, having been raised in \u2014 by a mailman father whose father was a coal miner, who died of black lung and was losing his eyesight; or a mother whose mother could barely speak English. You see, all of my career, I've fought about giving voice to the people that I grew up with and voice to the people that elected me. Whether it's welfare reform and getting something back for the hard-earned taxpayers; whether it's engaging in Pentagon reform and taking on the big contractors that were charging thousands of dollars for hammers and screw drivers and ripping us off; or whether it's taking on the special interests in the nursing home industry in Ohio, so that mom and dad can have the ability to stay in their own home, rather than being forced into a nursing home. Look, that's who I stand up for. That's who's in my mind......And if you really want to believe that you can get your voice back, I will tell you, as I have all my career, I will continue to fight for you, because you're the ones that built this country, and will carry it into the future. Thank you. +p442 +aVThank you, Wolf. Just last weekend, just last week, a friend asked one of my daughters, "Do you like politics?" And my daughter said, "No, I don't. And the reason I don't like it is because there's too much fighting, too much yelling. It's so loud, I don't like it." You know, I turned to my friend and I said, "You know, she's really on to something." And when we think about our country and the big issues that we face in this country; creating jobs, making sure people can keep their jobs, the need for rising wages, whether our children when they graduate from college can find a job, protecting the homeland, destroying +p443 +aVWell, first of all, Wolf, I said last February that we needed to have people on the ground, troops on the ground in a coalition similar to what we had in the first Gulf War. I remember when the Egyptian ambassador to the United States stood in the Rose Garden and pledged Arab commitment to removing Saddam Hussein from Kuwait. Before we came out here tonight, I am told that the Saudis have organized 34 countries who want to join in the battle against terrorism. First and foremost, we need to go and destroy +p444 +aVNo, I don't think it is. And I want to go back to two other issues. One is the metadata. We know we have to hold this data for a longer period of time. And, you know, in a lot of ways, Chris is right. Look, what a president has to do is take a position. We don't want to err on the side of having less. We want to err on the side of having more. That's good for our families. In addition to that, Wolf, there is a big problem. It's called encryption. And the people in San Bernardino were communicating with people who the FBI had been watching. But because their phone was encrypted, because the intelligence officials could not see who they were talking to, it was lost. We have to solve the encryption problem. It is not easy. A president of the United States, again, has to bring people together, have a position. We need to be able to penetrate these people when they are involved in these plots and these plans. And we have to give the local authorities the ability to penetrate to disrupt. That's what we need to do. Encryption is a major problem, and Congress has got to deal with this and so does the president to keep us safe. +p445 +aVYeah, let me \u2014 let me just suggest to everybody, and I hear \u2014 last February, I said we needed to have people on the ground in a coalition with Europe and our allies. This is not going to get done just by working with the Sunnis. And it is not going to get done if we just embed a few people. We have to go massively, like we did in the first Gulf War where we destroyed Saddam's ability to take Kuwait. We need to have a coalition that will stand for nothing less than the total destruction of +p446 +aVI don't understand this thing about Assad. He has to go. Assad is aligned with Iran and Russia. The one thing we want to prevent is we want to prevent Iran being able to extend a Shia crescent all across the Middle East. Assad has got to go. And there are moderates there. There are moderates in Syria who we should be supporting. I do not support a civil war. I don't want to be policeman of the world. But we can't back off of this. And let me tell you, at the end, the Saudis have agreed to put together a coalition inside of Syria to stabilize that country. +p447 +aVHe must go. It will be a blow to Iran and Russia. +p448 +aVThe foreign policy, you have to know how to pick and choose. There's no way, if Saddam had not had weapons of mass destruction, I would have gone, because I don't believe that the U.S. should be involved directly in civil wars. I opposed the U.S. involvement in Lebanon. We ended up having to withdraw our marines after our barracks were blown up. There is a difference between Iraq, where you have Sunni, Shia, and Kurds put together after the First World War by the Western powers. It doesn't work. It needs to break up into three parts. And for the Russians, frankly, it's time that we punched the Russians in the nose. They've gotten away with too much in this world and we need to stand up against them, not just there, but also in Eastern Europe where they threaten some of our most precious allies. +p449 +aVIt sounds more and more what my daughter said that I said in the beginning, all the fighting and arguing is not advancing us. +p450 +aVIt is not the way we're going to strengthen our country. We will strengthen our country when we come together. And, look, you've got Rand Paul, you've got Ted Cruz, you've got Marco, you've got a lot of people on this stage that have studied these issues. You know what a leader does? A leader has a sound program, has a good policy, and then brings people together to solve problems. Guess what? Both in Congress in balancing the budget and in Ohio fixing the economy \u2014 and, by the way, we talk about the fence. The first thing we better get going is strengthening our economy, because if we don't have a strong economy, we can't pay for all of this. And the world wants us to be able to function from strength, believe it or not. Get our economy going, get these people together in a room. We can fix this, ladies and gentlemen. We don't have to fight all the time. It can be done, and we will be great... +p451 +aV... when we join together. Thank you, Hugh. +p452 +aVYou know, obviously, as president of the United States, we've got to keep the people safe. That's first and foremost. But as governor of Ohio, I have an obligation to keep the 11.5 million people in Ohio safe. And we have been very effective with our Joint Terrorism Task Force, being able to make busts. In fact, we just made one three-four weeks ago against a person who was favorable to +p453 +aVNo Republican has ever been elected president of the United States without winning Ohio. Let me give you a little tip on how you win Ohio, it's reform, it's hope, it's growth, it's opportunity, and it's security. The people of Ohio are the people of America. The people of America are reflected in Ohio. Our message has to be big, and bold, and positive, and connect, not just with people's heads but also connect with their hearts. If we do it, we will beat Hillary Clinton, and we will run the White House, and we will strengthen and fix America, I promise you. +p454 +aVFirst of all, let me just say that, in the state of Ohio \u2014 and I'm the only acting executive on \u2014 on this stage today \u2014 we do have a moderate increase in the minimum wage. And I got to tell you, my father carried mail on his back. His father was a coal miner. He died of black lung. He was losing his eyesight. My mother's mother lived with us. She could barely speak English. I come from a town where if the wind blew the wrong way, people found themselves out of work. An economic theory is fine, but you know what? People need help. Now, I have a plan that, in fact, would cut taxes, but not $11 trillion or $12 trillion that would put my children further in debt. I have a plan that would not only cut taxes, lower the income tax rate for individuals, lower the tax for businesses so businesses will compete here and not move operations overseas, and also a plan \u2014 the only plan of anybody standing on this stage to get us to a balanced budget by the end of a second term. And, you know, the simple fact of the matter is, we hear a lot of promises in this debate, a lot of promises about these tax cuts or tax schemes sometimes that I call them. Hillary and the Democrats promise everything on the spending side. We've got to be responsible about what we propose on the tax side. Yes, lower taxes, lower spending. My website, JohnKasich.com, will show you exactly how we balance the budget. I balanced the budget in Washington as a chief architect, and I have balanced it in Ohio for one reason. When you balance the budget and you cut taxes, people get work. And our most important moral purpose as leaders in the political system is to make sure we create an environment for job creation so people can live their dreams and realize their God-given potential. That's why it's so important. And for those at the bottom, we've got to do what we can to train them so they can move up. But to just look the other way is not acceptable, because, you know what, as the governor of Ohio I have to deal with real challenges, and we've gotten it done in our state, and I will do it for America. +p455 +aVSure. We would move the Medicare system from a 7 percent growth down to about a 5 percent growth. And I have a whole series of ways to do that. In Ohio, we reduced Medicaid funding for the poor from 10 percent to 2.5 percent, didn't cut one benefit or didn't take anybody off the rolls. Why? Because we're innovators. I've been an innovator my entire career. And I really don't care what special interests or lobbyists have to say. I have a job to do when I take over a public office. Now, we freeze non-defense discretionary for eight years. We also put an increase in defense spending. Our tax cuts balance out. And at the end of the day, we will get to a balanced budget. And I want everybody here to know, when I was Budget Committee chairman in Washington, I stepped on every toe in that town, and we got to a balanced budget, and we had enormous job growth. And as governor of Ohio, we went from 350,000 lost jobs to a gain of 347,000 jobs. +p456 +aVI'll do it in Washington. I've done it twice; I'll do it thrice for the United States of America. +p457 +aVExcuse me. +p458 +aVYeah, I would like to make a comment. +p459 +aVI appreciate it, Jeb. I'm all of you. But I want at some point to talk about a value-added tax and $11 trillion, $12 trillion tax cuts that will put our kids way deeper in the hole than they have been at this point. So I would like to talk about it at some point, because that's what leadership is. +p460 +aVMaria, can we comment on that? +p461 +aVCan we comment on that? +p462 +aVWell, look, in 1986 Ronald Reagan basically said the people who were here, if they were law-abiding, could stay. But, what didn't happen is we didn't build the walls effectively and we didn't control the border. We need to. We need to control our border just like people have to control who goes in and out of their house. But if people think that we are going to ship 11 million people who are law-abiding, who are in this country, and somehow pick them up at their house and ship them out of Mexico \u2014 to Mexico, think about the families. Think about the children. So, you know what the answer really is? If they have been law- abiding, they pay a penalty. They get to stay. We protect the wall. Anybody else comes over, they go back. But for the 11 million people, come on, folks. We all know you can't pick them up and ship them across, back across the border. It's a silly argument. It is not an adult argument. It makes no sense. +p463 +aVJerry, Gerald, it was an attack. +p464 +aVIn the state of Ohio, the state of Ohio, we have grown 347,000 jobs. Our unemployment is half of what it was. Our fracking industry, energy industry may have contributed 20,000, but if Mr. Trump understood that the real jobs come in the downstream, not in the upstream, but in the downstream. And that's where we're going to get our jobs. But Ohio is diversified. And little false little things, sir, they don't really work when it comes to the truth. So the fact is, all I'm suggesting, we can't ship 11 million people out of this country. Children would be terrified, and it will not work. +p465 +aV...Mr. Baker, everybody got to talk about taxes... +p466 +aV...I think you were coming to me and then... +p467 +aV...Look, I hate to crash the party to you, Mr. Baker, but, you know, what's fair... +p468 +aV...Yes, sir... +p469 +aVLet me tell you this, Mr. Baker, in terms of the cyber attacks, we have the capability to not only have a defensive posture, but it also to make it clear to people that if you attack us with cyber attacks, we will destroy the mechanisms that you are using to attack us. I want to give you a little trip around the world. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years. In the Ukraine, arm the people there so they can fight for themselves. In the eastern part of Europe, make sure that Finland and the Baltics know that if the Russians move, we move. In Syria, yes, a no-fly zone in the north on the Turkish border, a no-fly zone on the south on the Jordanian border. Anybody flies in the first time, maybe they can fly out. They fly in there a second time, they will not fly out. And it also becomes a sanctuary for the people to be. And it also sends many messages in the Middle East that we're still involved. Saudi Arabia, cut off the funding for the radical clerics, the ones that preach against us. But they're fundamentally our friends. Jordan, we want the king to reign for 1,000 years. Egypt, they have been our ally and a moderating force in the Middle East throughout their history. In the groups \u2014 in the countries of the Gulf states of Bahrain, the Cleveland Clinic is opening an operation. Clearly we see the same with them. And in Israel, we have no better ally in the world, and no more criticizing them in public, we should support them. And finally China, China doesn't own the South China Sea, and I give the president some credit for being able to move a naval force in there to let the Chinese know that we're not going to put up with it any more. And in the trade agreement, the TPP, it's critical to us, not only for economic reasons and for jobs, because there are so many people who are connected to getting jobs because of trade, but it allows us to create not only economy alliances, but also potentially strategic alliances against the Chinese. They are not our enemy, but they are certainly not our friend. And finally, I will say to everyone in this room, we have been talking about taxes and economics. When the fall comes, and we run against Hillary, which will be a disaster if she got elected. I have two 16-year-old girls, and I want this country to be strong. We make promises we can't keep under the bright light of the fall, we will have trouble. We must make sure that economic programs and our military programs are solid. I served in Washington as the chairman of the Budget Committee, and we got the budget balanced. And in Ohio, as the CEO, and guess what, we have got to have a CEO mentality and a way to beat Hillary Clinton and the Democracies in the fall. And our ideas have to add up. They have to be solid. And people have to know we have the confidence to lead America. And as president, I will lead this country, as I have before in Washington and in Ohio, and will return both on domestic and international affairs. And I appreciate the opportunity to speak this time, Gerry. +p470 +aVLet me \u2014 let me also say, Gary \u2014 Gary, let me also say, Jeb is \u2014 what Jeb is talking about with the big banks is to force them to reserve their capital, people who invest it and they hold their capital, so that if the bank goes down, the people who are invested in the bank are the ones that pay. That's what he's trying to say. Secondly, I'll tell you about Wall Street: There's too much greed. And the fact is, a free enterprise system is a system that's produced the greatest wealth for the world. But you know Michael Novak, the great Catholic theologian, says that a free enterprise system that is not underlaid with values \u2014 and we should all think about the way we conduct our lives \u2014 yes, free enterprise is great, profits are great, but there have to be some values that underlay it, and they need a good ethics lesson on Wall Street on a regular basis to keep them in check so we, the people, do not lose. +p471 +aVNeil, that's the difference of being an executive. And let me just explain: when a bank is ready to go under and depositors are getting ready to lose their life savings, you just don't say we believe in philosophical concerns. You know what an executive has to decide? When there's a water crisis, how do we get water to the city? When there's a school shooting, how do you get there and help heal a community? When there are financial crisis, or a crisis with ebola, you got to go there and try to fix it. Philosophy doesn't work when you run something. And I gotta tell you, on-the-job training for president of the United States doesn't work. We've done it for 8 years, \u2014 and almost 8 years now. It does not work. We need an executive who's been tried, has been tested, and judge the decisions that that executive makes. I don't like what the Fed is doing, but I'll tell you what worries me more than anything else: turning the Fed over to the Congress of the United States... +p472 +aV...so they can print the money. That would be a very bad approach. +p473 +aVI wouldn't. I wouldn't. +p474 +aVNo. No, I didn't say that. +p475 +aVThey were \u2014 they were talking about what you would do with depositors. Would you let these banks shut down? My argument is, going forward, the banks have to reserve the capital, so that the \u2014 so that the people who own the capital start pressuring the banks to not take these risky approaches, Ted. But at the end of the day... +p476 +aV... I'm gonna tell you this. Let me tell you this. If during \u2014 if during... +p477 +aV...because if during \u2014 well, I'll tell you what (ph). +p478 +aVAs an executive \u2014 no. As an executive, I would figure out how to separate those people who can afford it versus those people, or the hard-working folks who put those money in those institutions...... let me \u2014 no, no. Let me say another thing. Here's what I mean by that. Here's what I mean by that. +p479 +aVWhen you are faced \u2014 when you are faced, in the last financial crisis, with banks going under \u2014 with banks going under, and people, people who put their \u2014 their life savings in there, you got to deal with it. You can't turn a blind eye to it. Now, going forward, that's one thing. If you had another financial crisis, perhaps there would be an effort to make sure that we do (ph). +p480 +aVWell, ladies and gentlemen, if Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders were to win this election, my 16-year-olds, I \u2014 I worry about what their life is going to be like. You know, the conservative movement is all about opportunity. It is about lower taxes. It's about balanced budgets. It's about less regulation. And it's about sending power, money and influence back to where we live so we can run America from the bottom up. In addition to that, once we have the power and the money and the influence with programs we shift out, that each of us have a responsibility to reach out and to rebuild our families, make them stronger, and connect our neighborhoods. All that together \u2014 wealth, connection, family \u2014 America's greatest days are ahead. We must win this election. +p481 +aVGood question, but I want to tell you, my great concern is that we are on the verge, perhaps, of picking someone who cannot do this job. I've watched to see people say that we should dismantle Medicare and Medicaid and leave the senior citizens out \u2014 out in the \u2014 in the cold. I've heard them talk about deporting 10 or 11 \u2014 people here from this country out of this country, splitting families. I've heard about tax schemes that don't add up, that put our kids in \u2014 in a deeper hole than they are today. We need somebody who can lead. We need somebody who can balance budgets, cut taxes... +p482 +aVYou know, frankly, I did it in Washington, in Ohio, and I will do it again in Washington, if I'm president, to get this country moving again. +p483 +aVcountry moving again. +p484 +aVListen, I want to just comment. +p485 +aVWell I want to comment on this. This is the fantasy... +p486 +aVThis is the fantasy that I talked about in the beginning. +p487 +aVI'm the only person on this stage that actually was involved in the chief architect of balancing the Federal Budget. You can't do it with empty promised. You know, these plans would put us trillions and trillions of dollars in debt. I actually have a plan. I'm the only one on this stage that has a plan that would create jobs, cut taxes, balance the budget and can get it done because I'm realistic. You just don't make promises like this. Why don't we just give a chicken in every pot, while we're, you know, coming up \u2014 coming up with these fantasy tax schemes. We'll just clean it up. Where are you gonna clean it up? You have to deal with entitlements, you have to be in a position to control discretionary spending. You gotta be creative and imaginative. Now, let me just be clear, John. I went into Ohio where we had an $8 billion hole and now we have a $2 billion surplus. We're up 347,000 jobs. When I was in Washington, I fought to get the budget balanced. I was the architect. It was the first time we did it since man walked on the moon. We cut taxes and we had a $5 trillion projected surplus when I left. That's was hard work. Fiscal discipline, know what you're doing. Creativity. This stuff is fantasy. Just like getting rid of Medicare and Medicaid. Come on, that's just not \u2014 you scare senior citizens with that. It's not responsible. +p488 +aVWell, I mean right here. To talk about we're just gonna have a 10 percent tithe and that's how we're gonna fund the government? And we're going to just fix everything with waste, fraud, and abuse? Or that we're just going to be great? Or we're going to ship 10 million Americans \u2014 or 10 million people out of this country, leaving their children here in this country and dividing families? Folks, we've got to wake up. We cannot elect somebody that doesn't know how to do the job. You have got to pick somebody who has experience, somebody that has the know-how, the discipline. And I spent my entire lifetime balancing federal budgets, growing jobs, the same in Ohio. And I will go back to Washington with my plan. +p489 +aVAnd I will have done it within 100 days, and it will pass. And we will be strong again. Thank you. +p490 +aVLet me just \u2014 let me respond. First of all, Ohio does have an energy industry, but we're diversified. We're one of the fastest growing states in the country. We came back from the dead. And you know what? It works very, very well. And secondly, when you talk about me being on the board of Lehman Brothers, I wasn't on the board of Lehman Brothers. I was a banker and I was proud of it. And I traveled the country and learned how people made jobs. We ought to have politicians who not only have government experience but know how the CEOs and the job creators work. My state is doing great across the board. And guess what, in 2011, I got a deal... +p491 +aV... an agreement with the... +p492 +aV... that he tried to take credit for four years later. It's a joke. +p493 +aVJohn Harwood, there's a bigger issue here. +p494 +aVWell, first of all, when we talk about the Import Export Bank, it's time to clean up corporate welfare. If we're gonna reform welfare for poor people, we ought to reform it for rich people, as well. Secondly, in our state, we went from a loss of 350,000 jobs to, now, a gain of 347,000 jobs to the positive. Our wages are growing faster than the national average, and I've cut taxes more than any sitting governor in this state \u2014 $5 billion, including no taxes on small business and killing the death tax. I want to go back to what we were talking about earlier, this budget deal in Washington. This is the same old stuff since I left. You spend the money today and then you hope you're going to save money tomorrow. I don't know if people understand, but I spent a lifetime with my colleagues getting us to a federal balanced budget. We actually did it. And I have a road map and a plan right now to get us to balance. Reforming entitlements, cutting taxes. You see, because if you really want to get to a balanced budget, you need to reduce your expenses and you need to grow your economy. So what I will tell you about our incentives \u2014 our incentives are tight, and at the end of the day we make sure that we gain more from the creation of jobs than what we lose. And you know what? Ohio, one of the best growing places in the country \u2014 I not only did it in Washington, I did it in Ohio, and I'll go back to Washington, and there will be no more silly deals... +p495 +aV... If I become President because we'll have a Constitutional Amendment to require a federally balanced budget so they will do their job. +p496 +aVWell, first of all, we're running a $2 billion dollar surplus, we're not having a revenue problem right now. And, sending mixed signals to kids about drugs is a disaster. Drugs is one of the greatest scourge in this country, and I spent five years of my administration working with my team to do a whole sort of things to try to reign in the problem of overdoses, and it goes on and on. We could do a whole show on that. I want to go back for a second thought on this issue of income inequality. My program would move the 104 programs of the federal Department of Education into four block grants, and send them back to the states because income inequality is driven by a lack of skills when kids don't get what they need to be able to compete and win in this country. The fact is, in order to get this economy moving again, I call for freezing regulations for a year except for the problem of public safety. I believe that we need to cut these taxes down, we need to be on a roadmap to balancing the budget, and we need to send power, money, and influence, the welfare department, the education department, job training, infrastructure, Medicaid, all of that out of Washington back to the states so we can run these programs from where we live to the top, not a one size fits all mentality that they have in Washington. And, that will get to the nub of opportunity for our children, and an ability to see wages rise. Again... +p497 +aV...One more time, in Ohio, our wages are growing faster than the national average. We've cut taxes, balanced budgets, changed the regulatory environment. Folks, you want to \u2014 +p498 +aV\u2014 fix America, this is the formula. It worked for Reagan and it works for our team in Ohio. Thank you. +p499 +aVJohn. +p500 +aVI wanna tell you, in my state, we took Medicaid, the hardest program to control, and we took it from a 10 percent growth rate to 2.5 percent without taking one person off the rolls or cutting one single benefit. And so much of what we did \u2014 to force competition, to use technology, to stand down the special interest groups \u2014 can you imagine taking Medicaid from 10 to 2.5 percent? We can take many of those same procedures, we can apply it to Medicare. We can make a stronger program. But I agree with Jeb, you can't just do this by growing the economy. You can't grow your way out of demographics. But we can give people better health care. And finally, on health care, why don't we start treating \u2014 keep giving... +p501 +aV...incentives for people to keep people healthy, rather than giving the incentives to treat them when they're sick? +p502 +aVI was on morning Joe at a town hall and a young student stood up and said, "Can I still be idealistic?" I said, absolutely, you can still change the world. And, you know the old inscription, if you save one life, you've changed the world. Folks, we have a problem here with the leadership in Washington, but I'll tell you another problem. We need to rebuild our families. We need to have stronger families. We need to know who our neighbors are. We need to come together as a country because we have to realize that America is great, not from the top-down. Oh yeah, we want to elect a good president, but America is great from the bottom-up, and the bottom-up is us in our families, in our communities, in our neighborhoods. We will renew America if we work together, and I am totally confident that we will. And God bless America. +p503 +aVHello, I'm John Kasich, the Governor of Ohio. Emma, and Reese, my children, and Karen, love 'ya girls. Thanks for watching tonight. By the way, I think I actually flew on this plane with Ronald Reagan when I was a congressman, and his goals, and mine, really much \u2014 are pretty much the same. Lift Americans, unify, give hope, grow America, and restore it is to that great, shining city on a hill. Yes, he was a great one, and I learned much from watching him. The most important thing, hope to Americans, unify, lift everyone in America. +p504 +aVJake, Jake. +p505 +aVListen, you know, I \u2014 if I were sitting at home and watch thing back and forth, I would be inclined to turn it off. I mean, people at home want to know across this country, they want to know what we're going to do to fix this place, how we'll balance a budget, how we're going to create more economic growth, how we'll pay down the debt. What we're going to do to strengthen the military. So, we just spent 10 minutes here... +p506 +aVBut \u2014 but wait a minute. It's a lot of ad hogshead. Now, I know that it may be buzzing out there, but I think it's important we get to the issues, because that's what people want, and they don't want all this fighting. +p507 +aV...Yeah, well... +p508 +aVWell, let me just say this. First of all, I think it's a bad agreement, I would never have done it. But, you know, a lot of our problems in the world today is that we don't have the relationship with our allies. If we want to go everywhere alone, we will not have the strength as (ph) if we could rebuild with our allies. Now, this agreement, we don't know what's going to happen in 18 months. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years. I've seen lots of issues in foreign affairs, and foreign \u2014 in terms of global politics, you have to be steady. Now, here's the \u2014 if they cheat, we slap the sanctions back on. If they help Hamas, and Hezbollah, we slap the sanctions back on. And, if we find out that they may be developing a nuclear weapon, than the military option is on the table. We are stronger when we work with the Western civilization, our friends in Europe, and just doing it on our own I don't think is the right policy. +p509 +aVNo, no, no. I want to \u2014 I want to \u2014 I want to say something about what the senator just said. +p510 +aVNo one is \u2014 no \u2014 let me \u2014 let me suggest to you we believe that we operate better in the world when our allies work with us. President Bush did it in the Gulf War. We work better when we are unified. Secondly, nobody's trusting Iran. They violate the deal, we put on the sanctions, and we have the high moral ground to talk to our allies in Europe to get them to go with us. If they don't go with us, we slap the sanctions on anyway. If they fund these radical groups that threaten Israel and all of the West, then we should rip up the deal and put the sanctions back on. And let me make it clear \u2014 let me make it clear... +p511 +aV... if we think \u2014 if we think they're getting close to a \u2014 to developing a nuclear weapon and we get that information, you better believe that I would do everything in my power as the commander-in-chief to stop them having a nuclear weapon. +p512 +aVWe can have it, and we can have our allies, and we can be strong as a country, and we can project across this globe with unity, not just doing it alone. That is not what gets us where we want to get as a nation. +p513 +aVWell, I agree that we should defund Planned Parenthood. I don't know many people in America who don't think that we should, and in my state, we're trying to figure out how to get it done, because we are threatened with the federal government taking all of our Medicaid money away. I think there is a way to get this done by giving governors the ability to be able to act to defund Planned Parenthood. But when (ph) it comes to closing down the federal government, you gotta be very careful about that. When we shut the government down \u2014 if we have a chance at success and it's a great principle, yes. The president of the United States is not going to sign this, and all we're gonna do is shut the government down, and then we're gonna open up \u2014 open it up, and the American people are gonna shake their heads and say, "what's the story with these Republicans?" So I think there is a way to get to cutting off the funding for Planned Parenthood. I was in the Congress for 18 years, balanced the budget, cut taxes, got it done. Changed welfare, went around the president to get welfare reform done. There are ways to do it without having to shut the government down, but I'm sympathetic to the fact that we don't want this organization to get funding, and the money ought to be reprogrammed for family planning in other organizations that don't support this tactic. But I would not be for shutting the government down... +p514 +aV...because I don't think it's going to work out. +p515 +aVWe're not \u2014 what I can tell you is this. We didn't surrender in New Jersey, six years ago, as the brand new first ever pro-life governor of New Jersey since Roe versus Wade, I defended Planned Parenthood. And I've vetoed Planned Parenthood funding, now, eight times in New Jersey. Since the day I walked in as governor, Planned Parenthood has not been funded in New Jersey. We stood up and every one of those vetoes has been sustained. But here's the problem, we're \u2014 we're fighting with each other up here. We agree. Let's ask Hillary Clinton. She believes in the systematic murder of children in the womb to preserve their body parts... +p516 +aV...Dana, in a way that maximizes their value for sale for profit. It is disgusting, and the American people need to hear it... +p517 +aV...we shouldn't be fighting with each other. She's the real opponent, she's the real problem. +p518 +aVI'll tell you what \u2014 I'll tell you what I'd be willing to fight for. I'll tell you what I'd be willing to fight for. Why will (ph) we put tax reform on the president's desk, so we can simplify this tax system? +p519 +aVNo, no, it's really important, Dana. We got to talk about what we would be willing to shut down for. Why don't we put tax reform on this president's desk, and make him veto it if that's what he wants to do? Why haven't we repealed and replaced Obamacare? Make him veto if that's what he wants to do. +p520 +aVThere's a \u2014 +p521 +aVJake \u2014 +p522 +aVOK, Jake. +p523 +aVI don't at this point in terms of changing the incentives for investment and risk-taking. But let's just stop for a second. There's one person on this stage that does have a record. I'm the only person on the stage and one of the few people in this country that led the effort as the chief architect of the last time we balanced the federal budget. We also cut taxes. And when I left Washington in 2000, we had a $5 trillion surplus, and the economy was booming. I had spent 10 years of my life to get us to that point, went out in the private sector, was a great experience, and went into Ohio and took an $8 billion hole and turned it into a $2 billion surplus. We've had the largest amount of tax cuts of any sitting governor. We've grown well over 300,000 jobs. You see, I've done it in both places. I'm the only one here that has done it in both places. It took a lot to get us to a balanced budget. It was legitimate. It was real. And we negotiated it. A lot of what we're talking about here tonight as we take this position and that position, you know what? At the end of the day, America has got to work. We've got to figure out how we come together to deal with this \u2014 with our fiscal problems because when we deal with that, we create a stronger economy for everybody. People have a chance to rise. So, you know, when we think about how we make a choice, it's the person that lands that plane. It's not somebody that talks about it. It's about the person who has done it. And I've done it in... +p524 +aV... both places. And I did it including people in the other party. And that's how we were successful. +p525 +aVAnd that's how I will be president, using that experience to drive this country forward. Thank you. +p526 +aVWell, look, people still have to get to know me, so I want to spend my time talking about my experience reforming welfare, balancing budgets, cutting taxes, providing economic growth when I was in Washington, turning Ohio around. Eight billion in the hole, $2 billion surplus, up over 300,000 jobs, big tax cuts, strengthening our credit. All those things matter but, you know, as a young man in my first election in 1978, I defeated an incumbent Democrat. I defeated an incumbent Democrat in 1982; running on the Reagan program, I was the only Republican in America to defeat an incumbent Democrat that year. And then, when I won for election of governor, I was the first Republican to defeat an incumbent in 36 years, and the first person to have never run statewide out of politics for 10 years to beat an incumbent. That hadn't happened for 96 years. So, we'll get to the point where we'll talk about Hillary Clinton, or whoever the nominee is, record. But right now, I want to give people sense of hope, sense of purpose, a sense of unity, sense that we can do it. So... +p527 +aVYou know, at the end of the day, I'm going to continue to talk about my record, because there is, did you ever notice when people run for office, they run for president, they make a lot of promises, they don't keep them. +p528 +aVI don't intend to do that, and I going to be out there pushing it out \u2014 don't worry about me and Hillary. That will all work out, and I'm from Ohio. She will not beat me there, I can promise you that. +p529 +aVCan I just \u2014 can I \u2014 Jake, can I just make one point on this whole military discussion? +p530 +aVI called for boots on the ground many months ago in a coalition with our friends who share our interest. You know, you win a battle with the military, and when we go somewhere, we need to be mobile, and lethal. We need to take care of business, and we need to come home. But, we face, also, a bigger war \u2014 and you win the bigger war with the battle of ideas. You wonder why young people, and educated people, rich people, schooled people, have tried to join +p531 +aV...to make (ph) centers (ph) of justice so that we can battle the radicals, call them out for what they are, and make sure that all of our people feel fulfilled in living in Western civilization... +p532 +aV...This is a giant battle in the world today... +p533 +aVWell, it's probably not, maybe, legal, but, I would pick Mother Theresa, the lady that I had a chance to meet, a woman who lived a life so much bigger than her own. An inspiration to everyone when we think about our responsibility to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. +p534 +aVWell, I have one now \u2014 they (ph) call me, "Unit One". My wife says, "You'll never be Unite One, I'm Unite One. You're Unit Two." +p535 +aVWell, as president, I will make this a nation that will solve problems. And how? By having the elected officials and the leaders realize they're Americans before they're Republicans or Democrats. I did it in Washington. And I've done it in Ohio by having the elected officials realize that they're Ohioans before anything else. Secondly, I will rebuild the relationships and show the respect to our allies around the world. We have no choice but to do that. We will be stronger when we are unified. And we'll fight for freedom and for human rights. And finally, a little bit of what Carly said. The people that are out there listening, America was never great because we ran America from the top down. America is great because we have run America from the bottom up, where we all live in the neighborhoods. One more time in America, we need to revive the concept of citizenship, where everybody's actions make a huge difference in changing the world. We have a Holocaust memorial on our state house grounds. And there is one line on there that stands out all the time. "If you've saved one life, you've changed the world." We need to adopt that as citizens and rebuild and reinspire our country. Thank you. +p536 +asVKELLY +p537 +(lp538 +VTonight, we are coming to you live from the Iowa Event Center in downtown Des Moines, in the shadow of the Iowa state capitol. In just four days, people here in the Hawkeye State will caucus and cast the first votes of the 2016 election. +p539 +aVSeven candidates are on that stage tonight, their position on the stage determined by their standing in the latest national polls, as well as polls in Iowa and New Hampshire. And here they are. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Florida Senator Marco Rubio. +p540 +aVWow. +p541 +aVSo let's get started. Senator Cruz, before we get to the issues, let's address the elephant not in the room tonight. Donald Trump has chosen not to attend this evening's presidential debate. What message do you think that sends to the voters of Iowa? +p542 +aVThe divide between you and Mr. Trump has turned into one of the biggest stories in the country. And for six months that \u2014 your campaign, during this campaign, you praised Mr. Trump as somebody who you thought was an effective voice against the Washington cartel. You said you were glad that he was running as a Republican. But when he started to criticize you, your message changed, and you suddenly started to portray him as the voice of the Washington cartel, and suggested he would do the Democrats' bidding. Which is it? +p543 +aVSenator Christie, you began this campaign touting your record as a Republican from a blue state who knows how to get things done and reach across the aisle. However, many Republicans feel that reaching across the aisle and getting things done isn't great if you get the wrong things done. And they prefer to stand on principle rather than compromise. Why are they wrong and you're right? +p544 +aVBut first, you can join tonight's conversation right from home. Go to google.com or open your Google search app and search Fox News debate to vote on which candidate you think has the best plan to defeat +p545 +aVWe have a lot \u2014 we have a lot to cover. But we want to \u2014 we want to turn the page to domestic... +p546 +aVNo, no. No. +p547 +aVNo no no, because we want to turn the page to domestic terror, and let me tell you why: we're partnering with Google on this debate, and they're telling us... +p548 +aV... that their search results have gone through the roof on \u2014 on people... +p549 +aV... you're a good man, Governor Kasich. +p550 +aVPeople \u2014 the search results \u2014 the searches for terror issues, for safety issues in America have gone through the roof, increased over 400 percent since 2008. People are worried. They're worried about what's happening in the country and about a domestic terror attack, as all of you know. Now, when combating this threat, Senator Rubio, you've advocated closing down mosques \u2014 we'll get back to you. Well, you have advocated closing down \u2014 closing down mosques, diners, any place where radicalization is occurring. You told me that. But the Supreme Court has made clear that hateful speech is generally protected by the First Amendment. In other words, radical Muslims have the right to be radical Muslims, unless they turn to terror. Doesn't your position run afoul of the First Amendment? +p551 +aVSenator Paul, do you agree with that? We're gonna close down mosques, we're gonna close down diners where we think radical thinking's occurring? +p552 +aVGovernor Christie, let's talk about profiling. In December... +p553 +aV... profiling. Profiling. In December, two radical Muslims killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California. Neighbors of the terrorists said that they did not report the couple to law enforcement prior to the crime, because they were afraid that they would be accused of profiling. Now, you have said that we should not profile. How do you square that with the San Bernardino case? +p554 +aVThey didn't know they were going to attack the country. +p555 +aVThat's not true. The neighbors said they saw men going in and out of the garage. They saw packages being delivered. They saw Muslims, and they did not think that was enough to call the cops. Do you? +p556 +aVDr. Carson, this week a female Muslim who served in the U.S. Air Force asked Hillary Clinton the question, she asked whether the United States is still the best place in which to raise her three Muslim children. Given what she perceives as a rise in Islamaphobia in this country. Do you think the GOP messaging on Muslims has stoked the flames of bias on this as the Democrats suggest, and how would you answer this veteran? +p557 +aVGovernor Kasich, stand back. You appear to back in another debate, a so-called back door to encrypted cell phone technology, which protects most smartphones that we all have from hacking. And it includes our phones and it also protects the cell phones of the terrorist. Now the tech companies and a group of MIT scientists, smart guys, right, warn that if they create a way for the FBI to have a back door into our encrypted communications, then the bad guys will exploit it too. And they say that this is going to cause more security problems than it would solve for everyday Americans. Are they wrong? +p558 +aVBut this is public testimony. +p559 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p560 +aVWelcome back, everybody. We are live in Des Moines, Iowa. And let's get right back to the questions \u2014 Bret. +p561 +aVAll right. We're going to move on. Because coming up, immigration, and something you've never seen before. Stay tuned, right after this break. +p562 +aVWelcome back everyone. Live, in Des Moines, Iowa. Now, we move onto the topic of immigration. Senator Rubio, we'll start with you. When you ran for Senate in 2010, you made clear that you opposed legalization and citizenship for illegal immigrants. You promised repeatedly that you would oppose it as a U.S. Senator as well. Here are just a few examples. Watch. +p563 +aVWithin two years of getting elected you were co-sponsoring legislation to create a path to citizenship, in your words, amnesty. Haven't you already proven that you cannot be trusted on this issue? +p564 +aV... But, you went on from there... +p565 +aV... You said more than that, Senator... +p566 +aV... You said earned path to citizenship is basically code for amnesty. You... +p567 +aV... supported earned path to citizenship... +p568 +aVGovernor Bush, do you agree Senator Rubio has not reversed himself on his immigration promise? +p569 +aVGo ahead, senator. +p570 +aVAll right. +p571 +aVAll right. This will be the last one. +p572 +aVOK. Let's move on. Senator Cruz, when Senator Rubio proposed that bill creating a path to citizenship, you proposed an amendment. It would have allowed for legalization but not citizenship. Yes, it would. Pressed last month on why you supported legalization, you claimed that you didn't. Right? Like you just did. Saw that. You argued that this was just a poison pill amendment, basically it's something designed to kill the bill and not actually get it through. But that is not, however, how it sounded at the time. Watch. +p573 +aVWas that all an act? It was pretty convincing. +p574 +aVBut the bill allowed both. The bill you were amending allowed citizenship and legalization. +p575 +aVOK, sir. +p576 +aVSenator Paul. You know how Washington works. Do you buy that? +p577 +aVGo ahead, sir. +p578 +aVSenator Rubio, even Chuck Schumer, your co-sponsor of that bill... +p579 +aV... agrees with Ted Cruz on this. +p580 +aVGo ahead, Senator Cruz. +p581 +aVAll right. +p582 +aVGo ahead, Governor Christie. +p583 +aVLet's go to a Youtube question. Let's get to a Youtube question. This is a question from a Youtube creator with over 2 million subscribers. Watch. +p584 +aVDr. Carson, that's one \u2014 that one's for you. +p585 +aVGo ahead. +p586 +aVAll right. +p587 +aVAll right. We're moving on. +p588 +aVGovernor bush, poll after poll shows you running among the worst in your party against Hillary Clinton. Even Mitt Romney said that a Bush v. Clinton head-to-head would be too easy for the Democrats. Yet still you and the super PACs supporting you continue to blanket the airwaves with cutting ads, not against Mrs. Clinton, but against your fellow Republicans, especially Senator Rubio. Do these attacks do more harm than good by targeting those candidates who appear to have the best chance of defeating Mrs. Clinton? +p589 +aVWelcome back, everybody. Let's get back to the questions. Chris? +p590 +aVSenator Paul, you have suggested that former President Bill Clinton's history with women is fair game in this campaign. How do you answer those who say you don't hold the sins of the husband against the wife? +p591 +aVOf her husband's? +p592 +aVWelcome back, everybody. And now, it is time for closing statements. The candidates each get 30 seconds. And we begin with Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. +p593 +aVOhio Governor Kasich. +p594 +aVFormer Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Governor. +p595 +aVTexas Senator, Ted Cruz. Senator. +p596 +aVGentlemen, thank you all so much for being here tonight. We appreciate it greatly. And that does it for the seventh Republican primary debate of the 2016 presidential race. But we're not done. The Kelly file starts in a moment and guess who is going to be there? Senator Ted Cruz. +p597 +asVREGAN +p598 +(lp599 +VIn Tuesday's State of the Union Address, the president said that our economy is strong. He cited the significant decline we've seen in unemployment rate and the millions of jobs that have been created. What is your assessment of the economy right now? And I would like to hear from all of you on this one, beginning with Ms. Fiorina. +p600 +aVThank you Governor Huckabee. Senator Santorum? +p601 +aVThank you. Well, since we've been talking about the Middle East, Senator Santorum, conflicts between Saudi Arabia and Iran have certainly escalated, amid accusations that Saudi Arabia bombed the Iranian Embassy in Yemen after the Saudi Embassy in Tehran was attacked. As we confront an increasingly unstable Middle East, how will you, as president, navigate this administration's promises to Iran while standing by our historic allies in the region? +p602 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p603 +aVGovernor Huckabee, if I could just follow-up with that. Do we need to be in Afghanistan? +p604 +aVThank you Governor Huckabee. Ms. Fiorina, nearly 600 women say they were attacked in a German city on New Year's Eve by men of Arab or North African descent and 45 percent of those alleged attacks were sexual assaults. Twenty-two of those 32 men arrested so far are asylum-seekers. Are you worried about similar problems in the United States? +p605 +aVI want to stay with you on this. The world shares a common enemy right now in the way of +p606 +aVMs. Fiorina, thank you. +p607 +aVWelcome back, everyone, to the Republican presidential debate. On to the next round of questions \u2014 Sandra. +p608 +aVMs. Fiorina, the president has just issued an executive order to expand the gun laws and background checks. And none of you on stage agree with this. But recent polls show the majority of Americans are in favor of universal background checks. +p609 +aVIt's the poll data. +p610 +aVSo tell me......why, in your view, is the president's proposal a problem? +p611 +aVMs. Fiorina, you've said that was when you were CEO of HP, you actually worked with the government. +p612 +aV\u2014 to try and combat some of these terrorist threats. +p613 +aVWhat did you do? +p614 +aVMs. Fiorina, thank you. +p615 +aVGovernor Huckabee, an American in San Bernardino murdered 14 people while terrorists with Belgian and French passports murdered 130 people. Were facing a threat within our borders, and from outside the United States. Those European terrorists, they could have come here at any time given that we have a visa waiver program that enables people to travel back and forth. It exists within those countries, and 36 others. In countries around the world, including many in Europe, cannot ensure that their citizens are not jihadists, why are we waiving the visa requirement at all? +p616 +aVIf you get the visa waiver program, does that shut down international commerce? +p617 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p618 +aVSenator Santorum, thank you. +p619 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p620 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from North Charleston. We want to jump right back in. Sandra is kicking it off. +p621 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you know it used to be you could graduate from high school and get a pretty good job at the local factory, enough to take care of your family and yourself. Those days seem to be gone. It's pretty hard to do that nowadays. Businesses are increasingly turning to automation to increase their productivity levels. It's happening right here, in fact, at the Boeing factory in North Charleston. The president says automation threatens workers' ability to get higher wages. Do you agree with that? And if so, do you have a solution? +p622 +aVThank you very much, Governor Huckabee. Senator Santorum, 40% of babies born today are born to single moms. That's twice as high as reported back in 1980, and it's 11 times as high as in 1940. Studies show that children are always better off economically, most often \u2014 and emotionally, with two parents in a household. From a policy perspective, should the government be doing anything to encourage family formation? +p623 +aVThank you. +p624 +aVCarly Fiorina? +p625 +aVThank you to all the candidates. That does it, everyone for the first debate right here in North Charleston. +p626 +asVBAIER +p627 +(lp628 +VNine p.m. on the East Coast. Eight o'clock here in Des Moines, Iowa. Welcome to the seventh Republican presidential debate of the 2016 campaign. I'm Bret Baier, along with my comoderators Megyn Kelly and Chris Wallace. +p629 +aVGoogle sees political searches spike during televised presidential debates \u2014 no surprise there. But they spike by more than 440 percent on average, as voters across America seek to learn more about what's happening on the live debate stage. +p630 +aVOhio Governor John Kasich. And Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. +p631 +aVTonight's rules are simple. Up to 60 seconds for each answer, 30 seconds for each follow-up response. And if a candidate goes over the allotted time, you will hear this. Double. +p632 +aVI think the double is the one we want. Very pleasing. We have a crowd of about 1,600 here, and while they have agreed to respect the candidates and listen intently, we can tell you they are very excited to be here. Am I right? +p633 +aVGovernor Bush, it's hard for anyone of your pedigree to avoid being called establishment. But isn't that part of the problem in this race, that three others on this stage are splitting the main stream Republican vote and there by possibly handing this nomination over to an anti-establishment candidate? +p634 +aVThank you governor. +p635 +aVSenator Paul, you are definitely not in the establishment category. But at the beginning of this campaign, you said you were your own man when asked about your father, former Texas Congressman and three-time presidential candidate Ron Paul. Senator Cruz's campaign is out with a video saying that Cruz is the intellectual and political heir to your father's 2012 campaign and the liberty movement. And your father now says it's realistic that Donald Trump will be your party's nominee. So did you make a mistake by not fully \u2014 more fully embracing your father politically at the beginning of this campaign? +p636 +aVSenator Cruz, your response to that? +p637 +aVSenator Rubio? +p638 +aVThank you, Senator. +p639 +aVWe'll come back to... +p640 +aVOK. Go ahead, go ahead. +p641 +aVWelcome back. Let's get right back to the questions. Chris. +p642 +aVGovernor Bush, just today, a wounded warrior organization designed to help wounded veterans and their families is coming under fire for raising tens of millions of dollars, but spending almost half of that on travel and hotels and dinners and luxury, lavish conferences. So taking care of veterans is obviously a huge issue in the country that has asked so many to serve and sacrifice so much. If you were president. would you police these charity organizations that say they're helping vets? +p643 +aVGovernor Bush, thank you. Speaking of veterans, we have a question from a veteran who is one of the top Youtube creators. Over the course of the evening, gentlemen, we will hear from some of Youtube's most followed stars. And here's one of them. +p644 +aVSenator Paul, that question to you. +p645 +aVSenator Paul, thank you. +p646 +aVThank you, Megyn. Gentlemen, I'll ask you some questions about federal spending and the role of the federal government. Everybody always said they want to cut federal spending and usually they start by saying they'll cut waste, fraud, and abuse, but that really doesn't ever materialize. We all know that. Governor Christie, you talk a lot about entitlement reform and you say that that's where the federal government can get savings needed to balance the budget. But can you name even one thing that the federal government does now that it should not do at all? +p647 +aVI want one. Yes. +p648 +aVAnything bigger than that? +p649 +aVAnd, Governor, I realize everyone on this stage opposes Obamacare and you're not alone. Google Data shows that in the last month when people searched "policy repeals," that there were a lot of them. Obamacare took the top two spots. But today there are millions of people who gained health insurance from Obamacare and they now rely on it. So the question, Senator Cruz, if you repeal Obamacare, as you say you will, will you be fine if millions of those people don't have health insurance? And what is your specific plan for covering the uninsured? +p650 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. Governor Bush, you've advocated for statehood for Puerto Rico. The Puerto Rican economy is collapsing under unsustainable debt burden. Only about 1 million of its 4 million residents are currently employed. So should American citizens who you say are already overtaxed, bail out Puerto Rico as well? +p651 +aVGovernor Kasich, you're one of two remaining sitting governors still in the race. Your colleague, Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan is under fire \u2014 he and his administration \u2014 for the Flint, Michigan water crisis and the botched response to it. How would you have handled that? +p652 +aVSenator Rubio, on the issue of climate change, in 2008, you wanted Florida to get ahead of other states and establish a cap- and-trade system, a program for carbon emissions, which many Republicans thought at the time would hurt the Florida economy. Now, you're a skeptic of climate change science. And in fact, you warn that federal efforts to fight climate change will cost U.S. jobs and hurt the U.S. economy. So why the change? +p653 +aVThanks, Senator. +p654 +aVThank you. +p655 +aVSenator Rubio, first before I ask you a question, any response to Governor Bush? +p656 +aVNow let's talk about electability, Senator. +p657 +aVThank you, Senator. +p658 +aVMuch more to come, including where the candidates stand on foreign policy. And, once again, you can go to Google.com, or open your Google search app and search, "Fox News Debate" to vote on which candidate you think is winning the debate tonight. We'll be right back. +p659 +aVGentlemen. I'd like to ask you a few questions about foreign policy broadly. Dr. Carson, many experts believe Russian leader Vladimir Putin has greater ideas, bigger designs for the region beyond Russia's actions inside Ukraine. Fast forward to February 2017 and it is President Carson, and Russian uniformed commandos cross the Estonian border and they occupy a city in Estonia. Estonia, a member of +p660 +aVGentlemen, you've all said that the Iran nuclear deal is a bad one. Senator Rubio, you were among the candidates who've said you would tear it up on day one. But as you know, Iran has already received tens of millions of dollars \u2014 tens of billions of dollars in this deal and has quickly reestablished ties economically with Europe. The major concessions, in other words, are up front in this deal. So should you win by the time you take office, the remaining parts of the deal would be the constraints on Iran. So why blow up those constraints on day one, letting Iran off the hook? +p661 +aVGovernor Kasich, you've said that Marco Rubio is wrong... ... that Senator Rubio is wrong with tearing it up on day one. +p662 +aVBut Governor Kasich, you know that the most powerful sanctions are the multilateral ones. +p663 +aVAnd these European countries are already reestablishing these ties. +p664 +aVThey don't want... +p665 +aVGovernor, thank you. Governor Christie... ... Libya is the newest base for +p666 +aVThank you, Governor. +p667 +aVWelcome back to Des Moines. Let's resume the debate. Megyn? +p668 +aVComing up, closing statements from the candidates as our debate continues, live, from Des Moines, Iowa. +p669 +aVNew Jersey governor, Chris Christie. +p670 +aVThank you governor. +p671 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. +p672 +aVThank you senator. +p673 +aVAnd we have you covered from Iowa, all the way to the conventions and on to the general election. Thanks again for joining us. For all of us here in Des Moines, have a great evening. +p674 +asVTAPPER +p675 +(lp676 +VI'm Jake Tapper. We're live at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California for the main event. Round 2 of CNN's presidential debate starts now. The eleven leading Republican candidates for president are at their podiums. They are ready to face off, and if you've been watching this race, you know anything could happen over the next few hours. To viewers who are just joining us, welcome to the Air Force One Pavilion of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Our thanks to the staff here and especially to former first lady Nancy Reagan for this impressive setting with Ronald Reagan's presidential plane as our backdrop. This debate is airing on CNN networks in the United States and around the world. It's also being broadcast on the Salem Radio Network. I know everyone is very eager to get started. But first, I want to explain the ground rules tonight. My name is Jake Tapper. I'll be the moderator. I will be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt. He worked in the Reagan administration for six years. And by CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. I will ask follow-up questions, I will attempt to guide the discussion. Candidates, I will try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have one minute to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you've been singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. These 11 Republicans are positioned on the stage based on their ranking in recent national polls. Our goal for this evening is a debate. A true debate, with candidates addressing each other in areas where they differ. Where they disagree \u2014 on policy, on politics, on leadership. Now, let's begin. I'd like to invite each candidate to take 30 seconds to introduce him or herself to our audience. First to you, Senator Paul. +p677 +aVSenator Cruz? +p678 +aVThank you one and all for being here. There are many important policy issues facing our nation. We're going to get to many of them tonight, but I do want to start off with some current events in the news, and also some of the comments the candidates have recently made on the campaign trail. Mrs. Fiorina, I want to start with you. Fellow Republican candidate, and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, has suggested that your party's frontrunner, Mr. Donald Trump, would be dangerous as President. He said he wouldn't want, quote, "such a hot head with his finger on the nuclear codes." You, as well, have raised concerns about Mr. Trump's temperament. You've dismissed him as an entertainer. Would you feel comfortable with Donald trump's finger on the nuclear codes? +p679 +aVYou didn't answer my question. Would you feel comfortable with Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear codes? It's an issue that one of your fellow candidates has raised. +p680 +aVMr. Trump? +p681 +aVMr. \u2014 Senator Paul, your name has been invoked. +p682 +aVMr. Trump? +p683 +aVI want to \u2014 I want to give Mr. Trump... +p684 +aV... Mr. Trump, I want to give you another chance \u2014 Mr. Trump, I want to give you a chance to respond to something that your rival to your left, Governor Bush, said. Governor Bush told me last week when I read him the quote from Governor Jindal that he agrees you're not a serious candidate. Tell Governor Bush why you are a serious candidate and what your qualifications are to be commander-in-chief. +p685 +aVGovernor Bush, would you feel comfortable with Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear codes? +p686 +aVGovernor Walker? +p687 +aVLet's move on. +p688 +aVA phenomenon going on in the race right now is the political... OK, Governor Kasich, go ahead. +p689 +aVWe have a lot of issues coming up, sir. +p690 +aVWe are getting to the issues, sir. Phenomenon going on in the race is the political outsiders in the race, Dr. Carson, Donald Trump, Carly Fiorina, all together, have majority support in the polls. Governor Christie, I want to ask you about something that Dr. Carson said the other day. Dr. Carson said campaigning is easier for him, because he's not a politician. He can just tell the truth, therefore, while politicians, quote, "Have their finger in the air to see and do what is politically expedient." Governor Christie, tell Dr. Carson, is that a fair description of you? +p691 +aVWell, let's find out. Thank you. +p692 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. Dr. Carson, who were you thinking about on this stage when you said that? +p693 +aVAnd more broadly, is experience in government not important for a president to have? +p694 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p695 +aVThank you. +p696 +aVThank you. Thank you Ms. Fiorina. Governor Bush, in addition to the fact that he's an outsider, one of the reasons Mr. Trump is a frontrunner, Republican voters say, is because they like the fact that he is not bought and paid for by wealthy donors. Mr. Trump has repeatedly said that the $100 million you've raised for your campaign makes you a puppet for your donors. Are you? +p697 +aVIs there anything else you want to say about this? +p698 +aVGovernor \u2014 +p699 +aVSure Dr. Carson. +p700 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Let's move to Russia if we could. Russia is sending troops and tanks into Syria right now to prop up a U.S. enemy, Bashar al-Assad. President Obama's incoming top general says, quote, "Russia presents the greatest threat to our national security." Mr. Trump, you say you can do business with President Vladimir Putin, you say you will get along, quote, "very well." What would you do right now if you were president, to get the Russians out of Syria? +p701 +aVSo, you \u2014 just to clarify, the only answer I heard to the question I asked is that you would \u2014 you would reach out to Vladimir Putin, and you would do what? You would... +p702 +aVSenator Rubio, you've taken a very different approach to the \u2014 the question of Russia. You've called Vladimir Putin a, quote, "gangster." Why would President Rubio's approach be more effective than President Trump's? +p703 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. +p704 +aVI want to bring in Carly Fiorina. +p705 +aVMs. Fiorina, you have met... +p706 +aV...yeah, you've met Vladimir Putin. Yes. +p707 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p708 +aVThank you. +p709 +aVThank you. Thank you, Ms. Fiorina. While you're \u2014 while you brought up the subject of General Suleimani of the Quds forces from Iran, the next president, no matter who he or she may be, will inherit President Obama's Iran deal. Senator Cruz, Governor Kasich says that anyone who is promising to rip up the Iran deal on day one, as you have promised to do, is, quote, "inexperienced," and, quote, "playing to a crowd." Respond to Governor Kasich, please. +p710 +aVWhy is that not, as Governor Kasich says, playing to the crowd and an example of you being inexperienced? +p711 +aVGovernor Kasich... +p712 +aV...Did Senator Cruz just play to the crowd? +p713 +aV...Thank you, Governor. I want to go to Senator Paul. +p714 +aVI want to go to Senator Paul. Senator Paul, the White House is rolling out the red carpet next week for the President of China, President Xi. Governor Walker says that President Obama should cancel the state dinner because of China's currency manipulation, and because of China's alleged cyber attacks against the United States. Is Governor Walker right? +p715 +aVGovernor Walker, Senator Paul seemed to suggest... +p716 +aV...that canceling the state dinner would be rash, and reckless. +p717 +aV...Governor Bush... +p718 +aVGovernor Bush, your father was the chief diplomatic envoy to China back when Nixon opened relations to China. Is Scott Walker's approach the right one, canceling the state dinner? +p719 +aVI want to turn... +p720 +aV...I want to turn to Governor Huckabee who has been very patient. Somebody had to be 11th, and he is, but, I do want to change the subject to the event that you had... +p721 +aV... however you want, but I want to ask this question. +p722 +aVAll right, sir, go ahead. +p723 +aVOK. ( +p724 +aVWe're going to turn now to Hugh Hewitt, from Salem Radio Network. +p725 +aVThank you, Senator Paul. I want to turn now to my colleague Dana Bash. +p726 +aVThat would be fair, you're right. You're the third senator. +p727 +aVWe're going to go to Dana Bash... +p728 +aVSenator Cruz? +p729 +aVThank you, Senator. +p730 +aVThank you, Senator. +p731 +aVThank you, Senator. I want to... +p732 +aV... turn back to Governor Huckabee... +p733 +aVI want to turn back to Governor Huckabee. Governor Huckabee, last week, you held a rally for a county clerk in Kentucky who was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, as I don't need to tell you. You've called what happened to Kim Davis, that clerk, "an example of the criminalization of Christianity." There are several people on the stage who disagree with you. Governor Bush, for example, says that that clerk is sworn to uphold the law. Is Governor Bush on the wrong side of the criminalization of Christianity? +p734 +aVThank you, Governor. +p735 +aVWell, I'm not telling you that, Governor. But Governor Bush is, because he \u2014 because he disagrees. He thinks that Kim Davis swore to uphold the law. You disagree? You're not \u2014 you don't... +p736 +aVOK. Please do. +p737 +aVYou did... +p738 +aVGovernor, you said, quote, "she is sworn to uphold the law." +p739 +aVLet me go to my colleague Dana Bash, who has a question. +p740 +aVDana, I want to continue on the subject. Governor Bush, you recently said while discussing Planned Parenthood, quote, you're "not sure we need a half billion for women's health issues." Now you've since said that you misspoke, you didn't mean to say "women's health issues." But Donald Trump said that quote, that comment, which Hillary Clinton did seize upon immediately, will haunt you the same way Mitt Romney's 47 percent video haunted him. Tell Donald Trump why he's wrong. +p741 +aVThank you, Governor Bush. Donald Trump, let me just... +p742 +aVThe quote was, "I'm not sure we need half a billion dollars for women's health issues." He said he misspoke. You said that that's going to haunt him. Why do you think that? +p743 +aVGovernor Bush? +p744 +aVI want to \u2014 we're going to get to \u2014 +p745 +aVThank you, Governor. +p746 +aVThank you, Governor. +p747 +aVWe're going to \u2014 we're going to get to many of these issues. This \u2014 we're still in the first block, believe it or not. We're going to get to many of these issues, but before we end this block, Ms. Fiorina, I do want to ask you about this. In an interview last week in Rolling Stone magazine, Donald Trump said the following about you. Quote, "Look at that face. Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?" Mr. Trump later said he was talking about your persona, not your appearance. Please feel free to respond what you think about his persona. +p748 +aVAll right. On that note, in less than two minutes \u2014 we're going to take a very quick break. In less than two minutes, the most contentious issue on the campaign trail. And the candidates on the stage are split over how to handle it. That's coming up next. Please give some applause to the candidates. +p749 +aVWelcome to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate. No topic perhaps has been more combustible in this campaign than the issue of immigration. Mr. Trump, you have called for deporting every undocumented immigrant, Governor Christie has said, quote, "There are not enough law enforcement officers \u2014 local, county, state and federal combined \u2014 to forcibly deport 11 to 12 million people." Tell Governor Christie how much your plan will cost, and how you will get it done. +p750 +aVGovernor Christie, you and I have talked about this in an interview. You say that his big wall, his plan to deport 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants, it sounds great, but it's never going to happen. Tell him why you're skeptical of his plans? +p751 +aVThank you, Governor Christie... +p752 +aVI want to bring in Dr. Carson because he too has been skeptical of your plan to immediately deport 11 to 12 million illegal immigrants. He said, quote, "People who say that have no idea what this entails." Why do you say that, Dr. Carson? +p753 +aV...Dr. Carson... +p754 +aVWith all due respect, you said about Donald Trump's plan to deport 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants, "People who say that have no idea what this entails." Why not? +p755 +aV...let's continue the conversation about illegal immigration with Dana Bash. +p756 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Senator Cruz \u2014 Senator Cruz, this week, we learned more about Dr. Carson's plan for the 11 million to 12 million undocumented immigrants in this country. Dr. Carson proposed giving these undocumented immigrants a six- month grace period to pay back taxes then to let them become guest workers and only to deport people who failed to do that. +p757 +aVWell, how would you say it, sir? I was just reading the Wall Street Journal quote, but please tell us. +p758 +aVOK, from the horse's mouth, Senator Cruz, does that fit your definition of amnesty? +p759 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Rubio... +p760 +aV... I'm not sure... +p761 +aVWe'll come back to you \u2014 we'll come back to you in one second, sir. But Senator Rubio, I'm not sure exactly whose plan he's \u2014 he's saying is \u2014 constitutes amnesty, but I know he has said it about your plan in the past, so I want to give you a chance to respond, then, Dr. Carson, we'll come to you. +p762 +aVThank you, Senator. +p763 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator \u2014 Dr. Carson... ... I want to give you 30 seconds. I'd like you to answer the question. Senator Cruz describes plans such as yours as amnesty. Why is your plan not amnesty? +p764 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. I want to talk about the issue of birthright citizenship, which \u2014 which has emerged since the first debate as \u2014 as an a \u2014 a major issue in this campaign. Mr. Trump, you say that babies born in the United States to undocumented immigrants should not any longer get automatic American citizenship. Ms. Fiorina says that you are pandering on this issue and acting like the politicians that you rail against. What's your message to Ms. Fiorina on birthright citizenship? +p765 +aVMs. Fiorina, the vast majority of countries do not have birthright citizenship... ...Donald Trump is right about that. Why is it pandering when he's \u2014 he says this? +p766 +aVMs. Fiorina... +p767 +aVPlease. +p768 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p769 +aVThank you. +p770 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Mr. Trump, I want to give you the chance to respond... +p771 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. Senator Paul... +p772 +aVSenator Paul, I want to bring you in. Where \u2014 where do you stand on the issue of birthright citizenship? +p773 +aVAll right. Senator Paul, thank you so much. Let's turn to a new topic. We've received a lot of questions on social media about the economy and about jobs. We have two CEOs on stage right now. Ms. Fiorina, you were CEO of Hewlett Packard. Donald Trump says you, quote, "ran HP into the ground," you laid off tens of thousands of people, you got viciously fired. For voters looking to somebody with private-sector experience to create American jobs, why should they pick you and not Donald Trump? +p774 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p775 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p776 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 Mr. Trump, why would you be better at creating jobs than Carly Fiorina? +p777 +aVMs. Fiorina, I want to give you a chance to respond. +p778 +aVMr. Trump. +p779 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. +p780 +aVGovernor Christie's name has been invoked. I'd like to give him a 30 second opportunity. +p781 +aVMs. Fiorina, I want to give you +p782 +aVGovernor Kasich, I'm coming to you next, but Ms. Fiorina's name was mentioned, and I have to give her the opportunity to respond if she wants it. +p783 +aVThank you. +p784 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Kasich, I want to come \u2014 I'm coming to you. I'm coming to you. Let me ask the question. You can use the time however you want. +p785 +aVDonald Trump says that the hedge fund guys are getting away with murder by paying a lower tax rate. He wants to raise the taxes of hedge fund managers, as does Governor Bush. Do you agree? +p786 +aVThank you, Governor. +p787 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. +p788 +aVGovernor Huckabee, I want to bring you in on the question of hedge fund managers and taxing them. You have said that you are bothered by the fact that hedge fund managers pay such a low tax rate and make 2,500 times what people who work for them make. Do you agree with what Donald Trump and Governor Bush have proposed, raising their tax rates? +p789 +aVThank you, Governor. Dr. Carson, you support scrapping the entire tax code and replacing it with a flat tax based on the principal on tithing from the Bible. If you make $10 billion, you pay $1 billion in taxes, if you make $10, you pay $1 in taxes. Donald Trump believes in progressive taxation. He says it's not right that rich people pay the same as the poor. Tell Donald Trump why his ideas on taxes are wrong. +p790 +aVMr. Trump... +p791 +aV...What do you think of the flat tax? Do you think it's fair? +p792 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. Senator Paul? +p793 +aVGovernor Walker, I want to go to you. Dr. Carson wants to raise the Federal Minimum Wage, you have called it a lame idea. Why is raising the Federal Minimum Wage lame? +p794 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p795 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p796 +aVDr. Carson, Governor Walker didn't really answer the question, but I'll let you respond. He called raising the Federal Minimum Wage lame, what do you think of that? +p797 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson... +p798 +aVLet me bring in our partner from Salem Radio Network, Hugh Hewitt. +p799 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate. Let's turn to some issues now in foreign policy. Mr. Trump, Senator Rubio said it was, quote, "very concerning to him" that in a recent interview you didn't seem to know the details about some of the enemies the U.S. faces. Rubio said, if you don't know the answers to those questions, you will not be able to serve as commander-in-chief. Please respond to Senator Rubio. +p800 +aVSenator Rubio? +p801 +aVMr. Trump? Senator Rubio seemed to be suggesting that you don't know information that... +p802 +aVAll right. Senator Rubio. +p803 +aVBut are you saying that you have the knowledge to be the president that Mr. Trump does not have? +p804 +aVMr. Trump? +p805 +aVSenator Rubio, he did invoke your absentee record in the Senate. +p806 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. I want to turn now to Hugh Hewitt. +p807 +aVThank you, Governor. +p808 +aVSenator... +p809 +aVSenator Paul? +p810 +aVSenator Paul... +p811 +aVThank you, Senator Paul... +p812 +aVThank you, Senator Paul... +p813 +aVI understand that Governor Bush's name has been invoked, and then we can go to you, Senator Rubio. +p814 +aVThank you, Governor. +p815 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Rubio? +p816 +aVThank you, Senator. +p817 +aVDr. Carson? +p818 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p819 +aVI mean, it is interesting that you say that, because I want to ask Governor Christie about something else that you have said. Governor Christie, we just marked the 14th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Now Dr. Carson has said that if he had been president at the time, the United States would not have gone to war in Afghanistan. What does that say to you about how Dr. Carson would respond as president if America were attacked again? +p820 +aVDr. Carson? +p821 +aV... Governor Christie. +p822 +aVDr. Carson? +p823 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p824 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p825 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee. +p826 +aVThank you, Governor. +p827 +aVThank you, governor, I want to turn to +p828 +aVGovernor Walker, there is a big debate now, we have been talking about +p829 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Paul, I want to go to you, because you have said that the boots on the ground to fight +p830 +aVThank you, Senator. We're going to turn to some domestic issues now. I want to bring in my colleague, Dana Bash. +p831 +aVSure.... +p832 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p833 +aV...Thank you, Governor. Dana Bash... +p834 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina... +p835 +aV...Thank you, we're going to turn now to domestic issues with Dana Bash. +p836 +aV...Dana Bash... +p837 +aVThank you. Dana Bash? +p838 +aVThank you, Senator. +p839 +aV...Governor Bush... +p840 +aV...I want to let you respond. +p841 +aVThank you, Governor... ...And, that's what we should do, and I hope I'll be working members of the United States Senate to fight hard for the passage of people that have that kind of qualification. +p842 +aVSenator Cruz, 30 seconds. +p843 +aVThank you, Senator. +p844 +aVThank you, Semator. +p845 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee, I want to bring you in very quickly if you could. Will you have a litmus test when it comes to appointing Supreme Court nominees? +p846 +aVThank you, Governor. +p847 +aVThank you, Governor. +p848 +aVThank you, Governor. We're going to take a quick break. Coming up, one of the hottest questions that you have been asking us via social media. We will pose it to the candidates. That's coming up right after this. +p849 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican presidential debate at the Reagan Library here in Simi Valley \u2014 Simi Valley, California. Many people on social media wanted us to ask about marijuana legalization. Senator Paul, Governor Christie recently said, quote, "if you're getting high in Colorado today," where marijuana has been legalized, "enjoy it until January 2017, because I will enforce the federal laws against marijuana." Will you? +p850 +aVI want to give that \u2014 I want to give the person that you called a hypocrite an opportunity to respond. Do you want to identify that person? +p851 +aVIs there somebody you were specifically thinking of? +p852 +aVThat's what I though, but I wanted to say it. +p853 +aVOK. +p854 +aVGovernor Bush, please. +p855 +aVI want to go right now \u2014 I want to go right now... +p856 +aVThat's true. Go ahead, Christie, please. +p857 +aVYou may respond, and then I'll bring in you, Ms. Fiorina. +p858 +aVYes, Senator Paul. +p859 +aVI want to bring in Ms. Fiorina \u2014 I want to bring in Ms. Fiorina on this issue. +p860 +aVHugh \u2014 Hugh, I'd like to... +p861 +aVI'd like to turn it over \u2014 I'd like to turn to Dana Bush. +p862 +aVThank you, Governor. +p863 +aVI'm coming to you right now on a separate issue, sir. We received... ( +p864 +aVWe received a lot of questions from social media about climate change. Senator Rubio, Ronald Reagan's secretary of state, George Shultz, reminds us that when Reagan was president he faced a similar situation to the one that we're facing now. There were dire warnings from the mass consensus of the scientific community about the ozone layer shrinking. Shultz says Ronald Reagan urged skeptics in industry to come up with a plan. He said, do it as an insurance policy in case the scientists are right. The scientists were right. Reagan and his approach worked. Secretary Shultz asks, why not take out an insurance policy and approach climate change the Reagan way? +p865 +aVI'm citing George Shultz. +p866 +aVGovernor Christie, you have said that climate change is real, and that humans help contribute to it. Without getting into the issue of China versus the United States, which I understand you've talked about before, what do you make of skeptics of climate change such as Senator Rubio? +p867 +aVJust for the record, I was citing Secretary of State George Shultz, Ronald Reagan's secretary of state who I don't think anybody would call him left-wing. +p868 +aVI called you a skeptic. +p869 +aVI want to go another question right now. +p870 +aVThank you, Governor. +p871 +aVI'm turning to... +p872 +aV...I'm turning to another \u2014 I'm turning to another issue right now. Senator Cruz. Well, I think we've heard from several this evening. A backlash against vaccines was blamed for a measles outbreak here in California. Dr. Carson, Donald Trump has publicly and repeatedly linked vaccines, childhood vaccines, to autism, which, as you know, the medical community adamantly disputes. You're a pediatric neurosurgeon. Should Mr. Trump stop saying this? +p873 +aVShould he stop saying it? Should he stop saying that vaccines cause autism? +p874 +aVMr. Trump, as president, you would... +p875 +aVI'm going right to you. +p876 +aVMr. Trump, as president, you would be in charge of the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health, both of which say you are wrong. How would you handle this as president? +p877 +aVThank you. +p878 +aVDr. \u2014 Dr. Carson? +p879 +aVDr. Carson, you just heard his medical take. +p880 +aVDr. Paul? Dr. Paul, I'd like to bring you in. +p881 +aVAlright, thank you so much... +p882 +aVComing up \u2014 I'm sorry, Governor Huckabee, please. +p883 +aVThank you, Governor. +p884 +aVWe have to take another quick break. Coming up, Ronald Reagan looming large over this debate. So how Reaganesque exactly are these Republicans? We will find out next. +p885 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California. We have a few last questions for you. Two of them a little lighthearted, the other one more serious. We'll start with one of the more light questions. Senator Paul, I'm going to start with you and we're just going to go down the line. Earlier this year, the Treasury Department announced that a woman will appear on the $10 bill. What woman would you like to see on the $10 bill? +p886 +aVGovernor Huckabee? +p887 +aVSenator Paul (sic). +p888 +aVI'm sorry. Senator Rubio? +p889 +aVJust the senators. +p890 +aVSenator Cruz? +p891 +aVDr. Carson? +p892 +aVMr. Trump. +p893 +aVGovernor Bush. +p894 +aVGovernor Walker. +p895 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p896 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p897 +aVGovernor Christie. +p898 +aVAlright. Some good entries if anybody at the mint was listening. Here's the next lighthearted question, you all know that the United States Secret Service uses codenames for the president, and his family. Ronald Reagan's codename, for example, was, "Rawhide", an homage to his performances in Westerns. Nancy Reagan's was, "Rainbow". You don't have to come up the one for your spouse, but, what would you want, Governor Christie, I'll start with you, your Secret Service codename to be. +p899 +aVGovernor Walker? +p900 +aVMr. Trump? +p901 +aVDr. Carson? +p902 +aVSenator Cruz? +p903 +aVSenator Rubio? +p904 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p905 +aVSenator Paul. +p906 +aVThat's a mouthful, but OK. OK, here's the more serious question, Ronald Reagan, the 40th President, used the plane behind you to accomplish a great many things. Perhaps, most notably, to challenge Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the wall, and ultimately, to make peace with the +p907 +aVThat concludes this Republican presidential debate. On behalf of everyone here at CNN, we want to thank the candidates, the Reagan Library, and the Republican National Committee. Thank you, also, to Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash. The next presidential debate will also be right here on CNN, among the Democratic candidates, who will face off for the first time on October the 13th. That debate, a partnership with Facebook, will be moderated by my colleague, Anderson Cooper. And Anderson picks up our coverage of tonight's debate right now. Before I throw to Anderson, let's have one final round of applause for the candidates. +p908 +asVSANTORUM +p909 +(lp910 +VWell, all he has to do is listen to the Democratic debate and find out how bad the economy is. All they do is complain about the hollowing out of the middle of America, and how America is struggling so badly, and have to make these radical changes in Washington. But they've been in control for the last seven years, and what have we seen? The most important jobs, I believe, in this country are the ones that fill the middle. For the 74% of Americans who don't have a college degree between the age of 25 and 65 are manufacturing jobs. Your governor, and your legislature, and your team here have done an amazing job of bringing manufacturing jobs back to South Carolina. Right here. Right here in Charleston, right down in the street in Boeing. You've done a great job, and what's happened? You've grown this economy, you've strengthened the center of your state, the middle. That's because you know that if you're really going to create wealth and opportunity, you got to get jobs, and good paying jobs for everybody. And, so what's happened? Two million jobs, manufacturing jobs, have left this country because of Barack Obama. Regulations, EPA, workplace regulations, things driving people off-shore all because of his number one priority, global climate change. Well, let me tell you this, Mr. President. For every dollar of GDP, China creates five times as much pollution as we do here. You want to \u2014 lower global climate change, bring those jobs back to America and let American workers do that job with less pollution. +p911 +aVWell, the historic promises that we have made to \u2014 to Iran in this agreement need to be torn up on the first day in office of the next president. And let me tell you why, because Iran has already torn it up. Iran has not approved the agreement that President Obama has said that they have approved. They have approved a different agreement in their parliament. The fact of the matter is they have violated this agreement. Carly just mentioned some of those violations. They have launched ballistic missiles, tested them, in clear violation. And here's the pathetic part. The president announced that they were going to impose sanctions. And then President Rouhani went on Twitter and said there would be retaliation. And what did we do? We backed down. Ladies and gentlemen, there are 50 some Citadel cadets in this audience tonight. I would ask them to stand up if they will. And here's what I want to tell each and every one of them, as you stand. Here's what I want to tell them. Whether it's you're watching that movie this weekend that just came out when we abandoned our men and women in Benghazi, or whether it's we treat Iran, that gave courtesies to our sailors, as they made them record a hostage video, let me tell you this, if you choose to serve this country, I will have your back. I will not let America be trampled upon anymore by these radical jihadists. +p912 +aVI would just say that if we were doing a better job within the government, we wouldn't need the private sector to do the things that we're asking them to do. I've had a little experience in this in the private sector myself. And what I found was a government with layers and layers of bureaucracy, of people who had some technical expertise but they had no authority, number one. And one of the things I found out about in the bureaucracy is if a lot of people have authority, nobody has authority, number one. And number two, that if you don't do anything, you don't get fired. It's only when you do something and something goes wrong, you get fired. So they do nothing. And that's what is happening in our Defense Department right now. We have a capability that they're trying to develop to play defense. We have a lot of technologists that are very skilled. And they're trying to figure out how to play defense. But what we don't have is we don't have folks who are thinking about offense. We don't have war-fighters. We have technologists. Technologists are not war-fighters. Technologists are thinking, how do I protect cyber-security, how do I secure, how do I protect? And we need to have a much more dynamic, how do we \u2014 how do we go after them? How do we respond? And we need leadership that's willing to make sure that when someone attacks us \u2014 and ladies and gentlemen, they're attacking us as we speak. They're attacking us all day every day, not just the government, but they're attacking private sector companies all day every day. They have to learn that we're going to pay \u2014 they're going to pay a price when they do so. And then right now, just like in every other aspect of our national security, people who attack us are not paying a price. We need a leader who will make sure that they know when they mess with America, they're going to pay a price. +p913 +aVLook, Facebook and Twitter can teach us things. We can cooperate with them. We can share ideas and information. But this is a \u2014 and this is a very dicey area for the government to go in and require the industry to do its job. It needs to develop that capability. We need to be \u2014 have responsible dialogue, but I don't think requirements are the order of the day. +p914 +aVWell, the most devastating attack that could occur is an electromagnetic pulse attack, and that would be an attack that would be triggered by a nuclear explosion in the upper atmosphere of our country. The best way to stop that from happening is to make sure that those who contemplating and actually war-gaming and talking about using it, Iran, doesn't get a nuclear weapon so they can't explode that device. And the president of the United States has put Iran on a path to a nuclear weapon. And we have done nothing to do anything to harden our grid. There is actually a bill in Congress that would put money forward to try to put redundancy and harden our electric grid so it could actually survive an EMP. An EMP is a devastating explosion that sends a pulse that knocks out all electric, everything, everything that is connected to any kind \u2014 that is wired, that has a circuit board gets fried out. Everything is gone. Cars stop. Planes fall out of the sky. This is a devastating attack. And this president has done nothing, number one, to take the most probable person to \u2014 probable country to launch an attack and stop them, and has done nothing to try to defend us, particularly our electric grid. The bottom line is, I put the original sanctions on the Iranian nuclear program when I was in the United States Senate. I've been fighting for 12 years with one thing in mind, that we must stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. And......because they're different than every other country. They do not want a nuclear weapon to defend themselves. They want a nuclear weapon to have theological ends to bring about their mahdi so they can control the world. And that is the most serious threat facing this country right now. +p915 +aVWell, the numbers just don't add up. I mean, they have not added manufacturing jobs. Manufacturing jobs have been lost in this country, 2 million of them. The bottom line is that this president has done more to take jobs away from the hard-working people who are struggling the most. And that's folks who are, as I said, the 74 percent of Americans who don't have a college degree. And they're out there talking about, well, we're going to provide free college for everybody. Well, who is going to pay for it? The 74 percent that don't have a college degree. They're not \u2014 nobody is focused. Let's just be honest, nobody is focused on the people who are struggling the most in America today. We talk about immigration. Talk about the president's immigration plan. He wants to bring in more and more people into this country. Let people who are here illegally stay in this country. Almost all of the people who are here illegally, and most of the people who came here legally over the last 20 years, they're working in wage-earning jobs. That is why wages have flat-lined. And we have unfortunately two political parties with most of the candidates in this field for some form of amnesty, some form of allowing people to stay here even though they're here illegally and for increasing levels of legal immigration. I'm someone who believes that we need to be the party that stands for the American worker. And when we say we need to send people back, I mean we send people back. And let me just make one point. I was in Storm Lake, Iowa, the other day, near a Tyson's plant, 91 percent of the kids that go to the elementary school there are minority kids. And they said, well, what are you going to do with all of these people, their families, they've lived here for a long time? I said, I'm going to give them a gift. I'm going to give them a gift of being able to help the country they were born in. And I'm going to export America, the education they were able to see. They learned English language. They learned about capitalism. They learned about democracy. You want to stop flow of immigrants? Let's send six million Mexicans, Hondurans, Guatemalans, El Savadorians......back into their country, so they can start a renaissance in their country so they won't be coming over here anymore. +p916 +aVYou know, we've had this debate about the economy, and we haven't talked the one issue now increasingly even the right, and even the are coming to agreement. I've run around doing 300 town hall meetings talking about a book written by a liberal Harvard sociologist, not a normal thing for me to be talking about, but I now name Robert Putnam who wrote a book called, "Our Kids". And, he wrote this book, I think, ostensibly to support the Democratic argument that the middle of America's hollowing out, and income gap is widening, and rich are getting richer. When he studied all the information as to what was going on, he realized that the biggest reason that we're seeing the hollowing out of the middle of America is the breakdown of the American family. The reality is that if you're a single parent \u2014 a child of a single parent, and you grew up in a single parent family neighborhood, you went to that single parent family school, the chance of you ever, ever reaching the top 20% of income earners is 3% in America. At least \u2014 I don't know about you, but that's not good enough. And, we have been too politically correct in this country because we don't want to offend anybody to fight for the lives of our children. You want \u2014 You want to be shocked? You read the first few chapters of Mr. \u2014 Dr. Putnam' book. He talks about Port Clinton, Ohio and growing up there in the 1950's, and how poor kids actually survived and did well, even though they were poor and disadvantaged. But, then he goes to the towns today and these kids are failing, and failing miserably. They don't even have a shot, and we won't even have the courage to have leadership at the federal level \u2014 not with legislation, but the most powerful tool a president have, the bully pulpit to encourage each and everyone of you, churches and businesses, and educators, and community leaders to let's have a national campaign to rebuild the American family, and give every child its birthright which is a Mom and a Dad who loves them. That will change this economy. +p917 +aVLadies and gentlemen, America is frustrated and angry and looking for someone who's a fighter, but I also think they're looking for someone who's a winner. Somebody who can go out there and take on the establishment and make a difference. And take on someone who's going to be the person who's going to be between a Republican holding the presidency and that's Hillary Clinton. And there's one person on this stage, one person in the race who's done it and done it repeatedly. I've taken on Hillary Clinton on the issues you care about. Partial-birth abortion. Go and google Rick Santorum and Hillary Clinton and there you'll see a five-minute debate. I'll let you decide who won the debate. I'll tell you who won, because we passed the bill and I know I'm out of time but I'm going to take some of Rand Paul's time here for a second. If you're looking for someone who fought Hillary Clinton on Iran's sanctions, she was one of four who voted \u2014 who's deciding vote who voted against Iran's sanctions, so we didn't get it in place as earlier as we should have. I've fought battles against her. In 1994, I ran against the Clinton machine. James Carville and Paul Begala, ran the race against me when I took on the author of Hillary care. And each one of those battles, I won. You want a fighter, you want a winner, I'd appreciate your vote. Thank you. +p918 +asVQUESTION +p919 +(lp920 +VI'm Mark Watson. I'm known for my views on Youtube, but I'm also a veteran who served in the Army for eight years. As an African-American living near Ferguson, I've seen the strain between police officers and the communities they serve firsthand. Now, there are great tools like body cameras that \u2014 to protect both officers and citizens, but we all currently have better cameras in our pockets than in our precincts. Why aren't we using the technology available to better protect our communities? +p921 +aVI'm Dulce Candy, a Youtube creator who immigrated to the United States from Mexico when I was a little girl. Since then, I am proud to say I served in the armed forces in Iraq, became a citizen and I am now an entrepreneur. There are many immigrants who contribute positively to the American economy, but some of the comments in the campaign make us question our place in this country. If America does not seem like a welcoming place for immigrant entrepreneurs, will the American economy suffer? +p922 +aVI'm Nabela Noor. I'm a Muslim American born and raised in the U.S. who creates beauty and lifestyle videos on Youtube. In 2015, the number of hate crimes against Muslims in the U.S. has tripled, and on social media, where I spend a lot of time, I've seen many attacks directed towards fellow Muslims. This culture of hatred is only driving +p923 +aVMy name is Ashley Tofil. Ms. Fiorina, in November, you said that you would not talk to Vladimir Putin after you were elected because you would be communicating from a position of weakness. Do you believe that it is feasible to not communicate with another world leader? And do you think that that also is a sign of weakness? +p924 +aVMy name is Carla Hernandez. I'm from the University of Texas at Austin. And my question is directed to all the candidates. If the Bible clearly states that we need to embrace those in need and not fear, how can we justify not accepting refugees? +p925 +asVCAVUTO +p926 +(lp927 +VIt is 9:00 p.m. here at the North Charleston Coliseum and Performing Arts Center in South Carolina. Welcome to the sixth Republican presidential of the 2016 campaign, here on the Fox Business Network. I'm Neil Cavuto, alongside my friend and co-moderator Maria Bartiromo. +p928 +aVNow, the seven candidates on the stage tonight were selected based on their standing in six national polls, as well as polls in the early-voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire, those standings determining the position on the stage of the candidates tonight. And here they are. Businessman Donald Trump. Texas senator Ted Cruz. Florida senator Marco Rubio. Neurosurgeon Ben Carson. New Jersey governor Chris Christie. Former Florida governor Jeb Bush. And Ohio governor John Kasich. +p929 +aVGovernor Kasich, we are not even two weeks into this stock trading year, but investors already lost $1.6 trillion in market value. That makes it the worst start to a new year ever. Many worry that things will get even worse, and that banks and financial stocks are particularly vulnerable. Now, if this escalates, like it did back when Barack Obama first assumed the presidency, what actions would you take if this same thing happens all over again just as, in this example, you are taking over the presidency? +p930 +aVGovernor Bush, the president just told the nation two nights ago that America is back and that the idea that our enemies are getting stronger or that this country is getting weaker, well, it's just rhetoric and hot air. Now other Democrats go even further, sir, saying Republicans even suggesting such comments actually embolden our enemies. I guess they would include you. What do you say? +p931 +aVSo I take it from that you do not agree with the president. +p932 +aVSenator Rubio, the president says that +p933 +aVThank you, Senator. +p934 +aVMr. Trump, at the State of the Union, the president pointed to a guest who was a Syrian refugee you might recall whose wife and daughter and other family members were killed in an air attack. Now he fled that country seeking asylum here, ultimately ended up in Detroit where he's now trying to start a new life. The president says that that doctor is the real face of these refugees and not the one that you and some of your colleagues on this stage are painting; that you prefer the face of fear and terror and that you would refuse to let in anyone into this country seeking legitimate asylum. How do you answer that? +p935 +aVAll right. Welcome back to the Republican presidential , right here in North Charleston, South Carolina. Let's get right back to the questions. And I'll start with you, Senator Cruz. Now you are, of course, a strict constitutionalist \u2014 no one would doubt that. And as you know, the U.S. Constitution says only natural-born citizens are eligible for the office of president of the United States. Stop me if you've heard this before. Now, you were born...... you were born in Canada to an American mother. So you were and are considered an American citizen. But that fellow next to you, Donald Trump \u2014 and others \u2014 have said that being born in Canada means you are not natural-born, and that has raised questions about your eligibility. Do you want to try to close this topic once and for all tonight? +p936 +aVMr. Trump......that you raised it because of his rising poll numbers. +p937 +aVWhy are you saying this now \u2014 right now? Why are you raising this issue now? +p938 +aVSenator, do you want to respond? +p939 +aVMarco Rubio. I'm sorry, it's the time constraints. You and Governor Christie have been exchanging some fairly nasty words of late, and I will allow the governor to respond as well. The governor went so far to say, you won't be able to slime your way to the White House. He's referring to a series of ads done by a PAC, speaking on your behalf, that say quote,"One high tax, Common Core, liberal, energy-loving, Obamacare, Medicaid-expanding president is enough. You think you went too far on that and do you want to apologize to the governor? +p940 +aVThat is not my question. +p941 +aVIs he a liberal? +p942 +aVIs he a liberal? +p943 +aVGovernor? +p944 +aVYou were? +p945 +aVWell, we are not done. Coming up, one of the top things people are talking about on Facebook, guns. And you can join us live us on this stage in the conversation during this commercial break right from home. You can go to Facebook.com/. We will be streaming live and talking about how we think the is going so far. We're back in a moment in Charleston, South Carolina. +p946 +aVSenator Rubio, you said that President Obama wants to take people's guns away. Yet under his presidency, gun sales have more than doubled. That doesn't sound like a White House unfriendly to gun owners. +p947 +aVBut what fact can you point to, Senator \u2014 what fact can you point to that the president would take away everyone's gun? You don't think that's ? +p948 +aVGovernor Christie, you, too, have criticized the president's recent executive action on gun control, saying it's unconstitutional, another step to bypass Congress. But hasn't your own position on guns evolved, sir? The New Jersey Star-Ledger reports that you signed several laws to regulate the possession of firearms, and that you argued back in August 2013, and I quote, "These common sense measures will strengthen New Jersey's already tough gun laws." So isn't that kind of what the president wants to do now? +p949 +aVMaria... +p950 +aVGovernor bush, for the third time in as many months, the Iranians have provoked us, detaining us, as we've been discussing, with these 10 Navy sailors Tehran had said strayed into their waters. The sailors were released, but only after shown on video apologizing for the incident. This occurring only weeks after Iran fired multiple rockets within 1,500 yards of a U.S. aircraft carrier and then continued to test medium range missiles. Now you've claimed that such actions indicate Tehran has little to fear from a President Obama. I wonder, sir, what would change if they continued doing this sort of thing under a President Jeb Bush? +p951 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Kasich, while everyone has been focusing on Iran's provocations, I'm wondering what you make of what Saudi Arabia has been doing and its recent moves in the region, including its execution of a well-known Shi'ite cleric and its move to dramatically increase oil production, some say in an effort to drive down oil prices and force a lot of U.S. oil producers out of business. Sure enough, oil prices have tumbled. One brokerage house is predicting a third or more of American oil producers and those heavily invested in fracking will go bankrupt, and soon Saudi Arabia and +p952 +aVThank you John. +p953 +aVBut you said \u2014 you said that he made those comments and they represented him being unhinged after he made them. +p954 +aVWell \u2014 well, after he made them......his poll numbers went up eight points in South Carolina. Now \u2014 now, wait... +p955 +aVAre you \u2014 are you saying \u2014 are you saying that all those people who agree with Mr. Trump are unhinged? +p956 +aVMr. Trump, sometimes maybe in the heat of the campaign, you say things and you have to dial them back. Last week, the New York Times editorial board quoted as saying that you would oppose, "up to 45 percent tariff on Chinese goods." +p957 +aVWell... +p958 +aVYou never said because they provided that... +p959 +aVSo they've never said to put a tariff on their... +p960 +aVI'm sorry, you lost me. +p961 +aVThen I apologize. Then I want to understand, if you don't want a 45 percent tariff, say that wasn't the figure, would you be open \u2014 are you open to slapping a higher tariff on Chinese goods of any sort to go back at them? +p962 +aVI know... +p963 +aVSo you're open to a tariff? +p964 +aVAll right. +p965 +aVHe is right. If you put a tariff on a good, it's Americans who pay. +p966 +aVGovernor Christie, going back to your U.S. Attorney days, you had been praised by both parties as certainly a tough law and order guy. So I wonder what you make of recent statistics that showed violent crimes that have been spiking sometimes by double digit ratings in 30 cities across the country. Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn said, "most local law enforcement officials feel abandoned by Washington." Former NYC Police Chief Ray Kelly, says that, "police are being less proactive because they're being overly scrutinized and second guessed and they're afraid of being sued or thrown in jail." What would you do as president to address this? +p967 +aVThank you governor. Governor Kasich, as someone has to deal with controversial police shootings in your own state, what do you make of Chicago's move recently to sort of retrain police? Maybe make them not so quick to use their guns? +p968 +aVThank you, Governor. +p969 +aVGentlemen, gentlemen \u2014 +p970 +aVVery quick, very quick. +p971 +aVDo you think they like each other? +p972 +aVAll right, gentlemen, we've got to stop. I know you are very passionate about that. Governor Bush, fears have gripped this country obviously, and you touched on it earlier since the San Bernardino attacks. Since our last , the national conversation has changed, according to Facebook data as well. Now this first graphic shows the issues that were most talked about right before those attacks and now after: the issues of Islam, homeland security and +p973 +aVWould you answer this question? +p974 +aVFair enough. So Tim Cook \u2014 so Tim Cook says he's going to keep it private. +p975 +aVBut if Tim cook is telling you no, Mr. President. +p976 +aVDo you ask or do you order? +p977 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p978 +aVGovernor Bush? +p979 +aVDr. Ben Carson? +p980 +aVSenator Ted Cruz? +p981 +aVGentlemen, thank you all. All of you. That wraps up our debate. We went a little bit over here. But we wanted to make sure everyone was able to say their due. He's upset. All right. Thank you for joining us. Much more to come in the Spin Room ahead. +p982 +aVIt is 9:00 p.m. on the East Coast, 8:00 p.m. here inside the Milwaukee theater. Welcome to the Republican presidential debate here on the Fox Business Network. I'm Neil Cavuto, alongside my co-moderators, Maria Bartiromo, and the editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal, Gerard Baker. +p983 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. +p984 +aVIt sounds like a game show but it's not. Now I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the elephant in the room, and I'm not talking about your party's fine symbol. I'm talking about the purpose of tonight's debate. The economy and what each of you would do to improve it. No more, no less. We are focused on those issues, and what you have said on those issues in your words and what your opponents have said in their words about your words. That is the agenda tonight. How each of you plans to make America better tomorrow. And so we begin. Candidates, as we gather tonight in this very august theater, just outside and across the country, picketers are gathering as well. They're demanding an immediate hike in the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Just a few hours ago, near Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed doing the same for all state workers, the first governor to do so. Mr. Trump, as the leading presidential candidate on this stage and one whose tax plan exempts couples making up to $50,000 a year from paying any federal income taxes at all, are you sympathetic to the protesters cause since a $15 wage works out to about $31,000 a year? +p985 +aVSo do not raise the minimum wage? +p986 +aVDr. Carson, you have long bemoaned this lackluster recovery. And this Facebook map show Americans share your concern. The green represents how the jobs issue is resonating all across the nation, especially here in the state of Wisconsin. You suggested one minimum wage does not fit all, and that perhaps we should offer a lower or starter wage for young people. Those protesters outside are looking for $15 and nothing less. Where are you? +p987 +aVSo, sir, just to be clear, you would not raise it? +p988 +aVSenator Rubio, you called the recent Democratic debate in Las Vegas a night of giveaways, including free health care, free college and a host of other government-paid benefits. Since you aren't a fan of all they're giving away, tell us tonight what you would take back. +p989 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. +p990 +aVAll right. We're only just getting started. Coming up, your taxes. Stick around. You're watching FOX Business +p991 +aVWelcome back to the Milwaukee Theater and the Republican presidential debate. Let's get right back to our questions. Dr. Carson, to you. You recently railed against the double- standard in the media, sir, that seems obsessed with inconsistencies and potential exaggerations in your life story, but looked the other way when it came to then-Senator Barack Obama's. Still, as a candidate whose brand has always been trust, are you worried your campaign \u2014 which you've always said, sir, is bigger than you \u2014 is now being hurt by you? +p992 +aVI'll just forget that follow-up there. +p993 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p994 +aVAlright, thank you. We're going to take a break here. Coming up, a big issue many Americans are facing, taxes. The Republican Presidential Debate continues now, live, from Milwaukee. +p995 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from Milwaukee. Let's get back to the questions. And we want to touch on obviously one of the biggest of this issue in this year, taxes. And this will go to several of you. One of the biggest economic concerns of course in the country are taxes. Facebook data certainly backs that up. Once again the green on this map that we're going to see here shows how the conversation around taxes is resonating across the nation, especially here in Wisconsin. First off, Dr. Carson, to you. You say you are in favor of a tax system, I guess akin to tithing, sir, with a flat tax rate of up to 15 percent because you said, if everybody pays this, I think God is a pretty fair guy, so tithing is a pretty fair process. But Donald Trump says that is not fair. That wealthier taxpayers should pay a higher rate because it's a fair thing to do. So whose plan would God endorse then, Doctor? Yours or Mr. Trump's? +p996 +aVRight. +p997 +aVThank you very much. Senator Paul, you said you want to blow up the tax code and start over with an across-the-board 14.5 percent fair and flat tax. You happily offered that it is not revenue neutral and that's the idea. You want to choke off the amount of money coming into Washington. But don't you risk, sir, creating a near-term budget crisis just as your presidency would be beginning? +p998 +aVThere are no deductions on your \u2014 under your plan? +p999 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1000 +aVSenator Paul... Senator Paul, you have already said, sir, that that would be a mistake in not talking to Vladimir Putin, or to rule it out. You've argued that it's never a good idea to close down communication. With that in mind, do you think the same applies to administration efforts right now to include the Iranians in talks on Syria? +p1001 +aV...Well, then how would you respond? +p1002 +aVBut if you're not going to respond in a no-fly zone strategy, what would yours be? +p1003 +aVAll right. And look at the time, look at the time. You are watching FOX Business, we'll take a break. Stick around. +p1004 +aVSenator Cruz \u2014 and I will get to you \u2014 but, Senator Cruz, on that theme, Facebook data shows that over the last month alone, nearly 1 million people \u2014 nearly 1 million \u2014 have been concerned about reining in Wall Street, apparently believing that some have not been punished enough. So, as an accomplished litigator yourself and a former solicitor general, would you go after the very people who believe and fear that Wall Street has ignored, in other words, the crooks that Bernie Sanders say have gotten away with a financial murder? +p1005 +aVSenator......Senator, I really want to be clear here. Are you saying, sir, that if Bank of America were on the brink, you would let it fail? +p1006 +aVSir, I understand that. I just want to be clear, if you don't mind, that millions of depositors would be on the line with that decision. And I just want to be clear. If it were to happen again, for whatever the reason, you would let it go, you would let a Bank of America go? +p1007 +aVOK, I think it's fair to say you're not fans of Hillary Clinton's resume. Alright, Mr. Trump.... +p1008 +aVI had a feeling. Perhaps the most successful capitalist on this stage tonight, you've acknowledged that some give capitalism a bad name. You've been particularly critical of businesses that find all sorts of ways of paying their taxes by keeping money abroad, but your own plan includes an incentive to bring \u2014 that more the $2 trillion dollars home. Isn't that, like, a one-time bounty... +p1009 +aV...Some of the guys you all but call pirates, so they still keep the loot, and pay only a price to bring it back. +p1010 +aV...Alright, gentlemen, I know you want to \u2014 and I want to, be we also promised to get people home tonight, and we are going to take a quick break here. I think it is fair to say at this juncture that you can discuss these issues, and only business issues, but still keep it interesting. Stick around for these candidates closing statements. +p1011 +aVSenator Marco Rubio? +p1012 +aVDr. Ben Carson? +p1013 +aVDonald Trump? +p1014 +aVCandidates, we want to thank you all. We also appreciate your helping save time by talking over one another at times. That was welcomed. But by all means, it was a very riveting debate. Business issues can be \u2014 can be riveting, because it wasn't about us, it's about them. +p1015 +aVThat'll do it. Thank you for joining us. +p1016 +asVBLITZER +p1017 +(lp1018 +VWelcome to the CNN-Facebook Republican presidential debate here at the Venetian Las Vegas. We have a very enthusiastic audience. Everyone is here. They're looking forward to a serious and spirited discussion about the security of this nation. I'm Wolf Blitzer, your moderator tonight. This debate is airing on CNN networks here in the United States and around the world, and on the Salem Radio Network. The nine leading candidates, they are here. Let's welcome them right now. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Businessman and real estate developer Donald Trump. Retired neurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. And Ohio Governor John Kasich. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome these Republican candidates for president of the United States. This is the final Republican debate before the election year begins, and we're taking a moment for the photographs of the candidates together on the stage. Now, everyone, please rise for the national anthem sung by Ayla Brown. +p1019 +aVI know everyone is eager to get started. So, candidates, please take your places while I explain the ground rules for tonight. As moderator, I'll guide the discussion, and I'll be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt and CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. We also asked Republicans and independents nationwide to share their questions for the candidates. We teamed up with Facebook to send a campaign camper across the country over the past several weeks. Thousands of people stepped inside and recorded their questions on video. Millions more have weighed in on Facebook. Candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have a minute and 15 seconds to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you're singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know that we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. And as the candidates requested, a bell will sound like this. We know you are all eager to jump in and debate these important issues, so, please, wait until you're called on. These nine Republicans are positioned on stage based on their ranking in the recent polls, so let's begin right now. I'd like to invite each candidate to introduce himself or herself to our audience. You'll have one minute. First to you, Senator Paul. +p1020 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p1021 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1022 +aVMs. Fiorina? +p1023 +aVGovernor Bush? +p1024 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1025 +aVSenator Cruz. +p1026 +aVDr. Carson. +p1027 +aVMr. Trump. +p1028 +aVThank you. Since you last debated, Americans have witnessed terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino. The FBI director says the country now faces the greatest terror threat since 9/11. You all have different approaches to keeping the country safe. And that will be the focus of tonight's debate. Mr. Trump, as you mentioned in your opening statement, part of your strategy is to focus in on America's borders. To keep the country safe, you say you want to temporarily ban non-American Muslims from coming to the United States; ban refugees fleeing +p1029 +aVGovernor Bush, you called Mr. Trump "unhinged" when he proposed banning non-American Muslims from the United States. Why is that unhinged? +p1030 +aVMr. Trump? +p1031 +aVSenator Rubio \u2014 I'm going to go to Senator Rubio and get his thoughts. You have said banning Muslims is unconstitutional. But according to a recent ABC News-Washington Post poll, a majority of Republicans support Mr. Trump's idea. Why are they wrong? +p1032 +aVHugh Hewitt, you have a question. +p1033 +aVGovernor Christie, Americans are clearly more afraid today than at any time since 9/11. As you mentioned in your opening statement, today in Los Angeles, 650 schoolchildren didn't go to \u2014 650,000 schoolchildren didn't go to school because of an e-mail threat, this two weeks after an attack killed 14 people in San Bernardino. Is this the new normal? And if so, what steps would you take as president of the United States to ensure that fear does not paralyze America? +p1034 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, one of the killers in San Bernardino was an American who was not on anyone's watch list. How are you going to find that radicalized person and stop another such attack? +p1035 +aVThank you. Dana Bash, you have the next question. +p1036 +aVThank you. Dr. Carson, you're in favor of monitoring mosques and schools where there is anti-America sentiment, what do you consider anti- America? +p1037 +aVDr. Carson, who was right in that little debate that we just heard between Senator Rubio and Senator Paul? +p1038 +aVHold on a sec, we have a lot more to come and everybody's going to have their full opportunity. Governor Bush, six days after 9/11 your brother visited a mosque and said quote, "Islam is peace." The conversation tonight is about banning Muslims and surveillance of mosques, are President Bush's words still relevant in today's Republican party? +p1039 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you pointed out you were a CEO in Silicon Valley on 9/11. Companies there, they say they won't help the FBI now crack encrypted communication from +p1040 +aVBut my question was: Should these Silicon Valley companies be forced to cooperate with the FBI? +p1041 +aVMr. Trump, you recently suggested closing that Internet up, those were your words, as a way to stop +p1042 +aVLet me follow up, Mr. Trump. So, are you open to closing parts of the Internet? +p1043 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, is shutting down any part of the Internet a good idea? +p1044 +aVThank you, Governor. The fight against radical Islamic terrorists and +p1045 +aVThank you. To be clear, Senator Cruz, would you carpet bomb Raqqa, the +p1046 +aVThank you. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you've been critical of Senator Cruz's strategy. You say his voting record doesn't match his rhetoric. Why? +p1047 +aVBecause I asked the question, Senator, because you said this. You said he, referring to Senator Cruz, voted against the Defense Authorization Act every year that it came up, and I assume that if he voted against it, he would veto it as president. That's the bill that funds our troops. +p1048 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1049 +aVSenator Rubio. +p1050 +aVWe are going to have much more on this... +p1051 +aVWe're going to have much more on this. But I want to move now back to Mr. Trump. +p1052 +aVHold on. Hold on. Hold on. +p1053 +aVWe have a lot... +p1054 +aVWe have a lot to discuss. I want to move to Mr. Trump right now. We have a question on this war against +p1055 +aVMr. Trump. +p1056 +aVGovernor Bush. Governor Bush. +p1057 +aVMr. Trump. +p1058 +aVJust one at a time, go ahead... +p1059 +aVGo ahead, Mr. Trump. +p1060 +aVGovernor Bush, please. +p1061 +aVOne at a time. +p1062 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1063 +aVThank you. +p1064 +aVAll right. Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash, Hugh, go ahead with the next question. +p1065 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Rubio? Let's continue this conversation. This is a critically important issue. +p1066 +aVWe will get to \u2014 we have a lot of time, Ms. Fiorina. I want to get to Senator Rubio right now. Let's talk about, one of the aspects of your strategy, you say the only way to defeat +p1067 +aVThank you, Senator. Stand by. Ms. Fiorina, the former defense secretary, Bob Gates, says the chances of getting Sunni-Arab forces on the ground to get the job done, his words, "chances very remote." What's your strategy? +p1068 +aVThank you. Governor Christie, what's your strategy? +p1069 +aVDr. Carson, what is your strategy? +p1070 +aVThank you. Everyone stand by. We're only just beginning. Coming up, which candidates on this stage tonight want to move foreign policy in a dramatically new direction? We'll be right back. +p1071 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate here at the Venetian, Las Vegas. The war against +p1072 +aVThank you. +p1073 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you supported the removal of Moammar Gadhafi in Libya. Now that country is in turmoil, as +p1074 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1075 +aVStandby. Everybody standby for a moment. Governor Kasich, go ahead. +p1076 +aVThank you. +p1077 +aVWe're going to talk about Assad in a moment. Mr. Trump, are Americans safer with dictators running the world in the Middle East? +p1078 +aVThank you. Mr. Trump? +p1079 +aVAll right. +p1080 +aVThank you. +p1081 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East... +p1082 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East better off with dictators? +p1083 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1084 +aVHold on Governor Bush., here's the question. You said, "getting rid of Saddam Hussein in your words was a pretty good deal." In light of what has happened in Iraq, do you still feel that way? +p1085 +aVSenator Paul, was getting rid of Saddam Hussein a pretty good deal? +p1086 +aVThank you. Hugh Hewitt, go ahead. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hugh. +p1087 +aVSenator, Senator, we're going to get to you. Wait your turn. We have two hours of debate. We'll have plenty of time. Let Hugh ask his question. +p1088 +aVSenator, please. +p1089 +aVSenator... +p1090 +aVYou'll have plenty of opportunity. Hugh, go ahead. +p1091 +aVThese are the rules all of you agreed to. Hugh, go ahead with your question. +p1092 +aVLet's continue with Russia right now. We have another question from Facebook. Listen and watch. +p1093 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you know, U.S. and Russian warplanes are flying all over Syria right now. With so many lives on the line, is this a good time for the United States not to talk to Putin? +p1094 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Christie, if the U.S. imposed a no-fly zone over Syria and a Russian plane encroached, invaded that no-fly zone, would you be prepared to shoot down that Russian plane and risk war with Russia? +p1095 +aVSenator Paul \u2014 Senator Paul, I want you to respond to what we just heard from Governor Christie. If there was a no-fly zone, you say that potentially could lead to World War III. Why? +p1096 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1097 +aVAll right, let's go back \u2014 Hugh and Dana? +p1098 +aVOne at a time. Hugh, go ahead. +p1099 +aVGovernor, thank you very much. So, Dr. Carson, you recently visited a refugee camp in Jordan and you deemed it your words, "really quite nice." Saying the people there didn't want to come to the United States. Do you think these camps are a long-term solution of the problem of Syrian refugees? +p1100 +aVSenator Paul, you oppose letting in Syrian refugees at this time into the United States. The U.S. has already accepted 2,000 Syrian refugees, including 13 living here in Las Vegas right now. Would you send them back? What would you do with these people? +p1101 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1102 +aVSenator Paul, you didn't answer the question about the 2,000 Syrian refugees who are already here in the United States. Will you send them back or let them stay? +p1103 +aVWe have another \u2014 we have another question. We have another question from Facebook. Let's listen. +p1104 +aVGovernor Christie, you say there should be a pause in allowing new refugees to come into the United States, including orphans under the age of five. What do you say to Carla? +p1105 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1106 +aVThank you, Governor. There is much more coming up. We are only just beginning. Coming up, what other global hot spots await the next president of the United States. +p1107 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate. We're here at the Venetian Las Vegas. Tonight we have been focusing on the Middle East, but let's turn to some other world threats that you will potentially face as Commander in Chief. Ms. Fiorina, candidates here have called the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un a maniac who is mentally unstable. Last week he said he now has a hydrogen bomb. If you were elected president, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p1108 +aVDr. Carson, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p1109 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Dana and Hugh you have questions as well. +p1110 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Some of you on this stage have questioned whether your opponents have temperament, the right temperament, to be in control of the nuclear codes. Dana, you have a question on this? +p1111 +aVThank you, senator. Thank you. +p1112 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1113 +aVThank you, Senator. We're a month and a half away now from the first real test who will be the Republican presidential nominee. Hugh, you have a question? +p1114 +aVAll right. Candidates, we have more coming up. When we come back, everyone will have an opportunity to explain why this particular candidate, each of you on the stage, believes he or she should be the Republican presidential nominee. +p1115 +aVNow it's time for the closing statements from the candidates. Each one has 30 seconds. Senator Paul. +p1116 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1117 +aVGovernor Christie. +p1118 +aVMs. Fiorina. +p1119 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1120 +aVSenator Rubio. +p1121 +aVSenator Cruz. +p1122 +aVDr. Carson. +p1123 +aVThanks to all the Republican presidential candidates. That does it for this Republican presidential debate. +p1124 +asVFIORINA +p1125 +(lp1126 +VWell, thank you. Good evening. If I may begin by saying how honored I am to be standing here with two former Iowa Caucus winners. Governor, Senator. And how honored I am to be talking with all of you. You know, I'm not a political insider. I haven't spent my lifetime running for office. The truth is I have had and been blessed by a lot of opportunities to do a lot of things in my life. And unlike another woman in this race, I actually love spending time with my husband. I'm standing here because I think we have to restore a citizen government in this country. I think we have to end crony capitalism. The crony capitalism that starts with both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. You know, Hillary Clinton sits inside government and rakes in millions, handing out access and favors. And Donald Trump sits outside government and rakes in billions buying people like Hillary Clinton. The state of our economy is not strong. We have record numbers of men out of work. We have record numbers of women living in poverty. We have young people who no longer believe that the American dream applies to them. We have working families whose wages have stagnated for decades, all while the rich get richer, the powerful get more powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected get more connected. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. +p1127 +aVAmerica must lead because when we do not lead, when this exceptional nation does not lead, the world is more dangerous and a more tragic place. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, they all refuse to lead. Worse, they refuse to respond when this nation is provoked. Hillary Clinton famously asked what difference does it make how four Americans died in Benghazi? Mrs. Clinton, here's what difference it makes. When you do not stand up and say the truth, that this was a purposeful terrorist attack, when you do not say the United States of America will retaliate for that attack, terrorists assume it's open season. We have refused to respond to every provocation. The President wouldn't even mention the fact that Iran had taken two Navy boats and our sailors \u2014 hostage. He didn't mention the fact that they violated the Geneva convention. He didn't respond to the fact that Iran launched two ballistic missile just a short time ago, in direct violation of a deal they had just signed. We didn't respond to the fact that North Korea attacked Sony Pictures. When we refuse to respond over, and over to provocation and bad behavior, we will get more provocation and bad behavior. I know most of our allies personally. I have met many of our adversaries. I know our military and our intelligence capability, and I know this. When we will not stand with our allies, when we will not respond to our adversaries, when we do not lead in the world the world is a dangerous and tragic place. I will be a Commander in Chief who will lead. +p1128 +aVOf course I'm worried about similar problems in the United States. We can not allow refugees to enter this country unless we can adequately vet them and we know we can't. Therefore we should stop allowing refugees into this country. And by the way, we do not need to be lectured about why we're angry and frustrated and fearful because we've had an illegal immigration problem in this country for 25 years. And we have every right to be frustrated about the fact that politicians stand up in election after election after election and promise us to fix the problem and yet, it has never been fixed. I offer leadership that understands that actions speak louder than words, that results count. We must secure our border. We must fix our broken immigration system. We must enforce a pro-American immigration system that serves our interests, not the rest of the world. I understand what it takes to translate goals into results and that is what I will do as president of the United States. Of course, we should be worried, for heavens sakes. This administration has now told us they don't know who has overstayed a visa. This administration has told us they don't even bother to check Facebook or Twitter to find out who's pledging allegiance to jihadis. We can do better than this, citizens. We need to take our country back. +p1129 +aVWe need to be very clear-eyed now about who are our allies and who are our adversaries. In the fight against +p1130 +aVAnd we all believe the polling data all the time, don't we? +p1131 +aVOh, it's a problem for so many reasons. First of all, it is yet another lawless executive order. You see, he doesn't like the fact that Congress has rejected his ideas twice on a bipartisan basis, so he's decided he just gets to override them. Sorry, Mr. President, not the way "The Constitution" works. Secondly......secondly, he basically admitted in that speech that he hasn't been paying much attention to enforcing the laws we have. He said, gee, we need a few more FBI agents. That would have helped, perhaps, stop a tragedy here in South Carolina with Dylann Roof, a guy who clearly never should have been sold a gun. In other words, Mr. President, you're right, we need to enforce the laws we have. Let's enforce the laws we have. There are criminals running around with guns who shouldn't have them. We don't prosecute any of them. Less than 1 percent. But I want to go back to the technology issue for a moment, if I may, as well, because in this regard, I disagree with Senator Santorum. Look, I come from the technology industry and I can tell you there is one thing that bureaucracies don't know how to do. They do not know how to innovate. We have come seven generations of technology since 2011. We have bureaucracies that are incapable of bringing in that innovation. So, yes, there are some very specific things that we should ask the private sector to help us with, including making sure we have the latest and greatest in algorithms to search through all these databases so that we find terrorists before they attack us, not after it's too late. And, finally, when a president who understands technology in the Oval Office. Mrs. Clinton, actually, you cannot wipe a server with a towel. +p1132 +aVYes, and see... +p1133 +aVAs CEO of Hewlett Packard... +p1134 +aVAs CEO of Hewlett Packard, I was asked very specifically for some very real help. The help I was asked to provide, this is now public information. So I am not revealing what \u2014 something that was \u2014 was classified. We had a very large shipment of equipment, software and hardware, headed to a retail outlet. And I was called by the head of the NSA, who had an urgent need for that capability, to begin laying out a program to track terrorists. We turned that truck around on a highway and it was escorted to the headquarters in San Jose. In World War II, our government went to the private sector and said, help us do things that we cannot do. The private sector has capabilities that the government does not have. There are some legal authorities that are required. The Sony attack could have been detected and repelled, had legal authorities been passed in Congress allowing private networks and public networks to work together. Those legal authorities have not yet been passed. Yes, I was asked to help. I know the technology industry. They will help again. But they must be asked by a president who understands what they have. +p1135 +aVFor decades, the professional political class in both parties has been talking about the middle class. For decades, Republicans in particular have been talking about reducing the size and scope of government, spending less money, reducing the complexity. And yet, for 40 years, the government has gotten bigger and more expensive. We now have a 75,000 plus page tax code, although politicians have run for office for decades promising reform. And all the while, middle class incomes have stagnated. You see, when government gets bigger and bigger, more powerful, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer and the middle class gets squeezed. We need to understand who the job creators are in this country, because we need more jobs to grow the middle class and to grow the wages of the middle class. Who creates jobs? Small businesses, new businesses, family-owned businesses. They create two thirds of the new jobs in this country and they employ half the people. I started out typing for a nine person real estate firm. My husband Frank started out driving a tow truck for a family-owned auto body shop. And we are crushing small businesses and destroying the middle class. So here's my blueprint to take back America. Let us first actually reform the tax code from 73,000 pages down to three. There's a 20-year-old plan to do exactly that. And then let us begin piece by piece to focus on every single dollar the government spends, so that we will spend less overall and still have enough for our priorities. And that requires the government to budget the way you do at home \u2014 examine every dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. The fancy term for that is zero- based budgeting, but I call it common sense. Citizens, we've got to take our country back. +p1136 +aVMy husband Frank, that I mentioned, I love spending time with. He's down there. He was real excited the other day because in New Hampshire, he was introduced as my eye candy. You know, everybody out there watching knows this. You cannot wait to see the debate between me and Hillary Clinton. You would pay to see that fight. And that's because you know I will win. And that's important. We've got to start by beating Hillary Clinton. All of my life, I have been told to sit down and be quiet. Settle. Settle. Don't challenge the system. That's what the American people are being told now and we have been told that for way too long \u2014 sit down and be quiet about our God, about our guns, about the abortion industry, settle for illegal immigration that's been a problem for decades, as so many of our problems have festered for decades. Accept a system of government and politics that no longer works for us. I will not sit down and be quiet. And neither will you. So I ask you to stand with me, fight with me, vote for me, citizens. It is time to take our future back, time to take our politics back. It is time to take our government back. Citizens, it is time. We must take our country back. +p1137 +aVLike all of you I'm angry. I'm angry at what's happening to our nation. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. Bombastic insults wont take it back. Political rhetoric that promises a lot and delivers little, won't take it back. All of our problems can be solved. All of our wounds can be healed by a tested leader who is willing to fight for the character of our nation. I have been tested. I have beaten breast cancer. I have buried a child. I started as a secretary. I fought my way to the top of corporate America while being called every B word in the book. I fought my way into this election and on to this debate stage while all the political insiders and the pundits told, "it couldn't be done." I've been told, "no,: all my life. And all my life, I've refused to accept no as an answer. Citizens, it is time to take our country back from the political class, from the media, from the liberal elite. It can be done, it must be done, join me and we will get it done. +p1138 +aVWhat I think we need to stand for are solutions. I offer myself as a leader to the people of this country because I think they're looking for solutions, not lawyers arguing over laws or entertainers throwing out sound bites that draw media attention. We need to solve the problem. To solve the problem, we need to do something here at home and something over there in their caliphate. We need to deny them territory. But here at home, we need to do two fundamental things. Number one, we need to recognize that technology has moved on. The Patriot Act was signed in 2001, roughly. The iPhone was invented in 2007. The iPad was invented in 2011. Snapchat and Twitter, all the rest of it, have been around just for several years. Technology has moved on, and the terrorists have moved on with it. Let me tell you a story. Soon after 9/11, I got a phone call from the NSA. They needed help. I gave them help. I stopped a truckload of equipment. I had it turned around. It was escorted by the NSA into headquarters. We need the private sector's help, because government is not innovating. Technology is running ahead by leaps and bound. The private sector will help, just as I helped after 9/11. But they must be engaged, and they must be asked. I will ask them. I know them. +p1139 +aVYou know, listening to this conversation, let me just say, we have a lot of argument about laws but none of it solves the problem. Let's examine what happened, why did we miss the Tsarnaev brothers, why did we miss the San Bernardino couple? It wasn't because we had stopped collected metadata it was because, I think, as someone who comes from the technology world, we were using the wrong algorithms. This is a place where the private sector could be helpful because the government is woefully behind the technology curve. But secondly, the bureaucratic processes that have been in place since 9/11 are woefully inadequate as well. What do we now know? That DHS vets people by going into databases of known or suspected terrorists. And yet, we also know that +p1140 +aVThey do not need to be forced. They need to be asked to bring the best and brightest, the most recent technology to the table. I was asked as a CEO. I complied happily. And they will as well. But they have not been asked. That's why it cost billions of dollars to build an Obama website that failed because the private sector wasn't asked. +p1141 +aVI hope at some point you're going to ask me my strategy. +p1142 +aVWell, first I'll just point out that talking tough is not the same as being strong. And to wage war, we need a commander in chief who has made tough calls in tough times and stood up to be held accountable over and over, not first-term senators who've never made an executive decision in their life. One of the things I would immediately do, in addition to defeating them here at home, is bring back the warrior class \u2014 Petraeus, McChrystal, Mattis, Keane, Flynn. Every single one of these generals I know. Every one was retired early because they told President Obama things that he didn't want to hear. We must have Sunni-Arabs involved in this coalition. We must commit leadership, strength, support and resolve. I'll just add that Margaret Thatcher once said, "If you want something talked about, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman." +p1143 +aVThat is exactly what President Obama said. I'm amazed to hear that from a republican presidential candidate. But let's just start with, who got it wrong? Who really got it wrong? Hillary Clinton has gotten every foreign policy challenge wrong. Hitting the reset button with Vladimir Putin \u2013 recall that she called Bashar Al-Assad a positive reformer and then she opened an embassy and then later she said, over, and over, and over again, "Bashar Al-Assad must go." Although she wasn't prepared to do anything about it. Recall that Hillary Clinton was all for toppling Gadhafi then didn't listen to her own people on the ground. And then of course, when she lied about the terrorist attack in Benghazi, she invited more terrorist attacks. +p1144 +aVWe've mismanaged going into Iraq. +p1145 +aVWe've mismanaged going out of Iraq. +p1146 +aVWe actually... +p1147 +aVI didn't say I would cut off all communication with Putin. What I said was as president of the United States, now is not the time to talk with him. Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. There is a time and a place for everything. There is a time and a place for talk. And there is a time and a place for action. I know Vladimir Putin. He respects strength. He lied to our president's face; didn't both to tell him about warplanes and troops going into Syria. We need to speak to him from a position of strength. So as commander in chief, I will not speak to him until we've set up that no-fly zone; until we've gathered our Sunni-Arab allies and begun to deny +p1148 +aVThis doesn't do a thing to solve the problems...It doesn't do a thing to solve the problems. +p1149 +aVIt will not solve the problem. +p1150 +aVLadies and gentleman, this is why the American people are standing up. +p1151 +aVThis is why the nation is fed up... +p1152 +aVWe have been talking about this... +p1153 +aVSorry, but you haven't gotten to me. This is why... +p1154 +aVthe people are fed up with the political class. +p1155 +aVWell, first, Kim Jong-Un is a dangerous leader, without a doubt. And both Republican and Democrat administrations have been completely ineffective in dealing with him. So we must continue to isolate him. We will need China as part of that strategy. China is a rising adversary. So one of the things we have to do if we want China's support is to push back on China. They, too, recognize one thing \u2014 strength and their own economic interest. I have done business in China for 25 years, so I know that in order to get China to cooperate with us, we must first actually retaliate against their cyber-attacks so they know we're serious. We have to push back on their desire to control the trade route through the South China Sea through which flows $5 trillion worth of goods and services every year. We cannot let them control the disputed islands, and we must work with the Australians, the South Koreans, the Japanese and the Filipinos to contain China. And then we must ask for their support and their help with North Korea. Because believe it or not, China is as concerned about Kim Jong-Un as we are. +p1156 +aVI too remember September 11th. I remember immediately putting into place security procedures all throughout our company that did business in 170 countries where we thought corporate interests would be attacked next. To take our country back, to keep our nation safe, we have to begin by beating Hillary Clinton. We need to unify our party. We need to better than our government, which 75 percent of the American people now think is corrupt and incompetent. They're right. We need to better than our politics. 80 percent think we have a professional/political class of both parties that cares more about its power, position and privilege than actually on getting anything done. We need to unify our party, we need a real Conservative in the White House, and we need to beat Hillary Clinton to take our country back and keep our nation safe. I can. I am. And together, if you join me, we will take our country back. +p1157 +aVWell, first of all, I must say as I think about that question, I think about a woman I met the other day. I would guess she was 40 years old. She had several children. And she said to me, you know, Carly, I go to bed every night afraid for my children's future. And that really struck me. This is America. A mother is going to bed afraid for her children's future. And the reason she's afraid for her children's future is because we've had problems for a long time. Yes, problems have gotten much worse under Democrats. But the truth is, this government has been growing bigger and bigger, more corrupt, less effective, crushing the engine of economic growth for a very long time. This isn't about just replacing a Democrat with a Republican now. It's about actually challenging the status quo of big government. Big government has created a big business called politics. And there are lots of people invested in the status quo of that big business called politics. Specifically, we need actually to do five things to really get this economy going again. We need to go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dollar is being spent, we can challenge any dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. We need to actually reform the tax code. Go to a three-page tax code. Yes, there are plans that would reform our tax code to three pages. In addition to rolling back what President Obama has done, we need to do a top-to-bottom review of every single regulation on the books. That hasn't been done in 50 years. We need to pass the +p1158 +aVWell, first Obamacare has to be repealed because it's failing... ...it's failing the very people it was intended to help, but, also, it is croney-capitalism at its worst. Who helped write this bill? Drug companies, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, every single one of those kinds of companies are bulking up to deal with big government. See, that's what happens. As government gets bigger, and bigger \u2014 and it has been for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike \u2014 and business have to bulk up to deal with big government. So, we have to repeal it. It's tens of thousands of pages long, no one can possible understand it except the big companies, the lawyers, the accountants, the lobbyists that they hire to protect their interests. Then, we have to give back to states the responsibility to manage a high risk pool. We need to try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried. Health insurance has always been a cozy, little game between regulators and health insurance companies. We need to try the free market. The free market. Where people actually have to compete. And, we 'ought to have the government ensure that you must \u2014 and I don't use that term often, that government 'ought to do something, but every healthcare provider 'ought to publish its costs, its prices, its outcomes, because as patients we don't know what we're buying. Now, let me just say \u2014 let me just say, I know more about innovation and entrepreneurship than anyone on this panel because I have led innovative businesses in the most highly competitive industry in the world for decades. The truth is the secret sauce of America is innovation, and entrepreneurship, it is why we must cut our government down to size, and hold it accountable. It's why we have to take our government back, because innovation and entrepreneurship is crushed by the crushing load of a 73,000 page tax code. It is crushed... ...by regulatory thicket that is so vast we don't even know what's in it anymore. It is crushed as well by government bureaucrats who don't do their jobs very well, and who are not held accountable, which is why I've said we got to take our government back, and to do that, we have to know where every dollar being spent, and be able to move any dollar. We have to hack through this regulatory thicket, repeal so much, but, also, know what's in that regulatory thicket \u2014 we don't even know what regulations have been passed. Third, we need to build a meritocracy \u2014 Scott Walker, by the way, is trying now to do in Wisconsin... ...Finally, we need to get to a three page tax code, and, yes, that plan exists. +p1159 +aVSorry, I can't hear you. +p1160 +aV...Absolutely... +p1161 +aV...You need to give... +p1162 +aVThe alternative is to allow states to manage high risk pools for those who really need help. Look, I'm a cancer survivor, OK? I understand that you cannot have someone who's battled cancer just become known as a pre-existing condition. I understand that you cannot allow families to go bankrupt if they truly need help. But, I also understand that Obamacare isn't helping anyone. We're throwing more, and more people into Medicaid, and fewer, and fewer doctors are taking those payments. The point is Obamacare is crushing small businesses, it is not helping the families it was intended to help. So, let us allow states to manage high risk pools. Let us try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried, the free market. Let us ensure that as patients, and customers... +p1163 +aV...that we have information to shop wisely for our health care. +p1164 +aV...Yes, the middle ground is this... +p1165 +aV...This is why \u2014 this is why we must combine, actually, zero-based budgeting with tax reform because unless we can examine, and cut, and move, every single dollar of discretionary spending in the federal government, we cannot reform taxes and reduce spending at the same time. Ask yourself this question, how is it possible that the federal government gets more money each and every year, which the federal government has been doing, receiving more money every year for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike, and yet, never has enough money to do the important things? The answer? All the money's always spoken for. All the money's spoken for. So, we have to go to zero-based budgeting, which is a simple idea \u2014 by the way, there's been a bill for zeros-based (ph) budgeting... ...It exists, it can be voted on. Every dollar must be examined. Any dollar can be cut. Any dollar can be cut, any dollar can be moved. We have to go to a three page tax code. You lower every rate, you close every loophole, why? Because the government uses the tax code to decide winners, and losers. You have to strip the corruption out of the tax code to pay for it. You have to know where every single dollar is being spent... +p1166 +aV...Cut where you need to, and invest where you need to... +p1167 +aV...The two go hand in hand... +p1168 +aVYou know, Mr. Trump fancies himself a very good negotiator. And, I accept that he's done a lot of good deals, so, Mr. Trump 'ought to know that we should not speak to people from a position of weakness. Senator Paul should know that as well. One of the reasons I've said that I would not be talking to Vladimir Putin right now, although I have met him as well, not in a green room for a show, but in a private meeting. One of the reasons I've said I wouldn't be talking to Vladimir Putin right now is because we are speaking to him from a position of weakness brought on by this administration, so, I wouldn't talk to him for awhile, but, I would do this. I would start rebuilding the Sixth Fleet right under his nose, rebuilding the military \u2014 the missile defense program in Poland right under his nose. I would conduct very aggressive military exercises in the Baltic States so that he understood we would protect our +p1169 +aV...we have the strongest military on the face of the planet, and everyone has to know it. +p1170 +aV...Ronald Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. +p1171 +aV...he walked away, he quit talks... +p1172 +aV...when it was time to quit talking... +p1173 +aVCan I just \u2014 could I just say, as a chief executive who's had to make tough calls to save jobs and to grow jobs, I think what's interesting about Dodd-Frank is it's a great example of how socialism starts. Socialism starts when government creates a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. Government created the problem. Government created the problem of a real estate boom. How did we create it? Under Republican and Democrats alike, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, everybody gathered together, Republicans and Democrats, and said, "home ownership is part of the American dream. Let's create a bubble," and then government stepped in \u2014 by the way, under president George W. Bush, banks were told \u2014 encouraged \u2014 told, really \u2014 to buy other banks, to take money. And now what do we have with Dodd-Frank? The classic of crony capitalism. The big have gotten bigger, 1,590 community banks have gone out of business, and on top of all that, we've created something called the Consumer Financial Production Bureau, a vast bureaucracy with no congressional oversight that's digging through hundreds of millions of your credit records to detect fraud. This is how socialism starts, ladies and gentlemen. We must take our government back. +p1174 +aVImagine a Clinton presidency. Our military will continue to deteriorate. Our veterans will not be cared for. And, no, Mrs. Clinton, that situation is not exaggerated. The rich will get richer. The poor will get poorer. The middle class will continue to get crushed. And as bad as that picture is, what's even worse is that a Clinton presidency will corrode the character of this nation. Why? Because of the Clinton way: Say whatever you have to, lie as long as you can get away with it. We must beat Hillary Clinton. Carly Fiorina can beat Hillary Clinton. I will beat Hillary Clinton. And under a President Fiorina, we will restore the character of this nation, the security of this nation, the prosperity of this nation, because as citizens, we will take our government back. +p1175 +aVWell, gee, after the last debate, I was told that I didn't smile enough. +p1176 +aVBut I also think that these are very serious times; 75 percent of the American people think the federal government is corrupt. I agree with them. And this big powerful, corrupt bureaucracy works now only for the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected. Meantime, wages have stagnated for 40 years. We have more Americans out of work or just Americans who quit looking for work for 40 years. Ours was intended to be a citizen government. This is about more than replacing a D with an R. We need a leader who will help us take our government back. +p1177 +aVLet me just say on taxes, how long have we been talking about tax reform in Washington, D.C.? We have been talking about it for decades. We now have a 73,000-page tax code. There have been more than 4,000 changes to the tax plan since 2001 alone. There are loads of great ideas, great conservative ideas from wonderful think tanks about how to reform the tax code. The problem is we never get it done. We have talked about tax reform in every single election for decades. It never happens. And the politicians always say it is so complicated, nobody but a politician can figure it out. The truth is this, the big problem, we need a leader in Washington who understands how to get something done, not to talk about it, not to propose it, to get it done. +p1178 +aVThat's right, three pages. +p1179 +aVYou know why three? +p1180 +aVNo. You know why three? Because only if it's about three pages are you leveling the playing field between the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected who can hire the armies of lawyers and accountants and, yes, lobbyists to help them navigate their way through 73,000 pages. Three pages is about the maximum that a single business owner or a farmer or just a couple can understand without hiring somebody. Almost 60 percent of American people now need to hire an expert to understand their taxes. So yes, you're going to hear a lot of talk about tax reform \u2014 +p1181 +aV\u2014 the issue is who is going to get it done. +p1182 +aVYou know, the +p1183 +aVWell, this is one of the reasons why Tom Perkins and I had disagreements in the boardroom, Becky. Nevertheless, one of the things that I think people don't always understand is how accountable a CEO actually is. So you know, I had to report results every 90 days in excruciating detail. I had to answer every single question about every single result and every single projection in public until there were no more questions. And if I misrepresented those results or those projections in any way, I was held criminally liable. Imagine \u2014 imagine \u2014 if a politician were held to that standard of account. I will run on my record all day long. And I believe people need a leader who is prepared to make tough calls in tough times and stand up... +p1184 +aV...and be held accountable. +p1185 +aVYou know, I want to go back for a moment to what we were just talking about. Crony capitalism is alive and well, and has been so in Washington, D.C. for decades. What's crony capitalism? Crony capitalism is what happens when government gets so big and so powerful that only the big and the powerful can handle it. So why are the pharmaceutical companies consolidating? Why are there five even bigger Wall Street banks now, instead of the ten we used to have on Wall Street? Because when government gets big and powerful, the big feel like they need to get even bigger to deal with all that power, and meanwhile, the small and the powerless \u2014 in this case, 1,590 community banks \u2014 go out of business. You see, folks, this is how socialism starts. Government causes a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. This is why, fundamentally, we have to take our government back. The student loan problem has been created by government. Government trying to level the playing field between Internet and brick-and-mortar creates a problem. The FCC jumping in now and saying, "we're going to put 400 pages of regulation over the Internet," is going to create massive problems. But guess who pushed for that regulation? The big Internet companies. This is what's going on. Big and powerful use big and powerful government to their advantage. It's why you see Walgreens buying Rite Aid. It's why you see the pharmaceuticals getting together. It's you see the health insurance companies getting together. It's why you see the banks consolidating. And meanwhile, small businesses are getting crushed. Community- based businesses and farms are getting crushed. Community banks are going out of business. Big government favors the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected, and crushes the small and the powerless. +p1186 +aVIt is why we have to simplify. It is why we have to reduce the size and power of government. +p1187 +aVIt's the only way to level the playing field between big and powerful and small and powerless. +p1188 +aVBecky, it is the height of hypocrisy for Mrs. Clinton to talk about being the first woman President, when every single policy she espouses, and every single policy of President Obama has been demonstrably bad for women. 92 percent \u2014 92 percent of the jobs lost during Barack Obama's first term belonged to women. Senator Cruz is precisely right. Three million women have fallen into poverty under this administration. The number of women \u2014 +p1189 +aV\u2014 living in extreme poverty is the highest level on record. I am a conservative because I know our values, our principles and our policies \u2014 +p1190 +aV\u2014 work better to lift everyone up, men and women. +p1191 +aVNo, the Federal Government should not play a larger role. Look, every time the Federal Government gets engaged in something it gets worse. And then the Government steps in to try and solve the problem and we get a little further down to that progressive vision that Hillary Clinton is talking about. Companies should, if they want to attract the best workers, provide a good set of benefits. But honestly, if you're a small business owner today you are being crushed. We have 400,000 small businesses forming every year in this country. How great is that? They are employing themselves, they are potentially employing others. The bad news is, we have 470,000 going out of business every year. And why? They cite Obamacare. They are refusing to... +p1192 +aVI think it's a wonderful that that businesses start a 401(k). The point I'm making is this, the Federal Government should not be in a lot of things. There is no Constitutional role for the Federal Government in setting up \u2014 retirement plans. There is no Constitutional role for the Federal Government to be setting minimum wages... +p1193 +aV... The more the Government gets engaged in the economy, the slower the economy becomes. The more the Government gets engaged in the economy, it is demonstrably true... +p1194 +aV... The more the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected are advantaged. +p1195 +aVJohn, I \u2014 if I \u2014 a lot of people have jumped in here. I'd like to jump in. A lot of people have jumped in here. +p1196 +aVI understand. +p1197 +aVI would just say that... ... I would just say this, we've heard a lot of great ideas up here, and I agree with what Senator Rubio said. Every election we talk about this. Every election we talk about Medicare and Social Security reform. It never happens. I would like to start with a basic. Let us actually go to zero- based budgeting so we know where the money is being spent. It's kind of basic. There is a bill sitting in the House that would actually pass and have us go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dime of your money is being spent instead of only talking about how much more we're going to spend year after year after year. My point is this. While there are lots of good ideas for reform, we have never tackled the basics. And we finally need to tackle the basics to cut this government down to size and hold it accountable. So let's start by knowing where your money is being spent by the federal government. +p1198 +aVYou know, every election we hear a lot of talk. We hear a lot of good plans. We hear actually a lot of good intentions. But somehow for decades, nothing really has changed. What we need now is a proven leader who has produced results. That's how you go from secretary to CEO. You lead and you produce results. I will cut this government down to size and hold it accountable, simplify the tax code, roll back the regulations that have been spewing out of Washington, D.C. for 50 years. I may not be your dream candidate just yet, but I can assure you I am Hillary Clinton's worst nightmare. And in your heart of hearts, you cannot wait to see a debate between Hillary Clinton and Carly Fiorina. I will tell you this, I will beat Hillary Clinton. And with your vote and your support and your prayers, I will lead with the citizens of this great nation the resurgence of this great nation. +p1199 +aVGood evening. My story, from secretary to CEO, is only possible in this nation, and proves that everyone of us has potential. My husband, Frank, of 30 years, started out driving a tow truck for a family owned auto body shop. We have come to a pivotal point in our nation's history where this nation's possibilities and potential are being crushed by a government grown so big, so powerful, so inept, so corrupt, and a political class that refuses to do anything about it. I am prepared to lead the resurgence of this great nation. +p1200 +aVYou know, I think Mr. Trump is a wonderful entertainer. He's been terrific at that business. I also think that one of the benefits of a presidential campaign is the character and capability, judgment and temperament of every single one of us is revealed over time and under pressure. All of us will be revealed over time and under pressure. I look forward to a long race. +p1201 +aVThat's not for me to answer; it is for the voters of this country to answer, and I have a lot of faith in the common sense and good judgment of the voters of the United States of America. +p1202 +aVJake, I'll tell you \u2014 I'll tell you why people are supporting outsiders. It's because you know what happens if someone's been in the system their whole life, they don't know how broken the system is. A fish swims in water, it doesn't know it's water. It's not that politicians are bad people, it's that they've been in that system forever. The truth is 75 percent of the American people think the government is corrupt; 82 percent of the American people think these problems that have festered for 50 years in some cases, 25 years in other cases. The border's been insecure for 25 years; 307,000 veterans have died waiting for health care. These things have gone on for so long because no one will challenge the status quo. You know what a leader does? They challenge the status quo, they solve problems that have festered for a long time and they produce results. That is what my whole life has been about. People know this is about far more than replacing a D with an R \u2014 +p1203 +aV\u2014 this is about changing the system. +p1204 +aVHaving... +p1205 +aVHaving met Vladimir Putin, if I may... +p1206 +aVHaving met Vladimir Putin, I wouldn't talk to him at all. We've talked way too much to him. What I would do, immediately, is begin rebuilding the Sixth Fleet, I would begin rebuilding the missile defense program in Poland, I would conduct regular, aggressive military exercises in the Baltic states. I'd probably send a few thousand more troops into Germany. Vladimir Putin would get the message. By the way, the reason it is so critically important that every one of us know General Suleimani's name is because Russia is in Syria right now, because the head of the Quds force traveled to Russia and talked Vladimir Putin into aligning themselves with Iran and Syria to prop up Bashar al- Assad. Russia is a bad actor, but Vladimir Putin is someone we should not talk to, because the only way he will stop is to sense strength and resolve on the other side, and we have all of that within our control. We could rebuild the Sixth Fleet. I will. We haven't. We could rebuild the missile defense program. We haven't. I will. We could also, to Senator Rubio's point, give the Egyptians what they've asked for, which is intelligence. We could give the Jordanians what they've asked for... +p1207 +aV...bombs and materiel. We have not supplied it... +p1208 +aV...I will. We could arm the Kurds. They've been asking us for three years. All of this is within our control. +p1209 +aV...Jake... +p1210 +aV...Jake, ... +p1211 +aVAnd then it'll be my turn. +p1212 +aVJake? +p1213 +aVJake? +p1214 +aVDana, I'd like to... +p1215 +aVDana, I would like to link these two issues, both of which are incredibly important, Iran and Planned Parenthood. One has something to do with the defense of the security of this nation. The other has something to do with the defense of the character of this nation. You have not heard a plan about Iran from any politician up here, here is my plan. On day one in the Oval Office, I will make two phone calls, the first to my good friend to Bibi Netanyahu to reassure him we will stand with the state of Israel. The second, to the supreme leader, to tell him that unless and until he opens every military and every nuclear facility to real anytime, anywhere inspections by our people, not his, we, the United States of America, will make it as difficult as possible and move money around the global financial system. We can do that, we don't need anyone's cooperation to do it. And every ally and every adversary we have in this world will know that the United States in America is back in the leadership business, which is how we must stand with our allies. As regards Planned Parenthood, anyone who has watched this videotape, I dare Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama to watch these tapes. Watch a fully formed fetus on the table, it's heart beating, it's legs kicking while someone says we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain. This is about the character of our nation, and if we will not stand up in and force President Obama to veto this bill, shame on us. +p1216 +aVYou know, it's interesting to me, Mr. Trump said that he heard Mr. Bush very clearly and what Mr. Bush said. I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said. +p1217 +aVDana, with all being said to Mr. Trump... +p1218 +aVImmigration did not come up in 2016 because Mr. Trump brought it up. We talked about it in 2012, we talked about it in 2008. We talked about it in 2004. +p1219 +aVWe have been talking about it for 25 years. This is why people are tired of politicians. +p1220 +aVFirst let me say, We have just spent a good bit of time discussing, as Republicans, how to solve this problem. I would ask your audience at home to ask a very basic question. Why have Democrats not solved this problem? President Obama campaigned in 2007 and 2008 on solving the immigration problem. He entered Washington with majorities in the House and the Senate. He could have chosen to do anything to solve this pro \u2014 this problem. Instead, he chose to do nothing. Why? because the Democrats don't want this issue solved. +p1221 +aVThey want it to be an issue that they can use. As to birthright citizenship... +p1222 +aV...the truth is, you can't just wave your hands and say "the 14th Amendment is gonna go away." It will take an extremely arduous vote in Congress, followed by two-thirds of the states, and if that doesn't work to amend the Constitution, then it is a long, arduous process in court. And meanwhile, what will continue to go on is what has gone on for 25 years. With all due respect, Mr. Trump, we've been talking about illegal immigration for 25 years. San Francisco has been a sanctuary city since 1989. There are 300 of them. And meanwhile, what has happened? Nothing. The border remains insecure. The legal immigration system remains broken. Look, we know what it takes to secure a border. We've heard a lot of great ideas here. Money, manpower, technology... +p1223 +aV...mostly, apparently, leadership... +p1224 +aV...the kind of leadership that understands how to get results. +p1225 +aVBut you \u2014 you would stipulate, Mr. Trump, but not everyone agrees with you. +p1226 +aVOK. +p1227 +aVI led Hewlett Packard through a very difficult time, the worst technology recession in 25 years. The +p1228 +aV\u2014 out a full-page ad in the New York Times to say he was wrong, I was right. I was a terrific CEO, the board was dysfunctional. And he thinks I will make a magnificent president of the United States. +p1229 +aVYou know, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld is a well-known Clintonite and honestly had it out for me from the moment that I arrived at Hewlett Packard. But honestly, Mr. Trump, I find it quite rich that you would talk about this. You know, there are a lot of us Americans who believe that we are going to have trouble someday paying back the interest on our debt because politicians have run up mountains of debt using other people's money. That is in fact precisely the way you ran your casinos. You ran up mountains of debt, as well as losses, using other people's money, and you were forced to file for bankruptcy not once \u2014 +p1230 +aV\u2014 not twice, four times, a record four times. Why should we trust you to manage the finances \u2014 +p1231 +aV\u2014 of this nation any differently than you managed the finances \u2014 +p1232 +aV\u2014 of your casinos? +p1233 +aVWell \u2014 +p1234 +aVWell, Mr. Trump \u2014 +p1235 +aVA track record of leadership is not a game. It is the issue in this election. +p1236 +aVWell, I thought we had been hearing quite a bit about Govenor Christie's record as governor, actually. I think track records are very important. I completely agree that what's at stake here is the future of this nation, and the future of every American. But I do think that a track record of leadership is vital because in the end this election is about leadership. And let's talk about what leadership is. It's not about braggadocio, it is about challenging the status quo, solving problems, producing results. And the highest calling of leadership is to unlock potential in others. +p1237 +aVProblems have festered in Washington for too long. And the potential of this nation is being crushed. +p1238 +aVYou see, Governor Christie, people spend time talking about their track records, and Mr. Trump and I have every right to do the same. And Mrs. Clinton has to defend her track record. Her track record of lying about Benghazi, of lying about her e- mails, about lying about her servers. She does not have a track record of accomplishment. Like Mrs. Clinton, I, too, have travels hundreds of thousands of miles around the globe. But unlike Mrs. Clinton, I know flying is an activity, not an accomplishment. Mrs. Clinton \u2014 if you want to stump a Democrat, ask them to name a accomplishment of Mrs. Clinton's. +p1239 +aVWe just spent \u2014 we just spent the last 10 minutes... +p1240 +aV...Jake, since everyone has gotten to weigh in on this military issue, I'd like to be able to do the same. We have spent probably 12 minutes talking about the past. Let's talk about the future. We need the strongest military on the face of the planet, and everyone has to know it. And, specifically, what that means is we need about 50 Army brigades, we need about 36 Marine battalions, we need somewhere between 300, and 350 naval ships, we need to upgrade every leg of the nuclear triad... +p1241 +aV...we need to reform the Department of Defense, we need as well... +p1242 +aV...to invest in our military technology, and we need to care for our veterans so 307,000... +p1243 +aV...aren't dying waiting for health care. +p1244 +aVJake, may I just say... +p1245 +aVJake \u2014 Jake... +p1246 +aVI very much hope I am the only person on this stage who can say this, but I know there are millions of Americans out there who will say the same thing. My husband Frank and I buried a child to drug addiction. So, we must invest more in the treatment of drugs. +p1247 +aVI agree with Senator Paul. I agree with states' rights. But we are misleading young people when we tell them that marijuana is just like having a beer. It's not. And the marijuana that kids are smoking today is not the same as the marijuana that Jeb Bush smoked 40 years ago. We do \u2014 sorry, Barbara. We do need \u2014 we do need criminal justice reform. We have the highest incarceration rates in the world. Two-thirds of the people in our prisons are there for non-violent offenses, mostly drug related. It's clearly not working. But we need to tell young people the truth. Drug addiction is an epidemic, and it is taking too many of our young people. I know this sadly from personal experience. +p1248 +aVI wouldn't change the $10 bill, or the $20 bill. I think, honestly, it's a gesture. I don't think it helps to change our history. What I would think is that we ought to recognize that women are not a special interest group. Women are the majority of this nation. We are half the potential of this nation, and this nation will be better off when every woman has the opportunity to live the life she chooses. +p1249 +aVSecretariat. +p1250 +aVI think what this nation can be and must be is symbolized by Lady Liberty and Lady Justice. Lady Liberty stands tall and strong. She is clear-eyed and resolute. She doesn't shield her eyes from the realities of the world, but she faces outward into the world nevertheless, as we always must. And she holds her torch high, because she knows she is a beacon of hope in a very troubled world. And Lady Justice, Lady Justice holds a sword by her side, because she is a fighter, a warrior for the values and the principles that have made this nation great. She holds a scale in her other hand. And with that scale she says all of us are equal in the eyes of God. And so all of us must be equal in the eyes of the law and the government, powerful and powerless alike. And she wears a blindfold. And with that blindfold she is saying to us that it must be true, it can be true that in this country, in this century, it doesn't matter who you are, it doesn't matter what you look like, it doesn't matter how you start, it doesn't matter your circumstances, here in this nation, every American's life must be filled with the possibilities that come from their God-given gifts. One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. +p1251 +asVBUSH +p1252 +(lp1253 +VRight. +p1254 +aVNot on specific issues, not at all. I think the next president \u2014 if I'm president, I will appoint people \u2014 I'll nominate people that have a proven record in the judiciary. The problem in the past has been we have appointed people thinking you can get it through the Senate because they didn't have a record. And the problem is that sometimes we're surprised. The simple fact is the next president needs to appoint someone with a proven conservative record, similar to Justice Scalia, that is a lover of liberty, that believes in limited government, that consistently applied that kind of philosophy, that didn't try to legislator from the bench, that was respectful of the Constitution. And then fight and fight, and fight for that nomination to make sure that that nomination passes. Of course, the president, by the way, has every right to nominate Supreme Court justices. I'm an Article II guy in the Constitution. We're running for the president of the United States. We want a strong executive for sure. But in return for that, there should be a consensus orientation on that nomination, and there's no doubt in my mind that Barack Obama will not have a consensus pick when he submits that person to the Senate. +p1255 +aVYes. +p1256 +aVNo, it doesn't, and that's the problem. The lack of leadership in this country by Barack Obama, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, thinking that this is a policy that works, this policy of containment with +p1257 +aVThe very basic fact is that Vladimir Putin is not going to be an ally of the United States. The whole world knows this. It's a simple, basic fact. They're not taking out \u2014 they're not even attempting to take out +p1258 +aV... Let me finish... +p1259 +aV... This is ridiculous... +p1260 +aV... This is coming from a guy who gets his foreign policy from the shows. +p1261 +aV... This is a guy who thinks that Hillary Clinton is a great negotiator in Iran... +p1262 +aV... This is a man who insults his way to the nomination... +p1263 +aVI think it's my turn, isn't it? +p1264 +aVI've got about five or six... +p1265 +aVDo I get to do it five or six times or just once, responding to that? +p1266 +aVSo here's the deal. I'm sick and tired of Barack Obama blaming my brother for all of the problems that he has had. And, frankly, I could care less about the insults that Donald Trump gives to me. It's blood sport for him. He enjoys it. And I'm glad he's happy about it. But I am sick and tired... +p1267 +aVI am sick and tired of him going after my family. My dad is the greatest man alive in my mind. And while Donald Trump was building a reality TV show, my brother was building a security apparatus to keep us safe. And I'm proud of what he did. And he has had the gall to go after my brother. +p1268 +aVHe has had the gall to go after my mother. Hold on. Let me finish. He has had the gall to go after my mother. +p1269 +aVLook, I won the lottery when I was born 63 years ago, looked up, and I saw my mom. My mom is the strongest woman I know. +p1270 +aVThis is not about my family or his family. This is about the South Carolina families that need someone to be a commander in chief that can lead. I'm that person. +p1271 +aVCan I just... +p1272 +aVI'm not going to invite Donald Trump to the rally in Charleston on Monday afternoon when my brother is coming to speak. +p1273 +aVI'm rescinding the invitation. I thought you might want to come, but I guess not. +p1274 +aVI'd like \u2014 can I \u2014 can I... +p1275 +aVLook, I admire the fact that Governor Kasich is supporting spending more money on drug treatment and mental health. I think that's a high priority all across this country, but expanding Obamacare is what we're talking about, and Obamacare's expansion, even though the federal government is paying for the great majority of it, is creating further debt on the backs of our children and grandchildren. We should be fighting Obamacare, repealing Obamacare, replacing it with something totally different. When I was \u2014 as a private citizen, Florida was confronted with the choice. The governor was supportive of doing what John did. So was the Florida Senate. A committed speaker of the House asked me to go as a private citizen to make the case against the expansion. I did, and it wasn't expanded there, just as it wasn't expanded in South Carolina under Governor Haley. +p1276 +aVSouth Carolina \u2014 South Carolinians need to know this, because the Cato Institute, which grades governors based on their spending, rank him right at the bottom. +p1277 +aVAnd Governor Haley is ranked at the top. +p1278 +aVNo. He mentioned my name. +p1279 +aVLet me finish, though. No, no, no \u2014 hey, wait, wait, wait. Just hold, Major, hold, Major. Hold on, Major. +p1280 +aVSouth Carolinians want to make that, they elect the most conservative governor or candidate that can win. +p1281 +aVOf course not. It won't have an impact on hedge funds managers paying ordinary income. In fact, it's not just hedge fund people, but people that are doing \u2014 they're in the business of investing other people's money, getting capital gains treatment is not appropriate. They should be paying ordinary income. That's their business. They're grateful to be able to make a lot of money, I'm sure. And what we do is lower the rates. It's not the end of the world that private equity people and hedge fund folks that are, right now, getting capital gains treatment for the income they earn, pay ordinary income like everybody else in this room. That's not a problem at all. What we need to do is reform the tax code to simplify the rates, to shift power away from Washington, D.C. That's what I did as governor of the state of Florida, $19 billion dollars of tax cuts, and it stimulated seven out of the eight years. Florida led the nation in job growth. +p1282 +aVThank you. +p1283 +aVGreat question. I feel like I have to get into my inner Chris Christie, and point out that the reason why I should be president is listening to two senators talk about arcane amendments to bills that didn't pass. This is \u2014 this is the problem. We need a leader to fix this problem. And I have a detailed plan to do just that, including controlling the border, dealing with the visa over-stayers, making sure that we have a path to legal status, not to citizenship, for those that come out from the shadows and pay a fine, learn English, don't commit crimes, work and pay taxes. That is the better approach. +p1284 +aVThe great majority of people that come to this country come because they have no other choice. They want to come to provide for their families. That doesn't mean it's right. That doesn't mean it's right. We should pick who comes to our country. We should control our border. Coming here legally should be a lot easier than coming here illegally. But the motivation, they're not all rapists, as you-know-who said. They're not that. These are people that are coming to provide for their families. And we should show a little more respect for the fact that they're struggling. It doesn't mean we shouldn't be controlling the border. That's exactly what we should be doing. +p1285 +aV... So, you know......This is the standard operating procedure, to disparage me. That's fine... +p1286 +aV... But, if you want to talk about weakness, you want to talk about weakness? It's weak to disparage women. +p1287 +aVIt's weak to denigrate the disabled. And,it's really weak to call John McCain a loser because he was a... +p1288 +aV... That is outrageous. The guy's an American hero. +p1289 +aV... The simple fact is I've also laid out my plans on immigration... +p1290 +aV Just, for the record make sure my mother's listening, if she's watching the debate. I didn't say that I was going to moon somebody... +p1291 +aVSo, there \u2014 so, there is all sorts of intrigue about where I disagree with my brother, there would be one right there. You should not use eminent domain for private purposes. A baseball stadium or a parking lot for a limo... +p1292 +aVIt's very different. Transmission lines, pipe lines, bridges and highways. All of that is proper use of imminent domain. Not to take an elderly woman's home to build a parking lot so that high-rollers can come from New York City to build casinos in Atlantic City. +p1293 +aVMy name was mentioned twice. +p1294 +aVHe called me a liar. +p1295 +aVAlso, he talked about one of my heroes, Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan was a liberal maybe in the 1950s. He was a conservative reformed governor for eight years before he became president, and no one should suggest he made an evolution for political purposes. He was a conservative, and he didn't tear down people like Donald Trump is. He tore down the Berlin Wall. +p1296 +aVHe was a great guy. +p1297 +aVThat was me. +p1298 +aVYeah, well, I have got to respond to this. +p1299 +aVSounds like a good plan. +p1300 +aVOr you could ask me two questions, so I could get two minutes instead of one. +p1301 +aVI think the dysfunction in Washington is really dangerous, that's what I think. And we need a proven leader that has a record of solving problems, someone who doesn't cut and run; someone who could be a commander in chief to unite our country around common purposes; someone who doesn't disparage people. Someone that doesn't brag, for example, that he has been bankrupt four times and it was great, because he could use the legal system. Someone... +p1302 +aVWe need someone with a proven record to be able to forge consensus to solve problems. And right now, both Republicans and Democrats in Washington don't get it. People are struggling \u2014 63 percent of Americans can't make a $500 car payment. Most Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. And we need someone has a proven record of growing the economy, reforming the things that are broken. And I'm that person. +p1303 +aVYeah... +p1304 +aVYeah. +p1305 +aVHere we go. +p1306 +aVHere's the record. Here's the record. We led the nation in job growth seven out of eight years. When I left there was $9 billion of reserves, 35 percent of general revenue. No state came close to that. +p1307 +aVWhen I \u2014 during my time, we were one of the two states to go to AAA bond rating. We didn't go bankrupt like Trump did and call it success when people are laid off, when vendors don't get paid. That's not success. What we did was create an environment where people had a chance to have income. Personal income during my time went up by 4.4 percent. +p1308 +aVThe government grew by... +p1309 +aV... half of that. +p1310 +aVThank you all very much. The next president is going to be confronted with an unforeseen challenge. That's almost certain. It could be a pandemic, a major natural disaster or an attack on our country. The question for South Carolinians and Americans is who do you want to have sitting behind the big desk in the Oval Office? Because that's the question. It's not the things we're talking about today. It's the great challenge that may happen. I believe I will have a steady hand as commander in chief and president of the United States. I will unite this country around common purposes because I did it as governor of the state of Florida. When I was governor, we had eight hurricanes and four tropical storms in 16 months. Our state was on its back. We recovered far faster than what people thought because we led. We want to challenge rather than cutting and running. That's what we need in Washington, D.C. We need someone with a servant's heart that has a backbone, that isn't going to focus on polls and focus groups. The focus will be on the American people to keep them safe and secure. I ask for your vote next Saturday. +p1311 +aVChris, why don't you mention my name so I can get into this. +p1312 +aV... I appreciate that, I really do, thank you. +p1313 +aVWell, first of all he said the exact same thing about me, that I would make a great Vice Presidential nominee when Mitt Romney was considering. I said the same thing about Marco. I think we were both right at the time, and Mitt picked somebody else. So, let's move on to the 2016 race. Who has the leadership skills... ...who has the leadership skills to lead? And, I'm proud of the fact that I have 12 Medal of Honor recipients, over 30 admirals and generals that believe that I would be a steady hand as Commander in Chief. That I serve as Governor of the state of Florida where we cut taxes and reduced government. I took on very powerful interests, forged consensus, fought for my beliefs, implemented them and the state was better off. We had eight hurricanes and four tropical storms in 16 months. The whole state was turned upside down. It required a steady hand. Leadership. You learn this, you learn it by doing it. It's not something that you just go up, and on the job do it. It's not the same. Look, let's be clear. Marco Rubio is a gifted, gifted politician, and he may have the skills to be a President of the United States, but we've tried it the old way with Barack Obama, with soaring eloquence and we got \u2014 we didn't get a leader we got someone who wants to divide the country up. The next President......going to have to forge consensus to bring about a set of common purposes so that we can move forward again in this country... +p1314 +aV... this relates to strategic patience. +p1315 +aVThis relates to the strategic patience of the Obama administration. They come up with these great marketing terms, and what they do is they pull back, and voids are filled, and they're now filled by asymmetric threats of terror, as well as nation-states on the run. The next president of the United States is gonna have to get the United States back in the game, and if a preemptive strike is necessary to keep us safe, then we should do it. +p1316 +aVWell, first of all, it's interesting that that happened literally days when this hostage release took place in Iran. A day or two days afterwards, North Korea took a \u2014 held an American student hostage. I think it's when we send a signal of weakness, when we are negotiating to release people that committed crimes in our country for people that didn't commit crimes that are held hostage in Iran. We saw the shameful treatment of our sailors, that this creates weakness \u2014 sends a signal of weakness around the world. The next president of the United States is going to have to get back in the game. Where the United States' word matters. Where we back up our allies, where we don't send signals of weakness. We need to use every \u2014 every influence possible to get this student back. And I think John is right about this, there are crippling sanctions that are available, as it relates to the two or three banks that North Korea uses to \u2014 to \u2014 use it \u2014 illicit trade. We ought to re-establish sanctions, not just because of the student, but because of their actions that they're taking right now, as it relates to building this missile capability. +p1317 +aVGood evening. HAM: Mr. Trump. +p1318 +aVThe difference \u2014 the difference between eminent domain for public purpose \u2014 as Donald said, roads and infrastructure, pipelines and all that \u2014 that's for public purpose. But what Donald Trump did was use eminent domain to try to take the property of an elderly woman on the strip in Atlantic City. That is not public purpose, that is down right wrong. And here's the problem with that. The problem was, it was to tear down \u2014 it was to tear down \u2014 it was to tear down the house... +p1319 +aVAnd the net result was \u2014 you tried. +p1320 +aVAnd you lost in the court. +p1321 +aVThat is not true. And the simple fact is to turn this into a limousine parking lot for his casinos is a not public use. And in Florida, based on what we did, we made that impossible. It is part of our Constitution. That's the better approach. That is the conservative approach. +p1322 +aVHow tough it is to take away property from an elderly woman? +p1323 +aVHow tough it is to take away a property from an elderly woman? +p1324 +aVI consider it a public use. +p1325 +aVIt's a public use. It's a public use. +p1326 +aVIt's a public use. +p1327 +aVYeah. +p1328 +aVIt's a public use. +p1329 +aVEstablished by the courts \u2014 federal, state courts. +p1330 +aVI would like to see more millionaires. I think we need to grow more millionaires, we need create a prosperity society where people can rise up. This notion that somehow we're undertaxed as a nation is just fool hearty, when we have entitlements growing far faster than our ability to pay for it. A conservative, because that's the point of this, believes in limited government, believes in a entrepreneurial capitalism and a strong national defense. But it also has to be, we need to reform things. In my town hall meetings, I went to a place where a woman described her neighbor, who has a better economic deal by not working than her struggling to make ends meet. We need to be on the side of working people. And you know, the problem with the left is, another tax, another regulation, another mandate makes it harder for them to rise up. Everything that we should do should be focused on high, sustained economic growth, where the middle class gets a raise for the first time, and where people are rewarded for work, rather than non-work. And I know how to do this. And if people are interested in the specifics of this, they ought to go to jeb2016.com. +p1331 +aVMartha \u2014 Martha, if I... +p1332 +aVI would. And I would do it in concert, again, with our Arab allies and with Europe, most particularly in this case. This is the lesson learned: in history, if you bomb something and not do anything as it relates to deal with the aftermath of this, if you don't have a stable government, you get what we have in Libya. And this is not \u2014 leading from behind is not an effective policy. We have to lead. Without the United States, nothing seems to work. Europe doesn't have the ability to \u2014 to \u2014 to lead \u2014 forward lead in this regard. And so dealing with the caliphate is important, because it now has spawned other areas. There have been 70-plus attacks in 17 countries, either inspired by +p1333 +aVMartha and David, I just... +p1334 +aVMartha and David... +p1335 +aVNo, no, I wouldn't. No, I wouldn't. And it was used sparingly, Congress has changed the laws and I \u2014 and I think where we stand is the appropriate place. But what we need to do is to make sure that we expand our intelligence capabilities. The idea that we're going to solve this fight with predator drones, killing people somehow is a \u2014 is more acceptable than capturing them, securing the information. This is why closing Guantanamo is a complete disaster. What we need to do is make sure that we are kept safe......by having intelligence capabilities, both human and technological intelligence capabilities far superior than what we have today. That's how you get a more safe place is by making sure that we're fully engaged. And right now, this administration doesn't do that. +p1336 +aVThis is a \u2014 this is an important subject. I agree with everything that's been said here about repealing unconstitutional rules and rules that are creating real burdens for investing that creating jobs. But we also ought to get back to being a Tenth Amendment country, as well, a country that respects the states to be able to make more decisions. And in the Bush administration, we would shift transportation dollars back to the states. I trust Kasich and Christie to build the roads and the infrastructure of their states than Washington, D.C. EPA delegated authority, back to the states. Education dollars, back to the states. I would like to see reform take place all across the country, where there's more vouchers, more freedom. If we did that, we would shrink government's power in Washington, D.C. and we would have a much more effective government, where people would begin to trust our government again, because now, no one believes it works. +p1337 +aVYou mentioned me. He mentioned me. One other thing that I think we ought to do, along with repealing Obamacare, we need to shift all of this power of healthcare, which is the most egregious form of federal power that is suppressing wages and incomes, and allow governors to have the Medicaid plans so that they can create 21st century Medicaid insurance for people that are stuck in poverty. There's so much that can be done, but I don't trust Washington to do it. I trust the state capitals to be the place \u2014 to be the source of innovation and reform in this country. HAM: Thank you, governors. Martha and David, back to you. +p1338 +aVI didn't mention him the second time. +p1339 +aV... Say it again? +p1340 +aV... I do, and I do think that we should not impose any kind of political agenda on the military. There should be \u2014 if women can meet the requirements, the minimum requirements for combat service they ought to have the right to do it. For sure. It ought to be focused on the morale as well. We got to make sure that we have readiness much higher than we do today. We need to eliminate the sequester which is devastating our military. We can't be focusing on the political side of this, we need to realize that our military force is how we project our word in the world. When we're weak militarily it doesn't matter what we say. We can talk about red lines, and +p1341 +aV... Why would they worry about it... +p1342 +aV... Well, the Draft's not going to be reinstituted, but why \u2014 if women are accessing... +p1343 +aVNo. I didn't say that. You \u2014 you asked a question not about the draft, you asked about registering. And if women are going to be... +p1344 +aVIf \u2014 but... +p1345 +aV... we don't have a draft. I'm not suggesting we have a draft. What I'm suggesting is that we ought to have readiness being the first priority of our military, and secondly, that we make sure that the morale is high. And right now, neither one of those are acceptable because we've been gutting the military budget. We also need to reform our procurement process. We need to make sure there are more men and women in uniform than people \u2014 than civilians in our Defense Department. There's a lot of things that we need to reform to bring our defense capabilities into the 21st century and I'm the guy that could do that. That's why I have the support of generals, of admirals, of 12 Medal of Honor recipients and many other people that know that I would be a steady commander-in-chief and rebuild our military. +p1346 +aVI totally agree that we need to give veterans more choices. A veterans card to be able to go to a private provider will enhance the quality of the service inside the Department of Veterans Affairs. We need career civil service reform. Only three people were fired after waiting lists were dropped where veterans didn't get care and people died. It is outrageous. And Hillary Clinton says that that's acceptable? Because she is captive of the public service uniforms. Career civil service reform would allow the next president to fire people that are \u2014 that are showing sheer incompetence. At a town hall meeting today, someone came \u2014 told a story of their father who looked like he was 85. He had \u2014 he got a bill eight years later from an operation he had, eight years it took. They couldn't resolve the dispute and then he was told that he died. Literally, the Veterans Administration sent a death certificate to this guy and it took nine months to clarify the guy \u2014 I met him. He's voting for me. And he is \u2014 likely to be alive. This is \u2014 this is outrageous. It is completely outrageous. So, giving veterans more choices, creating centers of excellence, focusing on the true problems that exist. Dr. Carson is completely right. We need to start focusing on this earlier, before they become veterans so that there's a customized plan so people don't fall through the cracks. We can do this, but it's going to require someone who has proven leadership skills to make it happen. +p1347 +aVLook, I'm pro-life. In fact, on this stage, I'm the most pro-life person because I've acted on it for eight years as governor of the state of Florida. Where we abolished partial-birth abortion, where parents have the right to be notified when their teenage child is having an abortion. We were the first state to do a choose life license plate to raise money for adoption. We were the first state to have state monies go to crisis pregnancy centers, which recently was just increased to $4 million a year. We created greater regulation on abortion clinics, where there were horrific procedures. So I'm pro life, but I believe there should be exceptions: rape, incest and when the life of the mother is in danger. And so, that belief, and my consistency on this, makes me, I think, poised to be in the right place, the sweet spot for a Republican nominee. And others may have a different view and I respect it. +p1348 +aVPeyton Manning is supporting me. And I'm for Denver. +p1349 +aVI want to thank the people of New Hampshire, and I want to celebrate the birthday of a great president, Ronald Reagan would have been 105 today. President Reagan believed in the future of our country, believed in its greatness, had a hopeful, optimistic message. Drew people towards our cause. We need someone who has a proven record to take our case to the American people because our philosophy is by far the best one. Limited government, entrepreneurial capitalism, of peace through strength. I believe I have the skills to take our party to victory in November. I ask for your support on Tuesday to keep America, and make America a safer, stronger, and freer. Thank you all very much. +p1350 +aVBret, we're just starting. The first vote hasn't been counted. Why don't we let the process work. I trust Iowans, Granite staters, people in South Carolina, people in Nevada, to start this process out. I kind of miss Donald Trump. He was a little teddy bear to me. We always had such a loving relationship in these debates and in between and the tweets. I kind of miss him. I wish he was here. Everybody else was in the witness protection program when I went after him on behalf of what the Republican cause should be: conservative principles, believing in limited government, believing in accountability. Leading by fixing the things that are broken. Look, I am in the establishment because my dad, the greatest man alive was president of the United States and my brother, who I adore as well as fantastic brother was president. Fine, I'll take it. I guess I'm part of the establishment Barbara Bush is my mom. I'll take that, too. But this election is not about our pedigree, this is an election about people that are really hurting. We need a leader that will fix things and have a proven record to do it. And we need someone who will take on Hillary Clinton in November. Someone who has a proven record, who has been tested, who is totally transparent. I released 34 years of tax returns... ... and 300,000 e-mails in my government record. To get the information from Hillary Clinton, you need to get a subpoena from the FBI. +p1351 +aVNo, you weren't. Your name wasn't mentioned, Ted. +p1352 +aV... Chris, keep it coming... +p1353 +aV... Thank you Chris... +p1354 +aVWell, first, I was critical of the Senators not giving the authorization for the use of military force. They should have made it more open ended for the next president. We shouldn't have the war fighters have their arms tied behind their back as President Obama wanted to do, but they had a chance to show support and it wasn't popular at the time. It became popular after the attack in Paris, and San Bernardino. Now we hear the tough talk. Prior to that, in the Reagan Library, I gave a detailed plan. Exactly what to do as it relates to +p1355 +aVOf course. And there's all sorts of ways that can be done at the state, local and federal level to do that. But the first duty of the next president of the United States is to fix the mess at the Department of Veterans Affairs. That's his first responsibility. Look, we have waiting lists for veterans that are \u2014 that are leaving because of the sequester where we're gutting the military. More and more military personnel are leaving becoming veterans, and the waiting list grows. They've given out $140 million of bonuses to Veterans Department employees, including reducing the waiting lists, without giving veterans care. People died, and only three people have been fired. I will make sure that we fire the sheer incompetence inside the Department of Veterans Affairs and then we'll give veterans a choice card so that they don't have to travel hours and hours to get care if they want to go to their private provider. You want to make the Veterans Administration do a better job, give them \u2014 give veterans choices and you'll get a much better result. And as it relates to all the other organizations, let me give you a good example. In Houston, Texas, there's an organization in place because someone acted on their heart, wanted to make sure that there's no homeless veterans in Houston. And they've come pretty close to that without federal government assistance. We need to mobilize the entire country to treat our veterans and treat them with much more respect than they get today. +p1356 +aVNo, they shouldn't. And I believe that Puerto Rico ought to have the right of self-determination. If I was a Puerto Rican, I'd vote for statehood so that they have full citizenship. They serve in the military. They would have to pay federal taxes. They would \u2014 they would accept the responsibilities of full U.S. citizenship. But they should have the right of determine \u2014 self-determination. Before you get to that, though, Puerto Rico is going to have to deal with the structural problems they face. You know, it's \u2014 it's a fact that if you can pay for a $79 one-way ticket to Orlando, and you can escape the challenges of a declining economy and high crime rates, you move to Orlando. And a lot of people are doing that. And the spiraling out-of- control requires Puerto Rico to make structural reforms. The federal government can play a role in allowing them to do that, but they should not \u2014 the process of statehood or the status of Puerto Rico won't be solved until we get to the bigger issue of how you deal with the structural economic problems they're facing right now. +p1357 +aVWell, I'm kind of confused because he was the sponsor of the Gang of Eight bill that did require a bunch of thresholds but ultimately allowed for citizenship over an extended period of time. I mean, that's a fact. And he asked me to support that. And I \u2014 I supported him because I think people, when you're elected, you need to do things. And he led the charge to finally fix this immigration problem that has existed now for, as Marco says, for 30 years. And then he cut and run because it wasn't popular amongst conservatives, I guess. Here's what I believe. And I wrote a book about this called Immigration Wars. You can get it at $2.99 on Amazon. It's not a bestseller. I can promise you. There won't be any \u2014 you can get it. It's affordable for everybody. We should have a path to legal status for the 12 million people that are here illegally. It means, come out from the shadows, pay a fine, earn legal status by working, by paying taxes, learning English. Not committing crimes and earn legal status where you're not cutting in front of the line for people that are patiently waiting outside. I think that is the \u2014 I think that's the conservative consensus pragmatic approach to how to solve this problem. +p1358 +aVSo did you. +p1359 +aVYeah. So did you, Marco. +p1360 +aVMarco, Marco \u2014 he brought up my name. I have supported a consensus approach to solving this problem wherever it came up. and in 2007 it almost passed when my brother was president of the United States. A bipartisan approach got close. Barack Obama actually had the poison pill to stop it then. And when you led the charge with the Gang of Eight, I supported it because you asked me to. I think it's important for people in elected office to try to forge consensus to solve problems. There's never going do be perfect bill. +p1361 +aVBut when you didn't do that and you ask people to support, you shouldn't cut and run. +p1362 +aVYou should stick with it and that's exactly what happened. He cut and run. And that's a tragedy because now... ... it's harder and harder to actually solve this problem. +p1363 +aVCan I \u2014 can I \u2014 I just... +p1364 +aVThat beautiful young woman who's an entrepreneur who served in the military, first of all, is deserving of our respect for service in the military and the fact that she's an entrepreneur. And we should be a welcoming nation. Our identity is not based on race or ethnicity, it's based on a set of shared values. That's American citizenship. And Dulce Candy \u2014 a pretty cool name, actually \u2014 that is now an entrepreneur over Youtube is part of that American spirit, and we should celebrate it as conservatives. That's what we believe in. You can \u2014 you can deal with the threat of terror and also recognize that this country should be aspirational across the board. +p1365 +aVWell, first of all, I've seen polls where I'm beating Hillary Clinton pretty regularly. And I believe I can, because I have a proven record, a record of accomplishment, a record of cutting taxes, of shrinking the government, of reforming education, of challenging the status quo, eliminating career civil service protections, shrinking the government workforce by 11 percent, but leading the nation in job growth. That's the record of accomplishment that should be taken to Hillary Clinton, who has no record of accomplishment. So I'm confident if I win this nomination, I will aggressively go against her and beat her. As it relates to the super PACs, I have no control over that. And this is beanbag compared to what the Clinton hit machine is going to do to the Republican nominee. The simple fact is, we all have a record. It all will be scrutinized. There's give and take. It's called the politics. And that's the way it is. I'm running hard and I believe I'll be the Republican nominee and I'll be the one best suited to beat Hillary Clinton, who should not be president of the United States. +p1366 +aVWell first of all, I think it's important that when we're running for the highest office in the land that we recognize that we're living in dangerous times and we have to be serious about it, that our words have consequences. Donald Trump, for example \u2014 I'm glad \u2014 I mentioned his name again just if anybody was missing him... ... Mr. Trump believed that in reaction to people's fears that we should ban all Muslims. Well, that creates an environment that's toxic in our own country. Nobela is a rising entrepreneur. She wants to pursue the American dream. She's an American citizen. She should not feel uncomfortable about her citizenship. She's not the threat. The threat is Islamic terrorism. We need to focus our energies there, not these broad, blanket, kind of statements that will make it harder for us to deal with +p1367 +aVWe desperately need a conservative leader as president of the United States. I have a proven record as governor of the state of Florida, as a conservative leader. And I also have detailed plans to fix the mess in Washington, D.C. As president I will restore and rebuild our military, restore the alliances and keep us safe. And as our party's nominee, I will defeat Hillary Clinton in November. I ask for your support on the caucuses come Monday night and I will make you proud as our party's nominee. Thank you very much. +p1368 +aVWell first of all, the idea that somehow we're better off today than the day that Barack Obama was inaugurated president of the United States is totally an alternative universe. The simple fact is that the world has been torn asunder. Think about it. With grandiose language, the president talks about red lines and nothing to follow it up; talks about +p1369 +aVNo. And worse \u2014 worse yet, to be honest with you, Hillary Clinton would be a national security disaster. Think about it. She wants to continue down the path of Iran, Benghazi, the Russian reset, Dodd-Frank, all the things that have \u2014 that have gone wrong in this country, she would be a national security mess. And that is wrong. And you know what? Here's the problem. If she gets elected, she's under investigation with the FBI right now. If she gets elected, her first 100 days, instead of setting an agenda, she might be going back and forth between the White House and the courthouse. We need to stop that. +p1370 +aVNeil, my name was mentioned here. Neil, my name was mentioned as well. Here's the deal, Chris is totally right. He's been a good governor, and he's a heck of a lot better than his predecessor that would have bankrupted New Jersey. Everybody on this stage is better than Hillary Clinton. And I think the focus ought to be on making sure that we leave this nomination process, as wild and woolly as it's going to be \u2014 this is not being bad. These attack ads are going to be part of life. Everybody just needs to get used to it. Everybody's record's going to be scrutinized, and at the end of the day we need to unite behind the winner so we can defeat Hillary Clinton, because she is a disaster. Our country rise up again, but we need to have a compelling conservative agenda that we present to the American people in a way that doesn't disparage people, that unites us around our common purpose. And so everybody needs to discount some of the things you're going to hear in these ads, and discount the \u2014 the back-and-forth here, because every person here is better than Hillary Clinton. +p1371 +aVFirst of all, I'd like to recognize Governor Haley for her incredible leadership in the aftermath of the \u2014 \u2014 the Emanuel AME church killings. And I also want to recognize the people in that church that showed the grace of God and the grace of forgiveness and the mercy that they showed. I don't know if any of us could have done what they did, one after another, within 48 hours of that tragedy taking place. Look, here's the deal, in this particular case, the FBI made a mistake. The law itself requires a background check, but that didn't fulfill their part of the bargain within the time that they were supposed to do. We don't need to add new rules, we need to make sure the FBI does its job. Because that person should not have gotten a gun, should not \u2014 would not have passed a background check. The first impulse of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton is to take rights away from law- abiding citizens. That's what they do, whether it's the San Bernardino attack or if it's these tragedies that take place, I think we need to focus on what the bigger issue is. It isn't law-abiding gun owners. Look, I have an A plus rating in the NRA and we also have a reduction in gun violence because in Florida, if you commit a crime with a gun, you're going away. You're going away for a long, long while. And that's what we should focus on is the violence in our communities. Target the efforts for people that are committing crimes with guns, and if you do that, and get it right, you're going to be much better off than creating a political argument where there's a big divide. The other issue is mental health. That's a serious issue that we could work on. Republicans and Democrats alike believe this. The president's first impulse is do this by executive order, power he doesn't have. Why not go to Congress and in a bipartisan way, begin to deal with the process of mental health issues so that people that are spiraling out of control because of mental health challenges don't have access to guns. +p1372 +aVWell, first of all, under President Jeb Bush, we would restore the strength of the military. Last week, Secretary Carter announced that the Navy's going to be cut again. It's now half the size of what it was prior to Operation Desert Storm. The deployments are too high for the military personnel. We don't have procurement being done for refreshing the equipment. The B-52 is still operational as the long range bomber; it was inaugurated in the age of Harry Truman. The planes are older than the pilots. We're gutting our military, and so the Iranians and the Chinese and the Russians and many other countries look at the United States not as serious as we once were. We have to eliminate the sequester, rebuild our military in a way that makes it clear that we're back in the game. Secondly, as it relates to Iran, we need to confront their ambitions across the board. We should reimpose sanctions, they've already violated sanctions after this agreement was signed by testing medium-range missiles. Thirdly, we need to move our embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem to send a serious signal that we're back in the game with Israel......and sign an agreement that makes sure that the world knows that they will have technological superiority. We need to get back in the game as it relates to our Arab nations. The rest of the world is moving away from us towards other alliances because we are weak. This president and John Kerry and Hillary Clinton all have made it harder for the next president to act, but he must act to confront the ambitions of Iran. We can get back in the game to restore order and security for our own country. +p1373 +aVDonald, Donald \u2014 can I \u2014 I hope you reconsider this, because this policy is a policy that makes it impossible to build the coalition necessary to take out +p1374 +aVYeah, they are unhinged. +p1375 +aVNo, not at all, absolutely not. I can see why people are angry and scared, because this president has created a condition where our national security has weakened dramatically. I totally get that. But we're running for the presidency of the United States here. This isn't \u2014 this isn't, you know, a different kind of job. You have to lead. You cannot make rash statements and expect the rest of the world to respond as though, well, it's just politics. Every time we send signals like this, we send a signal of weakness, not strength. And so it was his statement, which is why I'm asking him to consider changing his views. +p1376 +aVSo, are we going to ban Muslims from India, from Indonesia, from countries that are strong allies \u2014 that we need to build better relationships with? Of course not. What we need to do is destroy +p1377 +aVAbsolutely. +p1378 +aVYeah. +p1379 +aVHere's \u2014 apart from the \u2014 apart from the higher prices on consumers and people are living paycheck to paycheck, apart from that, there will be retaliation. +p1380 +aVSo they soybean sales from Iowa, entire soybean production goes \u2014 the equivalent of it goes to China. Or how about Boeing right here within a mile? Do you think that the Chinese, if they had a 45 percent tariff imposed on all their imports wouldn't retaliate and start buying Airbus? Of course, they would. This would be devastating for the economy. We need someone with a steady hand being president of the United States. +p1381 +aVThey're a mile away from here. +p1382 +aVMy name was mentioned. My name was mentioned here. The simple fact is that the plane that's being build here is being sold to China. You can \u2014 if you \u2014 you flew in with your 767, didn't you? Right there, right next to the plant. +p1383 +aVWhen you head back to airport tonight, go check and see what the... +p1384 +aVCheck it out. +p1385 +aVThere's \u2014 look, there's \u2014 +p1386 +aVI would try to convince him otherwise, but this last back and forth between two senators \u2014 back bench senators, you know, explains why we have the mess in Washington, D.C. We need a president that will fix our immigration laws and stick with it, not bend with the wind. The simple fact is one of the ways, Maria, to solve the problem you described is narrow the number of people coming by family petitioning to what every other country has so that we have the best and the brightest that come to our country. We need to control the border, we need to do all of this in a comprehensive way, not just going back and forth and talking about stuff \u2014 +p1387 +aVOh, I'll talk about that, too. But you haven't asked me a question in a while, Neil, so I thought I'd get that off my chest if you don't mind. +p1388 +aVI got that. And the problem today is there's no confidence in Washington, D.C. There needs to be more than one meeting, there needs to complete dialogue with the large technology companies. They understand that there's a national security risk. We ought to give them a little bit of a liability release so that they share data amongst themselves and share data with the federal government, they're not fearful of a lawsuit. We need to make sure that we keep the country safe. This is the first priority. The cybersecurity challenges that we face, this administration failed us completely, completely. Not just the hacking of OPM, but that is \u2014 that is just shameful. 23 million files in the hands of the Chinese? So it's not just the government \u2014 the private sector companies, it's also our own government that needs to raise the level of our game. We should put the NSA in charge of the civilian side of this as well. That expertise needs to spread all across the government and there needs to be much more cooperation with our private sector. +p1389 +aVYou've got to keep asking. You've got to keep asking because this is a hugely important issue. If you can encrypt messages, +p1390 +aVWell, if the law would change, yeah. But I think there has to be recognition that if we \u2014 if we are too punitive, then you'll go to other \u2014 other technology companies outside the United States. And what we want to do is to control this. We also want to dominate this from a commercial side. So there's a lot of balanced interests. But the president leads in this regard. That's what we need. We need leadership, someone who has a backbone and sticks with things, rather than just talks about them as though anything matters when you're talking about amendments that don't even actually are part of a bill that ever passed. +p1391 +aVWho can you count on to keep us safer, stronger and freer? Results count, and as governor, I pushed Florida up to the top in terms of jobs, income and small business growth. Detailed plans count, and I believe that the plan I've laid out to destroy +p1392 +aVOur freedom is under attack. Our economy is under water. The leading democrat is under investigation. And America is under the gun to lead the free world to protect our civilized way of life. Serious times require strong leadership, that's what at stake right now. Regarding national security, we need to restore the defense cuts of Barack Obama to rebuild our military, to destroy +p1393 +aVWell, first of all, we need to destroy +p1394 +aVLook, he mentioned me. I can bring \u2014 I can talk. This is \u2014 this is the problem. Banning all Muslims will make it harder for us to do exactly what we need to do, which is to destroy +p1395 +aVThey are relevant if we want to destroy +p1396 +aVDonald, this has got... +p1397 +aVThis is another example of the lack of seriousness. Look, this is \u2014 this is troubling because we're at war. They've declared war on us and we need to have a serious strategy to destroy +p1398 +aVYou said on September 30th that +p1399 +aVI'm talking right now. I'm talking. +p1400 +aVSeptember 30th you said... +p1401 +aVA little of your own medicine there, Donald. +p1402 +aVDonald, you're not going to be able to insult your way to the presidency. That's not going to happen. And I do have the strength. Leadership, leadership is not about attacking people and disparaging people. Leadership is about creating a serious strategy to deal with the threat of our time. And I laid out that strategy before the attacks in Paris and before the attacks in San Bernardino. And it is the way forward. We need to increase our military spending. We need to deal with a no- fly zone in Syria, a safe zone. We need to focus on building a military that is second-to-none... +p1403 +aV... so that we can destroy Islamic terrorism. +p1404 +aVI think we're focusing a whole... +p1405 +aVI do. I think the lesson's learned are that we have to have to have a strategy to get and a strategy to get out. Which means, that you create a stable situation. This president and this is what the focus ought to be, it's not the differences between us, it's Barack Obama does not believe America's leadership in the world is a force for good. He does not believe that our strength is a place where security can take place. He leads from behind. He creates an environment that now we're creating the most unstable situation we've had since the World War II era. The focus ought to be on the single fact that Hillary Clinton wants to double down on a failed foreign policy and we need to be united to defeat that because we're going to be in a place that is far less secure than it is today. Don't you all agree? +p1406 +aVBecause I \u2014 first of all, I know what I don't know. I know what I don't know. I would seek out, as I have, the best advice that exists. I won't get my information from the shows. I don't know if that's Saturday morning or Sunday morning. I don't know which one. I will seek out the best advice, and I will create a strategy and I will persuade the American people what the role of America should be. I've laid out a policy of rebuilding our military. All of the talk that we're seeing here \u2014 most of which I agree on, frankly \u2014 requires a much stronger military. We now have a lack of readiness that is quite scary. We have planes that were \u2014 that Harry Truman inaugurated, the B-52. We have \u2014 the Navy has been gutted and decimated. The readiness of the Marines is way down. If we're serious about America's leadership in the world, then we need to make sure that we have the back of the armed forces. The Armed Forces Radio is here listening to this today. I hope they know that if I'm president, I'll be a commander-in-chief, not an agitator- in-chief or a divider-in-chief, that I will lead this country in a way that will create greater security and greater safety. +p1407 +aVSo I was \u2014 I was \u2014 I was mentioned, so I can bring up something, I think, right? Look, the simple fact is, if you think this is tough you're not being treated fairly... +p1408 +aV... imagine what it's going to be like dealing with Putin or dealing with President Xi. +p1409 +aVOr dealing with the Islamic terrorism that exists. +p1410 +aVThis is a tough business to run for president. +p1411 +aVAnd it's \u2014 and we need...... to have a leader that is... +p1412 +aVYou're never going to be president of the United States by insulting your way to the presidency. +p1413 +aVDoesn't matter. Doesn't matter. +p1414 +aVYes. +p1415 +aVNo it isn't but it is an important subject to talk about for sure. And I think people have good ideas on this. Clearly, we need to secure the border. Coming here legally needs to be a lot easier than coming here illegally. If you don't have that, you don't have the rule of law. We now have a national security consideration, public health issues, we have an epidemic of heroine overdoses in all places in this country because of the ease of bringing heroine in. We have to secure the border. It is a serious undertaking and yes, we do need more fencing and we do need to use technology, and we do need more border control. And we need to have better cooperation by the way with local law enforcement. There are 800,000 cops on the beat, they ought to be trained to be the eyes and ears for law enforcement for the threat against terror as well as for immigration. This is a serious challenge and if we can get it right, yes, we'll start winning votes again. The real problem isn't anybody on this stage, the real problem is Barack Obama has had six years to advocate a position to fix this and he's done nothing. The congress has funded these programs of building more fencing and doing all this and he hasn't done it. He wants to maintain it as a wedge issue and so does Hillary Clinton. Republicans need to fix it and when we do, we'll be better off. +p1416 +aVI completely agree with Chris. And this administration has been so lax. Think about it. Hillary Clinton is using a private server for \u2014 where classified information go by. This is a \u2014 this is a serious administration? The president receives an inspector general's report that the Office of Personnel Management could be hacked into; they had antiquated firewalls; 23 million files have been \u2014 are in the hands of the Chinese allegedly, including, by the way, members of the press, it turns out, last week. Maybe that's the only part that's good news, so that you guys can get a feel for what it's like now to see this type of attack. This is something \u2014 we have to have the best defensive capabilities. We need to coordinate all of our efforts with the private sector. We need to give them liability relief so that we can do that. And offensively, we need to have capabilities second to none. We need to create a situation where they know that there will be adverse impacts if they continue to do what they're doing. They'll respect that. They'll respect a United States that is serious about protecting our \u2014 our infrastructure. If we don't do it, we'll continue to see what's \u2014 exactly what's happening, not just from the Chinese, by the way. The Russians and rogue actors, including +p1417 +aVAsk yourself, which candidate will keep you and our country safer, stronger and freer? Hillary Clinton has aligned herself with Barack Obama on +p1418 +aVYou've already made two comments, John. It's my turn. +p1419 +aVI got about four minutes in the last debate. I'm going to get my question right now. +p1420 +aVYes. +p1421 +aVFirst of all, we could get to 4 percent growth. The new normal of 2 percent puts huge demands on government. The reason why we have structural deficits is that more and more people are relying on government and the growth that we don't have makes \u2014 makes the deficit grow. A 4 percent growth strategy starts with tax reform. And the proposal that I've laid out is the one the Wall Street Journal editorial board has said is the most pro-growth of all the proposals out there. We cut the \u2014 we eliminate a lot of deductions and cut the rates down. A corporate rate of 20 percent, which puts us 5 percent above \u2014 below that of China, and allows us full expensing of investing. It would create an explosion of investment back into this country, creating higher-wage jobs, and so that's part of it. On the regulatory side I think we need to repeal every rule that Barack Obama has in terms of work in progress, every one of them. And start over. For those that are already in existence, the regulation of the Internet, we have to start over, but we ought to do that. The clean power act, we ought to repeal that and \u2014 and start over on that. The waters of the United States act, which is going to be devastating for agriculture and many industries, we should repeal that. We should repeal the rules because the economic costs of this far exceed the social benefit. And if we're serious about being serious about high growth, then we have to recognize that small businesses right now, more of them are closing than \u2014 than are \u2014 than are being set up. Hillary Clinton has said that Barack Obama's policies get an A. Really? One in 10 people right now aren't working or have given up altogether, as you said. That's not an A. One in seven people are living in poverty. That's not an A. One in five children are on food stamps. That is not an A. It may be the best that Hillary Clinton can do, but it's not the best America can do. +p1422 +aVThank you, Donald, for allowing me to speak at the debate. That's really nice of you. Really appreciate that. What a generous man you are. Twelve million illegal immigrants, to send them back, 500,000 a month, is just not \u2014 not possible. And it's not embracing American values. And it would tear communities apart. And it would send a signal that we're not the kind of country that I know America is. And even having this conversation sends a powerful signal \u2014 they're doing high-fives in the Clinton campaign right now when they hear this. That's the problem with this. We have to win the presidency. And the way you win the presidency is to have practical plans. Lay them out there. What we need to do is allow people to earn legal status where they pay a fine, where they work, where they don't commit crimes, where they learn English, and over an extended period of time, they earn legal status. That's the path \u2014 a proper path... +p1423 +aVI'm gonna fight as hard as I can to make sure that we shift power away from Washington, simplify the tax code, to spur economic activity in this country. Of course it's the highest priority. If we don't do that, we're stuck with the "new normal" of 2 percent growth. Hillary Clinton says, basically, we just gotta get used to it. Two percent growth means declining income for the middle class. It means more than 6 million people are stuck in poverty than the day that Barack Obama was inaugurated. It means \u2014 it means more demands on government \u2014 growing the economy is the first job, if we're going to be serious about dealing with the deficit and debt. And more importantly, people are really struggling right now. In this economy, the disposable income of the great middle is down 2,300 bucks. So yeah, we've created jobs, your \u2014 argue (ph) \u2014 brought that up early, and it was a good question. Jobs are being created, but they're lower-income jobs than the jobs that were lost. And the net effect of this is we need to jump-start the economy. I think of Jonathan (ph) and Reagan Love (ph), who are supporters of mine. Jonathan has been deployed by the National Guard, he is \u2014 he's in Oklahoma. Reagan Love \u2014 by the way, pretty great name, I think \u2014 is a teacher. When \u2014 if they had this tax cut, what they told me was that that $2,300 of money in their pocket \u2014 they would go back to South Carolina and start a business. Imagine what it would be like, instead of having more businesses closed than started, we had it the exact opposite. We would grow our economy, and the government would get the revenue necessary to make things \u2014 make things better. Hillary Clinton's approach to this is more top-down, more regulation, more taxes, more government, and it will destroy our economy. +p1424 +aVIt is \u2014 I'd say it is Islamic terrorism, and, back to the question of what we are dealing with in Iraq, when we pull back voids are filled. That's the lesson of history, and, sadly, this president does not believe in American leadership. He does not believe it, and the net result is that we have a caliphate the size of Indiana that gains energy each and everyday to recruit Americans in our own country, and the threat to the homeland relates to the fact that we have not dealt with this threat of terror in the Middle East. We should have a no fly zone in Syria. We should have a support for the remnants of the Syrian Free Army, and create safe zones. If you want to deal with the four million refugees that are leaving Syria because of the devastation there, then we 'ought to create safe zones for them to stay in the region rather than go to Europe. And, that requires American leadership. Without American leadership every other country in the neighborhood beings to change their priorities. It is tragic that you see Iraq, and other countries now talking to Russia. It wasn't that long ago that Russia had no influence in the region at all. And, so, the United States needs to lead across the board. This president, and Hillary Clinton both do not believe the United States has a leadership role to play, and we're now paying a price, and it will have a huge impact on the economy of this country if we don't deal with this. +p1425 +aV...They're not doing that... +p1426 +aV +p1427 +aVDonald \u2014 Donald's wrong on this. He is absolutely wrong on this. We're not going to be the world's policeman, but we sure as heck better be the world's leader. That's \u2014 there's a huge difference where, without us leading... ...voids are filled, and the idea that it's a good idea for Putin to be in Syria, let +p1428 +aVWe're not \u2014 we shouldn't have another financial crisis. What we ought to do is raise the capital requirements so banks aren't too big to fail. Dodd-Frank has actually done the opposite, totally the opposite, where banks now have higher concentration of risk in assets and the capital requirements aren't high enough. If we were serious about it, we would raise the capital requirements and lessen the load on the community banks and other financial institutions. This vast overreach has created a huge problem for our country, and Hillary Clinton wants to double down on that. I was in Washington, Iowa, about three months ago talking about how bad Washington, D.C., is. It was \u2014 get the \u2014 kind of the \u2014 anyway. We had... It \u2014 and I talked to a banker there. This is a bank that had $125 million of assets, four branches. Their compliance costs because of Dodd-Frank went from $100,000 to $600,000 in a two-year period. The net effect of that is \u2014 and they had \u2014 they had not one loan that went bad during the financial crisis. They knew \u2014 they knew their borrowers. They gave back to the community. They were engaged in the community. And imagine America without its community banks. Well, that's what's happening because of Dodd-Frank. That's \u2014 that's my worry. My worry is that the real economy has been hurt by the vast overreach of the Obama administration. And Hillary Clinton, she wants to double down on that. She wants to create even more so. She is a captive of the left of her party to the point now where she is \u2014 she was for the trade agreement in \u2014 the Pacific agreement. Now she's against it. She was \u2014 hinted she was for the XL pipeline. Now she's opposed to it. All the things that would create sustained economic growth she's now doubling down against it. +p1429 +aVYou could, if you were serious about... +p1430 +aVNo, I can't say that. But I can say, if you created higher capital requirements, that's the solution to this, not having concentration of assets. The bigger banks now have more and more control over \u2014 over the financial assets of this country. And that is the wrong approach to take. +p1431 +aVMaria? +p1432 +aV...We've had a 10% reduction in carbon emissions, and it isn't because of Solyndra. It isn't because of the central planners in Washington D.C. It's because we've had a great American success story, the explosion of natural gas. Taking two existing technologies, and applying it through innovation has created lower carbon emissions, lower energy costs \u2014 40% of all the economic activity in the age of Obama has come from the energy sector, and Hillary Clinton wants to suppress that. We \u2014 I think we ought to be expanding this. High growth is the path to lower carbon, and more jobs. I know for a fact, as Governor of the State of Florida, we created the largest land purchasing programs, and environment clean-up programs because we had a growing economy. Our revenues were growing at 4.4%. It allowed for resources to be able to protect the natural system. We got to get to a conservation... ...in environmental policy that goes beyond just carbon... +p1433 +aVJane Horton is sitting with my wife here today. Her husband, Chris, was killed in action in Afghanistan. And Jane spends her time now defending and fighting for military families. They're both heroes. I don't think we need an agitator-in-chief or a divider-in-chief. We need a commander-in-chief that will rebuild our military and restore respect to our veterans by revamping and fixing a broken Veterans Administration, That's my pledge to you. I ask for your support. Thank you. +p1434 +aVYou know, I am by my nature impatient. And this is not an endeavor that rewards that. You gotta be patient. You gotta be \u2014 stick with it, and all that. But also, I can't fake anger. I believe this is still the most extraordinary country on the face of the Earth. And it troubles me that people are rewarded for tearing down our country. It's never been that way in American politics before. I can't do it. I just don't believe that this country's days are going to be deeply \u2014 you know, going down. I think we're on the verge of the greatest time, and I want to fix the things to let people rise up. +p1435 +aVCould I \u2014 could I bring something up here, because I'm a constituent of the senator and I helped him and I expected that he would do constituent service, which means that he shows up to work. He got endorsed by the Sun-Sentinel because he was the most talented guy in the field. He's a gifted politician. But Marco, when you signed up for this, this was a six-year term, and you should be showing up to work. I mean, literally, the Senate \u2014 what is it, like a French work week? You get, like, three days where you have to show up? You can campaign, or just resign and let someone else take the job. There are a lot of people living paycheck to paycheck in Florida as well, they're looking for a senator that will fight for them each and every day. +p1436 +aVHe wasn't my senator. +p1437 +aVWell, I've been \u2014 +p1438 +aVNo, no. What I said was I don't believe that I would be president of the United States and have the same dysfunction that exists in Washington, D.C. now. +p1439 +aVDon't vote for me if you want to keep the gridlock in Washington, D.C. +p1440 +aVBut if you want someone who has a proven, effective leadership, that was a governor of a state, that transformed the culture there, elect me so I can fight for the American people and change the culture in Washington, D.C. +p1441 +aV, the great majority of Republicans and Americans believe in a hopeful future. They don't believe in building walls and a pessimistic view of the future. They're concerned that Washington is so dysfunctional it is holding them back. There are lids on people's aspirations. Think about it: six and a half million people working part-time. Workforce participation rates lower than they were in 1977. Six million more people living in poverty than the day that Barack Obama got elected president, and the left just wants more of the same. We have to offer a compelling alternative that is based on hope and optimism and grounded in serious policy, which I've laid out. And you can go get it at jeb2016.com. +p1442 +aVWell, the deal was done. Barack Obama got his massive tax increase, and there was no spending cuts. You just see the recent deal announced today or yesterday, more spending, more tax increasing, more regulation. And now we have to accept 2 percent, the new normal for economic growth. And the net result is the middle class has $2,300 less in their pockets than the day that Barack Obama got elected president. And now they see Hillary Clinton proposing a third term of economic policy for our country. We need to reverse that. And my record was one of cutting taxes each and every year. You don't have to guess about it, because I actually have a record. $19 billion of tax cuts, 1.3 million jobs created. We were one of two states to go to AAA bond rating, and our government spending was far less than the spending in people's income. +p1443 +aVYou find me... +p1444 +aVYou find me a Democrat \u2014 you find me a Democrat that will cut spending ten dollars? Heck, find me a Republican in Congress that would cut spending ten dollars. I'll talk to them. +p1445 +aVLook, the \u2014 the deal is already done. The biggest tax increase happened under the watch of Barack Obama, and spending's gone up. You find a Democrat that's for cutting taxes \u2014 cutting spending ten dollars, I'll give them a warm kiss. +p1446 +aVLook, the \u2014 the simple fact is that my plan actually gives the middle class the greatest break: $2,000 per family. And if you make $40,000 a year, a family of four, you don't pay any income tax at all. Simplifying the code and lowering rates, both for corporations and \u2014 and personal rates, is exactly what we need to do. You think about the regulatory cost and the tax cost \u2014 that's why small businesses are closing, rather than being formed in our country right now. The big corporations have the scale to deal with all of this. And what I think all of us are saying is, our monetary policy, our tax policy, regulatory policy needs to be radically changed so we can create high sustained growth for income to rise. The government has tried it their way. Under \u2014 under Barack Obama and the proposals of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and others, they've tried it their way, and it has failed miserably. We need to take a new approach of taxing \u2014 reforming how we tax, and reforming the regulations in our \u2014 in our country before it's too late. +p1447 +aVWe don't need the federal government to be involved in this at all. +p1448 +aVWe don't need the Federal Government to be involved in this, because when they do we create a $1.2 trillion debt. In Florida, we have the lowest in-state tuition of any state, because there's accountability, just as John said. Let the states do this. You'll create a much better graduation rate at a lower cost, and you won't in debt the next generation with recourse debt on their backs. It's always a solution of the left to create more Government from the Federal Government. It is broke, it is not working. +p1449 +aVWell, first of all, I'm 7 and 0 in my fantasy league. +p1450 +aVGronkowski is still going strong. I have Ryan Tannehill, Marco, as my quarterback, he was 18 for 19 last week. So I'm doing great. But we're not gambling. And I think this has become something that needs to be looked at in terms of regulation. Effectively it is day trading without any regulation at all. And when you have insider information, which apparently has been the case, where people use that information and use big data to try to take advantage of it, there has to be some regulation. If they can't regulate themselves, then the NFL needs to look at just, you know, moving away from them a little bit. And there should be some regulation. I have no clue whether the federal government is the proper place, my instinct is to say, hell no, just about everything about the federal government. +p1451 +aVBecky \u2014 +p1452 +aV\u2014 the governor's absolutely right. But we also need to reform Medicare and Social Security. We can't just allow it to continue on its current path the way that Hillary Clinton wants to do because there'll be major reductions in benefits in the next decade if we do nothing. I have a concrete plan to do just that, which allows people to keep HSAs to encourage savings, it allows for people that are retiring with Social Security to be able to get a minimum of 125 percent of the poverty level so that there is a baseline that in this generous country of ours no one goes below. +p1453 +aVYou have to reform Social Security, and the simple way to do it is to make sure that the wealthiest don't receive the same benefits as people that are lower-income. And make sure you enhance savings in the private market. The idea of 401(k)s. I have a small business that I set up. It took \u2014 it took an arm and a leg to be able to set up a 401(k). Because of all the federal mandates and federal laws, it was too expensive. We need to incent private savings and make sure that Social Security is protected for those that have it. +p1454 +aVBut the idea that you can't \u2014 that you're just gonna grow your way out of this \u2014 I have a plan to grow the economy at 4 percent, but you're gonna have to make adjustments for both Medicare and Social Security. [ +p1455 +aVAmerica's at a crossroads. The D.C. politicians continue to make things worse. I have a proven record of success, 32 years in business, and 8 years as Governor of the state of Florida. I will change the culture in Washington, just as I changed the culture in Tallahassee. I will do so in a way that will bring people together. We need a unifier, not a cynical divider in chief, and that's exactly what I will do. Imagine a country where people are lifted out of poverty again. Imagine a country where the middle class can get rising income again. I know we can do this because we're still the most extraordinary country on the face of the Earth. +p1456 +aVI'm Jeb Bush, and I believe America's on the verge of its greatest century, and I'm ready to lead. I'm a committed, conservative reformer that cut taxes, that balanced budgets, that took on the special interest in Florida, and we won. I look forward to talking tonight about how we can fix a broken Washington D.C., and create an environment where people can rise up again in this great country. Thank you. +p1457 +aVI think the voters will make that determination. But what I know to be true is that the next president of the United States is going to have to fix an extraordinary difficult situation. This administration, with President Obama and Hillary Clinton, has created insecurity the likes of which we never would've imagined. There's not a place in the world where we're better off today than six and a half years ago. And that requires a steadiness. That requires an understanding of how the world works. That requires an understanding and appreciation of American leadership in the world. You can't just, you know, talk about this stuff and insult leaders around the world and expect a good result. You have to do this with a steady hand, and I believe I have those skills. +p1458 +aVNo. Absolutely not. People are supporting me because I have a proven record of conservative leadership where I cut taxes $19 billion over eight years. We shrunk the state government workforce, we created a climate that led the nation in job growth seven out of eight years. We were one of two states to go to AAA bond rating. People know that we need principle-centered leadership, a disrupter to go to Washington, D.C. The one guy that had some special interests that I know of that tried to get me to change my views on something \u2014 that was generous and gave me money \u2014 was Donald Trump. He wanted casino gambling in Florida \u2014 +p1459 +aVYes you did. +p1460 +aVYou wanted it and you didn't get it because I was opposed to \u2014 +p1461 +aV\u2014 casino gambling before \u2014 +p1462 +aVduring and after. And that's not \u2014 I'm not going to be bought by anybody. +p1463 +aVNo way. Believe me. +p1464 +aVNot even possible. +p1465 +aVYou've got, according to your \u2014 to what you said on one of the talk shows, you got Hillary Clinton to go to your wedding \u2014 +p1466 +aV\u2014 because you gave her money. Maybe it works for Hillary Clinton \u2014 +p1467 +aV\u2014 it doesn't work for anybody on this \u2014 on stage. +p1468 +aVBut the simple fact is \u2014 +p1469 +aVNo. The simple fact is, Donald, you could not take \u2014 +p1470 +aVI was asked the question. +p1471 +aVSo he supports Pelosi, he supports Schumer, he supports Clinton \u2014 +p1472 +aVWhen he \u2014 and he \u2014 when he asked \u2014 when he asked Florida to have casino gambling, we said no. +p1473 +aVWe said no. And that's the simple fact. The simple fact is \u2014 +p1474 +aVDon't cut me off. +p1475 +aVNo, I don't think so, but we need to be strong against China. We should use offensive tactics as it relates to cyber security, send a deterrent signal to China. There should be super sanctions in what President Obama has proposed. There's many other tools that we have without canceling a dinner. That's not going to change anything, but we can be much stronger as it relates to that. As it relates to Iran, it's not a strategy to tear up an agreement. A strategy would be how do we confront Iran? And, the first thing that we need to do is to establish our commitment to Israel which has been altered by this administration. And, make sure that they have the most sophisticated weapons to send a signal to Iran that we have Israel's back. If we do that, it's going to create a healthier deterrent effect than anything else I can think of. +p1476 +aVI don't think \u2014 you're not stating my views right. +p1477 +aVI think there needs to be accommodation for someone acting on faith. Religious conscience is \u2014 is \u2014 is a first freedom. It's \u2014 it's a powerful part of our \u2014 of our Bill of Rights. And, in a big, tolerant country, we should respect the rule of law, allow people in \u2014 in \u2014 in this country \u2014 I'm a \u2014 I was opposed to the decision, but we \u2014 you can't just say, "well, they \u2014 gays can't get married now." But this woman, there should be some accommodation for her conscience, just as there should be for people that are florists that don't want to participate in weddings, or bakers. A great country like us should find a way to have accommodations for people so that we can solve the problem in the right way. This should be solved at the local level... +p1478 +aVAnd so we do agree, Mike. +p1479 +aVWell, he's wrong on a lot of things, but on this he's wrong because I'm the most pro-life governor on this stage. I got to act on my core beliefs. It's part of who I am. Life is a gift from God. And from beginning end we need to respect it and err on the side of life. And so I defunded Planned Parenthood. We created a climate where parental notification took place. We were the only state to fund crisis pregnancy centers with state moneys. We were totally focused on this. And I would bring that kind of philosophy to Washington, D.C. So here is a solution to this. Title X of the HHS funding, there is something that was the "Reagan Rule." It was passed in 1988. And in that rule it was defined, and the courts approved this, that a Planned Parenthood, you couldn't separate the money between the actual abortion procedures, and there are 330,000 abortions that take place in this clinic, and their promotion of it. He interpreted it the right way, the courts ruled in his favor, and Planned Parenthood did not get funding during that time until President Clinton came in. When I'm elected president, we will restore that interpretation of Title X. And this deal will be finished. +p1480 +aVThere are 13,000 community-based organizations that provide health services to women, 13,000 in this country. I don't believe that Planned Parenthood should get a penny from the federal government. Those organizations should get funding, just as I increased funding when I was governor of the state. That's the way you do this is you improve the condition for people. And, Donald, when I was governor, we also increased the opportunities for women. Women's income grew three times faster than the national average when I was governor. +p1481 +aVWe improved \u2014 we improved \u2014 +p1482 +aV\u2014 we increased child support \u2014 we increased child support with a broken system by 90 percent. +p1483 +aVI have a proven record. I have a proven record. +p1484 +aVHe did, he did. You're proud of your family, just as I am. +p1485 +aVTo subject my wife into the middle of a raucous political conversation was completely inappropriate, and I hope you apologize for that, Donald. +p1486 +aVShe is. She's fantastic. +p1487 +aVShe is absolutely the love of my life, and she's right here... +p1488 +aVAnd why don't you apologize to her right now. +p1489 +aVYeah. +p1490 +aVSo, here's the deal. My wife is a Mexican-American. She's an American by choice. She loves this country as much as anybody in this room, and she wants a secure border. But she wants to embrace the traditional American values that make us special and make us unique. We're at a crossroads right now. Are we going to take the Reagan approach, the hopeful optimistic approach, the approach that says that, you come to our country legally, you pursue your dreams with a vengeance, you create opportunities for all of us? Or the Donald Trump approach? The approach that says that everything is bad, that everything is coming to an end. I... +p1491 +aVI'm on the Reagan side of this. +p1492 +aVLook, first of all, I wrote a book about this, three \u2014 four years ago, now. And I laid out a comprehensive, conservative approach for immigration reform. And it does require securing the border. No one disagrees with that. But to build a wall, and to deport people \u2014 half a million a month \u2014 would cost hundreds of billions of dollars, Donald. Hundreds of billions of dollars. It would destroy community life, it would tear families apart. And it would send a signal to the rest of the world that the United States values that are so important for our long-term success no longer matter in this country. +p1493 +aVWell, I've been speaking English here tonight, and I'll keep speaking English. But the simple fact is, if a high school kid asks me a question in Spanish, a school \u2014 by the way, a voucher program that was created under my watch, the largest voucher program in the country, where kids can go to a Christian school, and they ask me a question in Spanish, I'm going to show respect and answer that question in Spanish. Even though they do speak English, and even though they embrace American values. +p1494 +aVYeah. +p1495 +aVWell, first of all, Hugh, if you're looking at Republican advisers, you have to go to the last two administrations. That happened to be 41 and 43. So just by definition, if you're \u2014 and many of the people here that are seeking advice from the foreign policy experts in the Republican side, they \u2014 they served in my dad's administration, my brother's administration. Of course that's the case. But I'm my own man. I'm going to create a strategy that is based on the simple fact that the United States needs to lead the world. The first thing that we need to do is to stop the craziness of the sequester. Rebuild our military so that our \u2014 so that we don't deploy people over and over again without the necessary equipment to keep them safe, to send a signal to the world that we're serious. If we're going to lead the world, then we need to have the strongest military possible. We need to rebuild our counterintelligence and intelligence capabilities. We need to focus on the fact that the next president is going to start in 2017, not in 1990 \u2014 you know, 30 years ago, or when my brother started. The world is dramatically different. And I believe that we need to restore America's presence and leadership in the world. Name a country where our relationship is better today than it was the \u2014 the day that Barack Obama got elected president. Under Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama, we have seen a weakness that now creates huge problems for the next president of the United States. So I'll have a team that will be \u2014 that will be following the doctrine I set up, and it will be peace through strength. We're sitting here in this library, which is a wonderful place to talk about this, because that's exactly what happened in the 1980s, and the world was a lot safer because of... +p1496 +aVThe leadership of Ronald Reagan and my... +p1497 +aVSo you \u2014 the \u2014 the first chance... +p1498 +aVRight after me, and then I'll \u2014 I'll yield \u2014 yield the floor. What do you guys say in the Senate when you're talking and debating? +p1499 +aVHere's the facts: When Donald Trump talks about judgment, what was his position on who would've been the best negotiator to deal with Iran? It wasn't a Republican; it was Hillary Clinton. That's what you believe. I mean, the lack of judgment and the lack of understanding about how the world works is really dangerous in this kind of time that we're saying. So is that the judgment that you bring to the table, that Hillary Clinton... +p1500 +aV... is a great negotiator, that she could bring about a better deal on Iran? +p1501 +aVYou know what? As it relates to my brother, there's one thing I know for sure. He kept us safe. I don't know if you remember... ... Donald... ... you remember the \u2014 the rumble? You remember the fire fighter with his arms around it? He sent a clear signal that the United States would be strong and fight Islamic terrorism, and he did keep us safe. +p1502 +aVThat's \u2014 that's my brother. +p1503 +aVHere's the lessons of history: When we \u2014 we pull back, voids are created. We left Iraq. We should've had a \u2014 a forces agreement to stay there with a small force, and instead of that, we politically and militarily pulled back, and now we have the creation of +p1504 +aV... because of what President Obama's done by pulling back. +p1505 +aVWell, I'm surprised Senator Cruz would say that since he was as strong supporter of John Roberts at the time. I will talk about what I will do as it relates to appointing Supreme Court Justices. We need to make sure that we have justices that, with a proven experienced record of respect for upholding the constitution. That is what we need. We can't have \u2014 the history in recent past is appoint people that have no experience so that you can't get attacked. And, that makes it harder for people to have confidence that they won't veer off... +p1506 +aVJohn Roberts has made some really good decisions, for sure, but he did not have a proven, extensive record that would have made the clarity the important thing, and that's what we need to do. And, I'm willing to fight for those nominees to make sure that they get passed. You can't do it the politically expedient way anymore. This is the culture in Washington. You have to fight hard for these appointments. This is perhaps the most important thing that the next president will do. +p1507 +aVWell, first of all, he, as I said, supported John Roberts. He supported him, publicly. So, you can rewrite history, I guess, Ted, but the simple fact is that you supported him because he had all the criteria that you would have thought would have made a great justice. And, I think he is doing a good job. But, the simple fact is that going forward, what we need to do is to have someone that has a long standing set of rulings that consistently makes it clear that he is a focused, exclusively on upholding the Constitution of the United States so they won't try to use the bench as a means to which legislate. +p1508 +aVHe was talking about me. +p1509 +aVWell, I \u2014 I wanted to \u2014 be \u2014 make it easier for him. +p1510 +aVAnd I just did. +p1511 +aVSo, 40 years ago, I smoked marijuana, and I admit it. I'm sure that other people might have done it and may not want to say it in front of 25 million people. My mom's not happy that I just did. That's true. And here's the deal. Here's the deal. We have \u2014 we have a serious epidemic of drugs that goes way beyond marijuana. What goes on in Colorado, as far as I'm concerned, that should be a state decision. But if you look at the problem of drugs in this \u2014 in this society today, it's a serious problem. Rand, you know this because you're campaigning in New Hampshire like all of us, and you see the epidemic of heroin, the overdoses of heroin that's taking place. People's families are \u2014 are being torn apart. It is appropriate for the government to play a consistent role to be able to provide more treatment, more prevention \u2014 we're the state that has the most drug courts across every circuit in \u2014 in \u2014 in Florida, there are drug courts to give people a second chance. That's the best way to do this. +p1512 +aVNo, you're wrong \u2014 you're wrong about this. +p1513 +aVI don't want to put poor people in jail, Randy. +p1514 +aVHere's the deal. No, I did not oppose when the legislature passed the bill to deal with that very issue. That's the way to solve this problem. Medical marijuana on the ballot was opened up, there was a huge loophole, it was the first step to getting to a place. And as a citizen of Florida, I voted no. +p1515 +aVNot very far. I think we need to do this state by state. There are places that get this right, and we need to make sure that we protect the privacy laws. This is a complicated place. But I do think the natural impulse on the left \u2014 Hillary Clinton, immediately after one of these horrific violent acts took place, immediately said we need to have federal gun laws. President Obama almost reflexively always says the same thing. And the net result is, you're going to take away rights of \u2014 of law-abiding citizens, the 99.999 percent of the people that are law- abiding citizens. That's not the right approach to do it. In Florida, we have a background check. We have concealed-weapon permit holders, and in fact, there's 1,200,000 of them. We have a reduction in violent crime because we put people behind bars when they use a gun in the commission of the crime. That's the better approach. But we're living in a society today where despair kind of grows in isolation. +p1516 +aVI \u2014 I think there needs to be a hearing, but the fact is, we need to encourage that kind of involvement. That's \u2014 that's exactly what we need to do. +p1517 +aVI would go with Ronald Reagan's partner, Margaret Thatcher. Probably illegal, but what the heck? Since it's not going to happen. A strong leader is what we need in the White House, and she certainly was a strong leader that restored the United Kingdom into greatness. +p1518 +aVEver Ready, it's very high energy, Donald. +p1519 +aVSix million more people are living in poverty than the day that Barack Obama got elected president. Six million more people. The middle class has had declining income, workforce participation rates are lower than they were in 1977. For the first time in modern history, more businesses are failing than are being created. That is what the next president will have to deal with. And I believe we can reverse course by creating a strategy of high sustained economic growth, not the new normal of 2 percent that all the left says we just have to get used to, but a 4 percent growth strategy where we reform how we tax, fix the broken regulatory system, embrace the energy revolution in our midst, fix the immigration system so we can turn it into an economic driver, deal with the structural fiscal problems that exist because of our entitlement problems that will overwhelm and create way too much debt. If we grow at 4 percent, people are going to be lifted out of poverty. The great middle that defines our country will have a chance to be able to pursue their dreams as they see fit. That should be the great challenge and the great opportunity for the next president of the United States, to forge consensus to go back to a high-growth strategy. And then we'll be able to lead the world. Without a high-growth strategy, our country will never have the resources or the optimism to be able to lead the world, which the world desperately needs our leadership. +p1520 +asVMCELVEEN +p1521 +(lp1522 +VThank you, David. And good evening, candidates. Mr. Trump, you have said, quote, "I love eminent domain" which is the seizure of private property for the sake of the greater good theoretically. You tried to use the measure in business endeavors, you've said you'd support its use for the Keystone Pipeline project. Here in New Hampshire, a project, though, known as the Northern pass would bring hydro-electric power from Canada into the Northeastern grid. Do you see eminent domain as an appropriate tool to get that done? +p1523 +aVSo would that be yes on the Northern Pass project? +p1524 +aVMr. Trump, take 30 seconds. +p1525 +aVAll right, gentlemen... +p1526 +aVGentlemen, we do have to move forward. Dave, Martha, back to you. +p1527 +aVYou're all aware, candidates, this is a major problem here in New Hampshire. It's a very deadly problem as well. Last month, New Hampshire senators Kelly Ayotte, Republican, and Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat, they went down to Washington, along with the police chief of the state's largest city to testify before the Judiciary Committee in D.C. Senator Cruz, you're a member of that committee. Your campaign schedule didn't allow you to attend this. Even so, the police chief called your absence outrageous, given the severity of the problem. Last week, though, you told a personal story of a close family member's struggle with addiction. What can you say to law enforcement right now to convince them that you understand the severity of this problem and you're not just saying what people want to hear days before the primary? +p1528 +aVAnd Governor Christie, you have talked a lot about this issue here in New Hampshire. State reforms, criminal justice reforms, access to treatment. To Senator Cruz's point, let's take it a step further. Would you be willing to engage in cross-border enforcement into Mexico, a place where law enforcement in New Hampshire has traced at lot of this supply back to. Would you engage in cross-border enforcement without the cooperation without the Mexican government? +p1529 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you very much. David, Martha, back to you. +p1530 +aVThank you, Martha. None of you on stage tonight have ever worn a uniform as a member of the armed services. That's the reality of it. But as commander-in-chief, you'll also be charged with the care of 23 million active duty service members and veterans in this country. Some have suggested privatizing the V.A. as a way to enhance care and increase the quality of the care and access. Others say that veterans should carry I.D. cards that allow them access to any hospital or health care provider. Governor Bush, what specifically would you do to ensure that those who have sacrificed for us are cared for? +p1531 +aVGovernor Kasich, do you have a favored approach? +p1532 +aVSenator Rubio, go ahead? +p1533 +aVSenator Rubio, thanks very much. Going to move forward now. David, Martha, back to you. +p1534 +asVWALKER +p1535 +(lp1536 +VGood evening, I'm Scott Walker, and tonight, I want to thank and Mrs. Reagan, and the Reagan Library for hosting us. You see, in my lifetime, the greatest president was a governor from California. Ronald Reagan knew how to go big, and go bold. He understood the essence of moving this country forward, and that's what I did when I took on the status quo in my state, and the Washington based special interest. Now, more than ever, America needs a leader who will go big and bold again. Someone who's been tested. I'm ready to be that leader. Thank you. +p1537 +aVBut Jake, Jake, Jake, Jake... +p1538 +aVBut Jake, this \u2014 this is \u2014 this... +p1539 +aVJake, this is \u2014 this is \u2014 this is... +p1540 +aVThis is actually what's wrong \u2014 this is what's wrong with this debate. We're not talking about real issues. And Mr. Trump, we don't need an apprentice in the White House. We don't need an apprentice in the White House. We have one right now. He told us all the things we wanted to hear back in 2008. We don't know who you are or where you're going. We need someone who can actually get the job done. And you talked about business. +p1541 +aVYou \u2014 you \u2014 let me finish... +p1542 +aVNo, no... +p1543 +aVYou're using the talking... +p1544 +aVMr. Trump, you're using the talking points of the Democrats... +p1545 +aV... and as we all know... +p1546 +aV... that failed three times in four and a half years when I got elected, because it is working. We balanced a budget. You want to talk about balanced budgets? You took four major projects into bankruptcy over and over and over again. You can't take America into bankruptcy. That's what's wrong with the politicians in Washington right now. They think we can take a country into bankruptcy. +p1547 +aVJake, yeah, absolutely, I'll take this on, because this is an issue that's important in this race. Just because he says it doesn't make it true. The facts are the facts. We balanced a $3.6 billion budget deficit, we did it by cutting taxes \u2014 $4.7 billion to help working families, family farmers, small business owners and senior citizens. And it's about time people in America stand up and take note of this. If you want someone that can actually take on the special interest of Washington, which you yourself said you were part of, using the system, we need somebody that will stand up and fight for average Americans to put them back in charge of their government. I'm the one who is taking that on. I'll do that as your next president. +p1548 +aVTwo parts to that, one on China, one back for a second on Iran. When it comes to China, why would we be giving an official state visit to a country that's been involved in a massive cyber attack against the United States? That's not just a visit, that's a 21 gun salute on the South Lawn of the White House. It just doesn't make any sense. If we're ever going to send a message to them, wouldn't this be the time, when they've issued this, sort of, massive attack against us? And, Jake, for the question, I was one of the first ones to call for terminating the bad deal with Iran on day one. The President came after me and said I need to bone up. You know, the President who called +p1549 +aVJake, just one more moment. This is \u2014 there's something bigger to this. Now, I \u2014 like so many other governors here, I defunded Planned Parenthood four-and-a-half years ago, in a Blue State. But it's bigger than that. We did that in a Blue State, we took the money and put it into women's health, so we did exactly what we're talking about here. But I think the bigger issue here is we should be able to do this nationally, and this is precisely why so many Republicans are upset with Washington. They see the House and they see the Senate and they say why can't we pass this. Why can't we defund Planned \u2014 put it in a spending bill. Forget about the 60-vote rule, there's no reason \u2014 and the Constitution doesn't call for 60 votes. Pass it with 51 votes, put it on the desk of the president \u2014 +p1550 +aV\u2014 and go forward and actually make a point. This is why \u2014 +p1551 +aV\u2014 people are upset with Washington. +p1552 +aVSo, the best way to help people see their wages go up is to get them the education, the skill they need, to take on careers that pay more than minimum wage. And, it's why we talk about it, it's all about jobs. You want to help actually get jobs, it's why on that last question we were trying to jump in on taxes. To me, it's not just about taxes, cutting taxes. I've done it as much as anyone has. I've cut income taxes, I've cut property taxes. In fact, property taxes are lower today in my state than they were before we took office. The real issues about jobs. Ronald Reagan, our plan is based on the Ronald Reagan tax cuts of 1986. That brought about one of the longest sustained periods of economic growth in American history. All the things we should be talking about tonight are about how do we create jobs, helping people get the skills and the education qualifications they need to succeed. That's the way you help people create jobs. It's part of our large plan to reform the tax code, to cut taxes, to put in place an education system that gives people the skills and education that they need. To put in place all the above energy policy, but you start on day one with repealing Obamacare. I'm the only one on this stage that's actually got a plan, introduced an actual plan to repeal Obamacare on day one. I'll send a bill up to Congress, and to make sure enact it... +p1553 +aV...I'm going to sign an order that makes the Congress live by the same rules as everybody else. +p1554 +aV...That will ensure they repeal Obamacare... +p1555 +aV...Jake, Jake, Jake, I just want to address that issue because you said I didn't answer, and I did. I said, to me, I think the real focus shouldn't be \u2014 you know, Hillary Clinton talks about the minimum wage. That's her answer to grow the economy. The answer is to give people the skills and the education so they make far more than minimum wage. I don't want to argue about how low things are going to be, I want to talk about how do we lift everyone up in America. That's what Reagan talked about. It wasn't how bad things were, it was how to make it better for everyone. That's what we've done in Wisconsin, that's exactly what we'd do as... +p1556 +aV... the key issue here is talking about leadership. Now, there's a lot of greater people up here, and you've heard a lot of great ideas out there. But I would ask the American people, look at who's been tested. When there were 100,000 protesters in my capital, I didn't back down, when they issued death threats against me and threats against my family, I didn't back down, when they tried to recall me, I didn't back down, and when they made me the \u2014 one of their number-one targets last year, I didn't back down. Give me the chance to be your president. +p1557 +aVI won't back down... +p1558 +aV... on any of these issues. +p1559 +aVTo be clear, what I said the other day was that we need to lift the political restrictions that are already in play. Barack Obama's administration has put political restrictions on the military personnel already in Iraq. We need to lift those and then we need to listen to our military experts, not the political forces in the White House, but our military experts about how many more we sent in. And we certainly shouldn't have a commander-in-chief who sends a message to our adversaries as to how far we're going to go, and how far we're willing to fight, so I'm not putting a troop number. What I'm saying is lift the political restrictions. When you do that, you empower our military personnel already there to work with the Kurd and the Sunni allies, to reclaim the territory taken by +p1560 +aV... a lot of those people, though, and I'm going to echo what Senator Rubio just said. This is an issue where, we're talking about my state, it's thousands of manufacturing jobs. Thousands of manufacturing jobs for a rule the Obama administration, own EPA has said will have a marginal impact on climate change. So we're going to put thousands and thousands of jobs in my state, I think it's something like 30,000 in Ohio, other states across this country, we're going to put people \u2014 manufacturing jobs, the kind of jobs that are far greater than minimum wage, this administration is willing to put at risk for something its own EPA says is marginal (ph)... +p1561 +aVFirst of all, I got to say to Carson, Huckabee, thanks a lot for making the rest of us look like chumps up here, but, I'd pick Clara Barton. I once worked for the American Red Cross, she was a great founder of the Red Cross. +p1562 +aVHarley. I love riding Harley's. +p1563 +aVWell, I turned 13 years old two days before Ronald Reagan was first elected. A lot of people forget this, but just a few days before that election 1980, he was behind in the polls. And I think what changed things was people in America realized they didn't want to hear what was bad about America, they wanted to know how it was going to be better. Ronald Reagan wasn't just a conservative Republican, he was an eternal optimist in the American people. And I am too. So here's what I think will make America better. We need to live in a world where our children are free, are free from the threats of radical Islamic terrorism. We need to live in an America where we have an economy, where everyone can live their piece of the American dream, no matter what that dream is. And we need to live in an America where we have a federal government that is not too big to fail, but ultimately small enough to succeed, where we send powers back to the states and back to the people. That's what I did in Wisconsin. We took on the big government union bosses, the big government special interests, many of whom came in from Washington, to spend millions of dollars to try and take me out because we stood up to them, we didn't back down in any of those instances. If you give me the chance as your next president, I won't back down any day, anyway, anyhow. I'll fight and win for you and your families every single day I'm in office. +p1564 +asVMALE +p1565 +(lp1566 +VThat's a good one. +p1567 +asVBAKER +p1568 +(lp1569 +VThe candidates on stage tonight were selected based on their standing in an average of four national polls. Those standings determining their position on the stage. And here they are. At center stage, businessman Donald Trump. Neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson. +p1570 +aVTonight's rules are simple. Up to 90 second for each answer. One minute for each follow-up response. And if a candidate goes over their allotted time, you'll here this. +p1571 +aVMs. Fiorina, while you've all pointed out how weak the current recovery has been and how disappointing by any historical standards, in the general election, the Democrats will inevitably ask you and voters to compare the recent president's jobs performance. Now, in seven years under President Obama, the U.S. has added an average of 107,000 jobs a month. Under President Clinton, the economy added about 240,000 jobs a month. Under George W. Bush, it was only 13,000 a month. If you win the nomination, you'll probably be facing a Democrat named Clinton. How are you going to respond to the claim that Democratic presidents are better at creating jobs than Republicans? +p1572 +aVThank you. Thank you. Senator Paul, income inequality has been rising in the United States. Fifty years ago, for example, the average CEO of a big corporation in this country earned 20 times the average salary of one of his or her workers. Today, that CEO earns about 300 times the average salary of a worker. Does it matter at all that the gap between the rich and everyone else is widening? +p1573 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1574 +aVSenator Rubio... +p1575 +aVYes, one quick comment, yes. +p1576 +aVGovernor Bush... +p1577 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor, you...You should let Jeb speak. +p1578 +aVMr. Trump, Mr. Trump, you yourself \u2014 you yourself said let Governor Bush speak. Governor Bush? +p1579 +aVSenator Rubio? Senator... +p1580 +aVSenator Rubio, Senator Rubio, let me \u2014 let me take you to a question that I think gets to the root of a lot of the anxiety that people have in this country. The economy is undergoing a transformation through information technology. Americans are anxious that the new economy isn't producing higher-paying jobs. Many are concerned that the new wealth seems to be going mainly to innovators and investors. Meanwhile, with factories run by robots and shopping done increasingly on smartphones, many traditional jobs are just going away. How do you reassure American workers that their jobs are not being steadily replaced by machines? +p1581 +aVThank you. Senator Cruz \u2014 Senator Cruz, entitlements. You've argued for raising the retirement age and reducing benefits for future retirees, but reducing any sort of benefits for the elderly has always been notoriously hard to do politically. When Speaker Paul Ryan proposed replacing traditional Medicare with federally funded private plans a few years ago, a liberal group responded with a commercial that featured a granny being pushed off a cliff. What's going to be different this time? +p1582 +aV...I said for future retirees was your statement... +p1583 +aVSenator Rubio. Can I just come to Senator Rubio? We're coming to you, Mr. Trump, in one second. I \u2014 I promise. +p1584 +aVSenator Rubio, your tax plan includes a large expansion of child tax credits to raise off (ph) the tax incomes for low-income parents. A similar tax credit that you previously proposed in the Senate was estimated to cost as much as $170 billion a year, according to the Tax Foundation. Isn't \u2014 isn't there a risk you're just adding another expensive entitle program to an already overburdened federal budget? +p1585 +aVGovernor Kasich? Let me come to Governor Kasich. +p1586 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1587 +aVVery quickly, Senator. +p1588 +aVPlease. +p1589 +aV...Gentleman, we need to move on... +p1590 +aV...We need to move... +p1591 +aV...We need too... +p1592 +aV...We do need to move on. Mr. Trump... +p1593 +aV...Very quick. +p1594 +aVLet's talk about \u2014 No, no, Governor, I really must move on. I really want to move on. Mr. Trump, let's talk about the international economy... +p1595 +aV...We really need to move on... +p1596 +aV...No, governor, I promise I will come to you... +p1597 +aV...Listen... +p1598 +aV...Mr. Trump, can I ask you about... +p1599 +aV...the U.S. just concluded an international trade agreement with 11 countries in the Pacific. You've said that you'd rather have no deal... +p1600 +aV...than sign the one that's on the table... +p1601 +aV...Most economists \u2014 most economists say that trade is boosted growth, and every single post war president has supported the expansion of international trade, including the last three republican presidents. Why would you reverse more than 50 years of U.S. trade policy? +p1602 +aVThe \u2014 the deal, as you say, the terms of the deal were published \u2014 were published just last week, the details, 5,000 pages of it, and 80 percent of U.S. trade with countries in the Pacific, these countries, these 11 countries, is actually tariff-free, and these \u2014 the trade deal only affects the other 20 percent. Which \u2014 are there particular parts of the deal that you think were badly negotiated? +p1603 +aVThere was a separate \u2014 separate... +p1604 +aVBut isn't that \u2014 isn't that part of the problem? When I say, Senator, that if \u2014 if this deal is not ratified by \u2014 by the U.S. \u2014 by the Senate, then it would actually give China an opportunity to grow its economic leadership, which it's been seeking to do? And if the U.S. is unable to take part in this trade deal with these countries in Asia, China will take the lead? +p1605 +aVThank you. Thanks, Senator. +p1606 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich, I want to ask you about China, in particular hundreds of American companies have been subjected to cyber attacks from the Chinese military, yet state-backed Chinese companies, growing their presence in the United States, Chinese investments in U.S., which were nearly nonexistent a few years ago, are now over $50 billion. And as my newspaper recently reported, Chinese companies are planning to bid for one of the largest hotel chains in the United States, what would be the largest ever Chinese takeover of a U.S. company. Would you stop them? +p1607 +aVThank you, Governor. Plenty of opportunities. Thank you. Neil? +p1608 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate, live from Milwaukee. Now let's get straight back to the questions, and Governor Bush. Governor, Hillary Clinton recently said that if we had another financial crisis like the one in 2008, she wouldn't bail out the banks. Would you? +p1609 +aVBut, Governor, but can I just quickly \u2014 did \u2014 you can't seriously guarantee that there won't be another financial crisis, can you? +p1610 +aVEver? There will never be another financial crisis? +p1611 +aVDr. Carson, if I may, just on that point, despite measures taken, as the governor says, since the crisis to make the financial system safer, the major banks in the U.S., many of them are actually bigger than ever. Asset held by JPMorgan Chase, for example, the very largest bank, have increased by nearly 40 percent to over $2.6 trillion. Do you think JPMorgan and the other big banks should be broken up? +p1612 +aVBut just to be clear, just \u2014 just to be clear, then, you wouldn't \u2014 you wouldn't favor breaking up the big banks? You think they're big enough \u2014 they're OK as they are, as big as they are? +p1613 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1614 +aVThank you. +p1615 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate. And now, candidates, it's time for your closing statements. You get 30 seconds each, and, Senator Paul, we will begin with you. +p1616 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p1617 +asVHEWITT +p1618 +(lp1619 +VSenator Cruz, you've said you disagree with Mr. Trump's policy. I don't want a cage match; you've tweeted you don't want a cage match. But Republican primary voters deserve to know, with the kind of specificity and responsiveness you delivered in your nine Supreme Court arguments, how you disagree with Mr. Trump. Would you spell that out with us? +p1620 +aVSo you're saying you disagree because he's too broad and you have a narrower focus? Why do you disagree with him? +p1621 +aVCarly Fiorina... ... this is the Christmas dinner debate. This will be the debate that Americans talk about at Christmas. And thus far, in the first 10 minutes, we haven't heard a lot about Ronald Reagan's city on a hill. We've heard a lot about keeping Americans out or keeping Americans safe and everyone else out. Is this what you want the party to stand for? +p1622 +aVDr. Carson...... you mentioned in your opening remarks that you're a pediatric neurologist surgeon... +p1623 +aVNeurosurgeon. And people admire and respect and are inspired by your life story, your kindness, your evangelical core support. We're talking about ruthless things tonight \u2014 carpet bombing, toughness, war. And people wonder, could you do that? Could you order air strikes that would kill innocent children by not the scores, but the hundreds and the thousands? Could you wage war as a commander-in-chief? +p1624 +aVSo you are OK with the deaths of thousands of innocent children and civilian? It's like... +p1625 +aVThat is what war \u2014 can you be as ruthless as Churchill was in prosecuting the war against the Nazis? +p1626 +aVMr. Trump, we are talking about the most important thing, that's why it's heated. And it's, you are OK with Mr. Assad staying in power, but you are also in favor of winning. If he stays in power, Iran is winning, Hezbollah is winning. Iran is winning in Yemen. They are winning everywhere. If they are winning how can we be winning? +p1627 +aVGovernor Christie, is he right? Because if we step back, Iran goes nuclear. Is Donald Trump right? +p1628 +aVSenator Paul, let me ask you, you heard Governor Kasich say Assad must go. Do you agree? +p1629 +aVGovernor Bush, a commander-in-chief question. You've said that Mr. Trump is not qualified to be president because he's not qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin. Why are you better qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin than Mr. Trump? +p1630 +aVMr. Trump? +p1631 +aVBut, Mr. Trump, it's not CNN \u2014 I was on CNN last night... +p1632 +aV... watching... +p1633 +aVBut it wasn't \u2014 it wasn't CNN. It was me. I watched you last night for 16 minutes. It's not CNN. +p1634 +aVIt's not CNN. It's America's watching you. +p1635 +aVIt's America's watching. +p1636 +aVGovernor \u2014 thank you, Governor. +p1637 +aVDr. Carson, commander-in-chief question again. You've been the head of neurosurgery for a big hospital. You're on a lot of boards of a lot of companies. You've traveled the world. You're going traveling again next week. But does that prepare you to command troops from Djibouti to Japan, troops from Afghanistan to Iraq to be in charge of the men and women watching on Armed Services Network tonight? +p1638 +aVMr. Trump...... Dr. Carson just referenced the single most important job of the president, the command, the control and the care of our nuclear forces. And he mentioned the triad. The B-52s are older than I am. The missiles are old. The submarines are aging out. It's an executive order. It's a commander-in-chief decision. What's your priority among our nuclear triad? +p1639 +aVOf the three legs of the triad, though, do you have a priority? I want to go to Senator Rubio after that and ask him. +p1640 +aVSenator Rubio, do you have a response? +p1641 +aVMy listeners tell me again and again they are worried that Hillary Clinton will win the White House because you'll run as an independent. Are you ready to assure Republicans tonight that you will run as a Republican and abide by the decision of the Republicans? +p1642 +aVDr. Carson, last week... +p1643 +aVPlease. +p1644 +aVDr. Carson, Mr. Trump just committed to stay the distance regardless of the result. How about you? +p1645 +aVThank you, Jake. Mr. Trump, two years ago, President Obama drew a red line that the Syrian dictator Bashar Assad crossed, President Obama threatened to strike. He did not, his knees buckled. We now have 4 million refugees, Syria is a living hell, and he turned to the Congress for the authority to back him up. You have three senators to your right that said, no. Do they bear responsibility for this refugee crisis, and what would you have done when Bashar Assad crossed the line? +p1646 +aVHow much responsibility, Mr. Trump, do the senators hold? +p1647 +aVSenator Rubio... +p1648 +aVSenator Paul? +p1649 +aVI'd like to talk about winning because I think all of you are more qualified than former Secretary of State Clinton, and as were the people in the first debate, but there are different styles, and Carly Fiorina, Governor Kasich, you're conveniently located next to each other, and you have different styles. Governor Kasich, you've been on my show a lot. You refused to attack Hillary Clinton, you just don't want to go there, you want to do the up with people. Go, Ohio, OK, and I like that. Carly Fiorina, I don't have to bring up the Secretary of State \u2014 you bring her up, so . Which one of you is wrong? Governor Kasich? +p1650 +aVGovernor. +p1651 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1652 +aVCarly Fiorina, your style? +p1653 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Christie, your name was mentioned. I want to give you a chance to respond. +p1654 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1655 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. There is a lot more coming up. Ahead, a world of trouble. The challenges that one of these candidates may face in the Oval Office, and how he or she will handle it. Stay with us. +p1656 +aVOh, you're the best interview in America. +p1657 +aV... makes an interesting case (ph) here (ph). +p1658 +aVThank you, Jake. I've done a lot of great interviews with all of you, but, Governor Bush, I talked to you in February about the biggest elephant in a room full of elephants, which is your last name. And you said you would not be burdened either by your brother or your father's legacy in the Middle East. And then, a week later, you rolled out your list of foreign policy advisers, and it was a lot of the band getting back together again. So on behalf of the military that is watching... +p1659 +aV...OK, the active duty military that are at the end of the sphere (ph), what kind of a commander in chief is Jeb Bush going to be, and who are the advisers that are new to your team? +p1660 +aVMr. \u2014 Mr. Trump. +p1661 +aVI want to ask you a question, though, you promised us great leaders. And I believe that. But Jeb Bush has laid out 20 different people that have experience around the world. There are 190 countries, you can't run the world by yourself. When are we going to get some names on your military and your foreign policy advisers? +p1662 +aVThank you, Jake. Tomorrow is \u2014 Republicans know this \u2014 tomorrow is Constitution Day. We've been talking about the 10th Amendment. Let's talk about the Second Amendment. Governor Bush, one of the things the Supreme Court has gotten right is that it's an individual right and it's protected for individuals to hold it. Last week, you said the next step in gun issues is to make sure they're not in the hands of mentally ill. In this state, there's a controversial law that allows guns to be taken away from people without a hearing. Where does it go \u2014 and the problem of violence is endemic, but where does it go from what you said last week, how far into people's lives to take guns away from them? +p1663 +aVIf a family member calls and says, "My child, my brother, my sister is disturbed," ought the state be able to go and get their weapon without a hearing? +p1664 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1665 +aVSenator Cruz, I want to go to you. Your constitutional litigant (ph), are you afraid of the next- step theory of what happens to Second Amendment rights? +p1666 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1667 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1668 +aVThank you, senator. +p1669 +asVWALLACE +p1670 +(lp1671 +VTonight, we're partnering with Google for an exclusive second-screen experience. Search Fox News debate on Google any time in the next two hours to access exclusive content. You can see the campaigns respond to the debate in real time, and you can weigh in by voting on the topics being discussed. Just go to google.com or open your Google search app and type in Fox News debate. +p1672 +aVNeurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. +p1673 +aVApparently Iowa's near Kentucky. +p1674 +aVSenator Rubio, I want to explore this sort of larger issue. The campaign has in a sense turned into a battle for the soul of the Republican party: establishment versus grassroots, pragmatic versus principle. You say that you can unite all of the factions inside the GOP. How? +p1675 +aVGovernor Kasich, I want to get back to this question of where conservatives are this year. You call yourself a, quote, "inside-outside guy, a reformer who knows how to get things done," but you reject the establishment label. First question is why do you reject it? And secondly, what do you say to Republican voters this year who view practical government experience as a liability and not an asset? +p1676 +aVDr. Carson, I want to pick up on that with you. Governor Kasich likes to say he knows how to land the plane. You've landed a lot of planes in the O.R. But what about the idea of running for president with no experience in government at all? +p1677 +aVGentlemen, we're now going to start to drill down into specific issues that are on voters' minds. I'm going to start with one of the biggest ones, which is foreign terror. According to Google, +p1678 +aVSenator Rubio, does Senator Cruz's record match his rhetoric? +p1679 +aVSenator Cruz, you've got 30 seconds. You were mentioned. +p1680 +aVGentlemen. +p1681 +aVMay I \u2014 may I just say, we are going to continue the questions about foreign terror, gentlemen, right after this break. +p1682 +aVThank you. Governor Christie, you have compared both Senators Cruz and Rubio to Barack Obama, saying that we cannot afford another inexperienced President. You've also said that Senator Cruz's vote to curtail the NSA surveillance program made America less safe. Is either of them ready to be Commander in Chief? +p1683 +aVGovernor Bush... +p1684 +aV... I don't think that your name was mentioned... +p1685 +aV... Sir, I think \u2014 I think the question was... +p1686 +aV... It's not my question that you get a chance to respond to, it's his answer. You don't get 30 seconds to respond to me... +p1687 +aV... You don't get 30 seconds to respond to me... +p1688 +aV... If I could go on. Sir, I know you like to argue about the rules, but we're going to conduct a debate... +p1689 +aV... Governor Bush... +p1690 +aVGovernor Bush, here's the question \u2014 I'm going to ask Governor Bush the question. You criticized several candidates in this field on this stage for what you call unrealistic ideas about how to fight terrorists, including Rubio, and Cruz on the issue of their refusing to give the President authority to enforce the redline in Syria. But, given the fact that your brother got us into two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that have still not ended. That have still not ended, what lessons have you learned from his mistakes, sir? +p1691 +aVSenator Cruz, now you get a chance to respond. +p1692 +aV... It is a debate, sir. +p1693 +aVI think the questions were about issues. Senator Rubio, what would you like to respond sir... +p1694 +aVThank you. +p1695 +aVGood. +p1696 +aVSenator Paul, go ahead. +p1697 +aVWell... ... we'll be talking about foreign policy a little bit later. We're going to talk... +p1698 +aVThis debate is just getting started. Coming up, the role of the federal government. But first, join tonight's conversation right from your home. Go to google.com or open your Google search app and search Fox News Debate to vote on which issue is most important to you in this election. More from the Iowa Events Center and the Republican presidential debate in a moment. +p1699 +aVGentlemen, we're going to turn now to what we call electability, issues that you're either facing in the primaries or issues that you're certainly going to face in a general election. So you may not be altogether unhappy if you're not included in this round. Senator Cruz, you pride yourself on standing up to the D.C. cartel, but as we've seen to a certain degree tonight, there's a price for standing up to the D.C. cartel. Thirteen Republican senators have endorsed other candidates, none have endorsed you. You \u2014 twice last year, you asked for a colleague to second a motion, a routine courtesy on the Senate floor, and no senator would do it. Top GOP officials worry that if you're at the top of the ticket \u2014 some officials \u2014 that not only will you lose the White House, but it will tank the ticket all the way down the line. The question is does your style sometimes get in the way of your ability to get things done, sir? +p1700 +aVGovernor Christie, two of your former top aides go on trial in May for fraud and conspiracy in the "Bridge-gate" case, the politically motivated closure of lanes to the George Washington Bridge. Another former aide who has already pleaded guilty and will likely testify for the government, as you know, says that you knew about this whole deal. Can the GOP take the chance of nominating you with this scandal still out there, sir? +p1701 +aVGentlemen, almost 60% of Republican caucus-goers identify themselves as Evangelicals, so I'd like to spend a few minutes exploring social issues. Governor Kasich, you talk a good deal about your faith. In fact, you say it played a role in your decision to expand Medicaid, and you say that when you meet Saint Peter at the Pearly Gates, he's going to ask what you did for the poor, not what you did to keep government small. Senator Cruz is on the opposite side of this issue from you, so does that mean that you're getting in and he isn't? +p1702 +aVGentlemen, we had a case study on religious liberty just this last summer. A county clerk in Kentucky named Kim Davis refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples after the Supreme Court ruling, saying that it violated her religious beliefs. Governor Christie, you said that she must follow the law or be moved to another job that would be in keeping with her conscience. But some conservatives say that that violates her religious liberty. +p1703 +aVThank you, sir. Senator Rubio, during the last debate, you said Governor Christie had changed his position and his mind on gun control, on common core, and backing President Obama's nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. He said you're wrong on the facts and you can't, quote, "slime your way to the White House." I assume in the last two weeks, you've done some fact-checking. Do you want to take anything back? +p1704 +aVThank you, senator. Senator Paul, in May on the campaign trail you, said you didn't get into politics to fight about abortion. You said you were more concerned about the national debt. Your answer is to turn abortion back to the states the way it was before Roe v. Wade. Does that mean that if a liberal state, let's say, wants to make abortion legal, that you're okay with that and what do you say to conservative voters who believe deeply that abortion is murder? +p1705 +aVSir, just 30 seconds to answer my specific... Just 30 seconds to answer my specific question. Do you favor the idea that abortion should be a states' rights issue and if a liberal state wants to make it legal, that that's their choice? Yes or no? +p1706 +aVThank you, sir. +p1707 +aVWe're not finished yet. More to come from the presidential debate, live from Des Moines, Iowa, next. And remember, to see how the campaigns are responding to the debate in real time, go togoogle.com or open your Google search app and search Fox News debate, and please stay with us. +p1708 +aVWe have another question from one of Youtube's top creators. Here it is. +p1709 +aVGovernor Bush, how do you answer Nabela? +p1710 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Cruz, change of subject. You called for an end to the renewable fuel standards which mandate that refineries blend biofuels, including ethanol into gasoline. As you well know, ethanol's a big industry in this state, $10 billion dollars a year. Last week, Terry Branstad, the popular Governor of Iowa... ... Who is in the hall tonight, said that you're bankrolled by big oil, and that Iowa voters would be making a mistake supporting you. Why should those voters side with you over the six- term governor of the state, sir? +p1711 +aVDr. Carson, I'd like to ask you about exactly that issue. Where are you on the mandatory ethanol standard, and precisely this question. Should government be in the business of picking winners and losers, or should it be left to the market place? +p1712 +aVDoctor, thank you. +p1713 +aVDr. Ben Carson. +p1714 +aVAnd don't forget, after all the talk, the first voting of the 2016 campaign happens in just four days. The first Americans to vote, the Iowa caucuses are Monday and Fox News will have complete coverage. +p1715 +asVGARRETT +p1716 +(lp1717 +VSenator Cruz. John mentioned this is about dollars and incentives. We also want to talk about economic growth engagements. You have proposed a consumption tax, you called it the "back tax." Some analysts compare it more to an attributed "value-added tax." From the perspective from economic growth in building wages, how does that work, and how would you address those longstanding conservative concerns that something approaching the "value-added tax" would be used to constantly increase those rates to pay for future government spending and become an escalator of taxation, not of growth? +p1718 +aVNow, the question \u2014 conservatives have sort of this idea conceptually for a long time, but especially on this consumption value-added tax system. In Europe, where it exists, it has become an escalator of taxation to feed government spending, and that's why conservatives have long resisted it. Why and what would you do as president to make sure that doesn't happen? +p1719 +aVGovernor Bush, a question for you \u2014 but if you want to jump in, please. +p1720 +aVJump in, and then I've got a question for you. +p1721 +aVReal quickly, jump in, because I have got a question for Governor Bush, but jump in. +p1722 +aVUnderstood, Governor Kasich. +p1723 +aVYeah, Governor Bush, fine. +p1724 +aVLet me get in a question from... +p1725 +aVI understand, I understand. +p1726 +aVI have a question on economic growth, Governor Bush. +p1727 +aVA , Governor. +p1728 +aVI know, understood. Governor Bush. +p1729 +aVGovernor Bush, from the perspective, economic growth \u2014 viewed from this perspective of economic growth, you have proposed a tax on hedge fund managers. The Americans for Tax Reform, a conservative tax group you're probably aware of, has said no Republican should be for higher taxes on capital gains. And many conservatives wonder if this proposal of yours would undermine not only that philosophy, but undercut your projection of 4 percent economic growth annually under your presidency? +p1730 +aV... Dr. Carson... +p1731 +aVSenator Rubio... For the purposes of the lines \u2014 lines you would draw legislatively as a president on immigration reform, define amnesty. +p1732 +aVVery quickly, Senator Cruz. +p1733 +aVGovernor Bush, I want to bring this out to a little wider philosophical aspect, if you will. +p1734 +aVYou have said illegal immigrants, quote, "broke the law, but it's not a felony," still quoting you, "it's an act of love, it's an act of commitment to your family." Mr. Trump has, as you are well aware, denounced that statement over and over. Do you still believe it? What does that mean to you? And how does that inform your approach to immigration reform? +p1735 +aVFundamentally, do you believe this rhetoric is insufficiently compassionate to this issue? +p1736 +aVMr. Trump... +p1737 +aV... Governor Kasich, here in South Carolina earlier this week, you said the idea, the concept of deporting 11 million undocumented workers... +p1738 +aV... We will leave the moon metaphors to be adjudicated later, I assure you. Governor Kasich, you said earlier this week in South Carolina, the concept, the idea of deporting 11 million undocumented workers in this country is nuts. Why is it you are so opposed to that idea? Senator Cruz has said it's a simple application of existing law. The application of that is not inhumane, it is just. Why do you disagree? +p1739 +aV... What are you for on immigration? +p1740 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 Mr. Trump. I was with you in Pendleton, South Carolina, earlier this week at the Rodeo Arena. It was a bit chilly there. You promised the crowd, and they rose to their feet, that if Ford or a company like were to move a factory to Mexico, you would try to stop it or threaten them with a 35 percent tax or tariff on every car sold. +p1741 +aVRight. So my question is, based on your understanding of the presidency, where do you derive that power? Would you need the consent of Congress to go along? And do you see the presidency as a perch from which you can cajole and/or threaten private industry to do something you think is better for the U.S. economy? +p1742 +aVThank you, governor. +p1743 +asVMUIR +p1744 +(lp1745 +VGood evening, again, everyone. This is the first time since Iowa and the only time before the New Hampshire primary that the Republican candidates will have the opportunity to face each other. The people of Iowa have been heard. Now it's New Hampshire's turn. In just three days, voters here will decide who they think should be the Republican nominee for president. +p1746 +aVSo let's welcome the candidates for the Republican nomination for president. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. +p1747 +aVTexas Senator Ted Cruz. +p1748 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. +p1749 +aVAnd Ohio Governor John Kasich. +p1750 +aVAnd Dr. Ben Carson, please come out on the stage. He's standing there, as well. Dr. Carson. +p1751 +aVAnd lastly, we welcome back to the debate stage, Donald Trump. +p1752 +aVIt was so noisy in here. Yes. Yes. We're going to introduce Ohio Governor John kasich. The applause so loud here in the hall. +p1753 +aVSo let's get started. We welcome you all to the debate stage here tonight. We're going to tackle the issues Americans are most concerned about, the economy, +p1754 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. I want to bring this to Senator Cruz, then. Because Senator, you did said of Trump's behavior this week, that's not the temperament of a leader to keep this country safe. Why not? +p1755 +aVSenator Cruz, I did ask about Mr. Trump. You said he doesn't have the temperament to be commander-in-chief. Do you stand by those words? +p1756 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. We're going to continue on this notion of readiness and experience. I'm going to come back. +p1757 +aVIf you would like to respond, Mr. Trump. +p1758 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. And we're going to continue on this notion of readiness and on experience, but I want to ask about a headline that was back in the papers again this morning. Dr. Carson, on the day of the Iowa caucuses, the Cruz campaign sent out messages and voicemails saying, quote, "Breaking news. Dr. Ben Carson will be planning to suspend his campaign following tonight's caucuses. Please inform any Carson caucus-goers of this news." But as we can all see, you are still standing here tonight. Late this week, your campaign sent this e-mail, quote, "This kind of deceitful behavior is why the American people don't trust politicians. If Senator Cruz does not act, then he clearly represents D.C. values." What kind of action do you think Senator Cruz should take? +p1759 +aVSenator Cruz. Dr. Carson, thank you. Senator Cruz, you have said that Dr. Carson and his wife have become friends of yours. I'm curious as why you didn't call ahead of time to either the doctor or his wife or have your campaign check in with the other campaign before sending out those messages. +p1760 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. We're going to move on here. Back to the issues... +p1761 +aVDr. Carson, please. +p1762 +aVDr. Carson, thank you. Thank you, doctor. Senator Rubio. I want to stay on the issue of readiness to be president and experience and questions about you being a first-term senator. Governor Christie warning voters here in New Hampshire against voting for another first-term senator as America did with Barack Obama in 2008. Arguing that you are, quote, " not ready to be president of the United States." And Senator Santorum, who we all know, dropped out of the race and endorsed you, had a hard time when asked on national television, listing your accomplishments as senator. Tonight, what are your accomplishments in the Senate that demonstrate you are ready to be president of the United States? +p1763 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I do want to ask Governor Christie, Governor Christie, you said fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me when it comes to electing a first-term senator. You heard Senator Rubio make the case that he does have the experience. Your response? +p1764 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Rubio? +p1765 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I want to bring in governor bush on this, because you... +p1766 +aV... have made this... +p1767 +aVIf you'd like to respond to economic... +p1768 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1769 +aVGovernor Christie, we will \u2014 we will... +p1770 +aVGovernor Christie \u2014 thank you, Governor. I will mention \u2014 listen... +p1771 +aV... Listen, people... Governor Bush, I'll mention your name so that you can come in on this... +p1772 +aVI want to bring you in on this because you've made this central to your campaign right here in New Hampshire in the last couple of days. Four Years ago you said of Senator Rubio, he was ready to be Vice President. You spoke of his experience as well. You said he has the fortitude to be a good President, but just this week you said Senator Rubio accomplished, quote, "nothing" in the Senate. How do you square the two? +p1773 +aV... We're going to continue with leadership now. Martha? +p1774 +aVMartha, we're going to turn to immigration now. And I want to bring in Governor Kasich because you told us in an ABC interview, Governor, quote, "It is completely ridiculous to think we are going to go into neighborhoods, grab people out of their homes and ship people back to Mexico." Adding, quote, "That's not where the party is. The party is not for departing 11.5 million people." But Mr. Trump and Senator Cruz, who have made deportation central to their campaigns, top the national polls. So, my question for you, are you not where the voters are? +p1775 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. I want to bring this next to Senator Cruz. You heard what the governor said. He said, "We need practical solutions." And you've said, "I don't intend to send jack boots to knock on doors. That's not how we enforce the law for any crime." So, what is your plan? How will you deport 11.5 million undocumented people? And be specific. How would you do it? +p1776 +aVLet me just ask you this, though, because Governor Kasich was talking about the families and what you do with the families that you would have to send home. Can you tell the American people tonight how you would do that? +p1777 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. I want to bring in Senator Rubio. This question is about immigration, it is also about leadership. You're aware of the criticism from many candidates on this stage tonight that you co-authored the so-called Gang of Eight bill that would have created a path to citizenship for people here illegally. Governor Christie has said of you, as soon as you felt the heat, you turned tail and run. Governor Bush has said, "I don't think we need people cutting and running anymore." Did you fight for your own legislation, Senator, or did you run from it? +p1778 +aVBut I'm asking, did you fight for the legislation at the time or did you run from it as you're... +p1779 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1780 +aVGovernor thank you. Senator Rubio? +p1781 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. We want to turn to health care in this country, and for that, author and commentator, Mary Katherine Ham tonight. HAM: Thanks, David. Good evening, guys. +p1782 +aVMary Katherine, thank you. We want to turn now to the issue of eminent domain, which is being debated right here in New Hampshire. And Josh McElveen is the political director and the anchor of +p1783 +aVJosh, thank you. When we come back here tonight, jobs, +p1784 +aVAnd, we welcome you back to the Republican debate from New Hampshire tonight here on ABC. We're going to turn now to what it means to be a conservative, and I want to turn to Governor Kasich. Governor, while campaigning here in New Hampshire, you were already asked about groans from some conservatives after your endorsements from the New York Times, and the Boston Globe. You said, quote, "What conservatives have to know is they have to say, look isn't it nice to have a conservative like me liked? And, maybe the ought to think about it because if I get elected president, the Republican party and the definition of conservatism is going to change." How would you change conservatism? +p1785 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. Mr. Trump, you've heard the argument from many of the candidates on this stage that you're not a true conservative. Tell the voters watching tonight why you are. +p1786 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. Senator Rubio, you have said yourself that you don't think Donald Trump is running as a conservative. Did he convince you? +p1787 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I want to turn this discussion to the economy now. And Mr. Trump, Governor Christie has said, "I tell everybody who goes to a Donald Trump event, if you get to ask a question, just ask him how." Christie said, "I don't care which of the things he talks about, just ask him how." You have said that you'd be the greatest jobs president God ever created. Tell Americans watching tonight how many jobs you would create in the first term and how. +p1788 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. There are a lot of governors on this stage tonight and Governor Christie, Governor Kasich said of you, quote, "In Ohio, we balanced a budget. They don't have one over in New Jersey. Our credit has been strengthened. Their credit has been downgraded. We've got more jobs." How important are those metrics in choosing the next president? And is his job \u2014 is his record on jobs, I should say, actually stronger than yours? +p1789 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Kasich? +p1790 +aVHe didn't say your record was better than his. +p1791 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. +p1792 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. I do want to turn from jobs to taxes. +p1793 +aVIf you would like to respond to the governor, you can. +p1794 +aVI'm coming to you next with a question, anyway. You can respond to that question. +p1795 +aVWe're going from jobs to taxes, and here's the... +p1796 +aVTo the Gang of Eight bill first? +p1797 +aVThe governor wasn't talking about the president, he was talking about the Gang of Eight bill. +p1798 +aVSo, let me ask you about taxes, Senator Rubio. +p1799 +aVA recent poll, 68 percent of Americans favor raising taxes on people making more than $1 million a year. Are they wrong? +p1800 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I want to bring in Governor Bush. And Governor, I just want to repeat that number for you \u2014 68 percent of Americans favor raising taxes on people making more than a million. What do you say to the people who believe that tonight? +p1801 +aVKnew that was coming. Governor, thank you. +p1802 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you. Martha? +p1803 +aVMartha, thank you. We're just going to \u2014 we're going to stay on +p1804 +aVIf elected president, would you bring it back? +p1805 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. Mr. Trump, you said not only does it work, but that you'd bring it back. +p1806 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. Governor Bush, you have said that you won't rule waterboarding out. Congress has passed laws banning the use of waterboarding by the military and the CIA, as you know. Would you want Congress to change that if you're elected president? +p1807 +aVGovernor Bush, thank you. Senator Rubio, I do want to ask you, you have said that you do not want to telegraph to the enemy what you would do as commander in chief. But for the American people watching tonight who want to know where the next president will stand, do you believe waterboarding is torture? +p1808 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. We want to turn now to the topic of executive orders, and for that, we're going to turn back to Mary Katharine Ham. Mary Katharine? HAM: Thanks, David. Senator Cruz, on the campaign trail you've promised voters a lot, in fact if you're elected president you'd say you end Common Core immediately, abolish the IRS, and do away with sanctuary cities. You've also been a persistent critic of President Obama's executive overreach, going it alone, not working with Congress. How do you intend to implement this aggressive agenda within your Constitutional authority, especially given that it would require working with Congress and Washington players with whom you're happy to say you have a strained relationship? +p1809 +aVMary Katherine, thank you. We want to turn to something the governor of New Hampshire said... +p1810 +aVA connection here on the stage. We're going to move on to what the governor of New Hampshire said just this week, and that is that heroin overdose is not the second-leading cause of death in this state. You don't need me to tell you that. But there's another number, 48 percent of the people here in this state knows someone who has abused heroin. Josh, who covers this for +p1811 +aVMartha? +p1812 +aVGovernor, well come to you in the next segment. When we come back, questions about race, about our veterans and social issues what younger conservative voters are now saying as we continue with New Hampshire with the Republican debate, right here on ABC. +p1813 +aVWelcome back to New Hampshire, ABC News coverage of the Republican debate, and it's great to have you back at the podiums, and we want to turn to race in America. And Mr. Trump, there are many who argue cell phones and smartphones are just now exposing what's been happening in this country for years. Cases of excessive force against minorities. As you know, Mr. Trump, on the other side, the FBI director recently said there's a chill wind blowing through law enforcement because of increased scrutiny. You have said police are the most mistreated people in America. As president, how do you bridge the divide? +p1814 +aVGreat. Mr. Trump, I did ask about bridging the divide though as president. So what would you say to the American families who say we have lived through this, we have seen excessive force? What would you say to those people? +p1815 +aVI do want to ask \u2014 Governor Kasich? +p1816 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Rubio, I want to ask you next, President Obama visited a mosque this week in America for the first time in his presidency. President George W. Bush visited a mosque after September 11th. You said of President Obama, quote, "he's always pitting people against each other." So I'm curious, how are the two visits different, and would you visit a mosque as president? +p1817 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. Martha? +p1818 +aVJosh, thank you. I want to turn to a family that New Hampshire voters know quite well, and Senator Cruz, the issue of hostages has been a very real and painful one here in this state. As we all know, James Foley was killed. His mother, Diane, said our government should be willing to negotiate, arguing that families should also be allowed to raise money for ransom. What would you say to Diane Foley tonight? Should families be allowed to raise money for ransom for their loved ones? +p1819 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. Mr. Trump, what would you say to Diane Foley? Should families be allowed to raise money for ransom? +p1820 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. We want to turn now to social issues and young voters and for the question, from Mary Katherine. HAM: Thank you David. Senator Rubio. One of the lazier pieces of political conventional wisdom is that so-called social issues are hurting Republicans with young people. But on the two most prominent social issues, polling with millennials actually moves in different directions. On one hand, it is clear, young people across the political spectrum increasingly favor same sex marriage. However young voters have not moved to the left on abortion. In fact, large numbers of them favor at least some modest restrictions that conservatives have supported. How do you speak to millennials on both these issues, while Democrats will inevitable charge intolerance and extremism? +p1821 +aVMary Katherine, thank you. We're going to have closing statements here in just a moment, but before we go, quick lightning round. Come November, two battle-ground states, but they face off tomorrow in the Super Bowl. Governor Kasich, who wins? +p1822 +aVGovernor Bush? +p1823 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1824 +aV Mr. Trump? +p1825 +aVAll right, Dr. Carson? +p1826 +aVYeah. Governor Christie, the last word? +p1827 +aVDenver. Thank you so much, gentlemen. Closing statements in just a moment, right here, as the ABC News Republican debate continues from New Hampshire, right after this. +p1828 +aVWe welcome you back. The New Hampshire primary, of course, is Tuesday, but time now for closing statements. And we begin tonight with Governor Kasich. +p1829 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1830 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Senator Rubio. +p1831 +aVThank you. Mr. Trump. +p1832 +asVHUCKABEE +p1833 +(lp1834 +VI wish I saw the country in the same place that the president presented it to be the other night in the State of the Union. He talked about how great the economy was doing. And I guess for the people he hangs out with, it's probably doing great. But the president should've stood in the line at the layaway counter at Walmart just before Christmas. He would have heard a very different story about the economy of America. I wish I could introduce him the lady who cleans the building where our campaign headquarters is located in Little Rock. Her name is Kathleen. She works all day at a local hospital cleaning, and then she goes to the building where a bank, and our headquarters, and other offices are she spends another seven hours. She works 15 hours a day. I guarantee you she's not working 15 hours a day because she loves scrubbing toilets, and sweeping floors. She's working that many hours because that's what it takes for her to make it work. And, she's not alone. There are people all over this country who are working like that. Many of them working two jobs \u2014 and they used to have one job, and that would take care of them. But, because of wage stagnation, which we've had for 40 years, because the fact that they're punished for working harder if they work that many hours. The government gets more of their second shift than they do. And, as a result there are a lot of people who are hurting today. I wish the President knew more of them. He might make a change in the economy and the way he's managing it. +p1835 +aVLet me put that in context. When I went to Afghanistan, I saw a land that looked like the land of the Flintstones. It was desolate. It was barren. It was primitive. And it's been that way for thousands of years. They want to take the world back to be just like that. We don't. We need to make a clear goal as to why we want to be anywhere in the Middle East, and I'll tell you why we want to be and need to be, is to destroy radical Islam and everything that threatens civilization. It's not just a threat......to Israel or to America, it's a threat to every civilized person on this Earth. And we need to be equipping not only the Kurds in Iraq, we need to be making sure that those who are willing to fight radical Muslims will do it, but we need to never ever spend a drop of American blood unless there is a clearly defined goal and we can't make sure we win unless we have a military that's the strongest in the history of mankind. We've got to rebuild our navy. It's the smallest navy we've had since 1915, when my grandfather got on a destroyer in World War I when he was in the U.S. Navy. We've got young men in Air Force B-52s, one in particular, he's flying a B-52 that his father flew in the '80s and his grandfather flew in the '50s. Those planes are older than me. We've got to have a military that the world is afraid of, use it sparingly, but when we do, the whole world will know that America is on their tail and they will be on their tail on the ground, never ever to rise up again. +p1836 +aVOnly if there is a concerted effort to destroy the advance of radical Islamists who are against us. As far as what are we going to make it look like. Frankly, I don't know what we can make it look like. You can't create for other people a desire for freedom and democracy. And frankly, that is not the role of the United States. The role of the United States military is not to build schools, it is not to build bridges, it is not to go around and pass out food packets. It is to kill and destroy our enemy and make America safe and that is the purpose we should be there if we're going to be there. +p1837 +aV Yes, I did. +p1838 +aVWell, why don't we start by making sure the Justice Department never does an idiotic program like Fast and Furious where the U.S. Government put guns......in the hands of Mexican drug lords......and end up killing one of our border agents. You know, they want to talk about law abiding citizens, I just find it amazing the President keeps saying the gun show loophole. There is no gun show loophole. I promise you I've been to more gun shows than President Obama. +p1839 +aVAnd, I've bought more weapons at them, and you fill out forms. The President also says things that it's easier to get a gun now than it is to grow trees. Again, I purchase guns, and I can assure you that it is much more difficult to purchase a firearm than it is to get the ingredients of a salad at the supermarket. What the President keeps pushing are ideas that have never worked. Ideas that would not have stopped San Bernadino, Sandy Hook, Aurora, and at some point you wonder if you keep retrying things that don't work, maybe we should just see if we could resell all those used lottery tickets that didn't work real well because that's the logic of just keep doing the same thing, but something that has failed. Of course, we want to stop gun violence, but the one common thing that has happened in most mass shootings is that they happened in gun- free zones where people who would have been law abiding citizens, who could have stood up and at least tried to stop it and we're not allowed to under the law. +p1840 +aVWell, we shouldn't be and that's one of the reasons that I think there a lot of voices in our country who are saying it's time to relook at the visa program. The European Union is a failure, it's not allowed for even the economic goals that they were trying to achieve. But, what we're not seeing is that it's making Europe less safe, and it's proven not to be exactly what they all thought it was going to be. Our first and foremost responsibility in this country, and the first responsibility of the President of the United States is protect America, and protect Americans. We have a President who seems to be more interested in protecting the reputation and image of Islam than he is protecting us. And, I want to be very clear......that this President. Makes comments like he did the other night, that we have to be so careful because we don't want to offend Muslims. He needs to read his own FBI crime stats from last year which would show him that of the hate crimes in the country, over 5,500, about 1,100 were religious hate crimes. And, of those, 58% were directed toward Jews. Only 16% directed toward Muslims. Maybe what the President should have talked about the other night is how we ought to be more careful in the anti-semitic comments that are going toward American Jews than toward Muslims because by three times as many......they're being targeted for religious hate crime. +p1841 +aVIt does not shut down international commerce, but it may slow it down. And, you don't want to slowdown commerce that is making us safer. It's worth it. This lady who came and joined with the San Bernardino killer had passed three background checks, and that's why a lot of Americans didn't buy it when the President said we'll bring in Syrian refugees, but don't worry we'll check them out. We have a lot of confidence in a president who told us that we could keep our doctor, we could keep our health insurance, and cost us less, and now the latest is if you like your gun you can keep it too, and frankly, we don't buy it. We don't believe it. He's lost his credibility, and his inept... ...inability to work with Congress and pass legislation has led him to do what I never even imagined doing as a governor, and that's just going and doing it my own way. That's why we elect a president, is to lead, is to be able to shepherd things through. And if I can do it with a 90 percent Democrat legislature in Arkansas, there is no excuse for any president not being able to lead in Washington if he knows what the heck he is doing when he gets there. +p1842 +aVWell, first of all, let's just remember that Social Security is not the government's money, it belongs to the people who had it taken out of their checks involuntarily their entire working lives. For the government to say, well it is fault of working people that we have a Social Security problem, no. It is the fault of a government that used those people's money for something other than protecting those people's accounts. So let's not blame them and punish them. But here is a fact, and I sometimes hear Republicans say well, we're going to have to cut this and extend the age. You know what I think a lot of times when I hear people say, well, let's make people work to their 70. That sounds great for white-collar people who sat at a desk most of their lives. You ever talk to somebody that stood on concrete floor for the first 40 years of their working life? Do you think they can stand another five years or 10 years, many of them will retired virtually crippled because they worked hard. And we're going to punish them some more? I don't think so. Here's the fact. Four percent economic growth, we fully fund Social Security and Medicare. Our problem is not that Social Security is just too generous to seniors. It isn't. Our problem is that our politicians have not created the kind of policies that would bring economic growth. And I still support strongly that we get rid of the 77,000 pages of the monstrous tax code......pass the fair tax, supercharge this economy with the rocket fuel that happens with the consumption tax and we don't have to cut Social Security to any senior who has worked their lifetime for it. +p1843 +aVLet me go back to the reason so many people are having a hard time getting ahead. The tax system punishes them. Think about this. If you work really hard and you start moving up the economic ladder, you get bumped into a different tax bracket. So the government thinks it deserves more of your hard work than you do. And it's one of the reasons that no matter how many different reforms you have to a tax on people's productivity, you're still taxing their work, their savings. You're taxing their capital gains, inheritance, dividends, you're taxing everything that produces something. And it's way I really believe it's time to do something bold, not something minute. This is no time for a tap of the hammer, a twist of the screwdriver. It's time for something big. That's why the fair tax transforms our economy. And we don't punish workers. It's the only way we're going to get middle class people moving ahead again, because the harder they work, the more they keep. No payroll tax deducted from their checks. They get their entire paycheck. And, one of the most important parts, it's built on the common sense with which we raised our kids, and trained dogs. You reward behavior you want more of. And, you punish behavior you want less of. That's how I raise kids, it's how I trained our dogs, and folks, it's not that difficult. We now punish the behavior we say we want more of by taxing it, and we reward the behavior that we say we want less of, so if you make a good investment, we punish you with a tax. If you make a bad investment you can write that off and the rest of the taxpayers will help subsidize you, and bail you out. +p1844 +aVWell, Rick, I'm pretty sure I did also fight the Clinton machine because every election I was ever in in Arkansas, I assure you, they were behind it, helping finance and campaign for every opponent. And I share with you the understanding that it's going to be a tough battle. But I spent the first half of my adult life in the private and nonprofit sector, raising a family, understanding how tough it is for people to make it. And that first half of my life is what led me to believe that America needs a different kind of leadership, not people who spent their whole life running from one office to the next, and living off the government dime. And I got involved because I got sick of what I saw. I also believe that there's got to be some leadership that not only addresses the monetary and military issues of this country, but the moral issues of this country. At the end of every political speech, most of us say, God bless America. But how can he do that when we continue to slaughter 4,000 babies a day? And I want to be the president that treats every person, including the unborn, as a person. And protect them under the 5th and 14th amendments of the constitution. I close with this word from a gentleman in East Texas named Butel Lucre. He's 100 years old and I met him down in East Texas. And he said this to me. "I sure wish, Mike, we had the days when The Ten Commandments were in all of our capitals and in every school, and we prayed again. You know, he may be 100 years old, but I believe some of those old ideas to get this country back where we unapologetically get on our knees before we get on our feet might be the best solutions we've ever sought as a country. And I ask for your support and your vote. Thank you. +p1845 +aVWell, John, I don't really have any weaknesses that I can think of. But my wife is down here in the front, and I'm sure, if you'd like to talk to her later, she can give you more than you'll ever be able to take care of. If I have a weakness, it's that I try to live by the rules. I try to live by the rules, no matter what they are, and I was brought up that way as a kid. Play by the rules. And I'll tell you what a weakness is of this country: there are a lot of people who are sick and tired because Washington does not play by the same rules that the American people have to play by. +p1846 +aVWell, I would really appreciate that. First of all, yes, we've stolen. Yes, we've lied to the American people about Social Security, and Medicare. But, you know what we're not telling them? It's their money. This isn't the governments money. This is not entitlement, it's not welfare. This is money that people have confiscated out of their paychecks. Everytime they got a paycheck, the government reached in and took something out of it before they ever saw it. Now, we're going to blame the people. Today congress decided to take another $150 billion dollars away from Social Security so they can borrow more money. That makes no sense to everybody. And, they're always going to say, "Well, we're going to fix this one day." No their not. It's like a 400 pound man saying, "I'm going to go on a diet, but I'm eating a sack of Krispy Kremes before I do." And, people are sick of believing that the government is never going to really address this. But, let me tell you who not to blame. Let's quit blaming the people on Social Security. Let's quit making it a problem for them. It's like them getting mugged, and then us saying, well, we're going to mug you some more. You ought to just be able to get over it, get used to it... +p1847 +aV...No, sir... +p1848 +aV...we need to honor our promises... +p1849 +aV...before I go. This is the only time I've had a chance, let me finish. +p1850 +aV...This is a matter not of math, this is a matter of morality. If this country that does not keep its promise to seniors then what promise can this country hope to be trusted to keep? And, the fact is, none of them. [ +p1851 +aVAnd, the only way \u2014 no... +p1852 +aV...Chris... +p1853 +aV...Chris... +p1854 +aVSince he brought me up, do I not get to respond? +p1855 +aVJohn, listen, let's keep in mind that for one-third of the 60 million Americans on Social Security it represents 90 percent of their income. And, when I hear people talking about means testing, let's just remember what that means. If we means test Social Security, it means that the government decides whether or not I deserve it. If a person lives in a seven room house, does the government get to say you don't need seven rooms, we're going to take two of them away? Folks, the government has no business stealing even more from the people who have paid this in. I just want to remind you, people paid their money. They expect to have it. And, if this government doesn't pay it, than tell me what's different between the government and Bernie Madolf, who sits in prison today for doing less than what the government has done to the people on social security and Medicare in this country. +p1856 +aVI don't think it's so much about when the government orders a corporation to do something. In fact, that's part of the problem. If you saw that blimp that got cut loose from Maryland today, it's a perfect example of government. I mean, what we had was something the government made \u2014 basically a bag of gas \u2014 that cut loose, destroyed everything in its path, left thousands of people powerless, but they couldn't get rid of it because we had too much money invested in it, so we had to keep it. That is our government today. We saw it in the blimp. That's exactly what we saw. So look, corporations ought to exercise some responsibility. When CEO income has risen 90 percent above the average worker, when the bottom 90 percent of this country's economy has had stagnant wages for the past 40 years, somebody is taking it in the teeth. And it's not the folks on Wall Street. I'm not anti-Wall Street, but I don't believe the government ought to wear a team jersey, pick winners and losers. +p1857 +aVThe government ought to wear a striped shirt and just make sure the game... +p1858 +aV...is paid \u2014 played fairly. +p1859 +aVNow, everybody else has fudged their time and gone over, so please, don't cut me off too quick, Becky. +p1860 +aVLet me just close it out this way. +p1861 +aVWe need to be focusing on what fixes this country. And I'll tell you one thing that we never talk about \u2014 we haven't talked about it tonight. Why aren't we talking about \u2014 instead of cutting benefits for old people, cutting benefits for sick people \u2014 why don't we say, "let's cure the four big cost-driving diseases... +p1862 +aV..."diabetes, heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer's?" +p1863 +aVIf you do that, you don't just change the economy, you transform the lives of millions of hurting Americans. +p1864 +aVGosh, I'd love for us to talk about something like that. Thank you. +p1865 +aVYou know, of the few questions I've got, the last one I need is to give him some more time. I love Donald Trump. He is a good man. I'm wearing a Trump tie tonight. Get over that one, OK? [ +p1866 +aVI don't know. [ +p1867 +aVI have no idea. +p1868 +aVYou're welcome. Let me tell you, Donald Trump would be a president every day of the week and twice on Sunday, rather than Hillary. I've spent a lifetime in politics fighting the Clinton machine. You want to talk about what we're going to be up against next year? I'm the only guy on this stage \u2014 you know, everybody has an "only guy" \u2014 "I'm the only guy this; I'm the only guy that." Well, let me tell you one thing that I am the only guy: The only guy that has consistently fought the Clinton machine every election I was ever in over the past 26 years. And not only did I fight them, but I beat them. Somebody says "I'm a fighter." Well, I want to know, did you win? Well, I did. And not only did I fight them and win, I lived to tell about it and I'm standing on this stage tonight as evidence of that. And I think that ought to be worth something. +p1869 +aVWell, and specifically to Medicare, Becky, because 85 percent of the cost of Medicare is chronic disease. The fact is if we don't address what's costing so much, we can't throw enough money at this. And it's why I've continued to focus on the fact that we need to declare war on the four big cost drivers because 80 percent of all medical costs in this country are chronic disease. We don't have a health care crisis in America, we have a health crisis. And until we deal with the health of Americans and do what we did with polio \u2014 when I was a little kid, we eradicated it. You know how much money we spent on polio last year in America? We didn't spend any. We've saved billions of dollars. You want to fix Medicare? Focus on the diseases that are costing us the trillions of dollars. Alzheimers, diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Eradicate those and you fix Medicare and you've fixed America, its economy and you've made people's lives a heck of a lot better. +p1870 +aVYou know, I know to a lot of people in the media, this is just a great big game, and we're the players. And, we come out here, and we do our thing. And, sometimes we're held up in contempt by people who write columns, but, I guarantee you to every person on this stage there's something deep inside of us that would cause us to give up our livelihoods and step out on this stage and fight for the people of America. I've got five grandkids. I do not want to walk my five grandkids through the charred remains of a once great country called America, and say, "Here you go, $20 trillion dollars of debt. Good luck making something out of this mess." And, for those of us who are serious enough to run for president, think long and hard why we're here, and hopefully you'll know we're not here for ourselves. We honest to god are here to get this country back on track. I know this, I certainly am. +p1871 +aV...Thank you. +p1872 +aVI'm Mike Huckabee. I'm delighted to be on this stage with some remarkable fellow Republicans. None of us are a self-professed socialist. None of us on this state are under investigation by the FBI because we destroyed government records, or because we leaked secrets. I know that there are some in the Wall-Street-to-Washington axis of power who speak of all of us contemptuously. But I'm here to say that I think we are, in fact, the A team. We have some remarkable people, and, in fact, not only are we the A team; we even have our own Mr. T, who doesn't mind saying about others, "you're a fool." And I'm delighted to be here with all of these guys, and would put any of them in an administration that I led. Thank you very much. +p1873 +aVI would certainly love to get in on this, because I think the single... +p1874 +aVI've been patiently waiting, and I'm going to just say this about Iran. +p1875 +aVBecause I think it is incredibly important. This is really about the survival of Western civilization. This is not just a little conflict with a Middle Eastern country that we've just now given over $100 billion to, the equivalent in U.S. terms is $5 trillion. This threatens Israel immediately, this threatens the entire Middle East, but it threatens the United States of America. And we can't treat a nuclear Iranian government as if it is just some government that would like to have power. This is a government for 36 years has killed Americans, they kidnapped Americans, they have maimed Americans. They have sponsored terrorist groups, Hamas and Hezbollah, and they threaten the very essence of Western civilization. To give them this agreement, that the president treats like the Magna Carta, but Iranians treat it like it's toilet paper, and we must, simply, make it very clear that the next president, one of us on this stage, will absolutely not honor that agreement, and will destroy it and will be tough with Iran, because otherwise, we put every person in this world in a very dangerous place. +p1876 +aVNo, I don't think he's on the wrong side of such an issue. Jeb is a friend. I'm not up here to fight with Jeb or to fight with anybody else. But I am here to fight for somebody who is a county clerk elected under the Kentucky constitution that 75 percent of the people of that state had voted for that said that marriage was between a man and a woman. The Supreme Court in a very, very divided decision decided out of thin air that they were just going to redefine marriage. It's a decision that the other justices in dissent said they didn't have and there wasn't a constitutional shred of capacity for them to do it. I thought that everybody here passed ninth-grade civics. The courts cannot legislate. That's what Roberts said. But heck, it's what we learned in civics. The courts can't make a law. They can interpret one. They can review one. They can't implement it. They can't force it. But here's what happened: Because the courts just decided that something was going to be and people relinquished it and the other two branches of government sat by silently \u2014 I thought we had three branches of government, they were all equal to each other, we have separation of powers, and we have checks and balances. If the court can just make a decision and we just all surrender to it, we have what Jefferson said was judicial tyranny. The reason that this is a real issue that we need to think about... +p1877 +aVNo, no. Let me finish this one thought, Jake. I haven't gotten that much time, so I'm going to take just what little I can here. We made accommodation to the Fort Hood shooter to let him grow a beard. We made accommodations to the detainees at Gitmo \u2014 I've been to Gitmo, and I've seen the accommodations that we made to the Muslim detainees who killed Americans. You're telling me that you cannot make an accommodation for an elected Democrat county clerk from Rowan County, Kentucky? What else is it other than the criminalization of her faith and the exaltation of the faith of everyone else who might be a Fort Hood shooter or a detainee at Gitmo? +p1878 +aVI have a different idea. I think we ought to get rid of all the taxes on people who produce. Why should we penalize productivity? And it's why I'm an unabashed supporter of the "fair tax," which would be a tax on our consumption, rather than a tax on our productivity. In other words, you're not going to tax anybody for what they earn, whether it's worker whose working by the hour or whether it's a hedge fund manager. If they can produce something and bring capital and labor to create jobs, we need some jobs. And I think the "fair tax" makes more sense. Now, Jake, I've been listening to everybody on the stage and there is a lot of back and forth about I'm the only one who has done this, the only one who has done that, I've done great things. We've all done great things or we wouldn't be on this stage. But it occurs to me as we're sitting here in the Reagan Library that most of us would like to pay tribute to a guy who, when he got elected, didn't get elected telling everybody how great he was. He got elected telling everybody how great the American people were. And he empowered them to live their dreams, which is what I'd love to see us do by no longer penalizing the people who are out there working because they are taking a gut punch right now. +p1879 +aV...You don't want me operating on you, I assure you. +p1880 +aVJust today \u2014 just today, there was a new report that 50 different intelligence analysts have said that what they sent up the ladder was doctored by senior officials, so that they could give some happy talk to the situation that we face. I love the idea of a good intellectual capacity to deal with our enemies, but the fact is, if you don't have good intelligence that is reliable and honest, you won't have good intelligence and you cannot make good decisions. The next president is primarily elected not just to know things, but to know what to do with the things that he knows. And the most dangerous person in any room is the person who doesn't know what he doesn't know. +p1881 +aVAnd the reason Barack Obama has been dangerous to this country and we better elect someone who had some executive experience, is because we cannot afford another eight years having a person in the office who doesn't know what he does not know. +p1882 +aVYou better believe I will, because I'm tired of liberals always having a litmus test and conservatives are supposed to pretend we don't. Well let me tell you what mine would be. Number one, I'd ask do you think that the unborn child is a human being or is it just a blob of tissue? I'd want to know the answer to that. I'd want to know do you believe in the First Amendment, do you believe that religious liberty is the fundamental liberty around which all the other freedoms of this country are based? And I'd want to know do you really believe in the Second Amendment, do you believe that we have an individual right to bear arms to protect ourselves and our family and to protect our country? And do you believe in the Fifth and the 14th Amendment? Do you believe that a person, before they're deprived of life and liberty, should in fact have due process and equal protection under the law? Because if you do, you're going to do more than defund Planned Parenthood. +p1883 +aVOne final thing. I'd make darn sure that we absolutely believe the 10th Amendment. Every governor on this stage would share this much with you. Every one of us \u2014 our biggest fight wasn't always with the legislature or even with the Democrats. My gosh, half the time, it was with the federal government who apparently never understood \u2014 +p1884 +aV\u2014 that if it's not reserved in the Constitution, then the 10th Amendment says it's left to the states. But somebody forgot to send a memo to Washington. +p1885 +aVJake? Jake? +p1886 +aVI think we need to remember that there are maybe some controversies about autism, but there is no controversy about the things that are really driving the medical costs in this country. And I would really believe that the next president ought to declare a war on cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer's, because those are the four things that are causing the greatest level of cost. John Kennedy said, "we'll go to the moon in a decade and bring a man back," and we did it. I grew up in the '50s. I remember the polio vaccine. We saved billions of dollars since that time, because we haven't had to treat for polio. Why doesn't this country focus on cures rather than treatment? Why don't we put a definitive focus scientifically on finding the cure for cancer, for heart disease, for diabetes and for Alzheimer's, a disease alone that will cost us \u2014 +p1887 +aV$1.1 trillion by the year 2050. We change the economy and the country. +p1888 +aVThat's an easy one. I'd put my wife on there. I've been married to her 41 years. She's fought cancer and lived through it. She's raised three kids, five great grandkids, and she's put up with me. I mean, who else could possibly be on that money other than my wife. And that way, she could spend her own money with her face. +p1889 +aVI'd go with Duck Hunter. +p1890 +aVAt the end of my presidency I would like to believe that the world would be a safe place, and there wouldn't be the threats. not only to the U.S., but to Israel and our allies, because we would have the most incredible well-trained, well-equipped, well- prepared military in the history of mankind. And they would know that the commander-in-chief would never send them to a mission without all the resources necessary, but people wouldn't bully us anymore. Because they would know that that would be an invitation to their destruction. Domestically, we would be operating under a tax system that eliminated the IRS. People wouldn't be punished for their work, and for what they produced. And life would be really deemed precious. Abortion would be no more. It would be as much of a scourge in our past as slavery is. And we would have a peaceful country, where people respected each other and people respected law enforcement. And we would focus on cures. And we would make this country not only safe from our enemies without, but safe from the enemies within. And it would be a good place to raise our kids and our grandkids. +p1891 +asVCRUZ +p1892 +(lp1893 +VWell, we have 80 years of precedent of not confirming Supreme Court justices in an election year. And let me say, Justice Scalia... +p1894 +aVEighty years of not confirming. For example, L.B.J. nominated Abe Fortas. Fortas did not get confirmed. He was defeated. +p1895 +aVNo, Kennedy was confirmed in '87... +p1896 +aVHe was appointed in... +p1897 +aVIn this case it's both. But if I could answer the question... +p1898 +aVJustice Scalia was a legal giant. He was somebody that I knew for 20 years. He was a brilliant man. He was faithful to the Constitution. He changed the arc of American legal history. And I'll tell you, his passing tonight, our prayers are with his family, with his wife, Maureen, who he adored, his nine children, his 36 grandkids. But it underscores the stakes of this election. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that will strike down every restriction on abortion adopted by the states. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that will reverse the Heller decision, one of Justice Scalia's seminal decisions, that upheld the Second Amendment right to keep and to bear arms. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that would undermine the religious liberty of millions of Americans \u2014 and the stakes of this election, for this year, for the Senate, the Senate needs to stand strong and say, "We're not going to give up the U.S. Supreme Court for a generation by allowing Barack Obama to make one more liberal appointee." And then for the state of South Carolina, one of the most important judgments for the men and women of South Carolina to make is who on this stage has the background, the principle, the character, the judgment and the strength of resolve to nominate and confirm principled constitutionalists to the court? That will be what I will do if I'm elected president. +p1899 +aVWell, we need to focus on what the objective is, you know? Your question about the first three questions you would ask in this Situation Room. I think it is a problem if the president, commander in chief, we've elected does not have the experience and background to understand the threats facing this country coming in on Day 1. If you look at the threats facing this country, the single gravest threat, national security threat, is the threat of a nuclear Iran. That's why I've pledged on Day 1 to rip to shreds this Iranian nuclear deal, and anyone that thinks you can negotiate Khamenei does not understand the nature of Khamenei. When it comes to +p1900 +aVWe have Kurds in both Iraq and Syria. They are fighting +p1901 +aVWell, let me say it at the outset that everyone here understands \u2014 everyone understands that how \u2014 that the middle class has been left behind in the last seven years of the Obama economy, and we've got to bring jobs back. We've got to get people back to work. We've got to get wages going up again. We've got to get people moving from part-time work to full-time work. We all agree on that, but it's not going to be solved with magic pixie dust. It's just going to be solved by declaring into the air, "Let there be jobs." We actually have to understand the principles that made America great in the first place. Now, where do you get economic growth? If you look at cause and effect over our nation's history, every time we lessen the burden of Washington on small-business owners, on job creators, we see incredible economic growth. You do that through tax reform and regulatory reform. My tax plan \u2014 typical family of four, first $36,000 you earn, you pay nothing in taxes \u2014 no income taxes, no payroll taxes, no nothing. Above 10 percent, everyone pays the same simple, flat 10 percent income rate. It's flat and fair. You can fill out your taxes on a postcard, and we abolish the I.R.S. If you want to see the postcard, I've got it on my website. +p1902 +aVNow, Major, the business flat tax that is in my tax plan is not a VAT. A VAT in Europe is a sales tax. The business flat tax is not a sales tax, it is a tax of 16 percent opposed fairly and evenly across the board on all business. One of the things that's critical is we're doing that in conjunction with abolishing the corporate income tax, with abolishing the Obamacare taxes, with abolishing the payroll taxes, which are the biggest taxes paid by most working Americans, and with abolishing the death tax, which is cruel and unfair. And you asked about economic growth \u2014 the nonpartisan Tax Foundation estimated a simple flat tax that would produce 4.9 million new jobs, it would increase capital investment by 44 percent and would lift everyone's income by double digits. That's how you turn the country around, not just hoping and praying for it, but implementing policies that work. +p1903 +aVWell, you know, your question highlights a sharp difference on immigration on this stage. You know, in a Republican primary, everyone talks tough on immigration. Everyone is against illegal immigration in a Republican primary. But as voters, we've been burned over and over again by people that give us a great campaign speech and they don't walk the walk. There are sharp differences on amnesty. If you look at the folks on this stage, when Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer and establishment Republicans were leading the fight to pass a massive amnesty plan, I stood with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and the American people and led the fight to defeat that amnesty plan. +p1904 +aVNow, that moment... +p1905 +aVThat moment was what Reagan would call "a time for choosing." When it comes to deciding which side of the line you're on, the Rubio-Schumer amnesty plan......apparently supported by the donor class, which is why Washington supported it. The Rubio-Schumer amnesty plan passed the Senate, and it was on the verge of passing the House. House leadership intended to take it up and pass it with the Democrats overruling most of the Republicans. And the question for anyone on illegal immigration is, where were you in that fight? Where did you stand? You are right. There is a difference between Senator Rubio and me on this question. +p1906 +aVMajor, I get a response to that. +p1907 +aVYou know, the lines are very, very clear. Marco right now supports citizenship for 12 million people here illegally. I oppose citizenship. Marco stood on the debate stage and said that. But I would note not only that \u2014 Marco has a long record when it comes to amnesty. In the state of Florida, as speaker of the house, he supported in-state tuition for illegal immigrants. In addition to that, Marco went on Univision in Spanish and said he would not rescind President Obama's illegal executive amnesty on his first day in office. I have promised to rescind every single illegal executive action, including that one. And on the question... +p1908 +aV. +p1909 +aVThat is simply... +p1910 +aVThat is absolutely false. What he said is knowingly false. And I would note, if you want to assess \u2014 if you want to assess... +p1911 +aV... who is telling the truth... If you want to assess who is telling the truth......then you should look to Jeff Sessions, who said, without Ted Cruz the Rubio-Schumer amnesty bill would have passed, and Ted was responsible. You should look to Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin, that said... +p1912 +aVI think it is a very important question because the people who have been hurt the most in the Obama economy had been the most vulnerable. It's been young people. It's been Hispanics. It's been African-Americans. It's been single moms. We have the lowest percentage of Americans working today in any year since 1977. And the sad reality is big government, massive taxes, massive regulation, doesn't work. What we need to do instead is bring back booming economic growth, let \u2014 small businesses are the heart of the economy. Two-thirds of all new jobs come from small businesses. If we want to lift people out of poverty \u2014 you know, I think of these issues from the perspective of my dad. My dad fled Cuba in 1957. He was just 18. He couldn't speak English. He had nothing. He had $100 in his underwear. And he washed dishes making 50 cents an hour and paid his way through school. Today, my dad is a pastor. He travels the country preaching the gospel. Now, I think about all of these issues. How would it impact my dad when he was washing dishes? If we had Obamacare in place right now, the odds are very high my father would have been laid off, because it's teenaged kids like my dad who have gotten laid off. If he didn't get laid off, the odds are high he would have had his hours forcibly reduced to 28, 29 hours a week. We need to lift the burdens on small businesses so you have jobs, and we need welfare reform that gets people off of welfare and back to work. +p1913 +aVYou know, flexibility is a good thing, but it shouldn't \u2014 you shouldn't be flexible on core principles. I like Donald, he is an amazing entertainer, but his policies for most of his life... +p1914 +aVFor most of his life, his policies have been very, very liberal. For most of his life, he has described himself as very pro- choice and as a supporter of partial birth abortion. Right now, today, as a candidate, he supports federal taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood. I disagree with him on that. That's a matter of principle, and I'll tell you... +p1915 +aVDon, I need to go on... +p1916 +aVI will say, it is fairly remarkable to see Donald defending Ben after he called, "pathological," and compared him to a child molester. Both of which were offensive and wrong. But let me say this \u2014 you notice Donald didn't disagree with the substance that he supports taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood. And Donald has this weird pattern, when you point to his own record, he screams, "Liar, liar, liar." You want to go... +p1917 +aVYou want to go... +p1918 +aVIf you want to watch the video, go to our website at Tedcruz.org. +p1919 +aVYou can see it out of Donald's own mouth. +p1920 +aVYou supported it when we were battling over defunding Planned Parenthood. You went on... +p1921 +aVYou said, "Planned Parenthood does wonderful things and we should not defund it." +p1922 +aVSo I'll tell you what... +p1923 +aVYou see, you and I... +p1924 +aVDon, the reasoned principle matters. The reasoned principle matters, sadly was illustrated by the first questions today. The next president is going to appoint one, two, three, four Supreme Court justices. If Donald Trump is president, he will appoint liberals. If Donald Trump is president, your Second Amendment will gone... +p1925 +aVYou know how I know that? +p1926 +aVI did not nominate John Roberts. I would not have nominated John Roberts. +p1927 +aVI supported... +p1928 +aVYou need to learn to not interrupt people. +p1929 +aVDonald, adults learn... +p1930 +aVAdults learn not to interrupt people. +p1931 +aVI did not nominate him. I would not have nominated him. I would've nominated my former boss Liberman, who was Justice Scalia's first law clerk. And you know how I know that Donald's Supreme Court justices will be liberals? Because his entire life, he support liberals from Jimmy Carter, to Hillary Clinton, to John Kerry. In 2004, he contributed to John Kerry. Nobody who cares about judges would contribute to John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid. +p1932 +aVThat's what Donald Trump does. +p1933 +aVSouth Carolina, you have a critical choice to make. Our country literally hangs in the balance. Do you want another Washington deal maker who will do business as usual, cut deals with the Democrats, grow government, grow debt and give up our fundamental liberties? Or do you want a conservative, a proven conservative that will stand and fight with you each and every day? Listen, repealing Obamacare is not going to be easy. Passing a simple flat tax that abolishes the I.R.S. is not going to be easy, but if we stand with the American people, we can do it. And today, we saw just how great the stakes are. Two branches of government hang in the balance. Not just the presidency but the Supreme Court. If we get this wrong, if we nominate the wrong candidates, the Second Amendment, life, marriage, religious liberty \u2014 every one of those hangs in the balance. My little girls are here. I don't want to look my daughters in the eyes and say, "We lost their liberties." Who do you know will defend the Constitution and Bill of Rights? And as a commander in chief, who do you know will stand up to our enemies as the clam, steady, deliberate, strength to defeat our enemies, to secure our borders and to keep America safe. +p1934 +aVWell, you know, David, the assessment the voters are making here in New Hampshire and across the country is they are evaluating each and every one of us. They are looking to our experience. They are looking to our knowledge. They are looking to our temperament and judgment. They are looking to our clarity of vision and our strength of resolve. The world is getting much more dangerous. We've had seven years with Barack Obama in the oval office, a commander-in-chief that is unwilling even to acknowledge the enemy we're facing. This is a president who, in the wake of Paris, in the wake of San Bernardino, will not even use the words radical Islamic terrorism, much less focus on defeating the enemy. I am convinced every individual standing on this stage, would make a much better commander-in-chief than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders. And the primary voters are making the assessment for each of us, who is best prepared to keep this country safe, to rebuild the military, to rebuild our Navy, our Air Force, our Army, our Marines, and to ensure that we keep America safe. +p1935 +aVI think that is an assessment the voters are going to make. And they are going to make it of each and everyone of us. They are going to assess who is level-headed, who has clear vision, who has judgment, who can confront our enemies, who can confront the threats we face in this country, and who can have the judgment when to engage and when not to engage \u2014 both are incredibly important for a commander-in-chief, knowing how to go after our enemies. In the case of Iran, for example, who has the clarity of vision to understand that the Ayatollah Khamenei, when he chants, "Death to America," he means it. We need a president with the judgment and resolve to keep this country safe from radical Islamic terrorists. +p1936 +aVBen is a good and honorable man and Ben and Candy have become friends. He has an amazing life story that has inspired millions, including me. When this transpired, I apologized to him then and I do so now. Ben, I'm sorry. Let me tell you the facts of what occurred for those who are interested in knowing. On Monday night, about 6:30 p.m., CNN reported that Ben was not going from Iowa to New Hampshire or South Carolina. Rather, he was, quote, "Taking a break from campaigning." They reported that on television, CNN's political anchors, Jake Tapper and Dana Bash and Wolf Blitzer, said it was highly unusual and highly significant. My political team saw CNN's report breaking news and they forwarded that news to our volunteers, it was being covered on live television. Now, at the time, I was at the caucuses, I was getting ready to speak at the caucuses just like Ben was, just like everyone else was. I knew nothing about this. A couple hours later, I found out about it. I was told that Ben was unhappy. I called him that evening because I respect him very, very highly. I didn't reach him that evening. I reached him the next day and apologized. He asked me then, he said, Ted, would you make this apologize in public? I said, yes, I will. And I did so. I regret that subsequently, CNN reported on that \u2014 they didn't correct that story until 9:15 that night. So from 6:30 p.m. to 9:15, that's what CNN was reporting. Subsequent to that initial report, Ben's campaign put out a statement saying that he was not suspending his campaign. I wish that our campaign staff had forwarded that statement. They were unaware of it, I wish that they had, that's why I apologized. +p1937 +aVWell, I would note, initially the fact that we're seeing the launch, and we're seeing the launch from a nuclear North Korea is the direct result of the failures of the first Clinton administration. The Clinton administration led the world in relaxing sanctions against North Korea. Billions of dollars flowed into North Korea in exchange for promises not to build nuclear weapons. They took those billions and built nuclear weapons. And, I would note also the lead negotiator in that failed North Korea sanctions deal was a woman named Wendy Sherman who Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton promptly recruited to come back to be the lead negotiator with Iran. So, what we are seeing with North Korea is foreshadowing of where we will be with Iran. With respect to North Korea and what we should do now, one of the first things we should do is expand our missile defense capacity. We ought to put missile defense interceptors in South Korea. South Korea wants them. One of the real risks of this launch, North Korea wants to launch a satellite, and one of the greatest risks of the satellite is they would place a nuclear device in the satellite. As it would orbit around the Earth, and as it got over the United States they would detonate that nuclear weapon and set of what's called an EMP, and electromagnetic pulse which could take down the entire electrical grid on the Eastern seaboard, potentially killing millions. We need to harden the grid to defend ourselves, and we need missile defense to protect ourselves against North Korea. +p1938 +aVYou know, at this point I'm not going to speculate on that without the intelligence briefing that any Commander in Chief would have, knowing what exactly is there. One of the real problems... +p1939 +aV... Actually, with respect, I have gotten the intelligence briefings on the Mid-East. Those have been going on for many years. I haven't gotten the intelligence briefing tonight on what North Korea's doing because I'm here in new Hampshire. When you're responding to an immediate incident, you need to know the intelligence of what's occurring. But what I was saying \u2014 look, it is qualitatively different dealing with a country once they have nuclear weapons. It's why you prevent them from getting nuclear weapons in the first place \u2014 because your hands are somewhat tied once they have nukes. It's why this Iranian nuclear deal is so catastrophic, and it's why I've pledged, on the very first day in office, to rip to shreds this Iranian nuclear deal so we're not sitting here in five years, wondering what to do about an Iranian missile launch when they have nuclear weapons. The stakes are too high for that. +p1940 +aVSo, in terms of a practical solution, I've laid out the most detailed plan for solving illegal immigration. It's 11 pages, single-spaced, chapter and verse. It's on our website, tedcruz.org. In short, we're going to do, we're going to build a wall. We're going to triple the border patrol. We're going to increase \u2014 and actually, since Donald enjoyed that, I will simply say, I've got somebody in mind to build it. We're going to increase four-fold, the fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft, so that you have technology monitoring an attempted incursion to direct the boots on the ground where they're occurring. We're going to put in place a strong e-verify system in the workplace, so you can't get a job without proving you are here legally. We'll put in place a biometric exit-entry system on visas, because 40 percent of illegal immigration comes not over the border illegally, but people coming on visas and overstaying. We will end sanctuary cities by cutting off taxpayer dollars to any jurisdiction that defies federal immigration law. And we will end welfare benefits for those here illegally. +p1941 +aVWhat you do is, you enforce the law. You know, under the Constitution, the president has an obligation to, quote, "Take care that the laws be faithfully executed." Federal immigration law provides, if someone is here illegally and is apprehended, they are to be deported. We saw just this past week the head of the border patrol union testify before Congress that President Obama had given the order to the border patrol to stand down, not to enforce the law. That is wrong. I will enforce the law, and for everyone who says, you can't possibly do that, I would note that in eight years, Bill Clinton deported 12 million people. In eight years, George W. Bush deported 10 million people. Enforcing the law \u2014 we can do it. What is missing is the political will. And when they were deporting the people, the border wasn't secure, so they'd come right back. Once you secure the border, enforcing the law will solve this problem and that will benefit American workers. +p1942 +aVGood evening. +p1943 +aVWell, let me take two different parts of that. Let me start with socialized medicine. Socialized medicine is a disaster. It does not work. If you look at the countries that have imposed socialized medicine, that have put the government in charge of providing medicine, what inevitably happens is rationing. You have a scarcity of doctors. You have rationing. And that means the elderly are told, we're going to ration a hip replacement, we're going to ration a knee replacement. We're going to ration end- of-life care. We're right now heading into a medical system with about a 90,000-doctor shortage in America and socialized medicine; whether proposed by the Democrats or proposed by a Republican would hurt the people of this country. What should we do on health care? If I'm elected president, we will repeal every word of Obamacare. And once we do that, we will adopt common sense reforms, number one, we'll allow people to purchase health insurance across state lines that will drive down prices and expand the availability of low cost catastrophic insurance. We'll expand health savings accounts; and we will de-link health insurance from employment so that you don't lose your health insurance when you lose your job, and that way health insurance can be personal, portable and affordable and we keep government from getting in between us and our doctors. HAM: Dr. Carson, you have some experience with this matter. In the past, you have said that Obamacare should be replaced before it's repealed. How and why? +p1944 +aVWell, sure. It starts with a commander-in-chief that sets the objective. And the objective has to be utterly and completely destroying +p1945 +aVMartha, I will tell you, I have visited with active duty military, with veterans over and over and over again in town halls all over the state of New Hampshire. What we are doing to our sons and daughters, it is immoral. We are sending them into fight with their arms tied behind their back. They cannot defend themselves. And it is wrong. And I will tell you this. Look. America has always been reluctant to use military force. It's the last step we take. But if and when we use it when it comes to defeating +p1946 +aVAbsolutely, yes. +p1947 +aVWell, under the definition of torture, no, it's not. Under the law, torture is excruciating pain that is equivalent to losing organs and systems, so under the definition of torture, it is not. It is enhanced interrogation, it is vigorous interrogation, but it does not meet the generally recognized definition of torture. +p1948 +aVI would not bring it back in any sort of widespread use. And indeed, I joined with Senator McCain in legislation that would prohibit line officers from employing it because I think bad things happen when enhanced interrogation is employed at lower levels. But when it comes to keeping this country safe, the commander in chief has inherent constitutional authority to keep this country safe. And so, if it were necessary to, say, prevent a city from facing an imminent terrorist attack, you can rest assured that as commander in chief, I would use whatever enhanced interrogation methods we could to keep this country safe. +p1949 +aVWell, thank you for that question. You know, there are three avenues of presidential authority to change the direction of this country. The first is executive power, the second is foreign policy, and the third is legislation. Executive power, as we all know, has been the preferred vehicle of President Obama, abusing his authority, abusing his constitutional authority. Now, the silver lining of that is everything done with executive power can be undone with executive power, so I have pledged on day one I will rescind every single illegal and unconstitutional executive action Barack Obama has done. That means on day one his efforts to restrict the Second Amendment go away with the strike of a pen. That means on day one his illegal executive amnesty goes away with the strike of a pen. The reason I can end Common Core at the federal level is because Obama is abusing executive power using Race to the Top funds in the Department of Education to force it on the states. That's one avenue. The second avenue of change is foreign policy, and foreign policy can change the fastest. It's worth remembering that Iran released our hostages the day Reagan......was sworn in. And, the third is legislation, and that can only be done with the people behind you, which is why the two big legislative initiatives I'm campaigning on are repealing Obamacare, and adopting a simple flat tax to abolish the IRS. HAM: Mr. Trump, Senator Cruz is known for opposing deals, you literally wrote the book on making them. Senator Cruz has mentioned that on the trail. What would you say to those conservatives that are concerned that a deal maker will just perpetuate the same deals in Washington and the way that things run now ... +p1950 +aVWell, Josh, as you noted, this is a problem that, for me, I understand first-hand. My older sister, Myriam, who was my half- sister, struggled her whole life with drug and alcohol addiction. My father and her mom divorced when she was a little girl and she was angry her whole life, and she ended up marrying a man who had been in and out of jail. She then became a single mom and she herself went to jail several times and she ended up spending some time in a crack house. I still remember my father and me driving up to get Myriam out of that crack house to try to convince her she needed to be a mom to \u2014 to my nephew Joey. She wasn't willing to listen. She was not willing to change the path she was on. She was angry. I was \u2014 had just gotten my first job coming out of law school. I took a $20,000 loan on a credit card to put my nephew, Joey, in Valley Forge Military Academy \u2014 he was in sixth grade at the time, to pay his way through that. And about five, six years ago, Miriam died of an overdose. It was \u2014 the coroner ruled it accidental. We don't know. She went to one night, had taken too many pills, and Joey walked in and found her dead. This is an absolute epidemic. We need leadership to solve it. Solving it has to occur at the state and local level with programs like A.A., and counseling, and churches and charities. But it also has to be securing the borders, because you have got Mexican cartels that are smuggling vast amounts of heroin into this country. We know how to secure the borders. What is missing is the political will to do it. And as president, I will secure the border, we will end this deluge of drugs that is flowing over our southern border and that is killing Americans across this country. +p1951 +aVWell, look, I recognize it is an agonizing experience when anyone is facing a loved \u2014 loved member who's been kidnapped. But at the same time, putting in place legal regimes that encourage the payment of ransom has the effect of putting a bounty on other Americans. There is a reason it has been longstanding U.S. policy that we don't negotiate with terrorists, we don't pay ransoms. If you look at what President Obama has done over and over again, whether it was the James Bergdahl deal, which was absolutely shameful, releasing five senior Taliban terrorists to bring Bergdahl back, or whether it was this recent deal with Iran, where, again, up to 21 terrorists or potential terrorists were \u2014 were released or not prosecuted in order to bring back four Americans, what that does \u2014 does is it effectively puts a bounty on American servicemen and women serving abroad, on American tourists traveling abroad. And the proper approach......is a president and commander in chief that defends this country and that goes after \u2014 goes after the terrorists, rather than showing them weakness and encouraging them to target more Americans. +p1952 +aVWith an eye to February 20th, Carolina. +p1953 +aVYou know, every candidate running for president says they will stand up to Washington. The natural follow up question is when have you ever stood up to Washington. Last week we saw a powerful illustration of that. I campaigned in the state of Iowa four-square against the ethanol mandate, something everyone said was political suicide. My two leading competitors both attacked me for it. The governor of the state said vote for anyone but Cruz, and lobbyists spent millions of dollars in attack ads, but I stood and said we should have no mandates, a level playing field, and the people of Iowa put country and our children above the cronyism and corporate welfare...... We can turn this country around if we get back to the Constitution. And, I will always stand with the American people against the bipartisan corruption of Washington. +p1954 +aVWell, Megyn, let me say at the outset to the men and women of Iowa, thank you for the incredible hospitality over this past year. By Monday, you will have welcomed me into all 99 counties in Iowa. You will have welcomed my dad to preach at your churches. You will have welcomed Heidi and our girls, Caroline and Catherine, into your homes. And I'm so grateful for the diligence, for the seriousness with which the men and women of Iowa approach this process. If I am elected president, keep an eye on the tarmac, because I'll be back, because Iowa in 2017 will not be fly-over country. It will be fly-to country. Now, secondly, let me say I'm a maniac and everyone on this stage is stupid, fat, and ugly. And Ben, you're a terrible surgeon. Now that we've gotten the Donald Trump portion out of the way... I want to thank everyone here for showing the men and women of Iowa the respect to show up and make the case to the people of this state and the people of the country why each of us believe we would make the best commander in chief. +p1955 +aVWell, let me be clear, if Donald engages in insults or anybody else, I don't intend to reciprocate. I have not insulted Donald personally and I don't intend to. I am glad Donald is running. I'm glad he has produced enormous enthusiasm, and, every Donald Trump voter or potential voter, I hope to earn your support. I know everyone else on this stage hopes to earn your support. Now, there is a difference between personal insults and attacks \u2014 between going into the mud with ad hominems and focusing on issues and substance. +p1956 +aVWell, I agree with Rand that I very much respect Ron Paul and that I think anyone who is able to win in the Republican Party has to be able to bring together the disparate elements of the Reagan coalition. You've got to be able to bring together conservatives and evangelicals and libertarians, and stitch together a winning majority. When it comes to the audit the Fed bill, as Rand knows well, I was an original sponsor of the bill, I'm strongly supportive of it. It didn't have the votes to pass. And I had commitments to be at a town hall in New Hampshire. But I look forward to signing that bill into law as president and auditing the Fed and providing needed accountability at the Federal Reserve. +p1957 +aVWell, Chris, I will apologize to nobody for the vigorousness with which I will fight terrorism, go after +p1958 +aVChris, in 1981, when Ronald Reagan came to the Oval Office, he encountered a military that had been debilitated just as the current military has, just like Jimmy Carter weakened our readiness, undermined our ability to defend this country, so too has Barack Obama. Just as morale in the military has plummeted in the last seven, so it had then. What Reagan did is he began with tax reform and regulatory reform, unleashing the engine of the American free enterprise system. It brought booming economic growth and that growth fueled rebuilding the military. I intend to do the exact same thing to defeat radical Islamic terrorism \u2014 +p1959 +aV... and to devote the resources from the booming economy to rebuilding our Navy, rebuilding our Air Force, rebuilding our Army and ensuring we have the capacity to keep this country safe. +p1960 +aVChris? Chris I was mentioned in that question. +p1961 +aV... Actually, I was... +p1962 +aV... Chris, your questions that you... +p1963 +aV... What was your question... +p1964 +aV... Your question was you have disagreed... +p1965 +aV... opening statement. +p1966 +aV... This entire question was an attack, but that's +p1967 +aVChris, I would note that that the last four questions have been, "Rand, please attack Ted. Marco, please attack Ted. Chris, please attack Ted. Jeb, please attack Ted..." Let me just say this... +p1968 +aV... Well, no, no. A debate actually is a policy issue, but I will say this. Gosh, if you guys ask one more mean question I may have to leave the stage. Chris, the most important determination any voter is going to make in this election is who's best prepared to be Commander in Chief. Who has the experience, who has the knowledge, who has the judgement, who has the clarity, and vision and strength of resolve to keep this country safe. That is what this debate is all about, and I would suggest let's stay focused on those issues \u2014 rather than just attacks directed at each other. +p1969 +aVSure. Well, let's take it one at a time. First of all, we have seen now in six years of Obamacare that it has been a disaster. It is the biggest job-killer in this country. Millions of Americans have lost their jobs, have been forced into part-time work, have lost their health insurance, have lost their doctors, have seen their premiums skyrocket. If I'm elected president, we will repeal every word of Obamacare. Now, once that is done, everyone agrees we need healthcare reform. It should follow the principles of expanding competition, empowering patients, and keeping government from getting in between us and our doctors. Three specific reforms that reflect those principles. Number one, we should allow people to purchase health insurance across state lines. That will create a true 50-state national marketplace which will drive down the cost of low-cost, catastrophic health insurance. Number two, we should expand health savings accounts so people can save in a tax-advantaged way for more routine healthcare needs. And number three, we should work to de-link health insurance from employment so if you lose your job, your health insurance goes with you and it is personal, portable and affordable. And I'll tell you, Bret, I think that's a much more attractive vision for healthcare than the Washington-drive, top-down Obamacare that is causing so many millions of people to hurt. +p1970 +aVI want this bill to be voted down. I don't want immigration reform to fail. I want immigration reform to pass. I believe if this amendment were to pass, the chances of this bill passing into law would increase dramatically. I believe if the amendments I introduced were adopted, that the bill would pass. And my effort in introducing them was to find a solution that reflected common ground and that fixed the problem. If the proponents of this bill actually demonstrate a commitment not to politics, not to campaigning all the time, but to actually fixing this problem, to finding a middle ground. That would fix the problem, and also allow, for those 11 million people who are here illegally, a legal status, with citizenship off the table. +p1971 +aVYou know, the amendment you're talking about is one sentence \u2014 it's 38 words. Anyone can go online at tedcruz.org and read exactly what it said. In those 38 words, it said anyone here illegally is permanently ineligible for citizenship. It didn't say a word about legalization. I introduced... +p1972 +aVBut \u2014 but Megyn, the bill was 1,000 pages. I introduced a series of amendments, each designed to fix problems in the bill. The fact that each amendment didn't fix every problem didn't mean that I supported the rest of the bill. And I'll tell you who supported my amendment \u2014 Jeff Sessions, the strongest opponent of amnesty in the United States Congress. And he did so because taking citizenship off the table was important, and it revealed the hypocrisy of the proponents of this bill, who were looking for votes. Listen, we can solve immigration. We just heard an argument back and forth that we can't solve immigration. I have a detailed immigration plan that is on my website, tedcruz.org. It was designed with Iowa's own Congressman Steve King and Jeff Sessions, and... ... we have the tools in federal law to do this now. We can build the fence. We can triple the border patrol. We can end sanctuary cities by cutting off... ... funding to them. We can end welfare for those here illegally. And what is missing is the political will, because too many Democrats and, sadly, too many Republicans don't want to solve this problem. If I am elected president... ... we will secure the border... +p1973 +aV... and we will end the illegal immigration. +p1974 +aVYou know, John Adams famously said, "facts are are stubborn things." The facts are are very, very simple. When that battle was waged, my friend Senator Rubio chose to stand with Barack Obama and Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer and support amnesty. And I stood alongside Jeff Sessions and Steve King, and we led the fight against amnesty. And if you want to know who's telling the truth, you should look and ask people like Jeff Sessions and Steve King and Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin, all of whom say, as Jeff Sessions said, responding to these false attacks just recently in Alabama \u2014 he said, "if it wasn't for Ted Cruz, the Gang of Eight Rubio/Schumer bill would have passed. But because Ted stood up and helped lead the effort, millions rose up to kill it. +p1975 +aVYou know, I like Marco. He's very charming. He's very smooth. But the facts are simple. When he ran for election in the state of Florida, he told the people of Florida, "if you elect me, I will lead the fight against amnesty." When I ran in Texas, I told the people of Texas, "if you elect me, I will lead the fight against amnesty." We both made the identical promises. But when we came to Washington, we made a different choice. Marco made the choice to go the direction of the major donors \u2014 to support amnesty because he thought it was politically advantageous. I honored my commitments, and as president, I will honor every commitment that I make to the men and women of this country. +p1976 +aVWell, Chris, you are exactly right that I am not the candidate of career politicians in Washington. And I'll tell you the endorsements that I am proud of are the over 200,000 volunteers across this country who have signed up to volunteer for our campaign. The endorsements that I am proud of are leading conservatives like Iowa's own Congressman Steve King, who is a national co-chairman of my campaign. The endorsements that I'm proud of are conservative leaders like Dr. James Dobson, and over 700,000 contributions nationwide, people going to our Web site, tedcruz.org. This is a grassroots campaign and, you know, when I ran for senate in Texas, I told the people of Texas that I'm not going there to go along to get along. Washington is broken. And the people I have been accountable to every single day in the Senate are the 27 million Texans who I represent and I made a promise to them that I make to you today, which is, if I am elected, every single day I will do two things: tell the truth, and do what I said I would do. +p1977 +aVWell, Chris, I'm glad to discuss my views on ethanol and energy. I think God has blessed this country with enormous natural resources, and we should pursue all of the above. We should be developing oil, and gas, and coal, and nuclear, and wind, and solar, and ethanol, and biofuels. But, I don't believe that Washington should be picking winners and losers. And, I think there should be no mandates, and no subsidies whatsoever. And, indeed, my tax plan that I've introduced, it's available on our website. It's a simple flat tax for everyone. It'll produce enormous economic growth, and it eliminates every mandate, every subsidy, so there's no subsidies for oil and gas, no subsidies for anyone. Now, it is true that there are a bunch of lobbyists, and a bunch of Democrats in this state spending millions of dollars trying to convince the people of Iowa that I somehow oppose ethanol. It's not true. I have introduced legislation that would phase out the ethanol mandate over five years, but that is in the context of having no mandates whatsoever for anyone. And, I would not that there's a much more important government regulation to ethanol, and that's the EPA's blend wall that makes it illegal to sell mid-level blends of ethanol in gasoline. I will... ... Tear down the EPA's blend wall which will enable ethanol to expand its market share by up to 60%, all without mandates. All without any government mandates whatsoever through the marketplace. And, I'll note finally, Chris, there is a reason that Iowa's Congressman Steve King, perhaps the fiercest defender of farmers in this state, is sharing my campaign. Because he understands that I'm committed to a fair, and level playing field for every energy source without lobbyists, and without Washington picking winners and losers. +p1978 +aVNinety-three hours. The media noise will soon be over and it's now for the men and women of Iowa to decide. Our country is in crisis. We're worried the future of our children and we've have been burned over and over again. The central question in this race is trust. Who do you know will kill the terrorists, defend the constitution and repeal Obamacare? Who do you know will stop amnesty and secure the borders? Who do you know will defend life, marriage and religious liberty? Examine our records, pray on it and I will be honored if you and your family will come caucus for us on Monday night. +p1979 +aVWell, Maria, thank you for that question, and let me say thank you to the state of South Carolina for welcoming us. Let me start \u2014 I want to get to the substance of the question on jobs, but I want to start with something. Today, many of us picked up our newspapers, and we were horrified to see the sight of 10 American sailors on their knees, with their hands on their heads. In that State of the Union, President Obama didn't so much as mention the 10 sailors that had been captured by Iran. President Obama's preparing to send $100 billion or more to the Ayatollah Khamenei. And I'll tell you, it was heartbreaking. But the good news is the next commander-in-chief is standing on this stage. And I give you my word, if I am elected president, no service man or service woman will be forced to be on their knees, and any nation that captures our fighting men will feel the full force and fury of the United States of America. Now, on to your substantive question. The president tried to paint a rosy picture of jobs. And you know, he's right. If you're a Washington lobbyist, if you make your money in and around Washington, things are doing great. The millionaires and billionaires are doing great under Obama. But we have the lowest percentage of Americans working today of any year since 1977. Median wages have stagnated. And the Obama-Clinton economy has left behind the working men and women of this country. The reason all of us are here is we believe we should be fighting for the working men and women of this country, and not Washington, D.C. +p1980 +aVWell Maria, thank you for passing on that hit piece in the front page of the New York Times. You know the nice thing about the mainstream media, they don't hide their views. The New York Times a few weeks back had a columnist who wrote a column saying, "Anybody But Cruz." Had that actually \u2014 that same columnist wrote a column comparing me to an evil demonic spirit from the move, "It Follows" that jumps apparently from body to body possessing people. So you know the New York Times and I don't have exactly have the warmest of relationships. Now in terms of their really stunning hit piece, what they mentioned is when I was running for senate \u2014 unlike Hillary Clinton, I don't have masses of money in the bank, hundreds of millions of dollars. When I was running for senate just about every lobbyist, just about all of the establishment opposed me in the senate race in Texas and my opponent in that race was worth over 200 million dollars. He put a 25 million dollar check up from his own pocket to fund that campaign and my wife Heidi and I, we ended up investing everything we owned. We took a loan against our assets to invest it in that campaign to defend ourselves against those attacks. And the entire New York times attack \u2014 is that I disclosed that loan on one filing with the United States Senate, that was a public filing. But it was not on a second filing with +p1981 +aVWell, Neil, I'm glad we're focusing on the important topics of the evening. You know, back in September, my friend Donald said that he had had his lawyers look at this from every which way, and there was no issue there. There was nothing to this birther issue. Now, since September, the Constitution hasn't changed. But the poll numbers have. And I recognize \u2014 I recognize that Donald is dismayed that his poll numbers are falling in Iowa. But the facts and the law here are really quite clear. Under longstanding U.S. law, the child of a U.S. citizen born abroad is a natural-born citizen. If a soldier has a child abroad, that child is a natural-born citizen. That's why John McCain, even though he was born in Panama, was eligible to run for president. If an American missionary has a child abroad, that child is a natural-born citizen. That's why George Romney, Mitt's dad, was eligible to run for president, even though he was born in Mexico. At the end of the day, the legal issue is quite straightforward, but I would note that the birther theories that Donald has been relying on \u2014 some of the more extreme ones insist that you must not only be born on U.S. soil, but have two parents born on U.S. soil. Under that theory, not only would I be disqualified, Marco Rubio would be disqualified, Bobby Jindal would be disqualified and, interestingly enough, Donald J. Trump would be disqualified. +p1982 +aVBecause \u2014 because Donald's mother was born in Scotland. She was naturalized. Now, Donald... +p1983 +aV... on the issue \u2014 on the issue of citizenship, Donald... +p1984 +aV... on the issue of citizenship, Donald, I'm not going to use your mother's birth against you. +p1985 +aVYou're an American, as is everybody else on this stage, and I would suggest we focus on who's best prepared to be commander- in-chief, because that's the most important question facing the country. +p1986 +aVNeil... +p1987 +aVWell, listen, I've spent my entire life defending the Constitution before the U.S. Supreme Court. And I'll tell you, I'm not going to be taking legal advice from Donald Trump. +p1988 +aVThe chances of any litigation proceeding and succeeding on this are zero. And Mr. Trump is very focused... +p1989 +aV... on Larry Tribe. Let me tell you who Larry Tribe is. He's a left-wing judicial activist, Harvard Law professor who was Al Gore's lawyer in Bush versus Gore. He's a major Hillary Clinton supporter. And there's a reason why Hillary's supporters are echoing Donald's attacks on me, because Hillary... +p1990 +aV... wants to face Donald Trump in the general election. +p1991 +aVAnd I'll tell you what, Donald, you \u2014 you very kindly just a moment ago offered me the V.P. slot. I'll tell you what. If this all works out, I'm happy to consider naming you as V.P. So if you happen to be right, you could get the top job at the end of the day. +p1992 +aVActually, I'd love to get you to build a wall. +p1993 +aVThe answer is simple. Your prosecute criminals. You target the bad guys. You know, a minute ago, Neil asked: What has President Obama do \u2014 done to illustrate that he wants to go after guns? Well, he appointed Eric Holder as attorney general. Eric Holder said he viewed his mission as brainwashing the American people against guns. He appointed Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, someone who has been a radical against the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. He launched Fast and Furious, illegally selling guns to Mexican drug lords that were then used to shoot law enforcement officials. And I'll tell you what Hillary Clinton has said: Hillary Clinton says she agrees with the dissenters \u2014 the Supreme Court dissenters in the Heller case. There were four dissenters, and they said that they believe the Second Amendment protects no individual right to keep and bear arms whatsoever, which means, if their view prevailed and the next president's going to get one, two, three, maybe four Supreme Court justices, the court will rule that not a single person in this room has any right under the Second Amendment and the government could confiscate your guns. And I'll note that California senator \u2014 Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein said, if she could say to Mr. America and Mrs. America, "give me your guns, I'm rounding them up," she would. And let me make a final point on this. Listen, in any Republican primary, everyone is going to say they support the Second Amendment. Unless you are clinically insane......that's what you say in a primary. But the voters are savvier than that. They recognize that people's actions don't always match their words. I've got a proven record fighting to defend the Second Amendment. There's a reason Gun Owners of America has endorsed me in this race. There's a reason the NRA gave me their Carter Knight Freedom Fund award......and there's a reason, when Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer came after our right to keep and bear arms, that I led the opposition, along with millions of Americans \u2014 we defeated that gun control legislation. And I would note the other individuals on this stage were nowhere to be found in that fight. +p1994 +aVYou know, I think most people know exactly what New York values are. +p1995 +aVWhat \u2014 what \u2014 you're from New York? So you might not. But I promise you, in the state of South Carolina, they do. And listen, there are many, many wonderful, wonderful working men and women in the state of New York. But everyone understands that the values in New York City are socially liberal or pro-abortion or pro- gay-marriage, focus around money and the media. And \u2014 and I would note indeed, the reason I said that is I was asked \u2014 my friend Donald has taken to it as advance playing Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA", and I was asked what I thought of that. And I said, "well, if he wanted to play a song, maybe he could play, 'New York, New York'?" And \u2014 and \u2014 you know, the concept of New York values is not that complicated to figure out. Not too many years ago, Donald did a long interview with Tim Russert. And in that interview, he explained his views on a whole host of issues that were very, very different from the views he's describing now. And his explanation \u2014 he said, "look, I'm from New York, that's what we believe in New York. Those aren't Iowa values, but this is what we believe in New York." And so that was his explanation. And \u2014 and I guess I can \u2014 can frame it another way. Not a lot of conservatives come out of Manhattan. I'm just saying. +p1996 +aVYou know I understand why Donald made the comments he did and I understand why Americans are feeling frustrated and scared and angry when we have a president who refuses to acknowledge the threat we face and even worse, who acts as an apologist for radical Islamic terrorism. I think what we need is a commander in chief who is focused like a laser on keeping this country safe and on defeating radical Islamic terrorism. What should we do? First, we should pass the Expatriate Terrorist Act, legislation I've introduced that says if an American goes and joins +p1997 +aVThanks for coming back to me, Maria. Both Donald and Jeb have good points, and there is a middle ground. Donald is right that China is running over President Obama like he is a child, President Obama is not protecting American workers and we are getting hammered. You know, I sat down with the senior leadership of John Deere. They discussed how \u2014 how hard it is to sell tractors in China, because all the regulatory barriers. They're protectionist. But Jeb is also right that, if we just impose a tariff, they'll put reciprocal tariffs, which will hurt Iowa farmers and South Carolina producers and 20 percent of the American jobs that depend on exports. So the way you do it is you pass a tax plan like the tax plan I've introduced: a simple flat tax, 10 percent for individuals, and a 16 percent business flat tax, you abolish the IRS......and here's the critical point, Maria \u2014 the business flat tax enables us to abolish the corporate income tax, the death tax, the Obamacare taxes, the payroll taxes, and they're border-adjustable, so every export pays no taxes whatsoever. It's tax-free \u2014 a huge advantage for our farmers and ranchers and manufacturers \u2014 and every import pays the 16 percent business flat tax. It's like a tariff, but here's the difference: if we impose a tariff, China responds. The business flat tax, they already impose their taxes on us, so there's no reciprocal......tariffs that come against us. It puts us on a level, even playing field, which brings jobs here at home... +p1998 +aV... and as president, I'm going to fight for the working men and women. +p1999 +aVMaria, I assume that I can respond to that. +p2000 +aVWell, Marco has been floating this attack for a few weeks now, but the problem is, the business flat tax in my proposal is not a vat. A vat is imposed as a sales tax when you buy a good. This is a business flat tax. It is imposed on business and a critical piece that Marco seems to be missing is that this 16 percent business flat tax enables us to eliminate the corporate income tax. It goes away. It enables us to eliminate the death tax. If you're a farmer, if you're a rancher, if you are small business owner, the death tax is gone. We eliminate the payroll tax, we eliminate the Obamacare taxes. And listen, there is a real difference between Marco's tax plan and mine. Mine gives every American a simple, flat tax of 10 percent. Marco's top tax rate is 35 percent. My tax plan enables you to fill out your taxes on a postcard so we can abolish the IRS. Marco leaves the IRS code in with all of the complexity. We need to break the Washington cartel, and the only way to do it is to end all the subsidies and all......the mandates and have a simple flat tax. The final observation, invoked Ronald Reagan. I would note that Art Laffer, Ronald Reagan's chief economic adviser, has written publicly, that my simple flat tax is the best tax plan of any of the individuals on this stage cause it produces economic growth, it raises wages and it helps everyone from the very poorest to the very richest. +p2001 +aVMaria... +p2002 +aVMaria, I'd just like to say... +p2003 +aVBut Maria, radical Islamic terrorism was not invented 24 months ago; 24 months ago, we had Al Qaida. We had Boko Haram. We had Hamas. We had Hezbollah. We had Iran putting operatives in South America and Central America. It's the reason why I stood with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and led the fight to stop the Gang of Eight amnesty bill, because it was clear then, like it's clear now, that border security is national security. +p2004 +aVIt is also the case that that Rubio-Schumer amnesty bill, one of the things it did is it expanded Barack Obama's power to let in Syrian refugees. It enabled him \u2014 the president to certify them en masse without mandating meaningful background checks. I think that's a mistake. That's why I've been leading the fight to stop it. And I would note the Senate just a few weeks ago voted to suspend refugees from Middle Eastern countries. I voted yes to suspend that. Marco voted on the other side. So you don't get to say we need to secure the borders, and at the same time try to give Barack Obama more authority to allow Middle Eastern refugees coming in, when the head of the FBI tells us they cannot vet them to determine if they are +p2005 +aVI'm going to get a response to that, Neil. There's no way he launches 11 attack \u2014 +p2006 +aVI'm going to \u2014 he had no fewer than 11 attacks there. I appreciate your dumping your research folder on the stage. +p2007 +aVBut I will say \u2014 +p2008 +aV\u2014 at least half of the things Marco said are flat-out false. They're absolutely false. +p2009 +aVSo let's start \u2014 let's start with immigration. Let's start with immigration and have a little bit of clarity. Marco stood with Chuck Schumer and Barack Obama on amnesty. I stood with Jeff Sessions and Steve King. Marco stood today, standing on this stage Marco supports legalization and citizenship for 12 million illegals. I opposed and oppose legalization and citizenship. And by the way, the attack he keeps throwing out on the military budget, Marco knows full well I voted for his amendment to increase military spending to $697 billion. What he said, and he said it in the last, it's simply not true. And as president, I will rebuild the military and keep this country safe. +p2010 +aV"13 Hours" \u2014 tomorrow morning, a new movie will debut about the incredible bravery of the men fighting for their lives in Benghazi and the politicians that abandoned them. I want to speak to all our fighting men and women. I want to speak to all the moms and dads whose sons and daughters are fighting for this country, and the incredible sense of betrayal when you have a commander-in-chief who will not even speak the name of our enemy, radical Islamic terrorism, when you have a commander-in- chief who sends $150 billion to the Ayatollah Khamenei, who's responsible for murdering hundreds of our servicemen and women. I want to speak to all of those maddened by political correctness, where Hillary Clinton apologizes for saying all lives matter. This will end. It will end on January 2017. And if I am elected president, to every soldier and sailor and airman and marine, and to every police officer and firefighter and first responder who risk their lives to keep us safe, I will have your back. +p2011 +aVThank you, Wolf. America is at war. Our enemy is not violent extremism. It is not some unnamed malevolent force. It is radical Islamic terrorist. We have a president who is unwilling to utter its name. The men and women on this stage, every one of us, is better prepared to keep this nation safe than is Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. We need a president who understands the first obligation of the commander-in-chief is to keep America safe. If I am elected president, we will hunt down and kill the terrorists. We will utterly destroy +p2012 +aVWell, listen, Hugh, everyone understands why Donald has suggested what he has. We're looking at a president who's engaged in this double-speak where he doesn't call radical Islamic terrorism by its name. Indeed, he gives a speech after the San Bernardino attack where his approach is to try to go after the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens rather than to keep us safe. And even worse, President Obama and Hillary Clinton are proposing bringing tens of thousands of Syrian refugees to this country when the head of the FBI has told Congress they cannot vet those refugees. I understand why Donald made that proposal. I introduced legislation in the Senate that I believe is more narrowly focused at the actual threat, which is radical Islamic terrorism, and what my legislation would do is suspend all refugees for three years from countries where +p2013 +aVWell, you know, I'm reminded of what FDR's grandfather said. He said, "All horse-thieves are Democrats, but not all Democrats are horse-thieves." In this instance, there are millions of peaceful Muslims across the world, in countries like India, where there is not the problems we are seeing in nations that are controlled \u2014 have territory controlled by Al Qaida or +p2014 +aVWell, Dana, the premise of your question is not accurate. I'm very proud to have joined with conservatives in both the Senate and the House to reform how we target bad guys. And what the USA Freedom Act did is it did two things. Number one, it ended the federal government's bulk collection of phone metadata of millions of law-abiding citizens. But number two in the second half of it that is critical. It strengthened the tools of national security and law enforcement to go after terrorists. It gave us greater tools and we are seeing those tools work right now in San Bernardino. And in particular, what it did is the prior program only covered a relatively narrow slice of phone calls. When you had a terrorist, you could only search a relatively narrow slice of numbers, primarily land lines. The USA Freedom Act expands that so now we have cell phones, now we have Internet phones, now we have the phones that terrorists are likely to use and the focus of law enforcement is on targeting the bad guys. You know what the Obama administration keeps getting wrong is whenever anything bad happens they focus on law-abiding citizens instead of focusing on the bad guys. We need to focus on radical Islamic terrorists and we need to stop them before they carry out acts of terror. +p2015 +aVWell, you know, I would note that Marco knows what he's saying isn't true. You know, Mark Levin wrote a column last week that says that the attack ads his Super PAC is running that are saying the same thing, that they are knowingly false and they are, in fact, Alinsky-like attacks like Barack Obama. And the reason is simple. What he knows is that the old program covered 20 percent to 30 percent of phone numbers to search for terrorists. The new program covers nearly 100 percent. That gives us greater ability to stop acts of terrorism, and he knows that that's the case. +p2016 +aVWhat it means is using overwhelming air power to utterly and completely destroy +p2017 +aVYou would carpet bomb where +p2018 +aVWell, you know, Marco has continued these attacks, and he knows they're not true. Yes, it is true that I voted against the National Defense Authorization Act, because when I campaigned in Texas I told voters in Texas that I would oppose the federal government having the authority to detain U.S. citizens permanently with no due process. I have repeatedly supported an effort to take that out of that bill, and I honored that campaign commitment. +p2019 +aVBut more broadly, you know, the notion Marco is suggesting, that somehow \u2014 he also has tossed more than a few insults this direction \u2014 let's be absolutely clear. +p2020 +aVWolf, I believe in a America first foreign policy, that far too often President Obama and Hillary Clinton \u2014 and, unfortunately, more than a few Republicans \u2014 have gotten distracted from the central focus of keeping this country safe. So let's go back to the beginning of the Obama administration, when Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama led +p2021 +aV... we ought to hunt down our enemies and kill +p2022 +aVWell, it's more than not shedding a tear. It's actively getting involved to topple a government. And we keep hearing from President Obama and Hillary Clinton and Washington Republicans that they're searching for these mythical moderate rebels. It's like a purple unicorn. They never exist. These moderate rebels end up being jihadists. And I'll tell you whose view on Assad is the same as mine. It's Prime Minister Netanyahu. Prime Minister Netanyahu has said Israel doesn't have a dog in that fight because Assad is a puppet of Iran, a Shia radical Islamic terrorist, but at the same time, Prime Minister Netanyahu doesn't want to see Syria governed by +p2023 +aVThe question of whether we should toppling dictatorships is asking the wrong question. We should be defeating our enemies. So the problem with defeating... +p2024 +aVWell, but let me explain, the focus should be... +p2025 +aV... on defeating our enemies. So, for example... +p2026 +aV... a regime we should change is Iran... +p2027 +aV... because Iran has declared war on us. But we shouldn't be toppling regimes...... that are fighting radical Islamic terrorists that are helping... +p2028 +aVWell, he \u2014 he has attempted to muddy the waters, but I think that anyone who watched the battle that we had. You know, there was a time for choosing as Reagan put it. Where there was a battle over amnesty and some chose, like Senator Rubio to stand with Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer and support a massive amnesty plan. Others chose to stand with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and the American people and secure the border. And let me mention, this issue is actually directly connected to what we've been talking about. Because the front line with +p2029 +aVLook, I understand Marco wants to raise confusion, it is not accurate what he just said that I supported legalization. Indeed, I led the fight against his legalization and amnesty. And you know, there was one commentator that put it this way that, for Marco to suggest our record's the same is like suggesting "the fireman and the arsonist because they are both at the scene of the fire." He was fighting to grant amnesty and not to secure the border, I was fighting to secure the border. And this also goes to trust, listening on to campaign trails. Candidates all the time make promises. You know, Marco said," he learned that the American people didn't trust the federal government." +p2030 +aVIn Florida promising to... +p2031 +aVgo in the fight against amnesty... +p2032 +aVHe campaigned promising to lead the fight against amnesty. +p2033 +aVI have never supported a legalization... +p2034 +aVI have never supported legalization, and I do not intend to support legalization. Let me tell you how you do this, what you do is you enforce the law... +p2035 +aVWatt you do is enforcement the law... +p2036 +aVWhat you do... +p2037 +aVWhat you do is you enforce the law. I've laid out a very, very detailed immigration plan on my website, tedcruz.org. It's 11 pages of existing federal law and in particular the question of what to do with people who are here now? You enforce the law. That means you stop the Obama administration's policy of releasing criminal illegal aliens. Do you know how many aliens Bill Clinton deported? 12 million. Do you know how many illegal aliens, George W. Bush deported? 10 million. We can enforce the laws and if we secure the border, that solves the problem. And as president I will solve this problem and secure the border. +p2038 +aVDana, what I said in private is exactly what I'll say here, which is that the judgment that every voter is making of every one of us up here is who has the experience, who has the vision, who has the judgment to be commander in chief. That is the most important decision for the voters to make. That's a standard I'm held to. And it's a standard everyone else is held to. And I will note, you know, in the whole course of this discussion about our foreign policy threats, it actually illustrates the need for clarity of focus. You know, my daughters, Caroline and Catherine, came tonight. They're 7 and 5. And you think about the Los Angeles schools canceling their schools today. And every parent is wondering, how do we keep our kids safe? We need a commander in chief who does what Ronald Reagan did with communism, which is he set out a global strategy to defeat Soviet communism. And he directed all of his... I'm answering the question, Dana. He directed all of his forces to defeating communism. One of the things we've seen here is how easy it is for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to get distracted from dealing with radical Islamic terrorism. They won't even call it by its name. We need a president who stands up, number one, and says, we will defeat +p2039 +aVAnd we need to be focused on defeating... +p2040 +aV... defeating radical Islamic terrorists. +p2041 +aVWhat I'm saying, Dana, is that is a judgment for every voter to make. What I can tell you is all nine of the people here would make an infinitely better commander in chief than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. +p2042 +aVAnd there is a real danger, Dana, when people get distracted. I'm answering the question, Wolf. There's a real danger when people get distracted by peripheral issues. They get distracted by democracy building. They get distracted about military conflicts. We need to focus on defeating jihadism. +p2043 +aVAnd I will do everything necessary to keep our children safe. +p2044 +aVJudgment, strength, clarity and trust. Barack Obama has said he doesn't believe in American leadership or America winning \u2014 he is wrong. America can win again and we will win again. Ronald Reagan reignited the American economy, rebuilt the Military, bankrupted the Soviet Union and defeated Soviet Communism. I will do the same thing. Cutting taxes, cutting regulation, unleashing small businesses and rebuilding the Military to defeat radical Islamic terrorism \u2014 our strategy is simple. We win, they lose. We've done it before and we can do it again. +p2045 +aVWell, Maria, it's great to be with you. It's great to be here in Milwaukee. You know, the question you asked really I think is the most important question any of us can have \u2014 face, which is, how do we get the economy growing? How do we bring back economic growth? Because economic growth, it's foundational to every other challenge we have. As you rightly noted, from 2008 to today, our economy has grown 1.2 percent a year on average. The Obama economy is a disaster, and the IMF is telling us this is a new normal. It doesn't have to be. If you look at the history of America, there are three levers that government has had to facilitate economic growth. The first is tax reform. And as you noted, I have rolled out a bold and simple flat tax: 10 percent for every American that would produce booming growth and 4.9 million new jobs within a decade. The second element is regulatory reform, pulling back the armies of regulators that have descended like locusts on small businesses. And the third element is sound money. Every time we've pursued all three of those \u2014 whether in the 1920s with Calvin Coolidge or the 1960s with JFK or the 1980s with Ronald Reagan \u2014 the result has been incredible economic growth. We have done it before, and with leadership, we can do it again. +p2046 +aVWell, my Mom is here, so I don't think we should be pushing any grannies off cliffs. And, you miss-stated what I've said on entitlement reform. What I've said is for seniors we should make no changes whatsoever, for younger workers we should gradually raise the retirement age, we should have benefits grow more slowly, and we should allow them to keep a portion of their taxes in a personal account that they control, and can pass on to their kids... +p2047 +aVI want to go back to the discussion we had a minute ago because, you know, what was said was right. The democrats are laughing \u2014 because if republicans join democrats as the party of amnesty, we will lose. And, you know, I understand that when the mainstream media covers immigration, it doesn't often see it as an economic issue. But, I can tell you for millions \u2014 of Americans at home watching this, it is a very personal economic issue. And, I will say the politics of it will be very, very different if a bunch of lawyers or bankers were crossing the Rio Grande. Or if a bunch of people with journalism degrees were coming over and driving down the wages in the press. Then, we would see stories about the economic calamity that is befalling our nation. And, I will say for those of us who believe people 'ought to come to this country legally, and we should enforce the law, we're tired of being told it's anti-immigrant. It's offensive. I am the son of an immigrant who came legally from Cuba... ...to seek the American dream. And, we can embrace legal immigration while believing in the rule of law \u2014 and I would note, try going illegally to another country. Try going to China, or Japan. Try going to Mexico. See what they do. Every sovereign nation secures its borders, and it is not compassionate to say we're not going to enforce the laws... ...And we're going to drive down the wages for millions of hardworking men and women. That is abandoning the working... +p2048 +aVWell, sure, you put your finger on what the problem is. The current system isn't fair. Washington is fundamentally corrupt. There are more words in the IRS code than there are in the Bible \u2014 and \u2014 and not a one of them is as good. Every one of them reflects a carve-out or a subsidy, and it's all about empowering the Washington cartel. My simple Flat Tax says that, for a family of four, for the first $36,000 you earn, you pay no taxes whatsoever. No income taxes, no payroll taxes, no nothing. Above that, every American pays 10 percent across the board \u2014 a flat, fair tax. Which means that no longer do you have hedge-fund billionaires paying a lower tax rate than their secretaries. On the business side, I've got a business flat tax of 16 percent \u2014 again, that applies across the board. Right now, with our corporate income tax, giant corporations with armies of accountants regularly are paying little to no taxes while small businesses are getting hammered. This is fair and across-the-board. Now, you ask, how do the numbers add up? I would encourage folks, if you go to our website, tedcruz.org, we have the specific numbers on the website. This plan eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax, eliminates the corporate income tax, and it abolishes the IRS. And the effect of that is incredible economic growth. It means every income group will see double-digit increases, from the very poorest to the very weakest, of at least 14 percent. So if you're a single mom, if you're making $40,000 a year, what that means is an extra about $5,000 in your pocket to provide for your kids, to make ends meet. It has a powerful, powerful effect. And there's one other really powerful feature of my plan, which is that it's border-adjustable. Which means, if you're an exporter \u2014 if you're a farmer, if you're a rancher, if you're a manufacturer, you don't pay the businesses flat tax. Exports are free of that tax, but all imports pay that 16 percent business flat tax, which means this tax plan would cause jobs to boom, and it would let America compete with China and the world on a level playing field. +p2049 +aVWell, the numbers the Tax Foundation had put out is that the static cost of the plan is $3.6 trillion over 10 years, but the dynamic cost of the plan, which \u2014 which is the cost that factors in growth, is about $768 billion. It is less than a trillion. It costs less than virtually every other plan people have put up here, and yet it produces more growth and it's one of the very few plans that abolishes the IRS. But on top of that, today, we rolled out a spending plan. $500 billion in specific cuts \u2014 five major agencies that I would eliminate. The IRS, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Energy, the Department of Commerce, and HUD \u2014 and then 25 specific programs. Again, that's on our website at tedcruz.org. You want to look at specificity? It's easy for everyone to say, "cut spending". It's much harder and riskier to put out, chapter and verse, specifically the programs you would cut to stop bankrupting our kids and grandkids. +p2050 +aV...Middle ground that brings both of these together... +p2051 +aV...Exactly right, that we have to defend this nation. You think defending this nation is expensive, try not defending it. That's a lot more expensive. But, you can do that, and pay for it. You can do that, and also be fiscally responsible. You know, I mention that the 25 programs that I put today, that I would eliminate them. Among them are corporate welfare, like sugar subsidies. Let's take that as an example. Sugar subsidies. Sugar farmers farm under... ...under roughly 0.2% of the farmland in America, and yet they give 40% of the lobbying money. That sort of corporate welfare is why we're bankrupting our kids, and grandkids. I would end those subsidies to pay for defending this nation... +p2052 +aVAbsolutely yes. You know, I have spent much of my adult life enforcing the law and defending the Constitution. And the problem that underlies all of this is the cronyism and corruption of Washington. You know, the opening question Jerry asked, would you bail out the big banks again? Nobody gave you an answer to that. I'll give you an answer. Absolutely not. And what we have right now is we have Washington \u2014 as government gets bigger and bigger, you know, the biggest lie in all of Washington and in all of politics is that Republicans are the party of the rich. The truth is, the rich do great with big government. They get in bed with big government. The big banks get bigger and bigger and bigger under Dodd-Frank and community banks are going out of business. And, by the way, the consequence of that is small businesses can't get business loans, and it is that fundamental corruption that is why six of the 10 wealthiest counties in America are in and around Washington, D.C. And let me give you a contrast to Washington cronyism. Some weeks ago, a woman named Sabina Loving testified at a hearing that I chaired in the Senate. Sabina Loving is an African-American single mom who started a tax preparation business in the south side of Chicago. She found a store front, she wanted to have her own business. She started a business. But then the IRS promulgated new regulations targeting tax preparers. They did it under a more than 100-year-old statute called the Dead Horse Act. Now, this statute and the IRS in classic Washington crony fashion had exemptions for lawyers and big fancy accountants, but Sabina had to pay $1,000 an employee. It would have driven her out of business, and Ms. Loving sued the IRS. She took the Obama IRS to court, and she won, and they struck down the rule for picking the big guys over the little guys. +p2053 +aVYes. Now, let's be clear, there is a role for the Federal Reserve \u2014 what the Fed is doing now is it is a series of philosopher- kings trying to guess what's happening with the economy. You look at the Fed, one of the reasons we had the financial crash is throughout the 2000s, we had loose money, we had an asset bubble, it drove up the price of real estate, drove up the price of commodities, and then in the third quarter of 2008, the Fed tightened the money and crashed those asset prices, which caused a cascading collapse. That's why I am supporting getting back to rules-based monetary system not with a bunch of philosopher-kings deciding, but tied... +p2054 +aVSo let me be clear. I would not bail them out, but instead of adjusting monetary policy according to whims and getting it wrong over and over again and causing booms and busts, what the Fed should be doing is, number one, keeping our money tied to a stable level of gold, and, number two, serving as a lender of last resort. That's what central banks do. So if you have a run on the bank, the Fed can serve as a lender of last resort, but it's not a bailout. It is a loan at higher interest rates. That's how central banks have worked. And I'll point out \u2014 look, we had a gold standard under Bretton Woods, we had it for about 170 years of our nation's history, and enjoyed booming economic growth and lower inflation than we have had with the Fed now. We need to get back to sound money, which helps, in particular, working men and women. What Washington does \u2014 the people who are doing well in the Obama economy are those with power and influence in the Obama government. The people who working men and women... +p2055 +aVSo, Governor Kasich... +p2056 +aV...why would you then bail out rich Wall Street banks, but not Main street, not Mom and Pop, not Sabina Loving? +p2057 +aVBut you just said an executive... +p2058 +aV...knows to step in and bail out a bank. +p2059 +aVSo you said you'd abandon philosophy and abandon principle... +p2060 +aV...but what would you do if the bank was failing? +p2061 +aVSo you \u2014 you would bail them out. +p2062 +aVAnd, Maria, I will note, she's got a lot of experience, but her policies have proven disastrous. If you look at foreign policy, every region in the world has gotten worse. Under her leadership, we abandon the nation of Israel. Under her leadership, radical Islamic terrorism has been on to the rise. Under her leadership, and Obama's leadership, Iran is getting $100 billion dollars, and on the verge of getting a nuclear weapon. Everything she's put her hand to, or has touched \u2014 and when we talk about the cronyism of Washington, Hillary Clinton embodies the cronyism... ...of Washington. And, I'll give you an example of that, which is the Congressional exemption from Obamacare, which is fundamentally wrong, and I'll tell you this, if I'm elected president, I will veto any statute that exempts members of congress. The law should apply evenly to every American. +p2063 +aVMaria, critically, when it comes to climate change... +p2064 +aV...Our \u2014 our... +p2065 +aVFifty-eight years ago, my father fled Cuba. As he stood on the deck of that ferryboat with the wind and salt air blowing, he looked back at the oppression and torture he was escaping. And yet he looked forward to the promise of America. His story is our story. What ties Americans together is we are all the children of those who risked everything for freedom. America is in crisis now. I believe in America. And if we get back to the free market principles and constitutional liberties that built this country, we can turn this country around. I believe that 2016 will be an election like 1980, that we will win by following Reagan's admonition to paint in bold colors, not pale pastels. We're building a grassroots army. I ask you to join us at tedcruz.org. And we, the people, can turn this nation around. +p2066 +aVI'm too agreeable, easy going. You know, I think my biggest weakness is exactly the opposite. I'm a fighter. I am passionate about what I believe. I've been passionate my whole life about the Constitution. And, you know, for six-and-a-half years, we've had a gigantic party. If you want someone to grab a beer with, I may not be that guy. But if you want someone to drive you home, I will get the job done and I will get you home. +p2067 +aVBecky, if you want a 10 percent flat tax where the numbers add up, I rolled out my tax plan today, you can find it on line at tedcruz.org. It is a simple flat tax where for individuals, a family of four pays nothing on the first $36,000. After that you pay 10 percent as a flat tax going up. The billionaire and the working man, no hedge fund manager pays less than his secretary. On top of that, there is a business flat tax of 16 percent. Now that applies universally to giant corporations that with lobbyists right now are not paying taxes, and as small business. And you wanted to know the numbers, the Tax Foundation, which has scored every one of our plans, shows that this plan will allow the economy to generate 4.9 million jobs, to raise wages over 12 percent, and to generate 14 percent growth. And it costs, with dynamic scoring, less than a trillion dollars. Those are the hard numbers. And every single income decile sees a double-digit increase in after-tax income. +p2068 +aVGrowth is the answer. And as Reagan demonstrated, if we cut taxes, we can bring back growth. +p2069 +aVYou know, let me say something at the outset. The questions that have been asked so far in this debate illustrate why the American people don't trust the media. This is not a cage match. And, you look at the questions \u2014 "Donald Trump, are you a comic-book villain?" "Ben Carson, can you do math?" "John Kasich, will you insult two people over here?" "Marco Rubio, why don't you resign?" "Jeb Bush, why have your numbers fallen?" How about talking about the substantive issues the people care about? +p2070 +aVAnd Carl \u2014 Carl, I'm not finished yet. The contrast with the Democratic debate, where every fawning question from the media was, "Which of you is more handsome and why?" And let me be clear. +p2071 +aVLet me be clear. The men and women on this stage have more ideas, more experience, more common sense than every participant in the Democratic debate. That debate reflected a debate between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. And nobody watching at home believed that any of the moderators had any intention of voting in a Republican primary. The questions that are being asked shouldn't be trying to get people to tear into each other. It should be what are your substantive positions... +p2072 +aVYou want me to answer that question? I'm happy to answer the question... +p2073 +aVLet me tell you how that question... +p2074 +aVLet me tell you how that question... +p2075 +aV... so you don't actually want to hear the answer, John? +p2076 +aVYou don't want to hear the answer. You just want to... +p2077 +aVYou're not interested in an answer. +p2078 +aV...Then I'll buy you a tequila... +p2079 +aV...Or, even some famous Colorado brownies. +p2080 +aVWell, sure. This deal in Washington is an example of why Washington's broken. Republican leadership joined with every single Democrat, add $80 trillion to our debt to do nothing to fix the problems. And, let me now on Social Security because we were getting into a good substantive exchange, and I want to say I think both Chris, and Mike are right. Governor Huckabee's exactly right, we need to honor the promises made to our seniors, but for younger workers \u2014 look. I'm 44 years old. It is hard to find someone in my generation that thinks Social Security will be there for us. We can save and preserve and strengthen Social Security by making no changes for seniors, but for younger workers gradually increasing the retirement age, changing the rate of growth so that it matches inflation, and critically allowing younger workers to keep a portion of our tax payments in a personal account that we own, we control them, we can pass on to our kids. +p2081 +aVWell, we've gotta turn the economy around for people who are struggling. The Democrats' answer to everything is more government control over wages, and more empowering trial lawyers to file lawsuits. You know, you look at women working. I'll tell you, in my family there are a lot of single moms in my family. My sister was a single mom, both of my aunts who were a single moms. My mom who's here today, was a single mom when my father left us when I was 3 years old. Now, thank God, my father was invited to a Bible study and became born again and he came back to my mom and me and we were raised together. But I \u2014 the struggle of single moms is extraordinary. And you know, when you see Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and all the Democrats talking about wanting to address the plight of working women, not a one of them mentioned the fact that under Barack Obama, 3.7 million women have entered poverty. Not a one of them mentioned the fact that under Barack Obama and the big government economy, the median wage for women has dropped $733. The the truth of the matter is, big government benefits the wealthy, it benefits the lobbyists, it benefits the giant corporations. And the people who are getting hammered are small businesses, it's single moms, it's Hispanics. That is who I'm fighting for. The people that Washington leaves behind. +p2082 +aVWell, Rick, it's a very important question. I have got deep concerns about the Fed. The first thing I think we need to do is audit the Fed. And I am an original co-sponsor of Rand Paul's audit the Fed legislation. The second thing we need to do is I think we need to bring together a bipartisan commission to look at getting back to rules- based monetary policy, end this star chamber that has been engaging in this incredible experiment of quantitative easing, QE1, QE2, QE3, QE- infinity. And the people who are being impacted, you know, a question that was asked earlier, Becky asked, was about working women. You know, it's interesting, you look at on Wall Street, the Fed is doing great. It's driving up stock prices. Wall Street is doing great. You know, today, the top 1 percent earn a higher share of our income than any year since 1928. But if you look at working men and women. If you look at a single mom buying groceries, she sees hamburger prices have gone up nearly 40 percent. She sees her cost of electricity going up. She sees her health insurance going up. And loose money is one of the major problems. We need sound money. And I think the Fed should get out of the business of trying to juice our economy and simply be focused on sound money and monetary stability, ideally tied to gold. +p2083 +aVLet me say on that... +p2084 +aV...Rand is exactly right. His plan is a good plan, and I will note that my 10% plan also eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax, +p2085 +aV...eliminates the business... [ +p2086 +aV...income tax... [ +p2087 +aV...10% flat rate... +p2088 +aV...is the lowest personal rate any candidate up here has, and what it would also enable us to do is for every citizen to fill out their taxes on a postcard so we can eliminate the IRS. +p2089 +aVYou know, everyone here talks about the need to take on Washington. The natural next question is who actually has done so. Who actually has stood up not just to Democrats, but to leaders in our own party? When millions of Americans rose up against Obamacare, I was proud to lead that fight. When millions of Americans rose up against amnesty, I was proud to lead that fight. When millions of Americans rose up against Planned Parenthood, I was proud to lead that fight. If people are promising they're going to take on Washington and cronyism, you need to look to who has been doing it. In my family, my dad fled oppression in Cuba to come to America. Freedom is personal for me, and I will always keep my word and fight for freedom. +p2090 +aVI'm Ted Cruz. I am the son of an Irish-Italian mom and a Cuban immigrant dad who fled oppression and came to America seeking freedom. I'm a husband to my best friend, Heidi, who's here tonight. I'm a dad to two little girls who are the loves of my life, Caroline and Catherine. If you're fed up with Washington, if you're looking for someone to stand up to career politicians in both parties, I'm the only one on this stage who has done that over and over again, and if we stand together, we can bring America back. +p2091 +aVWell, let me tell you, Jake, the single biggest national security threat facing America right now is the threat of a nuclear Iran. We've seen six and a half years of President Obama leading from behind. Weakness is provocative, and this Iranian nuclear deal is nothing short of catastrophic. This deal, on its face, will send over $100 billion to the Ayatollah Khamenei, making the Obama administration the world's leading financier of radical Islamic terrorism. +p2092 +aVThis deal abandons four American hostages in Iran, and this deal will only accelerate Iran's acquiring nuclear weapons. You'd better believe it. If I am elected president, on the very first day in office, I will rip to shreds this catastrophic Iranian nuclear deal. +p2093 +aVWell, let's be clear when it comes to experience. What President Obama wants to do is he's run to the United Nations, and he wants to use the United Nations to bind the United States, and take away our sovereignty. Well, I spent five and a half years as a Solicitor General of Texas, the lead lawyer for the state, in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, and I went in front of the Supreme Court, and took on the world court of the United Nations in a case called Medellin v. Texas, and we won a historic victory saying the World Court, and the U.N., has no power to bind the United States, and no President of the United States, Republican or Democrat, has the authority to give away our sovereignty. And, so, if there's anyone up here who would be bound by this catastrophic deal with Iran, they're giving up the core responsibility of commander in chief, and as president, I would never do that. +p2094 +aVJake, Jake... +p2095 +aVJake, there is no more important topic in 2016 than this topic right here, and I've listened to several folks saying, "Well, gosh, if they cheat, we'll act." We won't know under this agreement \u2014 there are several facilities in Iran they designate as military facilities that are off limit all together. Beyond that, the other facilities, we give them 24 days notice before inspecting them. That is designed to allow them to hide the evidence. And most astonishingly, this agreement trusts the Iranians to inspect themselves. That makes no sense whatsoever. And let me know \u2014 President Obama is violating federal law... +p2096 +aV... by not handing over the side deals, and we ought to see the United States Congress... +p2097 +aV... stand up together and say, "Hand over this treaty, and protect this country." +p2098 +aVWell, let me tell you, Dana, number one, I'm proud to stand for life. These Planned Parenthood videos are horrifying. I would encourage every American to watch the videos. See \u2014 seeing your Planned Parenthood officials callously, heartlessly bartering and selling the body parts of human beings, and then ask yourself, "are these my values?" These are horrifying. On these videos, Planned Parenthood also essentially confesses to multiple felonies. It is a felony with ten years' jail term to sell the body parts of unborn children for profit. That's what these videos show Planned Parenthood doing. Absolutely we shouldn't be sending $500 million of taxpayer money to funding an ongoing criminal enterprise, and I'll tell you, the fact that Republican leadership in both houses has begun this discussion by preemptively surrendering to Barack Obama and saying, "we'll give in because Obama threatens a veto." You know, Obama's committed to his principles. His liberal principles, he will fight for them. He says... +p2099 +aVI will veto any budget that doesn't fund Planned Parenthood, and Republicans surrender. We need to stop surrendering and start standing... +p2100 +aV...for our principles. +p2101 +aVWell, Jake, you know, I'm \u2014 I'm very glad that Donald Trump's being in this race has forced the mainstream media finally to talk about illegal immigration. I think that's very important. I like and respect Ben Carson. I'll let him talk about his own plans. But I will say this: The natural next question that primary voters are asking, after we focus on illegal immigration is, okay, what are the records of the various candidates? And this is an issue on which there are stark differences. A majority of the men and women on this stage have previously and publicly embraced amnesty. I am the only candidate on this stage who has never supported amnesty and, in fact, who helped lead the fight to stop a massive amnesty plan. In 2013, when Barack Obama and Harry Reid joined the Washington Republicans in a massive, I stood shoulder to shoulder with Jeff Sessions helping lead the fight. You know, folks here have talked about, how do you secure the borders? Well, I've been leading the fight in the Senate to triple the Border Patrol, to put in place fencings and walls, to put in place a strong biometric exit/entry system... +p2102 +aVWell, Dana, I've known John Roberts for 20 years, he's amazingly talented lawyer, but, yes, it was a mistake when he was appointed to the Supreme Court. He's a good enough lawyer that he knows in these Obamacare cases he changed the statute, he changed the law in order to force that failed law on millions of Americans for a political outcome. And, you know, we're frustrated as conservatives. We keep winning elections, and then we don't get the outcome we want. And, let me focus on two moments in time. Number one, in 1990, in one room was David Souter, and in another room was Edith Jones, the rock ribbed (ph) conservative on the fifth circuit court of appeals. George Herbert Walker Bush appointed David Souter. And then in 2005, in one room was John Roberts, in another room was my former boss, Mike Luttig, the rock ribbed (ph) conservative on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals... +p2103 +aV...George W. Bush appointed John Roberts, and let me give you the consequences of that. If, instead, the President Bush had appointed Edith Jones, and Mike Luttig, which is who I would have appointed, Obamacare would have been struck down three years ago, and the marriage laws of all 50 states would be on the books. These matter, and I fought to defend the constitution my whole life... +p2104 +aV...and I will as president as well. +p2105 +aVIt is true that after George W. Bush nominated John Roberts, I supported his confirmation. That was a mistake and I regret that. I wouldn't have nominated John Roberts, and indeed, Governor Bush pointed out why. It wasn't that the President Bushes wanted to appoint a liberal to the court, it's that it was the easier choice. Both David Souter and John Roberts, they didn't have a long paper trail. If you had nominated Edith Jones or Mike Ludig (ph) you would have had a bloody fight and they weren't willing to spend political capital to put a strong judicial conservative on the court. I have spent my entire life, starting from clerking for Chief Justice William Rehnquist on the United States Supreme Court, one of the most principled jurists. We have an out-of-control Court, and I give you my word, if I'm elected president, every single Supreme Court justice will faithfully follow the law and will not act like philosopher kings \u2014 +p2106 +aV\u2014 imposing their liberal policies on millions of Americans \u2014 +p2107 +aV\u2014 who need to be trusted to govern ourselves. +p2108 +aVI \u2014 I am not, and \u2014 and you mentioned that the U.S. Supreme Court had rightly upheld the individual right to keep and bear arms. I was proud to lead 31 states before the U.S. Supreme Court defending the Second Amendment, and we won that landmark victory. And indeed, just a couple of years ago, when Harry Reid and Barack Obama came after the right to keep and bear arms of millions of Americans, I was proud to lead the fight in the United States Senate to protect our right to keep and bear arms, and for that reason... +p2109 +aV... I was honored to be endorsed by Gun Owners of America... +p2110 +aV... as the strongest supporter of the Second Amendment on this stage today, and I will... +p2111 +aV... fight every day to defend the Bill of Rights. +p2112 +aVWell, I wouldn't change the $10 bill, I'd change the $20. I'd take Jackson off and I'd leave Alexander Hamilton right where he is as one of our Founding Fathers. And I very much agree with Marco that it should be Rosa Parks. She was a principled pioneer that helped change this country, helped remedy racial injustice, and that would be an honor that would be entirely appropriate. +p2113 +aVYou know, as a Cuban, I might go with Cohiba (ph), and I'll tell you, I'd go with, for Heidi, Angel, because she is my angel. +p2114 +aVRonald Reagan believed in America. If I'm elected president our friends and allies across the globe will know that we stand with them. the bust of Winston Churchill will be back in the Oval Office, and the American embassy in Israel will be in Jerusalem. Enemies across this world will know the United States is not to be trifled with. +p2115 +asVHARWOOD +p2116 +(lp2117 +VMr. Trump, you've done very well in this campaign so far by promising to build a wall and make another country pay for it. +p2118 +aVSend 11 million people out of the country. Cut taxes $10 trillion without increasing the deficit. +p2119 +aVAnd make Americans better off because your greatness would replace the stupidity and incompetence of others. +p2120 +aVLet's be honest. Is this a comic book version of a presidential campaign? +p2121 +aVWe're at the 60 seconds. +p2122 +aVWe're at 60 seconds, but I gotta ask you, you talked about your tax plan. You say that it would not increase the deficit because you cut taxes $10 trillion in the economy would take off like... +p2123 +aVHold on, hold on. The economy would take off like a rocket ship. +p2124 +aVI talked to economic advisers who have served presidents of both parties. They said that you have as chance of cutting taxes that much without increasing the deficit as you would of flying away from that podium by flapping your arms. +p2125 +aVThe Tax Foundation says \u2014 has looked at all of our plans and \u2014 and his creates, even with the dynamic effect, $8 trillion dollar deficit... +p2126 +aVGovernor Kasich, hold it, I'm coming to you right now. The... +p2127 +aVWell, I'm asking you about this. +p2128 +aVI'm about to ask you about this. That is, you had some very strong words to say yesterday about what's happening in your party and what you're hearing from the two gentlemen we've just heard from. Would you repeat it? +p2129 +aVWell, let's just get more pointed about it. You said yesterday that you were hearing proposals that were just crazy from your colleagues. Who were you talking about? +p2130 +aVHold on. I think there's a \u2014 I've got question for \u2014 +p2131 +aVHold on, Governor. I've got a question for Governor Bush. +p2132 +aVNo, we're moving to Governor Bush. Governor, the fact that you're at the fifth lectern tonight shows how far your stock has fallen in this race, despite the big investment your donors have made. You noted recently, after slashing your payroll, that you had better things to do than sit around and be demonized by other people. I wanted to ask you \u2014 +p2133 +aVOK. +p2134 +aVGot it. +p2135 +aVBut it's a \u2014 OK. It's a \u2014 it's a question about why you're having difficulty. I want to ask you in this context. Ben Bernanke, who was appointed Fed chairman by your brother, recently wrote a book in which he said he no longer considers himself a Republican because the Republican Party has given in to know- nothingism. Is that why you're having a difficult time in this race? +p2136 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2137 +aVWe're gonna get down the line. Becky's got a question. +p2138 +aVSenator Paul, I've got a question for you on the same subject. +p2139 +aVSenator Paul? +p2140 +aVYou used your time on something else. Senator Paul? +p2141 +aVSenator Paul, the budget deal crafted by Speaker Boehner and passed by the House today makes cuts in entitlement programs, Medicare and Social Security disability, which are the very programs conservatives say need cutting to shrink government and solve our country's long-term budget deficit. Do you oppose that budget deal because it doesn't cut those programs enough? +p2142 +aVSenator, if what you just said is true, why did Speaker Boehner craft this deal and why did Paul Ryan, who has a strong reputation for fiscal discipline, vote for it? +p2143 +aVThank you, Senator . +p2144 +aVJim, thanks. Governor Bush, in a debate like this four years ago, every Republican running for president pledged to oppose a budget deal containing any tax increase even if it had spending cuts ten times as large. A few months later, you told Congress, put me in, coach, you said you would take that deal. Still feel that way? +p2145 +aVBut to \u2014 to the point that you made to Congress, if you were president and you were offered a bipartisan deal that had one dollar... +p2146 +aV...one dollar of tax increases per ten dollars of spending cuts, would you take it? +p2147 +aVSo you don't want the coach to put you in any more? +p2148 +aVThank you, governor. Carl? +p2149 +aVGovernor John Kasich, you've called for abolishing the Export Import Bank, which provides subsidies to help American companies compete with overseas competitors. You call that corporate welfare. One of the largest newspapers in your state wrote an editorial, said they found that strange, writing, that if that's corporate welfare, what does Kasich call the millions of dollars in financial incentives doled out to attract or retain jobs by his development effort \u2014 jobs Ohio. If subsidies are good enough for Ohio companies, why aren't they good enough for companies trying to compete overseas? +p2150 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2151 +aVThank you, Governor. Thank you. +p2152 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate on +p2153 +aVIt sounds like you think Senator Sessions is wrong to believe there is enough abuse in that program that we shouldn't... +p2154 +aVThank you, Senator. Becky? +p2155 +aVGovernor Bush, the tax reform bill that Ronald Reagan signed in 1986 cut the top personal income tax rate to 28 percent \u2014 just like your plan does. But President Reagan taxed capital gains at the same rate, while you would tax them at just 20 percent. Given the problems we've been discussing, growing gap between rich and poor, why would you tax labor at a higher rate than income from investments? +p2156 +aVSenator Rubio, 30 seconds to you. The Tax Foundation, which was alluded to earlier, scored your tax plan and concluded that you give nearly twice as much of a gain in after-tax income to the top 1 percent as to people in the middle of the income scale. Since you're the champion of Americans living paycheck-to- paycheck, don't you have that backward? +p2157 +aVThe Tax Foundation \u2014 just to be clear, they said the... +p2158 +aVNo, I did not. +p2159 +aVSenator, the Tax Foundation said after-tax income for the top 1 percent under your plan would go up 27.9 percent. +p2160 +aVAnd people in the middle of the income spectrum, about 15 percent. +p2161 +aV +p2162 +aVSenator, thank you. +p2163 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you've written about the huge divide in values between middle America and the big coastal cities like New York and Los Angeles. As a preacher as well as a politician, you know that presidents need the moral authority to bring the entire country together. The leading Republican candidate, when you look at the average of national polls right now, is Donald Trump. When you look at him, do you see someone with the moral authority to unite the country? +p2164 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2165 +aVThank you, Governor. Don't forget my colleague, Sharon Epperson. +p2166 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said something that many in your party do not believe, which is that climate change is undeniable, that human activity contributes to it, and you said, quote: "The question is, what do we do to deal with it?". So what do we do? +p2167 +aVWhat should we do? +p2168 +aVYou mean government? +p2169 +aVThank you, Governor. Becky. +p2170 +aVGovernor Bush, Mr. Trump says that he is capable of growing the economy so much that Social Security and Medicare don't have to be touched. Do you want to explain how that is going to happen, Mr. Trump? +p2171 +aVHold on, Governor. I've got a question for \u2014 for Dr. Carson. +p2172 +aVYes. You've said that you would like to replace Medicare with a system of individual family savings accounts, so that families could cover their own expenses. Obviously, that would be a very controversial idea. Explain how that would work, exactly. +p2173 +aVGovernor, do you also think that... +p2174 +aV...that Dr. Carson's right, that we can replace Medicare with individual savings accounts? +p2175 +aVMrs. Fiorina, we're right at the end of our time. +p2176 +aVYou all wanted us to limit . All right. Go ahead. +p2177 +aVWe have now reached the point in the program where candidates are going to give their closing statements, 30 seconds apiece. We're going to go right to left and start with you, Senator Paul. +p2178 +aVGovernor Christie? +p2179 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Cruz? +p2180 +aVThank you, Senator. Mrs. Fiorina? +p2181 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Dr. Carson? +p2182 +aVMr. Trump? +p2183 +aVJust for the record, the debate was always going to be two hours. Senator Rubio? +p2184 +aVSenator Rubio. +p2185 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Bush? +p2186 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Huckabee. +p2187 +aVThank you... +p2188 +aVGovernor Kasich? +p2189 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2190 +asVPAUL +p2191 +(lp2192 +VYou know, I've always had a great deal of respect. There's probably no person I respect more in the country or in recent history than my father. I think he was probably the most honest man in politics that we've ever seen in a generation. And so in no way have I ever said that I don't embrace my father or love my father or appreciate everything that he has done for the country. I think what's interesting about where that liberty vote goes that my father brought to the Republican Party is, I don't think they're necessarily going to go for Ted. You know, Ted didn't show up. We had an audit-the-Fed vote, which was the biggest thing my dad had been advocating for, for 30 years, Ted didn't have time to show up. He was the only Republican that didn't show up for it. And so I think really that vote is going to stay in the Paul household. I think more of it is coming and it's going to grow. The NSA is another big issue. Ted said he was for NSA reform, but then he told Marco Rubio, no, no, no, I voted for the bill because I'm for the government collecting 100 percent of your cell phone records. I don't think Ted can have it both ways. They want to say they're getting some of the liberty vote. But we don't see it happening at all. We think we're going to do very well in Iowa with the liberty vote. +p2193 +aVMay I respond? +p2194 +aVWell, I mean, I was talked about in the question. +p2195 +aVJust very quickly, I would like to respond. The bulk collection of your phone data, the invasion of your privacy did not stop one terrorist attack. I don't think you have to give up your liberty for a false sense of security. When we look at this bulk collection, the court has looked at this. Even the court declared it to be illegal. If we want to collect the records of terrorists, let's do it the old fashioned way. Let's use the Fourth Amendment. Let's put a name on a warrant, let's ask a judge for it. Let's respect the history of our country. John Adams said that we fought a War for Independence because we wanted to fight against generalized warrants. Let's don't forget that. +p2196 +aVMy budget was mentioned. My budget was mentioned. +p2197 +aV... Senator Cruz, I'd like to respond... +p2198 +aV... and I'd like to respond. +p2199 +aVThank you, Marco. +p2200 +aVThank you. The issue in Syria's a very important one, and it's one we need to get right. The question is, should we be bombing both sides of the war? Some want to topple Assad. In fact, they want to bomb +p2201 +aV. +p2202 +aVYeah, no, I think that's a \u2014 that's a huge mistake, to be closing down mosques. But I would say that if you want to defend the country, it begins with border security. And this is where I've had my disagreement with Senator Rubio. When he brought forward the "Gang of Eight" bill to give citizenship to those who came here illegally, I put forward an amendment that says we should have more scrutiny on those who are coming as students, those who are coming as immigrants, those who are coming as refugees, because we had two refugees come to my town in Bowling Green and try to attack us. Marco opposed this because they made a deal. He made a deal with Chuck Schumer that he would oppose any conservative amendments. And I think that's a mistake, and I just don't think Marco can have it both ways. You can't be in favor of defend us... ... against Islam \u2014 radical Islam \u2014 if you're not for border security. +p2203 +aVYou know, I've supported legislation to allow body cameras. I've been to Ferguson, I've been trying to look for solutions to our criminal justice problem. One thing I discovered in Ferguson was that a third of the budget for the city of Ferguson was being reaped by civil fines. People were just being fined to death. Now you and I and many of the people in this audience, if we get a $100 fine, we can survive it. If you're living on the edge of poverty and you get a $100 fine or your car towed, a lot of times you lose your job. I also think the war on drugs has disproportionately affected our African-American community, and what we need to do is make sure that the war on drugs is equal protection under the law and that we don't unfairly incarcerate another generation of young African-American males. In Ferguson, for every 100 African-American women, there are only 60 African-American men. Drug use is about equal between white and black, but our prisons \u2014 three out of four people in prison are black or brown. I think something has to change. I think it's a big thing that our party needs to be part of, and I've been a leader in Congress on trying to bring about criminal justice reform. +p2204 +aVI was there and I saw the debate. I saw Ted Cruz say, "we'll take citizenship off the table, and then the bill will pass, and I'm for the bill." The bill would involve legalization. He can't have it both ways. But what is particularly insulting, though, is that he is the king of saying, "you're for amnesty." Everybody's for amnesty except for Ted Cruz. But it's a falseness, and that's an authenticity problem \u2014 that everybody he knows is not as perfect as him because we're all for amnesty. I was for legalization. I think, frankly, if you have border security, you can have legalization. So was Ted, but now he says it wasn't so. That's not true. +p2205 +aVYou know, I think abortion is always wrong. I've supported a variety of solutions, both state as well as federal. In fact, just last week, I introduced the Life at Conception act, which would say that the 14th amendment would defend an individual even in the womb. But I think on the broader question of religion and politics, you know, I think liberty, itself requires a virtue \u2014 requires a virtuous people. In fact, Washington said that democracy requires a virtuous people. Oz Guinness, the theologian, said that liberty requires restraint but the only restraint consistent with liberty is self-restraint. There's a lot packed into that statement. But the bottom line is we must have virtue, we must have a religious bearing as a nation. The government is not always going to save us and it's not always going to come from government. But if we don't know right and wrong, I think we have lost our way. I think we become unmoored and I think without the religious foundation that guides us all, I think we have a great risk of going horribly in the wrong direction. +p2206 +aVBoth. No, both the federal and a state approach. I have said that we could leave it to the states but I've also introduced a federal solution as well. So the federal solution would be the Life at Conception act which is an act that would federalize the issue. But I've also said for the most part, these issues would be left back to the states. So there might be an occasion if we did overturn Roe v. Wade \u2014 Roe v. Wade nationalized the issue. If you had the court reverse Roe v. Wade, it would become a state issue once again. I think it would be better the more \u2014 the less abortions we have, so the more states that we have that made abortion illegal, the better, as far as trying to save and preserve lives. +p2207 +aVYou know, I've never really brought this up unless asked the question, but I have responded to the question. I don't blame Hillary Clinton at all for this. I don't think she's responsible for his behavior. But I do think that her position as promoting women's rights and fairness to women in the workplace, that if what Bill Clinton did any CEO in our country did with an intern, with a 22-year- old, 21-year-old intern in their office, they would be fired. They would never be hired again. Fired, never hired again and probably shunned in their community. And the thing is, she can't be a champion of women's rights at the same time she's got this that is always lurking out there, this type of behavior. So it is difficult. +p2208 +aVYeah. But I combine this also with the millions upon millions of dollars they've taken from regimes in the Middle East who treat women like cattle. +p2209 +aVWell, thanks for having me. It's great to be back. I'm an eye surgeon from Bowling Green, Kentucky, I miss doing eye surgery, still get to do a little bit. Did a couple of cataract surgeries over Christmas holidays. Got to go to Haiti last year. I've gotten to do some incredible things. Got to be on the floor of the Senate. And it has been amazing to me. But the thing that is most important to me and caused me to run for office is I'm worried about the country and how much debt we're adding. And I am the one true fiscal conservative who will look at all spending. And that's the only way we'll ever balance our budget. Thank you. +p2210 +aVThe question is, how do we keep America safe from terrorism? Trump says we ought to close that Internet thing. The question really is, what does he mean by that? Like they do in North Korea? Like they do in China? Rubio says we should collect all Americans' records all of the time. The Constitution says otherwise. I think they're both wrong. I think we defeat terrorism by showing them that we do not fear them. I think if we ban certain religions, if we censor the Internet, I think that at that point the terrorists will have won. Regime change hasn't won. Toppling secular dictators in the Middle East has only led to chaos and the rise of radical Islam. I think if we want to defeat terrorism, I think if we truly are sincere about defeating terrorism, we need to quit arming the allies of +p2211 +aVYou know, I think Marco gets it completely wrong. We are not any safer through the bulk collection of all Americans' records. In fact, I think we're less safe. We get so distracted by all of the information, we're not spending enough time getting specific immigration \u2014 specific information on terrorists. The other thing is, is the one thing that might have stopped San Bernardino, that might have stopped 9/11 would have been stricter controls on those who came here. And Marco has opposed at every point increased security \u2014 border security for those who come to our country. On his Gang of Eight bill, he would have liberalized immigration, but he did not \u2014 and he steadfastly opposed any new border security requirements for refugees or students. Last week, I introduced another bill saying we need more security, we need more scrutiny. Once again, Marco opposed this. So Marco can't have it both ways. He thinks he wants to be this, "Oh, I'm great and strong on national defense." But he's the weakest of all the candidates on immigration. He is the one for an open border that is leaving us defenseless. If we want to defend the country, we have to defend against who's coming in, and Marco is \u2014 has more of an allegiance to Chuck Schumer and to the liberals than he does to conservative policy. +p2212 +aVIf I was mentioned in the question, can I respond? +p2213 +aVMarco still misunderstands the immigration issue. What I put forward was an amendment that would have temporarily halted immigration from high-risk terrorist countries, but would have started it up, but I wanted them to go through Global Entry, which is a program where we do background checks. The thing is, is that every terrorist attack we've had since 9/11 has been legal immigration. Marco wants to expand that. I want more rules, more scrutiny, and to defend the country, you have to defend the border. +p2214 +aVWolf... +p2215 +aVWolf, this legislation... +p2216 +aVThis legislation on indefinite detention... +p2217 +aV... I think deserves a little more attention. +p2218 +aVI think that by arming the allies of +p2219 +aVI think that if you believe in regime change, you're mistaken. In 2013, we put 600 tons of weapons \u2014 us, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar \u2014 into the war against Assad. By pushing Assad back, we did create a safe space. We had people coming to our Foreign Relations Committee and saying, "Oh, we need to arm the allies of Al Qaida." They are still saying this. It is a crazy notion. This is the biggest debate we should be having tonight is is regime change a good idea; has it been a good idea. There are still people \u2014 the majority on the stage, they want to topple Assad. And then there will be chaos, and I think +p2220 +aVThese are the fundamental questions of our time, these foreign policy questions, whether or not regime change is a good idea or a bad idea. I don't think because I think the regime change was a bad idea it means that Hussein was necessarily a good idea. There is often variations of evil on both sides of the war. What we have to decide is whether or not regime change is a good idea. It's what the neoconservatives have wanted. It's what the vast majority of those on the stage want. They still want regime change. They want it in Syria. They wanted it in Iraq. They want it in Libya. It has not worked. Out of regime change you get chaos. From the chaos you have seen repeatedly the rise of radical Islam. So we get this profession of, oh, my goodness, they want to do something about terrorism and yet they're the problem because they allow terrorism to arise out of that chaos. +p2221 +aVNo, I think it's a huge mistake. I think regime change in Syria, and this is what \u2014 I've been saying this for several years now. In 2013 when we first went in, I said, you are going to give arms to the allies of al Qaida, to radical jihadists? That's crazy. But the other thing I said is the great irony is you will be back fighting against your own weapons. Had Assad been bombed when he used chemical weapons two years ago, +p2222 +aVWell, I think if you're in favor of World War III, you have your candidate. You know, here's...... the thing. My goodness, what we want in a leader is someone with judgment, not someone who is so reckless as to stand on the stage and say, "Yes, I'm jumping up and down; I'm going to shoot down Russian planes." Russia already flies in that airspace. It may not be something we're in love with the fact that they're there, but they were invited by Iraq and by Syria to fly in that airspace. And so if we announce we're going to have a no-fly zone, and others have said this. Hillary Clinton is also for it. It is a recipe for disaster. It's a recipe for World War III. We need to confront Russia from a position of strength, but we don't need to confront Russia from a point of recklessness that would lead to war. This is something \u2014 this type of judgment, you know, it's having that kind of judgment; who you would appoint and how you're going to conduct affairs, that is incredibly important. I mean, I think when we think about the judgment of someone who might want World War III, we might think about someone who might shut down a bridge because they don't like their friends; they don't want to \u2014 you know, they want to a Democrat. So I think we need to be very careful. +p2223 +aVYou know, I think we need to set the record straight on this, because I think Marco misspoke about the bill. On the Gang of Eight bill, there was no provisions really for extra scrutiny or safety for refugees. At the time the bill came up, two Iraqi refugees came to my home town, Bowling Green, Kentucky. Their fingerprints were on a bomb from Iraq. They were in the database, but we didn't pick them up. We relocated them here, put them in government housing, got them on food stamps. And we began providing for them, but we didn't have adequate security. On the Gang of Eight bill, on Marco's bill, we had an opportunity. There was a conservative consensus for an amendment I put forward called Trust, But Verify that would have strengthened border security on both refugees, students and those coming here. And Marco sided and I guess was more sympathetic to Chuck Schumer and to the president than he was to conservative principles. But this goes directly to national defense. And if he wants to run as a national \u2014 national defense conservative, he's got to explain why he hasn't stepped up to support border security. +p2224 +aVWhat my bill would do would be only for refugees going forward. So I haven't taken a position on sending anyone home. But I have taken the position that we have a lot of problems here in our country. And that one of the things that we do \u2014 charity is about giving your own money. Charity isn't giving someone else's money. To put everyone in government housing and food stamps and bring them in from around the world I think is a mistake. To give of your own money, I've given to my church. My church has helped people that came from Bosnia. That's a good thing. But we shouldn't have a program where we just say that we're going to take care of the world's refugees. Nobody in the Middle East is doing anything. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait \u2014 all the Gulf nations are doing nothing. They need to step up and take... +p2225 +aVThe greatest threat to our national security is our debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. And whose fault is it? Well, frankly, it's both parties' fault. You have those on the right who clamor and say, oh, we will spend anything on the military, and those on the left who say the same for domestic welfare. But what most Americans don't realize is there is an unholy alliance. They come together. There's a secret handshake. We spend more money on everything. And we are not stronger nation if we go further into debt. We are not projecting power from bankruptcy court. To me, there is no greater threat than our debt. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage because I'm willing to hold the line on all spending. I hope you will consider me in the election. Thank you very much. +p2226 +aVAbsolutely. And I think that we ought to look where income inequality seems to be the worst. It seems to be worst in cities run by Democrats, governors of... States run by Democrats and countries currently run by Democrats. So the thing is, let's look for root causes. But I would also say \u2014 lay some blame at the \u2014 the feet of the Federal Reserve. I think the Federal Reserve has made this problem worse. By artificially keeping interest rates below the market rate, average ordinary citizens have a tough time earning interest, have a tough time making money. They're actually talking now about negative interest. The money as it's created through quantitative easing or other means tends to start out in the big banks in New York. And because we're now paying interest for them to keep the money there, much of that money has not filtered out into the economy. So what we're finding is there is increasing income disparity and income inequality. We also find that as the Federal Reserve destroys the value of the currency, what you're finding is that, if you're poor, if you make $20,000 a year and you have three or four kids, and you're trying to get by, as your prices rise or as the value of the dollar shrinks, these are the people that are hurt the worst. So really we need to reexamine whether we not \u2014 we want a Federal Reserve that's involved so much in determining interest rates. We also need to look at root causes as to what caused the housing boom and the housing collapse. But the bottom line is, if you want less income inequality, move to a city with a Republican mayor or a state with a Republican governor. +p2227 +aVWell, it's a great question, Neil, and thanks for including me in the tax debate. I think what's important about the tax debate is, is that we have to ask the question, where is money best spent, in the private sector or in the government sector? I want a government really, really small, so small you can barely see it. So I want lower taxes and much more money in the private sector. My tax plan, however, is the only tax plan among any of the candidates on the stage that is part of a balanced budget plan. I put forward three plans that actually balance the budget over a five-year period. Each of these plans have details on exactly where we would cut. The question came up earlier, where would you cut? Nobody likes to say where they would cut. I've put pencil to paper and done three budgets that actually balance. I'm also in favor of a plan called the penny plan where we'd just cut 1 percent across the board and the budget actually balances in less than five years. So I think what is extraordinary about my tax plan is it is in the context of balancing the budget. What is also extraordinary about my tax plan is it gets rid of the payroll tax. Democrats demagogue this issue to death, and when they do they say, oh, a millionaire would get a bigger tax cut than someone making $10,000. That's proportionality, as Ben is trying to explain to folks. But the thing is, is if we get rid of the payroll tax, everybody is going to get a tax cut. And this is something that I think the public at large will support and could win an election. +p2228 +aVOurs is 14.5 percent for corporations, 14.5 percent for individuals. No payroll tax for the employee. The business tax pays for social security, and there would be two remaining deductions \u2014 home mortgage and charity. +p2229 +aVThank you. +p2230 +aVNeil, there's a point I'd like to make here... ....Neil, a point that I'd like to make about the tax credits. We have to decide what is conservative and what isn't conservative. Is it fiscally conservative to have a trillion-dollar expenditure? We're not talking about giving people back their tax money. He's talking about giving people money they didn't pay. It's a welfare transfer payment. So here's what we have. Is it conservative to have $1 trillion in transfer payments \u2014 a new welfare program that's a refundable tax credit? Add that to Marco's plan for $1 trillion in new military spending, and you get something that looks, to me, not very conservative. Thank you. +p2231 +aVNevertheless, it's not very conservative, Marco. +p2232 +aVHow is it conservative? +p2233 +aVYeah, but, Marco! Marco! How is it conservative, how is it conservative to add a trillion-dollar expenditure for the federal government that you're not paying for? +p2234 +aVHow is it conservative? +p2235 +aVHow is it conservative to add a trillion dollars in military expenditures? You can not be a conservative if you're going to keep promoting new programs that you're not going to pay for. +p2236 +aVNo. I don't think we're any safer \u2014 I do not think we are any safer from bankruptcy court. As we go further, and further into debt, we become less, and less safe. This is the most important thing we're going to talk about tonight. Can you be a conservative, and be liberal on military spending? Can you be for unlimited military spending, and say, Oh, I'm going to make the country safe? No, we need a safe country, but, you know, we spend more on our military than the next ten countries combined? I want a strong national defense, but I don't want us to be bankrupt. +p2237 +aVHey, Gerard, you know, we might want to point out China is not part of this deal. +p2238 +aVBefore we get a little bit off-kilter here... +p2239 +aVThere is an argument that China doesn't like the deal, because in us doing the deal, we'll be trading with their competitors. You're exactly right. But I think we've sort of missed the point a little bit here. There is an important point, though, about how we discuss these trade treaties that I do agree with Mr. Trump on. We should negotiate from a position of strength. And we also should negotiate using the full force and the constitutional power that was given to us. I think it's a mistake that we give up power to the presidency on these trade deals. We give up the power to filibuster, and I'm kind of fond of that power. We give up the power to amend. And I think, really, one of the big problems we have in our country is, over the last century, really, so much power has gravitated to the executive branch. Really, Congress is kind of a bystander. We don't write the rules. We don't make the laws. The executive branch does. So even in trade \u2014 and I am for trade \u2014 I think we should be careful about giving so much power to the presidency. +p2240 +aVI'd like first to respond to the acquisition, we should \u2014 I think it's particularly naive, particularly foolish to think that we're not going to talk to Russia. The idea of a no fly zone, realize that this is also something that Hillary Clinton agrees with several on our side with, you're asking for a no fly zone in an area in which Russia already flies. Russia flies in that zone at the invitation of Iraq. I'm not saying it's a good thing, but you better know at least what we're getting into. So, when you think it's going to be a good idea to have a no fly zone over Iraq, realize that means you are saying we are going to shoot down Russian planes. If you're ready for that, be ready to send your sons and daughters to another war in Iraq. I don't want to see that happen. I think the first war in Iraq was a mistake... You can be strong without being involved in every civil war around the war... +p2241 +aVRonald Reagan was strong, but Ronald Reagan didn't... +p2242 +aV...send troops into the Middle East... +p2243 +aV...Can I finish... +p2244 +aV...Can I finish my time? Could I finish with my time? +p2245 +aVYes, I would like to finish my response, basically. +p2246 +aVThis is an important question. This is an incredibly important question. And the question goes to be, who do we want to be our commander-in-chief? Do you want a commander-in-chief who says something that we never did throughout the entire Cold War, to discontinue having conversations with the Russians? I am not happy about them flying over there. But I'm not naive enough to say, well, Iraq has them flying over their airspace, we're just going to announce that we're shooting them down? That is naive to the point of being something you might hear in junior high. But it's scary... +p2247 +aVThe first thing I would do is I wouldn't arm our enemies. I wouldn't arm +p2248 +aVGerard, can I comment... +p2249 +aVThe first thing I would do as president is repeal the regulations that are hampering our energy that the President has put in place. Including the Clean Power Act. While I do think that man may have a role in our climate, I think nature also has a role. The planet's 4.5 billion years old, we've been through geologic age after geologic age. We've had times when the temperatures been warmer, we've had times when the temperatures been colder. We've had times when the carbon in the atmosphere's been higher. So, I think before we \u2014 we need to look before we leap. President's often fond of saying he wants a balance solution, but, really we do need to balance both keeping the environment clean, and we will have some rules for that. We got to balance that with the economy. He's devastated my state. I say the President's not only destroying Kentucky, he's destroying the democrat party down there because nobody wants to associate with him. So, what we really need is somebody that understands that we do need energy of all forms, and that means we will have solar, and wind, and hydro, but we will still have coal, and we still will have natural gas. And, we've got to have an all of the above policy. But, it would be a mistake to shut down all of our industries in the coal fields, and shut down the coal power plants. If we did so we're going to have a day where we wake up and some of our big cities are either very cold, or very hot. So, I think it's a big danger, and we shouldn't do it. And, what we should do is say we want all of the above... ...We want to free up the energy sector, and let people produce, let them drill, let them explore. +p2250 +aVWe're the richest, freest, most humanitarian nation in the history of mankind. But we also borrow a million dollars a minute. And the question I have for all Americans is, think about it, can you be a fiscal conservative if you don't conserve all of the money? If you're a profligate spender, you spend money in an unlimited fashion for the military, is that a conservative notion? We have to be conservative with all spending, domestic spending and welfare spending. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage. +p2251 +aVYou know, I left my medical practice and ran for office because I was concerned about an $18 trillion debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. Now, on the floor of the Congress, the Washington establishment from both parties puts forward a bill that will explode the deficit. It allows President Obama to borrow unlimited amounts of money. I will stand firm. I will spend every ounce of energy to stop it. I will begin tomorrow to filibuster it. And I ask everyone in America to call Congress tomorrow and say enough is enough; no more debt. +p2252 +aVNo, I oppose it because you're taking money from the entitlement and then spending it immediately on other items. That's what they're doing. They're taking money from Social Security and they're going to spend it on the military and they're going to spend it on domestic spending. Here's the thing. When you look at raising the debt limit, it should be leverage to try to reform government. In 2011, the sequester was passed as a reform to slow down the rate of government. Instead, the Washington establishment raised both. We raised the military spending, took from entitlements, and raised domestic spending and the deficit will explode under this. This is the unholy alliance that people need to know about between right and left. Right and left are spending us into oblivion. We should use the debt ceiling, as precisely to Don, to force upon them budgetary reforms. +p2253 +aVWell, that's a real question. Is there going to be any change in the House with new leadership? I frankly don't think there will be much change because I think what's going to happen is you're going to get more of the same. People in Washington think they were sent there to be adults and govern and do all this. Well, you know what I'm worried about? Not keeping the government open. I'm worried about bankrupting the American people. We're borrowing a million dollars a minute. That is important. And that's what we have to contrast. Keeping the government open and continuing to borrow a million dollars a minute. +p2254 +aVWell, thank you very much. I would like to thank Ted for co-sponsoring my bill, audit the Fed. And I think it's precisely because of the arrogance of someone like Ben Bernanke, who now calls us all know-nothings, that is precisely why we need audit the Fed. I think it is really very much a huge problem that an organization as powerful as the Fed comes in, lobbies against them being audited on the Hill. I would prevent them lobbying Congress. I don't think the Fed should be involved with lobbying us. I think we should examine how the Fed has really been part of the problem. You want to study income inequality, let's bring the Fed forward and talk about Fed policy and how it causes income inequality. Let's also bring the Fed forward and have them explain how they caused the housing boom and the crisis, and what they've done to make us better or worse. I think the Fed has been a great problem in our society. What you need to do is free up interest rates. Interest rates are the price of money, and we shouldn't have price controls on the price of money. +p2255 +aV...John... +p2256 +aVJohn, I'd like to address this? John, could I follow up on this? +p2257 +aVWhat are the rules on who gets to follow up. How do we decide on who gets to follow up? I've seen plenty of other people follow up? +p2258 +aVI'd like to just mention something about my tax plan, and how it relates to the discussion... +p2259 +aVAlright. Much of the discussion is centered over whether or not the different tax plans help, or affect the middle class. In fact, it's the chief argument by democrats against many of the different flat tax proposals. Mine is unique in the sense that my tax plan actually gets rid of the payroll tax as well. It shifts it to the business, and it would allow middle class people to get a tax cut. If you just cut their income tax, there isn't much income tax to cut. Mine actually cuts the payroll tax, and I think it would spread the tax cut across all socioeconomic levels, and would allow then it to be something that would be broadly supported by the public in an election. +p2260 +aVThe question always is, what works better, the private marketplace or government? And what distributes goods better? It always seems to be the private marketplace does a better job. Is there an area for a safety net? Can you have Medicare or Social Security? Yes. But you ought to acknowledge the government doesn't do a very good job at it. The main problem with Medicare right now is that the average person pays in taxes over their whole lifetime about $100,000. But the average person takes out about $350,000. We have this enormous mismatch because we have smaller and smaller families. When people ask me, whose fault is it? Whose fault is it that Medicare is broken, out of money, that Social Security is broken, out of money? And I say, look, it's not Republicans' fault, it's not Democrats' fault, it's your grandparents' fault for having too many damn kids. After the war we had all of these kids, Baby Boomers. Now we're having smaller families. We used to have 16 workers for one retiree, now you have three workers for one retiree. It's not working. I have a bill to fix Medicare. I've a bill to fix Social Security. For both of them you have to gradually raise the age. If you're not willing to do that, nobody wants to do it, but if you're not willing to gradually raise the age, you're not serious about fixing either one of them. +p2261 +aVSay again? +p2262 +aVYou can't do nothing. And that's what I hear from some people, "we'll do nothing and it will just be fixed." That's absurd, and I think people who don't want to fix it, really, or unwilling to take the chance to say, "something has to change," are missing the boat here. The age will have to gradually rise, there is no question. It's the only way you fix Medicare, the only way you fix Social Security. You will also have to means-test the benefits and declare there's not enough money. It isn't "I put money in, I'm getting it back." There is no money, it's a stack of paper. There is no money in the Social Security account. There is no money in the Medicare account. There's only a promise to pay by the next generation, and the next generation's not big enough to pay it. [ +p2263 +aVLiberty thrives when government is small. I want a government so small I can barely see it. I want a government so small that the individual has a chance to thrive and prosper. I think, though, government is too big now. And what you're going to see in Washington this week is establishment Republicans have made an agreement with the president to raise the debt ceiling in an unlimited fashion; no limit to the debt ceiling raise. This is extraordinary. It's extraordinarily wrong. You'll see me on the floor of the Senate tomorrow filibustering this and saying enough is enough, no more debt. +p2264 +aVGood evening, everyone. I'm an eye surgeon from Bowling Green, Kentucky. My wife, Kelly, and I have been married for nearly 25 years, and I spend my days defending the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I think there's nothing more important than understanding that the Constitution restrains government, not the people. Thank you. +p2265 +aVI kind of have to laugh when I think of, "Mmm, sounds like a non sequitur." He was asked whether or not he would be capable and it would be in good hands to be in charge of the nuclear weapons, and all of a sudden, there's a sideways attack at me. I think that really goes to really the judgment. Do we want someone with that kind of character, that kind of careless language to be negotiating with Putin? Do we want someone like that to be negotiating with Iran? I think really there's a sophomoric quality that is entertaining about Mr. Trump, but I am worried. I'm very concerned about him \u2014 having him in charge of the nuclear weapons, because I think his response, his \u2014 his visceral response to attack people on their appearance \u2014 short, tall, fat, ugly \u2014 my goodness, that happened in junior high. Are we not way above that? Would we not all be worried to have someone like that in charge of the nuclear arsenal? +p2266 +aVI think this goes back to essentially what we've been saying for the last two or three questions. Carly Fiorina also said we're not going to talk with Putin. Well, think if Reagan had said that during the Cold War? We continued to talk with the Russians throughout the Cold War which is much more significant that where we are now. Should we continue to talk with Iran? Yes. Should we cut up the agreement immediately? That's absurd. Wouldn't you want to know if they complied? Now, I'm going to vote against the agreement because I don't think there's significant leverage, but it doesn't mean that I would immediately not look at the agreement, and cut it up without looking to see if whether or not Iran has complied. The same goes with China. I don't think we need to be rash, I don't think we need to be reckless, and I think need to leave lines of communication open. Often we talk about whether we should be engaged in the world, or disengaged in the world, and I think this is an example of some who want to isolate us, actually, and not be engaged. We do need to be engaged with Russia. It doesn't mean we give them a free pass, or China a free pass, but, to be engaged, to continue to talk. We did throughout the Cold War, and it would be a big mistake not to do it here. +p2267 +aVI think this gets to the point of wisdom on when to intervene and when we shouldn't. Had we bombed Assad at the time, like President Obama wanted, and like Hillary Clinton wanted and many Republicans wanted, I think +p2268 +aVWell, I hate to say it, but Donald Trump has a bit of a point here. The case that was decided around 1900 was, people had a green card, were here legally, and they said that their children were citizens. There's never been a direct Supreme Court case on people who were here illegally, whether or not their kids are citizens. So it hasn't really been completely adjudicated. The 14th Amendment says that "those who are here and under the jurisdiction." The original author of the \u2014 of the 14th Amendment said on the Senate floor that this was applying to slaves, and did not specifically apply to others. +p2269 +aVWell, I'm glad we're having a discussion about taxes because everybody laments that we lose jobs overseas, we have. Our companies, and our jobs are being chased overseas by a 70,000 page tax code, so, that's why I've chosen to get rid of the whole thing, and have one single rate, 14 and a-half percent for everybody, business, and for corporate income, and personal income. But, we also get rid of the payroll tax, so the working class would get a tax break as well. So, I think a flat tax, eliminating the tax code, getting rid of all the loopholes, is the way to go, and it's the way we get America going again. +p2270 +aVHugh, can I \u2014 can I make a response to that? +p2271 +aVCan I make a response to that? +p2272 +aVMay I make a response to that? +p2273 +aVHe's referred to me. +p2274 +aVHe's referred to me... +p2275 +aV... in his remarks. May I make a response? +p2276 +aVAbsolutely. Go ahead. +p2277 +aVMay I respond? +p2278 +aVThe remark was made that there hadn't been anyone else on the podium opposed to the Iraq War. I've made my career as being an opponent of the Iraq War. I was opposed to the Syria war. I was opposed to arming people who are our enemies. Iran is now stronger because Hussein is gone. Hussein was the great bulwark and counterbalance to the Iranians. So when we complain about the Iranians, you need to remember that the Iraq War made it worse. Originally, Governor Bush was asked, was the Iraq War a mistake, and he said, "No. We'd do it again." We have to learn sometimes the interventions backfire. The Iraq War backfired and did not help us. We're still paying the repercussions of a bad decision. +p2279 +aVWe have make the decision now in Syria, should we topple Assad? Many up here wanted to topple Assad, and it's like \u2014 I said no, because if you do... +p2280 +aV... +p2281 +aVIf you want boots on the ground, and you want them to be our sons and daughters, you got 14 other choices. There will always be a Bush or Clinton for you, if you want to go back to war in Iraq. But the thing is, the first war was a mistake. And I'm not sending our sons and our daughters back to Iraq. The war didn't work. We can amplify those who live there. The Kurds deserve to be armed and I'll arm them. We can use our Air Force to amplify the forces there. But the boots on the ground need to be the people who live there. My goodness, I'm still upset with the Saudi Arabians for everything they do over there. They've funded the arms that went to the jihadists. They're not accepting any of the people, any of the migrants that have been \u2014 the refugees that are being pushed out of Syria. Saudi Arabia is not accepting one. Why are we always the world's patsies that we have to go over there and fight their wars for them? They need to fight their wars, we need to defend American interests, but it is not in America's national security interests to have another war in Iraq. +p2282 +aVI think one of the great problems, and what American people don't like about politics, is hypocrisy. People have one standard for others and not for them \u2014 for themselves. There is at least one prominent example on the stage of someone who says they smoked pot in high school, and yet the people going to \u2014 to jail for this are poor people, often African-Americans and often Hispanics, and yet the rich kids who use drugs aren't. I personally think that this is a crime for which the only victim is the individual, and I think that America has to take a different attitude. I would like to see more rehabilitation and less incarceration. I'm a fan of the drug courts which try to direct you back towards work and less time in jail. But the bottom line is the states. We say we like the 10th Amendment, until we start talking about this. And I think the federal government has gone too far, I think that the war on drugs has had a racial outcome, and really has been something that has really damaged our inner cities. Not only do the drugs damage them, we damage them again by incarcerating them and then preventing them from getting employment over time. So I don't think that the federal government should override the states. I believe in the 10th Amendment and I really will say that the states are left to themselves. +p2283 +aVWell, I think if we left it open, we could see how many people smoked pot in high school. +p2284 +aVWell, you know, the thing is that... +p2285 +aVYeah, I was talking about \u2014 well, let me... +p2286 +aVBut let me respond. The thing is, is that in Florida, Governor Bush campaigned against medical marijuana. That means that a small child like Morgan Hintz (ph) that has seizures is day, is failing on non-traditional medications, is not allowed to use cannabis oil. And if they do that in Florida, they will take the child away, they will put the parents in jail. And that's what that means if you're against allowing people use medical marijuana, you'll actually put them in jail. +p2287 +aVAnd actually, under the current circumstances, kids who had privilege like you do, don't go to jail, but the poor kids in our inner cities go to jail. I don't think that's fair. And I think we need to acknowledge it, and it is hypocritical to still want to put poor people in jail... +p2288 +aVWell, you vote \u2014 you oppose medical marijuana... +p2289 +aVBut that means you'll put people in jail. +p2290 +aVMay I respond? +p2291 +aVUnderstand what they're saying. if they're going to say we are going to enforce the federal law against what the state law is, they aren't really believing in the Tenth Amendment. Governor Christie would go into Colorado, and if you're breaking any federal law on marijuana, even though the state law allows it, he would put you in jail. If a young mother is trying to give her child cannabis oil for medical marijuana for seizure treatment, he would put her in jail, if it violates federal law. I would let Colorado do what the Tenth Amendment says. This power \u2014 we were never intended to have crime dealing at the federal level. Crime was supposed to be left to the states. Colorado has made their decision. And I don't want the federal government interfering and putting moms in jail, who are trying to get medicine for their kid... +p2292 +aVMay I respond? May I respond? +p2293 +aVHere is the thing, he doesn't want to make it about medical marijuana, but what if New Jersey's medical marijuana contradicts the federal law? He's saying he'll send the federal government in, and he will enforce the federal law. That's not consistent with the Tenth Amendment. It is not consistent with states' rights. And it is not consistent with the conservative vision for the country. I don't think we should be sending the federal police in to arrest a mother and separate them from their child for giving a medicine to their child for seizures. +p2294 +aVIf you want a skeptic \u2014 if you want a skeptic, Jake, I will happily jump into that briar patch. If you want a real... +p2295 +aVA second opinion? One of the greatest \u2014 one of the greatest medical discoveries of all times was \u2014 were the vaccines, particularly for smallpox. And if you want to read a story, it's called The Speckled Monster, it's an amazing story, it was all done voluntary. But people came in by the droves. George Washington wouldn't let his wife visit until she got vaccinated. So I'm all for vaccines. But I'm also for freedom. I'm also a little concerned about how they're bunched up. My kids had all of their vaccines, and even if the science doesn't say bunching them up is a problem, I ought to have the right to spread out my vaccines out a little bit at the very least. +p2296 +aVOoh, that's a tough one. You know, I'm big on \u2014 that we were \u2014 and I love what Carly said about women's suffrage. I think Susan B. Anthony might be a good choice. +p2297 +aVJustice Never Sleeps. +p2298 +aVI met Ronald Reagan as a teenager, and my family, we're big supporters of him when he ran against Gerald Ford. It was a big deal because he was the grassroots, running against the establishment, and I'll never forget that. And, how he stood up and said, you know what, this is something new that our country needs, and our party needs. If I were president, I would try to be one who says, you know what, I'm a Reagan Conservative. I'm someone who believes in peace through strength, and I would try to lead the country in that way knowing that our goal is peace, and that war is the last resort, not the first resort. And, that when we go to war, we go to war in a constitutional way, which means that we have to vote on it, that war is initiated by congress, not by the president, that we go to war electively (ph). That when we go to war, we don't fight with one arm tied behind our back, we fight all out to win, but then we come home. +p2299 +asVBASH +p2300 +(lp2301 +VA crucial question is how to balance surveillance with privacy and keeping Americans safe. Senator Cruz, you voted for a bill that President Obama signed into law just this past June that made it harder for the government to access Americans' phone records. In light of the San Bernardino attack, was your vote a mistake? +p2302 +aVThank you. Senator Rubio, Senator Cruz is right there was bipartisan support for that. But you voted against it. So, is Senator Cruz wrong? +p2303 +aVSenator Cruz? +p2304 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator \u2014 Senator Rubio, please respond. +p2305 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I know this is \u2014 this has been a very big issue for you. You hear many of your colleagues are calling for increased surveillance by law enforcement. You call that hogwash. Why is that hogwash? +p2306 +aVSenator Rubio? +p2307 +aVGovernor Christie, Governor Christie... ...Governor Christie, I'll come to you in a minute. Go ahead, Senator Paul. +p2308 +aVGo ahead, please. +p2309 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about immigration in a while. But, Governor Christie, just listening to this... +p2310 +aVListening to this, you talked \u2014 you heard Senator Paul, Senator Cruz talk about how important it is to protect Americans' privacy, even in a time of grave danger. Why \u2014 what's wrong with that? +p2311 +aVSenator Paul, you said +p2312 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I want to go back to my initial question, which is you saying that +p2313 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about regime change in a bit. But Governor Kasich, would you like to respond to Senator Paul? +p2314 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. We've been talking tonight about programs and policy proposals that you all have to keep Americans safe and it's a big discussion on the campaign trail. Also about border security and immigration. So let's talk about immigration. Senator Rubio. You co-authored a bill with Democrats two years ago that allowed a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Do you still support that path to citizenship, which means giving those immigrants rights, like the right to vote? +p2315 +aVSenator, you haven't answered the question. You described a very long path but does that path end at citizenship? +p2316 +aVThank you, senator. +p2317 +aVThank you, senator. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, on the campaign trail, Senator Rubio has said that his immigration plan is not that different from yours. Is that true? +p2318 +aVSenator Rubio, please. +p2319 +aVSenator Cruz? +p2320 +aVSenator Cruz? +p2321 +aVSenator Cruz, can you answer that question please? +p2322 +aVSenator Cruz? +p2323 +aVOne at a time please. +p2324 +aVMs. Fiorina, please wait your turn, we're going to get to you. +p2325 +aVSenator Cruz go ahead. +p2326 +aVMr. Trump, you like to say that you restarted this conversation in the campaign. +p2327 +aVSo who do you side with? Who do you side with in this, Senator Rubio or Senator Cruz? +p2328 +aVThank you. Governor Bush? +p2329 +aVListening to this, do you think this is the tone \u2014 this immigration debate that republicans need to take to win back Hispanics into our party especially states like where we are in Nevada that has a pretty Hispanic community? +p2330 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said if China launches a cyber- attack against the U.S. on your watch, "they're going to see cyber- warfare like they have never seen before." What exactly would that response look like? +p2331 +aVGovernor Bush, what you just heard from Governor Christie, are you concerned that that could really escalate with China, that they would retaliate? And, for example, as the NSA has said, attack the U.S. and maybe it's power grid, which the Chinese have the capability to do? +p2332 +aVMr. Trump, just this weekend you said Senator Cruz is not qualified to be president because he doesn't have the right temperament and acted like a maniac when he arrived in the Senate. But last month you said you were open to naming Senator Cruz as your running mate. +p2333 +aVSo why would you be willing to put somebody who's a maniac one heartbeat away from the presidency? +p2334 +aVOkay. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, you have not been willing to attack Mr. Trump in public. +p2335 +aVBut you did question his judgment in having control of American's nuclear arsenal during a private meeting with supporters. Why are you willing to say things about him in private and not in public? +p2336 +aVSenator, senator, I just... +p2337 +aVSenator, a lot of people have seen... +p2338 +aV... a lot of people have seen these comments you made in private. I just want to clarify what you're saying right now is you do believe Mr. Trump has the judgment to be commander in chief? +p2339 +aVGovernor Kasich, Senator Cruz is so committed to stripping federal funds from Planned Parenthood that it could result in shutting down the federal government in just about two weeks. Do you agree with Senator Cruz's tactic? +p2340 +aVThank you. +p2341 +aVThank you. Senator Cruz, I would just add that, on this stage not that long ago, Senator Graham said that this tactic that you're pushing would tank the Republicans' ability to win in 2016. +p2342 +aVThank you, senator. +p2343 +aVThank you... +p2344 +aVGovernor \u2014 governor, I want to go to you. Is it what Senator Cruz says, a surrender by Republicans? +p2345 +aVBut... +p2346 +aVBut is it... +p2347 +aVBut, governor, the \u2014 but, governor, the reality is, in just two weeks' time... ...we are going to be facing a question about whether or not it's enough to shut down the government to make that statement, because there is still a Democrat in the White House. Do you oppose it or support it? +p2348 +aVYes or no, do you support this shutdown? +p2349 +aVWe're talking about Planned Parenthood right now. +p2350 +aVCan you answer yes or no? +p2351 +aVOne more time. I'm sorry, I just want to get the answer. +p2352 +aVSo you would support a shutdown. +p2353 +aVGovernor Bush, Mr. Trump has suggested that your views on immigration are influenced by your Mexican born wife. He said that, quote, "If my wife were from Mexico, I think I would have a soft spot for people from Mexico." Did Mr. Trump go to far in invoking your wife? +p2354 +aVMr. Trump? +p2355 +aVMr. Trump... +p2356 +aVGo ahead. +p2357 +aVMs. Fiorina \u2014 Ms. Fiorina, we're going to come to you, we're going to come to you. I just want to give Governor Bush a chance to respond to what Mr. Trump said. +p2358 +aVOK, on that note, you have criticized Governor Bush for speaking Spanish on the campaign trail. You said, quote, "He should really set an example by speaking English in the United States." What's wrong with speaking Spanish? +p2359 +aVThank you. +p2360 +aV...Thank you.... +p2361 +aVGovernor Bush, let's talk about the issue that's very important to Republican voters, and that's the Supreme Court. After Chief Justice John Roberts voted to uphold Obamacare twice, Senator Cruz criticized your brother for appointing John Roberts to the Supreme Court. Looking back on it, did your brother make a mistake? +p2362 +aV...Is John Roberts one of those people? +p2363 +aVDo you like what you just heard, Senator Cruz? +p2364 +aVMr. Trump, you have said once or twice that you are really rich, and you are by far the richest person on this stage. Chris Christie says billionaires like you and even people who make and earn far less should no longer get Social Security, or at least there should be limits based on \u2014 on their income. You think he's wrong, and if so, why? +p2365 +aVWhat about the country as a \u2014 as a policy? +p2366 +aVSo is a voluntary program the way to get the Social Security system solvent again like that. +p2367 +asVEPPERSON +p2368 +(lp2369 +VThank you, John. Mrs. Fiorina, you were the CEO of a large corporation that offers a 401(k) to its employees. But more than half of American have no access to an employer sponsored retirement plan. That includes the workers at small businesses, and the growing ranks of Uber drivers and other part-timers in the freelance economy. Should the Federal Government play a larger role in helping to set up retirement plans for these workers? +p2370 +aVSo you wouldn't agree \u2014 you wouldn't agree with a start for 401(k) for businesses or anything like that? +p2371 +aVThank you very much. +p2372 +aVThank you, the rules say one minute. +p2373 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. We appreciate it. Thank you, thank you. I want to turn my attention now, to you now, Governor Kasich. Most people can't get a college degree without going into debt. Over 40 million Americans have student loans and many of them cannot pay them back. This country has over $100 billion in student loan defaults. That's billion with a b. What will you do to make sure that students, their families, taxpayers, won't feel the economic impact of this burden for generations? Well, first of all, in Ohio we're changing the whole system. Universities will not get paid one dime unless the student graduates or \u2014 graduates or completes a course. Secondly, you can be in high school and complete almost an entire first year before you go to college and get credit to do that. And, of course, in addition to that, we are working now to go after the cost drivers in our universities. And let me give you an example. Universities today have so many non-academic assets. At Ohio State they sold the parking garage and the parking lot, and they got $500 million because they shouldn't be in the parking lot business. They shouldn't be in the ding business, they shouldn't be in the dorm business. And, of course, we need to take advantage of on-line education to reduce these costs and begin to dis-intermediate the cost of four years. Now, for those who that have these big high costs, I think we can seriously look at an idea of where you can do public service. I mean legitimate, public service and begin to pay off some of that debt through the public service that you do. And in the meantime, it may inspire us to care more about our country, more about ourselves. This is a big moral issue in America. Living a life bigger than yourself, and being a center of healing and justice. And people can learn it through public service. +p2374 +aVThank you, thank you. +p2375 +asVBARTIROMO +p2376 +(lp2377 +VTonight we are working with Facebook to ask the candidates the questions voters want answered. And according to Facebook, the U.S. election has dominated the global conversation, with 131 million people talking about the 2016 race. That makes it the number one issue talked about on Facebook last year worldwide. +p2378 +aVTonight's rules are simple: up to 90 seconds for each answer, one minute for each follow-up response. And if a candidate goes over the allotted time, you'll hear this. So let's get started. Candidates, jobs and growth \u2014 two of the biggest issues facing the country right now. In his State of the Union address earlier this week, the president said, quote, "we have the strongest, most durable economy in the world." And according to our Facebook research, jobs is one of the biggest issues resonating across the country, including here in South Carolina. The president is touting 14 million new jobs and an unemployment rate cut in half. The president said that anyone who claims America's economy is in decline is peddling fiction. Senator Cruz, what do you see that he doesn't? +p2379 +aVThank you, sir. +p2380 +aVWe know that recent global events have many people worried \u2014 Iran detaining American sailors, forcing them to apologize; North Korea and its nuclear ambitions; an aggressive China; and a Middle East that continues to deteriorate, not to mention +p2381 +aVJust to be clear Governor, where and when would you use military action? +p2382 +aVDr. Carson, the president says he does not want to treat +p2383 +aVSenator Cruz, the New York Times is reporting that you failed to properly disclose a million dollars in loans from Goldman Sachs and CitiBank. During your senate race, your campaign said, "it was inadvertent." A million dollars is inadvertent? +p2384 +aVThank you. +p2385 +aVThank you, senator. Mr. Trump, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley in her response to the State of the Union address......appeared to choose sides within the party, saying Republicans should resist, quote, "the siren call of the angriest voices". She confirmed, she was referring to you among others. Was she out of line? And, how would a President Trump unite the party? +p2386 +aVBut what are you going to do about it? +p2387 +aVGovernor Kasich...... Governor Kasich, Hillary Clinton is getting some serious competition from Senator Bernie Sanders. He's now at 41 percent in the latest CBS/New York Times poll. Vice President Biden sang his praises, saying Bernie is speaking to a yearning that is deep and real, and he has credibility on it. So what does it say about our country that a candidate who is a self-avowed socialist and who doesn't think a 90 percent tax rate is too high could be the Democratic nominee? +p2388 +aVDr. Carson, one of the other candidates on this stage has brought Bill Clinton's past indiscretions. Is that a legitimate topic in this election? And what do you think of the notion that Hillary Clinton is an enabler of sexual misconduct? +p2389 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debates, right here in North Charleston. Let's get right back to the questions. Governor Bush, gun rights, one of the top issues seen on Facebook with close to 3 million people talking about it in the past month. Right here in Charleston, Dylann Roof, who has been accused of killing nine people in a nearby church, reportedly had not passed his background check when he got his gun. What is the harm in tightening standards for not only who buys guns, but those who sell them? +p2390 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, are there any circumstances that you think we should be limiting gun sales of any kind in America? +p2391 +aVThank you sir. +p2392 +aVThank you, sir. +p2393 +aVSo what is the answer, Senator Cruz, to stop mass shootings and violent crime, up in 30 cities across the country? +p2394 +aVSenator...... let me follow up and switch gears. Senator Cruz, you suggested Mr. Trump, quote, "embodies New York values." Could you explain what you mean by that? +p2395 +aVI am from New York. I don't. +p2396 +aVAre you sure about that? +p2397 +aVThere's much more ahead including the fight against +p2398 +aVWe welcome back to the Republican Presidential , right back to the questions. Candidates, the man who made fighting +p2399 +aVThe air-strikes. +p2400 +aVNow in their 16th month are ineffective. Dr. Carson, do you think Senator Graham is right in wanting to send 20,000 troops \u2014 ground troops to Iraq and Syria to take out +p2401 +aVThank you, sir. Senator Graham has also said that the U.S. will find Arab support for its coalition if it removes Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. And I quote, "The now king of Saudi Arabia told us, 'you can have our army, you just got to deal with Assad.' "The emir of Qatar said, 'I'll pay for the operation, but they are not going to fight +p2402 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump \u2014 Mr. Trump, your comments about banning Muslims from entering the country created a firestorm. According to Facebook, it was the most-talked-about moment online of your entire campaign, with more than 10 million people talking about the issue. Is there anything you've heard that makes you want to rethink this position? +p2403 +aVWe \u2014 we want to hear from all of you on this. According to Pew Research, the U.S. admits more than 100,000 Muslim immigrants every single year on a permanent lifetime basis. I want to ask the rest of you to comment on this. Do you agree that we should pause Muslim immigration until we get a better handle on our homeland security situation, as Mr. Trump has said? Beginning with you, Governor Kasich. +p2404 +aVThank you, sir, we want to hear from the rest of you, Governor Christie, your take. +p2405 +aVSenator Rubio, where do you stand? +p2406 +aVSenator Cruz, where do you stand? Senator Cruz? +p2407 +aVDr. Carson, where do you stand? Do you agree with Mr. Trump? +p2408 +aVSo, to be clear, the both of you do not agree with Mr. Trump? +p2409 +aVThank you governor. +p2410 +aVWe're getting... +p2411 +aVPrices go higher for... +p2412 +aVYeah. +p2413 +aVReal quick, Senator \u2014 go ahead, Senator Cruz. And then we have to get to tax reform. +p2414 +aVThank you, Governor Bush. Thank you, Mr. Trump. Very briefly. +p2415 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. +p2416 +aVThank you, Mr. Trmup. Thank you, Governor. +p2417 +aVSenator briefly. +p2418 +aVWe've got to get to tax reform, gentlemen. We've got to get to tax reform, and we've got to get to the... +p2419 +aV... we've got to get to the national debt as well. Coming up next, the growing national debt, the war on crime, tax reform. More from North Charleston, South Carolina, when we come right back. +p2420 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential here in North Charleston. Right back to the questions. Governor Christie, we have spoken much about cutting spending, given the $19 trillion debt. But according to one report, America needs $3.6 trillion in infrastructure spending by 2020. Here in South Carolina, 11 percent of bridges are considered structurally deficient, costing drivers a billion dollars a year in auto repairs. What is your plan to fix the ailing roads and bridges without breaking the bank? +p2421 +aVThank you, sir. Dr. Carson......it is true U.S. companies have $2 trillion in cash sitting overseas right now. That could be used for investment and jobs in America. Also, several companies right now are pursuing mergers to move their corporate headquarters abroad, and take advantage of much lower taxes. What will you do to stop the flow of companies building cash away from America, and those leaving America altogether? +p2422 +aVThank you, sir. Senator Rubio... +p2423 +aVWhich is why we raised it. Senator Rubio? Thank you, Mr. Trump. +p2424 +aVOne of the biggest fiscal challenges is our entitlement programs, particularly Social Security and Medicare. What policies will you put forward to make sure these programs are more financially secure? +p2425 +aVThank you senator. +p2426 +aVSenator Cruz, yes. You were meant to. Yes, of course. +p2427 +aVThank you senator. +p2428 +aVThank you senator. I have to get to a question for Mr. Trump. +p2429 +aVYes. +p2430 +aVThank you, Governor. Thank you, Governor. +p2431 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Coming up, how would the candidates protect America, and another terror attack, if we were to see it. But first, you can join us live on stage during the commercial break right from home. Go to facebook.com/foxbusiness. We'll be streaming live and answering your questions during this break next. More from South Carolina coming up. Stay with us. +p2432 +aVMr. Trump, your net worth is in the multi-billions of dollars and have an ongoing thriving hotel and real estate business. Are you planning on putting your assets in a blind trust should you become president? With such vast wealth, how difficult will it be for you to disentangle yourself from your business and your money and prioritize America's interest first? +p2433 +aVSo you'll put your assets in a blind trust? +p2434 +aVThank you sir. +p2435 +aVSenator Rubio? Under current law, the U.S. is on track to issue more new permanent immigrants on green cards over the next five years than the entire population of South Carolina. The CBO says your 2013 immigration bill would have increased green cardholders by another 10 million over 10 years. Why are you so interested in opening up borders to foreigners when American workers have a hard enough time finding work? +p2436 +aVSo your thinking has changed? +p2437 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2438 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2439 +aVWhen we come right back, closing statements. Stay with us. +p2440 +aVWelcome back. Candidates, it is time for your closing statements. You get 60 seconds each. Governor John Kasich, we begin with you. +p2441 +aVGovernor Chris Christie? +p2442 +aVSenator Marco Rubio? +p2443 +aVMr. Donald Trump? +p2444 +aVCandidates, thank you. +p2445 +aVTonight we're partnering with the Wall Street Journal to ask questions on the economy that voters want answered. We're also working with Facebook, who tells us that since the first Republican debate, more than 58 million people have joined the political conversation online. More than 9 million are talking specifically about the economy. +p2446 +aVBusinesswoman Carly Fiorina. Ohio Governor John Kasich. And Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. +p2447 +aVWe've asked people on Facebook to submit their questions for the candidates. Seth Bell wrote, "We are approaching $20 trillion in national debt. Specifically, what plans do you have to cut federal spending?" Governor Kasich, you have spoken much about your success in balancing the budget under President Clinton. Today the national debt is at record highs and growing unsustainably. Interest will be the fastest-growing part of the federal budget, tripling over the next 10 years. Social Security, the lifeline of millions of American seniors, is rushing toward insolvency. With all of the tax plans presented tonight, estimated to cost anywhere between $2 trillion and $12 trillion over a decade, what specific steps will you take to balance the budget? +p2448 +aVDid you want to name any specific steps, sir? +p2449 +aVThank you, sir. +p2450 +aVSenator Cruz, the International Monetary Fund recently cut its expectations for economic growth. Many economists expect a recession to hit the U.S. within the next year due to the weakening of manufacturing. The next president will have to deal with it. You say tax reform is a powerful lever to spur economic expansion. You're calling for a 10 percent income tax and a 16 percent business tax. What other elements do you need in this plan to actually create jobs? +p2451 +aVThank you, sir. +p2452 +aVGovernor Bush... +p2453 +aVWe have more questions for you, Governor Kasich, coming up. We have more questions for you, Governor Kasich. +p2454 +aVWe will \u2014 we will certainly get to that. Governor Bush? +p2455 +aVAlmost 40 percent of Americans are without a job and are not looking. Many have given up. That's what the participation rate tells us. You've said your policies will drive the economy back to 4 percent growth, which we haven't seen since the year 2000. What specific regulations would you change? And how will that lead to jobs and growth? +p2456 +aVThank you, sir. +p2457 +aVMr. Trump, a federal appeals court just dealt a blow to the Obama administration's plan to prevent the deportation of 5 million people living in this country illegally. The White House is appealing to the Supreme Court. At the heart of this issue is the effect that illegal immigrants are having on our economy, what will you do about it? +p2458 +aVCan we just send 5 million people back with no effect on economy? +p2459 +aVSo what will you do? +p2460 +aVThank you, sir. +p2461 +aVWe go back to Facebook. Dewayne Wesley Cato asks on Facebook, how do we get rid of regulations choking our businesses? Ms. Fiorina? Specifically, under the president's Affordable Care Act, employers with 50 or more employees are required to offer health insurance, or be fined. Many are opting to pay the fine. Others are cutting back employee hours to duck the law altogether. What specific ways will you alleviate the pressure on small business? +p2462 +aVJust to be clear, you want to repeal Obamacare... ..but, what's the alternative? +p2463 +aVJust to be clear, you say you would repeal Obamacare... +p2464 +aV...But, what is the alternative... +p2465 +aV...and how does that help small business... +p2466 +aV...Thank you... +p2467 +aVSenator Cruz, there isn't anyone in this audience or watching at home tonight who would not like to pay less in taxes. Most people just want a fair shake, and they don't want their money to be wasted. But explain how your plan works. How can you cut taxes as much as you propose without running up debt and deficits? +p2468 +aVBut you haven't told us how to pay for it. +p2469 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Bush, Republican primary voters say tax reform should be a priority for Congress and the administration. But, Governor Bush, how important is tax reform in your domestic policy agenda? Will you guarantee it in the first year of your presidency? +p2470 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2471 +aVThat's right. That's right. +p2472 +aVComing up, the biggest threats facing the next commander-in-chief. You're watching the Republican presidential debate, live tonight from Milwaukee. We'll be right back. +p2473 +aVWelcome back. Welcome back to the Republican presidential debate. The candidates taking the questions you want answered. Also tonight, you can see what America is saying about the debate. Go to Facebook and type #gopdebate into the search box. Now, back to the questions. Americans face security threats at home and abroad. Last year, terrorist attacks rose 61 percent, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace, with the most deaths occurring in just five countries, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Syria. Dr. Carson, you were against putting troops on the ground in Iraq and against a large military force in Afghanistan. Do you support the president's decision to now put 50 special ops forces in Syria and leave 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan? +p2474 +aVWe asked Facebook to take a look at some of the major issues we're talking about, and tackling in this debate tonight. This word cloud shows what people are focusing on the most. The bigger the word, the more the talk. One of the most discussed issues in the last month, homeland security. Governor Bush, what is the biggest threat facing America today? +p2475 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, in 2012 debate, President Obama mocked Mitt Romney's assertion that Russia was the top geopolitical challenge facing the United States, saying he was a Cold War dinosaur. Now, Russia has invaded Ukraine, and has put troops in Syria. You have said you will have a good relationship with Mr. Putin. So, what does President Trump do in response to Russia's aggression? +p2476 +aVThank you, sir. +p2477 +aVThank you, governor. +p2478 +aVSenator Rubio. +p2479 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. +p2480 +aVMore questions \u2014 more questions coming up, when the Republican presidential debate comes right back, live from Milwaukee. Stay with us. +p2481 +aVWelcome back to the fourth Republican presidential debate. Senator Rubio, Hillary Clinton is the clear front runner for the Democratic nomination. If she is indeed the nominee, you will be facing a candidate with an impressive resume. She was the first lady of the United States, a U.S. senator from New York, and secretary of state under Barack Obama. She has arguably more experience, certainly more time in government than almost all of you on stage tonight. Why should the American people trust you to lead this country, even though she has been so much closer to the office? +p2482 +aVSenator Paul, you were one of 15 republicans to vote for an amendment which states that human activity contributed to climate change. President Obama has announced an aggressive plan to cut carbon emissions. At the same time, energy production in America has boomed. Is it possible to continue this boom, and move toward energy self-sufficiency, while at the same time pursuing a meaningful climate change program? +p2483 +aVCarly Fiorina? +p2484 +aVFormer Governor Jeb Bush? +p2485 +aVSenator Ted Cruz? +p2486 +aVHe's funny. +p2487 +aVThank you. +p2488 +asVSANTELLI +p2489 +(lp2490 +VSenator Cruz, let's focus on our central bank, the Federal Reserve. You've been a fierce critic of the Fed, arguing for more transparency. Where do you want to take that? Do you want to get Congress involved in monetary policy, or is it time to slap the Fed back and downsize them completely? What are your thoughts? What do you believe? +p2491 +aVSenator Paul, the same question to you. +p2492 +aVThank you, Senator. Dr. Carson, you told The Des Moines Register that you don't like government subsidies, it interferes with the free market. But you've also said that you're in favor of taking oil subsidies and putting them towards ethanol processing. Isn't that just swapping one subsidy for another, Doctor? +p2493 +aVThank you, Doctor. Becky? +p2494 +asVTRUMP +p2495 +(lp2496 +VWell, I can say this. If the president, and if I were president now, I would certainly want to try and nominate a justice. I'm sure that, frankly, I'm absolutely sure that President Obama will try and do it. I hope that our Senate is going to be able \u2014 Mitch, and the entire group, is going to be able to do something about it. In times of delay, we could have a Diane Sykes, or you could have a Bill Pryor \u2014 we have some fantastic people. But this is a tremendous blow to conservatism. It's a tremendous blow, frankly, to our country. +p2497 +aV... I think he's going to do it whether or I'm O.K. with it or not. I think it's up to Mitch McConnell and everybody else to stop it. It's called delay, delay, delay. +p2498 +aVWhat we want to do, when we want to do it, and how hard do we want to hit? Because we are going to have to hit very, very hard to knock out +p2499 +aV... called me a genius, I like him so far, I have to tell you. Let me just tell you this. Jeb is so wrong. Jeb is absolutely self \u2014 just so you understand, you know what that is? That's Jeb's special interest and lobbyist talking. Look, let me just tell you something, Jeb \u2014 Jeb is so wrong. You got to fight +p2500 +aV... You'll end up with World War III... +p2501 +aV... We're supporting troops... +p2502 +aV... that we don't even know who they are. +p2503 +aV... We're supporting troops that we don't even know who they are... +p2504 +aVWe have no idea who they are. +p2505 +aV... Oh, yeah, yeah... +p2506 +aV... Let 44 million in New Hampshire, it was practically ... +p2507 +aV... 44 million \u2014 give me a break. +p2508 +aVFirst of all, I have to say, as a businessman, I get along with everybody. I have business all over the world. I know so many of the people in the audience. And by the way, I'm a self-funder. I don't have \u2014 I have my wife and I have my son. That's all I have. I don't have this. So let me just tell you, I get along with everybody, which is my obligation to my company, to myself, et cetera. Obviously, the war in Iraq was a big, fat mistake. All right? Now, you can take it any way you want, and it took \u2014 it took Jeb Bush, if you remember at the beginning of his announcement, when he announced for president, it took him five days. He went back, it was a mistake, it wasn't a mistake. It took him five days before his people told him what to say, and he ultimately said, "It was a mistake." The war in Iraq, we spent $2 trillion, thousands of lives, we don't even have it. Iran has taken over Iraq, with the second-largest oil reserves in the world. Obviously, it was a mistake. +p2509 +aVGeorge Bush made a mistake. We can make mistakes. But that one was a beauty. We should have never been in Iraq. We have destabilized the Middle East. +p2510 +aVYou do whatever you want. You call it whatever you want. I want to tell you. They lied. They said there were weapons of mass destruction, there were none. And they knew there were none. There were no weapons of mass destruction. +p2511 +aVI'm being nice. +p2512 +aVHe spent $22 million in... +p2513 +aVThe World Trade Center came down during your brother's reign, remember that. +p2514 +aVThat's not keeping us safe. +p2515 +aVShe should be running. +p2516 +aVHow did he keep us safe when the World Trade Center \u2014 the World \u2014 excuse me. I lost hundreds of friends. The World Trade Center came down during the reign of George Bush. He kept us safe? That is not safe. That is not safe, Marco. That is not safe. +p2517 +aVAnd George Bush \u2014 by the way, George Bush had the chance, also, and he didn't listen to the advice of his C.I.A. +p2518 +aVI don't want to go. +p2519 +aVYes. +p2520 +aVFirst of all, the \u2014 when you say I'm the only candidate, if you listen to the Democrats, they want to do many things to Social Security, and I want to do them on its own merit. You listen to them, what they want to do to Social Security, none of these folks are getting elected, O.K., whether they can do it or not. I'm going to save Social Security. I'm going to bring jobs back from China. I'm going to bring jobs back from Mexico and from Japan, where they're all \u2014 every country throughout the world \u2014 now Vietnam, that's the new one. They are taking our jobs. They are taking our wealth. They are taking our base. And you and I have had this discussion. We're going to make our economy strong again. I'm lowering taxes. We have $2.5 trillion offshore. We have 2.5 trillion that I think is actually five trillion because the government has no idea when they say 2.5, they have no idea what they're doing or saying, as they've proven very well. We're going to bring that money back. You take a look at what happened just this week. China bought the Chicago Stock Exchange, China, a Chinese company. Carrier is moving to Mexico, air conditioning company. Not only the ones I talk about all the time, Nabisco and Ford and \u2014 they're all moving out. We have an economy that last quarter, G.D.P. didn't grow. It was flat. We have to make our economy grow again. We're dying. This country is dying. And our workers are losing their jobs, and you're going... +p2521 +aVI'm the only one who is going to save Social Security, believe me. +p2522 +aVBecause you have tremendous waste. I'll tell you... +p2523 +aVYou have tremendous waste, fraud and abuse. That we're taking care of. That we're taking care of. It's tremendous. We have in Social Security right now thousands and thousands of people that are over 106 years old. Now, you know they don't exist. They don't exist. There's tremendous waste, fraud and abuse, and we're going to get it. But we're not going to hurt the people who have been paying into Social Security their whole life and then all of a sudden they're supposed to get less. We're bringing our jobs back. We're going to make our economy great again. +p2524 +aVI want everybody taken care of, but we have to take care of our people in this country. We're not taking care of our people. We have no border. We have no control. People are flooding across. We can't have it. We either have a border, and I'm very strongly \u2014 I'm not proposing. I will build a wall. I will build a wall. Remember this, the wall will be paid for by Mexico. We are not being treated right. We are not being treated properly. If we don't have borders, if we don't have strength, we don't have a country. People are flowing across. We have to take care of our people. Believe me. +p2525 +aVLook......When I announced that I was running for president on June 16th, illegal immigration wasn't even a subject. If I didn't bring it up, we wouldn't even be talking. Now, I don't often agree with Marco, and I don't often agree with Ted, but I can in this case. The weakest person on this stage by far on illegal immigration is Jeb Bush. They come out of an act of love, whether you like it or not. He is so weak on illegal immigration it's laughable, and everybody knows it. +p2526 +aV... Spend a little more money on the commercials... +p2527 +aV. I don't know what you're talking about. +p2528 +aV... I never called him \u2014 I don't call him.. +p2529 +aVHe also said about language... +p2530 +aV... Language. Two days ago he said he would take his pants off and moon everybody, and that's fine. Nobody reports that. He gets up and says that, and then he tells me, oh, my language was a little bit rough... +p2531 +aV... My language. Give me a break... +p2532 +aV... You did say it, you did say it. Been reported in 10 different news... +p2533 +aVOr a tax. +p2534 +aVI would build consensus with Congress, and Congress would agree with me. I'll give you an example, because I don't like the idea of using executive orders like our president. It is a disaster what he's doing. I would build consensus, but consensus means you have to work hard. You have to cajole. You have to get them into the Oval Office and get them all together, and you have to make deals. Let me just tell you, I mentioned before, China \u2014 big Chinese company bought the Chicago Exchange. Kerry is moving \u2014 and if you saw the people, because they have a video of the announcement that Carrier is moving to Mexico, O.K.? Well, I'll tell you what. I would go right now to Carrier and I would say I am going to work awfully hard. You're going to make air conditioners now in Mexico. You're going to get all of these 1,400 people that are being laid off \u2014 they're laid off. They were crying. They were \u2014 it was a very sad situation. You're going to go to Mexico. You're going to make air conditioners in Mexico, you're going to put them across our border with no tax. I'm going to tell them right now, I am going to get consensus from Congress and we're going to tax you when those air conditioners come. So stay where you are or build in the United States, because we are killing ourselves with trade pacts that are no good for us and no good for our workers. +p2535 +aVJohn, in life you have flexibility. You do have flexibility. When you're fighting wars, you're going one way, you have a plan. It's a beautiful plan. It can't lose. The enemy makes a change, and all of a sudden you have to change. You have to have flexibility. In Ronald Reagan, though, in terms of what we're talking about, was the great example. He was a somewhat liberal Democrat who became a somewhat, pretty strong conservative. He became \u2014 most importantly, he became a great president. He made many of the changes that I've made \u2014 I mean, I've seen as I grew up, I've seen, and as I get older and wiser, and I feel that I am a conservative. Now, I also feel I'm a common-sense conservative, because some of the views I don't agree with. And I think a lot of people agree with me, obviously, based on what's happening. +p2536 +aVWell, I think these people always hit me with eminent domain, and frankly, I'm not in love with eminent domain. But eminent domain is something you need very strongly. When Jeb had said, "You used eminent domain privately for a parking lot." It wasn't for a parking lot. The state of New Jersey \u2014 too bad Chris Christie is not here, he could tell you \u2014 the state of New Jersey went to build a very large tower that was going to employ thousands of people. I mean, it was going to really do a big job in terms of economic development. Now, just so you understand, I got hit very hard. It's private, it's private eminent domain. You understand that they took over a stadium in Texas, and they used private eminent domain, but he just found that out after he made the charge. +p2537 +aVYeah. Well, Jeb wouldn't have known about it. +p2538 +aVYou shouldn't have used it then, Jeb. +p2539 +aVThank you very much, I appreciate it. +p2540 +aVYou probably are worse than Jeb Bush. You are single biggest liar. This guy's lied \u2014 let me just tell you, this guy lied about Ben Carson when he took votes away from Ben Carson in Iowa, and he just continues. Today, we had robo-calls saying, "Donald Trump is not going to run in South Carolina," where I'm leading by a lot. I'm not going to vote for Ted Cruz. This is the same thing he did to Ben Carson. This guy will say anything, nasty guy. Now I know why he doesn't have one endorsement from any of his colleagues. +p2541 +aVHe's a nasty guy. +p2542 +aVWhere did I support it? Where did I... +p2543 +aVAgain, where did I support it? +p2544 +aVHey Ted, where I support it? +p2545 +aVWhere did I support? +p2546 +aVThat's a lot of lies. +p2547 +aVIt does do wonderful things, but not as it relates to abortion. +p2548 +aVExcuse me. Excuse me, there are wonderful things having to do with women's health. +p2549 +aVBut not when it comes to abortion. +p2550 +aVHold on... +p2551 +aVTed Cruz told your brother that he wanted John Roberts to be on the United States Supreme Court. They both pushed him, he twice approved Obamacare. +p2552 +aVO.K., governor. +p2553 +aVYou pushed him. You pushed him. +p2554 +aVYou worked with him and you pushed him. Why do you lie? +p2555 +aVWhy do you lie? +p2556 +aVYou pushed him. +p2557 +aVYeah, yeah, I know, you're an adult. +p2558 +aVWell, I would say my wife tells me I'm wrong all the time. And I listen. +p2559 +aVOh, let me just say \u2014 look, I am very open \u2014 I hired top people. I've had great success. I built a great, great company. I don't need to do this. I'm self-funding. I'm spending a lot of money. I've spent \u2014 like in New Hampshire, I spent $3 million. Jeb bush spent $44 million. He came in five, and I came in No. 1. That's what the country needs, folks. I spent 3, he spends 42 of their money, of special interest money. And it's just \u2014 this is not going to make \u2014 excuse me. This is not going to make our country great again. This is not what we need in our country. We need people that know what the hell they're doing. And politicians, they're all talk, they're no action. And that's why people are supporting me. I do listen to people. I hire experts. I hire top, top people. And I do listen. And you know what? Sometimes they're wrong. You have to know what to do, when to do it. But sometimes they're wrong. +p2560 +aVWell, I'll tell you \u2014 over the years, I've made many speeches. People have asked me, big companies have asked me to make speeches, and friends of mine that run big companies on success. And occasion, in order to sort of really highlight something, I'll use a profanity. One of the profanities that I got credited with using, that I didn't use, was a very bad word, two weeks ago, that I never used. I said, "You." And everybody said "Oh, he didn't say anything wrong." But you bleeped it, so everyone thinks I said the \u2014 I didn't say anything. I never said the word. It is very unfair, that criticism. Now, I will say this, with all of that being said, I have said I will not do it at all, because if I say a word that's a little bit off color, a little bit, it ends up being a headline. I will not do it again. I was a very good student at a great school not using \u2014 by the way \u2014 not using profanity is very easy. +p2561 +aVThat's not \u2014 let me respond. That's another lie. I never went bankrupt! +p2562 +aVNo, but it's another lie. +p2563 +aVNo, but it's another lie. This guy doesn't know what he's talking about. Just a lie. +p2564 +aVLet me just tell you. Jeb goes around saying, just like the biggest business leaders in this country, I've used the laws of the land to chapter \u2014 I bought a company, I threw it immediately into a chapter, I made a great deal. I uses the laws to my benefit, because I run a company. +p2565 +aVExcuse me, Jeb! +p2566 +aVI never went bankrupt, never. Now \u2014 but you don't want to say that. Now, let me just say, I've used it, just like the biggest leaders in the country. Let me tell you something \u2014 Florida. Florida, he put so much debt on Florida. You know, we keep saying he's a wonderful governor, wonderful governor. He put so much debt on Florida, and he increased spending so much that as soon as he got out of office, Florida crashed. I happened to be there. It's my second home. Florida crashed. He didn't do a good job as governor. +p2567 +aVAnd you haven't \u2014 excuse me, you haven't heard that. You listen to the good record in Florida. You take a look at what happened, as soon as that year ended he got out, Florida crashed. Too much debt. He loaded it up with debt, and his spending went through the roof. +p2568 +aVBy the way... +p2569 +aV... he was not a good governor. +p2570 +aVTake a look at your numbers. +p2571 +aVFlorida went down the tubes right after he got out of office. +p2572 +aVWent right down because of what he did to it. +p2573 +aVThank you. Politicians are all talk, no action. You've seen where they've take you to. We are 19 trillion dollars right now. It's going to be increased with that horrible budget from a month ago that was just approved by politicians. We need a change. We need a very big change. We're going to make our country great again. I say this every night, every day, every afternoon, and it's so true \u2014 we don't win anymore. We don't win with health care, we don't win with +p2574 +aVI actually think I have the best temperament. I built a massive corporation. I employ thousands and thousands of people. I've gotten along with people for years and years, have tremendous relationships with many people, including politicians on both sides. And no matter how you cut it, when I \u2014 when I came out, I hit immigration, I hit it very hard. Everybody said, "Oh, the temperament," because I talked about illegal immigration. Now, everybody's coming to me, they're all trying to say, well, he's right, we have to come to him. I hit other things. I talked about Muslims. We have a problem. Nobody else wanted to mention the problem, I brought it up. I took a lot of heat. We have to have a temporary something, because there's something going on that's not good. And remember this, I'm the only one up here, when the war of Iraq \u2014 in Iraq, I was the one that said, "Don't go, don't do it, you're going to destabilize the Middle East." So, I'm not one with a trigger. I'm not one with a trigger. Other people up here, believe me, would be a lot faster. But I'll build the mill arbitrary stronger, bigger, better than anybody up here, and nobody is going to mess with us. That, I can tell you. +p2575 +aVAm I allowed to respond? I have to respond. +p2576 +aVFirst of all, I respect what Ted just said, but if you noticed, he didn't answer your question. And that's what's going to happen \u2014 OK. That's what's going to happen with our enemies and the people we compete against. We're going to win with Trump. We're going to win. We don't win anymore. Our country doesn't win anymore. We're going to win with Trump. And people back down with Trump. And that's what I like and that's what the country is going to like. +p2577 +aVWell, let me say a couple of things. First of all, Marco said earlier on that President Obama knows exactly what he's doing, like we have this president that really knows. I disagree, respectfully, with Marco. I think we have a president who, as a president, is totally incompetent, and he doesn't know what he's doing. I think he has no idea what he's doing. And our country is going to hell. So, I just want to say, we disagree on that. Is that okay? +p2578 +aVGood. +p2579 +aVAs to North Korea? +p2580 +aVWe have \u2014 tremendous \u2014 has been just sucked out of our country by China. China says they don't have that good of control over North Korea. They have tremendous control. I deal with the Chinese all of the time. I do tremendous \u2014 the largest bank in the world is in one of my buildings in Manhattan. I deal with them. They tell me. They have total, absolute control, practically, of North Korea. They are sucking trillions of dollars out of our country \u2014 they're rebuilding China with the money they take out of our country. I would get on with China, let China solve that problem. They can do it quickly and surgically. That's what we should do with North Korea. +p2581 +aVGood evening. +p2582 +aVYes. HAM: In the Democratic primary, Hillary Clinton has criticized Bernie Sanders' plan for single payer government health care, noting it would require big, across the board tax increases for Americans. In doing so, she's doubling down on Obamacare, despite its persistent unpopularity. Mr. Trump, you have said you want to appeal Obamacare. You have also said, quote, "Everybody's got to be covered," adding, quote, "The government's going to pay for it." Are you closer to Bernie Sanders' vision for health care than Hillary Clinton's? +p2583 +aVI don't think I am. I think I'm closer to common sense. We are going to repeal Obamacare. We're going to repeal Obamacare. We are going to replace Obamacare with something so much better. And there are so many examples of it. And I will tell you, part of the reason we have some people laughing, because you have insurance people that take care of everybody up here. I am self-funded. The only one they're not taking care of is me. We have our lines around each state. The insurance companies are getting rich on Obamacare. The insurance companies are getting rich on health care and health services and everything having to do with health. We are going to end that. We're going to take out the artificial boundaries, the artificial lines. We're going to get a plan where people compete, free enterprise. They compete. So much better. In addition to that, you have the health care savings plans, which are excellent. What I do say is, there will be a certain number of people that will be on the street dying and as a Republican, I don't want that to happen. We're going to take care of people that are dying on the street because there will be a group of people that are not going to be able to even think in terms of private or anything else and we're going to take care of those people. And I think everybody on this stage would have to agree......you're not going to let people die, sitting in the middle of a street in any city in this country. +p2584 +aVWell, let me just tell you about eminent domain because almost all of these people actually criticize it, but so many people have hit me with commercials and other things about eminent domain. Eminent domain is an absolute necessity for a country, for our country. Without it, you wouldn't have roads, you wouldn't have hospitals, you wouldn't have anything. You wouldn't have schools, you wouldn't have bridges. You need eminent domain. And a lot of the big conservatives that tell me how conservative they are \u2014 I think I'm more than they are \u2014 they tell me, oh \u2014 well, they all want the Keystone Pipeline. The Keystone Pipeline, without eminent domain, it wouldn't go 10 feet, OK? You need eminent domain. And eminent domain is a good thing, not a bad thing. And what a lot of people don't know because they were all saying, oh, you're going to take their property. When somebody \u2014 when eminent domain is used on somebody's property, that person gets a fortune. They get at least fair market value, and if they are smart, they'll get two or three times the value of their property. But without eminent domain, you don't have roads, highways, schools, bridges or anything. So eminent domain \u2014 it's not that I love it, but eminent domain is absolutely \u2014 it's a necessity for a country. And certainly it's a necessity for our country. +p2585 +aVYes. +p2586 +aVJeb wants to be \u2014 he wants to be a tough guy tonight. I didn't take the property. +p2587 +aVI didn't take the property. +p2588 +aVThe woman ultimately didn't want to do that. I walked away. +p2589 +aVWell, let me just \u2014 you know, he wants to be a tough guy. A lot of times, you'll have \u2014 you'll have \u2014 and it didn't work very well. +p2590 +aVA lot of time \u2014 let me talk. Quiet. A lot of times \u2014 a lot of times... +p2591 +aV... you \u2014 let me talk. Let me talk. Quiet. A lot of times......that's all of his donors and special interests out there. So \u2014 it's what it is. That's what \u2014 and by the way, let me just tell you, we needed tickets. You can't get them. You know who has the tickets for the \u2014 I'm talking about, to the television audience? Donors, special interests, the people that are putting up the money. That's who it is. The RNC told us. We have all donors in the audience. And the reason they're not loving me......the reason they're not \u2014 excuse me. The reason they're not loving me is, I don't want their money. I'm going to do the right thing for the American public. I don't want their money. I don't need their money. And I'm the only one up here that can say that. Eminent domain, the Keystone pipeline \u2014 do you consider that a private job? Do you \u2014 do you consider that... +p2592 +aVNo \u2014 no, let me ask you, Jeb. Do you consider the Keystone pipeline private? +p2593 +aVIs it public or private? +p2594 +aVReal \u2014 a public use? +p2595 +aVNo, it's a private job. +p2596 +aVIt's a private job. +p2597 +aVYou wouldn't have the Keystone pipeline that you want so badly without eminent domain. +p2598 +aVYou wouldn't have massive \u2014 excuse me, Josh \u2014 you wouldn't have massive factories without eminent domain. +p2599 +aVWell, I think I am, and to me, I view the word conservative as a derivative I \u2014 of \u2014 of the word conserve. We want to converse our money. We want to conserve our wealth. We want to conserve. We want to be smart. We want to be smart where we go, where we spend, how we spend. We want to conserve our country. We want to save our country. And we have people that have no idea how to do that and they are not doing it, and it's a very important word and it's something I believe in very, very strongly. +p2600 +aVWell, before I go there, I will tell you, I will bring jobs back from China. I will bring jobs back from Japan. I will bring jobs back from Mexico, where New Hampshire, by the way, has been virtually wiped out. They've lost so many businesses going to Mexico because of horrible trade deals. And now we're about to sign another trade deal, TPP, which is going to be a disaster for this country because they don't talk about monetary manipulation. It is going to be a disaster. I'm going to bring jobs back and I'll start bringing them back very fast. Under my tax plan \u2014 right now, we're the highest taxed country in the world. Under my plan, we cut not only taxes for the middle class, but we cut taxes for corporations. We will bring back trillions of dollars that's offshore. Right now, they have $2.5 trillion, and in my opinion, it's much more than that. That's what the government says. All of that money is going to come back. And we're not going to lose Pfizer, which is now leaving, and other great companies, which is now leaving. And they're all leaving. We have many, many companies that are leaving this country. We're not going to lose them anymore because we're going to have a tax structure that is going to keep them in our country. +p2601 +aVWell, four years ago, I said, bomb the oil and take the oil. And if we did that, they wouldn't have the wealth they have right now. Now, I still say the same thing, because we're doing little pinpricks. We're not even bombing \u2014 if somebody's driving a truck, they give notice to the person driving the truck, "we're going to bomb." If they don't get out of the truck, the truck sails away with the oil. We actually have a case where we don't want to bomb the oil, because we don't want to hurt \u2014 pollute the atmosphere. Can you imagine General Douglas MacArthur or General Patton saying we can't bomb because we're gonna hurt the atmosphere? You have to knock the hell out of the oil. You have to take the oil. And you have also back channels of banking. You have people that you think are our great allies, our friends, in the Middle East, that are paying tremendous numbers of \u2014 tremendous amounts of money to +p2602 +aVYou have to go in \u2014 first of all, when you take away their money, when you take away their wealth, that'll very much weaken \u2014 and it will happen fairly fast. They'll last for about a year, based on all of the wealth they've accumulated. But when you stop the banking channels and when you stop the oil and take the oil \u2014 not just bomb it, take it \u2014 when you do that, it's going to dry up very quickly. They're going to become a very weakened power, quickly. Thank you. +p2603 +aVWell, I'll tell you what. In the Middle East, we have people chopping the heads off Christians, we have people chopping the heads off many other people. We have things that we have never seen before \u2014 as a group, we have never seen before, what's happening right now. The medieval times \u2014 I mean, we studied medieval times \u2014 not since medieval times have people seen what's going on. I would bring back waterboarding and I'd bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding. +p2604 +aV... No, a good deal maker will make great deals, but we'll do it the way our founders thought it should be done. People get together, they make deals. Ronald Reagan did it with Tip O'Neil very successfully, you didn't hear so much about executive orders, if you heard about it at all. You have to be able to get a consensus. Now, the real person like it was mentioned about the deal with Iran, how bad a deal is that? It doesn't get any more amateurish than that. A good deal maker would never make a deal like that. With Congress, you have to get everybody in a room, and you have to get them to agree. But, you have to get them to agree what you want, and that's part of being a deal maker. You can't leave the White House, go to Hawaii and play golf for three weeks and be a real deal maker. It doesn't work that way. You have to get people in, grab them, hug them, kiss them, and get the deal done. But, it's got to be the deal that you want. HAM: Governor Kasich, is the problem with Washington that there are too many deals, or too few? +p2605 +aVSome? +p2606 +aVWell... +p2607 +aVYes. OK, good. It looked like he was looking right at me, right there. I think that \u2014 I look at what's going on, I look at all of the polls, I do very, very well against Hillary Clinton. I can tell you, I'm the last person that she wants to run against. And I think you can see what we've done in terms of galvanizing. I've been all over the country. We're \u2014 last night, I was in South Carolina, we had 12,000 people. It set up in about four days. We have galvanized and we've created a movement. A lot of it has to do with \u2014 as an example, Josh's question on drugs. I'm the first person that said, "Build a wall." But I mean, a real wall, not a toy wall like they have right now. A real wall. And you'll solve lots of problems. But we will galvanize the people of this country, and we will beat Hillary Clinton. Because \u2014 assuming that she runs, by the way, how she gets away with the e-mail stuff is hard to believe. So, I don't know that she's going to be running. But on the assumption she runs... I mean, look. And speaking of that, if she runs, she's running for one reason. She's going to be able to run for one reason, and that's because the Democrats are protecting her. Because so many people have done so much less than her, and they were absolutely \u2014 their lives have been destroyed. But on the assumption they do protect her, I will win the election and we will win it by a lot. We will win it handily. We cannot have another four years of essentially Barack Obama. +p2608 +aVWell, there is a divide, but I have to say that the police are absolutely mistreated and misunderstood, and if there is an incident, whether it's an incident done purposely \u2014 which is a horror, and you should really take very strong action \u2014 or if it is a mistake, it's on your news casts all night, all week, all month, and it never ends. The police in this country have done an unbelievable job of keeping law and order, and they're afraid for their jobs, they're afraid of the mistreatment they get, and I'm telling you that not only, me speaking, minorities all over the country, they respect the police of this country and we have to give them more respect. They can't act. They can't act. They're afraid for losing their pension, their job. They don't know what to do. And I deal with them all the time. We have to give great respect, far greater than we are right now, to our really fantastic police. +p2609 +aVWell, they do. And, you know, they sue. Everybody sues, right? They see excessive \u2014 I mean, they go out, they sue. We have so much litigation \u2014 I see the courts, I see what they're doing. They sue, and you know what? We don't want excessive force. But at what point \u2014 you know, either you're going to have a police force that can do its job... I was just up in Manchester, I met with the police officers yesterday. Tremendous people. They love the area, they love the people, they love all the people. They want to do their job. And you're going to have abuse and you're going to have problems, and you've got to solve the problems and you have to weed out the problems. But the police in this country are absolutely amazing people. +p2610 +aVWell, I \u2014 I know Diane Foley very well. Her husband and \u2014 these are tremendous people. I spoke for them, I raised a lot of money for the foundation. I fully understand, James, one of \u2014 that was really the first that we saw, really visually saw \u2014 it was so horrible. And I will tell you, though, with all of that being said, you can not negotiate this way with terrorists. If you do, you are going to have many, many more James Foleys. James Foley was a great young man. His parents are incredible people. They've done such a good job, since his \u2014 since his death. But you just cannot negotiate that way with terrorists, or you're gonna have so many other James Foleys. And one thing on the vets \u2014 during the last debate, I raised $6 million for the vets, and I will tell you something......I will tell you that I think nobody here, nobody on this stage, gets along with the veterans groups in New Hampshire better than I do without ball (ph) to sarel (ph) and all of the people that I deal with and these are great people. The one thing that we're not mentioning, there's tremendous fraud, waste and abuse in the Veterans Administration and if I'm running things, that's going to disappear......and it's going to disappear quickly. +p2611 +aVCarolina. +p2612 +aVThat's because he got Ben Carson's votes, by the way, but we won't . Our country that we love so much doesn't win anymore. We don't win with the military, we don't' win on the border. You look at New Hampshire with the tremendous problem we have with heroin. Number one thing I hear from the people of New Hampshire, who I love, and developed such relationships, we don't win with healthcare. We don't win with trade. You look at what other countries are doing to us. China. Everyone, they're killing us on trade. If I'm elected president, we will win, and we will win, and we will win. Thank you, thank you very much. +p2613 +aVIt's not fear and terror, it's reality. You just have to look today at Indonesia, bombings all over. You look at California, you look, frankly, at Paris where there's a \u2014 the strictest no-gun policy of any city anywhere in the world, and you see what happens: 130 people dead with many to follow. They're very, very badly wounded. They will \u2014 some will follow. And you look around, and you see what's happening, and this is not the case when he introduced the doctor \u2014 very nice, everything perfect but that is not representative of what you have in that line of migration. That could be the great Trojan Horse. It could be people that are going to do great, great destruction. When I look at the migration, I looked at the line, I said it actually on your show recently, where are the women? It looked like very few women. Very few children. Strong, powerful men, young and people are looking at that and they're saying what's going on? You look at the kind of damage that two people that two people that got married, they were radicalized \u2014 they got married, they killed 15 people in actually 15 \u2014 going to be probably 16 but you look at that and you take a look \u2014 a good strong look and that's what we have. We are nineteen trillion dollars \u2014 our country's a mess and we can't let all these people come into our country and break our borders. We can't do it. +p2614 +aVBut I was born here. +p2615 +aV. Big difference. +p2616 +aVOK, good. Because it wouldn't work. +p2617 +aV... first of all, let me just tell you something \u2014 and you know, because you just saw the numbers yourself \u2014 NBC Wall Street Journal just came out with a poll \u2014 headline: Trump way up, Cruz going down. I mean, so don't \u2014 so you can't \u2014 you can't......they don't like the Wall Street Journal. They don't like NBC, but I like the poll. And frankly, it just came out, and in Iowa now, as you know, Ted, in the last three polls, I'm beating you. So \u2014 you know, you shouldn't misrepresent how well you're doing with the polls. You don't have to say that. In fact, I was all for you until you started doing that, because that's a misrepresentation, number one. Number two, this isn't me saying it. I don't care. I think I'm going to win fair and square to win this way. Thank you. Lawrence Tribe and from Harvard \u2014 of Harvard, said that there is a serious question as to whether or not Ted can do this. OK? There are other attorneys that feel, and very, very fine constitutional attorneys, that feel that because he was not born on the land, he cannot run for office. Here's the problem. We're running. We're running. He does great. I win. I choose him as my vice presidential candidate, and the Democrats sue because we can't take him along for the ride. I don't like that. OK? The fact is \u2014 and if for some reason he beats the rest of the field, he beats the rest of the field . See, they don't like that. They don't like that. No, they don't like he beats the rest of the field, because they want me. But \u2014 if for some reason, Neil, he beats the rest of the field, I already know the Democrats are going to be bringing a suit. You have a big lawsuit over your head while you're running. And if you become the nominee, who the hell knows if you can even serve in office? So you should go out, get a declaratory judgment, let the courts decide. And you shouldn't have mentioned the polls because I would have been much... +p2618 +aVBecause now he's going a little bit better. No, I didn't care . It's true. No, it's true. Hey look, he never had a chance. Now, he's doing better. He's got probably a four or five percent chance. +p2619 +aVThe fact is, there is a big overhang. There's a big question mark on your head. And you can't do that to the party. You really can't. You can't do that to the party. You have to have certainty. Even if it was a one percent chance, and it's far greater than one percent because . I mean, you have great constitutional lawyers that say you can't run. If there was a \u2014 and you know I'm not bringing a suit. I promise. But the Democrats are going to bring a lawsuit, and you have to have certainty. You can't have a question. I can agree with you or not, but you can't have a question over your head. +p2620 +aVYou don't have to. Take it from Lawrence Tribe. Take it from your professors... +p2621 +aVHe's wrong. He's wrong. +p2622 +aVHe is not the only one. +p2623 +aVThere are many lawyers. +p2624 +aVNo \u2014 no...... I think if it doesn't... I like that. I like it. I'd consider it. But I think I'll go back to building buildings if it doesn't work out. +p2625 +aVI have a feeling it's going to work out, actually. +p2626 +aVOkay. First of all, Nikki this afternoon said I'm a friend of hers. Actually a close friend. And wherever you are sitting Nikki, I'm a friend. We're friends. That's good. But she did say there was anger. And I could say, oh, I'm not angry. I'm very angry because our country is being run horribly and I will gladly accept the mantle of anger. Our military is a disaster. Our healthcare is a horror show. Obamacare, we're going to repeal it and replace it. We have no borders. Our vets are being treated horribly. Illegal immigration is beyond belief. Our country is being run by incompetent people. And yes, I am angry. And I won't be angry when we fix it, but until we fix it, I'm very, very angry. And I say that to Nikki. So when Nikki said that, I wasn't offended. She said the truth. One of your colleagues interviewed me. And said, well, she said you were angry and I said to myself, huh, she's right. I'm not fighting that. I didn't find it offensive at all. I'm angry because our country is a mess. +p2627 +aVNo. I am a 2nd amendment person. If we had guns in California on the other side where the bullets went in the different direction, you wouldn't have 14 or 15 people dead right now. If even in Paris, if they had guns on the other side, going in the opposite direction, you wouldn't have 130 people plus dead. So the answer is no and what Jeb said is absolutely correct. We have a huge mental health problem in this country. We're closing hospitals, we're closing wards, we're closing so many because the states want to save money. We have to get back into looking at what's causing it. The guns don't pull the trigger. It's the people that pull the trigger and we have to find out what is going on. We have to protect our 2nd amendment and you cannot do this and certainly what Barack Obama was doing with the executive order. He doesn't want to get people together, the old-fashioned way, where you get Congress. You get the Congress, you get the Senate, you get together, you do legislation. He just writes out an executive order. Not supposed to happen that way. +p2628 +aVYou get the Congress. You get the Senate. You get together. You do legislation. He just writes out an order, executive order. It's not supposed to happen that way. +p2629 +aVSo conservatives actually do come out of Manhattan, including William F. Buckley and others, just so you understand. And just so \u2014 if I could, because he insulted a lot of people. I've had more calls on that statement that Ted made \u2014 New York is a great place. It's got great people, it's got loving people, wonderful people. When the World Trade Center came down, I saw something that no place on Earth could have handled more beautifully, more humanely than New York. You had two one hundred... ...you had two 110-story buildings come crashing down. I saw them come down. Thousands of people killed, and the cleanup started the next day, and it was the most horrific cleanup, probably in the history of doing this, and in construction. I was down there, and I've never seen anything like it. And the people in New York fought and fought and fought, and we saw more death, and even the smell of death \u2014 nobody understood it. And it was with us for months, the smell, the air. And we rebuilt downtown Manhattan, and everybody in the world watched and everybody in the world loved New York and loved New Yorkers. And I have to tell you, that was a very insulting statement that Ted made. +p2630 +aVNo. No. Look, we have to stop with political correctness. We have to get down to creating a country that's not going to have the kind of problems that we've had with people flying planes into the World Trade Centers, with the \u2014 with the shootings in California, with all the problems all over the world. I just left Indonesia \u2014 bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb. We have to find out what's going on. I said temporarily. I didn't say permanently. I said temporarily. And I have many great Muslim friends. And some of them, I will say, not all, have called me and said, "Donald, thank you very much; you're exposing an unbelievable problem and we have to get to the bottom of it." And unlike President Obama, where he refuses even to use the term of what's going on, he can't use the term for whatever reason. And if you can't use the term, you're never going to solve the problem. My Muslim friends, some, said, "thank you very much; we'll get to the bottom of it." But we have a serious problem. And we can't be the stupid country any more. We're laughed at all over the world. +p2631 +aVEleven points, to be exact. +p2632 +aVI want security for this country. OK? I want security. I'm tired of seeing what's going on, between the border where the people flow over; people come in; they live; they shoot. I want security for this country. We have a serious problem with, as you know, with radical Islam. We have a tremendous problem. It's not only a problem here. It's a problem all over the world. I want to find out why those two young people \u2014 those two horrible young people in California when they shot the 14 people, killed them \u2014 people they knew, people that held the wedding reception for them. I want to find out \u2014 many people saw pipe bombs and all sorts of things all over their apartment. Why weren't they vigilant? Why didn't they call? Why didn't they call the police? And by the way, the police are the most mistreated people in this country. I will tell you that. The most mistreated people. In fact, we need to \u2014 wait a minute \u2014 we need vigilance. We have to find out \u2014 many people knew about what was going on. Why didn't they turn those two people in so that you wouldn't have had all the death? There's something going on and it's bad. And I'm saying we have to get to the bottom of it. That's all I'm saying. We need security. +p2633 +aVThat's wrong. They were wrong. It's the New York Times, they are always wrong. +p2634 +aVThey were wrong. +p2635 +aVNo, I said, " I would use \u2014 " they were asking me what to do about North Korea. China, they don't like to tell us but they have total control \u2014 just about, of North Korea. They can solve the problem of North Korea if they wanted to but they taunt us. They say, " well, we don't really have control." Without China, North Korea doesn't even eat. China is ripping us on trade. They're devaluing their currency and they're killing our companies. Thousands of thousands \u2014 you look at the number of companies and the number in terms of manufacturing of plans that we've lost \u2014 50,000 because of China. +p2636 +aVWe've lost anywhere between four and seven million jobs because of China. What I said then was, "we have very unfair trade with China. We're going to have a trade deficit of 505 billion dollars this year with China." A lot of that is because they devalue their currency. What I said to the New York Times, is that, "we have great power, economic power over China and if we wanted to use that and the amount \u2014 where the 45 percent comes in, that would be the amount they saw their devaluations that we should get." That we should get. What I'm saying is this, I'm saying that we do it but if they don't start treating us fairly and stop devaluing and let their currency rise so that our companies can compete and we don't lose all of these millions of jobs that we're losing, I would certainly start taxing goods that come in from China. Who the hell has to lose 505 billion dollars a year? +p2637 +aVIt's not that complicated actually. +p2638 +aVOK, just so you understand \u2014 I know so much about trading about with China. Carl Icahn today as you know endorsed. Many businessmen want to endorse me. +p2639 +aVCarl said, "no, no \u2014 " but he's somebody \u2014 these are the kind of people that we should use to negotiate and not the China people that we have who are political hacks who don't know what they're doing and we have problems like this. If these are the kinds of people \u2014 we should use our best and our finest. Now, on that tariff \u2014 here's what I'm saying, China \u2014 they send their goods and we don't tax it \u2014 they do whatever they want to do. They do whatever what they do, OK. When we do business with China, they tax us. You don't know it, they tax us. I have many friends that deal with China. They can't \u2014 when they order the product and when they finally get the product it is taxed. If you looking at what happened with Boeing and if you look at what happened with so many companies that deal \u2014 so we don't have an equal playing field. I'm saying, absolutely, we don't have to continue to lose 505 billion dollars as a trade deficit for the privilege of dealing with China. I'm a free trader. I believe in it but we have to be smart and we have to use smart people to negotiate. I have the largest bank in the world as a tenant of mine. I sell tens' of millions of . I love China. I love the Chinese people but they laugh themselves, they can't believe how stupid the American leadership is. +p2640 +aVI'm totally open to a tariff. If they don't treat us fairly, hey, their whole trade is tariffed. You can't deal in China without tariffs. They do it to us, we don't it. It's not fair trade. +p2641 +aVI'm happy to have him tonight... +p2642 +aVNeil, the problem... +p2643 +aV... with what Marco is saying is that it takes too long, they're sucking us dry and it takes too long. It would just \u2014 you absolutely have to get involved with China, they are taking so much of what we have in terms of jobs in terms of money. We just can't do it any longer. +p2644 +aVYou looking at me? +p2645 +aVCan I tell you what? It will never happen because they'll let their currency go up. They're never going to let it happen. Japan, the same thing. They are devaluing \u2014 it's so impossible for \u2014 you look at Caterpillar Tractor and what's happening with Caterpillar and Kamatsu. Kamatsu is a tractor company in Japan. Friends of mine are ordering Kamatsu tractors now because they've de-valued the yen to such an extent that you can't buy a Caterpillar tractor. And we're letting them get away with it and we can't let them get away with it. And that's why we have to use Carl and we have to use our great businesspeople and not political hacks to negotiate with these guys. +p2646 +aVAnd we don't need a weak person being president of the United State, OK? Because that's what we'd get if it were Jeb \u2014 I tell you what, we don't need that. +p2647 +aVWe don't need that. That's essentially what we have now, and we don't need that. And that's why we're in the trouble that we're in now. And by the way, Jeb you mentioned Boeing, take a look. They order planes, they make Boeing build their plant in China. They don't want them made here. They want those planes made in China. +p2648 +aVThat's not the way the game is supposed to be played. +p2649 +aVNo, the new planes. I'm not talking about now, I'm talking about in the future they're building massive plants in China because China does not want Boeing building their planes here, they want them built in China, because China happens to be smart the way they do it, not the way we do it. +p2650 +aVI'll check for you. +p2651 +aVMaria \u2014 Maria, what you were talking about just now is called corporate inversion. It's one of the biggest problems our country has. Right now, corporations, by the thousands, are thinking of leaving our country with the jobs \u2014 leave them behind. They're leaving because of taxes, but they are also leaving because they can't get their money back and everybody agrees, Democrats and Republicans, that is should come back in. But they can't get along. They can't even make a deal. Here is the case, they both agree, they can't make a deal. We have to do something. Corporate inversion is one of the biggest problems we have. So many companies are going to leave our country. +p2652 +aVThank you. +p2653 +aVWell, it's an interesting question because I'm very proud of my company. As you too know, I know I built a very great company. But if I become president, I couldn't care less about my company. It's peanuts. I want to use that same up here, whatever it may be to make America rich again and to make America great again. I have Ivanka, and Eric and Don sitting there. Run the company kids, have a good time. I'm going to do it for America. So I would \u2014 I would be willing to do that. +p2654 +aVI would put it in a blind trust. Well, I don't know if it's a blind trust if Ivanka, Don and Eric run it. If that's a blind trust, I don't know. But I would probably have my children run it with my executives and I wouldn't ever be involved because I wouldn't care about anything but our country, anything. +p2655 +aVThank you. +p2656 +aVI stood yesterday with 75 construction workers. They're tough, they're strong, they're great people. Half of them had tears pouring down their face. They were watching the humiliation of our young ten sailors, sitting on the floor with their knees in a begging position, their hands up. And Iranian wise guys having guns to their heads. It was a terrible sight. A terrible sight. And the only reason we got them back is because we owed them with a stupid deal, $150 billion. If I'm president, there won't be stupid deals anymore. We will make America great again. We will win on everything we do. Thank you. +p2657 +aVThank you. I began this journey six months ago. My total focus was on building up our military, building up our strength, building up our borders, making sure that China, Japan, Mexico, both at the border and in trade, no longer takes advantage of our country. Certainly would never have made that horrible, disgusting, absolutely incompetent deal with Iran where they get $150 billion. They're a terrorist nation. But I began it talking about other things. And those things are things that I'm very good at and maybe that's why I'm center stage. People saw it. People liked it. People respected it. A month ago things changed. Radical Islamic terrorism came into effect even more so than it has been in the past. People like what I say. People respect what I say. And we've opened up a very big discussion that needed to be opened up. Thank you very much. +p2658 +aVWe are not talking about isolation. We're talking about security. We're not talking about religion. We're talking about security. Our country is out of control. People are pouring across the southern border. I will build a wall. It will be a great wall. People will not come in unless they come in legally. Drugs will not pour through that wall. As far as other people like in the migration, where they're going, tens of thousands of people having cell phones with +p2659 +aVJeb doesn't really believe I'm unhinged. He said that very simply because he has failed in this campaign. It's been a total disaster. Nobody cares. And frankly, I'm the most solid person up here. I built a tremendous company and all I want to do is make America great again. I don't want our country to be taken away from us, and that's what's happening. The policies that we've suffered under other presidents have been a disaster for our country. We want to make America great again. And Jeb, in all fairness, he doesn't believe that. +p2660 +aVWell, look, this is so easy to answer. +p2661 +aVI would certainly be open to closing areas where we are at war with somebody. I sure as hell don't want to let people that want to kill us and kill our nation use our Internet. Yes, sir, I am. +p2662 +aVWe have to be much tougher. We have to be much stronger than we've been. We have people that know what is going on. You take a look at just the attack in California the other day. There were numerous people, including the mother, that knew what was going on. They saw a pipe bomb sitting all over the floor. They saw ammunition all over the place. They knew exactly what was going on. When you had the World Trade Center go, people were put into planes that were friends, family, girlfriends, and they were put into planes and they were sent back, for the most part, to Saudi Arabia. They knew what was going on. They went home and they wanted to watch their boyfriends on television. I would be very, very firm with families. Frankly, that will make people think because they may not care much about their lives, but they do care, believe it or not, about their families' lives. +p2663 +aVLook, the problem is we need toughness. Honestly, I think Jeb is a very nice person. He's a very nice person. But we need tough people. We need toughness. We need intelligence and we need tough. Jeb said when they come across the southern border they come as an act of love. +p2664 +aVAm I talking or are you talking, Jeb? +p2665 +aVYou can go back. You're not talking. You interrupted me. +p2666 +aVAre you going to apologize, Jeb? No. Am I allowed to finish? +p2667 +aVExcuse me, am I allowed to finish? +p2668 +aVSo... +p2669 +aV... again... +p2670 +aVI know you're trying to build up your energy, Jeb, but it's not working very well. +p2671 +aVLook, look, look. We need a toughness. We need strength. We're not respected, you know, as a nation anymore. We don't have that level of respect that we need. And if we don't get it back fast, we're just going to go weaker, weaker and just disintegrate. We can't allow that to happen. We need strength. We don't have it. When Jeb comes out and he talks about the border, and I saw it and I was witness to it, and so was everyone else, and I was standing there, "they come across as an act of love," he's saying the same thing right now with radical Islam. And we can't have that in our country. It just won't work. We need strength. +p2672 +aVWith Jeb's attitude, we will never be great again, that I can tell you. We will never be great again. +p2673 +aVSo, they can kill us, but we can't kill them? That's what you're saying. And as far as the Internet is concerned, we're not talking about closing the Internet. I'm talking about parts of Syria, parts of Iraq, where +p2674 +aVIn my opinion, we've spent $4 trillion trying to topple various people that frankly, if they were there and if we could've spent that $4 trillion in the United States to fix our roads, our bridges, and all of the other problems; our airports and all of the other problems we've had, we would've been a lot better off. I can tell you that right now. We have done a tremendous disservice, not only to Middle East, we've done a tremendous disservice to humanity. The people that have been killed, the people that have wiped away, and for what? It's not like we had victory. It's a mess. The Middle East is totally destabilized. A total and complete mess. I wish we had the $4 trillion or $5 trillion. I wish it were spent right here in the United States, on our schools, hospitals, roads, airports, and everything else that are all falling apart. +p2675 +aVWell, there's nothing to respond to. Well, people feel differently. I mean, the fact is Benghazi was a disaster because of Libya, everything just fell into place. It could not have been worse. What do we have now? We have nothing. We've spent $3 trillion and probably much more \u2013 I have no idea what we've spent. Thousands and thousands of lives, we have nothing. Wounded warriors all over the place who I love, we have nothing for it. And by the way \u2013 and Ben said incorrectly \u2013 and I'm not saying this as a knock \u2013 he's one of finest men. You're not going to find a finer men. But I've been talking about oil for three years. I've been saying,, "take the oil, take the oil." I didn't say, "just bomb it," I said," take it and use it and distribute it so that the wounded warriors -" People, I've been saying this now for many years. +p2676 +aVNow, all of a sudden everybody's saying, "take the oil." It wasn't so fashionable to take the oil six months ago. I've been saying it for years. +p2677 +aVI think Assad is a bad guy, a very bad guy, all right? Lots of people killed. I think we are backing people we have no idea who they are. The rebels, we call them the rebels, the patriotic rebels. We have no idea. A lot of people think, Hugh, that they are +p2678 +aVI think it's very sad that CNN leads Jeb Bush, Governor Bush, down a road by starting off virtually all the questions, "Mr. Trump this, Mister" \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched the first debate, and the first long number of questions were, "Mr. Trump said this, Mr. Trump said that. Mr. Trump" \u2014 these poor guys \u2014 although, I must tell you, Santorum, good guy. Governor Huckabee, good guy. They were very nice, and I respect them greatly. But I thought it was very unfair that virtually the entire early portion of the debate was Trump this, Trump that, in order to get ratings, I guess. In order to get ratings, I guess. +p2679 +aVI just think it's very \u2014 excuse me. +p2680 +aVExcuse me. I think it's very unprofessional. +p2681 +aVWell, I think it's very unprofessional. +p2682 +aVOK, fine. +p2683 +aVThis isn't tough and easy. I wish it... +p2684 +aVI wish it was always this easy as you, Jeb. +p2685 +aVOh, yeah. +p2686 +aVOh, I know. You're a tough guy, Jeb. I know. +p2687 +aVYou're tough. +p2688 +aVWell, let's see. I'm at 42, and you're at 3. So, so far, I'm doing better. +p2689 +aVSo far, I'm doing better. You know, you started off over here, Jeb. You're moving over further and further. Pretty soon you're going to be off the end... +p2690 +aVI believe I did. +p2691 +aVI have a very hardline position, we have a country or we don't have a country. People that have come into our country illegally, they have to go. They have to come back into through a legal process. I want a strong border. I do want a wall. Walls do work, you just have to speak to the folks in Israel. Walls work if they're properly constructed. I know how to build, believe me, I know how to build. I feel a very, very strong bind, and really I'm bound to this country, we either have a border or we don't. People can come into the country, we welcome people to come but they have to come in legally. +p2692 +aVWell, first of all, I think we need somebody absolutely that we can trust, who is totally responsible; who really knows what he or she is doing. That is so powerful and so important. And one of the things that I'm frankly most proud of is that in 2003, 2004, I was totally against going into Iraq because you're going to destabilize the Middle East. I called it. I called it very strongly. And it was very important. But we have to be extremely vigilant and extremely careful when it comes to nuclear. Nuclear changes the whole ball game. Frankly, I would have said get out of Syria; get out \u2014 if we didn't have the power of weaponry today. The power is so massive that we can't just leave areas that 50 years ago or 75 years ago we wouldn't care. It was hand-to-hand combat. The biggest problem this world has today is not President Obama with global warming, which is inconceivable, this is what he's saying. The biggest problem we have is nuclear \u2014 nuclear proliferation and having some maniac, having some madman go out and get a nuclear weapon. That's in my opinion, that is the single biggest problem that our country faces right now. +p2693 +aVI think \u2014 I think, for me, nuclear is just the power, the devastation is very important to me. +p2694 +aVI did. +p2695 +aVLet me just say that I have gotten to know him over the last three or four days. He has a wonderful temperament. He's just fine. Don't worry about it. +p2696 +aVYou better not attack... +p2697 +aVI really am. I'll be honest, I really am. I mean, the people have been putting me... I really am. +p2698 +aVLet me just. Can I just finish my... +p2699 +aVI've gained great respect for the Republican leadership. I've gained great respect for many \u2014 and I'm going to even say \u2014 I mean, in different forms for the people on the dais, in different forms. In different forms. But I have great respect for the people I have met through this process. I've never done this process before. I've never been a politician. I mean, for the last six months I've been a politician. But I will tell you, I am totally committed to the Republican Party. I feel very honored to be the front runner. And I think I'll do very well if I'm chosen. If I'm so fortunate to be chosen, I think I'll do very well. Polls have come out recently saying I would beat Hillary. I will do everything in my power to beat Hillary Clinton, I promise you. +p2700 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We don't win on trade. We don't win on the military. We can't defeat +p2701 +aVI can't be Neil. And the and the reason I can't be is that we are a country that is being beaten on every front economically, militarily. There is nothing that we do now to win. We don't win anymore. Our taxes are too high. I've come up with a tax plan that many, many people like very much. It's going to be a tremendous plan. I think it'll make our country and our economy very dynamic. But, taxes too high, wages too high, we're not going to be able to compete against the world. I hate to say it, but we have to leave it the way it is. People have to go out, they have to work really hard and have to get into that upper stratum. But we can not do this if we are going to compete with the rest of the world. We just can't do it. +p2702 +aVI would not do it. +p2703 +aVI was so happy yesterday when I saw that decision come down. That was an unbelievable decision. And we don't have enough of those decisions coming down. He of the executive order, because nobody wants to listen to him, including the Democrats, so he just goes around signing executive orders. That was a great day. And, frankly, we have to stop illegal immigration. It's hurting us economically. It's hurting us from every standpoint. It's causing tremendous difficulty with respect to drugs and what that does to many of our inner cities in particular. And it really is \u2014 was such an unbelievable moment because the courts have not been ruling in our favor. And it was a 2-1 decision. And it was a terrific thing that happened. And I will tell you, we are a country of laws. We need borders. We will have a wall. The wall will be built. The wall will be successful. And if you think walls don't work, all you have to do is ask Israel. The wall works, believe me. Properly done. Believe me. +p2704 +aVYou are going to have to bring people \u2014 you are going to have to send people out. Look, we're a country... +p2705 +aVMaria, we're a country of laws. We either have a country or we don't have a country. We are a country of laws. Going to have to go out and they will come back but they are going to have to go out and hopefully they get back. But we have no choice if we're going to run our country properly and if we're going to be a country. +p2706 +aVAll I can say is, you're lucky in Ohio that you struck oil. That is for one thing. Let me just tell you that Dwight Eisenhower, good president, great president, people liked him. "I like Ike," right? The expression. "I like Ike." Moved a 1.5 million illegal immigrants out of this country, moved them just beyond the border. They came back. Moved them again beyond the border, they came back. Didn't like it. Moved them way south. They never came back. Dwight Eisenhower. You don't get nicer. You don't get friendlier. They moved a 1.5 million out. We have no choice. We have no choice. +p2707 +aVNo, it's unfair. +p2708 +aV... built an unbelievable company worth billions and billions of dollars. I don't have to hear from this man, believe me. I don't have to hear from him. +p2709 +aVWe have millions of people right now on line trying to come into this country. Very, very unfair to the people that want to come into our country legally. They've gone through the process. They're on line. They're waiting. Very, very unfair to them. That I can tell you. +p2710 +aVYes. +p2711 +aVNo, I'm sorry. No, excuse me. I was there. +p2712 +aVPlease, if I could just... +p2713 +aVWe have to make our military bigger, better, stronger than ever before so that nobody messes with us, and a long run, it's going to save us. I agree with Marco, I agree with Ted, we have no choice. And, I can tell you this with certainty. We all have a different tax plan. Some I don't totally agree with. One thing we understand, each one of those tax plans is better than the mess that we have right now. +p2714 +aV...Yes... +p2715 +aV...Yeah... +p2716 +aV...It's a horrible deal... +p2717 +aVThe TPP is horrible deal. It is a deal that is going to lead to nothing but trouble. It's a deal that was designed for China to come in, as they always do, through the back door and totally take advantage of everyone. It's 5,600 pages long. So complex that nobodies read it. It's like Obamacare; nobody ever read it. They passed it; nobody read it. And look at mess we have right now. And it will be repealed. But this is one of the worst trade deals. And I would, yes, rather not have it. With all of these countries, and all of the bad ones getting advantage and taking advantage of what the good ones would normally get, I'd rather make individual deals with individual countries. We will do much better. We lose a fortune on trade. The United States loses with everybody. We're losing now over $500 billion in terms of imbalance with China, $75 billion a year imbalance with Japan. By the way, Mexico, $50 billion a year imbalance. So I must say, Gerard, I just think it's a terrible deal. I love trade. I'm a free trader, 100 percent. But we need smart people making the deals, and we don't have smart people making the deals. +p2718 +aVYes. Well, the currency manipulation they don't discuss in the agreement, which is a disaster. If you look at the way China and India and almost everybody takes advantage of the United States \u2014 China in particular, because they're so good. It's the number-one abuser of this country. And if you look at the way they take advantage, it's through currency manipulation. It's not even discussed in the almost 6,000-page agreement. It's not even discussed. +p2719 +aVAnd as you understand, I mean, you understand very well from the Wall Street Journal, currency manipulation is the single great weapon people have. They don't even discuss it in this agreement. So I say, it's a very bad deal, should not be approved. If it is approved, it will just be more bad trade deals, more loss of jobs for our country. We are losing jobs like nobody's ever lost jobs before. I want to bring jobs back into this country. +p2720 +aVWell, first of all, it's not only Russia. We have problems with North Korea where they actually have nuclear weapons. You know, nobody talks about it, we talk about Iran, and that's one of the worst deals ever made. One of the worst contracts ever signed, ever, in anything, and it's a disgrace. But, we have somebody over there, a madman, who already has nuclear weapons we don't talk about that. That's a problem. China is a problem, both economically in what they're doing in the South China Sea, I mean, they are becoming a very, very major force. So, we have more than just Russia. But, as far as the Ukraine is concerned, and you could Syria \u2014 as far as Syria, I like \u2014 if Putin wants to go in, and I got to know him very well because we were both on 60 Minutes, we were stablemates, and we did very well that night. But, you know that. But, if Putin wants to go and knocked the hell out of +p2721 +aV...They blew up \u2014 hold it.... +p2722 +aV...They blew up, wait a minute... ...They blew up a Russian airplane. He cannot be in love with these people. He's going in, and we can go in, and everybody should go in. As far as the Ukraine is concerned, we have a group of people, and a group of countries, including Germany \u2014 tremendous economic behemoth \u2014 why are we always doing the work? We are \u2014 I'm all for protecting Ukraine and working \u2014 but, we have countries that are surrounding the Ukraine that aren't doing anything. They say, "Keep going, keep going, you dummies, keep going. Protect us..." ...And we have to get smart. We can't continue to be the policeman of the world. We are $19 trillion dollars, we have a country that's going to hell, we have an infrastructure that's falling apart. Our roads, our bridges, our schools, our airports, and we have to start investing money in our country. +p2723 +aVAssad is a bad guy, but we have no idea who the so-called rebels \u2014 I read about the rebels, nobody even knows who they are. I spoke to a general two weeks ago, he said \u2014 he was very up on exactly what we're talking about. He said, "You know, Mr. Trump? We're giving hundreds of millions of dollars of equipment to these people, we have no idea who they are." So, I don't like Assad. Who's going to like Assad? But, we have no idea who these people, and what they're going to be, and what they're going to represent. They may be far worse than Assad. Look at Libya. Look at Iraq. Look at the mess we have after spending $2 trillion dollars, thousands of lives, wounded warriors all over the place \u2014 who I love, OK? All over. We have nothing. And, I said, keep the oil. And we should have kept the oil, believe me. We should have kept the oil. And, you know what? We should have given the oil... ..We should've given big chunks to the people that lost their arms, their legs, and their families, and their sons, and daughters, because right now, you know who has a lot of that oil? Iran, and +p2724 +aVWhy does she keep interrupting everybody? Terrible. +p2725 +aVWe are not. +p2726 +aV...No, no, no... +p2727 +aVWell, what's happening right now, Neil, is something that not been a subject of conversation by politicians. As primarily the only politician, I guess other than Carly on the stage, they haven't talked about a corporate inversion. A corporate inversion \u2014 companies are leaving. You know, we used to leave New York to go to Florida. We got better taxes, we got, maybe, something else. Now, they're the United States to go to other countries. They have trillions of dollars in those other countries. They're going for two reasons, they can't get their money back in. It's something where the democrats and the republicans both agree, it's the only thing I can think of. They both agree, let the money come back in. Three and a half years, they still can't make a deal. They can't get the money in. It's probably two and a half trillion, but, I think it's much more than that. All of that money could become \u2014 could come right in and be used to rebuild our country, and investments in our country. They can't do it. What we have to do, and what I've done, is made the tax rate \u2014 and one of the reasons they don't the taxes so obnoxious, they can't do it. Where, I made it a 10% number, as you know. I've been very highly praised for it. A lot of money's going to come back in, we're going to get rid of the bureaucratic problems, and roadblocks, because that's also a problem. And, we're going to have all of this money pour back into the United States. It's going to be used to build businesses, for jobs, and everything else. And, as I say, my expression is, let's make America great again. +p2728 +aVThank you. Over the years, I've created tens of thousands of jobs and a great company. It's a company I'm very proud of. Some of the most iconic assets anywhere in the world. And I will tell you, I don't have to give you a website because I'm self-funding my campaign. I'm putting up my own money. I want to do something really special. I want to make our country greater than it's ever been. I think we have that potential. We cannot lose this election. We cannot let Hillary Clinton, who is the worst secretary of state in the history of our country, win this election. We will fight. We will win. And we truly will make this even more special. We have to make it better than ever before. And I will tell you, the United States can actually be better than ever before. Thank you. +p2729 +aVI think maybe my greatest weakness is that I trust people too much. I'm too trusting. And when they let me down, if they let me down, I never forgive. I find it very, very hard to forgive people that deceived me. So I don't know if you would call that a weakness, but my wife said "let up." +p2730 +aVRight. +p2731 +aVRight. +p2732 +aVThat's right. +p2733 +aVNo, not a comic book, and it's not a very nicely asked question the way you say that. Larry Kudlow is an example, who I have a lot of respect for, who loves my tax plan. We're reducing taxes to 15 percent. We're bringing corporate taxes down, bringing money back in, corporate inversions. We have $2.5 trillion outside of the United States which we want to bring back in. As far as the wall is concerned, we're going to build a wall. We're going to create a border. We're going to let people in, but they're going to come in legally. They're going to come in legally. And it's something that can be done, and I get questioned about that. They built the great wall of China. That's 13,000 miles. Here, we actually need 1,000 because we have natural barriers. So we need 1,000. We can do a wall. We're going to have a big, fat beautiful door right in the middle of the wall. We're going to have people come in, but they're coming in legally. And Mexico's going to pay for the wall because Mexico \u2014 I love the Mexican people; I respect the Mexican leaders \u2014 but the leaders are much sharper, smarter and more cunning than our leaders. And just to finish, people say, how will you get Mexico to pay? A politician other than the people in the states \u2014 I don't want to \u2014 a politician cannot get them to pay. I can. We lose, we have a trade imbalance... Excuse me, John. ... of $50 billion... +p2734 +aV... believe me the world is peanuts by comparison. +p2735 +aVRight. Dynamically. +p2736 +aVThen you have to get rid of Larry Kudlow, who sits on your panel, who's a great guy, who came out the other day and said, I love Trump's tax plan. +p2737 +aVFirst of all, John got lucky with a thing called fracking, OK? He hit oil. He got lucky with fracking. Believe me, that is why Ohio is doing well. Number \u2014 and that is important for you to know. Number two, this was the man that was a managing general partner at Lehman Brothers when it went down the tubes and almost took every one of us with it, including Ben and myself, because I was there and I watched what happened. And Lehman Brothers started it all. He was on the board. And he was a managing general partner. And just thirdly, he was so nice. He was such a nice guy. And he said, oh, I'm never going to attack. But then his poll numbers tanked. He has got \u2014 that is why he is on the end. And he got nasty. And he got nasty. So you know what? You can have him. +p2738 +aVI think you're \u2014 +p2739 +aVWell, first of all, like many other very big businessmen, I could name them here, but I'm not going to do that for a lot of obvious reasons, but the biggest, and almost all of them, they've all used the chapter laws, the bankruptcy laws to their own benefit. Before this, I was a very successful person as a developer and as a businessman. Atlantic City has gone bad. I mean, Chris will know about that. I'm not blaming Chris, by the way, but he will know about that. Caesar's \u2014 excuse me \u2014 Caesar's, the Rolls-Royce, as you know, is in bankruptcy. Almost every hotel in Atlantic City has either been in bankruptcy or will be in bankruptcy \u2014 the biggest. But also the biggest people (ph) \u2014 now I've used that to my advantage as a business man, for my family, for myself. I never filed for bankruptcy. But many, many people did. What happened with Atlantic City is very, very disgraceful. Now hundreds of companies I've opened. I've used it three times, maybe four times. Came out great. But I guess I'm supposed to come out great. That is what I could do for the country. We owe $19 trillion, boy am I good at solving debt problems. Nobody can solve it like me. But I will tell you this, Atlantic City, you're using that, hundreds of companies that I have opened have thrived. I built a net worth of way over $10 billion, and I have done it four times out of hundreds. And I'm glad I did it. I used the laws of the country to my benefit, I'm sorry. +p2740 +aVThank you. +p2741 +aVI was not at all critical of him. I was not at all. In fact, frankly, he's complaining about the fact that we're losing some of the most talented people. They go to Harvard. They go to Yale. They go to Princeton. They come from another country and they're immediately sent out. I am all in favor of keeping these talented people here so they can go to work in Silicon Valley. +p2742 +aVSo I have nothing at all critical of him. +p2743 +aVProbably, I don't know \u2014 you people write the stuff. I don't know where you... And if I could say just one thing. I am the only person in either campaign that's self-funding. I'm putting up 100 percent of my own money. And right now, I will be putting up a tremendous \u2014 so far, I've put up less than anybody and I have the best results. Wouldn't that be nice if the country could do that? But I will be putting \u2014 I will be putting up, you know, tremendous amounts of money. SuperPacs are a disaster. They're a scam. They cause dishonesty. And you better get rid of them because they are causing a lot of bad decisions to be made by some very good people. And I'm not blaming these folks \u2014 well, I guess I could. Very good people are making very bad decisions right now. And if anything comes out of this whole thing with some of these nasty and ridiculous questions, I will tell you, you better get rid of the SuperPacs because they causing a big problem with this country, not only in dishonesty and what's going on, but also in a lot of bad decisions that have been made for the benefit of lobbyists and special interests. +p2744 +aVI never said that. I never said that. +p2745 +aVYou've got another gentleman in Florida, who happens to be a very nice guy, but not... +p2746 +aV... he's really doing some bad... +p2747 +aVI'm in favor of people coming into this country legally. And you know what? They can have it anyway you want. You can call it visas, you can call it work permits, you can call it anything you want. I've created tens of thousands of jobs, and in all due respect \u2014 and actually some of these folks I really like a lot \u2014 but I'm the only one that can say that. I have created tens of thousands of jobs, and I'll be creating many millions of jobs if I'm given \u2014 if I'm given the opportunity to be president. As far as Mark is concerned, as far as the visas are concerned, if we need people, they have \u2014 it's fine. They have to come into this country legally. We have a country of borders. We have a country of laws. We have to obey the laws. It's fine if they come in, but they have to come in legally. +p2748 +aVYes. +p2749 +aVOr somebody else. Right. +p2750 +aVYes, I might feel more comfortable. I would say that I would and I have a permit, which is very unusual in New York \u2014 a permit to carry. And I do carry on occasion, sometimes a lot. But I like to be unpredictable so that people don't know exactly... +p2751 +aVBy the way, unlike our country where we're totally predictable and the enemy, whether it's +p2752 +aVI would change them. I would change them. +p2753 +aVSuch a nasty \u2014 such a nasty question, but thank you, Governor. +p2754 +aVYes, it's very simple. We're going to make a really dynamic economy from what we have right now, which is not at all dynamic. We're going to bring jobs back from Japan, we're going to bring jobs back from China, we're going to bring, frankly, jobs back from Mexico where, as you probably saw, Nabisco is leaving Chicago with one of their biggest plants, and they're moving it to Mexico. We're going to bring jobs and manufacturing back. We're going to cut costs. We're going to save Social Security, and we're going to save Medicare. [ +p2755 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We used to win, we don't win anymore. We lose on trade. We lose with +p2756 +aVAnd, I'll do that with the country. We will make America great again. And, thank you everybody. Just for the record. +p2757 +aVThat's not right. That is absolutely not right. You know that. That is not right. [ +p2758 +aVI'm Donald Trump. I wrote "The Art of the Deal". I say not in a braggadocious way, I've made billions and billions of dollars dealing with people all over the world, and I want to put whatever that talent is to work for this country so we have great trade deals, we make our country rich again, we make it great again. We build our military, we take care of our vets, we get rid of Obamacare, and we have a great life altogether. Thank you. Thank you. +p2759 +aVWell, first of all, Rand Paul shouldn't even be on this stage. He's number 11, he's got 1 percent in the polls, and how he got up here, there's far too many people anyway. As far as temperament \u2014 and we all know that \u2014 as far as temperament, I think I have a great temperament. I built a phenomenal business with incredible, iconic assets, one of the really truly great real-estate businesses. And I may be an entertainer, because I've had tremendous success with number-one bestsellers all over the place, with "The Apprentice" and everything else I've done. But I will tell you this: What I am far and away greater than an entertainer is a businessman, and that's the kind of mindset this country needs to bring it back, because we owe $19 trillion right now, $19 trillion, and you need this kind of thinking to bring our country back. And believe me, my temperament is very good, very calm. But we will be respected outside of this country. We are not respected now. +p2760 +aVI never attacked him on his look, and believe me, there's plenty of subject matter right there. That I can tell you. +p2761 +aVI've actually been in politics all my life, although I've been on that side as opposed to this side. I'm now a politician for about three months. Obviously, I'm doing pretty well. I'm number one in every poll by a lot. But the qualification is that I've dealt with people all over the world, been successful all over the world. Everything I've done virtually has been a tremendous success. When markets changed, when things turned, I heard Governor Pataki, who, by the way, was a failed governor in New York, a very seriously failed \u2014 he wouldn't be elected dog catcher right now. I heard what he had to say. And I will tell you this: Atlantic City, I've made a tremendous amount of money in Atlantic City. I left seven years ago, I've gotten great credit for my timing, and that's what I'm all about. I'm a businessman, did really well, really well, and Jeb, what I want to do is put that ability into this country to make our country rich again. And I can do that, and I'm not sure that anybody else in the group will be able to do that. +p2762 +aVBut I have to say... +p2763 +aVWell, in Wisconsin... +p2764 +aVExcuse me. +p2765 +aVIn Wisconsin, you're losing $2.2 billion right now. +p2766 +aVI would do so much better than that. +p2767 +aVNo. +p2768 +aVI'm using facts. +p2769 +aVEvery major business leader has used the \u2014 I never went bankrupt, by the way, as you know, everybody knows. But we \u2014 hundreds of companies, hundreds of deals, I've used ???: ... into bankruptcy. That's what's wrong with politicians in Washington right now. They think we can take a country into bankruptcy. +p2770 +aVEvery major business leader, has used the \u2014 I never went bank bankrupt, by the way, as you know, everybody knows. But \u2014 hundreds of companies, hundreds of deals, I used the law four times and made a tremendous thing. I'm in business. I did a very good job. But I will say this, and people are very, very impressed with what I've done, the business people. But when the folks of Iowa found out the true facts of the job that you've done in Wisconsin, all of a sudden you, tubed (ph), he was No. 1 and now he's No. 6 or seven in the polls. So, look, we brought it out, you were supposed to make a billion dollars in the state. You lost 2.2 \u2014 you have right now, a huge budget deficit. That's not a Democratic point. That's a point. That's a fact. And when the people of Iowa found that out, I went to No. 1 and you went down the tubes. +p2771 +aVI didn't \u2014 +p2772 +aVTotally false. +p2773 +aVI would have gotten it. +p2774 +aVI promise I would have gotten it. +p2775 +aVI promise if I wanted it, I would have gotten it. +p2776 +aVI know my people. +p2777 +aVI know my people. +p2778 +aVNo. I just will tell you that, you know, Jeb made the statement. I'm not only referring to him. I \u2014 a lot of money was raised by a lot of different people that are standing up here. And the donors, the special interests, the lobbyists have very strong power over these people. I'm spending all of my money, I'm not spending \u2014 I'm not getting any \u2014 I turned down \u2014 I turn down so much, I could have right now from special interests and donors, I could have double and triple what he's got. I've turned it down. I turned down last week $5 million from somebody. So I will tell you I understand the game, I've been on the other side all of my life. And they have a lot of control over our politicians. And I don't say that favorably, and I'm not sure if there's another system, but I say this. I am not accepting any money from anybody. Nobody has control of me other than the people of this country. I'm going to do the right thing. +p2779 +aVThat's true. That's true. +p2780 +aVI was \u2014 excuse me, Jeb. +p2781 +aVI was a businessman, I got along with Clinton, I got along with everybody. That was my job, to get along with people. +p2782 +aVI didn't want to \u2014 excuse me. One second. +p2783 +aVOK, more energy tonight. I like that. Look \u2014 +p2784 +aVI didn't want \u2014 it was my obligation as a businessman to my family, to my company, to my employees, to get along with all politicians. I get along with all of them, and I did a damn good job in doing it. Go ahead. +p2785 +aVGot along with everybody. +p2786 +aVWrong. +p2787 +aVDon't make things up. Jeb, don't make things up. Come on. +p2788 +aVDon't make things up. +p2789 +aVSo, number one, they have to respect you. He has absolutely no respect for President Obama. Zero. Syria's a mess. You look at what's going on with +p2790 +aVI believe that I will get along \u2014 we will do \u2014 between that, Ukraine, all of the other problems, we won't have the kind of problems that our country has right now with Russia and many other nations. +p2791 +aVI wouldn't have drawn the line, but once he drew it, he had no choice but to go across. They do bear some responsibility, but I think he probably didn't do it, not for that reason. Somehow, he just doesn't have courage. There is something missing from our president. Had he crossed the line and really gone in with force, done something to Assad \u2014 if he had gone in with tremendous force, you wouldn't have millions of people displaced all over the world. +p2792 +aVThey had a responsibility, absolutely. I think we have three of them here... +p2793 +aVI think they had a responsibility, yes. +p2794 +aVJeb, just... +p2795 +aVI think it will haunt him. I think it's a terrible. I think it's going to haunt him absolutely. He came back later and he said he misspoke. There was no question because I heard when he said the statement. I was watching and he said the statement. And I said, wow, I can't believe it. I will take care of women. I respect women. I will take care of women. One thing we will say and I would like to get back to the Iran situation. We're talking about Iran. The agreement was terrible. It was incompetent. I've never seen anything like it. One of the worst contracts of any kind I've ever seen. And nobody ever mentions North Korea where you have this maniac sitting there and he actually has nuclear weapons and somebody better start thinking about North Korea and perhaps a couple of other places. But certainly North Korea. And Ted and I have spoken. We've \u2014 a lot of us have spoken. We're talking about Iran. They are bad actors, bad things are going to happen. But in the meantime, you have somebody right now in North Korea who has got nuclear weapons and who is saying almost every other week, I'm ready to use them. And we don't even mention it. +p2796 +aVSo why didn't you say it? Why didn't you say it? +p2797 +aVI know, but why did you say it? I heard it myself. Why did you say it? +p2798 +aVYou said you're going to cut funding for women's health. You said it. +p2799 +aVYou said it. +p2800 +aVI think she's got a beautiful face, and I think she's a beautiful woman. +p2801 +aVCorrect. First of all, I want to build a wall, a wall that works. So important, and it's a big part of it. Second of all, we have a lot of really bad dudes in this country from outside, and I think Chris knows that, maybe as well as anybody. They go, if I get elected, first day they're gone. Gangs all over the place. Chicago, Baltimore, no matter where you look. We have a country based on laws. I will make sure that those laws are adhered to. These are illegal immigrants. I don't think you'd even be asking this question if I didn't run because when I ran, and I brought this up, my opening remarks at Trump Tower, I took heat like nobody has taken heat in a long time. And, then they found out with the killing of Katie, from San Francisco, and so many other crimes, they found out that I was right. And, most people, many people, apologized to me. I don't think you'd even be talking about illegal immigration if it weren't for me. So, we have a country of laws, they're going to go out, and they'll come back if they deserve to come back. If they've had a bad record, if they've been arrested, if they've been in jail, they're never coming back. We're going to have a country again. Right now, we don't have a country, we don't have a border, and we're going to do something about it, and it can be done with proper management, and it can be done with heart. +p2802 +aV...By the way, I agree with \u2014 with what Chris is saying, but, I will say this. Illegal immigration is costing us more than $200 billion dollars a year just to maintain what we have. +p2803 +aVCorrect. +p2804 +aVWell, I have to tell you, I hear phenomenal things. I hear your wife is a lovely woman... +p2805 +aVI don't know her, and this is a total mischaracterization... +p2806 +aVGood. +p2807 +aVNo, I won't do that, because I've said nothing wrong. +p2808 +aVBut I do hear she's a lovely woman. +p2809 +aVJeb said... +p2810 +aV... that they come into our country as an act of love. With all of the problems we that we have, in so many instances \u2014 we have wonderful people coming in. But with all of the problems \u2014 this is not an act of love. He's weak on immigration \u2014 by the way, in favor of Common Core, which is also a disaster, but weak on immigration. He doesn't get my vote. +p2811 +aVNot with this intensity. +p2812 +aVAs I said, we are spending $200 billion \u2014 we are spending $200 billion a year on maintaining what we have. We will move them out. The great ones will come back, the good ones will come back. They'll be expedited, they'll be back, they'll come back legally. We'll have a country \u2014 they'll come back, legally. +p2813 +aVWell, I think it's wonderful and all, but I did it a little bit half-heartedly, but I do mean it to a large extent. We have a country, where, to assimilate, you have to speak English. And I think that where he was, and the way it came out didn't sound right to me. We have to have assimilation \u2014 to have a country, we have to have assimilation. I'm not the first one to say this, Dana. We've had many people over the years, for many, many years, saying the same thing. This is a country where we speak English, not Spanish. +p2814 +aVThis is a reporter, not a high school kid. +p2815 +aVWell, first of all, the \u2014 the 14th Amendment says very, very clearly to a lot of great legal scholars \u2014 not television scholars, but legal scholars \u2014 that it is wrong. It can be corrected with an act of Congress, probably doesn't even need that. A woman gets pregnant. She's nine months, she walks across the border, she has the baby in the United States, and we take care of the baby for 85 years. I don't think so. And by the way, Mexico and almost every other country anywhere in the world doesn't have that. We're the only ones dumb enough, stupid enough to have it. And people \u2014 and by the way, this is not just with respect to Mexico. They are coming from Asia to have babies here, and all of a sudden, we have to take care of the babies for the life of the baby. The 14th Amendment, it reads properly, you can go and \u2014 it's probably going to be have to be check \u2014 go through a process of court, probably ends up at the Supreme Court, but there are a lot of great legal scholars that say that is not correct. And in my opinion, it makes absolutely no \u2014 we're the only \u2014 one of the only countries, we're going to take care of those babies for 70, 75, 80, 90 years? I don't think so. +p2816 +aVI agree 100 percent, by the way, with Carly on the fact that the Democrats do not want to solve this problem, for the obvious reasons, but they do not. But I believe that a reading of the 14th Amendment allows you to have an interpretation where this is not legal and where it can't be done. I've seen both sides, but some of the greatest scholars agree with me, without having to go through Congress. If you do go through Congress, you can absolutely solve the problem. +p2817 +aVThat's true, sure. +p2818 +aVWell \u2014 +p2819 +aV\u2014 let me \u2014 well, let me just explain. The head of the Yale Business School, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, wrote a paper recently, one of the worst tenures for a CEO that he has ever seen, ranked one of the top 20 in the history of business. The company is a disaster and continues to be a disaster. They still haven't recovered. In fact, today, on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, they fired another 25 or 30,000 people saying we still haven't recovered from the catastrophe. When Carly says the revenues went up, that's because she bought Compaq, it was a terrible deal, and it really led to the destruction of the company. Now one other company before that was Lucent. Carly was at Lucent before that. And Lucent turned out to be a catastrophe also. So I only say this. She can't run any of my companies. That I can tell you. +p2820 +aVI never filed for bankruptcy. +p2821 +aVI'll tell you why; it's very simple. +p2822 +aVI'll tell you. I was running \u2014 +p2823 +aV\u2014 Carly, Carly \u2014 +p2824 +aV\u2014 I've made over $10 billion. I had a casino company \u2014 Caesars just filed for bankruptcy. Chris will tell you \u2014 it's not Chris' fault either \u2014 but almost everybody in Atlantic City is either in trouble or filed for \u2014 maybe I'll blame Chris. +p2825 +aVBut Atlantic City is a disaster \u2014 +p2826 +aVWait a minute, Carly. Wait. I let you speak. Atlantic City is a disaster, and I did great in Atlantic City. I knew when to get out. My timing was great. And I got a lot of credit for it. Many of the great business people that you know \u2014 and Carl Icon (ph) is going to work with me on making great deals for this country. But whether it's Carl or so many others that we read about all the time \u2014 +p2827 +aV\u2014 they have used the laws of the land, which is the \u2014 +p2828 +aV...Well, I'd like to respond, I'd like to respond... +p2829 +aVWell, I think the thing about the flat tax, I know it very well. What I don't like is that if you make $200 million a year, you pay ten percent, you're paying very little relatively to somebody that's making $50,000 a year, and has to hire H&R Block to do the \u2014 because it's so complicated. One thing I'll say to Ben is that we've had a graduated tax system for many years, so it's not a socialistic thing. What I'd like to do, and I'll be putting in the plan in about two weeks, and I think people are going to like it, it's a major reduction in taxes. It's a major reduction for the middle class. The hedge fund guys won't like me as much as they like me right now. I know them all, but they'll pay more. I know people that are making a tremendous amount of money and paying virtually no tax, and I think it's unfair. +p2830 +aVWell, I heard Hugh Hewitt, a nice man, he apologized because he actually said that we had a misunderstanding. And he said today that Donald Trump is maybe the best interview there is anywhere that he has ever done. Now unless he was just saying that on CNN to be nice, but he did say that... +p2831 +aVAnd we had a legitimate misunderstanding in terms of his pronunciation of a word. But I would say just... +p2832 +aVWell, I think it was. And he actually said that. Did you say that? +p2833 +aVOK. So I will say this, though, Hugh was giving me name after name, Arab name, Arab name, and there are few people anywhere, anywhere that would have known those names. I think he was reading them off a sheet. And frankly I will have \u2014 and I told him, I will have the finest team that anybody has put together and we will solve a lot of problems. You know, right now they know a lot and look at what is happening. The world is blowing up around us. We will have great teams and great people. +p2834 +aVI hope that answers your question. I mean, you are in the Senate, but I hope that answers your question. +p2835 +aVNo, I don't think he's suggesting that at all. I mean... +p2836 +aVI don't think he's suggesting that at all. +p2837 +aVWell, you have to understand, I am not sitting in the United States Senate with, by the way, the worst voting record there is today. Number one. I am not sitting in the United States Senate. I'm a businessman doing business transactions. +p2838 +aVI am doing business transactions. I will know more about this \u2014 and, as you said, that was very acceptable, and when you listen to that whole interview, it's a great interview, you said it, I didn't. Well, now I did. But... +p2839 +aVListen, just one second. Just one second. +p2840 +aVI will know... +p2841 +aV...I will know more about the problems of this world by the time I sit, and you look at what's going in this world right now by people that supposedly know, this world is a mess. +p2842 +aV +p2843 +aV I'm \u2014 and I'm meeting with people that are terrific people, but I have to say something because it's about judgment. I am the only person on this dais \u2014 the only person \u2014 that fought very, very hard against us (ph), and I wasn't a sitting politician going into Iraq, because I said going into Iraq \u2014 that was in 2003, you can check it out, check out \u2014 I'll give you 25 different stories. In fact, a delegation was sent to my office to see me because I was so vocal about it. I'm a very militaristic person, but you have to know when to use the military. I'm the only person up here that fought against going into Iraq. +p2844 +aVJust excuse me, one second, Rand... +p2845 +aVIf you don't mind, Rand \u2014 you know, you are on last \u2014 you do have your 1 percent. I would like \u2014 and I think it's very important. I think it's important, because it's about judgment. It's about judgment. I didn't want to go into Iraq, and I fought it, because what I said \u2014 what I said... +p2846 +aV... was you're going to \u2014 you're going to destabilize... +p2847 +aV... the Middle East, and that's what happened. +p2848 +aVIf you think about it... +p2849 +aVYour brother \u2014 and your brother's administration gave us Barack Obama, because it was such a disaster, those last three months, that Abraham Lincoln couldn't have been elected. +p2850 +aVI don't know. You feel safe right now? I don't feel so safe. +p2851 +aVOr the collapse of the economy. +p2852 +aVSpeaking for myself, I'm OK with it. I think there's a certain truth to it. I know people that, frankly, it has no impact on their life whatsoever. There are many people. I would almost say leave it up to them, but I would be willing to check it off, and say I will not get Social Security. I do not... +p2853 +aVAs a policy, I would almost leave it up to the people. Don't forget they pay in and they pay in, and maybe they do well, and maybe some people want it. But the fact is that there are people that truly don't need it, and there are many people that do need it very, very badly. And I would be willing to write mine off 100 percent, Dana. +p2854 +aVWell, I \u2014 I \u2014 I'd like to respond. +p2855 +aVI'd like to respond. +p2856 +aVAutism has become an epidemic. Twenty-five years ago, 35 years ago, you look at the statistics, not even close. It has gotten totally out of control. I am totally in favor of vaccines. But I want smaller doses over a longer period of time. Because you take a baby in \u2014 and I've seen it \u2014 and I've seen it, and I had my children taken care of over a long period of time, over a two or three year period of time. Same exact amount, but you take this little beautiful baby, and you pump \u2014 I mean, it looks just like it's meant for a horse, not for a child, and we've had so many instances, people that work for me. Just the other day, two years old, two and a half years old, a child, a beautiful child went to have the vaccine, and came back, and a week later got a tremendous fever, got very, very sick, now is autistic. I only say it's not \u2014 I'm in favor of vaccines, do them over a longer period of time, same amount. +p2857 +aVBut just in \u2014 in little sections. +p2858 +aVI think \u2014 and I think you're going to have \u2014 I think you're going to see a big impact on autism. +p2859 +aVAnd that's all I'm saying, Jake. That's all I'm saying. +p2860 +aVWell, because she's been sitting for three hours, I think my daughter, Ivanka, who's right here. +p2861 +aVOther than that we'll go with Rosa Parks. I like that. +p2862 +aVHumble. +p2863 +aVIf I become president, we will do something really special. We will make this country greater than ever before. We'll have more jobs. We'll have more of everything. We were discussing disease, we were discussing all sorts of things tonight, many of which will just be words, it will just pass on. I don't want to say politicians, all talk, no action. But a lot of what we talked about is words and it will be forgotten very quickly. If I'm president, many of the things that we discussed tonight will not be forgotten. We'll find solutions. And the world will respect us. They will respect us like never before. And it will be actually a friendlier world. And I have to say, it is a great honor to be here tonight. +p2864 +asVCHRISTIE +p2865 +(lp2866 +VWhat about Kasich? Can I introduce Kasich? +p2867 +aVSure. First, let's remember something. Every morning when a United States senator wakes up, they think about what kind of speech can I give or what kind of bill can I drop? Every morning, when I wake up, I think about what kind of problem do I need to solve for the people who actually elected me? It's a different experience, it's a much different experience. And the fact is, Marco, you shouldn't compare yourself to Joe Biden and you shouldn't say that that's what we're doing. Here is exactly what we're doing. You have not be involved in a consequential decision where you had to be held accountable. You just simply haven't. And the fact is \u2014 the fact when you talk about the Hezbollah Sanctions Act that you list as one of your accomplishments you just did, you weren't even there to vote for it. That's not leadership, that's truancy. And the fact is that what we need to do \u2014 what we need to have in this country is not to make the same mistake we made eight years ago. The fact is it does matter when you have to make decisions and be held accountable for them. It does matter when the challenges don't come on a list of a piece of paper of what to vote yes or no every day, but when the problems come in from the people that you serve. I like Marco Rubio, and he's a smart person and a good guy, but he simply does not have the experience to be president of the United States and make these decisions. We've watched it happen, everybody. For the last seven years, the people of New Hampshire are smart. Do not make the same mistake again. +p2868 +aVHold on one second. +p2869 +aVExcuse me... +p2870 +aVI think he mentioned me and my record in there, so I think I get a chance to respond. You see, everybody, I want the people at home to think about this. That's what Washington, D.C. Does. The drive-by shot at the beginning with incorrect and incomplete information and then the memorized 25-second speech that is exactly what his advisers gave him. See Marco \u2014 Marco, the thing is this. When you're president of the United States, when you're a governor of a state, the memorized 30-second speech where you talk about how great America is at the end of it doesn't solve one problem for one person. They expect you to plow the snow. They expect you to get the schools open. And when the worst natural disaster in your state's history hits you, they expect you to rebuild their state, which is what I've done. None of that stuff happens on the floor of the United States Senate. It's a fine job, I'm glad you ran for it, but it does not prepare you for president of the United States. +p2871 +aVThere it is. There it is. The memorized 25-second speech. There it is, everybody. +p2872 +aVYou know what the shame is \u2014 you know what the shame is, Marco? The shame is that you would actually criticize somebody for showing up to work, plowing the streets, getting the trains running back on time when you've never been responsible for that in your entire life. +p2873 +aVAnd the fact is, I went back, it got done and here's... +p2874 +aVOh, so \u2014 wait a second. Is that one of the skills you get as a United States senator ESP also? Because I don't think it is. +p2875 +aVIt gets very unruly when he gets off his talking points. +p2876 +aVLet's get something... +p2877 +aVNo. Let's make something very clear. I learned seven years as a federal prosecutor in dealing with types of situations like we're talking about in North Korea, where criminals take people hostage. You never pay ransom to the criminals. Ever. You never pay ransom to the criminals. Everyone out at home watching tonight understands that principle. And so, what you need to do is to engage in a much different way with these folks. They do not understand anything but toughness and strength, and we need to engage the Chinese to deal with the North Koreans, but we also need to make sure that they understand there's a commander-in-chief who will not pay ransom for any hostage. This president and his former secretary of State are for paying ransom for hostages. When do that, you endanger even more Americans around the world to be the subject of this type of hostage taking and illegal detention. You need a strong commander-in-chief who will look these folks in the eye and say, we will not put up with this and we will take whatever actions we need to take, not only to get our people home safely, but to swiftly and surely punish those who believe they can violate the law and violate American's sovereign rights to travel the world freely and safely. This is unacceptable. And this is why this president is so weak and why the secretary of State, who is embracing a third Barack Obama term, would be even weaker. +p2878 +aVYeah, David, I would just like you to listen, again, everybody. This is the difference between being a governor who actually has to be responsible for problems and not answering a question. The question was, "Did he fight for his legislation?" It's abundantly clear that he didn't. It's abundantly clear that he didn't fight for the legislation. When the teachers unions attacked me with $20 million of ads because I wanted to reform teacher tenure, I fought them and fought them and fought them and I won. When they didn't want \u2014 when people wanted to raise taxes in my state at Democratic legislature and threatened to close down the government, I told them, fine. Close down the government. I'll get in my cars, head to the governor's mansion, order a pizza, open a beer and watch the Mets. You can call me when the government reopens. And guess what they didn't do? They didn't pass a tax increase, because I vetoed it and they never closed the government because they knew I would fight for what I believed in. The fact of the matter is, a leader must fight for what they believe in. Not handicap it and say, well maybe since I can't win this one, I'll run. That's not what leadership is. That's what Congress is. +p2879 +aVGood evening. +p2880 +aVWell, he deserves credit for his record on jobs. He's done a very good job as governor of Ohio. Never said that John hasn't. He's done a very good job. But \u2014 but unfortunately, John's been so busy doing over stuff, he's using old statistics. That's OK. New Jersey had its best year of job growth in the last 15 years under five different governors this year in New Jersey. New Jersey cut spending over $2.3 billion and we have 10,000 fewer employees than we had when I walked in the door. John has a bigger government now and more employees than he had when he walked in the door. But all that doesn't matter. What really matters is this, that executive experience really matters. You heard this on the stage tonight. We've heard it said on the stage that President Obama knows exactly what he's doing. I'd like to ask all the veterans listening out there tonight, who are waiting in line for healthcare, who are literally dying because the Veterans Administration doesn't work, do you think Barack Obama knows what he's doing? I don't. And I'll tell you something. Anybody who evaluates him is knowing what he's doing and managing the government doesn't know how to manage a government themselves. And one last thing, David, which I think is really important. I listened to Senator Rubio's answer on his bill. He said his bill couldn't pass on the gang of eight. He acted as if he was somehow disembodied from the bill. It was his bill. He said this idea doesn't work. It was his idea. See, when you're a governor, you have to take responsibility for these things. You can't just act as if it happened out of nowhere. We have to take responsibility as executives. I take responsibility for my record in New Jersey. We've rebuilt the economy and rebuilt after the second-worst natural disaster in American history. I'm proud of my record. And by the way, I like Kasich's record, too. He's a good governor. +p2881 +aVDavid? Hey, David? David? Hey, David? I actually have experience with raising taxes on millionaires in my state. It was done. It was done by my predecessor. And I want everybody in the public who is in that 68 percent, I want to tell you the truth. You're wrong. And here is why you're wrong. After New Jersey raised taxes on millionaires, we lost, in the next four years, $70 billion in wealth left our state. It left our state to go where it would be treated more kindly. If the United States raised taxes any further, that money will leave the United States, as well. We won't have better jobs. Let New Jersey be the canary in the coal mine. It is a failed idea and a failed policy, it's class warfare. It happened in my state. I've stopped it from happening again. But we cannot do it. The 68 percent of the people are wrong about that, it will hurt the American economy. We tried it in New Jersey. Come take a look \u2014 it did not work. +p2882 +aVOf course I would. As a former United States attorney who spent seven years of my life fighting this on the streets of my state, I would do that. But we need to do more. And let me tell you what we've done in New Jersey, Josh. We are working with the folks in New Hampshire in their legislature right now to show them how we're helping to solve this problem in New Jersey. Not just for this campaign \u2014 three years ago, I proposed a law that we signed into effect, which said that anyone who was a non- violent, non-dealing, first-time drug offender no longer goes to prison in New Jersey. They go to mandatory, in-patient drug treatment. What has happened is, crime has gone down 20 percent in those years. The prison population has gone down 10 percent. We've now closed the state prison \u2014 closed a state prison, and we're turning it into a drug rehabilitation facility, so people can get the tools they need. Listen, everyone out there knows this in New Hampshire. This is a disease. It's not a moral failing, it's a disease. And we need to get people the treatment they need. And let me tell you why. Because I'm pro-life. And I'm pro life not just for the nine months in the womb, I'm pro-life for when they get out and it's a lot more complicated. Sixteen-year-old, heroin-addicted drug girl on the floor of the county lockup, I'm pro-life for her life. The 42-year-old lawyer who is taking Oxycontin and can't get out of bed and support his family \u2014 I'm pro-life for his life. Everyone of those lives is an individual gift from God. And the last thing is this. These efforts we've taken over the last three years, 2015 in New Jersey, for the first time in four years, drug overdose deaths have gone down, not up. I'll bring the same solutions to the country. +p2883 +aVYou bet I would. And the fact is that because I took strong action to make sure that anyone who was showing symptoms \u2014 remember what happened with that nurse. She was showing symptoms and coming back from a place that had the ebola virus active and she had been treating patients. This was not just some \u2014 like, we picked up her just for the heck of it, alright? We did it because she was showing symptoms, and the fact is that's the way we should make these decision. You make these decisions based upon the symptoms, the medicine, and the law. We quarantined her, she turned out to test negative ultimately after 48 hours, and we released her back to the State of Maine. But, I want to add something on the issue of mosques. Now, I'm the only one up here who's had a law enforcement background as a U.S. Attorney after September 11th. I went to mosques throughout my state to build bridges. To build bridges between our community in law enforcement so we can get intelligence and information from these folks. I've had the experience of working with them as Governor of New Jersey as well. We cannot mix the radical Islamic jihadist with everyday Muslim-Americans. New Jersey is the second largest Muslim- American population in America, of any state. These are good, law abiding, hard working people. What they need is our cooperation, and our understanding. They do not just need broadsides against them because of the religious faith they practice. +p2884 +aVMartha? +p2885 +aVCan I \u2014 can I be really \u2014 can I be really clear on this, because I am the father of two daughters. One of them is here tonight. What my wife and I have taught our daughters right from the beginning, that their sense of self-worth, their sense of value, their sense of what they want to do with their life comes not from the outside, but comes from within. And if a young woman in this country wants to go and fight to defend their country, she should be permitted to do so. Part of that also needs to be part of a greater effort in this country, and so there's no reason why one \u2014 young women should be discriminated against from registering for the selective service. The fact is, we need to be a party and a people that makes sure that our women in this country understand anything they can dream, anything that they want to aspire to, they can do. That's the way we raised our daughters and that's what we should aspire to as president for all of the women in our country. +p2886 +aVWell, I've been pretty helpful to the pro-life cause in one of the most pro-choice states in the union. I've stood up for the first time and now for the last six years we've de-funded Planned Parenthood, not talked about it like they do in Washington D.C. But for six years as governor, Planned Parenthood does not receive that funding from the state budget anymore; over $50 million worth of money that's been saved now, that is not going to do exactly what Hillary Clinton wants to have done and has advocated for. She believes that organization, which engages in the systematic murder of children in the womb, in order to maximize the value of their body parts for sale on the open market, is an acceptable position. Let me tell you something, I don't care if you are a millennial or whether you are in your 90s, no one is for that type of activity, unless you are the most radical type of extremist on this issue, like Senator Clinton and her party is on this issue. I'll say one other thing. The fact is, that I believe that if a woman has been raped, that is a birth and a pregnancy that she should be able to terminate. If she is the victim of incest \u2014 this is not a woman's choice. This is a woman being violated. And the fact is that we have always has believed, as has Ronald Reagan, that we have self-defense for women who have been raped and impregnated because of it, or the subject of incest and been impregnated for it. That woman should not have to deliver that child if they believe that violation is now an act of self-defense by terminating that pregnancy. HAM: Thank you, all. Back to you, David and Martha. +p2887 +aVDenver. +p2888 +aVThank you. I've spent the last 13 years of my life focused on one thing: serving the people who have given me the opportunity to serve them. Not about politics, not about partisanship, but putting the people of my state and our country first. I'm proud to have rebuild my state after Hurricane Sandy, and I'm incredibly proud to be on this stage tonight with these men asking for your vote. New Hampshire, I spent 70 days here with you. You've gotten to know my heart. My heart is to help you solve the problems of your state......and the problems of our nation. If you give me your vote on Tuesday I will do just that. +p2889 +aVThey're not wrong. But what's wrong is your premise in the question. You can do both. There is no reason why you can't stand for principles, go and fight for them and be able also, to have to get things done in government. You know, what people are frustrated about in Washington, D.C.., and I know the folks out there tonight are incredibly frustrated because what they see is a government that doesn't work for them. You know, for the 45-year-old construction worker out there, who is having a hard time making things meet. He's lost $4,000 in the last seven years in his income because of this administration. He doesn't want to hear the talk about politics Megyn and who is establishment and who is grassroots. And who's compromised and who is principled. What he wants is something to get done. And that's the difference between being a governor and having done that for the last six years in New Jersey and being someone who has never had to be responsible for any of those decisions. Barack Obama was never responsible for those decisions. Hillary Clinton has never been responsible for those kind of decisions where they were held accountable. I've been held accountable for six years as the governor of New Jersey and with a Democratic legislature, I've gotten conservative things done. That's exactly what I'll do as president of the United States. +p2890 +aVWell, let me say that I do believe that the vote on NSA made the country less safe. Well, let me tell you what the country should really be worried about. I watched that town hall meeting with the Democrats the other night, and I heard Hillary Clinton asked a direct question by an Iowan, and that's what Iowans like to do. They like to ask direct questions. And, they asked about her email situation. And, here's what she said to the American people. She did it for convenience. For her convenience. She put America's secrets at risk for her convenience. She put American intelligence officers at risk for her convenience. She put American strategy at risk for her convenience. Let me tell you who's not qualified to be President of the United States, Chris. Hillary Rodham Clinton did that to our country. She is not qualified to be President of the United States. The fact is what we need is someone on that stage who has been tested, who has been through it, who has made decisions, who has sit in the chair of consequence and can prosecute the case against Hillary Clinton on... ... that stage, and that is exactly what I am ready to do. +p2891 +aVTalk about what? I... +p2892 +aVWell, because you can do it without profiling, Megyn, when you do it on the facts. What those facts knew was that these folks had weapons. They knew that they were talking about trying to take our country and attack it. That's not profiling, that's law enforcement. And that's the difference between somebody who knows how to do this and somebody who's never done it before. +p2893 +aVThey knew they were talking about the issues of attacking people, Megyn. They knew that. +p2894 +aVListen, I think that what people should do is use their common sense. And the fact is, let law enforcement make those decisions. I've told people that from the time I was U.S. attorney 13 years ago. It's not for them to make those decisions about whether or not something is legal or illegal, or profiling or not. You see something that's suspicious, you call law enforcement and let law enforcement make those decisions. That's what should be done. That can be done. That can be done without profiling people. What that is, is just common sense. They thought something was wrong. And here's the problem in this country right now. The problem is that Barack Obama has made law enforcement the enemy, Hillary Clinton has made law enforcement the enemy. They're not supporting our law enforcement officers, it's making everybody nervous to get out of their cars, if you're a law enforcement officer. It's making... ... everybody nervous to get out of their cars if you're a law enforcement officer. It's making people in neighborhoods nervous to go to law enforcement. As president, I will support law enforcement and we'll stop radical terrorist attacks in this country by supporting our intelligence community and law enforcement community. +p2895 +aVYes. You want one? +p2896 +aVHow about one that I've done in New Jersey for the last six years. That's get rid of Planned Parenthood funding from the United States of America. +p2897 +aVBigger than that? Let me tell you something, when you see thousands upon thousands upon thousands of children being murdered in the womb, I can't think of anything better than that. +p2898 +aVMegyn? +p2899 +aVI want to ask the people of the audience. Like, I'm standing here, I \u2014 I watched the video of Senator Cruz. I watched the video of Senator Rubio. I heard what they said. And this is why you need to send someone from outside of Washington to Washington. I feel like... ... I feel like I need \u2014 I feel like I need a Washington to English dictionary converter, right? I mean, I heard what they both said, I saw it on the video. And the fact is this is what makes a difference when you're a governor. You can change your mind. Ted can change his mind. Marco can change his mind. It's perfectly legal in this country to change your mind. But when you're a governor, you have to admit it. You can't hide behind parliamentary tricks. That's the difference, and that's the kind of leader we need in the White House. Stop the Washington bull and let's get things done. +p2900 +aVSure, because there has been three different investigations and proven that I knew nothing. And the fact is that what I did do, what I did do from the beginning, Chris, as soon as I found out about it, I fired the people who were responsible. And that's what you expect from a leader. And, I'll tell you something else. I inherited a state in New Jersey that was downtrodden, and beaten by liberal democratic policies, high taxation, high regulation. And, this year, in 2015, New Jersey's had the best year of job growth that our state has ever had in the last 15 years. That's because we've put conservative policies in place. And, I'll tell you one other thing, you know why the Republican party will want to take a chance on me? Because they know that Hillary Clinton will never be prosecuted by this justice department, and they're going to want to put a former federal prosecutor on the stage to prosecute her next September. And, there is no one on this stage better prepared to prosecute the case against Hillary Clinton than I am. I will be ready. I will take her on, and when I take her on I guarantee you one thing, she will never get within 10 miles of the White House. The days for the Clintons in public housing are over. +p2901 +aVNo, what I said, Chris, was that the law needs to be followed. And that someone in that office has to do their job. So if Ms. Davis wanted to step aside and get rid of her ability to be able to do that, there should be someone else in that office who it didn't violate their conscience so they could follow the law of the state of Kentucky. I never said that Ms. Davis should either lose her job or that she had to do it. But what I did say was that the person who came in for the license needed to get it. And so if there's someone in that organization, and it turns out there was, who was willing to be able to do that, that's what we should do. But just as importantly, and I agree with what John said. You know, we all have our own individual interpretations of our faith. And here's the problem with what's going on around the world. The radical Islamic jihadists, what they want to do is impose their faith upon each and every one of us \u2014 every one of us. And the reason why this war against them is so important is that very basis of religious liberty. They want everyone in this country to follow their religious beliefs the way they do. They do not want us to exercise religious liberty. That's why as commander in chief, I will take on +p2902 +aVBret, let me tell you, this is another one of those places where Hillary Clinton has so much to answer for, and why she is completely unqualified to be commander in chief. In a previous Democratic debate, Martha Raddatz, three times, asked Hillary Clinton about the failure in Libya, a policy that she took credit for, and said, "what is your measure of responsibility, Madam Secretary, for the failure in Libya?" Three times, she refused to answer the question, because she refuses to be held accountable for anything that goes wrong. If it had gone right, believe me, she would have been running around to be able to take credit for it. Here's what I'd do. This is about the bigger, broader war against +p2903 +aVOn September 11, my wife was two blocks from the World Trade Center. When those buildings came down, she was trapped in her building and I didn't hear from her over six hours. We have three children, eight, five and one. And I had to confront the possibility of being a single parent. Terrorism in this country scares everyone. And the fact is that we need a commander-in- chief who not only understands how to protect us, but feels in here what it means to face the possibility of loss. I've faced it. I've prosecuted terrorists. I have made the decisions that need to be made as a governor to protect us and as president of the United States, no one will keep this country safer than I will. +p2904 +aVWell, Maria, I'm glad to have heard from you in the summary of that question about what's going on in the world. Because Tuesday night, I watched story time with Barack Obama. And I've got to tell you, it sounded like everything in the world was going amazing, you know? The fact is, there's a number of things that the next president is going to have to do to clean up this mess. The first thing is we have to strengthen our alliances around the world. And the best way to do that is to start talking to our allies again and having them be able to count on our word. Lots of people will say lots of different things about me in this campaign and others, but the one thing they've never said about me is that I'm misunderstood. And so when we talk to our allies and we give them our word, in a Christie administration, they know we're going to keep it. Next, we have to talk to our adversaries, and we have to make sure they understand the limits of our patience. And this president, given what Ted said right at the beginning, he's absolutely right. It's a \u2014 it's absolutely disgraceful that Secretary Kerry and others said in their response to what's going on in Iran that this was a good thing; it showed how the relationship was getting better. The president doesn't understand \u2014 and by the way, neither does Secretary Clinton \u2014 and here's my warning to everybody out in the audience tonight. If you're worried about the world being on fire, you're worried about how we're going to use our military, you're worried about strengthening our military and you're worried most of all about keeping your homes and your families safe and secure, you cannot give Hillary Clinton a third term of Barack Obama's leadership. I will not do that. If I'm the nominee, she won't get within 10 miles of the White House. +p2905 +aVMIlitary action, Maria, would be used when it was absolutely necessary to protect American lives and protect American interests around the world. We are not the world's policeman, but we need to stand up and be ready. And the problem, Maria, is that the military is not ready, either. We need to rebuild our military, and this president has let it diminish to a point where tinpot dictators like the mullahs in Iran are taking our Navy ships. It is disgraceful, and in a Christie administration, they would know much, much better than to do that. +p2906 +aVI stood on the stage and watched Marco in rather indignantly, look at Governor Bush and say, someone told you that because we're running for the same office, that criticizing me will get you to that office. It appears that the same someone who has been whispering in old Marco's ear too. So the indignation that you carry on, some of the stuff, you have to also own then. So let's set the facts straight. First of all, I didn't support Sonia Sotomayor. Secondly, I never wrote a check to Planned Parenthood. Third, if you look at my record as governor of New Jersey, I have vetoed a 50-caliber rifle ban. I have vetoed a reduction this clip size. I vetoed a statewide I.D. system for gun owners and I pardoned, six out-of-state folks who came through our state and were arrested for owning a gun legally in another state so they never have to face charges. And on Common Core, Common Core has been eliminated in New Jersey. So listen, this is the difference between being a governor and a senator. See when you're a senator, what you get to do is just talk and talk and talk. And you talk so much that nobody can ever keep up with what you're saying is accurate or not. When you're a governor, you're held accountable for everything you do. And the people of New Jersey, I've seen it. +p2907 +aVAnd the last piece is this. I like Marco too, and two years ago, he called me a conservative reformer that New Jersey needed. That was before he was running against me. Now that he is, he's changed his tune. I'm never going to change my tune. I like Marco Rubio. He's a good guy, a smart guy, and he would be a heck of a lot better president than Hillary Rodham Clinton would ever be. +p2908 +aVNo, absolutely not. The president wants to do things without working with his Congress, without working with the legislature, and without getting the consent of the American people. And the fact is that that's not a democracy. That's a dictatorship. And we need to very, very concerned about that. See, here's the thing. I don't think the founders put the Second Amendment as number two by accident. I don't think they dropped all the amendments into a hat and picked them out of a hat. I think they made the Second Amendment the second amendment because they thought it was just that important. The fact is in New Jersey, what we have done is to make it easier now to get a conceal and carry permit. We have made it easier to do that, not harder. And the way we've done it properly through regulatory action, not by signing unconstitutional executive orders. This guy is a petulant child. That's what he is. I mean, you know...... the fact is, Neil, let's think about \u2014 let's think about \u2014 and I want to maybe \u2014 I hope the president is watching tonight, because here's what I'd like to tell him. Mr. President, we're not against you. We're against your policies. When you became president, you had a Democratic Congress and a filibuster-proof Democratic Senate. You had only 21 Republican governors in this country. And now after seven years of your policies, we have the biggest majority we've had since the 1920s in the House; a Republican majority in the Senate; and 31 out of 50 Republican governors. The American people have rejected your agenda and now you're trying to go around it. That's not right. It's not constitutional. And we are going to kick your rear end out of the White House come this fall. +p2909 +aVMaria, you look at what this president and his secretary of state, Secretary of State Clinton, has done to get us in this spot. You think about it \u2014 this is the president who said, along with his secretary of state \u2014 drew a red line in Syria, said, if Assad uses chemical weapons against his people, that we're going to attack. He used chemical weapons, he's killed, now, over a quarter of a million of his own people, and this president has done nothing. In fact, he's done worse than nothing. This president \u2014 and, by the way, Secretary Clinton, who called Assad a reformer \u2014 she called Assad a reformer. Now, the fact is, what this president has done is invited Russia to play an even bigger role, bring in Vladimir Putin to negotiate getting those chemical weapons back from Assad, yet what do we have today? We have the Russians and the Iranians working together, not to fight +p2910 +aVNow Maria, listen. I said right from the beginning that we should take no Syrian refugees of any kind. And the reason I said that is because the FBI director told the American people, told Congress, that he could not guarantee he could vet them and it would be safe. That's the end of the conversation. I can tell you, after spending seven years as a former federal prosecutor, right after 9/11, dealing with this issue. Here's the way you need to deal with it. You can't just ban all Muslims. You have to ban radical Islamic jihadists. You have to ban the people who are trying to hurt us. The only way to figure that out is to go back to getting the intelligence community the funding and the tools that it needs to be able to keep America safe. And this summer, we didn't do that. We took it away from the NSA, it was a bad decision by the president. Bad by those in the Senate who voted for it and if I'm president, we'll make our intelligence community strong, and won't have to keep everybody out, we're just going to keep the bad folk out and make sure they don't harm us. +p2911 +aVWell, I'm glad you asked that, Maria. Here's \u2014 here's our plan. We've all been talking about tax reforms tonight, and paying for infrastructure is caught right up in tax reform. If you reform the corporate tax system in this country, which, as was mentioned before, is the highest rate in the world \u2014 and we double tax, as you know. And what that's led to over $2 trillion of American companies' monies that are being kept offshore, because they don't want to pay the second tax. And who can blame them? They pay tax once overseas. They don't want to pay 35 percent tax on the way back. So beside reforming that tax code, bringing it down to 25 percent and eliminating those special-interest loopholes that the lobbyists and the lawyers and the accountants have given \u2014 bring that rate down to 25 percent, but also, a one-time repatriation of that money. Bring the money \u2014 the $2 trillion \u2014 back to the United States. We'll tax it, that one time, at 8.75 percent, because 35 percent of zero is zero, but 8.75 percent of $2 trillion is a lot of money. And I would then dedicate that money to rebuilding infrastructure here in this country. It would not necessitate us raising any taxes. It would bring the money back into the United States to help build jobs by American companies and get our economy moving again, and growing as a higher rate, and it would rebuild those roads and bridges and tunnels that you were talking about. And \u2014 and \u2014 and the last piece of this, Maria, is this. You know, the fact is that this president has penalized corporations in America. He's penalized \u2014 and doesn't understand. In fact, what that hurts is hurt hardworking taxpayers. You've seen middle-class wages go backwards $3,700 during the Obama administration. That's wrong for hardworking taxpayers in this country. We'd rebuild infrastructure that would also create jobs in this country, and we'd work with the states to do it the right way, to do it more efficiently and more effectively. And remember this \u2014 I'm credible on this for this reason: Americans for Tax Reform says that I've vetoed more tax increases than any governor in American history. We don't need to raise taxes to get this done. We need to make the government run smarter and better, and reform this corporate tax system, bring that money back to the United States to build jobs and rebuild our infrastructure, and we need to use it also to protect our grid from terrorists. All of those things are important, and all those things would happen in a Christie administration. +p2912 +aVMaria, I'd like to interrupt this on the floor of the Senate to actually answer the question you asked, which was on entitlements. Do you remember that, everybody? This was a question on entitlements. And the reason \u2014 and the reason......no, you already had your chance, Marco, and you blew it. Here's the thing. The fact is, the reason why... +p2913 +aV... the fact is \u2014 the fact is the reason why that no one wants to answer entitlements up here is because it's hard. It's a hard problem. And I'm the only one up on this stage who back in April put forward a detailed entitlement reform plan that will save over $1 trillion, save Social Security, save Medicare, and avoid this \u2014 avoid what Hillary Rodham Clinton will do to you. Because what she will do is come in and she will raise Social Security taxes. Bernie Sanders has already said it. And she is just one or two more poll drops down from even moving further left than she's moved already to get to the left of Bernie on this. We have seniors out there who are scared to death because this Congress \u2014 this one that we have right now, just stole $150 billion from the Social Security retirement fund to give it to the Social Security disability fund. A Republican Congress did that. And the fact is it was wrong. And they consorted with Barack Obama to steal from Social Security. We need to reform Social Security. Mine is the only plan that saves over $1 trillion and that's why I'm answering your question. +p2914 +aVWell, first off, let's face it, the FBI director James Comey was a friend of mine who I worked with as U.S. Attorney of New Jersey. He was the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan. He said, "there's a chill wind blowing through law enforcement in this country." Here's why, the president of the United States and both his attorney's general, they give the benefit of the doubt to the criminal, not to the police officers. That's the truth of the matter and you see it every time with this president. Every time he's got a chance, going all the way back to \u2014 remember that Great Beer Summit he had after he messed up that time. This is a guy who just believes that law enforcement are the bad guys. Now, I for seven years was the U.S. Attorney of New Jersey. I worked hard with not only federal agents but with police officers and here's the problem, sanctuary cities is part of the problem in this country. That's where crime is happening in these cities where they don't enforce the immigration laws. And this president turns his back \u2014 this president doesn't enforce the marijuana laws in this country because he doesn't agree with them. And he allows states to go ahead and do whatever they want on a substance that's illegal. This president allows lawlessness throughout this country. Here's what I would do Neil, I would appoint an Attorney General and I would have one very brief conversation with that Attorney General. I'd say, "General, enforce the law against everyone justly, fairly, and aggressively. Make our streets safe again. Make our police officers proud of what they do but more important than that, let them know how proud we are of them." We do that, this country would be safe and secure again not only from criminals but from the terrorist who threaten us as well. I'm the only person on this stage who's done that and we will get it done as President of the United States. +p2915 +aVMaria, Neil, thank you for a great tonight. When I think about the folks who are out there at home tonight watching, and I think about what they had to watch this week \u2014 the spectacle they had to watch on the floor of the House of Representatives, with the president of the United States, who talked a fantasy land about the way they're feeling. They know that this country is not respected around the world anymore. They know that this country is pushing the middle class, the hardworking taxpayers, backwards, and they saw a president who doesn't understand their pain, and doesn't have any plan for getting away from it. I love this country. It's the most exceptional country the world has ever known. We need someone to fight for the people. We need a fighter for this country again. I've lived my whole life fighting \u2014 fighting for things that I believe in, fighting for justice and to protect people from crime and terrorism, fighting to stand up for folks who have not had enough and need an opportunity to get more, and to stand up and fight against the special interests. But here's the best way that we're going to make America much more exceptional: it is to make sure we put someone on that stage in September who will fight Hillary Clinton and make sure she never, ever gets in the White House again. I am the man who can bring us together to do that, and I ask for your vote. +p2916 +aVThank you Wolf. America has been betrayed. We've been betrayed by the leadership that Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton have provided to this country over the last number of years. Think about just what's happened today. The second largest school district in America in Los Angeles closed based on a threat. Think about the effect that, that's going to have on those children when they go back to school tomorrow wondering filled with anxiety to whether they're really going to be safe. Think about the mothers who will take those children tomorrow morning to the bus stop wondering whether their children will arrive back on that bus safe and sound. Think about the fathers of Los Angeles, who tomorrow will head off to work and wonder about the safety of their wives and their children. What is Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton done to this country? That the most basic responsibility of an administration is to protect the safety and security of the American people. I will tell you this, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I've fought terrorists and won and when we get back in the White House we will fight terrorists and win again and America will be safe. +p2917 +aVWolf, unfortunately, it's the new normal under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The fact is that if you listen to Hillary Clinton the other day, what she said to the American people was, as regards to +p2918 +aVListen, I want to talk to the audience at home for a second. If your eyes are glazing over like mine, this is what it's like to be on the floor of the United States Senate. I mean, endless debates about how many angels on the head of a pin from people who've never had to make a consequential decision in an executive position. The fact is, for seven years, I had to make these decisions after 9/11, make a decision about how to proceed forward with an investigation or how to pull back, whether you use certain actionable intelligence or whether not to. And yet they continue to debate about this bill and in the subcommittee and what \u2014 nobody in America cares about that. What they care about is, are we going to have a president who actually knows what they're doing to make these decisions? And for the seven years afterwards, New Jersey was threatened like no other region in this country and what we did was we took action within the constitution to make sure that law enforcement had all the information they needed. We prosecuted two of the biggest terrorism cases in the world and stopped Fort Dix from being attacked by six American radicalized Muslims from a Mosque in New Jersey because we worked with the Muslim American community to get intelligence and we used the Patriot Act to get other intelligence to make sure we did those cases. This is the difference between actually been a federal prosecutor, actually doing something, and not just spending your life as one of hundred debating it. Let's talk about how we do this, not about which bill, which one these guys like more. The American people don't care about that. +p2919 +aVWolf, you sit up here and you listen to this stuff, and you think that so many of these people have had so much to do in this national debate, they talk like they were bystanders. You know, we talk about our military being degraded over time, and yet we've had folks on this stage who've been a part of Congress who have participated in sequester; who participated in the degrading of this military over time. And that's why I think people get so frustrated with Washington, D.C. now. That's why they're so angry with the \u2014 the electorate is so angry with everybody who is involved in government in Washington, D.C. Because if you listen to the folks up here, you think that they weren't even there; they had nothing to do with this. This is a difference between being a governor and being in a legislature. See, because when something doesn't work in New Jersey, they look at me, say: "Why didn't it get done? Why didn't you do it?" You have to be responsible and accountable. And so on +p2920 +aVWell, I think we have to focus, Hugh, on exactly what the priorities are. And to me, what I've always said is that the president has set up an awful situation through his deal with Iran, because what his deal with Iran has done is empower them and enrich them. And that's the way +p2921 +aVNot only would I be prepared to do it, I would do it. A no-fly zone means a no-fly zone, Wolf. That's what it means. See, maybe \u2014 maybe because I'm from New Jersey, I just have this kind of plain language hangup. But I would make very clear \u2014 I would not talk to Vladimir Putin. In fact, I would talk to Vladimir Putin a lot. But I'd say to him, "Listen, Mr. President, there's a no-fly zone in Syria; you fly in, it applies to you." And yes, we would shoot down the planes of Russian pilots if in fact they were stupid enough to think that this president was the same feckless weakling that the president we have in the Oval Office is right now. +p2922 +aVWell, Wolf, I'll tell you what reckless is. What reckless is is calling Assad a reformer. What reckless is allowing Russia to come into Crimea and Ukraine. What reckless is is inviting Russia into Syria to team with Iran. That is reckless. And the reckless people are the folks in the White House right now. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are the reckless people. And if you think that a no-fly zone is a reckless policy, you're welcome to your opinion. But how is it working so far? As we have 250,000 Syrians murdered, slaughtered; millions running around the world, running for their lives. It's not working. We need to try something else. And that is not reckless. +p2923 +aVWhat I say to Carla is that the first job of the president of the United States is to protect your safety and your security and the security and safety of your family. And this debate stops with me in the discussions with the FBI director. Now, listen, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I know Jim Comey. We've worked together. He was the U.S. attorney in Manhattan when I was a U.S. attorney in New Jersey. And when Jim Comey gets up before Congress and says, we cannot effectively vet these people, for me as president, that's the end of the conversation. We have to put America's security first. The American people \u2014 we on this stage need to open our ears. We need to open our ears. The American people are not whispering to us. They are screaming to us. And they're screaming to us that it's our job to actually make this government work. It's so dysfunctional under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. It's so ineffective. It's so ineffectual that the American people say, we don't trust them to do anything anymore. So I'm not going to let Syrian refugees, any Syrian refugees in this country. And it was widows and orphans, by the way, and we now know from watching the San Bernardino attack that women can commit heinous, heinous acts against humanity just the same as men can do it. And so I don't back away from that position for a minute. When the FBI director tells me that he can vet those people, then we'll consider it and not a moment before because your safety and security is what's most important to me. +p2924 +aVWell, what it would like is, we have one of the great advantages of America being the open society that we are. It is, we are not hiding things from the American people, but China everyday is conducting business in a way that hides things from their people. So if they want to come in and attack all the personnel records in the federal government, which they've done, and which \u2014 they now have my Social Security number and my fingerprints, as well as maybe some other folks' who are on this stage. The fact is, they need to be fought back on. And what we need to do is go at the things that they are most sensitive and most embarrassing to them; that they're hiding; get that information and put it out in public. Let the Chinese people start to digest how corrupt the Chinese government is; how they steal from the Chinese people; and how they're enriching oligarchs all throughout China. They need to understand that. And we need to take those type of steps. This president has seen personnel records of people who have sacrificed for the American people and for the federal government stolen by the Chinese and he's done nothing in return. This is why \u2014 this is what I said at the beginning that this administration, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton through their foreign policy, have betrayed the American people, because the weakness they've displayed has led to Putin's incursions in the Middle East and in eastern Europe, and has led \u2014 has led to significant problems in the Middle East as well, and the death and murder of lots of folks. +p2925 +aVOn September 10th, 2001, I was named chief federal prosecutor in New Jersey and on September 11th, 2001, my wife and my brother who are in the audience tonight went through the World Trade Center and to their offices just blocks away from the Trade Center. I lost touch with them for six hours that day and prayed that they were alive. Luckily, they were sent home. But many of our friends and others in our neighborhood lost their lives that day. Terrorism \u2014 radical jihadist terrorism is not theoretical to me. It's real. And for seven years, I spent my life protecting our country against another one of those attacks. You won't have to worry when I'm President of the Untied States whether that can be done because I've already done it. I want the chance to do it again to protect you, your children and your families. If you give me the chance and give me your vote I will protect America from the wars that are being brought to our door step. +p2926 +aVI don't see a lot of weakness on this stage, quite frankly. Where I see the weakness is in those three people that are left on the Democratic stage. You know, I see a socialist, an isolationist and a pessimist. And for the sake of me, I can't figure out which one is which. But I will \u2014 but I will tell you this, the socialist says they're going to pay for everything and give you everything for free, except they don't say they're going to raise it through taxes to 90 percent to do it. The isolationist is the one who wants to continue to follow a foreign policy that has fewer democracies today than when Barack Obama came into office around the world. But I know who the pessimist is. It's Hillary Clinton. And you put me on that stage against her next September, she won't get within 10 miles of the White House. Take it to the bank. +p2927 +aVWell, I wish you would have asked that question years ago when they broke it. I mean, let me be honest with the people who are watching at home. The government has lied to you and they have stolen from you. They told you that your Social Security money is in a trust fund. All that's in that trust fund is a pile of IOUs for money they spent on something else a long time ago. And they've stolen from you because now they know they cannot pay these benefits and Social Security is going to be insolvent in seven to eight years. We're sitting up here talking about all these other things; 71 percent of federal spending today is on entitlements, and debt service. And, that's with zero percent interest rates. Now, I'm the only person that's put out a detailed plan on how to deal with entitlements. And we'll save a trillion dollars over the next 10 years. And, here's the difference between me and Hillary Clinton. What Hillary Clinton's going to say, and has said before is, she wants to raise Social Security taxes. Now, let me ask you a question everybody, and, this is for the guy, you know, who owns a landscaping business out there. If somebody's already stolen money from you, are you going to give them more? Or, are you going to deal with the problem by saying, I'm going to give people who've done well in this country less benefit on the backend. We need to get realistic about this. We're not \u2014 the American people \u2014 forget about anything else, they've already been lied to and stolen from. And... +p2928 +aV...I'm going to go to Washington to stop it... +p2929 +aV...The only way we're going to be morale, the only way we're going to keep our promise to seniors is start by following the first rule we should all follow, which is to look at them, treat them like adults, and tell them the truth. It isn't there anymore, Mike. They stole it. It got stolen from them. It's not theirs anymore. The government stole it, and spent it a long time ago... +p2930 +aVSo, let's stop fooling around about this, let's tell people the truth. For once, let's do that, and stop trying to give them some kind of fantasy that's never going to come true. +p2931 +aVYou bet they do. And if I were the prosecutor, that is exactly where they would be. The fact is that this Justice Department under this president has been a political Justice Department. It has been a Justice Department that decided that they want to pick who the winners and losers are. They like General Motors, so they give them a pass. They don't like somebody else like David Petraeus, they prosecute them and send a decorated general on to disgrace. It's a political Justice Department. And, Jim, you know full well that in the seven years I was U.S. attorney we went after pharmaceutical companies. We went after companies that were ripping off shareholders. We went after companies that were doing things that were against the law. And to expand on Mr. Carson's \u2014 or Dr. Carson's question, let's face it, we have laws already. We don't need newer (ph) laws. We don't need Hillary Clinton's price controls for \u2014 again, does anybody out there think that giving Washington, D.C., the opportunity to run the pharmaceutical industry is a good idea, given how well they have done running the government? So what we do, though, is, if there is somebody who is price- gouging, we have laws for prosecutors to take that on. Let's let a Justice Department \u2014 and I will make an attorney general who will enforce the law and make justice more than just a word. It will be a way of life. +p2932 +aVJohn, I'll tell you something. You want to talk about moral authority. Let's talk about something that happened this week in the news. You know, the FBI director, the president's appointed FBI director has said this week that because of a lack of support from politicians like the president of the United States, that police officers are afraid to get out of their cars; that they're afraid to enforce the law. And he says, the president's appointee, that crime is going up because of this. And when the president of the United States gets out to speak about it, does he support police officers? Does he stand up for law enforcement? No, he doesn't. I'll tell you this, the number one job of the president of the United States is to protect the safety and security of the American people. This president has failed, and when I'm in the Oval Office, police officers will know that they will have the support of the president of the Untied States. That's real moral authority that we need in the Oval Office. +p2933 +aVCarl, are we really talking about getting government involved in fantasy football? We have \u2014 wait a second, we have $19 trillion in debt. We have people out of work. We have +p2934 +aVWell, first off, what we don't do is do what Hillary Clinton and John Kerry and Barack Obama want us to do, which is their solution for everything, put more taxes on it, give more money to Washington, D.C., and then they will fix it. Well, there is no evidence that they can fix anything in Washington, D.C. +p2935 +aVWhat we should do is to be investing in all types of energy, John, all types of energy. I've laid out... +p2936 +aVNo, John. John, do you want me to answer or do you want to answer? How are we going to do this? Because, I've got to tell you the truth, even in New Jersey what you're doing is called rude. So... We've laid out a national energy plan that says that we should invest in all types of energy. I will tell you, you could win a bet at a bar tonight, since we're talking about fantasy football, if you ask who the top three states in America are that produce solar energy: California and Arizona are easy, but number three is New Jersey. Why? Because we work with the private sector to make solar energy affordable and available to businesses and individuals in our state. We need to make sure that we do everything across all kinds of energy: natural gas, oil, absolutely. But also where it's affordable, solar, wind in Iowa has become very affordable and it makes sense. That is the way we deal with global warming, climate change, or any of those problems, not through government intervention, not through government taxes, and for God's sake, don't send Washington another dime until they stop wasting the money they're already sending there. +p2937 +aVAnd \u2014 and \u2014 and I \u2014 you know, Ben is absolutely right in saying that what we don't need to do is to send more money to Washington, D.C. to fix this problem. And that's what you'll hear from Hillary Clinton \u2014 and I've already heard from her \u2014 is that, send more money in Social Security, send more money in Medicare taxes, send more money for Medicaid, and that's gonna solve the problem. What we know is we're living longer. That's a blessing. It's a blessing that we're living longer, so we have to increase the retirement age to reflect that blessing. We need to make sure that people understand, as Jeb said before, that if you've done extraordinarily well in this country, do you want them to take more out of your taxes now and think they're gonna give it back to you later? Or would you rather take less later on? +p2938 +aVI want to talk to the folks at home. I want to ask you: Are you fed up with how Washington taxes you? Are you fed up with how Washington wastes your money? Are you concerned like I am that the debt and deficits of Washington, D.C. are endangering America's future? I've got one more question for you then. Are you serious about this election? Because if you are, you need to elect someone who's deadly serious about changing this culture. I am deadly serious about changing this culture. I changed it in New Jersey. I'm deadly serious about doing this job the right way. I'm prepared. I'm tested. I'm ready. And I want to make this our government. For the people who say we can't do it, I say hell no, we can do it together. +p2939 +aVHi, my name is Chris Christie, and I'd like to you take the camera off me and put it on the audience because I'd like to ask all of you, how many of you, raise your hand, believe that in today's Barak Obama America your children will have a better life than you've had? You see? That's why I'm running for President. because leadership is not about me, it's about our country. And, what we talk about tonight, it's not about us, it's about the people in the audience tonight, because in seven short years this president has stripped away their trust, and their faith, and their belief that the next generation will have a better life. He's stolen that from us, and when I'm president, I'm going to take it back. +p2940 +aVWell, I know Ben wasn't talking about me, I'm sure he was talking about one of the other guys, not me. As far as being an outsider is concerned \u2014 as far as being an outsider is concerned, let me tell you this, Jake, I'm a Republican in New Jersey. I wake up every morning as an outsider. I wake up every morning with a Democratic legislature who trying to beat my head in and fight me because I'm trying to bring conservative change to a state that needed it desperately. And so, everyone can talk us here about their credentials. But the bottom line is, every morning I get up, I veto 400 bills from a crazy liberal Democratic legislature, not one of them has been overridden. I've vetoed more tax increases than any governor in American history, according to Americans for Tax Reform. What folks want in this country is somebody to go down there and get the job done. And that's exactly what I'll do. So, I know this much, that what the American people want to hire right now is somebody who believes in them. And believes that they are the ones who can fix our country. I will be the vessel through which they can fix this country, but it's not about me. It's about all of you. And getting this government off your back and out of your way, and letting you succeed. I know Ben wasn't talking about me. +p2941 +aVLook at him smiling at me right now. I know Ben didn't mean it about me. One of these other guys, I'm sure. +p2942 +aVBe honest, Ben, be honest. +p2943 +aVSee, Jake, it wasn't me. +p2944 +aVI was \u2014 +p2945 +aVShe is, and so if she, based on conscience, can't sign that \u2014 that marriage license, then there should be someone in her office to be able to do it, and if the law needs to be changed in the state of Kentucky, which is what she's advocating, it should be changed. +p2946 +aVAnd why don't we do the same thing with Planned Parenthood? +p2947 +aVWe elected a Republican Congress to do this. And they should be doing it, and they're not. And they're giving the president a pass. +p2948 +aVI put it in the list, Dana. We should be doing these things and forcing the president to take action. +p2949 +aVLet's force him to do what he says he's going to do. Now I don't know whether he'll do it or not, but let's force him to do it. +p2950 +aVFirst of, Jake, I don't yield to anybody on how to enforce the law. I'm the only person on this stage who spent seven years as a United States Attorney after September 11th, and I know how to do this. The fact is though that for 15,000 people a day to be deported every day for two years is an undertaking that almost none of us could accomplish given the current levels of funding, and the current number of law enforcement officers. Here's what we need to do, and I think this is where Donald is absolutely right. What we need to do is to secure our border, and we need to do it with more than just a wall. We need to use electronics, we need to use drones, we need to use FBI, DEA, and ATF, and yes, we need to take the fingerprint of every person who comes into this country on a visa, and when they overstay their visa, we need to tap them on the shoulder, and say, "You have overstayed your welcome, you're taking advantage of the American people. It's time for you to go." If we had that kind of system in place, we wouldn't have the 11 million people we have now. +p2951 +aVJake listen. While I'm as entertained as anyone by this personal back-and-forth about the history of Donald and Carly's career, for the 55-year-old construction worker out in that audience tonight who doesn't have a job, who can't fund his child's education, I've got to tell you the truth. They could care less about your careers, they care about theirs. Let's start talking about that on this stage and stop playing \u2014 and stop playing the games. Stop playing \u2014 +p2952 +aVJohn \u2014 I'm not done yet, John. +p2953 +aVStop \u2014 and stop playing \u2014 and Carly \u2014 Carly, listen. You can interrupt everybody else on this stage, you're not going to interrupt me, OK? The fact is that we don't want to hear about your careers, back and forth and volleying back and forth about who did well and who did poorly. You're both successful people. Congratulations. You know who's not successful? The middle class in this country who's getting plowed over by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Let's start talking about those issues tonight and stop this childish back-and-forth between the two of you. +p2954 +aVListen, you know, Hugh, it's an important point. And the question is, who is going to prosecute Hillary Clinton? The Obama White House seems to have in interest, the Justice Department seems to have no interest. I think it's time to put a former federal prosecutor on the same stage as Hillary Clinton. And I will prosecute her during those debates on that stage for the record we're talking about here. The fact she had a private email server in her basement, using national security secrets running through it, could have been hacked by the Russians, the Chinese, or two 18-year-olds on a toot (ph) wanting to have some fun. No one is answering that question from the Hillary Clinton campaign... +p2955 +aVYou know why? Because she knows she's wrong, and she cannot look in the mirror at herself, and she cannot tell the American people the truth. +p2956 +aVWell, Jake, I was named U.S. attorney by President Bush on September 10th, 2001. And that next day my wife Mary Pat did what she did every day, she traveled through the World Trade Center and went to her office two blocks from the World Trade Center. And after those planes hit, for five-and-a-half-hours after that, I couldn't reach her, didn't know whether she was dead or alive, and we had three children at the time, 8, 5 and 1. And I had to confront what so many thousands of others in my region had to confront, the idea I might become a single parent, the idea that my life and my children's life might be changed forever. We lost friends that day. We went to the funerals. And I will tell you that what those people wanted and what they deserved was for America to answer back against what had been done to them. And I support what President Bush did at that time, going into Afghanistan, hunting al Qaeda and its leaders, getting its sanctuary out of place, and making it as difficult around the world for them to move people and money. And then he went to prosecutors like us, and he said, never again. Don't prosecute these people after the crime is committed. Intervene before the crime happens. I absolutely believe that what the president did at the time was right. And I am proud to have been one of the people on the stage who was part of making sure that what Governor Bush said before was the truth. America was safe for those seven years and Barack Obama has taken that safety away from us. +p2957 +aVLet me say this, Jake, is that while that may have been a fine idea that Dr. Carson had, these people were out to kill us. I stood in that region with my family, and every time a plane went overhead in the weeks after that, people's heads jerked to the sky because they thought it was happening again. You do not need to go through subtle diplomacy at that point. That could be handled later on. What you need is a strong American leader who will take the steps that are necessary to protect our nation. That's what I would do as commander-in-chief in this circumstance. And that's what President George W. Bush did in 2001. +p2958 +aVJake, you brought my issue up. +p2959 +aVYou know, I enjoy the interplay. Thank you, gentlemen. I'll just say this, first off, New Jersey is the first state in the nation that now says if you are non-violent, non-dealing drug user, that you don't go to jail for your first offense. You go to mandatory treatment. You see, Jake, I'm pro-life. And I think you need to be pro-life for more than just the time in the womb. It gets tougher when they get out of the womb. And when they're the 16-year-old drug addict in the Florida county lockup, that life is just as precious as the life in the womb. And so, that's why I'm for rehabilitation, why I think the war on drugs has been a failure. But I'll end with this. That doesn't mean we should be legalizing gate way drugs. And if Senator Paul thinks that the only victim is the person, look at the decrease in productivity, look at the way people get used and move on to other drugs when they use marijuana as a gateway drug, it is not them that are the only victims. Their families are the victims too, their children are the victims too, and their employers are the victims also. That's why I'll enforce the federal law, while you can still put an emphasis on rehabilitation, which we've done in New Jersey. +p2960 +aVAnd Senator Paul knows that that's simply not the truth. In New Jersey, we have medical marijuana laws, which I supported and implemented. This is not medical marijuana. There's goes as much \u2014 a further step beyond. This is recreational use of marijuana. This is much different. And so, while he would like to use a sympathetic story to back up his point, it doesn't work. I'm not against medical marijuana. We do it in New Jersey. But I'm against the recreational use against marijuana. If he wants to change the federal law, get Congress to pass the law to change it, and get a president to sign it. +p2961 +aVNo, it's not. But with Donald, it's a good start. That's really good. No, listen. This is an issue that \u2014 that we've gotta talk about, and we haven't talked about yet. 71 percent of all federal spending is on entitlements and debt service. When John Kennedy was elected president in 1960, it was 26 percent. Harvard and Dartmouth says that Social Security's going to go insolvent in seven to eight years. So what I say is very simple. We need to save this program for the good people out there who have paid into the system and need it. And if that means making sure that folks like Donald and many of us on the stage don't get it, that's the right thing to do because here's what Hillary Clinton is going to want to do. She's going to want to put more money into a system that has already lied to us and stolen from us. This government doesn't need more money to make Social Security solvent. We need to be not paying out benefits to people who don't really need it. We need to protect the people who Social Security means the difference between picking between heat and rent and food. That's why I put out the proposal and that's the people I'm trying to... +p2962 +aVI don't think Senator Rubio is a skeptic of climate change. I think what Senator Rubio said I agree with. That in fact we don't need this massive government intervention to deal with the problem. Look at what we have done in New Jersey. We have already reached our clean air goals for 2020. And when I was governor, I pulled out of the regional cap and trade deal, the only state in the Northeast that did that. And we still reached our goals. Why? Because 53 percent of our electricity comes from nuclear. We use natural gas. We use solar power. We're the third-highest- using solar power state. You know why? Because we made all of those things economically feasible. I agree with Marco. We shouldn't be destroying our economy in order to chase some wild left-wing idea that somehow us by ourselves is going to fix the climate. We can contribute to that and be economically sound. We have proven we can do that in New Jersey. Nuclear needs to be back on the table in a significant way in this country if we want to go after this problem. +p2963 +aVI understand. No, no, listen, everybody makes a mistake every once in a while, Jake, even George Shultz. And if that's truly a representation of what he believes we should be doing, then with all due respect to the former secretary of state, I disagree with him. +p2964 +aVI think the Adams family has been shorted in the currency business. Our country wouldn't be here without John Adams, and he would not have been able to do it without Abigal Adams, so, I'd put Abigail Adams on the bill. +p2965 +aVYou know, I've been called a lot of names by a lot of different people, and now I got to get called by names by the Secret Service? I would just say True Heart. +p2966 +aVI turned 18 in 1980, and my first vote was for Ronald Reagan. Boy, am I glad I did it. And I think the country is, too. A Christie presidency won't be about me. It will be about you. Tonight, you sit at home in your living room, frustrated that you play by the rules, you pay the taxes, you do the hard things to raise your family, yet you feel like America's generosity is being taken advantage of. That you've been \u2014 system is being gamed, and that you're turning out to fall further and further behind. Our presidency \u2014 our presidency \u2014 will be about ending that, about enforcing the law, level the playing field for everybody, and once again reward those folks who play by the rules, and think that justice means more than just the word. But it means a way of life. And I will tell you this, around the world, I will not shake hands with, I will not meet with, and I will not agree to anything with a country that says death to us and death to Israel and holds our hostages while we sign agreements with them. It will be an America that be strong and resolute, and will once again be able to stick out its chest and say, "we truly are the greatest nation in the world, because we live our lives that way, each and every day." +p2967 +asVCARSON +p2968 +(lp2969 +VWell, the current Constitution actually doesn't address that particular situation, but the fact of the matter is the Supreme Court, obviously, is a very important part of our governmental system. And when our Constitution was put in place, the average age of death was under 50, and therefore the whole concept of lifetime appointments for Supreme Court judges and federal judges was not considered to be a big deal. Obviously, that has changed, and it's something that probably needs to be looked at pretty carefully at some point. But, we need to start thinking about the divisiveness that is going on in our country. I looked at some of the remarks that people made after finding out that Justice Scalia had died, and they were truly nasty remarks. And that we have managed to get to that position in our country is truly a shame. And we should be thinking about how we could create some healing in this land. But, right now, we're not going to get healing with President Obama. That's very United Nations clear. So, I...... fully agree that we should not allow a judge to be appointed during his time. +p2970 +aVNo, it isn't. First of all, let me go back to your first question for me. It wasn't phrased as who gets to nominate Supreme Court appointees. Of course that's the president. So I know that there are some left-wing media who would try to make hay on that. Secondly, thank you for including me in the debate. Two questions already. This is great. Now, as far......as far as those 2 a.m. phone calls are concerned, judgment is what is required. And the kinds of things that you come up with are sometimes very, very difficult and very unique. One of the things that I was known for is doing things that have not been done before. So no amount of experience really prepares you to do something that has never been done before. That's where judgment comes in. And that, I think, is a situation that we're in right now, a situation that we have never been in before with the kinds of threats that pose real danger to our nation, and it comes in very handy in those situations. +p2971 +aVWell, first of all, let me just address the Iraq question. You know, I was not particularly in favor of us going to war in Iraq, primarily because I have studied, you know, the Middle East, recognizing that those are nations that are ruled by dictators and have been for thousands of years. And when you go in and you remove one of those dictators, unless you have an appropriate plan for replacing them, you're going to have chaos. Now, fortunately, we were able to stabilize the situation, and it was the current administration that turned tail and ran and destabilized the situation. Now, having said that, in terms of the rules of engagement, I was talking about, you know, Obama has said, you know, we shouldn't bomb tankers, you know, coming out of refineries because there may be people in there, or because the environment may be hurt. You know, that's just asinine thinking. And the fact of the matter is... You know, we \u2014 obviously, you're not going to accomplish all of your goals without some collateral damage. You have to be able to assess what is acceptable and what is not. +p2972 +aVWell, first of all, let me just mention on the tax issue. Bencarson.com, go read about it, because my tax plan has been praised by Cato, by Wall Street Journal. Forbes said it is the best, the most pro-growth tax plan, and it's based on real fairness for everybody. Starts at the 150 percent poverty level, but even the people below that have to pay something, because everybody has to have skin in the game, and the millions of people can't, you know, talk about what other people have to pay and have no skin in the game. And it deals with corporate tax rate, and makes it the same as everybody else......everybody pays exactly the same. +p2973 +aV... And, as far as Medicare and Medicaid, my main goal is to get rid of Obamacare and put the care back in the hands of ... +p2974 +aVWell, first of all, please go to my website, bencarson.com, and read my immigration policy, O.K.? Because it actually makes sense. Now, the \u2014 as far as these fines are concerned, you know? Here's the big problem. We've got all these government regulators, and all they're doing is running around looking for people to fine. And we've got 645 different federal agencies and sub-agencies. Way, way too many, and they don't have anything else to do. I think what we really need to do is start trimming the regulatory agencies rather than going after the people who are trying to increase the viability, economic viability of our society. Now, that doesn't mean there aren't some people out there who are doing bad things. But I'm not sure that the way to solve that problem is by increasing all the regulatory burden. You know, when you consider how much regulations cost us each year, you know? $2 trillion dollars per family, $24,000 per family, that happens to be the same level as the poverty level...... for a family of four. If you want to get rid of poverty, get rid of all the regulations. +p2975 +aVBefore you ask the question, can I respond to the \u2014 you know, they mentioned my name a couple of times. +p2976 +aVAll right. Well, first of all, you know, so many people have said to me, "You need to scream and jump and down \u2014 jump up and down like everybody else." Is that really what you want? What we just saw? I don't think so. And you know, I \u2014 when I got into this race, I decided to look under the hood of the engine of what runs Washington, D.C., and my first inclination was to run away, but I didn't do it because I'm thinking about our children and the fact that we are the United States of America. And anybody up here is going to be much better than what's going to come on the other side. And what happened tonight with \u2014 with Justice Scalia tells you that we cannot afford to lose this election, and we cannot be tearing each other down. +p2977 +aVWell, first of all, I'm not a politician, so I'm never going to become a politician. But here's what \u2014 here's what people need to know. People need to know that free college is not \u2014 it's a non-starter. You know, you have to look at our economic situation. We're on the verge of economic collapse and, you know, we're \u2014 it's not just the $19 trillion, but it's also the $200 trillion in unfunded liabilities. What we need to think about is, what does that do to the average person? When we have a debt of that nature, it causes the Fed to change their policy, it causes the central bank to keep the \u2014 the rates low, and who does does that affect? Mr. Average, who used to go to the bank every Friday and put part of his check in the bank and watch it grow over three decades and be able to retire with a nice nest egg, that's gone. That part of the American dream is gone. All of these things are disappearing, and Bernie Sanders and people like Hillary Clinton blame it on the rich. They say those evil rich people, if we take their money we can solve the problem. It's not the evil rich people. It's the irresponsible, evil government. +p2978 +aVThis is the first generation not expected to do better than their parents. Some people say it's the new normal, but there's nothing normal about it in an exceptional American. I, like you, am a member of we, the people, and we know that our country is heading off the cliff. Joseph Stalin said if you want to bring America down you, have to undermine three things: our spiritual life, our patriotism and our morality. We, the people, can stop that decline, starting right here in South Carolina. If all the people who say, "I love Ben Carson and his policies, but he can't win," vote for me, not only can we win, but we can turn this thing around. You know, we have this manipulation by the political class and by the media telling us who we're supposed to pick and how we're supposed to live. We, the people, are the only people who will determine that. And if you elect me as your next president, I promise you that you will get somebody who is accountable to everybody and beholden to no one. Thank you. +p2979 +aVWell, you know, when I wasn't introduced No. 2, as was the plan, I thought maybe he thought I already had dropped out. But... But you know, today is the 105th anniversary, or \u2014 105th birthday of Ronald Reagan. His 11 Commandment was not to speak ill of another Republican. So, I'm not going to use this opportunity to savage the reputation of Senator Cruz. But I will say \u2014 I will say \u2014 I will say that I was very disappointed that members of his team thought so little of me that they thought that after having hundreds, if not thousands of volunteers and college students who sacrificed their time and were dedicated to the cause \u2014 one even died \u2014 to think that I would just walk away ten minutes before the caucus and say, "Forget about you guys." I mean, who would do something like that? Now, I don't think anyone on this stage would do something like that. And to assume that someone would, what does that tell you? So, unfortunately, it did happen. It gives us a very good example of certain types of Washington ethics. Washington ethics. Washington ethics basically says, if it's legal, you do what you need to do in order to win. That's not my ethics. My ethics is, you do what's right. +p2980 +aVSince I was mentioned... +p2981 +aVThis is great you guys. I want you all to mention me when you say something. In fact, the time line indicates that initial tweet from CNN was followed by another one within one minute that clarified that I was not dropping out. So, what happened to that one, it is unclear. But the bottom line is, we can see what happened, everybody can see what happened and you can make your own judgment. +p2982 +aVGood evening. +p2983 +aVWell, thank you. You know, I was hoping to get a chance to talk about North Korea. I was the only one who didn't get to do that, and I've got stuff to say about it, let me tell you. But at any rate, you have to replace it with something that makes sense. It doesn't make sense. And the reason that I dislike Obamacare is because the government comes in and tells the people \u2014 which the nation is supposed to be centered on \u2014 that we don't care what you think, this is what we're doing. And if you don't like it, too bad. That's a problem. And we can't afford to do that because that will fundamentally change America. I have proposed a health empowerment account system. Everybody gets a health empowerment account the day they are born, they keep it until they die. They can pass it on. We pay for it with the same dollars that we pay for traditional health care with, recognizing that we spend twice as much as many countries per capita and health care and don't have as such access. We give people the ability to shift money within their health empowerment account so that each family basically becomes its own insurance company without a middleman; that saves you a awful lot of money. And that will lower the cost of your catastrophic insurance tremendously, because the only thing coming out of that is catastrophic health care. And then in terms of taking care of the indigent, we have another whole system, and I can go ahead and explain it, but I don't have the time, but I'd be happy to if you give me some more time. But go to my website bencarson.com, read about it. You can read about everything that's been discussed here in great detail. HAM: Thank you, Dr. Carson. David, Martha, back to you. +p2984 +aVI want to say something about this, because I'm not here just to add beauty to the stage. You know, I've been talking about Libya for quite a long time. I think I was the first one to start talking about it because I say we have to have a proactive foreign policy strategy. And of course, the next place that +p2985 +aVI would support the possibility of renewed airstrikes if in conjunction with our Joint Chiefs and our military people they felt that was an appropriate strategy. The fact of the matter is none of us up here is a military expert, and we sometimes act like we are, but we're not. And if we actually sit down and talk with them and get them to understand our plan and their impression of what needs to be done, I think we're going to make a lot more progress. +p2986 +aVIt's the same question? +p2987 +aVYes. Well, first of all, I think it would be a pretty easy contrast, quite frankly, between myself and Hillary Clinton. In one case, you have someone who is known as a deceitful individual. An individual who at Benghazi, which I will never let go, quite frankly, because I think of those two men who went up there on the top of that compound with machine guns, firing away, allowing their colleagues to escape. And I'm sure, in the back of their mind, they were just saying, if we can just hold on, help is on the way. But help was not on the way. When did we in the United States not send people to help our own people? You know, this is not who we are. And \u2014 I would simply make it a referendum on honesty and integrity versus deceit and the Washington way. +p2988 +aVWell, you know, it's not a simple issue, and now, you know, we've gotten evidence that there can been active viruses in other bodily fluids like saliva and urine. So, this is going to be, obviously, a big deal. Do we quarantine people? If we have evidence that they are infected, and that there is evidence that that infection can spread by something that they're doing, yes. But, just willy-nilly going out and quarantining a bunch of people because they've been to Brazil, I don't believe that that's going to work. What we really need to be thinking about is how do we get this disease under control? And this is where we need rapid response. We need a rapid response for ebola, we need rapid response for Zika, there will be other things that will come up. These are the kinds of things that the NIH, the CDC, can be very effective in. We need to give the the appropriate support for those kind of things. +p2989 +aVCan I say something... +p2990 +aVSomething about the draft. Very quickly. +p2991 +aVYou know, 14 percent decrease in the number of people applying for voluntary military service, and I think part of it is because of the way that we treat our veterans. You know, we wouldn't be a free country if it wasn't for them, and we have 22 veterans per day committing suicide. So, I think what we should do is have an external support system for people once they volunteer and it should follow them throughout their career, should follow them for three years, five years afterwards, a year before they get out, should be working on integrating them back into society, so that they quit on Friday and they start their new job. They should have health empowerment accounts that are subsidized so they can go to any medical facility and be taken care of. They can go to a V.A. if they want to. But if we start taking care of our veterans the right way, we won't have to ever worry about a draft again. +p2992 +aVWith 100 percent certainly, I will predict the winner \u2014 it will either be Denver or Carolina. +p2993 +aVFor many months, the political class, pundits, the media, have tried to ignore or bury me. They say that politics is too complex, and too sleazy. You can't survive. Well, guess what? I'm still here, and I'm not going any place either. And, I believe there is still a place in our country for faith, integrity, and common sense. Hundreds of thousands of you drafted me to run for president...... And, I am going to with the help of God, and you, once again place the American people at the pinnacle with the government there to serve it. +p2994 +aVWell, I will gladly confess that I'm the only one on this stage with no political title. You're not going to hear a lot of polished political speech from me, but you will hear the truth. And I don't think you have to be a politician to tell the truth. In fact, sometimes it's not that way... ... and I've had more two a.m. phone calls than everybody here put together, making life and death decisions, put together very complex teams to accomplish things that have never been done before. And we are in a situation right now in our country that we have never been in before. We need people who think out of the box and can solve problems; can utilize the resources around them; very smart people, to focus on the problem and solve the problem. The American people are terrified. That's why we have this abnormal situation going on right now. We don't need more of the same solutions. We need different solutions to solve the problems and to save our nation. +p2995 +aVWell, I don't know about the GOP messaging, but I can tell you about my messaging. You know, need to stop allowing political correctness to dictate our policies, because it's going to kill us if we don't. And in the Holy Land Foundation trial in 2006 in Texas, they had a memorandum, an explanatory memorandum that talked about the fact that Americans would be easy to overcome and to commit civilization jihad because they were going to be trying to protect the rights of the very people who were trying to subvert them. But I believe in the Teddy Roosevelt philosophy. Teddy Roosevelt said, we are a nation of immigrants. As such, everybody is welcome from any race, any country, any religion, if they want to be Americans. If they want to accept our values and our laws. If not, they can stay where they are. +p2996 +aVOh, great. As I said before, we are a land of immigrants, but we have to be intelligent about the way that we form our immigration policies, and that's one of the reasons that I have called on us to declare war on the Islamic State because we need to reorient our immigration policies and our visa policies for people who are coming into this country because there are many people out there who want to destroy us. Now, I recognize that the vast majority of people coming in here probably are not those kinds of people, but that's not good enough. If you've got 10 people coming to your house and you know one of them is a terrorist, you're probably going to keep them all out. You know, we probably have to figure out a way to make sure that we keep America safe. +p2997 +aVLook, first of all, I recognize that Vladimir Putin is an opportunist and he's a bully, and we have to face him down. And I would \u2014 first of all, face him down in that whole region, the whole Baltic region. I think we need to put in some armored brigades there. We only have one or two. We need much more than that. We need to be doing military exercises if not only Estonia but Latvia and Lithuania. They're terrified by the saber rattling. I think we ought to put in our missile defense system. I think we ought to give Ukraine offensive weapons and I think we ought to fight them on the economic basis because Putin is a one- horse country: oil and energy. And we ought to fight them on that level. We ought to be helping in terms of the technology for fracking, keeping the price low, quite frankly, because that's what's keeping him contained. So, yes, I'd absolutely would go in if he attacked. I think on Article IV of +p2998 +aVWell, as anyone knows who's been listening to me, you know? I'm very much against the government being involved in every aspect of our lives, you know? We last year there was an additional 81,000 pages of government regulations. If you stack that up it would be a three-story building. This is absolutely absurd. And, they've insinuated themselves into everything. Now, as far as the renewable fuel standard is concerned, certain promises were made, certain government contracts were issued which extend all the way into the year 2022, and I believe that it's probably unfair to withdraw the rug because people have invested money. People have invested a lot of energy into that. But, you know, we are blessed with tremendous energy in this nation, and we need to be talking for new sources of energy. Seventy percent of our population lives by costly. What about hydroelectric power? We can develop that, you know? We have so much natural gas now, and we can liquify it, and we can transfer it across the sea so we can make Europe dependent on us instead of Putin \u2014 put him back in his little box where he belongs. Those are the kinds of things that we ought to be doing. And, you know, take advantage of the tremendous opportunities in energy that God has given us, not get involved in these little petty arguments. And we can get a lot of them out if we get the government out of our lives. +p2999 +aVI want to thank the people of Iowa for being so welcoming to me. Please think of our founding fathers as you listen. We the people of the United States in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the benefits of liberty to ourselves and our prosperity, do ordain and establish this constitution of the United States of America. Folks, it's not too late. Enough said. +p3000 +aVWell, I'm very happy to get a question this early on. I was going to ask you to wake me up when that time came. You know, I find it really quite fascinating some of the president's proclamations. The fact of the matter is he doesn't realize that we now live in the 21st century, and that war is very different than it used to be before. Not armies massively marching on each other and air forces, but now we have dirty bombs and we have cyber attacks and we have people who will be attacking our electrical grid. And, you know, we have a whole variety of things that they can do and they can do these things simultaneously. And we have enemies who are obtaining nuclear weapons that they can explode in our exoatmosphere and destroy our electric grid. I mean, just think about a scenario like that. They explode the bomb, we have an electromagnetic pulse. They hit us with a cyberattack simultaneously and dirty bombs. Can you imagine the chaos that would ensue at that point? He needs to recognize that those kinds of things are in fact an existential threat to us. But here's the real key. We have the world's best military, even though he's done everything he can to diminish it. And the fact of the matter is if we give them a mission and we don't tie their hands behind their back, they can get it accomplished. +p3001 +aVNeil, I was mentioned too. +p3002 +aVYeah, he said everybody. And \u2014 and I just want to take this opportunity to say, you know, in the 2012 election, you know, we \u2014 and when I say we, Republicans \u2014 tore themselves apart. You know, we have to stop this because, you know, if we manage to damage ourselves, and we lose the next election, and a progressive gets in there and they get two or three Supreme Court picks, this nation is over as we know it. And we got to look at the big picture here. +p3003 +aVWell, there's not question that we should be able to look at past president whether they're married to somebody who's running for president or not in terms of their past behavior and what it means. But you know, here's the real issue, is this America anymore? Do we still have standards? Do we still have values and principles? You know, you look at what's going on, you see all the divisiveness and the hatred that goes on in our society. You know, we have a war on virtual everything \u2014 race wars, gender wars, income wars, religious wars, age wars. Every war you can imaging, we have people at each other's throat and our strength is actually in our unity. You know, you go to the internet, you start reading an article and you go to the comments section \u2014 you cannot go five comments down before people are calling each all manner of names. Where did that spirit come from in America? It did not come from our Judeo-Christian roots, I can tell you that. And wherever it came from we need to start once again recognizing that there is such a thing as right and wrong. And let's not let the secular progressives drive that out of us. The majority of people in American actually have values and principles and they believe in the very things that made America great. They've been beaten into submission. It's time for us to stand up for what we believe in. +p3004 +aVWait a minute, who in their 16th month? +p3005 +aVOK. +p3006 +aVWell, there's no question that +p3007 +aVWell, first of all, recognize it is a substantial problem. But like all of our problems, there isn't a single one that can't be solved with common sense if you remove the ego and the politics. And clearly, what we need to do is get a group of experts together, including people from other countries, some of our friends from Israel, who have had experience screening these people and come up with new guidelines for immigration, and for visas, for people who are coming into this country. That is the thing that obviously makes sense, we can do that. And as far as the Syrians are concerned, Al-Hasakah province, perfect place. They have infrastructure. All we need to do is protect them, they will be in their own country. And that is what they told me when I was in Jordan in November. Let's listen to them and let's not listen to our politicians. +p3008 +aVWell, I would suggest a fair tax system, and that's what we have proposed. A flat tax for everybody \u2014 no exemptions, no deductions, no shelters, because some people have a better capability of taking advantage of those than others. You know, and then the other thing we have to do is stop spending so much money. You know, I \u2014 my \u2014 my mother taught me this. You know, she only had a third-grade education, but \u2014 you know, she knew how to stretch a dollar. I mean, she would drive a car until it wouldn't make a sound, and then gather up all her coins and buy a new car. In fact, if my mother were secretary of treasury, we would not be in a deficit situation. But...... you know, the \u2014 the \u2014 the fact of the matter is \u2014 you know, if we fix the taxation system, make it absolutely fair, and get rid of the incredible regulations \u2014 because every regulation is a tax, it's a \u2014 on goods and services. And it's the most regressive tax there is. You know, when you go into the store and buy a box of laundry detergent, and the price has up \u2014 you know, 50 cents because of regulations, a poor person notices that. A rich person does not. Middle class may notice it when they get to the cash register. And everything is costing more money, and we are killing our \u2014 our \u2014 our people like this. And Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton will say it's those evil rich people. It's not the evil rich people. It's the evil government that is \u2014 that is putting all these regulations on us so that we can't survive. +p3009 +aVCan I just add one very quick thing? And I just want to say, you know, last week we released our tax plan. And multiple reputable journals, including The Wall Street Journal, said ours is the best. Just want to get that out there, just saying. +p3010 +aVYou know, in recent travels around this country, I've encountered so many Americans who are discouraged and angry as they watch our freedom, our security and the American dream slipping away under an unresponsive government that is populated by bureaucrats and special interest groups. We're not going to solve this problem with traditional politics. The only way we're going to solve this problem is with we, the people. And I ask you to join me in truth and honesty and integrity. Bencarson.com \u2014 we will heal, inspire and revive America for our children. +p3011 +aVThank you, Wolf. Please join me for a moment of silence and remembrance of the San Bernardino victims. Thank you. You know, our country since its inception has been at war, every 15 or 20 years. But the war that we are fighting now against radical Islamist jihadists is one that we must win. Our very existence is dependent upon that. You know, as a pediatric neurosurgeon, I frequently faced life and death situations, and had to come up with the right diagnosis, the right plan, and execute that plan frequently with other colleagues. Right now, the United States of America is the patient. And the patient is in critical condition and will not be cured by political correctness and will not be cured by timidity. And I am asking the Congress, which represents the people, to declare a war on +p3012 +aVFirst of all, let me just complain a little bit. This is the first time I've spoken and several people have had multiple questions so please try to pay attention to that. Now, as far as monitoring is concerned, what my point is, we need to make sure that any place \u2013 I don't care whether it's a mosque, a school, a supermarket, a theater, you know it doesn't matter. If there are a lot of people getting there and engaging in radicalizing activities then we need to be suspicious of it. We have to get rid of all this PC stuff. And people are worried about if somebody's going to say that I'm Islamophobic or what have you. This is craziness because we are at war. That's why I asked congress, go ahead and declare the war . We need to be on a war footing. We need to understand that our nation is in grave danger. You know, what the Muslim Brotherhood said in the explanatory memorandum that was discovered during the Holy Land Foundation Trial was that, "they will take advantage of our PC attitude to get us. :" We have to be better than this. We have to be smarter than they are. +p3013 +aVI think you have to ask them about that. I don't want to get in between them. Let them fight. +p3014 +aVNeurosurgeon. +p3015 +aVWell, interestingly enough, you should see the eyes of some of those children when I say to them we're going to have to open your head up and take out this tumor. They're not happy about it, believe me. And they don't like me very much at that point. But later on, they love me. Sometimes you \u2014 I sound like him. You know, later on, you know, they really realize what's going on. And by the same token, you have to be able to look at the big picture and understand that it's actually merciful if you go ahead and finish the job, rather than death by 1,000 pricks. +p3016 +aVYou got it. You got it. +p3017 +aVRuthless is not necessarily the word I would use, but tough, resolute, understanding what the problems are, and understanding that the job of the president of the United States is to protect the people of this country and to do what is necessary in order to get it done. +p3018 +aVFirst of all, I've been talking about this for over a year. We have to destroy their caliphate because that gives them legitimacy to go ahead with the global Jihad. We have to take their energy because they are \u2014 +p3019 +aVNo one is ever better off with dictators but there comes a time you know, when you're on an airplane, they always say, "in case of an emergency oxygen masks will drop down. Put yours on first and then administer help to your neighbor." We need oxygen right now. And we need to start thinking about the needs of the American people before we go and solve everybody else's problems. The fact of the matter is, is that the Middle East has been in turmoil for thousands of years. For us to think that we're going to in there and fix that with a couple of little bombs and a few little decorations is relatively foolish. +p3020 +aVWell, you know, there's a false narrative that only the political class has the wisdom and the ability to be commander-in- chief. But if you go back and you study the design of our country, it was really designed for the citizen statesman. And we need to be talking about where does your experience come from? You know, and I've had a lot of experience building things, organizing things, you know, a national scholarship program. One of the things that you'll notice if you look through my life is that I don't do a lot of talking. I do a lot of doing. And really, it says more about a person than how much they talk. And then some people say you're weak because, you know, you're not loud and you're not boisterous and you're not rude. But the fact of the matter is, look and see what I've done. And that speaks volumes about strength. +p3021 +aVWell, it was very interesting having an opportunity to talk to the Syrians themselves. And I asked them: What do you want? What is your supreme desire? Their supreme desire was to be settled back in their own country. I said, "What can Americans and other countries do?" They said, "Support the efforts of those who are trying to provide safety for us, including the Jordanians." Of course, they had a brand new hospital, for instance, that was unstaffed because there wasn't enough money to do it. But here's what's really neat. If you go into Hasakah province in northeast Syria, that's an area that's as big as Lebanon. It's controlled by the Kurds, the Christians and the moderate Sunnis. And there are airstrips and hotels. You could settle a lot of people there. All we would have to do is be willing to provide them with some weaponry, some defensive weaponry. And we seem to be afraid to give the Kurds weaponry. We like to send it for some strange reason through Baghdad, and then they only get a tenth of it. And if we would support them, we'd have a perfect ideal there. We don't need to set this up as we either take a bunch of refugees who will be infiltrated with terrorists, I guarantee you. For them not to be would be terrorist malpractice. And we need to \u2014 to choose the right choice, not these false choices. +p3022 +aVWell, I definitely believe that he is unstable, and I do, in fact, believe that China has a lot more influence with him than we do. But we also recognize that North Korea is in severe financial straits, and they have decided to use their resources to build their military, rather than to feed their people and to take care of the various humanitarian responsibilities that they have. We can capitalize upon that. You know, we should use our economic power in lots of different ways. I think we can use that in order to keep Putin contained, because he is a one-horse show. Energy. And we have an abundance of energy, but we have archaic energy exportation rules. We need to get rid of those, allow ourselves to really make Europe dependent on us and other parts of the world dependent on us for energy. Put him back in his little box where he belongs. And, you know, we need to be doing lots of other things with the resources that we have. So economic power works just as well as military power, perhaps even better. And speaking of that, our Military needs to be upgraded. You know, you look at things like our Ohio Class submarines, they're 25 years old. Our minuteman 3 missiles \u2014 they are 34 years old. Our B-52 bombers \u2014 50 years old. You know, if we don't get the military right nothing else matters. +p3023 +aVWell, you know, the statement that I made last week, that I would leave the party was contingent upon whether in fact the party acts like they have in the past with a lot of subterfuge and dishonesty, or like they're going act now because I spike to Reince Priebus, and he assured me that the Washington Post writer had it all wrong, and that they're not be engaging in anything to thwart the will of the people. That's why I got into this race, as a member of we the people, to try bring some honesty and integrity back to the process. +p3024 +aVI've been fortunate enough to travel to 58 different countries and I thank God everyday that I was born in this country. The most exceptional country that the world has ever known. And I want to make sure that we preserve that exceptionalism for the next generation. My mother told me if I work hard and I really believed in American principles and I believed in God, anything is possible. I believe that is true, and that's why I'm not anxious to give away American values and principles for the sake of political correctness. +p3025 +aVWell, first of all, delighted to be here. My family's here, and my little granddaughter, who's three years old, said she wanted to come to the debate. So this is very cool. As far as the minimum wage is concerned, people need to be educated on the minimum wage. Every time we raise the minimum wage, the number of jobless people increases. It's particularly a problem in the black community. Only 19.8 percent of black teenagers have a job, who are looking for one. You know, that \u2014 and that's because of those high wages. If you lower those wages, that comes down. You know, I can remember, as a youngster \u2014 you know, my first job working in a laboratory as a lab assistant, and multiple other jobs. But I would not have gotten those jobs if someone had to pay me a large amount of money. But what I did gain from those jobs is a tremendous amount of experience, and how to operate in the world and how to relate to different people, and how to become a responsible individual. And that's what gave me what I needed to ascend the ladder of opportunity in this country. That's what we need to be thinking about. How do we allow people to ascend the ladder of opportunity, rather than how do we give them everything and keep them dependent? +p3026 +aVI would not raise it. I would not raise it, specifically because I'm interested in making sure that people are able to enter the job market and take advantage of opportunities. +p3027 +aVWell, first of all, thank you not asking me what I said in the 10th grade. I appreciate that. +p3028 +aVThe fact of the matter is, you know, what \u2014 we should vet all candidates. I have no problem with being vetted. What I do have a problem with is being lied about and then putting that out there as truth. And I don't even mind that so much, if they do it about \u2014 with everybody, like people on the other side. But, you know, when I look at somebody like Hillary Clinton, who sits there and tells her daughter and a government official that no, this was a terrorist attack, and then tells everybody else that it was a video. Where I came from, they call that a lie. And... I think that's very different from, you know, somebody misinterpreting, when I said that I was offered a scholarship to West Point, that is the words that they used. But, I've had many people come and say the same thing to me. That is what people do in those situations. We have to start treating people the same, and finding out what people really think and what they're made of. People who know me know that I'm an honest person. +p3029 +aVWell, you know, when I say tithing, I'm talking about the concept of proportionality. +p3030 +aVEverybody should pay the same proportion of what they make. You make $10 billion, you pay a billion. You make $10, you pay one. You get same rights and privileges. I don't see how anything gets a whole lot fairer than that. But you also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes because that is the thing that tilts it in one direction or another. And you have to set the rate at an appropriate level. Now I will say that, there are a lot of people who say, if you get rid of the deductions, you ruin the American dream because, you know, home mortgage deduction. But the fact of the matter is, people had homes before 1913 when we introduced the federal income tax, and later after that started deductions. And they say there will be no more charitable giving. We had churches before that and charitable organizations before that. The fact of the matter is, I believe if you put more money in people's pockets that they will actually be more generous rather than less generous. And it's... ... the money that they earned. And, the other thing is, I do care about the poor people. And in the system that we're putting together, there will be a rebate for people at the poverty level. But I also want to emphasize the fact that as we get the economy moving, and I hope I get a question about how do we get the economy moving, there will be a lot more opportunities for poor people not to be poor people because this is America. This is the land of dreams. And our policies should be aimed at allowing people to realize that dream. +p3031 +aVWell, putting the special ops people in there is better than not having them there, because they \u2014 that's why they're called special ops, they're actually able to guide some of the other things that we're doing there. And what we have to recognize is that Putin is trying to really spread his influence throughout the Middle East. This is going to be his base. And we have to oppose him there in an effective way. We also must recognize that it's a very complex place. You know, the Chinese are there, as well as the Russians, and you have all kinds of factions there. What we've been doing so far is very ineffective, but we can't give up ground right there. But we have to look at this on a much more global scale. We're talking about global jihadists. And their desire is to destroy us and to destroy our way of life. So we have to be saying, how do we make them look like losers? Because that's the way that they're able to gather a lot of influence. And I think in order to make them look like losers, we have to destroy their caliphate. And you look for the easiest place to do that? It would be in Iraq. And if \u2014 outside of Anbar in Iraq, there's a big energy field. Take that from them. Take all of that land from them. We could do that, I believe, fairly easily, I've learned from talking to several generals, and then you move on from there. But you have to continue to face them, because our goal is not to contain them, but to destroy them before they destroy us. +p3032 +aVWell, I think we should have policies that don't allow them to just enlarge themselves at the expense of smaller entities. And certainly some of the policies, some of the monetary and Fed policies that we're using makes it very easy for them, makes it very easy for the big corporations, quite frankly, at these very low interest rates to buy back their stock and to drive the price of that up artificially. Those are the kinds of things that led to the problem in the first place. And I think this all really gets back to this whole regulation issue which is creating a very abnormal situation. This country was \u2014 declared its independence in 1776. In less than 100 years, it was the number-one economic power in the world. And the reason was because we had an atmosphere that encouraged entrepreneurial risk- taking and capital investment. Those are the fuels that drive it. And what we've done now is let the creep of regulation turn into a stampede of regulations, which is involved in every aspect of our lives. If we can get that out, it makes a big difference. And even for the average person, every single regulation costs money. And it's shifted to the individual. So \u2014 and it hurts the poor and the middle class much more than it does the rich. They go into the store and they buy a bar of soap, it costs 10 cents more, they notice it. And the middle class, when they come to the cash register, have a whole cart full of things that cost 5, 10 or 15 cents more, they notice it. It is hurting the poor. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton won't tell you that that's the thing that's really hurting middle class in the core. They'll say it's the rich, take their money, but that won't help. You can take all of the rich's money and it won't make a dent in the problem that we're having. We have to come back to the fundamental principles that made America great. +p3033 +aVI would have policies that wouldn't allow that to occur. I don't want to go in and tear anybody down. I mean, that doesn't help us. But what does help us is stop tinkering around the edges and fix the actual problems that exist that are creating the problem in the first place. +p3034 +aVIn the two hours of this \u2014 of this debate, five people have died from drug-related deaths, $100 million has been added to our national debt, 200 babies have been killed by abortionists, and two veterans have taken their lives out of despair. This is a narrative that we can change, not we the Democrats, not we the Republicans, but we the people of America, because there is something special about this nation, and we must embrace it and be proud of it and never give it away for the sake of political correctness. +p3035 +aVProbably in terms of the applying for the job of president, a weakness would be not really seeing myself in that position until hundreds of thousands of people began to tell me that I needed to do it. I do, however, believe in Reagan's 11th commandment, and will not be engaging in awful things about my compatriots here. And recognizing that it's so important, this election, because we're talking about America for the people versus America for the government. +p3036 +aVWell, first of all, I didn't say that the rate would be 10 percent. I used the tithing analogy. +p3037 +aVThe rate \u2014 the rate \u2014 the rate is gonna be much closer to 15 percent. +p3038 +aVYou also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes. You also have to some strategically cutting in several places. Remember, we have 645 federal agencies and sub-agencies. Anybody who tells me that we need every penny and every one of those is in a fantasy world. So, also, we can stimulate the economy. That's gonna be the real growth engine. Stimulating the economy \u2014 because it's tethered down right now with so many regulations... +p3039 +aVThat's not true. +p3040 +aVWhen \u2014 when we put all the facts down, you'll be able to see that it's not true, it works out very well. +p3041 +aVSince I was attacked too. +p3042 +aVLet me just say, if you're talking about an $18 trillion economy, you're talking about a 15 percent tax on your gross domestic product. You're talking about $2.7 trillion. We have a budget closer to $3.5 trillion. But if you also apply that same 15 percent to several other things, including corporate taxes, and including the capital gains taxes, you make that amount up pretty quickly. So that is not by any stretch a pie in the sky. +p3043 +aVWell, there is no question that some people go overboard when it comes to trying to make profits, and they don't take into consideration the American people. What we have to start thinking about, as leaders, particularly in government, is what can we do for the average American? And you think about the reasons that we're having such difficulty right now with our job market. Well, the average small manufacturer, whatever they're manufacturing, drugs or anything, if they have less than 50 employees, the average cost in terms of regulations is $34,000 per employee. Makes it a whole lot easier for them to want to go somewhere else. So what we're going to have to start doing instead of, you know, picking on this group or this group, is we're going to have to have a major reduction in the regulatory influence that is going on. The government is not supposed to be in every part of our lives, and that is what is causing the problem. +p3044 +aVWell, obviously, you don't understand my views on homosexuality. I believe that our Constitution protects everybody, regardless of their sexual orientation or any other aspect. I also believe that marriage is between one man and one woman. And there is no reason that you can't be perfectly fair to the gay community. They shouldn't automatically assume that because you believe that marriage is between one man and one woman that you are a homophobe. And this is one of the myths that the left perpetrates on our society, and this is how they frighten people and get people to shut up. You know, that's what the PC culture is all about, and it's destroying this nation. The fact of the matter is we the American people are not each other's enemies, it's those people who are trying to divide us who are the enemies. And we need to make that very clear to everybody. +p3045 +aVWell, that's easy to answer. I didn't have an involvement with them. That is total propaganda, and this is what happens in our society. Total propaganda. I did a couple of speeches for them, I do speeches for other people. They were paid speeches. It is absolutely absurd to say that I had any kind of a relationship with them. Do I take the product? Yes. I think it's a good product. +p3046 +aVIf somebody put me on their homepage, they did it without my permission. +p3047 +aVNo, it speaks to the fact that I don't know those \u2014 See? They know. +p3048 +aVWell, first of all, I was wrong about taking the oil subsidy. I have studied that issue in great detail. And what I have concluded is that the best policy is to get rid of all government subsidies, and get the government out of our lives, and let people rise and fall based on how good they are. And \u2014 you know, all of this too big to fail stuff and picking and choosing winners and losers \u2014 this is a bunch of crap, and it is really causing a great deal of \u2014 great deal of problems for our society right now. And \u2014 and \u2014 you know, it goes back to the whole concept of regulations, which are in everything. The reason that I \u2014 I hate them so much is because every single regulation costs in terms of goods and services. That cost gets passed on to the people. Now, who are the people who are hurt by that? It's poor people and middle class. Doesn't hurt rich people if their bar of soap goes up ten cents, but it hurts the poor and the middle class. And Bernie Sanders will tell them that it's because of the rich. Well, I'll tell you something: you can take everything from the top 1 percent, and you apply it to our fiscal gap, and you won't even make a dent in it. +p3049 +aVAbout Medicare? +p3050 +aVWell, first of all the \u2014 the plan gives people the option of \u2014 of opting out. But I think they will see a very good option here. You know, the annual Medicare budget is over $600 billion. And there are 48 million people involved \u2014 40 million, 65 and over, and 8 million other. Divide that out. That comes out to $12,500 for each one. Now, I can tell you there are a lot of private-sector things that you could do with $12,500, which will get you a lot more than you get from this government program. And that's really a theme of a lot of the things that I'm talking about. How do we utilize our intellect rather than allowing the government to use its, quote, "intellect," in order to help us to be able to live healthier and better lives? It was never intended that the government should be in every aspect of our lives. This is a country that is of, for and by the people. +p3051 +aVI just want to thank all my colleagues here for being civil, and not falling for the traps. And, I also just want to thank the audience for being attentive, and noticing the questions, and the noticing the answers. And, this is what I am finding throughout America. People are waking up because it is going to be us who will determine the direction of our country. And, it was made for we the people, we are the ones who decide who we are, and we should never give away the values and principles that made America into a great nation for the sake of political correctness. +p3052 +aVHi, I'm Ben Carson, and I'm a retired pediatric neurosurgeon. I'm here with my wife, Candy, of 40 years, and two of my sons, and their wives. I stress the pediatric part of my career because the reason that I've gotten involved in this race is because I'm very concerned about the future of our children, and the direction of our country is one that does not portend well, unless we, the people, intervene and retake our rightful place at the pinnacle. +p3053 +aVTypically, politicians do things that are politically expedient. And they are looking for whatever their particular goal is. That is not the reason that I have gotten into this thing. I'm extraordinary concerned about the direction of this country, the divisiveness that is going on, fiscal irresponsibility, the failure to take a leadership position in the world. All of those things will lead to a situation where the next generation will not have a chance that we've had now. So I don't \u2014 I don't want to really get into describing who's a politician and who's not a politician, but I think the people have kind of made that decision for themselves already, and will continue to do so as time goes on. +p3054 +aVJake, can I say something about that? +p3055 +aVYou know, when I entered this race, all the political pundits said it's impossible; you can't do it because you're not connected with the money. And there's no way that you can raise what you need in order to compete successfully. I in no way am willing to get in the bed with special interest group or lick the boots of billionaires. I have said to the people if they want me to do this, please get involved. And we now have over 500,000 donations, and the money is coming in. But the pundits forgot about one thing, and that is the people. And they are really in charge. +p3056 +aVWell, first of all, I recognize that we have an incredible illegal immigration problem. I was down in Arizona a few weeks ago at the border. I mean, the fences that were there were not manned, and those are the kind of fences when I was a kid that would barely slow us down. So, I don't see any purpose in having that. Now, what we need to do is look at something that actually works. Yuma County, Arizona. They stop 97 percent of the illegal immigrants through there. They put in a double fence with a road so that there was quick access by the enforcement people. If we don't seal the border, the rest of this stuff clearly doesn't matter. It's kind of ridiculous all the other things we talk about. We have the ability to do it, we don't have the will to do it. There was one area where they had cut a hole in the fence, and to repair it, they put a few strands of barb wire across. Well, the photographers who were there with us, they wanted to photograph us from the side of the Mexicans, and they went through there, and they were not physically fit people, and they took their cameras and things with them, and shot us from the other side. That's how easy it is to get across. And, the drugs, I mean, it goes on, and on, and on. ICE tells them to release these people, 67,000 criminals released... +p3057 +aV...on to our property, it's ridiculous. +p3058 +aVWell, I have also said, if anybody knows how to do that, that I would be willing to listen. And, if they can, you know, specify exactly how that's going to be done, and what the cost, and it sounds reasonable, then I think it's worth discussing... +p3059 +aVNot exactly what I said. +p3060 +aVWell, what I said, after we seal the borders, after we turn off the spigot that dispenses all the goodies so we don't have people coming in here, including employment, that people who had a pristine record, we should consider allowing them to become guest workers, primarily in the agricultural sphere, because that's the place where Americans don't seem to want to work. That's what I said. And they have a six-month period to do that. If they don't do it within that time period, then they become illegal, and as illegals, they will be treated as such. +p3061 +aVCan I \u2014 can I \u2014 can I just... +p3062 +aVCan I correct... +p3063 +aVOK. +p3064 +aVMy plan is not amnesty for a number of reasons. Number one, you know, I've talked to farmers, and they said they cannot hire Americans to do the kind of job that I'm talking about. And the second reason is because the individuals who register as guest workers, they don't get to vote, they are not American citizens, and they don't get the rights and privileges of American citizens. So that's key. But the other thing that I want to bring up is, I mentioned something earlier. I think it was just sort of glossed over. I talked about the success in Yuma County, I mean, incredible success, and the Department of Justice said, "No, we don't want to do that. That's too successful." We don't have to keep reinventing the wheel. All we have to do is look at things that work. All we have to do is use a little common sense. +p3065 +aVIt's all about America. You know, the people who say the guy who paid a billion dollars because he had 10, he has still got $9 billion left, that's not fair, we need to take more of his money. That's called socialism. That doesn't work so well. What made America into a great nation was the fact that we said, that guy just put in $1 billion, let's create an environment that's even more conducive to his success so that next year he can put in $2 billion. And that's the kind of thing that helps us to grow. We can't grow by continuing to take a piece of pie, and dividing it, and redistributing it. But, I'm also looking at what doctor \u2014 at what Governor Huckabee talked about... +p3066 +aVThe Fair Tax. Looking at both of them, and evaluating them both, and I'm talking to the American people because one of the things we must recognize is that this country is of, for, and by the people. And, it's really time that the government get out of the way, and let the people be the ones who decide how they want to run their country. +p3067 +aVWell, first of all, let me say what I actually said about raising the minimum wage. I was asked should it be raised, I said, probably, or possibly. But, what I added, which I think is the most important thing, so, I said we need to get both sides of this issue to sit down, and talk about it. Negotiate a reasonable minimum wage, and index that so that we never have to have this conversation again in the history of America. I think we also have to have two minimum wages, a starter, and a sustaining because how are young people ever going to get a job if you have such a high minimum wage that it makes it impractical to hire them... +p3068 +aVJake, Jake... +p3069 +aVI haven't had an opportunity to weigh in on foreign policy, and I just want to mention that when the war, when the issue occurred in 2003, I suggested to President Bush that he not go to war? OK. So I just want that on the record. And, you know, a lot of people are very much against us getting involved right now with global jihadism. And they refer back to our invasion of Iraq. And they seem to think that that was what caused it. What caused it was withdrawing from there and creating a vacuum which allowed this terrible situation to occur. But it is very different from what is going on today. We're talking about global jihadists who actually want to destroy us. They are an existential threat to our nation. And we have to be mature enough to recognize that our children will have no future if we put our heads in the sand. We have to recognize we have two choices. We either allow them the continue to progress and appear to be the winners, or we use every resource available to us to destroy... +p3070 +aV... them first. +p3071 +aVWell, recognize that, you know, President George W. Bush is a great friend of ours, and we spent many wonderful days at the White House. I haven't been there in the last seven years. I probably have to have a food-tester. But at any rate, I didn't suggest that nothing be done. What I suggested to President Bush is to be Kennedy-esque, in the sense that when the Russians got ahead of us in the space race, what we did is use the bully pulpit to galvanize everybody, business, industry, academia behind a national goal to put a man on the moon and bring him back safely. I said, you can do the same kind of thing. Declare that within five to 10 years we will become petroleum independent. The moderate Arab states would have been so concerned about that, they would have turned over Osama bin Laden and anybody else you wanted on a silver platter within two weeks. There are smart ways to do things and there are muscular ways to do things. And sometimes you have to look at both of those to come up with the right solution. +p3072 +aVI have no argument with having a strong leader, and to be aggressive where aggression is needed. But it is not needed in every circumstance. There is a time when you can use your intellect to come up with other ways to do things. And I think that's what we have to start thinking about. There is no question that a lot of these problems that we have been talking about in terms of the international situation is because we are weak. It is because our Navy is so small. It is because our Air Force is incapable of doing the same things that it did a few years ago. It's because our Marines Corps is not ready to be deployed. +p3073 +aVThere are a lot of problems that are going on, and we need to solve those problems, we need to build up our military... +p3074 +aVWell, let me put it this way, there has \u2014 there have been numerous studies, and they have not demonstrated that there is any correlation between vaccinations and autism. This was something that was spread widely 15 or 20 years ago, and it has not been adequately, you know, revealed to the public what's actually going on. Vaccines are very important. Certain ones. The ones that would prevent death or crippling. There are others, there are a multitude of vaccines which probably don't fit in that category, and there should be some discretion in those cases. But, you know, a lot of this is \u2014 is \u2014 is pushed by big government. And I think that's one of the things that people so vehemently want to get rid of, big government. You know, we have 4.1 million federal employees. Six hundred and fifty federal agencies and department (sic). That's why they have to take so much of our taxes. +p3075 +aVWell, you know, I've just explained it to him. He can read about it if he wants to. I think he's an intelligent man and will make the correct decision after getting the real facts. +p3076 +aVHe's an OK doctor. But, you know, the fact of the matter is, we have extremely well-documented proof that there's no autism associated with vaccinations. But it is true that we are probably giving way too many in too short a period of time. And a lot of pediatricians now recognize that, and, I think, are cutting down on the number and the proximity in which those are done, and I think that's appropriate. +p3077 +aVI'd put my mother on there. You know, she was one of 24 children, got married at age 13, had only a third grade education, had to raise two sons by herself, refused to be a victim. Wouldn't let us be victims, and has been an inspiration to many people. +p3078 +aVOne Nation. +p3079 +aVWell, you know, I was a radical Democrat before I started listening to Ronald Reagan. And he didn't sound like what they said Republicans were. He sounded logical. And I hope that I sound logical also. Because when I look at what is going on with the United States of America, I see a lot of things that are not logical. I see us allowing people to divide us, when in fact our strength is in our unity. I see people exercising the most irresponsible fiscal habits that anyone could possibly do. And hiding it from the American people, so that the majority of people have no idea what our financial situation is. So, when someone comes along and says, free college, free phones, free this and that, and the other, they say, "wow, that's nice," having no idea that they're destabilizing our position. And I think also that Ronald Reagan was a master at understanding that a pinnacle nation has to be a nation that leads. If we learn to lead in the Middle East right now, a coalition will form behind us, but never they do it if we just sit there and talk about it. Real leadership is what I would hopefully bring to America. +p3080 +asVQUINTANILLA +p3081 +(lp3082 +VGood evening, I'm Carl Quintanilla, with my colleagues Becky Quick and John Harwood. We'll be joined tonight by some of +p3083 +aVGovernor? +p3084 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p3085 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Bush. +p3086 +aVSenator Rubio. +p3087 +aVMr. Trump? +p3088 +aVDr. Carson? +p3089 +aVMrs. Fiorina? +p3090 +aVFixed it. +p3091 +aVSenator Cruz? +p3092 +aVGovernor Christie? +p3093 +aVSenator Paul? +p3094 +aVThanks to all the candidates. John? +p3095 +aVHold it. We'll cut it back to you in just a minute. Becky's moving on. +p3096 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor. thank you, Governor. +p3097 +aVMr. Trump, 30 seconds. +p3098 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3099 +aVWe're going to try to move on. +p3100 +aVYou want to bring 70,000 pages to three? +p3101 +aVIs that using really small type? +p3102 +aVIs that using really small type? +p3103 +aVMrs. Fiorina \u2014 +p3104 +aVWe're going to \u2014 +p3105 +aVWe will come around the bend, i promise. This one is for Senator Rubio. You've been a young man in a hurry ever since you won your first election in your 20s. You've had a big accomplishment in the Senate, an immigration bill providing a path to citizenship the conservatives in your party hate, and even you don't support anymore. Now, you're skipping more votes than any senator to run for president. Why not slow down, get a few more things done first or least finish what you start? +p3106 +aVSo when the Sun-Sentinel says Rubio should resign, not rip us off, when they say Floridians sent you to Washington to do a job, when they say you act like you hate your job, do you? +p3107 +aVWell, do you hate your job? +p3108 +aVIs that the standard? +p3109 +aVSenator, thank you. John. +p3110 +aVThank you, Senator. +p3111 +aVSenator Cruz. Congressional Republicans, Democrats and the White House are about to strike a compromise that would raise the debt limit, prevent a government shutdown and calm financial markets that fear of \u2014 another Washington-created crisis is on the way. Does your opposition to it show that you're not the kind of problem-solver American voters want? +p3112 +aV do we get credit ? +p3113 +aVSo, this is a question about , which you have 30 seconds left to answer, should you choose to do so. +p3114 +aVOK. I asked you about the debt limit and I got no answer. +p3115 +aVWe promised we would get to everyone this block. Governor Huckabee, I'm going to give you 60 seconds on this. +p3116 +aV...Governor... +p3117 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p3118 +aV...Senator Cruz... +p3119 +aVOK, alright. +p3120 +aVSenator Cruz... +p3121 +aV...Before we go to break, we're clearly not having that beer you mentioned, but I'll give you 30 more seconds... +p3122 +aVOK. +p3123 +aVI'll give you 30 seconds to respond... +p3124 +aVRespond on the debt limit, or an answer to the governor, which ever you choose. +p3125 +aV30 seconds, Governor Huckabee. +p3126 +aVGovernor, thank you. We will take a break. The Republican Presidential debate, live from Boulder, Colorado, coming back after a break on +p3127 +aVMrs. Fiorina, in 2010, while running for Senate in Tech Ridge (ph), California, you called an Internet sales tax a bad idea. Traditional brick and mortar stores obviously disagree. Now that the Internet shopping playing field has matured, what would be a fair plan to even that playing field? +p3128 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p3129 +aVOK. +p3130 +aVThank you very much. +p3131 +aVDr. Carson, we know you as a physician, but we wanted to ask you about your involvement on some corporate boards, including Costco's. Last year, a marketing study called the warehouse retailer the number one gay-friendly brand in America, partly because of its domestic partner benefits. Why would you serve on a company whose policies seem to run counter to your views on homosexuality? +p3132 +aVOne more question. This is a company called Mannatech, a maker of nutritional supplements, with which you had a 10-year relationship. They offered claims that they could cure autism, cancer, they paid $7 million to settle a deceptive marketing lawsuit in Texas, and yet you're involvement continued. Why? +p3133 +aVTo be fair, you were on the homepage of their website with the logo over your shoulder \u2014 +p3134 +aVDoes that not speak to your vetting process or judgment in any way. +p3135 +aVApparently. We will take a break. We'll be back in Boulder in just a minute. +p3136 +aV...We'll come back around. I want to get to governor Kasich. +p3137 +aVGovernor Kasich, let's talk ... +p3138 +aV...about Marijuana, Governor Kasich... +p3139 +aVAlright, but 30 seconds, you made a case. Sure, 30 seconds. +p3140 +aVSenator, thank you. +p3141 +aVOh, no, no, no... +p3142 +aV...Ok... +p3143 +aV...We're going to go to... +p3144 +aVOK. Thank you, Senator. Governor Kasich, let's talk about marijuana. We're broadcasting from Colorado which has seen $150 million in new revenue for the state since legalizing last year. Governor Hickenlooper is not a big fan of legalization, but he's said the people who used to be smoking it are still smoking it, they're just now paying taxes. Given the budget pressures in Ohio, and other states, is this a revenue stream you'd like to have? +p3145 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3146 +aVThank you. We'll be back from Boulder, Colorado in just a moment. +p3147 +aVMr. Trump, you've said you have a special permit to carry a gun in New York. +p3148 +aVAfter the Oregon mass shooting on October 1st, you said, "By the way, it was a gun-free zone. If you had a couple of teachers with guns, you would have been a hell of a lot better off." +p3149 +aVWould you feel more comfortable if your employees brought guns to work? +p3150 +aVAre you carrying one now? +p3151 +aVWe called a few Trump resorts, a few Trump properties that \u2014 that do not allow guns with or without a permit. Would you change those policies? +p3152 +aVOK. All right. Thank you. John? +p3153 +aVGovernor Bush, daily fantasy sports has become a phenomenon in this country, will award billions of dollars in prize money this year. But to play you have to assess your odds, put money at risk, wait for an outcome that's out of your control. Isn't that the definition of gambling, and should the Federal Government treat it as such? +p3154 +aVI had a feeling you were going to brag about that. +p3155 +aVThis is the\u2014 well, we're going to take a break. We want to save time for closing statements after the break. So this is the Republican presidential debate in Boulder, and we'll be right back. +p3156 +aVSenator Rubio... +p3157 +aV...yeah, I just wanted . +p3158 +aVI want to give you 30 seconds here. +p3159 +aVThat concludes tonight's debate. On behalf of my colleagues Becky Quick, John Harwood, Sharon Epperson, Rick Santelli and Jim Cramer, we'd like to our host, the University of Colorado at Boulder, the Republican National Committee, the candidates and, of course, tonight's audience. +p3160 +asVAUDIENCE +p3161 +(lp3162 +VBoo. +p3163 +aVBoo. +p3164 +asVSTRASSEL +p3165 +(lp3166 +VMr. Trump. +p3167 +aVYou have made a lot of promises and you have also \u2014 you're the only candidate who has said he would not touch entitlements. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has estimated that your ideas would cost an additional $12 trillion to $15 trillion over the next 10 years and that we would have to have annual economic growth of anywhere from 7.7 percent to 9 percent annually to pay for them. Are you proposing more than you can actually deliver, at least not without big deficits? +p3168 +aVBut in terms of... +p3169 +aVO.K. But how would you actually do that? Can I ask you? Because right now, Social Security and Medicare... +p3170 +aVThey take up two-thirds of the federal budget, and they're growing. +p3171 +aVO.K., I have a question, a related tax question. Senator Rubio, you have the highest tax rate of anyone up on the stage in terms of the top tax rates, 35 percent. Some economists say, "It would limit its potential to boost economic growth." You do that so that you will have more revenue to pay for a tripling of the Child Tax Credit. Normally, it's liberals who like to use the tax code to insert social policy. Why should conservatives who want to tax adopt the other side's approach? +p3172 +aVGovernor Kasich, this on is on size of government. In 2013, you pushed through a Medicaid reform in your state over the rejections of many of the Republicans in your state. Total enrollment and overall cost of program have gone well beyond what anyone had expected, including yourself. How can you argue that this overall growth fits in with conservative ambition to significantly cut back on the size of federal welfare programs? +p3173 +aVSenator Cruz. Senator Cruz, you have promised to deport illegal aliens. You have also promised to reverse President Obama's executive action that gives temporary amnesty to illegals brought here by their parent as children. As president, you would have the names and addresses of the some 800,000 of those that have registered under that action. Now, you have said that in this country, we shouldn't go door to door, look for illegals, but in this case you would have a list. Would you use it? +p3174 +aVSo would you \u2014 would you use the addresses? +p3175 +aVWould you pick them up? +p3176 +aVSenator Rubio, your reply. +p3177 +aVAll right. Senator Cruz. Your response, Senator Cruz. +p3178 +aV... O.K.... +p3179 +aVMoving subjects. Dr. Carson, this week Morgan Stanley agreed to pay a $3.2 billion fine to state and federal authorities for contributing to the mortgage crisis. You have a lot of Democrats out saying that we should be jailing more executives, so two questions. Should financial executives be held legally responsible for financial crisis, and do you think fines like these are an effective way to deter companies from future behavior like that? +p3180 +aVSenator Cruz, you were mentioned in the mix here, your response? +p3181 +aVAnd now, Marco Rubio. +p3182 +aVWe'll be back with a few final thoughts in a moment. +p3183 +asVDICKERSON +p3184 +(lp3185 +VGood evening. I'm John Dickerson. This holiday weekend, as America honors our first president, we're about to hear from six men who hope to be the 45th. The candidates for the Republican nomination are here in South Carolina for their ninth debate, one week before this state holds the first-in-the-South primary. George Washington wrote that the truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains taken to bring it to light. We hope to shed some light on the candidates' positions tonight to help voters make up their minds. So gentlemen, please join us on stage. With us tonight \u2014 with us tonight are retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson of Florida, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Businessman Donald Trump of New York. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Former Governor Jeb Bush of Florida. And Governor John Kasich of Ohio. Now, as most of you have heard by now, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died today at the age of 79. He was the longest-serving member of the court, appointed by President Reagan in 1986. Justice Scalia was the court's leading conservative, and even those who disagreed with his opinions regarded him as a brilliant legal scholar. Please join us and the candidates on our stage in a moment of silence for Justice Antonin Scalia. Thank you. We will talk to the candidates about Justice Scalia and the road ahead when the debate begins in a moment. +p3186 +aVBefore we get started, candidates, here are the rules. When we ask you a question, you will have one minute to answer, and 30 seconds more if we ask a follow-up. If you're attacked by another candidate, you get 30 seconds to respond. And here's how we keep time. After we ask a question, you'll get a green light. The yellow light means you have 30 seconds left to finish your answer, and when time is up, the light turns red. That means please stop talking. If you keep talking, you'll hear this. You don't want to hear that. Joining me in the questioning tonight, my CBS News colleague, chief White House correspondent Major Garrett, and Kimberley Strassel, who is on the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal. And you can participate in the debate through our partnership with Twitter. Tweet us your questions and comments using the hashtag "# +p3187 +aVSo, just to be clear on this, Mr. Trump, you're O.K. with the president nominating somebody ... +p3188 +aVGovernor Kasich, I want to get your thoughts on this. Justice Scalia was a real believer, obviously, in the strict word of the Constitution. Now, Harry Reid says that a failure to fill his vacancy would be, quote, "shameful abdication of one of the Senate's most essential constitutional responsibilities." Where do you come down on this? +p3189 +aVDr. Carson. Dr. Carson, you, like others, put out a statement after the death was announced, and you said the president should delay. You've written a book on the Constitution recently. What does the Constitution say about whose duty it is here to act in this kind of a situation? +p3190 +aVSenator Rubio, you're a... Senator Rubio, you're a lawyer. Quickly, can you address the issue of whether the Constitution tells us who has the power to appoint Supreme Court justices? And then, also, the Senate Republicans last year floated an idea of removing the filibuster for Senate \u2014 excuse me, for Supreme Court nominations. You seemed open to that. What's your feeling on that now? +p3191 +aVQuickly, though, on this question... Very quickly, Senator, on this specific question, though. You were once in favor of dropping the threshold... +p3192 +aV... majority \u2014 you were never in favor of that? +p3193 +aVO.K. Thank you, Senator. Governor Bush, I would like to ask you, conservatives for a long time have felt like that their Republican presidents have picked justices that didn't turn out to be real conservatives. +p3194 +aVBernie Sanders has said he would have a litmus test. He would make sure that he appointed a justice who was going to overturn Citizens United. If they can have a litmus test for a nominee, what about you? Would you have a litmus test for a nominee? And what would it be? +p3195 +aVRight, so, Senator Cruz, the Constitution... So, Senator Cruz, the Constitution says the president "shall appoint with advice and consent from the Senate," just to clear that up. So he has the constitutional power. But you don't think he should. Where do you set that date if you're president? Does it begin in election year, in December, November, September? And once you set the date, when you're president, will you abide by that date? +p3196 +aVJust can I \u2014 I'm sorry to interrupt, were any appointed in an election year, or is that just there were 80 years... +p3197 +aVBut Kennedy was confirmed in '88. +p3198 +aVHe was appointed in '87. +p3199 +aV... confirmed in '88. That's the question, is it appointing or confirming, what's the difference? +p3200 +aVSorry, I just want to get the facts straight for the audience. But I apologize. +p3201 +aVAll right. Thank you, Senator Cruz. All right, we're going to move on to national security here, and we are going to \u2014 I want to read a quote from Secretary Robert Gates, former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who served for eight year \u2014 under eight presidents. And this is what he said about Republican candidates, quote, "Part of the concern that I have with the campaign is that the solutions being offered are so simplistic and so at odds with the way the world really works." So, in that spirit, we're going to work tonight to be more specific. Mr. Trump, I want to start with you. You have said as president, you'll get up to speed very quickly. You'll know more quickly as president than any of the experts. So, you've been elected president. It's your first day in the Situation Room. What three questions do you ask your national security experts about the world? +p3202 +aVSenator Rubio \u2014 just 30 seconds on this question, Senator Rubio. Are those the questions you would ask? +p3203 +aVLet me ask you a follow-up, a full, proper question, then. Violent extremists are operating or active in 40 countries. Some 80 countries are in different degrees of instability. And so, that's just the crises overseas. Barack Obama walked into an economic collapse when he came into office. We face international health crises, from Ebola to Zika. So, there is a lot of opportunity for crisis, as you have talked about. What would you point to in your past to show voters that you've been in a crisis and that you've been tested when that inevitable crisis comes when you're president? +p3204 +aVDr. Carson, I want to ask you a question... Dr. Carson, you said you've had more 2 a.m. \u2014 2 a.m. phone calls than anybody up on this stage. But when those 2 a.m. phone calls came, you operated on a foundation of all of that amazing medical work that you did, all of that learning. So if you were to be president, though, you wouldn't have the political foundation that hones those instincts when the 2 a.m. phone call comes. So isn't that a liability? +p3205 +aVGovernor Kasich, Russia is being credited......Russia is being credited with bombing U.S.-backed rebels on behalf of Assad in Aleppo and Syria. They've also moved into the Crimea, eastern Ukraine. You've said you want to punch them in the nose. What does that mean? What are you going to do? +p3206 +aVGovernor......Governor Bush. +p3207 +aVYou said defeating +p3208 +aVMr. Trump, you're......Mr. Trump, you were mentioned here. You did say that you could get along very well with Vladimir Putin. You did at one point say let Russia take care of +p3209 +aV... All right... +p3210 +aV... All right, Governor Bush, please respond. +p3211 +aV... O.K., settle... +p3212 +aV... All right, Mr. Trump, all right... +p3213 +aVGentleman, I think we're going to leave that there. I've got a question for Senator... +p3214 +aV... All right, all right, gentlemen, gentlemen, let's leave it there so I can ask a question of Senator Cruz, who's also running for president. Senator Cruz, you talked about the first Gulf War as being a kind of model for your focused and determined effort to go after +p3215 +aVVery quickly, 30-second follow-up. You've said that, essentially, the Kurds would be the American ground forces in there. The criticism that experts have on that is that the Kurds only can work within their territory. If they take larger amounts of territory, you have an ethnic war with the Arabs. So the Kurds can't really do as much as you seem to be putting on their backs. +p3216 +aVAll right. Mr. Trump......On Monday, George W. Bush will campaign in South Carolina for his brother. As you've said tonight, and you've often said, the Iraq war and your opposition to it was a sign of your good judgment. In 2008, in an interview with Wolf Blitzer, talking about President George W. Bush's conduct of the war, you said you were surprised that Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi didn't try to impeach him. You said, quote: "Which, personally, I think would have been a wonderful thing." When you were asked what you meant by that and you said: "For the war, for the war, he lied, he got us into the war with lies." Do you still believe President Bush should have been impeached? +p3217 +aVSo... +p3218 +aVBut so I'm going to \u2014 so you still think he should be impeached? +p3219 +aVAll right. O.K. All right. Governor Bush \u2014 when a member on the stage's brother gets attacked... +p3220 +aV... the brother gets to respond. +p3221 +aVGovernor Kasich, would you weigh in on......Governor Kasich, please weigh in. +p3222 +aVWhy is it nuts? Talk about it. Give us your sense of... +p3223 +aVThirty seconds, Senator Rubio. +p3224 +aVAll right, Dr. Carson, we have a cleansing... +p3225 +aVWe have a cleansing... +p3226 +aVAll right. Well, Dr. Carson, I have got a question now for you. A moment of pause here. You have said, Dr. Carson, that \u2014 referring to yourself, that people bought into the idea that, quote, "A nice person can't be tough on terrorists." You have called for loosening the rules of engagement for the military, which could lead to more civilian casualties. So, explain why those casualties would be acceptable in the fight against +p3227 +aVAll right, thank you, Dr. Carson. We're going to have to take a commercial break here. Thank you to all the candidates. We'll be right back with CBS News's 2016 debate in Greenville, South Carolina. +p3228 +aVWe're back with the Republicans who could be president. The topic now is money and how the candidates would spend it. We'll turn the questioning over to Kimberley Strassel of The Wall Street Journal and Major Garrett of CBS News. Kim? +p3229 +aVDr. Carson, before we go to break, could you give us your sense of this conversation about either Medicaid or economic growth through taxation? +p3230 +aVDoctor... +p3231 +aV... Dr. Carson, I'm sorry, we have to go to a commercial. The free market wants what it wants. Back soon with the 2016 Republican debate in Greenville, South Carolina. +p3232 +aVWelcome back. We'll begin the second half of the debate with one of the hottest issues in the Republican campaign, immigration. But before I turn it back to Major Garrett and Kim Strassel, I have one question for Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump, in the Republican National Committee's Spanish-language response to the State of the Union, Congressman Diaz-Balart said, quote, "It's essential that we find a legislative solution," talking about immigration, "to offer a permanent and humane solution to those who live in the shadows. What does that mean to you, "a humane solution to those who live in the shadows"? +p3233 +aVSenator Cruz, I have a question for you. Speaker Paul Ryan has made a big commitment to trying to lift the 50 million poor out of poverty. Arthur Brooks, who is the president of the American Enterprise Institute, says, quote, "If we are not warriors for the poor every day, free enterprise has no matter." How you have been, in your campaign, a warrior for the poor? +p3234 +aVAll right. Mr. Trump, thank you so much. We're going to take a break for a moment. We'll be back in a moment with the CBS News Republican debate. +p3235 +aVWe're back now from Greenville, South Carolina, with the candidates for the Republican presidential nomination. Mr. Trump, I have a question for you. Presidents have to, on the one hand, be firm, but also be flexible. You have been flexible and changed your opinion on a number of things, from abortion to Hillary Clinton. But you have said, rightly, that it's just like Ronald Reagan, who changed his mind on things. But at the same time, you're criticizing Senator Cruz for what you say is a change on immigration. He disputes that, of course. So, why is your change of opinion make you like Reagan, and when he changes his opinion, it's a huge character flaw? +p3236 +aVWhich conservative idea don't you agree with? +p3237 +aVAll right. Governor Bush, I think by "they," he is referring to your brother, these on the hook for your brother. +p3238 +aVBut that was his brother. +p3239 +aVHold on, gentleman, I'm going to turn this car around. +p3240 +aVAll right, gentlemen. +p3241 +aVWell, hold on. We're going to \u2014 gentlemen, we're in danger of driving this into the dirt. Senator Rubio, I'd like you to jump in here... +p3242 +aVI understand, you're on deck, governor. +p3243 +aVSenator Cruz, 30 seconds on this one. +p3244 +aVWe're going to switch... +p3245 +aVWe're going to switch here to Senator Marco Rubio. Senator Marco Rubio, please weigh in. +p3246 +aVI thought you had a point? +p3247 +aVI thought you had a point you wanted to make. +p3248 +aVYou're on deck, sir. +p3249 +aVSenator, I wanted to ask you, just going back to immigration, in the last debate, you listed your series of accomplishments in the Senate. One thing you left off was \u2014 was immigration reform. Is it the case that in your list of accomplishments you can't mention that? +p3250 +aVDr. Carson, I have......Dr. Carson, I have a question for you. Candidates are... +p3251 +aVAll right. You have 30 seconds, Doctor. +p3252 +aVDr. Carson, I \u2014 let me ask you a different question. When you were \u2014 you were the first one, really, to talk about political correctness. Everybody now talks about it, but that was really what sparked your \u2014 your rise. Politicians are often accused of glossing over any hard choices people have to make, just always selling happy, nice things. So in the \u2014 in the spirit of saying something that might be politically incorrect, tell the voters something that they need to hear but that might be politically incorrect? +p3253 +aVGovernor Kasich. Governor Kasich, you've been described as the Democrats' favorite Republican. You talked about in New Hampshire, Democrats would come up to you and say, "I hope you win." Why will that help you win a Republican nomination? +p3254 +aVMr. Trump, let me ask you a question. Presidents in both parties say that the one thing you need in your administration is somebody who can tell you you're wrong. You don't necessarily seem like somebody who has somebody who tells you you're wrong a lot. Can you tell us of an instance where somebody has said, "Donald Trump, you're wrong," and you listened to them? +p3255 +aVAbout what? +p3256 +aVLet me \u2014 something, in talking to voters that they wish somebody would tell you to cut it out is the profanity. What's your reaction to that? +p3257 +aVAll right. O.K. Governor Bush, I'd like to ask you... +p3258 +aVWell, can I \u2014 how about you respond, and then you can answer the question I'm about to ask you. +p3259 +aVIt'll be... +p3260 +aVIf we adjudicate this, the night will be over. Governor, in 2012, you said that your father and Ronald Reagan would have a hard time in today's Republican Party, based on their records of trying to find accommodation and finding some degree of common ground. Do you still feel that way? +p3261 +aVHold on, Mr. Trump. +p3262 +aVHold on, Mr. Trump. +p3263 +aVO.K., Mr. Trump, your response. +p3264 +aVThe bells are ringing, sir. +p3265 +aVAll right. Thank you. Senator Rubio, I want to ask you a 30-second question, no president can... +p3266 +aVNo \u2014 well, I'll ask the question, you do what you want. +p3267 +aVNo president can know everything, right? So a smart leader knows how to ask questions. So if you could talk to any previous president, what's the smart question you would ask about that job that you would want to know? +p3268 +aVAll right. That's going to have to be it there, Senator Rubio. We have got to go to a break. We will be right back with the CBS News Republican debate in Greenville, South Carolina. +p3269 +aVTime now for closing statements. You will each have one minute, and we'll begin with Governor Kasich. +p3270 +aVDr. Carson \u2014 Dr. Carson, you're next. +p3271 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor Bush. +p3272 +aVSenator Cruz? Senator Cruz, your closing statement? +p3273 +aVMr. Trump, your closing statements? +p3274 +as. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/downloads/data2/script9.pickle b/downloads/data2/script9.pickle new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b6b8f3e --- /dev/null +++ b/downloads/data2/script9.pickle @@ -0,0 +1,7118 @@ +(dp0 +VCRAMER +p1 +(lp2 +VDr. Carson, in recent weeks, a number of pharmaceutical companies has been accused of profiteering, for dramatically raising the prices of life-saving drugs. You have spent a lifetime in medicine. Have these companies gone too far? Should the government be involved in controlling some of these price increases? +p3 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Governor Christie, there has been a lot of political rhetoric that some bank executives should have gone to jail for the 2008 financial crisis. But General Motors paid more than $1 billion in fines and settlements for its ignition switch defect. One hundred and twenty- four people died as a result of these faulty switches. No one went to jail. As a former prosecutor, do you believe the people responsible for the switch and the cover-up belong behind bars? +p4 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. +p5 +asVPERRY +p6 +(lp7 +VI will tell you one thing: I would whole lot rather had Carly Fiorina over there doing our negotiation than John Kerry. Maybe we would've gotten a deal where we didn't give everything away. But the issue for us is to have a Congress that stands up and says not only no, but hell no, to this money going to a regime that is going to use it for terror... +p8 +asVRADDATZ +p9 +(lp10 +VQuestions of leadership and character have dominated the news ever since the Iowa caucuses a few days ago. Here with us to question the candidates this evening are Josh McElveen from +p11 +aVDr. Ben Carson. +p12 +aVBusinessman Donald Trump. +p13 +aVFormer Florida Governor, Jeb Bush. +p14 +aVLadies and gentlemen, the Republican candidates. +p15 +aVAnd Donald Trump. +p16 +aVThe applause so loud you couldn't hear. We couldn't hear, either. That's a good sign for the excitement this evening. Gentlemen, thank you for being here tonight, just days before voters here in New Hampshire make their decisions. The rules are simple and have been agreed to by all the campaigns. There will be 60 seconds to answer and if another candidate is mentioned in that answer, that candidate will have 30 seconds to respond. There are green, yellow and red lights that each candidate will see to signal when time is up and they will also hear this sound. +p17 +aVSenator Cruz, you are a first term Senator as well. Your opponents say you, like Senator Rubio, are not prepared to be Commander in Chief. You have talked tough about threats we face in the Mid-East. It was reported just moments ago that the North Koreans test launched an intercontinental ballistic missile. North Korea has nuclear weapons, and conducted another nuclear test just last month. The missile that was launched is the kind the North Koreans hope could someday carry a nuclear weapon capable of reaching the United States. How would you respond if Commander in Chief to that launch? +p18 +aVWell, let me ask you this, if you were Commander in Chief tonight would you have order the U.S. military to destroy that missile preemptively on the launchpad to prevent North Korea from becoming an even graver threat? +p19 +aV... Senator Cruz, let me tell you this, you have talked tough about the Mid-East, you haven't gotten those intelligence briefings about that. Why not tell us whether you would preemptively strike a missile on a launchpad that threatens the U.S... +p20 +aVOkay. Senator Cruz, I will say that missile has been sitting there for quite some time, and they have had eyes on it. +p21 +aVSenator Rubio, I'm talking about a preemptive strike on the launch pad. +p22 +aVOK. Thank you, Senator Rubio. Governor Kasich, how would you respond to tonight's launch? +p23 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. Thank you \u2014 thank you... +p24 +aV... Governor Bush, I'll get to you in a moment. +p25 +aVThank you, Governor Bush. Mr. Trump, do you have a red line with North Korea? Would you consider military action? And how far would you let them go? +p26 +aVAnd I'd like him to finish the question, please. +p27 +aVSpecific \u2014 as to North Korea. +p28 +aVSenator Rubio, you were mentioned. +p29 +aVThank you very much, Senator Rubio. Governor Bush, another problem facing the commander-in-chief right now is that North Korea is currently detaining an American college student. What would you do to get that college student back home? +p30 +aVGovernor Christie, I want to go to you on the same question. +p31 +aVWould you negotiate with North Korea to... +p32 +aVThank you very much, Governor Christie. David? +p33 +aVSenator Cruz, to that point, Mr. Trump has said that your position on health care means that maybe you've got, quote, "no heart". There is a question here, though, about uncovered folks. You suggested repealing and replacing Obamacare. As we learned with President Obama's broken promise that everyone could keep their plan, any major plan \u2014 change in health care policy carries with it the risk that some people will lose their insurance coverage or have to change it. How do you reassure that those people that repealing and replacing Obamacare is still in their best interest? +p34 +aVSenator Cruz, you advocate what you call carpet bombing, or saturation bombing, to defeat +p35 +aVSenator Cruz, would you like to expand or loosen the rules of engagement? I was just over in a command center in Erbil and they said they thought the rules of engagement worked. Because you have so many civilians in those populated areas, they don't want to hit civilians. +p36 +aVSo, loosen the rules of engagement? +p37 +aVSenator Rubio, you said in the last debate that +p38 +aVAgain, Senator Rubio, you've already said +p39 +aVWell, what would you do \u2014 what would you do differently to try to get those Sunni forces? They have not been coming forward. +p40 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 thank you very much, Senator Rubio. Mr. Trump. You have said you will vigorously bomb +p41 +aVAnd \u2014 and what would you do in those cities, where there are people who we are trying to help, who +p42 +aVThank you very much, Mr. Trump. Let's turn to Libya. Governor Bush, it is a country in chaos. There is no government. This week, defense officials said there are now 5,000 +p43 +aVThank you very much, Governor Bush. Dr. Carson? +p44 +aVAnd would you support renewed airstrikes? +p45 +aVWe're going to move on. +p46 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. Thank you, Josh. Our partner in this debate, the Independent Journal Review, has collected questions from some prominent conservatives around the country. Here's a videotaped question from radio host Larry O'Connor. O' +p47 +aVMr. Trump, I'm going to give that question to you. You took it \u2014 you took it away anyway. +p48 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. I'm going to go to Senator Rubio on this. How would you change that narrative? +p49 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Dr. Carson, I want to go to you on Larry O' Connor's question. Would you change the narrative? +p50 +aVYes. +p51 +aVThank you very much Dr. Carson. I'm going to go back to David. +p52 +aVGovernor Christie, earlier this week, the World Health Organization declared the Zika virus a global emergency. The same kind of mosquitoes that carry the Zika virus in Latin America are found here in the United States, and the virus has been linked to severe birth defects. Governor Christie, at the peak of the Ebola outbreak in west Africa, you ordered an American nurse who landed at Newark Airport be detained and quarantined. As fear spreads now of the Zika virus and with the Rio Olympics just months away, is there a scenario where you would quarantine people traveling back from Brazil to prevent the spread in the United States? +p53 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you. I'm going to move to Dr. Carson, and go back to the Zika virus, is that going too far, quarantining? You're a doctor, what would you do? +p54 +aVThanks very much, Dr. Carson. I want to move on to the military. Senator Rubio, all restrictions on women in combat as long as they qualify. Positions including special operations forces, like Navy Seals. Just this week military leaders of the Army and Marine Corps said that they believed young women, just as young men are required to do, should sign up for Selective Service in case the Draft is reinstated. Many of you have young daughters. Senator Rubio, should young women be required to sign up for Selective Service in case of a national emergency? +p55 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Governor Bush, do you believe that young women... +p56 +aVDo you believe young women should sign up for Selective Service, be required to sign up... +p57 +aVTell me what you'd say to American people out there......who are sitting at home, who have daughters, who might worry about those answers, and might worry... +p58 +aV... if the Draft is reinstituted? +p59 +aV... Are you saying you'd do away with it? +p60 +aVYou register for the draft. +p61 +aVIf it's reinstituted. +p62 +aVThank you very much. +p63 +aVThank you very much, Governor Christie. +p64 +aVWe just covered \u2014 wait one second, Dr. Carson. +p65 +aVVery quickly. +p66 +aVThank you very much for bringing up that subject, Dr. Carson, of our veterans. And for another question about our veterans, we go back to Josh McElveen from +p67 +aVGovernor Christie. +p68 +aVDr. Carson. +p69 +aVSenator Cruz. +p70 +asVUNKNOWN +p71 +(lp72 +VNot me. +p73 +aVMaria... +p74 +aVYeah, but I want to talk about taxes. +p75 +aVIf you're not going to have my back, I'm going to have my back. +p76 +aVA couple things here. First of all... +p77 +aVWe have grown \u2014 we have grown... +p78 +aVTrue. It's true. +p79 +aV...let me follow up that... +p80 +aV +p81 +aVOh, great. +p82 +aV...In 2011, you told Forbes Magazine this: "I've used the laws of the country to my advantage." But at the same time, financial experts involved in those bankruptcies say that lenders to your companies lost billions of dollars. Question sir, with that record, why should we trust you to run the nation's business? +p83 +aVI do. +p84 +aVThank you. +p85 +asVSMITH +p86 +(lp87 +VGovernor Huckabee, same question to you. Where do you see the country right now? +p88 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Thank you, candidates. Moving to the world stage. The middle east is on the brink of chaos. Iran continues to provoke the United States, North Korea claims it's tested a hydrogen bomb, and Afghanistan is in danger of falling back into Taliban hands. Critics of the administration say it's all due to lack of U.S. leadership. To you, Mrs. Fiorina, how do you see America's role in the world today? +p89 +aVGovernor Huckabee, in Afghanistan, the Taliban is strengthening. Attacks are on the rise and thousands more civilians have been wounded or killed. Much of the Taliban surge can be attributed to the withdrawal of U.S. forces there. You have expressed skepticism with the war there, saying you see no end game in sight. What, then, is your solution to the growing conflict there? +p90 +aVAll right, thank you, candidates. We're just getting started. Jobs, Homeland Security, gun rights, all those issues are coming up straight ahead. We're live from North Charleston and the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back. +p91 +aVAll right, let's get started. Senator Santorum, to you first. President Obama has urged technology leaders to make it hard for terrorists to use technology to escape from justice. Hillary Clinton says social media companies can help by swiftly shutting down terrorist accounts. The companies say that they're already working with law enforcement and any proposed legislation would do more harm than good. Should companies like Facebook and Twitter be required by law to more actively \u2014 be more actively engaged in fighting terror? +p92 +aVSenator, would you \u2014 would you require anything of those companies like Facebook and Twitter if you were president? +p93 +aVThank you, Senator. +p94 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee, you called President Obama's executive orders on gun control unconstitutional and completely insane. +p95 +aVYou even told gun store owners to ignore the President's orders. Yet, innocent people are dying from gun violence in cities like Detroit, Chicago, and Charleston everyday. Is there anything that can be done at the federal level to prevent guns from falling into the hands of criminals? +p96 +aV +p97 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p98 +aVSenator Santorum, many of our military leaders believe America's critical infrastructure is vulnerable to a terrorist attack. This is the power in our homes, the water we drink, the Internet and phone systems by which we stay connected. If attacked, these essential services that underpin American society could come to a grinding halt. Do you have a specific plan to protect us from this type of attack? +p99 +aVSenator Santorum, I want to stay with you on this, moving to jobs and the economy. In his State of the Union Address the other night, President Obama touted his record on jobs, citing more than 14 million new jobs and boasted of nearly 900,000 manufacturing jobs added in the past six years. Do you dispute his track record of creating jobs? +p100 +aVGovernor Huckabee, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mike Mullen, has said the greatest threat to our security is our national debt. Our national debt is now on pace to top $19 trillion. Yet, you as well as Ms. Fiorina have laid forward no plan to reform entitlements. How can you say you're going to pay down our country's debt without cutting Social Security or Medicare? +p101 +aVOK. We're going to continue this conversation. We're taking a quick break and then coming up, the candidates' plans for strengthening the middle class. We're live in North Charleston with the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back. +p102 +aVAll right, thanks, Trish. Well, let's get started with Ms. Fiorina. Today, the middle class represents about 50 percent of the U.S. population, down from about 61 percent back in 1971. That's according to Pew Research. The same research revealed a widening income gap in America. The rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. What will you do to strengthen a middle class that is no longer the majority? +p103 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p104 +aVThank you, Senator. We're not finished yet. More Republican Presidential Debate in North Charleston after this. +p105 +aVWelcome back, it's time for the closing statements. Candidates will each get one minute, starting with Senator Santorum. Thank you very much, I want to thank the people of Charleston, which has become a little bit of a second home to me, because I am very privileged to have two young men who go to the Citadel here and they're here tonight, my son John and my son Daniel. +p106 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. Governor Mike Huckabee. +p107 +aVThank you, Governor. +p108 +asVQUICK +p109 +(lp110 +VGentlemen \u2014 we'll \u2014 we'll get back to this \u2014 just a minute \u2014 just a minute we're gonna continue this. I wanna talk taxes... +p111 +aVDr. Carson, let's talk about taxes. You have a flat tax plan of 10 percent flat taxes, and \u2014 I've looked at it \u2014 and this is something that is very appealing to a lot of voters, but I've had a really tough time trying to make the math work on this. If you were to took a 10 percent tax, with the numbers right now in total personal income, you're gonna come in with bring in $1.5 trillion. That is less than half of what we bring in right now. And by the way, it's gonna leave us in a $2 trillion hole. So what analysis got you to the point where you think this will work? +p112 +aVI \u2014 I understand that, but if you \u2014 if you look at the numbers you probably have to get to 28. +p113 +aV15 percent still leaves you with a $1.1 trillion hole. +p114 +aVYou'd have to cut \u2014 you'd have to cut government about 40 percent to make it work with a $1.1 trillion hole. +p115 +aVThat is true, I looked at the numbers. +p116 +aVDr. Carson, thank you. +p117 +aVGovernor... +p118 +aVDr. Carson, let me get 30 seconds with Dr. Carson... +p119 +aVThank you. +p120 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator, thank you. +p121 +aVGentlemen, I'm sorry, we need to... +p122 +aVWe're going to move on. +p123 +aVThirty seconds. +p124 +aVWe'll get to everyone. Ms. Fiorina, I \u2014 I'd like to ask you a question. You are running for president of the United States because of your record running Hewlett-Packard. But the stock market is usually a fair indicator of the performance of a CEO, and the market was not kind to you. Someone who invested a dollar in your company the day you took office had lost half of the dollar by the day you left. Obviously, you've talked in the past about what a difficult time it was for technology companies, but anybody who was following the market knows that your stock was a much worse performer, if you looked at your competitors, if you looked at the overall market. I just wonder, in terms of all of that \u2014 you know, we look back, your board fired you. I just wondered why you think we should hire you now. +p125 +aVMrs. Fiorina, it's interesting that you bring up Mr. Perkins, because... ...he said a lot of very questionable things. Last year, in an interview, he said that he thinks wealthy people should get more votes than poor people. I think his quote was that, "if you pay zero dollars in taxes, you should get zero votes. If you pay a million dollars, you should get a million votes." Is this the type of person you want defending you? +p126 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p127 +aVThank you, we're out of time. Thank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Carl. +p128 +aVGovernor Christie, I'd like to a question next. Actually, I have a question for you . In your tell it like it is campaign, you've said a lot of tough things. You've said that we need to raise the retirement age for Social Security. You think that we need to cut benefits for people who make over $80,000 and eliminate them entirely for seniors who are making over $200,000. Governor Huckabee, who is here on the stage, has said that you and others who think this way are trying to rob seniors of the benefits that they've earned. It raises the question: When it is acceptable to break a social compact? +p129 +aV...Governor... +p130 +aV...Thank you. +p131 +aVWelcome back to the presidential debate for the Republicans. We are live in Boulder, Colorado, right here on +p132 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. +p133 +aVSenator Rubio, you yourself have said that you've had issues. You have a lack of bookkeeping skills. You accidentally inter-mingled campaign money with your personal money. You faced (ph) foreclosure on a second home that you bought. And just last year, you liquidated a $68,000 retirement fund. That's something that cost you thousands of dollars in taxes and penalties. In terms of all of that, it raises the question whether you have the maturity and wisdom to lead this $17 trillion economy. What do you say? +p134 +aVSenator, I understand all of that. I had a lot of student loans when I got out, too. But you've had a windfall that a lot of Americans haven't. You made over a million dollars on a book deal, and some of these problems came after that. +p135 +aVBut you \u2014 but you liquidated that retirement account after the fact, and that cost you about $24,000 out of that in taxes and feed. That \u2014 that was after you'd already come into that windfall. That's why I raised the question. +p136 +aVYes, thank you John. Senator Cruz, working women in this country still earn just 77 percent of what men earn. And I know that you've said you've been very sympathetic to our cause. But you've also you said that the Democrats' moves to try and change this are the political show votes. I just wonder what you would do as President to try and help in this cause? +p137 +aVMrs. Fiorina \u2014 +p138 +aVMrs. Fiorina, we will come back to you. +p139 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Carl? +p140 +aVMr. Trump, let's stay on this issue of immigration. You have been very critical of Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook who has wanted to increase the number of these H1Bs. +p141 +aVSo you're in favor of... +p142 +aVWhere did I read this and come up with this that you were... +p143 +aVYou know, Mr. \u2014 you know, Mr. Trump, if I may . You've been \u2014 you have been \u2014 you had talked a little bit about Marco Rubio. I think you called him Mark Zuckerberg's personal senator because he was in favor of the H1B. +p144 +aVSo this was an erroneous article the whole way around? +p145 +aVMy apologies. I'm sorry. +p146 +aVYes, you can. +p147 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you very much. I would like to introduce my colleague, Rick Santelli, he has some comments as well, sir. +p148 +aVRick, thank you very much. Governor Huckabee, you have railed against income inequality. You've said that some Wall Street executives should have gone to jail over the roles that they played during the financial crisis. Apart from your tax plan, are there specific steps you would require from corporate America to try and reduce the income inequality. +p149 +aVGovernor? +p150 +aVGovernor? +p151 +aVThank you. +p152 +aVAll right, Governor Huckabee. +p153 +aVHow about 15 more seconds? +p154 +aVGovernor? +p155 +aVGovernor, I'm sorry... +p156 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p157 +aVGovernor, thank you. Appreciate it. John? +p158 +aVIt's at the moderator discretion. +p159 +aVWelcome back to the University of Colorado and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p160 +aVThank you, sir. +p161 +aVYou were. You get 30 seconds. +p162 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Carl? +p163 +aVHigher education is the example... +p164 +aVI want to go back, if I can, to the issue of... +p165 +aVI want to go back, if I may, to the... +p166 +aVSenator Paul, among the leading conservative opponents to the creation of Medicare back in the 1960s was Ronald Reagan. He warned that it would lead to socialism. Considering the mounting cost of Medicare, was he right to oppose it? +p167 +aVSenator, thank you. [ +p168 +aVWelcome back to Boulder, Colorado and the Republican presidential debate right here on +p169 +aVThank you, Governor. +p170 +aVGovernor. +p171 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Paul, let's go back to you. Do these solutions sound like they work? +p172 +aVDo these solutions sound like they would work? +p173 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Governor? +p174 +asVRUBIO +p175 +(lp176 +VWell, let me first talk about Justice Scalia. His loss is tremendous, and obviously our hearts and prayers go out to his family. He will go down as one of the great justices in the history of this republic. You talk about someone who defended consistently the original meaning of the Constitution, who understood that the Constitution was not there to be interpreted based on the fads of the moment, but it was there to be interpreted according to its original meaning. Justice Scalia understood that better than anyone in the history of this republic. His dissent, for example, on the independent counsel case is a brilliant piece of jurist work. And, of course, his dissent on Obergefell as well. No. 2, I do not believe the president should appoint someone. And it's not unprecedented. In fact, it has been over 80 years since a lame duck president has appointed a Supreme Court justice. And it remind us of this, how important this election is. Someone on this stage will get to choose the balance of the Supreme Court, and it will begin by filling this vacancy that's there now. And we need to put people on the bench that understand that the Constitution is not a living and breathing document. It is to be interpreted as originally meant. +p177 +aVThat's not accurate. +p178 +aVNo, I've never \u2014 there has been, for example, today, according to the changes Harry Reid made, appellate judges can now be appointed by a simple majority, but not Supreme Court justices. And I think today you see the wisdom of why we don't want that to change. Because if that were the case and we were not in charge of the Senate, Harry Reid and Barack Obama would ram down our throat a liberal justice, like the ones Barack Obama has imposed on us already. +p179 +aVNo. I think there are three major threats that you want to immediately get on top of. No. 1 is, what are we doing in the Asia-Pacific region, where both North Korea and China pose threats to the national security of the United States. No. 2 is, what are we doing in the Middle East with the combination of the Sunni-Shia conflict driven by the Shia arc that Iran is now trying to establish in the Middle East, also the growing threat of +p180 +aVWell, let me tell you what has happened a couple of years ago. One of the hardest decisions you'll ever make in Congress is when you are asked by the president to authorize the use of force in a conflict, because you are now putting your name, on behalf of the people of your state, behind a military action, where Americans in uniform could lose their life. So, in 2014, Barack Obama said he would not take military action against Assad unless it was authorized by the Senate, beginning on the Committee of Foreign Relations, where I am one of its members. And it was hard because you looked at the pictures. I saw the same images people saw. I'm the father of children. I saw the images of these little children \u2014 been gassed and poisoned by their own leaders, and we were angry. Something had to happen, and there was the sense that we needed to seek retribution. And then I looked at Barack Obama's plan. Barack Obama's plan, which John Kerry later described as unbelievably small, and I concluded that that attack would not only not help the situation, it would make it actually worse. It would allow Assad to stand up to the United States of America, survive a strike, stay in power and actually strengthen his grip. So it was a difficult decision to make, and when we only had a few days to look at and make a decision on it, and I voted against Barack Obama's plan to use force, and it was the right decision. +p181 +aVI just want to say, at least on behalf of me and my family, I thank God all the time it was George W. Bush in the White House on 9/11 and not Al Gore. And you can \u2014 I think you can look back in hindsight and say a couple of things, but he kept us safe. And not only did he keep us safe, but no matter what you want to say about weapons of mass destruction, Saddam Hussein was in violation of U.N. resolutions, in open violation, and the world wouldn't do anything about it, and George W. Bush enforced what the international community refused to do. And again, he kept us safe, and I am forever grateful to what he did for this country. +p182 +aVThe World Trade Center came down because Bill Clinton didn't kill Osama bin Laden when he had the chance to kill him. +p183 +aVWell, because I'm influencing social policy \u2014 this is their money. This is the money of parents. You don't earn the tax credit unless you're working. That's your money, it doesn't belong to government. Here's what I don't understand. If a business takes their money and they invest in the piece of the equipment, they get to write off their taxes. But if a parent takes money that they have earned to work and invests in their children, they don't? This makes no sense. Parenting is the most important job any of us will ever have. Family formation is the most important thing in society. So what my tax plan does, is it does create, especially for working families, an additional Child Tax Credit. So that parents who are working get to keep more of their own money, not the government's money, to invest in their children to go to school, to go to a private school, to buy a new backpack. Let me tell you, if you're a parent that's struggling, then you know that $50 a month is the difference between a new pair of shoes this month or not getting a new pair of shoes for your kids. I'm going to have a tax plan that is pro-family, because the family is the most important institution in society. You cannot have a strong country without strong families. +p184 +aVWell, first of all, I think amnesty is the forgiveness of a wrongdoing without consequence and that \u2014 I've never supported that. I do not support that. I think there has to be consequences for violating our immigration laws. What I think is clear about this issue to begin with is we're not going to be able to make progress on illegal immigration until first, illegal immigration is brought under control. You go back to 1986, when they legalized three million people and they promised to secure the border. It didn't happen, and as a result, people have lost trust in the federal government. It is now clear that the only way to make progress on immigration is not just to pass a law that enforces the law, but actually prove to people that it's working. They want to see the wall built. They want to see the additional border agents. They want to see E-Verify. They want to see an entry-exit tracking system. Forty percent of the people in this country illegally are entering legally and overstaying visas. And only after all of that is in place, then we'll see what the American people are willing to support on this issue. I think the American people will be very reasonable, but responsible, about how you handle someone who has been here a long time, who can pass a background check, who pays a fine and starts paying taxes and all they want is a work permit. But you can't do any of that until you prove to people that illegal immigration is under control once and for all. +p185 +aVWe're going to have to do this again, O.K.? When that issue was being debated, Ted Cruz, at a committee hearing, very passionately said, I want immigration reform to pass, I want people to be able to come out of the shadows. And he proposed an amendment that would legalized people here. Not only that, he proposed doubling the number of green cards. He proposed a 500 percent increase on guest workers. Now his position is different. Now he is a passionate opponent of all those things. So he either wasn't telling the truth then or he isn't telling the truth now, but to argue he is a purist on immigration is just not true. +p186 +aVWell, first of all, I don't know how he knows what I said on Univision, because he doesn't speak Spanish. And second of all, the other point that I would make... +p187 +aVLook, this is a disturbing pattern now, because for a number of weeks now, Ted Cruz has just been telling lies. He lied about Ben Carson in Iowa. He lies about Planned Parenthood. He lies about marriage. He's lying about all sorts of things. And now he makes things up. The bottom line is this is a campaign and people are watching it. And they see the truth behind all these issues. And here is the truth, Ted Cruz supported legalizing people that were in this country... +p188 +aV... and only now does he say... +p189 +aVWell, we'll put on our website, marcorubio.com. We're going to... +p190 +aVOn anything I want? +p191 +aVWell, let me talk about poverty. +p192 +aVI do. +p193 +aVI had something important. +p194 +aVThe issue of poverty is critical, because for me, poverty is the \u2014 is \u2014 is free enterprise not reaching people. Today, we have antipoverty programs that don't cure poverty. We don't cure poverty in America. Our antipoverty programs have become, in some instances, a way of life, a lifestyle. Now, we do need antipoverty programs, you can't have free enterprise programs without them, but not as a way of life. And so I have a very specific proposal on this and I don't \u2014 in 60 seconds, I can't describe it all, but it basically turns the program over to states. It allows states to design innovative programs that cure poverty, because I think Nikki Haley will do a better job curing poverty than Barack Obama. +p195 +aVWell, no. It's not the case. It didn't pass, and we haven't solved immigration in this country. It's still a problem. It is worse today than it was three years ago, which is worse than it was five years ago. And it has to be confronted and solved. But the only way forward on this issue \u2014 you asked a question about flexibility. Let me tell you about that. One of the things that you need in leadership is the ability to understand that to get things done, you must figure out the way to get it done. You will not pass comprehensive immigration reform. People do not trust the federal government. They want to see the law being enforced. They want to see illegal immigration come under control. They want to see that wall. They want to see E-Verify. They want to see all of these things working, and then they will have a conversation with you about what do you do with people that have been here a long time that are otherwise, you know, not criminals. But they're not going to do it until you first enforce the law. +p196 +aVThirty seconds. +p197 +aVI speak fast. +p198 +aVWell, I think one of the presidents \u2014 well, the president I grew up under was Ronald Reagan. And Reagan had a vision for America's future. And if you think about what Ronald Reagan inherited, it's not unlike what the next president is going to inherit. This is the worst president we've had in 35 years, 35 years back would have made it Jimmy Carter. That's what Ronald Reagan inherited. And I think the question you would ask is, how did you inspire again the American people to believe in the future? How did you \u2014 what did it take to ensure that the American people, despite all of the difficulties of the time \u2014 you know, you look back at that time, the American military was in decline. Our standing in the world was in decline. We had hostages being held in Iran. Our economy was in bad shape. The American people were scared about the future. They were scared about what kind of country their children were going to live in and inherit. And yet somehow Ronald Reagan was able to instill in our nation and in our people a sense of optimism. And he turned America around because of that vision and ultimately because of that leadership. I wish Ronald Reagan was still around. This country needs someone just like that. And if our next president is even half the president Ronald Reagan was, America is going to be greater than it has ever been. +p199 +aVThank you, and thank you for watching tonight. This is a difficult time in our country. Our economy's flat, it's not creating the jobs it once did, and people struggle living paycheck to paycheck. Our culture's in trouble. Wrong is considered right and right is considered wrong. All the things that once held our families together are now under constant assault. And around the world, America's reputation is in decline. Our allies don't trust us, our adversaries don't fear us, Iran captures our sailors and parades them before the world on video. These are difficult times, but 2016 can be a turning point. That's why I'm running for president, and that's why I'm here today to ask you for your vote. If you elect me president, we are going to re-embrace free enterprise so that everyone can go as far as their talent and their work will take them. We are going to be a country that says that "life begins at conception and life is worthy of the protection of our laws." We're going to be a country that says "that marriage is between one man and one woman." We are going to be a country that says, "The constitution and the rights that it talks about do not come from our president, they come from our creator." We are going to be loyal to our allies like Israel, not enemies like Iran. And we will rebuild the U.S. military so no one will there test it. Vote for me. I will unify this party. I will grow it. We will win this election, and we will make the 21st century a new American century. +p200 +aVWell, let me say, from protecting the people of Florida from imminent domain abuse, to bringing accountability to the V.A., to the Girls Count Act, to sanctioning groups, I'm proud of my service in the United States Senate and before that, in the Florida legislature. I will say, if politics becomes and the presidency becomes about electing people who have been Congress or in the Senate the longest, we should all rally around Joe Biden. He's been around 1,000 years. He's passed hundreds of bills and I don't think any of us believe Joe Biden should be president of the United States. And let's dispel once and for all with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing. Barack Obama is undertaking a systematic effort to change this country, to make America more like the rest of the world. That's why he passed Obamacare and the stimulus and Dodd-Frank and the deal with Iran. It is a systematic effort to change America. When I'm president of the United States, we are going to re-embrace all the things that made America the greatest nation in the world and we are going to leave our children with what they deserve: the single greatest nation in the history of the world. +p201 +aVIf I may respond to that. +p202 +aVWell, I think the experience is not just what you did, but how it worked out. Under Chris Christie's governorship of New Jersey, they've been downgraded nine times in their credit rating. This country already has a debt problem, we don't need to add to it by electing someone who has experience at running up and destroying the credit rating of his state. But I would add this. Let's dispel with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing. He is trying to change this country. He wants America to become more like the rest of the world. We don't want to be like the rest of the world, we want to be the United States of America. And when I'm elected president, this will become once again, the single greatest nation in the history of the world, not the disaster Barack Obama has imposed upon us. +p203 +aVChris \u2014 Chris, your state got hit by a massive snowstorm two weeks ago. You didn't even want to go back. They had to shame you into going back. And then you stayed there for 36 hours and then he left and came back to campaign. Those are the facts. Here's the bottom line. This notion that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing is just not true. He knows exactly what he's doing. +p204 +aVWell, that's the \u2014 that's the reason why this campaign is so important. Because I think this notion \u2014 I think this is an important point. We have to understand what we're going through here. We are not facing a president that doesn't know what he's doing. He knows what he is doing. That's why he's done the things he's done. That's why we have a president that passed Obamacare and the stimulus. All this damage that he's done to America is deliberate. This is a president that's trying to redefine this country. That's why this election is truly a referendum on our identity as a nation, as a people. Our future is at stake. This election is not about the past. It is about what kind of country this is going to be in the 21st century, and if we elect someone like Barack Obama, a Hillary Clinton, a Bernie Sanders or anyone like that, our children are going to be the first Americans to inherit a diminishes country. That will not happen if I'm elected. +p205 +aVChris, you didn't want to go back. You didn't want to go back. +p206 +aVYou didn't want to go back, Chris. +p207 +aVChris, everybody \u2014 you said you weren't going to go back. He told everyone he wasn't going to go back. They had to shame him into going back. And when he decided to go back, he criticized the young lady, saying, what am I supposed to do, go back with a mop and clean up the flooding? +p208 +aV... It's your record, it's not a talking point... +p209 +aVBut Martha, just \u2014 Martha, just to clarify on that point, because he's right, and one more thing to point \u2014 it is standard procedure of the United States to shoot down those missiles once launched if they pose a threat to civilians, land and ships. +p210 +aVWell \u2014 no, I understand. And not \u2014 but \u2014 but I think it's important to note that it is \u2014 and Senator Cruz, I think, was alluding to this, as well \u2014 it is the standard procedure of the United States, if those missiles pose a threat to land, civilians, our allies or any of our assets, to shoot down that missile in mid-flight. I understand your question was about a preemptive strike, but my point is that there is in place now contingencies to avoid any sort of that strike from going errant and destroying any \u2014 any assets of the United States, or implicating or hurting any of our allies or any of our assets in the region. +p211 +aVYeah. I have a \u2014 I got mentioned, can I respond? +p212 +aVHere's the broader point, as well, and then I think it touches on what Donald just mentioned. Barack Obama views America as this arrogant global power that needed to be cut down to size. OK? This is a president that views this country as a country that's been too powerful in the world and we create problems around the world. For example, it's one of the reasons why he had betrayed Israel, because he believes that if we create separation from Israel, it will help our relations in the Islamic world. The same is happening in the Asia-Pacific region with accommodations to North Korea. North Korean should be back on that list of terrorist nations, as an example. And Donald's absolutely right. China does have a lot of influence over North Korea and he should be leveraging our relationship with the Chinese to ensure that North Korea no longer has access to the resources that have allowed them \u2014 a country that has no economy to develop long range missiles already capable of reaching the west coast of the United States potentially. +p213 +aVHere's the bottom line. We can't get that legislation passed. The American people will not support doing anything about people that are in this country illegally until the law is enforced first, and you prove it to them. This has been abundantly clear. Every effort over the last ten years to do those comprehensively has failed. And it has failed because the American people have zero trust that the federal government will enforce our laws. And that's why since then, I have said repeatedly, if you are serious about immigration reform, then the key that unlocks the door to being able to do that is not just to pass a law that says it is going to enforce the law, but to actually do it. To hire the 20,000 new border agents, to finish the fencing and walls, to put in place mandatory e-verify, to put in place an entry-exit tracking system to prevent visa overstays. And once that is in place and that's working, I believe the American people will support a very reasonable, but responsible approach to people that have been here a long time, who are not dangerous criminals, who pay taxes and pay fines for what they did. But until then, none of that is going to be possible. +p214 +aVWell, the legislation passed, but it has no support. In essence, it couldn't pass in the House, it will never pass in the United States until we secure the border, and it is not the way we're going to do when I'm president. When I'm president, we are going to enforce the law first, prove to people that illegal immigration is under control. And then we'll see what the American people are willing to support when it comes to people that are not criminals, who have been in the this country for a long time and who otherwise would like to stay. +p215 +aVLeadership is ultimately about solving the problem. And the approach that was tried and has been tried now repeatedly over ten years to do this comprehensively, all at once in a massive piece of legislation has no chance of passage. It is not leadership to continue to try something that has no chance of happening. I want to make progress on this issue. It has been discussed now for 30 years and nothing ever happens. And I am telling you that the only way forward on this issue that has any chance of happening, meaning gaining the support of the American people, you cannot do this without the support of the American people, is an approach that begins by proving that once and for all, illegal immigration is under control. +p216 +aVGood evening. +p217 +aVWell, I think conservatism is about three things and Donald touched on one of them, but it's about three things. The first is conservatism is about limited government, especially at the federal level. The federal government is a limited government, limited by the Constitution, which delineates its powers. If it's not in the Constitution, it does not belong to the federal government. It belongs to states, local communities and the private sector. It's about free enterprise, which is an economic model that allows everyone to rise without pulling anyone down. The reason why free enterprise is the greatest economic model in the history of the world is because it's the only economic model where you can make poor people richer without making rich people poor. And it's about a strong national defense. It's about believing, unlike Barack Obama, that the world is a safer and a better place when America is the strongest military and the strongest nation on this planet. That's conservatism. +p218 +aVNow, see, I was mentioned by Governor... +p219 +aVYeah. +p220 +aVOK, good, then I'll get to it . Here's the... +p221 +aVWell, no, sorry. Let me respond to that question. +p222 +aVWell, here's the response. I think anyone who believes that Barack Obama isn't doing what he's doing on purpose doesn't understand what we're dealing with here, OK? This is a president \u2014 this is a president who is trying to change this country. When he talked about change, he wasn't talking about dealing with our problems. Obamacare was not an accident. The undermining of the Second Amendment is not an accident. The gutting of our military is not an accident. The undermining of America on the global stage is not an accident. Barack Obama is, indeed, trying to redefine this country. We better understand what we're dealing with here, because that's what Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders want to double down on if they are elected. +p223 +aVNo. He talked about Barack Obama. +p224 +aVYeah. +p225 +aVI don't know of any problem in America that's going to be fixed with a tax increase. We have an economy today, an economy today that is not creating jobs that pay enough. And one of the reasons why is because we have one of the most expensive business tax rates on the planet. Our combined business rate puts us among the highest in the industrialized world. And then on top of that, we are the only one that has a worldwide system of taxation, where an American company who makes money abroad has to pay taxes where they made the money and then taxes a second time when they bring it back. The combination of these two things has stranded over $2 trillion, the equivalent of the size of the Russian economy, $2 trillion of American corporate money stranded overseas, combined with all of these inversions of companies leaving us. The solution to the problems we have today are not a tax increase. It is to lower our taxes on both people and on companies, so we can make America globally competitive again. +p226 +aVWell, first, we need to understand who they are. +p227 +aVBecause they currently occupy Sunni cities and villages. Sunni cities and villages can only truly be liberated and held by Sunnis themselves. If they are held by Shias it will trigger sectarian violence. The Kurds are incredible fighters and they will liberate the Kurdish areas, but Kurds can not and do not want to liberate and hold Sunni villages and towns. It will take Sunni fighters themselves in that region to take those villages and cities, and then to hold them and avoid the sort of sectarian violence that follows in the past. And why that is important is because if Sunnis are not able to govern themselves in these areas, you are going to have a successor group to +p228 +aVWell, the problem with the Sunni forces in the region is they don't trust this administration. This administration cut a deal with their mortal enemies, the Shia, in Iran. It poisoned the well with these countries. It makes it very difficult to cooperate with them as a result. They also, by the way, understand what real U.S. air power looks like. They saw the Iraq war. They saw, up close, also Afghanistan. They know what air power looks like when the United States is committed to the cause. And they see the airstrikes that are being conducted now, and they say to themselves, that's not real commitment. We know what real commitment looks like. The \u2014 the Jordanian king was in Washington three weeks ago. He told everyone who would listen that they have begged for permission from the coalition to target caravans. And the coalition \u2014 meaning U.S. leadership on the ground......would not allow them to proceed with those airstrikes. +p229 +aVWell, when people talk about interrogating terrorists, they're acting like this is some sort of law enforcement function. Law enforcement is about gathering evidence to take someone to trial, and convict them. Anti-terrorism is about finding out information to prevent a future attack so the same tactics do not apply. And, it is true, we should not be discussing in a wide spread way the exact tactics that we're going to use because that allows terrorist to know to practice how to evade us. But, here's the bigger problem with all this, we're not interrogating anybody right now. Guantanamo's being emptied by this president. We should be putting people into Guantanamo, not emptying it out, and we shouldn't be releasing these killers who are rejoining the battlefield against the United States. +p230 +aVI think it's already happening. Look at the turnout in Iowa. A historic number of people came out and voted in those caucuses. There are saying the same thing is going to happen here in New Hampshire. Look at the rallies that every single person on this stage is having. Much higher numbers than you used to see in the past and here is why. Because people are starting to understand, very clearly, that this election is going to be a turning point. That 2016 is not just a choice between Republican or Democrat. It is a referendum on our identity as a nation and as a people. So here is what Hillary Clinton needs to understand. We're going to have our primary, we're going to have our debates \u2014 which by the way, are twice as many as the Democrats have been willing to have themselves. But we're going to bring this party together and we are going to defeat Hillary Clinton, because she is unqualified to be the president of the United States of America. She put classified information on her computer because she thinks she's above the law and anyone who lies to the families of people who have lost their loved ones in the service of our country like she did in Benghazi, can never be the commander-in-chief of the United States of America. +p231 +aVI would. But that's not \u2014 the issue \u2014 my problem with what he did is he continues to put out this fiction that there's widespread systematic discrimination against Muslim Americans. First of all, let's recognize this. If you go to a national cemetery in this country, you will see stars of Davids and crosses, but you see crescent moons. There are brave men and women who happen to be Muslim Americans who are serving this country in uniform and who have died in the service of this country. And we recognize that and we honor that. But by the same token, we face a very significant threat of home grown violent extremism. We need to have strong, positive relationships in the Islamic communities in this country so they will identify and report this activity, especially mosques, for example, that are participating not just in hate speech, but inciting violence and taking acts against us. And I do believe it is important also to recognize, you want to talk about religious discrimination in America. Well, I don't think Barack Obama is being sued by any Islamic groups, but he is being sued by the Little Sisters of the Poor. We are facing in this country Christian groups and groups that hold traditional values who feel and in fact are being discriminated against by the laws of this country that try to force them to vie to violate their conscience. +p232 +aVFirst, let me say there are already women today serving in roles that are like combat. That, in fact, whose lives are in very serious danger, and so I have no problem whatsoever with people of either gender serving in combat so long as the minimum requirements necessary to do the job are not compromised. But, I support that, and obviously now that that is the case I do believe that Selective Service should be opened up for both men and women in case a Draft is ever instituted. I think the more fundamental challenge we're now facing is what's happening to the U.S. military \u2014 I've said this many times, and I think it's important to start paying attention to this. Our Air Force is about to be the smallest it's been in 100 years. I'm sorry, in our history. Our Army is set to be smaller than it's been since the second World War, and our Navy is about to be the smallest than it's been in 100 years. I think we need to begin to refocus on rebuilding our military because every time we have cut our military in the history of this country we have had to come back later and rebuild it, and it costs more, and it's a lot more chaotic and dangerous. When I'm president, we are rebuilding the U.S. military. +p233 +aVWell, my brother's a veteran. We're very proud of him in our family. He served as a green beret in the 7th Special Forces from 1968 through 1971. And as part of his training, he jumped out of an airplane and he lost his two front teeth. And for years, he's had to go to get these dental claims. And every times he goes to get one of these dental claims filled, the V.A. asks him, "well, how do we know you lost your teeth in the Army?" And he says, "well, it's the only time I ever jumped out of a plane." But he's had to fight through this process, and I've watched it firsthand. That's why I'm proud that I worked in a bipartisan way. We passed the V.A. Accountability bill that, for the first time, allows us to fire \u2014 allows the V.A. secretary to fire someone who's not doing a good job, who's a senior executive. And the governor's right. They've only fired three people up to now. More people will be fired if I'm president. But the portability part of it is incredibly important. Veterans should be able to take their V.A. benefits to any hospital or any doctor they want to go to. When I am president of the United States, veterans will be able to take their benefits to any hospital or doctor that they choose. +p234 +aVWell, first of all, I don't believe that believing in traditional marriage the way I do makes you a bigot or a hater. It means that you believe that this institution that's been around for millenial is an important cornerstone of society. I respect people that believe differently. But I believe deeply, that marriage should be between one man and one woman. On the issue of life, to me, the issue of life is not a political issue. It's a human rights issue and it's a difficult issue, because it puts in conflict two competing rights. On the one hand is the right of a woman to choose what to do with her body which is a real right. And on the other hand is the right of an unborn human child to live. And they're in conflict. And as a policy maker, I must choose which one of these two sides takes precedence. And I have chosen to err on the side of life. Here's what I find outrageous. There has been five Democratic debates. The media has not asked them a single question on abortion and on abortion, the Democrats are extremists. Why doesn't the media ask Hillary Clinton why she believes that all abortion should be legal, even on the due date of that unborn child. Why don't they ask Hillary Clinton why she believe that partial- birth abortion, which is a gruesome procedure that has been outlawed in this country, she thinks that's a fundamental right. They are the extremists......when it comes to the issue of abortion and I can't wait to expose them in a general election. HAM: Governor Bush? I want to come to you. Your allies have recently attacked Senator Rubio for being too pro-life to be elected in November. You made a similar charge stating it in an interview. This is a pro-life party. Do you stand behind that criticism? +p235 +aVI do support protection for the life of the mother because I'm pro-life. I just believe deeply that all human life is worthy of protection of our laws. If I'm president and there's a bill that's passed that saves lives but it has exceptions, I'll sign it. But I do believe deeply that all human life is worthy of the protection of laws. I've already said, for me, the issue of life is not a political issue and I want to be frank. I would rather lose an election than be wrong on the issue of life. HAM: Governor Christie. You too, have talked about Senator Rubio's position on the life issue. Some conservative activists have called this line of attack harmful to the pro-life cause. +p236 +aVWell, I was going for Peyton Manning, but now I'm rooting for Carolina. +p237 +aVThank you. You know, this week I had the great pleasure of having my kids join me on the campaign trail. I hadn't' seen them in a while, and it was great to have them alongside me, but the most important part of it is that it once again reminded me of what's at stake. Here in New Hampshire in less than 72 hours, we are literally deciding what kind of country we will be like when they are my age. What kind of country they will be able to raise their families in. And, that's why I'm asking you for your vote. You vote for me, and we will unite this party, we will grow the conservative movement, we will defeat Hillary Clinton, and we will leave our children what our parents left us. The single greatest nation in the history of all mankind. Thank you. +p238 +aVChris, let's begin by being clear what this campaign is about. It's not about Donald Trump. He's an entertaining guy. He's the greatest show on earth. This campaign is about the greatest country in the world and a president who has systematically destroyed many of the things that made America special. You see, we usually elect presidents in America that want to change the things that are wrong in America. Barack Obama wants to change America. Barack Obama wants America to be more like the rest of the world. We don't want to be like the rest of the world. We want to be the United States of America. That is why Hillary Clinton cannot win this election. Hillary Clinton this week said Barack Obama would make a great Supreme Court justice. The guy who systematically and habitually violates the constitution on the Supreme Court? I don't think so. If I'm our nominee, I will unite this party and we'll defeat Hillary Clinton and we will turn this country around once and for all, after seven years of the disaster that is Barack Obama. +p239 +aVI think, you know, Rand and I have some significant issues on policy, but I respect Rand. He believes everything he stands for. I do respect Rand. But I want to be frank about what I stand for. I believe the world is a safer and a better place when America is the strongest power in the world. And I believe only with a strong America will we defeat this radical group, this apocalyptic group called +p240 +aVWell, again, I mean, obviously, as already has been pointed out, the only budget that Ted has ever voted for is a budget that Rand Paul sponsored that brags about cutting defense spending. And I think that's a bad idea for the following reason. +p241 +aV... First of all \u2014 Let me go first, and then you can please recognize Rand after. First of all... +p242 +aV... do I go \u2014 let me go first, and then you can please recognize Rand after. But... ... first of all... +p243 +aV... first of all, I'm \u2014 don't worry, I'm not leaving the stage no matter what you ask me. +p244 +aVAnd second of all... ... and I think \u2014 you know, Governor \u2014 Jeb, you \u2014 the attack that \u2014 the authorization that Barack Obama asked for was not against +p245 +aVMegyn, that's the problem. Radical Muslims and radical Islam is not just hate talk. It's hate action. They blow people up. Look what they did in San Bernardino. Look at the attack they inspired in Philadelphia, that the White House still refuses to link to terror, where a guy basically shot a police officer three times. He told the police, "I did it because I was inspired by +p246 +aVMight I respond? The first thing \u2014 I don't know of anyone who's not in favor of fully vetting people that are trying to come into this country, other than perhaps Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. I think we all support that. Rand's amendment was not the right way to do it. I do believe that people who are trying to come to the United States \u2014 this country has a right to know who they are and why they are coming. And that's why I've been clear, when I am the president of the United States of America, we don't know who you are, and we don't know why you're trying to come to the United States, you are not going to get in, because the radical threat that we now face from +p247 +aVWell, Bret, first that's not entirely the story. At the time, the liberal governor of Florida, who claimed he was a Republican \u2014 his name was Charlie Crist \u2014 he wanted to impose cap-and-trade on Florida. And I opposed it. I was the first person out of the box that opposed him on it. And then we saw that the leading candidates for president at the time, both the Republican and the Democrats, all supported it. And what we said is, if they're going to impose this on us, we better prepare to protect the state from it. But I have never supported cap- and-trade and I never thought it was a good idea. And I was clear about that at the time. And I do not believe it's a good idea now. I do not believe that we have to destroy our economy in order to protect our environment. And especially what these programs are asking us to pass that will do nothing to help the environment, but will be devastating for our economy. When I am president of the United States of America, there will never be any cap-and-trade in the United States. +p248 +aVNever support. Never have and never will support any effort to grant blanket legalization amnesty to folks who have entered, or stayed in this country illegally. +p249 +aVFirst of all, earned path to citizenship is basically code for amnesty. It's what they call it. And, the reality of it is this, it is unfair to the people that have legally entered this country to create an alternative for individuals who entered illegally, and knowingly did so. +p250 +aVYou cannot grant amnesty. If the American people see us granting amnesty they will never again believe in legal immigration. They will never again support it, and that's wrong for our country, bad for our future. +p251 +aVNo, because if you look at the quote, and it's very specific. And, it says blanket amnesty, I do not support blanket amnesty... +p252 +aV... I do not support amnesty... +p253 +aV... No, I said I do not support blanket amnesty... +p254 +aV... It was... +p255 +aV... It absolutely has been, and at the time in the context of that was in 2009, and 2010, where the last effort for legalization was an effort done in the Senate. It was an effort led by several people that provided almost an instant path with very little obstacles moving forward. What I've always said is that this issue does need to be solved. They've been talking about this issue for 30 years, and nothing ever happens. And, I'm going to tell you exactly how we're going to deal with it when I am president. Number one, we're going to keep +p256 +aVMay I respond? +p257 +aVIt's interesting that Jeb mentions the book. That's the book where you changed your position on immigration because you used to support a path to citizenship. +p258 +aVWell, but you changed the \u2014 in the book... +p259 +aVYou wrote a book where you changed your position from a path of citizenship to a path of legalization. And the bottom line is this, we are not going to be able to do anything on this issue until we first bring illegal immigration under control. The American people have been told for 30 years they're going to enforce the border, they're going to build a wall and it never gets built and it never happens. It is very clear there will be no progress on this issue in any way, shape or form, until you prove to the people of this country that illegal immigration is under control. And when I'm president, we are going to bring it under control once and for all after 30 years of talking about it. +p260 +aVBut Megyn... +p261 +aVThere's not going to be consensus on this issue until we enforce our immigration laws. That is abundantly clear. You're not going to be able to ram down the throat of the American people your approach. The only way we're are going to be able to move forward after two migratory crises with minor, after two unconstitutional executive orders, the only way forward on this issue is to first bring illegal immigration under control. And until that happens there's not going to be consensus on this issue. +p262 +aVYeah, but let me respond... +p263 +aV... no, I understand, but let me respond. I was mentioned on this \u2014 in this answer, and so I'm going to respond this way. This is the lie that Ted's campaign is built on, and Rand touched upon it \u2014 that he's the most conservative guy, and everyone else is a \u2014 you know, everyone else is a rhino. The truth is, Ted, throughout this campaign, you've been willing to say or do anything in order to get votes. Ted, you worked for George W. Bush's campaign... You \u2014 you \u2014 you helped design George W. Bush's \u2014 you helped design George W. Bush's immigration policy. And then, when you got to the Senate, you did an interview with CBS News \u2014 I wasn't even part of the video \u2014 where you said, on the issue of people that are here illegally, "we can reach a compromise." And then in the committee, you said, "I want to bring people out of the shadows." Now you want to trump Trump on immigration. But you can't \u2014 we're not gonna beat Hillary Clinton with someone who's willing to say or do anything to win an election. +p264 +aVAnd I think that's the false choice... ... that's the \u2014 that's the false choice in this whole debate about immigration. Of course, we're going to be a nation of immigrants. By the way, no nation on earth is more generous than America is. Every single year close to a million people emigrate to the United States legally. There's no nation on earth that comes close to that number. I think the only argument is are we a sovereign country, are we not allowed to choose who comes in, when they come in and how they come in? And that's not what's happening now. +p265 +aVI think the other problem is we have a legal immigration system that's outdated, it's primarily based on whether you have family members living here. In the 21st century, it has to be more of a merit-based system, and that is why our legal immigration system is in need of modernization. And we will always celebrate legal immigration like Dulce's great story. +p266 +aVWell, I believe, and I know that if Iowa helps make me the Republican nominee, I will defeat Hillary Clinton. Hillary doesn't want to run against me, but I cannot wait to run against her. And I cannot wait to earn the opportunity to do it because she cannot be the president of the United States. She wants to put Barack Obama on the Supreme Court of the United States of America. She said that here in Iowa just two days ago. That would be a disaster for this country. So I hope and pray and cannot wait until this state and others give me an opportunity to serve this party as its nominee because I will defeat Hillary Clinton. +p267 +aVWell, let me be clear about one thing, there's only one savior and it's not me. It's Jesus Christ who came down to earth and died for our sins. And so \u2014 and I've always made that clear about that cover story. As far as the polls are concerned, Iowa, on Monday night you're going to go to a caucus site and you'll be the first Americans that vote in this election. You will be the first Americans that get to answer the fundamental question, what comes next for this country after seven disastrous years of Barack Obama? And let me tell you what the answer better not be. It better not be Bernie Sanders. Bernie Sanders is a socialist. I think Bernie Sanders is good candidate for president of Sweden. We don't want to be Sweden. We want to be the United States of America. And Hillary Clinton, Hillary Clinton is disqualified from being the commander-in-chief of the United States. In fact, one of her first acts as president may very well be to pardon herself because Hillary Clinton... Hillary Clinton stored classified information on her private server. And Hillary Clinton lied to the families of those four brave Americans who lost their life in Benghazi. And anyone who lies to the families of Americans who have died in the service of this country can never be commander-in-chief of the United States. +p268 +aVYeah, I would encourage people to go on my website, marcorubio.com, and we'll put all the facts up there so people can see it for themselves. But you've just asked a very fundamental question about the role of faith in our country. And I think this is an important question. I think if you do not understand that our Judeo-Christian values are one of the reasons why America is such a special country, you don't understand our history. You see, why are we one of the most generous people in the world \u2014 no, the most generous people in the world? Why do Americans contribute millions of dollars to charity? It is not because of the tax writeoff. It is because in this nation, we are influenced by Judeo-Christian values that teach us to care for the less fortunate, to reach out to the needy, to love our neighbor. This is what's made our nation so special. And you should hope that our next president is someone that is influence by their faith. Because if your faith causes you to care for the less fortunate, it is something you want to see in your public figures. And when I'm president, I can tell you this, my faith will not just influence the way I'll govern as president, it will influence the way I live my life. Because in the end, my goal is not simply to live on this earth for 80 years, but to live an eternity with my creator. And I will always allow my faith to influence everything I do. +p269 +aVWell, let me first describe Iran because they're not just a normal nation state. And we have no quarrel with the Iranian people. But the Iranian leader, their supreme leader is a radical Shia cleric who has an apocalyptic vision of the future. He views himself not simply as the leader of Iran, but as the leader of all Muslims \u2014 all Shia Muslims on the planet. And they have a desire not simply to conquer the Middle East and to become the dominant power in that region, but ultimately to be able to hold America hostage. That is why they're building an \u2014 right now, developing long- range missiles capable of reaching the United States, and that is why there's going \u2014 they're going to use those $100 billion to expand their conventional capabilities and to one day buy or build a nuclear weapon. We will \u2014 when I am president of the United States, on my first day in office, we are canceling the deal with Iran, and nations will have to make a choice. They can do business with Iran, or they can do business with America, and I am very confident they're going to choose America before they choose the Iranian economy. +p270 +aVThe bible commands us to let our light shine on the world. For over 200 years, America's light has been shining on the world and the world has never been the same again. But now, that light is dimming a little, after seven years of Barack Obama. And that's why Monday night, what will happen here in Iowa is so important. I'm asking you for your vote. Caucus for me on Monday night because if I am your nominee, I will unite this party and I will defeat Hillary Clinton and when I'm president, America's light will shine again and the 21 century will be a new American century. +p271 +aVYeah, I would go, first of all, one step further in this description of Hillary Clinton. She wouldn't just be a disaster, Hillary Clinton is disqualified from being commander in chief of the United States. Someone who cannot handle intelligence information appropriately cannot be commander in chief and someone who lies to the families of those four victims in Benghazi can never be president of the United States. Ever. On the issue of Barack Obama, Barack Obama does not believe that America is a great global power. Barack Obama believes that America is a arrogant global power that needs to be cut down to size. And that's how you get a foreign policy where we cut deals with our enemies like Iran and we betray our allies like Israel and we gut our military and we go around the world like he has done on 10 separate occasions and apologized for America. He doesn't understand the threat in +p272 +aVLet me . I was invoked in that question, so let me just say \u2014 in that answer \u2014 let me say, the real question here, I hate to interrupt this episode of Court TV. But the real \u2014 but I think we have to get back to what this election has to be about. OK? Listen, we \u2014 this is the greatest country in the history of mankind. But in 2008, we elected a president that didn't want to fix America. He wants to change America. We elected a president that doesn't believe in the Constitution. He undermines it. We elected a president that is weakening America on the global stage. We elected a president that doesn't believe in the free enterprise system. This election has to be about reversing all of that damage. That's why I'm running for office because when I become president of the United States, on my first day in office we are going to repeal every single one of his unconstitutional executive orders. When I'm president of the United States we are getting rid of Obamacare and we are rebuilding our military. And when I'm president, we're not just going to have a president that gives a State of the Union and says America is the greatest country in the world. When I'm president, we're going to have a president that acts like it. +p273 +aVYou know, as I said already twice in this , we have a very serious problem in this country. We have a president of the United States that is undermining this country's security and expanding the role of... +p274 +aVWell, I am going to answer your question, Neil. He is \u2014 this president is undermining the constitutional basis of this government. This president is undermining our military. He is undermining our standing in the world. I like Chris Christie, but we can not afford to have a president of the United States that supports Common Core. We can not afford to have a president of the United States that supports gun control. This president, this president is more interested in funding \u2014 less interested in funding the military, than he is in funding planned \u2014 he's more interested in funding Planned Parenthood than he is in funding the military. Chris Christie wrote a check to Planned Parenthood. All I'm saying is our next president has to be someone that undoes the damage Barack Obama has done to this country. It can not be someone that agrees with his agenda. Because the damage he has done to America is extraordinary. Let me tell you, if we don't get this election right, there may be no turning back for America. We're on the verge of being the first generation of Americans that leave our children worse off than ourselves. So I just truly, with all my heart belief, I like everybody on the stage. No one is a socialist. No one here is under FBI investigation. So we have a good group of people. +p275 +aVOur next president... +p276 +aVUnfortunately, Governor Christie has endorsed many of the ideas that Barack Obama supports, whether it is Common Core or gun control or the appointment of Sonia Sotomayor or the donation he made to Planned Parenthood. Our next president, and our Republican nominee can not be someone who supports those positions. +p277 +aVThat sounds like people are afraid the president's going to take their guns away. Look, the Second Amendment is not an option. It is not a suggestion. It is a constitutional right of every American to be able to protect themselves and their families. I am convinced that if this president could confiscate every gun in America, he would. I am convinced that this president, if he could get rid of the Second Amendment, he would. I am convinced because I see how he works with his attorney general, not to defend the Second Amendment, but to figure out ways to undermine it. I have seen him appoint people to our courts not to defend the Second Amendment, but to figure out ways to undermine it. Here's my second problem. None of these instances that the president points to as the reason why he's doing these things would have been preventive. You know why? Because criminals don't buy their guns from a gun show. They don't buy their guns from a collector. And they don't buy their guns from a gun store. They get \u2014 they steal them. They get them on the black market. And let me tell you, +p278 +aVAbout every two weeks, he holds a press conference talking about how he can't wait to restrict people's access to guns. He has never defended......I'll give you a fact. Well, let me tell you this. Do you remember when he ran for president of the United States, and he was a candidate, and he went and said, "These Americans with traditional values, they are bitter people, and they cling to their guns and to their religion." That tells you right away where he was headed on all of this. This president every chance he has ever gotten has tried to undermine the Second Amendment. He doesn't meet \u2014 here's the difference. When he meets with the attorney general in the White House, it's not "how can we protect the Second Amendment rights of Americans." It's "give me options on how I can make it harder for law-abiding people to buy guns." That will never happen when I am president of the United States. +p279 +aVWell, first of all, let's understand why we are even having this and why Donald tapped in to some of that anger that's out there about this whole issue. Because this president has consistently underestimated the threat of +p280 +aVBut on this point, if I may add something on this point. We are all frustrated with what China is doing. I think we need to be very careful with tariffs, and here's why. China doesn't pay the tariff, the buyer pays the tariff. If you send a tie or a shirt made in China into the United States and an American goes to buy it at the store and there's a tariff on it, it gets passed on in the price to price to the consumer. So I think the better approach, the best thing we can do to protect ourselves against China economically is to make our economy stronger, which means reversing course from all the damage Barack Obama is doing to this economy. It begins with tax reform. Let's not have the most expensive business tax rate in the world. Let's allow companies to immediately expense. It continues with regulatory reform. Regulations in this country are out of control, especially the Employment Prevention Agency, the EPA, and all of the rules they continue to impose on our economy and hurting us. How about Obamacare, a certified job killer? It needs to be repealed and replaced. And we need to bring our debt under control, make our economy stronger. That is the way to deal with China at the end of the day. +p281 +aVWell, first let me address the tax issue because it's related to the entitlement issue and I want to thank you for holding a substantive debates where we can have debates about these key issues on taxes. Here is the one thing I'm not going to do. I'm not going to have something that Ted described in his tax plan. It's called the value added tax. And it's a tax you find in many companies in Europe. Where basically, businesses now will have to pay a tax, both on the money they make, but they also have to pay taxes on the money that they pay their employees. And that's why they have it in Europe, because it is a way to blindfolded the people, that's what Ronald Reagan said. Ronald Regan opposed the value tax because he said it was a way to blindfold the people, so the true cost of government was not there there for them. Now, you can support one now that's very low. But what is to prevent a future liberal president or a liberal Congress from coming back and not just raising the income tax, but also raising that VAT tax, and that vat tax is really bad for seniors. Because seniors, if they are retired, are no longer earning an income from a job. And therefore, they don't get the income tax break, but their prices are going to be higher, because the vat tax is embedded in both the prices that business that are charging and in the wages they pay their employees. When I am president of the United States, I'm going to side with Ronald Regan on this and not Nancy Pelosi and we are not having a vat tax. +p282 +aVBut that's not an accurate description of the plan. Because, first of all, you may rename the IRS but you are not going to abolishes the IRS, because there has to be some agency that's going to collect your vat tax. Someone's going to be collecting this tax. In fact, Ronald Reagan's treasury, when Ronald Reagan's treasury looked at the vat tax, you know what they found? That they were going to have to hire 20,000 new IRS agencies to collect it. The second point, it does not eliminate the corporate tax or the payroll tax. Businesses will now have to pay 16 percent on the money they make. They will also have to pay 16 percent on the money they pay their employees. So there are people watching tonight in business. If you are now hit on a 60 percent tax on both your income and on the wages you pay your employees, where are you going to get that money from? You're going to get it by paying your employees less and charging your customers more, that is a tax, the difference is, you don't see it on the bill. And that's why Ronald Reagan said that it was a blindfold. You blindfold the American people so that they cannot see the true cost of government. Now 16 percent is what the rate Ted wants it at. But what happens if, God forbid, the next Barack Obama takes over, and the next Nancy Pelosi, and the next Harry Reid......and they decide, we're going to raise it to 30 percent, plus we're going to raise the income tax to 30 percent. Now, you've got Europe. +p283 +aVIf you'll answer the core question. +p284 +aVWell, first of all, this is an issue that's been debated now for 30 years. And for 30 years, the issue of immigration has been about someone who's in this country, maybe they're here illegally, but they're looking for a job. This issue is not about that anymore. First and foremost, this issue has to be now more than anything else about keeping America safe. And here's why. There is a radical jihadist group that is manipulating our immigration system. And not just green cards. They're looking \u2014 they're recruiting people that enter this country as doctors and engineers and even fiances. They understand the vulnerabilities we have on the southern border. They're looking \u2014 they're looking to manipulate our \u2014 the visa waiver countries to get people into the United States. So our number one priority must now become ensuring that +p285 +aVThe issue is a dramatically different issue than it was 24 months ago. Twenty-four months ago, 36 months ago, you did not have a group of radical crazies named +p286 +aVMaria, let me clear something up here. This is an interesting point when you talk about immigration. Ted Cruz, you used to say you supported doubling the number of green cards, now you say that you're against it. You used to support a 500 percent increase in the number of guest workers, now you say that you're against it. You used to support legalizing people that were here illegally, now you say you're against it. You used to say that you were in favor of birthright citizenship, now you say that you are against it. And by the way, it's not just on immigration, you used to support TPA, now you say you're against it. I saw you on the Senate floor flip your vote on crop insurance because they told you it would help you in Iowa, and last week, we all saw you flip your vote on ethanol in Iowa for the same reason. That is not consistent conservatism, that is political calculation. When I am president, I will work consistently every single day to keep this country safe, not call Edward Snowden, as you did, a great public servant. Edward Snowden is a traitor. And if I am president and we get our hands on him, he is standing trial for treason. And one more point, one more point. Every single time that there has been a Defense bill in the Senate, three people team up to vote against it. Bernie Sanders, Rand Paul and Ted Cruz. In fact, the only budget you have ever voted for, Ted, in your entire time in the Senate is a budget from Rand Paul that brags about how it cuts defense. Here's the bottom line, and I'll close with this. If I'm president of the United States and Congress tries to cut the military, I will veto that in a millisecond. +p287 +aVNo, it's your record. +p288 +aVYou know, 200 years ago, America was founded on this powerful principle that our rights don't come from government. Our rights come from God. That's why we embraced free enterprise, and it made us the most prosperous people in the history of the world. That's why we embraced individual liberty, and we became the freest people ever, and the result was the American miracle. But now as I travel the country, people say what I feel. This country is changing. It feels different. We feel like we're being left behind and left out. And the reason is simple: because in 2008, we elected as president someone who wasn't interested in fixing America. We elected someone as president who wants to change America, who wants to make it more like the rest of the world. And so he undermines the Constitution, and he undermines free enterprise by expanding government, and he betrays our allies and cuts deals with our enemies and guts our military. And that's why 2016 is a turning point in our history. If we elect Hillary Clinton, the next four years will be worse than the last eight, and our children will be the first Americans ever to inherit a diminished country. But if we elect the right person \u2014 if you elect me \u2014 we will turn this country around, we will reclaim the American dream and this nation will be stronger and greater than it has ever been. +p289 +aVThank you Wolf. It's really amazing to be back in Las Vegas. I spent six years as a child growing not far from where we stand tonight. I use to sit on the porch of our home and listen to my grandfather tell stories as he smoked one of three daily cigars. One of the things my grandfather instilled in me, was that I was really blessed because I was a citizen of the greatest country in the history of our mankind. But there have always been people in American politics that wanted America to be more like the rest of the world. And In 2008, one of them was elected president of this country and the result has been a disaster. Today you have millions of Americans that feel left out and out of place in their own country, struggling to live paycheck to paycheck, called bigots because they hold on to traditional values. And around the world, America's influence has declined while this president has destroyed our military, our allies no longer trust us, and our adversaries no longer respect us. And that is why this election is so important. That is why I'm running for president. And that's why I'm going to ask you for your vote tonight. If you elect me president, we will have a president that believes America is the greatest country in the world and we will have a president that acts like it. +p290 +aVWell, I understand why they feel that way, because this president hasn't kept us safe. The problem is we had an attack in San Bernardino. And we were paying attention to the most important issue we have faced in a decade since 9/11, and then all the talk was about this proposal, which isn't going to happen. But this is what's important to do is we must deal frontally with this threat of radical Islamists, especially from +p291 +aVHe is and so are those that voted for it. There were some that voted for it because they wanted to keep it alive and they were afraid the whole program would expire. Here's the world we live in. This is a radical jihadist group that is increasingly sophisticated in its ability, for example, to radicalize American citizens, in its inability to exploit loopholes in our legal immigration system, in its ability to capture and hold territory in the Middle East, as I outlined earlier, in multiple countries. This is not just the most capable, it is the most sophisticated terror threat we have ever faced. We are now at a time when we need more tools, not less tools. And that took we lost, the metadata program, was a valuable tool that we no longer have at our disposal. +p292 +aVDana, may I interject here? +p293 +aVLet me be very careful when answering this, because I don't think national television in front of 15 million people is the place to discuss classified information. So let me just be very clear. There is nothing that we are allowed to do under this bill that we could not do before. This bill did, however, take away a valuable tool that allowed the National Security Agency and other law \u2014 and other intelligence agencies to quickly and rapidly access phone records and match them up with other phone records to see who terrorists have been calling. Because I promise you, the next time there is attack on \u2014 an attack on this country, the first thing people are going to want to know is, why didn't we know about it and why didn't we stop it? And the answer better not be because we didn't have access to records or information that would have allowed us to identify these killers before they attacked. +p294 +aVI want to thank Rand for another 30 seconds, because, number one, what he's pointing to is a bill last week that \u2014 amendment that he voted for that only 10 people voted for. You know why? Because it's not focused on terrorists. It would have banned anyone from coming here. Someone from Taiwan would not have been able to come here as a tourist. Number two, this program, this metadata program is actually more strict than what a regular law enforcement agency has now. If a regular law enforcement agency wants your phone records, all they have to do is issue a subpoena. But now the intelligence agency is not able to quickly gather records and look at them to see who these terrorists are calling. And the terrorists that attacked us in San Bernardino was an American citizen, born and raised in this country. And I bet you we wish we would have had access to five years of his records so we could see who he was working with... +p295 +aVDo I get another 30 seconds? He mentioned me. +p296 +aVWell, let me begin by saying that we have to understand who +p297 +aVThat is accurate. Three times he voted against the Defense Authorization Act, which is a bill that funds the troops. It also, by the way, funds the Iron Dome and other important programs. And I have to assume that if you vote against it in the Senate, you would also veto it as president. He has also supported, by the way, a budget that is called the containment budget. And it is a budget that would radically reduce the amount of money we spend on our military. You can't carpet bomb +p298 +aVYes, let me \u2014 three points of distinction. The first is, if you're an American citizen and you decide to join up with +p299 +aVWell, they most certainly will have to be worked on to provide more than what they are doing now. There's no doubt about it. And there's one \u2014 one major reason why they have not been willing to be a broader part of the coalition, and that is they have lost complete trust and confidence in this president. This president cut a deal with their moral enemy, the Shia, in Iran. And this is the reason why they no longer trust this president and are willing to work alongside them. But they have as much invested in this as we do. In fact, more so, for it is the king of Saudi Arabia they want to behead first. It's the king of Jordan that they want to dethrone. It's the \u2014 they want to go into Egypt the way they've already gone into Libya. And on another point that we need to talk about, Assad is one of the main reasons why +p300 +aVTo begin with, Moammar Gadhafi and the revolt against Gadhafi was not started by the United States. It was started by the Libyan people. And the reason why I argued we needed to get involved is because he was going to go one way or the other. And my argument then was proven true, and that is, the longer that civil war took, the more militias would be formed and the more unstable the country would be after the fact. As far as Moammar Gadhafi is concerned, by the way, Moammar Gadhafi is the man that killed those Americans over Lockerbie, Scotland. Moammar Gadhafi is also the man that bombed that cafe in Berlin and killed those Marines. And you want to know why Moammar Gadhafi started cooperating on his nuclear program? Because we got rid of Saddam Hussein. And so he got scared that he would be next, and that's why he started cooperating. Look, we will have to work around the world with less than ideal governments. The government in Saudi Arabia is not a democracy, but we will have to work with them. The government in Jordan is not perfect, but we will have to work with them. But anti-American dictators like Assad, who help Hezbollah, who helped get those IEDs into Iraq, if they go, I will not shed a tear. +p301 +aVYeah. Immigration is not an issue that I read about in the newspaper or watch a documentary on PBS or CNN. It's an issues I've lived around my whole life. My family are immigrants. My wife's family are immigrants. All of my neighbors are immigrants. I see every aspect of this problem. The good, the bad, and the ugly. And here's what we learned in 2013. The American people don't trust the Federal Government to enforce our immigration laws, and we will not be able to do anything on immigration until we first prove to the American people that illegal immigration is under control. And we can do that. We know what it takes to do that. It takes at least 20,000 more additional border agents. It takes completing those 700 miles of fencing. It takes a mandatory e-verify system and a mandatory entry/exit tracking system to prevent overstays. After we have done that, the second thing we have to do is reform and modernize the legal immigration system. And after we have done those two things, I think the American people are gonna be reasonable with what do you do with someone who has been in this country for 10 or 12 years who hasn't otherwise violated our laws \u2014 because if they're a criminal they can't stay. They'll have to undergo a background check, pay a fine, start paying taxes. And ultimately, they'll given a work permit and that's all they're gonna be allowed to have for at least 10 years. But you can't get to that third step until you have done the other two things, and that was the lesson we learned in 2013. There is no trust that the Federal Government will enforce the law. They will not support you until you see it done first. +p302 +aVBut I've answered that question repeatedly. I am personally open \u2014 after all that has happened and after ten years in that probationary status where all they have is a permit, I personally am open to allowing people to apply for a green card. That may not be a majority position in my party, but that's down the road. You can't even begin that process until you prove to people \u2014 not just pass a law that says you're gonna bring illegal immigration under control. You're gonna have to do it and prove to people that it's working. And that was the lesson of 2013. And it's more true today, than it was then. After a migratory crisis on the border with minors coming over that you're seeing start up again now, after all these executive orders the President has issued. More than ever we need to... +p303 +aV... prove to people that illegal immigration is under control. +p304 +aVYeah, a couple points. In 2013 we had never faced a crisis like the Syrian refugee crisis now. Up until that point, a refugee meant someone fleeing oppression, fleeing Communism like it is in my community. As far as Ted's record, I'm always puzzled by his attack on this issue. Ted, you support legalizing people who are in this country illegally. Ted Cruz supported a 500-percent increase in the number of H-1 visas, the guest workers that are allowed into this country, and Ted supports doubling the number of green cards. So I think what's important for us to understand and there is a way forward on this issue that we an bring our country together on. And while I'm president I will do it. And it will begin by bringing illegal immigration under control and proving to the American people. +p305 +aVNo, no, give him time. +p306 +aVTed, do you... +p307 +aVDid Ted Cruz fight to support legalizing people that are in this country illegally? +p308 +aVDoes Ted Cruz rule out ever legalizing people that are in this country now? +p309 +aVWould you rule it out? +p310 +aVWell, he's just admitted \u2014 as he's just admitted, the reason why those refugees were allowed in was because they messed up in how they used the actual database. They should have know. They didn't because they didn't run the actual law as it exists now. It didn't work well. As far as the refugees are concerned, it's not that America doesn't want to accept refugees, Wolf. It's that we may not be able to, because this is an issue we have to be 100 percent right on. If we allow 9,999 Syrian refugees into the United States, and all of them are good people, but we allow one person in who's an +p311 +aVI do. First, let's explain to people at home who the triad \u2014 what the triad is. Maybe a lot of people haven't heard that terminology before. The triad is our ability of the United States to conduct nuclear attacks using airplanes, using missiles launched from silos or from the ground, and also from our nuclear subs' ability to attack. And it's important \u2014 all three of them are critical. It gives us the ability at deterrence. Now, some have become more critical than others; for example, the submarines. And that's the Ohio Class submarine that needs to be modernized. The air component also needs to be modernized. The B-52, as someone earlier pointed out, is an outdated model that was flown by the grandparents of people that are flying it now. And we need a serious modernization program as well on our silo-launched missiles. All three are critical for the defense of the country. +p312 +aVThank you. As we near the end of this year, we enter one of the most important elections in a generation. For what's at stake in this election is not simply what party's going to be in charge. But our very identity as a people and as a nation. For over 200 years this has been a special country. A unique place where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything. But now millions of Americans feel like they're being left behind. Insecure in their future and unsafe in the face of terrorism. This election is about electing a president that will restore our economic vibrancy so that the American dream can expand to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And rebuild our Military and our intelligence programs so that we can remain the strongest nation on earth. Tonight I ask you for your vote. If you do this, we will rebuild this country, and together we will usher in a new American century \u2014 the greatest era in the history of this great land. +p313 +aVWell, let me begin by answering both the first question and this one, because they're related. As I've said many times before, my parents were never rich people. My father was a bartender. My mother was a maid. They worked for a living. But they were successful people, because, despite the fact that they weren't well educated and had those jobs, they made enough money to buy a home in a safe and stable neighborhood, retire with dignity, leave all four of their children better off than themselves. We call that the American dream, but in fact, it's a universal dream of a better life that people have all over the world. It is a reminder that every country in the world has rich people. What makes America special is that we have millions and millions of people that are not rich, that through hard work and perseverance are able to be successful. The problem is that today people are not successful working as hard as ever because the economy is not providing jobs that pay enough. If I thought that raising the minimum wage was the best way to help people increase their pay, I would be all for it, but it isn't. In the 20th century, it's a disaster. If you raise the minimum wage, you're going to make people more expensive than a machine. And that means all this automation that's replacing jobs and people right now is only going to be accelerated. Here's the best way to raise wages. Make America the best place in the world to start a business or expand an existing business, tax reform and regulatory reform, bring our debt under control, fully utilize our energy resources so we can reinvigorate manufacturing, repeal and replace Obamacare, and make higher education faster and easier to access, especially vocational training. For the life of me, I don't know why we have stigmatized vocational education. Welders make more money than philosophers. We need more welders and less philosophers. If we do that \u2014 and if we do this \u2014 if we do this, we will be able to increase wages for millions of Americans and we will be able to leave everyone better off without making anyone worse off. +p314 +aVWell, you know, that's an excellent question, because what we are going through in this country is not simply an economic downturn. We are living through a massive economic transformation. I mean, this economy is nothing like what it was like five years ago, not to mention 15 or 20 years ago. And it isn't just a different economy. It's changing faster than ever. You know, it took the telephone 75 years to reach 100 million users. It took Candy Crush one year to reach some 100 million users. So the world is changing faster than ever, and it is disruptive. Number one, we are in a global competition now, and several of the candidates have said that. There are now dozens of developed economies on this planet that we have to compete with. And we lose that competition because we have the highest business tax rate in the industrialized world, because we have regulations that continue to grow by the billions every single week, because we have a crazy health care law that discourages companies from hiring people, but because we're not fully utilizing our energy resources, that if we did, it would bring back all kinds of growth, especially in manufacturing, and because we have an outdated higher education system. Our higher education system is completely outdated. It is too expensive, too hard to access, and it doesn't teach 21st century skills. If we do what needs to be done \u2014 tax reform, regulatory reform, fully utilize our energy resources, repeal and replace Obamacare, and modernize higher education, then we can grasp the potential and the promise of this new economy. And we won't just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And then truly this new century can be a new American century. +p315 +aVThe most important job I'm ever going to have, the most important job anyone in this room will ever have, is the job of being a parent. Not the job of being president, or the job of being a senator, or the job of being a congressman. The most important job any of us will ever do is the job of being a president (sic), because the most important institution in society is the family. If the family breaks down, society breaks down. You can't have a strong nation without strong values, and no one is born with strong values. They have to be taught to you in strong families and reinforced in you in strong communities. And so when we set out to do tax reform, we endeavor to have a pro-family tax code, and we endeavor to do it because we know how difficult it is for families in the 21st century to afford the cost of living. It is expensive to raise children in the 21st century, and families that are raising children are raising the future taxpayers of the United States, and everything costs more. In 35 out of 50 states, child care costs more than college. There are millions of people watching this broadcast tonight that understand exactly what I'm talking about. They don't know how they're going to make that payment every month, and if they can't make it, they can't work, because someone needs to watch their kids during the day. They don't know how they're going to save for their kids' future, to go to college. And so, yes, I have a child tax credit increase, and I'm proud of it. I am proud that I have a pro-family tax code, because the pro- family tax plan I have will strengthen the most important institution in the \u2014 in the country, the family. +p316 +aVNow I get my 60 seconds to respond. He's talking about my tax plan. +p317 +aVSo let me begin with this. I actually believe \u2014 first of all, this is their money. They do pay. It is refundable, not just against the taxes they pay to the government, but also the \u2014 on their federal income tax, it's refundable against the payroll tax. Everyone pays payroll tax. This is their money. This is not our money. And here's what I don't understand \u2014 if you invest that money in a piece of equipment, if you invest that money in a business, you get to write it off your taxes. But if you invest it in your children, in the future of America and strengthening your family, we're not going to recognize that in our tax code? The family is the most important institution in society. And, yes... +p318 +aV... I do want to rebuild the American military. +p319 +aVI know that Rand is a committed isolationist. I'm not. I believe the world is a stronger and a better place, when the United States is the strongest military power in the world. +p320 +aVBecause... +p321 +aV...are you talking about the military, Rand? +p322 +aVWe can't even have an economy if we're not safe. There are radical jihadist in the Middle East beheading people and crucifying Christians. A radical Shia cleric in Iran trying to get a nuclear weapon, the Chinese taking over the South China Sea... ...Yes, I believe the world is a safer \u2014 no, no, I don't believe, I know that the world is a safer place when America is the strongest military power in the world. +p323 +aVYou know, if I may respond... +p324 +aVI need to add a couple of points to this. The first is, I've never met Vladimir Putin, but I know enough about him to know he is a gangster. He is basically an organized crime figure that runs a country, controls a $2 trillion economy. And is using to build up his military in a rapid way despite the fact his economy is a disaster. He understands only geopolitical strength. And every time he has acted anywhere in the world, whether it's in Ukraine or Georgia before that, or now in the Middle East, it's because he is trusting in weakness. His calculation in the Middle East is that he has seen what this president has done, which is nothing, the president has no strategy, our allies in the region do not trust us. For goodness sake, there is only one pro-American free enterprise democracy in the Middle East, it is the state of Israel. And we have a president that treats the prime minister of Israel with less respect than what he gives the ayatollah in Iran. And so our allies in the region don't trust us. Vladimir Putin is exploiting that weakness, for purposes of edging the Americans out as the most important geopolitical power broker in the region. And we do have a vested interest. And here's why. Because all those radical terrorist groups that, by the way, are not just in Syria and in Iraq, +p325 +aVCan I just add what \u2014 he's right on point there. Do you know why these banks are so big? The government made them big. The government made them big by adding thousands and thousands of pages of regulations. So the big banks, they have an army of lawyers, they have an army of compliance officers. They can deal with all these things. The small banks, like Governor Bush was saying, they can't deal with all these regulations. They can't deal with all \u2014 they cannot hire the fanciest law firm in Washington or the best lobbying firm to deal with all these regulations. And so the result is, the big banks get bigger, the small banks struggle to lend or even exist, and the result is what you have today. And in Dodd-Frank, you have actually codified too big to fail. We have actually created a category of systemically important institutions, and these banks go around bragging about it. You know what they say to people with a wink and a nod? We are so big, we are so important that if we get in trouble, the government has to bail us out. This is an outrage. We need to repeal Dodd-Frank as soon as possible. +p326 +aVWell, that's a great question, and let me begin by answering it. This election is about the future, about what kind of country this nation is gonna be in the 21st century. This next (ph) election is actually a generational choice. A choice about what kind of nation we will be in the 21st century. For over 2.5 centuries, America's been a special country, the one place on earth where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything, a nation that's been a force for good on this planet. But now, a growing number of Americans feel out of place in their own country. We have a society that stigmatizes those that hold cultural values that are traditional. We have a society where people \u2014 millions of people \u2014 are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, but they're living paycheck to paycheck because the economy has changed underneath their feet. We have young Americans who owe thousands of dollars in student loans for a degree that doesn't lead to a job. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses dying than starting, and around the world, every day brings news of a new humiliation for America \u2014 many the direct response \u2014 direct consequence of decisions made when Hillary Clinton was the secretary of the \u2014 of state. And so here's the truth: this election is about the future, and the Democratic Party, and the political left has no ideas about the future. All their ideas are the same, tired ideas of the past. More government, more spending. For every issue for America, their answer is a new tax on someone, and a new government program. This nation is going to turn the page, and that's what this election should be about, and, as I said at the first debate... ...If I am our nominee, they will be the party of the past, we will be the party of the 21st century. +p327 +aVOurs \u2014 the story of America is an extraordinary story. It is the story of a nation that for over two centuries each generation has left the next better off than themselves. But now, because Washington is out of touch, for the fault of both political parties, for the first time in our history, that is in doubt. And that is what this election must be about, because if the next four years are anything like the last eight years, our children will be the first Americans ever left worse off by their parents. This election is about making a different choice, about applying our principles of limited government and free enterprise to the unique issues of our time. And if we do, we will not just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And the 21st century can be a new American century. So tonight, I ask you for your vote and I ask you to join us at my website, marcorubio.com. +p328 +aVThank you for that question. I would begin by saying that I'm not sure it's a weakness, but I do believe that I share a sense of optimism for America's future that, today, is eroding from too many of our people. I think there's a sense in this country today that somehow our best days are behind us. And that doesn't have to be true. Our greatest days lie ahead if we are willing to do what it takes now. If we're willing to do what it takes now, the 21st century is going to be the new American century, greater than any other era we've had in the history of this great nation. +p329 +aVThat's an interesting question. That's exactly what the Republican establishment says too. Why don't you wait in line? Wait for what? This country is running out of time. We can't afford to have another four years like the last eight years. Watching this broadcast tonight are millions of people that are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, everything costs more, and they haven't had a raise in decades. You have small businesses in America that are struggling. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses closing than starting. We have a world that's out of control and has grown dangerous and a president that is weakening our military and making our foreign policy unstable and unreliable in the eyes of our allies. And our adversaries continue to grow stronger. We have a \u2014 they say there's no bipartisanship in Washington? We have a $19 trillion bipartisan debt and it continues to grow as we borrow money from countries that do not like us to pay for government we cannot afford. The time to act is now. The time to turn the page is now. If we \u2014 if we don't act now, we are going to be the first generation in American history that leaves our children worse off than ourselves. +p330 +aVLet me say, I read that editorial today with a great amusement. It's actually evidence of the bias that exists in the American media today. +p331 +aVLet me \u2014 let me answer your question on the Sun-Sentinel editorial today. Back in 2004, one of my predecessors to the Senate by the name of Bob Graham, a Democrat, ran for president missing over 30 percent of his votes. I don't recall them calling for his resignation \u2014 +p332 +aVLater that year, in 2004, John Kerry ran for president missing close to 60 to 70 percent of his votes. I don't recall the Sun \u2014 in fact, the Sun-Sentinel endorsed him. In 2008, Barack Obama missed 60 or 70 percent of his votes, and the same newspaper endorsed him again. So this is another example of the double standard that exists in this country between the mainstream media and the conservative movement. +p333 +aVI get to respond, right? +p334 +aVWell, it's interesting. Over the last few weeks, I've listened to Jeb as he walked around the country and said that you're modeling your campaign after John McCain, that you're going to launch a furious comeback the way he did, by fighting hard in New Hampshire and places like that, carrying your own bag at the airport. You know how many votes John McCain missed when he was carrying out that furious comeback that you're now modeling after? +p335 +aVNo Jeb, I don't remember \u2014 well, let me tell you. I don't remember you ever complaining about John McCain's vote record. The only reason why you're doing it now is because we're running for the same position, and someone has convinced you that attacking me is going to help you. +p336 +aVHere's the bottom line. I'm not \u2014 my campaign is going to be about the future of America, it's not going to be about attacking anyone else on this stage. I will continue to have tremendous admiration and respect for Governor Bush. I'm not running against Governor Bush, I'm not running against anyone on this stage. I'm running for president because there is no way we can elect Hillary Clinton to continue the policies of Barack Obama. +p337 +aVWell, you just \u2014 you just listed a litany of discredited attacks from Democrats and my political opponents, and I'm not gonna waste 60 seconds detailing them all. But I'm going to tell you the truth. Here's the truth. I didn't inherit any money. My dad was a bartender, my mother was a maid. They worked hard to provide us the chance at a better life. They didn't save enough money for us to go to school. I had to work my way through school. I had to borrow money to go to school. I tried (ph), early in my marriage, explaining to my wife why someone named Sallie Mae was taking $1,000 out of our bank account every month. I know what it's like to owe that money, and we've worked hard. We've worked hard our whole life to provide a better family \u2014 a better life for our family. We own a home four blocks away from the place that I grew up in. My four children have been able to receive a good Christian education, and I've been able to save for them to go to college so they never have to have the loans that I did. But I'm not worried about my finances, I'm worried about the finances of everyday Americans who today are struggling in an economy that is not producing good paying jobs while everything else costs more. And that's what this economy needs to \u2014 that's what this debate needs to be about. This debate needs to be about the men and women across this country that are struggling on a daily basis to provide for their families the better future that we've always said this country is all about. +p338 +aVAnd I used it to pay off my loans. And it's available on paperback, if you're interested in buying my book. +p339 +aVYeah, again, as I said, we're raising a family in the 21st century and it's one of the reasons why my tax plan is a pro- family tax plan. It increases the per child tax credit, because I didn't read about this in a book. I know for a fact how difficult it is to raise children, how expensive it's become for working families. And I make a lot more than the average American. Imagine how hard it is for these people out there that are making 40, 50, $60,000 a year, and they're trying to provide for their families at a time when this economy is not growing. We can't afford another four years of that. Which is what we're gonna get if we elect a big government liberal like Hillary Clinton to the White House. Thank you, senator. +p340 +aVWell, first of all, if a company gets caught doing that, they should never be able to use the program again. If you get caught abusing this program, you should never be able to use it again. The second thing I said is we need to add reforms, not just increase the numbers, but add reforms. For example, before you hire anyone from abroad, you should have to advertise that job for 180 days. You also have to prove that you're going to pay these people more than you would pay someone else, so that you're not undercutting it by bringing in cheap labor. But here's the best solution of all. We need to get back to training people in this country to do the jobs of the 21st century. Why, for the life of me, I do not understand why did we stop doing vocational education in America, people that can work with their hands; people you can train to do this work while they're still in high school so they can graduate ready to go work. But the best way to close this gap is to modernize higher education so Americans have the skills for those jobs. But in the interim, in the absence of that, what's happening is some of these tech companies are taking those \u2014 those centers (ph) to Canada because they can get people to go over there instead of here. But the ideal scenario is to train Americans to do the work so we don't have to rely on people from abroad. +p341 +aVWell, I believe that there are abuses, those companies should be permanently barred from ever using the program again and we should put strict standards in place to ensure that they're not being abused, like the prevailing wage requirement and like the advertising requirement. +p342 +aVSince I've been mentioned, can I respond? +p343 +aVOK. I know the Democrats have the ultimate SuperPac. It's called the mainstream media who every single day... ... and I'll tell you why. Last week, Hillary Clinton went before a committee. She admitted she had sent e-mails to her family saying, "Hey, this attack at Benghazi was caused by Al Qaida-like elements." She spent over a week telling the families of those victims and the American people that it was because of a video. And yet the mainstream media is going around saying it was the greatest week in Hillary Clinton's campaign. It was the week she got exposed as a liar. It was the week that she got exposed as a liar... But she has her super PAC helping her out, the American mainstream media. +p344 +aVNo, that's \u2014 you're wrong. In fact, the largest after- tax gains is for the people at the lower end of the tax spectrum under my plan. And there's a bunch of things my tax plan does to help them. Number one, you have people in this country that... +p345 +aV...you wrote a story on it, and you had to go back and correct it. +p346 +aVYou did. No, you did. +p347 +aVWell, you're talking about \u2014 yeah. +p348 +aVYeah, but that \u2014 because the math is, if you \u2014 5 percent of a million is a lot more than 5 percent of a thousand. So yeah, someone who makes more money... +p349 +aV...numerically, it's gonna be higher. But the greatest gains, percentage-wise, for people, are gonna be at the lower end of our plan, and here's why: because in addition to a general personal exemption, we are increasing the per-child tax credit for working families. We are lowering taxes on small business. You know, a lot of business activity in America is conducted like the guy that does my dry cleaning. He's an S corporation. He pays on his personal rate, and he is paying higher than the big dry-cleaning chain down the street, because he's paying at his personal rate. Under my plan, no business, big or small, will pay more than 25 percent flat rate on their business income. That is a dramatic tax decrease for hard-working people who run their own businesses. +p350 +aV...The other thing I'd like to make about our plan, one more point, it is the most pro growth tax plan that I can imagine because it doesn't tax investments at all. You know why? Because the more you tax something, the less of it you get. I want to be in \u2014 I want America to be the best... +p351 +aV...in the world for people... +p352 +aVI was mentioned in the question. +p353 +aVThank you. Well, I've learned the rules on this. Look, in addition to what Donald was saying is we also need to talk about the legal immigration system for permanent residents. Today, we have a legal immigration system for permanent residency that is largely based on whether or not you have a relative living here. And that's the way my parents came legally in 1956. But in 2015, we have a very different economy. Our legal immigration system from now on has to be merit-based. It has to be based on what skills you have, what you can contribute economically, and most important of all, on whether or not you're coming here to become an American, not just live in America, but be an American. +p354 +aVNo. No. What I said was that I think that Dr. Carson's ideas are good ideas. They're not my ideas, and I don't necessarily agree with all of them. But this is what you're seeing in the Republican debate that you didn't see in that Democrat debate. You didn't see it for a minute. You didn't see these kind of ideas being batted around, and being batted around in a way that's civil and smart and that's trying to help to inform the voter out there. What you saw was a parade of, "I'll give you this for free; I'll give you that for free." Let me tell you, everybody, when they say they want to give it to you for free, keep your hands on your wallets because they're coming to you to pay for it. And that's why I think these ideas up here are great, and that's what we should have is have more discussions like this and less gotcha. +p355 +aVI want to take off from that point and argue the same thing. And that is that one of the things you're watching tonight are 11 quality candidates debating an important issue. The Republican Party is blessed to have 11 good candidates, 10 good candidates. The Democrats can't even come up with one. And on this issue of the Medicare in particular, it's important because they're going to demagogue what we're saying here tonight. Everyone up here tonight that's talking about reforms, I think and I know for myself I speak to this, we're all talking about reforms for future generations. Nothing has to change for current beneficiaries. My mother is on Medicare and Social Security. I'm against anything that's bad for my mother. So, we're talking about \u2014 we're talking about reform for people like me and people like Senator Cruz, as he talked about earlier, who are years away from retirement that have a way to plan for these changes, and way that's very reasonable. And it's not too much to ask of our generation after everything our parents and our grandparents did for us. +p356 +aVYou know, America doesn't owe me anything. I have a debt to America I'll never repay. This isn't just the country I was born in, this is the nation that literally changed the history of my family. My parents in this country were able to give me the chance to do all the things they never did. We call that the American Dream, although, it's built on the universal dream of a better life. The fact that it's happened for so many people here throughout our history, that's what makes us special. But, now for millions of Americans, it's slipping away. And, we have a government and leaders in government that are completely out of touch, and that's why I'm running for president. Because we can't just save the American Dream, we can expand it to reach more people, and change more lives than ever before. And, that's why tonight I'm asking you for your vote. +p357 +aVThank you. My name is Marco Rubio. I'm from Florida. My wife Jeanette and I are the proud \u2014 we've been married 17 years, and we're the proud parents of four children, two of whom were able to join us here this evening. I'm honored to be here at the Reagan Library, at a place that honors the legacy of a man who inspired not just my interest in public service, but also our love for country. And I'm also aware that California has a drought, and so that's why I made sure I brought my own water. +p358 +aVWell, first of all, I have an understanding of exactly what it is Russia and Putin are doing, and it's pretty straightforward. He wants to reposition Russia, once again, as a geopolitical force. He himself said that the destruction of the Soviet Union \u2014 the fall of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century, and now he's trying to reverse that. He's trying to destroy +p359 +aVLet me tell you \u2014 I will tell you we have zero responsibility, because let's remember what the president said. He said the attack he would conduct would be a pinprick. Well, the United States military was not build to conduct pinprick attacks. If the United States military is going to be engaged by a commander-in-chief, it should only be engaged in an endeavor to win. And we're not going to authorize use of force if you're not put in a position where they can win. And quite frankly, people don't trust this president as commander-in-chief because of that. +p360 +aVHold on, a second, Jake, he asked me, as well. I'd like to actually... +p361 +aV... respond. I think I'm the first senator. The No. 1 test for use of military force should be the vital national security interest of the United States. The reason why I opposed President Obama bombing Syria, is because he couldn't answer the question what do you do if chemical weapons end up in the hands of radical Islamic terrorists like al-Nusra, like Al Qaida, like +p362 +aVIn the middle of negotiating this treaty, Khamenei led the assembled masses in chanting, death to America. I'm reminded of a great editorial cartoon. It shows the Ayatollah Khamenei saying, "Death to all Americans," and then it shows John Kerry coming back, saying, "Can we meet ya half way?" We need a commander-in-chief who will stand up and protect this country. And I'll tell you, I can't wait to stand on that debate stage with Hillary Clinton and to make abundantly clear if you vote for Hillary, you are voting for the Ayatollah Khomeini to possess a nuclear weapon and if you elect me as president, under no circumstances will a theocratic ayatollah who chants death to America ever be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon. +p363 +aVMs. Dana, I agree that English is the unifying language of our country, and everyone should learn to speak it. It's important. I want to tell you a story about someone that didn't speak English that well. It was my grandfather; he came to this country in the 1960s, as a \u2014 escaping Cuba. And he lived with us, growing up. And my grandfather loved America. He understood what was so special about this country. He loved Ronald Reagan; he would be very proud of the fact that we're here this evening. My grandfather instilled in me the belief that I was blessed to live in the one society in all of human history where even I, the son of a bartender and a maid, could aspire to have anything, and be anything that I was willing to work hard to achieve. But he taught me that in Spanish, because it was the language he was most comfortable in. And he became a conservative, even though he got his news in Spanish. And so, I do give interviews in Spanish, and here's why \u2014 because I believe that free enterprise and limited government is the best way to help people who are trying to achieve upward mobility. And if they get their news in Spanish, I want them to hear that directly from me. Not from a translator at Univision. +p364 +aVWell, let me say that legal immigration is not an issue I read about in the newspaper. Immigration, illegal immigration, all the good aspects of immigration and all the negative ones as well, I live with. My family's immigrants. My neighbors are all immigrants. My in-laws are all immigrants. So I've seen every aspect of it, and I can tell you America doesn't have one immigration problem, it has three. First, despite the fact that we are the most generous country in the history of the world in allowing people to come here legally, we have people still coming illegally. Second, we have a legal immigration system that no longer works. It primary is built on the basis of whether you have a relative living here instead of merit. And third, we have 11 million or 12 million people, many of whom have been here for longer than a decade who are already here illegally. And we must deal with all three of these problems. We cannot deal with all three of these problems in one massive piece of legislation. I learned that. We tried it that way. Here's the way forward: First, we must \u2014 we must secure our border, the physical border, with \u2014 with a wall, absolutely. But we also need to have an entry/exit tracking system. 40 percent of the people who come here illegally come legally, and then they overstay the visa. We also need a mandatory e-verify system. After we've done that, step two would be to modernize our legal immigration system so you come to America on the basis of what you can contribute economically, not whether or not simply you have a relative living here. And after we've done those two things, I believe the American people... +p365 +aV... will be very reasonable and responsible about what you do with someone who's been here and isn't a criminal. If you're a criminal, obviously, you will not be able to stay. +p366 +aVYes, well, it does. But it's in the following way, this is an important question. I think if you're running for president, these are important issues, because look at around the world today. There is a lunatic in North Korea with dozens of nuclear weapons and long-range rocket that can already hit the very place in which we stand tonight. The Chinese are rapidly expanding their military. They hack into our computers. They're building artificial islands in the South China Sea, the most important shipping lane in the world. A gangster in Moscow is not just threatening Europe, he's threatening to destroy and divide +p367 +aVWell, that's why we have a debate. I think that we should have a deeper debate about these issues, because there is no more important decision that a president will make. +p368 +aVWell, you should ask him questions in detail about the foreign policy issues our president will confront, because you had better be able to lead our country on the first day. Not six months from now, not a year from now, on the first day in office, our president could very well confront a national security crisis. You can't predict it. Sometimes you cannot control it. And it is the most \u2014 the federal government does all kinds of things it's not supposed to be doing. It regulates bathrooms. It regulates schools that belong to local communities. But the one thing that the federal government must do, the one thing that only the federal government can do is keep us safe. And a president better be up-to-date on those issues on his first day in office, on her first day in office. +p369 +aVTrust (ph) me, I get that. OK. +p370 +aVI never get to addressed, and... +p371 +aV...and when I do, I'm gonna jump in. +p372 +aVYeah. He did. Let me \u2014 I'm proud to serve in the United States Senate. You know, when I ran five years ago, the entire leadership of my party in Washington lined up against me. But I'm glad I won. And I'm glad that I ran, because this country's headed in the wrong direction. And if we keep electing the same people, nothing is going to change. And you're right, I have missed some votes, and I'll tell you why, Mr. Trump. Because in my years in the Senate, I've figured out very quickly that the political establishment in Washington, D.C. in both political parties is completely out of touch with the lives of our people. You have millions of people in this country living paycheck to paycheck, and nothing is being done about it. We are about to leave our children with $18 trillion in \u2014 in \u2014 in debt, and they're about to raise the debt limit again. We have a world that grows increasingly dangerous, and we are eviscerating our military spending and signing deals with Iran. And these \u2014 if this thing continues, we are going to be the first Americans to leave our children worse off than ourselves. That's why I'm missing votes. Because I am leaving the Senate, I'm not running for re-election, and I'm running for president because I know this: unless we have the right president, we cannot make America fulfill its potential, but with the right person in office, the 21st century can be the greatest era that our nation has ever known. +p373 +aVI want to go even deeper \u2014 and I want to go even deeper in that direction, because I think the belief that somehow by retreating, America makes the world safer has been disproven every single time it's ever been tried. Syria's a perfect example of it. The uprising in Syria was not started by the United States; it was started by the Syrian people. And I warned at the time \u2014 this was three and a half years ago \u2014 I openly and repeatedly warned that if we did not find moderate elements on the ground that we could equip and arm, that void would be filled by radical jihadists. Well, the president didn't listen, the administration didn't follow through, and that's exactly what happened. That is why +p374 +aV... as you asked earlier today. +p375 +aVBut radical terrorism cannot be solved by intellect. It cannot \u2014 they require \u2014 what they need, is they need an operating space. That's what Afghanistan was for Al Qaida. It was a vacuum that they filled, and they created an operating space. That's why they had to be drawn out of there. That's why they had to be destroyed. It is the reason why +p376 +aVThere's a broader issue here, Hugh. And there's a broader issue here as well. First of all, the only people that follow the law are law-abiding people. Criminals by definition ignore the law, so you can pass all the gun laws in the world, like the left wants. The criminals are going to ignore it because they are criminals. Here's the real issue. The real issue \u2014 the real issue is not what are people using to commit violence, but why are they committing the violence? And here's the truth: Because you cannot separate the social, moral wellbeing of your people from their economic and other wellbeing. You cannot separate it. You can't have a strong country without strong people, you cannot have strong people without strong values, and you cannot have strong values without strong families and the institutions in this country that defend and support those families. +p377 +aVWell, and today, we have a left-wing government under this president that is undermining all of the institutions and society that support the family and teach those values. +p378 +aVBecause we're not going to destroy our economy the way the left-wing government that we are under now wants to do. We're not going to... +p379 +aVWell, and I don't \u2014 he may have lined up with their positions on this issue. But here is the bottom line. Every proposal they put forward are going to be proposals that will make it harder to do business in America, that will make it harder to create jobs in America. Single parents are already struggling across this country to provide for their families. Maybe a billionaire here in California can afford an increase in their utility rates, but a working family in Tampa, Florida, or anywhere across this country cannot afford it. So we are not going to destroy our economy. We are not going to make America a harder place to create jobs in order to pursue policies that will do absolutely nothing, nothing to change our climate, to change our weather, because America is a lot of things, the greatest country in the world, absolutely. But America is not a planet. And we are not even the largest carbon producer anymore, China is. And they're drilling a hole and digging anywhere in the world that they can get a hold of. So the bottom line is, I am not in favor of any policies that make America a harder place for people to live, or to work, or to raise their families. +p380 +aVJake, you mentioned me and called me a denier. Let me say, climate change... +p381 +aVOK. A skeptic. You can measure the climate. You can measure it. That's not the issue we're discussing. Here is what I'm skeptical of. I'm skeptical of the decisions that the left wants us to make, because I know the impact those are going to have and they're all going to be on our economy. They will not do a thing to lower the rise of the sea. They will not do a thing to cure the drought here in California. But what they will do is they will make America a more expensive place to create jobs. And today with millions of people watching this broadcast that are struggling paycheck to paycheck that do not know how they're going to pay their bills at the end of this month, I'm not in favor of anything that is going to make it harder for them to raise their family. +p382 +aVSenator Rubio, you mean? +p383 +aVI know we all look alike. +p384 +aVThe \u2014 Rosa Parks, an everyday American that changed the course of history. +p385 +aVWell, there are some people in Florida upset at me over a joke I made about Florida State, but, what the heck, I want my codename to be Gator. +p386 +aVOne of the things that made Ronald Reagan a great president, is that he understood that America was a unique nation, like any other that had existed throughout human history. He knew it was founded on universal principles that were powerful, the dignity of all people, human rights, the rights of all to live in freedom and liberty, and choose their own path in life. He didn't just believe it, he acted on it. That's why bringing down communism was so important to him. If I'm honored with the opportunity to be president, I hope that our Air Force One will fly, first and foremost, to our allies; in Israel, in South Korea, and Japan. They know we stand with them. That America can be counted on. It would also fly to China, not just to meet with our enemies, not just to meet with those adversaries of ours that are there, but also to meet with those that aspire to freedom and liberty within China. I would even invite them to my inauguration. We would also fly into Moscow and into Russia. And not just meet with the leaders of Russia, but also meet with those who aspire to freedom and liberty in Russia. And ultimately, I hope that my Air Force One, if I become president, will one day land in a free Cuba, where its people can choose its leaders and its own destiny. +p387 +aVWell, thank you for the question, Chris, and it's great to be here tonight. Let me begin by saying this: I'm not new to the political process; I was making a contribution as the speaker of the third largest and most diverse state in the country well before I even got into the Senate. I would add to that that this election cannot be a resume competition. It's important to be qualified, but if this election is a resume competition, then Hillary Clinton's gonna be the next president, because she's been in office and in government longer than anybody else running here tonight. Here's what this election better be about: This election better be about the future, not the past. It better be about the issues our nation and the world is facing today, not simply the issues we once faced. This country is facing an economy that has been radically transformed. You know, the largest retailer in the country and the world today, Amazon, doesn't even own a single store? And these changes have been disruptive. They have changed people's lives. The jobs that once sustained our middle class, they either don't pay enough or they are gone, and we need someone that understands that as our nominee. If I'm our nominee, how is Hillary Clinton gonna lecture me about living paycheck to paycheck? I was raised paycheck to paycheck. How is she -- how is she gonna lecture me -- how is she gonna lecture me about student loans? I owed over $100,000 just four years ago. If I'm our nominee, we will be the party of the future. +p388 +aVLet me set the record straight on a couple of things. The first is, the evidence is now clear that the majority of people coming across the border are not from Mexico. They're coming from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras. Those countries are the source of the people that are now coming in its majority. I also believe we need a fence. The problem is if El Chapo builds a tunnel under the fence, we have to be able to deal with that too. And that's why you need an e-verify system and you need an entry-exit tracking system and all sorts of other things to prevent illegal immigration. But I agree with what Governor Kasich just said. People are frustrated. This is the most generous country in the world when it comes to immigration. There are a million people a year who legally immigrate to the United States, and people feel like we're being taken advantage of. We feel like despite our generosity, we're being taken advantage of. And let me tell you who never gets talked about in these debates. The people that call my office, who have been waiting for 15 years to come to the United States. And they've paid their fees, and they hired a lawyer, and they can't get in. And they're wondering, maybe they should come illegally. And so these are important issues, and we should address it. It's a serious problem that needs to be addressed, and otherwise we're going to keep talking about this for the next 30 years, like we have for the last 30 years. +p389 +aVNot me. +p390 +aVActually, to be clear......he supported Charlie Crist. +p391 +aVHey, Charlie... +p392 +aVWell, first off, I too believe in curriculum reform. It is critically important in the 21st Century. We do need curriculum reform. And it should happen at the state and local level. That's. . . that's. . . that is where educational policy belongs, because if a parent is unhappy with what their child is being taught in school, they can go to that local school board or their state legislature, or their governor and get it changed. Here's the problem with Common Core. The Department of Education, like every federal agency, will never be satisfied. They will not stop with it being a suggestion. They will turn it into a mandate. In fact, what they will begin to say to local communities is, you will not get federal money unless do you things the way we want you to do it. And they will use Common Core or any other requirements that exists nationally to force it down the throats of our people in our states. +p393 +aVThat's a great question. +p394 +aVThat's a great question. First of all, it begins by having leaders that recognize that the economy we live in today is dramatically different from the one we had five years ago. It's an economy that now has placed us in global competition with dozens of other countries around the world. Now, the big companies that have connections with Washington, they can affect policies to help them, but the small companies like the one Tania is talking about, they're the ones that are struggling. The first thing we need to do is we need to even out the tax code for small businesses so that we lower their tax rate to 25 percent, just as we need to lower it for all businesses. We need to have a regulatory budget in America that limits the amount of regulations on our economy. We need to repeal and replace Obamacare and we need to improve higher education so that people can have access to the skills they need for 21st century jobs. And last but not least, we need to repeal Dodd-Frank. It is eviscerating small businesses and small banks. 20 \u2014 over 40 percent of small and mid-size banks that loan money to small businesses have been wiped out over the \u2014 since Dodd-Frank has passed. We need to repeal and replace Dodd-Frank. We need to make America fair again for all businesses, but especially those being run by small business owners. +p395 +aVWell, Megyn, first of all, I'm not sure that that's a correct assessment of my record. I would go on to add that I believe all-- +p396 +aVI have never said that. And I have never advocated that. What I have advocated is that we pass law in this country that says all human life at every stage of its development is worthy of protection. In fact, I think that law already exists. It is called the Constitution of the United States. And let me go further. I believe that every single human being is entitled to the protection of our laws, whether they can vote or not. Whether they can speak or not. Whether they can hire a lawyer or not. Whether they have a birth certificate or not. And I think future generations will look back at this history of our country and call us barbarians for murdering millions of babies who we never gave them a chance to live. +p397 +aVWell, first, let me say I think God has blessed us. He has blessed the Republican Party with some very good candidates. The Democrats can't even find one. And I believe God has blessed our country. This country has been extraordinarily blessed. And we have honored that blessing. And that's why God has continued to bless us. And he has blessed us with young men and women willing to risk their lives and sometimes die in uniform for the safety and security of our people. Unfortunately today we have a VA that does not do enough for them. I am proud that last year we helped change the law. We changed the law to give the power to the VA secretary the ability to fire any executive that isn't doing their job. And it is outrageous they've only fired one person to date. When I'm president of the United States, we're going to have a VA that cares more about our veterans than about the bureaucrats who work at the VA. +p398 +aVThank you. You know, both of my parents were born into poor families on the island of Cuba. They came to America because it was the only place where people like them could have a chance. Here in this country, they never made it big, but the very purpose of their life was to give us the chance to do all the things they never could. My father was a bartender. And the journey from the back of that bar to this stage tonight, to me, that is the essence of the American dream. It is what makes our nation different. And I'm running for president because I want that to still be possible for the people trying to do that now. I run for president because I believe that we can't just save the American dream; we can expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And that's why I'm asking for your vote. So we can make America greater than it has ever been. And make of this century a new American century. +p399 +asVKASICH +p400 +(lp401 +VWell, John, first of all, if I were president, we wouldn't have the divisions in the country we have today. I do want to take a second as we reflected on Judge Scalia, it's amazing \u2014 it's not even two minutes after the death of Judge Scalia, nine children here today, their father didn't wake up. His wife, sad, but I just wish we hadn't run so fast into politics. Here's my concern about this. The country is so divided right now, and now we're going to see another partisan fight take place. I really wish the president would think about not nominating somebody. If you were to nominate somebody, let's have him pick somebody that's going to have unanimous approval, and such widespread approval across the country that this could happen without a lot of recrimination. I don't think that's going to happen, and I would like the president just to, for once here, put the country first. We're going to have an election for president very soon, and the people will understand what is at stake in that election. And so I believe the president should not move forward, and I think that we ought to let the next president of the United States decide who is going to run that Supreme Court with a vote by the people of the United......States of America. +p402 +aVFirst of all \u2014 yes. First of all, look, we have to make it clear to Russia what we expect. We don't have to declare an enemy, rattle a sword or threaten, but we need to make it clear what we expect. No. 1 is we will arm the folks in Ukraine who are fighting for their freedom. They deserve it. There will be no ifs, ands or buts about it. Secondly, an attack on +p403 +aVI've got to tell you, this is just crazy, huh? This is just nuts, O.K.? Jeez, oh, man. I'm sorry, John. +p404 +aVOh, well, listen, I think being in Iraq, look, we thought there were weapons of mass destruction. Colin Powell, who is one of the most distinguished generals in modern time, said there were weapons there. But, but, the fact is we got ourselves in the middle of a civil war. The Sunni, the Shia and the Kurds, never gotten along. In fact, that country was drawn \u2014 the borders of that country were drawn after World War I by Westerners that didn't understand what was happening there. The tragedy of it is that we're still embroiled. And, frankly, if there weren't weapons of mass destruction, we should never have gone. I don't believe the United States should involve itself in civil wars. Civil wars are not in our direct interest, and if you \u2014 and look, I served on a defense committee for 18 years and was called into the Pentagon after 9/11 by Secretary Rumsfeld to deal with some of the most serious problems that we faced. The fact is, is that we should go to war when it is our direct interest. We should not be policemen of the world, but when we go, we mean business. We'll do our job. We'll tell our soldiers, our people in the service, take care of your job and then come home once we've accomplished our goals. That's what we need to do. +p405 +aVYeah. Well, first of all, those numbers, incorrect. We are \u2014 our Medicaid programs are coming in below cost estimates, and our Medicaid program in the second year grew at 2.5 percent. And Kimberley, let me tell you, when we expand Medicaid and we treat the mentally ill, then they don't live under a bridge or live in a prison, where they cost $22,500 a year. When we take the drug addicted and we treat them in the prisons, we stop the revolving door of people in and out of prisons, and we save $22,500 a year. Guess what else? They get their lives back. And the working poor, they're now getting health care. And you know that about a third of the people who are now getting that health care are people who are suffering very serious illnesses, particularly cancer. So, what I would tell you is, we've gone from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. We've cut taxes by more than any governor in America by $5 billion. We have grown the number of jobs by 400,000 private-sector jobs since I've been governor. Our credit is strong. Our pensions are strong. And frankly, we leave no one behind. Economic growth is not an end unto itself. We want everyone to rise, and we will make them personally responsible for the help that they get. And that is exactly the program we're driving in Ohio. And, boy, people ought to look at Ohio, because it has got a good formula. +p406 +aVYeah, let me say a couple of things. First of all, when Jeb was governor, his first four years as governor, he expand \u2014 his Medicaid program grew twice as fast as mine. O.K.? It's just a fact. Now, with Obamacare, I've not only sued the administration, I did not set up an exchange. And he knows that I'm not for Obamacare, never have been. But here's what's interesting about Medicaid. You know who expanded Medicaid five times to try to help the folks and give them opportunity so that you could rise and get a job? President Ronald Reagan. Now, the fact of the matter is, we expanded to get people on their feet, and once they're on their feet, we are giving them the training and the efforts that they need to be able to get work and pull out of that situation. +p407 +aVThat's what we're doing in our state. +p408 +aVLet me \u2014 let's tell you... +p409 +aVMajor \u2014 Major, we can't \u2014 we've got to \u2014 look, I have got to correct the record. And the fact of the matter is, we went from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. We're up 400,000 jobs. Our credit is rock solid. And I don't know... +p410 +aVLook, the bottom line is the people of this \u2014 of this country and this state want to see everybody rise, and they want to see unity, and I don't want to get into all this fighting tonight, because people are frankly sick of the negative campaigning. +p411 +aVAnd I'm going to stay positive about what I want to do from the... +p412 +aVBefore I get to that, this is the ninth or 10th debate. What I've been watching here, this back and forth, and these attacks, some of them are personal. I think we're fixing to lose the election to Hillary Clinton if we don't stop this. I mean, the fact is \u2014 you know what? I would suggest, why don't we take off all the negative ads and all the negative comments down from television and let us just talk about what we're for, and let's sell that, and the Republican Party will be stronger as a result... +p413 +aV... First of all, I'm for sealing the border, O.K.? And then I'm for a guest worker program. People can come in, work and go back home. We haven't closed the border because special interests, I believe, blocked it. Then, we have 11 and a half million people here. If they have not committed a crime since they've been here, make them pay a fine and some back taxes, and give them a path to legalization, never to citizenship. It is not going to happen that we're going to run around and try to drag 11 and a half million people out of their homes. I'll tell you this. Within the first hundred days, I will send a plan like this to the Congress of the United States, and if I'm president, I'll bet you dollar to doughnuts right now, it will pass. That is a reasonable proposal that the people of this country, in my judgment, will support, and so will the bulk of the Congress of the United States. +p414 +aVYou know, John, I think all people are the same. Look, I did 106 town halls, and I've been doing them left and right here in South Carolina. The first thing we have to do is grow the economy, and I know the formula because I was chairman in Washington when we balanced the budget and created so many jobs, and the same that we've been able to do in Ohio. You need common-sense regulations so small business can flourish, you need lower taxes both on business and individuals, and you need a fiscal plan to be able to get ourselves in a situation where people can predict a little bit about the future when it comes to the fiscal issues. And when you have that formula, combined with work force that's trained, you can explode the economy and create many jobs. I have done it twice, and I want to go back to Washington and do it again. John, the thing is, is I think that there are people now, these blue-collar Democrats \u2014 my dad was a blue-collar Democrat \u2014 the Democratic Party has left them. When they're arguing about being socialists, they've left \u2014 they have lost those blue-collar Democrats. And you know what I think they get out of me \u2014 is my sense of what they get out of me, and it's embarrassment about campaigns, you brag about yourself. But I think I'm a uniter, I think people sense it. I think they know I have the experience, and that I'm a man that can give people hope and a sense that they have the opportunity rise. And I'll tell you, I love these blue-collar Democrats, because they're going to vote for us come next fall, promise you that. +p415 +aVWell, I want to thank the people of South Carolina. You've been fantastic. And look, what I want you to know is I'm going to send a lot of power, money and influence back to where we all live. But as I've traveled around South Carolina, I've noticed something. You know, it's that people have a sense that you're not going to wait on a president. You know, when I was a kid, we didn't wait on presidents to come to that little blue-collar town and fix things. You know, the Lord made all of us special. The Lord wants us to be connected. I believe we're part of a very big mosaic. And I'll send the power back. And whoever gets elected president here, hopefully will take care of the issue of jobs and wages and Social Security and the border. But the spirit of the America rests in all of us. It's in our guts. It's taking care of our children. It's taking care of the lady next door who just lost her husband. It's fixing the schools where we live and telling kids to stay off drugs. You see, I think what the Lord wants is for to us engage, and in America, the spirit of America doesn't come from the top down. The spirit of America rests in us. And I want to call on everyone in America to double down and realize that you were made special to heal this country and lift it for everyone. Thank you all very much. And I hope I can have your vote in South Carolina. +p416 +aVWell, we've got to to step up the pressure. And by the way, I've gotta say, after being here, every one of my 100 town hall meetings in New Hampshire were a lot more fun than what I saw here today, were so much more positive. Look, in terms of North Korea, Martha, we have to make sure that we intercept both the ships and their aircraft, because what they're trying to do is to proliferate this very dangerous material, along with the \u2014 with the technology, the instruments that can be used for mass destruction. That's what I worry about the most, frankly, is non-state actors, people who don't have a uniform, people don't have a country, who can spread this, who are not subject to the \u2014 to the mutual assured defense. In other words, you strike us, we strike you. Some of these radicals, they don't care about that. That's what I worry about, for my children, and for their children, going forward. So, we have to be very tough. And we should tell the Chinese, look, if you're not going to do this ballistic missile defense to the Koreans, ballistic missile defense to Japan \u2014 and by the way, we should impose the same kind of sanctions on North Korea that we imposed on Iran, because they're able to shift money. They're able to send money and receive money. We've gotta to be very tough on this. And frankly, I think we could have \u2014 I think we could have let the Japanese know that if you want to take action on that \u2014 on that missile that's rising, you want to take action \u2014 you will have our support, if that's what you think is the best thing to do. We cannot continue to be weak in the face of the North Koreans, or, frankly, in the entire rest of the world. Martha, this is \u2014 this is the \u2014 relates... +p417 +aVWell, you know, David, I \u2014 I've just spent a lot of time here in this state, as I mentioned earlier, and we have to have practical solutions, just like we were just talking about a few minutes ago on North Korea. Look, the situation is, we need to finish the border. It has to be completed. Just like we lock our doors at night, the country has to be able to lock its doors. And we can have a guest worker program, where people can come in and out in an orderly way. And then for the 11.5 million that are here, if they have not committed a crime since they've been here, I believe they ought to pay some back taxes, pay a fine, never get on the path to citizenship, but get legalization. It is not \u2014 I couldn't even imagine how we would even begin to think about taking a mom or a dad out of a house when they have not committed a crime since they've been here, leaving their children in the house. I mean, that is not, in my opinion, the kind of values that we believe in. And secondly, I think at the end of the day, that Americans would support a plan like this. I think Congress would pass a plan to finish the border, guest worker, pay a fine, a path to legalization, and not citizenship. And we've got to get this done. And I will tell you this, within the first 100 days that I am president, I will put that proposal to the Congress. And I will tell you, as a former Congressman, and an executive, in Ohio, I can promise you that I believe you'll get the votes to pass that, and we can move on with that issue and protect our border. That's what I think. +p418 +aVGood evening. +p419 +aVWell, first of all, look. As the New York Times said, he's certainly not a moderate, but he can bring people together to solve problems. The fact of the matter is I've cut taxes more than anybody in the country this year. I have balanced budgets, the federal budget, the state of Ohio budget, we're running a $2 billion dollar surplus, we're up 400,000 jobs, and in Washington we were able to have significant job growth whenever we balanced the budget of which I was the architect. But, here's the beauty of it, it's not just balancing a budget, it's about jobs. You know, when I was kid growing up in a neighborhood where Dad went home at night and said, "I lost my job today", it just killed the family. It just was a devastating effect. We have to have economic growth, but once we have economic growth I believe we have to reach out to people who live in the shadows. I believe we need to help the mentally ill, the drug addicted, the working poor. We need to help the developmentally disabled to rise, and we need to help our friends in the minority community develop entrepreneurship. In other words, in American, conservatism should mean not only that some rise with conservative principles, but everybody has a chance to rise regardless of who they are so they can live their God given purpose. That's what conservatism should be. +p420 +aVDavid? +p421 +aVLook, I'm \u2014 I'm not here \u2014 I like Chris. +p422 +aVLet \u2014 but let me \u2014 let me just tell you. First of all, we have the lowest number of state employees in 30 years. Secondly, we have grown government at the rate of inflation. And I went from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. And we've grown jobs by 400,000 \u2014 that's one of the fastest growing states in the country. Our pensions are secure and our credit is rock solid. Now, I've learned that, what makes things work, what gets the economy going, not just in Ohio, but in Washington \u2014 and it's three things. Common sense regulations, which we have, lower taxes, which we have, the lowest taxes, tax cuts in the country. And thirdly, a fiscal plan to balance the budget. When you go from $8 billion in the hole to $2 billion in the black, when you cut taxes by $5 billion and you grow over 400,000 jobs, that is a record that I can take to Washington, using the same formula that I used in Washington when I was part of the effort to balance the budget to give us a surplus and to create jobs. +p423 +aVThat's what I did and I'll do it again in the first 100 days. +p424 +aVWell, right now the deals \u2014 there's no leadership. I mean, a lot of the things that we're talking about here tonight, on the border, and so many of the things. What we should be doing on foreign policy, you know what the problem is, Mary Katharine? There's not a leader that gets somebody to rise up. You have to have a leader that can inspire, and actually some of what Donald was saying is true. Look, do you know how hard it was... +p425 +aV... to get the balance the federal budget balanced? You have to plead with people. To do what we've done in Ohio, you have to plead with people, then you go back down to Washington and do the same thing. You see, we have to remind people we're Americans before we're Republicans and Democrats, and when we wait, and when we delay what we end up doing, Mary Katharine, is we make the United States weaker. In fact, it's a foreign policy issue because people look at America not solving problems and they say what are they doing over there? So the point is you have to work with people. The problem with executive authority for the president, it's really bad news for this reason. Since he's given up on working with Congress, he thinks he can impose anything he wants. He's not a king. He's a president. An executive order should be used frankly in consolidation and with consulting with the leadership in the \u2014 in the Congress. I've done it in Ohio. I consult. I could use executive orders, but I don't trump the legislature, because if you do, you aggravate them, you anger them and then the long-term prospects get bleak. We have to solve problems in America by coming together, Republicans and Democrats, Americans first, party and ideology second \u2014 in the second back seat of this country. That's what we need to do. And we can do it. And we can do it. +p426 +aVMary Katherine, let me just say this to you. You must have an agenda that you are ready to move on in the first 100 days. Jeb is right. If you delay and you wait, the Washington operators will take you down. I can tell you this, in the first 100 days, I will have legislation to freeze federal regulations, have them reviewed by the vice president, reduce state taxes on individuals, reduce taxes on corporations, have a fiscal plan to balance the budget, get the border protected and begin to fix Social Security in the first 100 days. So, anybody who is here tonight, if I get elected president, head out tomorrow and buy a seat belt, because there's going to be so much happening in the first 100 days, it's going to make your head spin. We're going to move America forward. I promise you. We're going to move us forward. +p427 +aVJeb mentioned me. Time for me to go again. +p428 +aVHe says he didn't mention me the second time. I thought I heard it, Jeb. No. I'm just kidding. Thank you all very much for listening and being patient with all of us tonight. Thank you. +p429 +aVDavid, David... +p430 +aVI wanted \u2014 I wanted to say, look, this \u2014 there can be a win-win here. I have formed a collaborative between police and community leaders because people have to respect law enforcement. A family doesn't want dad or mom going home in a box. And for our community leaders, many of them think the system not only works \u2014 not only doesn't work for them, but it works against them. And I created a big collaborative in Ohio made up of law enforcement, community leaders, the head of my public safety and a former Democrat, liberal Senate senator Nina Turner, run it. They got together, they made recommendations on recruiting, on hiring, on the use of deadly force and what we're about to do is to bring community and police together so we can have a win-win. We need more win-wins in America and we don't have to pick one over another divide. We love the police, but we've got to be responsible to the people in the community. We have to do all of that. +p431 +aVJosh? +p432 +aVJosh, I mean, clearly, when a veteran comes home, they should get health care anywhere they want to go. In our state, which is what we should do in the country, you know, if they drive a truck from Kabul to Kandahar in Afghanistan, we say, you can drive a truck from Columbus to Cleveland, and you don't have to go get a license. We're going to hand you one. And if you've got expertise in the military, we're going to give you college credit or community college credit for the things that you did for our country. And in addition to that, I'll tell you, one of the biggest things I think has to be done \u2014 and I would do it as president \u2014 the Pentagon has got to work with the returning soldier, sailor, along with the family, and we \u2014 they're the most valuable employees in the country. I call them golden employees. Everybody wants to hire a veteran. But there is a disconnect between the job openings and the veteran when the veteran comes back. The veteran is a leader. The veteran is strong. The veteran is drug free. There should be no unemployment among veterans. And if the Pentagon will work with the veterans' services agencies all across this country, Josh, we can get people jobs and we can get them jobs quickly, get them their health care......get them their college education. Let's lift them. They're the greatest people defending the United States of America and we need to take care of them, and we will. We will. +p433 +aVCarolina's going to win that one. I hate to say it. But they're going to win that one. +p434 +aVWell, folks, I've done now over 100 town hall meetings and I've loved every second of it. It has been the greatest thing in the world. And I want you to know that you've changed me, because I've listened to your stories and I've had your hugs and I've seen your tears, and I've seen you walk away and say, I now have hope. You know, I've had a conservative message, but a positive message \u2014 not just a conservative message, but a positive message about how we can bring people together, how we can restore America's strength, lift everyone. New Hampshire, please give me a chance to carry this message forward to the United States of America. And then, I will come back. Thank you, loved it. And God bless you. +p435 +aVWell, first of all, I had a national reporter say, you know, there's three lanes. There's the establishment lane, the anti-establishment lane, and then there's the Kasich lane. And the reason is, is that I've been a reformer all of my career, fighting to reform welfare, fighting to reform the Pentagon, also being in a position to balance the budget, because that is very, very hard to do. And then in Ohio, of course, I had to bring about big reform, again, because we were so far in the hole and now we just found out we are up over 400,000 jobs since I took over as governor. You know, the situation is this. We cannot fix things in this country \u2014 the Social Security, the border, balancing the budget, getting wages to grow faster \u2014 unless we lead as conservatives, but we also invite people in from the other party. We have to come together as a country. And we have to stop all the divisions. And, you know, that's been my message in New Hampshire. And having been in New Hampshire and here in Iowa, but in New Hampshire, I just received the support of seven out of eight of the newspapers in that state because they see positive, they see unity, they see coming together, and they see a record of change and a record of accomplishment. And it isn't because I'm all that great. It's because I've been assembling a team of people who want to be involved in something that's a little bigger than themselves. I'll keep \u2014 I'll keep heading in that direction, believe me. +p436 +aVChris... ... there was a question about foreign policy, by the way, and experience. And I \u2014 I thought, if I didn't jump in, I might not be able to tell everybody this. I think they'd want to hear it. Look, I served on... +p437 +aV... but wait a minute... +p438 +aV...the only reason is \u2014 look... +p439 +aVOK. +p440 +aVI've always listened to you, Megyn. Go ahead. +p441 +aVYes \u2014 thank you. +p442 +aVWell, look the Joint Terrorism Task Force needs resources and tools. And those are made up of the FBI, state and local law enforcement. And Megyn, it's best not to talk anymore about back doors and encryption, it will get solved, but it needs to be solved in the situation of the White House with the technology folks. +p443 +aVBut I just have to tell you that it's best with some of these things not be said. Now I want to go back something. See, I was there when Reagan rebuilt the military. I was there in '89 when the wall came tumbling down because we were strong. And I was there when we went into the Gulf War. We didn't win that war just from the air, we won that war by assembling a group of Arab leaders who stood in the Rose Garden and stood with America. We want to destroy +p444 +aVBut we have a unique time in America to connect with people all around the world that understand that there's an existential threat against all of them, the Arabs, the Jordanians, the Saudis, the Egyptians, our friends in Europe, including the Turks. So we have a unique opportunity to bring everybody together. I saw Reagan do it, I've seen other presidents do it. And frankly, if you want to be commander in chief, you have to have the experience. At the same time we're doing all that, the Pentagon must be reformed so we get what we need for our men and women in uniform. All of that together, we're going to be just fine and America is going to continue to lead the world. +p445 +aVWell, you've got to be on top of it right away. And, you know, I don't know all the details of what Rick Snyder has done. I know there have been people who have been fired; people who are being held accountable. But the fact is, every single engine of government has to move when you see a crisis like that. And I've had many situations in the state of Ohio where we've had to move, whether it's storms, whether it was a horrible school shooting. There are many crises that come \u2014 a water crisis in Toledo. You've got to be on top of it. You've got to go the extra mile. You've got to work with local communities and you've got to work with the federal government. Because you realize that people depending on you. And so, you go the extra mile. But people have to be alert. They have to be alert to problems. And when you see a problem, you must act quickly to get on top of it. And people at home are saying they've got a problem, listen to them. Because most of the time, they're absolutely correct. So the fact is that we work for the people. The people don't work for us. And we have to have an attitude when we're in government of serving-hood. That's what really matters. We serve you. You don't serve us. We listen to you and \u2014 and then we act. +p446 +aVNo. You know, Chris, here's what happened with Medicaid in my state. We took the growth of Medicaid from over 10 percent in my second budget to 2.5 percent, without cutting off one person or cutting one benefit, because we \u2014 we innovated the government. And now mom and dad can stay in their own home, rather than being forced into a nursing home. And then we decided we could bring $14 billion of our money \u2014 I mean, Washington doesn't have any money. It was our money, and we brought them back to tend to the mentally ill. Because I don't think they ought to live in prison or live under a bridge; to treat the drug-addicted so they're not in an in-and-out-of-the-door policy out of the prisons; and to help the working poor so they don't live in emergency rooms. How has it worked? Well, we have treated the drug-addicted in our prisons and we released them in to the community, and our recidivism rate is less than 20 percent. That's basically bordering on a miracle because of our great prison director. The mentally ill? They've been stepped on for too long in this society, and we are beginning to treat them. In terms of my faith, look, all I say is that when I study scripture, I know that people who live in the shadows need to have a chance. But I'm not deciding that anybody's got to make these decisions the way that I do, on the basis of what I do. But what \u2014 I will tell you this. The time has come to stop ignoring the mentally ill in this country and begin to treat them and get them on their feet, along with, of course, with treating the drug-addicted. Because we don't want them in and out \u2014 we don't want them in and out of the prisons. Give people a chance. We talked about criminal justice reform. We've enacted it in our state. Look, the conservative message is economic growth and along with economic growth goes opportunity for everybody in America. Everybody ought to have a chance to be able to rise to their God-given purpose. And that is what we have done in Ohio. We're running surpluses. We're up 400,000 jobs. And guess what? The formula is working. I'd suggest people take a look at it. Thank you. +p447 +aVLook, we don't know what's going to happen in ten months. And if I were president of the United States right now, I'd be lining up our allies to say that, if one crossed T or one dotted I does not occur, they are \u2014 violate the agreement, we slap back on sanctions. We can slap on sanctions alone, on day one, but it's not gonna be anywhere near as effective. But the president needs to be laying the groundwork right now for the ability to slap those sanctions back on worldwide. And I'll tell you what I'm worried about \u2014 I'm worried about money. You read about all the companies now that are doing business \u2014 about to do business in Iran, and if we don't get this settled now, with other countries in the world, about sanctions, then Iran could violate that agreement, and we're the only ones putting the sanctions on. We need to move aggressively now. But I would say this to you, Bret. Number one, if they violate it, we need to move against them. And number two, if we find out they're developing a nuclear weapon and we know how to get to it, we're gonna go take it out. That is what we have to do. We cannot let things get farther down the road, like we did with North Korea. +p448 +aVThat's right. Yes. +p449 +aVI know, Bret. +p450 +aVBut Bret, here's the problem. You take a look at the \u2014 at Belgium. I talked to a diplomat from Belgium. I said, "how's it going?" He said, "we have the military in the streets right now. We never dreamt we'd ever see it." See, I think there is an opportunity to bring the world together. The Turks are being threatened. We know about the French. We know about the Belgians. We know about the Brits. Everybody is under fire and under attack, and we have to stand together as an alliance. So actually, the opportunity is there, because of the threat to all of these countries, to bring all of us together... ... and say there is something more important than money. It is the future of the world and the future of our children and grandchildren. That's the kind of leadership this country needs. It has not been in effect during the administration of Barack Obama. And that's only the beginning of the failures that they have committed, not only in the Middle East, but all over the world, including Russia and China. +p451 +aVYou know, one of our biggest national security issues is the world looks at us some time, and we look at each other and say, why can't we solve problems? Well, I've got news for you, we can. We can in fact create jobs and provide job security. We can create a situation where wages begin to rise. We can create a situation for our children to be able to get a decent job to pay down their college debt. We can re-assume our role in the world. But all of this has to come together when we have a positive attitude, an optimistic approach, an ability for us to set the tune as conservatives, to invite other people in to be part of that orchestra. You see, ladies and gentlemen, at the end of the day, I'm an optimist Because I've seen so many things get accomplished in my lifetime. And we can do it again together, all of us, to strengthen this country, work together. Thank you. +p452 +aVLook, it takes three things basically to grow jobs. And I've done it when I was in Washington when we had a balanced budget; had four years of balanced budgets; paid down a half-trillion of debt. And our economy was growing like crazy. It's the same thing that I did in Ohio. It's a simple formula: common sense regulations, which is why I think we should freeze all federal regulations for one year, except for health and safety. It requires tax cuts, because that sends a message to the job creators that things are headed the right way. And if you tax cuts \u2014 if you cut taxes for corporations, and you cut taxes for individuals, you're going to make things move, particularly the corporate tax, which is the highest, of course, in the \u2014 in the world. But in addition to that, we have to have fiscal discipline. We have to show that we can march to a balanced budget. And when you do that, when you're in a position of managing regulations; when you reduce taxes; and when you have fiscal discipline, you see the job creators begin to get very comfortable with the fact that they can invest. Right now, you don't have the \u2014 you have taxes that are too high. You have regulations \u2014 I mean, come on, they're affecting everybody here, particularly our small businesses. They are \u2014 they're in a position where they're smothering people. And I mean, are you kidding me? We're nowhere close to a balanced budget or fiscal discipline. Those three things put together are going to give confidence to job creators and you will begin to see wages rise. You will begin to see jobs created in a robust economy. And how do I know it? Because I've done it. I did it as the chairman of the Budget Committee, working with Senator Domenici. And I've done it in the state of Ohio as the chief executive. Our wages are growing faster than the national average. We're running surpluses. And we can take that message and that formula to Washington to lift every single American to a better life. +p453 +aVWell, if that's the case, we're going to win every state, if Bernie Sanders is the nominee. That's not even an issue. But look......and I know Bernie, and I can promise you he's not going to be president of the United States. So here's this \u2014 the situation, I think, Maria. And this is what we have to \u2014 I \u2014 I've got to tell you, when wages don't rise \u2014 and they haven't for a lot of families for a number of years \u2014 it's very, very difficult for them. Part of the reason why it hasn't risen because sometimes we're not giving people the skills they need. Sometimes it's because the Federal Reserve kept interest rates so low that the wealthy were able to invest in \u2014 in strong assets like the stock market when everybody else was left behind. People are upset about it. I'll tell you what else they're upset about: you're 50 or 51 years old, and some kid walks in and tells you you're out of work, and you don't know where to go and where to turn. Do we have answer for that? We do. There are ways to retrain the 50 and 51-year-olds, because they've got great value. I'll tell you what else people are concerned about. Their kids come out of college, they have high debt and they can't get a good job. We got to do a lot about the high cost of high \u2014 higher education, but we've got to make sure we're training people for jobs that exist, that are good jobs that can pay. Let me tell you that, in this country \u2014 in this country, people are concerned about their economic future. They're very concerned about it. And they wonder whether somebody is getting something to \u2014 keeping them from getting it. That's not the America that I've ever known. My father used to say, "Johnny, we never \u2014 we don't hate the rich. We just want to be the rich." And we just got to make sure that every American has the tools, in K-through-12 and in vocational education, in higher education. And we got to fight like crazy so people can think the American dream still exists, because it does, with rising wages, with full employment and with everybody in America \u2014 and I mean everybody in America \u2014 having an opportunity to realize the American dream of having a better life than their mother and their father. I'm president \u2014 look, I've done it once. I've done it once in Washington, with great jobs and lower taxes. The economy was really booming. And now in Ohio, with the same formula, wages higher than the \u2014 than the national average. A growth of 385,000 jobs. It's not that hard. Just know where you want to go, stick to your guts. Get it done, because our \u2014 our children and grandchildren are counting on us to get it done. And, folks, we will. You count on it. +p454 +aVWell, let me \u2014 let me first of all talk a little bit about my experience. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years, and by the way, one of the members of that committee was Senator Strom Thurmond from South Carolina. Let em also tell you......that after the 9/11 attacks, Secretary Rumsfeld invited me to the Pentagon with a meeting of the former secretaries of Defense. And in that meeting, I suggested we had a problem with technology, and that I wanted to take people from Silicon Valley into the Pentagon to solve our most significant problems. So I not only had the opportunity to go through the Cold War struggles in Central America, and even after 9/11 to be involved. With Saudi Arabia and oil production, first of all, it's so critical for us to be energy independent, and we're getting there because of fracking and we ought to explore because, see, energy independence gives us leverage and flexibility, and secondly, if you want to bring jobs back to the United States of America in industry, low prices make the difference. We're seeing it in my state and we'll see it in this country. And that's why we must make sure we continue to frack. In terms of Saudi Arabia, look, my biggest problem with them is they're funding radical clerics through their madrasses. That is a bad deal and an evil situation, and presidents have looked the other way. And I was going to tell you, whether I'm president or not, we better make it clear to the Saudis that we're going to support you, we're in relation with you just like we were in the first Gulf War, but you've got to knock off the funding and teaching of radical clerics who are the very people who try to destroy us and will turn around and destroy them. So look, in foreign policy \u2014 in foreign policy, it's strength, but you've got to be cool. You've got to have a clear vision of where you want to go. And I'm going to tell you, that it \u2014 I'm going to suggest to you here tonight, that you can't do on the job training. I've seen so much of it \u2013 a Soviet Union, the coming down of a wall, the issues that we saw around the world in Central America, the potential spread of communism, and 9/11 and Gulf War. You see what the Saudi's \u2014 deliver them a strong message but at the end of the day we have to keep our cool because most of the time they're going right with us. And they must be part of our coalition to destroy +p455 +aVI \u2014 I've been for pausing on admitting the Syrian refugees. And the reasons why I've done is I don't believe we have a good process of being able to vet them. But you know, we don't want to put everybody in the same category. And I'll go back to something that had been mentioned just a few minutes ago. If we're going to have a coalition, we're going to have to have a coalition not just of people in the western part of the world, our European allies, but we need the Saudis, we need the Egyptians, we need the Jordanians, we need the Gulf states. We need Jordan. We need all of them to be part of exactly what the first George Bush put together in the first Gulf War. It was a coalition made up of Arabs and Americans and westerners and we're going to need it again. And if we try to put everybody in the same \u2014 call everybody the same thing, we can't do it. And that's just not acceptable. But I think a pause on Syrian refugees has been exactly right for all the governors that have called for it, and also, of course, for me as the governor of Ohio. +p456 +aVNeil, Neil \u2014 can I say one thing about this. I'm a free trader. I support +p457 +aVFor too long \u2014 no, for too long, what happens is somebody dumps their product in our country and take our people's jobs, and then we go to an international court and it takes them like a year or two to figure out whether they were cheating us. And guess what? The worker's out of a job. So when they \u2014 be found against that country that's selling products in here lower than the cost of what it takes to produce them, then what do we tell the worker? Oh, well, you know, it just didn't work out for you. I think we should be for free trade but I think fair trade. And when countries violate trade agreements or dump product in this country, we need \u2014 we need to stand up against those countries that do that without making them into an enemy. And I want to just suggest to you. How do I know this? Because so many people in my family worked in steel mills, and they didn't work with a white collar, they worked in a blue collar. And the fact is those jobs are critical, they're hard working members of the middle class and they need to be paid attention to because they're Americans and they carry the load. So let's demand open trade but fair trade in this country. That's what I think we need to do. +p458 +aVWell, I created a task force well over a year ago and the purpose was to bring law enforcement, community people, clergy and the person that I named as one of the co-chair was a lady by the name of Nina Turner, a former State Senator, a liberal Democrat. She actually ran against one of my friends and our head of public safety. And they say down as a group trying to make sure that we can begin to heal some of these problems that we see between community and police. And they came back with 23 recommendations. One of them is a statewide use of deadly force. And it is now being put into place everyplace across the state of Ohio. Secondly, a policy on recruiting and hiring, and then more resources for \u2014 for training. But let me also tell you, one of the issues has got to be the integration of both community and police. Community has to understand that that police officer wants to get home at night, and not \u2014 not to lose their life. Their family is waiting for them. At the same time, law enforcement understands there are people in the community who not only think that the system doesn't work for them, but works against them. See, in Ohio, we've had some controversial decisions. But the leaders have come forward to realize that protest is fine, but violence is wrong. And it has been a remarkable situation in our state. And as president of the United States, it's all about communication, folks. It's all about getting people to listen to one another's problems. And when you do that, you will be amazed at how much progress you can make, and how much healing we can have. Because, folks, at the end of the day, the country needs healed. I've heard a lot of hot rhetoric here tonight, but I've got to tell you, as somebody that actually passed a budget; that paid down a half-a-trillion dollars of our national debt, you can't do it alone. You've got to bring people together. You've got to give people hope. And together, we can solve these problems that hurt us and heal America. And that is what's so critical for our neighborhoods, our families, our children, and our grandchildren. +p459 +aVYou know, in our country, there are a lot of people who feel as though they just don't have the power. You know, they feel like if they don't have a lobbyist, if they're not wealthy, that somehow they don't get to play. But all of my career, you know, having been raised in \u2014 by a mailman father whose father was a coal miner, who died of black lung and was losing his eyesight; or a mother whose mother could barely speak English. You see, all of my career, I've fought about giving voice to the people that I grew up with and voice to the people that elected me. Whether it's welfare reform and getting something back for the hard-earned taxpayers; whether it's engaging in Pentagon reform and taking on the big contractors that were charging thousands of dollars for hammers and screw drivers and ripping us off; or whether it's taking on the special interests in the nursing home industry in Ohio, so that mom and dad can have the ability to stay in their own home, rather than being forced into a nursing home. Look, that's who I stand up for. That's who's in my mind......And if you really want to believe that you can get your voice back, I will tell you, as I have all my career, I will continue to fight for you, because you're the ones that built this country, and will carry it into the future. Thank you. +p460 +aVThank you, Wolf. Just last weekend, just last week, a friend asked one of my daughters, "Do you like politics?" And my daughter said, "No, I don't. And the reason I don't like it is because there's too much fighting, too much yelling. It's so loud, I don't like it." You know, I turned to my friend and I said, "You know, she's really on to something." And when we think about our country and the big issues that we face in this country; creating jobs, making sure people can keep their jobs, the need for rising wages, whether our children when they graduate from college can find a job, protecting the homeland, destroying +p461 +aVWell, first of all, Wolf, I said last February that we needed to have people on the ground, troops on the ground in a coalition similar to what we had in the first Gulf War. I remember when the Egyptian ambassador to the United States stood in the Rose Garden and pledged Arab commitment to removing Saddam Hussein from Kuwait. Before we came out here tonight, I am told that the Saudis have organized 34 countries who want to join in the battle against terrorism. First and foremost, we need to go and destroy +p462 +aVNo, I don't think it is. And I want to go back to two other issues. One is the metadata. We know we have to hold this data for a longer period of time. And, you know, in a lot of ways, Chris is right. Look, what a president has to do is take a position. We don't want to err on the side of having less. We want to err on the side of having more. That's good for our families. In addition to that, Wolf, there is a big problem. It's called encryption. And the people in San Bernardino were communicating with people who the FBI had been watching. But because their phone was encrypted, because the intelligence officials could not see who they were talking to, it was lost. We have to solve the encryption problem. It is not easy. A president of the United States, again, has to bring people together, have a position. We need to be able to penetrate these people when they are involved in these plots and these plans. And we have to give the local authorities the ability to penetrate to disrupt. That's what we need to do. Encryption is a major problem, and Congress has got to deal with this and so does the president to keep us safe. +p463 +aVYeah, let me \u2014 let me just suggest to everybody, and I hear \u2014 last February, I said we needed to have people on the ground in a coalition with Europe and our allies. This is not going to get done just by working with the Sunnis. And it is not going to get done if we just embed a few people. We have to go massively, like we did in the first Gulf War where we destroyed Saddam's ability to take Kuwait. We need to have a coalition that will stand for nothing less than the total destruction of +p464 +aVI don't understand this thing about Assad. He has to go. Assad is aligned with Iran and Russia. The one thing we want to prevent is we want to prevent Iran being able to extend a Shia crescent all across the Middle East. Assad has got to go. And there are moderates there. There are moderates in Syria who we should be supporting. I do not support a civil war. I don't want to be policeman of the world. But we can't back off of this. And let me tell you, at the end, the Saudis have agreed to put together a coalition inside of Syria to stabilize that country. +p465 +aVHe must go. It will be a blow to Iran and Russia. +p466 +aVThe foreign policy, you have to know how to pick and choose. There's no way, if Saddam had not had weapons of mass destruction, I would have gone, because I don't believe that the U.S. should be involved directly in civil wars. I opposed the U.S. involvement in Lebanon. We ended up having to withdraw our marines after our barracks were blown up. There is a difference between Iraq, where you have Sunni, Shia, and Kurds put together after the First World War by the Western powers. It doesn't work. It needs to break up into three parts. And for the Russians, frankly, it's time that we punched the Russians in the nose. They've gotten away with too much in this world and we need to stand up against them, not just there, but also in Eastern Europe where they threaten some of our most precious allies. +p467 +aVIt sounds more and more what my daughter said that I said in the beginning, all the fighting and arguing is not advancing us. +p468 +aVIt is not the way we're going to strengthen our country. We will strengthen our country when we come together. And, look, you've got Rand Paul, you've got Ted Cruz, you've got Marco, you've got a lot of people on this stage that have studied these issues. You know what a leader does? A leader has a sound program, has a good policy, and then brings people together to solve problems. Guess what? Both in Congress in balancing the budget and in Ohio fixing the economy \u2014 and, by the way, we talk about the fence. The first thing we better get going is strengthening our economy, because if we don't have a strong economy, we can't pay for all of this. And the world wants us to be able to function from strength, believe it or not. Get our economy going, get these people together in a room. We can fix this, ladies and gentlemen. We don't have to fight all the time. It can be done, and we will be great... +p469 +aV... when we join together. Thank you, Hugh. +p470 +aVYou know, obviously, as president of the United States, we've got to keep the people safe. That's first and foremost. But as governor of Ohio, I have an obligation to keep the 11.5 million people in Ohio safe. And we have been very effective with our Joint Terrorism Task Force, being able to make busts. In fact, we just made one three-four weeks ago against a person who was favorable to +p471 +aVNo Republican has ever been elected president of the United States without winning Ohio. Let me give you a little tip on how you win Ohio, it's reform, it's hope, it's growth, it's opportunity, and it's security. The people of Ohio are the people of America. The people of America are reflected in Ohio. Our message has to be big, and bold, and positive, and connect, not just with people's heads but also connect with their hearts. If we do it, we will beat Hillary Clinton, and we will run the White House, and we will strengthen and fix America, I promise you. +p472 +aVFirst of all, let me just say that, in the state of Ohio \u2014 and I'm the only acting executive on \u2014 on this stage today \u2014 we do have a moderate increase in the minimum wage. And I got to tell you, my father carried mail on his back. His father was a coal miner. He died of black lung. He was losing his eyesight. My mother's mother lived with us. She could barely speak English. I come from a town where if the wind blew the wrong way, people found themselves out of work. An economic theory is fine, but you know what? People need help. Now, I have a plan that, in fact, would cut taxes, but not $11 trillion or $12 trillion that would put my children further in debt. I have a plan that would not only cut taxes, lower the income tax rate for individuals, lower the tax for businesses so businesses will compete here and not move operations overseas, and also a plan \u2014 the only plan of anybody standing on this stage to get us to a balanced budget by the end of a second term. And, you know, the simple fact of the matter is, we hear a lot of promises in this debate, a lot of promises about these tax cuts or tax schemes sometimes that I call them. Hillary and the Democrats promise everything on the spending side. We've got to be responsible about what we propose on the tax side. Yes, lower taxes, lower spending. My website, JohnKasich.com, will show you exactly how we balance the budget. I balanced the budget in Washington as a chief architect, and I have balanced it in Ohio for one reason. When you balance the budget and you cut taxes, people get work. And our most important moral purpose as leaders in the political system is to make sure we create an environment for job creation so people can live their dreams and realize their God-given potential. That's why it's so important. And for those at the bottom, we've got to do what we can to train them so they can move up. But to just look the other way is not acceptable, because, you know what, as the governor of Ohio I have to deal with real challenges, and we've gotten it done in our state, and I will do it for America. +p473 +aVSure. We would move the Medicare system from a 7 percent growth down to about a 5 percent growth. And I have a whole series of ways to do that. In Ohio, we reduced Medicaid funding for the poor from 10 percent to 2.5 percent, didn't cut one benefit or didn't take anybody off the rolls. Why? Because we're innovators. I've been an innovator my entire career. And I really don't care what special interests or lobbyists have to say. I have a job to do when I take over a public office. Now, we freeze non-defense discretionary for eight years. We also put an increase in defense spending. Our tax cuts balance out. And at the end of the day, we will get to a balanced budget. And I want everybody here to know, when I was Budget Committee chairman in Washington, I stepped on every toe in that town, and we got to a balanced budget, and we had enormous job growth. And as governor of Ohio, we went from 350,000 lost jobs to a gain of 347,000 jobs. +p474 +aVI'll do it in Washington. I've done it twice; I'll do it thrice for the United States of America. +p475 +aVExcuse me. +p476 +aVYeah, I would like to make a comment. +p477 +aVI appreciate it, Jeb. I'm all of you. But I want at some point to talk about a value-added tax and $11 trillion, $12 trillion tax cuts that will put our kids way deeper in the hole than they have been at this point. So I would like to talk about it at some point, because that's what leadership is. +p478 +aVMaria, can we comment on that? +p479 +aVCan we comment on that? +p480 +aVWell, look, in 1986 Ronald Reagan basically said the people who were here, if they were law-abiding, could stay. But, what didn't happen is we didn't build the walls effectively and we didn't control the border. We need to. We need to control our border just like people have to control who goes in and out of their house. But if people think that we are going to ship 11 million people who are law-abiding, who are in this country, and somehow pick them up at their house and ship them out of Mexico \u2014 to Mexico, think about the families. Think about the children. So, you know what the answer really is? If they have been law- abiding, they pay a penalty. They get to stay. We protect the wall. Anybody else comes over, they go back. But for the 11 million people, come on, folks. We all know you can't pick them up and ship them across, back across the border. It's a silly argument. It is not an adult argument. It makes no sense. +p481 +aVJerry, Gerald, it was an attack. +p482 +aVIn the state of Ohio, the state of Ohio, we have grown 347,000 jobs. Our unemployment is half of what it was. Our fracking industry, energy industry may have contributed 20,000, but if Mr. Trump understood that the real jobs come in the downstream, not in the upstream, but in the downstream. And that's where we're going to get our jobs. But Ohio is diversified. And little false little things, sir, they don't really work when it comes to the truth. So the fact is, all I'm suggesting, we can't ship 11 million people out of this country. Children would be terrified, and it will not work. +p483 +aV...Mr. Baker, everybody got to talk about taxes... +p484 +aV...I think you were coming to me and then... +p485 +aV...Look, I hate to crash the party to you, Mr. Baker, but, you know, what's fair... +p486 +aV...Yes, sir... +p487 +aVLet me tell you this, Mr. Baker, in terms of the cyber attacks, we have the capability to not only have a defensive posture, but it also to make it clear to people that if you attack us with cyber attacks, we will destroy the mechanisms that you are using to attack us. I want to give you a little trip around the world. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years. In the Ukraine, arm the people there so they can fight for themselves. In the eastern part of Europe, make sure that Finland and the Baltics know that if the Russians move, we move. In Syria, yes, a no-fly zone in the north on the Turkish border, a no-fly zone on the south on the Jordanian border. Anybody flies in the first time, maybe they can fly out. They fly in there a second time, they will not fly out. And it also becomes a sanctuary for the people to be. And it also sends many messages in the Middle East that we're still involved. Saudi Arabia, cut off the funding for the radical clerics, the ones that preach against us. But they're fundamentally our friends. Jordan, we want the king to reign for 1,000 years. Egypt, they have been our ally and a moderating force in the Middle East throughout their history. In the groups \u2014 in the countries of the Gulf states of Bahrain, the Cleveland Clinic is opening an operation. Clearly we see the same with them. And in Israel, we have no better ally in the world, and no more criticizing them in public, we should support them. And finally China, China doesn't own the South China Sea, and I give the president some credit for being able to move a naval force in there to let the Chinese know that we're not going to put up with it any more. And in the trade agreement, the TPP, it's critical to us, not only for economic reasons and for jobs, because there are so many people who are connected to getting jobs because of trade, but it allows us to create not only economy alliances, but also potentially strategic alliances against the Chinese. They are not our enemy, but they are certainly not our friend. And finally, I will say to everyone in this room, we have been talking about taxes and economics. When the fall comes, and we run against Hillary, which will be a disaster if she got elected. I have two 16-year-old girls, and I want this country to be strong. We make promises we can't keep under the bright light of the fall, we will have trouble. We must make sure that economic programs and our military programs are solid. I served in Washington as the chairman of the Budget Committee, and we got the budget balanced. And in Ohio, as the CEO, and guess what, we have got to have a CEO mentality and a way to beat Hillary Clinton and the Democracies in the fall. And our ideas have to add up. They have to be solid. And people have to know we have the confidence to lead America. And as president, I will lead this country, as I have before in Washington and in Ohio, and will return both on domestic and international affairs. And I appreciate the opportunity to speak this time, Gerry. +p488 +aVLet me \u2014 let me also say, Gary \u2014 Gary, let me also say, Jeb is \u2014 what Jeb is talking about with the big banks is to force them to reserve their capital, people who invest it and they hold their capital, so that if the bank goes down, the people who are invested in the bank are the ones that pay. That's what he's trying to say. Secondly, I'll tell you about Wall Street: There's too much greed. And the fact is, a free enterprise system is a system that's produced the greatest wealth for the world. But you know Michael Novak, the great Catholic theologian, says that a free enterprise system that is not underlaid with values \u2014 and we should all think about the way we conduct our lives \u2014 yes, free enterprise is great, profits are great, but there have to be some values that underlay it, and they need a good ethics lesson on Wall Street on a regular basis to keep them in check so we, the people, do not lose. +p489 +aVNeil, that's the difference of being an executive. And let me just explain: when a bank is ready to go under and depositors are getting ready to lose their life savings, you just don't say we believe in philosophical concerns. You know what an executive has to decide? When there's a water crisis, how do we get water to the city? When there's a school shooting, how do you get there and help heal a community? When there are financial crisis, or a crisis with ebola, you got to go there and try to fix it. Philosophy doesn't work when you run something. And I gotta tell you, on-the-job training for president of the United States doesn't work. We've done it for 8 years, \u2014 and almost 8 years now. It does not work. We need an executive who's been tried, has been tested, and judge the decisions that that executive makes. I don't like what the Fed is doing, but I'll tell you what worries me more than anything else: turning the Fed over to the Congress of the United States... +p490 +aV...so they can print the money. That would be a very bad approach. +p491 +aVI wouldn't. I wouldn't. +p492 +aVNo. No, I didn't say that. +p493 +aVThey were \u2014 they were talking about what you would do with depositors. Would you let these banks shut down? My argument is, going forward, the banks have to reserve the capital, so that the \u2014 so that the people who own the capital start pressuring the banks to not take these risky approaches, Ted. But at the end of the day... +p494 +aV... I'm gonna tell you this. Let me tell you this. If during \u2014 if during... +p495 +aV...because if during \u2014 well, I'll tell you what (ph). +p496 +aVAs an executive \u2014 no. As an executive, I would figure out how to separate those people who can afford it versus those people, or the hard-working folks who put those money in those institutions...... let me \u2014 no, no. Let me say another thing. Here's what I mean by that. Here's what I mean by that. +p497 +aVWhen you are faced \u2014 when you are faced, in the last financial crisis, with banks going under \u2014 with banks going under, and people, people who put their \u2014 their life savings in there, you got to deal with it. You can't turn a blind eye to it. Now, going forward, that's one thing. If you had another financial crisis, perhaps there would be an effort to make sure that we do (ph). +p498 +aVWell, ladies and gentlemen, if Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders were to win this election, my 16-year-olds, I \u2014 I worry about what their life is going to be like. You know, the conservative movement is all about opportunity. It is about lower taxes. It's about balanced budgets. It's about less regulation. And it's about sending power, money and influence back to where we live so we can run America from the bottom up. In addition to that, once we have the power and the money and the influence with programs we shift out, that each of us have a responsibility to reach out and to rebuild our families, make them stronger, and connect our neighborhoods. All that together \u2014 wealth, connection, family \u2014 America's greatest days are ahead. We must win this election. +p499 +aVGood question, but I want to tell you, my great concern is that we are on the verge, perhaps, of picking someone who cannot do this job. I've watched to see people say that we should dismantle Medicare and Medicaid and leave the senior citizens out \u2014 out in the \u2014 in the cold. I've heard them talk about deporting 10 or 11 \u2014 people here from this country out of this country, splitting families. I've heard about tax schemes that don't add up, that put our kids in \u2014 in a deeper hole than they are today. We need somebody who can lead. We need somebody who can balance budgets, cut taxes... +p500 +aVYou know, frankly, I did it in Washington, in Ohio, and I will do it again in Washington, if I'm president, to get this country moving again. +p501 +aVcountry moving again. +p502 +aVListen, I want to just comment. +p503 +aVWell I want to comment on this. This is the fantasy... +p504 +aVThis is the fantasy that I talked about in the beginning. +p505 +aVI'm the only person on this stage that actually was involved in the chief architect of balancing the Federal Budget. You can't do it with empty promised. You know, these plans would put us trillions and trillions of dollars in debt. I actually have a plan. I'm the only one on this stage that has a plan that would create jobs, cut taxes, balance the budget and can get it done because I'm realistic. You just don't make promises like this. Why don't we just give a chicken in every pot, while we're, you know, coming up \u2014 coming up with these fantasy tax schemes. We'll just clean it up. Where are you gonna clean it up? You have to deal with entitlements, you have to be in a position to control discretionary spending. You gotta be creative and imaginative. Now, let me just be clear, John. I went into Ohio where we had an $8 billion hole and now we have a $2 billion surplus. We're up 347,000 jobs. When I was in Washington, I fought to get the budget balanced. I was the architect. It was the first time we did it since man walked on the moon. We cut taxes and we had a $5 trillion projected surplus when I left. That's was hard work. Fiscal discipline, know what you're doing. Creativity. This stuff is fantasy. Just like getting rid of Medicare and Medicaid. Come on, that's just not \u2014 you scare senior citizens with that. It's not responsible. +p506 +aVWell, I mean right here. To talk about we're just gonna have a 10 percent tithe and that's how we're gonna fund the government? And we're going to just fix everything with waste, fraud, and abuse? Or that we're just going to be great? Or we're going to ship 10 million Americans \u2014 or 10 million people out of this country, leaving their children here in this country and dividing families? Folks, we've got to wake up. We cannot elect somebody that doesn't know how to do the job. You have got to pick somebody who has experience, somebody that has the know-how, the discipline. And I spent my entire lifetime balancing federal budgets, growing jobs, the same in Ohio. And I will go back to Washington with my plan. +p507 +aVAnd I will have done it within 100 days, and it will pass. And we will be strong again. Thank you. +p508 +aVLet me just \u2014 let me respond. First of all, Ohio does have an energy industry, but we're diversified. We're one of the fastest growing states in the country. We came back from the dead. And you know what? It works very, very well. And secondly, when you talk about me being on the board of Lehman Brothers, I wasn't on the board of Lehman Brothers. I was a banker and I was proud of it. And I traveled the country and learned how people made jobs. We ought to have politicians who not only have government experience but know how the CEOs and the job creators work. My state is doing great across the board. And guess what, in 2011, I got a deal... +p509 +aV... an agreement with the... +p510 +aV... that he tried to take credit for four years later. It's a joke. +p511 +aVJohn Harwood, there's a bigger issue here. +p512 +aVWell, first of all, when we talk about the Import Export Bank, it's time to clean up corporate welfare. If we're gonna reform welfare for poor people, we ought to reform it for rich people, as well. Secondly, in our state, we went from a loss of 350,000 jobs to, now, a gain of 347,000 jobs to the positive. Our wages are growing faster than the national average, and I've cut taxes more than any sitting governor in this state \u2014 $5 billion, including no taxes on small business and killing the death tax. I want to go back to what we were talking about earlier, this budget deal in Washington. This is the same old stuff since I left. You spend the money today and then you hope you're going to save money tomorrow. I don't know if people understand, but I spent a lifetime with my colleagues getting us to a federal balanced budget. We actually did it. And I have a road map and a plan right now to get us to balance. Reforming entitlements, cutting taxes. You see, because if you really want to get to a balanced budget, you need to reduce your expenses and you need to grow your economy. So what I will tell you about our incentives \u2014 our incentives are tight, and at the end of the day we make sure that we gain more from the creation of jobs than what we lose. And you know what? Ohio, one of the best growing places in the country \u2014 I not only did it in Washington, I did it in Ohio, and I'll go back to Washington, and there will be no more silly deals... +p513 +aV... If I become President because we'll have a Constitutional Amendment to require a federally balanced budget so they will do their job. +p514 +aVWell, first of all, we're running a $2 billion dollar surplus, we're not having a revenue problem right now. And, sending mixed signals to kids about drugs is a disaster. Drugs is one of the greatest scourge in this country, and I spent five years of my administration working with my team to do a whole sort of things to try to reign in the problem of overdoses, and it goes on and on. We could do a whole show on that. I want to go back for a second thought on this issue of income inequality. My program would move the 104 programs of the federal Department of Education into four block grants, and send them back to the states because income inequality is driven by a lack of skills when kids don't get what they need to be able to compete and win in this country. The fact is, in order to get this economy moving again, I call for freezing regulations for a year except for the problem of public safety. I believe that we need to cut these taxes down, we need to be on a roadmap to balancing the budget, and we need to send power, money, and influence, the welfare department, the education department, job training, infrastructure, Medicaid, all of that out of Washington back to the states so we can run these programs from where we live to the top, not a one size fits all mentality that they have in Washington. And, that will get to the nub of opportunity for our children, and an ability to see wages rise. Again... +p515 +aV...One more time, in Ohio, our wages are growing faster than the national average. We've cut taxes, balanced budgets, changed the regulatory environment. Folks, you want to \u2014 +p516 +aV\u2014 fix America, this is the formula. It worked for Reagan and it works for our team in Ohio. Thank you. +p517 +aVJohn. +p518 +aVI wanna tell you, in my state, we took Medicaid, the hardest program to control, and we took it from a 10 percent growth rate to 2.5 percent without taking one person off the rolls or cutting one single benefit. And so much of what we did \u2014 to force competition, to use technology, to stand down the special interest groups \u2014 can you imagine taking Medicaid from 10 to 2.5 percent? We can take many of those same procedures, we can apply it to Medicare. We can make a stronger program. But I agree with Jeb, you can't just do this by growing the economy. You can't grow your way out of demographics. But we can give people better health care. And finally, on health care, why don't we start treating \u2014 keep giving... +p519 +aV...incentives for people to keep people healthy, rather than giving the incentives to treat them when they're sick? +p520 +aVI was on morning Joe at a town hall and a young student stood up and said, "Can I still be idealistic?" I said, absolutely, you can still change the world. And, you know the old inscription, if you save one life, you've changed the world. Folks, we have a problem here with the leadership in Washington, but I'll tell you another problem. We need to rebuild our families. We need to have stronger families. We need to know who our neighbors are. We need to come together as a country because we have to realize that America is great, not from the top-down. Oh yeah, we want to elect a good president, but America is great from the bottom-up, and the bottom-up is us in our families, in our communities, in our neighborhoods. We will renew America if we work together, and I am totally confident that we will. And God bless America. +p521 +aVHello, I'm John Kasich, the Governor of Ohio. Emma, and Reese, my children, and Karen, love 'ya girls. Thanks for watching tonight. By the way, I think I actually flew on this plane with Ronald Reagan when I was a congressman, and his goals, and mine, really much \u2014 are pretty much the same. Lift Americans, unify, give hope, grow America, and restore it is to that great, shining city on a hill. Yes, he was a great one, and I learned much from watching him. The most important thing, hope to Americans, unify, lift everyone in America. +p522 +aVJake, Jake. +p523 +aVListen, you know, I \u2014 if I were sitting at home and watch thing back and forth, I would be inclined to turn it off. I mean, people at home want to know across this country, they want to know what we're going to do to fix this place, how we'll balance a budget, how we're going to create more economic growth, how we'll pay down the debt. What we're going to do to strengthen the military. So, we just spent 10 minutes here... +p524 +aVBut \u2014 but wait a minute. It's a lot of ad hogshead. Now, I know that it may be buzzing out there, but I think it's important we get to the issues, because that's what people want, and they don't want all this fighting. +p525 +aV...Yeah, well... +p526 +aVWell, let me just say this. First of all, I think it's a bad agreement, I would never have done it. But, you know, a lot of our problems in the world today is that we don't have the relationship with our allies. If we want to go everywhere alone, we will not have the strength as (ph) if we could rebuild with our allies. Now, this agreement, we don't know what's going to happen in 18 months. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years. I've seen lots of issues in foreign affairs, and foreign \u2014 in terms of global politics, you have to be steady. Now, here's the \u2014 if they cheat, we slap the sanctions back on. If they help Hamas, and Hezbollah, we slap the sanctions back on. And, if we find out that they may be developing a nuclear weapon, than the military option is on the table. We are stronger when we work with the Western civilization, our friends in Europe, and just doing it on our own I don't think is the right policy. +p527 +aVNo, no, no. I want to \u2014 I want to \u2014 I want to say something about what the senator just said. +p528 +aVNo one is \u2014 no \u2014 let me \u2014 let me suggest to you we believe that we operate better in the world when our allies work with us. President Bush did it in the Gulf War. We work better when we are unified. Secondly, nobody's trusting Iran. They violate the deal, we put on the sanctions, and we have the high moral ground to talk to our allies in Europe to get them to go with us. If they don't go with us, we slap the sanctions on anyway. If they fund these radical groups that threaten Israel and all of the West, then we should rip up the deal and put the sanctions back on. And let me make it clear \u2014 let me make it clear... +p529 +aV... if we think \u2014 if we think they're getting close to a \u2014 to developing a nuclear weapon and we get that information, you better believe that I would do everything in my power as the commander-in-chief to stop them having a nuclear weapon. +p530 +aVWe can have it, and we can have our allies, and we can be strong as a country, and we can project across this globe with unity, not just doing it alone. That is not what gets us where we want to get as a nation. +p531 +aVWell, I agree that we should defund Planned Parenthood. I don't know many people in America who don't think that we should, and in my state, we're trying to figure out how to get it done, because we are threatened with the federal government taking all of our Medicaid money away. I think there is a way to get this done by giving governors the ability to be able to act to defund Planned Parenthood. But when (ph) it comes to closing down the federal government, you gotta be very careful about that. When we shut the government down \u2014 if we have a chance at success and it's a great principle, yes. The president of the United States is not going to sign this, and all we're gonna do is shut the government down, and then we're gonna open up \u2014 open it up, and the American people are gonna shake their heads and say, "what's the story with these Republicans?" So I think there is a way to get to cutting off the funding for Planned Parenthood. I was in the Congress for 18 years, balanced the budget, cut taxes, got it done. Changed welfare, went around the president to get welfare reform done. There are ways to do it without having to shut the government down, but I'm sympathetic to the fact that we don't want this organization to get funding, and the money ought to be reprogrammed for family planning in other organizations that don't support this tactic. But I would not be for shutting the government down... +p532 +aV...because I don't think it's going to work out. +p533 +aVWe're not \u2014 what I can tell you is this. We didn't surrender in New Jersey, six years ago, as the brand new first ever pro-life governor of New Jersey since Roe versus Wade, I defended Planned Parenthood. And I've vetoed Planned Parenthood funding, now, eight times in New Jersey. Since the day I walked in as governor, Planned Parenthood has not been funded in New Jersey. We stood up and every one of those vetoes has been sustained. But here's the problem, we're \u2014 we're fighting with each other up here. We agree. Let's ask Hillary Clinton. She believes in the systematic murder of children in the womb to preserve their body parts... +p534 +aV...Dana, in a way that maximizes their value for sale for profit. It is disgusting, and the American people need to hear it... +p535 +aV...we shouldn't be fighting with each other. She's the real opponent, she's the real problem. +p536 +aVI'll tell you what \u2014 I'll tell you what I'd be willing to fight for. I'll tell you what I'd be willing to fight for. Why will (ph) we put tax reform on the president's desk, so we can simplify this tax system? +p537 +aVNo, no, it's really important, Dana. We got to talk about what we would be willing to shut down for. Why don't we put tax reform on this president's desk, and make him veto it if that's what he wants to do? Why haven't we repealed and replaced Obamacare? Make him veto if that's what he wants to do. +p538 +aVThere's a \u2014 +p539 +aVJake \u2014 +p540 +aVOK, Jake. +p541 +aVI don't at this point in terms of changing the incentives for investment and risk-taking. But let's just stop for a second. There's one person on this stage that does have a record. I'm the only person on the stage and one of the few people in this country that led the effort as the chief architect of the last time we balanced the federal budget. We also cut taxes. And when I left Washington in 2000, we had a $5 trillion surplus, and the economy was booming. I had spent 10 years of my life to get us to that point, went out in the private sector, was a great experience, and went into Ohio and took an $8 billion hole and turned it into a $2 billion surplus. We've had the largest amount of tax cuts of any sitting governor. We've grown well over 300,000 jobs. You see, I've done it in both places. I'm the only one here that has done it in both places. It took a lot to get us to a balanced budget. It was legitimate. It was real. And we negotiated it. A lot of what we're talking about here tonight as we take this position and that position, you know what? At the end of the day, America has got to work. We've got to figure out how we come together to deal with this \u2014 with our fiscal problems because when we deal with that, we create a stronger economy for everybody. People have a chance to rise. So, you know, when we think about how we make a choice, it's the person that lands that plane. It's not somebody that talks about it. It's about the person who has done it. And I've done it in... +p542 +aV... both places. And I did it including people in the other party. And that's how we were successful. +p543 +aVAnd that's how I will be president, using that experience to drive this country forward. Thank you. +p544 +aVWell, look, people still have to get to know me, so I want to spend my time talking about my experience reforming welfare, balancing budgets, cutting taxes, providing economic growth when I was in Washington, turning Ohio around. Eight billion in the hole, $2 billion surplus, up over 300,000 jobs, big tax cuts, strengthening our credit. All those things matter but, you know, as a young man in my first election in 1978, I defeated an incumbent Democrat. I defeated an incumbent Democrat in 1982; running on the Reagan program, I was the only Republican in America to defeat an incumbent Democrat that year. And then, when I won for election of governor, I was the first Republican to defeat an incumbent in 36 years, and the first person to have never run statewide out of politics for 10 years to beat an incumbent. That hadn't happened for 96 years. So, we'll get to the point where we'll talk about Hillary Clinton, or whoever the nominee is, record. But right now, I want to give people sense of hope, sense of purpose, a sense of unity, sense that we can do it. So... +p545 +aVYou know, at the end of the day, I'm going to continue to talk about my record, because there is, did you ever notice when people run for office, they run for president, they make a lot of promises, they don't keep them. +p546 +aVI don't intend to do that, and I going to be out there pushing it out \u2014 don't worry about me and Hillary. That will all work out, and I'm from Ohio. She will not beat me there, I can promise you that. +p547 +aVCan I just \u2014 can I \u2014 Jake, can I just make one point on this whole military discussion? +p548 +aVI called for boots on the ground many months ago in a coalition with our friends who share our interest. You know, you win a battle with the military, and when we go somewhere, we need to be mobile, and lethal. We need to take care of business, and we need to come home. But, we face, also, a bigger war \u2014 and you win the bigger war with the battle of ideas. You wonder why young people, and educated people, rich people, schooled people, have tried to join +p549 +aV...to make (ph) centers (ph) of justice so that we can battle the radicals, call them out for what they are, and make sure that all of our people feel fulfilled in living in Western civilization... +p550 +aV...This is a giant battle in the world today... +p551 +aVWell, it's probably not, maybe, legal, but, I would pick Mother Theresa, the lady that I had a chance to meet, a woman who lived a life so much bigger than her own. An inspiration to everyone when we think about our responsibility to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. +p552 +aVWell, I have one now \u2014 they (ph) call me, "Unit One". My wife says, "You'll never be Unite One, I'm Unite One. You're Unit Two." +p553 +aVWell, as president, I will make this a nation that will solve problems. And how? By having the elected officials and the leaders realize they're Americans before they're Republicans or Democrats. I did it in Washington. And I've done it in Ohio by having the elected officials realize that they're Ohioans before anything else. Secondly, I will rebuild the relationships and show the respect to our allies around the world. We have no choice but to do that. We will be stronger when we are unified. And we'll fight for freedom and for human rights. And finally, a little bit of what Carly said. The people that are out there listening, America was never great because we ran America from the top down. America is great because we have run America from the bottom up, where we all live in the neighborhoods. One more time in America, we need to revive the concept of citizenship, where everybody's actions make a huge difference in changing the world. We have a Holocaust memorial on our state house grounds. And there is one line on there that stands out all the time. "If you've saved one life, you've changed the world." We need to adopt that as citizens and rebuild and reinspire our country. Thank you. +p554 +aVWell, first of all... ...first of all, Megyn, you should know that -- that President Reagan expanded Medicaid three or four times. Secondly, I had an opportunity to bring resources back to Ohio to do what? To treat the mentally ill. Ten thousand of them sit in our prisons. It costs $22,500 a year... ...to keep them in prison. I'd rather get them their medication so they could lead a decent life. Secondly, we are rehabbing the drug-addicted. Eighty percent of the people in our prisons have addictions or problems. We now treat them in the prisons, release them in the community and the recidivism rate is 10 percent and everybody across this country knows that the tsunami of drugs is -- is threatening their very families. So we're treating them and getting them on their feet. And, finally, the working poor, instead of them having come into the emergency rooms where it costs more, where they're sicker and we end up paying, we brought a program in here to make sure that people could get on their feet. And do you know what? Everybody has a right to their God-given purpose. And finally, our Medicaid is growing at one of the lowest rates in the country. And, finally, we went from $8 billion in the hole to $2 billion in the black. We've cut $5 billion in taxes... ...and we've grown 350,000 jobs. +p555 +aVChris, first of all, I was just saying to Chris Christie, they say we're outspoken, we need to take lessons from Donald Trump if we're really going to learn it. Here is the thing about Donald Trump. Donald Trump is hitting a nerve in this country. He is. He's hitting a nerve. People are frustrated. They're fed up. They don't think the government is working for them. And for people who want to just tune him out, they're making a mistake. Now, he's got his solutions. Some of us have other solutions. You know, look, I balanced the federal budget as one of the chief architects when I was in Washington. Hasn't been done since. I was a military reformer. I took the state of Ohio from an $8 billion hole and a 350,000 job loss to a $2 billion surplus and a gain of 350,000 jobs. +p556 +aVBut the point is that we all have solutions. Mr. Trump is touching a nerve because people want the wall to be built. They want to see an end to illegal immigration. They want to see it, and we all do. But we all have different ways of getting there. And you're going to hear from all of us tonight about what our ideas are. +p557 +aVDonald, if you... +p558 +aV-- this campaign, I hope you will give to me. +p559 +aVOK. +p560 +aVLet's start off with my father being a mailman. So I understand the concerns of all the folks across this country, some of whom have trouble, you know, making ends meet. But I think she will come in a narrow way. The nominee of this party, if they're going to win, has got to come at it in a big way, which is pro-growth. Which is balancing budgets. You know, we were talking about it. People were saying, could we do it? I was the chairman of the Budget Committee and the lead architect the last time it happened in Washington, and when we did it we had great economic growth, we cut taxes, and we had a big surplus. Economic growth is the key. Economic growth is the key to everything. But once you have economic growth, it is important that we reach out to people who live in the shadows, the people who don't seem to ever think that they get a fair deal. And that includes people in our minority community; that includes people who feel as though they don't have a chance to move up. You know, America is a miracle country. And we have to restore the sense that the "Amiracle" will apply to you. Each and every one of the people in this country who's watching tonight, lift everybody, unite everybody and build a stronger United States of America again. It will be and can be done. +p561 +aVWell, look, I'm an old-fashioned person here, and I happen to believe in traditional marriage. But I've also said the court has ruled -- +p562 +aVWait, Megyn, the court has ruled, and I said we'll accept it. And guess what, I just went to a wedding of a friend of mine who happens to be gay. Because somebody doesn't think the way I do, doesn't mean that I can't care about them or can't love them. So if one of my daughters happened to be that, of course I would love them and I would accept them. Because you know what? That's what we're taught when we have strong faith. So the issues like that, issues like that are planted to divide us. I think the simple fact of the matter is, and this is where I would agree with Jeb, and I've been saying it all along, we need to give everybody a chance, treat everybody with respect, and let them share in this great American dream that we have, Megan. So, look, I'm going to love my daughters, I'm going to love them no matter what they do. Because, you know what, God gives me unconditional love. I'm going to give it to my family and my friends and the people around me. +p563 +aVWell, Megyn, my father was a mailman. His father was a coal miner. My mother's mother could barely speak English. And their son today stands on this podium in the great state of Ohio not only as the governor, but a candidate for president of the United States. I do believe in miracles. You know, I've had a lot of elections. But my elections are really not about campaigns. I tell my people that these are about a movement. And a movement to do what? To restore common sense. A movement to do things like provide economic growth. And a movement not to let anybody be behind. You know, today the country is divided. You asked a question about the police and the difficulty in communities. We've got to unite our country again, because we're stronger when we are united and we are weaker when we are divided. And we've got to listen to other people's voices, respect them, but keep in mind, and I believe in terms of the things that I've read in my lifetime, the Lord'is not picking us. But because of how we respect human rights, because that we are a good force in the world, he wants America to be strong. He wants America to succeed. And he wants America to lead. And nothing is more important to me than my family, my faith, and my friends. +p564 +aVYou know, tonight we hear about what people want to do. I want to tell you what I've done. I was a member of the Armed Services Committee for 18 years. I spent a big chunk of my life studying national security issues and our role in the world. No. 2. I was the chairman of the House Budget Committee and one of the chief architects the last time we balanced a budget, and it was the first time we had done it since man walked on the moon. We had a $5 trillion surplus and we cut taxes. I spent ten years in the private sector, actually learning how business works. And now I'm the governor of Ohio, and I inherited a state that was on the brink of dying. And we turned it all around with jobs and balanced budgets and rising credit and tax cuts, and the state is unified, and people have hope again in Ohio. +p565 +asVKELLY +p566 +(lp567 +VTonight, we are coming to you live from the Iowa Event Center in downtown Des Moines, in the shadow of the Iowa state capitol. In just four days, people here in the Hawkeye State will caucus and cast the first votes of the 2016 election. +p568 +aVSeven candidates are on that stage tonight, their position on the stage determined by their standing in the latest national polls, as well as polls in Iowa and New Hampshire. And here they are. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Florida Senator Marco Rubio. +p569 +aVWow. +p570 +aVSo let's get started. Senator Cruz, before we get to the issues, let's address the elephant not in the room tonight. Donald Trump has chosen not to attend this evening's presidential debate. What message do you think that sends to the voters of Iowa? +p571 +aVThe divide between you and Mr. Trump has turned into one of the biggest stories in the country. And for six months that \u2014 your campaign, during this campaign, you praised Mr. Trump as somebody who you thought was an effective voice against the Washington cartel. You said you were glad that he was running as a Republican. But when he started to criticize you, your message changed, and you suddenly started to portray him as the voice of the Washington cartel, and suggested he would do the Democrats' bidding. Which is it? +p572 +aVSenator Christie, you began this campaign touting your record as a Republican from a blue state who knows how to get things done and reach across the aisle. However, many Republicans feel that reaching across the aisle and getting things done isn't great if you get the wrong things done. And they prefer to stand on principle rather than compromise. Why are they wrong and you're right? +p573 +aVBut first, you can join tonight's conversation right from home. Go to google.com or open your Google search app and search Fox News debate to vote on which candidate you think has the best plan to defeat +p574 +aVWe have a lot \u2014 we have a lot to cover. But we want to \u2014 we want to turn the page to domestic... +p575 +aVNo, no. No. +p576 +aVNo no no, because we want to turn the page to domestic terror, and let me tell you why: we're partnering with Google on this debate, and they're telling us... +p577 +aV... that their search results have gone through the roof on \u2014 on people... +p578 +aV... you're a good man, Governor Kasich. +p579 +aVPeople \u2014 the search results \u2014 the searches for terror issues, for safety issues in America have gone through the roof, increased over 400 percent since 2008. People are worried. They're worried about what's happening in the country and about a domestic terror attack, as all of you know. Now, when combating this threat, Senator Rubio, you've advocated closing down mosques \u2014 we'll get back to you. Well, you have advocated closing down \u2014 closing down mosques, diners, any place where radicalization is occurring. You told me that. But the Supreme Court has made clear that hateful speech is generally protected by the First Amendment. In other words, radical Muslims have the right to be radical Muslims, unless they turn to terror. Doesn't your position run afoul of the First Amendment? +p580 +aVSenator Paul, do you agree with that? We're gonna close down mosques, we're gonna close down diners where we think radical thinking's occurring? +p581 +aVGovernor Christie, let's talk about profiling. In December... +p582 +aV... profiling. Profiling. In December, two radical Muslims killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California. Neighbors of the terrorists said that they did not report the couple to law enforcement prior to the crime, because they were afraid that they would be accused of profiling. Now, you have said that we should not profile. How do you square that with the San Bernardino case? +p583 +aVThey didn't know they were going to attack the country. +p584 +aVThat's not true. The neighbors said they saw men going in and out of the garage. They saw packages being delivered. They saw Muslims, and they did not think that was enough to call the cops. Do you? +p585 +aVDr. Carson, this week a female Muslim who served in the U.S. Air Force asked Hillary Clinton the question, she asked whether the United States is still the best place in which to raise her three Muslim children. Given what she perceives as a rise in Islamaphobia in this country. Do you think the GOP messaging on Muslims has stoked the flames of bias on this as the Democrats suggest, and how would you answer this veteran? +p586 +aVGovernor Kasich, stand back. You appear to back in another debate, a so-called back door to encrypted cell phone technology, which protects most smartphones that we all have from hacking. And it includes our phones and it also protects the cell phones of the terrorist. Now the tech companies and a group of MIT scientists, smart guys, right, warn that if they create a way for the FBI to have a back door into our encrypted communications, then the bad guys will exploit it too. And they say that this is going to cause more security problems than it would solve for everyday Americans. Are they wrong? +p587 +aVBut this is public testimony. +p588 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p589 +aVWelcome back, everybody. We are live in Des Moines, Iowa. And let's get right back to the questions \u2014 Bret. +p590 +aVAll right. We're going to move on. Because coming up, immigration, and something you've never seen before. Stay tuned, right after this break. +p591 +aVWelcome back everyone. Live, in Des Moines, Iowa. Now, we move onto the topic of immigration. Senator Rubio, we'll start with you. When you ran for Senate in 2010, you made clear that you opposed legalization and citizenship for illegal immigrants. You promised repeatedly that you would oppose it as a U.S. Senator as well. Here are just a few examples. Watch. +p592 +aVWithin two years of getting elected you were co-sponsoring legislation to create a path to citizenship, in your words, amnesty. Haven't you already proven that you cannot be trusted on this issue? +p593 +aV... But, you went on from there... +p594 +aV... You said more than that, Senator... +p595 +aV... You said earned path to citizenship is basically code for amnesty. You... +p596 +aV... supported earned path to citizenship... +p597 +aVGovernor Bush, do you agree Senator Rubio has not reversed himself on his immigration promise? +p598 +aVGo ahead, senator. +p599 +aVAll right. +p600 +aVAll right. This will be the last one. +p601 +aVOK. Let's move on. Senator Cruz, when Senator Rubio proposed that bill creating a path to citizenship, you proposed an amendment. It would have allowed for legalization but not citizenship. Yes, it would. Pressed last month on why you supported legalization, you claimed that you didn't. Right? Like you just did. Saw that. You argued that this was just a poison pill amendment, basically it's something designed to kill the bill and not actually get it through. But that is not, however, how it sounded at the time. Watch. +p602 +aVWas that all an act? It was pretty convincing. +p603 +aVBut the bill allowed both. The bill you were amending allowed citizenship and legalization. +p604 +aVOK, sir. +p605 +aVSenator Paul. You know how Washington works. Do you buy that? +p606 +aVGo ahead, sir. +p607 +aVSenator Rubio, even Chuck Schumer, your co-sponsor of that bill... +p608 +aV... agrees with Ted Cruz on this. +p609 +aVGo ahead, Senator Cruz. +p610 +aVAll right. +p611 +aVGo ahead, Governor Christie. +p612 +aVLet's go to a Youtube question. Let's get to a Youtube question. This is a question from a Youtube creator with over 2 million subscribers. Watch. +p613 +aVDr. Carson, that's one \u2014 that one's for you. +p614 +aVGo ahead. +p615 +aVAll right. +p616 +aVAll right. We're moving on. +p617 +aVGovernor bush, poll after poll shows you running among the worst in your party against Hillary Clinton. Even Mitt Romney said that a Bush v. Clinton head-to-head would be too easy for the Democrats. Yet still you and the super PACs supporting you continue to blanket the airwaves with cutting ads, not against Mrs. Clinton, but against your fellow Republicans, especially Senator Rubio. Do these attacks do more harm than good by targeting those candidates who appear to have the best chance of defeating Mrs. Clinton? +p618 +aVWelcome back, everybody. Let's get back to the questions. Chris? +p619 +aVSenator Paul, you have suggested that former President Bill Clinton's history with women is fair game in this campaign. How do you answer those who say you don't hold the sins of the husband against the wife? +p620 +aVOf her husband's? +p621 +aVWelcome back, everybody. And now, it is time for closing statements. The candidates each get 30 seconds. And we begin with Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. +p622 +aVOhio Governor Kasich. +p623 +aVFormer Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Governor. +p624 +aVTexas Senator, Ted Cruz. Senator. +p625 +aVGentlemen, thank you all so much for being here tonight. We appreciate it greatly. And that does it for the seventh Republican primary debate of the 2016 presidential race. But we're not done. The Kelly file starts in a moment and guess who is going to be there? Senator Ted Cruz. +p626 +aVWelcome to the first debate night of the 2016 presidential campaign, live from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. I'm Megyn Kelly... ... along with my co-moderators, Brett Baier and Chris Wallace. Tonight... Nice. Tonight, thousands of people here in the Q, along with millions of voters at home will get their very first chance to see the candidates face off in a debate, answering the questions you want answered. +p627 +aVAs for the candidates who will be answering those questions? Here they are. Positioned on the stage by how they stand in the polls, in the center of the stage tonight, businessman Donald Trump. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. +p628 +aVGentlemen, our first round of questions is on the subject of electability in the general election, and we start tonight with you, Dr. Carson. You are a successful neurosurgeon, but you admit that you have had to study up on foreign policy, saying there's a lot to learn. Your critics say that your inexperience shows. You've suggested that the Baltic States are not a part of +p629 +aVMr. Trump, one of the things people love about you is you speak your mind and you don't use a politician's filter. However, that is not without its downsides, in particular, when it comes to women. You've called women you don't like "fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals." Your Twitter account... +p630 +aVNo, it wasn't. Your Twitter account... +p631 +aVFor the record, it was well beyond Rosie O'Donnell. +p632 +aVYour Twitter account has several disparaging comments about women's looks. You once told a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice it would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees. Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president, and how will you answer the charge from Hillary Clinton, who was likely to be the Democratic nominee, that you are part of the war on women? +p633 +aVGovernor Walker, you've consistently said that you want to make abortion illegal even in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother. You recently signed an abortion law in Wisconsin that does have an exception for the mother's life, but you're on the record as having objected to it. Would you really let a mother die rather than have an abortion, and with 83 percent of the American public in favor of a life exception, are you too out of the mainstream on this issue to win the general election? +p634 +aVGovernor Kasich, You chose to expand Medicaid in your state, unlike several other governors on this stage tonight, and it is already over budget by some estimates costing taxpayers an additional $1.4 billion in just the first 18 months. You defended your Medicaid expansion by invoking God, saying to skeptics that when they arrive in heaven, Saint Peter isn't going to ask them how small they've kept government, but what they have done for the poor. Why should Republican voters, who generally want to shrink government, believe that you won't use your Saint Peter rationale to expand every government program? +p635 +aVAlright, gentlemen, we're gonna switch topics now and talk a bit about terror and national security. Governor Christie. You've said that Senator Paul's opposition to the NSA's collection of phone records has made the United States weaker and more vulnerable, even going so far as to say that he should be called before Congress to answer for it if we should be hit by another terrorist attack. Do you really believe you can assign blame to Senator Paul just for opposing the bulk collection of people's phone records in the event of a terrorist attack? +p636 +aVGo ahead, sir. +p637 +aVGovernor Christie, make your point. +p638 +aVGo ahead, governor. +p639 +aVAlright. +p640 +aVAlright, we've gotta cut it off there. We have plenty more we want to get to. That was an interesting exchange, thank you for that. +p641 +aVWell, I want to move on, because I have -- we're gonna get to you, governor, but I -- I really wanna get to a Facebook questioner. His name is Alex Chalgren, and he has the following question: +p642 +aVSenator Cruz, I wanna talk to you about this, because many of the Facebook users and -- and -- the -- the folks on Facebook wanted the candidates to speak to +p643 +aVYou don't see it as... ...an ideological problem -- an ideological problem in addition to a military one? +p644 +aVGovernor Bush, for days on end in this campaign, you struggled to answer a question about whether knowing what we know now... +p645 +aV...we would've invaded Iraq... +p646 +aVI remember it too, and +p647 +aVGovernor Walker, in February you said that we needed to gain partners in the Arab world. Which Arab country not already in the U.S. led coalition has potential to be our greatest partner? +p648 +aVDr. Carson, in one of his first acts as commander in chief, President Obama signed an executive order banning enhanced interrogation techniques in fighting terror. As president, would you bring back water boarding? +p649 +aVWe have a lot for you, don't worry. Fear not, you may rue that request. +p650 +aVIt's just before 10:00 p.m. on the East Coast. Welcome back to Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, and the very first Republican primary debate of the 2016 presidential campaign. Ten candidates on the stage, selected based on their standing in five national polls. And tonight they are facing off, answering the questions you want asked. We hope. +p651 +aV Sounds like somebody's a little R-rated. +p652 +aVWell, the first debate night of the 2016 presidential campaign continues from Cleveland after a short time-out. Stick around. Social issues, next. +p653 +aVSenator Rubio, you favor a rape and incest exception to abortion bans. Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York just said yesterday those exceptions are preposterous. He said they discriminate against an entire class of human beings. If you believe that life begins at conception, as you say you do, how do you justify ending a life just because it begins violently, through no fault of the baby? +p654 +aVYou don't favor a rape and incest exception? +p655 +aVMr. Trump, in 1999, you said you were, quote, "very pro- choice." Even supporting partial-birth abortion. You favored an assault weapons ban as well. In 2004, you said in most cases you identified as a Democrat. Even in this campaign, your critics say you often sound more like a Democrat than a Republican, calling several of your opponents on the stage things like clowns and puppets. When did you actually become a Republican? +p656 +aVGovernor Bush, I want to ask you, on the subject of name calling of your fellow candidates, a story appeared today quoting an anonymous GOP donor who said you called Mr. Trump a clown, a buffoon, something else that cannot be repeated on television. +p657 +aVIs it true? +p658 +aVMr. Trump, 30 seconds. +p659 +aVThe subject of gay marriage and religious liberty. Governor Kasich, if you had a son or daughter who was gay or lesbian, how would you explain to them your opposition to same-sex marriage? +p660 +aVHow would you -- how would you explain it to a child? +p661 +aVSenator Paul, in the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling on same sex marriage, Carol Fox on Facebook want to know the following. Quote: what will you do to ensure Christians are not prosecuted for speaking out against gay marriage and will Christians be forced to conduct business that conflicts with their religious beliefs? +p662 +aVGovernor Walker, many in the Black Lives Matter movement, and beyond, believe that overly-aggressive police officers targeting young African Americans is the civil rights issue of our time. Do you agree? And if so, how do you plan to address it? And if not, why not? +p663 +aVThank you. +p664 +aVWe have to stand you by, because after the break, we're going to let the candidates make their closing statements, their final thoughts, and . . . God. Stay tuned for that. +p665 +aVWelcome back. In our final moments here together, we're going to allow the candidates to offer their final thoughts. But first, we want to ask them an interesting closing question from Chase Norton on Facebook, who wants to know this of the candidates: "I want to know if any of them have received a word from God on what they should do and take care of first." Senator Cruz, start from you. Any word from God? +p666 +aVGovernor Kasich, same question. +p667 +aVGovernor Walker, same question. +p668 +aVSenator Rubio, I want to ask you the same question. But I do want to mention, a woman just came here to the stage and asked, what about the veterans? I want to hear more about what these candidates are going to do for our nation's veterans. So I put the question to you about God and the veterans, which you may find to be related. +p669 +aVDr. Carson, a question to you about God and his role, but also, one of the issues that the public was very interested in, and we touched on it earlier, is race relations in this country, and how divided we seem right now. And what, if anything, you can do -- you would do as the next president to help heal that divide. +p670 +aVGovernor Christie? +p671 +aVSenator Ted Cruz. +p672 +aVGovernor Scott Walker. +p673 +aVIt's over! +p674 +aVAre you relieved? You were nervous before, they -- they don't look relieved. They look "get me outta here." Thank you all very much, and that will do it for the first Republican primary debate night of the 2016 presidential race. Our thanks to the candidates, who will now be joined by their families on stage. +p675 +asVREGAN +p676 +(lp677 +VIn Tuesday's State of the Union Address, the president said that our economy is strong. He cited the significant decline we've seen in unemployment rate and the millions of jobs that have been created. What is your assessment of the economy right now? And I would like to hear from all of you on this one, beginning with Ms. Fiorina. +p678 +aVThank you Governor Huckabee. Senator Santorum? +p679 +aVThank you. Well, since we've been talking about the Middle East, Senator Santorum, conflicts between Saudi Arabia and Iran have certainly escalated, amid accusations that Saudi Arabia bombed the Iranian Embassy in Yemen after the Saudi Embassy in Tehran was attacked. As we confront an increasingly unstable Middle East, how will you, as president, navigate this administration's promises to Iran while standing by our historic allies in the region? +p680 +aVThank you, Senator Santorum. +p681 +aVGovernor Huckabee, if I could just follow-up with that. Do we need to be in Afghanistan? +p682 +aVThank you Governor Huckabee. Ms. Fiorina, nearly 600 women say they were attacked in a German city on New Year's Eve by men of Arab or North African descent and 45 percent of those alleged attacks were sexual assaults. Twenty-two of those 32 men arrested so far are asylum-seekers. Are you worried about similar problems in the United States? +p683 +aVI want to stay with you on this. The world shares a common enemy right now in the way of +p684 +aVMs. Fiorina, thank you. +p685 +aVWelcome back, everyone, to the Republican presidential debate. On to the next round of questions \u2014 Sandra. +p686 +aVMs. Fiorina, the president has just issued an executive order to expand the gun laws and background checks. And none of you on stage agree with this. But recent polls show the majority of Americans are in favor of universal background checks. +p687 +aVIt's the poll data. +p688 +aVSo tell me......why, in your view, is the president's proposal a problem? +p689 +aVMs. Fiorina, you've said that was when you were CEO of HP, you actually worked with the government. +p690 +aV\u2014 to try and combat some of these terrorist threats. +p691 +aVWhat did you do? +p692 +aVMs. Fiorina, thank you. +p693 +aVGovernor Huckabee, an American in San Bernardino murdered 14 people while terrorists with Belgian and French passports murdered 130 people. Were facing a threat within our borders, and from outside the United States. Those European terrorists, they could have come here at any time given that we have a visa waiver program that enables people to travel back and forth. It exists within those countries, and 36 others. In countries around the world, including many in Europe, cannot ensure that their citizens are not jihadists, why are we waiving the visa requirement at all? +p694 +aVIf you get the visa waiver program, does that shut down international commerce? +p695 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p696 +aVSenator Santorum, thank you. +p697 +aVThank you, Governor Huckabee. +p698 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from North Charleston. We want to jump right back in. Sandra is kicking it off. +p699 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you know it used to be you could graduate from high school and get a pretty good job at the local factory, enough to take care of your family and yourself. Those days seem to be gone. It's pretty hard to do that nowadays. Businesses are increasingly turning to automation to increase their productivity levels. It's happening right here, in fact, at the Boeing factory in North Charleston. The president says automation threatens workers' ability to get higher wages. Do you agree with that? And if so, do you have a solution? +p700 +aVThank you very much, Governor Huckabee. Senator Santorum, 40% of babies born today are born to single moms. That's twice as high as reported back in 1980, and it's 11 times as high as in 1940. Studies show that children are always better off economically, most often \u2014 and emotionally, with two parents in a household. From a policy perspective, should the government be doing anything to encourage family formation? +p701 +aVThank you. +p702 +aVCarly Fiorina? +p703 +aVThank you to all the candidates. That does it, everyone for the first debate right here in North Charleston. +p704 +asVBAIER +p705 +(lp706 +VNine p.m. on the East Coast. Eight o'clock here in Des Moines, Iowa. Welcome to the seventh Republican presidential debate of the 2016 campaign. I'm Bret Baier, along with my comoderators Megyn Kelly and Chris Wallace. +p707 +aVGoogle sees political searches spike during televised presidential debates \u2014 no surprise there. But they spike by more than 440 percent on average, as voters across America seek to learn more about what's happening on the live debate stage. +p708 +aVOhio Governor John Kasich. And Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. +p709 +aVTonight's rules are simple. Up to 60 seconds for each answer, 30 seconds for each follow-up response. And if a candidate goes over the allotted time, you will hear this. Double. +p710 +aVI think the double is the one we want. Very pleasing. We have a crowd of about 1,600 here, and while they have agreed to respect the candidates and listen intently, we can tell you they are very excited to be here. Am I right? +p711 +aVGovernor Bush, it's hard for anyone of your pedigree to avoid being called establishment. But isn't that part of the problem in this race, that three others on this stage are splitting the main stream Republican vote and there by possibly handing this nomination over to an anti-establishment candidate? +p712 +aVThank you governor. +p713 +aVSenator Paul, you are definitely not in the establishment category. But at the beginning of this campaign, you said you were your own man when asked about your father, former Texas Congressman and three-time presidential candidate Ron Paul. Senator Cruz's campaign is out with a video saying that Cruz is the intellectual and political heir to your father's 2012 campaign and the liberty movement. And your father now says it's realistic that Donald Trump will be your party's nominee. So did you make a mistake by not fully \u2014 more fully embracing your father politically at the beginning of this campaign? +p714 +aVSenator Cruz, your response to that? +p715 +aVSenator Rubio? +p716 +aVThank you, Senator. +p717 +aVWe'll come back to... +p718 +aVOK. Go ahead, go ahead. +p719 +aVWelcome back. Let's get right back to the questions. Chris. +p720 +aVGovernor Bush, just today, a wounded warrior organization designed to help wounded veterans and their families is coming under fire for raising tens of millions of dollars, but spending almost half of that on travel and hotels and dinners and luxury, lavish conferences. So taking care of veterans is obviously a huge issue in the country that has asked so many to serve and sacrifice so much. If you were president. would you police these charity organizations that say they're helping vets? +p721 +aVGovernor Bush, thank you. Speaking of veterans, we have a question from a veteran who is one of the top Youtube creators. Over the course of the evening, gentlemen, we will hear from some of Youtube's most followed stars. And here's one of them. +p722 +aVSenator Paul, that question to you. +p723 +aVSenator Paul, thank you. +p724 +aVThank you, Megyn. Gentlemen, I'll ask you some questions about federal spending and the role of the federal government. Everybody always said they want to cut federal spending and usually they start by saying they'll cut waste, fraud, and abuse, but that really doesn't ever materialize. We all know that. Governor Christie, you talk a lot about entitlement reform and you say that that's where the federal government can get savings needed to balance the budget. But can you name even one thing that the federal government does now that it should not do at all? +p725 +aVI want one. Yes. +p726 +aVAnything bigger than that? +p727 +aVAnd, Governor, I realize everyone on this stage opposes Obamacare and you're not alone. Google Data shows that in the last month when people searched "policy repeals," that there were a lot of them. Obamacare took the top two spots. But today there are millions of people who gained health insurance from Obamacare and they now rely on it. So the question, Senator Cruz, if you repeal Obamacare, as you say you will, will you be fine if millions of those people don't have health insurance? And what is your specific plan for covering the uninsured? +p728 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. Governor Bush, you've advocated for statehood for Puerto Rico. The Puerto Rican economy is collapsing under unsustainable debt burden. Only about 1 million of its 4 million residents are currently employed. So should American citizens who you say are already overtaxed, bail out Puerto Rico as well? +p729 +aVGovernor Kasich, you're one of two remaining sitting governors still in the race. Your colleague, Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan is under fire \u2014 he and his administration \u2014 for the Flint, Michigan water crisis and the botched response to it. How would you have handled that? +p730 +aVSenator Rubio, on the issue of climate change, in 2008, you wanted Florida to get ahead of other states and establish a cap- and-trade system, a program for carbon emissions, which many Republicans thought at the time would hurt the Florida economy. Now, you're a skeptic of climate change science. And in fact, you warn that federal efforts to fight climate change will cost U.S. jobs and hurt the U.S. economy. So why the change? +p731 +aVThanks, Senator. +p732 +aVThank you. +p733 +aVSenator Rubio, first before I ask you a question, any response to Governor Bush? +p734 +aVNow let's talk about electability, Senator. +p735 +aVThank you, Senator. +p736 +aVMuch more to come, including where the candidates stand on foreign policy. And, once again, you can go to Google.com, or open your Google search app and search, "Fox News Debate" to vote on which candidate you think is winning the debate tonight. We'll be right back. +p737 +aVGentlemen. I'd like to ask you a few questions about foreign policy broadly. Dr. Carson, many experts believe Russian leader Vladimir Putin has greater ideas, bigger designs for the region beyond Russia's actions inside Ukraine. Fast forward to February 2017 and it is President Carson, and Russian uniformed commandos cross the Estonian border and they occupy a city in Estonia. Estonia, a member of +p738 +aVGentlemen, you've all said that the Iran nuclear deal is a bad one. Senator Rubio, you were among the candidates who've said you would tear it up on day one. But as you know, Iran has already received tens of millions of dollars \u2014 tens of billions of dollars in this deal and has quickly reestablished ties economically with Europe. The major concessions, in other words, are up front in this deal. So should you win by the time you take office, the remaining parts of the deal would be the constraints on Iran. So why blow up those constraints on day one, letting Iran off the hook? +p739 +aVGovernor Kasich, you've said that Marco Rubio is wrong... ... that Senator Rubio is wrong with tearing it up on day one. +p740 +aVBut Governor Kasich, you know that the most powerful sanctions are the multilateral ones. +p741 +aVAnd these European countries are already reestablishing these ties. +p742 +aVThey don't want... +p743 +aVGovernor, thank you. Governor Christie... ... Libya is the newest base for +p744 +aVThank you, Governor. +p745 +aVWelcome back to Des Moines. Let's resume the debate. Megyn? +p746 +aVComing up, closing statements from the candidates as our debate continues, live, from Des Moines, Iowa. +p747 +aVNew Jersey governor, Chris Christie. +p748 +aVThank you governor. +p749 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. +p750 +aVThank you senator. +p751 +aVAnd we have you covered from Iowa, all the way to the conventions and on to the general election. Thanks again for joining us. For all of us here in Des Moines, have a great evening. +p752 +aVLess than a year from now, in this very arena, one of these 10 candidates or one of the seven on the previous debate tonight will accept the Republican party's nomination. Tonight's candidates were selected based on an average of five national polls. Just a few hours ago, you heard from the candidates ranked 11th through 17. And now, the prime-time event, the top 10. +p753 +aVNeurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Florida Senator Marco Rubio. +p754 +aVIt might be. It might be. We'll see. [ +p755 +aVIt might be. The rules for tonight are simple. One minute for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups. And if a candidate runs over, you'll hear this. Pleasant, no? We also have a big crowd here with us tonight in the home of the Cavaliers, as I mentioned. And while we expect them... ... we expect them to be enthusiastic, as you heard, we don't want to take anything away from the valuable time for the candidate. So, we're looking for somewhere between a reaction to a LeBron James dunk and the Cleveland Public Library across the street. Somewhere there, we'll find a balance tonight. Without further ado, let's begin. +p756 +aVGentlemen, we know how much you love hand-raising questions. So we promise, this is the only one tonight: the only one. Is there anyone on stage, and can I see hands, who is unwilling tonight to pledge your support to the eventual nominee of the Republican party and pledge to not run an independent campaign against that person. Again, we're looking for you to raise your hand now -- raise your hand now if you won't make that pledge tonight. Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump to be clear, you're standing on a Republican primary debate stage. +p757 +aVThe place where the RNC will give the nominee the nod. +p758 +aVAnd that experts say an independent run would almost certainly hand the race over to Democrats and likely another Clinton. You can't say tonight that you can make that pledge? +p759 +aVSo tonight, you can't say if another one of these... +p760 +aVOK. +p761 +aVDr. Paul. +p762 +aVOK. +p763 +aVJust to be clear, you can't make a -- we're gonna -- we're going to move on. You're not gonna make the pledge tonight? +p764 +aVOK. Alright. +p765 +aVGovernor Bush, you have insisted that you're your own man. You say you have a life experience uniquely your own. Not your father's, not your brother's. But there are several opponents on this stage who get big- applause lines in early voting states with this line: quote, "the last thing the country needs is another Bush in the Oval Office." So do you understand the real concern in this country about dynastic politics? +p766 +aVGovernor Christie, you're not exactly the darling of conservatives. You tout your record as a Republican governor in a blue state. On Facebook, the most people talking about you, not surprisingly, come from your state of New Jersey, and one of the top issues they are talking about is the economy. This -- this may be why. Under your watch, New Jersey has undergone nine credit rating downgrades. The state's 44th in private sector growth. You face an employee pension crisis and the Garden State has the third highest foreclosure rate in the country. So why should voters believe that your management of the country's finances would be any different? +p767 +aVSenator Paul, you recently blamed the rise of +p768 +aVGentlemen, the next series of questions deals with ObamaCare and the role of the federal government. Mr. Trump, ObamaCare is one of the things you call a disaster. +p769 +aVSaying it needs to be repealed and replaced. +p770 +aVNow, 15 years ago, you called yourself a liberal on health care. You were for a single-payer system, a Canadian-style system. Why were you for that then and why aren't you for it now? +p771 +aVBut on ObamaCare... +p772 +aVMr. Trump, hold up one second. +p773 +aVAll right, now, hold on, Senator Paul... +p774 +aVOK. +p775 +aVAll right, let me... Mr. Trump, it's not just your past support for single- payer health care. You've also supported a host of other liberal policies. Use -- you've also donated to several Democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton included, Nancy Pelosi. You explained away those donations saying you did that to get business-related favors. And you said recently, quote, "When you give, they do whatever the hell you want them to do." +p776 +aVSo what specifically did... +p777 +aV-- they do? +p778 +aVHold on. We're going to -- we're going to move on. We'll come back to you, Governor Walker. +p779 +aVWe have many questions to come. +p780 +aVMany questions to come. Governor Huckabee, on Facebook, John Pietricone asked this, "Will you abolish or take away the powers and cut the size of the EPA, the IRS, the Department of Education?" Now, broadly... ...broadly, the size of government is a big concern for Facebook users, Facebook persons, as well as, obviously, conservatives. But year after year, decade after decade, there are promises from Republicans to shrink government. But year after year, decade after decade, it doesn't happen. In fact, it gets bigger, even under Republican politicians. So the question is, at this point, is the government simply too big for any one person, even a Republican, to shrink? +p781 +aVDr. Carson... +p782 +aVDr. Carson, do you agree with that? +p783 +aVGovernor Bush? +p784 +aVWe're going to come back to you, Dr. Carson. Governor Bush, you are one of the few people on the stage who advocates for Common Core education standards, reading and math. A lot of people on this stage vigorously oppose a federal involvement in education. They say it should all be handled locally. President Obama's secretary of education, Arnie Duncan, has said that most of the criticism of Common Core is due to a, quote, "fringe group of critics." Do you think that's accurate? +p785 +aVSenator Rubio, why is Governor Bush wrong on Common Core? +p786 +aVAnd do you agree with your old friend? +p787 +aVWe have many more questions coming on a host of topics, here from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Stay with us. +p788 +aVWe have many more questions coming on a host of topics. Here from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Stay with us. +p789 +aVGentlemen, another question for a few of you. Yesterday, just yesterday, President Obama criticized Republican lawmakers trying to block the Iran deal, calling them knee-jerk partisans, adding that hardliners in Iran who chant "death to America" were, quote, "making common cause with the Republican caucus." Here's what two of your opponents on the 5 p.m. debate stage said about Iran. +p790 +aVNow, I wanna ask a few of you this. First, Governor Walker. You've said that you would tear up the Iran deal on day one. If this deal is undone, what then? +p791 +aVSenator Paul, would you tear up the deal on day one? +p792 +aVGovernor Huckabee, what do you think about what Senator Paul just said? +p793 +aVThank you, gentlemen. +p794 +aVWelcome back to Cleveland. Our next topic is foreign policy. Candidates, you may not have seen the late developing news today our Fox Pentagon team broke earlier this evening about a top Iranian general traveling to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. His name is General Qassem Soleimani, he's blamed for hundreds of U.S. troop's deaths in Iraq, and Afghanistan. His trip to Russia appears to directly violate U.N. Security Council resolutions to confine him to Iran. So, Mr. Trump, if you were president, how would you respond to this? +p795 +aVAnother new development today, Senior Defense officials tell Fox they strongly suspect Russia was behind the cyber attack on the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs office... +p796 +aV...email. This comes in the wake of the Director of National Intelligence blaming the Chinese for the largest ever cyber attack, stealing personal data of tens of millions of Americans. Senator Cruz, in your view, have Russia and China committed acts of cyber war, and if you were president, what would you do about it? +p797 +aVDr. Carson, in August of 2012 President Obama famously declared Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons, quote, "that's a redline for us," and that there would be enormous consequences. One year later, with overwhelming evidence the Assad had, in fact, used chemical weapons and crossed that red line, President Obama declined to use military force against the Assad regime. As president, would you have used military force there? +p798 +aVGovernor Walker, as president, what would you do if Russian President Vladimir Putin started a campaign to destabilize +p799 +aVGovernor -- Governor Huckabee, the culture of the American military is definitely changing. Women are moving into combat roles. Don't Ask, Don't Tell has obviously been dropped. And now Defense Secretary Ashton Carter recently directed the military to prepare for a moment when it is welcoming transgender persons to serve openly. As commander in chief, how would you handle that? +p800 +aVSenator Paul, the first budget you proposed as senator cut all financial aid to Israel. You have since changed your view on that issue. What made you change your mind. +p801 +aVOK. But you still say that Israel could be one of the countries that is cut from financial aid? +p802 +aVGovernor Christie, what do you think of that answer? +p803 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p804 +aVSenator, we're going to finish up with some more questions, thank you. +p805 +aVNow each candidate will make a closing statement. You'll all have 30 seconds to make a closing statement for this debate. We'll start with Ohio Governor John Kasich. +p806 +aVSenator Marco Rubio. +p807 +aVThank you, Senator. +p808 +aVGovernor Mike Huckabee, closing statement. +p809 +aVMr. Trump, closing statement, sir. +p810 +aVGentlemen, thank you. +p811 +aVThat's it. +p812 +asVTAPPER +p813 +(lp814 +VI'm Jake Tapper. We're live at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California for the main event. Round 2 of CNN's presidential debate starts now. The eleven leading Republican candidates for president are at their podiums. They are ready to face off, and if you've been watching this race, you know anything could happen over the next few hours. To viewers who are just joining us, welcome to the Air Force One Pavilion of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Our thanks to the staff here and especially to former first lady Nancy Reagan for this impressive setting with Ronald Reagan's presidential plane as our backdrop. This debate is airing on CNN networks in the United States and around the world. It's also being broadcast on the Salem Radio Network. I know everyone is very eager to get started. But first, I want to explain the ground rules tonight. My name is Jake Tapper. I'll be the moderator. I will be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt. He worked in the Reagan administration for six years. And by CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. I will ask follow-up questions, I will attempt to guide the discussion. Candidates, I will try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have one minute to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you've been singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. These 11 Republicans are positioned on the stage based on their ranking in recent national polls. Our goal for this evening is a debate. A true debate, with candidates addressing each other in areas where they differ. Where they disagree \u2014 on policy, on politics, on leadership. Now, let's begin. I'd like to invite each candidate to take 30 seconds to introduce him or herself to our audience. First to you, Senator Paul. +p815 +aVSenator Cruz? +p816 +aVThank you one and all for being here. There are many important policy issues facing our nation. We're going to get to many of them tonight, but I do want to start off with some current events in the news, and also some of the comments the candidates have recently made on the campaign trail. Mrs. Fiorina, I want to start with you. Fellow Republican candidate, and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, has suggested that your party's frontrunner, Mr. Donald Trump, would be dangerous as President. He said he wouldn't want, quote, "such a hot head with his finger on the nuclear codes." You, as well, have raised concerns about Mr. Trump's temperament. You've dismissed him as an entertainer. Would you feel comfortable with Donald trump's finger on the nuclear codes? +p817 +aVYou didn't answer my question. Would you feel comfortable with Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear codes? It's an issue that one of your fellow candidates has raised. +p818 +aVMr. Trump? +p819 +aVMr. \u2014 Senator Paul, your name has been invoked. +p820 +aVMr. Trump? +p821 +aVI want to \u2014 I want to give Mr. Trump... +p822 +aV... Mr. Trump, I want to give you another chance \u2014 Mr. Trump, I want to give you a chance to respond to something that your rival to your left, Governor Bush, said. Governor Bush told me last week when I read him the quote from Governor Jindal that he agrees you're not a serious candidate. Tell Governor Bush why you are a serious candidate and what your qualifications are to be commander-in-chief. +p823 +aVGovernor Bush, would you feel comfortable with Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear codes? +p824 +aVGovernor Walker? +p825 +aVLet's move on. +p826 +aVA phenomenon going on in the race right now is the political... OK, Governor Kasich, go ahead. +p827 +aVWe have a lot of issues coming up, sir. +p828 +aVWe are getting to the issues, sir. Phenomenon going on in the race is the political outsiders in the race, Dr. Carson, Donald Trump, Carly Fiorina, all together, have majority support in the polls. Governor Christie, I want to ask you about something that Dr. Carson said the other day. Dr. Carson said campaigning is easier for him, because he's not a politician. He can just tell the truth, therefore, while politicians, quote, "Have their finger in the air to see and do what is politically expedient." Governor Christie, tell Dr. Carson, is that a fair description of you? +p829 +aVWell, let's find out. Thank you. +p830 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. Dr. Carson, who were you thinking about on this stage when you said that? +p831 +aVAnd more broadly, is experience in government not important for a president to have? +p832 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p833 +aVThank you. +p834 +aVThank you. Thank you Ms. Fiorina. Governor Bush, in addition to the fact that he's an outsider, one of the reasons Mr. Trump is a frontrunner, Republican voters say, is because they like the fact that he is not bought and paid for by wealthy donors. Mr. Trump has repeatedly said that the $100 million you've raised for your campaign makes you a puppet for your donors. Are you? +p835 +aVIs there anything else you want to say about this? +p836 +aVGovernor \u2014 +p837 +aVSure Dr. Carson. +p838 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Let's move to Russia if we could. Russia is sending troops and tanks into Syria right now to prop up a U.S. enemy, Bashar al-Assad. President Obama's incoming top general says, quote, "Russia presents the greatest threat to our national security." Mr. Trump, you say you can do business with President Vladimir Putin, you say you will get along, quote, "very well." What would you do right now if you were president, to get the Russians out of Syria? +p839 +aVSo, you \u2014 just to clarify, the only answer I heard to the question I asked is that you would \u2014 you would reach out to Vladimir Putin, and you would do what? You would... +p840 +aVSenator Rubio, you've taken a very different approach to the \u2014 the question of Russia. You've called Vladimir Putin a, quote, "gangster." Why would President Rubio's approach be more effective than President Trump's? +p841 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. +p842 +aVI want to bring in Carly Fiorina. +p843 +aVMs. Fiorina, you have met... +p844 +aV...yeah, you've met Vladimir Putin. Yes. +p845 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p846 +aVThank you. +p847 +aVThank you. Thank you, Ms. Fiorina. While you're \u2014 while you brought up the subject of General Suleimani of the Quds forces from Iran, the next president, no matter who he or she may be, will inherit President Obama's Iran deal. Senator Cruz, Governor Kasich says that anyone who is promising to rip up the Iran deal on day one, as you have promised to do, is, quote, "inexperienced," and, quote, "playing to a crowd." Respond to Governor Kasich, please. +p848 +aVWhy is that not, as Governor Kasich says, playing to the crowd and an example of you being inexperienced? +p849 +aVGovernor Kasich... +p850 +aV...Did Senator Cruz just play to the crowd? +p851 +aV...Thank you, Governor. I want to go to Senator Paul. +p852 +aVI want to go to Senator Paul. Senator Paul, the White House is rolling out the red carpet next week for the President of China, President Xi. Governor Walker says that President Obama should cancel the state dinner because of China's currency manipulation, and because of China's alleged cyber attacks against the United States. Is Governor Walker right? +p853 +aVGovernor Walker, Senator Paul seemed to suggest... +p854 +aV...that canceling the state dinner would be rash, and reckless. +p855 +aV...Governor Bush... +p856 +aVGovernor Bush, your father was the chief diplomatic envoy to China back when Nixon opened relations to China. Is Scott Walker's approach the right one, canceling the state dinner? +p857 +aVI want to turn... +p858 +aV...I want to turn to Governor Huckabee who has been very patient. Somebody had to be 11th, and he is, but, I do want to change the subject to the event that you had... +p859 +aV... however you want, but I want to ask this question. +p860 +aVAll right, sir, go ahead. +p861 +aVOK. ( +p862 +aVWe're going to turn now to Hugh Hewitt, from Salem Radio Network. +p863 +aVThank you, Senator Paul. I want to turn now to my colleague Dana Bash. +p864 +aVThat would be fair, you're right. You're the third senator. +p865 +aVWe're going to go to Dana Bash... +p866 +aVSenator Cruz? +p867 +aVThank you, Senator. +p868 +aVThank you, Senator. +p869 +aVThank you, Senator. I want to... +p870 +aV... turn back to Governor Huckabee... +p871 +aVI want to turn back to Governor Huckabee. Governor Huckabee, last week, you held a rally for a county clerk in Kentucky who was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, as I don't need to tell you. You've called what happened to Kim Davis, that clerk, "an example of the criminalization of Christianity." There are several people on the stage who disagree with you. Governor Bush, for example, says that that clerk is sworn to uphold the law. Is Governor Bush on the wrong side of the criminalization of Christianity? +p872 +aVThank you, Governor. +p873 +aVWell, I'm not telling you that, Governor. But Governor Bush is, because he \u2014 because he disagrees. He thinks that Kim Davis swore to uphold the law. You disagree? You're not \u2014 you don't... +p874 +aVOK. Please do. +p875 +aVYou did... +p876 +aVGovernor, you said, quote, "she is sworn to uphold the law." +p877 +aVLet me go to my colleague Dana Bash, who has a question. +p878 +aVDana, I want to continue on the subject. Governor Bush, you recently said while discussing Planned Parenthood, quote, you're "not sure we need a half billion for women's health issues." Now you've since said that you misspoke, you didn't mean to say "women's health issues." But Donald Trump said that quote, that comment, which Hillary Clinton did seize upon immediately, will haunt you the same way Mitt Romney's 47 percent video haunted him. Tell Donald Trump why he's wrong. +p879 +aVThank you, Governor Bush. Donald Trump, let me just... +p880 +aVThe quote was, "I'm not sure we need half a billion dollars for women's health issues." He said he misspoke. You said that that's going to haunt him. Why do you think that? +p881 +aVGovernor Bush? +p882 +aVI want to \u2014 we're going to get to \u2014 +p883 +aVThank you, Governor. +p884 +aVThank you, Governor. +p885 +aVWe're going to \u2014 we're going to get to many of these issues. This \u2014 we're still in the first block, believe it or not. We're going to get to many of these issues, but before we end this block, Ms. Fiorina, I do want to ask you about this. In an interview last week in Rolling Stone magazine, Donald Trump said the following about you. Quote, "Look at that face. Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?" Mr. Trump later said he was talking about your persona, not your appearance. Please feel free to respond what you think about his persona. +p886 +aVAll right. On that note, in less than two minutes \u2014 we're going to take a very quick break. In less than two minutes, the most contentious issue on the campaign trail. And the candidates on the stage are split over how to handle it. That's coming up next. Please give some applause to the candidates. +p887 +aVWelcome to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate. No topic perhaps has been more combustible in this campaign than the issue of immigration. Mr. Trump, you have called for deporting every undocumented immigrant, Governor Christie has said, quote, "There are not enough law enforcement officers \u2014 local, county, state and federal combined \u2014 to forcibly deport 11 to 12 million people." Tell Governor Christie how much your plan will cost, and how you will get it done. +p888 +aVGovernor Christie, you and I have talked about this in an interview. You say that his big wall, his plan to deport 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants, it sounds great, but it's never going to happen. Tell him why you're skeptical of his plans? +p889 +aVThank you, Governor Christie... +p890 +aVI want to bring in Dr. Carson because he too has been skeptical of your plan to immediately deport 11 to 12 million illegal immigrants. He said, quote, "People who say that have no idea what this entails." Why do you say that, Dr. Carson? +p891 +aV...Dr. Carson... +p892 +aVWith all due respect, you said about Donald Trump's plan to deport 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants, "People who say that have no idea what this entails." Why not? +p893 +aV...let's continue the conversation about illegal immigration with Dana Bash. +p894 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Senator Cruz \u2014 Senator Cruz, this week, we learned more about Dr. Carson's plan for the 11 million to 12 million undocumented immigrants in this country. Dr. Carson proposed giving these undocumented immigrants a six- month grace period to pay back taxes then to let them become guest workers and only to deport people who failed to do that. +p895 +aVWell, how would you say it, sir? I was just reading the Wall Street Journal quote, but please tell us. +p896 +aVOK, from the horse's mouth, Senator Cruz, does that fit your definition of amnesty? +p897 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator Rubio... +p898 +aV... I'm not sure... +p899 +aVWe'll come back to you \u2014 we'll come back to you in one second, sir. But Senator Rubio, I'm not sure exactly whose plan he's \u2014 he's saying is \u2014 constitutes amnesty, but I know he has said it about your plan in the past, so I want to give you a chance to respond, then, Dr. Carson, we'll come to you. +p900 +aVThank you, Senator. +p901 +aVThank you, Senator. Senator \u2014 Dr. Carson... ... I want to give you 30 seconds. I'd like you to answer the question. Senator Cruz describes plans such as yours as amnesty. Why is your plan not amnesty? +p902 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. I want to talk about the issue of birthright citizenship, which \u2014 which has emerged since the first debate as \u2014 as an a \u2014 a major issue in this campaign. Mr. Trump, you say that babies born in the United States to undocumented immigrants should not any longer get automatic American citizenship. Ms. Fiorina says that you are pandering on this issue and acting like the politicians that you rail against. What's your message to Ms. Fiorina on birthright citizenship? +p903 +aVMs. Fiorina, the vast majority of countries do not have birthright citizenship... ...Donald Trump is right about that. Why is it pandering when he's \u2014 he says this? +p904 +aVMs. Fiorina... +p905 +aVPlease. +p906 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p907 +aVThank you. +p908 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Mr. Trump, I want to give you the chance to respond... +p909 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. Senator Paul... +p910 +aVSenator Paul, I want to bring you in. Where \u2014 where do you stand on the issue of birthright citizenship? +p911 +aVAll right. Senator Paul, thank you so much. Let's turn to a new topic. We've received a lot of questions on social media about the economy and about jobs. We have two CEOs on stage right now. Ms. Fiorina, you were CEO of Hewlett Packard. Donald Trump says you, quote, "ran HP into the ground," you laid off tens of thousands of people, you got viciously fired. For voters looking to somebody with private-sector experience to create American jobs, why should they pick you and not Donald Trump? +p912 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p913 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. +p914 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 Mr. Trump, why would you be better at creating jobs than Carly Fiorina? +p915 +aVMs. Fiorina, I want to give you a chance to respond. +p916 +aVMr. Trump. +p917 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. +p918 +aVGovernor Christie's name has been invoked. I'd like to give him a 30 second opportunity. +p919 +aVMs. Fiorina, I want to give you +p920 +aVGovernor Kasich, I'm coming to you next, but Ms. Fiorina's name was mentioned, and I have to give her the opportunity to respond if she wants it. +p921 +aVThank you. +p922 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Kasich, I want to come \u2014 I'm coming to you. I'm coming to you. Let me ask the question. You can use the time however you want. +p923 +aVDonald Trump says that the hedge fund guys are getting away with murder by paying a lower tax rate. He wants to raise the taxes of hedge fund managers, as does Governor Bush. Do you agree? +p924 +aVThank you, Governor. +p925 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. +p926 +aVGovernor Huckabee, I want to bring you in on the question of hedge fund managers and taxing them. You have said that you are bothered by the fact that hedge fund managers pay such a low tax rate and make 2,500 times what people who work for them make. Do you agree with what Donald Trump and Governor Bush have proposed, raising their tax rates? +p927 +aVThank you, Governor. Dr. Carson, you support scrapping the entire tax code and replacing it with a flat tax based on the principal on tithing from the Bible. If you make $10 billion, you pay $1 billion in taxes, if you make $10, you pay $1 in taxes. Donald Trump believes in progressive taxation. He says it's not right that rich people pay the same as the poor. Tell Donald Trump why his ideas on taxes are wrong. +p928 +aVMr. Trump... +p929 +aV...What do you think of the flat tax? Do you think it's fair? +p930 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. Senator Paul? +p931 +aVGovernor Walker, I want to go to you. Dr. Carson wants to raise the Federal Minimum Wage, you have called it a lame idea. Why is raising the Federal Minimum Wage lame? +p932 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p933 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p934 +aVDr. Carson, Governor Walker didn't really answer the question, but I'll let you respond. He called raising the Federal Minimum Wage lame, what do you think of that? +p935 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson... +p936 +aVLet me bring in our partner from Salem Radio Network, Hugh Hewitt. +p937 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate. Let's turn to some issues now in foreign policy. Mr. Trump, Senator Rubio said it was, quote, "very concerning to him" that in a recent interview you didn't seem to know the details about some of the enemies the U.S. faces. Rubio said, if you don't know the answers to those questions, you will not be able to serve as commander-in-chief. Please respond to Senator Rubio. +p938 +aVSenator Rubio? +p939 +aVMr. Trump? Senator Rubio seemed to be suggesting that you don't know information that... +p940 +aVAll right. Senator Rubio. +p941 +aVBut are you saying that you have the knowledge to be the president that Mr. Trump does not have? +p942 +aVMr. Trump? +p943 +aVSenator Rubio, he did invoke your absentee record in the Senate. +p944 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. I want to turn now to Hugh Hewitt. +p945 +aVThank you, Governor. +p946 +aVSenator... +p947 +aVSenator Paul? +p948 +aVSenator Paul... +p949 +aVThank you, Senator Paul... +p950 +aVThank you, Senator Paul... +p951 +aVI understand that Governor Bush's name has been invoked, and then we can go to you, Senator Rubio. +p952 +aVThank you, Governor. +p953 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Rubio? +p954 +aVThank you, Senator. +p955 +aVDr. Carson? +p956 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p957 +aVI mean, it is interesting that you say that, because I want to ask Governor Christie about something else that you have said. Governor Christie, we just marked the 14th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Now Dr. Carson has said that if he had been president at the time, the United States would not have gone to war in Afghanistan. What does that say to you about how Dr. Carson would respond as president if America were attacked again? +p958 +aVDr. Carson? +p959 +aV... Governor Christie. +p960 +aVDr. Carson? +p961 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p962 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p963 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee. +p964 +aVThank you, Governor. +p965 +aVThank you, governor, I want to turn to +p966 +aVGovernor Walker, there is a big debate now, we have been talking about +p967 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Paul, I want to go to you, because you have said that the boots on the ground to fight +p968 +aVThank you, Senator. We're going to turn to some domestic issues now. I want to bring in my colleague, Dana Bash. +p969 +aVSure.... +p970 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p971 +aV...Thank you, Governor. Dana Bash... +p972 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina... +p973 +aV...Thank you, we're going to turn now to domestic issues with Dana Bash. +p974 +aV...Dana Bash... +p975 +aVThank you. Dana Bash? +p976 +aVThank you, Senator. +p977 +aV...Governor Bush... +p978 +aV...I want to let you respond. +p979 +aVThank you, Governor... ...And, that's what we should do, and I hope I'll be working members of the United States Senate to fight hard for the passage of people that have that kind of qualification. +p980 +aVSenator Cruz, 30 seconds. +p981 +aVThank you, Senator. +p982 +aVThank you, Semator. +p983 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Huckabee, I want to bring you in very quickly if you could. Will you have a litmus test when it comes to appointing Supreme Court nominees? +p984 +aVThank you, Governor. +p985 +aVThank you, Governor. +p986 +aVThank you, Governor. We're going to take a quick break. Coming up, one of the hottest questions that you have been asking us via social media. We will pose it to the candidates. That's coming up right after this. +p987 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican presidential debate at the Reagan Library here in Simi Valley \u2014 Simi Valley, California. Many people on social media wanted us to ask about marijuana legalization. Senator Paul, Governor Christie recently said, quote, "if you're getting high in Colorado today," where marijuana has been legalized, "enjoy it until January 2017, because I will enforce the federal laws against marijuana." Will you? +p988 +aVI want to give that \u2014 I want to give the person that you called a hypocrite an opportunity to respond. Do you want to identify that person? +p989 +aVIs there somebody you were specifically thinking of? +p990 +aVThat's what I though, but I wanted to say it. +p991 +aVOK. +p992 +aVGovernor Bush, please. +p993 +aVI want to go right now \u2014 I want to go right now... +p994 +aVThat's true. Go ahead, Christie, please. +p995 +aVYou may respond, and then I'll bring in you, Ms. Fiorina. +p996 +aVYes, Senator Paul. +p997 +aVI want to bring in Ms. Fiorina \u2014 I want to bring in Ms. Fiorina on this issue. +p998 +aVHugh \u2014 Hugh, I'd like to... +p999 +aVI'd like to turn it over \u2014 I'd like to turn to Dana Bush. +p1000 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1001 +aVI'm coming to you right now on a separate issue, sir. We received... ( +p1002 +aVWe received a lot of questions from social media about climate change. Senator Rubio, Ronald Reagan's secretary of state, George Shultz, reminds us that when Reagan was president he faced a similar situation to the one that we're facing now. There were dire warnings from the mass consensus of the scientific community about the ozone layer shrinking. Shultz says Ronald Reagan urged skeptics in industry to come up with a plan. He said, do it as an insurance policy in case the scientists are right. The scientists were right. Reagan and his approach worked. Secretary Shultz asks, why not take out an insurance policy and approach climate change the Reagan way? +p1003 +aVI'm citing George Shultz. +p1004 +aVGovernor Christie, you have said that climate change is real, and that humans help contribute to it. Without getting into the issue of China versus the United States, which I understand you've talked about before, what do you make of skeptics of climate change such as Senator Rubio? +p1005 +aVJust for the record, I was citing Secretary of State George Shultz, Ronald Reagan's secretary of state who I don't think anybody would call him left-wing. +p1006 +aVI called you a skeptic. +p1007 +aVI want to go another question right now. +p1008 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1009 +aVI'm turning to... +p1010 +aV...I'm turning to another \u2014 I'm turning to another issue right now. Senator Cruz. Well, I think we've heard from several this evening. A backlash against vaccines was blamed for a measles outbreak here in California. Dr. Carson, Donald Trump has publicly and repeatedly linked vaccines, childhood vaccines, to autism, which, as you know, the medical community adamantly disputes. You're a pediatric neurosurgeon. Should Mr. Trump stop saying this? +p1011 +aVShould he stop saying it? Should he stop saying that vaccines cause autism? +p1012 +aVMr. Trump, as president, you would... +p1013 +aVI'm going right to you. +p1014 +aVMr. Trump, as president, you would be in charge of the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health, both of which say you are wrong. How would you handle this as president? +p1015 +aVThank you. +p1016 +aVDr. \u2014 Dr. Carson? +p1017 +aVDr. Carson, you just heard his medical take. +p1018 +aVDr. Paul? Dr. Paul, I'd like to bring you in. +p1019 +aVAlright, thank you so much... +p1020 +aVComing up \u2014 I'm sorry, Governor Huckabee, please. +p1021 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1022 +aVWe have to take another quick break. Coming up, Ronald Reagan looming large over this debate. So how Reaganesque exactly are these Republicans? We will find out next. +p1023 +aVWelcome back to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California. We have a few last questions for you. Two of them a little lighthearted, the other one more serious. We'll start with one of the more light questions. Senator Paul, I'm going to start with you and we're just going to go down the line. Earlier this year, the Treasury Department announced that a woman will appear on the $10 bill. What woman would you like to see on the $10 bill? +p1024 +aVGovernor Huckabee? +p1025 +aVSenator Paul (sic). +p1026 +aVI'm sorry. Senator Rubio? +p1027 +aVJust the senators. +p1028 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1029 +aVDr. Carson? +p1030 +aVMr. Trump. +p1031 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1032 +aVGovernor Walker. +p1033 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p1034 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1035 +aVGovernor Christie. +p1036 +aVAlright. Some good entries if anybody at the mint was listening. Here's the next lighthearted question, you all know that the United States Secret Service uses codenames for the president, and his family. Ronald Reagan's codename, for example, was, "Rawhide", an homage to his performances in Westerns. Nancy Reagan's was, "Rainbow". You don't have to come up the one for your spouse, but, what would you want, Governor Christie, I'll start with you, your Secret Service codename to be. +p1037 +aVGovernor Walker? +p1038 +aVMr. Trump? +p1039 +aVDr. Carson? +p1040 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1041 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1042 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p1043 +aVSenator Paul. +p1044 +aVThat's a mouthful, but OK. OK, here's the more serious question, Ronald Reagan, the 40th President, used the plane behind you to accomplish a great many things. Perhaps, most notably, to challenge Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the wall, and ultimately, to make peace with the +p1045 +aVThat concludes this Republican presidential debate. On behalf of everyone here at CNN, we want to thank the candidates, the Reagan Library, and the Republican National Committee. Thank you, also, to Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash. The next presidential debate will also be right here on CNN, among the Democratic candidates, who will face off for the first time on October the 13th. That debate, a partnership with Facebook, will be moderated by my colleague, Anderson Cooper. And Anderson picks up our coverage of tonight's debate right now. Before I throw to Anderson, let's have one final round of applause for the candidates. +p1046 +asVSANTORUM +p1047 +(lp1048 +VWell, all he has to do is listen to the Democratic debate and find out how bad the economy is. All they do is complain about the hollowing out of the middle of America, and how America is struggling so badly, and have to make these radical changes in Washington. But they've been in control for the last seven years, and what have we seen? The most important jobs, I believe, in this country are the ones that fill the middle. For the 74% of Americans who don't have a college degree between the age of 25 and 65 are manufacturing jobs. Your governor, and your legislature, and your team here have done an amazing job of bringing manufacturing jobs back to South Carolina. Right here. Right here in Charleston, right down in the street in Boeing. You've done a great job, and what's happened? You've grown this economy, you've strengthened the center of your state, the middle. That's because you know that if you're really going to create wealth and opportunity, you got to get jobs, and good paying jobs for everybody. And, so what's happened? Two million jobs, manufacturing jobs, have left this country because of Barack Obama. Regulations, EPA, workplace regulations, things driving people off-shore all because of his number one priority, global climate change. Well, let me tell you this, Mr. President. For every dollar of GDP, China creates five times as much pollution as we do here. You want to \u2014 lower global climate change, bring those jobs back to America and let American workers do that job with less pollution. +p1049 +aVWell, the historic promises that we have made to \u2014 to Iran in this agreement need to be torn up on the first day in office of the next president. And let me tell you why, because Iran has already torn it up. Iran has not approved the agreement that President Obama has said that they have approved. They have approved a different agreement in their parliament. The fact of the matter is they have violated this agreement. Carly just mentioned some of those violations. They have launched ballistic missiles, tested them, in clear violation. And here's the pathetic part. The president announced that they were going to impose sanctions. And then President Rouhani went on Twitter and said there would be retaliation. And what did we do? We backed down. Ladies and gentlemen, there are 50 some Citadel cadets in this audience tonight. I would ask them to stand up if they will. And here's what I want to tell each and every one of them, as you stand. Here's what I want to tell them. Whether it's you're watching that movie this weekend that just came out when we abandoned our men and women in Benghazi, or whether it's we treat Iran, that gave courtesies to our sailors, as they made them record a hostage video, let me tell you this, if you choose to serve this country, I will have your back. I will not let America be trampled upon anymore by these radical jihadists. +p1050 +aVI would just say that if we were doing a better job within the government, we wouldn't need the private sector to do the things that we're asking them to do. I've had a little experience in this in the private sector myself. And what I found was a government with layers and layers of bureaucracy, of people who had some technical expertise but they had no authority, number one. And one of the things I found out about in the bureaucracy is if a lot of people have authority, nobody has authority, number one. And number two, that if you don't do anything, you don't get fired. It's only when you do something and something goes wrong, you get fired. So they do nothing. And that's what is happening in our Defense Department right now. We have a capability that they're trying to develop to play defense. We have a lot of technologists that are very skilled. And they're trying to figure out how to play defense. But what we don't have is we don't have folks who are thinking about offense. We don't have war-fighters. We have technologists. Technologists are not war-fighters. Technologists are thinking, how do I protect cyber-security, how do I secure, how do I protect? And we need to have a much more dynamic, how do we \u2014 how do we go after them? How do we respond? And we need leadership that's willing to make sure that when someone attacks us \u2014 and ladies and gentlemen, they're attacking us as we speak. They're attacking us all day every day, not just the government, but they're attacking private sector companies all day every day. They have to learn that we're going to pay \u2014 they're going to pay a price when they do so. And then right now, just like in every other aspect of our national security, people who attack us are not paying a price. We need a leader who will make sure that they know when they mess with America, they're going to pay a price. +p1051 +aVLook, Facebook and Twitter can teach us things. We can cooperate with them. We can share ideas and information. But this is a \u2014 and this is a very dicey area for the government to go in and require the industry to do its job. It needs to develop that capability. We need to be \u2014 have responsible dialogue, but I don't think requirements are the order of the day. +p1052 +aVWell, the most devastating attack that could occur is an electromagnetic pulse attack, and that would be an attack that would be triggered by a nuclear explosion in the upper atmosphere of our country. The best way to stop that from happening is to make sure that those who contemplating and actually war-gaming and talking about using it, Iran, doesn't get a nuclear weapon so they can't explode that device. And the president of the United States has put Iran on a path to a nuclear weapon. And we have done nothing to do anything to harden our grid. There is actually a bill in Congress that would put money forward to try to put redundancy and harden our electric grid so it could actually survive an EMP. An EMP is a devastating explosion that sends a pulse that knocks out all electric, everything, everything that is connected to any kind \u2014 that is wired, that has a circuit board gets fried out. Everything is gone. Cars stop. Planes fall out of the sky. This is a devastating attack. And this president has done nothing, number one, to take the most probable person to \u2014 probable country to launch an attack and stop them, and has done nothing to try to defend us, particularly our electric grid. The bottom line is, I put the original sanctions on the Iranian nuclear program when I was in the United States Senate. I've been fighting for 12 years with one thing in mind, that we must stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. And......because they're different than every other country. They do not want a nuclear weapon to defend themselves. They want a nuclear weapon to have theological ends to bring about their mahdi so they can control the world. And that is the most serious threat facing this country right now. +p1053 +aVWell, the numbers just don't add up. I mean, they have not added manufacturing jobs. Manufacturing jobs have been lost in this country, 2 million of them. The bottom line is that this president has done more to take jobs away from the hard-working people who are struggling the most. And that's folks who are, as I said, the 74 percent of Americans who don't have a college degree. And they're out there talking about, well, we're going to provide free college for everybody. Well, who is going to pay for it? The 74 percent that don't have a college degree. They're not \u2014 nobody is focused. Let's just be honest, nobody is focused on the people who are struggling the most in America today. We talk about immigration. Talk about the president's immigration plan. He wants to bring in more and more people into this country. Let people who are here illegally stay in this country. Almost all of the people who are here illegally, and most of the people who came here legally over the last 20 years, they're working in wage-earning jobs. That is why wages have flat-lined. And we have unfortunately two political parties with most of the candidates in this field for some form of amnesty, some form of allowing people to stay here even though they're here illegally and for increasing levels of legal immigration. I'm someone who believes that we need to be the party that stands for the American worker. And when we say we need to send people back, I mean we send people back. And let me just make one point. I was in Storm Lake, Iowa, the other day, near a Tyson's plant, 91 percent of the kids that go to the elementary school there are minority kids. And they said, well, what are you going to do with all of these people, their families, they've lived here for a long time? I said, I'm going to give them a gift. I'm going to give them a gift of being able to help the country they were born in. And I'm going to export America, the education they were able to see. They learned English language. They learned about capitalism. They learned about democracy. You want to stop flow of immigrants? Let's send six million Mexicans, Hondurans, Guatemalans, El Savadorians......back into their country, so they can start a renaissance in their country so they won't be coming over here anymore. +p1054 +aVYou know, we've had this debate about the economy, and we haven't talked the one issue now increasingly even the right, and even the are coming to agreement. I've run around doing 300 town hall meetings talking about a book written by a liberal Harvard sociologist, not a normal thing for me to be talking about, but I now name Robert Putnam who wrote a book called, "Our Kids". And, he wrote this book, I think, ostensibly to support the Democratic argument that the middle of America's hollowing out, and income gap is widening, and rich are getting richer. When he studied all the information as to what was going on, he realized that the biggest reason that we're seeing the hollowing out of the middle of America is the breakdown of the American family. The reality is that if you're a single parent \u2014 a child of a single parent, and you grew up in a single parent family neighborhood, you went to that single parent family school, the chance of you ever, ever reaching the top 20% of income earners is 3% in America. At least \u2014 I don't know about you, but that's not good enough. And, we have been too politically correct in this country because we don't want to offend anybody to fight for the lives of our children. You want \u2014 You want to be shocked? You read the first few chapters of Mr. \u2014 Dr. Putnam' book. He talks about Port Clinton, Ohio and growing up there in the 1950's, and how poor kids actually survived and did well, even though they were poor and disadvantaged. But, then he goes to the towns today and these kids are failing, and failing miserably. They don't even have a shot, and we won't even have the courage to have leadership at the federal level \u2014 not with legislation, but the most powerful tool a president have, the bully pulpit to encourage each and everyone of you, churches and businesses, and educators, and community leaders to let's have a national campaign to rebuild the American family, and give every child its birthright which is a Mom and a Dad who loves them. That will change this economy. +p1055 +aVLadies and gentlemen, America is frustrated and angry and looking for someone who's a fighter, but I also think they're looking for someone who's a winner. Somebody who can go out there and take on the establishment and make a difference. And take on someone who's going to be the person who's going to be between a Republican holding the presidency and that's Hillary Clinton. And there's one person on this stage, one person in the race who's done it and done it repeatedly. I've taken on Hillary Clinton on the issues you care about. Partial-birth abortion. Go and google Rick Santorum and Hillary Clinton and there you'll see a five-minute debate. I'll let you decide who won the debate. I'll tell you who won, because we passed the bill and I know I'm out of time but I'm going to take some of Rand Paul's time here for a second. If you're looking for someone who fought Hillary Clinton on Iran's sanctions, she was one of four who voted \u2014 who's deciding vote who voted against Iran's sanctions, so we didn't get it in place as earlier as we should have. I've fought battles against her. In 1994, I ran against the Clinton machine. James Carville and Paul Begala, ran the race against me when I took on the author of Hillary care. And each one of those battles, I won. You want a fighter, you want a winner, I'd appreciate your vote. Thank you. +p1056 +asVQUESTION +p1057 +(lp1058 +VI'm Mark Watson. I'm known for my views on Youtube, but I'm also a veteran who served in the Army for eight years. As an African-American living near Ferguson, I've seen the strain between police officers and the communities they serve firsthand. Now, there are great tools like body cameras that \u2014 to protect both officers and citizens, but we all currently have better cameras in our pockets than in our precincts. Why aren't we using the technology available to better protect our communities? +p1059 +aVI'm Dulce Candy, a Youtube creator who immigrated to the United States from Mexico when I was a little girl. Since then, I am proud to say I served in the armed forces in Iraq, became a citizen and I am now an entrepreneur. There are many immigrants who contribute positively to the American economy, but some of the comments in the campaign make us question our place in this country. If America does not seem like a welcoming place for immigrant entrepreneurs, will the American economy suffer? +p1060 +aVI'm Nabela Noor. I'm a Muslim American born and raised in the U.S. who creates beauty and lifestyle videos on Youtube. In 2015, the number of hate crimes against Muslims in the U.S. has tripled, and on social media, where I spend a lot of time, I've seen many attacks directed towards fellow Muslims. This culture of hatred is only driving +p1061 +aVMy name is Ashley Tofil. Ms. Fiorina, in November, you said that you would not talk to Vladimir Putin after you were elected because you would be communicating from a position of weakness. Do you believe that it is feasible to not communicate with another world leader? And do you think that that also is a sign of weakness? +p1062 +aVMy name is Carla Hernandez. I'm from the University of Texas at Austin. And my question is directed to all the candidates. If the Bible clearly states that we need to embrace those in need and not fear, how can we justify not accepting refugees? +p1063 +aVPlease describe one action you would do to make the economic environment more favorable for small businesses and entrepreneurs and anyone dreaming of opening their own business. +p1064 +asVCAVUTO +p1065 +(lp1066 +VIt is 9:00 p.m. here at the North Charleston Coliseum and Performing Arts Center in South Carolina. Welcome to the sixth Republican presidential of the 2016 campaign, here on the Fox Business Network. I'm Neil Cavuto, alongside my friend and co-moderator Maria Bartiromo. +p1067 +aVNow, the seven candidates on the stage tonight were selected based on their standing in six national polls, as well as polls in the early-voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire, those standings determining the position on the stage of the candidates tonight. And here they are. Businessman Donald Trump. Texas senator Ted Cruz. Florida senator Marco Rubio. Neurosurgeon Ben Carson. New Jersey governor Chris Christie. Former Florida governor Jeb Bush. And Ohio governor John Kasich. +p1068 +aVGovernor Kasich, we are not even two weeks into this stock trading year, but investors already lost $1.6 trillion in market value. That makes it the worst start to a new year ever. Many worry that things will get even worse, and that banks and financial stocks are particularly vulnerable. Now, if this escalates, like it did back when Barack Obama first assumed the presidency, what actions would you take if this same thing happens all over again just as, in this example, you are taking over the presidency? +p1069 +aVGovernor Bush, the president just told the nation two nights ago that America is back and that the idea that our enemies are getting stronger or that this country is getting weaker, well, it's just rhetoric and hot air. Now other Democrats go even further, sir, saying Republicans even suggesting such comments actually embolden our enemies. I guess they would include you. What do you say? +p1070 +aVSo I take it from that you do not agree with the president. +p1071 +aVSenator Rubio, the president says that +p1072 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1073 +aVMr. Trump, at the State of the Union, the president pointed to a guest who was a Syrian refugee you might recall whose wife and daughter and other family members were killed in an air attack. Now he fled that country seeking asylum here, ultimately ended up in Detroit where he's now trying to start a new life. The president says that that doctor is the real face of these refugees and not the one that you and some of your colleagues on this stage are painting; that you prefer the face of fear and terror and that you would refuse to let in anyone into this country seeking legitimate asylum. How do you answer that? +p1074 +aVAll right. Welcome back to the Republican presidential , right here in North Charleston, South Carolina. Let's get right back to the questions. And I'll start with you, Senator Cruz. Now you are, of course, a strict constitutionalist \u2014 no one would doubt that. And as you know, the U.S. Constitution says only natural-born citizens are eligible for the office of president of the United States. Stop me if you've heard this before. Now, you were born...... you were born in Canada to an American mother. So you were and are considered an American citizen. But that fellow next to you, Donald Trump \u2014 and others \u2014 have said that being born in Canada means you are not natural-born, and that has raised questions about your eligibility. Do you want to try to close this topic once and for all tonight? +p1075 +aVMr. Trump......that you raised it because of his rising poll numbers. +p1076 +aVWhy are you saying this now \u2014 right now? Why are you raising this issue now? +p1077 +aVSenator, do you want to respond? +p1078 +aVMarco Rubio. I'm sorry, it's the time constraints. You and Governor Christie have been exchanging some fairly nasty words of late, and I will allow the governor to respond as well. The governor went so far to say, you won't be able to slime your way to the White House. He's referring to a series of ads done by a PAC, speaking on your behalf, that say quote,"One high tax, Common Core, liberal, energy-loving, Obamacare, Medicaid-expanding president is enough. You think you went too far on that and do you want to apologize to the governor? +p1079 +aVThat is not my question. +p1080 +aVIs he a liberal? +p1081 +aVIs he a liberal? +p1082 +aVGovernor? +p1083 +aVYou were? +p1084 +aVWell, we are not done. Coming up, one of the top things people are talking about on Facebook, guns. And you can join us live us on this stage in the conversation during this commercial break right from home. You can go to Facebook.com/. We will be streaming live and talking about how we think the is going so far. We're back in a moment in Charleston, South Carolina. +p1085 +aVSenator Rubio, you said that President Obama wants to take people's guns away. Yet under his presidency, gun sales have more than doubled. That doesn't sound like a White House unfriendly to gun owners. +p1086 +aVBut what fact can you point to, Senator \u2014 what fact can you point to that the president would take away everyone's gun? You don't think that's ? +p1087 +aVGovernor Christie, you, too, have criticized the president's recent executive action on gun control, saying it's unconstitutional, another step to bypass Congress. But hasn't your own position on guns evolved, sir? The New Jersey Star-Ledger reports that you signed several laws to regulate the possession of firearms, and that you argued back in August 2013, and I quote, "These common sense measures will strengthen New Jersey's already tough gun laws." So isn't that kind of what the president wants to do now? +p1088 +aVMaria... +p1089 +aVGovernor bush, for the third time in as many months, the Iranians have provoked us, detaining us, as we've been discussing, with these 10 Navy sailors Tehran had said strayed into their waters. The sailors were released, but only after shown on video apologizing for the incident. This occurring only weeks after Iran fired multiple rockets within 1,500 yards of a U.S. aircraft carrier and then continued to test medium range missiles. Now you've claimed that such actions indicate Tehran has little to fear from a President Obama. I wonder, sir, what would change if they continued doing this sort of thing under a President Jeb Bush? +p1090 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Kasich, while everyone has been focusing on Iran's provocations, I'm wondering what you make of what Saudi Arabia has been doing and its recent moves in the region, including its execution of a well-known Shi'ite cleric and its move to dramatically increase oil production, some say in an effort to drive down oil prices and force a lot of U.S. oil producers out of business. Sure enough, oil prices have tumbled. One brokerage house is predicting a third or more of American oil producers and those heavily invested in fracking will go bankrupt, and soon Saudi Arabia and +p1091 +aVThank you John. +p1092 +aVBut you said \u2014 you said that he made those comments and they represented him being unhinged after he made them. +p1093 +aVWell \u2014 well, after he made them......his poll numbers went up eight points in South Carolina. Now \u2014 now, wait... +p1094 +aVAre you \u2014 are you saying \u2014 are you saying that all those people who agree with Mr. Trump are unhinged? +p1095 +aVMr. Trump, sometimes maybe in the heat of the campaign, you say things and you have to dial them back. Last week, the New York Times editorial board quoted as saying that you would oppose, "up to 45 percent tariff on Chinese goods." +p1096 +aVWell... +p1097 +aVYou never said because they provided that... +p1098 +aVSo they've never said to put a tariff on their... +p1099 +aVI'm sorry, you lost me. +p1100 +aVThen I apologize. Then I want to understand, if you don't want a 45 percent tariff, say that wasn't the figure, would you be open \u2014 are you open to slapping a higher tariff on Chinese goods of any sort to go back at them? +p1101 +aVI know... +p1102 +aVSo you're open to a tariff? +p1103 +aVAll right. +p1104 +aVHe is right. If you put a tariff on a good, it's Americans who pay. +p1105 +aVGovernor Christie, going back to your U.S. Attorney days, you had been praised by both parties as certainly a tough law and order guy. So I wonder what you make of recent statistics that showed violent crimes that have been spiking sometimes by double digit ratings in 30 cities across the country. Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn said, "most local law enforcement officials feel abandoned by Washington." Former NYC Police Chief Ray Kelly, says that, "police are being less proactive because they're being overly scrutinized and second guessed and they're afraid of being sued or thrown in jail." What would you do as president to address this? +p1106 +aVThank you governor. Governor Kasich, as someone has to deal with controversial police shootings in your own state, what do you make of Chicago's move recently to sort of retrain police? Maybe make them not so quick to use their guns? +p1107 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1108 +aVGentlemen, gentlemen \u2014 +p1109 +aVVery quick, very quick. +p1110 +aVDo you think they like each other? +p1111 +aVAll right, gentlemen, we've got to stop. I know you are very passionate about that. Governor Bush, fears have gripped this country obviously, and you touched on it earlier since the San Bernardino attacks. Since our last , the national conversation has changed, according to Facebook data as well. Now this first graphic shows the issues that were most talked about right before those attacks and now after: the issues of Islam, homeland security and +p1112 +aVWould you answer this question? +p1113 +aVFair enough. So Tim Cook \u2014 so Tim Cook says he's going to keep it private. +p1114 +aVBut if Tim cook is telling you no, Mr. President. +p1115 +aVDo you ask or do you order? +p1116 +aVGovernor, thank you. +p1117 +aVGovernor Bush? +p1118 +aVDr. Ben Carson? +p1119 +aVSenator Ted Cruz? +p1120 +aVGentlemen, thank you all. All of you. That wraps up our debate. We went a little bit over here. But we wanted to make sure everyone was able to say their due. He's upset. All right. Thank you for joining us. Much more to come in the Spin Room ahead. +p1121 +aVIt is 9:00 p.m. on the East Coast, 8:00 p.m. here inside the Milwaukee theater. Welcome to the Republican presidential debate here on the Fox Business Network. I'm Neil Cavuto, alongside my co-moderators, Maria Bartiromo, and the editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal, Gerard Baker. +p1122 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. +p1123 +aVIt sounds like a game show but it's not. Now I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the elephant in the room, and I'm not talking about your party's fine symbol. I'm talking about the purpose of tonight's debate. The economy and what each of you would do to improve it. No more, no less. We are focused on those issues, and what you have said on those issues in your words and what your opponents have said in their words about your words. That is the agenda tonight. How each of you plans to make America better tomorrow. And so we begin. Candidates, as we gather tonight in this very august theater, just outside and across the country, picketers are gathering as well. They're demanding an immediate hike in the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Just a few hours ago, near Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed doing the same for all state workers, the first governor to do so. Mr. Trump, as the leading presidential candidate on this stage and one whose tax plan exempts couples making up to $50,000 a year from paying any federal income taxes at all, are you sympathetic to the protesters cause since a $15 wage works out to about $31,000 a year? +p1124 +aVSo do not raise the minimum wage? +p1125 +aVDr. Carson, you have long bemoaned this lackluster recovery. And this Facebook map show Americans share your concern. The green represents how the jobs issue is resonating all across the nation, especially here in the state of Wisconsin. You suggested one minimum wage does not fit all, and that perhaps we should offer a lower or starter wage for young people. Those protesters outside are looking for $15 and nothing less. Where are you? +p1126 +aVSo, sir, just to be clear, you would not raise it? +p1127 +aVSenator Rubio, you called the recent Democratic debate in Las Vegas a night of giveaways, including free health care, free college and a host of other government-paid benefits. Since you aren't a fan of all they're giving away, tell us tonight what you would take back. +p1128 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. +p1129 +aVAll right. We're only just getting started. Coming up, your taxes. Stick around. You're watching FOX Business +p1130 +aVWelcome back to the Milwaukee Theater and the Republican presidential debate. Let's get right back to our questions. Dr. Carson, to you. You recently railed against the double- standard in the media, sir, that seems obsessed with inconsistencies and potential exaggerations in your life story, but looked the other way when it came to then-Senator Barack Obama's. Still, as a candidate whose brand has always been trust, are you worried your campaign \u2014 which you've always said, sir, is bigger than you \u2014 is now being hurt by you? +p1131 +aVI'll just forget that follow-up there. +p1132 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1133 +aVAlright, thank you. We're going to take a break here. Coming up, a big issue many Americans are facing, taxes. The Republican Presidential Debate continues now, live, from Milwaukee. +p1134 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from Milwaukee. Let's get back to the questions. And we want to touch on obviously one of the biggest of this issue in this year, taxes. And this will go to several of you. One of the biggest economic concerns of course in the country are taxes. Facebook data certainly backs that up. Once again the green on this map that we're going to see here shows how the conversation around taxes is resonating across the nation, especially here in Wisconsin. First off, Dr. Carson, to you. You say you are in favor of a tax system, I guess akin to tithing, sir, with a flat tax rate of up to 15 percent because you said, if everybody pays this, I think God is a pretty fair guy, so tithing is a pretty fair process. But Donald Trump says that is not fair. That wealthier taxpayers should pay a higher rate because it's a fair thing to do. So whose plan would God endorse then, Doctor? Yours or Mr. Trump's? +p1135 +aVRight. +p1136 +aVThank you very much. Senator Paul, you said you want to blow up the tax code and start over with an across-the-board 14.5 percent fair and flat tax. You happily offered that it is not revenue neutral and that's the idea. You want to choke off the amount of money coming into Washington. But don't you risk, sir, creating a near-term budget crisis just as your presidency would be beginning? +p1137 +aVThere are no deductions on your \u2014 under your plan? +p1138 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1139 +aVSenator Paul... Senator Paul, you have already said, sir, that that would be a mistake in not talking to Vladimir Putin, or to rule it out. You've argued that it's never a good idea to close down communication. With that in mind, do you think the same applies to administration efforts right now to include the Iranians in talks on Syria? +p1140 +aV...Well, then how would you respond? +p1141 +aVBut if you're not going to respond in a no-fly zone strategy, what would yours be? +p1142 +aVAll right. And look at the time, look at the time. You are watching FOX Business, we'll take a break. Stick around. +p1143 +aVSenator Cruz \u2014 and I will get to you \u2014 but, Senator Cruz, on that theme, Facebook data shows that over the last month alone, nearly 1 million people \u2014 nearly 1 million \u2014 have been concerned about reining in Wall Street, apparently believing that some have not been punished enough. So, as an accomplished litigator yourself and a former solicitor general, would you go after the very people who believe and fear that Wall Street has ignored, in other words, the crooks that Bernie Sanders say have gotten away with a financial murder? +p1144 +aVSenator......Senator, I really want to be clear here. Are you saying, sir, that if Bank of America were on the brink, you would let it fail? +p1145 +aVSir, I understand that. I just want to be clear, if you don't mind, that millions of depositors would be on the line with that decision. And I just want to be clear. If it were to happen again, for whatever the reason, you would let it go, you would let a Bank of America go? +p1146 +aVOK, I think it's fair to say you're not fans of Hillary Clinton's resume. Alright, Mr. Trump.... +p1147 +aVI had a feeling. Perhaps the most successful capitalist on this stage tonight, you've acknowledged that some give capitalism a bad name. You've been particularly critical of businesses that find all sorts of ways of paying their taxes by keeping money abroad, but your own plan includes an incentive to bring \u2014 that more the $2 trillion dollars home. Isn't that, like, a one-time bounty... +p1148 +aV...Some of the guys you all but call pirates, so they still keep the loot, and pay only a price to bring it back. +p1149 +aV...Alright, gentlemen, I know you want to \u2014 and I want to, be we also promised to get people home tonight, and we are going to take a quick break here. I think it is fair to say at this juncture that you can discuss these issues, and only business issues, but still keep it interesting. Stick around for these candidates closing statements. +p1150 +aVSenator Marco Rubio? +p1151 +aVDr. Ben Carson? +p1152 +aVDonald Trump? +p1153 +aVCandidates, we want to thank you all. We also appreciate your helping save time by talking over one another at times. That was welcomed. But by all means, it was a very riveting debate. Business issues can be \u2014 can be riveting, because it wasn't about us, it's about them. +p1154 +aVThat'll do it. Thank you for joining us. +p1155 +asVBLITZER +p1156 +(lp1157 +VWelcome to the CNN-Facebook Republican presidential debate here at the Venetian Las Vegas. We have a very enthusiastic audience. Everyone is here. They're looking forward to a serious and spirited discussion about the security of this nation. I'm Wolf Blitzer, your moderator tonight. This debate is airing on CNN networks here in the United States and around the world, and on the Salem Radio Network. The nine leading candidates, they are here. Let's welcome them right now. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Businessman and real estate developer Donald Trump. Retired neurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. And Ohio Governor John Kasich. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome these Republican candidates for president of the United States. This is the final Republican debate before the election year begins, and we're taking a moment for the photographs of the candidates together on the stage. Now, everyone, please rise for the national anthem sung by Ayla Brown. +p1158 +aVI know everyone is eager to get started. So, candidates, please take your places while I explain the ground rules for tonight. As moderator, I'll guide the discussion, and I'll be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt and CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. We also asked Republicans and independents nationwide to share their questions for the candidates. We teamed up with Facebook to send a campaign camper across the country over the past several weeks. Thousands of people stepped inside and recorded their questions on video. Millions more have weighed in on Facebook. Candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have a minute and 15 seconds to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you're singled out for criticism. Our viewers should know that we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. And as the candidates requested, a bell will sound like this. We know you are all eager to jump in and debate these important issues, so, please, wait until you're called on. These nine Republicans are positioned on stage based on their ranking in the recent polls, so let's begin right now. I'd like to invite each candidate to introduce himself or herself to our audience. You'll have one minute. First to you, Senator Paul. +p1159 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p1160 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1161 +aVMs. Fiorina? +p1162 +aVGovernor Bush? +p1163 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1164 +aVSenator Cruz. +p1165 +aVDr. Carson. +p1166 +aVMr. Trump. +p1167 +aVThank you. Since you last debated, Americans have witnessed terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino. The FBI director says the country now faces the greatest terror threat since 9/11. You all have different approaches to keeping the country safe. And that will be the focus of tonight's debate. Mr. Trump, as you mentioned in your opening statement, part of your strategy is to focus in on America's borders. To keep the country safe, you say you want to temporarily ban non-American Muslims from coming to the United States; ban refugees fleeing +p1168 +aVGovernor Bush, you called Mr. Trump "unhinged" when he proposed banning non-American Muslims from the United States. Why is that unhinged? +p1169 +aVMr. Trump? +p1170 +aVSenator Rubio \u2014 I'm going to go to Senator Rubio and get his thoughts. You have said banning Muslims is unconstitutional. But according to a recent ABC News-Washington Post poll, a majority of Republicans support Mr. Trump's idea. Why are they wrong? +p1171 +aVHugh Hewitt, you have a question. +p1172 +aVGovernor Christie, Americans are clearly more afraid today than at any time since 9/11. As you mentioned in your opening statement, today in Los Angeles, 650 schoolchildren didn't go to \u2014 650,000 schoolchildren didn't go to school because of an e-mail threat, this two weeks after an attack killed 14 people in San Bernardino. Is this the new normal? And if so, what steps would you take as president of the United States to ensure that fear does not paralyze America? +p1173 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, one of the killers in San Bernardino was an American who was not on anyone's watch list. How are you going to find that radicalized person and stop another such attack? +p1174 +aVThank you. Dana Bash, you have the next question. +p1175 +aVThank you. Dr. Carson, you're in favor of monitoring mosques and schools where there is anti-America sentiment, what do you consider anti- America? +p1176 +aVDr. Carson, who was right in that little debate that we just heard between Senator Rubio and Senator Paul? +p1177 +aVHold on a sec, we have a lot more to come and everybody's going to have their full opportunity. Governor Bush, six days after 9/11 your brother visited a mosque and said quote, "Islam is peace." The conversation tonight is about banning Muslims and surveillance of mosques, are President Bush's words still relevant in today's Republican party? +p1178 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you pointed out you were a CEO in Silicon Valley on 9/11. Companies there, they say they won't help the FBI now crack encrypted communication from +p1179 +aVBut my question was: Should these Silicon Valley companies be forced to cooperate with the FBI? +p1180 +aVMr. Trump, you recently suggested closing that Internet up, those were your words, as a way to stop +p1181 +aVLet me follow up, Mr. Trump. So, are you open to closing parts of the Internet? +p1182 +aVThank you. Governor Kasich, is shutting down any part of the Internet a good idea? +p1183 +aVThank you, Governor. The fight against radical Islamic terrorists and +p1184 +aVThank you. To be clear, Senator Cruz, would you carpet bomb Raqqa, the +p1185 +aVThank you. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you've been critical of Senator Cruz's strategy. You say his voting record doesn't match his rhetoric. Why? +p1186 +aVBecause I asked the question, Senator, because you said this. You said he, referring to Senator Cruz, voted against the Defense Authorization Act every year that it came up, and I assume that if he voted against it, he would veto it as president. That's the bill that funds our troops. +p1187 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1188 +aVSenator Rubio. +p1189 +aVWe are going to have much more on this... +p1190 +aVWe're going to have much more on this. But I want to move now back to Mr. Trump. +p1191 +aVHold on. Hold on. Hold on. +p1192 +aVWe have a lot... +p1193 +aVWe have a lot to discuss. I want to move to Mr. Trump right now. We have a question on this war against +p1194 +aVMr. Trump. +p1195 +aVGovernor Bush. Governor Bush. +p1196 +aVMr. Trump. +p1197 +aVJust one at a time, go ahead... +p1198 +aVGo ahead, Mr. Trump. +p1199 +aVGovernor Bush, please. +p1200 +aVOne at a time. +p1201 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1202 +aVThank you. +p1203 +aVAll right. Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash, Hugh, go ahead with the next question. +p1204 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Rubio? Let's continue this conversation. This is a critically important issue. +p1205 +aVWe will get to \u2014 we have a lot of time, Ms. Fiorina. I want to get to Senator Rubio right now. Let's talk about, one of the aspects of your strategy, you say the only way to defeat +p1206 +aVThank you, Senator. Stand by. Ms. Fiorina, the former defense secretary, Bob Gates, says the chances of getting Sunni-Arab forces on the ground to get the job done, his words, "chances very remote." What's your strategy? +p1207 +aVThank you. Governor Christie, what's your strategy? +p1208 +aVDr. Carson, what is your strategy? +p1209 +aVThank you. Everyone stand by. We're only just beginning. Coming up, which candidates on this stage tonight want to move foreign policy in a dramatically new direction? We'll be right back. +p1210 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate here at the Venetian, Las Vegas. The war against +p1211 +aVThank you. +p1212 +aVThank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. Senator Rubio, you supported the removal of Moammar Gadhafi in Libya. Now that country is in turmoil, as +p1213 +aVSenator Cruz? +p1214 +aVStandby. Everybody standby for a moment. Governor Kasich, go ahead. +p1215 +aVThank you. +p1216 +aVWe're going to talk about Assad in a moment. Mr. Trump, are Americans safer with dictators running the world in the Middle East? +p1217 +aVThank you. Mr. Trump? +p1218 +aVAll right. +p1219 +aVThank you. +p1220 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East... +p1221 +aVDr. Carson, is the Middle East better off with dictators? +p1222 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1223 +aVHold on Governor Bush., here's the question. You said, "getting rid of Saddam Hussein in your words was a pretty good deal." In light of what has happened in Iraq, do you still feel that way? +p1224 +aVSenator Paul, was getting rid of Saddam Hussein a pretty good deal? +p1225 +aVThank you. Hugh Hewitt, go ahead. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hugh. +p1226 +aVSenator, Senator, we're going to get to you. Wait your turn. We have two hours of debate. We'll have plenty of time. Let Hugh ask his question. +p1227 +aVSenator, please. +p1228 +aVSenator... +p1229 +aVYou'll have plenty of opportunity. Hugh, go ahead. +p1230 +aVThese are the rules all of you agreed to. Hugh, go ahead with your question. +p1231 +aVLet's continue with Russia right now. We have another question from Facebook. Listen and watch. +p1232 +aVMs. Fiorina, as you know, U.S. and Russian warplanes are flying all over Syria right now. With so many lives on the line, is this a good time for the United States not to talk to Putin? +p1233 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Christie, if the U.S. imposed a no-fly zone over Syria and a Russian plane encroached, invaded that no-fly zone, would you be prepared to shoot down that Russian plane and risk war with Russia? +p1234 +aVSenator Paul \u2014 Senator Paul, I want you to respond to what we just heard from Governor Christie. If there was a no-fly zone, you say that potentially could lead to World War III. Why? +p1235 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1236 +aVAll right, let's go back \u2014 Hugh and Dana? +p1237 +aVOne at a time. Hugh, go ahead. +p1238 +aVGovernor, thank you very much. So, Dr. Carson, you recently visited a refugee camp in Jordan and you deemed it your words, "really quite nice." Saying the people there didn't want to come to the United States. Do you think these camps are a long-term solution of the problem of Syrian refugees? +p1239 +aVSenator Paul, you oppose letting in Syrian refugees at this time into the United States. The U.S. has already accepted 2,000 Syrian refugees, including 13 living here in Las Vegas right now. Would you send them back? What would you do with these people? +p1240 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1241 +aVSenator Paul, you didn't answer the question about the 2,000 Syrian refugees who are already here in the United States. Will you send them back or let them stay? +p1242 +aVWe have another \u2014 we have another question. We have another question from Facebook. Let's listen. +p1243 +aVGovernor Christie, you say there should be a pause in allowing new refugees to come into the United States, including orphans under the age of five. What do you say to Carla? +p1244 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1245 +aVThank you, Governor. There is much more coming up. We are only just beginning. Coming up, what other global hot spots await the next president of the United States. +p1246 +aVWelcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate. We're here at the Venetian Las Vegas. Tonight we have been focusing on the Middle East, but let's turn to some other world threats that you will potentially face as Commander in Chief. Ms. Fiorina, candidates here have called the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un a maniac who is mentally unstable. Last week he said he now has a hydrogen bomb. If you were elected president, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p1247 +aVDr. Carson, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un? +p1248 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Dana and Hugh you have questions as well. +p1249 +aVThank you, Senator Rubio. Some of you on this stage have questioned whether your opponents have temperament, the right temperament, to be in control of the nuclear codes. Dana, you have a question on this? +p1250 +aVThank you, senator. Thank you. +p1251 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1252 +aVThank you, Senator. We're a month and a half away now from the first real test who will be the Republican presidential nominee. Hugh, you have a question? +p1253 +aVAll right. Candidates, we have more coming up. When we come back, everyone will have an opportunity to explain why this particular candidate, each of you on the stage, believes he or she should be the Republican presidential nominee. +p1254 +aVNow it's time for the closing statements from the candidates. Each one has 30 seconds. Senator Paul. +p1255 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1256 +aVGovernor Christie. +p1257 +aVMs. Fiorina. +p1258 +aVGovernor Bush. +p1259 +aVSenator Rubio. +p1260 +aVSenator Cruz. +p1261 +aVDr. Carson. +p1262 +aVThanks to all the Republican presidential candidates. That does it for this Republican presidential debate. +p1263 +asVMODERATOR +p1264 +(lp1265 +VComing up more of our debate, including questions about President Obama's foreign policy and these guys and their better ideas. Coming up. +p1266 +asVFIORINA +p1267 +(lp1268 +VWell, thank you. Good evening. If I may begin by saying how honored I am to be standing here with two former Iowa Caucus winners. Governor, Senator. And how honored I am to be talking with all of you. You know, I'm not a political insider. I haven't spent my lifetime running for office. The truth is I have had and been blessed by a lot of opportunities to do a lot of things in my life. And unlike another woman in this race, I actually love spending time with my husband. I'm standing here because I think we have to restore a citizen government in this country. I think we have to end crony capitalism. The crony capitalism that starts with both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. You know, Hillary Clinton sits inside government and rakes in millions, handing out access and favors. And Donald Trump sits outside government and rakes in billions buying people like Hillary Clinton. The state of our economy is not strong. We have record numbers of men out of work. We have record numbers of women living in poverty. We have young people who no longer believe that the American dream applies to them. We have working families whose wages have stagnated for decades, all while the rich get richer, the powerful get more powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected get more connected. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. +p1269 +aVAmerica must lead because when we do not lead, when this exceptional nation does not lead, the world is more dangerous and a more tragic place. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, they all refuse to lead. Worse, they refuse to respond when this nation is provoked. Hillary Clinton famously asked what difference does it make how four Americans died in Benghazi? Mrs. Clinton, here's what difference it makes. When you do not stand up and say the truth, that this was a purposeful terrorist attack, when you do not say the United States of America will retaliate for that attack, terrorists assume it's open season. We have refused to respond to every provocation. The President wouldn't even mention the fact that Iran had taken two Navy boats and our sailors \u2014 hostage. He didn't mention the fact that they violated the Geneva convention. He didn't respond to the fact that Iran launched two ballistic missile just a short time ago, in direct violation of a deal they had just signed. We didn't respond to the fact that North Korea attacked Sony Pictures. When we refuse to respond over, and over to provocation and bad behavior, we will get more provocation and bad behavior. I know most of our allies personally. I have met many of our adversaries. I know our military and our intelligence capability, and I know this. When we will not stand with our allies, when we will not respond to our adversaries, when we do not lead in the world the world is a dangerous and tragic place. I will be a Commander in Chief who will lead. +p1270 +aVOf course I'm worried about similar problems in the United States. We can not allow refugees to enter this country unless we can adequately vet them and we know we can't. Therefore we should stop allowing refugees into this country. And by the way, we do not need to be lectured about why we're angry and frustrated and fearful because we've had an illegal immigration problem in this country for 25 years. And we have every right to be frustrated about the fact that politicians stand up in election after election after election and promise us to fix the problem and yet, it has never been fixed. I offer leadership that understands that actions speak louder than words, that results count. We must secure our border. We must fix our broken immigration system. We must enforce a pro-American immigration system that serves our interests, not the rest of the world. I understand what it takes to translate goals into results and that is what I will do as president of the United States. Of course, we should be worried, for heavens sakes. This administration has now told us they don't know who has overstayed a visa. This administration has told us they don't even bother to check Facebook or Twitter to find out who's pledging allegiance to jihadis. We can do better than this, citizens. We need to take our country back. +p1271 +aVWe need to be very clear-eyed now about who are our allies and who are our adversaries. In the fight against +p1272 +aVAnd we all believe the polling data all the time, don't we? +p1273 +aVOh, it's a problem for so many reasons. First of all, it is yet another lawless executive order. You see, he doesn't like the fact that Congress has rejected his ideas twice on a bipartisan basis, so he's decided he just gets to override them. Sorry, Mr. President, not the way "The Constitution" works. Secondly......secondly, he basically admitted in that speech that he hasn't been paying much attention to enforcing the laws we have. He said, gee, we need a few more FBI agents. That would have helped, perhaps, stop a tragedy here in South Carolina with Dylann Roof, a guy who clearly never should have been sold a gun. In other words, Mr. President, you're right, we need to enforce the laws we have. Let's enforce the laws we have. There are criminals running around with guns who shouldn't have them. We don't prosecute any of them. Less than 1 percent. But I want to go back to the technology issue for a moment, if I may, as well, because in this regard, I disagree with Senator Santorum. Look, I come from the technology industry and I can tell you there is one thing that bureaucracies don't know how to do. They do not know how to innovate. We have come seven generations of technology since 2011. We have bureaucracies that are incapable of bringing in that innovation. So, yes, there are some very specific things that we should ask the private sector to help us with, including making sure we have the latest and greatest in algorithms to search through all these databases so that we find terrorists before they attack us, not after it's too late. And, finally, when a president who understands technology in the Oval Office. Mrs. Clinton, actually, you cannot wipe a server with a towel. +p1274 +aVYes, and see... +p1275 +aVAs CEO of Hewlett Packard... +p1276 +aVAs CEO of Hewlett Packard, I was asked very specifically for some very real help. The help I was asked to provide, this is now public information. So I am not revealing what \u2014 something that was \u2014 was classified. We had a very large shipment of equipment, software and hardware, headed to a retail outlet. And I was called by the head of the NSA, who had an urgent need for that capability, to begin laying out a program to track terrorists. We turned that truck around on a highway and it was escorted to the headquarters in San Jose. In World War II, our government went to the private sector and said, help us do things that we cannot do. The private sector has capabilities that the government does not have. There are some legal authorities that are required. The Sony attack could have been detected and repelled, had legal authorities been passed in Congress allowing private networks and public networks to work together. Those legal authorities have not yet been passed. Yes, I was asked to help. I know the technology industry. They will help again. But they must be asked by a president who understands what they have. +p1277 +aVFor decades, the professional political class in both parties has been talking about the middle class. For decades, Republicans in particular have been talking about reducing the size and scope of government, spending less money, reducing the complexity. And yet, for 40 years, the government has gotten bigger and more expensive. We now have a 75,000 plus page tax code, although politicians have run for office for decades promising reform. And all the while, middle class incomes have stagnated. You see, when government gets bigger and bigger, more powerful, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer and the middle class gets squeezed. We need to understand who the job creators are in this country, because we need more jobs to grow the middle class and to grow the wages of the middle class. Who creates jobs? Small businesses, new businesses, family-owned businesses. They create two thirds of the new jobs in this country and they employ half the people. I started out typing for a nine person real estate firm. My husband Frank started out driving a tow truck for a family-owned auto body shop. And we are crushing small businesses and destroying the middle class. So here's my blueprint to take back America. Let us first actually reform the tax code from 73,000 pages down to three. There's a 20-year-old plan to do exactly that. And then let us begin piece by piece to focus on every single dollar the government spends, so that we will spend less overall and still have enough for our priorities. And that requires the government to budget the way you do at home \u2014 examine every dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. The fancy term for that is zero- based budgeting, but I call it common sense. Citizens, we've got to take our country back. +p1278 +aVMy husband Frank, that I mentioned, I love spending time with. He's down there. He was real excited the other day because in New Hampshire, he was introduced as my eye candy. You know, everybody out there watching knows this. You cannot wait to see the debate between me and Hillary Clinton. You would pay to see that fight. And that's because you know I will win. And that's important. We've got to start by beating Hillary Clinton. All of my life, I have been told to sit down and be quiet. Settle. Settle. Don't challenge the system. That's what the American people are being told now and we have been told that for way too long \u2014 sit down and be quiet about our God, about our guns, about the abortion industry, settle for illegal immigration that's been a problem for decades, as so many of our problems have festered for decades. Accept a system of government and politics that no longer works for us. I will not sit down and be quiet. And neither will you. So I ask you to stand with me, fight with me, vote for me, citizens. It is time to take our future back, time to take our politics back. It is time to take our government back. Citizens, it is time. We must take our country back. +p1279 +aVLike all of you I'm angry. I'm angry at what's happening to our nation. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. Bombastic insults wont take it back. Political rhetoric that promises a lot and delivers little, won't take it back. All of our problems can be solved. All of our wounds can be healed by a tested leader who is willing to fight for the character of our nation. I have been tested. I have beaten breast cancer. I have buried a child. I started as a secretary. I fought my way to the top of corporate America while being called every B word in the book. I fought my way into this election and on to this debate stage while all the political insiders and the pundits told, "it couldn't be done." I've been told, "no,: all my life. And all my life, I've refused to accept no as an answer. Citizens, it is time to take our country back from the political class, from the media, from the liberal elite. It can be done, it must be done, join me and we will get it done. +p1280 +aVWhat I think we need to stand for are solutions. I offer myself as a leader to the people of this country because I think they're looking for solutions, not lawyers arguing over laws or entertainers throwing out sound bites that draw media attention. We need to solve the problem. To solve the problem, we need to do something here at home and something over there in their caliphate. We need to deny them territory. But here at home, we need to do two fundamental things. Number one, we need to recognize that technology has moved on. The Patriot Act was signed in 2001, roughly. The iPhone was invented in 2007. The iPad was invented in 2011. Snapchat and Twitter, all the rest of it, have been around just for several years. Technology has moved on, and the terrorists have moved on with it. Let me tell you a story. Soon after 9/11, I got a phone call from the NSA. They needed help. I gave them help. I stopped a truckload of equipment. I had it turned around. It was escorted by the NSA into headquarters. We need the private sector's help, because government is not innovating. Technology is running ahead by leaps and bound. The private sector will help, just as I helped after 9/11. But they must be engaged, and they must be asked. I will ask them. I know them. +p1281 +aVYou know, listening to this conversation, let me just say, we have a lot of argument about laws but none of it solves the problem. Let's examine what happened, why did we miss the Tsarnaev brothers, why did we miss the San Bernardino couple? It wasn't because we had stopped collected metadata it was because, I think, as someone who comes from the technology world, we were using the wrong algorithms. This is a place where the private sector could be helpful because the government is woefully behind the technology curve. But secondly, the bureaucratic processes that have been in place since 9/11 are woefully inadequate as well. What do we now know? That DHS vets people by going into databases of known or suspected terrorists. And yet, we also know that +p1282 +aVThey do not need to be forced. They need to be asked to bring the best and brightest, the most recent technology to the table. I was asked as a CEO. I complied happily. And they will as well. But they have not been asked. That's why it cost billions of dollars to build an Obama website that failed because the private sector wasn't asked. +p1283 +aVI hope at some point you're going to ask me my strategy. +p1284 +aVWell, first I'll just point out that talking tough is not the same as being strong. And to wage war, we need a commander in chief who has made tough calls in tough times and stood up to be held accountable over and over, not first-term senators who've never made an executive decision in their life. One of the things I would immediately do, in addition to defeating them here at home, is bring back the warrior class \u2014 Petraeus, McChrystal, Mattis, Keane, Flynn. Every single one of these generals I know. Every one was retired early because they told President Obama things that he didn't want to hear. We must have Sunni-Arabs involved in this coalition. We must commit leadership, strength, support and resolve. I'll just add that Margaret Thatcher once said, "If you want something talked about, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman." +p1285 +aVThat is exactly what President Obama said. I'm amazed to hear that from a republican presidential candidate. But let's just start with, who got it wrong? Who really got it wrong? Hillary Clinton has gotten every foreign policy challenge wrong. Hitting the reset button with Vladimir Putin \u2013 recall that she called Bashar Al-Assad a positive reformer and then she opened an embassy and then later she said, over, and over, and over again, "Bashar Al-Assad must go." Although she wasn't prepared to do anything about it. Recall that Hillary Clinton was all for toppling Gadhafi then didn't listen to her own people on the ground. And then of course, when she lied about the terrorist attack in Benghazi, she invited more terrorist attacks. +p1286 +aVWe've mismanaged going into Iraq. +p1287 +aVWe've mismanaged going out of Iraq. +p1288 +aVWe actually... +p1289 +aVI didn't say I would cut off all communication with Putin. What I said was as president of the United States, now is not the time to talk with him. Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. There is a time and a place for everything. There is a time and a place for talk. And there is a time and a place for action. I know Vladimir Putin. He respects strength. He lied to our president's face; didn't both to tell him about warplanes and troops going into Syria. We need to speak to him from a position of strength. So as commander in chief, I will not speak to him until we've set up that no-fly zone; until we've gathered our Sunni-Arab allies and begun to deny +p1290 +aVThis doesn't do a thing to solve the problems...It doesn't do a thing to solve the problems. +p1291 +aVIt will not solve the problem. +p1292 +aVLadies and gentleman, this is why the American people are standing up. +p1293 +aVThis is why the nation is fed up... +p1294 +aVWe have been talking about this... +p1295 +aVSorry, but you haven't gotten to me. This is why... +p1296 +aVthe people are fed up with the political class. +p1297 +aVWell, first, Kim Jong-Un is a dangerous leader, without a doubt. And both Republican and Democrat administrations have been completely ineffective in dealing with him. So we must continue to isolate him. We will need China as part of that strategy. China is a rising adversary. So one of the things we have to do if we want China's support is to push back on China. They, too, recognize one thing \u2014 strength and their own economic interest. I have done business in China for 25 years, so I know that in order to get China to cooperate with us, we must first actually retaliate against their cyber-attacks so they know we're serious. We have to push back on their desire to control the trade route through the South China Sea through which flows $5 trillion worth of goods and services every year. We cannot let them control the disputed islands, and we must work with the Australians, the South Koreans, the Japanese and the Filipinos to contain China. And then we must ask for their support and their help with North Korea. Because believe it or not, China is as concerned about Kim Jong-Un as we are. +p1298 +aVI too remember September 11th. I remember immediately putting into place security procedures all throughout our company that did business in 170 countries where we thought corporate interests would be attacked next. To take our country back, to keep our nation safe, we have to begin by beating Hillary Clinton. We need to unify our party. We need to better than our government, which 75 percent of the American people now think is corrupt and incompetent. They're right. We need to better than our politics. 80 percent think we have a professional/political class of both parties that cares more about its power, position and privilege than actually on getting anything done. We need to unify our party, we need a real Conservative in the White House, and we need to beat Hillary Clinton to take our country back and keep our nation safe. I can. I am. And together, if you join me, we will take our country back. +p1299 +aVWell, first of all, I must say as I think about that question, I think about a woman I met the other day. I would guess she was 40 years old. She had several children. And she said to me, you know, Carly, I go to bed every night afraid for my children's future. And that really struck me. This is America. A mother is going to bed afraid for her children's future. And the reason she's afraid for her children's future is because we've had problems for a long time. Yes, problems have gotten much worse under Democrats. But the truth is, this government has been growing bigger and bigger, more corrupt, less effective, crushing the engine of economic growth for a very long time. This isn't about just replacing a Democrat with a Republican now. It's about actually challenging the status quo of big government. Big government has created a big business called politics. And there are lots of people invested in the status quo of that big business called politics. Specifically, we need actually to do five things to really get this economy going again. We need to go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dollar is being spent, we can challenge any dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. We need to actually reform the tax code. Go to a three-page tax code. Yes, there are plans that would reform our tax code to three pages. In addition to rolling back what President Obama has done, we need to do a top-to-bottom review of every single regulation on the books. That hasn't been done in 50 years. We need to pass the +p1300 +aVWell, first Obamacare has to be repealed because it's failing... ...it's failing the very people it was intended to help, but, also, it is croney-capitalism at its worst. Who helped write this bill? Drug companies, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, every single one of those kinds of companies are bulking up to deal with big government. See, that's what happens. As government gets bigger, and bigger \u2014 and it has been for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike \u2014 and business have to bulk up to deal with big government. So, we have to repeal it. It's tens of thousands of pages long, no one can possible understand it except the big companies, the lawyers, the accountants, the lobbyists that they hire to protect their interests. Then, we have to give back to states the responsibility to manage a high risk pool. We need to try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried. Health insurance has always been a cozy, little game between regulators and health insurance companies. We need to try the free market. The free market. Where people actually have to compete. And, we 'ought to have the government ensure that you must \u2014 and I don't use that term often, that government 'ought to do something, but every healthcare provider 'ought to publish its costs, its prices, its outcomes, because as patients we don't know what we're buying. Now, let me just say \u2014 let me just say, I know more about innovation and entrepreneurship than anyone on this panel because I have led innovative businesses in the most highly competitive industry in the world for decades. The truth is the secret sauce of America is innovation, and entrepreneurship, it is why we must cut our government down to size, and hold it accountable. It's why we have to take our government back, because innovation and entrepreneurship is crushed by the crushing load of a 73,000 page tax code. It is crushed... ...by regulatory thicket that is so vast we don't even know what's in it anymore. It is crushed as well by government bureaucrats who don't do their jobs very well, and who are not held accountable, which is why I've said we got to take our government back, and to do that, we have to know where every dollar being spent, and be able to move any dollar. We have to hack through this regulatory thicket, repeal so much, but, also, know what's in that regulatory thicket \u2014 we don't even know what regulations have been passed. Third, we need to build a meritocracy \u2014 Scott Walker, by the way, is trying now to do in Wisconsin... ...Finally, we need to get to a three page tax code, and, yes, that plan exists. +p1301 +aVSorry, I can't hear you. +p1302 +aV...Absolutely... +p1303 +aV...You need to give... +p1304 +aVThe alternative is to allow states to manage high risk pools for those who really need help. Look, I'm a cancer survivor, OK? I understand that you cannot have someone who's battled cancer just become known as a pre-existing condition. I understand that you cannot allow families to go bankrupt if they truly need help. But, I also understand that Obamacare isn't helping anyone. We're throwing more, and more people into Medicaid, and fewer, and fewer doctors are taking those payments. The point is Obamacare is crushing small businesses, it is not helping the families it was intended to help. So, let us allow states to manage high risk pools. Let us try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried, the free market. Let us ensure that as patients, and customers... +p1305 +aV...that we have information to shop wisely for our health care. +p1306 +aV...Yes, the middle ground is this... +p1307 +aV...This is why \u2014 this is why we must combine, actually, zero-based budgeting with tax reform because unless we can examine, and cut, and move, every single dollar of discretionary spending in the federal government, we cannot reform taxes and reduce spending at the same time. Ask yourself this question, how is it possible that the federal government gets more money each and every year, which the federal government has been doing, receiving more money every year for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike, and yet, never has enough money to do the important things? The answer? All the money's always spoken for. All the money's spoken for. So, we have to go to zero-based budgeting, which is a simple idea \u2014 by the way, there's been a bill for zeros-based (ph) budgeting... ...It exists, it can be voted on. Every dollar must be examined. Any dollar can be cut. Any dollar can be cut, any dollar can be moved. We have to go to a three page tax code. You lower every rate, you close every loophole, why? Because the government uses the tax code to decide winners, and losers. You have to strip the corruption out of the tax code to pay for it. You have to know where every single dollar is being spent... +p1308 +aV...Cut where you need to, and invest where you need to... +p1309 +aV...The two go hand in hand... +p1310 +aVYou know, Mr. Trump fancies himself a very good negotiator. And, I accept that he's done a lot of good deals, so, Mr. Trump 'ought to know that we should not speak to people from a position of weakness. Senator Paul should know that as well. One of the reasons I've said that I would not be talking to Vladimir Putin right now, although I have met him as well, not in a green room for a show, but in a private meeting. One of the reasons I've said I wouldn't be talking to Vladimir Putin right now is because we are speaking to him from a position of weakness brought on by this administration, so, I wouldn't talk to him for awhile, but, I would do this. I would start rebuilding the Sixth Fleet right under his nose, rebuilding the military \u2014 the missile defense program in Poland right under his nose. I would conduct very aggressive military exercises in the Baltic States so that he understood we would protect our +p1311 +aV...we have the strongest military on the face of the planet, and everyone has to know it. +p1312 +aV...Ronald Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. +p1313 +aV...he walked away, he quit talks... +p1314 +aV...when it was time to quit talking... +p1315 +aVCan I just \u2014 could I just say, as a chief executive who's had to make tough calls to save jobs and to grow jobs, I think what's interesting about Dodd-Frank is it's a great example of how socialism starts. Socialism starts when government creates a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. Government created the problem. Government created the problem of a real estate boom. How did we create it? Under Republican and Democrats alike, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, everybody gathered together, Republicans and Democrats, and said, "home ownership is part of the American dream. Let's create a bubble," and then government stepped in \u2014 by the way, under president George W. Bush, banks were told \u2014 encouraged \u2014 told, really \u2014 to buy other banks, to take money. And now what do we have with Dodd-Frank? The classic of crony capitalism. The big have gotten bigger, 1,590 community banks have gone out of business, and on top of all that, we've created something called the Consumer Financial Production Bureau, a vast bureaucracy with no congressional oversight that's digging through hundreds of millions of your credit records to detect fraud. This is how socialism starts, ladies and gentlemen. We must take our government back. +p1316 +aVImagine a Clinton presidency. Our military will continue to deteriorate. Our veterans will not be cared for. And, no, Mrs. Clinton, that situation is not exaggerated. The rich will get richer. The poor will get poorer. The middle class will continue to get crushed. And as bad as that picture is, what's even worse is that a Clinton presidency will corrode the character of this nation. Why? Because of the Clinton way: Say whatever you have to, lie as long as you can get away with it. We must beat Hillary Clinton. Carly Fiorina can beat Hillary Clinton. I will beat Hillary Clinton. And under a President Fiorina, we will restore the character of this nation, the security of this nation, the prosperity of this nation, because as citizens, we will take our government back. +p1317 +aVWell, gee, after the last debate, I was told that I didn't smile enough. +p1318 +aVBut I also think that these are very serious times; 75 percent of the American people think the federal government is corrupt. I agree with them. And this big powerful, corrupt bureaucracy works now only for the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected. Meantime, wages have stagnated for 40 years. We have more Americans out of work or just Americans who quit looking for work for 40 years. Ours was intended to be a citizen government. This is about more than replacing a D with an R. We need a leader who will help us take our government back. +p1319 +aVLet me just say on taxes, how long have we been talking about tax reform in Washington, D.C.? We have been talking about it for decades. We now have a 73,000-page tax code. There have been more than 4,000 changes to the tax plan since 2001 alone. There are loads of great ideas, great conservative ideas from wonderful think tanks about how to reform the tax code. The problem is we never get it done. We have talked about tax reform in every single election for decades. It never happens. And the politicians always say it is so complicated, nobody but a politician can figure it out. The truth is this, the big problem, we need a leader in Washington who understands how to get something done, not to talk about it, not to propose it, to get it done. +p1320 +aVThat's right, three pages. +p1321 +aVYou know why three? +p1322 +aVNo. You know why three? Because only if it's about three pages are you leveling the playing field between the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected who can hire the armies of lawyers and accountants and, yes, lobbyists to help them navigate their way through 73,000 pages. Three pages is about the maximum that a single business owner or a farmer or just a couple can understand without hiring somebody. Almost 60 percent of American people now need to hire an expert to understand their taxes. So yes, you're going to hear a lot of talk about tax reform \u2014 +p1323 +aV\u2014 the issue is who is going to get it done. +p1324 +aVYou know, the +p1325 +aVWell, this is one of the reasons why Tom Perkins and I had disagreements in the boardroom, Becky. Nevertheless, one of the things that I think people don't always understand is how accountable a CEO actually is. So you know, I had to report results every 90 days in excruciating detail. I had to answer every single question about every single result and every single projection in public until there were no more questions. And if I misrepresented those results or those projections in any way, I was held criminally liable. Imagine \u2014 imagine \u2014 if a politician were held to that standard of account. I will run on my record all day long. And I believe people need a leader who is prepared to make tough calls in tough times and stand up... +p1326 +aV...and be held accountable. +p1327 +aVYou know, I want to go back for a moment to what we were just talking about. Crony capitalism is alive and well, and has been so in Washington, D.C. for decades. What's crony capitalism? Crony capitalism is what happens when government gets so big and so powerful that only the big and the powerful can handle it. So why are the pharmaceutical companies consolidating? Why are there five even bigger Wall Street banks now, instead of the ten we used to have on Wall Street? Because when government gets big and powerful, the big feel like they need to get even bigger to deal with all that power, and meanwhile, the small and the powerless \u2014 in this case, 1,590 community banks \u2014 go out of business. You see, folks, this is how socialism starts. Government causes a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. This is why, fundamentally, we have to take our government back. The student loan problem has been created by government. Government trying to level the playing field between Internet and brick-and-mortar creates a problem. The FCC jumping in now and saying, "we're going to put 400 pages of regulation over the Internet," is going to create massive problems. But guess who pushed for that regulation? The big Internet companies. This is what's going on. Big and powerful use big and powerful government to their advantage. It's why you see Walgreens buying Rite Aid. It's why you see the pharmaceuticals getting together. It's you see the health insurance companies getting together. It's why you see the banks consolidating. And meanwhile, small businesses are getting crushed. Community- based businesses and farms are getting crushed. Community banks are going out of business. Big government favors the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected, and crushes the small and the powerless. +p1328 +aVIt is why we have to simplify. It is why we have to reduce the size and power of government. +p1329 +aVIt's the only way to level the playing field between big and powerful and small and powerless. +p1330 +aVBecky, it is the height of hypocrisy for Mrs. Clinton to talk about being the first woman President, when every single policy she espouses, and every single policy of President Obama has been demonstrably bad for women. 92 percent \u2014 92 percent of the jobs lost during Barack Obama's first term belonged to women. Senator Cruz is precisely right. Three million women have fallen into poverty under this administration. The number of women \u2014 +p1331 +aV\u2014 living in extreme poverty is the highest level on record. I am a conservative because I know our values, our principles and our policies \u2014 +p1332 +aV\u2014 work better to lift everyone up, men and women. +p1333 +aVNo, the Federal Government should not play a larger role. Look, every time the Federal Government gets engaged in something it gets worse. And then the Government steps in to try and solve the problem and we get a little further down to that progressive vision that Hillary Clinton is talking about. Companies should, if they want to attract the best workers, provide a good set of benefits. But honestly, if you're a small business owner today you are being crushed. We have 400,000 small businesses forming every year in this country. How great is that? They are employing themselves, they are potentially employing others. The bad news is, we have 470,000 going out of business every year. And why? They cite Obamacare. They are refusing to... +p1334 +aVI think it's a wonderful that that businesses start a 401(k). The point I'm making is this, the Federal Government should not be in a lot of things. There is no Constitutional role for the Federal Government in setting up \u2014 retirement plans. There is no Constitutional role for the Federal Government to be setting minimum wages... +p1335 +aV... The more the Government gets engaged in the economy, the slower the economy becomes. The more the Government gets engaged in the economy, it is demonstrably true... +p1336 +aV... The more the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected are advantaged. +p1337 +aVJohn, I \u2014 if I \u2014 a lot of people have jumped in here. I'd like to jump in. A lot of people have jumped in here. +p1338 +aVI understand. +p1339 +aVI would just say that... ... I would just say this, we've heard a lot of great ideas up here, and I agree with what Senator Rubio said. Every election we talk about this. Every election we talk about Medicare and Social Security reform. It never happens. I would like to start with a basic. Let us actually go to zero- based budgeting so we know where the money is being spent. It's kind of basic. There is a bill sitting in the House that would actually pass and have us go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dime of your money is being spent instead of only talking about how much more we're going to spend year after year after year. My point is this. While there are lots of good ideas for reform, we have never tackled the basics. And we finally need to tackle the basics to cut this government down to size and hold it accountable. So let's start by knowing where your money is being spent by the federal government. +p1340 +aVYou know, every election we hear a lot of talk. We hear a lot of good plans. We hear actually a lot of good intentions. But somehow for decades, nothing really has changed. What we need now is a proven leader who has produced results. That's how you go from secretary to CEO. You lead and you produce results. I will cut this government down to size and hold it accountable, simplify the tax code, roll back the regulations that have been spewing out of Washington, D.C. for 50 years. I may not be your dream candidate just yet, but I can assure you I am Hillary Clinton's worst nightmare. And in your heart of hearts, you cannot wait to see a debate between Hillary Clinton and Carly Fiorina. I will tell you this, I will beat Hillary Clinton. And with your vote and your support and your prayers, I will lead with the citizens of this great nation the resurgence of this great nation. +p1341 +aVGood evening. My story, from secretary to CEO, is only possible in this nation, and proves that everyone of us has potential. My husband, Frank, of 30 years, started out driving a tow truck for a family owned auto body shop. We have come to a pivotal point in our nation's history where this nation's possibilities and potential are being crushed by a government grown so big, so powerful, so inept, so corrupt, and a political class that refuses to do anything about it. I am prepared to lead the resurgence of this great nation. +p1342 +aVYou know, I think Mr. Trump is a wonderful entertainer. He's been terrific at that business. I also think that one of the benefits of a presidential campaign is the character and capability, judgment and temperament of every single one of us is revealed over time and under pressure. All of us will be revealed over time and under pressure. I look forward to a long race. +p1343 +aVThat's not for me to answer; it is for the voters of this country to answer, and I have a lot of faith in the common sense and good judgment of the voters of the United States of America. +p1344 +aVJake, I'll tell you \u2014 I'll tell you why people are supporting outsiders. It's because you know what happens if someone's been in the system their whole life, they don't know how broken the system is. A fish swims in water, it doesn't know it's water. It's not that politicians are bad people, it's that they've been in that system forever. The truth is 75 percent of the American people think the government is corrupt; 82 percent of the American people think these problems that have festered for 50 years in some cases, 25 years in other cases. The border's been insecure for 25 years; 307,000 veterans have died waiting for health care. These things have gone on for so long because no one will challenge the status quo. You know what a leader does? They challenge the status quo, they solve problems that have festered for a long time and they produce results. That is what my whole life has been about. People know this is about far more than replacing a D with an R \u2014 +p1345 +aV\u2014 this is about changing the system. +p1346 +aVHaving... +p1347 +aVHaving met Vladimir Putin, if I may... +p1348 +aVHaving met Vladimir Putin, I wouldn't talk to him at all. We've talked way too much to him. What I would do, immediately, is begin rebuilding the Sixth Fleet, I would begin rebuilding the missile defense program in Poland, I would conduct regular, aggressive military exercises in the Baltic states. I'd probably send a few thousand more troops into Germany. Vladimir Putin would get the message. By the way, the reason it is so critically important that every one of us know General Suleimani's name is because Russia is in Syria right now, because the head of the Quds force traveled to Russia and talked Vladimir Putin into aligning themselves with Iran and Syria to prop up Bashar al- Assad. Russia is a bad actor, but Vladimir Putin is someone we should not talk to, because the only way he will stop is to sense strength and resolve on the other side, and we have all of that within our control. We could rebuild the Sixth Fleet. I will. We haven't. We could rebuild the missile defense program. We haven't. I will. We could also, to Senator Rubio's point, give the Egyptians what they've asked for, which is intelligence. We could give the Jordanians what they've asked for... +p1349 +aV...bombs and materiel. We have not supplied it... +p1350 +aV...I will. We could arm the Kurds. They've been asking us for three years. All of this is within our control. +p1351 +aV...Jake... +p1352 +aV...Jake, ... +p1353 +aVAnd then it'll be my turn. +p1354 +aVJake? +p1355 +aVJake? +p1356 +aVDana, I'd like to... +p1357 +aVDana, I would like to link these two issues, both of which are incredibly important, Iran and Planned Parenthood. One has something to do with the defense of the security of this nation. The other has something to do with the defense of the character of this nation. You have not heard a plan about Iran from any politician up here, here is my plan. On day one in the Oval Office, I will make two phone calls, the first to my good friend to Bibi Netanyahu to reassure him we will stand with the state of Israel. The second, to the supreme leader, to tell him that unless and until he opens every military and every nuclear facility to real anytime, anywhere inspections by our people, not his, we, the United States of America, will make it as difficult as possible and move money around the global financial system. We can do that, we don't need anyone's cooperation to do it. And every ally and every adversary we have in this world will know that the United States in America is back in the leadership business, which is how we must stand with our allies. As regards Planned Parenthood, anyone who has watched this videotape, I dare Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama to watch these tapes. Watch a fully formed fetus on the table, it's heart beating, it's legs kicking while someone says we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain. This is about the character of our nation, and if we will not stand up in and force President Obama to veto this bill, shame on us. +p1358 +aVYou know, it's interesting to me, Mr. Trump said that he heard Mr. Bush very clearly and what Mr. Bush said. I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said. +p1359 +aVDana, with all being said to Mr. Trump... +p1360 +aVImmigration did not come up in 2016 because Mr. Trump brought it up. We talked about it in 2012, we talked about it in 2008. We talked about it in 2004. +p1361 +aVWe have been talking about it for 25 years. This is why people are tired of politicians. +p1362 +aVFirst let me say, We have just spent a good bit of time discussing, as Republicans, how to solve this problem. I would ask your audience at home to ask a very basic question. Why have Democrats not solved this problem? President Obama campaigned in 2007 and 2008 on solving the immigration problem. He entered Washington with majorities in the House and the Senate. He could have chosen to do anything to solve this pro \u2014 this problem. Instead, he chose to do nothing. Why? because the Democrats don't want this issue solved. +p1363 +aVThey want it to be an issue that they can use. As to birthright citizenship... +p1364 +aV...the truth is, you can't just wave your hands and say "the 14th Amendment is gonna go away." It will take an extremely arduous vote in Congress, followed by two-thirds of the states, and if that doesn't work to amend the Constitution, then it is a long, arduous process in court. And meanwhile, what will continue to go on is what has gone on for 25 years. With all due respect, Mr. Trump, we've been talking about illegal immigration for 25 years. San Francisco has been a sanctuary city since 1989. There are 300 of them. And meanwhile, what has happened? Nothing. The border remains insecure. The legal immigration system remains broken. Look, we know what it takes to secure a border. We've heard a lot of great ideas here. Money, manpower, technology... +p1365 +aV...mostly, apparently, leadership... +p1366 +aV...the kind of leadership that understands how to get results. +p1367 +aVBut you \u2014 you would stipulate, Mr. Trump, but not everyone agrees with you. +p1368 +aVOK. +p1369 +aVI led Hewlett Packard through a very difficult time, the worst technology recession in 25 years. The +p1370 +aV\u2014 out a full-page ad in the New York Times to say he was wrong, I was right. I was a terrific CEO, the board was dysfunctional. And he thinks I will make a magnificent president of the United States. +p1371 +aVYou know, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld is a well-known Clintonite and honestly had it out for me from the moment that I arrived at Hewlett Packard. But honestly, Mr. Trump, I find it quite rich that you would talk about this. You know, there are a lot of us Americans who believe that we are going to have trouble someday paying back the interest on our debt because politicians have run up mountains of debt using other people's money. That is in fact precisely the way you ran your casinos. You ran up mountains of debt, as well as losses, using other people's money, and you were forced to file for bankruptcy not once \u2014 +p1372 +aV\u2014 not twice, four times, a record four times. Why should we trust you to manage the finances \u2014 +p1373 +aV\u2014 of this nation any differently than you managed the finances \u2014 +p1374 +aV\u2014 of your casinos? +p1375 +aVWell \u2014 +p1376 +aVWell, Mr. Trump \u2014 +p1377 +aVA track record of leadership is not a game. It is the issue in this election. +p1378 +aVWell, I thought we had been hearing quite a bit about Govenor Christie's record as governor, actually. I think track records are very important. I completely agree that what's at stake here is the future of this nation, and the future of every American. But I do think that a track record of leadership is vital because in the end this election is about leadership. And let's talk about what leadership is. It's not about braggadocio, it is about challenging the status quo, solving problems, producing results. And the highest calling of leadership is to unlock potential in others. +p1379 +aVProblems have festered in Washington for too long. And the potential of this nation is being crushed. +p1380 +aVYou see, Governor Christie, people spend time talking about their track records, and Mr. Trump and I have every right to do the same. And Mrs. Clinton has to defend her track record. Her track record of lying about Benghazi, of lying about her e- mails, about lying about her servers. She does not have a track record of accomplishment. Like Mrs. Clinton, I, too, have travels hundreds of thousands of miles around the globe. But unlike Mrs. Clinton, I know flying is an activity, not an accomplishment. Mrs. Clinton \u2014 if you want to stump a Democrat, ask them to name a accomplishment of Mrs. Clinton's. +p1381 +aVWe just spent \u2014 we just spent the last 10 minutes... +p1382 +aV...Jake, since everyone has gotten to weigh in on this military issue, I'd like to be able to do the same. We have spent probably 12 minutes talking about the past. Let's talk about the future. We need the strongest military on the face of the planet, and everyone has to know it. And, specifically, what that means is we need about 50 Army brigades, we need about 36 Marine battalions, we need somewhere between 300, and 350 naval ships, we need to upgrade every leg of the nuclear triad... +p1383 +aV...we need to reform the Department of Defense, we need as well... +p1384 +aV...to invest in our military technology, and we need to care for our veterans so 307,000... +p1385 +aV...aren't dying waiting for health care. +p1386 +aVJake, may I just say... +p1387 +aVJake \u2014 Jake... +p1388 +aVI very much hope I am the only person on this stage who can say this, but I know there are millions of Americans out there who will say the same thing. My husband Frank and I buried a child to drug addiction. So, we must invest more in the treatment of drugs. +p1389 +aVI agree with Senator Paul. I agree with states' rights. But we are misleading young people when we tell them that marijuana is just like having a beer. It's not. And the marijuana that kids are smoking today is not the same as the marijuana that Jeb Bush smoked 40 years ago. We do \u2014 sorry, Barbara. We do need \u2014 we do need criminal justice reform. We have the highest incarceration rates in the world. Two-thirds of the people in our prisons are there for non-violent offenses, mostly drug related. It's clearly not working. But we need to tell young people the truth. Drug addiction is an epidemic, and it is taking too many of our young people. I know this sadly from personal experience. +p1390 +aVI wouldn't change the $10 bill, or the $20 bill. I think, honestly, it's a gesture. I don't think it helps to change our history. What I would think is that we ought to recognize that women are not a special interest group. Women are the majority of this nation. We are half the potential of this nation, and this nation will be better off when every woman has the opportunity to live the life she chooses. +p1391 +aVSecretariat. +p1392 +aVI think what this nation can be and must be is symbolized by Lady Liberty and Lady Justice. Lady Liberty stands tall and strong. She is clear-eyed and resolute. She doesn't shield her eyes from the realities of the world, but she faces outward into the world nevertheless, as we always must. And she holds her torch high, because she knows she is a beacon of hope in a very troubled world. And Lady Justice, Lady Justice holds a sword by her side, because she is a fighter, a warrior for the values and the principles that have made this nation great. She holds a scale in her other hand. And with that scale she says all of us are equal in the eyes of God. And so all of us must be equal in the eyes of the law and the government, powerful and powerless alike. And she wears a blindfold. And with that blindfold she is saying to us that it must be true, it can be true that in this country, in this century, it doesn't matter who you are, it doesn't matter what you look like, it doesn't matter how you start, it doesn't matter your circumstances, here in this nation, every American's life must be filled with the possibilities that come from their God-given gifts. One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. +p1393 +aVWhen America does not lead, the world is a dangerous and a tragic place. This is a bad deal. Obama broke every rule of negotiation. Yes, our allies are not perfect, but Iran is at the heart of most of the evil that is going on in the Middle East through their proxy. +p1394 +asVBUSH +p1395 +(lp1396 +VRight. +p1397 +aVNot on specific issues, not at all. I think the next president \u2014 if I'm president, I will appoint people \u2014 I'll nominate people that have a proven record in the judiciary. The problem in the past has been we have appointed people thinking you can get it through the Senate because they didn't have a record. And the problem is that sometimes we're surprised. The simple fact is the next president needs to appoint someone with a proven conservative record, similar to Justice Scalia, that is a lover of liberty, that believes in limited government, that consistently applied that kind of philosophy, that didn't try to legislator from the bench, that was respectful of the Constitution. And then fight and fight, and fight for that nomination to make sure that that nomination passes. Of course, the president, by the way, has every right to nominate Supreme Court justices. I'm an Article II guy in the Constitution. We're running for the president of the United States. We want a strong executive for sure. But in return for that, there should be a consensus orientation on that nomination, and there's no doubt in my mind that Barack Obama will not have a consensus pick when he submits that person to the Senate. +p1398 +aVYes. +p1399 +aVNo, it doesn't, and that's the problem. The lack of leadership in this country by Barack Obama, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, thinking that this is a policy that works, this policy of containment with +p1400 +aVThe very basic fact is that Vladimir Putin is not going to be an ally of the United States. The whole world knows this. It's a simple, basic fact. They're not taking out \u2014 they're not even attempting to take out +p1401 +aV... Let me finish... +p1402 +aV... This is ridiculous... +p1403 +aV... This is coming from a guy who gets his foreign policy from the shows. +p1404 +aV... This is a guy who thinks that Hillary Clinton is a great negotiator in Iran... +p1405 +aV... This is a man who insults his way to the nomination... +p1406 +aVI think it's my turn, isn't it? +p1407 +aVI've got about five or six... +p1408 +aVDo I get to do it five or six times or just once, responding to that? +p1409 +aVSo here's the deal. I'm sick and tired of Barack Obama blaming my brother for all of the problems that he has had. And, frankly, I could care less about the insults that Donald Trump gives to me. It's blood sport for him. He enjoys it. And I'm glad he's happy about it. But I am sick and tired... +p1410 +aVI am sick and tired of him going after my family. My dad is the greatest man alive in my mind. And while Donald Trump was building a reality TV show, my brother was building a security apparatus to keep us safe. And I'm proud of what he did. And he has had the gall to go after my brother. +p1411 +aVHe has had the gall to go after my mother. Hold on. Let me finish. He has had the gall to go after my mother. +p1412 +aVLook, I won the lottery when I was born 63 years ago, looked up, and I saw my mom. My mom is the strongest woman I know. +p1413 +aVThis is not about my family or his family. This is about the South Carolina families that need someone to be a commander in chief that can lead. I'm that person. +p1414 +aVCan I just... +p1415 +aVI'm not going to invite Donald Trump to the rally in Charleston on Monday afternoon when my brother is coming to speak. +p1416 +aVI'm rescinding the invitation. I thought you might want to come, but I guess not. +p1417 +aVI'd like \u2014 can I \u2014 can I... +p1418 +aVLook, I admire the fact that Governor Kasich is supporting spending more money on drug treatment and mental health. I think that's a high priority all across this country, but expanding Obamacare is what we're talking about, and Obamacare's expansion, even though the federal government is paying for the great majority of it, is creating further debt on the backs of our children and grandchildren. We should be fighting Obamacare, repealing Obamacare, replacing it with something totally different. When I was \u2014 as a private citizen, Florida was confronted with the choice. The governor was supportive of doing what John did. So was the Florida Senate. A committed speaker of the House asked me to go as a private citizen to make the case against the expansion. I did, and it wasn't expanded there, just as it wasn't expanded in South Carolina under Governor Haley. +p1419 +aVSouth Carolina \u2014 South Carolinians need to know this, because the Cato Institute, which grades governors based on their spending, rank him right at the bottom. +p1420 +aVAnd Governor Haley is ranked at the top. +p1421 +aVNo. He mentioned my name. +p1422 +aVLet me finish, though. No, no, no \u2014 hey, wait, wait, wait. Just hold, Major, hold, Major. Hold on, Major. +p1423 +aVSouth Carolinians want to make that, they elect the most conservative governor or candidate that can win. +p1424 +aVOf course not. It won't have an impact on hedge funds managers paying ordinary income. In fact, it's not just hedge fund people, but people that are doing \u2014 they're in the business of investing other people's money, getting capital gains treatment is not appropriate. They should be paying ordinary income. That's their business. They're grateful to be able to make a lot of money, I'm sure. And what we do is lower the rates. It's not the end of the world that private equity people and hedge fund folks that are, right now, getting capital gains treatment for the income they earn, pay ordinary income like everybody else in this room. That's not a problem at all. What we need to do is reform the tax code to simplify the rates, to shift power away from Washington, D.C. That's what I did as governor of the state of Florida, $19 billion dollars of tax cuts, and it stimulated seven out of the eight years. Florida led the nation in job growth. +p1425 +aVThank you. +p1426 +aVGreat question. I feel like I have to get into my inner Chris Christie, and point out that the reason why I should be president is listening to two senators talk about arcane amendments to bills that didn't pass. This is \u2014 this is the problem. We need a leader to fix this problem. And I have a detailed plan to do just that, including controlling the border, dealing with the visa over-stayers, making sure that we have a path to legal status, not to citizenship, for those that come out from the shadows and pay a fine, learn English, don't commit crimes, work and pay taxes. That is the better approach. +p1427 +aVThe great majority of people that come to this country come because they have no other choice. They want to come to provide for their families. That doesn't mean it's right. That doesn't mean it's right. We should pick who comes to our country. We should control our border. Coming here legally should be a lot easier than coming here illegally. But the motivation, they're not all rapists, as you-know-who said. They're not that. These are people that are coming to provide for their families. And we should show a little more respect for the fact that they're struggling. It doesn't mean we shouldn't be controlling the border. That's exactly what we should be doing. +p1428 +aV... So, you know......This is the standard operating procedure, to disparage me. That's fine... +p1429 +aV... But, if you want to talk about weakness, you want to talk about weakness? It's weak to disparage women. +p1430 +aVIt's weak to denigrate the disabled. And,it's really weak to call John McCain a loser because he was a... +p1431 +aV... That is outrageous. The guy's an American hero. +p1432 +aV... The simple fact is I've also laid out my plans on immigration... +p1433 +aV Just, for the record make sure my mother's listening, if she's watching the debate. I didn't say that I was going to moon somebody... +p1434 +aVSo, there \u2014 so, there is all sorts of intrigue about where I disagree with my brother, there would be one right there. You should not use eminent domain for private purposes. A baseball stadium or a parking lot for a limo... +p1435 +aVIt's very different. Transmission lines, pipe lines, bridges and highways. All of that is proper use of imminent domain. Not to take an elderly woman's home to build a parking lot so that high-rollers can come from New York City to build casinos in Atlantic City. +p1436 +aVMy name was mentioned twice. +p1437 +aVHe called me a liar. +p1438 +aVAlso, he talked about one of my heroes, Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan was a liberal maybe in the 1950s. He was a conservative reformed governor for eight years before he became president, and no one should suggest he made an evolution for political purposes. He was a conservative, and he didn't tear down people like Donald Trump is. He tore down the Berlin Wall. +p1439 +aVHe was a great guy. +p1440 +aVThat was me. +p1441 +aVYeah, well, I have got to respond to this. +p1442 +aVSounds like a good plan. +p1443 +aVOr you could ask me two questions, so I could get two minutes instead of one. +p1444 +aVI think the dysfunction in Washington is really dangerous, that's what I think. And we need a proven leader that has a record of solving problems, someone who doesn't cut and run; someone who could be a commander in chief to unite our country around common purposes; someone who doesn't disparage people. Someone that doesn't brag, for example, that he has been bankrupt four times and it was great, because he could use the legal system. Someone... +p1445 +aVWe need someone with a proven record to be able to forge consensus to solve problems. And right now, both Republicans and Democrats in Washington don't get it. People are struggling \u2014 63 percent of Americans can't make a $500 car payment. Most Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. And we need someone has a proven record of growing the economy, reforming the things that are broken. And I'm that person. +p1446 +aVYeah... +p1447 +aVYeah. +p1448 +aVHere we go. +p1449 +aVHere's the record. Here's the record. We led the nation in job growth seven out of eight years. When I left there was $9 billion of reserves, 35 percent of general revenue. No state came close to that. +p1450 +aVWhen I \u2014 during my time, we were one of the two states to go to AAA bond rating. We didn't go bankrupt like Trump did and call it success when people are laid off, when vendors don't get paid. That's not success. What we did was create an environment where people had a chance to have income. Personal income during my time went up by 4.4 percent. +p1451 +aVThe government grew by... +p1452 +aV... half of that. +p1453 +aVThank you all very much. The next president is going to be confronted with an unforeseen challenge. That's almost certain. It could be a pandemic, a major natural disaster or an attack on our country. The question for South Carolinians and Americans is who do you want to have sitting behind the big desk in the Oval Office? Because that's the question. It's not the things we're talking about today. It's the great challenge that may happen. I believe I will have a steady hand as commander in chief and president of the United States. I will unite this country around common purposes because I did it as governor of the state of Florida. When I was governor, we had eight hurricanes and four tropical storms in 16 months. Our state was on its back. We recovered far faster than what people thought because we led. We want to challenge rather than cutting and running. That's what we need in Washington, D.C. We need someone with a servant's heart that has a backbone, that isn't going to focus on polls and focus groups. The focus will be on the American people to keep them safe and secure. I ask for your vote next Saturday. +p1454 +aVChris, why don't you mention my name so I can get into this. +p1455 +aV... I appreciate that, I really do, thank you. +p1456 +aVWell, first of all he said the exact same thing about me, that I would make a great Vice Presidential nominee when Mitt Romney was considering. I said the same thing about Marco. I think we were both right at the time, and Mitt picked somebody else. So, let's move on to the 2016 race. Who has the leadership skills... ...who has the leadership skills to lead? And, I'm proud of the fact that I have 12 Medal of Honor recipients, over 30 admirals and generals that believe that I would be a steady hand as Commander in Chief. That I serve as Governor of the state of Florida where we cut taxes and reduced government. I took on very powerful interests, forged consensus, fought for my beliefs, implemented them and the state was better off. We had eight hurricanes and four tropical storms in 16 months. The whole state was turned upside down. It required a steady hand. Leadership. You learn this, you learn it by doing it. It's not something that you just go up, and on the job do it. It's not the same. Look, let's be clear. Marco Rubio is a gifted, gifted politician, and he may have the skills to be a President of the United States, but we've tried it the old way with Barack Obama, with soaring eloquence and we got \u2014 we didn't get a leader we got someone who wants to divide the country up. The next President......going to have to forge consensus to bring about a set of common purposes so that we can move forward again in this country... +p1457 +aV... this relates to strategic patience. +p1458 +aVThis relates to the strategic patience of the Obama administration. They come up with these great marketing terms, and what they do is they pull back, and voids are filled, and they're now filled by asymmetric threats of terror, as well as nation-states on the run. The next president of the United States is gonna have to get the United States back in the game, and if a preemptive strike is necessary to keep us safe, then we should do it. +p1459 +aVWell, first of all, it's interesting that that happened literally days when this hostage release took place in Iran. A day or two days afterwards, North Korea took a \u2014 held an American student hostage. I think it's when we send a signal of weakness, when we are negotiating to release people that committed crimes in our country for people that didn't commit crimes that are held hostage in Iran. We saw the shameful treatment of our sailors, that this creates weakness \u2014 sends a signal of weakness around the world. The next president of the United States is going to have to get back in the game. Where the United States' word matters. Where we back up our allies, where we don't send signals of weakness. We need to use every \u2014 every influence possible to get this student back. And I think John is right about this, there are crippling sanctions that are available, as it relates to the two or three banks that North Korea uses to \u2014 to \u2014 use it \u2014 illicit trade. We ought to re-establish sanctions, not just because of the student, but because of their actions that they're taking right now, as it relates to building this missile capability. +p1460 +aVGood evening. HAM: Mr. Trump. +p1461 +aVThe difference \u2014 the difference between eminent domain for public purpose \u2014 as Donald said, roads and infrastructure, pipelines and all that \u2014 that's for public purpose. But what Donald Trump did was use eminent domain to try to take the property of an elderly woman on the strip in Atlantic City. That is not public purpose, that is down right wrong. And here's the problem with that. The problem was, it was to tear down \u2014 it was to tear down \u2014 it was to tear down the house... +p1462 +aVAnd the net result was \u2014 you tried. +p1463 +aVAnd you lost in the court. +p1464 +aVThat is not true. And the simple fact is to turn this into a limousine parking lot for his casinos is a not public use. And in Florida, based on what we did, we made that impossible. It is part of our Constitution. That's the better approach. That is the conservative approach. +p1465 +aVHow tough it is to take away property from an elderly woman? +p1466 +aVHow tough it is to take away a property from an elderly woman? +p1467 +aVI consider it a public use. +p1468 +aVIt's a public use. It's a public use. +p1469 +aVIt's a public use. +p1470 +aVYeah. +p1471 +aVIt's a public use. +p1472 +aVEstablished by the courts \u2014 federal, state courts. +p1473 +aVI would like to see more millionaires. I think we need to grow more millionaires, we need create a prosperity society where people can rise up. This notion that somehow we're undertaxed as a nation is just fool hearty, when we have entitlements growing far faster than our ability to pay for it. A conservative, because that's the point of this, believes in limited government, believes in a entrepreneurial capitalism and a strong national defense. But it also has to be, we need to reform things. In my town hall meetings, I went to a place where a woman described her neighbor, who has a better economic deal by not working than her struggling to make ends meet. We need to be on the side of working people. And you know, the problem with the left is, another tax, another regulation, another mandate makes it harder for them to rise up. Everything that we should do should be focused on high, sustained economic growth, where the middle class gets a raise for the first time, and where people are rewarded for work, rather than non-work. And I know how to do this. And if people are interested in the specifics of this, they ought to go to jeb2016.com. +p1474 +aVMartha \u2014 Martha, if I... +p1475 +aVI would. And I would do it in concert, again, with our Arab allies and with Europe, most particularly in this case. This is the lesson learned: in history, if you bomb something and not do anything as it relates to deal with the aftermath of this, if you don't have a stable government, you get what we have in Libya. And this is not \u2014 leading from behind is not an effective policy. We have to lead. Without the United States, nothing seems to work. Europe doesn't have the ability to \u2014 to \u2014 to lead \u2014 forward lead in this regard. And so dealing with the caliphate is important, because it now has spawned other areas. There have been 70-plus attacks in 17 countries, either inspired by +p1476 +aVMartha and David, I just... +p1477 +aVMartha and David... +p1478 +aVNo, no, I wouldn't. No, I wouldn't. And it was used sparingly, Congress has changed the laws and I \u2014 and I think where we stand is the appropriate place. But what we need to do is to make sure that we expand our intelligence capabilities. The idea that we're going to solve this fight with predator drones, killing people somehow is a \u2014 is more acceptable than capturing them, securing the information. This is why closing Guantanamo is a complete disaster. What we need to do is make sure that we are kept safe......by having intelligence capabilities, both human and technological intelligence capabilities far superior than what we have today. That's how you get a more safe place is by making sure that we're fully engaged. And right now, this administration doesn't do that. +p1479 +aVThis is a \u2014 this is an important subject. I agree with everything that's been said here about repealing unconstitutional rules and rules that are creating real burdens for investing that creating jobs. But we also ought to get back to being a Tenth Amendment country, as well, a country that respects the states to be able to make more decisions. And in the Bush administration, we would shift transportation dollars back to the states. I trust Kasich and Christie to build the roads and the infrastructure of their states than Washington, D.C. EPA delegated authority, back to the states. Education dollars, back to the states. I would like to see reform take place all across the country, where there's more vouchers, more freedom. If we did that, we would shrink government's power in Washington, D.C. and we would have a much more effective government, where people would begin to trust our government again, because now, no one believes it works. +p1480 +aVYou mentioned me. He mentioned me. One other thing that I think we ought to do, along with repealing Obamacare, we need to shift all of this power of healthcare, which is the most egregious form of federal power that is suppressing wages and incomes, and allow governors to have the Medicaid plans so that they can create 21st century Medicaid insurance for people that are stuck in poverty. There's so much that can be done, but I don't trust Washington to do it. I trust the state capitals to be the place \u2014 to be the source of innovation and reform in this country. HAM: Thank you, governors. Martha and David, back to you. +p1481 +aVI didn't mention him the second time. +p1482 +aV... Say it again? +p1483 +aV... I do, and I do think that we should not impose any kind of political agenda on the military. There should be \u2014 if women can meet the requirements, the minimum requirements for combat service they ought to have the right to do it. For sure. It ought to be focused on the morale as well. We got to make sure that we have readiness much higher than we do today. We need to eliminate the sequester which is devastating our military. We can't be focusing on the political side of this, we need to realize that our military force is how we project our word in the world. When we're weak militarily it doesn't matter what we say. We can talk about red lines, and +p1484 +aV... Why would they worry about it... +p1485 +aV... Well, the Draft's not going to be reinstituted, but why \u2014 if women are accessing... +p1486 +aVNo. I didn't say that. You \u2014 you asked a question not about the draft, you asked about registering. And if women are going to be... +p1487 +aVIf \u2014 but... +p1488 +aV... we don't have a draft. I'm not suggesting we have a draft. What I'm suggesting is that we ought to have readiness being the first priority of our military, and secondly, that we make sure that the morale is high. And right now, neither one of those are acceptable because we've been gutting the military budget. We also need to reform our procurement process. We need to make sure there are more men and women in uniform than people \u2014 than civilians in our Defense Department. There's a lot of things that we need to reform to bring our defense capabilities into the 21st century and I'm the guy that could do that. That's why I have the support of generals, of admirals, of 12 Medal of Honor recipients and many other people that know that I would be a steady commander-in-chief and rebuild our military. +p1489 +aVI totally agree that we need to give veterans more choices. A veterans card to be able to go to a private provider will enhance the quality of the service inside the Department of Veterans Affairs. We need career civil service reform. Only three people were fired after waiting lists were dropped where veterans didn't get care and people died. It is outrageous. And Hillary Clinton says that that's acceptable? Because she is captive of the public service uniforms. Career civil service reform would allow the next president to fire people that are \u2014 that are showing sheer incompetence. At a town hall meeting today, someone came \u2014 told a story of their father who looked like he was 85. He had \u2014 he got a bill eight years later from an operation he had, eight years it took. They couldn't resolve the dispute and then he was told that he died. Literally, the Veterans Administration sent a death certificate to this guy and it took nine months to clarify the guy \u2014 I met him. He's voting for me. And he is \u2014 likely to be alive. This is \u2014 this is outrageous. It is completely outrageous. So, giving veterans more choices, creating centers of excellence, focusing on the true problems that exist. Dr. Carson is completely right. We need to start focusing on this earlier, before they become veterans so that there's a customized plan so people don't fall through the cracks. We can do this, but it's going to require someone who has proven leadership skills to make it happen. +p1490 +aVLook, I'm pro-life. In fact, on this stage, I'm the most pro-life person because I've acted on it for eight years as governor of the state of Florida. Where we abolished partial-birth abortion, where parents have the right to be notified when their teenage child is having an abortion. We were the first state to do a choose life license plate to raise money for adoption. We were the first state to have state monies go to crisis pregnancy centers, which recently was just increased to $4 million a year. We created greater regulation on abortion clinics, where there were horrific procedures. So I'm pro life, but I believe there should be exceptions: rape, incest and when the life of the mother is in danger. And so, that belief, and my consistency on this, makes me, I think, poised to be in the right place, the sweet spot for a Republican nominee. And others may have a different view and I respect it. +p1491 +aVPeyton Manning is supporting me. And I'm for Denver. +p1492 +aVI want to thank the people of New Hampshire, and I want to celebrate the birthday of a great president, Ronald Reagan would have been 105 today. President Reagan believed in the future of our country, believed in its greatness, had a hopeful, optimistic message. Drew people towards our cause. We need someone who has a proven record to take our case to the American people because our philosophy is by far the best one. Limited government, entrepreneurial capitalism, of peace through strength. I believe I have the skills to take our party to victory in November. I ask for your support on Tuesday to keep America, and make America a safer, stronger, and freer. Thank you all very much. +p1493 +aVBret, we're just starting. The first vote hasn't been counted. Why don't we let the process work. I trust Iowans, Granite staters, people in South Carolina, people in Nevada, to start this process out. I kind of miss Donald Trump. He was a little teddy bear to me. We always had such a loving relationship in these debates and in between and the tweets. I kind of miss him. I wish he was here. Everybody else was in the witness protection program when I went after him on behalf of what the Republican cause should be: conservative principles, believing in limited government, believing in accountability. Leading by fixing the things that are broken. Look, I am in the establishment because my dad, the greatest man alive was president of the United States and my brother, who I adore as well as fantastic brother was president. Fine, I'll take it. I guess I'm part of the establishment Barbara Bush is my mom. I'll take that, too. But this election is not about our pedigree, this is an election about people that are really hurting. We need a leader that will fix things and have a proven record to do it. And we need someone who will take on Hillary Clinton in November. Someone who has a proven record, who has been tested, who is totally transparent. I released 34 years of tax returns... ... and 300,000 e-mails in my government record. To get the information from Hillary Clinton, you need to get a subpoena from the FBI. +p1494 +aVNo, you weren't. Your name wasn't mentioned, Ted. +p1495 +aV... Chris, keep it coming... +p1496 +aV... Thank you Chris... +p1497 +aVWell, first, I was critical of the Senators not giving the authorization for the use of military force. They should have made it more open ended for the next president. We shouldn't have the war fighters have their arms tied behind their back as President Obama wanted to do, but they had a chance to show support and it wasn't popular at the time. It became popular after the attack in Paris, and San Bernardino. Now we hear the tough talk. Prior to that, in the Reagan Library, I gave a detailed plan. Exactly what to do as it relates to +p1498 +aVOf course. And there's all sorts of ways that can be done at the state, local and federal level to do that. But the first duty of the next president of the United States is to fix the mess at the Department of Veterans Affairs. That's his first responsibility. Look, we have waiting lists for veterans that are \u2014 that are leaving because of the sequester where we're gutting the military. More and more military personnel are leaving becoming veterans, and the waiting list grows. They've given out $140 million of bonuses to Veterans Department employees, including reducing the waiting lists, without giving veterans care. People died, and only three people have been fired. I will make sure that we fire the sheer incompetence inside the Department of Veterans Affairs and then we'll give veterans a choice card so that they don't have to travel hours and hours to get care if they want to go to their private provider. You want to make the Veterans Administration do a better job, give them \u2014 give veterans choices and you'll get a much better result. And as it relates to all the other organizations, let me give you a good example. In Houston, Texas, there's an organization in place because someone acted on their heart, wanted to make sure that there's no homeless veterans in Houston. And they've come pretty close to that without federal government assistance. We need to mobilize the entire country to treat our veterans and treat them with much more respect than they get today. +p1499 +aVNo, they shouldn't. And I believe that Puerto Rico ought to have the right of self-determination. If I was a Puerto Rican, I'd vote for statehood so that they have full citizenship. They serve in the military. They would have to pay federal taxes. They would \u2014 they would accept the responsibilities of full U.S. citizenship. But they should have the right of determine \u2014 self-determination. Before you get to that, though, Puerto Rico is going to have to deal with the structural problems they face. You know, it's \u2014 it's a fact that if you can pay for a $79 one-way ticket to Orlando, and you can escape the challenges of a declining economy and high crime rates, you move to Orlando. And a lot of people are doing that. And the spiraling out-of- control requires Puerto Rico to make structural reforms. The federal government can play a role in allowing them to do that, but they should not \u2014 the process of statehood or the status of Puerto Rico won't be solved until we get to the bigger issue of how you deal with the structural economic problems they're facing right now. +p1500 +aVWell, I'm kind of confused because he was the sponsor of the Gang of Eight bill that did require a bunch of thresholds but ultimately allowed for citizenship over an extended period of time. I mean, that's a fact. And he asked me to support that. And I \u2014 I supported him because I think people, when you're elected, you need to do things. And he led the charge to finally fix this immigration problem that has existed now for, as Marco says, for 30 years. And then he cut and run because it wasn't popular amongst conservatives, I guess. Here's what I believe. And I wrote a book about this called Immigration Wars. You can get it at $2.99 on Amazon. It's not a bestseller. I can promise you. There won't be any \u2014 you can get it. It's affordable for everybody. We should have a path to legal status for the 12 million people that are here illegally. It means, come out from the shadows, pay a fine, earn legal status by working, by paying taxes, learning English. Not committing crimes and earn legal status where you're not cutting in front of the line for people that are patiently waiting outside. I think that is the \u2014 I think that's the conservative consensus pragmatic approach to how to solve this problem. +p1501 +aVSo did you. +p1502 +aVYeah. So did you, Marco. +p1503 +aVMarco, Marco \u2014 he brought up my name. I have supported a consensus approach to solving this problem wherever it came up. and in 2007 it almost passed when my brother was president of the United States. A bipartisan approach got close. Barack Obama actually had the poison pill to stop it then. And when you led the charge with the Gang of Eight, I supported it because you asked me to. I think it's important for people in elected office to try to forge consensus to solve problems. There's never going do be perfect bill. +p1504 +aVBut when you didn't do that and you ask people to support, you shouldn't cut and run. +p1505 +aVYou should stick with it and that's exactly what happened. He cut and run. And that's a tragedy because now... ... it's harder and harder to actually solve this problem. +p1506 +aVCan I \u2014 can I \u2014 I just... +p1507 +aVThat beautiful young woman who's an entrepreneur who served in the military, first of all, is deserving of our respect for service in the military and the fact that she's an entrepreneur. And we should be a welcoming nation. Our identity is not based on race or ethnicity, it's based on a set of shared values. That's American citizenship. And Dulce Candy \u2014 a pretty cool name, actually \u2014 that is now an entrepreneur over Youtube is part of that American spirit, and we should celebrate it as conservatives. That's what we believe in. You can \u2014 you can deal with the threat of terror and also recognize that this country should be aspirational across the board. +p1508 +aVWell, first of all, I've seen polls where I'm beating Hillary Clinton pretty regularly. And I believe I can, because I have a proven record, a record of accomplishment, a record of cutting taxes, of shrinking the government, of reforming education, of challenging the status quo, eliminating career civil service protections, shrinking the government workforce by 11 percent, but leading the nation in job growth. That's the record of accomplishment that should be taken to Hillary Clinton, who has no record of accomplishment. So I'm confident if I win this nomination, I will aggressively go against her and beat her. As it relates to the super PACs, I have no control over that. And this is beanbag compared to what the Clinton hit machine is going to do to the Republican nominee. The simple fact is, we all have a record. It all will be scrutinized. There's give and take. It's called the politics. And that's the way it is. I'm running hard and I believe I'll be the Republican nominee and I'll be the one best suited to beat Hillary Clinton, who should not be president of the United States. +p1509 +aVWell first of all, I think it's important that when we're running for the highest office in the land that we recognize that we're living in dangerous times and we have to be serious about it, that our words have consequences. Donald Trump, for example \u2014 I'm glad \u2014 I mentioned his name again just if anybody was missing him... ... Mr. Trump believed that in reaction to people's fears that we should ban all Muslims. Well, that creates an environment that's toxic in our own country. Nobela is a rising entrepreneur. She wants to pursue the American dream. She's an American citizen. She should not feel uncomfortable about her citizenship. She's not the threat. The threat is Islamic terrorism. We need to focus our energies there, not these broad, blanket, kind of statements that will make it harder for us to deal with +p1510 +aVWe desperately need a conservative leader as president of the United States. I have a proven record as governor of the state of Florida, as a conservative leader. And I also have detailed plans to fix the mess in Washington, D.C. As president I will restore and rebuild our military, restore the alliances and keep us safe. And as our party's nominee, I will defeat Hillary Clinton in November. I ask for your support on the caucuses come Monday night and I will make you proud as our party's nominee. Thank you very much. +p1511 +aVWell first of all, the idea that somehow we're better off today than the day that Barack Obama was inaugurated president of the United States is totally an alternative universe. The simple fact is that the world has been torn asunder. Think about it. With grandiose language, the president talks about red lines and nothing to follow it up; talks about +p1512 +aVNo. And worse \u2014 worse yet, to be honest with you, Hillary Clinton would be a national security disaster. Think about it. She wants to continue down the path of Iran, Benghazi, the Russian reset, Dodd-Frank, all the things that have \u2014 that have gone wrong in this country, she would be a national security mess. And that is wrong. And you know what? Here's the problem. If she gets elected, she's under investigation with the FBI right now. If she gets elected, her first 100 days, instead of setting an agenda, she might be going back and forth between the White House and the courthouse. We need to stop that. +p1513 +aVNeil, my name was mentioned here. Neil, my name was mentioned as well. Here's the deal, Chris is totally right. He's been a good governor, and he's a heck of a lot better than his predecessor that would have bankrupted New Jersey. Everybody on this stage is better than Hillary Clinton. And I think the focus ought to be on making sure that we leave this nomination process, as wild and woolly as it's going to be \u2014 this is not being bad. These attack ads are going to be part of life. Everybody just needs to get used to it. Everybody's record's going to be scrutinized, and at the end of the day we need to unite behind the winner so we can defeat Hillary Clinton, because she is a disaster. Our country rise up again, but we need to have a compelling conservative agenda that we present to the American people in a way that doesn't disparage people, that unites us around our common purpose. And so everybody needs to discount some of the things you're going to hear in these ads, and discount the \u2014 the back-and-forth here, because every person here is better than Hillary Clinton. +p1514 +aVFirst of all, I'd like to recognize Governor Haley for her incredible leadership in the aftermath of the \u2014 \u2014 the Emanuel AME church killings. And I also want to recognize the people in that church that showed the grace of God and the grace of forgiveness and the mercy that they showed. I don't know if any of us could have done what they did, one after another, within 48 hours of that tragedy taking place. Look, here's the deal, in this particular case, the FBI made a mistake. The law itself requires a background check, but that didn't fulfill their part of the bargain within the time that they were supposed to do. We don't need to add new rules, we need to make sure the FBI does its job. Because that person should not have gotten a gun, should not \u2014 would not have passed a background check. The first impulse of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton is to take rights away from law- abiding citizens. That's what they do, whether it's the San Bernardino attack or if it's these tragedies that take place, I think we need to focus on what the bigger issue is. It isn't law-abiding gun owners. Look, I have an A plus rating in the NRA and we also have a reduction in gun violence because in Florida, if you commit a crime with a gun, you're going away. You're going away for a long, long while. And that's what we should focus on is the violence in our communities. Target the efforts for people that are committing crimes with guns, and if you do that, and get it right, you're going to be much better off than creating a political argument where there's a big divide. The other issue is mental health. That's a serious issue that we could work on. Republicans and Democrats alike believe this. The president's first impulse is do this by executive order, power he doesn't have. Why not go to Congress and in a bipartisan way, begin to deal with the process of mental health issues so that people that are spiraling out of control because of mental health challenges don't have access to guns. +p1515 +aVWell, first of all, under President Jeb Bush, we would restore the strength of the military. Last week, Secretary Carter announced that the Navy's going to be cut again. It's now half the size of what it was prior to Operation Desert Storm. The deployments are too high for the military personnel. We don't have procurement being done for refreshing the equipment. The B-52 is still operational as the long range bomber; it was inaugurated in the age of Harry Truman. The planes are older than the pilots. We're gutting our military, and so the Iranians and the Chinese and the Russians and many other countries look at the United States not as serious as we once were. We have to eliminate the sequester, rebuild our military in a way that makes it clear that we're back in the game. Secondly, as it relates to Iran, we need to confront their ambitions across the board. We should reimpose sanctions, they've already violated sanctions after this agreement was signed by testing medium-range missiles. Thirdly, we need to move our embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem to send a serious signal that we're back in the game with Israel......and sign an agreement that makes sure that the world knows that they will have technological superiority. We need to get back in the game as it relates to our Arab nations. The rest of the world is moving away from us towards other alliances because we are weak. This president and John Kerry and Hillary Clinton all have made it harder for the next president to act, but he must act to confront the ambitions of Iran. We can get back in the game to restore order and security for our own country. +p1516 +aVDonald, Donald \u2014 can I \u2014 I hope you reconsider this, because this policy is a policy that makes it impossible to build the coalition necessary to take out +p1517 +aVYeah, they are unhinged. +p1518 +aVNo, not at all, absolutely not. I can see why people are angry and scared, because this president has created a condition where our national security has weakened dramatically. I totally get that. But we're running for the presidency of the United States here. This isn't \u2014 this isn't, you know, a different kind of job. You have to lead. You cannot make rash statements and expect the rest of the world to respond as though, well, it's just politics. Every time we send signals like this, we send a signal of weakness, not strength. And so it was his statement, which is why I'm asking him to consider changing his views. +p1519 +aVSo, are we going to ban Muslims from India, from Indonesia, from countries that are strong allies \u2014 that we need to build better relationships with? Of course not. What we need to do is destroy +p1520 +aVAbsolutely. +p1521 +aVYeah. +p1522 +aVHere's \u2014 apart from the \u2014 apart from the higher prices on consumers and people are living paycheck to paycheck, apart from that, there will be retaliation. +p1523 +aVSo they soybean sales from Iowa, entire soybean production goes \u2014 the equivalent of it goes to China. Or how about Boeing right here within a mile? Do you think that the Chinese, if they had a 45 percent tariff imposed on all their imports wouldn't retaliate and start buying Airbus? Of course, they would. This would be devastating for the economy. We need someone with a steady hand being president of the United States. +p1524 +aVThey're a mile away from here. +p1525 +aVMy name was mentioned. My name was mentioned here. The simple fact is that the plane that's being build here is being sold to China. You can \u2014 if you \u2014 you flew in with your 767, didn't you? Right there, right next to the plant. +p1526 +aVWhen you head back to airport tonight, go check and see what the... +p1527 +aVCheck it out. +p1528 +aVThere's \u2014 look, there's \u2014 +p1529 +aVI would try to convince him otherwise, but this last back and forth between two senators \u2014 back bench senators, you know, explains why we have the mess in Washington, D.C. We need a president that will fix our immigration laws and stick with it, not bend with the wind. The simple fact is one of the ways, Maria, to solve the problem you described is narrow the number of people coming by family petitioning to what every other country has so that we have the best and the brightest that come to our country. We need to control the border, we need to do all of this in a comprehensive way, not just going back and forth and talking about stuff \u2014 +p1530 +aVOh, I'll talk about that, too. But you haven't asked me a question in a while, Neil, so I thought I'd get that off my chest if you don't mind. +p1531 +aVI got that. And the problem today is there's no confidence in Washington, D.C. There needs to be more than one meeting, there needs to complete dialogue with the large technology companies. They understand that there's a national security risk. We ought to give them a little bit of a liability release so that they share data amongst themselves and share data with the federal government, they're not fearful of a lawsuit. We need to make sure that we keep the country safe. This is the first priority. The cybersecurity challenges that we face, this administration failed us completely, completely. Not just the hacking of OPM, but that is \u2014 that is just shameful. 23 million files in the hands of the Chinese? So it's not just the government \u2014 the private sector companies, it's also our own government that needs to raise the level of our game. We should put the NSA in charge of the civilian side of this as well. That expertise needs to spread all across the government and there needs to be much more cooperation with our private sector. +p1532 +aVYou've got to keep asking. You've got to keep asking because this is a hugely important issue. If you can encrypt messages, +p1533 +aVWell, if the law would change, yeah. But I think there has to be recognition that if we \u2014 if we are too punitive, then you'll go to other \u2014 other technology companies outside the United States. And what we want to do is to control this. We also want to dominate this from a commercial side. So there's a lot of balanced interests. But the president leads in this regard. That's what we need. We need leadership, someone who has a backbone and sticks with things, rather than just talks about them as though anything matters when you're talking about amendments that don't even actually are part of a bill that ever passed. +p1534 +aVWho can you count on to keep us safer, stronger and freer? Results count, and as governor, I pushed Florida up to the top in terms of jobs, income and small business growth. Detailed plans count, and I believe that the plan I've laid out to destroy +p1535 +aVOur freedom is under attack. Our economy is under water. The leading democrat is under investigation. And America is under the gun to lead the free world to protect our civilized way of life. Serious times require strong leadership, that's what at stake right now. Regarding national security, we need to restore the defense cuts of Barack Obama to rebuild our military, to destroy +p1536 +aVWell, first of all, we need to destroy +p1537 +aVLook, he mentioned me. I can bring \u2014 I can talk. This is \u2014 this is the problem. Banning all Muslims will make it harder for us to do exactly what we need to do, which is to destroy +p1538 +aVThey are relevant if we want to destroy +p1539 +aVDonald, this has got... +p1540 +aVThis is another example of the lack of seriousness. Look, this is \u2014 this is troubling because we're at war. They've declared war on us and we need to have a serious strategy to destroy +p1541 +aVYou said on September 30th that +p1542 +aVI'm talking right now. I'm talking. +p1543 +aVSeptember 30th you said... +p1544 +aVA little of your own medicine there, Donald. +p1545 +aVDonald, you're not going to be able to insult your way to the presidency. That's not going to happen. And I do have the strength. Leadership, leadership is not about attacking people and disparaging people. Leadership is about creating a serious strategy to deal with the threat of our time. And I laid out that strategy before the attacks in Paris and before the attacks in San Bernardino. And it is the way forward. We need to increase our military spending. We need to deal with a no- fly zone in Syria, a safe zone. We need to focus on building a military that is second-to-none... +p1546 +aV... so that we can destroy Islamic terrorism. +p1547 +aVI think we're focusing a whole... +p1548 +aVI do. I think the lesson's learned are that we have to have to have a strategy to get and a strategy to get out. Which means, that you create a stable situation. This president and this is what the focus ought to be, it's not the differences between us, it's Barack Obama does not believe America's leadership in the world is a force for good. He does not believe that our strength is a place where security can take place. He leads from behind. He creates an environment that now we're creating the most unstable situation we've had since the World War II era. The focus ought to be on the single fact that Hillary Clinton wants to double down on a failed foreign policy and we need to be united to defeat that because we're going to be in a place that is far less secure than it is today. Don't you all agree? +p1549 +aVBecause I \u2014 first of all, I know what I don't know. I know what I don't know. I would seek out, as I have, the best advice that exists. I won't get my information from the shows. I don't know if that's Saturday morning or Sunday morning. I don't know which one. I will seek out the best advice, and I will create a strategy and I will persuade the American people what the role of America should be. I've laid out a policy of rebuilding our military. All of the talk that we're seeing here \u2014 most of which I agree on, frankly \u2014 requires a much stronger military. We now have a lack of readiness that is quite scary. We have planes that were \u2014 that Harry Truman inaugurated, the B-52. We have \u2014 the Navy has been gutted and decimated. The readiness of the Marines is way down. If we're serious about America's leadership in the world, then we need to make sure that we have the back of the armed forces. The Armed Forces Radio is here listening to this today. I hope they know that if I'm president, I'll be a commander-in-chief, not an agitator- in-chief or a divider-in-chief, that I will lead this country in a way that will create greater security and greater safety. +p1550 +aVSo I was \u2014 I was \u2014 I was mentioned, so I can bring up something, I think, right? Look, the simple fact is, if you think this is tough you're not being treated fairly... +p1551 +aV... imagine what it's going to be like dealing with Putin or dealing with President Xi. +p1552 +aVOr dealing with the Islamic terrorism that exists. +p1553 +aVThis is a tough business to run for president. +p1554 +aVAnd it's \u2014 and we need...... to have a leader that is... +p1555 +aVYou're never going to be president of the United States by insulting your way to the presidency. +p1556 +aVDoesn't matter. Doesn't matter. +p1557 +aVYes. +p1558 +aVNo it isn't but it is an important subject to talk about for sure. And I think people have good ideas on this. Clearly, we need to secure the border. Coming here legally needs to be a lot easier than coming here illegally. If you don't have that, you don't have the rule of law. We now have a national security consideration, public health issues, we have an epidemic of heroine overdoses in all places in this country because of the ease of bringing heroine in. We have to secure the border. It is a serious undertaking and yes, we do need more fencing and we do need to use technology, and we do need more border control. And we need to have better cooperation by the way with local law enforcement. There are 800,000 cops on the beat, they ought to be trained to be the eyes and ears for law enforcement for the threat against terror as well as for immigration. This is a serious challenge and if we can get it right, yes, we'll start winning votes again. The real problem isn't anybody on this stage, the real problem is Barack Obama has had six years to advocate a position to fix this and he's done nothing. The congress has funded these programs of building more fencing and doing all this and he hasn't done it. He wants to maintain it as a wedge issue and so does Hillary Clinton. Republicans need to fix it and when we do, we'll be better off. +p1559 +aVI completely agree with Chris. And this administration has been so lax. Think about it. Hillary Clinton is using a private server for \u2014 where classified information go by. This is a \u2014 this is a serious administration? The president receives an inspector general's report that the Office of Personnel Management could be hacked into; they had antiquated firewalls; 23 million files have been \u2014 are in the hands of the Chinese allegedly, including, by the way, members of the press, it turns out, last week. Maybe that's the only part that's good news, so that you guys can get a feel for what it's like now to see this type of attack. This is something \u2014 we have to have the best defensive capabilities. We need to coordinate all of our efforts with the private sector. We need to give them liability relief so that we can do that. And offensively, we need to have capabilities second to none. We need to create a situation where they know that there will be adverse impacts if they continue to do what they're doing. They'll respect that. They'll respect a United States that is serious about protecting our \u2014 our infrastructure. If we don't do it, we'll continue to see what's \u2014 exactly what's happening, not just from the Chinese, by the way. The Russians and rogue actors, including +p1560 +aVAsk yourself, which candidate will keep you and our country safer, stronger and freer? Hillary Clinton has aligned herself with Barack Obama on +p1561 +aVYou've already made two comments, John. It's my turn. +p1562 +aVI got about four minutes in the last debate. I'm going to get my question right now. +p1563 +aVYes. +p1564 +aVFirst of all, we could get to 4 percent growth. The new normal of 2 percent puts huge demands on government. The reason why we have structural deficits is that more and more people are relying on government and the growth that we don't have makes \u2014 makes the deficit grow. A 4 percent growth strategy starts with tax reform. And the proposal that I've laid out is the one the Wall Street Journal editorial board has said is the most pro-growth of all the proposals out there. We cut the \u2014 we eliminate a lot of deductions and cut the rates down. A corporate rate of 20 percent, which puts us 5 percent above \u2014 below that of China, and allows us full expensing of investing. It would create an explosion of investment back into this country, creating higher-wage jobs, and so that's part of it. On the regulatory side I think we need to repeal every rule that Barack Obama has in terms of work in progress, every one of them. And start over. For those that are already in existence, the regulation of the Internet, we have to start over, but we ought to do that. The clean power act, we ought to repeal that and \u2014 and start over on that. The waters of the United States act, which is going to be devastating for agriculture and many industries, we should repeal that. We should repeal the rules because the economic costs of this far exceed the social benefit. And if we're serious about being serious about high growth, then we have to recognize that small businesses right now, more of them are closing than \u2014 than are \u2014 than are being set up. Hillary Clinton has said that Barack Obama's policies get an A. Really? One in 10 people right now aren't working or have given up altogether, as you said. That's not an A. One in seven people are living in poverty. That's not an A. One in five children are on food stamps. That is not an A. It may be the best that Hillary Clinton can do, but it's not the best America can do. +p1565 +aVThank you, Donald, for allowing me to speak at the debate. That's really nice of you. Really appreciate that. What a generous man you are. Twelve million illegal immigrants, to send them back, 500,000 a month, is just not \u2014 not possible. And it's not embracing American values. And it would tear communities apart. And it would send a signal that we're not the kind of country that I know America is. And even having this conversation sends a powerful signal \u2014 they're doing high-fives in the Clinton campaign right now when they hear this. That's the problem with this. We have to win the presidency. And the way you win the presidency is to have practical plans. Lay them out there. What we need to do is allow people to earn legal status where they pay a fine, where they work, where they don't commit crimes, where they learn English, and over an extended period of time, they earn legal status. That's the path \u2014 a proper path... +p1566 +aVI'm gonna fight as hard as I can to make sure that we shift power away from Washington, simplify the tax code, to spur economic activity in this country. Of course it's the highest priority. If we don't do that, we're stuck with the "new normal" of 2 percent growth. Hillary Clinton says, basically, we just gotta get used to it. Two percent growth means declining income for the middle class. It means more than 6 million people are stuck in poverty than the day that Barack Obama was inaugurated. It means \u2014 it means more demands on government \u2014 growing the economy is the first job, if we're going to be serious about dealing with the deficit and debt. And more importantly, people are really struggling right now. In this economy, the disposable income of the great middle is down 2,300 bucks. So yeah, we've created jobs, your \u2014 argue (ph) \u2014 brought that up early, and it was a good question. Jobs are being created, but they're lower-income jobs than the jobs that were lost. And the net effect of this is we need to jump-start the economy. I think of Jonathan (ph) and Reagan Love (ph), who are supporters of mine. Jonathan has been deployed by the National Guard, he is \u2014 he's in Oklahoma. Reagan Love \u2014 by the way, pretty great name, I think \u2014 is a teacher. When \u2014 if they had this tax cut, what they told me was that that $2,300 of money in their pocket \u2014 they would go back to South Carolina and start a business. Imagine what it would be like, instead of having more businesses closed than started, we had it the exact opposite. We would grow our economy, and the government would get the revenue necessary to make things \u2014 make things better. Hillary Clinton's approach to this is more top-down, more regulation, more taxes, more government, and it will destroy our economy. +p1567 +aVIt is \u2014 I'd say it is Islamic terrorism, and, back to the question of what we are dealing with in Iraq, when we pull back voids are filled. That's the lesson of history, and, sadly, this president does not believe in American leadership. He does not believe it, and the net result is that we have a caliphate the size of Indiana that gains energy each and everyday to recruit Americans in our own country, and the threat to the homeland relates to the fact that we have not dealt with this threat of terror in the Middle East. We should have a no fly zone in Syria. We should have a support for the remnants of the Syrian Free Army, and create safe zones. If you want to deal with the four million refugees that are leaving Syria because of the devastation there, then we 'ought to create safe zones for them to stay in the region rather than go to Europe. And, that requires American leadership. Without American leadership every other country in the neighborhood beings to change their priorities. It is tragic that you see Iraq, and other countries now talking to Russia. It wasn't that long ago that Russia had no influence in the region at all. And, so, the United States needs to lead across the board. This president, and Hillary Clinton both do not believe the United States has a leadership role to play, and we're now paying a price, and it will have a huge impact on the economy of this country if we don't deal with this. +p1568 +aV...They're not doing that... +p1569 +aV +p1570 +aVDonald \u2014 Donald's wrong on this. He is absolutely wrong on this. We're not going to be the world's policeman, but we sure as heck better be the world's leader. That's \u2014 there's a huge difference where, without us leading... ...voids are filled, and the idea that it's a good idea for Putin to be in Syria, let +p1571 +aVWe're not \u2014 we shouldn't have another financial crisis. What we ought to do is raise the capital requirements so banks aren't too big to fail. Dodd-Frank has actually done the opposite, totally the opposite, where banks now have higher concentration of risk in assets and the capital requirements aren't high enough. If we were serious about it, we would raise the capital requirements and lessen the load on the community banks and other financial institutions. This vast overreach has created a huge problem for our country, and Hillary Clinton wants to double down on that. I was in Washington, Iowa, about three months ago talking about how bad Washington, D.C., is. It was \u2014 get the \u2014 kind of the \u2014 anyway. We had... It \u2014 and I talked to a banker there. This is a bank that had $125 million of assets, four branches. Their compliance costs because of Dodd-Frank went from $100,000 to $600,000 in a two-year period. The net effect of that is \u2014 and they had \u2014 they had not one loan that went bad during the financial crisis. They knew \u2014 they knew their borrowers. They gave back to the community. They were engaged in the community. And imagine America without its community banks. Well, that's what's happening because of Dodd-Frank. That's \u2014 that's my worry. My worry is that the real economy has been hurt by the vast overreach of the Obama administration. And Hillary Clinton, she wants to double down on that. She wants to create even more so. She is a captive of the left of her party to the point now where she is \u2014 she was for the trade agreement in \u2014 the Pacific agreement. Now she's against it. She was \u2014 hinted she was for the XL pipeline. Now she's opposed to it. All the things that would create sustained economic growth she's now doubling down against it. +p1572 +aVYou could, if you were serious about... +p1573 +aVNo, I can't say that. But I can say, if you created higher capital requirements, that's the solution to this, not having concentration of assets. The bigger banks now have more and more control over \u2014 over the financial assets of this country. And that is the wrong approach to take. +p1574 +aVMaria? +p1575 +aV...We've had a 10% reduction in carbon emissions, and it isn't because of Solyndra. It isn't because of the central planners in Washington D.C. It's because we've had a great American success story, the explosion of natural gas. Taking two existing technologies, and applying it through innovation has created lower carbon emissions, lower energy costs \u2014 40% of all the economic activity in the age of Obama has come from the energy sector, and Hillary Clinton wants to suppress that. We \u2014 I think we ought to be expanding this. High growth is the path to lower carbon, and more jobs. I know for a fact, as Governor of the State of Florida, we created the largest land purchasing programs, and environment clean-up programs because we had a growing economy. Our revenues were growing at 4.4%. It allowed for resources to be able to protect the natural system. We got to get to a conservation... ...in environmental policy that goes beyond just carbon... +p1576 +aVJane Horton is sitting with my wife here today. Her husband, Chris, was killed in action in Afghanistan. And Jane spends her time now defending and fighting for military families. They're both heroes. I don't think we need an agitator-in-chief or a divider-in-chief. We need a commander-in-chief that will rebuild our military and restore respect to our veterans by revamping and fixing a broken Veterans Administration, That's my pledge to you. I ask for your support. Thank you. +p1577 +aVYou know, I am by my nature impatient. And this is not an endeavor that rewards that. You gotta be patient. You gotta be \u2014 stick with it, and all that. But also, I can't fake anger. I believe this is still the most extraordinary country on the face of the Earth. And it troubles me that people are rewarded for tearing down our country. It's never been that way in American politics before. I can't do it. I just don't believe that this country's days are going to be deeply \u2014 you know, going down. I think we're on the verge of the greatest time, and I want to fix the things to let people rise up. +p1578 +aVCould I \u2014 could I bring something up here, because I'm a constituent of the senator and I helped him and I expected that he would do constituent service, which means that he shows up to work. He got endorsed by the Sun-Sentinel because he was the most talented guy in the field. He's a gifted politician. But Marco, when you signed up for this, this was a six-year term, and you should be showing up to work. I mean, literally, the Senate \u2014 what is it, like a French work week? You get, like, three days where you have to show up? You can campaign, or just resign and let someone else take the job. There are a lot of people living paycheck to paycheck in Florida as well, they're looking for a senator that will fight for them each and every day. +p1579 +aVHe wasn't my senator. +p1580 +aVWell, I've been \u2014 +p1581 +aVNo, no. What I said was I don't believe that I would be president of the United States and have the same dysfunction that exists in Washington, D.C. now. +p1582 +aVDon't vote for me if you want to keep the gridlock in Washington, D.C. +p1583 +aVBut if you want someone who has a proven, effective leadership, that was a governor of a state, that transformed the culture there, elect me so I can fight for the American people and change the culture in Washington, D.C. +p1584 +aV, the great majority of Republicans and Americans believe in a hopeful future. They don't believe in building walls and a pessimistic view of the future. They're concerned that Washington is so dysfunctional it is holding them back. There are lids on people's aspirations. Think about it: six and a half million people working part-time. Workforce participation rates lower than they were in 1977. Six million more people living in poverty than the day that Barack Obama got elected president, and the left just wants more of the same. We have to offer a compelling alternative that is based on hope and optimism and grounded in serious policy, which I've laid out. And you can go get it at jeb2016.com. +p1585 +aVWell, the deal was done. Barack Obama got his massive tax increase, and there was no spending cuts. You just see the recent deal announced today or yesterday, more spending, more tax increasing, more regulation. And now we have to accept 2 percent, the new normal for economic growth. And the net result is the middle class has $2,300 less in their pockets than the day that Barack Obama got elected president. And now they see Hillary Clinton proposing a third term of economic policy for our country. We need to reverse that. And my record was one of cutting taxes each and every year. You don't have to guess about it, because I actually have a record. $19 billion of tax cuts, 1.3 million jobs created. We were one of two states to go to AAA bond rating, and our government spending was far less than the spending in people's income. +p1586 +aVYou find me... +p1587 +aVYou find me a Democrat \u2014 you find me a Democrat that will cut spending ten dollars? Heck, find me a Republican in Congress that would cut spending ten dollars. I'll talk to them. +p1588 +aVLook, the \u2014 the deal is already done. The biggest tax increase happened under the watch of Barack Obama, and spending's gone up. You find a Democrat that's for cutting taxes \u2014 cutting spending ten dollars, I'll give them a warm kiss. +p1589 +aVLook, the \u2014 the simple fact is that my plan actually gives the middle class the greatest break: $2,000 per family. And if you make $40,000 a year, a family of four, you don't pay any income tax at all. Simplifying the code and lowering rates, both for corporations and \u2014 and personal rates, is exactly what we need to do. You think about the regulatory cost and the tax cost \u2014 that's why small businesses are closing, rather than being formed in our country right now. The big corporations have the scale to deal with all of this. And what I think all of us are saying is, our monetary policy, our tax policy, regulatory policy needs to be radically changed so we can create high sustained growth for income to rise. The government has tried it their way. Under \u2014 under Barack Obama and the proposals of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and others, they've tried it their way, and it has failed miserably. We need to take a new approach of taxing \u2014 reforming how we tax, and reforming the regulations in our \u2014 in our country before it's too late. +p1590 +aVWe don't need the federal government to be involved in this at all. +p1591 +aVWe don't need the Federal Government to be involved in this, because when they do we create a $1.2 trillion debt. In Florida, we have the lowest in-state tuition of any state, because there's accountability, just as John said. Let the states do this. You'll create a much better graduation rate at a lower cost, and you won't in debt the next generation with recourse debt on their backs. It's always a solution of the left to create more Government from the Federal Government. It is broke, it is not working. +p1592 +aVWell, first of all, I'm 7 and 0 in my fantasy league. +p1593 +aVGronkowski is still going strong. I have Ryan Tannehill, Marco, as my quarterback, he was 18 for 19 last week. So I'm doing great. But we're not gambling. And I think this has become something that needs to be looked at in terms of regulation. Effectively it is day trading without any regulation at all. And when you have insider information, which apparently has been the case, where people use that information and use big data to try to take advantage of it, there has to be some regulation. If they can't regulate themselves, then the NFL needs to look at just, you know, moving away from them a little bit. And there should be some regulation. I have no clue whether the federal government is the proper place, my instinct is to say, hell no, just about everything about the federal government. +p1594 +aVBecky \u2014 +p1595 +aV\u2014 the governor's absolutely right. But we also need to reform Medicare and Social Security. We can't just allow it to continue on its current path the way that Hillary Clinton wants to do because there'll be major reductions in benefits in the next decade if we do nothing. I have a concrete plan to do just that, which allows people to keep HSAs to encourage savings, it allows for people that are retiring with Social Security to be able to get a minimum of 125 percent of the poverty level so that there is a baseline that in this generous country of ours no one goes below. +p1596 +aVYou have to reform Social Security, and the simple way to do it is to make sure that the wealthiest don't receive the same benefits as people that are lower-income. And make sure you enhance savings in the private market. The idea of 401(k)s. I have a small business that I set up. It took \u2014 it took an arm and a leg to be able to set up a 401(k). Because of all the federal mandates and federal laws, it was too expensive. We need to incent private savings and make sure that Social Security is protected for those that have it. +p1597 +aVBut the idea that you can't \u2014 that you're just gonna grow your way out of this \u2014 I have a plan to grow the economy at 4 percent, but you're gonna have to make adjustments for both Medicare and Social Security. [ +p1598 +aVAmerica's at a crossroads. The D.C. politicians continue to make things worse. I have a proven record of success, 32 years in business, and 8 years as Governor of the state of Florida. I will change the culture in Washington, just as I changed the culture in Tallahassee. I will do so in a way that will bring people together. We need a unifier, not a cynical divider in chief, and that's exactly what I will do. Imagine a country where people are lifted out of poverty again. Imagine a country where the middle class can get rising income again. I know we can do this because we're still the most extraordinary country on the face of the Earth. +p1599 +aVI'm Jeb Bush, and I believe America's on the verge of its greatest century, and I'm ready to lead. I'm a committed, conservative reformer that cut taxes, that balanced budgets, that took on the special interest in Florida, and we won. I look forward to talking tonight about how we can fix a broken Washington D.C., and create an environment where people can rise up again in this great country. Thank you. +p1600 +aVI think the voters will make that determination. But what I know to be true is that the next president of the United States is going to have to fix an extraordinary difficult situation. This administration, with President Obama and Hillary Clinton, has created insecurity the likes of which we never would've imagined. There's not a place in the world where we're better off today than six and a half years ago. And that requires a steadiness. That requires an understanding of how the world works. That requires an understanding and appreciation of American leadership in the world. You can't just, you know, talk about this stuff and insult leaders around the world and expect a good result. You have to do this with a steady hand, and I believe I have those skills. +p1601 +aVNo. Absolutely not. People are supporting me because I have a proven record of conservative leadership where I cut taxes $19 billion over eight years. We shrunk the state government workforce, we created a climate that led the nation in job growth seven out of eight years. We were one of two states to go to AAA bond rating. People know that we need principle-centered leadership, a disrupter to go to Washington, D.C. The one guy that had some special interests that I know of that tried to get me to change my views on something \u2014 that was generous and gave me money \u2014 was Donald Trump. He wanted casino gambling in Florida \u2014 +p1602 +aVYes you did. +p1603 +aVYou wanted it and you didn't get it because I was opposed to \u2014 +p1604 +aV\u2014 casino gambling before \u2014 +p1605 +aVduring and after. And that's not \u2014 I'm not going to be bought by anybody. +p1606 +aVNo way. Believe me. +p1607 +aVNot even possible. +p1608 +aVYou've got, according to your \u2014 to what you said on one of the talk shows, you got Hillary Clinton to go to your wedding \u2014 +p1609 +aV\u2014 because you gave her money. Maybe it works for Hillary Clinton \u2014 +p1610 +aV\u2014 it doesn't work for anybody on this \u2014 on stage. +p1611 +aVBut the simple fact is \u2014 +p1612 +aVNo. The simple fact is, Donald, you could not take \u2014 +p1613 +aVI was asked the question. +p1614 +aVSo he supports Pelosi, he supports Schumer, he supports Clinton \u2014 +p1615 +aVWhen he \u2014 and he \u2014 when he asked \u2014 when he asked Florida to have casino gambling, we said no. +p1616 +aVWe said no. And that's the simple fact. The simple fact is \u2014 +p1617 +aVDon't cut me off. +p1618 +aVNo, I don't think so, but we need to be strong against China. We should use offensive tactics as it relates to cyber security, send a deterrent signal to China. There should be super sanctions in what President Obama has proposed. There's many other tools that we have without canceling a dinner. That's not going to change anything, but we can be much stronger as it relates to that. As it relates to Iran, it's not a strategy to tear up an agreement. A strategy would be how do we confront Iran? And, the first thing that we need to do is to establish our commitment to Israel which has been altered by this administration. And, make sure that they have the most sophisticated weapons to send a signal to Iran that we have Israel's back. If we do that, it's going to create a healthier deterrent effect than anything else I can think of. +p1619 +aVI don't think \u2014 you're not stating my views right. +p1620 +aVI think there needs to be accommodation for someone acting on faith. Religious conscience is \u2014 is \u2014 is a first freedom. It's \u2014 it's a powerful part of our \u2014 of our Bill of Rights. And, in a big, tolerant country, we should respect the rule of law, allow people in \u2014 in \u2014 in this country \u2014 I'm a \u2014 I was opposed to the decision, but we \u2014 you can't just say, "well, they \u2014 gays can't get married now." But this woman, there should be some accommodation for her conscience, just as there should be for people that are florists that don't want to participate in weddings, or bakers. A great country like us should find a way to have accommodations for people so that we can solve the problem in the right way. This should be solved at the local level... +p1621 +aVAnd so we do agree, Mike. +p1622 +aVWell, he's wrong on a lot of things, but on this he's wrong because I'm the most pro-life governor on this stage. I got to act on my core beliefs. It's part of who I am. Life is a gift from God. And from beginning end we need to respect it and err on the side of life. And so I defunded Planned Parenthood. We created a climate where parental notification took place. We were the only state to fund crisis pregnancy centers with state moneys. We were totally focused on this. And I would bring that kind of philosophy to Washington, D.C. So here is a solution to this. Title X of the HHS funding, there is something that was the "Reagan Rule." It was passed in 1988. And in that rule it was defined, and the courts approved this, that a Planned Parenthood, you couldn't separate the money between the actual abortion procedures, and there are 330,000 abortions that take place in this clinic, and their promotion of it. He interpreted it the right way, the courts ruled in his favor, and Planned Parenthood did not get funding during that time until President Clinton came in. When I'm elected president, we will restore that interpretation of Title X. And this deal will be finished. +p1623 +aVThere are 13,000 community-based organizations that provide health services to women, 13,000 in this country. I don't believe that Planned Parenthood should get a penny from the federal government. Those organizations should get funding, just as I increased funding when I was governor of the state. That's the way you do this is you improve the condition for people. And, Donald, when I was governor, we also increased the opportunities for women. Women's income grew three times faster than the national average when I was governor. +p1624 +aVWe improved \u2014 we improved \u2014 +p1625 +aV\u2014 we increased child support \u2014 we increased child support with a broken system by 90 percent. +p1626 +aVI have a proven record. I have a proven record. +p1627 +aVHe did, he did. You're proud of your family, just as I am. +p1628 +aVTo subject my wife into the middle of a raucous political conversation was completely inappropriate, and I hope you apologize for that, Donald. +p1629 +aVShe is. She's fantastic. +p1630 +aVShe is absolutely the love of my life, and she's right here... +p1631 +aVAnd why don't you apologize to her right now. +p1632 +aVYeah. +p1633 +aVSo, here's the deal. My wife is a Mexican-American. She's an American by choice. She loves this country as much as anybody in this room, and she wants a secure border. But she wants to embrace the traditional American values that make us special and make us unique. We're at a crossroads right now. Are we going to take the Reagan approach, the hopeful optimistic approach, the approach that says that, you come to our country legally, you pursue your dreams with a vengeance, you create opportunities for all of us? Or the Donald Trump approach? The approach that says that everything is bad, that everything is coming to an end. I... +p1634 +aVI'm on the Reagan side of this. +p1635 +aVLook, first of all, I wrote a book about this, three \u2014 four years ago, now. And I laid out a comprehensive, conservative approach for immigration reform. And it does require securing the border. No one disagrees with that. But to build a wall, and to deport people \u2014 half a million a month \u2014 would cost hundreds of billions of dollars, Donald. Hundreds of billions of dollars. It would destroy community life, it would tear families apart. And it would send a signal to the rest of the world that the United States values that are so important for our long-term success no longer matter in this country. +p1636 +aVWell, I've been speaking English here tonight, and I'll keep speaking English. But the simple fact is, if a high school kid asks me a question in Spanish, a school \u2014 by the way, a voucher program that was created under my watch, the largest voucher program in the country, where kids can go to a Christian school, and they ask me a question in Spanish, I'm going to show respect and answer that question in Spanish. Even though they do speak English, and even though they embrace American values. +p1637 +aVYeah. +p1638 +aVWell, first of all, Hugh, if you're looking at Republican advisers, you have to go to the last two administrations. That happened to be 41 and 43. So just by definition, if you're \u2014 and many of the people here that are seeking advice from the foreign policy experts in the Republican side, they \u2014 they served in my dad's administration, my brother's administration. Of course that's the case. But I'm my own man. I'm going to create a strategy that is based on the simple fact that the United States needs to lead the world. The first thing that we need to do is to stop the craziness of the sequester. Rebuild our military so that our \u2014 so that we don't deploy people over and over again without the necessary equipment to keep them safe, to send a signal to the world that we're serious. If we're going to lead the world, then we need to have the strongest military possible. We need to rebuild our counterintelligence and intelligence capabilities. We need to focus on the fact that the next president is going to start in 2017, not in 1990 \u2014 you know, 30 years ago, or when my brother started. The world is dramatically different. And I believe that we need to restore America's presence and leadership in the world. Name a country where our relationship is better today than it was the \u2014 the day that Barack Obama got elected president. Under Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama, we have seen a weakness that now creates huge problems for the next president of the United States. So I'll have a team that will be \u2014 that will be following the doctrine I set up, and it will be peace through strength. We're sitting here in this library, which is a wonderful place to talk about this, because that's exactly what happened in the 1980s, and the world was a lot safer because of... +p1639 +aVThe leadership of Ronald Reagan and my... +p1640 +aVSo you \u2014 the \u2014 the first chance... +p1641 +aVRight after me, and then I'll \u2014 I'll yield \u2014 yield the floor. What do you guys say in the Senate when you're talking and debating? +p1642 +aVHere's the facts: When Donald Trump talks about judgment, what was his position on who would've been the best negotiator to deal with Iran? It wasn't a Republican; it was Hillary Clinton. That's what you believe. I mean, the lack of judgment and the lack of understanding about how the world works is really dangerous in this kind of time that we're saying. So is that the judgment that you bring to the table, that Hillary Clinton... +p1643 +aV... is a great negotiator, that she could bring about a better deal on Iran? +p1644 +aVYou know what? As it relates to my brother, there's one thing I know for sure. He kept us safe. I don't know if you remember... ... Donald... ... you remember the \u2014 the rumble? You remember the fire fighter with his arms around it? He sent a clear signal that the United States would be strong and fight Islamic terrorism, and he did keep us safe. +p1645 +aVThat's \u2014 that's my brother. +p1646 +aVHere's the lessons of history: When we \u2014 we pull back, voids are created. We left Iraq. We should've had a \u2014 a forces agreement to stay there with a small force, and instead of that, we politically and militarily pulled back, and now we have the creation of +p1647 +aV... because of what President Obama's done by pulling back. +p1648 +aVWell, I'm surprised Senator Cruz would say that since he was as strong supporter of John Roberts at the time. I will talk about what I will do as it relates to appointing Supreme Court Justices. We need to make sure that we have justices that, with a proven experienced record of respect for upholding the constitution. That is what we need. We can't have \u2014 the history in recent past is appoint people that have no experience so that you can't get attacked. And, that makes it harder for people to have confidence that they won't veer off... +p1649 +aVJohn Roberts has made some really good decisions, for sure, but he did not have a proven, extensive record that would have made the clarity the important thing, and that's what we need to do. And, I'm willing to fight for those nominees to make sure that they get passed. You can't do it the politically expedient way anymore. This is the culture in Washington. You have to fight hard for these appointments. This is perhaps the most important thing that the next president will do. +p1650 +aVWell, first of all, he, as I said, supported John Roberts. He supported him, publicly. So, you can rewrite history, I guess, Ted, but the simple fact is that you supported him because he had all the criteria that you would have thought would have made a great justice. And, I think he is doing a good job. But, the simple fact is that going forward, what we need to do is to have someone that has a long standing set of rulings that consistently makes it clear that he is a focused, exclusively on upholding the Constitution of the United States so they won't try to use the bench as a means to which legislate. +p1651 +aVHe was talking about me. +p1652 +aVWell, I \u2014 I wanted to \u2014 be \u2014 make it easier for him. +p1653 +aVAnd I just did. +p1654 +aVSo, 40 years ago, I smoked marijuana, and I admit it. I'm sure that other people might have done it and may not want to say it in front of 25 million people. My mom's not happy that I just did. That's true. And here's the deal. Here's the deal. We have \u2014 we have a serious epidemic of drugs that goes way beyond marijuana. What goes on in Colorado, as far as I'm concerned, that should be a state decision. But if you look at the problem of drugs in this \u2014 in this society today, it's a serious problem. Rand, you know this because you're campaigning in New Hampshire like all of us, and you see the epidemic of heroin, the overdoses of heroin that's taking place. People's families are \u2014 are being torn apart. It is appropriate for the government to play a consistent role to be able to provide more treatment, more prevention \u2014 we're the state that has the most drug courts across every circuit in \u2014 in \u2014 in Florida, there are drug courts to give people a second chance. That's the best way to do this. +p1655 +aVNo, you're wrong \u2014 you're wrong about this. +p1656 +aVI don't want to put poor people in jail, Randy. +p1657 +aVHere's the deal. No, I did not oppose when the legislature passed the bill to deal with that very issue. That's the way to solve this problem. Medical marijuana on the ballot was opened up, there was a huge loophole, it was the first step to getting to a place. And as a citizen of Florida, I voted no. +p1658 +aVNot very far. I think we need to do this state by state. There are places that get this right, and we need to make sure that we protect the privacy laws. This is a complicated place. But I do think the natural impulse on the left \u2014 Hillary Clinton, immediately after one of these horrific violent acts took place, immediately said we need to have federal gun laws. President Obama almost reflexively always says the same thing. And the net result is, you're going to take away rights of \u2014 of law-abiding citizens, the 99.999 percent of the people that are law- abiding citizens. That's not the right approach to do it. In Florida, we have a background check. We have concealed-weapon permit holders, and in fact, there's 1,200,000 of them. We have a reduction in violent crime because we put people behind bars when they use a gun in the commission of the crime. That's the better approach. But we're living in a society today where despair kind of grows in isolation. +p1659 +aVI \u2014 I think there needs to be a hearing, but the fact is, we need to encourage that kind of involvement. That's \u2014 that's exactly what we need to do. +p1660 +aVI would go with Ronald Reagan's partner, Margaret Thatcher. Probably illegal, but what the heck? Since it's not going to happen. A strong leader is what we need in the White House, and she certainly was a strong leader that restored the United Kingdom into greatness. +p1661 +aVEver Ready, it's very high energy, Donald. +p1662 +aVSix million more people are living in poverty than the day that Barack Obama got elected president. Six million more people. The middle class has had declining income, workforce participation rates are lower than they were in 1977. For the first time in modern history, more businesses are failing than are being created. That is what the next president will have to deal with. And I believe we can reverse course by creating a strategy of high sustained economic growth, not the new normal of 2 percent that all the left says we just have to get used to, but a 4 percent growth strategy where we reform how we tax, fix the broken regulatory system, embrace the energy revolution in our midst, fix the immigration system so we can turn it into an economic driver, deal with the structural fiscal problems that exist because of our entitlement problems that will overwhelm and create way too much debt. If we grow at 4 percent, people are going to be lifted out of poverty. The great middle that defines our country will have a chance to be able to pursue their dreams as they see fit. That should be the great challenge and the great opportunity for the next president of the United States, to forge consensus to go back to a high-growth strategy. And then we'll be able to lead the world. Without a high-growth strategy, our country will never have the resources or the optimism to be able to lead the world, which the world desperately needs our leadership. +p1663 +aVAbsolutely, I do, and I'm gonna run hard, run with heart, and run to win. I'm gonna have to earn this. Maybe the barrier -- the bar's even higher for me. That's fine. I've got a record in Florida. I'm proud of my dad, and I'm certainly proud of my brother. In Florida, they called me Jeb, because I earned it. I cut taxes every year, totaling $19 billion. We were -- we had -- we balanced every budget. We went from $1 billion of reserves to $9 billion of reserves. We were one of two states that went to AAA bond rating. They keep -- they called me Veto Corleone. Because I vetoed 2,500 separate line-items in the budget. I am my own man. I governed as a conservative, and I govern effectively. And the net effect was, during my eight years, 1.3 million jobs were created. We left the state better off because I applied conservative principles in a purple state the right way, and people rose up. +p1664 +aVI do. I believe that the great majority of people coming here illegally have no other option. They want to provide for their family. But we need to control our border. It's not -- it's our responsibility to pick and choose who comes in. So I -- I've written a book about this and yet this week, I did come up with a comprehensive strategy that -- that really mirrored what we said in the book, which is that we need to deal with E-Verify, we need to deal with people that come with a legal visa and overstay. We need to be much more strategic on how we deal with border enforcement, border security. We need to eliminate the sanctuary cities in this country. It is ridiculous and tragic......that people are dying because of the fact that -- that local governments are not following the federal law. There's much to do. And I think rather than talking about this as a wedge issue, which Barack Obama has done now for six long years, the next president -- and I hope to be that president -- will fix this once and for all so that we can turn this into a driver for high sustained economic growth. And there should be a path to earned legal status... ...for those that are here. Not -- not amnesty, earned legal status, which means you pay a fine and do many things over an extended period of time. +p1665 +aV...I remember... +p1666 +aV...I remember, Megyn. +p1667 +aVKnowing what we know now, with faulty intelligence, and not having security be the first priority when -- when we invaded, it was a mistake. I wouldn't have gone in, however, for the people that did lose their lives, and the families that suffer because of it -- I know this full well because as governor of the state of Florida, I called every one of them. Every one of them that I could find to tell them that I was praying for them, that I cared about them, and it was really hard to do. And, every one of them said that their child did not die in vain, or their wife, of their husband did not die in vain. So, why it was difficult for me to do it was based on that. Here's the lesson that we should take from this, which relates to this whole subject. Barack Obama became president, and he abandoned Iraq. He left, and when he left Al Qaida was done for. +p1668 +aVNo, I don't. And I don't believe the federal government should be involved in the creation of standards directly or indirectly, the creation of curriculum or content. It is clearly a state responsibility. I'm for higher standards... ...measured in an intellectually honest way, with abundant school choice, ending social promotion. And I know how to do this because as governor of the state of Florida I created the first statewide voucher program in the country, the second statewide voucher program, in the country and the third statewide voucher program in the country. And we had rising student achievement across the board, because high standards, robust accountability, ending social promotion in third grade, real school choice across the board, challenging the teachers union and beating them is the way to go. And Florida's low income kids had the greatest gains inside the country. Our graduation rate improved by 50 percent. That's what I'm for. +p1669 +aVHe is definitely my friend. And I think the states ought to create these standards. And if states want to opt out of Common Core, fine. Just make sure your standards are high. Because today in America, a third of our kids, after we spend more per student than any country in the world other than a couple rounding errors, to be honest with you, 30 percent are college- and/or career-ready. If we are going to compete in this world we're in today, there is no possible way we can do it with lowering expectations and dumbing down everything. Children are going to suffer and families' hearts are going to be broken that their kids won't be able to get a job in the 21st Century. +p1670 +aVWe've done it 27 times since World War II. I think we need to lift our spirits and have high, lofty expectations for this great country of ours. The new normal of two percent that the left is saying you can't do anything about is so dangerous for our country. There's 6 million people living in poverty today, more than when Barack Obama got elected. 6.5 million people are working part-time, most of whom want to work full-time. We've created rules and taxes on top of every aspiration of people, and the net result is we're not growing fast, income's not growing. A four percent growth strategy means you fix a convoluted tax code. You get in and you change every aspect of regulations that are job killers. You get rid of Obamacare and replace it with something that doesn't suppress wages and kill jobs. You embrace the energy revolution in our country. This president and Hillary Clinton, who can't even say she's for the XL pipeline even after she's left? Give me a break. Of course we're for it. We should be for these things to create high sustained economic growth. And frankly, fixing our immigration system and turning it into an economic driver is part of this as well. We can do this. +p1671 +aVNone of which is true. +p1672 +aVNo. It's not true. But I have said that Mr. Trump's language is divisive. I want to win. I want one of these people here or the ones at 5:00, to be the next president of the United States. We're not going on win by doing what Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton do each and every day. Dividing the country. Saying, creating a grievance kind of environment. We're going to win when we unite people with a hopeful, optimistic message. I have that message because I was a governor of a state that saw people lifted up, because we had high sustained economic growth. Our economy grew at double the rate of the nation. We created 1.3 million jobs. We led the nation seven out of those eight years. We were only one of two states that went to AAA bond rating. I cut taxes, $19 billion. If you do that and apply conservative principles the right way, you create an environment where everybody rises up. That's how we're going to win. Campaigning in places to give people hope that their life is better because too many people are suffering today in America. +p1673 +aVHere's what I believe. I believe we're at the verge of the greatest time to be alive in this world. But Washington is holding us back. How we tax, how we regulate. We're not embracing the energy revolution in our midst, a broken immigration system that has been politicized rather than turning it into an economic driver. We're not protecting and preserving our entitlement system or reforming for the next generation. All these things languish while we have politicians in Washington using these as wedge issues. Here's my commitment to you, because I did it as Florida. We can fix these things. We can grow economically and restore America's leadership in the world, so that everybody has a chance to rise up. I humbly ask for your vote, whenever you're gonna get to vote, whenever the primary is. Thank you all very much. +p1674 +asVMCELVEEN +p1675 +(lp1676 +VThank you, David. And good evening, candidates. Mr. Trump, you have said, quote, "I love eminent domain" which is the seizure of private property for the sake of the greater good theoretically. You tried to use the measure in business endeavors, you've said you'd support its use for the Keystone Pipeline project. Here in New Hampshire, a project, though, known as the Northern pass would bring hydro-electric power from Canada into the Northeastern grid. Do you see eminent domain as an appropriate tool to get that done? +p1677 +aVSo would that be yes on the Northern Pass project? +p1678 +aVMr. Trump, take 30 seconds. +p1679 +aVAll right, gentlemen... +p1680 +aVGentlemen, we do have to move forward. Dave, Martha, back to you. +p1681 +aVYou're all aware, candidates, this is a major problem here in New Hampshire. It's a very deadly problem as well. Last month, New Hampshire senators Kelly Ayotte, Republican, and Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat, they went down to Washington, along with the police chief of the state's largest city to testify before the Judiciary Committee in D.C. Senator Cruz, you're a member of that committee. Your campaign schedule didn't allow you to attend this. Even so, the police chief called your absence outrageous, given the severity of the problem. Last week, though, you told a personal story of a close family member's struggle with addiction. What can you say to law enforcement right now to convince them that you understand the severity of this problem and you're not just saying what people want to hear days before the primary? +p1682 +aVAnd Governor Christie, you have talked a lot about this issue here in New Hampshire. State reforms, criminal justice reforms, access to treatment. To Senator Cruz's point, let's take it a step further. Would you be willing to engage in cross-border enforcement into Mexico, a place where law enforcement in New Hampshire has traced at lot of this supply back to. Would you engage in cross-border enforcement without the cooperation without the Mexican government? +p1683 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you very much. David, Martha, back to you. +p1684 +aVThank you, Martha. None of you on stage tonight have ever worn a uniform as a member of the armed services. That's the reality of it. But as commander-in-chief, you'll also be charged with the care of 23 million active duty service members and veterans in this country. Some have suggested privatizing the V.A. as a way to enhance care and increase the quality of the care and access. Others say that veterans should carry I.D. cards that allow them access to any hospital or health care provider. Governor Bush, what specifically would you do to ensure that those who have sacrificed for us are cared for? +p1685 +aVGovernor Kasich, do you have a favored approach? +p1686 +aVSenator Rubio, go ahead? +p1687 +aVSenator Rubio, thanks very much. Going to move forward now. David, Martha, back to you. +p1688 +asVWALKER +p1689 +(lp1690 +VGood evening, I'm Scott Walker, and tonight, I want to thank and Mrs. Reagan, and the Reagan Library for hosting us. You see, in my lifetime, the greatest president was a governor from California. Ronald Reagan knew how to go big, and go bold. He understood the essence of moving this country forward, and that's what I did when I took on the status quo in my state, and the Washington based special interest. Now, more than ever, America needs a leader who will go big and bold again. Someone who's been tested. I'm ready to be that leader. Thank you. +p1691 +aVBut Jake, Jake, Jake, Jake... +p1692 +aVBut Jake, this \u2014 this is \u2014 this... +p1693 +aVJake, this is \u2014 this is \u2014 this is... +p1694 +aVThis is actually what's wrong \u2014 this is what's wrong with this debate. We're not talking about real issues. And Mr. Trump, we don't need an apprentice in the White House. We don't need an apprentice in the White House. We have one right now. He told us all the things we wanted to hear back in 2008. We don't know who you are or where you're going. We need someone who can actually get the job done. And you talked about business. +p1695 +aVYou \u2014 you \u2014 let me finish... +p1696 +aVNo, no... +p1697 +aVYou're using the talking... +p1698 +aVMr. Trump, you're using the talking points of the Democrats... +p1699 +aV... and as we all know... +p1700 +aV... that failed three times in four and a half years when I got elected, because it is working. We balanced a budget. You want to talk about balanced budgets? You took four major projects into bankruptcy over and over and over again. You can't take America into bankruptcy. That's what's wrong with the politicians in Washington right now. They think we can take a country into bankruptcy. +p1701 +aVJake, yeah, absolutely, I'll take this on, because this is an issue that's important in this race. Just because he says it doesn't make it true. The facts are the facts. We balanced a $3.6 billion budget deficit, we did it by cutting taxes \u2014 $4.7 billion to help working families, family farmers, small business owners and senior citizens. And it's about time people in America stand up and take note of this. If you want someone that can actually take on the special interest of Washington, which you yourself said you were part of, using the system, we need somebody that will stand up and fight for average Americans to put them back in charge of their government. I'm the one who is taking that on. I'll do that as your next president. +p1702 +aVTwo parts to that, one on China, one back for a second on Iran. When it comes to China, why would we be giving an official state visit to a country that's been involved in a massive cyber attack against the United States? That's not just a visit, that's a 21 gun salute on the South Lawn of the White House. It just doesn't make any sense. If we're ever going to send a message to them, wouldn't this be the time, when they've issued this, sort of, massive attack against us? And, Jake, for the question, I was one of the first ones to call for terminating the bad deal with Iran on day one. The President came after me and said I need to bone up. You know, the President who called +p1703 +aVJake, just one more moment. This is \u2014 there's something bigger to this. Now, I \u2014 like so many other governors here, I defunded Planned Parenthood four-and-a-half years ago, in a Blue State. But it's bigger than that. We did that in a Blue State, we took the money and put it into women's health, so we did exactly what we're talking about here. But I think the bigger issue here is we should be able to do this nationally, and this is precisely why so many Republicans are upset with Washington. They see the House and they see the Senate and they say why can't we pass this. Why can't we defund Planned \u2014 put it in a spending bill. Forget about the 60-vote rule, there's no reason \u2014 and the Constitution doesn't call for 60 votes. Pass it with 51 votes, put it on the desk of the president \u2014 +p1704 +aV\u2014 and go forward and actually make a point. This is why \u2014 +p1705 +aV\u2014 people are upset with Washington. +p1706 +aVSo, the best way to help people see their wages go up is to get them the education, the skill they need, to take on careers that pay more than minimum wage. And, it's why we talk about it, it's all about jobs. You want to help actually get jobs, it's why on that last question we were trying to jump in on taxes. To me, it's not just about taxes, cutting taxes. I've done it as much as anyone has. I've cut income taxes, I've cut property taxes. In fact, property taxes are lower today in my state than they were before we took office. The real issues about jobs. Ronald Reagan, our plan is based on the Ronald Reagan tax cuts of 1986. That brought about one of the longest sustained periods of economic growth in American history. All the things we should be talking about tonight are about how do we create jobs, helping people get the skills and the education qualifications they need to succeed. That's the way you help people create jobs. It's part of our large plan to reform the tax code, to cut taxes, to put in place an education system that gives people the skills and education that they need. To put in place all the above energy policy, but you start on day one with repealing Obamacare. I'm the only one on this stage that's actually got a plan, introduced an actual plan to repeal Obamacare on day one. I'll send a bill up to Congress, and to make sure enact it... +p1707 +aV...I'm going to sign an order that makes the Congress live by the same rules as everybody else. +p1708 +aV...That will ensure they repeal Obamacare... +p1709 +aV...Jake, Jake, Jake, I just want to address that issue because you said I didn't answer, and I did. I said, to me, I think the real focus shouldn't be \u2014 you know, Hillary Clinton talks about the minimum wage. That's her answer to grow the economy. The answer is to give people the skills and the education so they make far more than minimum wage. I don't want to argue about how low things are going to be, I want to talk about how do we lift everyone up in America. That's what Reagan talked about. It wasn't how bad things were, it was how to make it better for everyone. That's what we've done in Wisconsin, that's exactly what we'd do as... +p1710 +aV... the key issue here is talking about leadership. Now, there's a lot of greater people up here, and you've heard a lot of great ideas out there. But I would ask the American people, look at who's been tested. When there were 100,000 protesters in my capital, I didn't back down, when they issued death threats against me and threats against my family, I didn't back down, when they tried to recall me, I didn't back down, and when they made me the \u2014 one of their number-one targets last year, I didn't back down. Give me the chance to be your president. +p1711 +aVI won't back down... +p1712 +aV... on any of these issues. +p1713 +aVTo be clear, what I said the other day was that we need to lift the political restrictions that are already in play. Barack Obama's administration has put political restrictions on the military personnel already in Iraq. We need to lift those and then we need to listen to our military experts, not the political forces in the White House, but our military experts about how many more we sent in. And we certainly shouldn't have a commander-in-chief who sends a message to our adversaries as to how far we're going to go, and how far we're willing to fight, so I'm not putting a troop number. What I'm saying is lift the political restrictions. When you do that, you empower our military personnel already there to work with the Kurd and the Sunni allies, to reclaim the territory taken by +p1714 +aV... a lot of those people, though, and I'm going to echo what Senator Rubio just said. This is an issue where, we're talking about my state, it's thousands of manufacturing jobs. Thousands of manufacturing jobs for a rule the Obama administration, own EPA has said will have a marginal impact on climate change. So we're going to put thousands and thousands of jobs in my state, I think it's something like 30,000 in Ohio, other states across this country, we're going to put people \u2014 manufacturing jobs, the kind of jobs that are far greater than minimum wage, this administration is willing to put at risk for something its own EPA says is marginal (ph)... +p1715 +aVFirst of all, I got to say to Carson, Huckabee, thanks a lot for making the rest of us look like chumps up here, but, I'd pick Clara Barton. I once worked for the American Red Cross, she was a great founder of the Red Cross. +p1716 +aVHarley. I love riding Harley's. +p1717 +aVWell, I turned 13 years old two days before Ronald Reagan was first elected. A lot of people forget this, but just a few days before that election 1980, he was behind in the polls. And I think what changed things was people in America realized they didn't want to hear what was bad about America, they wanted to know how it was going to be better. Ronald Reagan wasn't just a conservative Republican, he was an eternal optimist in the American people. And I am too. So here's what I think will make America better. We need to live in a world where our children are free, are free from the threats of radical Islamic terrorism. We need to live in an America where we have an economy, where everyone can live their piece of the American dream, no matter what that dream is. And we need to live in an America where we have a federal government that is not too big to fail, but ultimately small enough to succeed, where we send powers back to the states and back to the people. That's what I did in Wisconsin. We took on the big government union bosses, the big government special interests, many of whom came in from Washington, to spend millions of dollars to try and take me out because we stood up to them, we didn't back down in any of those instances. If you give me the chance as your next president, I won't back down any day, anyway, anyhow. I'll fight and win for you and your families every single day I'm in office. +p1718 +aVWell, I'm pro-life, I've always been pro-life, and I've got a position that I think is consistent with many Americans out there in that... ...in that I believe that that is an unborn child that's in need of protection out there, and I've said many a time that that unborn child can be protected, and there are many other alternatives that can also protect the life of that mother. That's been consistently proven. Unlike Hillary Clinton, who has a radical position in terms of support for Planned Parenthood, I defunded Planned Parenthood more than four years ago, long before any of these videos came out... ...I've got a position that's in line with everyday America. +p1719 +aVChris, I actually said that on your show earlier this year. I acknowledged that. I said I actually listened to the American people. And I think people across America want a leader who's actually going to listen to them. I talked to border state governors and other elected officials. I look at how this president, particularly through last November, messed up the immigration system in this country. Most importantly, I listened to the people of America. I believe we need to secure the border. I've been to the border with Governor Abbott in Texas and others, seeing the problems that they have there. There is international criminal organizations penetrating our southern based borders, and we need to do something about it. Secure the border, enforce the law, no amnesty, and go forward with the legal immigration system that gives priority to American working families and wages. +p1720 +aVI don't know about additional ones. We need to focus on the ones we have. You look at Egypt, probably the best relationship we've had in Israel, at least in my lifetime, incredibly important. You look at the Saudis -- in fact, earlier this year, I met with Saudi leaders, and leaders from the United Arab Emirates, and I asked them what's the greatest challenge in the world today? Set aside the Iran deal. They said it's the disengagement of America. We are leading from behind under the Obama-Clinton doctrine -- America's a great country. We need to stand up and start leading again, and we need to have allies, not just in Israel, but throughout the Persian Gulf. +p1721 +aVJust one second on this, though. We -- we spent a lot of time talking about Hillary Clinton and ---and pitting us back and forth. Let's be clear, we should be talking about Hillary Clinton on that last subject, because everywhere in the world that Hillary Clinton touched is more messed up today than before she and the president . +p1722 +aVIt's true. +p1723 +aVWell, the voters in Wisconsin elected me last year for the third time because they wanted someone who aimed high, not aimed low. Before I came in, the unemployment rate was over eight percent. It's now down to 4.6 percent. We've more than made up for the jobs that were lost during the recession. And the rate in which people are working is almost five points higher than it is nationally. You know, people like Hillary Clinton think you grow the economy by growing Washington. One report last year showed that six of the top 10 wealthiest counties in America were in or around Washington, D.C.. I think most of us in America understand that people, not the government creates jobs. And one of the best things we can do is get the government out of the way, repeal Obamacare, put in -- reign in all the out of control regulations, put in place an all of the above energy policy, give people the education, the skills that the need to succeed, and lower the tax rate and reform the tax code. That's what I'll do as president, just like I did in Wisconsin. +p1724 +aVWell, first off, let's remember. I still remember, as a kid, tying a yellow ribbon around a tree in front of my house during the 444 days that Iran held 52 Americans hostage. Iran is not a place we should be doing business with. To me, you terminate the deal on day one, you reinstate the sanctions authorized by Congress, you go to Congress and put in place even more crippling sanctions in place, and then you convince our allies to do the same. This is not just bad with Iran, this is bad with +p1725 +aVWell, I think the most important thing we can do when it comes to policing -- it's something you've had a guest on who's a friend of mine Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clark, who's talked to me about this many times in the past -- it's about training. It's about making sure that law enforcement professionals, not only in the way in to their positions but all the way through their time, have the proper training, particularly when it comes to the use of force. And that we protect and stand up and support those men and women who are doing their jobs in law enforcement. And for the very few that don't, that there are consequences to show that we treat everyone the same here in America. +p1726 +aVWell first off, for the cyber attack with Russia the other day, it's sad to think right now, but probably the Russian and Chinese government know more about Hillary Clinton's e-mail server than do the members of the United States Congress. And -- and that has put our national security at risk. If I am president, he won't think about that. You know, Putin believes in the old Lenin adage: you probe with bayonets. When you find mush, you push. When you find steel, you stop. Under Obama and Clinton, we found a lot of mush over the last two years. We need to have a national security that puts steel in front of our enemies. I would send weapons to Ukraine. I would work with +p1727 +aVWell, thanks, Megyn. I'm certainly an imperfect man. And it's only by the blood of Jesus Christ that I've been redeemed from my sins. So I know that God doesn't call me to do a specific thing, God hasn't given me a list, a Ten Commandments, if you will, of things to act on the first day. What God calls us to do is follow his will. And ultimately that's what I'm going to try to do. And I hope people've seen it in my state, even in the big challenges I took on when I had over 100,000 protesters in and around our capital, trying to do what I thought was the right thing. It wasn't just how I took on those political battles. It was ultimately how I acted. Not responding in kind. Not lashing out. But just being decent going forward and living my life in a way that would be a testimony to him and our faith. +p1728 +aVThanks. I'm guy with a wife and two kids, and Harley. One article called me "aggressively normal." I ran for governor because I was worried about my kids' future. Then, I took on the big government union bosses, and we won. They tried to recall me, and we won. They target us again, and we won. We balanced the budget, cut taxes, and turned our state around with big, bold reforms. It wasn't too late for Wisconsin, and it's not too late for America. That's why I ask for your vote. +p1729 +asVMALE +p1730 +(lp1731 +VThat's a good one. +p1732 +asVBAKER +p1733 +(lp1734 +VThe candidates on stage tonight were selected based on their standing in an average of four national polls. Those standings determining their position on the stage. And here they are. At center stage, businessman Donald Trump. Neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson. +p1735 +aVTonight's rules are simple. Up to 90 second for each answer. One minute for each follow-up response. And if a candidate goes over their allotted time, you'll here this. +p1736 +aVMs. Fiorina, while you've all pointed out how weak the current recovery has been and how disappointing by any historical standards, in the general election, the Democrats will inevitably ask you and voters to compare the recent president's jobs performance. Now, in seven years under President Obama, the U.S. has added an average of 107,000 jobs a month. Under President Clinton, the economy added about 240,000 jobs a month. Under George W. Bush, it was only 13,000 a month. If you win the nomination, you'll probably be facing a Democrat named Clinton. How are you going to respond to the claim that Democratic presidents are better at creating jobs than Republicans? +p1737 +aVThank you. Thank you. Senator Paul, income inequality has been rising in the United States. Fifty years ago, for example, the average CEO of a big corporation in this country earned 20 times the average salary of one of his or her workers. Today, that CEO earns about 300 times the average salary of a worker. Does it matter at all that the gap between the rich and everyone else is widening? +p1738 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1739 +aVSenator Rubio... +p1740 +aVYes, one quick comment, yes. +p1741 +aVGovernor Bush... +p1742 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor, you...You should let Jeb speak. +p1743 +aVMr. Trump, Mr. Trump, you yourself \u2014 you yourself said let Governor Bush speak. Governor Bush? +p1744 +aVSenator Rubio? Senator... +p1745 +aVSenator Rubio, Senator Rubio, let me \u2014 let me take you to a question that I think gets to the root of a lot of the anxiety that people have in this country. The economy is undergoing a transformation through information technology. Americans are anxious that the new economy isn't producing higher-paying jobs. Many are concerned that the new wealth seems to be going mainly to innovators and investors. Meanwhile, with factories run by robots and shopping done increasingly on smartphones, many traditional jobs are just going away. How do you reassure American workers that their jobs are not being steadily replaced by machines? +p1746 +aVThank you. Senator Cruz \u2014 Senator Cruz, entitlements. You've argued for raising the retirement age and reducing benefits for future retirees, but reducing any sort of benefits for the elderly has always been notoriously hard to do politically. When Speaker Paul Ryan proposed replacing traditional Medicare with federally funded private plans a few years ago, a liberal group responded with a commercial that featured a granny being pushed off a cliff. What's going to be different this time? +p1747 +aV...I said for future retirees was your statement... +p1748 +aVSenator Rubio. Can I just come to Senator Rubio? We're coming to you, Mr. Trump, in one second. I \u2014 I promise. +p1749 +aVSenator Rubio, your tax plan includes a large expansion of child tax credits to raise off (ph) the tax incomes for low-income parents. A similar tax credit that you previously proposed in the Senate was estimated to cost as much as $170 billion a year, according to the Tax Foundation. Isn't \u2014 isn't there a risk you're just adding another expensive entitle program to an already overburdened federal budget? +p1750 +aVGovernor Kasich? Let me come to Governor Kasich. +p1751 +aVGovernor Kasich. +p1752 +aVVery quickly, Senator. +p1753 +aVPlease. +p1754 +aV...Gentleman, we need to move on... +p1755 +aV...We need to move... +p1756 +aV...We need too... +p1757 +aV...We do need to move on. Mr. Trump... +p1758 +aV...Very quick. +p1759 +aVLet's talk about \u2014 No, no, Governor, I really must move on. I really want to move on. Mr. Trump, let's talk about the international economy... +p1760 +aV...We really need to move on... +p1761 +aV...No, governor, I promise I will come to you... +p1762 +aV...Listen... +p1763 +aV...Mr. Trump, can I ask you about... +p1764 +aV...the U.S. just concluded an international trade agreement with 11 countries in the Pacific. You've said that you'd rather have no deal... +p1765 +aV...than sign the one that's on the table... +p1766 +aV...Most economists \u2014 most economists say that trade is boosted growth, and every single post war president has supported the expansion of international trade, including the last three republican presidents. Why would you reverse more than 50 years of U.S. trade policy? +p1767 +aVThe \u2014 the deal, as you say, the terms of the deal were published \u2014 were published just last week, the details, 5,000 pages of it, and 80 percent of U.S. trade with countries in the Pacific, these countries, these 11 countries, is actually tariff-free, and these \u2014 the trade deal only affects the other 20 percent. Which \u2014 are there particular parts of the deal that you think were badly negotiated? +p1768 +aVThere was a separate \u2014 separate... +p1769 +aVBut isn't that \u2014 isn't that part of the problem? When I say, Senator, that if \u2014 if this deal is not ratified by \u2014 by the U.S. \u2014 by the Senate, then it would actually give China an opportunity to grow its economic leadership, which it's been seeking to do? And if the U.S. is unable to take part in this trade deal with these countries in Asia, China will take the lead? +p1770 +aVThank you. Thanks, Senator. +p1771 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich, I want to ask you about China, in particular hundreds of American companies have been subjected to cyber attacks from the Chinese military, yet state-backed Chinese companies, growing their presence in the United States, Chinese investments in U.S., which were nearly nonexistent a few years ago, are now over $50 billion. And as my newspaper recently reported, Chinese companies are planning to bid for one of the largest hotel chains in the United States, what would be the largest ever Chinese takeover of a U.S. company. Would you stop them? +p1772 +aVThank you, Governor. Plenty of opportunities. Thank you. Neil? +p1773 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate, live from Milwaukee. Now let's get straight back to the questions, and Governor Bush. Governor, Hillary Clinton recently said that if we had another financial crisis like the one in 2008, she wouldn't bail out the banks. Would you? +p1774 +aVBut, Governor, but can I just quickly \u2014 did \u2014 you can't seriously guarantee that there won't be another financial crisis, can you? +p1775 +aVEver? There will never be another financial crisis? +p1776 +aVDr. Carson, if I may, just on that point, despite measures taken, as the governor says, since the crisis to make the financial system safer, the major banks in the U.S., many of them are actually bigger than ever. Asset held by JPMorgan Chase, for example, the very largest bank, have increased by nearly 40 percent to over $2.6 trillion. Do you think JPMorgan and the other big banks should be broken up? +p1777 +aVBut just to be clear, just \u2014 just to be clear, then, you wouldn't \u2014 you wouldn't favor breaking up the big banks? You think they're big enough \u2014 they're OK as they are, as big as they are? +p1778 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. +p1779 +aVThank you. +p1780 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate. And now, candidates, it's time for your closing statements. You get 30 seconds each, and, Senator Paul, we will begin with you. +p1781 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Kasich? +p1782 +asVHEWITT +p1783 +(lp1784 +VSenator Cruz, you've said you disagree with Mr. Trump's policy. I don't want a cage match; you've tweeted you don't want a cage match. But Republican primary voters deserve to know, with the kind of specificity and responsiveness you delivered in your nine Supreme Court arguments, how you disagree with Mr. Trump. Would you spell that out with us? +p1785 +aVSo you're saying you disagree because he's too broad and you have a narrower focus? Why do you disagree with him? +p1786 +aVCarly Fiorina... ... this is the Christmas dinner debate. This will be the debate that Americans talk about at Christmas. And thus far, in the first 10 minutes, we haven't heard a lot about Ronald Reagan's city on a hill. We've heard a lot about keeping Americans out or keeping Americans safe and everyone else out. Is this what you want the party to stand for? +p1787 +aVDr. Carson...... you mentioned in your opening remarks that you're a pediatric neurologist surgeon... +p1788 +aVNeurosurgeon. And people admire and respect and are inspired by your life story, your kindness, your evangelical core support. We're talking about ruthless things tonight \u2014 carpet bombing, toughness, war. And people wonder, could you do that? Could you order air strikes that would kill innocent children by not the scores, but the hundreds and the thousands? Could you wage war as a commander-in-chief? +p1789 +aVSo you are OK with the deaths of thousands of innocent children and civilian? It's like... +p1790 +aVThat is what war \u2014 can you be as ruthless as Churchill was in prosecuting the war against the Nazis? +p1791 +aVMr. Trump, we are talking about the most important thing, that's why it's heated. And it's, you are OK with Mr. Assad staying in power, but you are also in favor of winning. If he stays in power, Iran is winning, Hezbollah is winning. Iran is winning in Yemen. They are winning everywhere. If they are winning how can we be winning? +p1792 +aVGovernor Christie, is he right? Because if we step back, Iran goes nuclear. Is Donald Trump right? +p1793 +aVSenator Paul, let me ask you, you heard Governor Kasich say Assad must go. Do you agree? +p1794 +aVGovernor Bush, a commander-in-chief question. You've said that Mr. Trump is not qualified to be president because he's not qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin. Why are you better qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin than Mr. Trump? +p1795 +aVMr. Trump? +p1796 +aVBut, Mr. Trump, it's not CNN \u2014 I was on CNN last night... +p1797 +aV... watching... +p1798 +aVBut it wasn't \u2014 it wasn't CNN. It was me. I watched you last night for 16 minutes. It's not CNN. +p1799 +aVIt's not CNN. It's America's watching you. +p1800 +aVIt's America's watching. +p1801 +aVGovernor \u2014 thank you, Governor. +p1802 +aVDr. Carson, commander-in-chief question again. You've been the head of neurosurgery for a big hospital. You're on a lot of boards of a lot of companies. You've traveled the world. You're going traveling again next week. But does that prepare you to command troops from Djibouti to Japan, troops from Afghanistan to Iraq to be in charge of the men and women watching on Armed Services Network tonight? +p1803 +aVMr. Trump...... Dr. Carson just referenced the single most important job of the president, the command, the control and the care of our nuclear forces. And he mentioned the triad. The B-52s are older than I am. The missiles are old. The submarines are aging out. It's an executive order. It's a commander-in-chief decision. What's your priority among our nuclear triad? +p1804 +aVOf the three legs of the triad, though, do you have a priority? I want to go to Senator Rubio after that and ask him. +p1805 +aVSenator Rubio, do you have a response? +p1806 +aVMy listeners tell me again and again they are worried that Hillary Clinton will win the White House because you'll run as an independent. Are you ready to assure Republicans tonight that you will run as a Republican and abide by the decision of the Republicans? +p1807 +aVDr. Carson, last week... +p1808 +aVPlease. +p1809 +aVDr. Carson, Mr. Trump just committed to stay the distance regardless of the result. How about you? +p1810 +aVThank you, Jake. Mr. Trump, two years ago, President Obama drew a red line that the Syrian dictator Bashar Assad crossed, President Obama threatened to strike. He did not, his knees buckled. We now have 4 million refugees, Syria is a living hell, and he turned to the Congress for the authority to back him up. You have three senators to your right that said, no. Do they bear responsibility for this refugee crisis, and what would you have done when Bashar Assad crossed the line? +p1811 +aVHow much responsibility, Mr. Trump, do the senators hold? +p1812 +aVSenator Rubio... +p1813 +aVSenator Paul? +p1814 +aVI'd like to talk about winning because I think all of you are more qualified than former Secretary of State Clinton, and as were the people in the first debate, but there are different styles, and Carly Fiorina, Governor Kasich, you're conveniently located next to each other, and you have different styles. Governor Kasich, you've been on my show a lot. You refused to attack Hillary Clinton, you just don't want to go there, you want to do the up with people. Go, Ohio, OK, and I like that. Carly Fiorina, I don't have to bring up the Secretary of State \u2014 you bring her up, so . Which one of you is wrong? Governor Kasich? +p1815 +aVGovernor. +p1816 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1817 +aVCarly Fiorina, your style? +p1818 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. Governor Christie, your name was mentioned. I want to give you a chance to respond. +p1819 +aVThank you, Governor. +p1820 +aVThank you, Governor Christie. There is a lot more coming up. Ahead, a world of trouble. The challenges that one of these candidates may face in the Oval Office, and how he or she will handle it. Stay with us. +p1821 +aVOh, you're the best interview in America. +p1822 +aV... makes an interesting case (ph) here (ph). +p1823 +aVThank you, Jake. I've done a lot of great interviews with all of you, but, Governor Bush, I talked to you in February about the biggest elephant in a room full of elephants, which is your last name. And you said you would not be burdened either by your brother or your father's legacy in the Middle East. And then, a week later, you rolled out your list of foreign policy advisers, and it was a lot of the band getting back together again. So on behalf of the military that is watching... +p1824 +aV...OK, the active duty military that are at the end of the sphere (ph), what kind of a commander in chief is Jeb Bush going to be, and who are the advisers that are new to your team? +p1825 +aVMr. \u2014 Mr. Trump. +p1826 +aVI want to ask you a question, though, you promised us great leaders. And I believe that. But Jeb Bush has laid out 20 different people that have experience around the world. There are 190 countries, you can't run the world by yourself. When are we going to get some names on your military and your foreign policy advisers? +p1827 +aVThank you, Jake. Tomorrow is \u2014 Republicans know this \u2014 tomorrow is Constitution Day. We've been talking about the 10th Amendment. Let's talk about the Second Amendment. Governor Bush, one of the things the Supreme Court has gotten right is that it's an individual right and it's protected for individuals to hold it. Last week, you said the next step in gun issues is to make sure they're not in the hands of mentally ill. In this state, there's a controversial law that allows guns to be taken away from people without a hearing. Where does it go \u2014 and the problem of violence is endemic, but where does it go from what you said last week, how far into people's lives to take guns away from them? +p1828 +aVIf a family member calls and says, "My child, my brother, my sister is disturbed," ought the state be able to go and get their weapon without a hearing? +p1829 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1830 +aVSenator Cruz, I want to go to you. Your constitutional litigant (ph), are you afraid of the next- step theory of what happens to Second Amendment rights? +p1831 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1832 +aVThank you, Senator. +p1833 +aVThank you, senator. +p1834 +asVWALLACE +p1835 +(lp1836 +VTonight, we're partnering with Google for an exclusive second-screen experience. Search Fox News debate on Google any time in the next two hours to access exclusive content. You can see the campaigns respond to the debate in real time, and you can weigh in by voting on the topics being discussed. Just go to google.com or open your Google search app and type in Fox News debate. +p1837 +aVNeurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. +p1838 +aVApparently Iowa's near Kentucky. +p1839 +aVSenator Rubio, I want to explore this sort of larger issue. The campaign has in a sense turned into a battle for the soul of the Republican party: establishment versus grassroots, pragmatic versus principle. You say that you can unite all of the factions inside the GOP. How? +p1840 +aVGovernor Kasich, I want to get back to this question of where conservatives are this year. You call yourself a, quote, "inside-outside guy, a reformer who knows how to get things done," but you reject the establishment label. First question is why do you reject it? And secondly, what do you say to Republican voters this year who view practical government experience as a liability and not an asset? +p1841 +aVDr. Carson, I want to pick up on that with you. Governor Kasich likes to say he knows how to land the plane. You've landed a lot of planes in the O.R. But what about the idea of running for president with no experience in government at all? +p1842 +aVGentlemen, we're now going to start to drill down into specific issues that are on voters' minds. I'm going to start with one of the biggest ones, which is foreign terror. According to Google, +p1843 +aVSenator Rubio, does Senator Cruz's record match his rhetoric? +p1844 +aVSenator Cruz, you've got 30 seconds. You were mentioned. +p1845 +aVGentlemen. +p1846 +aVMay I \u2014 may I just say, we are going to continue the questions about foreign terror, gentlemen, right after this break. +p1847 +aVThank you. Governor Christie, you have compared both Senators Cruz and Rubio to Barack Obama, saying that we cannot afford another inexperienced President. You've also said that Senator Cruz's vote to curtail the NSA surveillance program made America less safe. Is either of them ready to be Commander in Chief? +p1848 +aVGovernor Bush... +p1849 +aV... I don't think that your name was mentioned... +p1850 +aV... Sir, I think \u2014 I think the question was... +p1851 +aV... It's not my question that you get a chance to respond to, it's his answer. You don't get 30 seconds to respond to me... +p1852 +aV... You don't get 30 seconds to respond to me... +p1853 +aV... If I could go on. Sir, I know you like to argue about the rules, but we're going to conduct a debate... +p1854 +aV... Governor Bush... +p1855 +aVGovernor Bush, here's the question \u2014 I'm going to ask Governor Bush the question. You criticized several candidates in this field on this stage for what you call unrealistic ideas about how to fight terrorists, including Rubio, and Cruz on the issue of their refusing to give the President authority to enforce the redline in Syria. But, given the fact that your brother got us into two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that have still not ended. That have still not ended, what lessons have you learned from his mistakes, sir? +p1856 +aVSenator Cruz, now you get a chance to respond. +p1857 +aV... It is a debate, sir. +p1858 +aVI think the questions were about issues. Senator Rubio, what would you like to respond sir... +p1859 +aVThank you. +p1860 +aVGood. +p1861 +aVSenator Paul, go ahead. +p1862 +aVWell... ... we'll be talking about foreign policy a little bit later. We're going to talk... +p1863 +aVThis debate is just getting started. Coming up, the role of the federal government. But first, join tonight's conversation right from your home. Go to google.com or open your Google search app and search Fox News Debate to vote on which issue is most important to you in this election. More from the Iowa Events Center and the Republican presidential debate in a moment. +p1864 +aVGentlemen, we're going to turn now to what we call electability, issues that you're either facing in the primaries or issues that you're certainly going to face in a general election. So you may not be altogether unhappy if you're not included in this round. Senator Cruz, you pride yourself on standing up to the D.C. cartel, but as we've seen to a certain degree tonight, there's a price for standing up to the D.C. cartel. Thirteen Republican senators have endorsed other candidates, none have endorsed you. You \u2014 twice last year, you asked for a colleague to second a motion, a routine courtesy on the Senate floor, and no senator would do it. Top GOP officials worry that if you're at the top of the ticket \u2014 some officials \u2014 that not only will you lose the White House, but it will tank the ticket all the way down the line. The question is does your style sometimes get in the way of your ability to get things done, sir? +p1865 +aVGovernor Christie, two of your former top aides go on trial in May for fraud and conspiracy in the "Bridge-gate" case, the politically motivated closure of lanes to the George Washington Bridge. Another former aide who has already pleaded guilty and will likely testify for the government, as you know, says that you knew about this whole deal. Can the GOP take the chance of nominating you with this scandal still out there, sir? +p1866 +aVGentlemen, almost 60% of Republican caucus-goers identify themselves as Evangelicals, so I'd like to spend a few minutes exploring social issues. Governor Kasich, you talk a good deal about your faith. In fact, you say it played a role in your decision to expand Medicaid, and you say that when you meet Saint Peter at the Pearly Gates, he's going to ask what you did for the poor, not what you did to keep government small. Senator Cruz is on the opposite side of this issue from you, so does that mean that you're getting in and he isn't? +p1867 +aVGentlemen, we had a case study on religious liberty just this last summer. A county clerk in Kentucky named Kim Davis refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples after the Supreme Court ruling, saying that it violated her religious beliefs. Governor Christie, you said that she must follow the law or be moved to another job that would be in keeping with her conscience. But some conservatives say that that violates her religious liberty. +p1868 +aVThank you, sir. Senator Rubio, during the last debate, you said Governor Christie had changed his position and his mind on gun control, on common core, and backing President Obama's nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. He said you're wrong on the facts and you can't, quote, "slime your way to the White House." I assume in the last two weeks, you've done some fact-checking. Do you want to take anything back? +p1869 +aVThank you, senator. Senator Paul, in May on the campaign trail you, said you didn't get into politics to fight about abortion. You said you were more concerned about the national debt. Your answer is to turn abortion back to the states the way it was before Roe v. Wade. Does that mean that if a liberal state, let's say, wants to make abortion legal, that you're okay with that and what do you say to conservative voters who believe deeply that abortion is murder? +p1870 +aVSir, just 30 seconds to answer my specific... Just 30 seconds to answer my specific question. Do you favor the idea that abortion should be a states' rights issue and if a liberal state wants to make it legal, that that's their choice? Yes or no? +p1871 +aVThank you, sir. +p1872 +aVWe're not finished yet. More to come from the presidential debate, live from Des Moines, Iowa, next. And remember, to see how the campaigns are responding to the debate in real time, go togoogle.com or open your Google search app and search Fox News debate, and please stay with us. +p1873 +aVWe have another question from one of Youtube's top creators. Here it is. +p1874 +aVGovernor Bush, how do you answer Nabela? +p1875 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Cruz, change of subject. You called for an end to the renewable fuel standards which mandate that refineries blend biofuels, including ethanol into gasoline. As you well know, ethanol's a big industry in this state, $10 billion dollars a year. Last week, Terry Branstad, the popular Governor of Iowa... ... Who is in the hall tonight, said that you're bankrolled by big oil, and that Iowa voters would be making a mistake supporting you. Why should those voters side with you over the six- term governor of the state, sir? +p1876 +aVDr. Carson, I'd like to ask you about exactly that issue. Where are you on the mandatory ethanol standard, and precisely this question. Should government be in the business of picking winners and losers, or should it be left to the market place? +p1877 +aVDoctor, thank you. +p1878 +aVDr. Ben Carson. +p1879 +aVAnd don't forget, after all the talk, the first voting of the 2016 campaign happens in just four days. The first Americans to vote, the Iowa caucuses are Monday and Fox News will have complete coverage. +p1880 +aVAlso of note, Fox News is partnering for tonight's debate with Facebook. For the past several weeks, we've been asking you for questions for the candidates on Facebook. Nearly 6 million of you, 6 million, viewed the debate videos on our site, and more than 40,000 of you submitted questions: some of which you will hear us asking the candidates tonight. +p1881 +aVKentucky Senator Rand Paul. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. And your very own governor of Ohio... ... John Kasich. +p1882 +aVBrett -- Brett, I think you would call that a home field advantage. +p1883 +aVSenator Rubio, when Jeb Bush announced his candidacy for presidency, he said this: "There's no passing off responsibility when you're a governor, no blending into the legislative crowd." Could you please address Governor Bush across the stage here, and explain to him why you, someone who has never held executive office, are better prepared to be president than he is, a man who you say did a great job running your state of Florida for eight years. +p1884 +aVSenator Cruz, your colleague, Senator Paul, right there next to you, said a few months ago he agrees with you on a number of issues, but he says you do nothing to grow the party. He says you feed red meat to the base, but you don't reach out to minorities. You have a toxic relationship with GOP leaders in Congress. You even called the Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell a liar recently. How can you win in 2016 when you're such a divisive figure? +p1885 +aVGovernor Huckabee, like Governor Walker, you have staked out strong positions on social issues. You favor a constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage. You favor a constitutional amendment banning abortions, except for the life of the mother. Millions of people in this country agree with you, but according to the polls, and again this an electability question, according to the polls, more people don't, so how do you persuade enough Independents and Democrats to get elected in 2016? +p1886 +aVGentlemen, we're turning to a new subject that all of you have been talking about and some of you have been disagreeing about, and that is the issue of immigration. Governor Bush, you released a new plan this week on illegal immigration focusing on enforcement, which some suggest is your effort to show that you're not soft on that issue. I want to ask you about a statement that you made last year about illegal immigrants. And here's what you said. "They broke the law, but it's not a felony, it's an act of love. It's an act of commitment to your family." Do you stand by that statement and do you stand by your support for earned legal status? +p1887 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, it has not escaped anybody's notice that you say that the Mexican government, the Mexican government is sending criminals -- rapists, drug dealers, across the border. Governor Bush has called those remarks, quote, "extraordinarily ugly." I'd like you -- you're right next to him -- tell us -- talk to him directly and say how you respond to that and -- and you have repeatedly said that you have evidence that the Mexican government is doing this, but you have evidence you have refused or declined to share. Why not use this first Republican presidential debate to share your proof with the American people? +p1888 +aVMr. Trump, I'll give you 30 seconds -- I'll give you 30 seconds to answer my question, which was, what evidence do you have, specific evidence that the Mexican government is sending criminals across the border? Thirty seconds. +p1889 +aVAll right. Obviously there's a lot more to talk about this. We're going to have more questions for the candidates on illegal immigration, plus other key topics including your questions on Facebook. +p1890 +aVWelcome back to FOX News/Facebook Republican Debate Night. We're going to continue the questions now on illegal immigration. We kind of ended with a cliffhanger there. So let's continue the conversation. Governor Kasich, I know you don't like to talk about Donald Trump. But I do want to ask you about the merit of what he just said. When you say that the American government is stupid, that the Mexican government is sending criminals, that we're being bamboozled, is that an adequate response to the question of illegal immigration? +p1891 +aVRespectfully, can we talk about illegal immigration? +p1892 +aVAll right, well, Senator Rubio, let me see if I can do better with you. Is it as simple as our leaders are stupid, their leaders are smart, and all of these illegals coming over are criminals? +p1893 +aVGovernor Walker. Governor Walker, from 2002 until as recently as 2013, just two years ago, you supported comprehensive immigration reform, including a path to citizenship. Now you say that was a quick reaction to something you hadn't really thought about, and that you've changed your mind. Other than politics, could you explain why in the last two years you've changed your position on a path to citizenship, and are there other past positions that we shouldn't hold you to? +p1894 +aVSenator Cruz, some 1,400 people submitted questions on this very hot topic of illegal immigration on Facebook, and a number of them were about the murder of Kate Steinle in San Francisco, allegedly shot down by an illegal. Doug Bettencourt sent this question, "will you support Kate Steinle's Law," which would impose a mandatory five-year prison term for an illegal who is deported and then returns to this country? "And will you defund sanctuary cities for violating federal law?" +p1895 +aVGentlemen, we're obviously digging into some subjects in depth, but we're also going to change it up every once in a while throughout the next hour and have many rounds where we ask, you are not going to like it, only a couple of candidates questions on those subjects. This is the first of the many rounds, and it's about somebody whose name probably hasn't been mentioned enough so far tonight. Governor Kasich, let me start with you. Whoever the Republican nominee -- Whoever the Republican nominee is, it looks at least for now like whoever that nominee is, he or she, will be facing off against Hillary Clinton. You know how she will come after whoever the Republican nominee is. She will say that you, whoever it is, support the rich while she supports the middle class. That you want to suppress the rights of women and minorities. She wants to move the country forward while you, the Republicans, want to take the country back to the past. How will you, if you're the nominee, how will you answer that and take Hillary Clinton on? +p1896 +aVI know that all of you would like to answer this question, but we're only going to ask one other candidate before we move on to a different subject, Dr. Carson. Basically, same question to you. If Hillary Clinton is the nominee and she comes at you with that kind of line of attack, how will you take Iraq? +p1897 +aVGentlemen, we're going to turn now to the subject of the economy, jobs and money and the government. And Governor Bush, I'm going to start with you. You have made a bold promise in your announcement. You have promised four percent economic growth and 19 million new jobs if you are fortunate enough to serve two terms as president. That many jobs, 19 million, would be triple what your father and your brother accomplished together. And four percent growth, the last president to average that was Lyndon Johnson during the height of the Vietnam War. So question, how on Earth specifically would you pull that off? +p1898 +aVGovernor Walker. Governor Walker, when you ran for governor of Wisconsin back in 2010, you promised that you would create 250,000 jobs in your first term, first four years. In fact, Wisconsin added barely half that and ranked 35th in the country in job growth. Now you're running for president, and you're promising an economic plan in which everyone will earn a piece of the American dream. Given your record in Wisconsin, why should voters believe you? +p1899 +aVGovernor Christie, I want to engage you and Governor Huckabee in a subject that is a big issue in both of your campaigns, and that is entitlement reform. You say that you -- to save the system that you want to raise the retirement age -- have to raise the retirement age, and to cut benefits for Social Security and Medicare, and you say that some of the candidates here on the stage are lying. Governor Huckabee says he can save Social Security and Medicare without doing any of that. Is he lying? +p1900 +aVGovernor Huckabee? You say that changing entitlements, the kind of thing that Governor Christie is talking about, would be breaking a promise to the American people, and you say that you can keep those programs, save Social Security, save Medicare, without those kinds of reforms through a FairTax, which is a broad tax on consumption. Please explain to Governor Christie how that would work, and how you could save these programs without the kind of painful reforms he says we need? +p1901 +aV...Thirty seconds. +p1902 +aV...Alright, this is it. Thirty Seconds, finally. +p1903 +aVAll right. Enough. Mr. Trump. +p1904 +aVMr. Trump, you talk a lot about how you are the person on this stage to grow the economy, I want to ask you about your business records. From corporations, Trump corporations, casinos and hotels, have declared bankruptcy four times over the last quarter-century. +p1905 +aVNo, but the concept sir... +p1906 +aV... that's your line, but your companies have gone bankrupt. +p1907 +aVWell sir, let's just talk about the latest example......which is Trump Entertainment Resorts, which went bankrupt in 2009. In that case alone, lenders to your company lost over $1 billion and more than 1,100 people were laid off. +p1908 +aVIs that the way that you'd run the country? +p1909 +aVSo... +p1910 +aVSenator Rubio. Senator Rubio, more than 3,000 people sent us questions about the economy and jobs on Facebook. And here is a video question from Tania Cioloko from Philadelphia. Here she is. +p1911 +aVSenator, how do you answer Tania? +p1912 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. +p1913 +aVSenator Paul, closing statement. +p1914 +aVDr. Carson, closing statement. +p1915 +aVGovernor Bush, closing statement, sir. +p1916 +asVGARRETT +p1917 +(lp1918 +VSenator Cruz. John mentioned this is about dollars and incentives. We also want to talk about economic growth engagements. You have proposed a consumption tax, you called it the "back tax." Some analysts compare it more to an attributed "value-added tax." From the perspective from economic growth in building wages, how does that work, and how would you address those longstanding conservative concerns that something approaching the "value-added tax" would be used to constantly increase those rates to pay for future government spending and become an escalator of taxation, not of growth? +p1919 +aVNow, the question \u2014 conservatives have sort of this idea conceptually for a long time, but especially on this consumption value-added tax system. In Europe, where it exists, it has become an escalator of taxation to feed government spending, and that's why conservatives have long resisted it. Why and what would you do as president to make sure that doesn't happen? +p1920 +aVGovernor Bush, a question for you \u2014 but if you want to jump in, please. +p1921 +aVJump in, and then I've got a question for you. +p1922 +aVReal quickly, jump in, because I have got a question for Governor Bush, but jump in. +p1923 +aVUnderstood, Governor Kasich. +p1924 +aVYeah, Governor Bush, fine. +p1925 +aVLet me get in a question from... +p1926 +aVI understand, I understand. +p1927 +aVI have a question on economic growth, Governor Bush. +p1928 +aVA , Governor. +p1929 +aVI know, understood. Governor Bush. +p1930 +aVGovernor Bush, from the perspective, economic growth \u2014 viewed from this perspective of economic growth, you have proposed a tax on hedge fund managers. The Americans for Tax Reform, a conservative tax group you're probably aware of, has said no Republican should be for higher taxes on capital gains. And many conservatives wonder if this proposal of yours would undermine not only that philosophy, but undercut your projection of 4 percent economic growth annually under your presidency? +p1931 +aV... Dr. Carson... +p1932 +aVSenator Rubio... For the purposes of the lines \u2014 lines you would draw legislatively as a president on immigration reform, define amnesty. +p1933 +aVVery quickly, Senator Cruz. +p1934 +aVGovernor Bush, I want to bring this out to a little wider philosophical aspect, if you will. +p1935 +aVYou have said illegal immigrants, quote, "broke the law, but it's not a felony," still quoting you, "it's an act of love, it's an act of commitment to your family." Mr. Trump has, as you are well aware, denounced that statement over and over. Do you still believe it? What does that mean to you? And how does that inform your approach to immigration reform? +p1936 +aVFundamentally, do you believe this rhetoric is insufficiently compassionate to this issue? +p1937 +aVMr. Trump... +p1938 +aV... Governor Kasich, here in South Carolina earlier this week, you said the idea, the concept of deporting 11 million undocumented workers... +p1939 +aV... We will leave the moon metaphors to be adjudicated later, I assure you. Governor Kasich, you said earlier this week in South Carolina, the concept, the idea of deporting 11 million undocumented workers in this country is nuts. Why is it you are so opposed to that idea? Senator Cruz has said it's a simple application of existing law. The application of that is not inhumane, it is just. Why do you disagree? +p1940 +aV... What are you for on immigration? +p1941 +aVMr. Trump \u2014 Mr. Trump. I was with you in Pendleton, South Carolina, earlier this week at the Rodeo Arena. It was a bit chilly there. You promised the crowd, and they rose to their feet, that if Ford or a company like were to move a factory to Mexico, you would try to stop it or threaten them with a 35 percent tax or tariff on every car sold. +p1942 +aVRight. So my question is, based on your understanding of the presidency, where do you derive that power? Would you need the consent of Congress to go along? And do you see the presidency as a perch from which you can cajole and/or threaten private industry to do something you think is better for the U.S. economy? +p1943 +aVThank you, governor. +p1944 +asVMUIR +p1945 +(lp1946 +VGood evening, again, everyone. This is the first time since Iowa and the only time before the New Hampshire primary that the Republican candidates will have the opportunity to face each other. The people of Iowa have been heard. Now it's New Hampshire's turn. In just three days, voters here will decide who they think should be the Republican nominee for president. +p1947 +aVSo let's welcome the candidates for the Republican nomination for president. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. +p1948 +aVTexas Senator Ted Cruz. +p1949 +aVFlorida Senator Marco Rubio. +p1950 +aVAnd Ohio Governor John Kasich. +p1951 +aVAnd Dr. Ben Carson, please come out on the stage. He's standing there, as well. Dr. Carson. +p1952 +aVAnd lastly, we welcome back to the debate stage, Donald Trump. +p1953 +aVIt was so noisy in here. Yes. Yes. We're going to introduce Ohio Governor John kasich. The applause so loud here in the hall. +p1954 +aVSo let's get started. We welcome you all to the debate stage here tonight. We're going to tackle the issues Americans are most concerned about, the economy, +p1955 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. I want to bring this to Senator Cruz, then. Because Senator, you did said of Trump's behavior this week, that's not the temperament of a leader to keep this country safe. Why not? +p1956 +aVSenator Cruz, I did ask about Mr. Trump. You said he doesn't have the temperament to be commander-in-chief. Do you stand by those words? +p1957 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. We're going to continue on this notion of readiness and experience. I'm going to come back. +p1958 +aVIf you would like to respond, Mr. Trump. +p1959 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. And we're going to continue on this notion of readiness and on experience, but I want to ask about a headline that was back in the papers again this morning. Dr. Carson, on the day of the Iowa caucuses, the Cruz campaign sent out messages and voicemails saying, quote, "Breaking news. Dr. Ben Carson will be planning to suspend his campaign following tonight's caucuses. Please inform any Carson caucus-goers of this news." But as we can all see, you are still standing here tonight. Late this week, your campaign sent this e-mail, quote, "This kind of deceitful behavior is why the American people don't trust politicians. If Senator Cruz does not act, then he clearly represents D.C. values." What kind of action do you think Senator Cruz should take? +p1960 +aVSenator Cruz. Dr. Carson, thank you. Senator Cruz, you have said that Dr. Carson and his wife have become friends of yours. I'm curious as why you didn't call ahead of time to either the doctor or his wife or have your campaign check in with the other campaign before sending out those messages. +p1961 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. We're going to move on here. Back to the issues... +p1962 +aVDr. Carson, please. +p1963 +aVDr. Carson, thank you. Thank you, doctor. Senator Rubio. I want to stay on the issue of readiness to be president and experience and questions about you being a first-term senator. Governor Christie warning voters here in New Hampshire against voting for another first-term senator as America did with Barack Obama in 2008. Arguing that you are, quote, " not ready to be president of the United States." And Senator Santorum, who we all know, dropped out of the race and endorsed you, had a hard time when asked on national television, listing your accomplishments as senator. Tonight, what are your accomplishments in the Senate that demonstrate you are ready to be president of the United States? +p1964 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I do want to ask Governor Christie, Governor Christie, you said fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me when it comes to electing a first-term senator. You heard Senator Rubio make the case that he does have the experience. Your response? +p1965 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Rubio? +p1966 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I want to bring in governor bush on this, because you... +p1967 +aV... have made this... +p1968 +aVIf you'd like to respond to economic... +p1969 +aVSenator Rubio? +p1970 +aVGovernor Christie, we will \u2014 we will... +p1971 +aVGovernor Christie \u2014 thank you, Governor. I will mention \u2014 listen... +p1972 +aV... Listen, people... Governor Bush, I'll mention your name so that you can come in on this... +p1973 +aVI want to bring you in on this because you've made this central to your campaign right here in New Hampshire in the last couple of days. Four Years ago you said of Senator Rubio, he was ready to be Vice President. You spoke of his experience as well. You said he has the fortitude to be a good President, but just this week you said Senator Rubio accomplished, quote, "nothing" in the Senate. How do you square the two? +p1974 +aV... We're going to continue with leadership now. Martha? +p1975 +aVMartha, we're going to turn to immigration now. And I want to bring in Governor Kasich because you told us in an ABC interview, Governor, quote, "It is completely ridiculous to think we are going to go into neighborhoods, grab people out of their homes and ship people back to Mexico." Adding, quote, "That's not where the party is. The party is not for departing 11.5 million people." But Mr. Trump and Senator Cruz, who have made deportation central to their campaigns, top the national polls. So, my question for you, are you not where the voters are? +p1976 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. I want to bring this next to Senator Cruz. You heard what the governor said. He said, "We need practical solutions." And you've said, "I don't intend to send jack boots to knock on doors. That's not how we enforce the law for any crime." So, what is your plan? How will you deport 11.5 million undocumented people? And be specific. How would you do it? +p1977 +aVLet me just ask you this, though, because Governor Kasich was talking about the families and what you do with the families that you would have to send home. Can you tell the American people tonight how you would do that? +p1978 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. I want to bring in Senator Rubio. This question is about immigration, it is also about leadership. You're aware of the criticism from many candidates on this stage tonight that you co-authored the so-called Gang of Eight bill that would have created a path to citizenship for people here illegally. Governor Christie has said of you, as soon as you felt the heat, you turned tail and run. Governor Bush has said, "I don't think we need people cutting and running anymore." Did you fight for your own legislation, Senator, or did you run from it? +p1979 +aVBut I'm asking, did you fight for the legislation at the time or did you run from it as you're... +p1980 +aVGovernor Christie? +p1981 +aVGovernor thank you. Senator Rubio? +p1982 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. We want to turn to health care in this country, and for that, author and commentator, Mary Katherine Ham tonight. HAM: Thanks, David. Good evening, guys. +p1983 +aVMary Katherine, thank you. We want to turn now to the issue of eminent domain, which is being debated right here in New Hampshire. And Josh McElveen is the political director and the anchor of +p1984 +aVJosh, thank you. When we come back here tonight, jobs, +p1985 +aVAnd, we welcome you back to the Republican debate from New Hampshire tonight here on ABC. We're going to turn now to what it means to be a conservative, and I want to turn to Governor Kasich. Governor, while campaigning here in New Hampshire, you were already asked about groans from some conservatives after your endorsements from the New York Times, and the Boston Globe. You said, quote, "What conservatives have to know is they have to say, look isn't it nice to have a conservative like me liked? And, maybe the ought to think about it because if I get elected president, the Republican party and the definition of conservatism is going to change." How would you change conservatism? +p1986 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. Mr. Trump, you've heard the argument from many of the candidates on this stage that you're not a true conservative. Tell the voters watching tonight why you are. +p1987 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. Senator Rubio, you have said yourself that you don't think Donald Trump is running as a conservative. Did he convince you? +p1988 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I want to turn this discussion to the economy now. And Mr. Trump, Governor Christie has said, "I tell everybody who goes to a Donald Trump event, if you get to ask a question, just ask him how." Christie said, "I don't care which of the things he talks about, just ask him how." You have said that you'd be the greatest jobs president God ever created. Tell Americans watching tonight how many jobs you would create in the first term and how. +p1989 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. There are a lot of governors on this stage tonight and Governor Christie, Governor Kasich said of you, quote, "In Ohio, we balanced a budget. They don't have one over in New Jersey. Our credit has been strengthened. Their credit has been downgraded. We've got more jobs." How important are those metrics in choosing the next president? And is his job \u2014 is his record on jobs, I should say, actually stronger than yours? +p1990 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Kasich? +p1991 +aVHe didn't say your record was better than his. +p1992 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. +p1993 +aVGovernor Kasich, thank you. I do want to turn from jobs to taxes. +p1994 +aVIf you would like to respond to the governor, you can. +p1995 +aVI'm coming to you next with a question, anyway. You can respond to that question. +p1996 +aVWe're going from jobs to taxes, and here's the... +p1997 +aVTo the Gang of Eight bill first? +p1998 +aVThe governor wasn't talking about the president, he was talking about the Gang of Eight bill. +p1999 +aVSo, let me ask you about taxes, Senator Rubio. +p2000 +aVA recent poll, 68 percent of Americans favor raising taxes on people making more than $1 million a year. Are they wrong? +p2001 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. I want to bring in Governor Bush. And Governor, I just want to repeat that number for you \u2014 68 percent of Americans favor raising taxes on people making more than a million. What do you say to the people who believe that tonight? +p2002 +aVKnew that was coming. Governor, thank you. +p2003 +aVGovernor Christie, thank you. Martha? +p2004 +aVMartha, thank you. We're just going to \u2014 we're going to stay on +p2005 +aVIf elected president, would you bring it back? +p2006 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. Mr. Trump, you said not only does it work, but that you'd bring it back. +p2007 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. Governor Bush, you have said that you won't rule waterboarding out. Congress has passed laws banning the use of waterboarding by the military and the CIA, as you know. Would you want Congress to change that if you're elected president? +p2008 +aVGovernor Bush, thank you. Senator Rubio, I do want to ask you, you have said that you do not want to telegraph to the enemy what you would do as commander in chief. But for the American people watching tonight who want to know where the next president will stand, do you believe waterboarding is torture? +p2009 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. We want to turn now to the topic of executive orders, and for that, we're going to turn back to Mary Katharine Ham. Mary Katharine? HAM: Thanks, David. Senator Cruz, on the campaign trail you've promised voters a lot, in fact if you're elected president you'd say you end Common Core immediately, abolish the IRS, and do away with sanctuary cities. You've also been a persistent critic of President Obama's executive overreach, going it alone, not working with Congress. How do you intend to implement this aggressive agenda within your Constitutional authority, especially given that it would require working with Congress and Washington players with whom you're happy to say you have a strained relationship? +p2010 +aVMary Katherine, thank you. We want to turn to something the governor of New Hampshire said... +p2011 +aVA connection here on the stage. We're going to move on to what the governor of New Hampshire said just this week, and that is that heroin overdose is not the second-leading cause of death in this state. You don't need me to tell you that. But there's another number, 48 percent of the people here in this state knows someone who has abused heroin. Josh, who covers this for +p2012 +aVMartha? +p2013 +aVGovernor, well come to you in the next segment. When we come back, questions about race, about our veterans and social issues what younger conservative voters are now saying as we continue with New Hampshire with the Republican debate, right here on ABC. +p2014 +aVWelcome back to New Hampshire, ABC News coverage of the Republican debate, and it's great to have you back at the podiums, and we want to turn to race in America. And Mr. Trump, there are many who argue cell phones and smartphones are just now exposing what's been happening in this country for years. Cases of excessive force against minorities. As you know, Mr. Trump, on the other side, the FBI director recently said there's a chill wind blowing through law enforcement because of increased scrutiny. You have said police are the most mistreated people in America. As president, how do you bridge the divide? +p2015 +aVGreat. Mr. Trump, I did ask about bridging the divide though as president. So what would you say to the American families who say we have lived through this, we have seen excessive force? What would you say to those people? +p2016 +aVI do want to ask \u2014 Governor Kasich? +p2017 +aVGovernor, thank you. Senator Rubio, I want to ask you next, President Obama visited a mosque this week in America for the first time in his presidency. President George W. Bush visited a mosque after September 11th. You said of President Obama, quote, "he's always pitting people against each other." So I'm curious, how are the two visits different, and would you visit a mosque as president? +p2018 +aVSenator Rubio, thank you. Martha? +p2019 +aVJosh, thank you. I want to turn to a family that New Hampshire voters know quite well, and Senator Cruz, the issue of hostages has been a very real and painful one here in this state. As we all know, James Foley was killed. His mother, Diane, said our government should be willing to negotiate, arguing that families should also be allowed to raise money for ransom. What would you say to Diane Foley tonight? Should families be allowed to raise money for ransom for their loved ones? +p2020 +aVSenator Cruz, thank you. Mr. Trump, what would you say to Diane Foley? Should families be allowed to raise money for ransom? +p2021 +aVMr. Trump, thank you. We want to turn now to social issues and young voters and for the question, from Mary Katherine. HAM: Thank you David. Senator Rubio. One of the lazier pieces of political conventional wisdom is that so-called social issues are hurting Republicans with young people. But on the two most prominent social issues, polling with millennials actually moves in different directions. On one hand, it is clear, young people across the political spectrum increasingly favor same sex marriage. However young voters have not moved to the left on abortion. In fact, large numbers of them favor at least some modest restrictions that conservatives have supported. How do you speak to millennials on both these issues, while Democrats will inevitable charge intolerance and extremism? +p2022 +aVMary Katherine, thank you. We're going to have closing statements here in just a moment, but before we go, quick lightning round. Come November, two battle-ground states, but they face off tomorrow in the Super Bowl. Governor Kasich, who wins? +p2023 +aVGovernor Bush? +p2024 +aVSenator Rubio? +p2025 +aV Mr. Trump? +p2026 +aVAll right, Dr. Carson? +p2027 +aVYeah. Governor Christie, the last word? +p2028 +aVDenver. Thank you so much, gentlemen. Closing statements in just a moment, right here, as the ABC News Republican debate continues from New Hampshire, right after this. +p2029 +aVWe welcome you back. The New Hampshire primary, of course, is Tuesday, but time now for closing statements. And we begin tonight with Governor Kasich. +p2030 +aVGovernor Bush. +p2031 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Senator Rubio. +p2032 +aVThank you. Mr. Trump. +p2033 +asVHUCKABEE +p2034 +(lp2035 +VI wish I saw the country in the same place that the president presented it to be the other night in the State of the Union. He talked about how great the economy was doing. And I guess for the people he hangs out with, it's probably doing great. But the president should've stood in the line at the layaway counter at Walmart just before Christmas. He would have heard a very different story about the economy of America. I wish I could introduce him the lady who cleans the building where our campaign headquarters is located in Little Rock. Her name is Kathleen. She works all day at a local hospital cleaning, and then she goes to the building where a bank, and our headquarters, and other offices are she spends another seven hours. She works 15 hours a day. I guarantee you she's not working 15 hours a day because she loves scrubbing toilets, and sweeping floors. She's working that many hours because that's what it takes for her to make it work. And, she's not alone. There are people all over this country who are working like that. Many of them working two jobs \u2014 and they used to have one job, and that would take care of them. But, because of wage stagnation, which we've had for 40 years, because the fact that they're punished for working harder if they work that many hours. The government gets more of their second shift than they do. And, as a result there are a lot of people who are hurting today. I wish the President knew more of them. He might make a change in the economy and the way he's managing it. +p2036 +aVLet me put that in context. When I went to Afghanistan, I saw a land that looked like the land of the Flintstones. It was desolate. It was barren. It was primitive. And it's been that way for thousands of years. They want to take the world back to be just like that. We don't. We need to make a clear goal as to why we want to be anywhere in the Middle East, and I'll tell you why we want to be and need to be, is to destroy radical Islam and everything that threatens civilization. It's not just a threat......to Israel or to America, it's a threat to every civilized person on this Earth. And we need to be equipping not only the Kurds in Iraq, we need to be making sure that those who are willing to fight radical Muslims will do it, but we need to never ever spend a drop of American blood unless there is a clearly defined goal and we can't make sure we win unless we have a military that's the strongest in the history of mankind. We've got to rebuild our navy. It's the smallest navy we've had since 1915, when my grandfather got on a destroyer in World War I when he was in the U.S. Navy. We've got young men in Air Force B-52s, one in particular, he's flying a B-52 that his father flew in the '80s and his grandfather flew in the '50s. Those planes are older than me. We've got to have a military that the world is afraid of, use it sparingly, but when we do, the whole world will know that America is on their tail and they will be on their tail on the ground, never ever to rise up again. +p2037 +aVOnly if there is a concerted effort to destroy the advance of radical Islamists who are against us. As far as what are we going to make it look like. Frankly, I don't know what we can make it look like. You can't create for other people a desire for freedom and democracy. And frankly, that is not the role of the United States. The role of the United States military is not to build schools, it is not to build bridges, it is not to go around and pass out food packets. It is to kill and destroy our enemy and make America safe and that is the purpose we should be there if we're going to be there. +p2038 +aV Yes, I did. +p2039 +aVWell, why don't we start by making sure the Justice Department never does an idiotic program like Fast and Furious where the U.S. Government put guns......in the hands of Mexican drug lords......and end up killing one of our border agents. You know, they want to talk about law abiding citizens, I just find it amazing the President keeps saying the gun show loophole. There is no gun show loophole. I promise you I've been to more gun shows than President Obama. +p2040 +aVAnd, I've bought more weapons at them, and you fill out forms. The President also says things that it's easier to get a gun now than it is to grow trees. Again, I purchase guns, and I can assure you that it is much more difficult to purchase a firearm than it is to get the ingredients of a salad at the supermarket. What the President keeps pushing are ideas that have never worked. Ideas that would not have stopped San Bernadino, Sandy Hook, Aurora, and at some point you wonder if you keep retrying things that don't work, maybe we should just see if we could resell all those used lottery tickets that didn't work real well because that's the logic of just keep doing the same thing, but something that has failed. Of course, we want to stop gun violence, but the one common thing that has happened in most mass shootings is that they happened in gun- free zones where people who would have been law abiding citizens, who could have stood up and at least tried to stop it and we're not allowed to under the law. +p2041 +aVWell, we shouldn't be and that's one of the reasons that I think there a lot of voices in our country who are saying it's time to relook at the visa program. The European Union is a failure, it's not allowed for even the economic goals that they were trying to achieve. But, what we're not seeing is that it's making Europe less safe, and it's proven not to be exactly what they all thought it was going to be. Our first and foremost responsibility in this country, and the first responsibility of the President of the United States is protect America, and protect Americans. We have a President who seems to be more interested in protecting the reputation and image of Islam than he is protecting us. And, I want to be very clear......that this President. Makes comments like he did the other night, that we have to be so careful because we don't want to offend Muslims. He needs to read his own FBI crime stats from last year which would show him that of the hate crimes in the country, over 5,500, about 1,100 were religious hate crimes. And, of those, 58% were directed toward Jews. Only 16% directed toward Muslims. Maybe what the President should have talked about the other night is how we ought to be more careful in the anti-semitic comments that are going toward American Jews than toward Muslims because by three times as many......they're being targeted for religious hate crime. +p2042 +aVIt does not shut down international commerce, but it may slow it down. And, you don't want to slowdown commerce that is making us safer. It's worth it. This lady who came and joined with the San Bernardino killer had passed three background checks, and that's why a lot of Americans didn't buy it when the President said we'll bring in Syrian refugees, but don't worry we'll check them out. We have a lot of confidence in a president who told us that we could keep our doctor, we could keep our health insurance, and cost us less, and now the latest is if you like your gun you can keep it too, and frankly, we don't buy it. We don't believe it. He's lost his credibility, and his inept... ...inability to work with Congress and pass legislation has led him to do what I never even imagined doing as a governor, and that's just going and doing it my own way. That's why we elect a president, is to lead, is to be able to shepherd things through. And if I can do it with a 90 percent Democrat legislature in Arkansas, there is no excuse for any president not being able to lead in Washington if he knows what the heck he is doing when he gets there. +p2043 +aVWell, first of all, let's just remember that Social Security is not the government's money, it belongs to the people who had it taken out of their checks involuntarily their entire working lives. For the government to say, well it is fault of working people that we have a Social Security problem, no. It is the fault of a government that used those people's money for something other than protecting those people's accounts. So let's not blame them and punish them. But here is a fact, and I sometimes hear Republicans say well, we're going to have to cut this and extend the age. You know what I think a lot of times when I hear people say, well, let's make people work to their 70. That sounds great for white-collar people who sat at a desk most of their lives. You ever talk to somebody that stood on concrete floor for the first 40 years of their working life? Do you think they can stand another five years or 10 years, many of them will retired virtually crippled because they worked hard. And we're going to punish them some more? I don't think so. Here's the fact. Four percent economic growth, we fully fund Social Security and Medicare. Our problem is not that Social Security is just too generous to seniors. It isn't. Our problem is that our politicians have not created the kind of policies that would bring economic growth. And I still support strongly that we get rid of the 77,000 pages of the monstrous tax code......pass the fair tax, supercharge this economy with the rocket fuel that happens with the consumption tax and we don't have to cut Social Security to any senior who has worked their lifetime for it. +p2044 +aVLet me go back to the reason so many people are having a hard time getting ahead. The tax system punishes them. Think about this. If you work really hard and you start moving up the economic ladder, you get bumped into a different tax bracket. So the government thinks it deserves more of your hard work than you do. And it's one of the reasons that no matter how many different reforms you have to a tax on people's productivity, you're still taxing their work, their savings. You're taxing their capital gains, inheritance, dividends, you're taxing everything that produces something. And it's way I really believe it's time to do something bold, not something minute. This is no time for a tap of the hammer, a twist of the screwdriver. It's time for something big. That's why the fair tax transforms our economy. And we don't punish workers. It's the only way we're going to get middle class people moving ahead again, because the harder they work, the more they keep. No payroll tax deducted from their checks. They get their entire paycheck. And, one of the most important parts, it's built on the common sense with which we raised our kids, and trained dogs. You reward behavior you want more of. And, you punish behavior you want less of. That's how I raise kids, it's how I trained our dogs, and folks, it's not that difficult. We now punish the behavior we say we want more of by taxing it, and we reward the behavior that we say we want less of, so if you make a good investment, we punish you with a tax. If you make a bad investment you can write that off and the rest of the taxpayers will help subsidize you, and bail you out. +p2045 +aVWell, Rick, I'm pretty sure I did also fight the Clinton machine because every election I was ever in in Arkansas, I assure you, they were behind it, helping finance and campaign for every opponent. And I share with you the understanding that it's going to be a tough battle. But I spent the first half of my adult life in the private and nonprofit sector, raising a family, understanding how tough it is for people to make it. And that first half of my life is what led me to believe that America needs a different kind of leadership, not people who spent their whole life running from one office to the next, and living off the government dime. And I got involved because I got sick of what I saw. I also believe that there's got to be some leadership that not only addresses the monetary and military issues of this country, but the moral issues of this country. At the end of every political speech, most of us say, God bless America. But how can he do that when we continue to slaughter 4,000 babies a day? And I want to be the president that treats every person, including the unborn, as a person. And protect them under the 5th and 14th amendments of the constitution. I close with this word from a gentleman in East Texas named Butel Lucre. He's 100 years old and I met him down in East Texas. And he said this to me. "I sure wish, Mike, we had the days when The Ten Commandments were in all of our capitals and in every school, and we prayed again. You know, he may be 100 years old, but I believe some of those old ideas to get this country back where we unapologetically get on our knees before we get on our feet might be the best solutions we've ever sought as a country. And I ask for your support and your vote. Thank you. +p2046 +aVWell, John, I don't really have any weaknesses that I can think of. But my wife is down here in the front, and I'm sure, if you'd like to talk to her later, she can give you more than you'll ever be able to take care of. If I have a weakness, it's that I try to live by the rules. I try to live by the rules, no matter what they are, and I was brought up that way as a kid. Play by the rules. And I'll tell you what a weakness is of this country: there are a lot of people who are sick and tired because Washington does not play by the same rules that the American people have to play by. +p2047 +aVWell, I would really appreciate that. First of all, yes, we've stolen. Yes, we've lied to the American people about Social Security, and Medicare. But, you know what we're not telling them? It's their money. This isn't the governments money. This is not entitlement, it's not welfare. This is money that people have confiscated out of their paychecks. Everytime they got a paycheck, the government reached in and took something out of it before they ever saw it. Now, we're going to blame the people. Today congress decided to take another $150 billion dollars away from Social Security so they can borrow more money. That makes no sense to everybody. And, they're always going to say, "Well, we're going to fix this one day." No their not. It's like a 400 pound man saying, "I'm going to go on a diet, but I'm eating a sack of Krispy Kremes before I do." And, people are sick of believing that the government is never going to really address this. But, let me tell you who not to blame. Let's quit blaming the people on Social Security. Let's quit making it a problem for them. It's like them getting mugged, and then us saying, well, we're going to mug you some more. You ought to just be able to get over it, get used to it... +p2048 +aV...No, sir... +p2049 +aV...we need to honor our promises... +p2050 +aV...before I go. This is the only time I've had a chance, let me finish. +p2051 +aV...This is a matter not of math, this is a matter of morality. If this country that does not keep its promise to seniors then what promise can this country hope to be trusted to keep? And, the fact is, none of them. [ +p2052 +aVAnd, the only way \u2014 no... +p2053 +aV...Chris... +p2054 +aV...Chris... +p2055 +aVSince he brought me up, do I not get to respond? +p2056 +aVJohn, listen, let's keep in mind that for one-third of the 60 million Americans on Social Security it represents 90 percent of their income. And, when I hear people talking about means testing, let's just remember what that means. If we means test Social Security, it means that the government decides whether or not I deserve it. If a person lives in a seven room house, does the government get to say you don't need seven rooms, we're going to take two of them away? Folks, the government has no business stealing even more from the people who have paid this in. I just want to remind you, people paid their money. They expect to have it. And, if this government doesn't pay it, than tell me what's different between the government and Bernie Madolf, who sits in prison today for doing less than what the government has done to the people on social security and Medicare in this country. +p2057 +aVI don't think it's so much about when the government orders a corporation to do something. In fact, that's part of the problem. If you saw that blimp that got cut loose from Maryland today, it's a perfect example of government. I mean, what we had was something the government made \u2014 basically a bag of gas \u2014 that cut loose, destroyed everything in its path, left thousands of people powerless, but they couldn't get rid of it because we had too much money invested in it, so we had to keep it. That is our government today. We saw it in the blimp. That's exactly what we saw. So look, corporations ought to exercise some responsibility. When CEO income has risen 90 percent above the average worker, when the bottom 90 percent of this country's economy has had stagnant wages for the past 40 years, somebody is taking it in the teeth. And it's not the folks on Wall Street. I'm not anti-Wall Street, but I don't believe the government ought to wear a team jersey, pick winners and losers. +p2058 +aVThe government ought to wear a striped shirt and just make sure the game... +p2059 +aV...is paid \u2014 played fairly. +p2060 +aVNow, everybody else has fudged their time and gone over, so please, don't cut me off too quick, Becky. +p2061 +aVLet me just close it out this way. +p2062 +aVWe need to be focusing on what fixes this country. And I'll tell you one thing that we never talk about \u2014 we haven't talked about it tonight. Why aren't we talking about \u2014 instead of cutting benefits for old people, cutting benefits for sick people \u2014 why don't we say, "let's cure the four big cost-driving diseases... +p2063 +aV..."diabetes, heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer's?" +p2064 +aVIf you do that, you don't just change the economy, you transform the lives of millions of hurting Americans. +p2065 +aVGosh, I'd love for us to talk about something like that. Thank you. +p2066 +aVYou know, of the few questions I've got, the last one I need is to give him some more time. I love Donald Trump. He is a good man. I'm wearing a Trump tie tonight. Get over that one, OK? [ +p2067 +aVI don't know. [ +p2068 +aVI have no idea. +p2069 +aVYou're welcome. Let me tell you, Donald Trump would be a president every day of the week and twice on Sunday, rather than Hillary. I've spent a lifetime in politics fighting the Clinton machine. You want to talk about what we're going to be up against next year? I'm the only guy on this stage \u2014 you know, everybody has an "only guy" \u2014 "I'm the only guy this; I'm the only guy that." Well, let me tell you one thing that I am the only guy: The only guy that has consistently fought the Clinton machine every election I was ever in over the past 26 years. And not only did I fight them, but I beat them. Somebody says "I'm a fighter." Well, I want to know, did you win? Well, I did. And not only did I fight them and win, I lived to tell about it and I'm standing on this stage tonight as evidence of that. And I think that ought to be worth something. +p2070 +aVWell, and specifically to Medicare, Becky, because 85 percent of the cost of Medicare is chronic disease. The fact is if we don't address what's costing so much, we can't throw enough money at this. And it's why I've continued to focus on the fact that we need to declare war on the four big cost drivers because 80 percent of all medical costs in this country are chronic disease. We don't have a health care crisis in America, we have a health crisis. And until we deal with the health of Americans and do what we did with polio \u2014 when I was a little kid, we eradicated it. You know how much money we spent on polio last year in America? We didn't spend any. We've saved billions of dollars. You want to fix Medicare? Focus on the diseases that are costing us the trillions of dollars. Alzheimers, diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Eradicate those and you fix Medicare and you've fixed America, its economy and you've made people's lives a heck of a lot better. +p2071 +aVYou know, I know to a lot of people in the media, this is just a great big game, and we're the players. And, we come out here, and we do our thing. And, sometimes we're held up in contempt by people who write columns, but, I guarantee you to every person on this stage there's something deep inside of us that would cause us to give up our livelihoods and step out on this stage and fight for the people of America. I've got five grandkids. I do not want to walk my five grandkids through the charred remains of a once great country called America, and say, "Here you go, $20 trillion dollars of debt. Good luck making something out of this mess." And, for those of us who are serious enough to run for president, think long and hard why we're here, and hopefully you'll know we're not here for ourselves. We honest to god are here to get this country back on track. I know this, I certainly am. +p2072 +aV...Thank you. +p2073 +aVI'm Mike Huckabee. I'm delighted to be on this stage with some remarkable fellow Republicans. None of us are a self-professed socialist. None of us on this state are under investigation by the FBI because we destroyed government records, or because we leaked secrets. I know that there are some in the Wall-Street-to-Washington axis of power who speak of all of us contemptuously. But I'm here to say that I think we are, in fact, the A team. We have some remarkable people, and, in fact, not only are we the A team; we even have our own Mr. T, who doesn't mind saying about others, "you're a fool." And I'm delighted to be here with all of these guys, and would put any of them in an administration that I led. Thank you very much. +p2074 +aVI would certainly love to get in on this, because I think the single... +p2075 +aVI've been patiently waiting, and I'm going to just say this about Iran. +p2076 +aVBecause I think it is incredibly important. This is really about the survival of Western civilization. This is not just a little conflict with a Middle Eastern country that we've just now given over $100 billion to, the equivalent in U.S. terms is $5 trillion. This threatens Israel immediately, this threatens the entire Middle East, but it threatens the United States of America. And we can't treat a nuclear Iranian government as if it is just some government that would like to have power. This is a government for 36 years has killed Americans, they kidnapped Americans, they have maimed Americans. They have sponsored terrorist groups, Hamas and Hezbollah, and they threaten the very essence of Western civilization. To give them this agreement, that the president treats like the Magna Carta, but Iranians treat it like it's toilet paper, and we must, simply, make it very clear that the next president, one of us on this stage, will absolutely not honor that agreement, and will destroy it and will be tough with Iran, because otherwise, we put every person in this world in a very dangerous place. +p2077 +aVNo, I don't think he's on the wrong side of such an issue. Jeb is a friend. I'm not up here to fight with Jeb or to fight with anybody else. But I am here to fight for somebody who is a county clerk elected under the Kentucky constitution that 75 percent of the people of that state had voted for that said that marriage was between a man and a woman. The Supreme Court in a very, very divided decision decided out of thin air that they were just going to redefine marriage. It's a decision that the other justices in dissent said they didn't have and there wasn't a constitutional shred of capacity for them to do it. I thought that everybody here passed ninth-grade civics. The courts cannot legislate. That's what Roberts said. But heck, it's what we learned in civics. The courts can't make a law. They can interpret one. They can review one. They can't implement it. They can't force it. But here's what happened: Because the courts just decided that something was going to be and people relinquished it and the other two branches of government sat by silently \u2014 I thought we had three branches of government, they were all equal to each other, we have separation of powers, and we have checks and balances. If the court can just make a decision and we just all surrender to it, we have what Jefferson said was judicial tyranny. The reason that this is a real issue that we need to think about... +p2078 +aVNo, no. Let me finish this one thought, Jake. I haven't gotten that much time, so I'm going to take just what little I can here. We made accommodation to the Fort Hood shooter to let him grow a beard. We made accommodations to the detainees at Gitmo \u2014 I've been to Gitmo, and I've seen the accommodations that we made to the Muslim detainees who killed Americans. You're telling me that you cannot make an accommodation for an elected Democrat county clerk from Rowan County, Kentucky? What else is it other than the criminalization of her faith and the exaltation of the faith of everyone else who might be a Fort Hood shooter or a detainee at Gitmo? +p2079 +aVI have a different idea. I think we ought to get rid of all the taxes on people who produce. Why should we penalize productivity? And it's why I'm an unabashed supporter of the "fair tax," which would be a tax on our consumption, rather than a tax on our productivity. In other words, you're not going to tax anybody for what they earn, whether it's worker whose working by the hour or whether it's a hedge fund manager. If they can produce something and bring capital and labor to create jobs, we need some jobs. And I think the "fair tax" makes more sense. Now, Jake, I've been listening to everybody on the stage and there is a lot of back and forth about I'm the only one who has done this, the only one who has done that, I've done great things. We've all done great things or we wouldn't be on this stage. But it occurs to me as we're sitting here in the Reagan Library that most of us would like to pay tribute to a guy who, when he got elected, didn't get elected telling everybody how great he was. He got elected telling everybody how great the American people were. And he empowered them to live their dreams, which is what I'd love to see us do by no longer penalizing the people who are out there working because they are taking a gut punch right now. +p2080 +aV...You don't want me operating on you, I assure you. +p2081 +aVJust today \u2014 just today, there was a new report that 50 different intelligence analysts have said that what they sent up the ladder was doctored by senior officials, so that they could give some happy talk to the situation that we face. I love the idea of a good intellectual capacity to deal with our enemies, but the fact is, if you don't have good intelligence that is reliable and honest, you won't have good intelligence and you cannot make good decisions. The next president is primarily elected not just to know things, but to know what to do with the things that he knows. And the most dangerous person in any room is the person who doesn't know what he doesn't know. +p2082 +aVAnd the reason Barack Obama has been dangerous to this country and we better elect someone who had some executive experience, is because we cannot afford another eight years having a person in the office who doesn't know what he does not know. +p2083 +aVYou better believe I will, because I'm tired of liberals always having a litmus test and conservatives are supposed to pretend we don't. Well let me tell you what mine would be. Number one, I'd ask do you think that the unborn child is a human being or is it just a blob of tissue? I'd want to know the answer to that. I'd want to know do you believe in the First Amendment, do you believe that religious liberty is the fundamental liberty around which all the other freedoms of this country are based? And I'd want to know do you really believe in the Second Amendment, do you believe that we have an individual right to bear arms to protect ourselves and our family and to protect our country? And do you believe in the Fifth and the 14th Amendment? Do you believe that a person, before they're deprived of life and liberty, should in fact have due process and equal protection under the law? Because if you do, you're going to do more than defund Planned Parenthood. +p2084 +aVOne final thing. I'd make darn sure that we absolutely believe the 10th Amendment. Every governor on this stage would share this much with you. Every one of us \u2014 our biggest fight wasn't always with the legislature or even with the Democrats. My gosh, half the time, it was with the federal government who apparently never understood \u2014 +p2085 +aV\u2014 that if it's not reserved in the Constitution, then the 10th Amendment says it's left to the states. But somebody forgot to send a memo to Washington. +p2086 +aVJake? Jake? +p2087 +aVI think we need to remember that there are maybe some controversies about autism, but there is no controversy about the things that are really driving the medical costs in this country. And I would really believe that the next president ought to declare a war on cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer's, because those are the four things that are causing the greatest level of cost. John Kennedy said, "we'll go to the moon in a decade and bring a man back," and we did it. I grew up in the '50s. I remember the polio vaccine. We saved billions of dollars since that time, because we haven't had to treat for polio. Why doesn't this country focus on cures rather than treatment? Why don't we put a definitive focus scientifically on finding the cure for cancer, for heart disease, for diabetes and for Alzheimer's, a disease alone that will cost us \u2014 +p2088 +aV$1.1 trillion by the year 2050. We change the economy and the country. +p2089 +aVThat's an easy one. I'd put my wife on there. I've been married to her 41 years. She's fought cancer and lived through it. She's raised three kids, five great grandkids, and she's put up with me. I mean, who else could possibly be on that money other than my wife. And that way, she could spend her own money with her face. +p2090 +aVI'd go with Duck Hunter. +p2091 +aVAt the end of my presidency I would like to believe that the world would be a safe place, and there wouldn't be the threats. not only to the U.S., but to Israel and our allies, because we would have the most incredible well-trained, well-equipped, well- prepared military in the history of mankind. And they would know that the commander-in-chief would never send them to a mission without all the resources necessary, but people wouldn't bully us anymore. Because they would know that that would be an invitation to their destruction. Domestically, we would be operating under a tax system that eliminated the IRS. People wouldn't be punished for their work, and for what they produced. And life would be really deemed precious. Abortion would be no more. It would be as much of a scourge in our past as slavery is. And we would have a peaceful country, where people respected each other and people respected law enforcement. And we would focus on cures. And we would make this country not only safe from our enemies without, but safe from the enemies within. And it would be a good place to raise our kids and our grandkids. +p2092 +aVChris, I disagree with the idea that the real issue is a constitutional amendment. That's a long and difficult process. I've actually taken the position that's bolder than that. A lot of people are talking about defunding planned parenthood, as if that's a huge game changer. I think it's time to do something even more bold. I think the next president ought to invoke the Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the constitution now that we clearly know that that baby inside the mother's womb is a person at the moment of conception. The reason we know that it is is because of the DNA schedule that we now have clear scientific evidence on. And, this notion that we just continue to ignore the personhood of the individual is a violation of that unborn child's Fifth and 14th Amendment rights for due process and equal protection under the law. It's time that we recognize the Supreme Court is not the Supreme Being, and we change the policy to be pro-life and protect children instead of rip up their body parts and sell them like they're parts to a Buick. +p2093 +aVNot me. But you're welcome to give me a check, Donald if you'd like. +p2094 +aVIt's not too big to shrink. But the problem is we have a Wall Street-to-Washington axis of power that has controlled the political climate. The donor class feeds the political class who does the dance that the donor class wants. And the result is federal government keeps getting bigger. Every person on this stage who has been a governor will tell that you the biggest fight they had was not the other party. Wasn't even the legislature. It was the federal government, who continually put mandates on the states that we had to suck up and pay for. And the fact is there are a lot of things happening at the federal level that are absolutely beyond the jurisdiction of the Constitution. This is power that should be shifted back to the states, whether it's the EPA, there is no role at the federal level for the Department of Education. And I'm still one who says that we can get rid of the Internal Revenue Service if we would pass the FairTax, which is a tax on consumption rather than a tax on people's income, and move power back where the founders believed it should have been all along. +p2095 +aVWell, let's all be reminded, 60 million Americans are on Social Security, 60 million. A third of those people depend on 90% of their income from Social Security. Nobody in this country is on Social Security because they made the decision when they were starting work at 14 that they wanted to trust some of their money with the government. The government took it out of their check whether they wanted them to or not. And, if person goes to 65, they're going to spend 51 years with the government reaching into their pocket at every paycheck. Now, here's the point, whose fault is it that the system is screwed up? Is it the recipients, or is it the government? And, if Congress wants to mess with the retirement program, why don't we let them start by changing their retirement program, and not have one, instead of talking about getting rid of Social Security and Medicare that was robbed $700 billion dollars to pay for Obamacare. It's always that the government figures that they can do this off the backs of people, many of whom are poor, and depend on that money, and I just think it's fundamentally lying to the people and stealing from them, and we shouldn't be doing it. +p2096 +aVWell, you ask about how we fund it. One of the reasons that Social Security is in so much trouble is that the only funding stream comes from people who get a wage. The people who get wages is declining dramatically. Most of the income in this country is made by people at the top who get dividends and -- and capital gains. The FairTax transforms the process by which we fund Social Security and Medicare because the money paid in consumption is paid by everybody, including illegals, prostitutes, pimps, drug dealers, all the people that are freeloading off the system now. That's why it ought to be a transformed system. +p2097 +aVRonald Reagan said "trust, but verify." President Obama is "trust, but vilify." He trusts our enemies and vilifies everyone who disagrees with him. And the reason we disagree with him has nothing to do with party. +p2098 +aVIt has to do with the incredibly dangerous place that this world is gonna be as a result of a deal in which we got nothing. We didn't even get four hostages out. We got nothing, and Iran gets everything they want. We said we would have anywhere, anytime negotiations and inspections, we gave that up. We said that we would make sure that they didn't have any nuclear capacity, we gave that up. The president can't tell us what we got. I'll tell you what the world got. The world has a burgeoning nuclear power that didn't, as the Soviets, say "we might defend ourselves in a war." What the Iranians have said is, "we will wipe Israel off the face of the map, and we will bring death to America." When someone points a gun at your head and loads it, by God, you ought to take them seriously, and we need to take that seriously. +p2099 +aVThe military is not a social experiment. The purpose of the military is kill people and break things. It's not to transform the culture by trying out some ideas that some people think would make us a different country and more diverse. The purpose is to protect America. I'm not sure how paying for transgender surgery for soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines makes our country safer. We've reduced the military by 25 percent... ... under President Obama. The disaster is that we've forgotten why we have a military. The purpose of it is to make sure that we protect every American, wherever that American is, and if an American is calling out for help, whether it's in Benghazi or at the border, then we ought to be able to answer it. We've not done that because we've decimated our military. We're flying B-52s. The most recent one that was put in service was November of 1962. A lot of the B-52s we're flying, we've only got 44 that are in service combat ready, and the fact is, most of them are older than me. And that's pretty scary. +p2100 +aVIt seems like this election has been a whole lot about a person who's very high in the polls, that doesn't have a clue about how to govern. A person who has been filled with scandals, and who could not lead, and, of course, I'm talking about Hillary Clinton. I think America... +p2101 +aV...is in trouble, but it's not beyond repair. But it's going to take leadership who sees the greatness of this country, and who believes that once again we can be one nation, under God. I'll be my best to do that, and thank you for your support. +p2102 +asVCRUZ +p2103 +(lp2104 +VWell, we have 80 years of precedent of not confirming Supreme Court justices in an election year. And let me say, Justice Scalia... +p2105 +aVEighty years of not confirming. For example, L.B.J. nominated Abe Fortas. Fortas did not get confirmed. He was defeated. +p2106 +aVNo, Kennedy was confirmed in '87... +p2107 +aVHe was appointed in... +p2108 +aVIn this case it's both. But if I could answer the question... +p2109 +aVJustice Scalia was a legal giant. He was somebody that I knew for 20 years. He was a brilliant man. He was faithful to the Constitution. He changed the arc of American legal history. And I'll tell you, his passing tonight, our prayers are with his family, with his wife, Maureen, who he adored, his nine children, his 36 grandkids. But it underscores the stakes of this election. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that will strike down every restriction on abortion adopted by the states. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that will reverse the Heller decision, one of Justice Scalia's seminal decisions, that upheld the Second Amendment right to keep and to bear arms. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that would undermine the religious liberty of millions of Americans \u2014 and the stakes of this election, for this year, for the Senate, the Senate needs to stand strong and say, "We're not going to give up the U.S. Supreme Court for a generation by allowing Barack Obama to make one more liberal appointee." And then for the state of South Carolina, one of the most important judgments for the men and women of South Carolina to make is who on this stage has the background, the principle, the character, the judgment and the strength of resolve to nominate and confirm principled constitutionalists to the court? That will be what I will do if I'm elected president. +p2110 +aVWell, we need to focus on what the objective is, you know? Your question about the first three questions you would ask in this Situation Room. I think it is a problem if the president, commander in chief, we've elected does not have the experience and background to understand the threats facing this country coming in on Day 1. If you look at the threats facing this country, the single gravest threat, national security threat, is the threat of a nuclear Iran. That's why I've pledged on Day 1 to rip to shreds this Iranian nuclear deal, and anyone that thinks you can negotiate Khamenei does not understand the nature of Khamenei. When it comes to +p2111 +aVWe have Kurds in both Iraq and Syria. They are fighting +p2112 +aVWell, let me say it at the outset that everyone here understands \u2014 everyone understands that how \u2014 that the middle class has been left behind in the last seven years of the Obama economy, and we've got to bring jobs back. We've got to get people back to work. We've got to get wages going up again. We've got to get people moving from part-time work to full-time work. We all agree on that, but it's not going to be solved with magic pixie dust. It's just going to be solved by declaring into the air, "Let there be jobs." We actually have to understand the principles that made America great in the first place. Now, where do you get economic growth? If you look at cause and effect over our nation's history, every time we lessen the burden of Washington on small-business owners, on job creators, we see incredible economic growth. You do that through tax reform and regulatory reform. My tax plan \u2014 typical family of four, first $36,000 you earn, you pay nothing in taxes \u2014 no income taxes, no payroll taxes, no nothing. Above 10 percent, everyone pays the same simple, flat 10 percent income rate. It's flat and fair. You can fill out your taxes on a postcard, and we abolish the I.R.S. If you want to see the postcard, I've got it on my website. +p2113 +aVNow, Major, the business flat tax that is in my tax plan is not a VAT. A VAT in Europe is a sales tax. The business flat tax is not a sales tax, it is a tax of 16 percent opposed fairly and evenly across the board on all business. One of the things that's critical is we're doing that in conjunction with abolishing the corporate income tax, with abolishing the Obamacare taxes, with abolishing the payroll taxes, which are the biggest taxes paid by most working Americans, and with abolishing the death tax, which is cruel and unfair. And you asked about economic growth \u2014 the nonpartisan Tax Foundation estimated a simple flat tax that would produce 4.9 million new jobs, it would increase capital investment by 44 percent and would lift everyone's income by double digits. That's how you turn the country around, not just hoping and praying for it, but implementing policies that work. +p2114 +aVWell, you know, your question highlights a sharp difference on immigration on this stage. You know, in a Republican primary, everyone talks tough on immigration. Everyone is against illegal immigration in a Republican primary. But as voters, we've been burned over and over again by people that give us a great campaign speech and they don't walk the walk. There are sharp differences on amnesty. If you look at the folks on this stage, when Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer and establishment Republicans were leading the fight to pass a massive amnesty plan, I stood with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and the American people and led the fight to defeat that amnesty plan. +p2115 +aVNow, that moment... +p2116 +aVThat moment was what Reagan would call "a time for choosing." When it comes to deciding which side of the line you're on, the Rubio-Schumer amnesty plan......apparently supported by the donor class, which is why Washington supported it. The Rubio-Schumer amnesty plan passed the Senate, and it was on the verge of passing the House. House leadership intended to take it up and pass it with the Democrats overruling most of the Republicans. And the question for anyone on illegal immigration is, where were you in that fight? Where did you stand? You are right. There is a difference between Senator Rubio and me on this question. +p2117 +aVMajor, I get a response to that. +p2118 +aVYou know, the lines are very, very clear. Marco right now supports citizenship for 12 million people here illegally. I oppose citizenship. Marco stood on the debate stage and said that. But I would note not only that \u2014 Marco has a long record when it comes to amnesty. In the state of Florida, as speaker of the house, he supported in-state tuition for illegal immigrants. In addition to that, Marco went on Univision in Spanish and said he would not rescind President Obama's illegal executive amnesty on his first day in office. I have promised to rescind every single illegal executive action, including that one. And on the question... +p2119 +aV. +p2120 +aVThat is simply... +p2121 +aVThat is absolutely false. What he said is knowingly false. And I would note, if you want to assess \u2014 if you want to assess... +p2122 +aV... who is telling the truth... If you want to assess who is telling the truth......then you should look to Jeff Sessions, who said, without Ted Cruz the Rubio-Schumer amnesty bill would have passed, and Ted was responsible. You should look to Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin, that said... +p2123 +aVI think it is a very important question because the people who have been hurt the most in the Obama economy had been the most vulnerable. It's been young people. It's been Hispanics. It's been African-Americans. It's been single moms. We have the lowest percentage of Americans working today in any year since 1977. And the sad reality is big government, massive taxes, massive regulation, doesn't work. What we need to do instead is bring back booming economic growth, let \u2014 small businesses are the heart of the economy. Two-thirds of all new jobs come from small businesses. If we want to lift people out of poverty \u2014 you know, I think of these issues from the perspective of my dad. My dad fled Cuba in 1957. He was just 18. He couldn't speak English. He had nothing. He had $100 in his underwear. And he washed dishes making 50 cents an hour and paid his way through school. Today, my dad is a pastor. He travels the country preaching the gospel. Now, I think about all of these issues. How would it impact my dad when he was washing dishes? If we had Obamacare in place right now, the odds are very high my father would have been laid off, because it's teenaged kids like my dad who have gotten laid off. If he didn't get laid off, the odds are high he would have had his hours forcibly reduced to 28, 29 hours a week. We need to lift the burdens on small businesses so you have jobs, and we need welfare reform that gets people off of welfare and back to work. +p2124 +aVYou know, flexibility is a good thing, but it shouldn't \u2014 you shouldn't be flexible on core principles. I like Donald, he is an amazing entertainer, but his policies for most of his life... +p2125 +aVFor most of his life, his policies have been very, very liberal. For most of his life, he has described himself as very pro- choice and as a supporter of partial birth abortion. Right now, today, as a candidate, he supports federal taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood. I disagree with him on that. That's a matter of principle, and I'll tell you... +p2126 +aVDon, I need to go on... +p2127 +aVI will say, it is fairly remarkable to see Donald defending Ben after he called, "pathological," and compared him to a child molester. Both of which were offensive and wrong. But let me say this \u2014 you notice Donald didn't disagree with the substance that he supports taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood. And Donald has this weird pattern, when you point to his own record, he screams, "Liar, liar, liar." You want to go... +p2128 +aVYou want to go... +p2129 +aVIf you want to watch the video, go to our website at Tedcruz.org. +p2130 +aVYou can see it out of Donald's own mouth. +p2131 +aVYou supported it when we were battling over defunding Planned Parenthood. You went on... +p2132 +aVYou said, "Planned Parenthood does wonderful things and we should not defund it." +p2133 +aVSo I'll tell you what... +p2134 +aVYou see, you and I... +p2135 +aVDon, the reasoned principle matters. The reasoned principle matters, sadly was illustrated by the first questions today. The next president is going to appoint one, two, three, four Supreme Court justices. If Donald Trump is president, he will appoint liberals. If Donald Trump is president, your Second Amendment will gone... +p2136 +aVYou know how I know that? +p2137 +aVI did not nominate John Roberts. I would not have nominated John Roberts. +p2138 +aVI supported... +p2139 +aVYou need to learn to not interrupt people. +p2140 +aVDonald, adults learn... +p2141 +aVAdults learn not to interrupt people. +p2142 +aVI did not nominate him. I would not have nominated him. I would've nominated my former boss Liberman, who was Justice Scalia's first law clerk. And you know how I know that Donald's Supreme Court justices will be liberals? Because his entire life, he support liberals from Jimmy Carter, to Hillary Clinton, to John Kerry. In 2004, he contributed to John Kerry. Nobody who cares about judges would contribute to John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid. +p2143 +aVThat's what Donald Trump does. +p2144 +aVSouth Carolina, you have a critical choice to make. Our country literally hangs in the balance. Do you want another Washington deal maker who will do business as usual, cut deals with the Democrats, grow government, grow debt and give up our fundamental liberties? Or do you want a conservative, a proven conservative that will stand and fight with you each and every day? Listen, repealing Obamacare is not going to be easy. Passing a simple flat tax that abolishes the I.R.S. is not going to be easy, but if we stand with the American people, we can do it. And today, we saw just how great the stakes are. Two branches of government hang in the balance. Not just the presidency but the Supreme Court. If we get this wrong, if we nominate the wrong candidates, the Second Amendment, life, marriage, religious liberty \u2014 every one of those hangs in the balance. My little girls are here. I don't want to look my daughters in the eyes and say, "We lost their liberties." Who do you know will defend the Constitution and Bill of Rights? And as a commander in chief, who do you know will stand up to our enemies as the clam, steady, deliberate, strength to defeat our enemies, to secure our borders and to keep America safe. +p2145 +aVWell, you know, David, the assessment the voters are making here in New Hampshire and across the country is they are evaluating each and every one of us. They are looking to our experience. They are looking to our knowledge. They are looking to our temperament and judgment. They are looking to our clarity of vision and our strength of resolve. The world is getting much more dangerous. We've had seven years with Barack Obama in the oval office, a commander-in-chief that is unwilling even to acknowledge the enemy we're facing. This is a president who, in the wake of Paris, in the wake of San Bernardino, will not even use the words radical Islamic terrorism, much less focus on defeating the enemy. I am convinced every individual standing on this stage, would make a much better commander-in-chief than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders. And the primary voters are making the assessment for each of us, who is best prepared to keep this country safe, to rebuild the military, to rebuild our Navy, our Air Force, our Army, our Marines, and to ensure that we keep America safe. +p2146 +aVI think that is an assessment the voters are going to make. And they are going to make it of each and everyone of us. They are going to assess who is level-headed, who has clear vision, who has judgment, who can confront our enemies, who can confront the threats we face in this country, and who can have the judgment when to engage and when not to engage \u2014 both are incredibly important for a commander-in-chief, knowing how to go after our enemies. In the case of Iran, for example, who has the clarity of vision to understand that the Ayatollah Khamenei, when he chants, "Death to America," he means it. We need a president with the judgment and resolve to keep this country safe from radical Islamic terrorists. +p2147 +aVBen is a good and honorable man and Ben and Candy have become friends. He has an amazing life story that has inspired millions, including me. When this transpired, I apologized to him then and I do so now. Ben, I'm sorry. Let me tell you the facts of what occurred for those who are interested in knowing. On Monday night, about 6:30 p.m., CNN reported that Ben was not going from Iowa to New Hampshire or South Carolina. Rather, he was, quote, "Taking a break from campaigning." They reported that on television, CNN's political anchors, Jake Tapper and Dana Bash and Wolf Blitzer, said it was highly unusual and highly significant. My political team saw CNN's report breaking news and they forwarded that news to our volunteers, it was being covered on live television. Now, at the time, I was at the caucuses, I was getting ready to speak at the caucuses just like Ben was, just like everyone else was. I knew nothing about this. A couple hours later, I found out about it. I was told that Ben was unhappy. I called him that evening because I respect him very, very highly. I didn't reach him that evening. I reached him the next day and apologized. He asked me then, he said, Ted, would you make this apologize in public? I said, yes, I will. And I did so. I regret that subsequently, CNN reported on that \u2014 they didn't correct that story until 9:15 that night. So from 6:30 p.m. to 9:15, that's what CNN was reporting. Subsequent to that initial report, Ben's campaign put out a statement saying that he was not suspending his campaign. I wish that our campaign staff had forwarded that statement. They were unaware of it, I wish that they had, that's why I apologized. +p2148 +aVWell, I would note, initially the fact that we're seeing the launch, and we're seeing the launch from a nuclear North Korea is the direct result of the failures of the first Clinton administration. The Clinton administration led the world in relaxing sanctions against North Korea. Billions of dollars flowed into North Korea in exchange for promises not to build nuclear weapons. They took those billions and built nuclear weapons. And, I would note also the lead negotiator in that failed North Korea sanctions deal was a woman named Wendy Sherman who Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton promptly recruited to come back to be the lead negotiator with Iran. So, what we are seeing with North Korea is foreshadowing of where we will be with Iran. With respect to North Korea and what we should do now, one of the first things we should do is expand our missile defense capacity. We ought to put missile defense interceptors in South Korea. South Korea wants them. One of the real risks of this launch, North Korea wants to launch a satellite, and one of the greatest risks of the satellite is they would place a nuclear device in the satellite. As it would orbit around the Earth, and as it got over the United States they would detonate that nuclear weapon and set of what's called an EMP, and electromagnetic pulse which could take down the entire electrical grid on the Eastern seaboard, potentially killing millions. We need to harden the grid to defend ourselves, and we need missile defense to protect ourselves against North Korea. +p2149 +aVYou know, at this point I'm not going to speculate on that without the intelligence briefing that any Commander in Chief would have, knowing what exactly is there. One of the real problems... +p2150 +aV... Actually, with respect, I have gotten the intelligence briefings on the Mid-East. Those have been going on for many years. I haven't gotten the intelligence briefing tonight on what North Korea's doing because I'm here in new Hampshire. When you're responding to an immediate incident, you need to know the intelligence of what's occurring. But what I was saying \u2014 look, it is qualitatively different dealing with a country once they have nuclear weapons. It's why you prevent them from getting nuclear weapons in the first place \u2014 because your hands are somewhat tied once they have nukes. It's why this Iranian nuclear deal is so catastrophic, and it's why I've pledged, on the very first day in office, to rip to shreds this Iranian nuclear deal so we're not sitting here in five years, wondering what to do about an Iranian missile launch when they have nuclear weapons. The stakes are too high for that. +p2151 +aVSo, in terms of a practical solution, I've laid out the most detailed plan for solving illegal immigration. It's 11 pages, single-spaced, chapter and verse. It's on our website, tedcruz.org. In short, we're going to do, we're going to build a wall. We're going to triple the border patrol. We're going to increase \u2014 and actually, since Donald enjoyed that, I will simply say, I've got somebody in mind to build it. We're going to increase four-fold, the fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft, so that you have technology monitoring an attempted incursion to direct the boots on the ground where they're occurring. We're going to put in place a strong e-verify system in the workplace, so you can't get a job without proving you are here legally. We'll put in place a biometric exit-entry system on visas, because 40 percent of illegal immigration comes not over the border illegally, but people coming on visas and overstaying. We will end sanctuary cities by cutting off taxpayer dollars to any jurisdiction that defies federal immigration law. And we will end welfare benefits for those here illegally. +p2152 +aVWhat you do is, you enforce the law. You know, under the Constitution, the president has an obligation to, quote, "Take care that the laws be faithfully executed." Federal immigration law provides, if someone is here illegally and is apprehended, they are to be deported. We saw just this past week the head of the border patrol union testify before Congress that President Obama had given the order to the border patrol to stand down, not to enforce the law. That is wrong. I will enforce the law, and for everyone who says, you can't possibly do that, I would note that in eight years, Bill Clinton deported 12 million people. In eight years, George W. Bush deported 10 million people. Enforcing the law \u2014 we can do it. What is missing is the political will. And when they were deporting the people, the border wasn't secure, so they'd come right back. Once you secure the border, enforcing the law will solve this problem and that will benefit American workers. +p2153 +aVGood evening. +p2154 +aVWell, let me take two different parts of that. Let me start with socialized medicine. Socialized medicine is a disaster. It does not work. If you look at the countries that have imposed socialized medicine, that have put the government in charge of providing medicine, what inevitably happens is rationing. You have a scarcity of doctors. You have rationing. And that means the elderly are told, we're going to ration a hip replacement, we're going to ration a knee replacement. We're going to ration end- of-life care. We're right now heading into a medical system with about a 90,000-doctor shortage in America and socialized medicine; whether proposed by the Democrats or proposed by a Republican would hurt the people of this country. What should we do on health care? If I'm elected president, we will repeal every word of Obamacare. And once we do that, we will adopt common sense reforms, number one, we'll allow people to purchase health insurance across state lines that will drive down prices and expand the availability of low cost catastrophic insurance. We'll expand health savings accounts; and we will de-link health insurance from employment so that you don't lose your health insurance when you lose your job, and that way health insurance can be personal, portable and affordable and we keep government from getting in between us and our doctors. HAM: Dr. Carson, you have some experience with this matter. In the past, you have said that Obamacare should be replaced before it's repealed. How and why? +p2155 +aVWell, sure. It starts with a commander-in-chief that sets the objective. And the objective has to be utterly and completely destroying +p2156 +aVMartha, I will tell you, I have visited with active duty military, with veterans over and over and over again in town halls all over the state of New Hampshire. What we are doing to our sons and daughters, it is immoral. We are sending them into fight with their arms tied behind their back. They cannot defend themselves. And it is wrong. And I will tell you this. Look. America has always been reluctant to use military force. It's the last step we take. But if and when we use it when it comes to defeating +p2157 +aVAbsolutely, yes. +p2158 +aVWell, under the definition of torture, no, it's not. Under the law, torture is excruciating pain that is equivalent to losing organs and systems, so under the definition of torture, it is not. It is enhanced interrogation, it is vigorous interrogation, but it does not meet the generally recognized definition of torture. +p2159 +aVI would not bring it back in any sort of widespread use. And indeed, I joined with Senator McCain in legislation that would prohibit line officers from employing it because I think bad things happen when enhanced interrogation is employed at lower levels. But when it comes to keeping this country safe, the commander in chief has inherent constitutional authority to keep this country safe. And so, if it were necessary to, say, prevent a city from facing an imminent terrorist attack, you can rest assured that as commander in chief, I would use whatever enhanced interrogation methods we could to keep this country safe. +p2160 +aVWell, thank you for that question. You know, there are three avenues of presidential authority to change the direction of this country. The first is executive power, the second is foreign policy, and the third is legislation. Executive power, as we all know, has been the preferred vehicle of President Obama, abusing his authority, abusing his constitutional authority. Now, the silver lining of that is everything done with executive power can be undone with executive power, so I have pledged on day one I will rescind every single illegal and unconstitutional executive action Barack Obama has done. That means on day one his efforts to restrict the Second Amendment go away with the strike of a pen. That means on day one his illegal executive amnesty goes away with the strike of a pen. The reason I can end Common Core at the federal level is because Obama is abusing executive power using Race to the Top funds in the Department of Education to force it on the states. That's one avenue. The second avenue of change is foreign policy, and foreign policy can change the fastest. It's worth remembering that Iran released our hostages the day Reagan......was sworn in. And, the third is legislation, and that can only be done with the people behind you, which is why the two big legislative initiatives I'm campaigning on are repealing Obamacare, and adopting a simple flat tax to abolish the IRS. HAM: Mr. Trump, Senator Cruz is known for opposing deals, you literally wrote the book on making them. Senator Cruz has mentioned that on the trail. What would you say to those conservatives that are concerned that a deal maker will just perpetuate the same deals in Washington and the way that things run now ... +p2161 +aVWell, Josh, as you noted, this is a problem that, for me, I understand first-hand. My older sister, Myriam, who was my half- sister, struggled her whole life with drug and alcohol addiction. My father and her mom divorced when she was a little girl and she was angry her whole life, and she ended up marrying a man who had been in and out of jail. She then became a single mom and she herself went to jail several times and she ended up spending some time in a crack house. I still remember my father and me driving up to get Myriam out of that crack house to try to convince her she needed to be a mom to \u2014 to my nephew Joey. She wasn't willing to listen. She was not willing to change the path she was on. She was angry. I was \u2014 had just gotten my first job coming out of law school. I took a $20,000 loan on a credit card to put my nephew, Joey, in Valley Forge Military Academy \u2014 he was in sixth grade at the time, to pay his way through that. And about five, six years ago, Miriam died of an overdose. It was \u2014 the coroner ruled it accidental. We don't know. She went to one night, had taken too many pills, and Joey walked in and found her dead. This is an absolute epidemic. We need leadership to solve it. Solving it has to occur at the state and local level with programs like A.A., and counseling, and churches and charities. But it also has to be securing the borders, because you have got Mexican cartels that are smuggling vast amounts of heroin into this country. We know how to secure the borders. What is missing is the political will to do it. And as president, I will secure the border, we will end this deluge of drugs that is flowing over our southern border and that is killing Americans across this country. +p2162 +aVWell, look, I recognize it is an agonizing experience when anyone is facing a loved \u2014 loved member who's been kidnapped. But at the same time, putting in place legal regimes that encourage the payment of ransom has the effect of putting a bounty on other Americans. There is a reason it has been longstanding U.S. policy that we don't negotiate with terrorists, we don't pay ransoms. If you look at what President Obama has done over and over again, whether it was the James Bergdahl deal, which was absolutely shameful, releasing five senior Taliban terrorists to bring Bergdahl back, or whether it was this recent deal with Iran, where, again, up to 21 terrorists or potential terrorists were \u2014 were released or not prosecuted in order to bring back four Americans, what that does \u2014 does is it effectively puts a bounty on American servicemen and women serving abroad, on American tourists traveling abroad. And the proper approach......is a president and commander in chief that defends this country and that goes after \u2014 goes after the terrorists, rather than showing them weakness and encouraging them to target more Americans. +p2163 +aVWith an eye to February 20th, Carolina. +p2164 +aVYou know, every candidate running for president says they will stand up to Washington. The natural follow up question is when have you ever stood up to Washington. Last week we saw a powerful illustration of that. I campaigned in the state of Iowa four-square against the ethanol mandate, something everyone said was political suicide. My two leading competitors both attacked me for it. The governor of the state said vote for anyone but Cruz, and lobbyists spent millions of dollars in attack ads, but I stood and said we should have no mandates, a level playing field, and the people of Iowa put country and our children above the cronyism and corporate welfare...... We can turn this country around if we get back to the Constitution. And, I will always stand with the American people against the bipartisan corruption of Washington. +p2165 +aVWell, Megyn, let me say at the outset to the men and women of Iowa, thank you for the incredible hospitality over this past year. By Monday, you will have welcomed me into all 99 counties in Iowa. You will have welcomed my dad to preach at your churches. You will have welcomed Heidi and our girls, Caroline and Catherine, into your homes. And I'm so grateful for the diligence, for the seriousness with which the men and women of Iowa approach this process. If I am elected president, keep an eye on the tarmac, because I'll be back, because Iowa in 2017 will not be fly-over country. It will be fly-to country. Now, secondly, let me say I'm a maniac and everyone on this stage is stupid, fat, and ugly. And Ben, you're a terrible surgeon. Now that we've gotten the Donald Trump portion out of the way... I want to thank everyone here for showing the men and women of Iowa the respect to show up and make the case to the people of this state and the people of the country why each of us believe we would make the best commander in chief. +p2166 +aVWell, let me be clear, if Donald engages in insults or anybody else, I don't intend to reciprocate. I have not insulted Donald personally and I don't intend to. I am glad Donald is running. I'm glad he has produced enormous enthusiasm, and, every Donald Trump voter or potential voter, I hope to earn your support. I know everyone else on this stage hopes to earn your support. Now, there is a difference between personal insults and attacks \u2014 between going into the mud with ad hominems and focusing on issues and substance. +p2167 +aVWell, I agree with Rand that I very much respect Ron Paul and that I think anyone who is able to win in the Republican Party has to be able to bring together the disparate elements of the Reagan coalition. You've got to be able to bring together conservatives and evangelicals and libertarians, and stitch together a winning majority. When it comes to the audit the Fed bill, as Rand knows well, I was an original sponsor of the bill, I'm strongly supportive of it. It didn't have the votes to pass. And I had commitments to be at a town hall in New Hampshire. But I look forward to signing that bill into law as president and auditing the Fed and providing needed accountability at the Federal Reserve. +p2168 +aVWell, Chris, I will apologize to nobody for the vigorousness with which I will fight terrorism, go after +p2169 +aVChris, in 1981, when Ronald Reagan came to the Oval Office, he encountered a military that had been debilitated just as the current military has, just like Jimmy Carter weakened our readiness, undermined our ability to defend this country, so too has Barack Obama. Just as morale in the military has plummeted in the last seven, so it had then. What Reagan did is he began with tax reform and regulatory reform, unleashing the engine of the American free enterprise system. It brought booming economic growth and that growth fueled rebuilding the military. I intend to do the exact same thing to defeat radical Islamic terrorism \u2014 +p2170 +aV... and to devote the resources from the booming economy to rebuilding our Navy, rebuilding our Air Force, rebuilding our Army and ensuring we have the capacity to keep this country safe. +p2171 +aVChris? Chris I was mentioned in that question. +p2172 +aV... Actually, I was... +p2173 +aV... Chris, your questions that you... +p2174 +aV... What was your question... +p2175 +aV... Your question was you have disagreed... +p2176 +aV... opening statement. +p2177 +aV... This entire question was an attack, but that's +p2178 +aVChris, I would note that that the last four questions have been, "Rand, please attack Ted. Marco, please attack Ted. Chris, please attack Ted. Jeb, please attack Ted..." Let me just say this... +p2179 +aV... Well, no, no. A debate actually is a policy issue, but I will say this. Gosh, if you guys ask one more mean question I may have to leave the stage. Chris, the most important determination any voter is going to make in this election is who's best prepared to be Commander in Chief. Who has the experience, who has the knowledge, who has the judgement, who has the clarity, and vision and strength of resolve to keep this country safe. That is what this debate is all about, and I would suggest let's stay focused on those issues \u2014 rather than just attacks directed at each other. +p2180 +aVSure. Well, let's take it one at a time. First of all, we have seen now in six years of Obamacare that it has been a disaster. It is the biggest job-killer in this country. Millions of Americans have lost their jobs, have been forced into part-time work, have lost their health insurance, have lost their doctors, have seen their premiums skyrocket. If I'm elected president, we will repeal every word of Obamacare. Now, once that is done, everyone agrees we need healthcare reform. It should follow the principles of expanding competition, empowering patients, and keeping government from getting in between us and our doctors. Three specific reforms that reflect those principles. Number one, we should allow people to purchase health insurance across state lines. That will create a true 50-state national marketplace which will drive down the cost of low-cost, catastrophic health insurance. Number two, we should expand health savings accounts so people can save in a tax-advantaged way for more routine healthcare needs. And number three, we should work to de-link health insurance from employment so if you lose your job, your health insurance goes with you and it is personal, portable and affordable. And I'll tell you, Bret, I think that's a much more attractive vision for healthcare than the Washington-drive, top-down Obamacare that is causing so many millions of people to hurt. +p2181 +aVI want this bill to be voted down. I don't want immigration reform to fail. I want immigration reform to pass. I believe if this amendment were to pass, the chances of this bill passing into law would increase dramatically. I believe if the amendments I introduced were adopted, that the bill would pass. And my effort in introducing them was to find a solution that reflected common ground and that fixed the problem. If the proponents of this bill actually demonstrate a commitment not to politics, not to campaigning all the time, but to actually fixing this problem, to finding a middle ground. That would fix the problem, and also allow, for those 11 million people who are here illegally, a legal status, with citizenship off the table. +p2182 +aVYou know, the amendment you're talking about is one sentence \u2014 it's 38 words. Anyone can go online at tedcruz.org and read exactly what it said. In those 38 words, it said anyone here illegally is permanently ineligible for citizenship. It didn't say a word about legalization. I introduced... +p2183 +aVBut \u2014 but Megyn, the bill was 1,000 pages. I introduced a series of amendments, each designed to fix problems in the bill. The fact that each amendment didn't fix every problem didn't mean that I supported the rest of the bill. And I'll tell you who supported my amendment \u2014 Jeff Sessions, the strongest opponent of amnesty in the United States Congress. And he did so because taking citizenship off the table was important, and it revealed the hypocrisy of the proponents of this bill, who were looking for votes. Listen, we can solve immigration. We just heard an argument back and forth that we can't solve immigration. I have a detailed immigration plan that is on my website, tedcruz.org. It was designed with Iowa's own Congressman Steve King and Jeff Sessions, and... ... we have the tools in federal law to do this now. We can build the fence. We can triple the border patrol. We can end sanctuary cities by cutting off... ... funding to them. We can end welfare for those here illegally. And what is missing is the political will, because too many Democrats and, sadly, too many Republicans don't want to solve this problem. If I am elected president... ... we will secure the border... +p2184 +aV... and we will end the illegal immigration. +p2185 +aVYou know, John Adams famously said, "facts are are stubborn things." The facts are are very, very simple. When that battle was waged, my friend Senator Rubio chose to stand with Barack Obama and Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer and support amnesty. And I stood alongside Jeff Sessions and Steve King, and we led the fight against amnesty. And if you want to know who's telling the truth, you should look and ask people like Jeff Sessions and Steve King and Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin, all of whom say, as Jeff Sessions said, responding to these false attacks just recently in Alabama \u2014 he said, "if it wasn't for Ted Cruz, the Gang of Eight Rubio/Schumer bill would have passed. But because Ted stood up and helped lead the effort, millions rose up to kill it. +p2186 +aVYou know, I like Marco. He's very charming. He's very smooth. But the facts are simple. When he ran for election in the state of Florida, he told the people of Florida, "if you elect me, I will lead the fight against amnesty." When I ran in Texas, I told the people of Texas, "if you elect me, I will lead the fight against amnesty." We both made the identical promises. But when we came to Washington, we made a different choice. Marco made the choice to go the direction of the major donors \u2014 to support amnesty because he thought it was politically advantageous. I honored my commitments, and as president, I will honor every commitment that I make to the men and women of this country. +p2187 +aVWell, Chris, you are exactly right that I am not the candidate of career politicians in Washington. And I'll tell you the endorsements that I am proud of are the over 200,000 volunteers across this country who have signed up to volunteer for our campaign. The endorsements that I am proud of are leading conservatives like Iowa's own Congressman Steve King, who is a national co-chairman of my campaign. The endorsements that I'm proud of are conservative leaders like Dr. James Dobson, and over 700,000 contributions nationwide, people going to our Web site, tedcruz.org. This is a grassroots campaign and, you know, when I ran for senate in Texas, I told the people of Texas that I'm not going there to go along to get along. Washington is broken. And the people I have been accountable to every single day in the Senate are the 27 million Texans who I represent and I made a promise to them that I make to you today, which is, if I am elected, every single day I will do two things: tell the truth, and do what I said I would do. +p2188 +aVWell, Chris, I'm glad to discuss my views on ethanol and energy. I think God has blessed this country with enormous natural resources, and we should pursue all of the above. We should be developing oil, and gas, and coal, and nuclear, and wind, and solar, and ethanol, and biofuels. But, I don't believe that Washington should be picking winners and losers. And, I think there should be no mandates, and no subsidies whatsoever. And, indeed, my tax plan that I've introduced, it's available on our website. It's a simple flat tax for everyone. It'll produce enormous economic growth, and it eliminates every mandate, every subsidy, so there's no subsidies for oil and gas, no subsidies for anyone. Now, it is true that there are a bunch of lobbyists, and a bunch of Democrats in this state spending millions of dollars trying to convince the people of Iowa that I somehow oppose ethanol. It's not true. I have introduced legislation that would phase out the ethanol mandate over five years, but that is in the context of having no mandates whatsoever for anyone. And, I would not that there's a much more important government regulation to ethanol, and that's the EPA's blend wall that makes it illegal to sell mid-level blends of ethanol in gasoline. I will... ... Tear down the EPA's blend wall which will enable ethanol to expand its market share by up to 60%, all without mandates. All without any government mandates whatsoever through the marketplace. And, I'll note finally, Chris, there is a reason that Iowa's Congressman Steve King, perhaps the fiercest defender of farmers in this state, is sharing my campaign. Because he understands that I'm committed to a fair, and level playing field for every energy source without lobbyists, and without Washington picking winners and losers. +p2189 +aVNinety-three hours. The media noise will soon be over and it's now for the men and women of Iowa to decide. Our country is in crisis. We're worried the future of our children and we've have been burned over and over again. The central question in this race is trust. Who do you know will kill the terrorists, defend the constitution and repeal Obamacare? Who do you know will stop amnesty and secure the borders? Who do you know will defend life, marriage and religious liberty? Examine our records, pray on it and I will be honored if you and your family will come caucus for us on Monday night. +p2190 +aVWell, Maria, thank you for that question, and let me say thank you to the state of South Carolina for welcoming us. Let me start \u2014 I want to get to the substance of the question on jobs, but I want to start with something. Today, many of us picked up our newspapers, and we were horrified to see the sight of 10 American sailors on their knees, with their hands on their heads. In that State of the Union, President Obama didn't so much as mention the 10 sailors that had been captured by Iran. President Obama's preparing to send $100 billion or more to the Ayatollah Khamenei. And I'll tell you, it was heartbreaking. But the good news is the next commander-in-chief is standing on this stage. And I give you my word, if I am elected president, no service man or service woman will be forced to be on their knees, and any nation that captures our fighting men will feel the full force and fury of the United States of America. Now, on to your substantive question. The president tried to paint a rosy picture of jobs. And you know, he's right. If you're a Washington lobbyist, if you make your money in and around Washington, things are doing great. The millionaires and billionaires are doing great under Obama. But we have the lowest percentage of Americans working today of any year since 1977. Median wages have stagnated. And the Obama-Clinton economy has left behind the working men and women of this country. The reason all of us are here is we believe we should be fighting for the working men and women of this country, and not Washington, D.C. +p2191 +aVWell Maria, thank you for passing on that hit piece in the front page of the New York Times. You know the nice thing about the mainstream media, they don't hide their views. The New York Times a few weeks back had a columnist who wrote a column saying, "Anybody But Cruz." Had that actually \u2014 that same columnist wrote a column comparing me to an evil demonic spirit from the move, "It Follows" that jumps apparently from body to body possessing people. So you know the New York Times and I don't have exactly have the warmest of relationships. Now in terms of their really stunning hit piece, what they mentioned is when I was running for senate \u2014 unlike Hillary Clinton, I don't have masses of money in the bank, hundreds of millions of dollars. When I was running for senate just about every lobbyist, just about all of the establishment opposed me in the senate race in Texas and my opponent in that race was worth over 200 million dollars. He put a 25 million dollar check up from his own pocket to fund that campaign and my wife Heidi and I, we ended up investing everything we owned. We took a loan against our assets to invest it in that campaign to defend ourselves against those attacks. And the entire New York times attack \u2014 is that I disclosed that loan on one filing with the United States Senate, that was a public filing. But it was not on a second filing with +p2192 +aVWell, Neil, I'm glad we're focusing on the important topics of the evening. You know, back in September, my friend Donald said that he had had his lawyers look at this from every which way, and there was no issue there. There was nothing to this birther issue. Now, since September, the Constitution hasn't changed. But the poll numbers have. And I recognize \u2014 I recognize that Donald is dismayed that his poll numbers are falling in Iowa. But the facts and the law here are really quite clear. Under longstanding U.S. law, the child of a U.S. citizen born abroad is a natural-born citizen. If a soldier has a child abroad, that child is a natural-born citizen. That's why John McCain, even though he was born in Panama, was eligible to run for president. If an American missionary has a child abroad, that child is a natural-born citizen. That's why George Romney, Mitt's dad, was eligible to run for president, even though he was born in Mexico. At the end of the day, the legal issue is quite straightforward, but I would note that the birther theories that Donald has been relying on \u2014 some of the more extreme ones insist that you must not only be born on U.S. soil, but have two parents born on U.S. soil. Under that theory, not only would I be disqualified, Marco Rubio would be disqualified, Bobby Jindal would be disqualified and, interestingly enough, Donald J. Trump would be disqualified. +p2193 +aVBecause \u2014 because Donald's mother was born in Scotland. She was naturalized. Now, Donald... +p2194 +aV... on the issue \u2014 on the issue of citizenship, Donald... +p2195 +aV... on the issue of citizenship, Donald, I'm not going to use your mother's birth against you. +p2196 +aVYou're an American, as is everybody else on this stage, and I would suggest we focus on who's best prepared to be commander- in-chief, because that's the most important question facing the country. +p2197 +aVNeil... +p2198 +aVWell, listen, I've spent my entire life defending the Constitution before the U.S. Supreme Court. And I'll tell you, I'm not going to be taking legal advice from Donald Trump. +p2199 +aVThe chances of any litigation proceeding and succeeding on this are zero. And Mr. Trump is very focused... +p2200 +aV... on Larry Tribe. Let me tell you who Larry Tribe is. He's a left-wing judicial activist, Harvard Law professor who was Al Gore's lawyer in Bush versus Gore. He's a major Hillary Clinton supporter. And there's a reason why Hillary's supporters are echoing Donald's attacks on me, because Hillary... +p2201 +aV... wants to face Donald Trump in the general election. +p2202 +aVAnd I'll tell you what, Donald, you \u2014 you very kindly just a moment ago offered me the V.P. slot. I'll tell you what. If this all works out, I'm happy to consider naming you as V.P. So if you happen to be right, you could get the top job at the end of the day. +p2203 +aVActually, I'd love to get you to build a wall. +p2204 +aVThe answer is simple. Your prosecute criminals. You target the bad guys. You know, a minute ago, Neil asked: What has President Obama do \u2014 done to illustrate that he wants to go after guns? Well, he appointed Eric Holder as attorney general. Eric Holder said he viewed his mission as brainwashing the American people against guns. He appointed Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, someone who has been a radical against the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. He launched Fast and Furious, illegally selling guns to Mexican drug lords that were then used to shoot law enforcement officials. And I'll tell you what Hillary Clinton has said: Hillary Clinton says she agrees with the dissenters \u2014 the Supreme Court dissenters in the Heller case. There were four dissenters, and they said that they believe the Second Amendment protects no individual right to keep and bear arms whatsoever, which means, if their view prevailed and the next president's going to get one, two, three, maybe four Supreme Court justices, the court will rule that not a single person in this room has any right under the Second Amendment and the government could confiscate your guns. And I'll note that California senator \u2014 Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein said, if she could say to Mr. America and Mrs. America, "give me your guns, I'm rounding them up," she would. And let me make a final point on this. Listen, in any Republican primary, everyone is going to say they support the Second Amendment. Unless you are clinically insane......that's what you say in a primary. But the voters are savvier than that. They recognize that people's actions don't always match their words. I've got a proven record fighting to defend the Second Amendment. There's a reason Gun Owners of America has endorsed me in this race. There's a reason the NRA gave me their Carter Knight Freedom Fund award......and there's a reason, when Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer came after our right to keep and bear arms, that I led the opposition, along with millions of Americans \u2014 we defeated that gun control legislation. And I would note the other individuals on this stage were nowhere to be found in that fight. +p2205 +aVYou know, I think most people know exactly what New York values are. +p2206 +aVWhat \u2014 what \u2014 you're from New York? So you might not. But I promise you, in the state of South Carolina, they do. And listen, there are many, many wonderful, wonderful working men and women in the state of New York. But everyone understands that the values in New York City are socially liberal or pro-abortion or pro- gay-marriage, focus around money and the media. And \u2014 and I would note indeed, the reason I said that is I was asked \u2014 my friend Donald has taken to it as advance playing Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA", and I was asked what I thought of that. And I said, "well, if he wanted to play a song, maybe he could play, 'New York, New York'?" And \u2014 and \u2014 you know, the concept of New York values is not that complicated to figure out. Not too many years ago, Donald did a long interview with Tim Russert. And in that interview, he explained his views on a whole host of issues that were very, very different from the views he's describing now. And his explanation \u2014 he said, "look, I'm from New York, that's what we believe in New York. Those aren't Iowa values, but this is what we believe in New York." And so that was his explanation. And \u2014 and I guess I can \u2014 can frame it another way. Not a lot of conservatives come out of Manhattan. I'm just saying. +p2207 +aVYou know I understand why Donald made the comments he did and I understand why Americans are feeling frustrated and scared and angry when we have a president who refuses to acknowledge the threat we face and even worse, who acts as an apologist for radical Islamic terrorism. I think what we need is a commander in chief who is focused like a laser on keeping this country safe and on defeating radical Islamic terrorism. What should we do? First, we should pass the Expatriate Terrorist Act, legislation I've introduced that says if an American goes and joins +p2208 +aVThanks for coming back to me, Maria. Both Donald and Jeb have good points, and there is a middle ground. Donald is right that China is running over President Obama like he is a child, President Obama is not protecting American workers and we are getting hammered. You know, I sat down with the senior leadership of John Deere. They discussed how \u2014 how hard it is to sell tractors in China, because all the regulatory barriers. They're protectionist. But Jeb is also right that, if we just impose a tariff, they'll put reciprocal tariffs, which will hurt Iowa farmers and South Carolina producers and 20 percent of the American jobs that depend on exports. So the way you do it is you pass a tax plan like the tax plan I've introduced: a simple flat tax, 10 percent for individuals, and a 16 percent business flat tax, you abolish the IRS......and here's the critical point, Maria \u2014 the business flat tax enables us to abolish the corporate income tax, the death tax, the Obamacare taxes, the payroll taxes, and they're border-adjustable, so every export pays no taxes whatsoever. It's tax-free \u2014 a huge advantage for our farmers and ranchers and manufacturers \u2014 and every import pays the 16 percent business flat tax. It's like a tariff, but here's the difference: if we impose a tariff, China responds. The business flat tax, they already impose their taxes on us, so there's no reciprocal......tariffs that come against us. It puts us on a level, even playing field, which brings jobs here at home... +p2209 +aV... and as president, I'm going to fight for the working men and women. +p2210 +aVMaria, I assume that I can respond to that. +p2211 +aVWell, Marco has been floating this attack for a few weeks now, but the problem is, the business flat tax in my proposal is not a vat. A vat is imposed as a sales tax when you buy a good. This is a business flat tax. It is imposed on business and a critical piece that Marco seems to be missing is that this 16 percent business flat tax enables us to eliminate the corporate income tax. It goes away. It enables us to eliminate the death tax. If you're a farmer, if you're a rancher, if you are small business owner, the death tax is gone. We eliminate the payroll tax, we eliminate the Obamacare taxes. And listen, there is a real difference between Marco's tax plan and mine. Mine gives every American a simple, flat tax of 10 percent. Marco's top tax rate is 35 percent. My tax plan enables you to fill out your taxes on a postcard so we can abolish the IRS. Marco leaves the IRS code in with all of the complexity. We need to break the Washington cartel, and the only way to do it is to end all the subsidies and all......the mandates and have a simple flat tax. The final observation, invoked Ronald Reagan. I would note that Art Laffer, Ronald Reagan's chief economic adviser, has written publicly, that my simple flat tax is the best tax plan of any of the individuals on this stage cause it produces economic growth, it raises wages and it helps everyone from the very poorest to the very richest. +p2212 +aVMaria... +p2213 +aVMaria, I'd just like to say... +p2214 +aVBut Maria, radical Islamic terrorism was not invented 24 months ago; 24 months ago, we had Al Qaida. We had Boko Haram. We had Hamas. We had Hezbollah. We had Iran putting operatives in South America and Central America. It's the reason why I stood with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and led the fight to stop the Gang of Eight amnesty bill, because it was clear then, like it's clear now, that border security is national security. +p2215 +aVIt is also the case that that Rubio-Schumer amnesty bill, one of the things it did is it expanded Barack Obama's power to let in Syrian refugees. It enabled him \u2014 the president to certify them en masse without mandating meaningful background checks. I think that's a mistake. That's why I've been leading the fight to stop it. And I would note the Senate just a few weeks ago voted to suspend refugees from Middle Eastern countries. I voted yes to suspend that. Marco voted on the other side. So you don't get to say we need to secure the borders, and at the same time try to give Barack Obama more authority to allow Middle Eastern refugees coming in, when the head of the FBI tells us they cannot vet them to determine if they are +p2216 +aVI'm going to get a response to that, Neil. There's no way he launches 11 attack \u2014 +p2217 +aVI'm going to \u2014 he had no fewer than 11 attacks there. I appreciate your dumping your research folder on the stage. +p2218 +aVBut I will say \u2014 +p2219 +aV\u2014 at least half of the things Marco said are flat-out false. They're absolutely false. +p2220 +aVSo let's start \u2014 let's start with immigration. Let's start with immigration and have a little bit of clarity. Marco stood with Chuck Schumer and Barack Obama on amnesty. I stood with Jeff Sessions and Steve King. Marco stood today, standing on this stage Marco supports legalization and citizenship for 12 million illegals. I opposed and oppose legalization and citizenship. And by the way, the attack he keeps throwing out on the military budget, Marco knows full well I voted for his amendment to increase military spending to $697 billion. What he said, and he said it in the last, it's simply not true. And as president, I will rebuild the military and keep this country safe. +p2221 +aV"13 Hours" \u2014 tomorrow morning, a new movie will debut about the incredible bravery of the men fighting for their lives in Benghazi and the politicians that abandoned them. I want to speak to all our fighting men and women. I want to speak to all the moms and dads whose sons and daughters are fighting for this country, and the incredible sense of betrayal when you have a commander-in-chief who will not even speak the name of our enemy, radical Islamic terrorism, when you have a commander-in- chief who sends $150 billion to the Ayatollah Khamenei, who's responsible for murdering hundreds of our servicemen and women. I want to speak to all of those maddened by political correctness, where Hillary Clinton apologizes for saying all lives matter. This will end. It will end on January 2017. And if I am elected president, to every soldier and sailor and airman and marine, and to every police officer and firefighter and first responder who risk their lives to keep us safe, I will have your back. +p2222 +aVThank you, Wolf. America is at war. Our enemy is not violent extremism. It is not some unnamed malevolent force. It is radical Islamic terrorist. We have a president who is unwilling to utter its name. The men and women on this stage, every one of us, is better prepared to keep this nation safe than is Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. We need a president who understands the first obligation of the commander-in-chief is to keep America safe. If I am elected president, we will hunt down and kill the terrorists. We will utterly destroy +p2223 +aVWell, listen, Hugh, everyone understands why Donald has suggested what he has. We're looking at a president who's engaged in this double-speak where he doesn't call radical Islamic terrorism by its name. Indeed, he gives a speech after the San Bernardino attack where his approach is to try to go after the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens rather than to keep us safe. And even worse, President Obama and Hillary Clinton are proposing bringing tens of thousands of Syrian refugees to this country when the head of the FBI has told Congress they cannot vet those refugees. I understand why Donald made that proposal. I introduced legislation in the Senate that I believe is more narrowly focused at the actual threat, which is radical Islamic terrorism, and what my legislation would do is suspend all refugees for three years from countries where +p2224 +aVWell, you know, I'm reminded of what FDR's grandfather said. He said, "All horse-thieves are Democrats, but not all Democrats are horse-thieves." In this instance, there are millions of peaceful Muslims across the world, in countries like India, where there is not the problems we are seeing in nations that are controlled \u2014 have territory controlled by Al Qaida or +p2225 +aVWell, Dana, the premise of your question is not accurate. I'm very proud to have joined with conservatives in both the Senate and the House to reform how we target bad guys. And what the USA Freedom Act did is it did two things. Number one, it ended the federal government's bulk collection of phone metadata of millions of law-abiding citizens. But number two in the second half of it that is critical. It strengthened the tools of national security and law enforcement to go after terrorists. It gave us greater tools and we are seeing those tools work right now in San Bernardino. And in particular, what it did is the prior program only covered a relatively narrow slice of phone calls. When you had a terrorist, you could only search a relatively narrow slice of numbers, primarily land lines. The USA Freedom Act expands that so now we have cell phones, now we have Internet phones, now we have the phones that terrorists are likely to use and the focus of law enforcement is on targeting the bad guys. You know what the Obama administration keeps getting wrong is whenever anything bad happens they focus on law-abiding citizens instead of focusing on the bad guys. We need to focus on radical Islamic terrorists and we need to stop them before they carry out acts of terror. +p2226 +aVWell, you know, I would note that Marco knows what he's saying isn't true. You know, Mark Levin wrote a column last week that says that the attack ads his Super PAC is running that are saying the same thing, that they are knowingly false and they are, in fact, Alinsky-like attacks like Barack Obama. And the reason is simple. What he knows is that the old program covered 20 percent to 30 percent of phone numbers to search for terrorists. The new program covers nearly 100 percent. That gives us greater ability to stop acts of terrorism, and he knows that that's the case. +p2227 +aVWhat it means is using overwhelming air power to utterly and completely destroy +p2228 +aVYou would carpet bomb where +p2229 +aVWell, you know, Marco has continued these attacks, and he knows they're not true. Yes, it is true that I voted against the National Defense Authorization Act, because when I campaigned in Texas I told voters in Texas that I would oppose the federal government having the authority to detain U.S. citizens permanently with no due process. I have repeatedly supported an effort to take that out of that bill, and I honored that campaign commitment. +p2230 +aVBut more broadly, you know, the notion Marco is suggesting, that somehow \u2014 he also has tossed more than a few insults this direction \u2014 let's be absolutely clear. +p2231 +aVWolf, I believe in a America first foreign policy, that far too often President Obama and Hillary Clinton \u2014 and, unfortunately, more than a few Republicans \u2014 have gotten distracted from the central focus of keeping this country safe. So let's go back to the beginning of the Obama administration, when Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama led +p2232 +aV... we ought to hunt down our enemies and kill +p2233 +aVWell, it's more than not shedding a tear. It's actively getting involved to topple a government. And we keep hearing from President Obama and Hillary Clinton and Washington Republicans that they're searching for these mythical moderate rebels. It's like a purple unicorn. They never exist. These moderate rebels end up being jihadists. And I'll tell you whose view on Assad is the same as mine. It's Prime Minister Netanyahu. Prime Minister Netanyahu has said Israel doesn't have a dog in that fight because Assad is a puppet of Iran, a Shia radical Islamic terrorist, but at the same time, Prime Minister Netanyahu doesn't want to see Syria governed by +p2234 +aVThe question of whether we should toppling dictatorships is asking the wrong question. We should be defeating our enemies. So the problem with defeating... +p2235 +aVWell, but let me explain, the focus should be... +p2236 +aV... on defeating our enemies. So, for example... +p2237 +aV... a regime we should change is Iran... +p2238 +aV... because Iran has declared war on us. But we shouldn't be toppling regimes...... that are fighting radical Islamic terrorists that are helping... +p2239 +aVWell, he \u2014 he has attempted to muddy the waters, but I think that anyone who watched the battle that we had. You know, there was a time for choosing as Reagan put it. Where there was a battle over amnesty and some chose, like Senator Rubio to stand with Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer and support a massive amnesty plan. Others chose to stand with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and the American people and secure the border. And let me mention, this issue is actually directly connected to what we've been talking about. Because the front line with +p2240 +aVLook, I understand Marco wants to raise confusion, it is not accurate what he just said that I supported legalization. Indeed, I led the fight against his legalization and amnesty. And you know, there was one commentator that put it this way that, for Marco to suggest our record's the same is like suggesting "the fireman and the arsonist because they are both at the scene of the fire." He was fighting to grant amnesty and not to secure the border, I was fighting to secure the border. And this also goes to trust, listening on to campaign trails. Candidates all the time make promises. You know, Marco said," he learned that the American people didn't trust the federal government." +p2241 +aVIn Florida promising to... +p2242 +aVgo in the fight against amnesty... +p2243 +aVHe campaigned promising to lead the fight against amnesty. +p2244 +aVI have never supported a legalization... +p2245 +aVI have never supported legalization, and I do not intend to support legalization. Let me tell you how you do this, what you do is you enforce the law... +p2246 +aVWatt you do is enforcement the law... +p2247 +aVWhat you do... +p2248 +aVWhat you do is you enforce the law. I've laid out a very, very detailed immigration plan on my website, tedcruz.org. It's 11 pages of existing federal law and in particular the question of what to do with people who are here now? You enforce the law. That means you stop the Obama administration's policy of releasing criminal illegal aliens. Do you know how many aliens Bill Clinton deported? 12 million. Do you know how many illegal aliens, George W. Bush deported? 10 million. We can enforce the laws and if we secure the border, that solves the problem. And as president I will solve this problem and secure the border. +p2249 +aVDana, what I said in private is exactly what I'll say here, which is that the judgment that every voter is making of every one of us up here is who has the experience, who has the vision, who has the judgment to be commander in chief. That is the most important decision for the voters to make. That's a standard I'm held to. And it's a standard everyone else is held to. And I will note, you know, in the whole course of this discussion about our foreign policy threats, it actually illustrates the need for clarity of focus. You know, my daughters, Caroline and Catherine, came tonight. They're 7 and 5. And you think about the Los Angeles schools canceling their schools today. And every parent is wondering, how do we keep our kids safe? We need a commander in chief who does what Ronald Reagan did with communism, which is he set out a global strategy to defeat Soviet communism. And he directed all of his... I'm answering the question, Dana. He directed all of his forces to defeating communism. One of the things we've seen here is how easy it is for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to get distracted from dealing with radical Islamic terrorism. They won't even call it by its name. We need a president who stands up, number one, and says, we will defeat +p2250 +aVAnd we need to be focused on defeating... +p2251 +aV... defeating radical Islamic terrorists. +p2252 +aVWhat I'm saying, Dana, is that is a judgment for every voter to make. What I can tell you is all nine of the people here would make an infinitely better commander in chief than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. +p2253 +aVAnd there is a real danger, Dana, when people get distracted. I'm answering the question, Wolf. There's a real danger when people get distracted by peripheral issues. They get distracted by democracy building. They get distracted about military conflicts. We need to focus on defeating jihadism. +p2254 +aVAnd I will do everything necessary to keep our children safe. +p2255 +aVJudgment, strength, clarity and trust. Barack Obama has said he doesn't believe in American leadership or America winning \u2014 he is wrong. America can win again and we will win again. Ronald Reagan reignited the American economy, rebuilt the Military, bankrupted the Soviet Union and defeated Soviet Communism. I will do the same thing. Cutting taxes, cutting regulation, unleashing small businesses and rebuilding the Military to defeat radical Islamic terrorism \u2014 our strategy is simple. We win, they lose. We've done it before and we can do it again. +p2256 +aVWell, Maria, it's great to be with you. It's great to be here in Milwaukee. You know, the question you asked really I think is the most important question any of us can have \u2014 face, which is, how do we get the economy growing? How do we bring back economic growth? Because economic growth, it's foundational to every other challenge we have. As you rightly noted, from 2008 to today, our economy has grown 1.2 percent a year on average. The Obama economy is a disaster, and the IMF is telling us this is a new normal. It doesn't have to be. If you look at the history of America, there are three levers that government has had to facilitate economic growth. The first is tax reform. And as you noted, I have rolled out a bold and simple flat tax: 10 percent for every American that would produce booming growth and 4.9 million new jobs within a decade. The second element is regulatory reform, pulling back the armies of regulators that have descended like locusts on small businesses. And the third element is sound money. Every time we've pursued all three of those \u2014 whether in the 1920s with Calvin Coolidge or the 1960s with JFK or the 1980s with Ronald Reagan \u2014 the result has been incredible economic growth. We have done it before, and with leadership, we can do it again. +p2257 +aVWell, my Mom is here, so I don't think we should be pushing any grannies off cliffs. And, you miss-stated what I've said on entitlement reform. What I've said is for seniors we should make no changes whatsoever, for younger workers we should gradually raise the retirement age, we should have benefits grow more slowly, and we should allow them to keep a portion of their taxes in a personal account that they control, and can pass on to their kids... +p2258 +aVI want to go back to the discussion we had a minute ago because, you know, what was said was right. The democrats are laughing \u2014 because if republicans join democrats as the party of amnesty, we will lose. And, you know, I understand that when the mainstream media covers immigration, it doesn't often see it as an economic issue. But, I can tell you for millions \u2014 of Americans at home watching this, it is a very personal economic issue. And, I will say the politics of it will be very, very different if a bunch of lawyers or bankers were crossing the Rio Grande. Or if a bunch of people with journalism degrees were coming over and driving down the wages in the press. Then, we would see stories about the economic calamity that is befalling our nation. And, I will say for those of us who believe people 'ought to come to this country legally, and we should enforce the law, we're tired of being told it's anti-immigrant. It's offensive. I am the son of an immigrant who came legally from Cuba... ...to seek the American dream. And, we can embrace legal immigration while believing in the rule of law \u2014 and I would note, try going illegally to another country. Try going to China, or Japan. Try going to Mexico. See what they do. Every sovereign nation secures its borders, and it is not compassionate to say we're not going to enforce the laws... ...And we're going to drive down the wages for millions of hardworking men and women. That is abandoning the working... +p2259 +aVWell, sure, you put your finger on what the problem is. The current system isn't fair. Washington is fundamentally corrupt. There are more words in the IRS code than there are in the Bible \u2014 and \u2014 and not a one of them is as good. Every one of them reflects a carve-out or a subsidy, and it's all about empowering the Washington cartel. My simple Flat Tax says that, for a family of four, for the first $36,000 you earn, you pay no taxes whatsoever. No income taxes, no payroll taxes, no nothing. Above that, every American pays 10 percent across the board \u2014 a flat, fair tax. Which means that no longer do you have hedge-fund billionaires paying a lower tax rate than their secretaries. On the business side, I've got a business flat tax of 16 percent \u2014 again, that applies across the board. Right now, with our corporate income tax, giant corporations with armies of accountants regularly are paying little to no taxes while small businesses are getting hammered. This is fair and across-the-board. Now, you ask, how do the numbers add up? I would encourage folks, if you go to our website, tedcruz.org, we have the specific numbers on the website. This plan eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax, eliminates the corporate income tax, and it abolishes the IRS. And the effect of that is incredible economic growth. It means every income group will see double-digit increases, from the very poorest to the very weakest, of at least 14 percent. So if you're a single mom, if you're making $40,000 a year, what that means is an extra about $5,000 in your pocket to provide for your kids, to make ends meet. It has a powerful, powerful effect. And there's one other really powerful feature of my plan, which is that it's border-adjustable. Which means, if you're an exporter \u2014 if you're a farmer, if you're a rancher, if you're a manufacturer, you don't pay the businesses flat tax. Exports are free of that tax, but all imports pay that 16 percent business flat tax, which means this tax plan would cause jobs to boom, and it would let America compete with China and the world on a level playing field. +p2260 +aVWell, the numbers the Tax Foundation had put out is that the static cost of the plan is $3.6 trillion over 10 years, but the dynamic cost of the plan, which \u2014 which is the cost that factors in growth, is about $768 billion. It is less than a trillion. It costs less than virtually every other plan people have put up here, and yet it produces more growth and it's one of the very few plans that abolishes the IRS. But on top of that, today, we rolled out a spending plan. $500 billion in specific cuts \u2014 five major agencies that I would eliminate. The IRS, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Energy, the Department of Commerce, and HUD \u2014 and then 25 specific programs. Again, that's on our website at tedcruz.org. You want to look at specificity? It's easy for everyone to say, "cut spending". It's much harder and riskier to put out, chapter and verse, specifically the programs you would cut to stop bankrupting our kids and grandkids. +p2261 +aV...Middle ground that brings both of these together... +p2262 +aV...Exactly right, that we have to defend this nation. You think defending this nation is expensive, try not defending it. That's a lot more expensive. But, you can do that, and pay for it. You can do that, and also be fiscally responsible. You know, I mention that the 25 programs that I put today, that I would eliminate them. Among them are corporate welfare, like sugar subsidies. Let's take that as an example. Sugar subsidies. Sugar farmers farm under... ...under roughly 0.2% of the farmland in America, and yet they give 40% of the lobbying money. That sort of corporate welfare is why we're bankrupting our kids, and grandkids. I would end those subsidies to pay for defending this nation... +p2263 +aVAbsolutely yes. You know, I have spent much of my adult life enforcing the law and defending the Constitution. And the problem that underlies all of this is the cronyism and corruption of Washington. You know, the opening question Jerry asked, would you bail out the big banks again? Nobody gave you an answer to that. I'll give you an answer. Absolutely not. And what we have right now is we have Washington \u2014 as government gets bigger and bigger, you know, the biggest lie in all of Washington and in all of politics is that Republicans are the party of the rich. The truth is, the rich do great with big government. They get in bed with big government. The big banks get bigger and bigger and bigger under Dodd-Frank and community banks are going out of business. And, by the way, the consequence of that is small businesses can't get business loans, and it is that fundamental corruption that is why six of the 10 wealthiest counties in America are in and around Washington, D.C. And let me give you a contrast to Washington cronyism. Some weeks ago, a woman named Sabina Loving testified at a hearing that I chaired in the Senate. Sabina Loving is an African-American single mom who started a tax preparation business in the south side of Chicago. She found a store front, she wanted to have her own business. She started a business. But then the IRS promulgated new regulations targeting tax preparers. They did it under a more than 100-year-old statute called the Dead Horse Act. Now, this statute and the IRS in classic Washington crony fashion had exemptions for lawyers and big fancy accountants, but Sabina had to pay $1,000 an employee. It would have driven her out of business, and Ms. Loving sued the IRS. She took the Obama IRS to court, and she won, and they struck down the rule for picking the big guys over the little guys. +p2264 +aVYes. Now, let's be clear, there is a role for the Federal Reserve \u2014 what the Fed is doing now is it is a series of philosopher- kings trying to guess what's happening with the economy. You look at the Fed, one of the reasons we had the financial crash is throughout the 2000s, we had loose money, we had an asset bubble, it drove up the price of real estate, drove up the price of commodities, and then in the third quarter of 2008, the Fed tightened the money and crashed those asset prices, which caused a cascading collapse. That's why I am supporting getting back to rules-based monetary system not with a bunch of philosopher-kings deciding, but tied... +p2265 +aVSo let me be clear. I would not bail them out, but instead of adjusting monetary policy according to whims and getting it wrong over and over again and causing booms and busts, what the Fed should be doing is, number one, keeping our money tied to a stable level of gold, and, number two, serving as a lender of last resort. That's what central banks do. So if you have a run on the bank, the Fed can serve as a lender of last resort, but it's not a bailout. It is a loan at higher interest rates. That's how central banks have worked. And I'll point out \u2014 look, we had a gold standard under Bretton Woods, we had it for about 170 years of our nation's history, and enjoyed booming economic growth and lower inflation than we have had with the Fed now. We need to get back to sound money, which helps, in particular, working men and women. What Washington does \u2014 the people who are doing well in the Obama economy are those with power and influence in the Obama government. The people who working men and women... +p2266 +aVSo, Governor Kasich... +p2267 +aV...why would you then bail out rich Wall Street banks, but not Main street, not Mom and Pop, not Sabina Loving? +p2268 +aVBut you just said an executive... +p2269 +aV...knows to step in and bail out a bank. +p2270 +aVSo you said you'd abandon philosophy and abandon principle... +p2271 +aV...but what would you do if the bank was failing? +p2272 +aVSo you \u2014 you would bail them out. +p2273 +aVAnd, Maria, I will note, she's got a lot of experience, but her policies have proven disastrous. If you look at foreign policy, every region in the world has gotten worse. Under her leadership, we abandon the nation of Israel. Under her leadership, radical Islamic terrorism has been on to the rise. Under her leadership, and Obama's leadership, Iran is getting $100 billion dollars, and on the verge of getting a nuclear weapon. Everything she's put her hand to, or has touched \u2014 and when we talk about the cronyism of Washington, Hillary Clinton embodies the cronyism... ...of Washington. And, I'll give you an example of that, which is the Congressional exemption from Obamacare, which is fundamentally wrong, and I'll tell you this, if I'm elected president, I will veto any statute that exempts members of congress. The law should apply evenly to every American. +p2274 +aVMaria, critically, when it comes to climate change... +p2275 +aV...Our \u2014 our... +p2276 +aVFifty-eight years ago, my father fled Cuba. As he stood on the deck of that ferryboat with the wind and salt air blowing, he looked back at the oppression and torture he was escaping. And yet he looked forward to the promise of America. His story is our story. What ties Americans together is we are all the children of those who risked everything for freedom. America is in crisis now. I believe in America. And if we get back to the free market principles and constitutional liberties that built this country, we can turn this country around. I believe that 2016 will be an election like 1980, that we will win by following Reagan's admonition to paint in bold colors, not pale pastels. We're building a grassroots army. I ask you to join us at tedcruz.org. And we, the people, can turn this nation around. +p2277 +aVI'm too agreeable, easy going. You know, I think my biggest weakness is exactly the opposite. I'm a fighter. I am passionate about what I believe. I've been passionate my whole life about the Constitution. And, you know, for six-and-a-half years, we've had a gigantic party. If you want someone to grab a beer with, I may not be that guy. But if you want someone to drive you home, I will get the job done and I will get you home. +p2278 +aVBecky, if you want a 10 percent flat tax where the numbers add up, I rolled out my tax plan today, you can find it on line at tedcruz.org. It is a simple flat tax where for individuals, a family of four pays nothing on the first $36,000. After that you pay 10 percent as a flat tax going up. The billionaire and the working man, no hedge fund manager pays less than his secretary. On top of that, there is a business flat tax of 16 percent. Now that applies universally to giant corporations that with lobbyists right now are not paying taxes, and as small business. And you wanted to know the numbers, the Tax Foundation, which has scored every one of our plans, shows that this plan will allow the economy to generate 4.9 million jobs, to raise wages over 12 percent, and to generate 14 percent growth. And it costs, with dynamic scoring, less than a trillion dollars. Those are the hard numbers. And every single income decile sees a double-digit increase in after-tax income. +p2279 +aVGrowth is the answer. And as Reagan demonstrated, if we cut taxes, we can bring back growth. +p2280 +aVYou know, let me say something at the outset. The questions that have been asked so far in this debate illustrate why the American people don't trust the media. This is not a cage match. And, you look at the questions \u2014 "Donald Trump, are you a comic-book villain?" "Ben Carson, can you do math?" "John Kasich, will you insult two people over here?" "Marco Rubio, why don't you resign?" "Jeb Bush, why have your numbers fallen?" How about talking about the substantive issues the people care about? +p2281 +aVAnd Carl \u2014 Carl, I'm not finished yet. The contrast with the Democratic debate, where every fawning question from the media was, "Which of you is more handsome and why?" And let me be clear. +p2282 +aVLet me be clear. The men and women on this stage have more ideas, more experience, more common sense than every participant in the Democratic debate. That debate reflected a debate between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. And nobody watching at home believed that any of the moderators had any intention of voting in a Republican primary. The questions that are being asked shouldn't be trying to get people to tear into each other. It should be what are your substantive positions... +p2283 +aVYou want me to answer that question? I'm happy to answer the question... +p2284 +aVLet me tell you how that question... +p2285 +aVLet me tell you how that question... +p2286 +aV... so you don't actually want to hear the answer, John? +p2287 +aVYou don't want to hear the answer. You just want to... +p2288 +aVYou're not interested in an answer. +p2289 +aV...Then I'll buy you a tequila... +p2290 +aV...Or, even some famous Colorado brownies. +p2291 +aVWell, sure. This deal in Washington is an example of why Washington's broken. Republican leadership joined with every single Democrat, add $80 trillion to our debt to do nothing to fix the problems. And, let me now on Social Security because we were getting into a good substantive exchange, and I want to say I think both Chris, and Mike are right. Governor Huckabee's exactly right, we need to honor the promises made to our seniors, but for younger workers \u2014 look. I'm 44 years old. It is hard to find someone in my generation that thinks Social Security will be there for us. We can save and preserve and strengthen Social Security by making no changes for seniors, but for younger workers gradually increasing the retirement age, changing the rate of growth so that it matches inflation, and critically allowing younger workers to keep a portion of our tax payments in a personal account that we own, we control them, we can pass on to our kids. +p2292 +aVWell, we've gotta turn the economy around for people who are struggling. The Democrats' answer to everything is more government control over wages, and more empowering trial lawyers to file lawsuits. You know, you look at women working. I'll tell you, in my family there are a lot of single moms in my family. My sister was a single mom, both of my aunts who were a single moms. My mom who's here today, was a single mom when my father left us when I was 3 years old. Now, thank God, my father was invited to a Bible study and became born again and he came back to my mom and me and we were raised together. But I \u2014 the struggle of single moms is extraordinary. And you know, when you see Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and all the Democrats talking about wanting to address the plight of working women, not a one of them mentioned the fact that under Barack Obama, 3.7 million women have entered poverty. Not a one of them mentioned the fact that under Barack Obama and the big government economy, the median wage for women has dropped $733. The the truth of the matter is, big government benefits the wealthy, it benefits the lobbyists, it benefits the giant corporations. And the people who are getting hammered are small businesses, it's single moms, it's Hispanics. That is who I'm fighting for. The people that Washington leaves behind. +p2293 +aVWell, Rick, it's a very important question. I have got deep concerns about the Fed. The first thing I think we need to do is audit the Fed. And I am an original co-sponsor of Rand Paul's audit the Fed legislation. The second thing we need to do is I think we need to bring together a bipartisan commission to look at getting back to rules- based monetary policy, end this star chamber that has been engaging in this incredible experiment of quantitative easing, QE1, QE2, QE3, QE- infinity. And the people who are being impacted, you know, a question that was asked earlier, Becky asked, was about working women. You know, it's interesting, you look at on Wall Street, the Fed is doing great. It's driving up stock prices. Wall Street is doing great. You know, today, the top 1 percent earn a higher share of our income than any year since 1928. But if you look at working men and women. If you look at a single mom buying groceries, she sees hamburger prices have gone up nearly 40 percent. She sees her cost of electricity going up. She sees her health insurance going up. And loose money is one of the major problems. We need sound money. And I think the Fed should get out of the business of trying to juice our economy and simply be focused on sound money and monetary stability, ideally tied to gold. +p2294 +aVLet me say on that... +p2295 +aV...Rand is exactly right. His plan is a good plan, and I will note that my 10% plan also eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax, +p2296 +aV...eliminates the business... [ +p2297 +aV...income tax... [ +p2298 +aV...10% flat rate... +p2299 +aV...is the lowest personal rate any candidate up here has, and what it would also enable us to do is for every citizen to fill out their taxes on a postcard so we can eliminate the IRS. +p2300 +aVYou know, everyone here talks about the need to take on Washington. The natural next question is who actually has done so. Who actually has stood up not just to Democrats, but to leaders in our own party? When millions of Americans rose up against Obamacare, I was proud to lead that fight. When millions of Americans rose up against amnesty, I was proud to lead that fight. When millions of Americans rose up against Planned Parenthood, I was proud to lead that fight. If people are promising they're going to take on Washington and cronyism, you need to look to who has been doing it. In my family, my dad fled oppression in Cuba to come to America. Freedom is personal for me, and I will always keep my word and fight for freedom. +p2301 +aVI'm Ted Cruz. I am the son of an Irish-Italian mom and a Cuban immigrant dad who fled oppression and came to America seeking freedom. I'm a husband to my best friend, Heidi, who's here tonight. I'm a dad to two little girls who are the loves of my life, Caroline and Catherine. If you're fed up with Washington, if you're looking for someone to stand up to career politicians in both parties, I'm the only one on this stage who has done that over and over again, and if we stand together, we can bring America back. +p2302 +aVWell, let me tell you, Jake, the single biggest national security threat facing America right now is the threat of a nuclear Iran. We've seen six and a half years of President Obama leading from behind. Weakness is provocative, and this Iranian nuclear deal is nothing short of catastrophic. This deal, on its face, will send over $100 billion to the Ayatollah Khamenei, making the Obama administration the world's leading financier of radical Islamic terrorism. +p2303 +aVThis deal abandons four American hostages in Iran, and this deal will only accelerate Iran's acquiring nuclear weapons. You'd better believe it. If I am elected president, on the very first day in office, I will rip to shreds this catastrophic Iranian nuclear deal. +p2304 +aVWell, let's be clear when it comes to experience. What President Obama wants to do is he's run to the United Nations, and he wants to use the United Nations to bind the United States, and take away our sovereignty. Well, I spent five and a half years as a Solicitor General of Texas, the lead lawyer for the state, in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, and I went in front of the Supreme Court, and took on the world court of the United Nations in a case called Medellin v. Texas, and we won a historic victory saying the World Court, and the U.N., has no power to bind the United States, and no President of the United States, Republican or Democrat, has the authority to give away our sovereignty. And, so, if there's anyone up here who would be bound by this catastrophic deal with Iran, they're giving up the core responsibility of commander in chief, and as president, I would never do that. +p2305 +aVJake, Jake... +p2306 +aVJake, there is no more important topic in 2016 than this topic right here, and I've listened to several folks saying, "Well, gosh, if they cheat, we'll act." We won't know under this agreement \u2014 there are several facilities in Iran they designate as military facilities that are off limit all together. Beyond that, the other facilities, we give them 24 days notice before inspecting them. That is designed to allow them to hide the evidence. And most astonishingly, this agreement trusts the Iranians to inspect themselves. That makes no sense whatsoever. And let me know \u2014 President Obama is violating federal law... +p2307 +aV... by not handing over the side deals, and we ought to see the United States Congress... +p2308 +aV... stand up together and say, "Hand over this treaty, and protect this country." +p2309 +aVWell, let me tell you, Dana, number one, I'm proud to stand for life. These Planned Parenthood videos are horrifying. I would encourage every American to watch the videos. See \u2014 seeing your Planned Parenthood officials callously, heartlessly bartering and selling the body parts of human beings, and then ask yourself, "are these my values?" These are horrifying. On these videos, Planned Parenthood also essentially confesses to multiple felonies. It is a felony with ten years' jail term to sell the body parts of unborn children for profit. That's what these videos show Planned Parenthood doing. Absolutely we shouldn't be sending $500 million of taxpayer money to funding an ongoing criminal enterprise, and I'll tell you, the fact that Republican leadership in both houses has begun this discussion by preemptively surrendering to Barack Obama and saying, "we'll give in because Obama threatens a veto." You know, Obama's committed to his principles. His liberal principles, he will fight for them. He says... +p2310 +aVI will veto any budget that doesn't fund Planned Parenthood, and Republicans surrender. We need to stop surrendering and start standing... +p2311 +aV...for our principles. +p2312 +aVWell, Jake, you know, I'm \u2014 I'm very glad that Donald Trump's being in this race has forced the mainstream media finally to talk about illegal immigration. I think that's very important. I like and respect Ben Carson. I'll let him talk about his own plans. But I will say this: The natural next question that primary voters are asking, after we focus on illegal immigration is, okay, what are the records of the various candidates? And this is an issue on which there are stark differences. A majority of the men and women on this stage have previously and publicly embraced amnesty. I am the only candidate on this stage who has never supported amnesty and, in fact, who helped lead the fight to stop a massive amnesty plan. In 2013, when Barack Obama and Harry Reid joined the Washington Republicans in a massive, I stood shoulder to shoulder with Jeff Sessions helping lead the fight. You know, folks here have talked about, how do you secure the borders? Well, I've been leading the fight in the Senate to triple the Border Patrol, to put in place fencings and walls, to put in place a strong biometric exit/entry system... +p2313 +aVWell, Dana, I've known John Roberts for 20 years, he's amazingly talented lawyer, but, yes, it was a mistake when he was appointed to the Supreme Court. He's a good enough lawyer that he knows in these Obamacare cases he changed the statute, he changed the law in order to force that failed law on millions of Americans for a political outcome. And, you know, we're frustrated as conservatives. We keep winning elections, and then we don't get the outcome we want. And, let me focus on two moments in time. Number one, in 1990, in one room was David Souter, and in another room was Edith Jones, the rock ribbed (ph) conservative on the fifth circuit court of appeals. George Herbert Walker Bush appointed David Souter. And then in 2005, in one room was John Roberts, in another room was my former boss, Mike Luttig, the rock ribbed (ph) conservative on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals... +p2314 +aV...George W. Bush appointed John Roberts, and let me give you the consequences of that. If, instead, the President Bush had appointed Edith Jones, and Mike Luttig, which is who I would have appointed, Obamacare would have been struck down three years ago, and the marriage laws of all 50 states would be on the books. These matter, and I fought to defend the constitution my whole life... +p2315 +aV...and I will as president as well. +p2316 +aVIt is true that after George W. Bush nominated John Roberts, I supported his confirmation. That was a mistake and I regret that. I wouldn't have nominated John Roberts, and indeed, Governor Bush pointed out why. It wasn't that the President Bushes wanted to appoint a liberal to the court, it's that it was the easier choice. Both David Souter and John Roberts, they didn't have a long paper trail. If you had nominated Edith Jones or Mike Ludig (ph) you would have had a bloody fight and they weren't willing to spend political capital to put a strong judicial conservative on the court. I have spent my entire life, starting from clerking for Chief Justice William Rehnquist on the United States Supreme Court, one of the most principled jurists. We have an out-of-control Court, and I give you my word, if I'm elected president, every single Supreme Court justice will faithfully follow the law and will not act like philosopher kings \u2014 +p2317 +aV\u2014 imposing their liberal policies on millions of Americans \u2014 +p2318 +aV\u2014 who need to be trusted to govern ourselves. +p2319 +aVI \u2014 I am not, and \u2014 and you mentioned that the U.S. Supreme Court had rightly upheld the individual right to keep and bear arms. I was proud to lead 31 states before the U.S. Supreme Court defending the Second Amendment, and we won that landmark victory. And indeed, just a couple of years ago, when Harry Reid and Barack Obama came after the right to keep and bear arms of millions of Americans, I was proud to lead the fight in the United States Senate to protect our right to keep and bear arms, and for that reason... +p2320 +aV... I was honored to be endorsed by Gun Owners of America... +p2321 +aV... as the strongest supporter of the Second Amendment on this stage today, and I will... +p2322 +aV... fight every day to defend the Bill of Rights. +p2323 +aVWell, I wouldn't change the $10 bill, I'd change the $20. I'd take Jackson off and I'd leave Alexander Hamilton right where he is as one of our Founding Fathers. And I very much agree with Marco that it should be Rosa Parks. She was a principled pioneer that helped change this country, helped remedy racial injustice, and that would be an honor that would be entirely appropriate. +p2324 +aVYou know, as a Cuban, I might go with Cohiba (ph), and I'll tell you, I'd go with, for Heidi, Angel, because she is my angel. +p2325 +aVRonald Reagan believed in America. If I'm elected president our friends and allies across the globe will know that we stand with them. the bust of Winston Churchill will be back in the Oval Office, and the American embassy in Israel will be in Jerusalem. Enemies across this world will know the United States is not to be trifled with. +p2326 +aVChris, I believe the American people are looking for someone to speak the truth. If you're looking for someone to go to Washington, to go along to get along, to get -- to agree with the career politicians in both parties who get in bed with the lobbyists and special interests, then I ain't your guy. There is a reason... .... that we have $18 trillion in debt. Because as conservatives, as Republicans, we keep winning elections. We got a Republican House, we've got a Republican Senate, and we don't have leaders who honor their commitments. I will always tell the truth and do what I said I would do. +p2327 +aVChris, absolutely yes. And not only will I support it......I have authored Kate's law in the United States Senate and filed that legislation. I tried to get the Senate to vote to pass Kate's law on the floor of the Senate just one week ago, and the leader of our own party blocked a vote on Kate's law. You know, there was reference made to our leaders being stupid. It's not a question of stupidity. It's that they don't want to enforce the immigration laws. That there are far too many in the Washington cartel that support amnesty. President Obama has talked about fundamentally transforming this country. There's 7 billion people across the face of the globe, many of whom want to come to this country. If they come legally, great. But if they come illegally and they get amnesty, that is how we fundamentally change this country, and it really is striking. A majority of the candidates on this stage have supported amnesty. I have never supported amnesty, and I led the fight against Chuck Schumer's gang of eight amnesty legislation in the Senate. +p2328 +aVMegyn, we need a commander in chief that speaks the truth. We will not defeat radical Islamic terrorism so long as we have a president unwilling to utter the words, "radical Islamic terrorism". When I asked General Dempsey, the chairman of the joint chiefs, what would be required militarily to destroy +p2329 +aVMegyn, of course it's an ideological problem, that's one of the reasons I introduce the Expatriate Terrorist Act in the Senate that said if any American travels to the Middle East and joining +p2330 +aVWell, Bret, of course they have, and over the last six and a half years we've seen the consequences of the Obama-Clinton foreign policy. Leading from behind is a disaster. We have abandoned and alienated our friends and allies, and our enemies are stronger. Radical Islam is on the rise, Iran's on the verge of acquiring a nuclear weapon, China is waging cyber warfare against America, Russia -- General Soleimani, you just mentioned, the Iranian general is the head of the al Quds forces. He's directly responsible for the murder of over 500 American servicemen in Iraq, and part of this Iranian deal was lifting the international sanctions on General Soleimani. The day General Soleimani flew back from Moscow to Iran was the day we believed that Russia used cyber warfare against the Joint Chiefs. We need a new commander in chief that will stand up to our enemies, and that will have credibility... It is worth emphasizing that Iran released our hostages in 1981 the day Ronald Reagan was sworn into office. +p2331 +aVBrett, can I -- Brett, can I jump in on this one? +p2332 +aVWell, I am blessed to receive a word from God every day in receiving the scriptures and reading the scriptures. And God speaks through the Bible. I'm the son of a pastor and evangelist and I've described many times how my father, when I was a child, was an alcoholic. He wasn't a Christian. And my father left my mother and left me when I was just three years old. And someone invited him to Clay Road Baptist Church. And he gave his heart to Jesus and it turned him around. And he got on a plane and he flew back to my mother and me. I would also note that the scripture tells us, "you shall know them by their fruit." We see lots of "campaign conservatives." But if we're going to win in 2016, we need a consistent conservative, someone who has been a fiscal conservative, a social conservative, a national security conservative. There are real differences among the candidates on issues like amnesty, like Obamacare, like religious liberty, like life and marriage. And I have been proud to fight and stand for religious liberty, to stand against Planned Parenthood, to defend life for my entire career. And I will be proud to continue to do so as president of the United States. +p2333 +aVIf I'm elected president, let me tell you about my first day in office. The first thing I intend to do is to rescind every illegal and unconstitutional executive action taken by Barack Obama. The next thing I intend to do is instruct the Department of Justice to open an investigation into these videos and to prosecute Planned Parenthood for any criminal violations. The next thing I intend to do is instruct the Department of Justice and the IRS to start (sic) persecuting religious liberty, and then intend to cancel the Iran deal, and finally move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. I will keep my word. My father fled Cuba, and I will fight to defend liberty because my family knows what it's like to lose it. +p2334 +asVHARWOOD +p2335 +(lp2336 +VMr. Trump, you've done very well in this campaign so far by promising to build a wall and make another country pay for it. +p2337 +aVSend 11 million people out of the country. Cut taxes $10 trillion without increasing the deficit. +p2338 +aVAnd make Americans better off because your greatness would replace the stupidity and incompetence of others. +p2339 +aVLet's be honest. Is this a comic book version of a presidential campaign? +p2340 +aVWe're at the 60 seconds. +p2341 +aVWe're at 60 seconds, but I gotta ask you, you talked about your tax plan. You say that it would not increase the deficit because you cut taxes $10 trillion in the economy would take off like... +p2342 +aVHold on, hold on. The economy would take off like a rocket ship. +p2343 +aVI talked to economic advisers who have served presidents of both parties. They said that you have as chance of cutting taxes that much without increasing the deficit as you would of flying away from that podium by flapping your arms. +p2344 +aVThe Tax Foundation says \u2014 has looked at all of our plans and \u2014 and his creates, even with the dynamic effect, $8 trillion dollar deficit... +p2345 +aVGovernor Kasich, hold it, I'm coming to you right now. The... +p2346 +aVWell, I'm asking you about this. +p2347 +aVI'm about to ask you about this. That is, you had some very strong words to say yesterday about what's happening in your party and what you're hearing from the two gentlemen we've just heard from. Would you repeat it? +p2348 +aVWell, let's just get more pointed about it. You said yesterday that you were hearing proposals that were just crazy from your colleagues. Who were you talking about? +p2349 +aVHold on. I think there's a \u2014 I've got question for \u2014 +p2350 +aVHold on, Governor. I've got a question for Governor Bush. +p2351 +aVNo, we're moving to Governor Bush. Governor, the fact that you're at the fifth lectern tonight shows how far your stock has fallen in this race, despite the big investment your donors have made. You noted recently, after slashing your payroll, that you had better things to do than sit around and be demonized by other people. I wanted to ask you \u2014 +p2352 +aVOK. +p2353 +aVGot it. +p2354 +aVBut it's a \u2014 OK. It's a \u2014 it's a question about why you're having difficulty. I want to ask you in this context. Ben Bernanke, who was appointed Fed chairman by your brother, recently wrote a book in which he said he no longer considers himself a Republican because the Republican Party has given in to know- nothingism. Is that why you're having a difficult time in this race? +p2355 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2356 +aVWe're gonna get down the line. Becky's got a question. +p2357 +aVSenator Paul, I've got a question for you on the same subject. +p2358 +aVSenator Paul? +p2359 +aVYou used your time on something else. Senator Paul? +p2360 +aVSenator Paul, the budget deal crafted by Speaker Boehner and passed by the House today makes cuts in entitlement programs, Medicare and Social Security disability, which are the very programs conservatives say need cutting to shrink government and solve our country's long-term budget deficit. Do you oppose that budget deal because it doesn't cut those programs enough? +p2361 +aVSenator, if what you just said is true, why did Speaker Boehner craft this deal and why did Paul Ryan, who has a strong reputation for fiscal discipline, vote for it? +p2362 +aVThank you, Senator . +p2363 +aVJim, thanks. Governor Bush, in a debate like this four years ago, every Republican running for president pledged to oppose a budget deal containing any tax increase even if it had spending cuts ten times as large. A few months later, you told Congress, put me in, coach, you said you would take that deal. Still feel that way? +p2364 +aVBut to \u2014 to the point that you made to Congress, if you were president and you were offered a bipartisan deal that had one dollar... +p2365 +aV...one dollar of tax increases per ten dollars of spending cuts, would you take it? +p2366 +aVSo you don't want the coach to put you in any more? +p2367 +aVThank you, governor. Carl? +p2368 +aVGovernor John Kasich, you've called for abolishing the Export Import Bank, which provides subsidies to help American companies compete with overseas competitors. You call that corporate welfare. One of the largest newspapers in your state wrote an editorial, said they found that strange, writing, that if that's corporate welfare, what does Kasich call the millions of dollars in financial incentives doled out to attract or retain jobs by his development effort \u2014 jobs Ohio. If subsidies are good enough for Ohio companies, why aren't they good enough for companies trying to compete overseas? +p2369 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2370 +aVThank you, Governor. Thank you. +p2371 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debate on +p2372 +aVIt sounds like you think Senator Sessions is wrong to believe there is enough abuse in that program that we shouldn't... +p2373 +aVThank you, Senator. Becky? +p2374 +aVGovernor Bush, the tax reform bill that Ronald Reagan signed in 1986 cut the top personal income tax rate to 28 percent \u2014 just like your plan does. But President Reagan taxed capital gains at the same rate, while you would tax them at just 20 percent. Given the problems we've been discussing, growing gap between rich and poor, why would you tax labor at a higher rate than income from investments? +p2375 +aVSenator Rubio, 30 seconds to you. The Tax Foundation, which was alluded to earlier, scored your tax plan and concluded that you give nearly twice as much of a gain in after-tax income to the top 1 percent as to people in the middle of the income scale. Since you're the champion of Americans living paycheck-to- paycheck, don't you have that backward? +p2376 +aVThe Tax Foundation \u2014 just to be clear, they said the... +p2377 +aVNo, I did not. +p2378 +aVSenator, the Tax Foundation said after-tax income for the top 1 percent under your plan would go up 27.9 percent. +p2379 +aVAnd people in the middle of the income spectrum, about 15 percent. +p2380 +aV +p2381 +aVSenator, thank you. +p2382 +aVGovernor Huckabee, you've written about the huge divide in values between middle America and the big coastal cities like New York and Los Angeles. As a preacher as well as a politician, you know that presidents need the moral authority to bring the entire country together. The leading Republican candidate, when you look at the average of national polls right now, is Donald Trump. When you look at him, do you see someone with the moral authority to unite the country? +p2383 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2384 +aVThank you, Governor. Don't forget my colleague, Sharon Epperson. +p2385 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said something that many in your party do not believe, which is that climate change is undeniable, that human activity contributes to it, and you said, quote: "The question is, what do we do to deal with it?". So what do we do? +p2386 +aVWhat should we do? +p2387 +aVYou mean government? +p2388 +aVThank you, Governor. Becky. +p2389 +aVGovernor Bush, Mr. Trump says that he is capable of growing the economy so much that Social Security and Medicare don't have to be touched. Do you want to explain how that is going to happen, Mr. Trump? +p2390 +aVHold on, Governor. I've got a question for \u2014 for Dr. Carson. +p2391 +aVYes. You've said that you would like to replace Medicare with a system of individual family savings accounts, so that families could cover their own expenses. Obviously, that would be a very controversial idea. Explain how that would work, exactly. +p2392 +aVGovernor, do you also think that... +p2393 +aV...that Dr. Carson's right, that we can replace Medicare with individual savings accounts? +p2394 +aVMrs. Fiorina, we're right at the end of our time. +p2395 +aVYou all wanted us to limit . All right. Go ahead. +p2396 +aVWe have now reached the point in the program where candidates are going to give their closing statements, 30 seconds apiece. We're going to go right to left and start with you, Senator Paul. +p2397 +aVGovernor Christie? +p2398 +aVThank you, Governor. Senator Cruz? +p2399 +aVThank you, Senator. Mrs. Fiorina? +p2400 +aVThank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Dr. Carson? +p2401 +aVMr. Trump? +p2402 +aVJust for the record, the debate was always going to be two hours. Senator Rubio? +p2403 +aVSenator Rubio. +p2404 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Bush? +p2405 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Huckabee. +p2406 +aVThank you... +p2407 +aVGovernor Kasich? +p2408 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2409 +asVPAUL +p2410 +(lp2411 +VYou know, I've always had a great deal of respect. There's probably no person I respect more in the country or in recent history than my father. I think he was probably the most honest man in politics that we've ever seen in a generation. And so in no way have I ever said that I don't embrace my father or love my father or appreciate everything that he has done for the country. I think what's interesting about where that liberty vote goes that my father brought to the Republican Party is, I don't think they're necessarily going to go for Ted. You know, Ted didn't show up. We had an audit-the-Fed vote, which was the biggest thing my dad had been advocating for, for 30 years, Ted didn't have time to show up. He was the only Republican that didn't show up for it. And so I think really that vote is going to stay in the Paul household. I think more of it is coming and it's going to grow. The NSA is another big issue. Ted said he was for NSA reform, but then he told Marco Rubio, no, no, no, I voted for the bill because I'm for the government collecting 100 percent of your cell phone records. I don't think Ted can have it both ways. They want to say they're getting some of the liberty vote. But we don't see it happening at all. We think we're going to do very well in Iowa with the liberty vote. +p2412 +aVMay I respond? +p2413 +aVWell, I mean, I was talked about in the question. +p2414 +aVJust very quickly, I would like to respond. The bulk collection of your phone data, the invasion of your privacy did not stop one terrorist attack. I don't think you have to give up your liberty for a false sense of security. When we look at this bulk collection, the court has looked at this. Even the court declared it to be illegal. If we want to collect the records of terrorists, let's do it the old fashioned way. Let's use the Fourth Amendment. Let's put a name on a warrant, let's ask a judge for it. Let's respect the history of our country. John Adams said that we fought a War for Independence because we wanted to fight against generalized warrants. Let's don't forget that. +p2415 +aVMy budget was mentioned. My budget was mentioned. +p2416 +aV... Senator Cruz, I'd like to respond... +p2417 +aV... and I'd like to respond. +p2418 +aVThank you, Marco. +p2419 +aVThank you. The issue in Syria's a very important one, and it's one we need to get right. The question is, should we be bombing both sides of the war? Some want to topple Assad. In fact, they want to bomb +p2420 +aV. +p2421 +aVYeah, no, I think that's a \u2014 that's a huge mistake, to be closing down mosques. But I would say that if you want to defend the country, it begins with border security. And this is where I've had my disagreement with Senator Rubio. When he brought forward the "Gang of Eight" bill to give citizenship to those who came here illegally, I put forward an amendment that says we should have more scrutiny on those who are coming as students, those who are coming as immigrants, those who are coming as refugees, because we had two refugees come to my town in Bowling Green and try to attack us. Marco opposed this because they made a deal. He made a deal with Chuck Schumer that he would oppose any conservative amendments. And I think that's a mistake, and I just don't think Marco can have it both ways. You can't be in favor of defend us... ... against Islam \u2014 radical Islam \u2014 if you're not for border security. +p2422 +aVYou know, I've supported legislation to allow body cameras. I've been to Ferguson, I've been trying to look for solutions to our criminal justice problem. One thing I discovered in Ferguson was that a third of the budget for the city of Ferguson was being reaped by civil fines. People were just being fined to death. Now you and I and many of the people in this audience, if we get a $100 fine, we can survive it. If you're living on the edge of poverty and you get a $100 fine or your car towed, a lot of times you lose your job. I also think the war on drugs has disproportionately affected our African-American community, and what we need to do is make sure that the war on drugs is equal protection under the law and that we don't unfairly incarcerate another generation of young African-American males. In Ferguson, for every 100 African-American women, there are only 60 African-American men. Drug use is about equal between white and black, but our prisons \u2014 three out of four people in prison are black or brown. I think something has to change. I think it's a big thing that our party needs to be part of, and I've been a leader in Congress on trying to bring about criminal justice reform. +p2423 +aVI was there and I saw the debate. I saw Ted Cruz say, "we'll take citizenship off the table, and then the bill will pass, and I'm for the bill." The bill would involve legalization. He can't have it both ways. But what is particularly insulting, though, is that he is the king of saying, "you're for amnesty." Everybody's for amnesty except for Ted Cruz. But it's a falseness, and that's an authenticity problem \u2014 that everybody he knows is not as perfect as him because we're all for amnesty. I was for legalization. I think, frankly, if you have border security, you can have legalization. So was Ted, but now he says it wasn't so. That's not true. +p2424 +aVYou know, I think abortion is always wrong. I've supported a variety of solutions, both state as well as federal. In fact, just last week, I introduced the Life at Conception act, which would say that the 14th amendment would defend an individual even in the womb. But I think on the broader question of religion and politics, you know, I think liberty, itself requires a virtue \u2014 requires a virtuous people. In fact, Washington said that democracy requires a virtuous people. Oz Guinness, the theologian, said that liberty requires restraint but the only restraint consistent with liberty is self-restraint. There's a lot packed into that statement. But the bottom line is we must have virtue, we must have a religious bearing as a nation. The government is not always going to save us and it's not always going to come from government. But if we don't know right and wrong, I think we have lost our way. I think we become unmoored and I think without the religious foundation that guides us all, I think we have a great risk of going horribly in the wrong direction. +p2425 +aVBoth. No, both the federal and a state approach. I have said that we could leave it to the states but I've also introduced a federal solution as well. So the federal solution would be the Life at Conception act which is an act that would federalize the issue. But I've also said for the most part, these issues would be left back to the states. So there might be an occasion if we did overturn Roe v. Wade \u2014 Roe v. Wade nationalized the issue. If you had the court reverse Roe v. Wade, it would become a state issue once again. I think it would be better the more \u2014 the less abortions we have, so the more states that we have that made abortion illegal, the better, as far as trying to save and preserve lives. +p2426 +aVYou know, I've never really brought this up unless asked the question, but I have responded to the question. I don't blame Hillary Clinton at all for this. I don't think she's responsible for his behavior. But I do think that her position as promoting women's rights and fairness to women in the workplace, that if what Bill Clinton did any CEO in our country did with an intern, with a 22-year- old, 21-year-old intern in their office, they would be fired. They would never be hired again. Fired, never hired again and probably shunned in their community. And the thing is, she can't be a champion of women's rights at the same time she's got this that is always lurking out there, this type of behavior. So it is difficult. +p2427 +aVYeah. But I combine this also with the millions upon millions of dollars they've taken from regimes in the Middle East who treat women like cattle. +p2428 +aVWell, thanks for having me. It's great to be back. I'm an eye surgeon from Bowling Green, Kentucky, I miss doing eye surgery, still get to do a little bit. Did a couple of cataract surgeries over Christmas holidays. Got to go to Haiti last year. I've gotten to do some incredible things. Got to be on the floor of the Senate. And it has been amazing to me. But the thing that is most important to me and caused me to run for office is I'm worried about the country and how much debt we're adding. And I am the one true fiscal conservative who will look at all spending. And that's the only way we'll ever balance our budget. Thank you. +p2429 +aVThe question is, how do we keep America safe from terrorism? Trump says we ought to close that Internet thing. The question really is, what does he mean by that? Like they do in North Korea? Like they do in China? Rubio says we should collect all Americans' records all of the time. The Constitution says otherwise. I think they're both wrong. I think we defeat terrorism by showing them that we do not fear them. I think if we ban certain religions, if we censor the Internet, I think that at that point the terrorists will have won. Regime change hasn't won. Toppling secular dictators in the Middle East has only led to chaos and the rise of radical Islam. I think if we want to defeat terrorism, I think if we truly are sincere about defeating terrorism, we need to quit arming the allies of +p2430 +aVYou know, I think Marco gets it completely wrong. We are not any safer through the bulk collection of all Americans' records. In fact, I think we're less safe. We get so distracted by all of the information, we're not spending enough time getting specific immigration \u2014 specific information on terrorists. The other thing is, is the one thing that might have stopped San Bernardino, that might have stopped 9/11 would have been stricter controls on those who came here. And Marco has opposed at every point increased security \u2014 border security for those who come to our country. On his Gang of Eight bill, he would have liberalized immigration, but he did not \u2014 and he steadfastly opposed any new border security requirements for refugees or students. Last week, I introduced another bill saying we need more security, we need more scrutiny. Once again, Marco opposed this. So Marco can't have it both ways. He thinks he wants to be this, "Oh, I'm great and strong on national defense." But he's the weakest of all the candidates on immigration. He is the one for an open border that is leaving us defenseless. If we want to defend the country, we have to defend against who's coming in, and Marco is \u2014 has more of an allegiance to Chuck Schumer and to the liberals than he does to conservative policy. +p2431 +aVIf I was mentioned in the question, can I respond? +p2432 +aVMarco still misunderstands the immigration issue. What I put forward was an amendment that would have temporarily halted immigration from high-risk terrorist countries, but would have started it up, but I wanted them to go through Global Entry, which is a program where we do background checks. The thing is, is that every terrorist attack we've had since 9/11 has been legal immigration. Marco wants to expand that. I want more rules, more scrutiny, and to defend the country, you have to defend the border. +p2433 +aVWolf... +p2434 +aVWolf, this legislation... +p2435 +aVThis legislation on indefinite detention... +p2436 +aV... I think deserves a little more attention. +p2437 +aVI think that by arming the allies of +p2438 +aVI think that if you believe in regime change, you're mistaken. In 2013, we put 600 tons of weapons \u2014 us, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar \u2014 into the war against Assad. By pushing Assad back, we did create a safe space. We had people coming to our Foreign Relations Committee and saying, "Oh, we need to arm the allies of Al Qaida." They are still saying this. It is a crazy notion. This is the biggest debate we should be having tonight is is regime change a good idea; has it been a good idea. There are still people \u2014 the majority on the stage, they want to topple Assad. And then there will be chaos, and I think +p2439 +aVThese are the fundamental questions of our time, these foreign policy questions, whether or not regime change is a good idea or a bad idea. I don't think because I think the regime change was a bad idea it means that Hussein was necessarily a good idea. There is often variations of evil on both sides of the war. What we have to decide is whether or not regime change is a good idea. It's what the neoconservatives have wanted. It's what the vast majority of those on the stage want. They still want regime change. They want it in Syria. They wanted it in Iraq. They want it in Libya. It has not worked. Out of regime change you get chaos. From the chaos you have seen repeatedly the rise of radical Islam. So we get this profession of, oh, my goodness, they want to do something about terrorism and yet they're the problem because they allow terrorism to arise out of that chaos. +p2440 +aVNo, I think it's a huge mistake. I think regime change in Syria, and this is what \u2014 I've been saying this for several years now. In 2013 when we first went in, I said, you are going to give arms to the allies of al Qaida, to radical jihadists? That's crazy. But the other thing I said is the great irony is you will be back fighting against your own weapons. Had Assad been bombed when he used chemical weapons two years ago, +p2441 +aVWell, I think if you're in favor of World War III, you have your candidate. You know, here's...... the thing. My goodness, what we want in a leader is someone with judgment, not someone who is so reckless as to stand on the stage and say, "Yes, I'm jumping up and down; I'm going to shoot down Russian planes." Russia already flies in that airspace. It may not be something we're in love with the fact that they're there, but they were invited by Iraq and by Syria to fly in that airspace. And so if we announce we're going to have a no-fly zone, and others have said this. Hillary Clinton is also for it. It is a recipe for disaster. It's a recipe for World War III. We need to confront Russia from a position of strength, but we don't need to confront Russia from a point of recklessness that would lead to war. This is something \u2014 this type of judgment, you know, it's having that kind of judgment; who you would appoint and how you're going to conduct affairs, that is incredibly important. I mean, I think when we think about the judgment of someone who might want World War III, we might think about someone who might shut down a bridge because they don't like their friends; they don't want to \u2014 you know, they want to a Democrat. So I think we need to be very careful. +p2442 +aVYou know, I think we need to set the record straight on this, because I think Marco misspoke about the bill. On the Gang of Eight bill, there was no provisions really for extra scrutiny or safety for refugees. At the time the bill came up, two Iraqi refugees came to my home town, Bowling Green, Kentucky. Their fingerprints were on a bomb from Iraq. They were in the database, but we didn't pick them up. We relocated them here, put them in government housing, got them on food stamps. And we began providing for them, but we didn't have adequate security. On the Gang of Eight bill, on Marco's bill, we had an opportunity. There was a conservative consensus for an amendment I put forward called Trust, But Verify that would have strengthened border security on both refugees, students and those coming here. And Marco sided and I guess was more sympathetic to Chuck Schumer and to the president than he was to conservative principles. But this goes directly to national defense. And if he wants to run as a national \u2014 national defense conservative, he's got to explain why he hasn't stepped up to support border security. +p2443 +aVWhat my bill would do would be only for refugees going forward. So I haven't taken a position on sending anyone home. But I have taken the position that we have a lot of problems here in our country. And that one of the things that we do \u2014 charity is about giving your own money. Charity isn't giving someone else's money. To put everyone in government housing and food stamps and bring them in from around the world I think is a mistake. To give of your own money, I've given to my church. My church has helped people that came from Bosnia. That's a good thing. But we shouldn't have a program where we just say that we're going to take care of the world's refugees. Nobody in the Middle East is doing anything. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait \u2014 all the Gulf nations are doing nothing. They need to step up and take... +p2444 +aVThe greatest threat to our national security is our debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. And whose fault is it? Well, frankly, it's both parties' fault. You have those on the right who clamor and say, oh, we will spend anything on the military, and those on the left who say the same for domestic welfare. But what most Americans don't realize is there is an unholy alliance. They come together. There's a secret handshake. We spend more money on everything. And we are not stronger nation if we go further into debt. We are not projecting power from bankruptcy court. To me, there is no greater threat than our debt. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage because I'm willing to hold the line on all spending. I hope you will consider me in the election. Thank you very much. +p2445 +aVAbsolutely. And I think that we ought to look where income inequality seems to be the worst. It seems to be worst in cities run by Democrats, governors of... States run by Democrats and countries currently run by Democrats. So the thing is, let's look for root causes. But I would also say \u2014 lay some blame at the \u2014 the feet of the Federal Reserve. I think the Federal Reserve has made this problem worse. By artificially keeping interest rates below the market rate, average ordinary citizens have a tough time earning interest, have a tough time making money. They're actually talking now about negative interest. The money as it's created through quantitative easing or other means tends to start out in the big banks in New York. And because we're now paying interest for them to keep the money there, much of that money has not filtered out into the economy. So what we're finding is there is increasing income disparity and income inequality. We also find that as the Federal Reserve destroys the value of the currency, what you're finding is that, if you're poor, if you make $20,000 a year and you have three or four kids, and you're trying to get by, as your prices rise or as the value of the dollar shrinks, these are the people that are hurt the worst. So really we need to reexamine whether we not \u2014 we want a Federal Reserve that's involved so much in determining interest rates. We also need to look at root causes as to what caused the housing boom and the housing collapse. But the bottom line is, if you want less income inequality, move to a city with a Republican mayor or a state with a Republican governor. +p2446 +aVWell, it's a great question, Neil, and thanks for including me in the tax debate. I think what's important about the tax debate is, is that we have to ask the question, where is money best spent, in the private sector or in the government sector? I want a government really, really small, so small you can barely see it. So I want lower taxes and much more money in the private sector. My tax plan, however, is the only tax plan among any of the candidates on the stage that is part of a balanced budget plan. I put forward three plans that actually balance the budget over a five-year period. Each of these plans have details on exactly where we would cut. The question came up earlier, where would you cut? Nobody likes to say where they would cut. I've put pencil to paper and done three budgets that actually balance. I'm also in favor of a plan called the penny plan where we'd just cut 1 percent across the board and the budget actually balances in less than five years. So I think what is extraordinary about my tax plan is it is in the context of balancing the budget. What is also extraordinary about my tax plan is it gets rid of the payroll tax. Democrats demagogue this issue to death, and when they do they say, oh, a millionaire would get a bigger tax cut than someone making $10,000. That's proportionality, as Ben is trying to explain to folks. But the thing is, is if we get rid of the payroll tax, everybody is going to get a tax cut. And this is something that I think the public at large will support and could win an election. +p2447 +aVOurs is 14.5 percent for corporations, 14.5 percent for individuals. No payroll tax for the employee. The business tax pays for social security, and there would be two remaining deductions \u2014 home mortgage and charity. +p2448 +aVThank you. +p2449 +aVNeil, there's a point I'd like to make here... ....Neil, a point that I'd like to make about the tax credits. We have to decide what is conservative and what isn't conservative. Is it fiscally conservative to have a trillion-dollar expenditure? We're not talking about giving people back their tax money. He's talking about giving people money they didn't pay. It's a welfare transfer payment. So here's what we have. Is it conservative to have $1 trillion in transfer payments \u2014 a new welfare program that's a refundable tax credit? Add that to Marco's plan for $1 trillion in new military spending, and you get something that looks, to me, not very conservative. Thank you. +p2450 +aVNevertheless, it's not very conservative, Marco. +p2451 +aVHow is it conservative? +p2452 +aVYeah, but, Marco! Marco! How is it conservative, how is it conservative to add a trillion-dollar expenditure for the federal government that you're not paying for? +p2453 +aVHow is it conservative? +p2454 +aVHow is it conservative to add a trillion dollars in military expenditures? You can not be a conservative if you're going to keep promoting new programs that you're not going to pay for. +p2455 +aVNo. I don't think we're any safer \u2014 I do not think we are any safer from bankruptcy court. As we go further, and further into debt, we become less, and less safe. This is the most important thing we're going to talk about tonight. Can you be a conservative, and be liberal on military spending? Can you be for unlimited military spending, and say, Oh, I'm going to make the country safe? No, we need a safe country, but, you know, we spend more on our military than the next ten countries combined? I want a strong national defense, but I don't want us to be bankrupt. +p2456 +aVHey, Gerard, you know, we might want to point out China is not part of this deal. +p2457 +aVBefore we get a little bit off-kilter here... +p2458 +aVThere is an argument that China doesn't like the deal, because in us doing the deal, we'll be trading with their competitors. You're exactly right. But I think we've sort of missed the point a little bit here. There is an important point, though, about how we discuss these trade treaties that I do agree with Mr. Trump on. We should negotiate from a position of strength. And we also should negotiate using the full force and the constitutional power that was given to us. I think it's a mistake that we give up power to the presidency on these trade deals. We give up the power to filibuster, and I'm kind of fond of that power. We give up the power to amend. And I think, really, one of the big problems we have in our country is, over the last century, really, so much power has gravitated to the executive branch. Really, Congress is kind of a bystander. We don't write the rules. We don't make the laws. The executive branch does. So even in trade \u2014 and I am for trade \u2014 I think we should be careful about giving so much power to the presidency. +p2459 +aVI'd like first to respond to the acquisition, we should \u2014 I think it's particularly naive, particularly foolish to think that we're not going to talk to Russia. The idea of a no fly zone, realize that this is also something that Hillary Clinton agrees with several on our side with, you're asking for a no fly zone in an area in which Russia already flies. Russia flies in that zone at the invitation of Iraq. I'm not saying it's a good thing, but you better know at least what we're getting into. So, when you think it's going to be a good idea to have a no fly zone over Iraq, realize that means you are saying we are going to shoot down Russian planes. If you're ready for that, be ready to send your sons and daughters to another war in Iraq. I don't want to see that happen. I think the first war in Iraq was a mistake... You can be strong without being involved in every civil war around the war... +p2460 +aVRonald Reagan was strong, but Ronald Reagan didn't... +p2461 +aV...send troops into the Middle East... +p2462 +aV...Can I finish... +p2463 +aV...Can I finish my time? Could I finish with my time? +p2464 +aVYes, I would like to finish my response, basically. +p2465 +aVThis is an important question. This is an incredibly important question. And the question goes to be, who do we want to be our commander-in-chief? Do you want a commander-in-chief who says something that we never did throughout the entire Cold War, to discontinue having conversations with the Russians? I am not happy about them flying over there. But I'm not naive enough to say, well, Iraq has them flying over their airspace, we're just going to announce that we're shooting them down? That is naive to the point of being something you might hear in junior high. But it's scary... +p2466 +aVThe first thing I would do is I wouldn't arm our enemies. I wouldn't arm +p2467 +aVGerard, can I comment... +p2468 +aVThe first thing I would do as president is repeal the regulations that are hampering our energy that the President has put in place. Including the Clean Power Act. While I do think that man may have a role in our climate, I think nature also has a role. The planet's 4.5 billion years old, we've been through geologic age after geologic age. We've had times when the temperatures been warmer, we've had times when the temperatures been colder. We've had times when the carbon in the atmosphere's been higher. So, I think before we \u2014 we need to look before we leap. President's often fond of saying he wants a balance solution, but, really we do need to balance both keeping the environment clean, and we will have some rules for that. We got to balance that with the economy. He's devastated my state. I say the President's not only destroying Kentucky, he's destroying the democrat party down there because nobody wants to associate with him. So, what we really need is somebody that understands that we do need energy of all forms, and that means we will have solar, and wind, and hydro, but we will still have coal, and we still will have natural gas. And, we've got to have an all of the above policy. But, it would be a mistake to shut down all of our industries in the coal fields, and shut down the coal power plants. If we did so we're going to have a day where we wake up and some of our big cities are either very cold, or very hot. So, I think it's a big danger, and we shouldn't do it. And, what we should do is say we want all of the above... ...We want to free up the energy sector, and let people produce, let them drill, let them explore. +p2469 +aVWe're the richest, freest, most humanitarian nation in the history of mankind. But we also borrow a million dollars a minute. And the question I have for all Americans is, think about it, can you be a fiscal conservative if you don't conserve all of the money? If you're a profligate spender, you spend money in an unlimited fashion for the military, is that a conservative notion? We have to be conservative with all spending, domestic spending and welfare spending. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage. +p2470 +aVYou know, I left my medical practice and ran for office because I was concerned about an $18 trillion debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. Now, on the floor of the Congress, the Washington establishment from both parties puts forward a bill that will explode the deficit. It allows President Obama to borrow unlimited amounts of money. I will stand firm. I will spend every ounce of energy to stop it. I will begin tomorrow to filibuster it. And I ask everyone in America to call Congress tomorrow and say enough is enough; no more debt. +p2471 +aVNo, I oppose it because you're taking money from the entitlement and then spending it immediately on other items. That's what they're doing. They're taking money from Social Security and they're going to spend it on the military and they're going to spend it on domestic spending. Here's the thing. When you look at raising the debt limit, it should be leverage to try to reform government. In 2011, the sequester was passed as a reform to slow down the rate of government. Instead, the Washington establishment raised both. We raised the military spending, took from entitlements, and raised domestic spending and the deficit will explode under this. This is the unholy alliance that people need to know about between right and left. Right and left are spending us into oblivion. We should use the debt ceiling, as precisely to Don, to force upon them budgetary reforms. +p2472 +aVWell, that's a real question. Is there going to be any change in the House with new leadership? I frankly don't think there will be much change because I think what's going to happen is you're going to get more of the same. People in Washington think they were sent there to be adults and govern and do all this. Well, you know what I'm worried about? Not keeping the government open. I'm worried about bankrupting the American people. We're borrowing a million dollars a minute. That is important. And that's what we have to contrast. Keeping the government open and continuing to borrow a million dollars a minute. +p2473 +aVWell, thank you very much. I would like to thank Ted for co-sponsoring my bill, audit the Fed. And I think it's precisely because of the arrogance of someone like Ben Bernanke, who now calls us all know-nothings, that is precisely why we need audit the Fed. I think it is really very much a huge problem that an organization as powerful as the Fed comes in, lobbies against them being audited on the Hill. I would prevent them lobbying Congress. I don't think the Fed should be involved with lobbying us. I think we should examine how the Fed has really been part of the problem. You want to study income inequality, let's bring the Fed forward and talk about Fed policy and how it causes income inequality. Let's also bring the Fed forward and have them explain how they caused the housing boom and the crisis, and what they've done to make us better or worse. I think the Fed has been a great problem in our society. What you need to do is free up interest rates. Interest rates are the price of money, and we shouldn't have price controls on the price of money. +p2474 +aV...John... +p2475 +aVJohn, I'd like to address this? John, could I follow up on this? +p2476 +aVWhat are the rules on who gets to follow up. How do we decide on who gets to follow up? I've seen plenty of other people follow up? +p2477 +aVI'd like to just mention something about my tax plan, and how it relates to the discussion... +p2478 +aVAlright. Much of the discussion is centered over whether or not the different tax plans help, or affect the middle class. In fact, it's the chief argument by democrats against many of the different flat tax proposals. Mine is unique in the sense that my tax plan actually gets rid of the payroll tax as well. It shifts it to the business, and it would allow middle class people to get a tax cut. If you just cut their income tax, there isn't much income tax to cut. Mine actually cuts the payroll tax, and I think it would spread the tax cut across all socioeconomic levels, and would allow then it to be something that would be broadly supported by the public in an election. +p2479 +aVThe question always is, what works better, the private marketplace or government? And what distributes goods better? It always seems to be the private marketplace does a better job. Is there an area for a safety net? Can you have Medicare or Social Security? Yes. But you ought to acknowledge the government doesn't do a very good job at it. The main problem with Medicare right now is that the average person pays in taxes over their whole lifetime about $100,000. But the average person takes out about $350,000. We have this enormous mismatch because we have smaller and smaller families. When people ask me, whose fault is it? Whose fault is it that Medicare is broken, out of money, that Social Security is broken, out of money? And I say, look, it's not Republicans' fault, it's not Democrats' fault, it's your grandparents' fault for having too many damn kids. After the war we had all of these kids, Baby Boomers. Now we're having smaller families. We used to have 16 workers for one retiree, now you have three workers for one retiree. It's not working. I have a bill to fix Medicare. I've a bill to fix Social Security. For both of them you have to gradually raise the age. If you're not willing to do that, nobody wants to do it, but if you're not willing to gradually raise the age, you're not serious about fixing either one of them. +p2480 +aVSay again? +p2481 +aVYou can't do nothing. And that's what I hear from some people, "we'll do nothing and it will just be fixed." That's absurd, and I think people who don't want to fix it, really, or unwilling to take the chance to say, "something has to change," are missing the boat here. The age will have to gradually rise, there is no question. It's the only way you fix Medicare, the only way you fix Social Security. You will also have to means-test the benefits and declare there's not enough money. It isn't "I put money in, I'm getting it back." There is no money, it's a stack of paper. There is no money in the Social Security account. There is no money in the Medicare account. There's only a promise to pay by the next generation, and the next generation's not big enough to pay it. [ +p2482 +aVLiberty thrives when government is small. I want a government so small I can barely see it. I want a government so small that the individual has a chance to thrive and prosper. I think, though, government is too big now. And what you're going to see in Washington this week is establishment Republicans have made an agreement with the president to raise the debt ceiling in an unlimited fashion; no limit to the debt ceiling raise. This is extraordinary. It's extraordinarily wrong. You'll see me on the floor of the Senate tomorrow filibustering this and saying enough is enough, no more debt. +p2483 +aVGood evening, everyone. I'm an eye surgeon from Bowling Green, Kentucky. My wife, Kelly, and I have been married for nearly 25 years, and I spend my days defending the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I think there's nothing more important than understanding that the Constitution restrains government, not the people. Thank you. +p2484 +aVI kind of have to laugh when I think of, "Mmm, sounds like a non sequitur." He was asked whether or not he would be capable and it would be in good hands to be in charge of the nuclear weapons, and all of a sudden, there's a sideways attack at me. I think that really goes to really the judgment. Do we want someone with that kind of character, that kind of careless language to be negotiating with Putin? Do we want someone like that to be negotiating with Iran? I think really there's a sophomoric quality that is entertaining about Mr. Trump, but I am worried. I'm very concerned about him \u2014 having him in charge of the nuclear weapons, because I think his response, his \u2014 his visceral response to attack people on their appearance \u2014 short, tall, fat, ugly \u2014 my goodness, that happened in junior high. Are we not way above that? Would we not all be worried to have someone like that in charge of the nuclear arsenal? +p2485 +aVI think this goes back to essentially what we've been saying for the last two or three questions. Carly Fiorina also said we're not going to talk with Putin. Well, think if Reagan had said that during the Cold War? We continued to talk with the Russians throughout the Cold War which is much more significant that where we are now. Should we continue to talk with Iran? Yes. Should we cut up the agreement immediately? That's absurd. Wouldn't you want to know if they complied? Now, I'm going to vote against the agreement because I don't think there's significant leverage, but it doesn't mean that I would immediately not look at the agreement, and cut it up without looking to see if whether or not Iran has complied. The same goes with China. I don't think we need to be rash, I don't think we need to be reckless, and I think need to leave lines of communication open. Often we talk about whether we should be engaged in the world, or disengaged in the world, and I think this is an example of some who want to isolate us, actually, and not be engaged. We do need to be engaged with Russia. It doesn't mean we give them a free pass, or China a free pass, but, to be engaged, to continue to talk. We did throughout the Cold War, and it would be a big mistake not to do it here. +p2486 +aVI think this gets to the point of wisdom on when to intervene and when we shouldn't. Had we bombed Assad at the time, like President Obama wanted, and like Hillary Clinton wanted and many Republicans wanted, I think +p2487 +aVWell, I hate to say it, but Donald Trump has a bit of a point here. The case that was decided around 1900 was, people had a green card, were here legally, and they said that their children were citizens. There's never been a direct Supreme Court case on people who were here illegally, whether or not their kids are citizens. So it hasn't really been completely adjudicated. The 14th Amendment says that "those who are here and under the jurisdiction." The original author of the \u2014 of the 14th Amendment said on the Senate floor that this was applying to slaves, and did not specifically apply to others. +p2488 +aVWell, I'm glad we're having a discussion about taxes because everybody laments that we lose jobs overseas, we have. Our companies, and our jobs are being chased overseas by a 70,000 page tax code, so, that's why I've chosen to get rid of the whole thing, and have one single rate, 14 and a-half percent for everybody, business, and for corporate income, and personal income. But, we also get rid of the payroll tax, so the working class would get a tax break as well. So, I think a flat tax, eliminating the tax code, getting rid of all the loopholes, is the way to go, and it's the way we get America going again. +p2489 +aVHugh, can I \u2014 can I make a response to that? +p2490 +aVCan I make a response to that? +p2491 +aVMay I make a response to that? +p2492 +aVHe's referred to me. +p2493 +aVHe's referred to me... +p2494 +aV... in his remarks. May I make a response? +p2495 +aVAbsolutely. Go ahead. +p2496 +aVMay I respond? +p2497 +aVThe remark was made that there hadn't been anyone else on the podium opposed to the Iraq War. I've made my career as being an opponent of the Iraq War. I was opposed to the Syria war. I was opposed to arming people who are our enemies. Iran is now stronger because Hussein is gone. Hussein was the great bulwark and counterbalance to the Iranians. So when we complain about the Iranians, you need to remember that the Iraq War made it worse. Originally, Governor Bush was asked, was the Iraq War a mistake, and he said, "No. We'd do it again." We have to learn sometimes the interventions backfire. The Iraq War backfired and did not help us. We're still paying the repercussions of a bad decision. +p2498 +aVWe have make the decision now in Syria, should we topple Assad? Many up here wanted to topple Assad, and it's like \u2014 I said no, because if you do... +p2499 +aV... +p2500 +aVIf you want boots on the ground, and you want them to be our sons and daughters, you got 14 other choices. There will always be a Bush or Clinton for you, if you want to go back to war in Iraq. But the thing is, the first war was a mistake. And I'm not sending our sons and our daughters back to Iraq. The war didn't work. We can amplify those who live there. The Kurds deserve to be armed and I'll arm them. We can use our Air Force to amplify the forces there. But the boots on the ground need to be the people who live there. My goodness, I'm still upset with the Saudi Arabians for everything they do over there. They've funded the arms that went to the jihadists. They're not accepting any of the people, any of the migrants that have been \u2014 the refugees that are being pushed out of Syria. Saudi Arabia is not accepting one. Why are we always the world's patsies that we have to go over there and fight their wars for them? They need to fight their wars, we need to defend American interests, but it is not in America's national security interests to have another war in Iraq. +p2501 +aVI think one of the great problems, and what American people don't like about politics, is hypocrisy. People have one standard for others and not for them \u2014 for themselves. There is at least one prominent example on the stage of someone who says they smoked pot in high school, and yet the people going to \u2014 to jail for this are poor people, often African-Americans and often Hispanics, and yet the rich kids who use drugs aren't. I personally think that this is a crime for which the only victim is the individual, and I think that America has to take a different attitude. I would like to see more rehabilitation and less incarceration. I'm a fan of the drug courts which try to direct you back towards work and less time in jail. But the bottom line is the states. We say we like the 10th Amendment, until we start talking about this. And I think the federal government has gone too far, I think that the war on drugs has had a racial outcome, and really has been something that has really damaged our inner cities. Not only do the drugs damage them, we damage them again by incarcerating them and then preventing them from getting employment over time. So I don't think that the federal government should override the states. I believe in the 10th Amendment and I really will say that the states are left to themselves. +p2502 +aVWell, I think if we left it open, we could see how many people smoked pot in high school. +p2503 +aVWell, you know, the thing is that... +p2504 +aVYeah, I was talking about \u2014 well, let me... +p2505 +aVBut let me respond. The thing is, is that in Florida, Governor Bush campaigned against medical marijuana. That means that a small child like Morgan Hintz (ph) that has seizures is day, is failing on non-traditional medications, is not allowed to use cannabis oil. And if they do that in Florida, they will take the child away, they will put the parents in jail. And that's what that means if you're against allowing people use medical marijuana, you'll actually put them in jail. +p2506 +aVAnd actually, under the current circumstances, kids who had privilege like you do, don't go to jail, but the poor kids in our inner cities go to jail. I don't think that's fair. And I think we need to acknowledge it, and it is hypocritical to still want to put poor people in jail... +p2507 +aVWell, you vote \u2014 you oppose medical marijuana... +p2508 +aVBut that means you'll put people in jail. +p2509 +aVMay I respond? +p2510 +aVUnderstand what they're saying. if they're going to say we are going to enforce the federal law against what the state law is, they aren't really believing in the Tenth Amendment. Governor Christie would go into Colorado, and if you're breaking any federal law on marijuana, even though the state law allows it, he would put you in jail. If a young mother is trying to give her child cannabis oil for medical marijuana for seizure treatment, he would put her in jail, if it violates federal law. I would let Colorado do what the Tenth Amendment says. This power \u2014 we were never intended to have crime dealing at the federal level. Crime was supposed to be left to the states. Colorado has made their decision. And I don't want the federal government interfering and putting moms in jail, who are trying to get medicine for their kid... +p2511 +aVMay I respond? May I respond? +p2512 +aVHere is the thing, he doesn't want to make it about medical marijuana, but what if New Jersey's medical marijuana contradicts the federal law? He's saying he'll send the federal government in, and he will enforce the federal law. That's not consistent with the Tenth Amendment. It is not consistent with states' rights. And it is not consistent with the conservative vision for the country. I don't think we should be sending the federal police in to arrest a mother and separate them from their child for giving a medicine to their child for seizures. +p2513 +aVIf you want a skeptic \u2014 if you want a skeptic, Jake, I will happily jump into that briar patch. If you want a real... +p2514 +aVA second opinion? One of the greatest \u2014 one of the greatest medical discoveries of all times was \u2014 were the vaccines, particularly for smallpox. And if you want to read a story, it's called The Speckled Monster, it's an amazing story, it was all done voluntary. But people came in by the droves. George Washington wouldn't let his wife visit until she got vaccinated. So I'm all for vaccines. But I'm also for freedom. I'm also a little concerned about how they're bunched up. My kids had all of their vaccines, and even if the science doesn't say bunching them up is a problem, I ought to have the right to spread out my vaccines out a little bit at the very least. +p2515 +aVOoh, that's a tough one. You know, I'm big on \u2014 that we were \u2014 and I love what Carly said about women's suffrage. I think Susan B. Anthony might be a good choice. +p2516 +aVJustice Never Sleeps. +p2517 +aVI met Ronald Reagan as a teenager, and my family, we're big supporters of him when he ran against Gerald Ford. It was a big deal because he was the grassroots, running against the establishment, and I'll never forget that. And, how he stood up and said, you know what, this is something new that our country needs, and our party needs. If I were president, I would try to be one who says, you know what, I'm a Reagan Conservative. I'm someone who believes in peace through strength, and I would try to lead the country in that way knowing that our goal is peace, and that war is the last resort, not the first resort. And, that when we go to war, we go to war in a constitutional way, which means that we have to vote on it, that war is initiated by congress, not by the president, that we go to war electively (ph). That when we go to war, we don't fight with one arm tied behind our back, we fight all out to win, but then we come home. +p2518 +aVThis is what's wrong! +p2519 +aVI mean, this is what's wrong. He buys and sells politicians of all stripes, he's already... +p2520 +aVHey, look, look! He's already hedging his bet on the Clintons, OK? So if he doesn't run as a Republican, maybe he supports Clinton, or maybe he runs as an independent... +p2521 +aV...but I'd say that he's already hedging his bets because he's used to buying politicians. +p2522 +aVFirst of all, only +p2523 +aVMegyn, may I respond? May I respond? +p2524 +aVI want to collect more records from terrorists, but less records from innocent Americans. The Fourth Amendment was what we fought the Revolution over! John Adams said it was the spark that led to our war for independence, and I'm proud of standing for the Bill of Rights, and I will continue to stand for the Bill of Rights. +p2525 +aVUse the Fourth Amendment! +p2526 +aVUse the Fourth Amendment! +p2527 +aVGet a warrant! +p2528 +aVGet a judge to sign the warrant! +p2529 +aVSee, here's the problem. +p2530 +aVHere's the problem, governor. Here's the problem, governor. You fundamentally misunderstand the Bill of Rights. Every time you did a case, you got a warrant from a judge. I'm talking about searches without warrants... +p2531 +aV...indiscriminately, of all Americans' records, and that's what I fought to end. I don't trust President Obama with our records. I know you gave him a big hug, and if you want to give him a big hug again, go right ahead. +p2532 +aVI've got a news flash... +p2533 +aVNews flash, the Republican Party's been fighting against a single-payer system... +p2534 +aV-- for a decade. So I think you're on the wrong side of this if you're still arguing for a single-payer system. +p2535 +aVI oppose the Iranian deal, and will vote against it. I don't think that the president negotiated from a position of strength, but I don't immediately discount negotiations. I'm a Reagan conservative. Reagan did negotiate with the Soviets. But you have to negotiate from a position of strength, and I think President Obama gave away too much, too early. If there's going to be a negotiation, you're going to have to believe somehow that the Iranians are going to comply. And I asked this question to John Kerry, I said "do you believe they're trustworthy?" and he said "No." And I said, "well, how are we gonna get them to comply?" I would have never released the sanctions before there was consistent evidence of compliance. +p2536 +aVLook, I don't want my marriage or my guns registered in Washington. And if people have an opinion, it's a religious opinion that is heartly felt, obviously they should be allowed to practice that and no government should interfere with them. One of the things, one of the things that really got to me was the thing in Houston where you had the government, the mayor actually, trying to get the sermons of ministers. When the government tries to invade the church to enforce its own opinion on marriage, that's when it's time to resist. +p2537 +aVWell, let's be clear, I'm the only one on the stage who actually has a five-year budget that balances. I've put pencil to paper... +p2538 +aV... and I've said -- and I've said I would cut spending, and I've said exactly where. Each one of my budgets has taken a meat axe to foreign aid, because I think we ought to quit sending it to countries that hate us. I think we ought to quit sending it to countries that burn our flag. Israel is not one of those. But even Benjamin Netanyahu said that ultimately, they will be stronger when they're independent. My position is exactly the same. We shouldn't borrow money from China to send it anywhere, but why don't we start with eliminating aid to our enemies. +p2539 +aVI still say exactly what my original opinion is. Do you borrow money from China to send it to anyone? Out of your surplus, you can help your allies, and Israel is a great ally. And this is no particular animus of Israel, but what I will say, and I will say over and over again, we cannot give away money we don't have. We do not project power from bankruptcy court. We're borrowing a million dollars a minute. It's got to stop somewhere. +p2540 +aVI'm a different kind of Republican. I've introduced a five-year balanced budget. I've introduced the largest tax cut in our history. I stood for ten and a half hours on the Senate floor to defend your right to be left alone. But I've also gone to Chicago. I've gone to Detroit. I've been to Ferguson, I've been to Baltimore, because I want our party to be bigger, better and bolder, and I'm the only one that leads Hillary Clinton in five states that were won by President Obama. I'm a different kind of Republican. +p2541 +asVBASH +p2542 +(lp2543 +VA crucial question is how to balance surveillance with privacy and keeping Americans safe. Senator Cruz, you voted for a bill that President Obama signed into law just this past June that made it harder for the government to access Americans' phone records. In light of the San Bernardino attack, was your vote a mistake? +p2544 +aVThank you. Senator Rubio, Senator Cruz is right there was bipartisan support for that. But you voted against it. So, is Senator Cruz wrong? +p2545 +aVSenator Cruz? +p2546 +aVSenator \u2014 Senator \u2014 Senator Rubio, please respond. +p2547 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I know this is \u2014 this has been a very big issue for you. You hear many of your colleagues are calling for increased surveillance by law enforcement. You call that hogwash. Why is that hogwash? +p2548 +aVSenator Rubio? +p2549 +aVGovernor Christie, Governor Christie... ...Governor Christie, I'll come to you in a minute. Go ahead, Senator Paul. +p2550 +aVGo ahead, please. +p2551 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about immigration in a while. But, Governor Christie, just listening to this... +p2552 +aVListening to this, you talked \u2014 you heard Senator Paul, Senator Cruz talk about how important it is to protect Americans' privacy, even in a time of grave danger. Why \u2014 what's wrong with that? +p2553 +aVSenator Paul, you said +p2554 +aVSenator Paul, Senator Paul, I want to go back to my initial question, which is you saying that +p2555 +aVSenator, we're going to talk about regime change in a bit. But Governor Kasich, would you like to respond to Senator Paul? +p2556 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. We've been talking tonight about programs and policy proposals that you all have to keep Americans safe and it's a big discussion on the campaign trail. Also about border security and immigration. So let's talk about immigration. Senator Rubio. You co-authored a bill with Democrats two years ago that allowed a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Do you still support that path to citizenship, which means giving those immigrants rights, like the right to vote? +p2557 +aVSenator, you haven't answered the question. You described a very long path but does that path end at citizenship? +p2558 +aVThank you, senator. +p2559 +aVThank you, senator. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, on the campaign trail, Senator Rubio has said that his immigration plan is not that different from yours. Is that true? +p2560 +aVSenator Rubio, please. +p2561 +aVSenator Cruz? +p2562 +aVSenator Cruz? +p2563 +aVSenator Cruz, can you answer that question please? +p2564 +aVSenator Cruz? +p2565 +aVOne at a time please. +p2566 +aVMs. Fiorina, please wait your turn, we're going to get to you. +p2567 +aVSenator Cruz go ahead. +p2568 +aVMr. Trump, you like to say that you restarted this conversation in the campaign. +p2569 +aVSo who do you side with? Who do you side with in this, Senator Rubio or Senator Cruz? +p2570 +aVThank you. Governor Bush? +p2571 +aVListening to this, do you think this is the tone \u2014 this immigration debate that republicans need to take to win back Hispanics into our party especially states like where we are in Nevada that has a pretty Hispanic community? +p2572 +aVGovernor Christie, you've said if China launches a cyber- attack against the U.S. on your watch, "they're going to see cyber- warfare like they have never seen before." What exactly would that response look like? +p2573 +aVGovernor Bush, what you just heard from Governor Christie, are you concerned that that could really escalate with China, that they would retaliate? And, for example, as the NSA has said, attack the U.S. and maybe it's power grid, which the Chinese have the capability to do? +p2574 +aVMr. Trump, just this weekend you said Senator Cruz is not qualified to be president because he doesn't have the right temperament and acted like a maniac when he arrived in the Senate. But last month you said you were open to naming Senator Cruz as your running mate. +p2575 +aVSo why would you be willing to put somebody who's a maniac one heartbeat away from the presidency? +p2576 +aVOkay. Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, you have not been willing to attack Mr. Trump in public. +p2577 +aVBut you did question his judgment in having control of American's nuclear arsenal during a private meeting with supporters. Why are you willing to say things about him in private and not in public? +p2578 +aVSenator, senator, I just... +p2579 +aVSenator, a lot of people have seen... +p2580 +aV... a lot of people have seen these comments you made in private. I just want to clarify what you're saying right now is you do believe Mr. Trump has the judgment to be commander in chief? +p2581 +aVGovernor Kasich, Senator Cruz is so committed to stripping federal funds from Planned Parenthood that it could result in shutting down the federal government in just about two weeks. Do you agree with Senator Cruz's tactic? +p2582 +aVThank you. +p2583 +aVThank you. Senator Cruz, I would just add that, on this stage not that long ago, Senator Graham said that this tactic that you're pushing would tank the Republicans' ability to win in 2016. +p2584 +aVThank you, senator. +p2585 +aVThank you... +p2586 +aVGovernor \u2014 governor, I want to go to you. Is it what Senator Cruz says, a surrender by Republicans? +p2587 +aVBut... +p2588 +aVBut is it... +p2589 +aVBut, governor, the \u2014 but, governor, the reality is, in just two weeks' time... ...we are going to be facing a question about whether or not it's enough to shut down the government to make that statement, because there is still a Democrat in the White House. Do you oppose it or support it? +p2590 +aVYes or no, do you support this shutdown? +p2591 +aVWe're talking about Planned Parenthood right now. +p2592 +aVCan you answer yes or no? +p2593 +aVOne more time. I'm sorry, I just want to get the answer. +p2594 +aVSo you would support a shutdown. +p2595 +aVGovernor Bush, Mr. Trump has suggested that your views on immigration are influenced by your Mexican born wife. He said that, quote, "If my wife were from Mexico, I think I would have a soft spot for people from Mexico." Did Mr. Trump go to far in invoking your wife? +p2596 +aVMr. Trump? +p2597 +aVMr. Trump... +p2598 +aVGo ahead. +p2599 +aVMs. Fiorina \u2014 Ms. Fiorina, we're going to come to you, we're going to come to you. I just want to give Governor Bush a chance to respond to what Mr. Trump said. +p2600 +aVOK, on that note, you have criticized Governor Bush for speaking Spanish on the campaign trail. You said, quote, "He should really set an example by speaking English in the United States." What's wrong with speaking Spanish? +p2601 +aVThank you. +p2602 +aV...Thank you.... +p2603 +aVGovernor Bush, let's talk about the issue that's very important to Republican voters, and that's the Supreme Court. After Chief Justice John Roberts voted to uphold Obamacare twice, Senator Cruz criticized your brother for appointing John Roberts to the Supreme Court. Looking back on it, did your brother make a mistake? +p2604 +aV...Is John Roberts one of those people? +p2605 +aVDo you like what you just heard, Senator Cruz? +p2606 +aVMr. Trump, you have said once or twice that you are really rich, and you are by far the richest person on this stage. Chris Christie says billionaires like you and even people who make and earn far less should no longer get Social Security, or at least there should be limits based on \u2014 on their income. You think he's wrong, and if so, why? +p2607 +aVWhat about the country as a \u2014 as a policy? +p2608 +aVSo is a voluntary program the way to get the Social Security system solvent again like that. +p2609 +asVEPPERSON +p2610 +(lp2611 +VThank you, John. Mrs. Fiorina, you were the CEO of a large corporation that offers a 401(k) to its employees. But more than half of American have no access to an employer sponsored retirement plan. That includes the workers at small businesses, and the growing ranks of Uber drivers and other part-timers in the freelance economy. Should the Federal Government play a larger role in helping to set up retirement plans for these workers? +p2612 +aVSo you wouldn't agree \u2014 you wouldn't agree with a start for 401(k) for businesses or anything like that? +p2613 +aVThank you very much. +p2614 +aVThank you, the rules say one minute. +p2615 +aVThank you, Ms. Fiorina. We appreciate it. Thank you, thank you. I want to turn my attention now, to you now, Governor Kasich. Most people can't get a college degree without going into debt. Over 40 million Americans have student loans and many of them cannot pay them back. This country has over $100 billion in student loan defaults. That's billion with a b. What will you do to make sure that students, their families, taxpayers, won't feel the economic impact of this burden for generations? Well, first of all, in Ohio we're changing the whole system. Universities will not get paid one dime unless the student graduates or \u2014 graduates or completes a course. Secondly, you can be in high school and complete almost an entire first year before you go to college and get credit to do that. And, of course, in addition to that, we are working now to go after the cost drivers in our universities. And let me give you an example. Universities today have so many non-academic assets. At Ohio State they sold the parking garage and the parking lot, and they got $500 million because they shouldn't be in the parking lot business. They shouldn't be in the ding business, they shouldn't be in the dorm business. And, of course, we need to take advantage of on-line education to reduce these costs and begin to dis-intermediate the cost of four years. Now, for those who that have these big high costs, I think we can seriously look at an idea of where you can do public service. I mean legitimate, public service and begin to pay off some of that debt through the public service that you do. And in the meantime, it may inspire us to care more about our country, more about ourselves. This is a big moral issue in America. Living a life bigger than yourself, and being a center of healing and justice. And people can learn it through public service. +p2616 +aVThank you, thank you. +p2617 +asVBARTIROMO +p2618 +(lp2619 +VTonight we are working with Facebook to ask the candidates the questions voters want answered. And according to Facebook, the U.S. election has dominated the global conversation, with 131 million people talking about the 2016 race. That makes it the number one issue talked about on Facebook last year worldwide. +p2620 +aVTonight's rules are simple: up to 90 seconds for each answer, one minute for each follow-up response. And if a candidate goes over the allotted time, you'll hear this. So let's get started. Candidates, jobs and growth \u2014 two of the biggest issues facing the country right now. In his State of the Union address earlier this week, the president said, quote, "we have the strongest, most durable economy in the world." And according to our Facebook research, jobs is one of the biggest issues resonating across the country, including here in South Carolina. The president is touting 14 million new jobs and an unemployment rate cut in half. The president said that anyone who claims America's economy is in decline is peddling fiction. Senator Cruz, what do you see that he doesn't? +p2621 +aVThank you, sir. +p2622 +aVWe know that recent global events have many people worried \u2014 Iran detaining American sailors, forcing them to apologize; North Korea and its nuclear ambitions; an aggressive China; and a Middle East that continues to deteriorate, not to mention +p2623 +aVJust to be clear Governor, where and when would you use military action? +p2624 +aVDr. Carson, the president says he does not want to treat +p2625 +aVSenator Cruz, the New York Times is reporting that you failed to properly disclose a million dollars in loans from Goldman Sachs and CitiBank. During your senate race, your campaign said, "it was inadvertent." A million dollars is inadvertent? +p2626 +aVThank you. +p2627 +aVThank you, senator. Mr. Trump, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley in her response to the State of the Union address......appeared to choose sides within the party, saying Republicans should resist, quote, "the siren call of the angriest voices". She confirmed, she was referring to you among others. Was she out of line? And, how would a President Trump unite the party? +p2628 +aVBut what are you going to do about it? +p2629 +aVGovernor Kasich...... Governor Kasich, Hillary Clinton is getting some serious competition from Senator Bernie Sanders. He's now at 41 percent in the latest CBS/New York Times poll. Vice President Biden sang his praises, saying Bernie is speaking to a yearning that is deep and real, and he has credibility on it. So what does it say about our country that a candidate who is a self-avowed socialist and who doesn't think a 90 percent tax rate is too high could be the Democratic nominee? +p2630 +aVDr. Carson, one of the other candidates on this stage has brought Bill Clinton's past indiscretions. Is that a legitimate topic in this election? And what do you think of the notion that Hillary Clinton is an enabler of sexual misconduct? +p2631 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential debates, right here in North Charleston. Let's get right back to the questions. Governor Bush, gun rights, one of the top issues seen on Facebook with close to 3 million people talking about it in the past month. Right here in Charleston, Dylann Roof, who has been accused of killing nine people in a nearby church, reportedly had not passed his background check when he got his gun. What is the harm in tightening standards for not only who buys guns, but those who sell them? +p2632 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, are there any circumstances that you think we should be limiting gun sales of any kind in America? +p2633 +aVThank you sir. +p2634 +aVThank you, sir. +p2635 +aVSo what is the answer, Senator Cruz, to stop mass shootings and violent crime, up in 30 cities across the country? +p2636 +aVSenator...... let me follow up and switch gears. Senator Cruz, you suggested Mr. Trump, quote, "embodies New York values." Could you explain what you mean by that? +p2637 +aVI am from New York. I don't. +p2638 +aVAre you sure about that? +p2639 +aVThere's much more ahead including the fight against +p2640 +aVWe welcome back to the Republican Presidential , right back to the questions. Candidates, the man who made fighting +p2641 +aVThe air-strikes. +p2642 +aVNow in their 16th month are ineffective. Dr. Carson, do you think Senator Graham is right in wanting to send 20,000 troops \u2014 ground troops to Iraq and Syria to take out +p2643 +aVThank you, sir. Senator Graham has also said that the U.S. will find Arab support for its coalition if it removes Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. And I quote, "The now king of Saudi Arabia told us, 'you can have our army, you just got to deal with Assad.' "The emir of Qatar said, 'I'll pay for the operation, but they are not going to fight +p2644 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump \u2014 Mr. Trump, your comments about banning Muslims from entering the country created a firestorm. According to Facebook, it was the most-talked-about moment online of your entire campaign, with more than 10 million people talking about the issue. Is there anything you've heard that makes you want to rethink this position? +p2645 +aVWe \u2014 we want to hear from all of you on this. According to Pew Research, the U.S. admits more than 100,000 Muslim immigrants every single year on a permanent lifetime basis. I want to ask the rest of you to comment on this. Do you agree that we should pause Muslim immigration until we get a better handle on our homeland security situation, as Mr. Trump has said? Beginning with you, Governor Kasich. +p2646 +aVThank you, sir, we want to hear from the rest of you, Governor Christie, your take. +p2647 +aVSenator Rubio, where do you stand? +p2648 +aVSenator Cruz, where do you stand? Senator Cruz? +p2649 +aVDr. Carson, where do you stand? Do you agree with Mr. Trump? +p2650 +aVSo, to be clear, the both of you do not agree with Mr. Trump? +p2651 +aVThank you governor. +p2652 +aVWe're getting... +p2653 +aVPrices go higher for... +p2654 +aVYeah. +p2655 +aVReal quick, Senator \u2014 go ahead, Senator Cruz. And then we have to get to tax reform. +p2656 +aVThank you, Governor Bush. Thank you, Mr. Trump. Very briefly. +p2657 +aVThank you, Mr. Trump. +p2658 +aVThank you, Mr. Trmup. Thank you, Governor. +p2659 +aVSenator briefly. +p2660 +aVWe've got to get to tax reform, gentlemen. We've got to get to tax reform, and we've got to get to the... +p2661 +aV... we've got to get to the national debt as well. Coming up next, the growing national debt, the war on crime, tax reform. More from North Charleston, South Carolina, when we come right back. +p2662 +aVWelcome back to the Republican presidential here in North Charleston. Right back to the questions. Governor Christie, we have spoken much about cutting spending, given the $19 trillion debt. But according to one report, America needs $3.6 trillion in infrastructure spending by 2020. Here in South Carolina, 11 percent of bridges are considered structurally deficient, costing drivers a billion dollars a year in auto repairs. What is your plan to fix the ailing roads and bridges without breaking the bank? +p2663 +aVThank you, sir. Dr. Carson......it is true U.S. companies have $2 trillion in cash sitting overseas right now. That could be used for investment and jobs in America. Also, several companies right now are pursuing mergers to move their corporate headquarters abroad, and take advantage of much lower taxes. What will you do to stop the flow of companies building cash away from America, and those leaving America altogether? +p2664 +aVThank you, sir. Senator Rubio... +p2665 +aVWhich is why we raised it. Senator Rubio? Thank you, Mr. Trump. +p2666 +aVOne of the biggest fiscal challenges is our entitlement programs, particularly Social Security and Medicare. What policies will you put forward to make sure these programs are more financially secure? +p2667 +aVThank you senator. +p2668 +aVSenator Cruz, yes. You were meant to. Yes, of course. +p2669 +aVThank you senator. +p2670 +aVThank you senator. I have to get to a question for Mr. Trump. +p2671 +aVYes. +p2672 +aVThank you, Governor. Thank you, Governor. +p2673 +aVThank you, Dr. Carson. Coming up, how would the candidates protect America, and another terror attack, if we were to see it. But first, you can join us live on stage during the commercial break right from home. Go to facebook.com/foxbusiness. We'll be streaming live and answering your questions during this break next. More from South Carolina coming up. Stay with us. +p2674 +aVMr. Trump, your net worth is in the multi-billions of dollars and have an ongoing thriving hotel and real estate business. Are you planning on putting your assets in a blind trust should you become president? With such vast wealth, how difficult will it be for you to disentangle yourself from your business and your money and prioritize America's interest first? +p2675 +aVSo you'll put your assets in a blind trust? +p2676 +aVThank you sir. +p2677 +aVSenator Rubio? Under current law, the U.S. is on track to issue more new permanent immigrants on green cards over the next five years than the entire population of South Carolina. The CBO says your 2013 immigration bill would have increased green cardholders by another 10 million over 10 years. Why are you so interested in opening up borders to foreigners when American workers have a hard enough time finding work? +p2678 +aVSo your thinking has changed? +p2679 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2680 +aVThank you, Senator. +p2681 +aVWhen we come right back, closing statements. Stay with us. +p2682 +aVWelcome back. Candidates, it is time for your closing statements. You get 60 seconds each. Governor John Kasich, we begin with you. +p2683 +aVGovernor Chris Christie? +p2684 +aVSenator Marco Rubio? +p2685 +aVMr. Donald Trump? +p2686 +aVCandidates, thank you. +p2687 +aVTonight we're partnering with the Wall Street Journal to ask questions on the economy that voters want answered. We're also working with Facebook, who tells us that since the first Republican debate, more than 58 million people have joined the political conversation online. More than 9 million are talking specifically about the economy. +p2688 +aVBusinesswoman Carly Fiorina. Ohio Governor John Kasich. And Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. +p2689 +aVWe've asked people on Facebook to submit their questions for the candidates. Seth Bell wrote, "We are approaching $20 trillion in national debt. Specifically, what plans do you have to cut federal spending?" Governor Kasich, you have spoken much about your success in balancing the budget under President Clinton. Today the national debt is at record highs and growing unsustainably. Interest will be the fastest-growing part of the federal budget, tripling over the next 10 years. Social Security, the lifeline of millions of American seniors, is rushing toward insolvency. With all of the tax plans presented tonight, estimated to cost anywhere between $2 trillion and $12 trillion over a decade, what specific steps will you take to balance the budget? +p2690 +aVDid you want to name any specific steps, sir? +p2691 +aVThank you, sir. +p2692 +aVSenator Cruz, the International Monetary Fund recently cut its expectations for economic growth. Many economists expect a recession to hit the U.S. within the next year due to the weakening of manufacturing. The next president will have to deal with it. You say tax reform is a powerful lever to spur economic expansion. You're calling for a 10 percent income tax and a 16 percent business tax. What other elements do you need in this plan to actually create jobs? +p2693 +aVThank you, sir. +p2694 +aVGovernor Bush... +p2695 +aVWe have more questions for you, Governor Kasich, coming up. We have more questions for you, Governor Kasich. +p2696 +aVWe will \u2014 we will certainly get to that. Governor Bush? +p2697 +aVAlmost 40 percent of Americans are without a job and are not looking. Many have given up. That's what the participation rate tells us. You've said your policies will drive the economy back to 4 percent growth, which we haven't seen since the year 2000. What specific regulations would you change? And how will that lead to jobs and growth? +p2698 +aVThank you, sir. +p2699 +aVMr. Trump, a federal appeals court just dealt a blow to the Obama administration's plan to prevent the deportation of 5 million people living in this country illegally. The White House is appealing to the Supreme Court. At the heart of this issue is the effect that illegal immigrants are having on our economy, what will you do about it? +p2700 +aVCan we just send 5 million people back with no effect on economy? +p2701 +aVSo what will you do? +p2702 +aVThank you, sir. +p2703 +aVWe go back to Facebook. Dewayne Wesley Cato asks on Facebook, how do we get rid of regulations choking our businesses? Ms. Fiorina? Specifically, under the president's Affordable Care Act, employers with 50 or more employees are required to offer health insurance, or be fined. Many are opting to pay the fine. Others are cutting back employee hours to duck the law altogether. What specific ways will you alleviate the pressure on small business? +p2704 +aVJust to be clear, you want to repeal Obamacare... ..but, what's the alternative? +p2705 +aVJust to be clear, you say you would repeal Obamacare... +p2706 +aV...But, what is the alternative... +p2707 +aV...and how does that help small business... +p2708 +aV...Thank you... +p2709 +aVSenator Cruz, there isn't anyone in this audience or watching at home tonight who would not like to pay less in taxes. Most people just want a fair shake, and they don't want their money to be wasted. But explain how your plan works. How can you cut taxes as much as you propose without running up debt and deficits? +p2710 +aVBut you haven't told us how to pay for it. +p2711 +aVThank you, Senator. Governor Bush, Republican primary voters say tax reform should be a priority for Congress and the administration. But, Governor Bush, how important is tax reform in your domestic policy agenda? Will you guarantee it in the first year of your presidency? +p2712 +aVThank you, Governor. +p2713 +aVThat's right. That's right. +p2714 +aVComing up, the biggest threats facing the next commander-in-chief. You're watching the Republican presidential debate, live tonight from Milwaukee. We'll be right back. +p2715 +aVWelcome back. Welcome back to the Republican presidential debate. The candidates taking the questions you want answered. Also tonight, you can see what America is saying about the debate. Go to Facebook and type #gopdebate into the search box. Now, back to the questions. Americans face security threats at home and abroad. Last year, terrorist attacks rose 61 percent, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace, with the most deaths occurring in just five countries, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Syria. Dr. Carson, you were against putting troops on the ground in Iraq and against a large military force in Afghanistan. Do you support the president's decision to now put 50 special ops forces in Syria and leave 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan? +p2716 +aVWe asked Facebook to take a look at some of the major issues we're talking about, and tackling in this debate tonight. This word cloud shows what people are focusing on the most. The bigger the word, the more the talk. One of the most discussed issues in the last month, homeland security. Governor Bush, what is the biggest threat facing America today? +p2717 +aVThank you, sir. Mr. Trump, in 2012 debate, President Obama mocked Mitt Romney's assertion that Russia was the top geopolitical challenge facing the United States, saying he was a Cold War dinosaur. Now, Russia has invaded Ukraine, and has put troops in Syria. You have said you will have a good relationship with Mr. Putin. So, what does President Trump do in response to Russia's aggression? +p2718 +aVThank you, sir. +p2719 +aVThank you, governor. +p2720 +aVSenator Rubio. +p2721 +aVThank you, Governor Kasich. +p2722 +aVMore questions \u2014 more questions coming up, when the Republican presidential debate comes right back, live from Milwaukee. Stay with us. +p2723 +aVWelcome back to the fourth Republican presidential debate. Senator Rubio, Hillary Clinton is the clear front runner for the Democratic nomination. If she is indeed the nominee, you will be facing a candidate with an impressive resume. She was the first lady of the United States, a U.S. senator from New York, and secretary of state under Barack Obama. She has arguably more experience, certainly more time in government than almost all of you on stage tonight. Why should the American people trust you to lead this country, even though she has been so much closer to the office? +p2724 +aVSenator Paul, you were one of 15 republicans to vote for an amendment which states that human activity contributed to climate change. President Obama has announced an aggressive plan to cut carbon emissions. At the same time, energy production in America has boomed. Is it possible to continue this boom, and move toward energy self-sufficiency, while at the same time pursuing a meaningful climate change program? +p2725 +aVCarly Fiorina? +p2726 +aVFormer Governor Jeb Bush? +p2727 +aVSenator Ted Cruz? +p2728 +aVHe's funny. +p2729 +aVThank you. +p2730 +asVSANTELLI +p2731 +(lp2732 +VSenator Cruz, let's focus on our central bank, the Federal Reserve. You've been a fierce critic of the Fed, arguing for more transparency. Where do you want to take that? Do you want to get Congress involved in monetary policy, or is it time to slap the Fed back and downsize them completely? What are your thoughts? What do you believe? +p2733 +aVSenator Paul, the same question to you. +p2734 +aVThank you, Senator. Dr. Carson, you told The Des Moines Register that you don't like government subsidies, it interferes with the free market. But you've also said that you're in favor of taking oil subsidies and putting them towards ethanol processing. Isn't that just swapping one subsidy for another, Doctor? +p2735 +aVThank you, Doctor. Becky? +p2736 +asVTRUMP +p2737 +(lp2738 +VWell, I can say this. If the president, and if I were president now, I would certainly want to try and nominate a justice. I'm sure that, frankly, I'm absolutely sure that President Obama will try and do it. I hope that our Senate is going to be able \u2014 Mitch, and the entire group, is going to be able to do something about it. In times of delay, we could have a Diane Sykes, or you could have a Bill Pryor \u2014 we have some fantastic people. But this is a tremendous blow to conservatism. It's a tremendous blow, frankly, to our country. +p2739 +aV... I think he's going to do it whether or I'm O.K. with it or not. I think it's up to Mitch McConnell and everybody else to stop it. It's called delay, delay, delay. +p2740 +aVWhat we want to do, when we want to do it, and how hard do we want to hit? Because we are going to have to hit very, very hard to knock out +p2741 +aV... called me a genius, I like him so far, I have to tell you. Let me just tell you this. Jeb is so wrong. Jeb is absolutely self \u2014 just so you understand, you know what that is? That's Jeb's special interest and lobbyist talking. Look, let me just tell you something, Jeb \u2014 Jeb is so wrong. You got to fight +p2742 +aV... You'll end up with World War III... +p2743 +aV... We're supporting troops... +p2744 +aV... that we don't even know who they are. +p2745 +aV... We're supporting troops that we don't even know who they are... +p2746 +aVWe have no idea who they are. +p2747 +aV... Oh, yeah, yeah... +p2748 +aV... Let 44 million in New Hampshire, it was practically ... +p2749 +aV... 44 million \u2014 give me a break. +p2750 +aVFirst of all, I have to say, as a businessman, I get along with everybody. I have business all over the world. I know so many of the people in the audience. And by the way, I'm a self-funder. I don't have \u2014 I have my wife and I have my son. That's all I have. I don't have this. So let me just tell you, I get along with everybody, which is my obligation to my company, to myself, et cetera. Obviously, the war in Iraq was a big, fat mistake. All right? Now, you can take it any way you want, and it took \u2014 it took Jeb Bush, if you remember at the beginning of his announcement, when he announced for president, it took him five days. He went back, it was a mistake, it wasn't a mistake. It took him five days before his people told him what to say, and he ultimately said, "It was a mistake." The war in Iraq, we spent $2 trillion, thousands of lives, we don't even have it. Iran has taken over Iraq, with the second-largest oil reserves in the world. Obviously, it was a mistake. +p2751 +aVGeorge Bush made a mistake. We can make mistakes. But that one was a beauty. We should have never been in Iraq. We have destabilized the Middle East. +p2752 +aVYou do whatever you want. You call it whatever you want. I want to tell you. They lied. They said there were weapons of mass destruction, there were none. And they knew there were none. There were no weapons of mass destruction. +p2753 +aVI'm being nice. +p2754 +aVHe spent $22 million in... +p2755 +aVThe World Trade Center came down during your brother's reign, remember that. +p2756 +aVThat's not keeping us safe. +p2757 +aVShe should be running. +p2758 +aVHow did he keep us safe when the World Trade Center \u2014 the World \u2014 excuse me. I lost hundreds of friends. The World Trade Center came down during the reign of George Bush. He kept us safe? That is not safe. That is not safe, Marco. That is not safe. +p2759 +aVAnd George Bush \u2014 by the way, George Bush had the chance, also, and he didn't listen to the advice of his C.I.A. +p2760 +aVI don't want to go. +p2761 +aVYes. +p2762 +aVFirst of all, the \u2014 when you say I'm the only candidate, if you listen to the Democrats, they want to do many things to Social Security, and I want to do them on its own merit. You listen to them, what they want to do to Social Security, none of these folks are getting elected, O.K., whether they can do it or not. I'm going to save Social Security. I'm going to bring jobs back from China. I'm going to bring jobs back from Mexico and from Japan, where they're all \u2014 every country throughout the world \u2014 now Vietnam, that's the new one. They are taking our jobs. They are taking our wealth. They are taking our base. And you and I have had this discussion. We're going to make our economy strong again. I'm lowering taxes. We have $2.5 trillion offshore. We have 2.5 trillion that I think is actually five trillion because the government has no idea when they say 2.5, they have no idea what they're doing or saying, as they've proven very well. We're going to bring that money back. You take a look at what happened just this week. China bought the Chicago Stock Exchange, China, a Chinese company. Carrier is moving to Mexico, air conditioning company. Not only the ones I talk about all the time, Nabisco and Ford and \u2014 they're all moving out. We have an economy that last quarter, G.D.P. didn't grow. It was flat. We have to make our economy grow again. We're dying. This country is dying. And our workers are losing their jobs, and you're going... +p2763 +aVI'm the only one who is going to save Social Security, believe me. +p2764 +aVBecause you have tremendous waste. I'll tell you... +p2765 +aVYou have tremendous waste, fraud and abuse. That we're taking care of. That we're taking care of. It's tremendous. We have in Social Security right now thousands and thousands of people that are over 106 years old. Now, you know they don't exist. They don't exist. There's tremendous waste, fraud and abuse, and we're going to get it. But we're not going to hurt the people who have been paying into Social Security their whole life and then all of a sudden they're supposed to get less. We're bringing our jobs back. We're going to make our economy great again. +p2766 +aVI want everybody taken care of, but we have to take care of our people in this country. We're not taking care of our people. We have no border. We have no control. People are flooding across. We can't have it. We either have a border, and I'm very strongly \u2014 I'm not proposing. I will build a wall. I will build a wall. Remember this, the wall will be paid for by Mexico. We are not being treated right. We are not being treated properly. If we don't have borders, if we don't have strength, we don't have a country. People are flowing across. We have to take care of our people. Believe me. +p2767 +aVLook......When I announced that I was running for president on June 16th, illegal immigration wasn't even a subject. If I didn't bring it up, we wouldn't even be talking. Now, I don't often agree with Marco, and I don't often agree with Ted, but I can in this case. The weakest person on this stage by far on illegal immigration is Jeb Bush. They come out of an act of love, whether you like it or not. He is so weak on illegal immigration it's laughable, and everybody knows it. +p2768 +aV... Spend a little more money on the commercials... +p2769 +aV. I don't know what you're talking about. +p2770 +aV... I never called him \u2014 I don't call him.. +p2771 +aVHe also said about language... +p2772 +aV... Language. Two days ago he said he would take his pants off and moon everybody, and that's fine. Nobody reports that. He gets up and says that, and then he tells me, oh, my language was a little bit rough... +p2773 +aV... My language. Give me a break... +p2774 +aV... You did say it, you did say it. Been reported in 10 different news... +p2775 +aVOr a tax. +p2776 +aVI would build consensus with Congress, and Congress would agree with me. I'll give you an example, because I don't like the idea of using executive orders like our president. It is a disaster what he's doing. I would build consensus, but consensus means you have to work hard. You have to cajole. You have to get them into the Oval Office and get them all together, and you have to make deals. Let me just tell you, I mentioned before, China \u2014 big Chinese company bought the Chicago Exchange. Kerry is moving \u2014 and if you saw the people, because they have a video of the announcement that Carrier is moving to Mexico, O.K.? Well, I'll tell you what. I would go right now to Carrier and I would say I am going to work awfully hard. You're going to make air conditioners now in Mexico. You're going to get all of these 1,400 people that are being laid off \u2014 they're laid off. They were crying. They were \u2014 it was a very sad situation. You're going to go to Mexico. You're going to make air conditioners in Mexico, you're going to put them across our border with no tax. I'm going to tell them right now, I am going to get consensus from Congress and we're going to tax you when those air conditioners come. So stay where you are or build in the United States, because we are killing ourselves with trade pacts that are no good for us and no good for our workers. +p2777 +aVJohn, in life you have flexibility. You do have flexibility. When you're fighting wars, you're going one way, you have a plan. It's a beautiful plan. It can't lose. The enemy makes a change, and all of a sudden you have to change. You have to have flexibility. In Ronald Reagan, though, in terms of what we're talking about, was the great example. He was a somewhat liberal Democrat who became a somewhat, pretty strong conservative. He became \u2014 most importantly, he became a great president. He made many of the changes that I've made \u2014 I mean, I've seen as I grew up, I've seen, and as I get older and wiser, and I feel that I am a conservative. Now, I also feel I'm a common-sense conservative, because some of the views I don't agree with. And I think a lot of people agree with me, obviously, based on what's happening. +p2778 +aVWell, I think these people always hit me with eminent domain, and frankly, I'm not in love with eminent domain. But eminent domain is something you need very strongly. When Jeb had said, "You used eminent domain privately for a parking lot." It wasn't for a parking lot. The state of New Jersey \u2014 too bad Chris Christie is not here, he could tell you \u2014 the state of New Jersey went to build a very large tower that was going to employ thousands of people. I mean, it was going to really do a big job in terms of economic development. Now, just so you understand, I got hit very hard. It's private, it's private eminent domain. You understand that they took over a stadium in Texas, and they used private eminent domain, but he just found that out after he made the charge. +p2779 +aVYeah. Well, Jeb wouldn't have known about it. +p2780 +aVYou shouldn't have used it then, Jeb. +p2781 +aVThank you very much, I appreciate it. +p2782 +aVYou probably are worse than Jeb Bush. You are single biggest liar. This guy's lied \u2014 let me just tell you, this guy lied about Ben Carson when he took votes away from Ben Carson in Iowa, and he just continues. Today, we had robo-calls saying, "Donald Trump is not going to run in South Carolina," where I'm leading by a lot. I'm not going to vote for Ted Cruz. This is the same thing he did to Ben Carson. This guy will say anything, nasty guy. Now I know why he doesn't have one endorsement from any of his colleagues. +p2783 +aVHe's a nasty guy. +p2784 +aVWhere did I support it? Where did I... +p2785 +aVAgain, where did I support it? +p2786 +aVHey Ted, where I support it? +p2787 +aVWhere did I support? +p2788 +aVThat's a lot of lies. +p2789 +aVIt does do wonderful things, but not as it relates to abortion. +p2790 +aVExcuse me. Excuse me, there are wonderful things having to do with women's health. +p2791 +aVBut not when it comes to abortion. +p2792 +aVHold on... +p2793 +aVTed Cruz told your brother that he wanted John Roberts to be on the United States Supreme Court. They both pushed him, he twice approved Obamacare. +p2794 +aVO.K., governor. +p2795 +aVYou pushed him. You pushed him. +p2796 +aVYou worked with him and you pushed him. Why do you lie? +p2797 +aVWhy do you lie? +p2798 +aVYou pushed him. +p2799 +aVYeah, yeah, I know, you're an adult. +p2800 +aVWell, I would say my wife tells me I'm wrong all the time. And I listen. +p2801 +aVOh, let me just say \u2014 look, I am very open \u2014 I hired top people. I've had great success. I built a great, great company. I don't need to do this. I'm self-funding. I'm spending a lot of money. I've spent \u2014 like in New Hampshire, I spent $3 million. Jeb bush spent $44 million. He came in five, and I came in No. 1. That's what the country needs, folks. I spent 3, he spends 42 of their money, of special interest money. And it's just \u2014 this is not going to make \u2014 excuse me. This is not going to make our country great again. This is not what we need in our country. We need people that know what the hell they're doing. And politicians, they're all talk, they're no action. And that's why people are supporting me. I do listen to people. I hire experts. I hire top, top people. And I do listen. And you know what? Sometimes they're wrong. You have to know what to do, when to do it. But sometimes they're wrong. +p2802 +aVWell, I'll tell you \u2014 over the years, I've made many speeches. People have asked me, big companies have asked me to make speeches, and friends of mine that run big companies on success. And occasion, in order to sort of really highlight something, I'll use a profanity. One of the profanities that I got credited with using, that I didn't use, was a very bad word, two weeks ago, that I never used. I said, "You." And everybody said "Oh, he didn't say anything wrong." But you bleeped it, so everyone thinks I said the \u2014 I didn't say anything. I never said the word. It is very unfair, that criticism. Now, I will say this, with all of that being said, I have said I will not do it at all, because if I say a word that's a little bit off color, a little bit, it ends up being a headline. I will not do it again. I was a very good student at a great school not using \u2014 by the way \u2014 not using profanity is very easy. +p2803 +aVThat's not \u2014 let me respond. That's another lie. I never went bankrupt! +p2804 +aVNo, but it's another lie. +p2805 +aVNo, but it's another lie. This guy doesn't know what he's talking about. Just a lie. +p2806 +aVLet me just tell you. Jeb goes around saying, just like the biggest business leaders in this country, I've used the laws of the land to chapter \u2014 I bought a company, I threw it immediately into a chapter, I made a great deal. I uses the laws to my benefit, because I run a company. +p2807 +aVExcuse me, Jeb! +p2808 +aVI never went bankrupt, never. Now \u2014 but you don't want to say that. Now, let me just say, I've used it, just like the biggest leaders in the country. Let me tell you something \u2014 Florida. Florida, he put so much debt on Florida. You know, we keep saying he's a wonderful governor, wonderful governor. He put so much debt on Florida, and he increased spending so much that as soon as he got out of office, Florida crashed. I happened to be there. It's my second home. Florida crashed. He didn't do a good job as governor. +p2809 +aVAnd you haven't \u2014 excuse me, you haven't heard that. You listen to the good record in Florida. You take a look at what happened, as soon as that year ended he got out, Florida crashed. Too much debt. He loaded it up with debt, and his spending went through the roof. +p2810 +aVBy the way... +p2811 +aV... he was not a good governor. +p2812 +aVTake a look at your numbers. +p2813 +aVFlorida went down the tubes right after he got out of office. +p2814 +aVWent right down because of what he did to it. +p2815 +aVThank you. Politicians are all talk, no action. You've seen where they've take you to. We are 19 trillion dollars right now. It's going to be increased with that horrible budget from a month ago that was just approved by politicians. We need a change. We need a very big change. We're going to make our country great again. I say this every night, every day, every afternoon, and it's so true \u2014 we don't win anymore. We don't win with health care, we don't win with +p2816 +aVI actually think I have the best temperament. I built a massive corporation. I employ thousands and thousands of people. I've gotten along with people for years and years, have tremendous relationships with many people, including politicians on both sides. And no matter how you cut it, when I \u2014 when I came out, I hit immigration, I hit it very hard. Everybody said, "Oh, the temperament," because I talked about illegal immigration. Now, everybody's coming to me, they're all trying to say, well, he's right, we have to come to him. I hit other things. I talked about Muslims. We have a problem. Nobody else wanted to mention the problem, I brought it up. I took a lot of heat. We have to have a temporary something, because there's something going on that's not good. And remember this, I'm the only one up here, when the war of Iraq \u2014 in Iraq, I was the one that said, "Don't go, don't do it, you're going to destabilize the Middle East." So, I'm not one with a trigger. I'm not one with a trigger. Other people up here, believe me, would be a lot faster. But I'll build the mill arbitrary stronger, bigger, better than anybody up here, and nobody is going to mess with us. That, I can tell you. +p2817 +aVAm I allowed to respond? I have to respond. +p2818 +aVFirst of all, I respect what Ted just said, but if you noticed, he didn't answer your question. And that's what's going to happen \u2014 OK. That's what's going to happen with our enemies and the people we compete against. We're going to win with Trump. We're going to win. We don't win anymore. Our country doesn't win anymore. We're going to win with Trump. And people back down with Trump. And that's what I like and that's what the country is going to like. +p2819 +aVWell, let me say a couple of things. First of all, Marco said earlier on that President Obama knows exactly what he's doing, like we have this president that really knows. I disagree, respectfully, with Marco. I think we have a president who, as a president, is totally incompetent, and he doesn't know what he's doing. I think he has no idea what he's doing. And our country is going to hell. So, I just want to say, we disagree on that. Is that okay? +p2820 +aVGood. +p2821 +aVAs to North Korea? +p2822 +aVWe have \u2014 tremendous \u2014 has been just sucked out of our country by China. China says they don't have that good of control over North Korea. They have tremendous control. I deal with the Chinese all of the time. I do tremendous \u2014 the largest bank in the world is in one of my buildings in Manhattan. I deal with them. They tell me. They have total, absolute control, practically, of North Korea. They are sucking trillions of dollars out of our country \u2014 they're rebuilding China with the money they take out of our country. I would get on with China, let China solve that problem. They can do it quickly and surgically. That's what we should do with North Korea. +p2823 +aVGood evening. +p2824 +aVYes. HAM: In the Democratic primary, Hillary Clinton has criticized Bernie Sanders' plan for single payer government health care, noting it would require big, across the board tax increases for Americans. In doing so, she's doubling down on Obamacare, despite its persistent unpopularity. Mr. Trump, you have said you want to appeal Obamacare. You have also said, quote, "Everybody's got to be covered," adding, quote, "The government's going to pay for it." Are you closer to Bernie Sanders' vision for health care than Hillary Clinton's? +p2825 +aVI don't think I am. I think I'm closer to common sense. We are going to repeal Obamacare. We're going to repeal Obamacare. We are going to replace Obamacare with something so much better. And there are so many examples of it. And I will tell you, part of the reason we have some people laughing, because you have insurance people that take care of everybody up here. I am self-funded. The only one they're not taking care of is me. We have our lines around each state. The insurance companies are getting rich on Obamacare. The insurance companies are getting rich on health care and health services and everything having to do with health. We are going to end that. We're going to take out the artificial boundaries, the artificial lines. We're going to get a plan where people compete, free enterprise. They compete. So much better. In addition to that, you have the health care savings plans, which are excellent. What I do say is, there will be a certain number of people that will be on the street dying and as a Republican, I don't want that to happen. We're going to take care of people that are dying on the street because there will be a group of people that are not going to be able to even think in terms of private or anything else and we're going to take care of those people. And I think everybody on this stage would have to agree......you're not going to let people die, sitting in the middle of a street in any city in this country. +p2826 +aVWell, let me just tell you about eminent domain because almost all of these people actually criticize it, but so many people have hit me with commercials and other things about eminent domain. Eminent domain is an absolute necessity for a country, for our country. Without it, you wouldn't have roads, you wouldn't have hospitals, you wouldn't have anything. You wouldn't have schools, you wouldn't have bridges. You need eminent domain. And a lot of the big conservatives that tell me how conservative they are \u2014 I think I'm more than they are \u2014 they tell me, oh \u2014 well, they all want the Keystone Pipeline. The Keystone Pipeline, without eminent domain, it wouldn't go 10 feet, OK? You need eminent domain. And eminent domain is a good thing, not a bad thing. And what a lot of people don't know because they were all saying, oh, you're going to take their property. When somebody \u2014 when eminent domain is used on somebody's property, that person gets a fortune. They get at least fair market value, and if they are smart, they'll get two or three times the value of their property. But without eminent domain, you don't have roads, highways, schools, bridges or anything. So eminent domain \u2014 it's not that I love it, but eminent domain is absolutely \u2014 it's a necessity for a country. And certainly it's a necessity for our country. +p2827 +aVYes. +p2828 +aVJeb wants to be \u2014 he wants to be a tough guy tonight. I didn't take the property. +p2829 +aVI didn't take the property. +p2830 +aVThe woman ultimately didn't want to do that. I walked away. +p2831 +aVWell, let me just \u2014 you know, he wants to be a tough guy. A lot of times, you'll have \u2014 you'll have \u2014 and it didn't work very well. +p2832 +aVA lot of time \u2014 let me talk. Quiet. A lot of times \u2014 a lot of times... +p2833 +aV... you \u2014 let me talk. Let me talk. Quiet. A lot of times......that's all of his donors and special interests out there. So \u2014 it's what it is. That's what \u2014 and by the way, let me just tell you, we needed tickets. You can't get them. You know who has the tickets for the \u2014 I'm talking about, to the television audience? Donors, special interests, the people that are putting up the money. That's who it is. The RNC told us. We have all donors in the audience. And the reason they're not loving me......the reason they're not \u2014 excuse me. The reason they're not loving me is, I don't want their money. I'm going to do the right thing for the American public. I don't want their money. I don't need their money. And I'm the only one up here that can say that. Eminent domain, the Keystone pipeline \u2014 do you consider that a private job? Do you \u2014 do you consider that... +p2834 +aVNo \u2014 no, let me ask you, Jeb. Do you consider the Keystone pipeline private? +p2835 +aVIs it public or private? +p2836 +aVReal \u2014 a public use? +p2837 +aVNo, it's a private job. +p2838 +aVIt's a private job. +p2839 +aVYou wouldn't have the Keystone pipeline that you want so badly without eminent domain. +p2840 +aVYou wouldn't have massive \u2014 excuse me, Josh \u2014 you wouldn't have massive factories without eminent domain. +p2841 +aVWell, I think I am, and to me, I view the word conservative as a derivative I \u2014 of \u2014 of the word conserve. We want to converse our money. We want to conserve our wealth. We want to conserve. We want to be smart. We want to be smart where we go, where we spend, how we spend. We want to conserve our country. We want to save our country. And we have people that have no idea how to do that and they are not doing it, and it's a very important word and it's something I believe in very, very strongly. +p2842 +aVWell, before I go there, I will tell you, I will bring jobs back from China. I will bring jobs back from Japan. I will bring jobs back from Mexico, where New Hampshire, by the way, has been virtually wiped out. They've lost so many businesses going to Mexico because of horrible trade deals. And now we're about to sign another trade deal, TPP, which is going to be a disaster for this country because they don't talk about monetary manipulation. It is going to be a disaster. I'm going to bring jobs back and I'll start bringing them back very fast. Under my tax plan \u2014 right now, we're the highest taxed country in the world. Under my plan, we cut not only taxes for the middle class, but we cut taxes for corporations. We will bring back trillions of dollars that's offshore. Right now, they have $2.5 trillion, and in my opinion, it's much more than that. That's what the government says. All of that money is going to come back. And we're not going to lose Pfizer, which is now leaving, and other great companies, which is now leaving. And they're all leaving. We have many, many companies that are leaving this country. We're not going to lose them anymore because we're going to have a tax structure that is going to keep them in our country. +p2843 +aVWell, four years ago, I said, bomb the oil and take the oil. And if we did that, they wouldn't have the wealth they have right now. Now, I still say the same thing, because we're doing little pinpricks. We're not even bombing \u2014 if somebody's driving a truck, they give notice to the person driving the truck, "we're going to bomb." If they don't get out of the truck, the truck sails away with the oil. We actually have a case where we don't want to bomb the oil, because we don't want to hurt \u2014 pollute the atmosphere. Can you imagine General Douglas MacArthur or General Patton saying we can't bomb because we're gonna hurt the atmosphere? You have to knock the hell out of the oil. You have to take the oil. And you have also back channels of banking. You have people that you think are our great allies, our friends, in the Middle East, that are paying tremendous numbers of \u2014 tremendous amounts of money to +p2844 +aVYou have to go in \u2014 first of all, when you take away their money, when you take away their wealth, that'll very much weaken \u2014 and it will happen fairly fast. They'll last for about a year, based on all of the wealth they've accumulated. But when you stop the banking channels and when you stop the oil and take the oil \u2014 not just bomb it, take it \u2014 when you do that, it's going to dry up very quickly. They're going to become a very weakened power, quickly. Thank you. +p2845 +aVWell, I'll tell you what. In the Middle East, we have people chopping the heads off Christians, we have people chopping the heads off many other people. We have things that we have never seen before \u2014 as a group, we have never seen before, what's happening right now. The medieval times \u2014 I mean, we studied medieval times \u2014 not since medieval times have people seen what's going on. I would bring back waterboarding and I'd bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding. +p2846 +aV... No, a good deal maker will make great deals, but we'll do it the way our founders thought it should be done. People get together, they make deals. Ronald Reagan did it with Tip O'Neil very successfully, you didn't hear so much about executive orders, if you heard about it at all. You have to be able to get a consensus. Now, the real person like it was mentioned about the deal with Iran, how bad a deal is that? It doesn't get any more amateurish than that. A good deal maker would never make a deal like that. With Congress, you have to get everybody in a room, and you have to get them to agree. But, you have to get them to agree what you want, and that's part of being a deal maker. You can't leave the White House, go to Hawaii and play golf for three weeks and be a real deal maker. It doesn't work that way. You have to get people in, grab them, hug them, kiss them, and get the deal done. But, it's got to be the deal that you want. HAM: Governor Kasich, is the problem with Washington that there are too many deals, or too few? +p2847 +aVSome? +p2848 +aVWell... +p2849 +aVYes. OK, good. It looked like he was looking right at me, right there. I think that \u2014 I look at what's going on, I look at all of the polls, I do very, very well against Hillary Clinton. I can tell you, I'm the last person that she wants to run against. And I think you can see what we've done in terms of galvanizing. I've been all over the country. We're \u2014 last night, I was in South Carolina, we had 12,000 people. It set up in about four days. We have galvanized and we've created a movement. A lot of it has to do with \u2014 as an example, Josh's question on drugs. I'm the first person that said, "Build a wall." But I mean, a real wall, not a toy wall like they have right now. A real wall. And you'll solve lots of problems. But we will galvanize the people of this country, and we will beat Hillary Clinton. Because \u2014 assuming that she runs, by the way, how she gets away with the e-mail stuff is hard to believe. So, I don't know that she's going to be running. But on the assumption she runs... I mean, look. And speaking of that, if she runs, she's running for one reason. She's going to be able to run for one reason, and that's because the Democrats are protecting her. Because so many people have done so much less than her, and they were absolutely \u2014 their lives have been destroyed. But on the assumption they do protect her, I will win the election and we will win it by a lot. We will win it handily. We cannot have another four years of essentially Barack Obama. +p2850 +aVWell, there is a divide, but I have to say that the police are absolutely mistreated and misunderstood, and if there is an incident, whether it's an incident done purposely \u2014 which is a horror, and you should really take very strong action \u2014 or if it is a mistake, it's on your news casts all night, all week, all month, and it never ends. The police in this country have done an unbelievable job of keeping law and order, and they're afraid for their jobs, they're afraid of the mistreatment they get, and I'm telling you that not only, me speaking, minorities all over the country, they respect the police of this country and we have to give them more respect. They can't act. They can't act. They're afraid for losing their pension, their job. They don't know what to do. And I deal with them all the time. We have to give great respect, far greater than we are right now, to our really fantastic police. +p2851 +aVWell, they do. And, you know, they sue. Everybody sues, right? They see excessive \u2014 I mean, they go out, they sue. We have so much litigation \u2014 I see the courts, I see what they're doing. They sue, and you know what? We don't want excessive force. But at what point \u2014 you know, either you're going to have a police force that can do its job... I was just up in Manchester, I met with the police officers yesterday. Tremendous people. They love the area, they love the people, they love all the people. They want to do their job. And you're going to have abuse and you're going to have problems, and you've got to solve the problems and you have to weed out the problems. But the police in this country are absolutely amazing people. +p2852 +aVWell, I \u2014 I know Diane Foley very well. Her husband and \u2014 these are tremendous people. I spoke for them, I raised a lot of money for the foundation. I fully understand, James, one of \u2014 that was really the first that we saw, really visually saw \u2014 it was so horrible. And I will tell you, though, with all of that being said, you can not negotiate this way with terrorists. If you do, you are going to have many, many more James Foleys. James Foley was a great young man. His parents are incredible people. They've done such a good job, since his \u2014 since his death. But you just cannot negotiate that way with terrorists, or you're gonna have so many other James Foleys. And one thing on the vets \u2014 during the last debate, I raised $6 million for the vets, and I will tell you something......I will tell you that I think nobody here, nobody on this stage, gets along with the veterans groups in New Hampshire better than I do without ball (ph) to sarel (ph) and all of the people that I deal with and these are great people. The one thing that we're not mentioning, there's tremendous fraud, waste and abuse in the Veterans Administration and if I'm running things, that's going to disappear......and it's going to disappear quickly. +p2853 +aVCarolina. +p2854 +aVThat's because he got Ben Carson's votes, by the way, but we won't . Our country that we love so much doesn't win anymore. We don't win with the military, we don't' win on the border. You look at New Hampshire with the tremendous problem we have with heroin. Number one thing I hear from the people of New Hampshire, who I love, and developed such relationships, we don't win with healthcare. We don't win with trade. You look at what other countries are doing to us. China. Everyone, they're killing us on trade. If I'm elected president, we will win, and we will win, and we will win. Thank you, thank you very much. +p2855 +aVIt's not fear and terror, it's reality. You just have to look today at Indonesia, bombings all over. You look at California, you look, frankly, at Paris where there's a \u2014 the strictest no-gun policy of any city anywhere in the world, and you see what happens: 130 people dead with many to follow. They're very, very badly wounded. They will \u2014 some will follow. And you look around, and you see what's happening, and this is not the case when he introduced the doctor \u2014 very nice, everything perfect but that is not representative of what you have in that line of migration. That could be the great Trojan Horse. It could be people that are going to do great, great destruction. When I look at the migration, I looked at the line, I said it actually on your show recently, where are the women? It looked like very few women. Very few children. Strong, powerful men, young and people are looking at that and they're saying what's going on? You look at the kind of damage that two people that two people that got married, they were radicalized \u2014 they got married, they killed 15 people in actually 15 \u2014 going to be probably 16 but you look at that and you take a look \u2014 a good strong look and that's what we have. We are nineteen trillion dollars \u2014 our country's a mess and we can't let all these people come into our country and break our borders. We can't do it. +p2856 +aVBut I was born here. +p2857 +aV. Big difference. +p2858 +aVOK, good. Because it wouldn't work. +p2859 +aV... first of all, let me just tell you something \u2014 and you know, because you just saw the numbers yourself \u2014 NBC Wall Street Journal just came out with a poll \u2014 headline: Trump way up, Cruz going down. I mean, so don't \u2014 so you can't \u2014 you can't......they don't like the Wall Street Journal. They don't like NBC, but I like the poll. And frankly, it just came out, and in Iowa now, as you know, Ted, in the last three polls, I'm beating you. So \u2014 you know, you shouldn't misrepresent how well you're doing with the polls. You don't have to say that. In fact, I was all for you until you started doing that, because that's a misrepresentation, number one. Number two, this isn't me saying it. I don't care. I think I'm going to win fair and square to win this way. Thank you. Lawrence Tribe and from Harvard \u2014 of Harvard, said that there is a serious question as to whether or not Ted can do this. OK? There are other attorneys that feel, and very, very fine constitutional attorneys, that feel that because he was not born on the land, he cannot run for office. Here's the problem. We're running. We're running. He does great. I win. I choose him as my vice presidential candidate, and the Democrats sue because we can't take him along for the ride. I don't like that. OK? The fact is \u2014 and if for some reason he beats the rest of the field, he beats the rest of the field . See, they don't like that. They don't like that. No, they don't like he beats the rest of the field, because they want me. But \u2014 if for some reason, Neil, he beats the rest of the field, I already know the Democrats are going to be bringing a suit. You have a big lawsuit over your head while you're running. And if you become the nominee, who the hell knows if you can even serve in office? So you should go out, get a declaratory judgment, let the courts decide. And you shouldn't have mentioned the polls because I would have been much... +p2860 +aVBecause now he's going a little bit better. No, I didn't care . It's true. No, it's true. Hey look, he never had a chance. Now, he's doing better. He's got probably a four or five percent chance. +p2861 +aVThe fact is, there is a big overhang. There's a big question mark on your head. And you can't do that to the party. You really can't. You can't do that to the party. You have to have certainty. Even if it was a one percent chance, and it's far greater than one percent because . I mean, you have great constitutional lawyers that say you can't run. If there was a \u2014 and you know I'm not bringing a suit. I promise. But the Democrats are going to bring a lawsuit, and you have to have certainty. You can't have a question. I can agree with you or not, but you can't have a question over your head. +p2862 +aVYou don't have to. Take it from Lawrence Tribe. Take it from your professors... +p2863 +aVHe's wrong. He's wrong. +p2864 +aVHe is not the only one. +p2865 +aVThere are many lawyers. +p2866 +aVNo \u2014 no...... I think if it doesn't... I like that. I like it. I'd consider it. But I think I'll go back to building buildings if it doesn't work out. +p2867 +aVI have a feeling it's going to work out, actually. +p2868 +aVOkay. First of all, Nikki this afternoon said I'm a friend of hers. Actually a close friend. And wherever you are sitting Nikki, I'm a friend. We're friends. That's good. But she did say there was anger. And I could say, oh, I'm not angry. I'm very angry because our country is being run horribly and I will gladly accept the mantle of anger. Our military is a disaster. Our healthcare is a horror show. Obamacare, we're going to repeal it and replace it. We have no borders. Our vets are being treated horribly. Illegal immigration is beyond belief. Our country is being run by incompetent people. And yes, I am angry. And I won't be angry when we fix it, but until we fix it, I'm very, very angry. And I say that to Nikki. So when Nikki said that, I wasn't offended. She said the truth. One of your colleagues interviewed me. And said, well, she said you were angry and I said to myself, huh, she's right. I'm not fighting that. I didn't find it offensive at all. I'm angry because our country is a mess. +p2869 +aVNo. I am a 2nd amendment person. If we had guns in California on the other side where the bullets went in the different direction, you wouldn't have 14 or 15 people dead right now. If even in Paris, if they had guns on the other side, going in the opposite direction, you wouldn't have 130 people plus dead. So the answer is no and what Jeb said is absolutely correct. We have a huge mental health problem in this country. We're closing hospitals, we're closing wards, we're closing so many because the states want to save money. We have to get back into looking at what's causing it. The guns don't pull the trigger. It's the people that pull the trigger and we have to find out what is going on. We have to protect our 2nd amendment and you cannot do this and certainly what Barack Obama was doing with the executive order. He doesn't want to get people together, the old-fashioned way, where you get Congress. You get the Congress, you get the Senate, you get together, you do legislation. He just writes out an executive order. Not supposed to happen that way. +p2870 +aVYou get the Congress. You get the Senate. You get together. You do legislation. He just writes out an order, executive order. It's not supposed to happen that way. +p2871 +aVSo conservatives actually do come out of Manhattan, including William F. Buckley and others, just so you understand. And just so \u2014 if I could, because he insulted a lot of people. I've had more calls on that statement that Ted made \u2014 New York is a great place. It's got great people, it's got loving people, wonderful people. When the World Trade Center came down, I saw something that no place on Earth could have handled more beautifully, more humanely than New York. You had two one hundred... ...you had two 110-story buildings come crashing down. I saw them come down. Thousands of people killed, and the cleanup started the next day, and it was the most horrific cleanup, probably in the history of doing this, and in construction. I was down there, and I've never seen anything like it. And the people in New York fought and fought and fought, and we saw more death, and even the smell of death \u2014 nobody understood it. And it was with us for months, the smell, the air. And we rebuilt downtown Manhattan, and everybody in the world watched and everybody in the world loved New York and loved New Yorkers. And I have to tell you, that was a very insulting statement that Ted made. +p2872 +aVNo. No. Look, we have to stop with political correctness. We have to get down to creating a country that's not going to have the kind of problems that we've had with people flying planes into the World Trade Centers, with the \u2014 with the shootings in California, with all the problems all over the world. I just left Indonesia \u2014 bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb. We have to find out what's going on. I said temporarily. I didn't say permanently. I said temporarily. And I have many great Muslim friends. And some of them, I will say, not all, have called me and said, "Donald, thank you very much; you're exposing an unbelievable problem and we have to get to the bottom of it." And unlike President Obama, where he refuses even to use the term of what's going on, he can't use the term for whatever reason. And if you can't use the term, you're never going to solve the problem. My Muslim friends, some, said, "thank you very much; we'll get to the bottom of it." But we have a serious problem. And we can't be the stupid country any more. We're laughed at all over the world. +p2873 +aVEleven points, to be exact. +p2874 +aVI want security for this country. OK? I want security. I'm tired of seeing what's going on, between the border where the people flow over; people come in; they live; they shoot. I want security for this country. We have a serious problem with, as you know, with radical Islam. We have a tremendous problem. It's not only a problem here. It's a problem all over the world. I want to find out why those two young people \u2014 those two horrible young people in California when they shot the 14 people, killed them \u2014 people they knew, people that held the wedding reception for them. I want to find out \u2014 many people saw pipe bombs and all sorts of things all over their apartment. Why weren't they vigilant? Why didn't they call? Why didn't they call the police? And by the way, the police are the most mistreated people in this country. I will tell you that. The most mistreated people. In fact, we need to \u2014 wait a minute \u2014 we need vigilance. We have to find out \u2014 many people knew about what was going on. Why didn't they turn those two people in so that you wouldn't have had all the death? There's something going on and it's bad. And I'm saying we have to get to the bottom of it. That's all I'm saying. We need security. +p2875 +aVThat's wrong. They were wrong. It's the New York Times, they are always wrong. +p2876 +aVThey were wrong. +p2877 +aVNo, I said, " I would use \u2014 " they were asking me what to do about North Korea. China, they don't like to tell us but they have total control \u2014 just about, of North Korea. They can solve the problem of North Korea if they wanted to but they taunt us. They say, " well, we don't really have control." Without China, North Korea doesn't even eat. China is ripping us on trade. They're devaluing their currency and they're killing our companies. Thousands of thousands \u2014 you look at the number of companies and the number in terms of manufacturing of plans that we've lost \u2014 50,000 because of China. +p2878 +aVWe've lost anywhere between four and seven million jobs because of China. What I said then was, "we have very unfair trade with China. We're going to have a trade deficit of 505 billion dollars this year with China." A lot of that is because they devalue their currency. What I said to the New York Times, is that, "we have great power, economic power over China and if we wanted to use that and the amount \u2014 where the 45 percent comes in, that would be the amount they saw their devaluations that we should get." That we should get. What I'm saying is this, I'm saying that we do it but if they don't start treating us fairly and stop devaluing and let their currency rise so that our companies can compete and we don't lose all of these millions of jobs that we're losing, I would certainly start taxing goods that come in from China. Who the hell has to lose 505 billion dollars a year? +p2879 +aVIt's not that complicated actually. +p2880 +aVOK, just so you understand \u2014 I know so much about trading about with China. Carl Icahn today as you know endorsed. Many businessmen want to endorse me. +p2881 +aVCarl said, "no, no \u2014 " but he's somebody \u2014 these are the kind of people that we should use to negotiate and not the China people that we have who are political hacks who don't know what they're doing and we have problems like this. If these are the kinds of people \u2014 we should use our best and our finest. Now, on that tariff \u2014 here's what I'm saying, China \u2014 they send their goods and we don't tax it \u2014 they do whatever they want to do. They do whatever what they do, OK. When we do business with China, they tax us. You don't know it, they tax us. I have many friends that deal with China. They can't \u2014 when they order the product and when they finally get the product it is taxed. If you looking at what happened with Boeing and if you look at what happened with so many companies that deal \u2014 so we don't have an equal playing field. I'm saying, absolutely, we don't have to continue to lose 505 billion dollars as a trade deficit for the privilege of dealing with China. I'm a free trader. I believe in it but we have to be smart and we have to use smart people to negotiate. I have the largest bank in the world as a tenant of mine. I sell tens' of millions of . I love China. I love the Chinese people but they laugh themselves, they can't believe how stupid the American leadership is. +p2882 +aVI'm totally open to a tariff. If they don't treat us fairly, hey, their whole trade is tariffed. You can't deal in China without tariffs. They do it to us, we don't it. It's not fair trade. +p2883 +aVI'm happy to have him tonight... +p2884 +aVNeil, the problem... +p2885 +aV... with what Marco is saying is that it takes too long, they're sucking us dry and it takes too long. It would just \u2014 you absolutely have to get involved with China, they are taking so much of what we have in terms of jobs in terms of money. We just can't do it any longer. +p2886 +aVYou looking at me? +p2887 +aVCan I tell you what? It will never happen because they'll let their currency go up. They're never going to let it happen. Japan, the same thing. They are devaluing \u2014 it's so impossible for \u2014 you look at Caterpillar Tractor and what's happening with Caterpillar and Kamatsu. Kamatsu is a tractor company in Japan. Friends of mine are ordering Kamatsu tractors now because they've de-valued the yen to such an extent that you can't buy a Caterpillar tractor. And we're letting them get away with it and we can't let them get away with it. And that's why we have to use Carl and we have to use our great businesspeople and not political hacks to negotiate with these guys. +p2888 +aVAnd we don't need a weak person being president of the United State, OK? Because that's what we'd get if it were Jeb \u2014 I tell you what, we don't need that. +p2889 +aVWe don't need that. That's essentially what we have now, and we don't need that. And that's why we're in the trouble that we're in now. And by the way, Jeb you mentioned Boeing, take a look. They order planes, they make Boeing build their plant in China. They don't want them made here. They want those planes made in China. +p2890 +aVThat's not the way the game is supposed to be played. +p2891 +aVNo, the new planes. I'm not talking about now, I'm talking about in the future they're building massive plants in China because China does not want Boeing building their planes here, they want them built in China, because China happens to be smart the way they do it, not the way we do it. +p2892 +aVI'll check for you. +p2893 +aVMaria \u2014 Maria, what you were talking about just now is called corporate inversion. It's one of the biggest problems our country has. Right now, corporations, by the thousands, are thinking of leaving our country with the jobs \u2014 leave them behind. They're leaving because of taxes, but they are also leaving because they can't get their money back and everybody agrees, Democrats and Republicans, that is should come back in. But they can't get along. They can't even make a deal. Here is the case, they both agree, they can't make a deal. We have to do something. Corporate inversion is one of the biggest problems we have. So many companies are going to leave our country. +p2894 +aVThank you. +p2895 +aVWell, it's an interesting question because I'm very proud of my company. As you too know, I know I built a very great company. But if I become president, I couldn't care less about my company. It's peanuts. I want to use that same up here, whatever it may be to make America rich again and to make America great again. I have Ivanka, and Eric and Don sitting there. Run the company kids, have a good time. I'm going to do it for America. So I would \u2014 I would be willing to do that. +p2896 +aVI would put it in a blind trust. Well, I don't know if it's a blind trust if Ivanka, Don and Eric run it. If that's a blind trust, I don't know. But I would probably have my children run it with my executives and I wouldn't ever be involved because I wouldn't care about anything but our country, anything. +p2897 +aVThank you. +p2898 +aVI stood yesterday with 75 construction workers. They're tough, they're strong, they're great people. Half of them had tears pouring down their face. They were watching the humiliation of our young ten sailors, sitting on the floor with their knees in a begging position, their hands up. And Iranian wise guys having guns to their heads. It was a terrible sight. A terrible sight. And the only reason we got them back is because we owed them with a stupid deal, $150 billion. If I'm president, there won't be stupid deals anymore. We will make America great again. We will win on everything we do. Thank you. +p2899 +aVThank you. I began this journey six months ago. My total focus was on building up our military, building up our strength, building up our borders, making sure that China, Japan, Mexico, both at the border and in trade, no longer takes advantage of our country. Certainly would never have made that horrible, disgusting, absolutely incompetent deal with Iran where they get $150 billion. They're a terrorist nation. But I began it talking about other things. And those things are things that I'm very good at and maybe that's why I'm center stage. People saw it. People liked it. People respected it. A month ago things changed. Radical Islamic terrorism came into effect even more so than it has been in the past. People like what I say. People respect what I say. And we've opened up a very big discussion that needed to be opened up. Thank you very much. +p2900 +aVWe are not talking about isolation. We're talking about security. We're not talking about religion. We're talking about security. Our country is out of control. People are pouring across the southern border. I will build a wall. It will be a great wall. People will not come in unless they come in legally. Drugs will not pour through that wall. As far as other people like in the migration, where they're going, tens of thousands of people having cell phones with +p2901 +aVJeb doesn't really believe I'm unhinged. He said that very simply because he has failed in this campaign. It's been a total disaster. Nobody cares. And frankly, I'm the most solid person up here. I built a tremendous company and all I want to do is make America great again. I don't want our country to be taken away from us, and that's what's happening. The policies that we've suffered under other presidents have been a disaster for our country. We want to make America great again. And Jeb, in all fairness, he doesn't believe that. +p2902 +aVWell, look, this is so easy to answer. +p2903 +aVI would certainly be open to closing areas where we are at war with somebody. I sure as hell don't want to let people that want to kill us and kill our nation use our Internet. Yes, sir, I am. +p2904 +aVWe have to be much tougher. We have to be much stronger than we've been. We have people that know what is going on. You take a look at just the attack in California the other day. There were numerous people, including the mother, that knew what was going on. They saw a pipe bomb sitting all over the floor. They saw ammunition all over the place. They knew exactly what was going on. When you had the World Trade Center go, people were put into planes that were friends, family, girlfriends, and they were put into planes and they were sent back, for the most part, to Saudi Arabia. They knew what was going on. They went home and they wanted to watch their boyfriends on television. I would be very, very firm with families. Frankly, that will make people think because they may not care much about their lives, but they do care, believe it or not, about their families' lives. +p2905 +aVLook, the problem is we need toughness. Honestly, I think Jeb is a very nice person. He's a very nice person. But we need tough people. We need toughness. We need intelligence and we need tough. Jeb said when they come across the southern border they come as an act of love. +p2906 +aVAm I talking or are you talking, Jeb? +p2907 +aVYou can go back. You're not talking. You interrupted me. +p2908 +aVAre you going to apologize, Jeb? No. Am I allowed to finish? +p2909 +aVExcuse me, am I allowed to finish? +p2910 +aVSo... +p2911 +aV... again... +p2912 +aVI know you're trying to build up your energy, Jeb, but it's not working very well. +p2913 +aVLook, look, look. We need a toughness. We need strength. We're not respected, you know, as a nation anymore. We don't have that level of respect that we need. And if we don't get it back fast, we're just going to go weaker, weaker and just disintegrate. We can't allow that to happen. We need strength. We don't have it. When Jeb comes out and he talks about the border, and I saw it and I was witness to it, and so was everyone else, and I was standing there, "they come across as an act of love," he's saying the same thing right now with radical Islam. And we can't have that in our country. It just won't work. We need strength. +p2914 +aVWith Jeb's attitude, we will never be great again, that I can tell you. We will never be great again. +p2915 +aVSo, they can kill us, but we can't kill them? That's what you're saying. And as far as the Internet is concerned, we're not talking about closing the Internet. I'm talking about parts of Syria, parts of Iraq, where +p2916 +aVIn my opinion, we've spent $4 trillion trying to topple various people that frankly, if they were there and if we could've spent that $4 trillion in the United States to fix our roads, our bridges, and all of the other problems; our airports and all of the other problems we've had, we would've been a lot better off. I can tell you that right now. We have done a tremendous disservice, not only to Middle East, we've done a tremendous disservice to humanity. The people that have been killed, the people that have wiped away, and for what? It's not like we had victory. It's a mess. The Middle East is totally destabilized. A total and complete mess. I wish we had the $4 trillion or $5 trillion. I wish it were spent right here in the United States, on our schools, hospitals, roads, airports, and everything else that are all falling apart. +p2917 +aVWell, there's nothing to respond to. Well, people feel differently. I mean, the fact is Benghazi was a disaster because of Libya, everything just fell into place. It could not have been worse. What do we have now? We have nothing. We've spent $3 trillion and probably much more \u2013 I have no idea what we've spent. Thousands and thousands of lives, we have nothing. Wounded warriors all over the place who I love, we have nothing for it. And by the way \u2013 and Ben said incorrectly \u2013 and I'm not saying this as a knock \u2013 he's one of finest men. You're not going to find a finer men. But I've been talking about oil for three years. I've been saying,, "take the oil, take the oil." I didn't say, "just bomb it," I said," take it and use it and distribute it so that the wounded warriors -" People, I've been saying this now for many years. +p2918 +aVNow, all of a sudden everybody's saying, "take the oil." It wasn't so fashionable to take the oil six months ago. I've been saying it for years. +p2919 +aVI think Assad is a bad guy, a very bad guy, all right? Lots of people killed. I think we are backing people we have no idea who they are. The rebels, we call them the rebels, the patriotic rebels. We have no idea. A lot of people think, Hugh, that they are +p2920 +aVI think it's very sad that CNN leads Jeb Bush, Governor Bush, down a road by starting off virtually all the questions, "Mr. Trump this, Mister" \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched \u2014 I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched the first debate, and the first long number of questions were, "Mr. Trump said this, Mr. Trump said that. Mr. Trump" \u2014 these poor guys \u2014 although, I must tell you, Santorum, good guy. Governor Huckabee, good guy. They were very nice, and I respect them greatly. But I thought it was very unfair that virtually the entire early portion of the debate was Trump this, Trump that, in order to get ratings, I guess. In order to get ratings, I guess. +p2921 +aVI just think it's very \u2014 excuse me. +p2922 +aVExcuse me. I think it's very unprofessional. +p2923 +aVWell, I think it's very unprofessional. +p2924 +aVOK, fine. +p2925 +aVThis isn't tough and easy. I wish it... +p2926 +aVI wish it was always this easy as you, Jeb. +p2927 +aVOh, yeah. +p2928 +aVOh, I know. You're a tough guy, Jeb. I know. +p2929 +aVYou're tough. +p2930 +aVWell, let's see. I'm at 42, and you're at 3. So, so far, I'm doing better. +p2931 +aVSo far, I'm doing better. You know, you started off over here, Jeb. You're moving over further and further. Pretty soon you're going to be off the end... +p2932 +aVI believe I did. +p2933 +aVI have a very hardline position, we have a country or we don't have a country. People that have come into our country illegally, they have to go. They have to come back into through a legal process. I want a strong border. I do want a wall. Walls do work, you just have to speak to the folks in Israel. Walls work if they're properly constructed. I know how to build, believe me, I know how to build. I feel a very, very strong bind, and really I'm bound to this country, we either have a border or we don't. People can come into the country, we welcome people to come but they have to come in legally. +p2934 +aVWell, first of all, I think we need somebody absolutely that we can trust, who is totally responsible; who really knows what he or she is doing. That is so powerful and so important. And one of the things that I'm frankly most proud of is that in 2003, 2004, I was totally against going into Iraq because you're going to destabilize the Middle East. I called it. I called it very strongly. And it was very important. But we have to be extremely vigilant and extremely careful when it comes to nuclear. Nuclear changes the whole ball game. Frankly, I would have said get out of Syria; get out \u2014 if we didn't have the power of weaponry today. The power is so massive that we can't just leave areas that 50 years ago or 75 years ago we wouldn't care. It was hand-to-hand combat. The biggest problem this world has today is not President Obama with global warming, which is inconceivable, this is what he's saying. The biggest problem we have is nuclear \u2014 nuclear proliferation and having some maniac, having some madman go out and get a nuclear weapon. That's in my opinion, that is the single biggest problem that our country faces right now. +p2935 +aVI think \u2014 I think, for me, nuclear is just the power, the devastation is very important to me. +p2936 +aVI did. +p2937 +aVLet me just say that I have gotten to know him over the last three or four days. He has a wonderful temperament. He's just fine. Don't worry about it. +p2938 +aVYou better not attack... +p2939 +aVI really am. I'll be honest, I really am. I mean, the people have been putting me... I really am. +p2940 +aVLet me just. Can I just finish my... +p2941 +aVI've gained great respect for the Republican leadership. I've gained great respect for many \u2014 and I'm going to even say \u2014 I mean, in different forms for the people on the dais, in different forms. In different forms. But I have great respect for the people I have met through this process. I've never done this process before. I've never been a politician. I mean, for the last six months I've been a politician. But I will tell you, I am totally committed to the Republican Party. I feel very honored to be the front runner. And I think I'll do very well if I'm chosen. If I'm so fortunate to be chosen, I think I'll do very well. Polls have come out recently saying I would beat Hillary. I will do everything in my power to beat Hillary Clinton, I promise you. +p2942 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We don't win on trade. We don't win on the military. We can't defeat +p2943 +aVI can't be Neil. And the and the reason I can't be is that we are a country that is being beaten on every front economically, militarily. There is nothing that we do now to win. We don't win anymore. Our taxes are too high. I've come up with a tax plan that many, many people like very much. It's going to be a tremendous plan. I think it'll make our country and our economy very dynamic. But, taxes too high, wages too high, we're not going to be able to compete against the world. I hate to say it, but we have to leave it the way it is. People have to go out, they have to work really hard and have to get into that upper stratum. But we can not do this if we are going to compete with the rest of the world. We just can't do it. +p2944 +aVI would not do it. +p2945 +aVI was so happy yesterday when I saw that decision come down. That was an unbelievable decision. And we don't have enough of those decisions coming down. He of the executive order, because nobody wants to listen to him, including the Democrats, so he just goes around signing executive orders. That was a great day. And, frankly, we have to stop illegal immigration. It's hurting us economically. It's hurting us from every standpoint. It's causing tremendous difficulty with respect to drugs and what that does to many of our inner cities in particular. And it really is \u2014 was such an unbelievable moment because the courts have not been ruling in our favor. And it was a 2-1 decision. And it was a terrific thing that happened. And I will tell you, we are a country of laws. We need borders. We will have a wall. The wall will be built. The wall will be successful. And if you think walls don't work, all you have to do is ask Israel. The wall works, believe me. Properly done. Believe me. +p2946 +aVYou are going to have to bring people \u2014 you are going to have to send people out. Look, we're a country... +p2947 +aVMaria, we're a country of laws. We either have a country or we don't have a country. We are a country of laws. Going to have to go out and they will come back but they are going to have to go out and hopefully they get back. But we have no choice if we're going to run our country properly and if we're going to be a country. +p2948 +aVAll I can say is, you're lucky in Ohio that you struck oil. That is for one thing. Let me just tell you that Dwight Eisenhower, good president, great president, people liked him. "I like Ike," right? The expression. "I like Ike." Moved a 1.5 million illegal immigrants out of this country, moved them just beyond the border. They came back. Moved them again beyond the border, they came back. Didn't like it. Moved them way south. They never came back. Dwight Eisenhower. You don't get nicer. You don't get friendlier. They moved a 1.5 million out. We have no choice. We have no choice. +p2949 +aVNo, it's unfair. +p2950 +aV... built an unbelievable company worth billions and billions of dollars. I don't have to hear from this man, believe me. I don't have to hear from him. +p2951 +aVWe have millions of people right now on line trying to come into this country. Very, very unfair to the people that want to come into our country legally. They've gone through the process. They're on line. They're waiting. Very, very unfair to them. That I can tell you. +p2952 +aVYes. +p2953 +aVNo, I'm sorry. No, excuse me. I was there. +p2954 +aVPlease, if I could just... +p2955 +aVWe have to make our military bigger, better, stronger than ever before so that nobody messes with us, and a long run, it's going to save us. I agree with Marco, I agree with Ted, we have no choice. And, I can tell you this with certainty. We all have a different tax plan. Some I don't totally agree with. One thing we understand, each one of those tax plans is better than the mess that we have right now. +p2956 +aV...Yes... +p2957 +aV...Yeah... +p2958 +aV...It's a horrible deal... +p2959 +aVThe TPP is horrible deal. It is a deal that is going to lead to nothing but trouble. It's a deal that was designed for China to come in, as they always do, through the back door and totally take advantage of everyone. It's 5,600 pages long. So complex that nobodies read it. It's like Obamacare; nobody ever read it. They passed it; nobody read it. And look at mess we have right now. And it will be repealed. But this is one of the worst trade deals. And I would, yes, rather not have it. With all of these countries, and all of the bad ones getting advantage and taking advantage of what the good ones would normally get, I'd rather make individual deals with individual countries. We will do much better. We lose a fortune on trade. The United States loses with everybody. We're losing now over $500 billion in terms of imbalance with China, $75 billion a year imbalance with Japan. By the way, Mexico, $50 billion a year imbalance. So I must say, Gerard, I just think it's a terrible deal. I love trade. I'm a free trader, 100 percent. But we need smart people making the deals, and we don't have smart people making the deals. +p2960 +aVYes. Well, the currency manipulation they don't discuss in the agreement, which is a disaster. If you look at the way China and India and almost everybody takes advantage of the United States \u2014 China in particular, because they're so good. It's the number-one abuser of this country. And if you look at the way they take advantage, it's through currency manipulation. It's not even discussed in the almost 6,000-page agreement. It's not even discussed. +p2961 +aVAnd as you understand, I mean, you understand very well from the Wall Street Journal, currency manipulation is the single great weapon people have. They don't even discuss it in this agreement. So I say, it's a very bad deal, should not be approved. If it is approved, it will just be more bad trade deals, more loss of jobs for our country. We are losing jobs like nobody's ever lost jobs before. I want to bring jobs back into this country. +p2962 +aVWell, first of all, it's not only Russia. We have problems with North Korea where they actually have nuclear weapons. You know, nobody talks about it, we talk about Iran, and that's one of the worst deals ever made. One of the worst contracts ever signed, ever, in anything, and it's a disgrace. But, we have somebody over there, a madman, who already has nuclear weapons we don't talk about that. That's a problem. China is a problem, both economically in what they're doing in the South China Sea, I mean, they are becoming a very, very major force. So, we have more than just Russia. But, as far as the Ukraine is concerned, and you could Syria \u2014 as far as Syria, I like \u2014 if Putin wants to go in, and I got to know him very well because we were both on 60 Minutes, we were stablemates, and we did very well that night. But, you know that. But, if Putin wants to go and knocked the hell out of +p2963 +aV...They blew up \u2014 hold it.... +p2964 +aV...They blew up, wait a minute... ...They blew up a Russian airplane. He cannot be in love with these people. He's going in, and we can go in, and everybody should go in. As far as the Ukraine is concerned, we have a group of people, and a group of countries, including Germany \u2014 tremendous economic behemoth \u2014 why are we always doing the work? We are \u2014 I'm all for protecting Ukraine and working \u2014 but, we have countries that are surrounding the Ukraine that aren't doing anything. They say, "Keep going, keep going, you dummies, keep going. Protect us..." ...And we have to get smart. We can't continue to be the policeman of the world. We are $19 trillion dollars, we have a country that's going to hell, we have an infrastructure that's falling apart. Our roads, our bridges, our schools, our airports, and we have to start investing money in our country. +p2965 +aVAssad is a bad guy, but we have no idea who the so-called rebels \u2014 I read about the rebels, nobody even knows who they are. I spoke to a general two weeks ago, he said \u2014 he was very up on exactly what we're talking about. He said, "You know, Mr. Trump? We're giving hundreds of millions of dollars of equipment to these people, we have no idea who they are." So, I don't like Assad. Who's going to like Assad? But, we have no idea who these people, and what they're going to be, and what they're going to represent. They may be far worse than Assad. Look at Libya. Look at Iraq. Look at the mess we have after spending $2 trillion dollars, thousands of lives, wounded warriors all over the place \u2014 who I love, OK? All over. We have nothing. And, I said, keep the oil. And we should have kept the oil, believe me. We should have kept the oil. And, you know what? We should have given the oil... ..We should've given big chunks to the people that lost their arms, their legs, and their families, and their sons, and daughters, because right now, you know who has a lot of that oil? Iran, and +p2966 +aVWhy does she keep interrupting everybody? Terrible. +p2967 +aVWe are not. +p2968 +aV...No, no, no... +p2969 +aVWell, what's happening right now, Neil, is something that not been a subject of conversation by politicians. As primarily the only politician, I guess other than Carly on the stage, they haven't talked about a corporate inversion. A corporate inversion \u2014 companies are leaving. You know, we used to leave New York to go to Florida. We got better taxes, we got, maybe, something else. Now, they're the United States to go to other countries. They have trillions of dollars in those other countries. They're going for two reasons, they can't get their money back in. It's something where the democrats and the republicans both agree, it's the only thing I can think of. They both agree, let the money come back in. Three and a half years, they still can't make a deal. They can't get the money in. It's probably two and a half trillion, but, I think it's much more than that. All of that money could become \u2014 could come right in and be used to rebuild our country, and investments in our country. They can't do it. What we have to do, and what I've done, is made the tax rate \u2014 and one of the reasons they don't the taxes so obnoxious, they can't do it. Where, I made it a 10% number, as you know. I've been very highly praised for it. A lot of money's going to come back in, we're going to get rid of the bureaucratic problems, and roadblocks, because that's also a problem. And, we're going to have all of this money pour back into the United States. It's going to be used to build businesses, for jobs, and everything else. And, as I say, my expression is, let's make America great again. +p2970 +aVThank you. Over the years, I've created tens of thousands of jobs and a great company. It's a company I'm very proud of. Some of the most iconic assets anywhere in the world. And I will tell you, I don't have to give you a website because I'm self-funding my campaign. I'm putting up my own money. I want to do something really special. I want to make our country greater than it's ever been. I think we have that potential. We cannot lose this election. We cannot let Hillary Clinton, who is the worst secretary of state in the history of our country, win this election. We will fight. We will win. And we truly will make this even more special. We have to make it better than ever before. And I will tell you, the United States can actually be better than ever before. Thank you. +p2971 +aVI think maybe my greatest weakness is that I trust people too much. I'm too trusting. And when they let me down, if they let me down, I never forgive. I find it very, very hard to forgive people that deceived me. So I don't know if you would call that a weakness, but my wife said "let up." +p2972 +aVRight. +p2973 +aVRight. +p2974 +aVThat's right. +p2975 +aVNo, not a comic book, and it's not a very nicely asked question the way you say that. Larry Kudlow is an example, who I have a lot of respect for, who loves my tax plan. We're reducing taxes to 15 percent. We're bringing corporate taxes down, bringing money back in, corporate inversions. We have $2.5 trillion outside of the United States which we want to bring back in. As far as the wall is concerned, we're going to build a wall. We're going to create a border. We're going to let people in, but they're going to come in legally. They're going to come in legally. And it's something that can be done, and I get questioned about that. They built the great wall of China. That's 13,000 miles. Here, we actually need 1,000 because we have natural barriers. So we need 1,000. We can do a wall. We're going to have a big, fat beautiful door right in the middle of the wall. We're going to have people come in, but they're coming in legally. And Mexico's going to pay for the wall because Mexico \u2014 I love the Mexican people; I respect the Mexican leaders \u2014 but the leaders are much sharper, smarter and more cunning than our leaders. And just to finish, people say, how will you get Mexico to pay? A politician other than the people in the states \u2014 I don't want to \u2014 a politician cannot get them to pay. I can. We lose, we have a trade imbalance... Excuse me, John. ... of $50 billion... +p2976 +aV... believe me the world is peanuts by comparison. +p2977 +aVRight. Dynamically. +p2978 +aVThen you have to get rid of Larry Kudlow, who sits on your panel, who's a great guy, who came out the other day and said, I love Trump's tax plan. +p2979 +aVFirst of all, John got lucky with a thing called fracking, OK? He hit oil. He got lucky with fracking. Believe me, that is why Ohio is doing well. Number \u2014 and that is important for you to know. Number two, this was the man that was a managing general partner at Lehman Brothers when it went down the tubes and almost took every one of us with it, including Ben and myself, because I was there and I watched what happened. And Lehman Brothers started it all. He was on the board. And he was a managing general partner. And just thirdly, he was so nice. He was such a nice guy. And he said, oh, I'm never going to attack. But then his poll numbers tanked. He has got \u2014 that is why he is on the end. And he got nasty. And he got nasty. So you know what? You can have him. +p2980 +aVI think you're \u2014 +p2981 +aVWell, first of all, like many other very big businessmen, I could name them here, but I'm not going to do that for a lot of obvious reasons, but the biggest, and almost all of them, they've all used the chapter laws, the bankruptcy laws to their own benefit. Before this, I was a very successful person as a developer and as a businessman. Atlantic City has gone bad. I mean, Chris will know about that. I'm not blaming Chris, by the way, but he will know about that. Caesar's \u2014 excuse me \u2014 Caesar's, the Rolls-Royce, as you know, is in bankruptcy. Almost every hotel in Atlantic City has either been in bankruptcy or will be in bankruptcy \u2014 the biggest. But also the biggest people (ph) \u2014 now I've used that to my advantage as a business man, for my family, for myself. I never filed for bankruptcy. But many, many people did. What happened with Atlantic City is very, very disgraceful. Now hundreds of companies I've opened. I've used it three times, maybe four times. Came out great. But I guess I'm supposed to come out great. That is what I could do for the country. We owe $19 trillion, boy am I good at solving debt problems. Nobody can solve it like me. But I will tell you this, Atlantic City, you're using that, hundreds of companies that I have opened have thrived. I built a net worth of way over $10 billion, and I have done it four times out of hundreds. And I'm glad I did it. I used the laws of the country to my benefit, I'm sorry. +p2982 +aVThank you. +p2983 +aVI was not at all critical of him. I was not at all. In fact, frankly, he's complaining about the fact that we're losing some of the most talented people. They go to Harvard. They go to Yale. They go to Princeton. They come from another country and they're immediately sent out. I am all in favor of keeping these talented people here so they can go to work in Silicon Valley. +p2984 +aVSo I have nothing at all critical of him. +p2985 +aVProbably, I don't know \u2014 you people write the stuff. I don't know where you... And if I could say just one thing. I am the only person in either campaign that's self-funding. I'm putting up 100 percent of my own money. And right now, I will be putting up a tremendous \u2014 so far, I've put up less than anybody and I have the best results. Wouldn't that be nice if the country could do that? But I will be putting \u2014 I will be putting up, you know, tremendous amounts of money. SuperPacs are a disaster. They're a scam. They cause dishonesty. And you better get rid of them because they are causing a lot of bad decisions to be made by some very good people. And I'm not blaming these folks \u2014 well, I guess I could. Very good people are making very bad decisions right now. And if anything comes out of this whole thing with some of these nasty and ridiculous questions, I will tell you, you better get rid of the SuperPacs because they causing a big problem with this country, not only in dishonesty and what's going on, but also in a lot of bad decisions that have been made for the benefit of lobbyists and special interests. +p2986 +aVI never said that. I never said that. +p2987 +aVYou've got another gentleman in Florida, who happens to be a very nice guy, but not... +p2988 +aV... he's really doing some bad... +p2989 +aVI'm in favor of people coming into this country legally. And you know what? They can have it anyway you want. You can call it visas, you can call it work permits, you can call it anything you want. I've created tens of thousands of jobs, and in all due respect \u2014 and actually some of these folks I really like a lot \u2014 but I'm the only one that can say that. I have created tens of thousands of jobs, and I'll be creating many millions of jobs if I'm given \u2014 if I'm given the opportunity to be president. As far as Mark is concerned, as far as the visas are concerned, if we need people, they have \u2014 it's fine. They have to come into this country legally. We have a country of borders. We have a country of laws. We have to obey the laws. It's fine if they come in, but they have to come in legally. +p2990 +aVYes. +p2991 +aVOr somebody else. Right. +p2992 +aVYes, I might feel more comfortable. I would say that I would and I have a permit, which is very unusual in New York \u2014 a permit to carry. And I do carry on occasion, sometimes a lot. But I like to be unpredictable so that people don't know exactly... +p2993 +aVBy the way, unlike our country where we're totally predictable and the enemy, whether it's +p2994 +aVI would change them. I would change them. +p2995 +aVSuch a nasty \u2014 such a nasty question, but thank you, Governor. +p2996 +aVYes, it's very simple. We're going to make a really dynamic economy from what we have right now, which is not at all dynamic. We're going to bring jobs back from Japan, we're going to bring jobs back from China, we're going to bring, frankly, jobs back from Mexico where, as you probably saw, Nabisco is leaving Chicago with one of their biggest plants, and they're moving it to Mexico. We're going to bring jobs and manufacturing back. We're going to cut costs. We're going to save Social Security, and we're going to save Medicare. [ +p2997 +aVOur country doesn't win anymore. We used to win, we don't win anymore. We lose on trade. We lose with +p2998 +aVAnd, I'll do that with the country. We will make America great again. And, thank you everybody. Just for the record. +p2999 +aVThat's not right. That is absolutely not right. You know that. That is not right. [ +p3000 +aVI'm Donald Trump. I wrote "The Art of the Deal". I say not in a braggadocious way, I've made billions and billions of dollars dealing with people all over the world, and I want to put whatever that talent is to work for this country so we have great trade deals, we make our country rich again, we make it great again. We build our military, we take care of our vets, we get rid of Obamacare, and we have a great life altogether. Thank you. Thank you. +p3001 +aVWell, first of all, Rand Paul shouldn't even be on this stage. He's number 11, he's got 1 percent in the polls, and how he got up here, there's far too many people anyway. As far as temperament \u2014 and we all know that \u2014 as far as temperament, I think I have a great temperament. I built a phenomenal business with incredible, iconic assets, one of the really truly great real-estate businesses. And I may be an entertainer, because I've had tremendous success with number-one bestsellers all over the place, with "The Apprentice" and everything else I've done. But I will tell you this: What I am far and away greater than an entertainer is a businessman, and that's the kind of mindset this country needs to bring it back, because we owe $19 trillion right now, $19 trillion, and you need this kind of thinking to bring our country back. And believe me, my temperament is very good, very calm. But we will be respected outside of this country. We are not respected now. +p3002 +aVI never attacked him on his look, and believe me, there's plenty of subject matter right there. That I can tell you. +p3003 +aVI've actually been in politics all my life, although I've been on that side as opposed to this side. I'm now a politician for about three months. Obviously, I'm doing pretty well. I'm number one in every poll by a lot. But the qualification is that I've dealt with people all over the world, been successful all over the world. Everything I've done virtually has been a tremendous success. When markets changed, when things turned, I heard Governor Pataki, who, by the way, was a failed governor in New York, a very seriously failed \u2014 he wouldn't be elected dog catcher right now. I heard what he had to say. And I will tell you this: Atlantic City, I've made a tremendous amount of money in Atlantic City. I left seven years ago, I've gotten great credit for my timing, and that's what I'm all about. I'm a businessman, did really well, really well, and Jeb, what I want to do is put that ability into this country to make our country rich again. And I can do that, and I'm not sure that anybody else in the group will be able to do that. +p3004 +aVBut I have to say... +p3005 +aVWell, in Wisconsin... +p3006 +aVExcuse me. +p3007 +aVIn Wisconsin, you're losing $2.2 billion right now. +p3008 +aVI would do so much better than that. +p3009 +aVNo. +p3010 +aVI'm using facts. +p3011 +aVEvery major business leader has used the \u2014 I never went bankrupt, by the way, as you know, everybody knows. But we \u2014 hundreds of companies, hundreds of deals, I've used ???: ... into bankruptcy. That's what's wrong with politicians in Washington right now. They think we can take a country into bankruptcy. +p3012 +aVEvery major business leader, has used the \u2014 I never went bank bankrupt, by the way, as you know, everybody knows. But \u2014 hundreds of companies, hundreds of deals, I used the law four times and made a tremendous thing. I'm in business. I did a very good job. But I will say this, and people are very, very impressed with what I've done, the business people. But when the folks of Iowa found out the true facts of the job that you've done in Wisconsin, all of a sudden you, tubed (ph), he was No. 1 and now he's No. 6 or seven in the polls. So, look, we brought it out, you were supposed to make a billion dollars in the state. You lost 2.2 \u2014 you have right now, a huge budget deficit. That's not a Democratic point. That's a point. That's a fact. And when the people of Iowa found that out, I went to No. 1 and you went down the tubes. +p3013 +aVI didn't \u2014 +p3014 +aVTotally false. +p3015 +aVI would have gotten it. +p3016 +aVI promise I would have gotten it. +p3017 +aVI promise if I wanted it, I would have gotten it. +p3018 +aVI know my people. +p3019 +aVI know my people. +p3020 +aVNo. I just will tell you that, you know, Jeb made the statement. I'm not only referring to him. I \u2014 a lot of money was raised by a lot of different people that are standing up here. And the donors, the special interests, the lobbyists have very strong power over these people. I'm spending all of my money, I'm not spending \u2014 I'm not getting any \u2014 I turned down \u2014 I turn down so much, I could have right now from special interests and donors, I could have double and triple what he's got. I've turned it down. I turned down last week $5 million from somebody. So I will tell you I understand the game, I've been on the other side all of my life. And they have a lot of control over our politicians. And I don't say that favorably, and I'm not sure if there's another system, but I say this. I am not accepting any money from anybody. Nobody has control of me other than the people of this country. I'm going to do the right thing. +p3021 +aVThat's true. That's true. +p3022 +aVI was \u2014 excuse me, Jeb. +p3023 +aVI was a businessman, I got along with Clinton, I got along with everybody. That was my job, to get along with people. +p3024 +aVI didn't want to \u2014 excuse me. One second. +p3025 +aVOK, more energy tonight. I like that. Look \u2014 +p3026 +aVI didn't want \u2014 it was my obligation as a businessman to my family, to my company, to my employees, to get along with all politicians. I get along with all of them, and I did a damn good job in doing it. Go ahead. +p3027 +aVGot along with everybody. +p3028 +aVWrong. +p3029 +aVDon't make things up. Jeb, don't make things up. Come on. +p3030 +aVDon't make things up. +p3031 +aVSo, number one, they have to respect you. He has absolutely no respect for President Obama. Zero. Syria's a mess. You look at what's going on with +p3032 +aVI believe that I will get along \u2014 we will do \u2014 between that, Ukraine, all of the other problems, we won't have the kind of problems that our country has right now with Russia and many other nations. +p3033 +aVI wouldn't have drawn the line, but once he drew it, he had no choice but to go across. They do bear some responsibility, but I think he probably didn't do it, not for that reason. Somehow, he just doesn't have courage. There is something missing from our president. Had he crossed the line and really gone in with force, done something to Assad \u2014 if he had gone in with tremendous force, you wouldn't have millions of people displaced all over the world. +p3034 +aVThey had a responsibility, absolutely. I think we have three of them here... +p3035 +aVI think they had a responsibility, yes. +p3036 +aVJeb, just... +p3037 +aVI think it will haunt him. I think it's a terrible. I think it's going to haunt him absolutely. He came back later and he said he misspoke. There was no question because I heard when he said the statement. I was watching and he said the statement. And I said, wow, I can't believe it. I will take care of women. I respect women. I will take care of women. One thing we will say and I would like to get back to the Iran situation. We're talking about Iran. The agreement was terrible. It was incompetent. I've never seen anything like it. One of the worst contracts of any kind I've ever seen. And nobody ever mentions North Korea where you have this maniac sitting there and he actually has nuclear weapons and somebody better start thinking about North Korea and perhaps a couple of other places. But certainly North Korea. And Ted and I have spoken. We've \u2014 a lot of us have spoken. We're talking about Iran. They are bad actors, bad things are going to happen. But in the meantime, you have somebody right now in North Korea who has got nuclear weapons and who is saying almost every other week, I'm ready to use them. And we don't even mention it. +p3038 +aVSo why didn't you say it? Why didn't you say it? +p3039 +aVI know, but why did you say it? I heard it myself. Why did you say it? +p3040 +aVYou said you're going to cut funding for women's health. You said it. +p3041 +aVYou said it. +p3042 +aVI think she's got a beautiful face, and I think she's a beautiful woman. +p3043 +aVCorrect. First of all, I want to build a wall, a wall that works. So important, and it's a big part of it. Second of all, we have a lot of really bad dudes in this country from outside, and I think Chris knows that, maybe as well as anybody. They go, if I get elected, first day they're gone. Gangs all over the place. Chicago, Baltimore, no matter where you look. We have a country based on laws. I will make sure that those laws are adhered to. These are illegal immigrants. I don't think you'd even be asking this question if I didn't run because when I ran, and I brought this up, my opening remarks at Trump Tower, I took heat like nobody has taken heat in a long time. And, then they found out with the killing of Katie, from San Francisco, and so many other crimes, they found out that I was right. And, most people, many people, apologized to me. I don't think you'd even be talking about illegal immigration if it weren't for me. So, we have a country of laws, they're going to go out, and they'll come back if they deserve to come back. If they've had a bad record, if they've been arrested, if they've been in jail, they're never coming back. We're going to have a country again. Right now, we don't have a country, we don't have a border, and we're going to do something about it, and it can be done with proper management, and it can be done with heart. +p3044 +aV...By the way, I agree with \u2014 with what Chris is saying, but, I will say this. Illegal immigration is costing us more than $200 billion dollars a year just to maintain what we have. +p3045 +aVCorrect. +p3046 +aVWell, I have to tell you, I hear phenomenal things. I hear your wife is a lovely woman... +p3047 +aVI don't know her, and this is a total mischaracterization... +p3048 +aVGood. +p3049 +aVNo, I won't do that, because I've said nothing wrong. +p3050 +aVBut I do hear she's a lovely woman. +p3051 +aVJeb said... +p3052 +aV... that they come into our country as an act of love. With all of the problems we that we have, in so many instances \u2014 we have wonderful people coming in. But with all of the problems \u2014 this is not an act of love. He's weak on immigration \u2014 by the way, in favor of Common Core, which is also a disaster, but weak on immigration. He doesn't get my vote. +p3053 +aVNot with this intensity. +p3054 +aVAs I said, we are spending $200 billion \u2014 we are spending $200 billion a year on maintaining what we have. We will move them out. The great ones will come back, the good ones will come back. They'll be expedited, they'll be back, they'll come back legally. We'll have a country \u2014 they'll come back, legally. +p3055 +aVWell, I think it's wonderful and all, but I did it a little bit half-heartedly, but I do mean it to a large extent. We have a country, where, to assimilate, you have to speak English. And I think that where he was, and the way it came out didn't sound right to me. We have to have assimilation \u2014 to have a country, we have to have assimilation. I'm not the first one to say this, Dana. We've had many people over the years, for many, many years, saying the same thing. This is a country where we speak English, not Spanish. +p3056 +aVThis is a reporter, not a high school kid. +p3057 +aVWell, first of all, the \u2014 the 14th Amendment says very, very clearly to a lot of great legal scholars \u2014 not television scholars, but legal scholars \u2014 that it is wrong. It can be corrected with an act of Congress, probably doesn't even need that. A woman gets pregnant. She's nine months, she walks across the border, she has the baby in the United States, and we take care of the baby for 85 years. I don't think so. And by the way, Mexico and almost every other country anywhere in the world doesn't have that. We're the only ones dumb enough, stupid enough to have it. And people \u2014 and by the way, this is not just with respect to Mexico. They are coming from Asia to have babies here, and all of a sudden, we have to take care of the babies for the life of the baby. The 14th Amendment, it reads properly, you can go and \u2014 it's probably going to be have to be check \u2014 go through a process of court, probably ends up at the Supreme Court, but there are a lot of great legal scholars that say that is not correct. And in my opinion, it makes absolutely no \u2014 we're the only \u2014 one of the only countries, we're going to take care of those babies for 70, 75, 80, 90 years? I don't think so. +p3058 +aVI agree 100 percent, by the way, with Carly on the fact that the Democrats do not want to solve this problem, for the obvious reasons, but they do not. But I believe that a reading of the 14th Amendment allows you to have an interpretation where this is not legal and where it can't be done. I've seen both sides, but some of the greatest scholars agree with me, without having to go through Congress. If you do go through Congress, you can absolutely solve the problem. +p3059 +aVThat's true, sure. +p3060 +aVWell \u2014 +p3061 +aV\u2014 let me \u2014 well, let me just explain. The head of the Yale Business School, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, wrote a paper recently, one of the worst tenures for a CEO that he has ever seen, ranked one of the top 20 in the history of business. The company is a disaster and continues to be a disaster. They still haven't recovered. In fact, today, on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, they fired another 25 or 30,000 people saying we still haven't recovered from the catastrophe. When Carly says the revenues went up, that's because she bought Compaq, it was a terrible deal, and it really led to the destruction of the company. Now one other company before that was Lucent. Carly was at Lucent before that. And Lucent turned out to be a catastrophe also. So I only say this. She can't run any of my companies. That I can tell you. +p3062 +aVI never filed for bankruptcy. +p3063 +aVI'll tell you why; it's very simple. +p3064 +aVI'll tell you. I was running \u2014 +p3065 +aV\u2014 Carly, Carly \u2014 +p3066 +aV\u2014 I've made over $10 billion. I had a casino company \u2014 Caesars just filed for bankruptcy. Chris will tell you \u2014 it's not Chris' fault either \u2014 but almost everybody in Atlantic City is either in trouble or filed for \u2014 maybe I'll blame Chris. +p3067 +aVBut Atlantic City is a disaster \u2014 +p3068 +aVWait a minute, Carly. Wait. I let you speak. Atlantic City is a disaster, and I did great in Atlantic City. I knew when to get out. My timing was great. And I got a lot of credit for it. Many of the great business people that you know \u2014 and Carl Icon (ph) is going to work with me on making great deals for this country. But whether it's Carl or so many others that we read about all the time \u2014 +p3069 +aV\u2014 they have used the laws of the land, which is the \u2014 +p3070 +aV...Well, I'd like to respond, I'd like to respond... +p3071 +aVWell, I think the thing about the flat tax, I know it very well. What I don't like is that if you make $200 million a year, you pay ten percent, you're paying very little relatively to somebody that's making $50,000 a year, and has to hire H&R Block to do the \u2014 because it's so complicated. One thing I'll say to Ben is that we've had a graduated tax system for many years, so it's not a socialistic thing. What I'd like to do, and I'll be putting in the plan in about two weeks, and I think people are going to like it, it's a major reduction in taxes. It's a major reduction for the middle class. The hedge fund guys won't like me as much as they like me right now. I know them all, but they'll pay more. I know people that are making a tremendous amount of money and paying virtually no tax, and I think it's unfair. +p3072 +aVWell, I heard Hugh Hewitt, a nice man, he apologized because he actually said that we had a misunderstanding. And he said today that Donald Trump is maybe the best interview there is anywhere that he has ever done. Now unless he was just saying that on CNN to be nice, but he did say that... +p3073 +aVAnd we had a legitimate misunderstanding in terms of his pronunciation of a word. But I would say just... +p3074 +aVWell, I think it was. And he actually said that. Did you say that? +p3075 +aVOK. So I will say this, though, Hugh was giving me name after name, Arab name, Arab name, and there are few people anywhere, anywhere that would have known those names. I think he was reading them off a sheet. And frankly I will have \u2014 and I told him, I will have the finest team that anybody has put together and we will solve a lot of problems. You know, right now they know a lot and look at what is happening. The world is blowing up around us. We will have great teams and great people. +p3076 +aVI hope that answers your question. I mean, you are in the Senate, but I hope that answers your question. +p3077 +aVNo, I don't think he's suggesting that at all. I mean... +p3078 +aVI don't think he's suggesting that at all. +p3079 +aVWell, you have to understand, I am not sitting in the United States Senate with, by the way, the worst voting record there is today. Number one. I am not sitting in the United States Senate. I'm a businessman doing business transactions. +p3080 +aVI am doing business transactions. I will know more about this \u2014 and, as you said, that was very acceptable, and when you listen to that whole interview, it's a great interview, you said it, I didn't. Well, now I did. But... +p3081 +aVListen, just one second. Just one second. +p3082 +aVI will know... +p3083 +aV...I will know more about the problems of this world by the time I sit, and you look at what's going in this world right now by people that supposedly know, this world is a mess. +p3084 +aV +p3085 +aV I'm \u2014 and I'm meeting with people that are terrific people, but I have to say something because it's about judgment. I am the only person on this dais \u2014 the only person \u2014 that fought very, very hard against us (ph), and I wasn't a sitting politician going into Iraq, because I said going into Iraq \u2014 that was in 2003, you can check it out, check out \u2014 I'll give you 25 different stories. In fact, a delegation was sent to my office to see me because I was so vocal about it. I'm a very militaristic person, but you have to know when to use the military. I'm the only person up here that fought against going into Iraq. +p3086 +aVJust excuse me, one second, Rand... +p3087 +aVIf you don't mind, Rand \u2014 you know, you are on last \u2014 you do have your 1 percent. I would like \u2014 and I think it's very important. I think it's important, because it's about judgment. It's about judgment. I didn't want to go into Iraq, and I fought it, because what I said \u2014 what I said... +p3088 +aV... was you're going to \u2014 you're going to destabilize... +p3089 +aV... the Middle East, and that's what happened. +p3090 +aVIf you think about it... +p3091 +aVYour brother \u2014 and your brother's administration gave us Barack Obama, because it was such a disaster, those last three months, that Abraham Lincoln couldn't have been elected. +p3092 +aVI don't know. You feel safe right now? I don't feel so safe. +p3093 +aVOr the collapse of the economy. +p3094 +aVSpeaking for myself, I'm OK with it. I think there's a certain truth to it. I know people that, frankly, it has no impact on their life whatsoever. There are many people. I would almost say leave it up to them, but I would be willing to check it off, and say I will not get Social Security. I do not... +p3095 +aVAs a policy, I would almost leave it up to the people. Don't forget they pay in and they pay in, and maybe they do well, and maybe some people want it. But the fact is that there are people that truly don't need it, and there are many people that do need it very, very badly. And I would be willing to write mine off 100 percent, Dana. +p3096 +aVWell, I \u2014 I \u2014 I'd like to respond. +p3097 +aVI'd like to respond. +p3098 +aVAutism has become an epidemic. Twenty-five years ago, 35 years ago, you look at the statistics, not even close. It has gotten totally out of control. I am totally in favor of vaccines. But I want smaller doses over a longer period of time. Because you take a baby in \u2014 and I've seen it \u2014 and I've seen it, and I had my children taken care of over a long period of time, over a two or three year period of time. Same exact amount, but you take this little beautiful baby, and you pump \u2014 I mean, it looks just like it's meant for a horse, not for a child, and we've had so many instances, people that work for me. Just the other day, two years old, two and a half years old, a child, a beautiful child went to have the vaccine, and came back, and a week later got a tremendous fever, got very, very sick, now is autistic. I only say it's not \u2014 I'm in favor of vaccines, do them over a longer period of time, same amount. +p3099 +aVBut just in \u2014 in little sections. +p3100 +aVI think \u2014 and I think you're going to have \u2014 I think you're going to see a big impact on autism. +p3101 +aVAnd that's all I'm saying, Jake. That's all I'm saying. +p3102 +aVWell, because she's been sitting for three hours, I think my daughter, Ivanka, who's right here. +p3103 +aVOther than that we'll go with Rosa Parks. I like that. +p3104 +aVHumble. +p3105 +aVIf I become president, we will do something really special. We will make this country greater than ever before. We'll have more jobs. We'll have more of everything. We were discussing disease, we were discussing all sorts of things tonight, many of which will just be words, it will just pass on. I don't want to say politicians, all talk, no action. But a lot of what we talked about is words and it will be forgotten very quickly. If I'm president, many of the things that we discussed tonight will not be forgotten. We'll find solutions. And the world will respect us. They will respect us like never before. And it will be actually a friendlier world. And I have to say, it is a great honor to be here tonight. +p3106 +aVI fully understand. +p3107 +aVI fully understand. +p3108 +aVI cannot say. I have to respect the person that, if it's not me, the person that wins, if I do win, and I'm leading by quite a bit, that's what I want to do. I can totally make that pledge. If I'm the nominee, I will pledge I will not run as an independent. But -- and I am discussing it with everybody, but I'm, you know, talking about a lot of leverage. We want to win, and we will win. But I want to win as the Republican. I want to run as the Republican nominee. +p3109 +aVWell, I've given him plenty of money. +p3110 +aVI will not make the pledge at this time. +p3111 +aVOnly Rosie O'Donnell. +p3112 +aVThank you. +p3113 +aVYes, I'm sure it was. +p3114 +aVI think the big problem this country has is being politically correct. I've been challenged by so many people, and I don't frankly have time for total political correctness. And to be honest with you, this country doesn't have time either. This country is in big trouble. We don't win anymore. We lose to China. We lose to Mexico both in trade and at the border. We lose to everybody. And frankly, what I say, and oftentimes it's fun, it's kidding. We have a good time. What I say is what I say. And honestly Megyn, if you don't like it, I'm sorry. I've been very nice to you, although I could probably maybe not be, based on the way you have treated me. But I wouldn't do that. But you know what, we -- we need strength, we need energy, we need quickness and we need brain in this country to turn it around. That, I can tell you right now. +p3115 +aVSo, if it weren't for me, you wouldn't even be talking about illegal immigration, Chris. You wouldn't even be talking about it. This was not a subject that was on anybody's mind until I brought it up at my announcement. And I said, Mexico is sending. Except the reporters, because they're a very dishonest lot, generally speaking, in the world of politics, they didn't cover my statement the way I said it. The fact is, since then, many killings ,murders, crime, drugs pouring across the border, are money going out and the drugs coming in. And I said we need to build a wall, and it has to be built quickly. And I don't mind having a big beautiful door in that wall so that people can come into this country legally. But we need, Jeb, to build a wall, we need to keep illegals out. +p3116 +aVBorder Patrol, I was at the border last week. Border Patrol, people that I deal with, that I talk to, they say this is what's happening. Because our leaders are stupid. Our politicians are stupid. And the Mexican government is much smarter, much sharper, much more cunning. And they send the bad ones over because they don't want to pay for them. They don't want to take care of them. Why should they when the stupid leaders of the United States will do it for them? And that's what is happening whether you like it or not. +p3117 +aVA complete disaster, yes. +p3118 +aVCorrect. +p3119 +aVFirst of all, I'd like to just go back to one. In July of 2004, I came out strongly against the war with Iraq, because it was going to destabilize the Middle East. And I'm the only one on this stage that knew that and had the vision to say it. And that's exactly what happened. +p3120 +aVAnd the Middle East became totally destabilized. So I just want to say. As far as single payer, it works in Canada. It works incredibly well in Scotland. It could have worked in a different age, which is the age you're talking about here. What I'd like to see is a private system without the artificial lines around every state. I have a big company with thousands and thousands of employees. And if I'm negotiating in New York or in New Jersey or in California, I have like one bidder. Nobody can bid. You know why? Because the insurance companies are making a fortune because they have control of the politicians, of course, with the exception of the politicians on this stage. But they have total control of the politicians. They're making a fortune. Get rid of the artificial lines and you will have......yourself great plans. And then we have to take care of the people that can't take care of themselves. And I will do that through a different system. +p3121 +aVI'm not -- I'm not are -- I don't think you heard me. You're having a hard time tonight. +p3122 +aVYou'd better believe it. +p3123 +aVIf I ask them, if I need them, you know, most of the people on this stage I've given to, just so you understand, a lot of money. +p3124 +aVMany of them. +p3125 +aVNot much. +p3126 +aVBut I... +p3127 +aVI have good... +p3128 +aVGood. +p3129 +aVSounds good. Sounds good to me, Governor. I will tell you that our system is broken. I gave to many people, before this, before two months ago, I was a businessman. I give to everybody. When they call, I give. And do you know what? When I need something from them two years later, three years later, I call them, they are there for me. +p3130 +aVAnd that's a broken system. +p3131 +aVWell, I'll tell you what, with Hillary Clinton, I said be at my wedding and she came to my wedding. You know why? She didn't have a choice because I gave. I gave to a foundation that, frankly, that foundation is supposed to do good. I didn't know her money would be used on private jets going all over the world. It was. But... +p3132 +aVBecause I have used the laws of this country just like the greatest people that you read about every day in business have used the laws of this country, the chapter laws, to do a great job for my company, for myself, for my employees, for my family, et cetera. I have never gone bankrupt, by the way. I have never. But out of hundreds of deals... +p3133 +aVExcuse me. Excuse me. +p3134 +aVExcuse me, what am I saying? Out of hundreds of deals that I've done, hundreds, on four occasions I've taken advantage of the laws of this country, like other people. I'm not going to name their names because I'm not going to embarrass, but virtually every person that you read about on the front page of the business sections, they've used the law. The difference is, when somebody else uses those laws, nobody writes about it. When I use it, they say, "Trump, Trump, Trump." The fact is, I built a net worth of more than $10 billion. I have a great, great company. I employ thousands of people. And I'm very proud of the job I did. Again Chris, hundreds and hundreds of deals. Four times, I've taken advantage of the laws. And frankly, so has everybody else in my position. +p3135 +aVWell, I... +p3136 +aVLet me just tell you about the lenders. First of all, these lenders aren't babies. These are total killers. These are not the nice, sweet little people that you think, OK? You know, I mean you're living in a world of the make-believe, Chris, you want to know the truth. And I had the good sense to leave Atlantic City, which by the way, Caesars just went bankrupt. Every company, Chris can tell you, every company virtually in Atlantic City went bankrupt. Every company. And let me just tell you. I had the good sense, and I've gotten a lot of credit in the financial pages, seven years ago I left Atlantic City before it totally cratered, and I made a lot of money in Atlantic City, and I'm very proud of it. I want to tell you that. Very, very proud of it. +p3137 +aVAnd by the way, this country right now owes $19 trillion. And they need somebody like me to straighten out that mess. +p3138 +aVI don't think they like me very much. I'll tell you what. I've evolved on many issues over the years. And you know who else has? Is Ronald Reagan evolved on many issues. And I am pro-life. And if you look at the question, I was in business. They asked me a question as to pro-life or choice. And I said if you let it run, that I hate the concept of abortion. I hate the concept of abortion. And then since then, I've very much evolved. And what happened is friends of mine years ago were going to have a child, and it was going to be aborted. And it wasn't aborted. And that child today is a total superstar, a great, great child. And I saw that. And I saw other instances. And I am very, very proud to say that I am pro-life. As far as being a Republican is concerned, I come from a place, New York City, which is virtually, I mean, it is almost exclusively Democrat. And I have really started to see some of the negatives -- as an example, and I have a lot of liking for this man, but the last number of months of his brother's administration were a catastrophe. And unfortunately, those few months gave us President Obama. And you can't be happy about that. +p3139 +aVFirst of all, Jeb, I am very happy that you denied that, and I appreciate that very much. He is a true gentleman. He really is. One thing he did say, and I mean that. The one thing he did say about me, however, was my tone. And I also understand that. But when you have people that are cutting Christians' heads off, when you have a world that the border and at so many places, that it is medieval times, we've never -- it almost has to be as bad as it ever was in terms of the violence and the horror, we don't have time for tone. We have to go out and get the job done. +p3140 +aVI would be so different from what you have right now. Like, the polar opposite. We have a president who doesn't have a clue. I would say he's incompetent, but I don't want to do that because that's not nice. But if you look at the deals we make, whether it's the nuclear deal with 24 hour periods -- and by the way, before you get to the 24 hours, you have to go through a system. You look at Sgt. Bergdahl, we get Bergdahl, a traitor, and they get five of the big, great killers leaders that they want. We have people in Washington that don't know what they're doing. Now... I agree. Now, with Iran, we're making a deal, you would say, we want him. We want out our prisoners. We want all these things, and we don't get anything. We're giving them $150 billion dollars plus, they are going to be -- I'll tell you what, if Iran was a stock, you folks should go out and buy it right now because you'll quadruple -- this, what's happening in Iran, is a disgrace, and it's going to lead to destruction in large portions of the world. +p3141 +aVOur country is in serious trouble. We don't win anymore. We don't beat China in trade. We don't beat Japan, with their millions and millions of cars coming into this country, in trade. We can't beat Mexico, at the border or in trade. We can't do anything right. Our military has to be strengthened. Our vets have to be taken care of. We have to end Obamacare, and we have to make our country great again, and I will do that. Thank you. +p3142 +asVCHRISTIE +p3143 +(lp3144 +VWhat about Kasich? Can I introduce Kasich? +p3145 +aVSure. First, let's remember something. Every morning when a United States senator wakes up, they think about what kind of speech can I give or what kind of bill can I drop? Every morning, when I wake up, I think about what kind of problem do I need to solve for the people who actually elected me? It's a different experience, it's a much different experience. And the fact is, Marco, you shouldn't compare yourself to Joe Biden and you shouldn't say that that's what we're doing. Here is exactly what we're doing. You have not be involved in a consequential decision where you had to be held accountable. You just simply haven't. And the fact is \u2014 the fact when you talk about the Hezbollah Sanctions Act that you list as one of your accomplishments you just did, you weren't even there to vote for it. That's not leadership, that's truancy. And the fact is that what we need to do \u2014 what we need to have in this country is not to make the same mistake we made eight years ago. The fact is it does matter when you have to make decisions and be held accountable for them. It does matter when the challenges don't come on a list of a piece of paper of what to vote yes or no every day, but when the problems come in from the people that you serve. I like Marco Rubio, and he's a smart person and a good guy, but he simply does not have the experience to be president of the United States and make these decisions. We've watched it happen, everybody. For the last seven years, the people of New Hampshire are smart. Do not make the same mistake again. +p3146 +aVHold on one second. +p3147 +aVExcuse me... +p3148 +aVI think he mentioned me and my record in there, so I think I get a chance to respond. You see, everybody, I want the people at home to think about this. That's what Washington, D.C. Does. The drive-by shot at the beginning with incorrect and incomplete information and then the memorized 25-second speech that is exactly what his advisers gave him. See Marco \u2014 Marco, the thing is this. When you're president of the United States, when you're a governor of a state, the memorized 30-second speech where you talk about how great America is at the end of it doesn't solve one problem for one person. They expect you to plow the snow. They expect you to get the schools open. And when the worst natural disaster in your state's history hits you, they expect you to rebuild their state, which is what I've done. None of that stuff happens on the floor of the United States Senate. It's a fine job, I'm glad you ran for it, but it does not prepare you for president of the United States. +p3149 +aVThere it is. There it is. The memorized 25-second speech. There it is, everybody. +p3150 +aVYou know what the shame is \u2014 you know what the shame is, Marco? The shame is that you would actually criticize somebody for showing up to work, plowing the streets, getting the trains running back on time when you've never been responsible for that in your entire life. +p3151 +aVAnd the fact is, I went back, it got done and here's... +p3152 +aVOh, so \u2014 wait a second. Is that one of the skills you get as a United States senator ESP also? Because I don't think it is. +p3153 +aVIt gets very unruly when he gets off his talking points. +p3154 +aVLet's get something... +p3155 +aVNo. Let's make something very clear. I learned seven years as a federal prosecutor in dealing with types of situations like we're talking about in North Korea, where criminals take people hostage. You never pay ransom to the criminals. Ever. You never pay ransom to the criminals. Everyone out at home watching tonight understands that principle. And so, what you need to do is to engage in a much different way with these folks. They do not understand anything but toughness and strength, and we need to engage the Chinese to deal with the North Koreans, but we also need to make sure that they understand there's a commander-in-chief who will not pay ransom for any hostage. This president and his former secretary of State are for paying ransom for hostages. When do that, you endanger even more Americans around the world to be the subject of this type of hostage taking and illegal detention. You need a strong commander-in-chief who will look these folks in the eye and say, we will not put up with this and we will take whatever actions we need to take, not only to get our people home safely, but to swiftly and surely punish those who believe they can violate the law and violate American's sovereign rights to travel the world freely and safely. This is unacceptable. And this is why this president is so weak and why the secretary of State, who is embracing a third Barack Obama term, would be even weaker. +p3156 +aVYeah, David, I would just like you to listen, again, everybody. This is the difference between being a governor who actually has to be responsible for problems and not answering a question. The question was, "Did he fight for his legislation?" It's abundantly clear that he didn't. It's abundantly clear that he didn't fight for the legislation. When the teachers unions attacked me with $20 million of ads because I wanted to reform teacher tenure, I fought them and fought them and fought them and I won. When they didn't want \u2014 when people wanted to raise taxes in my state at Democratic legislature and threatened to close down the government, I told them, fine. Close down the government. I'll get in my cars, head to the governor's mansion, order a pizza, open a beer and watch the Mets. You can call me when the government reopens. And guess what they didn't do? They didn't pass a tax increase, because I vetoed it and they never closed the government because they knew I would fight for what I believed in. The fact of the matter is, a leader must fight for what they believe in. Not handicap it and say, well maybe since I can't win this one, I'll run. That's not what leadership is. That's what Congress is. +p3157 +aVGood evening. +p3158 +aVWell, he deserves credit for his record on jobs. He's done a very good job as governor of Ohio. Never said that John hasn't. He's done a very good job. But \u2014 but unfortunately, John's been so busy doing over stuff, he's using old statistics. That's OK. New Jersey had its best year of job growth in the last 15 years under five different governors this year in New Jersey. New Jersey cut spending over $2.3 billion and we have 10,000 fewer employees than we had when I walked in the door. John has a bigger government now and more employees than he had when he walked in the door. But all that doesn't matter. What really matters is this, that executive experience really matters. You heard this on the stage tonight. We've heard it said on the stage that President Obama knows exactly what he's doing. I'd like to ask all the veterans listening out there tonight, who are waiting in line for healthcare, who are literally dying because the Veterans Administration doesn't work, do you think Barack Obama knows what he's doing? I don't. And I'll tell you something. Anybody who evaluates him is knowing what he's doing and managing the government doesn't know how to manage a government themselves. And one last thing, David, which I think is really important. I listened to Senator Rubio's answer on his bill. He said his bill couldn't pass on the gang of eight. He acted as if he was somehow disembodied from the bill. It was his bill. He said this idea doesn't work. It was his idea. See, when you're a governor, you have to take responsibility for these things. You can't just act as if it happened out of nowhere. We have to take responsibility as executives. I take responsibility for my record in New Jersey. We've rebuilt the economy and rebuilt after the second-worst natural disaster in American history. I'm proud of my record. And by the way, I like Kasich's record, too. He's a good governor. +p3159 +aVDavid? Hey, David? David? Hey, David? I actually have experience with raising taxes on millionaires in my state. It was done. It was done by my predecessor. And I want everybody in the public who is in that 68 percent, I want to tell you the truth. You're wrong. And here is why you're wrong. After New Jersey raised taxes on millionaires, we lost, in the next four years, $70 billion in wealth left our state. It left our state to go where it would be treated more kindly. If the United States raised taxes any further, that money will leave the United States, as well. We won't have better jobs. Let New Jersey be the canary in the coal mine. It is a failed idea and a failed policy, it's class warfare. It happened in my state. I've stopped it from happening again. But we cannot do it. The 68 percent of the people are wrong about that, it will hurt the American economy. We tried it in New Jersey. Come take a look \u2014 it did not work. +p3160 +aVOf course I would. As a former United States attorney who spent seven years of my life fighting this on the streets of my state, I would do that. But we need to do more. And let me tell you what we've done in New Jersey, Josh. We are working with the folks in New Hampshire in their legislature right now to show them how we're helping to solve this problem in New Jersey. Not just for this campaign \u2014 three years ago, I proposed a law that we signed into effect, which said that anyone who was a non- violent, non-dealing, first-time drug offender no longer goes to prison in New Jersey. They go to mandatory, in-patient drug treatment. What has happened is, crime has gone down 20 percent in those years. The prison population has gone down 10 percent. We've now closed the state prison \u2014 closed a state prison, and we're turning it into a drug rehabilitation facility, so people can get the tools they need. Listen, everyone out there knows this in New Hampshire. This is a disease. It's not a moral failing, it's a disease. And we need to get people the treatment they need. And let me tell you why. Because I'm pro-life. And I'm pro life not just for the nine months in the womb, I'm pro-life for when they get out and it's a lot more complicated. Sixteen-year-old, heroin-addicted drug girl on the floor of the county lockup, I'm pro-life for her life. The 42-year-old lawyer who is taking Oxycontin and can't get out of bed and support his family \u2014 I'm pro-life for his life. Everyone of those lives is an individual gift from God. And the last thing is this. These efforts we've taken over the last three years, 2015 in New Jersey, for the first time in four years, drug overdose deaths have gone down, not up. I'll bring the same solutions to the country. +p3161 +aVYou bet I would. And the fact is that because I took strong action to make sure that anyone who was showing symptoms \u2014 remember what happened with that nurse. She was showing symptoms and coming back from a place that had the ebola virus active and she had been treating patients. This was not just some \u2014 like, we picked up her just for the heck of it, alright? We did it because she was showing symptoms, and the fact is that's the way we should make these decision. You make these decisions based upon the symptoms, the medicine, and the law. We quarantined her, she turned out to test negative ultimately after 48 hours, and we released her back to the State of Maine. But, I want to add something on the issue of mosques. Now, I'm the only one up here who's had a law enforcement background as a U.S. Attorney after September 11th. I went to mosques throughout my state to build bridges. To build bridges between our community in law enforcement so we can get intelligence and information from these folks. I've had the experience of working with them as Governor of New Jersey as well. We cannot mix the radical Islamic jihadist with everyday Muslim-Americans. New Jersey is the second largest Muslim- American population in America, of any state. These are good, law abiding, hard working people. What they need is our cooperation, and our understanding. They do not just need broadsides against them because of the religious faith they practice. +p3162 +aVMartha? +p3163 +aVCan I \u2014 can I be really \u2014 can I be really clear on this, because I am the father of two daughters. One of them is here tonight. What my wife and I have taught our daughters right from the beginning, that their sense of self-worth, their sense of value, their sense of what they want to do with their life comes not from the outside, but comes from within. And if a young woman in this country wants to go and fight to defend their country, she should be permitted to do so. Part of that also needs to be part of a greater effort in this country, and so there's no reason why one \u2014 young women should be discriminated against from registering for the selective service. The fact is, we need to be a party and a people that makes sure that our women in this country understand anything they can dream, anything that they want to aspire to, they can do. That's the way we raised our daughters and that's what we should aspire to as president for all of the women in our country. +p3164 +aVWell, I've been pretty helpful to the pro-life cause in one of the most pro-choice states in the union. I've stood up for the first time and now for the last six years we've de-funded Planned Parenthood, not talked about it like they do in Washington D.C. But for six years as governor, Planned Parenthood does not receive that funding from the state budget anymore; over $50 million worth of money that's been saved now, that is not going to do exactly what Hillary Clinton wants to have done and has advocated for. She believes that organization, which engages in the systematic murder of children in the womb, in order to maximize the value of their body parts for sale on the open market, is an acceptable position. Let me tell you something, I don't care if you are a millennial or whether you are in your 90s, no one is for that type of activity, unless you are the most radical type of extremist on this issue, like Senator Clinton and her party is on this issue. I'll say one other thing. The fact is, that I believe that if a woman has been raped, that is a birth and a pregnancy that she should be able to terminate. If she is the victim of incest \u2014 this is not a woman's choice. This is a woman being violated. And the fact is that we have always has believed, as has Ronald Reagan, that we have self-defense for women who have been raped and impregnated because of it, or the subject of incest and been impregnated for it. That woman should not have to deliver that child if they believe that violation is now an act of self-defense by terminating that pregnancy. HAM: Thank you, all. Back to you, David and Martha. +p3165 +aVDenver. +p3166 +aVThank you. I've spent the last 13 years of my life focused on one thing: serving the people who have given me the opportunity to serve them. Not about politics, not about partisanship, but putting the people of my state and our country first. I'm proud to have rebuild my state after Hurricane Sandy, and I'm incredibly proud to be on this stage tonight with these men asking for your vote. New Hampshire, I spent 70 days here with you. You've gotten to know my heart. My heart is to help you solve the problems of your state......and the problems of our nation. If you give me your vote on Tuesday I will do just that. +p3167 +aVThey're not wrong. But what's wrong is your premise in the question. You can do both. There is no reason why you can't stand for principles, go and fight for them and be able also, to have to get things done in government. You know, what people are frustrated about in Washington, D.C.., and I know the folks out there tonight are incredibly frustrated because what they see is a government that doesn't work for them. You know, for the 45-year-old construction worker out there, who is having a hard time making things meet. He's lost $4,000 in the last seven years in his income because of this administration. He doesn't want to hear the talk about politics Megyn and who is establishment and who is grassroots. And who's compromised and who is principled. What he wants is something to get done. And that's the difference between being a governor and having done that for the last six years in New Jersey and being someone who has never had to be responsible for any of those decisions. Barack Obama was never responsible for those decisions. Hillary Clinton has never been responsible for those kind of decisions where they were held accountable. I've been held accountable for six years as the governor of New Jersey and with a Democratic legislature, I've gotten conservative things done. That's exactly what I'll do as president of the United States. +p3168 +aVWell, let me say that I do believe that the vote on NSA made the country less safe. Well, let me tell you what the country should really be worried about. I watched that town hall meeting with the Democrats the other night, and I heard Hillary Clinton asked a direct question by an Iowan, and that's what Iowans like to do. They like to ask direct questions. And, they asked about her email situation. And, here's what she said to the American people. She did it for convenience. For her convenience. She put America's secrets at risk for her convenience. She put American intelligence officers at risk for her convenience. She put American strategy at risk for her convenience. Let me tell you who's not qualified to be President of the United States, Chris. Hillary Rodham Clinton did that to our country. She is not qualified to be President of the United States. The fact is what we need is someone on that stage who has been tested, who has been through it, who has made decisions, who has sit in the chair of consequence and can prosecute the case against Hillary Clinton on... ... that stage, and that is exactly what I am ready to do. +p3169 +aVTalk about what? I... +p3170 +aVWell, because you can do it without profiling, Megyn, when you do it on the facts. What those facts knew was that these folks had weapons. They knew that they were talking about trying to take our country and attack it. That's not profiling, that's law enforcement. And that's the difference between somebody who knows how to do this and somebody who's never done it before. +p3171 +aVThey knew they were talking about the issues of attacking people, Megyn. They knew that. +p3172 +aVListen, I think that what people should do is use their common sense. And the fact is, let law enforcement make those decisions. I've told people that from the time I was U.S. attorney 13 years ago. It's not for them to make those decisions about whether or not something is legal or illegal, or profiling or not. You see something that's suspicious, you call law enforcement and let law enforcement make those decisions. That's what should be done. That can be done. That can be done without profiling people. What that is, is just common sense. They thought something was wrong. And here's the problem in this country right now. The problem is that Barack Obama has made law enforcement the enemy, Hillary Clinton has made law enforcement the enemy. They're not supporting our law enforcement officers, it's making everybody nervous to get out of their cars, if you're a law enforcement officer. It's making... ... everybody nervous to get out of their cars if you're a law enforcement officer. It's making people in neighborhoods nervous to go to law enforcement. As president, I will support law enforcement and we'll stop radical terrorist attacks in this country by supporting our intelligence community and law enforcement community. +p3173 +aVYes. You want one? +p3174 +aVHow about one that I've done in New Jersey for the last six years. That's get rid of Planned Parenthood funding from the United States of America. +p3175 +aVBigger than that? Let me tell you something, when you see thousands upon thousands upon thousands of children being murdered in the womb, I can't think of anything better than that. +p3176 +aVMegyn? +p3177 +aVI want to ask the people of the audience. Like, I'm standing here, I \u2014 I watched the video of Senator Cruz. I watched the video of Senator Rubio. I heard what they said. And this is why you need to send someone from outside of Washington to Washington. I feel like... ... I feel like I need \u2014 I feel like I need a Washington to English dictionary converter, right? I mean, I heard what they both said, I saw it on the video. And the fact is this is what makes a difference when you're a governor. You can change your mind. Ted can change his mind. Marco can change his mind. It's perfectly legal in this country to change your mind. But when you're a governor, you have to admit it. You can't hide behind parliamentary tricks. That's the difference, and that's the kind of leader we need in the White House. Stop the Washington bull and let's get things done. +p3178 +aVSure, because there has been three different investigations and proven that I knew nothing. And the fact is that what I did do, what I did do from the beginning, Chris, as soon as I found out about it, I fired the people who were responsible. And that's what you expect from a leader. And, I'll tell you something else. I inherited a state in New Jersey that was downtrodden, and beaten by liberal democratic policies, high taxation, high regulation. And, this year, in 2015, New Jersey's had the best year of job growth that our state has ever had in the last 15 years. That's because we've put conservative policies in place. And, I'll tell you one other thing, you know why the Republican party will want to take a chance on me? Because they know that Hillary Clinton will never be prosecuted by this justice department, and they're going to want to put a former federal prosecutor on the stage to prosecute her next September. And, there is no one on this stage better prepared to prosecute the case against Hillary Clinton than I am. I will be ready. I will take her on, and when I take her on I guarantee you one thing, she will never get within 10 miles of the White House. The days for the Clintons in public housing are over. +p3179 +aVNo, what I said, Chris, was that the law needs to be followed. And that someone in that office has to do their job. So if Ms. Davis wanted to step aside and get rid of her ability to be able to do that, there should be someone else in that office who it didn't violate their conscience so they could follow the law of the state of Kentucky. I never said that Ms. Davis should either lose her job or that she had to do it. But what I did say was that the person who came in for the license needed to get it. And so if there's someone in that organization, and it turns out there was, who was willing to be able to do that, that's what we should do. But just as importantly, and I agree with what John said. You know, we all have our own individual interpretations of our faith. And here's the problem with what's going on around the world. The radical Islamic jihadists, what they want to do is impose their faith upon each and every one of us \u2014 every one of us. And the reason why this war against them is so important is that very basis of religious liberty. They want everyone in this country to follow their religious beliefs the way they do. They do not want us to exercise religious liberty. That's why as commander in chief, I will take on +p3180 +aVBret, let me tell you, this is another one of those places where Hillary Clinton has so much to answer for, and why she is completely unqualified to be commander in chief. In a previous Democratic debate, Martha Raddatz, three times, asked Hillary Clinton about the failure in Libya, a policy that she took credit for, and said, "what is your measure of responsibility, Madam Secretary, for the failure in Libya?" Three times, she refused to answer the question, because she refuses to be held accountable for anything that goes wrong. If it had gone right, believe me, she would have been running around to be able to take credit for it. Here's what I'd do. This is about the bigger, broader war against +p3181 +aVOn September 11, my wife was two blocks from the World Trade Center. When those buildings came down, she was trapped in her building and I didn't hear from her over six hours. We have three children, eight, five and one. And I had to confront the possibility of being a single parent. Terrorism in this country scares everyone. And the fact is that we need a commander-in- chief who not only understands how to protect us, but feels in here what it means to face the possibility of loss. I've faced it. I've prosecuted terrorists. I have made the decisions that need to be made as a governor to protect us and as president of the United States, no one will keep this country safer than I will. +p3182 +aVWell, Maria, I'm glad to have heard from you in the summary of that question about what's going on in the world. Because Tuesday night, I watched story time with Barack Obama. And I've got to tell you, it sounded like everything in the world was going amazing, you know? The fact is, there's a number of things that the next president is going to have to do to clean up this mess. The first thing is we have to strengthen our alliances around the world. And the best way to do that is to start talking to our allies again and having them be able to count on our word. Lots of people will say lots of different things about me in this campaign and others, but the one thing they've never said about me is that I'm misunderstood. And so when we talk to our allies and we give them our word, in a Christie administration, they know we're going to keep it. Next, we have to talk to our adversaries, and we have to make sure they understand the limits of our patience. And this president, given what Ted said right at the beginning, he's absolutely right. It's a \u2014 it's absolutely disgraceful that Secretary Kerry and others said in their response to what's going on in Iran that this was a good thing; it showed how the relationship was getting better. The president doesn't understand \u2014 and by the way, neither does Secretary Clinton \u2014 and here's my warning to everybody out in the audience tonight. If you're worried about the world being on fire, you're worried about how we're going to use our military, you're worried about strengthening our military and you're worried most of all about keeping your homes and your families safe and secure, you cannot give Hillary Clinton a third term of Barack Obama's leadership. I will not do that. If I'm the nominee, she won't get within 10 miles of the White House. +p3183 +aVMIlitary action, Maria, would be used when it was absolutely necessary to protect American lives and protect American interests around the world. We are not the world's policeman, but we need to stand up and be ready. And the problem, Maria, is that the military is not ready, either. We need to rebuild our military, and this president has let it diminish to a point where tinpot dictators like the mullahs in Iran are taking our Navy ships. It is disgraceful, and in a Christie administration, they would know much, much better than to do that. +p3184 +aVI stood on the stage and watched Marco in rather indignantly, look at Governor Bush and say, someone told you that because we're running for the same office, that criticizing me will get you to that office. It appears that the same someone who has been whispering in old Marco's ear too. So the indignation that you carry on, some of the stuff, you have to also own then. So let's set the facts straight. First of all, I didn't support Sonia Sotomayor. Secondly, I never wrote a check to Planned Parenthood. Third, if you look at my record as governor of New Jersey, I have vetoed a 50-caliber rifle ban. I have vetoed a reduction this clip size. I vetoed a statewide I.D. system for gun owners and I pardoned, six out-of-state folks who came through our state and were arrested for owning a gun legally in another state so they never have to face charges. And on Common Core, Common Core has been eliminated in New Jersey. So listen, this is the difference between being a governor and a senator. See when you're a senator, what you get to do is just talk and talk and talk. And you talk so much that nobody can ever keep up with what you're saying is accurate or not. When you're a governor, you're held accountable for everything you do. And the people of New Jersey, I've seen it. +p3185 +aVAnd the last piece is this. I like Marco too, and two years ago, he called me a conservative reformer that New Jersey needed. That was before he was running against me. Now that he is, he's changed his tune. I'm never going to change my tune. I like Marco Rubio. He's a good guy, a smart guy, and he would be a heck of a lot better president than Hillary Rodham Clinton would ever be. +p3186 +aVNo, absolutely not. The president wants to do things without working with his Congress, without working with the legislature, and without getting the consent of the American people. And the fact is that that's not a democracy. That's a dictatorship. And we need to very, very concerned about that. See, here's the thing. I don't think the founders put the Second Amendment as number two by accident. I don't think they dropped all the amendments into a hat and picked them out of a hat. I think they made the Second Amendment the second amendment because they thought it was just that important. The fact is in New Jersey, what we have done is to make it easier now to get a conceal and carry permit. We have made it easier to do that, not harder. And the way we've done it properly through regulatory action, not by signing unconstitutional executive orders. This guy is a petulant child. That's what he is. I mean, you know...... the fact is, Neil, let's think about \u2014 let's think about \u2014 and I want to maybe \u2014 I hope the president is watching tonight, because here's what I'd like to tell him. Mr. President, we're not against you. We're against your policies. When you became president, you had a Democratic Congress and a filibuster-proof Democratic Senate. You had only 21 Republican governors in this country. And now after seven years of your policies, we have the biggest majority we've had since the 1920s in the House; a Republican majority in the Senate; and 31 out of 50 Republican governors. The American people have rejected your agenda and now you're trying to go around it. That's not right. It's not constitutional. And we are going to kick your rear end out of the White House come this fall. +p3187 +aVMaria, you look at what this president and his secretary of state, Secretary of State Clinton, has done to get us in this spot. You think about it \u2014 this is the president who said, along with his secretary of state \u2014 drew a red line in Syria, said, if Assad uses chemical weapons against his people, that we're going to attack. He used chemical weapons, he's killed, now, over a quarter of a million of his own people, and this president has done nothing. In fact, he's done worse than nothing. This president \u2014 and, by the way, Secretary Clinton, who called Assad a reformer \u2014 she called Assad a reformer. Now, the fact is, what this president has done is invited Russia to play an even bigger role, bring in Vladimir Putin to negotiate getting those chemical weapons back from Assad, yet what do we have today? We have the Russians and the Iranians working together, not to fight +p3188 +aVNow Maria, listen. I said right from the beginning that we should take no Syrian refugees of any kind. And the reason I said that is because the FBI director told the American people, told Congress, that he could not guarantee he could vet them and it would be safe. That's the end of the conversation. I can tell you, after spending seven years as a former federal prosecutor, right after 9/11, dealing with this issue. Here's the way you need to deal with it. You can't just ban all Muslims. You have to ban radical Islamic jihadists. You have to ban the people who are trying to hurt us. The only way to figure that out is to go back to getting the intelligence community the funding and the tools that it needs to be able to keep America safe. And this summer, we didn't do that. We took it away from the NSA, it was a bad decision by the president. Bad by those in the Senate who voted for it and if I'm president, we'll make our intelligence community strong, and won't have to keep everybody out, we're just going to keep the bad folk out and make sure they don't harm us. +p3189 +aVWell, I'm glad you asked that, Maria. Here's \u2014 here's our plan. We've all been talking about tax reforms tonight, and paying for infrastructure is caught right up in tax reform. If you reform the corporate tax system in this country, which, as was mentioned before, is the highest rate in the world \u2014 and we double tax, as you know. And what that's led to over $2 trillion of American companies' monies that are being kept offshore, because they don't want to pay the second tax. And who can blame them? They pay tax once overseas. They don't want to pay 35 percent tax on the way back. So beside reforming that tax code, bringing it down to 25 percent and eliminating those special-interest loopholes that the lobbyists and the lawyers and the accountants have given \u2014 bring that rate down to 25 percent, but also, a one-time repatriation of that money. Bring the money \u2014 the $2 trillion \u2014 back to the United States. We'll tax it, that one time, at 8.75 percent, because 35 percent of zero is zero, but 8.75 percent of $2 trillion is a lot of money. And I would then dedicate that money to rebuilding infrastructure here in this country. It would not necessitate us raising any taxes. It would bring the money back into the United States to help build jobs by American companies and get our economy moving again, and growing as a higher rate, and it would rebuild those roads and bridges and tunnels that you were talking about. And \u2014 and \u2014 and the last piece of this, Maria, is this. You know, the fact is that this president has penalized corporations in America. He's penalized \u2014 and doesn't understand. In fact, what that hurts is hurt hardworking taxpayers. You've seen middle-class wages go backwards $3,700 during the Obama administration. That's wrong for hardworking taxpayers in this country. We'd rebuild infrastructure that would also create jobs in this country, and we'd work with the states to do it the right way, to do it more efficiently and more effectively. And remember this \u2014 I'm credible on this for this reason: Americans for Tax Reform says that I've vetoed more tax increases than any governor in American history. We don't need to raise taxes to get this done. We need to make the government run smarter and better, and reform this corporate tax system, bring that money back to the United States to build jobs and rebuild our infrastructure, and we need to use it also to protect our grid from terrorists. All of those things are important, and all those things would happen in a Christie administration. +p3190 +aVMaria, I'd like to interrupt this on the floor of the Senate to actually answer the question you asked, which was on entitlements. Do you remember that, everybody? This was a question on entitlements. And the reason \u2014 and the reason......no, you already had your chance, Marco, and you blew it. Here's the thing. The fact is, the reason why... +p3191 +aV... the fact is \u2014 the fact is the reason why that no one wants to answer entitlements up here is because it's hard. It's a hard problem. And I'm the only one up on this stage who back in April put forward a detailed entitlement reform plan that will save over $1 trillion, save Social Security, save Medicare, and avoid this \u2014 avoid what Hillary Rodham Clinton will do to you. Because what she will do is come in and she will raise Social Security taxes. Bernie Sanders has already said it. And she is just one or two more poll drops down from even moving further left than she's moved already to get to the left of Bernie on this. We have seniors out there who are scared to death because this Congress \u2014 this one that we have right now, just stole $150 billion from the Social Security retirement fund to give it to the Social Security disability fund. A Republican Congress did that. And the fact is it was wrong. And they consorted with Barack Obama to steal from Social Security. We need to reform Social Security. Mine is the only plan that saves over $1 trillion and that's why I'm answering your question. +p3192 +aVWell, first off, let's face it, the FBI director James Comey was a friend of mine who I worked with as U.S. Attorney of New Jersey. He was the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan. He said, "there's a chill wind blowing through law enforcement in this country." Here's why, the president of the United States and both his attorney's general, they give the benefit of the doubt to the criminal, not to the police officers. That's the truth of the matter and you see it every time with this president. Every time he's got a chance, going all the way back to \u2014 remember that Great Beer Summit he had after he messed up that time. This is a guy who just believes that law enforcement are the bad guys. Now, I for seven years was the U.S. Attorney of New Jersey. I worked hard with not only federal agents but with police officers and here's the problem, sanctuary cities is part of the problem in this country. That's where crime is happening in these cities where they don't enforce the immigration laws. And this president turns his back \u2014 this president doesn't enforce the marijuana laws in this country because he doesn't agree with them. And he allows states to go ahead and do whatever they want on a substance that's illegal. This president allows lawlessness throughout this country. Here's what I would do Neil, I would appoint an Attorney General and I would have one very brief conversation with that Attorney General. I'd say, "General, enforce the law against everyone justly, fairly, and aggressively. Make our streets safe again. Make our police officers proud of what they do but more important than that, let them know how proud we are of them." We do that, this country would be safe and secure again not only from criminals but from the terrorist who threaten us as well. I'm the only person on this stage who's done that and we will get it done as President of the United States. +p3193 +aVMaria, Neil, thank you for a great tonight. When I think about the folks who are out there at home tonight watching, and I think about what they had to watch this week \u2014 the spectacle they had to watch on the floor of the House of Representatives, with the president of the United States, who talked a fantasy land about the way they're feeling. They know that this country is not respected around the world anymore. They know that this country is pushing the middle class, the hardworking taxpayers, backwards, and they saw a president who doesn't understand their pain, and doesn't have any plan for getting away from it. I love this country. It's the most exceptional country the world has ever known. We need someone to fight for the people. We need a fighter for this country again. I've lived my whole life fighting \u2014 fighting for things that I believe in, fighting for justice and to protect people from crime and terrorism, fighting to stand up for folks who have not had enough and need an opportunity to get more, and to stand up and fight against the special interests. But here's the best way that we're going to make America much more exceptional: it is to make sure we put someone on that stage in September who will fight Hillary Clinton and make sure she never, ever gets in the White House again. I am the man who can bring us together to do that, and I ask for your vote. +p3194 +aVThank you Wolf. America has been betrayed. We've been betrayed by the leadership that Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton have provided to this country over the last number of years. Think about just what's happened today. The second largest school district in America in Los Angeles closed based on a threat. Think about the effect that, that's going to have on those children when they go back to school tomorrow wondering filled with anxiety to whether they're really going to be safe. Think about the mothers who will take those children tomorrow morning to the bus stop wondering whether their children will arrive back on that bus safe and sound. Think about the fathers of Los Angeles, who tomorrow will head off to work and wonder about the safety of their wives and their children. What is Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton done to this country? That the most basic responsibility of an administration is to protect the safety and security of the American people. I will tell you this, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I've fought terrorists and won and when we get back in the White House we will fight terrorists and win again and America will be safe. +p3195 +aVWolf, unfortunately, it's the new normal under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The fact is that if you listen to Hillary Clinton the other day, what she said to the American people was, as regards to +p3196 +aVListen, I want to talk to the audience at home for a second. If your eyes are glazing over like mine, this is what it's like to be on the floor of the United States Senate. I mean, endless debates about how many angels on the head of a pin from people who've never had to make a consequential decision in an executive position. The fact is, for seven years, I had to make these decisions after 9/11, make a decision about how to proceed forward with an investigation or how to pull back, whether you use certain actionable intelligence or whether not to. And yet they continue to debate about this bill and in the subcommittee and what \u2014 nobody in America cares about that. What they care about is, are we going to have a president who actually knows what they're doing to make these decisions? And for the seven years afterwards, New Jersey was threatened like no other region in this country and what we did was we took action within the constitution to make sure that law enforcement had all the information they needed. We prosecuted two of the biggest terrorism cases in the world and stopped Fort Dix from being attacked by six American radicalized Muslims from a Mosque in New Jersey because we worked with the Muslim American community to get intelligence and we used the Patriot Act to get other intelligence to make sure we did those cases. This is the difference between actually been a federal prosecutor, actually doing something, and not just spending your life as one of hundred debating it. Let's talk about how we do this, not about which bill, which one these guys like more. The American people don't care about that. +p3197 +aVWolf, you sit up here and you listen to this stuff, and you think that so many of these people have had so much to do in this national debate, they talk like they were bystanders. You know, we talk about our military being degraded over time, and yet we've had folks on this stage who've been a part of Congress who have participated in sequester; who participated in the degrading of this military over time. And that's why I think people get so frustrated with Washington, D.C. now. That's why they're so angry with the \u2014 the electorate is so angry with everybody who is involved in government in Washington, D.C. Because if you listen to the folks up here, you think that they weren't even there; they had nothing to do with this. This is a difference between being a governor and being in a legislature. See, because when something doesn't work in New Jersey, they look at me, say: "Why didn't it get done? Why didn't you do it?" You have to be responsible and accountable. And so on +p3198 +aVWell, I think we have to focus, Hugh, on exactly what the priorities are. And to me, what I've always said is that the president has set up an awful situation through his deal with Iran, because what his deal with Iran has done is empower them and enrich them. And that's the way +p3199 +aVNot only would I be prepared to do it, I would do it. A no-fly zone means a no-fly zone, Wolf. That's what it means. See, maybe \u2014 maybe because I'm from New Jersey, I just have this kind of plain language hangup. But I would make very clear \u2014 I would not talk to Vladimir Putin. In fact, I would talk to Vladimir Putin a lot. But I'd say to him, "Listen, Mr. President, there's a no-fly zone in Syria; you fly in, it applies to you." And yes, we would shoot down the planes of Russian pilots if in fact they were stupid enough to think that this president was the same feckless weakling that the president we have in the Oval Office is right now. +p3200 +aVWell, Wolf, I'll tell you what reckless is. What reckless is is calling Assad a reformer. What reckless is allowing Russia to come into Crimea and Ukraine. What reckless is is inviting Russia into Syria to team with Iran. That is reckless. And the reckless people are the folks in the White House right now. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are the reckless people. And if you think that a no-fly zone is a reckless policy, you're welcome to your opinion. But how is it working so far? As we have 250,000 Syrians murdered, slaughtered; millions running around the world, running for their lives. It's not working. We need to try something else. And that is not reckless. +p3201 +aVWhat I say to Carla is that the first job of the president of the United States is to protect your safety and your security and the security and safety of your family. And this debate stops with me in the discussions with the FBI director. Now, listen, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I know Jim Comey. We've worked together. He was the U.S. attorney in Manhattan when I was a U.S. attorney in New Jersey. And when Jim Comey gets up before Congress and says, we cannot effectively vet these people, for me as president, that's the end of the conversation. We have to put America's security first. The American people \u2014 we on this stage need to open our ears. We need to open our ears. The American people are not whispering to us. They are screaming to us. And they're screaming to us that it's our job to actually make this government work. It's so dysfunctional under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. It's so ineffective. It's so ineffectual that the American people say, we don't trust them to do anything anymore. So I'm not going to let Syrian refugees, any Syrian refugees in this country. And it was widows and orphans, by the way, and we now know from watching the San Bernardino attack that women can commit heinous, heinous acts against humanity just the same as men can do it. And so I don't back away from that position for a minute. When the FBI director tells me that he can vet those people, then we'll consider it and not a moment before because your safety and security is what's most important to me. +p3202 +aVWell, what it would like is, we have one of the great advantages of America being the open society that we are. It is, we are not hiding things from the American people, but China everyday is conducting business in a way that hides things from their people. So if they want to come in and attack all the personnel records in the federal government, which they've done, and which \u2014 they now have my Social Security number and my fingerprints, as well as maybe some other folks' who are on this stage. The fact is, they need to be fought back on. And what we need to do is go at the things that they are most sensitive and most embarrassing to them; that they're hiding; get that information and put it out in public. Let the Chinese people start to digest how corrupt the Chinese government is; how they steal from the Chinese people; and how they're enriching oligarchs all throughout China. They need to understand that. And we need to take those type of steps. This president has seen personnel records of people who have sacrificed for the American people and for the federal government stolen by the Chinese and he's done nothing in return. This is why \u2014 this is what I said at the beginning that this administration, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton through their foreign policy, have betrayed the American people, because the weakness they've displayed has led to Putin's incursions in the Middle East and in eastern Europe, and has led \u2014 has led to significant problems in the Middle East as well, and the death and murder of lots of folks. +p3203 +aVOn September 10th, 2001, I was named chief federal prosecutor in New Jersey and on September 11th, 2001, my wife and my brother who are in the audience tonight went through the World Trade Center and to their offices just blocks away from the Trade Center. I lost touch with them for six hours that day and prayed that they were alive. Luckily, they were sent home. But many of our friends and others in our neighborhood lost their lives that day. Terrorism \u2014 radical jihadist terrorism is not theoretical to me. It's real. And for seven years, I spent my life protecting our country against another one of those attacks. You won't have to worry when I'm President of the Untied States whether that can be done because I've already done it. I want the chance to do it again to protect you, your children and your families. If you give me the chance and give me your vote I will protect America from the wars that are being brought to our door step. +p3204 +aVI don't see a lot of weakness on this stage, quite frankly. Where I see the weakness is in those three people that are left on the Democratic stage. You know, I see a socialist, an isolationist and a pessimist. And for the sake of me, I can't figure out which one is which. But I will \u2014 but I will tell you this, the socialist says they're going to pay for everything and give you everything for free, except they don't say they're going to raise it through taxes to 90 percent to do it. The isolationist is the one who wants to continue to follow a foreign policy that has fewer democracies today than when Barack Obama came into office around the world. But I know who the pessimist is. It's Hillary Clinton. And you put me on that stage against her next September, she won't get within 10 miles of the White House. Take it to the bank. +p3205 +aVWell, I wish you would have asked that question years ago when they broke it. I mean, let me be honest with the people who are watching at home. The government has lied to you and they have stolen from you. They told you that your Social Security money is in a trust fund. All that's in that trust fund is a pile of IOUs for money they spent on something else a long time ago. And they've stolen from you because now they know they cannot pay these benefits and Social Security is going to be insolvent in seven to eight years. We're sitting up here talking about all these other things; 71 percent of federal spending today is on entitlements, and debt service. And, that's with zero percent interest rates. Now, I'm the only person that's put out a detailed plan on how to deal with entitlements. And we'll save a trillion dollars over the next 10 years. And, here's the difference between me and Hillary Clinton. What Hillary Clinton's going to say, and has said before is, she wants to raise Social Security taxes. Now, let me ask you a question everybody, and, this is for the guy, you know, who owns a landscaping business out there. If somebody's already stolen money from you, are you going to give them more? Or, are you going to deal with the problem by saying, I'm going to give people who've done well in this country less benefit on the backend. We need to get realistic about this. We're not \u2014 the American people \u2014 forget about anything else, they've already been lied to and stolen from. And... +p3206 +aV...I'm going to go to Washington to stop it... +p3207 +aV...The only way we're going to be morale, the only way we're going to keep our promise to seniors is start by following the first rule we should all follow, which is to look at them, treat them like adults, and tell them the truth. It isn't there anymore, Mike. They stole it. It got stolen from them. It's not theirs anymore. The government stole it, and spent it a long time ago... +p3208 +aVSo, let's stop fooling around about this, let's tell people the truth. For once, let's do that, and stop trying to give them some kind of fantasy that's never going to come true. +p3209 +aVYou bet they do. And if I were the prosecutor, that is exactly where they would be. The fact is that this Justice Department under this president has been a political Justice Department. It has been a Justice Department that decided that they want to pick who the winners and losers are. They like General Motors, so they give them a pass. They don't like somebody else like David Petraeus, they prosecute them and send a decorated general on to disgrace. It's a political Justice Department. And, Jim, you know full well that in the seven years I was U.S. attorney we went after pharmaceutical companies. We went after companies that were ripping off shareholders. We went after companies that were doing things that were against the law. And to expand on Mr. Carson's \u2014 or Dr. Carson's question, let's face it, we have laws already. We don't need newer (ph) laws. We don't need Hillary Clinton's price controls for \u2014 again, does anybody out there think that giving Washington, D.C., the opportunity to run the pharmaceutical industry is a good idea, given how well they have done running the government? So what we do, though, is, if there is somebody who is price- gouging, we have laws for prosecutors to take that on. Let's let a Justice Department \u2014 and I will make an attorney general who will enforce the law and make justice more than just a word. It will be a way of life. +p3210 +aVJohn, I'll tell you something. You want to talk about moral authority. Let's talk about something that happened this week in the news. You know, the FBI director, the president's appointed FBI director has said this week that because of a lack of support from politicians like the president of the United States, that police officers are afraid to get out of their cars; that they're afraid to enforce the law. And he says, the president's appointee, that crime is going up because of this. And when the president of the United States gets out to speak about it, does he support police officers? Does he stand up for law enforcement? No, he doesn't. I'll tell you this, the number one job of the president of the United States is to protect the safety and security of the American people. This president has failed, and when I'm in the Oval Office, police officers will know that they will have the support of the president of the Untied States. That's real moral authority that we need in the Oval Office. +p3211 +aVCarl, are we really talking about getting government involved in fantasy football? We have \u2014 wait a second, we have $19 trillion in debt. We have people out of work. We have +p3212 +aVWell, first off, what we don't do is do what Hillary Clinton and John Kerry and Barack Obama want us to do, which is their solution for everything, put more taxes on it, give more money to Washington, D.C., and then they will fix it. Well, there is no evidence that they can fix anything in Washington, D.C. +p3213 +aVWhat we should do is to be investing in all types of energy, John, all types of energy. I've laid out... +p3214 +aVNo, John. John, do you want me to answer or do you want to answer? How are we going to do this? Because, I've got to tell you the truth, even in New Jersey what you're doing is called rude. So... We've laid out a national energy plan that says that we should invest in all types of energy. I will tell you, you could win a bet at a bar tonight, since we're talking about fantasy football, if you ask who the top three states in America are that produce solar energy: California and Arizona are easy, but number three is New Jersey. Why? Because we work with the private sector to make solar energy affordable and available to businesses and individuals in our state. We need to make sure that we do everything across all kinds of energy: natural gas, oil, absolutely. But also where it's affordable, solar, wind in Iowa has become very affordable and it makes sense. That is the way we deal with global warming, climate change, or any of those problems, not through government intervention, not through government taxes, and for God's sake, don't send Washington another dime until they stop wasting the money they're already sending there. +p3215 +aVAnd \u2014 and \u2014 and I \u2014 you know, Ben is absolutely right in saying that what we don't need to do is to send more money to Washington, D.C. to fix this problem. And that's what you'll hear from Hillary Clinton \u2014 and I've already heard from her \u2014 is that, send more money in Social Security, send more money in Medicare taxes, send more money for Medicaid, and that's gonna solve the problem. What we know is we're living longer. That's a blessing. It's a blessing that we're living longer, so we have to increase the retirement age to reflect that blessing. We need to make sure that people understand, as Jeb said before, that if you've done extraordinarily well in this country, do you want them to take more out of your taxes now and think they're gonna give it back to you later? Or would you rather take less later on? +p3216 +aVI want to talk to the folks at home. I want to ask you: Are you fed up with how Washington taxes you? Are you fed up with how Washington wastes your money? Are you concerned like I am that the debt and deficits of Washington, D.C. are endangering America's future? I've got one more question for you then. Are you serious about this election? Because if you are, you need to elect someone who's deadly serious about changing this culture. I am deadly serious about changing this culture. I changed it in New Jersey. I'm deadly serious about doing this job the right way. I'm prepared. I'm tested. I'm ready. And I want to make this our government. For the people who say we can't do it, I say hell no, we can do it together. +p3217 +aVHi, my name is Chris Christie, and I'd like to you take the camera off me and put it on the audience because I'd like to ask all of you, how many of you, raise your hand, believe that in today's Barak Obama America your children will have a better life than you've had? You see? That's why I'm running for President. because leadership is not about me, it's about our country. And, what we talk about tonight, it's not about us, it's about the people in the audience tonight, because in seven short years this president has stripped away their trust, and their faith, and their belief that the next generation will have a better life. He's stolen that from us, and when I'm president, I'm going to take it back. +p3218 +aVWell, I know Ben wasn't talking about me, I'm sure he was talking about one of the other guys, not me. As far as being an outsider is concerned \u2014 as far as being an outsider is concerned, let me tell you this, Jake, I'm a Republican in New Jersey. I wake up every morning as an outsider. I wake up every morning with a Democratic legislature who trying to beat my head in and fight me because I'm trying to bring conservative change to a state that needed it desperately. And so, everyone can talk us here about their credentials. But the bottom line is, every morning I get up, I veto 400 bills from a crazy liberal Democratic legislature, not one of them has been overridden. I've vetoed more tax increases than any governor in American history, according to Americans for Tax Reform. What folks want in this country is somebody to go down there and get the job done. And that's exactly what I'll do. So, I know this much, that what the American people want to hire right now is somebody who believes in them. And believes that they are the ones who can fix our country. I will be the vessel through which they can fix this country, but it's not about me. It's about all of you. And getting this government off your back and out of your way, and letting you succeed. I know Ben wasn't talking about me. +p3219 +aVLook at him smiling at me right now. I know Ben didn't mean it about me. One of these other guys, I'm sure. +p3220 +aVBe honest, Ben, be honest. +p3221 +aVSee, Jake, it wasn't me. +p3222 +aVI was \u2014 +p3223 +aVShe is, and so if she, based on conscience, can't sign that \u2014 that marriage license, then there should be someone in her office to be able to do it, and if the law needs to be changed in the state of Kentucky, which is what she's advocating, it should be changed. +p3224 +aVAnd why don't we do the same thing with Planned Parenthood? +p3225 +aVWe elected a Republican Congress to do this. And they should be doing it, and they're not. And they're giving the president a pass. +p3226 +aVI put it in the list, Dana. We should be doing these things and forcing the president to take action. +p3227 +aVLet's force him to do what he says he's going to do. Now I don't know whether he'll do it or not, but let's force him to do it. +p3228 +aVFirst of, Jake, I don't yield to anybody on how to enforce the law. I'm the only person on this stage who spent seven years as a United States Attorney after September 11th, and I know how to do this. The fact is though that for 15,000 people a day to be deported every day for two years is an undertaking that almost none of us could accomplish given the current levels of funding, and the current number of law enforcement officers. Here's what we need to do, and I think this is where Donald is absolutely right. What we need to do is to secure our border, and we need to do it with more than just a wall. We need to use electronics, we need to use drones, we need to use FBI, DEA, and ATF, and yes, we need to take the fingerprint of every person who comes into this country on a visa, and when they overstay their visa, we need to tap them on the shoulder, and say, "You have overstayed your welcome, you're taking advantage of the American people. It's time for you to go." If we had that kind of system in place, we wouldn't have the 11 million people we have now. +p3229 +aVJake listen. While I'm as entertained as anyone by this personal back-and-forth about the history of Donald and Carly's career, for the 55-year-old construction worker out in that audience tonight who doesn't have a job, who can't fund his child's education, I've got to tell you the truth. They could care less about your careers, they care about theirs. Let's start talking about that on this stage and stop playing \u2014 and stop playing the games. Stop playing \u2014 +p3230 +aVJohn \u2014 I'm not done yet, John. +p3231 +aVStop \u2014 and stop playing \u2014 and Carly \u2014 Carly, listen. You can interrupt everybody else on this stage, you're not going to interrupt me, OK? The fact is that we don't want to hear about your careers, back and forth and volleying back and forth about who did well and who did poorly. You're both successful people. Congratulations. You know who's not successful? The middle class in this country who's getting plowed over by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Let's start talking about those issues tonight and stop this childish back-and-forth between the two of you. +p3232 +aVListen, you know, Hugh, it's an important point. And the question is, who is going to prosecute Hillary Clinton? The Obama White House seems to have in interest, the Justice Department seems to have no interest. I think it's time to put a former federal prosecutor on the same stage as Hillary Clinton. And I will prosecute her during those debates on that stage for the record we're talking about here. The fact she had a private email server in her basement, using national security secrets running through it, could have been hacked by the Russians, the Chinese, or two 18-year-olds on a toot (ph) wanting to have some fun. No one is answering that question from the Hillary Clinton campaign... +p3233 +aVYou know why? Because she knows she's wrong, and she cannot look in the mirror at herself, and she cannot tell the American people the truth. +p3234 +aVWell, Jake, I was named U.S. attorney by President Bush on September 10th, 2001. And that next day my wife Mary Pat did what she did every day, she traveled through the World Trade Center and went to her office two blocks from the World Trade Center. And after those planes hit, for five-and-a-half-hours after that, I couldn't reach her, didn't know whether she was dead or alive, and we had three children at the time, 8, 5 and 1. And I had to confront what so many thousands of others in my region had to confront, the idea I might become a single parent, the idea that my life and my children's life might be changed forever. We lost friends that day. We went to the funerals. And I will tell you that what those people wanted and what they deserved was for America to answer back against what had been done to them. And I support what President Bush did at that time, going into Afghanistan, hunting al Qaeda and its leaders, getting its sanctuary out of place, and making it as difficult around the world for them to move people and money. And then he went to prosecutors like us, and he said, never again. Don't prosecute these people after the crime is committed. Intervene before the crime happens. I absolutely believe that what the president did at the time was right. And I am proud to have been one of the people on the stage who was part of making sure that what Governor Bush said before was the truth. America was safe for those seven years and Barack Obama has taken that safety away from us. +p3235 +aVLet me say this, Jake, is that while that may have been a fine idea that Dr. Carson had, these people were out to kill us. I stood in that region with my family, and every time a plane went overhead in the weeks after that, people's heads jerked to the sky because they thought it was happening again. You do not need to go through subtle diplomacy at that point. That could be handled later on. What you need is a strong American leader who will take the steps that are necessary to protect our nation. That's what I would do as commander-in-chief in this circumstance. And that's what President George W. Bush did in 2001. +p3236 +aVJake, you brought my issue up. +p3237 +aVYou know, I enjoy the interplay. Thank you, gentlemen. I'll just say this, first off, New Jersey is the first state in the nation that now says if you are non-violent, non-dealing drug user, that you don't go to jail for your first offense. You go to mandatory treatment. You see, Jake, I'm pro-life. And I think you need to be pro-life for more than just the time in the womb. It gets tougher when they get out of the womb. And when they're the 16-year-old drug addict in the Florida county lockup, that life is just as precious as the life in the womb. And so, that's why I'm for rehabilitation, why I think the war on drugs has been a failure. But I'll end with this. That doesn't mean we should be legalizing gate way drugs. And if Senator Paul thinks that the only victim is the person, look at the decrease in productivity, look at the way people get used and move on to other drugs when they use marijuana as a gateway drug, it is not them that are the only victims. Their families are the victims too, their children are the victims too, and their employers are the victims also. That's why I'll enforce the federal law, while you can still put an emphasis on rehabilitation, which we've done in New Jersey. +p3238 +aVAnd Senator Paul knows that that's simply not the truth. In New Jersey, we have medical marijuana laws, which I supported and implemented. This is not medical marijuana. There's goes as much \u2014 a further step beyond. This is recreational use of marijuana. This is much different. And so, while he would like to use a sympathetic story to back up his point, it doesn't work. I'm not against medical marijuana. We do it in New Jersey. But I'm against the recreational use against marijuana. If he wants to change the federal law, get Congress to pass the law to change it, and get a president to sign it. +p3239 +aVNo, it's not. But with Donald, it's a good start. That's really good. No, listen. This is an issue that \u2014 that we've gotta talk about, and we haven't talked about yet. 71 percent of all federal spending is on entitlements and debt service. When John Kennedy was elected president in 1960, it was 26 percent. Harvard and Dartmouth says that Social Security's going to go insolvent in seven to eight years. So what I say is very simple. We need to save this program for the good people out there who have paid into the system and need it. And if that means making sure that folks like Donald and many of us on the stage don't get it, that's the right thing to do because here's what Hillary Clinton is going to want to do. She's going to want to put more money into a system that has already lied to us and stolen from us. This government doesn't need more money to make Social Security solvent. We need to be not paying out benefits to people who don't really need it. We need to protect the people who Social Security means the difference between picking between heat and rent and food. That's why I put out the proposal and that's the people I'm trying to... +p3240 +aVI don't think Senator Rubio is a skeptic of climate change. I think what Senator Rubio said I agree with. That in fact we don't need this massive government intervention to deal with the problem. Look at what we have done in New Jersey. We have already reached our clean air goals for 2020. And when I was governor, I pulled out of the regional cap and trade deal, the only state in the Northeast that did that. And we still reached our goals. Why? Because 53 percent of our electricity comes from nuclear. We use natural gas. We use solar power. We're the third-highest- using solar power state. You know why? Because we made all of those things economically feasible. I agree with Marco. We shouldn't be destroying our economy in order to chase some wild left-wing idea that somehow us by ourselves is going to fix the climate. We can contribute to that and be economically sound. We have proven we can do that in New Jersey. Nuclear needs to be back on the table in a significant way in this country if we want to go after this problem. +p3241 +aVI understand. No, no, listen, everybody makes a mistake every once in a while, Jake, even George Shultz. And if that's truly a representation of what he believes we should be doing, then with all due respect to the former secretary of state, I disagree with him. +p3242 +aVI think the Adams family has been shorted in the currency business. Our country wouldn't be here without John Adams, and he would not have been able to do it without Abigal Adams, so, I'd put Abigail Adams on the bill. +p3243 +aVYou know, I've been called a lot of names by a lot of different people, and now I got to get called by names by the Secret Service? I would just say True Heart. +p3244 +aVI turned 18 in 1980, and my first vote was for Ronald Reagan. Boy, am I glad I did it. And I think the country is, too. A Christie presidency won't be about me. It will be about you. Tonight, you sit at home in your living room, frustrated that you play by the rules, you pay the taxes, you do the hard things to raise your family, yet you feel like America's generosity is being taken advantage of. That you've been \u2014 system is being gamed, and that you're turning out to fall further and further behind. Our presidency \u2014 our presidency \u2014 will be about ending that, about enforcing the law, level the playing field for everybody, and once again reward those folks who play by the rules, and think that justice means more than just the word. But it means a way of life. And I will tell you this, around the world, I will not shake hands with, I will not meet with, and I will not agree to anything with a country that says death to us and death to Israel and holds our hostages while we sign agreements with them. It will be an America that be strong and resolute, and will once again be able to stick out its chest and say, "we truly are the greatest nation in the world, because we live our lives that way, each and every day." +p3245 +aVIf you think it's bad now, you should've seen it when I got there. The fact is -- the fact is, in the eight years before I became governor, taxes and fees were raised at the state level 115 times. In the eight years before I became governor, spending was increased 56 percent. And in the eight years before I become governor, taxes and fees were raised at the state level 115 times. In the eight years before I became Governor, spending was increased 56 percent, and in the eight years before I became governor, there was zero net private sector job growth in New Jersey. Zero. For eight years. So, what did we do? We came in, we balanced an $11 billion deficit on a $29 billion budget by cutting over 800 programs in the state budget. We brought the budget into balance with no tax increases. In fact, we vetoed five income tax increases during my time as governor. We cut business taxes $2.3 billion, and we cut regulation by one-third of what my predecessor put in place. And, what's happened since? A hundred ninety-two thousand private sector jobs in the five and a half years I've been governor. We have a lot of work to do in New Jersey, but I am darn proud we've brought our state back. +p3246 +aVYes, I do. And I'll tell you why: because I'm the only person on this stage who's actually filed applications under the Patriot Act, who has gone before the federal -- the Foreign Intelligence Service court, who has prosecuted and investigated and jailed terrorists in this country after September 11th. I was appointed U.S. attorney by President Bush on September 10th, 2001, and the world changed enormously the next day, and that happened in my state. This is not theoretical to me. I went to the funerals. We lost friends of ours in the Trade Center that day. My own wife was two blocks from the Trade Center that day, at her office, having gone through it that morning. When you actually have to be responsible for doing this, you can do it, and we did it, for seven years in my office, respecting civil liberties and protecting the homeland. And I will make no apologies, ever, for protecting the lives and the safety of the American people. We have to give more tools to our folks to be able to do that, not fewer, and then trust those people and oversee them to do it the right way. As president, that is exactly what I'll do. +p3247 +aVAnd -- and, Megyn? Megyn, that's a -- that, you know, that's a completely ridiculous answer. "I want to collect more records from terrorists, but less records from other people." How are you supposed to know, Megyn? +p3248 +aVWhat are you supposed to... +p3249 +aV...how are you supposed to -- no, I'll tell you how you, look... +p3250 +aVLet me tell you something, you go... +p3251 +aVWhen you -- you know, senator... +p3252 +aVListen, senator, you know, when you're sitting in a subcommittee, just blowing hot air about this, you can say things like that. When you're responsible for protecting the lives of the American people, then what you need to do is to make sure... +p3253 +aV...is to make sure that you use the system the way it's supposed to work. +p3254 +aVThere is no... +p3255 +aVAnd you know -- you know, Senator Paul? Senator Paul, you know, the hugs that I remember are the hugs that I gave to the families who lost their people on September 11th. Those are the hugs I remember, and those had nothing to do -- and those had nothing to do with politics, unlike what you're doing by cutting speeches on the floor of the Senate, then putting them on the Internet within half an hour to raise money for your campaign... +p3256 +aV...and while still putting our country at risk. +p3257 +aVYou know what, Megyn, can I... +p3258 +aVNo, he's not lying, he's just wrong. I mean, so, there's a difference -- I'm the only guy on this stage who's put out a detailed, 12 point plan on entitlement reform and here's why -- because 71% of federal spending right now is on entitlements, and debt service, 71%. And we have spent the last hour and five minutes talking about the other 29%, and no time on the 71%, and that makes no sense. Now, let me tell you exactly what we would do on Social Security. Yes, we'd raise the retirement age two years, and phase it in over 25 years, that means we'd raise it one month a year for 25 years when we're all living longer, and living better lives. Secondly, we would means test Social Security for those who are making over $200,000 dollars a year in retirement income, and have $4 to $5 million dollars in liquid assets saved. They don't need that Social Security check. Social Security is meant to be -- to make sure that no one who's worked hard, and played by the rules, and paid into the system grows old in poverty in America. If we don't deal with this problem, it will bankrupt our country, or lead to massive tax increases, neither one that we want in this country. +p3259 +aVChris... +p3260 +aVYeah, sure. And, I don't disagree with ending Congress' retirement program. I'm a governor, I don't have a retirement program in my state, and I don't disagree with that. But, here's the news to the American people, he's complaining about the lying and stealing. The lying and stealing has already occurred. The trust fund is filled with IOU's. We can't fix the problem just by ending Congress's retirement, that's worth about, "this" much. We need to go at the fundamental problem, and the fundamental problem is that this system is broken. It has been stolen from. We have been lied to, and we need a strong leader to tell the truth and fix... +p3261 +aVWell, listen. You know, if we want to deal with these issues, we have to deal with them in a way that makes sense. I agree with what Dr. Carson said earlier. The first thing we need to do to make America stronger is to strengthen our military, and I put out a really specific plan: no less than 500,000 active duty soldiers in the Army. No less than 185,000 active duty marines in the Marine Corps. Bring us to a 350 ship Navy again, and modernize the Ohio class of submarines, and bring our Air Force back to 2,600 aircraft that are ready to go. Those are the kind of things that are going to send a clear message around the world. Those are the things that we need to start working on immediately to make our country stronger and make it better. Those are the things that we need to be able to be doing. And as we move towards dealing with foreign aid, I don't disagree with Senator Paul's position that we shouldn't be funding our enemies. But I absolutely believe that Israel is a priority to be able to fund and keep them strong and safe after eight years of this administration. +p3262 +aVWell, thank you, Megyn. Listen, I was born into a middle class family in New Jersey. My dad came home from serving in the Army after having lost his father, worked in the Breyers ice cream plant in Newark, New Jersey. Was the first person to graduate from college. He put himself through college at night. My mom was a secretary. I was appointed United States attorney on September 10, 2001. And I spent the next seven years of my career fighting terrorism and putting terrorists in jail. I'm a conservative, pro-life governor in a state where it is really tough to be both. A state like New Jersey, with lots of Democrats, but still we cut taxes, we balanced budgets. We fought the teacher's union. This president has had weak leadership, which has led to bad choices. We have got to stop worrying about being loved and start worrying about being respected. And that's exactly how I'll lead our country. +p3263 +asVCARSON +p3264 +(lp3265 +VWell, the current Constitution actually doesn't address that particular situation, but the fact of the matter is the Supreme Court, obviously, is a very important part of our governmental system. And when our Constitution was put in place, the average age of death was under 50, and therefore the whole concept of lifetime appointments for Supreme Court judges and federal judges was not considered to be a big deal. Obviously, that has changed, and it's something that probably needs to be looked at pretty carefully at some point. But, we need to start thinking about the divisiveness that is going on in our country. I looked at some of the remarks that people made after finding out that Justice Scalia had died, and they were truly nasty remarks. And that we have managed to get to that position in our country is truly a shame. And we should be thinking about how we could create some healing in this land. But, right now, we're not going to get healing with President Obama. That's very United Nations clear. So, I...... fully agree that we should not allow a judge to be appointed during his time. +p3266 +aVNo, it isn't. First of all, let me go back to your first question for me. It wasn't phrased as who gets to nominate Supreme Court appointees. Of course that's the president. So I know that there are some left-wing media who would try to make hay on that. Secondly, thank you for including me in the debate. Two questions already. This is great. Now, as far......as far as those 2 a.m. phone calls are concerned, judgment is what is required. And the kinds of things that you come up with are sometimes very, very difficult and very unique. One of the things that I was known for is doing things that have not been done before. So no amount of experience really prepares you to do something that has never been done before. That's where judgment comes in. And that, I think, is a situation that we're in right now, a situation that we have never been in before with the kinds of threats that pose real danger to our nation, and it comes in very handy in those situations. +p3267 +aVWell, first of all, let me just address the Iraq question. You know, I was not particularly in favor of us going to war in Iraq, primarily because I have studied, you know, the Middle East, recognizing that those are nations that are ruled by dictators and have been for thousands of years. And when you go in and you remove one of those dictators, unless you have an appropriate plan for replacing them, you're going to have chaos. Now, fortunately, we were able to stabilize the situation, and it was the current administration that turned tail and ran and destabilized the situation. Now, having said that, in terms of the rules of engagement, I was talking about, you know, Obama has said, you know, we shouldn't bomb tankers, you know, coming out of refineries because there may be people in there, or because the environment may be hurt. You know, that's just asinine thinking. And the fact of the matter is... You know, we \u2014 obviously, you're not going to accomplish all of your goals without some collateral damage. You have to be able to assess what is acceptable and what is not. +p3268 +aVWell, first of all, let me just mention on the tax issue. Bencarson.com, go read about it, because my tax plan has been praised by Cato, by Wall Street Journal. Forbes said it is the best, the most pro-growth tax plan, and it's based on real fairness for everybody. Starts at the 150 percent poverty level, but even the people below that have to pay something, because everybody has to have skin in the game, and the millions of people can't, you know, talk about what other people have to pay and have no skin in the game. And it deals with corporate tax rate, and makes it the same as everybody else......everybody pays exactly the same. +p3269 +aV... And, as far as Medicare and Medicaid, my main goal is to get rid of Obamacare and put the care back in the hands of ... +p3270 +aVWell, first of all, please go to my website, bencarson.com, and read my immigration policy, O.K.? Because it actually makes sense. Now, the \u2014 as far as these fines are concerned, you know? Here's the big problem. We've got all these government regulators, and all they're doing is running around looking for people to fine. And we've got 645 different federal agencies and sub-agencies. Way, way too many, and they don't have anything else to do. I think what we really need to do is start trimming the regulatory agencies rather than going after the people who are trying to increase the viability, economic viability of our society. Now, that doesn't mean there aren't some people out there who are doing bad things. But I'm not sure that the way to solve that problem is by increasing all the regulatory burden. You know, when you consider how much regulations cost us each year, you know? $2 trillion dollars per family, $24,000 per family, that happens to be the same level as the poverty level...... for a family of four. If you want to get rid of poverty, get rid of all the regulations. +p3271 +aVBefore you ask the question, can I respond to the \u2014 you know, they mentioned my name a couple of times. +p3272 +aVAll right. Well, first of all, you know, so many people have said to me, "You need to scream and jump and down \u2014 jump up and down like everybody else." Is that really what you want? What we just saw? I don't think so. And you know, I \u2014 when I got into this race, I decided to look under the hood of the engine of what runs Washington, D.C., and my first inclination was to run away, but I didn't do it because I'm thinking about our children and the fact that we are the United States of America. And anybody up here is going to be much better than what's going to come on the other side. And what happened tonight with \u2014 with Justice Scalia tells you that we cannot afford to lose this election, and we cannot be tearing each other down. +p3273 +aVWell, first of all, I'm not a politician, so I'm never going to become a politician. But here's what \u2014 here's what people need to know. People need to know that free college is not \u2014 it's a non-starter. You know, you have to look at our economic situation. We're on the verge of economic collapse and, you know, we're \u2014 it's not just the $19 trillion, but it's also the $200 trillion in unfunded liabilities. What we need to think about is, what does that do to the average person? When we have a debt of that nature, it causes the Fed to change their policy, it causes the central bank to keep the \u2014 the rates low, and who does does that affect? Mr. Average, who used to go to the bank every Friday and put part of his check in the bank and watch it grow over three decades and be able to retire with a nice nest egg, that's gone. That part of the American dream is gone. All of these things are disappearing, and Bernie Sanders and people like Hillary Clinton blame it on the rich. They say those evil rich people, if we take their money we can solve the problem. It's not the evil rich people. It's the irresponsible, evil government. +p3274 +aVThis is the first generation not expected to do better than their parents. Some people say it's the new normal, but there's nothing normal about it in an exceptional American. I, like you, am a member of we, the people, and we know that our country is heading off the cliff. Joseph Stalin said if you want to bring America down you, have to undermine three things: our spiritual life, our patriotism and our morality. We, the people, can stop that decline, starting right here in South Carolina. If all the people who say, "I love Ben Carson and his policies, but he can't win," vote for me, not only can we win, but we can turn this thing around. You know, we have this manipulation by the political class and by the media telling us who we're supposed to pick and how we're supposed to live. We, the people, are the only people who will determine that. And if you elect me as your next president, I promise you that you will get somebody who is accountable to everybody and beholden to no one. Thank you. +p3275 +aVWell, you know, when I wasn't introduced No. 2, as was the plan, I thought maybe he thought I already had dropped out. But... But you know, today is the 105th anniversary, or \u2014 105th birthday of Ronald Reagan. His 11 Commandment was not to speak ill of another Republican. So, I'm not going to use this opportunity to savage the reputation of Senator Cruz. But I will say \u2014 I will say \u2014 I will say that I was very disappointed that members of his team thought so little of me that they thought that after having hundreds, if not thousands of volunteers and college students who sacrificed their time and were dedicated to the cause \u2014 one even died \u2014 to think that I would just walk away ten minutes before the caucus and say, "Forget about you guys." I mean, who would do something like that? Now, I don't think anyone on this stage would do something like that. And to assume that someone would, what does that tell you? So, unfortunately, it did happen. It gives us a very good example of certain types of Washington ethics. Washington ethics. Washington ethics basically says, if it's legal, you do what you need to do in order to win. That's not my ethics. My ethics is, you do what's right. +p3276 +aVSince I was mentioned... +p3277 +aVThis is great you guys. I want you all to mention me when you say something. In fact, the time line indicates that initial tweet from CNN was followed by another one within one minute that clarified that I was not dropping out. So, what happened to that one, it is unclear. But the bottom line is, we can see what happened, everybody can see what happened and you can make your own judgment. +p3278 +aVGood evening. +p3279 +aVWell, thank you. You know, I was hoping to get a chance to talk about North Korea. I was the only one who didn't get to do that, and I've got stuff to say about it, let me tell you. But at any rate, you have to replace it with something that makes sense. It doesn't make sense. And the reason that I dislike Obamacare is because the government comes in and tells the people \u2014 which the nation is supposed to be centered on \u2014 that we don't care what you think, this is what we're doing. And if you don't like it, too bad. That's a problem. And we can't afford to do that because that will fundamentally change America. I have proposed a health empowerment account system. Everybody gets a health empowerment account the day they are born, they keep it until they die. They can pass it on. We pay for it with the same dollars that we pay for traditional health care with, recognizing that we spend twice as much as many countries per capita and health care and don't have as such access. We give people the ability to shift money within their health empowerment account so that each family basically becomes its own insurance company without a middleman; that saves you a awful lot of money. And that will lower the cost of your catastrophic insurance tremendously, because the only thing coming out of that is catastrophic health care. And then in terms of taking care of the indigent, we have another whole system, and I can go ahead and explain it, but I don't have the time, but I'd be happy to if you give me some more time. But go to my website bencarson.com, read about it. You can read about everything that's been discussed here in great detail. HAM: Thank you, Dr. Carson. David, Martha, back to you. +p3280 +aVI want to say something about this, because I'm not here just to add beauty to the stage. You know, I've been talking about Libya for quite a long time. I think I was the first one to start talking about it because I say we have to have a proactive foreign policy strategy. And of course, the next place that +p3281 +aVI would support the possibility of renewed airstrikes if in conjunction with our Joint Chiefs and our military people they felt that was an appropriate strategy. The fact of the matter is none of us up here is a military expert, and we sometimes act like we are, but we're not. And if we actually sit down and talk with them and get them to understand our plan and their impression of what needs to be done, I think we're going to make a lot more progress. +p3282 +aVIt's the same question? +p3283 +aVYes. Well, first of all, I think it would be a pretty easy contrast, quite frankly, between myself and Hillary Clinton. In one case, you have someone who is known as a deceitful individual. An individual who at Benghazi, which I will never let go, quite frankly, because I think of those two men who went up there on the top of that compound with machine guns, firing away, allowing their colleagues to escape. And I'm sure, in the back of their mind, they were just saying, if we can just hold on, help is on the way. But help was not on the way. When did we in the United States not send people to help our own people? You know, this is not who we are. And \u2014 I would simply make it a referendum on honesty and integrity versus deceit and the Washington way. +p3284 +aVWell, you know, it's not a simple issue, and now, you know, we've gotten evidence that there can been active viruses in other bodily fluids like saliva and urine. So, this is going to be, obviously, a big deal. Do we quarantine people? If we have evidence that they are infected, and that there is evidence that that infection can spread by something that they're doing, yes. But, just willy-nilly going out and quarantining a bunch of people because they've been to Brazil, I don't believe that that's going to work. What we really need to be thinking about is how do we get this disease under control? And this is where we need rapid response. We need a rapid response for ebola, we need rapid response for Zika, there will be other things that will come up. These are the kinds of things that the NIH, the CDC, can be very effective in. We need to give the the appropriate support for those kind of things. +p3285 +aVCan I say something... +p3286 +aVSomething about the draft. Very quickly. +p3287 +aVYou know, 14 percent decrease in the number of people applying for voluntary military service, and I think part of it is because of the way that we treat our veterans. You know, we wouldn't be a free country if it wasn't for them, and we have 22 veterans per day committing suicide. So, I think what we should do is have an external support system for people once they volunteer and it should follow them throughout their career, should follow them for three years, five years afterwards, a year before they get out, should be working on integrating them back into society, so that they quit on Friday and they start their new job. They should have health empowerment accounts that are subsidized so they can go to any medical facility and be taken care of. They can go to a V.A. if they want to. But if we start taking care of our veterans the right way, we won't have to ever worry about a draft again. +p3288 +aVWith 100 percent certainly, I will predict the winner \u2014 it will either be Denver or Carolina. +p3289 +aVFor many months, the political class, pundits, the media, have tried to ignore or bury me. They say that politics is too complex, and too sleazy. You can't survive. Well, guess what? I'm still here, and I'm not going any place either. And, I believe there is still a place in our country for faith, integrity, and common sense. Hundreds of thousands of you drafted me to run for president...... And, I am going to with the help of God, and you, once again place the American people at the pinnacle with the government there to serve it. +p3290 +aVWell, I will gladly confess that I'm the only one on this stage with no political title. You're not going to hear a lot of polished political speech from me, but you will hear the truth. And I don't think you have to be a politician to tell the truth. In fact, sometimes it's not that way... ... and I've had more two a.m. phone calls than everybody here put together, making life and death decisions, put together very complex teams to accomplish things that have never been done before. And we are in a situation right now in our country that we have never been in before. We need people who think out of the box and can solve problems; can utilize the resources around them; very smart people, to focus on the problem and solve the problem. The American people are terrified. That's why we have this abnormal situation going on right now. We don't need more of the same solutions. We need different solutions to solve the problems and to save our nation. +p3291 +aVWell, I don't know about the GOP messaging, but I can tell you about my messaging. You know, need to stop allowing political correctness to dictate our policies, because it's going to kill us if we don't. And in the Holy Land Foundation trial in 2006 in Texas, they had a memorandum, an explanatory memorandum that talked about the fact that Americans would be easy to overcome and to commit civilization jihad because they were going to be trying to protect the rights of the very people who were trying to subvert them. But I believe in the Teddy Roosevelt philosophy. Teddy Roosevelt said, we are a nation of immigrants. As such, everybody is welcome from any race, any country, any religion, if they want to be Americans. If they want to accept our values and our laws. If not, they can stay where they are. +p3292 +aVOh, great. As I said before, we are a land of immigrants, but we have to be intelligent about the way that we form our immigration policies, and that's one of the reasons that I have called on us to declare war on the Islamic State because we need to reorient our immigration policies and our visa policies for people who are coming into this country because there are many people out there who want to destroy us. Now, I recognize that the vast majority of people coming in here probably are not those kinds of people, but that's not good enough. If you've got 10 people coming to your house and you know one of them is a terrorist, you're probably going to keep them all out. You know, we probably have to figure out a way to make sure that we keep America safe. +p3293 +aVLook, first of all, I recognize that Vladimir Putin is an opportunist and he's a bully, and we have to face him down. And I would \u2014 first of all, face him down in that whole region, the whole Baltic region. I think we need to put in some armored brigades there. We only have one or two. We need much more than that. We need to be doing military exercises if not only Estonia but Latvia and Lithuania. They're terrified by the saber rattling. I think we ought to put in our missile defense system. I think we ought to give Ukraine offensive weapons and I think we ought to fight them on the economic basis because Putin is a one- horse country: oil and energy. And we ought to fight them on that level. We ought to be helping in terms of the technology for fracking, keeping the price low, quite frankly, because that's what's keeping him contained. So, yes, I'd absolutely would go in if he attacked. I think on Article IV of +p3294 +aVWell, as anyone knows who's been listening to me, you know? I'm very much against the government being involved in every aspect of our lives, you know? We last year there was an additional 81,000 pages of government regulations. If you stack that up it would be a three-story building. This is absolutely absurd. And, they've insinuated themselves into everything. Now, as far as the renewable fuel standard is concerned, certain promises were made, certain government contracts were issued which extend all the way into the year 2022, and I believe that it's probably unfair to withdraw the rug because people have invested money. People have invested a lot of energy into that. But, you know, we are blessed with tremendous energy in this nation, and we need to be talking for new sources of energy. Seventy percent of our population lives by costly. What about hydroelectric power? We can develop that, you know? We have so much natural gas now, and we can liquify it, and we can transfer it across the sea so we can make Europe dependent on us instead of Putin \u2014 put him back in his little box where he belongs. Those are the kinds of things that we ought to be doing. And, you know, take advantage of the tremendous opportunities in energy that God has given us, not get involved in these little petty arguments. And we can get a lot of them out if we get the government out of our lives. +p3295 +aVI want to thank the people of Iowa for being so welcoming to me. Please think of our founding fathers as you listen. We the people of the United States in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the benefits of liberty to ourselves and our prosperity, do ordain and establish this constitution of the United States of America. Folks, it's not too late. Enough said. +p3296 +aVWell, I'm very happy to get a question this early on. I was going to ask you to wake me up when that time came. You know, I find it really quite fascinating some of the president's proclamations. The fact of the matter is he doesn't realize that we now live in the 21st century, and that war is very different than it used to be before. Not armies massively marching on each other and air forces, but now we have dirty bombs and we have cyber attacks and we have people who will be attacking our electrical grid. And, you know, we have a whole variety of things that they can do and they can do these things simultaneously. And we have enemies who are obtaining nuclear weapons that they can explode in our exoatmosphere and destroy our electric grid. I mean, just think about a scenario like that. They explode the bomb, we have an electromagnetic pulse. They hit us with a cyberattack simultaneously and dirty bombs. Can you imagine the chaos that would ensue at that point? He needs to recognize that those kinds of things are in fact an existential threat to us. But here's the real key. We have the world's best military, even though he's done everything he can to diminish it. And the fact of the matter is if we give them a mission and we don't tie their hands behind their back, they can get it accomplished. +p3297 +aVNeil, I was mentioned too. +p3298 +aVYeah, he said everybody. And \u2014 and I just want to take this opportunity to say, you know, in the 2012 election, you know, we \u2014 and when I say we, Republicans \u2014 tore themselves apart. You know, we have to stop this because, you know, if we manage to damage ourselves, and we lose the next election, and a progressive gets in there and they get two or three Supreme Court picks, this nation is over as we know it. And we got to look at the big picture here. +p3299 +aVWell, there's not question that we should be able to look at past president whether they're married to somebody who's running for president or not in terms of their past behavior and what it means. But you know, here's the real issue, is this America anymore? Do we still have standards? Do we still have values and principles? You know, you look at what's going on, you see all the divisiveness and the hatred that goes on in our society. You know, we have a war on virtual everything \u2014 race wars, gender wars, income wars, religious wars, age wars. Every war you can imaging, we have people at each other's throat and our strength is actually in our unity. You know, you go to the internet, you start reading an article and you go to the comments section \u2014 you cannot go five comments down before people are calling each all manner of names. Where did that spirit come from in America? It did not come from our Judeo-Christian roots, I can tell you that. And wherever it came from we need to start once again recognizing that there is such a thing as right and wrong. And let's not let the secular progressives drive that out of us. The majority of people in American actually have values and principles and they believe in the very things that made America great. They've been beaten into submission. It's time for us to stand up for what we believe in. +p3300 +aVWait a minute, who in their 16th month? +p3301 +aVOK. +p3302 +aVWell, there's no question that +p3303 +aVWell, first of all, recognize it is a substantial problem. But like all of our problems, there isn't a single one that can't be solved with common sense if you remove the ego and the politics. And clearly, what we need to do is get a group of experts together, including people from other countries, some of our friends from Israel, who have had experience screening these people and come up with new guidelines for immigration, and for visas, for people who are coming into this country. That is the thing that obviously makes sense, we can do that. And as far as the Syrians are concerned, Al-Hasakah province, perfect place. They have infrastructure. All we need to do is protect them, they will be in their own country. And that is what they told me when I was in Jordan in November. Let's listen to them and let's not listen to our politicians. +p3304 +aVWell, I would suggest a fair tax system, and that's what we have proposed. A flat tax for everybody \u2014 no exemptions, no deductions, no shelters, because some people have a better capability of taking advantage of those than others. You know, and then the other thing we have to do is stop spending so much money. You know, I \u2014 my \u2014 my mother taught me this. You know, she only had a third-grade education, but \u2014 you know, she knew how to stretch a dollar. I mean, she would drive a car until it wouldn't make a sound, and then gather up all her coins and buy a new car. In fact, if my mother were secretary of treasury, we would not be in a deficit situation. But...... you know, the \u2014 the \u2014 the fact of the matter is \u2014 you know, if we fix the taxation system, make it absolutely fair, and get rid of the incredible regulations \u2014 because every regulation is a tax, it's a \u2014 on goods and services. And it's the most regressive tax there is. You know, when you go into the store and buy a box of laundry detergent, and the price has up \u2014 you know, 50 cents because of regulations, a poor person notices that. A rich person does not. Middle class may notice it when they get to the cash register. And everything is costing more money, and we are killing our \u2014 our \u2014 our people like this. And Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton will say it's those evil rich people. It's not the evil rich people. It's the evil government that is \u2014 that is putting all these regulations on us so that we can't survive. +p3305 +aVCan I just add one very quick thing? And I just want to say, you know, last week we released our tax plan. And multiple reputable journals, including The Wall Street Journal, said ours is the best. Just want to get that out there, just saying. +p3306 +aVYou know, in recent travels around this country, I've encountered so many Americans who are discouraged and angry as they watch our freedom, our security and the American dream slipping away under an unresponsive government that is populated by bureaucrats and special interest groups. We're not going to solve this problem with traditional politics. The only way we're going to solve this problem is with we, the people. And I ask you to join me in truth and honesty and integrity. Bencarson.com \u2014 we will heal, inspire and revive America for our children. +p3307 +aVThank you, Wolf. Please join me for a moment of silence and remembrance of the San Bernardino victims. Thank you. You know, our country since its inception has been at war, every 15 or 20 years. But the war that we are fighting now against radical Islamist jihadists is one that we must win. Our very existence is dependent upon that. You know, as a pediatric neurosurgeon, I frequently faced life and death situations, and had to come up with the right diagnosis, the right plan, and execute that plan frequently with other colleagues. Right now, the United States of America is the patient. And the patient is in critical condition and will not be cured by political correctness and will not be cured by timidity. And I am asking the Congress, which represents the people, to declare a war on +p3308 +aVFirst of all, let me just complain a little bit. This is the first time I've spoken and several people have had multiple questions so please try to pay attention to that. Now, as far as monitoring is concerned, what my point is, we need to make sure that any place \u2013 I don't care whether it's a mosque, a school, a supermarket, a theater, you know it doesn't matter. If there are a lot of people getting there and engaging in radicalizing activities then we need to be suspicious of it. We have to get rid of all this PC stuff. And people are worried about if somebody's going to say that I'm Islamophobic or what have you. This is craziness because we are at war. That's why I asked congress, go ahead and declare the war . We need to be on a war footing. We need to understand that our nation is in grave danger. You know, what the Muslim Brotherhood said in the explanatory memorandum that was discovered during the Holy Land Foundation Trial was that, "they will take advantage of our PC attitude to get us. :" We have to be better than this. We have to be smarter than they are. +p3309 +aVI think you have to ask them about that. I don't want to get in between them. Let them fight. +p3310 +aVNeurosurgeon. +p3311 +aVWell, interestingly enough, you should see the eyes of some of those children when I say to them we're going to have to open your head up and take out this tumor. They're not happy about it, believe me. And they don't like me very much at that point. But later on, they love me. Sometimes you \u2014 I sound like him. You know, later on, you know, they really realize what's going on. And by the same token, you have to be able to look at the big picture and understand that it's actually merciful if you go ahead and finish the job, rather than death by 1,000 pricks. +p3312 +aVYou got it. You got it. +p3313 +aVRuthless is not necessarily the word I would use, but tough, resolute, understanding what the problems are, and understanding that the job of the president of the United States is to protect the people of this country and to do what is necessary in order to get it done. +p3314 +aVFirst of all, I've been talking about this for over a year. We have to destroy their caliphate because that gives them legitimacy to go ahead with the global Jihad. We have to take their energy because they are \u2014 +p3315 +aVNo one is ever better off with dictators but there comes a time you know, when you're on an airplane, they always say, "in case of an emergency oxygen masks will drop down. Put yours on first and then administer help to your neighbor." We need oxygen right now. And we need to start thinking about the needs of the American people before we go and solve everybody else's problems. The fact of the matter is, is that the Middle East has been in turmoil for thousands of years. For us to think that we're going to in there and fix that with a couple of little bombs and a few little decorations is relatively foolish. +p3316 +aVWell, you know, there's a false narrative that only the political class has the wisdom and the ability to be commander-in- chief. But if you go back and you study the design of our country, it was really designed for the citizen statesman. And we need to be talking about where does your experience come from? You know, and I've had a lot of experience building things, organizing things, you know, a national scholarship program. One of the things that you'll notice if you look through my life is that I don't do a lot of talking. I do a lot of doing. And really, it says more about a person than how much they talk. And then some people say you're weak because, you know, you're not loud and you're not boisterous and you're not rude. But the fact of the matter is, look and see what I've done. And that speaks volumes about strength. +p3317 +aVWell, it was very interesting having an opportunity to talk to the Syrians themselves. And I asked them: What do you want? What is your supreme desire? Their supreme desire was to be settled back in their own country. I said, "What can Americans and other countries do?" They said, "Support the efforts of those who are trying to provide safety for us, including the Jordanians." Of course, they had a brand new hospital, for instance, that was unstaffed because there wasn't enough money to do it. But here's what's really neat. If you go into Hasakah province in northeast Syria, that's an area that's as big as Lebanon. It's controlled by the Kurds, the Christians and the moderate Sunnis. And there are airstrips and hotels. You could settle a lot of people there. All we would have to do is be willing to provide them with some weaponry, some defensive weaponry. And we seem to be afraid to give the Kurds weaponry. We like to send it for some strange reason through Baghdad, and then they only get a tenth of it. And if we would support them, we'd have a perfect ideal there. We don't need to set this up as we either take a bunch of refugees who will be infiltrated with terrorists, I guarantee you. For them not to be would be terrorist malpractice. And we need to \u2014 to choose the right choice, not these false choices. +p3318 +aVWell, I definitely believe that he is unstable, and I do, in fact, believe that China has a lot more influence with him than we do. But we also recognize that North Korea is in severe financial straits, and they have decided to use their resources to build their military, rather than to feed their people and to take care of the various humanitarian responsibilities that they have. We can capitalize upon that. You know, we should use our economic power in lots of different ways. I think we can use that in order to keep Putin contained, because he is a one-horse show. Energy. And we have an abundance of energy, but we have archaic energy exportation rules. We need to get rid of those, allow ourselves to really make Europe dependent on us and other parts of the world dependent on us for energy. Put him back in his little box where he belongs. And, you know, we need to be doing lots of other things with the resources that we have. So economic power works just as well as military power, perhaps even better. And speaking of that, our Military needs to be upgraded. You know, you look at things like our Ohio Class submarines, they're 25 years old. Our minuteman 3 missiles \u2014 they are 34 years old. Our B-52 bombers \u2014 50 years old. You know, if we don't get the military right nothing else matters. +p3319 +aVWell, you know, the statement that I made last week, that I would leave the party was contingent upon whether in fact the party acts like they have in the past with a lot of subterfuge and dishonesty, or like they're going act now because I spike to Reince Priebus, and he assured me that the Washington Post writer had it all wrong, and that they're not be engaging in anything to thwart the will of the people. That's why I got into this race, as a member of we the people, to try bring some honesty and integrity back to the process. +p3320 +aVI've been fortunate enough to travel to 58 different countries and I thank God everyday that I was born in this country. The most exceptional country that the world has ever known. And I want to make sure that we preserve that exceptionalism for the next generation. My mother told me if I work hard and I really believed in American principles and I believed in God, anything is possible. I believe that is true, and that's why I'm not anxious to give away American values and principles for the sake of political correctness. +p3321 +aVWell, first of all, delighted to be here. My family's here, and my little granddaughter, who's three years old, said she wanted to come to the debate. So this is very cool. As far as the minimum wage is concerned, people need to be educated on the minimum wage. Every time we raise the minimum wage, the number of jobless people increases. It's particularly a problem in the black community. Only 19.8 percent of black teenagers have a job, who are looking for one. You know, that \u2014 and that's because of those high wages. If you lower those wages, that comes down. You know, I can remember, as a youngster \u2014 you know, my first job working in a laboratory as a lab assistant, and multiple other jobs. But I would not have gotten those jobs if someone had to pay me a large amount of money. But what I did gain from those jobs is a tremendous amount of experience, and how to operate in the world and how to relate to different people, and how to become a responsible individual. And that's what gave me what I needed to ascend the ladder of opportunity in this country. That's what we need to be thinking about. How do we allow people to ascend the ladder of opportunity, rather than how do we give them everything and keep them dependent? +p3322 +aVI would not raise it. I would not raise it, specifically because I'm interested in making sure that people are able to enter the job market and take advantage of opportunities. +p3323 +aVWell, first of all, thank you not asking me what I said in the 10th grade. I appreciate that. +p3324 +aVThe fact of the matter is, you know, what \u2014 we should vet all candidates. I have no problem with being vetted. What I do have a problem with is being lied about and then putting that out there as truth. And I don't even mind that so much, if they do it about \u2014 with everybody, like people on the other side. But, you know, when I look at somebody like Hillary Clinton, who sits there and tells her daughter and a government official that no, this was a terrorist attack, and then tells everybody else that it was a video. Where I came from, they call that a lie. And... I think that's very different from, you know, somebody misinterpreting, when I said that I was offered a scholarship to West Point, that is the words that they used. But, I've had many people come and say the same thing to me. That is what people do in those situations. We have to start treating people the same, and finding out what people really think and what they're made of. People who know me know that I'm an honest person. +p3325 +aVWell, you know, when I say tithing, I'm talking about the concept of proportionality. +p3326 +aVEverybody should pay the same proportion of what they make. You make $10 billion, you pay a billion. You make $10, you pay one. You get same rights and privileges. I don't see how anything gets a whole lot fairer than that. But you also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes because that is the thing that tilts it in one direction or another. And you have to set the rate at an appropriate level. Now I will say that, there are a lot of people who say, if you get rid of the deductions, you ruin the American dream because, you know, home mortgage deduction. But the fact of the matter is, people had homes before 1913 when we introduced the federal income tax, and later after that started deductions. And they say there will be no more charitable giving. We had churches before that and charitable organizations before that. The fact of the matter is, I believe if you put more money in people's pockets that they will actually be more generous rather than less generous. And it's... ... the money that they earned. And, the other thing is, I do care about the poor people. And in the system that we're putting together, there will be a rebate for people at the poverty level. But I also want to emphasize the fact that as we get the economy moving, and I hope I get a question about how do we get the economy moving, there will be a lot more opportunities for poor people not to be poor people because this is America. This is the land of dreams. And our policies should be aimed at allowing people to realize that dream. +p3327 +aVWell, putting the special ops people in there is better than not having them there, because they \u2014 that's why they're called special ops, they're actually able to guide some of the other things that we're doing there. And what we have to recognize is that Putin is trying to really spread his influence throughout the Middle East. This is going to be his base. And we have to oppose him there in an effective way. We also must recognize that it's a very complex place. You know, the Chinese are there, as well as the Russians, and you have all kinds of factions there. What we've been doing so far is very ineffective, but we can't give up ground right there. But we have to look at this on a much more global scale. We're talking about global jihadists. And their desire is to destroy us and to destroy our way of life. So we have to be saying, how do we make them look like losers? Because that's the way that they're able to gather a lot of influence. And I think in order to make them look like losers, we have to destroy their caliphate. And you look for the easiest place to do that? It would be in Iraq. And if \u2014 outside of Anbar in Iraq, there's a big energy field. Take that from them. Take all of that land from them. We could do that, I believe, fairly easily, I've learned from talking to several generals, and then you move on from there. But you have to continue to face them, because our goal is not to contain them, but to destroy them before they destroy us. +p3328 +aVWell, I think we should have policies that don't allow them to just enlarge themselves at the expense of smaller entities. And certainly some of the policies, some of the monetary and Fed policies that we're using makes it very easy for them, makes it very easy for the big corporations, quite frankly, at these very low interest rates to buy back their stock and to drive the price of that up artificially. Those are the kinds of things that led to the problem in the first place. And I think this all really gets back to this whole regulation issue which is creating a very abnormal situation. This country was \u2014 declared its independence in 1776. In less than 100 years, it was the number-one economic power in the world. And the reason was because we had an atmosphere that encouraged entrepreneurial risk- taking and capital investment. Those are the fuels that drive it. And what we've done now is let the creep of regulation turn into a stampede of regulations, which is involved in every aspect of our lives. If we can get that out, it makes a big difference. And even for the average person, every single regulation costs money. And it's shifted to the individual. So \u2014 and it hurts the poor and the middle class much more than it does the rich. They go into the store and they buy a bar of soap, it costs 10 cents more, they notice it. And the middle class, when they come to the cash register, have a whole cart full of things that cost 5, 10 or 15 cents more, they notice it. It is hurting the poor. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton won't tell you that that's the thing that's really hurting middle class in the core. They'll say it's the rich, take their money, but that won't help. You can take all of the rich's money and it won't make a dent in the problem that we're having. We have to come back to the fundamental principles that made America great. +p3329 +aVI would have policies that wouldn't allow that to occur. I don't want to go in and tear anybody down. I mean, that doesn't help us. But what does help us is stop tinkering around the edges and fix the actual problems that exist that are creating the problem in the first place. +p3330 +aVIn the two hours of this \u2014 of this debate, five people have died from drug-related deaths, $100 million has been added to our national debt, 200 babies have been killed by abortionists, and two veterans have taken their lives out of despair. This is a narrative that we can change, not we the Democrats, not we the Republicans, but we the people of America, because there is something special about this nation, and we must embrace it and be proud of it and never give it away for the sake of political correctness. +p3331 +aVProbably in terms of the applying for the job of president, a weakness would be not really seeing myself in that position until hundreds of thousands of people began to tell me that I needed to do it. I do, however, believe in Reagan's 11th commandment, and will not be engaging in awful things about my compatriots here. And recognizing that it's so important, this election, because we're talking about America for the people versus America for the government. +p3332 +aVWell, first of all, I didn't say that the rate would be 10 percent. I used the tithing analogy. +p3333 +aVThe rate \u2014 the rate \u2014 the rate is gonna be much closer to 15 percent. +p3334 +aVYou also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes. You also have to some strategically cutting in several places. Remember, we have 645 federal agencies and sub-agencies. Anybody who tells me that we need every penny and every one of those is in a fantasy world. So, also, we can stimulate the economy. That's gonna be the real growth engine. Stimulating the economy \u2014 because it's tethered down right now with so many regulations... +p3335 +aVThat's not true. +p3336 +aVWhen \u2014 when we put all the facts down, you'll be able to see that it's not true, it works out very well. +p3337 +aVSince I was attacked too. +p3338 +aVLet me just say, if you're talking about an $18 trillion economy, you're talking about a 15 percent tax on your gross domestic product. You're talking about $2.7 trillion. We have a budget closer to $3.5 trillion. But if you also apply that same 15 percent to several other things, including corporate taxes, and including the capital gains taxes, you make that amount up pretty quickly. So that is not by any stretch a pie in the sky. +p3339 +aVWell, there is no question that some people go overboard when it comes to trying to make profits, and they don't take into consideration the American people. What we have to start thinking about, as leaders, particularly in government, is what can we do for the average American? And you think about the reasons that we're having such difficulty right now with our job market. Well, the average small manufacturer, whatever they're manufacturing, drugs or anything, if they have less than 50 employees, the average cost in terms of regulations is $34,000 per employee. Makes it a whole lot easier for them to want to go somewhere else. So what we're going to have to start doing instead of, you know, picking on this group or this group, is we're going to have to have a major reduction in the regulatory influence that is going on. The government is not supposed to be in every part of our lives, and that is what is causing the problem. +p3340 +aVWell, obviously, you don't understand my views on homosexuality. I believe that our Constitution protects everybody, regardless of their sexual orientation or any other aspect. I also believe that marriage is between one man and one woman. And there is no reason that you can't be perfectly fair to the gay community. They shouldn't automatically assume that because you believe that marriage is between one man and one woman that you are a homophobe. And this is one of the myths that the left perpetrates on our society, and this is how they frighten people and get people to shut up. You know, that's what the PC culture is all about, and it's destroying this nation. The fact of the matter is we the American people are not each other's enemies, it's those people who are trying to divide us who are the enemies. And we need to make that very clear to everybody. +p3341 +aVWell, that's easy to answer. I didn't have an involvement with them. That is total propaganda, and this is what happens in our society. Total propaganda. I did a couple of speeches for them, I do speeches for other people. They were paid speeches. It is absolutely absurd to say that I had any kind of a relationship with them. Do I take the product? Yes. I think it's a good product. +p3342 +aVIf somebody put me on their homepage, they did it without my permission. +p3343 +aVNo, it speaks to the fact that I don't know those \u2014 See? They know. +p3344 +aVWell, first of all, I was wrong about taking the oil subsidy. I have studied that issue in great detail. And what I have concluded is that the best policy is to get rid of all government subsidies, and get the government out of our lives, and let people rise and fall based on how good they are. And \u2014 you know, all of this too big to fail stuff and picking and choosing winners and losers \u2014 this is a bunch of crap, and it is really causing a great deal of \u2014 great deal of problems for our society right now. And \u2014 and \u2014 you know, it goes back to the whole concept of regulations, which are in everything. The reason that I \u2014 I hate them so much is because every single regulation costs in terms of goods and services. That cost gets passed on to the people. Now, who are the people who are hurt by that? It's poor people and middle class. Doesn't hurt rich people if their bar of soap goes up ten cents, but it hurts the poor and the middle class. And Bernie Sanders will tell them that it's because of the rich. Well, I'll tell you something: you can take everything from the top 1 percent, and you apply it to our fiscal gap, and you won't even make a dent in it. +p3345 +aVAbout Medicare? +p3346 +aVWell, first of all the \u2014 the plan gives people the option of \u2014 of opting out. But I think they will see a very good option here. You know, the annual Medicare budget is over $600 billion. And there are 48 million people involved \u2014 40 million, 65 and over, and 8 million other. Divide that out. That comes out to $12,500 for each one. Now, I can tell you there are a lot of private-sector things that you could do with $12,500, which will get you a lot more than you get from this government program. And that's really a theme of a lot of the things that I'm talking about. How do we utilize our intellect rather than allowing the government to use its, quote, "intellect," in order to help us to be able to live healthier and better lives? It was never intended that the government should be in every aspect of our lives. This is a country that is of, for and by the people. +p3347 +aVI just want to thank all my colleagues here for being civil, and not falling for the traps. And, I also just want to thank the audience for being attentive, and noticing the questions, and the noticing the answers. And, this is what I am finding throughout America. People are waking up because it is going to be us who will determine the direction of our country. And, it was made for we the people, we are the ones who decide who we are, and we should never give away the values and principles that made America into a great nation for the sake of political correctness. +p3348 +aVHi, I'm Ben Carson, and I'm a retired pediatric neurosurgeon. I'm here with my wife, Candy, of 40 years, and two of my sons, and their wives. I stress the pediatric part of my career because the reason that I've gotten involved in this race is because I'm very concerned about the future of our children, and the direction of our country is one that does not portend well, unless we, the people, intervene and retake our rightful place at the pinnacle. +p3349 +aVTypically, politicians do things that are politically expedient. And they are looking for whatever their particular goal is. That is not the reason that I have gotten into this thing. I'm extraordinary concerned about the direction of this country, the divisiveness that is going on, fiscal irresponsibility, the failure to take a leadership position in the world. All of those things will lead to a situation where the next generation will not have a chance that we've had now. So I don't \u2014 I don't want to really get into describing who's a politician and who's not a politician, but I think the people have kind of made that decision for themselves already, and will continue to do so as time goes on. +p3350 +aVJake, can I say something about that? +p3351 +aVYou know, when I entered this race, all the political pundits said it's impossible; you can't do it because you're not connected with the money. And there's no way that you can raise what you need in order to compete successfully. I in no way am willing to get in the bed with special interest group or lick the boots of billionaires. I have said to the people if they want me to do this, please get involved. And we now have over 500,000 donations, and the money is coming in. But the pundits forgot about one thing, and that is the people. And they are really in charge. +p3352 +aVWell, first of all, I recognize that we have an incredible illegal immigration problem. I was down in Arizona a few weeks ago at the border. I mean, the fences that were there were not manned, and those are the kind of fences when I was a kid that would barely slow us down. So, I don't see any purpose in having that. Now, what we need to do is look at something that actually works. Yuma County, Arizona. They stop 97 percent of the illegal immigrants through there. They put in a double fence with a road so that there was quick access by the enforcement people. If we don't seal the border, the rest of this stuff clearly doesn't matter. It's kind of ridiculous all the other things we talk about. We have the ability to do it, we don't have the will to do it. There was one area where they had cut a hole in the fence, and to repair it, they put a few strands of barb wire across. Well, the photographers who were there with us, they wanted to photograph us from the side of the Mexicans, and they went through there, and they were not physically fit people, and they took their cameras and things with them, and shot us from the other side. That's how easy it is to get across. And, the drugs, I mean, it goes on, and on, and on. ICE tells them to release these people, 67,000 criminals released... +p3353 +aV...on to our property, it's ridiculous. +p3354 +aVWell, I have also said, if anybody knows how to do that, that I would be willing to listen. And, if they can, you know, specify exactly how that's going to be done, and what the cost, and it sounds reasonable, then I think it's worth discussing... +p3355 +aVNot exactly what I said. +p3356 +aVWell, what I said, after we seal the borders, after we turn off the spigot that dispenses all the goodies so we don't have people coming in here, including employment, that people who had a pristine record, we should consider allowing them to become guest workers, primarily in the agricultural sphere, because that's the place where Americans don't seem to want to work. That's what I said. And they have a six-month period to do that. If they don't do it within that time period, then they become illegal, and as illegals, they will be treated as such. +p3357 +aVCan I \u2014 can I \u2014 can I just... +p3358 +aVCan I correct... +p3359 +aVOK. +p3360 +aVMy plan is not amnesty for a number of reasons. Number one, you know, I've talked to farmers, and they said they cannot hire Americans to do the kind of job that I'm talking about. And the second reason is because the individuals who register as guest workers, they don't get to vote, they are not American citizens, and they don't get the rights and privileges of American citizens. So that's key. But the other thing that I want to bring up is, I mentioned something earlier. I think it was just sort of glossed over. I talked about the success in Yuma County, I mean, incredible success, and the Department of Justice said, "No, we don't want to do that. That's too successful." We don't have to keep reinventing the wheel. All we have to do is look at things that work. All we have to do is use a little common sense. +p3361 +aVIt's all about America. You know, the people who say the guy who paid a billion dollars because he had 10, he has still got $9 billion left, that's not fair, we need to take more of his money. That's called socialism. That doesn't work so well. What made America into a great nation was the fact that we said, that guy just put in $1 billion, let's create an environment that's even more conducive to his success so that next year he can put in $2 billion. And that's the kind of thing that helps us to grow. We can't grow by continuing to take a piece of pie, and dividing it, and redistributing it. But, I'm also looking at what doctor \u2014 at what Governor Huckabee talked about... +p3362 +aVThe Fair Tax. Looking at both of them, and evaluating them both, and I'm talking to the American people because one of the things we must recognize is that this country is of, for, and by the people. And, it's really time that the government get out of the way, and let the people be the ones who decide how they want to run their country. +p3363 +aVWell, first of all, let me say what I actually said about raising the minimum wage. I was asked should it be raised, I said, probably, or possibly. But, what I added, which I think is the most important thing, so, I said we need to get both sides of this issue to sit down, and talk about it. Negotiate a reasonable minimum wage, and index that so that we never have to have this conversation again in the history of America. I think we also have to have two minimum wages, a starter, and a sustaining because how are young people ever going to get a job if you have such a high minimum wage that it makes it impractical to hire them... +p3364 +aVJake, Jake... +p3365 +aVI haven't had an opportunity to weigh in on foreign policy, and I just want to mention that when the war, when the issue occurred in 2003, I suggested to President Bush that he not go to war? OK. So I just want that on the record. And, you know, a lot of people are very much against us getting involved right now with global jihadism. And they refer back to our invasion of Iraq. And they seem to think that that was what caused it. What caused it was withdrawing from there and creating a vacuum which allowed this terrible situation to occur. But it is very different from what is going on today. We're talking about global jihadists who actually want to destroy us. They are an existential threat to our nation. And we have to be mature enough to recognize that our children will have no future if we put our heads in the sand. We have to recognize we have two choices. We either allow them the continue to progress and appear to be the winners, or we use every resource available to us to destroy... +p3366 +aV... them first. +p3367 +aVWell, recognize that, you know, President George W. Bush is a great friend of ours, and we spent many wonderful days at the White House. I haven't been there in the last seven years. I probably have to have a food-tester. But at any rate, I didn't suggest that nothing be done. What I suggested to President Bush is to be Kennedy-esque, in the sense that when the Russians got ahead of us in the space race, what we did is use the bully pulpit to galvanize everybody, business, industry, academia behind a national goal to put a man on the moon and bring him back safely. I said, you can do the same kind of thing. Declare that within five to 10 years we will become petroleum independent. The moderate Arab states would have been so concerned about that, they would have turned over Osama bin Laden and anybody else you wanted on a silver platter within two weeks. There are smart ways to do things and there are muscular ways to do things. And sometimes you have to look at both of those to come up with the right solution. +p3368 +aVI have no argument with having a strong leader, and to be aggressive where aggression is needed. But it is not needed in every circumstance. There is a time when you can use your intellect to come up with other ways to do things. And I think that's what we have to start thinking about. There is no question that a lot of these problems that we have been talking about in terms of the international situation is because we are weak. It is because our Navy is so small. It is because our Air Force is incapable of doing the same things that it did a few years ago. It's because our Marines Corps is not ready to be deployed. +p3369 +aVThere are a lot of problems that are going on, and we need to solve those problems, we need to build up our military... +p3370 +aVWell, let me put it this way, there has \u2014 there have been numerous studies, and they have not demonstrated that there is any correlation between vaccinations and autism. This was something that was spread widely 15 or 20 years ago, and it has not been adequately, you know, revealed to the public what's actually going on. Vaccines are very important. Certain ones. The ones that would prevent death or crippling. There are others, there are a multitude of vaccines which probably don't fit in that category, and there should be some discretion in those cases. But, you know, a lot of this is \u2014 is \u2014 is pushed by big government. And I think that's one of the things that people so vehemently want to get rid of, big government. You know, we have 4.1 million federal employees. Six hundred and fifty federal agencies and department (sic). That's why they have to take so much of our taxes. +p3371 +aVWell, you know, I've just explained it to him. He can read about it if he wants to. I think he's an intelligent man and will make the correct decision after getting the real facts. +p3372 +aVHe's an OK doctor. But, you know, the fact of the matter is, we have extremely well-documented proof that there's no autism associated with vaccinations. But it is true that we are probably giving way too many in too short a period of time. And a lot of pediatricians now recognize that, and, I think, are cutting down on the number and the proximity in which those are done, and I think that's appropriate. +p3373 +aVI'd put my mother on there. You know, she was one of 24 children, got married at age 13, had only a third grade education, had to raise two sons by herself, refused to be a victim. Wouldn't let us be victims, and has been an inspiration to many people. +p3374 +aVOne Nation. +p3375 +aVWell, you know, I was a radical Democrat before I started listening to Ronald Reagan. And he didn't sound like what they said Republicans were. He sounded logical. And I hope that I sound logical also. Because when I look at what is going on with the United States of America, I see a lot of things that are not logical. I see us allowing people to divide us, when in fact our strength is in our unity. I see people exercising the most irresponsible fiscal habits that anyone could possibly do. And hiding it from the American people, so that the majority of people have no idea what our financial situation is. So, when someone comes along and says, free college, free phones, free this and that, and the other, they say, "wow, that's nice," having no idea that they're destabilizing our position. And I think also that Ronald Reagan was a master at understanding that a pinnacle nation has to be a nation that leads. If we learn to lead in the Middle East right now, a coalition will form behind us, but never they do it if we just sit there and talk about it. Real leadership is what I would hopefully bring to America. +p3376 +aVWell, I could take issue with -- with all of those things, but we don't have time. But I will say, we have a debate here tonight, and we will have an opportunity to explore those areas, and I'm looking very much forward to demonstrating that, in fact, the thing that is probably most important is having a brain, and to be able to figure things out and learn things very rapidly. So, you know, experience comes from a large number of different arenas, and America became a great nation early on not because it was flooded with politicians, but because it was flooded with people who understood the value of personal responsibility, hard work, creativity, innovation, and that's what will get us on the right track now, as well. +p3377 +aVWell, thank you, Megyn, I wasn't sure I was going to get to talk again. +p3378 +aVAlright. You know, what we do in order to get the information that we need is our business, and I wouldn't necessarily be broadcasting what we're going to do. We. . .uh. . .we've gotten into this -- this mindset of fighting politically correct wars. There is no such thing as a politically correct war. And, the left, of course, will say Carson doesn't believe in the Geneva Convention. Carson doesn't believe in fighting stupid wars. And -- and what we have to remember is we want to utilize the tremendous intellect that we have in the military to win wars. And I've talked to a lot of the generals, a lot of our advanced people. And believe me, if we gave them the mission, which is what the commander-in-chief does, they would be able to carry it out. And if we don't tie their hands behind their back, they will do it......extremely effectively. +p3379 +aVWhat I agree with is that we need a significantly changed taxation system. And the one that I've advocated is based on tithing, because I think God is a pretty fair guy. And he said, you know, if you give me a tithe, it doesn't matter how much you made. If you've had a bumper crop, you don't owe me triple tithes. And if you've had no crops at all, you don't owe me no tithes. So there must be something inherently fair about that. And that's why I've advocated a proportional tax system. You make $10 billion, you pay a billion. You make $10, you pay one. And everybody gets treated the same way. And you get rid of the deductions, you get rid of all the loopholes, and... +p3380 +aVAnd I have a lot more to say about it. +p3381 +aVIf Hillary is the candidate, which I doubt, that would be a dream come true. But you know, the fact of the matter is, she is the epitome of the progressive -- the secular progressive movement. And she counts on the fact that people are uninformed, the Alinsky Model, taking advantage of useful idiots. Well, I just happen to believe that people are not stupid. And the way I will come at it is to educate people, help people to actually understand that it is that progressive movement that is causing them the problems. You know, you look at the -- the national debt and how it's being driven up. If I was trying to destroy this country, what I would do is find a way to drive wedges between all the people, drive the debt to an unsustainable level, and then step off the stage as a world leader and let our enemies increase while we decreased our capacity as a military person. And that's what she's doing. +p3382 +aVWell, what we have to stop and think about is that we have weakened ourselves militarily to such an extent that if affects all of our military policies. Our Navy is at its smallest size since 1917; our Air Force, since 1940. In recent testimony, the commandant of the Marine Corps said half of the non-deployed units were not ready and you know, the sequester is cutting the heart out of our personnel. Our generals are retiring because they don't want to be part of this, and at the same time, our enemies are increasing. Our -- our friends can't trust us anymore. You know, Ukraine was a nuclear-armed state. They gave away their nuclear arms with the understanding that we would protect them. We won't even give them offensive weapons. You know, we turned our back on Israel, our ally. You know, in a situation like that, of course Obama's not going to be able to do anything. I would shore up our military first, because if you don't get the military right, nothing else is going to work. +p3383 +aVWell, I think the bully pulpit is a wonderful place to start healing that divide. You know, we have the purveyors of hatred who take every single incident between people of two races and try to make a race war out of it, and drive wedges into people. And this does not need to be done. What we need to think about instead -- you know, I was asked by an NPR reporter once, why don't I talk about race that often. I said it's because I'm a neurosurgeon. And she thought that was a strange response. And you say -- I said, you see, when I take someone to the operating room, I'm actually operating on the thing that makes them who they are. The skin doesn't make them who they are. The hair doesn't make them who they are. And it's time for us to move beyond that. Because......our strength as a nation comes in our unity. We are the United States of America, not the divided states. And those who want to destroy us are trying to divide us, and we shouldn't let them do it. +p3384 +aVWell, I haven't said anything about me being the only one to do anything, so let me try that. I'm the only one to separate Siamese twins... The -- the only one to operate on babies while they were still in mother's womb, the only one to take out half of a brain, although you would think, if you go to Washington, that someone had beat me to it. But I -- but I'm very hopeful that I'm not the only one who's willing to pick up the baton of freedom, because freedom is not free, and we must fight for it every day. Every one of us must fight for it, because we're fighting for our children and the next generation. +p3385 +asVQUINTANILLA +p3386 +(lp3387 +VGood evening, I'm Carl Quintanilla, with my colleagues Becky Quick and John Harwood. We'll be joined tonight by some of +p3388 +aVGovernor? +p3389 +aVGovernor Huckabee. +p3390 +aVThank you, Governor. Governor Bush. +p3391 +aVSenator Rubio. +p3392 +aVMr. Trump? +p3393 +aVDr. Carson? +p3394 +aVMrs. Fiorina? +p3395 +aVFixed it. +p3396 +aVSenator Cruz? +p3397 +aVGovernor Christie? +p3398 +aVSenator Paul? +p3399 +aVThanks to all the candidates. John? +p3400 +aVHold it. We'll cut it back to you in just a minute. Becky's moving on. +p3401 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor. thank you, Governor. +p3402 +aVMr. Trump, 30 seconds. +p3403 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3404 +aVWe're going to try to move on. +p3405 +aVYou want to bring 70,000 pages to three? +p3406 +aVIs that using really small type? +p3407 +aVIs that using really small type? +p3408 +aVMrs. Fiorina \u2014 +p3409 +aVWe're going to \u2014 +p3410 +aVWe will come around the bend, i promise. This one is for Senator Rubio. You've been a young man in a hurry ever since you won your first election in your 20s. You've had a big accomplishment in the Senate, an immigration bill providing a path to citizenship the conservatives in your party hate, and even you don't support anymore. Now, you're skipping more votes than any senator to run for president. Why not slow down, get a few more things done first or least finish what you start? +p3411 +aVSo when the Sun-Sentinel says Rubio should resign, not rip us off, when they say Floridians sent you to Washington to do a job, when they say you act like you hate your job, do you? +p3412 +aVWell, do you hate your job? +p3413 +aVIs that the standard? +p3414 +aVSenator, thank you. John. +p3415 +aVThank you, Senator. +p3416 +aVSenator Cruz. Congressional Republicans, Democrats and the White House are about to strike a compromise that would raise the debt limit, prevent a government shutdown and calm financial markets that fear of \u2014 another Washington-created crisis is on the way. Does your opposition to it show that you're not the kind of problem-solver American voters want? +p3417 +aV do we get credit ? +p3418 +aVSo, this is a question about , which you have 30 seconds left to answer, should you choose to do so. +p3419 +aVOK. I asked you about the debt limit and I got no answer. +p3420 +aVWe promised we would get to everyone this block. Governor Huckabee, I'm going to give you 60 seconds on this. +p3421 +aV...Governor... +p3422 +aV...Thank you, Governor... +p3423 +aV...Senator Cruz... +p3424 +aVOK, alright. +p3425 +aVSenator Cruz... +p3426 +aV...Before we go to break, we're clearly not having that beer you mentioned, but I'll give you 30 more seconds... +p3427 +aVOK. +p3428 +aVI'll give you 30 seconds to respond... +p3429 +aVRespond on the debt limit, or an answer to the governor, which ever you choose. +p3430 +aV30 seconds, Governor Huckabee. +p3431 +aVGovernor, thank you. We will take a break. The Republican Presidential debate, live from Boulder, Colorado, coming back after a break on +p3432 +aVMrs. Fiorina, in 2010, while running for Senate in Tech Ridge (ph), California, you called an Internet sales tax a bad idea. Traditional brick and mortar stores obviously disagree. Now that the Internet shopping playing field has matured, what would be a fair plan to even that playing field? +p3433 +aVMrs. Fiorina. +p3434 +aVOK. +p3435 +aVThank you very much. +p3436 +aVDr. Carson, we know you as a physician, but we wanted to ask you about your involvement on some corporate boards, including Costco's. Last year, a marketing study called the warehouse retailer the number one gay-friendly brand in America, partly because of its domestic partner benefits. Why would you serve on a company whose policies seem to run counter to your views on homosexuality? +p3437 +aVOne more question. This is a company called Mannatech, a maker of nutritional supplements, with which you had a 10-year relationship. They offered claims that they could cure autism, cancer, they paid $7 million to settle a deceptive marketing lawsuit in Texas, and yet you're involvement continued. Why? +p3438 +aVTo be fair, you were on the homepage of their website with the logo over your shoulder \u2014 +p3439 +aVDoes that not speak to your vetting process or judgment in any way. +p3440 +aVApparently. We will take a break. We'll be back in Boulder in just a minute. +p3441 +aV...We'll come back around. I want to get to governor Kasich. +p3442 +aVGovernor Kasich, let's talk ... +p3443 +aV...about Marijuana, Governor Kasich... +p3444 +aVAlright, but 30 seconds, you made a case. Sure, 30 seconds. +p3445 +aVSenator, thank you. +p3446 +aVOh, no, no, no... +p3447 +aV...Ok... +p3448 +aV...We're going to go to... +p3449 +aVOK. Thank you, Senator. Governor Kasich, let's talk about marijuana. We're broadcasting from Colorado which has seen $150 million in new revenue for the state since legalizing last year. Governor Hickenlooper is not a big fan of legalization, but he's said the people who used to be smoking it are still smoking it, they're just now paying taxes. Given the budget pressures in Ohio, and other states, is this a revenue stream you'd like to have? +p3450 +aVThank you, Governor. +p3451 +aVThank you. We'll be back from Boulder, Colorado in just a moment. +p3452 +aVMr. Trump, you've said you have a special permit to carry a gun in New York. +p3453 +aVAfter the Oregon mass shooting on October 1st, you said, "By the way, it was a gun-free zone. If you had a couple of teachers with guns, you would have been a hell of a lot better off." +p3454 +aVWould you feel more comfortable if your employees brought guns to work? +p3455 +aVAre you carrying one now? +p3456 +aVWe called a few Trump resorts, a few Trump properties that \u2014 that do not allow guns with or without a permit. Would you change those policies? +p3457 +aVOK. All right. Thank you. John? +p3458 +aVGovernor Bush, daily fantasy sports has become a phenomenon in this country, will award billions of dollars in prize money this year. But to play you have to assess your odds, put money at risk, wait for an outcome that's out of your control. Isn't that the definition of gambling, and should the Federal Government treat it as such? +p3459 +aVI had a feeling you were going to brag about that. +p3460 +aVThis is the\u2014 well, we're going to take a break. We want to save time for closing statements after the break. So this is the Republican presidential debate in Boulder, and we'll be right back. +p3461 +aVSenator Rubio... +p3462 +aV...yeah, I just wanted . +p3463 +aVI want to give you 30 seconds here. +p3464 +aVThat concludes tonight's debate. On behalf of my colleagues Becky Quick, John Harwood, Sharon Epperson, Rick Santelli and Jim Cramer, we'd like to our host, the University of Colorado at Boulder, the Republican National Committee, the candidates and, of course, tonight's audience. +p3465 +asVAUDIENCE +p3466 +(lp3467 +VBoo. +p3468 +aVBoo. +p3469 +asVSTRASSEL +p3470 +(lp3471 +VMr. Trump. +p3472 +aVYou have made a lot of promises and you have also \u2014 you're the only candidate who has said he would not touch entitlements. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has estimated that your ideas would cost an additional $12 trillion to $15 trillion over the next 10 years and that we would have to have annual economic growth of anywhere from 7.7 percent to 9 percent annually to pay for them. Are you proposing more than you can actually deliver, at least not without big deficits? +p3473 +aVBut in terms of... +p3474 +aVO.K. But how would you actually do that? Can I ask you? Because right now, Social Security and Medicare... +p3475 +aVThey take up two-thirds of the federal budget, and they're growing. +p3476 +aVO.K., I have a question, a related tax question. Senator Rubio, you have the highest tax rate of anyone up on the stage in terms of the top tax rates, 35 percent. Some economists say, "It would limit its potential to boost economic growth." You do that so that you will have more revenue to pay for a tripling of the Child Tax Credit. Normally, it's liberals who like to use the tax code to insert social policy. Why should conservatives who want to tax adopt the other side's approach? +p3477 +aVGovernor Kasich, this on is on size of government. In 2013, you pushed through a Medicaid reform in your state over the rejections of many of the Republicans in your state. Total enrollment and overall cost of program have gone well beyond what anyone had expected, including yourself. How can you argue that this overall growth fits in with conservative ambition to significantly cut back on the size of federal welfare programs? +p3478 +aVSenator Cruz. Senator Cruz, you have promised to deport illegal aliens. You have also promised to reverse President Obama's executive action that gives temporary amnesty to illegals brought here by their parent as children. As president, you would have the names and addresses of the some 800,000 of those that have registered under that action. Now, you have said that in this country, we shouldn't go door to door, look for illegals, but in this case you would have a list. Would you use it? +p3479 +aVSo would you \u2014 would you use the addresses? +p3480 +aVWould you pick them up? +p3481 +aVSenator Rubio, your reply. +p3482 +aVAll right. Senator Cruz. Your response, Senator Cruz. +p3483 +aV... O.K.... +p3484 +aVMoving subjects. Dr. Carson, this week Morgan Stanley agreed to pay a $3.2 billion fine to state and federal authorities for contributing to the mortgage crisis. You have a lot of Democrats out saying that we should be jailing more executives, so two questions. Should financial executives be held legally responsible for financial crisis, and do you think fines like these are an effective way to deter companies from future behavior like that? +p3485 +aVSenator Cruz, you were mentioned in the mix here, your response? +p3486 +aVAnd now, Marco Rubio. +p3487 +aVWe'll be back with a few final thoughts in a moment. +p3488 +asVDICKERSON +p3489 +(lp3490 +VGood evening. I'm John Dickerson. This holiday weekend, as America honors our first president, we're about to hear from six men who hope to be the 45th. The candidates for the Republican nomination are here in South Carolina for their ninth debate, one week before this state holds the first-in-the-South primary. George Washington wrote that the truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains taken to bring it to light. We hope to shed some light on the candidates' positions tonight to help voters make up their minds. So gentlemen, please join us on stage. With us tonight \u2014 with us tonight are retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson of Florida, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Businessman Donald Trump of New York. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Former Governor Jeb Bush of Florida. And Governor John Kasich of Ohio. Now, as most of you have heard by now, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died today at the age of 79. He was the longest-serving member of the court, appointed by President Reagan in 1986. Justice Scalia was the court's leading conservative, and even those who disagreed with his opinions regarded him as a brilliant legal scholar. Please join us and the candidates on our stage in a moment of silence for Justice Antonin Scalia. Thank you. We will talk to the candidates about Justice Scalia and the road ahead when the debate begins in a moment. +p3491 +aVBefore we get started, candidates, here are the rules. When we ask you a question, you will have one minute to answer, and 30 seconds more if we ask a follow-up. If you're attacked by another candidate, you get 30 seconds to respond. And here's how we keep time. After we ask a question, you'll get a green light. The yellow light means you have 30 seconds left to finish your answer, and when time is up, the light turns red. That means please stop talking. If you keep talking, you'll hear this. You don't want to hear that. Joining me in the questioning tonight, my CBS News colleague, chief White House correspondent Major Garrett, and Kimberley Strassel, who is on the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal. And you can participate in the debate through our partnership with Twitter. Tweet us your questions and comments using the hashtag "# +p3492 +aVSo, just to be clear on this, Mr. Trump, you're O.K. with the president nominating somebody ... +p3493 +aVGovernor Kasich, I want to get your thoughts on this. Justice Scalia was a real believer, obviously, in the strict word of the Constitution. Now, Harry Reid says that a failure to fill his vacancy would be, quote, "shameful abdication of one of the Senate's most essential constitutional responsibilities." Where do you come down on this? +p3494 +aVDr. Carson. Dr. Carson, you, like others, put out a statement after the death was announced, and you said the president should delay. You've written a book on the Constitution recently. What does the Constitution say about whose duty it is here to act in this kind of a situation? +p3495 +aVSenator Rubio, you're a... Senator Rubio, you're a lawyer. Quickly, can you address the issue of whether the Constitution tells us who has the power to appoint Supreme Court justices? And then, also, the Senate Republicans last year floated an idea of removing the filibuster for Senate \u2014 excuse me, for Supreme Court nominations. You seemed open to that. What's your feeling on that now? +p3496 +aVQuickly, though, on this question... Very quickly, Senator, on this specific question, though. You were once in favor of dropping the threshold... +p3497 +aV... majority \u2014 you were never in favor of that? +p3498 +aVO.K. Thank you, Senator. Governor Bush, I would like to ask you, conservatives for a long time have felt like that their Republican presidents have picked justices that didn't turn out to be real conservatives. +p3499 +aVBernie Sanders has said he would have a litmus test. He would make sure that he appointed a justice who was going to overturn Citizens United. If they can have a litmus test for a nominee, what about you? Would you have a litmus test for a nominee? And what would it be? +p3500 +aVRight, so, Senator Cruz, the Constitution... So, Senator Cruz, the Constitution says the president "shall appoint with advice and consent from the Senate," just to clear that up. So he has the constitutional power. But you don't think he should. Where do you set that date if you're president? Does it begin in election year, in December, November, September? And once you set the date, when you're president, will you abide by that date? +p3501 +aVJust can I \u2014 I'm sorry to interrupt, were any appointed in an election year, or is that just there were 80 years... +p3502 +aVBut Kennedy was confirmed in '88. +p3503 +aVHe was appointed in '87. +p3504 +aV... confirmed in '88. That's the question, is it appointing or confirming, what's the difference? +p3505 +aVSorry, I just want to get the facts straight for the audience. But I apologize. +p3506 +aVAll right. Thank you, Senator Cruz. All right, we're going to move on to national security here, and we are going to \u2014 I want to read a quote from Secretary Robert Gates, former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who served for eight year \u2014 under eight presidents. And this is what he said about Republican candidates, quote, "Part of the concern that I have with the campaign is that the solutions being offered are so simplistic and so at odds with the way the world really works." So, in that spirit, we're going to work tonight to be more specific. Mr. Trump, I want to start with you. You have said as president, you'll get up to speed very quickly. You'll know more quickly as president than any of the experts. So, you've been elected president. It's your first day in the Situation Room. What three questions do you ask your national security experts about the world? +p3507 +aVSenator Rubio \u2014 just 30 seconds on this question, Senator Rubio. Are those the questions you would ask? +p3508 +aVLet me ask you a follow-up, a full, proper question, then. Violent extremists are operating or active in 40 countries. Some 80 countries are in different degrees of instability. And so, that's just the crises overseas. Barack Obama walked into an economic collapse when he came into office. We face international health crises, from Ebola to Zika. So, there is a lot of opportunity for crisis, as you have talked about. What would you point to in your past to show voters that you've been in a crisis and that you've been tested when that inevitable crisis comes when you're president? +p3509 +aVDr. Carson, I want to ask you a question... Dr. Carson, you said you've had more 2 a.m. \u2014 2 a.m. phone calls than anybody up on this stage. But when those 2 a.m. phone calls came, you operated on a foundation of all of that amazing medical work that you did, all of that learning. So if you were to be president, though, you wouldn't have the political foundation that hones those instincts when the 2 a.m. phone call comes. So isn't that a liability? +p3510 +aVGovernor Kasich, Russia is being credited......Russia is being credited with bombing U.S.-backed rebels on behalf of Assad in Aleppo and Syria. They've also moved into the Crimea, eastern Ukraine. You've said you want to punch them in the nose. What does that mean? What are you going to do? +p3511 +aVGovernor......Governor Bush. +p3512 +aVYou said defeating +p3513 +aVMr. Trump, you're......Mr. Trump, you were mentioned here. You did say that you could get along very well with Vladimir Putin. You did at one point say let Russia take care of +p3514 +aV... All right... +p3515 +aV... All right, Governor Bush, please respond. +p3516 +aV... O.K., settle... +p3517 +aV... All right, Mr. Trump, all right... +p3518 +aVGentleman, I think we're going to leave that there. I've got a question for Senator... +p3519 +aV... All right, all right, gentlemen, gentlemen, let's leave it there so I can ask a question of Senator Cruz, who's also running for president. Senator Cruz, you talked about the first Gulf War as being a kind of model for your focused and determined effort to go after +p3520 +aVVery quickly, 30-second follow-up. You've said that, essentially, the Kurds would be the American ground forces in there. The criticism that experts have on that is that the Kurds only can work within their territory. If they take larger amounts of territory, you have an ethnic war with the Arabs. So the Kurds can't really do as much as you seem to be putting on their backs. +p3521 +aVAll right. Mr. Trump......On Monday, George W. Bush will campaign in South Carolina for his brother. As you've said tonight, and you've often said, the Iraq war and your opposition to it was a sign of your good judgment. In 2008, in an interview with Wolf Blitzer, talking about President George W. Bush's conduct of the war, you said you were surprised that Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi didn't try to impeach him. You said, quote: "Which, personally, I think would have been a wonderful thing." When you were asked what you meant by that and you said: "For the war, for the war, he lied, he got us into the war with lies." Do you still believe President Bush should have been impeached? +p3522 +aVSo... +p3523 +aVBut so I'm going to \u2014 so you still think he should be impeached? +p3524 +aVAll right. O.K. All right. Governor Bush \u2014 when a member on the stage's brother gets attacked... +p3525 +aV... the brother gets to respond. +p3526 +aVGovernor Kasich, would you weigh in on......Governor Kasich, please weigh in. +p3527 +aVWhy is it nuts? Talk about it. Give us your sense of... +p3528 +aVThirty seconds, Senator Rubio. +p3529 +aVAll right, Dr. Carson, we have a cleansing... +p3530 +aVWe have a cleansing... +p3531 +aVAll right. Well, Dr. Carson, I have got a question now for you. A moment of pause here. You have said, Dr. Carson, that \u2014 referring to yourself, that people bought into the idea that, quote, "A nice person can't be tough on terrorists." You have called for loosening the rules of engagement for the military, which could lead to more civilian casualties. So, explain why those casualties would be acceptable in the fight against +p3532 +aVAll right, thank you, Dr. Carson. We're going to have to take a commercial break here. Thank you to all the candidates. We'll be right back with CBS News's 2016 debate in Greenville, South Carolina. +p3533 +aVWe're back with the Republicans who could be president. The topic now is money and how the candidates would spend it. We'll turn the questioning over to Kimberley Strassel of The Wall Street Journal and Major Garrett of CBS News. Kim? +p3534 +aVDr. Carson, before we go to break, could you give us your sense of this conversation about either Medicaid or economic growth through taxation? +p3535 +aVDoctor... +p3536 +aV... Dr. Carson, I'm sorry, we have to go to a commercial. The free market wants what it wants. Back soon with the 2016 Republican debate in Greenville, South Carolina. +p3537 +aVWelcome back. We'll begin the second half of the debate with one of the hottest issues in the Republican campaign, immigration. But before I turn it back to Major Garrett and Kim Strassel, I have one question for Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump, in the Republican National Committee's Spanish-language response to the State of the Union, Congressman Diaz-Balart said, quote, "It's essential that we find a legislative solution," talking about immigration, "to offer a permanent and humane solution to those who live in the shadows. What does that mean to you, "a humane solution to those who live in the shadows"? +p3538 +aVSenator Cruz, I have a question for you. Speaker Paul Ryan has made a big commitment to trying to lift the 50 million poor out of poverty. Arthur Brooks, who is the president of the American Enterprise Institute, says, quote, "If we are not warriors for the poor every day, free enterprise has no matter." How you have been, in your campaign, a warrior for the poor? +p3539 +aVAll right. Mr. Trump, thank you so much. We're going to take a break for a moment. We'll be back in a moment with the CBS News Republican debate. +p3540 +aVWe're back now from Greenville, South Carolina, with the candidates for the Republican presidential nomination. Mr. Trump, I have a question for you. Presidents have to, on the one hand, be firm, but also be flexible. You have been flexible and changed your opinion on a number of things, from abortion to Hillary Clinton. But you have said, rightly, that it's just like Ronald Reagan, who changed his mind on things. But at the same time, you're criticizing Senator Cruz for what you say is a change on immigration. He disputes that, of course. So, why is your change of opinion make you like Reagan, and when he changes his opinion, it's a huge character flaw? +p3541 +aVWhich conservative idea don't you agree with? +p3542 +aVAll right. Governor Bush, I think by "they," he is referring to your brother, these on the hook for your brother. +p3543 +aVBut that was his brother. +p3544 +aVHold on, gentleman, I'm going to turn this car around. +p3545 +aVAll right, gentlemen. +p3546 +aVWell, hold on. We're going to \u2014 gentlemen, we're in danger of driving this into the dirt. Senator Rubio, I'd like you to jump in here... +p3547 +aVI understand, you're on deck, governor. +p3548 +aVSenator Cruz, 30 seconds on this one. +p3549 +aVWe're going to switch... +p3550 +aVWe're going to switch here to Senator Marco Rubio. Senator Marco Rubio, please weigh in. +p3551 +aVI thought you had a point? +p3552 +aVI thought you had a point you wanted to make. +p3553 +aVYou're on deck, sir. +p3554 +aVSenator, I wanted to ask you, just going back to immigration, in the last debate, you listed your series of accomplishments in the Senate. One thing you left off was \u2014 was immigration reform. Is it the case that in your list of accomplishments you can't mention that? +p3555 +aVDr. Carson, I have......Dr. Carson, I have a question for you. Candidates are... +p3556 +aVAll right. You have 30 seconds, Doctor. +p3557 +aVDr. Carson, I \u2014 let me ask you a different question. When you were \u2014 you were the first one, really, to talk about political correctness. Everybody now talks about it, but that was really what sparked your \u2014 your rise. Politicians are often accused of glossing over any hard choices people have to make, just always selling happy, nice things. So in the \u2014 in the spirit of saying something that might be politically incorrect, tell the voters something that they need to hear but that might be politically incorrect? +p3558 +aVGovernor Kasich. Governor Kasich, you've been described as the Democrats' favorite Republican. You talked about in New Hampshire, Democrats would come up to you and say, "I hope you win." Why will that help you win a Republican nomination? +p3559 +aVMr. Trump, let me ask you a question. Presidents in both parties say that the one thing you need in your administration is somebody who can tell you you're wrong. You don't necessarily seem like somebody who has somebody who tells you you're wrong a lot. Can you tell us of an instance where somebody has said, "Donald Trump, you're wrong," and you listened to them? +p3560 +aVAbout what? +p3561 +aVLet me \u2014 something, in talking to voters that they wish somebody would tell you to cut it out is the profanity. What's your reaction to that? +p3562 +aVAll right. O.K. Governor Bush, I'd like to ask you... +p3563 +aVWell, can I \u2014 how about you respond, and then you can answer the question I'm about to ask you. +p3564 +aVIt'll be... +p3565 +aVIf we adjudicate this, the night will be over. Governor, in 2012, you said that your father and Ronald Reagan would have a hard time in today's Republican Party, based on their records of trying to find accommodation and finding some degree of common ground. Do you still feel that way? +p3566 +aVHold on, Mr. Trump. +p3567 +aVHold on, Mr. Trump. +p3568 +aVO.K., Mr. Trump, your response. +p3569 +aVThe bells are ringing, sir. +p3570 +aVAll right. Thank you. Senator Rubio, I want to ask you a 30-second question, no president can... +p3571 +aVNo \u2014 well, I'll ask the question, you do what you want. +p3572 +aVNo president can know everything, right? So a smart leader knows how to ask questions. So if you could talk to any previous president, what's the smart question you would ask about that job that you would want to know? +p3573 +aVAll right. That's going to have to be it there, Senator Rubio. We have got to go to a break. We will be right back with the CBS News Republican debate in Greenville, South Carolina. +p3574 +aVTime now for closing statements. You will each have one minute, and we'll begin with Governor Kasich. +p3575 +aVDr. Carson \u2014 Dr. Carson, you're next. +p3576 +aVGovernor \u2014 Governor Bush. +p3577 +aVSenator Cruz? Senator Cruz, your closing statement? +p3578 +aVMr. Trump, your closing statements? +p3579 +as. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/downloads/html_transcripts/.DS_Store b/downloads/html_transcripts/.DS_Store new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5008ddf Binary files /dev/null and b/downloads/html_transcripts/.DS_Store differ diff --git a/downloads/html_transcripts/script0.html b/downloads/html_transcripts/script0.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6a576ca --- /dev/null +++ b/downloads/html_transcripts/script0.html @@ -0,0 +1,1208 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
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+ 		+ + + + +Presidential Candidates Debates: Democratic Candidates Debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin +
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Democratic Candidates Debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
February 11, 2016
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PARTICIPANTS:
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton;
Senator Bernie Sanders (VT);

MODERATORS:
Gwen Ifill (PBS);
Judy Woodruff (PBS)

WOODRUFF: Good evening, and thank you. We are happy to welcome you to Milwaukee for this Democratic debate.

We are especially pleased to thank our partners at Facebook, who have helped us set up a vibrant conversation among voters who are undecided. And tonight you're going to hear some of their questions for the candidates. And you can follow along at home on the PBS NewsHour page on Facebook. We also want to thank our hosts, the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, on whose campus we meet, here in the beautiful Helen Bader Concert Hall.

IFILL: We want to also extend our warm thanks to Milwaukee Public Radio and Milwaukee Public Television, as well as all of our friends at the PBS member stations across the country tuning in tonight. This is the sixth time the Democrats have met face to face. Each time, we learn more about them and the presidents they say they want to be. You know you're watching — whether you're a Democrat, a Republican, or neither — because you believe the outcome of the election is important to you. And we believe that, too. With that, let's welcome the candidates to the stage. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. [applause]

WOODRUFF: Welcome, Senator, great to see you. And former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. [applause] Very good to be here with you.

CLINTON: Thank you.

IFILL: Welcome to you both.

WOODRUFF: Now, a word about format. There will be two short breaks, and the rules are simple: 90 seconds for each answer and 30 seconds for the other candidate to respond.

IFILL: With Iowa and New Hampshire behind us, we are now broadening the conversation to America's heartland and beyond, including here in Wisconsin. Now let's turn to the candidates for their opening statements. The order was decided by coin toss. And, Senator Sanders, you go first.

SANDERS: Well, Gwen and Judy, thank you very much for hosting this event. And, PBS, thank you. Nine months ago, our campaign began. And when it began, we had no political organization, no money, and not much name recognition outside of the state of Vermont. A lot has happened in nine months. And what has happened is, I think, the American people have responded to a series of basic truths, and that is that we have today a campaign finance system which is corrupt, which is undermining American democracy, which allows Wall Street and billionaires to pour huge sums of money into the political process to elect the candidates of their choice.

And aligned with a corrupt campaign finance system is a rigged economy. And that's an economy where ordinary Americans are working longer hours for low wagers. They are worried to death about the future of their kids. And yet they are seeing almost all new income and all new wealth going to the top 1 percent. And then in addition to that, the American people are looking around and they see a broken criminal justice system. They see more people in jail in the United States of America than any other country on earth, 2.2 million. We're spending $80 billion a year locking up fellow Americans. They see kids getting arrested for marijuana, getting in prison, getting a criminal record, while they see executives on Wall Street who pay billions of dollars in settlements and get no prosecution at all. No criminal records for them. I think what our campaign is indicating is that the American people are tired of establishment politics, tired of establishment economics. They want a political revolution in which millions of Americans stand up, come together, not let the Trumps of the world divide us, and say, you know what, in this great country, we need a government that represents all of us, not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors. Thank you.

IFILL: Thank you, Senator Sanders. [applause] Thank you, Senator Sanders. Secretary Clinton.

CLINTON: I'm running for president to knock down all the barriers that are holding Americans back, and to rebuild the ladders of opportunity that will give every American a chance to advance, especially those who have been left out and left behind. I know a lot of Americans are angry about the economy. And for good cause. Americans haven't had a raise in 15 years. There aren't enough good-paying jobs, especially for young people. And yes, the economy is rigged in favor of those at the top. We both agree that we have to get unaccountable money out of our political system and that we have to do much more to ensure that Wall Street never wrecks main street again. But I want to go further. I want to tackle those barriers that stand in the way of too many Americans right now. African-Americans who face discrimination in the job market, education, housing, and the criminal justice system. Hardworking immigrant families living in fear, who should be brought out of the shadows so they and their children can have a better future. Guaranteeing that women's work finally gets the pay, the equal pay that we deserve. I think America can only live up to its potential when we make sure that every American has a chance to live up to his or her potential. That will be my mission as president. And I think together we will make progress.

WOODRUFF: Thank you both. [applause] Thank you both. And we'll be right back after a short break to begin questions.

[commercial break]

WOODRUFF: And, welcome back to this PBS Newshour debate, Democratic debate, here in Milwaukee. Let's get right to the questions. Senator Sanders, to you first. Coming off the results in Iowa and New Hampshire, there are many voters who are taking a closer look at you, and your ideas, and they're asking how big a role do you foresee for the federal government? It's already spending 21% of the entire U.S. economy. How much larger would government be in the lives of Americans under a Sanders presidency?

SANDERS: Well, to put that in a context, Judy, I think we have to understand that in the last 30 years in this country there has been a massive transfer of wealth going from the hands of working families into the top one-tenth of 1% whose percentage of wealth has doubled. In other words, the very rich are getting richer, almost everybody is going — getting poorer. What I believe is the United States, in fact, should join the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee healthcare to all people. Our Medicare for all single-payer proposal will save the average middle class family $5,000 a year. I do believe that in the year 2016 we have to look in terms of public education as colleges as part of public education making public colleges and universities tuition free. I believe that when real unemployment is close to 10%, and when our infrastructure, our roads, our bridges, our water systems, Flint, Michigan comes to mind. Our waste water plants, our rail, our airports, in many places are disintegrating. Yeah, we can create 13 million jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure at a cost of a trillion dollars.

WOODRUFF: But, my question is how big would government be? Would there be any limit on the size of the role of government...

SANDERS: ... Of course there will be a limit, but when today you have massive levels of income and wealth inequality, when the middle class is disappearing, you have the highest rate of child poverty of almost any major country on Earth. Yes, in my view, the government of a democratic society has a moral responsibility to play a vital role in making sure all of our people have a decent standard of living.

CLINTON: Judy, I think that the best analysis that I've seen based on Senator Sanders plans is that it would probably increase the size of the federal government by about 40%, but what is most concerning to me is that in looking at the plans — let's take healthcare for example. Last week in a CNN town hall, the Senator told a questioner that the questioner would spend about $500 dollars in taxes to get about $5,000 dollars in healthcare. Every progressive economist who has analyzed that says that the numbers don't add up, and that's a promise that cannot be kept, and it's really important now that we are getting into the rest of the country that both of us are held to account for explaining what we are proposing because, especially with healthcare, this is not about math. This is about people's lives, and we should level with the American people about what we can do to make sure they get quality affordable healthcare.

SANDERS: Well, let us level with the American people. Secretary Clinton has been going around the country saying Bernie Sanders wants to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, people are going to lose their MedicAid, they're going to lose their CHIP program. I have fought my entire life to make sure that healthcare is a right for all people. We're not going to dismantle everything. But, here is the truth. Twenty-nine million people have no health insurance today in America. We pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. One out of five Americans can't even afford the prescriptions their doctors are writing. Millions of people have high deductibles and co-payments. What I said, and let me repeat it, I don't know what economists Secretary Clinton is talking to, but what I have said, and let me repeat it, that yes, the middle — the family right in the middle of the economy would pay $500 dollars more in taxes, and get a reduction in their healthcare costs of $5,000 dollars. In my view healthcare is a right of all people, not a privilege, and I will fight for that.[applause]

CLINTON: I can only say that we both share the goal of universal health care coverage. You know, before it was called Obamacare, it was called Hillarycare. And I took on the drug companies and I took on the insurance companies to try to get us universal health care coverage. [applause] And why I am a staunch supporter of President Obama's principal accomplishment — namely the Affordable Care Act — is because I know how hard it was to get that done. We are at 90 percent coverage. We have to get the remaining 10. I've set forth very specific plans about how to get costs down, especially prescription drug costs. And it is difficult to in any way argue with the goal that we both share. But I think the American people deserve to know specifically how this would work. If it's Medicare for all, then you no longer have the Affordable Care Act, because the Affordable Care Act, as you know very well, is based on the insurance system, based on exchanges, based on a subsidy system. The Children's Health Insurance Program, which I helped to create, which covers 8 million kids, is also a different kind of program. So if you're having Medicare for all, single-payer, you need to level with people about what they will have at the end of the process you are proposing. And based on every analysis that I can find by people who are sympathetic to the goal, the numbers don't add up, and many people will actually be worse off than they are right now.

IFILL: Final thought, Senator.

SANDERS: That is absolutely inaccurate. Look, here is the reality, folks. There is one major country on Earth that does not guarantee health care to all people. There is one major country — the United States — which ends up spending almost three times per capita what they do in the U.K. guaranteeing health care to all people, 50 percent more than they do in France guaranteeing health care to all people, far more than our Canadian neighbors, who guarantee health care to all people. Please do not tell me that in this country, if — and here's the if — we have the courage to take on the drug companies, and have the courage to take on the insurance companies, and the medical equipment suppliers, if we do that, yes, we can guarantee health care to all people in a much more cost effective way.

CLINTON: Well, let me just — let me just say, once again...[applause]...that, having been in the trenches fighting for this, I believe strongly we have to guarantee health care. I believe we are on the path to doing that. The last thing we need is to throw our country into a contentious debate about health care again. And we are not England. We are not France. We inherited a system that was set up during World War II; 170 million Americans get health insurance right now through their employers. So what we have tried to do and what President Obama succeeded in doing was to build on the health care system we have, get us to 90 percent coverage. We have to get the other 10 percent of the way to 100. I far prefer that and the chances we have to be successful there than trying to start all over again, gridlocking our system, and trying to get from zero to 100 percent. [applause]

IFILL: I'd like to move along. I'd like to move along. Secretary Clinton, you might — you also have proposed fairly expansive ideas about government. You may remember this pledge from a State of the Union Address at which I believe you were present, in which these words were said: "The era of big government is over." You may remember that. When asked your feelings about the federal government this week, 61 percent of New Hampshire Democrats told exit pollsters that they are angry or at least dissatisfied. Given what you and Senator Sanders are proposing, an expanding government in almost every area of our lives, is it fair for Americans who fear government to fear you?

CLINTON: No. But it is absolutely fair and necessary for Americans to vet both of our proposals, to ask the really hard questions about, what is it we think we can accomplish, why do we believe that, and what would be the results for the average American family? In my case, whether it's health care, or getting us to debt-free tuition, or moving us toward paid family leave, I have been very specific about where I would raise the money, how much it would cost, and how I would move this agenda forward. I've tried to be as specific to answer questions so that my proposals can be vetted, because I feel like we have to level with people for the very reason, Gwen, that you are mentioning. There is a great deal of skepticism about the federal government. I'm aware of that. It comes from the right, from the left, from people on all sides of the political spectrum.

So we have a special obligation to make clear what we stand for, which is why I think we should not make promises we can't keep, because that will further, I think, alienate Americans from understanding and believing we can together make some real changes in people's lives.

IFILL: But I haven't heard either of you put a price tag on your — you say...[crosstalk]

CLINTON: I will put a price tag. My price tag is about $100 billion a year. And again, paid for. And what I have said is I will not throw us further into debt. I believe I can get the money that I need by taxing the wealthy, by closing loopholes, the things that we are way overdue for doing. And I think once I'm in the White House we will have enough political capital to be able to do that. But I am conscious of the fact that we have to also be very clear, especially with young people, about what kind of government is going to do what for them and what it will cost.

IFILL: Senator?

SANDERS: Well, Secretary Clinton, you're not in the White House yet. And let us be clear that every proposal that I have introduced has been paid for. For example, all right, who in America denies that we have an infrastructure that is crumbling? Roads, bridges, water systems, wastewater plants, who denies that? Who denies that real unemployment today, including those who have given up looking for work and are working part-time is close to 10 percent? Who denies that African-American youth unemployment, real, is over 50 percent. We need to create jobs. So yes, I will do away with the outrageous loopholes that allow profitable multinational corporations to stash billions of dollars in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda and in a given year pay zero, zero in federal income tax. Yes, I'm going to do away with that. We will use those proceeds, a hundred billion a year, to invest in rebuilding our infrastructure. Yes, I believe that as a result of the illegal behavior on Wall Street, that they are a Wall Street that drove this country into the worst economic downturn since the Great Recession — Great Depression. Yes, I do believe that now after the American people bailed Wall Street out, yes, they should pay a Wall Street speculation tax so that we can make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We bailed them out. Now it is their time to help the middle class. [applause]

CLINTON: You know, I think, again, both of us share the goal of trying to make college affordable for all young Americans. And I have set forth a compact that would do just that for debt-free tuition. We differ, however, on a couple of key points. One of them being that if you don't have some agreement within the system from states and from families and from students, it's hard to get to where we need to go. And Senator Sanders's plan really rests on making sure that governors like Scott Walker contribute $23 billion on the first day to make college free. I am a little skeptical about your governor actually caring enough about higher education to make any kind of commitment like that. [applause]

WOODRUFF: Next, we're going to...

SANDERS: A brief response.

WOODRUFF: Very brief, thank you.

SANDERS: Here is where we are with public education. A 100, 150 years ago incredibly brave Americans said, you know what, working class kids, low income kids should not have to work in factories or on the farms. Like rich kids, they deserve to get a free education. And that free education of extraordinary accomplishment was from first grade to 12th grade. The world has changed. This is 2016. In many ways, a college degree today is equivalent to what a high school degree was 50, 60 years ago. So, yes, I do believe that when we talk about public education in America, today, in a rapidly changing world, we should have free tuition at public colleges and universities. That should be a right of all Americans regardless of the income of their families. [applause]

WOODRUFF: Secretary Clinton, your campaign — you and your campaign have made a clear appeal to women voters. You have talked repeatedly about the fact, we know you would be, if elected, the first woman president. But in New Hampshire 55 percent of the women voters supported and voted for Senator Sanders. What are women missing about you?

CLINTON: Well, first, Judy, I have spent my entire adult life working toward making sure that women are empowered to make their own choices, even if that choice is not to vote for me. I believe that it's most important that we unleash the full potential of women and girls in our society. And I feel very strongly that I have an agenda, I have a record that really does respond to a lot of the specific needs that the women in our country face. So I'm going to keep making that case. I'm going to keep making sure that everything I've done, everything that I stand for is going to be well known. But I have no argument with anyone making up her mind about who to support. I just hope that by the end of this campaign there will be a lot more supporting me. That's what I'm working towards. [applause]

WOODRUFF: As you know, just quickly, as you know, your strong supporter, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, said the other day that there's a special place in Hell for women who don't support other women. Do you agree with what she said?

CLINTON: Well, look, I think that she's been saying that for as long as I've known her, which is about 25 years. But it doesn't change my view that we need to empower everyone, women and men, to make the best decisions in their minds that they can make. That's what I've always stood for. And when it comes to the issues that are really on the front lines as to whether we're going to have equal pay, paid family leave, some opportunity for, you know, women to go as far as their hard work and talent take them, I think that we still have some barriers to knock down, which is why that's at the core of my campaign. I would note, just for a historic aside, somebody told me earlier today we've had like 200 presidential primary debates, and this is the first time there have been a majority of women on the stage. So, you know, we'll take our progress wherever we can find it. [applause]

WOODRUFF: Senator Sanders, you're in the minority, but we still want to hear from you. [laughter]

SANDERS: Look, we are fighting for every vote that we can get from women, from men, straight, gay, African-Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans. We are trying to bring America together around an agenda that works for working families and the middle class. I am very proud, if my memory is not correct — I think I am — that I have a lifetime — and I've been in Congress a few years — a lifetime 100 percent pro-choice voting record. I am very proud that over the years we have had the support in my state of Vermont from very significant majorities of women. I'm very proud that I support legislation that is currently in the Congress, got support of almost all progressive Democrats in the House and Senate, which says we will end the absurdity of women today making 79 cents on the dollar compared to men. And we will join the rest of the other — the industrialized world in saying that paid family and medical leave should be a right of all working families. [applause]

IFILL: Senator, do you worry at all that you will be the instrument of thwarting history, as Senator Clinton keeps claiming, that she might be the first woman president?

SANDERS: Well, you know, I think, from a historical point of view, somebody with my background, somebody with my views, somebody who has spent his entire life taking on the big money interests, I think a Sanders victory would be of some historical accomplishment, as well. [applause]

CLINTON: You know, I have said — I have said many times, you know, I'm not asking people to support me because I'm a woman. I'm asking people to support me because I think I'm the most qualified, experienced, and ready person to be the president and the commander-in-chief. [applause] And I appreciate greatly Senator Sanders' voting record. And I was very proud to get the endorsement of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, because I've been a leader on these issues. I have gone time and time again to take on the vested interests who would keep women's health care decisions the province of the government instead of women ourselves.

I'm very proud that NARAL endorsed me because when it comes to it we need a leader on women's issues. Somebody who, yes, votes right, but much more than that, leads the efforts to protect the hard-fought gains that women have made, that, make no mistake about it, are under tremendous attack, not just by the Republican presidential candidates but by a whole national effort to try to set back women's rights. So I'm asking women, I'm asking men, to support me because I'm ready to go into the White House on January 20th, 2017 and get to work on both domestic and foreign policy challenges. [applause]

WOODRUFF: Final comment.

SANDERS: Let me concur with the secretary, no question women's rights are under fierce attack all over this country. And I will tell you something that really galls me. I will not shock anybody to suggest that in politics there is occasionally a little bit of hypocrisy. Just a little bit. All over this country we have Republican candidates for president saying we hate the government. Government is the enemy. We're going to cut Social Security to help you. We're going to cut Medicare and Medicaid, federal aid to education to help you, because the government is so terrible. But, by the way, when it comes to a woman having to make a very personal choice, ah, in that case, my Republican colleagues love the government and want the government to make that choice for every woman in America. If that's not hypocrisy, I don't know what hypocrisy is. [applause]

IFILL: Thank you both.

We turn now to the first of several questions from our partners at Facebook. They were selected from a curated group of people we've been following of undecided voters. The first comes from Claudia Looze, a 54-year-old woman who works as a program manager at a public affairs cable network in Madison, Wisconsin. And she writes: "Wisconsin is number one in African-American male incarceration, according to a University of Wisconsin study. They found that Wisconsin's incarceration rate for black men, which is at 13 percent, was nearly double the country's rate. What can we do across the nation to address this?" Senator Sanders.

SANDERS: This is one of the great tragedies in our country today. And we can no longer continue to sweep it under the rug. It has to be dealt with. Today a male African-American baby born today stands a one-in-four chance of ending up in jail. That is beyond unspeakable. So what we have to do is the radical reform of a broken criminal justice system. [applause]

What we have to do is end over-policing in African-American neighborhoods. The reality is that both the African-American community and the white community do marijuana at about equal rates. The reality is four times as many blacks get arrested for marijuana. Truth is that far more blacks get stopped for traffic violations. The truth is that sentencing for blacks is higher than for whites. We need fundamental police reform, clearly, clearly, when we talk about a criminal justice system. I would hope that we could all agree that we are sick and tired of seeing videos on television of unarmed people, often African-Americans, shot by police officers. What we have got to do is make it clear that any police officer who breaks the law will, in fact, be held accountable. [applause]

CLINTON: You know, I completely agree with Senator Sanders. The first speech I gave in this campaign back in April was about criminal justice reform and ending the era of mass incarceration. The statistics from Wisconsin are particularly troubling, because it is the highest rate of incarceration for African-Americans in our nation, twice the national average. And we know of the tragic, terrible event that lead to the death of Dontre Hamilton right here in Milwaukee, a young man unarmed, who should still be with us. His family certainly believes that. And so do I. So we have work to do. There have been some good recommendations about what needs to happen. President Obama's policing commission came out with some. I have fully endorsed those.

But we have to restore policing that will actually protect the communities that police officers are sworn to protect. And, then we have to go after sentencing, and that's one of the problems here in Wisconsin because so much of what happened in the criminal justice system doesn't happen at the federal level, it happens at the state and local level. But, I would also add this. There are other racial discrepancies. Really systemic racism in this state, as in others, education, in employment, in the kinds of factors that too often lead from a position where young people, particularly young men, are pushed out of school early, are denied employment opportunities. So, when we talk about criminal justice reform, and ending the era of mass incarceration, we also have to talk about jobs, education, housing, and other ways of helping communities. [applause]

SANDERS: Nothing that Secretary Clinton said do I disagree with. This mandatory sentencing, a very bad idea. It takes away discretion from judges. We have got to demilitarize local police departments so they do not look like occupying armies. [applause] We have got to make sure that local police departments look like the communities they serve in their diversity. And, where we are failing abysmally is in the very high rate of recidivism we see. People are being released from jail without the education, without the job training, without the resources that they need to get their lives together, then they end up — we're shocked that they end up back in jail again. So, we have a lot of work to do. But, here is a pledge I've made throughout this campaign, and it's really not a very radical pledge. When we have more people in jail, disproportionately African American and Latino, than China does, a communist authoritarian society four times our size. Here's my promise, at the end of my first term as president we will not have more people in jail than any other country. We will invest in education, and jobs for our kids, not incarceration and more jails. [applause]

WOODRUFF: Secretary Clinton, I was talking recently with a 23 year old black woman who voted for President Obama because she said she thought relations between the races would get better under his leadership, and his example. Hardly anyone believes that they have. Why do you think race relations would be better under a Clinton presidency? What would you do that the nation's first African American has not been able to?

CLINTON: Well, I'm just not sure I agree completely with that assessment. I think under President Obama we have seen a lot of advances, the Affordable Care Act has helped more African Americans than any other group to get insurance, to be taken care of, but we also know a lot more than we did. We have a lot more social media, we have everybody with a cellphone. So, we are seeing the dark side of the remaining systemic racism that we have to root out in our society. I think President Obama has set a great example. I think he has addressed a lot of these issues that have been quite difficult, but he has gone forward. Now, what we have to do is to build on an honest conversation about where we go next. We now have much more information about what must be done to fix our criminal justice system. We now have some good models about how better to provide employment, housing and education. I think what President Obama did was to exemplify the importance of this issue as our first African American president, and to address it both from the President's office, and through his advocacy, such as working with young men, and Mrs. Obama's work with young women. But, we can't rest. We have work to do, and we now know a lot more than we ever did before. So, it's going to be my responsibility to make sure we move forward to solve these problems that are now out in the open. Nobody can deny them. To use the Justice Department, as we just saw, they have said they are going to sue Ferguson, that entered into a consent agreement, and then tried to back out. So, we're going to enforce the law, we're going to change policing practices, we're going to change incarceration practices, but we're also going to emphasize education, jobs, and housing.[applause]

WOODRUFF: Senator Sanders? [applause]

SANDERS: Well, I think, Judy, what has to be appreciated is that, as a result of the disastrous and illegal behavior on Wall Street, millions of lives were hurt. People lost their jobs, their homes, their life savings. Turns out that the African-American community and the Latino community were hit especially hard. As I understand it, the African-American community lost half of their wealth as a result of the Wall Street collapse. So when you have childhood African-American poverty rates of 35 percent, when you have youth unemployment at 51 percent, when you have unbelievable rates of incarceration — which, by the way, leaves the children back home without a dad or even a mother — clearly, we are looking at institutional racism. We are looking at an economy in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. And sadly, in America today, in our economy, a whole lot of those poor people are African-American.

WOODRUFF: So race relation was be better under a Sanders presidency than they've been?

SANDERS: Absolutely, because what we will do is say, instead of giving tax breaks to billionaires, we are going to create millions of jobs for low-income kids so they're not hanging out on street corners. We're going to make sure that those kids stay in school or are able to get a college education. And I think when you give low-income kids — African-American, white, Latino kids — the opportunities to get their lives together, they are not going to end up in jail. They're going to end up in the productive economy, which is where we want them. [applause]

IFILL: Let me turn this on its head, because when we talk about race in this country, we always talk about African-Americans, people of color. I want to talk about white people, OK?

SANDERS: White people?

IFILL: I know. [laughter] So many people will be surprised to find out that we are sitting in one of the most racially polarized metropolitan areas in the country. By the middle of this century, the nation is going to be majority nonwhite. Our public schools are already there. If working-class, white Americans are about to be outnumbered, are already underemployed in many cases, and one study found they are dying sooner, don't they have a reason to be resentful, Senator — Secretary Clinton?

CLINTON: Look, I am deeply concerned about what's happening in every community in America, and that includes white communities, where we are seeing an increase in alcoholism, addiction, earlier deaths. People with a high school education or less are not even living as long as their parents lived. This is a remarkable and horrifying fact. And that's why I've come forward with, for example, a plan to revitalize coal country, the coalfield communities that have been so hard hit by the changing economy, by the reduction in the use of coal. You know, coal miners and their families who helped turn on the lights and power our factories for generations are now wondering, has our country forgotten us? Do people not care about all of our sacrifice? And I'm going to do everything I can to address distressed communities, whether they are communities of color, whether they are white communities, whether they are in any part of our country. I particularly appreciate the proposal that Congressman Jim Clyburn has — the 10-20-30 proposal — to try to spend more federal dollars in communities with persistent generational poverty. And you know what? If you look at the numbers, there are actually as many, if not more white communities that are truly being left behind and left out. So, yes, I do think it would be a terrible oversight not to try to address the very real problems that white Americans — particularly those without a lot of education whose jobs have — you know, no longer provided them or even no longer present in their communities, because we have to focus where the real hurt is. And that's why, as president, I will look at communities that need special help and try to deliver that. [applause]

IFILL: Senator — Senator, I want you to respond to that, but I also want you to — am I wrong? Is it even right to be describing this as a matter of race?

SANDERS: Yeah, you can, because African-Americans and Latinos not only face the general economic crises of low wages, and high unemployment, and poor educational opportunities, but they face other problems, as well. So, yes, we can talk about it as a racial issue. But it is a general economic issue.

And here's what the economic issue is. The wages that high school graduates receive today are significantly less, whether you are white or black, than they used to be. Why is that? Because of a series of disastrous trade policies which have allowed corporate America through NAFTA and Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China, Secretary Clinton and I disagree on those issues. But view is those trade policies have enabled corporate America to shut down in this country, throw millions of people out on the street. Now no one thinks that working in the factory is the greatest job in the world. But you know what, you can make a middle class wage, you have decent health care, decent benefits. You once had a pension. Those jobs, in many cases, are now gone. They're off to China. Now you are a worker, white worker, black worker, who had a decent job, that manufacturing job is gone. What have you got now? You are working at McDonald's? That is why there is massive despair all over this country. People have worked their entire lives. They're making a half, two-thirds what they used to make. Their kids are having a hard time finding any work at all. And that's why this study, which shows that if you can believe it today, for white working class people between 45 and 54, life expectancy is actually going down. Suicide, alcoholism, drugs, that's why we need to start paying attention to the needs of working families in this country, and not just a handful of billionaires who have enormous economic and political power. [applause]

WOODRUFF: Thank you. Senator Sanders, one of the causes of anxiety for working class Americans is connected to immigrants. President Obama, as you know, has issued executive actions to permit some 5 million undocumented immigrants who are living now in the United States to come out of the shadows without fear of deportation to get work permits. Would you go further than that? And if so, how specifically would you do it? Should an undocumented family watching this debate tonight, say, in Nevada, rest easy, not fear of further deportations under a Sanders presidency?

SANDERS: The answer is yes. We've got 11 million undocumented people in this country. I have talked to some of the young kids with tears rolling down their cheeks, are scared to death that today they may or their parents may be deported. I believe that we have got to pass comprehensive immigration reform, something that I strongly supported. I believe that we have got to move toward a path toward citizenship. I agree with President Obama who used executive orders to protect families because the Congress, the House was unable or refused to act. And in fact I would go further. What would motivate me and what would be the guiding light for me in terms of immigration reform, Judy, is to bring families together, not divide them up. And let me say this also. Somebody who is very fond of the president, agrees with him most of the time, I disagree with his recent deportation policies. And I would not support those. Bottom line is a path towards citizenship for 11 million undocumented people, if Congress doesn't do the right thing, we use the executive orders of the president. [applause]

CLINTON: I strongly support the president's executive actions. I hope the Supreme Court upholds them. I think there is constitutional and legal authority for the president to have done what he did. I am against the raids. I'm against the kind of inhumane treatment that is now being visited upon families, waking them up in the middle of the night, rounding them up. We should be deporting criminals, not hardworking immigrant families who do the very best they can and often are keeping economies going in many places in our country. I'm a strong supporter of comprehensive immigration reform. Have been ever since I was in the Senate. I was one of the original sponsors of the DREAM Act. I voted for comprehensive immigration reform in 2007. Senator Sanders voted against it at that time. Because I think we have to get to comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship. And as president I would expand enormous energy, literally call every member of Congress that I thought I could persuade. Hopefully after the 2016 election, some of the Republicans will come to their senses and realize we are not going to deport 11 or 12 million people in this country. And they will work with me to get comprehensive immigration reform.[applause]

SANDERS: Secretary Clinton, I do have a disagreement here. If my memory is correct, I think when we saw children coming from these horrendous, horrendously violent areas of Honduras and neighboring countries, people who are fleeing drug violence and cartel violence, I thought it was a good idea to allow those children to stay in this country. That was not, as I understand it, the secretary's position. In terms of 2007 immigration reform, yeah, I did vote against it. I voted against it because the Southern Poverty Law Center, among other groups, said that the guest-worker programs that were embedded in this agreement were akin to slavery. Akin to slavery, where people came into this country to do guest work were abused, were exploited, and if they stood up for their rights, they'd be thrown out of this country. So it wasn't just me who opposed it. It was LULAC, one of the large Latino organizations in this country. It was the AFL-CIO. It was some of the most progressive members of the United States Congress who opposed it for that reason. But we are where we are right now. And where we are right now is we have got to stand up to the Trumps of the world who are trying to divide us up. What we have to do right now is bring our people together and understand that we must provide a path towards citizenship for 11 million undocumented people.

CLINTON: Two quick responses. One, with respect to the Central American children, I made it very clear that those children needed to be processed appropriately, but we also had to send a message to families and communities in Central America not to send their children on this dangerous journey in the hands of smugglers. I've also called for the end of family detention, for the end of privately-run detention centers, along with private prisons, which I think are really against the common good and the rule of law. And with respect to the 2007 bill, this was Ted Kennedy's bill. And I think Ted Kennedy had a very clear idea about what needed to be done. And I was proud to stand with him and support it. [applause]

WOODRUFF: I'd like...

SANDERS: Well, let me just respond. I worked with Ted Kennedy. He was the chairman of my committee. And I loved Ted Kennedy. But on this issue, when you have one of the large Latino organizations in America saying vote no, and you have the AFL-CIO saying vote no, and you have leading progressive Democrats, in fact, voting no, I don't apologize for that vote. But in terms of the children, I don't know to whom you're sending a message. Who are you sending a message to? These are children who are leaving countries and neighborhoods where their lives are at stake. That was the fact. I don't think we use them to send a message. I think we welcome them into this country and do the best we can to help them get their lives together. [applause]

CLINTON: Well, that just wasn't — that just wasn't the fact, Senator. The fact is that there was a great effort made by the Obama administration and others to really send a clear message, because we knew that so many of these children were being abused, being treated terribly while they tried to get to our border. So we have a disagreement on this. I think now what I've called for is counsel for every child so that no child has to face any kind of process without someone who speaks and advocates for that child so that the right decision hopefully can be made. [applause]

IFILL: If you would allow me now to move on, we've been talking about children. I want to talk about seniors. That takes us to our second Facebook question from Farheen Hakeem, who writes, "My father" — she's a 40-year-old woman who works for a nonprofit here in Milwaukee. And she writes, "My father gets just $16 in food assistance per month as part of Medicaid's family community program in Milwaukee County for low-income seniors. How will you as president work to ensure low-income seniors get their basic needs met?" Start with you, Senator Sanders.

SANDERS: OK. You know, you judge a nation not by the number of millionaires and billionaires it has, but by how you treat, we treat, the most vulnerable and fragile people in our nation. And by those standards, we're not doing particularly well.

We have the highest rate of childhood poverty among almost any major country on Earth. And in terms of seniors, there are millions of seniors — and I've talked to them in my state of Vermont and all over this country — who are trying to get by on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year Social Security. And you know what? You do the arithmetic. You can't get by on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year. And here's an area where Secretary Clinton and I believe we have a difference. I have long supported the proposition that we should lift the cap on taxable income coming into the Social Security Trust Fund, starting at $250,000. [applause] And when we — and when we do that, we don't do what the Republicans want, which is to cut Social Security. We do what the American people want, to expand Social Security by $1,300 a year for people under $16,000, and we extend the life of Social Security for 58 years. Yes, the wealthiest people, the top 1.5 percent, will pay more in taxes. But a great nation like ours should not be in a position where elderly people are cutting their pills in half, where they don't have decent nutrition, where they can't heat their homes in the wintertime. That is not what America should be about. If elected president, I will do everything I can to expand Social Security benefits, not just for seniors, but for disabled veterans, as well. [applause]

CLINTON: I think — I think it's fair to say we don't have a disagreement. We both believe there has to be more money going into the Social Security system. I've said I'm looking at a couple of different ways, one which you mentioned, Senator, but also trying to expand the existing tax to passive income that wealthy people have so that we do get more revenue into the Social Security Trust Fund. I have a slightly different approach, though, about what we should do with that initially. First, rather than expand benefits for everyone, I do want to take care of low-income seniors who worked at low-wage jobs. I want to take care of women. When the Social Security program was started in the 1930s, not very many women worked. And women have been disadvantaged ever since. They do not get any credit for their care-taking responsibilities. And the people who are often the most hard-hit are widows, because when their spouse dies, they can lose up to one-half of their Social Security monthly payment. So we have no disagreement about the need to buttress Social Security, get more revenue into the program. But I want to start by helping those people who are most at risk, the ones who, yes, are cutting their pills in half, who don't believe they can make the rent, who are worried about what comes next for them.

SANDERS: In all due respect...[applause]...In all due respect, Secretary Clinton, a lot of the progressive groups, the online groups have really asked you a simple question. Are you coming onboard a proposal? And what is that proposal? Now, the proposal that I have outlined, you know, should be familiar to you, because it is what essentially Barack Obama campaigned on in 2008. You opposed him then. I would hope that you would come onboard and say that this is the simple and straightforward thing to do. We're asking the top 1.5 percent, including passive income, to start paying a little bit more so that the elderly and disabled vets in this country can live with security and dignity. I hope you will make a decision soon on this.

CLINTON: Well, Senator, look, I think we're in vigorous agreement here. We both want to get more revenue in. I have yet to see a proposal that you're describing that the — raising the cap would apply to passive income. That has not been...

SANDERS: That's my bill. Check it out.

CLINTON: Well, that has not been a part of most of the proposals that I've seen. I'm interested in making sure we get the maximum amount of revenue from those who can well afford to provide it. So I'm going to come up with the best way forward. We're going to end up in the same place. We're going to get more revenue. I'm going to prioritize those recipients who need the most help first. [applause]

WOODRUFF: We're going to move on. Secretary Clinton, your campaign has recently ramped up criticism of Senator Sanders for attending Democratic Party fundraisers from which you say he benefited. But nearly half of your financial sector donations appear to come from just two wealthy financiers, George Soros and Donald Sussman, for a total of about $10 million.

You have said that there's no quid pro quo involved. Is that also true of the donations that wealthy Republicans give to Republican candidates, contributors including the Koch Brothers?

CLINTON: I can't speak for the Koch Brothers, you're referring to a Super PAC that we don't coordinate with, that was set up to support President Obama, that has now decided that they want to support me. They are the ones who should respond to any questions. Let's talk about our campaigns. I'm very proud of the fact that we have more than 750 thousand donors, and the vast majority of them are giving small contributions. So, I'm proud of Senator Sanders, and his supporters. I think it's great that Senator Sanders, President Obama and I have more donors than any three people who have every run, certainly on the Democratic side. That's the way it should be, and I'm going to continue to reach out to thank all my online contributors for everything they are doing for me, to encourage them and help me do more just as Senator Sanders is. I think that is the real key here. We both have a lot of small donors. I think that sets us apart from a lot of what's happening right now on the Republican side. The Koch Brothers have a very clear political agenda. It is an agenda, in my view, that would do great harm to our country. We're going to fight it as hard as we can, and we're going to fight whoever the Republicans nominate who will depend on the Koch Brothers, and others. [applause]

WOODRUFF: I'm asking if Democratic donors are different than Republican donors.

SANDERS: What we are talking about in reality is a corrupt campaign finance system, that's what we're talking about. We have to be honest about it. It is undermining American democracy. When extraordinarily wealthy people make very large contributions to Super PACs, and in many cases in this campaign, Super PACs have raised more money than individual candidates have, OK? We had a decision to make early on, do we do a Super PAC? And, we said no. We don't represent Wall Street, we don't represent the billionaire class, so it ends up I'm the only candidate up here of the many candidates who has no Super PAC. But, what we did is we said to the working families of this country, look, we know things are tough, but if you want to help us go beyond establishment politics, and establishment economics, send us something. And, it turns out that up until — and this has blown me away, never in a million years would I have believed that I would be standing here tonight telling you that we have received three and a half million individual contributions from well over a million people. Now, Secretary Clinton's Super PAC, as I understand it, received $25 million dollars last reporting period, $15 million dollars from Wall Street. Our average contribution is $27 dollars, I'm very proud of that. [applause]

IFILL: Senator Sanders, are you saying...

CLINTON: We are mixing apples and oranges. My 750,000 donors have contributed more than a million and a half donations. I'm very proud. That, I think, between the two of us demonstrates the strength of the support we have among people who want to see change in our country. But, the real issue, I think, that the Senator is injecting into this is that if you had a Super PAC, like President Obama has, which now says it wants to support me. It's not my PAC. If you take donations from Wall Street, you can't be independent. I would just say, I debated then Senator Obama numerous times on stages like this, and he was the recipient of the largest number of Wall Street donations of anybody running on the Democratic side ever. Now, when it mattered, he stood up and took on Wall Street. He pushed through, and he passed the Dodd-Frank regulation, the toughest regulations since the 1930's. So, let's not in anyway imply here that either President Obama or myself, would in anyway not take on any vested interested, whether it's Wall Street, or drug companies, or insurance companies, or frankly, the gun lobby to stand up to do what's best for the American people.[applause]

SANDERS: The people aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street... [applause] But let's not — but let's not — let's not insult — let's not insult the intelligence of the American people. People aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street make huge campaign contributions? I guess just for the fun of it; they want to throw money around. [laughter] Why does the pharmaceutical industry make huge campaign contributions? Any connection maybe to the fact that our people pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs? Why does the fossil fuel industry pay — spend huge amounts of money on campaign contributions? Any connection to the fact that not one Republican candidate for president thinks and agrees with the scientific community that climate change is real and that we have got to transform our energy system? [applause] And when we talk about Wall Street, let's talk about Wall Street. I voted for Dodd-Frank, got an important amendment in it. In my view, it doesn't go anywhere near far enough. But when we talk about Wall Street, you have Wall Street and major banks have paid $200 billion in fines since the great crash. No Wall Street executive has been prosecuted. [applause]

CLINTON: Well, let's just — let's just follow up on this, because, you know, I've made it very clear that no bank is too big to fail, no executive too powerful to jail, and because of Dodd-Frank, we now have in law a process that the president, the Federal Reserve, and others can use if any bank poses a systemic risk. I think that's a major accomplishment. I agree, however, it doesn't go far enough, because what it focuses on are the big banks, which Senator Sanders has talked about a lot, for good reason. I go further in the plan that I've proposed, which has been called the toughest, most effective, comprehensive plan for reining in the other risks that the financial system could face. It was an investment bank, Lehman Brothers, that contributed to our collapse. It was a big insurance company, AIG. It was Countrywide Mortgage. My plan would sweep all of them into a regulatory framework so we can try to get ahead of what the next problems might be. And I believe that not only Barney Frank, Paul Krugman, and others, have said that what I have proposed is the most effective. It goes in the right direction. We have Dodd-Frank. We can use it to break up the banks, if that's appropriate. But let's not kid ourselves. As we speak, there are new problems on the horizon. I want to get ahead of those, and that's why I've proposed a much more comprehensive approach to deal with all of these...[crosstalk][applause]

WOODRUFF: We have to go to a break. We...

SANDERS: Let me, you know, again, respectfully disagree with Secretary Clinton here. When you have three out of the four largest financial institutions in this country bigger today than they were when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, when you have six financial institutions having assets equivalent to 58 percent of the GDP of America, while issuing two-thirds of the credit cards and a third of the mortgages, look, I think if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, that great trust-buster would have said break them up. I think he would have been right. I think he would have said bring back a 21st-century Glass-Steagall legislation. I think that would have been right, as well. That's my view. [applause]

WOODRUFF: All right. Thank you both. It is time for a break. And when we come back, we're going to turn to some new topics, including how these candidates will keep America safe.

IFILL: There's a lot more to come in just a few minutes. Stay with us for more of the PBS NewsHour Democratic Debate.

[commercial break]

WOODRUFF: Welcome back to the Democratic presidential debate. Before we return to our questions, we have a follow-up question from our Facebook group. And it is to Senator Sanders. Senator, it comes from Bill Corfield. He is a 55-year-old musician from Troy, Ohio. And he asks: "Are there any areas of government you would like to reduce?"

SANDERS: Hey, I'm in the United States Senate, and anyone who doesn't think that there is an enormous amount of waste and inefficiency and bureaucracy throughout government would be very, very mistaken. I believe in government, but I believe in efficient government, not wasteful government.

IFILL: How about you, Senator Clinton — Secretary Clinton?

CLINTON: Absolutely. And, you know, there are a number of programs that I think are duplicative and redundant and not producing the results that people deserve. There are a lot of training programs and education programs that I think can be streamlined and put into a much better format so that if we do continue them they can be more useful, in public schools, community colleges, and colleges and universities. I would like to take a hard look at every part of the federal government and really do the kind of analysis that would rebuild some confidence in people that we're taking a hard look about what we have, you know, and what we don't need anymore. And that's what I intend to do.

SANDERS: If I could just answer that, we have also got to take a look at the waste and inefficiencies in the Department of Defense, which is the one major agency of government that has not been able to be audited. And I have the feeling you're going to find a lot of cost overruns there and a lot of waste and duplicative activities. [applause]

IFILL: We spent the first part of this debate talking about domestic insecurity. The second part, we want to talk about our foreign policy insecurities. And we want to start with a question for you, Secretary Clinton, about America's role in the world. Americans are becoming increasingly worried that attacks abroad are coming home, that they already are, in fact, here. According to exit polls from last week, from earlier this week, more than two-thirds of Democrats in New Hampshire are concerned about sending their children to fight in wars they can't win. They fret that the next attack is just around the corner and we are not ready. Are we?

CLINTON: Look, I think we are readier than we used to be, but it's a constant effort that has to be undertaken to make sure we are as ready as we need to be. We have made a lot of improvements in our domestic security since 9/11, and we have been able to foil and prevent attacks, yet we see the terrible attack in San Bernardino and know that we haven't done enough. So we have to go after this both abroad and at home. We have to go after terrorist networks, predominantly ISIS — that's not the only one, but let's focus on that for a minute. We have to lead a coalition that will take back territory from ISIS. That is principally an American-led air campaign that we are now engaged in. We have to support the fighters on the ground, principally the Arabs and the Kurds who are willing to stand up and take territory back from Raqqa to Ramadi. We have to continue to work with the Iraqi army so that they are better prepared to advance on some of the other strongholds inside Iraq, like Mosul, when they are able to do so. And we have to cut off the flow of foreign funding and foreign fighters. And we have to take on ISIS online. They are a sophisticated purveyor of propaganda, a celebrator of violence, an instigator of attacks using their online presence. Here at home, we've got to do a better job coordinating between federal, state, and local law enforcement. We need the best possible intelligence not only from our own sources, but from sources overseas, that can be a real-time fusion effort to get information where it's needed. But the final thing I want to say about this is the following. You know, after 9/11, one of the efforts that we did in New York was if you see something or hear something suspicious, report it. And we need to do that throughout the country. But we need to understand that American Muslims are on the front line of our defense. They are more likely to know what's happening in their families and their communities, and they need to feel not just invited, but welcomed within the American society. So when somebody like Donald Trump and others...[applause]...stirs up the demagoguery against American Muslims, that hurts us at home. It's not only offensive; it's dangerous. And the same goes for overseas, where we have to put together a coalition of Muslim nations. I know how to do that. I put together the coalition that imposed the sanctions on Iran that got us to the negotiating table to put a lid on their nuclear weapons program. [applause] And you don't go tell Muslim nations you want them to be part of a coalition when you have a leading candidate for president of the United States who insults their religion. So this has to be looked at overall, and we have to go at it from every possible angle.

IFILL: Senator Sanders...

SANDERS: Let me — let me just say this. What a President of the United States has got to do and what is his or her major, I think, responsibility is to, a, make certain that we keep our people safe, that we work with allies around the world to protect democratic values, that we do all that we can to create a world of peace and prosperity.

I voted against the war in Iraq because I listened very carefully to what President Bush and Vice President Cheney had to say and I didn't believe them. And if you go to my Web site,berniesanders.com, what you find is not only going to help lead the opposition to that war, but much of what I feared would happen when I spoke on the floor of the House, in fact, did happen in terms of the instability that occurred. Now I think an area in kind of a vague way, or not so vague, where Secretary Clinton and I disagree is the area of regime change. Look, the truth is that a powerful nation like the United States, certainly working with our allies, we can overthrow dictators all over the world. And God only knows Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator. We could overthrow Assad tomorrow if we wanted to. We got rid of Gadhafi. But the point about foreign policy is not just to know that you can overthrow a terrible dictator, it's to understand what happens the day after. And in Libya, for example, the United States, Secretary Clinton, as secretary of state, working with some other countries, did get rid of a terrible dictator named Gadhafi. But what happened is a political vacuum developed. ISIS came in, and now occupies significant territory in Libya, and is now prepared, unless we stop them, to have a terrorist foothold. But this is nothing new. This has gone on 50 or 60 years where the United States has been involved in overthrowing governments. Mossadegh back in 1953. Nobody knows who Mossadegh was, democratically-elected prime minister of Iran. He was overthrown by British and American interests because he threatened oil interests of the British. And as a result of that, the shah of Iran came in, terrible dictator. The result of that, you had the Iranian Revolution coming in, and that is where we are today. Unintended consequences. So I believe as president I will look very carefully about unintended consequences. I will do everything I can to make certain that the United States and our brave men and women in the military do not get bogged down in perpetual warfare in the Middle East. [applause]

CLINTON: If I could just respond. Two points. One, Senator Sanders voted in 1998 on what I think is fair to call a regime change resolution with respect to Iraq, calling for the end of Saddam Hussein's regime. He voted in favor of regime change with Libya, voted in favor of the Security Council being an active participate in setting the parameters for what we would do, which of course we followed through on. I do not believe a vote in 2002 is a plan to defeat ISIS in 2016. It's very important we focus on the threats we face today, and that we understand the complicated and dangerous world we are in. When people go to vote in primaries or caucuses, they are voting not only for the president, they are voting for the commander-in-chief. And it's important that people really look hard at what the threats and dangers we face are, and who is best prepared for dealing with them. As we all remember, Senator Obama, when he ran against me, was against the war in Iraq. And yet when he won, he turned to me, trusting my judgment, my experience, to become secretary of state. I was very honored to be asked to do that and very honored to serve with him those first four years. [applause]

SANDERS: Judy, if I can, there is no question, Secretary Clinton and I are friends, and I have a lot of respect for her, that she has enormous experience in foreign affairs. Secretary of state for four years. You've got a bit of experience, I would imagine. But judgment matters as well. Judgment matters as well. And she and I looked at the same evidence coming from the Bush administration regarding Iraq. I lead the opposition against it. She voted for it. But more importantly, in terms of this Libya resolution that you have noted before, this was a virtually unanimous consent. Everybody voted for it wanting to see Libya move toward democracy, of course we all wanted to do that.

That is very different than talking about specific action for regime change, which I did not support.

CLINTON: You did support a U.N. Security Council approach, which we did follow up on. And, look, I think it's important to look at what the most important counterterrorism judgment of the first four years of the Obama administration was, and that was the very difficult decision as to whether or not to advise the president to go after bin Laden. I looked at the evidence. I looked at the intelligence. I got the briefings. I recommended that the president go forward. It was a hard choice. Not all of his top national security advisors agreed with that. And at the end of the day, it was the president's decision. So he had to leave the Situation Room after hearing from the small group advising him and he had to make that decision. I'm proud that I gave him that advice. And I'm very grateful to the brave Navy SEALs who carried out that mission. [applause]

SANDERS: Judy, one area very briefly...

WOODRUFF: Just a final word.

SANDERS: Where the secretary and I have a very profound difference, in the last debate — and I believe in her book — very good book, by the way — in her book and in this last debate, she talked about getting the approval or the support or the mentoring of Henry Kissinger. Now, I find it rather amazing, because I happen to believe that Henry Kissinger was one of the most destructive secretaries of state in the modern history of this country. [applause] I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend. I will not take advice from Henry Kissinger. And in fact, Kissinger's actions in Cambodia, when the United States bombed that country, overthrew Prince Sihanouk, created the instability for Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge to come in, who then butchered some 3 million innocent people, one of the worst genocides in the history of the world. So count me in as somebody who will not be listening to Henry Kissinger. [applause]

IFILL: Secretary Clinton?

CLINTON: Well, I know journalists have asked who you do listen to on foreign policy, and we have yet to know who that is.

SANDERS: Well, it ain't Henry Kissinger. That's for sure.

CLINTON: That's fine. That's fine. [laughter] You know, I listen to a wide variety of voices that have expertise in various areas. I think it is fair to say, whatever the complaints that you want to make about him are, that with respect to China, one of the most challenging relationships we have, his opening up China and his ongoing relationships with the leaders of China is an incredibly useful relationship for the United States of America. [applause] So if we want to pick and choose — and I certainly do — people I listen to, people I don't listen to, people I listen to for certain areas, then I think we have to be fair and look at the entire world, because it's a big, complicated world out there.

SANDERS: It is.

CLINTON: And, yes, people we may disagree with on a number of things may have some insight, may have some relationships that are important for the president to understand in order to best protect the United States. [applause]

SANDERS: I find — I mean, it's just a very different, you know, historical perspective here. Kissinger was one of those people during the Vietnam era who talked about the domino theory. Not everybody remembers that. You do. I do. The domino theory, you know, if Vietnam goes, China, da, da, da, da, da, da, da. That's what he talked about, the great threat of China. And then, after the war, this is the guy who, in fact, yes, you're right, he opened up relations with China, and now pushed various type of trade agreements, resulting in American workers losing their jobs as corporations moved to China. The terrible, authoritarian, Communist dictatorship he warned us about, now he's urging companies to shut down and move to China. Not my kind of guy. [applause]

WOODRUFF: Senator, let me — let me move on to another country with which the U.S. has a complicated relationship, Senator Sanders, and that's Russia. On the one hand, we're aware that Russia is a country that the United States needs to cooperate with.

Just tonight, Secretary of State John Kerry has announced what appears to be an agreement with the Russians to lead — that could lead toward a ceasefire in Syria, would be the first cessation of conflict in that country, in that civil war in five years, but it comes at a very high price, because not only have all — have we seen the deaths, the removal of so many people, millions of people, we now see the Russians in the last few weeks have bombed in a way that benefits President Assad, has not gone after ISIS. So my question to you is, when it comes to dealing with Russia, are you prepared — how hard are you prepared to be? Are you prepared to institute further economic sanctions? Would you be prepared to move militarily if Russia moves on Eastern Europe? It seems to me that Russia recently has gotten the better of the United States.

SANDERS: Well, this is what I would say. It is a complicated relationship. I congratulate Secretary of State John Kerry and the president for working on this agreement. As you've indicated, what is happening in Syria, the number of people, the hundreds of thousands of people who have been killed — men, women, 20,000 children, the people who are forced to flee their own country — their own country — it is unspeakable. It is a real horror. Now, what I think is that right now we have got to do our best in developing positive relations with Russia. But let's be clear: Russia's aggressive actions in the Crimea and in Ukraine have brought about a situation where President Obama and NATO — correctly, I believe — are saying, you know what, we're going to have to beef up our troop level in that part of the world to tell Putin that his aggressiveness is not going to go unmatched, that he is not going to get away with aggressive action. I happen to believe that Putin is doing what he is doing because his economy is increasingly in shambles and he's trying to rally his people in support of him. But bottom line is: The president is right. We have to put more money. We have to work with NATO to protect Eastern Europe against any kind of Russian aggression.

CLINTON: Well, with respect to Syria, I really do appreciate the efforts that Secretary Kerry has made. The agreement on humanitarian relief now needs to be implemented, because there are enclaves that are literally filled with starving people throughout Syria. The agreement on a cease-fire, though, is something that has to be implemented more quickly than the schedule that the Russians agreed to. You know, the Russians wanted to buy time. Are they buying time to continue their bombardment on behalf of the Assad regime to further decimate what's left of the opposition, which would be a grave disservice to any kind of eventual cease-fire? So I know Secretary Kerry is working extremely hard to try to move that cease-fire up as quickly as possible. But I would add this. You know, the Security Council finally got around to adopting a resolution. At the core of that resolution is an agreement I negotiated in June of 2012 in Geneva, which set forth a cease-fire and moving toward a political resolution, trying to bring the parties at stake in Syria together. This is incredibly complicated, because we've got Iran as a big player, in addition to Russia. We have Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and others who have very important interests in their view. This is one of the areas I've disagreed with Senator Sanders on, who has called for Iranian troops trying to end civil war in Syria, which I think would be a grave mistake. Putting Iranian troops right on the border of the Golan right next to Israel would be a nonstarter for me. Trying to get Iran and Saudi Arabia to work together, as he has suggested in the past, is equally a nonstarter. So let's support what Secretary Kerry and the president are doing, but let's hope that we can accelerate the cease-fire, because I fear that the Russians will continue their bombing, try to do everything they can to destroy what's left of the opposition. And remember, the Russians have not gone after ISIS or any of the other terrorist groups. So as we get a cease-fire and maybe some humanitarian corridors, that still leaves the terrorist groups on the doorstep of others in Syria, Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, and the like. So we've got some real work to do, and let's try to make sure we actually implement what has been agreed to with the Russians. [applause]

SANDERS: Let me just — just say this. For a start, the secretary and I disagree — and I think the president does not agree with her — in terms of the concept of a no-fly zone in Syria. I think you do have a humanitarian tragedy there, as I mentioned a moment ago. I applaud Secretary Kerry and the president for trying to put together this agreement. Let's hope that it holds.

But furthermore, what we have got to do, I'm sorry, yes, I do believe that we have got to do everything that we can, and it will not happen tomorrow. But I do hope that in years to come, just as occurred with Cuba, 10, 20 years ago, people would say, reach normalized relations with Cuba. And by the way, I hope we can end the trade embargo with Cuba as well. But the idea that we some day maybe have decent relations with Iran, maybe put pressure on them so they end their support for terrorism around the world, yes, that is something I want to achieve. And I believe that the best way to do that is to be aggressive, to be principled, but to have the goal of trying to improve relations. That's how you make peace in the world. You sit down and you work with people, you make demands of people, in this case demanding Iran stop the support of international terrorism. [applause]

CLINTON: Well, I respectfully disagree. I think we have achieved a great deal with the Iranian nuclear agreement to put a lid on the Iranian nuclear weapons program. That has to be enforced absolutely with consequences for Iran at the slightest deviation from their requirements under the agreement. I do not think we should promise or even look toward normalizing relations because we have a lot of other business to get done with Iran. Yes, they have to stop being the main state sponsor of terrorism. Yes, they have to stop trying to destabilize the Middle East, causing even more chaos. Yes, they've got to get out of Syria. They've got to quit sponsoring Hezbollah and Hamas. They have got to quit trying to ship rockets into Gaza that can be used against Israel. We have a lot of work to do with Iran before we ever say that they could move toward normalized relations with us. [applause]

SANDERS: We have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of work to do. But I recall when Secretary Clinton ran against then-Senator Obama, she was critical of him for suggesting that maybe you want to talk to Iran, that you want to talk to our enemies. I have no illusion. Of course you are right. Iran is sponsoring terrorism in many parts of the world, destabilizing areas. Everybody knows that. But our goal is, in fact, to try over a period of time to, in fact, deal with our enemies, not just ignore that reality. [crosstalk]

CLINTON: ... Senator Sanders, from a debate in 2008, quote what I said. The question was, would you meet with an adversary without conditions? I said no. And in fact, in Obama administration, we did not meet with anybody without conditions. That is the appropriate approach in order to get the results that you are seeking. [applause]

SANDERS: No, I think the idea was that president — then-Senator Obama was wrong for suggesting that it is a good idea to talk to your opponents. It's easier to talk to your friends. It's harder to talk to your enemies. I think we should do both. [applause]

IFILL: Let me move on. You have both mentioned the humanitarian tragedies which have been an outgrowth in part of what has happened in Syria and in Libya. More than a million refugees entered Europe in 2015. Another 76,000 just last month, that is about 2,000 arrivals every day. Nearly 400 people have been lost at sea so far this year, crossing the Mediterranean. And there are reports that 10,000 children are missing. If we are leaders in this world, where should the U.S. be on this? What should the United States be doing, Secretary Clinton?

CLINTON: Well, I was pleased that NATO announced just this week that they're going to start doing patrols in the Mediterranean, in the Aegean, to try to interdict the smugglers, to try to prevent the kind of tragedies that we have seen all too often, also to try to prevent more refugees from coming to the European Union. And it's especially significant that they are working with both Turkey and Greece in order to do this. With respect to the United States, I think our role in NATO, our support for the E.U., as well as our willingness to take refugees so long as they are thoroughly vetted and that we have confidence from intelligence and other sources that they can come to our country, we should be doing our part. And we should back up the recent donors conference to make sure we have made our contribution to try to deal with the enormous cost that these refugees are posing to Turkey and to members of the E.U. in particular.

This is a humanitarian catastrophe. There is no other description of it. So we do as the United States have to support our friends, our allies in Europe. We have to stand with them. We have to provide financial support to them. We have to provide the NATO support to back up the mission that is going on. And we have to take properly vetted refugees ourselves.

SANDERS: A couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to go on a congressional delegation. And I went to one of these Turkish refugee camps right on the border of Syria. And what a sad sight that was: Men, women, children forced out of their homes. And Turkey, by the way, did a very decent thing, providing what was reasonable housing and conditions for those people. It seems to me that given our history as a nation that has been a beacon of hope for the oppressed, for the downtrodden, that I very strongly disagree with those Republican candidates who say, you know what, we've got to turn our backs on women and children who left their home with nothing, nothing at all. That is not what America is supposed to be about. So I believe that working with Europe — and, by the way, you know, we've got some very wealthy countries there in that part of the world. You got Kuwait and you got Qatar and you got Saudi Arabia. They have a responsibility, as well. But I think this is a worldwide — that the entire world needs to come together to deal with this horrific refugee crisis we're seeing from Syria and Afghanistan, as well. [applause]

WOODRUFF: And we have a final question from our Facebook family. And it goes to Senator Sanders. It comes from Robert Andrews. He's a 40-year-old stay-at-home dad in Dover, Massachusetts. He says, "The world has seen many great leaders in the course of human history. Can you name two leaders — one American and one foreign — who would influence your foreign policy decisions? And why do you see them as — why are they influential?"

SANDERS: You know, Franklin Delano Roosevelt took the oath of office in 1933 at a time when 25 percent of the American people were unemployed, country was in incredible despair. And he stood before the American people and he said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself," a profound statement that gave the American people the courage to believe that, yes, we could get out of that terrible depression. And then what he did is redefine the role of government. You know, you had Herbert Hoover before that saying, no, we got to only worry about the deficit. So what if mass unemployment exists? So what if children are going hungry? That's not the role of the government. And when FDR said, "Yeah, it is," that we're going to use all of the resources that we have to create jobs, to build homes, to feed people, to protect the farmers, we are a nation which if we come together there is nothing that we could not accomplish. And kind of — that's what I see our campaign is about right now. In this particular moment of serious crises, saying to the American people don't give up on the political process. don't listen to the Trumps of the world and allowing them to divide us. If we reengage and get involved, yeah, we can have health care for all people, we can make public colleges and universities tuition-free. We do not have to have massive levels of income and wealth inequality. In the same light, as the foreign leader, Winston Churchill's politics were not my politics. He was kind of a conservative guy in many respects. But nobody can deny that as a wartime leader, he rallied the British people when they stood virtually alone against the Nazi juggernaut and rallied them and eventually won an extraordinary victory. Those are two leaders that I admire very much. [applause]

CLINTON: I certainly agree with FDR for all the reasons Senator Sanders said. And I agree about the role that he played both in war and in peace on the economy and defeating fascism around the world. I would choose Nelson Mandela for his generosity of heart, his understanding of the need for reconciliation.

But I want to — I want to follow up on something having to do with leadership, because, you know, today Senator Sanders said that President Obama failed the presidential leadership test. And this is not the first time that he has criticized President Obama. In the past he has called him weak. He has called him a disappointment. He wrote a forward for a book that basically argued voters should have buyers' remorse when it comes to President Obama's leadership and legacy. And I just couldn't agree — disagree more with those kinds of comments. You know, from my perspective, maybe because I understand what President Obama inherited, not only the worst financial crisis but the antipathy of the Republicans in Congress, I don't think he gets the credit he deserves for being a president...[applause]...who got us out of that...[applause]...put us on firm ground, and has sent us into the future. And it is a — the kind of criticism that we've heard from Senator Sanders about our president I expect from Republicans. I do not expect from someone running for the Democratic nomination to succeed President Obama.

SANDERS: That is...[applause]...Madam Secretary, that is a low blow. I have worked with President Obama for the last seven years. When President Obama came into office we were losing 800,000 jobs a month, 800,000 jobs a month. We had a $1.4 trillion deficit. And the world's financial system is on the verge of collapse. As a result of his efforts and the efforts of Joe Biden against unprecedented, I was there in the Senate, unprecedented Republican obstructionism, we have made enormous progress. [applause]

But you know what? Last I heard we lived in a democratic society. Last I heard, a United States senator had the right to disagree with the president, including a president who has done such an extraordinary job. So I have voiced criticisms. You're right. Maybe you haven't. I have. But I think to suggest that I have voiced criticism, this blurb that you talk about, you know what the blurb said? The blurb said that the next president of the United States has got to be aggressive in bringing people into the political process. That's what I said. That is what I believe. [applause]

President Obama and I are friends. As you know, he came to Vermont to campaign for me when he was a senator. I have worked for his re-election. His first election and his re-election. But I think it is really unfair to suggest that I have not been supportive of the president. I have been a strong ally with him on virtually every issue. Do senators have the right to disagree with the president? Have you ever disagreed with a president? I suspect you may have. [applause]

CLINTON: You know, Senator, what I am concerned about, is not disagreement on issues, saying that this is what I would rather do, I don't agree with the president on that, calling the president weak, calling him a disappointment, calling several times that he should have a primary opponent when he ran for re-election in 2012, you know, I think that goes further than saying we have our disagreements. As a senator, yes, I was a senator. I understand we can disagree on the path forward. But those kinds of personal assessments and charges are ones that I find particularly troubling.

IFILL: Senator, if you would like respond to — you may respond to that but it is time for closing statements and you can use your time for closing statements to do that.

SANDERS: Well, one of us ran against Barack Obama. I was not that candidate. [applause]

All right, look, this has been a great debate. A lot of interesting issues have come together. Let me conclude by just saying this. There is no president, in my view, not Hillary Clinton, not Bernie Sanders, who has the capability or the power to take on Wall Street, large campaign donors, the corporate media, the big money interests in this country alone. This campaign is not just about electing a president. What this campaign is about is creating a process for a political revolution in which millions of Americans, working people who have given up on the political process, they don't think anybody hears their pains or their concerns. Young people for whom getting involved in politics is as, you know, it's like going to the moon. It ain't going to happen. Low income people who are not involved in the political process.

What this campaign is not only about electing someone who has the most progressive agenda, it is about bringing tens of millions of people together to demand that we have a government that represents all of us and not just the 1 percent, who today have so much economic and political power. Thank you all very much. [applause]

WOODRUFF: Secretary Clinton?

CLINTON: You know, we — we agree that we've got to get unaccountable money out of politics. We agree that Wall Street should never be allowed to wreck Main Street again. But here's the point I want to make tonight. I am not a single-issue candidate, and I do not believe we live in a single-issue country. I think that a lot of what we have to overcome to break down the barriers that are holding people back, whether it's poison in the water of the children of Flint, or whether it's the poor miners who are being left out and left behind in coal country, or whether it is any other American today who feels somehow put down and oppressed by racism, by sexism, by discrimination against the LGBT community, against the kind of efforts that need to be made to root out all of these barriers, that's what I want to take on. And here in Wisconsin, I want to reiterate: We've got to stand up for unions and working people who have done it before...[applause]...the American middle class, and who are being attacked by ideologues, by demagogues. Yes, does Wall Street and big financial interests, along with drug companies, insurance companies, big oil, all of it, have too much influence? You're right. But if we were to stop that tomorrow, we would still have the indifference, the negligence that we saw in Flint. We would still have racism holding people back. We would still have sexism preventing women from getting equal pay. We would still have LGBT people who get married on Saturday and get fired on Monday. And we would still have governors like Scott Walker and others trying to rip out the heart of the middle class by making it impossible to organize and stand up for better wages and working conditions. So I'm going to keep talking about tearing down all the barriers that stand in the way of Americans fulfilling their potential, because I don't think our country can live up to its potential unless we give a chance to every single American to live up to theirs. [applause]

IFILL: Thank you. Thank you Senator Clinton. Thank you, Senator Sanders. We also want to thank our partners at Facebook and our hosts here at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. [applause]

WOODRUFF: And we want to thank our audience, our quiet audience here in Helen Bader Concert Hall, and to all of you watching at home. Thank you all. Stay tuned for analysis of the debate and the overall race for the Democratic nomination. That's coming up next here on PBS stations and online atPBS.org/NewsHour.

IFILL: I'm going to remain here in Milwaukee tomorrow evening for a special edition of Washington Week here on PBS.

WOODRUFF: And I'm going to be returning to Washington. I hope you'll join us for the PBS NewsHour tomorrow and every night. That's it from all of us here in Milwaukee. We thank you.

IFILL: Good night. [applause]

+ Citation: Presidential Candidates Debates: "Democratic Candidates Debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin," February 11, 2016. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=111520. +
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+ 		+ + + + +Presidential Candidates Debates: Democratic Candidates Debate in Durham, New Hampshire +
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Democratic Candidates Debate in Durham, New Hampshire
February 4, 2016
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PARTICIPANTS:
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton;
Senator Bernie Sanders (VT);

MODERATORS:
Chuck Todd (MSNBC);
Rachel Maddow (MSNBC)

TODD: Good evening, and welcome to the MSNBC Democratic candidates debate.

MADDOW: We are super excited to be here at the University of New Hampshire. Tonight, this is the first time that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have squared off exactly like this. Face-to-face, just one-on-one, just the two of them.

TODD: And neither party has seen this yet. These candidates are both running for the Democratic nomination, but they are very different from each other when it comes to what matters most and how they would go about the job of being president. Our job tonight is to draw out those differences so you, the voters, can understand them and be fully informed.

MADDOW: And we do hope that the candidates will take this opportunity to show us the distinctions—show us the differences between them. That's the whole reason that we're here tonight.

We're not here for talking points. We're to learn about the difference between the candidates. And with that, let's get going. Please join us in welcoming Secretary Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders. [applause]

TODD: First, I want to say a special thanks to the New Hampshire Union Leader for helping make this debate possible, and the readers, who helped provide some of the questions and topics that we'll be addressing tonight.

The rules tonight, by the way, are simple: 90 seconds for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals.

MADDOW: And with that, that's it. We're going to begin with 60- second opening statements from each of the candidates. And as agreed to in advance by the two campaigns, we're going to begin tonight with Senator Sanders.

SANDERS: Rachel, thank you very much.

Millions of Americans are giving up on the political process. And they're giving up on the political process because they understand the economy is rigged.

They are working longer hours for low wages. They're worried about the future of their kids, and yet almost all new income and wealth is going to the top 1 percent. Not what America is supposed to be about. Not the fairness that we grew up believing that America was about. And then sustaining that rigged economy is a corrupt campaign finance system undermining American democracy, where billionaire, Wall Street, corporate America can contribute unlimited sums of money into super PACs and into candidates.

Our job, together, is to end a rigged economy, create an economy that works for all, and absolutely overturn Citizens United. One person, one vote. That's what American democracy is about.

TODD: Thank you, Senator. Secretary Clinton.

CLINTON: Well, I'm happy to be here in New Hampshire for this debate, as we move toward the primary on Tuesday.

I believe that America has the opportunity to once again live by our values, live up to our values in the 21st century, but I think that America can only do that if Americans can succeed. And there are lots of reasons why Americans today are feeling left out and left behind.

Yes, of course, the economy has not been working for most Americans. Yes, of course, we have special interests that are unfortunately doing too much to rig the game.

But there's also the continuing challenges of racism, of sexism, of discrimination against the LGBT community, of the way that we treat people as opposed to how we want to be treated.

I believe that we can get back on the right track. I want to imagine a country where people's wages reflect their hard work, where we have healthcare for everyone, and where every child gets to live up to his or her potential.

I'm fighting for people who cannot wait for those changes, and I'm not making promises that I cannot keep.

TODD: All right.

Let's get started.

Secretary Clinton, last night you cited the Concord Monitor when you said of Senator Sanders that, quote, "It's very hard to see how any of his proposals could ever be achievable." So please tell us why you think if he's elected president on a platform of promising things like free public college and universal healthcare, that he cannot achieve those things.

CLINTON: Well, let me start by saying that Senator Sanders and I share some very big progressive goals. I've been fighting for universal healthcare for many years, and we're now on the path to achieving it. I don't want us to start over again. I think that would be a great mistake, to once again plunge our country into a contentious debate about whether we should have and what kind of system we should have for healthcare.

I want to build on the progress we've made; got from 90 percent coverage to 100 percent coverage. And I don't want to rip away the security that people finally have; 18 million people now have healthcare; preexisting conditions are no longer a bar. So we have a difference.

I also believe in affordable college, but I don't believe in free college, because every expert that I have talked to says, look, how will you ever control the costs. What I want to do is make sure middle class kids, not Donald Trump's kids, get to be able to afford college. I want to get the economy going again. It's not just enough about what we're against, as important as that is. I have a plan to create new jobs, manufacturing, infrastructure, clean energy jobs that will make us the 21st century clean energy super power. I also want to make sure small businesses can start and grow again.

And of course, I believe in raising the minimum wage and equal pay for work. But the numbers just don't add up, from what Senator Sanders has been proposing. That's why all of the independent experts, all of the editorial boards that have vetted both of us have concluded that it is just not achievable.

Let's go down a path where we can actually tell people what we will do. A progressive is someone who makes progress. That's what I intend to do.

TODD: Thank you, Secretary.

Senator Sanders, so just explain how you spent nearly two decades in Congress and haven't gotten any of these things passed. Why do you think as president you'll be able to achieve big, big new programs like this?

SANDERS: Well, I haven't quite run for president before. [laughter and applause]

Let's deal with some of the comments that Secretary Clinton made. And by the way, you know, sometimes there's a lot of drama here. I have known Secretary Clinton for 25 years and respect her very much.

Here is the issue. Every major country on earth, whether it's the U.K., whether it's France, whether it's Canada, has managed to provide healthcare to all people as a right and they are spending significantly less per capita on health care than we are. So I do not accept the belief that the United States of America can't do that.

I do not accept the belief that the United States of America and our government can't stand up to the ripoffs of the pharmaceutical industry which charge us by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs.

Number two, in the economy today, everybody understands that we need a well educated workforce. This is 2016. When we talk about public education, it can no longer be K through 12th grade. I do believe that public colleges and universities should be tuition free. Well, how do we pay for that? It's an expensive proposition.

I do believe that we should substantially lower student debt in this country, which is crushing millions of people. We pay for it, in my view, by a tax on Wall Street speculation. The middle class bailed out Wall Street in their time of need. Now, it is Wall Street's time to help the middle class. [applause]

CLINTON: If I could just follow up on that. [applause]

There is no disagreement between us on universal coverage for health care, the disagreement is where do we start from and where do we end up.

The Republicans want to repeal the Affordable Care Act, I want to improve it. I want to build on it, get the costs down, get prescription drug costs down. Senator Sanders wants us to start all over again. This was a major achievement of President Obama, of our country. It is helping people right now.

I am not going to wait and have us plunge back into a contentious national debate that has very little chance of succeeding. Let's make the Affordable Care Act work for everybody. [applause]

SANDERS: Let me...

TODD: Go.

SANDERS: ... this is a good discussion here.

TODD: Yes, go ahead.

SANDERS: And let me just say this. As Secretary Clinton may know, I am on the Health Education Labor Committee. That committee wrote the Affordable Care Act. The idea I would dismantle health care in America while we're waiting to pass a Medicare for all is just not accurate. The Affordable Care Act has clearly, as Secretary Clinton made the point, done a lot of good things, but, what it has not done is dealt with the fact we have 29 million people today who have zero health insurance, we have even more who are underinsured with large deductibles and copayments and prescription drug prices are off the wall.

So I do believe that in the future, not by dismantling what we have here—I helped write that bill—but by moving forward, rallying the American people, I do believe we should have health care for all. [applause]

TODD: All right, thank you both. Rachel.

MADDOW: Secretary Clinton, Senator Sanders is campaigning against you now, at this point in the campaign, basically arguing that you are not progressive enough to be the Democratic nominee. He has said that if you voted for the Iraq war, if you are in favor of the death penalty, if you wobbled on things like the Keystone Pipeline or TPP, if you said single payer health care could never happen, then you're too far to the right of the Democratic Party to be the party's standard bearer.

Given those policy positions, why should liberal Democrats support you and not Senator Sanders?

CLINTON: Well because I am a progressive who gets things done. And the root of that word, progressive, is progress. But I've heard Senator Sanders comments, and it's really caused me to wonder who's left in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. Under his definition, President Obama is not progressive because he took donations from Wall Street; Vice President Biden is not progressive because she supported Keystone; Senator Shaheen is not progressive because she supports the trade pact. Even the late, great Senator Paul Wellstone would not fit this definition because he voted for DOMA.

You know, we have differences and, honestly, I think we should be talk about what we want to do for the country. But if we're going to get into labels, I don't think it was particularly progressive to vote against the Brady Bill five times. [applause]

I don't think it was progressive to vote to give gun makers and sellers immunity. I don't think it was progressive to vote against Ted Kennedy's immigration reform. So we could go back and forth like this, but the fact is most people watching tonight want to know what we've done and what we will do. That's why I am laying out a specific agenda that will make more progress, get more jobs with rising incomes, get us to universal health care coverage, get us to universal pre-k, paid family leave and the other elements of what I think will build a strong economy, that will ensure Americans keep making progress. That's what I'm offering and that's what I will do as president. [applause]

MADDOW: Senator Sanders, have you established a list of what it means to be a progressive that is unrealistic?

SANDERS: No, not at all. Here's the reality of American economic life today. The reality is that we have one of lowest voter turnouts of any major country on earth because so many people have given up on the political process. The reality is that there has been trillions of dollars of wealth going from the middle class in the last 30 years to the top 1/10th of 1 percent. The reality is we that have a corrupt campaign finance system which separates the American people's needs and desires from what Congress is doing. So to my mind, what we have got to do is wage a political revolution where millions of people have given up on the political process, stand up and fight back, demand the government that represents us and not just a handful of campaign contribution—contributors.

Now all of the ideas that I'm talking about, they are not radical ideas. Making public colleges and universities tuition free, that exists in countries all over the world, used to exist in the United States. Rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, and creating 13 million jobs by doing away with tax loopholes that large corporations now enjoy by putting their money into the Cayman Islands and other tax havens. That is not a radical idea.

What we need to do is to stand up to the big money interests, and the campaign contributors. When we do that, we can, in fact, transform America.

MADDOW: Thank you Senator. [applause]

TODD: I'd like to follow up on a comment that Secretary Clinton said, Senator. President Obama has not called for abolishing the death penalty. President Obama is for the big Asian trade deal known as TPP, and just yesterday you said you can't be both a moderate or a progressive, but you can't be both. Is President Obama, in your judgment, based on these policies positions, a progressive?

SANDERS: Let me just pick up on this point. This whole discussion began because I commented, not making overall evaluation about the Secretary. She was in Ohio, I think, in September or November and she got up and said something like, I have been—I'm paraphrasing, I have been criticized because people think I'm a moderate. Well, I am a moderate.

That's where this came from. It wasn't me paraphrasing her. It is what she said, and all that I said was there's nothing wrong with being a moderate. But, you can't be a moderate, you can't a progressive.

In terms of President Obama, I think if we remember where this country was seven years ago, 800,000 jobs being lost every month, $1.4 trillion dollar deficit. The world's financial system on the verge of collapse. I think that President Obama, Vice President Biden, and the Democratic leadership in the House and the Senate have done a fantastic job. We are in much better shape than we were seven years ago, although my Republican colleagues seem to have forgotten where we were seven years ago. That's the fact, but, we still have a very long way to go.

Do I think President Obama is a progressive? Yes, I do. I disagree with him on a number of issues including the trade agreement. But, yes, I think he has done an excellent job.

CLINTON: Well, Chuck...

TODD: ...Secretary Clinton, go ahead...

CLINTON: ... If I could, you know, in the very first debate I was asked am I a moderate or a progressive and I said I'm a progressive who likes to get things done. Cherry picking a quote here or there doesn't change my record of having fought for racial justice, having fought for kids rights, having fought the kind of inequities that fueled my interest in service in the first place going back to my days in the Children's Defense Fund.

It certainly didn't stop me from taking on the drug companies and the insurance companies. Before it was called Hillarycare—I mean, before it was called ObamaCare it was called Hillarycare because we took them on, and we weren't successful, but we kept fighting and we got the children's health insurance program. Every step along the way I have stood up, and fought, and have the scars to prove it.

So, again...[applause]...I think it's important that, look, I understand Senator Sanders really trying to distinguish himself. I understand that, that's what you do in campaigns, but at the same time let's not be—in, I think an unfair way, making an accusation, or making an attack about where I stand and about where I've always stood.

It is fair to say, Senator, that in your definition, as you being the self-proclaimed gatekeeper for progressivism, I don't know anyone else who fits that definition, but I know a lot of really hard fighting progressives in the Democratic party who have stood up time, and time again against special interests, against the powerful on behalf of those who are left behind and left out.

And, that's what we ought to be celebrating. Let's talk about what we would do as President, and Commander in Chief to make sure the progress continues into the future. [applause]

TODD: [inaudible] 30 seconds, and then we'll move.

SANDERS: That's right, I mean, instead of arguing about definitions, let's talk about...

CLINTON: ... Well, you began it yesterday with your comments...

SANDERS: ... What we should do, and one of the things we should do is not only talk the talk, but walk the walk. I am very proud to be the only candidate up here who does not have a Super PAC, who's not raising huge sums of money from Wall Street...[applause]... And special interests. I am enormously proud. Never believed it would happen that we have raised 3.5 million individual contributions, averaging $27 dollars a piece. That is what the political revolution means. [applause]

TODD: Thank you.

MADDOW: Senator Sanders, as a Vermonter, you have almost a home state advantage here in New Hampshire. But back home across the border, you also have a long history of running against Democrats as a third-party candidate, for governor, Senate, for Congress.

In 1988 your candidacy as a third-party candidate arguably cost the Democrats a congressional seat and sent a Republican instead.

How can you lead the Democratic Party nationally when you have not been a member of the Democratic Party until very recently?

SANDERS: Well, Rachel, actually, that wasn't accurate. In 1988 the Republican did win, I believe, by 3 points. I came in second. It was 34-31, I think, 19 for the Democrat. In that race the Democrat was the spoiler, not me. And it is true...[laughter and applause]...it is true, it's not to be denied, I am the longest- serving independent in the history of the United States Congress. People of Vermont sent me to Washington as an independent. That is true.

But on the other hand, I have—when I was in the House for 16 years, I caucused with the Democrats. In the Senate for nine years caucused with the Democrats, of course. And I was elected by the Democrats to be chair of the Veterans Committee three years ago, which I'm very proud of. And now am the rankings member on the Budget Committee, leader of the Democrats in opposition to the majority Republicans.

I am running for president as a Democrat. And if elected, not only do I hope to bring forth a major change in national priorities, but let me be frank, I do want to see major changes in the Democratic Party.

I want to see working people and young people come into the party in a way that doesn't exist now. And you know what, I want a 50-state strategy so the Democratic Party is not just the party of 25 states. [applause]

MADDOW: Secretary Clinton.

CLINTON: You know, the person who first put out the idea of a 50-state party strategy is former Governor Howard Dean, who is with us tonight. [applause]

And I'm very proud and grateful to have the support of so many elected Vermonters and former officials. Two former governors, the current governor, the current other senator. I really appreciate that.

And I think it's because they've worked with me, they've seen what I do. They know what kind of a colleague I am. They want me as their partner in the White House. And that's exactly what I will do.

We'll get things done together. Democrats, Republicans, independents, we're going to make progress together when I'm president. [applause]

MADDOW: So, Senator, to that point, Secretary Clinton is raising the issue of endorsements by your home state Democrats. She's implying that that says something about the people who know you best.

SANDERS: Well, I don't see it quite like that.

MADDOW: How do you see it?

SANDERS: I am—will absolutely admit that Secretary Clinton has the support of far more governors, mayors, members of the House. She has the entire establishment or almost the entire establishment behind her. That's a fact. I don't deny it.

But I am pretty proud that we have over a million people who have contributed to our campaign averaging 27 bucks apiece. That we have had meetings where 25,000-30,000 people have come out. That our campaign is a campaign of the people, by the people, and for the people.

So, Rachel, yes, Secretary Clinton does represent the establishment. I represent, I hope, ordinary Americans, and by the way, who are not all that enamored with the establishment, but I am very proud to have people like Keith Ellison and Raul Grijalva in the House, the co-chairmen of the House Progressive Caucus.

MADDOW: Secretary.

CLINTON: Well, look, I've got to just jump in here because, honestly, Senator Sanders is the only person who I think would characterize me, a woman running to be the first woman president, as exemplifying the establishment. And I've got to tell you that it is...[applause]...it is really quite amusing to me.

People support me because they know me. They know my life's work. They have worked with me and many have also worked with Senator Sanders. And at the end of the day they endorse me because they know I can get things done. [applause]

I am not going to make promises I can't keep. I am not going to talk about big ideas like single-payer and then not level with people about how much it will cost. A respected health economist said that these plans would cost a trillion dollars more a year.

I'm not going to tell people that I will raise your incomes and not your taxes, and not mean it, because I don't want to see the kind of struggle that the middle class is going through exemplified by these promises that would raise taxes and make it much more difficult for many, many Americans to get ahead and stay ahead. That is not my agenda. [applause]

MADDOW: Senator Sanders, you'll have 30 seconds to respond to that.

SANDERS: What being part of the establishment is, is, in the last quarter, having a super PAC that raised $15 million from Wall Street, that throughout one's life raised a whole lot of money from the drug companies and other special interests.

To my mind, if we do not get a handle on money in politics and the degree to which big money controls the political process in this country, nobody is going to bring about the changes that is needed in this country for the middle class and working families.

CLINTON: Yeah, but I—I think it's fair to really ask what's behind that comment. You know, Senator Sanders has said he wants to run a positive campaign. I've tried to keep my disagreements over issues, as it should be.

But time and time again, by innuendo, by insinuation, there is this attack that he is putting forth, which really comes down to—you know, anybody who ever took donations or speaking fees from any interest group has to be bought.

And I just absolutely reject that, Senator. And I really don't think these kinds of attacks by insinuation are worthy of you. And enough is enough. If you've got something to say, say it directly.

But you will not find that I ever changed a view or a vote because of any donation that I ever received.

SANDERS: What... [applause]

CLINTON: And I have stood up and I have represented my constituents to the best of my abilities, and I'm very proud of that.

SANDERS: ... you know...

CLINTON: So I think it's time to end the very artful smear that you and your campaign have been carrying out...

SANDERS: [inaudible]. [applause]

CLINTON: ... in recent weeks, and let's talk...[booing]...let's talk about about the issues. Let's talk about the issues that divide us.

SANDERS: Let's talk about—OK, let's talk...

CLINTON: And let's—let's...

SANDERS: ... let us talk about issues.

CLINTON: ... we both agree with campaign finance reform.

SANDERS: Let's talk about issues.

CLINTON: I—I worked hard for McCain-Feingold.

SANDERS: Let's...

CLINTON: I want to reverse Citizens United.

SANDERS: ... let's—let's—let's talk about issues.

CLINTON: And so—let's talk about issues.

SANDERS: Let's talk—let's talk about issues, all right? Let's talk about why, in the 1990s, Wall Street got deregulated. Did it have anything to do with the fact that Wall Street provided—spent billions of dollars on lobbying and campaign contributions?

Well, some people might think, yeah, that had some influence. [laughter]

Let's ask why it is that we pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, and your medicine can be doubled tomorrow, and there's nothing that the government can do to stop it.

You think it has anything to do with the huge amounts of campaign contributions and lobbying from the fossil fuel industry? Let's talk about climate change.

Do you think there's a reason why not one Republican has the guts to recognize that climate change is real, and that we need to transform our energy system? Do you think it has anything to do with the Koch brothers and ExxonMobil pouring huge amounts of money into the political system?

That is what goes on in America. I am not—I like...[applause]...there is a reason. You know, there is a reason why these people are putting huge amounts of money into our political system. And in my view, it is undermining American democracy and it is allowing Congress to represent wealthy campaign contributors and not the working families of this country.

CLINTON: Well, you know, Senator, I don't think—I don't...

[crosstalk] [applause]

TODD: ... Secretary, we're gonna...

CLINTON: ... I don't think you could find any person in political life today who has been subjected to more attacks and had more money spent against her by special interests, among whom you have named a few, than I.

And I'm proud of that. You know, when I took on the drug companies and the insurance companies for universal health care coverage, they went after me with a vengeance.

Today, you've got hedge fund billionaires aligned with Karl Rove, running ads against me to try to get Democrats to vote for you. I know this game. I'm going to stop this game.

But while we're talking about votes, you're the one who voted to deregulate swaps and derivatives in 2000, which contributed to the over-leveraging of Lehman Brothers, which was one of the culprits that brought down the economy.

So I don't know—I'm not impugning your motive because you voted to deregulate swaps and derivatives. People make mistakes and I'm certainly not saying you did it for any kind of financial advantage. What we've got to do as Democrats—what we've got to do as Democrats is to be united to actually solve these problems. And what I believe is that I have a better track record and a better opportunity to actually get that job done.

That's what this election should be about. [applause]

TODD: Thirty seconds.

[crosstalk] [applause]

SANDERS: I think as Secretary Clinton knows, there is nobody who fought harder. I was on the House Financial Committee at that time. I heard the arguments coming from Democrats and Republicans—Robert Rubin, Alan Greenspan—about great an idea it would be if we did away with Glass-Steagall and if we allowed investor banks and commercial banks and big insurance companies to merge.

Go to YouTube today. Look up Greenspan-Sanders. Listen to what I told them then. I helped lead the effort against deregulation. Unfortunately, we lost that. The result is—was the worst financial disaster since the Great Depression.

TODD: Thank you both.

MADDOW: Senator Sanders, Secretary Clinton, obviously we've touched a nerve. We're going to be back with more on this subject, and much more, right after this. Stay with us. [applause]

[commercial break]

TODD: All right, welcome back. Let's get right to it.

Senator Sanders, you were talking about all of your campaign contributions and campaign finance reform. You rail against big money in politics. But do you realize there is one public financing system that we do have in place, and it is—it is in place to run for president. Why aren't you walking the walk on that?

Why aren't you participating in the presidential public financing system which is designed to essentially keep big money out of presidential politics?

SANDERS: Chuck, actually we looked at it, but it turns out to be a disaster. The way it is structured right now, if you make it all the way to California, you could do pretty well. But in terms of the early states—Iowa, New Hampshire, the other states—it just doesn't work.

Your point is well taken. I believe in public funding of elections, absolutely. But this system is—I don't know if the secretary would agree—is currently very antiquated and no longer applies to modern day politics.

TODD: Well, going on that then, why criticize her on Super PACs, and you got—and all this when it is—you know, that's the system? I mean, you could be participating in a publicly-financing—public financing system...

SANDERS: But if the...

TODD: ... and being able to set—being able to set an example.

SANDERS:—but Chuck, it is a public financing system that everybody knows is antiquated. It no longer works. Nobody can become president based on that system. So what's the alternative? There are two alternatives. And, you know, we looked at it. Well, should we do a Super PAC, but I concluded, honestly, I don't represent Corporate America or billionaires, I didn't want it.

So the other alternative was to ask working families and the middle class to help out in a transformational campaign. And you know what? We got 3.5 million individual contributions, $27 a piece. I think that's pretty good. [applause]

MADDOW: Secretary Clinton, on the issue of Wall Street...

CLINTON: On the issue of Wall Street.

MADDOW: ... on the issue of Wall Street, when our reporters go out and talk to people on the ground in the early states, what they tell us over and over again when they find voters who are leaning toward Senator Sanders rather than yourself is that the most frequent area of concern that they hear from those voters is the issue of Wall Street and whether or not you are too close to Wall Street.

Last night, when you were asked about speaking fees and the amount of speaking fees you got from Goldman Sachs speeches, you said that's what they offered.

Have you been too dismissive of voters' concerns about this issue in your own campaign and your own career?

CLINTON: Well you know, Rachel, I think I may not have done the job I should in explaining my record. You know, I did—when I left the secretary of State's office, like so many former officials, military leaders, journalists, others, I did go on the speaking circuit. I spoke to heart doctors, I spoke to the American Camping Association, I spoke to auto dealers, and yes, I spoke to firms on Wall Street. They wanted me to talk about the world, what my experience had been as secretary of State.

But what I want people to know is I went to Wall Street before the crash. I was the one saying you're going to wreck the economy because of these shenanigans with mortgages. I called to end the carried interest loophole that hedge fund managers enjoy. I proposed changes in CEO compensation.

I called for a consumer protection financial bureau before it was created. And I think the best evidence that the Wall Street people at least know where I stand and where I have always stood is because they are trying to beat me in this primary. They have collected and spent as much as $6 million on these ads. Hedge fund billionaires, Karl Rove, another billionaire, jumped in.

And why are they doing that? These are guys who try to make smart investments. They know my record, they know me, they know that I say what I believe and I will do it. And I also have a pretty good understanding about how to stop them.

So I do want people to know that, and I think it's important for everybody to understand I have a record, I have stood firm and I will be the person who prevents them from ever wrecking the economy again. [applause]

MADDOW: Senator Sanders, you have been a critic of Secretary Clinton taking those speaking fees and having donations from Wall Street. What about her defense of her record?

SANDERS: Let me just say this. Wall Street is perhaps the most powerful economic and political force in this country. You have companies like Goldman Sachs, who just recently paid a settlement fine with the federal government for $5 billion for defrauding investors.

Goldman Sachs was one of those companies whose illegal activity helped destroy our economy and ruin the lives of millions of Americans. But this is what a rigged economy and a corrupt campaign finance system and a broken criminal justice is about. These guys are so powerful that not one of the executives on Wall Street has been charged with anything after paying, in this case of Goldman Sachs, a $5 billion fine.

Kid gets caught with marijuana, that kid has a police record. A Wall Street executive destroys the economy, $5 billion settlement with the government, no criminal record. That is what power is about. That is what corruption is about. And that is what has to change in the United States of America. [applause]

[crosstalk]

CLINTON: If I could, let me just say that of course it has to change. It has to change. And that's why I have put forward a plan to do just that. And it's been judged to be the toughest, most effective and comprehensive one.

I have great respect for Senator Sanders's commitment to try to restore Glass-Steagall. But I do not believe that that is enough. And in fact, I don't believe it really addresses a lot of the biggest issues we have.

You know, we now have power under the Dodd-Frank legislation to break up banks. And I've said I will use that power if they pose a systemic risk. But I want to go further, because it was investment banks, it was insurance companies, it was mortgage companies, all of which contributed.

So let's not just be narrowly focused on one part of the problem. We have a lot of issues with corporate power that have to be addressed. My plan takes us further and it would do the job.

[crosstalk] [applause]

SANDERS: I would say that—that folks who have looked at this issue for a long time, whether it's Elizabeth Warren or many other economists, will tell you that right now, yes, we do need a 21st century Glass-Steagall legislation. And I would tell you also that when you have three out of the four largest banks in America today, bigger than they were—significantly bigger than when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, I think if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, a good Republican by the way, what he would say is: Break them up; they are too powerful economically; they are too powerful politically.

And that is what I believe and many economists believe. Time to break them up. [applause]

CLINTON: Look we have a law—look, you know, I—I appreciate the senator's advocacy. We have a law. It was passed. It was signed by President Obama. It lays out a process that you go through to determine whether a systemic risk is posed.

And by the way, President Obama signed that, pushed it through, even though he took donations from Wall Street, because he's a responsible president. So we have a law in place. If the circumstances warrant it, I will certainly use it. And from what you say, I know you will as well.

But that is not enough. And I keep going back to this because part of the reason the Wall Street guys are trying so hard to stop me—the hedge fund guys, the shadow banking guys—is because I've got their number on all of that. And my plan goes so much further to try to prevent the problems of the future.

You know, we can't just fight the last war. We've got to be prepared to stop these guys if they ever try to use their economic power once again, to hurt the economy, and to hurt so many Americans. And my plan, Paul Krugman, Barney Frank, a lot of experts who understand what the new challenges might be, have said I am exactly on point, and the Wall Street guys actually know that. [applause]

[crosstalk]

TODD: ... she has had more people praise her plan than yours.

SANDERS: Well, we've had a number of economists supporting our legislation. And here's where we are. The American people can judge. Six largest financial institutions in America today have assets of roughly $10 trillion; equivalent to 58 percent of the GDP of the United States of America.

That is a lot of money. They issue two thirds of the credit cards, and by the way they're ripping off a whole lot of people with high interest rates on the credit cards, and they write about one third of the mortgages.

That is a lot of power for six financial institutions. That's it. I think it is too much power. Too much economic power, too much political power, and the economists that I talk to say we should break them up.

TODD: Thank you both. Let me move on to our next question here, and in fact it comes to us through New England Cable News.

Secretary Clinton, it's addressed to you, and it's about this issue of the speeches, particularly to Goldman Sachs. This is what the questioner wrote verbatim.

"I am concerned with the abuses of Wall Street has taken with the American taxpayers money," and then she asks whether you would release the transcripts of your Goldman Sachs speeches, and then added, "Don't you think the voting public has a right to know what was said?"

But, let's make that bigger. Are you willing to release the transcripts of all your paid speeches? We do know through reporting that there were transcription services for all of those paid speeches. In full disclosure, would you release all of them?

CLINTON: I will look into it. I don't know the status, but I will certainly look into it. But, I can only repeat what is the fact that I spoke to a lot of different groups with a lot of different constituents, a lot of different kinds of members about issues that had to do with world affairs. I probably described more times than I can remember how stressful it was advising the President about going after Bin Laden.

My view on this is look at my record. Look at what I am proposing, and—we have a vigorous agreement here. We both want to reign in the excesses of Wall Street. I also want to reign in the excesses of Johnson Controls that we bailed out when they were an autoparts company, and we saved the auto industry, and now they want to avoid paying taxes.

I want to go after the pharmaceutical companies like Valeant, and Turns that are increasing prices without any regard to the impact on people's health. Now, if all we're going to talk about is one part of our economy, and indeed one streak in our economy, we're missing the big oil companies. We're missing other big energy companies. We're missing the big picture, and I have a record of trying to go at the problems that actually exist, and I will continue to do that.

TODD: Senator, you sound like you want to respond. Go ahead.

SANDERS: Yeah, I do. I agree with much of what the Secretary said, but, madam Secretary, it is not one streak. Wall Street is an entity of unbelievable economic and political power. That's a fact.

And, I want to say something, and it may sound harsh, not to you, but to the American people. In a sense, in my view, the business model of Wall Street is fraud. It's fraud. I believe that corruption is rampant, and the fact that major bank after major bank has reached multi billion dollar settlements with the United States government when we have a weak regulator system tells me that not only did we have to bail them out once, if we don't start breaking them up, we're going to have to bail them out again, and I do not want to see that happen...

CLINTON: ... Well, Senator, no one wants to see that happen. I mean, look, I care deeply about this because just like you I have met so many people who had their life savings wiped out, who lost their homes, who are barely back with their heads above water.

This was a disaster for our country, and we can never let that happen again. We have no disagreement about this. But, I think it's a broader target list than just Wall Street, and I believe that we have to be very focused on how we try to take back the power and increase the empowerment of the American people. And, I think I have that kind of experience, maybe because they've beat me up for so many years, and I know exactly how to handle them because I've been in the arena with them time and time again.

MADDOW: Senator Sanders, let me turn to, I think, where this direction is heading anyway, which is the broader issue of big business and power in our political system. You on the campaign trail have railed against big name American corporations like Boeing, and General Electric, and Wal Mart. But, some big businesses in this country have also been part of advancing progressive goals like that nationwide initiative to expand employment opportunities for veterans. That was all about cooperation between the Obama administration and some very big business. The Affordable Care Act, some of the thorniest problems in that bill were worked out in cooperation with big business in order to accomplish progressive goals.

Could you work with them, or have you made enemies of big business in this country with the way you've approached them in this campaign?

SANDERS: Of course I can work with them, but let's be clear. When I talked about Boeing and I talked about General Electric, what I was referring to is an outrage. I suspect the secretary agrees request me.

Right now you have a loophole such that these guys are putting their profits, multi-billion dollar profitable corporations putting billions of dollars into the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, and other tax havens.

And in a given year, Rachel, after making billions of dollars in profit, do you know how much they're paying in taxes to the United States government in a given year? Zero. Now explain to me how that makes any sense at all.

So what I have said with regard to Boeing and GE and other multinationals that pay zero taxes, you know what we're going to do? We're going to end that loophole. They are going to pay their fair share of taxes.

We're going to use that money to rebuild our infrastructure and create up to 13 million jobs.

Can I work with corporations? Are there good corporations doing incredible cutting edge research and development? Absolutely they are. And we should be proud of them.

But on the other hand, there are many corporations who have turned their backs on the American worker, who have said, if I can make another nickel in profit by going to China and shutting down in the United States of America, that's what I will do.

I will do my best to transform our trade policy and take on these corporations who want to invest in low-income countries around the world rather than in the United States of America. [applause]

MADDOW: Senator Sanders, thank you.

And with that, we're going to take a break.

TODD: We'll be right back. And we're going to get to trade and a lot of other issues. [applause]

[commercial break]

MADDOW: Welcome back—welcome back to the Democratic candidates' debate. We're going to be talking about America in the world, both in terms of some trade issues, but also national security.

And Secretary Clinton, we're going to start with you. There are more than 4,000 American troops back in Iraq right now as part of the fight against ISIS. It has been 15 straight years of wars and multiple deployments for America's military families, who have borne such a disproportionate burden.

Is President Obama right to keep escalating the number of U.S. troops that's fighting ISIS right now?

CLINTON: Well, I think what the president understands, and what he's trying to do, is that we have to support the Arab and Kurdish fighters on the ground who are actually doing the fighting.

I agree with the president. I've said myself, we will not send American combat troops back to either Syria or Iraq—that is off the table.

But we do have special forces, we do have trainers, we do have the military personnel who are helping with the airstrikes that the United States is leading so that we can try to take out ISIS infrastructure, take out their leadership.

And I think that, given the threat that ISIS poses to the region and beyond, as we have sadly seen in our own country, it is important to keep the Iraqi army on a path where they can actually take back territory, to work with the Sunni tribes in Anbar province and elsewhere so that their fighters can be also deployed, to work with the Kurds to provide them the support, but they're doing the fighting. We're doing the support and enabling.

And I also think we've got to do more to stop foreign fighters, foreign funding and take ISIS on online, as well as doing everything necessary to keep us safe at home.

So as I look at what the president it doing, it adds up to me. We just have to keep—try to get more support for those people on the ground in Syria and Iraq who have to actually physically take the territory back.

MADDOW: To be clear, to the specific question, if that strategic goal that you're describing requires considerably more of Americans—an ever-increasing number of Americans in Iraq and maybe in Syria, are you OK with the numbers increasing?

CLINTON: No. I mean, of course that's a theoretical question, and we don't know what it would be for, and we don't know how many numbers there are. I am against American combat troops being in Syria and Iraq.

I support special forces. I support trainers. I support the air campaign. And I think we're making some progress. I want to continue to intensify that, and that's exactly what the president is doing.

MADDOW: Thank you, Madam Secretary.

TODD: Go ahead, Senator Sanders—30 seconds, your response.

SANDERS: OK. Let me agree with much of what the secretary said, but where we have a different background on this issue is we differ on the war in Iraq, which created barbaric organizations like ISIS.

Not only did I vote against that war, I helped lead the opposition, and if you go to my website, berniesanders.com, you will see the statement that I made in 2002. And it gives me no pleasure to tell you that much of what I feared would happen the day after Saddam Hussein was overthrown, in fact, did happen.

TODD: All right. Senator, I want to stay, though...

CLINTON: If I could—if I could...

TODD: Go ahead. 30 seconds.

CLINTON: ... respectfully add—look, we did differ. A vote in 2002 is not a plan to defeat ISIS. We have to look at the threats that we face right now...[applause]...and we have to be prepared to take them on and defeat them.

TODD: Let me—let—we're gonna—we're staying—we're staying basically on this topic. Obviously you've been emphasizing this difference on the Iraq war, but one place where you do agree, and one place where you voted to authorize the use of force, was in favor of the war in Afghanistan.

Right now, it is possible President Obama is going to be leaving the next president, perhaps President Sanders, at least 10,000 troops in Afghanistan. How long will those troops be in Afghanistan under President Sanders?

SANDERS: Well, I think our great task is to make certain that our young men and women in the military do not get sucked into never- ending, perpetual warfare within the quagmire of Syria and Iraq. And I will do my very best to make sure that that doesn't happen.

I agree with the secretary that I think what has to happen—and let me just mention what King Abdullah of Jordan said. I think he hit the nail on the head.

And what he said is essentially the war against ISIS is a war for the soul of Islam. And it must be Muslim troops on the ground that will destroy ISIS, with the support of a coalition of major powers—U.S., U.K., France, Germany and Russia.

So our job is to provide them the military equipment that they need; the air support they need; special forces when appropriate. But at the end of the day for a dozen different reasons, not the least of which is that ISIS would like American combat troops on the ground so they could reach out to the Muslim world and say, "Look, we're taking on those terrible Americans."

The combat on the ground must be done by Muslim troops with our support. We must not get involved in perpetual warfare in the Middle East.

TODD: Can you address a question on Afghanistan? [applause]

[crosstalk]

How long are these troops going to be there? If President Obama leaves you 10,000 troops, how long do you think they're going to be there?

SANDERS: Well, you can't simply withdraw tomorrow. Wish we could, and allow, you know, the Taliban or anybody else to reclaim that country. But what we must do, and what we have seen in recent months, is some progress in Iraq, where finally the Iraqi army, which has not been a particularly effective fighting force, retook Ramadi. ISIS has lost I think 40 percent of the territory that it held in the last year.

Hopefully, and you know, one can't predict the future, that maybe our training and their fighting capabilities are improving and we are going to make some progress in destroying ISIS.

TODD: Secretary Clinton, 30 seconds: How long are these troops going to be in Afghanistan? We have more American troops in Afghanistan than what we were talking about with Iraq.

CLINTON: Oh, absolutely. The president decided to leave more troops than he had originally planned in Afghanistan. We have a very cooperative government there, with Ashraf Ghani and his top—his top partner, Abdullah. And they are doing their very best. And the Afghan army is actually fighting. The Afghan army is taking heavy losses defending Afghan territory.

And I would have to make an evaluation based on the circumstances at the time I took office as to how much help they continue to need. Because it's not just the Taliban. We now are seeing outposts of, you know, fighters claiming to be affiliated with ISIS.

So, we've got this arc of instability from North Africa to South Asia, and we have to pay close attention to it. And we have to build coalitions, something that I did to take on the Iranian nuclear program, and what I will do as president to make sure that we defeat these terrorist networks.

TODD: You know, Senator Sanders, nobody knows who your foreign policy advisers are. You haven't given a major foreign policy speech. And it doesn't sound like all the time that foreign policy is a priority, other than when you're asked about it, and you say you're going to crush ISIS, as you said last night and earlier.

You have not proactively laid out a foreign policy doctrine yet. Why?

SANDERS: Well, that's not quite accurate. I did give a speech at Georgetown where I talked about democratic socialism and foreign policy. Maybe I shouldn't have combined the two in the same speech, because the foreign policy part of it didn't get much attention. So, let me take this opportunity to give you a very short speech here on the issue.

I think, while it is true that the secretary and I voted differently on the war in Iraq, what is important is that we learn the lesson of the war in Iraq. And that lesson is intrinsic to my foreign policy if elected president, is the United States cannot do it alone. We cannot be the policeman of the world. We are now spending more I believe than the next eight countries on defense. We have got to work in strong coalition with the major powers of the world and with those Muslim countries that are prepared to stand up and take on terrorism.

So I would say that the key doctrine of the Sanders administration would be no, we cannot continue to do it alone; we need to work in coalition. [applause]

[crosstalk]

CLINTON: A group of national security experts, military intelligence experts, issued a very concerning statement about Senator Sanders's views on foreign policy and national security, pointing out some of the comments he has made on these issues, such as inviting Iranian troops into Syria to try to resolve the conflict there; putting them right at the doorstep of Israel. Asking Saudi Arabia and Iran to work together, when they can't stand each other and are engaged in a proxy battle right at this moment. So I do think questions have been raised and questions have to be answered because when New Hampshire voters go on Tuesday to cast your vote, you are voting both for a president and a commander in chief. And there is no way to predict what comes in the door of that White House from day to day that can pose a threat to the United States or one of our friends and allies, and I think this is a big part of the job interview that we are all conducting with the voters here.

TODD: All right, Senator, 30 seconds. [applause]

SANDERS: [off-mike] I fully, fully concede that Secretary Clinton, who was secretary of State for four years, has more experience—hat is not arguable—in foreign affairs. But experience is not the only point, judgment is. And once again, back in 2002, when we both looked at the same evidence about the wisdom of the war in Iraq, one of us voted the right way and one of us didn't.

In terms of Iran and in terms of Saudi Arabia, of course they hate each other. That's no great secret. But John Kerry, who is I think doing a very good job, has tried to at least get these people in the room together because both of them are being threatened by ISIS.

CLINTON: Well, let me just add that, you know, I've said this before and I'm very proud of it, that when it comes to judgment, having run a hard race against Senator Obama at the time, he turned to me to be secretary of State. And when it comes to the biggest counterterrorism issues that we faced in this administration, namely whether or not to go after bin Laden, I was at that table, I was exercising my judgment to advise the president on what to do, on that, on Iran, on Russia on China, on a whole raft of issues.

Because I know from my own experience that you've got to be ready on day one. There is just too much unpredictable threat and danger in the world today, you know, to try to just say wait, I'll get to that when I can. That is just not an acceptable approach.

SANDERS: Well...

MADDOW: Secretary Clinton, at the—at the last Democratic debate in Charleston—I want to get specific here—Senator Sanders called for moving as aggressively as we can to normalize relations with Iran. Your campaign has criticized him for saying that. Now that he's standing next to you here on this stage, can you explain why the U.S. shouldn't try to normalize relations in Iran in your view?

CLINTON: Absolutely. You know, I did put together the coalition to impose sanctions. I actually started the negotiations that led to the nuclear agreement, sending some much my closest aides to begin the conversations with the Iranians.

I'm very pleased we got that nuclear agreement. It puts a lid on the nuclear weapons program. We have to enforce it, there have to be consequences attached to it. But that is not our only problem with Iran. We have to figure out how to deal with Iran as the principal state sponsor of terrorism in the world.

They are destabilizing governments in the region. They continue to support Hezbollah and Hamas in Lebanon against Israel. A lot of work that we have do is going to be incredibly hard. I'm prepared to do that work, but I believe, just as I did with imposing the sanctions, you have to get action for action.

If we were to normalize relations right now, we would remove one of the biggest pieces of leverage we have to try to influence and change Iranian behavior. The president doesn't think we should. I certainly don't think we should. I believe we have to take this step by step to try to reign in Iranian aggression, their support for terrorism and the other bad behavior that can come back and haunt us.

SANDERS: Who said That think we should normalize relations with Iran tomorrow? I never said that. I think we should move forward as quickly as we can.

And you're right. They are a sponsor of terrorism around the world and we have to address that. But you know, a number of years ago, people were saying normal relationship with Cuba, what a bad and silly idea. They're Communists, they are our enemy. Well guess what? Change has come.

So please don't suggest that I think we normalize relations with Tehran tomorrow. We don't. But I would like to see us move forward, and hopefully some day that will happen. And I would say if I might, Madam Secretary—and you can correct me if I'm wrong. When you ran against Senator Obama you thought him naive because he thought it was a good idea to talk to our enemies. I think those are exactly the people you have to talk to and you have to negotiate with. [applause]

CLINTON: Well Senator, let me just correct the record if I can. You know—let me correct the record.

[crosstalk]

TODD: 30 seconds, madam secretary.

CLINTON: As I—as I certainly recall, the question was to meet with without conditions. And you're right, I was against that. I was against it then I would be against it now.

SANDERS: OK.

CLINTON: Part of diplomacy, the hard work of diplomacy is trying to extract whatever concessions you can get, and giving something the other side wants. Of course you've got to try to make peace with, and work with those who are your adversaries, but you don't just rush in, open the door, and say, "Here I am. Let's talk and make a deal."

That's not the way it works.

SANDERS: I think President Obama had the right idea, and the bottom line is that of course there have to be conditions. But, of course it doesn't do us any good to not talk with our adversaries...

CLINTON: ... Well, we set conditions on Iran. We worked hard to get them established, and to be enforced, and then we talked. That's exactly the right...[crosstalk]...and, that's what I did with the President, so he and I are on the very same page. [applause]

SANDERS: Just to set the record straight, I very strongly supported the agreement which makes certain that Iran does not get a nuclear weapon.

TODD: Alright, as Commander in Chief, Senator Sanders, you've got to prioritize potential threats to the United States. Three countries, North Korea, Iran, Russia. How would you rank them in order of their threat to America's security right now...

SANDERS: ... ISIS...

TODD: ... Starting with the biggest threat.

SANDERS: ISIS, you forgot one...

TODD: ... I didn't say that...

SANDERS: ... No, no...

TODD: ... No...

SANDERS: ... ISIS would be ...

TODD: ... We already had that. I'm talking about these three countries. How would you orient our national security, our national defense posture.

SANDERS: Clearly North Korea is a very strange situation because it is such an isolated country run by a handful of dictators, or maybe just one, who seems to be somewhat paranoid. And, who had nuclear weapons.

And, our goal there, in my view, is to work and lean strongly on China to put as much pressure. China is one of the few major countries in the world that has significant support for North Korea, and I think we got to do everything we can to put pressure on China. I worry very much about an isolated, paranoid country with atomic bombs.

I think, clearly, we got to work closely with China to resolve the serious problems we have, and I worry about Putin and his military adventurism in the Crimea and the Ukraine.

TODD: Secretary of Defense Ash Carter this week picked one of those three, and he has said Russia is, basically, the most important national security threat. Sort of reorienting the defense and the challenges to that. Do you agree with his decisions...

SANDERS: ... No, I don't. I worry very, very much about an isolated country. That's what makes me nervous. Russia lives in the world. China lives in the world. North Korea is a very, very strange country because it is so isolated, and I do feel that a nation with nuclear weapons, they have got to be dealt with. Dealt with effectively.

TODD: Secretary Clinton, what do you think of Secretary of Defense Ash Carter. He's basically putting Russia above Iran, above North Korea, as sort of the chief national security challenge right now.

CLINTON: I haven't talked to Secretary Carter, but here's what I would think he's planning. We do have the nuclear weapons agreement with Iran, that's an enforcement consequence, action for action, follow on. We have a plan, we will watch them, we will be vigilant.

We do have to worry about North Korea. They continue to develop their nuclear weapons capability, and they're working very hard on their ballistic missile capability.

And, I know that some of those plans could very well lead to a missile that might reach Hawaii, if not the West Coast. We do have to try to get the countries in the region to work with us to do everything we can to confine, and constrain them.

But, what Secretary Carter is looking at is the constant pressure that Russia's putting on our European allies. The way that Russia is trying to move the boundaries of the post-World War II Europe. The way that he is trying to set European countries against one another, seizing territory, holding it in Crimea. Beginning to explore whether they could make some inroads in the Baltics.

We know that they are deeply engaged in supporting Assad because they want to have a place in the Middle East. They have a naval base, they have an air base in Syria. They want to hang on to that. I think what Secretary Carter is seeing, and I'm glad he is, is that we got to get NATO back working for the common defense. We've got to do more to support our partners in NATO, and we have to send a very clear message to Putin that this kind of belligerence, that this kind of testing of boundaries will have to be responded to. The best way to do that is to put more armor in, put more money from the Europeans in so they're actually contributing more to their own defense.

TODD: Thank you both, Rachel?

MADDOW: Secretary Clinton, I want to ask you about a national security issue that is closer to home. There are thousands of veterans, over 100,000 veterans living in the state of New Hampshire.

If either one of you is nominated as the Democratic Party's nominee, you will likely face a Republican opponent in the general election who wants to privatize or even abolish big parts of the V.A. It's a newly popular idea in conservative politics.

How will you win the argument on that issue given the problems that have been exposed at the V.A. in the last few years? What's your argument that the V.A. should still exist and should not be privatized?

CLINTON: Well, first of all, I'm absolutely against privatizing the V.A. And I am going do everything I can to build on the reforms that Senator Sanders and others in Congress have passed to try to fix what's wrong with the V.A.

There are a lot of issues about wait times and services that have to be fixed because our veterans deserve nothing but the best.

But you're absolutely right, you know, Rachel, this is another part of the Koch brothers agenda. They've actually formed an organization to try to begin to convince Americans we should no longer have guaranteed health care, specialized care for our veterans.

I will fight that as hard as I can. I think there's where we can enlist the veterans service organizations, the veterans of America, because, yes, let's fix the V.A., but we will never let it be privatized, and that is a promise. [applause]

MADDOW: Senator Sanders, you, as a congressional leader on veterans issues and the Veterans Committee, you've worked in a very bipartisan way with Senator John McCain and others on veterans issues. Is the right contour of the fight, the way she's talking about this issue?

SANDERS: Let me agree. You know, as the secretary knows, I chaired—I had the privilege and the honor of chairing the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs. And it is interesting to me, you know, Republicans give a lot of speeches about how much they love veterans. I work with the American Legion, the VFW, the DAV, the Vietnam Vets, and virtually every veterans organization to put together the most comprehensive piece of the veterans legislation in the modern history of America. That's what I did.

And I brought it to the floor of the Senate. Every Democrat voted for it, I got two Republicans. We ended up with 56 votes and I couldn't get the 60 votes that I needed. That is pathetic.

This was legislation supported by all of the veterans organizations, addressing many of the serious problems that veterans face in health care and in how we deliver benefits to them.

So Republicans talk a good game about veterans, but when it came to put money on the line to protect our veterans, frankly, they were not there.

What I did next, Rachel, is I had to retreat a little bit, I had to compromise. I did work with John McCain. I did work with Jeff Miller over in the House. And we put together not the bill that I wanted, but probably the most comprehensive V.A. health care bill in the modern history of this country.

Secretary Clinton is absolutely right, there are people, Koch brothers among others, who have a group called Concerned Veterans of America, funded by the Koch brothers. The Koch brothers, by the way, want to destroy Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, every governmental program passed since the 1930s. Yes, there are people out there who want to privatize it.

The last point that I'd make. I had a hearing. I had all of the veterans groups in front of me. And I said to them, tell me when a veteran gets in to the V.A., understanding there are waiting lines and real problems, when a veteran gets into the system, is the quality of care good?

Without exception, what they said, good, excellent, very good. We've got to strengthen the V.A. We do not privatize the V.A. [applause]

MADDOW: Thank you, Senator.

Senator Sanders, Secretary Clinton, we're going to take another break. We'll be talking about Social Security and some of those other issues when we come back. [applause]

[commercial break]

TODD: And we are back. We're gonna get into a little bit of election politics, electability, in a little bit.

Senator Sanders, The Iowa Democratic Party has declared Hillary Clinton the winner of Monday's Iowa caucuses—narrowest of margins. Today, the Des Moines Register has an editorial that calls for the audit of the results, saying, quote, "what happened Monday night at the Democratic caucuses was a debacle, period. The results were too close not to do a complete audit."

Senator Sanders, do you accept the idea that Hillary Clinton won Iowa? And do you—or do you believe the caucuses are still an open question?

SANDERS: Well, I agree with the Des Moines Register, but let's not blow this out of proportion. This is not a—this is not, like, a winner-take-all thing.

I think where we now stand—correct me if I'm wrong—you have 22 delegates, I have 20 delegates. We need 2,500 delegates to win the nomination. [laughter]

You know, so this is not—this is not the biggest deal in the world. We think, by the way, based on talking to our precinct captains, we may have at least two more delegates.

What the Des Moines Register said—you know, there were coin—I think there were half a dozen coin flips—a fairly chaotic type situation. At the end of the day, no matter how it's recounted, it will break roughly even.

And by the way, I love and respect the caucus process in Iowa. See, and I don't have to say it, because they voted already. [laughter]

And I love New Hampshire, too, because you haven't voted, but...[applause]...but, look, I think people are blowing this up out of proportion. But I think we need improvements in the process by which results are determined.

TODD: Secretary Clinton, will you participate in some sort of audit, if that's what the party wants to do? You good with that?

CLINTON: Whatever they decide to do, that's fine.

TODD: That's fair enough. OK.

CLINTON: All right.

TODD: Good, we move on. We're happy with that. We have more questions.

MADDOW: Senator—Senator Sanders, in 1964...

SANDERS: Oh [inaudible]. [laughter]

See, when you are old, then they go back all these years. All right. What have you got?

MADDOW: In 1964, I heard that the Republicans nominated Barry Goldwater, who was the hero of the conservative movement. He was, however, far to the right of most of that party. In 1972, the Democrats nominated George McGovern, who was a hero of liberals in the antiwar movement, but he was to the left of his party's mainstream.

Both of those nominees made activists very excited, and they both got destroyed in the general election. Even Democrats who love you worry about your fate in a general election. And I know you have good head-to-head polling numbers against Republican frontrunners right now. We know that. But do you have a general election strategy that is different than the way you're running right now to try to get the nomination?

SANDERS: Well, you know, a general election is different than a primary and caucus process. But let me just say this. In terms of where we are right now, as you mention, Rachel, in a number of national and state, including New Hampshire. For example, the last poll I saw—there may have been a new one—last one I saw here in New Hampshire, a battleground state, had me defeating Trump by 19; the secretary defeating him by one. There were also pretty large margins in Iowa and Wisconsin.

These are polls. Polls go up. Polls go down. But here's why I think I will be, if nominated, the strongest candidate. Democrats win when there is a large voter turnout; when people are excited; when working people, middle class people and young people are prepared to engage in the political process.

Republicans win when people are demoralized and you have a small voter turnout, which by the way is why they love voter suppression. I believe that our campaign up to now has shown that we can create an enormous amount of enthusiasm from working people, from young people, who will get involved in the political process and which will drive us to a very large voter turnout.

If there is a large voter turnout, not only do we retain the White House, but I think we regain the Senate. We win governors' chairs up and down the line. So I believe if you want to retain the White House, if you want to see Democrats do well across the board, I think our campaign is the one that creates the large voter turnout and helps us win. [applause]

MADDOW: Secretary Clinton, your campaign surrogates, and people who have endorsed you, have suggested that or even said that if Senator Sanders is the nominee, that Democrats will suffer nationwide and the chances will go down of Democrats holding onto the White House. With him here standing next to you, can you tell us whether or not you believe he would win the general election if he were nominated?

CLINTON: I can only tell you what I believe, and that is that I am the strongest candidate to take it to the Republicans and win in November. [applause]

And I say that with great—with great respect for the campaign that Senator Sanders has been running. I personally am thrilled at the numbers of people, and particularly young people who are coming to support your campaign. I hope that I will be able to earn their support. They may not support me now, but I support them and we'll work together.

But what I'm concerned about is the views of many Democrats who know their states, who know how hard it is to win a general election. And it also will push whoever the nominee is into the spotlight. I've been vetted. There's hardly anything you don't know about me. And I think it's fair to say that whoever is in that position, Senator Sanders or anyone else who might have run, will face the most withering onslaught.

So, I think that I am the person who can do all aspects of the job. I think I'm the person best prepared to take the case to the Republicans. And I think that at the end of the day, it's not so much electability. It is who the American people can believe can keep them safe, can get the economy moving again, can get incomes rising, can build on the progressive accomplishments of President Obama.

And I think that the coalition that President Obama put together to win twice is a coalition that I can put together and add to. And that's what I'm prepared to... [applause]

[crosstalk]

TODD: We'll stay on this issue. We'll stay on this topic.

Secretary Clinton, just like there are some Democrats that question Senator Sanders' ability in the general election, many Democratic voters that our reporters have been running into in Iowa and New Hampshire, they tell our reporters over and over again they're worried about the emails issue, not because they don't believe your explanation, but because it's a drip-drip, because the cloud is hanging over your head and that it will impact the general election.

They see your numbers right now and they think it's the email issue as to why you're not polling very well. So can you reassure these Democrats that somehow the email issue isn't going to blow up your candidacy if you're the nominee?

CLINTON: Absolutely I can. You know, before it was emails, it was Benghazi, and the Republicans were stirring up so much controversy about that. And I testified for 11 hours, answered their questions. They basically said yeah, didn't get her. We tried. That was all a political ploy.

Now, we had a development in the email matter today when it came out that Secretary Powell and close aides to Former Secretary Rice used private e-mail accounts. and now you have these people in the government who are doing the same thing to Secretary Powell and Secretary Rice's aide they've been doing to me, which is that I never sent or received any classified material. They are retroactively classifying it.

I agree completely with Secretary Powell, who said today this is an absurdity. And so I think the American people will know it's an absurdity. I have absolutely no concerns about it whatsoever. [applause]

TODD: All right, Madam Secretary, there is an open—there is an open FBI investigation into this matter about how you may have handled classified material. Are you 100 percent confident that nothing is going to come of this FBI investigation?

CLINTON: I am 100 percent confident. This is a security review that was requested. It is being carried out. It will be resolved. But I have to add if there's going to be a security review about me, there's going to have to be security reviews about a lot of other people, including Republican office holders, because we've got this absurd situation of retroactive classifications.

Honest to goodness, this is—this just beggars the imagination. So I have absolutely no concerns about it, but we've got to get to the bottom of what's really going on here, and I hope that will happen.

TODD: Well, Senator sanders, you famously at the first debate said you didn't give a darn about her emails; I think you used another [inaudible].

SANDERS: [off-mike]

TODD: You're right. I'm trying to—it's a—it's a family hour still right now. After 11:00, I'll say it the other way. And you mostly have refrained from commenting on it, but recently you called it a very serious issue, and then the other day you said well she's getting slapped with the email controversy.

Are you—how are you feeling about these darn emails now?

SANDERS: I am feeling exactly the way I felt at the first debate. There's a process under way. I will not politicize it.

TODD: OK. Senator Sanders, thank you. [applause]

SANDERS: And by the way—and by the way, if I may, the secretary probably doesn't know that there's not a day that goes by when I am not asked to attack her on that issue, and I have refrained from doing that and I will continue to refrain from doing that. [applause]

MADDOW: Senator Sanders, thank you. Senator, in December, one of your campaign staffers was fired from your campaign for taking voter data essentially from the Clinton campaign. You apologized for that when the incident was made public.

Your campaign has now been criticized for its operatives essentially impersonating culinary union members wearing union pins in Nevada, and the Nashua Telegraph has complained recently that you falsely implied in an advertisement that they had endorsed you when they did not.

None of these issues obviously is the end of the world, but they all are of a piece. Are you in some sense losing control of your campaign?

SANDERS: Not losing control of our campaign. You know, we have hired a whole lot of people in a rapid way and I am familiar with the first two instances and they are unacceptable, and we have apologized and dealt with that.

In terms of the last one, as I understand it, we did not suggest that we had the endorsement of a newspaper. Newspapers who make endorsements also say positive things about other candidates, and to the best of my knowledge, that is what we did. So we never said, never said that somebody, a newspaper endorsed us that did not. What we did say is blah blah blah blah was said by the newspaper.

MADDOW: Just to follow up on that, the title of the ad in question was Endorsement.

SANDERS: But that was only for—that was not to be on television. That's an important point. That was just something—as the secretary knows, you put titles on ads and you send them out, but there was no word in that ad, none, that said that those newspapers had endorsed us.

MADDOW: Secretary Clinton, do you want 30 seconds on that issue?

CLINTON: No.

MADDOW: And with that, we will [inaudible]. [applause]

[commercial break]

MADDOW: Welcome back to the University of New Hampshire, and the Democratic candidates' debate.

Secretary Clinton, on the issue of the death penalty, here in New Hampshire, the one person who is on death row is there for killing a police officer. It's a crime that has caused anguish in this state, both among death penalty opponents and death penalty supporters.

The last time I had the chance to talk with you on this issue, on the death penalty, you said that capital punishment has a place in a very few federal cases, but you also said you would breathe a sigh of relief if the Supreme Court abolished the death penalty nationwide. Tonight, do you still support capital punishment, even if you do so reluctantly?

CLINTON: Yes, I do. And—you know, what I hope the Supreme Court will do is make it absolutely clear that any state that continues capital punishment either must meet the highest standards of evidentiary proof of effective assistance of counsel or they cannot continue it because that, to me, is the real dividing line.

I have much more confidence in the federal system, and I do reserve it for particularly heinous crimes in the federal system, like terrorism. I have strong feelings about that. I thought it was appropriate after a very thorough trial that Timothy McVeigh received the death penalty for blowing up the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people, including 19 children in a daycare center.

I do for very limited, particularly heinous crimes believe it is an appropriate punishment, but I deeply disagree with the way that too many states are still implementing it. If it were possible to separate the federal from the state system by the Supreme Court, that would, I think, be an appropriate outcome.

MADDOW: Senator Sanders, you have singled out the death penalty, and Senator Clinton's support for the death penalty, as an issue that makes it hard to consider as progressive in your mind...

SANDERS: ... Look, I hear what the Secretary said, and I understand, but look, there are—all of us know that we have seen in recent years horrible, horrible crimes. It's hard to imagine how people can do, bomb, and kill 168 people in Oklahoma City, or do the Boston Marathon bombing, but this is what I believe, and for a couple of reasons.

Number one, too many innocent people, including minorities, African Americans, have been executed when they were not guilty. That's number one. We have to be very careful about making sure about that.

But, second of all, and maybe, in a deeper reason, of course there are barbaric acts out there. But, in a world of so much violence and killing, I just don't believe that government itself should be part of the killing. So, when somebody commits...[applause]...somebody commits any of these terrible crimes that we have seen, you lock them up, and you toss away the key. They're never going to get out. But, I just don't' want to see government be part of killing. That's all. [applause]

MADDOW: Another issue related to the proper role of government, and in this case, specifically the role of government between the federal government and the states. I want to talk for a moment about the issue of Flint, Michigan. On the Flint lead poisoning disaster, you have both been highly critical of Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan, and how the state in Michigan both caused the lead poisoning problem, and has not acted fast enough to fix it. You have both been outspoken on that.

The fact is that Michigan though has not fixed it. There is no door to door delivery of clean water in Flint even today. Not a single lead pipe has been replaced in Flint, even today. If the state is failing, would you, Secretary Clinton, would you as President order a federal response to get it right over and above the wishes of the state?

CLINTON: Absolutely. Absolutely. You know, Rachel, you and I have talked about this before. I thank you for going to Flint to hold that town hall. I will be in Flint at the Mayor's invitation on Sunday to get an in depth briefing about what is, and is not happening.

This is an emergency. Everyday that goes by that these people, particularly the children, are not tested so we can know what steps must be taken to try to remediate the effects of the poisoning that they have been living with is a day lost in a child's life. I know from the work that I've done over so many years, lead, the toxic nature of lead can affect you brain development, your body development, your behavior.

I absolutely believe that what is being done is not sufficient. We need to be absolutely clear about everything that should be done from today to tomorrow, into the future to try to remedy the terrible burden that the people of Flint are barring. That includes fixing their pipes, it includes guaranteeing whatever healthcare and educational embellishments they may need going forward, and I think the federal government has way where it can bill the state of Michigan. If Michigan won't do it, there have to be ways that we can begin to move, and then make them pay for it, and hold them accountable. [applause]

MADDOW: Senator Sanders are there things the President could be doing? President Obama could be ordering, done, right now, in Flint, Michigan that are not being done that you as President would do?

SANDERS: Absolutely. I think the Secretary described the situation appropriately.

You know, I don't go around asking for governor's resignations every day. In fact, I think I never have in my life. But I did ask for the resignation of Governor Snyder because his irresponsibility...[applause]...was so outrageous.

What we are talking about are children being poisoned. That's what we're talking about. We don't know, no one knows for sure because they haven't done the appropriate studies, but there's no question that kids' intellectual development may have been impacted. We don't know how many thousands.

The idea that there has not been a dramatic response is beyond comprehension. And when you have one of the, I think, significant public health crises of recent years, of course the federal government comes in.

And of course the federal government says, you're not going to be poisoning little kids and impacting their entire lives.

Last point on this. And I suspect the secretary agrees. One wonders if this were a white suburban community what kind of response there would have been. [applause]

Flint, Michigan, is a poor community. It is disproportionately African-American and minority. And what has happened there is absolutely unacceptable.

MADDOW: Senator, thank you.

TODD: Secretary Clinton, let me turn to the issue of trade. In the '90s you supported NAFTA. But you opposed it when you ran for the president in 2008. As secretary of state, you supported TPP, and then—which, of course, is that trade agreement with a lot of Asian countries, but you now oppose it as you make your second bid for president.

If elected, should Democrats expect that once you're in office you will then become supportive of these trade agreements again?

CLINTON: You know, Chuck, I've only had responsibility for voting for trade agreements as a senator. And I voted a multinational trade agreement when I was senator, the CAFTA agreement, because I did not believe it was in the best interests of the workers of America, of our incomes, and I opposed it.

I did hope that the TPP, negotiated by this administration, would put to rest a lot of the concerns that many people have expressed about trade agreements. And I said that I was holding out that hope that it would be the kind of trade agreement that I was looking for.

I waited until it had actually been negotiated because I did want to give the benefit of the doubt to the administration. Once I saw what the outcome was, I opposed it.

Now I have a very clear view about this. We have to trade with the rest of the world. We are 5 percent of the world's population. We have to trade with the other 95 percent. And trade has to be reciprocal. That's the way the global economy works.

But we have failed to provide the basic safety net support that American workers need in order to be able to compete and win in the global economy. So it's not just what's in the trade agreement that I'm interested in.

I did help to renegotiate the trade agreement that we inherited from President Bush with Korea. We go the UAW on board because of changes we made. So there are changes that I believe would make a real difference if they could be achieved, but I do not currently support it as it is written.

TODD: Well, Senator Sanders, I know you want to respond on this, you have never supported a trade deal since you've been in Congress.

SANDERS: Absolutely right.

TODD: But if you do that as president...[applause]

If you do that as president, how are you not essentially letting China, who will do all of these deals around the world, how are you going to prevent China from essentially setting the rules of trade for the world?

SANDERS: Chuck, I believe in trade, but I do not believe in unfettered free trade. I believe in fair trade which works for the middle class and working families of this country and not just large multinational corporations.

I was not only in opposition to NAFTA—and this is an area where the secretary and I have disagreements. I was not only in opposition to NAFTA, I was on the picket line in opposition to NAFTA because I understood—I don't think this is really rocket science.

We heard all of the people tell us how many great jobs would be created. I didn't believe that for a second because I understood what the function of NAFTA, CAFTA, PNTR with China, and the TPP is, it's to say to American workers, hey, you are now competing against people in Vietnam who make 56 cents an hour minimum wage.

I don't want American workers to compete against people making 56 cents an hour. I don't want companies shutting down in America, throwing people out on the street, moving to China, and bringing their products back into this country.

So, do I believe in trade? Of course, I believe in trade. But the current trade agreements over the last 30 years were written by corporate America, for corporate America, resulted in the loss of millions of decent-paying jobs, 60,000 factories in America lost since 2001, millions of decent-paying jobs; and also a downward spiral, a race to the bottom where employers say, "Hey, you don't want to take a cut in pay? We're going to China."

Workers today are working longer hours for lower wages. Trade is one of the reasons for that. [applause]

TODD: All right. Thank you both.

We're going to sneak in one more break here, and when we come back we'll squeeze as many questions as we can before we end this thing. We'll be right back. [applause]

[commercial break]

TODD: All right. Welcome back here in the final minutes.

MADDOW: The home stretch.

TODD: The home stretch of this only Democratic debate in the final week before the primary.

Let me start with you, Secretary Clinton, on this question. Obviously, President Obama got a lot of ambitious stuff done in his first year and a half. You're going to have to make choices. And there's a lot of heavy lifts. And he made choices. He did healthcare and it came at the expense, arguably, of immigration reform. Had he put immigration reform first, perhaps that gets done and healthcare doesn't.

So there are three big lifts that you've talked about: immigration, gun reform, climate change. What do you do first? Because you know the first one is the one you have the best shot at getting done.

CLINTON: Well, I—I don't accept that premise, Chuck. I think that we've got so much business we have to do. We've talked a lot tonight about what we're against—we're against income inequality. We're against the abuses of powerful interests. We're against a lot of things.

I'm for a lot of things. I don't want to just stop bad things from happening, I want to start good things from happening. And I believe, if I'm so fortunate to get the nomination, I will begin to work immediately on putting together an agenda, beginning to talk with members of Congress and others about how we can push forward.

I want to have half a billion more solar panels deployed, the first four years. [applause]

I want to have enough clean energy to power every home the next four years. I want us to keep working on the Affordable Care Act, to get not only to 100 percent coverage, but bring down the costs of prescription drugs and out-of-pocket costs.

I want to move forward on paid family leave, on early childhood education, I want us to do more for small businesses. [applause]

Small businesses have to create most of the jobs, and we're not creating and growing small businesses. I think, if you have a smart agenda, you pick the committees that you know have to begin to work on these various pieces—because that's the way Congress is set up. You go through different committees, and you really make a big push in the beginning.

Immigration reform, economic revitalization with manufacturing, with infrastructure—we put it out there, and we begin to work on an ambitious, big, bold agenda that will actually produce the results that I want to see for our country.

TODD: All right, but Senator Sanders...[applause]...you've still got to do something first. As you know, history said—shows what you pick first is your best shot at getting, and how you prioritize things.

SANDERS: No, let...

TODD: Immigration reform, for instance, fell by the wayside in the first term because of this.

SANDERS: ... I am absolutely supportive of comprehensive immigration reform and a path towards citizenship for 11 million people today who are living in the shadows. All right? We got to do that. [applause]

But you miss—when you looked at the issues, you missed two of the most important. And that is you're not going to accomplish what has to be done for working families and the middle class unless there is campaign finance reform. [applause]

So long as big money interests control the United States Congress, it is gonna be very hard to do what has to be done for working families. So let me be very clear. No nominee of mine, if I'm elected president, to the United States Supreme Court will get that nomination unless he or she is loud and clear, and says they will vote to overturn Citizens United. [applause]

Second point—second point is that the only way we make change in terms of health care, in terms of dealing with a broken criminal justice system which, today, allows us to have more people in jail than any other country—largely African-American and Latino—the only way we create millions of jobs by rebuilding our infrastructure or have a tax system that says to the wealthy that they are going to pay their fair share, is when millions of people become involved in the political process.

No, you just can't negotiate with Mitch McConnell. Mitch is gonna have to look out the window and see a whole lot of people saying, "Mitch, stop representing the billionaire class. Start listening to working families."

And as president, that's what I will work hard on. [applause]

TODD: OK. Thank you.

MADDOW: Secretary Clinton, Republicans, particularly in campaign years, often talk about which departments of government—which agencies of government they would get rid of if they were elected president. The EPA, the Department of Education, the Commerce Department, oops—is—is there a department of government that you would get rid of? Or is there a whole new one that you would create?

CLINTON: The answer to both of those is no. I'm interested in making what we have work better. I want to streamline programs that are duplicative and redundant. I want to have a top-to-bottom review about what works and what doesn't work, and be absolutely clear we're getting rid of what doesn't work.

I have had the opportunity to run a big agency. I was very flattered when Henry Kissinger said I ran the State Department better—better than anybody had run it in a long time. So I have an idea of what it's going to take to make our government work more efficiently.

And when you put together a budget, you have to make a lot of hard decisions, but I think it's not appropriate to say "I'm going to get rid of this, get rid of that" until you have a very good process that gives you the information about what to do.

But I want to add something else, you know, because look, we have so much work to do in our country, and I think it's the greatest work that Americans will be called to do. And of course, we have to have people in every community involved in it. We have to have the political voice, the political grassroots speaking up and speaking out about what we have to try to accomplish in Washington.

But we also need to have a very clear set of goals that we are going to achieve, and we need to level with the American people about what they are, what they will cost, what will be expected of our citizenry. So I see as president having a constant dialogue with Americans here's what we're trying to get done, here's why I need your help, here's why you may think comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship isn't something you care about, but I'm telling you it will help fix the labor market, it will bring people out of the shadows—

MADDOW: Thank you, Secretary Clinton.

CLINTON:—it will actually raise wages. You have to make all those connections so that you've got people with you every step of the way. That's what I want to do.

MADDOW: Thank you very much. Thank you. [applause]

TODD: All right, before we go, I want to ask each one of these. Secretary Clinton, you've made it clear when you look at Senator Sanders, you do not see a president, but do you see—

CLINTON: I never said that.

TODD: But do you see—do you see a vice president? [laughter]

CLINTON: Look...

TODD: Would you unite the party by trying to pick Senator Sanders as your running mate?

CLINTON: Well, I'm certainly going to unite the party, but I'm not—I'm not getting ahead of myself. I think that would be a little bit presumptuous. If I'm so fortunate as to be the nominee, the first person I will call to talk to about where we go and how we get it done will be Senator Sanders. [applause]

TODD: Senator, would you consider the secretary?

SANDERS: I agree with what the secretary said. We shouldn't be getting ahead of ourselves. And as I have said many times, you know, sometimes in these campaigns, things get a little bit out of hand. I happen to respect the secretary very much, I hope it's mutual. And on our worst days, I think it is fair to say we are 100 times better than any Republican candidate. [applause]

CLINTON: That's true. That's true.

[crosstalk]

TODD: Secretary Clinton, closing statements. You are first.

CLINTON: Well first, thanks to MSNBC and thanks to all of you for holding this debate before the New Hampshire primary. I am going to campaign as hard as I can between now and Tuesday to earn your votes in that primary, and I hear some talk that people are trying to decide do they vote with their heart, do they vote with their head, I'm asking you to bring both your heart and your head to vote with you on Tuesday because we have a lot of work that can only come because your heart is moved.

You know, we didn't get to talk about the continuing struggles that Americans face with racism, with sexism, with discrimination against the LGBT community, with new Americans, with people with disabilities. Yes, we have income inequality, we have other forms of inequality that we need to stand up against and absolutely diminish from our society.

So I have been moved by my heart ever since I was a young woman about the age of a lot of Senator Sanders' supporters worrying what I can do to make a difference for my country, and I will bring that heart with me, but I will also tell you we've got to get our heads together to come up with the best answers to solve the problems so that people can have real differences in their lives that will make them better for now and into the future. [applause]

TODD: Thank you, Madam Secretary. Senator Sanders.

SANDERS: I—my dad came to this country at the age of 17 from Poland. Didn't have any money, couldn't speak English, he died pretty young, and I think it would have been beyond his wildest dreams to see his son up here on this stage today running for president.

I love this country and my dad loved this country, and he was the most proud American because of what it gave him in terms of raising his family, even though we never had much money. But today in America, we are the only major country on earth that doesn't guarantee health care to all people, that doesn't guarantee paid family and medical leave. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth. We are seeing millions of families unable to send their kids to college in the United States of America.

I'm running for president because I believe it is just too late for establishment politics and establishment economics. I do believe we need a political revolution where millions of people stand up and say loudly and clearly that our government belongs to all of us and not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors.

Thank you all. [applause]

TODD: Well, there you have it. I promise you, Rachel and I have a lot more questions, but we just don't have any more time, unless we could [inaudible] a third hour, but I don't think so.

Our debate coverage—[inaudible] debate coverage will continue in just a moment with our colleague [inaudible].

And we want to thank all of you for being here, and we want to thank the two candidates for taking part in this important event.

MADDOW: We also want to thank our host, the University of New Hampshire, and the people of New Hampshire. You guys get to vote in just five days. I can't wait to see how it turns out. Don't screw up.

TODD: We'll see you in a few minutes. Thank you.

MADDOW: Thank you. [applause]

+ Citation: Presidential Candidates Debates: "Democratic Candidates Debate in Durham, New Hampshire," February 4, 2016. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=111471. +
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+ 		+ + + + +Presidential Candidates Debates: Republican Candidates Debate in Las Vegas, Nevada +
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Republican Candidates Debate in Las Vegas, Nevada
December 15, 2015
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PARTICIPANTS:
Former Governor Jeb Bush (FL);
Ben Carson;
Governor Chris Christie (NJ);
Senator Ted Cruz (TX);
Carly Fiorina;
Governor John Kasich (OH);
Senator Rand Paul (KY);
Senator Marco Rubio (FL);
Donald Trump;

MODERATORS:
Wolf Blitzer (CNN);
Dana Bash (CNN); and
Hugh Hewitt (Salem Radio Network)

BLITZER: Welcome to the CNN-Facebook Republican presidential debate here at the Venetian Las Vegas.

We have a very enthusiastic audience. Everyone is here. They're looking forward to a serious and spirited discussion about the security of this nation.

I'm Wolf Blitzer, your moderator tonight. This debate is airing on CNN networks here in the United States and around the world, and on the Salem Radio Network. The nine leading candidates, they are here. Let's welcome them right now.

Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. [applause]

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. [applause]

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. [applause]

Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. [applause]

Businessman and real estate developer Donald Trump. [applause]

Retired neurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. [applause]

Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. [applause]

Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. [applause]

And Ohio Governor John Kasich.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome these Republican candidates for president of the United States. [applause]

This is the final Republican debate before the election year begins, and we're taking a moment for the photographs of the candidates together on the stage. Now, everyone, please rise for the national anthem sung by Ayla Brown.

[national anthem]

[applause]

BLITZER: I know everyone is eager to get started. So, candidates, please take your places while I explain the ground rules for tonight.

As moderator, I'll guide the discussion, and I'll be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt and CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash. We also asked Republicans and independents nationwide to share their questions for the candidates. We teamed up with Facebook to send a campaign camper across the country over the past several weeks.

Thousands of people stepped inside and recorded their questions on video. Millions more have weighed in on Facebook. Candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have a minute and 15 seconds to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you're singled out for criticism.

Our viewers should know that we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. And as the candidates requested, a bell will sound like this. We know you are all eager to jump in and debate these important issues, so, please, wait until you're called on.

These nine Republicans are positioned on stage based on their ranking in the recent polls, so let's begin right now. I'd like to invite each candidate to introduce himself or herself to our audience. You'll have one minute.

First to you, Senator Paul.

PAUL: The question is, how do we keep America safe from terrorism? Trump says we ought to close that Internet thing. The question really is, what does he mean by that? Like they do in North Korea? Like they do in China?

Rubio says we should collect all Americans' records all of the time. The Constitution says otherwise. I think they're both wrong. I think we defeat terrorism by showing them that we do not fear them. I think if we ban certain religions, if we censor the Internet, I think that at that point the terrorists will have won. Regime change hasn't won. Toppling secular dictators in the Middle East has only led to chaos and the rise of radical Islam. I think if we want to defeat terrorism, I think if we truly are sincere about defeating terrorism, we need to quit arming the allies of ISIS. If we want to defeat terrorism, the boots on the ground — the boots on the ground need to be Arab boots on the ground.

As commander-in-chief, I will do whatever it takes to defend America. But in defending America, we cannot lose what America stands for. Today is the Bill of Rights' anniversary. I hope we will remember that and cherish that in the fight on terrorism.

BLITZER: Thank you, Senator. [applause]

Governor Kasich?

KASICH: Thank you, Wolf. Just last weekend, just last week, a friend asked one of my daughters, "Do you like politics?" And my daughter said, "No, I don't. And the reason I don't like it is because there's too much fighting, too much yelling. It's so loud, I don't like it." You know, I turned to my friend and I said, "You know, she's really on to something."

And when we think about our country and the big issues that we face in this country; creating jobs, making sure people can keep their jobs, the need for rising wages, whether our children when they graduate from college can find a job, protecting the homeland, destroying ISIS, rebuilding defense. These are all the things that we need to focus on but we'll never get there if we're divided. We'll never get there if republicans and democrats just fight with one another.

Frankly, we are republicans and they're democrats but before all of that, we're Americans. And I believe we need to unify in so many ways to rebuild our country, to strengthen our country, to rebuild our defense, and for America to secure it's place it world; for us, for our children, and for the next generation.

Thank you. [applause]

BLITZER: Governor Christie?

CHRISTIE: Thank you Wolf.

America has been betrayed. We've been betrayed by the leadership that Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton have provided to this country over the last number of years. Think about just what's happened today. The second largest school district in America in Los Angeles closed based on a threat. Think about the effect that, that's going to have on those children when they go back to school tomorrow wondering filled with anxiety to whether they're really going to be safe.

Think about the mothers who will take those children tomorrow morning to the bus stop wondering whether their children will arrive back on that bus safe and sound. Think about the fathers of Los Angeles, who tomorrow will head off to work and wonder about the safety of their wives and their children.

What is Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton done to this country? That the most basic responsibility of an administration is to protect the safety and security of the American people. I will tell you this, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I've fought terrorists and won and when we get back in the White House we will fight terrorists and win again and America will be safe. [applause]

BLITZER: Ms. Fiorina?

FIORINA: Like all of you I'm angry. I'm angry at what's happening to our nation. Citizens, it's time to take our country back.

Bombastic insults wont take it back. Political rhetoric that promises a lot and delivers little, won't take it back. All of our problems can be solved. All of our wounds can be healed by a tested leader who is willing to fight for the character of our nation.

I have been tested. I have beaten breast cancer. I have buried a child. I started as a secretary. I fought my way to the top of corporate America while being called every B word in the book. I fought my way into this election and on to this debate stage while all the political insiders and the pundits told, "it couldn't be done."

I've been told, "no,: all my life. And all my life, I've refused to accept no as an answer. Citizens, it is time to take our country back from the political class, from the media, from the liberal elite. It can be done, it must be done, join me and we will get it done. [applause]

BLITZER: Governor Bush?

BUSH: Our freedom is under attack. Our economy is under water. The leading democrat is under investigation. And America is under the gun to lead the free world to protect our civilized way of life.

Serious times require strong leadership, that's what at stake right now. Regarding national security, we need to restore the defense cuts of Barack Obama to rebuild our military, to destroy ISIS before it destroys us. Regarding economic security, we need to take power and money away from Washington D.C. and empower American families so that they can rise up again.

Look, America still is an exceptional country. We love to lead and we love to win. And we do it, when we take on any challenge and when we take – we support our friends.

As president, I will keep you and our country safe, secure, and free.

Thank you.

BLITZER: Senator Rubio?

RUBIO: Thank you Wolf.

It's really amazing to be back in Las Vegas. I spent six years as a child growing not far from where we stand tonight. I use to sit on the porch of our home and listen to my grandfather tell stories as he smoked one of three daily cigars.

One of the things my grandfather instilled in me, was that I was really blessed because I was a citizen of the greatest country in the history of our mankind. But there have always been people in American politics that wanted America to be more like the rest of the world. And In 2008, one of them was elected president of this country and the result has been a disaster.

Today you have millions of Americans that feel left out and out of place in their own country, struggling to live paycheck to paycheck, called bigots because they hold on to traditional values.

And around the world, America's influence has declined while this president has destroyed our military, our allies no longer trust us, and our adversaries no longer respect us. And that is why this election is so important.

That is why I'm running for president. And that's why I'm going to ask you for your vote tonight. If you elect me president, we will have a president that believes America is the greatest country in the world and we will have a president that acts like it. [applause]

BLITZER: Senator Cruz.

CRUZ: Thank you, Wolf.

America is at war. Our enemy is not violent extremism. It is not some unnamed malevolent force. It is radical Islamic terrorist. We have a president who is unwilling to utter its name. The men and women on this stage, every one of us, is better prepared to keep this nation safe than is Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton.

We need a president who understands the first obligation of the commander-in-chief is to keep America safe. If I am elected president, we will hunt down and kill the terrorists. We will utterly destroy ISIS.

We will stop the terrorist attacks before they occur because we will not be prisoners to political correctness. Rather, we will speak the truth. Border security is national security and we will not be admitting jihadists as refugees.

We will keep America safe. [applause]

BLITZER: Dr. Carson.

CARSON: Thank you, Wolf.

Please join me for a moment of silence and remembrance of the San Bernardino victims. Thank you. You know, our country since its inception has been at war, every 15 or 20 years. But the war that we are fighting now against radical Islamist jihadists is one that we must win. Our very existence is dependent upon that.

You know, as a pediatric neurosurgeon, I frequently faced life and death situations, and had to come up with the right diagnosis, the right plan, and execute that plan frequently with other colleagues.

Right now, the United States of America is the patient. And the patient is in critical condition and will not be cured by political correctness and will not be cured by timidity.

And I am asking the Congress, which represents the people, to declare a war on ISIS so that we can begin the process of excising that cancer and begin the healing process, and bring peace, prosperity, and safety back to America. [applause]

BLITZER: Mr. Trump.

TRUMP: Thank you.

I began this journey six months ago. My total focus was on building up our military, building up our strength, building up our borders, making sure that China, Japan, Mexico, both at the border and in trade, no longer takes advantage of our country.

Certainly would never have made that horrible, disgusting, absolutely incompetent deal with Iran where they get $150 billion. They're a terrorist nation. But I began it talking about other things.

And those things are things that I'm very good at and maybe that's why I'm center stage. People saw it. People liked it. People respected it.

A month ago things changed. Radical Islamic terrorism came into effect even more so than it has been in the past. People like what I say. People respect what I say. And we've opened up a very big discussion that needed to be opened up.

Thank you very much. [applause]

BLITZER: Thank you.

Since you last debated, Americans have witnessed terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino. The FBI director says the country now faces the greatest terror threat since 9/11. You all have different approaches to keeping the country safe. And that will be the focus of tonight's debate.

Mr. Trump, as you mentioned in your opening statement, part of your strategy is to focus in on America's borders. To keep the country safe, you say you want to temporarily ban non-American Muslims from coming to the United States; ban refugees fleeing ISIS from coming here; deport 11 million people; and wall off America's southern border. Is the best way to make America great again to isolate it from much of the rest of the world?

TRUMP: We are not talking about isolation. We're talking about security. We're not talking about religion. We're talking about security. Our country is out of control. People are pouring across the southern border. I will build a wall. It will be a great wall. People will not come in unless they come in legally. Drugs will not pour through that wall.

As far as other people like in the migration, where they're going, tens of thousands of people having cell phones with ISIS flags on them? I don't think so, Wolf. They're not coming to this country. And if I'm president and if Obama has brought some to this country, they are leaving. They're going. They're gone. [applause]

BLITZER: Governor Bush, you called Mr. Trump "unhinged" when he proposed banning non-American Muslims from the United States. Why is that unhinged?

BUSH: Well, first of all, we need to destroy ISIS in the caliphate. That's — that should be our objective. The refugee issue will be solved if we destroy ISIS there, which means we need to have a no-fly zone, safe zones there for refugees and to build a military force.

We need to embed our forces — our troops inside the Iraqi military. We need to arm directly the Kurds. And all of that has to be done in concert with the Arab nations. And if we're going to ban all Muslims, how are we going to get them to be part of a coalition to destroy ISIS?

The Kurds are the greatest fighting force and our strongest allies. They're Muslim. Look, this is not a serious proposal. In fact, it will push the Muslim world, the Arab world away from us at a time when we need to reengage with them to be able to create a strategy to destroy ISIS.

So Donald, you know, is great at — at the one-liners, but he's a chaos candidate. And he'd be a chaos president. He would not be the commander in chief we need to keep our country safe. [applause]

BLITZER: Mr. Trump?

TRUMP: Jeb doesn't really believe I'm unhinged. He said that very simply because he has failed in this campaign. It's been a total disaster. Nobody cares. And frankly, I'm the most solid person up here. I built a tremendous company and all I want to do is make America great again.

I don't want our country to be taken away from us, and that's what's happening. The policies that we've suffered under other presidents have been a disaster for our country. We want to make America great again. And Jeb, in all fairness, he doesn't believe that.

BUSH: Look, he mentioned me. I can bring — I can talk. This is — this is the problem. Banning all Muslims will make it harder for us to do exactly what we need to do, which is to destroy ISIS. We need a strategy. We need to get the lawyers off the back of the warfighters. Right now under President Obama, we've created this — this standard that is so high that it's impossible to be successful in fighting ISIS.

We need to engage with the Arab world to make this happen. It is not a serious proposal to say that — to the people that you're asking for their support that they can't even come to the country to even engage in a dialogue with us. That's not a serious proposal. We need a serious leader to deal with this. And I believe I'm that guy. [applause]

BLITZER: Senator Rubio — I'm going to go to Senator Rubio and get his thoughts.

You have said banning Muslims is unconstitutional. But according to a recent ABC News-Washington Post poll, a majority of Republicans support Mr. Trump's idea. Why are they wrong?

RUBIO: Well, I understand why they feel that way, because this president hasn't kept us safe. The problem is we had an attack in San Bernardino. And we were paying attention to the most important issue we have faced in a decade since 9/11, and then all the talk was about this proposal, which isn't going to happen.

But this is what's important to do is we must deal frontally with this threat of radical Islamists, especially from ISIS. This is the most sophisticated terror group that has ever threatened the world or the United States of America. They are actively recruiting Americans. The attacker in San Bernardino was an American citizen, born and raised in this country. He was a health inspector; had a newborn child and left all that behind to kill 14 people.

We also understand that this is a group that's growing in its governance of territory. It's not just Iraq and Syria. They are now a predominant group in Libya. They are beginning to pop up in Afghanistan. They are increasingly involved now in attacks in Yemen. They have Jordan in their sights.

This group needs to be confronted with serious proposals. And this is a very significant threat we face. And the president has left us unsafe. He spoke the other night to the American people to reassure us. I wish he hadn't spoken at all. He made things worse. Because what he basically said was we are going to keep doing what we're doing now, and what we are doing now is not working. [applause]

BLITZER: Hugh Hewitt, you have a question.

HEWITT: Senator Cruz, you've said you disagree with Mr. Trump's policy. I don't want a cage match; you've tweeted you don't want a cage match. But Republican primary voters deserve to know, with the kind of specificity and responsiveness you delivered in your nine Supreme Court arguments, how you disagree with Mr. Trump. Would you spell that out with us?

CRUZ: Well, listen, Hugh, everyone understands why Donald has suggested what he has. We're looking at a president who's engaged in this double-speak where he doesn't call radical Islamic terrorism by its name. Indeed, he gives a speech after the San Bernardino attack where his approach is to try to go after the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens rather than to keep us safe.

And even worse, President Obama and Hillary Clinton are proposing bringing tens of thousands of Syrian refugees to this country when the head of the FBI has told Congress they cannot vet those refugees.

I understand why Donald made that proposal. I introduced legislation in the Senate that I believe is more narrowly focused at the actual threat, which is radical Islamic terrorism, and what my legislation would do is suspend all refugees for three years from countries where ISIS or Al Qaida control substantial territory.

HEWITT: So you're saying you disagree because he's too broad and you have a narrower focus? Why do you disagree with him?

CRUZ: Well, you know, I'm reminded of what FDR's grandfather said. He said, "All horse-thieves are Democrats, but not all Democrats are horse-thieves." [laughter]

In this instance, there are millions of peaceful Muslims across the world, in countries like India, where there is not the problems we are seeing in nations that are controlled — have territory controlled by Al Qaida or ISIS, and we should direct at the problem, focus on the problem, and defeat radical Islamic terrorism. It's not a war on a faith; it's a war on a political and theocratic ideology that seeks to murder us.

HEWITT: Carly Fiorina... [applause] ... this is the Christmas dinner debate. This will be the debate that Americans talk about at Christmas. And thus far, in the first 10 minutes, we haven't heard a lot about Ronald Reagan's city on a hill. We've heard a lot about keeping Americans out or keeping Americans safe and everyone else out. Is this what you want the party to stand for?

FIORINA: What I think we need to stand for are solutions. I offer myself as a leader to the people of this country because I think they're looking for solutions, not lawyers arguing over laws or entertainers throwing out sound bites that draw media attention. We need to solve the problem.

To solve the problem, we need to do something here at home and something over there in their caliphate. We need to deny them territory.

But here at home, we need to do two fundamental things. Number one, we need to recognize that technology has moved on. The Patriot Act was signed in 2001, roughly. The iPhone was invented in 2007. The iPad was invented in 2011. Snapchat and Twitter, all the rest of it, have been around just for several years. Technology has moved on, and the terrorists have moved on with it.

Let me tell you a story. Soon after 9/11, I got a phone call from the NSA. They needed help. I gave them help. I stopped a truckload of equipment. I had it turned around. It was escorted by the NSA into headquarters. We need the private sector's help, because government is not innovating. Technology is running ahead by leaps and bound. The private sector will help, just as I helped after 9/11. But they must be engaged, and they must be asked. I will ask them. I know them. [applause]

BLITZER: Governor Christie, Americans are clearly more afraid today than at any time since 9/11. As you mentioned in your opening statement, today in Los Angeles, 650 schoolchildren didn't go to — 650,000 schoolchildren didn't go to school because of an e-mail threat, this two weeks after an attack killed 14 people in San Bernardino. Is this the new normal? And if so, what steps would you take as president of the United States to ensure that fear does not paralyze America?

CHRISTIE: Wolf, unfortunately, it's the new normal under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The fact is that if you listen to Hillary Clinton the other day, what she said to the American people was, as regards to ISIS, my strategy would be just about the same as the president's.

Just about the same as the president's? We have people across this country who are scared to death. Because I could tell you this, as a former federal prosecutor, if a center for the developmentally disabled in San Bernardino, California, is now a target for terrorists, that means everywhere in America is a target for these terrorists.

Now, I spent seven years of my life in the immediate aftermath of September 11th doing this work, working with the Patriot Act, working with our law enforcement, working with the surveillance community to make sure that we keep America safe.

What we need to do, Wolf, is restore those tools that have been taken away by the president and others, restore those tools to the NSA and to our entire surveillance and law enforcement community.

We need a president who is going to understand what actionable intelligence looks like and act on it. And we need a president and a cabinet who understands that the first and most important priority of the president of the United States is to protect the safety and security of Americans.

As someone who has done it, I will make sure it gets done again. [applause]

BLITZER: Thank you.

Governor Kasich, one of the killers in San Bernardino was an American who was not on anyone's watch list. How are you going to find that radicalized person and stop another such attack?

KASICH: Well, first of all, Wolf, I said last February that we needed to have people on the ground, troops on the ground in a coalition similar to what we had in the first Gulf War.

I remember when the Egyptian ambassador to the United States stood in the Rose Garden and pledged Arab commitment to removing Saddam Hussein from Kuwait. Before we came out here tonight, I am told that the Saudis have organized 34 countries who want to join in the battle against terrorism.

First and foremost, we need to go and destroy ISIS. And we need to do this with our Arab friends and our friends in Europe.

And when I see they have a climate conference over in Paris, they should have been talking about destroying ISIS because they are involved in virtually every country, you know, across this world. [applause]

Now, you destroy ISIS in a coalition. You get joint intelligence with our European friends. And then here at home, there are things called the Joint Terrorism Task Force, headed by the FBI, and made up of local law enforcement, including state police.

They need the tools. And the tools involve encryption where we cannot hear what they're even planning. And when we see red flags, a father, a mother, a neighbor who says we have got a problem here, then we have to give law enforcement the ability to listen so they can disrupt these terrorist attacks before they occur.

We can do this, but we've got to get moving. Pay me now or pay me a lot more later. This is the direction we need to go. [applause]

BLITZER: Thank you.

Dana Bash, you have the next question.

BASH: A crucial question is how to balance surveillance with privacy and keeping Americans safe.

Senator Cruz, you voted for a bill that President Obama signed into law just this past June that made it harder for the government to access Americans' phone records. In light of the San Bernardino attack, was your vote a mistake?

CRUZ: Well, Dana, the premise of your question is not accurate. I'm very proud to have joined with conservatives in both the Senate and the House to reform how we target bad guys.

And what the USA Freedom Act did is it did two things. Number one, it ended the federal government's bulk collection of phone metadata of millions of law-abiding citizens.

But number two in the second half of it that is critical. It strengthened the tools of national security and law enforcement to go after terrorists. It gave us greater tools and we are seeing those tools work right now in San Bernardino.

And in particular, what it did is the prior program only covered a relatively narrow slice of phone calls. When you had a terrorist, you could only search a relatively narrow slice of numbers, primarily land lines.

The USA Freedom Act expands that so now we have cell phones, now we have Internet phones, now we have the phones that terrorists are likely to use and the focus of law enforcement is on targeting the bad guys.

You know what the Obama administration keeps getting wrong is whenever anything bad happens they focus on law-abiding citizens instead of focusing on the bad guys.

We need to focus on radical Islamic terrorists and we need to stop them before they carry out acts of terror. [applause]

BASH: Thank you.

Senator Rubio, Senator Cruz is right there was bipartisan support for that. But you voted against it. So, is Senator Cruz wrong?

RUBIO: He is and so are those that voted for it. There were some that voted for it because they wanted to keep it alive and they were afraid the whole program would expire.

Here's the world we live in. This is a radical jihadist group that is increasingly sophisticated in its ability, for example, to radicalize American citizens, in its inability to exploit loopholes in our legal immigration system, in its ability to capture and hold territory in the Middle East, as I outlined earlier, in multiple countries.

This is not just the most capable, it is the most sophisticated terror threat we have ever faced. We are now at a time when we need more tools, not less tools. And that took we lost, the metadata program, was a valuable tool that we no longer have at our disposal.

BASH: Senator Cruz?

CRUZ: Well, you know, I would note that Marco knows what he's saying isn't true. You know, Mark Levin wrote a column last week that says that the attack ads his Super PAC is running that are saying the same thing, that they are knowingly false and they are, in fact, Alinsky-like attacks like Barack Obama.

And the reason is simple. What he knows is that the old program covered 20 percent to 30 percent of phone numbers to search for terrorists. The new program covers nearly 100 percent. That gives us greater ability to stop acts of terrorism, and he knows that that's the case.

RUBIO: Dana, may I interject here?

BASH: Senator — Senator — Senator Rubio, please respond.

RUBIO: Let me be very careful when answering this, because I don't think national television in front of 15 million people is the place to discuss classified information. So let me just be very clear. There is nothing that we are allowed to do under this bill that we could not do before.

This bill did, however, take away a valuable tool that allowed the National Security Agency and other law — and other intelligence agencies to quickly and rapidly access phone records and match them up with other phone records to see who terrorists have been calling. Because I promise you, the next time there is attack on — an attack on this country, the first thing people are going to want to know is, why didn't we know about it and why didn't we stop it? And the answer better not be because we didn't have access to records or information that would have allowed us to identify these killers before they attacked.

[crosstalk] [applause]

BASH: Senator Paul, Senator Paul, I know this is — this has been a very big issue for you. You hear many of your colleagues are calling for increased surveillance by law enforcement. You call that hogwash. Why is that hogwash?

PAUL: You know, I think Marco gets it completely wrong. We are not any safer through the bulk collection of all Americans' records. In fact, I think we're less safe. We get so distracted by all of the information, we're not spending enough time getting specific immigration — specific information on terrorists.

The other thing is, is the one thing that might have stopped San Bernardino, that might have stopped 9/11 would have been stricter controls on those who came here. And Marco has opposed at every point increased security — border security for those who come to our country.

On his Gang of Eight bill, he would have liberalized immigration, but he did not — and he steadfastly opposed any new border security requirements for refugees or students.

Last week, I introduced another bill saying we need more security, we need more scrutiny. Once again, Marco opposed this. So Marco can't have it both ways. He thinks he wants to be this, "Oh, I'm great and strong on national defense." But he's the weakest of all the candidates on immigration. He is the one for an open border that is leaving us defenseless. If we want to defend the country, we have to defend against who's coming in, and Marco is — has more of an allegiance to Chuck Schumer and to the liberals than he does to conservative policy. [applause]

BASH: Senator Rubio?

RUBIO: I want to thank Rand for another 30 seconds, because, number one, what he's pointing to is a bill last week that — amendment that he voted for that only 10 people voted for. You know why? Because it's not focused on terrorists. It would have banned anyone from coming here. Someone from Taiwan would not have been able to come here as a tourist.

Number two, this program, this metadata program is actually more strict than what a regular law enforcement agency has now. If a regular law enforcement agency wants your phone records, all they have to do is issue a subpoena. But now the intelligence agency is not able to quickly gather records and look at them to see who these terrorists are calling. And the terrorists that attacked us in San Bernardino was an American citizen, born and raised in this country. And I bet you we wish we would have had access to five years of his records so we could see who he was working with...[crosstalk]

BASH: Governor Christie, Governor Christie... [crosstalk] [applause] ...Governor Christie, I'll come to you in a minute. Go ahead, Senator Paul.

PAUL: If I was mentioned in the question, can I respond?

BASH: Go ahead, please.

PAUL: Marco still misunderstands the immigration issue. What I put forward was an amendment that would have temporarily halted immigration from high-risk terrorist countries, but would have started it up, but I wanted them to go through Global Entry, which is a program where we do background checks.

The thing is, is that every terrorist attack we've had since 9/11 has been legal immigration. Marco wants to expand that. I want more rules, more scrutiny, and to defend the country, you have to defend the border. [applause]

BASH: Senator, we're going to talk about immigration in a while. But, Governor Christie, just listening to this...

RUBIO: Do I get another 30 seconds? He mentioned me.

BASH: Listening to this, you talked — you heard Senator Paul, Senator Cruz talk about how important it is to protect Americans' privacy, even in a time of grave danger. Why — what's wrong with that?

CHRISTIE: Listen, I want to talk to the audience at home for a second. If your eyes are glazing over like mine, this is what it's like to be on the floor of the United States Senate. I mean, endless debates about how many angels on the head of a pin from people who've never had to make a consequential decision in an executive position.

The fact is, for seven years, I had to make these decisions after 9/11, make a decision about how to proceed forward with an investigation or how to pull back, whether you use certain actionable intelligence or whether not to. And yet they continue to debate about this bill and in the subcommittee and what — nobody in America cares about that.

What they care about is, are we going to have a president who actually knows what they're doing to make these decisions? And for the seven years afterwards, New Jersey was threatened like no other region in this country and what we did was we took action within the constitution to make sure that law enforcement had all the information they needed.

We prosecuted two of the biggest terrorism cases in the world and stopped Fort Dix from being attacked by six American radicalized Muslims from a Mosque in New Jersey because we worked with the Muslim American community to get intelligence and we used the Patriot Act to get other intelligence to make sure we did those cases. This is the difference between actually been a federal prosecutor, actually doing something, and not just spending your life as one of hundred debating it.

Let's talk about how we do this, not about which bill, which one these guys like more. The American people don't care about that.

BLITZER: Thank you.

Dr. Carson, you're in favor of monitoring mosques and schools where there is anti-America sentiment, what do you consider anti- America?

CARSON: First of all, let me just complain a little bit. This is the first time I've spoken and several people have had multiple questions so please try to pay attention to that. Now, as far as monitoring is concerned, what my point is, we need to make sure that any place – I don't care whether it's a mosque, a school, a supermarket, a theater, you know it doesn't matter. If there are a lot of people getting there and engaging in radicalizing activities then we need to be suspicious of it.

We have to get rid of all this PC stuff. And people are worried about if somebody's going to say that I'm Islamophobic or what have you. This is craziness because we are at war. That's why I asked congress, go ahead and declare the war .

We need to be on a war footing. We need to understand that our nation is in grave danger. You know, what the Muslim Brotherhood said in the explanatory memorandum that was discovered during the Holy Land Foundation Trial was that, "they will take advantage of our PC attitude to get us. :"

We have to be better than this. We have to be smarter than they are.

BLITZER: Dr. Carson, who was right in that little debate that we just heard between Senator Rubio and Senator Paul?

CARSON: I think you have to ask them about that. I don't want to get in between them. Let them fight.

[crosstalk]

BLITZER: Hold on a sec, we have a lot more to come and everybody's going to have their full opportunity.

Governor Bush, six days after 9/11 your brother visited a mosque and said quote, "Islam is peace." The conversation tonight is about banning Muslims and surveillance of mosques, are President Bush's words still relevant in today's Republican party?

BUSH: They are relevant if we want to destroy ISIS. If we want to destroy radical Islamic terrors, we can't disassociate ourselves from peace loving Muslims. If we expect to do this on our own, we will fail but if we do it in unison with people who are also are at risk and threatened by Islamic Radical terrorism, we'll be far more successful.

Look, the FBI has the tools necessary un-American activities in our country. It goes on, we shouldn't even be talking about it, to be honest with you out in the public. Of course they have those capabilities and we should make sure that we give the FBI, the NSA, our intelligence communities, all the resources they need to keep us safe.

But the main thing we should be focused on is the strategy to destroy ISIS. And I laid out a plan that the Reagan Library before the tragedy of Paris, and before San Bernardino to do just that. It requires leadership, it's not filing an amendment and call it a success.

It is developing a strategy, leading the world, funding it to make sure that we have a military that's second to none, and doing the job and making sure that we destroy ISIS there. That's how you keep America safe.

BLITZER: Ms. Fiorina, as you pointed out you were a CEO in Silicon Valley on 9/11. Companies there, they say they won't help the FBI now crack encrypted communication from ISIS, should they be forced to.

FIORINA: You know, listening to this conversation, let me just say, we have a lot of argument about laws but none of it solves the problem. Let's examine what happened, why did we miss the Tsarnaev brothers, why did we miss the San Bernardino couple? It wasn't because we had stopped collected metadata it was because, I think, as someone who comes from the technology world, we were using the wrong algorithms.

This is a place where the private sector could be helpful because the government is woefully behind the technology curve. But secondly, the bureaucratic processes that have been in place since 9/11 are woefully inadequate as well. What do we now know? That DHS vets people by going into databases of known or suspected terrorists.

And yet, we also know that ISIS is recruiting who are not in those databases. So of course, we're going to miss them. And then we now learn that DHS says, "No, we can't check their social media."

For heaven's sakes, every parent in America is checking social media and every employer is as well, but our government can't do it. The bureaucratic procedures are so far behind. Our government has become incompetent, unresponsive, corrupt. And that incompetence, ineptitude, lack of accountability is now dangerous.

It is why we need a different kind of leadership in the White House that understands how to get bureaucracies competent again.

BLITZER: But my question was: Should these Silicon Valley companies be forced to cooperate with the FBI?

FIORINA: They do not need to be forced. They need to be asked to bring the best and brightest, the most recent technology to the table. I was asked as a CEO. I complied happily. And they will as well. But they have not been asked. That's why it cost billions of dollars to build an Obama website that failed because the private sector wasn't asked. [applause]

BLITZER: Mr. Trump, you recently suggested closing that Internet up, those were your words, as a way to stop ISIS from recruiting online. Are you referring to closing down actual portions of the Internet? Some say that would put the U.S. in line with China and North Korea.

TRUMP: Well, look, this is so easy to answer. ISIS is recruiting through the Internet. ISIS is using the Internet better than we are using the Internet, and it was our idea. What I wanted to do is I wanted to get our brilliant people from Silicon Valley and other places and figure out a way that ISIS cannot do what they're doing.

You talk freedom of speech. You talk freedom of anything you want. I don't want them using our Internet to take our young, impressionable youth and watching the media talking about how they're masterminds — these are masterminds. They shouldn't be using the word "mastermind." These are thugs. These are terrible people in ISIS, not masterminds. And we have to change it from every standpoint. But we should be using our brilliant people, our most brilliant minds to figure a way that ISIS cannot use the Internet. And then on second, we should be able to penetrate the Internet and find out exactly where ISIS is and everything about ISIS. And we can do that if we use our good people. [applause]

BLITZER: Let me follow up, Mr. Trump.

So, are you open to closing parts of the Internet?

TRUMP: I would certainly be open to closing areas where we are at war with somebody. I sure as hell don't want to let people that want to kill us and kill our nation use our Internet. Yes, sir, I am.

BLITZER: Thank you.

Governor Kasich, is shutting down any part of the Internet a good idea?

KASICH: No, I don't think it is. And I want to go back to two other issues. One is the metadata. We know we have to hold this data for a longer period of time. And, you know, in a lot of ways, Chris is right. Look, what a president has to do is take a position. We don't want to err on the side of having less. We want to err on the side of having more. That's good for our families.

In addition to that, Wolf, there is a big problem. It's called encryption. And the people in San Bernardino were communicating with people who the FBI had been watching. But because their phone was encrypted, because the intelligence officials could not see who they were talking to, it was lost.

We have to solve the encryption problem. It is not easy. A president of the United States, again, has to bring people together, have a position. We need to be able to penetrate these people when they are involved in these plots and these plans. And we have to give the local authorities the ability to penetrate to disrupt. That's what we need to do. Encryption is a major problem, and Congress has got to deal with this and so does the president to keep us safe. [applause]

BLITZER: Thank you, Governor.

The fight against radical Islamic terrorists and ISIS has been called the war of our time. So let's talk about how each of you, as commander in chief, would fight this war and win it.

Senator Cruz, you have said you would, quote, "carpet bomb ISIS into oblivion," testing whether, quote, "sand can glow in the dark." Does that mean leveling the ISIS capital of Raqqa in Syria where there are hundreds of thousands of civilians?

CRUZ: What it means is using overwhelming air power to utterly and completely destroy ISIS. To put things in perspective, in the first Persian Gulf War, we launched roughly 1,100 air attacks a day. We carpet bombed them for 36 days, saturation bombing, after which our troops went in and in a day and a half mopped up what was left of the Iraqi army.

Right now, Obama is launching between 15 and 30 air attacks a day. It is photo op foreign policy. We need to use overwhelming air power. We need to be arming the Kurds. We need to be fighting and killing ISIS where they are.

And let me go back to the earlier discussion a minute ago. It's not a lack of competence that is preventing the Obama administration from stopping these attacks. It is political correctness. We didn't monitor the Facebook posting of the female San Bernardino terrorist because the Obama DHS thought it would be inappropriate. She made a public call to jihad, and they didn't target it.

The Tsarnaev brothers, the elder brother made a public call to jihad and the Obama administration didn't target it. Nidal Hasan communicated with Anwar al-Awlaki, a known radical cleric, asked about waging jihad against his fellow soldiers. The problem is because of political correctness, the Obama administration, like a lot of folks here, want to search everyone's cell phones and e-mails and not focus on the bad guys. And political correctness is killing people.

BLITZER: Thank you. To be clear, Senator Cruz, would you carpet bomb Raqqa, the ISIS capital, where there are a lot of civilians, yes or no?

CRUZ: You would carpet bomb where ISIS is, not a city, but the location of the troops. You use air power directed — and you have embedded special forces to direction the air power. But the object isn't to level a city. The object is to kill the ISIS terrorists.

To make it — listen, ISIS is gaining strength because the perception is that they're winning. And President Obama fuels that perception. That will change when militants across the globe see that when you join ISIS that you are giving up your life, you are signing your death warrant, and we need a president who is focused on defeating every single ISIS terrorist and protecting the homeland, which should be the first priority.

BLITZER: Thank you. Thank you, Senator.

Senator Rubio, you've been critical of Senator Cruz's strategy. You say his voting record doesn't match his rhetoric. Why?

RUBIO: Well, let me begin by saying that we have to understand who ISIS is. ISIS is a radical Sunni group. They cannot just be defeated through air strikes. Air strikes are a key component of defeating them, but they must be defeated on the ground by a ground force. And that ground force must be primarily made up of Sunni Arabs themselves, Sunni Arabs that reject them ideologically and confront them militarily.

We will have to embed additional American special operators alongside them to help them with training, to help them conduct special missions, and to help improve the air strikes. The air strikes are important, but we need to have an air force capable of it. And because of the budget cuts we are facing in this country, we are going to be left with the oldest and the smallest Air Force we have ever had. We have to reverse those cuts, in addition to the cuts to our Navy and in addition to the cuts to our Army, as well.

And beyond that, I would say we must win the information war against ISIS. Every war we have ever been involved in has had a propaganda informational aspect to it. ISIS is winning the propaganda war. They are recruiting people, including Americans, to join them, with the promise that they are joining this great apocalyptic movement that is going to defeat the West. We have to show what life is really like in ISIS territory, and we have to show them why ISIS is not invincible, by going out and conducting these attacks and publicizing them to those who they recruit.

BLITZER: Because I asked the question, Senator, because you said this. You said he, referring to Senator Cruz, voted against the Defense Authorization Act every year that it came up, and I assume that if he voted against it, he would veto it as president. That's the bill that funds our troops.

RUBIO: That is accurate. Three times he voted against the Defense Authorization Act, which is a bill that funds the troops. It also, by the way, funds the Iron Dome and other important programs. And I have to assume that if you vote against it in the Senate, you would also veto it as president.

He has also supported, by the way, a budget that is called the containment budget. And it is a budget that would radically reduce the amount of money we spend on our military. You can't carpet bomb ISIS if you don't have planes and bombs to attack them with. And if we continue those cuts that we're doing now, not to mention additional cuts, we are going to be left with the oldest and the smallest Air Force this country has ever had, and that leaves us less safe.

BLITZER: Senator Cruz?

CRUZ: Well, you know, Marco has continued these attacks, and he knows they're not true. Yes, it is true that I voted against the National Defense Authorization Act, because when I campaigned in Texas I told voters in Texas that I would oppose the federal government having the authority to detain U.S. citizens permanently with no due process. I have repeatedly supported an effort to take that out of that bill, and I honored that campaign commitment.

CRUZ: But more broadly, you know, the notion Marco is suggesting, that somehow — he also has tossed more than a few insults this direction — let's be absolutely clear. ISIS and radical Islamic terrorism will face no more determined foe than I will be.

We will utterly destroy them by targeting the bad guys. And one of the problems with Marco's foreign policy is he has far too often supported Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama undermining governments in the Middle East that have helped radical Islamic terrorists.

We need to focus on killing the bad guys, not getting stuck in Middle Eastern civil wars that don't keep America safe.

BLITZER: Senator Rubio.

RUBIO: Yes, let me — three points of distinction. The first is, if you're an American citizen and you decide to join up with ISIS, we're not going to read you your Miranda rights. You're going to be treated as an enemy combatant, a member of an army attacking this country. [applause]

Number two, we do need our defense capabilities. It is a fact that the cuts we are facing today and the cuts that Senator Cruz would have supported would leave us with an even smaller Air Force and a smaller Navy than the one we are going to be left with.

And the final point that I would make is Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama's strategy is to lead from behind. It sounds like what he is outlining is not to lead at all. We cannot continue to outsource foreign policy. We must lead. We are the most powerful nation in the world. We need to begin to act like it, again. [applause]

BLITZER: We are going to have much more on this...

PAUL: Wolf...

BLITZER: We're going to have much more on this. But I want to move now back to Mr. Trump.

PAUL: Wolf, this legislation...

BLITZER: Hold on. Hold on. Hold on.

PAUL: This legislation on indefinite detention...

BLITZER: We have a lot...

PAUL: ... I think deserves a little more attention.

BLITZER: We have a lot to discuss. I want to move to Mr. Trump right now. We have a question on this war against ISIS and how you would fight and win this war. Here's the question from Facebook. Listen to this.

[start video]

JOSH JACOB, COLLEGE STUDENT: I'm Josh Jacob from Georgia Tech. Recently Donald Trump mentioned we must kill the families of ISIS members. However, this violates the principle of distinction between civilians and combatants in international law.

So my question is, how would intentionally killing innocent civilians set us apart from ISIS?

[end video]

BLITZER: Mr. Trump.

TRUMP: We have to be much tougher. We have to be much stronger than we've been. We have people that know what is going on. You take a look at just the attack in California the other day. There were numerous people, including the mother, that knew what was going on.

They saw a pipe bomb sitting all over the floor. They saw ammunition all over the place. They knew exactly what was going on.

When you had the World Trade Center go, people were put into planes that were friends, family, girlfriends, and they were put into planes and they were sent back, for the most part, to Saudi Arabia.

They knew what was going on. They went home and they wanted to watch their boyfriends on television. I would be very, very firm with families. Frankly, that will make people think because they may not care much about their lives, but they do care, believe it or not, about their families' lives. [applause]

BUSH: Donald, this has got...

BLITZER: Governor Bush. Governor Bush.

BUSH: This is another example of the lack of seriousness. Look, this is — this is troubling because we're at war. They've declared war on us and we need to have a serious strategy to destroy ISIS.

But the idea that that is a solution to this is just — is just crazy. It makes no sense to suggest this. Look, two months ago Donald Trump said that ISIS was not our fight. Just two months ago he said that Hillary Clinton would be a great negotiator with Iran. And he gets his foreign policy experience from the shows.

That is not a serious kind of candidate. We need someone that thinks this through. That can lead our country to safety and security. [applause]

BLITZER: Mr. Trump.

TRUMP: Look, the problem is we need toughness. Honestly, I think Jeb is a very nice person. He's a very nice person. But we need tough people. We need toughness. We need intelligence and we need tough.

Jeb said when they come across the southern border they come as an act of love.

BUSH: You said on September 30th that ISIS was not a factor.

TRUMP: Am I talking or are you talking, Jeb?

BUSH: I'm talking right now. I'm talking.

TRUMP: You can go back. You're not talking. You interrupted me.

BUSH: September 30th you said...

TRUMP: Are you going to apologize, Jeb? No. Am I allowed to finish?

BLITZER: Just one at a time, go ahead...

TRUMP: Excuse me, am I allowed to finish?

BLITZER: Go ahead, Mr. Trump.

TRUMP: So...

BUSH: A little of your own medicine there, Donald.

TRUMP: ... again... [crosstalk]

BLITZER: Governor Bush, please.

TRUMP: I know you're trying to build up your energy, Jeb, but it's not working very well. [laughter]

BLITZER: One at a time.

TRUMP: Look, look, look. We need a toughness. We need strength. We're not respected, you know, as a nation anymore. We don't have that level of respect that we need. And if we don't get it back fast, we're just going to go weaker, weaker and just disintegrate.

We can't allow that to happen. We need strength. We don't have it. When Jeb comes out and he talks about the border, and I saw it and I was witness to it, and so was everyone else, and I was standing there, "they come across as an act of love," he's saying the same thing right now with radical Islam.

And we can't have that in our country. It just won't work. We need strength.

BLITZER: Governor Bush.

BUSH: Donald, you're not going to be able to insult your way to the presidency. That's not going to happen. [applause]

And I do have the strength. Leadership, leadership is not about attacking people and disparaging people. Leadership is about creating a serious strategy to deal with the threat of our time.

And I laid out that strategy before the attacks in Paris and before the attacks in San Bernardino. And it is the way forward. We need to increase our military spending. We need to deal with a no- fly zone in Syria, a safe zone. We need to focus on building a military that is second-to-none...

BLITZER: Thank you.

BUSH: ... so that we can destroy Islamic terrorism.

TRUMP: With Jeb's attitude, we will never be great again, that I can tell you. We will never be great again.

BLITZER: All right. Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash, Hugh, go ahead with the next question.

HEWITT: Dr. Carson...[applause]... you mentioned in your opening remarks that you're a pediatric neurologist surgeon...

CARSON: Neurosurgeon.

HEWITT: Neurosurgeon. And people admire and respect and are inspired by your life story, your kindness, your evangelical core support. We're talking about ruthless things tonight — carpet bombing, toughness, war. And people wonder, could you do that? Could you order air strikes that would kill innocent children by not the scores, but the hundreds and the thousands? Could you wage war as a commander-in-chief?

CARSON: Well, interestingly enough, you should see the eyes of some of those children when I say to them we're going to have to open your head up and take out this tumor. They're not happy about it, believe me. And they don't like me very much at that point. But later on, they love me.

Sometimes you — I sound like him. [applause]

You know, later on, you know, they really realize what's going on. And by the same token, you have to be able to look at the big picture and understand that it's actually merciful if you go ahead and finish the job, rather than death by 1,000 pricks.

HEWITT: So you are OK with the deaths of thousands of innocent children and civilian? It's like...

CARSON: You got it. You got it.

HEWITT: That is what war — can you be as ruthless as Churchill was in prosecuting the war against the Nazis?

CARSON: Ruthless is not necessarily the word I would use, but tough, resolute, understanding what the problems are, and understanding that the job of the president of the United States is to protect the people of this country and to do what is necessary in order to get it done. [applause]

BASH: Senator Paul, you said ISIS grew stronger because of the hawks in your party. Do you really think that Republicans have fueled the rise of ISIS?

PAUL: I think that by arming the allies of ISIS, the Islamic rebels against Assad, that we created a safe space or made that space bigger for ISIS to grow. I think those who have wanted regime change have made a mistake. When we toppled Gadhafi in Libya, I think that was a mistake. I think ISIS grew stronger, we had a failed state, and we were more at risk.

I'd like to also go back to, though, another question, which is, is Donald Trump a serious candidate? The reason I ask this is, if you're going to close the Internet, realize, America, what that entails. That entails getting rid of the First amendment, OK? It's no small feat.

If you are going to kill the families of terrorists, realize that there's something called the Geneva Convention we're going to have to pull out of. It would defy every norm that is America. So when you ask yourself, whoever you are, that think you're going to support Donald Trump, think, do you believe in the Constitution? Are you going to change the Constitution? [applause]

TRUMP: So, they can kill us, but we can't kill them? That's what you're saying. And as far as the Internet is concerned, we're not talking about closing the Internet. I'm talking about parts of Syria, parts of Iraq, where ISIS is, spotting it.

Now, you could close it. What I like even better than that is getting our smartest and getting our best to infiltrate their Internet, so that we know exactly where they're going, exactly where they're going to be. I like that better. [applause]

But we have to — who would be — I just can't imagine somebody booing. These are people that want to kill us, folks, and you're — you're objecting to us infiltrating their conversations? I don't think so. I don't think so. [applause]

BASH: Senator Paul, Senator Paul, I want to go back to my initial question, which is you saying that ISIS grew stronger because of hawks in your party. And do you think your own party, the people who you're describing, are responsible for the rise of ISIS?

PAUL: I think that if you believe in regime change, you're mistaken. In 2013, we put 600 tons of weapons — us, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar — into the war against Assad. By pushing Assad back, we did create a safe space.

We had people coming to our Foreign Relations Committee and saying, "Oh, we need to arm the allies of Al Qaida." They are still saying this. It is a crazy notion. This is the biggest debate we should be having tonight is is regime change a good idea; has it been a good idea.

There are still people — the majority on the stage, they want to topple Assad. And then there will be chaos, and I think ISIS will then be in charge of Syria.

BASH: Senator, we're going to talk about regime change in a bit.

But Governor Kasich, would you like to respond to Senator Paul?

KASICH: Yeah, let me — let me just suggest to everybody, and I hear — last February, I said we needed to have people on the ground in a coalition with Europe and our allies. This is not going to get done just by working with the Sunnis. And it is not going to get done if we just embed a few people.

We have to go massively, like we did in the first Gulf War where we destroyed Saddam's ability to take Kuwait. We need to have a coalition that will stand for nothing less than the total destruction of ISIS and we have to be the leader. We can't wait for anybody else. I served on the Armed Services Committee for 18 years and we must lead, or the job won't get done, unfortunately, for our country [applause]

BLITZER: Thank you, Governor.

Senator Rubio? Let's continue this conversation. This is a critically important issue.

FIORINA: I hope at some point you're going to ask me my strategy.

BLITZER: We will get to — we have a lot of time, Ms. Fiorina.

I want to get to Senator Rubio right now. Let's talk about, one of the aspects of your strategy, you say the only way to defeat ISIS is with ground forces made up primarily of Sunni-Arab forces. Those Arab nations, though, as you well know, they've conducted less than five percent of the airstrikes and actually none since August. What makes you think they are willing to fight on the ground if they're not even willing to fight from the air?

RUBIO: Well, they most certainly will have to be worked on to provide more than what they are doing now. There's no doubt about it. And there's one — one major reason why they have not been willing to be a broader part of the coalition, and that is they have lost complete trust and confidence in this president. This president cut a deal with their moral enemy, the Shia, in Iran. And this is the reason why they no longer trust this president and are willing to work alongside them.

But they have as much invested in this as we do. In fact, more so, for it is the king of Saudi Arabia they want to behead first. It's the king of Jordan that they want to dethrone. It's the — they want to go into Egypt the way they've already gone into Libya.

And on another point that we need to talk about, Assad is one of the main reasons why ISIS even exists to begin with. Assad is a puppet of Iran. And he has been so brutal toward the Sunni within Syria that he created the space that led to the people of Syria themselves to stand up and try to overthrow him. That led to the chaos which allowed ISIS to come in and take advantage of that situation and grow more powerful.

And the fact that this president led from behind meant there were no alternative groups on the ground to be empowered, leaving ISIS with the prime operating space they needed to become the force they have now become.

[crosstalk]

BLITZER: Thank you, Senator. Stand by. [applause]

Ms. Fiorina, the former defense secretary, Bob Gates, says the chances of getting Sunni-Arab forces on the ground to get the job done, his words, "chances very remote." What's your strategy?

FIORINA: Well, first I'll just point out that talking tough is not the same as being strong. And to wage war, we need a commander in chief who has made tough calls in tough times and stood up to be held accountable over and over, not first-term senators who've never made an executive decision in their life.

One of the things I would immediately do, in addition to defeating them here at home, is bring back the warrior class — Petraeus, McChrystal, Mattis, Keane, Flynn. Every single one of these generals I know. Every one was retired early because they told President Obama things that he didn't want to hear.

We must have Sunni-Arabs involved in this coalition. We must commit leadership, strength, support and resolve. I'll just add that Margaret Thatcher once said, "If you want something talked about, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman." [applause]

BLITZER: Thank you.

Governor Christie, what's your strategy?

CHRISTIE: Wolf, you sit up here and you listen to this stuff, and you think that so many of these people have had so much to do in this national debate, they talk like they were bystanders. You know, we talk about our military being degraded over time, and yet we've had folks on this stage who've been a part of Congress who have participated in sequester; who participated in the degrading of this military over time.

And that's why I think people get so frustrated with Washington, D.C. now. That's why they're so angry with the — the electorate is so angry with everybody who is involved in government in Washington, D.C. Because if you listen to the folks up here, you think that they weren't even there; they had nothing to do with this.

This is a difference between being a governor and being in a legislature. See, because when something doesn't work in New Jersey, they look at me, say: "Why didn't it get done? Why didn't you do it?" You have to be responsible and accountable.

And so on ISIS, let's be clear, the president needs to be a force that is trusted in the world. On this I agree with Marco. You know, this president is not trusted.

If you're the King of Jordan, if you're a part of the royal family in Saudi Arabia and he's made this deal with Iran which gives them $150 billion to wage a war and try to extend their empire across the Middle East, why would you want to do it now?

But I will tell you this, when I stand across from King Hussein of Jordan and I say to him, "You have a friend again sir, who will stand with you to fight this fight," he'll change his mind.

BLITZER: Dr. Carson, what is your strategy?

CARSON: First of all, I've been talking about this for over a year. We have to destroy their caliphate because that gives them legitimacy to go ahead with the global Jihad. We have to take their energy because they are — ISIS is the richest terrorist organization there is. We have to take their oil, shut down all of the mechanisms whereby they can disperse money because they go after disaffected individuals from all over the place, and they're able to pay them. That makes a difference.

As far as the command centers are concerned in Raqqa and to a lesser degree Mosul, cut those off. Do the same kind of thing that we did with Sinjar a few weeks ago, working with our embedded special forces with the Kurds, shut off the supply route, soften them up, then we go in with specials ops followed by our air force to take them over. Those are things that work.

But also, you know, this whole concept of boots on the ground, you know, we've got a phobia about boots on the ground. If our military experts say, we need boots on the ground, we should put boots on the ground and recognize that there will be boots on the ground and they'll be over here, and they'll be their boots if we don't get out of there now.

BLITZER: Thank you.

Everyone stand by. We're only just beginning. Coming up, which candidates on this stage tonight want to move foreign policy in a dramatically new direction?

We'll be right back.

[commercial break]

BLITZER: Welcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate here at the Venetian, Las Vegas.

The war against ISIS will pose many new challenges for the next commander-in-chief. The last two presidents pursued a Middle East policy that supported toppling dictators to try to promote democracy.

Senator Cruz, you have said the world would be safer today if Saddam Hussein were still in power in Iraq, Moammar Gadhafi ruled Libya, and Hosni Mubarak ruled Egypt. So would it be your policy to preserve dictatorships, rather than promoting democracy in the Middle East?

CRUZ: Wolf, I believe in a America first foreign policy, that far too often President Obama and Hillary Clinton — and, unfortunately, more than a few Republicans — have gotten distracted from the central focus of keeping this country safe.

So let's go back to the beginning of the Obama administration, when Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama led NATO in toppling the government in Libya. They did it because they wanted to promote democracy. A number of Republicans supported them. The result of that — and we were told then that there were these moderate rebels that would take over. Well, the result is, Libya is now a terrorist war zone run by jihadists.

Move over to Egypt. Once again, the Obama administration, encouraged by Republicans, toppled Mubarak who had been a reliable ally of the United States, of Israel, and in its place, Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood came in, a terrorist organization.

And we need to learn from history. These same leaders — Obama, Clinton, and far too many Republicans — want to topple Assad. Assad is a bad man. Gadhafi was a bad man. Mubarak had a terrible human rights record. But they were assisting us — at least Gadhafi and Mubarak — in fighting radical Islamic terrorists.

And if we topple Assad, the result will be ISIS will take over Syria, and it will worsen U.S. national security interests. And the approach, instead of being a Woodrow Wilson democracy promoter...

BLITZER: Thank you.

CRUZ: ... we ought to hunt down our enemies and kill ISIS rather than creating opportunities for ISIS to take control of new countries.

BLITZER: Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. [applause]

Senator Rubio, you supported the removal of Moammar Gadhafi in Libya. Now that country is in turmoil, as ISIS is clearly growing there. Senator Cruz says you haven't learned your lesson. Do you have any regrets for supporting President Obama's intervention in Libya?

RUBIO: To begin with, Moammar Gadhafi and the revolt against Gadhafi was not started by the United States. It was started by the Libyan people. And the reason why I argued we needed to get involved is because he was going to go one way or the other. And my argument then was proven true, and that is, the longer that civil war took, the more militias would be formed and the more unstable the country would be after the fact.

As far as Moammar Gadhafi is concerned, by the way, Moammar Gadhafi is the man that killed those Americans over Lockerbie, Scotland. Moammar Gadhafi is also the man that bombed that cafe in Berlin and killed those Marines. And you want to know why Moammar Gadhafi started cooperating on his nuclear program? Because we got rid of Saddam Hussein. And so he got scared that he would be next, and that's why he started cooperating.

Look, we will have to work around the world with less than ideal governments. The government in Saudi Arabia is not a democracy, but we will have to work with them. The government in Jordan is not perfect, but we will have to work with them. But anti-American dictators like Assad, who help Hezbollah, who helped get those IEDs into Iraq, if they go, I will not shed a tear.

BLITZER: Senator Cruz?

CRUZ: Well, it's more than not shedding a tear. It's actively getting involved to topple a government. And we keep hearing from President Obama and Hillary Clinton and Washington Republicans that they're searching for these mythical moderate rebels. It's like a purple unicorn. They never exist. These moderate rebels end up being jihadists.

And I'll tell you whose view on Assad is the same as mine. It's Prime Minister Netanyahu. Prime Minister Netanyahu has said Israel doesn't have a dog in that fight because Assad is a puppet of Iran, a Shia radical Islamic terrorist, but at the same time, Prime Minister Netanyahu doesn't want to see Syria governed by ISIS. And we need to focus on American interests, not on global aspirations...

[crosstalk]

BLITZER: Standby. Everybody standby for a moment. Governor Kasich, go ahead.

KASICH: I don't understand this thing about Assad. He has to go. Assad is aligned with Iran and Russia. The one thing we want to prevent is we want to prevent Iran being able to extend a Shia crescent all across the Middle East. Assad has got to go.

And there are moderates there. There are moderates in Syria who we should be supporting. I do not support a civil war. I don't want to be policeman of the world. But we can't back off of this. And let me tell you, at the end, the Saudis have agreed to put together a coalition inside of Syria to stabilize that country.

BLITZER: Thank you.

KASICH: He must go. It will be a blow to Iran and Russia.

BLITZER: We're going to talk about Assad in a moment.

Mr. Trump, are Americans safer with dictators running the world in the Middle East?

TRUMP: In my opinion, we've spent $4 trillion trying to topple various people that frankly, if they were there and if we could've spent that $4 trillion in the United States to fix our roads, our bridges, and all of the other problems; our airports and all of the other problems we've had, we would've been a lot better off. I can tell you that right now.

We have done a tremendous disservice, not only to Middle East, we've done a tremendous disservice to humanity. The people that have been killed, the people that have wiped away, and for what? It's not like we had victory.

It's a mess. The Middle East is totally destabilized. A total and complete mess. I wish we had the $4 trillion or $5 trillion. I wish it were spent right here in the United States, on our schools, hospitals, roads, airports, and everything else that are all falling apart. [applause]

FIORINA: That is exactly what President Obama said. I'm amazed to hear that from a republican presidential candidate. But let's just start with, who got it wrong? Who really got it wrong?

Hillary Clinton has gotten every foreign policy challenge wrong. Hitting the reset button with Vladimir Putin – recall that she called Bashar Al-Assad a positive reformer and then she opened an embassy and then later she said, over, and over, and over again, "Bashar Al-Assad must go." Although she wasn't prepared to do anything about it. Recall that Hillary Clinton was all for toppling Gadhafi then didn't listen to her own people on the ground. And then of course, when she lied about the terrorist attack in Benghazi, she invited more terrorist attacks.

BLITZER: Thank you.

Mr. Trump?

TRUMP: Well, there's nothing to respond to. Well, people feel differently. I mean, the fact is Benghazi was a disaster because of Libya, everything just fell into place. It could not have been worse.

What do we have now? We have nothing. We've spent $3 trillion and probably much more – I have no idea what we've spent. Thousands and thousands of lives, we have nothing. Wounded warriors all over the place who I love, we have nothing for it.

And by the way – and Ben said incorrectly – and I'm not saying this as a knock – he's one of finest men. You're not going to find a finer men.

But I've been talking about oil for three years. I've been saying,, "take the oil, take the oil." I didn't say, "just bomb it," I said," take it and use it and distribute it so that the wounded warriors -" People, I've been saying this now for many years.

BLITZER: All right.

TRUMP: Now, all of a sudden everybody's saying, "take the oil." It wasn't so fashionable to take the oil six months ago. I've been saying it for years.

BLITZER: Thank you.

FIORINA: We've mismanaged going into Iraq.

BLITZER: Dr. Carson, is the Middle East...

FIORINA: We've mismanaged going out of Iraq.

BLITZER: Dr. Carson, is the Middle East better off with dictators?

CARSON: No one is ever better off with dictators but there comes a time you know, when you're on an airplane, they always say, "in case of an emergency oxygen masks will drop down. Put yours on first and then administer help to your neighbor." We need oxygen right now.

And we need to start thinking about the needs of the American people before we go and solve everybody else's problems. The fact of the matter is, is that the Middle East has been in turmoil for thousands of years. For us to think that we're going to in there and fix that with a couple of little bombs and a few little decorations is relatively foolish.

FIORINA: We actually...

BLITZER: Governor Bush.

BUSH: I think we're focusing a whole...

BLITZER: Hold on Governor Bush., here's the question. You said, "getting rid of Saddam Hussein in your words was a pretty good deal." In light of what has happened in Iraq, do you still feel that way?

BUSH: I do. I think the lesson's learned are that we have to have to have a strategy to get and a strategy to get out. Which means, that you create a stable situation.

This president and this is what the focus ought to be, it's not the differences between us, it's Barack Obama does not believe America's leadership in the world is a force for good. He does not believe that our strength is a place where security can take place. He leads from behind. He creates an environment that now we're creating the most unstable situation we've had since the World War II era.

The focus ought to be on the single fact that Hillary Clinton wants to double down on a failed foreign policy and we need to be united to defeat that because we're going to be in a place that is far less secure than it is today. Don't you all agree?

BLITZER: Senator Paul, was getting rid of Saddam Hussein a pretty good deal?

PAUL: These are the fundamental questions of our time, these foreign policy questions, whether or not regime change is a good idea or a bad idea. I don't think because I think the regime change was a bad idea it means that Hussein was necessarily a good idea.

There is often variations of evil on both sides of the war. What we have to decide is whether or not regime change is a good idea. It's what the neoconservatives have wanted. It's what the vast majority of those on the stage want.

They still want regime change. They want it in Syria. They wanted it in Iraq. They want it in Libya. It has not worked.

Out of regime change you get chaos. From the chaos you have seen repeatedly the rise of radical Islam. So we get this profession of, oh, my goodness, they want to do something about terrorism and yet they're the problem because they allow terrorism to arise out of that chaos. [applause]

BLITZER: Thank you. [crosstalk]

Hugh Hewitt, go ahead. [crosstalk]

Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hugh.

CRUZ: The question of whether we should toppling dictatorships is asking the wrong question. We should be defeating our enemies. So the problem with defeating...

BLITZER: Senator, Senator, we're going to get to you. Wait your turn. We have two hours of debate. We'll have plenty of time. Let Hugh ask his question.

CRUZ: Well, but let me explain, the focus should be...

BLITZER: Senator, please.

CRUZ: ... on defeating our enemies. So, for example...

BLITZER: Senator...

CRUZ: ... a regime we should change is Iran...

BLITZER: You'll have plenty of opportunity.

Hugh, go ahead.

CRUZ: ... because Iran has declared war on us. But we shouldn't be toppling regimes...[crosstalk]... that are fighting radical Islamic terrorists that are helping...

BLITZER: These are the rules all of you agreed to.

Hugh, go ahead with your question.

HEWITT: Mr. Trump, we are talking about the most important thing, that's why it's heated. And it's, you are OK with Mr. Assad staying in power, but you are also in favor of winning.

If he stays in power, Iran is winning, Hezbollah is winning. Iran is winning in Yemen. They are winning everywhere. If they are winning how can we be winning?

TRUMP: I think Assad is a bad guy, a very bad guy, all right? Lots of people killed. I think we are backing people we have no idea who they are. The rebels, we call them the rebels, the patriotic rebels. We have no idea. A lot of people think, Hugh, that they are ISIS.

We have to do one thing at a time. We can't be fighting ISIS and fighting Assad. Assad is fighting ISIS. He is fighting ISIS. Russia is fighting now ISIS. And Iran is fighting ISIS.

We have to do one thing at a time. We can't go — and I watched Lindsey Graham, he said, I have been here for 10 years fighting. Well, he will be there with that thinking for another 50 years. He won't be able to solve the problem.

We have to get rid of ISIS first. After we get rid of ISIS, we'll start thinking about it. But we can't be fighting Assad. And when you're fighting Assad, you are fighting Russia, you're fighting — you're fighting a lot of different groups.

But we can't be fighting everybody at one time.

HEWITT: Governor Christie, is he right? Because if we step back, Iran goes nuclear. Is Donald Trump right?

CHRISTIE: Well, I think we have to focus, Hugh, on exactly what the priorities are. And to me, what I've always said is that the president has set up an awful situation through his deal with Iran, because what his deal with Iran has done is empower them and enrich them. And that's the way ISIS has been created and formed here. ISIS is created and formed because of the abuse that Assad and his Iranian sponsors have rained down on the Sunnis in Syria.

And so when we empower Iran, this is why this president — and when Hillary Clinton says her theory against ISIS will be just about the same as the president, then get ready for more unrest and more murder and more violence in the Middle East.

We need to focus our attention on Iran, because if you miss Iran, you are not going to get ISIS. The two are inextricably connected because one causes the other.

HEWITT: Senator Paul, let me ask you, you heard Governor Kasich say Assad must go. Do you agree?

PAUL: No, I think it's a huge mistake. I think regime change in Syria, and this is what — I've been saying this for several years now. In 2013 when we first went in, I said, you are going to give arms to the allies of al Qaida, to radical jihadists? That's crazy.

But the other thing I said is the great irony is you will be back fighting against your own weapons. Had Assad been bombed when he used chemical weapons two years ago, ISIS would be in charge of all of Syria now.

We have to have a more realistic foreign policy and not a utopian one where we say, oh, we're going to spread freedom and democracy, and everybody in the Middle East is going to love us. They are not going to love us. [applause]

[crosstalk]

KASICH: The foreign policy, you have to know how to pick and choose. There's no way, if Saddam had not had weapons of mass destruction, I would have gone, because I don't believe that the U.S. should be involved directly in civil wars.

I opposed the U.S. involvement in Lebanon. We ended up having to withdraw our marines after our barracks were blown up.

There is a difference between Iraq, where you have Sunni, Shia, and Kurds put together after the First World War by the Western powers. It doesn't work. It needs to break up into three parts.

And for the Russians, frankly, it's time that we punched the Russians in the nose. They've gotten away with too much in this world and we need to stand up against them, not just there, but also in Eastern Europe where they threaten some of our most precious allies.

BLITZER: Let's continue with Russia right now. We have another question from Facebook. Listen and watch.

[start video]

QUESTION: My name is Ashley Tofil. Ms. Fiorina, in November, you said that you would not talk to Vladimir Putin after you were elected because you would be communicating from a position of weakness. Do you believe that it is feasible to not communicate with another world leader? And do you think that that also is a sign of weakness?

[end video]

BLITZER: Ms. Fiorina, as you know, U.S. and Russian warplanes are flying all over Syria right now. With so many lives on the line, is this a good time for the United States not to talk to Putin?

FIORINA: I didn't say I would cut off all communication with Putin. What I said was as president of the United States, now is not the time to talk with him. Reagan walked away at Reykjavik. There is a time and a place for everything. There is a time and a place for talk. And there is a time and a place for action.

I know Vladimir Putin. He respects strength. He lied to our president's face; didn't both to tell him about warplanes and troops going into Syria. We need to speak to him from a position of strength. So as commander in chief, I will not speak to him until we've set up that no-fly zone; until we've gathered our Sunni-Arab allies and begun to deny ISIS territory; until I've called the supreme leader of Iran and told him new deal — new deal. We the United States of America are going to cut off the money flow, which we can do; which we don't need anyone's permission or collaboration to do.

And I will not speak to him personally until we've rebuilt the 6th Fleet a little bit right under his nose; rebuilt the missile defense program in Poland right under his nose; and conducted a few military exercises in the Baltic states.

And let us remember one other thing. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are responsible for the growth of ISIS because they precipitously withdrew from Iraq in 2011 against the advice of every single general and for political expediency. It's not these people up here. It's Hillary Clinton. [applause]

BLITZER: Thank you, Ms. Fiorina.

Governor Christie, if the U.S. imposed a no-fly zone over Syria and a Russian plane encroached, invaded that no-fly zone, would you be prepared to shoot down that Russian plane and risk war with Russia?

CHRISTIE: Not only would I be prepared to do it, I would do it. A no-fly zone means a no-fly zone, Wolf. That's what it means. [applause]

See, maybe — maybe because I'm from New Jersey, I just have this kind of plain language hangup. But I would make very clear — I would not talk to Vladimir Putin. In fact, I would talk to Vladimir Putin a lot. But I'd say to him, "Listen, Mr. President, there's a no-fly zone in Syria; you fly in, it applies to you." And yes, we would shoot down the planes of Russian pilots if in fact they were stupid enough to think that this president was the same feckless weakling that the president we have in the Oval Office is right now. [applause]

BLITZER: Senator Paul — Senator Paul, I want you to respond to what we just heard from Governor Christie. If there was a no-fly zone, you say that potentially could lead to World War III. Why?

PAUL: Well, I think if you're in favor of World War III, you have your candidate. You know, here's...[applause]... the thing. My goodness, what we want in a leader is someone with judgment, not someone who is so reckless as to stand on the stage and say, "Yes, I'm jumping up and down; I'm going to shoot down Russian planes." Russia already flies in that airspace. It may not be something we're in love with the fact that they're there, but they were invited by Iraq and by Syria to fly in that airspace.

And so if we announce we're going to have a no-fly zone, and others have said this. Hillary Clinton is also for it. It is a recipe for disaster. It's a recipe for World War III. We need to confront Russia from a position of strength, but we don't need to confront Russia from a point of recklessness that would lead to war.

This is something — this type of judgment, you know, it's having that kind of judgment; who you would appoint and how you're going to conduct affairs, that is incredibly important.

I mean, I think when we think about the judgment of someone who might want World War III, we might think about someone who might shut down a bridge because they don't like their friends; they don't want to — you know, they want to [inaudible] a Democrat.

So I think we need to be very careful.

BLITZER: Governor Christie?

CHRISTIE: Well, Wolf, I'll tell you what reckless is. What reckless is is calling Assad a reformer. What reckless is allowing Russia to come into Crimea and Ukraine. What reckless is is inviting Russia into Syria to team with Iran. That is reckless. And the reckless people are the folks in the White House right now. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are the reckless people.

And if you think that a no-fly zone is a reckless policy, you're welcome to your opinion. But how is it working so far? As we have 250,000 Syrians murdered, slaughtered; millions running around the world, running for their lives. It's not working. We need to try something else. And that is not reckless. [applause]

BLITZER: All right, let's go back — Hugh and Dana?

HEWITT: Governor Bush, a commander-in-chief question. You've said that Mr. Trump is not qualified to be president because he's not qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin. Why are you better qualified to deal with Vladimir Putin than Mr. Trump?

BUSH: Because I — first of all, I know what I don't know. I know what I don't know. I would seek out, as I have, the best advice that exists. I won't get my information from the shows. I don't know if that's Saturday morning or Sunday morning. I don't know which one. [laughter]

I will seek out the best advice, and I will create a strategy and I will persuade the American people what the role of America should be. I've laid out a policy of rebuilding our military.

All of the talk that we're seeing here — most of which I agree on, frankly — requires a much stronger military. We now have a lack of readiness that is quite scary. We have planes that were — that Harry Truman inaugurated, the B-52. We have — the Navy has been gutted and decimated. The readiness of the Marines is way down.

If we're serious about America's leadership in the world, then we need to make sure that we have the back of the armed forces. The Armed Forces Radio is here listening to this today. I hope they know that if I'm president, I'll be a commander-in-chief, not an agitator- in-chief or a divider-in-chief, that I will lead this country in a way that will create greater security and greater safety.

HEWITT: Mr. Trump?

TRUMP: I think it's very sad that CNN leads Jeb Bush, Governor Bush, down a road by starting off virtually all the questions, "Mr. Trump this, Mister" — I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched — I think it's very sad. And, frankly, I watched the first debate, and the first long number of questions were, "Mr. Trump said this, Mr. Trump said that. Mr. Trump" — these poor guys — although, I must tell you, Santorum, good guy. Governor Huckabee, good guy. They were very nice, and I respect them greatly. But I thought it was very unfair that virtually the entire early portion of the debate was Trump this, Trump that, in order to get ratings, I guess. In order to get ratings, I guess.

HEWITT: But, Mr. Trump, it's not CNN — I was on CNN last night...

TRUMP: I just think it's very — excuse me.

HEWITT: ... watching...

TRUMP: Excuse me. I think it's very unprofessional.

HEWITT: But it wasn't — it wasn't CNN. It was me. I watched you last night for 16 minutes. It's not CNN. [applause]

TRUMP: Well, I think it's very unprofessional.

HEWITT: It's not CNN. It's America's watching you.

TRUMP: OK, fine.

HEWITT: It's America's watching.

[crosstalk]

BUSH: So I was — I was — I was mentioned, so I can bring up something, I think, right? Look, the simple fact is, if you think this is tough you're not being treated fairly...

TRUMP: This isn't tough and easy. I wish it...

BUSH: ... imagine what it's going to be like dealing with Putin or dealing with President Xi.

TRUMP: I wish it was always this easy as you, Jeb.

BUSH: Or dealing with the Islamic terrorism that exists.

TRUMP: Oh, yeah.

BUSH: This is a tough business to run for president.

TRUMP: Oh, I know. You're a tough guy, Jeb. I know.

BUSH: And it's — and we need...[laughter]... to have a leader that is...[crosstalk]

TRUMP: You're tough.

BUSH: You're never going to be president of the United States by insulting your way to the presidency.

TRUMP: Well, let's see. I'm at 42, and you're at 3. So, so far, I'm doing better.

BUSH: Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter.

TRUMP: So far, I'm doing better. You know, you started off over here, Jeb. You're moving over further and further. Pretty soon you're going to be off the end...[crosstalk]

FIORINA: This doesn't do a thing to solve the problems...It doesn't do a thing to solve the problems.

[crosstalk]

BLITZER: One at a time. Hugh, go ahead.

KASICH: It sounds more and more what my daughter said that I said in the beginning, all the fighting and arguing is not advancing us.

FIORINA: It will not solve the problem.

KASICH: It is not the way we're going to strengthen our country. We will strengthen our country when we come together. [applause]

And, look, you've got Rand Paul, you've got Ted Cruz, you've got Marco, you've got a lot of people on this stage that have studied these issues. You know what a leader does? A leader has a sound program, has a good policy, and then brings people together to solve problems. [applause]

Guess what? Both in Congress in balancing the budget and in Ohio fixing the economy — and, by the way, we talk about the fence. The first thing we better get going is strengthening our economy, because if we don't have a strong economy, we can't pay for all of this. And the world wants us to be able to function from strength, believe it or not. Get our economy going, get these people together in a room. We can fix this, ladies and gentlemen. [crosstalk] We don't have to fight all the time. It can be done, and we will be great...

HEWITT: Governor — thank you, Governor.

KASICH: ... when we join together. Thank you, Hugh.

HEWITT: Dr. Carson, commander-in-chief question again. You've been the head of neurosurgery for a big hospital. You're on a lot of boards of a lot of companies. You've traveled the world. You're going traveling again next week. But does that prepare you to command troops from Djibouti to Japan, troops from Afghanistan to Iraq to be in charge of the men and women watching on Armed Services Network tonight?

CARSON: Well, you know, there's a false narrative that only the political class has the wisdom and the ability to be commander-in- chief. But if you go back and you study the design of our country, it was really designed for the citizen statesman.

And we need to be talking about where does your experience come from? You know, and I've had a lot of experience building things, organizing things, you know, a national scholarship program.

One of the things that you'll notice if you look through my life is that I don't do a lot of talking. I do a lot of doing. And really, it says more about a person than how much they talk. And then some people say you're weak because, you know, you're not loud and you're not boisterous and you're not rude. But the fact of the matter is, look and see what I've done. And that speaks volumes about strength.

BASH: Thank you, Dr. Carson. We've been talking tonight about programs and policy proposals that you all have to keep Americans safe and it's a big discussion on the campaign trail. Also about border security and immigration. So let's talk about immigration.

Senator Rubio. You co-authored a bill with Democrats two years ago that allowed a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Do you still support that path to citizenship, which means giving those immigrants rights, like the right to vote?

RUBIO: Yeah. Immigration is not an issue that I read about in the newspaper or watch a documentary on PBS or CNN. It's an issues I've lived around my whole life. My family are immigrants. My wife's family are immigrants. All of my neighbors are immigrants.

I see every aspect of this problem. The good, the bad, and the ugly. And here's what we learned in 2013. The American people don't trust the Federal Government to enforce our immigration laws, and we will not be able to do anything on immigration until we first prove to the American people that illegal immigration is under control. And we can do that. We know what it takes to do that.

It takes at least 20,000 more additional border agents. It takes completing those 700 miles of fencing. It takes a mandatory e-verify system and a mandatory entry/exit tracking system to prevent overstays. After we have done that, the second thing we have to do is reform and modernize the legal immigration system. And after we have done those two things, I think the American people are gonna be reasonable with what do you do with someone who has been in this country for 10 or 12 years who hasn't otherwise violated our laws — because if they're a criminal they can't stay. They'll have to undergo a background check, pay a fine, start paying taxes. And ultimately, they'll given a work permit and that's all they're gonna be allowed to have for at least 10 years. But you can't get to that third step until you have done the other two things, and that was the lesson we learned in 2013. There is no trust that the Federal Government will enforce the law. They will not support you until you see it done first.

BASH: Senator, you haven't answered the question. You described a very long path but does that path end at citizenship?

RUBIO: But I've answered that question repeatedly. I am personally open — after all that has happened and after ten years in that probationary status where all they have is a permit, I personally am open to allowing people to apply for a green card.

That may not be a majority position in my party, but that's down the road. You can't even begin that process until you prove to people — not just pass a law that says you're gonna bring illegal immigration under control. You're gonna have to do it and prove to people that it's working.

And that was the lesson of 2013. And it's more true today, than it was then. After a migratory crisis on the border with minors coming over that you're seeing start up again now, after all these executive orders the President has issued. More than ever we need to...

BASH: Thank you, senator.

RUBIO: ... prove to people that illegal immigration is under control.

BASH: Thank you, senator. Senator Cruz. [applause] Senator Cruz, on the campaign trail, Senator Rubio has said that his immigration plan is not that different from yours. Is that true?

CRUZ: Well, he — he has attempted to muddy the waters, but I think that anyone who watched the battle that we had. You know, there was a time for choosing as Reagan put it. Where there was a battle over amnesty and some chose, like Senator Rubio to stand with Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer and support a massive amnesty plan.

Others chose to stand with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and the American people and secure the border.

And let me mention, this issue is actually directly connected to what we've been talking about. Because the front line with ISIS isn't just in Iraq and Syria, it's in Kennedy Airport and the Rio Grande. Border security is national security. And, you know, one of the most troubling aspects of the Rubio-Schumer Gang of Eight Bill was that it gave President Obama blanket authority to admit refugees, including Syrian refugees without mandating any background checks whatsoever. Now we've seen what happened in San Bernardino. When you are letting people in, when the FBI can't vet them, it puts American citizens at risk. And I tell you, if I'm elected president, we will secure the border. We will triple the border patrol. We will build a wall that works and I'll get Donald Trump to pay for it. [applause]

BASH: Senator Rubio, please.

RUBIO: Yeah, a couple points. In 2013 we had never faced a crisis like the Syrian refugee crisis now. Up until that point, a refugee meant someone fleeing oppression, fleeing Communism like it is in my community.

As far as Ted's record, I'm always puzzled by his attack on this issue. Ted, you support legalizing people who are in this country illegally. Ted Cruz supported a 500-percent increase in the number of H-1 visas, the guest workers that are allowed into this country, and Ted supports doubling the number of green cards.

So I think what's important for us to understand and there is a way forward on this issue that we an bring our country together on. And while I'm president I will do it. And it will begin by bringing illegal immigration under control and proving to the American people.

BASH: Senator Cruz?

CRUZ: Look, I understand Marco wants to raise confusion, it is not accurate what he just said that I supported legalization. Indeed, I led the fight against his legalization and amnesty. And you know, there was one commentator that put it this way that, for Marco to suggest our record's the same is like suggesting "the fireman and the arsonist because they are both at the scene of the fire."

He was fighting to grant amnesty and not to secure the border, I was fighting to secure the border. And this also goes to trust, listening on to campaign trails. Candidates all the time make promises. You know, Marco said," he learned that the American people didn't trust the federal government."

BASH: Senator Cruz?

RUBIO: No, no, give him time.

CRUZ: In Florida promising to...[crosstalk]

RUBIO: Ted, do you...

CRUZ: go in the fight against amnesty...

RUBIO: Did Ted Cruz fight to support legalizing people that are in this country illegally?

CRUZ: He campaigned promising to lead the fight against amnesty.

FIORINA: Ladies and gentleman, this is why the American people are standing up.

BASH: Senator Cruz, can you answer that question please?

RUBIO: Does Ted Cruz rule out ever legalizing people that are in this country now?

BASH: Senator Cruz?

CRUZ: I have never supported a legalization...

RUBIO: Would you rule it out?

CRUZ: I have never supported legalization, and I do not intend to support legalization. Let me tell you how you do this, what you do is you enforce the law...[crosstalk]

FIORINA: This is why the nation is fed up...

BASH: One at a time please.

CRUZ: Watt you do is enforcement the law...

FIORINA: We have been talking about this...

BASH: Ms. Fiorina, please wait your turn, we're going to get to you.

FIORINA: Sorry, but you haven't gotten to me. This is why...

CRUZ: What you do...

BASH: Senator Cruz go ahead.

FIORINA: the people are fed up with the political class.

CRUZ: What you do is you enforce the law. I've laid out a very, very detailed immigration plan on my website, tedcruz.org. It's 11 pages of existing federal law and in particular the question of what to do with people who are here now? You enforce the law.

That means you stop the Obama administration's policy of releasing criminal illegal aliens. Do you know how many aliens Bill Clinton deported? 12 million. Do you know how many illegal aliens, George W. Bush deported? 10 million.

We can enforce the laws and if we secure the border, that solves the problem. And as president I will solve this problem and secure the border.

BASH: Mr. Trump, you like to say that you restarted this conversation in the campaign.

TRUMP: I believe I did.

BASH: So who do you side with? Who do you side with in this, Senator Rubio or Senator Cruz?

TRUMP: I have a very hardline position, we have a country or we don't have a country. People that have come into our country illegally, they have to go. They have to come back into through a legal process.

I want a strong border. I do want a wall. Walls do work, you just have to speak to the folks in Israel. Walls work if they're properly constructed. I know how to build, believe me, I know how to build.

I feel a very, very strong bind, and really I'm bound to this country, we either have a border or we don't. People can come into the country, we welcome people to come but they have to come in legally.

BASH: Thank you.

Governor Bush?

BUSH: Yes.

BASH: Listening to this, do you think this is the tone — this immigration debate that republicans need to take to win back Hispanics into our party especially states like where we are in Nevada that has a pretty Hispanic community?

BUSH: No it isn't but it is an important subject to talk about for sure. And I think people have good ideas on this. Clearly, we need to secure the border. Coming here legally needs to be a lot easier than coming here illegally.

If you don't have that, you don't have the rule of law. We now have a national security consideration, public health issues, we have an epidemic of heroine overdoses in all places in this country because of the ease of bringing heroine in. We have to secure the border.

It is a serious undertaking and yes, we do need more fencing and we do need to use technology, and we do need more border control. And we need to have better cooperation by the way with local law enforcement. There are 800,000 cops on the beat, they ought to be trained to be the eyes and ears for law enforcement for the threat against terror as well as for immigration.

This is a serious challenge and if we can get it right, yes, we'll start winning votes again. The real problem isn't anybody on this stage, the real problem is Barack Obama has had six years to advocate a position to fix this and he's done nothing. The congress has funded these programs of building more fencing and doing all this and he hasn't done it.

He wants to maintain it as a wedge issue and so does Hillary Clinton. Republicans need to fix it and when we do, we'll be better off.

BLITZER: Governor, thank you very much.

So, Dr. Carson, you recently visited a refugee camp in Jordan and you deemed it your words, "really quite nice." Saying the people there didn't want to come to the United States. Do you think these camps are a long-term solution of the problem of Syrian refugees?

CARSON: Well, it was very interesting having an opportunity to talk to the Syrians themselves. And I asked them: What do you want? What is your supreme desire? Their supreme desire was to be settled back in their own country. I said, "What can Americans and other countries do?" They said, "Support the efforts of those who are trying to provide safety for us, including the Jordanians."

Of course, they had a brand new hospital, for instance, that was unstaffed because there wasn't enough money to do it. But here's what's really neat. If you go into Hasakah province in northeast Syria, that's an area that's as big as Lebanon. It's controlled by the Kurds, the Christians and the moderate Sunnis. And there are airstrips and hotels. You could settle a lot of people there.

All we would have to do is be willing to provide them with some weaponry, some defensive weaponry. And we seem to be afraid to give the Kurds weaponry. We like to send it for some strange reason through Baghdad, and then they only get a tenth of it.

And if we would support them, we'd have a perfect ideal there. We don't need to set this up as we either take a bunch of refugees who will be infiltrated with terrorists, I guarantee you. For them not to be would be terrorist malpractice. And we need to — to choose the right choice, not these false choices.

BLITZER: Senator Paul, you oppose letting in Syrian refugees at this time into the United States. The U.S. has already accepted 2,000 Syrian refugees, including 13 living here in Las Vegas right now. Would you send them back? What would you do with these people?

PAUL: You know, I think we need to set the record straight on this, because I think Marco misspoke about the bill. On the Gang of Eight bill, there was no provisions really for extra scrutiny or safety for refugees. At the time the bill came up, two Iraqi refugees came to my home town, Bowling Green, Kentucky. Their fingerprints were on a bomb from Iraq. They were in the database, but we didn't pick them up.

We relocated them here, put them in government housing, got them on food stamps. And we began providing for them, but we didn't have adequate security. On the Gang of Eight bill, on Marco's bill, we had an opportunity. There was a conservative consensus for an amendment I put forward called Trust, But Verify that would have strengthened border security on both refugees, students and those coming here. And Marco sided and I guess was more sympathetic to Chuck Schumer and to the president than he was to conservative principles.

But this goes directly to national defense. And if he wants to run as a national — national defense conservative, he's got to explain why he hasn't stepped up to support border security.

BLITZER: Senator Rubio? [applause]

RUBIO: Well, he's just admitted — as he's just admitted, the reason why those refugees were allowed in was because they messed up in how they used the actual database. They should have know. They didn't because they didn't run the actual law as it exists now. It didn't work well.

As far as the refugees are concerned, it's not that America doesn't want to accept refugees, Wolf. It's that we may not be able to, because this is an issue we have to be 100 percent right on. If we allow 9,999 Syrian refugees into the United States, and all of them are good people, but we allow one person in who's an ISIS killer — we just get one person wrong, we've got a serious problem.

And there is not a single person in the national defense apparatus of this country that can guarantee you are going to be 100 percent right. And that's why as president, I'll take this very seriously.

BLITZER: Senator Paul, you didn't answer the question about the 2,000 Syrian refugees who are already here in the United States. Will you send them back or let them stay?

PAUL: What my bill would do would be only for refugees going forward. So I haven't taken a position on sending anyone home. But I have taken the position that we have a lot of problems here in our country. And that one of the things that we do — charity is about giving your own money. Charity isn't giving someone else's money. To put everyone in government housing and food stamps and bring them in from around the world I think is a mistake. To give of your own money, I've given to my church. My church has helped people that came from Bosnia. That's a good thing.

But we shouldn't have a program where we just say that we're going to take care of the world's refugees. Nobody in the Middle East is doing anything. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait — all the Gulf nations are doing nothing. They need to step up and take...[crosstalk] [applause]

BLITZER: We have another — we have another question. We have another question from Facebook. Let's listen.

[start video]

QUESTION: My name is Carla Hernandez. I'm from the University of Texas at Austin. And my question is directed to all the candidates.

If the Bible clearly states that we need to embrace those in need and not fear, how can we justify not accepting refugees?

[end video]

BLITZER: Governor Christie, you say there should be a pause in allowing new refugees to come into the United States, including orphans under the age of five. What do you say to Carla?

CHRISTIE: What I say to Carla is that the first job of the president of the United States is to protect your safety and your security and the security and safety of your family. And this debate stops with me in the discussions with the FBI director.

Now, listen, I'm a former federal prosecutor, I know Jim Comey. We've worked together. He was the U.S. attorney in Manhattan when I was a U.S. attorney in New Jersey.

And when Jim Comey gets up before Congress and says, we cannot effectively vet these people, for me as president, that's the end of the conversation. We have to put America's security first. [applause]

The American people — we on this stage need to open our ears. We need to open our ears. The American people are not whispering to us. They are screaming to us. And they're screaming to us that it's our job to actually make this government work.

It's so dysfunctional under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. It's so ineffective. It's so ineffectual that the American people say, we don't trust them to do anything anymore. So I'm not going to let Syrian refugees, any Syrian refugees in this country.

And it was widows and orphans, by the way, and we now know from watching the San Bernardino attack that women can commit heinous, heinous acts against humanity just the same as men can do it.

And so I don't back away from that position for a minute. When the FBI director tells me that he can vet those people, then we'll consider it and not a moment before because your safety and security is what's most important to me. [applause]

BLITZER: Governor Kasich.

KASICH: You know, obviously, as president of the United States, we've got to keep the people safe. That's first and foremost.

But as governor of Ohio, I have an obligation to keep the 11.5 million people in Ohio safe. And we have been very effective with our Joint Terrorism Task Force, being able to make busts.

In fact, we just made one three-four weeks ago against a person who was favorable to ISIS living in Akron.

But let me tell you what is interesting about the administration. We had Central American miners that were placed in Ohio, and we never knew a thing about it. We didn't know where they were. And, in fact, we know now that some of them, there is a case going on where some of them may have been human-trafficked.

So when the administration tells me we have a great vetting process, the proof is in the pudding. They sent these miners to us. Our schools were disrupted. We didn't know where they were. And bad things happened to them. And now they tell me that we ought to be able to admit these Syrian refugees.

So, Wolf, look, people have accused me at times of having too big of a heart. You know, that's OK. But I have to also to say I must keep the people of my state safe. So we take a pause.

BLITZER: Thank you, Governor.

There is much more coming up. We are only just beginning. Coming up, what other global hot spots await the next president of the United States. [applause]

[commercial break]

BLITZER: Welcome back to the CNN-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate. We're here at the Venetian Las Vegas. Tonight we have been focusing on the Middle East, but let's turn to some other world threats that you will potentially face as Commander in Chief.

Ms. Fiorina, candidates here have called the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un a maniac who is mentally unstable. Last week he said he now has a hydrogen bomb. If you were elected president, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un?

FIORINA: Well, first, Kim Jong-Un is a dangerous leader, without a doubt. And both Republican and Democrat administrations have been completely ineffective in dealing with him. So we must continue to isolate him. We will need China as part of that strategy.

China is a rising adversary. So one of the things we have to do if we want China's support is to push back on China. They, too, recognize one thing — strength and their own economic interest.

I have done business in China for 25 years, so I know that in order to get China to cooperate with us, we must first actually retaliate against their cyber-attacks so they know we're serious. We have to push back on their desire to control the trade route through the South China Sea through which flows $5 trillion worth of goods and services every year.

We cannot let them control the disputed islands, and we must work with the Australians, the South Koreans, the Japanese and the Filipinos to contain China. And then we must ask for their support and their help with North Korea. Because believe it or not, China is as concerned about Kim Jong-Un as we are.

BLITZER: Dr. Carson, what would you do about Kim Jong-Un?

CARSON: Well, I definitely believe that he is unstable, and I do, in fact, believe that China has a lot more influence with him than we do. But we also recognize that North Korea is in severe financial straits, and they have decided to use their resources to build their military, rather than to feed their people and to take care of the various humanitarian responsibilities that they have.

We can capitalize upon that. You know, we should use our economic power in lots of different ways. I think we can use that in order to keep Putin contained, because he is a one-horse show. Energy. And we have an abundance of energy, but we have archaic energy exportation rules. We need to get rid of those, allow ourselves to really make Europe dependent on us and other parts of the world dependent on us for energy. Put him back in his little box where he belongs.

And, you know, we need to be doing lots of other things with the resources that we have. So economic power works just as well as military power, perhaps even better. And speaking of that, our Military needs to be upgraded. You know, you look at things like our Ohio Class submarines, they're 25 years old. Our minuteman 3 missiles — they are 34 years old. Our B-52 bombers — 50 years old. You know, if we don't get the military right nothing else matters.

BLITZER: Thank you, Dr. Carson. Dana and Hugh you have questions as well.

BASH: Governor Christie, you've said if China launches a cyber- attack against the U.S. on your watch, "they're going to see cyber- warfare like they have never seen before." What exactly would that response look like?

CHRISTIE: Well, what it would like is, we have one of the great advantages of America being the open society that we are. It is, we are not hiding things from the American people, but China everyday is conducting business in a way that hides things from their people.

So if they want to come in and attack all the personnel records in the federal government, which they've done, and which — they now have my Social Security number and my fingerprints, as well as maybe some other folks' who are on this stage.

The fact is, they need to be fought back on. And what we need to do is go at the things that they are most sensitive and most embarrassing to them; that they're hiding; get that information and put it out in public. Let the Chinese people start to digest how corrupt the Chinese government is; how they steal from the Chinese people; and how they're enriching oligarchs all throughout China.

They need to understand that. And we need to take those type of steps. This president has seen personnel records of people who have sacrificed for the American people and for the federal government stolen by the Chinese and he's done nothing in return. This is why — this is what I said at the beginning that this administration, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton through their foreign policy, have betrayed the American people, because the weakness they've displayed has led to Putin's incursions in the Middle East and in eastern Europe, and has led — has led to significant problems in the Middle East as well, and the death and murder of lots of folks.

BASH: Governor Bush, what you just heard from Governor Christie, are you concerned that that could really escalate with China, that they would retaliate? And, for example, as the NSA has said, attack the U.S. and maybe it's power grid, which the Chinese have the capability to do?

BUSH: I completely agree with Chris. And this administration has been so lax. Think about it. Hillary Clinton is using a private server for — where classified information go by. This is a — this is a serious administration?

The president receives an inspector general's report that the Office of Personnel Management could be hacked into; they had antiquated firewalls; 23 million files have been — are in the hands of the Chinese allegedly, including, by the way, members of the press, it turns out, last week. Maybe that's the only part that's good news, so that you guys can get a feel for what it's like now to see this type of attack.

This is something — we have to have the best defensive capabilities. We need to coordinate all of our efforts with the private sector. We need to give them liability relief so that we can do that. And offensively, we need to have capabilities second to none. We need to create a situation where they know that there will be adverse impacts if they continue to do what they're doing.

They'll respect that. They'll respect a United States that is serious about protecting our — our infrastructure. If we don't do it, we'll continue to see what's — exactly what's happening, not just from the Chinese, by the way. The Russians and rogue actors, including ISIS — this is a serious part of the 21st century security challenge that we face.

HEWITT: Mr. Trump...[applause]... Dr. Carson just referenced the single most important job of the president, the command, the control and the care of our nuclear forces. And he mentioned the triad. The B-52s are older than I am. The missiles are old. The submarines are aging out. It's an executive order. It's a commander-in-chief decision.

What's your priority among our nuclear triad?

TRUMP: Well, first of all, I think we need somebody absolutely that we can trust, who is totally responsible; who really knows what he or she is doing. That is so powerful and so important. And one of the things that I'm frankly most proud of is that in 2003, 2004, I was totally against going into Iraq because you're going to destabilize the Middle East. I called it. I called it very strongly. And it was very important.

But we have to be extremely vigilant and extremely careful when it comes to nuclear. Nuclear changes the whole ball game. Frankly, I would have said get out of Syria; get out — if we didn't have the power of weaponry today. The power is so massive that we can't just leave areas that 50 years ago or 75 years ago we wouldn't care. It was hand-to-hand combat.

The biggest problem this world has today is not President Obama with global warming, which is inconceivable, this is what he's saying. The biggest problem we have is nuclear — nuclear proliferation and having some maniac, having some madman go out and get a nuclear weapon. That's in my opinion, that is the single biggest problem that our country faces right now.

HEWITT: Of the three legs of the triad, though, do you have a priority? I want to go to Senator Rubio after that and ask him.

TRUMP: I think — I think, for me, nuclear is just the power, the devastation is very important to me.

HEWITT: Senator Rubio, do you have a response?

RUBIO: I do. First, let's explain to people at home who the triad — what the triad is. Maybe a lot of people haven't heard that terminology before. The triad is our ability of the United States to conduct nuclear attacks using airplanes, using missiles launched from silos or from the ground, and also from our nuclear subs' ability to attack. And it's important — all three of them are critical. It gives us the ability at deterrence.

Now, some have become more critical than others; for example, the submarines. And that's the Ohio Class submarine that needs to be modernized. The air component also needs to be modernized. The B-52, as someone earlier pointed out, is an outdated model that was flown by the grandparents of people that are flying it now. And we need a serious modernization program as well on our silo-launched missiles. All three are critical for the defense of the country.

BLITZER: Thank you, Senator Rubio.

Some of you on this stage have questioned whether your opponents have temperament, the right temperament, to be in control of the nuclear codes.

Dana, you have a question on this?

BASH: Mr. Trump, just this weekend you said Senator Cruz is not qualified to be president because he doesn't have the right temperament and acted like a maniac when he arrived in the Senate. But last month you said you were open to naming Senator Cruz as your running mate.

TRUMP: I did.

BASH: So why would you be willing to put somebody who's a maniac one heartbeat away from the presidency?

TRUMP: Let me just say that I have gotten to know him over the last three or four days. He has a wonderful temperament. [laughter]

He's just fine. Don't worry about it. [applause]

BASH: Okay.

Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, you have not been willing to attack Mr. Trump in public.

TRUMP: You better not attack...[laughter]

BASH: But you did question his judgment in having control of American's nuclear arsenal during a private meeting with supporters. Why are you willing to say things about him in private and not in public?

CRUZ: Dana, what I said in private is exactly what I'll say here, which is that the judgment that every voter is making of every one of us up here is who has the experience, who has the vision, who has the judgment to be commander in chief. That is the most important decision for the voters to make. That's a standard I'm held to. And it's a standard everyone else is held to.

And I will note, you know, in the whole course of this discussion about our foreign policy threats, it actually illustrates the need for clarity of focus.

You know, my daughters, Caroline and Catherine, came tonight. They're 7 and 5. And you think about the Los Angeles schools canceling their schools today.

And every parent is wondering, how do we keep our kids safe? We need a commander in chief who does what Ronald Reagan did with communism, which is he set out a global strategy to defeat Soviet communism. And he directed all of his...[crosstalk]

I'm answering the question, Dana.

He directed all of his forces to defeating communism.

One of the things we've seen here is how easy it is for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to get distracted from dealing with radical Islamic terrorism. They won't even call it by its name.

We need a president who stands up, number one, and says, we will defeat ISIS. And number two, says the greatest national security threat facing America is a nuclear Iran.

BASH: Senator, senator, I just...

CRUZ: And we need to be focused on defeating...

BASH: Senator, a lot of people have seen...

CRUZ: ... defeating radical Islamic terrorists.

BASH: ... a lot of people have seen these comments you made in private. I just want to clarify what you're saying right now is you do believe Mr. Trump has the judgment to be commander in chief?

CRUZ: What I'm saying, Dana, is that is a judgment for every voter to make. What I can tell you is all nine of the people here would make an infinitely better commander in chief than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. [applause]

BLITZER: Thank you, senator. Thank you.

CRUZ: And there is a real danger, Dana, when people get distracted.

I'm answering the question, Wolf.

There's a real danger when people get distracted by peripheral issues. They get distracted by democracy building. They get distracted about military conflicts. We need to focus on defeating jihadism. ISIS and Iran have declared war on America, and we need a commander in chief who will do everything necessary to keep our children safe.

BLITZER: Thank you, Senator.

CRUZ: And I will do everything necessary to keep our children safe.

BLITZER: Thank you, Senator.

We're a month and a half away now from the first real test who will be the Republican presidential nominee.

Hugh, you have a question?

HEWITT: My listeners tell me again and again they are worried that Hillary Clinton will win the White House because you'll run as an independent. Are you ready to assure Republicans tonight that you will run as a Republican and abide by the decision of the Republicans?

TRUMP: I really am. I'll be honest, I really am. [applause]

I mean, the people have been putting me...[applause]

I really am. [applause]

HEWITT: Dr. Carson, last week...

TRUMP: Let me just. Can I just finish my...

HEWITT: Please.

TRUMP: I've gained great respect for the Republican leadership. I've gained great respect for many — and I'm going to even say — I mean, in different forms for the people on the dais, in different forms. [laughter] In different forms.

But I have great respect for the people I have met through this process. I've never done this process before. I've never been a politician. I mean, for the last six months I've been a politician.

But I will tell you, I am totally committed to the Republican Party. I feel very honored to be the front runner. [applause]

And I think I'll do very well if I'm chosen. If I'm so fortunate to be chosen, I think I'll do very well.

Polls have come out recently saying I would beat Hillary. I will do everything in my power to beat Hillary Clinton, I promise you. [applause]

HEWITT: Dr. Carson, Mr. Trump just committed to stay the distance regardless of the result. How about you?

CARSON: Well, you know, the statement that I made last week, that I would leave the party was contingent upon whether in fact the party acts like they have in the past with a lot of subterfuge and dishonesty, or like they're going act now because I spike to Reince Priebus, and he assured me that the Washington Post writer had it all wrong, and that they're not be engaging in anything to thwart the will of the people.

That's why I got into this race, as a member of we the people, to try bring some honesty and integrity back to the process. [applause]

BLITZER: All right. Candidates, we have more coming up. When we come back, everyone will have an opportunity to explain why this particular candidate, each of you on the stage, believes he or she should be the Republican presidential nominee. [applause]

[commercial break]

BLITZER: Now it's time for the closing statements from the candidates. Each one has 30 seconds.

Senator Paul.

PAUL: The greatest threat to our national security is our debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. And whose fault is it? Well, frankly, it's both parties' fault. You have those on the right who clamor and say, oh, we will spend anything on the military, and those on the left who say the same for domestic welfare.

But what most Americans don't realize is there is an unholy alliance. They come together. There's a secret handshake. We spend more money on everything. And we are not stronger nation if we go further into debt. We are not projecting power from bankruptcy court.

To me, there is no greater threat than our debt. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage because I'm willing to hold the line on all spending. I hope you will consider me in the election. Thank you very much. [applause]

BLITZER: Governor Kasich.

KASICH: No Republican has ever been elected president of the United States without winning Ohio. Let me give you a little tip on how you win Ohio, it's reform, it's hope, it's growth, it's opportunity, and it's security.

The people of Ohio are the people of America. The people of America are reflected in Ohio. Our message has to be big, and bold, and positive, and connect, not just with people's heads but also connect with their hearts.

If we do it, we will beat Hillary Clinton, and we will run the White House, and we will strengthen and fix America, I promise you. [applause]

BLITZER: Governor Christie.

CHRISTIE: On September 10th, 2001, I was named chief federal prosecutor in New Jersey and on September 11th, 2001, my wife and my brother who are in the audience tonight went through the World Trade Center and to their offices just blocks away from the Trade Center.

I lost touch with them for six hours that day and prayed that they were alive. Luckily, they were sent home. But many of our friends and others in our neighborhood lost their lives that day.

Terrorism — radical jihadist terrorism is not theoretical to me. It's real. And for seven years, I spent my life protecting our country against another one of those attacks. You won't have to worry when I'm President of the Untied States whether that can be done because I've already done it. I want the chance to do it again to protect you, your children and your families.

If you give me the chance and give me your vote I will protect America from the wars that are being brought to our door step.

BLITZER: Ms. Fiorina.

FIORINA: I too remember September 11th. I remember immediately putting into place security procedures all throughout our company that did business in 170 countries where we thought corporate interests would be attacked next. To take our country back, to keep our nation safe, we have to begin by beating Hillary Clinton.

We need to unify our party. We need to better than our government, which 75 percent of the American people now think is corrupt and incompetent. They're right. We need to better than our politics. 80 percent think we have a professional/political class of both parties that cares more about its power, position and privilege than actually on getting anything done.

We need to unify our party, we need a real Conservative in the White House, and we need to beat Hillary Clinton to take our country back and keep our nation safe.

I can. I am. And together, if you join me, we will take our country back.

BLITZER: Governor Bush.

BUSH: Ask yourself, which candidate will keep you and our country safer, stronger and freer?

Hillary Clinton has aligned herself with Barack Obama on ISIS, Iran and the economy. It's an alliance doomed to fail. My proven record suggests that — my detailed plans will fortify our national and economic security. And my proven record as governor makes — will give you a sense that I don't make false promises. I deliver real results.

For America to be safe and sound, I ask for you support. Thank you all very much.

BLITZER: Senator Rubio.

RUBIO: Thank you. As we near the end of this year, we enter one of the most important elections in a generation. For what's at stake in this election is not simply what party's going to be in charge. But our very identity as a people and as a nation. For over 200 years this has been a special country. A unique place where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything. But now millions of Americans feel like they're being left behind. Insecure in their future and unsafe in the face of terrorism. This election is about electing a president that will restore our economic vibrancy so that the American dream can expand to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And rebuild our Military and our intelligence programs so that we can remain the strongest nation on earth. Tonight I ask you for your vote.

If you do this, we will rebuild this country, and together we will usher in a new American century — the greatest era in the history of this great land.

BLITZER: Senator Cruz.

CRUZ: Judgment, strength, clarity and trust. Barack Obama has said he doesn't believe in American leadership or America winning — he is wrong. America can win again and we will win again. Ronald Reagan reignited the American economy, rebuilt the Military, bankrupted the Soviet Union and defeated Soviet Communism. I will do the same thing.

Cutting taxes, cutting regulation, unleashing small businesses and rebuilding the Military to defeat radical Islamic terrorism — our strategy is simple. We win, they lose. We've done it before and we can do it again.

BLITZER: Dr. Carson.

CARSON: I've been fortunate enough to travel to 58 different countries and I thank God everyday that I was born in this country. The most exceptional country that the world has ever known. And I want to make sure that we preserve that exceptionalism for the next generation. My mother told me if I work hard and I really believed in American principles and I believed in God, anything is possible. I believe that is true, and that's why I'm not anxious to give away American values and principles for the sake of political correctness.

TRUMP: Our country doesn't win anymore. We don't win on trade. We don't win on the military. We can't defeat ISIS. We're not taking care of our great people, the veterans. We're not taking care of them.

We have to change our whole way, our health care system is a disaster. It's going to implode in 2017, just like you're sitting there. It doesn't work. Nothing works in our country. If I'm elected president, we will win again. We will win a lot. And we're going to have a great, great country, greater than ever before.

Thank you. [applause]

BLITZER: Thanks to all the Republican presidential candidates. That does it for this Republican presidential debate.

NOTE: The criteria for appearing in the main debate is explained as, "Candidates must meet one of three criteria in polls conducted between October 29 and December 13 and recognized by CNN: an average of at least 3.5% nationally; at least 4% in Iowa; or at least 4% in New Hampshire."
+ Citation: Presidential Candidates Debates: "Republican Candidates Debate in Las Vegas, Nevada," December 15, 2015. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=111177. +
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+ 		+ + + + +Presidential Candidates Debates: Republican Candidates Debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin +
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Republican Candidates Debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
November 10, 2015
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PARTICIPANTS:
Former Governor Jeb Bush (FL);
Ben Carson;
Senator Ted Cruz (TX);
Carly Fiorina;
Governor John Kasich (OH);
Senator Rand Paul (KY);
Senator Marco Rubio (FL);
Donald Trump;

MODERATORS:
Gerard Baker (The Wall Street Journal);
Maria Bartiromo (Fox Business Network); and
Neil Cavuto (Fox Business Network)

CAVUTO: It is 9:00 p.m. on the East Coast, 8:00 p.m. here inside the Milwaukee theater. Welcome to the Republican presidential debate here on the Fox Business Network. I'm Neil Cavuto, alongside my co-moderators, Maria Bartiromo, and the editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal, Gerard Baker.

BARTIROMO: Tonight we're partnering with the Wall Street Journal to ask questions on the economy that voters want answered. We're also working with Facebook, who tells us that since the first Republican debate, more than 58 million people have joined the political conversation online.

More than 9 million are talking specifically about the economy.

BAKER: The candidates on stage tonight were selected based on their standing in an average of four national polls. Those standings determining their position on the stage. And here they are. At center stage, businessman Donald Trump. [applause]

Neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson. [applause]

CAVUTO: Florida Senator Marco Rubio. [applause]

Texas Senator Ted Cruz. [applause]

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. [applause]

BARTIROMO: Businesswoman Carly Fiorina. [applause]

Ohio Governor John Kasich. [applause]

And Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. [applause]

BAKER: Tonight's rules are simple. Up to 90 second for each answer. One minute for each follow-up response. And if a candidate goes over their allotted time, you'll here this.

CAVUTO: It sounds like a game show but it's not.

Now I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the elephant in the room, and I'm not talking about your party's fine symbol. I'm talking about the purpose of tonight's debate.

The economy and what each of you would do to improve it. No more, no less. We are focused on those issues, and what you have said on those issues in your words and what your opponents have said in their words about your words. That is the agenda tonight. How each of you plans to make America better tomorrow. And so we begin. Candidates, as we gather tonight in this very august theater, just outside and across the country, picketers are gathering as well. They're demanding an immediate hike in the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Just a few hours ago, near Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed doing the same for all state workers, the first governor to do so.

Mr. Trump, as the leading presidential candidate on this stage and one whose tax plan exempts couples making up to $50,000 a year from paying any federal income taxes at all, are you sympathetic to the protesters cause since a $15 wage works out to about $31,000 a year?

TRUMP: I can't be Neil. And the and the reason I can't be is that we are a country that is being beaten on every front economically, militarily. There is nothing that we do now to win. We don't win anymore. Our taxes are too high. I've come up with a tax plan that many, many people like very much. It's going to be a tremendous plan. I think it'll make our country and our economy very dynamic.

But, taxes too high, wages too high, we're not going to be able to compete against the world. I hate to say it, but we have to leave it the way it is. People have to go out, they have to work really hard and have to get into that upper stratum. But we can not do this if we are going to compete with the rest of the world. We just can't do it.

CAVUTO: So do not raise the minimum wage?

TRUMP: I would not do it. [applause]

CAVUTO: Dr. Carson, you have long bemoaned this lackluster recovery. And this Facebook map show Americans share your concern. The green represents how the jobs issue is resonating all across the nation, especially here in the state of Wisconsin.

You suggested one minimum wage does not fit all, and that perhaps we should offer a lower or starter wage for young people. Those protesters outside are looking for $15 and nothing less. Where are you?

CARSON: Well, first of all, delighted to be here. My family's here, and my little granddaughter, who's three years old, said she wanted to come to the debate. So this is very cool.

As far as the minimum wage is concerned, people need to be educated on the minimum wage. Every time we raise the minimum wage, the number of jobless people increases.

It's particularly a problem in the black community. Only 19.8 percent of black teenagers have a job, who are looking for one. You know, that — and that's because of those high wages. If you lower those wages, that comes down.

You know, I can remember, as a youngster — you know, my first job working in a laboratory as a lab assistant, and multiple other jobs. But I would not have gotten those jobs if someone had to pay me a large amount of money.

But what I did gain from those jobs is a tremendous amount of experience, and how to operate in the world and how to relate to different people, and how to become a responsible individual. And that's what gave me what I needed to ascend the ladder of opportunity in this country.

That's what we need to be thinking about. How do we allow people to ascend the ladder of opportunity, rather than how do we give them everything and keep them dependent? [applause]

CAVUTO: So, sir, just to be clear, you would not raise it?

CARSON: I would not raise it. I would not raise it, specifically because I'm interested in making sure that people are able to enter the job market and take advantage of opportunities. [applause]

CAVUTO: Senator Rubio, you called the recent Democratic debate in Las Vegas a night of giveaways, including free health care, free college and a host of other government-paid benefits. Since you aren't a fan of all they're giving away, tell us tonight what you would take back.

RUBIO: Well, let me begin by answering both the first question and this one, because they're related. As I've said many times before, my parents were never rich people. My father was a bartender. My mother was a maid. They worked for a living. But they were successful people, because, despite the fact that they weren't well educated and had those jobs, they made enough money to buy a home in a safe and stable neighborhood, retire with dignity, leave all four of their children better off than themselves.

We call that the American dream, but in fact, it's a universal dream of a better life that people have all over the world. It is a reminder that every country in the world has rich people.

What makes America special is that we have millions and millions of people that are not rich, that through hard work and perseverance are able to be successful.

The problem is that today people are not successful working as hard as ever because the economy is not providing jobs that pay enough. If I thought that raising the minimum wage was the best way to help people increase their pay, I would be all for it, but it isn't. In the 20th century, it's a disaster.

If you raise the minimum wage, you're going to make people more expensive than a machine. And that means all this automation that's replacing jobs and people right now is only going to be accelerated.

Here's the best way to raise wages. Make America the best place in the world to start a business or expand an existing business, tax reform and regulatory reform, bring our debt under control, fully utilize our energy resources so we can reinvigorate manufacturing, repeal and replace Obamacare, and make higher education faster and easier to access, especially vocational training. For the life of me, I don't know why we have stigmatized vocational education. Welders make more money than philosophers. We need more welders and less philosophers. [applause]

If we do that — and if we do this — if we do this, we will be able to increase wages for millions of Americans and we will be able to leave everyone better off without making anyone worse off.

CAVUTO: Thank you, Senator Rubio. [applause]

BARTIROMO: We've asked people on Facebook to submit their questions for the candidates. Seth Bell wrote, "We are approaching $20 trillion in national debt. Specifically, what plans do you have to cut federal spending?" Governor Kasich, you have spoken much about your success in balancing the budget under President Clinton. Today the national debt is at record highs and growing unsustainably. Interest will be the fastest-growing part of the federal budget, tripling over the next 10 years. Social Security, the lifeline of millions of American seniors, is rushing toward insolvency. With all of the tax plans presented tonight, estimated to cost anywhere between $2 trillion and $12 trillion over a decade, what specific steps will you take to balance the budget?

KASICH: First of all, let me just say that, in the state of Ohio — and I'm the only acting executive on — on this stage today — we do have a moderate increase in the minimum wage. And I got to tell you, my father carried mail on his back. His father was a coal miner. He died of black lung. He was losing his eyesight. My mother's mother lived with us. She could barely speak English. I come from a town where if the wind blew the wrong way, people found themselves out of work. An economic theory is fine, but you know what? People need help.

Now, I have a plan that, in fact, would cut taxes, but not $11 trillion or $12 trillion that would put my children further in debt. I have a plan that would not only cut taxes, lower the income tax rate for individuals, lower the tax for businesses so businesses will compete here and not move operations overseas, and also a plan — the only plan of anybody standing on this stage to get us to a balanced budget by the end of a second term.

And, you know, the simple fact of the matter is, we hear a lot of promises in this debate, a lot of promises about these tax cuts or tax schemes sometimes that I call them. Hillary and the Democrats promise everything on the spending side. We've got to be responsible about what we propose on the tax side.

Yes, lower taxes, lower spending. My website, JohnKasich.com, will show you exactly how we balance the budget. I balanced the budget in Washington as a chief architect, and I have balanced it in Ohio for one reason. When you balance the budget and you cut taxes, people get work.

And our most important moral purpose as leaders in the political system is to make sure we create an environment for job creation so people can live their dreams and realize their God-given potential. That's why it's so important.

And for those at the bottom, we've got to do what we can to train them so they can move up. But to just look the other way is not acceptable, because, you know what, as the governor of Ohio I have to deal with real challenges, and we've gotten it done in our state, and I will do it for America. [applause]

BARTIROMO: Did you want to name any specific steps, sir?

KASICH: Sure. We would move the Medicare system from a 7 percent growth down to about a 5 percent growth. And I have a whole series of ways to do that. In Ohio, we reduced Medicaid funding for the poor from 10 percent to 2.5 percent, didn't cut one benefit or didn't take anybody off the rolls. Why? Because we're innovators. I've been an innovator my entire career. And I really don't care what special interests or lobbyists have to say. I have a job to do when I take over a public office. Now, we freeze non-defense discretionary for eight years. We also put an increase in defense spending. Our tax cuts balance out. And at the end of the day, we will get to a balanced budget.

And I want everybody here to know, when I was Budget Committee chairman in Washington, I stepped on every toe in that town, and we got to a balanced budget, and we had enormous job growth. And as governor of Ohio, we went from 350,000 lost jobs to a gain of 347,000 jobs.

BARTIROMO: Thank you, sir.

KASICH: I'll do it in Washington. I've done it twice; I'll do it thrice for the United States of America.

BARTIROMO: Senator Cruz, the International Monetary Fund recently cut its expectations for economic growth. Many economists expect a recession to hit the U.S. within the next year due to the weakening of manufacturing. The next president will have to deal with it. You say tax reform is a powerful lever to spur economic expansion. You're calling for a 10 percent income tax and a 16 percent business tax. What other elements do you need in this plan to actually create jobs?

CRUZ: Well, Maria, it's great to be with you. It's great to be here in Milwaukee. You know, the question you asked really I think is the most important question any of us can have — face, which is, how do we get the economy growing? How do we bring back economic growth?

Because economic growth, it's foundational to every other challenge we have. As you rightly noted, from 2008 to today, our economy has grown 1.2 percent a year on average. The Obama economy is a disaster, and the IMF is telling us this is a new normal. It doesn't have to be.

If you look at the history of America, there are three levers that government has had to facilitate economic growth. The first is tax reform. And as you noted, I have rolled out a bold and simple flat tax: 10 percent for every American that would produce booming growth and 4.9 million new jobs within a decade.

The second element is regulatory reform, pulling back the armies of regulators that have descended like locusts on small businesses.

And the third element is sound money. Every time we've pursued all three of those — whether in the 1920s with Calvin Coolidge or the 1960s with JFK or the 1980s with Ronald Reagan — the result has been incredible economic growth. We have done it before, and with leadership, we can do it again. [applause]

BARTIROMO: Thank you, sir.

KASICH: Excuse me.

BARTIROMO: Governor Bush...

KASICH: Yeah, I would like to make a comment.

BUSH: You've already made two comments, John. It's my turn.

BARTIROMO: We have more questions for you, Governor Kasich, coming up. We have more questions for you, Governor Kasich.

BUSH: I got about four minutes in the last debate. I'm going to get my question right now.

KASICH: I appreciate it, Jeb. I'm all of you. But I want at some point to talk about a value-added tax and $11 trillion, $12 trillion tax cuts that will put our kids way deeper in the hole than they have been at this point. So I would like to talk about it at some point, because that's what leadership is.

BARTIROMO: We will — we will certainly get to that. Governor Bush?

BUSH: Yes.

BARTIROMO: Almost 40 percent of Americans are without a job and are not looking. Many have given up. That's what the participation rate tells us. You've said your policies will drive the economy back to 4 percent growth, which we haven't seen since the year 2000. What specific regulations would you change? And how will that lead to jobs and growth?

BUSH: First of all, we could get to 4 percent growth. The new normal of 2 percent puts huge demands on government. The reason why we have structural deficits is that more and more people are relying on government and the growth that we don't have makes — makes the deficit grow.

A 4 percent growth strategy starts with tax reform. And the proposal that I've laid out is the one the Wall Street Journal editorial board has said is the most pro-growth of all the proposals out there. We cut the — we eliminate a lot of deductions and cut the rates down. A corporate rate of 20 percent, which puts us 5 percent above — below that of China, and allows us full expensing of investing. It would create an explosion of investment back into this country, creating higher-wage jobs, and so that's part of it.

On the regulatory side I think we need to repeal every rule that Barack Obama has in terms of work in progress, every one of them. [applause]

And start over. For those that are already in existence, the regulation of the Internet, we have to start over, but we ought to do that.

The clean power act, we ought to repeal that and — and start over on that. The waters of the United States act, which is going to be devastating for agriculture and many industries, we should repeal that. We should repeal the rules because the economic costs of this far exceed the social benefit.

And if we're serious about being serious about high growth, then we have to recognize that small businesses right now, more of them are closing than — than are — than are being set up.

Hillary Clinton has said that Barack Obama's policies get an A. Really? One in 10 people right now aren't working or have given up altogether, as you said. That's not an A. One in seven people are living in poverty. That's not an A. One in five children are on food stamps. That is not an A. It may be the best that Hillary Clinton can do, but it's not the best America can do. [applause]

BARTIROMO: Thank you, sir.

BAKER: Ms. Fiorina, while you've all pointed out how weak the current recovery has been and how disappointing by any historical standards, in the general election, the Democrats will inevitably ask you and voters to compare the recent president's jobs performance.

Now, in seven years under President Obama, the U.S. has added an average of 107,000 jobs a month. Under President Clinton, the economy added about 240,000 jobs a month. Under George W. Bush, it was only 13,000 a month. If you win the nomination, you'll probably be facing a Democrat named Clinton. How are you going to respond to the claim that Democratic presidents are better at creating jobs than Republicans?

FIORINA: Well, first of all, I must say as I think about that question, I think about a woman I met the other day. I would guess she was 40 years old. She had several children. And she said to me, you know, Carly, I go to bed every night afraid for my children's future. And that really struck me. This is America. A mother is going to bed afraid for her children's future.

And the reason she's afraid for her children's future is because we've had problems for a long time. Yes, problems have gotten much worse under Democrats. But the truth is, this government has been growing bigger and bigger, more corrupt, less effective, crushing the engine of economic growth for a very long time. This isn't about just replacing a Democrat with a Republican now. It's about actually challenging the status quo of big government.

Big government has created a big business called politics. And there are lots of people invested in the status quo of that big business called politics. Specifically, we need actually to do five things to really get this economy going again. We need to go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dollar is being spent, we can challenge any dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. [applause]

We need to actually reform the tax code. Go to a three-page tax code. Yes, there are plans that would reform our tax code to three pages. In addition to rolling back what President Obama has done, we need to do a top-to-bottom review of every single regulation on the books. That hasn't been done in 50 years. We need to pass the REINS Act so Congress is in charge of regulation, not nameless, faceless bureaucrats accountable to no one. We've become a nation of rules, not a nation of laws.

And finally we actually, yes, have to hold government officials accountable for their performance. All this has to be done, and the citizens of this nation must help a President Fiorina get it done. We must take our government back. [applause]

BAKER: Thank you. Thank you. Senator Paul, income inequality has been rising in the United States. Fifty years ago, for example, the average CEO of a big corporation in this country earned 20 times the average salary of one of his or her workers. Today, that CEO earns about 300 times the average salary of a worker. Does it matter at all that the gap between the rich and everyone else is widening?

PAUL: Absolutely. And I think that we ought to look where income inequality seems to be the worst. It seems to be worst in cities run by Democrats, governors of... [applause]

States run by Democrats and countries currently run by Democrats. So the thing is, let's look for root causes.

But I would also say — lay some blame at the — the feet of the Federal Reserve. I think the Federal Reserve has made this problem worse. By artificially keeping interest rates below the market rate, average ordinary citizens have a tough time earning interest, have a tough time making money. They're actually talking now about negative interest.

The money as it's created through quantitative easing or other means tends to start out in the big banks in New York. And because we're now paying interest for them to keep the money there, much of that money has not filtered out into the economy. So what we're finding is there is increasing income disparity and income inequality.

We also find that as the Federal Reserve destroys the value of the currency, what you're finding is that, if you're poor, if you make $20,000 a year and you have three or four kids, and you're trying to get by, as your prices rise or as the value of the dollar shrinks, these are the people that are hurt the worst.

So really we need to reexamine whether we not — we want a Federal Reserve that's involved so much in determining interest rates. We also need to look at root causes as to what caused the housing boom and the housing collapse.

But the bottom line is, if you want less income inequality, move to a city with a Republican mayor or a state with a Republican governor. [applause]

BAKER: Thank you, Senator.

CAVUTO: All right. We're only just getting started. Coming up, your taxes. Stick around. You're watching FOX Business

[commercial break]

CAVUTO: Welcome back to the Milwaukee Theater and the Republican presidential debate. Let's get right back to our questions.

Dr. Carson, to you. You recently railed against the double- standard in the media, sir, that seems obsessed with inconsistencies and potential exaggerations in your life story, but looked the other way when it came to then-Senator Barack Obama's. Still, as a candidate whose brand has always been trust, are you worried your campaign — which you've always said, sir, is bigger than you — is now being hurt by you?

CARSON: Well, first of all, thank you not asking me what I said in the 10th grade. I appreciate that. [laughter and applause]

CAVUTO: I'll just forget that follow-up there. [laughter]

CARSON: The fact of the matter is, you know, what — we should vet all candidates.

I have no problem with being vetted. What I do have a problem with is being lied about and then putting that out there as truth. [applause]

And I don't even mind that so much, if they do it about — with everybody, like people on the other side. But, you know, when I look at somebody like Hillary Clinton, who sits there and tells her daughter and a government official that no, this was a terrorist attack, and then tells everybody else that it was a video.

Where I came from, they call that a lie. And...[cheering and applause]

I think that's very different from, you know, somebody misinterpreting, when I said that I was offered a scholarship to West Point, that is the words that they used. But, I've had many people come and say the same thing to me.

That is what people do in those situations. We have to start treating people the same, and finding out what people really think and what they're made of. People who know me know that I'm an honest person. [applause]

CAVUTO: Thank you, Dr. Carson.

BARTIROMO: Mr. Trump, a federal appeals court just dealt a blow to the Obama administration's plan to prevent the deportation of 5 million people living in this country illegally. The White House is appealing to the Supreme Court.

At the heart of this issue is the effect that illegal immigrants are having on our economy, what will you do about it?

TRUMP: I was so happy yesterday when I saw that decision come down. That was an unbelievable decision. [applause]

And we don't have enough of those decisions coming down. He of the executive order, because nobody wants to listen to him, including the Democrats, so he just goes around signing executive orders. That was a great day. And, frankly, we have to stop illegal immigration. It's hurting us economically. It's hurting us from every standpoint. It's causing tremendous difficulty with respect to drugs and what that does to many of our inner cities in particular.

And it really is — was such an unbelievable moment because the courts have not been ruling in our favor. And it was a 2-1 decision. And it was a terrific thing that happened.

And I will tell you, we are a country of laws. We need borders. We will have a wall. The wall will be built. The wall will be successful. And if you think walls don't work, all you have to do is ask Israel. The wall works, believe me. Properly done. Believe me. [cheering and applause]

BARTIROMO: Can we just send 5 million people back with no effect on economy?

TRUMP: You are going to have to bring people — you are going to have to send people out. Look, we're a country...

BARTIROMO: So what will you do?

TRUMP: Maria, we're a country of laws. We either have a country or we don't have a country. We are a country of laws. Going to have to go out and they will come back but they are going to have to go out and hopefully they get back.

But we have no choice if we're going to run our country properly and if we're going to be a country. [cheering and applause]

BARTIROMO: Thank you, sir.

KASICH: Maria, can we comment on that?

BAKER: Senator Rubio...

KASICH: Can we comment on that?

BAKER: Yes, one quick comment, yes.

KASICH: Well, look, in 1986 Ronald Reagan basically said the people who were here, if they were law-abiding, could stay. But, what didn't happen is we didn't build the walls effectively and we didn't control the border. We need to. We need to control our border just like people have to control who goes in and out of their house.

But if people think that we are going to ship 11 million people who are law-abiding, who are in this country, and somehow pick them up at their house and ship them out of Mexico — to Mexico, think about the families. Think about the children.

So, you know what the answer really is? If they have been law- abiding, they pay a penalty. They get to stay. We protect the wall. Anybody else comes over, they go back.

But for the 11 million people, come on, folks. We all know you can't pick them up and ship them across, back across the border. It's a silly argument. It is not an adult argument. It makes no sense. [applause]

TRUMP: All I can say is, you're lucky in Ohio that you struck oil. That is for one thing. [laughter]

Let me just tell you that Dwight Eisenhower, good president, great president, people liked him. "I like Ike," right? The expression. "I like Ike." Moved a 1.5 million illegal immigrants out of this country, moved them just beyond the border. They came back.

Moved them again beyond the border, they came back. Didn't like it. Moved them way south. They never came back. [laughter]

Dwight Eisenhower. You don't get nicer. You don't get friendlier. They moved a 1.5 million out. We have no choice. We have no choice.

[crosstalk]

BAKER: Governor Bush...

KASICH: Jerry, Gerald, it was an attack.

[crosstalk]

UNKNOWN: If you're not going to have my back, I'm going to have my back.

UNKNOWN: A couple things here. First of all...

BAKER: Governor — Governor, you...You should let Jeb speak.

UNKNOWN: We have grown — we have grown...

TRUMP: No, it's unfair.

[crosstalk]

KASICH: In the state of Ohio, the state of Ohio, we have grown 347,000 jobs. Our unemployment is half of what it was. Our fracking industry, energy industry may have contributed 20,000, but if Mr. Trump understood that the real jobs come in the downstream, not in the upstream, but in the downstream. And that's where we're going to get our jobs.

But Ohio is diversified. And little false little things, sir, they don't really work when it comes to the truth. So the fact is, all I'm suggesting, we can't ship 11 million people out of this country. Children would be terrified, and it will not work.

[crosstalk]

TRUMP: ... built an unbelievable company worth billions and billions of dollars. I don't have to hear from this man, believe me. I don't have to hear from him.

BAKER: Mr. Trump, Mr. Trump, you yourself — you yourself said let Governor Bush speak. Governor Bush?

BUSH: Thank you, Donald, for allowing me to speak at the debate. That's really nice of you. Really appreciate that. [applause]

What a generous man you are. Twelve million illegal immigrants, to send them back, 500,000 a month, is just not — not possible. And it's not embracing American values. And it would tear communities apart. And it would send a signal that we're not the kind of country that I know America is.

And even having this conversation sends a powerful signal — they're doing high-fives in the Clinton campaign right now when they hear this. That's the problem with this. We have to win the presidency. And the way you win the presidency is to have practical plans. Lay them out there. What we need to do is allow people to earn legal status where they pay a fine, where they work, where they don't commit crimes, where they learn English, and over an extended period of time, they earn legal status. That's the path — a proper path... [applause]

[crosstalk]

BAKER: Senator Rubio? Senator...

TRUMP: We have millions of people right now on line trying to come into this country. Very, very unfair to the people that want to come into our country legally. They've gone through the process. They're on line. They're waiting. Very, very unfair to them. That I can tell you. [applause]

BAKER: Senator Rubio, Senator Rubio, let me — let me take you to a question that I think gets to the root of a lot of the anxiety that people have in this country. The economy is undergoing a transformation through information technology. Americans are anxious that the new economy isn't producing higher-paying jobs. Many are concerned that the new wealth seems to be going mainly to innovators and investors.

Meanwhile, with factories run by robots and shopping done increasingly on smartphones, many traditional jobs are just going away. How do you reassure American workers that their jobs are not being steadily replaced by machines?

RUBIO: Well, you know, that's an excellent question, because what we are going through in this country is not simply an economic downturn. We are living through a massive economic transformation. I mean, this economy is nothing like what it was like five years ago, not to mention 15 or 20 years ago.

And it isn't just a different economy. It's changing faster than ever. You know, it took the telephone 75 years to reach 100 million users. It took Candy Crush one year to reach some 100 million users. [laughter]

So the world is changing faster than ever, and it is disruptive. Number one, we are in a global competition now, and several of the candidates have said that. There are now dozens of developed economies on this planet that we have to compete with. And we lose that competition because we have the highest business tax rate in the industrialized world, because we have regulations that continue to grow by the billions every single week, because we have a crazy health care law that discourages companies from hiring people, but because we're not fully utilizing our energy resources, that if we did, it would bring back all kinds of growth, especially in manufacturing, and because we have an outdated higher education system.

Our higher education system is completely outdated. It is too expensive, too hard to access, and it doesn't teach 21st century skills. If we do what needs to be done — tax reform, regulatory reform, fully utilize our energy resources, repeal and replace Obamacare, and modernize higher education, then we can grasp the potential and the promise of this new economy. And we won't just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And then truly this new century can be a new American century. [applause]

BAKER: Thank you. Senator Cruz — Senator Cruz, entitlements. You've argued for raising the retirement age and reducing benefits for future retirees, but reducing any sort of benefits for the elderly has always been notoriously hard to do politically. When Speaker Paul Ryan proposed replacing traditional Medicare with federally funded private plans a few years ago, a liberal group responded with a commercial that featured a granny being pushed off a cliff.

What's going to be different this time?

CRUZ: Well, my Mom is here, so I don't think we should be pushing any grannies off cliffs. [laughter]

And, you miss-stated what I've said on entitlement reform. What I've said is for seniors we should make no changes whatsoever, for younger workers we should gradually raise the retirement age, we should have benefits grow more slowly, and we should allow them to keep a portion of their taxes in a personal account that they control, and can pass on to their kids... [applause]

BAKER: ...I said for future retirees was your statement... [applause]

CRUZ: I want to go back to the discussion we had a minute ago because, you know, what was said was right. The democrats are laughing — because if republicans join democrats as the party of amnesty, we will lose. [applause]

And, you know, I understand that when the mainstream media covers immigration, it doesn't often see it as an economic issue. But, I can tell you for millions — of Americans at home watching this, it is a very personal economic issue. And, I will say the politics of it will be very, very different if a bunch of lawyers or bankers were crossing the Rio Grande.

[audience reaction]

Or if a bunch of people with journalism degrees were coming over and driving down the wages in the press.

[audience reaction] [applause and cheering]

Then, we would see stories about the economic calamity that is befalling our nation. And, I will say for those of us who believe people 'ought to come to this country legally, and we should enforce the law, we're tired of being told it's anti-immigrant. It's offensive. [applause]

I am the son of an immigrant who came legally from Cuba... [bell ringing]...to seek the American dream. And, we can embrace legal immigration while believing in the rule of law — and I would note, try going illegally to another country. Try going to China, or Japan. Try going to Mexico. See what they do. Every sovereign nation secures its borders, and it is not compassionate to say we're not going to enforce the laws... [bell ringing]...And we're going to drive down the wages for millions of hardworking men and women. That is abandoning the working... [applause]

BARTIROMO: We go back to Facebook. Dewayne Wesley Cato asks on Facebook, how do we get rid of regulations choking our businesses? Ms. Fiorina?

Specifically, under the president's Affordable Care Act, employers with 50 or more employees are required to offer health insurance, or be fined. Many are opting to pay the fine. Others are cutting back employee hours to duck the law altogether. What specific ways will you alleviate the pressure on small business?

FIORINA: Well, first Obamacare has to be repealed because it's failing... [applause]

...it's failing the very people it was intended to help, but, also, it is croney-capitalism at its worst. Who helped write this bill? Drug companies, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, every single one of those kinds of companies are bulking up to deal with big government. See, that's what happens. As government gets bigger, and bigger — and it has been for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike — and business have to bulk up to deal with big government.

So, we have to repeal it. It's tens of thousands of pages long, no one can possible understand it except the big companies, the lawyers, the accountants, the lobbyists that they hire to protect their interests. Then, we have to give back to states the responsibility to manage a high risk pool. We need to try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried. Health insurance has always been a cozy, little game between regulators and health insurance companies.

We need to try the free market. The free market. Where people actually have to compete. [applause]

And, we 'ought to have the government ensure that you must — and I don't use that term often, that government 'ought to do something, but every healthcare provider 'ought to publish its costs, its prices, its outcomes, because as patients we don't know what we're buying. [applause] Now, let me just say — let me just say, I know more about innovation and entrepreneurship than anyone on this panel because I have led innovative businesses in the most highly competitive industry in the world for decades. The truth is the secret sauce of America is innovation, and entrepreneurship, it is why we must cut our government down to size, and hold it accountable. It's why we have to take our government back, because innovation and entrepreneurship is crushed by the crushing load of a 73,000 page tax code. It is crushed... [bell ringing]

...by regulatory thicket that is so vast we don't even know what's in it anymore. It is crushed as well by government bureaucrats who don't do their jobs very well, and who are not held accountable, which is why I've said we got to take our government back, and to do that, we have to know where every dollar being spent, and be able to move any dollar. We have to hack through this regulatory thicket, repeal so much, but, also, know what's in that regulatory thicket — we don't even know what regulations have been passed.

Third, we need to build a meritocracy — Scott Walker, by the way, is trying now to do in Wisconsin... [bell ringing]...Finally, we need to get to a three page tax code, and, yes, that plan exists.

BARTIROMO: Just to be clear, you want to repeal Obamacare... [applause]..but, what's the alternative?

FIORINA: Sorry, I can't hear you.

BARTIROMO: Just to be clear, you say you would repeal Obamacare...

FIORINA: ...Absolutely...

BARTIROMO: ...But, what is the alternative...

FIORINA: ...You need to give...

BARTIROMO: ...and how does that help small business...

FIORINA: The alternative is to allow states to manage high risk pools for those who really need help. Look, I'm a cancer survivor, OK? I understand that you cannot have someone who's battled cancer just become known as a pre-existing condition. I understand that you cannot allow families to go bankrupt if they truly need help. But, I also understand that Obamacare isn't helping anyone.

We're throwing more, and more people into Medicaid, and fewer, and fewer doctors are taking those payments.

The point is Obamacare is crushing small businesses, it is not helping the families it was intended to help. So, let us allow states to manage high risk pools. Let us try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried, the free market. Let us ensure that as patients, and customers...

BARTIROMO: ...Thank you...

FIORINA: ...that we have information to shop wisely for our health care.

CAVUTO: Alright, thank you. We're going to take a break here. Coming up, a big issue many Americans are facing, taxes. The Republican Presidential Debate continues now, live, from Milwaukee.

[commercial break]

CAVUTO: Welcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from Milwaukee. Let's get back to the questions. And we want to touch on obviously one of the biggest of this issue in this year, taxes. And this will go to several of you.

One of the biggest economic concerns of course in the country are taxes. Facebook data certainly backs that up. Once again the green on this map that we're going to see here shows how the conversation around taxes is resonating across the nation, especially here in Wisconsin.

First off, Dr. Carson, to you. You say you are in favor of a tax system, I guess akin to tithing, sir, with a flat tax rate of up to 15 percent because you said, if everybody pays this, I think God is a pretty fair guy, so tithing is a pretty fair process.

But Donald Trump says that is not fair. That wealthier taxpayers should pay a higher rate because it's a fair thing to do. So whose plan would God endorse then, Doctor? [laughter]

Yours or Mr. Trump's?

CARSON: Well, you know, when I say tithing, I'm talking about the concept of proportionality.

CAVUTO: Right.

CARSON: Everybody should pay the same proportion of what they make. You make $10 billion, you pay a billion. You make $10, you pay one. You get same rights and privileges.

I don't see how anything gets a whole lot fairer than that. But you also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes because that is the thing that tilts it in one direction or another. And you have to set the rate at an appropriate level.

Now I will say that, there are a lot of people who say, if you get rid of the deductions, you ruin the American dream because, you know, home mortgage deduction. But the fact of the matter is, people had homes before 1913 when we introduced the federal income tax, and later after that started deductions.

And they say there will be no more charitable giving. We had churches before that and charitable organizations before that. The fact of the matter is, I believe if you put more money in people's pockets that they will actually be more generous rather than less generous. And it's... [applause] ... the money that they earned.

And, the other thing is, I do care about the poor people. And in the system that we're putting together, there will be a rebate for people at the poverty level. But I also want to emphasize the fact that as we get the economy moving, and I hope I get a question about how do we get the economy moving, there will be a lot more opportunities for poor people not to be poor people because this is America.

This is the land of dreams. And our policies should be aimed at allowing people to realize that dream. [applause]

CAVUTO: Thank you very much.

Senator Paul, you said you want to blow up the tax code and start over with an across-the-board 14.5 percent fair and flat tax. You happily offered that it is not revenue neutral and that's the idea. You want to choke off the amount of money coming into Washington.

But don't you risk, sir, creating a near-term budget crisis just as your presidency would be beginning?

PAUL: Well, it's a great question, Neil, and thanks for including me in the tax debate.

I think what's important about the tax debate is, is that we have to ask the question, where is money best spent, in the private sector or in the government sector? I want a government really, really small, so small you can barely see it. So I want lower taxes and much more money in the private sector. [cheering and applause]

My tax plan, however, is the only tax plan among any of the candidates on the stage that is part of a balanced budget plan. I put forward three plans that actually balance the budget over a five-year period.

Each of these plans have details on exactly where we would cut. The question came up earlier, where would you cut? Nobody likes to say where they would cut. I've put pencil to paper and done three budgets that actually balance.

I'm also in favor of a plan called the penny plan where we'd just cut 1 percent across the board and the budget actually balances in less than five years. So I think what is extraordinary about my tax plan is it is in the context of balancing the budget.

What is also extraordinary about my tax plan is it gets rid of the payroll tax. Democrats demagogue this issue to death, and when they do they say, oh, a millionaire would get a bigger tax cut than someone making $10,000.

That's proportionality, as Ben is trying to explain to folks. But the thing is, is if we get rid of the payroll tax, everybody is going to get a tax cut. And this is something that I think the public at large will support and could win an election. [applause]

CAVUTO: There are no deductions on your — under your plan?

PAUL: Ours is 14.5 percent for corporations, 14.5 percent for individuals. No payroll tax for the employee. The business tax pays for social security, and there would be two remaining deductions — home mortgage and charity.

CAVUTO: Thank you, Senator.

PAUL: Thank you. [applause]

BARTIROMO: Senator Cruz, there isn't anyone in this audience or watching at home tonight who would not like to pay less in taxes. Most people just want a fair shake, and they don't want their money to be wasted.

But explain how your plan works. How can you cut taxes as much as you propose without running up debt and deficits?

CRUZ: Well, sure, you put your finger on what the problem is. The current system isn't fair. Washington is fundamentally corrupt. There are more words in the IRS code than there are in the Bible — and — and not a one of them is as good. [laughter]

Every one of them reflects a carve-out or a subsidy, and it's all about empowering the Washington cartel. My simple Flat Tax says that, for a family of four, for the first $36,000 you earn, you pay no taxes whatsoever. No income taxes, no payroll taxes, no nothing.

Above that, every American pays 10 percent across the board — a flat, fair tax. Which means that no longer do you have hedge-fund billionaires paying a lower tax rate than their secretaries.

On the business side, I've got a business flat tax of 16 percent — again, that applies across the board. Right now, with our corporate income tax, giant corporations with armies of accountants regularly are paying little to no taxes while small businesses are getting hammered.

This is fair and across-the-board. Now, you ask, how do the numbers add up? I would encourage folks, if you go to our website, tedcruz.org, we have the specific numbers on the website.

This plan eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax, eliminates the corporate income tax, and it abolishes the IRS. [applause]

And the effect of that is incredible economic growth. It means every income group will see double-digit increases, from the very poorest to the very weakest, of at least 14 percent.

So if you're a single mom, if you're making $40,000 a year, what that means is an extra about $5,000 in your pocket to provide for your kids, to make ends meet. It has a powerful, powerful effect.

And there's one other really powerful feature of my plan, which is that it's border-adjustable. Which means, if you're an exporter — if you're a farmer, if you're a rancher, if you're a manufacturer, you don't pay the businesses flat tax.

Exports are free of that tax, but all imports pay that 16 percent business flat tax, which means this tax plan would cause jobs to boom, and it would let America compete with China and the world on a level playing field. [applause]

BARTIROMO: But you haven't told us how to pay for it.

CRUZ: Well, the numbers the Tax Foundation had put out is that the static cost of the plan is $3.6 trillion over 10 years, but the dynamic cost of the plan, which — which is the cost that factors in growth, is about $768 billion.

It is less than a trillion. It costs less than virtually every other plan people have put up here, and yet it produces more growth and it's one of the very few plans that abolishes the IRS.

But on top of that, today, we rolled out a spending plan. $500 billion in specific cuts — five major agencies that I would eliminate. The IRS, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Energy, the Department of Commerce, and HUD — and then 25 specific programs.

Again, that's on our website at tedcruz.org. You want to look at specificity? It's easy for everyone to say, "cut spending". It's much harder and riskier to put out, chapter and verse, specifically the programs you would cut to stop bankrupting our kids and grandkids.

BARTIROMO: Thank you, Senator. [applause]

Governor Bush, Republican primary voters say tax reform should be a priority for Congress and the administration. But, Governor Bush, how important is tax reform in your domestic policy agenda? Will you guarantee it in the first year of your presidency?

BUSH: I'm gonna fight as hard as I can to make sure that we shift power away from Washington, simplify the tax code, to spur economic activity in this country. Of course it's the highest priority.

If we don't do that, we're stuck with the "new normal" of 2 percent growth. Hillary Clinton says, basically, we just gotta get used to it. Two percent growth means declining income for the middle class. It means more than 6 million people are stuck in poverty than the day that Barack Obama was inaugurated.

It means — it means more demands on government — growing the economy is the first job, if we're going to be serious about dealing with the deficit and debt. And more importantly, people are really struggling right now.

In this economy, the disposable income of the great middle is down 2,300 bucks. So yeah, we've created jobs, your — argue (ph) — brought that up early, and it was a good question. Jobs are being created, but they're lower-income jobs than the jobs that were lost.

And the net effect of this is we need to jump-start the economy. I think of Jonathan (ph) and Reagan Love (ph), who are supporters of mine. Jonathan has been deployed by the National Guard, he is — he's in Oklahoma.

Reagan Love — by the way, pretty great name, I think — is a teacher. When — if they had this tax cut, what they told me was that that $2,300 of money in their pocket — they would go back to South Carolina and start a business.

Imagine what it would be like, instead of having more businesses closed than started, we had it the exact opposite. We would grow our economy, and the government would get the revenue necessary to make things — make things better.

Hillary Clinton's approach to this is more top-down, more regulation, more taxes, more government, and it will destroy our economy. [applause]

BARTIROMO: Thank you, Governor.

BAKER: Senator Rubio. Can I just come to Senator Rubio? We're coming to you, Mr. Trump, in one second. I — I promise.

TRUMP: Yes.

BAKER: Senator Rubio, your tax plan includes a large expansion of child tax credits to raise off (ph) the tax incomes for low-income parents. A similar tax credit that you previously proposed in the Senate was estimated to cost as much as $170 billion a year, according to the Tax Foundation.

Isn't — isn't there a risk you're just adding another expensive entitle program to an already overburdened federal budget?

RUBIO: The most important job I'm ever going to have, the most important job anyone in this room will ever have, is the job of being a parent. Not the job of being president, or the job of being a senator, or the job of being a congressman.

The most important job any of us will ever do is the job of being a president (sic), because the most important institution in society is the family. If the family breaks down, society breaks down.

You can't have a strong nation without strong values, and no one is born with strong values. They have to be taught to you in strong families and reinforced in you in strong communities.

And so when we set out to do tax reform, we endeavor to have a pro-family tax code, and we endeavor to do it because we know how difficult it is for families in the 21st century to afford the cost of living.

It is expensive to raise children in the 21st century, and families that are raising children are raising the future taxpayers of the United States, and everything costs more. In 35 out of 50 states, child care costs more than college.

There are millions of people watching this broadcast tonight that understand exactly what I'm talking about. They don't know how they're going to make that payment every month, and if they can't make it, they can't work, because someone needs to watch their kids during the day. They don't know how they're going to save for their kids' future, to go to college.

And so, yes, I have a child tax credit increase, and I'm proud of it. I am proud that I have a pro-family tax code, because the pro- family tax plan I have will strengthen the most important institution in the — in the country, the family.

PAUL: Neil, there's a point I'd like to make here... [applause] ....Neil, a point that I'd like to make about the tax credits.

We have to decide what is conservative and what isn't conservative. Is it fiscally conservative to have a trillion-dollar expenditure? We're not talking about giving people back their tax money. He's talking about giving people money they didn't pay. It's a welfare transfer payment.

So here's what we have. Is it conservative to have $1 trillion in transfer payments — a new welfare program that's a refundable tax credit? Add that to Marco's plan for $1 trillion in new military spending, and you get something that looks, to me, not very conservative. Thank you. [applause]

[crosstalk]

BAKER: Governor Kasich? Let me come to Governor Kasich.

TRUMP: No, I'm sorry. No, excuse me. I was there.

BAKER: Governor Kasich.

[crosstalk]

BAKER: Very quickly, Senator.

RUBIO: Now I get my 60 seconds to respond. He's talking about my tax plan.

BAKER: Please.

RUBIO: So let me begin with this. I actually believe — first of all, this is their money. They do pay. It is refundable, not just against the taxes they pay to the government, but also the — on their federal income tax, it's refundable against the payroll tax.

Everyone pays payroll tax. This is their money. This is not our money. And here's what I don't understand — if you invest that money in a piece of equipment, if you invest that money in a business, you get to write it off your taxes.

But if you invest it in your children, in the future of America and strengthening your family, we're not going to recognize that in our tax code? The family is the most important institution in society. And, yes...

PAUL: Nevertheless, it's not very conservative, Marco.

RUBIO: ... I do want to rebuild the American military.

PAUL: How is it conservative?

RUBIO: I know that Rand is a committed isolationist. I'm not. I believe the world is a stronger and a better place, when the United States is the strongest military power in the world.

PAUL: Yeah, but, Marco! Marco! How is it conservative, how is it conservative to add a trillion-dollar expenditure for the federal government that you're not paying for?

RUBIO: Because...

PAUL: How is it conservative?

RUBIO: ...are you talking about the military, Rand?

PAUL: How is it conservative to add a trillion dollars in military expenditures? You can not be a conservative if you're going to keep promoting new programs that you're not going to pay for. [applause]

RUBIO: We can't even have an economy if we're not safe. There are radical jihadist in the Middle East beheading people and crucifying Christians. A radical Shia cleric in Iran trying to get a nuclear weapon, the Chinese taking over the South China Sea... [applause] ...Yes, I believe the world is a safer — no, no, I don't believe, I know that the world is a safer place when America is the strongest military power in the world. [cheering and applause]

PAUL: No. I don't think we're any safer — I do not think we are any safer from bankruptcy court. As we go further, and further into debt, we become less, and less safe. This is the most important thing we're going to talk about tonight. Can you be a conservative, and be liberal on military spending? Can you be for unlimited military spending, and say, Oh, I'm going to make the country safe? No, we need a safe country, but, you know, we spend more on our military than the next ten countries combined?

I want a strong national defense, but I don't want us to be bankrupt. [bell ringing]

[crosstalk]

CRUZ: ...Middle ground that brings both of these together...

FIORINA: ...Yes, the middle ground is this...

CRUZ: ...Exactly right, that we have to defend this nation. You think defending this nation is expensive, try not defending it. That's a lot more expensive. [applause and cheering]

But, you can do that, and pay for it. You can do that, and also be fiscally responsible. You know, I mention that the 25 programs that I put today, that I would eliminate them. Among them are corporate welfare, like sugar subsidies. Let's take that as an example. Sugar subsidies. Sugar farmers farm under... [bell ringing] ...under roughly 0.2% of the farmland in America, and yet they give 40% of the lobbying money. That sort of corporate welfare is why we're bankrupting our kids, and grandkids. I would end those subsidies to pay for defending this nation...

BAKER: ...Gentleman, we need to move on...

FIORINA: ...This is why — this is why we must combine, actually, zero-based budgeting with tax reform because unless we can examine, and cut, and move, every single dollar of discretionary spending in the federal government, we cannot reform taxes and reduce spending at the same time.

Ask yourself this question, how is it possible that the federal government gets more money each and every year, which the federal government has been doing, receiving more money every year for 50 years under republicans and democrats alike, and yet, never has enough money to do the important things?

The answer? All the money's always spoken for. All the money's spoken for. So, we have to go to zero-based budgeting, which is a simple idea — by the way, there's been a bill for zeros-based (ph) budgeting... [bell ringing] ...It exists, it can be voted on. Every dollar must be examined. Any dollar can be cut. Any dollar can be cut, any dollar can be moved. We have to go to a three page tax code. You lower every rate, you close every loophole, why? Because the government uses the tax code to decide winners, and losers. You have to strip the corruption out of the tax code to pay for it. You have to know where every single dollar is being spent...

BAKER: ...We need to move...

FIORINA: ...Cut where you need to, and invest where you need to...

BAKER: ...We need too...

FIORINA: ...The two go hand in hand...

BAKER: ...We do need to move on. Mr. Trump...

TRUMP: Please, if I could just...

BAKER: ...Very quick.

TRUMP: We have to make our military bigger, better, stronger than ever before so that nobody messes with us, and a long run, it's going to save us. I agree with Marco, I agree with Ted, we have no choice. And, I can tell you this with certainty. We all have a different tax plan. Some I don't totally agree with.

One thing we understand, each one of those tax plans is better than the mess that we have right now. [applause]

BAKER: Let's talk about — No, no, Governor, I really must move on. I really want to move on.

Mr. Trump, let's talk about the international economy...

KASICH: ...Mr. Baker, everybody got to talk about taxes...

BAKER: ...We really need to move on...

KASICH: ...I think you were coming to me and then...

BAKER: ...No, governor, I promise I will come to you...

KASICH: ...Look, I hate to crash the party to you, Mr. Baker, but, you know, what's fair...

BAKER: ...Listen...

KASICH: ...Yes, sir...

BAKER: ...Mr. Trump, can I ask you about...

TRUMP: ...Yes...

BAKER: ...the U.S. just concluded an international trade agreement with 11 countries in the Pacific. You've said that you'd rather have no deal...

TRUMP: ...Yeah...

BAKER: ...than sign the one that's on the table...

TRUMP: ...It's a horrible deal...

BAKER: ...Most economists — most economists say that trade is boosted growth, and every single post war president has supported the expansion of international trade, including the last three republican presidents. Why would you reverse more than 50 years of U.S. trade policy?

TRUMP: The TPP is horrible deal. It is a deal that is going to lead to nothing but trouble. It's a deal that was designed for China to come in, as they always do, through the back door and totally take advantage of everyone. It's 5,600 pages long. So complex that nobodies read it. It's like Obamacare; nobody ever read it. They passed it; nobody read it. And look at mess we have right now. And it will be repealed.

But this is one of the worst trade deals. And I would, yes, rather not have it. With all of these countries, and all of the bad ones getting advantage and taking advantage of what the good ones would normally get, I'd rather make individual deals with individual countries. We will do much better. We lose a fortune on trade. The United States loses with everybody. We're losing now over $500 billion in terms of imbalance with China, $75 billion a year imbalance with Japan. By the way, Mexico, $50 billion a year imbalance.

So I must say, Gerard, I just think it's a terrible deal. I love trade. I'm a free trader, 100 percent. But we need smart people making the deals, and we don't have smart people making the deals.

BAKER: The — the deal, as you say, the terms of the deal were published — were published just last week, the details, 5,000 pages of it, and 80 percent of U.S. trade with countries in the Pacific, these countries, these 11 countries, is actually tariff-free, and these — the trade deal only affects the other 20 percent. Which — are there particular parts of the deal that you think were badly negotiated?

TRUMP: Yes. Well, the currency manipulation they don't discuss in the agreement, which is a disaster. If you look at the way China and India and almost everybody takes advantage of the United States — China in particular, because they're so good. It's the number-one abuser of this country. And if you look at the way they take advantage, it's through currency manipulation. It's not even discussed in the almost 6,000-page agreement. It's not even discussed.

BAKER: There was a separate — separate...

[crosstalk]

TRUMP: And as you understand, I mean, you understand very well from the Wall Street Journal, currency manipulation is the single great weapon people have. They don't even discuss it in this agreement.

So I say, it's a very bad deal, should not be approved. If it is approved, it will just be more bad trade deals, more loss of jobs for our country. We are losing jobs like nobody's ever lost jobs before. I want to bring jobs back into this country.

PAUL: Hey, Gerard, you know, we might want to point out China is not part of this deal.

UNKNOWN: True. It's true.

BARTIROMO: That's right. That's right.

PAUL: Before we get a little bit off-kilter here...

BAKER: But isn't that — isn't that part of the problem? When I say, Senator, that if — if this deal is not ratified by — by the U.S. — by the Senate, then it would actually give China an opportunity to grow its economic leadership, which it's been seeking to do? And if the U.S. is unable to take part in this trade deal with these countries in Asia, China will take the lead?

PAUL: There is an argument that China doesn't like the deal, because in us doing the deal, we'll be trading with their competitors. You're exactly right. But I think we've sort of missed the point a little bit here.

There is an important point, though, about how we discuss these trade treaties that I do agree with Mr. Trump on. We should negotiate from a position of strength. And we also should negotiate using the full force and the constitutional power that was given to us. I think it's a mistake that we give up power to the presidency on these trade deals. We give up the power to filibuster, and I'm kind of fond of that power. [laughter]

We give up the power to amend. And I think, really, one of the big problems we have in our country is, over the last century, really, so much power has gravitated to the executive branch. Really, Congress is kind of a bystander. We don't write the rules. We don't make the laws. The executive branch does. So even in trade — and I am for trade — I think we should be careful about giving so much power to the presidency. [applause]

BAKER: Thank you. Thanks, Senator.

BARTIROMO: Coming up, the biggest threats facing the next commander-in-chief. You're watching the Republican presidential debate, live tonight from Milwaukee. We'll be right back.

[commercial break]

BARTIROMO: Welcome back. Welcome back to the Republican presidential debate. The candidates taking the questions you want answered. Also tonight, you can see what America is saying about the debate. Go to Facebook and type #gopdebate into the search box.

Now, back to the questions. Americans face security threats at home and abroad. Last year, terrorist attacks rose 61 percent, according to the Institute for Economics and Peace, with the most deaths occurring in just five countries, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Syria.

Dr. Carson, you were against putting troops on the ground in Iraq and against a large military force in Afghanistan. Do you support the president's decision to now put 50 special ops forces in Syria and leave 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan?

CARSON: Well, putting the special ops people in there is better than not having them there, because they — that's why they're called special ops, they're actually able to guide some of the other things that we're doing there.

And what we have to recognize is that Putin is trying to really spread his influence throughout the Middle East. This is going to be his base. And we have to oppose him there in an effective way.

We also must recognize that it's a very complex place. You know, the Chinese are there, as well as the Russians, and you have all kinds of factions there.

What we've been doing so far is very ineffective, but we can't give up ground right there. But we have to look at this on a much more global scale. We're talking about global jihadists. And their desire is to destroy us and to destroy our way of life. So we have to be saying, how do we make them look like losers? Because that's the way that they're able to gather a lot of influence.

And I think in order to make them look like losers, we have to destroy their caliphate. And you look for the easiest place to do that? It would be in Iraq. And if — outside of Anbar in Iraq, there's a big energy field. Take that from them. Take all of that land from them. We could do that, I believe, fairly easily, I've learned from talking to several generals, and then you move on from there.

But you have to continue to face them, because our goal is not to contain them, but to destroy them before they destroy us. [applause]

BARTIROMO: We asked Facebook to take a look at some of the major issues we're talking about, and tackling in this debate tonight. This word cloud shows what people are focusing on the most. The bigger the word, the more the talk. One of the most discussed issues in the last month, homeland security. Governor Bush, what is the biggest threat facing America today?

BUSH: It is — I'd say it is Islamic terrorism, and, back to the question of what we are dealing with in Iraq, when we pull back voids are filled. That's the lesson of history, and, sadly, this president does not believe in American leadership. He does not believe it, and the net result is that we have a caliphate the size of Indiana that gains energy each and everyday to recruit Americans in our own country, and the threat to the homeland relates to the fact that we have not dealt with this threat of terror in the Middle East.

We should have a no fly zone in Syria. We should have a support for the remnants of the Syrian Free Army, and create safe zones. If you want to deal with the four million refugees that are leaving Syria because of the devastation there, then we 'ought to create safe zones for them to stay in the region rather than go to Europe. And, that requires American leadership.

Without American leadership every other country in the neighborhood beings to change their priorities. It is tragic that you see Iraq, and other countries now talking to Russia. It wasn't that long ago that Russia had no influence in the region at all. And, so, the United States needs to lead across the board.

This president, and Hillary Clinton both do not believe the United States has a leadership role to play, and we're now paying a price, and it will have a huge impact on the economy of this country if we don't deal with this. [applause]

BARTIROMO: Thank you, sir.

Mr. Trump, in 2012 debate, President Obama mocked Mitt Romney's assertion that Russia was the top geopolitical challenge facing the United States, saying he was a Cold War dinosaur. Now, Russia has invaded Ukraine, and has put troops in Syria. You have said you will have a good relationship with Mr. Putin. So, what does President Trump do in response to Russia's aggression?

TRUMP: Well, first of all, it's not only Russia. We have problems with North Korea where they actually have nuclear weapons. You know, nobody talks about it, we talk about Iran, and that's one of the worst deals ever made. One of the worst contracts ever signed, ever, in anything, and it's a disgrace. But, we have somebody over there, a madman, who already has nuclear weapons we don't talk about that. That's a problem.

China is a problem, both economically in what they're doing in the South China Sea, I mean, they are becoming a very, very major force. So, we have more than just Russia. But, as far as the Ukraine is concerned, and you could Syria — as far as Syria, I like — if Putin wants to go in, and I got to know him very well because we were both on 60 Minutes, we were stablemates, and we did very well that night.

But, you know that.

But, if Putin wants to go and knocked the hell out of ISIS, I am all for it, 100%, and I can't understand how anybody would be against it...

BUSH: ...They're not doing that...

TRUMP: ...They blew up — hold it....

BUSH: [inaudible]

TRUMP: ...They blew up, wait a minute... [audience reaction] ...They blew up a Russian airplane. He cannot be in love with these people. He's going in, and we can go in, and everybody should go in. As far as the Ukraine is concerned, we have a group of people, and a group of countries, including Germany — tremendous economic behemoth — why are we always doing the work?

We are — I'm all for protecting Ukraine and working — but, we have countries that are surrounding the Ukraine that aren't doing anything. They say, "Keep going, keep going, you dummies, keep going. Protect us..." [bell ringing] ...And we have to get smart. We can't continue to be the policeman of the world. We are $19 trillion dollars, we have a country that's going to hell, we have an infrastructure that's falling apart. Our roads, our bridges, our schools, our airports, and we have to start investing money in our country. [applause]

BARTIROMO: Thank you, sir.

BUSH: Donald — Donald's wrong on this. He is absolutely wrong on this. We're not going to be the world's policeman, but we sure as heck better be the world's leader. That's — there's a huge difference where, without us leading... [cheering] ...voids are filled, and the idea that it's a good idea for Putin to be in Syria, let ISIS take out Assad, and then Putin will take out ISIS? I mean, that's like a board game, that's like playing Monopoly or something. That's not how the real world works.

We have to lead, we have to be involved. We should have a no fly zone in Syria. There are — they are barrel bombing the innocents in that country. If you're a Christian, increasingly in Lebanon, or Iraq, or Syria, you're going to be beheaded. And, if you're a moderate Islamist, you're not going to be able to survive either.

We have to play a role in this be able to bring the rest of the world to this issue before it's too late.

TRUMP: Assad is a bad guy, but we have no idea who the so-called rebels — I read about the rebels, nobody even knows who they are. I spoke to a general two weeks ago, he said — he was very up on exactly what we're talking about. He said, "You know, Mr. Trump? We're giving hundreds of millions of dollars of equipment to these people, we have no idea who they are."

So, I don't like Assad. Who's going to like Assad? But, we have no idea who these people, and what they're going to be, and what they're going to represent. They may be far worse than Assad. Look at Libya. Look at Iraq. Look at the mess we have after spending $2 trillion dollars, thousands of lives, wounded warriors all over the place — who I love, OK? All over.

We have nothing. And, I said, keep the oil. And we should have kept the oil, believe me. We should have kept the oil. And, you know what? We should have given the oil... [bell ringing] ..We should've given big chunks to the people that lost their arms, their legs, and their families, and their sons, and daughters, because right now, you know who has a lot of that oil? Iran, and ISIS.

FIORINA: You know, Mr. Trump fancies himself a very good negotiator. And, I accept that he's done a lot of good deals, so, Mr. Trump 'ought to know that we should not speak to people from a position of weakness. Senator Paul should know that as well.

One of the reasons I've said that I would not be talking to Vladimir Putin right now, although I have met him as well, not in a green room for a show, but in a private meeting. [laughter, applause, and cheering]

One of the reasons I've said I wouldn't be talking to Vladimir Putin right now is because we are speaking to him from a position of weakness brought on by this administration, so, I wouldn't talk to him for awhile, but, I would do this. I would start rebuilding the Sixth Fleet right under his nose, rebuilding the military — the missile defense program in Poland right under his nose. I would conduct very aggressive military exercises in the Baltic States so that he understood we would protect our NATO allies... [bell ringing] ...and I might also put in a few more thousand troops into Germany, not to start a war, but to make sure that Putin understand that the United States of America will stand with our allies. That is why Governor Bush is correct. We must have a no fly zone in Syria because Russia cannot tell the United States of America where and when to fly our planes. We also have a set of allies... [applause] ...We also have a set of allies in the Arab Middle East that know that ISIS is their fight. They have asked us specifically over, and over again to support them. King Abdullah of Jordan, a man I've known for a very long time, has asked us for bombs and material, we have not provided it.

The Egyptians are asking us to share intelligence, we are not, I will. The Kurds have asked us to arm them for three years, we are not, I would. The Egyptians, the Saudis, the Kuwaitis, the Bahrain's, the Emirati, the Kurds... [bell ringing] ...all of these, I know, by the way, understand ISIS is their fight, but they must see leadership support and resolve from the United States of America...

UNKNOWN: ...let me follow up that...

FIORINA: ...we have the strongest military on the face of the planet, and everyone has to know it.

CAVUTO: Senator Paul... [applause and cheering] Senator Paul, you have already said, sir, that that would be a mistake in not talking to Vladimir Putin, or to rule it out. You've argued that it's never a good idea to close down communication. With that in mind, do you think the same applies to administration efforts right now to include the Iranians in talks on Syria?

PAUL: I'd like first to respond to the acquisition, we should — I think it's particularly naive, particularly foolish to think that we're not going to talk to Russia. The idea of a no fly zone, realize that this is also something that Hillary Clinton agrees with several on our side with, you're asking for a no fly zone in an area in which Russia already flies.

Russia flies in that zone at the invitation of Iraq. I'm not saying it's a good thing, but you better know at least what we're getting into. So, when you think it's going to be a good idea to have a no fly zone over Iraq, realize that means you are saying we are going to shoot down Russian planes. If you're ready for that, be ready to send your sons and daughters to another war in Iraq.

I don't want to see that happen. I think the first war in Iraq was a mistake... [cheering and applause] You can be strong without being involved in every civil war around the war...

UNKNOWN: [inaudible]

CAVUTO: ...Well, then how would you respond?

PAUL: Ronald Reagan was strong, but Ronald Reagan didn't...

FIORINA: ...Ronald Reagan walked away at Reykjavik.

PAUL: ...send troops into the Middle East...

FIORINA: ...he walked away, he quit talks...

PAUL: ...Can I finish...

FIORINA: ...when it was time to quit talking...

PAUL: ...Can I finish my time?

Could I finish with my time?

TRUMP: Why does she keep interrupting everybody? [laughter]

Terrible. [booing]

PAUL: Yes, I would like to finish my response, basically.

RUBIO: You know, if I may respond...

PAUL: This is an important question. This is an incredibly important question. And the question goes to be, who do we want to be our commander-in-chief? Do you want a commander-in-chief who says something that we never did throughout the entire Cold War, to discontinue having conversations with the Russians?

I am not happy about them flying over there. But I'm not naive enough to say, well, Iraq has them flying over their airspace, we're just going to announce that we're shooting them down?

That is naive to the point of being something you might hear in junior high. But it's scary...

[crosstalk]

CAVUTO: But if you're not going to respond in a no-fly zone strategy, what would yours be?

PAUL: The first thing I would do is I wouldn't arm our enemies. I wouldn't arm ISIS. [cheering and applause]

Most of the people who want to the no-fly zone also favored arming the allies of al Qaeda, which became ISIS. That was the dumbest, most foolhardy notion. And most of the people up here supported it. They wanted to arm the allies of al Qaeda. Some of them still do.

That's how ISIS grew. We pushed back Assad, and ISIS was allowed to grow in the vacuum. So the first thing you do is don't arm your enemies.

[crosstalk]

RUBIO: I need to add a couple of points to this. The first is, I've never met Vladimir Putin, but I know enough about him to know he is a gangster. He is basically an organized crime figure that runs a country, controls a $2 trillion economy. And is using to build up his military in a rapid way despite the fact his economy is a disaster.

He understands only geopolitical strength. And every time he has acted anywhere in the world, whether it's in Ukraine or Georgia before that, or now in the Middle East, it's because he is trusting in weakness.

His calculation in the Middle East is that he has seen what this president has done, which is nothing, the president has no strategy, our allies in the region do not trust us. For goodness sake, there is only one pro-American free enterprise democracy in the Middle East, it is the state of Israel.

And we have a president that treats the prime minister of Israel with less respect than what he gives the ayatollah in Iran. And so our allies in the region don't trust us. [cheering and applause]

Vladimir Putin is exploiting that weakness, for purposes of edging the Americans out as the most important geopolitical power broker in the region. And we do have a vested interest. And here's why.

Because all those radical terrorist groups that, by the way, are not just in Syria and in Iraq, ISIS is now in Libya. They are a significant presence in Libya, and in Afghanistan, and a growing presence in Pakistan.

Soon they will be in Turkey. They will try Jordan. They will try Saudi Arabia. They are coming to us. They recruit Americans using social media. And they don't hate us simply because we support Israel. They hate us because of our values. They hate us because our girls go to school. They hate us because women drive in the United States.

Either they win or we win, and we had better take this risk seriously, it is not going away on its own. [cheering and applause]

BAKER: Thank you, Senator.

Governor Kasich, I want to ask you about China, in particular hundreds of American companies have been subjected to cyber attacks from the Chinese military, yet state-backed Chinese companies, growing their presence in the United States, Chinese investments in U.S., which were nearly nonexistent a few years ago, are now over $50 billion. And as my newspaper recently reported, Chinese companies are planning to bid for one of the largest hotel chains in the United States, what would be the largest ever Chinese takeover of a U.S. company. Would you stop them?

KASICH: Let me tell you this, Mr. Baker, in terms of the cyber attacks, we have the capability to not only have a defensive posture, but it also to make it clear to people that if you attack us with cyber attacks, we will destroy the mechanisms that you are using to attack us.

I want to give you a little trip around the world. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years. In the Ukraine, arm the people there so they can fight for themselves. In the eastern part of Europe, make sure that Finland and the Baltics know that if the Russians move, we move.

In Syria, yes, a no-fly zone in the north on the Turkish border, a no-fly zone on the south on the Jordanian border. Anybody flies in the first time, maybe they can fly out. They fly in there a second time, they will not fly out.

And it also becomes a sanctuary for the people to be. And it also sends many messages in the Middle East that we're still involved.

Saudi Arabia, cut off the funding for the radical clerics, the ones that preach against us. But they're fundamentally our friends. Jordan, we want the king to reign for 1,000 years. Egypt, they have been our ally and a moderating force in the Middle East throughout their history.

In the groups — in the countries of the Gulf states of Bahrain, the Cleveland Clinic is opening an operation. Clearly we see the same with them. And in Israel, we have no better ally in the world, and no more criticizing them in public, we should support them.

And finally China, China doesn't own the South China Sea, and I give the president some credit for being able to move a naval force in there to let the Chinese know that we're not going to put up with it any more.

And in the trade agreement, the TPP, it's critical to us, not only for economic reasons and for jobs, because there are so many people who are connected to getting jobs because of trade, but it allows us to create not only economy alliances, but also potentially strategic alliances against the Chinese. They are not our enemy, but they are certainly not our friend.

And finally, I will say to everyone in this room, we have been talking about taxes and economics. When the fall comes, and we run against Hillary, which will be a disaster if she got elected. I have two 16-year-old girls, and I want this country to be strong.

We make promises we can't keep under the bright light of the fall, we will have trouble. We must make sure that economic programs and our military programs are solid. I served in Washington as the chairman of the Budget Committee, and we got the budget balanced.

And in Ohio, as the CEO, and guess what, we have got to have a CEO mentality and a way to beat Hillary Clinton and the Democracies in the fall. And our ideas have to add up. They have to be solid. And people have to know we have the confidence to lead America.

And as president, I will lead this country, as I have before in Washington and in Ohio, and will return both on domestic and international affairs. And I appreciate the opportunity to speak this time, Gerry. [applause]

BAKER: Thank you, Governor. Plenty of opportunities. Thank you.

Neil?

CAVUTO: All right. And look at the time, look at the time. You are watching FOX Business, we'll take a break. Stick around.

[commercial break]

BAKER: Welcome back to the Republican presidential debate, live from Milwaukee.

Now let's get straight back to the questions, and Governor Bush.

Governor, Hillary Clinton recently said that if we had another financial crisis like the one in 2008, she wouldn't bail out the banks. Would you?

BUSH: We're not — we shouldn't have another financial crisis. What we ought to do is raise the capital requirements so banks aren't too big to fail. Dodd-Frank has actually done the opposite, totally the opposite, where banks now have higher concentration of risk in assets and the capital requirements aren't high enough. If we were serious about it, we would raise the capital requirements and lessen the load on the community banks and other financial institutions. This vast overreach has created a huge problem for our country, and Hillary Clinton wants to double down on that.

I was in Washington, Iowa, about three months ago talking about how bad Washington, D.C., is. It was — get the — kind of the — anyway. We had... [laughter]

It — and I talked to a banker there. This is a bank that had $125 million of assets, four branches. Their compliance costs because of Dodd-Frank went from $100,000 to $600,000 in a two-year period. The net effect of that is — and they had — they had not one loan that went bad during the financial crisis. They knew — they knew their borrowers. They gave back to the community. They were engaged in the community. And imagine America without its community banks. Well, that's what's happening because of Dodd-Frank. That's — that's my worry. My worry is that the real economy has been hurt by the vast overreach of the Obama administration.

And Hillary Clinton, she wants to double down on that. She wants to create even more so. She is a captive of the left of her party to the point now where she is — she was for the trade agreement in — the Pacific agreement. Now she's against it. She was — hinted she was for the XL pipeline. Now she's opposed to it. All the things that would create sustained economic growth she's now doubling down against it.

BAKER: But, Governor, but can I just quickly — did — you can't seriously guarantee that there won't be another financial crisis, can you?

BUSH: You could, if you were serious about...

BAKER: Ever? There will never be another financial crisis?

BUSH: No, I can't say that. But I can say, if you created higher capital requirements, that's the solution to this, not having concentration of assets. The bigger banks now have more and more control over — over the financial assets of this country. And that is the wrong approach to take.

BAKER: Dr. Carson, if I may, just on that point, despite measures taken, as the governor says, since the crisis to make the financial system safer, the major banks in the U.S., many of them are actually bigger than ever. Asset held by JPMorgan Chase, for example, the very largest bank, have increased by nearly 40 percent to over $2.6 trillion. Do you think JPMorgan and the other big banks should be broken up?

CARSON: Well, I think we should have policies that don't allow them to just enlarge themselves at the expense of smaller entities. And certainly some of the policies, some of the monetary and Fed policies that we're using makes it very easy for them, makes it very easy for the big corporations, quite frankly, at these very low interest rates to buy back their stock and to drive the price of that up artificially. Those are the kinds of things that led to the problem in the first place.

And I think this all really gets back to this whole regulation issue which is creating a very abnormal situation. This country was — declared its independence in 1776. In less than 100 years, it was the number-one economic power in the world. And the reason was because we had an atmosphere that encouraged entrepreneurial risk- taking and capital investment. Those are the fuels that drive it.

And what we've done now is let the creep of regulation turn into a stampede of regulations, which is involved in every aspect of our lives. If we can get that out, it makes a big difference. And even for the average person, every single regulation costs money. And it's shifted to the individual.

So — and it hurts the poor and the middle class much more than it does the rich. They go into the store and they buy a bar of soap, it costs 10 cents more, they notice it. And the middle class, when they come to the cash register, have a whole cart full of things that cost 5, 10 or 15 cents more, they notice it. It is hurting the poor.

Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton won't tell you that that's the thing that's really hurting middle class in the core. They'll say it's the rich, take their money, but that won't help. You can take all of the rich's money and it won't make a dent in the problem that we're having. We have to come back to the fundamental principles that made America great. [applause]

BAKER: But just to be clear, just — just to be clear, then, you wouldn't — you wouldn't favor breaking up the big banks? You think they're big enough — they're OK as they are, as big as they are?

CARSON: I would have policies that wouldn't allow that to occur. I don't want to go in and tear anybody down. I mean, that doesn't help us. But what does help us is stop tinkering around the edges and fix the actual problems that exist that are creating the problem in the first place.

BAKER: Thank you, Dr. Carson.

RUBIO: Can I just add what — he's right on point there. Do you know why these banks are so big? The government made them big. The government made them big by adding thousands and thousands of pages of regulations. So the big banks, they have an army of lawyers, they have an army of compliance officers. They can deal with all these things. The small banks, like Governor Bush was saying, they can't deal with all these regulations. They can't deal with all — they cannot hire the fanciest law firm in Washington or the best lobbying firm to deal with all these regulations. And so the result is, the big banks get bigger, the small banks struggle to lend or even exist, and the result is what you have today.

And in Dodd-Frank, you have actually codified too big to fail. We have actually created a category of systemically important institutions, and these banks go around bragging about it. You know what they say to people with a wink and a nod? We are so big, we are so important that if we get in trouble, the government has to bail us out. This is an outrage. We need to repeal Dodd-Frank as soon as possible. [applause]

KASICH: Let me — let me also say, Gary — Gary, let me also say, Jeb is — what Jeb is talking about with the big banks is to force them to reserve their capital, people who invest it and they hold their capital, so that if the bank goes down, the people who are invested in the bank are the ones that pay. That's what he's trying to say.

Secondly, I'll tell you about Wall Street: There's too much greed. And the fact is, a free enterprise system is a system that's produced the greatest wealth for the world. But you know Michael Novak, the great Catholic theologian, says that a free enterprise system that is not underlaid with values — and we should all think about the way we conduct our lives — yes, free enterprise is great, profits are great, but there have to be some values that underlay it, and they need a good ethics lesson on Wall Street on a regular basis to keep them in check so we, the people, do not lose.

BAKER: Thank you.

PAUL: Gerard, can I comment...

[crosstalk]

CAVUTO: Senator Cruz — and I will get to you — but, Senator Cruz, on that theme, Facebook data shows that over the last month alone, nearly 1 million people — nearly 1 million — have been concerned about reining in Wall Street, apparently believing that some have not been punished enough.

So, as an accomplished litigator yourself and a former solicitor general, would you go after the very people who believe and fear that Wall Street has ignored, in other words, the crooks that Bernie Sanders say have gotten away with a financial murder?

CRUZ: Absolutely yes. You know, I have spent much of my adult life enforcing the law and defending the Constitution. And the problem that underlies all of this is the cronyism and corruption of Washington.

You know, the opening question Jerry asked, would you bail out the big banks again? Nobody gave you an answer to that. I'll give you an answer. Absolutely not. [applause]

And what we have right now is we have Washington — as government gets bigger and bigger, you know, the biggest lie in all of Washington and in all of politics is that Republicans are the party of the rich. The truth is, the rich do great with big government. They get in bed with big government. The big banks get bigger and bigger and bigger under Dodd-Frank and community banks are going out of business. And, by the way, the consequence of that is small businesses can't get business loans, and it is that fundamental corruption that is why six of the 10 wealthiest counties in America are in and around Washington, D.C.

And let me give you a contrast to Washington cronyism. Some weeks ago, a woman named Sabina Loving testified at a hearing that I chaired in the Senate. Sabina Loving is an African-American single mom who started a tax preparation business in the south side of Chicago. She found a store front, she wanted to have her own business. She started a business.

But then the IRS promulgated new regulations targeting tax preparers. They did it under a more than 100-year-old statute called the Dead Horse Act. Now, this statute and the IRS in classic Washington crony fashion had exemptions for lawyers and big fancy accountants, but Sabina had to pay $1,000 an employee. It would have driven her out of business, and Ms. Loving sued the IRS. She took the Obama IRS to court, and she won, and they struck down the rule for picking the big guys over the little guys.

CAVUTO: Senator...[crosstalk]...Senator, I really want to be clear here. Are you saying, sir, that if Bank of America were on the brink, you would let it fail?

CRUZ: Yes. Now, let's be clear, there is a role for the Federal Reserve — what the Fed is doing now is it is a series of philosopher- kings trying to guess what's happening with the economy. You look at the Fed, one of the reasons we had the financial crash is throughout the 2000s, we had loose money, we had an asset bubble, it drove up the price of real estate, drove up the price of commodities, and then in the third quarter of 2008, the Fed tightened the money and crashed those asset prices, which caused a cascading collapse. That's why I am supporting getting back to rules-based monetary system not with a bunch of philosopher-kings deciding, but tied...

[crosstalk]

CAVUTO: Sir, I understand that. I just want to be clear, if you don't mind, that millions of depositors would be on the line with that decision. And I just want to be clear. If it were to happen again, for whatever the reason, you would let it go, you would let a Bank of America go?

CRUZ: So let me be clear. I would not bail them out, but instead of adjusting monetary policy according to whims and getting it wrong over and over again and causing booms and busts, what the Fed should be doing is, number one, keeping our money tied to a stable level of gold, and, number two, serving as a lender of last resort.

That's what central banks do. So if you have a run on the bank, the Fed can serve as a lender of last resort, but it's not a bailout. It is a loan at higher interest rates. That's how central banks have worked.

And I'll point out — look, we had a gold standard under Bretton Woods, we had it for about 170 years of our nation's history, and enjoyed booming economic growth and lower inflation than we have had with the Fed now.

We need to get back to sound money, which helps, in particular, working men and women. What Washington does — the people who are doing well in the Obama economy are those with power and influence in the Obama government. The people who [inaudible] working men and women...

[crosstalk]

KASICH: Neil, that's the difference of being an executive. And let me just explain: when a bank is ready to go under and depositors are getting ready to lose their life savings, you just don't say we believe in philosophical concerns. You know what an executive has to decide? When there's a water crisis, how do we get water to the city? When there's a school shooting, how do you get there and help heal a community? When there are financial crisis, or a crisis with ebola, you got to go there and try to fix it.

Philosophy doesn't work when you run something. And I gotta tell you, on-the-job training for president of the United States doesn't work. We've done it for 8 years, — and almost 8 years now. It does not work. [applause]

We need an executive who's been tried, has been tested, and judge the decisions that that executive makes. I don't like what the Fed is doing, but I'll tell you what worries me more than anything else: turning the Fed over to the Congress of the United States...

BARTIROMO: Thank you, governor.

CRUZ: So, Governor Kasich...

KASICH: ...so they can print the money. That would be a very bad approach.

BARTIROMO: Senator Rubio.

CRUZ: ...why would you then bail out rich Wall Street banks, but not Main street, not Mom and Pop, not Sabina Loving?

KASICH: I wouldn't. I wouldn't.

CRUZ: But you just said an executive...

KASICH: No. No, I didn't say that.

CRUZ: ...knows to step in and bail out a bank.

KASICH: They were — they were talking about what you would do with depositors. Would you let these banks shut down?

My argument is, going forward, the banks have to reserve the capital, so that the — so that the people who own the capital start pressuring the banks to not take these risky approaches, Ted.

But at the end of the day...

CRUZ: So you said you'd abandon philosophy and abandon principle...

KASICH: ... I'm gonna tell you this. Let me tell you this. If during — if during...

CRUZ: ...but what would you do if the bank was failing?

KASICH: ...because if during — well, I'll tell you what (ph). CRUZ: What would you do if the bank was failing?

I would not let the people who put their money in there all go down.

CRUZ: So you — you would bail them out.

KASICH: As an executive — no. As an executive, I would figure out how to separate those people who can afford it versus those people, or the hard-working folks who put those money in those institutions...[booing]... let me — no, no. Let me say another thing. Here's what I mean by that. Here's what I mean by that.

UNKNOWN: Oh, great.

KASICH: When you are faced — when you are faced, in the last financial crisis, with banks going under — with banks going under, and people, people who put their — their life savings in there, you got to deal with it. You can't turn a blind eye to it.

Now, going forward, that's one thing. If you had another financial crisis, perhaps there would be an effort to make sure that we do (ph).

BARTIROMO: Thank you, Governor Kasich.

FIORINA: Can I just — could I just say, as a chief executive who's had to make tough calls to save jobs and to grow jobs, I think what's interesting about Dodd-Frank is it's a great example of how socialism starts.

Socialism starts when government creates a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. Government created the problem. [applause]

Government created the problem of a real estate boom. How did we create it? Under Republican and Democrats alike, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, everybody gathered together, Republicans and Democrats, and said, "home ownership is part of the American dream. Let's create a bubble," and then government stepped in — by the way, under president George W. Bush, banks were told — encouraged — told, really — to buy other banks, to take money.

And now what do we have with Dodd-Frank? The classic of crony capitalism. The big have gotten bigger, 1,590 community banks have gone out of business, and on top of all that, we've created something called the Consumer Financial Production Bureau, a vast bureaucracy with no congressional oversight that's digging through hundreds of millions of your credit records to detect fraud.

This is how socialism starts, ladies and gentlemen. We must take our government back. [applause]

BARTIROMO: More questions — more questions coming up, when the Republican presidential debate comes right back, live from Milwaukee. Stay with us.

[commercial break]

BARTIROMO: Welcome back to the fourth Republican presidential debate.

Senator Rubio, Hillary Clinton is the clear front runner for the Democratic nomination. If she is indeed the nominee, you will be facing a candidate with an impressive resume.

She was the first lady of the United States, a U.S. senator from New York, and secretary of state under Barack Obama. She has arguably more experience, certainly more time in government than almost all of you on stage tonight.

Why should the American people trust you to lead this country, even though she has been so much closer to the office?

RUBIO: Well, that's a great question, and let me begin by answering it. [laughter]

This election is about the future, about what kind of country this nation is gonna be in the 21st century. This next (ph) election is actually a generational choice. A choice about what kind of nation we will be in the 21st century.

For over 2.5 centuries, America's been a special country, the one place on earth where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything, a nation that's been a force for good on this planet.

But now, a growing number of Americans feel out of place in their own country. We have a society that stigmatizes those that hold cultural values that are traditional.

We have a society where people — millions of people — are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, but they're living paycheck to paycheck because the economy has changed underneath their feet.

We have young Americans who owe thousands of dollars in student loans for a degree that doesn't lead to a job. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses dying than starting, and around the world, every day brings news of a new humiliation for America — many the direct response — direct consequence of decisions made when Hillary Clinton was the secretary of the — of state.

And so here's the truth: this election is about the future, and the Democratic Party, and the political left has no ideas about the future. All their ideas are the same, tired ideas of the past. More government, more spending. For every issue for America, their answer is a new tax on someone, and a new government program. This nation is going to turn the page, and that's what this election should be about, and, as I said at the first debate... [bell ringing] ...If I am our nominee, they will be the party of the past, we will be the party of the 21st century. [cheering]

CRUZ: And, Maria, I will note, she's got a lot of experience, but her policies have proven disastrous. If you look at foreign policy, every region in the world has gotten worse. Under her leadership, we abandon the nation of Israel. Under her leadership, radical Islamic terrorism has been on to the rise. Under her leadership, and Obama's leadership, Iran is getting $100 billion dollars, and on the verge of getting a nuclear weapon.

Everything she's put her hand to, or has touched — and when we talk about the cronyism of Washington, Hillary Clinton embodies the cronyism... [bell ringing] ...of Washington. And, I'll give you an example of that, which is the Congressional exemption from Obamacare, which is fundamentally wrong, and I'll tell you this, if I'm elected president, I will veto any statute that exempts members of congress. The law should apply evenly to every American. [applause]

CAVUTO: OK, I think it's fair to say you're not fans of Hillary Clinton's resume. Alright, Mr. Trump....

TRUMP: We are not.

CAVUTO: I had a feeling. Perhaps the most successful capitalist on this stage tonight, you've acknowledged that some give capitalism a bad name. You've been particularly critical of businesses that find all sorts of ways of paying their taxes by keeping money abroad, but your own plan includes an incentive to bring — that more the $2 trillion dollars home.

Isn't that, like, a one-time bounty...

TRUMP: ...No, no, no...

CAVUTO: ...Some of the guys you all but call pirates, so they still keep the loot, and pay only a price to bring it back.

TRUMP: Well, what's happening right now, Neil, is something that not been a subject of conversation by politicians. As primarily the only politician, I guess other than Carly on the stage, they haven't talked about a corporate inversion. A corporate inversion — companies are leaving. You know, we used to leave New York to go to Florida. We got better taxes, we got, maybe, something else.

Now, they're the United States to go to other countries. They have trillions of dollars in those other countries. They're going for two reasons, they can't get their money back in. It's something where the democrats and the republicans both agree, it's the only thing I can think of. They both agree, let the money come back in.

Three and a half years, they still can't make a deal. They can't get the money in. It's probably two and a half trillion, but, I think it's much more than that. All of that money could become — could come right in and be used to rebuild our country, and investments in our country. They can't do it. What we have to do, and what I've done, is made the tax rate — and one of the reasons they don't [inaudible] the taxes so obnoxious, they can't do it.

Where, I made it a 10% number, as you know. I've been very highly praised for it. A lot of money's going to come back in, we're going to get rid of the bureaucratic problems, and roadblocks, because that's also a problem. And, we're going to have all of this money pour back into the United States. It's going to be used to build businesses, for jobs, and everything else.

And, as I say, my expression is, let's make America great again. [applause]

BARTIROMO: Senator Paul, you were one of 15 republicans to vote for an amendment which states that human activity contributed to climate change. President Obama has announced an aggressive plan to cut carbon emissions. At the same time, energy production in America has boomed. Is it possible to continue this boom, and move toward energy self-sufficiency, while at the same time pursuing a meaningful climate change program?

PAUL: The first thing I would do as president is repeal the regulations that are hampering our energy that the President has put in place. [applause]

Including the Clean Power Act. While I do think that man may have a role in our climate, I think nature also has a role. The planet's 4.5 billion years old, we've been through geologic age after geologic age. We've had times when the temperatures been warmer, we've had times when the temperatures been colder. We've had times when the carbon in the atmosphere's been higher. So, I think before we — we need to look before we leap.

President's often fond of saying he wants a balance solution, but, really we do need to balance both keeping the environment clean, and we will have some rules for that. We got to balance that with the economy.

He's devastated my state. I say the President's not only destroying Kentucky, he's destroying the democrat party down there because nobody wants to associate with him. So, what we really need is somebody that understands that we do need energy of all forms, and that means we will have solar, and wind, and hydro, but we will still have coal, and we still will have natural gas. And, we've got to have an all of the above policy.

But, it would be a mistake to shut down all of our industries in the coal fields, and shut down the coal power plants. If we did so we're going to have a day where we wake up and some of our big cities are either very cold, or very hot. So, I think it's a big danger, and we shouldn't do it. And, what we should do is say we want all of the above... [bell ringing] ...We want to free up the energy sector, and let people produce, let them drill, let them explore.

BUSH: Maria? [applause]

CRUZ: Maria, critically, when it comes to climate change...

BUSH: ...We've had a 10% reduction in carbon emissions, and it isn't because of Solyndra. It isn't because of the central planners in Washington D.C. It's because we've had a great American success story, the explosion of natural gas.

Taking two existing technologies, and applying it through innovation has created lower carbon emissions, lower energy costs — 40% of all the economic activity in the age of Obama has come from the energy sector, and Hillary Clinton wants to suppress that. We — I think we ought to be expanding this. High growth is the path to lower carbon, and more jobs.

I know for a fact, as Governor of the State of Florida, we created the largest land purchasing programs, and environment clean-up programs because we had a growing economy. Our revenues were growing at 4.4%. It allowed for resources to be able to protect the natural system.

We got to get to a conservation... [bell ringing] ...in environmental policy that goes beyond just carbon...

CRUZ: ...Our — our...

CAVUTO: ...Alright, gentlemen, I know you want to — and I want to, be we also promised to get people home tonight, and we are going to take a quick break here. I think it is fair to say at this juncture that you can discuss these issues, and only business issues, but still keep it interesting. Stick around for these candidates closing statements. [applause]

[commercial break]

BAKER: Welcome back to the Republican presidential debate. And now, candidates, it's time for your closing statements. You get 30 seconds each, and, Senator Paul, we will begin with you.

PAUL: We're the richest, freest, most humanitarian nation in the history of mankind. But we also borrow a million dollars a minute. And the question I have for all Americans is, think about it, can you be a fiscal conservative if you don't conserve all of the money? If you're a profligate spender, you spend money in an unlimited fashion for the military, is that a conservative notion? We have to be conservative with all spending, domestic spending and welfare spending. I'm the only fiscal conservative on the stage. [applause]

BAKER: Thank you, Senator. Governor Kasich?

KASICH: Well, ladies and gentlemen, if Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders were to win this election, my 16-year-olds, I — I worry about what their life is going to be like.

You know, the conservative movement is all about opportunity. It is about lower taxes. It's about balanced budgets. It's about less regulation. And it's about sending power, money and influence back to where we live so we can run America from the bottom up.

In addition to that, once we have the power and the money and the influence with programs we shift out, that each of us have a responsibility to reach out and to rebuild our families, make them stronger, and connect our neighborhoods. All that together — wealth, connection, family — America's greatest days are ahead. We must win this election. [applause]

BARTIROMO: Carly Fiorina?

FIORINA: Imagine a Clinton presidency. Our military will continue to deteriorate. Our veterans will not be cared for. And, no, Mrs. Clinton, that situation is not exaggerated. The rich will get richer. The poor will get poorer. The middle class will continue to get crushed.

And as bad as that picture is, what's even worse is that a Clinton presidency will corrode the character of this nation. Why? Because of the Clinton way: Say whatever you have to, lie as long as you can get away with it.

We must beat Hillary Clinton. Carly Fiorina can beat Hillary Clinton. I will beat Hillary Clinton. And under a President Fiorina, we will restore the character of this nation, the security of this nation, the prosperity of this nation, because as citizens, we will take our government back. [applause]

BARTIROMO: Former Governor Jeb Bush?

BUSH: Jane Horton is sitting with my wife here today. Her husband, Chris, was killed in action in Afghanistan. And Jane spends her time now defending and fighting for military families. They're both heroes.

I don't think we need an agitator-in-chief or a divider-in-chief. We need a commander-in-chief that will rebuild our military and restore respect to our veterans by revamping and fixing a broken Veterans Administration, That's my pledge to you. I ask for your support. Thank you. [applause]

BARTIROMO: Senator Ted Cruz?

CRUZ: Fifty-eight years ago, my father fled Cuba. As he stood on the deck of that ferryboat with the wind and salt air blowing, he looked back at the oppression and torture he was escaping. And yet he looked forward to the promise of America. His story is our story. What ties Americans together is we are all the children of those who risked everything for freedom.

America is in crisis now. I believe in America. And if we get back to the free market principles and constitutional liberties that built this country, we can turn this country around. I believe that 2016 will be an election like 1980, that we will win by following Reagan's admonition to paint in bold colors, not pale pastels. We're building a grassroots army. I ask you to join us at tedcruz.org. And we, the people, can turn this nation around. [applause]

CAVUTO: Senator Marco Rubio?

RUBIO: Ours — the story of America is an extraordinary story. It is the story of a nation that for over two centuries each generation has left the next better off than themselves. But now, because Washington is out of touch, for the fault of both political parties, for the first time in our history, that is in doubt.

And that is what this election must be about, because if the next four years are anything like the last eight years, our children will be the first Americans ever left worse off by their parents. This election is about making a different choice, about applying our principles of limited government and free enterprise to the unique issues of our time. And if we do, we will not just save the American dream. We will expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And the 21st century can be a new American century.

So tonight, I ask you for your vote and I ask you to join us at my website, marcorubio.com. [laughter and applause]

BARTIROMO: He's funny.

CAVUTO: Dr. Ben Carson?

CARSON: In the two hours of this — of this debate, five people have died from drug-related deaths, $100 million has been added to our national debt, 200 babies have been killed by abortionists, and two veterans have taken their lives out of despair. This is a narrative that we can change, not we the Democrats, not we the Republicans, but we the people of America, because there is something special about this nation, and we must embrace it and be proud of it and never give it away for the sake of political correctness. [applause]

CAVUTO: Donald Trump?

TRUMP: Thank you. Over the years, I've created tens of thousands of jobs and a great company. It's a company I'm very proud of. Some of the most iconic assets anywhere in the world. And I will tell you, I don't have to give you a website because I'm self-funding my campaign. I'm putting up my own money.

I want to do something really special. I want to make our country greater than it's ever been. I think we have that potential. We cannot lose this election. We cannot let Hillary Clinton, who is the worst secretary of state in the history of our country, win this election.

We will fight. We will win. And we truly will make this even more special. We have to make it better than ever before. And I will tell you, the United States can actually be better than ever before. Thank you.

CAVUTO: Candidates, we want to thank you all. We also appreciate your helping save time by talking over one another at times. That was welcomed. But by all means, it was a very riveting debate. Business issues can be — can be riveting, because it wasn't about us, it's about them.

BARTIROMO: Thank you.

CAVUTO: That'll do it. Thank you for joining us.

NOTE: The criteria for appearing in the main debate is explained as, "Candidates polling at 2.5 percent average or above in the four latest national polls through November 4". For the "undercard" debate, "Candidates who reach at least 1 percent in the polls will be eligible."
+ Citation: Presidential Candidates Debates: "Republican Candidates Debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin," November 10, 2015. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=110908. +
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Republican Candidates Debate in Boulder, Colorado
October 28, 2015
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PARTICIPANTS:
Former Governor Jeb Bush (FL);
Ben Carson;
Governor Chris Christie (NJ);
Senator Ted Cruz (TX);
Carly Fiorina;
Former Governor Mike Huckabee (AR);
Governor John Kasich (OH);
Senator Rand Paul (KY);
Senator Marco Rubio (FL);
Donald Trump;

MODERATORS:
John Harwood (CNBC);
Becky Quick (CNBC); and
Carl Quintanilla (CNBC)

QUINTANILLA: Good evening, I'm Carl Quintanilla, with my colleagues Becky Quick and John Harwood. We'll be joined tonight by some of CNBC's top experts on the markets and personal finance.

Let's get through the rules of the road. Candidates get 30 seconds to answer the opening question, 60 seconds to answer a formal question, 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals, all at the discretion of the moderators.

We want you to weigh in from home. You'll see your tweets at the bottom of the screen. Use the hashtag, #cNBCgopdebate. You can also go to cNBC.com/vote to tell us where you stand throughout the night.

So let's introduce the candidates for tonight's Republican presidential debate. On the stage from left to right, Governor John Kasich. [applause]

Governor Mike Huckabee. [applause]

Governor Jeb Bush. [applause]

Senator Marco Rubio. [applause]

Mr. Donald Trump. [applause]

Dr. Ben Carson. [applause]

Mrs. Carly Fiorina. [applause]

Senator Ted Cruz. [applause]

Governor Chris Christie. [applause] And Senator Rand Paul. [applause]

A lot to get to tonight. So let's get started. This first is an open question.

This series of debates is essentially a job interview with the American people. And in any job interview, you know this: you get asked, "what's your biggest weakness?" So in 30 seconds, without telling us that you try too hard or that you're a perfectionist... [laughter] ...what is your biggest weakness and what are you doing to address it? We'll go left to right. Governor Kasich, 30 seconds.

KASICH: Good question, but I want to tell you, my great concern is that we are on the verge, perhaps, of picking someone who cannot do this job.

I've watched to see people say that we should dismantle Medicare and Medicaid and leave the senior citizens out — out in the — in the cold. I've heard them talk about deporting 10 or 11 — people here from this country out of this country, splitting families. I've heard about tax schemes that don't add up, that put our kids in — in a deeper hole than they are today.

We need somebody who can lead. We need somebody who can balance budgets, cut taxes...

QUINTANILLA: Governor?

KASICH: You know, frankly, I did it in Washington, in Ohio, and I will do it again in Washington, if I'm president, to get this country moving again.

KASICH: country moving again.

QUINTANILLA: Governor Huckabee.

HUCKABEE: Well, John, I don't really have any weaknesses that I can think of. [laughter]

But my wife is down here in the front, and I'm sure, if you'd like to talk to her later, she can give you more than you'll ever be able to take care of.

If I have a weakness, it's that I try to live by the rules. I try to live by the rules, no matter what they are, and I was brought up that way as a kid. Play by the rules.

And I'll tell you what a weakness is of this country: there are a lot of people who are sick and tired because Washington does not play by the same rules that the American people have to play by.

QUINTANILLA: Thank you, Governor. Governor Bush.

BUSH: You know, I am by my nature impatient. And this is not an endeavor that rewards that. You gotta be patient. You gotta be — stick with it, and all that.

But also, I can't fake anger. I believe this is still the most extraordinary country on the face of the Earth. And it troubles me that people are rewarded for tearing down our country. It's never been that way in American politics before.

I can't do it. I just don't believe that this country's days are going to be deeply — you know, going down. I think we're on the verge of the greatest time, and I want to fix the things to let people rise up.

QUINTANILLA: Senator Rubio.

RUBIO: Thank you for that question. I would begin by saying that I'm not sure it's a weakness, but I do believe that I share a sense of optimism for America's future that, today, is eroding from too many of our people.

I think there's a sense in this country today that somehow our best days are behind us. And that doesn't have to be true.

Our greatest days lie ahead if we are willing to do what it takes now. If we're willing to do what it takes now, the 21st century is going to be the new American century, greater than any other era we've had in the history of this great nation.

QUINTANILLA: Mr. Trump?

TRUMP: I think maybe my greatest weakness is that I trust people too much. I'm too trusting. And when they let me down, if they let me down, I never forgive. I find it very, very hard to forgive people that deceived me. So I don't know if you would call that a weakness, but my wife said "let up." [laughter]

QUINTANILLA: Dr. Carson?

CARSON: Probably in terms of the applying for the job of president, a weakness would be not really seeing myself in that position until hundreds of thousands of people began to tell me that I needed to do it. I do, however, believe in Reagan's 11th commandment, and will not be engaging in awful things about my compatriots here.

And recognizing that it's so important, this election, because we're talking about America for the people versus America for the government.

QUINTANILLA: Mrs. Fiorina?

FIORINA: Well, gee, after the last debate, I was told that I didn't smile enough. [laughter]

QUINTANILLA: Fixed it.

FIORINA: But I also think that these are very serious times; 75 percent of the American people think the federal government is corrupt. I agree with them. And this big powerful, corrupt bureaucracy works now only for the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected. Meantime, wages have stagnated for 40 years. We have more Americans out of work or just Americans who quit looking for work for 40 years.

Ours was intended to be a citizen government. This is about more than replacing a D with an R. We need a leader who will help us take our government back.

QUINTANILLA: Senator Cruz?

CRUZ: I'm too agreeable, easy going. [laughter]

You know, I think my biggest weakness is exactly the opposite. I'm a fighter. I am passionate about what I believe. I've been passionate my whole life about the Constitution. And, you know, for six-and-a-half years, we've had a gigantic party. If you want someone to grab a beer with, I may not be that guy. But if you want someone to drive you home, I will get the job done and I will get you home.

QUINTANILLA: Governor Christie?

CHRISTIE: I don't see a lot of weakness on this stage, quite frankly. Where I see the weakness is in those three people that are left on the Democratic stage. You know, I see a socialist, an isolationist and a pessimist. And for the sake of me, I can't figure out which one is which. [laughter]

But I will — but I will tell you this, the socialist says they're going to pay for everything and give you everything for free, except they don't say they're going to raise it through taxes to 90 percent to do it. The isolationist is the one who wants to continue to follow a foreign policy that has fewer democracies today than when Barack Obama came into office around the world.

But I know who the pessimist is. It's Hillary Clinton. And you put me on that stage against her next September, she won't get within 10 miles of the White House. Take it to the bank.

QUINTANILLA: Senator Paul?

PAUL: You know, I left my medical practice and ran for office because I was concerned about an $18 trillion debt. We borrow a million dollars a minute. Now, on the floor of the Congress, the Washington establishment from both parties puts forward a bill that will explode the deficit. It allows President Obama to borrow unlimited amounts of money.

I will stand firm. I will spend every ounce of energy to stop it. I will begin tomorrow to filibuster it. And I ask everyone in America to call Congress tomorrow and say enough is enough; no more debt.

QUINTANILLA: Thanks to all the candidates.

John?

HARWOOD: Mr. Trump, you've done very well in this campaign so far by promising to build a wall and make another country pay for it.

TRUMP: Right.

HARWOOD: Send 11 million people out of the country. Cut taxes $10 trillion without increasing the deficit.

TRUMP: Right.

HARWOOD: And make Americans better off because your greatness would replace the stupidity and incompetence of others.

TRUMP: That's right.

HARWOOD: Let's be honest. [laughter]

Is this a comic book version of a presidential campaign?

TRUMP: No, not a comic book, and it's not a very nicely asked question the way you say that.

Larry Kudlow is an example, who I have a lot of respect for, who loves my tax plan. We're reducing taxes to 15 percent. We're bringing corporate taxes down, bringing money back in, corporate inversions. We have $2.5 trillion outside of the United States which we want to bring back in.

As far as the wall is concerned, we're going to build a wall. We're going to create a border. We're going to let people in, but they're going to come in legally. They're going to come in legally. And it's something that can be done, and I get questioned about that. They built the great wall of China. That's 13,000 miles. Here, we actually need 1,000 because we have natural barriers. So we need 1,000.

We can do a wall. We're going to have a big, fat beautiful door right in the middle of the wall. We're going to have people come in, but they're coming in legally. And Mexico's going to pay for the wall because Mexico — I love the Mexican people; I respect the Mexican leaders — but the leaders are much sharper, smarter and more cunning than our leaders.

And just to finish, people say, how will you get Mexico to pay? A politician other than the people in the states — I don't want to — a politician cannot get them to pay. I can. We lose, we have a trade imbalance...

Excuse me, John.

... of $50 billion...

HARWOOD: We're at the 60 seconds.

TRUMP: ... believe me the world is peanuts by comparison.

HARWOOD: We're at 60 seconds, but I gotta ask you, you talked about your tax plan. You say that it would not increase the deficit because you cut taxes $10 trillion in the economy would take off like...

[crosstalk]

HARWOOD: Hold on, hold on. The economy would take off like a rocket ship.

TRUMP: Right. Dynamically.

HARWOOD: I talked to economic advisers who have served presidents of both parties. They said that you have as chance of cutting taxes that much without increasing the deficit as you would of flying away from that podium by flapping your arms.

TRUMP: Then you have to get rid of Larry Kudlow, who sits on your panel, who's a great guy, who came out the other day and said, I love Trump's tax plan.

[crosstalk]

HARWOOD: The Tax Foundation says — has looked at all of our plans and — and his creates, even with the dynamic effect, $8 trillion dollar deficit...

QUICK: Gentlemen — we'll — we'll get back to this — just a minute — just a minute we're gonna continue this.

I wanna talk taxes...

QUINTANILLA: Hold it. We'll cut it back to you in just a minute. Becky's moving on.

QUICK: Dr. Carson, let's talk about taxes.

You have a flat tax plan of 10 percent flat taxes, and — I've looked at it — and this is something that is very appealing to a lot of voters, but I've had a really tough time trying to make the math work on this.

If you were to took a 10 percent tax, with the numbers right now in total personal income, you're gonna come in with bring in $1.5 trillion. That is less than half of what we bring in right now. And by the way, it's gonna leave us in a $2 trillion hole.

So what analysis got you to the point where you think this will work?

CARSON: Well, first of all, I didn't say that the rate would be 10 percent. I used the tithing analogy.

QUICK: I — I understand that, but if you — if you look at the numbers you probably have to get to 28.

CARSON: The rate — the rate — the rate is gonna be much closer to 15 percent.

QUICK: 15 percent still leaves you with a $1.1 trillion hole.

CARSON: You also have to get rid of all the deductions and all the loopholes. You also have to some strategically cutting in several places.

Remember, we have 645 federal agencies and sub-agencies. Anybody who tells me that we need every penny and every one of those is in a fantasy world.

So, also, we can stimulate the economy. That's gonna be the real growth engine. Stimulating the economy — because it's tethered down right now with so many regulations...

QUICK: You'd have to cut — you'd have to cut government about 40 percent to make it work with a $1.1 trillion hole.

CARSON: That's not true.

QUICK: That is true, I looked at the numbers.

CARSON: When — when we put all the facts down, you'll be able to see that it's not true, it works out very well.

QUICK: Dr. Carson, thank you.

KASICH: Listen, I want to just comment.

HARWOOD: Governor Kasich, hold it, I'm coming to you right now. The...

KASICH: Well I want to comment on this. This is the fantasy...

HARWOOD: Well, I'm asking you about this.

KASICH: This is the fantasy that I talked about in the beginning.

HARWOOD: I'm about to ask you about this.

That is, you had some very strong words to say yesterday about what's happening in your party and what you're hearing from the two gentlemen we've just heard from. Would you repeat it?

KASICH: I'm the only person on this stage that actually was involved in the chief architect of balancing the Federal Budget.

You can't do it with empty promised. You know, these plans would put us trillions and trillions of dollars in debt.

I actually have a plan. I'm the only one on this stage that has a plan that would create jobs, cut taxes, balance the budget and can get it done because I'm realistic. You just don't make promises like this.

Why don't we just give a chicken in every pot, while we're, you know, coming up — coming up with these fantasy tax schemes. We'll just clean it up. Where are you gonna clean it up?

You have to deal with entitlements, you have to be in a position to control discretionary spending. You gotta be creative and imaginative.

Now, let me just be clear, John. I went into Ohio where we had an $8 billion hole and now we have a $2 billion surplus. We're up 347,000 jobs.

When I was in Washington, I fought to get the budget balanced. I was the architect. It was the first time we did it since man walked on the moon. We cut taxes and we had a $5 trillion projected surplus when I left.

That's was hard work. Fiscal discipline, know what you're doing. Creativity.

This stuff is fantasy. Just like getting rid of Medicare and Medicaid. Come on, that's just not — you scare senior citizens with that. It's not responsible.

HARWOOD: Well, let's just get more pointed about it. You said yesterday that you were hearing proposals that were just crazy from your colleagues.

Who were you talking about?

KASICH: Well, I mean right here. To talk about we're just gonna have a 10 percent tithe and that's how we're gonna fund the government? And we're going to just fix everything with waste, fraud, and abuse? Or that we're just going to be great? Or we're going to ship 10 million Americans — or 10 million people out of this country, leaving their children here in this country and dividing families?

Folks, we've got to wake up. We cannot elect somebody that doesn't know how to do the job. You have got to pick somebody who has experience, somebody that has the know-how, the discipline.

And I spent my entire lifetime balancing federal budgets, growing jobs, the same in Ohio. And I will go back to Washington with my plan.

QUINTANILLA: Governor — Governor. thank you, Governor.

KASICH: And I will have done it within 100 days, and it will pass. And we will be strong again. Thank you.

QUINTANILLA: Mr. Trump, 30 seconds.

TRUMP: First of all, John got lucky with a thing called fracking, OK? He hit oil. He got lucky with fracking. Believe me, that is why Ohio is doing well. Number — and that is important for you to know.

Number two, this was the man that was a managing general partner at Lehman Brothers when it went down the tubes and almost took every one of us with it, including Ben and myself, because I was there and I watched what happened.

And Lehman Brothers started it all. He was on the board. And he was a managing general partner.

And just thirdly, he was so nice. He was such a nice guy. And he said, oh, I'm never going to attack. But then his poll numbers tanked. He has got — that is why he is on the end. [laughter] And he got nasty. And he got nasty. So you know what? You can have him.

[crosstalk]

KASICH: Let me just — let me respond. First of all, Ohio does have an energy industry, but we're diversified. We're one of the fastest growing states in the country. We came back from the dead. And you know what? It works very, very well.

And secondly, when you talk about me being on the board of Lehman Brothers, I wasn't on the board of Lehman Brothers. I was a banker and I was proud of it. And I traveled the country and learned how people made jobs.

We ought to have politicians who not only have government experience but know how the CEOs and the job creators work. My state is doing great across the board. And guess what, in 2011, I got a deal...

QUICK: Governor...

KASICH: ... an agreement with the...

[crosstalk]

KASICH: ... that he tried to take credit for four years later. It's a joke.

QUINTANILLA: Thank you, Governor.

QUICK: Dr. Carson, let me get 30 seconds with Dr. Carson...

[crosstalk]

CARSON: Since I was attacked too.

QUICK: Thank you.

CARSON: Let me just say, if you're talking about an $18 trillion economy, you're talking about a 15 percent tax on your gross domestic product. You're talking about $2.7 trillion. We have a budget closer to $3.5 trillion.

But if you also apply that same 15 percent to several other things, including corporate taxes, and including the capital gains taxes, you make that amount up pretty quickly. So that is not by any stretch a pie in the sky.

CRUZ: Becky, if you want a 10 percent flat tax where the numbers add up, I rolled out my tax plan today, you can find it on line at tedcruz.org. It is a simple flat tax where for individuals, a family of four pays nothing on the first $36,000.

After that you pay 10 percent as a flat tax going up. The billionaire and the working man, no hedge fund manager pays less than his secretary.

On top of that, there is a business flat tax of 16 percent. Now that applies universally to giant corporations that with lobbyists right now are not paying taxes, and as small business.

And you wanted to know the numbers, the Tax Foundation, which has scored every one of our plans, shows that this plan will allow the economy to generate 4.9 million jobs, to raise wages over 12 percent, and to generate 14 percent growth.

And it costs, with dynamic scoring, less than a trillion dollars. Those are the hard numbers. And every single income decile sees a double-digit increase in after-tax income.

QUICK: Senator — Senator, thank you.

CRUZ: Growth is the answer. And as Reagan demonstrated, if we cut taxes, we can bring back growth.

QUICK: Gentlemen, I'm sorry, we need to...

[crosstalk]

QUINTANILLA: We're going to try to move on.

[crosstalk]

FIORINA: Let me just say on taxes, how long have we been talking about tax reform in Washington, D.C.? We have been talking about it for decades. We now have a 73,000-page tax code.

There have been more than 4,000 changes to the tax plan since 2001 alone. There are loads of great ideas, great conservative ideas from wonderful think tanks about how to reform the tax code.

The problem is we never get it done. We have talked about tax reform in every single election for decades. It never happens. And the politicians always say it is so complicated, nobody but a politician can figure it out.

The truth is this, the big problem, we need a leader in Washington who understands how to get something done, not to talk about it, not to propose it, to get it done.

QUINTANILLA: You want to bring 70,000 pages to three?

FIORINA: That's right, three pages.

QUINTANILLA: Is that using really small type?

FIORINA: You know why three?

QUINTANILLA: Is that using really small type?

FIORINA: No. You know why three? Because only if it's about three pages are you leveling the playing field between the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected who can hire the armies of lawyers and accountants and, yes, lobbyists to help them navigate their way through 73,000 pages.

Three pages is about the maximum that a single business owner or a farmer or just a couple can understand without hiring somebody. Almost 60 percent of American people now need to hire an expert to understand their taxes.

So yes, you're going to hear a lot of talk about tax reform —

QUINTANILLA: Mrs. Fiorina —

FIORINA: — the issue is who is going to get it done.

[crosstalk]

QUINTANILLA: We're going to —

QUICK: We're going to move on.

QUINTANILLA: We will come around the bend, i promise. This one is for Senator Rubio. You've been a young man in a hurry ever since you won your first election in your 20s. You've had a big accomplishment in the Senate, an immigration bill providing a path to citizenship the conservatives in your party hate, and even you don't support anymore. Now, you're skipping more votes than any senator to run for president. Why not slow down, get a few more things done first or least finish what you start?

RUBIO: That's an interesting question. That's exactly what the Republican establishment says too. Why don't you wait in line? Wait for what? This country is running out of time. We can't afford to have another four years like the last eight years.

Watching this broadcast tonight are millions of people that are living paycheck to paycheck. They're working as hard as they ever have, everything costs more, and they haven't had a raise in decades.

You have small businesses in America that are struggling. For the first time in 35 years, we have more businesses closing than starting. We have a world that's out of control and has grown dangerous and a president that is weakening our military and making our foreign policy unstable and unreliable in the eyes of our allies. And our adversaries continue to grow stronger.

We have a — they say there's no bipartisanship in Washington? We have a $19 trillion bipartisan debt and it continues to grow as we borrow money from countries that do not like us to pay for government we cannot afford.

The time to act is now. The time to turn the page is now. If we — if we don't act now, we are going to be the first generation in American history that leaves our children worse off than ourselves.

QUINTANILLA: So when the Sun-Sentinel says Rubio should resign, not rip us off, when they say Floridians sent you to Washington to do a job, when they say you act like you hate your job, do you?

RUBIO: Let me say, I read that editorial today with a great amusement. It's actually evidence of the bias that exists in the American media today.

QUINTANILLA: Well, do you hate your job?

RUBIO: Let me — let me answer your question on the Sun-Sentinel editorial today. Back in 2004, one of my predecessors to the Senate by the name of Bob Graham, a Democrat, ran for president missing over 30 percent of his votes. I don't recall them calling for his resignation —

QUINTANILLA: Is that the standard?

RUBIO: Later that year, in 2004, John Kerry ran for president missing close to 60 to 70 percent of his votes. I don't recall the Sun — in fact, the Sun-Sentinel endorsed him. In 2008, Barack Obama missed 60 or 70 percent of his votes, and the same newspaper endorsed him again. So this is another example of the double standard that exists in this country between the mainstream media and the conservative movement. [applause]

QUINTANILLA: Senator, thank you. John.

BUSH: Could I — could I bring something up here, because I'm a constituent of the senator and I helped him and I expected that he would do constituent service, which means that he shows up to work. He got endorsed by the Sun-Sentinel because he was the most talented guy in the field. He's a gifted politician.

But Marco, when you signed up for this, this was a six-year term, and you should be showing up to work. I mean, literally, the Senate — what is it, like a French work week? You get, like, three days where you have to show up? You can campaign, or just resign and let someone else take the job. There are a lot of people living paycheck to paycheck in Florida as well, they're looking for a senator that will fight for them each and every day.

RUBIO: I get to respond, right?

QUICK: Thirty seconds.

RUBIO: Well, it's interesting. Over the last few weeks, I've listened to Jeb as he walked around the country and said that you're modeling your campaign after John McCain, that you're going to launch a furious comeback the way he did, by fighting hard in New Hampshire and places like that, carrying your own bag at the airport. You know how many votes John McCain missed when he was carrying out that furious comeback that you're now modeling after?

BUSH: He wasn't my senator.

RUBIO: No Jeb, I don't remember — well, let me tell you. I don't remember you ever complaining about John McCain's vote record. The only reason why you're doing it now is because we're running for the same position, and someone has convinced you that attacking me is going to help you.

BUSH: Well, I've been —

RUBIO: Here's the bottom line. [applause]

I'm not — my campaign is going to be about the future of America, it's not going to be about attacking anyone else on this stage. I will continue to have tremendous admiration and respect for Governor Bush. I'm not running against Governor Bush, I'm not running against anyone on this stage. I'm running for president because there is no way we can elect Hillary Clinton to continue the policies of Barack Obama.

QUINTANILLA: Thank you, Senator.

TRUMP: I think you're — [applause]

[crosstalk]

HARWOOD: Hold on. I think there's a — I've got question for —

[crosstalk]

KASICH: John Harwood, there's a bigger issue here.

HARWOOD: Hold on, Governor. I've got a question for Governor Bush.

[crosstalk]

HARWOOD: No, we're moving to Governor Bush. Governor, the fact that you're at the fifth lectern tonight shows how far your stock has fallen in this race, despite the big investment your donors have made.

You noted recently, after slashing your payroll, that you had better things to do than sit around and be demonized by other people. I wanted to ask you —

BUSH: No, no. What I said was I don't believe that I would be president of the United States and have the same dysfunction that exists in Washington, D.C. now.

HARWOOD: OK.

BUSH: Don't vote for me if you want to keep the gridlock in Washington, D.C.

HARWOOD: Got it.

BUSH: But if you want someone who has a proven, effective leadership, that was a governor of a state, that transformed the culture there, elect me so I can fight for the American people and change the culture in Washington, D.C.

HARWOOD: But it's a — OK. It's a — it's a question about why you're having difficulty. I want to ask you in this context.

Ben Bernanke, who was appointed Fed chairman by your brother, recently wrote a book in which he said he no longer considers himself a Republican because the Republican Party has given in to know- nothingism. Is that why you're having a difficult time in this race?

BUSH: [inaudible], the great majority of Republicans and Americans believe in a hopeful future. They don't believe in building walls and a pessimistic view of the future.

They're concerned that Washington is so dysfunctional it is holding them back. There are lids on people's aspirations. Think about it: six and a half million people working part-time. Workforce participation rates lower than they were in 1977.

Six million more people living in poverty than the day that Barack Obama got elected president, and the left just wants more of the same. We have to offer a compelling alternative that is based on hope and optimism and grounded in serious policy, which I've laid out.

And you can go get it at jeb2016.com.

HARWOOD: Thank you, Governor.

[crosstalk]

HARWOOD: We're gonna get down the line. Becky's got a question.

QUICK: We'll get to everyone.

Ms. Fiorina, I — I'd like to ask you a question. You are running for president of the United States because of your record running Hewlett-Packard. But the stock market is usually a fair indicator of the performance of a CEO, and the market was not kind to you.

Someone who invested a dollar in your company the day you took office had lost half of the dollar by the day you left. Obviously, you've talked in the past about what a difficult time it was for technology companies, but anybody who was following the market knows that your stock was a much worse performer, if you looked at your competitors, if you looked at the overall market.

I just wonder, in terms of all of that — you know, we look back, your board fired you. I just wondered why you think we should hire you now.

FIORINA: You know, the NASDAQ dropped 80 percent — 80 percent — and it took 15 years for the NASDAQ to recover. I was recruited to H.P. to save a company.

It was a company that had grown into a bloated, inept bureaucracy that cost too much and delivered too little to customers and shareholders. It had missed, before I had arrived, expectations for nine quarters in a row.

As an outsider, I tackled H.P.'s entrenched problems head-on. I cut the bureaucracy down to size, re-introduced accountability, focused on service, on innovation, on leading in every market, in every product segment.

And yes, it was a very difficult time. However, we saved 80,000 jobs and we went on to grow to 160,000 jobs, and scores of technology companies literally went out of business — like Gateway — taking all their jobs with them.

The truth is I had to make some tough calls in some tough times. I think, actually, people are looking for that in Washington now. And yes, I was fired over a disagreement in the boardroom. There are politics in the boardroom as well.

And yet the man who led my firing, Tom Perkins, an icon of Silicon Valley, has come out publicly and said, "you know what? We were wrong. She was right. She was a great CEO. She'd be a great president of the United States because the leadership she brought to H.P. is exactly the leadership we need in Washington, D.C.

QUICK: Mrs. Fiorina, it's interesting that you bring up Mr. Perkins, because... [applause] ...he said a lot of very questionable things. Last year, in an interview, he said that he thinks wealthy people should get more votes than poor people.

I think his quote was that, "if you pay zero dollars in taxes, you should get zero votes. If you pay a million dollars, you should get a million votes." Is this the type of person you want defending you?

FIORINA: Well, this is one of the reasons why Tom Perkins and I had disagreements in the boardroom, Becky. [laughter]

Nevertheless, one of the things that I think people don't always understand is how accountable a CEO actually is.

So you know, I had to report results every 90 days in excruciating detail. I had to answer every single question about every single result and every single projection in public until there were no more questions.

And if I misrepresented those results or those projections in any way, I was held criminally liable. Imagine — imagine — if a politician were held to that standard of account.

I will run on my record all day long. [applause]

And I believe people need a leader who is prepared to make tough calls in tough times and stand up...

QUICK: Mrs. Fiorina.

FIORINA: ...and be held accountable.

QUICK: Thank you, we're out of time. Thank you, Mrs. Fiorina.

Carl.

QUINTANILLA: Senator Cruz. Congressional Republicans, Democrats and the White House are about to strike a compromise that would raise the debt limit, prevent a government shutdown and calm financial markets that fear of — another Washington-created crisis is on the way.

Does your opposition to it show that you're not the kind of problem-solver American voters want?

CRUZ: You know, let me say something at the outset. The questions that have been asked so far in this debate illustrate why the American people don't trust the media. [applause] This is not a cage match. And, you look at the questions — "Donald Trump, are you a comic-book villain?" "Ben Carson, can you do math?" "John Kasich, will you insult two people over here?" "Marco Rubio, why don't you resign?" "Jeb Bush, why have your numbers fallen?"

How about talking about the substantive issues the people care about? [applause]

QUINTANILLA: [inaudible] do we get credit [inaudible]?

CRUZ: And Carl — Carl, I'm not finished yet.

The contrast with the Democratic debate, where every fawning question from the media was, "Which of you is more handsome and why?" [laughter]

And let me be clear.

[crosstalk]

QUINTANILLA: So, this is a question about [inaudible], which you have 30 seconds left to answer, should you choose to do so.

CRUZ: Let me be clear. The men and women on this stage have more ideas, more experience, more common sense than every participant in the Democratic debate. That debate reflected a debate between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. [laughter]

And nobody watching at home believed that any of the moderators had any intention of voting in a Republican primary. The questions that are being asked shouldn't be trying to get people to tear into each other. It should be what are your substantive positions...

[crosstalk]

QUINTANILLA: OK. [inaudible] I asked you about the debt limit and I got no answer.

[crosstalk]

CRUZ: You want me to answer that question? I'm happy to answer the question...

[crosstalk]

CRUZ: Let me tell you how that question...

[crosstalk]

CRUZ: Let me tell you how that question...

[crosstalk]

HARWOOD: Senator Paul, I've got a question for you on the same subject.

CRUZ: ... so you don't actually want to hear the answer, John?

HARWOOD: Senator Paul?

CRUZ: You don't want to hear the answer. You just want to...

[crosstalk]

HARWOOD: You used your time on something else.

Senator Paul?

CRUZ: You're not interested in an answer.

[crosstalk]

HARWOOD: Senator Paul, the budget deal crafted by Speaker Boehner and passed by the House today makes cuts in entitlement programs, Medicare and Social Security disability, which are the very programs conservatives say need cutting to shrink government and solve our country's long-term budget deficit. Do you oppose that budget deal because it doesn't cut those programs enough?

PAUL: No, I oppose it because you're taking money from the entitlement and then spending it immediately on other items. That's what they're doing. They're taking money from Social Security and they're going to spend it on the military and they're going to spend it on domestic spending.

Here's the thing. When you look at raising the debt limit, it should be leverage to try to reform government. In 2011, the sequester was passed as a reform to slow down the rate of government. Instead, the Washington establishment raised both. We raised the military spending, took from entitlements, and raised domestic spending and the deficit will explode under this. This is the unholy alliance that people need to know about between right and left. Right and left are spending us into oblivion. We should use the debt ceiling, as precisely to Don, to force upon them budgetary reforms.

HARWOOD: Senator, if what you just said is true, why did Speaker Boehner craft this deal and why did Paul Ryan, who has a strong reputation for fiscal discipline, vote for it?

PAUL: Well, that's a real question. Is there going to be any change in the House with new leadership? I frankly don't think there will be much change because I think what's going to happen is you're going to get more of the same. People in Washington think they were sent there to be adults and govern and do all this. Well, you know what I'm worried about? Not keeping the government open. I'm worried about bankrupting the American people.

We're borrowing a million dollars a minute. That is important. And that's what we have to contrast. Keeping the government open and continuing to borrow a million dollars a minute.

[crosstalk]

HARWOOD: Thank you, Senator [inaudible].

QUICK: Governor Christie, I'd like to [inaudible] a question next. Actually, I have a question for you [inaudible].

In your tell it like it is campaign, you've said a lot of tough things. You've said that we need to raise the retirement age for Social Security. You think that we need to cut benefits for people who make over $80,000 and eliminate them entirely for seniors who are making over $200,000.

Governor Huckabee, who is here on the stage, has said that you and others who think this way are trying to rob seniors of the benefits that they've earned. It raises the question: When it is acceptable to break a social compact?

CHRISTIE: Well, I wish you would have asked that question years ago when they broke it. I mean, let me be honest with the people who are watching at home. The government has lied to you and they have stolen from you. They told you that your Social Security money is in a trust fund. All that's in that trust fund is a pile of IOUs for money they spent on something else a long time ago.

And they've stolen from you because now they know they cannot pay these benefits and Social Security is going to be insolvent in seven to eight years. We're sitting up here talking about all these other things; 71 percent of federal spending today is on entitlements, and debt service. And, that's with zero percent interest rates.

Now, I'm the only person that's put out a detailed plan on how to deal with entitlements. And we'll save a trillion dollars over the next 10 years. And, here's the difference between me and Hillary Clinton. What Hillary Clinton's going to say, and has said before is, she wants to raise Social Security taxes.

Now, let me ask you a question everybody, and, this is for the guy, you know, who owns a landscaping business out there. If somebody's already stolen money from you, are you going to give them more? Or, are you going to deal with the problem by saying, I'm going to give people who've done well in this country less benefit on the backend. We need to get realistic about this. We're not — the American people — forget about anything else, they've already been lied to and stolen from. And...

QUICK: ...Governor...

CHRISTIE: ...I'm going to go to Washington to stop it...

QUICK: ...Thank you.

QUINTANILLA: We promised we would get to everyone this block. Governor Huckabee, I'm going to give you 60 seconds on this.

HUCKABEE: Well, I would really appreciate that. First of all, yes, we've stolen. Yes, we've lied to the American people about Social Security, and Medicare.

But, you know what we're not telling them? It's their money. This isn't the governments money. This is not entitlement, it's not welfare. This is money that people have confiscated out of their paychecks. Everytime they got a paycheck, the government reached in and took something out of it before they ever saw it. Now, we're going to blame the people.

Today congress decided to take another $150 billion dollars away from Social Security so they can borrow more money. That makes no sense to everybody. And, they're always going to say, "Well, we're going to fix this one day."

No their not. It's like a 400 pound man saying, "I'm going to go on a diet, but I'm eating a sack of Krispy Kremes before I do."

And, people are sick of believing that the government is never going to really address this. But, let me tell you who not to blame. Let's quit blaming the people on Social Security. Let's quit making it a problem for them. It's like them getting mugged, and then us saying, well, we're going to mug you some more. You ought to just be able to get over it, get used to it...

QUINTANILLA: ...Governor...

HUCKABEE: ...No, sir...

QUINTANILLA: ...Thank you, Governor...

HUCKABEE: ...we need to honor our promises...

[crosstalk]

QUINTANILLA: ...Senator Cruz...

HUCKABEE: ...before I go. This is the only time I've had a chance, let me finish.

QUINTANILLA: OK, alright.

HUCKABEE: ...This is a matter not of math, this is a matter of morality. If this country that does not keep its promise to seniors then what promise can this country hope to be trusted to keep? And, the fact is, none of them.

[crosstalk]

[UNKNOWN]: And, by the way, Carl... [applause]

HUCKABEE: And, the only way — no...

[crosstalk]

CHRISTIE: ...The only way we're going to be morale, the only way we're going to keep our promise to seniors is start by following the first rule we should all follow, which is to look at them, treat them like adults, and tell them the truth.

It isn't there anymore, Mike. They stole it. It got stolen from them. It's not theirs anymore. The government stole it, and spent it a long time ago...

HUCKABEE: ...Chris...

CHRISTIE: So, let's stop fooling around about this, let's tell people the truth. For once, let's do that, and stop trying to give them some kind of fantasy that's never going to come true.

QUINTANILLA: Senator Cruz...

HUCKABEE: ...Chris...

QUINTANILLA: ...Before we go to break, we're clearly not having that beer you mentioned, but I'll give you 30 more seconds...

CRUZ: ...Then I'll buy you a tequila...

QUINTANILLA: OK.

CRUZ: ...Or, even some famous Colorado brownies.

QUINTANILLA: I'll give you 30 seconds to respond...[cheering] [inaudible]

HUCKABEE: Since he brought me up, do I not get to respond?

QUINTANILLA: Respond on the debt limit, or an answer to the governor, which ever you choose.

CRUZ: Well, sure. This deal in Washington is an example of why Washington's broken. Republican leadership joined with every single Democrat, add $80 trillion to our debt to do nothing to fix the problems.

And, let me now on Social Security because we were getting into a good substantive exchange, and I want to say I think both Chris, and Mike are right. Governor Huckabee's exactly right, we need to honor the promises made to our seniors, but for younger workers — look. I'm 44 years old.

It is hard to find someone in my generation that thinks Social Security will be there for us. We can save and preserve and strengthen Social Security by making no changes for seniors, but for younger workers gradually increasing the retirement age, changing the rate of growth so that it matches inflation, and critically allowing younger workers to keep a portion of our tax payments in a personal account that we own, we control them, we can pass on to our kids.

QUINTANILLA: 30 seconds, Governor Huckabee.

HUCKABEE: John, listen, let's keep in mind that for one-third of the 60 million Americans on Social Security it represents 90 percent of their income. And, when I hear people talking about means testing, let's just remember what that means. If we means test Social Security, it means that the government decides whether or not I deserve it. If a person lives in a seven room house, does the government get to say you don't need seven rooms, we're going to take two of them away?

Folks, the government has no business stealing even more from the people who have paid this in. I just want to remind you, people paid their money. They expect to have it. And, if this government doesn't pay it, than tell me what's different between the government and Bernie Madolf, who sits in prison today for doing less than what the government has done to the people on social security and Medicare in this country. [applause]

QUINTANILLA: Governor, thank you. We will take a break. The Republican Presidential debate, live from Boulder, Colorado, coming back after a break on CNBC. [applause]

[commercial break]

QUICK: Welcome back to the presidential debate for the Republicans. We are live in Boulder, Colorado, right here on CNBC.

Folks, we'll get right back into this.

Mr. Trump, let's talk a little bit about bankruptcies. Your Atlantic City casinos filed for bankruptcy four times. In fact, Fitch, the ratings agency, even said that they were serial filers for all of this. You said that you did great with Atlantic City, and you did. But some of the individuals — the bondholders, some of the contractors who worked for you, didn't fare so well.

Bankruptcy is a broken promise. Why should the voters believe the promises that you're telling them right now?

TRUMP: Well, first of all, like many other very big businessmen, I could name them here, but I'm not going to do that for a lot of obvious reasons, but the biggest, and almost all of them, they've all used the chapter laws, the bankruptcy laws to their own benefit.

Before this, I was a very successful person as a developer and as a businessman. Atlantic City has gone bad. I mean, Chris will know about that. I'm not blaming Chris, by the way, but he will know about that. Caesar's — excuse me — Caesar's, the Rolls-Royce, as you know, is in bankruptcy. Almost every hotel in Atlantic City has either been in bankruptcy or will be in bankruptcy — the biggest.

But also the biggest people (ph) — now I've used that to my advantage as a business man, for my family, for myself. I never filed for bankruptcy. But many, many people did. What happened with Atlantic City is very, very disgraceful.

Now hundreds of companies I've opened. I've used it three times, maybe four times. Came out great. But I guess I'm supposed to come out great. That is what I could do for the country. We owe $19 trillion, boy am I good at solving debt problems. Nobody can solve it like me.

But I will tell you this, Atlantic City, you're using that, hundreds of companies that I have opened have thrived. I built a net worth of way over $10 billion, and I have done it four times out of hundreds. And I'm glad I did it.

I used the laws of the country to my benefit, I'm sorry.

QUICK: Mr. Trump, thank you.

TRUMP: Thank you.

CRAMER: Dr. Carson, in recent weeks, a number of pharmaceutical companies has been accused of profiteering, for dramatically raising the prices of life-saving drugs. You have spent a lifetime in medicine.

Have these companies gone too far? Should the government be involved in controlling some of these price increases?

CARSON: Well, there is no question that some people go overboard when it comes to trying to make profits, and they don't take into consideration the American people. What we have to start thinking about, as leaders, particularly in government, is what can we do for the average American? And you think about the reasons that we're having such difficulty right now with our job market.

Well, the average small manufacturer, whatever they're manufacturing, drugs or anything, if they have less than 50 employees, the average cost in terms of regulations is $34,000 per employee. Makes it a whole lot easier for them to want to go somewhere else.

So what we're going to have to start doing instead of, you know, picking on this group or this group, is we're going to have to have a major reduction in the regulatory influence that is going on.

The government is not supposed to be in every part of our lives, and that is what is causing the problem.

CRAMER: Thank you, Dr. Carson.

Governor Christie, there has been a lot of political rhetoric that some bank executives should have gone to jail for the 2008 financial crisis.

But General Motors paid more than $1 billion in fines and settlements for its ignition switch defect. One hundred and twenty- four people died as a result of these faulty switches. No one went to jail.

As a former prosecutor, do you believe the people responsible for the switch and the cover-up belong behind bars?

CHRISTIE: You bet they do. And if I were the prosecutor, that is exactly where they would be. The fact is that this Justice Department under this president has been a political Justice Department.

It has been a Justice Department that decided that they want to pick who the winners and losers are. They like General Motors, so they give them a pass. They don't like somebody else like David Petraeus, they prosecute them and send a decorated general on to disgrace. It's a political Justice Department.

And, Jim, you know full well that in the seven years I was U.S. attorney we went after pharmaceutical companies. We went after companies that were ripping off shareholders. We went after companies that were doing things that were against the law.

And to expand on Mr. Carson's — or Dr. Carson's question, let's face it, we have laws already. We don't need newer (ph) laws. We don't need Hillary Clinton's price controls for — again, does anybody out there think that giving Washington, D.C., the opportunity to run the pharmaceutical industry is a good idea, given how well they have done running the government?

So what we do, though, is, if there is somebody who is price- gouging, we have laws for prosecutors to take that on. Let's let a Justice Department — and I will make an attorney general who will enforce the law and make justice more than just a word. It will be a way of life.

CRAMER: Thank you, Governor Christie.

HARWOOD: Jim, thanks.

Governor Bush, in a debate like this four years ago, every Republican running for president pledged to oppose a budget deal containing any tax increase even if it had spending cuts ten times as large.

A few months later, you told Congress, put me in, coach, you said you would take that deal. Still feel that way?

BUSH: Well, the deal was done. Barack Obama got his massive tax increase, and there was no spending cuts. You just see the recent deal announced today or yesterday, more spending, more tax increasing, more regulation. And now we have to accept 2 percent, the new normal for economic growth.

And the net result is the middle class has $2,300 less in their pockets than the day that Barack Obama got elected president. And now they see Hillary Clinton proposing a third term of economic policy for our country.

We need to reverse that. And my record was one of cutting taxes each and every year. You don't have to guess about it, because I actually have a record. $19 billion of tax cuts, 1.3 million jobs created. We were one of two states to go to AAA bond rating, and our government spending was far less than the spending in people's income.

HARWOOD: But to — to the point that you made to Congress, if you were president and you were offered a bipartisan deal that had one dollar...

BUSH: You find me...

HARWOOD: ...one dollar of tax increases per ten dollars of spending cuts, would you take it?

BUSH: You find me a Democrat — you find me a Democrat that will cut spending ten dollars? Heck, find me a Republican in Congress that would cut spending ten dollars. I'll talk to them.

HARWOOD: So you don't want the coach to put you in any more?

BUSH: Look, the — the deal is already done. The biggest tax increase happened under the watch of Barack Obama, and spending's gone up. You find a Democrat that's for cutting taxes — cutting spending ten dollars, I'll give them a warm kiss. [laughter]

HARWOOD: Thank you, governor.

Carl?

QUINTANILLA: Mrs. Fiorina, in 2010, while running for Senate in Tech Ridge (ph), California, you called an Internet sales tax a bad idea. Traditional brick and mortar stores obviously disagree. Now that the Internet shopping playing field has matured, what would be a fair plan to even that playing field?

FIORINA: You know, I want to go back for a moment to what we were just talking about. Crony capitalism is alive and well, and has been so in Washington, D.C. for decades.

What's crony capitalism? Crony capitalism is what happens when government gets so big and so powerful that only the big and the powerful can handle it.

So why are the pharmaceutical companies consolidating? Why are there five even bigger Wall Street banks now, instead of the ten we used to have on Wall Street? Because when government gets big and powerful, the big feel like they need to get even bigger to deal with all that power, and meanwhile, the small and the powerless — in this case, 1,590 community banks — go out of business.

You see, folks, this is how socialism starts. Government causes a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. This is why, fundamentally, we have to take our government back.

The student loan problem has been created by government. Government trying to level the playing field between Internet and brick-and-mortar creates a problem. The FCC jumping in now and saying, "we're going to put 400 pages of regulation over the Internet," is going to create massive problems.

But guess who pushed for that regulation? The big Internet companies. This is what's going on. Big and powerful use big and powerful government to their advantage.

It's why you see Walgreens buying Rite Aid. It's why you see the pharmaceuticals getting together. It's you see the health insurance companies getting together. It's why you see the banks consolidating.

And meanwhile, small businesses are getting crushed. Community- based businesses and farms are getting crushed. Community banks are going out of business. Big government favors the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected, and crushes the small and the powerless.

QUINTANILLA: Mrs. Fiorina.

FIORINA: It is why we have to simplify. It is why we have to reduce the size and power of government.

QUINTANILLA: OK.

FIORINA: It's the only way to level the playing field between big and powerful and small and powerless.

QUINTANILLA: Thank you very much. [applause]

QUICK: Senator Rubio, you yourself have said that you've had issues. You have a lack of bookkeeping skills. You accidentally inter-mingled campaign money with your personal money. You faced (ph) foreclosure on a second home that you bought. And just last year, you liquidated a $68,000 retirement fund. That's something that cost you thousands of dollars in taxes and penalties.

In terms of all of that, it raises the question whether you have the maturity and wisdom to lead this $17 trillion economy. What do you say?

RUBIO: Well, you just — you just listed a litany of discredited attacks from Democrats and my political opponents, and I'm not gonna waste 60 seconds detailing them all. But I'm going to tell you the truth.

Here's the truth. I didn't inherit any money. My dad was a bartender, my mother was a maid. They worked hard to provide us the chance at a better life.

They didn't save enough money for us to go to school. I had to work my way through school. I had to borrow money to go to school. I tried (ph), early in my marriage, explaining to my wife why someone named Sallie Mae was taking $1,000 out of our bank account every month. [laughter]

I know what it's like to owe that money, and we've worked hard. We've worked hard our whole life to provide a better family — a better life for our family.

We own a home four blocks away from the place that I grew up in. My four children have been able to receive a good Christian education, and I've been able to save for them to go to college so they never have to have the loans that I did.

But I'm not worried about my finances, I'm worried about the finances of everyday Americans who today are struggling in an economy that is not producing good paying jobs while everything else costs more. And that's what this economy needs to — that's what this debate needs to be about.

This debate needs to be about the men and women across this country that are struggling on a daily basis to provide for their families the better future that we've always said this country is all about.

QUICK: Senator, I understand all of that. I had a lot of student loans when I got out, too. But you've had a windfall that a lot of Americans haven't. You made over a million dollars on a book deal, and some of these problems came after that.

RUBIO: And I used it to pay off my loans. And it's available on paperback, if you're interested in buying my book. [applause]

QUICK: But you — but you liquidated that retirement account after the fact, and that cost you about $24,000 out of that in taxes and feed. That — that was after you'd already come into that windfall. That's why I raised the question.

RUBIO: Yeah, again, as I said, we're raising a family in the 21st century and it's one of the reasons why my tax plan is a pro- family tax plan.

It increases the per child tax credit, because I didn't read about this in a book. I know for a fact how difficult it is to raise children, how expensive it's become for working families. And I make a lot more than the average American. Imagine how hard it is for these people out there that are making 40, 50, $60,000 a year, and they're trying to provide for their families at a time when this economy is not growing.

We can't afford another four years of that. Which is what we're gonna get if we elect a big government liberal like Hillary Clinton to the White House.

Thank you, senator.

HARWOOD: Governor John Kasich, you've called for abolishing the Export Import Bank, which provides subsidies to help American companies compete with overseas competitors. You call that corporate welfare.

One of the largest newspapers in your state wrote an editorial, said they found that strange, writing, that if that's corporate welfare, what does Kasich call the millions of dollars in financial incentives doled out to attract or retain jobs by his development effort — jobs Ohio.

If subsidies are good enough for Ohio companies, why aren't they good enough for companies trying to compete overseas?

KASICH: Well, first of all, when we talk about the Import Export Bank, it's time to clean up corporate welfare. If we're gonna reform welfare for poor people, we ought to reform it for rich people, as well. Secondly, in our state, we went from a loss of 350,000 jobs to, now, a gain of 347,000 jobs to the positive. Our wages are growing faster than the national average, and I've cut taxes more than any sitting governor in this state — $5 billion, including no taxes on small business and killing the death tax.

I want to go back to what we were talking about earlier, this budget deal in Washington.

This is the same old stuff since I left.

You spend the money today and then you hope you're going to save money tomorrow.

I don't know if people understand, but I spent a lifetime with my colleagues getting us to a federal balanced budget. We actually did it. And I have a road map and a plan right now to get us to balance.

Reforming entitlements, cutting taxes. You see, because if you really want to get to a balanced budget, you need to reduce your expenses and you need to grow your economy. So what I will tell you about our incentives — our incentives are tight, and at the end of the day we make sure that we gain more from the creation of jobs than what we lose.

And you know what? Ohio, one of the best growing places in the country — I not only did it in Washington, I did it in Ohio, and I'll go back to Washington, and there will be no more silly deals...

HARWOOD: Thank you, Governor.

KASICH: ... If I become President because we'll have a Constitutional Amendment to require a federally balanced budget so they will do their job.

HARWOOD: Thank you, Governor. Thank you.

QUICK: Yes, thank you John.

Senator Cruz, working women in this country still earn just 77 percent of what men earn. And I know that you've said you've been very sympathetic to our cause. But you've also you said that the Democrats' moves to try and change this are the political show votes.

I just wonder what you would do as President to try and help in this cause?

CRUZ: Well, we've gotta turn the economy around for people who are struggling.

The Democrats' answer to everything is more government control over wages, and more empowering trial lawyers to file lawsuits.

You know, you look at women working. I'll tell you, in my family there are a lot of single moms in my family. My sister was a single mom, both of my aunts who were a single moms. My mom who's here today, was a single mom when my father left us when I was 3 years old.

Now, thank God, my father was invited to a Bible study and became born again and he came back to my mom and me and we were raised together. But I — the struggle of single moms is extraordinary. And you know, when you see Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and all the Democrats talking about wanting to address the plight of working women, not a one of them mentioned the fact that under Barack Obama, 3.7 million women have entered poverty.

Not a one of them mentioned the fact that under Barack Obama and the big government economy, the median wage for women has dropped $733. The the truth of the matter is, big government benefits the wealthy, it benefits the lobbyists, it benefits the giant corporations. And the people who are getting hammered are small businesses, it's single moms, it's Hispanics. That is who I'm fighting for. The people that Washington leaves behind.

[crosstalk]

FIORINA: Becky, it is the height of hypocrisy for Mrs. Clinton to talk about being the first woman President, when every single policy she espouses, and every single policy of President Obama has been demonstrably bad for women.

92 percent — 92 percent of the jobs lost during Barack Obama's first term belonged to women. Senator Cruz is precisely right. Three million women have fallen into poverty under this administration. The number of women —

QUICK: Mrs. Fiorina —

FIORINA: — living in extreme poverty is the highest level on record. I am a conservative because I know our values, our principles and our policies —

QUICK: Mrs. Fiorina, we will come back to you.

FIORINA: — work better to lift everyone up, men and women.

QUICK: Thank you, Mrs. Fiorina. Carl? [applause]

QUINTANILLA: Dr. Carson, we know you as a physician, but we wanted to ask you about your involvement on some corporate boards, including Costco's. Last year, a marketing study called the warehouse retailer the number one gay-friendly brand in America, partly because of its domestic partner benefits.

Why would you serve on a company whose policies seem to run counter to your views on homosexuality?

CARSON: Well, obviously, you don't understand my views on homosexuality. I believe that our Constitution protects everybody, regardless of their sexual orientation or any other aspect. I also believe that marriage is between one man and one woman. And there is no reason that you can't be perfectly fair to the gay community.

They shouldn't automatically assume that because you believe that marriage is between one man and one woman that you are a homophobe. And this is one of the myths that the left perpetrates on our society, and this is how they frighten people and get people to shut up. You know, that's what the PC culture is all about, and it's destroying this nation.

The fact of the matter is we the American people are not each other's enemies, it's those people who are trying to divide us who are the enemies. And we need to make that very clear to everybody. [applause]

QUINTANILLA: One more question. This is a company called Mannatech, a maker of nutritional supplements, with which you had a 10-year relationship. They offered claims that they could cure autism, cancer, they paid $7 million to settle a deceptive marketing lawsuit in Texas, and yet you're involvement continued. Why?

CARSON: Well, that's easy to answer. I didn't have an involvement with them. That is total propaganda, and this is what happens in our society. Total propaganda.

I did a couple of speeches for them, I do speeches for other people. They were paid speeches. It is absolutely absurd to say that I had any kind of a relationship with them.

Do I take the product? Yes. I think it's a good product.

QUINTANILLA: To be fair, you were on the homepage of their website with the logo over your shoulder —

CARSON: If somebody put me on their homepage, they did it without my permission.

QUINTANILLA: Does that not speak to your vetting process or judgment in any way.

CARSON: No, it speaks to the fact that I don't know those —

[audience boos]

See? They know. [applause]

QUINTANILLA: Apparently. We will take a break. We'll be back in Boulder in just a minute.

[commercial break]

HARWOOD: Welcome back to the Republican presidential debate on CNBC, live from Boulder, Colorado at the University of Colorado.

Senator Huckabee, I mean — excuse me — Senator Rubio, Wired magazine recently carried the headline, "Marco Rubio wants to be the tech industry's savior." It noted your support for dramatically increasing immigration visas called H1B, which are designed for workers with the special skills that Silicon Valley wants.

But your Senate colleague, Jeff Sessions of Alabama, says in reality, the tech industry uses this program to undercut hiring and wages for highly qualified Americans. Why is he wrong?

RUBIO: Well, first of all, if a company gets caught doing that, they should never be able to use the program again. If you get caught abusing this program, you should never be able to use it again.

The second thing I said is we need to add reforms, not just increase the numbers, but add reforms. For example, before you hire anyone from abroad, you should have to advertise that job for 180 days. You also have to prove that you're going to pay these people more than you would pay someone else, so that you're not undercutting it by bringing in cheap labor.

But here's the best solution of all. We need to get back to training people in this country to do the jobs of the 21st century. Why, for the life of me, I do not understand why did we stop doing vocational education in America, people that can work with their hands; people you can train to do this work while they're still in high school so they can graduate ready to go work. But the best way to close this gap is to modernize higher education so Americans have the skills for those jobs. But in the interim, in the absence of that, what's happening is some of these tech companies are taking those — those centers (ph) to Canada because they can get people to go over there instead of here.

But the ideal scenario is to train Americans to do the work so we don't have to rely on people from abroad.

HARWOOD: It sounds like you think Senator Sessions is wrong to believe there is enough abuse in that program that we shouldn't...

[crosstalk]

RUBIO: Well, I believe that there are abuses, those companies should be permanently barred from ever using the program again and we should put strict standards in place to ensure that they're not being abused, like the prevailing wage requirement and like the advertising requirement.

HARWOOD: Thank you, Senator.

Becky?

QUICK: Mr. Trump, let's stay on this issue of immigration. You have been very critical of Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook who has wanted to increase the number of these H1Bs.

TRUMP: I was not at all critical of him. I was not at all. In fact, frankly, he's complaining about the fact that we're losing some of the most talented people. They go to Harvard. They go to Yale. They go to Princeton. They come from another country and they're immediately sent out.

I am all in favor of keeping these talented people here so they can go to work in Silicon Valley.

QUICK: So you're in favor of...

[crosstalk]

TRUMP: So I have nothing at all critical of him.

QUICK: Where did I read this and come up with this that you were...

[crosstalk]

TRUMP: Probably, I don't know — you people write the stuff. I don't know where you... [laughter] [applause]

And if I could say just one thing. I am the only person in either campaign that's self-funding. I'm putting up 100 percent of my own money. And right now, I will be putting up a tremendous — so far, I've put up less than anybody and I have the best results. Wouldn't that be nice if the country could do that?

But I will be putting — I will be putting up, you know, tremendous amounts of money. SuperPacs are a disaster. They're a scam. They cause dishonesty. And you better get rid of them because they are causing a lot of bad decisions to be made by some very good people. And I'm not blaming these folks — well, I guess I could. [laughter]

Very good people are making very bad decisions right now. And if anything comes out of this whole thing with some of these nasty and ridiculous questions, I will tell you, you better get rid of the SuperPacs because they causing a big problem with this country, not only in dishonesty and what's going on, but also in a lot of bad decisions that have been made for the benefit of lobbyists and special interests.

QUICK: You know, Mr. — you know, Mr. Trump, if I may [inaudible]. You've been — you have been — you had talked a little bit about Marco Rubio. I think you called him Mark Zuckerberg's personal senator because he was in favor of the H1B.

TRUMP: I never said that. I never said that.

QUICK: So this was an erroneous article the whole way around?

TRUMP: You've got another gentleman in Florida, who happens to be a very nice guy, but not...

QUICK: My apologies. I'm sorry.

[crosstalk]

TRUMP: ... he's really doing some bad...

[crosstalk]

RUBIO: Since I've been mentioned, can I respond?

[crosstalk]

QUICK: Yes, you can.

RUBIO: OK. I know the Democrats have the ultimate SuperPac. It's called the mainstream media who every single day... [applause] ... and I'll tell you why. Last week, Hillary Clinton went before a committee. She admitted she had sent e-mails to her family saying, "Hey, this attack at Benghazi was caused by Al Qaida-like elements." She spent over a week telling the families of those victims and the American people that it was because of a video. And yet the mainstream media is going around saying it was the greatest week in Hillary Clinton's campaign.

It was the week she got exposed as a liar. It was the week that she got exposed as a liar... [applause]

But she has her super PAC helping her out, the American mainstream media.

QUICK: Senator Rubio, thank you very much.

I would like to introduce my colleague, Rick Santelli, he has some comments as well, sir.

SANTELLI: Senator Cruz, let's focus on our central bank, the Federal Reserve. You've been a fierce critic of the Fed, arguing for more transparency. Where do you want to take that?

Do you want to get Congress involved in monetary policy, or is it time to slap the Fed back and downsize them completely? What are your thoughts? What do you believe?

CRUZ: Well, Rick, it's a very important question. I have got deep concerns about the Fed. The first thing I think we need to do is audit the Fed. And I am an original co-sponsor of Rand Paul's audit the Fed legislation.

The second thing we need to do is I think we need to bring together a bipartisan commission to look at getting back to rules- based monetary policy, end this star chamber that has been engaging in this incredible experiment of quantitative easing, QE1, QE2, QE3, QE- infinity.

And the people who are being impacted, you know, a question that was asked earlier, Becky asked, was about working women. You know, it's interesting, you look at on Wall Street, the Fed is doing great. It's driving up stock prices. Wall Street is doing great.

You know, today, the top 1 percent earn a higher share of our income than any year since 1928. But if you look at working men and women. If you look at a single mom buying groceries, she sees hamburger prices have gone up nearly 40 percent.

She sees her cost of electricity going up. She sees her health insurance going up. And loose money is one of the major problems. We need sound money. And I think the Fed should get out of the business of trying to juice our economy and simply be focused on sound money and monetary stability, ideally tied to gold.

SANTELLI: Senator Paul, the same question to you.

PAUL: Well, thank you very much. I would like to thank Ted for co-sponsoring my bill, audit the Fed. And I think it's precisely because of the arrogance of someone like Ben Bernanke, who now calls us all know-nothings, that is precisely why we need audit the Fed.

I think it is really very much a huge problem that an organization as powerful as the Fed comes in, lobbies against them being audited on the Hill. I would prevent them lobbying Congress. I don't think the Fed should be involved with lobbying us.

I think we should examine how the Fed has really been part of the problem. You want to study income inequality, let's bring the Fed forward and talk about Fed policy and how it causes income inequality.

Let's also bring the Fed forward and have them explain how they caused the housing boom and the crisis, and what they've done to make us better or worse. I think the Fed has been a great problem in our society.

What you need to do is free up interest rates. Interest rates are the price of money, and we shouldn't have price controls on the price of money.

SANTELLI: Thank you, Senator. [applause]

Dr. Carson, you told The Des Moines Register that you don't like government subsidies, it interferes with the free market. But you've also said that you're in favor of taking oil subsidies and putting them towards ethanol processing.

Isn't that just swapping one subsidy for another, Doctor?

CARSON: Well, first of all, I was wrong about taking the oil subsidy. I have studied that issue in great detail. And what I have concluded is that the best policy is to get rid of all government subsidies, and get the government out of our lives, and let people rise and fall based on how good they are.

And — you know, all of this too big to fail stuff and picking and choosing winners and losers — this is a bunch of crap, and it is really causing a great deal of — great deal of problems for our society right now.

And — and — you know, it goes back to the whole concept of regulations, which are in everything. The reason that I — I hate them so much is because every single regulation costs in terms of goods and services.

That cost gets passed on to the people. Now, who are the people who are hurt by that? It's poor people and middle class. Doesn't hurt rich people if their bar of soap goes up ten cents, but it hurts the poor and the middle class.

And Bernie Sanders will tell them that it's because of the rich. Well, I'll tell you something: you can take everything from the top 1 percent, and you apply it to our fiscal gap, and you won't even make a dent in it.

SANTELLI: Thank you, Doctor.

Becky?

QUICK: Rick, thank you very much.

Governor Huckabee, you have railed against income inequality. You've said that some Wall Street executives should have gone to jail over the roles that they played during the financial crisis.

Apart from your tax plan, are there specific steps you would require from corporate America to try and reduce the income inequality.

HUCKABEE: I don't think it's so much about when the government orders a corporation to do something. In fact, that's part of the problem. If you saw that blimp that got cut loose from Maryland today, it's a perfect example of government.

I mean, what we had was something the government made — basically a bag of gas — that cut loose, destroyed everything in its path, left thousands of people powerless, but they couldn't get rid of it because we had too much money invested in it, so we had to keep it.

That is our government today. We saw it in the blimp. [applause]

That's exactly what we saw. So look, corporations ought to exercise some responsibility. When CEO income has risen 90 percent above the average worker, when the bottom 90 percent of this country's economy has had stagnant wages for the past 40 years, somebody is taking it in the teeth.

And it's not the folks on Wall Street. I'm not anti-Wall Street, but I don't believe the government ought to wear a team jersey, pick winners and losers.

QUICK: Governor?

HUCKABEE: The government ought to wear a striped shirt and just make sure the game...

QUICK: Governor?

HUCKABEE: ...is paid — played fairly.

QUICK: Thank you.

HUCKABEE: Now, everybody else has fudged their time and gone over, so please, don't cut me off too quick, Becky.

QUICK: All right, Governor Huckabee.

HUCKABEE: Let me just close it out this way.

QUICK: How about 15 more seconds?

HUCKABEE: We need to be focusing on what fixes this country. And I'll tell you one thing that we never talk about — we haven't talked about it tonight.

Why aren't we talking about — instead of cutting benefits for old people, cutting benefits for sick people — why don't we say, "let's cure the four big cost-driving diseases...

QUICK: Governor?

HUCKABEE: ..."diabetes, heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer's?"

QUICK: Governor, I'm sorry...

HUCKABEE: If you do that, you don't just change the economy, you transform the lives of millions of hurting Americans.

QUICK: Governor, thank you.

HUCKABEE: Gosh, I'd love for us to talk about something like that. Thank you.

QUICK: Governor, thank you. Appreciate it.

John?

HARWOOD: Governor Bush, the tax reform bill that Ronald Reagan signed in 1986 cut the top personal income tax rate to 28 percent — just like your plan does. But President Reagan taxed capital gains at the same rate, while you would tax them at just 20 percent.

Given the problems we've been discussing, growing gap between rich and poor, why would you tax labor at a higher rate than income from investments?

BUSH: Look, the — the simple fact is that my plan actually gives the middle class the greatest break: $2,000 per family. And if you make $40,000 a year, a family of four, you don't pay any income tax at all.

Simplifying the code and lowering rates, both for corporations and — and personal rates, is exactly what we need to do. You think about the regulatory cost and the tax cost — that's why small businesses are closing, rather than being formed in our country right now.

The big corporations have the scale to deal with all of this. And what I think all of us are saying is, our monetary policy, our tax policy, regulatory policy needs to be radically changed so we can create high sustained growth for income to rise.

The government has tried it their way. Under — under Barack Obama and the proposals of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and others, they've tried it their way, and it has failed miserably.

We need to take a new approach of taxing — reforming how we tax, and reforming the regulations in our — in our country before it's too late.

HARWOOD: Senator Rubio, 30 seconds to you.

The Tax Foundation, which was alluded to earlier, scored your tax plan and concluded that you give nearly twice as much of a gain in after-tax income to the top 1 percent as to people in the middle of the income scale.

Since you're the champion of Americans living paycheck-to- paycheck, don't you have that backward?

RUBIO: No, that's — you're wrong. In fact, the largest after- tax gains is for the people at the lower end of the tax spectrum under my plan. And there's a bunch of things my tax plan does to help them.

Number one, you have people in this country that...

HARWOOD: The Tax Foundation — just to be clear, they said the...

[crosstalk]

RUBIO: ...you wrote a story on it, and you had to go back and correct it.

HARWOOD: No, I did not.

RUBIO: You did. No, you did. [applause]

[crosstalk]

HARWOOD: Senator, the Tax Foundation said after-tax income for the top 1 percent under your plan would go up 27.9 percent.

RUBIO: Well, you're talking about — yeah.

HARWOOD: And people in the middle of the income spectrum, about 15 percent.

RUBIO: Yeah, but that — because the math is, if you — 5 percent of a million is a lot more than 5 percent of a thousand. So yeah, someone who makes more money...

HARWOOD: [inaudible]

RUBIO: ...numerically, it's gonna be higher. But the greatest gains, percentage-wise, for people, are gonna be at the lower end of our plan, and here's why: because in addition to a general personal exemption, we are increasing the per-child tax credit for working families.

We are lowering taxes on small business. You know, a lot of business activity in America is conducted like the guy that does my dry cleaning. He's an S corporation. He pays on his personal rate, and he is paying higher than the big dry-cleaning chain down the street, because he's paying at his personal rate.

Under my plan, no business, big or small, will pay more than 25 percent flat rate on their business income. That is a dramatic tax decrease for hard-working people who run their own businesses.

[crosstalk]

RUBIO: ...The other thing I'd like to make about our plan, one more point, it is the most pro growth tax plan that I can imagine because it doesn't tax investments at all. You know why? Because the more you tax something, the less of it you get.

I want to be in — I want America to be the best...

PAUL: ...John...

RUBIO: ...in the world for people...

HARWOOD: Senator, thank you.

PAUL: John, I'd like to address this? John, could I follow up on this?

QUINTANILLA: ...We'll come back around. I want to get to governor Kasich.

PAUL: What are the rules on who gets to follow up. How do we decide on who gets to follow up? I've seen plenty of other people follow up?

QUICK: It's at the moderator discretion.

QUINTANILLA: Governor Kasich, let's talk ...

[crosstalk]

QUINTANILLA: ...about Marijuana, Governor Kasich...

PAUL: I'd like to just mention something about my tax plan, and how it relates to the discussion...

QUINTANILLA: Alright, but 30 seconds, you made a case. Sure, 30 seconds.

PAUL: Alright. Much of the discussion is centered over whether or not the different tax plans help, or affect the middle class. In fact, it's the chief argument by democrats against many of the different flat tax proposals. Mine is unique in the sense that my tax plan actually gets rid of the payroll tax as well. It shifts it to the business, and it would allow middle class people to get a tax cut.

If you just cut their income tax, there isn't much income tax to cut. Mine actually cuts the payroll tax, and I think it would spread the tax cut across all socioeconomic levels, and would allow then it to be something that would be broadly supported by the public in an election.

QUINTANILLA: Senator, thank you.

CRUZ: Let me say on that...

QUINTANILLA: Oh, no, no, no...

CRUZ: ...Rand is exactly right. His plan is a good plan, and I will note that my 10% plan also eliminates the payroll tax, eliminates the death tax,

QUINTANILLA: ...Ok...

CRUZ: ...eliminates the business...

[UNKNOWN]: [inaudible]

CRUZ: ...income tax...

[UNKNOWN]: What are you doing?

CRUZ: ...10% flat rate...

QUINTANILLA: ...We're going to go to...

CRUZ: ...is the lowest personal rate any candidate up here has, and what it would also enable us to do is for every citizen to fill out their taxes on a postcard so we can eliminate the IRS. [cheering and pplause]

QUINTANILLA: OK. Thank you, Senator. Governor Kasich, let's talk about marijuana. We're broadcasting from Colorado which has seen $150 million in new revenue for the state since legalizing last year. Governor Hickenlooper is not a big fan of legalization, but he's said the people who used to be smoking it are still smoking it, they're just now paying taxes.

Given the budget pressures in Ohio, and other states, is this a revenue stream you'd like to have?

KASICH: Well, first of all, we're running a $2 billion dollar surplus, we're not having a revenue problem right now. And, sending mixed signals to kids about drugs is a disaster. Drugs is one of the greatest scourge in this country, and I spent five years of my administration working with my team to do a whole sort of things to try to reign in the problem of overdoses, and it goes on and on. We could do a whole show on that.

I want to go back for a second thought on this issue of income inequality. My program would move the 104 programs of the federal Department of Education into four block grants, and send them back to the states because income inequality is driven by a lack of skills when kids don't get what they need to be able to compete and win in this country.

The fact is, in order to get this economy moving again, I call for freezing regulations for a year except for the problem of public safety. I believe that we need to cut these taxes down, we need to be on a roadmap to balancing the budget, and we need to send power, money, and influence, the welfare department, the education department, job training, infrastructure, Medicaid, all of that out of Washington back to the states so we can run these programs from where we live to the top, not a one size fits all mentality that they have in Washington.

And, that will get to the nub of opportunity for our children, and an ability to see wages rise. Again...

[crosstalk]

KASICH: ...One more time, in Ohio, our wages are growing faster than the national average. We've cut taxes, balanced budgets, changed the regulatory environment. Folks, you want to —

QUINTANILLA: Thank you, Governor.

KASICH: — fix America, this is the formula. It worked for Reagan and it works for our team in Ohio. Thank you.

QUINTANILLA: Thank you. We'll be back from Boulder, Colorado in just a moment. [applause]

[commercial break]

QUICK: Welcome back to the University of Colorado and the Republican presidential debate right here on CNBC.

Mr. Trump, I want to go back to an issue that we were talking about before, the H-1B visas. I found where I read that before. It was from the donaldjtrump.com website and it says — it says that again, Mark Zuckerburg's personal senator, Marco Rubio has a bill to triple H-1Bs that would decimate women and minorities. Are you in favor of H-1Bs or are you opposed to them?

TRUMP: I'm in favor of people coming into this country legally. And you know what? They can have it anyway you want. You can call it visas, you can call it work permits, you can call it anything you want. I've created tens of thousands of jobs, and in all due respect — and actually some of these folks I really like a lot — but I'm the only one that can say that. I have created tens of thousands of jobs, and I'll be creating many millions of jobs if I'm given — if I'm given the opportunity to be president.

As far as Mark is concerned, as far as the visas are concerned, if we need people, they have — it's fine. They have to come into this country legally. We have a country of borders. We have a country of laws. We have to obey the laws. It's fine if they come in, but they have to come in legally.

QUICK: Thank you, sir.

RUBIO: I was mentioned in the question.

QUICK: You were. You get 30 seconds.

RUBIO: Thank you.

Well, I've learned the rules on this. [laughter]

Look, in addition to what Donald was saying is we also need to talk about the legal immigration system for permanent residents. Today, we have a legal immigration system for permanent residency that is largely based on whether or not you have a relative living here. And that's the way my parents came legally in 1956.

But in 2015, we have a very different economy. Our legal immigration system from now on has to be merit-based. It has to be based on what skills you have, what you can contribute economically, and most important of all, on whether or not you're coming here to become an American, not just live in America, but be an American.

QUICK: Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator.

Carl?

QUINTANILLA: Mr. Trump, you've said you have a special permit to carry a gun in New York.

TRUMP: Yes.

QUINTANILLA: After the Oregon mass shooting on October 1st, you said, "By the way, it was a gun-free zone. If you had a couple of teachers with guns, you would have been a hell of a lot better off."

TRUMP: Or somebody else. Right.

QUINTANILLA: Would you feel more comfortable if your employees brought guns to work?

TRUMP: Yes, I might feel more comfortable. I would say that I would and I have a permit, which is very unusual in New York — a permit to carry. And I do carry on occasion, sometimes a lot. But I like to be unpredictable so that people don't know exactly... [laughter]

QUINTANILLA: Are you carrying one now? [laughter]

[crosstalk]

TRUMP: By the way, unlike our country where we're totally predictable and the enemy, whether it's ISIS or anybody else, they know exactly what we're doing because we have the wrong leadership. [applause]

But I feel that the gun-free zones and, you know, when you say that, that's target practice for the sickos and for the mentally ill. That's target. They look around for gun-free zones. You know, we could give you another example — the Marines, the Army, these wonderful six soldiers that were killed. Two of them were among the most highly decorated — they weren't allowed on a military base to have guns. And somebody walked in and shot them, killed them. If they had guns, he wouldn't be around very long. I can tell you, there wouldn't have been much damage.

So, I think gun-free zones are a catastrophe. They're a feeding frenzy for sick people.

QUINTANILLA: We called a few Trump resorts, a few Trump properties that — that do not allow guns with or without a permit. Would you change those policies?

TRUMP: I would change them. I would change them.

QUINTANILLA: OK. All right. Thank you.

John?

HARWOOD: Governor Huckabee, you've written about the huge divide in values between middle America and the big coastal cities like New York and Los Angeles. As a preacher as well as a politician, you know that presidents need the moral authority to bring the entire country together.

The leading Republican candidate, when you look at the average of national polls right now, is Donald Trump. When you look at him, do you see someone with the moral authority to unite the country?

HUCKABEE: You know, of the few questions I've got, the last one I need is to give him some more time. I love Donald Trump. He is a good man. I'm wearing a Trump tie tonight. Get over that one, OK? [applause]

[crosstalk]

[UNKNOWN:]: Is it made in Mexico?

HUCKABEE: I don't know.

[UNKNOWN:]: Where's it made? Is it made in China?

[UNKNOWN:]: Is it made in China or Mexico?

HUCKABEE: I have no idea.

[crosstalk]

TRUMP: Such a nasty — such a nasty question, but thank you, Governor.

HUCKABEE: You're welcome. [laughter]

Let me tell you, Donald Trump would be a president every day of the week and twice on Sunday, rather than Hillary. I've spent a lifetime in politics fighting the Clinton machine. [applause]

You want to talk about what we're going to be up against next year? I'm the only guy on this stage — you know, everybody has an "only guy" — "I'm the only guy this; I'm the only guy that." Well, let me tell you one thing that I am the only guy: The only guy that has consistently fought the Clinton machine every election I was ever in over the past 26 years. And not only did I fight them, but I beat them.

Somebody says "I'm a fighter." Well, I want to know, did you win? Well, I did. And not only did I fight them and win, I lived to tell about it and I'm standing on this stage tonight as evidence of that. And I think that ought to be worth something.

HARWOOD: Thank you, Governor.

CHRISTIE: John, I'll tell you something. You want to talk about moral authority. Let's talk about something that happened this week in the news. You know, the FBI director, the president's appointed FBI director has said this week that because of a lack of support from politicians like the president of the United States, that police officers are afraid to get out of their cars; that they're afraid to enforce the law. And he says, the president's appointee, that crime is going up because of this.

And when the president of the United States gets out to speak about it, does he support police officers? Does he stand up for law enforcement? No, he doesn't. I'll tell you this, the number one job of the president of the United States is to protect the safety and security of the American people. This president has failed, and when I'm in the Oval Office, police officers will know that they will have the support of the president of the Untied States. That's real moral authority that we need in the Oval Office.

HARWOOD: Thank you, Governor.

Don't forget my colleague, Sharon Epperson.

EPPERSON: Thank you, John.

Mrs. Fiorina, you were the CEO of a large corporation that offers a 401(k) to its employees. But more than half of American have no access to an employer sponsored retirement plan.

That includes the workers at small businesses, and the growing ranks of Uber drivers and other part-timers in the freelance economy.

Should the Federal Government play a larger role in helping to set up retirement plans for these workers?

FIORINA: No, the Federal Government should not play a larger role.

Look, every time the Federal Government gets engaged in something it gets worse. And then the Government steps in to try and solve the problem and we get a little further down to that progressive vision that Hillary Clinton is talking about.

Companies should, if they want to attract the best workers, provide a good set of benefits. But honestly, if you're a small business owner today you are being crushed. We have 400,000 small businesses forming every year in this country. How great is that? They are employing themselves, they are potentially employing others.

The bad news is, we have 470,000 going out of business every year. And why? They cite Obamacare.

They are refusing to...

EPPERSON: So you wouldn't agree — you wouldn't agree with a start for 401(k) for businesses or anything like that?

FIORINA: I think it's a wonderful that that businesses start a 401(k). The point I'm making is this, the Federal Government should not be in a lot of things.

There is no Constitutional role for the Federal Government in setting up — retirement plans. There is no Constitutional role for the Federal Government to be setting minimum wages...

EPPERSON: Thank you very much.

FIORINA: ... The more the Government gets engaged in the economy, the slower the economy becomes. The more the Government gets engaged in the economy, it is demonstrably true...

EPPERSON: Thank you, the rules say one minute.

FIORINA: ... The more the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected are advantaged.

EPPERSON: Thank you, Ms. Fiorina. We appreciate it. Thank you, thank you.

I want to turn my attention now, to you now, Governor Kasich.

Most people can't get a college degree without going into debt. Over 40 million Americans have student loans and many of them cannot pay them back.

This country has over $100 billion in student loan defaults. That's billion with a b.

What will you do to make sure that students, their families, taxpayers, won't feel the economic impact of this burden for generations?

Well, first of all, in Ohio we're changing the whole system. Universities will not get paid one dime unless the student graduates or — graduates or completes a course.

Secondly, you can be in high school and complete almost an entire first year before you go to college and get credit to do that. And, of course, in addition to that, we are working now to go after the cost drivers in our universities. And let me give you an example. Universities today have so many non-academic assets. At Ohio State they sold the parking garage and the parking lot, and they got $500 million because they shouldn't be in the parking lot business. They shouldn't be in the ding business, they shouldn't be in the dorm business.

And, of course, we need to take advantage of on-line education to reduce these costs and begin to dis-intermediate the cost of four years.

Now, for those who that have these big high costs, I think we can seriously look at an idea of where you can do public service. I mean legitimate, public service and begin to pay off some of that debt through the public service that you do. And in the meantime, it may inspire us to care more about our country, more about ourselves.

This is a big moral issue in America. Living a life bigger than yourself, and being a center of healing and justice. And people can learn it through public service.

EPPERSON: Thank you, thank you.

BUSH: We don't need the federal government to be involved in this at all.

QUICK: Higher education is the example...

BUSH: We don't need the Federal Government to be involved in this, because when they do we create a $1.2 trillion debt.

In Florida, we have the lowest in-state tuition of any state, because there's accountability, just as John said. Let the states do this. You'll create a much better graduation rate at a lower cost, and you won't in debt the next generation with recourse debt on their backs.

It's always a solution of the left to create more Government from the Federal Government. It is broke, it is not working.

[crosstalk]

QUINTANILLA: Governor Bush, daily fantasy sports has become a phenomenon in this country, will award billions of dollars in prize money this year. But to play you have to assess your odds, put money at risk, wait for an outcome that's out of your control. Isn't that the definition of gambling, and should the Federal Government treat it as such?

BUSH: Well, first of all, I'm 7 and 0 in my fantasy league.

QUINTANILLA: I had a feeling you were going to brag about that.

BUSH: Gronkowski is still going strong. I have Ryan Tannehill, Marco, as my quarterback, he was 18 for 19 last week. So I'm doing great. But we're not gambling.

And I think this has become something that needs to be looked at in terms of regulation. Effectively it is day trading without any regulation at all. And when you have insider information, which apparently has been the case, where people use that information and use big data to try to take advantage of it, there has to be some regulation.

If they can't regulate themselves, then the NFL needs to look at just, you know, moving away from them a little bit. And there should be some regulation. I have no clue whether the federal government is the proper place, my instinct is to say, hell no, just about everything about the federal government.

[crosstalk]

CHRISTIE: Carl, are we really talking about getting government involved in fantasy football? [laughter]

We have — wait a second, we have $19 trillion in debt. We have people out of work. We have ISIS and al Qaeda attacking us. And we're talking about fantasy football? Can we stop? [applause]

How about this? How about we get the government to do what they're supposed to be doing, secure our borders, protect our people, and support American values and American families. Enough on fantasy football. Let people play, who cares?

[crosstalk]

QUICK: I want to go back, if I can, to the issue of...

[crosstalk]

QUICK: I want to go back, if I may, to the...

HARWOOD: Governor Christie, you've said something that many in your party do not believe, which is that climate change is undeniable, that human activity contributes to it, and you said, quote: "The question is, what do we do to deal with it?".

So what do we do?

CHRISTIE: Well, first off, what we don't do is do what Hillary Clinton and John Kerry and Barack Obama want us to do, which is their solution for everything, put more taxes on it, give more money to Washington, D.C., and then they will fix it.

Well, there is no evidence that they can fix anything in Washington, D.C.

HARWOOD: What should we do?

CHRISTIE: What we should do is to be investing in all types of energy, John, all types of energy. I've laid out...

HARWOOD: You mean government?

CHRISTIE: No, John. John, do you want me to answer or do you want to answer? [laughter]

How are we going to do this? [applause]

Because, I've got to tell you the truth, even in New Jersey what you're doing is called rude. So... [laughter]

We've laid out a national energy plan that says that we should invest in all types of energy. I will tell you, you could win a bet at a bar tonight, since we're talking about fantasy football, if you ask who the top three states in America are that produce solar energy: California and Arizona are easy, but number three is New Jersey.

Why? Because we work with the private sector to make solar energy affordable and available to businesses and individuals in our state.

We need to make sure that we do everything across all kinds of energy: natural gas, oil, absolutely. But also where it's affordable, solar, wind in Iowa has become very affordable and it makes sense.

That is the way we deal with global warming, climate change, or any of those problems, not through government intervention, not through government taxes, and for God's sake, don't send Washington another dime until they stop wasting the money they're already sending there.

HARWOOD: Thank you, Governor. [applause]

Becky.

QUICK: Senator Paul, among the leading conservative opponents to the creation of Medicare back in the 1960s was Ronald Reagan. He warned that it would lead to socialism. Considering the mounting cost of Medicare, was he right to oppose it?

PAUL: The question always is, what works better, the private marketplace or government? And what distributes goods better? It always seems to be the private marketplace does a better job.

Is there an area for a safety net? Can you have Medicare or Social Security? Yes. But you ought to acknowledge the government doesn't do a very good job at it.

The main problem with Medicare right now is that the average person pays in taxes over their whole lifetime about $100,000. But the average person takes out about $350,000. We have this enormous mismatch because we have smaller and smaller families.

When people ask me, whose fault is it? Whose fault is it that Medicare is broken, out of money, that Social Security is broken, out of money? And I say, look, it's not Republicans' fault, it's not Democrats' fault, it's your grandparents' fault for having too many damn kids. [laughter]

After the war we had all of these kids, Baby Boomers. Now we're having smaller families. We used to have 16 workers for one retiree, now you have three workers for one retiree.

It's not working. I have a bill to fix Medicare. I've a bill to fix Social Security. For both of them you have to gradually raise the age. If you're not willing to do that, nobody wants to do it, but if you're not willing to gradually raise the age, you're not serious about fixing either one of them.

QUICK: Senator, thank you.

[UNIDENTIFIED]: Becky, may I...

QUINTANILLA: This is the— well, we're going to take a break. We want to save time for closing statements after the break.

So this is the Republican presidential debate in Boulder, and we'll be right back.

[commercial break] [applause]

QUICK: Welcome back to Boulder, Colorado and the Republican presidential debate right here on CNBC.

Governor Huckabee, you wanted to respond to the points that Senator Rand Paul was just making when it comes to Social Security. Your time, sir.

HUCKABEE: Well, and specifically to Medicare, Becky, because 85 percent of the cost of Medicare is chronic disease. The fact is if we don't address what's costing so much, we can't throw enough money at this. And it's why I've continued to focus on the fact that we need to declare war on the four big cost drivers because 80 percent of all medical costs in this country are chronic disease. We don't have a health care crisis in America, we have a health crisis.

And until we deal with the health of Americans and do what we did with polio — when I was a little kid, we eradicated it. You know how much money we spent on polio last year in America? We didn't spend any. We've saved billions of dollars.

You want to fix Medicare? Focus on the diseases that are costing us the trillions of dollars. Alzheimers, diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Eradicate those and you fix Medicare and you've fixed America, its economy and you've made people's lives a heck of a lot better.

BUSH: Becky —

QUICK: Thank you, Governor. [applause]

BUSH: — the governor's absolutely right. But we also need to reform Medicare and Social Security. We can't just allow it to continue on its current path the way that Hillary Clinton wants to do because there'll be major reductions in benefits in the next decade if we do nothing.

I have a concrete plan to do just that, which allows people to keep HSAs to encourage savings, it allows for people that are retiring with Social Security to be able to get a minimum of 125 percent of the poverty level so that there is a baseline that in this generous country of ours no one goes below.

HARWOOD: Governor Bush, Mr. Trump says that he is capable of growing the economy so much that Social Security and Medicare don't have to be touched. Do you want to explain how that is going to happen, Mr. Trump?

TRUMP: Yes, it's very simple. We're going to make a really dynamic economy from what we have right now, which is not at all dynamic. We're going to bring jobs back from Japan, we're going to bring jobs back from China, we're going to bring, frankly, jobs back from Mexico where, as you probably saw, Nabisco is leaving Chicago with one of their biggest plants, and they're moving it to Mexico.

We're going to bring jobs and manufacturing back. We're going to cut costs. We're going to save Social Security, and we're going to save Medicare.

[UNKNOWN:]: Governor, you just heard him.

BUSH: You have to reform Social Security, and the simple way to do it is to make sure that the wealthiest don't receive the same benefits as people that are lower-income.

And make sure you enhance savings in the private market. The idea of 401(k)s. I have a small business that I set up. It took — it took an arm and a leg to be able to set up a 401(k). Because of all the federal mandates and federal laws, it was too expensive.

We need to incent private savings and make sure that Social Security is protected for those that have it.

KASICH: John.

BUSH: But the idea that you can't — that you're just gonna grow your way out of this — I have a plan to grow the economy at 4 percent, but you're gonna have to make adjustments for both Medicare and Social Security.

[UNKNOWN:]: Governor Kasich, do you want 30 seconds?

KASICH: I wanna tell you, in my state, we took Medicaid, the hardest program to control, and we took it from a 10 percent growth rate to 2.5 percent without taking one person off the rolls or cutting one single benefit.

And so much of what we did — to force competition, to use technology, to stand down the special interest groups — can you imagine taking Medicaid from 10 to 2.5 percent?

We can take many of those same procedures, we can apply it to Medicare. We can make a stronger program. But I agree with Jeb, you can't just do this by growing the economy. You can't grow your way out of demographics.

But we can give people better health care. And finally, on health care, why don't we start treating — keep giving...

QUICK: Governor.

KASICH: ...incentives for people to keep people healthy, rather than giving the incentives to treat them when they're sick?

QUICK: Governor, thank you.

Senator Paul, let's go back to you. Do these solutions sound like they work?

PAUL: Say again?

QUICK: Do these solutions sound like they would work?

PAUL: You can't do nothing. And that's what I hear from some people, "we'll do nothing and it will just be fixed." That's absurd, and I think people who don't want to fix it, really, or unwilling to take the chance to say, "something has to change," are missing the boat here.

The age will have to gradually rise, there is no question. It's the only way you fix Medicare, the only way you fix Social Security. You will also have to means-test the benefits and declare there's not enough money.

It isn't "I put money in, I'm getting it back." There is no money, it's a stack of paper. There is no money in the Social Security account. There is no money in the Medicare account. There's only a promise to pay by the next generation, and the next generation's not big enough to pay it.

[crosstalk]

[UNKNOWN:]: ...to deal with this. We did it 200 days ago.

HARWOOD: Hold on, Governor. I've got a question for — for Dr. Carson.

CARSON: About Medicare?

HARWOOD: Yes. You've said that you would like to replace Medicare with a system of individual family savings accounts, so that families could cover their own expenses.

Obviously, that would be a very controversial idea. Explain how that would work, exactly.

CARSON: Well, first of all the — the plan gives people the option of — of opting out. But I think they will see a very good option here. You know, the annual Medicare budget is over $600 billion. And there are 48 million people involved — 40 million, 65 and over, and 8 million other.

Divide that out. That comes out to $12,500 for each one. Now, I can tell you there are a lot of private-sector things that you could do with $12,500, which will get you a lot more than you get from this government program.

And that's really a theme of a lot of the things that I'm talking about. How do we utilize our intellect rather than allowing the government to use its, quote, "intellect," in order to help us to be able to live healthier and better lives?

It was never intended that the government should be in every aspect of our lives. This is a country that is of, for and by the people.

QUICK: Thank you, Dr. Carson.

Governor?

CHRISTIE: And — and — and I — you know, Ben is absolutely right in saying that what we don't need to do is to send more money to Washington, D.C. to fix this problem.

And that's what you'll hear from Hillary Clinton — and I've already heard from her — is that, send more money in Social Security, send more money in Medicare taxes, send more money for Medicaid, and that's gonna solve the problem.

What we know is we're living longer. That's a blessing. It's a blessing that we're living longer, so we have to increase the retirement age to reflect that blessing.

We need to make sure that people understand, as Jeb said before, that if you've done extraordinarily well in this country, do you want them to take more out of your taxes now and think they're gonna give it back to you later? Or would you rather take less later on?

QUINTANILLA: Senator Rubio...

HARWOOD: Governor, do you also think that...

QUINTANILLA: ...yeah, I just wanted [inaudible].

HARWOOD: ...that Dr. Carson's right, that we can replace Medicare with individual savings accounts?

RUBIO: No. No. What I said was that I think that Dr. Carson's ideas are good ideas. They're not my ideas, and I don't necessarily agree with all of them.

But this is what you're seeing in the Republican debate that you didn't see in that Democrat debate.

You didn't see it for a minute. You didn't see these kind of ideas being batted around, and being batted around in a way that's civil and smart and that's trying to help to inform the voter out there.

What you saw was a parade of, "I'll give you this for free; I'll give you that for free."

Let me tell you, everybody, when they say they want to give it to you for free, keep your hands on your wallets because they're coming to you to pay for it. And that's why I think these ideas up here are great, and that's what we should have is have more discussions like this and less gotcha.

[crosstalk]

QUINTANILLA: I want to give you 30 seconds here.

RUBIO: I want to take off from that point and argue the same thing. And that is that one of the things you're watching tonight are 11 quality candidates debating an important issue. The Republican Party is blessed to have 11 good candidates, [inaudible] 10 good candidates. The Democrats can't even come up with one.

And on this issue of the Medicare in particular, it's important because they're going to demagogue what we're saying here tonight. Everyone up here tonight that's talking about reforms, I think and I know for myself I speak to this, we're all talking about reforms for future generations. Nothing has to change for current beneficiaries. My mother is on Medicare and Social Security. I'm against anything that's bad for my mother. [laughter]

So, we're talking about — we're talking about reform for people like me and people like Senator Cruz, as he talked about earlier, who are years away from retirement that have a way to plan for these changes, and way that's very reasonable. And it's not too much to ask of our generation after everything our parents and our grandparents did for us.

FIORINA: John, I — if I — a lot of people have jumped in here. I'd like to jump in. A lot of people have jumped in here.

HARWOOD: Mrs. Fiorina, we're right at the end of our time.

FIORINA: I understand.

HARWOOD: You all wanted us to limit [inaudible].

All right. Go ahead.

FIORINA: I would just say that... [laughter] ... I would just say this, we've heard a lot of great ideas up here, and I agree with what Senator Rubio said. Every election we talk about this. Every election we talk about Medicare and Social Security reform. It never happens.

I would like to start with a basic. Let us actually go to zero- based budgeting so we know where the money is being spent. It's kind of basic. There is a bill sitting in the House that would actually pass and have us go to zero-based budgeting so we know where every dime of your money is being spent instead of only talking about how much more we're going to spend year after year after year.

My point is this. While there are lots of good ideas for reform, we have never tackled the basics. And we finally need to tackle the basics to cut this government down to size and hold it accountable. So let's start by knowing where your money is being spent by the federal government.

HARWOOD: We have now reached the point in the program where candidates are going to give their closing statements, 30 seconds apiece. We're going to go right to left and start with you, Senator Paul.

PAUL: Liberty thrives when government is small. I want a government so small I can barely see it. I want a government so small that the individual has a chance to thrive and prosper. I think, though, government is too big now. And what you're going to see in Washington this week is establishment Republicans have made an agreement with the president to raise the debt ceiling in an unlimited fashion; no limit to the debt ceiling raise.

This is extraordinary. It's extraordinarily wrong. You'll see me on the floor of the Senate tomorrow filibustering this and saying enough is enough, no more debt.

HARWOOD: Governor Christie?

CHRISTIE: I want to talk to the folks at home. I want to ask you: Are you fed up with how Washington taxes you? Are you fed up with how Washington wastes your money? Are you concerned like I am that the debt and deficits of Washington, D.C. are endangering America's future?

I've got one more question for you then. Are you serious about this election? Because if you are, you need to elect someone who's deadly serious about changing this culture. I am deadly serious about changing this culture. I changed it in New Jersey. I'm deadly serious about doing this job the right way.

I'm prepared. I'm tested. I'm ready. And I want to make this our government. For the people who say we can't do it, I say hell no, we can do it together.

HARWOOD: Thank you, Governor.

Senator Cruz?

CRUZ: You know, everyone here talks about the need to take on Washington. The natural next question is who actually has done so. Who actually has stood up not just to Democrats, but to leaders in our own party? When millions of Americans rose up against Obamacare, I was proud to lead that fight. When millions of Americans rose up against amnesty, I was proud to lead that fight. When millions of Americans rose up against Planned Parenthood, I was proud to lead that fight.

If people are promising they're going to take on Washington and cronyism, you need to look to who has been doing it. In my family, my dad fled oppression in Cuba to come to America. Freedom is personal for me, and I will always keep my word and fight for freedom.

HARWOOD: Thank you, Senator.

Mrs. Fiorina?

FIORINA: You know, every election we hear a lot of talk. We hear a lot of good plans. We hear actually a lot of good intentions. But somehow for decades, nothing really has changed. What we need now is a proven leader who has produced results. That's how you go from secretary to CEO. You lead and you produce results. I will cut this government down to size and hold it accountable, simplify the tax code, roll back the regulations that have been spewing out of Washington, D.C. for 50 years.

I may not be your dream candidate just yet, but I can assure you I am Hillary Clinton's worst nightmare. And in your heart of hearts, you cannot wait to see a debate between Hillary Clinton and Carly Fiorina. I will tell you this, I will beat Hillary Clinton. And with your vote and your support and your prayers, I will lead with the citizens of this great nation the resurgence of this great nation.

HARWOOD: Thank you, Mrs. Fiorina.

Dr. Carson?

CARSON: I just want to thank all my colleagues here for being civil, and not falling for the traps. And, I also just want to thank the audience for being attentive, and noticing the questions, and the noticing the answers. And, this is what I am finding throughout America.

People are waking up because it is going to be us who will determine the direction of our country. And, it was made for we the people, we are the ones who decide who we are, and we should never give away the values and principles that made America into a great nation for the sake of political correctness. [applause]

HARWOOD: Mr. Trump?

TRUMP: Our country doesn't win anymore. We used to win, we don't win anymore. We lose on trade. We lose with ISIS. We lose with one of the worst deals I've ever seen negotiated of any kind, that's our recent catastrophe with Iran. We don't win.

Let me give you one quick example. These folks, CNBC, they had it down at three, three and a half hours. I just read today in the New York Times, $250,000 for a 30 second ad. I went out and said, it's ridiculous. Nobody — I could stand up here all night. Nobody wants to watch three and a half, or three hours. It was a back sacrifice, and I have to hand it to Ben.

We called Ben, he was with me 100%. We called in, we said, that's it. We're not doing it. They lost a lot of money, everybody said it couldn't be done. Everybody said it was going to be three hours, three and a half, including them, and in about two minutes I renegotiated it so we can get the hell out of here. Not bad. [applause]

TRUMP: And, I'll do that with the country. We will make America great again. And, thank you everybody. Just for the record.

HARWOOD: Just for the record, the debate was always going to be two hours. Senator Rubio?

TRUMP: That's not right. That is absolutely not right. You know that. That is not right.

[UNIDENTIFIED:] Thank you.

HARWOOD: Senator Rubio.

RUBIO: You know, America doesn't owe me anything. I have a debt to America I'll never repay. This isn't just the country I was born in, this is the nation that literally changed the history of my family. My parents in this country were able to give me the chance to do all the things they never did. We call that the American Dream, although, it's built on the universal dream of a better life.

The fact that it's happened for so many people here throughout our history, that's what makes us special. But, now for millions of Americans, it's slipping away. And, we have a government and leaders in government that are completely out of touch, and that's why I'm running for president. Because we can't just save the American Dream, we can expand it to reach more people, and change more lives than ever before.

And, that's why tonight I'm asking you for your vote.

HARWOOD: Thank you, Senator. Governor Bush?

BUSH: America's at a crossroads. The D.C. politicians continue to make things worse. I have a proven record of success, 32 years in business, and 8 years as Governor of the state of Florida.

I will change the culture in Washington, just as I changed the culture in Tallahassee. I will do so in a way that will bring people together. We need a unifier, not a cynical divider in chief, and that's exactly what I will do.

Imagine a country where people are lifted out of poverty again. Imagine a country where the middle class can get rising income again. I know we can do this because we're still the most extraordinary country on the face of the Earth.

HARWOOD: Thank you, Governor. Governor Huckabee.

HUCKABEE: You know, I know to a lot of people in the media, this is just a great big game, and we're the players. And, we come out here, and we do our thing. And, sometimes we're held up in contempt by people who write columns, but, I guarantee you to every person on this stage there's something deep inside of us that would cause us to give up our livelihoods and step out on this stage and fight for the people of America.

I've got five grandkids. I do not want to walk my five grandkids through the charred remains of a once great country called America, and say, "Here you go, $20 trillion dollars of debt. Good luck making something out of this mess."

And, for those of us who are serious enough to run for president, think long and hard why we're here, and hopefully you'll know we're not here for ourselves. We honest to god are here to get this country back on track. I know this, I certainly am.

HARWOOD: Thank you...

HUCKABEE: ...Thank you.

HARWOOD: Governor Kasich?

KASICH: I was on morning Joe at a town hall and a young student stood up and said, "Can I still be idealistic?"

I said, absolutely, you can still change the world. And, you know the old inscription, if you save one life, you've changed the world. Folks, we have a problem here with the leadership in Washington, but I'll tell you another problem. We need to rebuild our families. We need to have stronger families. We need to know who our neighbors are. We need to come together as a country because we have to realize that America is great, not from the top-down. Oh yeah, we want to elect a good president, but America is great from the bottom-up, and the bottom-up is us in our families, in our communities, in our neighborhoods. We will renew America if we work together, and I am totally confident that we will. And God bless America. [applause]

HARWOOD: Thank you, Governor.

QUINTANILLA: That concludes tonight's debate. On behalf of my colleagues Becky Quick, John Harwood, Sharon Epperson, Rick Santelli and Jim Cramer, we'd like to our host, the University of Colorado at Boulder, the Republican National Committee, the candidates and, of course, tonight's audience.

NOTE: The criteria for appearing in the main debate is explained by CNBC as, "National polls will be used to determine a candidate's eligibility and placement on the stage. To be eligible to appear in either segment, a candidate must have at least 1% in any one of the methodologically sound and recognized national polls conducted by: NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox, CNN and Bloomberg, released between September 17, 2015 and October 21, 2015. To appear in the 8pm debate a candidate must have an average of 3% among these polls. The polls will be averaged and will be rounded up to 3% for any candidate with a standing of 2.5% or higher. Candidates who average below that will be invited to the [undercard] 6pm debate."
+ Citation: Presidential Candidates Debates: "Republican Candidates Debate in Boulder, Colorado," October 28, 2015. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=110906. +
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The American Presidency Project

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PARTICIPANTS:
Former Governor Jeb Bush (FL);
Ben Carson;
Governor Chris Christie (NJ);
Senator Ted Cruz (TX);
Carly Fiorina;
Former Governor Mike Huckabee (AR);
Governor John Kasich (OH);
Senator Rand Paul (KY);
Senator Marco Rubio (FL);
Donald Trump;
Governor Scott Walker (WI);

MODERATORS:
Jake Tapper (CNN);
Dana Bash (CNN); and
Hugh Hewitt (Salem Radio Network)

TAPPER: I'm Jake Tapper. We're live at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California for the main event. Round 2 of CNN's presidential debate starts now.

The eleven leading Republican candidates for president are at their podiums. They are ready to face off, and if you've been watching this race, you know anything could happen over the next few hours.

To viewers who are just joining us, welcome to the Air Force One Pavilion of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Our thanks to the staff here and especially to former first lady Nancy Reagan for this impressive setting with Ronald Reagan's presidential plane as our backdrop. [applause]

This debate is airing on CNN networks in the United States and around the world. It's also being broadcast on the Salem Radio Network. I know everyone is very eager to get started.

But first, I want to explain the ground rules tonight. My name is Jake Tapper. I'll be the moderator. I will be joined in the questioning by Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt. He worked in the Reagan administration for six years. And by CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash.

I will ask follow-up questions, I will attempt to guide the discussion. Candidates, I will try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have one minute to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you've been singled out for criticism.

Our viewers should know we have timing lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up. These 11 Republicans are positioned on the stage based on their ranking in recent national polls.

Our goal for this evening is a debate. A true debate, with candidates addressing each other in areas where they differ. Where they disagree — on policy, on politics, on leadership. Now, let's begin.

I'd like to invite each candidate to take 30 seconds to introduce him or herself to our audience. First to you, Senator Paul.

PAUL: Good evening, everyone. I'm an eye surgeon from Bowling Green, Kentucky. My wife, Kelly, and I have been married for nearly 25 years, and I spend my days defending the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

I think there's nothing more important than understanding that the Constitution restrains government, not the people.

Thank you. [applause]

HUCKABEE: I'm Mike Huckabee. I'm delighted to be on this stage with some remarkable fellow Republicans.

None of us are a self-professed socialist. None of us on this state are under investigation by the FBI because we destroyed government records, or because we leaked secrets.

I know that there are some in the Wall-Street-to-Washington axis of power who speak of all of us contemptuously. But I'm here to say that I think we are, in fact, the A team.

We have some remarkable people, and, in fact, not only are we the A team; we even have our own Mr. T, who doesn't mind saying about others, "you're a fool."

And I'm delighted to be here with all of these guys, and would put any of them in an administration that I led. Thank you very much. [applause]

RUBIO: Thank you. My name is Marco Rubio. I'm from Florida. My wife Jeanette and I are the proud — we've been married 17 years, and we're the proud parents of four children, two of whom were able to join us here this evening.

I'm honored to be here at the Reagan Library, at a place that honors the legacy of a man who inspired not just my interest in public service, but also our love for country.

And I'm also aware that California has a drought, and so that's why I made sure I brought my own water. [laughter]

TAPPER: Senator Cruz?

CRUZ: I'm Ted Cruz. I am the son of an Irish-Italian mom and a Cuban immigrant dad who fled oppression and came to America seeking freedom. I'm a husband to my best friend, Heidi, who's here tonight. I'm a dad to two little girls who are the loves of my life, Caroline and Catherine.

If you're fed up with Washington, if you're looking for someone to stand up to career politicians in both parties, I'm the only one on this stage who has done that over and over again, and if we stand together, we can bring America back.

CARSON: Hi, I'm Ben Carson, and I'm a retired pediatric neurosurgeon. I'm here with my wife, Candy, of 40 years, and two of my sons, and their wives.

I stress the pediatric part of my career because the reason that I've gotten involved in this race is because I'm very concerned about the future of our children, and the direction of our country is one that does not portend well, unless we, the people, intervene and retake our rightful place at the pinnacle. [applause]

TRUMP: I'm Donald Trump. I wrote "The Art of the Deal". I say not in a braggadocious way, I've made billions and billions of dollars dealing with people all over the world, and I want to put whatever that talent is to work for this country so we have great trade deals, we make our country rich again, we make it great again. We build our military, we take care of our vets, we get rid of Obamacare, and we have a great life altogether.

Thank you. Thank you. [applause]

BUSH: I'm Jeb Bush, and I believe America's on the verge of its greatest century, and I'm ready to lead. I'm a committed, conservative reformer that cut taxes, that balanced budgets, that took on the special interest in Florida, and we won.

I look forward to talking tonight about how we can fix a broken Washington D.C., and create an environment where people can rise up again in this great country.

Thank you. [applause]

WALKER: Good evening, I'm Scott Walker, and tonight, I want to thank and Mrs. Reagan, and the Reagan Library for hosting us. You see, in my lifetime, the greatest president was a governor from California. Ronald Reagan knew how to go big, and go bold. He understood the essence of moving this country forward, and that's what I did when I took on the status quo in my state, and the Washington based special interest.

Now, more than ever, America needs a leader who will go big and bold again. Someone who's been tested. I'm ready to be that leader. Thank you. [applause]

FIORINA: Good evening. My story, from secretary to CEO, is only possible in this nation, and proves that everyone of us has potential. My husband, Frank, of 30 years, started out driving a tow truck for a family owned auto body shop. We have come to a pivotal point in our nation's history where this nation's possibilities and potential are being crushed by a government grown so big, so powerful, so inept, so corrupt, and a political class that refuses to do anything about it.

I am prepared to lead the resurgence of this great nation. [applause]

KASICH: Hello, I'm John Kasich, the Governor of Ohio. Emma, and Reese, my children, and Karen, love 'ya girls. Thanks for watching tonight.

By the way, I think I actually flew on this plane with Ronald Reagan when I was a congressman, and his goals, and mine, really much — are pretty much the same. Lift Americans, unify, give hope, grow America, and restore it is to that great, shining city on a hill.

Yes, he was a great one, and I learned much from watching him. The most important thing, hope to Americans, unify, lift everyone in America. [applause]

CHRISTIE: Hi, my name is Chris Christie, and I'd like to you take the camera off me and put it on the audience because I'd like to ask all of you, how many of you, raise your hand, believe that in today's Barak Obama America your children will have a better life than you've had?

You see? That's why I'm running for President. because leadership is not about me, it's about our country. And, what we talk about tonight, it's not about us, it's about the people in the audience tonight, because in seven short years this president has stripped away their trust, and their faith, and their belief that the next generation will have a better life. He's stolen that from us, and when I'm president, I'm going to take it back. [applause]

TAPPER: Thank you one and all for being here. There are many important policy issues facing our nation. We're going to get to many of them tonight, but I do want to start off with some current events in the news, and also some of the comments the candidates have recently made on the campaign trail.

Mrs. Fiorina, I want to start with you. Fellow Republican candidate, and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, has suggested that your party's frontrunner, Mr. Donald Trump, would be dangerous as President. He said he wouldn't want, quote, "such a hot head with his finger on the nuclear codes."

You, as well, have raised concerns about Mr. Trump's temperament.

You've dismissed him as an entertainer. Would you feel comfortable with Donald trump's finger on the nuclear codes?

FIORINA: You know, I think Mr. Trump is a wonderful entertainer. He's been terrific at that business.

I also think that one of the benefits of a presidential campaign is the character and capability, judgment and temperament of every single one of us is revealed over time and under pressure. All of us will be revealed over time and under pressure. I look forward to a long race.

TAPPER: You didn't answer my question. Would you feel comfortable with Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear codes? It's an issue that one of your fellow candidates has raised.

FIORINA: That's not for me to answer; it is for the voters of this country to answer, and I have a lot of faith in the common sense and good judgment of the voters of the United States of America.

TAPPER: Mr. Trump? [applause]

TRUMP: Well, first of all, Rand Paul shouldn't even be on this stage. He's number 11, he's got 1 percent in the polls, and how he got up here, there's far too many people anyway.

As far as temperament — and we all know that — as far as temperament, I think I have a great temperament. I built a phenomenal business with incredible, iconic assets, one of the really truly great real-estate businesses.

And I may be an entertainer, because I've had tremendous success with number-one bestsellers all over the place, with "The Apprentice" and everything else I've done.

But I will tell you this: What I am far and away greater than an entertainer is a businessman, and that's the kind of mindset this country needs to bring it back, because we owe $19 trillion right now, $19 trillion, and you need this kind of thinking to bring our country back.

And believe me, my temperament is very good, very calm. But we will be respected outside of this country. We are not respected now. [applause]

TAPPER: Mr. — Senator Paul, your name has been invoked.

PAUL: I kind of have to laugh when I think of, "Mmm, sounds like a non sequitur." He was asked whether or not he would be capable and it would be in good hands to be in charge of the nuclear weapons, and all of a sudden, there's a sideways attack at me.

I think that really goes to really the judgment. Do we want someone with that kind of character, that kind of careless language to be negotiating with Putin? Do we want someone like that to be negotiating with Iran?

I think really there's a sophomoric quality that is entertaining about Mr. Trump, but I am worried. I'm very concerned about him — having him in charge of the nuclear weapons, because I think his response, his — his visceral response to attack people on their appearance — short, tall, fat, ugly — my goodness, that happened in junior high. Are we not way above that? Would we not all be worried to have someone like that in charge of the nuclear arsenal?

TAPPER: Mr. Trump? [applause]

TRUMP: I never attacked him on his look, and believe me, there's plenty of subject matter right there. [laughter] That I can tell you.

WALKER: But Jake, Jake, Jake, Jake...

TAPPER: I want to — I want to give Mr. Trump...

WALKER: But Jake, this — this is — this...

TAPPER: ... Mr. Trump, I want to give you another chance — Mr. Trump, I want to give you a chance to respond to something that your rival to your left, Governor Bush, said.

Governor Bush told me last week when I read him the quote from Governor Jindal that he agrees you're not a serious candidate.

Tell Governor Bush why you are a serious candidate and what your qualifications are to be commander-in-chief.

TRUMP: I've actually been in politics all my life, although I've been on that side as opposed to this side. I'm now a politician for about three months. Obviously, I'm doing pretty well. I'm number one in every poll by a lot.

But the qualification is that I've dealt with people all over the world, been successful all over the world. Everything I've done virtually has been a tremendous success.

When markets changed, when things turned, I heard Governor Pataki, who, by the way, was a failed governor in New York, a very seriously failed — he wouldn't be elected dog catcher right now. I heard what he had to say.

And I will tell you this: Atlantic City, I've made a tremendous amount of money in Atlantic City. I left seven years ago, I've gotten great credit for my timing, and that's what I'm all about.

I'm a businessman, did really well, really well, and Jeb, what I want to do is put that ability into this country to make our country rich again. And I can do that, and I'm not sure that anybody else in the group will be able to do that.

TAPPER: Governor Bush, would you feel comfortable with Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear codes?

BUSH: I think the voters will make that determination.

But what I know to be true is that the next president of the United States is going to have to fix an extraordinary difficult situation. This administration, with President Obama and Hillary Clinton, has created insecurity the likes of which we never would've imagined. There's not a place in the world where we're better off today than six and a half years ago.

And that requires a steadiness. That requires an understanding of how the world works. That requires an understanding and appreciation of American leadership in the world.

You can't just, you know, talk about this stuff and insult leaders around the world and expect a good result. You have to do this with a steady hand, and I believe I have those skills.

WALKER: Jake, this is — this is — this is...

TRUMP: But I have to say...

WALKER: This is actually what's wrong — this is what's wrong with this debate. We're not talking about real issues.

And Mr. Trump, we don't need an apprentice in the White House. [applause]

We don't need an apprentice in the White House. We have one right now. He told us all the things we wanted to hear back in 2008. We don't know who you are or where you're going. We need someone who can actually get the job done.

And you talked about business.

TRUMP: Well, in Wisconsin...

WALKER: You — you — let me finish...

TRUMP: Excuse me.

WALKER: No, no...

TRUMP: In Wisconsin, you're losing $2.2 billion right now.

WALKER: You're using the talking...

TRUMP: I would do so much better than that.

WALKER: Mr. Trump, you're using the talking points of the Democrats...

TRUMP: No.

WALKER: ... and as we all know...

TRUMP: I'm using facts.

WALKER: ... that failed three times in four and a half years when I got elected, because it is working. We balanced a budget.

You want to talk about balanced budgets? You took four major projects into bankruptcy over and over and over again. You can't take America into bankruptcy. That's what's wrong with the politicians in Washington right now. They think we can take a country into bankruptcy.

[crosstalk]

TRUMP: Every major business leader has used the — I never went bankrupt, by the way, as you know, everybody knows. But we — hundreds of companies, hundreds of deals, I've used

???: ... into bankruptcy. That's what's wrong with politicians in Washington right now. They think we can take a country into bankruptcy.

[crosstalk]

TRUMP: Every major business leader, has used the — I never went bank bankrupt, by the way, as you know, everybody knows. But — hundreds of companies, hundreds of deals, I used the law four times and made a tremendous thing. I'm in business. I did a very good job.

But I will say this, and people are very, very impressed with what I've done, the business people. But when the folks of Iowa found out the true facts of the job that you've done in Wisconsin, all of a sudden you, tubed (ph), he was No. 1 and now he's No. 6 or seven in the polls.

So, look, we brought it out, you were supposed to make a billion dollars in the state. You lost 2.2 — you have right now, a huge budget deficit. That's not a Democratic point. That's a point. That's a fact. And when the people of Iowa found that out, I went to No. 1 and you went down the tubes.

TAPPER: Governor Walker?

WALKER: Jake, yeah, absolutely, I'll take this on, because this is an issue that's important in this race.

Just because he says it doesn't make it true. The facts are the facts. [applause]

We balanced a $3.6 billion budget deficit, we did it by cutting taxes — $4.7 billion to help working families, family farmers, small business owners and senior citizens. And it's about time people in America stand up and take note of this.

If you want someone that can actually take on the special interest of Washington, which you yourself said you were part of, using the system, we need somebody that will stand up and fight for average Americans to put them back in charge of their government.

I'm the one who is taking that on. I'll do that as your next president.

TAPPER: Let's move on. [applause]

KASICH: Jake, Jake.

TAPPER: A phenomenon going on in the race right now is the political...

OK, Governor Kasich, go ahead.

KASICH: Listen, you know, I — if I were sitting at home and watch thing back and forth, I would be inclined to turn it off. I mean, people at home want to know across this country, they want to know what we're going to do to fix this place, how we'll balance a budget, how we're going to create more economic growth, how we'll pay down the debt. What we're going to do to strengthen the military.

So, we just spent 10 minutes here...

TAPPER: We have a lot of issues coming up, sir.

KASICH: But — but wait a minute. It's a lot of ad hogshead. Now, I know that it may be buzzing out there, but I think it's important we get to the issues, because that's what people want, and they don't want all this fighting.

TAPPER: We are getting to the issues, sir. [applause]

Phenomenon going on in the race is the political outsiders in the race, Dr. Carson, Donald Trump, Carly Fiorina, all together, have majority support in the polls.

Governor Christie, I want to ask you about something that Dr. Carson said the other day.

Dr. Carson said campaigning is easier for him, because he's not a politician. He can just tell the truth, therefore, while politicians, quote, "Have their finger in the air to see and do what is politically expedient."

Governor Christie, tell Dr. Carson, is that a fair description of you?

CHRISTIE: Well, I know Ben wasn't talking about me, I'm sure he was talking about one of the other guys, not me. [laughter]

As far as being an outsider is concerned — as far as being an outsider is concerned, let me tell you this, Jake, I'm a Republican in New Jersey. I wake up every morning as an outsider. I wake up every morning with a Democratic legislature who trying to beat my head in and fight me because I'm trying to bring conservative change to a state that needed it desperately.

And so, everyone can talk us here about their credentials. But the bottom line is, every morning I get up, I veto 400 bills from a crazy liberal Democratic legislature, not one of them has been overridden. I've vetoed more tax increases than any governor in American history, according to Americans for Tax Reform.

What folks want in this country is somebody to go down there and get the job done. And that's exactly what I'll do.

So, I know this much, that what the American people want to hire right now is somebody who believes in them. And believes that they are the ones who can fix our country. I will be the vessel through which they can fix this country, but it's not about me.

It's about all of you. And getting this government off your back and out of your way, and letting you succeed. I know Ben wasn't talking about me.

TAPPER: Well, let's find out. Thank you.

CHRISTIE: Look at him smiling at me right now. I know Ben didn't mean it about me. One of these other guys, I'm sure.

TAPPER: Thank you, Governor Christie.

Dr. Carson, who were you thinking about on this stage when you said that?

CHRISTIE: Be honest, Ben, be honest.

TAPPER: And more broadly, is experience in government not important for a president to have?

CARSON: Typically, politicians do things that are politically expedient. And they are looking for whatever their particular goal is.

That is not the reason that I have gotten into this thing. I'm extraordinary concerned about the direction of this country, the divisiveness that is going on, fiscal irresponsibility, the failure to take a leadership position in the world.

All of those things will lead to a situation where the next generation will not have a chance that we've had now. So I don't — I don't want to really get into describing who's a politician and who's not a politician, but I think the people have kind of made that decision for themselves already, and will continue to do so as time goes on.

TAPPER: Thank you, Dr. Carson.

CHRISTIE: See, Jake, it wasn't me. [laughter]

FIORINA: Jake, I'll tell you — I'll tell you why people are supporting outsiders. It's because you know what happens if someone's been in the system their whole life, they don't know how broken the system is. A fish swims in water, it doesn't know it's water. It's not that politicians are bad people, it's that they've been in that system forever.

The truth is 75 percent of the American people think the government is corrupt; 82 percent of the American people think these problems that have festered for 50 years in some cases, 25 years in other cases. The border's been insecure for 25 years; 307,000 veterans have died waiting for health care. These things have gone on for so long because no one will challenge the status quo.

You know what a leader does? They challenge the status quo, they solve problems that have festered for a long time and they produce results. That is what my whole life has been about. People know this is about far more than replacing a D with an R —

TAPPER: Thank you.

FIORINA: — this is about changing the system.

TAPPER: Thank you. Thank you Ms. Fiorina. [applause]

Governor Bush, in addition to the fact that he's an outsider, one of the reasons Mr. Trump is a frontrunner, Republican voters say, is because they like the fact that he is not bought and paid for by wealthy donors. Mr. Trump has repeatedly said that the $100 million you've raised for your campaign makes you a puppet for your donors. Are you?

BUSH: No. Absolutely not. People are supporting me because I have a proven record of conservative leadership where I cut taxes $19 billion over eight years. We shrunk the state government workforce, we created a climate that led the nation in job growth seven out of eight years. We were one of two states to go to AAA bond rating. People know that we need principle-centered leadership, a disrupter to go to Washington, D.C. The one guy that had some special interests that I know of that tried to get me to change my views on something — that was generous and gave me money — was Donald Trump. He wanted casino gambling in Florida —

TRUMP: I didn't —

BUSH: Yes you did.

TRUMP: Totally false.

BUSH: You wanted it and you didn't get it because I was opposed to —

TRUMP: I would have gotten it.

BUSH: — casino gambling before —

TRUMP: I promise I would have gotten it.

BUSH: during and after. And that's not — I'm not going to be bought by anybody.

TRUMP: I promise if I wanted it, I would have gotten it.

BUSH: No way. Believe me.

TRUMP: I know my people.

BUSH: Not even possible.

TRUMP: I know my people.

TAPPER: Is there anything else you want to say about this?

TRUMP: No. I just will tell you that, you know, Jeb made the statement. I'm not only referring to him. I — a lot of money was raised by a lot of different people that are standing up here. And the donors, the special interests, the lobbyists have very strong power over these people.

I'm spending all of my money, I'm not spending — I'm not getting any — I turned down — I turn down so much, I could have right now from special interests and donors, I could have double and triple what he's got. I've turned it down. I turned down last week $5 million from somebody.

So I will tell you I understand the game, I've been on the other side all of my life. And they have a lot of control over our politicians. And I don't say that favorably, and I'm not sure if there's another system, but I say this. I am not accepting any money from anybody. Nobody has control of me other than the people of this country. I'm going to do the right thing.

TAPPER: Governor —

BUSH: You've got, according to your — to what you said on one of the talk shows, you got Hillary Clinton to go to your wedding —

TRUMP: That's true. That's true.

BUSH: — because you gave her money. Maybe it works for Hillary Clinton —

TRUMP: I was — excuse me, Jeb.

BUSH: — it doesn't work for anybody on this — on stage.

TRUMP: I was a businessman, I got along with Clinton, I got along with everybody. That was my job, to get along with people.

BUSH: But the simple fact is —

TRUMP: I didn't want to — excuse me. One second.

BUSH: No. The simple fact is, Donald, you could not take —

TRUMP: OK, more energy tonight. I like that. [laughter]

Look —

BUSH: I was asked the question.

TRUMP: I didn't want — it was my obligation as a businessman to my family, to my company, to my employees, to get along with all politicians. I get along with all of them, and I did a damn good job in doing it. Go ahead.

BUSH: So he supports Pelosi, he supports Schumer, he supports Clinton —

TRUMP: Got along with everybody.

BUSH: When he — and he — when he asked — when he asked Florida to have casino gambling, we said no.

TRUMP: Wrong.

BUSH: We said no. And that's the simple fact. The simple fact is —

TRUMP: Don't make things up. Jeb, don't make things up. Come on.

BUSH: Don't cut me off.

TRUMP: Don't make things up.

CARSON: Jake, can I say something about that?

TAPPER: Sure Dr. Carson.

CARSON: You know, when I entered this race, all the political pundits said it's impossible; you can't do it because you're not connected with the money. And there's no way that you can raise what you need in order to compete successfully.

I in no way am willing to get in the bed with special interest group or lick the boots of billionaires. I have said to the people if they want me to do this, please get involved. And we now have over 500,000 donations, and the money is coming in.

But the pundits forgot about one thing, and that is the people. And they are really in charge.

TAPPER: Thank you, Dr. Carson. Let's move to Russia if we could.

Russia is sending troops and tanks into Syria right now to prop up a U.S. enemy, Bashar al-Assad. President Obama's incoming top general says, quote, "Russia presents the greatest threat to our national security."

Mr. Trump, you say you can do business with President Vladimir Putin, you say you will get along, quote, "very well." What would you do right now if you were president, to get the Russians out of Syria?

TRUMP: So, number one, they have to respect you. He has absolutely no respect for President Obama. Zero.

Syria's a mess. You look at what's going on with ISIS in there, now think of this: we're fighting ISIS. ISIS wants to fight Syria. Why are we fighting ISIS in Syria? Let them fight each other and pick up the remnants.

I would talk to him. I would get along with him. I believe — and I may be wrong, in which case I'd probably have to take a different path, but I would get along with a lot of the world leaders that this country is not getting along with.

We don't get along with China. We don't get along with the heads of Mexico. We don't get along with anybody, and yet, at the same time, they rip us left and right. They take advantage of us economically and every other way. We get along with nobody.

I will get along — I think — with Putin, and I will get along with others, and we will have a much more stable — stable world.

TAPPER: So, you — just to clarify, the only answer I heard to the question I asked is that you would — you would reach out to Vladimir Putin, and you would do what? You would...

TRUMP: I believe that I will get along — we will do — between that, Ukraine, all of the other problems, we won't have the kind of problems that our country has right now with Russia and many other nations.

TAPPER: Senator Rubio, you've taken a very different approach to the — the question of Russia. You've called Vladimir Putin a, quote, "gangster."

Why would President Rubio's approach be more effective than President Trump's?

RUBIO: Well, first of all, I have an understanding of exactly what it is Russia and Putin are doing, and it's pretty straightforward. He wants to reposition Russia, once again, as a geopolitical force.

He himself said that the destruction of the Soviet Union — the fall of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century, and now he's trying to reverse that.

He's trying to destroy NATO. And this is what this is a part of. He is exploiting a vacuum that this administration has left in the Middle East.

Here's what you're gonna see in the next few weeks: the Russians will begin to fly — fly combat missions in that region, not just targeting ISIS, but in order to prop up Assad.

He will also, then, turn to other countries in the region and say, "America is no longer a reliable ally, Egypt. America is no longer a reliable ally, Saudi Arabia. Begin to rely on us."

What he is doing is he is trying to replace us as the single most important power broker in the Middle East, and this president is allowing it. That is what is happening in the Middle East. That's what's happening with Russia, and...

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator Rubio.

[crosstalk]

TAPPER: I want to bring in Carly Fiorina. [applause]

FIORINA: Having...

TAPPER: Ms. Fiorina, you have met...

FIORINA: Having met Vladimir Putin, if I may...

TAPPER: ...yeah, you've met Vladimir Putin. Yes.

FIORINA: Having met Vladimir Putin, I wouldn't talk to him at all. We've talked way too much to him.

What I would do, immediately, is begin rebuilding the Sixth Fleet, I would begin rebuilding the missile defense program in Poland, I would conduct regular, aggressive military exercises in the Baltic states. I'd probably send a few thousand more troops into Germany. Vladimir Putin would get the message. By the way, the reason it is so critically important that every one of us know General Suleimani's name is because Russia is in Syria right now, because the head of the Quds force traveled to Russia and talked Vladimir Putin into aligning themselves with Iran and Syria to prop up Bashar al- Assad.

Russia is a bad actor, but Vladimir Putin is someone we should not talk to, because the only way he will stop is to sense strength and resolve on the other side, and we have all of that within our control.

We could rebuild the Sixth Fleet. I will. We haven't. We could rebuild the missile defense program. We haven't. I will. We could also, to Senator Rubio's point, give the Egyptians what they've asked for, which is intelligence.

We could give the Jordanians what they've asked for...

TAPPER: Thank you, Ms. Fiorina.

FIORINA: ...bombs and materiel. We have not supplied it...

TAPPER: Thank you.

FIORINA: ...I will. We could arm the Kurds. They've been asking us for three years. All of this is within our control. [applause]

TAPPER: Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Fiorina.

While you're — while you brought up the subject of General Suleimani of the Quds forces from Iran, the next president, no matter who he or she may be, will inherit President Obama's Iran deal.

Senator Cruz, Governor Kasich says that anyone who is promising to rip up the Iran deal on day one, as you have promised to do, is, quote, "inexperienced," and, quote, "playing to a crowd." Respond to Governor Kasich, please.

CRUZ: Well, let me tell you, Jake, the single biggest national security threat facing America right now is the threat of a nuclear Iran. We've seen six and a half years of President Obama leading from behind. Weakness is provocative, and this Iranian nuclear deal is nothing short of catastrophic.

This deal, on its face, will send over $100 billion to the Ayatollah Khamenei, making the Obama administration the world's leading financier of radical Islamic terrorism.

CRUZ: This deal abandons four American hostages in Iran, and this deal will only accelerate Iran's acquiring nuclear weapons. You'd better believe it. If I am elected president, on the very first day in office, I will rip to shreds this catastrophic Iranian nuclear deal. [applause]

TAPPER: Why is that not, as Governor Kasich says, playing to the crowd and an example of you being inexperienced?

CRUZ: Well, let's be clear when it comes to experience. What President Obama wants to do is he's run to the United Nations, and he wants to use the United Nations to bind the United States, and take away our sovereignty. Well, I spent five and a half years as a Solicitor General of Texas, the lead lawyer for the state, in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, and I went in front of the Supreme Court, and took on the world court of the United Nations in a case called Medellin v. Texas, and we won a historic victory saying the World Court, and the U.N., has no power to bind the United States, and no President of the United States, Republican or Democrat, has the authority to give away our sovereignty.

And, so, if there's anyone up here who would be bound by this catastrophic deal with Iran, they're giving up the core responsibility of commander in chief, and as president, I would never do that.

TAPPER: Governor Kasich...

KASICH: ...Yeah, well...

TAPPER: ...Did Senator Cruz just play to the crowd?

KASICH: Well, let me just say this. First of all, I think it's a bad agreement, I would never have done it. But, you know, a lot of our problems in the world today is that we don't have the relationship with our allies. If we want to go everywhere alone, we will not have the strength as (ph) if we could rebuild with our allies.

Now, this agreement, we don't know what's going to happen in 18 months. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years. I've seen lots of issues in foreign affairs, and foreign — in terms of global politics, you have to be steady.

Now, here's the — if they cheat, we slap the sanctions back on. If they help Hamas, and Hezbollah, we slap the sanctions back on. And, if we find out that they may be developing a nuclear weapon, than the military option is on the table. We are stronger when we work with the Western civilization, our friends in Europe, and just doing it on our own I don't think is the right policy.

TAPPER: ...Thank you, Governor. I want to go to Senator Paul.

TRUMP(?): ...Slow (ph) and steady, [inaudible] chicken...

TAPPER: I want to go to Senator Paul. Senator Paul, the White House is rolling out the red carpet next week for the President of China, President Xi. Governor Walker says that President Obama should cancel the state dinner because of China's currency manipulation, and because of China's alleged cyber attacks against the United States.

Is Governor Walker right?

PAUL: I think this goes back to essentially what we've been saying for the last two or three questions. Carly Fiorina also said we're not going to talk with Putin. Well, think if Reagan had said that during the Cold War? We continued to talk with the Russians throughout the Cold War which is much more significant that where we are now.

Should we continue to talk with Iran? Yes. Should we cut up the agreement immediately? That's absurd. Wouldn't you want to know if they complied? Now, I'm going to vote against the agreement because I don't think there's significant leverage, but it doesn't mean that I would immediately not look at the agreement, and cut it up without looking to see if whether or not Iran has complied.

The same goes with China. I don't think we need to be rash, I don't think we need to be reckless, and I think need to leave lines of communication open. Often we talk about whether we should be engaged in the world, or disengaged in the world, and I think this is an example of some who want to isolate us, actually, and not be engaged.

We do need to be engaged with Russia. It doesn't mean we give them a free pass, or China a free pass, but, to be engaged, to continue to talk. We did throughout the Cold War, and it would be a big mistake not to do it here.

TAPPER: Governor Walker, Senator Paul seemed to suggest... [applause]

TAPPER: ...that canceling the state dinner would be rash, and reckless.

WALKER: Two parts to that, one on China, one back for a second on Iran.

When it comes to China, why would we be giving an official state visit to a country that's been involved in a massive cyber attack against the United States? That's not just a visit, that's a 21 gun salute on the South Lawn of the White House. It just doesn't make any sense. If we're ever going to send a message to them, wouldn't this be the time, when they've issued this, sort of, massive attack against us?

And, Jake, for the question, I was one of the first ones to call for terminating the bad deal with Iran on day one. The President came after me and said I need to bone up. You know, the President who called ISIS the JV squad said I needed to bone up.

The reality is it's a bad deal on day one, and it's a bad deal because this president has allowed Iran to go closer, and closer.

I'd love to play cards with this guy because Barack Obama folds on everything with Iran. We need a leader who's going to stand up, and actually [inaudible]...

FIORINA: ...Jake...

TAPPER: ...Governor Bush...

CRUZ(?): ...Jake...

TAPPER: Governor Bush, your father was the chief diplomatic envoy to China back when Nixon opened relations to China. Is Scott Walker's approach the right one, canceling the state dinner?

BUSH: No, I don't think so, but we need to be strong against China. We should use offensive tactics as it relates to cyber security, send a deterrent signal to China. There should be super sanctions in what President Obama has proposed. There's many other tools that we have without canceling a dinner. That's not going to change anything, but we can be much stronger as it relates to that.

As it relates to Iran, it's not a strategy to tear up an agreement. A strategy would be how do we confront Iran? And, the first thing that we need to do is to establish our commitment to Israel which has been altered by this administration. And, make sure that they have the most sophisticated weapons to send a signal to Iran that we have Israel's back.

If we do that, it's going to create a healthier deterrent effect than anything else I can think of.

TAPPER: I want to turn...

FIORINA: ...Jake, [inaudible]... [applause]

TAPPER: ...I want to turn to Governor Huckabee who has been very patient. Somebody had to be 11th, and he is, but, I do want to change the subject to the event that you had...

HUCKABEE: I would certainly love to get in on this, because I think the single...

[crosstalk]

TAPPER: ... however you want, but I want to ask this question.

HUCKABEE: I've been patiently waiting, and I'm going to just say this about Iran.

TAPPER: All right, sir, go ahead.

HUCKABEE: Because I think it is incredibly important. This is really about the survival of Western civilization. This is not just a little conflict with a Middle Eastern country that we've just now given over $100 billion to, the equivalent in U.S. terms is $5 trillion.

This threatens Israel immediately, this threatens the entire Middle East, but it threatens the United States of America. And we can't treat a nuclear Iranian government as if it is just some government that would like to have power. This is a government for 36 years has killed Americans, they kidnapped Americans, they have maimed Americans. They have sponsored terrorist groups, Hamas and Hezbollah, and they threaten the very essence of Western civilization.

To give them this agreement, that the president treats like the Magna Carta, but Iranians treat it like it's toilet paper, and we must, simply, make it very clear that the next president, one of us on this stage, will absolutely not honor that agreement, and will destroy it and will be tough with Iran, because otherwise, we put every person in this world in a very dangerous place. [applause]

TAPPER: OK.

(UNKNOWN): Jake, I'd like to...

TAPPER: We're going to turn now to Hugh Hewitt, from Salem Radio Network.

HEWITT: Thank you, Jake.

Mr. Trump, two years ago, President Obama drew a red line that the Syrian dictator Bashar Assad crossed, President Obama threatened to strike. He did not, his knees buckled.

We now have 4 million refugees, Syria is a living hell, and he turned to the Congress for the authority to back him up. You have three senators to your right that said, no. Do they bear responsibility for this refugee crisis, and what would you have done when Bashar Assad crossed the line?

TRUMP: I wouldn't have drawn the line, but once he drew it, he had no choice but to go across. They do bear some responsibility, but I think he probably didn't do it, not for that reason.

Somehow, he just doesn't have courage. There is something missing from our president. Had he crossed the line and really gone in with force, done something to Assad — if he had gone in with tremendous force, you wouldn't have millions of people displaced all over the world.

HEWITT: How much responsibility, Mr. Trump, do the senators hold?

TRUMP: They had a responsibility, absolutely. I think we have three of them here...

HEWITT: Senator Rubio...

TRUMP: I think they had a responsibility, yes.

RUBIO: Let me tell you — I will tell you we have zero responsibility, because let's remember what the president said. He said the attack he would conduct would be a pinprick. Well, the United States military was not build to conduct pinprick attacks.

If the United States military is going to be engaged by a commander-in-chief, it should only be engaged in an endeavor to win. And we're not going to authorize use of force if you're not put in a position where they can win.

And quite frankly, people don't trust this president as commander-in-chief because of that. [applause]

HEWITT: Senator Paul?

PAUL: I think this gets to the point of wisdom on when to intervene and when we shouldn't. Had we bombed Assad at the time, like President Obama wanted, and like Hillary Clinton wanted and many Republicans wanted, I think ISIS would be in Damascus today. I think ISIS would be in charge of Syria had we bombed Assad.

Sometimes both sides of the civil war are evil, and sometimes intervention sometimes makes us less safe. This is real the debate we have to have in the Middle East.

Every time we have toppled a secular dictator, we have gotten chaos, the rise of radical Islam, and we're more at risk. So, I think we need to think before we act, and know most interventions, if not a lot of them in the Middle East, have actually backfired on us.

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator Paul. [applause]

I want to turn now to my colleague Dana Bash.

RUBIO: Hold on, a second, Jake, he asked me, as well. I'd like to actually...

TAPPER: That would be fair, you're right. You're the third senator.

RUBIO: ... respond. I think I'm the first senator. [laughter]

The No. 1 test for use of military force should be the vital national security interest of the United States. The reason why I opposed President Obama bombing Syria, is because he couldn't answer the question what do you do if chemical weapons end up in the hands of radical Islamic terrorists like al-Nusra, like Al Qaida, like ISIS?

Now, I also want to respond to several folks up here who said we should trust this Iranian deal, see if the Iranians will comply.

Anyone who is paying attention to what Khamenei says knows that they will not comply. There is a reason Khamenei refers to Israel as the little Satan, and America as the great Satan.

RUBIO: In the middle of negotiating this treaty, Khamenei led the assembled masses in chanting, death to America. I'm reminded of a great editorial cartoon. It shows the Ayatollah Khamenei saying, "Death to all Americans," and then it shows John Kerry coming back, saying, "Can we meet ya half way?" [laughter]

We need a commander-in-chief who will stand up and protect this country. And I'll tell you, I can't wait to stand on that debate stage with Hillary Clinton and to make abundantly clear if you vote for Hillary, you are voting for the Ayatollah Khomeini to possess a nuclear weapon and if you elect me as president, under no circumstances will a theocratic ayatollah who chants death to America ever be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon.

[crosstalk]

TAPPER: We're going to go to Dana Bash...

[crosstalk]

KASICH: No, no, no. I want to — I want to — I want to say something about what the senator just said.

FIORINA: And then it'll be my turn.

KASICH: No one is — no — let me — let me suggest to you we believe that we operate better in the world when our allies work with us. President Bush did it in the Gulf War. We work better when we are unified.

Secondly, nobody's trusting Iran. They violate the deal, we put on the sanctions, and we have the high moral ground to talk to our allies in Europe to get them to go with us.

If they don't go with us, we slap the sanctions on anyway. If they fund these radical groups that threaten Israel and all of the West, then we should rip up the deal and put the sanctions back on.

And let me make it clear — let me make it clear...

[crosstalk]

KASICH: ... if we think — if we think they're getting close to a — to developing a nuclear weapon and we get that information, you better believe that I would do everything in my power as the commander-in-chief to stop them having a nuclear weapon.

CRUZ: Jake, Jake...

KASICH: We can have it, and we can have our allies, and we can be strong as a country, and we can project across this globe with unity, not just doing it alone. That is not what gets us where we want to get as a nation.

TAPPER: Senator Cruz?

CRUZ: Jake, there is no more important topic in 2016 than this topic right here, and I've listened to several folks saying, "Well, gosh, if they cheat, we'll act."

We won't know under this agreement — there are several facilities in Iran they designate as military facilities that are off limit all together. Beyond that, the other facilities, we give them 24 days notice before inspecting them. That is designed to allow them to hide the evidence.

And most astonishingly, this agreement trusts the Iranians to inspect themselves. That makes no sense whatsoever.

And let me know — President Obama is violating federal law...

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator.

CRUZ: ... by not handing over the side deals, and we ought to see the United States Congress...

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator.

CRUZ: ... stand up together and say, "Hand over this treaty, and protect this country."

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator. I want to...

FIORINA: Jake?

TAPPER: ... turn back to Governor Huckabee...

FIORINA: Jake?

TAPPER: I want to turn back to Governor Huckabee.

Governor Huckabee, last week, you held a rally for a county clerk in Kentucky who was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, as I don't need to tell you.

You've called what happened to Kim Davis, that clerk, "an example of the criminalization of Christianity." There are several people on the stage who disagree with you.

Governor Bush, for example, says that that clerk is sworn to uphold the law. Is Governor Bush on the wrong side of the criminalization of Christianity?

HUCKABEE: No, I don't think he's on the wrong side of such an issue. Jeb is a friend. I'm not up here to fight with Jeb or to fight with anybody else.

But I am here to fight for somebody who is a county clerk elected under the Kentucky constitution that 75 percent of the people of that state had voted for that said that marriage was between a man and a woman.

The Supreme Court in a very, very divided decision decided out of thin air that they were just going to redefine marriage. It's a decision that the other justices in dissent said they didn't have and there wasn't a constitutional shred of capacity for them to do it.

I thought that everybody here passed ninth-grade civics. The courts cannot legislate. That's what Roberts said. But heck, it's what we learned in civics.

The courts can't make a law. They can interpret one. They can review one. They can't implement it. They can't force it.

But here's what happened: Because the courts just decided that something was going to be and people relinquished it and the other two branches of government sat by silently — I thought we had three branches of government, they were all equal to each other, we have separation of powers, and we have checks and balances.

If the court can just make a decision and we just all surrender to it, we have what Jefferson said was judicial tyranny.

The reason that this is a real issue that we need to think about...

TAPPER: Thank you, Governor.

HUCKABEE: No, no. Let me finish this one thought, Jake. I haven't gotten that much time, so I'm going to take just what little I can here.

We made accommodation to the Fort Hood shooter to let him grow a beard. We made accommodations to the detainees at Gitmo — I've been to Gitmo, and I've seen the accommodations that we made to the Muslim detainees who killed Americans.

You're telling me that you cannot make an accommodation for an elected Democrat county clerk from Rowan County, Kentucky? What else is it other than the criminalization of her faith and the exaltation of the faith of everyone else who might be a Fort Hood shooter or a detainee at Gitmo? [applause]

TAPPER: Well, I'm not telling you that, Governor. But Governor Bush is, because he — because he disagrees. He thinks that Kim Davis swore to uphold the law.

You disagree? You're not — you don't...

BUSH: I don't think — you're not stating my views right.

TAPPER: OK. Please do.

BUSH: I think there needs to be accommodation for someone acting on faith. Religious conscience is — is — is a first freedom. It's — it's a powerful part of our — of our Bill of Rights.

And, in a big, tolerant country, we should respect the rule of law, allow people in — in — in this country — I'm a — I was opposed to the decision, but we — you can't just say, "well, they — gays can't get married now."

But this woman, there should be some accommodation for her conscience, just as there should be for people that are florists that don't want to participate in weddings, or bakers. A great country like us should find a way to have accommodations for people so that we can solve the problem in the right way. This should be solved at the local level...

TAPPER: You did...

BUSH: And so we do agree, Mike.

CHRISTIE: I was —

[crosstalk]

TAPPER: Governor, you said, quote, "she is sworn to uphold the law."

CHRISTIE: She is, and so if she, based on conscience, can't sign that — that marriage license, then there should be someone in her office to be able to do it, and if the law needs to be changed in the state of Kentucky, which is what she's advocating, it should be changed.

TAPPER: Let me go to my colleague Dana Bash, who has a question.

BASH: Governor Kasich, Senator Cruz is so committed to stripping federal funds from Planned Parenthood that it could result in shutting down the federal government in just about two weeks. Do you agree with Senator Cruz's tactic?

KASICH: Well, I agree that we should defund Planned Parenthood. I don't know many people in America who don't think that we should, and in my state, we're trying to figure out how to get it done, because we are threatened with the federal government taking all of our Medicaid money away.

I think there is a way to get this done by giving governors the ability to be able to act to defund Planned Parenthood. But when (ph) it comes to closing down the federal government, you gotta be very careful about that.

When we shut the government down — if we have a chance at success and it's a great principle, yes. The president of the United States is not going to sign this, and all we're gonna do is shut the government down, and then we're gonna open up — open it up, and the American people are gonna shake their heads and say, "what's the story with these Republicans?"

So I think there is a way to get to cutting off the funding for Planned Parenthood. I was in the Congress for 18 years, balanced the budget, cut taxes, got it done. Changed welfare, went around the president to get welfare reform done.

There are ways to do it without having to shut the government down, but I'm sympathetic to the fact that we don't want this organization to get funding, and the money ought to be reprogrammed for family planning in other organizations that don't support this tactic.

But I would not be for shutting the government down...

BASH: Thank you.

KASICH: ...because I don't think it's going to work out.

BASH: Thank you.

Senator Cruz, I would just add that, on this stage not that long ago, Senator Graham said that this tactic that you're pushing would tank the Republicans' ability to win in 2016.

CRUZ: Well, let me tell you, Dana, number one, I'm proud to stand for life. These Planned Parenthood videos are horrifying. I would encourage every American to watch the videos. See — seeing your Planned Parenthood officials callously, heartlessly bartering and selling the body parts of human beings, and then ask yourself, "are these my values?"

These are horrifying. On these videos, Planned Parenthood also essentially confesses to multiple felonies. It is a felony with ten years' jail term to sell the body parts of unborn children for profit. That's what these videos show Planned Parenthood doing.

Absolutely we shouldn't be sending $500 million of taxpayer money to funding an ongoing criminal enterprise, and I'll tell you, the fact that Republican leadership in both houses has begun this discussion by preemptively surrendering to Barack Obama and saying, "we'll give in because Obama threatens a veto."

You know, Obama's committed to his principles. His liberal principles, he will fight for them. He says...

BASH: Thank you, senator.

CRUZ: I will veto any budget that doesn't fund Planned Parenthood, and Republicans surrender. We need to stop surrendering and start standing...

BASH: Thank you...

CRUZ: ...for our principles. [applause]

[crosstalk]

BASH: Governor — governor, I want to go to you. Is it what Senator Cruz says, a surrender by Republicans?

KASICH: We're not — what I can tell you is this. We didn't surrender in New Jersey, six years ago, as the brand new first ever pro-life governor of New Jersey since Roe versus Wade, I defended Planned Parenthood.

And I've vetoed Planned Parenthood funding, now, eight times in New Jersey. Since the day I walked in as governor, Planned Parenthood has not been funded in New Jersey. We stood up and every one of those vetoes has been sustained.

But here's the problem, we're — we're fighting with each other up here. We agree. Let's ask Hillary Clinton. She believes in the systematic murder of children in the womb to preserve their body parts...

BASH: But...

KASICH: ...Dana, in a way that maximizes their value for sale for profit. It is disgusting, and the American people need to hear it...

BASH: But is it...

KASICH: ...we shouldn't be fighting with each other. She's the real opponent, she's the real problem.

BASH: But, governor, the — but, governor, the reality is, in just two weeks' time... [applause] ...we are going to be facing a question about whether or not it's enough to shut down the government to make that statement, because there is still a Democrat in the White House. Do you oppose it or support it?

KASICH: I'll tell you what — I'll tell you what I'd be willing to fight for. I'll tell you what I'd be willing to fight for. Why will (ph) we put tax reform on the president's desk, so we can simplify this tax system?

BASH: Yes or no, do you support this shutdown?

KASICH: No, no, it's really important, Dana. We got to talk about what we would be willing to shut down for. Why don't we put tax reform on this president's desk, and make him veto it if that's what he wants to do? Why haven't we repealed and replaced Obamacare?

Make him veto if that's what he wants to do.

BASH: We're talking about Planned Parenthood right now.

CHRISTIE: And why don't we do the same thing with Planned Parenthood?

BASH: Can you answer yes or no?

CHRISTIE: We elected a Republican Congress to do this. And they should be doing it, and they're not. And they're giving the president a pass.

FIORINA: Dana, I'd like to...

BASH: One more time. I'm sorry, I just want to get the answer.

CHRISTIE: I put it in the list, Dana. We should be doing these things and forcing the president to take action.

BASH: So you would support a shutdown.

CHRISTIE: Let's force him to do what he says he's going to do. Now I don't know whether he'll do it or not, but let's force him to do it.

FIORINA: Dana, I would like to link these two issues, both of which are incredibly important, Iran and Planned Parenthood.

One has something to do with the defense of the security of this nation. The other has something to do with the defense of the character of this nation. You have not heard a plan about Iran from any politician up here, here is my plan. On day one in the Oval Office, I will make two phone calls, the first to my good friend to Bibi Netanyahu to reassure him we will stand with the state of Israel.

The second, to the supreme leader, to tell him that unless and until he opens every military and every nuclear facility to real anytime, anywhere inspections by our people, not his, we, the United States of America, will make it as difficult as possible and move money around the global financial system.

We can do that, we don't need anyone's cooperation to do it. And every ally and every adversary we have in this world will know that the United States in America is back in the leadership business, which is how we must stand with our allies.

As regards Planned Parenthood, anyone who has watched this videotape, I dare Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama to watch these tapes. Watch a fully formed fetus on the table, it's heart beating, it's legs kicking while someone says we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain.

This is about the character of our nation, and if we will not stand up in and force President Obama to veto this bill, shame on us. [applause]

TAPPER: Dana, I want to continue on the subject.

Governor Bush, you recently said while discussing Planned Parenthood, quote, you're "not sure we need a half billion for women's health issues." Now you've since said that you misspoke, you didn't mean to say "women's health issues."

But Donald Trump said that quote, that comment, which Hillary Clinton did seize upon immediately, will haunt you the same way Mitt Romney's 47 percent video haunted him.

Tell Donald Trump why he's wrong.

BUSH: Well, he's wrong on a lot of things, but on this he's wrong because I'm the most pro-life governor on this stage. I got to act on my core beliefs. It's part of who I am. Life is a gift from God. And from beginning end we need to respect it and err on the side of life.

And so I defunded Planned Parenthood. We created a climate where parental notification took place. We were the only state to fund crisis pregnancy centers with state moneys. We were totally focused on this. And I would bring that kind of philosophy to Washington, D.C.

So here is a solution to this. Title X of the HHS funding, there is something that was the "Reagan Rule." It was passed in 1988. And in that rule it was defined, and the courts approved this, that a Planned Parenthood, you couldn't separate the money between the actual abortion procedures, and there are 330,000 abortions that take place in this clinic, and their promotion of it.

He interpreted it the right way, the courts ruled in his favor, and Planned Parenthood did not get funding during that time until President Clinton came in.

When I'm elected president, we will restore that interpretation of Title X. And this deal will be finished. [applause]

TAPPER: Thank you, Governor Bush.

Donald Trump, let me just...

TRUMP: Jeb, just...

TAPPER: The quote was, "I'm not sure we need half a billion dollars for women's health issues." He said he misspoke. You said that that's going to haunt him. Why do you think that?

TRUMP: I think it will haunt him. I think it's a terrible. I think it's going to haunt him absolutely. He came back later and he said he misspoke. There was no question because I heard when he said the statement. I was watching and he said the statement.

And I said, wow, I can't believe it. I will take care of women. I respect women. I will take care of women.

One thing we will say and I would like to get back to the Iran situation. We're talking about Iran. The agreement was terrible. It was incompetent. I've never seen anything like it. One of the worst contracts of any kind I've ever seen.

And nobody ever mentions North Korea where you have this maniac sitting there and he actually has nuclear weapons and somebody better start thinking about North Korea and perhaps a couple of other places. But certainly North Korea.

And Ted and I have spoken. We've — a lot of us have spoken. We're talking about Iran. They are bad actors, bad things are going to happen. But in the meantime, you have somebody right now in North Korea who has got nuclear weapons and who is saying almost every other week, I'm ready to use them. And we don't even mention it.

TAPPER: Governor Bush?

BUSH: There are 13,000 community-based organizations that provide health services to women, 13,000 in this country. I don't believe that Planned Parenthood should get a penny from the federal government. Those organizations should get funding, just as I increased funding when I was governor of the state.

That's the way you do this is you improve the condition for people. And, Donald, when I was governor, we also increased the opportunities for women.

Women's income grew three times faster than the national average when I was governor.

TRUMP: So why didn't you say it? Why didn't you say it?

BUSH: We improved — we improved —

TRUMP: I know, but why did you say it? I heard it myself. Why did you say it?

BUSH: — we increased child support — we increased child support with a broken system by 90 percent.

TRUMP: You said you're going to cut funding for women's health. You said it.

BUSH: I have a proven record. I have a proven record.

TRUMP: You said it.

TAPPER: I want to — we're going to get to —

WALKER: Jake, just one more moment. This is — there's something bigger to this. Now, I — like so many other governors here, I defunded Planned Parenthood four-and-a-half years ago, in a Blue State. But it's bigger than that. We did that in a Blue State, we took the money and put it into women's health, so we did exactly what we're talking about here.

But I think the bigger issue here is we should be able to do this nationally, and this is precisely why so many Republicans are upset with Washington. They see the House and they see the Senate and they say why can't we pass this. Why can't we defund Planned — put it in a spending bill.

Forget about the 60-vote rule, there's no reason — and the Constitution doesn't call for 60 votes. Pass it with 51 votes, put it on the desk of the president —

TAPPER: Thank you, Governor.

WALKER: — and go forward and actually make a point. This is why —

TAPPER: Thank you, Governor.

WALKER: — people are upset with Washington.

TAPPER: We're going to — we're going to get to many of these issues. This — we're still in the first block, believe it or not. We're going to get to many of these issues, but before we end this block, Ms. Fiorina, I do want to ask you about this.

In an interview last week in Rolling Stone magazine, Donald Trump said the following about you. Quote, "Look at that face. Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?" Mr. Trump later said he was talking about your persona, not your appearance. Please feel free to respond what you think about his persona. [laughter]

FIORINA: You know, it's interesting to me, Mr. Trump said that he heard Mr. Bush very clearly and what Mr. Bush said. I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said. [applause]

TRUMP: I think she's got a beautiful face, and I think she's a beautiful woman.

TAPPER: All right. On that note, in less than two minutes — we're going to take a very quick break. In less than two minutes, the most contentious issue on the campaign trail. And the candidates on the stage are split over how to handle it. That's coming up next.

Please give some applause to the candidates. [applause]

[commercial break]

TAPPER: Welcome to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate. No topic perhaps has been more combustible in this campaign than the issue of immigration.

Mr. Trump, you have called for deporting every undocumented immigrant, Governor Christie has said, quote, "There are not enough law enforcement officers — local, county, state and federal combined — to forcibly deport 11 to 12 million people."

Tell Governor Christie how much your plan will cost, and how you will get it done.

TRUMP: Correct. First of all, I want to build a wall, a wall that works. So important, and it's a big part of it.

Second of all, we have a lot of really bad dudes in this country from outside, and I think Chris knows that, maybe as well as anybody.

They go, if I get elected, first day they're gone. Gangs all over the place. Chicago, Baltimore, no matter where you look.

We have a country based on laws. I will make sure that those laws are adhered to. These are illegal immigrants. I don't think you'd even be asking this question if I didn't run because when I ran, and I brought this up, my opening remarks at Trump Tower, I took heat like nobody has taken heat in a long time. And, then they found out with the killing of Katie, from San Francisco, and so many other crimes, they found out that I was right.

And, most people, many people, apologized to me. I don't think you'd even be talking about illegal immigration if it weren't for me. So, we have a country of laws, they're going to go out, and they'll come back if they deserve to come back. If they've had a bad record, if they've been arrested, if they've been in jail, they're never coming back. We're going to have a country again. Right now, we don't have a country, we don't have a border, and we're going to do something about it, and it can be done with proper management, and it can be done with heart.

TAPPER: Governor Christie, you and I have talked about this in an interview. You say that his big wall, his plan to deport 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants, it sounds great, but it's never going to happen.

Tell him why you're skeptical of his plans?

CHRISTIE: First of, Jake, I don't yield to anybody on how to enforce the law. I'm the only person on this stage who spent seven years as a United States Attorney after September 11th, and I know how to do this.

The fact is though that for 15,000 people a day to be deported every day for two years is an undertaking that almost none of us could accomplish given the current levels of funding, and the current number of law enforcement officers. Here's what we need to do, and I think this is where Donald is absolutely right. What we need to do is to secure our border, and we need to do it with more than just a wall.

We need to use electronics, we need to use drones, we need to use FBI, DEA, and ATF, and yes, we need to take the fingerprint of every person who comes into this country on a visa, and when they overstay their visa, we need to tap them on the shoulder, and say, "You have overstayed your welcome, you're taking advantage of the American people. It's time for you to go."

If we had that kind of system in place, we wouldn't have the 11 million people we have now.

TAPPER: Thank you, Governor Christie...

TRUMP: ...By the way, I agree with — with what Chris is saying, but, I will say this. Illegal immigration is costing us more than $200 billion dollars a year just to maintain what we have.

TAPPER: I want to bring in Dr. Carson because he too has been skeptical of your plan to immediately deport 11 to 12 million illegal immigrants. He said, quote, "People who say that have no idea what this entails."

Why do you say that, Dr. Carson?

CARSON: Well, first of all, I recognize that we have an incredible illegal immigration problem. I was down in Arizona a few weeks ago at the border. I mean, the fences that were there were not manned, and those are the kind of fences when I was a kid that would barely slow us down. So, I don't see any purpose in having that.

Now, what we need to do is look at something that actually works. Yuma County, Arizona. They stop 97 percent of the illegal immigrants through there. They put in a double fence with a road so that there was quick access by the enforcement people.

If we don't seal the border, the rest of this stuff clearly doesn't matter. It's kind of ridiculous all the other things we talk about. We have the ability to do it, we don't have the will to do it.

There was one area where they had cut a hole in the fence, and to repair it, they put a few strands of barb wire across. Well, the photographers who were there with us, they wanted to photograph us from the side of the Mexicans, and they went through there, and they were not physically fit people, and they took their cameras and things with them, and shot us from the other side.

That's how easy it is to get across. And, the drugs, I mean, it goes on, and on, and on. ICE tells them to release these people, 67,000 criminals released...

TAPPER: ...Dr. Carson...

CARSON: ...on to our property, it's ridiculous.

TAPPER: With all due respect, you said about Donald Trump's plan to deport 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants, "People who say that have no idea what this entails."

Why not?

CARSON: Well, I have also said, if anybody knows how to do that, that I would be willing to listen. And, if they can, you know, specify exactly how that's going to be done, and what the cost, and it sounds reasonable, then I think it's worth discussing...

TRUMP(?): ...[inaudible]...

TAPPER: ...let's continue the conversation about illegal immigration with Dana Bash.

BASH: Governor Bush, Mr. Trump has suggested that your views on immigration are influenced by your Mexican born wife. He said that, quote, "If my wife were from Mexico, I think I would have a soft spot for people from Mexico." Did Mr. Trump go to far in invoking your wife?

BUSH: He did, he did. You're proud of your family, just as I am.

TRUMP: Correct.

BUSH: To subject my wife into the middle of a raucous political conversation was completely inappropriate, and I hope you apologize for that, Donald.

TRUMP: Well, I have to tell you, I hear phenomenal things. I hear your wife is a lovely woman...

BUSH: She is. She's fantastic.

TRUMP: I don't know her, and this is a total mischaracterization...

BUSH: She is absolutely the love of my life, and she's right here...

TRUMP: Good.

BUSH: And why don't you apologize to her right now.

TRUMP: No, I won't do that, because I've said nothing wrong.

BUSH: Yeah.

TRUMP: But I do hear she's a lovely woman.

BUSH: So, here's the deal. My wife is a Mexican-American. She's an American by choice.

She loves this country as much as anybody in this room, and she wants a secure border. But she wants to embrace the traditional American values that make us special and make us unique.

We're at a crossroads right now. Are we going to take the Reagan approach, the hopeful optimistic approach, the approach that says that, you come to our country legally, you pursue your dreams with a vengeance, you create opportunities for all of us?

Or the Donald Trump approach? The approach that says that everything is bad, that everything is coming to an end. I...

BASH: Mr. Trump?

TRUMP: Jeb said...

BUSH: I'm on the Reagan side of this.

TRUMP: ... that they come into our country as an act of love.

With all of the problems we that we have, in so many instances — we have wonderful people coming in. But with all of the problems — this is not an act of love. He's weak on immigration — by the way, in favor of Common Core, which is also a disaster, but weak on immigration.

He doesn't get my vote.

BASH: Mr. Trump...

FIORINA: Dana, with all being said to Mr. Trump...

BASH: Go ahead.

FIORINA: Immigration did not come up in 2016 because Mr. Trump brought it up. We talked about it in 2012, we talked about it in 2008. We talked about it in 2004.

TRUMP: Not with this intensity.

FIORINA: We have been talking about it for 25 years. This is why people are tired of politicians.

BASH: Ms. Fiorina — Ms. Fiorina, we're going to come to you, we're going to come to you.

I just want to give Governor Bush a chance to respond to what Mr. Trump said.

BUSH: Look, first of all, I wrote a book about this, three — four years ago, now. And I laid out a comprehensive, conservative approach for immigration reform.

And it does require securing the border. No one disagrees with that. But to build a wall, and to deport people — half a million a month — would cost hundreds of billions of dollars, Donald. Hundreds of billions of dollars. It would destroy community life, it would tear families apart.

And it would send a signal to the rest of the world that the United States values that are so important for our long-term success no longer matter in this country. [applause]

TRUMP: As I said, we are spending $200 billion — we are spending $200 billion a year on maintaining what we have. We will move them out. The great ones will come back, the good ones will come back.

They'll be expedited, they'll be back, they'll come back legally. We'll have a country — they'll come back, legally.

BASH: OK, on that note, you have criticized Governor Bush for speaking Spanish on the campaign trail. You said, quote, "He should really set an example by speaking English in the United States."

What's wrong with speaking Spanish?

TRUMP: Well, I think it's wonderful and all, but I did it a little bit half-heartedly, but I do mean it to a large extent.

We have a country, where, to assimilate, you have to speak English. And I think that where he was, and the way it came out didn't sound right to me. We have to have assimilation — to have a country, we have to have assimilation.

I'm not the first one to say this, Dana. We've had many people over the years, for many, many years, saying the same thing. This is a country where we speak English, not Spanish. [applause]

BUSH: Well, I've been speaking English here tonight, and I'll keep speaking English.

But the simple fact is, if a high school kid asks me a question in Spanish, a school — by the way, a voucher program that was created under my watch, the largest voucher program in the country, where kids can go to a Christian school, and they ask me a question in Spanish, I'm going to show respect and answer that question in Spanish.

Even though they do speak English, and even though they embrace American values. [applause]

TRUMP: This is a reporter, not a high school kid.

RUBIO: Ms. Dana, I agree that English is the unifying language of our country, and everyone should learn to speak it. It's important.

I want to tell you a story about someone that didn't speak English that well. It was my grandfather; he came to this country in the 1960s, as a — escaping Cuba. And he lived with us, growing up.

And my grandfather loved America. He understood what was so special about this country. He loved Ronald Reagan; he would be very proud of the fact that we're here this evening.

My grandfather instilled in me the belief that I was blessed to live in the one society in all of human history where even I, the son of a bartender and a maid, could aspire to have anything, and be anything that I was willing to work hard to achieve.

But he taught me that in Spanish, because it was the language he was most comfortable in. And he became a conservative, even though he got his news in Spanish.

And so, I do give interviews in Spanish, and here's why — because I believe that free enterprise and limited government is the best way to help people who are trying to achieve upward mobility.

And if they get their news in Spanish, I want them to hear that directly from me. Not from a translator at Univision.

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator Rubio. [applause]

Senator Cruz — Senator Cruz, this week, we learned more about Dr. Carson's plan for the 11 million to 12 million undocumented immigrants in this country.

Dr. Carson proposed giving these undocumented immigrants a six- month grace period to pay back taxes then to let them become guest workers and only to deport people who failed to do that.

CARSON: Not exactly what I said.

TAPPER: Well, how would you say it, sir? I was just reading the Wall Street Journal quote, but please tell us.

CARSON: Well, what I said, after we seal the borders, after we turn off the spigot that dispenses all the goodies so we don't have people coming in here, including employment, that people who had a pristine record, we should consider allowing them to become guest workers, primarily in the agricultural sphere, because that's the place where Americans don't seem to want to work.

That's what I said. And they have a six-month period to do that. If they don't do it within that time period, then they become illegal, and as illegals, they will be treated as such.

TAPPER: OK, from the horse's mouth, Senator Cruz, does that fit your definition of amnesty?

CRUZ: Well, Jake, you know, I'm — I'm very glad that Donald Trump's being in this race has forced the mainstream media finally to talk about illegal immigration. I think that's very important.

I like and respect Ben Carson. I'll let him talk about his own plans.

But I will say this: The natural next question that primary voters are asking, after we focus on illegal immigration is, okay, what are the records of the various candidates? And this is an issue on which there are stark differences.

A majority of the men and women on this stage have previously and publicly embraced amnesty. I am the only candidate on this stage who has never supported amnesty and, in fact, who helped lead the fight to stop a massive amnesty plan.

In 2013, when Barack Obama and Harry Reid joined the Washington Republicans in a massive, I stood shoulder to shoulder with Jeff Sessions helping lead the fight.

You know, folks here have talked about, how do you secure the borders? Well, I've been leading the fight in the Senate to triple the Border Patrol, to put in place fencings and walls, to put in place a strong biometric exit/entry system...

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator.

Senator Rubio...

CARSON: Can I — can I — can I just...

TAPPER: ... I'm not sure...

CARSON: Can I correct...

TAPPER: We'll come back to you — we'll come back to you in one second, sir.

But Senator Rubio, I'm not sure exactly whose plan he's — he's saying is — constitutes amnesty, but I know he has said it about your plan in the past, so I want to give you a chance to respond, then, Dr. Carson, we'll come to you.

CARSON: OK.

RUBIO: Well, let me say that legal immigration is not an issue I read about in the newspaper. Immigration, illegal immigration, all the good aspects of immigration and all the negative ones as well, I live with. My family's immigrants. My neighbors are all immigrants. My in-laws are all immigrants.

So I've seen every aspect of it, and I can tell you America doesn't have one immigration problem, it has three.

First, despite the fact that we are the most generous country in the history of the world in allowing people to come here legally, we have people still coming illegally.

Second, we have a legal immigration system that no longer works. It primary is built on the basis of whether you have a relative living here instead of merit.

And third, we have 11 million or 12 million people, many of whom have been here for longer than a decade who are already here illegally.

And we must deal with all three of these problems. We cannot deal with all three of these problems in one massive piece of legislation. I learned that. We tried it that way.

Here's the way forward: First, we must — we must secure our border, the physical border, with — with a wall, absolutely. But we also need to have an entry/exit tracking system. 40 percent of the people who come here illegally come legally, and then they overstay the visa. We also need a mandatory e-verify system.

After we've done that, step two would be to modernize our legal immigration system so you come to America on the basis of what you can contribute economically, not whether or not simply you have a relative living here.

And after we've done those two things, I believe the American people...

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator.

RUBIO: ... will be very reasonable and responsible about what you do with someone who's been here and isn't a criminal. If you're a criminal, obviously, you will not be able to stay.

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator.

Senator — Dr. Carson... [applause] ... I want to give you 30 seconds. I'd like you to answer the question.

Senator Cruz describes plans such as yours as amnesty. Why is your plan not amnesty?

CARSON: My plan is not amnesty for a number of reasons.

Number one, you know, I've talked to farmers, and they said they cannot hire Americans to do the kind of job that I'm talking about.

And the second reason is because the individuals who register as guest workers, they don't get to vote, they are not American citizens, and they don't get the rights and privileges of American citizens. So that's key.

But the other thing that I want to bring up is, I mentioned something earlier. I think it was just sort of glossed over.

I talked about the success in Yuma County, I mean, incredible success, and the Department of Justice said, "No, we don't want to do that. That's too successful."

We don't have to keep reinventing the wheel. All we have to do is look at things that work. All we have to do is use a little common sense.

TAPPER: Thank you, Dr. Carson. I want to talk about the issue of birthright citizenship, which — which has emerged since the first debate as — as an a — a major issue in this campaign.

Mr. Trump, you say that babies born in the United States to undocumented immigrants should not any longer get automatic American citizenship. Ms. Fiorina says that you are pandering on this issue and acting like the politicians that you rail against. What's your message to Ms. Fiorina on birthright citizenship?

TRUMP: Well, first of all, the — the 14th Amendment says very, very clearly to a lot of great legal scholars — not television scholars, but legal scholars — that it is wrong. It can be corrected with an act of Congress, probably doesn't even need that.

A woman gets pregnant. She's nine months, she walks across the border, she has the baby in the United States, and we take care of the baby for 85 years. I don't think so.

And by the way, Mexico and almost every other country anywhere in the world doesn't have that. We're the only ones dumb enough, stupid enough to have it. And people — and by the way, this is not just with respect to Mexico. They are coming from Asia to have babies here, and all of a sudden, we have to take care of the babies for the life of the baby.

The 14th Amendment, it reads properly, you can go and — it's probably going to be have to be check — go through a process of court, probably ends up at the Supreme Court, but there are a lot of great legal scholars that say that is not correct.

And in my opinion, it makes absolutely no — we're the only — one of the only countries, we're going to take care of those babies for 70, 75, 80, 90 years? I don't think so.

TAPPER: Ms. Fiorina, the vast majority of countries do not have birthright citizenship... [applause] ...Donald Trump is right about that. Why is it pandering when he's — he says this?

FIORINA: First let me say, We have just spent a good bit of time discussing, as Republicans, how to solve this problem. I would ask your audience at home to ask a very basic question. Why have Democrats not solved this problem?

President Obama campaigned in 2007 and 2008 on solving the immigration problem. He entered Washington with majorities in the House and the Senate. He could have chosen to do anything to solve this pro — this problem. Instead, he chose to do nothing.

Why? because the Democrats don't want this issue solved.

TAPPER: Ms. Fiorina...

FIORINA: They want it to be an issue that they can use. As to birthright citizenship...

TAPPER: Please.

FIORINA: ...the truth is, you can't just wave your hands and say "the 14th Amendment is gonna go away." It will take an extremely arduous vote in Congress, followed by two-thirds of the states, and if that doesn't work to amend the Constitution, then it is a long, arduous process in court.

And meanwhile, what will continue to go on is what has gone on for 25 years. With all due respect, Mr. Trump, we've been talking about illegal immigration for 25 years. San Francisco has been a sanctuary city since 1989. There are 300 of them.

And meanwhile, what has happened? Nothing. The border remains insecure. The legal immigration system remains broken. Look, we know what it takes to secure a border. We've heard a lot of great ideas here. Money, manpower, technology...

TAPPER: Thank you, Ms. Fiorina.

FIORINA: ...mostly, apparently, leadership...

TAPPER: Thank you.

FIORINA: ...the kind of leadership that understands how to get results.

TAPPER: Thank you, Ms. Fiorina. Mr. Trump, I want to give you the chance to respond...

TRUMP: I agree 100 percent, by the way, with Carly on the fact that the Democrats do not want to solve this problem, for the obvious reasons, but they do not.

But I believe that a reading of the 14th Amendment allows you to have an interpretation where this is not legal and where it can't be done. I've seen both sides, but some of the greatest scholars agree with me, without having to go through Congress.

If you do go through Congress, you can absolutely solve the problem.

TAPPER: Thank you, Mr. Trump. Senator Paul...

FIORINA: But you — you would stipulate, Mr. Trump, but not everyone agrees with you.

TRUMP: That's true, sure.

FIORINA: OK.

TAPPER: Senator Paul, I want to bring you in. Where — where do you stand on the issue of birthright citizenship?

PAUL: Well, I hate to say it, but Donald Trump has a bit of a point here.

The case that was decided around 1900 was, people had a green card, were here legally, and they said that their children were citizens. There's never been a direct Supreme Court case on people who were here illegally, whether or not their kids are citizens.

So it hasn't really been completely adjudicated. The 14th Amendment says that "those who are here and under the jurisdiction." The original author of the — of the 14th Amendment said on the Senate floor that this was applying to slaves, and did not specifically apply to others.

TAPPER: All right. Senator Paul, thank you so much. Let's turn to a new topic. We've received a lot of questions on social media about the economy and about jobs. We have two CEOs on stage right now.

Ms. Fiorina, you were CEO of Hewlett Packard. Donald Trump says you, quote, "ran HP into the ground," you laid off tens of thousands of people, you got viciously fired.

For voters looking to somebody with private-sector experience to create American jobs, why should they pick you and not Donald Trump?

FIORINA: I led Hewlett Packard through a very difficult time, the worst technology recession in 25 years. The NASDAQ stock index fell 80 percent. It took 15 years for the stock index to recover. We had very strong competitors who literally went out of business and lost all of their jobs in the process.

Despite those difficult times, we doubled the size of the company, we quadrupled its topline growth rate, we quadrupled its cash flow, we tripled its rate of innovation.

Yes, we had to make tough choices, and in doing so, we saved 80,000 jobs, went on to grow to 160,000 jobs. And now Hewlett Packard is almost 300,000 jobs. We went from lagging behind to leading in every product category and every market segment.

We must lead in this nation again, and some tough calls are going to be required. But as for the firing, I have been very honest about this from the day it happened. When you challenge the status quo, you make enemies. I made a few. Steve Jobs told me that when he called me the day I was fired to say, hey, been there, done that twice.

It's also true that the man that led my firing, Tom Perkins, just took —

TAPPER: Thank you, Ms. Fiorina.

FIORINA: — out a full-page ad in the New York Times to say he was wrong, I was right. I was a terrific CEO, the board was dysfunctional. And he thinks I will make a magnificent president of the United States. [applause]

TAPPER: Thank you, Ms. Fiorina.

TRUMP: Well —

TAPPER: Mr. Trump — Mr. Trump, why would you be better at creating jobs than Carly Fiorina?

TRUMP: — let me — well, let me just explain. The head of the Yale Business School, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, wrote a paper recently, one of the worst tenures for a CEO that he has ever seen, ranked one of the top 20 in the history of business. The company is a disaster and continues to be a disaster. They still haven't recovered. In fact, today, on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, they fired another 25 or 30,000 people saying we still haven't recovered from the catastrophe.

When Carly says the revenues went up, that's because she bought Compaq, it was a terrible deal, and it really led to the destruction of the company.

Now one other company before that was Lucent. Carly was at Lucent before that. And Lucent turned out to be a catastrophe also. So I only say this. She can't run any of my companies. That I can tell you.

TAPPER: Ms. Fiorina, I want to give you a chance to respond.

FIORINA: You know, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld is a well-known Clintonite and honestly had it out for me from the moment that I arrived at Hewlett Packard. But honestly, Mr. Trump, I find it quite rich that you would talk about this.

You know, there are a lot of us Americans who believe that we are going to have trouble someday paying back the interest on our debt because politicians have run up mountains of debt using other people's money. That is in fact precisely the way you ran your casinos. You ran up mountains of debt, as well as losses, using other people's money, and you were forced to file for bankruptcy not once —

TRUMP: I never filed for bankruptcy.

FIORINA: — not twice, four times, a record four times. Why should we trust you to manage the finances —

TRUMP: I'll tell you why; it's very simple.

FIORINA: — of this nation any differently than you managed the finances —

TRUMP: I'll tell you. I was running —

FIORINA: — of your casinos?

TRUMP: — Carly, Carly —

TAPPER: Mr. Trump.

TRUMP: — I've made over $10 billion. I had a casino company — Caesars just filed for bankruptcy. Chris will tell you — it's not Chris' fault either — but almost everybody in Atlantic City is either in trouble or filed for — maybe I'll blame Chris.

FIORINA: Well —

TRUMP: But Atlantic City is a disaster —

FIORINA: Well, Mr. Trump —

TRUMP: Wait a minute, Carly. Wait. I let you speak. Atlantic City is a disaster, and I did great in Atlantic City. I knew when to get out. My timing was great. And I got a lot of credit for it.

Many of the great business people that you know — and Carl Icon (ph) is going to work with me on making great deals for this country. But whether it's Carl or so many others that we read about all the time —

TAPPER: Thank you, Mr. Trump.

TRUMP: — they have used the laws of the land, which is the —

[crosstalk]

TAPPER: Governor Christie's name has been invoked. I'd like to give him a 30 second opportunity.

CHRISTIE: Jake listen. While I'm as entertained as anyone by this personal back-and-forth about the history of Donald and Carly's career, for the 55-year-old construction worker out in that audience tonight who doesn't have a job, who can't fund his child's education, I've got to tell you the truth. They could care less about your careers, they care about theirs. [applause]

Let's start talking about that on this stage and stop playing — and stop playing the games. Stop playing —

KASICH: There's a —

CHRISTIE: John — I'm not done yet, John.

FIORINA: A track record of leadership is not a game. It is the issue in this election.

CHRISTIE: Stop — and stop playing — and Carly — Carly, listen. You can interrupt everybody else on this stage, you're not going to interrupt me, OK?

The fact is that we don't want to hear about your careers, back and forth and volleying back and forth about who did well and who did poorly. You're both successful people. Congratulations. You know who's not successful? The middle class in this country who's getting plowed over by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Let's start talking about those issues tonight and stop this childish back-and-forth between the two of you. [applause]

TAPPER: Ms. Fiorina, I want to give you

KASICH: Jake —

TAPPER: Governor Kasich, I'm coming to you next, but Ms. Fiorina's name was mentioned, and I have to give her the opportunity to respond if she wants it.

FIORINA: Well, I thought we had been hearing quite a bit about Govenor Christie's record as governor, actually. I think track records are very important. I completely agree that what's at stake here is the future of this nation, and the future of every American.

But I do think that a track record of leadership is vital because in the end this election is about leadership. And let's talk about what leadership is. It's not about braggadocio, it is about challenging the status quo, solving problems, producing results.

And the highest calling of leadership is to unlock potential in others.

TAPPER: Thank you.

FIORINA: Problems have festered in Washington for too long. And the potential of this nation is being crushed.

TAPPER: Thank you, Ms. Fiorina.

Governor Kasich, I want to come — I'm coming to you. I'm coming to you. Let me ask the question. You can use the time however you want.

KASICH: OK, Jake.

TAPPER: Donald Trump says that the hedge fund guys are getting away with murder by paying a lower tax rate. He wants to raise the taxes of hedge fund managers, as does Governor Bush. Do you agree?

KASICH: I don't at this point in terms of changing the incentives for investment and risk-taking.

But let's just stop for a second. There's one person on this stage that does have a record. I'm the only person on the stage and one of the few people in this country that led the effort as the chief architect of the last time we balanced the federal budget.

We also cut taxes. And when I left Washington in 2000, we had a $5 trillion surplus, and the economy was booming. I had spent 10 years of my life to get us to that point, went out in the private sector, was a great experience, and went into Ohio and took an $8 billion hole and turned it into a $2 billion surplus.

We've had the largest amount of tax cuts of any sitting governor. We've grown well over 300,000 jobs. You see, I've done it in both places. I'm the only one here that has done it in both places.

It took a lot to get us to a balanced budget. It was legitimate. It was real. And we negotiated it. A lot of what we're talking about here tonight as we take this position and that position, you know what? At the end of the day, America has got to work.

We've got to figure out how we come together to deal with this — with our fiscal problems because when we deal with that, we create a stronger economy for everybody. People have a chance to rise.

So, you know, when we think about how we make a choice, it's the person that lands that plane. It's not somebody that talks about it. It's about the person who has done it. And I've done it in...

TAPPER: Thank you, Governor.

KASICH: ... both places. And I did it including people in the other party. And that's how we were successful.

TAPPER: Thank you, Governor Kasich.

KASICH: And that's how I will be president, using that experience to drive this country forward. Thank you. [applause]

TAPPER: Governor Huckabee, I want to bring you in on the question of hedge fund managers and taxing them. You have said that you are bothered by the fact that hedge fund managers pay such a low tax rate and make 2,500 times what people who work for them make.

Do you agree with what Donald Trump and Governor Bush have proposed, raising their tax rates?

HUCKABEE: I have a different idea. I think we ought to get rid of all the taxes on people who produce. Why should we penalize productivity? And it's why I'm an unabashed supporter of the "fair tax," which would be a tax on our consumption, rather than a tax on our productivity.

In other words, you're not going to tax anybody for what they earn, whether it's worker whose working by the hour or whether it's a hedge fund manager. If they can produce something and bring capital and labor to create jobs, we need some jobs. And I think the "fair tax" makes more sense.

Now, Jake, I've been listening to everybody on the stage and there is a lot of back and forth about I'm the only one who has done this, the only one who has done that, I've done great things.

We've all done great things or we wouldn't be on this stage. But it occurs to me as we're sitting here in the Reagan Library that most of us would like to pay tribute to a guy who, when he got elected, didn't get elected telling everybody how great he was.

He got elected telling everybody how great the American people were. And he empowered them to live their dreams, which is what I'd love to see us do by no longer penalizing the people who are out there working because they are taking a gut punch right now. [applause]

TAPPER: Thank you, Governor.

Dr. Carson, you support scrapping the entire tax code and replacing it with a flat tax based on the principal on tithing from the Bible. If you make $10 billion, you pay $1 billion in taxes, if you make $10, you pay $1 in taxes.

Donald Trump believes in progressive taxation. He says it's not right that rich people pay the same as the poor. Tell Donald Trump why his ideas on taxes are wrong.

CARSON: It's all about America. You know, the people who say the guy who paid a billion dollars because he had 10, he has still got $9 billion left, that's not fair, we need to take more of his money. That's called socialism. That doesn't work so well.

What made America into a great nation was the fact that we said, that guy just put in $1 billion, let's create an environment that's even more conducive to his success so that next year he can put in $2 billion.

And that's the kind of thing that helps us to grow. We can't grow by continuing to take a piece of pie, and dividing it, and redistributing it.

But, I'm also looking at what doctor — at what Governor Huckabee talked about...

HUCKABEE: ...You don't want me operating on you, I assure you. [laughter]

CARSON: The Fair Tax. Looking at both of them, and evaluating them both, and I'm talking to the American people because one of the things we must recognize is that this country is of, for, and by the people. And, it's really time that the government get out of the way, and let the people be the ones who decide how they want to run their country. [applause]

TAPPER: Mr. Trump...

TRUMP: ...Well, I'd like to respond, I'd like to respond...

TAPPER: ...What do you think of the flat tax? Do you think it's fair?

TRUMP: Well, I think the thing about the flat tax, I know it very well. What I don't like is that if you make $200 million a year, you pay ten percent, you're paying very little relatively to somebody that's making $50,000 a year, and has to hire H&R Block to do the — because it's so complicated.

One thing I'll say to Ben is that we've had a graduated tax system for many years, so it's not a socialistic thing. What I'd like to do, and I'll be putting in the plan in about two weeks, and I think people are going to like it, it's a major reduction in taxes. It's a major reduction for the middle class. The hedge fund guys won't like me as much as they like me right now. I know them all, but they'll pay more.

I know people that are making a tremendous amount of money and paying virtually no tax, and I think it's unfair.

TAPPER: Thank you, Mr. Trump. Senator Paul?

PAUL: Well, I'm glad we're having a discussion about taxes because everybody laments that we lose jobs overseas, we have. Our companies, and our jobs are being chased overseas by a 70,000 page tax code, so, that's why I've chosen to get rid of the whole thing, and have one single rate, 14 and a-half percent for everybody, business, and for corporate income, and personal income. But, we also get rid of the payroll tax, so the working class would get a tax break as well.

So, I think a flat tax, eliminating the tax code, getting rid of all the loopholes, is the way to go, and it's the way we get America going again.

TAPPER: Governor Walker, I want to go to you. Dr. Carson wants to raise the Federal Minimum Wage, you have called it a lame idea. Why is raising the Federal Minimum Wage lame?

WALKER: So, the best way to help people see their wages go up is to get them the education, the skill they need, to take on careers that pay more than minimum wage. And, it's why we talk about it, it's all about jobs. You want to help actually get jobs, it's why on that last question we were trying to jump in on taxes. To me, it's not just about taxes, cutting taxes. I've done it as much as anyone has.

I've cut income taxes, I've cut property taxes. In fact, property taxes are lower today in my state than they were before we took office. The real issues about jobs.

Ronald Reagan, our plan is based on the Ronald Reagan tax cuts of 1986. That brought about one of the longest sustained periods of economic growth in American history. All the things we should be talking about tonight are about how do we create jobs, helping people get the skills and the education qualifications they need to succeed.

That's the way you help people create jobs. It's part of our large plan to reform the tax code, to cut taxes, to put in place an education system that gives people the skills and education that they need. To put in place all the above energy policy, but you start on day one with repealing Obamacare.

I'm the only one on this stage that's actually got a plan, introduced an actual plan to repeal Obamacare on day one. I'll send a bill up to Congress, and to make sure enact it...

TAPPER: ...Thank you, Governor...

WALKER: ...I'm going to sign an order that makes the Congress live by the same rules as everybody else.

TAPPER: ...Thank you, Governor...

WALKER: ...That will ensure they repeal Obamacare...

TAPPER: Dr. Carson, Governor Walker didn't really answer the question, but I'll let you respond. He called raising the Federal Minimum Wage lame, what do you think of that?

CARSON: Well, first of all, let me say what I actually said about raising the minimum wage. I was asked should it be raised, I said, probably, or possibly. But, what I added, which I think is the most important thing, so, I said we need to get both sides of this issue to sit down, and talk about it. Negotiate a reasonable minimum wage, and index that so that we never have to have this conversation again in the history of America.

I think we also have to have two minimum wages, a starter, and a sustaining because how are young people ever going to get a job if you have such a high minimum wage that it makes it impractical to hire them...

TAPPER: Thank you, Dr. Carson...

WALKER: ...Jake, Jake, Jake, I just want to address that issue because you said I didn't answer, and I did. I said, to me, I think the real focus shouldn't be — you know, Hillary Clinton talks about the minimum wage. That's her answer to grow the economy. The answer is to give people the skills and the education so they make far more than minimum wage.

I don't want to argue about how low things are going to be, I want to talk about how do we lift everyone up in America. That's what Reagan talked about. It wasn't how bad things were, it was how to make it better for everyone. That's what we've done in Wisconsin, that's exactly what we'd do as...

TAPPER: Let me bring in our partner from Salem Radio Network, Hugh Hewitt.

HEWITT: I'd like to talk about winning because I think all of you are more qualified than former Secretary of State Clinton, and as were the people in the first debate, but there are different styles, and Carly Fiorina, Governor Kasich, you're conveniently located next to each other, and you have different styles.

Governor Kasich, you've been on my show a lot. You refused to attack Hillary Clinton, you just don't want to go there, you want to do the up with people. Go, Ohio, OK, and I like that.

Carly Fiorina, I don't have to bring up the Secretary of State — you bring her up, so [inaudible].

Which one of you is wrong? Governor Kasich?

KASICH: Well, look, people still have to get to know me, so I want to spend my time talking about my experience reforming welfare, balancing budgets, cutting taxes, providing economic growth when I was in Washington, turning Ohio around. Eight billion in the hole, $2 billion surplus, up over 300,000 jobs, big tax cuts, strengthening our credit.

All those things matter but, you know, as a young man in my first election in 1978, I defeated an incumbent Democrat. I defeated an incumbent Democrat in 1982; running on the Reagan program, I was the only Republican in America to defeat an incumbent Democrat that year.

And then, when I won for election of governor, I was the first Republican to defeat an incumbent in 36 years, and the first person to have never run statewide out of politics for 10 years to beat an incumbent. That hadn't happened for 96 years.

So, we'll get to the point where we'll talk about Hillary Clinton, or whoever the nominee is, record. But right now, I want to give people sense of hope, sense of purpose, a sense of unity, sense that we can do it. So...

HEWITT: Governor.

KASICH: You know, at the end of the day, I'm going to continue to talk about my record, because there is, did you ever notice when people run for office, they run for president, they make a lot of promises, they don't keep them.

HEWITT: Thank you, Governor.

KASICH: I don't intend to do that, and I going to be out there pushing it out — don't worry about me and Hillary. That will all work out, and I'm from Ohio. She will not beat me there, I can promise you that. [applause]

HEWITT: Carly Fiorina, your style?

FIORINA: You see, Governor Christie, people spend time talking about their track records, and Mr. Trump and I have every right to do the same. And Mrs. Clinton has to defend her track record.

Her track record of lying about Benghazi, of lying about her e- mails, about lying about her servers. She does not have a track record of accomplishment.

Like Mrs. Clinton, I, too, have travels hundreds of thousands of miles around the globe. But unlike Mrs. Clinton, I know flying is an activity, not an accomplishment. Mrs. Clinton — if you want to stump a Democrat, ask them to name a accomplishment of Mrs. Clinton's.

HEWITT: Thank you, Ms. Fiorina.

Governor Christie, your name was mentioned. I want to give you a chance to respond.

CHRISTIE: Listen, you know, Hugh, it's an important point. And the question is, who is going to prosecute Hillary Clinton?

The Obama White House seems to have in interest, the Justice Department seems to have no interest. I think it's time to put a former federal prosecutor on the same stage as Hillary Clinton. [applause]

And I will prosecute her during those debates on that stage for the record we're talking about here. The fact she had a private email server in her basement, using national security secrets running through it, could have been hacked by the Russians, the Chinese, or two 18-year-olds on a toot (ph) wanting to have some fun.

No one is answering that question from the Hillary Clinton campaign...

HEWITT: Thank you, Governor.

CHRISTIE: You know why? Because she knows she's wrong, and she cannot look in the mirror at herself, and she cannot tell the American people the truth.

HEWITT: Thank you, Governor Christie. There is a lot more coming up.

Ahead, a world of trouble. The challenges that one of these candidates may face in the Oval Office, and how he or she will handle it.

Stay with us.

[commercial break]

TAPPER: Welcome back to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate. Let's turn to some issues now in foreign policy.

Mr. Trump, Senator Rubio said it was, quote, "very concerning to him" that in a recent interview you didn't seem to know the details about some of the enemies the U.S. faces. Rubio said, if you don't know the answers to those questions, you will not be able to serve as commander-in-chief.

Please respond to Senator Rubio.

TRUMP: Well, I heard Hugh Hewitt, a nice man, he apologized because he actually said that we had a misunderstanding. And he said today that Donald Trump is maybe the best interview there is anywhere that he has ever done.

Now unless he was just saying that on CNN to be nice, but he did say that...

[crosstalk]

HEWITT: Oh, you're the best interview in America.

TRUMP: And we had a legitimate misunderstanding in terms of his pronunciation of a word.

But I would say just... [laughter]

TRUMP: Well, I think it was. And he actually said that. Did you say that?

[crosstalk]

HEWITT: ... makes an interesting case (ph) here (ph).

TRUMP: OK. So I will say this, though, Hugh was giving me name after name, Arab name, Arab name, and there are few people anywhere, anywhere that would have known those names. I think he was reading them off a sheet.

And frankly I will have — and I told him, I will have the finest team that anybody has put together and we will solve a lot of problems.

You know, right now they know a lot and look at what is happening. The world is blowing up around us. We will have great teams and great people.

TAPPER: Senator Rubio?

TRUMP: I hope that answers your question. I mean, you are in the Senate, but I hope that answers your question.

RUBIO: Yes, well, it does. But it's in the following way, this is an important question. I think if you're running for president, these are important issues, because look at around the world today.

There is a lunatic in North Korea with dozens of nuclear weapons and long-range rocket that can already hit the very place in which we stand tonight. The Chinese are rapidly expanding their military. They hack into our computers. They're building artificial islands in the South China Sea, the most important shipping lane in the world.

A gangster in Moscow is not just threatening Europe, he's threatening to destroy and divide NATO. You have radical jihadists in dozens of countries across multiple continents. And they even recruit Americans using social media to try to attack us here at home.

And now we have got this horrible deal with Iran where a radical Shia cleric with an apocalyptic vision of the future is also guaranteed to one day possess nuclear weapons and also a long-range rocket that can hit the United States.

These are extraordinarily dangerous times that we live in. And the next president of the United States better be someone that understands these issues and has good judgment about them because the number one issue that a president will ever confront, and the most important obligation that the federal government has, is to keep this nation safe.

And today we are not doing that. We are eviscerating our military. And we have a president that is more respectful to the ayatollah in Iran than he is to the prime minister of Israel. [applause]

TAPPER: Mr. Trump? Senator Rubio seemed to be suggesting that you don't know information that...

TRUMP: No, I don't think he's suggesting that at all. I mean...

[crosstalk]

TAPPER: All right. Senator Rubio.

TRUMP: I don't think he's suggesting that at all.

RUBIO: Well, that's why we have a debate. I think that we should have a deeper debate about these issues, because there is no more important decision that a president will make.

TAPPER: But are you saying that you have the knowledge to be the president that Mr. Trump does not have?

RUBIO: Well, you should ask him questions in detail about the foreign policy issues our president will confront, because you had better be able to lead our country on the first day.

Not six months from now, not a year from now, on the first day in office, our president could very well confront a national security crisis. You can't predict it. Sometimes you cannot control it.

And it is the most — the federal government does all kinds of things it's not supposed to be doing. It regulates bathrooms. It regulates schools that belong to local communities.

But the one thing that the federal government must do, the one thing that only the federal government can do is keep us safe. And a president better be up-to-date on those issues on his first day in office, on her first day in office. [applause]

TAPPER: Mr. Trump?

TRUMP: Well, you have to understand, I am not sitting in the United States Senate with, by the way, the worst voting record there is today. Number one. I am not sitting in the United States Senate. I'm a businessman doing business transactions.

RUBIO: Trust (ph) me, I get that. OK.

TRUMP: I am doing business transactions. I will know more about this — and, as you said, that was very acceptable, and when you listen to that whole interview, it's a great interview, you said it, I didn't. Well, now I did. But...[crosstalk]

TRUMP: Listen, just one second. Just one second.

RUBIO: I never get to addressed, and...

TRUMP: I will know...

RUBIO: ...and when I do, I'm gonna jump in.

TRUMP: ...I will know more about the problems of this world by the time I sit, and you look at what's going in this world right now by people that supposedly know, this world is a mess.

TAPPER: Senator Rubio, he did invoke your absentee record in the Senate.

RUBIO: Yeah. He did. Let me — I'm proud to serve in the United States Senate. You know, when I ran five years ago, the entire leadership of my party in Washington lined up against me.

But I'm glad I won. And I'm glad that I ran, because this country's headed in the wrong direction. And if we keep electing the same people, nothing is going to change.

And you're right, I have missed some votes, and I'll tell you why, Mr. Trump. Because in my years in the Senate, I've figured out very quickly that the political establishment in Washington, D.C. in both political parties is completely out of touch with the lives of our people.

You have millions of people in this country living paycheck to paycheck, and nothing is being done about it. We are about to leave our children with $18 trillion in — in — in debt, and they're about to raise the debt limit again.

We have a world that grows increasingly dangerous, and we are eviscerating our military spending and signing deals with Iran. And these — if this thing continues, we are going to be the first Americans to leave our children worse off than ourselves.

That's why I'm missing votes. Because I am leaving the Senate, I'm not running for re-election, and I'm running for president because I know this: unless we have the right president, we cannot make America fulfill its potential, but with the right person in office, the 21st century can be the greatest era that our nation has ever known.

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator Rubio. I want to turn now to Hugh Hewitt.

HEWITT: Thank you, Jake. I've done a lot of great interviews with all of you, but, Governor Bush, I talked to you in February about the biggest elephant in a room full of elephants, which is your last name. And you said you would not be burdened either by your brother or your father's legacy in the Middle East.

And then, a week later, you rolled out your list of foreign policy advisers, and it was a lot of the band getting back together again. So on behalf of the military that is watching...

BUSH: Yeah.

HEWITT: ...OK, the active duty military that are at the end of the sphere (ph), what kind of a commander in chief is Jeb Bush going to be, and who are the advisers that are new to your team?

BUSH: Well, first of all, Hugh, if you're looking at Republican advisers, you have to go to the last two administrations. That happened to be 41 and 43. So just by definition, if you're — and many of the people here that are seeking advice from the foreign policy experts in the Republican side, they — they served in my dad's administration, my brother's administration. Of course that's the case.

But I'm my own man. I'm going to create a strategy that is based on the simple fact that the United States needs to lead the world. The first thing that we need to do is to stop the craziness of the sequester.

Rebuild our military so that our — so that we don't deploy people over and over again without the necessary equipment to keep them safe, to send a signal to the world that we're serious. If we're going to lead the world, then we need to have the strongest military possible.

We need to rebuild our counterintelligence and intelligence capabilities. We need to focus on the fact that the next president is going to start in 2017, not in 1990 — you know, 30 years ago, or when my brother started.

The world is dramatically different. And I believe that we need to restore America's presence and leadership in the world. Name a country where our relationship is better today than it was the — the day that Barack Obama got elected president.

Under Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama, we have seen a weakness that now creates huge problems for the next president of the United States. So I'll have a team that will be — that will be following the doctrine I set up, and it will be peace through strength.

We're sitting here in this library, which is a wonderful place to talk about this, because that's exactly what happened in the 1980s, and the world was a lot safer because of...

TRUMP: [inaudible]

HEWITT: Mr. — Mr. Trump.

BUSH: The leadership of Ronald Reagan and my...[crosstalk]

HEWITT: I want to ask you a question, though, you promised us great leaders. And I believe that. But Jeb Bush has laid out 20 different people that have experience around the world. There are 190 countries, you can't run the world by yourself.

When are we going to get some names on your military and your foreign policy advisers?

TRUMP: [inaudible] I'm — and I'm meeting with people that are terrific people, but I have to say something because it's about judgment.

I am the only person on this dais — the only person — that fought very, very hard against us (ph), and I wasn't a sitting politician going into Iraq, because I said going into Iraq — that was in 2003, you can check it out, check out — I'll give you 25 different stories.

In fact, a delegation was sent to my office to see me because I was so vocal about it. I'm a very militaristic person, but you have to know when to use the military. I'm the only person up here that fought against going into Iraq.

[crosstalk]

PAUL: Hugh, can I — can I make a response to that?

TRUMP: Just excuse me, one second, Rand...

PAUL: Can I make a response to that?

TRUMP: If you don't mind, Rand — you know, you are on last — you do have your 1 percent.

I would like — and I think it's very important. I think it's important, because it's about judgment. It's about judgment.

I didn't want to go into Iraq, and I fought it, because what I said — what I said...

PAUL: May I make a response to that?

TRUMP: ... was you're going to — you're going to destabilize...

PAUL: He's referred to me.

TRUMP: ... the Middle East, and that's what happened.

PAUL: He's referred to me...

BUSH: So you — the — the first chance...

PAUL: ... in his remarks. May I make a response?

BUSH: Right after me, and then I'll — I'll yield — yield the floor. What do you guys say in the Senate when you're talking and debating?

PAUL: Absolutely. Go ahead.

BUSH: Here's the facts: When Donald Trump talks about judgment, what was his position on who would've been the best negotiator to deal with Iran? It wasn't a Republican; it was Hillary Clinton. That's what you believe. I mean, the lack of judgment and the lack of understanding about how the world works is really dangerous in this kind of time that we're saying.

So is that the judgment that you bring to the table, that Hillary Clinton...

TRUMP: If you think about it...

BUSH: ... is a great negotiator, that she could bring about a better deal on Iran?

TRUMP: Your brother — and your brother's administration gave us Barack Obama, because it was such a disaster, those last three months, that Abraham Lincoln couldn't have been elected.

BUSH: You know what? As it relates to my brother, there's one thing I know for sure. He kept us safe.

I don't know if you remember... [applause] ... Donald... [applause] ... you remember the — the rumble? You remember the fire fighter with his arms around it? He sent a clear signal that the United States would be strong and fight Islamic terrorism, and he did keep us safe.

TRUMP: I don't know. You feel safe right now? I don't feel so safe.

PAUL: May I respond?

WALKER:: That's because of Barack — that's because of Barack Obama.

BUSH: That's — that's my brother.

WALKER:: That's because of Barack Obama. We've had a president who called ISIS the J.V. squad, Yemen a success story, Iran a place we can do business with. It's not because of George W. Bush; it's because of Barack Obama... [applause] [inaudible] on that point, though, whether it's — whether we're talking about national security, foreign policy or we're talking about domestic policy, the key...

TRUMP: Or the collapse of the economy.

WALKER: ... the key issue here is talking about leadership. Now, there's a lot of greater people up here, and you've heard a lot of great ideas out there. But I would ask the American people, look at who's been tested.

When there were 100,000 protesters in my capital, I didn't back down, when they issued death threats against me and threats against my family, I didn't back down, when they tried to recall me, I didn't back down, and when they made me the — one of their number-one targets last year, I didn't back down.

Give me the chance to be your president.

TAPPER: Thank you, Governor.

WALKER: I won't back down...

TAPPER: Senator...

WALKER: ... on any of these issues.

TAPPER: Senator Paul?

PAUL: The remark was made that there hadn't been anyone else on the podium opposed to the Iraq War. I've made my career as being an opponent of the Iraq War. I was opposed to the Syria war. I was opposed to arming people who are our enemies.

Iran is now stronger because Hussein is gone. Hussein was the great bulwark and counterbalance to the Iranians. So when we complain about the Iranians, you need to remember that the Iraq War made it worse.

Originally, Governor Bush was asked, was the Iraq War a mistake, and he said, "No. We'd do it again."

We have to learn sometimes the interventions backfire. The Iraq War backfired and did not help us. We're still paying the repercussions of a bad decision.

TAPPER: Senator Paul...

PAUL: We have make the decision now in Syria, should we topple Assad? Many up here wanted to topple Assad, and it's like — I said no, because if you do...

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator Paul...

PAUL: ... ISIS will now be in charge of Syria...

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator Paul...[crosstalk]

TAPPER: I understand that Governor Bush's name has been invoked, and then we can go to you, Senator Rubio.

BUSH: Here's the lessons of history: When we — we pull back, voids are created. We left Iraq. We should've had a — a forces agreement to stay there with a small force, and instead of that, we politically and militarily pulled back, and now we have the creation of ISIS.

36 days ago in this very library, I gave a speech with a comprehensive strategy how to take out ISIS, and it requires American leadership and engagement. We don't have to be the world's policemen. But we certainly have to be the world's leader.

We need to have — make sure that the world knows that we're serious, that we're engaged, that we're not going to pull back, that — that our — that our word matters. And if we do that, we can create a force that will take out ISIS both in Iraq and in Syria, which will take a lot longer time now...

TAPPER: Thank you, Governor.

BUSH: ... because of what President Obama's done by pulling back.

TAPPER: Thank you, Governor.

Senator Rubio?

RUBIO: I want to go even deeper — and I want to go even deeper in that direction, because I think the belief that somehow by retreating, America makes the world safer has been disproven every single time it's ever been tried.

Syria's a perfect example of it. The uprising in Syria was not started by the United States; it was started by the Syrian people. And I warned at the time — this was three and a half years ago — I openly and repeatedly warned that if we did not find moderate elements on the ground that we could equip and arm, that void would be filled by radical jihadists.

Well, the president didn't listen, the administration didn't follow through, and that's exactly what happened. That is why ISIS grew. That is why ISIS then came over the border from Syria and back into Iraq.

What is happening in that region is the direct consequence of the inability to lead and of disengagement. And the more we disengage, the more airplanes from Moscow you're going to see flying out of Damascus and out of Syria...

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator.

RUBIO: ... as you asked earlier today. [applause]

CARSON: Jake, Jake...

TAPPER: Dr. Carson?

CARSON: I haven't had an opportunity to weigh in on foreign policy, and I just want to mention that when the war, when the issue occurred in 2003, I suggested to President Bush that he not go to war? OK. So I just want that on the record.

And, you know, a lot of people are very much against us getting involved right now with global jihadism. And they refer back to our invasion of Iraq. And they seem to think that that was what caused it.

What caused it was withdrawing from there and creating a vacuum which allowed this terrible situation to occur. But it is very different from what is going on today. We're talking about global jihadists who actually want to destroy us.

They are an existential threat to our nation. And we have to be mature enough to recognize that our children will have no future if we put our heads in the sand. We have to recognize we have two choices.

We either allow them the continue to progress and appear to be the winners, or we use every resource available to us to destroy...

TAPPER: Thank you, Dr. Carson.

CARSON: ... them first.

TAPPER: I mean, it is interesting that you say that, because I want to ask Governor Christie about something else that you have said.

Governor Christie, we just marked the 14th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Now Dr. Carson has said that if he had been president at the time, the United States would not have gone to war in Afghanistan. What does that say to you about how Dr. Carson would respond as president if America were attacked again?

CHRISTIE: Well, Jake, I was named U.S. attorney by President Bush on September 10th, 2001. And that next day my wife Mary Pat did what she did every day, she traveled through the World Trade Center and went to her office two blocks from the World Trade Center.

And after those planes hit, for five-and-a-half-hours after that, I couldn't reach her, didn't know whether she was dead or alive, and we had three children at the time, 8, 5 and 1.

And I had to confront what so many thousands of others in my region had to confront, the idea I might become a single parent, the idea that my life and my children's life might be changed forever.

We lost friends that day. We went to the funerals. And I will tell you that what those people wanted and what they deserved was for America to answer back against what had been done to them.

And I support what President Bush did at that time, going into Afghanistan, hunting al Qaeda and its leaders, getting its sanctuary out of place, and making it as difficult around the world for them to move people and money.

And then he went to prosecutors like us, and he said, never again. Don't prosecute these people after the crime is committed. Intervene before the crime happens. I absolutely believe that what the president did at the time was right.

And I am proud to have been one of the people on the stage who was part of making sure that what Governor Bush said before was the truth. America was safe for those seven years and Barack Obama has taken that safety away from us. [applause]

TAPPER: Dr. Carson?

CARSON: Well, recognize that, you know, President George W. Bush is a great friend of ours, and we spent many wonderful days at the White House. I haven't been there in the last seven years. I probably have to have a food-tester. [laughter]

But at any rate, I didn't suggest that nothing be done. What I suggested to President Bush is to be Kennedy-esque, in the sense that when the Russians got ahead of us in the space race, what we did is use the bully pulpit to galvanize everybody, business, industry, academia behind a national goal to put a man on the moon and bring him back safely.

I said, you can do the same kind of thing. Declare that within five to 10 years we will become petroleum independent. The moderate Arab states would have been so concerned about that, they would have turned over Osama bin Laden and anybody else you wanted on a silver platter within two weeks.

There are smart ways to do things and there are muscular ways to do things. And sometimes you have to look at both of those to come up with the right solution.

[crosstalk]

TAPPER: ... Governor Christie.

CHRISTIE: Let me say this, Jake, is that while that may have been a fine idea that Dr. Carson had, these people were out to kill us.

I stood in that region with my family, and every time a plane went overhead in the weeks after that, people's heads jerked to the sky because they thought it was happening again.

You do not need to go through subtle diplomacy at that point. That could be handled later on. What you need is a strong American leader who will take the steps that are necessary to protect our nation.

That's what I would do as commander-in-chief in this circumstance. And that's what President George W. Bush did in 2001. [applause]

TAPPER: Dr. Carson?

CARSON: I have no argument with having a strong leader, and to be aggressive where aggression is needed. But it is not needed in every circumstance. There is a time when you can use your intellect to come up with other ways to do things. And I think that's what we have to start thinking about.

There is no question that a lot of these problems that we have been talking about in terms of the international situation is because we are weak. It is because our Navy is so small. It is because our Air Force is incapable of doing the same things that it did a few years ago.

It's because our Marines Corps is not ready to be deployed.

TAPPER: Thank you, Dr. Carson.

CARSON: There are a lot of problems that are going on, and we need to solve those problems, we need to build up our military...

TAPPER: Thank you, Dr. Carson.

RUBIO: But radical terrorism cannot be solved by intellect. It cannot — they require — what they need, is they need an operating space. That's what Afghanistan was for Al Qaida. It was a vacuum that they filled, and they created an operating space.

That's why they had to be drawn out of there. That's why they had to be destroyed. It is the reason why ISIS has grown as well. We allowed them — we allowed a vacuum to emerge in Syria. They used it as an operating space to grow; and today they're not just in Iraq and Syria anymore, they're now in Libya, conducting operations in the Sinai.

They're now in Afghanistan, trying to supplant the Taliban as the most powerful radical jihadist group on the ground there, as well. You cannot allow radical jihadists to have an operating safe haven anywhere in the world.

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator.

Governor Huckabee. [applause]

HUCKABEE: Just today — just today, there was a new report that 50 different intelligence analysts have said that what they sent up the ladder was doctored by senior officials, so that they could give some happy talk to the situation that we face.

I love the idea of a good intellectual capacity to deal with our enemies, but the fact is, if you don't have good intelligence that is reliable and honest, you won't have good intelligence and you cannot make good decisions.

The next president is primarily elected not just to know things, but to know what to do with the things that he knows. And the most dangerous person in any room is the person who doesn't know what he doesn't know.

TAPPER: Thank you, Governor.

HUCKABEE: And the reason Barack Obama has been dangerous to this country and we better elect someone who had some executive experience, is because we cannot afford another eight years having a person in the office who doesn't know what he does not know.

TAPPER: Thank you, governor, I want to turn to ISIS. Governor Walker...[crosstalk]

FIORINA: We just spent — we just spent the last 10 minutes...

TAPPER: Governor Walker, there is a big debate now, we have been talking about ISIS here and there in this discussion, there a big debate right now about whether or not to send more U.S. troops to fight ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

In the first debate earlier this evening, Senator Lindsey Graham argued that candidates are only serious about fighting ISIS if they're willing to send 10,000 U.S. troops to Iraq, 10,000 U.S. troops as part of a coalition to Syria.

Governor Walker, you say, you just told me a few days ago that the 3,000 U.S. troops there right now are enough, as long as the rules of engagement are changed.

What do you know that Senator Graham doesn't know?

WALKER: To be clear, what I said the other day was that we need to lift the political restrictions that are already in play. Barack Obama's administration has put political restrictions on the military personnel already in Iraq.

We need to lift those and then we need to listen to our military experts, not the political forces in the White House, but our military experts about how many more we sent in. And we certainly shouldn't have a commander-in-chief who sends a message to our adversaries as to how far we're going to go, and how far we're willing to fight, so I'm not putting a troop number.

What I'm saying is lift the political restrictions. When you do that, you empower our military personnel already there to work with the Kurd and the Sunni allies, to reclaim the territory taken by ISIS. And to do so in a way that allows that ISIS doesn't go back in Syria, as we were just talking about here.

That is the fundamental problem going forward. We have a president — and Hillary Clinton was a part of this, by the way, who has made political decisions for our men and women in uniform. I want the men and women at home to know, if I'm commander-in-chief, I will only send you into harm's way when our national security is at risk. And if we do, you know you'll have our full support, the support of the American people, and you'll have a clear path for victory. [applause]

TAPPER: Thank you, Governor.

Senator Paul, I want to go to you, because you have said that the boots on the ground to fight ISIS need to be Arab boots. We just learned today that despite the Obama administration spending $500 million to help create those Arab boots, there are only four or five U.S. trained fighters in Syria fighting ISIS.

What does that say to you about the effectiveness of the idea of the boots on the ground need to be Arab boots?

PAUL: If you want boots on the ground, and you want them to be our sons and daughters, you got 14 other choices. There will always be a Bush or Clinton for you, if you want to go back to war in Iraq.

But the thing is, the first war was a mistake. And I'm not sending our sons and our daughters back to Iraq. The war didn't work. We can amplify those who live there.

The Kurds deserve to be armed and I'll arm them. We can use our Air Force to amplify the forces there. But the boots on the ground need to be the people who live there.

My goodness, I'm still upset with the Saudi Arabians for everything they do over there. They've funded the arms that went to the jihadists. They're not accepting any of the people, any of the migrants that have been — the refugees that are being pushed out of Syria. Saudi Arabia is not accepting one.

Why are we always the world's patsies that we have to go over there and fight their wars for them? They need to fight their wars, we need to defend American interests, but it is not in America's national security interests to have another war in Iraq.

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator. [applause]

We're going to turn to some domestic issues now. I want to bring in my colleague, Dana Bash.

BASH: Thank you.

KASICH: Can I just — can I — Jake, can I just make one point on this whole military discussion?

TAPPER: Sure....

KASICH: I called for boots on the ground many months ago in a coalition with our friends who share our interest. You know, you win a battle with the military, and when we go somewhere, we need to be mobile, and lethal. We need to take care of business, and we need to come home.

But, we face, also, a bigger war — and you win the bigger war with the battle of ideas. You wonder why young people, and educated people, rich people, schooled people, have tried to join ISIS.

Western civilization, all of us, need to wake up to the fact that those murderers and rapists need to be called out, and in Western civilization we need to make it clear that our faith in the Jewish and Christian principals force us to live a life bigger than ourselves...

TAPPER: ...Thank you, Governor...

KASICH: ...to make (ph) centers (ph) of justice so that we can battle the radicals, call them out for what they are, and make sure that all of our people feel fulfilled in living in Western civilization...

TAPPER: ...Thank you, Governor. Dana Bash...

KASICH: ...This is a giant battle in the world today...

FIORINA: ...Jake, since everyone has gotten to weigh in on this military issue, I'd like to be able to do the same.

We have spent probably 12 minutes talking about the past. Let's talk about the future. We need the strongest military on the face of the planet, and everyone has to know it. And, specifically, what that means is we need about 50 Army brigades, we need about 36 Marine battalions, we need somewhere between 300, and 350 naval ships, we need to upgrade every leg of the nuclear triad...

TAPPER: Thank you, Mrs. Fiorina...

FIORINA: ...we need to reform the Department of Defense, we need as well...

BASH: ...Thank you....

TAPPER: ...Thank you, we're going to turn now to domestic issues with Dana Bash.

FIORINA: ...to invest in our military technology, and we need to care for our veterans so 307,000...

TAPPER: ...Dana Bash... [applause]

FIORINA: ...aren't dying waiting for health care. [applause]

TAPPER: Thank you. [applause]

Dana Bash?

BASH: Governor Bush, let's talk about the issue that's very important to Republican voters, and that's the Supreme Court. After Chief Justice John Roberts voted to uphold Obamacare twice, Senator Cruz criticized your brother for appointing John Roberts to the Supreme Court.

Looking back on it, did your brother make a mistake?

BUSH: Well, I'm surprised Senator Cruz would say that since he was as strong supporter of John Roberts at the time.

I will talk about what I will do as it relates to appointing Supreme Court Justices. We need to make sure that we have justices that, with a proven experienced record of respect for upholding the constitution. That is what we need. We can't have — the history in recent past is appoint people that have no experience so that you can't get attacked.

And, that makes it harder for people to have confidence that they won't veer off...

BASH: ...Is John Roberts one of those people?

BUSH: John Roberts has made some really good decisions, for sure, but he did not have a proven, extensive record that would have made the clarity the important thing, and that's what we need to do. And, I'm willing to fight for those nominees to make sure that they get passed. You can't do it the politically expedient way anymore. This is the culture in Washington. You have to fight hard for these appointments. This is perhaps the most important thing that the next president will do.

BASH: Do you like what you just heard, Senator Cruz?

CRUZ: Well, Dana, I've known John Roberts for 20 years, he's amazingly talented lawyer, but, yes, it was a mistake when he was appointed to the Supreme Court. He's a good enough lawyer that he knows in these Obamacare cases he changed the statute, he changed the law in order to force that failed law on millions of Americans for a political outcome.

And, you know, we're frustrated as conservatives. We keep winning elections, and then we don't get the outcome we want. And, let me focus on two moments in time.

Number one, in 1990, in one room was David Souter, and in another room was Edith Jones, the rock ribbed (ph) conservative on the fifth circuit court of appeals. George Herbert Walker Bush appointed David Souter.

And then in 2005, in one room was John Roberts, in another room was my former boss, Mike Luttig, the rock ribbed (ph) conservative on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals...

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator.

CRUZ: ...George W. Bush appointed John Roberts, and let me give you the consequences of that.

If, instead, the President Bush had appointed Edith Jones, and Mike Luttig, which is who I would have appointed, Obamacare would have been struck down three years ago, and the marriage laws of all 50 states would be on the books. These matter, and I fought to defend the constitution my whole life...

TAPPER: ...Governor Bush...

CRUZ: ...and I will as president as well.

TAPPER: ...I want to let you respond.

BUSH: Well, first of all, he, as I said, supported John Roberts. He supported him, publicly. So, you can rewrite history, I guess, Ted, but the simple fact is that you supported him because he had all the criteria that you would have thought would have made a great justice. And, I think he is doing a good job.

But, the simple fact is that going forward, what we need to do is to have someone that has a long standing set of rulings that consistently makes it clear that he is a focused, exclusively on upholding the Constitution of the United States so they won't try to use the bench as a means to which legislate.

TAPPER: Thank you, Governor...

...And, that's what we should do, and I hope I'll be working members of the United States Senate to fight hard for the passage of people that have that kind of qualification.

TAPPER: Senator Cruz, 30 seconds.

CRUZ: It is true that after George W. Bush nominated John Roberts, I supported his confirmation. That was a mistake and I regret that. I wouldn't have nominated John Roberts, and indeed, Governor Bush pointed out why.

It wasn't that the President Bushes wanted to appoint a liberal to the court, it's that it was the easier choice. Both David Souter and John Roberts, they didn't have a long paper trail. If you had nominated Edith Jones or Mike Ludig (ph) you would have had a bloody fight and they weren't willing to spend political capital to put a strong judicial conservative on the court.

I have spent my entire life, starting from clerking for Chief Justice William Rehnquist on the United States Supreme Court, one of the most principled jurists. We have an out-of-control Court, and I give you my word, if I'm elected president, every single Supreme Court justice will faithfully follow the law and will not act like philosopher kings —

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator.

CRUZ: — imposing their liberal policies on millions of Americans —

TAPPER: Thank you, Semator.

CRUZ: — who need to be trusted to govern ourselves.

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator. [applause]

Governor Huckabee, I want to bring you in very quickly if you could. Will you have a litmus test when it comes to appointing Supreme Court nominees?

HUCKABEE: You better believe I will, because I'm tired of liberals always having a litmus test and conservatives are supposed to pretend we don't. Well let me tell you what mine would be.

Number one, I'd ask do you think that the unborn child is a human being or is it just a blob of tissue? I'd want to know the answer to that. I'd want to know do you believe in the First Amendment, do you believe that religious liberty is the fundamental liberty around which all the other freedoms of this country are based? And I'd want to know do you really believe in the Second Amendment, do you believe that we have an individual right to bear arms to protect ourselves and our family and to protect our country? And do you believe in the Fifth and the 14th Amendment? Do you believe that a person, before they're deprived of life and liberty, should in fact have due process and equal protection under the law? Because if you do, you're going to do more than defund Planned Parenthood.

TAPPER: Thank you, Governor.

HUCKABEE: One final thing. I'd make darn sure that we absolutely believe the 10th Amendment. Every governor on this stage would share this much with you. Every one of us — our biggest fight wasn't always with the legislature or even with the Democrats. My gosh, half the time, it was with the federal government who apparently never understood —

TAPPER: Thank you, Governor.

HUCKABEE: — that if it's not reserved in the Constitution, then the 10th Amendment says it's left to the states. But somebody forgot to send a memo to Washington.

TAPPER: Thank you, Governor. We're going to take a quick break. Coming up, one of the hottest questions that you have been asking us via social media. We will pose it to the candidates. That's coming up right after this. [applause]

[commercial break]

TAPPER: Welcome back to CNN's Republican presidential debate at the Reagan Library here in Simi Valley — Simi Valley, California.

Many people on social media wanted us to ask about marijuana legalization. Senator Paul, Governor Christie recently said, quote, "if you're getting high in Colorado today," where marijuana has been legalized, "enjoy it until January 2017, because I will enforce the federal laws against marijuana." Will you?

PAUL: I think one of the great problems, and what American people don't like about politics, is hypocrisy. People have one standard for others and not for them — for themselves.

There is at least one prominent example on the stage of someone who says they smoked pot in high school, and yet the people going to — to jail for this are poor people, often African-Americans and often Hispanics, and yet the rich kids who use drugs aren't.

I personally think that this is a crime for which the only victim is the individual, and I think that America has to take a different attitude. I would like to see more rehabilitation and less incarceration. I'm a fan of the drug courts which try to direct you back towards work and less time in jail.

But the bottom line is the states. We say we like the 10th Amendment, until we start talking about this. And I think the federal government has gone too far, I think that the war on drugs has had a racial outcome, and really has been something that has really damaged our inner cities.

Not only do the drugs damage them, we damage them again by incarcerating them and then preventing them from getting employment over time.

So I don't think that the federal government should override the states. I believe in the 10th Amendment and I really will say that the states are left to themselves. [applause]

TAPPER: I want to give that — I want to give the person that you called a hypocrite an opportunity to respond. Do you want to identify that person?

PAUL: Well, I think if we left it open, we could see how many people smoked pot in high school. [laughter]

TAPPER: Is there somebody you were specifically thinking of?

PAUL: Well, you know, the thing is that...

BUSH: He was talking about me.

PAUL: Yeah, I was talking about [inaudible] — well, let me...

TAPPER: That's what I though, but I wanted [inaudible] to say it.

BUSH: Well, I — I wanted to — be — make it easier for him.

TAPPER: OK.

BUSH: And I just did.

TAPPER: Governor Bush, please.

BUSH: So, 40 years ago, I smoked marijuana, and I admit it. I'm sure that other people might have done it and may not want to say it in front of 25 million people. My mom's not happy that I just did. [laughter and applause]

That's true. And here's the deal. Here's the deal. We have — we have a serious epidemic of drugs that goes way beyond marijuana. What goes on in Colorado, as far as I'm concerned, that should be a state decision.

But if you look at the problem of drugs in this — in this society today, it's a serious problem. Rand, you know this because you're campaigning in New Hampshire like all of us, and you see the epidemic of heroin, the overdoses of heroin that's taking place.

People's families are — are being torn apart. It is appropriate for the government to play a consistent role to be able to provide more treatment, more prevention — we're the state that has the most drug courts across every circuit in — in — in Florida, there are drug courts to give people a second chance.

That's the best way to do this.

PAUL: But let me respond. The thing is, is that in Florida, Governor Bush campaigned against medical marijuana. That means that a small child like Morgan Hintz (ph) that has seizures is day, is failing on non-traditional medications, is not allowed to use cannabis oil.

And if they do that in Florida, they will take the child away, they will put the parents in jail. And that's what that means if you're against allowing people use medical marijuana, you'll actually put them in jail.

BUSH: No, you're wrong — you're wrong about this.

PAUL: And actually, under the current circumstances, kids who had privilege like you do, don't go to jail, but the poor kids in our inner cities go to jail. I don't think that's fair. And I think we need to acknowledge it, and it is hypocritical to still want to put poor people in jail...

BUSH: I don't want to put poor people in jail, Randy.

PAUL: Well, you vote — you oppose medical marijuana...

BUSH: Here's the deal. No, I did not oppose when the legislature passed the bill to deal with that very issue. That's the way to solve this problem.

Medical marijuana on the ballot was opened up, there was a huge loophole, it was the first step to getting to a [inaudible] place. And as a citizen of Florida, I voted no.

PAUL: But that means you'll put people in jail.

[crosstalk]

TAPPER: I want to go right now — I want to go right now...

FIORINA: Jake, may I just say...

CHRISTIE: Jake, you brought my issue up.

TAPPER: That's true. Go ahead, Christie, please.

CHRISTIE: You know, I enjoy the interplay. Thank you, gentlemen.

I'll just say this, first off, New Jersey is the first state in the nation that now says if you are non-violent, non-dealing drug user, that you don't go to jail for your first offense. You go to mandatory treatment.

You see, Jake, I'm pro-life. And I think you need to be pro-life for more than just the time in the womb. It gets tougher when they get out of the womb. And when they're the 16-year-old drug addict in the Florida county lockup, that life is just as precious as the life in the womb.

And so, that's why I'm for rehabilitation, why I think the war on drugs has been a failure.

But I'll end with this. That doesn't mean we should be legalizing gate way drugs. And if Senator Paul thinks that the only victim is the person, look at the decrease in productivity, look at the way people get used and move on to other drugs when they use marijuana as a gateway drug, it is not them that are the only victims. Their families are the victims too, their children are the victims too, and their employers are the victims also.

That's why I'll enforce the federal law, while you can still put an emphasis on rehabilitation, which we've done in New Jersey.

PAUL: May I respond?

FIORINA: Jake — Jake...

TAPPER: You may respond, and then I'll bring in you, Ms. Fiorina. [applause]

PAUL: Understand what they're saying. if they're going to say we are going to enforce the federal law against what the state law is, they aren't really believing in the Tenth Amendment.

Governor Christie would go into Colorado, and if you're breaking any federal law on marijuana, even though the state law allows it, he would put you in jail. If a young mother is trying to give her child cannabis oil for medical marijuana for seizure treatment, he would put her in jail, if it violates federal law.

I would let Colorado do what the Tenth Amendment says. This power — we were never intended to have crime dealing at the federal level. Crime was supposed to be left to the states. Colorado has made their decision. And I don't want the federal government interfering and putting moms in jail, who are trying to get medicine for their kid...

CHRISTIE: And Senator Paul knows that that's simply not the truth.

In New Jersey, we have medical marijuana laws, which I supported and implemented. This is not medical marijuana. There's goes as much — a further step beyond. This is recreational use of marijuana.

This is much different. And so, while he would like to use a sympathetic story to back up his point, it doesn't work. I'm not against medical marijuana. We do it in New Jersey. But I'm against the recreational use against marijuana.

If he wants to change the federal law, get Congress to pass the law to change it, and get a president to sign it.

PAUL: May I respond? May I respond?

TAPPER: Yes, Senator Paul. [applause]

PAUL: Here is the thing, he doesn't want to make it about medical marijuana, but what if New Jersey's medical marijuana contradicts the federal law? He's saying he'll send the federal government in, and he will enforce the federal law. That's not consistent with the Tenth Amendment. It is not consistent with states' rights. And it is not consistent with the conservative vision for the country.

I don't think we should be sending the federal police in to arrest a mother and separate them from their child for giving a medicine to their child for seizures.

[crosstalk]

TAPPER: I want to bring in Ms. Fiorina — I want to bring in Ms. Fiorina on this issue.

FIORINA: I very much hope I am the only person on this stage who can say this, but I know there are millions of Americans out there who will say the same thing.

My husband Frank and I buried a child to drug addiction. So, we must invest more in the treatment of drugs.

FIORINA: I agree with Senator Paul. I agree with states' rights. But we are misleading young people when we tell them that marijuana is just like having a beer. It's not. And the marijuana that kids are smoking today is not the same as the marijuana that Jeb Bush smoked 40 years ago. [laughter]

We do — sorry, Barbara. We do need — we do need criminal justice reform. We have the highest incarceration rates in the world. Two-thirds of the people in our prisons are there for non-violent offenses, mostly drug related. It's clearly not working.

But we need to tell young people the truth. Drug addiction is an epidemic, and it is taking too many of our young people. I know this sadly from personal experience.

TAPPER: Hugh — Hugh, I'd like to... [applause]

HEWITT: Thank you, Jake.

Tomorrow is — Republicans know this — tomorrow is Constitution Day. We've been talking about the 10th Amendment. Let's talk about the Second Amendment.

Governor Bush, one of the things the Supreme Court has gotten right is that it's an individual right and it's protected for individuals to hold it.

Last week, you said the next step in gun issues is to make sure they're not in the hands of mentally ill. In this state, there's a controversial law that allows guns to be taken away from people without a hearing.

Where does it go — and the problem of violence is endemic, but where does it go from what you said last week, how far into people's lives to take guns away from them?

BUSH: Not very far.

I think we need to do this state by state. There are places that get this right, and we need to make sure that we protect the privacy laws. This is a complicated place. But I do think the natural impulse on the left — Hillary Clinton, immediately after one of these horrific violent acts took place, immediately said we need to have federal gun laws. President Obama almost reflexively always says the same thing.

And the net result is, you're going to take away rights of — of law-abiding citizens, the 99.999 percent of the people that are law- abiding citizens. That's not the right approach to do it.

In Florida, we have a background check. We have concealed-weapon permit holders, and in fact, there's 1,200,000 of them. We have a reduction in violent crime because we put people behind bars when they use a gun in the commission of the crime. That's the better approach.

But we're living in a society today where despair kind of grows in isolation.

HEWITT: If a family member calls and says, "My child, my brother, my sister is disturbed," ought the state be able to go and get their weapon without a hearing?

BUSH: I — I think there needs to be a hearing, but the fact is, we need to encourage that kind of involvement. That's — that's exactly what we need to do.

[crosstalk]

RUBIO: There's a broader issue here, Hugh. And there's a broader issue here as well.

First of all, the only people that follow the law are law-abiding people. Criminals by definition ignore the law, so you can pass all the gun laws in the world, like the left wants. The criminals are going to ignore it because they are criminals.

Here's the real issue. [applause]

The real issue — the real issue is not what are people using to commit violence, but why are they committing the violence? And here's the truth: Because you cannot separate the social, moral wellbeing of your people from their economic and other wellbeing. You cannot separate it.

You can't have a strong country without strong people, you cannot have strong people without strong values, and you cannot have strong values without strong families and the institutions in this country that defend and support those families.

HEWITT: Thank you, Senator.

RUBIO: Well, and today, we have a left-wing government under this president that is undermining all of the institutions and society that support the family and teach those values.

HEWITT: Senator Cruz, I want to go to you.

Your constitutional litigant (ph), are you afraid of the next- step theory of what happens to Second Amendment rights?

CRUZ: I — I am not, and — and you mentioned that the U.S. Supreme Court had rightly upheld the individual right to keep and bear arms.

I was proud to lead 31 states before the U.S. Supreme Court defending the Second Amendment, and we won that landmark victory. And indeed, just a couple of years ago, when Harry Reid and Barack Obama came after the right to keep and bear arms of millions of Americans, I was proud to lead the fight in the United States Senate to protect our right to keep and bear arms, and for that reason...

HEWITT: Thank you, Senator.

CRUZ: ... I was honored to be endorsed by Gun Owners of America...

HEWITT: Thank you, Senator.

CRUZ: ... as the strongest supporter of the Second Amendment on this stage today, and I will...

HEWITT: Thank you, senator.

CRUZ: ... fight every day to defend the Bill of Rights.

TAPPER: I'd like to turn it over — I'd like to turn to Dana Bush.

BASH: Mr. Trump, you have said once or twice that you are really rich, and you are by far the richest person on this stage.

Chris Christie says billionaires like you and even people who make and earn far less should no longer get Social Security, or at least there should be limits based on — on their income.

You think he's wrong, and if so, why?

TRUMP: Speaking for myself, I'm OK with it. I think there's a certain truth to it. I know people that, frankly, it has no impact on their life whatsoever. There are many people.

I would almost say leave it up to them, but I would be willing to check it off, and say I will not get Social Security. I do not...

BASH: What about the country as a — as a policy?

TRUMP: As a policy, I would almost leave it up to the people. Don't forget they pay in and they pay in, and maybe they do well, and maybe some people want it. But the fact is that there are people that truly don't need it, and there are many people that do need it very, very badly. And I would be willing to write mine off 100 percent, Dana.

BASH: So is a voluntary program the way to get the Social Security system solvent again like that.

CHRISTIE: No, it's not. But with Donald, it's a good start. That's really good. [laughter]

No, listen. This is an issue that — that we've gotta talk about, and we haven't talked about yet.

71 percent of all federal spending is on entitlements and debt service. When John Kennedy was elected president in 1960, it was 26 percent.

Harvard and Dartmouth says that Social Security's going to go insolvent in seven to eight years. So what I say is very simple. We need to save this program for the good people out there who have paid into the system and need it.

And if that means making sure that folks like Donald and many of us on the stage don't get it, that's the right thing to do because here's what Hillary Clinton is going to want to do.

She's going to want to put more money into a system that has already lied to us and stolen from us. This government doesn't need more money to make Social Security solvent. We need to be not paying out benefits to people who don't really need it.

We need to protect the people who Social Security means the difference between picking between heat and rent and food. That's why I put out the proposal and that's the people I'm trying to...[crosstalk]

TAPPER: Thank you, Governor.

[crosstalk]

TAPPER: I'm coming to you right now on a separate issue, sir. We received...

(UNKNOWN): Well, I want to talk about this issue for a moment.

TAPPER: We received a lot of questions from social media about climate change.

Senator Rubio, Ronald Reagan's secretary of state, George Shultz, reminds us that when Reagan was president he faced a similar situation to the one that we're facing now. There were dire warnings from the mass consensus of the scientific community about the ozone layer shrinking.

Shultz says Ronald Reagan urged skeptics in industry to come up with a plan. He said, do it as an insurance policy in case the scientists are right. The scientists were right. Reagan and his approach worked.

Secretary Shultz asks, why not take out an insurance policy and approach climate change the Reagan way?

RUBIO: Because we're not going to destroy our economy the way the left-wing government that we are under now wants to do. We're not going to...

TAPPER: I'm citing George Shultz.

RUBIO: Well, and I don't — he may have lined up with their positions on this issue. But here is the bottom line. Every proposal they put forward are going to be proposals that will make it harder to do business in America, that will make it harder to create jobs in America.

Single parents are already struggling across this country to provide for their families. Maybe a billionaire here in California can afford an increase in their utility rates, but a working family in Tampa, Florida, or anywhere across this country cannot afford it.

So we are not going to destroy our economy. We are not going to make America a harder place to create jobs in order to pursue policies that will do absolutely nothing, nothing to change our climate, to change our weather, because America is a lot of things, the greatest country in the world, absolutely.

But America is not a planet. And we are not even the largest carbon producer anymore, China is. And they're drilling a hole and digging anywhere in the world that they can get a hold of.

So the bottom line is, I am not in favor of any policies that make America a harder place for people to live, or to work, or to raise their families. [applause]

TAPPER: Governor Christie, you have said that climate change is real, and that humans help contribute to it. Without getting into the issue of China versus the United States, which I understand you've talked about before, what do you make of skeptics of climate change such as Senator Rubio?

CHRISTIE: I don't think Senator Rubio is a skeptic of climate change. I think what Senator Rubio said I agree with. That in fact we don't need this massive government intervention to deal with the problem.

Look at what we have done in New Jersey. We have already reached our clean air goals for 2020. And when I was governor, I pulled out of the regional cap and trade deal, the only state in the Northeast that did that. And we still reached our goals.

Why? Because 53 percent of our electricity comes from nuclear. We use natural gas. We use solar power. We're the third-highest- using solar power state. You know why? Because we made all of those things economically feasible.

I agree with Marco. We shouldn't be destroying our economy in order to chase some wild left-wing idea that somehow us by ourselves is going to fix the climate. We can contribute to that and be economically sound.

We have proven we can do that in New Jersey. Nuclear needs to be back on the table in a significant way in this country if we want to go after this problem. [applause]

TAPPER: Just for the record, I was citing Secretary of State George Shultz, Ronald Reagan's secretary of state who I don't think anybody would call him left-wing.

CHRISTIE: I understand. No, no, listen, everybody makes a mistake every once in a while, Jake, even George Shultz. And if that's truly a representation of what he believes we should be doing, then with all due respect to the former secretary of state, I disagree with him.

RUBIO: Jake, you mentioned me and called me a denier. Let me say, climate change...

TAPPER: I called you a skeptic.

RUBIO: OK. A skeptic. You can measure the climate. You can measure it. That's not the issue we're discussing. Here is what I'm skeptical of. I'm skeptical of the decisions that the left wants us to make, because I know the impact those are going to have and they're all going to be on our economy.

They will not do a thing to lower the rise of the sea. They will not do a thing to cure the drought here in California. But what they will do is they will make America a more expensive place to create jobs.

And today with millions of people watching this broadcast that are struggling paycheck to paycheck that do not know how they're going to pay their bills at the end of this month, I'm not in favor of anything that is going to make it harder for them to raise their family.

[crosstalk]

TAPPER: I want to go another question right now.

[crosstalk]

WALKER: ... a lot of those people, though, and I'm going to echo what Senator Rubio just said. This is an issue where, we're talking about my state, it's thousands of manufacturing jobs. Thousands of manufacturing jobs for a rule the Obama administration, own EPA has said will have a marginal impact on climate change.

So we're going to put thousands and thousands of jobs in my state, I think it's something like 30,000 in Ohio, other states across this country, we're going to put people — manufacturing jobs, the kind of jobs that are far greater than minimum wage, this administration is willing to put at risk for something its own EPA says is marginal (ph)...

TAPPER: Thank you, Governor.

[crosstalk]

[crosstalk]

TAPPER: I'm turning to...

PAUL: If you want a skeptic — if you want a skeptic, Jake, I will happily jump into that briar patch. If you want a real...

TAPPER: ...I'm turning to another — I'm turning to another issue right now. Senator Cruz. Well, I think we've heard from several this evening.

A backlash against vaccines was blamed for a measles outbreak here in California. Dr. Carson, Donald Trump has publicly and repeatedly linked vaccines, childhood vaccines, to autism, which, as you know, the medical community adamantly disputes.

You're a pediatric neurosurgeon. Should Mr. Trump stop saying this?

CARSON: Well, let me put it this way, there has — there have been numerous studies, and they have not demonstrated that there is any correlation between vaccinations and autism.

This was something that was spread widely 15 or 20 years ago, and it has not been adequately, you know, revealed to the public what's actually going on. Vaccines are very important. Certain ones. The ones that would prevent death or crippling.

There are others, there are a multitude of vaccines which probably don't fit in that category, and there should be some discretion in those cases. But, you know, a lot of this is — is — is pushed by big government.

And I think that's one of the things that people so vehemently want to get rid of, big government. You know, we have 4.1 million federal employees. Six hundred and fifty federal agencies and department (sic).

That's why they have to take so much of our taxes.

TAPPER: Should he stop saying it? Should he stop saying that vaccines cause autism?

CARSON: Well, you know, I've just explained it to him. He can read about it if he wants to. I think he's an intelligent man and will make the correct decision after getting the real facts.

TAPPER: Mr. Trump, as president, you would...

TRUMP: Well, I — I — I'd like to respond.

TAPPER: I'm going right to you.

TRUMP: I'd like to respond.

TAPPER: Mr. Trump, as president, you would be in charge of the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health, both of which say you are wrong. How would you handle this as president?

TRUMP: Autism has become an epidemic. Twenty-five years ago, 35 years ago, you look at the statistics, not even close. It has gotten totally out of control.

I am totally in favor of vaccines. But I want smaller doses over a longer period of time. Because you take a baby in — and I've seen it — and I've seen it, and I had my children taken care of over a long period of time, over a two or three year period of time.

Same exact amount, but you take this little beautiful baby, and you pump — I mean, it looks just like it's meant for a horse, not for a child, and we've had so many instances, people that work for me.

Just the other day, two years old, two and a half years old, a child, a beautiful child went to have the vaccine, and came back, and a week later got a tremendous fever, got very, very sick, now is autistic.

I only say it's not — I'm in favor of vaccines, do them over a longer period of time, same amount.

TAPPER: Thank you.

TRUMP: But just in — in little sections.

TAPPER: Dr. — Dr. Carson?

TRUMP: I think — and I think you're going to have — I think you're going to see a big impact on autism.

TAPPER: Dr. Carson, you just heard his medical take. [laughter]

CARSON: He's an OK doctor. [laughter and applause] But, you know, the fact of the matter is, we have extremely well-documented proof that there's no autism associated with vaccinations. But it is true that we are probably giving way too many in too short a period of time.

And a lot of pediatricians now recognize that, and, I think, are cutting down on the number and the proximity in which those are done, and I think that's appropriate.

TRUMP: And that's all I'm saying, Jake. That's all I'm saying.

TAPPER: Dr. Paul? Dr. Paul, I'd like to bring you in.

PAUL: A second opinion? [laughter]

One of the greatest — one of the greatest medical discoveries of all times was — were the vaccines, particularly for smallpox. And if you want to read a story, it's called The Speckled Monster, it's an amazing story, it was all done voluntary.

But people came in by the droves. George Washington wouldn't let his wife visit until she got vaccinated. So I'm all for vaccines. But I'm also for freedom.

I'm also a little concerned about how they're bunched up. My kids had all of their vaccines, and even if the science doesn't say bunching them up is a problem, I ought to have the right to spread out my vaccines out a little bit at the very least.

TAPPER: Alright, thank you so much...

HUCKABEE: Jake? Jake?

TAPPER: Coming up — I'm sorry, Governor Huckabee, please.

HUCKABEE: I think we need to remember that there are maybe some controversies about autism, but there is no controversy about the things that are really driving the medical costs in this country.

And I would really believe that the next president ought to declare a war on cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer's, because those are the four things that are causing the greatest level of cost.

John Kennedy said, "we'll go to the moon in a decade and bring a man back," and we did it. I grew up in the '50s. I remember the polio vaccine. We saved billions of dollars since that time, because we haven't had to treat for polio.

Why doesn't this country focus on cures rather than treatment? Why don't we put a definitive focus scientifically on finding the cure for cancer, for heart disease, for diabetes and for Alzheimer's, a disease alone that will cost us —

TAPPER: Thank you, Governor.

HUCKABEE: $1.1 trillion by the year 2050. We change the economy and the country.

TAPPER: We have to take another quick break. Coming up, Ronald Reagan looming large over this debate. So how Reaganesque exactly are these Republicans? We will find out next. [applause]

[commercial break]

TAPPER: Welcome back to CNN's Republican Presidential Debate at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California. We have a few last questions for you. Two of them a little lighthearted, the other one more serious. We'll start with one of the more light questions. Senator Paul, I'm going to start with you and we're just going to go down the line.

Earlier this year, the Treasury Department announced that a woman will appear on the $10 bill. What woman would you like to see on the $10 bill?

PAUL: Ooh, that's a tough one. You know, I'm big on — that we were — and I love what Carly said about women's suffrage. I think Susan B. Anthony might be a good choice.

TAPPER: Governor Huckabee?

HUCKABEE: That's an easy one. I'd put my wife on there. [laughter]

I've been married to her 41 years. She's fought cancer and lived through it. She's raised three kids, five great grandkids, and she's put up with me. I mean, who else could possibly be on that money other than my wife. And that way, she could spend her own money with her face. [laughter]

TAPPER: Senator Paul (sic).

RUBIO: Senator Rubio, you mean?

TAPPER: I'm sorry. Senator Rubio?

RUBIO: I know we all look alike. [laughter]

TAPPER: Just the senators.

RUBIO: The — Rosa Parks, an everyday American that changed the course of history.

TAPPER: Senator Cruz?

CRUZ: Well, I wouldn't change the $10 bill, I'd change the $20. I'd take Jackson off and I'd leave Alexander Hamilton right where he is as one of our Founding Fathers. [applause]

And I very much agree with Marco that it should be Rosa Parks. She was a principled pioneer that helped change this country, helped remedy racial injustice, and that would be an honor that would be entirely appropriate.

TAPPER: Dr. Carson?

CARSON: I'd put my mother on there. You know, she was one of 24 children, got married at age 13, had only a third grade education, had to raise two sons by herself, refused to be a victim. Wouldn't let us be victims, and has been an inspiration to many people. [applause]

TAPPER: Mr. Trump.

TRUMP: Well, because she's been sitting for three hours, I think my daughter, Ivanka, who's right here. [applause]

TRUMP: Other than that we'll go with Rosa Parks. I like that.

TAPPER: Governor Bush.

BUSH: I would go with Ronald Reagan's partner, Margaret Thatcher. Probably illegal, but what the heck? [applause] Since it's not going to happen. A strong leader is what we need in the White House, and she certainly was a strong leader that restored the United Kingdom into greatness.

TAPPER: Governor Walker.

WALKER: First of all, I got to say to Carson, Huckabee, thanks a lot for making the rest of us look like chumps up here, but, I'd pick Clara Barton. I once worked for the American Red Cross, she was a great founder of the Red Cross.

TAPPER: Mrs. Fiorina.

FIORINA: I wouldn't change the $10 bill, or the $20 bill. I think, honestly, it's a gesture. I don't think it helps to change our history. What I would think is that we ought to recognize that women are not a special interest group. Women are the majority of this nation. We are half the potential of this nation, and this nation will be better off when every woman has the opportunity to live the life she chooses. [applause]

TAPPER: Governor Kasich.

KASICH: Well, it's probably not, maybe, legal, but, I would pick Mother Theresa, the lady that I had a chance to meet, a woman who lived a life so much bigger than her own. An inspiration to everyone when we think about our responsibility to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.

TAPPER: Governor Christie.

CHRISTIE: I think the Adams family has been shorted in the currency business. Our country wouldn't be here without John Adams, and he would not have been able to do it without Abigal Adams, so, I'd put Abigail Adams on the bill. [applause]

TAPPER: Alright. Some good entries if anybody at the mint was listening. Here's the next lighthearted question, you all know that the United States Secret Service uses codenames for the president, and his family. Ronald Reagan's codename, for example, was, "Rawhide", an homage to his performances in Westerns. Nancy Reagan's was, "Rainbow".

You don't have to come up the one for your spouse, but, what would you want, Governor Christie, I'll start with you, your Secret Service codename to be. [laughter]

CHRISTIE: You know, I've been called a lot of names by a lot of different people, and now I got to get called by names by the Secret Service?

I would just say True Heart.

KASICH: Well, I have one now — they (ph) call me, "Unit One".

My wife says, "You'll never be Unite One, I'm Unite One. You're Unit Two."

FIORINA: Secretariat.

TAPPER: Governor Walker?

WALKER: Harley. I love riding Harley's.

BUSH: Ever Ready, it's very high energy, Donald. [applause]

TAPPER: Mr. Trump?

TRUMP: Humble. [laughter and applause]

MALE: That's a good one.

TAPPER: Dr. Carson?

CARSON: One Nation.

TAPPER: Senator Cruz?

CRUZ: You know, as a Cuban, I might go with Cohiba (ph), and I'll tell you, I'd go with, for Heidi, Angel, because she is my angel.

TAPPER: Senator Rubio?

RUBIO: Well, there are some people in Florida upset at me over a joke I made about Florida State, but, what the heck, I want my codename to be Gator. [laughter] [applause]

TAPPER: Governor Huckabee.

HUCKABEE: I'd go with Duck Hunter.

TAPPER: Senator Paul.

PAUL: Justice Never Sleeps. [laughter]

TAPPER: That's a mouthful, but OK. [laughter]

OK, here's the more serious question, Ronald Reagan, the 40th President, used the plane behind you to accomplish a great many things. Perhaps, most notably, to challenge Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the wall, and ultimately, to make peace with the USSR.

How will the world look different once your Air Force One is parked in the hangar of your presidential library?

Senator Paul?

PAUL: I met Ronald Reagan as a teenager, and my family, we're big supporters of him when he ran against Gerald Ford. It was a big deal because he was the grassroots, running against the establishment, and I'll never forget that. And, how he stood up and said, you know what, this is something new that our country needs, and our party needs.

If I were president, I would try to be one who says, you know what, I'm a Reagan Conservative. I'm someone who believes in peace through strength, and I would try to lead the country in that way knowing that our goal is peace, and that war is the last resort, not the first resort. And, that when we go to war, we go to war in a constitutional way, which means that we have to vote on it, that war is initiated by congress, not by the president, that we go to war electively (ph). That when we go to war, we don't fight with one arm tied behind our back, we fight all out to win, but then we come home. [applause]

HUCKABEE: At the end of my presidency I would like to believe that the world would be a safe place, and there wouldn't be the threats. not only to the U.S., but to Israel and our allies, because we would have the most incredible well-trained, well-equipped, well- prepared military in the history of mankind. And they would know that the commander-in-chief would never send them to a mission without all the resources necessary, but people wouldn't bully us anymore. Because they would know that that would be an invitation to their destruction.

Domestically, we would be operating under a tax system that eliminated the IRS. People wouldn't be punished for their work, and for what they produced.

And life would be really deemed precious. Abortion would be no more. It would be as much of a scourge in our past as slavery is. And we would have a peaceful country, where people respected each other and people respected law enforcement. And we would focus on cures.

And we would make this country not only safe from our enemies without, but safe from the enemies within. And it would be a good place to raise our kids and our grandkids. [applause]

RUBIO: One of the things that made Ronald Reagan a great president, is that he understood that America was a unique nation, like any other that had existed throughout human history. He knew it was founded on universal principles that were powerful, the dignity of all people, human rights, the rights of all to live in freedom and liberty, and choose their own path in life. He didn't just believe it, he acted on it. That's why bringing down communism was so important to him. If I'm honored with the opportunity to be president, I hope that our Air Force One will fly, first and foremost, to our allies; in Israel, in South Korea, and Japan. They know we stand with them. That America can be counted on.

It would also fly to China, not just to meet with our enemies, not just to meet with those adversaries of ours that are there, but also to meet with those that aspire to freedom and liberty within China. I would even invite them to my inauguration.

We would also fly into Moscow and into Russia. And not just meet with the leaders of Russia, but also meet with those who aspire to freedom and liberty in Russia. And ultimately, I hope that my Air Force One, if I become president, will one day land in a free Cuba, where its people can choose its leaders and its own destiny. [applause]

CRUZ: Ronald Reagan believed in America.

If I'm elected president our friends and allies across the globe will know that we stand with them. the bust of Winston Churchill will be back in the Oval Office, and the American embassy in Israel will be in Jerusalem.

Enemies across this world will know the United States is not to be trifled with. ISIS will be defeated. We will have a president willing to utter the words, "radical Islamic terrorism," and the Ayatollah Khamenei will understand that he will never, ever, ever acquire nuclear weapons.

Here at home, we'll reignite the promise of America. Young people coming out of school, with student loans up to their eyeballs, will find instead of no jobs, two, three, four, five job opportunities.

How will that happen? Through tax reform. We'll pass a simple flat tax and abolish the IRS. And through regulatory reform, we will repeal every word of Obamacare.

You want to know what I'll do as president? It is real simple. We'll kill the terrorists, we'll repeal Obamacare, and we will defend the Constitution, every single word of it. [applause]

CARSON: Well, you know, I was a radical Democrat before I started listening to Ronald Reagan. And he didn't sound like what they said Republicans were.

He sounded logical. And I hope that I sound logical also. Because when I look at what is going on with the United States of America, I see a lot of things that are not logical.

I see us allowing people to divide us, when in fact our strength is in our unity. I see people exercising the most irresponsible fiscal habits that anyone could possibly do. And hiding it from the American people, so that the majority of people have no idea what our financial situation is.

So, when someone comes along and says, free college, free phones, free this and that, and the other, they say, "wow, that's nice," having no idea that they're destabilizing our position. And I think also that Ronald Reagan was a master at understanding that a pinnacle nation has to be a nation that leads.

If we learn to lead in the Middle East right now, a coalition will form behind us, but never they do it if we just sit there and talk about it.

Real leadership is what I would hopefully bring to America. [applause]

TRUMP: If I become president, we will do something really special. We will make this country greater than ever before. We'll have more jobs. We'll have more of everything.

We were discussing disease, we were discussing all sorts of things tonight, many of which will just be words, it will just pass on. I don't want to say politicians, all talk, no action. But a lot of what we talked about is words and it will be forgotten very quickly.

If I'm president, many of the things that we discussed tonight will not be forgotten. We'll find solutions. And the world will respect us. They will respect us like never before. And it will be actually a friendlier world.

And I have to say, it is a great honor to be here tonight. [applause]

BUSH: Six million more people are living in poverty than the day that Barack Obama got elected president. Six million more people. The middle class has had declining income, workforce participation rates are lower than they were in 1977.

For the first time in modern history, more businesses are failing than are being created. That is what the next president will have to deal with.

And I believe we can reverse course by creating a strategy of high sustained economic growth, not the new normal of 2 percent that all the left says we just have to get used to, but a 4 percent growth strategy where we reform how we tax, fix the broken regulatory system, embrace the energy revolution in our midst, fix the immigration system so we can turn it into an economic driver, deal with the structural fiscal problems that exist because of our entitlement problems that will overwhelm and create way too much debt.

If we grow at 4 percent, people are going to be lifted out of poverty. The great middle that defines our country will have a chance to be able to pursue their dreams as they see fit.

That should be the great challenge and the great opportunity for the next president of the United States, to forge consensus to go back to a high-growth strategy. And then we'll be able to lead the world.

Without a high-growth strategy, our country will never have the resources or the optimism to be able to lead the world, which the world desperately needs our leadership. [applause]

WALKER: Well, I turned 13 years old two days before Ronald Reagan was first elected. A lot of people forget this, but just a few days before that election 1980, he was behind in the polls.

And I think what changed things was people in America realized they didn't want to hear what was bad about America, they wanted to know how it was going to be better. Ronald Reagan wasn't just a conservative Republican, he was an eternal optimist in the American people.

And I am too. So here's what I think will make America better. We need to live in a world where our children are free, are free from the threats of radical Islamic terrorism.

We need to live in an America where we have an economy, where everyone can live their piece of the American dream, no matter what that dream is. And we need to live in an America where we have a federal government that is not too big to fail, but ultimately small enough to succeed, where we send powers back to the states and back to the people.

That's what I did in Wisconsin. We took on the big government union bosses, the big government special interests, many of whom came in from Washington, to spend millions of dollars to try and take me out because we stood up to them, we didn't back down in any of those instances.

If you give me the chance as your next president, I won't back down any day, anyway, anyhow. I'll fight and win for you and your families every single day I'm in office. [applause]

FIORINA: I think what this nation can be and must be is symbolized by Lady Liberty and Lady Justice. Lady Liberty stands tall and strong. She is clear-eyed and resolute. She doesn't shield her eyes from the realities of the world, but she faces outward into the world nevertheless, as we always must.

And she holds her torch high, because she knows she is a beacon of hope in a very troubled world.

And Lady Justice, Lady Justice holds a sword by her side, because she is a fighter, a warrior for the values and the principles that have made this nation great. She holds a scale in her other hand. And with that scale she says all of us are equal in the eyes of God. And so all of us must be equal in the eyes of the law and the government, powerful and powerless alike.

And she wears a blindfold. And with that blindfold she is saying to us that it must be true, it can be true that in this country, in this century, it doesn't matter who you are, it doesn't matter what you look like, it doesn't matter how you start, it doesn't matter your circumstances, here in this nation, every American's life must be filled with the possibilities that come from their God-given gifts.

One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [applause]

KASICH: Well, as president, I will make this a nation that will solve problems. And how? By having the elected officials and the leaders realize they're Americans before they're Republicans or Democrats. I did it in Washington. And I've done it in Ohio by having the elected officials realize that they're Ohioans before anything else.

Secondly, I will rebuild the relationships and show the respect to our allies around the world. We have no choice but to do that. We will be stronger when we are unified. And we'll fight for freedom and for human rights.

And finally, a little bit of what Carly said. The people that are out there listening, America was never great because we ran America from the top down. America is great because we have run America from the bottom up, where we all live in the neighborhoods.

One more time in America, we need to revive the concept of citizenship, where everybody's actions make a huge difference in changing the world. We have a Holocaust memorial on our state house grounds. And there is one line on there that stands out all the time. "If you've saved one life, you've changed the world."

We need to adopt that as citizens and rebuild and reinspire our country. Thank you. [applause]

CHRISTIE: I turned 18 in 1980, and my first vote was for Ronald Reagan. Boy, am I glad I did it. And I think the country is, too. A Christie presidency won't be about me. It will be about you.

Tonight, you sit at home in your living room, frustrated that you play by the rules, you pay the taxes, you do the hard things to raise your family, yet you feel like America's generosity is being taken advantage of. That you've been — system is being gamed, and that you're turning out to fall further and further behind.

Our presidency — our presidency — will be about ending that, about enforcing the law, level the playing field for everybody, and once again reward those folks who play by the rules, and think that justice means more than just the word. But it means a way of life.

And I will tell you this, around the world, I will not shake hands with, I will not meet with, and I will not agree to anything with a country that says death to us and death to Israel and holds our hostages while we sign agreements with them.

It will be an America that be strong and resolute, and will once again be able to stick out its chest and say, "we truly are the greatest nation in the world, because we live our lives that way, each and every day." [applause]

TAPPER: That concludes this Republican presidential debate. On behalf of everyone here at CNN, we want to thank the candidates, the Reagan Library, and the Republican National Committee. Thank you, also, to Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash.

The next presidential debate will also be right here on CNN, among the Democratic candidates, who will face off for the first time on October the 13th. That debate, a partnership with Facebook, will be moderated by my colleague, Anderson Cooper.

And Anderson picks up our coverage of tonight's debate right now. Before I throw to Anderson, let's have one final round of applause for the candidates.

NOTE: The criteria for appearing in the main debate is: "The top 10 candidates will debate in one group, and the remaining candidates will face off in another debate. Each candidate must poll at 1 percent or higher. CNN requires debate participants to have at least one paid campaign staffer in two of the early voting states and have visited two of those states at least once."
+ Citation: Presidential Candidates Debates: "Republican Candidates Debate in Simi Valley, California," September 16, 2015. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=110756. +
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+ 		+ + + + +Presidential Candidates Debates: Republican Candidates Debate in Cleveland, Ohio +
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Republican Candidates Debate in Cleveland, Ohio
August 6, 2015
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PARTICIPANTS:
Former Governor Jeb Bush (FL);
Ben Carson;
Governor Chris Christie (NJ);
Senator Ted Cruz (TX);
Former Governor Mike Huckabee (AR);
Governor John Kasich (OH);
Senator Rand Paul (KY);
Senator Marco Rubio (FL);
Donald Trump;
Governor Scott Walker (WI);

MODERATORS:
Bret Baier (Fox News);
Megyn Kelly (Fox News); and
Chris Wallace (Fox News)

KELLY: Welcome to the first debate night of the 2016 presidential campaign, live from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.

I'm Megyn Kelly... [applause]... along with my co-moderators, Brett Baier and Chris Wallace.

Tonight... [applause] Nice.

Tonight, thousands of people here in the Q, along with millions of voters at home will get their very first chance to see the candidates face off in a debate, answering the questions you want answered.

BAIER: Less than a year from now, in this very arena, one of these 10 candidates or one of the seven on the previous debate tonight will accept the Republican party's nomination. [applause]

Tonight's candidates were selected based on an average of five national polls. Just a few hours ago, you heard from the candidates ranked 11th through 17. And now, the prime-time event, the top 10.

WALLACE: Also of note, Fox News is partnering for tonight's debate with Facebook. For the past several weeks, we've been asking you for questions for the candidates on Facebook. Nearly 6 million of you, 6 million, viewed the debate videos on our site, and more than 40,000 of you submitted questions: some of which you will hear us asking the candidates tonight.

KELLY: As for the candidates who will be answering those questions? Here they are.

Positioned on the stage by how they stand in the polls, in the center of the stage tonight, businessman Donald Trump. [applause]

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. [applause]

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. [applause]

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. [applause]

BAIER: Neurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. [applause]

Texas Senator Ted Cruz. [applause]

Florida Senator Marco Rubio. [applause]

WALLACE: Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. [applause]

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. [applause] And your very own governor of Ohio... [applause] ... John Kasich. [applause]

WALLACE: Brett -- Brett, I think you would call that a home field advantage.

BAIER: It might be. It might be. We'll see.

[UNKNOWN]: Is this in the rules? An objection's coming.

BAIER: It might be. The rules for tonight are simple. One minute for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups. And if a candidate runs over, you'll hear this.

Pleasant, no?

We also have a big crowd here with us tonight in the home of the Cavaliers, as I mentioned.

And while we expect them... [applause] ... we expect them to be enthusiastic, as you heard, we don't want to take anything away from the valuable time for the candidate. So, we're looking for somewhere between a reaction to a LeBron James dunk and the Cleveland Public Library across the street. [laughter] Somewhere there, we'll find a balance tonight.

Without further ado, let's begin.

BAIER: Gentlemen, we know how much you love hand-raising questions. So we promise, this is the only one tonight: the only one. Is there anyone on stage, and can I see hands, who is unwilling tonight to pledge your support to the eventual nominee of the Republican party and pledge to not run an independent campaign against that person.

Again, we're looking for you to raise your hand now -- raise your hand now if you won't make that pledge tonight.

Mr. Trump. [booing] Mr. Trump to be clear, you're standing on a Republican primary debate stage.

TRUMP: I fully understand.

BAIER: The place where the RNC will give the nominee the nod.

TRUMP: I fully understand.

BAIER: And that experts say an independent run would almost certainly hand the race over to Democrats and likely another Clinton.

You can't say tonight that you can make that pledge?

TRUMP: I cannot say. I have to respect the person that, if it's not me, the person that wins, if I do win, and I'm leading by quite a bit, that's what I want to do. I can totally make that pledge. If I'm the nominee, I will pledge I will not run as an independent. But -- and I am discussing it with everybody, but I'm, you know, talking about a lot of leverage. We want to win, and we will win. But I want to win as the Republican. I want to run as the Republican nominee.

BAIER: So tonight, you can't say if another one of these...

PAUL: This is what's wrong!

BAIER: OK.

PAUL: I mean, this is what's wrong. He buys and sells politicians of all stripes, he's already...

BAIER: Dr. Paul.

PAUL: Hey, look, look! He's already hedging his bet on the Clintons, OK? So if he doesn't run as a Republican, maybe he supports Clinton, or maybe he runs as an independent...

BAIER: OK.

PAUL: ...but I'd say that he's already hedging his bets because he's used to buying politicians.

TRUMP: Well, I've given him plenty of money.

BAIER: Just to be clear, you can't make a -- we're gonna -- we're going to move on.

You're not gonna make the pledge tonight?

TRUMP: I will not make the pledge at this time.

BAIER: OK. Alright. [laughter and boing]

KELLY: Gentlemen, our first round of questions is on the subject of electability in the general election, and we start tonight with you, Dr. Carson.

You are a successful neurosurgeon, but you admit that you have had to study up on foreign policy, saying there's a lot to learn.

Your critics say that your inexperience shows. You've suggested that the Baltic States are not a part of NATO, just months ago you were unfamiliar with the major political parties and government in Israel, and domestically, you thought Alan Greenspan had been treasury secretary instead of federal reserve chair.

Aren't these basic mistakes, and don't they raise legitimate questions about whether you are ready to be president?

CARSON: Well, I could take issue with -- with all of those things, but we don't have time.

But I will say, we have a debate here tonight, and we will have an opportunity to explore those areas, and I'm looking very much forward to demonstrating that, in fact, the thing that is probably most important is having a brain, and to be able to figure things out and learn things very rapidly.

So, you know, experience comes from a large number of different arenas, and America became a great nation early on not because it was flooded with politicians, but because it was flooded with people who understood the value of personal responsibility, hard work, creativity, innovation, and that's what will get us on the right track now, as well.

WALLACE: Senator Rubio, when Jeb Bush announced his candidacy for presidency, he said this: "There's no passing off responsibility when you're a governor, no blending into the legislative crowd."

Could you please address Governor Bush across the stage here, and explain to him why you, someone who has never held executive office, are better prepared to be president than he is, a man who you say did a great job running your state of Florida for eight years.

RUBIO: Well, thank you for the question, Chris, and it's great to be here tonight. Let me begin by saying this: I'm not new to the political process; I was making a contribution as the speaker of the third largest and most diverse state in the country well before I even got into the Senate.

I would add to that that this election cannot be a resume competition. It's important to be qualified, but if this election is a resume competition, then Hillary Clinton's gonna be the next president, because she's been in office and in government longer than anybody else running here tonight.

Here's what this election better be about: This election better be about the future, not the past. It better be about the issues our nation and the world is facing today, not simply the issues we once faced.

This country is facing an economy that has been radically transformed. You know, the largest retailer in the country and the world today, Amazon, doesn't even own a single store? And these changes have been disruptive. They have changed people's lives. The jobs that once sustained our middle class, they either don't pay enough or they are gone, and we need someone that understands that as our nominee.

If I'm our nominee, how is Hillary Clinton gonna lecture me about living paycheck to paycheck? I was raised paycheck to paycheck. How is she -- how is she gonna lecture me -- how is she gonna lecture me about student loans? I owed over $100,000 just four years ago.

If I'm our nominee, we will be the party of the future. [applause]

BAIER: Governor Bush, you have insisted that you're your own man. You say you have a life experience uniquely your own. Not your father's, not your brother's.

But there are several opponents on this stage who get big- applause lines in early voting states with this line: quote, "the last thing the country needs is another Bush in the Oval Office."

So do you understand the real concern in this country about dynastic politics?

BUSH: Absolutely, I do, and I'm gonna run hard, run with heart, and run to win.

I'm gonna have to earn this. Maybe the barrier -- the bar's even higher for me. That's fine.

I've got a record in Florida. I'm proud of my dad, and I'm certainly proud of my brother. In Florida, they called me Jeb, because I earned it.

I cut taxes every year, totaling $19 billion. We were -- we had -- we balanced every budget. We went from $1 billion of reserves to $9 billion of reserves.

We were one of two states that went to AAA bond rating.

They keep -- they called me Veto Corleone. Because I vetoed 2,500 separate line-items in the budget. [applause]

I am my own man. I governed as a conservative, and I govern effectively. And the net effect was, during my eight years, 1.3 million jobs were created. We left the state better off because I applied conservative principles in a purple state the right way, and people rose up. [applause]

KELLY: Mr. Trump, one of the things people love about you is you speak your mind and you don't use a politician's filter. However, that is not without its downsides, in particular, when it comes to women.

You've called women you don't like "fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals." [laughter] Your Twitter account...

TRUMP: Only Rosie O'Donnell. [laughter]

KELLY: No, it wasn't. [applause] Your Twitter account... [applause]

TRUMP: Thank you.

KELLY: For the record, it was well beyond Rosie O'Donnell.

TRUMP: Yes, I'm sure it was.

KELLY: Your Twitter account has several disparaging comments about women's looks. You once told a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice it would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees. Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president, and how will you answer the charge from Hillary Clinton, who was likely to be the Democratic nominee, that you are part of the war on women?

TRUMP: I think the big problem this country has is being politically correct. [applause]

I've been challenged by so many people, and I don't frankly have time for total political correctness. And to be honest with you, this country doesn't have time either. This country is in big trouble. We don't win anymore. We lose to China. We lose to Mexico both in trade and at the border. We lose to everybody.

And frankly, what I say, and oftentimes it's fun, it's kidding. We have a good time. What I say is what I say. And honestly Megyn, if you don't like it, I'm sorry. I've been very nice to you, although I could probably maybe not be, based on the way you have treated me. But I wouldn't do that. [applause]

But you know what, we -- we need strength, we need energy, we need quickness and we need brain in this country to turn it around. That, I can tell you right now.

WALLACE: Senator Cruz, your colleague, Senator Paul, right there next to you, said a few months ago he agrees with you on a number of issues, but he says you do nothing to grow the party. He says you feed red meat to the base, but you don't reach out to minorities. You have a toxic relationship with GOP leaders in Congress. You even called the Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell a liar recently. [applause]

How can you win in 2016 when you're such a divisive figure?

CRUZ: Chris, I believe the American people are looking for someone to speak the truth. [applause]

If you're looking for someone to go to Washington, to go along to get along, to get -- to agree with the career politicians in both parties who get in bed with the lobbyists and special interests, then I ain't your guy.

There is a reason... [applause] .... that we have $18 trillion in debt. Because as conservatives, as Republicans, we keep winning elections. We got a Republican House, we've got a Republican Senate, and we don't have leaders who honor their commitments. I will always tell the truth and do what I said I would do. [applause]

BAIER: Governor Christie, you're not exactly the darling of conservatives. You tout your record as a Republican governor in a blue state. On Facebook, the most people talking about you, not surprisingly, come from your state of New Jersey, and one of the top issues they are talking about is the economy.

This -- this may be why. Under your watch, New Jersey has undergone nine credit rating downgrades. The state's 44th in private sector growth. You face an employee pension crisis and the Garden State has the third highest foreclosure rate in the country. So why should voters believe that your management of the country's finances would be any different?

CHRISTIE: If you think it's bad now, you should've seen it when I got there. [laught and applause]

The fact is -- the fact is, in the eight years before I became governor, taxes and fees were raised at the state level 115 times. In the eight years before I became governor, spending was increased 56 percent. And in the eight years before I become governor, taxes and fees were raised at the state level 115 times.

In the eight years before I became Governor, spending was increased 56 percent, and in the eight years before I became governor, there was zero net private sector job growth in New Jersey. Zero. For eight years.

So, what did we do? We came in, we balanced an $11 billion deficit on a $29 billion budget by cutting over 800 programs in the state budget. We brought the budget into balance with no tax increases. In fact, we vetoed five income tax increases during my time as governor. We cut business taxes $2.3 billion, and we cut regulation by one-third of what my predecessor put in place.

And, what's happened since? A hundred ninety-two thousand private sector jobs in the five and a half years I've been governor. We have a lot of work to do in New Jersey, but I am darn proud we've brought our state back. [applause]

KELLY: Governor Walker, you've consistently said that you want to make abortion illegal even in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother. You recently signed an abortion law in Wisconsin that does have an exception for the mother's life, but you're on the record as having objected to it. Would you really let a mother die rather than have an abortion, and with 83 percent of the American public in favor of a life exception, are you too out of the mainstream on this issue to win the general election?

WALKER: Well, I'm pro-life, I've always been pro-life, and I've got a position that I think is consistent with many Americans out there in that... [applause] ...in that I believe that that is an unborn child that's in need of protection out there, and I've said many a time that that unborn child can be protected, and there are many other alternatives that can also protect the life of that mother. That's been consistently proven.

Unlike Hillary Clinton, who has a radical position in terms of support for Planned Parenthood, I defunded Planned Parenthood more than four years ago, long before any of these videos came out... [applause] ...I've got a position that's in line with everyday America. [applause]

WALLACE: Governor Huckabee, like Governor Walker, you have staked out strong positions on social issues. You favor a constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage. You favor a constitutional amendment banning abortions, except for the life of the mother. Millions of people in this country agree with you, but according to the polls, and again this an electability question, according to the polls, more people don't, so how do you persuade enough Independents and Democrats to get elected in 2016?

HUCKABEE: Chris, I disagree with the idea that the real issue is a constitutional amendment. That's a long and difficult process. I've actually taken the position that's bolder than that.

A lot of people are talking about defunding planned parenthood, as if that's a huge game changer. I think it's time to do something even more bold. I think the next president ought to invoke the Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the constitution now that we clearly know that that baby inside the mother's womb is a person at the moment of conception.

The reason we know that it is is because of the DNA schedule that we now have clear scientific evidence on. And, this notion that we just continue to ignore the personhood of the individual is a violation of that unborn child's Fifth and 14th Amendment rights for due process and equal protection under the law.

It's time that we recognize the Supreme Court is not the Supreme Being, and we change the policy to be pro-life and protect children instead of rip up their body parts and sell them like they're parts to a Buick. [applause]

BAIER: Senator Paul, you recently blamed the rise of ISIS on Republican hawks. You later said that that statement, you could have said it better. But, the statement went on, and you said, quote, "Everything they've talked about in foreign policy, they've been wrong for the last 20 years."

Why are you so quick to blame your own party?

PAUL: First of all, only ISIS is responsible for the terrorism. Only ISIS is responsible for the depravity. But, we do have to examine, how are we going to defeat ISIS?

I've got a proposal. I'm the leading voice in America for not arming the allies of ISIS. [applause] I've been fighting amidst a lot of opposition from both Hillary Clinton, as well as some Republicans who wanted to send arms to the allies of ISIS. ISIS rides around in a billion dollars worth of U.S. Humvees. It's a disgrace. We've got to stop -- we shouldn't fund our enemies, for goodness sakes. So, we didn't create ISIS -- ISIS created themselves, but we will stop them, and one of the ways we stop them is by not funding them, and not arming them. [applause]

KELLY: Governor Kasich, You chose to expand Medicaid in your state, unlike several other governors on this stage tonight, and it is already over budget by some estimates costing taxpayers an additional $1.4 billion in just the first 18 months.

You defended your Medicaid expansion by invoking God, saying to skeptics that when they arrive in heaven, Saint Peter isn't going to ask them how small they've kept government, but what they have done for the poor.

Why should Republican voters, who generally want to shrink government, believe that you won't use your Saint Peter rationale to expand every government program?

KASICH: Well, first of all... [applause] ...first of all, Megyn, you should know that -- that President Reagan expanded Medicaid three or four times.

Secondly, I had an opportunity to bring resources back to Ohio to do what?

To treat the mentally ill. Ten thousand of them sit in our prisons. It costs $22,500 a year... [applause] ...to keep them in prison. I'd rather get them their medication so they could lead a decent life.

Secondly, we are rehabbing the drug-addicted. Eighty percent of the people in our prisons have addictions or problems. We now treat them in the prisons, release them in the community and the recidivism rate is 10 percent and everybody across this country knows that the tsunami of drugs is -- is threatening their very families.

So we're treating them and getting them on their feet. And, finally, the working poor, instead of them having come into the emergency rooms where it costs more, where they're sicker and we end up paying, we brought a program in here to make sure that people could get on their feet.

And do you know what?

Everybody has a right to their God-given purpose.

And finally, our Medicaid is growing at one of the lowest rates in the country. And, finally, we went from $8 billion in the hole to $2 billion in the black. We've cut $5 billion in taxes... [timer sounds] ...and we've grown 350,000 jobs. [applause]

WALLACE: Gentlemen, we're turning to a new subject that all of you have been talking about and some of you have been disagreeing about, and that is the issue of immigration.

Governor Bush, you released a new plan this week on illegal immigration focusing on enforcement, which some suggest is your effort to show that you're not soft on that issue.

I want to ask you about a statement that you made last year about illegal immigrants. And here's what you said. "They broke the law, but it's not a felony, it's an act of love. It's an act of commitment to your family."

Do you stand by that statement and do you stand by your support for earned legal status?

BUSH: I do. I believe that the great majority of people coming here illegally have no other option. They want to provide for their family.

But we need to control our border. It's not -- it's our responsibility to pick and choose who comes in. So I -- I've written a book about this and yet this week, I did come up with a comprehensive strategy that -- that really mirrored what we said in the book, which is that we need to deal with E-Verify, we need to deal with people that come with a legal visa and overstay.

We need to be much more strategic on how we deal with border enforcement, border security. We need to eliminate the sanctuary cities in this country. It is ridiculous and tragic...[applause]...that people are dying because of the fact that -- that local governments are not following the federal law. There's much to do. And I think rather than talking about this as a wedge issue, which Barack Obama has done now for six long years, the next president -- and I hope to be that president -- will fix this once and for all so that we can turn this into a driver for high sustained economic growth.

And there should be a path to earned legal status...[timer sounds] ...for those that are here. Not -- not amnesty, earned legal status, which means you pay a fine and do many things over an extended period of time.

WALLACE: Thank you, sir. [applause] Mr. Trump, it has not escaped anybody's notice that you say that the Mexican government, the Mexican government is sending criminals -- rapists, drug dealers, across the border.

Governor Bush has called those remarks, quote, "extraordinarily ugly."

I'd like you -- you're right next to him -- tell us -- talk to him directly and say how you respond to that and -- and you have repeatedly said that you have evidence that the Mexican government is doing this, but you have evidence you have refused or declined to share.

Why not use this first Republican presidential debate to share your proof with the American people?

TRUMP: So, if it weren't for me, you wouldn't even be talking about illegal immigration, Chris. You wouldn't even be talking about it. [applause] This was not a subject that was on anybody's mind until I brought it up at my announcement. And I said, Mexico is sending. Except the reporters, because they're a very dishonest lot, generally speaking, in the world of politics, they didn't cover my statement the way I said it.

The fact is, since then, many killings ,murders, crime, drugs pouring across the border, are money going out and the drugs coming in. And I said we need to build a wall, and it has to be built quickly.

And I don't mind having a big beautiful door in that wall so that people can come into this country legally. But we need, Jeb, to build a wall, we need to keep illegals out. [cheering and applause]

WALLACE: Mr. Trump, I'll give you 30 seconds -- I'll give you 30 seconds to answer my question, which was, what evidence do you have, specific evidence that the Mexican government is sending criminals across the border? Thirty seconds.

TRUMP: Border Patrol, I was at the border last week. Border Patrol, people that I deal with, that I talk to, they say this is what's happening. Because our leaders are stupid. Our politicians are stupid.

And the Mexican government is much smarter, much sharper, much more cunning. And they send the bad ones over because they don't want to pay for them. They don't want to take care of them.

Why should they when the stupid leaders of the United States will do it for them? And that's what is happening whether you like it or not. [cheering and applause]

WALLACE: All right. Obviously there's a lot more to talk about this. We're going to have more questions for the candidates on illegal immigration, plus other key topics including your questions on Facebook.

[video clip begins]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What will be your plan on making immigration easier for those that want to do it legally?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What specific steps would you take to contain the growth of ISIS?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'd like to know what the candidates are going to do so that I feel safe in my own country again.

[video clip ends]

[commercial break]

WALLACE: Welcome back to FOX News/Facebook Republican Debate Night. We're going to continue the questions now on illegal immigration. We kind of ended with a cliffhanger there. So let's continue the conversation.

Governor Kasich, I know you don't like to talk about Donald Trump. But I do want to ask you about the merit of what he just said. When you say that the American government is stupid, that the Mexican government is sending criminals, that we're being bamboozled, is that an adequate response to the question of illegal immigration?

KASICH: Chris, first of all, I was just saying to Chris Christie, they say we're outspoken, we need to take lessons from Donald Trump if we're really going to learn it. Here is the thing about Donald Trump. Donald Trump is hitting a nerve in this country. He is. He's hitting a nerve. People are frustrated. They're fed up. They don't think the government is working for them. And for people who want to just tune him out, they're making a mistake.

Now, he's got his solutions. Some of us have other solutions. You know, look, I balanced the federal budget as one of the chief architects when I was in Washington. Hasn't been done since. I was a military reformer. I took the state of Ohio from an $8 billion hole and a 350,000 job loss to a $2 billion surplus and a gain of 350,000 jobs.

WALLACE: Respectfully, can we talk about illegal immigration?

KASICH: But the point is that we all have solutions. Mr. Trump is touching a nerve because people want the wall to be built. They want to see an end to illegal immigration. They want to see it, and we all do. But we all have different ways of getting there. And you're going to hear from all of us tonight about what our ideas are.

WALLACE: All right, well, Senator Rubio, let me see if I can do better with you. Is it as simple as our leaders are stupid, their leaders are smart, and all of these illegals coming over are criminals?

RUBIO: Let me set the record straight on a couple of things. The first is, the evidence is now clear that the majority of people coming across the border are not from Mexico. They're coming from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras. Those countries are the source of the people that are now coming in its majority.

I also believe we need a fence. The problem is if El Chapo builds a tunnel under the fence, we have to be able to deal with that too. And that's why you need an e-verify system and you need an entry-exit tracking system and all sorts of other things to prevent illegal immigration. But I agree with what Governor Kasich just said. People are frustrated. This is the most generous country in the world when it comes to immigration. There are a million people a year who legally immigrate to the United States, and people feel like we're being taken advantage of. We feel like despite our generosity, we're being taken advantage of.

And let me tell you who never gets talked about in these debates. The people that call my office, who have been waiting for 15 years to come to the United States. And they've paid their fees, and they hired a lawyer, and they can't get in. And they're wondering, maybe they should come illegally. [applause]

And so these are important issues, and we should address it. It's a serious problem that needs to be addressed, and otherwise we're going to keep talking about this for the next 30 years, like we have for the last 30 years.

WALLACE: Governor Walker. [applause]

Governor Walker, from 2002 until as recently as 2013, just two years ago, you supported comprehensive immigration reform, including a path to citizenship. Now you say that was a quick reaction to something you hadn't really thought about, and that you've changed your mind. Other than politics, could you explain why in the last two years you've changed your position on a path to citizenship, and are there other past positions that we shouldn't hold you to?

WALKER: Chris, I actually said that on your show earlier this year. [crosstalk] I acknowledged that. I said I actually listened to the American people. And I think people across America want a leader who's actually going to listen to them.

I talked to border state governors and other elected officials. I look at how this president, particularly through last November, messed up the immigration system in this country. Most importantly, I listened to the people of America.

I believe we need to secure the border. I've been to the border with Governor Abbott in Texas and others, seeing the problems that they have there. There is international criminal organizations penetrating our southern based borders, and we need to do something about it. Secure the border, enforce the law, no amnesty, and go forward with the legal immigration system that gives priority to American working families and wages. [applause]

WALLACE: Senator Cruz, some 1,400 people submitted questions on this very hot topic of illegal immigration on Facebook, and a number of them were about the murder of Kate Steinle in San Francisco, allegedly shot down by an illegal. Doug Bettencourt sent this question, "will you support Kate Steinle's Law," which would impose a mandatory five-year prison term for an illegal who is deported and then returns to this country? "And will you defund sanctuary cities for violating federal law?"

CRUZ: Chris, absolutely yes. And not only will I support it...[applause]...I have authored Kate's law in the United States Senate and filed that legislation. I tried to get the Senate to vote to pass Kate's law on the floor of the Senate just one week ago, and the leader of our own party blocked a vote on Kate's law.

You know, there was reference made to our leaders being stupid. It's not a question of stupidity. It's that they don't want to enforce the immigration laws. That there are far too many in the Washington cartel that support amnesty.

President Obama has talked about fundamentally transforming this country. There's 7 billion people across the face of the globe, many of whom want to come to this country. If they come legally, great. But if they come illegally and they get amnesty, that is how we fundamentally change this country, and it really is striking.

A majority of the candidates on this stage have supported amnesty. I have never supported amnesty, and I led the fight against Chuck Schumer's gang of eight amnesty legislation in the Senate.

KELLY: Alright, gentlemen, we're gonna switch topics now and talk a bit about terror and national security.

Governor Christie. You've said that Senator Paul's opposition to the NSA's collection of phone records has made the United States weaker and more vulnerable, even going so far as to say that he should be called before Congress to answer for it if we should be hit by another terrorist attack.

Do you really believe you can assign blame to Senator Paul just for opposing the bulk collection of people's phone records in the event of a terrorist attack?

CHRISTIE: Yes, I do. And I'll tell you why: because I'm the only person on this stage who's actually filed applications under the Patriot Act, who has gone before the federal -- the Foreign Intelligence Service court, who has prosecuted and investigated and jailed terrorists in this country after September 11th.

I was appointed U.S. attorney by President Bush on September 10th, 2001, and the world changed enormously the next day, and that happened in my state.

This is not theoretical to me. I went to the funerals. We lost friends of ours in the Trade Center that day. My own wife was two blocks from the Trade Center that day, at her office, having gone through it that morning.

When you actually have to be responsible for doing this, you can do it, and we did it, for seven years in my office, respecting civil liberties and protecting the homeland.

And I will make no apologies, ever, for protecting the lives and the safety of the American people. We have to give more tools to our folks to be able to do that, not fewer, and then trust those people and oversee them to do it the right way. As president, that is exactly what I'll do.

PAUL: Megyn, may I respond? [applause] May I respond?

KELLY: Go ahead, sir.

PAUL: I want to collect more records from terrorists, but less records from innocent Americans. The Fourth Amendment was what we fought the Revolution over! John Adams said it was the spark that led to our war for independence, and I'm proud of standing for the Bill of Rights, and I will continue to stand for the Bill of Rights. [applause]

CHRISTIE: And -- and, Megyn? Megyn, that's a -- that, you know, that's a completely ridiculous answer. "I want to collect more records from terrorists, but less records from other people." How are you supposed to know, Megyn?

PAUL: Use the Fourth Amendment!

CHRISTIE: What are you supposed to...

PAUL: Use the Fourth Amendment!

CHRISTIE: ...how are you supposed to -- no, I'll tell you how you, look...

PAUL: Get a warrant!

CHRISTIE: Let me tell you something, you go...

PAUL: Get a judge to sign the warrant!

CHRISTIE: When you -- you know, senator...

[crosstalk]

KELLY: Governor Christie, make your point.

CHRISTIE: Listen, senator, you know, when you're sitting in a subcommittee, just blowing hot air about this, you can say things like that. [applause]

When you're responsible for protecting the lives of the American people, then what you need to do is to make sure...

PAUL: See, here's the problem.

CHRISTIE: ...is to make sure that you use the system the way it's supposed to work.

PAUL: Here's the problem, governor. Here's the problem, governor. You fundamentally misunderstand the Bill of Rights.

Every time you did a case, you got a warrant from a judge. I'm talking about searches without warrants...

CHRISTIE: There is no...

PAUL: ...indiscriminately, of all Americans' records, and that's what I fought to end.

I don't trust President Obama with our records. I know you gave him a big hug, and if you want to give him a big hug again, go right ahead. [applause]

KELLY: Go ahead, governor.

CHRISTIE: And you know -- you know, Senator Paul? Senator Paul, you know, the hugs that I remember are the hugs that I gave to the families who lost their people on September 11th.

Those are the hugs I remember, and those had nothing to do -- and those had nothing to do with politics, unlike what you're doing by cutting speeches on the floor of the Senate, then putting them on the Internet within half an hour to raise money for your campaign...

KELLY: Alright.

CHRISTIE: ...and while still putting our country at risk.

[crosstalk]

KELLY: Alright, we've gotta cut it off there.

We have plenty more we want to get to. That was an interesting exchange, thank you for that.

CHRISTIE: You know what, Megyn, can I...

KELLY: Well, I want to move on, because I have -- we're gonna get to you, governor, but I -- I really wanna get to a Facebook questioner. His name is Alex Chalgren, and he has the following question:

[video clip begins]

QUESTION:: My question is, how would the candidates stop the treacherous actions of ISIS -- ISIL and its growing influence in the U.S., if they were to become president?

[video clip ends]

KELLY: Senator Cruz, I wanna talk to you about this, because many of the Facebook users and -- and -- the -- the folks on Facebook wanted the candidates to speak to ISIS tonight.

You asked the chairman of the joint chiefs a question: "What would it take to destroy ISIS in 90 days?" He told you "IISIS will only be truly destroyed once they are rejected by the populations in which they hide." And then you accused him of pushing Medicaid for the Iraqis.

How would you destroy ISIS in 90 days?

CRUZ: Megyn, we need a commander in chief that speaks the truth. We will not defeat radical Islamic terrorism so long as we have a president unwilling to utter the words, "radical Islamic terrorism". [applause]

When I asked General Dempsey, the chairman of the joint chiefs, what would be required militarily to destroy ISIS, he said there is no military solution. We need to change the conditions on the ground so that young men are not in poverty and susceptible to radicalization. That, with all due respect, is nonsense.

It's the same answer the State Department gave that we need to give them jobs. What we need is a commander in chief who makes -- clear, if you join ISIS, if you wage jihad on America, then you are signing your death warrant.

KELLY: You don't see it as... [applause] ...an ideological problem -- an ideological problem in addition to a military one? [applause]

CRUZ: Megyn, of course it's an ideological problem, that's one of the reasons I introduce the Expatriate Terrorist Act in the Senate that said if any American travels to the Middle East and joining ISIS, that he or she forfeits their citizenship so they don't use a passport to come back and wage jihad on Americans. [applause]

Yes, it is ideological, and let me contrast President Obama, who at the prayer breakfast, essentially acted as an apologist. He said, "Well, gosh, the crusades, the inquisitions--"[timer sounds]

We need a president that shows the courage that Egypt's President al-Sisi did, a Muslim, when he called out the radical Islamic terrorists who are threatening the world. [applause]

KELLY: Governor Bush, for days on end in this campaign, you struggled to answer a question about whether knowing what we know now...

BUSH: ...I remember...

KELLY: ...we would've invaded Iraq...

BUSH: ...I remember, Megyn. [laughter]

KELLY: I remember it too, and ISIS, of course, is now thriving there.

You finally said, "No."

To the families of those who died in that war who say they liberated a country and deposed a ruthless dictator, how do you look at them now and say that your brothers war was a mistake?

BUSH: Knowing what we know now, with faulty intelligence, and not having security be the first priority when -- when we invaded, it was a mistake. I wouldn't have gone in, however, for the people that did lose their lives, and the families that suffer because of it -- I know this full well because as governor of the state of Florida, I called every one of them. Every one of them that I could find to tell them that I was praying for them, that I cared about them, and it was really hard to do.

And, every one of them said that their child did not die in vain, or their wife, of their husband did not die in vain.

So, why it was difficult for me to do it was based on that. Here's the lesson that we should take from this, which relates to this whole subject. Barack Obama became president, and he abandoned Iraq. He left, and when he left Al Qaida was done for. ISIS was created because [timer sounds] of the void that we left, and that void now exists as a caliphate the size of Indiana.

To honor the people that died, we need to -- we need to --- stop the -- Iran agreement, for sure, because the Iranian mullahs have their blood on their hands, and we need to take out ISIS with every tool at our disposal. [applause]

KELLY: Governor Walker, in February you said that we needed to gain partners in the Arab world. Which Arab country not already in the U.S. led coalition has potential to be our greatest partner?

WALKER: I don't know about additional ones. We need to focus on the ones we have. You look at Egypt, probably the best relationship we've had in Israel, at least in my lifetime, incredibly important.

You look at the Saudis -- in fact, earlier this year, I met with Saudi leaders, and leaders from the United Arab Emirates, and I asked them what's the greatest challenge in the world today? Set aside the Iran deal. They said it's the disengagement of America. We are leading from behind under the Obama-Clinton doctrine -- America's a great country. We need to stand up and start leading again, and we need to have allies, not just in Israel, but throughout the Persian Gulf.

KELLY: Dr. Carson, in one of his first acts as commander in chief, President Obama signed an executive order banning enhanced interrogation techniques in fighting terror. As president, would you bring back water boarding?

CARSON: Well, thank you, Megyn, I wasn't sure I was going to get to talk again. [applause]

KELLY: We have a lot for you, don't worry. [laughter and applause] Fear not, you may rue that request.

CARSON: Alright. You know, what we do in order to get the information that we need is our business, and I wouldn't necessarily be broadcasting what we're going to do. [applause]

We. . .uh. . .we've gotten into this -- this mindset of fighting politically correct wars. There is no such thing as a politically correct war. [applause]

And, the left, of course, will say Carson doesn't believe in the Geneva Convention. Carson doesn't believe in fighting stupid wars. And -- and what we have to remember is we want to utilize the tremendous intellect that we have in the military to win wars.

And I've talked to a lot of the generals, a lot of our advanced people. And believe me, if we gave them the mission, which is what the commander-in-chief does, they would be able to carry it out.

And if we don't tie their hands behind their back, they will do it...[timer sounds]...extremely effectively. [applause]

BAIER: Gentlemen, the next series of questions deals with ObamaCare and the role of the federal government.

Mr. Trump, ObamaCare is one of the things you call a disaster.

TRUMP: A complete disaster, yes.

BAIER: Saying it needs to be repealed and replaced.

TRUMP: Correct.

BAIER: Now, 15 years ago, you called yourself a liberal on health care. You were for a single-payer system, a Canadian-style system.

Why were you for that then and why aren't you for it now?

TRUMP: First of all, I'd like to just go back to one. In July of 2004, I came out strongly against the war with Iraq, because it was going to destabilize the Middle East. And I'm the only one on this stage that knew that and had the vision to say it. And that's exactly what happened.

BAIER: But on ObamaCare...

TRUMP: And the Middle East became totally destabilized. So I just want to say.

As far as single payer, it works in Canada. It works incredibly well in Scotland. It could have worked in a different age, which is the age you're talking about here.

What I'd like to see is a private system without the artificial lines around every state. I have a big company with thousands and thousands of employees. And if I'm negotiating in New York or in New Jersey or in California, I have like one bidder. Nobody can bid.

You know why?

Because the insurance companies are making a fortune because they have control of the politicians, of course, with the exception of the politicians on this stage.

But they have total control of the politicians. They're making a fortune.

Get rid of the artificial lines and you will have...[timer sounds]...yourself great plans. And then we have to take care of the people that can't take care of themselves. And I will do that through a different system.

[crosstalk]

BAIER: Mr. Trump, hold up one second.

PAUL: I've got a news flash...

BAIER: All right, now, hold on, Senator Paul...

PAUL: News flash, the Republican Party's been fighting against a single-payer system...

BAIER: OK.

PAUL: -- for a decade. So I think you're on the wrong side of this if you're still arguing for a single-payer system.

TRUMP: I'm not -- I'm not are -- I don't think you heard me. You're having a hard time tonight.

BAIER: All right, let me... [applause]

Mr. Trump, it's not just your past support for single- payer health care. You've also supported a host of other liberal policies. Use -- you've also donated to several Democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton included, Nancy Pelosi.

You explained away those donations saying you did that to get business-related favors.

And you said recently, quote, "When you give, they do whatever the hell you want them to do."

TRUMP: You'd better believe it.

BAIER: So what specifically did...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's true.

BAIER: -- they do?

TRUMP: If I ask them, if I need them, you know, most of the people on this stage I've given to, just so you understand, a lot of money.

RUBIO: Not me.

HUCKABEE: Not me. [laughter] But you're welcome to give me a check, Donald if you'd like.

TRUMP: Many of them.

RUBIO: Actually, to be clear...[crosstalk]...he supported Charlie Crist.

TRUMP: Not much.

RUBIO: Hey, Charlie...[crosstalk]

TRUMP: But I...[crosstalk]

KASICH: Donald, if you...[crosstalk]

TRUMP: I have good...

KASICH: -- this campaign, I hope you will give to me.

TRUMP: Good.

KASICH: OK.

TRUMP: Sounds good. Sounds good to me, Governor.

I will tell you that our system is broken. I gave to many people, before this, before two months ago, I was a businessman. I give to everybody. When they call, I give.

And do you know what?

When I need something from them two years later, three years later, I call them, they are there for me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So what did you get?

TRUMP: And that's a broken system.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did you get from Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi?

TRUMP: Well, I'll tell you what, with Hillary Clinton, I said be at my wedding and she came to my wedding.

You know why?

She didn't have a choice because I gave. I gave to a foundation that, frankly, that foundation is supposed to do good. I didn't know her money would be used on private jets going all over the world. It was.

But...[timer sounds] [crosstalk]

BAIER: Hold on.

We're going to -- we're going to move on. [crosstalk] We'll come back to you, Governor Walker.

WALKER: Just one second on this, though.

We -- we spent a lot of time talking about Hillary Clinton and ---and pitting us back and forth.

Let's be clear, we should be talking about Hillary Clinton on that last subject, because everywhere in the world that Hillary Clinton touched is more messed up today than before she and the president [inaudible].

BAIER: We have many questions to come.

WALKER: It's true.

BAIER: Many questions to come. [applause] Governor Huckabee, on Facebook, John Pietricone asked this, "Will you abolish or take away the powers and cut the size of the EPA, the IRS, the Department of Education?"

Now, broadly... [applause] ...broadly, the size of government is a big concern for Facebook users, Facebook persons, as well as, obviously, conservatives.

But year after year, decade after decade, there are promises from Republicans to shrink government. But year after year, decade after decade, it doesn't happen.

In fact, it gets bigger, even under Republican politicians.

So the question is, at this point, is the government simply too big for any one person, even a Republican, to shrink?

HUCKABEE: It's not too big to shrink. But the problem is we have a Wall Street-to-Washington axis of power that has controlled the political climate. The donor class feeds the political class who does the dance that the donor class wants. And the result is federal government keeps getting bigger.

Every person on this stage who has been a governor will tell that you the biggest fight they had was not the other party. Wasn't even the legislature. It was the federal government, who continually put mandates on the states that we had to suck up and pay for.

And the fact is there are a lot of things happening at the federal level that are absolutely beyond the jurisdiction of the Constitution. This is power that should be shifted back to the states, whether it's the EPA, there is no role at the federal level for the Department of Education. [cheering and applause]

And I'm still one who says that we can get rid of the Internal Revenue Service if we would pass the FairTax, which is a tax on consumption rather than a tax on people's income, and move power back where the founders believed it should have been all along.

BAIER: Dr. Carson...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bret, Bret, Bret...

BAIER: Dr. Carson, do you agree with that?

CARSON: What I agree with is that we need a significantly changed taxation system. And the one that I've advocated is based on tithing, because I think God is a pretty fair guy.

And he said, you know, if you give me a tithe, it doesn't matter how much you made. If you've had a bumper crop, you don't owe me triple tithes. And if you've had no crops at all, you don't owe me no tithes. So there must be something inherently fair about that.

And that's why I've advocated a proportional tax system. You make $10 billion, you pay a billion. You make $10, you pay one. And everybody gets treated the same way. And you get rid of the deductions, you get rid of all the loopholes, and...[timer sounds]

BAIER: Governor Bush?

CARSON: And I have a lot more to say about it.

BAIER: We're going to come back to you, Dr. Carson.

Governor Bush, you are one of the few people on the stage who advocates for Common Core education standards, reading and math. A lot of people on this stage vigorously oppose a federal involvement in education. They say it should all be handled locally.

President Obama's secretary of education, Arnie Duncan, has said that most of the criticism of Common Core is due to a, quote, "fringe group of critics." Do you think that's accurate?

BUSH: No, I don't. And I don't believe the federal government should be involved in the creation of standards directly or indirectly, the creation of curriculum or content. It is clearly a state responsibility.

I'm for higher standards... [applause] ...measured in an intellectually honest way, with abundant school choice, ending social promotion. And I know how to do this because as governor of the state of Florida I created the first statewide voucher program in the country, the second statewide voucher program, in the country and the third statewide voucher program in the country.

And we had rising student achievement across the board, because high standards, robust accountability, ending social promotion in third grade, real school choice across the board, challenging the teachers union and beating them is the way to go.

And Florida's low income kids had the greatest gains inside the country. Our graduation rate improved by 50 percent. That's what I'm for.

BAIER: Senator Rubio, why is Governor Bush wrong on Common Core?

RUBIO: Well, first off, I too believe in curriculum reform. It is critically important in the 21st Century. We do need curriculum reform. And it should happen at the state and local level. That's. . . that's. . . that is where educational policy belongs, because if a parent is unhappy with what their child is being taught in school, they can go to that local school board or their state legislature, or their governor and get it changed.

Here's the problem with Common Core. The Department of Education, like every federal agency, will never be satisfied. They will not stop with it being a suggestion. They will turn it into a mandate.

In fact, what they will begin to say to local communities is, you will not get federal money unless do you things the way we want you to do it. And they will use Common Core or any other requirements that exists nationally to force it down the throats of our people in our states. [applause]

BAIER: And do you agree with your old friend?

BUSH: He is definitely my friend. And I think the states ought to create these standards. And if states want to opt out of Common Core, fine. Just make sure your standards are high.

Because today in America, a third of our kids, after we spend more per student than any country in the world other than a couple rounding errors, to be honest with you, 30 percent are college- and/or career-ready.

If we are going to compete in this world we're in today, there is no possible way we can do it with lowering expectations and dumbing down everything. Children are going to suffer and families' hearts are going to be broken that their kids won't be able to get a job in the 21st Century. [applause]

BAIER: We have many more questions coming on a host of topics, here from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Stay with us.

[video clip begins]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What would make stand out as the best choice for the Republican nomination?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do you intend to go about student loan reform?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What will be the first thing you will do to stimulate economic growth in our country and bring more jobs to the United States?

[video clip ends]

[commercial break]

BAIER: We have many more questions coming on a host of topics. Here from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Stay with us.

[video clip begins]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What would make you stand out as the best choice for the Republican nomination?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do you intend to go about student loan reform?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What will be the first thing you will do to stimulate economic growth in our country and bring more jobs to the United States?

[video clip ends]

[commercial break]

KELLY: It's just before 10:00 p.m. on the East Coast. Welcome back to Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, and the very first Republican primary debate of the 2016 presidential campaign. Ten candidates on the stage, selected based on their standing in five national polls. And tonight they are facing off, answering the questions you want asked. We hope. [laughter]

WALLACE: Gentlemen, we're obviously digging into some subjects in depth, but we're also going to change it up every once in a while throughout the next hour and have many rounds where we ask, you are not going to like it, only a couple of candidates questions on those subjects. This is the first of the many rounds, and it's about somebody whose name probably hasn't been mentioned enough so far tonight.

Governor Kasich, let me start with you. Whoever the Republican nominee -- [applause]

Whoever the Republican nominee is, it looks at least for now like whoever that nominee is, he or she, will be facing off against Hillary Clinton. You know how she will come after whoever the Republican nominee is. She will say that you, whoever it is, support the rich while she supports the middle class. That you want to suppress the rights of women and minorities. She wants to move the country forward while you, the Republicans, want to take the country back to the past.

How will you, if you're the nominee, how will you answer that and take Hillary Clinton on?

KASICH: Let's start off with my father being a mailman. So I understand the concerns of all the folks across this country, some of whom have trouble, you know, making ends meet. But I think she will come in a narrow way. The nominee of this party, if they're going to win, has got to come at it in a big way, which is pro-growth. Which is balancing budgets. You know, we were talking about it. People were saying, could we do it? I was the chairman of the Budget Committee and the lead architect the last time it happened in Washington, and when we did it we had great economic growth, we cut taxes, and we had a big surplus.

Economic growth is the key. Economic growth is the key to everything. But once you have economic growth, it is important that we reach out to people who live in the shadows, the people who don't seem to ever think that they get a fair deal. And that includes people in our minority community; that includes people who feel as though they don't have a chance to move up.

You know, America is a miracle country. And we have to restore the sense that the "Amiracle" will apply to you. Each and every one of the people in this country who's watching tonight, lift everybody, [timer sounds] unite everybody and build a stronger United States of America again. It will be and can be done.

WALLACE: I know that all of you would like to answer this question, but we're only going to ask one other candidate before we move on to a different subject, Dr. Carson.

Basically, same question to you. If Hillary Clinton is the nominee and she comes at you with that kind of line of attack, how will you take Iraq?

CARSON: If Hillary is the candidate, which I doubt, that would be a dream come true. [laughter]

But you know, the fact of the matter is, she is the epitome of the progressive -- the secular progressive movement. And she counts on the fact that people are uninformed, the Alinsky Model, taking advantage of useful idiots.

Well, I just happen to believe that people are not stupid. [applause] And the way I will come at it is to educate people, help people to actually understand that it is that progressive movement that is causing them the problems.

You know, you look at the -- the national debt and how it's being driven up. If I was trying to destroy this country, what I would do is find a way to drive wedges between all the people, drive the debt to an unsustainable level, and then step off the stage as a world leader and let our enemies increase while we decreased our capacity as a military person. And that's what she's doing. [applause]

WALLACE: Gentlemen, we're going to turn now to the subject of the economy, jobs and money and the government. And Governor Bush, I'm going to start with you.

You have made a bold promise in your announcement. You have promised four percent economic growth and 19 million new jobs if you are fortunate enough to serve two terms as president.

That many jobs, 19 million, would be triple what your father and your brother accomplished together. And four percent growth, the last president to average that was Lyndon Johnson during the height of the Vietnam War. So question, how on Earth specifically would you pull that off?

BUSH: We've done it 27 times since World War II. I think we need to lift our spirits and have high, lofty expectations for this great country of ours.

The new normal of two percent that the left is saying you can't do anything about is so dangerous for our country. There's 6 million people living in poverty today, more than when Barack Obama got elected. 6.5 million people are working part-time, most of whom want to work full-time. We've created rules and taxes on top of every aspiration of people, and the net result is we're not growing fast, income's not growing. A four percent growth strategy means you fix a convoluted tax code. You get in and you change every aspect of regulations that are job killers. You get rid of Obamacare and replace it with something that doesn't suppress wages and kill jobs. [applause]

You embrace the energy revolution in our country. This president and Hillary Clinton, who can't even say she's for the XL pipeline even after she's left? Give me a break. Of course we're for it. We should be for these things to create high sustained economic growth. And frankly, [timer sounds] fixing our immigration system and turning it into an economic driver is part of this as well. We can do this. [applause]

WALLACE: Governor Walker. [applause] Governor Walker, when you ran for governor of Wisconsin back in 2010, you promised that you would create 250,000 jobs in your first term, first four years. In fact, Wisconsin added barely half that and ranked 35th in the country in job growth. Now you're running for president, and you're promising an economic plan in which everyone will earn a piece of the American dream.

Given your record in Wisconsin, why should voters believe you?

WALKER: Well, the voters in Wisconsin elected me last year for the third time because they wanted someone who aimed high, not aimed low.

Before I came in, the unemployment rate was over eight percent. It's now down to 4.6 percent. We've more than made up for the jobs that were lost during the recession. And the rate in which people are working is almost five points higher than it is nationally.

You know, people like Hillary Clinton think you grow the economy by growing Washington. One report last year showed that six of the top 10 wealthiest counties in America were in or around Washington, D.C.. I think most of us in America understand that people, not the government creates jobs. And one of the best things we can do is get the government out of the way, repeal Obamacare, put in -- reign in all the out of control regulations, put in place an all of the above energy policy, give people the education, the skills that the need to succeed, and lower the tax rate and reform the tax code. That's what I'll do as president, just like I did in Wisconsin. [applause]

WALLACE: Governor Christie, I want to engage you and Governor Huckabee in a subject that is a big issue in both of your campaigns, and that is entitlement reform.

You say that you -- to save the system that you want to raise the retirement age -- have to raise the retirement age, and to cut benefits for Social Security and Medicare, and you say that some of the candidates here on the stage are lying.

Governor Huckabee says he can save Social Security and Medicare without doing any of that. Is he lying?

CHRISTIE: No, he's not lying, he's just wrong.

I mean, so, there's a difference -- I'm the only guy on this stage who's put out a detailed, 12 point plan on entitlement reform and here's why -- because 71% of federal spending right now is on entitlements, and debt service, 71%. And we have spent the last hour and five minutes talking about the other 29%, and no time on the 71%, and that makes no sense.

Now, let me tell you exactly what we would do on Social Security. Yes, we'd raise the retirement age two years, and phase it in over 25 years, that means we'd raise it one month a year for 25 years when we're all living longer, and living better lives.

Secondly, we would means test Social Security for those who are making over $200,000 dollars a year in retirement income, and have $4 to $5 million dollars in liquid assets saved. They don't need that Social Security check. Social Security is meant to be -- to make sure that no one who's worked hard, and played by the rules, and paid into the system grows old in poverty in America.

If we don't deal with this problem, it will bankrupt our country, or lead to massive tax increases, neither one that we want in this country. [applause]

WALLACE: Governor Huckabee?

You say that changing entitlements, the kind of thing that Governor Christie is talking about, would be breaking a promise to the American people, and you say that you can keep those programs, save Social Security, save Medicare, without those kinds of reforms through a FairTax, which is a broad tax on consumption. Please explain to Governor Christie how that would work, and how you could save these programs without the kind of painful reforms he says we need?

HUCKABEE: Well, let's all be reminded, 60 million Americans are on Social Security, 60 million. A third of those people depend on 90% of their income from Social Security. Nobody in this country is on Social Security because they made the decision when they were starting work at 14 that they wanted to trust some of their money with the government.

The government took it out of their check whether they wanted them to or not. And, if person goes to 65, they're going to spend 51 years with the government reaching into their pocket at every paycheck.

Now, here's the point, whose fault is it that the system is screwed up? Is it the recipients, or is it the government? And, if Congress wants to mess with the retirement program, why don't we let them start by changing their retirement program, and not have one, instead of talking about getting rid of Social Security and Medicare that was robbed $700 billion dollars to pay for Obamacare.

It's always that the government figures that they can do this off the backs of people, many of whom are poor, and depend on that money, and I just think it's fundamentally lying to the people and stealing from them, and we shouldn't be doing it. [applause]

CHRISTIE: Chris...

WALLACE: ...Thirty seconds.

CHRISTIE: Yeah, sure. And, I don't disagree with ending Congress' retirement program. I'm a governor, I don't have a retirement program in my state, and I don't disagree with that. But, here's the news to the American people, he's complaining about the lying and stealing. The lying and stealing has already occurred. The trust fund is filled with IOU's. We can't fix the problem just by ending Congress's retirement, that's worth about, "this" much.

We need to go at the fundamental problem, and the fundamental problem is that this system is broken. It has been stolen from. We have been lied to, [timer sounds] and we need a strong leader to tell the truth and fix...

WALLACE: ...Alright, this is it. Thirty Seconds, finally.

HUCKABEE: Well, you ask about how we fund it. One of the reasons that Social Security is in so much trouble is that the only funding stream comes from people who get a wage. The people who get wages is declining dramatically. Most of the income in this country is made by people at the top who get dividends and -- and capital gains.

The FairTax transforms the process by which we fund Social Security and Medicare because the money paid in consumption is paid by everybody, including illegals, prostitutes, pimps, drug dealers, all the people [timer sounds] that are freeloading off the system now. [applause]

That's why it ought to be a transformed system. [applause]

WALLACE: All right. Enough. [applause]

Mr. Trump.

KELLY: [off mike] Sounds like somebody's a little R-rated. [applause]

WALLACE: Mr. Trump, you talk a lot about how you are the person on this stage to grow the economy, I want to ask you about your business records. From corporations, Trump corporations, casinos and hotels, have declared bankruptcy four times over the last quarter-century.

UNKNOWN: ...In 2011, you told Forbes Magazine this: "I've used the laws of the country to my advantage." But at the same time, financial experts involved in those bankruptcies say that lenders to your companies lost billions of dollars.

Question sir, with that record, why should we trust you to run the nation's business?

TRUMP: Because I have used the laws of this country just like the greatest people that you read about every day in business have used the laws of this country, the chapter laws, to do a great job for my company, for myself, for my employees, for my family, et cetera.

I have never gone bankrupt, by the way. I have never.

But out of hundreds of deals...

WALLACE: No, but the concept sir...

TRUMP: Excuse me. Excuse me.

WALLACE: ... that's your line, but your companies have gone bankrupt.

TRUMP: Excuse me, what am I saying? Out of hundreds of deals that I've done, hundreds, on four occasions I've taken advantage of the laws of this country, like other people. I'm not going to name their names because I'm not going to embarrass, but virtually every person that you read about on the front page of the business sections, they've used the law.

The difference is, when somebody else uses those laws, nobody writes about it. When I use it, they say, "Trump, Trump, Trump." The fact is, I built a net worth of more than $10 billion. I have a great, great company. I employ thousands of people. And I'm very proud of the job I did.

Again Chris, hundreds and hundreds of deals. Four times, I've taken advantage of the laws. And frankly, so has everybody else in my position.

WALLACE: Well sir, let's just talk about the latest example...[applause]...which is Trump Entertainment Resorts, which went bankrupt in 2009. In that case alone, lenders to your company lost over $1 billion and more than 1,100 people were laid off.

TRUMP: Well, I...

WALLACE: Is that the way that you'd run the country?

TRUMP: Let me just tell you about the lenders. First of all, these lenders aren't babies. These are total killers. These are not the nice, sweet little people that you think, OK? [laughter and applause] You know, I mean you're living in a world of the make-believe, Chris, you want to know the truth. [applause] And I had the good sense to leave Atlantic City, which by the way, Caesars just went bankrupt. Every company, Chris can tell you, every company virtually in Atlantic City went bankrupt. [laughter] Every company.

And let me just tell you. I had the good sense, and I've gotten a lot of credit in the financial pages, seven years ago I left Atlantic City before it totally cratered, and I made a lot of money in Atlantic City, and I'm very proud of it. I want to tell you that. Very, very proud of it.

WALLACE: So...

TRUMP: And by the way, this country right now owes $19 trillion. And they need somebody like me to straighten out that mess.[applause]

WALLACE: Senator Rubio. Senator Rubio, more than 3,000 people sent us questions about the economy and jobs on Facebook. And here is a video question from Tania Cioloko from Philadelphia. Here she is.[begin video clip]

QUESTION: Please describe one action you would do to make the economic environment more favorable for small businesses and entrepreneurs and anyone dreaming of opening their own business.

[close video clip]

RUBIO: That's a great question.

WALLACE: Senator, how do you answer Tania?

RUBIO: That's a great question.

First of all, it begins by having leaders that recognize that the economy we live in today is dramatically different from the one we had five years ago. It's an economy that now has placed us in global competition with dozens of other countries around the world.

Now, the big companies that have connections with Washington, they can affect policies to help them, but the small companies like the one Tania is talking about, they're the ones that are struggling.

The first thing we need to do is we need to even out the tax code for small businesses so that we lower their tax rate to 25 percent, just as we need to lower it for all businesses.

We need to have a regulatory budget in America that limits the amount of regulations on our economy. We need to repeal and replace Obamacare and we need to improve higher education so that people can have access to the skills they need for 21st century jobs.

And last but not least, we need to repeal Dodd-Frank. It is eviscerating small businesses and small banks. [applause] 20 — over 40 percent of small and mid-size banks that loan money to small businesses have been wiped out over the — since Dodd-Frank has passed. We need to repeal and replace Dodd-Frank. We need to make America fair again for all businesses, but especially those being run by small business owners.

WALLACE: Senator Rubio, thank you. [applause]

BAIER: Gentlemen, another question for a few of you.

Yesterday, just yesterday, President Obama criticized Republican lawmakers trying to block the Iran deal, calling them knee-jerk partisans, adding that hardliners in Iran who chant "death to America" were, quote, "making common cause with the Republican caucus."

Here's what two of your opponents on the 5 p.m. debate stage said about Iran.

[video clip begins]

PERRY: I will tell you one thing: I would whole lot rather had Carly Fiorina over there doing our negotiation than John Kerry. Maybe we would've gotten a deal where we didn't give everything away.

But the issue for us is to have a Congress that stands up and says not only no, but hell no, to this money going to a regime that is going to use it for terror...

[video clip ends]

[video clip begins]

FIORINA: When America does not lead, the world is a dangerous and a tragic place. This is a bad deal. Obama broke every rule of negotiation.

Yes, our allies are not perfect, but Iran is at the heart of most of the evil that is going on in the Middle East through their proxy.

[video clip ends]

BAIER: Now, I wanna ask a few of you this. First, Governor Walker.

You've said that you would tear up the Iran deal on day one. If this deal is undone, what then?

WALKER: Well, first off, let's remember. I still remember, as a kid, tying a yellow ribbon around a tree in front of my house during the 444 days that Iran held 52 Americans hostage. Iran is not a place we should be doing business with.

To me, you terminate the deal on day one, you reinstate the sanctions authorized by Congress, you go to Congress and put in place even more crippling sanctions in place, and then you convince our allies to do the same.

This is not just bad with Iran, this is bad with ISIS. It is tied together, and, once and for all, we need a leader who's gonna stand up and do something about it.

It's yet another example of the failed foreign policy of the Obama-Clinton doctrine. [applause]

BAIER: Senator Paul, would you tear up the deal on day one?

PAUL: I oppose the Iranian deal, and will vote against it. I don't think that the president negotiated from a position of strength, but I don't immediately discount negotiations.

I'm a Reagan conservative. Reagan did negotiate with the Soviets. But you have to negotiate from a position of strength, and I think President Obama gave away too much, too early.

If there's going to be a negotiation, you're going to have to believe somehow that the Iranians are going to comply. And I asked this question to John Kerry, I said "do you believe they're trustworthy?" and he said "No."

And I said, "well, how are we gonna get them to comply?" I would have never released the sanctions before there was consistent evidence of compliance.

BAIER: Governor Huckabee, what do you think about what Senator Paul just said?

HUCKABEE: Ronald Reagan said "trust, but verify." President Obama is "trust, but vilify." He trusts our enemies and vilifies everyone who disagrees with him.

And the reason we disagree with him has nothing to do with party. [applause]

[crosstalk]

HUCKABEE: It has to do with the incredibly dangerous place that this world is gonna be as a result of a deal in which we got nothing.

We didn't even get four hostages out. We got nothing, and Iran gets everything they want.

We said we would have anywhere, anytime negotiations and inspections, we gave that up. We said that we would make sure that they didn't have any nuclear capacity, we gave that up.

The president can't tell us what we got. I'll tell you what the world got. The world has a burgeoning nuclear power that didn't, as the Soviets, say "we might defend ourselves in a war."

What the Iranians have said is, "we will wipe Israel off the face of the map, and we will bring death to America." When someone points a gun at your head [timer sounds] and loads it, by God, you ought to take them seriously, and we need to take that seriously.

BAIER: Thank you, gentlemen.

KELLY: Well, the first debate night of the 2016 presidential campaign continues from Cleveland after a short time-out. Stick around. Social issues, next.

[commercial break]

KELLY: Senator Rubio, you favor a rape and incest exception to abortion bans. Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York just said yesterday those exceptions are preposterous. He said they discriminate against an entire class of human beings. If you believe that life begins at conception, as you say you do, how do you justify ending a life just because it begins violently, through no fault of the baby?

RUBIO: Well, Megyn, first of all, I'm not sure that that's a correct assessment of my record. I would go on to add that I believe all--

KELLY: You don't favor a rape and incest exception?

RUBIO: I have never said that. And I have never advocated that. What I have advocated is that we pass law in this country that says all human life at every stage of its development is worthy of protection.

In fact, I think that law already exists. It is called the Constitution of the United States. [applause]

And let me go further. I believe that every single human being is entitled to the protection of our laws, whether they can vote or not. Whether they can speak or not. Whether they can hire a lawyer or not. Whether they have a birth certificate or not. And I think future generations will look back at this history of our country and call us barbarians for murdering millions of babies who we never gave them a chance to live. [applause]

KELLY: Mr. Trump, in 1999, you said you were, quote, "very pro- choice." Even supporting partial-birth abortion. You favored an assault weapons ban as well. In 2004, you said in most cases you identified as a Democrat. Even in this campaign, your critics say you often sound more like a Democrat than a Republican, calling several of your opponents on the stage things like clowns and puppets. When did you actually become a Republican? [ catcalls]

TRUMP: I don't think they like me very much. I'll tell you what. I've evolved on many issues over the years. And you know who else has? Is Ronald Reagan evolved on many issues.

And I am pro-life. And if you look at the question, I was in business. They asked me a question as to pro-life or choice. And I said if you let it run, that I hate the concept of abortion. I hate the concept of abortion. And then since then, I've very much evolved.

And what happened is friends of mine years ago were going to have a child, and it was going to be aborted. And it wasn't aborted. And that child today is a total superstar, a great, great child. And I saw that. And I saw other instances.

And I am very, very proud to say that I am pro-life.

As far as being a Republican is concerned, I come from a place, New York City, which is virtually, I mean, it is almost exclusively Democrat. And I have really started to see some of the negatives -- as an example, and I have a lot of liking for this man, but the last number of months of [timer sounds] his brother's administration were a catastrophe. And unfortunately, those few months gave us President Obama. And you can't be happy about that. [applause]

KELLY: Governor Bush, I want to ask you, on the subject of name calling of your fellow candidates, a story appeared today quoting an anonymous GOP donor who said you called Mr. Trump a clown, a buffoon, something else that cannot be repeated on television.

BUSH: None of which is true.

KELLY: Is it true?

BUSH: No. It's not true. But I have said that Mr. Trump's language is divisive.

I want to win. I want one of these people here or the ones at 5:00, to be the next president of the United States.

We're not going on win by doing what Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton do each and every day. Dividing the country. Saying, creating a grievance kind of environment. We're going to win when we unite people with a hopeful, optimistic message. I have that message because I was a governor of a state that saw people lifted up, because we had high sustained economic growth. Our economy grew at double the rate of the nation. We created 1.3 million jobs. We led the nation seven out of those eight years. We were only one of two states that went to AAA bond rating. I cut taxes, $19 billion. If you do that and apply conservative principles the right way, you create an environment where everybody rises up. That's how we're going to win. Campaigning in places to give people hope that their life is better because too many people are suffering today in America.

KELLY: Mr. Trump, 30 seconds.

TRUMP: First of all, Jeb, I am very happy that you denied that, and I appreciate that very much. He is a true gentleman. He really is.

One thing he did say, and I mean that. The one thing he did say about me, however, was my tone. And I also understand that. But when you have people that are cutting Christians' heads off, when you have a world that the border and at so many places, that it is medieval times, we've never -- it almost has to be as bad as it ever was in terms of the violence and the horror, we don't have time for tone. [timer sounds] We have to go out and get the job done. [applause]

KELLY: The subject of gay marriage and religious liberty. Governor Kasich, if you had a son or daughter who was gay or lesbian, how would you explain to them your opposition to same-sex marriage?

KASICH: Well, look, I'm an old-fashioned person here, and I happen to believe in traditional marriage. But I've also said the court has ruled --

KELLY: How would you -- how would you explain it to a child?

KASICH: Wait, Megyn, the court has ruled, and I said we'll accept it. And guess what, I just went to a wedding of a friend of mine who happens to be gay. Because somebody doesn't think the way I do, doesn't mean that I can't care about them or can't love them. So if one of my daughters happened to be that, of course I would love them and I would accept them. Because you know what? [applause]

That's what we're taught when we have strong faith. [applause]

So the issues like that, issues like that are planted to divide us. I think the simple fact of the matter is, and this is where I would agree with Jeb, and I've been saying it all along, we need to give everybody a chance, treat everybody with respect, and let them share in this great American dream that we have, Megan. So, look, I'm going to love my daughters, I'm going to love them no matter what they do. Because, you know what, [timer sounds] God gives me unconditional love. I'm going to give it to my family and my friends and the people around me.

KELLY: Senator Paul, in the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling on same sex marriage, Carol Fox on Facebook want to know the following. Quote: what will you do to ensure Christians are not prosecuted for speaking out against gay marriage and will Christians be forced to conduct business that conflicts with their religious beliefs?

PAUL: Look, I don't want my marriage or my guns registered in Washington. And if people have an opinion, it's a religious opinion that is heartly felt, obviously they should be allowed to practice that and no government should interfere with them. One of the things, one of the things that really got to me was the thing in Houston where you had the government, the mayor actually, trying to get the sermons of ministers. When the government tries to invade the church to enforce its own opinion on marriage, that's when it's time to resist.

KELLY: Governor Walker, many in the Black Lives Matter movement, and beyond, believe that overly-aggressive police officers targeting young African Americans is the civil rights issue of our time. Do you agree? And if so, how do you plan to address it? And if not, why not?

WALKER: Well, I think the most important thing we can do when it comes to policing -- it's something you've had a guest on who's a friend of mine Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clark, who's talked to me about this many times in the past -- it's about training. It's about making sure that law enforcement professionals, not only in the way in to their positions but all the way through their time, have the proper training, particularly when it comes to the use of force. And that we protect and stand up and support those men and women who are doing their jobs in law enforcement. And for the very few that don't, that there are consequences to show that we treat everyone the same here in America.

KELLY: Thank you.

MODERATOR: Coming up more of our debate, including questions about President Obama's foreign policy and these guys and their better ideas. Coming up.

[commercial break]

BAIER: Welcome back to Cleveland. Our next topic is foreign policy. Candidates, you may not have seen the late developing news today our Fox Pentagon team broke earlier this evening about a top Iranian general traveling to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

His name is General Qassem Soleimani, he's blamed for hundreds of U.S. troop's deaths in Iraq, and Afghanistan. His trip to Russia appears to directly violate U.N. Security Council resolutions to confine him to Iran.

So, Mr. Trump, if you were president, how would you respond to this?

TRUMP: I would be so different from what you have right now. Like, the polar opposite. We have a president who doesn't have a clue. I would say he's incompetent, but I don't want to do that because that's not nice. [laughter]

But if you look at the deals we make, whether it's the nuclear deal with 24 hour periods -- and by the way, before you get to the 24 hours, you have to go through a system. You look at Sgt. Bergdahl, we get Bergdahl, a traitor, and they get five of the big, great killers leaders that they want. We have people in Washington that don't know what they're doing. Now... [applause; scream from audience]

I agree. [applause]

Now, with Iran, we're making a deal, you would say, we want him. We want out our prisoners. We want all these things, and we don't get anything. We're giving them $150 billion dollars plus, they are going to be -- I'll tell you what, if Iran was a stock, you folks should go out and buy it right now because you'll quadruple -- this, what's happening [timer sounds] in Iran, is a disgrace, and it's going to lead to destruction in large portions of the world. [applause]

BAIER: Another new development today, Senior Defense officials tell Fox they strongly suspect Russia was behind the cyber attack on the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs office...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ...Please.

BAIER: ...email. This comes in the wake of the Director of National Intelligence blaming the Chinese for the largest ever cyber attack, stealing personal data of tens of millions of Americans.

Senator Cruz, in your view, have Russia and China committed acts of cyber war, and if you were president, what would you do about it?

CRUZ: Well, Bret, of course they have, and over the last six and a half years we've seen the consequences of the Obama-Clinton foreign policy. Leading from behind is a disaster. We have abandoned and alienated our friends and allies, and our enemies are stronger. Radical Islam is on the rise, Iran's on the verge of acquiring a nuclear weapon, China is waging cyber warfare against America, Russia -- General Soleimani, you just mentioned, the Iranian general is the head of the al Quds forces.

He's directly responsible for the murder of over 500 American servicemen in Iraq, and part of this Iranian deal was lifting the international sanctions on General Soleimani. The day General Soleimani flew back from Moscow to Iran was the day we believed that Russia used cyber warfare against the Joint Chiefs. We need a new commander in chief that will stand up to our enemies, and that will have credibility... [applause]

It is worth emphasizing that Iran released our hostages in 1981 the day Ronald Reagan was sworn into office. [applause]

BAIER: Dr. Carson, in August of 2012 President Obama famously declared Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons, quote, "that's a redline for us," and that there would be enormous consequences.

One year later, with overwhelming evidence the Assad had, in fact, used chemical weapons and crossed that red line, President Obama declined to use military force against the Assad regime.

As president, would you have used military force there?

CARSON: Well, what we have to stop and think about is that we have weakened ourselves militarily to such an extent that if affects all of our military policies. Our Navy is at its smallest size since 1917; our Air Force, since 1940. In recent testimony, the commandant of the Marine Corps said half of the non-deployed units were not ready and you know, the sequester is cutting the heart out of our personnel. Our generals are retiring because they don't want to be part of this, and at the same time, our enemies are increasing.

Our -- our friends can't trust us anymore. You know, Ukraine was a nuclear-armed state. They gave away their nuclear arms with the understanding that we would protect them. We won't even give them offensive weapons.

You know, we turned our back on Israel, our ally. You know, in a situation like that, of course Obama's not going to be able to do anything. I would shore up our military first, because if you don't get the military right, nothing else is going to work. [applause]

BAIER: Governor Walker, as president, what would you do if Russian President Vladimir Putin started a campaign to destabilize NATO allies Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, mirroring the actions Putin took at the early days of Ukraine?

WALKER: Well first off, for the cyber attack with Russia the other day, it's sad to think right now, but probably the Russian and Chinese government know more about Hillary Clinton's e-mail server than do the members of the United States Congress. [laughter and applause]

And -- and that has put our national security at risk. If I am president, he won't think about that. You know, Putin believes in the old Lenin adage: you probe with bayonets. When you find mush, you push. When you find steel, you stop.

Under Obama and Clinton, we found a lot of mush over the last two years. We need to have a national security that puts steel in front of our enemies. I would send weapons to Ukraine. I would work with NATO to put forces on the eastern border of Poland and the Baltic nations, and I would reinstate, put in place back in the missile defense system that we had in Poland and in the Czech Republic. [applause]

We find steel.

BAIER: Governor -- Governor Huckabee, the culture of the American military is definitely changing. Women are moving into combat roles. Don't Ask, Don't Tell has obviously been dropped. And now Defense Secretary Ashton Carter recently directed the military to prepare for a moment when it is welcoming transgender persons to serve openly.

As commander in chief, how would you handle that?

HUCKABEE: The military is not a social experiment. The purpose of the military is kill people and break things. [applause]

It's not to transform the culture by trying out some ideas that some people think would make us a different country and more diverse. The purpose is to protect America. I'm not sure how paying for transgender surgery for soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines makes our country safer.

We've reduced the military by 25 percent... [applause] ... under President Obama. The disaster is that we've forgotten why we have a military. The purpose of it is to make sure that we protect every American, wherever that American is, and if an American is calling out for help, whether it's in Benghazi or at the border, then we ought to be able to answer it.

We've not done that because we've decimated our military. We're flying B-52s. The most recent one that was put in service was November of 1962. A lot of the B-52s we're flying, we've only got 44 that are in service combat ready, and the fact is, most of them are older than me. And that's pretty scary.

[laughter and applause]

BAIER: Senator Paul, the first budget you proposed as senator cut all financial aid to Israel. You have since changed your view on that issue. What made you change your mind.

PAUL: Well, let's be clear, I'm the only one on the stage who actually has a five-year budget that balances. I've put pencil to paper...

UNKNOWN: I do.

PAUL: ... and I've said -- and I've said I would cut spending, and I've said exactly where. Each one of my budgets has taken a meat axe to foreign aid, because I think we ought to quit sending it to countries that hate us. [applause]

I think we ought to quit sending it to countries that burn our flag. Israel is not one of those. But even Benjamin Netanyahu said that ultimately, they will be stronger when they're independent. My position is exactly the same.

We shouldn't borrow money from China to send it anywhere, but why don't we start with eliminating aid to our enemies.

BAIER: OK. But you still say that Israel could be one of the countries that is cut from financial aid?

PAUL: I still say exactly what my original opinion is. Do you borrow money from China to send it to anyone? Out of your surplus, you can help your allies, and Israel is a great ally. And this is no particular animus of Israel, but what I will say, and I will say over and over again, we cannot give away money we don't have.

We do not project power from bankruptcy court. We're borrowing a million dollars a minute. [applause]

It's got to stop somewhere.

BAIER: Governor Christie, what do you think of that answer?

CHRISTIE: Well, listen.

You know, if we want to deal with these issues, we have to deal with them in a way that makes sense.

I agree with what Dr. Carson said earlier. The first thing we need to do to make America stronger is to strengthen our military, and I put out a really specific plan: no less than 500,000 active duty soldiers in the Army. No less than 185,000 active duty marines in the Marine Corps. Bring us to a 350 ship Navy again, and modernize the Ohio class of submarines, and bring our Air Force back to 2,600 aircraft that are ready to go.

Those are the kind of things that are going to send a clear message around the world. Those are the things that we need to start working on immediately to make our country stronger and make it better. Those are the things that we need to be able to be doing. And as we move towards dealing with foreign aid, I don't disagree with Senator Paul's position that we shouldn't be funding our enemies. But I absolutely believe that Israel is a priority to be able to fund and keep them strong and safe after eight years of this administration. [applause]

BAIER: Governor, thank you.

CRUZ: Brett, can I -- Brett, can I jump in on this one?

BAIER: Senator, we're going to finish up with some more questions, thank you.

KELLY: We have to stand you by, because after the break, we're going to let the candidates make their closing statements, their final thoughts, and . . . God.

Stay tuned for that.

[commercial break]

KELLY: Welcome back.

In our final moments here together, we're going to allow the candidates to offer their final thoughts. But first, we want to ask them an interesting closing question from Chase Norton on Facebook, who wants to know this of the candidates: "I want to know if any of them have received a word from God on what they should do and take care of first."

Senator Cruz, start from you. Any word from God?

CRUZ: Well, I am blessed to receive a word from God every day in receiving the scriptures and reading the scriptures. And God speaks through the Bible. [applause]

I'm the son of a pastor and evangelist and I've described many times how my father, when I was a child, was an alcoholic. He wasn't a Christian. And my father left my mother and left me when I was just three years old.

And someone invited him to Clay Road Baptist Church. And he gave his heart to Jesus and it turned him around. And he got on a plane and he flew back to my mother and me. [applause]

I would also note that the scripture tells us, "you shall know them by their fruit." We see lots of "campaign conservatives." But if we're going to win in 2016, we need a consistent conservative, someone who has been a fiscal conservative, a social conservative, a national security conservative.

There are real differences among the candidates on issues like amnesty, like Obamacare, like religious liberty, like life and marriage. And I have been proud to fight and stand for religious liberty, to stand against Planned Parenthood, to defend life for my entire career.

And I will be proud to continue to do so as president of the United States.

[cheering and applause]

KELLY: Governor Kasich, same question.

KASICH: Well, Megyn, my father was a mailman. His father was a coal miner. My mother's mother could barely speak English. And their son today stands on this podium in the great state of Ohio not only as the governor, but a candidate for president of the United States. [cheering and applause]

I do believe in miracles. You know, I've had a lot of elections. But my elections are really not about campaigns. I tell my people that these are about a movement. And a movement to do what? To restore common sense. A movement to do things like provide economic growth. And a movement not to let anybody be behind.

You know, today the country is divided. You asked a question about the police and the difficulty in communities. We've got to unite our country again, because we're stronger when we are united and we are weaker when we are divided.

And we've got to listen to other people's voices, respect them, but keep in mind, and I believe in terms of the things that I've read in my lifetime, the Lord'is not picking us. But because of how we respect human rights, because that we are a good force in the world, he wants America to be strong.

He wants America to succeed. And he wants America to lead. And nothing is more important to me than my family, my faith, and my friends. [cheering and applause]

KELLY: Governor Walker, same question.

WALKER: Well, thanks, Megyn.

I'm certainly an imperfect man. And it's only by the blood of Jesus Christ that I've been redeemed from my sins. So I know that God doesn't call me to do a specific thing, God hasn't given me a list, a Ten Commandments, if you will, of things to act on the first day.

What God calls us to do is follow his will. And ultimately that's what I'm going to try to do. And I hope people've seen it in my state, even in the big challenges I took on when I had over 100,000 protesters in and around our capital, trying to do what I thought was the right thing.

It wasn't just how I took on those political battles. It was ultimately how I acted. Not responding in kind. Not lashing out. But just being decent going forward and living my life in a way that would be a testimony to him and our faith. [applause]

KELLY: Senator Rubio, I want to ask you the same question. But I do want to mention, a woman just came here to the stage and asked, what about the veterans? I want to hear more about what these candidates are going to do for our nation's veterans.

So I put the question to you about God and the veterans, which you may find to be related.

RUBIO: Well, first, let me say I think God has blessed us. He has blessed the Republican Party with some very good candidates. The Democrats can't even find one. [laughter] [cheering and applause]

And I believe God has blessed our country. This country has been extraordinarily blessed. And we have honored that blessing. And that's why God has continued to bless us.

And he has blessed us with young men and women willing to risk their lives and sometimes die in uniform for the safety and security of our people.

Unfortunately today we have a VA that does not do enough for them. I am proud that last year we helped change the law. We changed the law to give the power to the VA secretary the ability to fire any executive that isn't doing their job.

And it is outrageous they've only fired one person to date. When I'm president of the United States, we're going to have a VA that cares more about our veterans than about the bureaucrats who work at the VA. [cheering and applause]

KELLY: Dr. Carson, a question to you about God and his role, but also, one of the issues that the public was very interested in, and we touched on it earlier, is race relations in this country, and how divided we seem right now. And what, if anything, you can do -- you would do as the next president to help heal that divide.

CARSON: Well, I think the bully pulpit is a wonderful place to start healing that divide. You know, we have the purveyors of hatred who take every single incident between people of two races and try to make a race war out of it, and drive wedges into people. And this does not need to be done.

What we need to think about instead -- you know, I was asked by an NPR reporter once, why don't I talk about race that often. I said it's because I'm a neurosurgeon. And she thought that was a strange response. And you say -- I said, you see, when I take someone to the operating room, I'm actually operating on the thing that makes them who they are. The skin doesn't make them who they are. The hair doesn't make them who they are. And it's time for us to move beyond that. [applause]

Because...[applause]...our strength as a nation comes in our unity. We are the United States of America, not the divided states. And those who want to destroy us are trying to divide us, and we shouldn't let them do it. [applause]

BAIER: Now each candidate will make a closing statement. You'll all have 30 seconds to make a closing statement for this debate. We'll start with Ohio Governor John Kasich.

KASICH: You know, tonight we hear about what people want to do. I want to tell you what I've done. I was a member of the Armed Services Committee for 18 years. I spent a big chunk of my life studying national security issues and our role in the world.

No. 2. I was the chairman of the House Budget Committee and one of the chief architects the last time we balanced a budget, and it was the first time we had done it since man walked on the moon. We had a $5 trillion surplus and we cut taxes.

I spent ten years in the private sector, actually learning how business works. And now I'm the governor of Ohio, and I inherited a state that was on the brink [timer sounds] of dying. And we turned it all around with jobs and balanced budgets and rising credit and tax cuts, and the state is unified, and people have hope again in Ohio. [applause]

KELLY: Governor Christie?

CHRISTIE: Well, thank you, Megyn. Listen, I was born into a middle class family in New Jersey. My dad came home from serving in the Army after having lost his father, worked in the Breyers ice cream plant in Newark, New Jersey. Was the first person to graduate from college. He put himself through college at night. My mom was a secretary.

I was appointed United States attorney on September 10, 2001. And I spent the next seven years of my career fighting terrorism and putting terrorists in jail.

I'm a conservative, pro-life governor in a state where it is really tough to be both. A state like New Jersey, with lots of Democrats, but still we cut taxes, we balanced budgets. We fought [timer sounds] the teacher's union.

This president has had weak leadership, which has led to bad choices. We have got to stop worrying about being loved and start worrying about being respected. And that's exactly how I'll lead our country. [applause]

WALLACE: Senator Paul, closing statement.

PAUL: I'm a different kind of Republican. I've introduced a five-year balanced budget. I've introduced the largest tax cut in our history. I stood for ten and a half hours on the Senate floor to defend your right to be left alone. [applause]

But I've also gone to Chicago. I've gone to Detroit. I've been to Ferguson, I've been to Baltimore, because I want our party to be bigger, better and bolder, and I'm the only one that leads Hillary Clinton in five states that were won by President Obama. I'm a different kind of Republican. [applause]

BAIER: Senator Marco Rubio.

RUBIO: Thank you. You know, both of my parents were born into poor families on the island of Cuba. They came to America because it was the only place where people like them could have a chance. Here in this country, they never made it big, but the very purpose of their life was to give us the chance to do all the things they never could.

My father was a bartender. And the journey from the back of that bar to this stage tonight, to me, that is the essence of the American dream. It is what makes our nation different. And I'm running for president because I want that to still be possible for the people trying to do that now. I run for president because I believe that we can't just save the American dream; we can expand it to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. And that's why I'm asking for your vote. So we can make America greater than it has ever been. And make of this century a new American century. [applause]

BAIER: Thank you, Senator.

KELLY: Senator Ted Cruz.

CRUZ: If I'm elected president, let me tell you about my first day in office. The first thing I intend to do is to rescind every illegal and unconstitutional executive action taken by Barack Obama. [applause]

The next thing I intend to do is instruct the Department of Justice to open an investigation into these videos and to prosecute Planned Parenthood for any criminal violations. [applause]

The next thing I intend to do is instruct the Department of Justice and the IRS to start (sic) persecuting religious liberty, and then intend to cancel the Iran deal, and finally move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. [applause]

I will keep my word. My father fled Cuba, and I will fight to defend liberty because my family knows what it's like to lose it.

WALLACE: Dr. Carson, closing statement.

CARSON: Well, I haven't said anything about me being the only one to do anything, so let me try that.

I'm the only one to separate Siamese twins...[laughter]

The -- the only one to operate on babies while they were still in mother's womb, the only one to take out half of a brain, although you would think, if you go to Washington, that someone had beat me to it. [laughter]

But I -- but I'm very hopeful that I'm not the only one who's willing to pick up the baton of freedom, because freedom is not free, and we must fight for it every day. Every one of us must fight for it, because we're fighting for our children and the next generation. [applause]

BAIER: Governor Mike Huckabee, closing statement.

HUCKABEE: It seems like this election has been a whole lot about a person who's very high in the polls, that doesn't have a clue about how to govern.

A person who has been filled with scandals, and who could not lead, and, of course, I'm talking about Hillary Clinton. [laughter]

I think America...

UNKNOWN: Thank you.

HUCKABEE: ...is in trouble, but it's not beyond repair. But it's going to take leadership who sees the greatness of this country, and who believes that once again we can be one nation, under God.

I'll be my best to do that, and thank you for your support. [applause]

KELLY: Governor Scott Walker.

WALKER: Thanks.

I'm guy with a wife and two kids, and Harley. One article called me "aggressively normal."

I ran for governor because I was worried about my kids' future. Then, I took on the big government union bosses, and we won. They tried to recall me, and we won. They target us again, and we won.

We balanced the budget, cut taxes, and turned our state around with big, bold reforms.

It wasn't too late for Wisconsin, and it's not too late for America. That's why I ask for your vote.

WALLACE: Governor Bush, closing statement, sir.

BUSH: Here's what I believe. I believe we're at the verge of the greatest time to be alive in this world.

But Washington is holding us back. How we tax, how we regulate. We're not embracing the energy revolution in our midst, a broken immigration system that has been politicized rather than turning it into an economic driver.

We're not protecting and preserving our entitlement system or reforming for the next generation. All these things languish while we have politicians in Washington using these as wedge issues.

Here's my commitment to you, because I did it as Florida. We can fix these things. We can grow economically and restore America's leadership in the world, so that everybody has a chance to rise up. I humbly ask for your vote, whenever you're gonna get to vote, whenever the primary is. Thank you all very much.

BAIER: Mr. Trump, closing statement, sir.

TRUMP: Our country is in serious trouble. We don't win anymore.

We don't beat China in trade. We don't beat Japan, with their millions and millions of cars coming into this country, in trade. We can't beat Mexico, at the border or in trade.

We can't do anything right. Our military has to be strengthened. Our vets have to be taken care of. We have to end Obamacare, and we have to make our country great again, and I will do that.

Thank you.

BAIER: Gentlemen, thank you.

KELLY: It's over!

BAIER: That's it.

KELLY: Are you relieved? You were nervous before, they -- they don't look relieved. They look "get me outta here."

Thank you all very much, and that will do it for the first Republican primary debate night of the 2016 presidential race. Our thanks to the candidates, who will now be joined by their families on stage.

NOTE: A candidate must rank in the top ten candidates in Fox News polls in order to appear in this main debate. The remaining candidates were invited to appear in the "undercard" debate.
+ Citation: Presidential Candidates Debates: "Republican Candidates Debate in Cleveland, Ohio," August 6, 2015. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=110489. +
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+ 		+ + + + +Presidential Candidates Debates: Republican Candidates "Undercard" Debate in Des Moines, Iowa +
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Republican Candidates "Undercard" Debate in Des Moines, Iowa
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PARTICIPANTS:
Carly Fiorina;
Former Governor Jim Gilmore (VA);
Former Governor Mike Huckabee (AR);
Former Senator Rick Santorum (PA);

MODERATORS:
Bill Hemmer (Fox News); and
Martha MacCallum (Fox News)

HEMMER: So, here we go. Ninety-seven hours before Iowa chooses, in fact the last two winners in this state are on this stage tonight. Governor Huckabee, in 2008, you won by nine points here, but this time your support seems to be going to Senator Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. Why, Governor, is your message not working this time?

HUCKABEE: I don't think it's that the message isn't working, I think it's the message isn't getting out because the message that I have this time, Bill, it's exactly what I said eight years ago. I talked about people who are standing on their feet on factory floors, people who lift heavy things, who sweat through their clothes, they're getting gut punched. They are not having a fair shake in this economy.

I talked about that eight years ago, and I'm talking about it now. I talked about the importance of preserving life, of not just saying we're going to defund Planned Parenthood, but let's do something bolder. Let's get rid of abortion once and for all by applying the Fifth, and Fourteenth amendment to every person from conception because that means that we recognize that no person can be deprived of life or liberty unless they have due process. And, that's not happening in our country.

And, I believe, and continue to practice that we need the Fair Tax to revive our economy. To make it so that people are able to be rewarded for their work rather than punished for it. [applause]

HEMMER: Governor, thank you.

Senator Santorum, four short years ago you won Iowa. You beat Mitt Romney, pretty much shocked the country. But, just the other day you talked about what is in the greater good for your campaign. Is Monday night your last stand?

SANTORUM: You know, listening to what your network was talking about prior to this race, this debate, reminded me of the coverage that many on this floor are getting. This race, this debate, was called the, "Undercard Debate". The undercard debate.

It wasn't advertised significantly. In fact, the entire hour lead up to this there was no conversation about any of the four people on this debate stage, and that is the chronic situation.

In fact, they listed -- they put a poll up from Wall Street Journal/NBC News, they listed the candidates, and they failed to mention I wasn't listed. I got zero, why? Because they -- NBC, Wall Street Journal poll never includes my name on the list.

This is what the media has been doing over the past year, and trying to segregate, and take Iowans out of the process. What Iowans deserve... [applause] ... is to hear from every candidate on equal footing. Had they applied the same rules four years ago, I would have been in the undercard debate. The guy who won the Iowa Caucuses would have been in the undercard debate, not talked about. [bell rings] We would have been talking about, maybe, an entertainer that may have been trying to run. Ladies and gentlemen, you have a chance on Monday to put the record straight about who you want, not who will entertain you.

HEMMER: OK.

SANTORUM: But, who will fight for what you believe in, and I hope you do...

HEMMER: ... Senator, do you want to name... [applause and cheering] ... Senator, do you want to name that entertainer your refering to?

SANTORUM: Well, look. The entire lead up to this debate was talking about whether Donald Trump is going to show up for the next debate.

The people of Iowa, who I know pretty darn well, care a lot about the issues. They care about who is going to be the leader of the free world. Who is going to be able to take on ISIS and take on Iran and make sure that we're safe. They're concerned about whether... [applause] ...their agriculture programs so their renewable fuel standard is going to be retained. [bell rings]

HEMMER: But senator, since you mentioned...

SANTORUM: And we are not hearing any of those things. We are hearing about whether someone is going to show up for the next debate or not.

HEMMER: Senator, quickly then, after this debate, you mentioned Donald trump's name. Immediately, you're going to event across town here in Des Moines as a guest of Donald Trump.

SANTORUM: Yes, I am.

HEMMER: So are you laying the groundwork for maybe your future? Perhaps an endorsement of Mr. Trump?

SANTORUM: You know, this, again, more of the politics of trying to get people to throw stuff at each other. I'm not going to throw mud at anybody on this stage tonight. I'm not going to throw mud at anybody on the stage later. [applause]

I'm not going to attack Donald Trump. What I'm -- Mike Huckabee and I were asked to come to an event where money was going to be raise to do help our veterans. You know, I thought about it. [applause]

And I thought about. I said well, wait a minute, now, if there were no political considerations and I had some time because I'm not doing anything at 9:00 tonight. [laughter]

And so if I had some time, would I go... [bell rings] ... if I could help raise money for veterans? And the answer was yes, I would. And so I'm going. [applause]

GILMORE: Well, Bill, can I first...

HEMMER: Thank you, senator. One moment. We'll get to you in a moment, Governor. We have a few coming up.

MACCALLUM: So it will come as no surprise that there is an idea out there that there is a civil war brewing within the GOP over the meaning of conservative and the question of who is electable.

There are some in the GOP who are so outraged by Trump and Cruz that they say they would actually rather have Hillary Clinton in the White House. [booing]

So, Carly Fiorina, I ask you this. Is your party in crisis?

FIORINA: You know, when I started my campaign on May 4th of last year, I was 17 out of 16 candidates. Nobody polled my name. Nobody had ever heard of me. Less than 4 percent of you had ever heard of me.

The people in Iowa showed up and they are still showing up. Hundreds and hundreds of them at every event. I have done over 150 events in the state of Iowa and I have 15 more coming up. [applause]

Now, by the way, I start there because someone asked me about midway through my campaign, what's the biggest surprise to you on the campaign trail? And I will tell you what the biggest surprise is: the chasm, the yawning chasm, between what the national media talks about and what the people of Iowa and the people of this great nation talk about. [applause]

That's the biggest surprise. So guess what, Martha? Guess what, sorry. The people of Iowa never ask me about a crisis in the GOP, they never ask me about the polls. They never ask me about the other candidates.

What they ask me about is Carly, tell us why zero based budgeting is so important. Tell us why you are a leader who is going to produce results. Tell us how you are going to defeat ISIS. Tell us how we are going to replace Obamacare.

In other words, I'm going to put my faith every single time not in the pundits, not in the polls. Most definitely not in the national media. I'm going to put my faith in the common sense and the good judgment of the voters of Iowa.

And the last time I looked, you hadn't started voting yet. So, on Monday night, I hope you will stand with me, fight with me, caucus for me. Because... [bell rings] ... citizens, this is why we have to take our government back. The establishment thinks it owns this country. The pundits thinks they own this country. The media thinks they owns this country. We were intended to be a citizen government, citizens. The game is rigged. You have the power. Take our country back.

HEMMER: Thank you. [applause]

Governor Gilmore. As of one week ago, you have not held a single campaign event here in the state of Iowa. As of one week ago, in fact, you were the only one in the Republican field who had not made a campaign visit to this state. You know how it works here. You know how it's worked over time. Why should anyone caucus for you on Monday night?

GILMORE: Well, first of all, Bill, let me say one thing, I have been in Iowa. But this is not the place where I'm choosing to begin my campaign. I am beginning my campaign in New Hampshire and I decided to do that based upon the process that is in place in Iowa and the primary that's in place in New Hampshire.

But never mind that, I want to return to something. I'm the only veteran, Bill and Martha in this race. And I'm not going to any Donald Trump event over across town on some sort of faux veteran sort of issue.

I'm going to speak to you tonight about the issue that really confronts veterans. I'm going to talk to you about the concerns that they have got with the veterans administration.

The lousy appeals process that they have got. The fact that sometimes they get good service at the V.A. and sometimes they don't and the fact that post traumatic stress syndrome is not properly recognized. That psychology positions are unavailable in the Veterans Administration.

And I will say this to you -- as the only veteran in -- in this race, when I become president of the United States, the veterans are going to be treated with respect and competently in success in the Veterans' Administration in this country.

HEMMER: Governor, thank you. [applause]

MACCALLUM: Governor Huckabee, word is that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is considering getting into this race. If he does, that would make four New Yorkers, including Sanders, Clinton, and Trump.

One candidate in this race has criticized so-called "New York values". So tell me, in your opinion, are New York values different than Iowa values?

HUCKABEE: You know, I -- I would leave that to other people. I'm not going to get into an argument with all the New Yorkers, because there's a lot of them. [laughter]

This much I will tell you. I wish that some of those New Yorkers had funded as much of my campaign as they did the corporately funded candidates, but they didn't.

And to be honest with you, when I say I'm -- wish they had, I'm glad they didn't. I'm not a New York-funded campaign. I'm not bankrolled by the corporatists, I'm not bankrolled by Goldman Sachs and Citibank and AIG and all the big brokers -- brokerage houses and the billionaires.

I'm sponsored by people like Thomas, a part-time Uber driver in Pennsylvania who sent me $25 this week. He's between jobs. He's driving an Uber car. But he believed in what I'm talking about enough that, even on a limited, part-time income, he sent me $25 to help in my campaign.

I'll stand with the Thomases of the world any day. I'll leave all the discussion of the big financiers to other candidates. But there's only a few of us in the entire Republican process who are not corporately funded by the same group.

And let me just finish by saying, you want to know why things never change depending on whether Democrats or Republicans are in power, and why Republicans in Iowa and the rest of the country are so frustrated?

The reason is, is because if you follow the money, the same folks who finance the Democrats finance the Republicans, and no matter what the speeches and the ads, they get the same results.

If you want a different result, I'm available. [applause]

MACCALLUM: Thank you, Governor.

Senator Santorum, according to Google, the Paris terror attacks were the largest story that was searched in 2015, with nearly 1 billion searches of that story worldwide.

There have been at 18 terror attacks so far this year -- in just January alone, in 2016, and it will likely, as we all know, get worse. But what can an American president do to stop these terrifying killings?

SANTORUM: Thank you for the question, Martha.

We have to have an honest discussion with the American people about the nature of the threat that we confront. This president says that ISIS has nothing to do with Islam, and as a result has put together a strategy that doesn't take care of what the reality is, which is ISIS has established a caliphate.

A caliphate is like a kingdom ruled by -- a caliphate is ruled by a caliph, a kingdom is ruled by a king. Only the difference is a caliphate is also a religious title, and it is both a religious call to help this state, as well a -- to -- to make the state stronger.

The reality is that ISIS has established a caliphate, and is using that to attract people around the globe to follow them as the leaders of the Sunni world.

And you say, "well, how do we stop them from following them?" Well, to be a legitimate caliphate, you have to control land and operate a state under sharia law.

If you don't do that, you cannot call for that support. And so the answer is we must take their land and make them... [bell rings] ... illegitimate in the eyes of the Muslim world. So I would put troops on the ground and take the land back from Iraq and return to its rightful ownership in Iraq. That would delegitimize them.

MACCALLUM: Thank you, Senator.

HEMMER: Ms. Fiorina, same topic. The president says that many are exaggerating the threat from ISIS. To quote him, "this is not World War III, and they do not pose a threat to our national existence." Does he have a point? Does ISIS threaten our ability to survive as a nation?

FIORINA: Well let me tell you this: news flash, President Obama, news flash, Mrs. Clinton -- climate change is not our most pressing national security threat. [applause]

Actually -- actually, it is ISIS, followed closely by Iran. And those two things are linked, so that when our president cozies up to Iran, all of our allies in the Middle East, who are ready to help us defeat ISIS, wonder whose side we're on. And the truth is, under this president, we are on Iran's side, not our allies', who would help us defeat ISIS.

You know, one of the things we have to start with is understanding that we must stand up to adversaries. So Hillary Clinton famously asked, what difference does it make how four Americans died in Benghazi? This is the difference it makes, Mrs. Clinton.

When terrorists purposefully attack an American embassy and kill four Americans, including an ambassador, and the next morning you get up and you lie about a videotape that doesn't represent our values, instead of saying the United States of America was purposefully attacked by terrorists, and we will seek retribution, then you are saying to every adversary and every adversary and every terrorist organization on the planet, it's open season.

That, Mrs. Clinton, is what difference it makes. [applause]

HEMMER: Thank you.

MACCALLUM: Governor Huckabee, you have said when it comes to ISIS, quote: "If Russia is willing to help us kill these savages, then on this they are with us and not against us."

But we have seen Putin's quote-unquote "help" in Crimea and in Ukraine. And this week the U.K. implicated him in the poisoning death of one of his rivals. So are you foolish to think that we can ever work with Vladimir Putin?

HUCKABEE: Well, I don't trust him. I've never said I trusted him. But if somebody is willing to take a shot at the people we are taking shots at, I'm more than willing to let them use their own bullets to do it.

But let's be very clear about how we take out ISIS. And I think Rick Santorum is exactly right. You take away their land.

But one of the things we have to do is a comprehensive strategy to get ISIS. First of all, take away their access to social media platforms. They are using the same social media platforms to recruit, and to train, and to direct people as I use to see pictures of my grandkids. That's ridiculous.

The second thing, go after them financially. Wage war with them. Make it so nobody can do commerce with ISIS. Not a nickel of transfer. Any company, any country, that even gets close to dealing with them, absolutely put sanctions on them. Make them pay.

And finally, you have got to go after them militarily. And that means we send the land, the sea, the air forces, the A-10 Warthogs dropping ordnances on every truck and every tank, and we obliterate them. But we have to understand that they are a force that's getting bigger. And with any kind of cancer, you don't contain it, you eradicate it. And that's how we have to fight ISIS, comprehensively. That's what I would suggest we do. [applause]

MACCALLUM: Thank you.

HEMMER: Governor Gilmore, some time this spring 34 more detainees are cleared from release from Gitmo. If you were president, as you say, this president wants to close it. As president, if Gitmo were closed and an enemy combatant were found or captured in the field of battle, perhaps Syria or Iraq or Libya, and you don't have Gitmo, where would you put them?

GILMORE: First of all, Bill, I think that Gitmo ought to remain open. But I also want to point out to you that what you are saying is the exact right topic to all of these other candidates. And that's this international challenge that we are facing, the international war that America is in, even to this day.

And I'm the candidate who is best qualified to deal with this issue. A degree in foreign policy in Russian area studies. I'm the only United States Army veteran having gone to Europe during the Cold War as United States Army Intelligence agent, the governor during the 9/11 attack, the chairman of the National Commission on Homeland Security for the United States for five years.

And this is what I will do. If I become the president, I'm going to rebuild the United States military. We're going to take the sequester off the defense budget. Give the Navy the ships it needs. Refit the United States Army. Refit the United States Marine Corps.

And on this international guerrilla war, we need to recognize our Special Forces, our intelligence community, and the people that we need in order to really protect us.

And finally, this war of ideas, we must win this. We must say to the world that radical Islamism is the threat. It isn't just confined to ISIS. It is worldwide. And if we win the war of ideas, then we will win the international guerrilla war.

HEMMER: Governor, thank you for that. [applause]

MACCALLUM: Coming up, we're going to have more on the top issues in this campaign, and you can engage in tonight's conversation right from home. Go to google.com, search "FOX News debate." You can vote on which candidate you think is winning so far in tonight's debate. And you can check results after the debate is over.

We are back in a moment live from the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines.

[commercial break]

HEMMER: Welcome back to Des Moines on what will be a long night here. Let's get back to the questions. Let's get back to the questions with Martha.

MACCALLUM: Alright, Governor Huckabee, government grows and grows. In fact, neighborhoods in and around the Beltway get richer and richer all the time while our manufacturing towns are disappearing. Still Republicans from Reagan to Bush have bowed to shrink the size of government, but it never works.

Is this Presidency, and presidency, simply too small a David to slay the Goliath of government?

HUCKABEE: No, I don't think that it's impossible, but we're not going to do it by doing the same things we've been doing for all these many years. And, we've lost five million manufacturing jobs just since the year 2000.

The other day I was in Newton, Iowa. It used to be a vibrant place where Maytag washers and dryers were built. Went out of business in 2007, all those shops went to Mexico. All those people lost their jobs. There was a guy in my forum that day, he lost his job. He still has never found an employment that got anywhere near the job that he had.

Let me ask you, how many people do you think living around the Beltway know a guy like that? Care about a guy like that? Not many. And, that's because they're six of the ten richest counties in America that surround Washington D.C. People who live in the bubbles of the high finance world of New York, the government world of Washington, the entertainment world of Hollywood, don't have a clue about how hard people out here in Iowa are working every single day.

And, I believe one of the values of campaigning in Iowa, you can't win unless you go out and talk to farmers and housewives -- and welders, and unemployed truck drivers, and I hate... [bell rings] ... That a president could become president who never met people who have to struggle to make a living and put food on the table. [applause]

MACCALLUM: Alright, Carly Fiorina, you've said that you can get the tax code down to three short simple pages. But, when lobbyists who have twisted the arms of members of Congress come sit with you in the Oval Office and say, "Madam President, sorry, I cannot be with you on this one," you may understand what previous presidents have gone through. No?

FIORINA: You know, we have a professional, political class of both parties. We have been talking about the same issues for election cycle after election cycle. Yeah, government is big and out of control, and the only way to get it under control is to control the money.

And the only way to control the money is to ask the federal government to budget the way you do, to examine every dollar, to cut any dollar to spend -- to move any dollar.

The fancy word for that is zero-base budgeting. I call it common sense. That three-page tax code I talk about all the time here in Iowa? It's been around for 20 years. But politicians don't want to talk about it, and you bet the lobbyists don't want to talk about it.

In fact, nobody wants to vote on a three-page tax code or zero- base budgeting, although they've both been around for a long time. You know why? Because if you get those two things done, you are goring everybody's ox.

You are taking the political establishment apart. You are actually challenging the status quo, which is what we need in the Oval Office. So you know who I'm going to count on? The citizens of this great nation, because you have extraordinary power.

But when you do not use it... [bell rings] ... you are losing it. So take out your smartphones, folks. The people of Iowa know what I'm talking about. You take out your smartphones. if you agree with me that three-page tax code needs to be passed, lobbyists aren't going to be in my office.

If you agree we gotta finally pass zero-base budgeting, take out your smartphones. Press one for yes, ladies and gentlemen. Press two for no. Citizens, we must take our country back. [applause]

HEMMER: Let me stay with you, Ms. Fiorina. You've said you will shrink the federal government by 30 percent over the next two years, and those jobs will not be filled, and you'll do it through retirement.

Your critics would argue that's exactly what you did at Hewlett Packard when 30,000 people lost their jobs. If it did not work at H.P., why would it work at the federal government?

FIORINA: Well, first of all, I haven't said that. What I have said is that in the process of examining every dollar, cutting any dollar and moving any dollar, we happen to know that in this vast federal bureaucracy we have about 260,000 federal government employees who are going to retire, and we shouldn't replace them.

Secondly, at Hewlett Packard, as you know -- the people of Iowa know this -- we went through a tough time. The worst technology recession in 25 years -- a great company called Gateway used to do be right here in Iowa. But they didn't make the tough calls necessary to save all those jobs, and so they lost every one of those jobs.

Yes, I've had to make some tough calls. We saved 80,000 jobs. We went on to grow to 160,000 jobs. And, frankly, I think the American people know we need a president who's going to make some tough calls.

So let me tell you where I'm going to start. The American people got a bill passed through Congress that said we could fire the top 400 senior executives at the V.A. for dereliction of duty.

When we know that 307,000 veterans have died waiting for health care and the V.A. handed out $142 million worth of bonuses for superb performance, I'm going to start by firing 400... [bell rings] ... senior executives at the V.A. [applause]

HEMMER: Thank you.

MACCALLUM: Senator Santorum, Bernie Sanders asked a woman in Iowa what it's like to live in poverty. She broke down in tears, saying that she lives on less than $10,000 a year and that she is ashamed every day.

She leans on her parents for help. She says she can't buy presents for her children. We are all sympathetic to this woman's plight. On the other hand, the G.O.P. is supposed to be the party of smaller government. So what would you look her in the eye and say?

SANTORUM: What I would say is that we have to create jobs that give people wages and benefits that can help them provide for themselves and their families. And that's why I announced from a factory floor in western Pennsylvania, I pledge to make America the number one manufacturing nation, again, in the world. And we can do it. China is starting to reorient itself away from a manufacturing economy that's dumping products on the -- overseas to providing more services to their people.

This is an opportunity for America. It's an opportunity for us to get those jobs back. And by the way, do you want to solve global climate change? Take 2 million jobs from China in manufacturing and moving them back here to the United States, where we produce one-fifth the CO2 when we make things. [applause]

We can help -- we can do every -- we can do it all. We can take care of the environment. We can create more jobs here. Seventy-four percent of Americans don't have a college degree.

And unfortunately most folks who, in the Republican Party, don't talk about what we're going to do to create jobs for people who feel like neither political party cares about them. [bell rings]

When you elect me, we'll create opportunities for working men and women in this country -- all over this country.

MACCALLUM: Thank you, Senator.

HEMMER: Governor Huckabee, Nikki Haley, Republican governor from South Carolina, recently said...

GILMORE: Hey, did you miss me? Did you skip me?

HEMMER: I did not, but we...

GILMORE: I'm going to have something to say about this, but you just keep going.

HEMMER: We have plenty for you -- you bet, Governor. We have a couple more in the hopper for you in a moment here.

GILMORE: Yes, I'll be there. [laughter]

HEMMER: First, Governor -- Governor Huckabee, Nikki Haley warned about listening to "the siren call of the angriest voices," to which Donald Trump said he is "very, very angry." Who is right, Governor?

HUCKABEE: A lot of Americans are angry. And I think it's important to understand why they are mad. They are mad because they see a government that continues to do fine. They see people at the top. They are doing fine.

But that person you asked Rick about a moment ago, that lady that's making 10,000 bucks a year, do you know what our poverty programs do to people? They keep them in poverty.

They keep them in poverty because we have these arbitrary thresholds... [applause] ... that mean that if you go to work, you lose all the benefits for your kids, Medicaid, WIC, Section 8 housing, food stamps, and then your kids go hungry. I know a little about poverty. My sister is here tonight. Now both of us could tell you we did not grow up rich.

My mother grew up in a house, oldest of seven kids. She had lived in a house that didn't have floors. Just dirt. No electricity. No running water. I resent it when people say, oh, people are poor because they want to be. No, they are not.

Nobody wants to be poor. And that's a stupid, foolish thing, mean thing to say. People are poor because they don't know how to get out of the hole. And government shouldn't push them back in the hole which is what our policies do when they punish people who want to go to work and don't let them out. [applause]

We can fix that, but it takes some leadership to get it done.

HEMMER: Thank you, Governor. [applause]

MACCALLUM: Governor Gilmore, thanks to the Iranian nuclear deal, President Rouhani is currently on a tour of Europe meeting with our closest allies in France and Italy. In fact, he has already landed some 50 to 85 billion are the estimates in deals with those countries, with our allies. More on the way.

You and others say that you would rip up that deal. But, really, by the time the next president is in office, won't that horse be well out of the barn?

GILMORE: You know, Martha, it may be out of the barn in that the Iranians may be moving towards a nuclear program, because this nuclear deal actually gives them a time frame up the road when they are going to be able to do that kind of program.

And that's very dangerous because it means people in the Middle East have to begin to react to that right now. The United States, I think, has to continue to exercise its influence in the Middle East, stay active, and not do this pull-back type of program that we are seeing all over the place with President Obama, which is creating this kind of danger.

The world is a more dangerous place now than when I was an intelligence agent. We have not only this international guerrilla war but also these challenges from these other countries as well.

But, Martha, I want to say one more thing to you and Bill. I disagree with Carly Fiorina when she says that it's just a political class in Washington. The truth is that the country has changed. And there are powerful forces at this point that are really controlling our lives. And that's why people are so angry.

One of those is government, which is regulating everything through the Environmental Protection Agency, through other places. But the biggest one is the organized establishment media.

And I just noticed just now you gave Carly Fiorina two one-minute answers in a row. This media across the country is manipulating and shaping and framing this campaign and has been for at least a year now in order to get the kind of choices that people are going to have an opportunity to see.

This is wrong. It has to change. And when I'm president, it's going to change. [applause]

MACCALLUM: We have another question for you, Governor Gilmore, back to back, here we go. According to Google...

GILMORE: I'll take it. [laughter]

MACCALLUM: You got it. According to Google, gun control is the most searched issue last month, making up nearly 80 percent of all the U.S. searches. People are looking for information on guns.

When it comes to the tragic mass killings that we have seen in this country, Donald Trump says that what we need to do is build quote "more institutions for people who are sickos."

Charles Krauthammer also says that in some cases involuntary commitment would help. And you have agreed with that. Given that institutions would be extraordinarily expensive to begin building, how much is too much to ask on this from the American taxpayer?

GILMORE: Martha, I just visited a community mental health clinic in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, just three days ago, as a matter of fact. And when I was governor of Virginia, I tried to move more of those resources into the community, which will give us the facilities and the abilities to begin to identify people who actually might be dangerous and who abuse Second Amendment rights.

But I do believe this is one of the really principle issues in this campaign. The president and Hillary Clinton are working very hard to change the culture of this country in order to put us in a position where we can't exercise Second Amendment rights.

That's wrong. I am a board member of the National Rifle Association.

The reason I'm a board member is because I believe that individuals in this country can be trusted to exercise their rights under the Second Amendment and under the Bill of Rights. To take away people's Second Amendment rights is to redefine the individual in the society, and I'm not going to put up with it. As President of the United States, when Jim Gilmore's President of the United States, I can tell you this. Gun control is not going to be an issue.

If gun control... [bell rings] ... comes to the President's desk when I'm president, I'll veto it as fast as it takes Hillary Clinton to eliminate her emails. [applause]

MACCALLUM: Thank you, Governor Gilmore.

HEMMER: Governor Huckabee, you've mentioned the economy several times tonight. Let's go back to that for a moment because in America today 50% of the American workers are making less than $30,000 dollars a year. Let's talk about what you could do for them.

The Conservative Club for Growth has had an issue with your policy on taxes for years. In fact, it called you, "Tax Hike Mike". And, the record shows state spending in Arkansas increased 54% when you were in charge, 94% if you include federal dollars during that same period. When it comes to helping people at the margins, $30,000, $32,000 dollars a year, what's better? A tax and spend approach, or shrinking government?

HUCKABEE: Well, I didn't have a tax and spend approach. You got to understand where the Club for Growth comes from, a bunch of rich guys sitting around writing checks to go after people they don't like. And, they don't like me sometimes because I was fighting for the guys at the bottom, not just the guys at the top. I cut 94 taxes in a state that had never had a general major tax decrease in its history.

I also was able to see per capita income growth in my state go up by 50%. I think that's a pretty darn good record. Look at the overall record and it was fine.

But, it's not about stats from when I was governor. Look, one of the reasons I support the Fairtax is because it's the one thing, Bill, that would truly empower people at the bottom of the economy by no longer punishing them for their work.

If a guy works an hourly job, and he works eight hours, gets paid for it, terrific. But, if he works 16 hours, he doesn't get a double paycheck because he's going to be bumped up into a new tax bracket, and the government will get more of his second shift than he will. So, we've actually punished him for being industrious, hardworking, and that is a foolish economic policy... [bell rings] ... that's hurting Americans about as much as anything. [applause]

HEMMER: Governor Huckabee, thank you. Same issue, Senator Santorum. The President says criticism of his economic policy is political hot air. You consistently talk about manufacturing jobs leaving America. You support a flat tax of 20%. How would a flat tax bring back two million jobs to America?

SANTORUM: Well, in fact, the plan that I put forward is scored by the Tax Foundation as bringing three and a half million jobs into this country, and we have provisions in the flat tax for the corporate side that actually has a phase in of manufacturing. Manufacturers initially don't pay any income tax. Ten percent the next year, and 20.

We're going to also have a repatriation provision which says that if you have money overseas, and you're Apple, and you got a couple hundred billion dollars there, bring it back. The most you'll be taxed 10%, invest it here in America. Create jobs here in America with all that money that's sitting overseas.

We also -- it's not just taxes. It's regulation. I've pledged to cut every single Obamacare -- I mean, excuse me, Obama regulation, including Obamacare, and remove those regulations that cost more than a hundred million dollars in the economy. That will liberate -- and that includes waters of the U.S., and the ozone regulations, they -- the mercury regulations. All of these just crush our manufactures and don't create an opportunity for us to survive.

And, remember, China produces five times as much CO2 and other pollutants per dollar of GDP as we do. [bell rings]

You want to help the environment? Bring jobs back to America. [applause]

HEMMER: Senator, thank you.

MACCALLUM: Still more to come from the Republican Presidential debate tonight.

And, see how the campaigns are responding to the debate in realtime, go to Google.com and open your google search app. Type in, "Fox News Debate".

We'll see you, just a moment -- back. [applause]

[commercial break]

MACCALLUM: We are back live at the Iowa events center and this question goes to Carly Fiorina. In the last debate you said as part of your introduction, quote, " And unlike the other woman candidate in this case I actually love spending time with my husband." [laughter]

FIORINA: He is right there. He is right there.

MACCALLUM: But back in September in an interview you said that you would stick only to the record, your record versus Hillary Clinton's record. And never resort to personal attacks. So what changed?

FIORINA: It wasn't a personal attack. I was pointing out the fact that Hillary Clinton will do anything to gain and hang on to power, anything. Listen, if my husband did what Bill Clinton did, I would have left him long ago. [applause]

So, here's the deal. Hillary Clinton has been climbing the ladder to try and get power and here now she is trying for the White House. She is probably more qualified for the big house, honestly. [laughter]

She has escaped prosecution more times than El Chapo, perhaps Sean Penn should interview her. [laughter]

The woman should be prosecuted. [applause]

And while Mrs. Clinton has flown hundreds of thousands of world around the global, I have too. And I know flying is an activity not an accomplishment. While I know that she has held many positions and many titles she has not accomplished much of anything in her life. She has gotten every single foreign policy challenge wrong. [bell rings]

She continues to lie to the American people. It's called the Clinton way. Both Bill and Hillary practice it, the Clinton way. Say whatever you have to say, do whatever you have to say. Lie as long as you can get away with it. Hillary Clinton cannot be the president of these United States. [applause]

MACCALLUM: All right. Carly, I want to stay with you on this next question as well.

You waded into the Planned Parenthood early on. You took some heat for it. Now the people who shot that undercover video are the ones who got indicted and Planned Parenthood is untouched. Hillary Clinton has been crowing about this. Any regrets about this?

FIORINA: Well, you know, Hillary Clinton hasn't been indicted either. So that tells us a lot about our justice system in this country. But, look, the facts of Planned Parenthood have not changed, folks, and I will not be rendered silent on this issue or any other issue.

And it doesn't matter what stage I'm on. Here are the facts. Planned Parenthood engages in partial birth abortion, in late-term abortion. They alter those abortion techniques to harvest and sell body parts. They have admitted that they are not going to accept compensation for this anymore.

The reality is, most Americans find this practice horrific. Most Americans find horrific that Hillary Clinton's position on this is it's not a life until it's born. Most Americans find horrific Hillary Clinton's position or the Democrat party's position, that a young woman does not need her mother's permission to get an abortion.

But if you are 13 years old, you can get an abortion, but you can't go to a tanning salon without your mother's permission. A president Fiorina -- in a president Fiorina budget, there will not be one dime for Planned Parenthood, although there would be a lot of money for women's health and we will finally pass the pain capable unborn child protection act.

I will always stand for life and religious liberty... [bell rings] ... because this is about the character of our nation. [applause]

MACCALLUM: Thank you Carly Fiorina. Let me just ask a quick question here to Senator Santorum.

Carly Fiorina was the only one of the GOP candidates to attend the March for Life in Washington last week. Where were you.

SANTORUM: Well, I've been to the March for Life for about 25 years and I thought -- I think that's a pretty good record. [applause]

Spoken at it a few times and I have shepherded every single piece of pro-life piece of legislation that's passed over the last 20 years. I've either authored it or shepherded it through the United States Congress and I'm pretty proud of that record too. [applause]

But we have an election going on and there was some snow coming. So I decided that maybe it would be better for me to get out and do some campaigning and not be stuck as my wife and kids were for a week, piling out of two and a half feet of snow.

So, here's what I would say. If you want someone that is going to talk a good game, there are a lot of folks on this stage that have talked a good game on the issue of life.

Not only have I talked a good game on life and I've done some things. But I've also lived it. You know, one of the things Saint Francis said was, you know, if you preach the gospel, then if you have to, speak.

The bottom line is, that twice in my life, we were counseled to have an abortion, one with our son Gabriel and one with our little girl Bella. And neither time did Karen and I for a moment think about it because we know that life begins at conception.

We know the dignity of every human life and we know the potential of every child, no matter how long that life lives. And that is a message that can come across to all Americans and without having to say a word and defend the institution of life and the dignity of life in this country. [applause]

FIORINA: Martha, can I just say we've been talking tonight about a lot of issues and we've also been talking about the fact that the game is rigged and frankly, the media has a lot to do with that.

It is outrageous frankly, that Fox News, and you, would question the pro-life credentials of Rick Santorum. [applause] That is outrageous. [applause]

HEMMER: Thank you Ms. Fiorina.

Governor Gilmore. Who are the moderate Muslims do you seek advice and counsel from on how to deal with the threat from radical Islamic terrorism?

GILMORE: You know Bill, that raises, I think, the question of the future of the Republican party. The question is -- first of all, I stand second to no one in standing up to radical Islamism. I understand that ISIS is a piece of that but it is a world-wide phenomena that has manifested itself in Paris, in 9/11, in San Bernardino, in Boston.

I recognize all that. But I also recognize this. This is a strain of Islamism that cannot be supported and cannot be stood for. And what we need is for people in the Muslim community in the United States to stand up and be counted and to say that this is not right.

And yes, I have met with some people. And I'm not going to identify who they are. I met with them last week. And they told me some terrible stories about how they have been harassed and their children have seen them be harassed.

And I said to them. You have got to stand up and condemn this radical Islamism because it's the war of ideas that we are going to have to win to go along with our military conflicts that are coming forward.

But the point is Bill... [bell rings] ... we cannot have a Republican party that scapegoats anyone, Hispanics, Muslims, any women, African Americans, anyone. If that becomes the future of the Republican party, I don't want to be a part of that.

HEMMER: Thank you governor. [applause]

Governor Huckabee. Here in Iowa 43 percent of Democratic caucus goers describe themselves as socialist. That's a higher number than those who say they are capitalist. I guess you could say, they're feeling the burn. [laughter]

This is a country rooted in capitalism, the United States of America. How did we get here?

HUCKABEE: I honestly don't understand how anybody with IQ above plant life would honestly think... [laughter] ... that we would be better off if we let the government have all of the private property and that the government would dole out what they thought we should have.

I'm not "feeling the Bern," Bill. I'm not feeling it. [applause]

And when Bernie Sanders promises these kids free college, I'm telling them, because I get asked, what about free college? I said, look, if we give you free college when you are 20, pal, you are going to be paying for it when you are 30, when you are 40, and when you are 50. [applause]

There is no such thing as the government giving you anything. They will definitely make a mess of it.

And I just think there are a lot of people who have never understood the basic understanding of economics, that you do not make people rich by tearing down those who are you providing jobs, and you don't help poor people by taking away.

You give them jobs. Let them work. Let them earn. And then you let them keep the money that they earned. That's how we build a great economy. [applause]

HEMMER: Thank you, Governor.

Senator Santorum, the president says politics in America have become meaner over the past several years with him in the White House. Two weeks ago at the State of the Union he said the following. "A president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide."

Lincoln and Roosevelt, that's pretty good company. If he is right, do Republicans share some of the blame?

SANTORUM: The president of the United States has been the most divisive president in -- certainly in my lifetime. This is a man who constantly... [applause] He is not trustworthy. You can't sit down and negotiate with him. He won't keep a deal. We have heard that over and over again. And here is what he does that really, really creates the friction in Washington.

He personally attacks people. He ascribes motives to them that aren't true and then he tears them down. How are you going to work with someone if you don't treat them decently, honestly, and respectfully?

I was a tough fighter when I was in Washington. I had very sharp elbows. I fought. I went there and joined a game named Jim Nussle here from Iowa with the "gang of seven." And we, in four years' time, took a Congress that had been controlled by Democrats for 40 years, and brought in the first Republican majority because we fought and we fought tough.

But you know what? I was able to then work with those same people that we fought with and able to pass welfare reform. Unborn Victims of Violence Act. Pro-life bills. Health savings accounts.

A whole laundry list of things not because I was mean, but because I was able to be respectful in the disagreements. And that's what we need in Washington, someone who can be respectful and still unite this country. [applause]

HEMMER: Thank you, Senator.

MACCALLUM: All right. Coming up, we will have the closing statements from our candidates tonight as we continue live from the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. We'll be right back.

[commercial break]

HEMMER: In the closing few moments, the candidates have an opportunity to make a closing statement, 30 seconds for each. And, we want to start tonight with the former Virginia Governor, Jim Gilmore.

GILMORE: Well, thank you very much, Bill. And, thank you, and Fox and Google for including me in this debate tonight. I think it's been a wonderful opportunity.

I'm the son of a meat cutter. My father worked for Safeway stores for 45 years. My mother was a secretary, she ended her career as the Secretary for the Methodist Bishop. I didn't have a father that could give me a million dollar loan to start my business. But, my father did talk character, and he provided for his family, and he was a wonderful example.

And, I'm not about to go across town tonight to carry the coat for some billionaire. Instead, I intend to run for President of the United States, speak to the issue of this international war, and challenge that we're in. This issue of veterans rights, and the issue of Second Amendment rights, and I ask for your support...

HEMMER: ... Thank you, Governor. [applause]

MACCALLUM: Alright, let's go now to Senator Rick Santorum.

SANTORUM: I just want to thank the people of Iowa. Over the last five years I've done 700 speeches and town hall meetings all throughout the state of Iowa, and it has been an incredible right. Thank you. [applause]

I want to thank all the wonderful folks like Pastor Carey Gordon who gave me a smooth stone and said you go slay Goliaths. Someone like Jim and Janet Cook who over this past Christmas gave up Christmas presents for their kids, and they have more than I do, just they can help me and my campaign.

That's the kind of people... [bell rings] ... in Iowa. And, here's what I'm asking you to do. You're good people. You know good leaders. Lead. Pick the right person, not what the polls say. Not who the money give people to. Pick the leader you know is best for this country. Thank you. [applause and cheering]

HEMMER: Governor Huckabee.

HUCKABEE: Well, this week there was a little dust up about a video we put together with the music of Adele, so I thought it'd be appropriate for me to begin tonight by saying, "Hello, Iowa. It's me."

MACCALLUM: [laughing]

HUCKABEE: And, you know me. You gave me the largest number of votes in the history of the Iowa caucus eight years ago, and I think you did it because you trusted me, you believed that I had your best interest at heart.

When I was governor I had a little plaque in my office in the Governor's office, and it simply said this. Come, let us reason together. [bell rings]

I believe the next President needs to put that plaque in the oval office, and needs to lead this country by saying, "Come, let us reason together."

God bless you, and thank you for your support. [applause and cheering]

HEMMER: Thank you, Governor.

MACCALLUM: Carly Fiorina.

FIORINA: In over 150 events I have come to know and love the people of Iowa. And the people of Iowa know what the rest of Americans have figured out, this ain't working anymore. The government no longer works for those who pay for it. The professional political class says and does whatever they need to do to win, and then does whatever they please.

We need to return to a citizen government. That is why I am running for President. The media, the establishment, they all want to tell you this elections over, they know who's going to win it, except that you haven't... [bell rings] ... cast a single vote yet. So, the people of Iowa, stand with me, fight with me. Caucus for me. It is time to take our country back.

MACCALLUM: Thank you, Carly. [applause]

HEMMER: That concludes our debate tonight, but the night has just begun.

MACCALLUM: In one hour, seven more candidates take the stage for a debate hosted by Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly, and Chris Wallace. But, up next, the O'Reilly Factor.

Good night everybody.

NOTE: The criteria for appearing in the main debate is explained as, "Candidates must place in the top six spots nationally in an average of the five most recent national polls, or place within the top five in Iowa or New Hampshire in an average of the five most recent Iowa or New Hampshire polls recognized by FOX News." The four candidates in this debate did not meet this criteria and were invited to participate in this "undercard" debate preceding the main debate.

The criteria for this "undercard" debate is explained as, "In order to qualify for the early debate, candidates must register at least one percent in one of the five most recent national polls recognized by FOX News."

+ Citation: Presidential Candidates Debates: "Republican Candidates "Undercard" Debate in Des Moines, Iowa," January 28, 2016. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=111413. +
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+ 		+ + + + +Presidential Candidates Debates: Republican Candidates "Undercard" Debate in North Charleston, South Carolina +
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Republican Candidates "Undercard" Debate in North Charleston, South Carolina
January 14, 2016
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PARTICIPANTS:
Carly Fiorina;
Former Governor Mike Huckabee (AR);
Former Senator Rick Santorum (PA);

MODERATORS:
Trish Regan (Fox Business Network); and
Sandra Smith (Fox Business Network)

[The candidates are introduced by the moderators]

REGAN: In Tuesday's State of the Union Address, the president said that our economy is strong. He cited the significant decline we've seen in unemployment rate and the millions of jobs that have been created.

What is your assessment of the economy right now? And I would like to hear from all of you on this one, beginning with Ms. Fiorina.

FIORINA: Well, thank you. Good evening. If I may begin by saying how honored I am to be standing here with two former Iowa Caucus winners.

Governor, Senator.

And how honored I am to be talking with all of you. You know, I'm not a political insider. I haven't spent my lifetime running for office. The truth is I have had and been blessed by a lot of opportunities to do a lot of things in my life.

And unlike another woman in this race, I actually love spending time with my husband. [laughter and applause]

I'm standing here because I think we have to restore a citizen government in this country. I think we have to end crony capitalism. The crony capitalism that starts with both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

You know, Hillary Clinton sits inside government and rakes in millions, handing out access and favors. And Donald Trump sits outside government and rakes in billions buying people like Hillary Clinton.

The state of our economy is not strong. We have record numbers of men out of work. We have record numbers of women living in poverty. We have young people who no longer believe that the American dream applies to them.

We have working families whose wages have stagnated for decades, all while the rich get richer, the powerful get more powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected get more connected.

Citizens, it's time to take our country back. [applause]

SMITH: Governor Huckabee, same question to you. Where do you see the country right now?

HUCKABEE: I wish I saw the country in the same place that the president presented it to be the other night in the State of the Union. He talked about how great the economy was doing. And I guess for the people he hangs out with, it's probably doing great.

But the president should've stood in the line at the layaway counter at Walmart just before Christmas. He would have heard a very different story about the economy of America.

I wish I could introduce him the lady who cleans the building where our campaign headquarters is located in Little Rock. Her name is Kathleen. She works all day at a local hospital cleaning, and then she goes to the building where a bank, and our headquarters, and other offices are she spends another seven hours. She works 15 hours a day.

I guarantee you she's not working 15 hours a day because she loves scrubbing toilets, and sweeping floors. She's working that many hours because that's what it takes for her to make it work.

And, she's not alone. There are people all over this country who are working like that. Many of them working two jobs — and they used to have one job, and that would take care of them. But, because of wage stagnation, which we've had for 40 years, because the fact that they're punished for working harder if they work that many hours. The government gets more of their second shift than they do.

And, as a result there are a lot of people who are hurting today. I wish the President knew more of them. He might make a change in the economy and the way he's managing it. [applause]

REGAN: Thank you Governor Huckabee. Senator Santorum?

SANTORUM: Well, all he has to do is listen to the Democratic debate and find out how bad the economy is. All they do is complain about the hollowing out of the middle of America, and how America is struggling so badly, and have to make these radical changes in Washington.

But they've been in control for the last seven years, and what have we seen? The most important jobs, I believe, in this country are the ones that fill the middle. For the 74% of Americans who don't have a college degree between the age of 25 and 65 are manufacturing jobs. Your governor, and your legislature, and your team here have done an amazing job of bringing manufacturing jobs back to South Carolina. [applause and cheering]

Right here. Right here in Charleston, right down in the street in Boeing. You've done a great job, and what's happened? You've grown this economy, you've strengthened the center of your state, the middle. That's because you know that if you're really going to create wealth and opportunity, you got to get jobs, and good paying jobs for everybody.

And, so what's happened? Two million jobs, manufacturing jobs, have left this country because of Barack Obama. Regulations, EPA, workplace regulations, things driving people off-shore all because of his number one priority, global climate change.

Well, let me tell you this, Mr. President. For every dollar of GDP, China creates five times as much pollution as we do here. You want to — lower global climate change, bring those jobs back to America and let American workers do that job with less pollution. [applause]

SMITH: Thank you, Senator Santorum. Thank you, candidates.

Moving to the world stage. The middle east is on the brink of chaos. Iran continues to provoke the United States, North Korea claims it's tested a hydrogen bomb, and Afghanistan is in danger of falling back into Taliban hands. Critics of the administration say it's all due to lack of U.S. leadership.

To you, Mrs. Fiorina, how do you see America's role in the world today?

FIORINA: America must lead because when we do not lead, when this exceptional nation does not lead, the world is more dangerous and a more tragic place.

Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, they all refuse to lead. Worse, they refuse to respond when this nation is provoked. Hillary Clinton famously asked what difference does it make how four Americans died in Benghazi?

Mrs. Clinton, here's what difference it makes. When you do not stand up and say the truth, that this was a purposeful terrorist attack, when you do not say the United States of America will retaliate for that attack, terrorists assume it's open season.

We have refused to respond to every provocation. The President wouldn't even mention the fact that Iran had taken two Navy boats and our sailors — hostage. He didn't mention the fact that they violated the Geneva convention. He didn't respond to the fact that Iran launched two ballistic missile just a short time ago, in direct violation of a deal they had just signed. We didn't respond to the fact that North Korea attacked Sony Pictures.

When we refuse to respond over, and over to provocation and bad behavior, we will get more provocation and bad behavior. I know most of our allies personally. I have met many of our adversaries. I know our military and our intelligence capability, and I know this. When we will not stand with our allies, when we will not respond to our adversaries, when we do not lead in the world the world is a dangerous and tragic place. I will be a Commander in Chief who will lead. [applause]

REGAN: Thank you. [applause]

Well, since we've been talking about the Middle East, Senator Santorum, conflicts between Saudi Arabia and Iran have certainly escalated, amid accusations that Saudi Arabia bombed the Iranian Embassy in Yemen after the Saudi Embassy in Tehran was attacked.

As we confront an increasingly unstable Middle East, how will you, as president, navigate this administration's promises to Iran while standing by our historic allies in the region?

SANTORUM: Well, the historic promises that we have made to — to Iran in this agreement need to be torn up on the first day in office of the next president. [applause]

And let me tell you why, because Iran has already torn it up. Iran has not approved the agreement that President Obama has said that they have approved. They have approved a different agreement in their parliament.

The fact of the matter is they have violated this agreement. Carly just mentioned some of those violations.

They have launched ballistic missiles, tested them, in clear violation.

And here's the pathetic part. The president announced that they were going to impose sanctions. And then President Rouhani went on Twitter and said there would be retaliation.

And what did we do?

We backed down.

Ladies and gentlemen, there are 50 some Citadel cadets in this audience tonight. [applause] I would ask them to stand up if they will. And here's what I want to tell each and every one of them, as you stand. Here's what I want to tell them. [applause] Whether it's you're watching that movie this weekend that just came out when we abandoned our men and women in Benghazi, or whether it's we treat Iran, that gave courtesies to our sailors, as they made them record a hostage video, let me tell you this, if you choose to serve this country, I will have your back. I will not let America be trampled upon anymore by these radical jihadists.

REGAN: Thank you, Senator Santorum. [applause]

SMITH: Governor Huckabee, in Afghanistan, the Taliban is strengthening. Attacks are on the rise and thousands more civilians have been wounded or killed. Much of the Taliban surge can be attributed to the withdrawal of U.S. forces there.

You have expressed skepticism with the war there, saying you see no end game in sight.

What, then, is your solution to the growing conflict there?

HUCKABEE: Let me put that in context. When I went to Afghanistan, I saw a land that looked like the land of the Flintstones. It was desolate. It was barren. It was primitive.

And it's been that way for thousands of years. They want to take the world back to be just like that.

We don't.

We need to make a clear goal as to why we want to be anywhere in the Middle East, and I'll tell you why we want to be and need to be, is to destroy radical Islam and everything that threatens civilization. It's not just a threat...[applause]...to Israel or to America, it's a threat to every civilized person on this Earth. And we need to be equipping not only the Kurds in Iraq, we need to be making sure that those who are willing to fight radical Muslims will do it, but we need to never ever spend a drop of American blood unless there is a clearly defined goal and we can't make sure we win unless we have a military that's the strongest in the history of mankind.

We've got to rebuild our navy. It's the smallest navy we've had since 1915, when my grandfather got on a destroyer in World War I when he was in the U.S. Navy. We've got young men in Air Force B-52s, one in particular, he's flying a B-52 that his father flew in the '80s and his grandfather flew in the '50s. Those planes are older than me.

We've got to have a military that the world is afraid of, use it sparingly, but when we do, the whole world will know that America is on their tail and they will be on their tail on the ground, never ever to rise up again. [applause]

REGAN: Governor Huckabee, if I could just follow-up with that.

Do we need to be in Afghanistan?

HUCKABEE: Only if there is a concerted effort to destroy the advance of radical Islamists who are against us. As far as what are we going to make it look like. Frankly, I don't know what we can make it look like. You can't create for other people a desire for freedom and democracy.

And frankly, that is not the role of the United States. The role of the United States military is not to build schools, it is not to build bridges, it is not to go around and pass out food packets.

It is to kill and destroy our enemy and make America safe and that is the purpose we should be there if we're going to be there.

REGAN: Thank you Governor Huckabee. [applause]

Ms. Fiorina, nearly 600 women say they were attacked in a German city on New Year's Eve by men of Arab or North African descent and 45 percent of those alleged attacks were sexual assaults. Twenty-two of those 32 men arrested so far are asylum-seekers. Are you worried about similar problems in the United States?

FIORINA: Of course I'm worried about similar problems in the United States. We can not allow refugees to enter this country unless we can adequately vet them and we know we can't. Therefore we should stop allowing refugees into this country. [applause] And by the way, we do not need to be lectured about why we're angry and frustrated and fearful because we've had an illegal immigration problem in this country for 25 years. [applause] And we have every right to be frustrated about the fact that politicians stand up in election after election after election and promise us to fix the problem and yet, it has never been fixed.

I offer leadership that understands that actions speak louder than words, that results count. We must secure our border. We must fix our broken immigration system. We must enforce a pro-American immigration system that serves our interests, not the rest of the world. I understand what it takes to translate goals into results and that is what I will do as president of the United States. Of course, we should be worried, for heavens sakes.

This administration has now told us they don't know who has overstayed a visa. This administration has told us they don't even bother to check Facebook or Twitter to find out who's pledging allegiance to jihadis. We can do better than this, citizens. We need to take our country back. [applause]

REGAN: I want to stay with you on this. The world shares a common enemy right now in the way of ISIS. Russia, the European Union, Saudi Arabia, Iran, China, we all agree ISIS is a threat and it must be stopped.

During World War II, the world partnered with Joseph Stalin, who was arguably one of the most formidable — despicable figures of the 20th century. But they partnered with him to fight the Nazis.

Today, everyone seems to agree we need some kind of coalition to fight ISIS. Do you agree with that? And if so, would your coalition include possibly, Russia and Iran?

FIORINA: We need to be very clear-eyed now about who are our allies and who are our adversaries. In the fight against ISIS, Saudi Arabia is our ally. Iran is our adversary. And despite Donald trump's bromance with Vladmir Putin, Vladmir Putin and Russia are our adversary. We can not...[applause]...we can not outsource leadership in the Middle East to Iran and Russia. We must stand and lead. The Kuwaitis, the Jordanians, the Saudis, Egyptians, Bahrainis, the Emirates, the Kurds. I know virtually all of these nations and their leaders. And they have asked us for very specific kinds of support: bombs, material, arms, intelligence.

We are not providing any of it today. I will provide all of it. We have allies who will stand up and help us deny ISIS territory, which is what we must do to defeat them. We must deny them territory. They will help us do this. And yes, we need a coalition.

But only in the United States of America can lead such a coalition. I will lead it. But we must be clear-eyed through this fight. Iran is our adversary. Russia is our adversary. We can never outsource our leadership. Only the United States of America can lead to defeat ISIS. I will. [applause]

REGAN: Ms. Fiorina, thank you.

SMITH: All right, thank you, candidates. We're just getting started. Jobs, Homeland Security, gun rights, all those issues are coming up straight ahead. We're live from North Charleston and the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back.

[commercial break]

REGAN: Welcome back, everyone, to the Republican presidential debate. On to the next round of questions — Sandra.

SMITH: All right, let's get started. Senator Santorum, to you first. President Obama has urged technology leaders to make it hard for terrorists to use technology to escape from justice. Hillary Clinton says social media companies can help by swiftly shutting down terrorist accounts.

The companies say that they're already working with law enforcement and any proposed legislation would do more harm than good. Should companies like Facebook and Twitter be required by law to more actively — be more actively engaged in fighting terror?

SANTORUM: I would just say that if we were doing a better job within the government, we wouldn't need the private sector to do the things that we're asking them to do. [applause]

I've had a little experience in this in the private sector myself. And what I found was a government with layers and layers of bureaucracy, of people who had some technical expertise but they had no authority, number one.

And one of the things I found out about in the bureaucracy is if a lot of people have authority, nobody has authority, number one. And number two, that if you don't do anything, you don't get fired.

It's only when you do something and something goes wrong, you get fired. So they do nothing. And that's what is happening in our Defense Department right now. We have a capability that they're trying to develop to play defense.

We have a lot of technologists that are very skilled. And they're trying to figure out how to play defense. But what we don't have is we don't have folks who are thinking about offense.

We don't have war-fighters. We have technologists. Technologists are not war-fighters. Technologists are thinking, how do I protect cyber-security, how do I secure, how do I protect? And we need to have a much more dynamic, how do we — how do we go after them? How do we respond?

And we need leadership that's willing to make sure that when someone attacks us — and ladies and gentlemen, they're attacking us as we speak. They're attacking us all day every day, not just the government, but they're attacking private sector companies all day every day.

They have to learn that we're going to pay — they're going to pay a price when they do so.

And then right now, just like in every other aspect of our national security, people who attack us are not paying a price. We need a leader who will make sure that they know when they mess with America, they're going to pay a price.

SMITH: Senator, would you — would you require anything of those companies like Facebook and Twitter if you were president?

SANTORUM: Look, Facebook and Twitter can teach us things. We can cooperate with them. We can share ideas and information. But this is a — and this is a very dicey area for the government to go in and require the industry to do its job.

It needs to develop that capability. We need to be — have responsible dialogue, but I don't think requirements are the order of the day.

SMITH: Thank you, Senator. [applause]

REGAN: Ms. Fiorina, the president has just issued an executive order to expand the gun laws and background checks. And none of you on stage agree with this.

But recent polls show the majority of Americans are in favor of universal background checks. [booing]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not in this room.

REGAN: It's the poll data.

[crosstalk]

FIORINA: And we all believe the polling data all the time, don't we?

REGAN: So tell me...[applause]...why, in your view, is the president's proposal a problem?

FIORINA: Oh, it's a problem for so many reasons.

First of all, it is yet another lawless executive order. You see, he doesn't like the fact that Congress has rejected his ideas twice on a bipartisan basis, so he's decided he just gets to override them.

Sorry, Mr. President, not the way "The Constitution" works.

Secondly...[applause]...secondly, he basically admitted in that speech that he hasn't been paying much attention to enforcing the laws we have. He said, gee, we need a few more FBI agents. That would have helped, perhaps, stop a tragedy here in South Carolina with Dylann Roof, a guy who clearly never should have been sold a gun.

In other words, Mr. President, you're right, we need to enforce the laws we have. Let's enforce the laws we have. There are criminals running around with guns who shouldn't have them. We don't prosecute any of them. Less than 1 percent.

But I want to go back to the technology issue for a moment, if I may, as well, because in this regard, I disagree with Senator Santorum. Look, I come from the technology industry and I can tell you there is one thing that bureaucracies don't know how to do. They do not know how to innovate.

We have come seven generations of technology since 2011. We have bureaucracies that are incapable of bringing in that innovation.

So, yes, there are some very specific things that we should ask the private sector to help us with, including making sure we have the latest and greatest in algorithms to search through all these databases so that we find terrorists before they attack us, not after it's too late.

And, finally, when a president who understands technology in the Oval Office. Mrs. Clinton, actually, you cannot wipe a server with a towel. [applause]

REGAN: Ms. Fiorina, you've said that was when you were CEO of HP, you actually worked with the government.

FIORINA: Yes, and see...

REGAN: — to try and combat some of these terrorist threats.

FIORINA: As CEO of Hewlett Packard...

REGAN: What did you do?

FIORINA: As CEO of Hewlett Packard, I was asked very specifically for some very real help. The help I was asked to provide, this is now public information. So I am not revealing what — something that was — was classified.

We had a very large shipment of equipment, software and hardware, headed to a retail outlet. And I was called by the head of the NSA, who had an urgent need for that capability, to begin laying out a program to track terrorists.

We turned that truck around on a highway and it was escorted to the headquarters in San Jose.

In World War II, our government went to the private sector and said, help us do things that we cannot do.

The private sector has capabilities that the government does not have. There are some legal authorities that are required.

The Sony attack could have been detected and repelled, had legal authorities been passed in Congress allowing private networks and public networks to work together.

Those legal authorities have not yet been passed.

Yes, I was asked to help. [bell rings]

I know the technology industry. They will help again. But they must be asked by a president who understands what they have.

REGAN: Ms. Fiorina, thank you. [applause]

SMITH: All right, Governor Huckabee, you called President Obama's executive orders on gun control unconstitutional and completely insane. [laughter and applause]

HUCKABEE: [laughing] Yes, I did.

SMITH: You even told gun store owners to ignore the President's orders. [applause]

Yet, innocent people are dying from gun violence in cities like Detroit, Chicago, and Charleston everyday. Is there anything that can be done at the federal level to prevent guns from falling into the hands of criminals?

HUCKABEE: Well, why don't we start by making sure the Justice Department never does an idiotic program like Fast and Furious where the U.S. Government put guns...[cheering]...in the hands of Mexican drug lords...[applause]...and end up killing one of our border agents. You know, they want to talk about law abiding citizens, I just find it amazing the President keeps saying the gun show loophole. There is no gun show loophole. I promise you I've been to more gun shows than President Obama.

SMITH: [laughing]

HUCKABEE: And, I've bought more weapons at them, and you fill out forms. The President also says things that it's easier to get a gun now than it is to grow trees. Again, I purchase guns, and I can assure you that it is much more difficult to purchase a firearm than it is to get the ingredients of a salad at the supermarket.

What the President keeps pushing are ideas that have never worked. Ideas that would not have stopped San Bernadino, Sandy Hook, Aurora, and at some point you wonder if you keep retrying things that don't work, maybe we should just see if we could resell all those used lottery tickets that didn't work real well because that's the logic of just keep doing the same thing, but something that has failed. Of course, we want to stop gun violence, but the one common thing that has happened in most mass shootings is that they happened in gun- free zones where people who would have been law abiding citizens, who could have stood up and at least tried to stop it and we're not allowed to under the law. [applause]

SMITH: Thank you, Governor Huckabee.

REGAN: Governor Huckabee, an American in San Bernardino murdered 14 people while terrorists with Belgian and French passports murdered 130 people. Were facing a threat within our borders, and from outside the United States. Those European terrorists, they could have come here at any time given that we have a visa waiver program that enables people to travel back and forth. It exists within those countries, and 36 others.

In countries around the world, including many in Europe, cannot ensure that their citizens are not jihadists, why are we waiving the visa requirement at all?

HUCKABEE: Well, we shouldn't be and that's one of the reasons that I think there a lot of voices in our country who are saying it's time to relook at the visa program. The European Union is a failure, it's not allowed for even the economic goals that they were trying to achieve.

But, what we're not seeing is that it's making Europe less safe, and it's proven not to be exactly what they all thought it was going to be.

Our first and foremost responsibility in this country, and the first responsibility of the President of the United States is protect America, and protect Americans. We have a President who seems to be more interested in protecting the reputation and image of Islam than he is protecting us. And, I want to be very clear...[applause]...that this President. [cheering]

Makes comments like he did the other night, that we have to be so careful because we don't want to offend Muslims. He needs to read his own FBI crime stats from last year which would show him that of the hate crimes in the country, over 5,500, about 1,100 were religious hate crimes. And, of those, 58% were directed toward Jews. Only 16% directed toward Muslims.

Maybe what the President should have talked about the other night is how we ought to be more careful in the anti-semitic comments that are going toward American Jews than toward Muslims because by three times as many...[applause]...they're being targeted for religious hate crime.

REGAN: If you get the visa waiver program, does that shut down international commerce?

HUCKABEE: It does not shut down international commerce, but it may slow it down. And, you don't want to slowdown commerce that is making us safer. It's worth it. This lady who came and joined with the San Bernardino killer had passed three background checks, and that's why a lot of Americans didn't buy it when the President said we'll bring in Syrian refugees, but don't worry we'll check them out.

We have a lot of confidence in a president who told us that we could keep our doctor, we could keep our health insurance, and cost us less, and now the latest is if you like your gun you can keep it too, and frankly, we don't buy it. We don't believe it. He's lost his credibility, and his inept... [applause]...inability to work with Congress and pass legislation has led him to do what I never even imagined doing as a governor, and that's just going and doing it my own way.

That's why we elect a president, is to lead, is to be able to shepherd things through. And if I can do it with a 90 percent Democrat legislature in Arkansas, there is no excuse for any president not being able to lead in Washington if he knows what the heck he is doing when he gets there. [applause]

REGAN: Thank you, Governor Huckabee.

SMITH: Senator Santorum, many of our military leaders believe America's critical infrastructure is vulnerable to a terrorist attack. This is the power in our homes, the water we drink, the Internet and phone systems by which we stay connected.

If attacked, these essential services that underpin American society could come to a grinding halt. Do you have a specific plan to protect us from this type of attack?

SANTORUM: Well, the most devastating attack that could occur is an electromagnetic pulse attack, and that would be an attack that would be triggered by a nuclear explosion in the upper atmosphere of our country.

The best way to stop that from happening is to make sure that those who contemplating and actually war-gaming and talking about using it, Iran, doesn't get a nuclear weapon so they can't explode that device. [applause] And the president of the United States has put Iran on a path to a nuclear weapon. And we have done nothing to do anything to harden our grid. There is actually a bill in Congress that would put money forward to try to put redundancy and harden our electric grid so it could actually survive an EMP.

An EMP is a devastating explosion that sends a pulse that knocks out all electric, everything, everything that is connected to any kind — that is wired, that has a circuit board gets fried out. Everything is gone. Cars stop. Planes fall out of the sky.

This is a devastating attack. And this president has done nothing, number one, to take the most probable person to — probable country to launch an attack and stop them, and has done nothing to try to defend us, particularly our electric grid. The bottom line is, I put the original sanctions on the Iranian nuclear program when I was in the United States Senate. I've been fighting for 12 years with one thing in mind, that we must stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. And...[applause]...because they're different than every other country. They do not want a nuclear weapon to defend themselves. They want a nuclear weapon to have theological ends to bring about their mahdi so they can control the world. And that is the most serious threat facing this country right now. [applause]

SMITH: Senator Santorum, I want to stay with you on this, moving to jobs and the economy. In his State of the Union Address the other night, President Obama touted his record on jobs, citing more than 14 million new jobs and boasted of nearly 900,000 manufacturing jobs added in the past six years.

Do you dispute his track record of creating jobs?

SANTORUM: Well, the numbers just don't add up. I mean, they have not added manufacturing jobs. Manufacturing jobs have been lost in this country, 2 million of them. The bottom line is that this president has done more to take jobs away from the hard-working people who are struggling the most.

And that's folks who are, as I said, the 74 percent of Americans who don't have a college degree. And they're out there talking about, well, we're going to provide free college for everybody. Well, who is going to pay for it? The 74 percent that don't have a college degree.

They're not — nobody is focused. Let's just be honest, nobody is focused on the people who are struggling the most in America today. We talk about immigration. Talk about the president's immigration plan. He wants to bring in more and more people into this country. Let people who are here illegally stay in this country.

Almost all of the people who are here illegally, and most of the people who came here legally over the last 20 years, they're working in wage-earning jobs. That is why wages have flat-lined.

And we have unfortunately two political parties with most of the candidates in this field for some form of amnesty, some form of allowing people to stay here even though they're here illegally and for increasing levels of legal immigration.

I'm someone who believes that we need to be the party that stands for the American worker. And when we say we need to send people back, I mean we send people back.

And let me just make one point. I was in Storm Lake, Iowa, the other day, near a Tyson's plant, 91 percent of the kids that go to the elementary school there are minority kids. And they said, well, what are you going to do with all of these people, their families, they've lived here for a long time?

I said, I'm going to give them a gift. I'm going to give them a gift of being able to help the country they were born in. And I'm going to export America, the education they were able to see. They learned English language. They learned about capitalism. They learned about democracy. You want to stop flow of immigrants?

Let's send six million Mexicans, Hondurans, Guatemalans, El Savadorians...[bell rings]...back into their country, so they can start a renaissance in their country so they won't be coming over here anymore. [applause]

REGAN: Senator Santorum, thank you.

SMITH: Governor Huckabee, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mike Mullen, has said the greatest threat to our security is our national debt.

Our national debt is now on pace to top $19 trillion. Yet, you as well as Ms. Fiorina have laid forward no plan to reform entitlements. How can you say you're going to pay down our country's debt without cutting Social Security or Medicare?

HUCKABEE: Well, first of all, let's just remember that Social Security is not the government's money, it belongs to the people who had it taken out of their checks involuntarily their entire working lives. [applause]

For the government to say, well it is fault of working people that we have a Social Security problem, no. It is the fault of a government that used those people's money for something other than protecting those people's accounts. So let's not blame them and punish them. [applause]

But here is a fact, and I sometimes hear Republicans say well, we're going to have to cut this and extend the age. You know what I think a lot of times when I hear people say, well, let's make people work to their 70. That sounds great for white-collar people who sat at a desk most of their lives. You ever talk to somebody that stood on concrete floor for the first 40 years of their working life? Do you think they can stand another five years or 10 years, many of them will retired virtually crippled because they worked hard. And we're going to punish them some more? I don't think so. Here's the fact. [applause]

Four percent economic growth, we fully fund Social Security and Medicare. Our problem is not that Social Security is just too generous to seniors. It isn't. Our problem is that our politicians have not created the kind of policies that would bring economic growth.

And I still support strongly that we get rid of the 77,000 pages of the monstrous tax code...[applause]...pass the fair tax, supercharge this economy with the rocket fuel that happens with the consumption tax and we don't have to cut Social Security to any senior who has worked their lifetime for it. [applause]

REGAN: Thank you, Governor Huckabee.

SMITH: OK. We're going to continue this conversation. We're taking a quick break and then coming up, the candidates' plans for strengthening the middle class. We're live in North Charleston with the Republican Presidential Debate. We'll be right back. [applause]

[commercial break]

REGAN: Welcome back to the Republican presidential debate live from North Charleston.

We want to jump right back in.

Sandra is kicking it off.

SMITH: All right, thanks, Trish.

Well, let's get started with Ms. Fiorina.

Today, the middle class represents about 50 percent of the U.S. population, down from about 61 percent back in 1971. That's according to Pew Research. The same research revealed a widening income gap in America. The rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer.

What will you do to strengthen a middle class that is no longer the majority?

FIORINA: For decades, the professional political class in both parties has been talking about the middle class. For decades, Republicans in particular have been talking about reducing the size and scope of government, spending less money, reducing the complexity.

And yet, for 40 years, the government has gotten bigger and more expensive.

We now have a 75,000 plus page tax code, although politicians have run for office for decades promising reform. And all the while, middle class incomes have stagnated.

You see, when government gets bigger and bigger, more powerful, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer and the middle class gets squeezed.

We need to understand who the job creators are in this country, because we need more jobs to grow the middle class and to grow the wages of the middle class.

Who creates jobs?

Small businesses, new businesses, family-owned businesses. [applause] They create two thirds of the new jobs in this country and they employ half the people.

I started out typing for a nine person real estate firm. My husband Frank started out driving a tow truck for a family-owned auto body shop. And we are crushing small businesses and destroying the middle class.

So here's my blueprint to take back America. Let us first actually reform the tax code from 73,000 pages down to three. There's a 20-year-old plan to do exactly that.

And then let us begin piece by piece to focus on every single dollar the government spends, so that we will spend less overall and still have enough for our priorities. And that requires the government to budget the way you do at home — examine every dollar, cut any dollar, move any dollar. The fancy term for that is zero- based budgeting, but I call it common sense.

Citizens, we've got to take our country back. [applause]

SMITH: Thank you, Ms. Fiorina. [applause]

REGAN: Governor Huckabee, you know it used to be you could graduate from high school and get a pretty good job at the local factory, enough to take care of your family and yourself. Those days seem to be gone. It's pretty hard to do that nowadays.

Businesses are increasingly turning to automation to increase their productivity levels. It's happening right here, in fact, at the Boeing factory in North Charleston.

The president says automation threatens workers' ability to get higher wages.

Do you agree with that?

And if so, do you have a solution?

HUCKABEE: Let me go back to the reason so many people are having a hard time getting ahead. The tax system punishes them.

Think about this. If you work really hard and you start moving up the economic ladder, you get bumped into a different tax bracket. So the government thinks it deserves more of your hard work than you do.

And it's one of the reasons that no matter how many different reforms you have to a tax on people's productivity, you're still taxing their work, their savings. You're taxing their capital gains, inheritance, dividends, you're taxing everything that produces something.

And it's way I really believe it's time to do something bold, not something minute. This is no time for a tap of the hammer, a twist of the screwdriver. It's time for something big. That's why the fair tax transforms our economy. [applause]

And we don't punish workers. It's the only way we're going to get middle class people moving ahead again, because the harder they work, the more they keep. No payroll tax deducted from their checks. They get their entire paycheck. [applause]

And, one of the most important parts, it's built on the common sense with which we raised our kids, and trained dogs. You reward behavior you want more of. And, you punish behavior you want less of. That's how I raise kids, it's how I trained our dogs, and folks, it's not that difficult.

We now punish the behavior we say we want more of by taxing it, and we reward the behavior that we say we want less of, so if you make a good investment, we punish you with a tax. If you make a bad investment you can write that off and the rest of the taxpayers will help subsidize you, and bail you out. [applause]

REGAN: Thank you very much, Governor Huckabee.

Senator Santorum, 40% of babies born today are born to single moms. That's twice as high as reported back in 1980, and it's 11 times as high as in 1940. Studies show that children are always better off economically, most often — and emotionally, with two parents in a household. From a policy perspective, should the government be doing anything to encourage family formation?

SANTORUM: You know, we've had this debate about the economy, and we haven't talked the one issue now increasingly even the right, and even the are coming to agreement. I've run around doing 300 town hall meetings talking about a book written by a liberal Harvard sociologist, not a normal thing for me to be talking about, but I now name Robert Putnam who wrote a book called, "Our Kids".

And, he wrote this book, I think, ostensibly to support the Democratic argument that the middle of America's hollowing out, and income gap is widening, and rich are getting richer. When he studied all the information as to what was going on, he realized that the biggest reason that we're seeing the hollowing out of the middle of America is the breakdown of the American family.

The reality is that if you're a single parent — a child of a single parent, and you grew up in a single parent family neighborhood, you went to that single parent family school, the chance of you ever, ever reaching the top 20% of income earners is 3% in America. At least — I don't know about you, but that's not good enough. And, we have been too politically correct in this country because we don't want to offend anybody to fight for the lives of our children. [applause]

You want — You want to be shocked? You read the first few chapters of Mr. — Dr. Putnam' book. He talks about Port Clinton, Ohio and growing up there in the 1950's, and how poor kids actually survived and did well, even though they were poor and disadvantaged. But, then he goes to the towns today and these kids are failing, and failing miserably. They don't even have a shot, and we won't even have the courage to have leadership at the federal level — not with legislation, but the most powerful tool a president have, the bully pulpit to encourage each and everyone of you, churches and businesses, and educators, and community leaders to let's have a national campaign to rebuild the American family, and give every child its birthright which is a Mom and a Dad who loves them.

That will change this economy. [cheering and applause]

REGAN: Thank you.

SMITH: Thank you, Senator.

We're not finished yet. More Republican Presidential Debate in North Charleston after this.

[commercial break]

SMITH: Welcome back, it's time for the closing statements. Candidates will each get one minute, starting with Senator Santorum.

Thank you very much, I want to thank the people of Charleston, which has become a little bit of a second home to me, because I am very privileged to have two young men who go to the Citadel here and they're here tonight, my son John and my son Daniel. [applause]

SANTORUM: Ladies and gentlemen, America is frustrated and angry and looking for someone who's a fighter, but I also think they're looking for someone who's a winner. Somebody who can go out there and take on the establishment and make a difference. And take on someone who's going to be the person who's going to be between a Republican holding the presidency and that's Hillary Clinton.

And there's one person on this stage, one person in the race who's done it and done it repeatedly. I've taken on Hillary Clinton on the issues you care about. Partial-birth abortion.

Go and google Rick Santorum and Hillary Clinton and there you'll see a five-minute debate. I'll let you decide who won the debate. I'll tell you who won, because we passed the bill and I know I'm out of time but I'm going to take some of Rand Paul's time here for a second. [applause]

If you're looking for someone who fought Hillary Clinton on Iran's sanctions, she was one of four who voted — who's deciding vote who voted against Iran's sanctions, so we didn't get it in place as earlier as we should have.

I've fought battles against her. In 1994, I ran against the Clinton machine. James Carville and Paul Begala, ran the race against me when I took on the author of Hillary care.

And each one of those battles, I won. You want a fighter, you want a winner, I'd appreciate your vote. Thank you. [applause]

SMITH: Thank you, Senator Santorum. Governor Mike Huckabee.

HUCKABEE: Well, Rick, I'm pretty sure I did also fight the Clinton machine because every election I was ever in in Arkansas, I assure you, they were behind it, helping finance and campaign for every opponent.

And I share with you the understanding that it's going to be a tough battle. But I spent the first half of my adult life in the private and nonprofit sector, raising a family, understanding how tough it is for people to make it.

And that first half of my life is what led me to believe that America needs a different kind of leadership, not people who spent their whole life running from one office to the next, and living off the government dime. And I got involved because I got sick of what I saw.

I also believe that there's got to be some leadership that not only addresses the monetary and military issues of this country, but the moral issues of this country. At the end of every political speech, most of us say, God bless America.

But how can he do that when we continue to slaughter 4,000 babies a day? [applause]

And I want to be the president that treats every person, including the unborn, as a person. And protect them under the 5th and 14th amendments of the constitution. I close with this word from a gentleman in East Texas named Butel Lucre. He's 100 years old and I met him down in East Texas. And he said this to me. "I sure wish, Mike, we had the days when The Ten Commandments were in all of our capitals and in every school, and we prayed again.

You know, he may be 100 years old, but I believe some of those old ideas to get this country back where we unapologetically get on our knees before we get on our feet might be the best solutions we've ever sought as a country. [applause] And I ask for your support and your vote.

Thank you. [applause]

SMITH: Thank you, Governor.

REGAN: Carly Fiorina?

FIORINA: My husband Frank, that I mentioned, I love spending time with. He's down there. He was real excited the other day because in New Hampshire, he was introduced as my eye candy. [laughter]

You know, everybody out there watching knows this. You cannot wait to see the debate between me and Hillary Clinton. You would pay to see that fight. [applause] And that's because you know I will win. And that's important. We've got to start by beating Hillary Clinton.

All of my life, I have been told to sit down and be quiet. Settle. Settle. Don't challenge the system.

That's what the American people are being told now and we have been told that for way too long — sit down and be quiet about our God, about our guns, about the abortion industry, settle for illegal immigration that's been a problem for decades, as so many of our problems have festered for decades. Accept a system of government and politics that no longer works for us.

I will not sit down and be quiet. And neither will you.

So I ask you to stand with me, fight with me, vote for me, citizens. It is time to take our future back, time to take our politics back. It is time to take our government back. Citizens, it is time. We must take our country back. [applause]

REGAN: Thank you to all the candidates. [crosstalk] That does it, everyone for the first debate right here in North Charleston.

NOTE: The criteria for appearing in the main debate is explained as, "Candidates must either: 1) Place in the top six nationally, based on an average of the five most recent national polls recognized by FOX News; OR 2) Place in the top five in Iowa, based on an average of the five most recent Iowa state polls recognized by FOX News; OR 3) Place in the top five in New Hampshire, based on an average of the five most recent New Hampshire state polls recognized by FOX News." The three candidates in this debate did not meet this criteria and were invited to participate in this "undercard" debate preceding the main debate.

Senator Rand Paul (KY) was invited to participate in this "undercard" debate but declined.

+ Citation: Presidential Candidates Debates: "Republican Candidates "Undercard" Debate in North Charleston, South Carolina," January 14, 2016. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=111394. +
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+ 		+ + + + +Presidential Candidates Debates: Republican Candidates "Undercard" Debate in Las Vegas, Nevada +
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December 15, 2015
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PARTICIPANTS:
Senator Lindsey Graham (SC);
Former Governor Mike Huckabee (AR);
Former Governor George Pataki (NY);
Former Senator Rick Santorum (PA);

MODERATORS:
Wolf Blitzer (CNN);
Dana Bash (CNN); and
Hugh Hewitt (Salem Radio Network)

BLITZER: I'd now like to ask the candidates to please take your places while I tell you a little bit more about how tonight's debate will work. As the moderator, I'll guide the discussion asking questions and follow-ups, as will Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt.

Candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have a minutes and 15 seconds to answer and 30 seconds for follow-ups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you're singled out for criticism.

We have timing lights that are visible to the candidates, those lights will warn you when your time is up. And as the candidates requested, a bell will sound like this.

[bell rings]

We know you're all eager to jump in and debate these important issues, but please wait until you're called on. Now that everyone is this place, it's time for the candidates to introduce themselves to our audience. You'll each have one minute.

Senator Graham, you're first.

GRAHAM: Thank you very much.

I just returned from Iraq two weeks ago. It was my 36th trip to Iraq and Afghanistan in the last decade. Toward the end, I met a very impressive Special Forces sergeant. It was his job to train Iraqi Kurdish commandos.

He was so proud of what he was doing and so proud of the people he was training. He was the replacement for Master Sergeant Wheeler, a Delta Force member who was killed two months ago in a raid against an ISIL prison to free prisoners.

As I departed, I told this young man, stay safe. He replied, sir, I will do my best to stay safe, but I came here to win. As commander-in-chief, I will do everything in my power to make sure that he can win. As president, we will win. [applause]

BLITZER: Governor Pataki.

PATAKI: Thank you, Wolf.

I want to speak to you this evening not as a Republican or a presidential candidate, but as an American. As we saw today in L.A., we are at a crisis in our country. Radical Islam poses a threat to our safety not just overseas, but literally in every community in America.

And yet at a time when we should be united, we have a president who has divided us, who refuses to call radical Islam what it is, let alone have a coherent strategy to defeat it.

The leading Democrat, Hillary Clinton, won't call ISIS by its name, failed as secretary of state, and has continually lied to the American people.

On the other hand, the leading Republican candidate, Donald Trump, continually demonizes and demeans millions of Americans, and when confronted about it, laughs it off. Neither is fit to be president of the United States.

Our party, as Republicans, needs to nominate a strong leader who will unite us as Republicans, but more importantly, unite us as Americans, committed to destroying and defeating radical Islam, restoring our confidence in our safety right here, and our belief in freedom, and that the best of America is ahead of us.

Thank you very much. [applause]

BLITZER: Senator Santorum.

SANTORUM: Thank you, Wolf.

It's great to be here in Las Vegas. And I just want to thank everybody for the opportunity to be here.

This is an important time in our country's history. We have entered World War III. World War III has begun and we have a leader who refuses to identify it and be truthful to the American people to the stakes that are involved, in part, because his policies have led us here.

His policy toward Iran lit the fuse of a nuclear Iran. Just a few weeks ago the International Atomic Agency reported that Iran has had a nuclear program, but they don't know if it's continuing because they refuse to share any information about the current status. And this President marches on, forgiving them hundreds of billions of dollars to allow them to not just reconstitute their robust nuclear program, pursue their missile program, but also to foment terror around the world. And then his policies in the Middle East with Iraq create ISIS. Ladies and gentlemen, we need a President who will be honest with you and identify these problems and defeat them. I hope you will give me the chance to do that. Thank you.

BLITZER: Governor Huckabee.

HUCKABEE: Wolf, I want to say thanks to you and CNN for giving us the opportunity especially to focus on national security issues at a time when Americans are not only angry — angry at their government that they feel like has failed them, been indifferent to them, cost them their livelihoods — but they're in addition to angry, they're just plain scared. They're scared when they thing that they go to a Christmas party and get shot at by somebody who sat and had lunch with them an hour earlier. They're scared when they realize that our government, who promises that it can vet people and is begging us to approve bringing 10,000 Syrian refugees into this country, can't even catch somebody after a third background check, who had posted things on social media clearly indicating she wanted to kill Americans. And we couldn't catch that. We've lost confidence in our government. And when Americans lose confidence in their government, we're in a dangerous place. We're in danger because we have an enemy that is out to kill us, and we have a government that we don't trust any more. This election is about going back to having a government we can trust with leaders who have the courage and conviction to actually lead and not follow.

BLITZER: Let's begin. The United States just suffered the worst terrorist attack since 9-11, the murder of 14 people by two terrorists, one of whom was an American citizen. In response, Republican frontrunner Donald Trump proposed a temporary ban on all Muslims coming into the United States until the government can figure out what is going on. Senator Graham, the polls show most Republicans do support Mr. Trump. What do you say to them?

GRAHAM: You may think this makes us safe, but it doesn't. The good news for everybody in this room is, after 36 trips to Iraq and Afghanistan, most people over there, Wolf, are not buying what ISIL's selling. This is a religious war between radical Islam and the rest of the world. And there's only one way you're going to win this war. Help people in Islam who reject radical Islam to fight over there and destroy this ideology. Donald Trump has done the one single thing you cannot do. Declare war on Islam itself. ISIL would be dancing in the streets, they just believe in dancing. This is a coup for them, and to all of our Muslim friends throughout the world, like the King of Jordan and the President of Egypt, I am sorry. He does not represent us. If I am President, we will work together. People in the faith to all over the world destroy this radical ideology. Declaring war on the religion only helps ISIL.

BLITZER: Senator Graham, you say you'd rather lose the election without Trump than try to win with him. Does that mean you'll be voting for the Democratic nominee if Donald Trump wins the presidential nomination?

GRAHAM: I will support the Republican nominee, whoever he or she may be. Like Bob Dole, I may sleep late that day if it's Trump. But the bottom line, if it's Trump, so be it. That's who I'll support. Please understand we're in a war that we can't afford to lose, and what he said about banning Muslims coming here to America has made us all less safe, and it's the worst possible thing he could do in this war. He clearly doesn't understand this war and how to win it. For God's sakes, pick somebody who is worthy of the sacrifice of those who are fighting this war and who actually knows how to win, and I don't believe that's Mr. Trump, and I know it's not Hillary Clinton.

BLITZER: Governor Pataki, you mentioned Donald Trump in your opening statement. You've also suggested Mr. Trump's plan is un-American and absurd. Why?

PATAKI: Absolutely. It's one of many absurd things this President has said.

To target a religion and say that regardless of whether you're an American soldier who has fought on our side or allies we have overseas, simply because of your religion we're going to ban you is un-American, it is unconstitutional and it is wrong. And by the way, Wolf, now there was a group that tried to do that 150 to 160 years ago, they were called the Know-Nothing Party. They wanted to ban Catholics. They thought they were going to destroy America.

Well, Donald Trump is the Know-Nothing candidate of the 21st century and cannot be our nominee.

By the way, though. I fault Hillary and Obama as well because by not distinguishing between Muslims and radicalized Jihadists, by refusing to acknowledge that it's radical Muslim, radical Islamists who are carrying out these attacks against America — they let Americans who are confused and angry lump everyone together. We have to embrace the Muslims who embrace our freedom and living and safety. We have to destroy those who embrace Jihad and want to engage in violence against us here or abroad.

BLITZER: Senator Santorum, you object to Mr. Trump's proposals on the grounds that it's unworkable. You've made religious liberty a hallmark of your career. Do you believe in religious liberty for Muslims as well as Christians?

SANTORUM: Of course I do. But what Donald Trump was saying was nothing against Muslims. His comment was against this administration who doesn't have a policy to properly vet people coming into this country. Let's just be honest about what's — what's being talked about here. And I know people will pile on because it makes sense to pile on, maybe from the polls. But he brings up a legitimate issue. The fact of the matter is not all Muslims are Jihadists and no one, including I suspect, Donald Trump would say that. But the reality is, all Jihadists are Muslims.

That's a reality. And we have — we have to stop worrying about offending some people and start defending all Americans. Because we're not right now.

BLITZER: Senator Graham.

GRAHAM: Rick, please understand the only way we're gonna win the war against radical Islam is for the world to unite. Very few fathers and mothers want to turn their daughters and sons over to ISIL. If you spend any time in the region, you'd know that. Muslims have died by the thousands fighting this hateful ideology. You can say what you like, but when you utter the word I will ban all Americans, all Muslims from coming to America, how do you think the king of Jordan must feel to hear that? He is our friend, he is our ally. This is not the way to make America safe. This is the way to help our enemies. Stop this before it's too late.

BLITZER: Senator Santorum.

SANTORUM: I would agree — I would agree that Donald Trump's proposal was not the right proposal. But he brings up a very important issue that I think we've been ignoring for far too long in this country. The reality is that, yes, we need to get reformist Muslims to join us. We need to get those who are being persecuted and killed within the Middle East to join us. But we also have to protect this country from those who want to harm us and we have to defeat those who are radicalized in the Middle East and wherever we find them around the world.

BLITZER: Governor Huckabee, you called Mr. Trump's plan to ban Muslims impossible and unconstitutional. But what is your specific plan to prevent would-be Jihadists from carrying out attacks against Americans?

HUCKABEE: Well, let me begin by saying I'm not that afraid of Donald Trump. And, in the sense that I'd rather him be President than I had Hillary be president any day. And so if he becomes president, I think he will do a whole lot more to protect us than Hillary will. And a whole lot more than Barack Obama has done in his eight years.

So I want to make it very clear that when I was making that comment, I was simply speaking that I'm not sure that you can have a religious test per se. And it's very impractical because if somebody comes to our borders and says I'd like to come in. They say are you a Muslim? Well, they're — if they're going to come in here to kill us, they're not gonna say yeah, and I'm coming to kill you. They're going to lie about it. Anybody that will kill you, for God's sake, will lie to you.

So that's why I say it's impractical. But what he has done, and I don't think a lot of people understand, he has touched a nerve because people are angry and afraid that we are facing an enemy that this administration refuses to acknowledge, refuses to want to go fight. And our only answer is to go after ISIS and to go after every form of radical Islam where they are, take them down, so they never get here and do what they did in San Bernardino again ever.

BLITZER: The terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino have sparked a debate here in the United States about the balance between privacy and security. I want to bring in CNN's Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt for more on this.

BASH: Senator Santorum, you want to give the intelligence community more power to collect American's phone data. But the government had this ability until just days before the San Bernardino attack.

If it couldn't prevent San Bernardino, why will it protect America?

SANTORUM: Just because it couldn't have prevented San Bernardino doesn't mean that we shouldn't have all tools available to us that doesn't impinge upon people's privacy. This sort of data collection is not collecting people's phones calls, their voices; they're not collecting information that's personal. There's no names attached to these numbers. They're simply numbers and times and relationships that throughout algorithms that computer technology can be able to sort through relationship about what numbers are calling what numbers and be able to track those down to see if there's any leakage's between someone who's potentially a terrorist.

That is to me just fundamental that we have to have this type of data to be able to not impinge upon people's privacy. In fact, I would make the argument that the more data we can collect that's anonymous that we can through, through using algorithms, the less we need to involve people in and imposing themselves in people's privacy.

BASH: Senator Graham, when this program was exposed, you said, " you have nothing to worry about if you're not talking to terrorist." Do you understand why though some Americans are concerned that the government is keeping tabs on them in any way?

GRAHAM: Well, here's what I'm here to tell you, when I first started this process of running for president., I said, " if you didn't realize we need more America boots on the ground in Iraq and eventually in Syria as a part of the regional army - not ready to be commander in chief." Like nobody said a word, now everybody's on board except Senator Paul.

Senator Paul and Senator Cruz, are isolationists. They both want to restrict the ability of the NSA to do the following; find out if somebody overseas is calling into America and if somebody is on the other end of the phone, don't you want to know who their talking to? IF a terrorist is calling into America and we can match up phone numbers we get a get a court order to find out what the content is.

We're at war folks, they're not trying to steal your car, they're trying to kills us all. So yes, I would re-institute this program. There's four things you need to understand about this war, it's a religious war, them against the world, if you don't fight them over there, they're coming here. If you don't hit them first, they're going to hit us. If you're not determined to fight it as a ware, you're going to lose it.

So if you're worried about somebody having your phone in the government, don't be. The only thing you need to worry about is if you're talking to terrorist and a judge gives an order to listen to what you're saying. That's all you need to worry about.

BASH: Thank you.

Governor Huckabee, you said, "not one terrorist plot has been foiled by the NSA's collection of American's phone records. The director of the CIA says,. "not having these programs makes it ability to find terrorists, quote, "much more challenging."" Are you taking a potential tool to fight terrorists?

HUCKABEE: No. I'm not taking it away, I just want to make sure that everything we use is going to be effective. We're spending billions of dollars, let's make sure it's effective. Let's use every tool, but let's also check out the Facebook posts, let's look at Twitter accounts.

My gosh, we were told we couldn't do it because it might invade somebody's privacy. This lady who came over here and shot up San Bernardino was posting things on Facebook, yet, we were restricted from looking. Every college kid who goes to a frat party gets drunk and puts his picture on Facebook is going to have a potential employer looking at that photo before he gets hired.

Why should we have more attention? I mean, for heaven's sake, towards some college kid who wants to one day ten years from to get a job, then we're going after who wants to come in with a semi automatic weapon or a pipe bomb and blow up a bunch of Americans. This is what I think a lot of Americans are frustrated with, it's the duplicity of our policy that is illogical and irrational.

Our goal ought to be, "protect Americans and put Americans first not last," which is what I think this administration has done.

BASH: Senator Santorum?

SANTORUM: Look, I agree with Governor Huckabee, that we should in fact be looking at people's social media posts. That's just common sense.

But we've defunded and tied the hands behind the backs of our intelligence agencies because of political correctness. We're not allowed to ask any questions or really pursue, whether there's any mosque that they're attending that could be spreading Jihadism, and we know that in this country there are Imams that are doing that. But we're not allowed to ask those questions, we're not allowed to pursue to those things because we have a president who denies the reality of the enemy we confront.

HEWITT: Wait, let's pursue that in fact Governor Pataki?

PATAKI: Yes.

HEWITT: You called for following and finding those Imams who are preaching violence in mosques. How exactly would you do that and what Mosques would you shut down? How extensive of a surveillance program are you proposing?

PATAKI: You know, I think it's very important that we do everything in our power to prevent radicalization of Americans right here. And it is happening, not just overseas, but it's happening here from Mosques on social media.

And truth — interaction and community meetings.

New York police department had a very active group, aggressively monitoring and using intelligence to — in certain Muslim communities, consistent with our constitution, consistent of our civil rights, so they could have the intelligence as to where these sermons are being given, and who is being radicalized. And, they stopped and prevented dozens, and dozens of attacks in New York.

You know, I'm a great believer in the First Amendment, of Freedom of Speech. I wish we had more of it on our college campuses, but you can't shout fire in a crowded theater. Calling on Americans to engage in violence against their fellow Americans in the name of jihad is crying fire in a crowded theater. It is not constitutionally protected speech, it should be shut down.

And, by the way, the two murders who went to Garland, Texas to massacre many Americans before the Texas police officer courageously killed them, had been radicalized here.

Getting to that metadata question, one of those terrorists, the day before the attacks, had sent...[bell rings]...109 message to a known terrorist overseas. We could not read those messages, we can not read those today...

HEWITT: ...Thank you, Governor...

PATAKI: ...We have got to do far better.

HEWITT: Governor Huckabee... [applause] ...As Governor Pataki noted earlier, we have a history of religious intoleration in this country. About the American Muslims who would be subject to this kind of surveillance, does it violate their First Amendment rights?

HUCKABEE: No, it does not violate their First Amendment rights to have someone go and listen to the sermons. You can go to any church in America, it's a public place, you can listen, and — you know, if you go to my church, you'll probably get a real blessing. Heck, it'll be a wonderful experience.

You go to some people's church, you may go to sleep, I don't know what happens in every church, but, the point is that these are public places, and folks are invited to come.

So, if it's a public place, and people are invited to come, how does it violate anybody's First Amendment rights that somebody shows up because they might want to just listen in and see is there something that is a little nefarious? And, if there is, then you take the second step of getting a search warrant, you do whatever you have to do. That's all protected under the constitution.

So, Huge, I hear people act like there's something that is terrible about going and sitting in and listening to the sermons of a mosque. If Islam is as wonderful, and peaceful as its adherents say, shouldn't they be begging us to all come in and listen to these peaceful sermons? Shouldn't they be begging us all to come, and listen, and bring the FBI so we'd all want to convert to Islam?

HEWITT: Senator Santorum... [applause] ...I want to start then, not on the First Amendment, but on the Second Amendment. There is a terror watchlist. You can legally purchase a gun in the United States if you're on that watchlist. Your old colleague, Peter King in the House, wants to change that law. Do you agree with him?

SANTORUM: I don't. I don't think we should be able to deny someone's constitutional rights based on a list kept by the government that nobody knows how they get on it, or how they get off of it.

If you're going to make that list public, if you're going to put criteria out there as to how you're going to get on it, if you're going to deny someone's constitutional right, than I think there has to be more transparency. Let's just be honest, when someone applies for a gun, you do a background check. And, if you're on the terrorist watch list, guess what very well may happen? You may get denied that.

That's a discretion of the people — of the ATF in making that kind of decision. I want to leave that discretion — as long as this list is not well known, as long as it's not transparent, we have to leave that discretion.

I want to make a comment about what Mike said, and George said, about mus — Islam.

The fact of the matter is, Islam is different. I know this is going to come as a shock to a lot of people, and I mean the sincerely. Islam is not just a religion. It is also a political governing structure. The fact of the matter is, Islam is a religion, but it is also Sharia law, it is also a civil government, it is also a form of government. And, so, the idea that that is protected under the First Amendment is wrong.

And, in fact, that political structure is what is the big problem. The imposition of Sharia law adherence to fundamental Islam as it was practiced in the Seventh Century...

HEWITT: Governor...

SANTORUM: ...There has to be a line drawn.

HEWITT: Governor, back to you. Your response? [applause]

HUCKABEE: I don't disagree. I don't disagree with anything that the Senator just said because that's exactly right. But, I just want to go back to the point that when people say we can't go into the mosque, we can't listen. That's utter nonsense. Of course we can. And, if we can't, if there's something so secretive going on in there that somebody isn't allowed to go and hear it, maybe we do need for sure to send somebody in there and gather the intelligence. And, that's all to the world I'm saying, I think it stands to be true.

GRAHAM: Can I say something?

HEWITT: Senator Graham, are you trying to get in?

GRAHAM: Yeah. There are at least 3,500 American muslims serving in the armed forces. Thank you for your service. [applause] You are not the enemy. Your religion is not the enemy. Let me make this real to you.

I was at the second presidential election in Afghanistan. The guy guarding me was an American Muslim sergeant in the Army who grew up in Kabul, left when he was — graduated high school, joined the U.S. Army, went back to his high school where they were doing polling, people voting, he took me there and cried like a baby. I cried like a baby.

He is the solution to this problem, folks. He is not the problem. Leave the faith alone. Go after the radicals that kill us all. [applause]

BLITZER: Governor Pataki.

PATAKI: Yes, Wolf.

BLITZER: There are a lot of people who have been frustrated, especially Senator Graham, that law enforcement can't tap into information on terrorist cell phones. Senator Graham has called on companies in Silicon Valley to change their business models.

As president of the United States, would you force these companies to change their models so the government can better monitor the traffic on these cell phones?

PATAKI: I would pass a law requiring them to do that. Let me just give you one example. I mentioned in Garland, Texas, where that murderer, that terrorist, the day before sent 109 messages overseas to a known terrorist.

But they were encrypted. So to this date we don't know what that said. Companies are entitled to encrypt and protect their knowledge and their intelligence. But what we need is a back door for law enforcement to be able, when they can establish that that communication poses a risk to our safety and engages in terrorism, to get a court order and go in and access those communications.

Allow the companies to continue encryption, provide an entry way for law enforcement when they can prove to a court that there is a sufficient risk of an attack upon us that they have the right to look at those messages.

BLITZER: Senator Graham?

PATAKI: And just one more thing, Wolf. When that murderer came from Pakistan to San Bernardino and committed those atrocious crimes just a few weeks ago, she applied for a visa.

She had posted on social media jihadist messages. Because this administration is so politically correct, they have a rule that they cannot look at social media postings of people applying to come to the United States.

That is utterly absurd. One of the things we must do, the next president must do is get rid of that law and make sure we do everything in our power to find out if someone poses a threat to our existence here. [applause]

BLITZER: Senator Graham.

GRAHAM: Thank you. This is why I own a flip phone. You don't have to worry about all of this stuff. [laughter] The bottom line is, we're at war. They're trying to come here to kill us all and it's up to the government to protect you within constitutional means. Any system that would allow a terrorist to communicate with somebody in our country and we can't find out what they're saying is stupid.

If I'm president of the United States, and you join ISIL, you are going to get killed or captured. And the last thing you are going to hear if I'm president is, you've got a right to remain silent. [laughter]

BLITZER: Here is a question we have on the fight against ISIS from Facebook. Listen to this.

[begin video]

HANNAH DEBELLA, COLLEGE STUDENT: I'm Hannah DeBella. And I go to the University of Florida. People say that we're fighting an ideological war with ISIS. If you're president, how would you defeat them both militarily and ideologically, as well?

[end video]

BLITZER: Governor Huckabee, how would you defeat ISIS ideologically?

HUCKABEE: The way we defeat them ideologically is that we remind people that what their intent is is to kill us, and that it is our intent to use every means possible to get to them before they get to us.

We are pretending that this is a war that is not that significant. We have a president who called it the JV team, said we had contained it. Nine hours after he said we contained it, there was a massacre in Paris.

We've got to make it so untenable for somebody to join ISIS. Rather than making it so that teenagers from around the world want to go and be to be a part of this, we need to go after it with significant ground troops, air campaign.

The president boasted we had 9,000 flown sorties, air missions over 18 months. What he failed to tell the American people, we were flying 3,000 air missions per day during Desert Storm.

And the rules of engagement have got to be loosened, because we have to make sure that we are not just going over and setting off some fireworks. We have to kill some terrorists and kill every one of them we can to make it very clear that to take action or threaten action against the United States, and you've just signed your death warrant.

We're coming to get you. And you won't be coming to our shores. You're going to be going to your funeral. That's what we need to do to begin to defeat it ideologically.

BLITZER: Senator Graham, you have an aggressive military plan to try to defeat ISIS. The U.S. citizen who killed 14 people in San Bernardino was radicalized right here in the United States. As President, how would you defeat ISIS online?

GRAHAM: Well, what you want to do is you want to knock them off line. How about this idea? If you pledge allegiance to al-Baghdadi, you can't get married in America? The bottom line is you have to go after them everywhere. The key to winning this war is to provide the capacity to those in the faith who reject the ideology. The key to fighting this war is to fight it in their backyard, not ours. Two years ago I came up with a plan that requires more American boots on the ground in Iraq. The first thing out of my mouth running for President was, if you don't understand we need 10,000 troops in Iraq, rather than 3,500, you're not ready. What would I do in Syria? I'd form a regional army of Arabs and Turkey. Ninety percent them, 10 percent us. Up to 10,000 U.S. forces to go in on the ground and destroy the caliphate and its roots. Take Raqqah away from ISIL, kill every one of these bastards we could find. Then I would stay. I would hold the hands of those who are willing to live in peace with us. I would build small school houses in remote regions of the world to give a young woman a voice about her children, something that will end radical Islam more than the bomb. I'm all in. Whatever it takes, as long as it takes. To the isolationists in our party, you're no better than Obama. If you want to win this war, follow me. I am seeking victory, folks, not containment.

BLITZER: Senator Santorum, following up on what we just heard from Senator Graham, at least one U.S. intelligence report from the White House has concluded that, in order to defeat ISIS and to stop its spread worldwide, you have to defeat it on the battlefield. You've called for more U.S. troops in Iraq, but you say that sending U.S. troops into Syria would be a mistake. How do you defeat ISIS with no U.S. ground troops in the country where ISIS is headquartered.

SANTORUM: Well, there's all sorts of theological reasons why we may not want to go into Syria right now to take ISIS. But let me set that aside for a moment and say this. ISIS is a caliphate. They've established a caliphate, the first Sunni caliphate since 1924, when Ataturk disbanded the Ottoman Empire. They've established a caliphate and, under Islamic law, good Muslims who see them as a legitimate caliphate are required to follow them. That's why we have people in this country who see them as a legitimate caliphate, which is the leader of the Sunni Muslim world, they are required under their law to follow them. How do we defeat their caliphate? Well, it's very clear in Islamic law how you do so. You take their land. You have to take land back from the caliphate and in the Islamic world that delegitimizes, that delegitimizes the caliphate. It makes the caliphate unsuccessful. Therefore not blessed by Allah. Therefore, you should not follow it. We need to take back the land in Iraq and we need to use Sunni, not Shiites, not Iranian troops, not Shiite Iraqis, but Sunni Muslims in Iraq and the Kurds, the Peshmerga, and take back Iraqi land. I believe if we did that, you would see ISIS begin to collapse. And then we can look at other ways in which we're going to deal with it. I have great hesitancy, based on ISIS' desire to draw us into Syria, and a particular town in Syria, for their own, again, apocalyptic version, to go in with ground troops in Syria at this point.

BLITZER: Senator Graham, you're shaking your head.

GRAHAM: Yeh, it's just you're not going to win that way, Rick. There's nobody left in Syria to train. Between the Russians and Assad, they have killed all the people we trained, and our President sat on the sidelines and watched people get killed that we enticed into the fight. There is nobody left to train. I would get the Arabs who are threatened by ISIL just as much as we are, along with Turkey. We would use their armies. They have modern armies. Ninety percent them. But some of us have to go, folks. You're not going to keep the war from here if some of us don't go over there. Ninety percent them, 10 percent us, and we go in and destroy the caliphate. There must be American boots on the ground in Syria to win. If you don't understand that, you're not ready to be Commander in Chief.

SANTORUM: I would have no problem with Sy — with boots on the ground in Syria in a training capacity. I do not want American troops on the front line in Syria because I don't believe that that would serve to the interest. Again, understanding what ISIS is preaching. You have to learn what they're telling their people. They want to draw the United States, they want to draw the great Satan into Syria, into a particular town in Syria, because it, it's consistent with their theology. And you say, well, this sounds like gobbledy gook. It's what they believe. And if we don't take seriously what they believe and how they're able to attract people, then we're going to make mistakes like invading Syria with a ground force and bringing them into the battle that they so deeply deserve and desire.

BLITZER: I'm going to bring Governor Pataki in a minute, but go ahead and respond, Senator Graham.

GRAHAM: Well, number one, dead men don't preach anything. If you don't understand we need a ground force to go into Syria, then you're not ready to destroy ISIL. Rick, there's nobody left to train inside of Syria. Let the Arabs fight this fight, pay for this war, but they need our help.

The difference between me and you and others is that I see you've got two choices. Fight them over there or they're coming here. They're planning another 9/11 as I speak. Paris was well planned. They wake up every day in Syria trying to find a way to hit us here. If I'm president, we're going in with the Arabs in Turkey and we're gonna destroy them before they hit us here. We're running out of time, folks.

BLITZER: Governor Pataki, should the U.S. send ground troops into Syria?

PATAKI: Wolf, I think the answer is we have to send troops with allies and supporters. Wherever it is necessary to destroy the training centers, recruitment centers, planning hubs of ISIS.

Two points though. First of all today, Saudi Arabia announced a coalition of 34 states, mostly Arab, but other Muslim states to engage actively in a war against radical Islam. We have to work with them. Not just step back. Let them take the lead but work with them to destroy ISIS.

And the second point, Wolf, I want to make, is this is on the armed forces network. And thank you for doing that. Because I'm sure watching this debate this evening are some of our soldiers deployed all over the world. As the proud father of a son who was a Marine officer in Iraq and another son that was a 10th Mountain Division officer in Afghanistan, I know we produce no finer people than the men and women who put on their uniform to defend our freedom. They are watching overseas now.

God bless you. This isn't about us. This is about you. Thank you for your service.

BLITZER: Governor Huckabee, you have not put a number of how many U.S. ground troops would be needed to combat ISIS. Is Senator Graham's proposal sufficient?

HUCKABEE: Wolf, it may be sufficient, but rather than put a number — and I'm comfortable that we say 10,000, 20,000 — look, I think we make a mistake when we start telling the enemy what our limitations are. I think we make a huge mistake when we say we're gonna do up to this. I think what we say is, we're gonna do whatever it takes. If it's 10,000, if it's 100,000, if it's 3,000 sorties a day, if it's 5,000 sorties a day.

We never tell our enemy what our limitations are, what we are willing and what we're unwilling to do. And that's one of the mistakes I believe that we're making militarily. But the biggest mistake we've made militarily is letting Barack Obama cut our defense forces by 25 percent and leaving us at the least prepared position we've been in since before World War II.

We have to get our Military rebuilt from the ground up. And all over America I hear young people say, would you tell me what you're going to do? Would you give me free college? Will you make sure that I can have medical marijuana?

You know what we ought to tell young people? We aren't going to give you anything. We're give you the opportunity to get off your butt and go serve your country and secure your freedom. Because if you don't, nobody else is.

BLITZER: Senator Graham, and I just want to remind our viewers, you want 10,000 U.S. ground troops in Iraq, and 10,000 in Syria?

GRAHAM: Yeah. I just don't make this up, Wolf. I talk to people who are combat trained who have won in Iraq who I trust.

Here's what I want to tell the Arab world and Turkey. We're not going to send 100,000 troops. You're going to do the fighting this time and we're gonna help you. We paid for the last two wars, you're gonna pay for this one.

And, by the way, they get it because ISIL wants to cut their heads off, too. The point I'm trying to make is, there needs to be a ground component. We need to be smart, and we need to fight the war over there. And to the people in my party who believe you can withdraw from the battlefield like Senator Cruz and Paul and we be safe, you really don't understand this war.

BLITZER: Governor Huckabee, you have said as president you would tell ISIS, and I'm quoting you now, "we will take you down and we'll try to get it done in ten days." Do you really think the U.S. can defeat ISIS in ten days?

HUCKABEE: I'd sure want them to think we would. And I'd want to make sure that we did everything we could. But we can't do it with our current Military strength. We've got to build up and have the most robust, well trained, well equipped, well prepared and ample Military force in the history of the world because we're not fighting just a known enemy in one place. We're fighting people all over the world who can go anywhere.

And the reason I say that is because if we tried to win this war on the cheap or we try to do it with the, "light footprint," we're making a huge mistake.

When all of us were in grade school, one thing we all knew, the bully never picked on the kid except for the weak one.

When all of us were in grade school, one thing we all knew, the bully never picked on the kid, except for the weak one. He never picked on the kid he knew, he'd whip him. We need to make to sure that we have the kind of military that ISIS recognizes in every radical Islamist in the world recognizes, they may start but we by god will finish the fight. And it will be their rear ends on the ground, not ours when it's all over whether it takes ten days, ten months, or ten eternities' we're going to win this fight and have to make sure they understand that.

BLITZER: Senator Samtorum?

SANTORUM: No look, I'm committed to whatever is necessary understanding the nature of the enemy. The enemy is a theocracy and their allure is their theocracy. It's their doctrine and so we have to understand that doctrine. That's why, I love the fact that people are angry and outraged in Washington and want someone new and fresh. But we need someone who understands and has knowledge and experience in these areas.

And I can see that you know, Senator Graham has that experience and we have a little difference of opinion. But frankly, it's not that big of difference in our opinion, we both want to defeat ISIS. We have elements in our party that don't and I will use whatever means necessary within the confines of not crossing a tripwire theologically that could turn on us.

BLITZER: Governor Pataki, you support ground troops - deploying grounds troops.

PATAKI: Yes.

BLITZER: The U.S. Army's Former Cheif of Staff, General Raymond Odierno said that, and I'm quoting, "now ISIS is a ten to twenty year problem. How long would you be willing to commit U.S. forces to fight ISIS?"

PATAKI: You know, I don't think it's a function of years of going after ISIS. They are out in the open and in cities like, Mosul, where we know they have their centers. They have centers that we could bomb. And what we have to do though, is have a commitment from our government, not just for troops on the ground but to do whatever we can to help our allies on the grounds right now,.

The Kurds, the Peshmurga are fighting. If we don't give them the equipment, the training, and the support they need because our government insists that it all go through Baghdad. Baghdad doesn't want a strong independent Kurdish army.

There are right now Sunni, Sheikh, and Tribes in the Anbar province, taking on ISIS. In fact, they're in the process of reclaiming Ramadi, the provincial capital this week. They are on our side and they are Sunni, but we are not arming, supporting, training, and helping them as much as we can because all support goes through Baghdad and they don't want a strong autonomous Sunni area.

We have to put our interests first. Not the interests of Baghdad or of Iran, we have to support those on the ground fighting on our side. Give them every bit of help that they want and to the extent that it's necessary, for us to send in Special Ops to destroy those training centers, recruitment hubs, planning hubs, social media centers.

Do that. Destroy them. Protect our freedom and get out.

BLITZER: But how long would you be willing to commit U.S. troops to fight ISIS.

PATAKI: You know, I don't want to see us occupy a country. I've been to Iraq a couple of times and Afghanistan. The first time I went, I had an uneasy feeling that when we went there we were liberators. But as we stayed ,we became occupiers.

I saw American troops move into some of Saddam's old hideous marble palaces. And I thought that was exactly the wrong message. We do not have to occupy. We do not have to nation build and try to create a democracy where one hasn't existed. WE have to destroy ISIS, protect our safety and our freedom here, and then get out.

BLITZER: Senator Graham, you called for U.S. ground troops as we know in Iraq and Syria.

GRAHAM: Two years ago.

BLITZER: As you know, there's a growing ISIS presence right now in Libya.

GRAHAM: Yes.

BLITZER: Are you ready to deploy U.S. troops to Libya to try to defeat ISIS there?

GRAHAM: I think we need to have a military strategy regarding Libya. They've just take over Gaddafi's hometown called Sur. There's about 2000 of them.

Here's what I've learned in my 36 visits, you can't deter these guys, they're ready to die, bring on the virgins. Dying is first place in their world. What we have to do is work with others over time to destroy to ideology. We have to offer a hopeful life to compete with the glory of this.

Most young people folks want the same thing you do. They don't want to live in the 11th century. So yes, you have to destroy the caliphate. I want to work with Arabs and Turkey to do it, but here's the key is to not leave. If we left Germany and Japan only god knows what would've happened. If we have 10000 troops left in Iraq, there would be no ISIL and I hate what Obama did. He gave away everything we fought for and I hate what he did.

I begged him not to and I've been right more than I've been wrong.

BLITZER: Senator? Senator, are you ready to commit U.S. ground troops to Libya?

GRAHAM: I want to talk to General Keane first. I want to find out, what do we need militarily to keep them contained and eventually destroy them in Libya. They're in nine countries. You want to deal with Libya, go to Iraq and Syria. You want to prevent another 9/11, take the caliphate headquarters away from ISIL. There is no other way to do it without a ground force going into Syria. We have to be part of that ground force, or another 9/11 is coming just as sure as I'm standing here. They're planning it tonight.

The ISIL leadership wants to hurt you, and your family, and if I'm president, they will not get here 'cause we're going to kill 'em over them.

BLITZER: Alright, gentleman, standby. The fight against ISIS clearly is sparking new tensions with another super power. How these candidates will handle Vladimir Putin, that's next. [applause]

[commercial break]

BLITZER: We're live here at the Venetian in Las Vegas. Welcome back. [applause]

As the U.S. fight against ISIS in Iraq and Syria continues, the question remains whether to take out the Syrian dictator, Bashar al Assad. That has become a major policy difference among the Republican candidates.

Governor Huckabee, you said the Middle East was more stable when Bashar al Assad was fully in control of Syria. The Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to keep him in power. As President of the United States, would you join with Putin to do the same thing?

HUCKABEE: Well, I want to be real clear, I don't trust Putin, I don't trust Assad. I'm not saying that I would endorse him for his reelection bid. The man is a tyrant, he's killed lots of people, but he wasn't killing Americans. And, the thing that I'm concerned about is that we have seen a complete destabilization, not only of Syria, but we've seen it in Yemen, that the President pronouncing great shape just before it collapsed.

SANTORUM: And the fact that we have a nuclear treaty with the Shiites in Iran, that we have now partnered with the Russians and appearing to allow Assad to stay, which is a satellite Alawites, very interrelated to the Shiites, this looks to ISIS — and what they're selling is that we are now lining up with the Shiite world against the Sunni world.

Well the Shiite world is 15 percent of the Muslim world. The Sunni world is 85 percent. We're — we're picking the wrong horse here. Not only is the Iranian deal the greatest betrayal of this — of this country in the history of our country by signing that deal, but secondly, we have now lined up to empower ISIS by partnering with the Shiites. So the answer is this. The answer is we have to take them on in Iraq, defeat them in Iraq. Delegitimize their caliphate. Join with legitimate rebel forces which exist in Syria and begin to arm them and train them. But it's a one-two step. The first step has to be Iraq.

BLITZER: We have a video question from Facebook. Let's watch.

QUESTION: Hi, I'm Adithya Sivakumar. I'm from Vanderbilt University. And I was wondering with U.S. designated state sponsors of terrorism such as Iran and other traditional U.S. enemies fighting ISIL, do you think the United States should ally with these groups or continue with their own separate coalition?

BLITZER: Governor Pataki.

PATAKI: I'm not sure — ally with which groups? I didn't quite catch that.

BLITZER: He says he was wondering with U.S. designated state sponsors of terrorism like Iran and other traditional U.S. enemies fighting ISIL, do you think the United States should ally with these specific groups?

PATAKI: Not at all. Iran is our enemy. They are the number one sponsor of state terror. The Iranian Deal is a disaster. And by the way, I don't think the next president has to aggregate it. It was never ratified by the Iranians. They have tested long-range ballistic missiles in violation of U.N. resolutions. They have broken the agreement. It is void. They can never have a nuclear weapon and should not get relief.

With respect to the other groups, like Hezbollah, of course we should not work with them. I'll tell you who we should work with in Syria. There are two groups. One are the PYD, the — the Kurds in Syria who led the defense of Kobani, and are in northern and eastern Syria and anti-ISIS and anti-Assad.

The second thing I'd do is three years ago, Turkey called for a no-fly zone along the Turkish border. Obama said no. We need to work with the Turks, create that no-fly zone so that Syrian refugees don't have to flock to Europe or try to get to the United States. They will have a safe haven. Anti-Assad Syrians can group there, train, organize there and let them fight the fight to protect our allies.

BLITZER: Hugh Hewitt and Dana Bash have questions.

Hugh go ahead.

HEWITT: Thank you, Wolf.

Governor Huckabee, ten minutes ago you blasted President Obama for destabilizing Iraq. You hit former Secretary of State Clinton for supporting the Muslim brotherhood in Egypt. But you have said recently you would sanction countries that don't join the fight aggressively against ISIS. Having had an administration that has effectively undermined our friends and emboldened our foes, why would you start sanctioning those who are not yet on our side against ISIS?

HUCKABEE: Well what we have done, and we created an impossible atmosphere. This administration has put more pressure on Israel to stop building bedrooms in Judea and Samaria than they've put on Iranians to stop building a nuclear bomb. And I'm just simply pointing out the obvious, that we need to recognize who our friends are, who our enemies are...

HEWITT: Which country?

HUCKABEE: ... but I'm convinced...

HEWITT: Which countries are those, governor, that you would sanction?

HUCKABEE: Well, first of all, it would be the Iranians. I would have never entered into this deal. I don't know why on God's earth that the senators gave it so that it was easier for Obama to have the agreement than it would be to make it a treaty.

HEWITT: That's an easy, give. Are you going to sanction any of our allies who say, no this isn't our fight we're gonna let you do this. Are you going to leave our allies alone? For example, Indonesia and Malaysia — other Muslim countries — will you leave them alone?

HUCKABEE: I would make sure that there was economic pressure put on them. Why not? Why should we fund every single battle against radical Islam? Why should we stand back and watch Israel get targeted, the United States get targeted and we watch with people with their hands in their pocket, and their hands in our pocket because we're getting them a lot of money. And let's say your hands can be in your pocket, you can stand still, but your hands aren't going to be in our pockets anymore. We're not going to give you another dime unless you engage the battle with us. We are not sending our sons and daughters, and grandsons and granddaughters to war to fight for your interest. You either get in with us or be on your own. But we're not gonna fight the battle for you.

HEWITT: Senator Graham, I just named two Islamic countries... [applause] ...Senator Graham, I just named two Islamic countries that are allies that he suggested we sanction. Is that the appropriate approach to this war?

GRAHAM: No. What I would do is I would try to make friends throughout the world to destroy a common threat to the world. These people are religious Nazis. Most people in Islam don't buy what they're selling. I've told you a thousand times that I would partner with the Arabs in Turkey.

But, the reason they don't partner with Obama is they just don't trust him. Do you think they would trust me? I know them all. I've been working for a decade to figure out how to win this war.

To my good friend Ted Cruz, please ask him the following question, you say you would keep Assad in power, I will tell you that is the worst possible thing that could come out of an American leaders mouth. It would be disastrous. His favorite movie is, apparently, Princess Bride. Ted, getting in bed with Iran and Russia to save Assad is inconceivable. [applause]

HEWITT: Senator Santorum, let me ask you...

GRAHAM: Princess Buttercup would not like this. [laughter]

HEWITT: Senator Santorum, let me ask you, the opposite of getting into bed is shooting down the prince's plane. Senator Santorum has — Senator Graham has said he would shoot down Russian planes bombing Syrian fighters on our side. Would you shoot down a Russian plane bombing American allied fighters in Syria?

SANTORUM: Well, I would establish a no-fly zone. And, I think we just...

HEWITT: What — if they fly into it, would you shoot it down?

SANTORUM: Well — the first thing you have to do is establish a no-fly zone, and you don't do that by just sort of declaring it. You work through the process of making sure you work with people who, hopefully, have the same objective that you do. And, if they don't, then you establish the no-fly zone, and you take the consequences of whatever — who violates that law.

HEWITT: The consequences would be war with Russia. Would you risk...

SANTORUM: ...I don't think it's a war with Russia anymore than Turkey went to war with Russia when Turkey shot down a plane...

HEWITT: Senator Graham, do you agree?

SANTORUM: These are — these are incidents not something that we're threatening the motherland. This is a tactical decision within an area that we have an obligation for the refugees, for providing stability to the rebels, and an opportunity for the rebels to reconstitute. And, making sure that we stop the flow of refugees into Europe, and into the United States to establish a no-fly zone.

And, Russia either is going to comply with it or not, and if they don't, I think it can be contained to that region.

HEWITT: OK, we know you agree, Senator Graham. How about you, Governor Pataki, would you shoot down Russian planes?

PATAKI: I could create...

GRAHAM: ...I didn't get to say yes. Yes.

PATAKI: I would create the no-fly zone, and let me tell you, something very simply. Putin is a bully, and the most important and effective thing you can do to a bully is punch him in the face. Create a no-fly zone.

If Russian planes violate that space, either us, or the Turks, should shoot them down to keep our word. And, I guarantee you that Putin would back off. Bullies, when you stand up to them, back down.

We have had, under Obama, and under Hillary as Secretary of State, nothing but weakness in the face of Russia, whether it was in the Crimea, whether it was in Ukraine, or now in the Middle East. I would give the Ukrainians lethal weapons so they could defend themselves. I would create the no-fly zone, and if Russian planes flew into it in violation of what we have declared, yes.

BASH: Senator — Senator Graham...

GRAHAM: Yeah, this is an important discussion. The American president is the strongest voice in the world — until Obama came along. Now, we're just one of many. When you ask people to help you, when you entice Syrians to join your cause, to take down the dictator they hate to destroy ISIL which will attack our homeland, and you sit on the sidelines and watch the Russian president kill them, it makes it harder for us to get partners in the future.

The point I'm trying to make is we got to mean what we say...[bell rings]...And, I am begging people to wake up to Syria. The next 9/11 is coming from Syria, it's coming soon...

BASH: Senator Graham...

GRAHAM: ...we'd better do something about it, and I have a plan.

BASH: Senator Graham, we've heard here tonight a lot about the fact that you want to send U.S. troops, ground troops, into Iraq, and Syria to defeat ISIS. Would you consider reinstating the draft in order to complete that mission?

GRAHAM: I don't think it's necessary. If you don't want to be there, I don't want you to be there. I just retired after 33 years in the Air Force, 140 days on the ground as an Air Force Reservist. To those who are watching, thank you for your service.

I've had a small walk in your shoes. We have the best military in the world. Obama has put it in a box. Let's take it out of the box and use it before we get attacked here. We don't need a draft, we need a commander in chief who knows what the hell they're doing. [applause]

BASH: Governor Huckabee... [applause]

GRAHAM: And, I am that guy.

BASH: Governor Huckabee, would you reinstate the draft?

HUCKABEE: I wouldn't reinstate a draft, but, I think it's noteworthy that we are fighting all the battles we have with less than one percent of the American population.

GRAHAM: But, the reason they don't partner with Obama is they just don't trust him. Do you think they would trust me? I know them all. I've been working for a decade to figure out how to win this war.

To my good friend Ted Cruz, please ask him the following question, you say you would keep Assad in power, I will tell you that is the worst possible thing that could come out of an American leaders mouth. It would be disastrous. His favorite movie is, apparently, Princess Bride. Ted, getting in bed with Iran and Russia to save Assad is inconceivable. [applause]

HEWITT: Senator Santorum, let me ask you...

GRAHAM: Princess Buttercup would not like this. [laughter]

HEWITT: Senator Santorum, let me ask you, the opposite of getting into bed is shooting down the prince's plane. Senator Santorum has — Senator Graham has said he would shoot down Russian planes bombing Syrian fighters on our side. Would you shoot down a Russian plane bombing American allied fighters in Syria?

SANTORUM: Well, I would establish a no-fly zone. And, I think we just...

HEWITT: What — if they fly into it, would you shoot it down?

SANTORUM: Well — the first thing you have to do is establish a no-fly zone, and you don't do that by just sort of declaring it. You work through the process of making sure you work with people who, hopefully, have the same objective that you do. And, if they don't, then you establish the no-fly zone, and you take the consequences of whatever — who violates that law.

HEWITT: The consequences would be war with Russia. Would you risk...

SANTORUM: ...I don't think it's a war with Russia anymore than Turkey went to war with Russia when Turkey shot down a plane...

HEWITT: Senator Graham, do you agree?

SANTORUM: These are — these are incidents not something that we're threatening the motherland. This is a tactical decision within an area that we have an obligation for the refugees, for providing stability to the rebels, and an opportunity for the rebels to reconstitute. And, making sure that we stop the flow of refugees into Europe, and into the United States to establish a no-fly zone.

And, Russia either is going to comply with it or not, and if they don't, I think it can be contained to that region.

HEWITT: OK, we know you agree, Senator Graham. How about you, Governor Pataki, would you shoot down Russian planes?

PATAKI: I could create...

GRAHAM: ...I didn't get to say yes. Yes.

PATAKI: I would create the no-fly zone, and let me tell you, something very simply. Putin is a bully, and the most important and effective thing you can do to a bully is punch him in the face. Create a no-fly zone.

If Russian planes violate that space, either us, or the Turks, should shoot them down to keep our word. And, I guarantee you that Putin would back off. Bullies, when you stand up to them, back down.

We have had, under Obama, and under Hillary as Secretary of State, nothing but weakness in the face of Russia, whether it was in the Crimea, whether it was in Ukraine, or now in the Middle East. I would give the Ukrainians lethal weapons so they could defend themselves. I would create the no-fly zone, and if Russian planes flew into it in violation of what we have declared, yes.

BASH: Senator — Senator Graham...

GRAHAM: Yeah, this is an important discussion. The American president is the strongest voice in the world — until Obama came along. Now, we're just one of many. When you ask people to help you, when you entice Syrians to join your cause, to take down the dictator they hate to destroy ISIL which will attack our homeland, and you sit on the sidelines and watch the Russian president kill them, it makes it harder for us to get partners in the future.

The point I'm trying to make is we got to mean what we say...[bell rings]...And, I am begging people to wake up to Syria. The next 9/11 is coming from Syria, it's coming soon...

BASH: Senator Graham...

GRAHAM: ...we'd better do something about it, and I have a plan.

BASH: Senator Graham, we've heard here tonight a lot about the fact that you want to send U.S. troops, ground troops, into Iraq, and Syria to defeat ISIS. Would you consider reinstating the draft in order to complete that mission?

GRAHAM: I don't think it's necessary. If you don't want to be there, I don't want you to be there. I just retired after 33 years in the Air Force, 140 days on the ground as an Air Force Reservist. To those who are watching, thank you for your service.

I've had a small walk in your shoes. We have the best military in the world. Obama has put it in a box. Let's take it out of the box and use it before we get attacked here. We don't need a draft, we need a commander in chief who knows what the hell they're doing. [applause]

BASH: Governor Huckabee... [applause]

GRAHAM: And, I am that guy.

BASH: Governor Huckabee, would you reinstate the draft?

HUCKABEE: I wouldn't reinstate a draft, but, I think it's noteworthy that we are fighting all the battles we have with less than one percent of the American population.

We have the lowest level of percentage of population participating in the military than ever. And they're over-deployed, they're over used, especially among our reserves and Guard troops. Any governor will tell you.

BASH: So what would you do about it?

HUCKABEE: Well, I would say that, if you want a college education, let's go back and reinstate the full-blown G.I. bill. You give something to your country; your country gives something back to you. We need to ask young people to step up and buy their own freedom because there's not going to be enough people left at less than one percent. And as my good friend Ken Howard, former Dean of the War College, has often said, we're fighting all the wars with other people's kids. And that's one of the things that's making us much less safe, is because we don't have enough Americans truly invested in the process of defeating our enemies. Therefore, I do think without a draft we do need to ask people to recognize we are at war.

GRAHAM: Can, can I...

BASH: Senator...

GRAHAM: This is important. We're not fighting all the wars with our kids. If you've been to Iraq and Afghanistan and you made any friends, you've lots of bunch. Thousands have died in Iraq and Afghanistan fighting.

BASH: Thank you, Senator Graham.

GRAHAM: Don't belittle their sacrifice.

HUCKABEE: I'm not belittling their sacrifice, Lindsey, but I'm just making note that on the part of Americans we have sent National Guard troops over for an 18-month em — 18-month deployment. They come back for five, they go back for another 18. We're wearing these guys out. They agreed to be citizen soldiers. We turned them into full time soldiers because we've not kept up the pace by recruiting enough people in the military to fully fill these forces, and that's what we need to be doing.

BASH: Senator Graham.

GRAHAM: No.

BASH: Senator Graham, quick response.

GRAHAM: To, to those the (well) times in the Army were a bigger problem than they are today. If you want to fix this, you get the Army to 500,000, not 420,000. You want to win this war, grow the Navy to 350 ships, not 275. Sequestration is Latin for doing really dumb things. We're going to have the smallest Navy since 1915, the smallest Army since 1940. I was yelling and screaming don't do sequestration. I was right. If I am President of the United States, Commander in Chief, we're going to rebuild our military without a draft...

BASH: Thank you, Senator Graham.

GRAHAM: ...and we're going to go on the offense and they're ready to go.

BASH: Thank you, Senator Graham.

GRAHAM: They are ready to go. They just need to be led.

BASH: Senator Santorum, earlier this month the Pentagon opened all U.S. military combat positions to women. You previously opposed allowing women in combat roles. As President, would you change the Pentagon's new policy?

SANTORUM: I would use the studies that were done that were ignored by this military that there were certain positions that frankly were not suitable. And they pushed a political agenda above what is in the best interest of the safety, security, and effective of our, of our fighting units. So I would go back to using what we should be doing. Which is putting forth people on those front line positions who are best prepared to do the job, survive the job, and come back home safely.

BASH: So, just to be clear, you're saying, yes, you would change the policy back?

SANTORUM: I would change the policy to reflect what is the best interest of the people that we're asking. I've got a son who's going, who's going into the Air Force right now, and I, as a father, I want to make sure that, if he's out there on the front line — and he may be a pilot flying an airplane — I want to make sure that the person who's responsible for, for his wing has the ability to do the job they're doing. And if they don't have that ability to do the job, if we're doing a social promotion as opposed to what's best for the efficacy of our fighting force and for the survivability of our men and women, I'll change that policy.

BASH: Governor Pataki, as you mentioned earlier, you have two sons who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Would you maintain this new policy as President, or do you agree with Senator Santorum.

PATAKI: No, I completely disagree with Rick. This is America. And we've made enormous progress. And I don't care if you're a man or a woman. I care if you're good and capable of doing the job. If you can do the job — don't lower standards, don't lower the criteria — but if a woman is capable of doing these jobs, there is no reason why we should deny a patriot who wants to serve and help defend our country that right.

BASH: Senator Santorum.

SANTORUM: So what you just said is you agree with me. Because that's exactly what I said.

PATAKI: It's not.

SANTORUM: I said if you can't do the job, you shouldn't be able to...you shouldn't have the position.

PATAKI: No, you said you would reverse the policy which excluded women from those jobs whether or not they were able to do that. That is wrong.

SANTORUM: No, I did not say that, George. I mean, you may, you may have heard that, but I didn't say that. What I said was, if they can in fact do the job that any, any other person can do, I will allow them to do so.

PATAKI: Ah.

SANTORUM: But if they cannot, I would reverse the policy. And what happened here is there were many studies done, particularly in the Marine Corps, which begged this President not to move forward with this because people are going to get killed as a result of it. The President went forward anyway.

BASH: Now Governor Pataki, do you a final response?

PATAKI: Yes, I think what Rick said is very different from what he said initially which was that, "he would reverse the policy that gave woman not the right but the opportunity to serve in combat." They can only do it if they're fit and capable and meet the same standards as men. And so, to reverse that policy and deny a woman who is prepared to risk her life to defend our freedom and is capable of doing everything a man could do is not the right thing for America in the 21st century.

By the way, you see in Iraq, the Peshmerga, the Kurds ,many of their top fighters are women. This is the 21st century. We're not radical Islam. We want to give women the opportunity to do whatever they are capable of achieving in this country.

BLITZER: Governor Pataki, let me stick with you.

Governor Pataki, a U.S. Army Sargent Bowe Bergdahl now facing a court marshall after leaving his base in Afghanistan, getting captured by the Taliban - Donald Trump, has called for his execution. The former house speak John Boehner says "he's innocent until proven guilty." Where do you stand?

PATAKI: Of course he's innocent until proven guilty. I happen to believe he's guilty. The military did a very clear and long study as to whether or not he deserted in the face of enemy and they are not court marshalling him. I don't think he should executed. I do think he will have a fair military trial, not a civilian trial, at which time, assuming he's found guilty as I think he would, he will be sentenced appropriately.

But there's a bigger issue here, this administration has failed to protect us because they have treated radical Islamists as Americans who should be tried in civil court. That is ridiculous. They are enemy aliens engaged in terror against Americans. And by the way, the fact that this president is now threatening to close Guantanamo Bay when we know that time after time, terrorists he released are involved in a high level capacity helping ISIS and Al Queda, this is a disgrace.

Ask Hilary Clinton, would she keep Guantanamo Bay open so that Americans can be safe and terrorists kept from going back to the battlefield?

BLITZER: Senator Graham, where do you stand?

GRAHAM: Well I stand unique, having been a military lawyer for 33 years. I've been a defense attorney, a prosecutor, and a military judge. Mr. Trump, you don't have to speak about everything, that's not required. [laughter]

I would make sure that everybody had a fair trial. Does that make sense to you? [applause]

We're at war folks and this stuff has to stop. It's bad for morale to hear somebody wanting to be Commander in Chief that would deny due process to somebody who's been charged in the military. For God's sakes Mr. Trump, you're asking to be the Commander in Chief , the leader of the free world, up your game.

As to women, if you want to kill terrorists, I'm your guy.

BLITZER: Governor Huckabee? Governor Huckbee, ISIS demanded ransom before killing American hostages, James Foley and Kayla Mueller. Their families wanted to pay even though at the time the U.S. government discouraged them. Since then, U.S. policy has changed.

As president, would you support families of the approximately 30 Americans being held worldwide if they chose to pay ransom?

HUCKABEE: The horrors that those families have to go through, if that were my son, my daughter, I'd give my last drop of blood to get them back. You bet I would. Is it a good policy? No.

It's a terrible policy because once we do it, we're only going to invite more and more hostages, more and more ransoms, and the diasters gets even worse. But I don't blame any of these families. You know who I blame? I blame a policy in our government that has made it so that families are so desperate that they're willing to pay ransom to terrorists organizations because they don't believe our government will fight the fight for them and they think they're out there on their own.

My goodness people, this is America. When did we have to start telling people that you've got to bake your own bread in order to fight the battles? That's what we have a government for, it's what we pay taxes for. And I believe, those families ought to have a better expectation of what this government will do.

We should never has sat at the table with the Iranians as long Sayed Abadnini is sitting in an Iranian prison. As long as the Washington Post report is over there. Until the four hostages of America were on an airplane safely out of Tehran. We should've told them, " we won't even walk into the room with you much less sit down and negotiate with you."

That's what we ought to be doing. [applause]

BLITZER: Thank you, Governor.

Governor Pataki, speaking of those four Americans being held in Iran right now. Iran has suggested they might be willing to have a prisoner swap, release Iranian prisoners held in the United States, in exchange for those four Americans.

Would you support that?

PATAKI: You know, again, it comes down to something that, as Mike said, breaks your heart. We clearly want to get them back. But the idea that by taking a journalist, for example, and holding him hostage in Iran, they're going to be able to get some of their terrorist leaders back, is simply bad policy.

Israel has shown the way on this in rejecting hostage exchanges such as this and then not paying ransom.

But, by the way, Mike is absolutely right. We have to do more to protect our people overseas, but then we also have to do more to help our veterans when they come back here today.

We haven't talked about that. But more talking about defeating terrorism, one of the things we have to do is give our veterans the support and help that they require. What has happened at the VA is a disgrace.

Give our veterans a medical card that they can use to get the best quality care anywhere, including outside of the VA system. [applause]

BLITZER: We have to take a quick break, but, Governor, Israel has exchanged a lot of the prisoners it was holding for Israeli soldiers who were being held by Hamas, for example.

PATAKI: And that — but that was involved in combat, where they were actually involved in a war against each other and exchanged prisoners. We have not been in a war with Iran. They have taken civilians as hostages. It's a totally different situation. And we cannot encourage them to do any more of that.

BLITZER: Thank you. Let's take another quick break. The scramble, the scramble to protect Americans after ISIS attacks from the inside, does the country need to tighten its borders to prevent another San Bernardino slaughter?

Where the candidates stand, that's next. [applause]

[commercial break]

BLITZER: Welcome back to the Republican Presidential Debate here at the Venetian in Las Vegas.

Gentlemen, in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks, the Obama Administration policy of allowing Syrian refugees to come into the United States has come under fire.

Senator Santorum, you say accepting Syrian refugees is dangerous. You say it just takes one Jihadist to destroy the world.

Do you think there is any way to properly vet refugees coming into the United States?

SANTORUM: Of course there is a proper way to vet refugees coming into the United States. But not from the ISIS-controlled area or Syria. How can you do a background check? Where are you gonna go? Who are you going to call? Call Assad and say, hey, you know, tell me about this guy from Aleppo.

There's no possibility in these — in these types of war-torn countries to adequately vet someone to allow them to come into this country. It's impossible.

So you have a physical impossibility here. Secondly, we shouldn't be taking people out of that region and move them here to the United States. And the reason we shouldn't is very clear. If you talk to the clerical leaders and particularly those who are religious minorities, they don't want their people to be relocated so they're never gonna come back. And let me assure you, if they come to America, they're not going to come back. They're not gonna go back to those areas. So who stays? Those who cooperated with ISIS and maybe a few of the refugees who's come back.

We need to have refugee camps in the region. We need to provide no-fly zones to make sure that don't even need refugee camps so people can stay in the area. But the last thing we need to do is to relocate moderate Muslims, relocate minorities and Christians out of the region so they're not going to return and reestablish a — a — a state that can be won, that can be cooperative for us and safe going forward.

BLITZER: Governor Pataki, you have said you wouldn't accept a single Syrian refugee. What should become of them?

PATAKI: You know, I think what I said earlier is that I would create a no-fly zone in Syria. Turkey just agreed to take 3 million more Syrian refugees. The EU just came up with a funding program to provide camps for Syrian refugees, but I would also create that no-fly zone where refugees can be there.

I have to say I agree with Rick, because this President is talking about taking 10,000 people from Syria, who we cannot vet. This administration, allegedly, vetted the woman who carried out the attacks in San Bernardino and never found out that she had a false address and was on social media talking about radical Jihad.

Coming from Syria, it's impossible to do that check. And we know, by the way, that ISIS is using this refugee program to send terrorists to the West to engage in attacks. They have said that. That this is an opportunity for them to do that.

So, the answer is no. No Syrian refugees. Whether it's the 10,000 Obama wants or the 60,000 that Hillary Clinton wants. Think about it, I was governor on September 11th. Those attacks were carried out by only 18 people. We take 60,000 Syrian refugees that we can't vet. If one in 1,000, 1 in 1,000 is a terrorist, we would have 60 terrorists living amongst us looking to carry out attacks. We cannot let that happen.

BLITZER: Let's go back to Dana Bash and Hugh Hewitt for more questions. Dana?

BASH: Governor Huckabee, the U.S. has a program that allows visitors from America's closest allies to travel to the U.S. without obtaining a visa. But new legislation in Congress says that privilege should not apply to those who have visited is hot spots like Iraq and Syria in the last five years. You say that legislation doesn't go far enough. Why?

HUCKABEE: We just need to take a real pause and all the people that coming here and we don't know who they are or what their affiliations are. What George just said is right. We can't take the risk. And why should we take the risk?

And if it's such a doggone good idea to bring people here that we really don't know who they are and Obama thinks that we're being un-Christian to not do it, I've got a suggestion. Let's send the first wave of them to Chappaqua, Martha's Vineyard and the upper east side of Manhattan and to the south lawn of the White House where we'll set up a camp.

Let's see how that works out. And if they behave wonderfully, that's fine. I want to say, I don't want someone lecturing me about what it means to be a Christian that I should invite a potential terrorist into my backyard. On one hand, the left says separation of church and state. Let's not have any discussion of religion, and then the left wants to tell me what it means to be a Christian. They need to figure out if they know more about being a Christian than I do, then tell me...

On one hand, the left says separation of church and state. Let's not have any discussion of religion, and then the left wants to tell me what it means to be a Christian. They need to figure out if they know more about being a Christian than I do — then tell me. They are no longer going to say separation of church and state, but, we have the most fundamental right above everything else — is not to protect the reputation of Islam. It is to protect Americans first and foremost. That is our job. [applause]

HEWITT: Senator Graham, in 2013 you were part of the leadership that pushed through immigration reform, comprehensive immigration reform in the Senate of the United States. It died in the House. Many accused you of amnesty, and may have undermined your ability to get your message out on the war.

Would you sign that bill again today? Would you — sponsor that bill again today?

GRAHAM: Well, the first thing I would do is make adjustments to reality. I want to look and see if this was a terrorist arranged marriage between the couple in California. The fact that they met online accidentally is almost zero. So, no, I would have a time-out on Syrian refugees because you'd be crazy if you didn't after Paris.

But, I've been to the refugee camps in Turkey, and Jordan. Trust me with your Christian — and I'm a lousy Christian saved by grace, but — this is important. We've got to stop this war. Do you realize that there are more Syrian refugees in Lebanon going to school than Lebanese children? Do you realize if this war goes for another year the King of Jordan could fall?

Let's have a no-fly zone.

HEWITT: But, Senator, I misunderstand, did you...

GRAHAM: I would — make changes to that bill in light of what I know today.

HEWITT: Senator Santorum, is that sufficient for you?

SANTORUM: Lindsay says this is a real war, until it comes to immigration. And, then, all of a sudden it's not such a real war. The reality is that we've seen since the events of 9/11, the president talks about how he's worried about discrimination and acts against Muslims. There's four times as many acts of violence against Jews than there are against Muslims. I never hear the president talk about that. [applause]

The reality is that under this president, since 9/11, this anti-Muslim United States of America has doubled the rate of Muslim immigration. Since 9/11.

[bell rings]

That's what we've done. So, the idea that we have an immigration system that is working...

HEWITT: Thank you, Senator.

SANTORUM: Is not — and, I'm out of time.

HEWITT: Yep. Governor Huckabee, you have said that children of immigrants who came here illegally should not be punished by their parents actions. As president, would you continue President Obama's policy, vis-a-vis, the Dreamers?

HUCKABEE: No, because he did it unconstitutionally. Twenty-three times he's said he couldn't do it, and then one day he woke up and he found he had a pen in one hand, and a phone in another, and wow. That Constitution didn't mean much anymore.

Look, President's can't just do what they want to do. That's the purpose of getting elected and working with other people who got elected, is that our system was designed to function with the power of persuasion, it's really what you elect a president to do.

HEWITT: Senator...

HUCKABEE: ...Let me finish, Hugh. You elect him to lead which means that if you think it's a good idea to not punish the children for something their parents did, then you go to the members of Congress and you persuade them. And, you persuade the American people.

You don't just jump up and shove it up the nostrils of Congress, and the American people because you think you have a superior intellect, and a superior will, and a superior theology than everybody else. Our system is not a system of tyranny. We don't elect kings, we elect servants.

If I'm elected president, I don't consider myself to be elected to be the king of the country, but the servant of the country to work with other people who are elected to get things done that need to be done.

HEWITT: Senator Santorum, you... [applause] ...Your position on that policy, assuming that it was passed constitutionally, would you allow this, would you support such an act?

SANTORUM: Here's the problem. I was with, in fact, one my guests here today is the Sheriff in Cochise County, down on the border in Arizona. And, he talked with me last night when I was with him about all of the children coming across. All of the children, why?

Because we've created a magnet. These children are not coming over, and in great shape, not coming over — and not in harms way, and — going through difficult times. We're attracting people.

He's also the Sheriff that caught Syrian's at the border. We have through the policies supported by almost everybody in this field...[bell rings]...A policy that says amnesty. The world hears this, and knows that if they can come across this border, by and large, they're going to be able to stay. That has to change.

BLITZER: Thank you, Senator. Gentlemen, standby, we are going to take another very quick break. Coming up, with America on edge, who has what it takes to be the next Commander in Chief? These candidates, they will make their case. [applause]

[commercial break]

BLITZER: Welcome back. We're live here at the Venetian Las Vegas.

Gentlemen, it's time for your closing statements. Each candidate will have 30 seconds.

Senator graham, you're first.

GRAHAM: The next president is going to be a war-time president, whether they like it or not. I'm ready for that job. Two years ago isolationism led by Senator Paul and Cruz was white hot in our party. Now it is in retreat because events have proven me more right than wrong and has proven them to be wrong.

In the first debate I called for American troops on the ground to protect our homeland. Nobody came forward. Now, most have. We've spent a lot of carnage to get them to where I have always been.

Make me president, I will keep you and your family safe. [applause]

BLITZER: Thank you, Senator.

Governor Pataki.

PATAKI: Thank you. This debate has been about terrorism and appropriately so. I'm proud to have been governor of New York on September 11th and have led our state through and during the aftermath of that horrible attack.

I vowed then that if I ever had the chance to lead this country, I would do everything in my power to make sure that Americans were safe. But I also saw a positive from that. New Yorkers and the American people came together and vowed that we weren't just going to defend ourselves.

We were not going to live in fear. We were going to rise to new heights and celebrate our freedom.

Come to Lower Manhattan today. You will see a magnificent tribute to those who died, the memorial and the museum. You will also see a new tower soaring 1,776 feet tall, the Freedom Tower, a symbol of our freedom, a symbol of our belief that as a free people we can soar to new heights.

Give us the chance to unite Americans, not just Republicans. And this country's future is unlimited. [applause]

BLITZER: Thank you, Governor.

Senator Santorum.

SANTORUM: Barack Obama has not kept this country safe. Hillary Clinton will not keep this country safe. We need to nominate someone who America knows will keep this country safe.

Ten years ago I put the sanctions on Iran's nuclear program. Before that, I gave speech after speech, including to President Bush, to identify the enemy and call these radical Islamists who they are.

Ladies and gentlemen, this week ISIS put out a fatwa on disabled children and killed dozens of them because of their disability. Now, I am the father of a disabled child. I know and have known the face of evil. And I, if you give me the opportunity, will defeat it. Thank you. [applause]

BLITZER: Thank you, Senator.

Governor Huckabee.

HUCKABEE: The terrorists don't win just because they kill us. The terrorists win when they make us change everything we do in our daily lives and alter our routines. And they're doing that, from getting on a plane to going in a building.

And it is high time that we recognize that we have to take them out, not a little bit, but totally, because I want my grandkids to grow up not in fear, but in faith and in freedom.

And if you give me the opportunity to be president of the United States, I will fight for your grandkids as much as I will for mine.

Thank you and God bless you. [applause]

BLITZER: Thank you. Thanks to all of the candidates for a very important discussion on critically important issues.

This debate night is just getting started here at the Venetian Las Vegas. The top nine candidates, they are standing by for their turn on this stage in just a little while. I'll be back as the moderator.

NOTE: The criteria for appearing in the main debate is explained as, "Candidates must meet one of three criteria in polls conducted between October 29 and December 13 and recognized by CNN: an average of at least 3.5% nationally; at least 4% in Iowa; or at least 4% in New Hampshire." The four candidates in this debate did not meet this criteria and were invited to participate in this "undercard" debate preceding the main debate.
+ Citation: Presidential Candidates Debates: "Republican Candidates "Undercard" Debate in Las Vegas, Nevada," December 15, 2015. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=111176. +
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+ 		+ + + + +Presidential Candidates Debates: Republican Candidates "Undercard" Debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin +
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PARTICIPANTS:
Governor Chris Christie (NJ);
Former Governor Mike Huckabee (AR);
Governor Bobby Jindal (LA);
Former Senator Rick Santorum (PA);

MODERATORS:
Trish Regan (Fox Business Network);
Gerald Seib (The Wall Street Journal); and
Sandra Smith (Fox Business Network)

REGAN: Good evening, and welcome to the historic Milwaukee Theater. Tonight, you'll hear from 12 Republican candidates vying to become the next President of the United States. I'm Trish Regan, along with my co-moderators, Sandra Smith, and from the Wall Street Journal, Jerry Seib.

SEIB: This evening Fox Business is partnering with the Wall Street Journal to bring you the fourth republican presidential debate of the 2016 campaign. For the next hour, four of the candidates will be here answering the question voters want answered.

REGAN: Let's introduce them. New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie. [cheering and applause]

Former Arkansas Governor, Mike Huckabee. [cheering and applause]

Former Pennsylvania Senator, Rick Santorum. [applause]

And, Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindal. [applause]

JINDAL: ...Thank you.

SMITH: Alright, this debate will last one hour. Each candidate will have up to 90 seconds to respond to each question. One minute for each follow up. When your time is up, you're going to hear this bell.

[bell sound]

Alright, that's it, so let's begin with Governor Christie. Governor, economically, our country is struggling with some of the anemic growth we have seen on record. More than 90 million Americans are unemployed, or they are not in the workforce altogether.

The number of people now willing, able, and wanting to go to work is at a level that has fallen to a level we have not been since the 1970's. For those that are working, wages aren't budging while other things, costs, like housing, remain high.

As President, what concrete steps will you take to get America back to work.

CHRISTIE: Well, first I want to share a story with you that relates to your question. I was in New Hampshire last week, and a woman approached me after the town hall meeting and she said to me, "Governor, I'm really concerned."

I said, "What are your concerns?"

And, she said, "I don't quite how to describe it," she said. "But, every month when my bills come in, I feel this awful anxiety in the pit of my stomach that I'm not going to have enough to pay them that month."

There are tens of millions of Americans living that way after the worst recovery from an economic recession since World War II. And, let's be clear, if we do not change course, if we follow the President's lead, and that's exactly what Secretary Clinton will do, we're going to be in the same circumstance — with government picking the winners and losers.

So, let me be clear about what we'll do. First, Make the tax code fairer, flatter, and simplier. Get rid of all the special interest deductions. You know, the American people feel like the tax code is rigged for the rich, and you know why they feel that way? Because it is.

We'll get rid of all those special interest deductions except for the home mortgage interest deduction, and the charitable contribution deduction. Everyone will get lower rates, keep more of their own money, be able to file their tax returns in 15 minutes, and, by the way, the good thing, I'll be able to fire a whole bunch of IRS agents once we do that. [applause]

And, in addition, we need to get the government off of our backs. Dodd-Frank, all the different regulations, 81,000 pages of new regulation by this administration just last year — it is suffocating small business, it is suffocating the folks who are trying to make a living. I will do what I did in New Jersey...[bell ringing]...lift if off their backs. [applause]

SMITH: Thank you. Governor Huckabee, we're here Wisconsin, a state that has seen the biggest decline in middle-class households of any American state. With more than 120,000 manufacturing jobs being lost in the last 15 years. As we move away from a manufacturing economy to a services based, technological economy, how are you going to help the millions of Americans that are stuck in this transition?

HUCKABEE: Well, first of all, Trish, I don't know why we have to move away from manufacturing. The only reason we have is because... [applause] ...we have a tax code that has punished manufacturing. I hear a lot of people talk about the plans to simplify the tax code. I've got one better than any of the simplifications, it's called a, "Fair Tax", and it eliminates all of the taxes on our productivity.

Here's what would happen. We'd get rid of taxes on people's work, so, we wouldn't punish people for working anymore. Yeah, we've lost five million manufacturing jobs just since the year 2000 — 160,000 manufacturing plants have close in this country, which means a lot of people — that the governors talking about, he's exactly right. They don't have jobs anymore.

And the reason they don't have jobs is because their jobs are in Mexico, they're in China, they're in Indonesia.

Bring the jobs back. And with the fair tax, you do that, because you don't tax capital and labor and you bring a real sense of equity to the opportunity so that people will not only make it easier to function, they'll get the manufacturing jobs back.

And here's the best part. We don't reduce the IRS, we get rid of the IRS. We completely eliminate them...[applause]...because the government has no business knowing how much money we make and how we made it. It's none of their business. And that's why I believe that manufacturing is critical. If we can't feed ourselves, fuel ourselves and fight for ourselves, we can't be free.

And by the way, fighting for ourselves means manufacturing our own weapons of self-defense.

REGAN: Thank you, Governor Huckabee. [applause]

SEIB: Senator Santorum, you're all obviously highly critical of President Obama's economic record. But federal statistics show that payrolls have expanded by 8.7 million new jobs so far during his time in office. All the jobs lost in the recession were recovered by last year. And in October, the economy added jobs at the fastest rate since 2009.

So what's wrong with the Obama jobs record?

SANTORUM: The middle of America is hollowing out. All you have to do is listen to the last Democratic debate and you would think there was a Republican president in office the way they complained about how bad things are in America and how the middle — the middle of America is hollowing out.

I agree with Mike Huckabee. I spent this morning in Chicago at Fabtech, which is a sheet manufac — a sheet metal fabricators conference. Thousands of people there explained the latest and newest technologies.

You know what I was told?

I was told when I went to booth after booth that there are 250,000 welder jobs open in America — 250,000 welder jobs paying anywhere from $50,000 to $70,000 a year, and if you want to weld pipe on a, you know, for oil and gas pipelines, you can make $100,000 a year.

Every manufacturer — I go to one every single week. In fact, I have with me in the — in the crowd here today a gentleman who is a supporter of mine from Rockwall, Texas, Ed Grand-Lienard. He runs Special Products.

And he tells me he has jobs open in every skill that he — he — he could possibly hire for in Rockwall, Texas, but he can't find people.

So the issue is, yes, we need a tax code. I — I propose a 20 percent flat tax — 20 percent on corporations, 20 percent on — on individuals, full expensing, which will be powerful for manufacturing, a 0 percent rate, initially, for manufacturers.

We're going to have a very powerful tax code. We're going to do something about regulation. We're going to suspected every single ObamaCare regu — Obama regulation that cost over $100,000 to the economy.

But we have to start doing something about training and employing people who are sitting on the sidelines because they don't see a path. And we have a — a bureaucracy in Washington and a president in Washington — and even among Republicans who think everybody has to go to college. People need to go to work and we need to provide...[buzzer noise]...opportunities for them to go to work out of high school. [applause]

REGAN: All right, Governor Jindal, you have pushed Louisiana's energy resources as a means to grow jobs in your state. But as oil prices have plunged in recent months, so has jobs growth.

Louisiana now has an unemployment rate above the national average.

Will your energy-focused jobs plan for the country be subject to the same market ups and downs?

JINDAL: A couple of things.

In Louisiana, we're actually a top 10 state for job growth. As we sit here today, we have more people working in Louisiana than ever before, earning a higher income than ever before. We've had 60 months in a row of consecutive job growth in our state. So the reality is, we have diversified our economy. Yes, I've got an interview plan that says all of the above, that creates good manufacturing jobs in America. We've also got one of the fastest growing IT sectors by percentage. We are growing Louisiana's economy.

But let me get to the point that is, I think, the most important issue here tonight. You're going to have several hours of debate on the economy and we're going to have a great discussion about energy plans and tax rates. And that's all great.

The most important thing we have to do, we have a fundamental choice to make, folks.

Are we willing to cut the government economy so we can grow the American economy?

That is the most fundamental question we've got to answer.

We are on the path to socialism right now. [applause]

These are mutually exclusive. The hour is late, but it is not too late for America.

Though under President Obama, you asked about his economy. We've got record dependents, a record number of Americans on food stamps, record low participation rate in the work force.

This is a fundamental choice. Sending a big government Republican to DC is not enough to fix this problem. It's not enough just to beat Hillary Clinton. We've got to change the direction of our country.

What that means is let's shrink the government, not slow its growth rate, but actually shrink the government so we can grow the American economy. That is the fundamental issue we should be debating here tonight.

REGAN: All right, Governor Jindal, thank you. [applause]

Governor Christie, you have said that the Democrats' message is one of, quote, "free stuff." In contrast, Republicans want to reduce spending. How do you win a national election when the Democrats are offering free health care, a free or subsidized college education, and you're the party that is seemingly offering nothing in the way of immediate tangible benefits?

CHRISTIE: Yes, sure. [laughter]

If anybody believes the stuff they heard from that Democratic debate a few weeks ago, there's nothing for free. What they forgot to tell was that they're going to raise your tax rates to 70 or 80 percent in order to provide all of that stuff.

But let me ask the folks at home one very simple question, do you want to give Washington more control over your life? Do you think they're doing such a great job that now let's have them control what our corporations pay their employees? Let's have them control every aspect of our economy?

Is Washington doing that good a job for you right now? And the fact is that if you listen to Hillary Clinton, she has made it very clear, she believes that she can make decisions for you better than you can make them for yourself.

She believes that Washington, D.C., should pick the winners and losers in our economy, and in our life. And here's what I believe as a Republican, I believe the greatness of America is not in its government.

The greatness of America is in the American people. And what we need to do is get the government the hell out of the way and let the American people win once again. [cheering and applause]

REGAN: Senator Santorum, a single mom with no job and two kids in New Hampshire, home of the first in the nation primary, is eligible for more than $30,000 a year in benefits. Even if she could find a job, she would need to find child care. And in many cases may conclude it's better for her to live off government benefits.

Senator, how do you help and incentivize her to go to work? And if you're the one that's going to cut her benefits, why should she vote for you?

SANTORUM: Well, the answer is first that we need to do something about a tax code that doesn't penalize. One thing that I'm excited about our tax code, proposed changes, is it's very pro-family.

You have a $2,700 tax credit, period, for every person in that family, so that family, you know, would have about an $8,000 tax credit, which would be refundable. So every dollar she works, she's still only losing 20 cents.

The problem with the tax code today, because of all the different provisions, you're right, you go back to work, you lose welfare benefits, you're losing money. Throw on top of that the — even a bigger problem, over 50 percent of children being raised in a home today of a single mom are raised in a home where the father is born — father is (sic) living at the child — the time the child is born.

Now what does that mean? That means we have incentivized people not to marry. We've incentivized people to cohabitate instead of not marry, why? Because mom will lose welfare benefits if she marries father.

It's not just mom going back to work, but it's mother and father marrying to form a more stable family for that child to be raised in a two-parent family.

So we've got all sorts of really corrupt incentives that were put in place, well meaning by the left. But we need to remove those. We need to remove those incentives. We need to adopt a tax code that says we're going to be pro-family and pro-work. And that's what we'll do. [applause]

SMITH: Thank you, Senator.

Governor Huckabee, you have characterized entitlement reform as both political and economic suicide. Taxpayers currently spend more than $600 billion per year on social welfare programs, with the intended goal of getting people back on their feet and working again.

Today a record number of Americans aren't even looking for work. Are our social welfare programs, while well-intended, creating a culture of dependency? If so, how will you fix it?

HUCKABEE: Well, Sandra, first of all, let me mention the fact that I think there's a big difference between welfare programs and what some people call entitlements. Namely, Social Security and Medicare.

I just want to remind everybody out there who has ever had a paycheck, the government didn't ask you if you wanted them to take money out of your check for Social Security and Medicare. They did that involuntarily.

Those are not entitlements and that's not welfare. That's an earned benefit. And by gosh, you paid for it. And if the government screwed it up, you shouldn't have to pay the penalty because of an incompetent government.

That's different than the social programs that we've spent $2 trillion on since the War on Poverty began exactly 50 years ago this year.

Now the reason we still have so much poverty is because it was never designed to get people out of poverty. It was designed to make sure that there was an industry of poverty, so that the people in the poverty industry would have a lot of jobs. But the people who are poor haven't been benefited. Having grown up poor, I know a little something about it. Nobody who is poor wants to be. That's a nonsense statement and I hear it all the time. Well, poor people ought to work harder. They're working as hard as they can, for gosh sake.

But the problem is the system keeps pushing them down because, if they work, then they get punished. They lose all the benefits. When we did welfare reform in the '90s, you know what we did? We said you're not going to lose everything at once. There's not an arbitrary threshold. So as you move up the ladder from work and training, you'll actually always be better off than you were before. That's the American way.

SMITH: Thank you, Governor.

SEIB: Governor Jindal, Republicans have now 32 of the nation's 50 governor seats. But, even while you're doing very well at the state level, you keep falling short nationally. You've lost the popular vote in five of the last six presidential elections. Are Democrats simply putting forward a better national economic message than the one Republicans are offering? And what should Republicans do about it.

JINDAL: No, I think right now there's not much difference between the two parties. The reason we keep losing nationally is we try to be cheaper versions of the Democratic party. What if the Republicans, what if Republicans actually embraced our own principles? So I earlier said if you want bigger paychecks, you want more jobs, you want less government dependence, you're going to have to cut government spending. Here's the dirty little secret.

You're going to hear a lot of Republicans tonight in this debate and the next one talk about cutting government spending. It's going to sound great. There's only one of us that's actually cut government spending. Not two, there's one, and you're looking at him. We've got four senators running. They've never cut anything in D.C. They give these long speeches called filibusters, they pat themselves on the back, nothing changes. When they go to relieve themselves their cause and the toilet get flushed at the same time, and the American people lose. We've got a bunch of governors running, we've got seven current former governors running. I'm the only one that has cut government spending. Everybody else can talk about it. If they haven't done it in their state capitals, what makes them thank that — what makes us think they'll do it if we send them to D.C. Look, when politicians talk, we need to look at what they have done, not what they have said. Otherwise, it's a bunch of hot air. We've cut our budget 26 percent. Record number of Louisianans working.

If Republicans want to win national elections, let's be conservatives, let's be Republicans, let's not be a second version of the liberal party, let's cut government spending and grow the American economy.

SMITH: Do you have something to add, Governor?

HUCKABEE: Well, I'd just like to respond, with all due respect to, to the Governor, to the state just south of me, I would say that a lot of us have cut things. And during the recession of 2001 to 2003, when 91 percent of our state budget was basically three things, educate, medicate and incarcerate, we ended up cutting 11 percent out of the state budget through that recession so we didn't have to go in and raise a bunch of taxes, and there were people who thought we should.

So it's just not accurate to say that nobody else up here has ever cut. I believe every governor has probably had to make tough decisions. I'm, I'm guessing my colleague Governor Christie has, as I'm tossing him the ball like Arkansas did to Ol' Miss the other day.

UNIDENTIFIED: Why don't, why don't we...

JINDAL: Wait, wait, wait. I want to respond. He has criticized something I said. I want to respond to that. Mike, with all due respect, I admire your social views, I share many of those views, your record as Governor tells a different story. Was — your time as Governor spending in Arkansas went up 65 percent, number of state workers went up 20 percent, the taxes for the average citizen went up 47 percent. That's not a record of cutting. I'm saying we've actually cut. We reduced the size of our budget. So wanting to cut is one thing, actually cutting is a different thing. Facts don't lie.

SMITH: All right. Let's, let's bring Governor Christie in next.

HUCKABEE: Sandra, before we get too far away, he specifically brought out some things about the record that I need to correct.

SMITH: All right. Well, let's get the — let's keep the conversation going. Let's bring Governor Christie in here because we're talking about national debt, climbing toward $19 trillion, Governor. Our federal government employed nearly three million workers, our tax code is more than 74,000 pages long. If you're elected President, Governor Christie, what concrete steps would you take to reduce the size of the federal government?

CHRISTIE: First off, let me, let me just say this in response to this back and forth. For the people who are out there right now, I want to guarantee you one thing real clearly. If you think that Mike Huckabee won't be the kind of President who will cut back spending, or Chris Christie, or John Kasich, wait 'til you see what Hillary Clinton will do to this country and how she will drown us in debt. She is the real adversary tonight and we'd better stay focused as Republicans on her.

Now I've forward, I put forward an entitlement reform plan.

We spend 71 cents of every dollar in America on entitlements and debt service, and if — you know, Willy Sutton used to say, when they asked him why he robbed banks, he said that's 'cause that's where the money is, OK?

And where the money is in the federal government are these entitlement programs and debt service.

What I've said is we need to get a hold of that. We cannot continue to go down the $19 trillion in debt.

So our plan will save over $1 trillion over the next 10 years and make sure that Social Security and Medicare are there for those who truly need it and also make sure that we have money to be able to reduce taxes and spend on the things we need to spend.

I will also, on my first day as — as president, sign a executive order that says no more regulation for the next 120 days by any government agency or department. We are drowning in regulations. Stop and then we'll go out there and we'll cut and reduce regulation that small business owners across this country want us to do.

You'll grow the economy then. More money will come into the system and we'll get more closer to balance.

But the bottom line is, believe me, Hillary Clinton's coming for your wallet, everybody. Don't worry about Huckabee or Jindal, worry about her. [applause]

REGAN: Governor Christie, thank you. [applause]

All right, we are just getting started.

Medicare, Social Security and the future of ObamaCare — that is all straight ahead, live from Milwaukee and the Republican presidential debate.

[commercial break] [applause]

REGAN: Welcome back to the Milwaukee Theater, and the Republican Presidential Debate. On to the next round of questions, Gerry has the next question.

SEIB: Senator Santorum, we're in the Upper-Midwest, heart of the American auto industry. The Auto Alliance says the state of Wisconsin, where we are tonight, is home to 176 auto supplier companies. Back in 2008, you opposed the use of federal bailout funds for automakers as proposed then by the Bush administration. The automakers survived. In retrospect, do you still think that was the right position.

SANTORUM: Absolutely. I'm a capitalist, not a corporatist. I'm not someone who believes we should be bailing out corporations whether their auto industries, or banks. [applause]

And, it is simply a matter that there's auto industry — the auto industry would have survived, it would have survived through a bankruptcy process of — instead of Washington picking a winner and a loser. And, in this case, the losers are the bondholders, and the winners were the unions. That's fine. They did it, the unions — the unions survived. We — we have not survived in continuing to grow manufacturing jobs. We have a — we have a president, and an economy right now, that is killing — choking our ability to be able to compete.

I'm one of the few people up here who actually believes that we need a level playing field when it comes to manufacturing. That means a good tax code, a good regulatory environment, low energy prices, better opportunities for workers to get training, and, also, I'm — a supporter of the EXIM bank. Everybody else on this stage, everybody else, I think, in the entire field, is opposed to it.

Why can you — how can you come out and say I'm for manufacturing when a majority of republican congressmen and senators supported the EXIM bank because it means jobs for American workers here in America. The fact is that we've seen already G.E. lose jobs here in America, and just move those jobs to France and Hungary. We have a right as a country to compete with other countries that have export financing.

Every major manufacturer, 60 countries, competes against America, wants to take our jobs, and we have every Republican candidate — you want to talk about communicating to workers here in Wisconsin? [bell rings]

Ask them why we're tying one hand behind our back and saying go out and compete. [applause]

SEIB: Thank you, Senator Santorum.

REGAN: Governor Huckabee, you differ from many of your GOP opponents on the stage tonight over accepting Syrian refugees into this country. You have said, "We don't have an obligation to just open our doors."

As the Islamic state continues to expand, slaughtering and crucifying Christians, including women and children, refugees continue to flee their land by the thousands. Should America open its doors to accept any refugees in this country? If so, how many?

HUCKABEE: Sandra, I've been concerned that this administration has not done anything to help stop the slaughter of Christians. We didn't help the Kurds, we said we would. But, the idea that we're just going to open our doors, and we have no idea who these people are — what we do know is that only one out of five of the so called, "Syrian Refugees", who went into Europe were actually Syrian. Many of them, we had no idea who they were. They weren't Syrian.

Are we going to open the doors so that the ISIS people will come on in, and we'll give them a place to say, and a good sandwich, and medical benefits? My gosh, we have $19 trillion dollars in debt, we can't even afford to take care of Americans.

So...[applause]...If we're going to do something for the Syrians...[applause]...let's find out who they really are, and the ones that are really in danger, let's help build an encampment for them, but closer to where they live, rather than bringing them here when they don't know the language, the culture — and, frankly, if we've got as many homeless people as we have, I'm not sure this makes any sense.

So, let's do it where we can best help them. Send them some food. But, let's ask the Saudi's to step up. I'm really tired of Americans being the only ones asked to do all the heavy lifting when it comes to charity, and, quite frankly, my number one concern right now is taking care of the fact that Americans are taking it in the gut without jobs. Many of them working two and three part time jobs. And, if America wants to do something great, let's get our economy growing again, stabilize the dollar, and we'll be in a much better position to help people around the world.

REGAN: Alright, Governor Huckabee, thank you. [applause]

SMITH: Governor Christie, China is stealing our technology. China is pirating our intellectual property, and China's hacking into our computers, spying on American corporations, and spying on our citizens. China also slaps tariffs on U.S. goods, making it harder for us to sell our products. How are you going to stop them?

CHRISTIE: Well, let's start with this, remember why we're in the position we're in with China, because an absolutely weak and feckless foreign policy that was engineered by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. That's why we're in the position we're in...[applause]...because the Chinese...[applause]...the Chinese don't take us seriously and why should they?

Why should they?

They hacked into the American government's personnel file and took millions of records in cyberwarfare against this country. I'm one of the victims of that hack. They took my Social Security number, my fingerprints as a former United States attorney that was on file in there.

And what has this president done?

Not one thing.

Let me be really clear about what I would do.

If the Chinese commit cyberwarfare against us, they are going to see cyberwarfare like they have never seen before. And that is a closed society in China...[applause]...where they're hiding information from their own people. The information we take, we'll make sure all the Chinese people see it. Then they'll have some real fun in Beijing when we start showing them how they're spending their money in China. [applause]

And one last thing.

One last thing. I will tell you this, they're building those artificial islands in the South China Sea and the president won't — up until recently, wouldn't sail a ship within 12 miles or fly a plane over it. I'll tell you this, the first thing I'll do with the Chinese is I'll throw — I'll fly Air Force One over those islands. They'll know we mean business. [applause]

SEIB: Governor Jindal, there's a new trade deal the Obama administration has completed with 11 other Pacific nations. The U.S. Trade Representative's office says that deal will cut 18,000 different tariffs on American goods sent to the Pacific and will cut tariffs on goods made in your state of Louisiana by as much as 40 percent.

Even a skeptical about — a skeptic about this deal, now that the details are public, are you going to be for it?

JINDAL: I was absolutely a skeptic of giving this president more power. He negotiated a bad deal with Iran. He breaks the law routinely. I don't know why Congress would want to concede more authority to him.

Look, this trade deal is 6,000 pages long. Unlike ObamaCare, I think we should read it before we decide whether we would vote for it or not vote for it. [applause]

I am for trade deals, but I want to make sure they are fair trade deals.

I want to come back to something that Chris had said earlier. Look, I absolutely agree we've got to beat Hillary Clinton. But just sending any Republican is not good enough. We've had a Republican majority in the Senate and the House.

What has changed?

If we send another big government Republican to the White House, we will not do enough to fix what is wrong in this country.

Chris, I think records matter. I think the way we govern matter.

Under your leadership in New Jersey, your budget has gone up 15 percent. It's gone down 26 percent in Louisiana.

It has gone up $5 million in New Jersey. It's gone down $9 billion in Louisiana. In New Jersey, you've had nine credit downgrades, setting a record. We've had eight credit upgrades in Louisiana.

My point is this. If politicians say they're going to be conservative, they say they're going to cut spending but they don't do it, why should we send them to DC?

It gets harder, not easier, when we send them to DC. Let's not be a second liberal party. Let's actually cut government spending. Let's grow the American economy. Let's not just beat Hillary, let's elect a conservative to the White House, not just any Republican.

SEIB: Governor Christie? [applause]

CHRISTIE: I'll tell you, Gerry, it's interesting, if you go to New Jersey, they'll call me lots of different things. A liberal is not one of them. Um, and...[laughter]...I would say this. I have great respect for Bobby's record in Louisiana. I think he's been a wonderful governor and I think he's provided outstanding leadership for that state and I respect him for what he's done.

And I think that all of us deserve that same level of respect.

And my point is this. You know, the differences between me and Bobby Jindal, we can talk about those, and obviously, Bobby wants to spent a lot of time tonight talking about that.

I'll tell you what I want to talk about. I want to talk about what's going to happen to this country if we have another four years of Barack Obama's policies.

And by the way, it will be even worse, because Hillary Clinton is running so far to the left to treaty to catch up to her socialist opponent, Bernie Sanders, it's hard to even see her anymore.

The fact is — the fact is that we'd better be focused on it. And I'll tell you what I'll bring to the table, the fact that I've won in a blue state, that I've won in a state that has 750,000 more Democrats than Republicans...[applause]...that I won in a state for reelection after governing as a pro-life conservative...[buzzer noise]...and got 61 percent of the vote. That's the person you want on the stage prosecuting the case against Hillary Clinton. [applause]

JINDAL: But wait a minute, records matter. [applause]

Records — records matter. Yes, we've got to...

CHRISTIE: I don't...

JINDAL: — beat Hillary Clinton. But Chris, it's also true that you expanded food stamps at a time that we've got record numbers of Americans on food stamps. It's also true you caved into ObamaCare. You expanded Medicaid.

We've got a choice in front of us. This is an important debate. This is not about comparing Louisiana to New Jersey or Bobby to Chris. This is an important debate for the American people.

This is supposed to be an economics debate. Let's have a debate.

Do we want to grow government or do we want to grow the American economy?

Do we want to grow dependence on government, or do we want to grow good paying jobs in the private sector...

SMITH: ...Alright...

JINDAL: ...you don't grow the economy by putting more people on food stamps, more people in Medicaid, you grow the economy by cutting government, cutting spending. That's what we've done in Louisiana, you haven't done that in New Jersey...

CHRISTIE: ..Let me...

SEIB: ...Guys...

JINDAL: ...We need a conservative, not a big government republican in D.C.

SEIB: Governor Christie...

CHRISTIE: ...Let me just...

SEIB: ...last word, briefly

CHRISTIE: ...Sure. [applause]

It's interesting. I complimented Bobby, imagine how much time he'd want if I actually criticized him. [laughter]

You know, the fact is, he's done — done a nice job down in Louisiana, and I don't have any problem with the job he's done. I've cut spending $2 billion dollars, except for our pension and health care in New Jersey, which was driven predominantly by Obamacare. We have reduce the number of employees we have on the state payroll by 15%, but, you know what? The people out there don't care about any of that.

You know what they care about? They care about who's going to be able to beat Hillary Clinton...[bell ringing]...Who's going to keep their eye on the ball? I'm going to keep my eye on the ball.

[crosstalk]

SEIB: ...Thank you both, Governors. [applause]

REGAN: Next question to you, Governor...

JINDAL: ...This is how we....

REGAN: ...Next question to you, Governor...

JINDAL: ...This is how we move our country forward, look, this is not about between me and Chris...

HUCKABEE: ...I'd like to get that opportunity to go...

JINDAL: ...This is about...[crosstalk]...are we going to be the party...

REGAN: ...let me get in...[crosstalk]...Let me get in here, because the next question, it's to you, and it's on Obamacare. It is still unpopular with the American people. You've seen the polls, they've shown nearly half the country still opposes this law. You have been critical of your GOP opponents, some of them standing on the stage tonight, others later. Notably, Ted Cruz, for not having comprehensive plans.

You say you do. What specifically makes your plan to replace Obamacare better than the opponents, some of them standing next to you.

JINDAL: Well, look, only one other opponent, actually, one other candidate, actually, has a plan. That's Jeb Bush, and he creates a new entitlement program. My plan actually gets rid of all of Obamacare, it's great that Senator Cruz will shut down the government over Obamacare, but he still hasn't given us his plan to get rid of it. It's great that other republicans talk about getting rid of it.

You go to a town hall in Iowa, or New Hampshire, ask them how they're actually going to get rid of it — my plan has been online for over a year. It gets rid of all of Obamacare, it reduces the cost. It actually puts Americans, their patients, their doctors back in control. And, it actually helps those that really need this help — but, this is one of the most critical issues we face domestically.

I think I — look, right now, I think I am the only candidate running that refused to expand Medicaid. I'm the only one that turned down — that did what we could to fight Obamacare. This is an important point, and, look, I appreciate Chris's nice compliments to me. And, Chris, you look to me very well, I love Mary-pat, but this isn't about me and Chris. This is about the country, and this is about what direction — this is the most important election in our lifetimes.

Folks, a couple of years ago they told us give them the republican majorities in the House and the Senate, they'd stop Obamacare, and amnesty, and the bad Iran deal — nothing changed. If they fooled us once, shame on them. If they fooled us twice, shame on us. Don't let them fool us again.

Chris, look, I'll give you your ribbon for participation, and a juicebox, but in the real world, it's about results...[audience reaction]...but, in the real world it's about results. It's about actually cutting government spending, not just talking about cutting government spending.

REGAN: Governor Jindal, thank you.

CHRISTIE: Yeah, listen. We stopped Obamacare in New Jersey because we refused to participate in the federal exchange. But, here's the bigger issue. What do you think's going to happen when Hillary Clinton's elected president of the United States? The woman who tried to impose healthcare on this country over 20 years ago? And, she was stopped then by a strong group of republicans, and an American public that said, "No, thank you."

What she will do — what she will do is move us towards a single payer system. She will completely nationalize the federal health care system. That's what she wanted to do 20 years ago, and I guarantee you that's what she'll do if you give her the keys to the White House one more time.

The fact is we need someone who knows how to beat democrats, who knows how to beat democrats in a democratic area. I've done it twice as governor of New Jersey, and Hillary Clinton doesn't want one minute on that stage with me next September when I'm debating her, and prosecuting her for her vision for America...

SANTORUM: ...Let me settle this argument...

SEIB: ...No, no, Senator Santorum...

SANTORUM: ...Well...

SEIB: ...I have a question for you. Just about everybody agrees that the nation's infrastructure is in bad shape. Urban highway congestion costs the economy more than $100 billion dollars annually, nearly one in four bridges in the National Highway System is structurally deficient, or obsolete. Congress is working on a six year highway bill to try to fix this problem. It only funds it for about three years. Should Americans be asked to pay more in federal gas taxes in order to address this problem?

SANTORUM: I'll answer that in a second, but, I want to answer this other problem because this is a real legitimate debate between Chris and Bobby, and if somebody says we need someone who can win in a blue state, and Bobby says we need a real principled conservative. [audience reaction] [applause]

Ninety-two percent conservative voting record, unlike some of the other senators that Bobby mentioned who hasn't done anything to cut federal spending, I was actually the author of welfare reform, which is the only time we've ever seen a federal entitlement actually cut. We cut it. Senate did exactly what every conservative says they want to do. We took the program, we eliminated the federal entitlement, we blocked (ph) to the state, we capped the amount of money, cut it by about 10%, and then put two requirements, work, and time limits.

We need to do that with the rest of the — means (ph) tested federal entitlements. I've done it.

And I did it with a bipartisan support in the House and Senate, and after fighting two presidential vetoes by Bill Clinton.

So I had a democratic president we had to get this through. No record of accomplishment. I agree with the folks who are from the Congress in this race. I have a record of accomplishment of being a conservative on everything.

National security, on moral and cultural issues, on the economy, and twice won a blue state. The first time I beat the author of Hillarycare. I had Bill and Hillary in my state, James Carville managed the race against me, a state with a million more Democrats than Republicans.

And I ran on health savings accounts, on private sector health care, as a conservative, pro-life, pro-family, and I won. And then in 2000, I was the only senator to win a state as a conservative that George Bush lost.

You want someone who can win Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, with a conservative message, I'm your guy. [applause]

SEIB: Senator, I don't think we got to infrastructure, but I understand. [laughter]

SANTORUM: I'll be happy to answer that if you give me more time.

SEIB: No, no. To do the things you're talking about, that you're all talking about, getting things done in Washington, you have to work with the other side. So a question, who in Congress do you most admire on the Democratic side? I need one name from each of you.

And let's start with Governor Jindal.

JINDAL: We can waste our time. And I think this is why people were so frustrated with the last debate with these kinds of silly questions. [applause]

We've only got a certain amount of time to talk about the economy. Let me use my time to say this. I want to fire everybody in D.C. in both parties. I think they all — we need term limits, get rid of them all, make them live under the same rules they passed on the rest of us. [cheering and applause]

SEIB: Governor Huckabee?

HUCKABEE: Well, since we're not going to answer the question, let me just remind everybody, tomorrow is Veterans Day. And here's what I would like to remind everybody. The VA has been a disaster in large part because the people in Congress have never bothered to fix it, and this president has certainly not...

REGAN: We'll get to that.

HUCKABEE: Let me finish, please. I'm going to ask you just this, what would happen if the Congress and the president had to get their health care from the VA? We would fix the problem and we would fix Congress. [cheering and applause]

SEIB: Governor Christie?

CHRISTIE: I'll continue in the pattern and just say...[laughter]

And just say this to everybody, since it seems to be an open question. [laughter]

I'll tell you the thing that disturbs me the most about what's going on with the Democratic Party in Washington, that they're not standing behind our police officers across this country. [cheering and applause]

That they're allowing lawlessness...[cheering and applause] That they're allowing lawlessness to reign in this country. I spent seven years of my life in law enforcement, here's what every law enforcement, 700,000, should know tonight. When President Christie is in the Oval Office, I'll have your back. [cheering and applause]

SEIB: Senator Santorum?

SANTORUM: I'm going to answer two questions for the price of one. The infrastructure question, the answer is...[laughter]

We need to get the federal government out of this infrastructure business, other than vital economic highways. It has been said that if we cut the gas tax to 3 to 5 cents and send the rest back to the states, and just take care of the federal infrastructure that's vital for our economy, let the — we don't need the federal government and the road business that it is today. Number one.

Number two, you know who I respect in the Democratic Party? You know why I respect them? Because they fight! Because they're not willing to back down, and they're willing to stand up and fight and win. And so I respect them because they are willing to take it to us.

SEIB: Thank you, Senator Santorum. [applause]

REGAN: Ronald Reagan did work with Tip O'Neill.

Anyway, we are going to take a quick break. Coming up, one of the top issues for voters, how much you're paying in taxes. We are live from Milwaukee with the Republican presidential debate.

See you right back here.

[commercial break]

REGAN: Welcome back to the Republican presidential debate.

We are live from Milwaukee.

A top issue on the campaign trail, taxes and how much you pay.

All right, I've got a question for all of you here.

When looking at the federal income tax, state income tax and local tax, in some cases, combined, some Americans are paying over 50 percent of their paycheck to the government.

What is the highest percentage, all in, in the way of taxes, that any American should have to pay and what is the lowest?

I'd like to, again, to hear from each of you. And I want those two all in numbers.

I'm going to start with you, Senator Santorum.

SANTORUM: Well, I'll tell you, I have a 20 percent flat tax. That's one all income — so capital gains, corporations, individuals, 20 percent. I think that's a fair number, one out of five, to be able to — to help support the federal government.

By the way it also approximates, if you take out some of the deductions, it approximates how much the federal government is, on average, spent of GDP, which is about 18 to 19 percent of GDP.

So it actually fits with shrinking the size of government down to more like post-World War II levels.

So the second thing we do is I don't allow for deductibility of state and local taxes, which will require state and local taxes to go down in order to be treated for their — for their people to be treated fairly.

So the answer is, 20 percent and probably 33 percent overall.

REGAN: All in.

OK, Governor Christie?

CHRISTIE: Yes. You know, our tax plan puts forward a highest rate of 28 percent for those who are doing the most and making the most in this country and 8 percent on the low end.

And I agree with Senator Santorum, we get rid of all of the deductions and loopholes, except for the home mortgage interest deduction and the charitable contribution deduction. That means getting rid of the state and local income tax deduction, as well, because that will put more pressure on governors and on local officials not to keep raising those taxes, saying we can deduct them.

And so ours will be 28 on the high end, 8 on the low end.

And I will tell you one other thing. Americans for Tax Reform came out with a report six weeks ago and said I vetoed more tax increases than any governor in American history. I will do exactly the same thing as president of the United States. [applause]

REGAN: And we'll get back to you.

Governor Jindal?

JINDAL: So under our tax plan, look, the top rate is 25 percent, 10 percent, 2 percent. That 2 percent is the most important.

I think everybody should pay something. I think everybody should have skin in the game.

We shouldn't be creating one group of Americans that's dependent on government, another group that's paying taxes.

I want to come back to an earlier point though, that Chris said. Look, we all agree Hillary Clinton is bad. We all agree we need to beat her. But let's not pretend that out-of-control government spending is only a Democratic issue. This is a bipartisan issue, and just sending another big government Republican to D.C. is not good enough.

We need to actually cut government spending. We need to cut — and we're not going to do it just by sending any Republican. I'm glad he's vetoed taxes. The Tax Foundation graded New Jersey the 50th worst business climate due to taxes, high taxes in the state of New Jersey.

SMITH: Governor Huckabee.

HUCKABEE: Well, thank you very much.

I still want to go back to the fact that if we got rid of all the taxes on our work, got rid of the taxes on our savings, investments, capital gains, and inheritance, and made a zero tax, we'd pay at the point of consumption.

Because why should we punish people for their productivity? And the fair tax doesn't punish people for doing well and building the economy. There's $31 trillion parked offshore. What happens if that money comes back to America? You'd think it'd goose the economy? I guarantee you it would.

And that's why the fair tax is the best solution we have for economic growth in this country. [applause]

REGAN: Governor Huckabee, Americans, under your plan, would pay a tax on every single thing that they purchase. Given that consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of GDP, some economists worry that your tax plan would actually discourage spending, thereby slowing our economy. How do you respond?

HUCKABEE: Well, first of all, do you know an American that will just stop spending? I don't. [laughter]

No, that's not going to be the problem. Look, Americans will go to the marketplace with more money they've ever had. For the first time they'll be having their whole paycheck.

You see, most people don't understand that when you buy something that is made in America, 22 percent of the cost of it is the embedded tax they never even know they paid. It's why China has beaten the daylights out of us, they can build stuff that we can't because they're not taxing it, when they don't tax capital and labor and we do.

They bring something over here, it's automatically cheaper even without the regulatory environment because they're not embedding the taxes, we are.

Take the embedded taxes out. Give a person his whole paycheck because every American would no longer have a payroll tax taken out. It means they'd see their real paycheck for the first time. When they go to spend that money, they'll actually have it.

And they only pay taxes on the stuff that's new. So a lot of Americans will buy used stuff. Look, here's the point, Americans are not going to quit shopping. Americans are not going to quit buying.

But it would be nice if Americans could control how much they paid in tax, rather than having the government reach into their pockets and take it out before they ever had a chance to even see it, much less spend it. [applause]

And that's why the fair tax makes a heck of a lot more sense than punishing productivity and rewarding irresponsibility.

REGAN: Thank you, Governor Huckabee.

SEIB: Governor Jindal, you've proposed something different. You've proposed eliminating the federal corporate income tax entirely. Why would have you wage-earners and investors pay an income tax but not a corporation?

JINDAL: Well, a couple of reasons. Look, we know big companies don't pay those taxes today. They hire lobbyists and accountants and lawyers. It's the small businesses that get hit.

I want to get rid of the corporate tax, I want to bring the jobs and investment back to America. Make the CEOs pay the same rates as everybody else. Get rid of all the corporate welfare as well.

Like I said, make everybody pay something, earned success is so much better than unearned success. And let's actually shrink the size of government. My plan purposely does that.

Look, we can talk all night about tax plans, energy plans, I think you will find a lot of agreement among all the Republicans. We all want to get rid of the death tax, the marriage penalty. We all want lower, fewer brackets. We want to downsize, take away power from the IRS.

What we really need to be talking about is this, these last seven years, we've had more government spending, more government dependence. Poverty has gone up. Inequality has gone up. Only the top 10 percent have seen their incomes go up — their median incomes go up.

We actually have more inequality thanks to what we have seen, the largest most expensive experiment in progressive government. We can't keep spending money we don't have.

And the reality is, the last couple of years it hasn't mattered whether Republicans or Democrats were in control. We keep stealing from our children. That is immoral. It is wrong. And we're creating more government dependence.

If we really want to grow the economy, yes, you need a rational energy plan, and you've got to rein in the EPA, and you've got to repeal Obamacare, and you've got to cut taxes.

But none of that will be enough if we're not serious about cutting government spending. We cannot afford to elect a big- government Republican. We need somebody. This is the most important election. Hillary Clinton is gift-wrapping this election to us. Let's not waste this opportunity to apply conservative principles and cut the size of government. [applause]

SMITH: All right. Governor Jindal, thank you.

All right. Well, we are not finished yet.

More from the Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee, next.

[commercial break]

SEIB: Welcome back to the Republican Presidential Debate live from Milwaukee's historic theater. Let's get back to the questions. Governor Christie, by keeping interest rates so low for so long, is the Fed creating a new financial bubble in real estate or stock as prices that will burst and create problems down the road, or has it been right to err on the side of trying to help the recovery through low rates?

CHRISTIE: Gerry, this has been the most political Federal Reserve I've seen in my lifetime. Now, when they first cut interest rates during the economic recession and the crisis, that was the right thing to do. But they've kept those interest rates artificially low for one reason, and one reason only. Because they're trying to politically support Barack Obama and his agenda. And it's been wrong.

And what it's done, in an administration where the President has talked about income inequality, he's had more income inequality in this administration than any previous administration. The middle class is doing worse than it's ever done before. And the investor class, the wealthy, are doing even better because of this cheap money from the Fed. And here's the worst part, we had one and a half percent GDP growth last quarter. If we slide back towards a recession, you cannot lower interest rates below zero. Where are we going to go if we need help if the economy slides back into recession?

And with this government- controlled economy that Barack Obama, we're moving right towards it.

The Fed should be audited and the Fed should stop playing politics with our money supply. That's what they've done. It's been the wrong thing to do. It's hurting the American economy. And...[applause]...let me...[applause]...let me add one other thing on this.

Be very aware now, because what Hillary Clinton is talking about doing, if she's president of the United States, is to make sure that the government gets even more involved in the economy, even more involved in making choices for everybody. You do not want that to happen. You need someone who's going to stand up on that stage and prosecute the case against her and prosecute it strong. [buzzer noise] That's what I'll do. [applause]

REGAN: Senator Santorum, you agree with Governor Christie. You also have said that the Fed should be audited.

But many worry that given the Congressional challenges that they face, by having Congressional oversight of the Fed, which has been historically an independent body, you would be making the Fed much more political.

How would you navigate that risk?

SANTORUM: Well, I don't — I agree with Governor Christie, I don't think you can make it any more political than it's been. They — they are protecting a president that is over-taxing and over- regulating, shutting down this economy. And he — and they're keeping it up like Atlas, trying to hold up the Earth by — by these ridiculously low interest rates.

And it's hurting American seniors, who are seeing no Social Security increases, seeing no — no savings. They're — they're putting their money aside. They're getting nothing in their deposit accounts.

This is hurting the people who have acted responsibly, all in favor of those who, um, you know, are — are speculators and — and those on Wall Street. It's not a good deal for — for the vast majority of responsible Americans.

The other thing we have with the Fed is they've been given way too much authority. Under Dodd-Frank, they've been given this enormous new authority. I mean they — they now have almost become the most powerful entity in Washington, DC.

We need to repeal Dodd-Frank, get away that authority from the Fed and put them under more — more scrutiny.

That's only part of the problem. I understand the Fed is interesting for a business channel, but I think for most Americans, the most important business is the family. And we haven't really talked much about the importance of the family to the economy.

And — and ladies and gentlemen, every single book, from left to right, that's been written over the last couple of years has said the biggest problem in America today at the hollowing out of the middle of America is the breakdown of the nuclear family in America.

We'd better be the party that's out there talking about this issue and what we're going to do to help strengthen marriage and return dads into homes in all communities. [applause]

You want to talk about the communities that are hurting the most, the ones you see the protests in...[buzzer noise]...there are no dads. And we need to do something about it. [applause]

REGAN: Thank you, Senator. [applause]

Governor Huckabee, both Senator Santorum and Governor Christie were boat — both critical of the Federal Reserve. Also, many have questioned whether Janet Yellen is the right person to be running the Fed.

If elected president, would you keep Janet Yellen?

HUCKABEE: Well, my wife's name is Janet and when you say Janet Yelling, I'm very familiar with what you mean. [laughter]

But, look, I think the Fed is in a big trouble because they haven't addressed the number one issue that's hurting Americans and that's the fact that wages for the bottom 90 percent of the economy have been stagnant for 40 years.

In the 25 years after World War II, up to 1971, wages grew by 85 percent in this country. People were — were moving up in the middle class. There was a middle class.

That's not happening any more, and in large measure, the Fed has manipulated the dollar so it doesn't have a standard.

Tie the dollar to something fixed and if it's not going to be gold, make it the commodity basket.

But here's what we've got to do. We absolutely have to get it where the people who go out there and work get something in return.

And if the dollar keeps fluctuating, and this is as crazy as — as is the price of bread, well, the fact is, people can't get ahead then.

SMITH: So would you change leadership at the Fed?

HUCKABEE: Absolutely. Absolutely, because what we need to is to make sure that they tie the monetary standard to something that makes sense, rather than to their own whims, because who's getting gut punched?

It ain't the people in Wall Street, it's the folks on Main Street. They're the ones who's wages have been stagnant for 40 years. And the average American today has a total savings of 1,000 bucks. One root canal and they're in trouble.

And if their car breaks down the same week...[buzzer noise]...they're out of business.

REGAN: All right, Governor Huckabee, thank you. [applause]

All right, Senator Santorum, by the way, today is the 240th...

SANTORUM: Happy Birthday.

REGAN: — of the United States...

SANTORUM: — States Marine Corps.

REGAN: — Marine Corps. [applause]

Tomorrow is Veterans Day. We honor and recognize all those who have fought for, and served this great nation, Senator. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, meanwhile, which provides patient care, and federal benefits to those veterans, as well as their families, is beset by scandal.

What new ideas do you have to fix the broken V.A. healthcare system?

SANTORUM: That's very personal to me. I grew up on a V.A. grounds. I lived in apartments on V.A. grounds my entire childhood. Both my Mom and Dad, after World War II, marry — met at a V.A., married, and that's where I lived. Kitchen table discussion was, particularly when I was growing up in the 1960's and 1970's, was the decline of the V.A.

When they joined in the early 1950's, the V.A. was the top. They were the best, they were the best and brightest coming in after the war. And, we believed in the cause that we fought, and we invested in our hospitals to make sure that our veterans who left World War II were taken care of. But, after Vietnam, and during Vietnam, that began to change, and it really hasn't recovered since.

The bottom line is the V.A. is antiquated. There's no need for a V.A. healthcare system as it existed after World War — why? Because we have the best private healthcare system in the world, we didn't need — we needed it in 1950's, hospitals were not particularly advanced, so, we built the best. We didn't maintain the best. Government didn't keep its promises to its veterans. So, what we need to do is two things. Number one, we need to allow veterans to go to private sector hospitals for their routine and ordinary care to get the best care in their community possible. [applause]

And, there is a place for the Veterans Administration. There are injuries, and there are — things like PTSD, or prosthetics that are uniquely problems within the veterans community where we can develop centers of excellence within — and replace the V.A. with a group of...[bell ringing]...centers of excellence that can help our folks to come back...

SMITH: Senator Santorum, thank you. [applause]

I have a question for all of you. Americans connection to the military has been increasingly fading. As a society, how do we restore that sense of duty, that sense of pride, that was the hallmark of the greatest generation. Again, I'd like to ask each of you, 30 seconds each, beginning with Governor Jindal.

JINDAL: Well, a couple things, first, I want to echo what others have said and thank those veterans that run towards danger, not away from it, so we can live in the greatest country in the history of the world.

I think every veteran should get that card, and they should be allowed to get that health care wherever they want in the private sector. But, I also think — or the public sector, I also think we need to fire some of the V.A. bureaucrats. Somebody should go to jail over these scandals, and it is a crime that it has not happened. [applause]

When it comes — when it comes to uniting the American people, one of the things we've done to honor our veterans in Louisiana, we've given thousands — and I've hand delivered these, to veterans — medals to veterans to thank them for their service. I'll just give you one quick example, I know my time is out, but, we've had Vietnam war veterans with tears in their eyes saying nobody has ever thanked them before. We've had World War II veterans, children, who said they never heard the stories of their parents heroic sacrifice. Whatever conflict, whenever they served, one of the things we can do is to teach our children we do live in the greatest country in the history of the world.

We got a president who doesn't believe in American exceptionalism, but we still do, and it's because of those men and women in uniform. We should thank them everyday, not just veterans day. [applause]

SMITH: Governor Huckabee.

HUCKABEE: Well, I think thanking our veterans is a wonderful thing to do, but, they sure appreciate a better paycheck. They'd appreciate the fact that we kept our promises to them. The men and women in uniform put on the uniform of our nation, they went halfway around the world, they face dangers on our behalf, and we promised them if they did that, when they came home we'd take care of their medical care, we'd make is possible for their kids to go to college, and they'd be able to bind to a home.

They kept their promises to us. We have not kept our promises to them, and today, less than one percent of Americans go to the military for service. We're fighting wars with other people's kids in large measure because we've not taken seriously the moral, not the monetary, the moral obligation to take care of the veterans and to keep America's promise to the ones who kept their promise to America. [applause]

SMITH: Governor Christie.

CHRISTIE: The way to reconnect Americans to the men and women in uniform is to first, and foremost, give them a Commander in Chief who respects the military, and respects everyone who wears the uniform. [cheering and applause]

Starts at the top there...[cheering and applause]

And Secretary Clinton says, there's no crisis at the V.A.. That send a long, and hard message to our veterans that she doesn't get it, and she doesn't respect their service.

When the President of the United States doesn't back up law enforcement officers in uniform, he loses the moral authority to any man or woman who is uniform.

I spent seven years in law enforcement...[bell ringing]...I respect these folks, and I will do so as Commander in Chief of the military.

SMITH: Senator Santorum.

SANTORUM: It should come as no surprise to Chris, or anybody else, that Barack Obama doesn't stand behind our men and women in uniform here at home because he hasn't stood behind them overseas.

The rules of engagement that we've allowed our soldiers to go and fight against have put them in harm's way for political purposes. This has been the most politicized wars that we've ever seen under this administration. He gets in, and gets out, based upon what the polls are saying, what pressure he's getting from groups. Talk about a Commander in Chief.

We need a commander in chief who has a vision and plan of how we're going to execute the national security of our country. Commander in chief is not an entry level position. Experience matters, and that's why I would ask for your support as a Commander in Chief, because I have the experience against the enemy...[bell ringing]...to confront to do the job. [applause]

SEIB: Candidates, it's time for closing statements, 30 seconds. Governor Jindal, we'll start with you.

JINDAL: You know, I have spent a lot of time tonight talking about the need to cut the size of government. The reason I'm doing that — it's not just about balancing the budget, or balancing a bunch of numbers. Because I believe in the American dream. I think President Obama's done a lot of damage to our country. I think that one of the worst things he has done is try to change the idea of America to be one of dependence. There are a lot of politicians that talk about cutting government spending, I'm the only one that's actually done it that's running for President.

The rest of them, it's a lot of hot air. If you want your paychecks to go up, if you want more good paying jobs, if you want the government out of your lives, we've got to cut the size of government. It's not enough just to elect any republican, we've seen that. We've got to elect a republican that will take on the establishment in both parties. I'm asking for your support.

Thank you. [applause]

SEIB: Senator Santorum.

SANTORUM: I announced from a factory floor in Western Pennsylvania. This campaign has all been about two words for me, working families. Working. Getting people the opportunity to see those wages rise, to be on the side of the American workers so they can get good paying jobs, and that means we have to start making things in America again. We need a president who's going to not just put policies in place, but is going to stand up at the bully pulpit and talk about the dignity of being a welder. The dignity of being a carpenter, about going to work and earning success.

And, also, the importance of families, the importance of families and fathers, and mothers raising their children, and committing to that so that they can give children in our country the best opportunity to success. Working families is the key for us to win this election. [applause]

SEIB: Governor Huckabee.

HUCKABEE: In many ways, I feel like I'm the luckiest guy on Earth. I really do. It's a long way from a little brick rent house on second street in Hope, Arkansas to this stage where I'm running for President of the United States. It's not about me, not about these guys — 'ought to be about you, and I've never been the favorite of the people who have the most money.

But, I want to be the favorite of the people who still want to believe the American dream can work for them. Today in our office, I got a letter from a third grader in North Dakota, her name is Reese.

She sent $6 dollars from her allowance, and said, "I want to help you be president."

You know, I'm going to keep standing on this stage, and keep fighting for one reason, because somewhere out there in North Dakota, and all over America, there are kids like Reese who need a president who will never forget where they came from, and I promise I won't. [applause]

SEIB: Governor Christie.

CHRISTIE: I want to tell the American people who are watching tonight the truth. I saw the most disgraceful thing I've seen in this entire campaign a few weeks ago. Hillary Clinton was asked the enemy she's most proud of, and she said, "Republicans".

In a world where we have Al-Qaeda, and ISIS, the mullahs in Iran, and Vladimir Putin — the woman who asks to run and represent all of the United States says that her greatest enemies are people like you in this audience, and us here. I will tell you one thing, and write this down, when you elect me President of the United States, I will go to Washington not only to fight the fights that need fighting, not only to say what I mean, and mean what I say, but to bring this entire country together for a better future for our children and grandchildren. [applause]

SMITH: Alright, thank you gentlemen. That does it, everyone, for the first debate here in Milwaukee. In just about one hour from now, at 9:00PM Eastern, eight more candidates are going to be taking to the stage. Right now though, special coverage of the Republican Presidential Debate, live from Milwaukee, continues right here on Fox Business. [applause]

NOTE: The criteria for appearing in the main debate is explained as, "Candidates polling at 2.5 percent average or above in the four latest national polls through November 4". For this "undercard" debate, "Candidates who reach at least 1 percent in the polls will be eligible."
+ Citation: Presidential Candidates Debates: "Republican Candidates "Undercard" Debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin," November 10, 2015. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=110909. +
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+ 		+ + + + +Presidential Candidates Debates: Republican Candidates "Undercard" Debate in Boulder, Colorado +
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PARTICIPANTS:
Senator Lindsey Graham (SC);
Governor Bobby Jindal (LA);
Former Governor George Pataki (NY);
Former Senator Rick Santorum (PA);

MODERATORS:
John Harwood (CNBC);
Becky Quick (CNBC); and
Carl Quintanilla (CNBC)

QUICK: Good evening, everyone. I'm Becky Quick, along with my CNBC colleagues, Carl Quintanilla and John Harwood. Some of CNBC's experts on the markets and personal finance will be here with us tonight as well.

But let's get right to the debate rules.

Candidates will get 30 seconds to answer an opening question and then 60 seconds to answer a formal question. They'll also get 30 seconds for rebuttals and follow-ups. All of this comes at the discretion of the moderators.

We want you to weigh in tonight, either from home or wherever you are. By the way, if you check it out on the bottom of the screen, you can see your tweets right there using #cnbcgopdebate. You can also go to cnbc.com/vote throughout the night to tell us where you stand.

First up, let's get right to the candidates for tonight's Republican Presidential Debate. I want to run you through the line on the stage from left to right.

First up, Governor Bobby Jindal. [applause]

Senator Rick Santorum.

Governor George Pataki.

And Senator Lindsey Graham.

Obviously we have a lot to cover here tonight so let's get this started.

My colleague, John Harwood, has our first question — John.

HARWOOD: We're going to pose this question to all candidates and go left to right, starting with Governor Jindal.

Governor, a majority of Republican voters at this point in the campaign have made clear that they prefer someone from outside the political system.

In 30 seconds, tell us why your experience inside the system would be more valuable than the fresh eyes an outsider would bring.

JINDAL: I think the reason voters are so frustrated is nothing seems to change in D.C. Look, over the next several hours, you're going to hear several Republicans all tell you they want to shrink the size of government and grow the American economy and it sounds great and we've got to do it.

Here's the truth — of all these folks talking, I'm the only one that has cut the size of government. There's not two of us, there's one of us. The rest of it is all just hot air. When politicians talk, we need to pay attention to what they do, not what they say.

I'm the only one that's reduced the size of government. Let's shrink the government economy. Let's grow the American economy.

HARWOOD: Thanks, Governor Jindal.

Senator Santorum?

SANTORUM: Yes, I think it's one thing to shrink the size of a state government but it's another thing to actually get something accomplished in Washington. It's a much tougher field.

And I'm the one in the — on this stage and, frankly, on both stages that has actually gone to Washington, said we would shrink government, said we would shake things up and actually delivered for the conservative cause, everything from welfare reform, which was the largest, most significant accomplishment in the last 25 years for conservatism.

I authored the bill when I was in the House of Representatives; I managed the bill on the floor of the United States Senate. You need a conservative who can deliver and that's what I bring to the table.

HARWOOD: Thank you, Senator.

Governor Pataki?

PATAKI: We need an outsider to run our party and to win the next election. Washington has become a corrupt insider game and everybody talks about how they're going to change the taxes, grow the economy. Nothing seems to change.

But, by the way, Bobby, I shrunk the size of New York State's government when I left. We had reduced the employment by over 25,000 and cut taxes.

But I understand that to change Washington you have to understand government as well. You can't just be an outsider. You can't just be someone who throws stones at Washington. You have to be someone who can actually bring people together across party lines.

I can do that, I will do that if I have the chance to lead this party.

HARWOOD: Thank you, Governor.

Senator Graham.

GRAHAM: Well, number one, thank you for having me here tonight.

How about a round of applause for Boulder, Colorado?

This is a beautiful place. [applause]

Looking at their academic standards, the only way I could have gotten into this university is to be invited to this debate tonight. [laughter]

But here's my take on things. Without national security, there is no economic security. Without the sacrifice of the veteran, all of our hopes and dreams are at risk.

Just a few days ago, Hillary Clinton said that the problems with the V.A. are being exaggerated by Republicans. They are not, they are real.

HARWOOD: Senator Graham, thank you very much. Becky?

QUICK: Governor Jindal, let's talk a little bit about the news of the day. Just a few hours ago, the Republicans and the Democrats in the House voted on a budget deal that will increase spending by about $80 billion dollars over the next two years. You, however, have called the Republicans who have been willing to work with the Democrats to do things like this the, "Surrender Party of the Republican caucus."

Would you have shut the government down instead?

JINDAL: Well, look, I think that's a false choice. I think this is a very bad deal. Whenever they tell us in D.C. they're going to cut tomorrow, that means they're never going to cut. Tomorrow never seems to happen. Instead, why don't we actually follow our conservative principles? Why not insist on structural reforms? Why not cut spending?

I don't mean strength (ph) the growth rate, I mean, actually spend less. Why not a balanced budget in the amendment — an amendment to the Constitution? Why not a super-majority vote before they grow our taxes, before they grow the government faster than the economy?

Let's be honest, $18 trillion dollars of debt. Record low participation rate in the workforce, record number of Americans on food stamps. We are going the way of Europe. The left is trying to turn the American Dream into the European Nightmare. If you're a Republican...

QUICK: ...But Governor...

JINDAL: ...[inaudible] willing to stand up and fight...

QUICK: ...if you didn't have a choice, if you didn't control things in the house, would you take the choice of shutting things down, or would you go ahead and agree with them?

JINDAL: I think that's a false choice. If I were — I were to lead, we would pass a conservative budget, challenge the President to do the right thing. And, here's the problem, the Republicans never want to fight. Give Pelosi and Reed credit, they forced Obamacare and socialism down our throats, why won't the Republicans fight half as hard for freedom and opportunity. This was a bad budget.

QUICK: Governor, thank you.

PATAKI: Becky, can I comment on this question?

HARWOOD: Just hold on, Governor Pataki, we're going to go to Senator Graham on this question because we believe you are likely to be the only person on this stage tonight who supports this budget deal. Now, you just heard Governor Jindal say that it's a phony deal, it doesn't do anything, and people like you are surrendering rather than fighting by supporting it. Why is he wrong?

GRAHAM: Well, let me tell you what is real. The threat to our homeland. I've never seen so many threats to our homeland than I do today. Barack Obama is an incompetent Commander in Chief. There are more terrorist organizations with safe havens to attack the American homeland than anytime since 9/11. We're in the process of reducing our defense spending by half.

I am looking at this budget with one view in mind, will it restore the ability to defend this nation. We're on track to have the smallest army since 1940, the smallest navy since 1915, this budget, if it is paid for, will put $40 billion dollars back in the defense department at a time we need it.

The number one role of the federal government's to defend this nation, I intend to be a Commander in Chief that can win a war we cannot afford to lose.

HARWOOD: Thank you, Senator Graham...

PATAKI: ...John, can I quickly comment on this one...

[crosstalk]

HARWOOD: ...Governor, we're going to get to you in just a moment, we're going to try to keep this shorter...

PATAKI: ...But, I want to speak on this issue...

QUINTANILLA: ...Question, in the meantime, for Senator Santorum. You have advocated a flat tax, so we'd like to ask you about fairness. Why is it fair to tax all Americans at the same rate, as opposed to taxing more affluent Americans at higher rates?

SANTORUM: Well, if you look at my flat tax, it actually takes the best of what Steve Forbes, Art Laffer, many have been advocating for a long time, which is a very strong pro-growth tax code — very simple. And, it adjusts it to make sure that it is not regressive.

We have a $2,750 per person tax credit — that's $2,750 off the taxes due, not a deduction, a credit. And, we think — in fact, if you run the numbers, no American who's going to be paying more taxes under our proposal, so, we've accomplished both.

We have a system that has a low single rate, but we take care of American families. I'm talking about $2,750 per person. That means a family four, that's $11,000 dollar tax credit. That's a very, very strong pro-family — and if you looked at the Wall Street Journal today, and so many of the publications that have been out there, they've talked about how the biggest problem of the hollowing out of the middle of this country. For workers to be able to raise is actually, the breakdown of the American family.

William Galston, a liberal, said that on the pages of the Wall Street Journal today that the key to poverty is families. So, we put forth a pro-growth — Steve Forbes plan, combined it with a pro- family plan, and that's why I think it's going to work out, and work effectively.

QUINTANILLA: Senator, thank you. John — Becky?

QUICK: Governor Pataki, let's get to your point. You wanted to make a comment on the budget. You want to get in on the idea, what would you do if you were in Washington? Would you compromise...

PATAKI: ...I think it was a bad deal, but I would have voted for it for a very simple reason. Barack Obama is the first president in American history to hold our military hostage. He knew that we needed funding for overseas contingency operations, $40 million dollars that would go to support our troops. And, he was prepared, and had vetoed it, unless this deal went through.

I have two sons, they both served overseas. One in Iraq, and one in Afghanistan, and I understand that we have got to do far more to help our military, help our veterans, and help protect our security. This is a bad deal, but to protect our military, I would have signed it. Uh, it's not going to be the case, if I have a chance to lead this country, we're going to reduce the deficit, shrink the government, lower the tax burden and grow the private sector because that's how you solve deficits.

QUICK: Governor Pataki, thank you.

John?

PATAKI: Thank you.

HARWOOD: Governor Jindal, a question about fiscal policy, especially since you noted that this deal doesn't solve the long-term debt situation.

When you came into office with a budget surplus in the state of Louisiana, now, years later, the state legislature faced a $1.6 billion budget gap and the Republican state treasurer called one of your approaches to that problem "nonsense on a stick," quoting him.

Are you going to do for the federal budget what you did for the Louisiana budget?

JINDAL: Absolutely, Jhon. And what we did is we cut state spending. We've cut our budget 26 percent, according to Cato and other analysis, the only candidate that's actually reduced government spending.

Look, the left always complains there's not enough money for government. We have 30,000 fewer state employees than the day I took office, eight credit upgrades, we're a top 10 state for private sector job creation.

We've got a choice. You grow the government economy or the American economy. When I became governor, we had 25 years in a row of outmigration. We were coming back from Katrina. The question many were asking, will Louisiana rebuild, should Louisiana rebuild?

Seven years in a row, more people moving into the state than were leaving the state.

We now have more people working than ever before, erg a higher income than ever before.

Yes, we've reduced the size of government. That's exactly what we need to do in DC. In DC, the Republicans slowed the growth rate, they claimed victory. That's not enough.

Let's be honest with where we are today. We are running off of a cliff. Look, we'll be the next Greece and we can talk and we can rearrange the chairs. Over over $18 trillion of debt, no wonder our economy has been stagnant. We haven't had real growth.

If you're a young student here, you've not seen a robust American economy.

HARWOOD: But Governor Jindal, as you know, many Republicans are opposed to the approach that you've taken in Louisiana. They complain that you have tried so hard to avoid anything that could be called a tax increase so that you could run for president saying you'd never raised taxes, David Vitter, the Republican who's now running to succeed you, has told voters, I won't be like Jindal, I'm not using the governorship as a stepping stone to higher office.

JINDAL: Well, Jhon, a couple of things.

Not only did we not raise taxes, we did the largest income tax cut in the state's history. And I'm proud of that record. I think that's the kind of leadership voters want in DC.

Look, if you want a Republican that's going go grow government spending, if you want a — a president or if you want a candidate who's going to income taxes, I'm not your guy.

If you want somebody that's going to do and say the things that can't be said, can't be done, I'm asking a vote for me to join my cause. That's how dangerous these times are. This is — this is a — this is — these are dangerous times for America. I think we have a chance to rescue the idea of America, but if we don't do it now, four years will be too late from now.

So, yes, I'm proud we cut taxes, we cut spending, 30,000 fewer state government bureaucrats than the day I took office. I absolutely will do that in DC.

HARWOOD: Governor Jindal, thank you.

JINDAL: Thank you.

HARWOOD: We're going to take a quick break.

The Republican presidential debate continues live from Boulder, Colorado in a moment. [applause]

[commercial break]

QUINTANILLA: Welcome back to the Republican presidential debate live in boulder, Colorado, on cNBC. We resume our questions now with Jim Cramer, the host of CNBC's Mad Money.

CRAMER: Thank you. Governor Pataki, in the wake of the Sony hack last year, you said, quote, "at the very least, we should declare cyber-war on North Korea."

What does a cyber-war look like? And if our companies are getting attacked by foreign governments, do we need a military response?

PATAKI: No, I don't think we need a military response, but we need a coordinated response. And I have to say that I think the Obama administration has been completely lax, to say the least, in dealing with these cyber-attacks, not just by governments like North Korea, but by, particularly, Chinese and other companies.

And what I would do is put in place a policy where if we know a company, say, a Chinese company, is hacking into American companies, stealing trade secrets, as we know they do every day, we will retaliate against that company and say that that company's not going to be allowed to continue to do trade with the United States.

I would also look at what we're doing at the federal level and put in place what Israel has done: a — one federal agency dealing with cybersecurity and charged with working across silos to make sure we have the best technology.

And, Jim, I've gotta tell you something, talking about cybersecurity. Hillary Clinton put a server, an unsecure server, in her home as secretary of state. We have no doubt that that was hacked, and that state secrets are out there to the Iranians, the Russians, the Chinese and others.

That alone should disqualify her from being president of the United States. [applause]

CRAMER: Senator Graham, you're a hawk. Was that tough enough?

GRAHAM: Here's the problem. We're being walked all over because our commander in chief is weak in the eyes of our enemies. Do you think Putin would be in the Ukraine today if Ronald Reagan were president? Why are the Chinese stealing our intellectual property, hacking into our system? Why are they building islands over resource-rich waters? Because they can get away with it.

At the end of the day, ladies and gentlemen, the foreign policy of Barack Obama needs to be replaced, and the last person you want to find to replace his foreign policy is his secretary of state.

So to the Chinese, when it comes to dealing with me, you've got a clenched fist or an open hand. You pick. The party's over, to all the dictators. Make me commander-in-chief and this crap stops. [applause]

CRAMER: Thank you, Senator.

Senator Santorum. We know that a troubling amount of air pollution on the west coast comes from China. Should we enact a pollution tax on products imported from China and give our manufacturers a level playing field?

SANTORUM: What we should be — we shouldn't be putting tariffs on anything. That hurts working men and women in this country. What we should be doing is making our manufacturing more competitive.

One of the reasons I introduced the 20/20 plan, a 20 percent flat tax on corporations, as well as on individuals, is so we can be competitive, so we can bring those manufacturing jobs back.

You want to talk about cutting pollution? You do a little back- of-the-envelope. We — we produce, per dollar of GDP, about one-fifth of the CO2 and other pollutants that China produces. So we're five times more efficient in producing goods here, as far as the environment — environment is concerned.

Why don't we — if we really want to tackle environmental problems, global warming, what we need to do is take those jobs from China and bring them back here to the United States, employ workers in this country.

We've lost two million jobs — two million jobs — under this administration in manufacturing — 15,000 manufacturers have left this country. Why? Because of bad tax policy, bad regulatory policy and, yes, bad trade policy.

We need to have a president that's going to pledge, as I have — I'm going to make America the number-one manufacturer so working men and women can have good paying jobs again in America.

CRAMER: Thank you, Senator. John?

HARWOOD: Governor Jindal, Senator Santorum just raised the issue of corporate taxes, and cutting corporate taxes is very popular in your party because our rate, at 35 percent, is one of the highest in the world. But nobody has figured out how to identify a set of loopholes that would allow that tax rate to be lowered. So can you tell us specifically what loopholes you'd do away with?

JINDAL: Absolutely, John. I'd go further. My tax plan, like everybody's, like a lot of Republicans' — look, I'd get rid of the death penalty and the marriage penalty, and I'd simplify the brackets to 25 percent, 10 percent, 2 percent, so that an average middle-class family — a teacher marries a law enforcement official (ph)...

HARWOOD: We're talking corporate taxes.

JINDAL: ...I — I'm gonna get that. Pays 25 percent today, would pay 10 percent under my plan. But my plan does three things different from other people's plans.

One — remember, I said 2 percent. I think everybody should pay something, even if it's only 2 percent. That's the most important 2 percent in my plan.

I know a lot of Republicans brag — y'all can clap, it doesn't scare me. Go ahead. I heard some people.

There are millions of — there are millions of folks that wouldn't pay taxes in Jeb's plan and Trump's plan. I think that's a mistake.

In terms of the corporate tax, secondly, I'd get rid of the corporate tax. We do have the highest corporate tax rate in the developed world. I'd get rid of it. I'd get rid of all the corporate welfare. Make the CEOs pay their same tax rates the way the rest of us do.

And third, I'd purposely shrink the size of government. You know, that is a — that is an intentional feature of my plan. We've got a choice: do we grow government — the government economy, or the American economy?

So I say get rid of the corporate tax, bring those jobs and investment here to the United States, stop sending jobs and investment overseas.

HARWOOD: Thanks, Governor. Becky?

QUICK: Governor Pataki, let's talk a little bit about what's happened on Wall Street. Some of your colleagues in the Republican Party, including some of the people on this stage, have bashed Wall Street. They say that it was largely responsible for the financial crisis.

You're a former governor of New York, and you relied very heavily on Wall Street for income. Do you think they've gone too far?

PATAKI: I think they have gone too far. I think we've seen Wall Street really blossom and do very well while the rest of the country is struggling, and it's because we have this corrupt connection between Wall Street and Washington.

And, John, you were just talking about what loopholes would you get rid of. I would get rid of virtually every single one of them. They cost American taxpayers $1.4 trillion a year. I would throw them all out.

HARWOOD: So the tax credit right now that we have for domestic manufacturing, which manufacturers say is...

PATAKI: No, I wouldn't. I was going to say...

HARWOOD: ...important, you would get rid of that?

PATAKI: ...no, I would keep — first, yes, but what I would do is ii would lower the tax on manufacturing to the lowest in the developed world — 12 percent.

We all have plans. I have a plan. We all have plans. My plan, the Tax Foundation said, would create five and a half million new jobs over the next decade.

The difference, though, is I will get my plan enacted because, when I was governor of New York, I passed sweeping tax code — cuts in a Democratic state with a Democratic legislature.

I — you know, Bobby, you're talking about your tax cuts? I cut taxes more than everybody on this stage, more than everybody on the next stage, combined. By more than the other 49 states, in New York state.

I don't just have a plan. I will enact tax cuts, get rid of those loopholes and make the system fairer for all Americans.

QUICK: Governor Pataki, thank you.

PATAKI: Thank you.

QUICK: Carl?

QUINTANILLA: Senator Graham. You have said you believe that climate change is real. You've said you accept tax increases as part of a budget deal with Democrats. You've co-sponsored a Senate immigration bill providing a path to citizenship for those in the country illegally.

Are you in the wrong party's debate? [laughter]

GRAHAM: No, I — I think I'm trying to solve problems that somebody had better solve.

Now, you don't have to believe that climate change is real. I have been to the Antarctic. I've been to Alaska. I'm not a scientist, and I've got the grades to prove it. [laughter]

But I've talked to the climatologists of the world, and 90 percent of them are telling me that greenhouse gas effect is real. That we're heating up the planet. I just want a solution that would be good for the economy, that doesn't destroy it.

I want to fix an immigration system. I'm not gonna tell you, if you like your doctor, you can keep it — keep him. Do you like your health care, you're gonna keep it. I'm tired of telling people things that they want to hear, that we know we're not gonna do.

We're not gonna eliminate the corporate tax. But we can make it lower. We're going to fix immigration, only if we work together. I want to secure the border because, if we don't, we're going to get hurt and hit again.

I want to fix a broken visa system. I want to increase legal immigration, because we're gonna have a shortage of workers over time. As to the 11 million, I want to talk about fixing the problem. We're not going to deport 11 million people and their legal citizen children.

But we will deport felons. And those who stay will have to learn our language to stay, because I don't speak it well but look how far I've come.

[crosstalk]

GRAHAM: At the end of the day, folks, I am trying to solve a problem and win an election. I am tired of losing.

Good God, look who we're running against. The number one candidate on the other side thought she was flat broke after her and her husband were in the White House for eight years. The number two guy went to the Soviet Union on his honeymoon and I don't think he ever came back. [laughter]

If we don't beat these people, who the hell are we going to beat?

[crosstalk]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senator, you're well over your minute but thank you for that.

We will be back from Boulder, Colorado, in just a moment.

[commercial break]

QUICK: Welcome back, everyone. This is the Republican Presidential Debate on CNBC, live from the University of Colorado.

Senator Santorum, I'd like to go to you. You have talked an awful lot about how you want to protect American jobs by eliminating the number of immigrants who come into this country.

But very recently, the CEO of Toll Brothers told that he can't get by without immigrants because they make up more than half of his workforce at this point. We're not talking about people who are making minimum wage but he can't find Americans who want to do these jobs for $20-an-hour-plus jobs.

What would happen if your plans are successful? What happens and how would we fill that hole in the economy, that gap that's created?

Well, as you know, Becky, we have the lowest labor participation rate in 50 years and we also have the slowest growth in wages in the history of our country, any 20-year period. In fact, the last quarter had the lowest wage growth ever recorded. And so you look at the fact that we've brought in 35 million — 35 million legal and illegal immigrants over the last 20 years, more than any period in American history, we have low wages, low participation waits. Maybe — rates.

Maybe there's something going on like we aren't — we aren't — we don't have the — the right match, right?

We don't — we aren't giving the training and the investment in our workers and we're bringing in people to compete against low wage workers. That's what's happening.

We are — we have an immigration policy that Senator Graham supported that brings in even more low wage workers into this country. He says he wants to solve problems, that's great. But you're not solving problems for American wage earners. You're not solving problems for workers in America who have seen their wages flat line and have been disaffected enough to leave the workplace.

We need to get better training and better skills, including vocational education and — and training in this — in those — and — and cut — community colleges. But the bottom line is, we have to make sure that we are not flooding this country...

All right...

SANTORUM: — with competition...

QUICK: Senator, I'm sorry your minute is up.

SANTORUM: — for low wage workers.

QUICK: Thank you very much, Senator Santorum.

SANTORUM: [inaudible] and I...

QUICK: And Graham, Mr. Graham, yes, that was a question to you, too.

GRAHAM: The first thing...

QUICK: You have 30 seconds.

GRAHAM: — that we have to do is come to grips with the reality that we're facing as Americans. In 1950, there were 16 workers for every Social Security recipient. Today, there's three. In 20 years, there are two.

I want to make sure that no American company leaves America because you can't find a worker.

American workers always get the first preference. But if you can't find an American worker, after you advertise at a competitive wage, I don't want you to be at a loss. Bring people in based on merit. Let's take a broken immigration...

QUICK: Senator Graham, thank you.

GRAHAM: — system...

QUICK: I'm sorry. That's your 30 seconds...

GRAHAM: — and make a merit-based immigration system that will help our economy. We're going to need workers in the future.

QUICK: Senator Graham...

GRAHAM: Let's just choose rationally.

QUICK: Thank you, Senator.

[crosstalk]

QUICK: Gentlemen, hold on a second.

PATAKI: Let me — let me try to get a word in edgewise.

QUICK: Go ahead,

SANTORUM: That's not what's happening.

PATAKI: In Washington, they talk over each other...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Each one...

[crosstalk]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senator, let's — let's have — let Governor Pataki have a chance to speak.

PATAKI: Yes. Very simply, you guys talk over each other in Washington all the time. I'm not used to that. I listen when people talk.

We have a skills gap. You mentioned the construction company. The construction industry says one of their biggest problems are they can't find the craftsmen to do the work.

What we have to...

[crosstalk]

PATAKI: — do in America is honor blue collar work again. We have to honor the carpenter, the plumber, the electrician, who can actually build something and instead of just saying that a college degree live — delivers prestige, let's celebrate those who do things with their hands and elevate their skills using training in high school and community...

QUICK: Governor Pataki...

PATAKI: — colleges so that we can...

QUICK: — I'm sorry, that was a...

[crosstalk]

PATAKI: — have a better quality workforce that we honor...

QUICK: Governor Pataki...

PATAKI: — as they build America's future.

QUICK: I'm sorry to talk over you, sir.

That was a minute.

PATAKI: Thank you.

QUICK: Thank you very much.

PATAKI: Thank you.

QUICK: Carl?

QUINTANILLA: My question for Governor Jindal, Paul Ryan says he would take the speaker job if it did not take away from his family time. The Department of Labor says 13 percent of American workers are eligible for paid family leave and the U.S. is the only developed nation in the world not to have guaranteed paid maternity leave for new moms.

Should the government work to change that?

JINDAL: Look, I think the government should work to change that, but that doesn't — does not mean I'm for the government mandating that.

We already have too many government mandates out of DC.

Do I want people to have paid leave?

Sure.

Do I want people to earn higher wages?

Sure.

Do I want them to have better benefits?

Sure. The government can't wave a magic wand and make that happen.

Here's the problem. The last seven years, President Obama has tried to teach the American people that government is the answer to all of our problems.

Where has that gotten us?

We're on a path toward socialism. The way that folks can get better paying jobs with better benefits is if we have a growing economy. That means to repeal all of ObamaCare, a lower flatter tax code.

That means that we have an energy plan that makes sense. That means that we embrace an all of the above approach to energy. Those are good paying jobs — $50,000, $70,000, $90,000 a year jobs with benefits.

But this president won't let us produce more energy on our domestic federal lands and waters. He won't allow the Canadians to build the Keystone Pipeline. He's got an EPA that's doing everything they can to kill private sector jobs in America.

So, yes, I want families to have better paying jobs and better benefits, but we're not going to get that with a government mandate, we're going to get that with a growing economy.

QUINTANILLA: Governor, thank you. [applause]

John?

HARWOOD: Senator Graham, Americans have gotten used to seeing headlines about more and more big corporations relocating overseas to cut their tax bill. Now, many in Washington think the way to stop that is to lower our corporate tax rate.

But as we've seen, tax reform takes time. It hasn't happened yet.

In the meantime, do you fault those companies for leaving?

Do companies owe anything to their country, as well as their shareholders?

GRAHAM: We owe to every businessperson and worker in America the best environment in the world to create a job. We owe that to American businesses. Thirty-five percent corporate tax rate is the second highest in the world.

We need to lower it so they don't leave. The goal is to help the middle class. We can talk about corporations all day long but my goal is to help the middle class, somebody who makes too much to be on government assistance but still lives paycheck to paycheck.

When the kid gets sick you don't go on vacation.

[crosstalk]

GRAHAM: That's the purpose of my presidency, to grow the economy here. And let me tell you, our Democratic friends have a list a mile long of more government. That's not going to grow the middle class, that's going to create a burden on your children, which they're already overburdened. The best way to grow the middle class is to make it a good place to create a job.

You know why Boeing came to South Carolina when they could have gone anywhere to build the 787?

Because we wanted them. We had a low-tax structure.

HARWOOD: Senator Graham.

GRAHAM: A permitting structure that allowed them to build the building even faster than they thought they could build it. We welcomed them there. I'm going to take the South Carolina attitude —

HARWOOD: I want to remind candidates, you've got a one-minute limit on the — on the response.

But I just want to follow up, Senator Graham. Four years ago, the nominee of your party said that corporations are people, too.

If that is true, the question is, do they owe any obligation to the country?

GRAHAM: I think everybody owes an obligation to the country. The ones that I'm most worried about are the 1 percent of Americans in uniform, who have been fighting this war for 14 years. They need a commander in chief who knows what the hell they're doing.

My first job as President of the United States is to rebuild the military and use it smartly. Admiral Mullen said the debt is a big threat to our national security. He's right. But people go where they're welcome when it comes to job creation.

If I'm President of the United States you will be welcomed in America.

HARWOOD: Senator Graham —

GRAHAM: This will be the place to come —

HARWOOD: — thank you very much.

GRAHAM: And if I'm president of the United States —

HARWOOD: We're moving on.

GRAHAM: — our enemies —

QUICK: You guys are making this just like home. This is just like [inaudible].

[crosstalk]

HARWOOD: Senator, we're moving on.

I'd like to bring on my colleague, Rick Santelli — Rick.

SANTELLI: Thanks, John.

Governor Pataki.

PATAKI: Hey, Rick.

SANTELLI: How are you doing tonight?

PATAKI: I'm doing great.

SANTELLI: Listen, America's central bank, the Federal Reserve, they've kept interest rates near zero since the 2008 financial crisis.

And, by the way, they had a meeting today, you think they raised rates?

No.

Shocking, isn't it?

PATAKI: Not at all.

SANTELLI: Listen, it's been a rough ride for American savers and retirees, they really rely on this interest income. And it's been a bonanza for the stock market, a bonanza.

And for investors that like the little bit more risk, it's been a bonanza for them as well.

So I guess what I'm asking is, do you think this policy is fair and do you support it?

PATAKI: No, I don't support it. But let me go back a little bit here. We need to grow our economy faster. We've had the worst economic recovery since the Great Depression. And it's because of policy in Washington and policy at the Fed.

And let me go back to Washington. In 2009 —

HARWOOD: Senator, that — I mean, Governor, if that's true, why was our economy limping six years ago and now it's the strongest in the world?

PATAKI: John, no question Barack Obama inherited a economic disaster in 2009.

But what did he do?

Instead of focusing on pro-growth policies in the economy, he rammed through ObamaCare, the worst law of my lifetime, that hurt small businesses, hurt companies, raised taxes and almost completely eliminated one industry because of its taxes.

The Fed had to act. And the Fed did act and appropriately in reducing interest rates but they've reduced them now for seven straight years, that's never happened before. They've been zero for way too long.

They should raise the rates; the Fed should get out of manipulating the market and the Fed also, by the way, should reduce its balance sheet, $2.7 trillion. Let some of those bonds mature and put the money back in the banking system so our economy can grow.

SANTELLI: Thanks, Governor.

Senator Santorum, in the 2012 presidential debate, you were for the export-import bank, which facilitates government funding for U.S. exports. American companies like GE and Boeing are among the beneficiaries.

But you said that killing the bank here — and I'm going to quote you — "is the last thing a true conservative should be doing."

I don't know, government-backed funding isn't normally what I hear from true conservatives.

So why is this situation different?

SANTORUM: A true conservative wants to create a level playing field. That's what — that's what we're — that's what government is supposed to do. They're not supposed to favor one group over another.

And when it comes to our manufacturers, the level playing field is not in the United States. It's international. And so the federal government should have laws, tax laws, regulatory laws and, yes, finance laws. There's 60 other ex-im banks all over — all over the world.

Every major competitor for the United States' manufacturing dollar has one of those banks.

And guess what? They use those banks a heck of a lot more than their — than the United States of America does, number one.

So in order to have a level playing field, which is what conservatives talk about all the time, level playing field, then we have to have export financing and here's why.Because export financing doesn't help Boeing, or G.E.

G.E. just lost a contract, you know what they did? They went to . They got the X.M. (ph) bank in France to support it, and what did they do? They moved manufacturing out of South Carolina, out of Texas, moved to — Hungary, and to France. G.E. is still making money. G.E. is still doing well, but American workers are out of jobs. That's why we have to have this level playing field so we can compete with the rest of the world.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Senator.

QUINTANILLA: CNBC's coverage of the Republican presidential debate continues, live from the University of COlorado after this short break. [applause]

[commercial break]

QUINTANILLA: Welcome back to the University of Colorado, and the Republican Presidential Debate on CNBC. [applause]

A question for Senator Santorum. People in this state have loved Coors Beer since it was founded in 1873. I can atest...[cheering and applause]

Now, the brewer later became part of SABMiller, but, now SAB may be bought by Budweiser owner, InBev. Is it right to have a third of brewers in this country owned by one company, and do you fear a company that size will have too much power over consumers.

SANTORUM: Well, first, since you mention Colorado, I want to thank the people of Colorado because four years ago you — gave me the honor of winning the nomination out here in the state of Colorado. On a night we won three states, and it catapulted us to win 11 states ultimately, so, I just want to thank you very, very much for that support, and — in response to that, I do drink a lot of Coors beer, so...[laughter]

I try to help. The answer is pretty simple. The answer is simple. There are no shortage of breweries around the United States of America. I — I do — as I travel around the country, I do pints and politics, and I go to breweries all over the place, and there — there's almost no town in America anymore that doesn't have a brewery, so I don't think we need to worry too much.

They're obviously — if there's — if there's some anti- competitive issues, you know, we have agencies to look at that. But, no, I'm not — I'm not concerned that Americans are not going to have choices in beer.

QUINTANILLA: Well, let's get to that. I mean, another example, for example, is Walgreens.

SANTORUM: And I care about, by the way. I care about choices.

QUINTANILLA: I'm sure you do. [laughter]

Walgreens/Rite Aid. Big deal, consolidation in drug stores, semiconductors, food. What is the line at which something becomes anti-competitive in your view?

SANTORUM: Well, I — I would say this, that what you're seeing is — in health care, you're seeing a lot of consolidation, and that consolidation is occurring because of Obamacare.

You're seeing it particularly in an area that I am concerned about, and that's in insurance — health insurance. You're seeing the big health insurance companies fold up.

You've seen Obama try to seed health insurance companies, and they've all failed, I think, except one. Why? Because we have a system of Obamacare with minimum loss ratios that make it virtually impossible for a small insurer to operate effectively.

And this was the motive behind Obamacare. This wasn't incidental. This was deliberate, to make it so impossible for small insurers to survive...

QUINTANILLA: Senator.

SANTORUM: ...that they consolidate into a small group. Then the left can say, "there is no competition, we need a single payer." That's why we have to repeal Obamacare. [applause]

QUINTANILLA: Thank you. Becky.

QUICK: Governor Jindal, I want to go back to something that you mentioned before with your tax plan. I know that you want to put a 2 percent tax on all families, just to make sure everyone has some skin in the game.

But every working American pays 6.2 percent, when it comes to Social Security taxes. They pay another 1.45 percent of Medicare. Isn't that skin in the game?

JINDAL: A couple things. You're talking about payroll taxes that fund programs. People pay for their Medicare, they pay for their Social Security.

I want every American to worry and care about how those folks in D.C. are spending our money. If $18 trillion of debt — they're misspending our money. Earned success is so much more fulfilling than unearned success.

I don't want us to continue to create one class of Americans that pays income taxes, that pays for government, another class of Americans that's growing more and more dependent on government.

That's what we have today. Socialism is bad, not only for taxpayers, but people that they say they're trying to help. There's dignity in work, dignity in self-sufficiency.

I wanna quote you a president. Our previous president said this: he said, "the problem is, is that tax rates are too high, government income revenues are too low."

He said, "paradoxically, lowering tax rates now is the best way to produce higher government revenues later." No, that wasn't President Reagan, as many are probably guessing at home. That was President Kennedy.

I see you know the answer. That was President Kennedy. Imagine if he were alive today — and if he was at that last Democratic debate, imagine if you tried to say that in a party that's veering towards socialism. That wouldn't be welcome in today's Democratic party.

QUICK: Governor, thank you.

HARWOOD: Governor Pataki, you've indicated you believe climate change is real and caused at least in part by human activity. So, in 60 seconds, tell us what the federal government should do about it.

PATAKI: Yeah, absolutely. I — one of the things that troubles me about the Republican Party is too often we question science that everyone accepts. I mean, it's ridiculous that, in the 21st century, we're questioning whether or not vaccines are the appropriate way to go. Of course they are. And it's also not appropriate to think that human activity, putting CO2 into the atmosphere, doesn't make the earth warmer. All things being equal, it does. It's uncontroverted.

I think part of the problem is that Republicans think about climate change, say, "oh my God, we're gonna have higher taxes, more Obama, more big government, the EPA shutting down factories."

That's not the solution that I see. I want Republicans to embrace innovation and technology. You know, there's one country in the world that has fewer greenhouse gas emissions than the rest of — of the world. You know what that is? The United States.

Our emissions are lower than they were in 1995. Not because of a — of a government program, but because of fracking, private sector creation...

[crosstalk]

HARWOOD: Is there a role for government?

PATAKI: ...replace coal plants — government's roles — is to incentivize innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit in America. We could have far more clean energy.

We could have next-generation nuclear, thorium reactors that have no risk of meltdown. We could have solar panels on every home that are four times more efficient than today.

HARWOOD: So, subsidies for those programs? For — for those alternative energy sources?

PATAKI: R&D — R&D credits. Let the private sector do this, develop this innovation. And not only would we solve our problems, we would have clean energy, cheaper energy here.

We could export those technologies to places like China and like India so we would grow our economy, have a far greater impact globally, have a secure domestic source of energy, and cleaner, healthier air.

That's the solution. Embrace science, embrace innovation and change.

HARWOOD: Thank you, Governor. Thank you, Governor. Carl? [applause]

QUINTANILLA: Question for Senator Santorum.

SANTORUM: Thank you. Can I just say something about that?

QUINTANILLA: After this question maybe. [laughter]

The 2015 Nobel Prize winner for economics argues that slow growth causes poverty, and that leads to inequality. What would you do to ease inequality? And what would you do solve poverty? By the way, thanks to Larry Kudlow, CNBC, for this question.

SANTORUM: Well, if you look at our plan that I introduced, the 2020 Clear Vision for America, we increase growth by 10 percent, 1 percent a year. So we go from 2.3 to 3.3, in repealing Obamacare, it's another .7. So you're looking at 4 percent growth, according to the Tax Foundation.

And unlike Donald Trump and Bobby Jindal, we don't add $10 trillion to the deficit. In fact, our plan, while it creates as many jobs as their plan does and grows the economy as much as theirs does, we are a revenue-neutral plan because I believe that we need to reduce the size of government, yes, but we also need to reduce our deficit, and we need to get our budget balanced so we can start paying down this debt. And adding a trillion dollars with a tax cut and getting no more growth is not the way to do it.

But that's only half of it. The word "economy" comes from the Greek "euthokis" (ph) which means family. The family is the first economy. And the one thing that we do not talk about enough is how stable families are vitally important for the middle of America to be prosperous and to grow and be safe. And I will have policies, not just tax policies, but others that will make sure that families are strong again in America.

QUINTANILLA: Governor Jindal, I'll give you 30 seconds on this.

JINDAL: Well, thank you.

Look, if Senator Santorum wants to concede the tax cut wing of the Republican Party, I'm happy to fight for that side of the Republican Party. He's exactly right. I explicitly want to shrink the size of government; 22 percent over 10 years is not too much. We cut our state budget 26 percent in eight years.

This is a fundamental choice. We mustn't become a cheaper version of the Democratic Party, a second liberal party. We need to proudly say we're willing to cut taxes, shrink government, grow the American economy. President Kennedy said it to the Democratic Party. Why can't we say it in the Republican Party in 2015, let's cut taxes.

HARWOOD: Governor, if you cut spending and cut government so much, why did your legislature have such a big deficit?

JINDAL: John, our budget is balanced. We balanced our budget every year for eight years. Yeah, we've had to cut spending. You know what? We privatized or closed nine of our 10 charity hospitals. We did statewide school choice; $1.6 billion (ph) budget cut.

You're quoting an old number from the beginning of the year. We closed that gap. What they talk about, just like D.C., government's the only place where you give them less money than they wanted, they count it as a cut. They take last year's budget. They add inflation. They call it a baseline. We need to do zero-based budgets. We need to say just because you got money last year, you don't have it this year.

Let me close, though. We balanced our budget. We didn't raise taxes. In eight years, we never raised taxes. We cut taxes. Our — our taxpayers, our families have been better off for it.

[crosstalk]

HARWOOD: No, we're going to move on. I'm going to bring on my colleague Sharon Epperson.

EPPERSON: Thank you, John.

Senator Graham, one in every four workers has saved less than $1,000 for retirement. Millions of Americans rely on their Social Security benefits for the majority of their retirement income. Now, you called for reforms to Social Security, but what would you do to fix the other part of the problem for future retirees and get people to save more?

GRAHAM: Well, number one, Social Security is not just a concept to me. I know why it exists; 50 percent of today's seniors would be in poverty without a Social Security check. I promise you, if you make me your president, I will save Social Security because I know why it exists.

Now, if you're looking for good beer policy, I'm your best bet. My dad owned a bar. [laughter]

I know beer. We grew up, my sister and myself, in the back of that bar in one room with my mom, my dad and my sister who's nine years younger. When I was 21, my mom was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease. Neither parent finished high school. She died within a year. We were wiped out from the medical bills. And if it wasn't for a Social Security survivor benefit check coming into my family, we wouldn't' have made it because my dad died 15 months later.

So I...

EPPERSON: But Senator Graham...

GRAHAM: Wait a minute, please. I'm 22 and we're wiped out. I am 60. I'm not married. I have a military retirement. I'm in good shape. I would give up some of my benefits to help those who need it more than I do.

To young people here, I will ask you to work a little bit longer because we have to. The purpose of my presidency is to save this country and to save Social Security by working across the aisle just like Ronald Reagan. This is the biggest issue facing this nation.

EPPERSON: Thank you, Senator Graham. Thank you, Senator Graham.

Governor Jindal, you've been a strong supporter of for-profit colleges. These are institutions that educate many veterans, minorities and working class Americans. They make up about 11 percent of the college population at these schools, but they account for 44 percent of student loan defaults. Should for-profit schools be held accountable when they take taxpayer money and leave students deep in debt?

JINDAL: [inaudible] absolutely they should be accountable. They should be accountable to their students through the market. Look, you either trust the American people to make their own choices or you don't.

I know the Left thinks we need to be protected from ourselves. President Obama is trying to limit competition to the higher education market. As a result, you're going to see tuition prices continue to go up. We've had $1 trillion of student debt and counting. And he wants to exempt certain schools from the same oversight he wants to apply only to the for-profit market.

For some reason, the private sector is a bad word to this president. It's not in the real world.

In Louisiana, we fought so that the dollars follow the child and so the child following the dollar. What that means, from K-12, what that means is that parents and their families can decide what's the best way for their children to be educated. Higher education, we have a TOPS program, where, again, we will help if a student maintains a 20 ACT, 2.5 GPA, we'll pay for their tuition. They can take those dollars for private school of their choice in the state as well.

You either trust the American people or you don't. I know the Left doesn't. That's why you get ObamaCare. They want to tell us what kind of insurance to buy. That's why you get Common Core, they want to take away our gun rights under the Second Amendment. They want to take away our religious liberty rights.

So, yes, there's accountability. There's accountability to students through choice and competition. We don't need the nanny state to protect us from ourselves.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, Governor Jindal. [applause]

HARWOOD: And thank you, Sharon.

This is the Republican Presidential Debate, live from Boulder, Colorado. We'll be right back. [applause]

[commercial break]

[applause]

QUICK: Welcome back to Boulder, Colorado, and the Republican presidential debate right here on CNBC.

Gentlemen, this is our lightning round, where we have some questions for you we hope you can answer in 20 seconds or less. And we will go right down the line on this.

Governor Jindal, I'll start with you.

We're wondering, what are the three apps that you use most frequently on your cellphone?

JINDAL: I was just saying to my colleagues, I may be the last person in this audience without an iPhone. I'm actually one of the last folks — I still have a BlackBerry in my pocket. And I basically use it for scheduling. I use it to keep up when my wife is here and my three kids at home.

The only games on that phone are Bricklayer. I use it to keep up with the news through the Internet. I may be the last American out there without an iPhone.

QUICK: No, no.

JINDAL: My apologies.

QUICK: I — I'm with you. I still have a BlackBerry, too.

Senator — Senator Santorum, how about you?

SANTORUM: MLB, NHL, so I'm a big sports fan. And "The Wall Street Journal." Those are the three apps I use the most.

QUICK: Thank you.

Governor?

PATAKI: The one I use the most is Uber. You know, I used to get driven...[laughter]...when I was governor, I had a driver. I don't anymore, but...[crosstalk]. And it's an example of what millennials are doing to change America for the better. And I tweet a lot, too.

So Uber, Tweet — Twitter and then I communicate with my family.

QUICK: Thank you.

Senator Graham?

GRAHAM: Well, number one, the only reason I have an iPhone is because I gave my number to Donald Trump. Don't do that. [laughter]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Governor...

GRAHAM: Donald has done more to upgrade my technology than my whole staff.

Number one, Fox News. Sorry about CNBC. [laughter]

We're in a Republican primary here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks. Thanks a lot.

QUICK: We take your time back. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Time is up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cut his microphone.

QUINTANILLA: We've got one more. One more lightning round.

Governor Jindal, should the day after the Super Bowl be a national holiday? [laughter]

JINDAL: Well, absolutely, when the Saints go back to repeat, we were talking about beer sales earlier, all those folks from being hung over in Louisiana from drinking to celebrate Drew Brees winning this, I think it would be a great day to take off.

No, look, on a serious note, I do want to say this about the Super Bowl and our athletes. They can be great role models for our children and I'm obviously a Saints fan. Drew Brees and his wife great role models, great Christians.

So, yes, it should be a holiday.

QUINTANILLA: Senator?

SANTORUM: Well, since we're usually in the Super Bowl at the Pittsburgh Steelers...

Steeler nation, anybody?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

SANTORUM: No. I was in...[crosstalk]...was in Kansas City over the weekend to watch the Steeler game and about a third of the crowd were Steeler fans. So I'm usually not alone when I call on Steeler Nation.

But we are used to being in the Super Bowl, so actually, it is in Pennsylvania already.

QUINTANILLA: Governor?

PATAKI: I — I am a long suffering Jets fan. So my answer is obviously no, there's no reason to take off the day after the Super Bowl. [applause]

But let me just add this. The Mets are going to win tonight. Let's go, Mets.

QUINTANILLA: Finally, Senator?

GRAHAM: Well, I think a national holiday would be the day that commander-in-chief Barack Obama doesn't have that job. [applause]

But unlike these other three, I want to win New Hampshire. Go Tom Brady. Go Patriots. [laughter]

Sorry, Colorado is late in the...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Panderer.

[crosstalk]

QUICK: John?

HARWOOD: OK, now we're at the point of the evening where we're just about to give our candidates a holiday from this debate, but not before they tell us in 30 seconds their closing statements.

Senator Graham, you're first.

GRAHAM: Somebody said — or maybe I saw it on the bill of a cap — that let's make America great again. [laughter]

America is great. [applause]

I intend to make America strong again. I'm going to be the champion of the middle class, where I came from. If you make me your president, our best days are ahead. I'm ready to be commander- in-chief, ladies and gentlemen, on day one. I intend to war — win a war that we cannot afford to lose.

I will be a commander-in-chief worthy of the sacrifice of those brave Americans who have been defending our nation. They have had our back. God knows, they have had our back...

HARWOOD: Senator Graham...

GRAHAM: — and I intend to have their back as commander-in- chief. Make me commander-in-chief.

HARWOOD: Thank you, Senator Graham.

Governor Pataki?

PATAKI: Thank you for the opportunity to be with this great audience tonight.

I'm a limited government conservative and I mean by that that not just when it comes to economic issues leaving them to the state, but social issues, as well.

And in that I differ from every single other candidate seeking the Republican nomination.

I take the Tenth Amendment very, very seriously.

I'm a Republican who embraces science and understands we have to work with the next generation of millennials to have the innovation and technology so that we can grow a 21st century economy.

And I'm a Republican who understands in Washington, when you're a leader, you have to put aside partisan politics to do what's right for the people.

We are one America. If we work together across party lines, there's no problem we can't solve and the 21st century will be America's greatest century.

Thank you very much.

HARWOOD: Thank you, Governor. [applause]

Senator Santorum?

SANTORUM: I grew up in a steel town of Western Pennsylvania, outside of Pittsburgh, and when I announced for president, I announced from the factory floor. When I talk about making America the number one manufacturer again in the world, it's not just talk. When I talk about having the opportunity for people to rise again, it's not just because it polls well.

I represented the old steel valley of Pittsburgh. I represented a 70% Democratic district, and won with 60% of the vote. Why? Because I aligned myself with working men and women who feel that neither party, and certainly not Washington D.C. cares about them.

You elect me, we will get American workers on the side of the Republican party, and we can not be stopped if we do. [applause]

HARWOOD: Senator Santorum, thank you. Governor Jindal?

JINDAL: My message is to conservatives, this is our hour. Thanks to the insanity, the incompetence of the Democratic party, the American people are ready to turn our government over to us. It's not enough to let just any Republican, however. The reality is the idea of America is slipping away.

As Christians, we believe that the tomb is empty. As Americans, we believe that our best days are always ahead of us, and they can be again. We must win this election. We cannot allow Hillary Clinton to take us down this path towards socialism — further down this path.

I've got the courage to apply our conservative principles. I can't do it alone. With your help, with God's grace, we can save the idea of America before it's too late.

HARWOOD: Governor Jindal, thank you very much. Carl?

QUINTANILLA: That concludes our first part of the evening.

NOTE: The criteria for appearing in the main debate is explained by CNBC as, "National polls will be used to determine a candidate's eligibility and placement on the stage. To be eligible to appear in either segment, a candidate must have at least 1% in any one of the methodologically sound and recognized national polls conducted by: NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox, CNN and Bloomberg, released between September 17, 2015 and October 21, 2015. To appear in the 8pm debate a candidate must have an average of 3% among these polls. The polls will be averaged and will be rounded up to 3% for any candidate with a standing of 2.5% or higher. Candidates who average below that will be invited to the [this] 6pm debate."
+ Citation: Presidential Candidates Debates: "Republican Candidates "Undercard" Debate in Boulder, Colorado," October 28, 2015. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=110907. +
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+ 		+ + + + +Presidential Candidates Debates: Democratic Candidates Debate in Charleston, South Carolina +
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Democratic Candidates Debate in Charleston, South Carolina
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PARTICIPANTS:
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton;
Former Governor Martin O'Malley (MD);
Senator Bernie Sanders (VT);

MODERATORS:
Lester Holt (NBC News)
Andrea Mitchell (NBC News)

HOLT: Good evening and welcome to the NBC News Youtube Democratic candidate's debate. After all the campaigning, soon, Americans will have their say with the first votes of the 2016 campaign just 15 days away in Iowa. And New Hampshire not far behind.

Tonight will be the final opportunity to see these candidates face to face before the voting begins. Our purpose here tonight is to highlight and examine the differences among the three Democratic candidates. So let's get started.

Please welcome Secretary Hillary Clinton, Senator Bernie Sanders and Governor Martin O'Malley. [applause]

Well, welcome to all of you. Hope you're excited, we're excited. We want to thank our hosts, the Congressional Black Caucus Institute. I'm joined by my colleague Andrea Mitchell tonight. The rules are simple. Sixty seconds for answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups or rebuttals. I know you'll all keep exactly to time, so our job should be pretty easy here tonight. We'll have questions from the Youtube community throughout the debate.

This is a critical point in the race. You've been defining your differences with each other especially vigorously in the last week on the campaign trail. We're here to facilitate this conversation on behalf of the voters so that they know exactly where you stand as you face off tonight. Let's have a great debate.

We'll begin with 45 second opening statements from each candidate, starting with Secretary Clinton.

CLINTON: Well, good evening. And I want to thank the Congressional Black Caucus Institute and the people of Charleston for hosting us here on the eve of Martin Luther King Day tomorrow.

You know, I remember well when my youth minister took me to hear Dr. King. I was a teenager. And his moral clarity, the message that he conveyed that evening really stayed with me and helped to set me on a path to service. I also remember that he spent the last day of his life in Memphis, fighting for dignity and higher pay for working people.

And that is our fight still. We have to get the economy working and incomes rising for everyone, including those who have been left out and left behind. We have to keep our communities and our country safe. We need a president who can do all aspects of the job.

I understand that this is the hardest job in the world. I'm prepared and ready to take it on and I hope to earn your support to be the nominee of the Democratic Party and the next president of the United States. [applause]

HOLT: Thank you. Senator Sanders, your opening statement, sir.

SANDERS: Thank you. As we honor the extraordinary life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., it's important not only that we remember what he stood for, but that we pledge to continue his vision to transform our country. As we look out at our country today, what the American people understand is we have an economy that's rigged, that ordinary Americans are working longer hours for lower wages, 47 million people living in poverty, and almost all of the new income and wealth going to the top one percent.

And then, to make a bad situation worse, we have a corrupt campaign finance system where millionaires and billionaires are spending extraordinary amounts of money to buy elections.

This campaign is about a political revolution to not only elect the president, but to transform this country.

HOLT: Senator, thank you. [applause]

And Governor O'Malley, your opening statement, sir.

O'MALLEY: Thank you. My name is Martin O'Malley, I was born the year Dr. King delivered his "I Have A Dream" speech.

And I want to thank the people of South Carolina, not only for hosting our debate here tonight, but also for what you taught all of us in the aftermath of the tragic shooting at Mother Emanuel Church.

You taught us, in fact, in keeping with Dr. King's teaching, that love would have the final word when you took down the Confederate flag from your state house; let go of the past and move forward.

Eight years ago, you brought forward a new leader in Barack Obama to save our country from the second Great Depression. And that's what he's done. Our country's doing better, we're creating jobs again.

But in order to make good on the promise of equal opportunity and equal justice under the law, and we have urgent work to do, and the voices of anger and fear and division that we've heard coming off of the Republican presidential podiums are pretty loud.

We need new leadership. We need to come together as a people and build on the good things that President Obama has done.

That's why I'm running for president. I need your help, I ask for your vote, and I look forward to moving our country forward once again.

Thank you.

HOLT: All right. And Governor, thank you. [applause]

All right, to our first question, now. The first question, I'll be addressing to all of the candidates.

President Obama came to office determined to swing for the fences on health care reform. Voters want to know how you would define your presidency? How would you think big? So complete this sentence: in my first 100 days in office, my top three priorities will be — fill in the blank.

Senator Sanders.

SANDERS: Well, that's what our campaign is about. It is thinking big. It is understanding that in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, we should have health care for every man, woman, and child as a right that we should raise the minimum wage to at least $15 an hour; that we have got to create millions of decent- paying jobs by rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure.

So, what my first days are about is bringing America together, to end the decline of the middle class, to tell the wealthiest people in this country that yes, they are going to start paying their fair share of taxes, and that we are going to have a government that works for all of us, and not just big campaign contributors. [applause]

HOLT: Secretary Clinton, same question, my first 100 days in office, my top three priorities will be.

CLINTON: I would work quickly to present to the Congress my plans for creating more good jobs in manufacturing, infrastructure, clean and renewable energy, raising the minimum wage, and guaranteeing, finally, equal pay for women's work.

I would also...[applause]...I would also be presenting my plans to build on the Affordable Care Act and to improve it by decreasing the out-of-pocket costs by putting a cap on prescription drug costs; by looking for ways that we can put the prescription drug business and the health insurance company business on a more stable platform that doesn't take too much money out of the pockets of hard-working Americans.

And third, I would be working, in every way that I knew, to bring our country together. We do have too much division, too much mean- spiritedness. There's a lot we have to do on immigration reform, on voting rights, on campaign finance reform, but we need to do it together. That's how we'll have the kind of country for the 21st century that we know will guarantee our children and grandchildren the kind of future they deserve. [applause]

HOLT: Governor O'Malley, same question.

O'MALLEY: Thank you. First of all, I would lay out an agenda to make wages go up again for all Americans, rather than down. Equal pay for equal work, making it easier rather than harder for people to join labor unions and bargain collectively for better wages; getting 11 million of our neighbors out of the underground shadow economy by passing comprehensive immigration reform, raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, however we can, wherever we can.

Secondly, I believe the greatest business opportunity to come to the United States of America in 100 years is climate change. And I put forward a plan to move us to a 100 percent clean electric energy grid by 2050 and create 5 million jobs along the way. [applause]

HOLT: Thank you. You've all...

O'MALLEY: Finally — I'm sorry, that was second, Lester.

And third and finally, we need a new agenda for America's cities. We have not had a new agenda for America's cities since Jimmy Carter. We need a new agenda for America cities that will invest in the talents and skills in our people, that will invest in CBVG transportation, infrastructure and transit options, and make our cities the leading edge in this move to a redesigned built clean green energy future that will employ our people.

HOLT: All right governor thank you.

We've all laid out large visions and we're going to cover a lot of the ground you talked about as we continue in the evening. The last couple of weeks of this campaign have featured some of the sharpest exchanges in the race. Let's start with one of them, the issue of guns.

Senator Sanders, last week Secretary Clinton called you quote, "a pretty reliable vote for the gun lobby." Right before the debate you changed your position on immunity from lawsuits for gun manufacturers, can you tell us why?

SANDERS: Well, I think Secretary Clinton knows that what she says is very disingenuous. I have a D-minus voting record from the NRA. I was in 1988, there were three candidates running for congress in the state of Vermont, I stood up to the gun lobby and came out and maintained the position that in this country we should not be selling military style assault weapons.

I have supported from day one and instant background check to make certain that people who should have guns do not have guns. And that includes people of criminal backgrounds, people who are mentally unstable. I support what President Obama is doing in terms of trying to close the gun show loop holes and I think it should be a federal crime if people act as dormant.

We have seen in this city a horrendous tragedy of a crazed person praying with people in the coming up and shooting nine people. This should not be a political issue. What we should be doing is working together.

And by the way, as a senator from a rural state that has virtually no gun control, I believe that I am in an excellent position to bring people together to fight the sensible...

HOLT: Senator, but you didn't answer the question that you did change your position on immunity from gun manufacturers. So can you...

SANDERS: What I have said, is that gun manufacturer's liability bill has some good provisions among other things, we've prohibited ammunition that would've killed cops who had protection on. We have child safety protection work on guns in that legislation. And what we also said, "is a small mom and pop gun shop who sells a gun legally to somebody should not be held liable if somebody does something terrible with that gun."

So what I said is, " I would re-look at it." We are going to re- look at it and I will support stronger provisions.

HOLT: Secretary Clinton, would you like to respond to Senator Sanders.

CLINTON: Yes look, I have made it clear based on Senator Sanders' own record that he has voted with the NRA, with the gun lobby numerous times. He voted against the Brady Bill five times. He voted for what we call, the Charleston Loophole. He voted for immunity from gunmakers and sellers which the NRA said, "was the most important piece of gun legislation in 20 years. "

He voted to let guns go onto the Amtrak, guns go into National Parks. He voted against doing research to figure out how we can save lives. Let's not forget what this is about, 90 people a day die from gun violence in our country. That's 33,000 people a year.

One of the most horrific examples not a block from here where we had nine people murdered. Now, I am pleased to hear that Senator Sanders has reversed his position on immunity and I look forward to him joining with those members of congress who have already introduced legislation. There is no other industry in America that was given the total pass that the gun makers and dealers were and that needs to be reversed.

HOLT: All right, Governor O'Malley, you signed tough gun control measures as governor of Maryland and there are a lot Democrats in the audience here in South Carolina who own guns. This conversation might be worrying many of them. They may be hearing, "you want to take my guns. What would you say to them?

O'MALLEY: This is what I would say Lester, look see, I've listened to Secretary Clinton and Senator Sanders go back and forth on which of them has the most inconsistent record on gun safety legislation and I would have to agree with both of them. They've both been inconsistent when it comes to this issue.

I'm the one candidate on this stage that actually brought people together to pass comprehensive gun safety legislation. This is very personal to me being from Baltimore. I will never forget one occasion visiting a little boy in Johns' Hopkins Hospital, he was getting a birthday haircut, the age of three when drug dealers turned that barbershop into a shooting gallery and that boy's head was pierced with a bullet. And I remember visiting him, it did not kill him - I remember visiting him and his mother in Johns Hopkins Hospital. He was getting a birthday haircut, the age of three when drug dealers turned that barbershop into a shooting gallery, and that boys head was pierced with a bullet.

And, I remember visiting him, it did not kill him. I remember visiting him and his mother in Johns Hopkins Hospital. In his diapers with tubes running in and out of his head, same age as my little boy.

So, after the slaughter of the kids in Connecticut last year, we brought people together. We did pass in our state comprehensive gun safety legislation. It did have a ban on combat assault weapons, universal background checks, and you know what? We did not interrupt a single person's hunting season.

I've never met a self respecting deer hunter that needed an AR-15 to down a deer. And, so...[applause]...we're able to actually do these things.

HOLT: Alright, Governor, thank you.

Secretary Clinton, this is a community that has suffered a lot of heartache in the last year. Of course, as you mentioned, the church shootings. We won't forget the video of Walter Scott being shot in the back while running from police.

We understand that a jury will decide whether that police officer was justified, but it plays straight to the fears of many African American men that their lives are cheap. Is that perception, or in your view, is it reality?

CLINTON: Well, sadly it's reality, and it has been heartbreaking, and incredibly outraging to see the constant stories of young men like Walter Scott, as you said, who have been killed by police officers. Their needs to be a concerted effort to address the systemic racism in our criminal justice system.

And, that requires a very clear, agenda for retraining police officers, looking at ways to end racial profiling, finding more ways to really bring the disparities that stalk our country into high relief.

One out of three African American men may well end up going to prison. That's the statistic. I want people hear to think what we would be doing if it was one out of three white men, and very often, the black men are arrested, convicted and incarcerated ...[applause]...for offensive that do not lead to the same results for white men.

So, we have a very serious problem that we can no longer ignore.

HOLT: You time is up.

Senator Sanders, my next question is...

SANDERS: ...Well, I — look...

HOLT: ... It's actually — actually my next question is to you...

SANDERS: ... Let me respond to what the secretary said. We have a criminal justice system which is broken. Who in America is satisfied that we have more people in jail than any other country on Earth, including China? Disproportionately African American, and Latino. Who is satisfied that 51% of African American young people are either unemployed, or underemployed? Who is satisfied that millions of people have police records for possessing marijuana when the CEO's of Wall Street companies who destroyed our economy have no police records. [applause]

HOLT: Senator Sanders...

SANDERS: ... We need to take a very hard look at our...

HOLT: Senator. Senator Sanders...

SANDERS: ... criminal justice system, investing in jobs, and education not in jails and incarceration .

HOLT: ... Just over a week ago the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus endorsed Secretary Clinton, not you. He said that choosing her over you was not a hard decision. In fact, our polling shows she's beating you more than two to one among minority voters. How can you be the nominee if you don't have that support?

SANDERS: Well, let me talk about polling. [laughter] As Secretary Clinton well knows, when this campaign began she was 50 points ahead of me. We were all of three percentage points. Guess what?

In Iowa, New Hampshire, the race is very, very close. Maybe we're ahead New Hampshire. [cheering]

In terms of polling, guess what? We are running ahead of Secretary Clinton. In terms of taking on my taking on my good friend, Donald Trump, beating him by 19 points in New Hampshire, 13 points in the last national poll that we saw.

To answer your question. When the African American community becomes familiar with my Congressional record and with our agenda, and with our views on the economy, and criminal justice — just as the general population has become more supportive, so will the African American community, so will the Latino community. We have the momentum, we're on a path to a victory. [applause and cheering]

O'MALLEY: Lester, I [inaudible]

HOLT: Governor, I'm going to come to you in a second.

Google searches for the words, "Black Lives Matter" surpassed, "civil rights movement". And, here in South Carolina, "black lives matter" was the number one trending political issue.HOLT: Governor O'Malley, you've campaigned on your record as governor of Maryland, and before that, the mayor of Baltimore. Last year, of course, Baltimore was rocked by violent unrest in the wake of the death of Freddie Gray.

And right from the start of your campaign, you've been dogged by those who blame your tough-on-crime, so-called zero tolerance policies as mayor for contributing to that unrest. What responsibility do you bear?

O'MALLEY: Yes, let's talk about this. When I ran for mayor in 1999, Lester, it was not because our city was doing well. It was because we were burying over 300 young, poor black men every single year.

And that's why I ran, because, yes, black lives matter. And we did a number of things. We weren't able to make our city immune from setbacks as the Freddie Gray unrest and tragic death showed.

But we were able to save a lot of lives doing things that actually worked to improve police and community relations. The truth of the matter is, we created a civilian review board. And many of these things are in the new agenda for criminal justice reform that I've put forward.

We created a civilian review board, gave them their own detectives. We required the reporting of discourtesy, use of excessive force, lethal force. I repealed the possession of marijuana as a crime in our state.

I drove our incarceration rate down to 20-year lows, and drove violent crime down to 30-year lows, and became the first governor south of the Mason-Dixon line to repeal the death penalty.

I feel a responsibility every day to find things that work... [applause]

HOLT: All right. Let's talk...

O'MALLEY: ... and to do more of them to reform our criminal justice system.

HOLT: Let's talk more about policing and the criminal justice system. Senator Sanders, a few times tonight we're going to hear from some of the most prominent voices on YouTube, starting with Franchesca Ramsey, who tackles racial stereotypes through her videos. Let's watch.

[begin video clip]

FRANCHESCA RAMSEY: Hey, I'm Franchesca Ramsey. I believe there's a huge conflict of interest when local prosecutors investigate cases of police violence within their own communities.

For example, last month, the officers involved in the case of 12- year-old Tamir Rice weren't indicted. How would your presidency ensure that incidents of police violence are investigated and prosecuted fairly?

[end video clip]

HOLT: Senator Sanders.

SANDERS: I apologize for not hearing all of that question.

HOLT: Would you like me to read it back to you?

SANDERS: Yes.

HOLT: Prosecutors — "I believe there's a huge conflict of interest when local prosecutors investigate cases of police violence within their communities. Most recently, we saw this with a non- indictment of the officers involved in the case of 12-year-old Tamir Rice. How would you presidency ensure incidents of police violence are investigated and prosecuted fairly?"

SANDERS: Absolutely. This is a responsibility for the U.S. Justice Department to get involved. Whenever anybody in this country is killed while in police custody, it should automatically trigger a U.S. attorney general's investigation. [applause]

Second of all, and I speak as a mayor who worked very closely and well with police officers, the vast majority of whom are honest, hard- working people trying to do a difficult job, but let us be clear.

If a police officer breaks the law, like any public official, that officer must be held accountable. [applause]

And thirdly, we have got to de-militarize our police departments so they don't look like occupying armies. We've got to move toward community policing.

And fourthly, we have got to make our police departments look like the communities they serve in their diversity. [applause]

HOLT: Secretary Clinton, this question is for you. Tonight parts of America are in the grip of a deadly heroin epidemic, spanning race and class, hitting small towns and cities alike. It has become a major issue in this race.

In a lot of places where you've been campaigning, despite an estimated trillion dollars spent, many say the war on drugs has failed. So what would you do?

CLINTON: Well, Lester, you're right. Everywhere I go to campaign, I'm meeting families who are affected by the drug problem that mostly is opioids and heroin now, and lives are being lost and children are being orphaned. And I've met a lot of grandparents who are now taking care of grandchildren.

So I have tried to come out with a comprehensive approach that, number one, does tell the states that we will work with you from the federal government putting more money, about a billion dollars a year, to help states have a different approach to dealing with this epidemic.

The policing needs to change. Police officers must be equipped with the antidote to a heroin overdose or an opioid overdose, known as Narcan. They should be able to administer it. So should firefighters and others.

We have to move away from treating the use of drugs as a crime and instead, move it to where it belongs, as a health issue. And we need to divert more people from the criminal justice system into drug courts, into treatment, and recovery.

HOLT: And that's time.

CLINTON: So this is the kind of approach that we should take in dealing with what is now...

HOLT: Senator...

CLINTON: ... a growing epidemic.

HOLT: Senator Sanders, would you like to respond?

SANDERS: Sure. I agree... [applause]

I agree with everything the Secretary said, but let me just add this, there is a responsibility on the part of the pharmaceutical industry and the drug companies who are producing all of these drugs and not looking at the consequence of it.

And second of all, when we talk about addiction being a disease, the Secretary is right, what that means is we need a revolution in this country in terms of mental health treatment. People should be able to get the treatment that they need when they need it, not two months from now, which is why I believe in universal...

HOLT: That's...

SANDERS: ... healthcare with mental health...

HOLT: ... time.

SANDERS: ... a part of that.

HOLT: We're going to get into all that coming up.

O'MALLEY: Lester, just ten seconds.

HOLT: But we're going to take a break and we need to take a break...

O'MALLEY: Just 10 seconds. All of the things...

HOLT: ... and when we come back, the anger brewing in America.

[commercial break]

HOLT: Welcome back to Charleston. Let's turn to another area where there has been fierce disagreement — that would be health care.

Senator Sanders and Secretary Clinton, you both mentioned it in your 100-day priorities.

Let's turn to my colleague, Andrea Mitchell now to lead that questioning.

MITCHELL: Thank you, Lester.

Secretary Clinton, Senator Sanders favors what he calls "Medicare for all." Now, you said that what he is proposing would tear up Obamacare and replace it.

Secretary Clinton, is it fair to say to say that Bernie Sanders wants to kill Obamacare?

CLINTON: Well, Andrea, I am absolutely committed to universal health care. I have worked on this for a long time, people may remember that I took on the health insurance industry back in the '90s, and I didn't quit until we got the children's health insurance program that ensures eight million kids.

And I certainly respect Senator Sanders' intentions, but when you're talking about health care, the details really matter. And therefore, we have been raising questions about the nine bills that he introduced over 20 years, as to how they would work and what would be the impact on people's health care?

He didn't like that, his campaign didn't like it either. And tonight, he's come out with a new health care plan. And again, we need to get into the details. But here's what I believe, the Democratic Party and the United States worked since Harry Truman to get the Affordable Care Act passed.

We finally have a path to universal health care. We have accomplished so much already. I do not to want see the Republicans repeal it, and I don't to want see us start over again with a contentious debate. I want us to defend and build on the Affordable Care Act and improve it. [applause]

SANDERS: OK.

MITCHELL: Senator Sanders?

SANDERS: Secretary — Secretary Clinton didn't answer your question. [laughter]

Because what her campaign was saying — Bernie Sanders, who has fought for universal health care for my entire life, he wants to end Medicare, end Medicaid, end the children's health insurance program. That is nonsense.

What a Medicare-for-all program does is finally provide in this country health care for every man, woman and child as a right. Now, the truth is, that Frank Delano Roosevelt, Harry Truman, do you know what they believed in? They believed that health care should be available to all of our people.

I'm on the committee that wrote the Affordable Care Act. I made the Affordable Care Act along with Jim Clyburn a better piece of legislation. I voted for it, but right now, what we have to deal with is the fact that 29 million people still have no health insurance. We are paying the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, getting ripped off.

And here's the important point, we are spending far more per person on health care than the people of any other country. My proposal, provide health care to all people, get private insurance out of health insurance, lower the cost of health care for middle class families by 5,000 bucks.

That's the vision we need to take. [applause]

CLINTON: But — Senator Sanders, if I can... [applause]

You know, I have to say I'm not sure whether we're talking about the plan you just introduced tonight, or we're talking about the plan you introduced nine times in the Congress. But the fact is, we have the Affordable Care Act. That is one of the greatest accomplishments of President Obama, of the Democratic Party, and of our country. [applause]

And we have already seen 19 million Americans get insurance. We have seen the end of pre-existing conditions keeping people from getting insurance. [applause]

We have seen women no longer paying more for our insurance than men. And we have seen young people, up to the age of 26, being able to stay on their parent's policy.

SANDERS: But — what if we have...

CLINTON: Now, there are things we can do to improve it, but to tear it up and start over again, pushing our country back into that kind of a contentious debate, I think is the wrong direction.

SANDERS: It is — it is absolutely inaccurate.

O'MALLEY: I have to talk about something that's actually working in our state.

MITCHELL: Governor — Governor Sanders...

SANDERS: No one is tearing this up, we're going to go forward. But with the secretary neglected to mention, not just the 29 million still have no health insurance, that even more are underinsured with huge copayments and deductibles.

Tell me why we are spending almost three times more than the British, who guarantee health care to all of their people? Fifty percent more than the French, more than the Canadians. The vision from FDR and Harry Truman was health care for all people as a right in a cost-effective way.

We're not going to tear up the Affordable Care Act. I helped write it. But we are going to move on top of that to a Medicaid-for-all system.

O'MALLEY: Andrea — Andrea — Andrea.

[crosstalk] [applause]

O'MALLEY: Instead of — Andrea, I think, instead of attacking one another on health care, we should be talking about the things that are actually working.

In our state, we have moved to an all-payer system. With the Affordable Care Act, we now have moved all of our acute care hospitals, that driver of cost at the center, away from fee-for- service.

And actually to pay, we pay them based on how well they keep patients out of the hospital. How well they keep their patients. That's the future. We need to build on the Affordable Care Act, do the things that work, and reduce costs and increase access.

[crosstalk]

CLINTON: And that's exactly what we are able to do based on the foundation of the Affordable Care Act — what Governor O'Malley just said is one of the models that we will be looking at to make sure we do get costs down, we do limit a lot of the unnecessary costs that we still have in the system.

But, with all due respect, to start over again with a whole new debate is something that I think would set us back. The Republicans just voted last week to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and thank goodness, President Obama vetoed it and saved Obamacare for the American people. [applause]

MITCHELL: Senator Sanders, let me ask you this, though...

SANDERS: Yeah.

MITCHELL: ... you've talked about Medicare for all...

SANDERS: Yes.

MITCHELL: .. and tonight you've released a very detailed plan, just two...

SANDERS: Not all that detailed.

MITCHELL: ... well, two hours before the debate, you did.

SANDERS: Well.

MITCHELL: But let me ask you about Vermont. Because in Vermont — you tried in the state of Vermont, and Vermont walked away from this kind of idea, of — of Medicare for all, single-payer, because they concluded it would require major tax increases...

SANDERS: Well, that's — you might want to ask...

MITCHELL: ... and by some estimates, it would double the budget. If you couldn't sell it in Vermont, Senator...

SANDERS: Andrea, let me just say this.

MITCHELL: ... how can you sell it to the country?

SANDERS: Let me just say that you might want to ask the governor of the state of Vermont why he could not do it. I'm not the governor. I'm the senator from the state of Vermont. [laughter]

But second of all — second of all...[applause]... here is what the real point is, in terms of all of the issues you've raised — the good questions you've raised. You know what it all comes down to?

Do you know why we can't do what every other country — major country on Earth is doing? It's because we have a campaign finance system that is corrupt, we have super PACs, we have the pharmaceutical industry pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into campaign contributions and lobbying, and the private insurance companies as well.

What this is really about is not the rational way to go forward — it's Medicare for all — it is whether we have the guts to stand up to the private insurance companies and all of their money, and the pharmaceutical industry. That's what this debate should be about. [applause]

CLINTON: Well, as someone who — as someone who has a little bit of experience standing up to the health insurance industry, that spent, you know...[applause]...many, many millions of dollars attacking me, and probably will so again, because of what I believe we can do building on the Affordable Care Act, I think it's important to point out that there are a lot of reasons we have the health care system we have today.

I know how much money influences the political decision-making. That's why I'm for huge campaign finance reform. However, we started a system that had private health insurance.

And even during the Affordable Care Act debate, there was an opportunity to vote for what was called the public option. In other words, people could buy in to Medicare, and even when the Democrats were in charge of the Congress, we couldn't get the votes for that.

So, what I'm saying is really simple. This has been the fight of the Democratic Party for decades. We have the Affordable Care Act. Let's make it work.

Let's take the models that states are doing. We now have driven costs down to the lowest they've been in 50 years. Now we've got to get individual costs down. That's what I'm planning to do.

HOLT: And that's time. We're gonna take a turn now.

Secretary Clinton, in his final State of the Union address, President Obama said his biggest regret was his inability to bring the country together. If President Obama couldn't do it, how will you?

O'MALLEY: Great question.

CLINTON: Well, I think it's an important point the president made in his State of the Union. And here's what I would say. I will go anywhere, to meet with anyone, at any time to find common ground.

That's what I did as a first lady, when I worked with both Democrats and Republicans to get the Children's Health Insurance Program, when I worked with Tom DeLay, one of the most partisan of Republicans, to reform the adoption and foster care system.

What I did, working in the Senate, where I crossed the aisle often, working even with the senator from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham, to get Tricare for national guardsmen and women.

And it's what I did as Secretary of State, on numerous occasions, and most particularly, rounding up two-thirds votes in order to pass a treaty that lowered the nuclear weapons in both Russia and the United States.

So I know it's hard, but I also know you've got to work at it every single day. I look out here, I see a lot of my friends from the Congress. And I know that they work at it every single day.

Because maybe you can't only find a little sliver of common ground to cooperate with somebody from the other party, but who knows. If you're successful there, maybe you can build even more. That's what I would do.

HOLT: That's time. Senator Sanders, response. [applause]

SANDERS: A couple of years ago, when we understood that veterans were not getting the quality care they needed in the timely manner, I worked with folks like John McCain and others to pass the most comprehensive veteran's health care legislation in modern history.

But let me rephrase your question because I think, in all do respect, you're expression. In all do respect, you're missing the main point. And the main point in the Congress, it's not the Republicans and Democrats hate each other.

That's a mythology from the media. The real issue is that Congress is owned by big money and refuses to do what the American people want them to do. [applause]

The real issue is that in area after area, raising the minimum wage to $15 bucks an hour. The American people want it. Rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, creating 13 million jobs, the American people want it. The pay equity for women, the American people want it. Demanding that the wealthy start paying their fair share of taxes. The American people want it.

HOLT: That's time. But let me continue with the...

SANDERS: The point is, we have to make Congress respond to the needs of the people, not big money.

HOLT: Senator Sanders, let me continue, you call yourself a Democratic socialist...

SANDERS: I do.

HOLT: And throughout your career in politics, you've been critical of the Democratic party, you've been saying in a book you wrote, quote, "There wasn't a hell of a big difference between the the two major parties." How would you will a general election...

SANDERS: Did I say that?

HOLT: How will you win a general election labeling yourself a democratic socialist?

SANDERS: Because of what I believe in what I was just saying. The Democratic party needs major reform. To those of you in South Carolina, you know what, in Mississippi, we need a 50-state strategy so that people in South Carolina and Mississippi can get the resources that they need.

Instead of being dependent on super PACs, what we need is to be dependent on small, individual campaign contributors. We need an agenda that speaks to the needs of working families and low-income people. Not wealthy campaign contributors.

HOLT: Yes, but senator, you can...

SANDERS: We need to expand what the input into the Democratic party. I am very proud that in this campaign, we have seen an enormous amount of excitement from young people, from working people. We have received more individual contributions than any candidate in the history of this country up to this point. [applause]

O'MALLEY: Yes, but senator you never came to campaign for Vincent Sheheen when he was running for governor. In fact, neither of you came to campaign for Vincent Sheheen when he was running for governor. [applause]

We can talk all we want about wanting to build a stronger Democratic party, but Lester, the question you answered, it's no laughing matter.

The most recurring question I get when I stand on the chair all across Iowa and talk with my neighbors is, how are you going to heal the divisions and the wounds in our country? This is the biggest challenge we face as a people.

All my life, I brought people together over deep divides and very old wounds, and that's what we need now in a new leader. We cannot keep talking past each other, declaring all Republicans are our enemies or the war is all about being against millionaires or billionaires, or it's all against American Muslims, all against immigrants.

Look, as Frederick Douglas said, we are one, our cause is one, and we must help each other if we are going to succeed.

HOLT: And that is right.

SANDERS: And I respectfully disagree.

HOLT: Secretary Clinton, our next question is for you. Here's another quantitative problem.

SANDERS: And I respectfully disagree with my friend over here. And that is, you are right. All of us have denounced Trump's attempts to divide this country: the anti-Latino rhetoric, the racist rhetoric, he anti-Muslim rhetoric.

But where I disagree with you, Governor O'Malley, is I do believe we have to deal with the fundamental issues of a handful of billionaires...

O'MALLEY: I agree with that.

SANDERS: ... who control economic and political life of this country.

O'MALLEY: I agree.

SANDERS: Nothing real will get happened. Unless we have a political revolution. Where millions of people finally stand up.

HOLT: And we're going to get into that coming up. But Secretary Clinton, here's a question from YouTube. It's from a young video blogger who has over 5 million subscribers. He has a question about the importance of younger voters.

[begin video clip]

FRANTA: Hi, I'm Connor Franta, I'm 23 and my audience is around the same age. Getting my generation to vote should be a priority for any presidential candidate.

Now I know Senator Sanders is pretty popular among my peers, but what I want to know is, how are all of you planning on engaging us further in this election?

[end video clip]

HOLT: Secretary Clinton.

CLINTON: Well thanks for the question and congratulations on five million viewers on YouTube, that's quite an accomplishment. Look, this election is mostly about the future and therefore it is of greatest urgency for young people.

I've laid out my ideas about what we can do to make college affordable; how we can help people pay off their student debts and save thousands of dollars, how we can create more good jobs because a lot of the young people that I talk with are pretty disappointed the economic prospects they feel their facing. So making community college free, making it possible to attend a public college or university with debt free tuition, looking for ways to protect our rights especially from the concerted Republican assault; on voting rights, on women's rights, on gay rights, on civil rights, on workers rights.

And I know how much young people value their independence, their autonomy, and their rights. So I think this is an election where we have to pull young people and older people together to have a strategy about how we're going to encourage even more American's to vote because it absolutely clear to me...

HOLT: That's time...

CLINTON: That turning over our White House to the Republicans would be bad for everybody especially young people.

HOLT: A quick follow up — a thirty second follow up.

Why is Senator Sanders beating you to 2 to 1 among younger votes?

CLINTON: Look, I have the greatest respect for Senator Sanders and for his supports and I'm going to keep working as hard as I can to reach as many people of all ages about what I will do, what the experience and the ideas that I have that I will bring to the White House and I hope to have their support when I'm the Democratic nominee.

HOLT: We're going to take...

SANDERS: Is that your strategy...

HOLT: We're going to take a break. When we come back; big banks, big business and big differences among the three candidates on the American Economy. We'll be right back.

[commercial break]

HOLT: Welcome back from Charleston. Let's turn now to the economy.

Senator Sanders, you released a tough new ad last week in which without mentioning Secretary Clinton by name, you talk about two Democratic visions for regulating Wall Street. "One says it's OK to take millions from big banks and tell them what to do. My plan, break up the big banks, close the tax loopholes and make them pay their fair share."

What do you see as the difference between what you would do about the banks and what Secretary Clinton would do?

SANDERS: Well, the first difference is I don't take money from big banks. I don't get personal speaking fees from Goldman Sachs. What I would do... [applause]

What I would do is understand that when you have three out of the four largest banks today, bigger than they were when we bailed them out because they were too big to fail, when you have the six largest financial institutions having assets of 60 percent of the GDP of America, it is very clear to me what you have to do.

You've got to bring back the 21st century Glass-Steagall legislation and you've got to break up these huge financial institutions. They have too much economic power and they have too much financial power over our entire economy. If Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, the old Republican trust buster, what he would say is these guys are too powerful. Break them up. I believe that's what the American people to want see. That's my view.

HOLT: Secretary Clinton, help the voter understand the daylight between the two of you here.

CLINTON: Well, there's no daylight on the basic premise that there should be no bank too big to fail and no individual too powerful to jail. We agree on that. But where we disagree is the comments that Senator Sanders has made that don't just affect me, I can take that, but he's criticized President Obama for taking donations from Wall Street, and President Obama has led our country out of the great recession. Senator Sanders called him weak, disappointing. He even, in 2011, publicly sought someone to run in a primary against President Obama. Now, I personally believe that President Obama's work to push through the Dodd-Frank... [laughter]

The Dodd-Frank bill and then to sign it was one of the most important regulatory schemes we've had since the 1930s. So I'm going to defend Dodd-Frank and I'm going to defend President Obama for taking on Wall Street, taking on the financial industry and getting results. [applause]

SANDERS: OK. First of all...

HOLT: Senator Sanders, your response.

SANDERS: Set the record right. In 2006 when I ran for the Senate, Senator Barack Obama was kind enough to campaign for me, 2008, I did my best to see that he was elected and in 2012, I worked as hard as I could to see that he was reelected. He and I are friends. We've worked together on many issues. We have some differences of opinion.

But here is the issue, Secretary touched on it, can you really reform Wall Street when they are spending millions and millions of dollars on campaign contributions and when they are providing speaker fees to individuals? So it's easy to say, well, I'm going to do this and do that, but I have doubts when people receive huge amounts of money from Wall Street.

I am very proud, I do not have a super PAC. I do not want Wall Street's money. I'll rely on the middle class and working families...

HOLT: That's time.

Governor O'Malley...[crosstalk]

SANDERS: ... campaign contributions.

HOLT: I have a question for you... [applause]

CLINTON: You know, I think since — since Senator Standers followed up on this...

HOLT: Thirty-second response.

CLINTON: Your profusion of comments about your feelings towards President Obama are a little strange given what you said about him in 2011.

But look, I have a plan that most commentators have said is tougher, more effective, and more comprehensive.

O'MALLEY: That's not true.

CLINTON: It builds on the Dodd-Frank — yes, it is. It builds on the Dodd-Frank, regulatory scheme...

O'MALLEY: It's just not true.

CLINTON: ... but it goes much further, because...

O'MALLEY: Oh, come on.

CLINTON: ... both the governor and the senator have focused only on the big banks. Lehman Brothers, AIG, the shadow banking sector were as big a problem in what caused the Great Recession, I go after them.

And I can tell you that the hedge fund billionaires who are running ads against me right now, and Karl Rove, who started running an ad against me right now, funded by money from the financial services sector, sure thing, I'm the one they don't want to be up against. [applause]

HOLT: Governor O'Malley.

O'MALLEY: Yes, thank you. Yes, Lester, what Secretary Clinton just said is actually not true. What — I have put forward a plan that would actually put cops back on the beat of Wall Street. I have put forward a plan that was heralded as very comprehensive and realistic.

Look, if a bank robber robs a bank and all you do is slap him on the wrist, he's just going to keep robbing banks again. The same thing is true with people in suits.

Secretary Clinton, I have a tremendous amount of respect for you, but for you to say there's no daylight on this between the three of us is also not true. I support reinstituting a modern version of Glass- Steagall that would include going after the shadow banks, requiring capital requirements that would force them to no longer put us on the hook for these sorts of things.

In prior debates I've heard you even bring up — I mean, now you bring up President Obama here in South Carolina in defense of the fact of your cozy relationship with Wall Street.

In an earlier debate, I heard you bring up even the 9/11 victims to defend it. The truth of the matter is, Secretary Clinton, you do not go as far as reining in Wall Street as I would.

And the fact of the matter is, the people of America deserve to have a president that's on their side, protecting the main street economy from excesses on Wall Street. And we're just as vulnerable today.

HOLT: Secretary Clinton, 30-second response. [applause]

CLINTON: Yes, well, first of all — first of all, Paul Krugman, Barney Frank, others have all endorsed my plan. Secondly, we have Dodd-Frank. It gives us the authority already to break up big banks that pose...

O'MALLEY: And we have never used it.

CLINTON: That pose a risk to the financial sector. I want to go further and add to that.

And, you know, Governor, you have raised money on Wall Street. You raised a lot of money on Wall Street when you were the head of the Democratic Governor's Association...

O'MALLEY: Yes, but I haven't gotten a penny this year...

CLINTON: And you were...

O'MALLEY: ... so somebody please, go on to martinomalley.com...[laughter]. Go on to martinomalley.com, send me your checks. They're not giving me — zero.

CLINTON: Yes, well, the point is that if we're going to be serious about this and not just try to score political points, we should know what's in Dodd-Frank, and what's in Dodd-Frank already gives the president the authority...[crosstalk]...with his regulators to make those decisions.

SANDERS: Let me give you an example of how corrupt — how corrupt this system is. Goldman Sachs recently fined $5 billion. Goldman Sachs has given this country two secretaries of treasury, one on the Republicans, one under Democrats.

O'MALLEY: Say it.

SANDERS: The leader of Goldman Sachs is a billionaire who comes to Congress and tells us we should cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

Secretary Clinton — and you're not the only one, so I don't mean to just point the finger at you, you've received over $600,000 in speaking fees from Goldman Sachs in one year.

I find it very strange that a major financial institution that pays $5 billion in fines for breaking the law, not one of their executives is prosecuted, while kids who smoke marijuana get a jail sentence. [applause]

HOLT: That's time.

Andrea.

CLINTON: Well, the last point on this is, Senator Sanders, you're the only one on this stage that voted to deregulate the financial market in 2000, to take the cops off the street, to use Governor O'Malley's phrase, to make the SEC and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission no longer able to regulate swaps and derivatives, which were one of the main cause of the collapse in '08.

So there's plenty...

SANDERS: If you want to...

CLINTON: There's plenty of problems that we all have to face together.

And the final thing I would say, we're at least having a vigorous debate about reining in Wall Street...

HOLT: ... Senator...

CLINTON: ... The Republicans want to give them more power, and repeal Dodd-Frank. That's what we need to stop... [applause]

SANDERS: Anyone who wants to check my record in taking on Wall Street, in fighting against the deregulation of Wall Street when Wall Street put billions of dollars in lobbying, in campaign contributions to get the government off their backs. They got the government off their backs.

Turns out that they were crooks, and they destroyed our economy. I think it's time to put the government back on their backs. [applause]

MITCHELL: Senator Sanders — Senator Sanders, you've talked a lot about things you want to do. You want free education for everyone, you want the Federal Minimum Wage raised to $15 an hour. You want to expand Social Security...

SANDERS: ... Yeah...

MITCHELL: ... benefits. You've been specific about what you want, but let's talk about how to pay for all this. You now said that you would raise taxes today, two hours or so ago, you said you would raise taxes to pay for your health care plan. You haven't been specific about how to pay for the other things...

SANDERS: ... That's true.

MITCHELL: ... Will you tell us tonight?

SANDERS: Good. You're right. I want to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, create 13 million jobs. We do that by doing away with the absurd loophole that now allows major profitable corporations to stash their money in the Cayman Islands, and not in some years, pay a nickel in taxes. Yes, I do. I plead guilty. I want every kid in this country who has the ability to be able to go to a public college, or university, tuition free. And, by the way, I want to substantially lower student debt interest rates in this country as well.

How do I pay for it? [applause]

I pay for it through a tax on Wall Street speculation. This country, and the middle class, bailed out Wall Street. Now, it is Wall Street's time to help the middle class. In fact...

O'MALLEY: [inaudible]

SANDERS: ... we have documented, unlike Secretary Clinton, I have documented exactly how I would pay for our ambitious agenda.

O'MALLEY: Andrea...

MITCHELL: ... OK...

O'MALLEY: ... The only person on this stage who has...

MITCHELL: ... Secretary Clinton, you mentioned earlier — Secretary Clinton, do you want to respond?

CLINTON: Well, I have actually documented every way that I'm going to pay for what I'm doing because I think the American public deserves to know. And, you can go to my website and actually see that.

But, there are serious questions about how we're going to pay for what we want to see our country do. And, I'm the only candidate standing here tonight who has said I will not raise taxes on the middle class. I want to raise incomes, not taxes, and I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that the wealthy pay for debt free tuition, for child care, for paid family leave. To help us bring down student debt we're going to refinance that student debt, saving kids thousands of dollars.

Yeah, and that will also come out of the — some of the pockets of people in the financial services industry...

MITCHELL: OK, we're out of time. Senator Sanders,

CLINTON: But I will tell you exactly how I pay for everything I've proposed...[crosstalk]

MITCHELL: Senator Sanders...

SANDERS: ... Here is the main two points...

MITCHELL: ... Senator Sanders, let me ask you a question about taxes.

SANDERS: Yeah.

MITCHELL: The most googled political issue...

SANDERS: ... I got it.

MITCHELL: In the last month was taxes. Now, in your healthcare plan, the plan you released tonight, you would not only raise taxes on the wealthy, but the details you released indicate you would raise taxes on the middle class also. Is that correct?

SANDERS: What is correct, and I'm disappointed that Secretary Clinton's campaign has made this criticism. It's a Republican criticism. Secretary Clinton does know a lot about healthcare, and she understands, I believe, that a medicare for all, single payer program will substantially lower the cost of healthcare for middle class families. So, what we have got to acknowledge, and I hope the Secretary does, is we are doing away with private health insurance premiums.

So, instead of paying $10,000 dollars to Blue Cross, or Blue Shield, yes, some middle class families would be paying slightly more in taxes, but the result would be that that middle class family would be saving some $5,000 dollars in healthcare costs. A little bit more in taxes, do away with private health insurance premiums. It's a pretty good deal. [applause]

MITCHELL: Senator — Senator, let me just follow up on that.

SANDERS: Yeah.

MITCHELL: On Meet the Press on December 20th, you said that you would only raise taxes on the middle class to pay for family leave. And, having said that, now you say you're going to raise middle class taxes to pay for healthcare as well. Is that breaking your word?

SANDERS: No, it is not breaking my word. When you are — it's one thing to say I'm raising taxes, it's another thing to say that we are doing away with private health insurance premiums.

So, if I save you $10,000 in private health insurance, and you pay a little bit more in taxes in total, there are huge savings in what your family is spending.

O'MALLEY: Senator, I'm the only person on this stage that's actually balanced a budget every year for 15 years.

SANDERS: I was mayor for eight years, I did that as well. [laughter]

O'MALLEY: OK. So, that was eight years. Yes. And Senator, but I actually did it during a budget down time — I mean, during a recession.

And Andrea, the — I had to make more cuts than any governor in the history of Maryland, but we invested more in infrastructure, more in transportation. We made our public schools more in America more than five years in a row, and went four years in a row without a penny's increase to college tuition.

The things that we need to do in our country, like debt-free college in the next five years, like making universal — like making national service a universal option in order to cut youth unemployment in half in the next three years, all these things can be done if we eliminate one entitlement we can no longer afford as a nation.

And that is the wealthy among us, those making more than a million dollars, feel that they are entitled to paying a much lower marginal tax rate than was usual for the better part of these 80 years.

And if we tax earnings from investments on money — namely capital gains — at the same rate as we tax sweat and hard work and toil, we can make the investments we need to make to make our country better.

HOLT: We have got a lot to ground to cover here.

Many Democratic voters are passionate about the need to do something to combat the threat of climate change, including the team of scientists from Youtube's MinuteEarth channel.

Here's their take.

[begin video clip]

ANNOUNCER: Hello from MinuteEarth. Fossil fuels have long kept our cars moving and our light bulbs lit.

But we know that burning these fuels releases heat-trapping gases that are warming the planet, causing seas to rise and contributing to extreme weather events, like South Carolina's devastating flooding last year.

Fighting human-caused climate change means giving up our global addiction to fossil fuels and shifting the bulk of the world's energy supply to alternative sources.

Some countries have acted decisively to make this transition. But here at home, we still get a whooping 82 percent of our energy from coal, oil, and natural gas.

In the U.S., political gridlock, pressure from industry lobbyists and insufficient R&D have made an already tough battle against climate change even tougher.

[end video clip]

HOLT: Senator Sanders, Americans love their SUVs, which spiked in sales last year as gas prices plummeted.

How do you convince Americans that the problem of climate change is so urgent that they need to change their behavior?

SANDERS: I think we already are. Younger generation understands it instinctively.

I was home in Burlington, Vermont, on Christmas Eve, the temperature was 65 degrees. People in Vermont know what's going on. People who did ice fishing, where their ice is no longer there on the lake understand what's going on.

I'm on both the Environmental and Energy Committees. The debate is over. Climate change is real. It is already causing major problems. And if we do not act boldly and decisively, a bad situation will become worse.

It is amazing to me, and I think we'll have agreement on this up here, that we have a major party, called the Republican Party that is so owned by the fossil fuel industry and their campaign contributions that they don't even have the courage, the decency to listen to the scientists. [applause]

It is beyond my comprehension how we can elect a president of the United States, somebody like Trump, who believes that climate change is a hoax invented by the Chinese. [laughter]

Bottom line is, we need to be bold and decisive, we can create millions of jobs. We must, for the sake of our kids and grandchildren, transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energy.

I've got the most comprehensive legislation in the Senate to do that. And as president, I will fight to make that happen. [applause]

HOLT: Governor O'Malley, 30 seconds.

O'MALLEY: Thank you.

Lester, on this stage tonight, this Democratic stage, where we actually believe in science. [laughter]

I would like to challenge and invite my colleagues here on this stage to join me in putting forward a plan to move us to a 100 percent clean, electric energy grid by 2050. It can be done. [applause]

With solar, with wind, with new technologies, with green buildings, this can happen, but in all — President Obama made us more energy independent, but in all of the above strategy didn't land us on the moon, we need American ingenuity and we need to reach by 2050 for the sake of our kids.

HOLT: That's time. We're going to take a break.

CLINTON: And let me...

HOLT: When we return, the late-breaking developments regarding Iran. The threat of ISIS now more real than ever on U.S. soil. Americans in fear and hearing few good answers.

We'll be right back.

[commercial break]

HOLT: Charleston, Andrea Mitchell has questions now starting with Iran.

MITCHELL: Thank you Lester.

Senator Sanders, the nuclear deal is now enforced. Iran is getting it's billions of dollars, several Americans who have been held are now going to be heading home. The president said today, "it's a good day. It's a good day for diplomacy. It's a time now to restore diplomatic relations for the first time since 1979 and actually re- opened a U.S. Embassy in Tehran."

SANDERS: I think what we've got to do is move as aggressively as we can to normalize relations with Iran. Understanding that Iran's behavior in so many ways is something that we disagree with; their support terrorism, the anti-American rhetoric that we're hearing from of their leadership is something that is not acceptable.

On the other hand, the fact that we've managed to reach an agreement, something that I've very strongly supported that prevents Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and we did that without going to war. And that I believe we're seeing a fall in our relationships with Iran is a very positive step. So if your question is, do I want to see that relationship become more positive in the future? Yes.

Can I tell that we should open an embassy in Tehran tomorrow? No, I don't think we should. But I think the goal has go to be as we've done with Cuba, to move in warm relations with a very powerful and important country in this world.

MITCHELL: Your response Secretary Clinton?

CLINTON: Well, I'm very proud of the Iran Nuclear Agreement. I was very pleased to be part of what the president put into action when he took office. I was responsible for getting those sanctions imposed which put the pressure on Iran. It brought them to the negotiating table which resulted in this agreement.

And so, they have been so far, following their requirements under the agreement. But I think we still have to carefully watch them. We've had one good day over 36 year and I think we need more good days before we move more rapidly toward any kind of normalization. And we have to be sure that they are truly going to implement the agreement. And then, we have to go after them on a lot of their other bad behavior in the region which is causing enormous problems in Syria, Yemen, Iraq and elsewhere.

MITCHELL: You mentioned Syria. Let me ask you about Syria, all of you. Let's turn to Syria and the civil war that has been raging there. Are there any circumstances in which you could see deploying significant numbers of ground forces in Syria, not just specials forces but significant ground forces to combat ISIS in a direct combat role?

Let me start with you Secretary Clinton.

CLINTON: Absolutely not.

I have a three point plan that does not include American Ground forces. It includes the United States leading an air coalition which is what we're doing, supporting fighters on the ground; the Iraqi Army which is beginning to show more ability, the Sunni fighters that we are now helping to reconstitute and Kurdish on both sides of the border.

I think we also have try to disrupt their supply chain of foreign fighters and foreign money and we do have to contest them in online space. So I'm very committed to both going after ISIS but also supporting what Secretary Kerry is doing to try to move on a political diplomatic to try to begin to slow down and hopefully end the carnage in Syria which is the root of so many of the problems that we seen in the region and beyond.

MITCHELL: Senator Sanders, ground forces yes or no?

SANDERS: As everybody you know, this is incredibly complicated and difficult issue and I applaud. I know President Obama's been getting a lot of criticism on this. I think he is doing the right thing.

What the nightmare is, which many of my Republican colleagues appear to want is to not have learned the lesson of Iraq. To get American young men and women involved in perpetual warfare in the quagmire of Syria and the Middle East would be an unmitigated disaster that as president, I will do everything in my power to avoid.

O'MALLEY: Andrea...

MITCHELL: Governor O'Malley?

SANDERS: We should — we should learn — we should learn from King Abdullah of Jordan, one of the few heroes in a very unheroic place. And what Abdullah said is this is a war with a soul of Islam and that Muslim troops should be on the ground with our support and the support of other major countries. That is how we destroy ISIS, not with American troops in perpetual warfare.

MITCHELL: Governor O'Malley.

O'MALLEY: Thank you. [applause]

Andrea, governors have led us to victory in two world wars by doing what America does best, and that is by joining forces with others by acting in coalition. And I believe that President Obama is doing the right thing in this case.

We need to learn the lessons from the past. We do need to provide the special — special ops advisers, we need — do need to provide the technical support, but over the long-term, we need to develop new alliances. We need a much more proactive national security strategy that reduces these threats before they rise to a level where it feels like we need to pull for a division of marines.

And I also want to add one other thing here. I appreciate the fact that in our debate, we don't use the term you hear Republicans throwing around trying to look all vibrato and macho sending other kids — kids into combat, they keep using the term boots on the ground. A woman in Burlington, Iowa said to me, "Governor, when you're with your colleagues, please don't refer to my son who has served two tours of duty in Iraq as a pair of boots on the ground." Now, we need to be mindful of learning the lessons of the past. [applause]

MITCHELL: I have a question. I have a question for Senator Sanders. Did the policies of the Obama administration, in which Secretary Clinton of course was a part, create a vacuum in Iraq and Syria that helped ISIS grow?

SANDERS: No. I think the vacuum was created by the disastrous war in Iraq, which I vigorously opposed. Not only did I vote against it, I helped lead the opposition. And what happened there is yes, it's easy to get rid of a two-bit dictator like Saddam Hussein, but there wasn't the kind of thought as to what happens the day after you get him and what kind of political vacuum occurs. And who rises up? Groups like ISIS.

So I think that President Obama made a promise to the American people when he ran, and he said you know what, I'm going to do my best to bring American troops home. And I supported what he did. Our job is to train and provide military support for Muslim countries in the area who are prepared to take on ISIS.

And one point I want to make here that is not made very often, you have incredibly wealthy countries in that region, countries like Saudi Arabia, countries like Qatar. Qatar happens to be the largest — wealthiest country per capita in the world. They have got to start putting in some skin in the game and not just ask the United States to do it. [applause]

MITCHELL: Secretary Clinton, I want to talk to you about red lines, because former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in a recent interview that President Obama's decision to stand down on planned missile strikes against Damascus after Assad had used chemical weapons hurt the president's credibility. Should the president have stuck to his red line once he drew it?

CLINTON: Look, I think that the president's decision to go after the chemical weapons once there was a potential opportunity to build on when the Russians opened that door resulted in a very positive outcome. We were able to get the chemical weapons out.

I know from my own experience as secretary of State that we were deeply worried about Assad's forces using chemical weapons because it would have had not only a horrific affect on people in Syria, but it could very well have affected the surrounding states, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Turkey. So getting those chemical weapons out was a big deal, but...

MITCHELL: But should he — should he have stuck to his...

CLINTON: Well — but — but...

MITCHELL: ... line? Did it hurt U.S. credibility?

CLINTON: I think, as commander in chief, you've got to constantly be evaluating the decisions you have to make. I know a little bit about this, having spent many hours in the situation room, advising President Obama.

And I want to just add to something that Senator Sanders said, the United States had a very big interest in trying to help stabilize the region. If there is any blame to be spread around, it starts with the prime minister of Iraq, who sectarianized his military, setting Shia against Sunni.

It is amplified by Assad, who has waged one of the bloodiest, most terrible attacks on his own people: 250,000-plus dead, millions fleeing. Causing this vacuum that has been filled unfortunately, by terrorist groups, including ISIS.

So, I think we are in the midst of great turmoil in this region. We have a proxy conflict going on between Saudi Arabia and Iran. You know, one of the criticisms I've had of Senator Sanders is his suggestion that, you know, Iranian troops be used to try to end the war in Syria...

MITCHELL: Your time is up.

CLINTON: ... and go after ISIS, which I don't think would be a good idea.

SANDERS: Let me just...

MITCHELL: Senator....

CLINTON: But overall, a lot of the forces at work in the region are ones that we cannot directly influence, but we can...

MITCHELL: You're out of time.

SANDERS: OK. Let me suggest...[crosstalk]

MITCHELL: Senator Sanders.

SANDERS: Where Secretary Clinton and I think, I agree with most of what she said. But where I think we do have an honest disagreement, is that in the incredible quagmire of Syria, where it's hard to know who's fighting who and if you give arms to this guy, it may end up in ISIS' hand the next day. We all know that.

And we all know, no argument, the secretary is absolutely right, Assad is a butcher of his own people, man using chemical weapons against his own people. This is beyond disgusting.

But I think in terms of our priorities in the region, our first priority must be the destruction of ISIS. Our second priority must be getting rid of Assad, through some political settlement, working with Iran, working with Russia.

But the immediate task is to bring all interests together who want to destroy ISIS, including Russia, including Iran, including our Muslim allies to make that the major priority.

O'MALLEY: But in all of that senator and secretary, I think we're leaving out something very important here. And that is that we still don't have the human intelligence: overt, in terms of diplomatic intelligence or covert, to understand even what the heck happens as the secondary and tertiary effects of some of these things.

We are walking through this region, Andrea, without the human intelligence that we need. And we need to make a renewed investment as a country in bringing up a new generation of foreign service officers, and bringing up a new generation of business people and actually understanding and having relationships in these places.

So we have a better sense of what the heck happens after a dictator topples and can take action to prevent another safe haven and another iteration of terror.

MITCHELL: Your time is us. Lester.

HOLT: Senator Sanders mentioned Russia a moment ago. Secretary Clinton, you famously handed Russia's foreign minister a reset button in 2009. Since then, Russia has annexed Crimea, fomented a war in Ukraine, provided weapons that downed an airliner and launched operations, as we just did discuss, to support Assad in Syria. As president, would you hand Vladimir Putin a reset button?

CLINTON: Well, it would depend on what I got for it and I can tell you what we got in the first term, we got a new start treaty to reduce nuclear weapons between the United States and Russia. We got permission to resupply our troops in Afghanistan by traveling across Russia.

We got Russia to sign on to our sanctions against Iran and other very important commitments. So look, in diplomacy, you are always trying to see how you can figure out the interest of the other to see if there isn't some way you can advance your security and your values.

When Putin came back in the fall of 2011, it was very clear he came back with a mission. And I began speaking out as soon as that happened because there were some fraudulent elections held, and Russians poured out into the streets to demand their freedom, and he cracked down. And in fact, accused me of fomenting it. So we now know that he has a mixed record to say the least and we have to figure out how to deal with him.

HOLT: What's your relationship with him?

CLINTON: Well, my relationship with him, it's — it's interesting. [laughter]

It's one, I think, of respect. We've had some very tough dealings with one another. And I know that he's someone that you have to continuingly stand up to because, like many bullies, he is somebody who will take as much as he possibly can unless you do.

And we need to get the Europeans to be more willing to stand up, I was pleased they put sanctions on after Crimea and eastern Ukraine and the downing of the airliner, but we've got to be more united in preventing Putin from taking a more aggressive stance in Europe and the Middle East. [applause]

HOLT: We to want turn right now to the issue of balancing national security concerns with the privacy rights of Americans. That brings us to YouTube and this question.

[begin video clip]

BROWNLEE: Hi, my name Marques Brownlee, and I've been making YouTube videos about electronics and gadgets for the past seven years.

I think America's future success is tied to getting all kinds of tech right. Tech companies are responsible for the encryption technology to protect personal data, but the government wants a back door into that information.

So do you think it's possible to find common ground? And where do you stand on privacy versus security?

[end video clip]

HOLT: So, Governor O'Malley.

O'MALLEY: Thank you.

I believe whether it's a back door or a front door that the American principle of law should still hold that our federal government should have to get a warrant, whether they want to come through the back door or your front door. [applause]

And I also agree, Lester, with Benjamin Franklin, who said, no people should ever give up their privacy or their freedoms in a promise for security.

So we're a collaborative people. We need collaborative leadership here with Silicon Valley and other bright people in my own state of Maryland and around the NSA that can actually figure this out.

But there are certain immutable principles that will not become antique things in our country so long as we defend our country and its values and its freedoms. And one of those things is our right to be secure in our homes, and our right to expect that our federal government should have to get a warrant.

I also want to the say that while we've made some progress on the Patriot Act, I do believe that we need an adversarial court system there. We need a public advocate. We need to develop jurisprudence so that we can develop a body of law that protects the privacy of Americans in the information and digital age.

HOLT: That's time.

You have all talked about what you would do fighting ISIS over there, but we've been hit in this country by home-grown terrorists, from Chattanooga to San Bernardino, the recent shooting of a police officer in Philadelphia. How are you going to fight the lone wolves here, Senator Sanders?

O'MALLEY: Yes, Lester, year in and year out I was the leader of the U.S. ...

HOLT: That's a question to Senator Sanders. I wasn't clear, I apologize.

SANDERS: OK. I just wanted to add, in the previous question, I voted against the USA Patriot Act for many of the reasons that Governor O'Malley mentioned. But it is not only the government that we have to worry about, it is private corporations.

You would all be amazed, or maybe not, about the amount of information private companies and the government has in terms of the Web sites that you access, the products that you buy, where you are this very moment.

And it is very clear to me that public policy has not caught up with the explosion of technology. So yes, we have to work with Silicon Valley to make sure that we do not allow ISIS to transmit information...

HOLT: But in terms of lone wolves, the threat, how would you do it?

SANDERS: Right. What we have got to do there is, among other things, as I was just saying, have Silicon Valley help us to make sure that information being transmitted through the Internet or in other ways by ISIS is, in fact, discovered.

But I do believe we can do that without violating the constitutional and privacy rights of the American people.

[crosstalk]

HOLT: We have to go to a — we have to go to a break, and when we come back, we're going to get to some of the burning questions these candidates have yet to answer and are totally eager to talk about.

CLINTON: Oh, we're breaking? OK.

[commercial break]

HOLT: And welcome back to Charleston.

As we were going to a break, Secretary Clinton, I cut you off. I'll give you 30 seconds to respond on the issue of lone wolves.

O'MALLEY: Can I get 30 seconds, too? [laughter]

SANDERS: Can I get 50 seconds?

HOLT: Secretary Clinton.

CLINTON: Well, I wanted to say, and I'll do it quickly, I was very pleased that leaders of President Obama's administration went out to Silicon Valley last week and began exactly this conversation about what we can do, consistent with privacy and security.

We need better intelligence cooperation, we need to be sure that we are getting the best intelligence that we can from friends and allies around the world. And then, we've got to recognize our first line of defense against lone wolf attacks is among Muslim Americans.

And it is not only shameful, it is dangerous for the kinds of comments you're hearing from the Republican side.

We need to be reaching out and unifying our country against terrorist attacks and lone wolves, and working with Muslim Americans. [applause]

HOLT: And Andrea has a follow-up.

O'MALLEY: And Andrea — Andrea — Andrea...

MITCHELL: Just a — just a quick follow-up, though, Secretary Clinton. Just a moment, Governor.

O'MALLEY: Andrea, when can I get my 30 seconds?

MITCHELL: But — but — Secretary Clinton, you said that the leaders from the intelligence community went to Silicon Valley, they were flatly turned down. They got nowhere.

CLINTON: That is not what I've heard. Let me leave it at that.

O'MALLEY: Andrea, I need to talk about homeland security and preparedness.

Ever since the attacks of September 11th — 30 seconds. [laughter]

Ever since the attacks of September 11th, my colleagues, Democratic and Republican mayors, Democratic and Republican governors, made me their leader on homeland security and preparedness.

Here in the homeland, unlike combating ISIL abroad, we're almost like it's — your body's immune system. It's able to protect your body against bad bugs, not necessarily because it outnumbers them, but it's better connected — the fusion centers, the biosurveillance systems, better prepared first responders.

But there's another front in this battle, and it is this. That's the political front, and if Donald Trump wants to start a registry in our country of people by faith, he can start with me, and I will sign up as one who is totally opposed to his fascist appeals that wants to vilify American Muslims. That can do more damage to our democracy than any...[crosstalk]

HOLT: All right, that's time, and — and we do...[applause]...we do have to move on.

Secretary Clinton, this is the first time...

SANDERS: Can I get a — can I just get a very brief response? Very brief.

HOLT: Thirty — 30 — 30 seconds, Senator.

SANDERS: OK. One — and I agree with what the secretary said, and what Governor O'Malley said. But here's an issue that we also should talk about. We have a $600 billion military budget. It is a budget larger than the next eight countries'.

Unfortunately, much of that budget continues to fight the old Cold War with the Soviet Union. Very little of that budget — less than 10 percent — actually goes into fighting ISIS and international terrorism. We need to be thinking hard about making fundamental changes in the priorities of the Defense Department.

HOLT: All right. Secretary Clinton...[applause]...this is the first time that a spouse of a former president could be elected president. You have said that President Clinton would advise you on economic issues, but be specific, if you can. Are you talking about a kitchen-table role on economics, or will he have a real policy role?

CLINTON: Well, it'll start at the kitchen table, we'll see how it goes from there. And I...[applause]...I'm going to have the very best advisers that I can possibly have, and when it comes to the economy and what was accomplished under my husband's leadership and the '90s — especially when it came to raising incomes for everybody and lifting more people out of poverty than at any time in recent history — you bet.

I'm going to ask for his ideas, I'm going ask for his advice, and I'm going use him as a goodwill emissary to go around the country to find the best ideas we've got, because I do believe, as he said, everything that's wrong with America has been solved somewhere in America.

We just have to do more of it, and we have to reach out, especially into poor communities and communities of color, to give more people their own chance to get ahead.

HOLT: Senator sanders, a 30 second response, sir. [applause]

SANDERS: Great ideas, Governor O'Malley, Secretary Clinton, but here's the truth. If you have an administration stacked with Wall Street appointees, it ain't going to accomplish very much.

So here's a promise that I make — and I mentioned a moment ago how corrupt the system is — Goldman Sachs, paying a $5 billion fine, gives this country, in recent history, a Republican secretary of treasury, a Democratic secretary of treasury.

Here's a promise. If elected president, Goldman Sachs is not going to have — bring forth a secretary of treasury for a Sanders administration. [applause]

MITCHELL: Senator Sanders, let me ask you a question. You called Bill Clinton's past transgressions, quote, "totally, totally, totally disgraceful and unacceptable." Senator, do you regret saying that?

SANDERS: I was asked a question. You know, one of the things, Andrea, and I — that question annoys me. I cannot walk down the street — Secretary Clinton knows this — without being told how much I have to attack secretary Clinton, want to get me on the front pages of the paper, I'd make some vicious attack.

I have avoided doing that. Trying to run an issue-oriented campaign. [applause]

SANDERS: I was asked a question.

MITCHELL:: You didn't have to answer it that way, though. Why did you?

SANDERS: Well — then if I don't answer it, then there's another front page, so it's yes. [laughter]

And I mean this seriously. You know that. We've been through this. Yes, his behavior was deplorable. Have I ever once said a word about that issue? No, I have not. I'm going to debate Secretary Clinton, Governor O'Malley, on the issues facing the American people, not Bill Clinton's personal behavior. [applause]

HOLT: We will take a break. We'll continue from Charleston right after this.

[commercial break]

HOLT: Welcome back everybody. Finally, before we go tonight, we set out here to understand points of differences between you. We believe we've learned a lot here, but before we leave, is there anything that you really wanted to say tonight that you haven't gotten a chance to say.

And, we'll start with Governor O'Malley. [laughter]

Didn't see that coming, did you?

O'MALLEY: Yes, but we're going to have to get 20 minutes to do it, so. [laughter]

MITCHELL: ...too long.

O'MALLEY: I believe there are many issues. I have 60 seconds for this?

HOLT: Sixty seconds, we'd appreciate it.

O'MALLEY: There are so many issues that we haven't been able to discuss here. We have not fully discussed immigration reform, and the deplorable number of immigrant detention camps that our nation's now maintaining. We haven't discussed the shameful treatment that the people of Puerto Rico, our fellow Americans, are getting treated with by these hedge funds that are working them over. [applause]

We haven't discussed the fact that in our hemisphere we have the danger of nation-state failures because of drug traffickers; and Honduras, and Guatemala and El Salvador.

I guess the bottom line is this, look we are a great people the way we act at home and abroad based on the beliefs that unite us. Our belief in the dignity of every person, our belief in our own common good. There is now challenge that is too great for us to overcome provided we bring forward in these divided times, new leadership that can heal our divides here at home and bring our principles into alignment abroad.

We're on the threshold of a new era of American progress and I believe we have only need to join forces together and cross that threshold into a new era of American prosperity.

HOLT: And that's time.

O'MALLEY: Thanks a lot.

HOLT: Secretary Clinton?

CLINTON: Well Lester, I spent a lot of time last week being outraged by what's happening in Flint, Michigan and I think every single American should be outraged. We've had a city in the United States of America where the population which is poor in many ways and majority African American has been drinking and bathing in lead contaminated water. And the governor of that state acted as though he didn't really care.

He had request for help and he had basically stone walled. I'll tell you what, if the kids in a rich suburb of Detroit had been drinking contaminated water and being bathed in it, there would've been action.

So I sent my top campaign aide down there to talk to the mayor of Flint to see what I could to help. I issued a statement about what we needed to do and then I went on a T.V. show and I said, "it was outrageous that the governor hadn't acted and within two hours he had."

HOLT: And that's time.

CLINTON: I want to be a president who takes care of the big problems and the problems that are affecting the people of our country everyday. [applause]

HOLT: Thank you.

Senator Sanders?

SANDERS: Well, Secretary Clinton was right and what I did which I think is also right, is demanded the resignation of governor. A man who acts that irresponsibly should not stay in power.

Now, we are a great nation — and we've heard a lot of great ideas here tonight. Let's be honest and let's be truthful. Very little is going to be done to transform our economy and to create the kind of middle class we need unless we end a corrupt campaign finance system which is undermining American democracy.

We've got to get rid of Super PACs, we've got to get rid of Citizens' United and what we've got to do is create a political revolution which revitalizes American democracy; which brings millions of young people and working people into the political process. To say loudly and clearly," that the government of the United States of America belongs to all of us and not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors."

HOLT: All right. Well thank you and thanks to all of you for being here tonight shedding light on some of the differences as Americans get ready to vote.

I also want to thank the Congressional Black Caucus Institute and certainly my friend and colleague, Andrea Mitchell. This has been great. It's been a great spirited conversation and American people appreciate it.

+ Citation: Presidential Candidates Debates: "Democratic Candidates Debate in Charleston, South Carolina," January 17, 2016. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=111409. +
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+ 		+ + + + +Presidential Candidates Debates: Republican Candidates "Undercard" Debate in Simi Valley, California +
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PARTICIPANTS:
Senator Lindsey Graham (SC);
Governor Bobby Jindal (LA);
Former Governor George Pataki (NY);
Former Senator Rick Santorum (PA);

MODERATORS:
Jake Tapper (CNN);
Dana Bash (CNN); and
Hugh Hewitt (Salem Radio Network)

TAPPER: We're live at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California for one of the most highly anticipated primary season debates ever. On this stage 15 candidates in two rounds of questioning with one goal, to show they have what it takes to be the Republican Presidential Nominee.

Welcome to our viewers, I'm Jake Tapper. Tonight's debate is airing on CNN networks around the world, and, of course, here in the United States. It's also being broadcast across the country on the Salmen Radio Network.

We want to thank our host, former First Lady Nancy Reagan, and the Reagan Library for this very impressive setting, the Air Force One pavilion. Behind me, you can see the actual plane... [applause]...That Ronald Reagan flew in when he was president.

Now, because the GOP field is so large, we have divided the candidates into two groups based on their rankings in recent national polls. Later this evening we will hear from the top 11 contenders. The other four candidates are taking part in the first round, and they are ready to join us now.

Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. [applause]

Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindal. [applause]

The former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania, Rick Santorum. [applause] and former New York Governor, George Pataki. [applause]

Ladies and gentleman, please welcome these Republican candidates for President of the United States. [applause]

And, now, if you would, please rise for our national anthem performed by actress and singer, Natalie Hill.

I'd like to ask the candidates to please take their podiums while I tell you a little more about how tonight debate will work.

I'm Jake Tapper. I'll be the moderator.

Joining me in the questioning, Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt; he worked in the Reagan administration for six years and CNN's chief political correspondent, Dana Bash. [applause]

I will follow up and guide the discussion; candidates, I'll try to make sure each of you gets your fair share of questions. You'll have one minute to answer questions and 30 seconds for followups and rebuttals. I'll give you time to respond if you have been singled out for criticism.

We have timing lights that are visible to the candidates. Those lights will warn them when their time is up.

Our goal tonight is to have a true debate, candidates actually addressing each other in areas where they disagree, where they differ on policy, on politics and on leadership.

Now that everyone is in place, it's time for the candidates to introduce themselves to our audience. Please keep it brief.

Governor Pataki, you're first.

PATAKI: Thank you, Jake.

Hi, I'm George Pataki, and I am honored to be here this afternoon with all of you at the Reagan Library.

You know, when I think of Ronald Reagan, I think of his tremendous smile, a smile that reflected his optimism and his unending belief and faith in America and in Americans.

And it was that belief in America that led to a great presidency, a presidency that led to decades of safety, security and prosperity for America. That's exactly the type of leadership we need in Washington today and that's why I'm running for President of the United States. Thank you. [applause]

SANTORUM: Hi, I'm Rick Santorum. Some of you may know me because I led the fight to end partial birth abortion. Some of you may know me because the I led the fight to end welfare as we know it, put people back to work, reduce poverty and reduce the federal budget.

Some of you may know me because I successfully put sanctions on the Iranian nuclear program in Congress, over opposition of both parties initially.

But hopefully, most of you know me most because I'm the proud father of seven children with particularly a special little disabled girl, who is the heart and core of my heart and married to a wonderful woman named Karen for 25 years, who is the love of my life. [applause]

JINDAL: Hi, I'm Bobby Jindal.

Now, look, I don't have a famous last name. My daddy didn't run for president. I don't have a reality TV show. I'll tell you what I do have, I've got the backbone, I've got the bandwidth, I've got the experience to get us through these tough times, to make sure that we don't turn the American dream into the European nightmare. Thank you for having me today. [applause]

GRAHAM: One, thanks, CNN, for having people at this debate. [laughter] I'm Lindsey Graham from South Carolina, in case you can't tell. I want to thank Ms. Reagan (ph) for inviting me. It means the world to me. I'm the only candidate tonight who served in the military while Ronald Reagan was our president and our commander in chief. It was one of the highlights of my life.

I'm running for president to destroy radical Islam, to win the war on terror, to protect you and your family.

And in that quest, I have an uncompromising determination to win this war, just like President Reagan had an uncompromising determination to destroy the evil empire, and win the Cold War.

Above all others on both sides of the isle, I'm most qualified to be commander and chief on day one -- 33 years in the Air Force, 35 trips to Iraq and Afghanistan, I understand this war. I have a plan to win it, and I intend to win it. [applause]

TAPPER: Thank you candidates. We're going to talk a lot about policy and your proposals this evening.

But first, Governor Jindal, I want to start with you. You have said that the front runner, Donald Trump, is a, quote, "unstable, narcissistic, ego maniac." Now, we are in the house of Reagan, who made famous the so-called 11th Commandment, "Thou shalt not speak ill of thy fellow Republican."

What drove you to violate that unofficial commandment?

JINDAL: Well, Jake, I'm in compliance with the 11th Commandment, and I would tell my fellow Republicans, let's stop treating Donald Trump like a Republican. If he were really a conservative... [applause]

If he were really a conservative and 30 points ahead, I would endorse him. He's not a conservative. He's not a liberal. He's not a Democrat. He's not a Republican. He's not an independent. He believes in Donald Trump.

Here is the reality, the idea of America is slipping away. Eighteen trillion dollars of debt, Planned Parenthood selling baby parts across our country. Our government is creating a new entitlement program, when we can't afford the government we've got today.

We've got a president who won't even say the words radical Islamic terrorism. He has declared war on trans fats and a truce with Iran. Think about that. He's more worried about Twinkies than he is about the ayatollahs having a nuclear weapon. [applause] That's what is happening, the idea of America is slipping away. We must not let that happen on our watch. We have a once in a lifetime opportunity to rescue the idea of America, the choice for conservatives. Do we depend on proven conservative principles like Ronald Reagan did, or do we turn this over to a narcissist who only believes in himself...

TAPPER: Thank you, Governor.

JINDAL: Thank you, Jake. [applause]

TAPPER: Senator Santorum, do you think Governor Jindal is wrong for attacking your party's front runner?

SANTORUM: I think personal attacks, just please one person, Hillary Clinton.

And all we do when we go after each other -- and we've seen a bunch of it, from people up on this stage, people who are going to be on the stage afterwards, who go after and make personal attacks on people. There are plenty of policy differences between the candidates up here and the candidates later.

Donald Trump has ever right to run for president as a Republican, as anybody else in this audience, and he may have positions I disagree with, but he has the right to do that and the people should be given the benefit of the doubt for people to see through these things.

I don't think it helps when Republicans attack Republicans personally. I'll say some things tonight which will be very big differences. The issue of immigration is one that there are huge differences in this field, and I will be out there talking about how we have to control immigration. How we have to look after the American worker.

The focus of this debate should be on how we're going to win this election and help improve the quality of life for American workers, and we aren't doing that, when we're out there picking at each other and calling each other names.

The name we should call out is, what are we going to do for average Americans losing ground in America today. And that should be our focus.

TAPPER: Thank you.

Governor Jindal, do you want to respond to that? [applause]

JINDAL: Absolutely. Look, the reality is, Hillary Clinton is gift-wrapping this election to us. They are running their weakest candidate. They have got a socialist that is gaining on Hillary Clinton. Folks, you can't make that up. A socialist is doing well in the Democratic primary.

The best way for us to give this election back would be to nominate a Donald Trump. He'll implode in the general election, or if, God forbid, if he were in the White House, we have no idea what he would do.

You can't just attack him on policy. He doesn't care about policy. It's not enough to say he was for socialized medicine or higher taxes...

TAPPER: Thank you, Governor.

JINDAL: He's not serious.

TAPPER: Senator Santorum, just to assure you, we will get to those issues. But just a couple more on this general subject.

Senator Graham, you have called Donald Trump a, quote, "wrecking ball for the Republican party." Voters in your home state of South Carolina, in a recent poll, prefer Donald Trump 30 percent to your 4 percent.

How do you explain why so many of your constituents would rather have Donald Trump as the Republican nominee than you?

GRAHAM: Well, all I can say, if you looked at polling in 2012 and 2008 at this level, we'd have -- at this stage, we would have President Perry and President Giuliani. I have a long way to go.

And here's what I'm going to try to do tonight -- convince you that I'm best qualified to be the commander-in-chief of the one percent who are doing the fighting for the rest of us. And we'll have a serious discussion tonight.

All of us are going to say we want to destroy ISIL.

But here's what I'm going to tell you. What we're doing is not working. I have a plan to do it. If I'm president of the United States, we're going to send more ground forces into Iraq because we have to. President Obama made a huge mistake by leaving too soon against sound military advice.

To every candidate tonight, are you willing to commit before the American people that you will destroy ISIL and you understand we need a ground force to do it?

Are you willing -- Jake, please ask everybody the following question.

Would you go from 3,500 to 10,000 American boots on the ground in Iraq to destroy ISIL?

Because if you don't, we're going to lose.

Are you willing to send American combat forces into Syria as part of a regional army, because if you don't, we'll never destroy ISIL in Syria.

If you're not ready to these things you're not ready to be commander-in-chief.

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator Graham. [applause]

We're going to bring in Hugh Hewitt now, who has a question for Governor Pataki.

HEWITT: Thank you, Jake.

Governor, you signed the pledge to support the Republican nominee and you promptly broke it. By doing so, by Tweeting out that you would not support Donald Trump, have you released Donald Trump to be a free agent again or anyone else in the field?

PATAKI: No. Hugh, not at all. I have not broken the pledge because Donald Trump is not going to be the Republican nominee, period, flat out, I guarantee you that. I would vote...

HEWITT: Governor...

PATAKI: -- for the Republican nominee...

HEWITT: -- you said on Twitter that you would not support Donald Trump.

If he's the nominee...

PATAKI: He's not going to be the nominee.

HEWITT: -- will you support him?

PATAKI: He's not going to be the nominee, Hugh. And let me just say one word here. This is an important election with an enormous number of challenges facing the American people. And the first four questions are about Donald Trump.

[crosstalk]

HEWITT: Would you really vote for Hillary Clinton...

PATAKI: No, I would not vote for Hillary Clinton.

HEWITT: -- or vote for Donald Trump if he's the nominee?

PATAKI: No, I will vote for the Republican nominee. But let me say this flat out, Donald Trump is unfit to be president of the United States or the Republican Party's nominee.

Look at what he did in Atlantic City.

He says he's going to make America great again?

He invested four casinos in Atlantic City and he said, essentially, I'm going to make Atlantic City great again.

Every one of those casinos went bankrupt. Over 5,000 Americans lost their job. And you know people who, in this difficult economic time, have lost their job and the pain that causes.

He didn't lose anything, 5,000 lost their jobs. He will do for America what he did for Atlantic City and that is not someone we will nominate.

TAPPER: Thank you, Governor.

PATAKI: Thank you.

TAPPER: Senator Graham? [applause] One of the -- the reasons why Donald Trump, Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina are doing well is because they are political outsiders. In fact, that's one of the things -- in fact, there are two things that they have in common. They've never been elected to office before and they're doing better than all of you in the polls.

The four of you have a combined seven decades in elected office.

Senator Graham, in this election season, do Republican voters see your service in government as a liability and not an asset?

GRAHAM: Well, what I hope Republican voters, libertarian, vegetarians, Democrats, you name it, will look for somebody to lead us in a new direction, domestically, but particularly on the foreign policy front.

President Obama is making a mess of the world. What I'm trying to tell you here tonight, that Syria is hell on Earth and it's not going to get fixed by insulting each other. I've been there 35 times to Iraq and Afghanistan. I am ready to be commander-in-chief on day one.

I've been in the military 33 years, 140 days on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan. I am so ready to get on with winning a war that we can't afford to lose.

I hope you believe that experience matters. It's an all- volunteer force of -- when you vote for commander-in-chief, they are stuck with your choice. We've had one novice being commander-in- chief. Let's don't replace one novice with another.

And if I thought...

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator.

GRAHAM: -- I could win this war without more American ground forces in Iraq and Syria, I would tell you, but we can't...

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator.

GRAHAM: -- and if we don't get on with this, they are coming here.

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator.

Let's turn to the topic of immigration. [applause] For that, I want to bring in my colleague, Dana Bash.

BASH: Senator Santorum, Governor Jindal has supported a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants once the border is secure.

Why do you disagree with that?

SANTORUM: Well, in fact, just about everybody in this field supports some pathway to citizenship. There are just a few, Governor Jindal, Senator Cruz, Senator Rubio, Jeb Bush, a lot of others, Senator Graham, all support some sort of amnesty at some point in time or another.

And this is really the interesting thing about this whole debate. This debate should not be about what we're going to do with someone who's here illegally.

This debate should not be about what we're going to do with someone who's here illegally; This debate should be about what -- what every other debate on every other policy issue is in America. What's in the best interest of hardworking Americans? What's in the best interest of our country.

We've had to focus because the other side has set up for us, here is who we have to be concerned about on the issue of immigration, someone who's here illegally and their family, and what are we going to do about it? A greater leader will see that the objection of every law in America is to do what's in the best interest of America.

And what's in the best interest of America right now is to look at wages, look at employment among wager earners. 70 to 90 percent of people who've come into this country, 35 million over the last 20 years, are wage earners that are holding wages down, taking jobs away from America.

BASH: Senator, your time's up. I want to get the governor to respond to that.

JINDAL: Yeah, I wanted to clarify -- I want to make very clear that everybody understands my position is, we need to secure the border, period.

Any talk of doing any more -- we don't need a comprehensive plan, don't need an 1,000-page bill, like the Gang of Eight. We don't need amnesty.

Everybody in D.C. talks about it. We need to get it done. As president, I'll get it done in six months. It won't be perfect, but we can get it done.

I'm not for amnesty. We do need to secure the border. A smart immigration makes our -- our country stronger. Right now, we've got a weak one.

One of the things I've said -- I know the left -- I know Hillary didn't like this -- immigration without assimilation is invasion. We need to insist the people who come here come here legally, learn English, adopt our values, roll up their sleeves and get to work. We do need to secure the border. [applause]

BASH: Senator -- Senator Santorum, do you buy that, that the governor's not for amnesty?

SANTORUM: Well, just because you don't call it amnesty doesn't mean that what -- what almost everybody in this field is for is allowing people who are in this country illegally, people who broke the law to come into this country, people who came here legally and overstayed, to stay in -- in America.

Again, we have 35 million -- we have the highest percentage of -- of -- of immigrants in this country, as far as numbers ever, as far as percentage, the -- the highest in 105 years. Wages are flatlining.

The reason that you're seeing the angst and the anger out there and the reason this issue has taken off is because workers in America know that their wages are being undermined.

If you look at, from the year 2000 to the year 2014, there're 5.7 million net new jobs created. What percentage of those jobs are held by people who weren't born here? The answer is all of them.

The fact is, American workers are -- are getting hurt by immigration...

BASH: Senator, your time is up...

SANTORUM: ... and that's why they're upset.

BASH: Your time is up.

And Governor, I'm sorry. Just -- you -- you really need to clarify your position, because you say you're not for amnesty, but you have been for a path to citizenship...

JINDAL: Dana, that's not right. What I've said consistently is secure the border. I've said after that is done, the American people will deal with the folks that are here pragmatically and compassionately.

Now, Rick, if he wants to say that Rubio, Senator Rubio, or Jeb or others are for amnesty, that's his right. I'm not for amnesty. I've never been for amnesty, will never be for amnesty.

Secure the border. We don't need to do that as a comprehensive -- I've also said we need to put an end to sanctuary cities. It's not enough to defund them; I think we need to criminalize, accuse and jail those mayors and councilman as accessories...

(UNKNOWN): Thank you, Governor.

JINDAL: ... for the crimes committed by people who shouldn't be here in the first place. [applause]

TAPPER: Thank you, Governor.

I -- I want to change the subject. We're staying on immigration, and I'm bringing you in, Governor Pataki...

PATAKI: OK. All right. Thank you.

TAPPER: ... and Senator Graham, I'm coming to you as well.

GRAHAM: Thank you.

TAPPER: Governor Pataki, Republicans right now are -- are debating birthright citizenship, the policy of granting U.S. citizenship to every baby born in this country, even if they born to undocumented immigrants.

Senator Graham wants to end the policy of birthright citizenship. Governor Pataki, you support keeping it. Tell him why he's wrong.

PATAKI: Yeah, it's a small part of a very important issue, and let me comment on what my colleagues were saying here.

We all agree you have to secure the border. We have to make sure that people come to America legally. That has got to be step one.

Step two is, we have to stop releasing criminals into the communities. If you are charged with a crime as an illegal alien, you should either be in jail or be deported. You should not released, as the Obama administration has done. Of course, we should outlaw sanctuary cities and hold them responsible.

But we can't ignore 11 million people who are here. What are we going to do? We're not going to send them back, despite somebody saying we're going to drag kids out of classrooms and send them back.

But we have to send a message that we are a nation that depends on the rule of law, and when your first act is to break the law, there has to be a consequence.

So what I would do is require those who want to have legal status, not citizenship, come forward, acknowledge they broke the law, and if they do it again, they can be immediately deported, and then do what we do in communities across America when we want to sanction someone...

TAPPER: Thank you, Governor.

PATAKI: ... and that is community service -- 200 hours working in a hospital...

TAPPER: Governor...

PATAKI: ... working in a school, and then they could have legal...

TAPPER: What I -- what I asked about was about birthright citizenship and why you think that we should preserve birthright...

PATAKI: I don't -- I don't think that we should tell that child born in America that we're going to send them back. The way to avoid that is to have an intelligent immigration policy where we know who is coming here, why they are coming here, so we don't have this flood of people coming here for the wrong reasons.

TAPPER: Senator Graham, most countries in the world do not have birthright citizenship.

GRAHAM: Probably for a good reason.

TAPPER: Why do you think Governor Pataki is wrong?

GRAHAM: Well, let's talk about immigration. Number one, I like Rick. I don't remember the Santorum plan when I was in the Senate.

The peanut gallery on this is interesting. I have been trying to solve this problem for a decade. There are no democrats here tonight. If you're here, raise your hand. You went to the wrong -- we'll, welcome. Thank you very much for coming. [laughter]

[crosstalk]

TAPPER: Was that a...

GRAHAM: The bottom line, I'm trying to pitch the problem. We're not going to deport 11 million people here illegally, but we'll start with felons, and off they go. And, as to the rest, you can stay, but you got to learn our language. I don't speak it very well, well, look how far I've come? [laughter] Speaking English is a good thing. You got to pay taxes, you got to pay a fine, you got to get in the back of the line. You've got to secure your border or they'll keep coming. If you don't control who gets a job that never ends -- so (ph) got two borders. One with Canadia -- Canada, one with Mexico. I never met an illegal Canadian.

This is an economic problem, so, folks, let's solve it. Amnesty is doing nothing, and that's what we've been doing.

As to birthright citizenship, once we clean up this mess, in the future, prospectively, I'm going to look at the following. There are people buying tourist visas that go to resorts with maternity wards with the expressed purpose of having a children here in America. There are rich Asians, there are rich people up in the Mid-East...

TAPPER: ...Thank you Senator...

GRAHAM: ...That to me is bastardizing citizenship...

TAPPER: ...Thank you Senator...

GRAHAM: ...Yeah, I'd like to stop that in the future...

TAPPER(?): Governor Pataki, I'd just want to...

SANTORUM: ...Hold on, hold on, hold on...

TAPPER: ...We'll come back to you Senator Santorum, I promise...

SANTORUM: ...He mentioned my name, and that i didn't have a plan. And, the fact of the matter is...

TAPPER: ...alright...

SANTORUM: ...that I did have a plan back in 2006. I introduced a plan called, A Comprehensive Border Security Bill, which did, in fact, put the resources to build the fencing, and deploy the troops, and the technology necessary which...

GRAHAM: ...What do you do with the 11 million?

SANTORUM: As you know, Lindsay...

GRAHAM: ...What are you going to do with the 11 million?

SANTORUM: ...As you know, 40 to 60 percent of the 11 million are here on visa overstays. We know exactly who they are, we should know where they are, but we have a government that doesn't tell them to return home. You can solve half of the problem of the 11 million...

GRAHAM: ...Well, what about the other half...

SANTORUM: ...by simply telling the 11 million that they have to return to their country of origin, so, that's half your problem...

GRAHAM: ...How many democrats support yourplan...

SANTORUM: ...Now, it's not 11 million...

GRAHAM: ...How many democrats did you have on your bill?

SANTORUM: I don't know how many democrats I had on my bill...

GRAHAM: ...I can tell you. None.

SANTORUM: But, the point is -- the point is is that I had a bill...

GRAHAM: ...That went nowhere.

SANTORUM: Well, you're right, Lindsay, it went no where because we had a president back then who was for more comprehensive immigration reform...

GRAHAM: ...George W. Bush...

SANTORUM: ...That's right...

GRAHAM: ...Who won with hispanics.

SANTORUM: You know what we need to do...

GRAHAM: ...Compared to what we're doing...

SANTORUM: Lindsay, is we need to win -- we need to win fighting for Americans. We need to win fighting for the workers in this country...

GRAHAM: ...Hispanics...

SANTORUM: ...who are hurting, including including hispanics...

GRAHAM: ...Are Americans...

SANTORUM: ...the people who are hurt the most by illegal immigration are hispanics.

GRAHAM: [applause]...In my world, hispanics are Americans...

SANTORUM: ...The folks -- the folks who are -- hurt the worst are recent immigrants. By illegal immigrants coming to this country last year alone, 700,000 illegal immigrants came into this country. Who do you think are most impacted? It's the folks who came into this country, played by the rules, did what they were supposed to do. Came here, and went to work, and now they're finding themselves out of work because someone illegally is willing to come in and work for less...

GRAHAM: ...I have a little different take on where the country is going on this issue. Number one, in 1950, there were 16 workers for every retiree. How many are there today? There's three. In 20 years, there's going to be two, and you're going to have 80 million baby boomers like me retiree in mass wanting a Social Security check, and their Medicare bills paid.

We're going to need more legal immigration. Let's just make it logical. Let's pick people from all over the world on our terms, not just somebody from Mexico. Let's create a rational, legal immigration system because we have a declining workforce.

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator...

GRAHAM: ...Strom Thurmond had four kids after he was 67, if you're not willing to do that, we've got to come up with a new legal immigration system. [applause]

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator. Governor Pataki, I want to let you have the final word here.

SANTORUM: I just want to say -- I just want to say, I have seven kids, I've done my part.

TAPPER: Governor Pataki?

PATAKI: We have to deal with the people who are here illegally. We can't just ignore them, or send them back. I think my policy would work to give them legal status, make them a part of an economy that will grow, and help America. TAPPER: I want to turn to another pressing immigration issue. Governor Jindal, over the next year, at least 10,000 Syrian refugees will be allowed to enter the United States. Governor Jindal, you've said it's ridiculous for America to let more refugees in from Syria, and you've expressed concerns about security.

Senator Graham says that the United States has a moral obligation to these Syrian refugees. Governor Jindal, does the United States have any obligation to them?

JINDAL: Jake, look, America's the most compassionate country in the entire world. We do more for folks around this world, and that's the nature of the American people.

Two things. One, let us draw line, a direct line, between this refugee crisis, and this president's failed foreign policy.

Jake, look, America is the most compassionate country in the entire world. We do more for folks around this world. And that's the nature of the American people.

Two things: one, let us draw a line, a direct line between this refugee crisis and this president's failed foreign policy. He drew a red line in Syria and did not enforce it and now we're seeing millions of refugees potentially, hundreds of thousands going into Europe.

The answer is not to put a Band-aid on this and allow even more people to come into America. We should not short-circuit; we have got a vetting process, we've got a normal refugee process. Simply allowing more into our country doesn't solve this problem.

The way to solve this problem is for us to be clear to our friends and allies that we're going to replace Assad, we're going to hunt down and destroy ISIS; our friends don't trust us, our enemies don't fear and respect us.

But I want to go back on immigration. Let me be very clear. Immigration, we need to insist on assimilation in immigration. My parents came here legally almost 45 years ago. They came here, they followed the rule of law. They knew English, they adopted the values. They didn't come here to be hyphenated Americans. They're not Indian Americans. They're not Asian Americans. They're --

TAPPER: Thank you, Governor.

JINDAL: We -- it is important we insist on that in immigration going --

TAPPER: Thank you, Governor.

Senator Graham, your response when it comes to Syrian refugees?

GRAHAM: Yes, number one, how does President Obama sleep at night?

Look what you let happen on your watch. Your commanders told you, don't withdrawal from Iraq because we'll lose of our gains.

Three years ago your entire national security team, Senator McCain and I begged you to do a no-fly zone and help the Free Syrian Army while it would matter. But you said no.

I'm not blaming Bobby, I'm not blaming Rick, I'm not blaming anybody, I'm blaming Barack Obama for this mess.

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator. [applause] I want to turn now --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I want to fix it.

TAPPER: We're going to keep talking about the situation in the Middle East. Let me bring in my colleague, Dana Bash, again.

BASH: Thank you.

Senator Graham, you mentioned this earlier; you are calling for an additional 20,000 U.S. ground forces to fight ISIS in Iraq and Syria and you have said -- again, just this evening -- that anyone who's not willing to do that should not be commander in chief.

GRAHAM: Right.

BASH: No one on this stage has gone that far.

So are you saying, for Iraq and Syria, are you saying that everybody to your right is not fit for the Oval Office?

GRAHAM: I'm saying this, if they don't understand that Barack Obama's policies are not working, that we're not going to destroy ISIL in Iraq and Syria from the air, they are not ready.

What have I learned in 35 trips? I learned what works and what doesn't.

We were in a good spot in Iraq, President Bush made mistakes but he adjusted. To those who fought in Iraq, you did your job and Barack Obama wasted it all.

Now we're in a spot where, if we don't destroy ISIL soon, they are coming here. There are 3,500 American boots on the ground. You would never know it, hearing your president, but we need about 10,000 to turn the tide of battle in Iraq. Then there is nobody left, Dana, to train inside of Syria.

We spent $50 million training 54 people and they are down to four or five. They have been slaughtered. So we're going to need a regional army, the turks, the Jordanians, the Saudis, the Egyptians get their armies up together and 90 percent of it will be them. They're going to pay for this war because we paid for the last two.

But 10 percent at least will have to be us and we're going in on the ground and we're going to pull the caliphate up by its roots and we're going to kill every one of these bastards we can find because, if we don't, they are coming here. [applause]

BASH: Senator --

[crosstalk]

BASH: -- Senator Santorum, I know you're raising your hand.

You're committing to this number of troops, both in Iraq and on the ground in Syria?

SANTORUM: I have proposed 10,000 troops, I did so about six or seven months ago, that we needed to deploy additional troops to do exactly what Lindsey said, arm the Kurds, arm --

[crosstalk]

BASH: And he's saying 20,000.

Would you...?

SANTORUM: I've said -- I've said 10,000 and, if more is necessary, look, the answer is this, once ISIS established a caliphate, the game changed because once you establish a caliphate, you have an area of control, you have to take ground from that caliphate, because if you don't, then, in the Islamic world, it's seen as a legitimate caliphate.

As long as they have territorial integrity, and even expand it, they have legitimacy and much of the Muslim world to call people to join their jihad here in America as well as in Iraq and in Syria. So we must take their ground.

BASH: Thank you, Senator.

Governor Jindal?

JINDAL: Look, absolutely. We need to do whatever is necessary to hunt down and kill these radical Islamic terrorists but this president has helped -- his policies have helped to contribute to this problem.

He went to the Pentagon the same week they announced they were cutting back the number of troops in the Army to say that we're not going to win this through guns, it's going to be a change of hearts and minds. This will be a generational conflict, that is nonsense. These are barbarians.

They are burning, crucifying people alive, Christians and other Muslims. We need to hunt them down and --

TAPPER: Thank you, Governor.

JINDAL: -- by having a president willing to --

TAPPER: Thank you, Governor.

JINDAL: -- Islamic --

TAPPER: Thank you, thank you, Governor.

[crosstalk]

GRAHAM: -- does that include American ground forces in Syria as part of a regional army?

Are all of you willing to commit to American ground forces going into Syria as part of a regional army to destroy the caliphate and its headquarters?

TAPPER: Governor Pataki --

PATAKI: Lindsey, let me comment on this.

Last week was the anniversary of September 11th and I was governor of New York on September 11th and led us through that horrible day. And I learned that we cannot assume that because radical Islam is a continent away, it doesn't pose a threat to us here in America. It did then, and today, I think, we are at greater risk of an attack than at any time since.

We have got to destroy ISIS's ability to attack us here. But it's not 10,000 troops. It's not 20,000 troops. In my view, it's three things. First, we have to directly arm those fighting ISIS on the ground now. The Kurds...

TAPPER: Thank you, Governor. Sorry. We have rules and timing.

Governor Jindal, I do want to bring you in. I want to turn to a story in news in the story today. A 14-year-old Muslim high school student in Texas was arrested on Monday for bringing a homemade clock to school after it was mistaken for a fake bomb. Police released the young man after they determined it was, in fact, a clock. Today, President Obama invited that student to the White House.

Governor Jindal, throughout your campaign, you've spoken many times about Muslim extremists in this country. How would you, as president, strike a balance between vigilance and discrimination?

JINDAL: Well, Jake, look, I think the American people -- we don't discriminate anybody based on the color of their skin or their creed. I think the way you strike that balance, you say to Muslim leaders, they have got two responsibilities.

One, it's not enough to denounce just simply generic acts of violence. They have got to denounce the individuals by name, and say these are not martyrs. These terrorists are not martyrs; rather, they are going straight to hell. They are not going to enjoy a reward in their afterlife.

Secondly, they have to explicitly embrace the same freedoms for everybody else they want for themselves. Look, I know it's politically incorrect to say this, the president says Fort Hood was an issue of workplace violence.

We are at war with radical Islam. Our president loves to apologize for America, he goes to the National Prayer Breakfast, brings up the Crusades, criticizes Christians. We're at war today with radical Islamic extremists.

It's not politically correct to say that, but the way you strike that balance, you say to Muslim leaders, denounce these fools, these radical terrorists by name, say they are not martyrs.

TAPPER: Governor Jindal, I'm afraid you didn't answer the question. How do you strike the balance between vigilance and discrimination?

Obviously, we know how you feel about the vigilance part of this. Do you ever see the discrimination part of it?

JINDAL: Sure, I don't think a 14-year-old should ever get arrested for bringing a clock to school. So, if you're asking me I'm glad he wasn't -- he was released. I'm glad that police are careful. I'm glad they are worried about security and safety issues.

Look, in America we don't tolerate them. The biggest discrimination is going on against Christian business owners and individuals who believe in traditional forms of marriage. They are throwing this woman in jail in Kentucky. [applause]

Let's talk about that. Let's talk about the Christian florist, the caterer, the musician, who simply want to say, don't arrest us for having -- or don't discriminate against us, don't shut down our businesses, don't fine us thousands of dollars for believing marriage is between a man and a woman. Lets talk about not discriminating against Christians.

TAPPER: Thank you, Governor. We will get to that subject later in the debate.

Senator Graham?

GRAHAM: Well, you know, Kim Davis, I'm not worried about her attacking me. I am worried about radical Islamic terrorists who are already here planning another 9/11.

We're at war, folks. I'm not fighting a crime. I want to have a legal system that understands the difference between fighting a war and fighting a crime, and here's the reality. Young men from the Mid- East are different than Kim Davis. And we've got to understand that.

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator.

GRAHAM: Islamic websites need to be monitored.

PATAKI: Jake...

GRAHAM: And if you are on one, I want to know what you're doing.

TAPPER: Governor Pataki?

PATAKI: Jake, if I can comment on this. Yes, Kim Davis is different from Islamist radicalists from the Middle East.

But on the other hand, we have run rule in America, an elected official can't say I'm not going to follow that law if it conflicts with my beliefs. I think she should have been fired and if she worked for me, I would have fired her. We have to uphold the rule of law. [applause]

TAPPER: Thank you, Governor.

PATAKI: Imagine one minute -- Jake, imagine one minute that was a Muslim who said I don't believe in gay marriage, and refused to perform that wedding. We wouldn't have had that outrage. There's a place where religion supersedes the rule of law. It's called Iran. It shouldn't be the United States.

TAPPER: We'll get to that subject in the next block. We're going to take a very quick break. When we come back, both Jeb Bush and Donald Trump agree on one thing when it comes to taxes. We'll see if any of the candidates on stage agree as well.

TAPPER: That's next. Stay with us.

[commercial break] [applause]

TAPPER: Welcome back to the CNN Republican Debate at the beautiful Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California.

Before we took the break, you were all chomping at the bit to talk about Kim Davis, that Kentucky clerk.

Governor Pataki said he would have fired Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk jailed for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses.

Senator Santorum, do you agree with Governor Pataki?

SANTORUM: 16 years ago, this country was tremendously inspired by a young woman who faced a gunman in Columbine and was challenged about her faith and she refused to deny God. We saw her as a hero.

Today, someone who refuses to defy (sic) a judge's unconstitutional verdict is ridiculed and criticized, chastised because she's standing up and denying -- not denying her God and her faith.

That is a huge difference in 16 years. People have a fundamental right in the First Amendment. There's no more important right. It is the right that is the trunk that all other rights come from, and that's the freedom of conscience.

And when we say in America that we have no room -- how many bakers, how many florists, how many pastors, how many clerks are we going to throw in jail because they stand up and say, "I cannot violate what my faith says is against its teachings"? Is there not room in America? I believe there has to be room.

First, I believe we have to pass the First Amendment Defense Act, which provides that room for government officials and others who do not want to be complicit in what they believe is against their faith.

Second, we need as a president who's going to fight a court that is abusive, that has superseded their authority. Judicial supremacy is not in the Constitution, and we need a president and a Congress to stand up to a court when it exceeds its constitutional authority. [applause]

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator.

Governor Pataki, your response?

PATAKI: My response is kind of, "Wow." You know, we're going to have a president who defies the Supreme Court because they don't agree?

SANTORUM: I hope so. If they're wrong.

PATAKI: Then you don't have the rule of law...

SANTORUM: No, what you have is judicial supremacy. You don't have a rule of law when the court has the final say on everything.

PATAKI: The -- the elected representatives of the people always have the opportunity to change that law. The Supreme Court makes a determination, but it's ultimately the elected officials who decide whether or not that would be accepted.

By the way, if I have a chance to lead this country, I will appoint judges who understand their role. They're not going to be making the law; they're going to be interpreting law that the elected officials passed.

PATAKI: But there's a huge difference between an individual standing up and saying I am going to stand for my religious freedom and my religious rights. I applaud that. This is America. You should be able to engage in your religious belief in the way you see fit.

But when you are an elected official and you take an oath of office to uphold the law, all the laws, you cannot pick and choose or you no longer have a society that depends on the rule of law. [applause]

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator Santorum?

SANTORUM: Martin Luther King wrote a letter from the Birmingham jail. And he said in that letter that there are just laws and there are unjust laws. And we have no obligation to -- to condone and accept unjust laws.

And he -- and they -- then he followed up and said what's an unjust law?

An unjust law is a job that -- a law that go against the moral code or God's law or the natural law.

I would argue that what the Supreme Court did is against the natural law, it's against God's law and we have every obligation to stand in opposition to it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jake...

PATAKI: Yes, I -- I didn't agree with the Supreme Court's decision, but it is the law of this land. And I am a great admirer of Martin Luther King. And he was prepared to break the law. But it wasn't in an office of political power. It was civil disobedience, where what he was willing to do is voluntarily go to jail with his followers to send a message to the elected representatives that these laws were wrong and had to be changed.

And because of his courage, we didn't ignore the courts, we changed the laws and made America a better place. That's the way to do it.

TAPPER: Thank you, Governor.

JINDAL: Jake -- Jake... [crosstalk]

TAPPER: We're coming to both of you.

JINDAL: Jake, I've got a practical question.

TAPPER: What...[crosstalk]

JINDAL: I've got a practical question. I'd like the left to give us a list of jobs that Christians aren't allowed to have. If we're not allowed to be clerks, bakers, musicians, caterers, are we allowed to be pastors [inaudible]?

TAPPER: Governor Jindal...

JINDAL: We're not allowed to be elected officials. I firmly -- this is an important point. The First Amendment rights, the right to religious freedom is in the First Amendment of "The Constitution." It isn't breaking the law to exercise our constitutional rights. America did not create religious liberty, religious liberty created the United States of America. It is the reason we're here today. [applause]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I...

TAPPER: Senator Graham, do you want to weigh in?

GRAHAM: I wasn't the best law student. By the end of this debate, it would be the most time I've ever spent in any library. [laughter]

But on the first day in law school view (ph), it's called "Marbury v. Madison." The group in our constitutional democracy that interprets "The Constitution" as to what it means is the Supreme Court. In a 5-4 decision by the Supreme Court, they have ruled that same-sex marriage bans at the state level violate the Fourteenth Amendment to "The United States Constitution" equal protection clause.

I don't agree with it, but that is the law of the land. But as president, what I want make sure of is that everybody in this room, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, whatever religion that you can practice your faith without government interference, you can marry people consistent with the tenets of your faith. That's the number one obligation of my presidency, is to protect religious people when they exercise their religious rights.

But this decision is the law as it is of right now.

And here's the one thing I want to tell you, Jake.

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator.

GRAHAM: Wait -- wait a minute.

Whether you're the wedding cake baker or the gay couple or the Baptist preacher, radical Islam would kill you all if they could.

TAPPER: Senator...

GRAHAM: Let's don't lose sight of the big picture here.

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator.

I want to stay with the subject of Supreme Court judges -- justices.

Governor Jindal, both Senators graham and Santorum voted to confirm chief justice of the United States, John Roberts, who has led with the majority twice to uphold ObamaCare.

Do you think that Graham's and Santorum's votes to confirm John Roberts were a mistake?

JINDAL: I think actually putting Roberts, I think putting Kennedy, I think putting -- before them, I think putting Souter on the bench was a mistake. But look, I think the -- the first responsibility starts in the White House. The reality is conservatives have not been willing to stand up for our beliefs, unlike the liberals -- look, you never worry about where the Democratic judges are going to vote, it's always the conservatives. You've never had a Democratic judge wake up and say, surprise, I've evolved, I've become a conservative.

It's always the Republicans, because we have presidents that try to find judges with no records, no rulings, no writings. I'll tell you, I am going to have a litmus test. For judges, I'm going to find judges that are conservative, judges that are going to be pro-life, judges that are going to follow "The Constitution," judges, by the way, that are going to follow the American law, not international law.

They're not appointed there to interpret international law, they're there to apply "The United States Constitution." Judges understand, their job is not to write law. If they want to write law, they should run for the Senate or the House.

It's time for a Republican president as the next commander in chief, I will do as the Democrats have done. I will appoint bold judges that are actually consistent with my values that will be conservatives and enforce the Senate --

TAPPER: Thank you, Governor.

Senator Graham, I want to give you an opportunity to respond -- [applause] -- I would note that Anthony Kennedy, was, of course, a Ronald Reagan appointee.

Senator Graham, do you stand by your vote for John Roberts?

GRAHAM: He's one of the most qualified men to ever come before the United States Senate and I don't agree with his decision, but 99 times out of 100, I will.

To the Republicans, the biggest prize on the table in 2017 is the presidency. If it is Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders, they are going to pick people that we will disagree with all the time.

Please understand, we have to win this election. The court's at stake. It is the most important reason for us to turn out, to make sure we don't lose the judiciary for decades to come. [applause]

TAPPER: Senator Santorum, do you stand by your vote for John Roberts?

SANTORUM: Well, contrary to what Governor Jindal said, Governor -- Justice Roberts had a long record and it was a long, good record. And so he made a bad decision on -- a couple of bad decisions on ObamaCare but he's made a lot of great decisions, too.

And so I don't -- I don't regret at all standing up for John Roberts but, you know, it's easy to sit out in Louisiana and talk about how, you know, well, I'd be tougher.

I fought when I was in the United States Senate. We fought, for the first time, to defeat justices and judges that Bill Clinton nominated and I fought with President Bush to defend his nominees, to push even a filibuster, breaking the filibuster. I led that fight against someone who didn't want to end the filibuster in order for us to get good, conservative justices.

So I have been there on the front line, fighting for judges and conservative justices and I will do so as president like none other.

TAPPER: Governor Jindal, I'm going to give you 30 seconds to respond.

JINDAL: Thank you, Jake. But look, it's not a minor ruling. Justice Roberts twice rewrote the law to save ObamaCare, the biggest expansion of government, creating a new entitlement when we can't afford the government we've got today, an expansion of socialism in our country.

It's not that he got a minor ruling wrong. This is twice he rewrote the law. Now, look, I have a lot of respect for these senators that have big bladders. They give great speeches in the Senate. And I respect that.

I've actually signed the executive order. I've actually signed a law protecting religious liberty in the state of Louisiana.

It's not 99-1. The one that he got wrong was a big one. Twice he bent over backwards to save ObamaCare. If the Republicans had voted the way that we should -- they should have, we would still have our 19th Amendment rights and ObamaCare would not be the law of the land.

TAPPER: Let me bring back Hugh Hewitt.

HEWITT: Governor Jindal, Senator Graham just said it's all about winning and, in fact, if former Secretary of State Clinton is the successor to President Obama, none of this matters and all this conversation is beside the point.

In the Washington elite, they have a habit of saying nice things about each other until election time. Senator Graham has praised Secretary of State Clinton as a great choice to be the secretary of state, as a national treasure.

Can anyone from inside of Washington win this election cycle, having praised Secretary of State Clinton that way?

JINDAL: No. And it's not only whether they can win. They shouldn't win this election cycle.

One of the things I do agree -- and I want to thank Donald Trump after I've criticized him for everything from being a narcissist to an egomaniac -- one of the things he was right about was to say nonsense to the D.C. establishment. It is time to fire all of them. You've got a choice between honest Socialists on the Left, like Bernie Sanders, and lying conservatives on the Right.

We have got the majority; what good has it done us? See, they said they were going to stop amnesty. They said they were going to repeal ObamaCare. They didn't do either. Now they're not even willing to fight to defund Planned Parenthood. They've already -- McConnell has already waved the white flag of defeat.

They are not willing to stand up to fight for the issues that count. I think it is time to have term limits. I think it's time to have part-time citizen legislators. Let's pay them a per diem instead of a six-figure salary, stop them from being seven-figure lobbyists. Let's also pay them a per diem for every day they don't go to D.C. Let's keep them out of D.C., working in the real -- [crosstalk] -- let's make them live under the same rules and laws they apply to the rest of us. Not only shouldn't they be elected, they can't be elected. Let's fire all of them from their current positions. [applause]

HEWITT: Senator Graham, took a shot at there and you're having a good debate but there is this problem of Washington elites and saying wonderful things about each other.

GRAHAM: I've been called a lot of things but never elite before. My dad owned a liquor store, a bar and a poolroom.

So only in America can you go from the back of a liquor store to being an elite.

HEWITT: Is that responsive to calling Hillary Clinton a national treasure, Senator?

GRAHAM: I introduced her at a conference about Africa. I thought Secretary Clinton did a good job when it came to dealing with our problems in Africa, particularly among women. George W. Bush set $40 billion aside and Rick Santorum helped him and President Bush wiped out an entire -- wiped out AIDS and malaria for an entire generation of young African children.

Secretary Clinton -- [applause] -- Secretary Clinton did a good -- here's my problem with Secretary Clinton.

Where the hell were you on the night of the Benghazi attack?

How did you let it become a death threat to begin with?

And why did you lie about what happened to these people?

And if you want a new change in terms of foreign policy, don't pick her, because she's his secretary of state.

I've got a real good chance of beating her, because I don't say things bad about her all the time -- just when she deserves it. And her definition of flat broke and mine are a little bit different.

HEWITT: But Senator, can you go back and forth that way, and expect to have an argument with the American people to persuade them about that?

GRAHAM: Well, Ronald Reagan did a couple of really big things that we should all remember.

He sat down with Tip O'Neill, the most liberal guy in the entire House. They started drinking together. That's the first thing I'm going to do as president. We're going to drink more. [applause]

And what did this -- two great Irishmen do? They found a way to save Social Security from bankruptcy by adjusting the age of retirement from 65 to 67.

So, yes, I will say nice things at times about Democrats. Yes, I will work them -- work with them. [laughter]

I will put the country ahead of party. Absolutely I want to work with them. At the end of the day, Hugh, I'm lucky to be standing here. I'm the first in my family to ever go to college. Neither one of my parents finished high school. Darline's here with me tonight. We owned a restaurant...

HEWITT: Thank you, Senator.

GRAHAM: Well, wait a minute. We...

HEWITT: Thank you, senator.

GRAHAM: You asked me a question. This is important. Republicans need to tell the American people we get it as to who you are.

When my mom died, I was 21. When my dad died, when I was 22. We were wiped out financially. If it weren't for Social Security survivor benefit check coming into Darline, we wouldn't have made it. I don't need a lecture from Democrats about Social Security.

HEWITT: Thank you, Senator.

GRAHAM: I want to save it, just like Ronald Reagan did. [applause]

HEWITT: Let's talk about the economy, if We could.

Governor Pataki.

PATAKI: Yes?

HEWITT: Jeb Bush and Donald Trump are both proposing raising taxes on hedge fund managers who pay at a lower rate. Governor Pataki, you were the governor of New York, home of Wall Street.

Do you agree that hedge fund managers need to be paying a higher rate?

PATAKI: I would throw out the entire corrupt tax code. [applause]

It's a symbol of the corruption and the power of the lobbyists and the special interests in Washington. It is 74,000 pages of incomprehensible gobbledygook.

What I would do is get rid of the 1.4 million every year in exemptions and loopholes, dramatically lower the rates. The normal American person is paying higher taxes than they should because of loopholes, and one of them is that carried interest loophole.

I would tax that income the same as ordinary income. I'd lower the rate to 24 percent for all Americans, but I would not give a special break to the Wall Street fat caps -- fat cats.

HEWITT: So you are with Jeb Bush and Donald Trump on the hedge fund?

PATAKI: It's hard for me to say I'm with Donald trump on anything, but on this issue, I agree with him. But let me just make one other point.

It's not just throwing out the tax code to break the back of the special interests that control Washington. It's other reforms. I would propose a law -- right now there are over 400 former members of the House and Senate who are registered lobbyists in Washington. I would propose a law on day one, you serve one day in the House or Senate, there's a lifetime ban on you ever being a lobbyist in Washington, D.C.

You get elected, you go back home. You don't stay and support the special interests. [applause]

HEWITT: Governor Jindal -- Governor Jindal, that's three Republicans running for president who support hedge fund managers paying a higher rate. Are you the fourth?

JINDAL: Two things, Jake. One, I'm absolutely for all of these carve-outs and loopholes and special interests for as -- they get lobbyists. They get sweetheart deals you and I and the rest of this audience couldn't get.

So as part of an overall comprehensive tax reform that has a lower, flatter tax code, sure. As a single, I am just to raise taxes, no. I don't want to give the government more money.

The government has grown over this president where now, it's going to overwhelm the American economy. We've got to cut the size of the government economy.

Nobody else running for president has done that. I'm the only candidate. I've cut my state budget 26 percent. Everybody else talks about it, we have done it.

So, there's a part of overall tax reform that cuts rates, flattens and lowers the tax code, sure. But I'm not for raising taxes on anybody. We already have too much money going to D.C.

HEWITT: Let's stay on the topic of taxes.

PATAKI: Can I just...

HEWITT: I want to bring in my colleague, Dana Bash.

BASH: Senator Santorum, you just heard Governor Jindal and Governor Pataki talk about tax reform.

Jeb Bush has proposed a tax reform plan, and in it, he limits deductions, including the popular home mortgage deduction. Would you do the same as president?

SANTORUM: Actually, I'm going to be proposing a plan, I call it the 20/20 perfect vision for America as flat tax, a 20 percent flat tax on income, 20 percent flat tax on capital gains and on corporations.

We eliminate all the deductions, special interest provisions and corporations. We deal with the carried interest issue, because everybody pays the same 20 percent. So, there's no advantage as to how you take your income. That will create growth.

We're going to allow expensing for corporations.

For manufacturing, again, I print -- I pledged, when I announced that I was going to run for president on the factory floor that I would make America the number one manufacturer in the world. Why? Because we need to put Americans back to work.

Hard working Americans, who are not doing well in this economy, and we start creating jobs here, and manufacturing. These people from all skill levels are going to be able to work. We put a 20 percent rate on corporations, we're competitive with almost every country in the world. We allow for expensing, we have a three year phase in. We start at zero for manufacturers, phase it up to 20. You're going to see an enormous investment of capital, and equipment. You're going to see people -- you're going to have problems finding folks are going to be able to work in manufacturing. That's how many jobs we're going to create.

So, the answer is, you know, we're going to lower, and flatten taxes. We're going to put government on a -- on a budget. A 10 percent across the board cut...

BASH: ...times up, Senator.

SANTORUM: ...employment. We've got a lot of plans.

BASH: ...OK, times up, Senator. Governor, just to bring you back into this, you said that you would be OK with what is effectively raising taxes on hedge fund managers as part of a tax reform plan. Would you aslo be for doing away with people's deductions for their mortgages.

PATAKI: No, I would not. I would keep that deduction. I would lower the rates dramatically, so, yes, that root that has a special carve out would pay more, but everybody else is going to pay less.

I would keep the home mortgage deduction, the charitable deduction, and others. And, by the way, you know, I agree with Rick on manufacturing, but my approach is different. I would pass a rate on manufacturing of 12 percent, the lowest in the developed world so we can make this America again. I know how important those jobs are.

When I work -- went through college, Christmas and summer vacations, I worked in a factory. My grandparents worked in a factory. We have the opportunity now with lower energy costs, with the world labor cost getting higher, to make things in America so we don't have to worry about China.

Lower the tax burden on manufacturing, improve the work skills...

TAPPER: ...Thank you, Governor...

PATAKI: ...of Americans. Get rid of job killing regulations. If we're going to...

TAPPER: ...Thank you, Governor...

PATAKI: ...If we're going to make this America...

TAPPER: ...I want to turn -- you're going to be involved in the next question...

SANTORUM: ...Let me just...

TAPPER: ...Senator Graham...

SANTORUM: ...He talked about manufacturing, and the fact is that we have a zero percent rate that faces the 20, we'd have a seven percent repatriation, so money -- about two trillion dollars over seas...

TAPPER: ...Thank you, Senator...

SANTORUM: ...Would come back, and be invested in equipment here. We will create more jobs with this plan, than any plan out...

TAPPER: ...Thank you Senator. Senator Graham, I want to turn to the minimum...

GRAHAM: If you want to see manufacturing, come to South Carolina...

TAPPER: ...Well, let's talk about South Carolina...

GRAHAM: ...We'll show 'ya.

TAPPER: ...Senator, let's turn to the minimum wage. [laughter]

Senator Santorum is the only person on the stage who has proposed increasing the federal minimum wage. How would that affect South Carolinians? Do you agree with Senator Santorum that the federal minimum wage should be increased?

GRAHAM: Well, I know this. That when my mom and dad owned a restaurant, the bar, the pool room, that if you increased the minimum wage it'd been hard to hire more people.

Hillary Clinton has a list a mile long to help the middle class. We're talking all around this. The middle class for the last six and a half years has been squeezed, and squeezed hard.

To the middle class, I understand who you are. You're one broken down car from not going on vacation. You're from one sick child away from having to change your whole budget.

Here's what I want to do as your president. I want to grow this economy. When Boeing came to South Carolina to build a 787, everybody paid more they would have lost their employees to Boeing. If you're a waitress out there wanting more money, I'm not going to increase the minimum wage, I'm going to try to create an environment where somebody else will open up a restaurant across the street to hire you away at a higher rate, or they'll have to pay you more to keep you.

You got to borrow money to create jobs in this country. Banking is locked down because of Dodd-Frank. The tax code is a complete mess, but nobody's talked about the elephant in the room, which is debt. Not one more penny to the federal government until w2e come up with a plan to get out of debt.

TAPPER: Senator Graham, thank you so much. Senator Santorum... [applause] Senator Graham is suggesting that your proposal would not allot South Carolinians to hire more workers.

SANTORUM: Lindsay, what percentage of American workers make the minimum wage right now?

GRAHAM: It's probably a small bit, but the ones that get it...

SANTORUM: It's less than one percent.

GRAHAM: Yeah, but I...

SANTORUM: ...So, what you're saying, what every Republican's up here saying is we're against the minimum wage because, if you're not for increasing it, than whoevers making the minimum wage right now...

GRAHAM: ...Have you ever thought why all of us say that...

SANTORUM: ...The answer is Republicans don't believe in a floor wage in America. Fine, you go ahead and make that case to the American public, I'm not going to. Not from a party that supported bailouts. I didn't, but this party did.

MALE: [inaudible]

SANTORUM: Not from a party that supports special interest tax provisions for a whole bunch of other businesses, and, but, when it comes to hardworking Americans who are at the bottom of the income scale, we can't provide some level of income support? What I've proposed is not anything but the (ph) presidents (ph) proposed (ph) I believe that would be harmful to the American public, but a $.50 cents an hour increase over three years, which is what I'm proposing.

So we would have a minimum wage which would be roughly in the area of what it's been historically, about 5 percent of wages.

To me, if you're going to talk to 90 percent of American workers -- by the way, 90 percent of American workers don't own a bar. They don't own a business. They work for a living. They're wage -- most of them are wage earners.

And Republicans are losing elections because we're not talking about them. All we want to talk about is, what happened to our business? There are people who work in that business.

I was at a -- I was at the convention four years ago, and on the signs -- on all of the seats the night I spoke was a sign that said, "We built that," because Barack Obama had talked about how businesses didn't build their own businesses.

Then we trotted out one small-business person after another for almost an hour that night talking about how they built their businesses. And that's wonderful.

But you know what we didn't do? We didn't bring one worker on that stage.

How are you going to win, ladies and gentlemen? How are we going to win if 90 percent of Americans don't think we care at all...

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator.

SANTORUM: ... about them and their chance to rise...

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator. We have to take a quick break.

When we come back, confrontation or negotiation? How will these candidates attempt to handle Russian President Vladimir Putin? That's next. [applause]

[commercial break]

TAPPER: And we're back at the CNN Republican Debate at the Reagan Library in beautiful Simi Valley, California.

Let's turn now to some issues of foreign policy.

Senator Graham, you all oppose the U.S. nuclear deal with Iran. Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton, a Republican, is pushing for a U.S. military strike against Iran, against its nuclear facilities.

Senator Graham, would you authorize, as president, a nuclear strike against -- I mean, sorry -- a strike against Iran's nuclear facilities?

GRAHAM: If I believed they were trying to break out and get a bomb, absolutely. And here's the most important thing: they know I would if I had to.

And none of us are going to be able to defend this country adequately until we rebuild our military. A weak economy, a military in decline, the world on fire, does that sound familiar to you?

Michael, does that sound familiar to you?

The first thing I'm going to do as commander in chief on day one is call the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and say, what do you need that you don't have?

We're cutting our military; we're on track to have the smallest Army since 1940, the smallest Navy since 1915 and John Kasich says he wants to close more bases. I want to rebuild our military and I want the Iranians to know that, if I had to, I would use it.

The worst nightmare in the world is a radical Islamic regime with a weapon of mass destruction. The only reason 3,000 of us died on 9/11 is not 3 million, not 3 million is because they couldn't get the weapons to kill us. They're on track to get a bomb even if they don't cheat.

This deal is a nightmare for Israel. They are coming here if we don't watch it terrorism with a nuclear capability sponsored by Iran. So, yes, I would use military force to stop them. I would set this deal aside and I would get you a better deal.

If you gave $100 billion, I could get almost anybody out of jail. We couldn't even get our hostages out of jail.

TAPPER: Governor -- [applause] -- Hugh -- I'm going to go to Hugh Hewitt for a question for Governor Pataki.

HEWITT: There are other ways, Governor, than bombing Iran.

I want to quote Rick Santorum.

"We should send a very clear message that If you are a scientist and you're going to work on a nuclear program to develop a bomb for Iran, you are not safe."

Does that message work?

Is anything that works on the table?

PATAKI: Not on the table but I think there's a lot that does work. And that is to have a strong America, a strong military and a resolve where the Iranians know that not only are we going to reject this deal on day one and reimpose sanctions but, if they move forward with the nuclear program, their safety for those facilities will be at risk.

I'll tell you a couple of things I'd do. I'd give the Israelis bombs called MOPs, massive ordnance penetrators. Give them to Israel. Let the Iranians know we're prepared to work with Israel to make sure they never have a nuclear weapon.

And let me point out that Hillary Clinton, supporting this deal, she was the senator from New York on September 11th, she saw what happened at the hands of radical Islam. This is the senator who did the reset program with Russia, who allowed the Middle East to deteriorate to flames, who has lied about Benghazi and is now supporting the Iranian deal.

That's the opponent we're going to have next November. We have got to win this election. Everything we say is wonderful. But we have to win and, once we win, we have to actually do what we say. I can do this.

HEWITT: Senator Santorum, stay on that: any means necessary?

Is that what you meant to say?

Is that what's still on this table after this, what many of us believe is a catastrophic deal?

SANTORUM: As you know, Hugh, 12 years ago I authored the Iran Freedom Support Act, which put sanctions on the Iran nuclear program as we came within four votes of passing a very strong version of that. The four people who opposed on the floor: Joe Biden, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. And we came four votes short.

But for 12 years, I have been laser-beam focused on the issue of Iran with a nuclear weapon. Why? Because I understand who they are.

Yes, they are radical Islamists, that's true. But their particular version of it, which is an apocalyptic version, which is a death cult, they believe in bringing about the end of the -- end of the world. If you -- if you poll Iranians and Iraqis, Shiites in the region, more than two-thirds of them believe that the end of the world is going to come within their lifetime.

Why? Because their regime preaches it. They believe in bringing about the end of times. That's their theological goal and we are in the process of giving them a nuclear weapon to do just that.

That's why, on day one, I would say to the Iranian government, you open up all of these facilities for inspection, you make them available to the U.N. and to the U.S., everything, we can go everywhere or else we will take out those facilities.

And when people say, you're going to start a war --

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator.

SANTORUM: -- my response is, no, I'm going to stop a war because a nuclear Iran is the end.

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator.

Senator Graham -- [applause]

JINDAL: Jake, I'd like to answer that question.

TAPPER: We're bringing you in on this question as well.

Senator Graham, Vladimir Putin in recent days has sent an estimated six more tanks, four helicopters and Russian ground troops into Syria to help support President Assad, an enemy of the United States. The Russian military is also buzzing American planes and Naval vessels around the world.

Your front-runner, Donald Trump, says he can do details with President Putin, that the two of them will get along, quote, "very well."

Why would your confrontational approach work better than Mr. Trump's negotiation?

GRAHAM: Do you think Putin would be in the Ukraine or Syria today if Ronald Reagan were president? No.

This is what happens when you have a weak, unqualified commander- in-chief who doesn't understand the role America plays in the world.

Why is it bad for you that Russia's helping Assad? He's the magnet for Sunni extremists. The Syrian people are not going to accept him as their legitimate leader.

By Assad being helped by Russia, it means the war never ends. It means the next 9/11, which is most likely to occur from an attack from Syria. It's more likely.

At the end of the day, if I'm president of the United States, I've told you what I'm going to do. There's nobody left in Syria to train. We're going to get a regional army who doesn't like ISIL, who won't accept Assad, because he's a puppet of Iran. We're going in the ground, and we're going to destroy the caliphate, pull it up by roots, and we're going to hold the territory.

This is a slap in a face from Putin to Kerry and Obama. Assad must go. If he doesn't go, this war never ends...

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator.

GRAHAM: ... and if the war in Syria continues, it is coming here.

For God's sakes, let's get on with...

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator.

GRAHAM: ... with fixing the problem in Syria.

TAPPER: Governor Jindal, how would President Jindal... [applause] ... get the Russians out of Syria?

JINDAL: Well, Jake, I want to answer that question. I want to go back to Iran. I didn't get a chance to answer that as well.

Look, on Russia, across the world, dictators walk all over this president. He treats our friends like dirt. He lets our enemies walk all over us.

The only group he's able to out-negotiate are the Senate Republicans. They never should've passed this bad Corker bill. Instead of a two-thirds vote to reject -- to approve the Iran deal, now it takes a two-thirds vote to reject the Iran deal.

I want to ask Lindsey a question. Will the Senate Republicans -- they still have time -- are they willing to use the nuclear option, meaning get rid of the filibusters, stop Iran from becoming a nuclear power?

Now is the time for the Senate Republicans to stand up and fight. We are tired of the establishment saying there's nothing we can do. [applause]

All night tonight, we've heard Republicans say things like, "Well, if the Supreme Court's ruled, there's nothing I can do about religious liberty," you know. "The president did this. There's nothing we can do about it for two more years."

There is something we can do. We won the Senate. We won the House. What was the point of winning those chambers if we're not going to do anything with them?

You're going back tonight. You still have time before the Thursday deadline. Will y'all use the nuclear option to stop Iran from becoming a nuclear power? [applause]

GRAHAM: Bobby, you were in the Congress, and all I can tell you, to everybody here, if you want to repeal Obamacare, get a new president. If you want to defund Planned Parenthood, elect a pro-life president, because that's the only way.

If we pass the Cardin bill, Graham, Menendez, it would go to the president. He would veto it. 67 votes are required to override the veto.

JINDAL: Lindsey...

GRAHAM: Wait a minute. Now, you asked me a question. So I don't want to take off the table the ability to slow down Obama in his last 13 to 14 months, because I want 60 votes to stop what I think he's going to do between now and January 2017. Five Republicans deflect -- leave -- we're in trouble.

So folks, the world really is the way it is. President Obama is president. The goal is to get him out of there and pick somebody who would actually do something to repeal Obamacare, who would get you a better agreement.

So Bobby, he would veto the bill, we don't have 67 votes, and you're giving away a defense against Obama for the rest of his presidency.

No, I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to tell you things I can't do. I'm not going to tell you by shutting the government down, we're going to defund Obamacare as long as he's president. All that does is hurt us. I am trying to lead this party to winning.

JINDAL: Lindsey, well, that's my frustration. [applause]

Listen to what you've heard. You -- you basically heard a Senate Republican say, "We can't defund Planned Parenthood, despite these barbaric videos."

GRAHAM: Are you going to shut the government down?

JINDAL: "We can't -- we can't..."

GRAHAM: Are you going to shut the government...

JINDAL: "... we can't get rid of Obamacare" -- Lindsey, let me answer this question now. I wish the Senate Republicans had half the fight in them the Senate Democrats did.

Look, President Obama didn't give up on Obamacare when they lost the Senate election in Massachusetts. I want my side to follow the Constitution. They broke the Constitution, they broke the law, but they forced Obamacare down our throats, even when they didn't have 60 votes.

I wish Republicans in D.C. had half the fight of the Senate Democrats to get rid of Obamacare, to defund Planned Parenthood. [applause]

If we can't defund Planned Parenthood now, if we can't stand for innocent human life after these barbaric videos, it is time to be done with the Republican Party.

We defunded them in Louisiana. Let's defund them in D.C.

If we can't win...

TAPPER: [inaudible]...

JINDAL: -- on that issue, there is no point for being cheaper Democrats, no point grabbing a second liberal party. It is time to get rid of the Republican Party, start over with a new one that's at least conservative.

Give Harry Reid and Pelosi credit. At least they fight for what they believe in. I want senators and House members in DC to fight for what we believe in, as well. It's time to have Republican...

TAPPER: Well...

JINDAL: -- with a backbone in DC.

GRAHAM: Can I just say something? [applause]

You know, Bobby, we're running to be president of the United States, the most important job in the free world. With it comes a certain amount of honesty. I'm tired of telling people things they want to hear that I know we can't do.

He is not going to sign a bill that would defund ObamaCare. If I am president of the United States, I wouldn't put one penny in -- in my budget for Planned Parenthood, not one penny. I'm as offended by these videos as you are.

But the one thing I'm not going to do going into 2016 is shut the government down and tank our ability to win. What you're saying and what Senator Cruz is saying, I am really sick of hearing, trying to get the bottom...

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator.

GRAHAM: -- the Republican Party in a position...

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator...

GRAHAM: -- to win. That's what I'm trying to do. And that does matter to me [inaudible]...

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator. The final question...

GRAHAM: It matters a lot.

TAPPER: The final questions for these four Republicans as the top contenders get ready to take their places on the debate stage when we come back right after this.

[commercial break]

Welcome back to the CNN Republican debates at the Reagan Library in beautiful Simi Valley, California. We have time for one more question for the candidates.

Governor Pataki, let's start with you. You have all spent the last hour and a half debating each other. The other 11 candidates are on their way to the stage.

What is the one thing as a candidate that you offer that no one at the next debate can offer?

PATAKI: I think there are two things, Jake. Two things that we need as Republicans.

First, we have to win the election. You're going to hear a lot of great ideas, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that. None of it matters unless you win the election.

And the second is, once you win, you have to be able to govern successfully. You've heard a lot of fighting back and forth, you didn't get this done, you didn't get that done. That's the way Washington is today. You have to have a leader, a president, who will actually get a conservative agenda through.

I'm running because I have done both those things, and I did them in one of the most liberal states in America. I got elected three times in the state of New York. Twice by the largest pluralities ever for a Republican. I ran as a Republican conservative.

If I get the nomination, I will be able to get broad support and win this election, and take the White House back for our party. But more importantly, once I've won, I will put in place a sweeping conservative agenda. I did that in New York.

Over $143 billion in tax cuts. More than the other 49 states combined. Taking one million people off welfare and putting them into jobs, in a state where the Democrats control the state assembly.

TAPPER: Thank you, senator.

PATAKI: 103-47. I got them to support a conservative agenda. If I get elected president, I will make things work in Washington.

TAPPER: Thank you.

PATAKI: For the Republican party and for the United States. [applause]

TAPPER: Thank you, Governor.

Senator Santorum?

SANTORUM: I came to Washington in the most unlikely way. I defeated a 14-year incumbent, a 60 percent Democratic district. I went to Washington thinking I was only going to be there for one term, and so I just shook things up.

We sent the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee to jail. We ended 40 years, 40 years of Democratic control of the Congress. And I led that fight with reforms, substantive reforms, welfare reform. I led the charge -- I wrote the bill when I was in the House. I led the charge in the United States Senate.

Partial-birth abortion -- in fact, three pro-life bills, bipartisan pro-life bills. I mentioned the Iran bill. We also passed one on Syria. Health savings accounts, as many of you know, I authored the original bill on health savings accounts, pushed that through the Congress for private sector health care reform.

An outsider who came to Washington from the tough state of Pennsylvania, and we got conservative things done. I made things happen in a town where things don't happen very much. Now, after 10 years of seeing the mess, the retreat that we see in the Republican party in Washington, D.C., it's time to get someone who is an outsider.

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator.

SANTORUM: Who can go to Washington, D.C., and get things done. You know what, you have a lot of folks who will tell you a lot of things. Look at their record. I went to Washington as an outsider.

TAPPER: Thank you.

SANTORUM: Shook things up, got things done.

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator.

SANTORUM: And that's why you can trust me to do it again. [applause]

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator Santorum.

Governor Jindal, what is something that you offer as a candidate that the other 11 candidates coming on stage in a few minutes cannot offer?

JINDAL: Jake, I'm a doer, not a talker. Look, the idea of America is slipping away from us. If you want somebody who is going to manage the slow decline of this country, makes incremental changes, vote for somebody else. If you want to vote for somebody who understands what is at stake -- Planned Parenthood is selling baby parts across this country, and the Senate Republicans have already given up, even without a fight.

I am tired of this surrender (ph) caucus, I am angrier at the Republicans in D.C. than I am at the president. The president is a socialist. At least he fights for what we believe in.

We don't need to just send any Republican to the White House. We need to sent somebody who understands that it's time to make big changes. It's time to take on the establishment, it's time to take on the D.C. permanent governing class.

Every Republican says they will shrink the size of the government. I'm the only one that has done it. Cut our budget 26 percent.

If you want somebody that's going to make incremental change, vote for somebody else. It's time to get the idea of America back. At some point, we're going to be held -- we'll be asked, what did you do when the idea of America was slipping away?

I'll promise you this. I will give every ounce of blood, energy, sweat I've got to save the idea of America, the greatest country in the history of the world. [applause]

TAPPER: Thank you, Governor.

Senator Graham?

GRAHAM: Well, number one, I will win a war that we can't afford to lose. I have a plan to destroy radical Islam because it has to be. These are religious Nazis running while President Obama has made one mistake after another and it's caught up with us.

What do I have to offer that's different?

I get my foreign policy from being in on the ground. I've been to Iraq and Afghanistan in the Middle East 35 times in the last decade, trying to understand how we got in this mess.

Our leading candidate gets his foreign policy from watching television.

And what I heard last night is the Cartoon Network, oh, I'm big, I'm strong, we're going to hit them in the head. [laughter]

GRAHAM: That's not foreign policy. That's a cartoon character.

John Kasich, a good friend of mine, said in New Hampshire, we're going to close more bases on his watch.

On my watch, we're going to open up more bases. The military is in decline, folks. We're going to have the smallest military in modern times, spending half of what we'd normally spend by the end of this decade.

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator.

GRAHAM: What do I offer? What do I offer?

To make your families safe and our country strong again, a vision and a determination to win a war that we cannot afford to lose.

TAPPER: Thank you, Senator Graham. [applause]

Our thanks to the candidates for a great debate. In just a moment, we're bringing the candidates from both of tonight's debates together for a group photo. That will be a first in this campaign.

And then, of course, the main event, the top 11 candidates going head to head. I will be back as moderator.

Right now, let's go to my colleague, Anderson Cooper.

NOTE: The criteria for appearing in the main debate is: "The top 10 candidates will debate in one group, and the remaining candidates will face off in another [in this undercard debate]. Each candidate must poll at 1 percent or higher. CNN requires debate participants to have at least one paid campaign staffer in two of the early voting states and have visited two of those states at least once."
+ Citation: Presidential Candidates Debates: "Republican Candidates "Undercard" Debate in Simi Valley, California," September 16, 2015. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=110758. +
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+ 		+ + + + +Presidential Candidates Debates: Republican Candidates "Undercard" Debate in Cleveland, Ohio +
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PARTICIPANTS:
Carly Fiorina;
Former Governor Jim Gilmore (VA);
Senator Lindsey Graham (SC);
Governor Bobby Jindal (LA);
Former Governor George Pataki (NY);
Former Governor Rick Perry (TX);
Former Senator Rick Santorum (PA);

MODERATORS:
Bill Hemmer (Fox News); and
Martha MacCallum (Fox News)

HEMMER: This is first official event in the campaign for the Republican nomination for president. Welcome to Cleveland Ohio. It is debate night.

I'm Bill Hemmer.

MacCALLUM: And I'm Martha MacCallum.

It all starts here. We are ready, the candidates are ready. We're live at the Quicken Loans Arena, where we have partnered with Facebook to bring you, the voter, into today's debate.

HEMMER: So you will hear from all 17 candidates tonight, and you'll meet seven of them right now, starting with three-time governor in the state of Texas, Rick Perry. [applause]

MacCALLUM: Also, two-time senator from Pennsylvania, Rick Santorum. [applause]

HEMMER: Two-time. Two-time governor of the State of Louisiana, Acting Governor Bobby Jindal.

So you will hear from all 17 candidates tonight, and you'll meet seven of them right now, starting with three-time governor in the state of Texas, Rick Perry. [applause]

MacCALLUM: Also, two-time senator from Pennsylvania, Rick Santorum. [applause]

HEMMER: Two-time. Two-time governor of the State of Louisiana, Acting Governor Bobby Jindal. [applause]

MacCALLUM: Businesswoman and former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, Carly Fiorina. [applause]

HEMMER: The senior senator from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham. [applause]

MacCALLUM: Former three-term governor of New York, George Pataki. [applause]

HEMMER: And former Virginia governor, Jim Gilmore.

MacCALLUM: Now, this debate will last one hour. We're going to have four commercial breaks. Each candidate will have one minute to anwer each question and 30 seconds for rebuttal. If you run out of time, you're going to hear this.

OK?

HEMMER: Gentle.

MacCALLUM: Everybody got the bell?

HEMMER: Wait til you hear what the others are going to get later, huh?

MacCALLUM: Exactly. [laughter]

HEMMER: One year from now, a Republican nominee will be standing on this stage in this very same arena. That person is in Cleveland today.

So let's get started. First topic, electability.

First question to Governor Perry from Texas.

Welcome, Governor.

PERRY: It's good to be with you.

HEMMER: You were in charge of the 12th largest economy in the world, and you recently said that four years ago, you weren't ready for this job. Why should someone vote for you now?

PERRY: After those four years of looking back and being prepared, the preparation to be the most powerful individual in the world requires an extraordinary amount of work: not just having been the governor of the 12th largest economy in the world, which I might add, we added 1.5 million jobs during that period of time over that 2007 through 2014 period, a period when America was going through the most deep recession it had been through since the Great Depression.

I think Americans want someone to have a track record of showing them how to get this country back on record, someone who will stand up and every day project that best days of America are in front of us.

And I will assure you, as the governor of the state of Texas, and as those last four years have shown me, the preparation to be ready to stand on this stage and talk about those monetary policies, those domestic policies, and those foreign policies, Americans are going to see that I am ready to be that individual.

HEMMER: Thank you, Governor.

MacCALLUM: Now we go to Carly Fiorina.

Carly, you were CEO of Hewlett-Packard. You ran for Senate and lost in California in 2010. This week, you said "Margaret Thatcher was not content to manage a great nation in decline, and neither am I."

Given your current standings in the polls, is the Iron Lady comparison a stretch?

FIORINA: Well, I would begin by reminding people that at this point in previous presidential elections, Jimmy Carter couldn't win, Ronald Reagan couldn't win, Bill Clinton couldn't win, and neither could've Barack Obama.

I started as a secretary and became ultimately the chief executive of the largest technology company in the world, almost $90 billion in over 150 countries. I know personally how extraordinary and unique this nation is.

I think to be commander in chief in the 21st century requires someone who understands how the economy works, someone who understands how the world works and who's in it; I know more world leaders on the stage today than anyone running, with the possible exception of Hillary Clinton; understands bureaucracies, how to cut them down to size and hold them accountable; and understands technology, which is a tool, but it's also a weapon that's being used against us.

Most importantly, I think I understand leadership, which sometimes requires a tough call in a tough time. But mostly, the highest calling of leadership is to challenge the status-quo and unlock the potential of others. We need a leader who will lead the resurgence of this great nation and unlock its potential once again.

Thank you.

HEMMER: Senator Santorum, you won the Iowa caucus four years ago and 10 other states. But you failed to beat Mitt Romney for the nomination. And no one here tonight is going to question your conviction or your love for country. But has your moment passed, Senator?

SANTORUM: I would say the message that got us the win in Iowa and 10 other states against pretty overwhelming odds, is the message that's going to deliver us in this election.

You know, we didn't start out four years ago at the top of the heap. We were behind where we were today. But we stuck to our message. We stuck to the fact that Americans are tired of Washington corporate interests and Democrats who are interested in just politics and power and they're looking for someone who's going to fight for them; looking for someone who's going to grow manufacturing sector of our economy, so those 74 percent of Americans who don't have a college degree have a chance to rise again. Someone who's going to stand up, and be very clear with our enemies as to the lines their going to draw and stand with them.

I've got a track record. The reason I did so well last time is not just because of the vision, it's because I have a track record in Washington, D.C. of getting things done. Iran sanctions -- the Iran sanctions that brought them to the table, those are sanctions that we put in place when I was in the United States Senate, and a whole host of other things that put me in a position of saying, I not only have a great vision, but I can govern effectively in Washington.

HEMMER: Thank you, Senator.

MacCALLUM: Governor Jindal, you're one of two sitting governors on the stage tonight. But your approval numbers at home are in the mid 30s at this point. In a recent poll that showed you in a head-to- head against Hillary Clinton in Louisiana, she beat you by several points.

So if the people of Louisiana are not satisfied, what makes you think that the people of this nation would be?

JINDAL: Well, first of all, thank you all for having us.

You know, I won two record elections. Last time I was elected governor, won a record margin in my state. Martha, we got a lot of politicians that will kiss babies, cut ribbons, do whatever it takes to be popular. That's not why I ran for office.

I ran for office to make the generational changes in Louisiana. We've cut 26 percent of our budget. We have 30,000 fewer state bureaucrats than the day I took office. I don't think anybody has cut that much government anywhere, at any time. As a result, eight credit upgrades; as a result, a top ten state for private sector job creation. And we fought for statewide school choice, where the dollars follow the child, instead of the child following the dollars. We've been the most pro-life state six years in a row. My point is this: I won two landslide elections, I made big changes. I think our country is tired of the politicians who simply read the polls and fail to lead. Both Democrats and Republicans have gotten us in the mess we're in -- $18 trillion of debt, a bad deal with Iran, we're not staying with Israel.

I think the American people are look for real leadership. That's what I've done in Louisiana, that's what I'll do in America.

HEMMER: Senator Lindsey Graham, you worked with Democrats and President Obama when it came to climate change, something you know is extremely unpopular with conservative Republicans.

How can they trust you based on that record?

GRAHAM: You can trust me to do the following: that when I get on change with Hillary Clinton, we won't be debating about the science, we'll be debating about the solutions. In her world, cap- and-trade would dominate, that we will destroy the economy in the name of helping the environment. In my world, we'll focus on energy independence and a clean environment.

When it comes to fossil fuels, we're going to find more here and use less. Over time, we're going to become energy independent. I am tired of sending $300 billion overseas to buy oil from people who hate our guts. The choice between a weak economy and a strong environment is a false choice, that is not the choice I'll offer America.

A healthy environment, a strong economy and energy independent America -- that would be the purpose of my presidency, is break the strangle hold that people enjoy on fossil fuels who hate our guts.

HEMMER: Thank you, Senator.

MacCALLUM: Governor Pataki, four years ago this month, you called it quits in a race for the presidency in 2012, but now you're back. Mitt Romney declined to run this time, because he believed that the party needed new blood.

Does he have a point?

PATAKI: I think he means somebody who hasn't been a career politician, and who's been out of office for awhile. I think the last eight years in the private sector have allowed me to see government from the outside, and I think that is a positive thing. Yes, I thought about running four years ago. I was ready to lead, but I wasn't ready to run.

But I look at this country today, and I look at how divided we are, I look at how politicians are always posturing and issuing sound bites but never solving problems. What I did in New York was bring people together, an overwhelmingly Democratic state. But I was able to get Democrats to support the most conservative sweeping policy changes in any state in America.

And when I look at Washington today, we need to bring us together. We need to solve problems, we need to rebuild our military so we can stand up to radical Islam, we need to get our economy growing much faster by throwing out the corrupt tax code and lowering the rates. We have to end crony capitalism in Washington, where the lobbyists and the powerful can get tax breaks and tax credits, and the American people don't get laws in their interest.

I can do that. And I can do it regardless of what the makeup of Congress is because I did it in New York state. So we need new leadership -- yes. I will be that new leader.

MacCALLUM: Thank you, Governor.

From one side of the stage, the other -- the other, Governor Jim Gilmore.

You were the last person on stage to declare your candidacy. You ran for the White House once and lost. You ran for the Senate one time and lost. You haven't held public office in 13 years.

Similar question, is it time for new blood?

GILMORE: I think the times are different now. I think the times are much more serious.

Because Obama and Clinton policies, the United States is moving further and further into a decline. I want to reverse that decline. That's why I've entered this race, and I think I have the experience to do it.

Former elected prosecutor, attorney general, governor, I was elected to all of those offices.

A person who, in fact, has a long experience in foreign-policy issues, which is different from many of the other governors and prospective governors who are running. I was an Army intelligence agent and a veteran during the Cold War, assigned to West Germany.

I was the chairman of the National Commission on Homeland Security and Terrorism for the United States for five years. I was a person who has dealt extensively with these homeland security issues. I was a governor during the 9/11 attack.

I understand both of these issues, how to build the economy and doing that as a governor who'd built jobs, had cut taxes and also a governor who understands foreign-policy, and that's why I entered this race.

HEMMER: Thank you, Governor.

MacCALLUM: Alright, everybody. Now to the elephant that is not in the room tonight, Donald Trump.

Let's take a look at this graphic that shows the huge amount of political chatter that he is driving on Facebook right now, some of it good, probably, some of it bad. But he is dominating this conversation. Governor Perry, you two have been going at it. But given the large disparity in your poll numbers, he seems to be getting the better of you.

PERRY: Well, when you look at the celebrity of Donald Trump, then I think that says a lot about it.

One thing I like to remind people is, back in 2007, Rudy Giuliani was leading the polls for almost a year. I'll suggest a part of that was his celebrity. Fred Thompson was the other one, a man who had spent a lot of time on that screen.

I've had my issues with Donald Trump. I talked about Donald Trump from the standpoint of being an individual who was using his celebrity rather than his conservatism.

How can you run for the Republican nomination and be for single- payer health care? I mean, I ask that with all due respect. And nobody, nobody on either one of these stages has done more than I've done and the people of the State of Texas to deal with securing that border.

We sent our Texas ranger recon teams. We sent our parks and wildlife wardens. I deployed the National Guard after I stood on the ramp in Dallas, Texas and looked the president of the United States in the eye and said, "Mr. President, if you won't secure the border, Texas will," and that's exactly what we did.

We need a president that doesn't just talk a game, but a president that's got real results.

MacCALLUM: Alright, I want to ask that same question, because it's true, really, of all of you on this stage that, like it or not, Donald Trump is -- there's a huge disparity between the poll numbers that you have and the poll numbers that he has, given also the fact that Rudy Giuliani said he thought that there may be some Reagan qualities to Donald Trump.

So Carly Fiorina, is he getting the better of you?

FIORINA: Well, I don't know. I didn't get a phone call from Bill Clinton before I jumped in the race. Did any of you get a phone call from Bill Clinton? I didn't. Maybe it's because I hadn't given money to the foundation or donated to his wife's Senate campaign.

Here's the thing that I would ask Donald Trump in all seriousness. He is the party's frontrunner right now, and good for him.

I think he's tapped into an anger that people feel. They're sick of politics as usual. You know, whatever your issue, your cause, the festering problem you hoped would resolved, the political class has failed you. That's just a fact, and that's what Donald Trump taps into.

I would also just say this. Since he has changed his mind on amnesty, on health care and on abortion, I would just ask, what are the principles by which he will govern?

MacCALLUM: Thank you.

HEMMER: This Saturday, August 8th, two days from now marks one year since the strikes began against ISIS in Iraq and followed in Syria one month later. This week, a leading general in the U.S. Marine Corps says, "One year later, that fight is at a stalemate."

Governor Jindal, give me one example how your fight against ISIS would be different over there?

JINDAL: Well, to start with, unlike President Obama, I'll actually name the enemy that we confront. We've got a president who cannot bring himself to say the words "radical Islamic terrorism."

Now, Bill, he loves to criticize America, apologize for us, criticize medieval Christians. How can we beat an enemy if our commander-in-chief doesn't have the moral honesty and clarity to say that Islam has a problem, and that problem is radical Islam, to say they've got to condemn not generic acts of violence, but the individual murderers who are committing these acts of violence.

We've got a president who instead says, we're going to change hearts and minds. Well, you know what? Sometimes you win a war by killing murderous, evil terrorists. We're going to take the political handcuffs off the military. We will arm and train the Kurds. We will work with our Sunni allies. They know we will be committed to victory.

We had this failed red line with Assad and it discouraged folks that want to help us on the ground. Finally, we'll take off the political handcuffs. We'll go to the Congress. This president has gone to Congress and said give me a three-year deadline, give me a ban on ground troops. I'm going to go to the commanders and say give me a plan to win. You can't send your troops into harm's way unless you give them every opportunity to be successful.

HEMMER: And the senator to your right has called for 20,000 American troops in Syria and Iraq so far today, Senator Graham, and I'll give this question to you. Why should the American people after two wars in Iraq sacrifice yet again on a third war?

GRAHAM: If we don't stop them over there, they are coming here just as sure as I stand here in front of you.

One thing I want to be clear about tonight. If you're running for president of the United States and you don't understand that we need more American ground forces in Iraq and that America has to be part of a regional ground force that will go into Syria and destroy ISIL in Syria, then you're not ready to be commander in chief. And you're not serious about destroying ISIL.

According to the generals that I know and trust, this air campaign will not destroy ISIL. We need a ground force in Iraq and Syria, and America has to be part of that ground force. According to the FBI and the director of national intelligence, Syria's becoming a perfect platform to strike our nation. I've got a very simple strategy as your president against ISIL. Whatever it takes, as long as it takes, to defeat them.

HEMMER: Senator, thank you.

MacCALLUM: All right. Let's get to our first commercial break. There is plenty more to discuss tonight. Coming up, immigration, more on ISIS and homeland security as well as we continue live tonight from Cleveland, Ohio.

[commercial break]

HEMMER: It is debate night, and welcome back to Cleveland, Ohio. Let's get back to the questions right now with Martha.

MacCALLUM: All right. Let's talk about ISIS and the threat to the homeland that we have seen growing in recent months. This goes to Governor Pataki.

Sixty-nine ISIS-inspired terrorists have been arrested in this country, in homeland plots, and the FBI assures us that there are likely many more to come.

The president is reluctant to label these terrorists Islamic extremists, but you've said that you have no problem with that label. Then comes the hard part.

So here's the question. How far are you willing to go to root out this problem here at home? Would you put mosques, for example, potentially, under surveillance? And keep in mind that conservatives are increasingly concerned in this country with religious liberty.

PATAKI: Martha, religious liberty doesn't include encouraging a fellow American to engage in violent jihad and kill an American here. That is not protected free speech. That is not protected religious belief.

That is like shouting "fire" in a crowded theater, and that is illegal, and I would do everything in our power not just to go after those who are here who we know who are here, before they can radicalize other Americans to carry out attacks, and it's not just the ones they've arrested.

Think back to Garland, Texas. But for that Texas police officer, we could have had a mass murder. We have to shut down their internet capability. We have to shut down, whether or not they're in prisons preaching or on -- in mosques preaching. No radical Islam that is allowed to engage in encouraging violence against Americans, that is not protected speech.

Let me just add one thing about ISIS over there. We have got to destroy their training camps and recruiting centers.

I was governor of New York on September 11. I know that we are at greater risk today than at any time since then of another attack. We have got to destroy their training camps over there before they can attack us here.

I don't agree that we're going to occupy and spend another decade or a trillion dollars. What we need to do is destroy their ability to attack us here over there, and then get out.

You know, I have two sons. Both served. One as a marine officer in Iraq, one as an army officer in Afghanistan. I do not see -- want to see one parent or loved one worrying about getting a call in the middle of the night.

I would not place one American life at risk unless it was absolutely necessary. But to destroy ISIS, it is necessary.

MacCALLUM: All right. This question to Carly Fiorina. The FBI director Comey says that terrorists can thrive here at home because they go dark and they recruit behind the cyber walls that are built by American companies like Google and Apple.

Comey says this is a big problem. Rand Paul says that the government forcing these companies to bring down those walls would be a big privacy issue and a dangerous way to go on this. You've been a tech leader in this country. Which side are you on?

FIORINA: Let me say first that it is disturbing that every time one of these home-grown terrorist attacks occurs, and, as your question points out, they are occurring with far too great frequency, it turns out we had warning signals.

It turns out we knew something was wrong. It turns out some dot wasn't connected, and so the first thing we have to do is make sure that everyone and every responsible agency is attuned to all of these possibilities and symptoms.

We even had warnings about the Boston Marathon bombers, and yet the dots weren't connected. So we need to get on a different mindset.

Secondly, I certainly support that we need to tear down cyber walls, not on a mass basis, but on a targeted basis. But let me just say that we also need down -- to tear down the cyber walls that China is erecting, that Russia is erecting.

We need to be very well aware of the fact that China and Russia are using technology to attack us, just as ISIS is using technology to recruit those who would murder American citizens. I do not believe that we need to wholesale destroy every American citizen's privacy in order to go after those that we know are suspect or are -- are already a problem. But yes, there is more collaboration required between private sector companies and the public sector. And specifically, we know that we could have detected and repelled some of these cyber attacks if that collaboration had been permitted. A law has been sitting -- languishing, sadly, on Capitol Hill and has not yet been passed, and it would help.

MacCALLUM: So, would you tonight call for Google and Apple to cooperate in these Investigations and let the FBI, in where they need to go?

FIORINA: I absolutely would call on them to collaborate and cooperate, yes.

HEMMER: Excuse me, Martha. I have not heard the bell just yet, so you're all very well behaved so far.

Governor Gilmore, 30 seconds.

GILMORE: Well, yes, indeed. I chaired the National Commission on Homeland Security Committee for United States. We warned about the 9/11 attack before the 9/11 attack occurred. I was the governor during the 9/11 attack when the Pentagon was struck.

And I'm going to tell you this, we need to use the benefit of our law enforcement people across this country, combined with our intelligence people across this country. We need to use our technological advantages, because what we've warned of is an international guerrilla movement that threatens this country. It's going to happen in this country, there are going to be further attacks.

We have to be prepared to defend the American people, prepare them for a long war, stand up for the defense of this country, and stand up for the values of this country...

HEMMER: Thank you, Governor. I've got to move on to immigration here.

Senator Santorum, you would argue you have one of the tougher positions on illegal immigration in the entire 17 candidate field at the moment. We often talk about this issue on the abstract level in Washington, D.C., but you know how it's being talked about in states like Iowa and New Hampshire among illegals in our country today -- 11 million plus.

And some are asking, what would you say to a child, born and raised in America, who could see their family broken apart by your policy?

SANTORUM: My father was born in Italy, and shortly after he was born my grandfather immigrated to this country. And under the laws of this country, he wasn't allowed to be with his father for seven years. Spent the first seven years of his life in Fascist Italy, under Benito Mussolini. Not a very pleasant place to be.

I asked my dad after -- obviously, when I found out about this. And I said, "Didn't you resent America for not letting you be with your father in those formative and very threatening years?" You know what he said to me? "America was worth the wait."

We're a country of laws, Bill. We're a country of laws, not of men, not of people who do whatever they want to do. I know we have a president who wants to do whatever he wants to do, and take his pen and his phone and just tell everybody what he thinks is best. But the reason America is a great country, the reason is because our compassion is in our laws. And when we live by those laws and we treat everybody equally under the law, that's when people feel good about being Americans.

And I put forth an immigration policy that is as strong in favor of the folks who are struggling in America the most than anybody else. It's the strongest pro-worker immigration plan. It says that after 35 million people have come here over the last 20 years, almost all of whom are unskilled workers, flattening wages, creating horrible opportunity -- a lack of opportunities for unskilled workers, we're going to do something about reducing the level of immigration by 25 percent.

We're going to be tough at the border, we're going to be tough on all of the illegal immigrants that everybody else in this field -- we're going to be different. We're going to be actually out there trying to create a better life for hard-working Americans.

HEMMER: Governor Perry, try and answer this question again.

What do you say to the family of illegals? Are you going to break them apart?

PERRY: Bill, here's the interesting position on this. Americans are tired of hearing this debate -- want to go to, what are you going to do about illegal immigration? For 30 years this country has been baited with that. All the way back to when Ronald Reagan signed a piece of legislation that basically allowed for amnesty for over 4 million people, and the border is still not secure.

The American people are never going to trust Washington, D.C., and for good reason. We hear all this discussion about well, I would do this, or I would do that, when the fact is, the border is still porous. Until we have a president of the United States that gets up every day and goes to the Oval Office with the intent purpose of securing that border, and there's not anybody on either one of these stages that has the experience of dealing with this as I have for over 14 years with that 1200-mile border.

We have to put the personnel on that border in the right places; you have to put the strategic fencing in place; and you have to have aviation assets that fly all the way from Tijuana to El Paso to Brownsville, Texas -- 1,933 miles looking down 24/7, with the technology to be able to identify what individuals are doing, and ID when they are in obviously illegal activities or suspicious activities, and quick response teams come.

At that particular point in time, then Americans will believe that Washington is up to a conversation to deal with the millions of people that are here illegally, but not until.

If you elect me president of the United States, I will secure that southern border.

HEMMER: Governor, thank you.

MacCALLUM: On that note, next, the candidates take on the future of the U.S. economy when we come back after this quick break.

[commercial break]

MacCALLUM: Welcome back, everybody. It is the bottom of the hour, and we are back, live from Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena, kicking off the first 2016 Republican primary debate.

HEMMER: And so right now, we're 30 minutes in. Going to jump back into the topics and continue our discussion of national issues on the domestic level.

The issue that is really number one on the minds of many voters, that's the economy and jobs.

MacCALLUM: So let's start here with Senator Graham.

Senator Graham, 82 million Americans over the age of 20 are out of the workforce.

GRAHAM: Right.

MacCALLUM: Forty-five million people in this country are on food stamps. Nine million are on disability.

All of these numbers have been rising sharply in recent years.

There is an increasing willingness in this country to accept assistance. How do you get Americans who are able to take the job instead of a handout?

GRAHAM: I think America is dying to work, you just need to give them a chance. To all the Americans who want a better life, don't vote for Hillary Clinton. You're not going to get it. She's not going to repeal "Obamacare" and replace it. I will. She's not going to build the Keystone Pipeline. I will. She's not going to change Dodd-Frank. I will.

Until you change the policies of Barack Obama, we're never going to grow this economy. Until you change the policies of Barack Obama, we're never going to be safe. She represents a third term of a failed presidency.

I'm fluent in Clinton-speak; I've been dealing with this crowd for 20 years. You know, when Bill Clinton says it depends on what the meaning of is is, that means is is whatever Bill wants it to mean. When Hillary Clinton tells you I've given you all the emails you need, that means she hasn't. So to the people who are dying for a better America, you better change course, and she doesn't represent the change that we need.

Do we all agree that ISIL is not the JV team? If I have to monitor a mosque, I'll monitor a mosque. If I have to take down a cyber wall, I'll take it. If I have to send more American troops to protect us here, I will do it. She will not. She has empowered a failed agenda. She is going to empower a failed solution to an American economy dying to grow.

Elect me, I know the difference between being flat broke. Apparently, she doesn't. In Hillary Clinton's world, after two terms in the White House where her husband was president, she said she was flat broke. Hillary, I'll show you flat broke. That's not it.

MacCALLUM: All right. Senator Santorum, let's get back to the question at hand, which is whether or not Americans have become too reliant on assistance or too willing to take assistance. Do you believe that we need to change the culture in this country in terms of whether or not we should be encouraging people to get off of it and take the job when it's available? Some are able and not doing that.

SANTORUM: I think it's -- yeah, I think it's a one-two punch. Number one, we have to create better paying jobs. I mean, that's just the bottom line. We haven't. And that's the reason that I've said under my presidency, we'll create jobs and make American the number one manufacturing country in the world.

If we want to create jobs for the folks that you're talking about, who are having trouble getting off government benefits, primarily because of their low skill level, there is no better way -- it's worked for 100 years in America -- putting people back to work in manufacturing is it.

I'm going to be introducing a plan which I call the 2020 Perfect Vision for America. It's a 20 percent flat rate tax, it'll take a blowtorch to the -- to the IRS. It will create a manufacturing juggernaut in this country. And you combine that with reforms of our welfare system.

You're looking at the -- at the man who introduced and fought on the floor as a freshman senator and passed the Welfare Reform Act of 1996 over two President Clinton vetoes. Got 70 votes in the United States Senate. Bipartisan issue. And I ended a federal entitlement. Never been done before, never been done since.

What we need to do is take the rest of the federal entitlements, not just welfare, but food stamps and Medicaid and housing programs and do the same thing we did with welfare. Work requirements and time limits. That will change everything.

MacCALLUM: All right. New question, same topic, goes to Governor Gilmore. You know, based on your record and what we're discussing here, which is potentially cutting back some entitlement, cutting back benefits, it's tricky business as we all know because people will argue that that's their means to escape poverty. So they're going to look at you when you want to do that and they will call you heartless. What will you tell them?

GILMORE: I'll tell them that we're going to grow the economy so that we can give people better opportunities so they don't have to rely exclusively on benefit types of programs. Some do, but many Americans are dying to have an opportunity to grow and to create something inside this economy. And I'm glad that I have a chance to answer this question.

I've had the growth code (ph) there for about five years, and it's this specific program. We're going to do a tax cut for all Americans. We're going to have a three-bracket tax code, 10, 15 and 25 percent. We're going to combine all commercial activity in business into one place in the tax code and charge it 15 percent, which is going to suddenly make us competitive with the rest of the world. And we're going to eliminate the death tax.

With a couple of additional tweaks, we know what this will do. It will cause the economy to grow, to explode, to create more jobs. And first of all, we've got to recognize that there is problem that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have caused. And that problem is too big regulations like the EPA, too much new taxes on business that we have seen and "Obamacare." These are drags on the economy, it's a deliberate drag. I propose to reverse that and get this economy moving again.

HEMMER: Thank you, Governor.

Your last topic brings us to the state of Ohio.

You know, the saying, right? No Republican wins the White House unless you win here in the Buckeye state. Well, here in the Buckeye state, the Governor John Kasich took the federal money for Medicaid expansion under Obamacare.

And Governor Jindal of Louisiana, you passed on those tax dollars. Why do you think Governor Kasich got it wrong here?

JINDAL: Well, this goes to the question you were just asking. Look, under President Obama and Secretary Clinton, they're working hard to change the American dream into the European nightmare. They do celebrate more dependence on the government.

Give Bernie Sanders credit. At least he's honest enough to call himself a socialist. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, they're no better. If we were to expand Medicaid, for every uninsured person we would cover, we'd kick more than one person out of private insurance or remove their opportunity to get private insurance.

We're going to have too many people in the cart rather than pulling the cart. This isn't free money. I know some people like to say, "well, this is free money." We pay federal taxes. We are borrowing money from China today.

Yesterday, the president stunningly admitted this. He said, "we don't have leverage with China to get a better deal on Iran because we need them to lend us money to continue operating our government."

The president of the United States admitting that he's weakening our government's position, our foreign policy standing, because he can't control spending in D.C..

There is a better way to provide health care. The Oregon study showed this. Simply expanding Medicaid does not improve health care outcomes. In Louisiana, instead we're helping people getting better paying jobs so they can provide for their own health care.

HEMMER: So Governor Kasich was wrong, just to be clear.

JINDAL: I don't -- look, I don't think anybody should be expanding Medicaid. I think it's a mistake to create new and more expensive entitlement programs when we can't afford the ones we've got today. We've got to stop this culture of government dependence.

HEMMER: I didn't hear an answer regarding Governor Kasich, but for now I'll go to Governor Pataki. Yes or no?

JINDAL: I'll say this. I don't think anybody should expand Medicaid. I think it was a mistake to expand Medicaid everywhere in Ohio and across the country.

HEMMER: Governor Pataki, three term governor of New York. Is he right, Governor Jindal from Louisiana?

PATAKI: I think he is right. I don't think you expand entitlements when so many people are dependent on government and when the money the federal government is offering is going to be taken away from you after just a couple of years.

But getting back to Martha's question about how we end dependency, do we have to have a cultural change? The answer is no. And I know this, because when I ran for governor of New York, one in 11 of every man, woman, and child in the state of New York was on welfare. On welfare. Think about that.

And people said "you can't win, you can't change the culture." But I knew that good people who wanted to be a part of the American dream have become trapped in dependency because the federal government and the state government had made it in their economic interest not to take a job because the benefits that they didn't work were better.

I changed that. We put in place mandatory work fair (ph). But we allowed people to keep health care. We put in place child care support.

HEMMER: Yes or no, would you have expanded Obamacare in the state of New York, had you been governor at that time?

PATAKI: No, it should be repealed. And by the way, when I left, there were over 1 million fewer people on welfare in New York state than when I took office...

HEMMER: OK.

PATAKI: ... replacing dependency with opportunity.

HEMMER: Thank you, Governor Pataki.

In a moment here, we'll talk to the candidates about an issue today on Planned Parenthood, and also the U.S. Supreme Court. That's all next here in Cleveland.

[commercial break]

HEMMER: Welcome back to Cleveland, Ohio. Want to get back to the questions and the issues in this debate now, with my co-anchor, Martha.

MacCALLUM: All right.

Well, there's been a lot of discussion on Facebook, as you would imagine, about the Iran nuclear deal. Let's just take a look, as an opener, at this one question that comes from Logan Christopher Boyer of St. Louis, Missouri.

He says, "How will you disarm Iran and keep the Middle East from becoming nuclearized?

So let's open this discussion about Iran with this question that comes to Governor Perry. Governor Perry, here's the question for you:

Critics of the Iran deal say that it puts America on the same side as the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world, of Hamas, of Hezbollah, of the backers of those groups of people who chant 'Death to America,' in the street, that this deal puts on that side of the equation.

But our traditional Middle East allies, led by Saudi Arabia, have also funneled support to Islamic radical groups who want to kill Americans.

So which side do you believe we should be on?

PERRY: We need to be on the side that keeps Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. That's the side we need to be on, and that's the side of the bulk of the -- of the Middle East.

We need to have some coalitions in that part of the world to go after ISIS, but we also need to send a clear message. And hopefully -- you know, Senator Graham, I -- I know where he's going to be on this, but we use Congress, and we use Congress to cut this funding.

One of the great challenges that we have, $150 billion is fixing to go to a country that killed our Marines in Lebanon, that used their weapons to kill our young men in Iran. And the idea that this negotiation -- I will tell you one thing. I would a whole lot rather had Carly Fiorina over there doing our negotiation than John Kerry. Maybe we would've gotten a deal where we didn't give everything away.

But the issue for us is to have a Congress that stands up and says not only no, but "Hell no" to this money going to a regime that is going to use it for terror, Susan Rice has said that, and we need to stand up and strongly and clearly tell the ayatollah that -- whoever the next president of the United States is going to be, and I'll promise you, if it's me, the first thing that I will do is tear up that agreement with Iran.

MacCALLUM: Alright. I want to go to Carly Fiorina on this, but I want to ask you some of what I just asked to Governor Perry.

The issue is that the allies that we are with sometimes have groups within them that funnel money to terrorists as well. This is a complicated situation. Are you OK with us being on their side?

FIORINA: Yeah. Sometimes it's a complicated situation, but some things are black and white.

On day one in the Oval Office, I would make two phone calls. The first one would be to my good friend, Bibi Netanyahu, to reassure him we will stand with the State of Israel.

The second will be to the supreme leader of Iran. He might not take my phone call, but he would get the message, and the message is this: Until you open every nuclear and every military facility to full, open, anytime/anywhere, for real, inspections, we are going to make it as difficult as possible for you to move money around the global financial system.

I hope Congress says no to this deal. But realistically, even if they do, the money is flowing.

China and Russia have never been on our side of the table. The Europeans have moved on. We have to stop the money flow. And by the way, as important as those two phone calls are, they are also very important because they say this. America is back in the leadership business. And when America does not lead, the world is a dangerous and a tragic place.

This is a bad deal. Obama broke every rule of negotiation. Yes, our allies are not perfect. But Iran is at the heart of most of the evil that is going on in the Middle East through their proxies.

MacCALLUM: Very, very briefly, would you help our allies in that region to get nuclear weapons if Iran has them?

FIORINA: Let me tell you what I would do immediately, day two in the Oval Office. I would hold a Camp David summit with our Arab allies, not to talk them into this lousy deal with Iran, but to say to them, "what is it that you need to defeat ISIL?"

You know, Obama has presented the American people with a false choice every time. It's what I've done or not done, or it's war. It is a false choice.

King Abdullah of Jordan, a man I've known for a long time, has been asking for bombs and materiel. We have not provided them. He has gone to China.

The Kurds have been asking us to arm them for three years. We haven't done so.

The Egyptians have asked us to share intelligence. We're not doing it. We have Arab allies.

They are not perfect. I know every one. But they need to see leadership, support and resolve from the United States of America, and we can help them defeat ISIS.

HEMMER: Next question on the U.S. Supreme Court. It's been 42 years, Senator Santorum, since Roe v. Wade, and many consider, in this country, to be a case of settled law.

Recently the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on same-sex marriage. Is that now settled law in America today?

SANTORUM: It is not any more than Dred Scott was settled law to Abraham Lincoln, who, in his first inaugural address, said "it won't stand." And they went ahead and passed laws in direct contravention to a rogue Supreme Court.

This is a rogue Supreme Court decision, just like Justice Roberts said. There is no constitutional basis for the Supreme Court's decision, and I know something about this.

The -- one of the times the Supreme Court spoke that I thought they were acting outside of their authority was in a partial-birth abortion case. You know, these Planned Parenthood tapes, what they're showing are partial-birth abortions.

Abortions being done where the baby's being delivered first, to preserve those organs, and then they crush the skull. Well, the Supreme Court found a bill that I was the author of unconstitutional.

What did I do? I didn't stop. I didn't say "oh, well we lost. It's the law of the land." We worked together. The House and Senate, under my leadership, and we passed a bill, and we said, "Supreme Court, you're wrong."

We're a coequal branch of the government. We have every right to be able to stand up and say what is constitutional. We passed a bill, bipartisan support, and the Supreme Court, they -- they sided with us.

Sometimes it just takes someone to lead and stand up to the court.

HEMMER: Alright, Senator, thank you.

To Governor Gilmore. For years, presidential candidates have not said they would have a litmus test for justices nominated to the Supreme Court.

Recently, Hillary Clinton broke that precedent. She said she would apply that on the case of Citizens United, which deals with campaign finance laws in America today.

Is it time for conservatives to impose a litmus test on abortion?

GILMORE: Well, as you know, I'm a former elected prosecutor, a former elected attorney general, trained at the University of Virginia in constitutional law, and I don't believe in litmus tests except this.

I believe we should be appointing Supreme Court justices who will follow the law and not try to make the law. Now, the challenge we're seeing today is that the Supreme Court is being converted into some type of political body.

They have to have some legal basis and precedence for being able to follow the law instead of making the law up, and my goal is -- in appointing Supreme Court justices, would be to point -- to appoint justices who would follow the law. Bill, I want to say one more thing about...

HEMMER: So, no litmus test?

GILMORE: Not -- not on that, no. But let me say one more thing. I want to -- before my time runs out I want to get back to this issue of ISIS versus Iran. It is Iran that's the expansionist power. ISIL is trying to create themselves into a new state.

Our job has to be to recognize the conflict between the two. I have proposed there be a Middle East NATO so that we can combine our allies there to stand up to Iranian expansion, and at the same time join together to begin to stop and this ISIL thing before it becomes an actual state.

HEMMER: Thank you, governor.

MacCALLUM: All right. With that, we are going to take a quick break. We'll be right back with much more from Cleveland. Stay with us.

[commercial break]

HEMMER: As the first debate of the nomination season continues, welcome back to Cleveland. Let's get back to the questions right now, and the issues here in the U.S.

Martha?

MacCALLUM: We want to get back to Planned Parenthood. And this question goes to Governor Pataki.

Governor Pataki, you're the only pro-choice candidate running. A Republican holding that position has not won a single primary in 35 years. With the recent Planned Parenthood videos that we have all seen, shedding new light on abortion practices, I know that you have said that you would defund Planned Parenthood.

PATAKI: Yes.

MacCALLUM: But has this story changed your heart when it comes to abortion?

PATAKI: My heart has not changed, because I've always been appalled by abortion. I'm a Catholic, I believe life begins at conception. But as Bill said earlier, Roe v. Wade, it's has been the law for 42 years, and I don't think we should continue to try to change it.

But we can do is defund Planned Parenthood, and by the way, put in place an absolute permanent ban on any taxpayer dollars ever being used to fund abortions. Also, when you look at these videos, they are horrific and show just a hideous disrespect for life. What else we can do is that we should believe in science.

You know, Hillary Clinton's always saying how Republicans don't follow science? Well, they're the ones not listening to the scientists today, because doctors say that at 20 weeks that is a viable life inside the womb. And at that point, it's a life that we have the right to protect, and I think we should protect.

So, I would pass legislation outlawing abortion after 20 weeks. It is Hillary, it is Biden, it is the others who insist on allowing abortion well into viable (inaudible) wrong, and that should be stopped.

MacCALLUM: All right.

On the same topic, let's go to Governor Jindal.

Carly Fiorina, also on the stage, said that she would go so far as to shut down the government over the issue of defunding Planned Parenthood. Would you do that? Would you be willing to shut down the government when it comes to defunding this group?

JINDAL: Well, a couple of things. Planned Parenthood had better hope that Hillary Clinton wins this election, because I guarantee under President Jindal, January 2017, the Department of Justice and the IRS and everybody else that we can send from the federal government will be going in to Planned Parenthood.

This is absolutely disgusting, and revolts the conscience of the nation. Absolutely, we need to defund Planned Parenthood. In my own state, for example, we launched an investigation, asked the FBI to cooperate. We just, earlier this week, kicked them out of Medicaid in Louisiana as well, canceled their provider contract. They don't provide any abortions in Louisiana.

But in terms of shutting down the government, I don't think President Obama should choose to shut down the government simply to send taxpayer dollars to this group that has been caught, I believe, breaking the law, but also offending our values and our ethics.

It is time for Republicans in D.C. to fight. Too often, they give up, they negotiate with themselves. They said they would get rid of the unconstitutional amnesty. They didn't do that. They said they would repeal Obamacare if we gave them the majority. They didn't do that either. They said they'd shrink and balance the budget. They haven't done that. Absolutely, they should fight to fund -- defund Planned Parenthood, and I don't think the president should shut down the government simply to send our taxpayer dollars to this group.

MacCALLUM: All right.

Lindsey Graham, this conversation will no doubt go to the war on women, and that cutting funding to this group could be a very broad brush against all of you or anybody who will hold this nomination as being against women's health, against these organizations that people will say provide positive things for many women.

GRAHAM: I don't think it's a war on women for all of us as Americans to stand up and stop harvesting organs from little babies. Let's take the money that we would give to Planned Parenthood and put it in women's health care without having to harvest the organs of the unborn. The only way we're going to defund Planned Parenthood is have a pro-life president.

You want to see a war on women? Come with me to Iraq and Afghanistan, folks. I've been there 35 times. I will show you what they do to women. These mythical Arab armies that my friends talk about that are going to protect us don't exist. If I am president of the United States, we're going to send soldiers back to Iraq, back to Syria, to keep us from being attacked here and keep soldiers in Afghanistan because we must.

I cannot tell you how much our nation is threatened and how we need a commander in chief who understands the threats to this nation.

If you're running for president of the United States and you do not understand that we cannot defend this nation without more of our soldiers over there, you are not ready for this job.

HEMMER: Thank you, Senator.

Executive power. It appears that you all have a little bit of an issue with it at the moment. I want to move through this as quickly as I can, from stage left to stage right.

On the second day of his presidency, January 22nd 2009, President Obama signed one of his first executive orders. That was close Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Still open today. What would be your first executive order?

Governor Gilmore, start.

GILMORE: Well, it's not a matter of what the first executive order would be, Bill. The matter is what orders exist now that shouldn't exist?

The president has done an executive order with respect to illegal immigration that is illegal. Illegal. And it creates a -- a contempt for the law, for the rule of law. If i were the president of the United States, I would go and look at every executive order that exists right now and determine which ones want to be voided, because the president shouldn't be legislating: not through that vehicle or any other. We should be relying upon the leadership of the Congress to pass the laws.

HEMMER: Senator Graham.

GRAHAM: Change the Mexico City policy, not take one dime of taxpayer money to fund abortion organizations overseas, and restore the NSA that's been gutted. We're going dark when it comes to detecting the next attack. We have gutted our ability to detect the next attack. And I would not stand for that as president of the United States. I would take the fight to these guys, whatever it took, as long as it took.

HEMMER: Governor Jindal, your first executive order would be in the White House would be what?

JINDAL: To repeal these unconstitutional illegal orders, whether it's amnesty or whether it's this president going around the Congress, whether it's in Obamacare, to restore the rule of law. I'd also go after these sanctuary cities, do everything we can to make sure that we are not -- that we are actually prosecuting and cutting off funding for cities that are harboring illegal aliens, and then finally making sure the IRS is not going after conservative or religious groups.

I would sign an executive order protecting religious liberty, our first amendment rights, so Christian business owners and individuals don't face discrimination for having a traditional view of marriage.

HEMMER: Governor Perry.

PERRY: It'll be a pretty busy day, but that Iran negotiation is going to be torn up on day one. We're going to start the process of securing that border. I'm also going to take a bottle of White-Out with me to get started on all those executive orders that Mr. Obama has put his name to.

HEMMER: That will be a long day.

PERRY: It will be a long day.

HEMMER: Senator Santorum?

SANTORUM: Just ditto to that.

We're going to suspend -- I've -- I've said this for four years. We're going to suspend and repeal every executive order, every regulation that cost American jobs and is -- is -- is impacting our freedom.

And second, the First Amendment Defense Act, which is protecting religious liberty, if it's not passed by then, which I suspect it won't, because the president will veto it, I will institute an executive order to make sure that people of faith are not being -- not being harassed and persecuted by the federal government for standing up for the religious beliefs.

HEMMER: First order, Carly Fiorina?

FIORINA: I agree with my colleagues. We need to begin by undoing -- I would begin by undoing a whole set of things that President Obama has done, whether it's illegal amnesty or this latest round of EPA regulations. But let me go back to something that's very important. We have been debating right here the core difference between conservatism and progressivism.

Conservatives, I am a conservative because I believe no one of us is any better than any other one of us. Every one of us is gifted by God, whether it is those poor babies being picked over or it's someone whose life is tangled up in a web of dependence.

Progressives don't believe that. They believe some are smarter than others, some are better than others, so some are going to need to take care of others.

That is the fight we have to have, and we have to undo a whole set of things that President Obama has done that get at the heart of his disrespect and disregard for too many Americans.

HEMMER: Governor Pataki?

PATAKI: Bill, I defeated Mario Cuomo. In the first day in office, my first executive order, I revoked every one of the executive orders that he had -- he had enacted over the prior 12 years. I would do that to Barack Obama's executive orders.

But I'd sign a second one, as I did in New York, as well, having a hard hiring freeze on adding new employees except for the military or defense-related positions. I'd sign that executive order.

When I left the workforce, New York State had been reduced by over 15 percent. We can do that in Washington. I will do that in Washington.

HEMMER: Thank you all.

MacCALLUM: Moving on to the next question, President Obama promised hope and change for the country, yet 60 percent of Americans are not satisfied with the shape that the country is in right now. Many think that America has lost its "can do" spirit and that it's not the nation that it once was.

Ronald Reagan was confronted with a similar atmosphere, and he said that it could be morning in America again. JFK said it was a new frontier. FDR said that we had nothing to fear but fear itself.

On this level, Carly Fiorina, can you inspire this nation?

FIORINA: This is a great nation. It is a unique nation in all of human history and on the face of the planet, because here, our founders believed that everyone has a right to fulfill their potential and that that right --they called it life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness -- comes from God and cannot be taken away by government.

We have arrived at a point in our nation's history where the potential of this nation and too many Americans is being crushed by the weight, the power, the cost, the complexity, the ineptitude, the corruption of the federal government, and only someone who will challenge the status quo of Washington, D.C. can lead the resurgence of this great nation.

I will do that.

MacCALLUM: We're talking about tapping into historic levels of leadership and lifting the nation in this kind of way that we're discussing.

So Senator Santorum, how would you do it?

SANTORUM: I came to Washington, D.C. in 1990. That sounds like a long time ago. It was. It was 25 years ago, and I came by defeating the Democratic incumbent. I came as a reformer.

I started the Gang of Seven, and it led to the overtaking of the 40-year Democratic rule of Congress, because I didn't -- I stood up to the old-boy network in Washington, D.C. because I believed that Washington was not the solution, that Washington was the problem, just like Ronald Reagan said. I was a child of Ronald Reagan.

And I went there, and for 16 years, I fought the insiders and was able to get things done. That's the difference. We need to elect someone who will stand with the American people, who understands its greatness, who understands what an open economy and freedom is all about, but at the same time, has a record of being able to get things done in Washington like we've never seen before.

Reforms, everything from moral and cultural issues to economic issues. Those of you health savings accounts. Health savings accounts are something that we introduced. It's a private-sector solution that believes in freedom, not Obamacare that believes in government control.

Those are the things we brought, and we were able to get things done. If you want someone who's not going to divide Washington, but gets things done, then you should make me your president.

HEMMER: Thank you, senator.

MacCALLUM: (inaudible) Lindsey Graham?

GRAHAM: Thank you.

First thing I'd tell the American people, whatever it takes to defend our nation, I would do.

To the 1 percent who have been fighting this war for over a decade, I'd try my best to be a commander-in-chief worthy of your sacrifice.

We're going to lose Social Security and Medicare if Republicans and Democrats do not come together and find a solution like Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neill. I will be the Ronald Reagan if I can find a Tip O'Neill.

When I was 21, my mom died. When I was 22, my dad died. We owned a liquor store, restaurant, bar and we lived in the back. Every penny we needed from -- every penny we got from Social Security, because my sister was a minor, we needed. Today, I'm 60, I'm not married, I don't have any kids. I would give up some Social Security to save a system that Americans are going to depend on now and in the future.

Half of American seniors would be in poverty without a Social Security check. If you make your president, I'm going to put the country ahead of the party. I'm going to do what it takes to defend this nation. This nation has been great to me, and that's the only way I know to pay you back.

MacCALLUM: Thank you.

HEMMER: Thank you, Senator. I need a two-word answer to the following query. In 2008, then-Senator Barack Obama described Hillary Clinton as, quote, "likable enough," end quote. What two words would you use to describe the Democratic frontrunner? Governor Pataki to start.

PATAKI: Divisive and with no vision. No vision at all.

HEMMER: Wow. Carly Fiorina.

FIORINA: Not trustworthy. No accomplishment.

UNKNOWN: Secretive and untrustworthy.

PERRY: Well, let's go with three. Good at email.

HEMMER: Governor Jindal?

JINDAL: Socialist and government dependent.

GRAHAM: Not the change we need at a time we need it.

HEMMER: Governor?

GILMORE: Professional politician that can't be trusted.

HEMMER: Not a lot of compliments. To be continued.

MacCALLUM: So every candidate will have the opportunity to make a closing statement tonight. Each candidate will have 30 second for that. And we start with Governor Perry.

PERRY: Well, this is going to be a show me, don't tell me election. I think America is just a few good decisions and a leadership change at the top away from the best years we've ever had. And I think that the record of the governor of the last 14 years of the 12th largest economy in the world is just the medicine America is looking for.

1.5 million jobs created during the worst economic time this country has had since the Great Depression while the rest of the country lost 400,000 jobs. We're talking about a state that moved graduation rates forward from 27th in the nation to second-highest. As a matter of fact, if you're Hispanic or African-American in Texas, you have the number one high school graduation rates in America.

Americans are looking for somebody that's going to give them, and there is a place in this country over the last eight years in particular that talked about hope every day, and they didn't just talk about it, they delivered it. And that was the state of Texas. And if we can do that in Texas, that 12th largest economy in the world, we can do it in America.

Our best days are in front of us. We can reform those entitlements, we can change that corporate tax code and lower it. We can put America back on track on a growth level and a growth rate that we've never seen in the history of this country. Manufacturing will flow back into this country. It just needs a corporate executive type at the top that's done it before. And I will suggest to you nobody's done it like Rick Perry has done it over the last eight years. And if you elect me president, we will bring incredible growth back to this country. And as someone who's worn the uniform of the country, that's how we build our military back up.

HEMMER: Thank you Governor. Senator Santorum?

SANTORUM: I'll tell you how optimistic I am about America. Karen and I have seven children. You don't have seven children and bring them into this world if you're not optimistic about the future of this country.

I am, but people are upset, and they're upset for a reason about the future of this country. Donald Trump actually seized on it when he talked about immigration. And I think the reason he did is because immigration is sort of an example of what's broken and what's wrong in Washington, D..C.

You see, you have one side, the Democrats, and with immigration, all they care about is votes. They don't care about American workers, they just care about bringing as many people in so they can get as many votes as they can. ON the other side, you have so many Republicans, and what do they care about? Helping business make profits. There's nobody out there looking out for the American worker.

I'm looking out for the American worker. I'm the only one on this stage who has a plan that's actually reduced -- actually going to reduce immigration. Actually going to do something to help the American worker. And you combine that with a plan to make manufacturing -- this country number one in manufacturing, you've got someone who's going to help revitalize and give hope to America, the place -- the place is that is the most hopeless today.

That's why I ask for your support for president.

HEMMER: All right. Senator thank you.

MacCALLUM: Governor Jindal?

JINDAL: You know, we've got a lot of great talkers running for president. We've already got a great talker in the White House. We cannot afford four more years of on the job training. We need a doer, not a talker. We also need a nominee, a candidate who will endorse our own principles.

Jeb Bush says we've got to be willing to lose the primary in order to win the general. Let me translate that for you. That's the establishment telling us to hide our conservative principles to get the left and the media to like us. That never works. If we do that again, we will lose again, we will deserve to lose again.

One principle, for example, we've got to embrace is on immigration. We must insist on assimilation -- immigration without assimilation is an invasion. We need to tell folks who want to come here, they need to come here legally. They need to learn English, adopt our values, roll up their sleeves and get to work.

I'm tired of the hyphenated Americans and the division. I've got the backbone, I've got the band width, I've got the experience to get us through this. I'm asking folks not just to join my campaign, but join a cause. It is time to believe in America again.

MacCALLUM: Thank you, Governor.

HEMMER: Carly Fiorina, closing statement.

FIORINA: Hillary Clinton lies about Benghazi, she lies about e- mails. She is still defending Planned Parenthood, and she is still her party's frontrunner. 2016 is going to be a fight between conservatism, and a Democrat party that is undermining the very character of this nation. We need a nominee who is going to throw every punch, not pull punches, and someone who cannot stumble before he even gets into the ring.

I am not a member of the political class. I am a conservative; I can win this job, I can do this job, I need your help, I need your support. I will, with your help and support, lead the resurgence of this great nation.

Thank you.

HEMMER: Thank you.

MacCALLUM: Senator Graham.

GRAHAM: We need somebody ready to be commander-in-chief on day one, who understands there are no moderates in Iran, they've been killed a long time ago. That the Ayatollah is a radical jihadist who really means it when he chants, "Death to America, death to Israel." And this deal is giving him a pathway to a bomb, a missile to deliver it, and money to pay for it all.

We need a president who can solve our problems, bring us together. We're becoming Greece if we don't work together. At the end of the day, ladies and gentlemen, our best days are ahead of us only if we work together, and I intend to put this country on a path of success by working together and doing the hard things that should have been done a very long time ago.

HEMMER: And to Governor Pataki, closing statement now.

PATAKI: With all the candidates, why me?

My background is different. I look at Washington, and I hear the talk, and I see the promises and it seems nothing ever changes. Washington gets bigger, taxes get higher, and the American people feel more distance from our government. I have the opportunity not just to run, but to win in the deep blue state of New York three times. And not only did I win, but I then worked with a Democratic legislature to put in place the most sweeping conservative reforms of any state in America, taking us from the most dangerous state in America to the fourth safest; reducing our welfare rolls by over 1 million, and replacing over 700,000 private sector jobs.

I can govern by bringing people together. And also, I've been tested in a way no one else has. I was governor on September 11th, and I'm proud of my leadership in bringing New York through that time. And when I left, we were stronger, we were safer, and we were more united than at any time in my lifetime.

We need to bring people together in Washington. The talk has got to stop, the action has got to begin. People can promise you something, I delivered in the blue state of New York. I will deliver for the American people if I have the privilege of leading this country.

HEMMER: Thank you, Governor.

MacCALLUM: Governor Gilmore.

GILMORE: Well, I was a conservative governor of Virginia, I governed that way, and that's my track record. But the key thing that we're seeing now is serious challenges to this country that must change, the direction of this nation must change. And that's why I've offered a specific program to the people of America tonight to address the fundamental problem of getting our country growing again, getting our economy growing, wages up, opportunities for people.

And second, the international crisis we are facing is most dreadful and most dangerous. I have the experience as a prosecutor, attorney general, governor, United States Army intelligence veteran, governor during the 9/11 attack, chairman of the Terrorism Commission for this country. It's time for real substance and real experience.

And that's what I'll offer to the people of the United States in this candidacy for the presidency.

MacCALLUM: Thank you, Governor.

HEMMER: That concludes the first debate of the 2016 Republican primary. We would like to thank all seven of you for being here today.

NOTE: A candidate must rank in the top ten candidates in Fox News polls in order to appear in the main debate. The remaining candidates were invited to appear in this "undercard" debate.
+ Citation: Presidential Candidates Debates: "Republican Candidates "Undercard" Debate in Cleveland, Ohio," August 6, 2015. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=110757. +
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+ 		+ + + + +Presidential Candidates Debates: Democratic Candidates Debate in Manchester, New Hampshire +
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Democratic Candidates Debate in Manchester, New Hampshire
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PARTICIPANTS:
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton;
Former Governor Martin O'Malley (MD);
Senator Bernie Sanders (VT);

MODERATORS:
Martha Raddatz (ABC News)
David Muir (ABC News)

RADDATZ: Good evening to you all. The rules for tonight are very basic and have been agreed to by all three campaigns in advance. Candidates can take up to a minute-and-a-half to respond directly to a question. For a rebuttal, for a follow-up, 45 seconds will be allowed. There are green, yellow, and red lights that each candidate will see to signal when time is running out and when they're supposed to be finished with their answers.

MUIR: We will be tackling many critical issues right here tonight, and we begin with opening statements, in alphabetical order, and Secretary Clinton.

CLINTON: Well, thank you. And I'm delighted to be here in New Hampshire for this debate.

You know, the American president has to both keep our families safe and make the economy grow in a way that helps everyone, not just those at the top. That's the job. I have a strategy to combat and defeat ISIS without getting us involved in another ground war, and I have plans to raise incomes and deal with a lot of the problems that keep families up at night.

I'm very clear that we have a distinct difference between those of us on this stage tonight and all of our Republican counterparts. From my perspective, we have to prevent the Republicans from rolling back the progress that we've made. They would repeal the Affordable Care Act, not improve it. They would give more tax breaks to the super-wealthy and corporations, not to the middle class. And they would, despite all their tough talk about terrorism, continue to let people who are on the no-fly list buy guns.

So we have a lot of work to do in this campaign to make it clear where we stand in the Democratic Party, what we will do for our country, and I look forward to this evening's discussion of real issues that face the American people.

Thank you.

RADDATZ: Thank you, Secretary Clinton. [applause]

Governor O'Malley?

O'MALLEY: Martha, thank you. Tonight we have a different debate than the debates that we have been allowed to have so far, because tonight is different because of this reason, that in the course of this presidential campaign America has again been attacked by jihadi terrorists, American lives taken from us. So, yes, we must talk about our ideas to move our economy forward, but the first job of the president of the United States is to protect the people of the United States.

I visited with a number of our neighbors in Northern Virginia at a mosque last Friday. And as I looked out there at the eyes of our neighbors, I also looked in the eyes of veterans. I looked into the eyes of Boy Scouts. I looked into the eyes of moms and dads who would do anything in their power to protect our country's values and our freedoms.

What our nation needs right now is to realize that, while we face a terrible danger, we also face a different sort of political danger. And that is the danger that democracies find themselves susceptible to when unscrupulous leaders try to turn us upon each other. What our country needs right now is new leadership that will bring us together around the values that unite us and the freedoms that we share as Americans.

We will rise to challenge of ISIL and we will rise together to the challenges that we face in our economy. But we will only do so if we hold true to the values and the freedoms that unite us, which means we must never surrender them to terrorists, must never surrender our Americans values to racist, must never surrender to the fascist pleas of billionaires with big mouths.

We are a better country than this. Our enduring symbol is not the barbed wire fence, it is the Statue of Liberty. And America's best days are in front of us if we move forward together. [applause]

MUIR: Senator Sanders.

SANDERS: Good evening.

I am running for president of the United States because it is too late for establishment politics and establishment economics. I'm running for president because our economy is rigged because working people are working longer hours for lower wages and almost all of new wealth and income being created is going to the top one percent. I'm running for president because I'm going to create an economy that works for working families not just billionaires.

I'm running for president because we have a campaign finance system which is corrupt, where billionaires are spending hundreds of millionaires of dollars to buy candidates who will represent their interests rather than the middle class and working families. I'm running because we need to address the planetary crisis of climate change and take on the fossil fuel industry and transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energy.

I'm running for president because I want a new foreign policy; one that takes on Isis, one that destroys ISIS, but one that does not get us involved in perpetual warfare in the quagmire of the Middle East but rather works around a major coalition of wealthy and powerful nations supporting Muslim troops on the ground. That's the kind of coalition we need and that's the kind of coalition I will put together. [applause]

MUIR: Senator Sanders thank you and thank you all.

We do have a lot of important issues to get here tonight and we want to address the controversy of the last 24 hours right off the top because we heard some of the most heated rhetoric of the campaign so far between two of the campaigns on this stage tonight.

Senator Sanders, you fired a campaign staffer you have sued the Democratic National Committee; all of this after your campaign acknowledge that some of your staffers quote, "irresponsibly accessed data from another campaign." The Clinton campaign called this a very egregious breech of data of ethics and said, quote, "our data was stolen."

Did they overstate this or were your staffers essentially stealing part of the Clinton playbook?

SANDERS: David, let me give you a little bit of background here.

The DNC has hired vendors. On two occasions, there were breeches in information two months ago. Our staff found information on our computers from the Clinton campaign. And when our staffers said, "whoa, what's going here?" They went to the DNC quietly.

They went to the vendor and said, "hey, something is wrong," and that was quietly dealt with. None of that information was looked at. Our staffer at that point did exactly the right thing.

A few days ago a similar incident happened. There was a breach because the DNC vendor screwed up, information came to our campaign. In this case, our staff did the wrong thing -- they looked at that information. As soon as we learned that they looked at that information - we fired that person. We are now doing an independent internal investigation to see who else was involved.

Thirdly, what I have a really problem, and as you mentioned - this is a problem, I recognize it as a problem. But what the DNC did arbitrarily without discussing it with us is shut off our access to our information crippling our campaign. That is an egregious act. I'm glad that late last night, that was resolved.

SANDERS: Fourthly, I work -- look forward to working with Secretary Clinton for an investigation, an independent investigation, about all of the breaches that have occurred from day one in this campaign, because I am not convinced that information from our campaign may not have ended up in her campaign. Don't know that.

But we need an independent investigation, and I hope Secretary Clinton will agree with me for the need of that.

Last point. When we saw the breach two months, we didn't go running to the media and make a big deal about it. And it bothers me very much that, rather than working on this issue to resolve it, it has become many press releases from the Clinton campaign later.

MUIR: But Senator, you do mention the DNC -- the vender. But you said of your staff that they did the wrong thing.

SANDERS: Absolutely.

MUIR: So, does Secretary Clinton deserve an apology tonight?

SANDERS: Yes, I apologize.

MUIR: Secretary Clinton... [applause]

SANDERS: Not only -- not only do I apologize to Secretary Clinton -- and I hope we can work together on an independent investigation from day one -- I want to apologize to my supporters. This is not the type of campaign that we run.

And if I find anybody else involved in this, they will also be fired.

MUIR: Secretary Clinton, he has apologized. How do your react?

CLINTON: I very much appreciate that comment, Bernie. It really is important that we go forward on this.

I know that you now have your data back, and that there has been an agreement for an independent inquiry into what did happen.

Obviously, we were distressed when we learned of it, because we have worked very hard -- I said in the beginning of this campaign, we want to reach as many voters as possible, and we have tens of thousands of volunteers doing that, and entering data all the time to keep up with what people are telling us.

And so, now that, I think, you know, we have resolved your data, we have agreed on an independent inquiry, we should move on. Because I don't think the American people are all that interested in this. [applause]

I think they're more interested in what we have to say about all the big issues facing us.

O'MALLEY: Yeah, David, look, for crying out loud, our country has been attacked, we have pressing issues involving how we're going to adapt to this changing era of warfare.

Our economy -- people are working harder and being left behind. You want to know why things don't get done in Washington? Because for the last 24 hours, with those issues being so urgent to people as they tune in tonight, wondering how they're even be able to buy presents for their kids.

Instead, we're listening to the bickering back and forth. Maybe that is normal politics in Washington, but that is not the politics of higher purpose that people expect from our party.

We need to address our security issues, we need to address the economic issues around the kitchen table. And if people want a more high-minded politics and want to move our country forward, go on to martinomalley.com and help my campaign move our country forward. [applause]

MUIR: (?): All three candidates are weighing in.

SANDERS: Let me agree with Governor O'Malley and let me agree with Secretary Clinton. You know, we had this incident before, Secretary, with your famous e-mails. Right?

And what I said and I think what Governor O'Malley is saying, and I hope you say, is when the middle class of this country is disappearing, when we have massive income and wealth inequality, when we're the only major country on earth not guaranteeing health care to all people, all the issues that the governor talked about, the secretary talked about, those are the issues. Media notwithstanding.

Those are the issues that the American people want discussed. I hope those are the issues we'll discuss.

MUIR: Good let's move on -- Senator Sanders, let's move on right to some of those issues. [applause]

It is just six days before Christmas, as we all know in this country. It's typically a joyful time, as it is this year, as well. But it's also an anxious time. President Obama has acknowledged that what we saw in San Bernardino was an act of terrorism. But we remember the president said, right before Thanksgiving, there is no known specific and credible intelligence indicating a plot on the homeland.

We now know that this couple had assembled an arsenal. They were not on law enforcement's radar. They were completely undetected. So as we approach another holiday, with the president again saying, late this week, no credible threat, Secretary Clinton, how confident should the American people be, that there aren't others like that couple right now in the U.S. going undetected?

And what would you do as president to find them?

CLINTON: Well, first, the most important job of being president is obviously to keep our country safe and to keep the families of America safe.

I have a plan that I've put forward to go after ISIS. Not to contain them, but to defeat them. And it has three parts. First, to go after them and deprive them of the territory they occupy now in both Syria and Iraq.

Secondly, to go after and dismantle their global network of terrorism. And thirdly, to do more to keep us safe. Under each of those three parts of my plan, I have very specific recommendations about what to do.

Obviously, in the first, we do have to have a -- an American-led air campaign, we have to have Arab and Kurdish troops on the ground. Secondly, we've got to go after everything from North Africa to South Asia and beyond.

And then, most importantly, here at home, I think there are three things that we have to get right. We have to do the best possible job of sharing intelligence and information. That now includes the internet, because we have seen that ISIS is a very effective recruiter, propagandist and inciter and celebrator of violence.

That means we have to work more closely with our great tech companies. They can't see the government as an adversary, we can't see them as obstructionists. We've got to figure out how we can do more to understand who is saying what and what they're planning.

And we must work more closely with Muslim-American communities. Just like Martin, I met with a group of Muslim-Americans this past week to hear from them about what they're doing to try to stop radicalization. They will be our early warning signal. That's why we need to work with them, not demonize them, as the Republicans have been doing.

O'MALLEY: David, I am the very first...

MUIR: (inaudible) thank you. [applause]

I am the very first post-9/11 mayor and the very first post-9/11 governor. I understand, from the ground up, that when attacks like San Bernardino happen, when attacks like the attacks of 9/11 happen, that when people call 911, the first people to show up are the local first responders.

Many of the things Secretary Clinton said are absolutely true, but they underscore a lack of investment that we have, as a nation, failed to make over these last 15 years in intelligence gathering, intelligence analysis, intelligence sharing. Not only in theater, in Syria and Iraq and other places where we embalk [sic] ourselves in toppling dictators without having any idea what comes next, but here in the homeland, as we protect people from this threat of the lone wolves and these changing tactics and strategies.

I believe that what's happened here is that the president had us on the right course, but it's a lack of battle tempo. We have to increase the battle tempo, we have to bring a modern way of getting things done and forcing the sharing of information and do a much better job of acting on it in order to prevent these sorts of attacks in the future.

MUIR: And we're going to break down these issues tonight, but I do want to go to Senator Sanders because the concern going into Christmas is significant, as you know. A new ABC News poll shows 77 percent of Americans have little or no confidence in the government's ability to prevent a lone wolf attack. How would you specifically find would-be terrorist who are going undetected?

SANDERS: I'm one of the 77 percent. I think this is a very difficult issue. Let me agree with much of what the secretary and the governor have said. Let me tell you what I think we have got to do. I think it's a two-pronged issue.

Number one, our goal is to crush and destroy ISIS. What is the best way to do it? Well, I think there are some differences of opinion here, perhaps between the secretary and myself. I voted against the war in Iraq because I thought unilateral military action would not produce the results that were necessary and would lead to the kind of unraveling and instability that we saw in the Middle East.

I do not believe in unilateral American action. I believe in action in which we put together a strong coalition of forces, major powers and the Muslim nations. I think one of the heroes in a real quagmire out there, in a dangerous and difficult world; one of the heroes who we should recognize in the Middle East is King Abdullah II of Jordan. This small country has welcomed in many refugees.

And Abdullah said something recently, very important. He said, "Yes, international terrorism is by definition an international issue, but it is primarily an issue of the Muslim nations who are fighting for the soul of Islam. We the Muslims should lead the effort on the ground." And I believe he is absolutely right.

MUIR: Senator, thank you.

RADDATZ: Secretary Clinton, in the wake of the San Bernardino attack, you all emphasized gun control. But our latest poll shows that more Americans believe arming people, not stricter gun laws, is the best defense against terrorism. Are they wrong?

CLINTON: Well, I think you have to look at both the terrorism challenge that we face abroad and certainly at home and the role that guns play in delivering the violence that stalks us. Clearly, we have to have a very specific set of actions to take. You know, when Senator Sanders talks about a coalition, I agree with him about that. We've got to build a coalition abroad. We also have to build a coalition at home. Abroad, we need a coalition that is going to take on ISIS. I know how hard that is. I know it isn't something you just hope people will do and I've worked on that...

RADDATZ: Secretary Clinton, can we stick to gun control?

CLINTON: Yes, I'm getting...

RADDATZ: Are they wrong?

CLINTON: ... I'm getting to that. Because I think if you only think about the coalition abroad you're missing the main point, which is we need a coalition here at home. Guns, in and of themselves, in my opinion, will not make Americans safer. We lose 33,000 people a year already to gun violence, arming more people to do what I think is not the appropriate response to terrorism.

I think what is... [applause]

Is creating much deeper, closer relations and, yes, coalitions within our own country. The first line of defense against radicalization is in Muslim-American community. People who we should be welcoming and working with.

I worry greatly that the rhetoric coming from the Republicans, particularly Donald Trump, is sending a message to Muslims here in the United States and literally around the world that there is a "clash of civilizations," that there is some kind of Western plot or even "war against Islam," which then I believe fans the flames of radicalization.

So guns have to be looked at as its own problem, but we also have to figure out how we're going to deal with the radicalization here in the United States. [crosstalk]

RADDATZ: Senator Sanders -- wait just a moment, please, Governor O'Malley.

Senator Sanders, we've seen those long lines of people buying guns in record numbers after the Paris attacks. Would you discourage people from buying a gun?

SANDERS: It's a country in which people choose to buy guns. I think half of the -- more than half of the people in my own state of Vermont, my guess here in New Hampshire, are gun owners. That's the right of people.

But this is what I do believe. I believe that when we have some 300 million guns in this country, I believe that when we have seen these horrific mass killings, not only in San Bernardino, but in Colorado and movie theaters in Colorado, I think we have got to bring together the vast majority of the people who do in fact believe in sensible gun safety regulations.

For example, talking about polls, a poll recently came out, overwhelming majority of the American people say we should strengthen the instant background check. Who denies that it is crazy... [applause]

Who denies that it is crazy to allow people to own guns who are criminals or are mentally unstable? We've got to eliminate the gun show loophole. In my view, we have got to see that weapons designed by the military to kill people are not in the hands of civilians.

I think there is a consensus. [applause]

I think -- I'm not going to say that everybody is in agreement. It's a divided country on guns. But there is a broad consensus on sensible gun safety regulations that I, coming from a state that has virtually no gun control, will do my best to bring together.

O'MALLEY: Martha, if I may...

RADDATZ: Thank you, Senator Sanders. [crosstalk] I think we're going to go on...

O'MALLEY: Excuse me, no.

MUIR: Governor, we have to abide the rules here, we'll call on you here shortly, but...

O'MALLEY: I am the only person on this stage who has actually...

MUIR: But I do want pick up on something...

O'MALLEY: ... passed comprehensive gun safety legislation with a ban on combat assault weapons, David.

And, look, there are profound differences... [applause]

Senator Sanders voted against the Brady Bill. Senator Sanders voted to give immunity to gun dealers. And Senator Sanders voted against even research dollars to look into this public health issue.

Secretary Clinton changes her position on this every election year, it seems, having one position in 2000 and then campaigning against President Obama and saying we don't need federal standards.

Look, what we need on this issue is not more polls. We need more principle. When ISIL does training videos that say the easiest way to get a combat assault weapon in the United States of America is at a gun show, then we should all be waking up. We need comprehensive gun safety legislation and a ban on assault weapons.

RADDATZ: Governor, now -- and let me stay with gun control for a minute, then. You talk about assault weapons. Even if you were able to ban the purchase of assault weapons tomorrow, Americans already own an estimated 7 to 10 million semi-automatic rifles.

Would you make it illegal to own those weapons, force people to turn them in? And if not, how would banning the sales really make a difference?

O'MALLEY: Because, Martha, it would prevent people like the guy that just got charged yesterday perhaps from being able to buy combat assault weapons. You know, we are the only nation, only developed nation on the planet...

RADDATZ: But, again, I'm not talking about buying. Would you have them confiscated? The ones that are already here?

O'MALLEY: No, Martha, I would not. And that's not what we did in Maryland. But you know what we did in Maryland? We overcame the NRA's objections. We overcame all of the crowds that were coming down there.

We did our own rallies. And at least if we enact these laws in a prospective way, we can address a major vulnerability in our country. ISIL videos, ISIL training videos are telling lone wolves the easiest way to buy a combat assault weapon in America is at a gun show.

And it's because of the flip-flopping, political approach of Washington that both of my two colleagues on this stage have represented there for the last forty years.

SANDERS: Whoa, whoa, whoa. Let's calm down a little bit, Martin.

CLINTON: Yes, let's tell the truth, Martin.

O'MALLEY: I am telling the truth.

SANDERS: First of all, let's have some rules here, commentators.

MUIR: We will. [laughter]

SANDERS: All right.

MUIR: But let me just establish that for you, senator. Really quickly governor, we are going to call on you tonight and it's very clear you have a lot to say but please wait until you're called upon. And senator, he invoked your record and I'll let you respond.

SANDERS: He sure did.

MUIR: I'll let you respond.

CLINTON: He invoked mine as well.

MUIR: And you will get some to as well.

SANDERS: Sure did. All right. First off, we can do all the great speeches we want but you're not going to succeed unless there is a consensus. In 1988, just to set the record straight governor, I ran for the U.S. House. We have one House member from Vermont, three candidates in the race. One candidate said, you know what, I don't think it's a great idea that we sell automatic weapons in this country that are used by the military to kill people very rapidly.

Gun people said, there were three candidates in the race, you vote for one of the others, but not Bernie Sanders. I lost that election by three percentage points. Quite likely, for that reason. So please, do not explain to me, coming from a state where democratic governors and republican governors have supported virtually no gun control. [crosstalk]

Excuse me. Do not tell me that I have not shown courage in standing up to the gun people, in voting to ban assault weapons, voting for instant background checks, voting to end the gun show loop hole and now we're in a position to create a consensus in America on gun safety. [applause]

MUIR: Senator, thank you. I want to move on here. Secretary Clinton, you brought up Donald Trump a short time ago.

CLINTON: I do and this is an important issue and I know we'll get to a lot of other critical ones as well. I actually agree with Governor O'Malley about the need for common sense gun safety measures. And I applaud his record in Maryland. I just wish he wouldn't misrepresent mine. I have been for the Brady bill, I have been against assault weapons.

I have voted not to give gun makers and sellers immunity. And I also know that -- and I'm glad to see this -- Senator Sanders has really moved in face of the facts about what we're confronting in our country. I know that he has said in the two previous that he wants to take on this immunity issue because we need to send a strong message to the gun manufacturers, to the sellers, to the gun lobby.

And I would hope, Senator Sanders, that you would join the Democrats who are trying to close the Charleston loophole, that you would sponsor or co-sponsor legislation to remove the absolute immunity. We need to move on this consensus that exists in the country. It's no longer enough just to say the vast majority of Americans want common sense gun safety measures including gun owners.

We need, and only the three of us will do this, nobody on the Republican side will even admit there's a problem. And in whatever way the three of us can we need to move this agenda forward and begin to deal with the gun lobby and the intimidation that they present. [applause]

MUIR: Secretary Clinton, thank you. We're going to move on from guns here and go back to something you mentioned a short time ago. You brought up Donald Trump first here this evening. We've now seen the polling done well after his proposed ban on Muslims coming to America. Thirty-six percent of Americans, more than a third, agree with him.

You have weighed in already on Donald Trump. You've weighed in on the proposed ban. But what would you say to the millions of Americans watching tonight who agree with him? Are they wrong?

CLINTON: Well I think a lot of people are understandably reacting out of fear and anxiety about what they're seeing. First what they saw in Paris, now what they have seen in San Bernardino. And Mr. Trump has a great capacity to use bluster and bigotry to inflame people and to make think there are easy answers to very complex questions.

So what I would say is, number one, we need to be united against the threats that we face. We need to have everybody in our country focused on watching what happens and reporting it if it's suspicious, reporting what you hear. Making sure that Muslim Americans don't feel left out or marginalized at the very moment when we need their help.

CLINTON: You know, I was a senator from New York after 9/11, and we spent countless hours trying to figure out how to protect the city and the state from perhaps additional attacks. One of the best things that was done, and George W. Bush did this and I give him credit, was to reach out to Muslim Americans and say, we're in this together. You are not our adversary, you are our partner.

And we also need to make sure that the really discriminatory messages that Trump is sending around the world don't fall on receptive ears. He is becoming ISIS's best recruiter. They are going to people showing videos of Donald Trump insulting Islam and Muslims in order to recruit more radical jihadists. So I want to explain why this is not in America's interest to react with this kind of fear and respond to this sort of bigotry.

MUIR: Secretary, thank you.

Senator Sanders, I did want to ask you about a neighbor in San Bernardino who reportedly witnessed packages being delivered to that couple's home, that it set off red flags, but they didn't report it because they were afraid to profile. What would you say to Americans afraid to profile? Is it ever acceptable?

SANDERS: Well, the answer is, obviously, if you see suspicious activity, you report it. That's kind of a no-brainer. You know, somebody is loading guns and ammunition into a house, I think it's a good idea to call 911. Do it. [laughter]

MUIR: But I'm asking about -- I'm asking about profiling. Because a lot of people are afraid of that.

SANDERS: But I want to talk -- I want to talk about something else, because Secretary Clinton I think made some interesting and good points. What you have now is a very dangerous moment in American history.

The secretary is right: Our people are fearful. They are anxious on a number of levels. They are anxious about international terrorism and the possibility of another attack on America. We all understand that.

But you know what else they're anxious about? They're anxious about the fact that they are working incredibly long hours, they're worried about their kids, and they're seeing all the new income and wealth -- virtually all of it -- going to the top 1 percent. And they're looking around them, and they're looking at Washington, and they're saying the rich are getting much richer, I'm getting poorer, what are you going to do about it? What are you going to do for my kids?

And somebody like a Trump comes along and says, "I know the answers. The answer is that all of the Mexicans, they're criminals and rapists, we've got to hate the Mexicans. Those are your enemies. We hate all the Muslims, because all of the Muslims are terrorists. We've got to hate the Muslims." Meanwhile, the rich get richer.

So what I say to those people who go to Donald Trump's rallies, understand: He thinks a low minimum wage in America is a good idea. He thinks low wages are a good idea.

I believe we stand together to address the real issues facing this country, not allow them to divide us by race or where we come from. Let's create an America that works for all of us, not the handful on top. [applause]

MUIR: Senator, thank you.

RADDATZ: I want to move to another...

O'MALLEY: Martha, may I -- Martha, may I... [crosstalk]

RADDATZ: No, no, not yet, Governor O'Malley.

O'MALLEY: Can I share this quick story?

RADDATZ: No, not yet, Governor O'Malley.

O'MALLEY: Oh. All right.

RADDATZ: I'll come to you when we call on you. Thank you very much.

O'MALLEY: When you come back to me, I'll share that story.

RADDATZ: You'll be happy. I'll let -- I'll let you talk then.

Secretary Clinton, I want to talk about a new terrorist tool used in the Paris attacks, encryption. FBI Director James Comey says terrorists can hold secret communications which law enforcement cannot get to, even with a court order.

You've talked a lot about bringing tech leaders and government officials together, but Apple CEO Tim Cook said removing encryption tools from our products altogether would only hurt law-abiding citizens who rely on us to protect their data. So would you force him to give law enforcement a key to encrypted technology by making it law?

CLINTON: I would not want to go to that point. I would hope that, given the extraordinary capacities that the tech community has and the legitimate needs and questions from law enforcement, that there could be a Manhattan-like project, something that would bring the government and the tech communities together to see they're not adversaries, they've got to be partners.

It doesn't do anybody any good if terrorists can move toward encrypted communication that no law enforcement agency can break into before or after. There must be some way. I don't know enough about the technology, Martha, to be able to say what it is, but I have a lot of confidence in our tech experts.

And maybe the back door is the wrong door, and I understand what Apple and others are saying about that. But I also understand, when a law enforcement official charged with the responsibility of preventing attacks -- to go back to our early questions, how do we prevent attacks -- well, if we can't know what someone is planning, we are going to have to rely on the neighbor or, you know, the member of the mosque or the teacher, somebody to see something.

CLINTON: I just think there's got to be a way, and I would hope that our tech companies would work with government to figure that out. Otherwise, law enforcement is blind -- blind before, blind during, and, unfortunately, in many instances, blind after.

So we always have to balance liberty and security, privacy and safety, but I know that law enforcement needs the tools to keep us safe. And that's what I hope, there can be some understanding and cooperation to achieve.

RADDATZ: And Governor O'Malley, where do you draw the line between national security and personal security?

O'MALLEY: I believe that we should never give up our privacy; never should give up our freedoms in exchange for a promise of security. We need to figure this out together. We need a collaborative approach. We need new leadership.

The way that things work in the modern era is actually to gather people around the table and figure these things out. The federal government should have to get warrants. That's not some sort of passé you know, antique sort of principle that safeguards our freedoms.

But at the same time with new technologies I believe that the people creating these projects -- I mean these products also have an obligation to come together with law enforcement to figure these things out; true to our American principles and values.

My friend Kashif, who is a doctor in Maryland; back to this issue of our danger as a democracy of turning against ourselves. He was putting his 10 and 12-year-old boys to bed the other night. And he is a proud American Muslim. And one of his little boys said to him, "Dad, what happens if Donald Trump wins and we have to move out of our homes?" These are very, very real issues. this is a clear and present danger in our politics within.

We need to speak to what unites us as a people; freedom of worship, freedom of religion, freedom of expression. And we should never be convinced to give up those freedoms in exchange for a promise of greater security; especially from someone as untried and as incompetent as Donald Trump.

RADDATZ: Thank you, Governor O'Malley.

MUIR: Martha, we're going to turn now to refugees coming to America. And on the subject of refugees, more than half of all Americans now say they oppose taking in refugees from Syria and across the Middle East.

Secretary Clinton, you have said that it would undermine who we are as Americans, shutting our doors. But New Hampshire's governor, where we are right here tonight, a democrat and a supporter of yours, is among more than 30 governors who are now concerned. Governor Maggie Hassan says, "we should halt acceptance of Syrian refugees until U.S. authorities can assure the vetting process, halt Syrian refugees." Is she wrong?

CLINTON: Well, I agree that we have to have the toughest screening and vetting...

MUIR: But a halt?

CLINTON: I don't think a halt is necessary. What we have to do is put all of our resources through the Department of Homeland Security, through the State Department, through our intelligence agencies, and we have to have an increased vetting and screening. Now, this takes, David, 18 months to 24 months, two years.

So I know it's not going to happen overnight and everything that can be done should be done. But the process should move forward while we are also taking on ISIS, putting together the kind of strategy that I've advocated for, and making sure that the vetting and the screening is as tough as possible. Because I do believe that we have a history and a tradition, that is part of our values system and we don't want to sacrifice our values.

We don't want to make it seem as though we are turning into a nation of fear instead of a nation of resolve. So I want us to have a very tough screening process but I want that process to go forward. And if at the end of 18 months, 24 months there are people who have been cleared, and I would prioritize widows, and orphans, and the elderly, people who may have relatives, families, or have nowhere else to go. I would prioritize them.

And that would I think give the American public a bit more of a sense of security about who is being processed and who might end up coming as refugees.

MUIR: Governor O'Malley, obviously you were governor yourself at one time. What would you say to New Hampshire's governor tonight? Is she wrong on this?

O'MALLEY: No, what I would say is this is look, I was the first of the three of us to call for America to accept the 65,000 refugees we were asked to accept. And if this humanitarian crisis increases, we should accept more.

MUIR: So the idea of a halt or a pause? [applause]

O'MALLEY: David, there are wider vulnerabilities than when it comes to refugees. I met recently with some members of the Chaldean Christian communities and the wait times are a year, 18 months, 24 months. There is a pretty excruciating process that refugees go through. We need to invest more in terms of the other sort of visas and the other sort of waivers.

O'MALLEY: What these Chaldean families told me was that their families in Syria, when ISIS moves into their town, they actually paint a red cross across the door and mark their homes for demolition, and that tells the family you'd better get out now. The sort of genocide and brutality that the victims are suffering, these are not the perpetrators.

We need to be the nation whose enduring symbol is the Statue of Liberty, and we need to act like the great country we are, according to our values.

MUIR: Governor, thank you.

RADDATZ: Senator Sanders -- Senator Sanders, we're going to move on. We're going to move on.

SANDERS: Excuse me. May I have a chance to respond to this issue?

RADDATZ: We're going to move on to the fight against ISIS. You're the one who told us we have to follow the rules and break it off. [laughter]

SANDERS: Yeah, but the rule includes equal -- got it. All right. [laughter]

RADDATZ: OK. Let's keep going. Thank you.

SANDERS: All right. Let's keep going. OK.

RADDATZ: Thank you. I do want to move to the fight against ISIS.

SANDERS: Yeah.

RADDATZ: For the people of New Hampshire, the brutality of ISIS is personal. James Foley grew up here. The first hostage, a journalist, brutally executed last year. You've all said ISIS is a ruthless enemy and must be stopped. Al Qaida as well.

Senator Sanders, you voted to send U.S. ground forces to fight in the coalition to help destroy Al Qaida in Afghanistan. Can you then explain you why don't support sending U.S. combat troops to join a coalition to fight ISIS?

SANDERS: And I also voted and helped lead the effort against the war in Iraq, which will go down in history as one of the worst foreign blunders -- foreign policy blunders in the history of our country.

I voted against the first Gulf War, which set the stage, I believe, for the second Iraq war. And what I believe right now, and I believe this is terribly important, is the United States of America cannot succeed, or be thought of as the policeman of the world, that when there's an international crisis all over the world, in France and in the U.K. Or -- hey, just call up the American military and the American taxpayers, they're going to send the troops.

And if they have to be in the Middle East for 20 or 30 years no problem.

RADDATZ: But why Al Qaida, why not ISIS?

SANDERS: I have a problem with that, Martha. What I believe has got to happen is there must be an international coalition, including Russia, a well-coordinated effort.

But I agree, as I mentioned a moment ago, with King Abdullah. This is a war for the soul of Islam. The troops on the ground should not be American troops. They should be Muslim troops. I believe that countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar have got to step up to the plate, have got to contribute the money that we need, and the troops that we need, to destroy ISIS with American support.

RADDATZ: The administration has tried that over and over again. If it doesn't work and this threat is so great, what's your plan B?

SANDERS: My plan is to make it work, to tell Saudi Arabia that instead of going to war in Yemen, they, one of the wealthiest countries on Earth, are going to have to go to war against ISIS.

To tell Qatar, that instead of spending $200 billion on the World Cup, maybe they should pay attention to ISIS, which is at their doorstep. [applause]

RADDATZ: Secretary Clinton, you too have ruled out a large U.S. combat force, yet you support sending in special operations forces to Syria, and sending those 100 to 200 troops to Iraq to do exploitation kill raids.

We've already lost one Delta Force member in a raid. It has looked very much to me like we're already in ground combat on frequent trips I've made there.

So, are you fooling Americans when you say, we're not putting American combat troops back into Syria or Iraq?

No. Not at all. I think that what we're facing with ISIS is especially complicated. It was a different situation in Afghanistan. We were attacked from Afghanistan. Al Qaida was based in Afghanistan. We went after those who had attacked us.

What's happening in Syria and Iraq is that, because of the failures in the region, including the failure of the prior government in Baghdad, led by Maliki, there has been a resurgence of Sunni activities, as exemplified by ISIS. And we have to support Sunni-Arab and Kurdish forces against ISIS, because I believe it would be not only a strategic mistake for the United States to put ground combat troops in, as opposed to special operators, as opposed to trainers, because that is exactly what ISIS wants.

They've advertised that. They want American troops back in the Middle East. They want American soldiers on the ground fighting them, giving them many more targets, and giving them a great recruiting opportunity.

CLINTON: So, I think it's absolutely wrong policy for us to be even imagining we're going end up putting tens of thousands of American troops into Syria and Iraq to fight ISIS.

And we do have to form a coalition. I know how hard that is. I have formed them. I put together a coalition, including Arabs, with respect to Libya and a coalition to put sanctions onto Iran. And you have to really work hard at it.

And the final thing I would say, bringing Donald Trump back into it, if you're going to put together a coalition in the region to take on the threat of ISIS you don't want to alienate the very countries and people you need to be part of the coalition. And so that is part of the reason why this is so difficult. [applause]

RADDATZ: Secretary Clinton, I want -- I want to follow up on that. You do support sending special operations forces there. You support what the president has done already. One of the lessons people draw from Vietnam and war since is that a little force can turn into a little more and a little more. President Obama certainly didn't expect to be sending 30,000 additional troops into Afghanistan the first year of his presidency.

Are you prepared to run the risk of a bigger war to achieve your goals to destroy ISIS, or are you prepared to give up on those goals if it requires a larger force?

CLINTON: Well, I just think you're asking a question with a false choice. I believe if we lead an air coalition, which we are now in the position of doing and intensify it, if we continue to build back up the Iraqi army, which has had some recent success in Ramadi, as you know, if we get back talking to the tribal sheiks in Anbar to try to rebuild those relationships, which were very successful, in going after Al Qaida in Iraq, if we get the Turks to pay more attention to ISIS than they're paying to the Kurds, if we do put together the kind of coalition with the specific tasks that I am outlining, I think we can be successful in destroying ISIS.

So that's what I'm focused on, that's what I've outlined and that's what I would do as president.

RADDATZ: Governor O'Malley. [applause] You've emphasized the need for more human intelligence on the ground. What is it our intelligence community is not doing now that needs to be done?

O'MALLEY: Well, we have invested nowhere near what we should be investing in human intelligence on the ground. And what I'm talking about is not only the covert CIA intelligence; I'm also talking about diplomatic intelligence. I mean, we've seen time and time again, especially in this very troubled region of nation-state failures, and then we have no idea who the next generation of leaders are that are coming forward.

So what I would say is not only do we need to be thinking in military terms, but we do our military a disservice when we don't greatly dial up the investment that we are making in diplomacy and human intelligence and when we fail to dial up properly, the role of sustainable development in all of this. As president, I would make the administrator of USAID an actual cabinet member. We have to act in a much more whole of government approach, as General Dempsey said.

And I do believe, and I would disagree somewhat with one of my colleagues, this is a genocidal threat. They have now created a safe haven in the vacuum that we allowed to be partly and because of our blunders, to be created to be created in the areas of Syria and Iraq. We cannot allow safe havens, and as a leader of moral nations around this Earth, we need to come up with new alliances and new ways to prepare for these new sorts of threats, because Martha, this will not be the last region where nation-states fail.

And you've seen a little bit of this emerging in the -- in the African Union and the things that they have done to better stabilize Somalia. We need to pay attention here in Central America as well. So this is the new type of threats that we're facing and we need to lead as a nation in confronting it and putting together new alliances and new coalitions.

CLINTON: Well, I just want to quickly add...

RADDATZ: Thank you.

CLINTON: Martha, that -- you know, one of the reasons why I have advocated for a no-fly zone is in order to create those safe refuges within Syria, to try to protect people on the ground both from Assad's forces, who are continuing to drop barrel bombs, and from ISIS. And of course, it has to be de-conflicted with the Russians, who are also flying in that space.

I'm hoping that because of the very recent announcement of the agreement at the Security Council, which embodies actually an agreement that I negotiated back in Geneva in June of 2012, we're going to get a diplomatic effort in Syria to begin to try to make a transition. A no-fly zone would prevent the outflow of refugees and give us a chance to have some safe spaces.

RADDATZ: Secretary Clinton, I'd like to go back to that if I could. ISIS doesn't have aircraft, Al Qaida doesn't have aircraft. So would you shoot down a Syrian military aircraft or a Russian airplane?

CLINTON: I do not think it would come to that. We are already de-conflicting air space. We know...

RADDATZ: But isn't that a decision you should make now, whether...

CLINTON: No, I don't think so. I am advocating...

RADDATZ: ... if you're advocating this?

CLINTON: I am advocating the no-fly zone both because I think it would help us on the ground to protect Syrians; I'm also advocating it because I think it gives us some leverage in our conversations with Russia.

Now that Russia has joined us in the Security Council, has adopted an agreement that we hashed out a long day in Geneva three years ago, now I think we can have those conversations. The no-fly zone, I would hope, would be also shared by Russia. If they will begin to turn their military attention away from going after the adversaries of Assad toward ISIS and put the Assad future on the political and diplomatic track, where it belongs. [crosstalk]

MUIR: I want to take this to Senator -- I'm going to take this to Senator Sanders next, because I think there... [crosstalk]

SANDERS: I have a difference of opinion with Secretary Clinton on this. Our differences are fairly deep on this issue. We disagreed on the war in Iraq. We both listened to the information from Bush and Cheney. I voted against the war.

But I think -- and I say this with due respect -- that I worry too much that Secretary Clinton is too much into regime change and a little bit too aggressive without knowing what the unintended consequences might be.

Yes, we could get rid of Saddam Hussein, but that destabilized the entire region. Yes, we could get rid of Gadhafi, a terrible dictator, but that created a vacuum for ISIS. Yes, we could get rid of Assad tomorrow, but that would create another political vacuum that would benefit ISIS. So I think, yeah, regime change is easy, getting rid of dictators is easy. But before you do that, you've got to think about what happens the day after. And in my view, what we need to do is put together broad coalitions to understand that we're not going to have a political vacuum filled by terrorists, that, in fact, we are going to move steadily -- and maybe slowly -- toward democratic societies, in terms of Assad, a terrible dictator. But I think in Syria the primary focus now must be on destroying ISIS and working over the years to get rid of Assad. That's the secondary issue.

CLINTON: That is exactly...

MUIR: Senator, thank you.

CLINTON: That is exactly what I just said and what I just described.

MUIR: Yeah, but, Secretary Clinton -- Secretary Clinton...

CLINTON: And that is important, because now we have a U.N. Security Council that will enable us to do that. And, you know, with all due respect, Senator, you voted for regime change with respect to Libya. You joined the Senate in voting to get rid of Gadhafi, and you asked that there be a Security Council validation of that with a resolution.

All of these are very difficult issues. I know that; I've been dealing with them for a long time. And, of course, we have to continue to do what is necessary when someone like Gadhafi, a despot with American blood on his hands, is overturned. But I'll tell you what would have happened, if we had not joined with our European partners and our Arab partners to assist the people in Libya, you would be looking at Syria. Now the Libyans are turning their attention to try to dislodge ISIS from its foothold and begin to try to move together to have a unified nation.

SANDERS: I was not the secretary of state...

MUIR: Senator Sanders, Senator Sanders, hold on. One moment, please. I'm going to ask the secretary here, because there does appear to be some daylight here between the policies, at least in respect to when you take out Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Right now or do you wait? Do you tackle ISIS first?

You have said, Secretary Clinton, that you come to the conclusion that we have to proceed on both fronts at once. We heard from the senator just this week that we must put aside the issue of how quickly we get rid of Assad and come together with countries, including Russia and Iran, to destroy ISIS first. Is he wrong?

CLINTON: I think we're missing the point here. We are doing both at the same time.

MUIR: But that's what he's saying, we should put that aside for now and go after ISIS.

CLINTON: Well, I don't agree with that, because we will not get the support on the ground in Syria to dislodge ISIS if the fighters there who are not associated with ISIS, but whose principal goal is getting rid of Assad, don't believe there is a political, diplomatic channel that is ongoing. We now have that. We have the U.N. Security Council adopting a resolution that lays out a transition path. It's very important we operate on both at the same time.

And let me just say a word about coalition-building, because I've heard Senator Sanders say this. I know how hard it is to build coalitions. I think it would be a grave mistake to ask for any more Iranian troops inside Syria. That is like asking the arsonist to come and pour more gas on the fire.

The Iranians getting more of a presence in Syria, linking with Hezbollah, their proxy in Lebanon, would threaten Israel and would make it more difficult for us to move on a path to have a transition that at some point would deal with Assad's future. [crosstalk]

SANDERS: I happen to think...

O'MALLEY: I'd like to offer a... [applause]

MUIR: She says we have to proceed on both fronts at once.

SANDERS: Secretary Clinton is right. This is a complicated issue. I don't think anyone has a magical solution.

But this is what I do believe. Yes, of course Assad is a terrible dictator. But I think we have got to get our foreign policies and priorities right. The immediate -- it is not Assad who is attacking the United States. It is ISIS. And ISIS is attacking France and attacking Russian airliners.

The major priority, right now, in terms of our foreign and military policy should be the destruction of ISIS. [applause]

And I think -- and I think we bring together that broad coalition, including Russia, to help us destroy ISIS. And work on a timetable to get rid of Assad, hopefully through Democratic elections. First priority, destroy ISIS.

MUIR: Senator Sanders, thank you.

O'MALLEY: May I offer a different generation's perspective on this?

MUIR: Governor O'Malley?

O'MALLEY: During the Cold War -- during the Cold War, we got into a bad habit of always looking to see who was wearing the jersey of the communists, and who was wearing the U.S. jersey. We got into a bad habit of creating big bureaucracies, old methodologies, to undermine regimes that were not friendly to the United States. Look what we did in Iran with Mossadegh. And look at the results that we're still dealing with because of that. I would suggest to you that we need to leave the Cold War behind us, and we need to put together new alliances and new approaches to dealing with this, and we need to restrain ourselves.

I mean, I know Secretary Clinton was gleeful when Gadhafi was torn apart. And the world, no doubt is a better place without him. But look, we didn't know what was happening next. And we fell into the same trap with Assad, saying -- as if it's our job to say, Assad must go.

We have a role to play in this world. But we need to leave the Cold War and that sort of antiquated thinking behind.

MUIR: But -- you criticized -- you criticized Secretary Clinton for what came next. What's your proposal for what comes after Assad?

O'MALLEY: I believe that we need to focus on destroying ISIL. That is the clear and present danger. And I believe that we can springboard off of this new U.N. resolution, and we should create, as Secretary Clinton indicated, and I agree with that, that there should be a political process.

But we shouldn't be the ones declaring that Assad must go. Where did it ever say in the Constitution, where is it written that it's the job of the United States of America or its secretary of State to determine when dictators have to go?

We have a role to play in this world. But it is not the world -- the role of traveling the world looking for new monsters to destroy. [crosstalk]

SANDERS: David...

CLINTON: Since he has been making all kinds of comments. [laughter]

I think it's fair to say, Assad has killed, by last count, about 250,000 Syrians. The reason we are in the mess we're in, that ISIS has the territory it has, is because of Assad.

I advocated arming the moderate opposition back in the day when I was still secretary of State, because I worried we would end up exactly where we are now.

And so, when we look at these complex problems, I wish it could be either/or. I wish we could say yes, let's go destroy ISIS and let's let Assad continue to destroy Syria, which creates more terrorists, more extremists by the minute.

No. We now finally are where we need to be. We have a strategy and a commitment to go after ISIS, which is a danger to us as well as the region... SANDERS (?): Secretary...

CLINTON: And we finally have a U.N. Security Council Resolution bringing the world together to go after a political transition in Syria.

SANDERS: Could I just say -- just say this...

CLINTON: If the United States does not lead, there is not another leader. There is a vacuum.

SANDERS: Can I just say this...

CLINTON: And we have to lead, if we're going to be successful. [applause]

MUIR: Senator Sanders, please. Go ahead.

Senator Sanders, a last word on this.

SANDERS: Of course the United States must lead. But the United States is not the policeman of the world. The United States must not be involved in perpetual warfare in the Middle East. The United States, at the same time, cannot successfully fight Assad and ISIS.

ISIS, now, is the major priority. Let's get rid of Assad later. Let's have a Democratic Syria. But the first task is to bring countries together to destroy ISIS.

MUIR: Senator Sanders, thank you. When we come back here tonight, the other major issues of this election: jobs, the economy, health care.

Which candidates will make the best case for the middle class, as our coverage of the Democratic debate, here in New Hampshire, continues right after this on ABC.

ANNOUNCER: ABC News coverage of the New Hampshire Democratic debate will continue in a moment. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MUIR: Welcome back tonight. As you can see, we have a packed audience here in New Hampshire and we're going to continue. We've already had a spirited conversation here at the top of the broadcast about ISIS, about the concerns of terror here on the home front and as we await Secretary Clinton backstage, we're going to begin on the economy.

We want to turn to the American jobs, wages and raises in this country. And we believe Secretary Clinton will be coming around the corner any minute. But in the mean time we want to start with this eye-opening number. And Senator Sanders, this question goes to you first, anyway.

In 1995, the median American household income was $52,600 in today's money. This year, it's $53,600. That's 20 more years on the job with just a 2 percent raise. In a similar time-frame, raises for CEOs went up more than 200 percent. [applause]

CLINTON: Sorry.

MUIR: We're going to continue here, and Secretary, you'll get a chance on this too.

But as I pointed out the CEO pay, 200 percent of their time -- for that family of just 2 percent. You've all said, "you would raise the minimum wage." But Senator Sanders what else - speak to that household tonight. 20 years, just a 2 percent raise, how as president would you get them a raise right away?

SANDERS: First of all, we recognize that we have a rigged economy, as you've indicated. Middle class in this country for the last 40 years has been disappearing; are we better off today than we were when Bush left office? Absolutely. But as you've indicated for millions of American workers, people in New Hampshire -- all over America, they're working longer hours for lower wages deeply worried about their kids. So what do we do?

First statement is, we tell the billionaire class, "they cannot have it all." For a start, they're going to start to pay their fair share of taxes. Second of all what we do, is you raise the minimum wage to living wage, 15 bucks an hour over the next several years. Next thing we do, pay equity for women workers. Women should not be making 79 cents on the dollar compared to that.

Next thing that we do, real unemployment -- official unemployment, 5 percent, real employment 10 percent, youth unemployment, off the charts. We rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, our roads our bridges, our rail systems, we create 13 million jobs with a trillion-dollar investment.

Furthermore, in a competitive global economy, it is imperative that we have the best educated workforce in the world. That is why I'm going to have a tax on Wall Street speculation to make certain that public colleges and universities in America are tuition free.

MUIR: Senator Sanders, thank you.

Governor O'Malley, what would propose that would be different, how would you get the middle class a raise and without waiting another 20 years for another 2 percent.

O'MALLEY: Look these are the things that we did in own state through the recession. We actually passed a living wage. We raised the minimum wage. We actually raised it to the highest goals of any state in the nation also in minority and women participant goals because we understood that the way you reinvigorate and make fair market American capitalism work, is to make the choices and the investments that include more people more full in the economic success of your state.

All through the recession, we defended the highest median income in America and the second highest median income for African American families. How? By actually doing more for education. We increased education funding by 37 percent.

We were the only state in American that went four years in a row without a penny increase in college tuition. We invested more in our infrastructure and we squared our shoulders to the great business opportunity of this era and that is moving our economy to a 100 percent clean electric energy future. We created 2,000 new jobs in the solar industry and we fought every single day to adopt more inclusive economic practices.

O'MALLEY: So David, the conclusion of all of those things is this; they weren't hopes, they weren't dreams, they weren't amorphous goals out there. We actually took action to do these things and as president, I have put forward 15 strategic goals that will make wages go up again for all American families. Universal national service is an option for every kid in America to cut youth employment.

And I'm the only candidate on this stage to put forward a new agenda for America's cities so we can employ more people in the heart of great American cities and get them back to work.

MUIR: Governor, thank you. Secretary Clinton... [applause]

As you were walking in, I was talking about the median American household getting a two percent raise over the last 20 years, that CEO pay in that same time frame has gone up 200 percent. So for those families watching tonight, how do you get them a raise if you're president?

CLINTON: Well, I've been talking to a lot of these families, and this is such an outrage, both because it's bad for our economy, we're a 70 percent consumption economy, people need to feel optimistic and confident, they need to believe their hard work is going to be rewarded, and it's bad for our democracy. It's absolutely the case that if people feel that the game is rigged, that has consequences.

I think it's great standing up here with the senator and the governor talking about these issues, because you're not going to hear anything like this from any of the Republicans who are running for president. [applause]

They don't want to raise the minimum wage; they don't want to do anything to increase incomes. At the center of my economic policy is raising incomes, because people haven't been able to get ahead, and the cost of everything, from college tuition to prescription drugs, has gone up.

Of course we have to raise the minimum wage. Of course we have to do more to incentivize profit sharing, like we see with Market Basket right here in New Hampshire and New England, where all of the employees get a chance to share in the profits. [applause]

And we've got to do more on equal pay for equal work. That means pass the Paycheck Fairness Act so we have transparency about how much people are making. That's the way to get women's wages up, and that's good for them and good for their families and good for our communities. [applause]

And there is a lot we can do in college affordability. I have debt-free tuition plans, free community college plans, getting student debt down. I also am very committed to getting the price of drugs down. And there's a lot. You can go to my website...

MUIR: Secretary...

CLINTON: ... hillaryclinton.com, and read about it. But I guess the final thing that -- that I would say is this is the kind of debate we need to take to the Republicans in the fall.

MUIR: Secretary, thank you. [applause]

CLINTON: This is the election...

MUIR: We're going to -- we're going to...

CLINTON: ... issues they have to respond to.

MUIR: And we're going to talk about college education in a moment. But Secretary Clinton, I did want to ask you, the last time you ran for president, Fortune Magazine put you on its cover with the headline Business Loves Hillary, pointing out your support for many CEOs in corporate America. I'm curious, eight years later, should corporate America love Hillary Clinton?

CLINTON: Everybody should. [laughter and applause]

Look, I have said I want to be the president for the struggling, the striving and the successful. I want to make sure the wealthy pay their fair share, which they have not been doing. I want the Buffett Rule to be in effect, where millionaires have to pay 30 percent tax rates instead of 10 percent to nothing in some cases. I want to make sure we rein in the excessive use of political power to feather the nest and support the super wealthy.

But I also want to create jobs and I want to be a partner with the private sector. I'm particularly keen on creating jobs in small business. My dad was a small businessman, a really small business. I want to do more to help incentivize and create more small businesses. So if -- if people who are in the private sector know what I stand for, it's what I fought for as a senator, it's what I will do as president, and they want to be part of once again building our economy so it works for everybody, more power to them, because they are the kind of business leaders who understand that if we don't get the American economy moving and growing, we're not going to recognize our country and we're not going to give our kids the same opportunities that we had.

MUIR: Secretary, thank you. Senator Sanders... [applause]

I want to stay on this and ask you how big a role does corporate America play in a healthy economy and will corporate America love a President Sanders?

SANDERS: No, I think they won't. [laughter and applause]

So Hillary and I have a difference. The CEOs of large multinationals may like Hillary. They ain't going to like me and Wall Street is going to like me even less. [applause]

And the reason for that is we've got to deal with the elephant in the room, which is the greed, recklessness and illegal behavior on Wall Street. When you have six financial institutions in this country that issue two-thirds of the credit cards and one-third of the mortgages, when three out of four of them are larger today than when we bailed them out because they are too big to fail, we've got to re- establish Glass-Steagall, we have got to break the large financial institutions up.

SANDERS: So I don't think... [applause]

... having said that, I don't think I'm going to get a whole lot of campaign contributions from Wall Street. I don't have a super PAC. I don't want campaign contributions from corporate America.

And let me be clear: While there are some great corporations creating jobs and trying to do the right thing, in my view -- and I say this very seriously -- the greed of the billionaire class, the greed of Wall Street is destroying this economy and is destroying the lives of millions of Americans. We need an economy that works for the middle class, not just a handful of billionaires, and I will fight and lead to make that happen.

MUIR: Senator, thank you. I want to...[applause] [crosstalk] Governor, let me just ask you, though, because it is an important question, how important a role do you think corporate America plays in a healthy economy here in the U.S.?

O'MALLEY: Look, I look at our economy as an ecosystem. And the fact of the matter is that the more fully people participate, the more our workers earn, the more they will spend, the more our economy will grow. And most heads of businesses -- large, medium and small -- understand that.

But there is a better way forward than either of those offered by my two opponents here on this stage. We're not going to fix what ails our economy, we're not going to make wages go up for everyone by either trying to replace American capitalism with socialism -- which, by the way, the rest of the world is moving away from -- nor will we fix it by submitting to sort of Wall Street-directed crony capitalism.

And for my part, I have demonstrated the ability to have the backbone to take on Wall Street in ways that Secretary Clinton never, ever has. In fact, in the last debate, very shamefully, she tried to hide her cozy relationship with Wall Street big banks by invoking the attacks of 9/11.

I believe that the way forward for our country is to actually reinvigorate our antitrust department with the directive to promote fair competition. There's mergers that are happening in every aspect of our country that is bad for competition and it's bad for -- for upward mobility of wages.

And the worst type of concentration, Secretary Clinton, is the concentration of the big banks, the big six banks that you went to and spoke to and told them, oh, you weren't responsible for the crash, not by a long shot.

And that's why today you still cannot support, as I do, breaking up the big banks and making sure that we pass a modern-day Glass- Steagall, like we had in late 1999, before it was repealed and led to the crash, where so many millions of families lost their jobs and their homes. And I was on the front lines of that, looking into the eyes of my neighbors...

CLINTON: OK...

MUIR: Governor O'Malley, thank you. [crosstalk] I do want to ask you, Secretary Clinton. Let me just ask you...

CLINTON: Let me respond...

MUIR: We did -- we did -- Secretary Clinton, let me just ask you... [crosstalk]

CLINTON: Under the rules, I have been -- I have been invoked, David, so let me respond very quickly. Number one...

MUIR: And in particular... [crosstalk]

CLINTON: Number one, there are currently two hedge fund billionaires running ads against me here in New Hampshire. They started in Iowa. Now, you'd have to ask yourself, why are they running ads against me? And the answer is: Because they know I will go right after them, that I will not let their agenda be America's agenda.

Secondly, I think it's important to point out that about 3 percent of my donations come from people in the finance and investment world. You can go to opensecrets.org and check that. I have more donations from students and teachers than I do from people associated with Wall Street. [applause]

Now, number three -- and let me say this -- when Governor O'Malley was heading the Democratic Governors Association, he had no trouble at all going to Wall Street to raise money to run campaigns for Democratic governors. And he also had no trouble appointing an investment banker to be in charge of his consumer protection bureau when he was governor.

So, you know, again, the difference between us and the Republicans is night and day. And there is only one person on this stage who voted to take away authority from the SEC and the Commodities Future Trading Commission that they could no longer regulate what are called swaps and derivatives, which actually contributed to the collapse of Lehman Brothers, and that was Senator Sanders.

So if we're going to be talking like this, we can -- and maybe we can score some political points -- but the fact is: Every one of us stands for the kind of economy that will work better for every American. And if that means taking on Wall Street, I have a plan that is tough and comprehensive and praised by a lot of folks who say it goes further than what both Senator Sanders and Governor O'Malley are proposing.

SANDERS: Let me just -- let me just...

MUIR: Secretary Clinton, thank you.

SANDERS: Let me just jump in. My name was invoked.

MUIR: Senator?

SANDERS: So with that invocation, let me say a few words. [laughter]

Secretary Clinton, I don't have a super PAC. I don't get any money from Wall Street. You have gotten a whole lot of money over the years from Wall Street. But most importantly, when you look at what happened in the 1990s, go to berniesanders.com. I'll advertise my Web site as well. [laughter]

And what you'll find is that I led -- helped lead the effort as a member of the House financial committee against Alan Greenspan, against a guy named Bill Clinton, maybe you know him, maybe you don't. [laughter]

Against the Republican leadership, who all thought it would be a great idea to merge investor banks and commercial banks and large insurance companies. What a brilliant idea that would be.

Go to YouTube. Find out what I said to Greenspan. At the end of the day, if Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, and the governor makes a good point about trade, anti-trade, anti-monopoly activities.

Wall Street today has too much political power. It has too much economic power. To get deregulated -- listen to this, they spent $5 billion in lobbying and campaign contributions over a 10-year period.

MUIR: Senator Sanders...

SANDERS: Wall Street is a threat to the economy. They've got to be broken up. [applause]

MUIR: Thank you, Senator.

RADDATZ: And we're going to move on to health care.

Secretary Clinton, the Department of Health and Human Services says more than 17 million Americans who are not insured now have health coverage because of Obamacare. But for Americans who already had health insurance the cost has gone up 27 percent in the last five years while deductibles are up 67 percent, health care costs are rising faster than many Americans can manage.

What's broken in Obamacare that needs to be fixed right now? And what would you do to fix it?

CLINTON: Well, I would certainly build on the successes of the Affordable Care Act and work to fix some of the glitches that you just referenced.

Number one, we do have more people who have access to health care. We have ended the terrible situation that people with pre- existing conditions were faced with where they couldn't find at any affordable price health care.

Women are not charged more than men any longer for our health insurance. And we keep young people on our policies until they turn 26. [applause]

Those are all really positive developments. But out-of-pocket costs have gone up too much and prescription drug costs have gone through the roof. And so what I have proposed, number one, is a $5,000 tax credit to help people who have very large out-of-pocket costs be able to afford those.

Number two, I want Medicare to be able to negotiate for lower drug prices just like they negotiate with other countries' health systems. [applause]

We end up paying the highest prices in the world. And I want us to be absolutely clear about making sure the insurance companies in the private employer policy arena as well as in the Affordable Care exchanges are properly regulated so that we are not being gamed.

And I think that's an important point to make because I'm going through and analyzing the points you were making, Martha. We don't have enough competition and we don't have enough oversight of what the insurance companies are charging everybody right now. [crosstalk]

RADDATZ: But you did say those were glitches.

CLINTON: Yes.

RADDATZ: Just glitches?

CLINTON: Well, they're glitches because...

RADDATZ: Twenty-seven percent in the last five years, deductibles up 67 percent?

CLINTON: It is. Because part of this is the startup challenges that this system is facing. We have fought, as Democrats, for decades to get a health care plan. I know. I've got the scars to show from the effort back in the early '90s.

We want to build on it and fix it. And I'm confident we can do that. And it will have effects in the private market. And one of the reasons in some states why the percentage cost has gone up so much is because governors there would not extend Medicaid.

And so people are still going to get health care, thankfully, in emergency rooms, in hospitals. Those costs are then added to the overall cost, which does increase the insurance premiums for people in the private system. [crosstalk]

RADDATZ: Senator Sanders, I want you to respond to what she was saying, but you're instead calling for single-payer health care.

SANDERS: Yes, exactly, exactly.

RADDATZ: You note people won't have to pay deductibles or premiums but they will have to pay new taxes. Can you tell us specifically how much people will be expected to pay?

SANDERS: Yes, well, roughly. Let me say this. As a member of the Health Education Committee that helped write the Affordable Care Act, much of what Secretary Clinton said about what we have done, among other things, ending the obscenity of this pre-existing situation is a step forward.

Seventeen more million more people have health care. It is a step forward. A step forward.

But this is what we also have to say. Not only are deductibles rising, 29 million Americans still have no health insurance and millions of people can't afford to go to the doctor. Major crisis and primary health care. Here is the bottom line. Why is it that the United States of America today is the only major country on earth that does not guarantee health care to all people as a right?

Why is it... [applause]

SANDERS: Why is it that we are -- why is it that we spend almost three times per capita as to what they spend in the U.K., 50 percent more than what they pay in France, countries that guarantee health care to all of their people and in many cases, have better health care outcomes. Bottom line.

This ties into campaign finance reform. The insurance companies, the drug companies are bribing the United States Congress. We need to pass a Medicare for all single payer system. It will lower the cost of health care for a middle-class family by thousands of dollars a year.

RADDATZ: Senator Sanders, you didn't really tell us specifically how much people will be expected to pay...

SANDERS: But they will not be paying, Martha, any private insurance. So it's unfair to say in total...

RADDATZ: But you can't tell us this specifically, even if you were...

SANDERS: I can tell you that adding up the fact you're not paying any private insurance, businesses are not paying any private insurance. The average middle-class family will be saving thousands of dollars a year.

RADDATZ: OK. Let's go to talk about the high cost of college education and for that we turn to the executive director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics, right here at Saint Anselm college, Neil Levesque.

Neil?

LEVESQUE: Here to New Hampshire again. As you know, this auditorium is filled with many Saint Anselm college students. They know the outstanding student debt right now in America is $1.3 trillion. That private education costs have gone up in the last decade 26 percent, and 40 percent for public education.

So knowing that, we know you want to make public education more affordable but how do you really lower the cost? Senator Sanders, you mentioned a few minutes ago that you want free tuition for public colleges.

SANDERS: And universities.

LEVESQUE: How does that really lower the cost other than just shifting the cost to taxpayers?

SANDERS: Well, Neil, I think we've got to work on a two-pronged approach. And your point is absolutely well taken. The cost of college education is escalating a lot faster than the cost of inflation. There are a lot of factors involved in that.

And that is that we have some colleges and universities that are spending a huge amount of money on fancy dormitories and on giant football stadiums. Maybe we should focus on quality education with well-paid faculty members. But... [applause]

SANDERS: And I understand in many universities a heck of a lot of vice presidents who earn a big salary. But, bottom line is this is the year 2015. If we are going to be competitive in the global economy we need the best educated workforce.

It is insane to my mind, hundreds of thousands of young people today, bright qualified people, cannot go to college because they cannot afford -- their families cannot afford to send them. Millions coming out of school as you indicated, deeply in debt. What do we do?

My proposal is to put a speculation tax on wall street, raise very substantial sums of money, not only make public colleges and universities tuition-free, but also substantially lower interest rates on student debt. You have families out there paying 6 percent, 8 percent, 10 percent on student debt; refinance their homes at 3 percent.

What sense is that? So I think we need radical changes in the funding of higher education. We should look at college today the way high school was looked at 60 years ago. All young people who have the ability should be able to get a college education. (APPLAUSE)

LEVESQUE: Governor O'Malley, how do you propose -- Governor O'Malley, how do you propose lowering some of these costs associated with higher education?

O'MALLEY: Yes, this one falls under the category of, I have actually done this. As a governor we actually made the greater investments so that we could go four years in a row without a penny's increase to college tuition.

My plan actually goes further than Senator Sanders because a big chunk of the cost is actually room and board and books and fees. So as a nation we need to increase what we invest in Pell grants. Yes, we need to make it easier for parents to refinance.

But states need to do more as well. And I propose a block grant program that will keep the states in the game as well. I believe that all of our kids should go into an income-based repayment plan.

I'm joined tonight by two daughters, Tara and Grace. My oldest daughter's a teacher. Um, and their mother's here as well. We were proud of them on graduation day, weren't we, Katie? And we're going to be proud every month for the rest of our lives.

I mean, we had to borrow so much money to send them to college and were not the only ones. There're families all across America who aren't able to contribute to our economy because of this crushing student loan. I also propose that we can pay for this with a tax on high volume trades and we need to because my dad came to college after World War II on a G.I. Bill.

But today, we're the only nation on the planet that's saddling our kids with a lifetime of bills. That's a drag on the economy. It's one of the key investments we need to make. I was flattered that Secretary Clinton two months later borrowed so many of my proposals to incorporate into hers. And in our party, unlike the Republican party, we actually believe that the more our people learn, the more they will earn and higher education should be a right for every kid.

MUIR: Secretary Clinton.

CLINTON: Right.

MCELVEEN: Secretary Clinton, how does your plan differentiate from your opponents?

CLINTON: Well, I have what I call the new college compact. Because I think everybody has to have some skin in this game, you know.

Number one, States have been dis-investing in higher education. In fact, I think New Hampshire, in state tuition for public colleges and universities, is among the highest if not the highest in the country. So states over a period of decades have put their money elsewhere; into prisons, into highways, into things other than higher education. So under my compact, the federal government will match money that the states begin to put back in to the higher education system.

Secondly, I don't believe in free tuition for everybody. I believe we should focus on middle-class families, working families, and poor kids who have the ambition and the talent to go to college and get ahead. So I have proposed debt free tuition, which I think is affordable and I would move a lot of the Pell Grant and other aid into the arena where it could be used for living expense. So I put all of this together, again, on my website and I've gotten such a good response.

But I want to quickly say, one of the areas that Senator Sanders touched on in talking about education and certainly talking about health care is his commitment to really changing the systems. Free college, a single payer system for health--and it's been estimated we're looking at 18 to $20 trillion, about a 40 percent in the federal budget.

And I have looked at his proposed plans for health care for example, and it really does transfer every bit of our health care system including private health care, to the states to have the states run. And I think we've got to be really thoughtful about how we're going to afford what we proposed, which is why everything that I have proposed I will tell you exactly how I'm going to pay for it; including college.

MCELVEEN: Thank you Secretary Clinton, thank you.

SANDERS: May I respond to the critique on the ...

MCELVEEN: Back to you David.

MUIR: We're going to get right into this Senator but I want to ask about taxes next. This is included.

SANDERS: I would just...

MUIR: She was asking about that...

SANDERS: But Secretary Clinton is wrong.

As you know, because I know you know a lot about health care. You know that the United States per capita pays far and away more than other country. And it is unfair simply to say how much more the program will cost without making sure that people know that, we are doing away with cost of private insurance and that the middle class will be paying substantially less for health care on the single payer than on the Secretary's Clinton proposal.

CLINTON: Well, the only thing - the only thing I can go on Senator Sanders...

MUIR: Are we back on health care - Secretary Clinton hold one moment. Senator Sanders... [crosstalk]

CLINTON: Your proposal is to go and send the health care system to the state.

MUIR: Secretary Clinton, please.

CLINTON: And my analysis is that you are going to get more taxes out of middle class families. I'm the only person...

MUIR: So let's ask about it.

Secretary Clinton, let's turn to the taxes.

CLINTON: ... saying, no middle class tax raises. That's off the table...

MUIR: This is where we are going next, we are going next to taxes here...

SANDERS: Now, this is getting to be fun.

MUIR: This is fun. applause]This is democracy at work.

Secretary Clinton, let me ask you about your tax plan because from the crushing cost of college education, the next question most families have; is will my taxes go up under the next president? You have said it's your goal not to raise taxes on families making under $200,000 a year a goal. But can you say that's a promise as you stand here tonight?

CLINTON: That is a pledge that I'm making. I made it when I ran in 2008.

MUIR: A promise?

CLINTON: Yes, and it was the same one that President Obama made. Because I don't think we should be imposing new big programs that are going to raise middle class families' taxes.

We just heard that most families haven't had a wage increase since 2001. Since, you know, the end of the last Clinton administration when incomes did go up for everybody. And we've got to get back to where people can save money again, where they can invest in their families, and I don't think a middle-class tax should be part of anybody's plan right now.

SANDERS: Let me respond to... [applause]

MUIR: Secretary Clinton...

SANDERS: Let me respond to...

MUIR: Please.

SANDERS: Number one, most important economic reality of today is that over the last 30 years, there has been a transfer of trillions of dollars from the middle class to the top one-tenth of one percent who are seeing a doubling of the percentage of wealth that they own.

Now, when Secretary Clinton says, "I'm not going raise taxes on the middle class," let me tell you what she is saying. She is disagreeing with FDR on Social Security, LBJ on Medicare and with the vast majority of progressive Democrats in the House and the Senate, who today are fighting to end the disgrace of the United States being the only major country on Earth that doesn't provide paid family and medical leave.

What the legislation is is $1.61 a week. Now, you can say that's a tax on the middle class. It will provide three months paid family and medical leave for the working families of this country. I think, Secretary Clinton, $1.61 a week is a pretty good investment.

MUIR: Senator, thank you. Let me bring in Governor O'Malley...

CLINTON: Senator, I have been -- I have been fighting for paid...

MUIR: You've heard...

CLINTON: ... family leave for a very long time...

MUIR: Secretary Clinton.

SANDERS: David, thank you.

CLINTON: I have a way to pay for it that actually makes the wealthiest pay for it...

SANDERS: Then (inaudible)...

CLINTON: ... not everybody else.

SANDERS: Every (inaudible) Democrat and senator in support of this proposal introduced by your good friend and my good friend, Kirsten Gillibrand, Rosa DeLauro, that is the legislation out there that will finally provide family and medical leave.

MUIR: Thank you. I want to bring in Governor O'Malley on this. We heard the promise from Secretary Clinton because people want to know about their taxes, will they go up. She has now promised here tonight not to raise them on families making $250,000 or less. Can you make that same promise if you're elected?

O'MALLEY: No, I've never made a promise like that. But unlike either of these two fine people, I've actually balanced a budget every single year. I was one -- I was the only -- one of only seven states that had a AAA bond rating. By the time I left, the average tax burden on Maryland families was the same as when I started.

But I did pass a more progressive income tax and asked the highest-earning people to pay another 14 percent. David, look, this is the big -- I agree, by the way, that we should have paid family leave. And I agree with Senator Sanders on that. And just like Social Security and unlike the Republicans, I think we should actually expand Social Security and increase average monthly benefits.

But look, there's one big entitlement we can no longer afford as a country, and that is the entitlement that the super wealthy among us, those earning more than a million dollars, feel that they're entitled to pay lower income tax rates and a far lower preferred income tax rate when it comes to capital gains.

If we were to raise the marginal rate to 45 percent for people earning more than a million dollars and if we tax capital gains essentially the same we do earnings from hard work and sweat and toil, you could generate $800 billion over the next ten years and that would do so much good for affordable college, debt-free college, cutting youth unemployment in half, investing in our cities again.

So the things I have done in office are the things that actually invest in growing our economy and making wages go up. That's the issue that we need to tackle as Americans, and we can do it and we know how.

MUIR: Governor O'Malley, thank you. A spirited debate on taxes. And there will be more with the Democratic debate in New Hampshire, when we come back right here on ABC. More in a moment. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MUIR: Welcome back tonight to New Hampshire. The Democratic debate continues here on ABC.

And Secretary Clinton, we want to turn to race, now, in America. There is a real concern in this country from Black Lives Matter and from other community groups that we're just now seeing, with smartphones and cell phones, what many have been dealing with for years when they come in contact with police.

But you also have many in law enforcement who now say there has been a so-called Ferguson effect, police holding back because they're afraid of backlash.

MUIR: In fact, the FBI director is calling it a chill wind blowing through American law enforcement. So, if elected president, how would you bridge the divide between the two?

CLINTON: Well, David, I think this is one of the most important challenges facing not just our next president but our country. We have systemic racism and injustice and inequities in our country and in particular, in our justice system that must be addressed and must be ended.

I feel very strongly that we have to reform our criminal justice system and we have to find ways to try to bring law enforcement together again with the communities that they are sworn to protect. Trust has been totally lost in a lot of places.

At the same time, we know that in many parts of our country police officers are bridging those divides and they're acting heroically. The young officer who was killed responding to the Planned Parenthood murders. The officer who told the victims of the San Bernardino killings that he would take a bullet before them.

So I think that we need to build on the work of the policing commissioner that President Obama impaneled. We need to get a bipartisan commitment to work together on this.

And we need to hear the voices of those men and women and boys and girls who feel like strangers in their own country and do whatever is necessary to not only deal with the immediate problems within the criminal justice system, but more opportunities, more jobs, better education so that we can begin to rebuild that very valuable asset known as trust.

MUIR: Secretary, thank you. [applause]

MUIR: Governor O'Malley, how would you bridge the divide?

O'MALLEY: There is no issue in American public policy that I have worked on more day in and day out than this painful issue of policing, of law enforcement, criminal justice and race in America.

When I ran in 1999, David, for mayor of Baltimore, our city by that year had become the most addicted, violent, and abandoned in America. But we came together. I brought people together over some very deep racial divides. And we were able to put our city on the path for the biggest reduction in crime of any major city in America over the next ten years.

As governor, we continued to work together. We reduced violent crime to 30-year lows. But get this. We also reduced incarceration rates to 20-year lows. So it is possible actually, to find the things that actually work, that we did, increasing drug treatment, using big data to better protect the lives of young people, cut juvenile crime in half, and it's also possible to improve how we police our police.

But there wasn't a single day as mayor of Baltimore that I wasn't asked whether I was delivering on the promise I made to police the police. We reported excessive force, discourtesy, use of lethal force. In fact, drove down to three of the four lowest years on record police use of lethal force.

As a nation, we have to embrace this moment and make our departments more open, more transparent, and more accountable. Just as we require every major department, every county to report its major crimes, we should require police departments to report their discourtesy, brutality, excessive force.

There's so much work that can be done, so much we've learned to do better. We need to do it now as a nation. This is our time and our opportunity to do that.

MUIR: Governor, thank you. [applause] And Senator Sanders, when you hear the FBI director calling it a chill wind blowing through American law enforcement, does that concern you as well when you --

SANDERS: Well, this whole issue concerns me. And I agree with much of what the secretary and the governor have said. But let's be clear. Today in America we have more people in jail than any other country on earth, 2.2 million people. Predominantly African-American and Hispanic.

We are spending $80 billion a year locking up our fellow Americans. I think, and this is not easy, but I think we need to make wage a major effort, to come together as a country and end institutional racism. We need major, major reforms of a very broken criminal justice system. Now, what does that mean?

Well, for a start it means that police officers should not be shooting unarmed people, predominantly African-Americans. [applause]

SANDERS: It means that we have to rethink the so-called war on drugs which has destroyed the lives of millions of people, which is why I have taken marijuana out of the Controlled Substance Act. So that it will not be a federal crime.

SANDERS: That is why we need to make... [applause]

That is why we need to make police -- and I speak as a former mayor. I was a mayor for eight years, worked very closely with a great police department. And what we did is try to move that department toward community policing, so that the police officers become part of the community and not, as we see, in some cities an oppressive force.

We need to make police departments look like the communities they serve in terms of diversity. We need to end minimal sentencing. We need, basically, to pledge that we're going to invest in this country, in jobs and education, not more jails and incarceration. [applause]

MUIR: Senator, thank you. We want to turn now to an issue.

This next issue has destroyed so many families across the country, and in particular right here in New Hampshire, heroin. And there's a stunning new figure out. A recent poll -- 48 percent here, in this state alone, say they know someone who has abused heroin.

We're going to turn tonight to Dan Tuohy of the New Hampshire Union Leader who has this question.

QUESTION: New Hampshire has been hard hit by the heroin epidemic, and we're on track to have twice as many overdose deaths this year as in 2013.

What specifically would you do to address this crisis?

MUIR: Senator Sanders, I'm going to take this to you first because you've seen what's happened with heroin right on the border in your own state.

SANDERS: Yes. Look, this is a tragedy for New Hampshire. It is a tragedy for my state of Vermont. It is a tragedy all over this country. The number of heroin deaths are growing very, very significantly.

What do we do? Well, for a start, this may seem like a radical idea, but I think we have got to tell the medical profession and doctors who are prescribing opiates and the pharmaceutical industry that they have got to start getting their act together, we cannot have this huge number of opiates out there throughout this country, where young people are taking them, getting hooked, and then going to heroin.

Second of all, and the reason I believe in a health care for all program, we need to understand that addiction is a disease, not a criminal activity. [applause]

And that means -- and that means radically changing the way we deal with mental health and addiction issues. When somebody is addicted and seeking help, they should not have to wait three, four months in order to get that help. They should be able to walk in the door tomorrow and get a variety of treatments that work for them.

So those are some of the areas that I think we've got to move on.

MUIR: Senator, thank you. Secretary Clinton?

CLINTON: You know, on my very first visit to New Hampshire in this campaign, I was in Keene, and I was asked, "what are you going to do about the heroin epidemic?" And all over New Hampshire, I met grandmothers who are raising children because they lost the father or the mother to an overdose. I met young people who are desperately trying to get clean and have nowhere to go, because there are not enough facilities.

So this is a major epidemic, and it has hit New Hampshire and Vermont particularly hard. I've had had two town halls, one in Keene, one in Laconia, dedicated exclusively to talking about what we can do. And I've heard some great ideas about how law enforcement is changing its behavior, how the recovery community is reaching out.

And I was proud to get the endorsement of Mayor Walsh of Boston, who has made his struggle with alcoholism a real clarion call for action in this arena.

So, I've laid out a five-point plan about what we can do together. I would like the federal government to offer $10 billion over ten years to work with states, and I really applaud Governor Hassan for taking up this challenge and working with the legislature here to come up with a plan.

We need to do more on the prescribing end of it. There are too many opioids being prescribed, and that leads directly now to heroin addiction. And we need to change the way we do law enforcement, and of course, we need more programs and facilities, so when somebody is ready to get help, there's a place for them to go.

And every law enforcement should carry the antidote to overdose, Naloxone, so that they can save lives that are on the brink of expiring.

MUIR: Secretary, thank you.

O'MALLEY: And you know, I actually know a great deal about this issue. And I have a dear friend, played music with him for years, remember when his -- when he came home with his baby girl, and now she's no longer with us, because of addiction and overdose.

The last time in New Hampshire, I had to take a break shortly after landing and call home and comfort a friend whose mother had died of an overdose.

O'MALLEY: Drugs have taken far too many of our citizens. It's a huge public health challenge. In our own city, I mentioned before, we had become the most addicted city in America.

But together, every single year, I expanded drug treatment funding within our city and then I expanded it in our state, and we were saving lives every single year doing the things that work, intervening earlier, understanding the continuum of care that's required until we got hit like every other state in the state -- in the United States, especially in New Hampshire and in the northeast with this opioid addiction, the over-prescribing.

I agree, we need better -- we need to rein in the over- prescribing, but I have put forward on my -- in my plan a $12 billion federal investment. We have to invest in the local partnerships, and the best place to intervene, the best indicator of when a person is actually on the verge of killing themselves because of an addiction, is at the hospital. That very first time they show up with a near miss, we should be intervening there. That's what I said to my own public health people. What would we do if this were Ebola? How would we act?

So many more Americans have been killed by the combination of heroin and these highly addictive pain pills, and yet, we refuse to act. There are thing that can be done. Go on to my website. My plan is there. It's one of 15 strategic goals I've set out to make our country a better place by cutting these sort of deaths in half in the next five years.

MUIR: Governor O'Malley, thank you. Martha? [applause]

RADDATZ: Secretary Clinton, I want to circle back to something that your opponents here have brought up. Libya is falling apart. The country is a haven for ISIS and jihadists with an estimated 2,000 ISIS fighters there today. You advocated for that 2011 intervention and called it smart power at its best. And yet, even President Obama said the U.S. should have done more to fill the leadership vacuum left behind. How much responsibility do you bear for the chaos that followed elections?

CLINTON: Well, first, let's remember why we became part of a coalition to stop Gadhafi from committing massacres against his people. The United States was asked to support the Europeans and the Arab partners that we had and we did a lot of due diligence about whether we should or not, and eventually, yes, I recommended and the president decided that we would support the action to protect civilians on the ground and that led to the overthrow of Gadhafi.

I think that what Libya then did by having a full free election, which elected moderates, was an indication of their crying need and desire to get on the right path. Now, the whole region has been rendered unstable, in part because of the aftermath of the Arab Spring, in part because of the very effective outreach and propagandizing that ISIS and other terrorist groups do.

But what we're seeing happening in Libya right now is that there has been a fragile agreement to put aside the differences that exist among Libyans themselves to try to dislodge ISIS from Sirte, the home town of Gadhafi, and to begin to try to create a national government.

You know, this is not easy work. We did a lot to help. We did as much as we could because the Libyans themselves had very strong feelings about what they wished to accept. But we're always looking for ways about what more we can do to try to give people a chance to be successful.

RADDATZ: Secretary Clinton, I want to go back. That -- government lacked institutions and experience. It had been a family business for 40 years. On the security side, we offered only a modest training effort and a very limited arms buy-back program. Let me ask you the question again. How much responsibility do you bear for the chaos that followed those elections?

CLINTON: Martha, we offered a lot more than they were willing to take. We offered a lot more. We also got rid of their chemical weapons, which was a big help, and we also went after a lot of the shoulder-fired missiles to round them up. You know, we can't -- if we're not going to send American troops, which there was never any idea of doing that, then to try to send trainers, to try to send experts, is something we offered, Europeans offered, the U.N. offered, and there wasn't a lot of responsiveness at first.

I think a lot of the Libyans who had been forced out of their country by Gadhafi who came back to try to be part of a new government, believed they knew what to do and it turned out that they were no match for some of the, you know, militaristic forces inside that country. But I'm not giving up on Libya and I don't think anybody should. We've been at this a couple of years.

RADDATZ: But were mistakes made?

CLINTON: Well, there's always a retrospective to say what mistakes were made. But I know that we offered a lot of help and I know it was difficult for the Libyans to accept help. What we could have done if they had said yes would have been a lot more than what we were able to have done.

SANDERS: But what...

RADDATZ: Senator Sanders.

SANDERS: Look, the secretary is right. This is a terribly complicated issue. There are no simple solutions. But where we have a disagreement is that I think if you look at the history of regime changes, you go back to Mossadegh in Iran, you go back to Salvador Allende who we overthrew in Chile, you go back to overthrowing Saddam Hussein in Iraq, you go back to where we are today in Syria with a dictator named Assad.

The truth is it is relatively easy for a powerful nation like America to overthrow a dictator but it is very hard to predict the unintended consequences and the turmoil and the instability that follows after you overthrow that dictator.

So I think Secretary Clinton and I have a fundamental disagreement. I'm not quite the fan of regime change that I believe she is.

O'MALLEY: Martha -- I would just repeat that --

CLINTON: Well, I would just repeat that.

RADDATZ: Secretary Clinton.

CLINTON: Wait a minute. I think it's only fair to put on the record, Senator Sanders voted in the Senate for a resolution calling for ending the Gadhafi regime and asking that the U.N. be brought in, either a congressional vote or a U.N. Security Council vote. We got a U.N. Security council vote.

Now, I understand that this is very difficult. And I'm not standing here today and saying that Libya is as far along as Tunisia. We saw what happened in Egypt. I cautioned about a quick overthrow of Mubarak, and we now are back with basically an army dictatorship.

This is a part of the world where the United States has tried to play two different approaches. One, work with the tough men, the dictators, for our own benefit and promote democracy. That's a hard road to walk. But I think it's the right road for us to try to travel.

O'MALLEY: And Martha...

RADDATZ: Quick Governor O'Malley.

O'MALLEY: ... and in this case, we probably let our lust for regime toppling get ahead of the practical considerations for stability in that region. And I believe that one of the big failings in that region is a lack of human intelligence. We have not made the investments that we need to make to understand and to have relationships with future leaders that are coming up.

That's what Chris Stevens was trying to do. But without the tools, without the support that was needed to that. And now what we have is a whole stretch now, of the coast of Libya, 100 miles, 150 miles, that has now become potentially the next safe haven for ISIL. They go back and forth between Syria and this region. We have to stop contributing to the creation of vacuums that allow safe havens to develop.

RADDATZ: Thank you very much. Thank you. We're going to move on here. Governor O'Malley, thank you very much for that. And we're going to make a very sharp turn as we wrap things up here.

Secretary Clinton, first ladies, as you well know, have used their position to work on important causes like literacy and drug abuse. But they also supervise the menus, the flowers, the holiday ornaments and White House decor. I know you think you know where I'm going here.

You have said that Bill Clinton is a great host and loves giving tours but may opt out of picking flower arrangements if you're elected. Bill Clinton aside, is it time to change the role of a president's spouse?

CLINTON: Well, the role has been defined by each person who's held it. And I am very grateful for all my predecessors and my successors because each of them not only did what she could to support her husband and our country but often chose to work on important issues that were of particular concern.

Obviously, Mrs. Obama has been a terrific leader when it comes to young people's health, particularly nutrition and exercise. And I think has had a big impact. So whoever is part of the family of a president has an extraordinary privilege of not only having a front row seat on history but making her or maybe his contribution.

And with respect to my own husband, I am probably still going to pick the flowers and the china for state dinners and stuff like that. But I will certainly turn to him as prior presidents have for special missions, for advice, and in particular, how we're going to get the economy working again for everybody, which he knows a little bit about.

MUIR: I do want to follow up here for each of you. And a similar line of questioning. Senator Sanders, your wife Jane shares an office at your campaign headquarters in Burlington. We've seen the pictures, the desks right next to each other. Would she have a desk close by in the west wing?

SANDERS: Given the fact that she's a lot smarter than me, yes, she would. [laughter]

And let me, by the way, take this moment to congratulate Hillary Clinton, who I thought not only did an outstanding job as our first lady, but redefined what that role could be.

So, I thank you very much for that. [laughter]

My wife, Jane, has been -- way back when before I knew her, a foster parent. Many, many kids came into her home and received the kind of love that they desperately needed. And she turned around many lives.

She is the best parent and grandmother that I know. She has devoted her life, when I was mayor of the city of Burlington, actually when I first met her, we started a youth office, which started a after-school programs for kids, started a child care center, started a youth newspaper. We got the kids involved in a whole lot of issues.

She led that effort. So I think, at a time when so many of our kids are desperately looking for constructive activity, where too many of our kids are hanging around on street corners, potentially getting into trouble, I think we need a forceful advocate for the children, for teenagers, for the little children, to deal with the dysfunctional child care system, and I think my wife would do a great job in helping me accomplish those goals.

MUIR: Senator, thank you.

Governor O'Malley -- Governor O'Malley, you have talked about your wife, Katie, here tonight. She's a district court judge. And the question for you is, would she have to give that up as first lady, or will she share an office in the west wing as well?

O'MALLEY: Well, that would be totally up to her. I mean, Katie has never been a person who let her husband's professional choices get in the way of following her dreams.

And I think she got that from her mother, actually. [applause]

The -- and I readily admit that she is a far more accomplished lawyer than I was ever able to become, before I took my detour. She is a district court judge in Maryland. She puts in a full day there. We've raised four terrific kids. And yet, when she was first lady of the state, not only would she go to work every day and sit there through a lot of sad and gut-wrenching cases, but then she'd put in additional time being an advocate against domestic violence.

Maryland made great strides on that because of her advocacy, and her understanding of how the court process works. She was an advocate against bullying and implementing anti-bullying things. So Katie O'Malley will do whatever Katie O'Malley wants to do, regardless of her husband's success in getting elected president. [applause]

MUIR: Governor O'Malley, thank you, (inaudible).

O'MALLEY: Thank you.

MUIR: Governor, thank you. We'll be back with much more from New Hampshire. The Democratic debate continues right after this. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MUIR: Welcome back tonight. It's been an evening of lively discussion among the candidates and it's time for closing statements. We began in alphabetical order, so we'll reverse the order at the end and begin with you, Senator Sanders.

SANDERS: Well, thank you very much for hosting this debate, and let me applaud my colleagues up here. Because I think frankly, maybe I'm wrong, but on our worst day, I think we have a lot more to offer the American people than the right wing's extremists. [applause]SANDERS: My father came to this country from Poland at the age of 17 without a nickel in his pocket, which sparked my interest in the need for immigration reform because I know what it's like to be the son of an immigrant.

We grew up in a three-and-a-half-room, rent controlled apartment in Brooklyn, New York. My mother's dream -- and she died very young, but my mother's dream for her whole life was to be able to get out of that rent-controlled apartment and own a home of her own. She never lived to see that.

SANDERS: But what my parents did accomplish is they were able to send both of their sons to college. We were the first in the family. So I know something about economic anxiety and living in a family does not have sufficient income.

And that is why I am pledged, if elected president of the United States, to bring about a political revolution where millions of people begin to stand up and finally say enough is enough, this great country and our government belong to all of us, not just a handful of billionaires. Thank you very much. [applause]

RADDATZ: Governor O'Malley?

Martha, thank you. I want to thank all of the people who have tuned in tonight. I want to thank the great people of New Hampshire, where despite all of the cynicism about big money and big banks taking over our politics, here in New Hampshire, the individual matters.

You know, my wife Katie and I have four terrific kids, and like you, there's probably nothing we wouldn't do to give them a future that's safer, that's healthier, where they have more opportunity than our parents and grandparents gave to us. Tonight, what you listened to was a healthy exchange of ideas about how we'd do that, that which we have always proven, the capacity to do better than any nation in the world, to take actions that include more of our people more fully in the economic, social and political life of our country.

When you listened to the Republican debate the other night, you heard a lot of anger and you had a lot of fear. Well, they can have their anger and they can have their fear, but anger and fear never built America. We build our country by adopting wage and labor policies, including comprehensive immigration reform with a pathway of citizenship for all. We do it by investing in our country, by investing in infrastructure, by investing in the skills and the talents of our people with debt-free college, and we can do it again.

And we also create a better future for our kids when we square our shoulders to the great challenges of our times, whether it's terror trying to undermine our values or Republican presidential candidates trying to get us to surrender our freedoms and our values in the face of this threat.

The other big challenge we have is climate change. The greatest business opportunity to come to the United States of America in 100 years. We need to embrace this. I have put forward a plan that does this, that moves us to 100 percent clean electric grid by 2050. Join this campaign for the future. New leadership is what our country needs to move us out of these divided and polarized times. Thank you.

MUIR: Governor, thank you. [applause] Secretary Clinton?

CLINTON: On January 20th, 2017, the next president of the United States will walk into the White House. If, heaven forbid, that next president is a Republican, I think it's pretty clear we know what will happen. A lot of the rights that have been won over years, from women's rights to voter rights to gay rights to worker rights, will be at risk.

Social Security, which Republicans call a Ponzi scheme, may face privatization. Our vets may see the V.A. hospital that needs to be improved and made better for them turned over to privatization. Planned Parenthood will be defunded. The list goes on because the differences are so stark.

You know, everybody says every election's important, and there's truth to that. This is a watershed election. I know how important it is that we have a Democrat succeed President Obama in the White House. And I will do all that I can in this campaign to reach out and explain what I stand for and what I will do as president.

You know, I became a grandmother 15 months ago, and so I spent a lot of time thinking about my granddaughter's future. But as president, I will spend even more time thinking about the futures of all the kids and the grandchildren in this country because I want to make sure every single child has a chance to live up to his or her God-given potential. If you will join me in this campaign, we will make that a mission. Thank you, good night and may the force be with you. [applause]

MUIR: Thank you to the candidates tonight. Thank you to the audience here in New Hampshire here at St. Anselm. And thank you to the audience at home. We wish all of you at home a happy and safe holiday week ahead and we wish all the candidates a happy and safe holiday with your families.

The Debate was at Carr Center of St. Anselm College, Manchester, New Hampshire.
+ Citation: Presidential Candidates Debates: "Democratic Candidates Debate in Manchester, New Hampshire," December 19, 2015. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=111178. +
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+ 		+ + + + +Presidential Candidates Debates: Democratic Candidates Debate in Des Moines, Iowa +
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Democratic Candidates Debate in Des Moines, Iowa
November 14, 2015
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The American Presidency Project

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PARTICIPANTS:
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton;
Former Governor Martin O'Malley (MD);
Senator Bernie Sanders (VT);

MODERATORS:
Nancy Cordes (CBS News);
Kevin Cooney (CBS News);
John Dickerson (CBS News); and
Kathie Obradovich (The Des Moines Register)

DICKERSON: Before we start the debate here are the rules. The candidates have one minute to respond to our questions and 30 seconds to respond to our follow-up. Any candidate who is attacked by another candidate gets 30 seconds for rebuttal. Here's how we'll keep time, after a question is asked the green light goes on. When there are 15 seconds left the candidate gets a yellow warning light.

And when time's up the light turns red. That means stop talking. [laughter] Those are the rules. So let's get started. You will each have one minute for an opening statement to share your thoughts about the attacks in your Paris and lay out your visions for America. First, Senator Sanders.

SANDERS: Well, John, let me concur with you and with all Americans who are shocked and disgusted by what we saw in Paris yesterday.

Together, leading the world, this country will rid our planet of this barbarous organization called ISIS.

I'm running for president, because as I go around this nation, I talk to a lot of people. And what I hear is people's concern that the economy we have is a rigged economy. People are working longer hours for lower wages, and almost all of the new income and wealth goes to the top one percent.

And then on top of that, we've got a corrupt campaign finance system in which millionaires and billionaires are pouring huge sums of money into super PACS heavily influencing the political process.

What my campaign is about is a political revolution -- millions of people standing up and saying, enough is enough. Our government belongs to all of us, and not just the hand full of billionaires.

DICKERSON: All right, Senator Sanders.

Secretary Clinton.

CLINTON: Well, our prayers are with the people of France tonight, but that is not enough. We need to have a resolve that will bring the world together to root out the kind of radical jihadist ideology that motivates organizations like ISIS, a barbaric, ruthless, violent jihadist terrorist group.

This election is not only about electing a president. It's also about choosing our next commander-in-chief. And I will be laying out in detail, what I think we need to do with our friends and allies in Europe and elsewhere to do a better job of coordinating efforts against the scourge of terrorism. Our country deserves no less, because all of the other issues we want to deal with depend upon us being secure and strong.

DICKERSON: Governor O'Malley.

O'MALLEY: My heart, like all of us in this room, John, and all the people across our country, my hearts go out to the people of France in this moment of loss. Parents, and sons, and daughters and family members, and as our hearts go out to them and as our prayers go out to them, we must remember this, that this isn't the new face of conflict and warfare, not in the 20th century but the new face of conflict and warfare in the 21st century.

And there is no nation on the planet better able to adapt to this change than our nation. We must able to work collaboratively with others. We must anticipate these threats before they happen. This is the new sort of challenge, the new sort of threat that does, in fact, require new thinking, fresh approaches and new leadership.

As a former mayor and a former governor, there was never a single day, John, when I went to bed or woke up without realizing that this could happen in our own country. We have a lot of work to do, to better prepare our nation and to better lead this world into this new century.

DICKERSON: All right, thank you, Governor. Thank all of you.

The terror attacks last night underscore biggest challenge facing the next president of the United States. At a time of crisis, the country and the world look to the president for leadership and for answers.

So, Secretary Clinton, I'd like to start with you. Hours before the attacks, President Obama said, "I don't think ISIS is gaining strength." Seventy-two percent of Americans think the fight against ISIS is going badly. Won't the legacy of this administration, which is-- which you were a part of, won't that legacy be that it underestimated the threat from ISIS?

CLINTON: Well, John, I think that we have to look at ISIS as the leading threat of an international terror network. It cannot be contained, it must be defeated.

There is no question in my mind that if we summon our resources, both our leadership resources and all of the tools at our disposal, not just military force, which should be used as a last resort, but our diplomacy, our development aid, law enforcement, sharing of intelligence in a much more open and cooperative way -- that we can bring people together.

But it cannot be an American fight. And I think what the president has consistently said-- which I agree with-- is that we will support those who take the fight to ISIS. That is why we have troops in Iraq that are helping to train and build back up the Iraqi military, why we have special operators in Syria working with the Kurds and Arabs, so that we can be supportive.

But this cannot be an American fight, although American leadership is essential.

DICKERSON: But as -- Secretary Clinton, the question was about, was ISIS underestimated? And I'll just add, the president referred to ISIS as the JVU (sic), in a speech at the Council of Foreign Relations in June of 2014 said, "I could not have predicted the extent to which ISIS could be effective in seizing cities in Iraq."

So you've got prescriptions for the future, but how do we even those prescript prescriptions are any good if you missed it in the past?

CLINTON: Well, John, look, I think that what happened when we abided by the agreement that George W. Bush made with the Iraqis to leave by 2011, is that an Iraqi army was left that had been trained and that was prepared to defend Iraq. Unfortunately, Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister, set about decimating it. And then, with the revolution against Assad -- and I did early on say we needed to try to find a way to train and equip moderates very early so that we would have a better idea of how to deal with Assad because I thought there would be extremist groups filling the vacuum.

So, yes, this has developed. I think that there are many other reasons why it has in addition to what happened in the region, but I don't think that the United States has the bulk of the responsibility. I really put that on Assad and on the Iraqis and on the region itself.

DICKERSON: Okay, Governor O'Malley, would you critique the administration's response to ISIS. If the United States doesn't lead, who leads?

O'MALLEY: John, I would disagree with Secretary Clinton respectfully on this score.

This actually is America's fight. It cannot solely be America's fight.

America is best when we work in collaboration with our allies. America is best when we are actually standing up to evil in this world. And ISIS, make no mistake about it, is an evil in this world.

ISIS has brought down a Russian airliner. ISIS has now attacked a western democracy in -- in France. And we do have a role in this. Not solely ours, but we must work collaboratively with other nations.

The great failing of these last 10 or 15 years, John, has been our failing of human intelligence on the ground. Our role in the world is not to roam the globe looking for new dictators to topple. Our role in the world is to make ourselves a beacon of hope. Make ourselves stronger at home, but also our role in the world, yes, is also to confront evil when it rises. We took out the safe haven in Afghanistan, but now there is, undoubtedly, a larger safe haven and we must rise to this occasion in collaboration and with alliances to confront it, and invest in the future much better human intelligence so we know what the next steps are.

DICKERSON: Senator Sanders, you said you want to rid the planet of ISIS. In the previous debate you said the greatest threat to national security was climate change. Do you still believe that?

SANDERS: Absolutely. In fact, climate change is directly related to the growth of terrorism. And if we do not get our act together and listen to what the scientists say, you're going to see countries all over the world -- this is what the CIA says -- they're going to be struggling over limited amounts of water, limited amounts of land to grow their crops ask you're going to see all kinds of international conflict.

But, of course, international terrorism is a major issue that we have got to address today. And I agree with much of what the Secretary and the Governor have said. But let me have one area of disagreement with the Secretary.

I think she said something like the bulk of the responsibility is not ours. Well, in fact, I would argue that the disastrous invasion of Iraq, something that I strongly opposed, has unraveled the region completely and led to the rise of al-Qaeda and to ISIS.

Now, in fact, what we have got to do -- and I think there is widespread agreement here -- is the United States cannot do it alone. What we need to do is lead an international coalition which includes very significantly the Muslim nations in that region who are going to have to fight and defend their way of life.

DICKERSON: Quickly, just let me ask you a follow-up on that, Senator Sanders.

When you say the disastrous vote on Iraq, let's just be clear about what you're saying. You're saying Secretary Clinton, who was then Senator Clinton, voted for the Iraq war. And are you making a direct link between her vote for that or and what's happening now for ISIS. Just so everybody...

SANDERS: I don't think any -- I don't think any sensible person would disagree that the invasion of Iraq led to the massive level of instability we are seeing right now. I think that was one of the worst foreign policy blunders in the more than history of the United States.

DICKERSON: Alright. Let's let Secretary Clinton respond to that.

CLINTON: Thank you, John.

Well, thank you, John.

I think it's important we put this in historic context. The United States has, unfortunately, been victimized by terrorism going back decades.

In the 1980s, it was in Beirut, Lebanon, under President Reagan's administration, and 258 Americans, marines, embassy personnel, and others were murdered. We also had attacks on two of our embassies in Tanzania, Kenya, when my husband was president. Again, Americans murdered. And then, of course, 9/11 happened, which happened before there was an invasion of Iraq.

I have said the invasion of Iraq was a mistake. But I think if we're ever going to really tackle the problems posed by jihadi extreme terrorism, we need to understand it and realize that it has antecedents to what happened in Iraq and we have to continue to be vigilant about it.

DICKERSON: Senator Sanders let me just follow this line of thinking. You criticized then, Senator Clinton's vote.

Do you have anything to criticize in the way she performed as Secretary of State?

SANDERS: I think we have a disagreement, and the disagreement is that not only did I vote against the war in Iraq. If you look at history, John, you will find that regime change -- whether it was in the early '50s in Iran, whether it was toppling Salvador Allende in Chile, whether it is overthrowing the government of Guatemala way back when -- these invasions, these toppling of governments, regime changes have unintended consequences. I would say that on this issue, I'm a little bit more conservative than the Secretary...

DICKERSON: Alright.

SANDERS: ... And that I am not a great fan of regime change.

DICKERSON: Senator let me...

O'MALLEY: John, may I -- may I interject here? Secretary Clinton also said we -- it was not just the invasion of Iraq which Secretary Clinton voted for and has since said was a big mistake -- and, indeed, it was.

But it was also the cascading effects that followed that. It was also the disbanding of many elements of the Iraqi army that are now showing up as part of ISIS. It was country after country without making the investment in human intelligence to understand who the new leaders were and the new forces were that are coming up.

We need to be much more far thinking in this new 21st century era of -- of nation state failures and conflict. It's not just about getting rid of a single dictator. It is about understanding the secondary and third consequences that fall next.

DICKERSON: All right, Secretary Clinton.

CLINTON: Well, of course, each of these cases needs to be looked at individually and analyzed. Part of the problem that we have currently in the Middle East is that Assad has hung on to power with the very strong support of Russia and Iran and with the proxy of Hezbollah being there basically fighting his battles.

So I don't think you can paint with a broad brush. This is an incredibly complicated region of the world. It's become more complicated. And many of the fights that are going on are not ones that the United States has either started or have a role in. The Shi'a-Sunni split. The dictatorships have suppressed people's aspirations. The increasing globalization without any real safety valve for people to have a better life. We saw that in Egypt. We saw a dictator overthrown. We saw a Muslim brotherhood president installed, and then we saw him ousted and the army back.

So, I think we've got to understand the complexity of the world that we are facing and no place is more so than in the Middle East.

DICKERSON: I understand. Quickly, Senator.

SANDERS: The Secretary's obviously right. It is enormously complicated. But here's something that I believe we have to do as we put together an international coalition, and that is we have to understand that the Muslim nations in the region -- Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, Jordan -- all of these nations, they're going to have to get their hands dirty, their boots on the ground. They are going to have to take on ISIS.

This is a war for the soul of Islam. And those countries who are opposed to Islam, they are going to have to get deeply involved in a way that is not the case today. We should be supportive of that effort. So should the UK, so should France. But those Muslim countries are going to have to lead the effort. They are not doing it now.

DICKERSON: Secretary Clinton.

CLINTON: Well, I think -- I think that is very unfair to a few you mentioned, most particularly Jordan, which has put a lot on the line for the United States, has also taken in hundreds of thousands of refugees from Syria, and has been, therefore, subjected to threats and attacks by extremists themselves.

I do agree that in particular, Turkey and the Gulf nations have got to make up their minds. Are they going to stand with us against this kind of jihadi radicalism or not? And there are many ways of doing it. They can provide forces. They can provide resources. But they need to be absolutely clear about where they stand.

DICKERSON: Let me ask you, Secretary Clinton, a question about leadership.

We're talking about what role does America take?

Let me ask you about Libya. So Libya is a country in which ISIS has taken hold in part because of the chaos after Muammar Gaddafi. That was an operation you championed. President Obama says this is the lesson he took from that operation. In an interview he said, the lesson was, do we have an answer for the day after? Wasn't that suppose to be one of the lessons that we learned after the Iraq war? And how did you get it wrong with Libya if the key lesson of the Iraq war is have a plan for after?

CLINTON: Well, we did have a plan, and I think it's fair to say that of all of the Arab leaders, Gaddafi probably had more blood on his hands of Americans than anybody else. And when he moved on his own people, threatening a massacre, genocide, the Europeans and the Arabs, our allies and partners, did ask for American help and we provided it.

And we didn't put a single boot on the ground, and Gaddafi was deposed. The Libyans turned out for one of the most successful, fairest elections that any Arab country has had. They elected moderate leaders. Now, there has been a lot of turmoil and trouble as they have tried to deal with these radical elements which you find in this arc of instability, from north Africa to Afghanistan.

And it is imperative that we do more not only to help our friends and partners protect themselves and protect our own homeland, but also to work to try to deal with this arc of instability, which does have a lot of impact on what happens in a country like Libya.

DICKERSON: Governor O' Malley I want to ask you a question and you can add whatever you'd like to. But let me ask you, is the world too dangerous a place for a governor who has no foreign policy experience?

O'MALLEY: John, the world is a very dangerous place, but the world is not too dangerous of a place for the United States of America, provided we act according to our principles, provided we act intelligently. I mean, let's talk about this arc of instability that Secretary Clinton talked about.

Libya is now a mess. Syria is a mess. Iraq is a mess. Afghanistan is a mess. As Americans, we have shown ourselves to have the greatest military on the face of the planet, but we are not so very good at anticipating threats and appreciating just how difficult it is to build up stable democracies, to make the investments and sustainable development that we must as a nation if we are to attack the root causes of these sorts of instability.

And I wanted to add one other thing, John, and I think it's important for all of us on this stage. I was in Burlington, Iowa. And a mom of a service member of ours who served two duties in Iraq said, Governor O' Malley, please, when you're with your other candidates and colleagues on stage, please don't use the term 'boots on the ground'. Let's don't use the term 'boots on the ground'.

My son is not a pair of boots on the ground. These are American soldiers and we fail them when we fail to take into account what happens the day after a dictator falls and when we fail to act with a whole of government approach with sustainable development, diplomacy, and our economic power in alignment with our principles.

CLINTON: Well, I think it's perfectly fair to say that we invested quite a bit in development aid. Some of the bravest people that I had the privilege of working with as secretary of state were our development professionals who went sometimes alone, sometimes with our military, into very dangerous places in Iraq, in Afghanistan, elsewhere.

So, there does need to be a whole of government approach, but just because we're involved and we have a strategy doesn't mean we're going to be able to dictate the outcome. These are often very long- term kinds of investments that have to be made.

[crosstalk]

SANDERS: When you talk about the long-term consequences of war, let's talk about the men and women who came home from war. The 500,000 who came home with PTSD, and traumatic brain injury. And I would hope in the midst of all of this discussion, this country makes certain that we do not turn our backs on the men and women who put their lives on the line to defend us, and that we stand with them as they have stood with us.

DICKERSON: Secretary Clinton, you mentioned radical jihadists. Marco Rubio, also running for president, said that this attack showed and the attack in Paris showed that we are at war with radical Islam. Do you agree with that characterization, radical Islam?

CLINTON: I don't think we're at war with Islam. I don't think we're at war with all Muslims. I think we're at war with jihadists who have --

DICKERSON: Just to interrupt. He didn't say all Muslims. He just said radical Islam. Is that a phrase you don't...

CLINTON: I think THAT you can talk about Islamists who clearly are also jihadists, but I think it's not particularly helpful to make the case that Senator Sanders was just making that I agree with, that we've got to reach out to Muslim countries.

We've got to have them be part of our coalition. If they hear people running for president who basically shortcut it to say we are somehow against Islam, that was one of the real contributions, despite all the other problems, that George W. Bush made after 9/11 when he basically said after going to a Mosque in Washington, we are not at war with Islam or Muslims.

We are at war with violent extremism. We are at war with people who use their religion for purposes of power and oppression. And, yes, we are at war with those people. But I don't want us to be painting with too broad a brush.

DICKERSON: The reason I ask is you gave a speech at Georgetown University in which you said, that it was important to show, quote, "respect, even for one's enemies. Trying to understand and in so far as psychologically possible, empathize with their perspective and point of view." Can you explain what that means in the context of this kind of barbarism?

CLINTON: I think with this kind of barbarism and nihilism, it's very hard to understand, other than the lust for power, the rejection of modernity, the total disregard for human rights, freedom, or any other value that we know and respect.

Historically, it is important to try to understand your adversary in order to figure out how they are thinking, what they will be doing, how they will react. I plead that it's very difficult when you deal with ISIS and organizations like that whose behavior is so barbaric and so vicious that it doesn't seem to have any purpose other than lust for killing and power and that's very difficult to put ourselves in the other shoe.

[crosstalk]

DICKERSON: Just quickly, do either of you, radical Islam, do either of you use that phrase?

SANDERS: I don't think the term is what's important. What is important to understand is we have organizations, whether it is ISIS or Al Qaida, who do believe we should go back several thousand years. We should make women third-class citizens, that we should allow children to be sexually assaulted, that they are a danger to modern society.

And that this world, with American leadership, can and must come together to destroy them. We can do that. And it requires an entire world to come together, including in a very active way, the Muslim nations.

DICKERSON: Governor O' Malley, you have been making the case when you talk about lack of forward vision, you're essentially saying that Secretary Clinton lacks that vision and this critique matches up with this discussion of language. The critique is that the softness of language betrays a softness of approach. So if this language -- if you don't call it by what it is, how can your approach be effective to the cause? that's the critique.

O'MALLEY: I believe calling it what it is, is to say radical jihadis. That's calling it what it is. But John, let's not fall into the trap of thinking that all of our Muslim American neighbors in this country are somehow our enemies here. They are our first line of defense.

And we are going to be able to defeat ISIS on the ground there, as well as in this world, because of the Muslim Americans in our country and throughout the world who understand that this brutal and barbaric group is perverting the name of a great world religion. And now, like never before, we need our Muslim American neighbors to stand up and to -- and to be a part of this.

DICKERSON: Secretary Clinton, the French president has called this attack an act of war.

CLINTON: Yes.

DICKERSON: A couple of days ago you were asked if you would declare war on ISIS and you said no. What would you say now?

CLINTON: Well, we have an authorization to use military force against terrorists. We passed it after 9/11.

DICKERSON: And you think that covers all of this?

CLINTON: It certainly does cover it. I would like to see it updated.

DICKERSON: If you were in the Senate, would you be okay with the commander in chief doing that without it coming back to you?

CLINTON: No, it would have to go through the Congress, and I know the White House has actually been working with members of Congress. Maybe now we can get it moving again so that we can upgrade it so that it does include all the tools and everything in our arsenal that we can use to try to work with our allies and our friends, come up with better intelligence.

You know, it is difficult finding intelligence that is actionable in a lot of these places, but we have to keep trying. And we have to do more to prevent the flood of foreign fighters that have gone to Syria, especially the ones with western passports, that come back. So there's a lot of work we need to do and I want to be sure what's called the AUMF, has the authority that is needed going forward.

DICKERSON: Senator, let me just -- let's add to whatever you've got to say. Refugees. You've been a little vague on what you would do about the Syrian refugees. What's your view on them now?

SANDERS: Let me do that but let me pick up on an issue, a very important issue that we have not yet discussed. This nation is the most powerful military in the world. We're spending over $600 billion a year on the military and yet, significantly less than 10 percent of that money is used to be fighting international terrorism.

We are spending hundreds of billions of dollars maintaining 5,000 nuclear weapons. I think we need major reform in the military, making it more cost effective, but also focusing on the real crisis that faces us.

The Cold War is over. And our focus has got to be on intelligence, increased manpower, fighting internationally targets. So, in terms of refugees, I believe that the United States has the moral responsibility with Europe, with Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia to make sure that when people leave countries like Afghanistan and Syria with nothing more than the clothing on their back that, of course, we reach out.

Now, what the magic number is, I don't know, because we don't know the extent of the problem. But I certainly think that the United States should take its full responsibility in helping those people.

DICKERSON: Governor O'Malley, you have a magic number. I think it's 65,000. Does that number go up or down based on what happened yesterday?

O'MALLEY: John, I was the first person on this stage to say that we should accept the 65,000 Syrian refugees that were fleeing the sort of murder of ISIL, and I believe that that needs to be done with proper screening. But accommodating 65,000 refugees in our country today, people of 320 million, is akin to making room for 6.5 more people in a baseball stadium with 32,000.

There are other ways to lead and to be a moral leader in this world, rather than at the opposite end of a drone strike. But I would want to agree with something that Senator Sanders says. The nature of warfare has changed. This is not a conflict where we send in the third divisions of Marines. This is a new era of conflict where traditional ways of huge standing armies are not as -- serve our purposes as well as special ops, better intelligence and being more proactive.

DICKERSON: Just very quickly, 65,000, the number stays?

O'MALLEY: That's what I understand is the request from the international...

DICKERSON: But for you, what would you want?

O'MALLEY: I would want us to take our place among the nations of the world to alleviate this sort of death and the specter we saw of little kids' bodies washing up on a beach.

DICKERSON: Secretary Clinton, let me ask you a question from twitter which has come in and this is a question on this issue of refugees. The question is, with the U.S. preparing to absorb Syrian refugees, how do you propose we screen those coming in to keep citizens safe?

CLINTON: I think that is the number one requirement. I also said that we should take increased numbers of refugees. The administration originally said 10. I said we should go to 65, but only if we have as careful a screening and vetting process as we can imagine, whatever resources it takes because I do not want us to, in any way, inadvertently allow people who wish us harm to come into our country.

But I want to say a quick word about what Senator Sanders and then Governor O'Malley said. We do have to take a hard look at the defense budget and we do have to figure out how we get ready to fight the adversaries of the future, not the past. But we have to also be very clear that we do have some continuing challenges.

We've got challenges in the South China Sea because of what China is doing in building up these military installations. We have problems with Russia. Just the other day, Russia allowed a television camera to see the plans for a drone submarine that could carry a tactical nuclear weapon. So we've got to look at the full range and then come to some smart decisions about having more streamlined and focused approach.

DICKERSON: Alright. Senator Sanders, I'm sorry. We're going to have to take a break now. We will have more of the Democratic debate here from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. [applause]

[commercial break]

DICKERSON: Want to turn now from terrorism to another important issue for many Americans, the financial squeeze on the the middle class. For that, we go to my CBS News Colleague, Nancy Cordes.

Nancy?

CORDES: John, thanks so much.

We've learned a lot during the course of this campaign about the things that you'd like to do that you say would help the middle class, but we haven't heard quite as much about who would pick up the tab.

So Secretary Clinton, first to you. You want to cap individuals' prescription drug costs at $250 a month. You want to make public college debt-free. You want community college to be free altogether. And you want mandatory paid family leave. So who pays for all that? Is it employers? Is it the taxpayers, and which taxpayers?

CLINTON: Well, first of all, it isn't the middle class. I have made very clear that hardworking, middle-class families need a raise, not a tax increase. In fact, wages adjusted for inflation haven't risen since the turn of the last century, after my husband's administration. So we have a lot of work to do to get jobs going again, get incomes rising again. And I have laid out specific plans -- you can go to my web site, hillaryclinton.com, and read the details. And I will pay for it by, yes, taxing the wealthy more, closing corporate loopholes, deductions, and other kinds of favorable treatment. And I can do it without raising the debt, without raising taxes on the middle class and making it reasonably manageable within our budget so that we can be fiscally responsible at the same time.

CORDES: But a quick follow-up on that $250-a-month cap. Wouldn't the pharmaceutical companies and the insurance companies just pass that cost on to the consumers in the form of higher premiums?

CLINTON: Well, we're going to have to redo the way the prescription drug industry does business. For example, it is outrageous that we don't have an opportunity for Medicare to negotiate for lower prices. In fact, American consumers pay the highest prices in the world for drugs that we help to be developed through the National Institute of Health and that we then tested through the FDA.

So there's more to my plan than just the cap. We have to go after price gouging and monopolistic practices and get Medicare the authority to negotiate.

CORDES: Governor O'Malley, you also want to make public college debt-free. You want...

O'MALLEY: That's right.

CORDES: ... states to freeze tuition. You've got your own family leave plan. How would you pay for it? In Maryland, you raised the sales tax, you raised the gas tax and you raised taxes on families making over $150,000 a year. Is that the blueprint?

O'MALLEY: Nancy, the blueprint in Maryland that we followed was yes, we did in fact raise the sales tax by a penny and we made our public schools the best public schools in America for five years in a row with that investment. And yes, we did ask everyone -- the top 14 percent of earners in our state to pay more in their income tax and we were the only state to go four years in a row without a penny's increase to college tuitions.

So while other candidates will talk about the things they would like to do, I actually got these things done in a state that defended not only a AAA bond rating, but the highest median income in America. I believe that we pay for many of the things that we need to do again as a nation, investing in the skills of our people, our infrastructure, and research and development and also climate change by the elimination of one big entitlement that we can no longer afford as a people, and that is the entitlement that many of our super wealthiest citizens feel they are entitled to pay -- namely, a much lower income tax rate and a lower tax rate on capital gains.

I believe capital gains, for the most part, should be taxed the same way we tax income from hard work, sweat, and toil. And if we do those things, we can be a country that actually can afford debt-free college again.

CORDES: Senator Sanders, you want to make public college free altogether. You want to increase Social Security benefits and you want to spend $1 trillion on infrastructure. So you said that to do some of these things, you'll impose a tax on top earners. How high would their rate go in a Sanders administration?

SANDERS: Let me put those proposals-- and you're absolutely right. That is what I want to do. That is what is going to have to happen, if we want to revitalize and rebuild the crumbling middle class.

In the last 30 years, there has been a massive redistribution of wealth. And I know that term gets my Republican friends nervous. The problem is, this redistribution has gone in the wrong direction. Trillions of dollars have gone from the middle class and working families to the top one-tenth of one percent who have doubled the percentage of wealth they now own.

Yes, I do believe that we must end corporate loopholes, such that major corporations year after year pay virtually zero in federal income tax, because they're stashing the money in the Cayman Islands.

Yes, I do believe there must be a tax on Wall Street speculation. We bailed out Wall Street. It's their time to bail out the middle class, help our kids be able to go to college tuition-free.

So we pay for this by do demanding that the wealthiest people and the largest corporations, who have gotten away with murder for years, start paying their fair share.

CORDES: But let's get specific. How high would you go? You have said before you would go above 50 percent.

How high?

SANDERS: We haven't come up with an exact number yet, but it will not be as high as the number under Dwight D. Eisenhower, which was 90 percent. But it will be...[laughter]

I'm not that much of a socialist compared to Eisenhower. [applause]

But -- but we are going to end the absurdity, as Warren Buffet often remind us.

O'MALLEY: That's right.

SANDERS: That billionaires pay an effective tax rate lower than nurses or truck drivers. That makes no sense at all. There has to be real tax reform, and the wealthiest and large corporations will pay when I'm president.

O'MALLEY: And may I point out that under Ronald Reagan's first term, the highest marginal rate was 70 percent. And in talking to a lot of our neighbors who are in that super wealthy, millionaire and billionaire category, a great numbers of them love their country enough to do more again in order to create more opportunity for America's middle class.

CORDES: Secretary Clinton, Americans say that health care costs and wages are their top financial concerns. And health care deductibles, alone, have risen 67 percent over the past five years.

Is this something that Obamacare was designed to address? And if not, why not?

CLINTON: Well, look, I believe that we've made great progress as a country with the Affordable Care Act. We've been struggling to get this done since Harry Truman. And it was not only a great accomplishment of the Democratic Party, but of President Obama.

I do think that it's important to defend it. The Republicans have voted to repeal it nearly 60 times. They would like to rip it up and start all over again, throw our nation back into this really contentious debate that we've had about health care for quite some time now.

I want to build on and improve the Affordable Care Act. I would certainly tackle the cost issues, because I think that once the foundation was laid with a system to try to get as many people as possible into it, to end insurance discrimination against people with preexisting conditions or women, for example, that, yes, we were going to have to figure out how to get more competition in the insurance market, how to get the costs of -- particularly, prescription drugs, but other out-of-pocket expenses down.

But I think it's important to understand there's a significant difference that I have with Senator Sanders about how best to provide quality, affordable health care for everyone. And it's-- it's a worthy debate. It's an important one that we should be engaged in.

CORDES: It is -- it is a worthy debate. Senator Sanders, a quick response, and then we'll get into health care again later.

SANDERS: I am on the committee that helped write the Affordable Care Act. We have made some good progress.

Now what we have to take on is the pharmaceutical industry that is ripping off the American people every single day. I am proud that I was the first member of Congress to take Americans over the Canadian border to buy breast cancer drugs for one-tenth the price they were paying in the United States.

But at the end of the day, no doubt, the Affordable Care Act is a step forward. I think we all support it. I believe we've got to go further.

I want to end the international embarrassment of the United States of America being the only major country on earth that doesn't guarantee health care to all people as a right, not a privilege. [applause]

And also -- also, what we should be clear about is we end up spending -- and I think the secretary knows this -- far more per capita on health care than any other major country, and our outcomes, health care outcomes are not necessarily that good.

O'MALLEY: All right, Nancy, I really wish you'd come back to me on this on this one, John...

DICKERSON: All right, I am sorry, Governor, we're going to have to go, I apologize.

O'MALLEY: Because we have found a way to reduce hospital costs, so whenever we come...

DICKERSON: Governor -- Governor, you're breaking the rules. [laughter]

I'm sorry, we're going to have to cut for a commercial. We'll be right back here from Drake University here in Des Moines, Iowa.

O'MALLEY: Thank you.

[commercial break]

DICKERSON: There is a lot of presidential history here in Iowa. It hosted the first in the nation caucuses. Herbert Hoover was born in West Branch, and tonight, we are in Polk County, named for our 11th president, with three people who hope to be number 45.

Joining my now to question them are Iowans Kevin Cooney of KCCI and Kathie Obradovich, of the Des Moines Register.

Kevin?

COONEY: Thanks, John.

Candidates, we've already heard your answers on what you would do with Syrian refugees, but a crucial part of the immigration debate here at home is control of our own borders.

Republicans say the borders -- securing borders is a top priority. Democrats say they want to plan for comprehensive immigration reform. So, Governor O'Malley, are you willing to compromise on this particular issue to focus on border security first in favor of keeping the country safe?

O'MALLEY: Well, Mr. Cooney, we've actually been focusing on border security to the exclusion of talking about comprehensive immigration reform.

In fact, if more border security and these -- and more and more deportations were going to bring our Republican brothers and sisters to the table, it would have happened long ago. The fact of the matter is -- and let's say it in our debate, because you'll never hear this from that immigration-bashing carnival barker, Donald Trump, the truth of the matter is... [applause]

The truth of the matter is, net immigration from Mexico last year was zero. Fact check me. Go ahead. Check it out. But the truth of the matter is, if we want wages to go up, we've got to get 11 million of our neighbors out of off the book shadow economy, and into the full light of an American economy.

That's what our parents and grandparents always did. That's what we need to do as a nation.

Yes, we must protect our borders. But there is no substitute for having comprehensive immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship for 11 million people, many of whom have known no other country but the United States of America. Our symbol is the Statue of Liberty. It is not a barbed wire fence.

COONEY: Thank you. Now, Secretary Clinton said you would go further than the President when it comes to taking executive action to implement immigration reforms. But the President's already facing legal trouble on this. We've seen it more just in the past week. Realistically, how could you go further with executive action?

CLINTON: Well, first of all, I know that the President has appealed the decision to the Supreme Court. And my reading of the law and the Constitution convinces me that the President has the authority that he is attempting to exercise with respect to dreamers and their parents, because I think all of us on this stage agree that we need comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship. Border security has always been a part of that debate. And it is a fact that the net immigration from Mexico and South has basically zeroed out.

So, what we want to do is to say, look, we have 11 million people who have been here, many of them for decades. They have children who are doing so well, I've met and worked with dreamers. I think any parent would be so proud of them. So let's move toward what we should be doing as a nation and follow the values of our immigration history and begin to make it possible for them to come out of the shadows and to have a future that gives them a full chance of citizenship. [applause]

COONEY: Kathie.

OBRADOVICH: Senator Sanders, you've actually talked about immigration as being a wage issue in the United States. And I want to actually go directly to the wage issue now.

You called for raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour everywhere in the country. But the President's former chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, Alan Krueger, has said a national increase of $15 could lead to undesirable and unintended consequences of job loss.

What level of job loss would you consider unacceptable?

SANDERS: Kathie, let me say this. You know, no public policy doesn't have, in some cases, negative consequences. But at the end of the day, what you have right now are millions of Americans working two or three jobs because their wages that they are earning are just too low.

Real inflation accounted for wages has declined precipitously over the years. So I believe that, in fact, this country needs to move towards a living wage. It is not a radical idea to say that if somebody works 40 hours a week, that person should not be living in poverty. It is not a radical idea to say that a single mom should be earning enough money to take care of her kids. So I believe that over the next few years, not tomorrow, but over the next few years, we have got to move the minimum wage to a living wage, 15 bucks an hour. And I apologize to nobody for that.

OBRADOVICH: You said there are consequences... [applause]

You said there are consequences for -- for any policy. Do you think job losses are a consequence that are...

SANDERS: This is what I think -- this is what many economists believe that one of the reasons that real unemployment in this country is 10 percent, one of the reasons that African American youth unemployment and underemployment is 51 percent is the average worker in America doesn't have any disposable income.

You have no disposable income when you are make 10, 12 bucks an hour. When we put money into the hands of working people, they're going to go out and buy goods, they're going to buy services and they're going to create jobs in doing that. Kathie, that is the kind of economy I believe, put money in the hands of working people, raise the minimum wage to 15 buck an hour.

O'MALLEY: Kathie, this was not merely theory in Maryland. We actually did it. Not only were we the first state in the nation to pass a living wage. We were the first to pass a minimum wage. And the U.S. chamber of commerce, which hardly ever says nice things about Democratic governors anywhere, named our state number one for innovation and entrepreneurship.

We defended the highest median income in the country. And so, look, the way that -- a stronger middle class is actually the source of economic growth. And if our middle class makes more money, they spend more money, and our whole economy grows. We did it, and it worked, and nobody headed for the hills or left the state because of it.

OBRADOVICH: You're calling for a $15 an hour wage now but why did you stop at $10.10 in your state?

O'MALLEY: $10.10 was all I could get the state to do by the time I left in my last year. But two of our counties actually went to $12.80 and their county executives, if they were here tonight, would also tell you that it works.

The fact of the matter is, the more our people earn, the more money they spend, and the more our whole economy grows. That's American capitalism.

SANDERS: Let me just...

CLINTON: Kathie, I think -- Kathie the...

SANDERS: Let me just add to that. Just because this is not an esoteric argument. You're seeing cities like Seattle. You're seeing cities like San Francisco, cities like Los Angeles doing it, and they are doing it well and workers are able to have more disposable income.

CLINTON: But I do take what Alan Krueger said seriously. He is the foremost expert in our country on the minimum wage, and what its effects are. And the overall message is that it doesn't result in job loss. However, what Alan Krueger said in the piece you're referring to is that if we went to $15, there are no international comparisons.

That is why I support a $12 national federal minimum wage. That is what the Democrats in the Senate have put forward as a proposal. But I do believe that is a minimum. And places like Seattle, like Los Angeles, like New York City, they can go higher. It's what happened in Governor O'Malley's state. There was a minimum wage at the state level, and some places went higher. I think that is...

O'MALLEY: Didn't just happen.

CLINTON: I think that is the smartest way to be able to move forward because if you go to $12 it would be the highest historical average we've ever had.

O'MALLEY: Come on now. Yeah, but look. It should always be going up. Again, with all do respect to Secretary Clinton...

CLINTON: But you would index it -- you would index it to the median wage. Of course, you would. Do the $12 and you would index it. But I...

O'MALLEY: I think we need to stop taking our advice from economists on Wall Street...

CLINTON: He's not wall street.

O'MALLEY: ... And start taking advice...

CLINTON: That's not fair. He's a progressive economist.

[crosstalk]

DICKERSON: You have -- you have given me the perfect segue. We are going to talk about Wall Street, but now we've got to go do a commercial.

We're coming to the end of the first hour. But there's another hour behind it and we're going to talk about Wall Street so hang with us.

[commercial break]

DICKERSON: Good evening again, as we begin the second half of the debate. Joining me in the questioning are the candidates -- of the candidates are CBS news congressional correspondent Nancy Cordes, Kevin Cooney of CBS Des Moines affiliate KCCI, and Kathie Obradovich of the Des Moines register.

As those who watched the first hour know, our topic is Wall Street. For those just joining us, welcome. Senator -- excuse me, Secretary Clinton, I went to the past there for a moment. Senator Sanders recently said, quote, "People should be suspect of candidates who receive large sums of money from Wall Street and then go out and say 'Trust me. I'm going to really regulate wall street'.

So you've received millions of dollars in contributions and speaking fees from from Wall Street companies. How do you convince voters that you are going to level the playing field when you're indebted to some of its biggest players?

CLINTON: Well, I think it's pretty clear that they know that I will. You have two billionaire hedge fund managers who started a super PAC and they're advertising against me in Iowa as we speak. So they clearly think I'm going to do what I say I will do and you can look at what I did in the Senate.

I did introduce legislation to reign in compensation. I looked at ways that the shareholders would have more control over what was going on in that arena. And specifically said to Wall Street, that what they were doing in the mortgage market was bringing our country down. I've laid out a very aggressive plan to reign in Wall Street -- not just the big banks.

That's a part of the problem and I am going right at them. I have a comprehensive, tough plan. But I went further than that. We have to go after what is called the shadow banking industry. Those hedge funds. Look at what happened in '08, AIG, a big insurance company, Lehman Brothers, an investment bank helped to bring our economy down. So, I want to look at the whole problem and that's why my proposal is much more comprehensive than anything else that's been put forth.

DICKERSON: Senator Sanders you said that the donations to Secretary Clinton are compromising. So what did you think of her answer?

SANDERS: Not good enough. [applause]

Here's the story. I mean, you know, let's not be naive about it. Why do -- why, over her political career has Wall Street been a major -- the major campaign contributor to Hillary Clinton? You know, maybe they're dumb and they don't know what they're going to get, but I don't think so.

Here is the major issue when we talk about Wall Street. It ain't complicated. You have six financial institutions today that have assets of 56 percent, equivalent to 56 percent of the GDP In America. They issue two-thirds of the credit cards and one-third of the mortgages.

If Teddy Roosevelt, a good Republican, were alive today, you know what he'd say? "Break them up." Reestablish Glass-Steagall. And Teddy Roosevelt is right. That is the issue. Now I am the only candidate up here that doesn't have a super PAC. I am not asking Wall Street or the billionaires for money. I will break up these banks. Support community banks and credit unions. That's the future of banking in America.

DICKERSON: Great follow up because you -- and Secretary Clinton, you will get a chance to respond.

You said they know what they're going to get. What are they going to get?

SANDERS: I have never heard a candidate never, who has received huge amounts of money from oil, from coal, from Wall Street, from the military industrial complex, not one candidate say, oh, these campaign contributions will not influence me. I'm going to be independent. Well, why do they make millions of dollars of campaign contributions? they expect to get something. Everybody knows that.

Once again, I am running a campaign differently than any other candidate. We are relying on small campaign donors, 750,000 of them, 30 bucks a piece. That's who I'm indebted to.

CLINTON: Well John, wait a minute. Wait a minute, he has basically used his answer to impune my integrity. Let's be frank here.

SANDERS: No, I have not.

CLINTON: Oh, wait a minute, senator. You know, not only do I have hundreds of thousands of donors, most of them small. And I'm very proud that for the first time a majority of my donors are women, 60 percent. [applause]

So, I represented New York, and I represented New York on 9/11 when we were attacked. Where were we attacked? We were attacked in downtown Manhattan where Wall Street is. I did spend a whole lot of time and effort helping them rebuild. That was good for New York. It was good for the economy and it was a way to rebuke the terrorists who had attacked our country.

So, you know, it's fine for you to say what you're going to say, but I looked very carefully at your proposal. Reinstating Glass- Steagall is a part of what very well could help, but it is nowhere near enough. My proposal is tougher, more effective, and more comprehensive because I go after all of Wall Street not just the big banks.

O'MALLEY: John, please, it's-- personal privilege, John.

DICKERSON: Hold on. He was attacked. [applause]

O'MALLEY: John, John,

DICKERSON: Hold on, he was attacked. Glass-Steagall...

[crosstalk]

SANDERS: So was I, John. Let me get a chance to respond. This issue touches on two broad issues. It's not just Wall Street. It's campaign -- a corrupt campaign finance system. And it is easy to talk the talk about ending Citizens United, but what I think we need to do is show by example that we are prepared to not rely on large corporations and Wall Street for campaign contributions, and that's what I'm doing.

In terms of Wall Street, I respectfully disagree with you, madam secretary, in the sense that the issue here is when you have such incredible power and such incredible wealth. When you have Wall Street spending $5 billion over a 10-year period to get -- to get deregulated, the only answer they know is break them up, reestablish Glass-Stegall.

DICKERSON: All right. Senator, we have to get Governor O' Malley in.

Governor, along with your answer, how many Wall Street veterans would you have in your administration?

O'MALLEY: Well, I'll tell you what, I've said this before. I don't -- I believe that we actually need some new economic thinking in the White House. And I would not have Robert Rubin or Larry Summers, with all due respect, Secretary Clinton, to you and to them, back on my council of economic advisers.

DICKERSON: Anyone from Wall Street?

O'MALLEY: They are the architects. Sure, we'll have an inclusive group but I won't be taking my orders from Wall Street. And look, let me say this. I put out a proposal. I was on the front lines when people lost their homes, when people lost their jobs. I was on the front lines as a governor fighting against -- fighting that battle.

Our economy was wrecked by the big banks of Wall Street. And Secretary Clinton, when you put out your proposal on Wall Street, it was greeted by many as, quote, unquote, "Weak tea". It is weak tea. It is not what the people expect of our country.

We expect that our president will protect the main street economy from excesses on Wall Street. And that's why Bernie's right. We need to reinstate a modern version of Glass-Steagall and we should have done it already. [applause]

CLINTON: Well, you know, governor, I know that when you had a chance to appoint a commissioner for financial regulation, you chose an investment banker in 2010. So for me, it is looking at what works and what we need to do to try to move past what happened in '08.

And I will go back and say again, AIG was not a big bank. It had to be bailed out and it nearly destroyed us. Lehman Brothers was not a big bank. It was an investment bank. And its bankruptcy and its failure nearly destroyed us. So I've said, if the big banks don't play by the rules, I will break them up.

SANDERS: The big banks--

CLINTON: And I will also go after executives who are responsible for the decisions that have such bad consequences for our country. [applause]

SANDERS: Look--

DICKERSON: Hold on.

SANDERS: I don't know and with all due respect to the secretary, Wall Street played by the rules? Who are we kidding? The business model of Wall Street is fraud. That's what it is. [applause]

And we have -- and let me make this promise. One of the problems we have had -- I think all Americans understand this, is whether it's Republican administrations or Democratic administrations, we have seen Wall Street and Goldman Sachs dominate administrations. Here's my promise-- Wall Street representatives will not be in my cabinet. [applause]

DICKERSON: All right, I want to switch to the -- switch to the issue of guns here.

Secretary Clinton, you said that Senator Sanders is not tough enough on guns, but basically he now supports roughly the same things you do. So can tell us what the exact difference is going forward between the two of you on the issue of gun control?

CLINTON: Well, I think that there are different records. I -- you know, know that Senator Sanders had a different vote than I did when it came to giving immunity to gun makers and sellers. That was a terrible mistake. It basically gave the gun lobby even more power to intimidate legislators, not just in Washington but across the country.

But just think about this-- since we last debated in Las Vegas, nearly 3,000 people have been killed by guns. Twenty-one mass shootings, including one last weekend in Des Moins where three were murdered. Two hundred children have been killed. This is an emergency. There are a lot of things we've got to do in our country, reigning in Wall Street is certainly one of them. I agree with that.

That's why I've got such a good plan. But we have to also go after the gun lobby and 92 percent of Americans agree we should have universal background checks. Close the gun show loophole, close the online loophole and... [applause]

DICKERSON: Secretary Clinton, I want to...

CLINTON: I will do everything I can as president to get that accomplished.

DICKERSON: Secretary Clinton, just a quick follow-up. You say that Senator Sanders took a vote that -- on immunity that you don't like. So if he can be tattooed by a single vote and that ruins all future opinions by him on this issue, why then isn't he right when he says your wrong vote on Iraq tattoos you forever in your judgment?

CLINTON: I -- I said I made a mistake on Iraq, and I would love to see Senator Sanders join with some of my colleague in addition the Senate that I see in the audience. Let's reverse the immunity. Let's put the gun makers and sellers on notice that they're not going to get away with it. [applause]

SANDERS: Let's do more -- let's do more than reverse the immunity. Let's...

DICKERSON: But was that a mistake, Senator?

SANDERS: Let me hear if there's any difference between the Secretary and myself. I have voted time and again to -- for -- for the background check, and I want to see it improved and expanded. I want to see us do away with the gun show loophole.

In 1988, I lost an election because I said we should not have assault weapons on the streets of America. We have to do away with the strawman proposal. We need radical changes in mental health in America so somebody who is suicidal or homicidal can get the emergency care they need. We have -- I don't know that there's any disagreement here...

O'MALLEY: Oh, yes there is. [laughter

SANDERS: We have got to come forward with a consensus that in fact will work.

DICKERSON: Senator, a mistake or not, your immunity vote? Quickly, before I go to...

SANDERS: There were parts of that bill which agree with parts -- I disagree. I am certainly, absolutely, willing to look at that bill again and make sure there's a stronger bill.

DICKERSON: So not a mistake?

O'MALLEY: John, this is another one of those examples. Like we have a -- we have a lot of work to do and we're the only nation on the planet that buries as many of our people from gun violence as we do.

In my own state, after the children in that Connecticut classroom were gunned down, we passed comprehensive gun safety legislation with background checks, ban on assault weapons, and Senator, I think we do need to repeal that immunity that you granted to the gun industry.

But Secretary Clinton, you've been on three sides of this. When you ran in 2000, you said that we needed federal robust regulations. Then, in 2008, you were portraying yourself as Annie Oakley and saying that we don't need those regulations on the federal level and now you're coming back around here.

So John, there's a big difference between leading by polls and leading with principle. We got it done in my state by leading with principal and that's what we need to do as a party for comprehensive gun safety.

SANDERS: With all -- with all due respect... [applause]

I think it's fair to say that Baltimore is not now one of the safest cities in America, but the issue is...

O'MALLEY: But it's a lot safer. It's saved a lot of lives along the way, Senator.

SANDERS: The issue is -- I believe, and I believe this honestly, and I don't know that there's much difference on guns between us. But I believe coming from a state that has virtually no gun control, I believe that I am in position to reach out to the 60 or 70 percent of the American people who agree with us on those issues. The problem is...

DICKERSON: Hold on.

SANDERS: ... people all over this country -- not you, Secretary Clinton -- are shouting at each other. And what we need to do is bring people together to work on the agreement where there is broad consensus and that's what I intend to do.

[crosstalk]

O'MALLEY: I'd like to take a matter of personal privilege here...

CLINTON: But wait, I just want to say this Senator. There is broad consensus, 92 percent in the most recently poll of Americans want gun safety measures...

SANDERS: Absolutely.

CLINTON: ... and 85 percent of gun owners agree.

SANDERS: Yes.

CLINTON: We've got the consensus, what we're lacking is political leadership...

SANDERS: Yes.

CLINTON: ... and that's what you and others can start providing in the Senate. [applause]

SANDERS: Yes, I agree.

DICKERSON: Sorry. I'm going to bring in Nancy Cordes with a question from twitter about this exchange.

CORDES: There was a lot of conversation on twitter about guns, but also about your conversation on campaign finance.

And Secretary Clinton, one of the tweets we saw said this, "I've never seen a candidate invoke 9/11 to justify millions of Wall Street donations until now." The idea being, yes, you were a champion of the community after 9/11, but what does that have to do with taking big donations?

CLINTON: Well, I'm sorry that whoever tweeted that had that impression because I worked closely with New Yorkers after 9/11 for my entire first term to rebuild. So, yes, I did know people. I've had a lot of folks give me donations from all kinds of backgrounds say, I don't agree with you on everything, but I like what you do. I like how you stand up. I'm going to support you, and I think that is absolutely appropriate. [applause]

SANDERS: Well, I -- if I might. I think the issue here is -- and I applaud Secretary Clinton. She did. She's the senator from New York. She worked -- and many of us supported you -- in trying to rebuild that devastation. But at the end of the day, Wall Street today has enormous economic and political power. Their business model is greed and fraud. And for the sake of our economy, they must -- the major banks must be broken up.

CORDES: Hold on.

O'MALLEY: John, I think somewhere between...

CORDES: Senator Sanders -- I'm sorry. Senator Sanders, but what is it in Secretary Clinton's record that shows you that she's been influenced by those donations?

[crosstalk]

SANDERS: Well, (inaudible) the major issue right now is whether or not we reestablish Glass-Steagall. I led the effort, unfortunately unsuccessfully, against deregulation because I knew when you merge large insurance companies and investment banks and commercial banks it was not going to be good. The issue now is do we break them ?up do we reestablish Glass-Steagall. And Secretary Clinton, unfortunately, is on the wrong side.

CLINTON: Well, I'll tell you who is on my side. Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize winning economist, who said my plan for what we should do to reign in Wall Street was more comprehensive and better. Paul Volcker, one of the leading lights of trying to reign in the excesses, has also said he does not support reinstating Glass-Steagall.

So, I mean this may seem like a bit of an arcane discussion. I have nothing against the passion that my two friends here have about reinstating Glass-Steagall. I just don't think it would get the job done. I'm all about making sure we actually get results for whatever we do. [applause]

DICKERSON: Final word. Final word, Governor O'Malley, before we go to commercial.

O'MALLEY: John, there is not a serious economist who would disagree that the six big banks of Wall Street have taken on so much power and that all of us are still on the hook to bail them out on their bad bets. That's not capitalism, Secretary Clinton. That's crony capitalism. That's a wonderful business model. If you place bad bets, the taxpayers bail you out. But if you place good ones, you pocket it.

Look, I don't believe there's the model -- there's lots of good people that work in finance, Secretary Sanders, but Secretary Clinton, we need to step up and we need to protect Main Street from Wall Street and you can't do that by -- by campaigning as the candidate of Wall Street. I am not the candidate of Wall Street...

SANDERS: Let me...

O'MALLEY: ... and I encourage everybody watching this tonight to please, acknowledge that by going online at martinomalley.com and help me wage this campaign for real American capitalism. [applause]

DICKERSON: We have to -- we have to go for a commercial, Senator. I'm sorry. We have to go for a commercial here. We'll be right back with the Democratic debate here in Des Moines, Iowa on CBS.

[commercial break]

DICKERSON: Back now in Des Moines with the candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Senator Sanders, I want to start with you. Let's say you're elected president. Congratulations.

SANDERS: Thank you. [applause]

Looking forward to it.

DICKERSON: You've said you'll have a revolution.

SANDERS: Yes.

DICKERSON: But there's a conservative revolution going on in America right now. As John Boehner knows and as Democrats know, who have lost in state houses across the country.

SANDERS: Right.

DICKERSON: Those conservatives are watching tonight and probably shaking their heads. So how do you deal with that part of the country? The revolution's already happening, but on the other side?

SANDERS: And we are going to do a political revolution, which brings working people, young people, senior citizens, minorities together.

Because every issue that I am talking about-- paid family and medical leave, breaking up the banks on Wall Street, asking the wealth to pay their fair share of taxes, rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, raising the minimum wage to 15 bucks an hour -- every one of those issues is supported by a significant majority of the American people.

The problem is, that as a result of a corrupt campaign finance system, Congress is not listening to the American people. Its listening to the big money interest.

What the political revolution is about is bringing people together to finally say, enough is enough. This government belongs to us. Not just the billionaires.

DICKERSON: Senator, as a 30-second follow-up, we've heard already tonight this figure, 92 percent of support for background checks.

Let's look at that as an example. There was something 92 percent of the public was for. There had been these mass shootings. There was emotional support behind it.

SANDERS: Yes.

DICKERSON: Bipartisan support.

SANDERS: Yes.

DICKERSON: The president, the full force of his office.

SANDERS: Yeah.

DICKERSON: It went nowhere. That's the model you're talking about. Nothing happened.

SANDERS: What we need is leadership in this country which revitalizes American democracy, and makes people understand that if they stand up and fight back and take on the billionaire class, we can bring about the change that we need.

If we are not successful, if we continue the same old, same old of Washington being run by corporate lobbyists and big-money interests, nothing changes.

What I am very happy in this campaign that we have had rallies with tens of thousands of people, mostly young people. What the polls are showing is that we are actually defeating the secretary among younger people. We're giving young people and working people hope that real change can take place in America.

That's what the political revolution is about.

DICKERSON: A question from Kathie Obradovich.

OBRADOVICH: Yes, Senator Sanders, you famously said in the last debate that you were sick and tired of hearing about your damn e- mails. But then you told the Wall Street Journal that the question about whether or not Secretary Clinton's e-mails compromised classified information were valid questions.

So which is it? Is it an issue or is it not?

SANDERS: No. That's just media stuff.

I was sick and tired of Hillary Clinton's e-mail. I am still sick and tired of Hillary Clinton's e-mails. [laughter]

And the issue is, the problem is, the front pages every day were dealing with it. I didn't know I had so much power. But after I said that, we're not hearing so much about Hillary Clinton's e-mails.

What I would like for the media now is for us to be talking about why the middle class is disappearing, why we have more people in jail than any other country, why we have massive levels of income and wealth inequality, and we're the only major country on Earth without paid family and medical leave.

We've gotten off the Hillary's e-mails, good. Let's go to the major issues facing America. [applause]

OBRADOVICH: I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you.

Secretary Clinton, your response.

CLINTON: I agree completely. [applause]

I couldn't have said it better myself. But I did want to -- I wanted to follow up.

Look, we need more Americans to be involved in the political process. And I give Senator Sanders a lot of credit for really lighting a fire under many people -- young, old, everybody -- who sees a chance to be involved and have their voice heard.

Look at what's happening with the Republicans. They are doing everything they can to prevent the voices of Americans to be heard. [applause] They're trying to prevent people from registering to vote. So, we do need to take on the Republicans very clearly and directly. But the other thing I just wanted quickly to say is, I think President Obama deserves more credit than he gets for what he got done in Washington, despite the Republican obstructionists. [applause]

DICKERSON: Secretary Clinton, just one more question on the e- mail question.

For Democrats, there's an FBI investigation going on. Can you satisfy Democrats, who might worry about an another shoe dropping, that you and your staff have been totally truthful to them, and that another shoe is not going to drop?

CLINTON: I think after 11 hours, that's pretty clear, yes. [applause]

And, you know, I do think it's important to do exactly what Senator Sanders said, and that is to start talking about the issues that the American people really care about, and that they talk to each of us about.

And to contrast, even -- there are differences among us. You've heard some of those tonight. I still want to get back to health care, because I think that's a worthy topic to explore.

But the differences among us pale compared to what's happening on the Republican side. And if you listen to what they say -- and I had a chance over those 11 hours to watch and listen, as well as what I see in their debates -- they are putting forth alarming plans.

I mean, all of us support funding Planned Parenthood. All of us believe climate change is real. All of us want equal pay for equal work.

They don't believe in any of that. So let's focus on what this election is really going to be about. [applause]

DICKERSON: Race relations is another issue everyone cares about, and we're going to switch to that now.

Governor O'Malley, let me ask you a question. The head of the FBI recently said it might be possible that some police forces are not enforcing the law, because they're worried about being caught on camera. The acting head of the drug enforcement administration said a similar thing.

Where are you on this question? And what would do you if you were president, and two top members of your administration were floating that idea?

O'MALLEY: John, I think the -- I think the call of your question is how can we improve both public safety in America and race relations in America, understanding how very intertwined both of those issues are in a very, very difficult and painful way for us as a people.

Look, the truth of the matter is that we should all feel a sense of responsibility as Americans to look for the things that actually work to save and redeem lives, and to do more of them, and to stop doing the things that don't.

For my part, that's what I have done in 15 years of experience as a mayor and as a governor. We restored voting rights to 52,000 people. We decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana.

I repealed the death penalty. And we also put in place a civilian review board. We reported openly discourtesy, and lethal force and brutality complaints.

This is something that -- and I put forward a new agenda for criminal justice reform that is informed by that experience. So as president, I would lead these efforts, and I would do so with more experience and probably the attendance at more grave sites than any of the three of us on this stage when it comes to urban crime, loss of lives.

And the truth is I have learned on a very daily basis that, yes, indeed, black lives matter.

DICKERSON: All right, Governor... [applause]

Senator Sanders, one of your former colleagues, an African- American member of Congress, said to me recently that a young African- American man had asked him where to find hope in life. And he said, "I just don't know what to tell him about being young and black in America today."

What would you tell that young African-American man?

SANDERS: Well, this is what I would say, and the Congressman was right. According to the statistics that I'm familiar with, a black male baby born today stands a one in four chance of ending up in the criminal justice system.

Fifty-one percent of high school African-American graduates are unemployed or underemployed.

We have more people in jail today than any other country on earth. We're spending $80 billion locking people up, disproportionately Latino and African American.

We need, very clearly, major, major reform in a broken criminal justice system. From top to bottom. And that means when police officers out in a community do illegal activity -- kill people who are unarmed who should not be killed, they must be held accountable. It means that we end minimum sentencing for those people arrested. It means that we take marijuana out of the federal law as a crime and give states the freedom to go forward with legalizing marijuana.

DICKERSON: Secretary Clinton, you told some Black Lives Matter activists recently that there's a difference between rhetoric in activism and what you were trying to do, was -- get laws passed that would help what they were pushing for.

But recently, at the University of Missouri, that activism was very, very effective. So would you suggest that kind of activism take place at other universities across the country?

CLINTON: Well, John, I come from the '60s, a long time ago. There was a lot of activism on campus -- Civil Rights activism, antiwar activism, women's rights activism -- and I do appreciate the way young people are standing up and speaking out.

Obviously, I believe that on a college campus, there should be enough respect so people hear each other. But what happened at the university there, what's happening at other universities, I think reflects the deep sense of, you know, concern, even despair that so many young people, particularly of color, have...

You know, I recently met with a group of mothers who lost their children to either killings by police or random killings in their neighborhoods, and hearing their stories was so incredibly, profoundly heartbreaking. Each one of them, you know, described their child, had a picture. You know, the mother of the young man with his friends in the car who was playing loud music and, you know, some older white man pulled out a gun and shot him because they wouldn't turn the radio down.

Or a young woman who had been performing at President Obama's second inauguration coming home, absolutely stellar young woman, hanging out with her friends in a park getting shot by a gang member.

And, of course, I met the mothers of Eric Garner and Tamir Rice, and Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin and so many of them who have lost their children.

So, your original question is the right question. And it's not just a question for parents and grandparents to answer. It's really a question for all of us to answer, every single one of our children deserves the chance to live up to his or her god-given potential. And that's what we need to be doing to the best of our ability in our country.

DICKERSON: All right, over to Kevin Cooney.

COONEY: Senator -- Senator Sanders, we've heard a lot about this, your offer -- you want to offer free tuition to public universities and colleges.

A couple of questions about this. 63 percent of those who enroll graduate.

First question, isn't this throwing a lot of money away if we're looking at a third of these people are not going to complete college?

SANDERS: No, it is not throwing -- it is an extraordinary investment for this country.

Germany, many other countries do it already. In fact, if you remember, 50, 60 years ago, the University of California, City University of New York were virtually tuition-free.

Here is the story -- it's not just the college graduates should be $50,000 or $100,000 in debt. More importantly, I want kids in Burlington, Vermont, or Baltimore, Maryland, who are in the sixth grade or the eighth grade, who don't have a lot of money, whose parents -- like my parents -- may never have gone to college.

Do you know where I'm going, Kevin? I want those kids to know that if they study hard, they do their homework, regardless of the income of their families, they will in fact be able to get a college education because we are going to make public colleges and universities tuition-free. This is revolutionary for education in America. It will give hope to millions of young people.

COONEY: Well, one of the things you want to do is to have the states pay for about a third of this $70 billion plan, correct?

SANDERS: Yes.

COONEY: There are 16 states that are running budget deficits right now. Where are are they expected to come up with this?

SANDERS: Well, I think that they're be pretty smart, because I think a lot of the states will do the right thing, and I think those states that don't will pay a heavy penalty.

Bottom line here is, in the year 2015, we should look at a college degree the same way we looked at a high school degree 50 or 60 years ago.

If you want to make it into the middle class -- I'm not saying in all cases -- we need plumbers, and we need carpenters, and electricians, that's for sure, and they should get help as well. But bottom line now, is in America, in the year 2015, any person who has the ability and the desire should be able to get an education, college education, regardless of the income of his or her family. And we must substantially lower, as my legislation does, interest rates on student debt.

COONEY: Governor O'Malley, jump in now.

O'MALLEY: Okay, thank you. I have -- look, I would agree with much of what Senator Sanders says, Kevin.

I believe that actually affordable college, debt-free college is the goal that we need to attain as a nation. And, unlike my two distinguished colleagues on this stage, I actually made college more affordable and was the only state that went four years in a row without a penny's increase to college tuition.

I respectfully disagree with Senator Sander's approach. I believe that the goal should be debt-free college. I believe that our Federal Government needs to do more on pell grants. States need to stop cutting higher education, and we should create a new block grant program that keeps the states' skin in the game, and we should lower these outrageous interest rates that parents and kids are being charged by their own government. 7 percent and 8 percent to go to college?

I mean, my dad went to college on a G.I. Bill after coming home from Japan, flying 33 missions. My daughters went to college on a mountain of bills.

We were proud of them on graduation day, but we're going to be proud every month for the rest of our natural lives. It -- it doesn't need to be that way. We can have debt-free college in the United States.

CLINTON: Kevin, if I could just jump in. I -- I believe that we should make community college free. We should have debt-free college if you go to a public college or university. You should not have to borrow a dime to pay tuition. I want to use pell grants to help defray the living expenses that often make a difference, whether a young person can stay in school or not.

I disagree with free college for everybody. I don't think taxpayers should be paying to send Donald Trump's kids to college. I think it ought to be a compact -- families contribute, kids contribute. And together we make it possible for a new generation of young people to refinance their debt and not come out with debt in the future.

COONEY: All right, Nancy Cordes has a question.

CORDES: Back to health care, by popular demand. First to you, Senator Sanders.

You'd prefer to scrap Obamacare and move to a single-payer system, essentially Medicare for all.

You say you want to put the private insurance companies out of business. Is it realistic to think that you can pull the plug on a $1 trillion industry?

SANDERS: It's not going to happen tomorrow. And it's probably not going to happen until we have real campaign finance reform and get rid of all these superpacs, and the power of the insurance companies and the drug companies.

But at the end of the day, Nancy, here is the question -- in this great country of ours, with so much intelligence and so much capability, why do we remain the only major country on earth that does not guarantee health care to all people as a right? Why do we continue to get ripped off by the drug companies who can charge us any prices they want? Why is it that we are spending per capita far, far more than Canada, which is 100 miles away from my door, that guarantees health care to all people?

It will not happen tomorrow. But when millions of people stand up and are prepared to take on the insurance companies and the drug companies, it will happen, and I will lead that effort.

Medicare for all, single-payer system is the way we should go.

CORDES: Secretary Clinton, back in -- Secretary Clinton, back in 1994, you said that momentum for a single-payer system would sweep the country. That sounds Sanders-esque. But you don't feel that way anymore, why not?

CLINTON: No. Revolution never came. I waited and I got the scars to show for it.

We now have this great accomplishment known as the Affordable Care Act, and I don't think we should have to be defending it among Democrats. We ought to be working to improve it and prevent Republicans from both underming it and even repealing it.

I have looked at -- I have looked at the legislation that Senator Sanders has proposed, and basically, he does eliminate the Affordable Care Act, eliminates private insurance, eliminates Medicare, eliminates Medicaid, Tricare, children's health insurance program -- puts it all together in a big program which he then hands over to the states to administer.

And I have to tell you, I would not want -- if I lived in Iowa, Terry Branstad administering my health care. I -- I think -- I think as Democrats we ought to proudly support the Affordable Care Act, improve it, and make it the model that we know it can be.

SANDERS: Well, let me just say something.

DICKERSON: Thirty seconds.

SANDERS: We don't eliminate Medicare. We expand Medicare to all people. And we will not, under this proposal, have a situation that we have right now with the Affordable Care Act where you have states like South Carolina, and many other Republican states, that because of their right wing political ideology, are denying millions of people the expansion of Medicaid that we passed in the Affordable Care Act. Ultimately, we have got to say as a nation, Secretary Clinton, is health care a right of all people or is it not? I believe it is a right.

O'MALLEY: May I jump in here for 30 seconds on health care?

DICKERSON: I'm sorry, governor. We've got to take a break or the machine breaks down. You're watching the Democratic debate here on CBS. [applause]

[commercial break]

DICKERSON: We begin the final segment of this debate with something none of you saw coming. Something quite unexpected. Soon after your inauguration, you will face a crisis. All presidents do. What crisis you have experienced in your life that suggests you've been testd and can face that inevitable challenge? Secretary Clinton, you first.

CLINTON: Well, there are so many, I don't know where to start. [laughter]

I guess the one I -- I would pick is the fact that I was part of a very small group that had to advise the president about whether or not to go after Bin Laden. I spent a lot of time in the situation room as secretary of state and there were many very difficult choices presented to us.

But probably that was the most challenging because there was no certainty attached to it. The intelligence was by no means absolute. We had all kinds of questions that we discussed and, you know, at the end, I recommended to the president that we take the chance to do what we could to find out whether that was bin Laden and to finally bring him to justice.

It was an excruciating experience. I couldn't talk to anybody about it. In fact, after it happened, the president called my husband -- he called all the former presidents and he said to Bill, "Well I assume Hillary has told you about this." And Bill said, "No, no, she hasn't." There was nobody to talk to and it really did give me an insight into the very difficult problems presidents face.

DICKERSON: Governor O' Malley, what crisis proves that you're tested?

O'MALLEY: John, I don't think that there is a crisis at the state or local level that really you can point to and say, therefore, I am prepared for the sort of crises that any man or woman who is commander in chief of our country has to deal with.

But I can tell you this. I can tell you that as a mayor and as a governor, I learned certain disciplines which I believe are directly applicable to that very, very powerful and most important of all jobs in the United States, the president, whose first and primary duty is to protect the people of our country.

You learn that threats always change. You learn to create a security cabinet. You learn to create feedback mechanisms. You learn to constantly evaluate and understand the nature of the threats that you are being faced with.

I have been tried under many different emergencies and I can tell you that in each of those emergencies, whether they were inflicted by drug gangs, whether they were natural emergencies, I knew how to lead and I knew how to govern because I know how to manage people in a crisis and be very clear about the goal of protecting human life.

DICKERSON: Senator Sanders what, experience would you draw on in a crisis?

SANDERS: John, I had the honor of being chairman of the U.S. Senate committee on Veterans' Affairs for two years. And in that capacity, I met with just an extraordinary group of people from World War II, from korea, vietnam, all of the wars. People came back from Iraq and Afghanistan without legs, without arms.

And I was determined to do everything that I could to make VA health care the best in the world, to expand benefits to the men and women who put their lives on the line to defending.

We brought together legislation supported by the American Legion, the VFW, the DOD, Vietnam Vets, all of the veterans organizations, which was comprehensive. Clearly the best piece of veterans' legislation brought forth in decades.

I could only get two Republican votes on that. We ended up with 56 votes. We needed 60. So what I had to do then is go back and start working on a bill that wasn't the bill that I wanted. Sit down with people like John Mccain. Sit down with people like Jeff Miller, the Republican chairman of the house, and work on a bill.

It wasn't the bill that I wanted, but yet it turned out to be one of the more significant pieces of veterans' legislation passed in recent history. So the crisis was I lost what I wanted. But I had to stand up and come back and get the best that we could.

DICKERSON: All right, Senator Sanders... [applause]

We've ended the evening on crisis, which underscores and reminds us again of what happened last night. Now, let's move to closing statements.

Governor O'Malley, you're first.

O'MALLEY: John, thank you, and to all of the people in Iowa, for the role you have performed in this presidential selection process.

If you believe that our country's problems and the threats that we face in this world can only be met with new thinking, new and fresh approaches, then I ask you to join my campaign.

Go on to martinomalley.com. No hour is too short, no dollar too small. If you -- we will not solve our nation's problems by resorting to the divisive ideologies of our past, or by returning to polarizing figures from our past.

We are at the threshold of a new era of American progress, but it's going to require that we act as Americans, based on our principles, here at home, making an economy that works for all of us. And, also, acting according to our principles and constructing a new foreign policy of engagement and collaboration, and doing a much better job of identifying threats before they back up into military corners.

There is no challenge too great for the United States to confront, provided we have the ability and the courage to put forward new leadership that can move us to those better and safer and more prosperous days. I need your help. Thank you very, very much. [applause]

DICKERSON: Secretary Clinton?

CLINTON: Well, thank you very much to CBS and everyone here this evening for giving us another chance to appear before you. I've heard a lot about me in this debate, and I'm going to keep talking and thinking about all of you because ultimately, I think the president's job is to do everything possible, everything that she can do to lift up the people of this country. [applause]

Starting with our children and moving forward. I've spent my entire life, since I started as a young lawyer for the Children's Defense Fund, trying to figure out how we can even the odds for so many people in America, this great country of ours, who are behind, who don't have a chance.

And that's what I will do as your president. I will work my heart out. I need your help. All of you in Iowa, I need you to caucus for me. Please go to hillaryclinton.com and be part of making this country what we know it can and should be. [applause]

DICKERSON: Senator Sanders?

SANDERS: John -- John, this country today has more income and wealth inequality than any major country on Earth. We have a corrupt campaign finance system dominated by Super PACs. We are the only major country on Earth that doesn't guarantee healthcare to all people. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty, and we're the only country in the world -- virtually the only country that doesn't guarantee paid family and medical leave.

That's not the America that I think we should be. But in order to bring about the changes that we need, we need a political revolution. Millions of people are going to have to stand up, turn off the TV, get involved in the political process and tell the big- money interest that we are taking back our country. Please go to berniesanders.com. Please become part of the political revolution. Thank you. [applause]

[commercial break]

DICKERSON: And the candidates are thanking each other for a good debate. Clinton, Sanders and O'Malley now two debates in the books, with four more to come.

+ Citation: Presidential Candidates Debates: "Democratic Candidates Debate in Des Moines, Iowa," November 14, 2015. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=110910. +
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+ 		+ + + + +Presidential Candidates Debates: Democratic Candidates Debate in Las Vegas, Nevada +
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Democratic Candidates Debate in Las Vegas, Nevada
October 13, 2015
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PARTICIPANTS:
Former Governor Lincoln Chafee (RI);
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton;
Former Governor Martin O'Malley (MD);
Senator Bernie Sanders (VT);
Former Senator Jim Webb (VA);

MODERATORS:
Anderson Cooper (CNN);
Dana Bash (CNN);
Don Lemon (CNN); and
Juan Carlos Lopez (CNN en Espanol)

COOPER: I'm Anderson Cooper. Thanks for joining us. We've already welcomed the candidates on stage. They are in place at their podiums. Before we dive into the issues, I want to quickly explain some of the groundrules tonight.

As the moderator, I'll ask questions, followups and guide the discussion. I'll be joined in the questioning by CNN's Juan Carlos Lopez and Dana Bash, a well as Don Lemon who will share questions from Democrats around the country. Each candidate will get one minute to answer questions, and 30 seconds for followups and rebuttals. I'll give candidates time to respond if they have been singled out for criticism.

Our viewers should know that we have lights that are visible to the candidates to warn them when their time is up.

I want the candidates to be able to introduce themselves to our audience. Each candidate will have two minutes to introduce themselves.

Let's begin with Governor Chafee.

Governor?

CHAFEE: Thank you, Anderson.

Thank you, CNN, and thank you Facebook for organizing this debate.

Not only will Americans be electing a new president next year, we also will be electing a world leader. Voters should assess the candidate's experience, character and vision for the future as they make this important decision.

I'm the only one running for president that has been a mayor, a United States senator, and a governor. As mayor, I brought labor peace to my city and kept taxes down. I was reelected three times. As a senator, I earned a reputation for courageous votes against the Bush-Cheney tax cuts the favored the wealthy, against the tragedy of the Iraq war, for environmental stewardship, for protection of our civil liberties. I served on the Foreign Relations Committee and I chaired the Middle East Subcommittee for four years.

As governor, I came in at the depths of the recession and we turned my state around. Rhode Island had the biggest drop of the unemployment rate over my four budgets of all but one state. It happens to be Nevada, where we're having this debate. I'm very proud that over my almost 30 years of public service, I have had no scandals. I've always been honest. I have the courage to take the long-term view, and I've shown good judgment. I have high ethical standards.

As we look to the future, I want to address the income inequality, close the gap between the haves and the have-nots. I want to address climate change, a real threat to our planet. And I believe in prosperity through peace. I want to end these wars.

I look forward to the discussion ahead.

Thank you [applause]

COOPER: Thank you very much, Governor. [applause]

Senator Webb, you have two minutes.

WEBB: Thank you.

You know, people are disgusted with the way that money has corrupted our political process, intimidating incumbents and empowering Wall Street every day, the turnstile government that we see, and also the power of the financial sector in both parties.

They're looking for a leader who understands how the system works, who has not been coopted by it, and also has a proven record of accomplishing different things. I have a record of working across the political aisle. I've also spent more than half of my professional life away from politics in the independent world of being an author, a journalist, and a sole proprietor.

In government service, I've fought and bled for our country in Vietnam as a Marine. I spent years as Assistant Secretary of Defense, Secretary of the Navy — in the Reagan administration.

In the senate, I spoke about economic fairness and social justice from day one. I also wrote and passed the best piece of veterans education legislation in history, the Post 9/11 G.I. Bill. I brought criminal justice reform out of the political shadows and into the national discussion. I led what later became called the Strategic Pivot to Asia two years before President Obama was elected.

I know where my loyalties are.

My mother grew up in the poverty of east Arkansas chopping cotton, picking strawberries. Three of her seven siblings died in childhood. My wife, Hong, came to this country as a refugee from war torn Vietnam — learned English, a language that was not spoken at home, and earned her way into Cornell Law School. I have five daughters. Amy works with disabled veterans, Sarah is an emergency room nurse, Julia is a massage therapist, Emily and Georgia are still in school. My son Jim fought as an infantry Marine on the bloody streets of Ramadi.

You may be sure that in a Webb administration, the highest priority will be the working people who every day go out and make this country stronger at home, and who give us the right reputation and security overseas under a common sense foreign policy. [cheering and applause]

COOPER: Governor O'Malley, you have two minutes.

O'MALLEY: My name is Martin O'Malley, former Mayor of Baltimore, former governor of Maryland, a life long democrat, and most importantly, a husband, and a father.

My wife Katie and I have four great kids, Grace, and Tara, and William and Jack. And, like you, there is nothing we wouldn't do to give them healthier and better lives. There are some things that I have learned to do better in life than others. And, after 15 years of executive experience, I have learned how to be an effective leader.

Whether it was raising the minimum wage, making our public schools the best in America, passing marriage equality, the DREAM Act, and comprehensive gun safety legislation, I have learned how to get things done because I am very clear about my principals.

Thanks to President Obama, our country has come a long way since the Wall Street crash of 2008. Our country's doing better, we are creating jobs again. But we elected a president, not a magician, and there is urgent work that needs to be done right now. For there is a — deep injustice, an economic injustice that threatens to tear our country apart, and it will not solve itself. Injustice does not solve itself.

What I'm talking about is this, our middle class is shrinking. Our poor families are becoming poorer, and 70 percent of us are earning the same, or less than we were 12 years ago. We need new leadership, and we need action. The sort of action that will actually make wages go up again for all American families.

Our economy isn't money, it's people. It's all of our people, and so we must invest in our country, and the potential of our kids to make college a debt free option for all of our families, instead of settling our kids with a lifetime of crushing debt.

And, we must square our shoulders to the great challenge of climate change and make this threat our opportunity. The future is what we make of it. We are all in this together. And, the question in this election is whether you and I still have the ability to give our kids a better future. I believe we do, that is why I am running for president, and I need your help.

Thank you. [applause]

COOPER: Governor O'Malley, thank you very much. Senator Sanders.

SANDERS: Anderson, thank you very much. I think most Americans understand that our country today faces a series of unprecedented crises. The middle class of this country for the last 40 years has been disappearing. Millions of Americans are working longer hours for lower wages, and yet almost all of the new income and wealth being created is going to the top one percent.

As a result of this disastrous Citizens United Supreme Court decision, our campaign finance system is corrupt and is undermining American democracy. Millionaires and billionaires are pouring unbelievable sums of money into the political process in order to fund super PACs and to elect candidates who represent their interests, not the interests of working people.

Today, the scientific community is virtually unanimous: climate change is real, it is caused by human activity, and we have a moral responsibility to transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energy and leave this planet a habitable planet for our children and our grandchildren.

Today in America, we have more people in jail than any other country on Earth. African-American youth unemployment is 51 percent. Hispanic youth unemployment is 36 percent. It seems to me that instead of building more jails and providing more incarceration, maybe — just maybe — we should be putting money into education and jobs for our kids. [applause]

What this campaign is about is whether we can mobilize our people to take back our government from a handful of billionaires and create the vibrant democracy we know we can and should have. Thank you. [applause]

COOPER: Secretary Clinton?

CLINTON: Well, thank you, and thanks to everyone for hosting this first of the Democratic debates.

I'm Hillary Clinton. I have been proud and privileged to serve as first lady, as a senator from New York, and as secretary of state. I'm the granddaughter of a factory worker and the grandmother of a wonderful one-year-old child. And every day, I think about what we need to do to make sure that opportunity is available not just for her, but for all of our children. I have spent a very long time — my entire adult life — looking for ways to even the odds to help people have a chance to get ahead, and, in particular, to find the ways for each child to live up to his or her God-given potential.

I've traveled across our country over the last months listening and learning, and I've put forward specific plans about how we're going to create more good-paying jobs: by investing in infrastructure and clean energy, by making it possible once again to invest in science and research, and taking the opportunity posed by climate change to grow our economy.

At the center of my campaign is how we're going to raise wages. Yes, of course, raise the minimum wage, but we have to do so much more, including finding ways so that companies share profits with the workers who helped to make them.

And then we have to figure out how we're going to make the tax system a fairer one. Right now, the wealthy pay too little and the middle class pays too much. So I have specific recommendations about how we're going to close those loopholes, make it clear that the wealthy will have to pay their fair share, and have a series of tax cuts for middle-class families.

And I want to do more to help us balance family and work. I believe in equal pay for equal work for women, but I also believe it's about time we had paid family leave for American families and join the rest of the world. [applause]

During the course of the evening tonight, I'll have a chance to lay out all of my plans and the work that I've done behind them. But for me, this is about bringing our country together again. And I will do everything I can to heal the divides — the divides economically, because there's too much inequality; the racial divides; the continuing discrimination against the LGBT community — so that we work together and, yes, finally, fathers will be able to say to their daughters, you, too, can grow up to be president. [applause]

COOPER: Thank you, all. It is time to start the debate.

Are you all ready? [applause]

All right. Let's begin. We're going to be discussing a lot of the issues, many of the issues, important issues that you have brought up. But I want to begin with concerns that voters have about each of the candidates here on this stage that they have about each of you.

Secretary Clinton, I want to start with you. Plenty of politicians evolve on issues, but even some Democrats believe you change your positions based on political expediency.

You were against same-sex marriage. Now you're for it. You defended President Obama's immigration policies. Now you say they're too harsh. You supported his trade deal dozen of times. You even called it the "gold standard". Now, suddenly, last week, you're against it.

Will you say anything to get elected?

CLINTON: Well, actually, I have been very consistent. Over the course of my entire life, I have always fought for the same values and principles, but, like most human beings — including those of us who run for office — I do absorb new information. I do look at what's happening in the world.

You know, take the trade deal. I did say, when I was secretary of state, three years ago, that I hoped it would be the gold standard. It was just finally negotiated last week, and in looking at it, it didn't meet my standards. My standards for more new, good jobs for Americans, for raising wages for Americans.

And I want to make sure that I can look into the eyes of any middle-class American and say, "this will help raise your wages." And I concluded I could not.

COOPER: Secretary Clinton, though, with all due respect, the question is really about political expediency. Just in July, New Hampshire, you told the crowd you'd, quote, "take a back seat to no one when it comes to progressive values."

Last month in Ohio, you said you plead guilty to, quote, "being kind of moderate and center." Do you change your political identity based on who you're talking to?

CLINTON: No. I think that, like most people that I know, I have a range of views, but they are rooted in my values and my experience. And I don't take a back seat to anyone when it comes to progressive experience and progressive commitment.

You know, when I left law school, my first job was with the Children's Defense Fund, and for all the years since, I have been focused on how we're going to un-stack the deck, and how we're gonna make it possible for more people to have the experience I had.

You know, to be able to come from a grandfather who was a factory worker, a father who was a small business person, and now asking the people of America to elect me president.

COOPER: Just for the record, are you a progressive, or are you a moderate?

CLINTON: I'm a progressive. But I'm a progressive who likes to get things done. And I know... [applause] ...how to find common ground, and I know how to stand my ground, and I have proved that in every position that I've had, even dealing with Republicans who never had a good word to say about me, honestly. But we found ways to work together on everything from...

COOPER: Secretary...

CLINTON: ...reforming foster care and adoption to the Children's Health Insurance Program, which insures...

COOPER: ...thank you...

CLINTON: ...8 million kids. So I have a long history of getting things done, rooted in the same values...

COOPER: ...Senator...

CLINTON: ...I've always had.

COOPER: Senator Sanders. A Gallup poll says half the country would not put a socialist in the White House. You call yourself a democratic socialist. How can any kind of socialist win a general election in the United States?

SANDERS: Well, we're gonna win because first, we're gonna explain what democratic socialism is.

And what democratic socialism is about is saying that it is immoral and wrong that the top one-tenth of 1 percent in this country own almost 90 percent — almost — own almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent. That it is wrong, today, in a rigged economy, that 57 percent of all new income is going to the top 1 percent.

That when you look around the world, you see every other major country providing health care to all people as a right, except the United States. You see every other major country saying to moms that, when you have a baby, we're not gonna separate you from your newborn baby, because we are going to have — we are gonna have medical and family paid leave, like every other country on Earth.

Those are some of the principles that I believe in, and I think we should look to countries like Denmark, like Sweden and Norway, and learn from what they have accomplished for their working people. [applause]

COOPER: Denmark is a country that has a population — Denmark is a country that has a population of 5.6 million people. The question is really about electability here, and that's what I'm trying to get at.

You — the — the Republican attack ad against you in a general election — it writes itself. You supported the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. You honeymooned in the Soviet Union. And just this weekend, you said you're not a capitalist.

Doesn't — doesn't that ad write itself?

SANDERS: Well, first of all, let's look at the facts. The facts that are very simple. Republicans win when there is a low voter turnout, and that is what happened last November.

Sixty-three percent of the American people didn't vote, Anderson. Eighty percent of young people didn't vote. We are bringing out huge turnouts, and creating excitement all over this country.

Democrats at the White House on down will win, when there is excitement and a large voter turnout, and that is what this campaign is doing.

COOPER: You don't consider yourself a capitalist, though?

SANDERS: Do I consider myself part of the casino capitalist process by which so few have so much and so many have so little by which Wall Street's greed and recklessness wrecked this economy? No, I don't.

I believe in a society where all people do well. Not just a handful of billionaires. [applause]

COOPER: Just let me just be clear. Is there anybody else on the stage who is not a capitalist?

CLINTON: Well, let me just follow-up on that, Anderson, because when I think about capitalism, I think about all the small businesses that were started because we have the opportunity and the freedom in our country for people to do that and to make a good living for themselves and their families.

And I don't think we should confuse what we have to do every so often in America, which is save capitalism from itself. And I think what Senator Sanders is saying certainly makes sense in the terms of the inequality that we have.

But we are not Denmark. I love Denmark. We are the United States of America. And it's our job to rein in the excesses of capitalism so that it doesn't run amok and doesn't cause the kind of inequities we're seeing in our economic system.

But we would be making a grave mistake to turn our backs on what built the greatest middle class in the history...

COOPER: Senator Sanders?

CLINTON: ... of the world. [applause]

SANDERS: I think everybody is in agreement that we are a great entrepreneurial nation. We have got to encourage that. Of course, we have to support small and medium-sized businesses.

But you can have all of the growth that you want and it doesn't mean anything if all of the new income and wealth is going to the top 1 percent. So what we need to do is support small and medium-sized businesses, the backbone of our economy, but we have to make sure that every family in this country gets a fair shake...

COOPER: We're going to get...

SANDERS: ... not just for billionaires.

COOPER: We're going to have a lot more on these issues. But I do want to just quickly get everybody in on the question of electability.

Governor Chafee, you've been everything but a socialist. When you were senator from Rhode Island, you were a Republican. When you were elected governor, you were an independent. You've only been a Democrat for little more than two years. Why should Democratic voters trust you won't change again?

CHAFEE: Anderson, you're looking at a block of granite when it comes to the issues. Whether it's...

[crosstalk]

COOPER: It seems like pretty soft granite. I mean, you've been a Republican, you've been an independent.

CHAFEE: Did you hear what I said? On the issues. I have not changed on the issues. I was a liberal Republican, then I was an independent, and now I'm a proud Democrat. But I have not changed on the issues.

And I open my record to scrutiny. Whether it's on the environment, a woman's right to choose, gay marriage, fiscal responsibility, aversion to foreign entanglements, using the tools of government to help the less fortunate.

Time and time again, I have never changed. You're looking at a block of granite when it comes to the issues. So I have not changed.

COOPER: Then why change labels?

CHAFEE: The party left me. There's no doubt about that. There was no room for a liberal moderate Republican in that party. I even had a primary for my reelection in 2006. I won it. But the money poured in to defeat me in Rhode Island as a Republican. That's what we were up against.

COOPER: Governor O'Malley, the concern of voters about you is that you tout our record as Baltimore's mayor. As we all know, we all saw it. That city exploded in riots and violence in April.

The current top prosecutor in Baltimore, also a Democrat, blames your zero tolerance policies for sowing the seeds of unrest. Why should Americans trust you with the country when they see what's going on in the city that you ran for more than seven years?

O'MALLEY: Yes, actually, I believe what she said was that there's a lot of policies that have led to this unrest.

But, Anderson, when I ran for mayor of Baltimore in 1999...

COOPER: She actually — just for the record, when she was asked which policies, to name two, she said zero tolerance. I mean, there's a number of old policies that we're seeing the results of. That distress of communities, where communities don't want to step forward and say who killed a 3-year-old, it's a direct result of these failed policies.

O'MALLEY: Well, let's talk about this a little bit. One of the things that was not reported during that heartbreaking night of unrest in Baltimore was that arrests had actually fallen to a 38-year low in the year prior to the Freddie Gray's tragic death.

Anderson, when I ran for mayor of Baltimore back in 1999, it was not because our city was doing well. It was because we allowed ourselves to become the most violent, addicted, and abandoned city in America.

And I ran and promised people that together we could turn that around. And we put our city on a path to reduce violent crime, or part one (ph) crime by more than any other major city in America over the next 10 years.

I did not make our city immune to setbacks. But I attended a lot of funerals, including one for a family of seven who were firebombed in their sleep for picking up the phone in a poor African-American neighborhood and calling the police because of drug dealers on their corner.

We've saved over a thousand lives in Baltimore in the last 15 years of people working together. And the vast majority of them were young and poor and black. It wasn't easy on any day. But we saved lives and we gave our city a better future, improving police and community relations every single day that I was in office.

COOPER: In one year alone, though, 100,000 arrests were made in your city, a city of 640,000 people. The ACLU, the NAACP sued you, sued the city, and the city actually settled, saying a lot of those arrests were without probable cause.

O'MALLEY: Well, I think the key word in your followup there was the word "settle." That's true. It was settled. Arrests peaked in 2003, Anderson, but they declined every year after that as we restored peace in our poorer neighborhoods so that people could actually walk and not have to worry about their kids or their loved ones of being victims of violent crime.

Look, none of this is easy. None of us has all the answers. But together as a city, we saved a lot of lives. It was about leadership. It was about principle. And it was about bringing people together.

COOPER: Thank you, Governor.

O'MALLEY: Thank you.

COOPER: Senator Webb, in 2006, you called affirmative action "state-sponsored racism." In 2010, you wrote an op/ed saying it discriminates against whites. Given that nearly half the Democratic Party is non-white, aren't you out of step with where the Democratic Party is now?

WEBB: No, actually I believe that I am where the Democratic Party traditionally has been. The Democratic Party, and the reason I've decided to run as a Democrat, has been the party that gives people who otherwise have no voice in the corridors of power a voice. And that is not determined by race.

And as a clarification, I have always supported affirmative action for African Americans. That's the way the program was originally designed because of their unique history in this country, with slavery and the Jim Crow laws that followed. What I have discussed a number of times is the idea that when we create diversity programs that include everyone, quote, "of color," other than whites, struggling whites like the families in the Appalachian mountains, we're not being true to the Democratic Party principle of elevating the level of consciousness among our people about the hardships that a lot of people who happen to be have — by culture, by the way.

COOPER: Senator Webb, thank you very much.

Let's move on to some of the most pressing issues facing our country right now, some of the biggest issues right now in the headlines today. We're going to start with guns. The shooting in Oregon earlier this month, once again it brought the issue of guns into the national conversation. Over the last week, guns have been the most discussed political topic on Facebook by two to one.

Senator Sanders, you voted against the Brady bill that mandated background checks and a waiting period. You also supported allowing riders to bring guns in checked bags on Amtrak trains. For a decade, you said that holding gun manufacturers legally responsible for mass shootings is a bad idea. Now, you say you're reconsidering that. Which is it: shield the gun companies from lawsuits or not?

SANDERS: Let's begin, Anderson, by understanding that Bernie Sanders has a D-minus voting rating (ph) from the NRA. Let's also understand that back in 1988 when I first ran for the United States Congress, way back then, I told the gun owners of the state of Vermont and I told the people of the state of Vermont, a state which has virtually no gun control, that I supported a ban on assault weapons. And over the years, I have strongly avoided instant background checks, doing away with this terrible gun show loophole. And I think we've got to move aggressively at the federal level in dealing with the straw man purchasers.

Also I believe, and I've fought for, to understand that there are thousands of people in this country today who are suicidal, who are homicidal, but can't get the healthcare that they need, the mental healthcare, because they don't have insurance or they're too poor. I believe that everybody in this country who has a mental crisis has got to get mental health counseling immediately.

COOPER: Do you want to shield gun companies from lawsuits?

SANDERS: Of course not. This was a large and complicated bill. There were provisions in it that I think made sense. For example, do I think that a gun shop in the state of Vermont that sells legally a gun to somebody, and that somebody goes out and does something crazy, that that gun shop owner should be held responsible? I don't.

On the other hand, where you have manufacturers and where you have gun shops knowingly giving guns to criminals or aiding and abetting that, of course we should take action.

COOPER: Secretary Clinton, is Bernie Sanders tough enough on guns?

CLINTON: No, not at all. I think that we have to look at the fact that we lose 90 people a day from gun violence. This has gone on too long and it's time the entire country stood up against the NRA. The majority of our country... [applause] ... supports background checks, and even the majority of gun owners do.

Senator Sanders did vote five times against the Brady bill. Since it was passed, more than 2 million prohibited purchases have been prevented. He also did vote, as he said, for this immunity provision. I voted against it. I was in the Senate at the same time. It wasn't that complicated to me. It was pretty straightforward to me that he was going to give immunity to the only industry in America. Everybody else has to be accountable, but not the gun manufacturers. And we need to stand up and say: Enough of that. We're not going to let it continue. [applause]

COOPER: We're going to bring you all in on this. But, Senator Sanders, you have to give a response.

SANDERS: As a senator from a rural state, what I can tell Secretary Clinton, that all the shouting in the world is not going to do what I would hope all of us want, and that is keep guns out of the hands of people who should not have those guns and end this horrible violence that we are seeing.

I believe that there is a consensus in this country. A consensus has said we need to strengthen and expand instant background checks, do away with this gun show loophole, that we have to address the issue of mental health, that we have to deal with the strawman purchasing issue, and that when we develop that consensus, we can finally, finally do something to address this issue.

COOPER: Governor O'Malley, you passed gun legislation as governor of Maryland, but you had a Democratic-controlled legislature. President Obama couldn't convince Congress to pass gun legislation after the massacres in Aurora, in Newtown, and Charleston. How can you?

O'MALLEY: And, Anderson, I also had to overcome a lot of opposition in the leadership of my own party to get this done. Look, it's fine to talk about all of these things — and I'm glad we're talking about these things — but I've actually done them.

We passed comprehensive gun safety legislation, not by looking at the pollings or looking at what the polls said. We actually did it. And, Anderson, here tonight in our audience are two people that make this issue very, very real. Sandy and Lonnie Phillips are here from Colorado. And their daughter, Jessie, was one of those who lost their lives in that awful mass shooting in Aurora.

Now, to try to transform their grief, they went to court, where sometimes progress does happen when you file in court, but in this case, you want to talk about a — a rigged game, Senator? The game was rigged. A man had sold 4,000 rounds of military ammunition to this — this person that killed their daughter, riddled her body with five bullets, and he didn't even ask where it was going.

And not only did their case get thrown out of court, they were slapped with $200,000 in court fees because of the way that the NRA gets its way in our Congress and we take a backseat. It's time to stand up and pass comprehensive gun safety legislation as a nation. [applause]

COOPER: Senator Sanders, I want you to be able to respond, 30 seconds.

SANDERS: I think the governor gave a very good example about the weaknesses in that law and I think we have to take another look at it. But here is the point, Governor. We can raise our voices, but I come from a rural state, and the views on gun control in rural states are different than in urban states, whether we like it or not.

Our job is to bring people together around strong, commonsense gun legislation. I think there is a vast majority in this country who want to do the right thing, and I intend to lead the country in bringing our people together.

O'MALLEY: Senator — Senator, excuse me.

[crosstalk]

O'MALLEY: Senator, it is not about rural — Senator, it was not about rural and urban.

SANDERS: It's exactly about rural.

O'MALLEY: Have you ever been to the Eastern Shore? Have you ever been to Western Maryland? We were able to pass this and still respect the hunting traditions of people who live in our rural areas.

SANDERS: Governor...

O'MALLEY: And we did it by leading with principle, not by pandering to the NRA and backing down to the NRA.

SANDERS: Well, as somebody who has a D-minus voting record...

[crosstalk]

O'MALLEY: And I have an F from the NRA, Senator.

SANDERS: I don't think I am pandering. But you have not been in the United States Congress.

O'MALLEY: Well, maybe that's a healthy thing. [laughter]

SANDERS: And when you want to, check it out. And if you think — if you think that we can simply go forward and pass something tomorrow without bringing people together, you are sorely mistaken.

COOPER: Let me bring in somebody who has a different viewpoint. Senator Webb, your rating from the NRA, you once had an A rating from the NRA. You've said gun violence goes down when more people are allowed to carry guns. Would encouraging more people to be armed be part of your response to a mass shooting?

WEBB: Look, there are two fundamental issues that are involved in this discussion. We need to pay respect to both of them. The first is the issue of who should be kept from having guns and using firearms. And we have done not a good job on that.

A lot of them are criminals. And a lot of the people are getting killed are members of gangs inside our urban areas. And a lot of them are mentally incapacitated. And the shooting in Virginia Tech in '07, this individual had received medical care for mental illness from three different professionals who were not allowed to share the information.

So we do need background checks. We need to keep the people who should not have guns away from them. But we have to respect the tradition in this country of people who want to defend themselves and their family from violence.

COOPER: Senator...

WEBB: May I? People are going back and forth here for 10 minutes here. There are people at high levels in this government who have bodyguards 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The average American does not have that, and deserves the right to be able to protect their family.

COOPER: Senator — Governor Chafee, you have an F rating from the NRA, what do you think about what Senator Webb just said?

CHAFEE: Yes, I have a good record of voting for gun commonsense safety legislation, but the reality is, despite these tragedies that happen time and time again, when legislators step up to pass commonsense gun safety legislation, the gun lobby moves in and tells the people they're coming to take away your guns.

And, they're successful at it, in Colorado and others states, the legislators that vote for commonsense gun safety measures then get defeated. I even saw in Rhode Island. So, I would bring the gun lobby in and say we've got to change this. Where can we find common ground? Wayne Lapierre from the NRA, whoever it is, the leaders. Come one, we've go to change this. We're not coming to take away your guns, we believe in the Second Amendment, but let's find common ground here.

COOPER: I want to...

O'MALLEY: ...Anderson, when the NRA wrote to everyone in our state — when the NRA wrote to members in our state and told people with hunting traditions lies about what our comprehensive gun safety legislation is, I wrote right back to them and laid out what it actually did. And that's why, not only did we pass it, but the NRA didn't...

SANDERS: ...Excuse me...

O'MALLEY: ...dare to petition a referendum...

SANDERS: ...I want to make...

O'MALLEY: ...Because we built a public consensus...

COOPER: ...I want to move on to another issue, which is in the headlines right now, another crisis making headlines.

Secretary Clinton, Russia, they're challenging the U.S. in Syria. According to U.S. intelligence, they've lied about who they're bombing. You spearheaded the reset with Russia. Did you underestimate the Russians, and as president, what would your response to Vladimir Putin be right now in Syria?

CLINTON: Well, first of all, we got a lot of business done with the Russians when Medvedev was the president, and not Putin. We got a nuclear arms deal, we got the Iranian sanctions, we got an ability to bring important material and equipment to our soldiers in Afghanistan.

There's no doubt that when Putin came back in and said he was going to be President, that did change the relationship. We have to stand up to his bullying, and specifically in Syria, it is important — and I applaud the administration because they are engaged in talks right now with the Russians to make it clear that they've got to be part of the solution to try to end that bloody conflict.

And, to — provide safe zones so that people are not going to have to be flooding out of Syria at the rate they are. And, I think it's important too that the United States make it very clear to Putin that it's not acceptable for him to be in Syria creating more chaos, bombing people on behalf of Assad, and we can't do that if we don't take more of a leadership position, which is what I'm advocating.

COOPER: Senator Sanders, what would you do differently.

SANDERS: Well, let's understand that when we talk about Syria, you're talking about a quagmire in a quagmire. You're talking about groups of people trying to overthrow Assad, other groups of people fighting ISIS. You're talking about people who are fighting ISIS using their guns to overthrow Assad, and vice versa.

I'm the former chairman of the Senate Veterans Committee, and in that capacity I learned a very powerful lesson about the cost of war, and I will do everything that I can to make sure that the United States does not get involved in another quagmire like we did in Iraq, the worst foreign policy blunder in the history of this country. We should be putting together a coalition of Arab countries who should be leading the effort. We should be supportive, but I do not support American ground troops in Syria.

COOPER: On this issue of foreign policy, I want to go to...

CLINTON: ...Well, nobody does. Nobody does, Senator Sanders.

COOPER: I want to go to Dana Bash. Dana?

BASH: Governor Chafee, you were the only Republican in the Senate to vote against the Iraq war. You say Secretary Clinton should be disqualified from the presidency because she voted in favor of using force in Iraq. She has since said that her vote was a mistake. Why isn't that good enough?

CHAFEE: Well, we just heard Senator Sanders say that it's the worst decision in American history. That's very significant, the worst decision in American history, I just heard from Senator Sanders.

So, as we look ahead, if you're going to make those poor judgment calls, a critical time in our history, we just finished with the Vietnam era, getting back into another quagmire — if you're looking ahead, and you're looking at someone who made that poor decision in 2002 to go into Iraq when there was no real evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq — I know because I did my homework, and, so, that's an indication of how someone will perform in the future. And that's what's important. [applause]

BASH: Secretary Clinton, he's questioning your judgment.

CLINTON: Well, I recall very well being on a debate stage, I think, about 25 times with then Senator Obama, debating this very issue. After the election, he asked me to become Secretary of State.

He valued my judgment, and I spent a lot of time with him... [applause] ...in the Situation Room, going over some very difficult issues.

You know, I — I agree completely. We don't want American troops on the ground in Syria. I never said that. What I said was we had to put together a coalition — in fact, something that I worked on before I left the State Department — to do, and yes, that it should include Arabs, people in the region.

Because what I worry about is what will happen with ISIS gaining more territory, having more reach, and, frankly, posing a threat to our friends and neighbors in the region and far beyond.

So I think while you're talking about the tough decision that President Obama had to make about Osama bin Laden, where I was one of his few advisers, or putting together that coalition to impose sanctions on Iran — I think I have a lot of evidence...

[crosstalk]

BASH: Senator Sanders — Senator Sanders, I want to bring you in here. My question for you is, as a congressman, you voted against the Iraq War. You voted against the Gulf War. You're just talking about Syria, but under what circumstances would a President Sanders actually use force?

SANDERS: Let me just respond to something the secretary said. First of all, she is talking about, as I understand it, a no-fly zone in Syria, which I think is a very dangerous situation. Could lead to real problems.

Second of all, I heard the same evidence from President Bush and Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld about why we should overthrow Saddam Hussein and get involved in the — I would urge people to go to berniesanders.com, hear what I said in 2002. And I say, without any joy in my heart, that much of what I thought would happen about the destabilization, in fact, did happen.

So I think...

BASH: All right. [applause]

SANDERS: I think the president is trying very hard to thread a tough needle here, and that is to support those people who are against Assad, against ISIS, without getting us on the ground there, and that's the direction I believe we should have (inaudible).

COOPER: But, Senator Sanders, you didn't answer the question. Under what — under what circumstances would you actually use force?

SANDERS: Well, obviously, I voted, when President Clinton said, "let's stop ethnic cleansing in Kosovo," I voted for that. I voted to make sure that Osama bin Laden was held accountable in Afghanistan.

When our country is threatened, or when our allies are threatened, I believe that we need coalitions to come together to address the major crises of this country. I do not support the United States getting involved in unilateral action.

(UNKNOWN): You're at work with our allies.

[crosstalk]

COOPER: I'm gonna bring you all in on this. Governor — Governor O'Malley, Secretary Clinton...

SANDERS: I don't believe that any...

[crosstalk]

COOPER: Secretary Clinton voted to authorize military force in Iraq, supported more troops in Afghanistan. As Secretary of State, she wanted to arm Syrian rebels and push for the bombing of Libya. Is she too quick to use military force?

O'MALLEY: Anderson, no president — no commander in chief — should take the military option off the table, even if most of us would agree that it should be the last option.

What disturbed people so much about — and I would agree with Senator Sanders on this — leading us into Iraq under false pretenses and telling us, as a people, that there were weapons of mass destruction there was — was one of the worst blunders in modern American history.

But the reason why people remain angry about it is because people feel like a lot of our legislators got railroaded in a war fever and by polls. And I remember being at a dinner shortly before that invasion. People were talking at — and saying, "it'll take us just a couple years to rebuild democracy," and I thought, "has this world gone mad?"

Whenever we go — and contrary to John Quincy Adams' advice — "searching the world for monsters to destroy," and when we use political might to take a — at the expense of democratic principle, we hurt ourselves, and we hurt our [inaudible].

COOPER: Does she — does she want to use military force too rapidly?

O'MALLEY: I believe that, as president, I would not be so quick to pull for a military tool. I believe that a no-fly zone in Syria, at this time, actually, Secretary, would be a mistake.

You have to enforce no-fly zones, and I believe, especially with the Russian air force in the air, it could lead to an escalation because of an accident that we would deeply regret.

I support President Obama. I think we have to play a long game, and I think, ultimately — you want to talk about blunders? I think Assad's invasion of Syria will be seen as a blunder.

COOPER: Governor O'Malley, just for the record, on the campaign trail, you've been saying that Secretary Clinton is always quick for the — for the military intervention. Senator — Secretary Clinton, you can respond.

CLINTON: Well, first of all, I...

WEBB: Anderson, can I come into this discussion at some point?

COOPER: Well — yes, you'll be coming in next, but she was directly quoted, Senator.

WEBB: Thank you. I've been standing over here for about ten minutes, trying.

COOPER: OK.

WEBB: It's just — it's gone back and forth over there.

COOPER: Secretary?

CLINTON: Well, I am in the middle, here, and... [laughter]

Lots of things coming from all directions.

WEBB: You got the lucky [inaudible].

CLINTON: You know, I have to say, I was very pleased when Governor O'Malley endorsed me for president in 2008, and I enjoyed his strong support in that campaign. And I consider him, obviously, a friend.

Let me say — because there's a lot of loose talk going on here — we are already flying in Syria just as we are flying in Iraq. The president has made a very tough decision. What I believe and why I have advocated that the no-fly zone — which of course would be in a coalition — be put on the table is because I'm trying to figure out what leverage we have to get Russia to the table. You know, diplomacy is not about getting to the perfect solution. It's about how you balance the risks.

COOPER: Thank you.

CLINTON: And I think we have an opportunity here — and I know that inside the administration this is being hotly debated — to get that leverage to try to get the Russians to have to deal with everybody in the region and begin to move toward a political, diplomatic solution in Syria.

COOPER: Thank you, Secretary.

[crosstalk]

COOPER: Senator Webb, you said as president you would never have used military force in Libya and that the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi was, in your words, "inevitable." Should Secretary Clinton have seen that attack coming?

WEBB: Look, let's start — I've been trying to get in this conversation for about 10 minutes — let's start with why Russia is in Syria right now. There are three strategic failings that have allowed this to occur. The first was the invasion of Iraq, which destabilized ethnic elements in Iraq and empowered Iran. The second was the Arab Spring, which created huge vacuums in Libya and in Syria that allowed terrorist movements to move in there. And the third was the recent deal allowing Iran to move forward and eventually acquire a nuclear weapon, which sent bad signals, bad body language into the region about whether we are acquiescing in Iran becoming a stronger piece of the formula in that part of the world.

Now, I say this as someone who spent five years in the Pentagon and who opposed the war in Iraq, whose son fought in Iraq, I've fought in Vietnam. But if you want a place where we need to be in terms of our national strategy, a focus, the greatest strategic threat that we have right now is resolving our relationship with China. And we need to do this because of their aggression in the region. We need to do it because of the way they treat their own people.

COOPER: Senator...

WEBB: And I would say this. I've been waiting for 10 minutes. I will say this.

COOPER: You're over your time as of now.

WEBB: I will — well, you've let a lot of people go over their time. I would say this...

COOPER: You agreed to these debate rules.

WEBB: ... to the unelected, authoritarian government of China: You do not own the South China Sea. You do not have the right to conduct cyber warfare against tens of millions of American citizens. And in a Webb administration, we will do something about that.

COOPER: Senator Sanders, I want you to be able to respond.

SANDERS: Pardon me?

COOPER: I'd like you to be able to respond and get in on this.

SANDERS: Well, I think Mr. Putin is going to regret what he is doing. I think that when he gets into that...

COOPER: He doesn't seem to be the type of guy to regret a lot.

SANDERS: Well, I think he's already regretting what he did in Crimea and what he is doing in the Ukraine. I think he is really regretting the decline of his economy. And I think what he is trying to do now is save some face. But I think when Russians get killed in Syria and when he gets bogged down, I think the Russian people are going to give him a message that maybe they should come home, maybe they should start working with the United States to rectify the situation now.

COOPER: Secretary Clinton, on the campaign trail, Governor Webb has said that he would never have used military force in Libya and that the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi was inevitable. Should you have seen that attack coming?

CLINTON: Well, let's remember what was going on. We had a murderous dictator, Gadhafi, who had American blood on his hands, as I'm sure you remember, threatening to massacre large numbers of the Libyan people. We had our closest allies in Europe burning up the phone lines begging us to help them try to prevent what they saw as a mass genocide, in their words. And we had the Arabs standing by our side saying, "We want you to help us deal with Gadhafi."

Our response, which I think was smart power at its best, is that the United States will not lead this. We will provide essential, unique capabilities that we have, but the Europeans and the Arabs had to be first over the line. We did not put one single American soldier on the ground in Libya. And I'll say this for the Libyan people...

COOPER: But American citizens did lose their lives in Benghazi.

CLINTON: But let — I'll get to that. But I think it's important, since I understand Senator Webb's very strong feelings about this, to explain where we were then and to point out that I think President Obama made the right decision at the time.

And the Libyan people had a free election the first time since 1951. And you know what, they voted for moderates, they voted with the hope of democracy. Because of the Arab Spring, because of a lot of other things, there was turmoil to be followed.

But unless you believe the United States should not send diplomats to any place that is dangerous, which I do not, then when we send them forth, there is always the potential for danger and risk.

COOPER: Governor O'Malley?

WEBB: Can I...

[crosstalk]

O'MALLEY: Anderson, I think we are learning...

[crosstalk]

O'MALLEY: Anderson, I think there's lessons to be learned from Benghazi. And those lessons are that we need to do a much better job as a nation of having human intelligence on the ground so that we know who the emerging next generation leaders are that are coming up to replace a dictator when his time on this planet ends.

And I believe that's what Chris Stevens was trying to do. But he did not have the tools. We have failed as a country to invest in the human intelligence that would allow us to make not only better decisions in Libya, but better decisions in Syria today.

And it's a huge national security failing.

COOPER: Senator Webb, I want you to be able to respond.

WEBB: Thank you.

[crosstalk]

COOPER: Senator Webb?

WEBB: This is not about Benghazi per se. To me it is the inevitability of something like Benghazi occurring in the way that we intervened in Libya. We had no treaties at risk. We had no Americans at risk. There was no threat of attack or imminent attack.

There is plenty of time for a president to come to the Congress and request authority to use military force in that situation. I called for it on the Senate floor again and again. I called for it in Senate hearings.

It is not a wise thing to do. And if people think it was a wise thing to do, try to get to the Tripoli airport today. You can't do it.

COOPER: Secretary (sic) Webb, you served in Vietnam. You're a marine. Once a marine, always a marine. You served as a marine in Vietnam. You're a decorated war hero. You eventually became secretary of the navy.

During the Vietnam War, the man standing next to you, Senator Sanders, applied for status as a conscientious objector. Given his history, can he serve as a credible commander-in-chief?

WEBB: Everybody makes their decisions when the time there is conscription. And as long as they go through the legal process that our country requires, I respect that. And it would be for the voters to decide whether Senator Sanders or anyone else should be president.

I will say this, coming from the position that I've come from, from a military family, with my brother a marine, my son was a marine in Iraq, I served as a marine, spending five years in the Pentagon, I am comfortable that I am the most qualified person standing up here today to be your commander-in-chief.

COOPER: Senator Sanders, tell an American soldier who is watching right now tonight in Afghanistan why you can be commander-in- chief given that you applied for conscientious objector status.

SANDERS: Well, first of all, let me applaud my good friend Jim Webb for his service to this country in so many ways. [applause]

Jim and I, under Jim's leadership, as he indicated, passed the most significant veterans education bill in recent history. We followed suit with a few years later passing, under my leadership, the most significant veterans' health care legislation in the modern history of this country. [applause]

When I was a young man — I'm not a young man today. When I was a young man, I strongly opposed the war in Vietnam. Not the brave men like Jim who fought in that war, but the policy which got us involved in that war. That was my view then. [cheering and applause]

I am not a pacifist, Anderson. I supported the war in Afghanistan. I supported President Clinton's effort to deal with ethnic cleansing in Kosovo. I support air strikes in Syria and what the president is trying to do.

Yes, I happen to believe from the bottom of my heart that war should be the last resort that we have got to exercise diplomacy. But yes, I am prepared to take this country into war if that is necessary.

[crosstalk]

COOPER: Very quickly, 30 seconds for each of you. Governor Chafee, who or what is the greatest national security threat to the United States? I want to go down the line.

CHAFEE: OK. I just have to answer one thing that Senator Webb said about the Iran deal, because I'm a strong proponent of what President Obama — and he said that because of that the Iran deal that enabled Russia to come in.

No, that's not true, Senator Webb. I respect your foreign policy chops. But Russia is aligned with Iran and with Assad and the Alawite Shias in Syria. So that Iran deal did not allow Russia to come in.

COOPER: OK. Senator, I can give you 30 seconds to respond.

WEBB: I believe that the signal that we sent to the region when the Iran nuclear deal was concluded was that we are accepting Iran's greater position on this very important balance of power, among our greatest ally Israel, and the Sunnis represented by the Saudi regime, and Iran. It was a position of weakness and I think it encouraged the acts that we've seen in the past several weeks.

COOPER: Thirty seconds for each of you. Governor Chafee, what is the greatest national security threat to the United States?

CHAFEE: It's certainly the chaos in the Middle East. There's no doubt about it.

COOPER: OK.

CHAFEE: And it all started with the Iraq invasion.

COOPER: Governor O'Malley?

O'MALLEY: I believe that nuclear Iran remains the biggest threat, along with the threat of ISIL; climate change, of course, makes cascading threats even more (inaudible).

COOPER: Secretary Clinton, the greatest national security threat?

CLINTON: I — I think it has to be continued threat from the spread of nuclear weapons, nuclear material that can fall into the wrong hands. I know the terrorists are constantly seeking it, and that's why we have to stay vigilant, but also united around the world to prevent that.

COOPER: Senator Sanders, greatest national security threat?

SANDERS: The scientific community is telling us that if we do not address the global crisis of climate change, transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to sustainable energy, the planet that we're going to be leaving our kids and our grandchildren may well not be habitable. That is a major crisis.

COOPER: Senator Webb?

WEBB: Our greatest long-term strategic challenge is our relation with China. Our greatest day-to-day threat is cyber warfare against this country. Our greatest military-operational threat is resolving the situations in the Middle East.

COOPER: All right. We're going to take a short break. Do these candidates see eye to eye on an issue that is driving a big wedge between Republicans? That is next.

We'll be right back. [applause]

[commercial break]

COOPER: And welcome back. We are live in Nevada, in Las Vegas, at the Wynn Resort for the first Democratic presidential debate. The questions continue.

We begin with Secretary Clinton. Secretary Clinton, you are going to be testifying before Congress next week about your e-mails. For the last eight months, you haven't been able to put this issue behind you. You dismissed it; you joked about it; you called it a mistake. What does that say about your ability to handle far more challenging crises as president?

CLINTON: Well, I've taken responsibility for it. I did say it was a mistake. What I did was allowed by the State Department, but it wasn't the best choice.

And I have been as transparent as I know to be, turning over 55,000 pages of my e-mails, asking that they be made public. And you're right. I am going to be testifying. I've been asking to testify for some time and to do it in public, which was not originally agreed to.

But let's just take a minute here and point out that this committee is basically an arm of the Republican National Committee. [applause]

It is a partisan vehicle, as admitted by the House Republican majority leader, Mr. McCarthy, to drive down my poll numbers. Big surprise. And that's what they have attempted to do.

I am still standing. I am happy to be part of this debate. [applause]

And I intend to keep talking about the issues that matter to the American people. You know, I believe strongly that we need to be talking about what people talk to me about, like how are we going to make college affordable? How are we going to pay down student debt?

COOPER: Secretary...

CLINTON: How are we going to get health care for everybody...

[crosstalk]

COOPER: Secretary Clinton, Secretary Clinton, with all due respect, it's a little hard — I mean, isn't it a little bit hard to call this just a partisan issue? There's an FBI investigation, and President Obama himself just two days ago said this is a legitimate issue.

CLINTON: Well, I never said it wasn't legitimate. I said that I have answered all the questions and I will certainly be doing so again before this committee.

But I think it would be really unfair not to look at the entire picture. This committee has spent $4.5 million of taxpayer money, and they said that they were trying to figure out what we could do better to protect our diplomats so that something like Benghazi wouldn't happen again. There were already seven committee reports about what to do. So I think it's pretty clear what their obvious goal is.

COOPER: Thank you.

CLINTON: But I'll be there. I'll answer their questions. But tonight, I want to talk not about my e-mails, but about what the American people want from the next president of the United States. [applause]

COOPER: Senator Sanders?

SANDERS: Let me say this. [applause]

Let me say — let me say something that may not be great politics. But I think the secretary is right, and that is that the American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn e-mails. [applause]

CLINTON: Thank you. Me, too. Me, too.

SANDERS: You know? The middle class — Anderson, and let me say something about the media, as well. I go around the country, talk to a whole lot of people. Middle class in this country is collapsing. We have 27 million people living in poverty. We have massive wealth and income inequality. Our trade policies have cost us millions of decent jobs. The American people want to know whether we're going to have a democracy or an oligarchy as a result of Citizens Union. Enough of the e-mails. Let's talk about the real issues facing America. [applause]

CLINTON: Thank you, Bernie. Thank you. [applause]

COOPER: It's obviously very popular in this crowd, and it's — hold on. [applause]

I know that plays well in this room. But I got to be honest, Governor Chafee, for the record, on the campaign trail, you've said a different thing. You said this is a huge issue. Standing here in front of Secretary Clinton, are you willing to say that to her face?

CHAFEE: Absolutely. We have to repair American credibility after we told the world that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, which he didn't. So there's an issue of American credibility out there. So any time someone is running to be our leader, and a world leader, which the American president is, credibility is an issue out there with the world. And we have repair work to be done. I think we need someone that has the best in ethical standards as our next president. That's how I feel.

COOPER: Secretary Clinton, do you want to respond?

CLINTON: No.

COOPER: Governor — Governor... [applause]

Governor O'Malley... [applause]

Governor, it's popular in the room, but a lot of people do want to know these answers.

Governor O'Malley, you expressed concern on the campaign trail that the Democratic Party is, and I quote, "being defined by Hillary Clinton's email scandal."

You heard her answer, do you still feel that way tonight?

O'MALLEY: I believe that now that we're finally having debates, Anderson, that we don't have to be defined by the email scandal, and how long — what the FBI's asking about. Instead, we can talk about affordable college, making college debt free, and all the issues. Which is why — and I see the chair of the DNC here, look how glad we are actually to be talking about the issues that matter the most to people around the kitchen table.

We need to get wages to go up, college more affordable...

COOPER: ...Thank you, governor.

O'MALLEY: ...we need to make American 100 percent clean electric by 2050.

COOPER: I want to talk about issues of race in America, for that I want to start of with Don Lemon.

LEMON: Alright, Anderson, thank you very much. I'm not sure how to follow that, but this question is about something that has tripped some of the candidates up out on the campaign trail. Can you hear me?

Can't hear me in the room. OK, here we go again, as I said...

WILKINS: ...law school. My question for the candidates is, do black lives matter, or do all lives matter?

COOPER: The question from Arthur...

LEMON: ...There we go...

COOPER: ...Do black lives matter, or do all lives matter? Let's put that question to Senator Sanders.

SANDERS: Black lives matter. [cheering] And the reason — the reason those words matter is the African American community knows that on any given day some innocent person like Sandra Bland can get into a car, and then three days later she's going to end up dead in jail, or their kids... [applause] ...are going to get shot. We need to combat institutional racism from top to bottom, and we need major, major reforms in a broken criminal justice system... [applause] ...In which we have more people in jail than China. And, I intended to tackle that issue. To make sure that our people have education and jobs rather than jail cells. [applause]

COOPER: Governor O'Malley, the question from Arthur was do black lives matter, or do all lives matter?

O'MALLEY: Anderson, the point that the Black Lives Matter movement is making is a very, very legitimate and serious point, and that is that as a nation we have undervalued the lives of black lives, people of color.

When I ran for Mayor of Baltimore — and we we burying over 350 young men ever single year, mostly young, and poor, and black, and I said to our legislature, at the time when I appeared in front of them as a mayor, that if we were burying white, young, poor men in these number we would be marching in the streets and there would be a different reaction.

Black lives matter, and we have a lot of work to do to reform our criminal justice system, and to address race relations in our country. [applause]

COOPER: Secretary Clinton, what would you do for African Americans in this country that President Obama couldn't?

CLINTON: Well, I think that President Obama has been a great moral leader on these issues, and has laid out an agenda that has been obstructed by the Republicans at every turn, so... [applause] ...So, what we need to be doing is not only reforming criminal justice — I have talked about that at some length, including things like body cameras, but we also need to be following the recommendations of the commissioner that President Obama empanelled on policing. There is an agenda there that we need to be following up on.

Similarly, we need to tackle mass incarceration, and this may be the only bi-partisan issue in the congress this year. We actually have people on both sides of the aisle who have reached the same conclusion, that we can not keep imprisoning more people than anybody else in the world.

But, I believe that the debate, and the discussion has to go further, Anderson, because we've got to do more about the lives of these children. That's why I started off by saying we need to be committed to making it possible for every child to live up to his or her god given potential. That is...

COOPER: ...Thank you, Senator...

CLINTON: ...really hard to do if you don't have early childhood education...

COOPER: Senator...

CLINTON: ...if you don't have schools that are able to meet the needs of the people, or good housing, there's a long list... [applause] ...We need a new New Deal for communities of color...

COOPER: Senator Webb?

WEBB: I hope I can get that kind of time here. As a President of the United States, every life in this country matters. At the same time, I believe I can say to you, I have had a long history of working with the situation of African Americans.

We're talking about criminal justice reform, I risked my political life raising the issue of criminal justice reform when I ran for the Senate in Virginia in 2006. I had democratic party political consultants telling me I was committing political suicide.

We led that issue in the congress. We started a national debate on it. And it wasn't until then that the Republican Party started joining in.

I also represented a so-called war criminal, an African American Marine who was wounded — who was convicted of murder in Vietnam, for six years. He took his life three years into this. I cleared his name after — after three years.

COOPER: Thanks, sir.

WEBB: And I put the African American soldier on the Mall. I made that recommendation and fought for it. So, if you want someone who is — can stand up in front of you right now and say I have done the hard job, I have taken the risks, I am your person.

COOPER: Senator Sanders, let's talk about income inequality. Wages and incomes are flat. You've argued that the gap between rich and poor is wider than at any time since the 1920s. We've had a Democratic president for seven years. What are you going to be able to do that President Obama didn't?

SANDERS: Well, first of all, let's remember where we were when Bush left office. We were losing 800,000 jobs a month. And I know my Republican friends seem to have some amnesia on this issue, but the world's financial crisis was on — the world's financial markets system was on the verge of collapse. That's where we were.

Are we better off today than we were then? Absolutely. But the truth is that for the 40 years, the great middle class of this country has been disappearing. And in my view what we need to do is create millions of jobs by rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure; raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour; pay equity for women workers; and our disastrous trade policies, which have cost us millions of jobs; and make every public college and university in this country tuition free. [applause]

COOPER: Secretary Clinton...

[crosstalk]

COOPER: I'll let you jump in a moment. Everybody will get in on this in a moment.

Secretary Clinton, how would you address this issue? In all candor, you and your husband are part of the one percent. How can you credibly represent the views of the middle class?

CLINTON: Well, you know, both Bill and I have been very blessed. Neither of us came from wealthy families and we've worked really hard our entire lives. And I want to make sure every single person in this country has the same opportunities that he and I have had, to make the most of their God-given potential and to have the chances that they should have in America for a good education, good job training, and then good jobs.

I have a five point economic plan, because this inequality challenge we face, we have faced it at other points. It's absolutely right. It hasn't been this bad since the 1920s. But if you look at the Republicans versus the Democrats when it comes to economic policy, there is no comparison. The economy does better when you have a Democrat in the White House and that's why we need to have a Democrat in the White House in January 2017.

COOPER: Governor O'Malley, (inaudible).

O'MALLEY: Yes. Anderson, I want to associate myself with many of the items that the senator from Vermont mentioned, and I actually did them in our state. We raised the minimum wage, passed the living wage, invested more in infrastructure, went four years in a row without a penny's increase in college tuition.

But there's another piece that Senator Sanders left out tonight, but he's been excellent about underscoring that. And that is that we need to separate the casino, speculative, mega-bank gambling that we have to insure with our money, from the commercial banking — namely, reinstating Glass-Steagall.

Secretary Clinton mentioned my support eight years ago. And Secretary, I was proud to support you eight years ago, but something happened in between, and that is, Anderson, a Wall Street crash that wiped out millions of jobs and millions of savings for families. And we are still just as vulnerable Paul Volcker says today.

We need to reinstate Glass-Steagall and that's a huge difference on this stage among us as candidates.

COOPER: Just for viewers at home who may not be reading up on this, Glass-Steagall is the Depression-era banking law repealed in 1999 that prevented commercial banks from engaging in investment banking and insurance activities.

Secretary Clinton, he raises a fundamental difference on this stage. Senator Sanders wants to break up the big Wall Street banks. You don't. You say charge the banks more, continue to monitor them. Why is your plan better?

CLINTON: Well, my plan is more comprehensive. And frankly, it's tougher because of course we have to deal with the problem that the banks are still too big to fail. We can never let the American taxpayer and middle class families ever have to bail out the kind of speculative behavior that we saw.

But we also have to worry about some of the other players — AIG, a big insurance company; Lehman Brothers, an investment bank. There's this whole area called "shadow banking." That's where the experts tell me the next potential problem could come from.

CLINTON: So I'm with both Senator Sanders and Governor O'Malley in putting a lot of attention onto the banks. And the plan that I have put forward would actually empower regulators to break up big banks if we thought they posed a risk. But I want to make sure we're going to cover everybody, not what caused the problem last time, but what could cause it next time.

[crosstalk]

COOPER: Senator Sanders, Secretary Clinton just said that her policy is tougher than yours.

SANDERS: Well, that's not true.

[laughter]

COOPER: Why?

SANDERS: Let us be clear that the greed and recklessness and illegal behavior of Wall Street, where fraud is a business model, helped to destroy this economy and the lives of millions of people. [applause]

Check the record. In the 1990s — and all due respect — in the 1990s, when I had the Republican leadership and Wall Street spending billions of dollars in lobbying, when the Clinton administration, when Alan Greenspan said, "what a great idea it would be to allow these huge banks to merge," Bernie Sanders fought them, and helped lead the opposition to deregulation. [applause]

Today, it is my view that when you have the three...

COOPER: Senator...

SANDERS: ...largest banks in America — are much bigger than they were when we bailed them out for being too big to fail, we have got to break them up. [applause]

COOPER: Secretary Clinton, you have to be able to respond. He brought you up.

CLINTON: Yeah.

You know, I — I respect the passion an intensity. I represented Wall Street, as a senator from New York, and I went to Wall Street in December of 2007 — before the big crash that we had — and I basically said, "cut it out! Quit foreclosing on homes! Quit engaging in these kinds of speculative behaviors."

I took on the Bush administration for the same thing. So I have thought deeply and long about what we're gonna do to do exactly what I think both the senator and the governor want, which is to rein in and stop this risk.

And my plan would have the potential of actually sending the executives to jail. Nobody went to jail after $100 billion in fines were paid... [applause]

COOPER: [inaudible]

CLINTON: ...and would give regulators the authority to go after the big banks.

COOPER: Thank you. Thank you. Senator Sanders...

CLINTON: But I'm telling you — I will say it tonight. If only you look at the big banks, you may be missing the forest for the trees.

[crosstalk]

WEBB: Bernie, say my name so I can get into this.

SANDERS: I will, just a second.

WEBB: OK. Thank you. [laughter]

SANDERS: I'll tell him.

In my view, Secretary Clinton, you do not — Congress does not regulate Wall Street. Wall Street regulates Congress. [applause]

And we have gotta break off these banks. Going to them...

CLINTON: So...

SANDERS: ...and saying, "please, do the right thing"...

CLINTON: ...no, that's not what...

SANDERS: ...is kind of naive.

CLINTON: ...that — I think Dodd-Frank was a very...

WEBB: Anderson, I need to jump in (inaudible).

CLINTON: ...good start, and I think that we have to implement it. We have to prevent the Republicans from ripping it apart. We have to save the Consumer Financial Protection board, which is finally beginning to act to protect consumers. [applause]

We have work to do. You've got no argument from me. But I know, if we don't come in with a very tough and comprehensive approach, like the plan I'm recommending, we're gonna be behind instead of ahead...

COOPER: Governor O'Malley? Where do you stand?

CLINTON: ...on what the next crisis could be.

O'MALLEY: Anderson, look, this is — the big banks — I mean, once we repealed Glass-Steagall back in the late 1999s (ph), the big banks, the six of them, went from controlling, what, the equivalent of 15 percent of our GDP to now 65 percent of our GDP.

And — (inaudible) right before this debate, Secretary Clinton's campaign put out a lot of reversals on positions on Keystone and many other things. But one of them that we still have a great difference on, Madam Secretary, is that you are not for Glass-Steagall.

You are not for putting a firewall between this speculative, risky shadow banking behavior. I am, and the people of our country need a president who's on their side, willing to protect the Main Street economy from recklessness on Wall Street.

We have to fulfill...

COOPER: Secretary Clinton...

O'MALLEY: ...our promise.

COOPER: I have to let you respond. [applause]

CLINTON: Well, you know, everybody on this stage has changed a position or two. We've been around a cumulative quite some period of time. [laughter]

You know, we know that if you are learning, you're gonna change your position. I never took a position on Keystone until I took a position on Keystone.

But I have been on the forefront of dealing with climate change, starting in 2009, when President Obama and I crashed (ph) a meeting with the Chinese and got them to sign up to the first international agreement to combat climate change that they'd ever joined.

So I'm...

COOPER: Thank you.

CLINTON: ...not taking a back seat to anybody on my values...

COOPER: Thank...

CLINTON: ...my principles and the results that I get.

COOPER: Senator Sanders... [applause]

Senator Sanders, in 2008, congressional leaders were told, without the 2008 bailout, the U.S. was possibly days away from a complete meltdown. Despite that, you still voted against it.

As president, would you stand by your principles if it risked the country's financial stability?

SANDERS: Well, I remember that meeting very well. I remember it like it was yesterday. Hank Paulson, Bernanke came in, and they say, "guys, the economy is going to collapse because Wall Street is going under. It's gonna take the economy with them."

And you know what I said to Hank Paulson? I said, "Hank, your guys — you come from Goldman Sachs. Your millionaire and billionaire friends caused this problem. How about your millionaire and billionaire friends paying for the bailout, not working families in this country?"

So to answer your question, no, I would not have let the economy collapse. But it was wrong to ask the middle class to bail out Wall Street. And by the way, I want Wall Street now to help kids in this country go to college, public colleges and universities, free with a Wall Street speculation tax. [applause]

COOPER: We're going to talk about that in a minute.

But, Senator Webb, I want to get you in. You have said neither party has the guts to take on Wall Street. Is the system rigged?

WEBB: There is a reality that I think we all need to recognize with respect to the power of the financial sector.

And let me just go back a minute and say that on this TARP program, I introduced a piece of legislation calling for a windfall profits tax on the executives of any of these companies that got more than $5 billion, that it was time for them, once they got their compensation and their bonus, to split the rest of the money they made with the nurses and the truck drivers and the soldiers who bailed them out. With respect to the financial sector, I mean, I know that my time has run out but in speaking of changing positions and the position on how this debate has occurred is kind of frustrating because unless somebody mentions my name I can't get into the discussion.

COOPER: You agreed to these rules and you're wasting time. So if you would finish your answer, we'll move on.

WEBB: All right. Well, I'm trying to set a mark here so maybe we can get into a little more later on. This hasn't been equal time.

But if you want to look at what has happened, if we look at the facts in terms of how we're going to deal with this, since that crash, in the last 10 years, the amount of the world's capital economy that Wall Street manages has gone from 44 percent to 55 percent.

That means the Wall Street money managers are not risking themselves as the same way the American people are when they're going to get their compensation. They're managing money from all over the world.

We have to take that into consideration when we're looking at ways to regulate it.

COOPER: Governor Chafee, you have attacked Secretary Clinton for being too close to Wall Street banks. In 1999 you voted for the very bill that made banks bigger.

CHAFEE: The Glass-Steagall was my very first vote, I'd just arrived, my dad had died in office, I was appointed to the office, it was my very first vote.

COOPER: Are you saying you didn't know what you were voting for?

CHAFEE: I'd just arrived at the Senate. I think we'd get some takeovers, and that was one. It was my very first vote, and it was 92-5. It was the...

COOPER: Well, with all due respect, Governor...

CHAFEE: But let me just say...

COOPER: ... what does that say about you that you're casting a vote for something you weren't really sure about?

CHAFEE: I think you're being a little rough. I'd just arrived at the United States Senate. I'd been mayor of my city. My dad had died. I'd been appointed by the governor. It was the first vote and it was 90-5, because it was a conference report.

But let me just say about income inequality. We've had a lot of talk over the last few minutes, hours, or tens of minutes, but no one is saying how we're going to fix it. And it all started with the Bush tax cuts that favored the wealthy.

So let's go back to the tax code. And 0.6 percent of Americans are at the top echelon, over 464,000, 0.6 Americans. That's less than 1 percent. But they generate 30 percent of the revenue. And they're doing fine.

COOPER: Thank you, Governor.

CHAFEE: So there's still a lot more money to be had from this top echelon. I'm saying let's have another tier and put that back into the tax bracket. And that will generate $42 billion.

COOPER: I want to bring in Dana Bash.

CHAFEE: And then we can help the middle class and hard-earning Americans — hard-working Americans.

COOPER: Dana?

BASH: Thank you.

CNN visited college campuses, along with Facebook. And not surprisingly college affordability was among the most pressing issue.

Senator Sanders, you've mentioned a couple of times you do have a plan to make public colleges free for everyone. Secretary Clinton has criticized that in saying she's not in favor of making a college free for Donald Trump's kids.

Do you think taxpayers should pick up the tab for wealthy children?

SANDERS: Well, let me tell you, Donald Trump and his billionaire friends under my policies are going to pay a hell of a lot more in taxes today — taxes in the future than they're paying today. [applause]

But in terms of education, this is what I think. This is the year 2015. A college degree today, Dana, is the equivalent of what a high school degree was 50 years ago.

And what we said 50 years ago and a hundred years ago is that every kid in this country should be able to get a high school education regardless of the income of their family. I think we have to say that is true for everybody going to college.

I think we don't need a complicated system, which the secretary is talking about, the income goes down, the income goes down, if you're poor you have to work, and so forth and so on.

I pay for my program, by the way, through a tax on Wall Street speculation, which will not only make public colleges and universities tuition-free, it will substantially lower interest rates on college debt, a major crisis in this country. [applause]

BASH: And, Secretary Clinton, it's not just college tuition that Senator Sanders is talking about, expanding Social Security and giving all Americans Medicare. What's wrong with that?

CLINTON: Well, let me address college affordability, because I have a plan that I think will really zero in on what the problems are. First, all the 40 million Americans who currently have student debt will be able to refinance their debt to a low interest rate. That will save thousands of dollars for people who are now struggling under this cumbersome, burdensome college debt.

As a young student in Nevada said to me, the hardest thing about going to college should not be paying for it. So then we have to make it more affordable. How do we make it more affordable? My plan would enable anyone to go to a public college or university tuition free. You would not have to borrow money for tuition.

But I do believe — and maybe it's because I worked when I went through college; I worked when I went through law school — I think it's important for everybody to have some part of getting this accomplished. That's why I call it a compact.

BASH: Secretary Clinton...

CLINTON: But, yes, I would like students to work 10 hours a week...

BASH: Can you answer the...

SANDERS: ... in order to make it possible for them to afford their education. And I want colleges to get their costs down. They are outrageously high in what they're charging.

BASH: Secretary Clinton, the question was not just about tuition, though. It was about Senator Sanders' plan to expand Social Security, to make Medicare available to all Americans. Is that something that you would support? And if not, why not?

CLINTON: Well, I fully support Social Security. And the most important fight we're going to have is defending it against continuing Republican efforts to privatize it.

BASH: Do you want to expand it?

CLINTON: I want to enhance the benefits for the poorest recipients of Social Security. We have a lot of women on Social Security, particularly widowed and single women who didn't make a lot of money during their careers, and they are impoverished, and they need more help from the Social Security system.

And I will focus — I will focus on helping those people who need it the most. And of course I'm going to defend Social Security. I'm going to look for ways to try to make sure it's solvent into the future. And we also need to talk about health care at some time, because we agree on the goals, we just disagree on the means.

SANDERS: When the Republicans — when the Republicans in the Congress and some Democrats were talking about cutting Social Security and benefits for disabled veterans, for the so-called chained CPI, I founded a caucus called the Defending Social Security Caucus.

My view is that when you have millions of seniors in this country trying to get by — and I don't know how they do on $11,000, $12,000, $13,000 a year — you don't cut Social Security, you expand it. And the way you expand it is by lifting the cap on taxable incomes so that you do away with the absurdity of a millionaire paying the same amount into the system as somebody making $118,000. You do that, Social Security is solvent until 2061 and you can expand benefits.

[crosstalk]

COOPER: Senator Sanders, I want to bring it over to Juan Carlos Lopez from CNN en Espanol. We're obviously in Nevada. It's had the highest percentage of undocumented immigrants of any state in the country as of last year. Juan Carlos?

LOPEZ: Gracias, Anderson. Senator Sanders, in 2013, you voted for immigration reform. But in 2007, when Democrats controlled Congress and the Bush White House was onboard, you voted against it. Why should Latino voters trust you now when you left them at the altar at the moment when reform was very close?

SANDERS: I didn't leave anybody at the altar. I voted against that piece of legislation because it had guest-worker provisions in it which the Southern Poverty Law Center talked about being semi-slavery. Guest workers are coming in, they're working under terrible conditions, but if they stand up for their rights, they're thrown out of the country. I was not the only progressive to vote against that legislation for that reason. Tom Harkin, a very good friend of Hillary Clinton's and mine, one of the leading labor advocates, also voted against that.

LOPEZ: Tom Harkin isn't running for president. You are.

SANDERS: I know that. But point being is that progressives did vote against that for that reason. My view right now — and always has been — is that when you have 11 million undocumented people in this country, we need comprehensive immigration reform, we need a path toward citizenship, we need to take people out of the shadows.

O'MALLEY: And Juan Carlos — Juan Carlos...

LOPEZ: Secretary Clinton — Secretary Clinton, Governor O'Malley wants to open up Obamacare to millions of undocumented immigrants and their children, including almost 90,000 people right here in Nevada. Do you?

CLINTON: Well, first of all, I want to make sure every child gets health care. That's why I helped to create the Children's Health Insurance Program, and I want to support states that are expanding health care and including undocumented children and others.

I want to open up the opportunity for immigrants to be able to buy in to the exchanges under the Affordable Care Act. I think to go beyond that, as I understand what Governor O'Malley has recommended, so that they would get the same subsidies.

I think that is — it raises so many issues. It would be very difficult to administer, it needs to be part of a comprehensive immigration reform, when we finally do get to it.

LOPEZ: Governor O'Malley?

O'MALLEY: Juan Carlos, I think what you've heard up here is some of the old thinking on immigration reform, and that's why it's gridlocked. We need to understand that our country is stronger in every generation by the arrival of new American immigrants. That is why I have put out a policy for comprehensive immigration reform, that is why I would go further than President Obama has on DACA, and DAPA.

I mean, we are a nation of immigrants, we are made stronger by immigrants. Do you think for a second that simply because somebody's standing in a broken que on naturalization they're not going to go to the hospital, and that care isn't going to fall on to our insurance rates? I am for a generous, compassionate America that says we're all in this together. We need comprehensive

COOPER: Senator Webb...

O'MALLEY: ...immigration reform. It'll make wages go up in America $250 for every year...

LOPEZ: Senator Webb, do you support the undocumented immigrants getting Obamacare?

WEBB: I wouldn't have a problem with that. Let me start by saying my wife is an immigrant. She was a refugee, her family escaped from Vietnam on a boat-- her entire extended family, after the communists took over, when hundreds of thousands of people were out there and thousands of them were dying. Went to two refugee camps, she never spoke English in her home, and she ended, as I said, graduating from Cornell Law School. That's not only American dream, that's a value that we have with a good immigration system in place. No country has — is a country without defining its borders. We need to resolve this issue. I actually introduced an amendment in the 2007 immigration bill...

LOPEZ: ...Thank you, Senator.

WEBB: ...Giving a pathway to citizenship to those people who had come here, and put down their roots, and met as a series of standards...

COOPER: ...Thank you, Senator.

WEBB: ...lost (ph) — I introduced that in 2007 — We need a comprehensive reform, and we need to be able to define our borders.

COOPER: Secretary Clinton?

CLINTON: I want to follow up because I think underneath Juan Carlos' important questions, there is such a difference between everything you're hearing here on this stage, and what we hear from the Republicans. [applause]

O'MALLEY: Here. Here.

(CHEERING) (APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: Demonize hard-working immigrants who have insulted them. You know, I came to Las Vegas in, I think, May. Early may. Met with a group of DREAMers, I wish everybody in America could meet with this young people, to hear their stories, to know their incredible talent, their determination, and that's why I would go further...

COOPER: ...Secretary...

CLINTON: ...than even the executive orders that President Obama has signed when I'm president.

(CROSS TALK)

COOPER: Secretary Clinton, let me ask you. Two of your rivals from your left, Governor O'Malley, and Senator Sanders, want to provide instate college tuition to undocumented immigrants. Where do you stand on that?

CLINTON: My plan would support any state that takes that position, and would work with those states and encourage more states to do the same thing.

COOPER: So, on the record, you believe that undocumented immigrants should get instate college tuition.

CLINTON: If their states agree, then we want more states to do the same thing.

COOPER: Governor O'Malley?

O'MALLEY: Anderson, we actually did this in my state of Maryland. We passed... [applause]

O'MALLEY: We passed a state version of the DREAM Act...

(CHEERING)

O'MALLEY: ...And a lot of the xenophobes, the immigrant haters like some that we've heard like, Donald Trump, that carnival barker in the Republican party...

(CHEERING) (APPLAUSE)

O'MALLEY: Tried to mischaracterize it as free tuition for illegal immigrants. But, we took our case to the people when it was petitioned to referendum, and we won with 58 percent of the vote. The more our children learn, the more they will earn, and that's true of children who have yet to be naturalized...

COOPER: ...Senator...

O'MALLEY: ...but will become American citizens...

COOPER: Senator Sanders, you talked about your record on the Veteran affairs committee. You served on that committee for the last eight years, including two years as its chairman while veterans died waiting for health care. You and Senator McCain ultimately addressed the issue with bi-partisan legislation. Why did it take 18 Inspector General reports, and a CNN investigation, and others, before you and your colleagues took action?

SANDERS: Well, I was chairman for two years, and when I was chairman we did take action. What we did is pass a $15 billion dollar piece of legislation which brought in many, many new doctors, and nurses into the V.A. so that veterans in this country could get the health care when they needed it, and not be on long waiting lines.

And, the other part of that legislation said that if a veteran is living more than 40 miles away from a V.A. facility, that veteran could get health care from the community health center, or the private sector. As a result of that legislation, we went further in than any time in recent history in improving health care for the men and women of this country who put their lives on the line to defend them.

COOPER: Governor Chafee, you and Hillary Clinton both voted for the Patriot Act which created the NSA surveillance program. You've emphasized civil liberties, privacy during your campaign. Aren't these two things in conflict?

CHAFEE: No, that was another 99 to one vote for the Patriot Act, and it was seen as at the time modernizing our ability to do what we've always done to tap phones which always required a warrant. And I voted for that.

COOPER: Do you regret that vote?

CHAFEE: No, no. As long as you're getting a warrant, I believe that under the Fourth Amendment, you should be able to do surveillance, but you need a warrant. That's what the Fourth Amendment says. And in the Patriot Act, section 215 started to get broadened too far. So I would be in favor of addressing and reforming section 215 of the Patriot Act.

COOPER: Secretary Clinton, do you regret your vote on the Patriot Act?

CLINTON: No, I don't. I think that it was necessary to make sure that we were able after 9/11 to put in place the security that we needed. And it is true that it did require that there be a process. What happened, however, is that the Bush administration began to chip away at that process. And I began to speak out about their use of warrantless surveillance and the other behavior that they engaged in.

We always have to keep the balance of civil liberties, privacy and security. It's not easy in a democracy, but we have to keep it in mind.

COOPER: Senator — Senator Sanders, you're the only one on this stage who voted against the Patriot Act in 2001... [applause]

SANDERS: It was 99 to one and I was maybe the one. I don't know.

COOPER: ... and the reauthorization votes. Let me ask you, if elected, would you shut down the NSA surveillance program?

SANDERS: I'm sorry?

COOPER: Would you shut down the NSA surveillance program?

SANDERS: Absolutely. Of course.

COOPER: You would, point blank.

SANDERS: Well, I would shut down — make — I'd shut down what exists right now is that virtually every telephone call in this country ends up in a file at the NSA. That is unacceptable to me. But it's not just government surveillance. I think the government is involved in our e-mails; is involved in our websites. Corporate America is doing it as well.

If we are a free country, we have the right to be free. Yes, we have to defend ourselves against terrorism, but there are ways to do that without impinging on our constitutional rights and our privacy rights.

O'MALLEY (?): Anderson, the NSA...

COOPER: Governor Chafee, Edward Snowden, is he a traitor or a hero?

CHAFEE: No, I would bring him home. The courts have ruled that what he did — what he did was say the American...

[crosstalk]

COOPER: Bring him home, no jail time?

CHAFEE: ... the American government was acting illegally. That's what the federal courts have said; what Snowden did showed that the American government was acting illegally for the Fourth Amendment. So I would bring him home.

COOPER: Secretary Clinton, hero or traitor?

CLINTON: He broke the laws of the United States. He could have been a whistleblower. He could have gotten all of the protections of being a whistleblower. He could have raised all the issues that he has raised. And I think there would have been a positive response to that.

COOPER: Should he do jail time?

ClINTON: In addition — in addition, he stole very important information that has unfortunately fallen into a lot of the wrong hands. So I don't think he should be brought home without facing the music.

COOPER: Governor O'Malley, Snowden? [applause]

O'MALLEY: Anderson, Snowden put a lot of Americans' lives at risk. Snowden broke the law. Whistleblowers do not run to Russia and try to get protection from Putin. If he really believes that, he should be back here.

COOPER: Senator Sanders, Edward Snowden?

SANDERS: I think Snowden played a very important role in educating the American people to the degree in which our civil liberties and our constitutional rights are being undermined.

COOPER: Is he a hero?

SANDERS: He did — he did break the law, and I think there should be a penalty to that. But I think what he did in educating us should be taken into consideration before he is (inaudible).

COOPER: Senator Webb, Edward Snowden?

WEBB: I — well, I — I would leave his ultimate judgment to the legal system. Here's what I do believe. We have a serious problem in terms of the collection of personal information in this country. And one of the things that I did during the FISA bill in 2007, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, was introduce with Russ Feingold two amendments basically saying, "We understand the realities of how you have to collect this broad information in the Internet age, but after a certain period of time, you need to destroy the personal information that you have if people have not been brought — if criminal justice proceedings have not been brought against them."

We've got a vast data bank of information that is ripe for people with bad intentions to be able to use. And they need to be destroyed.

COOPER: Another — another question for each of you, starting with Governor Chafee.

Name the one thing — the one way that your administration would not be a third term of President Obama.

CHAFEE: Certainly, ending the wars. We've got to stop these wars. You have to have a new dynamic, a new paradigm. We just spent a half-billion dollars arming and training soldiers, the rebel soldiers in Syria. They quickly join the other side. We bombed the...

[crosstalk]

COOPER: President Obama's generals right now are suggesting keeping troops in Afghanistan after the time he wanted them pulled out. Would you keep them there?

CHAFEE: I'd like to finish my question — my answer.

And also we just bombed a hospital. We've had drone strikes that hit civilian weddings. So I would change how we — our approach to the Middle East. We need a new paradigm in the Middle East.

COOPER: Governor O'Malley, how would you be different than President Obama's administration?

O'MALLEY: I would follow through on the promise that the American people thought we made as Democratic Party, to protect the Main Street economy from recklessness on Wall Street. I would push to separate out these too-big-to-jail, too-big-to-fail banks, and put in place Glass-Steagall, a modern Glass-Steagall that creates a firewall so that this wreckage of our economy can never happen again.

COOPER: Secretary Clinton, how would you not be a third term of President Obama?

CLINTON: Well, I think that's pretty obvious. I think being the first woman president would be quite a change from the presidents we've had up until this point, including President Obama.

COOPER: Is there a policy difference?

CLINTON: Well, there's a lot that I would like to do to build on the successes of President Obama, but also, as I'm laying out, to go beyond. And that's in my economic plans, how I would deal with the prescription drug companies, how I would deal with college, how I would deal with a full range of issues that I've been talking about throughout this campaign to go further.

COOPER: Senator Sanders?

SANDERS: I have a lot of respect for president Obama. I have worked with him time and time again on many, many issues. But here's where I do disagree. I believe that the power of corporate America, the power of Wall Street, the power of the drug companies, the power of the corporate media is so great that the only way we really transform America and do the things that the middle class and working class desperately need is through a political revolution when millions of people begin to come together and stand up and say: Our government is going to work for all of us, not just a handful of billionaires. [applause]

COOPER: Senator Webb, how would you not be a third term for Obama?

WEBB: I got a great deal of admiration and affection for Senator Sanders, but I — Bernie, I don't think the revolution's going to come. And I don't think the Congress is going to pay for a lot of this stuff. And if there would be a major difference between my administration and the Obama administration, it would be in the use of executive authority.

I came up as a committee counsel in the Congress, used to put dozens of bills through the House floor every year as a committee counsel on the Veterans Committee. I have a very strong feeling about how our federal system works and how we need to lead and energize the congressional process instead of allowing these divisions to continue to paralyze what we're doing. So I would lead — working with both parties in the Congress and working through them in the traditional way that our Constitution sets (ph).

COOPER: Senator Sanders, he cited you. You don't hear a lot of Democratic presidential candidates talking about revolution. What do you mean?

SANDERS: What I mean is that we need to have one of the larger voter turnouts in the world, not one of the lowest. We need to raise public consciousness. We need the American people to know what's going on in Washington in a way that today they do not know. [applause]

And when people come together in a way that does not exist now and are prepared to take on the big money interest, then we could bring the kind of change we need.

O'MALLEY: Anderson, I actually have talked about a revolution. What we need is a green energy revolution. We need to move America to a 100 percent clean electric grid by 2050 and create 5 million jobs along the way.

COOPER: And we want to — and we're going to talk more about climate change and environmental issues coming up. Some of the candidates have tried marijuana, as have pretty much — probably everybody in this room.

(LAUGHTER)

Others have not. Does that influence — does it influence their views on legalization? Find out that and others ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: And welcome back to this CNN Democratic presidential debate. It has been quite a night so far. We are in the final block of this debate. All the candidates are back, which I'm very happy to see.

(LAUGHTER)

COOPER: It's a long story. Let's continue, shall we?

Secretary Clinton, welcome back.

CLINTON: Well, thank you.

(LAUGHTER)

CLINTON: You know, it does take me a little longer. That's all I can say.

COOPER: That's right. Secretary Clinton, Governor O'Malley says the presidency is not a crown to be passed back and forth between two royal families. This year has been the year of the outsider in politics, just ask Bernie Sanders. Why should Democrats embrace an insider like yourself?

CLINTON: Well, I can't think of anything more of an outsider than electing the first woman president, but I'm not just running because I would be the first woman president. [applause]

CLINTON: I'm running because I have a lifetime of experience in getting results and fighting for people, fighting for kids, for women, for families, fighting to even the odds. And I know what it takes to get things done. I know how to find common ground and I know how to stand my ground. And I think we're going to need both of those in Washington to get anything that we're talking about up here accomplished.

So I'm very happy that I have both the commitment of a lifetime and the experience of a lifetime to bring together to offer the American people.

COOPER: Governor O'Malley, do you want to tell Secretary Clinton why she shouldn't get the crown?

O'MALLEY: Well, actually, you know, we had this conversation. And I will share with you that I've traveled all around the country, Anderson, and there's two phrases I keep hearing again and again and again. And they're the phrases "new leadership" and "getting things done."

We cannot be this dissatisfied with our gridlocked national politics and an economy where 70 percent of us are earning the same or less than we were 12 years ago, and think that a resort to old names is going to move us forward.

I respect what Secretary Clinton and her husband have done for our country. But our country needs new leadership to move forward.

COOPER: Secretary Clinton, you have to be able to respond, if you want.

CLINTON: Well, I would not ask anyone to vote for me based on my last name. I would ask them to listen to what I'm proposing, look at what I've accomplished in the Senate, as secretary of of state, and then draw your own conclusion.

I certainly am not campaigning to become president because my last name is Clinton. I'm campaigning because I think I have the right combination of what the country needs, at this point, and I think I can take the fight to the Republicans, because we cannot afford a Republican to succeed Barack Obama as president of the United States.

COOPER: (inaudible). [applause]

Senator Sanders, does she have the right stuff?

SANDERS: I think — I think that there is profound frustration all over this country with establishment politics. I am the only candidate running for president who is not a billionaire, who has raised substantial sums of money, and I do not have a super PAC. [applause]

I am not raising money from millionaires and billionaires, and in fact, tonight, in terms of what a political revolution is about, there are 4,000 house parties — 100,000 people in this country — watching this debate tonight who want real change in this country.

COOPER: we've got — we — a lot of questions we've got about climate change, and we're gonna go to Don Lemon. Don?

LEMON: All right. This one is for Martin O'Malley. Anderson, Governor O'Malley, this is from Anna Bettis from Tempe, Arizona. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: As a young person, I'm very concerned about climate change and how it will affect my future. As a presidential candidate, what will you do to address climate change?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So, Governor O'Malley, please tell Anna how you would protect the environment better than all the other candidates up on that stage.

O'MALLEY: Yeah.

Anna, I have put forward a plan — and I'm the only candidate, I believe, in either party to do this — to move America forward to a 100 percent clean electric grid by 2050.

We did not land a man on the moon with an all-of-the-above strategy. It was an intentional engineering challenge, and we solved it as a nation. And our nation must solve this one.

So I put forward the plan that would extend the investor tax credits for solar and for wind. If you go across Iowa, you see that 30 percent of their energy now comes from wind. We're here in Las Vegas, one of the most sustainable cities in America, doing important things in terms of green building, architecture and design.

We can get there as a nation, but it's going to require presidential leadership. And as president, I intend to sign as my very first order in office the — an order that moves us as a nation and dedicates our resources to solving this problem and moving us to a 100 percent clean electric grid by 2050.

COOPER: Governor...

O'MALLEY: We can do it.

COOPER: ...Governor O'Malley, thank you very much. [applause]

Senator Webb, you have a very different view than just about anybody else on this stage, and unlike a lot of Democrats. You're pro-coal, you're pro-offshore drilling, you're pro-Keystone pipeline. Are — again, are you — the question is, are you out of step with the Democratic party?

WEBB: Well, the — the question really is how are we going to solve energy problems here and in the global environment if you really want to address climate change?

And when I was in the Senate, I was an all-of-the-above energy voter. We introduced legislation to bring in alternate energy as well as nuclear power. I'm a strong proponent of nuclear power. It is safe, it is clean. And really, we are not going to solve climate change simply with the laws here.

We've done a good job in this country since 1970. If you look at China and India, they're the greatest polluters in the world. Fifteen out of the 20 most polluted cities in the world are in one of those two countries. We need to solve this in a global way. It's a global problem and I have been very strong on — on doing that. The — the agreements — the so-called agreements that we have had with China are illusory in terms of the immediate requirements of the — of the Chinese government itself.

So let's solve this problem in an international way, and then we really will have a — a way to address climate change.

COOPER: Senator Sanders, are you tougher on — on climate change than Secretary Clinton?

SANDERS: Well, I will tell you this. I believe — and Pope Francis made this point. This is a moral issue. The scientists are telling us that we need to move extremely boldly.

I am proud that, along with Senator Barbara Boxer, a few years ago, we introduced the first piece of climate change legislation which called for a tax on carbon.

And let me also tell you that nothing is gonna happen unless we are prepared to deal with campaign finance reform, because the fossil fuel industry is funding the Republican Party, which denies the reality of climate change... [applause]

...and certainly is not prepared to go forward aggressively.

This is a moral issue. We have got to be extremely aggressive in working with China, India, Russia.

COOPER: Senator — thank you, Senator.

SANDERS: The planet — the future of the planet is at stake.

COOPER: Secretary Clinton, I want you to be able to respond, then I'm gonna go to (ph) (inaudible).

CLINTON: Well, that — that's exactly what I've been doing. When we met in Copenhagen in 2009 and, literally, President Obama and I were hunting for the Chinese, going throughout this huge convention center, because we knew we had to get them to agree to something. Because there will be no effective efforts against climate change unless China and India join with the rest of the world.

They told us they'd left for the airport; we found out they were having a secret meeting. We marched up, we broke in, we said, "We've been looking all over for you. Let's sit down and talk about what we need to do." And we did come up with the first international agreement that China has signed.

Thanks to President Obama's leadership, it's now gone much further.

COOPER: Thank you.

CLINTON: And I do think that the bilateral agreement that President Obama made with the Chinese was significant. Now, it needs to go further, and there will be an international meeting at the end of this year, and we must get verifiable commitments to fight climate change from every country gathered there.

COOPER: Dana Bash?

BASH: Secretary Clinton, you now support mandated paid family leave.

CLINTON: Mm-hmm.

BASH: Carly Fiorina, the first female CEO of a Fortune 50 company, argues, if the government requires paid leave, it will force small businesses to, quote, "hire fewer people and create fewer jobs." What do you say not only to Carly Fiorina, but also a small-business owner out there who says, you know, I like this idea, but I just can't afford it?

CLINTON: Well, I'm surprised she says that, because California has had a paid leave program for a number of years. And it's...

BASH: It's on the federal level.

CLINTON: Well, but all — well, on a state level, a state as big as many countries in the world. And it has not had the ill effects that the Republicans are always saying it will have. And I think this is — this is typical Republican scare tactics. We can design a system and pay for it that does not put the burden on small businesses.

I remember as a young mother, you know, having a baby wake up who was sick and I'm supposed to be in court, because I was practicing law. I know what it's like. And I think we need to recognize the incredible challenges that so many parents face, particularly working moms.

I see my good friend, Senator Gillibrand, in the front row. She's been a champion of this. We need to get a consensus through this campaign, which is why I'm talking about it everywhere I go, and we need to join the rest of the advanced world in having it.

BASH: But Secretary — Secretary Clinton, even many people who agree with you might say, look, this is very hard to do, especially in today's day and age. There are so many people who say, "Really? Another government program? Is that what you're proposing? And at the expense of taxpayer money?"

CLINTON: Well, look, you know, when people say that — it's always the Republicans or their sympathizers who say, "You can't have paid leave, you can't provide health care." They don't mind having big government to interfere with a woman's right to choose and to try to take down Planned Parenthood. They're fine with big government when it comes to that. I'm sick of it. [applause]

You know, we can do these things. [applause]

We should not be paralyzed — we should not be paralyzed by the Republicans and their constant refrain, "big government this, big government that," that except for what they want to impose on the American people. I know we can afford it, because we're going to make the wealthy pay for it. That is the way to get it done.

COOPER: Thank you. Senator Sanders?

SANDERS: Yeah, Dana, here's the point: Every other major country on Earth, every one, including some small countries, say that when a mother has a baby, she should stay home with that baby. We are the only major country. That is an international embarrassment that we do not provide family — paid family and medical leave. [applause]

Second of all, the secretary is right. Republicans tell us we can't do anything except give tax breaks to billionaires and cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. That's not what the American people want.

COOPER: Governor O'Malley?

O'MALLEY: Anderson, in our state, we actually expanded family leave. And I have to agree with Secretary Clinton and Senator Sanders. Look, the genius of our nation is that we find ways in every generation to include more of our people more fully in the economic life of our country, and we need to do that for our families, and especially so that women aren't penalized in having to drop out of the workforce. My wife, Katie, is here with our four kids. And, man, that was a juggle when we had little kids and — and keeping jobs and moving forwards. We would be a stronger nation economically if we had paid family leave.

COOPER: Governor, thank you. The issue now, particularly in this state, is recreational marijuana. I want to go to Juan Carlos Lopez.

LOPEZ: Thank you, Anderson.

Senator Sanders, right here in Nevada, there will be a measure to legalize recreational marijuana on the 2016 ballot. You've said you smoked marijuana twice; it didn't quite work for you. If you were a Nevada resident, how would you vote?

SANDERS: I suspect I would vote yes. [applause]

And I would vote yes because I am seeing in this country too many lives being destroyed for non-violent offenses. We have a criminal justice system that lets CEOs on Wall Street walk away, and yet we are imprisoning or giving jail sentences to young people who are smoking marijuana. I think we have to think through this war on drugs... [applause] ...which has done an enormous amount of damage. We need to rethink our criminal justice system, we we've got a lot of work to do in that area.

O'MALLEY: Juan Carlos? [applause]

LOPEZ: Secretary Clinton, you told Christiane Amanpour you didn't smoke pot when you were young, and you're not going to start now. [laughter]

When asked about legalizing recreational marijuana, you told her let's wait and see how it plays out in Colorado and Washington. It's been more than a year since you've said that. Are you ready to take a position tonight?

CLINTON: No. I think that we have the opportunity through the states that are pursuing recreational marijuana to find out a lot more than we know today. I do support the use of medical marijuana, and I think even there we need to do a lot more research so that we know exactly how we're going to help people for whom medical marijuana provides relief.

So, I think we're just at the beginning, but I agree completely with the idea that we have got to stop imprisoning people who use marijuana. Therefore, we need more states, cities, and the federal government to begin to address this so that we don't have this terrible result that Senator Sanders was talking about where we have a huge population in our prisons for nonviolent, low-level offenses that are primarily due to marijuana.

COOPER: Secretary Clinton, thank you. I want to go to Don Lemon with another Facebook question.

LEMON: Alright, Anderson. This is for Senator Sanders, OK? This is from Carrie (ph) Kang (ph) from Manassas, Virginia, would like would like to ask the Senator, "President Obama has had a difficult time getting Republicans to compromise on just about every agenda. How will you approach this going forward, and will it be any different?"

Senator?

SANDERS: The Republican party, since I've been in the Senate, and since President Obama has been in office, has played a terrible, terrible role of being total obstructionists. Every effort that he has made, that some of us have made, they have said no, no, no.

Now, in my view, the only way we can take on the right wing republicans who are, by the way, I hope will not continue to control the Senate and the House when one of us elected President... [applause] ...But the only way we can get things done is by having millions of people coming together. If we want free tuition at public colleges and universities, millions of young people are going to have to demand it, and give the Republicans an offer they can't refuse.

If we want to raise the minimum wage to $15 bucks an hour, workers are going to have to come together and look the Republicans in the eye, and say, "We know what's going on. You vote against us, you are out of your job." [applause]

COOPER: We're going to hear from all the candidates coming up. We're going to take a short break. More from the candidates in a moment. [applause]

[commercial break]

COOPER: And welcome back to the final round of the CNN Democratic presidential debate.

This is a question to each of you. Each of you, by the way, are going to have closing statements to make. Each of you will have 90 seconds. But a final question to each of you. If you can, just try to — 15 seconds if you can.

Governor Chafee, Franklin Delano Roosevelt once said, "I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made." You've all made a few people upset over your political careers. Which enemy are you most proud of? [laughter]

CHAFEE: I guess the coal lobby. I've worked hard for climate change and I want to work with the coal lobby. But in my time in the Senate, tried to bring them to the table so that we could address carbon dioxide. I'm proud to be at odds with the coal lobby.

COOPER: Governor O'Malley?

O'MALLEY: The National Rifle Association. [applause]

COOPER: Secretary Clinton?

CLINTON: Well, in addition to the NRA, the health insurance companies, the drug companies, the Iranians. [laughter]

Probably the Republicans. [laughter and applause]

COOPER: Senator Sanders?

SANDERS: As someone who has taken on probably every special interest that there is in Washington, I would lump Wall Street and the pharmaceutical industry at the top of my life of people who do not like me. [applause]

COOPER: Senator Webb?

WEBB: I'd have to say the enemy soldier that threw the grenade that wounded me, but he's not around right now to talk to.

COOPER: All right. Time for closing statements. Each of you will have 90 seconds.

Governor Chafee, let's begin with you.

CHAFEE: Thank you, Anderson. Thank you, CNN. And thank you, Facebook, for sponsoring this debate.

America has many challenges confronting us — ending the perpetual wars, addressing climate change, addressing income inequality, funding education, funding infrastructure, funding healthcare, helping black Americans, helping Native Americans. We have many challenges. Who is best able to confront these challenges?

I've served in government at many levels. I know what it's like to solve problems at the local level because I did it as mayor. I know how to get legislation passed through Congress because I did it as a senator. I know how to turn around a state because I did as governor of Rhode Island.

But what I'm most proud of is that in 30 years of public service, I have had no scandals. I have high ethical standards. And what I'm most proud of is my judgment, particularly in the Iraq war vote. There was a lot of pressure — political pressure, public pressure. But I did my homework and I did not believe that the evidence was there that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. And we live now with the consequences.

So that kind of judgment is what we want in a president going forward. And I'm running for president to end the wars. I want to be the peacemaker. I am a proven peacemaker. Please go to Chafee 2016 to learn more about me. Thank you. [applause]

COOPER: Governor Chafee, thank you very much. Senator Webb, your final statement for 90 seconds.

WEBB: Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, it's been a pleasure to be with you tonight. You've heard a lot of promises up here; you've heard a lot of rhetoric. They all seem to happen during campaigns, and then once the election's over, people start from scratch again and try to get things done.

One of the things I can promise you, if you look at my record, in and out of government, is that I've always been willing to take on a complicated, something unpopular issues, and work them through, the complex issues, and work them through in order to have the solution.

We did it with criminal justice reform. We've had a lot of discussion here about criminal justice reform. We did it in other ways. We need a national political strategy for our economy, for our social policy, for social justice, and, by the way, for how you run and manage the most complex bureaucracy in the world, which is the federal government.

I know how to lead. I did it in Vietnam, I did it in the Pentagon, I did it in the Senate, and if you will help me overcome this cavalcade of — of financial irregularities and money that is poisoning our political process, I am ready to do that for you in the White House.

COOPER: Senator Webb, thank you very much.

Governor O'Malley, you have 90 seconds.

O'MALLEY: Anderson, thank you.

I am very, very grateful to have been able to be on this stage with this distinguished group of candidates tonight. And what you heard tonight, Anderson, was a very, very — and all of you watching at home — was a very, very different debate than from the sort of debate you heard from the two presidential Republican debates. [applause]

On this stage — on this stage, you didn't hear anyone denigrate women, you didn't hear anyone make racist comments about new American immigrants, you didn't hear anyone speak ill of another American because of their religious belief.

What you heard instead on this stage tonight was an honest search for the answers that will move our country forward, to move us to a 100 percent clean electric energy grid by 2050, to take the actions that we have always taken as Americans so that we can actually attack injustice in our country, employ more of our people, rebuild our cities and towns, educate our children at higher and better levels, and include more of our people in the economic, social, and political life of our country.

I truly believe that we are standing on the threshold of a new era of American progress. Unless you've become discouraged about our gridlock in Congress, talk to our young people under 30, because you'll never find among them people that want to bash immigrants or people that want to deny rights to gay couples. [applause]

That tells me we are moving to a more connected, generous, and compassionate place, and we need to speak to the goodness within our country. [applause]

COOPER: Governor O'Malley, thank you very much.

Senator Sanders, final, closing thoughts, 90 seconds.

SANDERS: This is a great country, but we have many, many serious problems. We should not be the country that has the highest rate of childhood poverty of any major country and more wealth and income inequality than any other country.

We should not be the only major country on Earth that does not guarantee health care to all of our people as a right of citizenship and we should not be the only major country that does not provide medical and — and parental leave — family and parental leave to all of our families.

Now, at the end of our day, here is the truth that very few candidates will say, is that nobody up here, certainly no Republican, can address the major crises facing our country unless millions of people begin to stand up to the billionaire class that has so much power over our economy and our political life.

Jim Webb is right: Money is pouring in to this campaign through super PACs. We are doing it the old-fashioned way: 650,000 individual contributions. And if people want to help us out, BernieSanders.com. We are averaging $30 bucks apiece. We would appreciate your help. [applause]

COOPER: Secretary Clinton?

CLINTON: Thank you very much, Anderson. And thanks to all the viewers who tuned in tonight.

I think what you did see is that, in this debate, we tried to deal with some of the very tough issues facing our country. That's in stark contrast to the Republicans who are currently running for president.

What you have to ask yourself is: Who amongst us has the vision for actually making the changes that are going to improve the lives of the American people? Who has the tenacity and the ability and the proven track record of getting that done?

Now, I revere my late mother, and she gave me a lot of good advice. But one of the best pieces of advice she gave me was, you know, the issue is not whether or not you get knocked down. It's whether you get back up.

America's been knocked down. That Great Recession, 9 million people lost their jobs, 5 million lost their homes, $13 trillion in wealth disappeared. And although we've made progress, we're standing but not running the way America needs to.

My mission as president will be to raise incomes for hard-working middle-class families and to make sure that we get back to the basic bargain I was raised with: If you work hard and you do your part, you should be able to get ahead and stay ahead.

Please join me in this campaign. Please come and make it clear that America's best days are still ahead. Thank you very much. [applause]

COOPER: Well, that does it for this Democratic presidential debate. On behalf of everyone at CNN, we want to thank the candidates, our debate partners at Facebook, the Wynn Resort, and the Democratic National Committee. Thanks also to Dana Bash, Juan Carlos Lopez, and Don Lemon. We'll be back in Las Vegas December 15th, when CNN hosts our next Republican presidential debate. That will be moderated by my colleague, Wolf Blitzer.

+ Citation: Presidential Candidates Debates: "Democratic Candidates Debate in Las Vegas, Nevada," October 13, 2015. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=110903. +
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+ 		+ + + + +Presidential Candidates Debates: Republican Candidates Debate in Greenville, South Carolina +
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Republican Candidates Debate in Greenville, South Carolina
February 13, 2016
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PARTICIPANTS:
Former Governor Jeb Bush (FL);
Ben Carson;
Senator Ted Cruz (TX);
Governor John Kasich (OH);
Senator Marco Rubio (FL);
Donald Trump;

MODERATOR:
John Dickerson (CBS News); with
PANELISTS:
Major Garrett (CBS News); and
Kimberly Strassel (The Wall Street Journal)

DICKERSON: Good evening. I'm John Dickerson. This holiday weekend, as America honors our first president, we're about to hear from six men who hope to be the 45th. The candidates for the Republican nomination are here in South Carolina for their ninth debate, one week before this state holds the first-in-the-South primary.

George Washington wrote that the truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains taken to bring it to light. We hope to shed some light on the candidates' positions tonight to help voters make up their minds.

So gentlemen, please join us on stage. [applause]

With us tonight — with us tonight are retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson of Florida, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. [applause]

Businessman Donald Trump of New York. [applause]

Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. [applause]

Former Governor Jeb Bush of Florida. [applause]

And Governor John Kasich of Ohio. [applause]

Now, as most of you have heard by now, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died today at the age of 79. He was the longest-serving member of the court, appointed by President Reagan in 1986. Justice Scalia was the court's leading conservative, and even those who disagreed with his opinions regarded him as a brilliant legal scholar. Please join us and the candidates on our stage in a moment of silence for Justice Antonin Scalia. Thank you.

We will talk to the candidates about Justice Scalia and the road ahead when the debate begins in a moment.

[commercial break]

DICKERSON: Before we get started, candidates, here are the rules. When we ask you a question, you will have one minute to answer, and 30 seconds more if we ask a follow-up. If you're attacked by another candidate, you get 30 seconds to respond.

And here's how we keep time. After we ask a question, you'll get a green light. The yellow light means you have 30 seconds left to finish your answer, and when time is up, the light turns red. That means please stop talking. If you keep talking, you'll hear this.

[bell rings]

You don't want to hear that. Joining me in the questioning tonight, my CBS News colleague, chief White House correspondent Major Garrett, and Kimberley Strassel, who is on the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal.

And you can participate in the debate through our partnership with Twitter. Tweet us your questions and comments using the hashtag "#GOPDebate."

So, let's begin.

First, the death of Justice Scalia, and the vacancy that leaves on the Supreme Court. Mr. Trump, I want to start with you. You've said that the president shouldn't nominate anyone in the rest of his term to replace Justice Scalia. If you were president and had a chance, with 11 months left to go in your term, wouldn't it be an abdication, to conservatives in particular, not to name a conservative justice with the rest of your term?

TRUMP: Well, I can say this. If the president, and if I were president now, I would certainly want to try and nominate a justice. I'm sure that, frankly, I'm absolutely sure that President Obama will try and do it. I hope that our Senate is going to be able — Mitch, and the entire group, is going to be able to do something about it.

In times of delay, we could have a Diane Sykes, or you could have a Bill Pryor — we have some fantastic people. But this is a tremendous blow to conservatism. It's a tremendous blow, frankly, to our country.

DICKERSON: So, just to be clear on this, Mr. Trump, you're O.K. with the president nominating somebody ...

TRUMP: ... I think he's going to do it whether or I'm O.K. with it or not. I think it's up to Mitch McConnell and everybody else to stop it. It's called delay, delay, delay. [applause]

DICKERSON: Governor Kasich, I want to get your thoughts on this. Justice Scalia was a real believer, obviously, in the strict word of the Constitution. Now, Harry Reid says that a failure to fill his vacancy would be, quote, "shameful abdication of one of the Senate's most essential constitutional responsibilities."

Where do you come down on this?

KASICH: Well, John, first of all, if I were president, we wouldn't have the divisions in the country we have today. I do want to take a second as we reflected on Judge Scalia, it's amazing — it's not even two minutes after the death of Judge Scalia, nine children here today, their father didn't wake up. His wife, sad, but I just wish we hadn't run so fast into politics.

Here's my concern about this. The country is so divided right now, and now we're going to see another partisan fight take place. I really wish the president would think about not nominating somebody. If you were to nominate somebody, let's have him pick somebody that's going to have unanimous approval, and such widespread approval across the country that this could happen without a lot of recrimination. I don't think that's going to happen, and I would like the president just to, for once here, put the country first. We're going to have an election for president very soon, and the people will understand what is at stake in that election.

And so I believe the president should not move forward, and I think that we ought to let the next president of the United States decide who is going to run that Supreme Court with a vote by the people of the United...[bell rings]...States of America. [applause]

DICKERSON: Dr. Carson. Dr. Carson, you, like others, put out a statement after the death was announced, and you said the president should delay.

You've written a book on the Constitution recently. What does the Constitution say about whose duty it is here to act in this kind of a situation?

CARSON: Well, the current Constitution actually doesn't address that particular situation, but the fact of the matter is the Supreme Court, obviously, is a very important part of our governmental system. And when our Constitution was put in place, the average age of death was under 50, and therefore the whole concept of lifetime appointments for Supreme Court judges and federal judges was not considered to be a big deal.

Obviously, that has changed, and it's something that probably needs to be looked at pretty carefully at some point. But, we need to start thinking about the divisiveness that is going on in our country. I looked at some of the remarks that people made after finding out that Justice Scalia had died, and they were truly nasty remarks. And that we have managed to get to that position in our country is truly a shame. And we should be thinking about how we could create some healing in this land.

But, right now, we're not going to get healing with President Obama. That's very United Nations clear. So, I...[bell rings]... fully agree that we should not allow a judge to be appointed during his time.

DICKERSON: Senator Rubio, you're a...[applause] Senator Rubio, you're a lawyer. Quickly, can you address the issue of whether the Constitution tells us who has the power to appoint Supreme Court justices?

And then, also, the Senate Republicans last year floated an idea of removing the filibuster for Senate — excuse me, for Supreme Court nominations. You seemed open to that. What's your feeling on that now?

RUBIO: Well, let me first talk about Justice Scalia. His loss is tremendous, and obviously our hearts and prayers go out to his family. He will go down as one of the great justices in the history of this republic.

You talk about someone who defended consistently the original meaning of the Constitution, who understood that the Constitution was not there to be interpreted based on the fads of the moment, but it was there to be interpreted according to its original meaning.

Justice Scalia understood that better than anyone in the history of this republic. His dissent, for example, on the independent counsel case is a brilliant piece of jurist work. And, of course, his dissent on Obergefell as well.

No. 2, I do not believe the president should appoint someone. And it's not unprecedented. In fact, it has been over 80 years since a lame duck president has appointed a Supreme Court justice.

And it remind us of this, how important this election is. Someone on this stage will get to choose the balance of the Supreme Court, and it will begin by filling this vacancy that's there now.

And we need to put people on the bench that understand that the Constitution is not a living and breathing document. It is to be interpreted as originally meant.

DICKERSON: Quickly, though, on this question...[applause]

Very quickly, Senator, on this specific question, though. You were once in favor of dropping the threshold...

[crosstalk]

RUBIO: That's not accurate.

DICKERSON: ... majority — you were never in favor of that?

RUBIO: No, I've never — there has been, for example, today, according to the changes Harry Reid made, appellate judges can now be appointed by a simple majority, but not Supreme Court justices.

And I think today you see the wisdom of why we don't want that to change. Because if that were the case and we were not in charge of the Senate, Harry Reid and Barack Obama would ram down our throat a liberal justice, like the ones Barack Obama has imposed on us already.

DICKERSON: O.K. Thank you, Senator.

Governor Bush, I would like to ask you, conservatives for a long time have felt like that their Republican presidents have picked justices that didn't turn out to be real conservatives.

BUSH: Right.

DICKERSON: Bernie Sanders has said he would have a litmus test. He would make sure that he appointed a justice who was going to overturn Citizens United. If they can have a litmus test for a nominee, what about you? Would you have a litmus test for a nominee? And what would it be?

BUSH: Not on specific issues, not at all. I think the next president — if I'm president, I will appoint people — I'll nominate people that have a proven record in the judiciary.

The problem in the past has been we have appointed people thinking you can get it through the Senate because they didn't have a record. And the problem is that sometimes we're surprised.

The simple fact is the next president needs to appoint someone with a proven conservative record, similar to Justice Scalia, that is a lover of liberty, that believes in limited government, that consistently applied that kind of philosophy, that didn't try to legislator from the bench, that was respectful of the Constitution.

And then fight and fight, and fight for that nomination to make sure that that nomination passes.

Of course, the president, by the way, has every right to nominate Supreme Court justices. I'm an Article II guy in the Constitution. We're running for the president of the United States. We want a strong executive for sure. But in return for that, there should be a consensus orientation on that nomination, and there's no doubt in my mind that Barack Obama will not have a consensus pick when he submits that person to the Senate.

DICKERSON: Right, so, Senator Cruz, the Constitution...[applause] So, Senator Cruz, the Constitution says the president "shall appoint with advice and consent from the Senate," just to clear that up. So he has the constitutional power. But you don't think he should.

Where do you set that date if you're president? Does it begin in election year, in December, November, September? And once you set the date, when you're president, will you abide by that date?

CRUZ: Well, we have 80 years of precedent of not confirming Supreme Court justices in an election year. And let me say, Justice Scalia...

DICKERSON: Just can I — I'm sorry to interrupt, were any appointed in an election year, or is that just there were 80 years...

[crosstalk]

CRUZ: Eighty years of not confirming. For example, L.B.J. nominated Abe Fortas. Fortas did not get confirmed. He was defeated.

DICKERSON: But Kennedy was confirmed in '88.

CRUZ: No, Kennedy was confirmed in '87...

DICKERSON: He was appointed in '87.

CRUZ: He was appointed in...

DICKERSON: ... confirmed in '88. That's the question, is it appointing or confirming, what's the difference?

CRUZ: In this case it's both. But if I could answer the question...

DICKERSON: Sorry, I just want to get the facts straight for the audience. But I apologize. [booing and laughter]

CRUZ: Justice Scalia was a legal giant. He was somebody that I knew for 20 years. He was a brilliant man. He was faithful to the Constitution. He changed the arc of American legal history. And I'll tell you, his passing tonight, our prayers are with his family, with his wife, Maureen, who he adored, his nine children, his 36 grandkids. But it underscores the stakes of this election. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that will strike down every restriction on abortion adopted by the states. We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that will reverse the Heller decision, one of Justice Scalia's seminal decisions, that upheld the Second Amendment right to keep and to bear arms.

We are one justice away from a Supreme Court that would undermine the religious liberty of millions of Americans — and the stakes of this election, for this year, for the Senate, the Senate needs to stand strong and say, "We're not going to give up the U.S. Supreme Court for a generation by allowing Barack Obama to make one more liberal appointee."

And then for the state of South Carolina, one of the most important judgments for the men and women of South Carolina to make is who on this stage has the background, the principle, the character, the judgment and the strength of resolve to nominate and confirm principled constitutionalists to the court? That will be what I will do if I'm elected president.

DICKERSON: All right. [applause]

Thank you, Senator Cruz. All right, we're going to move on to national security here, and we are going to — I want to read a quote from Secretary Robert Gates, former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who served for eight year — under eight presidents.

And this is what he said about Republican candidates, quote, "Part of the concern that I have with the campaign is that the solutions being offered are so simplistic and so at odds with the way the world really works."

So, in that spirit, we're going to work tonight to be more specific.

Mr. Trump, I want to start with you. You have said as president, you'll get up to speed very quickly. You'll know more quickly as president than any of the experts.

So, you've been elected president. It's your first day in the Situation Room. What three questions do you ask your national security experts about the world?

TRUMP: What we want to do, when we want to do it, and how hard do we want to hit? Because we are going to have to hit very, very hard to knock out ISIS.

We're going to also have to learn who our allies are. We have allies, so-called allies, we're spending billions and billions of dollars supporting people — we have no idea who they are in Syria. Do we want to stay that route, or do we want to go and make something with Russia?

I hate to say Iran, but with Russia, because we — and the Iran deal is one of the worst deals I have ever seen negotiated in my entire life. It's a disgrace that this country negotiated that deal. But very important...[applause]

Not only a disgrace, it's a disgrace and an embarrassment. But very important, who are we fighting with? Who are we fighting for? What are we doing? We have to rebuild our country. But we have to — I'm the only one on this stage that said: "Do not go into Iraq. Do not attack Iraq." Nobody else on this stage said that. And I said it loud and strong. And I was in the private sector. I wasn't a politician, fortunately.

But I said it, and I said it loud and clear, "You'll destabilize the Middle East." That's exactly what happened.

I also said, by the way, four years ago, three years ago, attack the oil, take the wealth away, attack the oil and keep the oil. They didn't listen. They just started that a few months ago. [applause]

DICKERSON: Senator Rubio — just 30 seconds on this question, Senator Rubio. Are those the questions you would ask?

RUBIO: No. I think there are three major threats that you want to immediately get on top of. No. 1 is, what are we doing in the Asia-Pacific region, where both North Korea and China pose threats to the national security of the United States.

No. 2 is, what are we doing in the Middle East with the combination of the Sunni-Shia conflict driven by the Shia arc that Iran is now trying to establish in the Middle East, also the growing threat of ISIS.

And the third is rebuilding and reinvigorating NATO in the European theater, particularly in Central Europe and in Eastern Europe, where Vladimir Putin is now threatening the territory of multiple countries, already controls 20 percent of Georgia and a significant percentage of Ukraine.

DICKERSON: Let me ask you a follow-up, a full, proper question, then. [applause]

Violent extremists are operating or active in 40 countries. Some 80 countries are in different degrees of instability. And so, that's just the crises overseas. Barack Obama walked into an economic collapse when he came into office. We face international health crises, from Ebola to Zika.

So, there is a lot of opportunity for crisis, as you have talked about. What would you point to in your past to show voters that you've been in a crisis and that you've been tested when that inevitable crisis comes when you're president?

RUBIO: Well, let me tell you what has happened a couple of years ago. One of the hardest decisions you'll ever make in Congress is when you are asked by the president to authorize the use of force in a conflict, because you are now putting your name, on behalf of the people of your state, behind a military action, where Americans in uniform could lose their life.

So, in 2014, Barack Obama said he would not take military action against Assad unless it was authorized by the Senate, beginning on the Committee of Foreign Relations, where I am one of its members. And it was hard because you looked at the pictures. I saw the same images people saw. I'm the father of children. I saw the images of these little children — been gassed and poisoned by their own leaders, and we were angry. Something had to happen, and there was the sense that we needed to seek retribution.

And then I looked at Barack Obama's plan. Barack Obama's plan, which John Kerry later described as unbelievably small, and I concluded that that attack would not only not help the situation, it would make it actually worse. It would allow Assad to stand up to the United States of America, survive a strike, stay in power and actually strengthen his grip.

So it was a difficult decision to make, and when we only had a few days to look at and make a decision on it, and I voted against Barack Obama's plan to use force, and it was the right decision.

DICKERSON: Dr. Carson, I want to ask you a question...[applause] Dr. Carson, you said you've had more 2 a.m. — 2 a.m. phone calls than anybody up on this stage. But when those 2 a.m. phone calls came, you operated on a foundation of all of that amazing medical work that you did, all of that learning. So if you were to be president, though, you wouldn't have the political foundation that hones those instincts when the 2 a.m. phone call comes. So isn't that a liability?

CARSON: No, it isn't. First of all, let me go back to your first question for me. It wasn't phrased as who gets to nominate Supreme Court appointees. Of course that's the president. So I know that there are some left-wing media who would try to make hay on that.

Secondly, thank you for including me in the debate. Two questions already. This is great. Now, as far...[laughter and applause]...as far as those 2 a.m. phone calls are concerned, judgment is what is required. And the kinds of things that you come up with are sometimes very, very difficult and very unique. One of the things that I was known for is doing things that have not been done before. So no amount of experience really prepares you to do something that has never been done before. That's where judgment comes in.

And that, I think, is a situation that we're in right now, a situation that we have never been in before with the kinds of threats that pose real danger to our nation, and it comes in very handy in those situations.

DICKERSON: Governor Kasich, Russia is being credited...[applause]...Russia is being credited with bombing U.S.-backed rebels on behalf of Assad in Aleppo and Syria. They've also moved into the Crimea, eastern Ukraine. You've said you want to punch them in the nose. What does that mean? What are you going to do?

KASICH: First of all — yes. First of all, look, we have to make it clear to Russia what we expect. We don't have to declare an enemy, rattle a sword or threaten, but we need to make it clear what we expect. No. 1 is we will arm the folks in Ukraine who are fighting for their freedom. They deserve it. There will be no ifs, ands or buts about it.

Secondly, an attack on NATO, trumped up on any excuse of Russian-speaking people, either in the NATO countries or in Finland or Sweden, is going to be an attack on us. And look, I think we have an opportunity as America to put something really great together again.

The Egyptians, the Saudis, the Jordanians, the Gulf states, they all know they're at risk. We need to look into Europe, we look at France, we look at Germany and the migrants. We look at Belgium, we look at Britain. Everybody now is being threatened by radical Islam. We have an opportunity to lead.

You know, the fact of the matter is the world is desperate for our leadership. Sometimes they may — they may make a remark here or there that we don't like, but frankly, the world needs us. And we have an opportunity now to assemble a coalition of the civilized people, those who respect civilization, the rights of women, the rights to protest, to be able to reassert our leadership all across this globe again and make sure this century is going to be the best we've ever seen.

DICKERSON: Governor...[applause]...Governor Bush.

BUSH: Yes.

DICKERSON: You said defeating ISIS requires defeating Assad. But wouldn't that also put us into conflict with Russia, a country that supports Assad? So doesn't that mean, effectively, Assad's there to stay?

BUSH: No, it doesn't, and that's the problem. The lack of leadership in this country by Barack Obama, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, thinking that this is a policy that works, this policy of containment with ISIS. It's a complete, unmitigated disaster. And to allow Russia now to have influence in Syria makes it harder, but we need to destroy ISIS and dispose of Assad to create a stable Syria so that the four million refugees aren't a breeding ground for Islamic jihadists.

This is the problem. Donald Trump brought up the fact that he would — he'd want to accommodate Russia. Russia is not taking out ISIS. They're — they're attacking our — our — our team, the team that we've been training and the team that we've been supporting. It is absolutely ludicrous to suggest that Russia could be a positive partner in this. They are on the run. They are making — every time we step back, they're on the run. The question that you asked was a really good one about what you would do — what three things would you do.

I would restore the military, the sequester needs to be reversed. I would have a strategy to destroy ISIS, and I would immediately create a policy of containment as it relates to Iran's ambitions, and to make it make clear that we are not going to allow for Iran to do what it's doing, which is to move towards a nuclear weapon.

Those three things would be the first and foremost things that we need to do...[bell rings]... in 2017.

DICKERSON: Mr. Trump, you're...[applause]...Mr. Trump, you were mentioned here. You did say that you could get along very well with Vladimir Putin. You did at one point say let Russia take care of ISIS...

TRUMP: ...[inaudible] called me a genius, I like him so far, I have to tell you. Let me just tell you this.

Jeb is so wrong. Jeb is absolutely self — just so you understand, you know what that is? That's Jeb's special interest and lobbyist talking.

Look, let me just tell you something, Jeb — Jeb is so wrong. You got to fight ISIS first. You fight ISIS first. Right now you have Russia, you have Iran, you have them with Assad, and you have them with Syria. You have to knock out ISIS. They're chopping off heads. These are animals. You have to knock 'em out. You have to knock them off strong. You decide what to do after, you can't fight two wars at one time.

If you listen to him, and you listen to some of the folks that I've been listening to, that's why we've been in the Middle East for 15 years, and we haven't won anything. We've spent $5 trillion dollars in the Middle East with thinking like that. We've spent $5...[bell rings]...Lindsey Graham, who backs him, had zero on his polls. Let me just say something — we've spent — we've spent.

I only tell the truth, lobbyists.

We've spent $5 trillion dollars all over the — we have to rebuild our country. We have to rebuild our infrastructure. You listen to that, you're going to be there for another 15...

DICKERSON: ... All right...

TRUMP: ... You'll end up with World War III...

DICKERSON: ... All right, Governor Bush, please respond.

BUSH: The very basic fact is that Vladimir Putin is not going to be an ally of the United States. The whole world knows this. It's a simple, basic fact. [applause]

They're not taking out — they're not even attempting to take out ISIS. They're attacking the troops that we're supporting. We need to create a coalition, Sunni-led coalition on the ground with our special operators to destroy ISIS and bring about stability. And you can't do that with Assad in power. He has...

TRUMP: ... We're supporting troops...

BUSH: ... Let me finish...

TRUMP: ... that we don't even know who they are.

DICKERSON: ... O.K., settle...

BUSH: ... This is ridiculous...

TRUMP: ... We're supporting troops that we don't even know who they are...

DICKERSON: ... All right, Mr. Trump, all right...

TRUMP: We have no idea who they are.

DICKERSON: Gentleman, I think we're going to leave that there. I've got a question for Senator...

BUSH: ... This is coming from a guy who gets his foreign policy from the shows.

TRUMP: ... Oh, yeah, yeah...

BUSH: ... This is a guy who thinks that Hillary Clinton is a great negotiator in Iran...

TRUMP: ... Let 44 million in New Hampshire, it was practically [inaudible]...

BUSH: ... This is a man who insults his way to the nomination...

TRUMP: ... 44 million — give me a break.

[crosstalk]

DICKERSON: ... All right, all right, gentlemen, gentlemen, let's leave it there so I can ask a question of Senator Cruz, who's also running for president. [laughter and applause]

Senator Cruz, you talked about the first Gulf War as being a kind of model for your focused and determined effort to go after ISIS. But there were 700,000 ground troops as a part of that, and you don't have a ground component to your plan. Why?

CRUZ: Well, we need to focus on what the objective is, you know? Your question about the first three questions you would ask in this Situation Room. I think it is a problem if the president, commander in chief, we've elected does not have the experience and background to understand the threats facing this country coming in on Day 1.

If you look at the threats facing this country, the single gravest threat, national security threat, is the threat of a nuclear Iran. That's why I've pledged on Day 1 to rip to shreds this Iranian nuclear deal, and anyone that thinks you can negotiate Khamenei does not understand the nature of Khamenei.

When it comes to ISIS, we've got to have a focused objective. One of the problems of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton's foreign policy, and, sadly, too many establishment Republicans in Washington, is they focus on issues unrelated to protecting this country. They focus on nation building, they focus on toppling governments to promote democracy, and it ends up undermining our national security.

Now, with regard to ISIS, we need a commander in chief that sets the objective we will utterly defeat them because they have declared war. They've declared a jihad on us.

Now, what do we need...[bell rings]...to carry that out. We need overwhelming air power, we need to arm the Kurds, who can be our boots on the ground, and if ground troops are necessary, then we should employ them, but it shouldn't be politicians demonstrating political toughness. It should be military expert judgment carrying out the objectives set out by the commander in chief. [applause]

DICKERSON: Very quickly, 30-second follow-up. You've said that, essentially, the Kurds would be the American ground forces in there. The criticism that experts have on that is that the Kurds only can work within their territory.

If they take larger amounts of territory, you have an ethnic war with the Arabs. So the Kurds can't really do as much as you seem to be putting on their backs.

CRUZ: We have Kurds in both Iraq and Syria. They are fighting ISIS right now. They are winning victories right now. ISIS is using American military equipment they've seized in Iraq. And the Obama administration refuses to arm the Kurds, the pesh merga, the fighting forces who have been longtime allies.

We ought to be arming them and letting them fight. Now, if we need to embed Special Forces to direct our overwhelming air power, if it is required to use ground troops to defeat ISIS, we should use them, but we ought to start with using our incredible air power advantage.

The first Persian Gulf War, we launched 1,100 air attacks a day. Today, we're launching between 15 and 30. We're not using the tools we have, and it's because the commander in chief is not focused on defeating the enemy.

DICKERSON: All right. Mr. Trump...[applause]...On Monday, George W. Bush will campaign in South Carolina for his brother. As you've said tonight, and you've often said, the Iraq war and your opposition to it was a sign of your good judgment.

In 2008, in an interview with Wolf Blitzer, talking about President George W. Bush's conduct of the war, you said you were surprised that Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi didn't try to impeach him.

You said, quote: "Which, personally, I think would have been a wonderful thing." When you were asked what you meant by that and you said: "For the war, for the war, he lied, he got us into the war with lies." Do you still believe President Bush should have been impeached?

TRUMP: First of all, I have to say, as a businessman, I get along with everybody. I have business all over the world. [booing]

I know so many of the people in the audience. And by the way, I'm a self-funder. I don't have — I have my wife and I have my son. That's all I have. I don't have this. [applause]

So let me just tell you, I get along with everybody, which is my obligation to my company, to myself, et cetera.

Obviously, the war in Iraq was a big, fat mistake. All right? Now, you can take it any way you want, and it took — it took Jeb Bush, if you remember at the beginning of his announcement, when he announced for president, it took him five days.

He went back, it was a mistake, it wasn't a mistake. It took him five days before his people told him what to say, and he ultimately said, "It was a mistake." The war in Iraq, we spent $2 trillion, thousands of lives, we don't even have it. Iran has taken over Iraq, with the second-largest oil reserves in the world.

Obviously, it was a mistake.

DICKERSON: So...

TRUMP: George Bush made a mistake. We can make mistakes. But that one was a beauty. We should have never been in Iraq. We have destabilized the Middle East.

DICKERSON: But so I'm going to — so you still think he should be impeached?

BUSH: I think it's my turn, isn't it?

TRUMP: You do whatever you want. You call it whatever you want. I want to tell you. They lied. They said there were weapons of mass destruction, there were none. And they knew there were none. There were no weapons of mass destruction. [booing]

DICKERSON: All right. O.K. All right.

Governor Bush — when a member on the stage's brother gets attacked...

BUSH: I've got about five or six...

DICKERSON: ... the brother gets to respond.

BUSH: Do I get to do it five or six times or just once, responding to that?

TRUMP: I'm being nice.

BUSH: So here's the deal. I'm sick and tired of Barack Obama blaming my brother for all of the problems that he has had. [applause]

And, frankly, I could care less about the insults that Donald Trump gives to me. It's blood sport for him. He enjoys it. And I'm glad he's happy about it. But I am sick and tired...

TRUMP: He spent $22 million in...

[crosstalk]

BUSH: I am sick and tired of him going after my family. My dad is the greatest man alive in my mind. [applause]

And while Donald Trump was building a reality TV show, my brother was building a security apparatus to keep us safe. And I'm proud of what he did. [applause]

And he has had the gall to go after my brother.

TRUMP: The World Trade Center came down during your brother's reign, remember that. [booing]

BUSH: He has had the gall to go after my mother.

Hold on. Let me finish. He has had the gall to go after my mother.

TRUMP: That's not keeping us safe.

BUSH: Look, I won the lottery when I was born 63 years ago, looked up, and I saw my mom. My mom is the strongest woman I know.

TRUMP: She should be running.

BUSH: This is not about my family or his family. This is about the South Carolina families that need someone to be a commander in chief that can lead. I'm that person.

DICKERSON: Governor Kasich, would you weigh in on...[applause]...Governor Kasich, please weigh in.

KASICH: I've got to tell you, this is just crazy, huh? [laughter] This is just nuts, O.K.? Jeez, oh, man. I'm sorry, John.

DICKERSON: Why is it nuts? Talk about it. Give us your sense of...

KASICH: Oh, well, listen, I think being in Iraq, look, we thought there were weapons of mass destruction. Colin Powell, who is one of the most distinguished generals in modern time, said there were weapons there. [applause]

But, but, the fact is we got ourselves in the middle of a civil war. The Sunni, the Shia and the Kurds, never gotten along. In fact, that country was drawn — the borders of that country were drawn after World War I by Westerners that didn't understand what was happening there. The tragedy of it is that we're still embroiled. And, frankly, if there weren't weapons of mass destruction, we should never have gone. I don't believe the United States should involve itself in civil wars. Civil wars are not in our direct interest, and if you — and look, I served on a defense committee for 18 years and was called into the Pentagon after 9/11 by Secretary Rumsfeld to deal with some of the most serious problems that we faced.

The fact is, is that we should go to war when it is our direct interest. We should not be policemen of the world, but when we go, we mean business. We'll do our job. We'll tell our soldiers, our people in the service, take care of your job and then come home once we've accomplished our goals.

That's what we need to do.

DICKERSON: Thirty seconds, Senator Rubio.

RUBIO: I just want to say, at least on behalf of me and my family, I thank God all the time it was George W. Bush in the White House on 9/11 and not Al Gore. [applause]

And you can — I think you can look back in hindsight and say a couple of things, but he kept us safe. And not only did he keep us safe, but no matter what you want to say about weapons of mass destruction, Saddam Hussein was in violation of U.N. resolutions, in open violation, and the world wouldn't do anything about it, and George W. Bush enforced what the international community refused to do.

And again, he kept us safe, and I am forever grateful to what he did for this country. [applause]

TRUMP: How did he keep us safe when the World Trade Center — the World — excuse me. I lost hundreds of friends. The World Trade Center came down during the reign of George Bush. He kept us safe? That is not safe. That is not safe, Marco. That is not safe.

RUBIO: The World Trade Center came down because Bill Clinton didn't kill Osama bin Laden when he had the chance to kill him. [applause]

TRUMP: And George Bush — by the way, George Bush had the chance, also, and he didn't listen to the advice of his C.I.A.

DICKERSON: All right, Dr. Carson, we have a cleansing...

BUSH: Can I just...

DICKERSON: We have a cleansing...

BUSH: I'm not going to invite Donald Trump to the rally in Charleston on Monday afternoon when my brother is coming to speak.

TRUMP: I don't want to go. [laughter]

BUSH: I'm rescinding the invitation. I thought you might want to come, but I guess not.

DICKERSON: All right. Well, Dr. Carson, I have got a question now for you.

A moment of pause here. You have said, Dr. Carson, that — referring to yourself, that people bought into the idea that, quote, "A nice person can't be tough on terrorists."

You have called for loosening the rules of engagement for the military, which could lead to more civilian casualties.

So, explain why those casualties would be acceptable in the fight against ISIS?

CARSON: Well, first of all, let me just address the Iraq question.

You know, I was not particularly in favor of us going to war in Iraq, primarily because I have studied, you know, the Middle East, recognizing that those are nations that are ruled by dictators and have been for thousands of years. And when you go in and you remove one of those dictators, unless you have an appropriate plan for replacing them, you're going to have chaos.

Now, fortunately, we were able to stabilize the situation, and it was the current administration that turned tail and ran and destabilized the situation. [applause]

Now, having said that, in terms of the rules of engagement, I was talking about, you know, Obama has said, you know, we shouldn't bomb tankers, you know, coming out of refineries because there may be people in there, or because the environment may be hurt.

You know, that's just asinine thinking. And the fact of the matter is...[applause]

You know, we — obviously, you're not going to accomplish all of your goals without some collateral damage. You have to be able to assess what is acceptable and what is not.

DICKERSON: All right, thank you, Dr. Carson.

We're going to have to take a commercial break here. Thank you to all the candidates. We'll be right back with CBS News's 2016 debate in Greenville, South Carolina. [applause]

[commercial break]

DICKERSON: We're back with the Republicans who could be president. The topic now is money and how the candidates would spend it. We'll turn the questioning over to Kimberley Strassel of The Wall Street Journal and Major Garrett of CBS News. Kim?

STRASSEL: Mr. Trump.

TRUMP: Yes.

STRASSEL: You have made a lot of promises and you have also — you're the only candidate who has said he would not touch entitlements. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has estimated that your ideas would cost an additional $12 trillion to $15 trillion over the next 10 years and that we would have to have annual economic growth of anywhere from 7.7 percent to 9 percent annually to pay for them. Are you proposing more than you can actually deliver, at least not without big deficits?

TRUMP: First of all, the — when you say I'm the only candidate, if you listen to the Democrats, they want to do many things to Social Security, and I want to do them on its own merit. You listen to them, what they want to do to Social Security, none of these folks are getting elected, O.K., whether they can do it or not. I'm going to save Social Security. I'm going to bring jobs back from China. I'm going to bring jobs back from Mexico and from Japan, where they're all — every country throughout the world — now Vietnam, that's the new one.

They are taking our jobs. They are taking our wealth. They are taking our base. And you and I have had this discussion. We're going to make our economy strong again. I'm lowering taxes. We have $2.5 trillion offshore. We have 2.5 trillion that I think is actually five trillion because the government has no idea when they say 2.5, they have no idea what they're doing or saying, as they've proven very well.

We're going to bring that money back. You take a look at what happened just this week. China bought the Chicago Stock Exchange, China, a Chinese company. Carrier is moving to Mexico, air conditioning company. Not only the ones I talk about all the time, Nabisco and Ford and — they're all moving out.

We have an economy that last quarter, G.D.P. didn't grow. It was flat. We have to make our economy grow again. We're dying. This country is dying. And our workers are losing their jobs, and you're going...

STRASSEL: But in terms of...

TRUMP: I'm the only one who is going to save Social Security, believe me.

STRASSEL: O.K. But how would you actually do that? Can I ask you? Because right now, Social Security and Medicare...

TRUMP: Because you have tremendous waste. I'll tell you...

STRASSEL: They take up two-thirds of the federal budget, and they're growing.

TRUMP: You have tremendous waste, fraud and abuse. That we're taking care of. That we're taking care of. It's tremendous. We have in Social Security right now thousands and thousands of people that are over 106 years old. Now, you know they don't exist. They don't exist. There's tremendous waste, fraud and abuse, and we're going to get it. But we're not going to hurt the people who have been paying into Social Security their whole life and then all of a sudden they're supposed to get less. We're bringing our jobs back. We're going to make our economy great again.

GARRETT: Senator Cruz. [applause]

John mentioned this is about dollars and incentives. We also want to talk about economic growth engagements. You have proposed a consumption tax, you called it the "back tax." Some analysts compare it more to an attributed "value-added tax."

From the perspective from economic growth in building wages, how does that work, and how would you address those longstanding conservative concerns that something approaching the "value-added tax" would be used to constantly increase those rates to pay for future government spending and become an escalator of taxation, not of growth?

CRUZ: Well, let me say it at the outset that everyone here understands — everyone understands that how — that the middle class has been left behind in the last seven years of the Obama economy, and we've got to bring jobs back. We've got to get people back to work. We've got to get wages going up again. We've got to get people moving from part-time work to full-time work.

We all agree on that, but it's not going to be solved with magic pixie dust. It's just going to be solved by declaring into the air, "Let there be jobs." We actually have to understand the principles that made America great in the first place.

Now, where do you get economic growth? If you look at cause and effect over our nation's history, every time we lessen the burden of Washington on small-business owners, on job creators, we see incredible economic growth. You do that through tax reform and regulatory reform.

My tax plan — typical family of four, first $36,000 you earn, you pay nothing in taxes — no income taxes, no payroll taxes, no nothing. Above 10 percent, everyone pays the same simple, flat 10 percent income rate. It's flat and fair. You can fill out your taxes on a postcard, and we abolish the I.R.S. If you want to see the postcard, I've got it on my website.

GARRETT: Now, the question — conservatives have sort of this idea conceptually for a long time, but especially on this consumption value-added tax system. In Europe, where it exists, it has become an escalator of taxation to feed government spending, and that's why conservatives have long resisted it. Why and what would you do as president to make sure that doesn't happen?

CRUZ: Now, Major, the business flat tax that is in my tax plan is not a VAT. A VAT in Europe is a sales tax. The business flat tax is not a sales tax, it is a tax of 16 percent opposed fairly and evenly across the board on all business.

One of the things that's critical is we're doing that in conjunction with abolishing the corporate income tax, with abolishing the Obamacare taxes, with abolishing the payroll taxes, which are the biggest taxes paid by most working Americans, and with abolishing the death tax, which is cruel and unfair. And you asked about economic growth — the nonpartisan Tax Foundation estimated a simple flat tax that would produce 4.9 million new jobs, it would increase capital investment by 44 percent and would lift everyone's income by double digits.

That's how you turn the country around, not just hoping and praying for it, but implementing policies that work.

STRASSEL: O.K., I have a question, a related tax question.

Senator Rubio, you have the highest tax rate of anyone up on the stage in terms of the top tax rates, 35 percent. Some economists say, "It would limit its potential to boost economic growth." You do that so that you will have more revenue to pay for a tripling of the Child Tax Credit.

Normally, it's liberals who like to use the tax code to insert social policy. Why should conservatives who want to tax adopt the other side's approach?

RUBIO: Well, because I'm influencing social policy — this is their money. This is the money of parents. You don't earn the tax credit unless you're working. That's your money, it doesn't belong to government.

Here's what I don't understand. If a business takes their money and they invest in the piece of the equipment, they get to write off their taxes. But if a parent takes money that they have earned to work and invests in their children, they don't? This makes no sense.

Parenting is the most important job any of us will ever have. Family formation is the most important thing in society. So what my tax plan does, is it does create, especially for working families, an additional Child Tax Credit. So that parents who are working get to keep more of their own money, not the government's money, to invest in their children to go to school, to go to a private school, to buy a new backpack.

Let me tell you, if you're a parent that's struggling, then you know that $50 a month is the difference between a new pair of shoes this month or not getting a new pair of shoes for your kids. I'm going to have a tax plan that is pro-family, because the family is the most important institution in society. You cannot have a strong country without strong families. [applause]

STRASSEL: Governor Kasich, this on is on size of government. In 2013, you pushed through a Medicaid reform in your state over the rejections of many of the Republicans in your state. Total enrollment and overall cost of program have gone well beyond what anyone had expected, including yourself. How can you argue that this overall growth fits in with conservative ambition to significantly cut back on the size of federal welfare programs?

KASICH: Yeah. Well, first of all, those numbers, incorrect. We are — our Medicaid programs are coming in below cost estimates, and our Medicaid program in the second year grew at 2.5 percent.

And Kimberley, let me tell you, when we expand Medicaid and we treat the mentally ill, then they don't live under a bridge or live in a prison, where they cost $22,500 a year.

When we take the drug addicted and we treat them in the prisons, we stop the revolving door of people in and out of prisons, and we save $22,500 a year.

Guess what else? They get their lives back. And the working poor, they're now getting health care. And you know that about a third of the people who are now getting that health care are people who are suffering very serious illnesses, particularly cancer.

So, what I would tell you is, we've gone from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. We've cut taxes by more than any governor in America by $5 billion. We have grown the number of jobs by 400,000 private-sector jobs since I've been governor.

Our credit is strong. Our pensions are strong. And frankly, we leave no one behind. Economic growth is not an end unto itself. We want everyone to rise, and we will make them personally responsible for the help that they get.

And that is exactly the program we're driving in Ohio. And, boy, people ought to look at Ohio, because it has got a good formula. [applause]

GARRETT: Governor Bush, a question for you — but if you want to jump in, please.

BUSH: I'd like — can I — can I...

GARRETT: Jump in, and then I've got a question for you.

BUSH: Look, I admire the fact that Governor Kasich is supporting spending more money on drug treatment and mental health. I think that's a high priority all across this country, but expanding Obamacare is what we're talking about, and Obamacare's expansion, even though the federal government is paying for the great majority of it, is creating further debt on the backs of our children and grandchildren. We should be fighting Obamacare, repealing Obamacare, replacing it with something totally different. [applause]

When I was — as a private citizen, Florida was confronted with the choice. The governor was supportive of doing what John did. So was the Florida Senate. A committed speaker of the House asked me to go as a private citizen to make the case against the expansion.

I did, and it wasn't expanded there, just as it wasn't expanded in South Carolina under Governor Haley.

[crosstalk]

GARRETT: Real quickly, jump in, because I have got a question for Governor Bush, but jump in.

KASICH: Yeah, let me say a couple of things.

First of all, when Jeb was governor, his first four years as governor, he expand — his Medicaid program grew twice as fast as mine. O.K.? It's just a fact.

Now, with Obamacare, I've not only sued the administration, I did not set up an exchange. And he knows that I'm not for Obamacare, never have been. But here's what's interesting about Medicaid.

You know who expanded Medicaid five times to try to help the folks and give them opportunity so that you could rise and get a job? President Ronald Reagan.

Now, the fact of the matter is, we expanded to get people on their feet, and once they're on their feet, we are giving them the training and the efforts that they need to be able to get work and pull out of that situation.

GARRETT: Understood, Governor Kasich.

KASICH: That's what we're doing in our state.

BUSH: South Carolina — South Carolinians need to know this, because the Cato Institute, which grades governors based on their spending, rank him right at the bottom.

GARRETT: Yeah, Governor Bush, fine.

BUSH: And Governor Haley is ranked at the top.

[crosstalk]

GARRETT: Let me get in a question from...

BUSH: No. He mentioned my name.

GARRETT: I understand, I understand.

BUSH: Let me finish, though. No, no, no — hey, wait, wait, wait. Just hold, Major, hold, Major. Hold on, Major.

[crosstalk]

BUSH: South Carolinians want to make that, they elect the most conservative governor or candidate that can win.

KASICH: Let me — let's tell you...

GARRETT: I have a question on economic growth, Governor Bush. [applause]

KASICH: Major — Major, we can't — we've got to — look, I have got to correct the record. And the fact of the matter is, we went from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. We're up 400,000 jobs. Our credit is rock solid.

And I don't know...

GARRETT: A [inaudible], Governor.

KASICH: Look, the bottom line is the people of this — of this country and this state want to see everybody rise, and they want to see unity, and I don't want to get into all this fighting tonight, because people are frankly sick of the negative campaigning.

GARRETT: I know, understood. Governor Bush.

KASICH: And I'm going to stay positive about what I want to do from the... [applause]

GARRETT: Governor Bush, from the perspective, economic growth — viewed from this perspective of economic growth, you have proposed a tax on hedge fund managers.

The Americans for Tax Reform, a conservative tax group you're probably aware of, has said no Republican should be for higher taxes on capital gains. And many conservatives wonder if this proposal of yours would undermine not only that philosophy, but undercut your projection of 4 percent economic growth annually under your presidency?

BUSH: Of course not. It won't have an impact on hedge funds managers paying ordinary income. In fact, it's not just hedge fund people, but people that are doing — they're in the business of investing other people's money, getting capital gains treatment is not appropriate.

They should be paying ordinary income. That's their business. They're grateful to be able to make a lot of money, I'm sure. And what we do is lower the rates. It's not the end of the world that private equity people and hedge fund folks that are, right now, getting capital gains treatment for the income they earn, pay ordinary income like everybody else in this room. That's not a problem at all. What we need to do is reform the tax code to simplify the rates, to shift power away from Washington, D.C. That's what I did as governor of the state of Florida, $19 billion dollars of tax cuts, and it stimulated seven out of the eight years. Florida led the nation in job growth. [applause]

DICKERSON: Dr. Carson, before we go to break, could you give us your sense of this conversation about either Medicaid or economic growth through taxation?

CARSON: Well, first of all, let me just mention on the tax issue. Bencarson.com, go read about it, because my tax plan has been praised by Cato, by Wall Street Journal. Forbes said it is the best, the most pro-growth tax plan, and it's based on real fairness for everybody. Starts at the 150 percent poverty level, but even the people below that have to pay something, because everybody has to have skin in the game, and the millions of people can't, you know, talk about what other people have to pay and have no skin in the game.

And it deals with corporate tax rate, and makes it the same as everybody else...[bell rings]...everybody pays exactly the same.

DICKERSON: Doctor...

CARSON: ... And, as far as Medicare and Medicaid, my main goal is to get rid of Obamacare and put the care back in the hands of [inaudible]...

GARRETT: ... Dr. Carson...

DICKERSON: ... Dr. Carson, I'm sorry, we have to go to a commercial. The free market wants what it wants.

Back soon with the 2016 Republican debate in Greenville, South Carolina.

[commercial break]

DICKERSON: Welcome back. We'll begin the second half of the debate with one of the hottest issues in the Republican campaign, immigration. But before I turn it back to Major Garrett and Kim Strassel, I have one question for Mr. Trump.

Mr. Trump, in the Republican National Committee's Spanish-language response to the State of the Union, Congressman Diaz-Balart said, quote, "It's essential that we find a legislative solution," talking about immigration, "to offer a permanent and humane solution to those who live in the shadows. What does that mean to you, "a humane solution to those who live in the shadows"?

TRUMP: I want everybody taken care of, but we have to take care of our people in this country. We're not taking care of our people. We have no border. We have no control. People are flooding across. We can't have it. We either have a border, and I'm very strongly — I'm not proposing. I will build a wall. I will build a wall.

Remember this, the wall will be paid for by Mexico. We are not being treated right. [applause]

We are not being treated properly. If we don't have borders, if we don't have strength, we don't have a country. People are flowing across. We have to take care of our people. Believe me.

GARRETT: Senator Rubio... [applause]

For the purposes of the lines — lines you would draw legislatively as a president on immigration reform, define amnesty.

RUBIO: Well, first of all, I think amnesty is the forgiveness of a wrongdoing without consequence and that — I've never supported that. I do not support that. I think there has to be consequences for violating our immigration laws. What I think is clear about this issue to begin with is we're not going to be able to make progress on illegal immigration until first, illegal immigration is brought under control.

You go back to 1986, when they legalized three million people and they promised to secure the border. It didn't happen, and as a result, people have lost trust in the federal government. It is now clear that the only way to make progress on immigration is not just to pass a law that enforces the law, but actually prove to people that it's working.

They want to see the wall built. They want to see the additional border agents. They want to see E-Verify. They want to see an entry-exit tracking system. Forty percent of the people in this country illegally are entering legally and overstaying visas. And only after all of that is in place, then we'll see what the American people are willing to support on this issue.

I think the American people will be very reasonable, but responsible, about how you handle someone who has been here a long time, who can pass a background check, who pays a fine and starts paying taxes and all they want is a work permit. But you can't do any of that until you prove to people that illegal immigration is under control once and for all. [applause]

STRASSEL: Senator Cruz. Senator Cruz, you have promised to deport illegal aliens. You have also promised to reverse President Obama's executive action that gives temporary amnesty to illegals brought here by their parent as children. As president, you would have the names and addresses of the some 800,000 of those that have registered under that action. Now, you have said that in this country, we shouldn't go door to door, look for illegals, but in this case you would have a list. Would you use it?

CRUZ: Well, you know, your question highlights a sharp difference on immigration on this stage. You know, in a Republican primary, everyone talks tough on immigration. Everyone is against illegal immigration in a Republican primary. But as voters, we've been burned over and over again by people that give us a great campaign speech and they don't walk the walk.

There are sharp differences on amnesty. If you look at the folks on this stage, when Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer and establishment Republicans were leading the fight to pass a massive amnesty plan, I stood with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and the American people and led the fight to defeat that amnesty plan. [applause]

STRASSEL: So would you — would you use the addresses?

CRUZ: Now, that moment...

STRASSEL: Would you pick them up?

CRUZ: That moment was what Reagan would call "a time for choosing." When it comes to deciding which side of the line you're on, the Rubio-Schumer amnesty plan...[booing]...apparently supported by the donor class, which is why Washington supported it. The Rubio-Schumer amnesty plan passed the Senate, and it was on the verge of passing the House.

House leadership intended to take it up and pass it with the Democrats overruling most of the Republicans. And the question for anyone on illegal immigration is, where were you in that fight? Where did you stand?

You are right. There is a difference between Senator Rubio and me on this question.

[crosstalk]

STRASSEL: Senator Rubio, your reply.

RUBIO: We're going to have to do this again, O.K.? When that issue was being debated, Ted Cruz, at a committee hearing, very passionately said, I want immigration reform to pass, I want people to be able to come out of the shadows. And he proposed an amendment that would legalized people here.

Not only that, he proposed doubling the number of green cards. He proposed a 500 percent increase on guest workers. Now his position is different. Now he is a passionate opponent of all those things.

So he either wasn't telling the truth then or he isn't telling the truth now, but to argue he is a purist on immigration is just not true. [applause]

CRUZ: Major, I get a response to that.

GARRETT: Very quickly, Senator Cruz.

STRASSEL: All right. Senator Cruz. Your response, Senator Cruz.

CRUZ: You know, the lines are very, very clear. Marco right now supports citizenship for 12 million people here illegally. I oppose citizenship. Marco stood on the debate stage and said that.

But I would note not only that — Marco has a long record when it comes to amnesty. In the state of Florida, as speaker of the house, he supported in-state tuition for illegal immigrants. In addition to that, Marco went on Univision in Spanish and said he would not rescind President Obama's illegal executive amnesty on his first day in office.

I have promised to rescind every single illegal executive action, including that one.

[applause and booing]

And on the question...

[crosstalk]

RUBIO: Well, first of all, I don't know how he knows what I said on Univision, because he doesn't speak Spanish. And second of all, the other point that I would make...

CRUZ: [in Spanish].

RUBIO: Look, this is a disturbing pattern now, because for a number of weeks now, Ted Cruz has just been telling lies. He lied about Ben Carson in Iowa. [applause]

He lies about Planned Parenthood. He lies about marriage. He's lying about all sorts of things. And now he makes things up. The bottom line is this is a campaign and people are watching it. And they see the truth behind all these issues.

And here is the truth, Ted Cruz supported legalizing people that were in this country...

CRUZ: That is simply...

[crosstalk]

RUBIO: ... and only now does he say...

[crosstalk]

CRUZ: That is absolutely false. What he said is knowingly false. And I would note, if you want to assess — if you want to assess...

RUBIO: Well, we'll put on our website, marcorubio.com. We're going to...

[crosstalk]

CRUZ: ... who is telling the truth...

[crosstalk]

If you want to assess who is telling the truth...[applause]...then you should look to Jeff Sessions, who said, without Ted Cruz the Rubio-Schumer amnesty bill would have passed, and Ted was responsible. You should look to Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin, that said...

[crosstalk]

GARRETT: Governor Bush, I want to bring this out to a little wider philosophical aspect, if you will.

BUSH: Thank you.

GARRETT: You have said illegal immigrants, quote, "broke the law, but it's not a felony," still quoting you, "it's an act of love, it's an act of commitment to your family."

Mr. Trump has, as you are well aware, denounced that statement over and over. Do you still believe it? What does that mean to you? And how does that inform your approach to immigration reform?

BUSH: Great question. I feel like I have to get into my inner Chris Christie, and point out that the reason why I should be president is listening to two senators talk about arcane amendments to bills that didn't pass. [applause]

This is — this is the problem. We need a leader to fix this problem. And I have a detailed plan to do just that, including controlling the border, dealing with the visa over-stayers, making sure that we have a path to legal status, not to citizenship, for those that come out from the shadows and pay a fine, learn English, don't commit crimes, work and pay taxes.

That is the better approach.

GARRETT: Fundamentally, do you believe this rhetoric is insufficiently compassionate to this issue?

BUSH: The great majority of people that come to this country come because they have no other choice. They want to come to provide for their families. That doesn't mean it's right. That doesn't mean it's right.

We should pick who comes to our country. We should control our border. Coming here legally should be a lot easier than coming here illegally. But the motivation, they're not all rapists, as you-know-who said. They're not that.

These are people that are coming to provide for their families. And we should show a little more respect for the fact that they're struggling. It doesn't mean we shouldn't be controlling the border. That's exactly what we should be doing.

GARRETT: Mr. Trump...

TRUMP: Look...[applause]...When I announced that I was running for president on June 16th, illegal immigration wasn't even a subject. If I didn't bring it up, we wouldn't even be talking. Now, I don't often agree with Marco, and I don't often agree with Ted, but I can in this case. The weakest person on this stage by far on illegal immigration is Jeb Bush. They come out of an act of love, whether you like it or not. He is so weak on illegal immigration it's laughable, and everybody knows it.

BUSH: ... So, you know...[bell rings]...This is the standard operating procedure, to disparage me. That's fine...

TRUMP: ... Spend a little more money on the commercials...

BUSH: ... But, if you want to talk about weakness, you want to talk about weakness? It's weak to disparage women. [applause]

TRUMP: [inaudible]. I don't know what you're talking about.

BUSH: It's weak to denigrate the disabled. And,it's really weak to call John McCain a loser because he was a...

TRUMP: ... I never called him — I don't call him..

BUSH: ... That is outrageous. The guy's an American hero. [applause]

TRUMP: He also said about language...

BUSH: ... The simple fact is I've also laid out my plans on [inaudible] immigration...

TRUMP: ... Language. Two days ago he said he would take his pants off and moon everybody, and that's fine. Nobody reports that. He gets up and says that, and then he tells me, oh, my language was a little bit rough...

STRASSEL: ... O.K....

TRUMP: ... My language. Give me a break...

GARRETT: ... Governor Kasich, here in South Carolina earlier this week, you said the idea, the concept of deporting 11 million undocumented workers...

BUSH: [inaudible] Just, for the record [inaudible] make sure my mother's listening, if she's watching the debate. I didn't say that I was going to moon somebody...

TRUMP: ... You did say it, you did say it. Been reported in 10 different news...

GARRETT: ... We will leave the moon metaphors to be adjudicated later, I assure you. Governor Kasich, you said earlier this week in South Carolina, the concept, the idea of deporting 11 million undocumented workers in this country is nuts. Why is it you are so opposed to that idea? Senator Cruz has said it's a simple application of existing law. The application of that is not inhumane, it is just. Why do you disagree?

KASICH: Before I get to that, this is the ninth or 10th debate. What I've been watching here, this back and forth, and these attacks, some of them are personal. I think we're fixing to lose the election to Hillary Clinton if we don't stop this. [applause]

I mean, the fact is — you know what? I would suggest, why don't we take off all the negative ads and all the negative comments down from television and let us just talk about what we're for, and let's sell that, and the Republican Party will be stronger as a result...

GARRETT: ... What are you for on immigration?

KASICH: ... [off mike] [inaudible] First of all, I'm for sealing the border, O.K.? And then I'm for a guest worker program. People can come in, work and go back home. We haven't closed the border because special interests, I believe, blocked it. Then, we have 11 and a half million people here. If they have not committed a crime since they've been here, make them pay a fine and some back taxes, and give them a path to legalization, never to citizenship.

It is not going to happen that we're going to run around and try to drag 11 and a half million people out of their homes.

I'll tell you this. Within the first hundred days, I will send a plan like this to the Congress of the United States, and if I'm president, I'll bet you dollar to doughnuts right now, it will pass.

[bell rings]

That is a reasonable proposal that the people of this country, in my judgment, will support, and so will the bulk of the Congress of the United States. [applause]

STRASSEL: Moving subjects. Dr. Carson, this week Morgan Stanley agreed to pay a $3.2 billion fine to state and federal authorities for contributing to the mortgage crisis. You have a lot of Democrats out saying that we should be jailing more executives, so two questions.

Should financial executives be held legally responsible for financial crisis, and do you think fines like these are an effective way to deter companies from future behavior like that?

CARSON: Well, first of all, please go to my website, bencarson.com, and read my immigration policy, O.K.? Because it actually makes sense.

Now, the — as far as these fines are concerned, you know? Here's the big problem. We've got all these government regulators, and all they're doing is running around looking for people to fine. And we've got 645 different federal agencies and sub-agencies. Way, way too many, and they don't have anything else to do.

I think what we really need to do is start trimming the regulatory agencies rather than going after the people who are trying to increase the viability, economic viability of our society. Now, that doesn't mean there aren't some people out there who are doing bad things. But I'm not sure that the way to solve that problem is by increasing all the regulatory burden. You know, when you consider how much regulations cost us each year, you know? $2 trillion dollars per family, $24,000 per family, that happens to be the same level as the poverty level...[bell rings]... for a family of four. If you want to get rid of poverty, get rid of all the regulations.

DICKERSON: Senator Cruz, I have a question for you. Speaker Paul Ryan has made a big commitment to trying to lift the 50 million poor out of poverty. Arthur Brooks, who is the president of the American Enterprise Institute, says, quote, "If we are not warriors for the poor every day, free enterprise has no matter." How you have been, in your campaign, a warrior for the poor?

CRUZ: I think it is a very important question because the people who have been hurt the most in the Obama economy had been the most vulnerable. It's been young people. It's been Hispanics. It's been African-Americans. It's been single moms. We have the lowest percentage of Americans working today in any year since 1977.

And the sad reality is big government, massive taxes, massive regulation, doesn't work. What we need to do instead is bring back booming economic growth, let — small businesses are the heart of the economy. Two-thirds of all new jobs come from small businesses. If we want to lift people out of poverty — you know, I think of these issues from the perspective of my dad.

My dad fled Cuba in 1957. He was just 18. He couldn't speak English. He had nothing. He had $100 in his underwear. And he washed dishes making 50 cents an hour and paid his way through school. Today, my dad is a pastor. He travels the country preaching the gospel.

Now, I think about all of these issues. How would it impact my dad when he was washing dishes? If we had Obamacare in place right now, the odds are very high my father would have been laid off, because it's teenaged kids like my dad who have gotten laid off. If he didn't get laid off, the odds are high he would have had his hours forcibly reduced to 28, 29 hours a week.

We need to lift the burdens on small businesses so you have jobs, and we need welfare reform that gets people off of welfare and back to work.

GARRETT: Mr. Trump — Mr. Trump. [applause]

I was with you in Pendleton, South Carolina, earlier this week at the Rodeo Arena. It was a bit chilly there. You promised the crowd, and they rose to their feet, that if Ford or a company like were to move a factory to Mexico, you would try to stop it or threaten them with a 35 percent tax or tariff on every car sold.

TRUMP: Or a tax.

GARRETT: Right. So my question is, based on your understanding of the presidency, where do you derive that power? Would you need the consent of Congress to go along? And do you see the presidency as a perch from which you can cajole and/or threaten private industry to do something you think is better for the U.S. economy?

TRUMP: I would build consensus with Congress, and Congress would agree with me. I'll give you an example, because I don't like the idea of using executive orders like our president. It is a disaster what he's doing. I would build consensus, but consensus means you have to work hard. You have to cajole. You have to get them into the Oval Office and get them all together, and you have to make deals.

Let me just tell you, I mentioned before, China — big Chinese company bought the Chicago Exchange. Kerry is moving — and if you saw the people, because they have a video of the announcement that Carrier is moving to Mexico, O.K.?

Well, I'll tell you what. I would go right now to Carrier and I would say I am going to work awfully hard. You're going to make air conditioners now in Mexico. You're going to get all of these 1,400 people that are being laid off — they're laid off. They were crying. They were — it was a very sad situation. You're going to go to Mexico. You're going to make air conditioners in Mexico, you're going to put them across our border with no tax.

I'm going to tell them right now, I am going to get consensus from Congress and we're going to tax you when those air conditioners come. So stay where you are or build in the United States, because we are killing ourselves with trade pacts that are no good for us and no good for our workers. [applause]

DICKERSON: All right. Mr. Trump, thank you so much. We're going to take a break for a moment. We'll be back in a moment with the CBS News Republican debate.

[commercial break]

DICKERSON: We're back now from Greenville, South Carolina, with the candidates for the Republican presidential nomination.

Mr. Trump, I have a question for you. Presidents have to, on the one hand, be firm, but also be flexible.

You have been flexible and changed your opinion on a number of things, from abortion to Hillary Clinton. But you have said, rightly, that it's just like Ronald Reagan, who changed his mind on things.

But at the same time, you're criticizing Senator Cruz for what you say is a change on immigration. He disputes that, of course.

So, why is your change of opinion make you like Reagan, and when he changes his opinion, it's a huge character flaw? [laughter]

TRUMP: John, in life you have flexibility. You do have flexibility. When you're fighting wars, you're going one way, you have a plan. It's a beautiful plan. It can't lose. The enemy makes a change, and all of a sudden you have to change.

You have to have flexibility. In Ronald Reagan, though, in terms of what we're talking about, was the great example. He was a somewhat liberal Democrat who became a somewhat, pretty strong conservative. He became — most importantly, he became a great president. He made many of the changes that I've made — I mean, I've seen as I grew up, I've seen, and as I get older and wiser, and I feel that I am a conservative.

Now, I also feel I'm a common-sense conservative, because some of the views I don't agree with. And I think a lot of people agree with me, obviously, based on what's happening.

DICKERSON: Which conservative idea don't you agree with?

TRUMP: Well, I think these people always hit me with eminent domain, and frankly, I'm not in love with eminent domain. But eminent domain is something you need very strongly.

When Jeb had said, "You used eminent domain privately for a parking lot." It wasn't for a parking lot. The state of New Jersey — too bad Chris Christie is not here, he could tell you — the state of New Jersey went to build a very large tower that was going to employ thousands of people.

I mean, it was going to really do a big job in terms of economic development. Now, just so you understand, I got hit very hard. It's private, it's private eminent domain. You understand that they took over a stadium in Texas, and they used private eminent domain, but he just found that out after he made the charge.

DICKERSON: All right. Governor Bush, I think by "they," he is referring to your brother, these on the hook for your brother.

TRUMP: Yeah. Well, Jeb wouldn't have known about it.

BUSH: So, there — so, there is all sorts of intrigue about where I disagree with my brother, there would be one right there. You should not use eminent domain for private purposes.

A baseball stadium or a parking lot for a limo... [laughter]

TRUMP: You shouldn't have used it then, Jeb.

DICKERSON: But that was his brother.

BUSH: It's very different. Transmission lines, pipe lines, bridges and highways. All of that is proper use of imminent domain. Not to take an elderly woman's home to build a parking lot so that high-rollers can come from New York City to build casinos in Atlantic City.

STRASSEL: Senator Cruz, you were mentioned in the mix here, your response?

CRUZ: You know, flexibility is a good thing, but it shouldn't — you shouldn't be flexible on core principles. I like Donald, he is an amazing entertainer, but his policies for most of his life...

TRUMP: Thank you very much, I appreciate it.

CRUZ: For most of his life, his policies have been very, very liberal. For most of his life, he has described himself as very pro- choice and as a supporter of partial birth abortion. Right now, today, as a candidate, he supports federal taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood. I disagree with him on that.

That's a matter of principle, and I'll tell you...

TRUMP: You probably are worse than Jeb Bush. You are single biggest liar. This guy's lied — let me just tell you, this guy lied about Ben Carson when he took votes away from Ben Carson in Iowa, and he just continues. Today, we had robo-calls saying, "Donald Trump is not going to run in South Carolina," where I'm leading by a lot.

I'm not going to vote for Ted Cruz. This is the same thing he did to Ben Carson. This guy will say anything, nasty guy. Now I know why he doesn't have one endorsement from any of his colleagues.

CRUZ: Don, I need to go on...

TRUMP: He's a nasty guy.

CRUZ: I will say, it is fairly remarkable to see Donald defending Ben after he called, "pathological," and compared him to a child molester. Both of which were offensive and wrong.

But let me say this — you notice Donald didn't disagree with the substance that he supports taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood. And Donald has this weird pattern, when you point to his own record, he screams, "Liar, liar, liar." You want to go...

TRUMP: Where did I support it? Where did I...

CRUZ: You want to go...

[crosstalk]

TRUMP: Again, where did I support it?

CRUZ: If you want to watch the video, go to our website at Tedcruz.org.

TRUMP: Hey Ted, where I support it?

CRUZ: You can see it out of Donald's own mouth.

TRUMP: Where did I support?

CRUZ: You supported it when we were battling over defunding Planned Parenthood. You went on...

TRUMP: That's a lot of lies.

CRUZ: You said, "Planned Parenthood does wonderful things and we should not defund it."

TRUMP: It does do wonderful things, but not as it relates to abortion.

CRUZ: So I'll tell you what...

TRUMP: Excuse me. Excuse me, there are wonderful things having to do with women's health.

CRUZ: You see, you and I...

TRUMP: But not when it comes to abortion.

CRUZ: Don, the reasoned principle matters. The reasoned principle matters, sadly was illustrated by the first questions today. The next president is going to appoint one, two, three, four Supreme Court justices.

If Donald Trump is president, he will appoint liberals. If Donald Trump is president, your Second Amendment will gone...

[crosstalk]

TRUMP: Hold on...

CRUZ: You know how I know that?

DICKERSON: Hold on, gentleman, I'm going to turn this car around.

TRUMP: Ted Cruz told your brother that he wanted John Roberts to be on the United States Supreme Court. They both pushed him, he twice approved Obamacare.

DICKERSON: All right, gentlemen.

BUSH: My name was mentioned twice.

DICKERSON: Well, hold on. We're going to — gentlemen, we're in danger of driving this into the dirt.

Senator Rubio, I'd like you to jump in here...

BUSH: He called me a liar.

DICKERSON: I understand, you're on deck, governor.

BUSH: Also, he talked about one of my heroes, Ronald Reagan.

Ronald Reagan was a liberal maybe in the 1950s. He was a conservative reformed governor for eight years before he became president, and no one should suggest he made an evolution for political purposes. He was a conservative, and he didn't tear down people like Donald Trump is. He tore down the Berlin Wall.

TRUMP: O.K., governor.

BUSH: He was a great guy. [applause]

DICKERSON: Senator Cruz, 30 seconds on this one.

CRUZ: I did not nominate John Roberts. I would not have nominated John Roberts.

TRUMP: You pushed him. You pushed him.

CRUZ: I supported...

TRUMP: You worked with him and you pushed him. Why do you lie?

CRUZ: You need to learn to not interrupt people.

TRUMP: Why do you lie?

CRUZ: Donald, adults learn...

TRUMP: You pushed him.

CRUZ: Adults learn not to interrupt people.

TRUMP: Yeah, yeah, I know, you're an adult.

CRUZ: I did not nominate him. I would not have nominated him. I would've nominated my former boss Liberman, who was Justice Scalia's first law clerk. And you know how I know that Donald's Supreme Court justices will be liberals? Because his entire life, he support liberals from Jimmy Carter, to Hillary Clinton, to John Kerry.

In 2004, he contributed to John Kerry. Nobody who cares about judges would contribute to John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid.

DICKERSON: We're going to switch...

CRUZ: That's what Donald Trump does.

DICKERSON: We're going to switch here to Senator Marco Rubio.

Senator Marco Rubio, please weigh in.

RUBIO: On anything I want?

DICKERSON: I thought you had a point?

RUBIO: Well, let me talk about poverty.

DICKERSON: I thought you had a point you wanted to make.

RUBIO: I do.

BUSH: That was me.

RUBIO: I had something important.

DICKERSON: You're on deck, sir.

RUBIO: The issue of poverty is critical, because for me, poverty is the — is — is free enterprise not reaching people. Today, we have antipoverty programs that don't cure poverty. We don't cure poverty in America. Our antipoverty programs have become, in some instances, a way of life, a lifestyle.

Now, we do need antipoverty programs, you can't have free enterprise programs without them, but not as a way of life. And so I have a very specific proposal on this and I don't — in 60 seconds, I can't describe it all, but it basically turns the program over to states. It allows states to design innovative programs that cure poverty, because I think Nikki Haley will do a better job curing poverty than Barack Obama. [applause]

DICKERSON: Senator, I wanted to ask you, just going back to immigration, in the last debate, you listed your series of accomplishments in the Senate. One thing you left off was — was immigration reform. Is it the case that in your list of accomplishments you can't mention that?

RUBIO: Well, no. It's not the case. It didn't pass, and we haven't solved immigration in this country. It's still a problem. It is worse today than it was three years ago, which is worse than it was five years ago. And it has to be confronted and solved.

But the only way forward on this issue — you asked a question about flexibility. Let me tell you about that. One of the things that you need in leadership is the ability to understand that to get things done, you must figure out the way to get it done. You will not pass comprehensive immigration reform. People do not trust the federal government.

They want to see the law being enforced. They want to see illegal immigration come under control. They want to see that wall. They want to see E-Verify. They want to see all of these things working, and then they will have a conversation with you about what do you do with people that have been here a long time that are otherwise, you know, not criminals. But they're not going to do it until you first enforce the law.

DICKERSON: Dr. Carson, I have...[applause]...Dr. Carson, I have a question for you. Candidates are...

CARSON: Before you ask the question, can I respond to the — you know, they mentioned my name a couple of times.

DICKERSON: All right. You have 30 seconds, Doctor.

CARSON: All right. Well, first of all, you know, so many people have said to me, "You need to scream and jump and down — jump up and down like everybody else." Is that really what you want? What we just saw? I don't think so.

And you know, I — when I got into this race, I decided to look under the hood of the engine of what runs Washington, D.C., and my first inclination was to run away, but I didn't do it because I'm thinking about our children and the fact that we are the United States of America. And anybody up here is going to be much better than what's going to come on the other side. And what happened tonight with — with Justice Scalia tells you that we cannot afford to lose this election, and we cannot be tearing each other down. [applause]

DICKERSON: Dr. Carson, I — let me ask you a different question. When you were — you were the first one, really, to talk about political correctness. Everybody now talks about it, but that was really what sparked your — your rise. Politicians are often accused of glossing over any hard choices people have to make, just always selling happy, nice things. So in the — in the spirit of saying something that might be politically incorrect, tell the voters something that they need to hear but that might be politically incorrect?

CARSON: Well, first of all, I'm not a politician, so I'm never going to become a politician. But here's what — here's what people need to know. People need to know that free college is not — it's a non-starter. You know, you have to look at our economic situation. We're on the verge of economic collapse and, you know, we're — it's not just the $19 trillion, but it's also the $200 trillion in unfunded liabilities.

What we need to think about is, what does that do to the average person? When we have a debt of that nature, it causes the Fed to change their policy, it causes the central bank to keep the — the rates low, and who does does that affect? Mr. Average, who used to go to the bank every Friday and put part of his check in the bank and watch it grow over three decades and be able to retire with a nice nest egg, that's gone. That part of the American dream is gone.

All of these things are disappearing, and Bernie Sanders and people like Hillary Clinton blame it on the rich. They say those evil rich people, if we take their money we can solve the problem. It's not the evil rich people. It's the irresponsible, evil government. [applause]

DICKERSON: Governor Kasich. Governor Kasich, you've been described as the Democrats' favorite Republican. You talked about in New Hampshire, Democrats would come up to you and say, "I hope you win." Why will that help you win a Republican nomination?

KASICH: You know, John, I think all people are the same. Look, I did 106 town halls, and I've been doing them left and right here in South Carolina. The first thing we have to do is grow the economy, and I know the formula because I was chairman in Washington when we balanced the budget and created so many jobs, and the same that we've been able to do in Ohio. You need common-sense regulations so small business can flourish, you need lower taxes both on business and individuals, and you need a fiscal plan to be able to get ourselves in a situation where people can predict a little bit about the future when it comes to the fiscal issues.

And when you have that formula, combined with work force that's trained, you can explode the economy and create many jobs. I have done it twice, and I want to go back to Washington and do it again.

John, the thing is, is I think that there are people now, these blue-collar Democrats — my dad was a blue-collar Democrat — the Democratic Party has left them. When they're arguing about being socialists, they've left — they have lost those blue-collar Democrats.

And you know what I think they get out of me — is my sense of what they get out of me, and it's embarrassment about campaigns, you brag about yourself.

But I think I'm a uniter, I think people sense it. I think they know I have the experience, and that I'm a man that can give people hope and a sense that they have the opportunity rise. And I'll tell you, I love these blue-collar Democrats, because they're going to vote for us come next fall, promise you that. [applause]

DICKERSON: Mr. Trump, let me ask you a question. Presidents in both parties say that the one thing you need in your administration is somebody who can tell you you're wrong.

You don't necessarily seem like somebody who has somebody who tells you you're wrong a lot. Can you tell us of an instance where somebody has said, "Donald Trump, you're wrong," and you listened to them?

TRUMP: Well, I would say my wife tells me I'm wrong all the time. And I listen. [laughter]

DICKERSON: About what?

TRUMP: Oh, let me just say — look, I am very open — I hired top people. I've had great success. I built a great, great company. I don't need to do this. I'm self-funding. I'm spending a lot of money. I've spent — like in New Hampshire, I spent $3 million. Jeb bush spent $44 million. He came in five, and I came in No. 1.

That's what the country needs, folks. I spent 3, he spends 42 of their money, of special interest money. And it's just — this is not going to make — excuse me. This is not going to make our country great again.

This is not what we need in our country. We need people that know what the hell they're doing. And politicians, they're all talk, they're no action. And that's why people are supporting me.

I do listen to people. I hire experts. I hire top, top people. And I do listen. And you know what? Sometimes they're wrong. You have to know what to do, when to do it. But sometimes they're wrong.

DICKERSON: Let me — something, in talking to voters that they wish somebody would tell you to cut it out is the profanity. What's your reaction to that? [applause]

TRUMP: Well, I'll tell you — over the years, I've made many speeches. People have asked me, big companies have asked me to make speeches, and friends of mine that run big companies on success.

And occasion, in order to sort of really highlight something, I'll use a profanity. One of the profanities that I got credited with using, that I didn't use, was a very bad word, two weeks ago, that I never used.

I said, "You." And everybody said "Oh, he didn't say anything wrong." But you bleeped it, so everyone thinks I said the — I didn't say anything. I never said the word.

It is very unfair, that criticism. Now, I will say this, with all of that being said, I have said I will not do it at all, because if I say a word that's a little bit off color, a little bit, it ends up being a headline.

I will not do it again. I was a very good student at a great school not using — by the way — not using profanity is very easy.

DICKERSON: All right. O.K. Governor Bush, I'd like to ask you...

BUSH: Yeah, well, I have got to respond to this.

DICKERSON: Well, can I — how about you respond, and then you can answer the question I'm about to ask you.

BUSH: Sounds like a good plan.

DICKERSON: It'll be...

BUSH: Or you could ask me two questions, so I could get two minutes instead of one.

DICKERSON: If we adjudicate this, the night will be over.

Governor, in 2012, you said that your father and Ronald Reagan would have a hard time in today's Republican Party, based on their records of trying to find accommodation and finding some degree of common ground.

Do you still feel that way?

BUSH: I think the dysfunction in Washington is really dangerous, that's what I think. And we need a proven leader that has a record of solving problems, someone who doesn't cut and run; someone who could be a commander in chief to unite our country around common purposes; someone who doesn't disparage people.

Someone that doesn't brag, for example, that he has been bankrupt four times and it was great, because he could use the legal system.

Someone...

TRUMP: That's not — let me respond. That's another lie. I never went bankrupt!

[crosstalk]

DICKERSON: Hold on, Mr. Trump.

[crosstalk]

TRUMP: No, but it's another lie.

DICKERSON: Hold on, Mr. Trump.

TRUMP: No, but it's another lie. This guy doesn't know what he's talking about. Just a lie.

BUSH: We need someone with a proven record to be able to forge consensus to solve problems.

And right now, both Republicans and Democrats in Washington don't get it. People are struggling — 63 percent of Americans can't make a $500 car payment. Most Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. And we need someone has a proven record of growing the economy, reforming the things that are broken.

And I'm that person.

DICKERSON: O.K., Mr. Trump, your response. [applause]

TRUMP: Let me just tell you. Jeb goes around saying, just like the biggest business leaders in this country, I've used the laws of the land to chapter — I bought a company, I threw it immediately into a chapter, I made a great deal. I uses the laws to my benefit, because I run a company.

BUSH: Yeah...

TRUMP: Excuse me, Jeb!

BUSH: Yeah.

TRUMP: I never went bankrupt, never.

Now — but you don't want to say that. Now, let me just say, I've used it, just like the biggest leaders in the country. Let me tell you something — Florida. Florida, he put so much debt on Florida. You know, we keep saying he's a wonderful governor, wonderful governor. He put so much debt on Florida, and he increased spending so much that as soon as he got out of office, Florida crashed.

I happened to be there. It's my second home. Florida crashed. He didn't do a good job as governor.

BUSH: Here we go.

TRUMP: And you haven't — excuse me, you haven't heard that. You listen to the good record in Florida. You take a look at what happened, as soon as that year ended he got out, Florida crashed. Too much debt.

He loaded it up with debt, and his spending went through the roof.

[crosstalk]

TRUMP: By the way...

DICKERSON: The bells are ringing, sir.

TRUMP: ... he was not a good governor.

BUSH: Here's the record. Here's the record. We led the nation in job growth seven out of eight years. When I left there was $9 billion of reserves, 35 percent of general revenue. No state came close to that.

TRUMP: Take a look at your numbers.

BUSH: When I — during my time, we were one of the two states to go to AAA bond rating. We didn't go bankrupt like Trump did and call it success when people are laid off, when vendors don't get paid. That's not success.

What we did was create an environment where people had a chance to have income. Personal income during my time went up by 4.4 percent.

TRUMP: Florida went down the tubes right after he got out of office.

BUSH: The government grew by...

TRUMP: Went right down because of what he did to it.

BUSH: ... half of that.

DICKERSON: All right. Thank you.

Senator Rubio, I want to ask you a 30-second question, no president can...

RUBIO: Thirty seconds.

DICKERSON: No — well, I'll ask the question, you do what you want.

RUBIO: I speak fast. [laughter]

DICKERSON: No president can know everything, right? So a smart leader knows how to ask questions. So if you could talk to any previous president, what's the smart question you would ask about that job that you would want to know?

RUBIO: Well, I think one of the presidents — well, the president I grew up under was Ronald Reagan. And Reagan had a vision for America's future. And if you think about what Ronald Reagan inherited, it's not unlike what the next president is going to inherit.

This is the worst president we've had in 35 years, 35 years back would have made it Jimmy Carter. That's what Ronald Reagan inherited. And I think the question you would ask is, how did you inspire again the American people to believe in the future?

How did you — what did it take to ensure that the American people, despite all of the difficulties of the time — you know, you look back at that time, the American military was in decline. Our standing in the world was in decline. We had hostages being held in Iran. Our economy was in bad shape.

The American people were scared about the future. They were scared about what kind of country their children were going to live in and inherit. And yet somehow Ronald Reagan was able to instill in our nation and in our people a sense of optimism.

And he turned America around because of that vision and ultimately because of that leadership. I wish Ronald Reagan was still around. This country needs someone just like that.

And if our next president is even half the president Ronald Reagan was, America is going to be greater than it has ever been. [applause]

DICKERSON: All right. That's going to have to be it there, Senator Rubio. We have got to go to a break. We will be right back with the CBS News Republican debate in Greenville, South Carolina.

[commercial break]

DICKERSON: Time now for closing statements. You will each have one minute, and we'll begin with Governor Kasich.

KASICH: Well, I want to thank the people of South Carolina. You've been fantastic. And look, what I want you to know is I'm going to send a lot of power, money and influence back to where we all live. But as I've traveled around South Carolina, I've noticed something. You know, it's that people have a sense that you're not going to wait on a president. You know, when I was a kid, we didn't wait on presidents to come to that little blue-collar town and fix things.

You know, the Lord made all of us special. The Lord wants us to be connected. I believe we're part of a very big mosaic. And I'll send the power back. And whoever gets elected president here, hopefully will take care of the issue of jobs and wages and Social Security and the border.

But the spirit of the America rests in all of us. It's in our guts. It's taking care of our children. It's taking care of the lady next door who just lost her husband. It's fixing the schools where we live and telling kids to stay off drugs. You see, I think what the Lord wants is for to us engage, and in America, the spirit of America doesn't come from the top down. The spirit of America rests in us. And I want to call on everyone in America to double down and realize that you were made special to heal this country and lift it for everyone.

Thank you all very much. And I hope I can have your vote in South Carolina. [applause]

DICKERSON: Dr. Carson — Dr. Carson, you're next.

CARSON: This is the first generation not expected to do better than their parents. Some people say it's the new normal, but there's nothing normal about it in an exceptional American. I, like you, am a member of we, the people, and we know that our country is heading off the cliff.

Joseph Stalin said if you want to bring America down you, have to undermine three things: our spiritual life, our patriotism and our morality. We, the people, can stop that decline, starting right here in South Carolina. If all the people who say, "I love Ben Carson and his policies, but he can't win," vote for me, not only can we win, but we can turn this thing around.

You know, we have this manipulation by the political class and by the media telling us who we're supposed to pick and how we're supposed to live. We, the people, are the only people who will determine that. And if you elect me as your next president, I promise you that you will get somebody who is accountable to everybody and beholden to no one. Thank you. [applause]

DICKERSON: Governor — Governor Bush.

BUSH: Thank you all very much. The next president is going to be confronted with an unforeseen challenge. That's almost certain. It could be a pandemic, a major natural disaster or an attack on our country. The question for South Carolinians and Americans is who do you want to have sitting behind the big desk in the Oval Office? Because that's the question. It's not the things we're talking about today. It's the great challenge that may happen. I believe I will have a steady hand as commander in chief and president of the United States. I will unite this country around common purposes because I did it as governor of the state of Florida.

When I was governor, we had eight hurricanes and four tropical storms in 16 months. Our state was on its back. We recovered far faster than what people thought because we led.

We want to challenge rather than cutting and running. That's what we need in Washington, D.C. We need someone with a servant's heart that has a backbone, that isn't going to focus on polls and focus groups. The focus will be on the American people to keep them safe and secure.

I ask for your vote next Saturday. [applause]

GARRETT: Thank you, governor.

STRASSEL: And now, Marco Rubio.

RUBIO: Thank you, and thank you for watching tonight.

This is a difficult time in our country. Our economy's flat, it's not creating the jobs it once did, and people struggle living paycheck to paycheck. Our culture's in trouble. Wrong is considered right and right is considered wrong.

All the things that once held our families together are now under constant assault. And around the world, America's reputation is in decline. Our allies don't trust us, our adversaries don't fear us, Iran captures our sailors and parades them before the world on video.

These are difficult times, but 2016 can be a turning point. That's why I'm running for president, and that's why I'm here today to ask you for your vote. If you elect me president, we are going to re-embrace free enterprise so that everyone can go as far as their talent and their work will take them.

We are going to be a country that says that "life begins at conception and life is worthy of the protection of our laws." We're going to be a country that says "that marriage is between one man and one woman." We are going to be a country that says, "The constitution and the rights that it talks about do not come from our president, they come from our creator." We are going to be loyal to our allies like Israel, not enemies like Iran. And we will rebuild the U.S. military so no one will there test it.

Vote for me. I will unify this party. I will grow it. We will win this election, and we will make the 21st century a new American century. [applause]

DICKERSON: Senator Cruz? Senator Cruz, your closing statement?

CRUZ: South Carolina, you have a critical choice to make. Our country literally hangs in the balance.

Do you want another Washington deal maker who will do business as usual, cut deals with the Democrats, grow government, grow debt and give up our fundamental liberties? Or do you want a conservative, a proven conservative that will stand and fight with you each and every day?

Listen, repealing Obamacare is not going to be easy. Passing a simple flat tax that abolishes the I.R.S. is not going to be easy, but if we stand with the American people, we can do it.

And today, we saw just how great the stakes are. Two branches of government hang in the balance. Not just the presidency but the Supreme Court. If we get this wrong, if we nominate the wrong candidates, the Second Amendment, life, marriage, religious liberty — every one of those hangs in the balance.

My little girls are here. I don't want to look my daughters in the eyes and say, "We lost their liberties." Who do you know will defend the Constitution and Bill of Rights? And as a commander in chief, who do you know will stand up to our enemies as the clam, steady, deliberate, strength to defeat our enemies, to secure our borders and to keep America safe.

DICKERSON: Mr. Trump, your closing statements?

TRUMP: Thank you.

Politicians are all talk, no action. You've seen where they've take you to. We are 19 trillion dollars right now. It's going to be increased with that horrible budget from a month ago that was just approved by politicians.

We need a change. We need a very big change. We're going to make our country great again.

I say this every night, every day, every afternoon, and it's so true — we don't win anymore. We don't win with health care, we don't win with ISIS and the military, we don't take care of our vets, we don't care of our borders, we don't win. We are going to start winning again. We are not going to be controlled by people that are special interests and lobbyists that everybody here has contributed to. And you know what, they do exactly what those folks want them to do.

We are going to make our country great, and we're going to do the right thing. I'm working for you. I'm not working for anybody else.

Thank you very much.

STRASSEL: We'll be back with a few final thoughts in a moment.

[commercial break]

DICKERSON: So that's nine Republican debates knocked down and at least three to go.

+ Citation: Presidential Candidates Debates: "Republican Candidates Debate in Greenville, South Carolina," February 13, 2016. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=111500. +
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+ 		+ + + + +Presidential Candidates Debates: Republican Candidates Debate in Manchester, New Hampshire +
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Republican Candidates Debate in Manchester, New Hampshire
February 6, 2016
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PARTICIPANTS:
Former Governor Jeb Bush (FL);
Ben Carson;
Governor Chris Christie (NJ);
Senator Ted Cruz (TX);
Governor John Kasich (OH);
Senator Marco Rubio (FL);
Donald Trump;

MODERATORS:
David Muir (ABC News); and
Martha Raddatz (ABC News)

MUIR: Good evening, again, everyone. This is the first time since Iowa and the only time before the New Hampshire primary that the Republican candidates will have the opportunity to face each other.

The people of Iowa have been heard. Now it's New Hampshire's turn. In just three days, voters here will decide who they think should be the Republican nominee for president.

RADDATZ: Questions of leadership and character have dominated the news ever since the Iowa caucuses a few days ago. Here with us to question the candidates this evening are Josh McElveen from WMUR here in Manchester and author and commentator Mary Katherine Ham.

MUIR: So let's welcome the candidates for the Republican nomination for president.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. [applause]

RADDATZ: Dr. Ben Carson. [applause]

MUIR: Texas Senator Ted Cruz. [applause]

RADDATZ: Businessman Donald Trump. [applause]

MUIR: Florida Senator Marco Rubio. [applause]

RADDATZ: Former Florida Governor, Jeb Bush. [applause]

MUIR: And Ohio Governor John Kasich. [applause]

RADDATZ: Ladies and gentlemen, the Republican candidates. [applause]

MUIR: And Dr. Ben Carson, please come out on the stage. He's standing there, as well. Dr. Carson. [applause]

RADDATZ: And Donald Trump. [applause]

MUIR: And lastly, we welcome back to the debate stage, Donald Trump. [applause]

CHRISTIE: What about Kasich? Can I introduce Kasich?

MUIR: It was so noisy in here. Yes. Yes. We're going to introduce Ohio Governor John kasich. [applause]

The applause so loud here in the hall.

RADDATZ: The applause so loud you couldn't hear. We couldn't hear, either. That's a good sign for the excitement this evening.

Gentlemen, thank you for being here tonight, just days before voters here in New Hampshire make their decisions. The rules are simple and have been agreed to by all the campaigns. There will be 60 seconds to answer and if another candidate is mentioned in that answer, that candidate will have 30 seconds to respond. There are green, yellow and red lights that each candidate will see to signal when time is up and they will also hear this sound.

MUIR: So let's get started. We welcome you all to the debate stage here tonight. We're going to tackle the issues Americans are most concerned about, the economy, ISIS, Homeland Security. And here in New Hampshire, some of the most heated rhetoric yet over who is best suited to step in on day one, who has the experience, who has the temperament to be commander-in-chief.

Mr. Trump, Senator Cruz has said about you right here in New Hampshire this week, quote, "I don't know anyone who would be comfortable with someone who behaves this way, having his finger on the button. We're liable to wake up one morning, and if he were president, he would nuke Denmark." Saying, quote, "That's temperament of a leader to keep this country safe."

I wanted to give you the opportunity to respond to this and to tell the American people tonight why you do have the temperament to be commander-in-chief.

TRUMP: I actually think I have the best temperament. I built a massive corporation. I employ thousands and thousands of people. I've gotten along with people for years and years, have tremendous relationships with many people, including politicians on both sides. And no matter how you cut it, when I — when I came out, I hit immigration, I hit it very hard. Everybody said, "Oh, the temperament," because I talked about illegal immigration.

Now, everybody's coming to me, they're all trying to say, well, he's right, we have to come to him. I hit other things. I talked about Muslims. We have a problem. Nobody else wanted to mention the problem, I brought it up. I took a lot of heat. We have to have a temporary something, because there's something going on that's not good. And remember this, I'm the only one up here, when the war of Iraq — in Iraq, I was the one that said, "Don't go, don't do it, you're going to destabilize the Middle East." So, I'm not one with a trigger. I'm not one with a trigger. Other people up here, believe me, would be a lot faster.

But I'll build the mill arbitrary stronger, bigger, better than anybody up here, and nobody is going to mess with us. That, I can tell you. [applause]

MUIR: Mr. Trump, thank you. I want to bring this to Senator Cruz, then.

Because Senator, you did said of Trump's behavior this week, that's not the temperament of a leader to keep this country safe.

Why not?

CRUZ: Well, you know, David, the assessment the voters are making here in New Hampshire and across the country is they are evaluating each and every one of us. They are looking to our experience. They are looking to our knowledge. They are looking to our temperament and judgment. They are looking to our clarity of vision and our strength of resolve.

The world is getting much more dangerous. We've had seven years with Barack Obama in the oval office, a commander-in-chief that is unwilling even to acknowledge the enemy we're facing. This is a president who, in the wake of Paris, in the wake of San Bernardino, will not even use the words radical Islamic terrorism, much less focus on defeating the enemy.

I am convinced every individual standing on this stage, would make a much better commander-in-chief than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders. [applause]

And the primary voters are making the assessment for each of us, who is best prepared to keep this country safe, to rebuild the military, to rebuild our Navy, our Air Force, our Army, our Marines, and to ensure that we keep America safe.

MUIR: Senator Cruz, I did ask about Mr. Trump. You said he doesn't have the temperament to be commander-in-chief. Do you stand by those words?

CRUZ: I think that is an assessment the voters are going to make. And they are going to make it of each and everyone of us. They are going to assess who is level-headed, who has clear vision, who has judgment, who can confront our enemies, who can confront the threats we face in this country, and who can have the judgment when to engage and when not to engage — both are incredibly important for a commander-in-chief, knowing how to go after our enemies.

In the case of Iran, for example, who has the clarity of vision to understand that the Ayatollah Khamenei, when he chants, "Death to America," he means it. We need a president with the judgment and resolve to keep this country safe from radical Islamic terrorists.

MUIR: Senator Cruz, thank you. We're going to continue on this notion of readiness and experience. I'm going to come back.

TRUMP: Am I allowed to respond? I have to respond.

MUIR: If you would like to respond, Mr. Trump.

TRUMP: First of all, I respect what Ted just said, but if you noticed, he didn't answer your question. And that's what's going to happen — OK. [applause]

That's what's going to happen with our enemies and the people we compete against. We're going to win with Trump. We're going to win. We don't win anymore. Our country doesn't win anymore. We're going to win with Trump. And people back down with Trump. And that's what I like and that's what the country is going to like. [applause]

MUIR: Mr. Trump, thank you. And we're going to continue on this notion of readiness and on experience, but I want to ask about a headline that was back in the papers again this morning.

Dr. Carson, on the day of the Iowa caucuses, the Cruz campaign sent out messages and voicemails saying, quote, "Breaking news. Dr. Ben Carson will be planning to suspend his campaign following tonight's caucuses. Please inform any Carson caucus-goers of this news."

But as we can all see, you are still standing here tonight. Late this week, your campaign sent this e-mail, quote, "This kind of deceitful behavior is why the American people don't trust politicians. If Senator Cruz does not act, then he clearly represents D.C. values."

What kind of action do you think Senator Cruz should take?

CARSON: Well, you know, when I wasn't introduced No. 2, as was the plan, I thought maybe he thought I already had dropped out. But... [applause]

But you know, today is the 105th anniversary, or — 105th birthday of Ronald Reagan. His 11 Commandment was not to speak ill of another Republican. So, I'm not going to use this opportunity to savage the reputation of Senator Cruz. [applause]

But I will say — I will say — I will say that I was very disappointed that members of his team thought so little of me that they thought that after having hundreds, if not thousands of volunteers and college students who sacrificed their time and were dedicated to the cause — one even died — to think that I would just walk away ten minutes before the caucus and say, "Forget about you guys."

I mean, who would do something like that? Now, I don't think anyone on this stage would do something like that. And to assume that someone would, what does that tell you? So, unfortunately, it did happen.

It gives us a very good example of certain types of Washington ethics. Washington ethics. Washington ethics basically says, if it's legal, you do what you need to do in order to win. That's not my ethics. My ethics is, you do what's right.

MUIR: Senator Cruz. [applause]

Dr. Carson, thank you.

Senator Cruz, you have said that Dr. Carson and his wife have become friends of yours. I'm curious as why you didn't call ahead of time to either the doctor or his wife or have your campaign check in with the other campaign before sending out those messages.

CRUZ: Ben is a good and honorable man and Ben and Candy have become friends. He has an amazing life story that has inspired millions, including me. When this transpired, I apologized to him then and I do so now. Ben, I'm sorry.

Let me tell you the facts of what occurred for those who are interested in knowing. On Monday night, about 6:30 p.m., CNN reported that Ben was not going from Iowa to New Hampshire or South Carolina. Rather, he was, quote, "Taking a break from campaigning."

They reported that on television, CNN's political anchors, Jake Tapper and Dana Bash and Wolf Blitzer, said it was highly unusual and highly significant. My political team saw CNN's report breaking news and they forwarded that news to our volunteers, it was being covered on live television.

Now, at the time, I was at the caucuses, I was getting ready to speak at the caucuses just like Ben was, just like everyone else was. I knew nothing about this. A couple hours later, I found out about it. I was told that Ben was unhappy. I called him that evening because I respect him very, very highly. I didn't reach him that evening.

[bell rings]

I reached him the next day and apologized. He asked me then, he said, Ted, would you make this apologize in public? I said, yes, I will. And I did so. I regret that subsequently, CNN reported on that — they didn't correct that story until 9:15 that night. So from 6:30 p.m. to 9:15, that's what CNN was reporting.

Subsequent to that initial report, Ben's campaign put out a statement saying that he was not suspending his campaign. I wish that our campaign staff had forwarded that statement. They were unaware of it, I wish that they had, that's why I apologized.

MUIR: Senator Cruz, thank you.

We're going to move on here. Back to the issues...

CARSON: Since I was mentioned...

MUIR: Dr. Carson, please.

CARSON: This is great you guys. I want you all to mention me when you say something. [laughter]

In fact, the time line indicates that initial tweet from CNN was followed by another one within one minute that clarified that I was not dropping out. So, what happened to that one, it is unclear. But the bottom line is, we can see what happened, everybody can see what happened and you can make your own judgment.

MUIR: Dr. Carson, thank you. Thank you, doctor.

Senator Rubio. I want to stay on the issue of readiness to be president and experience and questions about you being a first-term senator.

Governor Christie warning voters here in New Hampshire against voting for another first-term senator as America did with Barack Obama in 2008. Arguing that you are, quote, " not ready to be president of the United States."

And Senator Santorum, who we all know, dropped out of the race and endorsed you, had a hard time when asked on national television, listing your accomplishments as senator. Tonight, what are your accomplishments in the Senate that demonstrate you are ready to be president of the United States?

RUBIO: Well, let me say, from protecting the people of Florida from imminent domain abuse, to bringing accountability to the V.A., to the Girls Count Act, to sanctioning groups, I'm proud of my service in the United States Senate and before that, in the Florida legislature.

I will say, if politics becomes and the presidency becomes about electing people who have been Congress or in the Senate the longest, we should all rally around Joe Biden. He's been around 1,000 years. He's passed hundreds of bills and I don't think any of us believe Joe Biden should be president of the United States.

And let's dispel once and for all with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing. Barack Obama is undertaking a systematic effort to change this country, to make America more like the rest of the world.

That's why he passed Obamacare and the stimulus and Dodd-Frank and the deal with Iran. It is a systematic effort to change America. When I'm president of the United States, we are going to re-embrace all the things that made America the greatest nation in the world and we are going to leave our children with what they deserve: the single greatest nation in the history of the world.

MUIR: Senator Rubio, thank you. [applause]

I do want to ask Governor Christie, Governor Christie, you said fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me when it comes to electing a first-term senator. You heard Senator Rubio make the case that he does have the experience. Your response?

CHRISTIE: Sure. First, let's remember something. Every morning when a United States senator wakes up, they think about what kind of speech can I give or what kind of bill can I drop? Every morning, when I wake up, I think about what kind of problem do I need to solve for the people who actually elected me?

It's a different experience, it's a much different experience. And the fact is, Marco, you shouldn't compare yourself to Joe Biden and you shouldn't say that that's what we're doing. Here is exactly what we're doing.

You have not be involved in a consequential decision where you had to be held accountable. You just simply haven't. [applause]

And the fact is — the fact when you talk about the Hezbollah Sanctions Act that you list as one of your accomplishments you just did, you weren't even there to vote for it. That's not leadership, that's truancy. [applause]

And the fact is that what we need to do — what we need to have in this country is not to make the same mistake we made eight years ago. The fact is it does matter when you have to make decisions and be held accountable for them. It does matter when the challenges don't come on a list of a piece of paper of what to vote yes or no every day, but when the problems come in from the people that you serve.

I like Marco Rubio, and he's a smart person and a good guy, but he simply does not have the experience to be president of the United States and make these decisions. We've watched it happen, everybody. For the last seven years, the people of New Hampshire are smart. Do not make the same mistake again.

RUBIO: If I may respond to that. [applause]

MUIR: Governor, thank you. Senator Rubio?

RUBIO: Well, I think the experience is not just what you did, but how it worked out. Under Chris Christie's governorship of New Jersey, they've been downgraded nine times in their credit rating. This country already has a debt problem, we don't need to add to it by electing someone who has experience at running up and destroying the credit rating of his state.

But I would add this. Let's dispel with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing. He is trying to change this country. He wants America to become more like the rest of the world. We don't want to be like the rest of the world, we want to be the United States of America. And when I'm elected president, this will become once again, the single greatest nation in the history of the world, not the disaster Barack Obama has imposed upon us.

MUIR: Senator Rubio, thank you. I want to bring in governor bush on this, because you...

CHRISTIE: Hold on one second.

MUIR: ... have made this...

CHRISTIE: Excuse me...

MUIR: If you'd like to respond to economic...

CHRISTIE: I think he mentioned me and my record in there, so I think I get a chance to respond. You see, everybody, I want the people at home to think about this. That's what Washington, D.C. Does. The drive-by shot at the beginning with incorrect and incomplete information and then the memorized 25-second speech that is exactly what his advisers gave him. [applause]

See Marco — Marco, the thing is this. When you're president of the United States, when you're a governor of a state, the memorized 30-second speech where you talk about how great America is at the end of it doesn't solve one problem for one person. They expect you to plow the snow. They expect you to get the schools open. And when the worst natural disaster in your state's history hits you, they expect you to rebuild their state, which is what I've done.

None of that stuff happens on the floor of the United States Senate. It's a fine job, I'm glad you ran for it, but it does not prepare you for president of the United States. [applause]

MUIR: Senator Rubio?

RUBIO: Chris — Chris, your state got hit by a massive snowstorm two weeks ago. You didn't even want to go back. They had to shame you into going back. And then you stayed there for 36 hours and then he left and came back to campaign. Those are the facts.

Here's the bottom line. This notion that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing is just not true. He knows exactly what he's doing.

CHRISTIE: There it is. There it is. The memorized 25-second speech. There it is, everybody.

RUBIO: Well, that's the — that's the reason why this campaign is so important. Because I think this notion — I think this is an important point. We have to understand what we're going through here. We are not facing a president that doesn't know what he's doing. He knows what he is doing. That's why he's done the things he's done.

That's why we have a president that passed Obamacare and the stimulus. All this damage that he's done to America is deliberate. This is a president that's trying to redefine this country. That's why this election is truly a referendum on our identity as a nation, as a people. Our future is at stake.

This election is not about the past. It is about what kind of country this is going to be in the 21st century, and if we elect someone like Barack Obama, a Hillary Clinton, a Bernie Sanders or anyone like that, our children are going to be the first Americans to inherit a diminishes country. That will not happen if I'm elected.

MUIR: Governor Christie, we will — we will...

BUSH: Chris, why don't you mention my name so I can get into this.

CHRISTIE: You know what the shame is — you know what the shame is, Marco? The shame is that you would actually criticize somebody for showing up to work, plowing the streets, getting the trains running back on time when you've never been responsible for that in your entire life.

RUBIO: Chris, you didn't want to go back. You didn't want to go back. [applause]

CHRISTIE: And the fact is, I went back, it got done and here's...

RUBIO: You didn't want to go back, Chris.

CHRISTIE: Oh, so — wait a second. Is that one of the skills you get as a United States senator ESP also? Because I don't think it is.

RUBIO: Chris, everybody — you said you weren't going to go back. He told everyone he wasn't going to go back. They had to shame him into going back. And when he decided to go back, he criticized the young lady, saying, what am I supposed to do, go back with a mop and clean up the flooding?

CHRISTIE: It gets very unruly when he gets off his talking points.

MUIR: Governor Christie — thank you, Governor. I will mention — listen...

RUBIO: ... It's your record, it's not a talking point...

MUIR: ... Listen, people... [applause]

Governor Bush, I'll mention your name so that you can come in on this...

BUSH: ... I appreciate that, I really do, thank you.

MUIR: I want to bring you in on this because you've made this central to your campaign right here in New Hampshire in the last couple of days. Four Years ago you said of Senator Rubio, he was ready to be Vice President. You spoke of his experience as well. You said he has the fortitude to be a good President, but just this week you said Senator Rubio accomplished, quote, "nothing" in the Senate. How do you square the two?

BUSH: Well, first of all he said the exact same thing about me, that I would make a great Vice Presidential nominee when Mitt Romney was considering. I said the same thing about Marco. I think we were both right at the time, and Mitt picked somebody else. So, let's move on to the 2016 race. Who has the leadership skills... [applause]...who has the leadership skills to lead? And, I'm proud of the fact that I have 12 Medal of Honor recipients, over 30 admirals and generals that believe that I would be a steady hand as Commander in Chief. That I serve as Governor of the state of Florida where we cut taxes and reduced government. I took on very powerful interests, forged consensus, fought for my beliefs, implemented them and the state was better off.

We had eight hurricanes and four tropical storms in 16 months. The whole state was turned upside down. It required a steady hand. Leadership. You learn this, you learn it by doing it. It's not something that you just go up, and on the job do it. [applause]

It's not the same. Look, let's be clear. Marco Rubio is a gifted, gifted politician, and he may have the skills to be a President of the United States, but we've tried it the old way with Barack Obama, with soaring eloquence and we got — we didn't get a leader we got someone who wants to divide the country up. The next President...[bell rings]...going to have to forge consensus to bring about a set of common purposes so that we can move forward again in this country...

MUIR: ... We're going to continue with leadership now. Martha?

RADDATZ: Senator Cruz, you are a first term Senator as well. Your opponents say you, like Senator Rubio, are not prepared to be Commander in Chief. You have talked tough about threats we face in the Mid-East. It was reported just moments ago that the North Koreans test launched an intercontinental ballistic missile. North Korea has nuclear weapons, and conducted another nuclear test just last month.

The missile that was launched is the kind the North Koreans hope could someday carry a nuclear weapon capable of reaching the United States. How would you respond if Commander in Chief to that launch?

CRUZ: Well, I would note, initially the fact that we're seeing the launch, and we're seeing the launch from a nuclear North Korea is the direct result of the failures of the first Clinton administration. The Clinton administration led the world in relaxing sanctions against North Korea. Billions of dollars flowed into North Korea in exchange for promises not to build nuclear weapons. They took those billions and built nuclear weapons.

And, I would note also the lead negotiator in that failed North Korea sanctions deal was a woman named Wendy Sherman who Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton promptly recruited to come back to be the lead negotiator with Iran. So, what we are seeing with North Korea is foreshadowing of where we will be with Iran.

With respect to North Korea and what we should do now, one of the first things we should do is expand our missile defense capacity. We ought to put missile defense interceptors in South Korea. South Korea wants them. One of the real risks of this launch, North Korea wants to launch a satellite, and one of the greatest risks of the satellite is they would place a nuclear device in the satellite. As it would orbit around the Earth, and as it got over the United States they would detonate that nuclear weapon and set of what's called an EMP, and electromagnetic pulse which could take down the entire electrical grid on the Eastern seaboard, potentially killing millions.

We need to harden the grid to defend ourselves, and we need missile defense to protect ourselves against North Korea.

RADDATZ: Well, let me ask you this, if you were Commander in Chief tonight would you have order the U.S. military to destroy that missile preemptively on the launchpad to prevent North Korea from becoming an even graver threat?

CRUZ: You know, at this point I'm not going to speculate on that without the intelligence briefing that any Commander in Chief would have, knowing what exactly is there. [applause]

One of the real problems...

RADDATZ: ... Senator Cruz, let me tell you this, you have talked tough about the Mid-East, you haven't gotten those intelligence briefings about that. Why not tell us whether you would preemptively strike a missile on a launchpad that threatens the U.S...

CRUZ: ... Actually, with respect, I have gotten the intelligence briefings on the Mid-East. Those have been going on for many years. I haven't gotten the intelligence briefing tonight on what North Korea's doing because I'm here in new Hampshire. When you're responding to an immediate incident, you need to know the intelligence of what's occurring.

But what I was saying — look, it is qualitatively different dealing with a country once they have nuclear weapons. It's why you prevent them from getting nuclear weapons in the first place — because your hands are somewhat tied once they have nukes.

It's why this Iranian nuclear deal is so catastrophic, and it's why I've pledged, on the very first day in office, to rip to shreds this Iranian nuclear deal so we're not sitting here in five years, wondering what to do about an Iranian missile launch when they have nuclear weapons. The stakes are too high for that.

RADDATZ: Okay. Senator Cruz, I will say that missile has been sitting there for quite some time, and they have had eyes on it.

RUBIO: But Martha, just — Martha, just to clarify on that point, because he's right, and one more thing to point — it is standard procedure of the United States to shoot down those missiles once launched if they pose a threat to civilians, land and ships.

RADDATZ: Senator Rubio, I'm talking about a preemptive strike on the launch pad.

RUBIO: Well — no, I understand. And not — but — but I think it's important to note that it is — and Senator Cruz, I think, was alluding to this, as well — it is the standard procedure of the United States, if those missiles pose a threat to land, civilians, our allies or any of our assets, to shoot down that missile in mid-flight.

I understand your question was about a preemptive strike, but my point is that there is in place now contingencies to avoid any sort of that strike from going errant and destroying any — any assets of the United States, or implicating or hurting any of our allies or any of our assets in the region.

RADDATZ: OK. Thank you, Senator Rubio.

Governor Kasich, how would you respond to tonight's launch?

KASICH: Well, we've got to to step up the pressure. And by the way, I've gotta say, after being here, every one of my 100 town hall meetings in New Hampshire were a lot more fun than what I saw here today, were so much more positive.

Look, in terms of North Korea, Martha, we have to make sure that we intercept both the ships and their aircraft, because what they're trying to do is to proliferate this very dangerous material, along with the — with the technology, the instruments that can be used for mass destruction.

That's what I worry about the most, frankly, is non-state actors, people who don't have a uniform, people don't have a country, who can spread this, who are not subject to the — to the mutual assured defense. In other words, you strike us, we strike you.

Some of these radicals, they don't care about that. That's what I worry about, for my children, and for their children, going forward. So, we have to be very tough.

And we should tell the Chinese, look, if you're not going to do this ballistic missile defense to the Koreans, ballistic missile defense to Japan — and by the way, we should impose the same kind of sanctions on North Korea that we imposed on Iran, because they're able to shift money. They're able to send money and receive money. [bell rings]

We've gotta to be very tough on this. And frankly, I think we could have — I think we could have let the Japanese know that if you want to take action on that — on that missile that's rising, you want to take action — you will have our support, if that's what you think is the best thing to do. We cannot continue to be weak in the face of the North Koreans, or, frankly, in the entire rest of the world.

Martha, this is — this is the — relates...

RADDATZ: Thank you, Governor Kasich. Thank you — thank you...

BUSH: ... this relates to strategic patience. [applause]

RADDATZ: ... Governor Bush, I'll get to you in a moment.

BUSH: This relates to the strategic patience of the Obama administration. They come up with these great marketing terms, and what they do is they pull back, and voids are filled, and they're now filled by asymmetric threats of terror, as well as nation-states on the run.

The next president of the United States is gonna have to get the United States back in the game, and if a preemptive strike is necessary to keep us safe, then we should do it. [applause]

RADDATZ: Thank you, Governor Bush.

Mr. Trump, do you have a red line with North Korea? Would you consider military action? And how far would you let them go?

TRUMP: Well, let me say a couple of things. First of all, Marco said earlier on that President Obama knows exactly what he's doing, like we have this president that really knows. I disagree, respectfully, with Marco.

I think we have a president who, as a president, is totally incompetent, and he doesn't know what he's doing. [applause]

I think he has no idea what he's doing. And our country is going to hell. So, I just want to say, we disagree on that. Is that okay?

RUBIO: Yeah. I have a — I got mentioned, can I respond?

TRUMP: Good.

RADDATZ: And I'd like him to finish the question, please.

TRUMP: As to North Korea?

RADDATZ: Specific — as to North Korea.

TRUMP: We have — tremendous — has been just sucked out of our country by China. China says they don't have that good of control over North Korea. They have tremendous control. I deal with the Chinese all of the time. I do tremendous — the largest bank in the world is in one of my buildings in Manhattan.

I deal with them. They tell me. They have total, absolute control, practically, of North Korea. They are sucking trillions of dollars out of our country — they're rebuilding China with the money they take out of our country. I would get on with China, let China solve that problem. [bell rings]

They can do it quickly and surgically. That's what we should do with North Korea.

RADDATZ: Senator Rubio, you were mentioned. [applause]

RUBIO: Here's the broader point, as well, and then I think it touches on what Donald just mentioned. Barack Obama views America as this arrogant global power that needed to be cut down to size. OK?

This is a president that views this country as a country that's been too powerful in the world and we create problems around the world.

For example, it's one of the reasons why he had betrayed Israel, because he believes that if we create separation from Israel, it will help our relations in the Islamic world. The same is happening in the Asia-Pacific region with accommodations to North Korea. North Korean should be back on that list of terrorist nations, as an example.

And Donald's absolutely right. China does have a lot of influence over North Korea and he should be leveraging our relationship with the Chinese to ensure that North Korea no longer has access to the resources that have allowed them — a country that has no economy to develop long range missiles already capable of reaching the west coast of the United States potentially.

RADDATZ: Thank you very much, Senator Rubio.

Governor Bush, another problem facing the commander-in-chief right now is that North Korea is currently detaining an American college student. What would you do to get that college student back home?

BUSH: Well, first of all, it's interesting that that happened literally days when this hostage release took place in Iran. A day or two days afterwards, North Korea took a — held an American student hostage. I think it's when we send a signal of weakness, when we are negotiating to release people that committed crimes in our country for people that didn't commit crimes that are held hostage in Iran.

We saw the shameful treatment of our sailors, that this creates weakness — sends a signal of weakness around the world. The next president of the United States is going to have to get back in the game. Where the United States' word matters. Where we back up our allies, where we don't send signals of weakness. We need to use every — every influence possible to get this student back.

And I think John is right about this, there are crippling sanctions that are available, as it relates to the two or three banks that North Korea uses to — to — use it — illicit trade. We ought to re-establish sanctions, not just because of the student, but because of their actions that they're taking right now, as it relates to building this missile capability.

RADDATZ: Governor Christie, I want to go to you on the same question. [applause]

CHRISTIE: Let's get something...

RADDATZ: Would you negotiate with North Korea to...

CHRISTIE: No. Let's make something very clear. I learned seven years as a federal prosecutor in dealing with types of situations like we're talking about in North Korea, where criminals take people hostage. You never pay ransom to the criminals. Ever. You never pay ransom to the criminals. Everyone out at home watching tonight understands that principle.

And so, what you need to do is to engage in a much different way with these folks. They do not understand anything but toughness and strength, and we need to engage the Chinese to deal with the North Koreans, but we also need to make sure that they understand there's a commander-in-chief who will not pay ransom for any hostage.

This president and his former secretary of State are for paying ransom for hostages. When do that, you endanger even more Americans around the world to be the subject of this type of hostage taking and illegal detention. You need a strong commander-in-chief who will look these folks in the eye and say, we will not put up with this and we will take whatever actions we need to take, not only to get our people home safely, but to swiftly and surely punish those who believe they can violate the law and violate American's sovereign rights to travel the world freely and safely.

This is unacceptable. And this is why this president is so weak and why the secretary of State, who is embracing a third Barack Obama term, would be even weaker.

RADDATZ: Thank you very much, Governor Christie. [applause]

David?

MUIR: Martha, we're going to turn to immigration now. And I want to bring in Governor Kasich because you told us in an ABC interview, Governor, quote, "It is completely ridiculous to think we are going to go into neighborhoods, grab people out of their homes and ship people back to Mexico." Adding, quote, "That's not where the party is. The party is not for departing 11.5 million people."

But Mr. Trump and Senator Cruz, who have made deportation central to their campaigns, top the national polls. So, my question for you, are you not where the voters are?

KASICH: Well, you know, David, I — I've just spent a lot of time here in this state, as I mentioned earlier, and we have to have practical solutions, just like we were just talking about a few minutes ago on North Korea. Look, the situation is, we need to finish the border. It has to be completed. Just like we lock our doors at night, the country has to be able to lock its doors. And we can have a guest worker program, where people can come in and out in an orderly way.

And then for the 11.5 million that are here, if they have not committed a crime since they've been here, I believe they ought to pay some back taxes, pay a fine, never get on the path to citizenship, but get legalization. It is not — I couldn't even imagine how we would even begin to think about taking a mom or a dad out of a house when they have not committed a crime since they've been here, leaving their children in the house. I mean, that is not, in my opinion, the kind of values that we believe in.

And secondly, I think at the end of the day, that Americans would support a plan like this. I think Congress would pass a plan to finish the border, guest worker, pay a fine, a path to legalization, and not citizenship. And we've got to get this done. And I will tell you this, within the first 100 days that I am president, I will put that proposal to the Congress. And I will tell you, as a former Congressman, and an executive, in Ohio, I can promise you that I believe you'll get the votes to pass that, and we can move on with that issue and protect our border. That's what I think.

MUIR: Governor Kasich, thank you. [applause]

I want to bring this next to Senator Cruz. You heard what the governor said. He said, "We need practical solutions." And you've said, "I don't intend to send jack boots to knock on doors. That's not how we enforce the law for any crime."

So, what is your plan? How will you deport 11.5 million undocumented people? And be specific. How would you do it?

CRUZ: So, in terms of a practical solution, I've laid out the most detailed plan for solving illegal immigration. It's 11 pages, single-spaced, chapter and verse. It's on our website, tedcruz.org.

In short, we're going to do, we're going to build a wall. We're going to triple the border patrol. We're going to increase — and actually, since Donald enjoyed that, I will simply say, I've got somebody in mind to build it.

We're going to increase four-fold, the fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft, so that you have technology monitoring an attempted incursion to direct the boots on the ground where they're occurring. We're going to put in place a strong e-verify system in the workplace, so you can't get a job without proving you are here legally.

We'll put in place a biometric exit-entry system on visas, because 40 percent of illegal immigration comes not over the border illegally, but people coming on visas and overstaying.

We will end sanctuary cities by cutting off taxpayer dollars to any jurisdiction that defies federal immigration law. [applause] And we will end welfare benefits for those here illegally. [applause]

MUIR: Let me just ask you this, though, because Governor Kasich was talking about the families and what you do with the families that you would have to send home.

Can you tell the American people tonight how you would do that?

CRUZ: What you do is, you enforce the law. You know, under the Constitution, the president has an obligation to, quote, "Take care that the laws be faithfully executed." Federal immigration law provides, if someone is here illegally and is apprehended, they are to be deported.

We saw just this past week the head of the border patrol union testify before Congress that President Obama had given the order to the border patrol to stand down, not to enforce the law. That is wrong. I will enforce the law, and for everyone who says, you can't possibly do that, I would note that in eight years, Bill Clinton deported 12 million people.

In eight years, George W. Bush deported 10 million people. Enforcing the law — we can do it. What is missing is the political will. And when they were deporting the people, the border wasn't secure, so they'd come right back. Once you secure the border, enforcing the law will solve this problem and that will benefit American workers.

MUIR: Senator Cruz, thank you. I want to bring in Senator Rubio.

This question is about immigration, it is also about leadership. You're aware of the criticism from many candidates on this stage tonight that you co-authored the so-called Gang of Eight bill that would have created a path to citizenship for people here illegally.

Governor Christie has said of you, as soon as you felt the heat, you turned tail and run. Governor Bush has said, "I don't think we need people cutting and running anymore."

Did you fight for your own legislation, Senator, or did you run from it?

RUBIO: Here's the bottom line. We can't get that legislation passed. The American people will not support doing anything about people that are in this country illegally until the law is enforced first, and you prove it to them.

This has been abundantly clear. Every effort over the last ten years to do those comprehensively has failed. And it has failed because the American people have zero trust that the federal government will enforce our laws.

And that's why since then, I have said repeatedly, if you are serious about immigration reform, then the key that unlocks the door to being able to do that is not just to pass a law that says it is going to enforce the law, but to actually do it. To hire the 20,000 new border agents, to finish the fencing and walls, to put in place mandatory e-verify, to put in place an entry-exit tracking system to prevent visa overstays.

And once that is in place and that's working, I believe the American people will support a very reasonable, but responsible approach to people that have been here a long time, who are not dangerous criminals, who pay taxes and pay fines for what they did.

But until then, none of that is going to be possible.

MUIR: But I'm asking, did you fight for the legislation at the time or did you run from it as you're...

RUBIO: Well, the legislation passed, but it has no support. In essence, it couldn't pass in the House, it will never pass in the United States until we secure the border, and it is not the way we're going to do when I'm president.

When I'm president, we are going to enforce the law first, prove to people that illegal immigration is under control. And then we'll see what the American people are willing to support when it comes to people that are not criminals, who have been in the this country for a long time and who otherwise would like to stay.

MUIR: Governor Christie?

CHRISTIE: Yeah, David, I would just like you to listen, again, everybody.

This is the difference between being a governor who actually has to be responsible for problems and not answering a question. The question was, "Did he fight for his legislation?" [applause]

It's abundantly clear that he didn't. It's abundantly clear that he didn't fight for the legislation.

When the teachers unions attacked me with $20 million of ads because I wanted to reform teacher tenure, I fought them and fought them and fought them and I won.

When they didn't want — when people wanted to raise taxes in my state at Democratic legislature and threatened to close down the government, I told them, fine. Close down the government. I'll get in my cars, head to the governor's mansion, order a pizza, open a beer and watch the Mets. You can call me when the government reopens.

And guess what they didn't do? They didn't pass a tax increase, because I vetoed it and they never closed the government because they knew I would fight for what I believed in. The fact of the matter is, a leader must fight for what they believe in. Not handicap it and say, well maybe since I can't win this one, I'll run. That's not what leadership is. [bell rings] That's what Congress is. [applause]

MUIR: Governor thank you.

Senator Rubio?

RUBIO: Leadership is ultimately about solving the problem. And the approach that was tried and has been tried now repeatedly over ten years to do this comprehensively, all at once in a massive piece of legislation has no chance of passage.

It is not leadership to continue to try something that has no chance of happening. I want to make progress on this issue. It has been discussed now for 30 years and nothing ever happens.

And I am telling you that the only way forward on this issue that has any chance of happening, meaning gaining the support of the American people, you cannot do this without the support of the American people, is an approach that begins by proving that once and for all, illegal immigration is under control.

MUIR: Senator Rubio, thank you. We want to turn to health care in this country, and for that, author and commentator, Mary Katherine Ham tonight.

HAM: Thanks, David.

Good evening, guys.

TRUMP: Good evening.

RUBIO: Good evening.

CHRISTIE: Good evening.

KASICH: Good evening.

CARSON: Good evening.

CRUZ: Good evening.

BUSH: Good evening.

HAM: Mr. Trump.

TRUMP: Yes.

HAM: In the Democratic primary, Hillary Clinton has criticized Bernie Sanders' plan for single payer government health care, noting it would require big, across the board tax increases for Americans. In doing so, she's doubling down on Obamacare, despite its persistent unpopularity.

Mr. Trump, you have said you want to appeal Obamacare. You have also said, quote, "Everybody's got to be covered," adding, quote, "The government's going to pay for it." Are you closer to Bernie Sanders' vision for health care than Hillary Clinton's?

TRUMP: I don't think I am. I think I'm closer to common sense. We are going to repeal Obamacare. [applause]

We're going to repeal Obamacare. We are going to replace Obamacare with something so much better. And there are so many examples of it. And I will tell you, part of the reason we have some people laughing, because you have insurance people that take care of everybody up here.

I am self-funded. The only one they're not taking care of is me. We have our lines around each state. The insurance companies are getting rich on Obamacare. The insurance companies are getting rich on health care and health services and everything having to do with health. We are going to end that.

We're going to take out the artificial boundaries, the artificial lines. We're going to get a plan where people compete, free enterprise. They compete. So much better. [applause]

In addition to that, you have the health care savings plans, which are excellent. What I do say is, there will be a certain number of people that will be on the street dying and as a Republican, I don't want that to happen. We're going to take care of people that are dying on the street because there will be a group of people that are not going to be able to even think in terms of private or anything else and we're going to take care of those people.

And I think everybody on this stage would have to agree...[bell rings]...you're not going to let people die, sitting in the middle of a street in any city in this country. [applause]

RADDATZ: Senator Cruz, to that point, Mr. Trump has said that your position on health care means that maybe you've got, quote, "no heart". There is a question here, though, about uncovered folks. You suggested repealing and replacing Obamacare. As we learned with President Obama's broken promise that everyone could keep their plan, any major plan — change in health care policy carries with it the risk that some people will lose their insurance coverage or have to change it.

How do you reassure that those people that repealing and replacing Obamacare is still in their best interest?

CRUZ: Well, let me take two different parts of that. Let me start with socialized medicine. Socialized medicine is a disaster. It does not work. If you look at the countries that have imposed socialized medicine, that have put the government in charge of providing medicine, what inevitably happens is rationing.

You have a scarcity of doctors. You have rationing. And that means the elderly are told, we're going to ration a hip replacement, we're going to ration a knee replacement. We're going to ration end- of-life care.

We're right now heading into a medical system with about a 90,000-doctor shortage in America and socialized medicine; whether proposed by the Democrats or proposed by a Republican would hurt the people of this country.

What should we do on health care? If I'm elected president, we will repeal every word of Obamacare. [applause]

And once we do that, we will adopt common sense reforms, number one, we'll allow people to purchase health insurance across state lines that will drive down prices and expand the availability of low cost catastrophic insurance.

We'll expand health savings accounts; and we will de-link health insurance from employment so that you don't lose your health insurance when you lose your job, and that way health insurance can be personal, portable and affordable and we keep government from getting in between us and our doctors. [applause]

HAM: Dr. Carson, you have some experience with this matter. In the past, you have said that Obamacare should be replaced before it's repealed. How and why?

CARSON: Well, thank you. You know, I was hoping to get a chance to talk about North Korea. I was the only one who didn't get to do that, and I've got stuff to say about it, let me tell you.

But at any rate, you have to replace it with something that makes sense. It doesn't make sense. And the reason that I dislike Obamacare is because the government comes in and tells the people — which the nation is supposed to be centered on — that we don't care what you think, this is what we're doing. And if you don't like it, too bad. That's a problem. And we can't afford to do that because that will fundamentally change America.

I have proposed a health empowerment account system. Everybody gets a health empowerment account the day they are born, they keep it until they die. They can pass it on. We pay for it with the same dollars that we pay for traditional health care with, recognizing that we spend twice as much as many countries per capita and health care and don't have as such access.

We give people the ability to shift money within their health empowerment account so that each family basically becomes its own insurance company without a middleman; that saves you a awful lot of money. And that will lower the cost of your catastrophic insurance tremendously, because the only thing coming out of that is catastrophic health care.

And then in terms of taking care of the indigent, we have another whole system, and I can go ahead and explain it, but I don't have the time, but I'd be happy to if you give me some more time. But go to my website bencarson.com, read about it. You can read about everything that's been discussed here in great detail. [applause]

HAM: Thank you, Dr. Carson. David, Martha, back to you.

MUIR: Mary Katherine, thank you. We want to turn now to the issue of eminent domain, which is being debated right here in New Hampshire. And Josh McElveen is the political director and the anchor of WMUR TV. Josh?

MCELVEEN: Thank you, David. And good evening, candidates. Mr. Trump, you have said, quote, "I love eminent domain" which is the seizure of private property for the sake of the greater good theoretically. You tried to use the measure in business endeavors, you've said you'd support its use for the Keystone Pipeline project.

Here in New Hampshire, a project, though, known as the Northern pass would bring hydro-electric power from Canada into the Northeastern grid. Do you see eminent domain as an appropriate tool to get that done?

TRUMP: Well, let me just tell you about eminent domain because almost all of these people actually criticize it, but so many people have hit me with commercials and other things about eminent domain.

Eminent domain is an absolute necessity for a country, for our country. Without it, you wouldn't have roads, you wouldn't have hospitals, you wouldn't have anything. You wouldn't have schools, you wouldn't have bridges. You need eminent domain. And a lot of the big conservatives that tell me how conservative they are — I think I'm more than they are — they tell me, oh — well, they all want the Keystone Pipeline. The Keystone Pipeline, without eminent domain, it wouldn't go 10 feet, OK? You need eminent domain. And eminent domain is a good thing, not a bad thing.

And what a lot of people don't know because they were all saying, oh, you're going to take their property. When somebody — when eminent domain is used on somebody's property, that person gets a fortune. They get at least fair market value, and if they are smart, they'll get two or three times the value of their property. But without eminent domain, you don't have roads, highways, schools, bridges or anything.

So eminent domain — it's not that I love it, but eminent domain is absolutely — it's a necessity for a country. And certainly it's a necessity for our country.

MCELVEEN: So would that be yes on the Northern Pass project? [applause]

TRUMP: Yes.

BUSH: The difference — the difference between eminent domain for public purpose — as Donald said, roads and infrastructure, pipelines and all that — that's for public purpose. But what Donald Trump did was use eminent domain to try to take the property of an elderly woman on the strip in Atlantic City. That is not public purpose, that is down right wrong. [applause]

And here's the problem with that. The problem was, it was to tear down — it was to tear down — it was to tear down the house...

TRUMP: Jeb wants to be — he wants to be a tough guy tonight. I didn't take the property.

BUSH: And the net result was — you tried.

TRUMP: I didn't take the property.

BUSH: And you lost in the court.

TRUMP: The woman ultimately didn't want to do that. I walked away.

BUSH: That is not true. And the simple fact is to turn this into a limousine parking lot for his casinos is a not public use. [applause]

And in Florida, based on what we did, we made that impossible. It is part of our Constitution. That's the better approach. That is the conservative approach.

MCELVEEN: Mr. Trump, take 30 seconds.

TRUMP: Well, let me just — you know, he wants to be a tough guy. A lot of times, you'll have — you'll have — and it didn't work very well.

BUSH: How tough it is to take away property from an elderly woman?

TRUMP: A lot of time — let me talk. Quiet. A lot of times — a lot of times...

BUSH: How tough it is to take away a property from an elderly woman?

TRUMP: ... you — let me talk. Let me talk. Quiet. A lot of times...[booing]...that's all of his donors and special interests out there. [booing]

So — it's what it is. That's what — and by the way, let me just tell you, we needed tickets. You can't get them. You know who has the tickets for the — I'm talking about, to the television audience? Donors, special interests, the people that are putting up the money. [booing]

That's who it is. The RNC told us. We have all donors in the audience. And the reason they're not loving me...[booing]...the reason they're not — excuse me. The reason they're not loving me is, I don't want their money. I'm going to do the right thing for the American public. I don't want their money. I don't need their money. And I'm the only one up here that can say that.

Eminent domain, the Keystone pipeline — do you consider that a private job? Do you — do you consider that...

BUSH: I consider it a public use.

TRUMP: No — no, let me ask you, Jeb. [bell rings] Do you consider the Keystone pipeline private?

BUSH: It's a public use. It's a public use.

TRUMP: Is it public or private?

BUSH: It's a public use.

TRUMP: Real — a public use?

BUSH: Yeah.

TRUMP: No, it's a private job.

BUSH: It's a public use.

TRUMP: It's a private job.

BUSH: Established by the courts — federal, state courts.

TRUMP: You wouldn't have the Keystone pipeline that you want so badly without eminent domain.

MCELVEEN: All right, gentlemen...

TRUMP: You wouldn't have massive — excuse me, Josh — you wouldn't have massive factories without eminent domain. [booing]

MCELVEEN: Gentlemen, we do have to move forward. Dave, Martha, back to you.

MUIR: Josh, thank you.

When we come back here tonight, jobs, ISIS, and what it means to be a conservative. [applause]

The Republican debate continues right here from New Hampshire on ABC. We'll be right back.

[commercial break]

MUIR: And, we welcome you back to the Republican debate from New Hampshire tonight here on ABC. We're going to turn now to what it means to be a conservative, and I want to turn to Governor Kasich.

Governor, while campaigning here in New Hampshire, you were already asked about groans from some conservatives after your endorsements from the New York Times, and the Boston Globe. You said, quote, "What conservatives have to know is they have to say, look isn't it nice to have a conservative like me liked? And, maybe the ought to think about it because if I get elected president, the Republican party and the definition of conservatism is going to change."

How would you change conservatism?

KASICH: Well, first of all, look. As the New York Times said, he's certainly not a moderate, but he can bring people together to solve problems. The fact of the matter is I've cut taxes more than anybody in the country this year. I have balanced budgets, the federal budget, the state of Ohio budget, we're running a $2 billion dollar surplus, we're up 400,000 jobs, and in Washington we were able to have significant job growth whenever we balanced the budget of which I was the architect.

But, here's the beauty of it, it's not just balancing a budget, it's about jobs. You know, when I was kid growing up in a neighborhood where Dad went home at night and said, "I lost my job today", it just killed the family.

It just was a devastating effect. We have to have economic growth, but once we have economic growth I believe we have to reach out to people who live in the shadows. I believe we need to help the mentally ill, the drug addicted, the working poor. We need to help the developmentally disabled to rise, and we need to help our friends in the minority community develop entrepreneurship. In other words, in American, conservatism should mean not only that some rise with conservative principles, but everybody has a chance to rise regardless of who they are so they can live their God given purpose. That's what conservatism should be. [applause]

MUIR: Governor Kasich, thank you.

Mr. Trump, you've heard the argument from many of the candidates on this stage that you're not a true conservative. Tell the voters watching tonight why you are.

TRUMP: Well, I think I am, and to me, I view the word conservative as a derivative I — of — of the word conserve. We want to converse our money. We want to conserve our wealth. We want to conserve. We want to be smart. We want to be smart where we go, where we spend, how we spend. We want to conserve our country. We want to save our country. And we have people that have no idea how to do that and they are not doing it, and it's a very important word and it's something I believe in very, very strongly.

MUIR: Mr. Trump, thank you. [applause]

Senator Rubio, you have said yourself that you don't think Donald Trump is running as a conservative. Did he convince you?

RUBIO: Well, I think conservatism is about three things and Donald touched on one of them, but it's about three things. The first is conservatism is about limited government, especially at the federal level. The federal government is a limited government, limited by the Constitution, which delineates its powers. If it's not in the Constitution, it does not belong to the federal government. It belongs to states, local communities and the private sector.

It's about free enterprise, which is an economic model that allows everyone to rise without pulling anyone down. The reason why free enterprise is the greatest economic model in the history of the world is because it's the only economic model where you can make poor people richer without making rich people poor.

And it's about a strong national defense. It's about believing, unlike Barack Obama, that the world is a safer and a better place when America is the strongest military and the strongest nation on this planet. That's conservatism. [applause]

MUIR: Senator Rubio, thank you. I want to turn this discussion to the economy now.

And Mr. Trump, Governor Christie has said, "I tell everybody who goes to a Donald Trump event, if you get to ask a question, just ask him how." Christie said, "I don't care which of the things he talks about, just ask him how." You have said that you'd be the greatest jobs president God ever created. Tell Americans watching tonight how many jobs you would create in the first term and how.

TRUMP: Well, before I go there, I will tell you, I will bring jobs back from China. I will bring jobs back from Japan. I will bring jobs back from Mexico, where New Hampshire, by the way, has been virtually wiped out. They've lost so many businesses going to Mexico because of horrible trade deals. And now we're about to sign another trade deal, TPP, which is going to be a disaster for this country because they don't talk about monetary manipulation. It is going to be a disaster.

I'm going to bring jobs back and I'll start bringing them back very fast. Under my tax plan — right now, we're the highest taxed country in the world. Under my plan, we cut not only taxes for the middle class, but we cut taxes for corporations. We will bring back trillions of dollars that's offshore. Right now, they have $2.5 trillion, and in my opinion, it's much more than that. That's what the government says. All of that money is going to come back.

And we're not going to lose Pfizer, which is now leaving, and other great companies, which is now leaving. And they're all leaving. We have many, many companies that are leaving this country. We're not going to lose them anymore because we're going to have a tax structure that is going to keep them in our country.

MUIR: Mr. Trump, thank you.

There are a lot of governors on this stage tonight and Governor Christie, Governor Kasich said of you, quote, "In Ohio, we balanced a budget. They don't have one over in New Jersey. Our credit has been strengthened. Their credit has been downgraded. We've got more jobs."

How important are those metrics in choosing the next president? And is his job — is his record on jobs, I should say, actually stronger than yours?

CHRISTIE: Well, he deserves credit for his record on jobs. He's done a very good job as governor of Ohio. Never said that John hasn't. He's done a very good job. [applause]

But — but unfortunately, John's been so busy doing over stuff, he's using old statistics. That's OK. New Jersey had its best year of job growth in the last 15 years under five different governors this year in New Jersey. New Jersey cut spending over $2.3 billion and we have 10,000 fewer employees than we had when I walked in the door. John has a bigger government now and more employees than he had when he walked in the door.

But all that doesn't matter. What really matters is this, that executive experience really matters. You heard this on the stage tonight. We've heard it said on the stage that President Obama knows exactly what he's doing.

I'd like to ask all the veterans listening out there tonight, who are waiting in line for healthcare, who are literally dying because the Veterans Administration doesn't work, do you think Barack Obama knows what he's doing? I don't. And I'll tell you something. Anybody who evaluates him is knowing what he's doing and managing the government doesn't know how to manage a government themselves.

And one last thing, David, which I think is really important. I listened to Senator Rubio's answer on his bill. He said his bill couldn't pass on the gang of eight. He acted as if he was somehow disembodied from the bill. It was his bill. He said this idea doesn't work. It was his idea.

See, when you're a governor, you have to take responsibility for these things. You can't just act as if it happened out of nowhere. We have to take responsibility as executives. I take responsibility for my record in New Jersey. We've rebuilt the economy and rebuilt after the second-worst natural disaster in American history. I'm proud of my record. And by the way, I like Kasich's record, too. He's a good governor. [applause]

KASICH: David?

MUIR: Thank you, Governor.

Governor Kasich?

KASICH: Look, I'm — I'm not here — I like Chris.

MUIR: He didn't say your record was better than his.

KASICH: Let — but let me — let me just tell you. First of all, we have the lowest number of state employees in 30 years.

Secondly, we have grown government at the rate of inflation. And I went from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus. And we've grown jobs by 400,000 — that's one of the fastest growing states in the country. Our pensions are secure and our credit is rock solid.

Now, I've learned that, what makes things work, what gets the economy going, not just in Ohio, but in Washington — and it's three things. Common sense regulations, which we have, lower taxes, which we have, the lowest taxes, tax cuts in the country. And thirdly, a fiscal plan to balance the budget.

When you go from $8 billion in the hole to $2 billion in the black, when you cut taxes by $5 billion and you grow over 400,000 jobs, that is a record that I can take to Washington, using the same formula that I used in Washington when I was part of the effort to balance the budget to give us a surplus and to create jobs.

MUIR: Governor Kasich, thank you.

KASICH: That's what I did and I'll do it again in the first 100 days.

MUIR: Governor Kasich, thank you. I do want to turn from jobs to taxes.

RUBIO: Now, see, I was mentioned by Governor...

MUIR: If you would like to respond to the governor, you can.

RUBIO: Yeah.

MUIR: I'm coming to you next with a question, anyway. You can respond to that question.

RUBIO: OK, good, then I'll get to it [inaudible]. Here's the...

MUIR: We're going from jobs to taxes, and here's the...

RUBIO: Well, no, sorry. Let me respond to that question.

MUIR: To the Gang of Eight bill first?

RUBIO: Well, here's the response. I think anyone who believes that Barack Obama isn't doing what he's doing on purpose doesn't understand what we're dealing with here, OK? This is a president — this is a president who is trying to change this country. When he talked about change, he wasn't talking about dealing with our problems.

Obamacare was not an accident. The undermining of the Second Amendment is not an accident. The gutting of our military is not an accident. The undermining of America on the global stage is not an accident. Barack Obama is, indeed, trying to redefine this country. We better understand what we're dealing with here, because that's what Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders want to double down on if they are elected.

MUIR: The governor wasn't talking about the president, he was talking about the Gang of Eight bill. [applause]

RUBIO: No. He talked about Barack Obama.

MUIR: So, let me ask you about taxes, Senator Rubio.

RUBIO: Yeah.

MUIR: A recent poll, 68 percent of Americans favor raising taxes on people making more than $1 million a year. Are they wrong?

RUBIO: I don't know of any problem in America that's going to be fixed with a tax increase. We have an economy today, an economy today that is not creating jobs that pay enough.

And one of the reasons why is because we have one of the most expensive business tax rates on the planet. Our combined business rate puts us among the highest in the industrialized world. And then on top of that, we are the only one that has a worldwide system of taxation, where an American company who makes money abroad has to pay taxes where they made the money and then taxes a second time when they bring it back.

The combination of these two things has stranded over $2 trillion, the equivalent of the size of the Russian economy, $2 trillion of American corporate money stranded overseas, combined with all of these inversions of companies leaving us.

The solution to the problems we have today are not a tax increase. It is to lower our taxes on both people and on companies, so we can make America globally competitive again. [applause]

MUIR: Senator Rubio, thank you.

I want to bring in Governor Bush. And Governor, I just want to repeat that number for you — 68 percent of Americans favor raising taxes on people making more than a million.

What do you say to the people who believe that tonight?

BUSH: I would like to see more millionaires. I think we need to grow more millionaires, we need create a prosperity society where people can rise up. [applause]

This notion that somehow we're undertaxed as a nation is just fool hearty, when we have entitlements growing far faster than our ability to pay for it. A conservative, because that's the point of this, believes in limited government, believes in a entrepreneurial capitalism and a strong national defense.

But it also has to be, we need to reform things. In my town hall meetings, I went to a place where a woman described her neighbor, who has a better economic deal by not working than her struggling to make ends meet. We need to be on the side of working people. And you know, the problem with the left is, another tax, another regulation, another mandate makes it harder for them to rise up.

Everything that we should do should be focused on high, sustained economic growth, where the middle class gets a raise for the first time, and where people are rewarded for work, rather than non-work. And I know how to do this. And if people are interested in the specifics of this, they ought to go to jeb2016.com. [applause]

MUIR: Knew that was coming. Governor, thank you.

CHRISTIE: David? Hey, David? David? Hey, David? I actually have experience with raising taxes on millionaires in my state. It was done. It was done by my predecessor.

And I want everybody in the public who is in that 68 percent, I want to tell you the truth. You're wrong. And here is why you're wrong. After New Jersey raised taxes on millionaires, we lost, in the next four years, $70 billion in wealth left our state.

It left our state to go where it would be treated more kindly. If the United States raised taxes any further, that money will leave the United States, as well. We won't have better jobs.

Let New Jersey be the canary in the coal mine. It is a failed idea and a failed policy, it's class warfare. It happened in my state. I've stopped it from happening again. But we cannot do it.

The 68 percent of the people are wrong about that, it will hurt the American economy. We tried it in New Jersey. Come take a look — it did not work. [applause]

MUIR: Governor Christie, thank you. [applause] Martha?

RADDATZ: Senator Cruz, you advocate what you call carpet bombing, or saturation bombing, to defeat ISIS, citing the more than 1,100 air attacks that the U.S. carried out during the first Gulf War in 1991.

Explain how a strategy to defeat a standing army would work against an unconventional terrorist group that is now hiding amongst the population.

CRUZ: Well, sure. It starts with a commander-in-chief that sets the objective. And the objective has to be utterly and completely destroying ISIS. Obama hasn't started with that objective and everything else flows from there.

Once you set that objective, we have the tools to carry that out. The first tool is overwhelming air power. It is one of the blessings of the United States of America, having the greatest military on the face of the earth, is we have the ability to use that air power.

As you know, in the first Persian Gulf War, it was 1,100 air attacks a day. Obama is launching between 15 and 30. Now, when I say saturation carpet bombing, that is not indiscriminate.

That is targeted at oil facilities. It's targeted at the oil tankers. It's targeted at command and control locations. It's targeted at infrastructure. It's targeted at communications. It's targeted at bombing all of the roads and bridges going in and out of Raqqa. It's using overwhelming air power.

You know, couple of weeks ago, it was reported that a facility is open called Jihadist University. Now, the question I wonder, why is that building still standing? It should be rubble. And if you had a president...[bell rings] [applause]... all though I will say this. I would be willing to wait until freshman orientation before launching those bombs.

RADDATZ: Senator Cruz, would you like to expand or loosen the rules of engagement? I was just over in a command center in Erbil and they said they thought the rules of engagement worked. Because you have so many civilians in those populated areas, they don't want to hit civilians.

CRUZ: Martha, I will tell you, I have visited with active duty military, with veterans over and over and over again in town halls all over the state of New Hampshire. What we are doing to our sons and daughters, it is immoral. We are sending them into fight with their arms tied behind their back. They cannot defend themselves. And it is wrong. [applause]

And I will tell you this. Look. America has always been reluctant to use military force. It's the last step we take. But if and when we use it when it comes to defeating ISIS, we should use it. We should use overwhelming force, kill the enemy and then get the heck out. Don't engage in nation-building but instead, allow our soldiers to do their jobs instead of risking their lives with politicians making it impossible to accomplish the objective. [applause]

RADDATZ: So, loosen the rules of engagement?

CRUZ: Absolutely, yes.

RADDATZ: Senator Rubio, you said in the last debate that ISIS is the most dangerous, jihadist group in the history of mankind And that will it take overwhelming U.S. force to defeat them. Can you specifically tell us what you mean by overwhelming force?

RUBIO: Well, first, we need to understand who they are. ISIS is not just a jihadist group, they're an apocalyptic group. They want to trigger a showdown in a city named Tibet between the west and themselves which they believe will trigger the arrival of their messianic figure.

And I'm not saying that's what's going to happen. The reason why it's important to understand that is because these are not groups that are just going to go away on their own. They are going to have to be defeated. And I believe they need to be defeated on the ground, by a ground force, made up primarily of Sunni Arabs.

It will take Sunni Arabs to reject them ideologically and defeat them militarily. That will require a coalition of Iraqis and Syrians, that are also Sunnis, but it will also require the cooperation of Jordanians, Egyptians. We should ask more of the Saudis.

That will need to be backed up with more U.S. special operation forces alongside them. And it will have to be backed up with increased air strikes. And we are going to have to strike them, not just in Iraq and in Syria, but in every other part of the world where they have now created hubs of operation. They have affiliates in over a dozen countries across this planet. They have a sophisticated network of radicalizing people here in the homeland and around the world. [bell rings]

But it all begins by taking away their their safe operating spaces with a ground force that a U.S.-led coalition takes on. [applause]

RADDATZ: Again, Senator Rubio, you've already said ISIS is the most dangerous jihadist group in the history of mankind. So, that would make it more dangerous than Al Qaida, the insurgents we fought in Iraq. We committed hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops to fight those groups. So if ISIS is the most dangerous group in history, why not commit a large U.S. ground force?

RUBIO: Because they currently occupy Sunni cities and villages. Sunni cities and villages can only truly be liberated and held by Sunnis themselves. If they are held by Shias it will trigger sectarian violence. The Kurds are incredible fighters and they will liberate the Kurdish areas, but Kurds can not and do not want to liberate and hold Sunni villages and towns.

It will take Sunni fighters themselves in that region to take those villages and cities, and then to hold them and avoid the sort of sectarian violence that follows in the past.

And why that is important is because if Sunnis are not able to govern themselves in these areas, you are going to have a successor group to ISIS. ISIS is a successor group of Al Qaida. In fact, they broke away...[bell rings]...from Al Qaida, because as horrible as Al Qaida is, ISIS thought Al Qaida was not radical enough. This is who we're dealing with, and they have more money than Al Qaida ever had.

BUSH: Martha — Martha, if I...

RADDATZ: Well, what would you do — what would you do differently to try to get those Sunni forces? They have not been coming forward.

RUBIO: Well, the problem with the Sunni forces in the region is they don't trust this administration. This administration cut a deal with their mortal enemies, the Shia, in Iran. It poisoned the well with these countries. It makes it very difficult to cooperate with them as a result.

They also, by the way, understand what real U.S. air power looks like. They saw the Iraq war. They saw, up close, also Afghanistan. They know what air power looks like when the United States is committed to the cause. And they see the airstrikes that are being conducted now, and they say to themselves, that's not real commitment. We know what real commitment looks like.

The — the Jordanian king was in Washington three weeks ago. He told everyone who would listen that they have begged for permission from the coalition to target caravans. And the coalition — meaning U.S. leadership on the ground...[bell rings]...would not allow them to proceed with those airstrikes.

RADDATZ: Mr. Trump — thank you very much, Senator Rubio. Mr. Trump. [applause]

You have said you will vigorously bomb ISIS. You've said, "we've got to get rid of ISIS, quickly, quickly." How would you get rid of them so quickly? And please give us specifics.

TRUMP: Well, four years ago, I said, bomb the oil and take the oil. And if we did that, they wouldn't have the wealth they have right now. Now, I still say the same thing, because we're doing little pinpricks. We're not even bombing — if somebody's driving a truck, they give notice to the person driving the truck, "we're going to bomb." If they don't get out of the truck, the truck sails away with the oil.

We actually have a case where we don't want to bomb the oil, because we don't want to hurt — pollute the atmosphere. Can you imagine General Douglas MacArthur or General Patton saying we can't bomb because we're gonna hurt the atmosphere?

You have to knock the hell out of the oil. You have to take the oil. And you have also back channels of banking. You have people that you think are our great allies, our friends, in the Middle East, that are paying tremendous numbers of — tremendous amounts of money to ISIS.

So we have to stop those circuits. Nobody knows banking better than I do. They have back circuits, back channels. Tremendous amounts of money is coming in through the banking system. So between the oil and the banking, you will dry them up. But it should have been done four years ago, not now.

RADDATZ: And — and what would you do in those cities, where there are people who we are trying to help, who ISIS is essentially holding hostage?

TRUMP: You have to go in — first of all, when you take away their money, when you take away their wealth, that'll very much weaken — and it will happen fairly fast.

They'll last for about a year, based on all of the wealth they've accumulated. But when you stop the banking channels and when you stop the oil and take the oil — not just bomb it, take it — when you do that, it's going to dry up very quickly. They're going to become a very weakened power, quickly. Thank you.

RADDATZ: Thank you very much, Mr. Trump. [applause]

Let's turn to Libya. Governor Bush, it is a country in chaos. There is no government. This week, defense officials said there are now 5,000 ISIS fighters there, roughly doubling previous estimates. We know you and others have been critical of the administration's handling of Libya after the initial air strikes that you supported.

But this is a problem you would stand to inherit if you're the next president. Reports this week said the administration is considering new air strikes, possible special operations raids. Would you support renewed air strikes or any U.S. involvement on the ground?

BUSH: I would. And I would do it in concert, again, with our Arab allies and with Europe, most particularly in this case. This is the lesson learned: in history, if you bomb something and not do anything as it relates to deal with the aftermath of this, if you don't have a stable government, you get what we have in Libya.

And this is not — leading from behind is not an effective policy. We have to lead. Without the United States, nothing seems to work. Europe doesn't have the ability to — to — to lead — forward lead in this regard.

And so dealing with the caliphate is important, because it now has spawned other areas. There have been 70-plus attacks in 17 countries, either inspired by ISIS or organized by ISIS, Libya being the most important one now.

We have to deal with the caliphate, with building a Sunni army there, but we also have to deal with it in Libya. And I think the United States, ultimately, is going to play — play a significant role in this.

The problem with the Obama administration is that they see this incrementally. They're reluctant. They don't lead. No one knows whether we're serious, and when we do it, we do it in increments you can barely see. [bell rings]

The United States has to lead in a much more aggressive way than we're doing right now. [applause]

RADDATZ: Thank you very much, Governor Bush. Dr. Carson?

CARSON: I want to say something about this, because I'm not here just to add beauty to the stage. [laughter]

You know, I've been talking about Libya for quite a long time. I think I was the first one to start talking about it because I say we have to have a proactive foreign policy strategy. And of course, the next place that ISIS is going to attack to is Libya.

If you want to expand your caliphate and increase your influence, then you're going to go to a place that's strategically located. You go north, across the Mediterranean. You're into southern Europe. You go south, you're into Chad and Sudan and Niger. Not to mention the fact that you have much more oil than you do in Iraq. That's the kind of place that they're going to go to, therefore, we need to be thinking about how do we prevent them from tacking over there. They're already sending their fighters there, we need to be consulting with our military experts and asking them what do they need in order to prevent ISIS from being able to take over Libya. That's going to have enormous concede for us.

RADDATZ: And would you support renewed airstrikes?

CARSON: I would support the possibility of renewed airstrikes if in conjunction with our Joint Chiefs and our military people they felt that was an appropriate strategy.

The fact of the matter is none of us up here is a military expert, and we sometimes act like we are, but we're not. And if we actually sit down and talk with them and get them to understand our plan and their impression of what needs to be done, I think we're going to make a lot more progress.

BUSH: Martha and David, I just...

RADDATZ: We're going to move on.

BUSH: Martha and David...

MUIR: Martha, thank you. We're just going to — we're going to stay on ISIS here and the war on terror, because as you know, there's been a debate in this country about how to deal with the enemy and about enhanced interrogation techniques ever since 9/11.

So Senator Cruz, you have said, quote, "torture is wrong, unambiguously, period. Civilized nations do not engage in torture." Some of the other candidates say they don't think waterboarding is torture. Mr. Trump has said, I would bring it back. Senator Cruz, is waterboarding torture?

CRUZ: Well, under the definition of torture, no, it's not. Under the law, torture is excruciating pain that is equivalent to losing organs and systems, so under the definition of torture, it is not. It is enhanced interrogation, it is vigorous interrogation, but it does not meet the generally recognized definition of torture.

MUIR: If elected president, would you bring it back?

CRUZ: I would not bring it back in any sort of widespread use. And indeed, I joined with Senator McCain in legislation that would prohibit line officers from employing it because I think bad things happen when enhanced interrogation is employed at lower levels.

But when it comes to keeping this country safe, the commander in chief has inherent constitutional authority to keep this country safe. And so, if it were necessary to, say, prevent a city from facing an imminent terrorist attack, you can rest assured that as commander in chief, I would use whatever enhanced interrogation methods we could to keep this country safe.

MUIR: Senator Cruz, thank you. Mr. Trump, you said not only does it work, but that you'd bring it back.

TRUMP: Well, I'll tell you what. In the Middle East, we have people chopping the heads off Christians, we have people chopping the heads off many other people. We have things that we have never seen before — as a group, we have never seen before, what's happening right now.

The medieval times — I mean, we studied medieval times — not since medieval times have people seen what's going on. I would bring back waterboarding and I'd bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding. [applause]

MUIR: Mr. Trump, thank you. Governor Bush, you have said that you won't rule waterboarding out. Congress has passed laws banning the use of waterboarding by the military and the CIA, as you know. Would you want Congress to change that if you're elected president?

BUSH: No, no, I wouldn't. No, I wouldn't. And it was used sparingly, Congress has changed the laws and I — and I think where we stand is the appropriate place. But what we need to do is to make sure that we expand our intelligence capabilities.

The idea that we're going to solve this fight with predator drones, killing people somehow is a — is more acceptable than capturing them, securing the information. This is why closing Guantanamo is a complete disaster. What we need to do is make sure that we are kept safe...[applause]...by having intelligence capabilities, both human and technological intelligence capabilities far superior than what we have today. That's how you get a more safe place is by making sure that we're fully engaged. And right now, this administration doesn't do that.

MUIR: Governor Bush, thank you. [applause]

Senator Rubio, I do want to ask you, you have said that you do not want to telegraph to the enemy what you would do as commander in chief. But for the American people watching tonight who want to know where the next president will stand, do you believe waterboarding is torture?

RUBIO: Well, when people talk about interrogating terrorists, they're acting like this is some sort of law enforcement function. Law enforcement is about gathering evidence to take someone to trial, and convict them. Anti-terrorism is about finding out information to prevent a future attack so the same tactics do not apply.

And, it is true, we should not be discussing in a wide spread way the exact tactics that we're going to use because that allows terrorist to know to practice how to evade us.

But, here's the bigger problem with all this, we're not interrogating anybody right now. Guantanamo's being emptied by this president. We should be putting people into Guantanamo, not emptying it out, and we shouldn't be releasing these killers who are rejoining the battlefield against the United States. [applause]

MUIR: Senator Rubio, thank you.

We want to turn now to the topic of executive orders, and for that, we're going to turn back to Mary Katharine Ham. Mary Katharine?

HAM: Thanks, David. Senator Cruz, on the campaign trail you've promised voters a lot, in fact if you're elected president you'd say you end Common Core immediately, abolish the IRS, and do away with sanctuary cities. You've also been a persistent critic of President Obama's executive overreach, going it alone, not working with Congress. How do you intend to implement this aggressive agenda within your Constitutional authority, especially given that it would require working with Congress and Washington players with whom you're happy to say you have a strained relationship?

CRUZ: Well, thank you for that question. You know, there are three avenues of presidential authority to change the direction of this country. The first is executive power, the second is foreign policy, and the third is legislation. Executive power, as we all know, has been the preferred vehicle of President Obama, abusing his authority, abusing his constitutional authority.

Now, the silver lining of that is everything done with executive power can be undone with executive power, so I have pledged on day one I will rescind every single illegal and unconstitutional executive action Barack Obama has done. That means on day one his efforts to restrict the Second Amendment go away with the strike of a pen. That means on day one his illegal executive amnesty goes away with the strike of a pen.

The reason I can end Common Core at the federal level is because Obama is abusing executive power using Race to the Top funds in the Department of Education to force it on the states. That's one avenue.

The second avenue of change is foreign policy, and foreign policy can change the fastest. It's worth remembering that Iran released our hostages the day Reagan...[bell rings]...was sworn in. And, the third is legislation, and that can only be done with the people behind you, which is why the two big legislative initiatives I'm campaigning on are repealing Obamacare, and adopting a simple flat tax to abolish the IRS. [applause]

HAM: Mr. Trump, Senator Cruz is known for opposing deals, you literally wrote the book on making them. Senator Cruz has mentioned that on the trail. What would you say to those conservatives that are concerned that a deal maker will just perpetuate the same deals in Washington and the way that things run now [inaudible]...

TRUMP: ... No, a good deal maker will make great deals, but we'll do it the way our founders thought it should be done. People get together, they make deals. Ronald Reagan did it with Tip O'Neil very successfully, you didn't hear so much about executive orders, if you heard about it at all. You have to be able to get a consensus.

Now, the real person like it was mentioned about the deal with Iran, how bad a deal is that? It doesn't get any more amateurish than that. A good deal maker would never make a deal like that. With Congress, you have to get everybody in a room, and you have to get them to agree. But, you have to get them to agree what you want, and that's part of being a deal maker. You can't leave the White House, go to Hawaii and play golf for three weeks and be a real deal maker. It doesn't work that way. You have to get people in, grab them, hug them, kiss them, and get the deal done. But, it's got to be the deal that you want. [applause]

HAM: Governor Kasich, is the problem with Washington that there are too many deals, or too few?

KASICH: Well, right now the deals — there's no leadership. I mean, a lot of the things that we're talking about here tonight, on the border, and so many of the things. What we should be doing on foreign policy, you know what the problem is, Mary Katharine? There's not a leader that gets somebody to rise up.

You have to have a leader that can inspire, and actually some of what Donald was saying is true. Look, do you know how hard it was...

TRUMP: Some?

KASICH: ... to get the balance the federal budget balanced? You have to plead with people. To do what we've done in Ohio, you have to plead with people, then you go back down to Washington and do the same thing.

You see, we have to remind people we're Americans before we're Republicans and Democrats, and when we wait, and when we delay what we end up doing, Mary Katharine, is we make the United States weaker. In fact, it's a foreign policy issue because people look at America not solving problems and they say what are they doing over there? So the point is you have to work with people.

The problem with executive authority for the president, it's really bad news for this reason. Since he's given up on working with Congress, he thinks he can impose anything he wants. He's not a king. He's a president. An executive order should be used frankly in consolidation and with consulting with the leadership in the — in the Congress.

I've done it in Ohio. I consult. I could use executive orders, but I don't trump the legislature, because if you do, you aggravate them, you anger them and then the long-term prospects get bleak. We have to solve problems in America by coming together, Republicans and Democrats, Americans first, party and ideology second — in the second back seat of this country. That's what we need to do. [applause]

And we can do it. And we can do it.

BUSH: This is a — this is an important subject. I agree with everything that's been said here about repealing unconstitutional rules and rules that are creating real burdens for investing that creating jobs.

But we also ought to get back to being a Tenth Amendment country, as well, a country that respects the states to be able to make more decisions. And in the Bush administration, we would shift transportation dollars back to the states. I trust Kasich and Christie to build the roads and the infrastructure of their states than Washington, D.C.

EPA delegated authority, back to the states. Education dollars, back to the states. I would like to see reform take place all across the country, where there's more vouchers, more freedom. [applause]

If we did that, we would shrink government's power in Washington, D.C. and we would have a much more effective government, where people would begin to trust our government again, because now, no one believes it works.

KASICH: Mary Katherine, let me just say this to you. [applause]

You must have an agenda that you are ready to move on in the first 100 days. Jeb is right. If you delay and you wait, the Washington operators will take you down. I can tell you this, in the first 100 days, I will have legislation to freeze federal regulations, have them reviewed by the vice president, reduce state taxes on individuals, reduce taxes on corporations, have a fiscal plan to balance the budget, get the border protected and begin to fix Social Security in the first 100 days.

So, anybody who is here tonight, if I get elected president, head out tomorrow and buy a seat belt, because there's going to be so much happening in the first 100 days, it's going to make your head spin. We're going to move America forward. I promise you. We're going to move us forward. [applause]

BUSH: You mentioned me. He mentioned me. One other thing that I think we ought to do, along with repealing Obamacare, we need to shift all of this power of healthcare, which is the most egregious form of federal power that is suppressing wages and incomes, and allow governors to have the Medicaid plans so that they can create 21st century Medicaid insurance for people that are stuck in poverty. There's so much that can be done, but I don't trust Washington to do it. I trust the state capitals to be the place — to be the source of innovation and reform in this country. [applause]

HAM: Thank you, governors. Martha and David, back to you.

MUIR: Mary Katherine, thank you.

We want to turn to something the governor of New Hampshire said... [laughter]

KASICH: Jeb mentioned me. Time for me to go again.

BUSH: I didn't mention him the second time.

KASICH: He says he didn't mention me the second time. I thought I heard it, Jeb. No. I'm just kidding. Thank you all very much for listening and being patient with all of us tonight. Thank you.

MUIR: A connection here on the stage. We're going to move on to what the governor of New Hampshire said just this week, and that is that heroin overdose is not the second-leading cause of death in this state. You don't need me to tell you that. But there's another number, 48 percent of the people here in this state knows someone who has abused heroin.

Josh, who covers this for WMUR, has the next question.

MCELVEEN: You're all aware, candidates, this is a major problem here in New Hampshire. It's a very deadly problem as well. Last month, New Hampshire senators Kelly Ayotte, Republican, and Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat, they went down to Washington, along with the police chief of the state's largest city to testify before the Judiciary Committee in D.C.

Senator Cruz, you're a member of that committee. Your campaign schedule didn't allow you to attend this. Even so, the police chief called your absence outrageous, given the severity of the problem. Last week, though, you told a personal story of a close family member's struggle with addiction. What can you say to law enforcement right now to convince them that you understand the severity of this problem and you're not just saying what people want to hear days before the primary?

CRUZ: Well, Josh, as you noted, this is a problem that, for me, I understand first-hand. My older sister, Myriam, who was my half- sister, struggled her whole life with drug and alcohol addiction. My father and her mom divorced when she was a little girl and she was angry her whole life, and she ended up marrying a man who had been in and out of jail. She then became a single mom and she herself went to jail several times and she ended up spending some time in a crack house.

I still remember my father and me driving up to get Myriam out of that crack house to try to convince her she needed to be a mom to — to my nephew Joey.

She wasn't willing to listen. She was not willing to change the path she was on. She was angry. I was — had just gotten my first job coming out of law school. I took a $20,000 loan on a credit card to put my nephew, Joey, in Valley Forge Military Academy — he was in sixth grade at the time, to pay his way through that.

And about five, six years ago, Miriam died of an overdose. It was — the coroner ruled it accidental. We don't know. She went to one night, had taken too many pills, and Joey walked in and found her dead.

This is an absolute epidemic. We need leadership to solve it. Solving it has to occur at the state and local level with programs like A.A., and counseling, and churches and charities. But it also has to be securing the borders, because you have got Mexican cartels that are smuggling vast amounts of heroin into this country.

We know how to secure the borders. What is missing is the political will to do it.

And as president, I will secure the border, we will end this deluge of drugs that is flowing over our southern border and that is killing Americans across this country.

MCELVEEN: And Governor Christie, you have talked a lot about this issue here in New Hampshire. [applause]

State reforms, criminal justice reforms, access to treatment.

To Senator Cruz's point, let's take it a step further. Would you be willing to engage in cross-border enforcement into Mexico, a place where law enforcement in New Hampshire has traced at lot of this supply back to. Would you engage in cross-border enforcement without the cooperation without the Mexican government?

CHRISTIE: Of course I would. As a former United States attorney who spent seven years of my life fighting this on the streets of my state, I would do that. But we need to do more. And let me tell you what we've done in New Jersey, Josh. We are working with the folks in New Hampshire in their legislature right now to show them how we're helping to solve this problem in New Jersey.

Not just for this campaign — three years ago, I proposed a law that we signed into effect, which said that anyone who was a non- violent, non-dealing, first-time drug offender no longer goes to prison in New Jersey. They go to mandatory, in-patient drug treatment.

What has happened is, crime has gone down 20 percent in those years. The prison population has gone down 10 percent. We've now closed the state prison — closed a state prison, and we're turning it into a drug rehabilitation facility, so people can get the tools they need.

Listen, everyone out there knows this in New Hampshire. This is a disease. It's not a moral failing, it's a disease. And we need to get people the treatment they need. And let me tell you why. Because I'm pro-life.

And I'm pro life not just for the nine months in the womb, I'm pro-life for when they get out and it's a lot more complicated. [applause]

Sixteen-year-old, heroin-addicted drug girl on the floor of the county lockup, I'm pro-life for her life. The 42-year-old lawyer who is taking Oxycontin and can't get out of bed and support his family — I'm pro-life for his life. Everyone of those lives is an individual gift from God.

And the last thing is this. These efforts we've taken over the last three years, 2015 in New Jersey, for the first time in four years, drug overdose deaths have gone down, not up.

I'll bring the same solutions to the country. [applause]

MCELVEEN: Governor Christie, thank you very much.

David, Martha, back to you.

RADDATZ: Thank you, Governor Christie. Thank you, Josh.

Our partner in this debate, the Independent Journal Review, has collected questions from some prominent conservatives around the country.

Here's a videotaped question from radio host Larry O'Connor.

[begin video clip]

O'CONNOR: In 2008, we saw how motivated an electorate can be when they think their vote is making history. Let's face it: if Hillary Clinton is the nominee for the Democrats, you'll be running against the prospect of the first woman president.

How will you change that narrative and motivate the electorate behind your candidacy?

[end video clip]

TRUMP: Well...

RADDATZ: Mr. Trump, I'm going to give that question to you. You took it — you took it away anyway.

TRUMP: Yes. OK, good. It looked like he was looking right at me, right there.

I think that — I look at what's going on, I look at all of the polls, I do very, very well against Hillary Clinton. I can tell you, I'm the last person that she wants to run against.

And I think you can see what we've done in terms of galvanizing. I've been all over the country. We're — last night, I was in South Carolina, we had 12,000 people. It set up in about four days. We have galvanized and we've created a movement. A lot of it has to do with — as an example, Josh's question on drugs.

I'm the first person that said, "Build a wall." But I mean, a real wall, not a toy wall like they have right now. A real wall. And you'll solve lots of problems.

But we will galvanize the people of this country, and we will beat Hillary Clinton. Because — assuming that she runs, by the way, how she gets away with the e-mail stuff is hard to believe. So, I don't know that she's going to be running. But on the assumption she runs... [applause]

I mean, look. And speaking of that, if she runs, she's running for one reason. She's going to be able to run for one reason, and that's because the Democrats are protecting her. Because so many people have done so much less than her, and they were absolutely — their lives have been destroyed.

But on the assumption they do protect her, I will win the election and we will win it by a lot. We will win it handily. We cannot have another four years of essentially Barack Obama. [applause]

RADDATZ: Thank you, Mr. Trump.

I'm going to go to Senator Rubio on this. How would you change that narrative?

RUBIO: I think it's already happening. Look at the turnout in Iowa. A historic number of people came out and voted in those caucuses. There are saying the same thing is going to happen here in New Hampshire. Look at the rallies that every single person on this stage is having. Much higher numbers than you used to see in the past and here is why.

Because people are starting to understand, very clearly, that this election is going to be a turning point. That 2016 is not just a choice between Republican or Democrat. It is a referendum on our identity as a nation and as a people.

So here is what Hillary Clinton needs to understand. We're going to have our primary, we're going to have our debates — which by the way, are twice as many as the Democrats have been willing to have themselves. But we're going to bring this party together and we are going to defeat Hillary Clinton, because she is unqualified to be the president of the United States of America.

She put classified information on her computer because she thinks she's above the law and anyone who lies to the families of people who have lost their loved ones in the service of our country like she did in Benghazi, can never be the commander-in-chief of the United States of America. [applause]

RADDATZ: Thank you, Senator Rubio. Dr. Carson, I want to go to you on Larry O' Connor's question. Would you change the narrative?

CARSON: It's the same question?

RADDATZ: Yes.

CARSON: Yes. Well, first of all, I think it would be a pretty easy contrast, quite frankly, between myself and Hillary Clinton. In one case, you have someone who is known as a deceitful individual. An individual who at Benghazi, which I will never let go, quite frankly, because I think of those two men who went up there on the top of that compound with machine guns, firing away, allowing their colleagues to escape.

And I'm sure, in the back of their mind, they were just saying, if we can just hold on, help is on the way. But help was not on the way. When did we in the United States not send people to help our own people? You know, this is not who we are. [applause]

And — I would simply make it a referendum on honesty and integrity versus deceit and the Washington way.

MUIR: Martha?

RADDATZ: Thank you very much Dr. Carson. I'm going to go back to David.

MUIR: Governor, well come to you in the next segment.

When we come back, questions about race, about our veterans and social issues what younger conservative voters are now saying as we continue with New Hampshire with the Republican debate, right here on ABC.

[commercial break]

MUIR: Welcome back to New Hampshire, ABC News coverage of the Republican debate, and it's great to have you back at the podiums, and we want to turn to race in America.

And Mr. Trump, there are many who argue cell phones and smartphones are just now exposing what's been happening in this country for years. Cases of excessive force against minorities.

As you know, Mr. Trump, on the other side, the FBI director recently said there's a chill wind blowing through law enforcement because of increased scrutiny. You have said police are the most mistreated people in America. As president, how do you bridge the divide?

TRUMP: Well, there is a divide, but I have to say that the police are absolutely mistreated and misunderstood, and if there is an incident, whether it's an incident done purposely — which is a horror, and you should really take very strong action — or if it is a mistake, it's on your news casts all night, all week, all month, and it never ends.

The police in this country have done an unbelievable job of keeping law and order, and they're afraid for their jobs, they're afraid of the mistreatment they get, and I'm telling you that not only, me speaking, minorities all over the country, they respect the police of this country and we have to give them more respect.

They can't act. They can't act. They're afraid for losing their pension, their job. They don't know what to do. And I deal with them all the time. We have to give great respect, far greater than we are right now, to our really fantastic police. [applause]

MUIR: Great. Mr. Trump, I did ask about bridging the divide though as president. So what would you say to the American families who say we have lived through this, we have seen excessive force? What would you say to those people?

TRUMP: Well, they do. And, you know, they sue. Everybody sues, right? They see excessive — I mean, they go out, they sue. We have so much litigation — I see the courts, I see what they're doing. They sue, and you know what? We don't want excessive force. But at what point — you know, either you're going to have a police force that can do its job...

I was just up in Manchester, I met with the police officers yesterday. Tremendous people. They love the area, they love the people, they love all the people. They want to do their job. And you're going to have abuse and you're going to have problems, and you've got to solve the problems and you have to weed out the problems. But the police in this country are absolutely amazing people.

KASICH: David, David...

MUIR: I do want to ask — Governor Kasich?

KASICH: I wanted — I wanted to say, look, this — there can be a win-win here. I have formed a collaborative between police and community leaders because people have to respect law enforcement. A family doesn't want dad or mom going home in a box. And for our community leaders, many of them think the system not only works — not only doesn't work for them, but it works against them.

And I created a big collaborative in Ohio made up of law enforcement, community leaders, the head of my public safety and a former Democrat, liberal Senate senator Nina Turner, run it. They got together, they made recommendations on recruiting, on hiring, on the use of deadly force and what we're about to do is to bring community and police together so we can have a win-win.

We need more win-wins in America and we don't have to pick one over another divide. We love the police, but we've got to be responsible to the people in the community. We have to do all of that. [applause]

MUIR: Governor, thank you. Senator Rubio, I want to ask you next, President Obama visited a mosque this week in America for the first time in his presidency. President George W. Bush visited a mosque after September 11th. You said of President Obama, quote, "he's always pitting people against each other." So I'm curious, how are the two visits different, and would you visit a mosque as president?

RUBIO: I would. But that's not — the issue — my problem with what he did is he continues to put out this fiction that there's widespread systematic discrimination against Muslim Americans.

First of all, let's recognize this. If you go to a national cemetery in this country, you will see stars of Davids and crosses, but you see crescent moons. There are brave men and women who happen to be Muslim Americans who are serving this country in uniform and who have died in the service of this country. And we recognize that and we honor that. But by the same token, we face a very significant threat of home grown violent extremism.

We need to have strong, positive relationships in the Islamic communities in this country so they will identify and report this activity, especially mosques, for example, that are participating not just in hate speech, but inciting violence and taking acts against us.

And I do believe it is important also to recognize, you want to talk about religious discrimination in America. Well, I don't think Barack Obama is being sued by any Islamic groups, but he is being sued by the Little Sisters of the Poor. We are facing in this country Christian groups and groups that hold traditional values who feel and in fact are being discriminated against by the laws of this country that try to force them to vie to violate their conscience. [applause]

MUIR: Senator Rubio, thank you. Martha?

RADDATZ: Governor Christie, earlier this week, the World Health Organization declared the Zika virus a global emergency. The same kind of mosquitoes that carry the Zika virus in Latin America are found here in the United States, and the virus has been linked to severe birth defects.

Governor Christie, at the peak of the Ebola outbreak in west Africa, you ordered an American nurse who landed at Newark Airport be detained and quarantined. As fear spreads now of the Zika virus and with the Rio Olympics just months away, is there a scenario where you would quarantine people traveling back from Brazil to prevent the spread in the United States?

CHRISTIE: You bet I would. And the fact is that because I took strong action to make sure that anyone who was showing symptoms — remember what happened with that nurse. She was showing symptoms and coming back from a place that had the ebola virus active and she had been treating patients. This was not just some — like, we picked up her just for the heck of it, alright?

We did it because she was showing symptoms, and the fact is that's the way we should make these decision. You make these decisions based upon the symptoms, the medicine, and the law. We quarantined her, she turned out to test negative ultimately after 48 hours, and we released her back to the State of Maine.

But, I want to add something on the issue of mosques. Now, I'm the only one up here who's had a law enforcement background as a U.S. Attorney after September 11th. I went to mosques throughout my state to build bridges. To build bridges between our community in law enforcement so we can get intelligence and information from these folks.

I've had the experience of working with them as Governor of New Jersey as well. We cannot mix the radical Islamic jihadist with everyday Muslim-Americans. New Jersey is the second largest Muslim- American population in America, of any state. These are good, law abiding, hard working people. What they need is our cooperation, and our understanding. They do not just need broadsides against them because of the religious faith they practice.

RADDATZ: Governor Christie, thank you. [applause]

I'm going to move to Dr. Carson, and go back to the Zika virus, is that going too far, quarantining? You're a doctor, what would you do?

CARSON: Well, you know, it's not a simple issue, and now, you know, we've gotten evidence that there can been active viruses in other bodily fluids like saliva and urine. So, this is going to be, obviously, a big deal.

Do we quarantine people? If we have evidence that they are infected, and that there is evidence that that infection can spread by something that they're doing, yes. But, just willy-nilly going out and quarantining a bunch of people because they've been to Brazil, I don't believe that that's going to work. What we really need to be thinking about is how do we get this disease under control?

And this is where we need rapid response. We need a rapid response for ebola, we need rapid response for Zika, there will be other things that will come up. These are the kinds of things that the NIH, the CDC, can be very effective in. We need to give the the appropriate support for those kind of things.

RADDATZ: Thanks very much, Dr. Carson.

I want to move on to the military. Senator Rubio, all restrictions on women in combat as long as they qualify. Positions including special operations forces, like Navy Seals. Just this week military leaders of the Army and Marine Corps said that they believed young women, just as young men are required to do, should sign up for Selective Service in case the Draft is reinstated.

Many of you have young daughters. Senator Rubio, should young women be required to sign up for Selective Service in case of a national emergency?

RUBIO: First, let me say there are already women today serving in roles that are like combat. That, in fact, whose lives are in very serious danger, and so I have no problem whatsoever with people of either gender serving in combat so long as the minimum requirements necessary to do the job are not compromised. But, I support that, and obviously now that that is the case I do believe that Selective Service should be opened up for both men and women in case a Draft is ever instituted.

I think the more fundamental challenge we're now facing is what's happening to the U.S. military — I've said this many times, and I think it's important to start paying attention to this. Our Air Force is about to be the smallest it's been in 100 years. I'm sorry, in our history. Our Army is set to be smaller than it's been since the second World War, and our Navy is about to be the smallest than it's been in 100 years.

I think we need to begin to refocus on rebuilding our military because every time we have cut our military in the history of this country we have had to come back later and rebuild it, and it costs more, and it's a lot more chaotic and dangerous. When I'm president, we are rebuilding the U.S. military. [applause]

RADDATZ: Thank you, Senator Rubio. Governor Bush, do you believe that young women...

BUSH: ... Say it again?

RADDATZ: Do you believe young women should sign up for Selective Service, be required to sign up...

BUSH: ... I do, and I do think that we should not impose any kind of political agenda on the military. There should be — if women can meet the requirements, the minimum requirements for combat service they ought to have the right to do it. For sure. It ought to be focused on the morale as well. We got to make sure that we have readiness much higher than we do today. We need to eliminate the sequester which is devastating our military.

We can't be focusing on the political side of this, we need to realize that our military force is how we project our word in the world. When we're weak militarily it doesn't matter what we say. We can talk about red lines, and ISIS being the J.V. team, and reset buttons and all this. If we don't have a strong military than no one fears us, and they take actions that are against our national interest.

RADDATZ: Tell me what you'd say to American people out there...[applause]...who are sitting at home, who have daughters, who might worry about those answers, and might worry...

BUSH: ... Why would they worry about it...

RADDATZ: ... if the Draft is reinstituted?

BUSH: ... Well, the Draft's not going to be reinstituted, but why — if women are accessing...

RADDATZ: ... Are you saying you'd do away with it?

BUSH: No. I didn't say that. You — you asked a question not about the draft, you asked about registering. And if women are going to be...

RADDATZ: You register for the draft.

BUSH: If — but...

RADDATZ: If it's reinstituted.

BUSH: ... we don't have a draft. I'm not suggesting we have a draft. What I'm suggesting is that we ought to have readiness being the first priority of our military, and secondly, that we make sure that the morale is high. And right now, neither one of those are acceptable because we've been gutting the military budget.

We also need to reform our procurement process. We need to make sure there are more men and women in uniform than people — than civilians in our Defense Department. There's a lot of things that we need to reform to bring our defense capabilities into the 21st century and I'm the guy that could do that. That's why I have the support of generals, of admirals, of 12 Medal of Honor recipients and many other people that know that I would be a steady commander-in-chief and rebuild our military. [applause]

CHRISTIE: Martha?

RADDATZ: Thank you very much.

CHRISTIE: Can I — can I be really — can I be really clear on this, because I am the father of two daughters. One of them is here tonight. What my wife and I have taught our daughters right from the beginning, that their sense of self-worth, their sense of value, their sense of what they want to do with their life comes not from the outside, but comes from within. And if a young woman in this country wants to go and fight to defend their country, she should be permitted to do so.

Part of that also needs to be part of a greater effort in this country, and so there's no reason why one — young women should be discriminated against from registering for the selective service. The fact is, we need to be a party and a people that makes sure that our women in this country understand anything they can dream, anything that they want to aspire to, they can do. That's the way we raised our daughters and that's what we should aspire to as president for all of the women in our country. [applause]

RADDATZ: Thank you very much, Governor Christie.

CARSON: Can I say something...

RADDATZ: We just covered — wait one second, Dr. Carson.

CARSON: Something about the draft. Very quickly.

RADDATZ: Very quickly.

CARSON: You know, 14 percent decrease in the number of people applying for voluntary military service, and I think part of it is because of the way that we treat our veterans. You know, we wouldn't be a free country if it wasn't for them, and we have 22 veterans per day committing suicide.

So, I think what we should do is have an external support system for people once they volunteer and it should follow them throughout their career, should follow them for three years, five years afterwards, a year before they get out, should be working on integrating them back into society, so that they quit on Friday and they start their new job. They should have health empowerment accounts that are subsidized so they can go to any medical facility and be taken care of. They can go to a V.A. if they want to.

But if we start taking care of our veterans the right way, we won't have to ever worry about a draft again. [applause]

RADDATZ: Thank you very much for bringing up that subject, Dr. Carson, of our veterans.

And for another question about our veterans, we go back to Josh McElveen from WMUR. Josh?

MCELVEEN: Thank you, Martha. None of you on stage tonight have ever worn a uniform as a member of the armed services. That's the reality of it. But as commander-in-chief, you'll also be charged with the care of 23 million active duty service members and veterans in this country.

Some have suggested privatizing the V.A. as a way to enhance care and increase the quality of the care and access. Others say that veterans should carry I.D. cards that allow them access to any hospital or health care provider. Governor Bush, what specifically would you do to ensure that those who have sacrificed for us are cared for?

BUSH: I totally agree that we need to give veterans more choices. A veterans card to be able to go to a private provider will enhance the quality of the service inside the Department of Veterans Affairs. We need career civil service reform. Only three people were fired after waiting lists were dropped where veterans didn't get care and people died. It is outrageous. And Hillary Clinton says that that's acceptable? Because she is captive of the public service uniforms.

Career civil service reform would allow the next president to fire people that are — that are showing sheer incompetence. At a town hall meeting today, someone came — told a story of their father who looked like he was 85. He had — he got a bill eight years later from an operation he had, eight years it took. They couldn't resolve the dispute and then he was told that he died. Literally, the Veterans Administration sent a death certificate to this guy and it took nine months to clarify the guy — I met him. He's voting for me. And he is — likely to be alive. [laughter] [applause]

This is — this is outrageous. It is completely outrageous. So, giving veterans more choices, creating centers of excellence, focusing on the true problems that exist. Dr. Carson is completely right. We need to start focusing on this earlier, before they become veterans so that there's a customized plan so people don't fall through the cracks. We can do this, but it's going to require someone who has proven leadership skills to make it happen. [applause]

KASICH: Josh?

MCELVEEN: Governor Kasich, do you have a favored approach?

KASICH: Josh, I mean, clearly, when a veteran comes home, they should get health care anywhere they want to go. In our state, which is what we should do in the country, you know, if they drive a truck from Kabul to Kandahar in Afghanistan, we say, you can drive a truck from Columbus to Cleveland, and you don't have to go get a license. We're going to hand you one.

And if you've got expertise in the military, we're going to give you college credit or community college credit for the things that you did for our country. And in addition to that, I'll tell you, one of the biggest things I think has to be done — and I would do it as president — the Pentagon has got to work with the returning soldier, sailor, along with the family, and we — they're the most valuable employees in the country. I call them golden employees.

Everybody wants to hire a veteran. But there is a disconnect between the job openings and the veteran when the veteran comes back. The veteran is a leader. The veteran is strong. The veteran is drug free. There should be no unemployment among veterans.

And if the Pentagon will work with the veterans' services agencies all across this country, Josh, we can get people jobs and we can get them jobs quickly, get them their health care...[bell rings]...get them their college education. Let's lift them. They're the greatest people defending the United States of America and we need to take care of them, and we will. We will. [applause]

MCELVEEN: Senator Rubio, go ahead?

RUBIO: Well, my brother's a veteran. We're very proud of him in our family. He served as a green beret in the 7th Special Forces from 1968 through 1971. And as part of his training, he jumped out of an airplane and he lost his two front teeth.

And for years, he's had to go to get these dental claims. And every times he goes to get one of these dental claims filled, the V.A. asks him, "well, how do we know you lost your teeth in the Army?" And he says, "well, it's the only time I ever jumped out of a plane." [laughter] But he's had to fight through this process, and I've watched it firsthand. That's why I'm proud that I worked in a bipartisan way. We passed the V.A. Accountability bill that, for the first time, allows us to fire — allows the V.A. secretary to fire someone who's not doing a good job, who's a senior executive.

And the governor's right. They've only fired three people up to now. More people will be fired if I'm president. But the portability part of it is incredibly important.

Veterans should be able to take their V.A. benefits to any hospital or any doctor they want to go to. When I am president of the United States, veterans will be able to take their benefits to any hospital or doctor that they choose. [applause]

MCELVEEN: Senator Rubio, thanks very much. Going to move forward now. David, Martha, back to you.

MUIR: Josh, thank you. I want to turn to a family that New Hampshire voters know quite well, and Senator Cruz, the issue of hostages has been a very real and painful one here in this state.

As we all know, James Foley was killed. His mother, Diane, said our government should be willing to negotiate, arguing that families should also be allowed to raise money for ransom. What would you say to Diane Foley tonight? Should families be allowed to raise money for ransom for their loved ones?

CRUZ: Well, look, I recognize it is an agonizing experience when anyone is facing a loved — loved member who's been kidnapped. But at the same time, putting in place legal regimes that encourage the payment of ransom has the effect of putting a bounty on other Americans. There is a reason it has been longstanding U.S. policy that we don't negotiate with terrorists, we don't pay ransoms.

If you look at what President Obama has done over and over again, whether it was the James Bergdahl deal, which was absolutely shameful, releasing five senior Taliban terrorists to bring Bergdahl back, or whether it was this recent deal with Iran, where, again, up to 21 terrorists or potential terrorists were — were released or not prosecuted in order to bring back four Americans, what that does — does is it effectively puts a bounty on American servicemen and women serving abroad, on American tourists traveling abroad.

And the proper approach...[bell rings]...is a president and commander in chief that defends this country and that goes after — goes after the terrorists, rather than showing them weakness and encouraging them to target more Americans.

MUIR: Senator Cruz, thank you. Mr. Trump, what would you say to Diane Foley? Should families be allowed to raise money for ransom?

TRUMP: Well, I — I know Diane Foley very well. Her husband and — these are tremendous people. I spoke for them, I raised a lot of money for the foundation. I fully understand, James, one of — that was really the first that we saw, really visually saw — it was so horrible.

And I will tell you, though, with all of that being said, you can not negotiate this way with terrorists. If you do, you are going to have many, many more James Foleys.

James Foley was a great young man. His parents are incredible people. They've done such a good job, since his — since his death. But you just cannot negotiate that way with terrorists, or you're gonna have so many other James Foleys.

And one thing on the vets — during the last debate, I raised $6 million for the vets, and I will tell you something...[applause]...I will tell you that I think nobody here, nobody on this stage, gets along with the veterans groups in New Hampshire better than I do without ball (ph) to sarel (ph) and all of the people that I deal with and these are great people.

The one thing that we're not mentioning, there's tremendous fraud, waste and abuse in the Veterans Administration and if I'm running things, that's going to disappear...[bell rings]...and it's going to disappear quickly. [applause]

MUIR: Mr. Trump, thank you.

We want to turn now to social issues and young voters and for the question, from Mary Katherine.

HAM: Thank you David.

Senator Rubio. One of the lazier pieces of political conventional wisdom is that so-called social issues are hurting Republicans with young people. But on the two most prominent social issues, polling with millennials actually moves in different directions.

On one hand, it is clear, young people across the political spectrum increasingly favor same sex marriage. However young voters have not moved to the left on abortion. In fact, large numbers of them favor at least some modest restrictions that conservatives have supported. How do you speak to millennials on both these issues, while Democrats will inevitable charge intolerance and extremism?

RUBIO: Well, first of all, I don't believe that believing in traditional marriage the way I do makes you a bigot or a hater. It means that you believe that this institution that's been around for millenial is an important cornerstone of society. I respect people that believe differently. But I believe deeply, that marriage should be between one man and one woman. [applause]

On the issue of life, to me, the issue of life is not a political issue. It's a human rights issue and it's a difficult issue, because it puts in conflict two competing rights. On the one hand is the right of a woman to choose what to do with her body which is a real right.

And on the other hand is the right of an unborn human child to live. And they're in conflict. And as a policy maker, I must choose which one of these two sides takes precedence. And I have chosen to err on the side of life.

Here's what I find outrageous. There has been five Democratic debates. The media has not asked them a single question on abortion and on abortion, the Democrats are extremists. Why doesn't the media ask Hillary Clinton why she believes that all abortion should be legal, even on the due date of that unborn child.

Why don't they ask Hillary Clinton why she believe that partial- birth abortion, which is a gruesome procedure that has been outlawed in this country, she thinks that's a fundamental right. They are the extremists...[bell rings]...when it comes to the issue of abortion and I can't wait to expose them in a general election. [applause]

HAM: Governor Bush? I want to come to you. Your allies have recently attacked Senator Rubio for being too pro-life to be elected in November. You made a similar charge stating it in an interview. This is a pro-life party. Do you stand behind that criticism?

BUSH: Look, I'm pro-life. In fact, on this stage, I'm the most pro-life person because I've acted on it for eight years as governor of the state of Florida. [applause]

Where we abolished partial-birth abortion, where parents have the right to be notified when their teenage child is having an abortion. We were the first state to do a choose life license plate to raise money for adoption. We were the first state to have state monies go to crisis pregnancy centers, which recently was just increased to $4 million a year.

We created greater regulation on abortion clinics, where there were horrific procedures. So I'm pro life, but I believe there should be exceptions: rape, incest and when the life of the mother is in danger. And so, that belief, and my consistency on this, makes me, I think, poised to be in the right place, the sweet spot for a Republican nominee. And others may have a different view and I respect it. [applause] BUSH: But I think we have to be cognizant of the fact there's a lot of people that are concerned about having a pro-life position without any exceptions. [applause]

RUBIO: I do support protection for the life of the mother because I'm pro-life. I just believe deeply that all human life is worthy of protection of our laws. If I'm president and there's a bill that's passed that saves lives but it has exceptions, I'll sign it.

But I do believe deeply that all human life is worthy of the protection of laws. I've already said, for me, the issue of life is not a political issue and I want to be frank. I would rather lose an election than be wrong on the issue of life. [applause]

HAM: Governor Christie. You too, have talked about Senator Rubio's position on the life issue. Some conservative activists have called this line of attack harmful to the pro-life cause.

CHRISTIE: Well, I've been pretty helpful to the pro-life cause in one of the most pro-choice states in the union. I've stood up for the first time and now for the last six years we've de-funded Planned Parenthood, not talked about it like they do in Washington D.C.

But for six years as governor, Planned Parenthood does not receive that funding from the state budget anymore; over $50 million worth of money that's been saved now, that is not going to do exactly what Hillary Clinton wants to have done and has advocated for.

She believes that organization, which engages in the systematic murder of children in the womb, in order to maximize the value of their body parts for sale on the open market, is an acceptable position.

Let me tell you something, I don't care if you are a millennial or whether you are in your 90s, no one is for that type of activity, unless you are the most radical type of extremist on this issue, like Senator Clinton and her party is on this issue.

I'll say one other thing. The fact is, that I believe that if a woman has been raped, that is a birth and a pregnancy that she should be able to terminate. If she is the victim of incest — this is not a woman's choice. This is a woman being violated.

And the fact is that we have always has believed, as has Ronald Reagan, that we have self-defense for women who have been raped and impregnated because of it, or the subject of incest and been impregnated for it.

That woman should not have to deliver that child if they believe that violation is now an act of self-defense by terminating that pregnancy.

HAM: Thank you, all. Back to you, David and Martha. [applause]

MUIR: Mary Katherine, thank you.

We're going to have closing statements here in just a moment, but before we go, quick lightning round. Come November, two battle-ground states, but they face off tomorrow in the Super Bowl.

Governor Kasich, who wins? [laughter]

KASICH: Carolina's going to win that one. I hate to say it. But they're going to win that one.

MUIR: Governor Bush?

BUSH: Peyton Manning is supporting me. And I'm for Denver. [laughter]

MUIR: Senator Rubio?

RUBIO: Well, I was going for Peyton Manning, but now I'm rooting for Carolina. [laughter]

MUIR: [inaudible] Mr. Trump?

TRUMP: Carolina.

CRUZ: With an eye to February 20th, Carolina.

MUIR: All right, Dr. Carson?

CARSON: With 100 percent certainly, I will predict the winner — it will either be Denver or Carolina.

MUIR: Yeah. Governor Christie, the last word?

CHRISTIE: Denver.

MUIR: Denver. Thank you so much, gentlemen.

Closing statements in just a moment, right here, as the ABC News Republican debate continues from New Hampshire, right after this.

[commercial break]

MUIR: We welcome you back. The New Hampshire primary, of course, is Tuesday, but time now for closing statements. And we begin tonight with Governor Kasich.

KASICH: Well, folks, I've done now over 100 town hall meetings and I've loved every second of it. It has been the greatest thing in the world. And I want you to know that you've changed me, because I've listened to your stories and I've had your hugs and I've seen your tears, and I've seen you walk away and say, I now have hope.

You know, I've had a conservative message, but a positive message — not just a conservative message, but a positive message about how we can bring people together, how we can restore America's strength, lift everyone. New Hampshire, please give me a chance to carry this message forward to the United States of America. And then, I will come back. Thank you, loved it. And God bless you. [applause]

RADDATZ: Governor Christie.

CHRISTIE: Thank you. I've spent the last 13 years of my life focused on one thing: serving the people who have given me the opportunity to serve them. Not about politics, not about partisanship, but putting the people of my state and our country first.

I'm proud to have rebuild my state after Hurricane Sandy, and I'm incredibly proud to be on this stage tonight with these men asking for your vote.

New Hampshire, I spent 70 days here with you. You've gotten to know my heart. My heart is to help you solve the problems of your state...[bell rings]...and the problems of our nation. If you give me your vote on Tuesday I will do just that. [applause]

MUIR: Governor Bush.

BUSH: I want to thank the people of New Hampshire, and I want to celebrate the birthday of a great president, Ronald Reagan would have been 105 today. [applause]

President Reagan believed in the future of our country, believed in its greatness, had a hopeful, optimistic message. Drew people towards our cause. We need someone who has a proven record to take our case to the American people because our philosophy is by far the best one. Limited government, entrepreneurial capitalism, of peace through strength. I believe I have the skills to take our party to victory in November.

I ask for your support on Tuesday to keep America, and make America a safer, stronger, and freer. Thank you all very much. [applause]

RADDATZ: Dr. Carson.

CARSON: For many months, the political class, pundits, the media, have tried to ignore or bury me. They say that politics is too complex, and too sleazy. You can't survive. Well, guess what? I'm still here, and I'm not going any place either.

And, I believe there is still a place in our country for faith, integrity, and common sense. Hundreds of thousands of you drafted me to run for president...[bell rings]... And, I am going to with the help of God, and you, once again place the American people at the pinnacle with the government there to serve it. [applause]

MUIR: Thank you, Dr. Carson. Senator Rubio.

RUBIO: Thank you. You know, this week I had the great pleasure of having my kids join me on the campaign trail. I hadn't' seen them in a while, and it was great to have them alongside me, but the most important part of it is that it once again reminded me of what's at stake.

Here in New Hampshire in less than 72 hours, we are literally deciding what kind of country we will be like when they are my age. What kind of country they will be able to raise their families in. And, that's why I'm asking you for your vote. You vote for me, and we will unite this party, we will grow the conservative movement, we will defeat Hillary Clinton, and we will leave our children what our parents left us. The single greatest nation in the history of all mankind.

Thank you. [applause]

RADDATZ: Senator Cruz.

CRUZ: You know, every candidate running for president says they will stand up to Washington. The natural follow up question is when have you ever stood up to Washington.

Last week we saw a powerful illustration of that. I campaigned in the state of Iowa four-square against the ethanol mandate, something everyone said was political suicide. My two leading competitors both attacked me for it. The governor of the state said vote for anyone but Cruz, and lobbyists spent millions of dollars in attack ads, but I stood and said we should have no mandates, a level playing field, and the people of Iowa put country and our children above the cronyism and corporate welfare...[bell rings]... We can turn this country around if we get back to the Constitution. And, I will always stand with the American people against the bipartisan corruption of Washington. [applause]

MUIR: Thank you. Mr. Trump.

TRUMP: That's because he got Ben Carson's votes, by the way, but we won't [inaudible]. Our country that we love so much doesn't win anymore. We don't win with the military, we don't' win on the border. You look at New Hampshire with the tremendous problem we have with heroin. Number one thing I hear from the people of New Hampshire, who I love, and developed such relationships, we don't win with healthcare. We don't win with trade.

You look at what other countries are doing to us. China. Everyone, they're killing us on trade. If I'm elected president, we will win, and we will win, and we will win. Thank you, thank you very much. [applause]

MUIR: Mr. Trump, thank you. Thanks to all the candidates on the stage here tonight. We thank the people of Manchester, New Hampshire for having this debate, and to everyone at home. The New Hampshire primary is Tuesday.

+ Citation: Presidential Candidates Debates: "Republican Candidates Debate in Manchester, New Hampshire," February 6, 2016. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=111472. +
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+ 		+ + + + +Presidential Candidates Debates: Republican Candidates Debate in Des Moines, Iowa +
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Republican Candidates Debate in Des Moines, Iowa
January 28, 2016
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PARTICIPANTS:
Former Governor Jeb Bush (FL);
Ben Carson;
Governor Chris Christie (NJ);
Senator Ted Cruz (TX);
Governor John Kasich (OH);
Senator Rand Paul (KY);
Senator Marco Rubio (FL);

MODERATORS:
Bret Baier (Fox News);
Megyn Kelly (Fox News); and
Chris Wallace (Fox News)

BAIER: Nine p.m. on the East Coast. Eight o'clock here in Des Moines, Iowa. Welcome to the seventh Republican presidential debate of the 2016 campaign. I'm Bret Baier, along with my comoderators Megyn Kelly and Chris Wallace.

KELLY: Tonight, we are coming to you live from the Iowa Event Center in downtown Des Moines, in the shadow of the Iowa state capitol. In just four days, people here in the Hawkeye State will caucus and cast the first votes of the 2016 election.

WALLACE: Tonight, we're partnering with Google for an exclusive second-screen experience. Search Fox News debate on Google any time in the next two hours to access exclusive content.

You can see the campaigns respond to the debate in real time, and you can weigh in by voting on the topics being discussed. Just go to google.com or open your Google search app and type in Fox News debate.

BAIER: Google sees political searches spike during televised presidential debates — no surprise there. But they spike by more than 440 percent on average, as voters across America seek to learn more about what's happening on the live debate stage.

KELLY: Seven candidates are on that stage tonight, their position on the stage determined by their standing in the latest national polls, as well as polls in Iowa and New Hampshire. And here they are.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz. [applause]

Florida Senator Marco Rubio. [applause]

WALLACE: Neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson. [applause]

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. [applause]

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. [applause]

BAIER: Ohio Governor John Kasich. [applause] And Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. [applause]

WALLACE: Apparently Iowa's near Kentucky.

BAIER: Tonight's rules are simple. Up to 60 seconds for each answer, 30 seconds for each follow-up response. And if a candidate goes over the allotted time, you will hear this. [bell rings]

Double.

KELLY: Wow.

BAIER: I think the double is the one we want. Very pleasing. [laughter]

We have a crowd of about 1,600 here, and while they have agreed to respect the candidates and listen intently, we can tell you they are very excited to be here. Am I right? [applause]

KELLY: So let's get started.

Senator Cruz, before we get to the issues, let's address the elephant not in the room tonight. [laughter]

Donald Trump has chosen not to attend this evening's presidential debate. What message do you think that sends to the voters of Iowa?

CRUZ: Well, Megyn, let me say at the outset to the men and women of Iowa, thank you for the incredible hospitality over this past year.

By Monday, you will have welcomed me into all 99 counties in Iowa. You will have welcomed my dad to preach at your churches. You will have welcomed Heidi and our girls, Caroline and Catherine, into your homes. And I'm so grateful for the diligence, for the seriousness with which the men and women of Iowa approach this process.

If I am elected president, keep an eye on the tarmac, because I'll be back, because Iowa in 2017 will not be fly-over country. It will be fly-to country. [applause]

Now, secondly, let me say I'm a maniac and everyone on this stage is stupid, fat, and ugly. And Ben, you're a terrible surgeon. [laughter] Now that we've gotten the Donald Trump portion out of the way... [laughter and applause]

I want to thank everyone here for showing the men and women of Iowa the respect to show up and make the case to the people of this state and the people of the country why each of us believe we would make the best commander in chief. [applause]

KELLY: The divide between you and Mr. Trump has turned into one of the biggest stories in the country. And for six months that — your campaign, during this campaign, you praised Mr. Trump as somebody who you thought was an effective voice against the Washington cartel. You said you were glad that he was running as a Republican.

But when he started to criticize you, your message changed, and you suddenly started to portray him as the voice of the Washington cartel, and suggested he would do the Democrats' bidding. Which is it?

CRUZ: Well, let me be clear, if Donald engages in insults or anybody else, I don't intend to reciprocate. I have not insulted Donald personally and I don't intend to.

I am glad Donald is running. I'm glad he has produced enormous enthusiasm, and, every Donald Trump voter or potential voter, I hope to earn your support. I know everyone else on this stage hopes to earn your support.

Now, there is a difference between personal insults and attacks — between going into the mud with ad hominems and focusing on issues and substance. CRUZ: I think issues and substance, policy and vision and record should be the meat of politics. That's fair game but that's where I'm going to focus. That's how I focused from the beginning of the campaign and it is how I intend to continue going forward. [applause]

WALLACE: Senator Rubio, I want to explore this sort of larger issue. The campaign has in a sense turned into a battle for the soul of the Republican party: establishment versus grassroots, pragmatic versus principle. You say that you can unite all of the factions inside the GOP. How?

RUBIO: Chris, let's begin by being clear what this campaign is about. It's not about Donald Trump. He's an entertaining guy. He's the greatest show on earth. This campaign is about the greatest country in the world and a president who has systematically destroyed many of the things that made America special.

You see, we usually elect presidents in America that want to change the things that are wrong in America. Barack Obama wants to change America. Barack Obama wants America to be more like the rest of the world. We don't want to be like the rest of the world. We want to be the United States of America. [applause]

That is why Hillary Clinton cannot win this election. Hillary Clinton this week said Barack Obama would make a great Supreme Court justice. The guy who systematically and habitually violates the constitution on the Supreme Court? I don't think so. If I'm our nominee, I will unite this party and we'll defeat Hillary Clinton and we will turn this country around once and for all, after seven years of the disaster that is Barack Obama. [applause]

BAIER: Governor Bush, it's hard for anyone of your pedigree to avoid being called establishment. But isn't that part of the problem in this race, that three others on this stage are splitting the main stream Republican vote and there by possibly handing this nomination over to an anti-establishment candidate?

BUSH: Bret, we're just starting. The first vote hasn't been counted. Why don't we let the process work. I trust Iowans, Granite staters, people in South Carolina, people in Nevada, to start this process out. I kind of miss Donald Trump. He was a little teddy bear to me. [laughter]

We always had such a loving relationship in these debates and in between and the tweets. I kind of miss him. I wish he was here. Everybody else was in the witness protection program when I went after him on behalf of what the Republican cause should be: conservative principles, believing in limited government, believing in accountability. Leading by fixing the things that are broken.

Look, I am in the establishment because my dad, the greatest man alive was president of the United States and my brother, who I adore as well as fantastic brother was president. Fine, I'll take it. I guess I'm part of the establishment Barbara Bush is my mom. I'll take that, too. [applause]

But this election is not about our pedigree, this is an election about people that are really hurting. We need a leader that will fix things and have a proven record to do it. And we need someone who will take on Hillary Clinton in November. Someone who has a proven record, who has been tested, who is totally transparent. I released 34 years of tax returns... [bell rings] ... and 300,000 e-mails in my government record. To get the information from Hillary Clinton, you need to get a subpoena from the FBI. [applause]

BAIER: Thank you governor.

KELLY: Senator Christie, you began this campaign touting your record as a Republican from a blue state who knows how to get things done and reach across the aisle. However, many Republicans feel that reaching across the aisle and getting things done isn't great if you get the wrong things done. And they prefer to stand on principle rather than compromise. Why are they wrong and you're right?

CHRISTIE: They're not wrong. But what's wrong is your premise in the question. You can do both. There is no reason why you can't stand for principles, go and fight for them and be able also, to have to get things done in government.

You know, what people are frustrated about in Washington, D.C.., and I know the folks out there tonight are incredibly frustrated because what they see is a government that doesn't work for them. You know, for the 45-year-old construction worker out there, who is having a hard time making things meet.

He's lost $4,000 in the last seven years in his income because of this administration. He doesn't want to hear the talk about politics Megyn and who is establishment and who is grassroots. And who's compromised and who is principled. What he wants is something to get done.

And that's the difference between being a governor and having done that for the last six years in New Jersey and being someone who has never had to be responsible for any of those decisions. Barack Obama was never responsible for those decisions.

Hillary Clinton has never been responsible for those kind of decisions where they were held accountable. I've been held accountable for six years as the governor of New Jersey and with a Democratic legislature, I've gotten conservative things done. That's exactly what I'll do as president of the United States. [applause]

BAIER: Senator Paul, you are definitely not in the establishment category. But at the beginning of this campaign, you said you were your own man when asked about your father, former Texas Congressman and three-time presidential candidate Ron Paul.

Senator Cruz's campaign is out with a video saying that Cruz is the intellectual and political heir to your father's 2012 campaign and the liberty movement. And your father now says it's realistic that Donald Trump will be your party's nominee.

So did you make a mistake by not fully — more fully embracing your father politically at the beginning of this campaign?

PAUL: You know, I've always had a great deal of respect. There's probably no person I respect more in the country or in recent history than my father. I think he was probably the most honest man in politics that we've ever seen in a generation.

And so in no way have I ever said that I don't embrace my father or love my father or appreciate everything that he has done for the country. I think what's interesting about where that liberty vote goes that my father brought to the Republican Party is, I don't think they're necessarily going to go for Ted.

You know, Ted didn't show up. We had an audit-the-Fed vote, which was the biggest thing my dad had been advocating for, for 30 years, Ted didn't have time to show up. He was the only Republican that didn't show up for it.

And so I think really that vote is going to stay in the Paul household. I think more of it is coming and it's going to grow.

The NSA is another big issue. Ted said he was for NSA reform, but then he told Marco Rubio, no, no, no, I voted for the bill because I'm for the government collecting 100 percent of your cell phone records.

I don't think Ted can have it both ways. They want to say they're getting some of the liberty vote. But we don't see it happening at all. We think we're going to do very well in Iowa with the liberty vote. [applause]

BAIER: Senator Cruz, your response to that?

CRUZ: Well, I agree with Rand that I very much respect Ron Paul and that I think anyone who is able to win in the Republican Party has to be able to bring together the disparate elements of the Reagan coalition. You've got to be able to bring together conservatives and evangelicals and libertarians, and stitch together a winning majority.

When it comes to the audit the Fed bill, as Rand knows well, I was an original sponsor of the bill, I'm strongly supportive of it. It didn't have the votes to pass. And I had commitments to be at a town hall in New Hampshire.

But I look forward to signing that bill into law as president and auditing the Fed and providing needed accountability at the Federal Reserve. [applause]

BAIER: Senator Rubio?

RUBIO: I think, you know, Rand and I have some significant issues on policy, but I respect Rand. He believes everything he stands for. [applause]

I do respect Rand.

But I want to be frank about what I stand for. I believe the world is a safer and a better place when America is the strongest power in the world. And I believe only with a strong America will we defeat this radical group, this apocalyptic group called ISIS.

That's why when I'm president we are going to rebuild our intelligence capabilities. And they're going to tell us where the terrorists are. And a rebuilt U.S. military is going to destroy these terrorists.

And if we capture any of these ISIS killers alive, they are going to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and we're going to find out everything they know, because when I'm president, unlike Barack Obama, we will keep this country safe. [applause]

BAIER: Thank you, Senator.

PAUL: May I respond?

[crosstalk]

BAIER: We'll come back to...

PAUL: Well, I mean, I was talked about in the question.

BAIER: OK. Go ahead, go ahead.

PAUL: Just very quickly, I would like to respond.

The bulk collection of your phone data, the invasion of your privacy did not stop one terrorist attack. I don't think you have to give up your liberty for a false sense of security.

When we look at this bulk collection, the court has looked at this. Even the court declared it to be illegal. If we want to collect the records of terrorists, let's do it the old fashioned way. Let's use the Fourth Amendment. Let's put a name on a warrant, let's ask a judge for it. Let's respect the history of our country.

John Adams said that we fought a War for Independence because we wanted to fight against generalized warrants. Let's don't forget that. [applause]

WALLACE: Governor Kasich, I want to get back to this question of where conservatives are this year. You call yourself a, quote, "inside-outside guy, a reformer who knows how to get things done," but you reject the establishment label.

First question is why do you reject it? And secondly, what do you say to Republican voters this year who view practical government experience as a liability and not an asset?

KASICH: Well, first of all, I had a national reporter say, you know, there's three lanes. There's the establishment lane, the anti-establishment lane, and then there's the Kasich lane.

And the reason is, is that I've been a reformer all of my career, fighting to reform welfare, fighting to reform the Pentagon, also being in a position to balance the budget, because that is very, very hard to do.

And then in Ohio, of course, I had to bring about big reform, again, because we were so far in the hole and now we just found out we are up over 400,000 jobs since I took over as governor.

You know, the situation is this. We cannot fix things in this country — the Social Security, the border, balancing the budget, getting wages to grow faster — unless we lead as conservatives, but we also invite people in from the other party. We have to come together as a country. And we have to stop all the divisions.

And, you know, that's been my message in New Hampshire. And having been in New Hampshire and here in Iowa, but in New Hampshire, I just received the support of seven out of eight of the newspapers in that state because they see positive, they see unity, they see coming together, and they see a record of change and a record of accomplishment.

And it isn't because I'm all that great. It's because I've been assembling a team of people who want to be involved in something that's a little bigger than themselves. I'll keep — I'll keep heading in that direction, believe me. [applause]

WALLACE: Dr. Carson, I want to pick up on that with you. Governor Kasich likes to say he knows how to land the plane. You've landed a lot of planes in the O.R. But what about the idea of running for president with no experience in government at all?

CARSON: Well, I will gladly confess that I'm the only one on this stage with no political title. You're not going to hear a lot of polished political speech from me, but you will hear the truth. And I don't think you have to be a politician to tell the truth. In fact, sometimes it's not that way... [applause] ... and I've had more two a.m. phone calls than everybody here put together, making life and death decisions, put together very complex teams to accomplish things that have never been done before. And we are in a situation right now in our country that we have never been in before. We need people who think out of the box and can solve problems; can utilize the resources around them; very smart people, to focus on the problem and solve the problem.

The American people are terrified. That's why we have this abnormal situation going on right now. We don't need more of the same solutions. We need different solutions to solve the problems and to save our nation. [applause]

WALLACE: Gentlemen, we're now going to start to drill down into specific issues that are on voters' minds. I'm going to start with one of the biggest ones, which is foreign terror.

According to Google, ISIS was by far the most searched foreign policy topic over the last year. Senator Cruz, you talk tough about fighting terrorism. You talk about carpet bombing into oblivion. You talk about seeing if the sand will glow at night. But critics say that your record does not match up to that. You opposed giving President Obama authority to enforce his red line in Syria. Three years in a row now, you have voted against the Defense Authorization Act.

How do you square your rhetoric with your record, sir?

CRUZ: Well, Chris, I will apologize to nobody for the vigorousness with which I will fight terrorism, go after ISIS, hunt them down wherever they are, and utterly and completely destroy ISIS. [applause]

You know, you claim it is tough talk to discuss carpet bombing. It is not tough talk. It is a different, fundamental military strategy than what we've seen from Barack Obama. Barack Obama right now, number one, over seven years, has dramatically degraded our military. You know, just two weeks ago was the 25th anniversary of the first Persian Gulf war. When that war began, we had 8,000 planes. Today, we have about 4,000. When that war began, we had 529 ships. Today, we have 272.

You want to know what carpet bombing is? It's what we did in the first Persian Gulf war; 1,100 air attacks a day, saturation bombing that utterly destroyed the enemy. Right now, Barack Obama is launching between 15 and 30 air attacks a day. He's not arming the Kurds. We need to define the enemy. We need to rebuild the military to defeat the enemy. And we need to be focused and lift the rules of engagement so we're not sending our fighting men and women into combat with their arms tied behind their backs. [applause]

WALLACE: Senator Rubio, does Senator Cruz's record match his rhetoric?

RUBIO: Well, again, I mean, obviously, as already has been pointed out, the only budget that Ted has ever voted for is a budget that Rand Paul sponsored that brags about cutting defense spending. And I think that's a bad idea for the following reason.

ISIS is the most dangerous jihadist group in the history of mankind. ISIS is now found in affiliates in over a dozen countries. ISIS is a group that burns people alive in cages; that sells off little girls as brides. ISIS is a group that wants to trigger an apocalyptic showdown in the city of Dabiq — not the city of Dubuque; I mis-said — mis-said that wrong once [inaudible] time — the city of Dabiq in Syria. They want to trigger an apocalyptic Armageddon showdown.

This group needs to be confronted and defeated. They are not going to go away on their own. They're not going to turn into stockbrokers overnight or open up a chain of car washes. They need to be defeated militarily, and that will take overwhelming U.S. force.

Today, we are on pace to have the smallest Army since the end of World War II, the smallest Navy in 100 years, the smallest Air Force in our history. You cannot destroy ISIS with a military that's being diminished. When I'm president, we are rebuilding the U.S. military because the world is a safer and a better place when America is the strongest military in the world.

[crosstalk]

WALLACE: Senator Cruz, you've got 30 seconds. You were mentioned. [applause]

CRUZ: Chris, in 1981, when Ronald Reagan came to the Oval Office, he encountered a military that had been debilitated just as the current military has, just like Jimmy Carter weakened our readiness, undermined our ability to defend this country, so too has Barack Obama. Just as morale in the military has plummeted in the last seven, so it had then.

What Reagan did is he began with tax reform and regulatory reform, unleashing the engine of the American free enterprise system. It brought booming economic growth and that growth fueled rebuilding the military. I intend to do the exact same thing to defeat radical Islamic terrorism —

WALLACE: Gentlemen.

CRUZ: ... and to devote the resources from the booming economy to rebuilding our Navy, rebuilding our Air Force, rebuilding our Army and ensuring we have the capacity to keep this country safe.

PAUL: My budget was mentioned. My budget was mentioned.

WALLACE: May I — may I just say, we are going to continue the questions about foreign terror, gentlemen, right after this break.

KELLY: But first, you can join tonight's conversation right from home. Go to google.com or open your Google search app and search Fox News debate to vote on which candidate you think has the best plan to defeat ISIS. We'll be right back.

[commercial break]

BAIER: Welcome back. Let's get right back to the questions. Chris.

WALLACE: Thank you. Governor Christie, you have compared both Senators Cruz and Rubio to Barack Obama, saying that we cannot afford another inexperienced President. You've also said that Senator Cruz's vote to curtail the NSA surveillance program made America less safe. Is either of them ready to be Commander in Chief?

CHRISTIE: Well, let me say that I do believe that the vote on NSA made the country less safe. Well, let me tell you what the country should really be worried about. I watched that town hall meeting with the Democrats the other night, and I heard Hillary Clinton asked a direct question by an Iowan, and that's what Iowans like to do. They like to ask direct questions.

And, they asked about her email situation. And, here's what she said to the American people. She did it for convenience. For her convenience. She put America's secrets at risk for her convenience. She put American intelligence officers at risk for her convenience. She put American strategy at risk for her convenience.

Let me tell you who's not qualified to be President of the United States, Chris. Hillary Rodham Clinton did that to our country. She is not qualified to be President of the United States. [cheering]

The fact is what we need is someone on that stage who has been tested, who has been through it, who has made decisions, who has sit in the chair of consequence and can prosecute the case against Hillary Clinton on... [bell rings] ... that stage, and that is exactly what I am ready to do. [applause]

WALLACE: Governor Bush...

CRUZ: Chris? Chris I was mentioned in that question.

BUSH: No, you weren't. Your name wasn't mentioned, Ted.

CRUZ: ... Actually, I was...

BUSH: ... Chris, keep it coming...

WALLACE: ... I don't think that your name was mentioned...

CRUZ: ... Chris, your questions that you...

WALLACE: ... Sir, I think — I think the question was...

CRUZ: ... What was your question...

WALLACE: ... It's not my question that you get a chance to respond to, it's his answer. [laughter]

You don't get 30 seconds to respond to me...

CRUZ: ... Your question was you have disagreed... [audience reaction]

WALLACE: ... You don't get 30 seconds to respond to me...

CRUZ: ... [inaudible] opening statement.

WALLACE: ... If I could go on. Sir, I know you like to argue about the rules, but we're going to conduct a debate...

BUSH: ... Thank you Chris...

WALLACE: ... Governor Bush...

CRUZ: ... This entire question was an attack, but that's [inaudible]

WALLACE: Governor Bush, here's the question — I'm going to ask Governor Bush the question.

You criticized several candidates in this field on this stage for what you call unrealistic ideas about how to fight terrorists, including Rubio, and Cruz on the issue of their refusing to give the President authority to enforce the redline in Syria.

But, given the fact that your brother got us into two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that have still not ended.

That have still not ended, what lessons have you learned from his mistakes, sir?

BUSH: Well, first, I was critical of the Senators not giving the authorization for the use of military force. They should have made it more open ended for the next president. We shouldn't have the war fighters have their arms tied behind their back as President Obama wanted to do, but they had a chance to show support and it wasn't popular at the time. It became popular after the attack in Paris, and San Bernardino. Now we hear the tough talk.

Prior to that, in the Reagan Library, I gave a detailed plan. Exactly what to do as it relates to ISIS. And it is from the lessons from history that we do this because if we allow this to fester, we're going to have Islamic terrorism, multi-generations of it all across this country. The caliphate of ISIS has to be destroyed, which means we need to arm directly to Kurds, imbed our troops with the Iraqi military, re engage with the Sunni tribal leaders. Get the lawyers off the damn backs of the military once and for all. [cheering]

Have a no fly zone in Syria and create safe zones to deal with the refugees. But, more importantly, to train a Sunni-led force in Syria to take out ISIS with our support... [bell rings] ... ground and air. That's what we need to to, and I laid that out prior to the crisis with the advice of a lot of people, including 12 Medal of Honor recipients that I'm proud that they're supporting my campaign. [applause]

WALLACE: Senator Cruz, now you get a chance to respond.

CRUZ: Chris, I would note that that the last four questions have been, "Rand, please attack Ted. Marco, please attack Ted. Chris, please attack Ted. Jeb, please attack Ted..." [audience reaction]

Let me just say this...

WALLACE: ... It is a debate, sir.

CRUZ: ... Well, no, no. A debate actually is a policy issue, but I will say this. Gosh, if you guys ask one more mean question I may have to leave the stage. [applause]

Chris, the most important determination any voter is going to make in this election is who's best prepared to be Commander in Chief. Who has the experience, who has the knowledge, who has the judgement, who has the clarity, and vision and strength of resolve to keep this country safe. That is what this debate is all about, and I would suggest let's stay focused on those issues — rather than just attacks directed at each other.

WALLACE: I think the questions were about issues. Senator Rubio, what would you like to respond sir... [applause]

[crosstalk]

PAUL: ... Senator Cruz, I'd like to respond...

RUBIO: ... First of all — Let me go first, and then you can please recognize Rand after. [laughter]

First of all...

PAUL: ... and I'd like to respond.

RUBIO: ... do I go — let me go first, and then you can please recognize Rand after. But... [laughter] ... first of all...

WALLACE: Thank you.

PAUL: Thank you, Marco.

RUBIO: ... first of all, I'm — don't worry, I'm not leaving the stage no matter what you ask me.

WALLACE: Good.

RUBIO: And second of all... [applause] ... and I think — you know, Governor — Jeb, you — the attack that — the authorization that Barack Obama asked for was not against ISIS. It was against Assad. And John Kerry described it as attacks that would be unbelievably small.

I don't think the United States should be engaged in symbolic military activity. So it was not against ISIS, it was against — it was against Assad.

I think the United States military is operating under rules of engagement that are too strict... [bell rings] ...and that do not allow us to pursue victory. When I'm president, that will change.

[crosstalk]

WALLACE: Senator Paul, go ahead.

PAUL: Thank you.

The issue in Syria's a very important one, and it's one we need to get right. The question is, should we be bombing both sides of the war? Some want to topple Assad. In fact, they want to bomb ISIS and Assad simultaneously.

I think that's a really, really bad idea. In fact, I've said for several years that arming the allies of ISIS will make the situation worse, That what we really need to do is defeat ISIS.

But if you defeat Assad, what you will wind up with is a larger and more powerful ISIS that occupies that space. You might — you may well see an ISIS that takes over all of Syria. [bell rings]

KASICH: Chris... [applause] ... there was a question about foreign policy, by the way, and experience. And I — I thought, if I didn't jump in, I might not be able to tell everybody this. I think they'd want to hear it.

Look, I served on...

WALLACE: Well... [crosstalk] ... we'll be talking about foreign policy a little bit later. We're going to talk...

KELLY: We have a lot — we have a lot to cover. But we want to — we want to turn the page to domestic...

[crosstalk]

KASICH: ... but wait a minute...

KELLY: No, no. No.

KASICH: ...the only reason is — look...

KELLY: No no no, because we want to turn the page to domestic terror, and let me tell you why: we're partnering with Google on this debate, and they're telling us...

KASICH: OK.

KELLY: ... that their search results have gone through the roof on — on people...

KASICH: I've always listened to you, Megyn. Go ahead.

KELLY: ... you're a good man, Governor Kasich.

KASICH: Yes — thank you.

KELLY: People — the search results — the searches for terror issues, for safety issues in America have gone through the roof, increased over 400 percent since 2008.

People are worried. They're worried about what's happening in the country and about a domestic terror attack, as all of you know. Now, when combating this threat, Senator Rubio, you've advocated closing down mosques — we'll get back to you.

Well, you have advocated closing down — closing down mosques, diners, any place where radicalization is occurring. You told me that. But the Supreme Court has made clear that hateful speech is generally protected by the First Amendment.

In other words, radical Muslims have the right to be radical Muslims, unless they turn to terror. Doesn't your position run afoul of the First Amendment?

RUBIO: Megyn, that's the problem. Radical Muslims and radical Islam is not just hate talk. It's hate action. They blow people up. Look what they did in San Bernardino.

Look at the attack they inspired in Philadelphia, that the White House still refuses to link to terror, where a guy basically shot a police officer three times.

He told the police, "I did it because I was inspired by ISIS," and to this day, the White House still refuses to acknowledge it had anything to do with terror.

Look, the threat we face from ISIS is unprecedented. There has never been a jihadist group like this. They have affiliates in over a dozen countries now.

They are the best funded radical jihadist group in the history of the world, and they have shown a sophisticated understanding of the laws of other countries on how to insert fighters into places, and they are actively plotting to attack us here at home and around the world.

We must keep America safe from this threat. And yes, when I am president of the United States, if there is some place in this country where radical jihadists are planning to attack the United States, we will go after them wherever they are, and if we capture them alive, they are going to Guantanamo. [applause]

PAUL: [inaudible].

KELLY: Senator Paul, do you agree with that? We're gonna close down mosques, we're gonna close down diners where we think radical thinking's occurring? [crosstalk]

PAUL: Yeah, no, I think that's a — that's a huge mistake, to be closing down mosques. But I would say that if you want to defend the country, it begins with border security. And this is where I've had my disagreement with Senator Rubio.

When he brought forward the "Gang of Eight" bill to give citizenship to those who came here illegally, I put forward an amendment that says we should have more scrutiny on those who are coming as students, those who are coming as immigrants, those who are coming as refugees, because we had two refugees come to my town in Bowling Green and try to attack us.

Marco opposed this because they made a deal. He made a deal with Chuck Schumer that he would oppose any conservative amendments. And I think that's a mistake, and I just don't think Marco can have it both ways. You can't be in favor of defend us... [bell rings] ... against Islam — radical Islam — if you're not for border security.

RUBIO: Might I respond? [applause]

The first thing — I don't know of anyone who's not in favor of fully vetting people that are trying to come into this country, other than perhaps Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. I think we all support that. Rand's amendment was not the right way to do it.

I do believe that people who are trying to come to the United States — this country has a right to know who they are and why they are coming. And that's why I've been clear, when I am the president of the United States of America, we don't know who you are, and we don't know why you're trying to come to the United States, you are not going to get in, because the radical threat that we now face from ISIS is extraordinary and unprecedented... [bell rings] ... and when I'm president, we are keeping ISIS out of America.

KELLY: Governor Christie, let's talk about profiling. [applause]

In December...

CHRISTIE: Talk about what? I...

KELLY: ... profiling. Profiling. In December, two radical Muslims killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California. Neighbors of the terrorists said that they did not report the couple to law enforcement prior to the crime, because they were afraid that they would be accused of profiling.

Now, you have said that we should not profile. How do you square that with the San Bernardino case?

CHRISTIE: Well, because you can do it without profiling, Megyn, when you do it on the facts. What those facts knew was that these folks had weapons. They knew that they were talking about trying to take our country and attack it.

That's not profiling, that's law enforcement. And that's the difference between somebody who knows how to do this and somebody who's never done it before.

KELLY: They didn't know they were going to attack the country.

CHRISTIE: They knew they were talking about the issues of attacking people, Megyn. They knew that.

[crosstalk]

KELLY: That's not true. The neighbors said they saw men going in and out of the garage. They saw packages being delivered. They saw Muslims, and they did not think that was enough to call the cops. Do you?

CHRISTIE: Listen, I think that what people should do is use their common sense. And the fact is, let law enforcement make those decisions. I've told people that from the time I was U.S. attorney 13 years ago.

It's not for them to make those decisions about whether or not something is legal or illegal, or profiling or not. You see something that's suspicious, you call law enforcement and let law enforcement make those decisions.

That's what should be done. That can be done. That can be done without profiling people. What that is, is just common sense. They thought something was wrong.

And here's the problem in this country right now. The problem is that Barack Obama has made law enforcement the enemy, Hillary Clinton has made law enforcement the enemy.

They're not supporting our law enforcement officers, it's making everybody nervous to get out of their cars, if you're a law enforcement officer. It's making... [bell rings]... everybody nervous to get out of their cars if you're a law enforcement officer. [bell rings]

It's making people in neighborhoods nervous to go to law enforcement. As president, I will support law enforcement and we'll stop radical terrorist attacks in this country by supporting our intelligence community and law enforcement community. [applause]

KELLY: Dr. Carson, this week a female Muslim who served in the U.S. Air Force asked Hillary Clinton the question, she asked whether the United States is still the best place in which to raise her three Muslim children. Given what she perceives as a rise in Islamaphobia in this country. Do you think the GOP messaging on Muslims has stoked the flames of bias on this as the Democrats suggest, and how would you answer this veteran?

CARSON: Well, I don't know about the GOP messaging, but I can tell you about my messaging. You know, need to stop allowing political correctness to dictate our policies, because it's going to kill us if we don't. [applause]

And in the Holy Land Foundation trial in 2006 in Texas, they had a memorandum, an explanatory memorandum that talked about the fact that Americans would be easy to overcome and to commit civilization jihad because they were going to be trying to protect the rights of the very people who were trying to subvert them.

But I believe in the Teddy Roosevelt philosophy. Teddy Roosevelt said, we are a nation of immigrants. As such, everybody is welcome from any race, any country, any religion, if they want to be Americans. If they want to accept our values and our laws. If not, they can stay where they are. [applause]

KELLY: Governor Kasich, stand back. You appear to back in another debate, a so-called back door to encrypted cell phone technology, which protects most smartphones that we all have from hacking. And it includes our phones and it also protects the cell phones of the terrorist.

Now the tech companies and a group of MIT scientists, smart guys, right, warn that if they create a way for the FBI to have a back door into our encrypted communications, then the bad guys will exploit it too. And they say that this is going to cause more security problems than it would solve for everyday Americans. Are they wrong?

KASICH: Well, look the Joint Terrorism Task Force needs resources and tools. And those are made up of the FBI, state and local law enforcement. And Megyn, it's best not to talk anymore about back doors and encryption, it will get solved, but it needs to be solved in the situation of the White House with the technology folks.

KELLY: But this is public testimony.

KASICH: But I just have to tell you that it's best with some of these things not be said. Now I want to go back something. See, I was there when Reagan rebuilt the military. I was there in '89 when the wall came tumbling down because we were strong.

And I was there when we went into the Gulf War. We didn't win that war just from the air, we won that war by assembling a group of Arab leaders who stood in the Rose Garden and stood with America. We want to destroy ISIS, it has to be in the air and on the ground. It has to be with our friends in the Arab world and our friends in Europe, the coalition that we had when we went to the first Gulf War.

And then when we win that, and we will win that against ISIS as it settles down, and we should leave. Because we shouldn't be policemen of the world. But what we need to do is turn it over to the regional powers to be able to handle that.

KASICH: But we have a unique time in America to connect with people all around the world that understand that there's an existential threat against all of them, the Arabs, the Jordanians, the Saudis, the Egyptians, our friends in Europe, including the Turks. So we have a unique opportunity to bring everybody together.

I saw Reagan do it, I've seen other presidents do it. And frankly, if you want to be commander in chief, you have to have the experience. At the same time we're doing all that, the Pentagon must be reformed so we get what we need for our men and women in uniform. All of that together, we're going to be just fine and America is going to continue to lead the world.

KELLY: Governor, thank you. [applause]

BAIER: Governor Bush, just today, a wounded warrior organization designed to help wounded veterans and their families is coming under fire for raising tens of millions of dollars, but spending almost half of that on travel and hotels and dinners and luxury, lavish conferences. So taking care of veterans is obviously a huge issue in the country that has asked so many to serve and sacrifice so much.

If you were president. would you police these charity organizations that say they're helping vets?

BUSH: Of course. And there's all sorts of ways that can be done at the state, local and federal level to do that. But the first duty of the next president of the United States is to fix the mess at the Department of Veterans Affairs. That's his first responsibility. [applause]

Look, we have waiting lists for veterans that are — that are leaving because of the sequester where we're gutting the military. More and more military personnel are leaving becoming veterans, and the waiting list grows. They've given out $140 million of bonuses to Veterans Department employees, including reducing the waiting lists, without giving veterans care. People died, and only three people have been fired.

I will make sure that we fire the sheer incompetence inside the Department of Veterans Affairs and then we'll give veterans a choice card so that they don't have to travel hours and hours to get care if they want to go to their private provider. You want to make the Veterans Administration do a better job, give them — give veterans choices and you'll get a much better result. And as it relates to all the other organizations, let me give you a good example.

In Houston, Texas, there's an organization in place because someone acted on their heart, wanted to make sure that there's no homeless veterans in Houston. And they've come pretty close to that without federal government assistance. We need to mobilize the entire country to treat our veterans and treat them with much more respect than they get today.

BAIER: Governor Bush, thank you. [applause]

Speaking of veterans, we have a question from a veteran who is one of the top Youtube creators. Over the course of the evening, gentlemen, we will hear from some of Youtube's most followed stars. And here's one of them.

QUESTION: I'm Mark Watson. I'm known for my [inaudible] views on Youtube, but I'm also a veteran who served in the Army for eight years.

As an African-American living near Ferguson, I've seen the strain between police officers and the communities they serve firsthand. Now, there are great tools like body cameras that — to protect both officers and citizens, but we all currently have better cameras in our pockets than in our precincts. Why aren't we using the technology available to better protect our communities?

BAIER: Senator Paul, that question to you.

PAUL: You know, I've supported legislation to allow body cameras. I've been to Ferguson, I've been trying to look for solutions to our criminal justice problem.

One thing I discovered in Ferguson was that a third of the budget for the city of Ferguson was being reaped by civil fines. People were just being fined to death. Now you and I and many of the people in this audience, if we get a $100 fine, we can survive it. If you're living on the edge of poverty and you get a $100 fine or your car towed, a lot of times you lose your job.

I also think the war on drugs has disproportionately affected our African-American community, and what we need to do is make sure that the war on drugs is equal protection under the law and that we don't unfairly incarcerate another generation of young African-American males.

In Ferguson, for every 100 African-American women, there are only 60 African-American men. Drug use is about equal between white and black, but our prisons — three out of four people in prison are black or brown. I think something has to change. I think it's a big thing that our party needs to be part of, and I've been a leader in Congress on trying to bring about criminal justice reform. [applause]

BAIER: Senator Paul, thank you.

WALLACE: This debate is just getting started. Coming up, the role of the federal government. But first, join tonight's conversation right from your home. Go to google.com or open your Google search app and search Fox News Debate to vote on which issue is most important to you in this election. More from the Iowa Events Center and the Republican presidential debate in a moment. [applause]

[commercial break]

KELLY: Welcome back, everybody. We are live in Des Moines, Iowa. And let's get right back to the questions — Bret.

BAIER: Thank you, Megyn.

Gentlemen, I'll ask you some questions about federal spending and the role of the federal government. Everybody always said they want to cut federal spending and usually they start by saying they'll cut waste, fraud, and abuse, but that really doesn't ever materialize. We all know that.

Governor Christie, you talk a lot about entitlement reform and you say that that's where the federal government can get savings needed to balance the budget. But can you name even one thing that the federal government does now that it should not do at all?

CHRISTIE: Yes. You want one? [laughter]

BAIER: I want one. Yes. [laughter]

CHRISTIE: How about one that I've done in New Jersey for the last six years. That's get rid of Planned Parenthood funding from the United States of America. [applause]

BAIER: Anything bigger than that?

CHRISTIE: Bigger than that? Let me tell you something, when you see thousands upon thousands upon thousands of children being murdered in the womb, I can't think of anything better than that. [applause]

BAIER: And, Governor, I realize everyone on this stage opposes Obamacare and you're not alone. Google Data shows that in the last month when people searched "policy repeals," that there were a lot of them. Obamacare took the top two spots. But today there are millions of people who gained health insurance from Obamacare and they now rely on it.

So the question, Senator Cruz, if you repeal Obamacare, as you say you will, will you be fine if millions of those people don't have health insurance? And what is your specific plan for covering the uninsured?

CRUZ: Sure. Well, let's take it one at a time. First of all, we have seen now in six years of Obamacare that it has been a disaster. It is the biggest job-killer in this country. Millions of Americans have lost their jobs, have been forced into part-time work, have lost their health insurance, have lost their doctors, have seen their premiums skyrocket.

If I'm elected president, we will repeal every word of Obamacare. [applause]

Now, once that is done, everyone agrees we need healthcare reform. It should follow the principles of expanding competition, empowering patients, and keeping government from getting in between us and our doctors.

Three specific reforms that reflect those principles. Number one, we should allow people to purchase health insurance across state lines. That will create a true 50-state national marketplace which will drive down the cost of low-cost, catastrophic health insurance.

Number two, we should expand health savings accounts so people can save in a tax-advantaged way for more routine healthcare needs. And number three, we should work to de-link health insurance from employment so if you lose your job, your health insurance goes with you and it is personal, portable and affordable.

And I'll tell you, Bret, I think that's a much more attractive vision for healthcare than the Washington-drive, top-down Obamacare that is causing so many millions of people to hurt. [applause]

BAIER: Senator Cruz, thank you.

Governor Bush, you've advocated for statehood for Puerto Rico. The Puerto Rican economy is collapsing under unsustainable debt burden. Only about 1 million of its 4 million residents are currently employed. So should American citizens who you say are already overtaxed, bail out Puerto Rico as well?

BUSH: No, they shouldn't. And I believe that Puerto Rico ought to have the right of self-determination. If I was a Puerto Rican, I'd vote for statehood so that they have full citizenship. They serve in the military. They would have to pay federal taxes. They would — they would accept the responsibilities of full U.S. citizenship. But they should have the right of determine — self-determination.

Before you get to that, though, Puerto Rico is going to have to deal with the structural problems they face. You know, it's — it's a fact that if you can pay for a $79 one-way ticket to Orlando, and you can escape the challenges of a declining economy and high crime rates, you move to Orlando.

And a lot of people are doing that. And the spiraling out-of- control requires Puerto Rico to make structural reforms. The federal government can play a role in allowing them to do that, but they should not — the process of statehood or the status of Puerto Rico won't be solved until we get to the bigger issue of how you deal with the structural economic problems they're facing right now.

BAIER: Governor Kasich, you're one of two remaining sitting governors still in the race. Your colleague, Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan is under fire — he and his administration — for the Flint, Michigan water crisis and the botched response to it. How would you have handled that?

KASICH: Well, you've got to be on top of it right away. And, you know, I don't know all the details of what Rick Snyder has done. I know there have been people who have been fired; people who are being held accountable. But the fact is, every single engine of government has to move when you see a crisis like that.

And I've had many situations in the state of Ohio where we've had to move, whether it's storms, whether it was a horrible school shooting. There are many crises that come — a water crisis in Toledo. You've got to be on top of it. You've got to go the extra mile. You've got to work with local communities and you've got to work with the federal government.

Because you realize that people depending on you. And so, you go the extra mile. But people have to be alert. They have to be alert to problems. And when you see a problem, you must act quickly to get on top of it. And people at home are saying they've got a problem, listen to them. Because most of the time, they're absolutely correct.

So the fact is that we work for the people. The people don't work for us. And we have to have an attitude when we're in government of serving-hood. That's what really matters. We serve you. You don't serve us. We listen to you and — and then we act. [applause]

BAIER: Senator Rubio, on the issue of climate change, in 2008, you wanted Florida to get ahead of other states and establish a cap- and-trade system, a program for carbon emissions, which many Republicans thought at the time would hurt the Florida economy. Now, you're a skeptic of climate change science. And in fact, you warn that federal efforts to fight climate change will cost U.S. jobs and hurt the U.S. economy.

So why the change?

RUBIO: Well, Bret, first that's not entirely the story. At the time, the liberal governor of Florida, who claimed he was a Republican — his name was Charlie Crist — he wanted to impose cap-and-trade on Florida. And I opposed it. I was the first person out of the box that opposed him on it.

And then we saw that the leading candidates for president at the time, both the Republican and the Democrats, all supported it. And what we said is, if they're going to impose this on us, we better prepare to protect the state from it. But I have never supported cap- and-trade and I never thought it was a good idea. And I was clear about that at the time.

And I do not believe it's a good idea now. I do not believe that we have to destroy our economy in order to protect our environment. And especially what these programs are asking us to pass that will do nothing to help the environment, but will be devastating for our economy.

When I am president of the United States of America, there will never be any cap-and-trade in the United States. [applause]

BAIER: Thanks, Senator.

KELLY: All right. We're going to move on. Because coming up, immigration, and something you've never seen before.

Stay tuned, right after this break.

[commercial break]

KELLY: Welcome back everyone. Live, in Des Moines, Iowa. Now, we move onto the topic of immigration. Senator Rubio, we'll start with you. When you ran for Senate in 2010, you made clear that you opposed legalization and citizenship for illegal immigrants. You promised repeatedly that you would oppose it as a U.S. Senator as well. Here are just a few examples. Watch.

[begin video clip]

RUBIO: Never support. Never have and never will support any effort to grant blanket legalization amnesty to folks who have entered, or stayed in this country illegally.

[end video clip]

[begin video clip]

RUBIO: First of all, earned path to citizenship is basically code for amnesty. It's what they call it. And, the reality of it is this, it is unfair to the people that have legally entered this country to create an alternative for individuals who entered illegally, and knowingly did so.

[end video clip]

[begin video clip]

RUBIO: You cannot grant amnesty. If the American people see us granting amnesty they will never again believe in legal immigration. They will never again support it, and that's wrong for our country, bad for our future.

[end video clip]

KELLY: Within two years of getting elected you were co-sponsoring legislation to create a path to citizenship, in your words, amnesty. Haven't you already proven that you cannot be trusted on this issue?

RUBIO: No, because if you look at the quote, and it's very specific. And, it says blanket amnesty, I do not support blanket amnesty...

KELLY: ... But, you went on from there...

RUBIO: ... I do not support amnesty...

KELLY: ... You said more than that, Senator...

RUBIO: ... No, I said I do not support blanket amnesty...

KELLY: ... You said earned path to citizenship is basically code for amnesty. You...

RUBIO: ... It was...

KELLY: ... supported earned path to citizenship...

RUBIO: ... It absolutely has been, and at the time in the context of that was in 2009, and 2010, where the last effort for legalization was an effort done in the Senate. It was an effort led by several people that provided almost an instant path with very little obstacles moving forward.

What I've always said is that this issue does need to be solved. They've been talking about this issue for 30 years, and nothing ever happens. And, I'm going to tell you exactly how we're going to deal with it when I am president.

Number one, we're going to keep ISIS out of America. If we don't know who you are, or why you're coming, you will not get into the United States.

Number two, we're going to enforce our immigration laws. I am the son and grandson of immigrants. And I know that securing our borders is not anti-immigrant and we will do it.

We'll hire 20,000 new border agents instead of 20,000 new IRS agents. We will finish the 700 miles of fencing and walls our nation needs. We'll have mandatory E-verify, a mandatory entry/exit tracking system and until all of that is in place and all of that is working and we can prove to the people of this country that illegal immigration is under control, nothing else is going to happen.

We are not going to round up and deport 12 million people, but we're not going to hand out citizenship cards, either. There will be a process. We will see what the American people are willing to support. But it will not be unconstitutional executive orders like the ones Barack Obama has forced on us.

KELLY: Governor Bush, do you agree Senator Rubio has not reversed himself on his immigration promise?

BUSH: Well, I'm kind of confused because he was the sponsor of the Gang of Eight bill that did require a bunch of thresholds but ultimately allowed for citizenship over an extended period of time. I mean, that's a fact. And he asked me to support that. And I — I supported him because I think people, when you're elected, you need to do things.

And he led the charge to finally fix this immigration problem that has existed now for, as Marco says, for 30 years. And then he cut and run because it wasn't popular amongst conservatives, I guess.

Here's what I believe. And I wrote a book about this called Immigration Wars. You can get it at $2.99 on Amazon. It's not a bestseller. I can promise you. [laughter]

There won't be any — you can get it. It's affordable for everybody. We should have a path to legal status for the 12 million people that are here illegally. It means, come out from the shadows, pay a fine, earn legal status by working, by paying taxes, learning English. Not committing crimes and earn legal status where you're not cutting in front of the line for people that are patiently waiting outside. [applause] I think that is the — I think that's the conservative consensus pragmatic approach to how to solve this problem.

RUBIO: May I respond?

KELLY: Go ahead, senator.

RUBIO: It's interesting that Jeb mentions the book. That's the book where you changed your position on immigration because you used to support a path to citizenship.

BUSH: So did you. [laughter]

RUBIO: Well, but you changed the — in the book...

BUSH: Yeah. So did you, Marco. [applause]

RUBIO: You wrote a book where you changed your position from a path of citizenship to a path of legalization. And the bottom line is this, we are not going to be able to do anything on this issue until we first bring illegal immigration under control. The American people have been told for 30 years they're going to enforce the border, they're going to build a wall and it never gets built and it never happens.

It is very clear there will be no progress on this issue in any way, shape or form, until you prove to the people of this country that illegal immigration is under control. And when I'm president, we are going to bring it under control once and for all after 30 years of talking about it.

BUSH: Marco, Marco — he brought up my name. I have supported a consensus approach to solving this problem wherever it came up. and in 2007 it almost passed when my brother was president of the United States. A bipartisan approach got close. Barack Obama actually had the poison pill to stop it then.

And when you led the charge with the Gang of Eight, I supported it because you asked me to. I think it's important for people in elected office to try to forge consensus to solve problems. There's never going do be perfect bill. [applause]

KELLY: All right.

BUSH: But when you didn't do that and you ask people to support, you shouldn't cut and run.

RUBIO: But Megyn...

BUSH: You should stick with it and that's exactly what happened. He cut and run. And that's a tragedy because now... [bell rings] ... it's harder and harder to actually solve this problem.

KELLY: All right. This will be the last one.

RUBIO: There's not going to be consensus on this issue until we enforce our immigration laws. That is abundantly clear. You're not going to be able to ram down the throat of the American people your approach. The only way we're are going to be able to move forward after two migratory crises with minor, after two unconstitutional executive orders, the only way forward on this issue is to first bring illegal immigration under control. And until that happens there's not going to be consensus on this issue.

KELLY: OK. Let's move on. Senator Cruz, when Senator Rubio proposed that bill creating a path to citizenship, you proposed an amendment. It would have allowed for legalization but not citizenship. Yes, it would.

Pressed last month on why you supported legalization, you claimed that you didn't. Right? Like you just did. Saw that. [laughter]

You argued that this was just a poison pill amendment, basically it's something designed to kill the bill and not actually get it through. But that is not, however, how it sounded at the time. Watch.

[begin video clip]

CRUZ: I want this bill to be voted down. I don't want immigration reform to fail. I want immigration reform to pass. I believe if this amendment were to pass, the chances of this bill passing into law would increase dramatically.

I believe if the amendments I introduced were adopted, that the bill would pass. And my effort in introducing them was to find a solution that reflected common ground and that fixed the problem.

If the proponents of this bill actually demonstrate a commitment not to politics, not to campaigning all the time, but to actually fixing this problem, to finding a middle ground. That would fix the problem, and also allow, for those 11 million people who are here illegally, a legal status, with citizenship off the table.

KELLY: Was that all an act? It was pretty convincing.

CRUZ: You know, the amendment you're talking about is one sentence — it's 38 words. Anyone can go online at tedcruz.org and read exactly what it said. In those 38 words, it said anyone here illegally is permanently ineligible for citizenship. It didn't say a word about legalization. I introduced...

KELLY: But the bill allowed both. The bill you were amending allowed citizenship and legalization.

CRUZ: But — but Megyn, the bill was 1,000 pages. I introduced a series of amendments, each designed to fix problems in the bill. The fact that each amendment didn't fix every problem didn't mean that I supported the rest of the bill.

And I'll tell you who supported my amendment — Jeff Sessions, the strongest opponent of amnesty in the United States Congress. And he did so because taking citizenship off the table was important, and it revealed the hypocrisy of the proponents of this bill, who were looking for votes.

Listen, we can solve immigration. We just heard an argument back and forth that we can't solve immigration. I have a detailed immigration plan that is on my website, tedcruz.org. It was designed with Iowa's own Congressman Steve King and Jeff Sessions, and... [applause] ... we have the tools in federal law to do this now. We can build the fence. We can triple the border patrol. We can end sanctuary cities by cutting off... [bell rings] ... funding to them. We can end welfare for those here illegally. And what is missing is the political will, because too many Democrats and, sadly, too many Republicans don't want to solve this problem. If I am elected president... [bell rings] ... we will secure the border...

KELLY: OK, sir.

CRUZ: ... and we will end the illegal immigration.

KELLY: Senator Paul. [applause]

You know how Washington works. Do you buy that?

PAUL: I was there and I saw the debate. I saw Ted Cruz say, "we'll take citizenship off the table, and then the bill will pass, and I'm for the bill."

The bill would involve legalization. He can't have it both ways. But what is particularly insulting, though, is that he is the king of saying, "you're for amnesty." Everybody's for amnesty except for Ted Cruz.

But it's a falseness, and that's an authenticity problem — that everybody he knows is not as perfect as him because we're all for amnesty. I was for legalization. I think, frankly, if you have border security, you can have legalization. So was Ted, but now he says it wasn't so. That's not true.

KELLY: Go ahead, sir. [applause]

CRUZ: You know, John Adams famously said, "facts are are stubborn things." The facts are are very, very simple. When that battle was waged, my friend Senator Rubio chose to stand with Barack Obama and Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer and support amnesty.

And I stood alongside Jeff Sessions and Steve King, and we led the fight against amnesty. And if you want to know who's telling the truth, you should look and ask people like Jeff Sessions and Steve King and Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin, all of whom say, as Jeff Sessions said, responding to these false attacks just recently in Alabama — he said, "if it wasn't for Ted Cruz, the Gang of Eight Rubio/Schumer bill would have passed. But because Ted stood up and helped lead the effort, millions rose up to kill it. [bell rings] [applause]

KELLY: Senator Rubio, even Chuck Schumer, your co-sponsor of that bill...

RUBIO: Yeah, but let me respond...

KELLY: ... agrees with Ted Cruz on this.

RUBIO: ... no, I understand, but let me respond. I was mentioned on this — in this answer, and so I'm going to respond this way.

This is the lie that Ted's campaign is built on, and Rand touched upon it — that he's the most conservative guy, and everyone else is a — you know, everyone else is a rhino.

The truth is, Ted, throughout this campaign, you've been willing to say or do anything in order to get votes. Ted, you worked for George W. Bush's campaign... [booing]

You — you — you helped design George W. Bush's — you helped design George W. Bush's immigration policy. And then, when you got to the Senate, you did an interview with CBS News — I wasn't even part of the video — where you said, on the issue of people that are here illegally, "we can reach a compromise."

And then in the committee, you said, "I want to bring people out of the shadows." [bell rings]

Now you want to trump Trump on immigration. But you can't — we're not gonna beat Hillary Clinton with someone who's willing to say or do anything to win an election.

KELLY: Go ahead, Senator Cruz. [applause]

CRUZ: You know, I like Marco. He's very charming. He's very smooth. But the facts are simple. When he ran for election in the state of Florida, he told the people of Florida, "if you elect me, I will lead the fight against amnesty."

When I ran in Texas, I told the people of Texas, "if you elect me, I will lead the fight against amnesty." We both made the identical promises. But when we came to Washington, we made a different choice.

Marco made the choice to go the direction of the major donors — to support amnesty because he thought it was politically advantageous. [bell rings]

I honored my commitments, and as president, I will honor every commitment that I make to the men and women of this country. [applause]

KELLY: All right.

CHRISTIE: Megyn?

KELLY: Go ahead, Governor Christie.

CHRISTIE: I want to ask the people of the audience. Like, I'm standing here, I — I watched the video of Senator Cruz. I watched the video of Senator Rubio. I heard what they said. And this is why you need to send someone from outside of Washington to Washington. [applause]

I feel like... [applause] ... I feel like I need — I feel like I need a Washington to English dictionary converter, right? [laughter]

I mean, I heard what they both said, I saw it on the video. And the fact is this is what makes a difference when you're a governor. You can change your mind. Ted can change his mind. Marco can change his mind. It's perfectly legal in this country to change your mind. But when you're a governor, you have to admit it. You can't hide behind parliamentary tricks. That's the difference, and that's the kind of leader we need in the White House. Stop the Washington bull and let's get things done. [applause]

KELLY: Let's go to a Youtube question. Let's get to a Youtube question. This is a question from a Youtube creator with over 2 million subscribers. Watch.

QUESTION: I'm Dulce Candy, a Youtube creator who immigrated to the United States from Mexico when I was a little girl. Since then, I am proud to say I served in the armed forces in Iraq, became a citizen and I am now an entrepreneur.

There are many immigrants who contribute positively to the American economy, but some of the comments in the campaign make us question our place in this country. If America does not seem like a welcoming place for immigrant entrepreneurs, will the American economy suffer?

KELLY: Dr. Carson, that's one — that one's for you.

CARSON: Oh, great. [laughter]

As I said before, we are a land of immigrants, but we have to be intelligent about the way that we form our immigration policies, and that's one of the reasons that I have called on us to declare war on the Islamic State because we need to reorient our immigration policies and our visa policies for people who are coming into this country because there are many people out there who want to destroy us.

Now, I recognize that the vast majority of people coming in here probably are not those kinds of people, but that's not good enough. If you've got 10 people coming to your house and you know one of them is a terrorist, you're probably going to keep them all out.

You know, we probably have to figure out a way to make sure that we keep America safe. [applause]

BUSH: Can I — can I — I just...

KELLY: Go ahead.

BUSH: That beautiful young woman who's an entrepreneur who served in the military, first of all, is deserving of our respect for service in the military and the fact that she's an entrepreneur. [applause]

And we should be a welcoming nation. Our identity is not based on race or ethnicity, it's based on a set of shared values. That's American citizenship. And Dulce Candy — a pretty cool name, actually — that is now an entrepreneur over Youtube is part of that American spirit, and we should celebrate it as conservatives. That's what we believe in.

You can — you can deal with the threat of terror and also recognize that this country should be aspirational across the board.

RUBIO: And I think that's the false choice... [applause] ... that's the — that's the false choice in this whole debate about immigration. Of course, we're going to be a nation of immigrants. By the way, no nation on earth is more generous than America is. Every single year close to a million people emigrate to the United States legally. There's no nation on earth that comes close to that number.

I think the only argument is are we a sovereign country, are we not allowed to choose who comes in, when they come in and how they come in? And that's not what's happening now. [applause]

KELLY: All right.

RUBIO: I think the other problem is we have a legal immigration system that's outdated, it's primarily based on whether you have family members living here. In the 21st century, it has to be more of a merit-based system, and that is why our legal immigration system is in need of modernization. And we will always celebrate legal immigration like Dulce's great story.

KELLY: All right. We're moving on. [applause]

WALLACE: Gentlemen, we're going to turn now to what we call electability, issues that you're either facing in the primaries or issues that you're certainly going to face in a general election. So you may not be altogether unhappy if you're not included in this round. [laughter]

Senator Cruz, you pride yourself on standing up to the D.C. cartel, but as we've seen to a certain degree tonight, there's a price for standing up to the D.C. cartel. Thirteen Republican senators have endorsed other candidates, none have endorsed you.

You — twice last year, you asked for a colleague to second a motion, a routine courtesy on the Senate floor, and no senator would do it. Top GOP officials worry that if you're at the top of the ticket — some officials — that not only will you lose the White House, but it will tank the ticket all the way down the line.

The question is does your style sometimes get in the way of your ability to get things done, sir?

CRUZ: Well, Chris, you are exactly right that I am not the candidate of career politicians in Washington. [applause]

And I'll tell you the endorsements that I am proud of are the over 200,000 volunteers across this country who have signed up to volunteer for our campaign. The endorsements that I am proud of are leading conservatives like Iowa's own Congressman Steve King, who is a national co-chairman of my campaign. The endorsements that I'm proud of are conservative leaders like Dr. James Dobson, and over 700,000 contributions nationwide, people going to our Web site, tedcruz.org.

This is a grassroots campaign and, you know, when I ran for senate in Texas, I told the people of Texas that I'm not going there to go along to get along. Washington is broken.

And the people I have been accountable to every single day in the Senate are the 27 million Texans who I represent and I made a promise to them that I make to you today, which is, if I am elected, every single day I will do two things: tell the truth, and do what I said I would do. [applause]

BAIER: Thank you.

KELLY: Governor bush, poll after poll shows you running among the worst in your party against Hillary Clinton. Even Mitt Romney said that a Bush v. Clinton head-to-head would be too easy for the Democrats.

Yet still you and the super PACs supporting you continue to blanket the airwaves with cutting ads, not against Mrs. Clinton, but against your fellow Republicans, especially Senator Rubio.

Do these attacks do more harm than good by targeting those candidates who appear to have the best chance of defeating Mrs. Clinton?

BUSH: Well, first of all, I've seen polls where I'm beating Hillary Clinton pretty regularly.

And I believe I can, because I have a proven record, a record of accomplishment, a record of cutting taxes, of shrinking the government, of reforming education, of challenging the status quo, eliminating career civil service protections, shrinking the government workforce by 11 percent, but leading the nation in job growth. That's the record of accomplishment that should be taken to Hillary Clinton, who has no record of accomplishment. So I'm confident if I win this nomination, I will aggressively go against her and beat her.

As it relates to the super PACs, I have no control over that. And this is beanbag compared to what the Clinton hit machine is going to do to the Republican nominee. The simple fact is, we all have a record. It all will be scrutinized. There's give and take. It's called the politics. And that's the way it is.

I'm running hard and I believe I'll be the Republican nominee and I'll be the one best suited to beat Hillary Clinton, who should not be president of the United States. [applause]

BAIER: Senator Rubio, first before I ask you a question, any response to Governor Bush?

RUBIO: Well, I believe, and I know that if Iowa helps make me the Republican nominee, I will defeat Hillary Clinton. Hillary doesn't want to run against me, but I cannot wait to run against her. And I cannot wait to earn the opportunity to do it because she cannot be the president of the United States.

She wants to put Barack Obama on the Supreme Court of the United States of America. She said that here in Iowa just two days ago. That would be a disaster for this country.

So I hope and pray and cannot wait until this state and others give me an opportunity to serve this party as its nominee because I will defeat Hillary Clinton. [cheering and applause]

BAIER: Now let's talk about electability, Senator. TIME magazine once called you "the Republican savior." Rush Limbaugh and others said you likely will be president some day.

But if you look at the recent average of polls in your home state of Florida, you're in third trailing Donald trump by 24 points. If the people who know you best have you there, why should the rest of the country elect you?

RUBIO: Well, let me be clear about one thing, there's only one savior and it's not me. It's Jesus Christ who came down to earth and died for our sins. [applause]

And so — and I've always made that clear about that cover story.

As far as the polls are concerned, Iowa, on Monday night you're going to go to a caucus site and you'll be the first Americans that vote in this election. You will be the first Americans that get to answer the fundamental question, what comes next for this country after seven disastrous years of Barack Obama?

And let me tell you what the answer better not be. It better not be Bernie Sanders. Bernie Sanders is a socialist. I think Bernie Sanders is good candidate for president of Sweden. [laughter]

We don't want to be Sweden. We want to be the United States of America. [applause]

And Hillary Clinton, Hillary Clinton is disqualified from being the commander-in-chief of the United States. In fact, one of her first acts as president may very well be to pardon herself because Hillary Clinton... [laughter]

Hillary Clinton stored classified information on her private server. And Hillary Clinton lied to the families of those four brave Americans who lost their life in Benghazi. And anyone who lies to the families of Americans who have died in the service of this country can never be commander-in-chief of the United States. [applause]

BAIER: Thank you, Senator.

WALLACE: Governor Christie, two of your former top aides go on trial in May for fraud and conspiracy in the "Bridge-gate" case, the politically motivated closure of lanes to the George Washington Bridge.

Another former aide who has already pleaded guilty and will likely testify for the government, as you know, says that you knew about this whole deal. Can the GOP take the chance of nominating you with this scandal still out there, sir?

CHRISTIE: Sure, because there has been three different investigations and proven that I knew nothing. And the fact is that what I did do, what I did do from the beginning, Chris, as soon as I found out about it, I fired the people who were responsible. And that's what you expect from a leader.

And, I'll tell you something else. I inherited a state in New Jersey that was downtrodden, and beaten by liberal democratic policies, high taxation, high regulation. And, this year, in 2015, New Jersey's had the best year of job growth that our state has ever had in the last 15 years. That's because we've put conservative policies in place.

And, I'll tell you one other thing, you know why the Republican party will want to take a chance on me? Because they know that Hillary Clinton will never be prosecuted by this justice department, and they're going to want to put a former federal prosecutor on the stage to prosecute her next September. And, there is no one on this stage better prepared to prosecute the case against Hillary Clinton than I am.

I will be ready. I will take her on, and when I take her on I guarantee you one thing, she will never get within 10 miles of the White House. The days for the Clintons in public housing are over. [applause]

BAIER: Much more to come, including where the candidates stand on foreign policy. And, once again, you can go to Google.com, or open your Google search app and search, "Fox News Debate" to vote on which candidate you think is winning the debate tonight. We'll be right back.

[commercial break]

KELLY: Welcome back, everybody. Let's get back to the questions. Chris?

WALLACE: Gentlemen, almost 60% of Republican caucus-goers identify themselves as Evangelicals, so I'd like to spend a few minutes exploring social issues.

Governor Kasich, you talk a good deal about your faith. In fact, you say it played a role in your decision to expand Medicaid, and you say that when you meet Saint Peter at the Pearly Gates, he's going to ask what you did for the poor, not what you did to keep government small.

Senator Cruz is on the opposite side of this issue from you, so does that mean that you're getting in and he isn't? [laughter]

KASICH: No. You know, Chris, here's what happened with Medicaid in my state. We took the growth of Medicaid from over 10 percent in my second budget to 2.5 percent, without cutting off one person or cutting one benefit, because we — we innovated the government.

And now mom and dad can stay in their own home, rather than being forced into a nursing home. And then we decided we could bring $14 billion of our money — I mean, Washington doesn't have any money. It was our money, and we brought them back to tend to the mentally ill. Because I don't think they ought to live in prison or live under a bridge; to treat the drug-addicted so they're not in an in-and-out-of-the-door policy out of the prisons; and to help the working poor so they don't live in emergency rooms.

How has it worked? Well, we have treated the drug-addicted in our prisons and we released them in to the community, and our recidivism rate is less than 20 percent. That's basically bordering on a miracle because of our great prison director. The mentally ill? They've been stepped on for too long in this society, and we are beginning to treat them.

In terms of my faith, look, all I say is that when I study scripture, I know that people who live in the shadows need to have a chance. But I'm not deciding that anybody's got to make these decisions the way that I do, on the basis of what I do. But what — I will tell you this. The time has come to stop ignoring the mentally ill in this country and begin to treat them and get them on their feet, along with, of course, with treating the drug-addicted. [applause]

Because we don't want them in and out — we don't want them in and out of the prisons. Give people a chance. We talked about criminal justice reform. We've enacted it in our state. Look, the conservative message is economic growth and along with economic growth goes opportunity for everybody in America. Everybody ought to have a chance to be able to rise to their God-given purpose.

And that is what we have done in Ohio. We're running surpluses. We're up 400,000 jobs. And guess what? The formula is working. I'd suggest people take a look at it.

Thank you. [applause]

WALLACE: Gentlemen, we had a case study on religious liberty just this last summer. A county clerk in Kentucky named Kim Davis refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples after the Supreme Court ruling, saying that it violated her religious beliefs.

Governor Christie, you said that she must follow the law or be moved to another job that would be in keeping with her conscience. But some conservatives say that that violates her religious liberty.

CHRISTIE: No, what I said, Chris, was that the law needs to be followed. And that someone in that office has to do their job. So if Ms. Davis wanted to step aside and get rid of her ability to be able to do that, there should be someone else in that office who it didn't violate their conscience so they could follow the law of the state of Kentucky.

I never said that Ms. Davis should either lose her job or that she had to do it. But what I did say was that the person who came in for the license needed to get it. And so if there's someone in that organization, and it turns out there was, who was willing to be able to do that, that's what we should do.

But just as importantly, and I agree with what John said. You know, we all have our own individual interpretations of our faith. And here's the problem with what's going on around the world. The radical Islamic jihadists, what they want to do is impose their faith upon each and every one of us — every one of us. And the reason why this war against them is so important is that very basis of religious liberty.

They want everyone in this country to follow their religious beliefs the way they do. They do not want us to exercise religious liberty. That's why as commander in chief, I will take on ISIS, not only because it keeps us safe, but because it allows us to absolutely conduct our religious affairs the way we find in our heart and in our souls. As a Catholic, that's what I want to do. And no matter what your faith is, that's what I want you to be able to do. [applause]

WALLACE: Thank you, sir.

Senator Rubio, during the last debate, you said Governor Christie had changed his position and his mind on gun control, on common core, and backing President Obama's nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. He said you're wrong on the facts and you can't, quote, "slime your way to the White House." I assume in the last two weeks, you've done some fact-checking. Do you want to take anything back?

RUBIO: Yeah, I would encourage people to go on my website, marcorubio.com, and we'll put all the facts up there so people can see it for themselves. But you've just asked a very fundamental question about the role of faith in our country. And I think this is an important question. I think if you do not understand that our Judeo-Christian values are one of the reasons why America is such a special country, you don't understand our history. You see, why are we one of the most generous people in the world — no, the most generous people in the world? Why do Americans contribute millions of dollars to charity?

It is not because of the tax writeoff. It is because in this nation, we are influenced by Judeo-Christian values that teach us to care for the less fortunate, to reach out to the needy, to love our neighbor. This is what's made our nation so special.

And you should hope that our next president is someone that is influence by their faith. Because if your faith causes you to care for the less fortunate, it is something you want to see in your public figures. And when I'm president, I can tell you this, my faith will not just influence the way I'll govern as president, it will influence the way I live my life.

Because in the end, my goal is not simply to live on this earth for 80 years, but to live an eternity with my creator. And I will always allow my faith to influence everything I do. [applause]

WALLACE: Thank you, senator.

Senator Paul, in May on the campaign trail you, said you didn't get into politics to fight about abortion. You said you were more concerned about the national debt. Your answer is to turn abortion back to the states the way it was before Roe v. Wade.

Does that mean that if a liberal state, let's say, wants to make abortion legal, that you're okay with that and what do you say to conservative voters who believe deeply that abortion is murder?

PAUL: You know, I think abortion is always wrong. I've supported a variety of solutions, both state as well as federal. In fact, just last week, I introduced the Life at Conception act, which would say that the 14th amendment would defend an individual even in the womb.

But I think on the broader question of religion and politics, you know, I think liberty, itself requires a virtue — requires a virtuous people. In fact, Washington said that democracy requires a virtuous people.

Oz Guinness, the theologian, said that liberty requires restraint but the only restraint consistent with liberty is self-restraint. There's a lot packed into that statement. But the bottom line is we must have virtue, we must have a religious bearing as a nation. The government is not always going to save us and it's not always going to come from government.

But if we don't know right and wrong, I think we have lost our way. I think we become unmoored and I think without the religious foundation that guides us all, I think we have a great risk of going horribly in the wrong direction.

WALLACE: Sir, just 30 seconds to answer my specific... [applause]

Just 30 seconds to answer my specific question. Do you favor the idea that abortion should be a states' rights issue and if a liberal state wants to make it legal, that that's their choice? Yes or no?

PAUL: Both. No, both the federal and a state approach. I have said that we could leave it to the states but I've also introduced a federal solution as well. So the federal solution would be the Life at Conception act which is an act that would federalize the issue.

But I've also said for the most part, these issues would be left back to the states. So there might be an occasion if we did overturn Roe v. Wade — Roe v. Wade nationalized the issue. If you had the court reverse Roe v. Wade, it would become a state issue once again.

I think it would be better the more — the less abortions we have, so the more states that we have that made abortion illegal, the better, as far as trying to save and preserve lives.

WALLACE: Thank you, sir. [applause]

BAIER: Gentlemen. [applause]

I'd like to ask you a few questions about foreign policy broadly.

Dr. Carson, many experts believe Russian leader Vladimir Putin has greater ideas, bigger designs for the region beyond Russia's actions inside Ukraine. Fast forward to February 2017 and it is President Carson, and Russian uniformed commandos cross the Estonian border and they occupy a city in Estonia. Estonia, a member of NATO, essentially invokes Article IV, an attack on one is an attack on all. What do you do?

CARSON: Look, first of all, I recognize that Vladimir Putin is an opportunist and he's a bully, and we have to face him down. And I would — first of all, face him down in that whole region, the whole Baltic region. I think we need to put in some armored brigades there. We only have one or two. We need much more than that. We need to be doing military exercises if not only Estonia but Latvia and Lithuania. They're terrified by the saber rattling. I think we ought to put in our missile defense system.

I think we ought to give Ukraine offensive weapons and I think we ought to fight them on the economic basis because Putin is a one- horse country: oil and energy. And we ought to fight them on that level.

We ought to be helping in terms of the technology for fracking, keeping the price low, quite frankly, because that's what's keeping him contained. So, yes, I'd absolutely would go in if he attacked. I think on Article IV of NATO, we would definitely protect all of our allies. [applause]

BAIER: Gentlemen, you've all said that the Iran nuclear deal is a bad one.

Senator Rubio, you were among the candidates who've said you would tear it up on day one. But as you know, Iran has already received tens of millions of dollars — tens of billions of dollars in this deal and has quickly reestablished ties economically with Europe.

The major concessions, in other words, are up front in this deal. So should you win by the time you take office, the remaining parts of the deal would be the constraints on Iran. So why blow up those constraints on day one, letting Iran off the hook?

RUBIO: Well, let me first describe Iran because they're not just a normal nation state. And we have no quarrel with the Iranian people. But the Iranian leader, their supreme leader is a radical Shia cleric who has an apocalyptic vision of the future. He views himself not simply as the leader of Iran, but as the leader of all Muslims — all Shia Muslims on the planet. And they have a desire not simply to conquer the Middle East and to become the dominant power in that region, but ultimately to be able to hold America hostage.

That is why they're building an — right now, developing long- range missiles capable of reaching the United States, and that is why there's going — they're going to use those $100 billion to expand their conventional capabilities and to one day buy or build a nuclear weapon.

We will — when I am president of the United States, on my first day in office, we are canceling the deal with Iran, and nations will have to make a choice. They can do business with Iran, or they can do business with America, and I am very confident they're going to choose America before they choose the Iranian economy.

BAIER: Governor Kasich, you've said that Marco Rubio is wrong... [applause] ... that Senator Rubio is wrong with tearing it up on day one.

KASICH: Look, we don't know what's going to happen in ten months. And if I were president of the United States right now, I'd be lining up our allies to say that, if one crossed T or one dotted I does not occur, they are — violate the agreement, we slap back on sanctions.

We can slap on sanctions alone, on day one, but it's not gonna be anywhere near as effective. But the president needs to be laying the groundwork right now for the ability to slap those sanctions back on worldwide.

And I'll tell you what I'm worried about — I'm worried about money. You read about all the companies now that are doing business — about to do business in Iran, and if we don't get this settled now, with other countries in the world, about sanctions, then Iran could violate that agreement, and we're the only ones putting the sanctions on.

We need to move aggressively now. But I would say this to you, Bret. Number one, if they violate it, we need to move against them. And number two, if we find out they're developing a nuclear weapon and we know how to get to it, we're gonna go take it out. That is what we have to do. We cannot let things get farther down the road, like we did with North Korea.

BAIER: But Governor Kasich, you know that the most powerful sanctions are the multilateral ones.

KASICH: That's right. Yes.

BAIER: And these European countries are already reestablishing these ties.

KASICH: I know, Bret.

BAIER: They don't want...

KASICH: But Bret, here's the problem. You take a look at the — at Belgium. I talked to a diplomat from Belgium. I said, "how's it going?" He said, "we have the military in the streets right now. We never dreamt we'd ever see it."

See, I think there is an opportunity to bring the world together. The Turks are being threatened. We know about the French. We know about the Belgians. We know about the Brits. Everybody is under fire and under attack, and we have to stand together as an alliance.

So actually, the opportunity is there, because of the threat to all of these countries, to bring all of us together... [bell rings] ... and say there is something more important than money. It is the future of the world and the future of our children and grandchildren. That's the kind of leadership this country needs. It has not been in effect during the administration of Barack Obama.

And that's only the beginning of the failures that they have committed, not only in the Middle East, but all over the world, including Russia and China.

BAIER: Governor, thank you. Governor Christie... [applause] ... Libya is the newest base for ISIS. Just today, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said ISIS is consolidating their footprint there and also setting up training facilities.

So if you were president, would you deploy U.S. troops to Libya to take out ISIS there?

CHRISTIE: Bret, let me tell you, this is another one of those places where Hillary Clinton has so much to answer for, and why she is completely unqualified to be commander in chief.

In a previous Democratic debate, Martha Raddatz, three times, asked Hillary Clinton about the failure in Libya, a policy that she took credit for, and said, "what is your measure of responsibility, Madam Secretary, for the failure in Libya?" Three times, she refused to answer the question, because she refuses to be held accountable for anything that goes wrong. If it had gone right, believe me, she would have been running around to be able to take credit for it.

Here's what I'd do. This is about the bigger, broader war against ISIS. We need to bring together our European and our Sunni Arab allies, and we need to develop a strategy together to take on ISIS every place that it is around the world, so that together, all of us can take ISIS out, destroy it, and then move on to come back to our country, protect our homeland security and make sure that the American people are safe.

As president of the United States, that is exactly what I will do.

BAIER: Thank you, Governor. [applause]

WALLACE: We're not finished yet. More to come from the presidential debate, live from Des Moines, Iowa, next. And remember, to see how the campaigns are responding to the debate in real time, go togoogle.com or open your Google search app and search Fox News debate, and please stay with us. [commercial break] [applause]

BAIER: Welcome back to Des Moines. Let's resume the debate. Megyn?

KELLY: Senator Paul, you have suggested that former President Bill Clinton's history with women is fair game in this campaign. How do you answer those who say you don't hold the sins of the husband against the wife?

PAUL: You know, I've never really brought this up unless asked the question, but I have responded to the question. I don't blame Hillary Clinton at all for this. I don't think she's responsible for his behavior. But I do think that her position as promoting women's rights and fairness to women in the workplace, that if what Bill Clinton did any CEO in our country did with an intern, with a 22-year- old, 21-year-old intern in their office, they would be fired. They would never be hired again. [applause]

Fired, never hired again and probably shunned in their community. And the thing is, she can't be a champion of women's rights at the same time she's got this that is always lurking out there, this type of behavior. So it is difficult.

KELLY: Of her husband's?

PAUL: Yeah. But I combine this also with the millions upon millions of dollars they've taken from regimes in the Middle East who treat women like cattle. [applause]

WALLACE: We have another question from one of Youtube's top creators. Here it is.

QUESTION: I'm Nabela Noor. I'm a Muslim American born and raised in the U.S. who creates beauty and lifestyle videos on Youtube.

In 2015, the number of hate crimes against Muslims in the U.S. has tripled, and on social media, where I spend a lot of time, I've seen many attacks directed towards fellow Muslims. This culture of hatred is only driving ISIS to radicalize, recruit and incite violence.

As president, what would you do to address this toxic climate and promote increased tolerance in the United States?

WALLACE: Governor Bush, how do you answer Nabela?

BUSH: Well first of all, I think it's important that when we're running for the highest office in the land that we recognize that we're living in dangerous times and we have to be serious about it, that our words have consequences.

Donald Trump, for example — I'm glad — I mentioned his name again just if anybody was missing him... [laughter] ... Mr. Trump believed that in reaction to people's fears that we should ban all Muslims. Well, that creates an environment that's toxic in our own country. Nobela is a rising entrepreneur. She wants to pursue the American dream. She's an American citizen. She should not feel uncomfortable about her citizenship. She's not the threat. The threat is Islamic terrorism.

We need to focus our energies there, not these broad, blanket, kind of statements that will make it harder for us to deal with ISIS. We need to deal with ISIS in the caliphate. We need a strategy to destroy ISIS there. You can't do that without the cooperation of the Muslim world because they're as threatened as we are.

So, I think it's important for us to be careful about the language we use, which is why I've been critical of Donald Trump. Disparaging women, disparaging hispanics, that's not a sign of strength. Making fun of disabled people... [bell rings] ... We're never going to win elections if we don't have a more broader unifying message. [applause]

WALLACE: Governor, thank you. Senator Cruz, change of subject. You called for an end to the renewable fuel standards which mandate that refineries blend biofuels, including ethanol into gasoline. As you well know, ethanol's a big industry in this state, $10 billion dollars a year.

Last week, Terry Branstad, the popular Governor of Iowa... [applause] ... Who is in the hall tonight, said that you're bankrolled by big oil, and that Iowa voters would be making a mistake supporting you. Why should those voters side with you over the six- term governor of the state, sir?

CRUZ: Well, Chris, I'm glad to discuss my views on ethanol and energy. I think God has blessed this country with enormous natural resources, and we should pursue all of the above. We should be developing oil, and gas, and coal, and nuclear, and wind, and solar, and ethanol, and biofuels. But, I don't believe that Washington should be picking winners and losers. And, I think there should be no mandates, and no subsidies whatsoever. [applause]

And, indeed, my tax plan that I've introduced, it's available on our website. It's a simple flat tax for everyone. It'll produce enormous economic growth, and it eliminates every mandate, every subsidy, so there's no subsidies for oil and gas, no subsidies for anyone.

Now, it is true that there are a bunch of lobbyists, and a bunch of Democrats in this state spending millions of dollars trying to convince the people of Iowa that I somehow oppose ethanol. It's not true. I have introduced legislation that would phase out the ethanol mandate over five years, but that is in the context of having no mandates whatsoever for anyone.

And, I would not that there's a much more important government regulation to ethanol, and that's the EPA's blend wall that makes it illegal to sell mid-level blends of ethanol in gasoline. I will... [bell rings] ... Tear down the EPA's blend wall which will enable ethanol to expand its market share by up to 60%, all without mandates. All without any government mandates whatsoever through the marketplace. And, I'll note finally, Chris, there is a reason that Iowa's Congressman Steve King, perhaps the fiercest defender of farmers in this state, is sharing my campaign. Because he understands that I'm committed to a fair, and level playing field for every energy source without lobbyists, and without Washington picking winners and losers. [applause]

WALLACE: Dr. Carson, I'd like to ask you about exactly that issue. Where are you on the mandatory ethanol standard, and precisely this question. Should government be in the business of picking winners and losers, or should it be left to the market place?

CARSON: Well, as anyone knows who's been listening to me, you know? I'm very much against the government being involved in every aspect of our lives, you know? We last year there was an additional 81,000 pages of government regulations. If you stack that up it would be a three-story building. This is absolutely absurd. And, they've insinuated themselves into everything.

Now, as far as the renewable fuel standard is concerned, certain promises were made, certain government contracts were issued which extend all the way into the year 2022, and I believe that it's probably unfair to withdraw the rug because people have invested money. People have invested a lot of energy into that.

But, you know, we are blessed with tremendous energy in this nation, and we need to be talking for new sources of energy. Seventy percent of our population lives by costly. What about hydroelectric power? We can develop that, you know? We have so much natural gas now, and we can liquify it, and we can transfer it across the sea so we can make Europe dependent on us instead of Putin — put him back in his little box where he belongs.

Those are the kinds of things that we ought to be doing. And, you know, take advantage of the tremendous opportunities in energy that God has given us, not get involved in these little petty arguments.

And we can get a lot of them out if we get the government out of our lives. [applause]

WALLACE: Doctor, thank you.

BAIER: Coming up, closing statements from the candidates as our debate continues, live, from Des Moines, Iowa.

[commercial break]

KELLY: Welcome back, everybody. And now, it is time for closing statements. The candidates each get 30 seconds.

And we begin with Kentucky Senator Rand Paul.

PAUL: Well, thanks for having me. It's great to be back. [applause]

I'm an eye surgeon from Bowling Green, Kentucky, I miss doing eye surgery, still get to do a little bit. Did a couple of cataract surgeries over Christmas holidays. Got to go to Haiti last year. I've gotten to do some incredible things. Got to be on the floor of the Senate. And it has been amazing to me.

But the thing that is most important to me and caused me to run for office is I'm worried about the country and how much debt we're adding. And I am the one true fiscal conservative who will look at all spending. And that's the only way we'll ever balance our budget.

Thank you. [applause]

KELLY: Ohio Governor Kasich.

KASICH: You know, one of our biggest national security issues is the world looks at us some time, and we look at each other and say, why can't we solve problems? Well, I've got news for you, we can. We can in fact create jobs and provide job security. We can create a situation where wages begin to rise. We can create a situation for our children to be able to get a decent job to pay down their college debt. We can re-assume our role in the world.

But all of this has to come together when we have a positive attitude, an optimistic approach, an ability for us to set the tune as conservatives, to invite other people in to be part of that orchestra.

You see, ladies and gentlemen, at the end of the day, I'm an optimist [bell rings]

Because I've seen so many things get accomplished in my lifetime. And we can do it again together, all of us, to strengthen this country, work together. Thank you. [applause]

BAIER: New Jersey governor, Chris Christie.

CHRISTIE: On September 11, my wife was two blocks from the World Trade Center. When those buildings came down, she was trapped in her building and I didn't hear from her over six hours.

We have three children, eight, five and one. And I had to confront the possibility of being a single parent. Terrorism in this country scares everyone. And the fact is that we need a commander-in- chief who not only understands how to protect us, but feels in here what it means to face the possibility of loss.

I've faced it. I've prosecuted terrorists. I have made the decisions that need to be made as a governor to protect us and as president of the United States, no one will keep this country safer than I will.

BAIER: Thank you governor. [applause]

KELLY: Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Governor.

BUSH: We desperately need a conservative leader as president of the United States. I have a proven record as governor of the state of Florida, as a conservative leader. And I also have detailed plans to fix the mess in Washington, D.C.

As president I will restore and rebuild our military, restore the alliances and keep us safe. And as our party's nominee, I will defeat Hillary Clinton in November. I ask for your support on the caucuses come Monday night and I will make you proud as our party's nominee. Thank you very much. [applause]

WALLACE: Dr. Ben Carson.

CARSON: I want to thank the people of Iowa for being so welcoming to me. Please think of our founding fathers as you listen. We the people of the United States in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the benefits of liberty to ourselves and our prosperity, do ordain and establish this constitution of the United States of America. Folks, it's not too late. Enough said. [applause]

BAIER: Florida Senator Marco Rubio.

RUBIO: The bible commands us to let our light shine on the world. For over 200 years, America's light has been shining on the world and the world has never been the same again. But now, that light is dimming a little, after seven years of Barack Obama. And that's why Monday night, what will happen here in Iowa is so important.

I'm asking you for your vote. Caucus for me on Monday night because if I am your nominee, I will unite this party and I will defeat Hillary Clinton and when I'm president, America's light will shine again and the 21 century will be a new American century. [applause]

BAIER: Thank you senator.

KELLY: Texas Senator, Ted Cruz. Senator.

CRUZ: Ninety-three hours. The media noise will soon be over and it's now for the men and women of Iowa to decide. Our country is in crisis. We're worried the future of our children and we've have been burned over and over again.

The central question in this race is trust. Who do you know will kill the terrorists, defend the constitution and repeal Obamacare? Who do you know will stop amnesty and secure the borders? Who do you know will defend life, marriage and religious liberty? Examine our records, pray on it and I will be honored if you and your family will come caucus for us on Monday night. [applause]

KELLY: Gentlemen, thank you all so much for being here tonight. We appreciate it greatly. And that does it for the seventh Republican primary debate of the 2016 presidential race. But we're not done. The Kelly file starts in a moment and guess who is going to be there? Senator Ted Cruz.

WALLACE: And don't forget, after all the talk, the first voting of the 2016 campaign happens in just four days. The first Americans to vote, the Iowa caucuses are Monday and Fox News will have complete coverage.

BAIER: And we have you covered from Iowa, all the way to the conventions and on to the general election. Thanks again for joining us. For all of us here in Des Moines, have a great evening.

NOTE: The criteria for appearing in the main debate is explained as, "Candidates must place in the top six spots nationally in an average of the five most recent national polls, or place within the top five in Iowa or New Hampshire in an average of the five most recent Iowa or New Hampshire polls recognized by FOX News."

Donald Trump qualified but chose not to participate.

+ Citation: Presidential Candidates Debates: "Republican Candidates Debate in Des Moines, Iowa," January 28, 2016. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=111412. +
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+ 		+ + + + +Presidential Candidates Debates: Republican Candidates Debate in North Charleston, South Carolina +
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Republican Candidates Debate in North Charleston, South Carolina
January 14, 2016
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PARTICIPANTS:
Former Governor Jeb Bush (FL);
Ben Carson;
Governor Chris Christie (NJ);
Senator Ted Cruz (TX);
Governor John Kasich (OH);
Senator Marco Rubio (FL);
Donald Trump;

MODERATORS:
Maria Bartiromo (Fox Business Network); and
Neil Cavuto (Fox Business Network)

CAVUTO: It is 9:00 p.m. here at the North Charleston Coliseum and Performing Arts Center in South Carolina. Welcome to the sixth Republican presidential of the 2016 campaign, here on the Fox Business Network. I'm Neil Cavuto, alongside my friend and co-moderator Maria Bartiromo.

BARTIROMO: Tonight we are working with Facebook to ask the candidates the questions voters want answered. And according to Facebook, the U.S. election has dominated the global conversation, with 131 million people talking about the 2016 race. That makes it the number one issue talked about on Facebook last year worldwide.

CAVUTO: Now, the seven candidates on the stage tonight were selected based on their standing in six national polls, as well as polls in the early-voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire, those standings determining the position on the stage of the candidates tonight. And here they are.

Businessman Donald Trump. [applause]

Texas senator Ted Cruz. [applause]

Florida senator Marco Rubio. [applause]

Neurosurgeon Ben Carson. [applause]

New Jersey governor Chris Christie. [applause]

Former Florida governor Jeb Bush.

And Ohio governor John Kasich. [applause]

BARTIROMO: Tonight's rules are simple: up to 90 seconds for each answer, one minute for each follow-up response. And if a candidate goes over the allotted time, you'll hear this. [bell rings] So let's get started. Candidates, jobs and growth — two of the biggest issues facing the country right now. In his State of the Union address earlier this week, the president said, quote, "we have the strongest, most durable economy in the world."

And according to our Facebook research, jobs is one of the biggest issues resonating across the country, including here in South Carolina. The president is touting 14 million new jobs and an unemployment rate cut in half.

The president said that anyone who claims America's economy is in decline is peddling fiction. Senator Cruz, what do you see that he doesn't?

CRUZ: Well, Maria, thank you for that question, and let me say thank you to the state of South Carolina for welcoming us.

Let me start — I want to get to the substance of the question on jobs, but I want to start with something. Today, many of us picked up our newspapers, and we were horrified to see the sight of 10 American sailors on their knees, with their hands on their heads.

In that State of the Union, President Obama didn't so much as mention the 10 sailors that had been captured by Iran. President Obama's preparing to send $100 billion or more to the Ayatollah Khamenei. And I'll tell you, it was heartbreaking.

But the good news is the next commander-in-chief is standing on this stage. [applause] And I give you my word, if I am elected president, no service man or service woman will be forced to be on their knees, and any nation that captures our fighting men will feel the full force and fury of the United States of America. [applause]

Now, on to your substantive question. The president tried to paint a rosy picture of jobs. And you know, he's right. If you're a Washington lobbyist, if you make your money in and around Washington, things are doing great. The millionaires and billionaires are doing great under Obama. But we have the lowest percentage of Americans working today of any year since 1977. Median wages have stagnated. And the Obama-Clinton economy has left behind the working men and women of this country.

The reason all of us are here is we believe we should be fighting for the working men and women of this country, and not Washington, D.C.

BARTIROMO: Thank you, sir. [applause]

CAVUTO: Governor Kasich, we are not even two weeks into this stock trading year, but [inaudible] investors already lost $1.6 trillion in market value. That makes it the worst start to a new year ever. Many worry that things will get even worse, and that banks and financial stocks are particularly vulnerable.

Now, if this escalates, like it did back when Barack Obama first assumed the presidency, what actions would you take if this same thing happens all over again just as, in this example, you are taking over the presidency?

KASICH: Look, it takes three things basically to grow jobs. And I've done it when I was in Washington when we had a balanced budget; had four years of balanced budgets; paid down a half-trillion of debt. And our economy was growing like crazy. It's the same thing that I did in Ohio. It's a simple formula: common sense regulations, which is why I think we should freeze all federal regulations for one year, except for health and safety. It requires tax cuts, because that sends a message to the job creators that things are headed the right way. And if you tax cuts — if you cut taxes for corporations, and you cut taxes for individuals, you're going to make things move, particularly the corporate tax, which is the highest, of course, in the — in the world.

But in addition to that, we have to have fiscal discipline. We have to show that we can march to a balanced budget. And when you do that, when you're in a position of managing regulations; when you reduce taxes; and when you have fiscal discipline, you see the job creators begin to get very comfortable with the fact that they can invest.

Right now, you don't have the — you have taxes that are too high. You have regulations — I mean, come on, they're affecting everybody here, particularly our small businesses. They are — they're in a position where they're smothering people. And I mean, are you kidding me? We're nowhere close to a balanced budget or fiscal discipline.

Those three things put together are going to give confidence to job creators and you will begin to see wages rise. You will begin to see jobs created in a robust economy. And how do I know it? Because I've done it. I did it as the chairman of the Budget Committee, working with Senator Domenici. And I've done it in the state of Ohio as the chief executive.

Our wages are growing faster than the national average. We're running surpluses. And we can take that message and that formula to Washington to lift every single American to a better life. [applause]

BARTIROMO: We know that recent global events have many people worried — Iran detaining American sailors, forcing them to apologize; North Korea and its nuclear ambitions; an aggressive China; and a Middle East that continues to deteriorate, not to mention ISIS is getting stronger.

Governor Christie, sometimes it seems the world is on fire. Where and when should a president use military action to restore order?

CHRISTIE: Well, Maria, I'm glad to have heard from you in the summary of that question about what's going on in the world. Because Tuesday night, I watched story time with Barack Obama. And I've got to tell you, it sounded like everything in the world was going amazing, you know? [applause]

The fact is, there's a number of things that the next president is going to have to do to clean up this mess. The first thing is we have to strengthen our alliances around the world. And the best way to do that is to start talking to our allies again and having them be able to count on our word.

Lots of people will say lots of different things about me in this campaign and others, but the one thing they've never said about me is that I'm misunderstood. And so when we talk to our allies and we give them our word, in a Christie administration, they know we're going to keep it.

Next, we have to talk to our adversaries, and we have to make sure they understand the limits of our patience. And this president, given what Ted said right at the beginning, he's absolutely right. It's a — it's absolutely disgraceful that Secretary Kerry and others said in their response to what's going on in Iran that this was a good thing; it showed how the relationship was getting better.

The president doesn't understand — and by the way, neither does Secretary Clinton — and here's my warning to everybody out in the audience tonight. If you're worried about the world being on fire, you're worried about how we're going to use our military, you're worried about strengthening our military and you're worried most of all about keeping your homes and your families safe and secure, you cannot give Hillary Clinton a third term of Barack Obama's leadership.

I will not do that. If I'm the nominee, she won't get within 10 miles of the White House. [applause]

BARTIROMO: Just to be clear Governor, where and when would you use military action?

CHRISTIE: MIlitary action, Maria, would be used when it was absolutely necessary to protect American lives and protect American interests around the world. We are not the world's policeman, but we need to stand up and be ready.

And the problem, Maria, is that the military is not ready, either. We need to rebuild our military, and this president has let it diminish to a point where tinpot dictators like the mullahs in Iran are taking our Navy ships. It is disgraceful, and in a Christie administration, they would know much, much better than to do that. [applause]

CAVUTO: Governor Bush, the president just told the nation two nights ago that America is back and that the idea that our enemies are getting stronger or that this country is getting weaker, well, it's just rhetoric and hot air. Now other Democrats go even further, sir, saying Republicans even suggesting such comments actually embolden our enemies. I guess they would include you. What do you say?

BUSH: Well first of all, the idea that somehow we're better off today than the day that Barack Obama was inaugurated president of the United States is totally an alternative universe. The simple fact is that the world has been torn asunder.

Think about it. With grandiose language, the president talks about red lines and nothing to follow it up; talks about ISIS being the JV team, they form a caliphate the size of Indiana with 35 (thousand) to 40,000 battle-tested terrorists. He's missing the whole point, that America's leadership in the world is required for peace and stability.

In the crowd today is Major General James Livingston, who's the co-chairman of my campaign here in South Carolina, a Medal of Honor recipient. [applause]

I've learned from him that what we need to achieve is peace through strength, which means we need to rebuild the military. In this administration, every weapon system has been gutted, in this administration, the force levels are going down to a level where we can't even project force. Our friends no longer think we have their back and our enemies no longer fear us, and we're in a much difficult — we're in a much different position than we should be.

And for the life of me, I have no understanding why the president thinks that everything is going well. Terrorism is on the run, China, Russia is advancing their agenda at warp speed, and we pull back.

As president of the United States, I will be a commander in chief that will have the back of the military. We will rebuild the military to make sure that it is a solid force, not to be the world's policeman, but to make sure that in a peaceful world, people know that the United States is there to take care of our own national interests and take care of our allies. [applause]

CAVUTO: So I take it from that you do not agree with the president.

BUSH: No. And worse — worse yet, to be honest with you, Hillary Clinton would be a national security disaster.

Think about it. She wants to continue down the path of Iran, Benghazi, the Russian reset, Dodd-Frank, all the things that have — that have gone wrong in this country, she would be a national security mess. And that is wrong.

And you know what? Here's the problem. If she gets elected, she's under investigation with the FBI right now. If she gets elected, her first 100 days, instead of setting an agenda, she might be going back and forth between the White House and the courthouse. We need to stop that. [laughter and applause]

CAVUTO: Senator Rubio, the president says that ISIS doesn't threaten our national existence like a Germany or a Japan back in World War II, that the terror group is nothing more than twisted souls plotting attacks in their garages.

But House Homeland Security Committee recently said that over 1,000 ongoing investigations of homegrown extremism in 50 states. So how do you define the threat? Germany then or dangerous nut cases now?

RUBIO: Yeah, I would go, first of all, one step further in this description of Hillary Clinton. She wouldn't just be a disaster, Hillary Clinton is disqualified from being commander in chief of the United States. [applause]

Someone who cannot handle intelligence information appropriately cannot be commander in chief and someone who lies to the families of those four victims in Benghazi can never be president of the United States. Ever. [applause]

On the issue of Barack Obama, Barack Obama does not believe that America is a great global power. Barack Obama believes that America is a arrogant global power that needs to be cut down to size. And that's how you get a foreign policy where we cut deals with our enemies like Iran and we betray our allies like Israel and we gut our military and we go around the world like he has done on 10 separate occasions and apologized for America.

He doesn't understand the threat in ISIS. He consistently underestimates it but I do not. There is a war against ISIS, not just against ISIS but against radical jihadists terrorists, and it is a war that they win or we win.

When I'm president of the United States, we are going to win this war on ISIS. The most powerful intelligence agency in the world is going to tell us where we are, the most powerful military in the world is going to destroy them. And if we capture any of them alive, they are getting a one-way ticket to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and we are going to find out everything they know. [applause]

CAVUTO: Thank you, Senator.

BARTIROMO: Dr. Carson, the president says he does not want to treat ISIS as a foreign army, but ISIS is neither a country nor a government. How do you attack a network that does not respect national borders?

CARSON: Well, I'm very happy to get a question this early on. I was going to ask you to wake me up when that time came. [laughter]

You know, I find it really quite fascinating some of the president's proclamations. The fact of the matter is he doesn't realize that we now live in the 21st century, and that war is very different than it used to be before. Not armies massively marching on each other and air forces, but now we have dirty bombs and we have cyber attacks and we have people who will be attacking our electrical grid. And, you know, we have a whole variety of things that they can do and they can do these things simultaneously. And we have enemies who are obtaining nuclear weapons that they can explode in our exoatmosphere and destroy our electric grid.

I mean, just think about a scenario like that. They explode the bomb, we have an electromagnetic pulse. They hit us with a cyberattack simultaneously and dirty bombs. Can you imagine the chaos that would ensue at that point? He needs to recognize that those kinds of things are in fact an existential threat to us.

But here's the real key. We have the world's best military, even though he's done everything he can to diminish it. And the fact of the matter is if we give them a mission and we don't tie their hands behind their back, they can get it accomplished. [applause]

CAVUTO: Mr. Trump, at the State of the Union, the president pointed to a guest who was a Syrian refugee you might recall whose wife and daughter and other family members were killed in an air attack. Now he fled that country seeking asylum here, ultimately ended up in Detroit where he's now trying to start a new life.

The president says that that doctor is the real face of these refugees and not the one that you and some of your colleagues on this stage are painting; that you prefer the face of fear and terror and that you would refuse to let in anyone into this country seeking legitimate asylum. How do you answer that?

TRUMP: It's not fear and terror, it's reality. You just have to look today at Indonesia, bombings all over. [applause]

You look at California, you look, frankly, at Paris where there's a — the strictest no-gun policy of any city anywhere in the world, and you see what happens: 130 people dead with many to follow. They're very, very badly wounded. They will — some will follow. And you look around, and you see what's happening, and this is not the case when he introduced the doctor — very nice, everything perfect but that is not representative of what you have in that line of migration.

That could be the great Trojan Horse. It could be people that are going to do great, great destruction. When I look at the migration, I looked at the line, I said it actually on your show recently, where are the women? It looked like very few women. Very few children. Strong, powerful men, young and people are looking at that and they're saying what's going on?

You look at the kind of damage that two people that two people that got married, they were radicalized — they got married, they killed 15 people in actually 15 — going to be probably 16 but you look at that and you take a look — a good strong look and that's what we have. We are nineteen trillion dollars — our country's a mess and we can't let all these people come into our country and break our borders. We can't do it. [applause]

BARTIROMO: Senator Cruz, the New York Times is reporting that you failed to properly disclose a million dollars in loans from Goldman Sachs and CitiBank. During your senate race, your campaign said, "it was inadvertent." A million dollars is inadvertent?

CRUZ: Well Maria, thank you for passing on that hit piece in the front page of the New York Times. You know the nice thing about the mainstream media, they don't hide their views. The New York Times a few weeks back had a columnist who wrote a column saying, "Anybody But Cruz." Had that actually — that same columnist wrote a column comparing me to an evil demonic spirit from the move, "It Follows" that jumps apparently from body to body possessing people.

So you know the New York Times and I don't have exactly have the warmest of relationships. Now in terms of their really stunning hit piece, what they mentioned is when I was running for senate — unlike Hillary Clinton, I don't have masses of money in the bank, hundreds of millions of dollars. When I was running for senate just about every lobbyist, just about all of the establishment opposed me in the senate race in Texas and my opponent in that race was worth over 200 million dollars. He put a 25 million dollar check up from his own pocket to fund that campaign and my wife Heidi and I, we ended up investing everything we owned.

We took a loan against our assets to invest it in that campaign to defend ourselves against those attacks. And the entire New York times attack — is that I disclosed that loan on one filing with the United States Senate, that was a public filing. But it was not on a second filing with FDIC and yes, I made a paperwork error disclosing it on one piece of paper instead of the other. But if that's the best the New York Times has got, they better go back to the well.

BARTIROMO: Thank you.

[commercial break]

CAVUTO: All right. Welcome back to the Republican presidential , right here in North Charleston, South Carolina. Let's get right back to the questions. And I'll start with you, Senator Cruz.

Now you are, of course, a strict constitutionalist — no one would doubt that. And as you know, the U.S. Constitution says only natural-born citizens are eligible for the office of president of the United States. Stop me if you've heard this before. Now, you were born...[laughter]... you were born in Canada to an American mother. So you were and are considered an American citizen. But that fellow next to you, Donald Trump — and others — have said that being born in Canada means you are not natural-born, and that has raised questions about your eligibility.

Do you want to try to close this topic once and for all tonight?

CRUZ: Well, Neil, I'm glad we're focusing on the important topics of the evening. [laughter and applause]

You know, back in September, my friend Donald said that he had had his lawyers look at this from every which way, and there was no issue there. There was nothing to this birther issue. [laughter]

Now, since September, the Constitution hasn't changed. [laughter]

But the poll numbers have. [applause]

And I recognize — I recognize that Donald is dismayed that his poll numbers are falling in Iowa. But the facts and the law here are really quite clear. Under longstanding U.S. law, the child of a U.S. citizen born abroad is a natural-born citizen.

If a soldier has a child abroad, that child is a natural-born citizen. That's why John McCain, even though he was born in Panama, was eligible to run for president.

If an American missionary has a child abroad, that child is a natural-born citizen. That's why George Romney, Mitt's dad, was eligible to run for president, even though he was born in Mexico.

At the end of the day, the legal issue is quite straightforward, but I would note that the birther theories that Donald has been relying on — some of the more extreme ones insist that you must not only be born on U.S. soil, but have two parents born on U.S. soil.

Under that theory, not only would I be disqualified, Marco Rubio would be disqualified, Bobby Jindal would be disqualified and, interestingly enough, Donald J. Trump would be disqualified. [applause]

UNKNOWN: Not me.

CRUZ: Because — because Donald's mother was born in Scotland. She was naturalized. Now, Donald...

TRUMP: But I was born here.

CRUZ: ... on the issue — on the issue of citizenship, Donald...

TRUMP: [inaudible]. Big difference.

CRUZ: ... on the issue of citizenship, Donald, I'm not going to use your mother's birth against you.

TRUMP: OK, good. Because it wouldn't work.

CRUZ: You're an American, as is everybody else on this stage, and I would suggest we focus on who's best prepared to be commander- in-chief, because that's the most important question facing the country. [applause]

CAVUTO: Mr. Trump...[crosstalk]...that you raised it because of his rising poll numbers.

TRUMP: ... first of all, let me just tell you something — and you know, because you just saw the numbers yourself — NBC Wall Street Journal just came out with a poll — headline: Trump way up, Cruz going down. I mean, so don't — so you can't — you can't...[booing]...they don't like the Wall Street Journal. They don't like NBC, but I like the poll. [laughter]

And frankly, it just came out, and in Iowa now, as you know, Ted, in the last three polls, I'm beating you. So — you know, you shouldn't misrepresent how well you're doing with the polls. [applause]

You don't have to say that. In fact, I was all for you until you started doing that, because that's a misrepresentation, number one.

Number two, this isn't me saying it. I don't care. I think I'm going to win fair and square [inaudible] to win this way. Thank you.

Lawrence Tribe and [inaudible] from Harvard — of Harvard, said that there is a serious question as to whether or not Ted can do this. OK? There are other attorneys that feel, and very, very fine constitutional attorneys, that feel that because he was not born on the land, he cannot run for office.

Here's the problem. We're running. We're running. He does great. I win. I choose him as my vice presidential candidate, and the Democrats sue because we can't take him along for the ride. I don't like that. OK? [laughter]

The fact is — and if for some reason he beats the rest of the field, he beats the rest of the field [inaudible]. See, they don't like that. They don't like that. [audience booing]

No, they don't like he beats the rest of the field, because they want me. [laughter]

But — if for some reason, Neil, he beats the rest of the field, I already know the Democrats are going to be bringing a suit. You have a big lawsuit over your head while you're running. And if you become the nominee, who the hell knows if you can even serve in office? So you should go out, get a declaratory judgment, let the courts decide. And you shouldn't have mentioned the polls because I would have been much...[crosstalk]

CAVUTO: Why are you saying this now — right now? Why are you raising this issue now?

TRUMP: Because now he's going a little bit better. No, I didn't care [inaudible]. It's true. No, it's true. Hey look, he never had a chance. Now, he's doing better. He's got probably a four or five percent chance. [laughter]

[crosstalk]

CRUZ: Neil... [crosstalk]

TRUMP: The fact is, there is a big overhang. There's a big question mark on your head. And you can't do that to the party. You really can't. You can't do that to the party. You have to have certainty. Even if it was a one percent chance, and it's far greater than one percent because [inaudible].

I mean, you have great constitutional lawyers that say you can't run. If there was a — and you know I'm not bringing a suit. I promise. But the Democrats are going to bring a lawsuit, and you have to have certainty. You can't have a question. I can agree with you or not, but you can't have a question over your head.

CAVUTO: Senator, do you want to respond?

CRUZ: Well, listen, I've spent my entire life defending the Constitution before the U.S. Supreme Court. And I'll tell you, I'm not going to be taking legal advice from Donald Trump.

TRUMP: You don't have to. Take it from Lawrence Tribe. [applause] [crosstalk]

Take it from your professors...[crosstalk]

CRUZ: The chances of any litigation proceeding and succeeding on this are zero. And Mr. Trump is very focused...

TRUMP: He's wrong. He's wrong.

CRUZ: ... on Larry Tribe. Let me tell you who Larry Tribe is. He's a left-wing judicial activist, Harvard Law professor who was Al Gore's lawyer in Bush versus Gore. He's a major Hillary Clinton supporter. And there's a reason why Hillary's supporters are echoing Donald's attacks on me, because Hillary...

TRUMP: He is not the only one.

CRUZ: ... wants to face Donald Trump in the general election.

TRUMP: There are many lawyers.

CRUZ: And I'll tell you what, Donald, you — you very kindly just a moment ago offered me the V.P. slot. [laughter]

I'll tell you what. If this all works out, I'm happy to consider naming you as V.P. So if you happen to be right, you could get the top job at the end of the day.

TRUMP: No — no...[laughter]... I think if it doesn't... [applause] I like that. I like it. I'd consider it. But I think I'll go back to building buildings if it doesn't work out.

CRUZ: Actually, I'd love to get you to build a wall.

[crosstalk]

TRUMP: I have a feeling it's going to work out, actually.

[crosstalk]

RUBIO: Let me [inaudible]. I was invoked in that question, so let me just say — in that answer — let me say, the real question here, I hate to interrupt this episode of Court TV. [laughter]

But the real — but I think we have to get back to what this election has to be about. OK? Listen, we — this is the greatest country in the history of mankind. But in 2008, we elected a president that didn't want to fix America. He wants to change America. We elected a president that doesn't believe in the Constitution. He undermines it. We elected a president that is weakening America on the global stage. We elected a president that doesn't believe in the free enterprise system.

This election has to be about reversing all of that damage. That's why I'm running for office because when I become president of the United States, on my first day in office we are going to repeal every single one of his unconstitutional executive orders. When I'm president of the United States we are getting rid of Obamacare and we are rebuilding our military. And when I'm president, we're not just going to have a president that gives a State of the Union and says America is the greatest country in the world. When I'm president, we're going to have a president that acts like it.

BARTIROMO: Thank you, senator.

Mr. Trump, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley in her response to the State of the Union address...[applause]...appeared to choose sides within the party, saying Republicans should resist, quote, "the siren call of the angriest voices". She confirmed, she was referring to you among others. Was she out of line? And, how would a President Trump unite the party?

TRUMP: Okay. First of all, Nikki this afternoon said I'm a friend of hers. Actually a close friend. And wherever you are sitting Nikki, I'm a friend. We're friends. That's good. [laughter] But she did say there was anger. And I could say, oh, I'm not angry. I'm very angry because our country is being run horribly and I will gladly accept the mantle of anger. Our military is a disaster. [applause]

Our healthcare is a horror show. Obamacare, we're going to repeal it and replace it. We have no borders. Our vets are being treated horribly. Illegal immigration is beyond belief. Our country is being run by incompetent people. And yes, I am angry. [applause] And I won't be angry when we fix it, but until we fix it, I'm very, very angry. And I say that to Nikki. So when Nikki said that, I wasn't offended. She said the truth.

One of your colleagues interviewed me. And said, well, she said you were angry and I said to myself, huh, she's right. I'm not fighting that. I didn't find it offensive at all. I'm angry because our country is a mess. [applause]

BARTIROMO: But what are you going to do about it?

CAVUTO: Marco Rubio. I'm sorry, it's the time constraints. You and Governor Christie have been exchanging some fairly nasty words of late, and I will allow the governor to respond as well.

The governor went so far to say, you won't be able to slime your way to the White House. He's referring to a series of ads done by a PAC, speaking on your behalf, that say quote,"One high tax, Common Core, liberal, energy-loving, Obamacare, Medicaid-expanding president is enough. You think you went too far on that and do you want to apologize to the governor?

RUBIO: You know, as I said already twice in this , we have a very serious problem in this country. [applause] We have a president of the United States that is undermining this country's security and expanding the role of...

CAVUTO: That is not my question.

RUBIO: Well, I am going to answer your question, Neil. He is — this president is undermining the constitutional basis of this government. This president is undermining our military. He is undermining our standing in the world. I like Chris Christie, but we can not afford to have a president of the United States that supports Common Core. [applause]

We can not afford to have a president of the United States that supports gun control. This president, this president is more interested in funding — less interested in funding the military, than he is in funding planned — he's more interested in funding Planned Parenthood than he is in funding the military.

Chris Christie wrote a check to Planned Parenthood. All I'm saying is our next president has to be someone that undoes the damage Barack Obama has done to this country. It can not be someone that agrees with his agenda.

Because the damage he has done to America is extraordinary. Let me tell you, if we don't get this election right, there may be no turning back for America. We're on the verge of being the first generation of Americans that leave our children worse off than ourselves.

So I just truly, with all my heart belief, I like everybody on the stage. No one is a socialist. No one here is under FBI investigation. So we have a good group of people.

CAVUTO: Is he a liberal?

RUBIO: Our next president...

CAVUTO: Is he a liberal?

RUBIO: Unfortunately, Governor Christie has endorsed many of the ideas that Barack Obama supports, whether it is Common Core or gun control or the appointment of Sonia Sotomayor or the donation he made to Planned Parenthood. Our next president, and our Republican nominee can not be someone who supports those positions.

CAVUTO: Governor? [applause]

CHRISTIE: I stood on the stage and watched Marco in rather indignantly, look at Governor Bush and say, someone told you that because we're running for the same office, that criticizing me will get you to that office.

It appears that the same someone who has been whispering in old Marco's ear too. [laughter]

So the indignation that you carry on, some of the stuff, you have to also own then. So let's set the facts straight. First of all, I didn't support Sonia Sotomayor. Secondly, I never wrote a check to Planned Parenthood.

Third, if you look at my record as governor of New Jersey, I have vetoed a 50-caliber rifle ban. I have vetoed a reduction this clip size. I vetoed a statewide I.D. system for gun owners and I pardoned, six out-of-state folks who came through our state and were arrested for owning a gun legally in another state so they never have to face charges.

And on Common Core, Common Core has been eliminated in New Jersey. So listen, this is the difference between being a governor and a senator. See when you're a senator, what you get to do is just talk and talk and talk. And you talk so much that nobody can ever keep up with what you're saying is accurate or not.

When you're a governor, you're held accountable for everything you do. And the people of New Jersey, I've seen it. [applause]

CHRISTIE: And the last piece is this. I like Marco too, and two years ago, he called me a conservative reformer that New Jersey needed. That was before he was running against me. Now that he is, he's changed his tune.

I'm never going to change my tune. I like Marco Rubio. He's a good guy, a smart guy, and he would be a heck of a lot better president than Hillary Rodham Clinton would ever be. [applause]

BUSH: Neil, my name was mentioned here. Neil, my name was mentioned as well.

Here's the deal, Chris is totally right. He's been a good governor, and he's a heck of a lot better than his predecessor that would have bankrupted New Jersey.

Everybody on this stage is better than Hillary Clinton. And I think the focus ought to be on making sure that we leave this nomination process, as wild and woolly as it's going to be — this is not being bad.

These attack ads are going to be part of life. Everybody just needs to get used to it. Everybody's record's going to be scrutinized, and at the end of the day we need to unite behind the winner so we can defeat Hillary Clinton, because she is a disaster. [applause]

Our country rise up again, but we need to have a compelling conservative agenda that we present to the American people in a way that doesn't disparage people, that unites us around our common purpose.

And so everybody needs to discount some of the things you're going to hear in these ads, and discount the — the back-and-forth here, because every person here is better than Hillary Clinton.

CARSON: Neil, I was mentioned too.

CAVUTO: You were?

CARSON: Yeah, he said everybody. [laughter]

And — and I just want to take this opportunity to say, you know, in the 2012 election, you know, we — and when I say we, Republicans — tore themselves apart.

You know, we have to stop this because, you know, if we manage to damage ourselves, and we lose the next election, and a progressive gets in there and they get two or three Supreme Court picks, this nation is over as we know it. And we got to look at the big picture here.

BARTIROMO: Governor Kasich...[applause]... Governor Kasich, Hillary Clinton is getting some serious competition from Senator Bernie Sanders. He's now at 41 percent in the latest CBS/New York Times poll. Vice President Biden sang his praises, saying Bernie is speaking to a yearning that is deep and real, and he has credibility on it.

So what does it say about our country that a candidate who is a self-avowed socialist and who doesn't think a 90 percent tax rate is too high could be the Democratic nominee?

KASICH: Well, if that's the case, we're going to win every state, if Bernie Sanders is the nominee. That's not even an issue. But look...[applause]...and I know Bernie, and I can promise you he's not going to be president of the United States. So here's this — the situation, I think, Maria.

And this is what we have to — I — I've got to tell you, when wages don't rise — and they haven't for a lot of families for a number of years — it's very, very difficult for them.

Part of the reason why it hasn't risen because sometimes we're not giving people the skills they need. Sometimes it's because the Federal Reserve kept interest rates so low that the wealthy were able to invest in — in strong assets like the stock market when everybody else was left behind.

People are upset about it. I'll tell you what else they're upset about: you're 50 or 51 years old, and some kid walks in and tells you you're out of work, and you don't know where to go and where to turn. Do we have answer for that? We do. There are ways to retrain the 50 and 51-year-olds, because they've got great value.

I'll tell you what else people are concerned about. Their kids come out of college, they have high debt and they can't get a good job. We got to do a lot about the high cost of high — higher education, but we've got to make sure we're training people for jobs that exist, that are good jobs that can pay. [applause]

Let me tell you that, in this country — in this country, people are concerned about their economic future. They're very concerned about it. And they wonder whether somebody is getting something to — keeping them from getting it.

That's not the America that I've ever known. My father used to say, "Johnny, we never — we don't hate the rich. We just want to be the rich." And we just got to make sure that every American has the tools, in K-through-12 and in vocational education, in higher education.

And we got to fight like crazy so people can think the American dream still exists, because it does, with rising wages, with full employment and with everybody in America — and I mean everybody in America — having an opportunity to realize the American dream of having a better life than their mother and their father.

I'm president — look, I've done it once. I've done it once in Washington, with great jobs and lower taxes. The economy was really booming.

And now in Ohio, with the same formula, wages higher than the — than the national average. A growth of 385,000 jobs.

[bell rings]

It's not that hard. Just know where you want to go, stick to your guts. Get it done, because our — our children and grandchildren are counting on us to get it done. And, folks, we will. You count on it.

BARTIROMO: Dr. Carson, one of the other candidates on this stage has brought Bill Clinton's past indiscretions. Is that a legitimate topic in this election? And what do you think of the notion that Hillary Clinton is an enabler of sexual misconduct?

CARSON: Well, there's not question that we should be able to look at past president whether they're married to somebody who's running for president or not in terms of their past behavior and what it means. But you know, here's the real issue, is this America anymore? Do we still have standards? Do we still have values and principles?

You know, you look at what's going on, you see all the divisiveness and the hatred that goes on in our society. You know, we have a war on virtual everything — race wars, gender wars, income wars, religious wars, age wars. Every war you can imaging, we have people at each other's throat and our strength is actually in our unity.

You know, you go to the internet, you start reading an article and you go to the comments section — you cannot go five comments down before people are calling each all manner of names. Where did that spirit come from in America? It did not come from our Judeo-Christian roots, I can tell you that. And wherever it came from we need to start once again recognizing that there is such a thing as right and wrong. And let's not let the secular progressives drive that out of us.

The majority of people in American actually have values and principles and they believe in the very things that made America great. They've been beaten into submission. It's time for us to stand up for what we believe in. [applause]

CAVUTO: Well, we are not done. Coming up, one of the top things people are talking about on Facebook, guns. And you can join us live us on this stage in the conversation during this commercial break right from home. You can go to Facebook.com/[inaudible]. We will be streaming live and talking about how we think the is going so far.

We're back in a moment in Charleston, South Carolina.

[commercial break]

BARTIROMO: Welcome back to the Republican presidential debates, right here in North Charleston. Let's get right back to the questions.

Governor Bush, gun rights, one of the top issues seen on Facebook with close to 3 million people talking about it in the past month. Right here in Charleston, Dylann Roof, who has been accused of killing nine people in a nearby church, reportedly had not passed his background check when he got his gun. What is the harm in tightening standards for not only who buys guns, but those who sell them?

BUSH: First of all, I'd like to recognize Governor Haley for her incredible leadership in the aftermath of the — [applause] — the Emanuel AME church killings. And I also want to recognize the people in that church that showed the grace of God and the grace of forgiveness and the mercy that they showed. [applause] I don't know if any of us could have done what they did, one after another, within 48 hours of that tragedy taking place. Look, here's the deal, in this particular case, the FBI made a mistake. The law itself requires a background check, but that didn't fulfill their part of the bargain within the time that they were supposed to do.

We don't need to add new rules, we need to make sure the FBI does its job. Because that person should not have gotten a gun, should not — would not have passed a background check. The first impulse of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton is to take rights away from law- abiding citizens.

That's what they do, whether it's the San Bernardino attack or if it's these tragedies that take place, I think we need to focus on what the bigger issue is. It isn't law-abiding gun owners.

Look, I have an A plus rating in the NRA and we also have a reduction in gun violence because in Florida, if you commit a crime with a gun, you're going away. You're going away for a long, long while.

And that's what we should focus on is the violence in our communities. Target the efforts for people that are committing crimes with guns, and if you do that, and get it right, you're going to be much better off than creating a political argument where there's a big divide.

The other issue is mental health. That's a serious issue that we could work on. Republicans and Democrats alike believe this. [applause] The president's first impulse is do this by executive order, power he doesn't have. Why not go to Congress and in a bipartisan way, begin to deal with the process of mental health issues so that people that are spiraling out of control because of mental health challenges don't have access to guns. [applause]

BARTIROMO: Thank you, sir.

Mr. Trump, are there any circumstances that you think we should be limiting gun sales of any kind in America?

TRUMP: No. I am a 2nd amendment person. If we had guns in California on the other side where the bullets went in the different direction, you wouldn't have 14 or 15 people dead right now.

If even in Paris, if they had guns on the other side, going in the opposite direction, you wouldn't have 130 people plus dead. So the answer is no and what Jeb said is absolutely correct.

We have a huge mental health problem in this country. We're closing hospitals, we're closing wards, we're closing so many because the states want to save money. We have to get back into looking at what's causing it. The guns don't pull the trigger. It's the people that pull the trigger and we have to find out what is going on. [applause]

We have to protect our 2nd amendment and you cannot do this and certainly what Barack Obama was doing with the executive order. He doesn't want to get people together, the old-fashioned way, where you get Congress. You get the Congress, you get the Senate, you get together, you do legislation. He just writes out an executive order. Not supposed to happen that way. [applause]

BARTIROMO: Thank you sir.

TRUMP: You get the Congress. You get the Senate. You get together. You do legislation. He just writes out an order, executive order. It's not supposed to happen that way. [applause]

BARTIROMO: Thank you, sir. [applause]

CAVUTO: Senator Rubio, you said that President Obama wants to take people's guns away. Yet under his presidency, gun sales have more than doubled. That doesn't sound like a White House unfriendly to gun owners.

RUBIO: That sounds like people are afraid the president's going to take their guns away. [applause]

Look, the Second Amendment is not an option. It is not a suggestion. It is a constitutional right of every American to be able to protect themselves and their families. I am convinced that if this president could confiscate every gun in America, he would. I am convinced that this president, if he could get rid of the Second Amendment, he would. I am convinced because I see how he works with his attorney general, not to defend the Second Amendment, but to figure out ways to undermine it.

I have seen him appoint people to our courts not to defend the Second Amendment, but to figure out ways to undermine it.

Here's my second problem. None of these instances that the president points to as the reason why he's doing these things would have been preventive. You know why? Because criminals don't buy their guns from a gun show. They don't buy their guns from a collector. And they don't buy their guns from a gun store. They get — they steal them. They get them on the black market.

And let me tell you, ISIS and terrorists do not get their guns from a gun show. These...[laughter and applause]... his answer — you name it. If there's an act of violence in America, his immediate answer before he even knows the facts is gun control. Here's a fact. We are in a war against ISIS. They are trying to attack us here in America. They attacked us in Philadelphia last week. They attacked us in San Bernardino two weeks ago. And the last line standing between them and our families might be us and a gun.

When I'm president of the United States, we are defending the Second Amendment, not undermining it the way Barack Obama does. [applause]

CAVUTO: But what fact can you point to, Senator — what fact can you point to that the president would take away everyone's gun? You don't think that's [inaudible]?

RUBIO: About every two weeks, he holds a press conference talking about how he can't wait to restrict people's access to guns. He has never defended...[crosstalk]...I'll give you a fact. Well, let me tell you this. Do you remember when he ran for president of the United States, and he was a candidate, and he went and said, "These Americans with traditional values, they are bitter people, and they cling to their guns and to their religion." That tells you right away where he was headed on all of this.

This president every chance he has ever gotten has tried to undermine the Second Amendment. [applause]

He doesn't meet — here's the difference. When he meets with the attorney general in the White House, it's not "how can we protect the Second Amendment rights of Americans." It's "give me options on how I can make it harder for law-abiding people to buy guns." That will never happen when I am president of the United States. [applause]

CAVUTO: Governor Christie, you, too, have criticized the president's recent executive action on gun control, saying it's unconstitutional, another step to bypass Congress. But hasn't your own position on guns evolved, sir? The New Jersey Star-Ledger reports that you signed several laws to regulate the possession of firearms, and that you argued back in August 2013, and I quote, "These common sense measures will strengthen New Jersey's already tough gun laws."

So isn't that kind of what the president wants to do now?

CHRISTIE: No, absolutely not. The president wants to do things without working with his Congress, without working with the legislature, and without getting the consent of the American people. And the fact is that that's not a democracy. That's a dictatorship. And we need to very, very concerned about that.

See, here's the thing. I don't think the founders put the Second Amendment as number two by accident. I don't think they dropped all the amendments into a hat and picked them out of a hat. I think they made the Second Amendment the second amendment because they thought it was just that important.

The fact is in New Jersey, what we have done is to make it easier now to get a conceal and carry permit. We have made it easier to do that, not harder. And the way we've done it properly through regulatory action, not by signing unconstitutional executive orders. This guy is a petulant child. That's what he is. I mean, you know...[applause]... the fact is, Neil, let's think about — let's think about — and I want to maybe — I hope the president is watching tonight, because here's what I'd like to tell him.

Mr. President, we're not against you. We're against your policies. When you became president, you had a Democratic Congress and a filibuster-proof Democratic Senate. You had only 21 Republican governors in this country. And now after seven years of your policies, we have the biggest majority we've had since the 1920s in the House; a Republican majority in the Senate; and 31 out of 50 Republican governors.

The American people have rejected your agenda and now you're trying to go around it. That's not right. It's not constitutional. And we are going to kick your rear end out of the White House come this fall. [applause]

BARTIROMO: So what is the answer, Senator Cruz, to stop mass shootings and violent crime, up in 30 cities across the country?

CRUZ: The answer is simple. Your prosecute criminals. You target the bad guys. You know, a minute ago, Neil asked: What has President Obama do — done to illustrate that he wants to go after guns?

Well, he appointed Eric Holder as attorney general. Eric Holder said he viewed his mission as brainwashing the American people against guns. He appointed Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, someone who has been a radical against the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.

He launched Fast and Furious, illegally selling guns to Mexican drug lords that were then used to shoot law enforcement officials. And I'll tell you what Hillary Clinton has said: Hillary Clinton says she agrees with the dissenters — the Supreme Court dissenters in the Heller case.

There were four dissenters, and they said that they believe the Second Amendment protects no individual right to keep and bear arms whatsoever, which means, if their view prevailed and the next president's going to get one, two, three, maybe four Supreme Court justices, the court will rule that not a single person in this room has any right under the Second Amendment and the government could confiscate your guns.

And I'll note that California senator — Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein said, if she could say to Mr. America and Mrs. America, "give me your guns, I'm rounding them up," she would.

And let me make a final point on this. Listen, in any Republican primary, everyone is going to say they support the Second Amendment. Unless you are clinically insane...[laughter]...that's what you say in a primary. But the voters are savvier than that. They recognize that people's actions don't always match their words. I've got a proven record fighting to defend the Second Amendment.

There's a reason Gun Owners of America has endorsed me in this race. There's a reason the NRA gave me their Carter Knight Freedom Fund award...[bell rings]...and there's a reason, when Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer came after our right to keep and bear arms, that I led the opposition, along with millions of Americans — we defeated that gun control legislation.

And I would note the other individuals on this stage were nowhere to be found in that fight.

BARTIROMO: Senator...[applause]... let me follow up and switch gears. Senator Cruz, you suggested Mr. Trump, quote, "embodies New York values." Could you explain what you mean by that?

CRUZ: You know, I think most people know exactly what New York values are. [laughter]

BARTIROMO: I am from New York. I don't.

CRUZ: What — what — you're from New York? So you might not. [laughter]

But I promise you, in the state of South Carolina, they do. [applause]

And listen, there are many, many wonderful, wonderful working men and women in the state of New York. But everyone understands that the values in New York City are socially liberal or pro-abortion or pro- gay-marriage, focus around money and the media.

And — and I would note indeed, the reason I said that is I was asked — my friend Donald has taken to it as advance playing Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA", and I was asked what I thought of that.

And I said, "well, if he wanted to play a song, maybe he could play, 'New York, New York'?" And — and — you know, the concept of New York values is not that complicated to figure out.

Not too many years ago, Donald did a long interview with Tim Russert. And in that interview, he explained his views on a whole host of issues that were very, very different from the views he's describing now.

And his explanation — he said, "look, I'm from New York, that's what we believe in New York. Those aren't Iowa values, but this is what we believe in New York." And so that was his explanation.

And — and I guess I can — can frame it another way. Not a lot of conservatives come out of Manhattan. I'm just saying. [laughter]

BARTIROMO: Are you sure about that?

CAVUTO: Maria...

TRUMP: So conservatives actually do come out of Manhattan, including William F. Buckley and others, just so you understand. [applause]

And just so — if I could, because he insulted a lot of people. I've had more calls on that statement that Ted made — New York is a great place. It's got great people, it's got loving people, wonderful people.

When the World Trade Center came down, I saw something that no place on Earth could have handled more beautifully, more humanely than New York. You had two one hundred...[applause] ...you had two 110-story buildings come crashing down. I saw them come down. Thousands of people killed, and the cleanup started the next day, and it was the most horrific cleanup, probably in the history of doing this, and in construction. I was down there, and I've never seen anything like it.

And the people in New York fought and fought and fought, and we saw more death, and even the smell of death — nobody understood it. And it was with us for months, the smell, the air.

And we rebuilt downtown Manhattan, and everybody in the world watched and everybody in the world loved New York and loved New Yorkers. And I have to tell you, that was a very insulting statement that Ted made. [applause]

CAVUTO: Governor bush, for the third time in as many months, the Iranians have provoked us, detaining us, as we've been discussing, with these 10 Navy sailors Tehran had said strayed into their waters. The sailors were released, but only after shown on video apologizing for the incident. This occurring only weeks after Iran fired multiple rockets within 1,500 yards of a U.S. aircraft carrier and then continued to test medium range missiles.

Now you've claimed that such actions indicate Tehran has little to fear from a President Obama. I wonder, sir, what would change if they continued doing this sort of thing under a President Jeb Bush?

BUSH: Well, first of all, under President Jeb Bush, we would restore the strength of the military. Last week, Secretary Carter announced that the Navy's going to be cut again. It's now half the size of what it was prior to Operation Desert Storm.

The deployments are too high for the military personnel. We don't have procurement being done for refreshing the equipment. The B-52 is still operational as the long range bomber; it was inaugurated in the age of Harry Truman. The planes are older than the pilots. We're gutting our military, and so the Iranians and the Chinese and the Russians and many other countries look at the United States not as serious as we once were.

We have to eliminate the sequester, rebuild our military in a way that makes it clear that we're back in the game.

Secondly, as it relates to Iran, we need to confront their ambitions across the board. We should reimpose sanctions, they've already violated sanctions after this agreement was signed by testing medium-range missiles.

Thirdly, we need to move our embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem to send a serious signal that we're back in the game with Israel...[applause]...and sign an agreement that makes sure that the world knows that they will have technological superiority.

We need to get back in the game as it relates to our Arab nations. The rest of the world is moving away from us towards other alliances because we are weak. This president and John Kerry and Hillary Clinton all have made it harder for the next president to act, but he must act to confront the ambitions of Iran. We can get back in the game to restore order and security for our own country. [applause]

CAVUTO: Thank you, Governor. Governor Kasich, while everyone has been focusing on Iran's provocations, I'm wondering what you make of what Saudi Arabia has been doing and its recent moves in the region, including its execution of a well-known Shi'ite cleric and its move to dramatically increase oil production, some say in an effort to drive down oil prices and force a lot of U.S. oil producers out of business.

Sure enough, oil prices have tumbled. One brokerage house is predicting a third or more of American oil producers and those heavily invested in fracking will go bankrupt, and soon Saudi Arabia and OPEC will be back in the driver's seat. U.S. energy player Harold Hamrie similarly told me with friends like these, who needs enemies? Do you agree?

KASICH: Well, let me — let me first of all talk a little bit about my experience. I served on the Defense Committee for 18 years, and by the way, one of the members of that committee was Senator Strom Thurmond from South Carolina. Let em also tell you...[applause]...that after the 9/11 attacks, Secretary Rumsfeld invited me to the Pentagon with a meeting of the former secretaries of Defense. And in that meeting, I suggested we had a problem with technology, and that I wanted to take people from Silicon Valley into the Pentagon to solve our most significant problems. So I not only had the opportunity to go through the Cold War struggles in Central America, and even after 9/11 to be involved.

With Saudi Arabia and oil production, first of all, it's so critical for us to be energy independent, and we're getting there because of fracking and we ought to explore because, see, energy independence gives us leverage and flexibility, and secondly, if you want to bring jobs back to the United States of America in industry, low prices make the difference.

We're seeing it in my state and we'll see it in this country. And that's why we must make sure we continue to frack.

In terms of Saudi Arabia, look, my biggest problem with them is they're funding radical clerics through their madrasses. That is a bad deal and an evil situation, and presidents have looked the other way. And I was going to tell you, whether I'm president or not, we better make it clear to the Saudis that we're going to support you, we're in relation with you just like we were in the first Gulf War, but you've got to knock off the funding and teaching of radical clerics who are the very people who try to destroy us and will turn around and destroy them. [applause]

So look, in foreign policy — in foreign policy, it's strength, but you've got to be cool. You've got to have a clear vision of where you want to go. And I'm going to tell you, that it — I'm going to suggest to you here tonight, that you can't do on the job training.

I've seen so much of it – a Soviet Union, the coming down of a wall, the issues that we saw around the world in Central America, the potential spread of communism, and 9/11 and Gulf War. You see what the Saudi's — deliver them a strong message but at the end of the day we have to keep our cool because most of the time they're going right with us. And they must be part of our coalition to destroy ISIS and I believe we can get that done.

Thank you.

CAVUTO: Thank you John.

BARTIROMO: There's much more ahead including the fight against ISIS. More from Charleston, South Carolina when we come right back.

[commercial break]

BARTIROMO: We welcome back to the Republican Presidential , right back to the questions.

Candidates, the man who made fighting ISIS the cornerstone of his campaign, South Carolina Senator, Lindsey Graham is out the race but he joins us tonight in the audience. [applause]

He says, "the air-strike now in their 16th month have been ineffective." Dr. Carson ...

CARSON: Wait a minute, who in their 16th month?

BARTIROMO: The air-strikes.

CARSON: OK.

BARTIROMO: Now in their 16th month are ineffective. Dr. Carson, do you think Senator Graham is right in wanting to send 20,000 troops — ground troops to Iraq and Syria to take out ISIS?

CARSON: Well, there's no question that ISIS is a very serious problem, and I don't believe that this administration recognizes how serious it is.

I think we need to do a lot more than we're doing. Recognize that the caliphate is what gives them the legitimacy to go out on a jihadist mission, so we need to take that away from them.

The way to take that away from them is to talk to our military officials and ask them, "what do you need in order to accomplish this goal?"

Our decision is, then, do we give them what we need. I say, yes, not only do we give them what they need, but we don't tie their hands behind their backs so that they can go ahead and get the job done.

In addition to that...[applause]...in addition to that, we go ahead and we take the oil from them, their source of revenue. You know, some of these — these engagement rules that the administration has — "we're not going to bomb a tanker that's coming out of there because there might be a person in it" — give me a break.

Just tell them that, you put people in there, we're going to bomb them. So don't put people in there if you don't want them bombed. You know, that's so simple. [applause]

And then we need to shut down — we need to shut down their mechanisms of funding and attack their command-and-control centers. Why should we let their people be sitting there smoking their cigars, sitting in their comfortable chairs in Raqqa?

We know to go ahead and shut off the supply routes, and send in our special ops at 2:00 a.m. and attack them everywhere they go. They should be running all the time, then they won't have time to plan attacks against us. [applause]

BARTIROMO: Thank you, sir. Senator Graham has also said that the U.S. will find Arab support for its coalition if it removes Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. And I quote, "The now king of Saudi Arabia told us, 'you can have our army, you just got to deal with Assad.'

"The emir of Qatar said, 'I'll pay for the operation, but they are not going to fight ISIS and let Damascus fall into the hands of the Iranians. Assad has to go.'"

Governor Christie, how important is it to remove Assad from power and how would you do it?

CHRISTIE: Maria, you look at what this president and his secretary of state, Secretary of State Clinton, has done to get us in this spot. You think about it — this is the president who said, along with his secretary of state — drew a red line in Syria, said, if Assad uses chemical weapons against his people, that we're going to attack.

He used chemical weapons, he's killed, now, over a quarter of a million of his own people, and this president has done nothing. In fact, he's done worse than nothing.

This president — and, by the way, Secretary Clinton, who called Assad a reformer — she called Assad a reformer. Now, the fact is, what this president has done is invited Russia to play an even bigger role, bring in Vladimir Putin to negotiate getting those chemical weapons back from Assad, yet what do we have today?

We have the Russians and the Iranians working together, not to fight ISIS, but to prop up Assad. The fact of the matter is we're not going to have peace — we are not going to have peace in Syria. We're not going to be able to rebuild it unless we put a no-fly zone there, make it safe for those folks so we don't have to be talking about Syrian refugees anymore.

The Syrians should stay in Syria. They shouldn't be going to Europe. And here's the last piece...[applause]...you're not going to have peace in Syria with Assad in charge. You're simply not. And so Senator Graham is right about this.

And if we want to try to rebuild the coalition, as Governor Kasich was saying before, then what we better do is to get to the Arab countries that believe that ISIS is a threat, not only to them, but to us and to world peace, and bring them together.

And believe me, Assad is not worth it. And if you're going to leave this to Hillary Clinton, the person who gave us this foreign policy, the architect of it, and you're going to give her another four years, that's why I'm speaking out as strongly as I am about that.

Hillary Clinton cannot be president. It will lead to even greater war in this world. And remember this, after Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have had nearly 8 years, we have fewer democracies in the world than we had when they started.

That makes the world less peaceful, less safe. In my administration, we will help to make sure we bring people together in the Middle East, and we will fight ISIS and defeat them.

BARTIROMO: Thank you, sir. [applause]

Mr. Trump — Mr. Trump, your comments about banning Muslims from entering the country created a firestorm. According to Facebook, it was the most-talked-about moment online of your entire campaign, with more than 10 million people talking about the issue.

Is there anything you've heard that makes you want to rethink this position?

TRUMP: No. [laughter] No. [applause]

Look, we have to stop with political correctness. We have to get down to creating a country that's not going to have the kind of problems that we've had with people flying planes into the World Trade Centers, with the — with the shootings in California, with all the problems all over the world.

I just left Indonesia — bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb.

We have to find out what's going on. I said temporarily. I didn't say permanently. I said temporarily. And I have many great Muslim friends. And some of them, I will say, not all, have called me and said, "Donald, thank you very much; you're exposing an unbelievable problem and we have to get to the bottom of it."

And unlike President Obama, where he refuses even to use the term of what's going on, he can't use the term for whatever reason. And if you can't use the term, you're never going to solve the problem. My Muslim friends, some, said, "thank you very much; we'll get to the bottom of it."

But we have a serious problem. And we can't be the stupid country any more. We're laughed at all over the world. [applause]

BUSH: Donald, Donald — can I — I hope you reconsider this, because this policy is a policy that makes it impossible to build the coalition necessary to take out ISIS. The Kurds are our strongest allies. They're Muslim. You're not going to even allow them to come to our country?

The other Arab countries have a role to play in this. We cannot be the world's policeman. We can't do this unilaterally. We have to do this in unison with the Arab world. And sending that signal makes it impossible for us to be serious about taking out ISIS and restoring democracy in Syria. [applause]

So I hope you'll reconsider. I hope you'll reconsider. The better way of dealing with this — the better way of dealing with this is recognizing that there are people in, you know, the — Islamic terrorists inside, embedded in refugee populations.

What we ought to do is tighten up our efforts to deal with the entry visa program so that a citizen from Europe, it's harder if they've been traveling to Syria or traveling to these other places where there is Islamic terrorism, make it harder — make the screening take place.

We don't have to have refugees come to our country, but all Muslims, seriously? What kind of signal does that send to the rest of the world that the United States is a serious player in creating peace and security?

CAVUTO: But you said — you said that he made those comments and they represented him being unhinged after he made them.

BUSH: Yeah, they are unhinged.

CAVUTO: Well — well, after he made them...[applause]...his poll numbers went up eight points in South Carolina. Now — now, wait...

TRUMP: Eleven points, to be exact.

CAVUTO: Are you — are you saying — are you saying that all those people who agree with Mr. Trump are unhinged?

BUSH: No, not at all, absolutely not. I can see why people are angry and scared, because this president has created a condition where our national security has weakened dramatically. I totally get that. But we're running for the presidency of the United States here. This isn't — this isn't, you know, a different kind of job. You have to lead. You cannot make rash statements and expect the rest of the world to respond as though, well, it's just politics.

Every time we send signals like this, we send a signal of weakness, not strength. And so it was [inaudible] his statement, which is why I'm asking him to consider changing his views. [applause]

TRUMP: I want security for this country. OK? [applause]

I want security. I'm tired of seeing what's going on, between the border where the people flow over; people come in; they live; they shoot. I want security for this country. We have a serious problem with, as you know, with radical Islam. We have a tremendous problem. It's not only a problem here. It's a problem all over the world.

I want to find out why those two young people — those two horrible young people in California when they shot the 14 people, killed them — people they knew, people that held the wedding reception for them. I want to find out — many people saw pipe bombs and all sorts of things all over their apartment. Why weren't they vigilant? Why didn't they call? Why didn't they call the police?

And by the way, the police are the most mistreated people in this country. I will tell you that. [applause]

The most mistreated people. In fact, we need to — wait a minute — we need vigilance. We have to find out — many people knew about what was going on. Why didn't they turn those two people in so that you wouldn't have had all the death?

There's something going on and it's bad. And I'm saying we have to get to the bottom of it. That's all I'm saying. We need security.

BARTIROMO: We — we want to hear from all of you on this. According to Pew Research, the U.S. admits more than 100,000 Muslim immigrants every single year on a permanent lifetime basis. I want to ask the rest of you to comment on this. Do you agree that we should pause Muslim immigration until we get a better handle on our homeland security situation, as Mr. Trump has said?

Beginning with you, Governor Kasich.

KASICH: I — I've been for pausing on admitting the Syrian refugees. And the reasons why I've done is I don't believe we have a good process of being able to vet them. But you know, we don't want to put everybody in the same category.

And I'll go back to something that had been mentioned just a few minutes ago. If we're going to have a coalition, we're going to have to have a coalition not just of people in the western part of the world, our European allies, but we need the Saudis, we need the Egyptians, we need the Jordanians, we need the Gulf states. We need Jordan.

We need all of them to be part of exactly what the first George Bush put together in the first Gulf War.

[bell rings]

It was a coalition made up of Arabs and Americans and westerners and we're going to need it again. And if we try to put everybody in the same — call everybody the same thing, we can't do it. And that's just not acceptable.

But I think a pause on Syrian refugees has been exactly right for all the governors that have called for it, and also, of course, for me as the governor of Ohio.

BARTIROMO: Thank you, sir, we want to hear from the rest of you,

Governor Christie, your take.

CHRISTIE: Now Maria, listen. I said right from the beginning that we should take no Syrian refugees of any kind. And the reason I said that is because the FBI director told the American people, told Congress, that he could not guarantee he could vet them and it would be safe. That's the end of the conversation.

I can tell you, after spending seven years as a former federal prosecutor, right after 9/11, dealing with this issue. Here's the way you need to deal with it. You can't just ban all Muslims. You have to ban radical Islamic jihadists. You have to ban the people who are trying to hurt us.

The only way to figure that out is to go back to getting the intelligence community the funding and the tools that it needs to be able to keep America safe.

[bell rings]

And this summer, we didn't do that. We took it away from the NSA, it was a bad decision by the president. Bad by those in the Senate who voted for it and if I'm president, we'll make our intelligence community strong, and won't have to keep everybody out, we're just going to keep the bad folk out and make sure they don't harm us.

BARTIROMO: Senator Rubio, where do you stand?

RUBIO: Well, first of all, let's understand why we are even having this and why Donald tapped in to some of that anger that's out there about this whole issue. Because this president has consistently underestimated the threat of ISIS.

If you listen to the State of the Union the other night, he described them as a bunch of guys with long beards on the back of a pickup truck. They are much more than that. This is a group of people that enslaves women and sells them, sells them as brides.

This is a group of people that burns people in cages, that is conducting genocide against Christians and Yazidis and others in the region. This is not some small scale group.

They are radicalizing people in the United States, they are conducting attacks around the world. So you know what needs to happen, it's a very simple equation, and it's going to happen when I'm president. If we do not know who you are, and we do not know why you are coming when I am president, you are not getting into the United States of America. [applause]

BARTIROMO: Senator Cruz, where do you stand? Senator Cruz?

CRUZ: You know I understand why Donald made the comments he did and I understand why Americans are feeling frustrated and scared and angry when we have a president who refuses to acknowledge the threat we face and even worse, who acts as an apologist for radical Islamic terrorism.

I think what we need is a commander in chief who is focused like a laser on keeping this country safe and on defeating radical Islamic terrorism. What should we do? First, we should pass the Expatriate Terrorist Act, legislation I've introduced that says if an American goes and joins ISIS and wages jihad against America, that you forfeit your citizenship and you can not come in on a passport. [applause]

And secondly, we should pass the legislation that I've introduced...[bell rings]...that suspends all refugees from nations that ISIS or Al Qaida controls significant territory. Just last week, we see saw two Iraqi refugees vetted using the same process the president says will work, that were arrested for being alleged ISIS terrorists.

If I'm elected president, we will not let in refugees from countries controlled by ISIS or Al Qaida. When it comes to ISIS, we will not weaken them, we will not degrade them, we will utterly and completely destroy ISIS [applause].

BARTIROMO: Dr. Carson, where do you stand? Do you agree with Mr. Trump?

CARSON: Well, first of all, recognize it is a substantial problem. But like all of our problems, there isn't a single one that can't be solved with common sense if you remove the ego and the politics. And clearly, what we need to do is get a group of experts together, including people from other countries, some of our friends from Israel, who have had experience screening these people and come up with new guidelines for immigration, and for visas, for people who are coming into this country.

That is the thing that obviously makes sense, we can do that. And as far as the Syrians are concerned, Al-Hasakah province, perfect place. They have infrastructure. All we need to do is protect them, they will be in their own country.

And that is what they told me when I was in Jordan in November. Let's listen to them and let's not listen to our politicians.

BARTIROMO: So, to be clear, the both of you do not agree with Mr. Trump?

BUSH: So, are we going to ban Muslims from India, from Indonesia, from countries that are strong allies — that we need to build better relationships with? Of course not. What we need to do is destroy ISIS.

I laid out a plan at the Citadel to do just that and it starts with creating a "No Fly Zone" and "Safe Zones" to make sure refugees are there. We need to lead a force, a Sunni led force inside of Syria. We need to embed with — with the Iraqi military. We need to arm the Kurds the directly. We need to re-establish the relationships with the Sunnis.

We need the lawyers off the back of the war fighters. That's how you solve the problem. You don't solve it by big talk where you're banning all Muslims and making it harder for us to build the kind of coalition for us to be successful.

BARTIROMO: Thank you governor.

CAVUTO: Mr. Trump, sometimes maybe in the heat of the campaign, you say things and you have to dial them back. Last week, the New York Times editorial board quoted as saying that you would oppose, "up to 45 percent tariff on Chinese goods."

TRUMP: That's wrong. They were wrong. It's the New York Times, they are always wrong.

CAVUTO: Well...

TRUMP: They were wrong.

CAVUTO: You never said because they provided that...

TRUMP: No, I said, " I would use — " they were asking me what to do about North Korea. China, they don't like to tell us but they have total control — just about, of North Korea. They can solve the problem of North Korea if they wanted to but they taunt us.

They say, " well, we don't really have control." Without China, North Korea doesn't even eat. China is ripping us on trade. They're devaluing their currency and they're killing our companies. Thousands of thousands — you look at the number of companies and the number in terms of manufacturing of plans that we've lost — 50,000 because of China.

[crosstalk]

CAVUTO: So they've never said to put a tariff on their...

TRUMP: We've lost anywhere between four and seven million jobs because of China. What I said then was, "we have very unfair trade with China. We're going to have a trade deficit of 505 billion dollars this year with China." A lot of that is because they devalue their currency.

What I said to the New York Times, is that, "we have great power, economic power over China and if we wanted to use that and the amount — where the 45 percent comes in, that would be the amount they saw their devaluations that we should get." That we should get.

What I'm saying is this, I'm saying that we do it but if they don't start treating us fairly and stop devaluing and let their currency rise so that our companies can compete and we don't lose all of these millions of jobs that we're losing, I would certainly start taxing goods that come in from China. Who the hell has to lose 505 billion dollars a year?

CAVUTO: I'm sorry, you lost me.

TRUMP: It's not that complicated actually.

CAVUTO: Then I apologize. Then I want to understand, if you don't want a 45 percent tariff, say that wasn't the figure, would you be open — are you open to slapping a higher tariff on Chinese goods of any sort to go back at them?

TRUMP: OK, just so you understand — I know so much about trading about with China. Carl Icahn today as you know endorsed. Many businessmen want to endorse me.

CAVUTO: I know...

TRUMP: Carl said, "no, no — " but he's somebody — these are the kind of people that we should use to negotiate and not the China people that we have who are political hacks who don't know what they're doing and we have problems like this. If these are the kinds of people — we should use our best and our finest.

Now, on that tariff — here's what I'm saying, China — they send their goods and we don't tax it — they do whatever they want to do. They do whatever what they do, OK. When we do business with China, they tax us. You don't know it, they tax us.

I have many friends that deal with China. They can't — when they order the product and when they finally get the product it is taxed. If you looking at what happened with Boeing and if you look at what happened with so many companies that deal — so we don't have an equal playing field. I'm saying, absolutely, we don't have to continue to lose 505 billion dollars as a trade deficit for the privilege of dealing with China.

I'm a free trader. I believe in it but we have to be smart and we have to use smart people to negotiate. I have the largest bank in the world as a tenant of mine. I sell tens' of millions of [inaudible].

I love China. I love the Chinese people but they laugh themselves, they can't believe how stupid the American leadership is.

CAVUTO: So you're open to a tariff?

TRUMP: I'm totally open to a tariff. If they don't treat us fairly, hey, their whole trade is tariffed. You can't deal in China without tariffs. They do it to us, we don't it. It's not fair trade.

KASICH: Neil, Neil — can I say one thing about this. I'm a free trader. I support NAFTA. I believe in the PTT because it's important those countries in Asia are interfacing against China. And we do need China — Donald's right about North Korea.

I mean the fact is, is that they need to put the pressure on and frankly we need to intercepts ships coming out of North Korea so they don't proliferate all these dangerous materials. But what he's touching — talking about, I think has got merit. And I'll allow putting that tariff or whatever he's saying here...

TRUMP: I'm happy to have him tonight...[laughter]

KASICH: For too long — no, for too long, what happens is somebody dumps their product in our country and take our people's jobs, and then we go to an international court and it takes them like a year or two to figure out whether they were cheating us. And guess what? The worker's out of a job.

So when they — be found against that country that's selling products in here lower than the cost of what it takes to produce them, then what do we tell the worker? Oh, well, you know, it just didn't work out for you.

I think we should be for free trade but I think fair trade. And when countries violate trade agreements or dump product in this country, we need — we need to stand up against those countries that do that without making them into an enemy.

And I want to just suggest to you. How do I know this? Because so many people in my family worked in steel mills, and they didn't work with a white collar, they worked in a blue collar. And the fact is those jobs are critical, they're hard working members of the middle class and they need to be paid attention to because they're Americans and they carry the load. So let's demand open trade but fair trade in this country. That's what I think we need to do. [applause]

CAVUTO: All right.

RUBIO: But on this point, if I may add something on this point. We are all frustrated with what China is doing. I think we need to be very careful with tariffs, and here's why.

China doesn't pay the tariff, the buyer pays the tariff. If you send a tie or a shirt made in China into the United States and an American goes to buy it at the store and there's a tariff on it, it gets passed on in the price to price to the consumer.

So I think the better approach, the best thing we can do to protect ourselves against China economically is to make our economy stronger, which means reversing course from all the damage Barack Obama is doing to this economy.

It begins with tax reform. Let's not have the most expensive business tax rate in the world. Let's allow companies to immediately expense. [applause]

It continues with regulatory reform. Regulations in this country are out of control, especially the Employment Prevention Agency, the EPA, and all of the rules they continue to impose on our economy and hurting us.

How about Obamacare, a certified job killer? It needs to be repealed and replaced. And we need to bring our debt under control, make our economy stronger. That is the way to deal with China at the end of the day.

TRUMP: Neil, the problem...

BARTIROMO: We're getting...

TRUMP: ... with what Marco is saying is that it takes too long, they're sucking us dry and it takes too long. It would just — you absolutely have to get involved with China, they are taking so much of what we have in terms of jobs in terms of money. We just can't do it any longer.

CAVUTO: He is right. If you put a tariff on a good, it's Americans who pay.

BUSH: Absolutely.

TRUMP: You looking at me?

BUSH: Yeah.

BARTIROMO: Prices go higher for...

TRUMP: Can I tell you what? It will never happen because they'll let their currency go up. They're never going to let it happen.

Japan, the same thing. They are devaluing — it's so impossible for — you look at Caterpillar Tractor and what's happening with Caterpillar and Kamatsu. Kamatsu is a tractor company in Japan. Friends of mine are ordering Kamatsu tractors now because they've de-valued the yen to such an extent that you can't buy a Caterpillar tractor. And we're letting them get away with it and we can't let them get away with it.

And that's why we have to use Carl and we have to use our great businesspeople and not political hacks to negotiate with these guys. [applause]

BUSH: Here's — apart from the — apart from the higher prices on consumers and people are living paycheck to paycheck, apart from that, there will be retaliation.

BARTIROMO: Yeah.

BUSH: So they soybean sales from Iowa, entire soybean production goes — the equivalent of it goes to China. Or how about Boeing right here within a mile? Do you think that the Chinese, if they had a 45 percent tariff imposed on all their imports wouldn't retaliate and start buying Airbus? Of course, they would. This would be devastating for the economy. We need someone with a steady hand being president of the United States.

BARTIROMO: Real quick, Senator — go ahead, Senator Cruz. [applause]

And then we have to get to tax reform.

TRUMP: And we don't need a weak person being president of the United State, OK? Because that's what we'd get if it were Jeb — I tell you what, we don't need that.

AUDIENCE: Boo.

TRUMP: We don't need that. That's essentially what we have now, and we don't need that. And that's why we're in the trouble that we're in now. And by the way, Jeb you mentioned Boeing, take a look. They order planes, they make Boeing build their plant in China. They don't want them made here. They want those planes made in China.

BUSH: They're a mile away from here.

TRUMP: That's not the way the game is supposed to be played.

BARTIROMO: Thank you, Governor Bush. Thank you, Mr. Trump. Very briefly.

BUSH: My name was mentioned. My name was mentioned here. The simple fact is that the plane that's being build here is being sold to China. You can — if you — you flew in with your 767, didn't you? Right there, right next to the plant.

TRUMP: No, the new planes. I'm not talking about now, I'm talking about in the future they're building massive plants in China because China does not want Boeing building their planes here, they want them built in China, because China happens to be smart the way they do it, not the way we do it.

BARTIROMO: Thank you, Mr. Trump.

BUSH: When you head back to airport tonight, go check and see what the...

BARTIROMO: Thank you, Mr. Trmup. Thank you, Governor.

TRUMP: I'll check for you.

BUSH: Check it out. [laughter]

BARTIROMO: Senator briefly.

CRUZ: Thanks for coming back to me, Maria. Both Donald and Jeb have good points, and there is a middle ground. Donald is right that China is running over President Obama like he is a child, President Obama is not protecting American workers and we are getting hammered.

You know, I sat down with the senior leadership of John Deere. They discussed how — how hard it is to sell tractors in China, because all the regulatory barriers. They're protectionist.

But Jeb is also right that, if we just impose a tariff, they'll put reciprocal tariffs, which will hurt Iowa farmers and South Carolina producers and 20 percent of the American jobs that depend on exports.

So the way you do it is you pass a tax plan like the tax plan I've introduced: a simple flat tax, 10 percent for individuals, and a 16 percent business flat tax, you abolish the IRS...[applause]...and here's the critical point, Maria — the business flat tax enables us to abolish the corporate income tax, the death tax, the Obamacare taxes, the payroll taxes, and they're border-adjustable, so every export pays no taxes whatsoever.

It's tax-free — a huge advantage for our farmers and ranchers and manufacturers — and every import pays the 16 percent business flat tax. It's like a tariff, but here's the difference: if we impose a tariff, China responds.

The business flat tax, they already impose their taxes on us, so there's no reciprocal...[bell rings]...tariffs that come against us. It puts us on a level, even playing field, which brings jobs here at home...

UNKNOWN: Maria...

CRUZ: ... and as president, I'm going to fight for the working men and women.

[crosstalk]

BARTIROMO: We've got to get to tax reform, gentlemen. We've got to get to tax reform, and we've got to get to the...

UNKNOWN: Yeah, but I want to talk about taxes.

BARTIROMO: ... we've got to get to the national debt as well. Coming up next, the growing national debt, the war on crime, tax reform. More from North Charleston, South Carolina, when we come right back.

[commercial break]

BARTIROMO: Welcome back to the Republican presidential here in North Charleston. Right back to the questions. [applause]

Governor Christie, we have spoken much about cutting spending, given the $19 trillion debt. But according to one report, America needs $3.6 trillion in infrastructure spending by 2020.

Here in South Carolina, 11 percent of bridges are considered structurally deficient, costing drivers a billion dollars a year in auto repairs. What is your plan to fix the ailing roads and bridges without breaking the bank?

CHRISTIE: Well, I'm glad you asked that, Maria. Here's — here's our plan. We've all been talking about tax reforms tonight, and paying for infrastructure is caught right up in tax reform.

If you reform the corporate tax system in this country, which, as was mentioned before, is the highest rate in the world — and we double tax, as you know.

And what that's led to over $2 trillion of American companies' monies that are being kept offshore, because they don't want to pay the second tax. And who can blame them? They pay tax once overseas. They don't want to pay 35 percent tax on the way back.

So beside reforming that tax code, bringing it down to 25 percent and eliminating those special-interest loopholes that the lobbyists and the lawyers and the accountants have given — bring that rate down to 25 percent, but also, a one-time repatriation of that money.

Bring the money — the $2 trillion — back to the United States. We'll tax it, that one time, at 8.75 percent, because 35 percent of zero is zero, but 8.75 percent of $2 trillion is a lot of money. And I would then dedicate that money to rebuilding infrastructure here in this country.

It would not necessitate us raising any taxes. It would bring the money back into the United States to help build jobs by American companies and get our economy moving again, and growing as a higher rate, and it would rebuild those roads and bridges and tunnels that you were talking about. And — and — and the last piece of this, Maria, is this. You know, the fact is that this president has penalized corporations in America. He's penalized — and doesn't understand. In fact, what that hurts is hurt hardworking taxpayers.

You've seen middle-class wages go backwards $3,700 during the Obama administration. That's wrong for hardworking taxpayers in this country. We'd rebuild infrastructure that would also create jobs in this country, and we'd work with the states to do it the right way, to do it more efficiently and more effectively.

And remember this — I'm credible on this for this reason: Americans for Tax Reform says that I've vetoed more tax increases than any governor in American history. We don't need to raise taxes to get this done.

We need to make the government run smarter and better, and reform this corporate tax system, bring that money back to the United States to build jobs and rebuild our infrastructure, and we need to use it also to protect our grid from terrorists.

All of those things are important, and all those things would happen in a Christie administration.

BARTIROMO: Thank you, sir. Dr. Carson...[applause]...it is true U.S. companies have $2 trillion in cash sitting overseas right now. That could be used for investment and jobs in America.

Also, several companies right now are pursuing mergers to move their corporate headquarters abroad, and take advantage of much lower taxes. What will you do to stop the flow of companies building cash away from America, and those leaving America altogether?

CARSON: Well, I would suggest a fair tax system, and that's what we have proposed. A flat tax for everybody — no exemptions, no deductions, no shelters, because some people have a better capability of taking advantage of those than others.

You know, and then the other thing we have to do is stop spending so much money. You know, I — my — my mother taught me this. You know, she only had a third-grade education, but — you know, she knew how to stretch a dollar.

I mean, she would drive a car until it wouldn't make a sound, and then gather up all her coins and buy a new car. In fact, if my mother were secretary of treasury, we would not be in a deficit situation. But...[laughter]... you know, the — the — the fact of the matter is — you know, if we fix the taxation system, make it absolutely fair, and get rid of the incredible regulations — because every regulation is a tax, it's a — on goods and services. And it's the most regressive tax there is.

You know, when you go into the store and buy a box of laundry detergent, and the price has up — you know, 50 cents because of regulations, a poor person notices that. A rich person does not. Middle class may notice it when they get to the cash register.

And everything is costing more money, and we are killing our — our — our people like this. And Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton will say it's those evil rich people.

It's not the evil rich people. It's the evil government that is — that is putting all these regulations on us so that we can't survive. [applause]

BARTIROMO: Thank you, sir.

Senator Rubio...

TRUMP: Maria — Maria, what you were talking about just now is called corporate inversion. It's one of the biggest problems our country has. Right now, corporations, by the thousands, are thinking of leaving our country with the jobs — leave them behind.

They're leaving because of taxes, but they are also leaving because they can't get their money back and everybody agrees, Democrats and Republicans, that is should come back in. But they can't get along. They can't even make a deal.

Here is the case, they both agree, they can't make a deal. We have to do something. Corporate inversion is one of the biggest problems we have. So many companies are going to leave our country.

BARTIROMO: Which is why we raised it.

Senator Rubio?

Thank you, Mr. Trump.

TRUMP: Thank you.

BARTIROMO: One of the biggest fiscal challenges is our entitlement programs, particularly Social Security and Medicare. What policies will you put forward to make sure these programs are more financially secure?

RUBIO: Well, first let me address the tax issue because it's related to the entitlement issue and I want to thank you for holding a substantive debates where we can have debates about these key issues on taxes. [applause]

Here is the one thing I'm not going to do. I'm not going to have something that Ted described in his tax plan. It's called the value added tax. And it's a tax you find in many companies in Europe.

Where basically, businesses now will have to pay a tax, both on the money they make, but they also have to pay taxes on the money that they pay their employees.

And that's why they have it in Europe, because it is a way to blindfolded the people, that's what Ronald Reagan said. Ronald Regan opposed the value tax because he said it was a way to blindfold the people, so the true cost of government was not there there for them.

Now, you can support one now that's very low. But what is to prevent a future liberal president or a liberal Congress from coming back and not just raising the income tax, but also raising that VAT tax, and that vat tax is really bad for seniors. Because seniors, if they are retired, are no longer earning an income from a job. And therefore, they don't get the income tax break, but their prices are going to be higher, because the vat tax is embedded in both the prices that business that are charging and in the wages they pay their employees.

When I am president of the United States, I'm going to side with Ronald Regan on this and not Nancy Pelosi and we are not having a vat tax. [applause]

BARTIROMO: Thank you senator.

CRUZ: Maria, I assume that I can respond to that.

BARTIROMO: Senator Cruz, yes. You were meant to. Yes, of course.

CRUZ: Well, Marco has been floating this attack for a few weeks now, but the problem is, the business flat tax in my proposal is not a vat. A vat is imposed as a sales tax when you buy a good.

This is a business flat tax. It is imposed on business and a critical piece that Marco seems to be missing is that this 16 percent business flat tax enables us to eliminate the corporate income tax. It goes away. It enables us to eliminate the death tax.

If you're a farmer, if you're a rancher, if you are small business owner, the death tax is gone. We eliminate the payroll tax, we eliminate the Obamacare taxes. And listen, there is a real difference between Marco's tax plan and mine.

Mine gives every American a simple, flat tax of 10 percent. Marco's top tax rate is 35 percent. My tax plan enables you to fill out your taxes on a postcard so we can abolish the IRS. Marco leaves the IRS code in with all of the complexity. We need to break the Washington cartel, and the only way to do it is to end all the subsidies and all...[bell rings]...the mandates and have a simple flat tax. The final observation, invoked Ronald Reagan. I would note that Art Laffer, Ronald Reagan's chief economic adviser, has written publicly, that my simple flat tax is the best tax plan of any of the individuals on this stage cause it produces economic growth, it raises wages and it helps everyone from the very poorest to the very richest.

BARTIROMO: Thank you senator. [applause]

RUBIO: But that's not an accurate description of the plan. Because, first of all, you may rename the IRS but you are not going to abolishes the IRS, because there has to be some agency that's going to collect your vat tax. Someone's going to be collecting this tax.

In fact, Ronald Reagan's treasury, when Ronald Reagan's treasury looked at the vat tax, you know what they found? That they were going to have to hire 20,000 new IRS agencies to collect it.

The second point, it does not eliminate the corporate tax or the payroll tax. Businesses will now have to pay 16 percent on the money they make. They will also have to pay 16 percent on the money they pay their employees.

So there are people watching tonight in business. If you are now hit on a 60 percent tax on both your income and on the wages you pay your employees, where are you going to get that money from? You're going to get it by paying your employees less and charging your customers more, that is a tax, the difference is, you don't see it on the bill.

And that's why Ronald Reagan said that it was a blindfold. You blindfold the American people so that they cannot see the true cost of government. Now 16 percent is what the rate Ted wants it at. But what happens if, God forbid, the next Barack Obama takes over, and the next Nancy Pelosi, and the next Harry Reid...[bell rings]...and they decide, we're going to raise it to 30 percent, plus we're going to raise the income tax to 30 percent. Now, you've got Europe.

[crosstalk]

BARTIROMO: Thank you senator. I have to get to a question for Mr. Trump.

CRUZ: Maria...

BARTIROMO: Yes.

CRUZ: Maria, I'd just like to say...[crosstalk]

CHRISTIE: Maria, I'd like to interrupt this on the floor of the Senate to actually answer the question you asked, which was on entitlements. Do you remember that, everybody? This was a question on entitlements.

And the reason — and the reason...[crosstalk]...no, you already had your chance, Marco, and you blew it. Here's the thing. [crosstalk] The fact is, the reason why...

RUBIO: If you'll answer the [inaudible] core question.

CHRISTIE: ... the fact is — the fact is the reason why that no one wants to answer entitlements up here is because it's hard. It's a hard problem. And I'm the only one up on this stage who back in April put forward a detailed entitlement reform plan that will save over $1 trillion, save Social Security, save Medicare, and avoid this — avoid what Hillary Rodham Clinton will do to you.

Because what she will do is come in and she will raise Social Security taxes. Bernie Sanders has already said it. And she is just one or two more poll drops down from even moving further left than she's moved already to get to the left of Bernie on this.

We have seniors out there who are scared to death because this Congress — this one that we have right now, just stole $150 billion from the Social Security retirement fund to give it to the Social Security disability fund. A Republican Congress did that.

And the fact is it was wrong. And they consorted with Barack Obama to steal from Social Security. We need to reform Social Security. Mine is the only plan that saves over $1 trillion and that's why I'm answering your question.

BARTIROMO: Thank you, Governor. Thank you, Governor. [applause]

CARSON: Can I just add one very quick thing? And I just want to say, you know, last week we released our tax plan. And multiple reputable journals, including The Wall Street Journal, said ours is the best. Just want to get that out there, just saying.

BARTIROMO: Thank you, Dr. Carson.

Coming up, how would the candidates protect America, and another terror attack, if we were to see it. But first, you can join us live on stage during the commercial break right from home. Go to facebook.com/foxbusiness. We'll be streaming live and answering your questions during this break next.

More from South Carolina coming up. Stay with us.

[commercial break]

BARTIROMO: Mr. Trump, your net worth is in the multi-billions of dollars and have an ongoing thriving hotel and real estate business. Are you planning on putting your assets in a blind trust should you become president? With such vast wealth, how difficult will it be for you to disentangle yourself from your business and your money and prioritize America's interest first?

TRUMP: Well, it's an interesting question because I'm very proud of my company. As you too know, I know I built a very great company. But if I become president, I couldn't care less about my company. It's peanuts.

I want to use that same up here, whatever it may be to make America rich again and to make America great again. I have Ivanka, and Eric and Don sitting there. Run the company kids, have a good time. I'm going to do it for America.

So I would — I would be willing to do that.

BARTIROMO: So you'll put your assets in a blind trust?

TRUMP: I would put it in a blind trust. Well, I don't know if it's a blind trust if Ivanka, Don and Eric run it. If that's a blind trust, I don't know. But I would probably have my children run it with my executives and I wouldn't ever be involved because I wouldn't care about anything but our country, anything.

BARTIROMO: Thank you sir.

TRUMP: Thank you.

CAVUTO: Governor Christie, going back to your U.S. Attorney days, you had been praised by both parties as certainly a tough law and order guy. So I wonder what you make of recent statistics that showed violent crimes that have been spiking sometimes by double digit ratings in 30 cities across the country. Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn said, "most local law enforcement officials feel abandoned by Washington." Former NYC Police Chief Ray Kelly, says that, "police are being less proactive because they're being overly scrutinized and second guessed and they're afraid of being sued or thrown in jail."

What would you do as president to address this?

CHRISTIE: Well, first off, let's face it, the FBI director James Comey was a friend of mine who I worked with as U.S. Attorney of New Jersey. He was the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan. He said, "there's a chill wind blowing through law enforcement in this country." Here's why, the president of the United States and both his attorney's general, they give the benefit of the doubt to the criminal, not to the police officers.

That's the truth of the matter and you see it every time with this president. Every time he's got a chance, going all the way back to — remember that Great Beer Summit he had after he messed up that time. This is a guy who just believes that law enforcement are the bad guys.

Now, I for seven years was the U.S. Attorney of New Jersey. I worked hard with not only federal agents but with police officers and here's the problem, sanctuary cities is part of the problem in this country. That's where crime is happening in these cities where they don't enforce the immigration laws. And this president turns his back — this president doesn't enforce the marijuana laws in this country because he doesn't agree with them.

And he allows states to go ahead and do whatever they want on a substance that's illegal. This president allows lawlessness throughout this country. Here's what I would do Neil, I would appoint an Attorney General and I would have one very brief conversation with that Attorney General. I'd say, "General, enforce the law against everyone justly, fairly, and aggressively. Make our streets safe again. Make our police officers proud of what they do but more important than that, let them know how proud we are of them."

We do that, this country would be safe and secure again not only from criminals but from the terrorist who threaten us as well. I'm the only person on this stage who's done that and we will get it done as President of the United States.

CAVUTO: Thank you governor.

Governor Kasich, as someone has to deal with controversial police shootings in your own state, what do you make of Chicago's move recently to sort of retrain police? Maybe make them not so quick to use their guns?

KASICH: Well, I created a task force well over a year ago and the purpose was to bring law enforcement, community people, clergy and the person that I named as one of the co-chair was a lady by the name of Nina Turner, a former State Senator, a liberal Democrat. She actually ran against one of my friends and our head of public safety.

And they say down as a group trying to make sure that we can begin to heal some of these problems that we see between community and police.

And they came back with 23 recommendations. One of them is a statewide use of deadly force. And it is now being put into place everyplace across the state of Ohio. Secondly, a policy on recruiting and hiring, and then more resources for — for training.

But let me also tell you, one of the issues has got to be the integration of both community and police. Community has to understand that that police officer wants to get home at night, and not — not to lose their life. Their family is waiting for them.

At the same time, law enforcement understands there are people in the community who not only think that the system doesn't work for them, but works against them.

See, in Ohio, we've had some controversial decisions. But the leaders have come forward to realize that protest is fine, but violence is wrong. And it has been a remarkable situation in our state. And as president of the United States, it's all about communication, folks. It's all about getting people to listen to one another's problems.

And when you do that, you will be amazed at how much progress you can make, and how much healing we can have. Because, folks, at the end of the day, the country needs healed. I've heard a lot of hot rhetoric here tonight, but I've got to tell you, as somebody that actually passed a budget; that paid down a half-a-trillion dollars of our national debt, you can't do it alone. You've got to bring people together. You've got to give people hope.

And together, we can solve these problems that hurt us and heal America. And that is what's so critical for our neighborhoods, our families, our children, and our grandchildren. [applause]

CAVUTO: Thank you, Governor.

BARTIROMO: Senator Rubio? [applause]

Under current law, the U.S. is on track to issue more new permanent immigrants on green cards over the next five years than the entire population of South Carolina. The CBO says your 2013 immigration bill would have increased green cardholders by another 10 million over 10 years.

Why are you so interested in opening up borders to foreigners when American workers have a hard enough time finding work?

RUBIO: Well, first of all, this is an issue that's been debated now for 30 years. And for 30 years, the issue of immigration has been about someone who's in this country, maybe they're here illegally, but they're looking for a job. This issue is not about that anymore.

First and foremost, this issue has to be now more than anything else about keeping America safe. And here's why. There is a radical jihadist group that is manipulating our immigration system. And not just green cards. They're looking — they're recruiting people that enter this country as doctors and engineers and even fiances. They understand the vulnerabilities we have on the southern border.

They're looking — they're looking to manipulate our — the visa waiver countries to get people into the United States. So our number one priority must now become ensuring that ISIS cannot get killers into the United States. So whether it's green cards or any other form of entry into America, when I'm president if we do not know who you are or why you are coming, you are not going to get into the United States of America.

BARTIROMO: So your thinking has changed?

RUBIO: The issue is a dramatically different issue than it was 24 months ago. Twenty-four months ago, 36 months ago, you did not have a group of radical crazies named ISIS who were burning people in cages and recruiting people to enter our country legally. They have a sophisticated understanding of our legal immigration system and we now have an obligation to ensure that they are not able to use that system against us.

The entire system of legal immigration must now be reexamined for security first and foremost, with an eye on ISIS. Because they're recruiting people to enter this country as engineers, posing as doctors, posing as refugees. We know this for a fact. They've contacted the trafficking networks in the Western Hemisphere to get people in through the southern border. And they got a killer in San Bernardino in posing as a fiance.

This issue now has to be about stopping ISIS entering the United States, and when I'm president we will.

BARTIROMO: Thank you, Senator. [applause]

CRUZ: But Maria, radical Islamic terrorism was not invented 24 months ago; 24 months ago, we had Al Qaida. We had Boko Haram. We had Hamas. We had Hezbollah. We had Iran putting operatives in South America and Central America. It's the reason why I stood with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and led the fight to stop the Gang of Eight amnesty bill, because it was clear then, like it's clear now, that border security is national security. [applause]

BARTIROMO: Thank you, Senator.

CRUZ: It is also the case that that Rubio-Schumer amnesty bill, one of the things it did is it expanded Barack Obama's power to let in Syrian refugees. It enabled him — the president to certify them en masse without mandating meaningful background checks.

I think that's a mistake. That's why I've been leading the fight to stop it. And I would note the Senate just a few weeks ago voted to suspend refugees from Middle Eastern countries. I voted yes to suspend that. Marco voted on the other side. So you don't get to say we need to secure the borders, and at the same time try to give Barack Obama more authority to allow Middle Eastern refugees coming in, when the head of the FBI tells us they cannot vet them to determine if they are ISIS terrorists.

RUBIO: Maria, let me clear something up here. This is an interesting point when you talk about immigration. Ted Cruz, you used to say you supported doubling the number of green cards, now you say that you're against it. You used to support a 500 percent increase in the number of guest workers, now you say that you're against it. You used to support legalizing people that were here illegally, now you say you're against it. You used to say that you were in favor of birthright citizenship, now you say that you are against it.

And by the way, it's not just on immigration, you used to support TPA, now you say you're against it. I saw you on the Senate floor flip your vote on crop insurance because they told you it would help you in Iowa, and last week, we all saw you flip your vote on ethanol in Iowa for the same reason. [applause]

That is not consistent conservatism, that is political calculation. When I am president, I will work consistently every single day to keep this country safe, not call Edward Snowden, as you did, a great public servant. Edward Snowden is a traitor. And if I am president and we get our hands on him, he is standing trial for treason. [applause]

And one more point, one more point. Every single time that there has been a Defense bill in the Senate, three people team up to vote against it. Bernie Sanders, Rand Paul and Ted Cruz. In fact, the only budget you have ever voted for, Ted, in your entire time in the Senate is a budget from Rand Paul that brags about how it cuts defense.

Here's the bottom line, and I'll close with this. If I'm president of the United States and Congress tries to cut the military, I will veto that in a millisecond. [applause]

BUSH: There's — look, there's —

CAVUTO: Gentlemen, gentlemen —

CRUZ: I'm going to get a response to that, Neil. There's no way he launches 11 attack —

CAVUTO: Very quick, very quick.

CRUZ: I'm going to — he had no fewer than 11 attacks there. I appreciate your dumping your [inaudible] research folder on the stage.

RUBIO: No, it's your record.

CRUZ: But I will say —

CAVUTO: Do you think they like each other?

CRUZ: — at least half of the things Marco said are flat-out false. They're absolutely false.

AUDIENCE: Boo.

CRUZ: So let's start — let's start with immigration. Let's start with immigration and have a little bit of clarity. Marco stood with Chuck Schumer and Barack Obama on amnesty. I stood with Jeff Sessions and Steve King. Marco stood today, standing on this stage Marco supports legalization and citizenship for 12 million illegals. I opposed and oppose legalization and citizenship.

And by the way, the attack he keeps throwing out on the military budget, Marco knows full well I voted for his amendment to increase military spending to $697 billion. What he said, and he said it in the last, it's simply not true. And as president, I will rebuild the military and keep this country safe.

CAVUTO: All right, gentlemen, we've got to stop. I know you are very passionate about that. [applause]

Governor Bush, fears have gripped this country obviously, and you touched on it earlier since the San Bernardino attacks. Since our last , the national conversation has changed, according to Facebook data as well.

Now this first graphic shows the issues that were most talked about right before those attacks and now after: the issues of Islam, homeland security and ISIS now loom very large. The FBI says Islamic radicals are using social media to communicate and that it needs better access to communication. Now the CEO of Apple, Governor, Tim Cook said unless served with a warrant private communication is private, period. Do you agree, or would you try to convince him otherwise?

BUSH: I would try to convince him otherwise, but this last back and forth between two senators — back bench senators, you know, explains why we have the mess in Washington, D.C. We need a president that will fix our immigration laws and stick with it, not bend with the wind.

The simple fact is one of the ways, Maria, to solve the problem you described is narrow the number of people coming by family petitioning to what every other country has so that we have the best and the brightest that come to our country. We need to control the border, we need to do all of this in a comprehensive way, not just going back and forth and talking about stuff —

CAVUTO: Would you answer this question?

BUSH: Oh, I'll talk about that, too. But you haven't asked me a question in a while, Neil, so I thought I'd get that off my chest if you don't mind. [laughter]

CAVUTO: Fair enough. So Tim Cook — so Tim Cook says he's going to keep it private.

BUSH: I got that. And the problem today is there's no confidence in Washington, D.C. There needs to be more than one meeting, there needs to complete dialogue with the large technology companies. They understand that there's a national security risk. We ought to give them a little bit of a liability release so that they share data amongst themselves and share data with the federal government, they're not fearful of a lawsuit.

We need to make sure that we keep the country safe. This is the first priority. The cybersecurity challenges that we face, this administration failed us completely, completely. Not just the hacking of OPM, but that is — that is just shameful. 23 million files in the hands of the Chinese? So it's not just the government — the private sector companies, it's also our own government that needs to raise the level of our game.

We should put the NSA in charge of the civilian side of this as well. That expertise needs to spread all across the government and there needs to be much more cooperation with our private sector.

CAVUTO: But if Tim cook is telling you no, Mr. President.

BUSH: You've got to keep asking. You've got to keep asking because this is a hugely important issue. If you can encrypt messages, ISIS can, over these platforms, and we have no ability to have a cooperative relationship —

CAVUTO: Do you ask or do you order?

BUSH: Well, if the law would change, yeah. But I think there has to be recognition that if we — if we are too punitive, then you'll go to other — other technology companies outside the United States. And what we want to do is to control this.

We also want to dominate this from a commercial side. So there's a lot of balanced interests. But the president leads in this regard. That's what we need. We need leadership, someone who has a backbone and sticks with things, rather than just talks about them as though anything matters when you're talking about amendments that don't even actually are part of a bill that ever passed.

CAVUTO: Governor, thank you. [applause]

BARTIROMO: When we come right back, closing statements. Stay with us.

[commercial break]

BARTIROMO: Welcome back.

Candidates, it is time for your closing statements. You get 60 seconds each.

Governor John Kasich, we begin with you.

KASICH: You know, in our country, there are a lot of people who feel as though they just don't have the power. You know, they feel like if they don't have a lobbyist, if they're not wealthy, that somehow they don't get to play.

But all of my career, you know, having been raised in — by a mailman father whose father was a coal miner, who died of black lung and was losing his eyesight; or a mother whose mother could barely speak English. You see, all of my career, I've fought about giving voice to the people that I grew up with and voice to the people that elected me.

Whether it's welfare reform and getting something back for the hard-earned taxpayers; whether it's engaging in Pentagon reform and taking on the big contractors that were charging thousands of dollars for hammers and screw drivers and ripping us off; or whether it's taking on the special interests in the nursing home industry in Ohio, so that mom and dad can have the ability to stay in their own home, rather than being forced into a nursing home.

Look, that's who I stand up for. That's who's in my mind...[bell rings]...And if you really want to believe that you can get your voice back, I will tell you, as I have all my career, I will continue to fight for you, because you're the ones that built this country, and will carry it into the future. Thank you. [applause]

CAVUTO: Governor Bush?

BUSH: Who can you count on to keep us safer, stronger and freer? Results count, and as governor, I pushed Florida up to the top in terms of jobs, income and small business growth.

Detailed plans count, and I believe that the plan I've laid out to destroy ISIS before the tragedies of San Bernardino and Paris are the right ones.

Credibility counts. There'll be people here that will talk about what they're going to do. I've done it. I ask for your support to build, together, a safer and stronger America. [applause]

BARTIROMO: Governor Chris Christie?

CHRISTIE: Maria, Neil, thank you for a great tonight.

When I think about the folks who are out there at home tonight watching, and I think about what they had to watch this week — the spectacle they had to watch on the floor of the House of Representatives, with the president of the United States, who talked a fantasy land about the way they're feeling.

They know that this country is not respected around the world anymore. They know that this country is pushing the middle class, the hardworking taxpayers, backwards, and they saw a president who doesn't understand their pain, and doesn't have any plan for getting away from it.

I love this country. It's the most exceptional country the world has ever known. We need someone to fight for the people. We need a fighter for this country again.

I've lived my whole life fighting — fighting for things that I believe in, fighting for justice and to protect people from crime and terrorism, fighting to stand up for folks who have not had enough and need an opportunity to get more, and to stand up and fight against the special interests.

But here's the best way that we're going to make America much more exceptional: it is to make sure we put someone on that stage in September who will fight Hillary Clinton and make sure she never, ever gets in the White House again.

I am the man who can bring us together to do that, and I ask for your vote. [applause]

CAVUTO: Dr. Ben Carson?

CARSON: You know, in recent travels around this country, I've encountered so many Americans who are discouraged and angry as they watch our freedom, our security and the American dream slipping away under an unresponsive government that is populated by bureaucrats and special interest groups.

We're not going to solve this problem with traditional politics. The only way we're going to solve this problem is with we, the people. And I ask you to join me in truth and honesty and integrity. Bencarson.com — we will heal, inspire and revive America for our children. [applause]

BARTIROMO: Senator Marco Rubio?

RUBIO: You know, 200 years ago, America was founded on this powerful principle that our rights don't come from government. Our rights come from God.

That's why we embraced free enterprise, and it made us the most prosperous people in the history of the world. That's why we embraced individual liberty, and we became the freest people ever, and the result was the American miracle.

But now as I travel the country, people say what I feel. This country is changing. It feels different. We feel like we're being left behind and left out.

And the reason is simple: because in 2008, we elected as president someone who wasn't interested in fixing America. We elected someone as president who wants to change America, who wants to make it more like the rest of the world.

And so he undermines the Constitution, and he undermines free enterprise by expanding government, and he betrays our allies and cuts deals with our enemies and guts our military. And that's why 2016 is a turning point in our history. If we elect Hillary Clinton, the next four years will be worse than the last eight, and our children will be the first Americans ever to inherit a diminished country.

But if we elect the right person — if you elect me — we will turn this country around, we will reclaim the American dream and this nation will be stronger and greater than it has ever been. [applause]

CAVUTO: Senator Ted Cruz?

CRUZ: "13 Hours" — tomorrow morning, a new movie will debut about the incredible bravery of the men fighting for their lives in Benghazi and the politicians that abandoned them. I want to speak to all our fighting men and women.

I want to speak to all the moms and dads whose sons and daughters are fighting for this country, and the incredible sense of betrayal when you have a commander-in-chief who will not even speak the name of our enemy, radical Islamic terrorism, when you have a commander-in- chief who sends $150 billion to the Ayatollah Khamenei, who's responsible for murdering hundreds of our servicemen and women.

I want to speak to all of those maddened by political correctness, where Hillary Clinton apologizes for saying all lives matter. This will end. It will end on January 2017.

And if I am elected president, to every soldier and sailor and airman and marine, and to every police officer and firefighter and first responder who risk their lives to keep us safe, I will have your back. [applause]

BARTIROMO: Mr. Donald Trump?

TRUMP: I stood yesterday with 75 construction workers. They're tough, they're strong, they're great people. Half of them had tears pouring down their face. They were watching the humiliation of our young ten sailors, sitting on the floor with their knees in a begging position, their hands up.

And Iranian wise guys having guns to their heads. It was a terrible sight. A terrible sight. And the only reason we got them back is because we owed them with a stupid deal, $150 billion. If I'm president, there won't be stupid deals anymore.

We will make America great again. We will win on everything we do. Thank you. [applause]

BARTIROMO: Candidates, thank you.

CAVUTO: Gentlemen, thank you all. All of you. That wraps up our debate. We went a little bit over here. But we wanted to make sure everyone was able to say their due. He's upset. All right. Thank you for joining us. Much more to come in the Spin Room ahead.

NOTE: The criteria for appearing in the main debate is explained as, "Candidates must either: 1) Place in the top six nationally, based on an average of the five most recent national polls recognized by FOX News; OR 2) Place in the top five in Iowa, based on an average of the five most recent Iowa state polls recognized by FOX News; OR 3) Place in the top five in New Hampshire, based on an average of the five most recent New Hampshire state polls recognized by FOX News."
+ Citation: Presidential Candidates Debates: "Republican Candidates Debate in North Charleston, South Carolina," January 14, 2016. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=111395. +
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2016General Election
October 19th, 2016Presidential Debate at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas
October 9th, 2016Presidential Debate at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri
September 26th, 2016Presidential Debate at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio
October 4th, 2016Vice Presidential Debate at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia
Primary Election
Democratic PartyDemocratic Party
March 9th, 2016Democratic Candidates Debate in Miami, Florida
March 6th, 2016Democratic Candidates Debate in Flint, Michigan
February 11th, 2016Democratic Candidates Debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
February 4th, 2016Democratic Candidates Debate in Durham, New Hampshire
January 17th, 2016Democratic Candidates Debate in Charleston, South Carolina
December 19th, 2015Democratic Candidates Debate in Manchester, New Hampshire
November 14th, 2015Democratic Candidates Debate in Des Moines, Iowa
October 13th, 2015Democratic Candidates Debate in Las Vegas, Nevada
Democratic PartyRepublican Party
 main debates (see footnotes in documents for criteria)
March 10th, 2016Republican Candidates Debate in Miami, Florida
March 3rd, 2016Republican Candidates Debate in Detroit, Michigan
February 25th, 2016Republican Candidates Debate in Houston, Texas
February 13th, 2016Republican Candidates Debate in Greenville, South Carolina
February 6th, 2016Republican Candidates Debate in Manchester, New Hampshire
January 28th, 2016Republican Candidates Debate in Des Monies, Iowa
January 14th, 2016Republican Candidates Debate in North Charleston, South Carolina
December 15th, 2015Republican Candidates Debate in Las Vegas, Nevada
November 10th, 2015Republican Candidates Debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
October 28th, 2015Republican Candidates Debate in Boulder, Colorado
September 16th, 2015Republican Candidates Debate in Simi Valley, California
August 6th, 2015Republican Candidates Debate in Cleveland, Ohio
 "undercard" debates (see footnotes in documents for criteria)
January 28th, 2016Republican Candidates "Undercard" Debate in Des Moines, Iowa
January 14th, 2016Republican Candidates "Undercard" Debate in North Charleston, South Carolina
December 15th, 2015Republican Candidates "Undercard" Debate in Las Vegas, Nevada
November 10th, 2015Republican Candidates "Undercard" Debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
October 28th, 2015Republican Candidates "Undercard" Debate in Boulder, Colorado
September 16th, 2015Republican Candidates "Undercard" Debate in Simi Valley, California
August 6th, 2015Republican Candidates "Undercard" Debate in Cleveland, Ohio
2012General Election
October 22nd, 2012Presidential Debate at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida
October 16th, 2012Presidential Debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York
October 3rd, 2012Presidential Debate at the University of Denver
October 11th, 2012Vice Presidential Debate at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky
Primary Election
Democratic PartyRepublican Party
February 22nd, 2012Republican Candidates Debate in Mesa, Arizona
January 26th, 2012Republican Candidates Debate in Jacksonville, Florida
January 23rd, 2012Republican Candidates Debate in Tampa, Florida
January 19th, 2012Republican Candidates Debate in Charleston, South Carolina
January 16th, 2012Republican Candidates Debate in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
January 8th, 2012Republican Candidates Debate in Concord, New Hampshire
January 7th, 2012Republican Candidates Debate in Manchester, New Hampshire
December 15th, 2011Republican Candidates Debate in Sioux City, Iowa
December 10th, 2011Republican Candidates Debate in Des Moines, Iowa
November 22nd, 2011Republican Candidates Debate in Washington, DC
November 12th, 2011Republican Candidates Debate in Spartanburg, South Carolina
November 9th, 2011Republican Candidates Debate in Rochester, Michigan
October 18th, 2011Republican Candidates Debate in Las Vegas, Nevada
October 11th, 2011Republican Candidates Debate in Hanover, New Hampshire
September 22nd, 2011Republican Candidates Debate in Orlando, Florida
September 12th, 2011Republican Candidates Debate in Tampa, Florida
September 7th, 2011Republican Candidates Debate in Simi Valley, California
September 5th, 2011Palmetto Freedom Forum in Columbia, South Carolina
August 11, 2011Republican Candidates Debate in Ames, Iowa
June 13th, 2011Republican Candidates Debate in Manchester, New Hampshire
2008General Election
October 15th, 2008Presidential Debate in Hempstead, New York
October 7th, 2008Presidential Debate in Nashville, Tennessee
September 26th, 2008Presidential Debate in Oxford, Mississippi
October 2nd, 2008 Vice Presidential Debate in St. Louis, Missouri
Primary Election
Democratic PartyDemocratic Party
April 16th, 2008Democratic Candidates Debate in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
February 26th, 2008Democratic Candidates Debate in Cleveland, Ohio
February 21st, 2008Democratic Candidates Debate in Austin, Texas
January 31st, 2008Democratic Candidates Debate in Los Angeles, California
January 21st, 2008Democratic Candidates Debate in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
January 15th, 2008Democratic Candidates Debate in Las Vegas, Nevada
January 5th, 2008Democratic Candidates Debate in Manchester, New Hampshire
December 13th, 2007Democratic Candidates Debate in Johnston, Iowa
December 4th, 2007Democratic Candidates Radio Debate in Des Monies, Iowa
November 15th, 2007Democratic Candidates Debate in Las Vegas, Nevada
October 30th, 2007Democratic Candidates Debate in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
September 26th, 2007Democratic Candidates Debate in Hanover, New Hampshire
September 9th, 2007Democratic Candidates Debate in Miami, Florida
August 19th, 2007Democratic Candidates Debate in Des Monies, Iowa
August 7th, 2007Democratic Candidates Forum in Chicago, Illinois
July 23rd, 2007Democratic Candidates Debate in Charleston, South Carolina
June 28th, 2007Democratic Candidates Forum in Washington, DC
June 3rd, 2007Democratic Candidates Debate in Manchester, New Hampshire
April 26th, 2007Democratic Candidates Debate in Orangeburg, South Carolina
Democratic PartyRepublican Party
January 30th, 2008Republican Candidates Debate in Simi Valley, California
January 24th, 2008Republican Candidates Debate in Boca Raton, Florida
January 10th, 2008Republican Candidates Debate in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
January 6th, 2008Republican Candidates Forum in Milford, New Hampshire
January 5th, 2008Republican Candidates Debate in Manchester, New Hampshire
December 12th, 2007Republican Candidates Debate in Johnston, Iowa
December 9th, 2007Republican Candidates Debate in Miami, Florida
November 28th, 2007Republican Candidates Debate in St. Petersburg, Florida
October 21st, 2007Republican Candidates Debate in Orlando, Florida
October 9th, 2007Republican Candidates Debate in Dearborn, Michigan
September 27th, 2007Republican Candidates Forum in Baltimore, Maryland
September 5th, 2007Republican Candidates Debate in Durham, New Hampshire
August 5th, 2007Republican Candidates Debate in Des Monies, Iowa
June 5th, 2007Republican Candidates Debate in Manchester, New Hampshire
May 15th, 2007Republican Candidates Debate in Columbia, South Carolina
May 3rd, 2007Republican Candidates Debate in Simi Valley, California
2004General Election
October 13, 2004 Presidential Debate in Tempe, Arizona
October 8, 2004 Presidential Debate in St. Louis, Missouri
September 30, 2004 Presidential Debate in Coral Gables, Florida
October 5, 2004 Vice Presidential Debate in Cleveland
Primary Election
Democratic PartyDemocratic Party
January 29th, 2004Democratic Candidates Debate in Greenville, South Carolina
January 22nd, 2004 Democratic Candidates Debate in Manchester, New Hampshire
2000General Election
October 17, 2000 Presidential Debate in St. Louis
October 11, 2000 Presidential Debate in Winston-Salem, North Carolina
October 3, 2000 Presidential Debate in Boston
October 5, 2000 Vice Presidential Debate in Danville, Kentucky
Primary Election
Democratic PartyDemocratic Party
March 1st, 2000Democratic Candidates Debate in Los Angeles, California
February 21st, 2000Democratic Candidates Debate in New York City
January 26th, 2000Democratic Candidates Debate in Manchester, New Hampshire
January 17th, 2000Democratic Candidates Black-Brown Forum in Des Moines, Iowa
January 8th, 2000Democratic Candidates Debate in Des Moines, Iowa
December 19th, 1999Democratic Candidates Debate on NBC News "Meet the Press"
December 17th, 1999Democratic Candidates Town Hall in Nashua, New Hampshire
October 27th, 1999Democratic Candidates Town Hall in Hanover, New Hampshire
One additional Democratic debate was held for which the American Presidency Project does not have a transcript: January 5, 2000 in Durham, New Hampshire.
Democratic PartyRepublican Party
March 2nd, 2000Republican Candidates Debate in Los Angeles, California
February 15th, 2000Republican Candidates Debate in Columbia, South Carolina
January 26th, 2000Republican Candidates Debate in Manchester, New Hampshire
January 15th, 2000Republican Candidates Debate in Johnston, Iowa
January 10th, 2000Republican Candidates Debate in Grand Rapids, Michigan
January 7th, 2000Republican Candidates Debate in Columbia, South Carolina
December 13th, 1999Republican Candidates Debate in Des Monies, Iowa
December 6th, 1999Republican Candidates Debate in Phoenix, Arizona
December 2nd, 1999Republican Candidates Debate in Manchester, New Hampshire
October 28th, 1999Republican Candidates Town Hall in Hanover, New Hampshire
October 22nd, 1999 Republican Candidates Forum in Durham, New Hampshire
Two additional Republican debates were held for which the American Presidency Project does not have transcripts: 1) November 21, 1999 in Tempe, Arizona, and; 2) January 6, 2000 in Durham, New Hampshire.
1996October 16, 1996Presidential Debate in San Diego
October 6, 1996Presidential Debate in Hartford
October 9, 1996 Vice Presidential Debate in St. Petersburg
1992October 19, 1992Presidential Debate in East Lansing, Michigan
October 15, 1992Presidential Debate in Richmond, Virginia
October 11, 1992Presidential Debate in St. Louis
October 13, 1992Vice Presidential Debate in Atlanta
1988October 13, 1988Presidential Debate in Los Angeles
September 25, 1988Presidential Debate in Winston-Salem, North Carolina
October 5, 1988Vice Presidential Debate in Omaha, Nebraska
1984October 21, 1984Presidential Debate in Kansas City, Missouri
October 7, 1984 Presidential Debate in Louisville, Kentucky
October 11, 1984Vice Presidential Debate in Philadelphia
1980October 28, 1980 Presidential Debate in Cleveland
September 21, 1980Presidential Debate in Baltimore (Reagan-Anderson)
1976October 22, 1976Presidential Campaign Debate in Williamsburg, Virginia
October 6, 1976Presidential Campaign Debate in San Francisco
September 23, 1976Presidential Campaign Debate in Philadelphia
October 15, 1976Vice Presidential Debate in Houston
1960October 21, 1960Presidential Debate in New York
October 13, 1960Presidential Debate Broadcast from New York and Los Angeles
October 7, 1960Presidential Debate in Washington, DC
September 26, 1960Presidential Debate in Chicago
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2016General Election
October 19th, 2016Presidential Debate at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas
October 9th, 2016Presidential Debate at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri
September 26th, 2016Presidential Debate at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio
October 4th, 2016Vice Presidential Debate at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia
Primary Election
Democratic PartyDemocratic Party
March 9th, 2016Democratic Candidates Debate in Miami, Florida
March 6th, 2016Democratic Candidates Debate in Flint, Michigan
February 11th, 2016Democratic Candidates Debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
February 4th, 2016Democratic Candidates Debate in Durham, New Hampshire
January 17th, 2016Democratic Candidates Debate in Charleston, South Carolina
December 19th, 2015Democratic Candidates Debate in Manchester, New Hampshire
November 14th, 2015Democratic Candidates Debate in Des Moines, Iowa
October 13th, 2015Democratic Candidates Debate in Las Vegas, Nevada
Democratic PartyRepublican Party
 main debates (see footnotes in documents for criteria)
March 10th, 2016Republican Candidates Debate in Miami, Florida
March 3rd, 2016Republican Candidates Debate in Detroit, Michigan
February 25th, 2016Republican Candidates Debate in Houston, Texas
February 13th, 2016Republican Candidates Debate in Greenville, South Carolina
February 6th, 2016Republican Candidates Debate in Manchester, New Hampshire
January 28th, 2016Republican Candidates Debate in Des Monies, Iowa
January 14th, 2016Republican Candidates Debate in North Charleston, South Carolina
December 15th, 2015Republican Candidates Debate in Las Vegas, Nevada
November 10th, 2015Republican Candidates Debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
October 28th, 2015Republican Candidates Debate in Boulder, Colorado
September 16th, 2015Republican Candidates Debate in Simi Valley, California
August 6th, 2015Republican Candidates Debate in Cleveland, Ohio
 "undercard" debates (see footnotes in documents for criteria)
January 28th, 2016Republican Candidates "Undercard" Debate in Des Moines, Iowa
January 14th, 2016Republican Candidates "Undercard" Debate in North Charleston, South Carolina
December 15th, 2015Republican Candidates "Undercard" Debate in Las Vegas, Nevada
November 10th, 2015Republican Candidates "Undercard" Debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
October 28th, 2015Republican Candidates "Undercard" Debate in Boulder, Colorado
September 16th, 2015Republican Candidates "Undercard" Debate in Simi Valley, California
August 6th, 2015Republican Candidates "Undercard" Debate in Cleveland, Ohio
2012General Election
October 22nd, 2012Presidential Debate at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida
October 16th, 2012Presidential Debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York
October 3rd, 2012Presidential Debate at the University of Denver
October 11th, 2012Vice Presidential Debate at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky
Primary Election
Democratic PartyRepublican Party
February 22nd, 2012Republican Candidates Debate in Mesa, Arizona
January 26th, 2012Republican Candidates Debate in Jacksonville, Florida
January 23rd, 2012Republican Candidates Debate in Tampa, Florida
January 19th, 2012Republican Candidates Debate in Charleston, South Carolina
January 16th, 2012Republican Candidates Debate in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
January 8th, 2012Republican Candidates Debate in Concord, New Hampshire
January 7th, 2012Republican Candidates Debate in Manchester, New Hampshire
December 15th, 2011Republican Candidates Debate in Sioux City, Iowa
December 10th, 2011Republican Candidates Debate in Des Moines, Iowa
November 22nd, 2011Republican Candidates Debate in Washington, DC
November 12th, 2011Republican Candidates Debate in Spartanburg, South Carolina
November 9th, 2011Republican Candidates Debate in Rochester, Michigan
October 18th, 2011Republican Candidates Debate in Las Vegas, Nevada
October 11th, 2011Republican Candidates Debate in Hanover, New Hampshire
September 22nd, 2011Republican Candidates Debate in Orlando, Florida
September 12th, 2011Republican Candidates Debate in Tampa, Florida
September 7th, 2011Republican Candidates Debate in Simi Valley, California
September 5th, 2011Palmetto Freedom Forum in Columbia, South Carolina
August 11, 2011Republican Candidates Debate in Ames, Iowa
June 13th, 2011Republican Candidates Debate in Manchester, New Hampshire
2008General Election
October 15th, 2008Presidential Debate in Hempstead, New York
October 7th, 2008Presidential Debate in Nashville, Tennessee
September 26th, 2008Presidential Debate in Oxford, Mississippi
October 2nd, 2008 Vice Presidential Debate in St. Louis, Missouri
Primary Election
Democratic PartyDemocratic Party
April 16th, 2008Democratic Candidates Debate in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
February 26th, 2008Democratic Candidates Debate in Cleveland, Ohio
February 21st, 2008Democratic Candidates Debate in Austin, Texas
January 31st, 2008Democratic Candidates Debate in Los Angeles, California
January 21st, 2008Democratic Candidates Debate in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
January 15th, 2008Democratic Candidates Debate in Las Vegas, Nevada
January 5th, 2008Democratic Candidates Debate in Manchester, New Hampshire
December 13th, 2007Democratic Candidates Debate in Johnston, Iowa
December 4th, 2007Democratic Candidates Radio Debate in Des Monies, Iowa
November 15th, 2007Democratic Candidates Debate in Las Vegas, Nevada
October 30th, 2007Democratic Candidates Debate in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
September 26th, 2007Democratic Candidates Debate in Hanover, New Hampshire
September 9th, 2007Democratic Candidates Debate in Miami, Florida
August 19th, 2007Democratic Candidates Debate in Des Monies, Iowa
August 7th, 2007Democratic Candidates Forum in Chicago, Illinois
July 23rd, 2007Democratic Candidates Debate in Charleston, South Carolina
June 28th, 2007Democratic Candidates Forum in Washington, DC
June 3rd, 2007Democratic Candidates Debate in Manchester, New Hampshire
April 26th, 2007Democratic Candidates Debate in Orangeburg, South Carolina
Democratic PartyRepublican Party
January 30th, 2008Republican Candidates Debate in Simi Valley, California
January 24th, 2008Republican Candidates Debate in Boca Raton, Florida
January 10th, 2008Republican Candidates Debate in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
January 6th, 2008Republican Candidates Forum in Milford, New Hampshire
January 5th, 2008Republican Candidates Debate in Manchester, New Hampshire
December 12th, 2007Republican Candidates Debate in Johnston, Iowa
December 9th, 2007Republican Candidates Debate in Miami, Florida
November 28th, 2007Republican Candidates Debate in St. Petersburg, Florida
October 21st, 2007Republican Candidates Debate in Orlando, Florida
October 9th, 2007Republican Candidates Debate in Dearborn, Michigan
September 27th, 2007Republican Candidates Forum in Baltimore, Maryland
September 5th, 2007Republican Candidates Debate in Durham, New Hampshire
August 5th, 2007Republican Candidates Debate in Des Monies, Iowa
June 5th, 2007Republican Candidates Debate in Manchester, New Hampshire
May 15th, 2007Republican Candidates Debate in Columbia, South Carolina
May 3rd, 2007Republican Candidates Debate in Simi Valley, California
2004General Election
October 13, 2004 Presidential Debate in Tempe, Arizona
October 8, 2004 Presidential Debate in St. Louis, Missouri
September 30, 2004 Presidential Debate in Coral Gables, Florida
October 5, 2004 Vice Presidential Debate in Cleveland
Primary Election
Democratic PartyDemocratic Party
January 29th, 2004Democratic Candidates Debate in Greenville, South Carolina
January 22nd, 2004 Democratic Candidates Debate in Manchester, New Hampshire
2000General Election
October 17, 2000 Presidential Debate in St. Louis
October 11, 2000 Presidential Debate in Winston-Salem, North Carolina
October 3, 2000 Presidential Debate in Boston
October 5, 2000 Vice Presidential Debate in Danville, Kentucky
Primary Election
Democratic PartyDemocratic Party
March 1st, 2000Democratic Candidates Debate in Los Angeles, California
February 21st, 2000Democratic Candidates Debate in New York City
January 26th, 2000Democratic Candidates Debate in Manchester, New Hampshire
January 17th, 2000Democratic Candidates Black-Brown Forum in Des Moines, Iowa
January 8th, 2000Democratic Candidates Debate in Des Moines, Iowa
December 19th, 1999Democratic Candidates Debate on NBC News "Meet the Press"
December 17th, 1999Democratic Candidates Town Hall in Nashua, New Hampshire
October 27th, 1999Democratic Candidates Town Hall in Hanover, New Hampshire
One additional Democratic debate was held for which the American Presidency Project does not have a transcript: January 5, 2000 in Durham, New Hampshire.
Democratic PartyRepublican Party
March 2nd, 2000Republican Candidates Debate in Los Angeles, California
February 15th, 2000Republican Candidates Debate in Columbia, South Carolina
January 26th, 2000Republican Candidates Debate in Manchester, New Hampshire
January 15th, 2000Republican Candidates Debate in Johnston, Iowa
January 10th, 2000Republican Candidates Debate in Grand Rapids, Michigan
January 7th, 2000Republican Candidates Debate in Columbia, South Carolina
December 13th, 1999Republican Candidates Debate in Des Monies, Iowa
December 6th, 1999Republican Candidates Debate in Phoenix, Arizona
December 2nd, 1999Republican Candidates Debate in Manchester, New Hampshire
October 28th, 1999Republican Candidates Town Hall in Hanover, New Hampshire
October 22nd, 1999 Republican Candidates Forum in Durham, New Hampshire
Two additional Republican debates were held for which the American Presidency Project does not have transcripts: 1) November 21, 1999 in Tempe, Arizona, and; 2) January 6, 2000 in Durham, New Hampshire.
1996October 16, 1996Presidential Debate in San Diego
October 6, 1996Presidential Debate in Hartford
October 9, 1996 Vice Presidential Debate in St. Petersburg
1992October 19, 1992Presidential Debate in East Lansing, Michigan
October 15, 1992Presidential Debate in Richmond, Virginia
October 11, 1992Presidential Debate in St. Louis
October 13, 1992Vice Presidential Debate in Atlanta
1988October 13, 1988Presidential Debate in Los Angeles
September 25, 1988Presidential Debate in Winston-Salem, North Carolina
October 5, 1988Vice Presidential Debate in Omaha, Nebraska
1984October 21, 1984Presidential Debate in Kansas City, Missouri
October 7, 1984 Presidential Debate in Louisville, Kentucky
October 11, 1984Vice Presidential Debate in Philadelphia
1980October 28, 1980 Presidential Debate in Cleveland
September 21, 1980Presidential Debate in Baltimore (Reagan-Anderson)
1976October 22, 1976Presidential Campaign Debate in Williamsburg, Virginia
October 6, 1976Presidential Campaign Debate in San Francisco
September 23, 1976Presidential Campaign Debate in Philadelphia
October 15, 1976Vice Presidential Debate in Houston
1960October 21, 1960Presidential Debate in New York
October 13, 1960Presidential Debate Broadcast from New York and Los Angeles
October 7, 1960Presidential Debate in Washington, DC
September 26, 1960Presidential Debate in Chicago
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+© 1999-2016 - Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley - The American Presidency Project
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Locations of visitors to this page
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+ + \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/save.py b/save.py new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8cf0bdd --- /dev/null +++ b/save.py @@ -0,0 +1,143 @@ +from pattern.web import URL, plaintext +import pickle +import os +import re +import glob + +# this is the url that I am finding all other transcript urls from: +TOC_url = 'http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/debates.php' +sampletranscript_url = 'http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=111520' +candidates_remarks = {} + +# pre-compiling with re.S so '.' inclues \n +script_pattern = re.compile('\\n([A-Z]{4,}): (.*?)(?=\\n?[A-Z]{4,})', re.S) + + +def save_dictionary(d, filename, folder=''): + ''' pickles a dictionary with filename in downloads/folder/ + ''' + if not os.path.exists('downloads/' + folder): + os.mkdir('downloads/' + folder) + f = open('downloads/' + folder + filename, 'w') + pickle.dump(d, f) + f.close + + +def get_remarks_from_transcript(html, start='MODERATORS'): + ''' retrieves remarks from html transcript of a debate and stores them + in a dictionary {candidate: [remarks]} which is returned + ''' + candidates_remarks = {} + plain_text = plaintext(html) + script_tuple = script_pattern.findall(plain_text) + for name, remark in script_tuple: + clean_remark = re.sub('\[[^\]]+\]', '', remark.replace('\n', ' ')) + candidates_remarks[name] = candidates_remarks.get( + name, []) + [clean_remark] + return candidates_remarks + + +def save_html(url, filename, folder=''): + ''' saves html from url to filename in downloads/folder/ + ''' + if not os.path.exists('downloads/' + folder): + os.mkdir('downloads/' + folder) + result = URL(url).download() + f = open('downloads/' + folder + filename, 'w') + f.write(result) + f.close() + + +def get_transcript_links( + html, years, end_string='Candidates Debate in'): + ''' returns a list of debate transcript links retrieved from html + (the table of contents page) + ''' + if isinstance(years, int): + years = (years,) + + year_pattern = '(?:'+'|'.join(str(year) for year in years)+')' + + url_pattern = re.compile( + ', {0}.{1}href="(http:\/\/[^"]*?)">(?:Republican|Democratic)'.format( + year_pattern, '{10,200}?'), + re.S) + links = re.findall( + url_pattern, + html) + return [link for link in links if link] + + +def get_html_transcripts(): + ''' saves html retrieved from links found on table of contents page + ''' + print 'getting table of contents...' + # TOC_html = URL(TOC_url).download() + TOC_html = open('downloads/index.html', 'r').read() + + links = get_transcript_links(TOC_html, (2015, 2016)) + print 'downloading html transcripts...' + # print links + for link in links: + save_html(link, 'script' + + str(links.index(link)) + + '.html', 'html_transcripts/') + + print 'html is saved.' + + +def merge_dictionaries(dictionaries, default=[]): + ''' returns a single list dictionary {key: [values]} which combines list + values for all input dictionaries + >>> merge_dictionaries({'a':[1,2], 'b':[3,4]}, {'b':[5,6], 'c':[7,8]}) + {'a': [1, 2], 'b': [3, 4, 5, 6], 'c': [7, 8]} # or similar + ''' + master = {} + for d in dictionaries: + for key in d: + master[key] = master.get(key, default) + d[key] + return master + + +def build_candidate_remarks(): + ''' compiles a master set of remarks from html transcripts merged together + and stores it in master.pickle in downloads + >>> build_candidate_remarks() + ''' + project_dir = os.getcwd() + + transcript_paths = glob.glob(project_dir+'/downloads/html_transcripts/*') + + # this block is legacy--saves individual debate dictionaries before + # merge to master: + + # debate_no = 0 + # for html_transcript in transcript_paths: + # transcript = open(html_transcript, 'r').read() + # d = get_remarks_from_transcript(transcript) + # save_dictionary(d, 'script{}.pickle'.format(debate_no), 'data/') + # debate_no += 1 + + print 'getting debate remarks dictionaries...' + debate_dictionaries = [ + get_remarks_from_transcript( + open(html_transcript, 'r').read() + ) + for html_transcript in transcript_paths + ] + + print 'merging dictionaries...' + master = merge_dictionaries(debate_dictionaries) + + print 'pickling and saving...' + save_dictionary(master, 'master.pickle', 'data/') + + print 'master remarks dictionary saved' + + +if __name__ == '__main__': + + build_candidate_remarks() + # import doctest + # doctest.run_docstring_examples( + # build_candidate_remarks, globals(), verbose=True, name="Jus' Testin'") diff --git a/writeup.txt b/writeup.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2e95107 --- /dev/null +++ b/writeup.txt @@ -0,0 +1,86 @@ +Project Overview [Maximum 100 words] + +The object of this project was to analyze the speach of our dear candidates for president of the United States. I used transcripts from http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/, and the program save.py allows the future downloading and incorporation of coming debates into the data set used in analyze.py. I spent most of my time on the data collection side, trying to automate it as much as possible, with basic frequency analysis performed on that data. I would like to expand this program to be able to generate characteristic phrases of each candidate to prove that if you sound like a robot in the debates, you are either a candidate or a python program. + + +Implementation + +The program starts by downloading html for the Table of Contents page for the debates, from which it finds all legitimate links to transcripts with regex implementation (I learned soooo much about this...), and downloads the html. I chose to include the table of contents page in the implementation so that a user could automatically update the data set as more transcripts are added to this page. From this html, it stores each 'remark' in a dictionary of lists of remarks for each candidate, which is pickled and stored locally for analysis. In analysis, a word frequency dictionary is calculated for each candidate, and the most frequent words which are used primarily by a single candidate are printed into a nice looking table. + +I also did a lot of work with saving to local folders, which was a serious learning process, but allows for better organization of the program directories. As mentioned above, regular expressions were central to a number of processes, the most complicated of which were the transcript parsing pattern: '\\n([A-Z]{4,}): (.*?)(?=\\n?[A-Z]{4,})', and the pattern used to match urls from the table of contents page: ', {0}.{1}href="(http:\/\/[^"]*?)">(?:Republican|Democratic)'.format(year_pattern, '{10,200}?'). This one I thought particularly clever because of the combination of regex and string interpolation to allow the targeting of transcripts from specified election years. + +Results +Sanders Clinton Trump Rubio +------------------ ------------------ ---------------- --------------- +15 universities 10 donations 9 leaving 6 seconds +16 veterans 10 incomes 9 smart 6 sunni +16 corporations 10 children's 10 total 6 strongest +17 vermont 10 equal 10 sitting 6 harder +17 revolution 10 prescription 11 mess 6 vat +17 almost 11 proposed 11 oh 7 criminals +17 huge 11 possible 11 bomb 7 underminin +17 corrupt 11 brothers 12 built 7 shia +17 disagree 11 toward 13 anymore 7 america's +18 jail 12 potential 13 politicians 7 expensive +18 finance 12 fund 14 hundreds 7 agency +19 super 13 difficult 14 atlantic 8 struggling +19 billionaires 14 dodd 14 nice 8 blessed +19 large 14 figure 15 totally 8 access +19 criminal 15 others 16 guy 9 hold +19 view 15 agenda 17 city 9 human +21 contributions 16 plans 19 nobody 9 choose +24 wealth 16 comprehensive 20 mexico 10 prove +25 earth 17 further 20 domain 11 enterprise +25 public 17 progressive 20 laws 11 pro +25 legislation 18 costs 20 eminent 11 dream +27 african 18 frank 20 deals 12 rand +32 kids 19 communities 21 frankly 13 illegally +35 o' 19 particularly 21 oil 16 until +35 income 22 certainly 21 excuse 16 21st +49 class 23 agreement 26 wouldn't 18 greatest +61 major 34 affordable 27 company 18 paycheck +80 street 46 try 30 trade 28 century +83 campaign 51 sanders 32 tremendous 32 someone +112 secretary 93 senator 38 jeb 37 barack + + Carson Cruz Kasich +----------------- ------------------ -------------- +3 losers 8 conservatives 6 architect +3 honesty 8 roberts 6 served +3 pundits 9 texas 7 400 +3 utilize 9 steve 7 lift +3 register 10 rubio 7 veteran +3 bully 10 org 7 town +3 memorandum 10 defeating 7 collar +3 pc 10 tedcruz 8 prisons +3 healing 11 jeff 8 balancing +3 tithing 11 maria 8 pentagon +3 rapid 11 born 8 realize +3 weaponry 11 sessions 9 cuts +4 integrity 11 schumer 9 formula +4 bencarson 13 focus 9 gulf +4 intellect 13 mom 9 fiscal +4 empowerment 13 defend 9 budgets +4 box 14 secure 9 treat +4 aspect 14 irs 10 8 +4 declare 14 s 11 growing +4 cents 14 fed 11 message +4 recognizing 17 simple 11 sanctions +4 neurosurgeon 19 note 12 secondly +5 correctness 20 islamic 12 hole +5 ethics 24 commander 12 balance +5 dependent 25 marco 14 rise +6 evil 26 chief 14 surplus +6 deductions 29 court 17 medicaid +6 agencies 31 flat 26 balanced +8 wars 33 donald 43 budget +9 thinking 36 amnesty 54 ohio + + + +Above are the results of my frequency analysis for p = 0.70. This means that a given instance of a word listed above, there is a 70% probability that the candidate in whose column it lies said them. Looking through these lists, one can make see why they come up if one has been following the debates. For example, Sanders's primary opponant is secretary Clinton, who he addresses as such, and he has cornered the 'secretary' market. Likewise, she refers to him often, as reflected in 'senator' and 'sanders' the top (or really bottom) of her list. Note that Sanders' list does not include 'hillary' or 'clinton'--those are for the rupublicans who tend to talk about her more than him in their debates. Sanders also apparently gets meta more than anyone else with 'campaign', probably with statements like 'this *campaign* is about standing up to a *corrupt* *campaign* *finance* system'. + +On the republican side, we can see that Trump talks a lot about 'jeb', Rubio is on a first name basis with Obama, Carson doesn't really say much at all but prefers 'thinking'. Cruz likes to target 'donald' a lot, also 'marco'. He's a moma's boy, discusses 'flat' taxation a lot, really thinks he has what it takes to be 'commander' in 'cheif', and has been spending some time defending his legitimacy given he was 'born' in Canada. Kasich enjoys 'balancing' 'budgets', so he has 'balanced' many a 'budget' when he 'served' as governer of 'ohio'. He also likes following up his statements with 'secondly'. + +Reflection [~1 paragraph] +I thought my process worked pretty well. It was hard to provide unit tests for many of my functions because of their nature in handling large data sets, but it worked out. I also thought I did a good job compartmentalizing my code for modularity allong the way. Most of my issues came from regex or from the fact that I couldn't visualize my data set very well (I had an issue early on where I was storing the same remarks 22 times in each candidate entry in the master dictionary, which I didn't catch until I was well into analysis and found that all my word frequencies were multiples of 22. That was fun...), but I eventually figured everything out that I wanted to. \ No newline at end of file